Chapter XIV
The uses of the doctrine. That the thoughts of the mercies in God s nature
should encourage us to come to him for salvation and life. That the con
sideration of them should cause any soul to hope that God will pardon him in particular.
Use 1. Let the thoughts of these treasures of mercies, which have been
described and demonstrated to be in God s nature, encourage us to come
to him. Let us consider that there is no other use of all these riches of
mercy in God, but to be given all forth unto sinners for his glory
: whereas
all his other attributes are to himself, and for himself. Thus his wisdom
is the perfection of his own being
: his love is that whereby he loves him-
126 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
self : his all-sufficience is that which makes himself blessed ; but his mercies redound not in this manner unto or upon himself (for he is not merciful unto himself, or for himself), but the sole improvement and glory of them consists in extending them to others, so as otherwise they would lie useless by him. Now then, as a man s having a great estate lying by him, is the
greatest provocation that can be to him to make him willing to lay it forth unto an improvement ; so these vast treasures of mercies which God possesseth, are a motive unto him to expend them upon sinners. Full breasts love to be sucked and drawn, their fulness otherwise becomes a pain. It
is the greatest vanity to have riches, and not to know on whom to bestow them. Do but possess thy heart then with the thoughts that there is this fulness of grace, these great riches of mercy in God, and it will make thy soul easy of belief, that there is a willingness in God to bestow them, and that he is resolved to give them out to thee whenever thou comest to him,
especially since himself hath set them forth, and proclaimed them on pur pose to us ; as we find in the Scriptures, that where God doth set himself to persuade sinners to come to him, he thinks it sufficient to give them pro mises of mercy and pardon.
When convinced sinners come to have the prospect of their hearts, and of their lives past, and of their sins therein, in the great aggravations of them, set in order before them ; when the account of their ten thousand talents comes in ; then, unless the superabounding mercies in God, which should pardon them, arise up to their faith, and are in solido told out before their eyes, and their faith prevails to assure them in good earnest that there are such infinite mercies in God, they cannot entertain a thought of hope or comfort. Till they see how the mercies of God are superaboundingly able to forgive all these their heinous and aggravated sins, and to remove those heaps upon heaps of them, they will not be brought to believe ; but as Jacob s heart fainted, and he believed not till he saw the waggons which Joseph had sent to carry him, and then his spirit revived, Gen. xlv. 26, 27, so neither will these sinners believe till they see the mercies which God hath sent forth to carry them to heaven. Till then
they are apt to cry out (as Cain did, Gen. iv. 13), My sin is greater than I can bear : or as those in Jer. xviii., who, when God had invited them to turn from their evil ways, say at the 12th verse, there is no hope, or our case is desperate. And so they forsook their own mercies (as Jonah
expresseth it), and left the everlasting and never-failing spring thereof, ver. 14, and forgot the Lord, ver. 15, and betook themselves to lying vani
ties to give them comfort and ease. And other souls who are preserved from despair, yet think within themselves, and say, Oh, where are the mercies to be found that should pardon all those sins ? Is it possible that God should find in his heart to do it ? Is it possible that God should find in his heart mercy and grace enough to pardon such, and so great a sum of sins committed against grace itself? And in this lies the stop and obstruc tion of faith, as it did in like manner with them in the wilderness, who
said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ? Ps. Ixxviii. 19. Their doubt (when matters came to a stress) was more of his power and ability, than of his will. The question is, Can God ? They do not say God will not. And truly there is as much unbelief in men s hearts about his mercy, when it comes to a pinch, as about his power ; though men ordinarily say that they question neither, and indeed till they are put to a distress, they question neither, but take them in an overly way for granted. But still there is the same reason of men s questioning the all-sufficiency of God s
CHAP. XIV.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 127
mercy, as there was in those Jews, and is in us upon any the like occasion,
of questioning his power. Accordingly, we find these two in like manner
expressly joined as parallel, and as points of like difficulty to be believed,
Ps. Ixii. 8, 11, 12 ; and indeed in doubting one we question the other, espe
cially when we hear that God s ability to forgive lieth in his mercy ; for
then to limit his power is as to this particular all one as to limit his mercy. And when men s consciences are throughly awakened to see their sins, then unbelief, on the other hand, awakens thoughts in them to limit God s
mercies, which is another phrase used, Ps. Ixxviii. 41. For men s narrow
spirits, if not enlarged by faith, do much measure God s heart by their own, and so think God to be like themselves, Ps. 1. 21. They cannot imagine how a person so high, so great, and so grievously provoked, should be able-
to forgive, and therefore apprehend that he cannot be willing ; and hence
a thousand jealousies of God do arise in men s souls, which are as full of
dark cells of unbelief as the earth is of vast caverns within the womb of it. We may judge that the disease lies here, by the remedy and application the
Scriptures make, which, to satisfy men s souls in these very scruples, do set
forth God in the greatness and prerogative power of his mercies, as the
mercies of so great a God, and proportionable to his greatness. As men s
hearts rise not up to glorify God as God, Rom. i. 21, so nor to believe
mercies to be in him as a God so great and infinite, proportionable to his
greatness. God hath therefore in the Scriptures taken several ways, and
at sundry times hath set forth his mercies to persuade men. Sometimes
they are set out by way of admiration and wonderment : Micah vii. 18, 19, Who is a God like our God, pardoning iniquity, and passing by the trans
gression of the remnant of his inheritance, and that delighteth in mercy ? Sometimes they are displayed by comparing his thoughts and heart in par
doning, with what may be supposed to be in the thoughts of the largest and most tender-hearted parent, father or mother, and with the bowels which all men put together may be supposed to have in them ; and God s
heart is declared to exceed them all in mercies and thoughts of forgiveness, as much as the heaven exceeds the earth : Isa. Iv. 7, Let the wicked for
sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ; and return unto the
Lord, and he will abundantly pardon. Yea, but the sinner will say, My thoughts of sinning have for time past already been infinite,
* only
evil, and continually evil from my infancy, and my ways have been con
tinually perverse and froward, ungracious and opposite to God and his
mercies, that should pardon me. Humbled sinners thoughts will go on so far
in a belief that God may pardon them, though they have gone out so far in
sinning, as to think that if they had only at such a time of their lives
sinned so and so against him, and been false to him, and not continued to
sin out of the presumption of that grace that now should pardon them, then they might have hope of mercy. But they think that because they have so long provoked him, that now he may have sworn against them in
his wrath, and that he cannot find in his heart to forgive such a wretch,
though he may otherwise pardon as much as all men and angels putting their stock of mercies together, and making up one great purse of mercy, as would be sufficient to extend to forgive and discharge great debts. Oh
but, says God, measure not my thoughts in pardoning either by the evil in
your thoughts, or by your ways in sinning ; nor yet measure them by what
the thoughts and ways of yourselves, men or angels, have or can have to
forgive withal ! For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord. As the heavens be higher than the earth,
128 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
so are my ways higher than your ways. My ways of mercy are both above
your ways of sinning, and they also exceed all the thoughts of mercy which
the best natured of you can have in pardoning others. My ways and
designs that I have upon you, and dealings I purpose towards you, tran
scend them all in opposite goodness, graciousness, and forgiveness, as much
as the heavens do the earth. And also says God, My thoughts are not
as your thoughts. He speaks all this of his exceeding them all in pardoning.
Nay, further, it rises higher, to this, meaning that the mercies of God do
not only exceed men s thoughts in what any, or all of them, could find in
their hearts in their proportion to pardon, but that also if you extend the
compasses of your thoughts, that you or any believers have had of what
mercies of God, and what thoughts of grace, have been exercised in pardon
ing themselves or other sinners ; yet the merciful thoughts of God in
reality do exceed, and are above all such apprehensions that you or any can
take up, as much as the heavens are above the earth, and are still higher
* his mercies are above the heavens. For lo ! these are but
also, since
parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him, or appre hended by us men, or that can be spoken by himself, unto what is in him
self ! Job xxvi. 14.
I have enlarged upon these reasons, not so much for conviction, which
in so plain a point needed not, as to stir up believers to the frequent
exercise of this so useful an experiment, wherein when faith is versed it
will find an abundant entrance into every promise that belongeth unto
mercy in any kind, as well as in the point of forgiveness ; and yet this
practice is neglected by Christians, for the want of which their faith con
tinues weak and narrow, and their joy and comfort in believing kept low
and small, and God himself bereft of much of the glory would arise unto
his mercy, if, together with the promises laid hold on, they would have
recourse unto the spring and fountain, the mercies of God. But the nar
rowness of their spirits in believing causeth them to content themselves
with a single and bare view of the things promised, and of the promises of them under the notion of being the word of God ; but they enlarge not in
considering the rich mercies of God, that moved him to make those pro mises. They have the consideration of the truth of God in them to perform, but expatiate not to the mercies that both gave the promises, and is the
cause of all the causes of the performance.
My advice to believers is, to meditate much upon, and to study the
infinite riches of God s mercies, as the Scriptures so frequently (and there
fore call for the like frequency ( of thoughts upon them in our hearts) have
set them forth unto us. Let us still join them all together upon any great and solemn occasion of exercising faith on promises ; and as, in the point of
thanksgiving after mercies received, we have many precedents of saints
recounting the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, according to all he hath
bestowed on them, according to his mercies, and according to the multitude
of his loving-kindnesses, Isa. Ixiii. 7, so in like manner our faith should, in
its pursuit to obtain mercies, collect and make the like catalogue, as we
have been even now abundantly instructed ; for hereby we shall greatly honour God, and strengthen our own hearts.
1. We shall honour God greatly (to give glory unto whom in the most
ample manner is the most proper use of faith, Rom. iv. 20), for thereby we
acknowledge and do homage to his mercies as the universal cause of all ;
for this is an undoubted maxim, that what is first in any kind is the uni
versal cause of all that kind. Consider then in God all that is mercy in any
CHAP. XIV.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 129
kind, and he being originally and only merciful as well as only good, all else of mercy must hold its tenor of that mercy that is in him. This I under stand to be the full of that title given him by the apostle, 2 Cor. i. 3, The father of mercies; i.
<?., he being a fulness of mercy in himself first, he became the Father of all mercies, of what kind soever. He is the first
in that kind ; mercy itself is his nature, and all mercies purposed, promised, performed, held forth, or applied to faith, are all his immediate children, and not one of them have any existence but from him, and that considered
* the Father of
as he is merciful too. Thus in another respect he is styled
lights, James i. 17, in respect of heavenly gifts from above, they holding in chief of him as such in that kind of effects ; like as the sun (to which the allusion manifestly there is) may be called the father, or first original of all heavenly light that comes down upon the world from itself, or from
stars that have their light from it.
2. And also this course of meditating on the riches of God s mercies will
prove most comfortable to us ; for, 2 Cor. i. 3, now cited, where he pro pounds him to our faith as the Father of mercies, he adds this other
immediately, the God of all comforts ; for in exercising our faith on him
as a Father of mercies, we shall find him to be a God of comfort to us, whilst we are but expectants and waiters on him by faith all along until the
performance.
3. And by virtue of his mercies being the universal, supreme, and
sovereign cause of all mercies, promises, &c., it holds good that our faith may have a free, ample, and immediate recourse unto them in all cases, or occasions whatsoever. For the law or privilege that accompanies his being the first cause in other kind of effects, doth by analogy hold in this. Take him as he is primus motor, the first and universal cause of all being and
motion, and it is a maxim universally consented to by all divines, that
although there be a chain of second causes subordinate one to another, that have a power each to bring forth their proper effects (as the sun brings forth light, and that light heat and warmth, and that warmth quickens and
enlivens the seeds and roots in the earth, and they bring forth herbs, which herbs and flowers have divers colours and qualities they are adorned withal), yet God, who is the first and universal cause, hath an immediate influence and concurrence into all and each, as immediately into the very last as
into the first ; and that a far greater than they have all or severally into
their effects ; so as God not only works by them, but with them, and he as
immediately causeth the light to quicken plants as to send out light, and
as immediately he causeth the plants to bring forth flowers, yea, and that
last effect too, those orient colours with which the lilies (that are our tulips) are arrayed above Solomon in all his royalty ; yet these particulars are
immediately attributed unto God more than unto their second causes : If God, says our Saviour, so clothe the grass of the field, Mat. vi. 28, 30, Luke xii. 17, 28 ; and indeed he works all in all, 1 Cor. xii. 6. I need not insist on it further, being it is but for illustration ; be you only exhorted
to hold this golden chain and descent of mercies let down to your faith to
lay hold upon ; see his thoughts and purposes to have mercy immediately flowing from the essential mercies of his nature, and then regard his pro mises of bestowing such and [such] mercies as another link let down from
his purposes. And though the faith of a believer lays hold on these promises as on what are next it, yet those first and essential mercies (so celebrated in his word) do immediately touch, influence, and reach unto all and each of these, unto the last as well as the first, to give subsistence to them, and VOL. VIII. I
1 80 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
to make all good to the faith of a sinner. And hence the faith of believers, whilst it clasps itself into the promise of forgiveness, or any other promise in the word, may not only remotely depend on God s mercies (as a man
that hangs his whole weight upon the lowest link of a chain, may be said
to hang also upon the uppermost, to which all are in subordination fastened), but he may in and with the promise have an immediate recourse to the top
and supreme mercies themselves, for they are ready and present with the
declaration of his word to make them good and real to the faith of a sinner,
for whose sake and comfort they are and were written. He may bring down the consideration of all these mercies into every such promise, &c.,
to strengthen his heart in believing, and in treating with God for forgive
ness, for they are the original cause of those promises, and all promises of
mercy are immediately conjunct unto, and dependent on, the mercies in God s nature, even as all particular rivers depend upon the universal ocean, from which they all come, and into which they run, as Solomon tells us, Eccles. i. 7, and each of them have the whole sea to maintain and feed
them. And as they flow also into the sea, and every vessel, small or great, that floats in any of those particular rivers hath an open passage into the
main, keeping to the course of that river, so is it here between the mercies
of God, the ocean, and the current of promises of salvation, and the faith
of a believer. And in this case there is that privilege which often falls not
out in such as we have alluded to, viz., that the smallest rivulet of salva
tion running in the promises may bear up a vessel of mercy, and may be
for his supply, if he thinks or finds he wants water, and sticks in the deeps of mire and quicksand. The believer s faith hath the freedom and liberty to suck and draw in the ocean of God s mercies, to draw (if it were possible) the whole of the sea itself to make a full stream for its support, and to help
it off aground, and to help its being borne aloft above all mire of tempta tions. Nor are there any stints set how much or how little it may let in ; and to confirm this, why should not faith as well have this immediate
recourse, in and with the promises whilst yet unperformed, unto these
essential mercies aforehand, to bestow and give forth the things promised, as well as after in thanksgiving, when we have received the mercies as per formed unto us, we bless God for them, and we celebrate all those essential
mercies in God as the original and immediate causes of them ? Thus Nehemiah did, Neh. ix. 17-20, &c. The great return which the Gentiles, and all the nations in the world, are said to bring unto God (when converted
by the gospel), as the richest present of thankfulness, is set out by this,
to glorify God for his mercy, Rom. xv. 9. Now there is the same reason
for one as for the other, and we shall find that, in the exercise hereof, and
treating with God thereby, there will flow in upon our souls an abundance
of strength and consolation, even spring-tides of them, to fill the channels
of the promises, and also of our hearts, that give themselves up to them.
Use %. I shall yet farther, by way of use and application, enlarge this
head, by adding, that this comprehension or intuition of the mercies in God s nature will also prove a great persuasive and encouragement to a
bringing on an hope in men s souls, an hope of God s willingness to pardon themselves in particular. And this is a matter of great moment, it being
found, in ordinary and common experience, that whilst humbled souls are
helped so far on in their way of believing as to acknowledge the truth of God s intentions in the promises of forgiveness, and the reality of the per formance to some or other, yet still they stick or waver whether God be
willing to pardon them in particular. Now, whatever other encouragements
ClIAP. XIV.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 131
unto such a soul others will allege, whereof there may be many, yet I shall insist on this one, andithat alone, it lying in my way, and being suitable to the design of my discourse ; that if God but possesses and fill thy soul with an ample and enlarged apprehension of the mercies that are in himself, this will create withal an encouragement to thee that he intends good to thy soul in particular. As the flood, when it rose higher and higher, did lift up together with itself the ark, so an muring thy soul to those comprehen sions will insensibly elevate and raise up thy soul to a confidence that God doth intend all good to thee. Look, as if one that is timorous, and unused to travel in great waters, should be set in never so safe a vessel in the midst of the sea, or great overflow, where he saw himself environed about with nothing but waves, he would fear his being drowned and cast away ; so, on the contrary, if you set the most weak and fearful soul in the full view and prospect of God s mercies, and the vast ocean thereof, that he sees neither shore nor bottom, this poor but otherwise tumbled soul will soon take heart and courage to itself. For,
m 1. The full and clear revelation of any divine truth in a way of sub sistence to a man s soul, doth leave some application of itself to a man s soul. And if a discovery be made of good things, the manifestation thereof doth usually leave an encouragement in the heart that they belong and appertain unto one s-self. The very manifestation that God makes of them (when God makes it) carries so much engraven in it. As this is found true in experience, so that definition of faith, Heb. xi. 1, 2, confirms it, even that the main of faith lies in a conviction of the substance of the things themselves, which, when it is made in the abundancy of the object revealed, the very sight and presence thereof is that which mainly draws in the heart to apply it, and cleave and adhere unto it for its ease in parti cular. The truth of this might be abundantly made out, and it holds good in the particular point before me in a more especial manner, by how much the infinite sweetness of God s mercy hath a magnetic or a loadstone virtue in it, by alluring (as Hosea s phrase is, chap. ii. 14) to attract and draw in the heart unto them, and cause men to think that they may come to have a part and portion in them. Whilst they deeply consider that there is such an height and depth of mercy, a bottomless gulf in God s heart, it induceth the soul to cast anchor within the veil, as mariners do their anchors in the bottom of the sea blindfold; which anchor is an hope of mercy for a man s
self, upon what he clearly as yet sees not to belong unto him.
2. For the confirmation hereof (besides this general ground) I observe, that when God himself doth set himself to draw men unto him, to turn to him, and so to believe and lay hold on his mercy, and would persuade them thereunto, the most efficacious course he takes *is, in the most ample man ner that may be in the first and chief place, to possess the hearts of those he addresseth his invitations unto of those infinite riches of grace that are in his heart and nature only in a general declaration of them only, whilst yet, in applying of them and of the promises to the persons, he is pleased to give but imperfect intimations and suspensive discourses of what he will dp for them in particular. That one instance in Joel ii. 13, 14, may suffi ciently serve for many others; for the thing he there instantly exhorts unto is this, Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn unto me with all your heart, ^&c. But what are the encouragements or invitations by which he would induce them to it ? What grounds doth he propose unto their faith ? They are two. The first and great one is, the royal declaration of the mercies that are in the nature of God barely proposed, and it is the same
132 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [BOOK I.
in the very words with that of his old and first proclamation, so often
repeated throughout all ages (which he will for ever tibideby), Exod. xxxiv.,
for so he begins, For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of
great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 2. There are and use to
be in the word more particular promises, wherein he far more utters what
his will and resolution is for shewing mercy unto those whom he speaks to.
Now, indeed, you will find that some promises are also annexed hereunto
in this his exhortation, and both intended to provoke them to believe and
turn to God ; but I beseech you to observe the vast and strange difference ;
that is, the manner of his declaring the first and the latter.
The first, viz., magnific description of his nature, he utters in the fullest
and most enlarged, absolute, assertory way that possibly might be. He
proclaims that with open mouth, and speaks plainly without reservation or
hesitation. That magnific description of himself he utters with open mouth
in the fullest and amplest manner that possible might be ; but the second,
viz., the promise made to the persons, and the things promised, he is
pleased but to mutter (as I may so speak), and concerning this he says no
more but, Who knows if God will repent and leave a blessing behind him ? He is sparing and reserved, you see, in this way of the declaration
of his will : yea, and elsewhere, the hope he gives as to this part is yet more slender; for but to an It may be, Amos v. 15; Zeph. ii. 3 ; yea, but to an If there may be hope, Lament, iii. 29. To say that
* there is
hope, gives us a sight but afar off; but to say, If there may be hope,
gives a far more uncertain sound. Yet this is what God doth in this sort
of declaration concerning what his will in promises to these persons lets
fall to them.
By all which we may clearly see that it is the certain and clear conviction
and evidence of the grace in God, though joined but with such promises
that speak but indefinitely, and contain but imperfect obscure hints and
intimations, and that give but a slender hope (as one would give of good
will to a man in his particular) that it is this conviction which hath the
strength and attractive influence in it, and is sufficient, with those promises,
to draw in the soul to cast itself upon God, and to hope in his mercy. And this inference from that fore-mentioned passage in Joel is strong and
clear ; for it must not be denied that God, in those treaties and proposals
to men, did apply himself to work faith in them, and accordingly gave forth
what was most effective, at least sufficient, to beget faith in men s hearts, and to bring them in to him. And further, it must be owned that the great God (the proposer here), knowing our frame, and what it is wherein the
unbelief in men s hearts doth mostly lie, did therefore apply himself, and
frame his exhortations up of such things as would be most effective of faith
in us, and best able to remove the contrary obstruction of unbelief. Now, we plainly see that in these passages he spreads the plaster thickest and
deepest with that medicinal salve, viz., of the display of the mercies of God s nature, and but thinly with that other of suspensive intimations of
his good will to the persons in the promises annexed. And therefore that
which is the most hardened core of unbelief in us, must be understood to
consist chiefly in the doubting of the plenteousness and fulness of mercies
that are in him to pardon us. This is the great and deep sore of men s
hearts, if men would but know it in themselves, as Solomon speaks,
1 Kings viii. ; and the virtue and influence of this sovereign plaster men
tioned is it which doth dissolve that core and work of the devil ; and in
our believing of these things of our God it is that the main stress of faith
CHAP. XV.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 133
doth lie (though men discover it not), and in that point their faith needs
most to be strengthened and relieved, rather than in the other. And this
one thing apprehended once, though but with slender half promises of that
mercy to us, which are but intimations rather than promises, will yet be
abundantly effective to persuade the heart, and beget in it a good hope
through grace of mercy for itself, and thereupon to come in and turn unto
God, who thereupon will reveal himself in other promises more fully to his
soul.