Sermon X
JJut God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wlierewith he loved us, when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us tot/ether with Christ, (?>>/ grace ye are saved ;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. VER. 4-6.
WE have already sailed over one sea, that of man s conniption, a dead sea,
.is I may so call it : and we are now entering into another, a far vaster and
deeper, of God s love and free grace ; But God, who is rich in mercy, for
his great love wherewith he hath loved us,
<fcc. In opening of these words, I shall pursue that method which I have used from the beginning.
1 . To give you the general scope, parts, and coherence of the words.
2. To give you an exposition. And
3. Observations upon them.
I. For the main general scope ; it is to set out the greatness of that love, mercy, and grace that is in God, as it is the fountain of salvation to all his
elect, and this in the chiefest outward fruits and benefits of it ad extra, to wards us, in three several degrees thereof. He doth take all advantages hi
setting of it forth, to take their hearts whom he wrote to.
He had first presented to them a map and a prospect of their sin and
misery, in the former verses ; how they were dead in sins and trespasses,*
* children of wrath, <tc., and this to prepare their hearts. Even as, suppose you would prepare the spirits of men condemned to die to entertain with
the highest welcome the grace and mercy of a prince that was resolved to
pardon them, you would first set out to them all their wretchedness and demerits to the full, and then exaggerate the goodness and graciousness of
the prince in his resolutions of grace and favour towards them : so doth he
here. A graciousness shewn not only simply in forgiving, pardoning, and
pulling them out of that depth of misery, but in raising and advancing them, and setting them up upon the highest pinnacle and top of honour ; raising them up from death, and a death in sin, to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, or with Christ Jesus. Such a story as this, were it told but to
standers-by, but as that which concerned other men and not themselves, it would wonderfully affect them, and cause them to fall down in admiration
<>f that superexcelling grace in him that should deal so with miserable and un
worthy creatures subjected to his wrath. But when the men the stoi
uttered of are the persons themselves that hear it, and the objects of all this
grace, how must this needs transport them ! Now after he had forelaid and inlaid the description of their misery, he
sets out the mercy of God in the most taking way. He first brings it in with a but of some hidden and sc i
> to remedy all this, that that God whom he had said had elected ami predestinated, con
trived our salvation according to the o.miM-1 .f his will, having mercy in him; &lul of an admiration U ::mcnt in himself, of excess and
EPH. II. 4-G.] TO THE EPHESIANS. Ul
abundance of grace in God, and reservation of a superaboundiug happiness intended to them : Hut God, saith he. And at the second word, lie names him that is the subject of all this
goodness, and the designer and author of all this happiness to them, to the end they might have him in their eye, even from the first : But God My brethren, I appeal to you
: if you had first only heard the story of your natural condition and the desert of it, from an ambassador sent from heaven, and he had done nothing but laid open to you the woeful, rueful, wretched condition that you are in, with all the punishment God had threat ened to inflict and you had deserved ; and his last words had been, conclud
ing you under the wrath of the great God, children of wrath, as here ; and then should have gone, and further said, But God, and gone no further, and paused there for a while, your thoughts naturally would have meditated
nothing but terror, and have thought nothing but that God, that is so dis-
pleased with sin, that is so great a God, he will be avenged, he will destroy us, he will do unto us according to his wrath, and our desert. But what follows ?
But God, that is rich in mercy? Here is a happy turn, a beam of hope breaks out now to poor prisoners of hope. Here is a mine sprung, that neither Adam nor the angels knew ; it is a mine of mercy, a rich mine, and an intimation of an engagement of all that riches : for why else should it come in here for the pardon 1
And this mercy in God having laid open such a treasure both of dis obedience and wrath upon this occasion he loadeth with as great attri butes and epithets. God, saith he, who is rich in mercy. And yet God might have been merciful in his nature, and we never the better for it ; he might also have been rich in mercy, of long-suffering and patience, and yet destroyed us at last ; as in Rom. ii. 4, you read of the riches of his patience and long-suffering, to them that treasure up wrath against the day of wrath. No, God, who is rich in mercy, and hath loved us, saith he ; special mercy joined with, and rooted in special love. And that love is not a new love, newly taken up, but it is a love which he hath borne : for the love wherewith he hath loved us, saith he, loved us that were thus sinful and thus wretched, and loved us while we were thus sinful and thus wretched, yea, from ever
lasting ; yea, who ordained us, thus sinful, to shew this love and mercy, ver.
7. And he contents not himself barely to mention this love, but he loads that also with a new epithet, great love / contents not himself to say, God, who is rich in mercy, and hath loved us ; but, for the great love wherewith he hath loved us. So that now, as in respect of mercy there is an expectation of being freed from all this misery ; so in respect of this great love there is an expectation raised of as great an advancement, that shall answer the mention of the love of so great a God, and so great a love in him.
And when he had thus laid this foundation, both of what riches of mercy is in God s nature and heart, and what great love hath been in the purposes of his heart, in this 4th verse he goes on further to tell them what this mercy and love hath intended and done for them. And, still to take and
affect their hearts the more, whilst he is in the midst of doing of it, he winds in the mention of what they were and had been, he minds them of
that. God, saith he, who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins ; so ver. 5. He repeats no more, but he would have them take in all that he had said in the 1st, 2d, and 3d verses : when we were dead in sins and trespasses, walked accord
ing to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the
NOF Tin [SKKMOX X.
>.\vs to tho drvil. -children
of wrath by nature. He intcrinmglcth, as I may BO t tlu-ir
sinfulncss and wretchedness in the midst of his discourse of G< us
ness and mercy, that they might be sure to carry that along in i
have inlaid thoughts of their wretchedness to affect their hearts with his
goodness. And then, lest they should not take in and think soon riunHi
of the mercy of God which he had spoken of but even now, he darts in
another beam of God s love into their hearts under a new name, wit
new memento to set it on. By grace ye are saved; and grace addith
yet to both love and mercy. It is not only great love for quantity, it is
not only rich mercy, but it is grace also, for the freeness of it, and for the
peculiaruess of it unto them, and not to others. And when he had done
all this, he comes to shew three degrees of advancement unto these men
that were thus miserable and wretched, that God doth and hath bestowed
upon them, and will bestow upon them, which they may be sure of, that
they shall attain to and arrive at in the end He then mentioneth, I say,
three degrees of benefits.
He tells them, first, that this God, thus rich in mercy, hath quickened
them, quickened them when they were dead, and dead in sins and tres
passes, for if you would restore a dead man, you must first put life into
him, you must begin there, quickened them both with a life of justifica
tion they being dead in respect of the guilt of sin, pardoning all their sins
out of the riches of his mercy ; and quickening them with a new spirit, with
a new soul, with the Holy Ghost to dwell within them for ever, the same
Spirit that dwells in Jesus Christ, and that quickened him, to quicken them, who was himself a quickening spirit. And quickening them also with a
principle of life in holiness, even as the soul dwelling in the body quicken-
eth it with a life. And, saith he, all this he hath done already for you,
here in this world. But, saith he, he means not to rest there, there are
two other benefits in the life to come, which are two degrees more. He
will raise you up, saith he, at the latter day. And as a pawn and testi
mony of that, look upon the resurrection of Christ, and he in rising is the
first fruits of them that rose, and ye are risen in him, saith he ; in Christ
ye arc risen, when he rose. And he speaks of it as done, because he would
shew the certainty and surencss of it. As God raised up Jesus Christ s
body, so he will raise up yours; yea, when Jesus Christ rose, ye were
reckoned in him : and as God put a glory upon Christ s body when it was
risen, so he will do upon yours at the day of judgment. And that is the
second degree, that degree of glory the soul shall have when it meets its
body, and is raised again at the day of judgment. But then there is a
higher degree than this; for when the day of judgment is over, you shall,
saith he, be placed in the midst of a sea of glory, and have a full possession of it, as Jesus Christ himself has. He hath placed us, saith he ; still to
shew the sureness of it, he speaks as if it were done. All that glory,
he, which Jesus Christ hath, he hath it as representing you; look what
place he is in, you shall be in ; yea, you are now reckoned to sit there, so
as you cannot be frustrated of it ; and your life is hid with God in Christ, and when Christ shall appear, who now representeth you in heaven, you
shall be possessed of it.
And so now you have the general scope or meaning of these words
opened to you. How then for the coherence and th<- partof it.
First, For the coherence. You sec next to that of <>ur sinful
EPH. II. 4-6.] TO TflEEPHESIAN<. 143
state, to that end and purpose to exaggerate and to heighten the riches of the glory of the mercy and love of God in Christ, and also of that glory which in Christ God hath ordained unto us.
Now the scope being an exaggeration of the mercy and grace of God every way, these are the parts of it :
First, He sets out what in God is the most inward and original cause of all this, which he would have magnified, by three names, mercy, love, grace; to which, if you will, may be added, kindness, out of ver. 7.
with he hath loved us. He sets all these out.
Thirdly, By minding us of the condition we were in, when God thus did shew mercy to us. Even, saith he, when we were dead in sins.
Fourthly, To take our hearts the more, he sets it out by the benefits we are advanced to, which are three. We are quickened with Christ; risen with Christ ; sit together with Christ in heavenly places. And Last of all, That Christ may be magnified, and have a praise in it, as he is God-man, Mediator, as well as God, he saith that all this is done in
Christ, and with Christ, as the instrumental cause, and representative head, and meritorious cause of all this.
And so now you have the parts of these words. II. I shall now begin the exposition of them, and run over every one of them severally and apart.
But. It refers to that God, chap, i., that had predestinated, &c. Jerome saith that this same but is superfluous, and he would have it blotted out, and thinks it crept into the copy, as it were, unawares. But it is a word which ushercth in a great turn, he having mentioned the state of nature
before, and sets an emphasis upon all that follows. And you shall find that upon the like occasion phrases akin to this come in, which we all translate but. Paul having spoken of his own unregenerate condition and the mercy shewn him by God as then, comes in with the like but when he would magnify the mercy shewn him, in 1 Tim. i. 13: I was a blas phemer, a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy. Likewise, Tit. iii. 4, you shall find the like but comes in, and upon the very same occasion. He had described our unregenerate estate at the 3d verse, 1 We were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and
pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But saith he, ver. 4, after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour to wards man appeared, according to his mercy he saved us, &c. And it is so far from being superfluous that, like John Baptist, it foreruns the mani festation of the richest grace in God.
It is, first, when it comes in thus, a particle of admiration, wondering at God in it. So in that place of Timothy, I was injurious, and a blas phemer; but I obtained mercy. wonderful ! who would not have made a but at me ? But, saith he, I obtained mercy. He ushers it in as with astonishment and admiration, and therefore ends his speech with a dox-
ology, ver. 17, Unto the King eternal, &c., be glory for ever, Amen. So here, being dead in sins and trespasses, and children of wrath;
{ but God, who is rich in mercy, &c.
Secondly, It is also a but of opposition to what might have been gene rally in all men s thoughts and apprehensions; clear contrary to, and beyond what we could think. So in usual speech we use the particle but, when
AN KPO [SERMON X.
, way. It is thereto* door of fa
-, a c .i oar
tlie greatest in the Scripture. Suppose that, after the
ile in spc;iking this, having concluded man s sinful condition, aa here,
wtth this, children of wrath/ wliich strikes into all men s souls inconceiv
able horror, he had mentioned God next, without this lut, and there paused,
and made a suspense of speech, and left the rest to our thoughts ; how would
we have wildered ourselves in fears, and have thought thus with onrscil
God, that is by nature holy, as we are sinful, can behold no iniquity, and a
God so just as in punishing and destroying the sinner he shall infinitely
glorify himself; a God so powerful in wrath that he is able to revenge to
the uttermost ; and so absolute in sovereignty that we are the clay, he is
the potter ; if therefore for our filth he throw us to destruction, we could not
reply Why dost thou so? We being so obnoxious, he could destroy us
without an excuse. A God withal so all-sufficient and rich in blessedness
in himself, when he had destroyed us according to our desert, and his own
provocation in himself thereto, could never find any loss or want of us, or
he could have created new creatures. How would all our souls, like Adam s,
have melted within us, and meditated terror ! But none of all this, but the
quite contrary. But God, that is rich in mercy, &c. There is a mine
sprung neither Adam nor angels knew of at the first. It doth tend also to
usher in all sorts of opposite things to what he had said before ; he had
shewn how man is sinful, but God is merciful. Instead of sins and tres-
vasses, he is to speak of mercy; instead of men being sinful, he is to describe
God merciful ; man by nature sinful, but God by nature merciful. There is
an opposition of quickening to death. When we were under the power of
Satan, and the devil was our prince, the prince of the power of the air, now
to come under Christ, to be quickened with him, and to sit with him in
heavenly places, so high, even when children of wrath by nature ; but by
irrace/ as opposed to nature, we be saved. All these oppositions of aspect
of the words that follow to what went before, this lut ushers in.
It also comes in, when what follows exceeds what went before in a way
of contrariety, to shew that where sin abounded grace supcrabounded much
more. Man had done thus and thus, and was thus and thus ; but God in
his work hath put down man clean in his work. But God, who is rich in
mercy. And so much now for that particle, lut.
God. It refers to what he had enlarged of God, chap, i., and anew ex
plicates the sense of it. In the second place here, he holds up God to be,
as well he might in this case, the sole author of all that salvation that fol
lows As in Rom. xi. 35, Who hath first given to him, and it shall be
recompensed to him again 1 for of him, and through him, and to him, arc all
things, especially our salvation. In 2 Cor. v. 18, All things arc of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself.
He comes in here with God but God as the subject of all this mercy
and love whom therefore we should carry along with us in our eye to nii-..-
And but God is a note of specialty. So David, Let me fall into the hands
of God, not man, for very great are his mercies, 1 Chron. xxi. 13.
As also, the prophet, Who is a God like unto thee, there is none else
would have done it, that pardoneth iniquity, transgression, and sin? II
is only he, being rich in mercy, and having so much mercy in him, and being a God Of such mercy, that hath done it. I am God, and not man ; therefore
ye are not consumed. But God, saith he, bein.i: ri.-h in mercy, hence H
ye am saved. And by God, he m< -an, likewise the Father, as distinct from
Christ He maketh Jesus Christ the instrumental i-au.se : we are quickened
EPH. II. 4-6.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 145
in Christ : but who quickened us 1 God, saith he ; it was his contrivance and doing. He would have us attribute the first and chief unto God; and
his meaning is tliis, as if he had said, Now that I have shewn you that man hath done his part, and done his worst in that sinful condition he was in, you shall see what part God will act.
* But God, saith he, who is rich in
mercy, &c. As also to shew that it is God alone that doth all in the mat
ter of salvation, which is his scope in the rest that follows, to reduce the
creature to nothing, as the Apostle hath it, It is not of him that runs, or him that wills, but of God that sheweth mercy. That as it is in Jer. iii 5, thou hast sinned, and yet called me Father, and thou hast spoken and done
evil things, as thou couldest ; this thou hast done ; well, now, I will see what I can do, ver. 1 9, Thou shalt call me, My father, and shalt not turn away from me. So the Apostle here : You were so and so, but God/ &c.
God, ivho is rich in mercy, for the great love ivherewith he loved us. You see here, he speaks of the causes of our salvation, mercy and love. In opening of this, I shall first give you the distinction between mercy and
love.
I begin with love; his shewing mercy is resolved into it. It is a desire to communicate good, the chiefest good, unto the creature ; but mercy is to
pull the creature out of a depth of misery. The object of God s love is the creature simply considered; the object of mercy is the creature fallen into
misery. So that mercy superaddeth this to love, that it respects the creature in misery. Parents, they love their children simply as they are their chil
dren; but if they be fallen into misery, then love works in a way of pity; love is turned into mercy. So that now you see, I say, the difference in a word between these two, that mercy respecteth misery, and hath properly misery for its object. You have that notable place for this, in Rom. XL 32,
1 God hath shut up all together in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon
all. Mercy therefore respecteth those that are thus shut up under unbelief. The second thing that I would hold forth for the opening of these two is
this, why mercy and love are here both brought in ? It is not mercy only, and one would have thought that had been enough, when he would speak of our
salvation, but he also mentioneth love; and why?
1. Because mercy only respecteth misery, as I said before ; it goes no further
simply as mercy than the relieving those that are in misery out of their
misery. And because that we had a treasury and a depth of misery, he
therefore mentions a treasury and riches of mercy. There was a treasury of
wrath, which we being children of wrath had heaped up ; therefore he men
tions a treasury of mercy. But, I say, mercy only respecteth pulling out of
misery, and would have gone no further, simply as mercy. But now that, as an addition thereto, these persons delivered out of this depth of misery should be advanced to the same state and condition that Jesus Christ in heaven hath, that they should sit together in heavenly places with him; mercy alone would not have carried us thither, if mercy had not been winged with love, if love had not been mingled with and added to it; yea, a muni
ficence of love, yea, a greatness of love. Mercy causeth a king to pardon a
traitor ; but if he shall take this traitor and advance him to the highest
dignity, place him with him in the throne, as it were, this must needs be from love too ; this is a superadding in that respect unto mercy. Obs. Let me affect your hearts with this consideration, That God hath done more for us infinitely than for the angels : he shews love to them; they are vessels of honour, whom he hath loved and taken up unto glory; but they are not vessels of mercy
: but now in saving of men he brings in VOL. II. K
146 AN EXPOSITION OF TI1E EPISTLE [SERMON X.
* God, being rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith he loved us.
both, mercy and love too ;
2. Love is added to mercy here, to shew the extent and the greatness of his
sheiciny mercy; for that dependeth much upon love. If one be merciful only out of a virtue that is in him, or out of a duty, then so far as that virtue
will carry him, he will shew mercy. As now, take a merciful man that is
rich in mercy, if we may so express it of men, as the Apostle doth, rich in
faith, that hath a great deal of tenderness of bowels in him ; let him meet with a man in misery, it will draw out his bowels to shew that man moivy, so far as mere mercy, as it is a virtue, will carry him. Mark, for this is a distinct thing to the former; but if it light upon a person whom he
loveth, then, besides the virtue or grace of mercy in him, mercy is infinitely more intended, comparatively, to him, than when he shews mercy to him
merely out of that grace and virtue ; love then boils up mercy. As for
: if a physician that is a merciful man, and heals out of mercy, and takes a great deal of pains with a sick person even out of that grace and
example
virtue, yet if his wife should be sick, or his child whom he loveth, here now
mercy would be intended, here mercy would be heightened. Now, saith the
Apostle, this is the case of God ; he is not simply merciful out of mercy, but he is merciful out of love, loving the persons he shews mercy unto. And
therefore in the Scripture he is said to be merciful as a father, Ps. ciii. 13,
4 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear
him, yea, as a mother. He is merciful, not singly out of a principle of
mercy only, but out of love also, which therefore intendeth, heighteneth mercy, draws it out so much the more, makes it the more active. If God hath riches of mercy, and love hath the command of that treasury, how
! Now, saith he, God, who
profuse will love be to those that are in misery
1 Yea
; loved us with a great love.
is rich in mercy, and besides that, he hath
3. For explication, what is the reason, let me add tins as a reason why both these are thus joined together here : That the foundation of God
1 s shew
ing mercy is his love* So, if you mark it, the Apostle lays it : God, saith
* who is rich in mercy; but that alone would not have done it, there
he,
fore he adds, for the great love wherewith he loved us. And you shall
find the like in many other places, as in that Tit. iii. 4, 5, which I quoted
before, where having laid open our natural condition, he comes in with the same but that he doth here. But the kindness and love of God our Saviour
appeared ; according to his mercy he hath saved us. For love, I say, is the foundation in God of his shewing mercy. That I may open and explain this
to you, for it is a thing of much consideration and help to us :
Mercy in God and man differs thus : that mercy in man, go take the in ward compassion of it, the inward affection in the heart, it always worketh, whether one love the party, or not love him, so that if he be in misery, and
it be in a man s power to help him, and it be lawful to help him, there is a
pity within a man stirs him, and doth as it were command him to help that
man, draws it forth to do it. Homo misericors, semper misericors. Anl
mercy in man, if he shews mercy merely out of mercy, and out of no other
affection joined with it, it works equally, is equally compassionate to men in
like condition. But mercy in God, you must know, is drawn <>ut, though it be his nature, by his will ; he pardoneth whom he will :
* I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Therefore he pardoneth great sinners, when he lets others that are smaller perish. Nay, the compassion itself doth not
necessarily work in God, but it depends upon an act of his will, though * Vide Sermon II.
EPH. II. 4-6.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 147
mercy be his nature. If God had been merciful to no sinner, but had damned all men and angels that had sinned, and had done it with wrath and revenge, yet he had been as merciful as now he is, take his nature. So that our sal vation must be resolved into some other principle than simply his being merciful. And therefore, by the way, when we say that mercy is nature in God, the meaning of it is this, that it is suited to him, it is that which he doth with the greatest delight, as men do actions of nature, wherein he hath no reluctancy. The meaning is not that this mercy works naturally and
necessarily, for had not he set his heart to love, had not his will been set upon it, not an angel or a man that sinned had ever had a drop of mercy from him, though he is thus full and thus rich in mercy. So that though God is rich in mercy, yet there must be love also as the foundation. That which moved him to be merciful to any was his love pitched upon them ; and having first pitched his love upon them, then, he seeing them in misery, love stirs up mercy. In that he did resolve to be merciful to any creature, it is not simply an act of his nature, but it doth depend upon his will : though he had in his nature this riches of mercy, yet we had not been saved if it had not been the good pleasure of his will, and that love had been added to all that mercy ; all the mercy that is in him would never else have flown forth from him. But
4. They both here come in, not only to shew that his love was the cause why he resolved to shew mercy ; but that those to whom he meant to shew mercy, his love guides and directs him to it. His love had first singled out certain persons whom he meant to shew mercy to; and love did guide the channel which way mercy should run. And therefore you shall find in Scripture that election obtains it. Jacob have I loved, saith he. And that is the reason why he shews mercy to any,
< that the purpose of God, accord ing to election, might stand, Rom. ix. 11. So as indeed divines do make mercy but the remote cause of salvation, but love to be the fundamental. And this is true, whether we hold that he loved men when they were con sidered in the pure mass of creatures, or in the corrupt mass, as they are considered since ; still, I say, love is that that did guide mercy ; why mercy should be conveyed to these souls, and not unto others, it was because he loved them, it was from his love first pitched upon them.
I shall now come to some observations, for I see I must reserve that of the riches of this mercy, and the greatness of this love, to which something must be spoken, to another discourse.
First, you see there is a love which he hath shewn us, which, I say, is the ground of all his mercy to us, though he is merciful in his nature. The first observation then that I make of it is this : Obs. I. -Let the love of God be the greatest thing in your Jiearts, the nearest thing to your souls of all else, the greatest thing which in your eye you do pursue. It is the first thing in God laid the foundation of good, and it is the highest thing to be attained to, and to be pursued after by us. Of all things in God, value his love, and seek after that; let, I say, the desires of your souls be pointed unto it. God s love is the greatest thing of all the rest, it is more than all his benefits. The love of Christ was more than his suffer
ings, and his sufferings were more than his benefits ; and the love of God is more than all his gifts, and yet he hath given great things to us, and done great things for us. Amor est primum donum; his love is the first
gift, as one well saith, in the gift of which all things else are yours. The
gift of his Son was a great gift, but it was founded in his love. He so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son. Though we, being
1 ! ^ AN EXPOSITION OF THE EPISTLE [SERMON X.
sinners, need mercy, that is the next tiling \\v \v;\nt, ;ind t e look to
! beCKUM wr appivlu-nd mirs.-lvt -; in misery.
.l >ut do
!t ()h, merry, nit-ivy
look beyond mercy, and look to love, which is a greater tiling to you than mercy, raiseth and enlargeth mercy, and when mercy hath dom> v/ith
you, will do more, or as much for you as mercy hath done, and guideth mercy. The reason why mercy ran into your hearts, and washed you with
the blood of Christ, is because that love guided the channel. To ^
mercy, this self-love and the misery thou art in will make thee do. Oh, but
there is somewhat else, saith a good soul ; it is the love of God, and the favour of God, that I would see ; and it ia not self-love that ever will carry a man on to seek that. And what is the reason that this chiefly is the pur suit of a soul spiritualised ? One reason among others is this : because grace
is always the image of God s heart ; now this being the chief thing in God s
heart, and the first thing, and the highest thing, hence therefore the soul
seeks that ultimately and chiefly.
Obs. 2. Secondly, if you ask me what love it is that I would have you prize and vidue, and what love it is that is here meant ; it is everlasting love.
1 For the great love wherewith he hath loved us, saith the Apostle, not wherewith he doth love us. It is everlasting love that is the cause of all the mercies we have. Jer. xxxi. 3, I have loved thee with an everlasting love/ there you have the phrase too ; so the Apostle here,
* wherewith he hath loved us ; this hath reaches as high as to eternity, therefore/ saith he,
1 with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. Will you know the reason why God calleth you, why he saveth you ? It is this, I have loved you with an
everlasting love. It is not a love that God doth begin to set upon you then when you are first called; no, it is a love taken up from everlasting. He had a love in him to you before he gave Jesus Christ, that is, before the
consideration of giving Jesus Christ as to die for us : God so loved the
world, that he gave his only-begotten Son. And Jesus Christ had a love in him too ; he loved us before he gave himself for us : Gal. iL 20,
* Who loved
me, and gave himself for inc. And so, before he calleth us, and converteth
us, love, you see, this eternal love of God, is the foundation of all ; and 80
the Apostle resolves it here : for the great love wherewith he loved us.
Obs. 3. Thirdly, give me leave but in a word to vent, that which I think
is a truth, it is a controversy amongst divines, and some take one part, and some another, and what is here said is to me an evidence of it amongst others,
that in the order of God s decrees, for he speaks here of everlasting love in
God, he doth set his love upon the creature ; that is first, and in that respect chooseth the creatures whom he meant to make and whom he would set him
self to love, not under the consideration of fallen, but in tliat pure man at
yet not fallen. And his shewing mercy comes in but to shew how much love he meant to shew to such creatures as he had chosen and singled out; and
therefore he lets them fall into sin, that so he might be merciful. He
resolved to shew so much love to those he had chosen and set himself to
love, with so great a love he loved them, that look what way soever would be best to set forth that love, those ways he would take to choose.
Now, thinks he, if I should simply love them, and take them up to heaven, and there give them such and such a glory, this indeed would shew love, and infinite love. But is there any way else how love may be shewn ?
if I permit and suffer these creatures to fall into in hall shew love
in a way of mercy to them. So that now our falling into sin, and his giving Christ to die for us, and all these things, thi y aiv l>ut to miniond that love which he first pitched upon us as we are creatures whom he meant to make
EPH. II. 4-6.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 149
so glorious, and whom he meant so to love. Indeed, in Rom. v. 8, it is true, the Apostle saith that God commendeth his love towards us, that whilst we
were yet enemies Christ died for us. But, if you mark it, he doth not say that he set his love upon us in the consideration of our being enemies ; but
whilst we were enemies he commended his love towards us ; so he did in
his decrees order it that he would commend his love towards us by this. But now that consideration which he had of us, or that act pitched first, was
an act of love. Only let me give you this with it, that at the first he resolved
to shew love in a way of mercy. As he resolved to shew his justice upon wicked men in a way of wrath, so he resolved to shew his love in a way of
mercy. And therefore, as in the counsels of God all things are at once, so we must conceive it he resolved, at the same time when he thus set his love
upon us, to permit our falling into sin, and so mercy be shewn.
But still, if you ask what act it was whether our election was an act of
mercy or an act of love ; I answer clearly, as a great divine doth who hath
spent much to the clearing of it, it was an act of love. It was his decree to
shew mercy ; but this act was not out of mercy, it was out of love, and out
of good-will j to manifest which love he was resolved to shew mercy, there
fore he lets man fall. Election, I say, is an act of love rather than of mercy. Mark the coherence here, God, who is rich in mercy, for the great love where
with he hath loved us. God being merciful in his nature, having pitched an act of love upon us, when he saw us fall into misery his bowels turned ; but he loved us first. That mercy is mentioned first is because it suited our
condition ; it is not because it was that attribute out of which the act of
election proceeded, though in election there was a purpose to shew love in a
way of mercy.
The observation of a great divine is this : Saith he, Run over the whole
Scripture, and you shall find indeed the calling of a saint is attributed unto
mercy. Why ? Because God calls him that is fallen into sin, and therefore
" But I obtained mercy ;" 1 Pet. ii. 10 ; Rom. xi. 31, 32. You shall find likewise/ saith he, remission of sins is attri
there is mercy in it : as in 1 Tim. i. 13,
buted unto mercy, I mean the act of remission, and the exercise of it, in Luke i. 78, 79, Matt, xviii. 33. So likewise regeneration, as here, and in 1
Pet. i. 3, and in Tit. iii. 5. So the actual bestowing of glory, Jude, ver. 21, &c.
There is only one place, saith he, and that is Rom. ix. 16, which seemeth to make election an act of mercy.
" It is not of him that willeth, nor of him
that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." But the truth is, election is
not in the text there; he doth not say, election is not of him that willeth, nor
" It is not of him that
of him that runneth ; but his business is salvation.
" but of God that sheweth mercy." And
willeth," that is, salvation is not,
if it be said, He hath mercy upon whom he will have mercy, his answer is
this : saith he, that is in election. He grants God decrees to shew love in a
way of mercy ; and because that is the issue, because that they are saved by a way of mercy, therefore they are called also vessels of mercy. But still
that out of which election proceedeth is not simply the attribute of mercy. And he gives this exceeding clear and good instance : God, saith he, is
omnipotent, yet that God decreed to shew his power is not an act of omni-
: so God is wise, but to decree to shew forth his wisdom is not
potency
simply to be resolved as an act of wisdom. So likewise here, God is merci
ful, &c. ; but the purpose to shew all these attributes forth is resolved into
his love. This must needs be said, which I beseech you to take along with
you, that to shew forth riches of mercy was the final cause of his decree, he
had that in his aim and in his eye ; but it was his will, and it was his love,
150 AN EXPOSITION OF TliE EPISTLE [SERMON X .
out of which this proceeded and which he first pitched upon us, that moved him thereunto.
And so much now for that point, which I have spoken to but briefly, ami perhaps more obscurely. It is, I say, a point of controversy, whieh i will not enter into, to handle all the particulars of it A fourth observation which I would make upon these words, which also is of great use to us, is this :
Obs. .That there is a love in God to u* even when we are sinners, when we are in our natural estate, out of which love he calls us, and pulls us out that condition. It is a strange thing that men should stumble at this. Say they, How can any be children of wrath, children of the curse, and yet be at the same time loved by God ? Is there any such thing in all the Scrip ture ? Why, it is here in my very text clearly and plainly
: saith the Apostle, n hen we were dead in sins and trespasses, children of wrath, God, who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith he loved us, namely, when we were thus. The want of reconciling these two hath been the cause of I know not how many errors in the world, and is to this day. What say the Arminians ? This is their great argument, you shall find it in that Anti-Synod of Dort : If that God loved men from everlasting, and if God be reconciled to them, what need Christ have died ? And the Socinians argue just the same. To give them an answer, if you will, in a word; and then, secondly, to shew how both these may stand together, that we may be children of wrath, and that yet God love us
^1 answer to them, first, thus : Christ died to manifest his love, Tit iii. 4 . We were thus and thus hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared, then he saved us, according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration. So that now, for the appearing and manifestation of that love it was that he gave Jesus Christ to die ; for the appearance and manifestation of that love to the soul it is that he calleth him. And therefore you have that in Rom. v. 8, God hereby com mended his love towards us, that whilst we were sinners Christ died. It is an express scripture for this. It was not that he did then begin to love us, or doth begin to love us when we are called, but that love which he had taken up in his heart to us was so great, that giving Christ, and all else, is but to commend it, to set it out. So that if you ask, Why did Christ die, and why did God all this, if he loved us already 1 I answer, He doth it that his love may appear, he doth it to commend his love. I have often said it, that Christ died but to remove obstacles ; but the radical love, out of wliich God did give Christ, was pitched before.
Now, is it not an ordinary thing for a father that his child shall be a child of wrath to him, whilst he goes on in such a course, that is, consider him
5 he is in that course, according to his fatherly wisdom he can proceed no otherwise with him but in wrath, yet all that while so to love him as to art all ways on work to bring him in ? Did not David deal so with Absalom ? In 2 Sani. xiii., when Absalom was run from him, and entered into a rebel lion against him, he, as he was a wise king, could do no otherwise in that condition but proceed against him as a rebel, unless he came in and submitted himself. But what doth David do ? He suborneth a woman, at least Joab doth, and David was well pleased with it, for Joab saw the king s heart was awards him ; but suppose David himself suborned Joab to do what he did, that he might have a fair come-off, and manifest his love to his son. If )avid had done so why, God himself did so. We were fallen into that condition that we were children of wrath, but yet there was a love to us that
. II. 4-G.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 151
lay hid in his heart all the while, and he goes and suborneth Jesus Christ, if
I may so speak ; and Christ comes but to remove all the obstacles that lay in the way of justice, that he might be just and the justificr of them that
believe in Jesus. If we will have another answer, How can we be children
of wrath, and yet God love us ? I ask again, How was Jesus Christ a curse when he hung upon the cross, and yet at the same time to be loved with the greatest love ? According to such rules as God will proceed by at the
latter day, if men remain in their natural condition, they are children of wrath ; but according to what his everlasting purposes are, even these chil dren of wrath he loves, and hath loved.
I will give you a distinction which will salve all, and it is a good one. There is amor benevolentice and amor amidtice. While men remain in their
natural estate, and are children of wrath, he may bear towards them amor
benevolently a love of good-will ; but whilst they remain in their natural con
dition, he hath not amor amidtice to them a love of friendship, in which he doth communicate himself to them. But, I say, he may have a love of good
will, which yet is the foundation of the other, and will in time cause the other
to break forth. And what is the reason that he hath not a love of complacency, nor a love of mutual friendship, and that we are not said to be reconciled to
God till we do believe ? Because it is not fit for God upon those terms to communicate himself to us, to open his heart, and to unbosom himself ; but when the time comes, that love of good-will which he beareth to us will break
forth into a love of friendship, and he will take us into covenant with himself, and then the kindness and love of God towards man appeareth, as the text
saith, Tit. iii. 4. 06. 5. Fifthly, I make this observation from hence likewise : That God
in his love pitcheth upon persons. For the great love wherewith he loved
-MS, saith he. God doth not pitch upon propositions only; as to say, I
will love him who believeth, and save him, as those of the Arminian opinion hold; no, he pitcheth upon persons. And Christ died not for propositions
only, but for persons ; he knows his sheep by their names : Jer. xxxi. 3, I have loved thee with an everlasting love ; and, Rom. xi. 7, The elec
tion hath obtained it, and the rest were hardened. My brethren, God loved
us distinctly, and he loved us nakedly ; let me express it so in a word : He loved our persons distinctly ; that is, singling out and designing whom. Not only so many, I will love so many of mankind as shall fill up the places of the angels that fell, as some have imagined, but he sees who they are
distinctly. The Lord knows who are his ; the text is express
: Jacob have I
loved/ he names him, and Esau have I hated. Rejoice not, saith Christ,
1 that the spirits are made subject unto you, but that your names are written
in heaven. In Exod. xxxiii. 19, where God saith, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, he speaks it upon occasion of having peculiar mercy to Moses ; and therefore the Apostle pertinently quotes it in Rom. ix.
15, for election of persons. And, secondly, he loved us nakedly ; he loved us, not ours. It was not
for our faith, nor for anything in us ; not of works, saith the Apostle ; no, nor of faith neither. No, he pitcheth upon naked persons ; he loves you, not yours. Therefore here is the reason that his love never fails, because it
is pitched upon the person, simply as such. I will love such a one, let his
condition be what it will be; if he fall into sin, I will fetch sin out of him
again, that I may delight in him. The covenant of grace is a covenant of
persons, and God gives the person of Christ to us, and the person of the
Holy Ghost to us; he chooseth our persons nakedly and simply as such.
152 AN EXPOSITION OF T1IE EPISTLE [SERMON X.
Obt. 6. Lastly, All the attribute* in God art winded to hi* few -md that is the great pimffimg attribute that sways all. You see in the text that *f mercy; for the reason that God is merciful to one man and not to another is, because he first loved this man and not the other. It is love I amy, that is the prevailing attribute; and what way love goes, all attri toe go, mercy and power,
<fec. And therefore it is observable that wlu-n in fthflifiret chapter, ver. 19, he had begun to speak of that power that u . Christ in raising him from the dead, and said that the same power workn us ; in this chapter, where he comes to make up the reddition of his speech, he should according to the common course have said, God, being gnat in power, hath quickened us, and raised us up together with Christ. No, he nentioneth mercy and love, rather than power. Why? Because power is at love s beck in this. So that here our salvation lies, that God pitcheth an sting love upon men ; and when he hath thus loved them, if they fall into misery, he is merciful, and love sets that on work ; if there be a difficulty, then love sets power on work : and so, look which way love goes, all attributes * go ; and if you have love, you have all things else in God, they are all swallowed up in love. And therefore it is observable, that God in a peculiar manner is said to be love, 1 John iv. 8. I know not that the like is said of *ny other attribute ; and the reason is this : because that to one that he doth love, he is nothing else but love ; for mercy, and power, and justice, and wis dom, and all, they all work together in a way of subordination to love, that when a man looks upon all these attributes, they all appear in love, that God
is nothing but love to that man. If I look upon Ins wisdom, it appears to Jt 011 work by love, to exalt and magnify his love. If I look upon his power, it is all swallowed up in love, in respect of his manifestation of it to me ; for I take it, when he saith in that place of John that God is love, he A not essentially of that attribute, but of the manifestation of it. And so much now for the opening of this, why mercy and love are here nned, and why that love is made the foundation of his shewing mercy, with such observations as arise out of it. There are two things yet behind, which e the glory of all the rest in this text, and that is, that this mercy that is in God, set on work by love, it is a rich mercy; and that this love wherewith he did from everlasting love us, and that is the foundation of all, it is a great love. God, that is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith he hath loved ua. But I must refer that to the next discourse.
EPH. IL 4-6.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 153