---- CHAPTER VI: What is imported by the name Jehovah made use of in this proclamation of mercy, Exo
from hence I may well conclude that this publication of mercy was accounted the basis or foundation of Old Testament mercies on God's part, and faith on theirs, in all the after ages of it.
You see I have traversed this from Moses to the last of Scripture records. And though a thousand other promises had been given between, yet still this is above all rehearsed, as the original of all other. So as I may well conclude it to have been a main article of the Old Testament creed.
CHAPTER VI
What is imported by the name Jehovah made use of in this proclamation of mercy, Exod. 34:6, 7.
That as it signifies God's infinite essence, it denotes the subject of all those mercies which are in him.—That this name of God, Jehovah, doth best suit, and is most fitly joined with those epithets merciful and gracious.—What supports of faith may he derived from these two, Jehovah and merciful, joined together.
Having thus shewed that the mercies of God's nature, as proclaimed in Exod. 34, are the great object and support of faith, I now come to the description itself in this his proclamation, and which is God's picture drawn by his own pencil, as far as words could render it; the smaller models whereof David and the prophets drew, as I have shewn, and wore next their hearts, as men wear precious medals of their friends upon their breasts.
It is suavissima concio, as one* styles it, the sweetest sermon that ever was preached, and preached by God himself, upon the highest subject, and therefore the richest text the whole Bible affords. It is maxime insignis naturæ Dei descriptio, the most renowned and signal description of the nature of God.
Dr Preston hath singularly displayed the glory of God set out in this delineation, as altogether most lovely, but his scope was to win the souls of men to love him (which the reader may consult as he thinks meet), but my design in this explication which follows is to consider it as it is a ground for and support of faith, to draw men to believe, which was God's original and primary purpose in this his first delivery of it, though it as fully conduceth to that other end also.
And we have example for disposing it to either of these purposes, the prophet David having penned two Psalms, more eminently
appropriated by him to himself as his own: the one enstyled David's prayer, though many other psalms are prayers—it is Psalm 86; the other, David's praise, Ps. 145, no psalms else in their titles bearing these ensigns of honour but these two, the first his tephilla, the latter his tehilla; in each of those he makes a solemn rehearsal of these very words in Moses. In the first, Ps. 86, he brings them in as they were a support unto his faith in his distresses from sins and miseries, to which use he puts them, ver. 3, 4, 6, and 7. And again, ver. 16, 17, he makes a plea of these words by way of prayer (which is exercising faith) in that distressed condition. In the second, Ps. 145, he brings them in as they are an elogium or celebration of the glorious nature and excellencies of God, to excite the sons of men to love and praise him. And upon the like design he doth again resume them in a rehearsal in Ps. 103. Now as that worthy man fore-mentioned made this latter his design, so I shall take the first for mine. And yet as David, in those places specified, culls out and takes only what of God's words concerned his mercies, leaving out the threatening part, as that of 'visiting the iniquities of the fathers on their children,' so shall I insist only on the mercies of God therein promulged, that being the sole subject of my pursuance.
The materials of this description I reduce to two parts, which of themselves the words fall into.
1. Quis sit, who he is, and what proper name or names of his it is, of which and under which he makes this proclamation of himself. It is
Jehovah, Jehovah, twice repeated, translated 'the Lord, the Lord;' to which is added El, 'the strong God.'
2. Qualis est, what a God he is. This is expressed in those several perfections that follow, attributed to him, which we usually call properties and attributes; as that he is strong, merciful, and gracious,
&c. Or if you will, 1st, That name Jehovah notes his infinite essence, as the substratum of those attributes.
2dly, The other that follow set out those perfections of that essence, as merciful, &c.
I. Who? Jehovah.
There are of those proper names of God which signify (and we so translate them) God or Lord, three that are most eminent, and all three revealed to Moses.
1. Ehije, I am: first mentioned, Exod. 3:14.
2. Jehovah, Exod. 6:3.
3. The abridgment of Jehovah, Jah: Exod. 15:2, 'Jah is my strength,' first there used.
And these are the chiefest names of God, and for substance signified one and the same thing. 1. And all of them, Jehovah especially, are the chiefest names, proper to God alone, and never given, or to be given (as other names are) to any creature: Ps. 83:18, 'That men may know, that thou whose name alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.' And of Jah it is said, it is that name by which God will especially be exalted: Ps. 68:4, 'Sing unto God, sing praises to his name; extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jah.'* 2.
They all three of them signify that God is being, being fulness of being, the original of all being. They all speak absolute essence and existence alone, and of himself.
Jehovah, therefore, is of all other names placed here designedly, as the seat and subject of these attributes that follow; for as this name speaks him to be the whole of being, so these attributes speak the excellencies and perfections of that divine being, and are but particular explications and decipherings of what a God he is that entitleth himself Jehovah, or I am.
But, 2 (which is more to my purpose), the first revelation of it with God's own comment made upon it, was to betoken, and be a sign of
mercy, and in a more especial design. And primum being mensura reliquorum, the first, the pattern or measure of what follows it, therefore Jehovah, of all other names, doth best suit and join with merciful and gracious. Now that it was first given and revealed as a token and signal of grace and mercy, is evident thus.
When God first appeared to Moses in the burning bush, Exod. 3, and had thus told him, ver. 7–11, 'And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task-masters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; and to the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.' Moses thereupon, to obtain a farther information and confirmation from God of his intentions of grace to that people, particularly desires to know by what name he should represent him unto them, ver. 13–15: 'And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of our fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.' Ainsworth, penetrating into the mystery of this question and petition, conceives Moses's drift therein to be to draw forth from God more fully and explicitly, whether he sent him upon a message of mercy (pure mercy), or for judgment (as in the issue it might prove); and that he would signify so much by some special
name he would please to assume, to testify so much thereby. And in answer unto Moses, God first there tells him his name was Ehijeh,
&c, 'I am that I am,' ver. 14. And this was his first answer unto Moses's request. Now this Ehijeh is in signification for substance the same with this of Jehovah.
Therefore, again, when a second time God was pleased to renew his instructions to this his ambassador (the most extraordinary of any other until Christ came) in Exod. 6, still in further answer thereunto,
God says, ver. 1–7, 'And Jehovah said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do unto Pharaoh; for by a strong hand shall he send them away, and by a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.
And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty; but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
And also I established my covenant with them, to give unto them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, in the which they sojourned. And also I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in servitude, and I have remembered my covenant. Therefore say thou unto the sons of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of your servitude: and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments; and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.' God in this declaration puts over the whole of that covenant, and these mercies thereof, and his purposes therein, unto the import and memorial of his name Jehovah, to signify so much to them, and doth farther lay that as his gage, to inform them thus at the close of all, ver. 8: 'And I will bring you in unto the land which I did lift up my hand to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for an heritage: I am
Jehovah.' This last clause, 'I am Jehovah,' I look upon to be put in at last, as one useth to do his name and seal unto a covenant or deed
(such as this is) for performance; so God he subscribes unto all, 'I am Jehovah;' all hath this seal, as the apostle elsewhere speaks.
Now the ground upon which Ainsworth affixeth this meaning upon that question of Moses, chap. 3:13 (besides that God himself, in the 7th verse of that chapter hath solemnly assured us, that he did electively give, and designed himself this name unto these graceful ends and purposes), his ground I say is this (as in his note on the 13th verse of the 3d chapter he declares), that Moses understood that God by names might, or was wont to manifest his works. So the Hebrews teach upon this place (says he), that when God judgeth his creatures, he is called Elohim (God), Sabaoth (Lord of Hosts); when he doth mercy unto the world he is called Jehovah, as in Exod. 34:6,
'Jehovah, Jehovah, God merciful and gracious.'
You see the sense which the Jews themselves do put upon it, and how that they refer us to this very text, 'Jehovah, merciful, gracious,'
&c. And surely if God himself did so expressly assume this name as a sign and seal of his gracious covenant, and the mercies thereof, &c., then that in this new proclamation of grace and gospel-mercies he should to a greater emphasis double it, 'Jehovah, Jehovah, gracious,'
&c., surely it was electively and designedly done, to shew that this name (of all other) should bear the flag and colours of mercy.
And let us farther join to all these this one remark, that in that deliverance specified in those chapters, Exod. 3 and 6, their redemption out of Egypt (which was the occasion of God's first revelation and application of that name to the mercy of that deliverance, put afterwards into the commandments), God had therein an higher aim unto that mercy promised their fathers to be performed by Christ, of whom as Moses was the type, so this deliverance was of that redemption performed by Christ, Luke 1:72.
And I am Jehovah, is the gage to the performance of both, the latter as well as the former. We may see reason, then, why that when God cometh to proclaim his gospel-mercies more illustriously (as here he doth, if anywhere in the Old Testament, yea, in the whole Scripture), he should make his proclamation of them under his great and chiefest name Jehovah, as the great standard-bearer of those transcendent mercies.
2. And what if in the New Testament you find (conform to what is here) this his name Jehovah expressly assigned as the fountain of the whole of his grace, as the spring likewise of peace, which is the whole of spiritual, yea, all, blessings? And yet thus we do expressly find it; and in the last book of the New Testament, which puts the farther weight upon this notion. 'Grace and peace' had been often wished in other Epistles of the New Testament from God, as 'the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ,' &c.; but in Rev. 1:4, 'grace and peace' is prayed for 'from him who is, and which was, and which is to come.' This directly points us unto these very places in Exodus, 3d and 6th chapters, where the name Jehovah is used, and which we have explained as the most judicious interpreters do generally observe, and our worthy translators have in their marginal citations referred us.* And as his name Jah is the brief of Jehovah, so he that is, he that was, and he that is to come, is, in words at length, the un-deciphering of the same name Jehovah, of which afterwards. Now, from God as such, that is, as Jehovah, is the whole of gospel grace at once wished and prayed for, this name being the ground and original of the gospel itself, and of all the mercies of it.
Use. And ere we go any farther, let us here stand and wonder at the thought that this name, of all other names, this 'great and terrible name, by which he chooseth to be exalted, Ps. 68:4, that this great name, as Jer. 44:26, which is so terrible and so holy (as, Ps. 99:3, he meaneth this name there, for it is that name which was made known to Moses and Aaron, as it follows there, verse 6, whereby we are referred to those very passages in Exodus, 3d and 6th chapters), that name so terrible to the Jews for these many hundreds of years, that they have not dared to pronounce it, and is called his 'dreadful name among the heathens,'* Mal. 1:14, that this should be made the basis, the subject, the signal of so much grace; this must needs (in the very entrance) afford us strong consolation, in that out of the strong should come forth sweetness, Judges 14:14. And the reason hereof doth hold forth this, that God accounts mercy to be his greatest attribute (at least in the name Jah), as Jehovah his greatest name,
which he hath chosen to be the special subject of mercy and grace as the predicate.
The inquiry next will be, what special particular affinities there are between this great name Jehovah and the mercies of God, or rather
(as being more close to our purpose) what special supports of faith (the aim of my subject) may be fetched from the blessed and intimate conjunction of these two, Jehovah and merciful, put together? I answer, much every way. I shall instance but in some few, leaving it to others to enlarge unto more on this argument.
1. This great name wholly and abstractly speaks being itself: 'I am Jehovah;' that is, I have fulness of being, I am an immense sea of being, and am all, and in whole, very being itself. That then God should put Jehovah, and merciful, and gracious together, what is the result hereof? and what would God have us to understand thereby, but that his mercies have being itself for their root and foundation, not only that mercies are with him, but that they have a very being itself to rely upon, whilst we rely upon them? So as look what
Wisdom, or Christ (who is Jehovah), in the Proverbs says of himself —Prov. 8:21, 'I cause those that love me to inherit substance,'—the same (God thus inviting us to believe on Jehovah, merciful) may we as confidently say, that we believe upon what is substance, upon substantial mercies. And hence it is that even our faith, when pitched on God, is alone dignified (and no other kind of knowledge is so) with the title of ὑπὸστασις, subsistence or reality, Heb. 11:1, and said to be our rest. For why, God himself is the ultimate object of it, 1
Peter 1:22, and basis of its reliance; as also his Son Christ, they being subsistence and reality. And to this purpose you find these his names, Jah, Jehovah (which is indeed Jehovah doubled or repeated twice as here), to be put under the feet of our faith as a firm rock of being to stand upon: Isa. 26:4, 'Trust in the Lord for ever: for in Jah
Jehovah is the rock of ages.' So in the original; and the translators have here signally, on set purpose, put JEHOVAH in capital letters.
They might have done so by Jah also, which they translate 'the Lord;' for it is not singly Jehovah, but accompanied with Jah, which is
being, and being itself. And he fetcheth this out of these two names, that he is therefore a rock, and a 'rock of ages,' whom we may therefore perfectly trust on; for in the relation he speaks this in the verse before, 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee;' unto which perfectly answers that of the apostle, 1
Peter 1:13, 'Trust perfectly on the grace revealed' (so in the margin also). And why? Because in trusting on that grace you have being itself for the foundation, Jehovah, gracious, who is the first being, and therefore the lowest foundation, on which all that is built stands firm.
2. Jehovah imports that God only is, or alone hath true being in him.
For why else doth he appropriate this name Jehovah to himself alone as incommunicable unto creatures, since all his creatures are but æquivocè entia, shadows or pictures of being, not true being itself; as a man's picture is called a man equivocally, and not in a true sense.
And as their being is but a shadow of being, such are all the mercies in them but equivocally mercies, in comparison unto the mercies that are in God, who is Jehovah, merciful, in whom his mercies have being, or rather are himself. So that it must be said that God alone is
'merciful and gracious,' as truly as Christ says that God alone is good, for mercy is but a branch of goodness. That Jehovah is merciful as God, not as creatures, I shall have occasion afterwards to pursue this more fully.
If therefore we at any time think we may have any degree of confidence upon the mercies and pities that are in creatures, even such as are in nearest and dearest relation to us, as fathers, &c., of whom Christ says, 'Though evil, they yet know how to give good things to their children,' and so likewise to pity them, then how much more may we be encouraged to rely on God, who is an heavenly
Father to us, the only true and loving Father, as he only is the true and living God, and is withal styled 'the Father of mercies,' 2 Cor. 1:3.
And his mercies are true and living mercies, as himself is. That passage in Ps. 86:10, 'Thou art God alone,' will be found eminently to be spoken as a magnifying of him, in relation to his mercy (if the 5th
and 15th verses be compared with it); and indeed it is the main current of that whole psalm, of which hereafter; so as we may say he is merciful alone. And if sins come to be pardoned, there God's mercies solely and alone can stand us in any stead, not only because that God alone can pardon sins committed against himself, the great sovereign Being, nor can any creature have any influence thereinto
—'none can forgive sins but God,' Luke 5:21—but besides, for this, that he alone hath mercy great enough in him to do it. The creatures have not mercy sufficient enough in them, great sins they could not find in their hearts to pardon; so great an iniquity, if to themselves, as sin is against God, they cannot forgive: 'Who is a God like unto our
God, pardoning iniquity?' &c.
The inference and direction to our faith from hence is, as to trust perfectly on him (as before), so only and alone upon him: 'My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock,' Ps. 62:5, 6; all one as to say, he only hath firmness of being, whom my soul can build upon; and therefore he is my salvation. If any creature had all the goodness and clemency, mercy and grace, that is diffused throughout the whole of intelligent natures, angels and men, it were not to be relied upon, but being laid in the balance with God, he were 'altogether lighter than vanity,' as it follows there, ver. 9. And the reason is correspondent, if in their being they are vanity—Isa. 40:17, 'All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity,'—then in their goodness much more. And as God only is being, so only to be relied on as merciful. Yea, if your own graces, that are in your own hearts, though wrought by God's Spirit, even that mercy and kindness which you have for yourselves, whom you love so much, yet are no way to be trusted in, but are as to such a purpose lighter than vanity, and would fail but for his mercy, the maintainer of them, then much more all that is in all creatures else whatever.
I shall after have occasion to shew, that the ground for all this exhortation, thus only to trust in God, is, in the latter end of this very
psalm, centred upon, and referred to the words of this proclamation, my text, in verses 11, 12.
3. Jehovah imports that his being is of himself, ἀυτοῶν, ἀυτοφυης, and such is Jehovah as merciful, or his saving mercies; and indeed all his mercies whatsoever, they flow and proceed wholly from himself, having no motive but from what is in himself, either as to the persons to whom, or as to the things and mercies bestowed. For although to be merciful is his nature, yet the dispensation or giving forth of mercy is from his will; and that which his will is guided by is the good pleasure of his will, Eph. 1:5, and according as he is pleased to 'purpose within himself, verse 9, you may observe is this, 'I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful.' This is the royal preface and effort unto this proclamation of his nature,* in which he speaks but himself to be Jehovah, merciful, or the possessor of all being. And that looking as Jehovah, he is Lord of being itself, so the Lord of all his mercies themselves; and that as his being is of himself, so that his shewing mercy is from himself. And all reason is there for it; for his mercies, whence these acts of mercy flow, are himself; and also where and to whom his saving mercies go, himself goes with them.
He bestows his whole self on whomsoever he bestoweth them. This you expressly find, Isa. 43:25, 'I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins;' i.e., I that am what I am, Jehovah, am he that doth it, and I do it of myself. He resolves it wholly into himself, and as moved by nothing but himself, so as he assumes this thing to himself, and takes it wholly on himself. The prophet Ezekiel, chap. 36 ver. 22, thus expresseth it, 'I do not this for your sakes, but for my own holy name's sake.' And again, lest they should not take in the weight of this sufficiently at once saying, he repeats it, and withal leaves a smart and round memento behind him for them to think on, why they should consider it: ver. 32, not for your sakes do I this, 'be it known to you.' And this there spoken of was the cleansing them from their sins, ver. 25; and giving them a new heart and saving repentance, ver. 26, 31; mercies to salvation all of them. And that clause at the close of all, its being known to them, rounds them in
with a witness. And by a good token of the clean contrary in yourselves do you remember (says he): ver. 31, 'Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities, and for your abominations.' Thus mercy comes over them with a triumph, as sinners confounded even with their being pardoned; as elsewhere it is said, that 'mercy rejoiceth against judgment.'
4. Jehovah imports him in general to be the fountain of all being to all things else that have being, and him to be the original Being, other things but derivative; so the best and noblest, highest sort or rank of beings, do derive their original, and hold their dependence entirely upon Jehovah, as he is gracious and merciful. And therefore
Jehovah, merciful are well joined together, seeing it is grace and mercy that gives being to the most transcendent works of God.
Those of our redemption, the first sort of beings, that hold their copies of him, are the works of his first creation, of which himself thus speaks, Isa. 66:1, 2, 'All these things have my hands made,' pointing to heaven and earth, this visible world, and all therein. And all 'those things have been' (says he); that is, by this same hand of mine all these things exist and have a being, as you also have it Acts
17:25, 28; or all these things 'continue in being,' as elsewhere the word is used. And this is dictum Jehovæ, the saying of Jehovah; and it is as if he had said, You all that have being and existence hold of me in capite, as I am Jehovah. But there is another, an higher rank of beings, that holds of him as he is Jehovah, gracious and merciful.
And such a superior kind of beings God himself there intimates in saying, with difference from those other makes or beings, 'To him will I look' (or 'but to those will I look') 'that is of poor and contrite spirit, and trembles at my word;' that is, who hath a gracious heart, of which, and all that belong to it, Jehovah as merciful is the founder.
And the dilating on this being full and pertinent to the notion in hand, and tending so much to the glory of our Jehovah, and the mercy of him, I shall enlarge upon this division of these two ranks, as
taking up and dividing between them the whole breadth of beings, as both the Scriptures and the schoolmen abundantly shew.
1st, The schoolmen reduced all things derivative from God as the fountain unto two orders. The first is ordo naturæ, the order of things in nature, which are those by the first creation, which are continued in existence by common providence, whereof God in the prophet there first speaks. Secondly, ordo gratiæ, the order of things in grace, which are wholly supernatural, which also the prophet there insinuates, with distinction of one from the other.
2dly, The Scripture also itself speaks the difference of their productions, as when it speaks of some things 'not made with hands, and not of this building,' Heb. 9:11; that is, not of this ordinary make, by the first creation or common providence, of which God also so slightly and undervaluingly had spoken in that of Isaiah, 'These things my hands have made; but,' &c.
(1.) For the proof of this I will instance in the highest of that rank, in the order of grace, and things supernatural, the head of them all, viz.,
Christ's human nature, in its advancement by personal union with the Son of God; ay, and Christ's body too, as having been conceived by the Holy Ghost, Heb. 9:11, where it is said that hereby he became an high priest 'by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to gay, not of this building.' Also as to the work of grace wrought by a new creation in the heart of a sinner (which is the image of Christ with difference from that of Adam), as it is said to be
'a new creature,' so the way of producing it is said to be a new creation 'made without hands,' Col. 2:11. And this new creature, with the whole system of things belonging to it, is called another new world, or beings of another kind. And, (2.) All those things appertaining to this order of grace have the name and nature of being as truly as those other: 'of him' (that is, of God) 'you are in Christ Jesus,' 1 Cor. 1:30; i.e., you have another being founded in Christ de novo, anew. You have your existence in
him; God declares himself there the founder of a new creation, and Christ to be the head of it. And these things that are by this new creation, he sets in opposition to all else of the old creation, and that are the highest perfections of them, in saying he brings to nought things that are by things that are not, which he nameth anew to be of him.
(3.) And these things of the new creation are an higher and more transcendent kind of beings (not only a differing being), and are so in God's esteem; for in that place of Isaiah he speaks of the greatest things of the first creation, pointing to them undervaluingly', 'All these things have my hand made;' but 'unto him will I look,' and have respect, and my eye is upon, that is of my new creation. And of Christ's human nature (in that Heb. 9:11), though it be made of the same stuff we are all made of, yet because it was brought forth by this new way of creation, he terms it 'a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands.'
(4.) All things of the new creation hold their existence of Jehovah upon this title of Jehovah, gracious. 'Of him ye are in Christ Jesus,' says the apostle; but of him as Jehovah, gracious and merciful, says the prophet; for the apostle refers us for the proof of this unto Jer.
9:23, 24, 'Thus saith Jehovah, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,' &c.: 'but let him that glories glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah which exercise loving-kindness, and judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Jehovah.' To this place the apostle refers us, as appears by his next verse: ver. 31, 'That according as it is written,' says he, 'He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.' He hath
Jehovah and Jehovah over and again, and him as exercising lovingkindness, and so as merciful (in which he delights), as the foundation of this new being in Christ: 'Of him ye are in Christ Jesus,' whereof this he brings as the proof.
And this is the account given why he assumes the name Jehovah, as if he had never been known by that name before; though we find it in
Moses from the very 2nd of Genesis, and so on, often used, yet our most judicious commentators say that it was to signify he came to give being to his promises. He had made promises before, made a covenant, promised that good land, which he had done under other names; but now, says he, I come to shew myself Jehovah, in giving being to those promises and that covenant, to give existence to them.
Which is all founded on this, that his name Jehovah is not only to shew that he hath being in himself, but to give being to all things else, but especially to his covenant of mercy and grace, whereof those things were the types.
In the New Testament, this is the founder of this new rank of beings in grace, as 'Jehovah merciful' is sot out by that blessed title, more suitable to the expression of the New Testament, of his being 'the Father of mercies;' that is, the conditor or author novi ordinis: 2 Cor.
1:3, 'Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comforts.' His being Father of all gospel mercies is set next to his being the Father of Christ, because of him we are in Christ Jesus what we are in grace. This his title of 'Father of mercies' bears two senses:
1. That he is a merciful Father, it being an Hebraism, say some, as when he is called the 'Father of glory,' &c.; that is, a glorious Father.
And in that he says of mercies in the plural, this intends or augments the emphasis of it. It is as if he had said, he is summè misericors, he is a most merciful Father in the highest degree. Thus Beza, Grotius, and others.
2. He becomes the author and original of all gospel mercies that are founded in Christ, having taken on him first the relation of a father to us in Christ, mercies being here taken for the effects of mercy, as often in Scripture the word mercies is used for merciful effects or benefits. And the word ὀικτιρμῶν, in Latin miserationes, doth properly signify the gracious effects flowing from mercy in God, which are called his mercies, and so do differ from ἔλεος, which signify the mercy that is seated in the heart of God himself.* And
mercies being thus understood, when it is said he is the Father of mercies, it implies he is a Father that gives being to those mercies, as a father doth to his child. And they are the mercies of the gospel, and all the mercies of the gospel in Christ, which here he especially and apart intends; for he speaks of such mercies, which he bestows as he is the Father of Christ, as well as he is the Father of mercies, as the words following imply, 'the God of all comfort,' and therefore likewise the Father of all mercies.
Now of these mercies or benefits of this new rank of beings which God, as Jehovah merciful, is the Father of, there are two sorts:
1st, Such as impress something on us, work some real new being in us, which we call a physical change.
2dly, There are privileges granted us, which work a mighty change in us in our state and condition before the Lord. The first are such as when he makes us holy, and the like, and such were most of the benefits of the first creation, when we were framed and formed first out of nothing. But the greatest benefits in grace do impress nothing upon us, make no physical change (though such a change is the consequent of them), and yet are things of the greatest make, and have the greatest reality in them, and the title of creation given to them. The first sort are like unto that, that he will at the resurrection
'change our vile bodies into the likeness of his glorious body,' in Phil.
3:21, which is done 'according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself.' But the latter are ἐξουσίαι, they are privileges; as in John 1 it is said, he gave us ἐξουσίαν, power, or right, or privilege (as it is in the margin) to become the sons of God.
And answerably (to explicate this), there is a twofold power in God.
First, That which we call potentia, whereby he is the author of all those works which flow from mere power and force, whereby he made the world. But, secondly, there is potestas, dominion or sovereignty; and the acts of this kind of power, or sovereignty, by which he makes things that are not, to be, of the two are the greater, far greater than the other. The greatest works in the order of grace
are of sovereignty's make; you may see it by that in kings, who have no more physical power than other men; by their own hands they can work no more than another man, yet they can do strange acts of another kind, which flow from their sovereignty: they can make knights, create noblemen, set up favourites, which are called their creatures; which actings of theirs are not by any internal workings on the person, but by external works as to the person, that resides in their own breast, and then expressed and put forth: and yet they are as real effects in their kind as any other.
You may see these two different works in that, 1 Cor. 1:30, where Christ is said to be made righteousness to us, and sanctification to us. Righteousness of justification is a work of God upon us, but sanctification is a working holiness in us; and yet each of these have the title of being given to them, 'Of him ye are in Christ Jesus, who is made both these to you.' I shall only enlarge upon the latter of these two, namely, that these outward privileges have yet the most real being in them; which will also appear by the consequents that follow.
Thus, in Scripture phrase, God's advancing to an office or dignity is said to be a making or constituting: thus Ex. 7:1, 'The Lord said to Moses, See I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.' And 1 Sam. 12:6, 'The Lord advanced'
(that is, made) 'Moses and Aaron,' and set them up in those offices, furnishing them with gifts suitable. Thus, Mark 3:14, it is said, 'Christ ordained twelve,' apostles namely; the word is 'made' them. He prefers them to that office out of grace; for in Rom. 1:5 it is called
'grace and apostleship.' These were acts of grace, making of them, or constituting of them in an outward office, the consequence whereof was enabling them with such and such gifts; but the office was but an external privilege with authority. Now, there are many of the greatest blessings or benefits we receive in Christ that are an external preferring us unto a dignity, an high privilege, in which the benefit mainly consists, but hath for its concomitant and its consequence the most real effects of any other. And the privilege itself hath a transcendent being in itself, and they are bestowed upon us by way of
a creation, or God's making or calling us so to be, according to what is said, Rom. 4:17, 'God calls those things that are not as though they were,' and gives them being. From this general I give particular instances.
First, That we should be the people of God. His calling us to be so is his making us so by way of privilege, from the contrary state wherein we were, of not being his people till he is pleased to call us so; and this is answerable unto a new creation of mercy: 1 Pet. 2:10, 'Who in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.' This was done by calling, ver. 9. Here is a change wrought in our state and condition, analogous to that political change which a king makes in a man when he prefers him; and this wholly the effect of mercy, 'who have obtained mercy;' and hereof the Scripture uses the same phrase of making us his people, as truly as it is used of the old creation: Ps.
100:3, 'Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that made us, and not we ourselves, his people;' that is, made us his people. He speaks in distinction from the first make, and it is founded on this, that he gives us this new being as he is Jehovah, as he is God, and this is done by way of preferment or exaltation. That in Deut. 32:6, 'Is not God thy Father? hath he not made thee, and established thee?' in Acts 13:17 is thus expressed, 'The God of his people Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people.'
Secondly, He hath called us to be the sons of God: it is but a title and privilege in itself, as out of John 1:12 I shewed. He gave them ἐξουσίαν to become the sons of God, as a privilege by patent; as also to be heirs and co-heirs with Christ, as in Rom. 8:17. But this in the consequents of it appears to have the greatest being to follow upon it; it hath so in itself; but I say it doth appear, it will appear one day to have so: 1 John 3:1, 'Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be.' What will be the consequent of it? 'But we know that when he shall appear, we shall he like him, for we shall see him as he is.' And
it is but the Father's calling us to be his sons. What is that? It is but giving us that relation upon his own saying, we shall be so. It is calling us what we were not to be now what we are; and his saying we shall be his sons, it is but an act external upon us; and yet this hath the greatest reality of being flowing from it, and contained in it.
Thirdly, It is thus also in justification. It is but calling us from what we are not, yea, from the contrary, to be righteous in his righteousness, by the power and dominion of him that is Jehovah, the fountain of being, who says to an ungodly person, 'Thou art righteous,' and in saying it makes him such: Rom. 5:19, 'By the obedience of one many shall be made (or constituted) righteous.'
This is a matter of the greatest reality, and hath the firmest being in it, and yet is but an act external upon us; the soul in itself hath no being as to this righteousness, for God justifies it as ungodly; it hath no such being, but God gives it, and gives it by an act that is external to us, answering to that forensical act of pronouncing a man innocent at the bar.
The second sort of beings or blessings of grace are such as do impress something upon us, and their beings consist wholly in such an impression. As when God comes to a soul that is nothing but sin, and gives it a new heart, and a new spirit, and it becomes a workmanship created to good works, this he does by working this new creature in it, by internal changing our corrupt hearts, as one day he will do our vile bodies. These, and all such effects, are but the fruits of Jehovah merciful.
3dly, There is a third sort of this rank of mercies which are imminent* in the heart of God, which are called his thoughts of peace and mercy, Isa. 55:7, 8, which in Ps. 40:5, Christ says, are infinite for multitude towards us, being continued, fixed in him from everlasting: Jer. 29:11, 'I know the thoughts that I think towards you.'
And these I call imminent* in himself, according to that Eph. 1:9, 11, 'which he purposed in himself.'
There are also a middle between his purposes in himself, and the execution of them upon us, all which are called mercies. There are also promises which are his promises of mercy, a middle between both, and unto all these he gives a being as he is Jehovah merciful:
'All the promises of God are yea and amen,' 2 Cor. 1:20. And that these in Christ are said to be Amen, it imports they have a real being and existence; for what is Amen but 'so be it;' so that he sets to his promises answerably, 'Let it be so' (which was the word at the first creation, and it was so), and so shall these promises one day be.
But what do I, treating of these little makes of grace, mercy in and upon, and towards us, that shew Jehovah gracious and merciful, in giving a being to them all, while I am to give instances of a far greater make and being that flow from Jehovah gracious to be sure? for it is the grace of union we now speak of.
1. What say you to Jesus Christ, that new thing? Jer. 31:22, Jehovah 'created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man;' that man of men, that strong man Jesus, conceived in the womb of that virgin in Nazareth, a city of the ten tribes, whom therefore he exhorts to return. Now take Jesus Christ as God-man and mediator, and all of him from top to toe, and all he was made of, it is all of God, out of grace, I will not say of mercy. That the Son of God should take that flesh was a new thing, which I need not insist on.
2. As his person, so all his offices were all made things by Jehovah gracious: Acts 2:36, 'That all the house of Israel may assuredly know, that he hath made that same Jesus Lord and Christ.' He made him a king: Ps. 89:27, 'I will make my first-born, higher than the kings of the earth.' He was made a surety and mediator: Heb. 7:22, 'He was made a priest after,' &c. 'By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament;' 'made an high priest,' Heb. 3:2, so the margin hath it; all out of grace and prerogative. Thus in himself.
3. To be sure, whatever he is made to us to be, that is of Jehovah merciful to us: 1 Cor. 1:30, 'Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.'
4. Then how was he made these to us?
He 'made him sin,' 2 Cor. 5:21, as strange a work for God to make his Son to be, as any of the former. 'He made him sin, that knew no sin.'
Will you have it further? 'He made him a curse,' Gal. 3:13. And these were real makings, for his soul felt the effects of them, though in themselves they were but external imputations. But he felt the effects of them as we do the benefits of his being made such. And thus as to his person and offices, and what he is made to us all, are new beings of Jehovah gracious to him, and merciful to us.
3dly, He is Jehovah merciful; he is the Father of all the mercies that are in the heart of Christ himself, through whose heart all God's mercies run and flow to us. Jehovah merciful gave being to them,
God commanded him to love us, and put into his heart, as a man, that 'love which passeth knowledge,' Eph. 3:19. All those sure mercies of David, that is, of Christ (Acts 13:34, and Isa. 55:3), that are either in his heart towards us, or are the benefits he purchased and bestows upon us, Jehovah merciful is the Father of them all; that he is 'a merciful high priest,' Heb. 2:17; that he does pity us according to the measure of our needs, Heb. 5:2; that he hath mercies in his soul wherewith to do it: all this is what God bestows upon his heart to make him such. As God gave him a body fitted, he gave him a heart fitted: Ps. 89:24, speaking of Christ under the type of David, says he, 'My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him,' and he speaks it as in relation unto his government and dispensation of things to us, even as of David in the type it is there spoken in relation to his government. My mercy shall be with him (says God) to execute all for me, and to dispense all the mercies out of mercifulness in himself, which I myself would dispense, God having given up all into his hand, God's mercies and faithfulness are with him in the execution.
Lastly, It would be too poor a thing for me now to tell you that Jehovah merciful gives being to all the mercies in the hearts of fathers, mothers, friends, or whomever you know to be pitiful. Read over all stories, and put all the mercies you can read of or hear of into one heart, if a father had all the mercies that a father ever had, how pitiful would he be. But who is the Father of these, and gives being to them? It is Jehovah merciful; and shall not he that made the eye see, and shall not he that put these mercies into all the hearts of all the creatures, yea, into the hearts of them that are evil (for such are parents, both fathers and mothers), be himself merciful? And shall it be said, 'How can a mother forget her child?' And shall not this, in a more infinite transcendent manner, be attributed to God? I have told you he is the Father of Christ, and of all the mercies in Christ, and that is beyond all. Remember that he is Jehovah merciful, that gives being to all in whom your souls do trust.
5. The name Jehovah, by which God makes himself known in this proclamation of mercy, Exod. 34:6, imports him also to be the first and last in being, and so his giving being to all things from the first unto the last, and that they all wholly and all along depend upon him for being; which is in a great part the mind of that speech, Isa. 44:6,
'I am the first, and I am the last.' And in another place of the same prophet, chap. 41:4, 'Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the Lord, the first, and with the last, I am he.' He speaks it in relation unto all created beings, from the first creation throughout all generations. Wherein observe how he is absolutely in both places said to be the first, but not with the last, which is only in the latter text, for time was when there was no creature with him from all eternity, and then he was first only and alone. But in this second test he is said to be with the last, and yet nevertheless he is said to be the last in that other. The reasons of which I take up thus, that for time to come God hath ordained some sort of creatures to exist to eternity, like as himself doth, and so in that respect he is said to be with the last, even of them; but yet take in this with it, that nevertheless he is also the last, as truly as the first, chap. 44:6, as also Rev. 1:11. This is to be understood in respect
(say I) of their total, and absolute, and continual dependency upon him; and it is all one as if he had said, although they do continue to eternity, yet it is through me and from me, for I am the last however, because it is I uphold them in being so to do; for I only have immortality of being, 1 Tim. 6:16, and they but by participation from me, and so in truth and de jure, of right, 'I am the last.'
Now what the prophet speaks, as in respect to those first beings of the creation, the apostle in his Revelation applies unto grace and salvation, the things of the second sort of beings. For in respect thereto it is the apostle utters the same saying, as by comparing Rev.
1 4th and 8th verses appears. In the 4th verse he wisheth 'grace and peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come.' And from Jesus Christ, ver. 5, who, ver. 8, says of himself, 'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.' And this his title, 'I am the beginning and the ending,' is spoken in relation unto grace and salvation; for upon this title it is that grace is wished from him as well as from the Father; and also they are the very benefits of salvation which he had there spoken of, ver. 5, 6. Thus then in grace he is the first and the last, as well as in the prophet he is said to be so in relation unto the beings of the first creation.
And his being the first and the last notes forth not only the two extremes of grace and salvation, that is, of the first beginning and last ending or accomplishment of our salvation, as if he were the author only of these; but this expression of his being the first and last encloseth and taketh in the whole line and series of benefits of grace and salvation whatsoever, continued all along between that first and last. Even as in respect of natural beings (as life and motion), his being the first and last takes in all, whatsoever of them, from first to last.
Only I observe, that his being 'Alpha and Omega' in this respect is resolved into his being Jehovah, for both in ver. 4 and 8 it runs thus,
'From him that was, and is, and is to come,' which is the deciphering
of Jehovah; and thereby he is apparently made and is declared the fountain of all and every whit of grace, both past, present, and to come; and not only at first, or at the last alone, but all along in the intervals of time between. 1. 'From him that was;' and so he is the eternal spring of that grace which was from everlasting, and is shewn at conversion. 2. Which is;' that is, he at present continues to dispense all grace to us. 3. 'Who is to come;' so he is the author of all grace, for everlasting, unto the last.
And yet I will not restrain these his titles only unto matters of grace and salvation, for they comprehensively relate unto all other works which Christ doth for his church, or towards others, or that are prophesied of in this book, as by the repetition of them, chap. 22:13, at the end of this book, and as after all the works of his kingdom perfected, it appears. 'I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last;' yet still so as here at the beginning of the book, wherein grace and peace is wished, it must be allowed to have a special relation to grace and the works thereof. Thus God is the immediate forger of every link of that golden chain, whereof the first is rivetted in his own heart, and the last ends in him also. Thus it is in his loving us, and thus it is in his saving us; he is the first and last in both.
1. In loving us (which is the foundation of all grace to us, for love is the ground of all mercy, Eph. 2:4, and so of all benefits of salvation) he is the first. So it is said expressly, 1 John 4:19, 'We love him because he first loved us,' and not we him, ver. 10. And he is the last in loving also; 'whom he loved he loved to the end,' John 13:1; and we should not love him to the end, if he did not continue to love us to the end. Thus it is in the foundation of mercy.
2. In the works of salvation he is the first and the last, Heb. 12:2. He is the 'author of our faith,' and so the first, and 'the finisher,' and so the last. Thus he is at death too, when we 'receive the end of our faith, the salvation of our souls,' 1 Pet. 1:9. And after that, he is thus to us at the day of judgment: 2 Tim. 1:18, 'The Lord grant he may
find mercy at that day.' It is then we have need of mercy, and he is the giver of it. And as at the first and last, so all along between, he is thus the fountain of all mercy and grace to us. 'It is by the grace of God I am that I am,' says the apostle, 1 Cor. 15:10; 'and it is not I, but the grace of God that is with me;' i.e., which is all along with me in every act and step. We are therefore continually to look for, and depend upon the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ even all along unto eternal life, Jude 21.
It is not as the Papists say, who acknowledge God to be the first in the benefits of salvation, as that at the first mercy doth all in justification (and they call it therefore the first justification), which they ascribe to God's grace wholly; but then they feign a second justification, as that which saves us, and makes us heirs of eternal life through the merits of works. Oh, but Jehovah merciful and gracious is the first and the last, and all and everything of grace depends upon him, and it is wholly grace and mercy from first to last.
Yea, and he is Jehovah gracious with the last (as you heard the prophet Isaiah speak, chap. 41:4), for eternal glory is as much from his grace as conversion itself at first. 'It is the gift of God,' Rom. 6:23, and 'grace reigns' even in heaven to eternity, Rom. 5:21, as much as ever it did in this life, and more, and it is grace then that entertains us in heaven: Eph. 2:5–7, 'Who hath quickened us and saved us' (so in this life, as he had said in the verses before), 'that he in ages to come might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.' This is to be done in heaven. We have grace here but by driblets, and but imperfect holiness, and a defective communion with God, &c.; there it is he profusely spends and pours forth his riches reserved to that time, and then the vessels of mercy possess the whole of 'the riches of glory,' Rom. 9:23, the well-head whereof is mercy, as there is expressed.
6. This name of God Jehovah imports also his being 'from everlasting to everlasting;' and as his name El that follows, translated God, notes forth his power, so Jehovah and Ehije his eternity, as Calvin and
others observe. But we have a surer word of prophecy that the import of it is eternity, from the before-cited apostle's own paraphrase upon it: Rev. 1:4 (which many of our divines upon that place have observed), 'Him which is, which was, and which is to come,' which is the unciphering of the very name Jehovah, and the true reason why he saith not ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄντος, but ἀπὸ τοῦ ὁ ὢν, was (as Calvin and Beza have observed), to point as with the finger unto this very name
Jehovah, I am, Exod. 3d and 6th chapters. Yea, the form of the Hebrew word Jehovah, says Ainsworth, implies so much, Je being a sign of the time to come, and so Jehovah, he will be; Ho, of the time present, Hovah, he that is, and Vah, of the time past; Havah, he was.
And again elsewhere the same author observes,* that Jehovah cometh of Havah, he was, and by the first letter, J, it signifies he will be, and by Ho, it signifies he is; and this the Hebrew doctors, says he, acknowledge, in saying that the three times, past, present, and to come, are comprehended in this proper name Jehovah, as it is known to all, say they. Thus Ainsworth on Gen. 2:4 out of them.
Now, as his being, so these his mercies are from everlasting; for both Jehovah and merciful are still correspondent: Ps. 25:6, 'Remember,
O Lord, thy tender mercies, and thy loving-kindnesses, which have been ever of old.' They are mercies as to time past, which the word
'remember' insinuates; and they are his special mercies to his elect, which with difference he styleth his 'tender mercies;' and they are his
'loving-kindnesses,' which word imports his entirest love, as Ps. 18:2.
The same word signifies to love heartily in the midst of the bowels.
And these have been 'ever of old,' and that not only as of a time of an old date, and so the word is elsewhere used, but these have been for ever of old; it is that oldness of eternity. They are as old as Jehovah himself, the 'Ancient of days,' is. And why? Because they are the mercies of him that is Jehovah. And thus we find his everlasting love stated in difference from what is of old: Jer. 31:3, the Lord hath
'appeared to me of old.' This the church says, that is, in ancient times, in former times; ah, but appears not now to me. In answer thereto says God, Dost thou speak of times of old? Yea, 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love,' &c., and so of an elder date than that
old time thou speakest of, in which I should have appeared to thee.
And thus here our translators have emphatically translated the words 'for ever of old.'
But what, are they everlasting only from time past? No; but as Jehovah imports his being to everlasting also, so his mercies are: Ps.
100:5, 'The Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endureth to all generations.' And the eternity in this place is that part of it for time to come, for it is from generation to generation. And as we find the everlastingness of them either way thus singly and apart set out in these Psalms mentioned, so we find them in Psalm 103:17 to be conjoined, 'The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him.' So, then, Jehovah that was, that is, and that is to come, is merciful and gracious.
And this speaks more than what is in the former assertion; for by this he is not simply the first in grace, and so in mercy to us: that might have been, though he had begun to have loved but then when he first wrought on us, or as having purposed it from some very ancient date; but this imports his having ever loved us since he was God, and had being, or shall have being, both his own nature inclining him, together with his purposes of mercy taken up by his own will towards us. For he would have his mercies unto his children to bear the resemblance of his very being Jehovah, and so answer to his name in being as eternal as himself: Isa. 54:7, 8, 10, 'For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy
Redeemer. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.'
Use. The use of which is this, to trust on him at all times and seasons.
You heard before, out of Ps. 62, you should trust in Jehovah solely, and alone, so ver. 5; but ver. 8 you have that added, 'Trust in him at
all times;' for he that was, is, and is to come, is your Jehovah merciful. The worst times are those when you have sinned against him, yet come to him with faith at such time. You are not to imagine that indeed when we have walked holily, and only then, we may come with expectation of mercy and pardon from him: no, but trust in him
'at all times,' only come humbling yourselves, and turning unto him; draw near to him and he will draw near to you. God is not as man, to be merciful by fits, when the good humour comes on him; but consider, he is merciful as Jehovah, and therefore with a constancy, and continually, which in express words you have, Ps. 71:3, 'Be thou my strong habitation whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.' Ver. 14, 'But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.'
7. The name Jehovah also imports immutability, unchangeableness of being: Mal. 3:6, 'I am Jehovah, I change not;' so in the original. It is as if he should say, My name Jehovah speaks my being to be unchangeable. His name, I am, in short, imports, that he is always one and the same in being; which Christ, as being God, assumes when he said, 'Before Abraham was, I am,' John 8:58. And the apostle says also of him, Christ, 'the same to-day, yesterday, and for ever,' Heb. 13:8. And therein also you have interpreted what is spoken of Christ, Rev. 1:8, 'He that was, that is, and is to come' (the paraphrase of Jehovah), to be meant of unchangeableness; semper idem, always one and the same. And as God is thus in his being unchangeable, so in his mercies; the mercies of this David are 'sure mercies,' Isa. 55:3; Acts. 13:34. These his special mercies to his chosen have the similitude of his being. It is Jehovah that is merciful; and as Jehovah signifies firmitude of being, and is therefore compared to a rock, &c., so these his mercies are likened to things of longest duration, to those things which to us men are such in our account. Thus he compares them to the mountains, which cannot be removed; yea, mountains of brass, Zech. 6:1: Isa. 54:10, 'For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be
removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.' Also, in Ps. 89, the perpetuity of mercy is one eminent piece of this psalm; for with that he begins, ver. 2, 'For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heaven.' And they are the sure mercies of our spiritual David (Christ), he means. Now, to set forth the perpetuity hereof, he first useth words that express firmitude, as 'established,' 'built up for ever,' ver. 2, 4. Then he uses such similitudes as are taken from things which are held most firm and inviolable amongst men, as ver. 4, fœdus incidi, I have cut or engraven my covenant (so in the Hebrew), alluding to what was then in use, when covenants were mutually to be made, such as they intended to be inviolate, and never to be broken; to signify so much, they did engrave and cut them into the most durable lasting matter, as marble, or brass, or the like. You may see this to have been the way of writing in use, as what was to last for ever: as Job 19:24, 'Oh that my words were graven with an iron pen and lead, in the rock for ever!' And what is that rock or marble here? No other than the heart itself of our gracious and most merciful Jehovah, and his most unalterable and immoveable purposes, truth and faithfulness.* This is that foundation in the heavens, whereon mercy is built up for ever; as ver. 2, which (as the apostle says) 'remains for ever;' and so they become 'the sure mercies of David,' Isa. 55:3. Again, solemn oaths amongst men serve to ratify and make things sworn to perpetual.
This also is there specified as having been taken by God, 'Once have I sworn by my holiness,' &c., and sworn by him that cannot lie, and sworn to that end, 'to shew the immutability of his counsel,' Heb.
6:17. And not only is the immutability of his mercy illustrated by these things taken from what is firm on earth, but he ascends up to the heavens, and first into the very highest heavens: ver. 2, 'For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heaven:' comparing them to an house built not on earth, or upon a foundation of earth, which thieves break through, and violence destroys, but in heaven, whither they cannot reach. And there is good reason for it, for these mercies have a 'sure foundation' laid in God's heart, 'The Lord knows who are his.' And then they are founded also on that 'corner-stone, elect and precious,' Christ; and
which having been begun to be laid in the heart once of every one that is regenerate (though but the other day converted), yet will never cease to be built up even to eternity. We are apt to think, How little of mercy have I yet shewn forth upon me! Consider, God hath but begun with thee; he laid in thy heart at conversion a small spark and seed of grace; and therewith, as the foundation, the pardon of all thy sins, which, as to all that is to follow, is but as a foundation buried under ground. But mercy hath not done with thee; for it is in infinite glorious works that follow, to be 'built up for ever,' continually to be added unto, both in grace and glory. For God's dispensations in heaven are but a continuation of mercy to eternity, and a laying forth riches of grace and kindness on this structure,
Eph. 2:7. The prophet adds in that verse, 'Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.' Some say, cum cœlis, with the heavens; that is, it is a mercy as stable as heaven itself, meaning the visible ones. But I take it to be a supernatural super-creation phrase, to express a grace and mercy above all that is or was earthly in our first creation-condition, and above all comparisons to be made therewith, consisting altogether of blessings heavenly; yea, supercelestial, as the word is in Eph. 1:4. And thus much the expression 'in the heavens' doth import: as in Luke 10:20, 'Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.' And Heb. 12:23, 'The first-born whose names are written in heaven.' And in saying here that these mercies are
'established in the heavens,' I understand them to be such supercelestial mercies spoken of. The heavens is the place they came from, and where they are established and fixed, and unto which they tend, rising up to their original, and where they are finished and completed. They are established in the heavens, in the highest heavens, where the angels and saints are,* ver. 2, 5, 6, 7, compared.
And therefore they are as sure and safe as treasure there laid up is, as Christ says. This house of mercy is as eternal and undemolishable as that our house in those highest heavens is, 2 Cor. 5:1.
And because we see not those highest heavens (but only by faith) he farther points us to the heavens we see: ver. 28, 29, 'My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with
him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven;' which in ver. 36, 37, is more punctually amplified: 'His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me: it shall be established for ever, as the moon; and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.' And he introduceth these not as examples only, to which his mercies for their unchangeableness may be likened, but he proposeth them as God's faithful witnesses thereof. As the rainbow is set forth as a witness that God will destroy the world with waters no more, thus the continuation of the heavens, and of the sun and moon, are proposed as witnesses of the perpetuity and unchangeableness of these mercies; and this not for duration only, but immoveableness and fixedness. For though the sun sets, and leaves darkness behind him for half the time of his course, yet this Father of lights is without so much as 'shadow of turning' in his mercies towards us, as the apostle's comparison is, James 1:17, and elsewhere. He hath pawned the covenant of day and night: Jer.
31:35, 36, 'Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.' The like is in Jer. 33:20, 'Thus saith the Lord, If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; then may also my covenant be broken,' &c. Yea, and that covenant of the waters of Noah (we spake of) to which the rainbow is appointed as a faithful witness, is also appealed unto, and called in by God as a witness of this his mercy's covenant: Isa. 54:9, 10, 'For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.'
Now this unchangeableness of mercy is put upon the account of his being Jehovah, as was observed out of Mal. 3:6, 'I Jehovah change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.' Unto which bring that of Lam. 3:22, and then you have what it is in Jehovah which is the cause that we are not consumed: 'It is the Lord's mercy we are not consumed,' which is all one as to say, It is of the Lord's mercy, as the cause why we are not consumed. So then the evident inference or conclusion from both is, you are not consumed, because my mercies, who am Jehovah, change not, which the words that follow do more expressly shew to be the cause or reason of this,
'because his compassions fail not;' which still carries this before them, that we are not consumed, because his mercies consume not, because God, that is, Jehovah, consumes not, fails not, changeth not.
Job 14:11, 'The waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up,' but those his special mercies fail not, nor are ever drawn dry, because Jehovah, or inexhaustible being, is the inexhaustible fountain of those mercies.
I have given the reason why the name Jehovah merciful is used; but farther, the duplication of it here is to be considered: Exod. 34:6,
'Jehovah, Jehovah.' The reason hereof, which interpreters ordinarily give, riseth but to this, that it was to stir up Moses his and our attention the more unto the matter that follows. I should rather and further say, 1. It is to shew an infinite vehemency and heartiness of affection to have been in the heart of God when he uttered this, and it manifests how much his soul was in what his voice proclaimed. Such duplications have (as it were) a double strength in them, to heighten and enforce those things they are prefixed unto, according to the nature of the matter unto which they are prefixed. Thus if the matter be an affirmation, the reiteration affixed intends and makes it an asseveration far the stronger. Thus when the two tribes and a half made an appeal to God in the case of their altar, to the intent to express the truth and sincerity of their souls therein, in the highest manner, say they, 'The God of gods, Jehovah, the God of gods,
Jehovah, he knoweth,' &c., Josh. 22:22. In this appeal to God as a witness (for such it is), they rehearse no less than three names of God
(say some), El, Elohim, Jehovah; or, as others interpret it, 'God of gods, Jehovah.' But whatever meaning we take, it is certain that they are repeated twice over, which must needs have the greatest emphasis that could be given, and all was to give the greatest confirmation to the matter affirmed by them. Again, if it be set unto matter of prayer or praise, the repetition of 'Lord, Lord,' Ps. 72:18, or of 'Jehovah' (as of the person invocated or praised) or the doubling the matter petitioned for, as 'be merciful, be merciful,' Ps. 57:1, likewise when the seal to either is put at the close of either, as of 'Amen and amen,' Ps. 72:19, such doubled rehearsements do manifest a redoubled vehemency and intention in the invocators.
Now according to this general rule, 2. In this duplication of the name of Jehovah here must be allowed the like intended emphaticalness, according to the kind of the matter it is prefixed unto. Now that which it is prefixed unto is a description of God, or a lively character of him, even as when we would notify the character given of a man to be most proper, genuine, and expressive of what the man is, we use before or after it to make a double indigitation of his name, which carries this import or signification:
'This is the man, this is he.' To the same purpose is it that God's name is doubled here. And it is as if in words he had more plainly said, 'This is your God, this am I;' or if you would know what a God I am, look upon this description of me, upon this my portraiture drawn to life: 'Such a God am I, Jehovah, Jehovah merciful.'
When the watchmen in the Canticles saw the spouse keep such ado, Cant. 5:9, 10, and to make so anxious an inquisition after her beloved: 'What is thy beloved,' said they, 'more than another beloved?' 'What'? says she. She then describes him in all his beauties from head to foot; and at the close, having said, 'he is altogether lovely,' she adds, 'This is my beloved, and this is my friend.' She doubles it there, and with the same efficacy doth God in his setting