Isai. lxiii. 7. / will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestoived on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Lsrael, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving- kindnesses.
NOTHING conduces more to the production of true repentance than a view of the mercies of our God. A sight of sin only will often lead to despon- dency ; or, if attended with a determination to seek for mercy, will never melt the soul into deep contri- tion. It is the contrasted view of God's goodness, and of our own depravity, that alone begets ingenuous shame, and unfeigned self-abhorrence : it is from thence alone that we derive the complete knowledge
of our own vileness, and are enabled to maintain a hope of acceptance with God, notwithstanding all our desert of his wrath and indignation.
In the latter part of this chapter, and the whole of the next, we have a confession, which seems to have been drawn up for the use of the Church, when they should be in captivity in Babylon. But the prayer itself begins with the words of our text ; wherein we have an acknowledgment of God's unbounded good- ness to his people ; an acknowledgment, which is amplified and illustrated in the following verses by a variety of particulars. In this view it was an ex- cellent preparation for that self-abasement which they were to express in the subsequent confession.
We shall find it a profitable subject for our present contemplation to consider the loving-kindness of our God to us : and that we may confine our thoughts within a proper limit, we shall shew,
I. What there is in the loving-kindness of our God that deserves particular notice —
It is obvious, that the subject, taken in all its lati- tude, is absolutely inexhaustible. But by confining our attention to some prominent parts of it, we shall be enabled to form a just conception of the whole, without being distracted by too great a variety of par- ticulars. Let us then notice,
1. Its freeness and sovereignty —
[The freeness of God's mercies is that which constitutes their first and most distinguishing feature : without adverting to that, we can never have any just conception of them at all. If we suppose God to have any respect to human merit, and to confer his favours on account of that, we undermine the principal foundations of our gratitude, and take honour to our- selves in exact proportion as we ought to give glory unto him. But a very little reflection will suffice to shew us, that God is altogether sovereign in the distribution of his favours. Who made the difference between the apostate angels and fallen man? or what was there in us, rather than in them, that induced God to provide a Saviour for us, when no such mercy was vouchsafed to them ? Who has made the difference between the benighted Heathens and ourselves ? or wherein have we merited that God should send us the light of revelation, when