So other saints of God, when they have considered the foulness of sin, how odious it is to God, the}^ could not be quieted and comforted, but that they saw mercy, and abundance of mercy. As the apostle St Peter saith, ' Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, of his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to an inheritance, immortal,' &c., 1 Pet. i. 3.
' God is the Father of mercies.' For faith will not have sufficient footing, but in infinite mercy. In the time of despair, in the time of torment of conscience, in the time of desertion, it must be mercy, and ' the Father of mercies,' and multitudes of compassions, and bowels of love ; and all little enough for faith to fix on, the faith of a conscience on the rack. But when faith considers of God set out — not as Satan sets him forth, a God of ven- geance, a ' consuming fii-e,' Heb. xii. 29, — when faith considers God pictured out in the gospel, it sees him the Father of Christ and our Father, and the Father of mercies and God of comfort, foith seeing infinite mercy in an infinite God ; and seeing mercy triumph against justice, and all other attri- butes, here faith hath some footing, and stays itself, or else the converted, sanctified soul, seeing the odiousnessof sin, and the clamorousnessof sin, such that it will not be satisfied, but with abundant mercy ; and God must be pre- sented to it as a ' Father of mercy ' and compassion, before it can have peace.
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88 COMMENTARY ON
Thorofore, if so bo at any time our conscience bo awakened, and the devil l;iy« luircl to us, let us think of God as ho hath made himself known in his word, as a ' Father of mercies and God of comfort,' represent him to our souls, as ho represents himself in his word. Times of desertion, when we seem to be forsaken of God, will enforce this. Times of desertion will come, when the soul will think God hath forgotten to be merciful, and hath shut up his love in displeasure. Oh, no ! he is the Father of mercy, he never shuts up his bowels altogether, ho never stops the spring of his mercy. He d(jth to our feeling, but it is his mercy that ho doth that ; it is his mercy that he hinders the sense of mercy. He doth that in mercy. It is to make us more capable of mercy afterward.
Therefore, saith the Father, when ho comes to us in his love, and the sense of it, it is for our good ; and when ho takes the sense of his love from us, it is for our good. For when ho takes away the sense of his love from us, it is to enlarge our souls to be more capable of mercy after, to prize it more, to walk warily, and jealously, to look to our corruptions better. Therefore in the time of desertion think of this, when God seems to forget us. ' Can a mother forget her child?' Isa. xlix. 15. Suppose she should be so unnatural as to do it, which can hardly be believed, that a mother should forget her child, ' Yet notwithstanding I will not forget you ; ' you are ' written upon the palms of my handa,' ver. IG, that is, I have you alway in my eye. So that if there were no mercies to be found in nature, no bowels to be found in a mother (where usually they are most abundant), yet notwithstanding there is mercy to be found in ' the Father of mercies ' still. Therefore in such times let us make use of this.
And another thing that we ought to learn hence is this, if God be so in Christ Jesus, for we must alway put that in, for he is merciful with satis- faction. And yet it is his mercy that he would admit of satisfaction. His mercy devised a way to content justice. His mercy set all on work. Mercy is above justice in the work of salvation. Justice hath received content- ment from mercy. But that by the way, to make us have higher thoughts of mercy, than any other attribute of God in the doctrine of the gospel, in that kingdom of Christ. It is a Idngdom of grace and mercy, if we have hearts to embrace it.
Let this encourage us to come to God, and to cast ourselves into the arms of this merciful Father. If we have lived in other courses before, let the mercy of God work upon our souls. In Eom. ii. 4, it is pressed there excellently. ' This mercy of God should lead us to repentance,' it should encourage us. What makes a thief or a traitor come in, when thex'e is pro- clamation out against him? If there be a pardon sent after him, it makes him come in, or else he runs out still further and further, while the hue and cry pursues him. But hope of mercy and pardon will bring him in again. So it is that that brings vis in again to God, the very hope of mercy and pardon. If we be never so ill, or have been never so ill, do not put off, but take this day now; ' Now is the time,' now, ' while it is called to-day,' Ps. xcv. 7, 8, take the present time. Here is our error, if God be ' the Father of mercy,' I will cry him mercy at the hour of death. Aye, thou mayest go to hell with mercy in thy mouth. He is merciful to those that truly repent. But how dost thou know that thy repentance on thy deathbed will be true ? It is not sorrow for sickness, and grief for death, and fear of that. But there must be a hatred of sin. And how shall conscience tell thee now thou hast repented, that it is a hating of thy sinful courses, rather than the fear of damnation ? that is rather ' from the sense of grief. Conscience will