2. His tender mercy is seen in his readiness to hear and help, and come in to the cry of his people, if they be but anything humble and profitable in their afflictions : Isa. lviii. 10, ' And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day ; ' Luke
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xv. 20, ' And he arose and came to his father ; but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed him.' When the son was coming, the father ran to meet him : Isa. lxv. 24, ' Before they call, I will answer ; ' as if God could not tarry to hear the prayer made : Ps. xxxii. 5, ' I said, I would confess my transgression unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin;' Jer. xxxi. 19, 20, 'Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh : I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim my dear son ? is he a pleasant child ? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still ; therefore my bowels are troubled for him, I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.' The first relentings of the creature work upon the bowels of God's mercy ; when we do but conceive a purpose, the Lord is easy to be entreated.
3. By the motives that do induce God to show mercy, the bare sight of our misery, and therefore the saints do so often represent their condition: Ps. lxix. 20, 'I am poor and sorrowful; let thy salvation, 0 Lord, set me on high.' You see he bringeth no other argument but his grief and misery. Justice seeketh a fit object, mercy a fit occasion: Dent, xxxii. 36, 'For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left.'
Thirdly, The next adjunct is 'great.' The mercies of God are sel- dom spoken of in scripture but there is some additional word to show their plenty and excellency ; as Ps. cxxx. 7, ' For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption;' 1 Peter i. 3, ' Which according to his abundant mercy ;' and Eph. ii. 4, ' But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he hath loved us.' So Eph. ii. 7, 'The exceeding riches of his grace,' virepfiaWovra ttKovtov. Paul thinketh he can never word it enough: when he speaketh of mercy, he saith it over over-abounded ; all to show the multitude and greatness of God's mercies. So Ps. Ii. 1, we read of the multitude of his tender mercy. It must needs be so if we consider —
1. How many there are to whom God hath done good, even as many as there have been, are, and shall be creatures in the world. None that ever had a being, but tasted of God's goodness. Nay, for his special mercies, the same persons that are pardoned, all the elect from the beginning of time, till the day of judgment. What hath God been doing these thousands of years that the world hath con- tinued, but multiplying pardons and passing acts of grace in favour of his people ? Time would be no more, but only that there are some more whom God meaneth to pardon : 2 Peter iii. 9, ' Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.' When we come to heaven, how many monuments of grace shall we see there! A man would think that the unthankful world had given discourage- ment, and God should wait no longer; but yet there are some vacant places to be filled : ' In my Father's house are many mansions,' John xiv. 2. We waste by giving, give from ourselves what we give to another ; but this fountain is never dry : Rom. v. 10, ' The free gift is of many offences.'
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2. How many benefits he bestoweth on every one, many repeated acts of grace of the same kind, divers kinds of benefits, bodily mercies, sonl mercies : Ps. xl. 5, ' Many, 0 Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done ; and thy thoughts, which are to usward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee : if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.' Private mercies and public mercies, mercies in hand and mercies in hope : Ps. xxxi. 19, ' Oh! how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men.' We have not one sin, but many sins ; not one misery, but many miseries ; therefore we have many mercies. The creatures are always in some necessity, and so are always an object of mercy. How many supports this life continually needeth ! all which the providence of God supplieth to us.