Chapter XL
That mercy and grace in God are properties of his divine being and glory. No other proof alleged but from the text, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.
I come now to the farther proofs of this assertion, that mercy and grace are properties of the divine nature. And I profess to allege no other (that I may shew this text to be a complete abundary of all God s mercies) than what the text, either in the words themselves, or the aspect of them upon what went before, do afford the heads of, and foundations for ; and I shall then call in the help but of such other scriptures, which as volunteers
willingly offer themselves to assist in this cause, and verify and confirm each hereof, when first extracted out of the word.
The point to be proved is, that mercy and grace are glorious properties of the divine being or nature.
Arg. 1. The first argument is drawn from the true reference and strict
correspondency this proclamation of God, merciful, &c., holds with the
foregone transactions in the chapter before, Exod. xxxiii., which lead on to
it, which were Moses s request, God s answer and promise unto his request ; and here in my text, God s performance according to his promise. These three are correspondent, one to the other. Observe we then, 1st, what
it was Moses desired of God ; and, 2dly, what God promised to gratify VOL. VIII. F
82 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK 1,
him in ; and, 3dly, the thing which God did punctually perform. And, in my beginning with this first, I shall but keep to that method generally observed for the opening of a text, in discovering its occasion, coherence; and yet withal prove my assertion at once. In the 38d chapter, Moses had desired of God that he would shew him his face and glory ; that is, his divine essence immediately, or his essential glory as it is in himself. This Moses aspired unto, ver. 18, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory ; but God
tells him that this seeing his face, or the immediate vision of his essence or being, none is capable of, and live, ver. 20, which yet leaves a room for
hope that the frailties of this life being removed, a man may see God s
face in that other life. But yet, in lieu thereof, God, to gratify him, pro fesses his gracious resolution to grant the privilege, as far as was possible for any mere man to partake of it and live ; and to manifest his foresaid
face and glory, and his being God, as far as was expressible, and might be
represented unto man, and he live, in these words : ver. 19, And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And the best interpre tation of this is that which I find in Oleaster,* who paraphrasing those words of God s, all my good, that is, myself, says he, in whom is all that
is good or excellent, or a perfection, shall pass before thee, and be made known by voice signifying it, I will proclaim my name, &c., or by a vision of his, ver. 23, Thou shalt see my back parts, representing it. And you heard how the names or attributes of God do signify truly and
properly what is really the nature of God. So then God s essential divine
perfections are intended and promised by God, to be seen and proclaimed by such characters of words ; or a name and attributes, as far as was
possible, those perfections in himself to be by words expressed ; yet so as
still these words should be such as should represent what was in himself, or the ditine nature, in truth and reality answering thereunto, as in my
explication premised, chap, vi., I have shewn.
From whence I argue, that if these first and chief attributes proclaimed,
viz., Jehovah, merciful, gracions, long-suffering, much in goodness and
truth, had not served to signify that essential goodness which was in him
self ; or if there had not been that glory essentially in himself which these names were intended to signify, then God had neither gratified Moses to the utmost he was capacitated for, nor answered his desire to see his glory, as far as he was capable to see it, and live. For that there are some such other names and attributes of his in Scripture which do express his nature and essence, all do, and must acknowledge, as wisdom, holiness, &c., which are not here expressed ; and therefore, if he doth it not in these here,
professedly by himself proclaimed, and proclaimed as professedly to that
very end and purpose, make his essence known ; then nowhere else should he be thought or judged to do it ; nay, he had done it in none, for he had
professed beforehand he would do it in these, that he would proclaim his
goodness and glory. And whereas there are (as was said) other attributes and epithets that would have set forth his divine being and glory, that he should name none of those, but, in lieu thereof, choose and single forth
merciful, gracious, above all others, to express his glory by, argues that mercy is not only his nature, but the glory of it ; at least, it must be
* Ego transire faciam omne meum bomim, id est, meipsum ; in quo sunt omnia bona quae coram te explicabuntur voce : Clamabo nomen Domini. Oleaster in
verba.
CHAP. XT.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 83
acknowledged such as do signify what his nature is, as really and as
properly as any other denomination whatsoever can do, or ever will do.
Yea, he would, since he professeth to proclaim that name which should
express his glory, rather have made choice of those other names that are
essential, if those had not been such as much as any. And this first
argument is but as the porch or portal to the whole building.
Arg. 2. My second argument is from the very order and division which
the words (as to the point of mercy) do naturally fall into ; and this may well be taken for one proof of this assertion, a preliminary one, for I yet make but an entry to the text. For three things may be easily discerned
distinct in this proclamation, and succeeding one the other in an orderly dependence one upon the other.
1. An inward, merciful, and gracious disposition to shew mercy, which
is the root or spring, placed therefore in order the first: Jehovah, Jehovah, God merciful and gracious, longsuffering, much in goodness and
truth.
2. His blessed purposes and resolutions to bestow it, in these words :
keeping mercy for thousands ; that is, reserving it in his intendments to bestow it, which are immanent acts in God, flowing from the former, kept and laid up in his own breast, and now uttered.
3. Extrinsecal, or outward works of mercy issuing from both : as par doning iniquity, transgression, and sin, that being given as one instance
(the most eminent), for all other of that sort, external mercies.
Whereof the sum is, 1st, he is merciful and gracious
: that is his nature
as he is Jehovah, Jehovah ; 2dly, he fully resolveth to shew mercy
: there
is his heart ; 3dly, he hath done it, and doth it, in pardoning every day :
: Numb, xiv., Par don as thou hast pardoned, from Egypt until now. And by these three God sets himself out to be every way, and all sorts of ways, merciful.
there is his wont and practice, as Moses upon it says
And this general may serve instead of a more exact division of the words which others would give, and doth give some light to prove this head, if
there were no other to follow ; but this is but as the threshold or first
entrance to the whole.
Arg. 3. Merciful effects are ascribed unto the mercy of God as the proper cause of them, and therefore the mercy attributed to God must be properly an inward principle in God, whence those effects do proceed. It is an
approved maxim, and will approve itself, and carry itself thorugh the whole Scriptures, that as. in the general all God s works are ascribed to God as God, Ps. Ixxxvi. 8, 10 ; so in particular every genuine attribute
hath, for the glory of it, proper work attributed in a special eminency unto
it as the special cause of that work. As the creation of the world is attri buted to power, Eom. i., and to wisdom, Ps. cxl. 24, yea, and the greatness of his work is attributed to the greatness that is in himself, Ps. Ixxxvi, 10, and Ps. cxlv. 3-6, as in like manner the goodness of them to the goodness that resides in him ; and thus the performance of his promises is attributed
to that essential truth that is in him, and are styled truth ; the like must be allowed unto mercy, whilst we find the Scriptures attributing such and such works unto mercy in God as the proper cause of them. Furthermore, the distinction of one essential attribute from another is, to our under
standing, fetched from that special and proper relation they have in
Scripture given them unto their several objects and effects. Justice refers
to a sinner as to be punished, mercy to a sinner to be forgiven, and are
thereby distinguished as to us, who cannot conceive of their sijnple oneness
84 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
as it is in God s divine being.* There is that really in God which answers
to each and every one as so distinguished.
Now, that merciful effects are ascribed to the mercy of God, as the proper cause of them, as truly and as roundly as any other effects are to any other
attributes whatever, is evident out of this text, to which, as for the ground work of my proofs, I have limited myself; as also from other scriptures which confirm the same.
I. Out of this text.
1. It appears from God s own method. First, Jehovah, merciful, &c.,
absolutely simply such is proclaimed; and then, a God that pardons
iniquity. The first is placed before as the principle or cause, the latter as the effect thereof.
2. It is evident by Moses his gloss upon the interpretation of it, Num.
xiv., where he first allegeth, as the foundation of his request, the two chief of these first five absolute abstract attributes, power and mercy, as the summary of the other :
* Let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast said, saying, The Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy. Thus as they are in God himself; and then he mentions those that speak the effects thereof, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Which having premised, his petition is framed accordingly, verse 19, which he indites
* Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, according to the
thus,
greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt even until now. Now, compare we the one and the other together, and look as the words he cites of God s speech have two parts or clauses 1, the Lord, long-suffering and of great mercy, which are the abstract attributes ;
2, pardoning iniquity, &c., that speak the effects accordingly his applica tion of them in his petition hath two parts or clauses manifestly answering to and expounding those other two: 1, that phrase, according to his great mercy, answereth and expoundeth these words, the Lord, long-suffering, great in mercy, &c., as strongly pleading that according to that mercy he had thereby declared to be in himself and gracious nature as a principle of
pardoning, he would please to pardon them ; 2, his adding, As thou hast
forgiven them all along from Egypt until now, denoting matter of fact done and put forth by mercy, doth as pertinently expound that clause in God s own words cited by him, forgiving iniquity and transgression, which in like manner also denoteth matter of fact as the effect of mercy. And put both together, and they fall into this true and genuine sense and
meaning ; as if he had said, According to that infinite mercy abounding in
thy divine nature, who art Jehovah, God, merciful and long-suffering, &c., out of which, and according to which, thou hast de facto pardoned them
hitherto, pardon them again now; which that it is the scope of God s words in my text, is the thing I am a-proving. So then in these words,
4 the Lord, long-suffering, and of great mercy, there is the cause first
specified, or principle in God moving him, and which therefore Moses in the first place premiseth as his foundation to move God withal. Then in the other words, pardoning iniquity, there is the effect promised, with
this declaration of his nature, which flows from that inward blessed dis
position or principle of mercifulness, which he sues unto, and implores that God would accordingly put forth in an actual pardoning of them.
* "We must not say, Formaliter, quod Deus quatenus misericors punit, nee quatenus puniens est misericors : non dicitur per misericordiam punire, aut per justitiam vindicatricem misereri, sicut non dicitur, per intellectum vult, et per voluntatem
intelligit. Sanseverinus, Part 1, Qusest. 21, Sect. 1.
CHAP. XI. J OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 85
The first speaks mercy to be an attribute of his nature, for he clearly
* Let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, the Lord God of great mercy. The second, of pardoning iniquity, speaks that effect flowing from that nature as an act of his will yet put forth, according to his
parallels it with his power, as an essential attribute:
nature, which those words of Moses, according to the greatness of thy
mercy, do sufficiently import. And it was Moses that first brought up this so happy expression in praying,
* according to thy mercy, upon this
* the Lord, long-suffering,
occasion, and as extracted from those words,
merciful, which was afterwards often used by David and the prophets as a ground of their seeking of pardon and mercy, and that unto this very purpose and meaning in which I have now expounded it. For this of Moses was the original of it, and is the highest and utmost motive that can be used to God, to put forth all the mercies of his nature to succour us in all our distresses, and that according thereunto he would deal with us ; which is enough and enough (as we say) for us to ask, or to support our faith in asking. And all these are at once seconded by Nehemiah,
* Nevertheless for thy great mercies sake thou didst not
chap. ix. 31,
utterly consume them, nor forsake them ; for thou art a gracious and mer
ciful God. 1. There is the root or duvapis of mercifulness in God himself, the efficient cause: for thou art a gracious and merciful God; 2, there
is the effects of that mercy: thou therefore forsookest them not; and 3, there is the same mercy in his nature, and set out as the final cause moving him thereunto : for thy great mercy s sake. By David s application of the words of my text, I shewed in the fore
going chapter how David, rehearsing first these four attributes appertain
ing to mercy word for word, hath likewise by name cited Moses, as out of whose writings he had them. And his method there is accordingly the same with this we have shewn was that of Moses. First, abstractly to
recite those attributes as the principles in him and the cause : Ps. ciii. 8,
1 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in
mercy. And then to bring in many of the outward effects of that mercy: ver. 9, 10, He will not always chide; neither will he keep his anger for
ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. And amongst others he introduceth that of pardoning
iniquity, &c. : ver. 12, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
Elsewhere and in other scriptures we find the same ; and indeed other
scriptures that speak about the mercies of God, speak but according to God s intent in these words, they being derivatives all from this. Now, when in Psalm Ixxviii. 38 it is said, He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquities, he plainly assigns the mercifulness in God to have been
the cause* of his forgiving them, and therefore mercy is most properly ascribed to God, and is in God. And this speech of his there is but
explicatory of these words here in the text. In like manner, in Psalm
Ixxxvi., after he had so earnestly sought for mercy at God s hands (as
preserve my soul, save thy servant, ver. 2; be merciful to me, ver. 3), he foundeth all his petitions on this, For thou art good, and ready to
forgive ; plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. He sup
plicates his good and merciful nature to move himself to put forth these
acts of mercy towards him. Likewise Nehemiah, chap. ix. 31, giving an
account of God s gracious dealings with that people notwithstanding their
* Causa attribuitur ejus misericordise, quas naturaliter in ipso est. Cal. in verba.
86 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
sins, Nevertheless, saith he, thou didst not forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God. That particle /or, in this and those other
places, doth undeniably testify that God being himself truly and properly merciful, from thence and according thereunto it is that he acteth
graciously and compassionately towards us, as moved by and from a true
principle and disposition in himself. Oh how perfectly contrary are these
professed dictates of the Holy Ghost unto what some would elevate and
dilute this attribute unto, viz., that he is only said to be gracious and
merciful, &c., for or because he doth merciful things; whereas the Scrip ture style all along you see is, he doth merciful works for he is gracious and merciful.
Yea, further, to confirm this, it is so remote that God should bo styled merciful in relation to his works of mercy, that his works of mercy have
their denomination or name of mercies * (as frequently they have in the
Scriptures, and in common use of speech) given them from that proper
special relation they owe and bear unta the mercy that is in God, from whence they do proceed. And so they are not styled mercies because
they respect us or our needs, the objects of them, but in respect to the merciful God, who is the original subject in whom mercy is, and he the Father and fountain of them. And as the effect ordinarily bears the name of its proper cause, as the child of the father, so those mercies bear their name of and from his mercy, who is more eminently styled the Father of them than of any other his works wrought by other attributes. And that which confirms this notion is, that in the case of other attributes, their
proper works or effects have their denomination from that attribute which
is their cause, wherefore so in this. Thus Psalm cxix. 137, 138, Right eous art thou, Lord, and upright are thy judgments. Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful. There they are termed righteous and faithful judgments, as proceeding from his being a righteous and faithful God, and as from whose righteousness they pro ceed. In like manner also the works of his grace in us are termed grace, grace freely given, being the free impressions and fruits of the grace that
is in himself. And indeed, in that elogium of him that he is the Father of mercies, 2 Cor. i. 3, look as the word of mercies, oi%ne/j,uv, doth import mercies bestowed,f so Father of those mercies is spoken of God to a like
purpose ; as when the sun is said to be the father of lights (for unto the sun is that allusion of God in the apostle, James i. 17), the meaning is, that the sun hath first all light originally seated in itself, and so communi cates all those lights and glory with which the moon, stars, and air are
enlightened. Looking-glasses are arrayed and do borrow from that sun, and yet themselves are called lights. But how ? Only by participation from it, the original light. And in the same respect is God the Father of
mercies, as he is also entitled the Father of glory in Eph. i. 17. Which in like manner notes, 1st, that he is a glorious God in himself the God of glory, Acts vii.2 having an essential glory abiding in him, as light doth in the sun. And then, 2dly, that he disperseth glory to his saints and angels, as the Father of all their glory. And in and for the same reason he is magnified to be the fountain of life, Ps. xxxvi. 9 :
1, because he is the living God, and hath life in himself, as a fountain
* As in that speech (to name but one instance),
; I am less, says Jacob, than the least of all thy mercies ; less in worth than this staff, or any other mercy bestowed.
t See Drusius in locum.
CHAP. XI.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 87
hath water first in itself; and, 2, that from thence he derives life to
others in lesser streams. And answerably in the words of the apostle
Paul, 2 Cor. i. 3, he is styled merciful, and the Father of mercies. These
being the offspring of his mercy, do bear the name of mercy from God the
Father of them.
It hath been sufficiently by all those foregoing passages of Scripture
proved, that all outward effects of mercy are ascribed unto mercy, an attri
bute of God, as their cause and principle. I shall shut up this argument with a further proof of this inference, that therefore there is an inward
principle of mercy in God himself, which is that cause.
1. First, in reason. If the mercies of God be the cause, they must have
a real being and existence afore all outward effects of mercy, and a greater than the effects, for it produceth them ; and in whom or in what can that
mercy have an existence or being, but in God himself, whose mercy alone,
and greatness of mercy too, it is said to be ? It is the mercy of God to
which those effects are attributed, and therefore it is in God. And cer
tainly did those merciful effects proceed from other principles in God more
eminently than mercy, he would never give the honour away from them, and cry up his mercy so much as the principal cause ; he would not give
the honour to it if it were but a made attribute, and not real and genuine. And if that which I before laid at the entrance be true (as it is), viz., that
genuine attributes have their proper effects attributed to them, in relation
to which they are distinguished one from another as to our conceptions of
them, it must then hold, that if all merciful effects are set over by the
Scriptures unto the mercy of God as their proper cause (as hath been
shewed), then mercy itself also is and must be as genuine and essential an
attribute as any of the other. I hope the same plea for other attributes in
this cause will be admitted and allowed in mercy s behalf ; as, for instance, when it is said, the Lord is good, and doth good, Ps. cxix. 68, here
doing good, being the effect of his being good, and attributed thereunto as
its proper cause, doth invincibly argue his being good to be an essential
attribute in him, &c. Thus, in like manner, when it is said, God being
merciful forgave their iniquities (which is the highest act of mercy), and
divers others like to this that have been alleged, doth it not as aloud speak
that God being first merciful in himself, doth out of that merciful disposi
tion pardon and forgive sins? Again, when it is said, The righteous Lord
loveth righteousness, Ps. xi. 17, hereby is imported that God first is
himself righteous, which righteousness in this place is that integrity, recti
tude, and uprightness of his nature, whereby he is wholly addicted, and
disposed, and inclined unto holiness and righteousness, and then thence a,
suitable affection flows, he loveth righteousness. Then surely on this
other hand, when it is said God is merciful, and delighteth in mercy, that
affection of delight ought to be interpreted to arise from an innate propi-
tiousness unto merciful acts, as proceeding from a merciful inclination and
disposition of heart, unto which to shew mercy is so naturally agreeable,
as he delights in it ; and therefore it is said, that above all he is known by
it ; that is, known how merciful in himself he is, even as when it is said
he is known to be a just God by the judgments that he executes, Ps. ix. 16.
And indeed, those and such like speeches up and down the Scriptures Shew us thy mercy, Lord, Ps. Ixxxv. 7 ; thy mercy, that is, which is
in thee, in thy heart and nature, lying of itself hid and latent there, unless
and until thou puttest it forth in mercies towards us ; and in Ps. xvii. 7,
Shew thy wonderful loving-kindness, or, as others read it, Miriftca
88 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
misericordiam tuam, make wonderful thy mercy ; hy mercy, which is
so wonderful in itself, and as it is in thee, therefore shew it and give demonstration of it by wonderful effects ; to which corresponds that of Ps.
cxi. 3, 5, His work is honourable and glorious ; and his righteousness endureth for ever. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered :
the Lord is gracious and full of compassion ; as also that in Eph. ii. 7, to
* shew outwardly the exceeding riches of his grace (namely, within
himself), and many the like phrases, I say, do evidence the point in hand. For so in the case of other attributes it is acknowledged, that to prove them to be essential such expressions do serve ; as when of God s truth and uprightness it is said, Ps. xcii. 15, To shew the Lord is upright, and
* to make his power known, Rom. ix. 22. To shew himself strong, 2 Chron. xvi. 9. And
there is no unrighteousness in him. So of his power,
this for the third argument, fetched from the relation of mercy in God as
the cause, and mercies as the effect.
Arg. 4. That which gives a farther addition of strength unto the fore
going argument, and will withal grow up to a new one, is, that God hath
placed and ranked this of merciful amongst other attributes, which must be acknowledged to be of his essence, and to express what his nature is. And merciful being seated on this royal throne together with them, without
any character or difference from them, yea, with the first of them, and with an height of greater eminency in some respects, how shall we otherwise understand it than that it is an attribute of the same kind, of equal rank and dignity, and of as high an alliance to the divine nature as they are of ?
Here are in the text two attributes especially, or indeed four, which God hath seated on this high bench, and hath set MERCIFUL in equal royal state with them, next himself, Jehovah, God. First, the two ; the one sitting on the right hand, the other on the left, of merciful placed in the midst, as on the throne between them. 1. Strength, or power to assist and strengthen the hands of it ; ^, El, indifferently signifies either strong or God (as is
well known) ; I take both, as Junius throughout the whole Old Testament
doth, everywhere translating it the strong God. 2. There is on the left
* God, the strong, merciful, gracious. 3. Unto which two are added goodness or
GRACE, to quicken mercy in all its actings ; so read the words thus,
kindness.* And 4. Truth. I might reckon in long-suffering as a fifth ; but it is so apparently a sprig of mercy, or rather indeed but mercy itself
stretched out at length, or continued (as waiting is but faith continued), that therefore I shut up that into mercy, and mention it not here as
distinct.
But I do take in the other two, abundant in goodness and truth, as
distinct, and as importing inherent principles in God of goodness and truth, in which his nature doth abound; and although in our English the word abundant would seem to carry the sound or report more toward actual
kindness, and to God s performance of truth, yet the original word itself, and as it is by others translated, signifies as well much, ample, large, plenteous in goodness and truth, and is by our own translators, in Ps.
ciii. 9, rendered plenteous in mercy ; and these words much, plenteous, &c., do in their connotation strike deeper, and reach unto the bottom, and
express the mind and treasury in God s heart and nature, as it is stored with a plenteousness in all goodness and truth, and how out of that infinite
riches it is that in the outward dispensation he so abounds in goodness and
truth. And that it is thus intended is undeniable ; for, as the Lord is first * Note, that some translate that word goodness, others kindness.
CHAP. XI.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 89
good in himself, and out of that goodness doth good, as in Ps. cxix. 68, and like as he is essential truth first, who cannot lie, Titus i. 2 ; i.e., his
nature is truth ;* and then from out of that nature it is that having spoken once the word, he performeth truth, so for the same reason the ground why he is so much and so abundant in goodness and truth, dispensatorily or in actual execution, must be, that he is much in goodness and truth first
in himself essentially. That such exceeding abundance in the one is from
the superabundancy of the other ; and the reason is, because the degrees of much kindness and goodness in outward effects do as much depend and hold on the plenteousness of each of them in his nature, as simply his doing good in the least degree doth upon his being good, or no good at all would be done. The abounding therefore of goodness and truth in his nature must fundamentally be here understood as the spring, the overflowing of which causeth those high floods of each in his actings and dispensations. And goodness and kindness in any one who is such do most genuinely express nature in him, and what is natural to him, since by way of emi-
nency we give such dispositions the style of good nature. And so, seeing goodness and kindness are thus attributed to God, they speak nature in him also, or if you will, the goodness of his nature (as with reverence I may speak), the most of any attributes.
Upon these fore-mentioned accounts I may justly reckon upon four com
peers which mercy here hath, and is every way equal with them, and with each of which I might vie on mercy s side, and plead it to be as natural as
any of them. I reason from them now as they are placed altogether as fixed
stars, all of them in this glorious constellation, declaring the glory of God, Ps. xix., and of the like brightness and equal magnitude ; they are all
merciful, and all alike formed up and cast in one and the same mould, that is, one and the same uniform kind of speech, and under that attri buted alike to God, viz., such a form as was in the foregone argument, said to be, denoting inward, innate, inherent dispositions, which the four here for certain do, under such a form, denote, and are all four in them
selves such. And it is very hard to think and judge, that one alone of
merciful, uttered in the same tenor, should be otherwise, that that alone should be adventitious. God is said to be good, and true, and the strong God, from that innate strength, goodness, and truth that is in himself, and not only from his doing good, &c. And why ought we not as well conceive him to be merciful (as it is here placed amongst these other) from an inhe
rent inward merciful disposition in himself, and not in relation only to the
merciful effects he doth, and every day brings forth ? And God himself, who best knows himself, and how to speak of himself, having put no
character of difference, who shall dare to make a difference ? so vast a
difference, as to affirm that merciful is but a made, artificial attribute, raised up merely from his outward works of mercy, as his style of being the Creator is from the works of his creation, without which he had not had the actual glory of that title ; whenas those other that sit round about
it here have the honour (de jure, and of right) to be acknowledged abso
lutely, and de se, to be and to have been in him, whether he had ever acted
according to them, yea or not.
And further, there may be added unto this that which I inserted, that
merciful holds this its rank and place amongst them with so great an
eminency. Search this and other scriptures ; first, here in this it is placed * Verus in natura, verax in sermone ; so, in respect of strength, he is /
ii;, xa) ivtpytr/x&f.
90 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
with the first, and by Moses made the great dominator, together with power, which two he alone supplicates whilst he allegeth these words, Num. xiv. 17-19, they two being as eminently set up in the words ; and, second, elsewhere the Scripture gives and bes.o vs a richer and larger coat of arms upon mercy, than on any other attribute that is not akin to this. One word usually serves to express any other attribute; but what a multi
plication and heaping up of words frequently is there to emblazon the glory of this ! In the text here, there is merciful, gracious, long-suffering, plenteous in goodness, which are in a manner all but various characters of mercy, and are much the same with mercy. However (as we say), they are of nearest kindred to it, and are therefore singled out and severed from all the rest of the words that follow in the text, by the psalmist, Ps. ciii. 9.
Lastly, The Scripture loads mercy in God with titles of honour, and supperadded epithets of greatness, riches, glory, plenteousness, fulness, abundance, multitude, variety, manifold, eternity, everlastingness, unchangeableness, and what not. The like super-attributions might be observed given to the outward effects of it, above what to the effects of other attributes. It would be therefore yet more strange, and beyond a
possibility of imagination, that this so magnified an attribute, extolled (as we say) to the heavens, yea, above the heavens, yea, great above, and so far above the heavens, Ps. cviii. 4, should in the end be but a similitudinary metaphorical attribute, ex similitudine effectm, and after the manner of men
only, and so to have in comparison but the shadow of an attribute, but in
reality and truth infinitely below all other.
But there is in other scriptures that which brings in yet new and farther confirmation to this fourth argument, in that we find mercy not only natu
rally growing up in one bunch or cluster thus with these four (as in this one place), but that traversing the large garden of the Scriptures, we may besides frequently meet with each of those and mercy apart, and yet some times joined and sprouting forth as two flowers growing upon one sprig ; that is, you may up and down espy mercy and power, and they two alone joined together in one stalk, then grace and mercy singly and alone on another. The like may be observed of mercy and goodness, as also of mercy and truth in other scriptures, and thus mercy and they are 26/^uro/;
so that if we acknowledge any of these four, especially if we own all of them to be natural attributes in the Godhead, we cannot but own mercy to be so too ; for we find both altogether with mercy (as here), and each
(elsewhere) to grow alike as a natural branch together with another, which to be sure is natural, that it must be too hard to think that in so multiplied
a variation, mercy should still be but as an ingrafture by art, and should not naturally grow out of one and the same stock of the divine nature.
In this argument it holds that both juncta et singula juvant ; we have argued in general from the conjunction of all together, and now we shall argue particularly from the singular and apart constellation of each with mercy. And as the conjunction of all, so the singular constellation of each with mercy so often will evidence it to be a fixed star indeed in this fir mament.
1. Mercy and power (the two first in the text) are singly paired by Moses, when he hath occasion to allege these, God s own words, Num. xiv., Let the power of my Lord be great, ver. 17; and pardon joined with it also, 4 The Lord great in mercy, pardon according to the greatness of thy mercy. He pairs these two and that for greatness alike equally; then are they pairs in kind and eminency, which is the particular we are arguing. Yea,
CHAP. XI.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 91
and of the two lie greatens mercy, for mercy hath the epithet great twice
* Lord of great mercy, ver. 18; and again,
* According to the
given it; the
greatness of thy mercy, ver. 19; and greatness in the latter is in the
abstract given, but to power this title is given but once. The prophet David also sets these two alone together as most eminent in God : Ps. Ixii.
11, 12, Power belongs to God: also unto thee, God, belongeth mercy.
Look how power is God s (as some read it), or belongs to him, and is with him; so and in like respects mercy is God s, and is with him. There is no difference at all put, and that is enough, for power is God s in that transcendent manner that it essentially belongs to him. And whereas
power to be such in him might discourage, he therefore, for his own com
fort, and of God s people, adds, To thee also mercy belongeth, so to poise and balance it ; which, if mercy were not every way equal to it, it would no ways poise his power, and so not have relieved souls that tremble at the power of the great and mighty dreadful God, as Nehem. ix, where
merciful is also joined. And this is not the first time they have been thus
paired as by David ; for David himself adds, For God hath spoken once, and twice have I heard this. It is David s preface to those former words. And what will you say if this citation of his refers us and brings us back
again to those very words, first, of God to Moses in my text, and then of Moses to God in this Num. xiv., as that which from both he had heard of
twice ? Sure I am I find no reference to any other, or any sense given by
interpreters more probable or so proper. Now, that power is an essential
attribute of the divine Being, there was none that ever yet denied it, it
being so expressly entitled his eternal power and Godhead, Koin. i. 20, and therefore no less must its compeer mercy be.
A second pair is mercy and grace, here placed next to merciful, gracious. You find these two alone singled out, and paired, as the two great letters of
his name are, though many more are in it. First, when God promised to Moses to proclaim this his name, he specifies but these two only: Ex.
xxxiii. 19, I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And how often elsewhere do you meet with these two in
like single couples ? I need not abound in instances, they are so many
Ps. cxlv. 8, The Lord is gracious, and great in mercy; moreover, Ps.
cxvi. 5, before cited. Likewise Neh. ix. 31, Nevertheless for thy great mercy s sake, thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.
Now, besides that as to the things themselves, grace and mercy are sub
stantially one (for grace, considered in its distinction from mercy, what is
it but love or favour simply considered, with a connotation of freeness in
God, as not being obliged by any worth in the creature why he should be
gracious?) The very definition of grace giver by God himself is a love
* Receive us gra
that is free, and that loveth freely. Thus, Hos. XxV.,
ciously, prays the church, ver. 2 (and it was Gou that put those words
* I will love them
into her mouth, as in the same verse), and God answers,
freely, ver. 4, so explaining it. And that love in God is the root and
ground of mercy, and mercy but love ampliated, or stretched out and
enlarged to those he loves when they be in misery, I shall have a fairer occasion to demonstrate; and therefore, that if love and grace be an essen
tial principle in God, then mercy must needs be also. Besides this way of
proof (which I now waive), I insist only upon this at present, as that which
is proper to what is now afore me, viz., that grace and mercy are compeers
92 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
and equals in every respect ; and that, therefore, if gracious be an essential
attribute, then merciful. Now, that grace is such, I urge this one argument, that God accounts his being gracious as the height and top of his glory, yea, and his being merciful to be so too. Give me leave to put a weight upon this. When, in general, it is said of God (as often) that he is a
glorious God, that which this carries to every understanding is, that an
infinity of surpassing glory is in himself, and proper to him as God, and essential to him, which glory it is required of us to glorify. In like man
ner, when, in particular, it is said of any attribute that it is his glory, and which we are also called upon to glorify him for, in the manifestation of it to us, there is necessarily, withal, imported therein an essential glory, which is the root whence that manifestation proceedeth, and which is there
fore to be glorified by us, the proper glory of that particular attribute being the end of that manifestation. As when either in special it is said of grace, as Eph. i. 6, To the praise of the glory of his grace, it is no less nor no other than when in general it is said, that we should be to the praise of
his glory. Surely as in the latter speech, ver. 12, To the praise of his
glory, by his glory to be praised is meant all the attributes, as power, wisdom, &c., the result and crown of all which is his glory, that are the causes of, and are manifested in our salvation, all which, both the attributes and this glory of them, must be acknowledged to be essential, and that
answerably there is an essential glory of them in himself, which was and had been in him although he had never made any outward manifestation
at all thereof. So in the former speech, ver. 6, his particular instance, the glory of his grace, must necessarily be understood, that his grace is
glorious with the same kind of essential glory proper to it as the other, and to import this it is styled the glory of his grace. Some would have it, that by the glory of his grace to be praised should immediately and directly be meant the glorious manifestations of his grace, yet still there must be
imported therewith and thereby an essential glory that is the glory mani
fested ; and it must needs be so, for all manifestation is but of what is and hath being as the object of that manifestation, so as still we must resolve
all into an essential glory that is at the bottom, and is the foundation ;
yea, and that intrinsecal glory of any attribute is that which is the ultimate
object of our praise when we are called upon to glorify it, the farthest
mark, the terminus which we transmit our glorying of God in that respect unto, as that which we aim to praise and glorify, as indeed it is ex
pressed, to the praise of the glory of his grace. The aspirements and
holy aims and Teachings of godly souls in their giving glory to God, rest not in praising or in giving glory to the manifestation of his glory, although that be never so glorious, but by means and upon occasion thereof are
carried out to and terminate in his essential glory itself, as that which is
in their aims to give glory to. And indeed thereby only it is fulfilled, that he that glorieth, glorieth in the Lord, as the apostle and prophet calls us
to do, whilst both speak of mercy manifested, 1 Cor. i. 31, Jer. ix. 24. And indeed either none of those attributes of wisdom, power, &c., shewn
in our salvation, that wear and have the title of his glory stamped upon them, are essential to him, or this of grace also must be so, which is
styled his glory, xar s^offlv, by way of eminency and singularity. The
truth of these things that one place, Rom. ix. 23, declares, that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. Here is at
first a manifestation of glory, in those words make known, and withal a
riches of his glory which is manifest, whereby it is evident that glory must
CHAP. XI.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 93
needs be understood to be different from that manifestation, be it never so
glorious ; for it is the thing that is manifested, and what can that be other than those riches of glory which he possesseth in himself, and makes known by communications and manifestations thereof on his saints, as it
follows there ; like as in that speech in the verse afore, verse 22, which in coherence is parallel to and yokes with this, God willing to make his power known; that is, his power being an intrinsecal, essential attribute in him
self, he manifests it, and makes it known; the like holds of his glory spoken of here. And the close of this is, that those riches of glory there do prove to be the glory of his grace and mercy in a special manner
intended, and so bear the name of glory by way of eminency. This
.ZEstius and others have observed ; and my ground why specially mercy is intended is, because the saints, who are the vessels, or receptacles, or sub
jects unto whom these riches, &c., are to be communicated and manifested
in them, are in respect unto this styled vessels of mercy. The riches of the glory of mercy, then, are those which are the principal contributors, although the glory of all other attributes do likewise empty their streams
into the same vessels, to fill them with glory. So then mercy stands every way equal with grace (an essential attribute), and that in glory, yea, in
riches of glory, and therefore is of as high an alliance to God as that is. They are every way rated alike in God s books, the Scriptures ; and God, who is an equal prizer and valuer, doth not set a deeper estimation or value than the real worth doth bear. As then I shewed afore, mercy and
power were paired as equal for greatness, so mercy and grace we find to be
equals. These two are for estate and riches equal, and are as peers for
glory and honour too, and they are both alike God s riches and glory, by the valuation of which God shews what a rich and glorious God he is in himself. I conclude this, as I did the former, who then shall dare to say to rich mercy, to mercy which God accounts his glory (when withal he
shall see it placed by God himself immediately, and bidden to sit there by him on the same throne with equal royalty with other so high-born essen
tial attributes of mine), who then shall bid and say, Thou rich, and great, and glorious mercy, come off the seat thou sittest on, as too high for thee, and sit thou at the footstool of all these other ?
For those other two attributes, goodness and truth, so much having been said of the former two, it is not necessary to enlarge on these; yet, to com
plete this confirmation, I shall add some things as to both.
A third pair is mercy and goodness. Merciful, and much or plenteous in goodness, says the text; where, whether goodness imports (as in the
* The Lord is
general notion of it) a communicativeness of good things
good, and doth good, Ps. cxix. 68, it being the innate property of good ness to be communicative or whether more specially kindness, bounty, benignity be intended, as many translate the word here and elsewhere ; however it be taken, it is singly paired with mercy. 1. As to goodness, how many psalms do begin with, and some also do
begin and end with, The Lord is good, his mercy endures for ever. I instance only in Ps. cxviii., whereof both the first and last verses have those words. It was the usual form of praising the Lord, to sing
* The Lord is good, his mercy endures for ever, Jer. xxxiii. 11, and had been
prescribed unto the Levites, 1 Chron. xvi. 41. And though he is good to
all his creatures, Ps. cxlv., yet here it is that goodness that extends itself to his Israel, as Ps. Ixxiii. 1, which draws forth the goodness in his nature in the communications of it to its full length ; and that is specially intended
94 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
in this text, for it is that goodness which brings forth pardon of sins, saving mercies which the text speaks of, which two the psalmist puts together : Ps. Ixxxvi. 5, For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive ; and
plenteous in mercy to all that call upon thee.
2. And as his goodness and mercy are paired, so kindness (vgqffr&iifi) and mercy
: Titus iii. 4, After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared. And mercy is not far off them: for ver. 5, According to his mercy hath he saved us, for indeed they are all but one. And again, Luke vi. 35, 36, He is kind unto the unthankful, and to the
evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. And to shut up this, you have both kindness and goodness joined and paired with mercy in Ps. xxv. 6, 7,
* Remember, Lord, thy tender mercies, and thy loving-kindnesses ; for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions
: according to thy mercy remem ber thou me for thy goodness sake, Lord. These two import not
barely his affording outward favours, which we call kindness, nor barely a
doing kindness, as we use to say, or God s being good to us in benefits communicated ; but they connotate withal a root that is in God s nature, from whence these outward kindnesses proceed. The Lord is first good in
himself, and thence and therefore doth good ; and in like manner he is of a kind heart and nature in himself first, and thence and therefore is kind to others, even to the evil and unthankful, as Luke vi. 35, and the abun-
dancy of his goodness and kindness in effects is from the amplitude and
largeness of the goodness and kindness in his own heart and nature, as I shewed in the beginning of this second confirmation, and as is evident from the 8th verse of that 25th Psalm now cited, it immediately following, the Lord is good and upright ; which as an essential principle in God, and the root of that mere}
7 and kindness which he sued for, he resolveth ultimately his faith into, as Mais hath observed. And among men we use, by way of
eminency, to express goodness in a person by good nature ; and one that
is kind in his outward deportment, we term him one of a kind heart arid nature. And indeed kindness denotes an inward kind disposition more
principally, and in the first place ; even as when the Scripture denominates a man a liberal man, it doth it principally from that noble, free, and large disposition of liberality in his spirit, whence liberal actions proceed, as
* A liberal man (such in himself) deviseth liberal things
: thus
Isa. xxxii. 8,
it is in kindness also. And in God, to whom these are thus attributed, it holds much more ; goodness is so essential to him, as he alone is to be called good, as also that he alone is holy, Rev. xv. 4, which evidently imports he as God hath such and such an holiness and goodness in him as is proper to him alone, and transcendeth that goodness that is in creatures, and theirs is no good ness in comparison. And as he was essential holiness, and should have been so for ever, although he never had produced a work (who yet is holy in all his works he doth produce), so he was and had been essentially good, although he never had communicated a good thing to any creature. And if it be the nature of goodness to communicate itself, then it is the common voice of all mankind, as the common voice of the Scriptures too, that goodness is the nature of God. Now mercy is not only paired there
with, but it is indeed essentially all one with it. Mercy is but bonitas summ&
extensa, as the school speaks, it is but goodness extendible, an aptness or readiness in his goodness to extend itself to sinners, as well as to commu
nicate good things to others that had not, nor have not sinned, which by creation God did. Mercy is but a promptitude to communicate so much
CHAP. XI. J OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 95
further, viz., to sinners. Mercy is but goodness with a nevertheless, that
is, though they are sinners, as Neh. ix. 31. And, indeed, as in the school men s right apprehensions, they are but one and the same in God, so in
the sense of the Scriptures also. Thus his mercy to sinners is expressly
styled his goodness: Rom. xi. 22, towards thee goodness, &c., which
along after in the chapter doth bear the name of mercy, ver. 30-32, and
chap. xii. 1. And again, his mercy to sinners is in like manner termed
kindness, as expressly, Luke vi. 35, He is kind to the evil and unthank
* Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. To conclude this, mercy, goodness, kindness, are so near akin, and of one
ful. Ver. 36,
stock, that if one be essential to God, then must the other be also.
The last pair are truth and mercy
: these two are alone thus yoked, one under the names either of truth or of faithfulness, the other of mercy or
loving-kindness. And thus you meet with them so frequently in so many psalms as I scarce need particularise any, but might refer it either to the
reader s remembrance, or adventure upon his advertency thereof, at his
but turning over a few leaves, soon to find enough. I will instance but in one or two : Is God to be praised ? The height of praises is for his
* mercy and truth : Ps. cviii. 3-5, I will praise thee, Lord, among the people
: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations. For thy mercy is
great above the heavens : and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. Be thou
exalted, God, above the heavens : and thy glory above all the earth. And you have these words over and over in two several psalms, Ps.
Ivii. 9-11. In Ps. cviii. his mercy is magnified not only to the heavens, but as great
* above the heavens ; that is, to an infinity, as that which the heaven of heavens do not, cannot contain, as they do not God himself. And
so it is an extolling of mercy by this, that it is an infinite, as God himself, in whom it is. And that which is translated the clouds, which his truth
is said to be exalted unto, are indeed the heavens, as two learned critics* have with vehemency contended for. And the 138th Psalm hath not only
joined them together for praisef (vei. 2, I will praise thy name for thy
loving-kindness and thy truth ), but adds, for thou hast magnified thy word (namely, as it sets forth those two attributes) above all thy name. The greatest part of his word is taken up either with promises which lovingkindness or mercy made, or of the performance of them which truth
eflecteth ; so then these two are to be magnified above all his other pro
perties whatever ; which two to celebrate all nations are specially called
upon to praise him for, Ps. cxvii. 1, 2, which is interpreted to mean both Jews and Gentiles when converted ; as the summary of the gospel, Rom.
xv. 8, 9, imports, and as Christ s ministry in the 40th Psalm (a psalm made up for Christ, if any other, see ver. 6-8) was foretold : ver. 10,
* I have not concealed thy lovingkindness, and thy truth, from the great con
gregation. Or is God to be prayed unto for any kind of saving mercies, and the continuance of them ? it follows, ver. 11 of that psalm,
* Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, Lord : let thy loving-kindness and
thy truth continually preserve me. t need mention no more ; paired we
: and of the two, if either be greater, it is his mercy,
see they are equally
*" See Piscator on Ps. Ivii. ver. 11, and on Ps. xxxvi. 6, and Dr Hammond on
Ps. Ivii. 10.
t See Dr Hammond, Annot. on the 2d verse of the 138th Psalm. His word
being here annexed to loving-kindness and truth, must needs be that part of his word to which these two are applicable: 1. His promise \ the matter whereof is
loving-kindness. 2. In the performance of which is truth and fidelity.
96 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
as to whomever, that will attentively consult ^those scriptures, it will
appear.
Now that his truth is an essential attribute, none can deny that will read that scripture, 2 Tim. ii. 13, He is faithful, and cannot deny him
self. It is himself; he is true in such a transcendent manner as no crea tures can ever come to be partakers of. Which difference between him and them, in respect of truth, I take to be the adequate meaning of that Rom. iii. 4, Let God be true, and every man a liar. It is a vehement asseveration on God s behalf, as if he should say, Although all men should be liars, yet God is truth, that is, there is a possibility for the most faith
ful plain-hearted man that ever was yet. to become a liar (Adam and the
angels that fell were created true and holy, but abode not in the truth ) ; but of God it is pronounced, that he is true in such unchangeable a man
* impossible for him to lie, Heb. vi. 18, for his truth is his Godhead, and himself, and so is mercy.
ner, that it is
Arg. 5. It is a common professed maxim among divines, that whatever
is in God, is God himself. Quicquid est in Deo Deus est. This in the utmost latitude of it I argue not now, for all internal acts are not God s.* But when we speak of such as are attributes abstractly given him, whereby to describe him ; that these should express his being God, yea, his very Godhead, this is generally, and must be adhered unto by us. And how
this is to be understood and cautioned, I hope to shew afterward.
That this should hold true of mercy, long-suffering, &c., in a more emi nent way of evidence, that which I shall now further observe out of this
text, may, I hope, for the present serve to evince, which, if gained, doth
afford a fifth strong argument, and meet to be brought the last for the shut
ting up of all.
I have so much considered and dilated within myself what should be the
mystery of so vehement a triple or thrice recital of the substantial names
of God, by themselves alone first, as Jehovah, Jehovah, God, before these four or five attributed abstract names, merciful, gracious, &c., which then do as entirely by themselves follow, I cannot but apprehend that some more than ordinary mystery must be in it, the like not being ordinary that I know of.
I know that it is put over to the importing the mystery of the three per sons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to shew they are all merciful, long-
suffering, &c., and equally or alike such. And that is a great mystery indeed, and greatly for our faith and comfort. But then withal reflecting that these merciful three do possess and subsist in that one Godhead and
simple divine essence, and that the attributes they have in common are the
attributes of the Godhead, or of God himself as God, and so are theirs, because each of them is God, I came to this farther inquiry, Why should not this triple rehearsal of the names of God be intended to declare that God, as God, is merciful, long-suffering, &c., or that merciful, &c., are himself in the same, and in as true a sense as any other attribute is said
to be in Scripture. In the substantial names Jehovah, &c., he proclaims wJio t in the attributed names or properties he declares what that Jehovah
is, as in which his Godhead and his being Jehovah consisteth, namely, in
merciful, gracious, &c., so as Jehovah, Jehovah, is these attributes, and
reciprocally these attributes are Jehovah, Jehovah. In those his substan
tial names he speaks himself as at once by the great ; in these attributed names or properties he unfolds himself, and explicates himself by parcels, * Qu. God ? ED.
CHAP. XI.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 97
for the letting in of himself into our understandings, the bore of which is not large enough to take in the whole at once. Thus elsewhere we also find such conjoined to the being of God, though not with this triple men tion of his name : Lord, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy, &c., Neh. i. 5. And Solomon before him thus speaks, Lord God, there is no God like thee, who keepest covenant and mercy, 1 Kings viii. 23. And so for pardoning
: Who is a God like unto thee, thatjpardoneth iniquity? &c., Micah vii. 18. And though these, being acts, are not God or God himself, yet you see they are attributed as proper and peculiar to him as he is God, and do argue him to be God alone, and are such as, if he were not God, could not be acted by him ; concerning which this rule is to be held, that therefore they necessarily proceed from the Godhead itself; and farther, must be ascribed unto those properties of the Godhead of the first sort, which in the Scriptures are held forth as the proper causes of such acts or effects, and so reductive (as we say), must be resolved unto those attributes in God, their causes, which are the very Godhead. And in this sense here Jehovah keeping mercy, and pardoning iniquity, as acts proper to Jehovah, are to be ascribed to Jehovah (as here), Jehovah merciful and gracious (that goes before), as divine properties in him, that are causes thereof, and as those that do immediately express his
Godhead, and are himself, as this triplication of the name of God prefixed imports. And thus considered and stated, both sorts do indeed come all to one. So, then, we may call them essential attributes, that imports his being God, and without which he were not God.
Nor need it here to stumble any, that pardoning sin, &c., keeping mercy for thousands, are also here attributed to him ; but of them it must not be said that they are God ; if he shall withal consider that there is this vast difference between those first abstract attributes immediately coming next to Jehovah, Jehovah, and those other that follow, they being appa rently acts in God, and from God, as his wonts and practices, whereof those five of the first rank are the causes, as was at large shewn in the argument. And yet even those acts speak him to be God too in this
respect, that they do necessarily suppose and involve his being God as God, as proper to him above,* as he is God, or they would never proceed from him.
I begin with the first, that merciful, &c., are one with Jehovah. And now I
^must call in the help of other parallel scriptures, both to confirm the thing itself, viz., that as other true and real attributes are one with Jehovah
himself, or are himself, so mercy is, and that upon the same grounds ; as
also, by way of parallel, to justify that construction and collection I have made of this thrice repetition, and which I make the rise of this argument out of the text.
1 1. One attribute which is undeniably evident to be essential to and with Jehovah is truth and faithfulness, which is his Godhead and himself: Tit. i. 2, God that cannot lie; that is, because he is God, or that truth is his Godhead, and his Godhead is truth. He were not God else ; and he must cease, if otherwise, to be God : whereof the one can no more be than the other. Yea, and in terminis it is styled himself: 2 Tim. ii. 13, If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful : He cannot deny himself. Why? For faithfulness is himself.
Now let us bring a parallel scripture speaking this very thing of God s being faithful as God, and expressing this in the like, yea, well-nigh the * Qu. alone ? ED. VOL. vm. .
98 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
same equipage of language with this in Exodus xxxiv., proclaiming Jehovah
God, merciful God. And the language being the same, and that being the
intent of it there, it must be the same here. That scripture is Deut. vii. 9,
* Know that the Lord thy God he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him. Here is first a vehement
* the Lord thy God he is God, to the end
indigitation of his being God,
that they might know that he was the faithful God, as God. He that is God, the Lord thy God, is faithful; that is, faithfulness is essential with
his Godhead, that therefore they might surely build upon it as upon his Godhead itself. For why ? Faithfulness was he himself, and it is to the
intent they might know him. Now, do we not hear God proclaiming him
self in a like strain, Jehovah, Jehovah, God merciful, &c., and this to the same intent, that they might know him, and know what a God he is, in and
by these ; yea, and truth or faithfulness being one of those very attributes
that follow, much in truth, as you have heard? This place, then, in Deut. vii. 9, must refer unto that uttered before it in Exod. xxxiv., and
therefore may well serve to illustrate it, which this also confirms, that
keeping mercy for thousands here in Exodus very well accords with he
keepeth mercy, &c., in Deuteronomy. Now, then, after you have read over once more a second time that passage in Deuteronomy, Know that the Lord, &c., and then that preface joined to the faithful God, to shew
that he is faithful as he is God, with those other said places pre-confirmed, then bring this of Exodus to it, Jehovah, Jehovah, God merciful, and the same construction and purpose will arise up out of it, that this God, as God, is a merciful, gracious God, in the same sense and intendment that the faithful God comes in in Deuteronomy, and after comes in here,
* much in truth ; and thus uttered to the same full intent and purpose, that we might know what a God God is.
And if the parallel of these two be not sufficient to evince the same, then take another passage in Psalm Ixxxvi. 15, But thou, Lord, art a God