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OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST. 81
known ; — as his patience, long-suffering, and forbearance. For all things being made ^good, there could be no place for the exercise of any of these properties, or manifestation of them. The whole fabric of heaven and earth considered in itself, as at first created, will not discover any such thing as patience and forbearance in God;^ which yet are eminent properties of his nature, as himself proclaims and declares, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.
Wherefore the Lord goes farther ; and by the works of his provi- dence, in preserving and ruling the world which he made, discovers and reveals these properties also. For whereas by cursing the earth, and filling all the elements oftentimes with signs of his anger and indignation, he hath, as the apostle tells us, Rom. i. 18, "revealed from heaven his "vvrath against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men;" yet not proceeding immediately to destroy all things, he hath manifested his patience and forbearance to all. This Paul, Acts xiv. 16, 17, tells us: " He suffered all nations to walk in their own ways; yet he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness." A large account of his goodness and wis- dom herein the psalmist gives us, Ps. civ. throughout. By these ways he bare witness to his own goodness and patience ; and so it is said, " He endures with much long-suffering," etc., Rom. ix. 22. But now, here all the world is at a stand ; by all this they have but an obscure glimpse of God, and see not so much as his back parts. Moses saw not that, until he was put into Hhe rock ; and that rock was Christ. There are some of the most eminent and glorious properties of God (I mean, in the manifestation whereof he will be most glo- rious ; otherwise his properties are not to be compared) that there is not the least glimpse to be attained of out of the Lord Christ, but only by and in him; and some that comparatively we have no light of but in him ; and of all the rest no true light but by him : —
(1.) Of the first sort, whereof not the least guess and imagination can enter into the heart of man but only by Christ, are love and pardoning mercy: —
[1.] Love; I mean love unto sinners. Without this, man is of all creatures most miserable ; and there is not the least glimpse of it that can possibly be discovered but in Christ. The Holy Ghost says,
' Gen. i. 31.
' " Quamvis speciali cura atque indulgentia Dei, populum Israeliticura constat electuni, omuesque alias nationes suas vias ingredi, hoc est, secundum propiiam permissse sunt vivere voluntatem, non ita tauien se aeterna Creatoris bonitas ab illis hominibus avertit, ut eos ad cognoscendum atque metuendura nullis signifi- cationibus admoneret." — Prosp. de Vocat. Gent. 2, 4. " Coelum et terra, et omnia quae in eis sunt, ecce undique mihi dicunt nt te amcm, nee cessant dicere omni- bus, ut sint inexcusabiles." — August. Confess., lib. x. cap. 6.
* Exod. xxxiii. 22; 1 Cor. x. 4. VOL. II. 6
82 OF COMMUNION WITH THE SON JESUS CHRIST.
1 John iv. 8, 16, "God is love;" that is, not only of a loving and tender nature, but one that will exercise himself in a dispensation of his love, eternal love, towards us, — one that hath purposes of love for us from of old, and will fulfil them all towards us in due season. But how is this demonstrated? how may we attain an acquaintance with it? He tells us, verse 9, " In this was manifested the love of God, because that God sent liis only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." This is the only discovery that God hath made of any such property in his nature, or of any thought of exercising it towards sinners, — in that he hath sent Jesus Christ into the world, that we might live by him. Where now is the wise, where is the scribe, where is the disputer of this world, with all their ■wdsdom? Their voice must be that of the hypocrites in Zion, Isa. xxxiii. 14, 15. That wisdom which cannot teach me that God is love, shall ever pass for folly. Let men go to the sun, moon, and stars, to showers of rain and fruitful seasons, and answer truly what by them they learn hereof Let them not think themselves wiser or better than those that went before them, who, to a man, got nothing by them, but being left inexcusable.
[2.] Pardoning mercy, or grace. Without this, even his love would be fruitless. What discovery may be made of this by a sinful man, may be seen in the father of us all ; who, when he had sinned, had no reserve for mercy, but hid himself. Gen. iii. 8. He did it CiVn mi?^ when the wind did but a little blow at the presence of God ; and he did it foolishly, thinking to " hide himself among trees!" Ps. cxxxix. 7, 8. " The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," John i. 17, — grace in the truth and substance. Pardoning mercy, that comes by Christ alone ; that pardoning mercy which is manifested in the gospel, and wherein God will be glorified to all eternity, Eph. i. 6. I mean not that general mercy, that velleity of acceptance which some put their hopes in : ^ that rrd&oc (which to ascribe unto God is the greatest dishonour that can be done him) shines not with one ray out of Christ ; it is wholly treasured up in him, and re- vealed by him. Pardoning mercy is God's free, gracious acceptance of a sinner upon satisfaction made to his justice in the blood of Jesus ; nor is any discovery of it, but as relating to the satisfaction of justice, consistent with the glory of God. It is a mercy of inconceivable conde- scension in forgiveness, tempered with exact justice and severity. Rom. iii. 25, God is said " to set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness in the remission of sins;"