and that deserves not our serious consideration and acceptance! The neglect of it will justly bring a more severe punishment than the hell of the uninstructed heathens, who are strangers to supernatural mysteries.

THE MERCY OF GOD IN MAN'S REDEMPTION.

Though all the divine attributes are equal as they are in God, (for one infinite cannot exceed another,) yet in their exercise and effects, they shine with a different glory. And mercy is represented in scripture with peculiar advantages above the rest. It is God's natural offspring; he is styled the Father of mercies. It is his dear attribute, that which he places next to himself, he is proclaimed the Lord God gracious and merciful. It is his delight, mercy pleases him. It is his treasure, he is rich in mercy. It is his triumphant attribute, and the special matter of his glory, mercy rejoices over judgment. Now in the performance of our redemption, mercy is the predominant attribute, that sets all the rest a working. The acts of his wisdom, justice, and power, were in order to the illustration of his mercy. And if we duly consider that glorious work, we shall find in it all the ingredients of the most sovereign mercy.

This is the special commendation of divine love ; it doth not arise out of indigency, as created love, but out of fulness and redundancy. Our Saviour tells us there is none good but God; not only in respect of the perfection of that attribute, as it is in God in a transcendant manner, but as to the effects of his goodness, which are merely for the benefit of the receiver. He is only rich in mercy, to whom nothing is wanting, or profitable. The most liberal monarch doth not always give, for he stands in need of his subjects. And where there is an expectation

of service for the support of the giver, it is traffic, and no gift. Human affection is begotten, and nourished by something without, but the love of God is from within: the misery of the creature is the occasion, but the cause of it is from himself. And how free was that love, that caused the infinitelyblessed God to do so much for our recovery, as if his felicity were imperfect without ours!

The freeness of God's mercy is evident by considering there was no tie upon him to dispense it. Grace, strictly taken, differs from love: for that may be a debt, and without injustice not denied. There are inviolable obligations on children to love their parents; and duty lessens desert: the performance of it doth not so much deserve praise, as the neglect merits censure and reproof. But the love of God to man is a pure, free, and liberal affection, no way due. The grace of God, and the gift by grace, hath abounded unto many. The creation was an effusion of goodness, much more redemption. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created. It is grace that gave being to the angels, with all the prerogatives that adorn their natures: it is grace confirmed them in their original integrity. For God owes them nothing, and they are nothing to him. It was grace that placed Adam in Paradise, and made him as a visible God in the lower world. And if grace alone dispensed benefits to innocent creatures, much more to those who are obnoxious to justice: the first was free, but this is merciful.

In the creation, as there was no object to invite, so nothing repugnant to man's being and happiness: the dust of the earth did not merit such an excellent condition as it received from the pure bounty of God, but there was no moral unworthiness. But the grace of the gospel hath a different object, the wretched

and unworthy, and it produces different operations, it is healing and medicinal, ransoming and delivering, and hath a peculiar character among the divine attributes. It is goodness that crowns the angels, but it is mercy, the sanctuary of the guilty, and refuge of the miserable, that saves man. The scripture hath consecrated the name of grace in a special manner, to signify the most excellent and admirable favour of God in recovering us from our justly deserved misery. We are justified freely by his grace: by grace we are saved: grace and truth is come by Jesus Christ: it is the grace of God that brings salvation.

The love of God makes us amiable, but did not find us so. Redemption is a free favour, not excited by the worth of him that receives it, but the grace of him that dispenses it. There was not the least spark of love in man to God; notwithstanding his infinite beauty and bounty to us, yet we renewed acts of hostility against him every day. And it was the worst kind of hostility, arising from the hatred of God, and that for his holiness his most amiable perfection: yet then in his love he pitied us. The same favour bestowed on an enemy, is morally more valuable than given to a friend. For it is love that puts a price on benefits; and the more undeserved they are, the more they are endeared by the affection that gives them. Here is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. We were rebels against God, and at enmity with the Prince of Life, yet then he gave himself for us.

It will further appear that our salvation comes from pure favour, if we consider man not only as a rebellious enemy to God, but impotent and obstinate, without power to resist justice, and without affection to desire mercy. Sometimes the interest of a prince may induce him to spare the guilty, he may be compelled to pardon, whom he cannot punish. The

multitude is the greatest potentate. The sons of Zeruiah were too strong for David; and then it is not pity, but policy to suspend the judgment. But our condition is described by the apostle, that when we were sinners, and without strength, then Christ died for us. Man is a despicable creature, so weak that he trembles at the appearance of a worm, and yet so wicked that he lifts up his head against heaven. How unable is he to encounter with offended Omnipotence! How easily can God destroy him, when, by his sole word, he made him! If he unclasps his hand that supports all things, they will presently relapse into their first confusion. The whole world of sinners was shut up, utterly unable to repel or avoid his displeasure. And what amazing love is it to spare rebels that were under his feet! When a man finds his enemy, will he let him go well away? But God, when we were all at his mercy, spared and saved us.

Besides, rebels sometimes solicit the favour of their prince by their acknowledgments, their tears and supplications, the testimonies of their repentance; but man persisted in his fierce enmity, and had the weapons of defiance in his hands against his Creator; he trampled on his laws and despised his deity, yet then the Lord of Hosts became the God of peace.

God, in creating the world, formed two natures capable of his image and favour, to glorify and enjoy him, angels, and men; and placed them in the principal parts of the universe, heaven and earth.

The angels were the eldest offspring of his love, the purest productions of that supreme light: man in his best state was inferior to them. A great number of them kept not their first state of integrity and felicity. Their sin is intimated in scripture: Ordain not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil; that is, lest he

become guilty of that sin which brought a severe sentence on the devil. The Prince of darkness was } blinded with the lustre of his own excellences, and attempted upon the regalia of heaven, affecting an ⚫ independent state. He disavowed his Benefactor, enriched with his benefits. And in the same moment he, with his companions in rebellion, were banished from heaven. God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. Mercy did not interpose to avert or suspend their judgment, but immediately they were expelled from the divine presence. Their judgment is irreversible; they are under the blackness of darkness for ever. There is not the least glimpse of hope to allay their sorrows, no star-light to sweeten the horrors of their eternal night. They are servi pœnæ, that can never be redeemed. It were a kind of pardon to them to be capable of death; but God will never be so far reconciled, as to annihilate them. His anger shall be accomplished, and his fury rest upon them. Immortality, the privilege of their nature, infinitely increases their torment: for when the understanding, by a strong and active apprehension, hath a terrible and unbounded prospect of the continuance of their sufferings, that what is intolerable must be eternal, this inexpressibly exasperates their misery; there wants a word beyond death to set it forth. This is the condition of the sinning angels, and God might have dealt in as strict justice with rebellious man.

Although it was most consistent with the wisdom and justice of God, to conclude them under an irrevocable doom, yet the principal cause that inclined him to save man, was mere and perfect grace. The law made no distinction, but awarded

the same

punishment. Mercy alone made the difference; and the reason of that is in himself. Millions of them fell sacrifices to justice, and guilty