Sermon XIL (continued, part 2)
ness, there is not riches. O thou that art abundant in treasures/ saith he
to Babylon, in Jer. li. 13. A man is then said to be rich when he is abun dant in treasures to an overplus. Whose belly thou lillest with thy hid
treasure, saith the Psalmist, Ps. xviL 14, for he calls all these outward things in the world God s treasure; and tlry leave the re>t of their substance so
EPII. II. 4-G.] TO THE EPHES1ANS. 187
we translate it to their babes ; they have an overplus, so Ainsworth and others read it. Now God hath mercy in him to an abundance, to an over
: 1 Peter i. 3, Who according to his abundant incrcy hath begotten us
plus
again. There is an abundance of mercy in him, even to a flowing over:
1 Tim. i. 1 i, The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant ; it was over
full, it was to a flowing over. In Horn. v. 1 7, it is said that those that are par doned receive abundance of grace and incrcy. And for our comfort, it is good to compare the expressions of the Scripture one with another. In that Rom.
v. 20, it is said that sin doth abound. When sin abounded, saith he, the mea sure of man s iniquity was brimful ; but when he comes to speak of grace, he puts an ucrs* upon it; vvngtirigifffftufftv, saith he, grace did much more abound. There was a flowing, and a flowing over of grace, as the word there
signifies. Grace did not only overflow, but infinitely overflow, it was over-
superfluoua, there was more than enough of it for the salvation of sinners.
Now it is said to be abundant
1. In respect of the multitude of the mercies that are in God.
2. In respect of the variety of them.
3. In respect of the greatness of them, the height, the depth, the length, the breadth of them.
1. I say, in respect of the multitude of mercies in God. You shall there fore find that the Scripture speaks of mercies under multitudes : Ps. li. 1, * According to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgres sions; Ps. Ixix. 13, O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me ; Isa.
Iv. 7, Our God, he will multiply to pardon, as the word there is, which we
translate, he will abundantly pardon. 2. In respect of their variety, they arc manifold mercies. Riches lie in a variety. In Ezek. xxvii. 12, Tyre is said to have a multitude of all kinds of riches. Now as God hath a multitude of mercies, so he hath a multitude of all kinds of mercies. Therefore you shall find in the Scripture that mercy still runs in the plural, not only to note out that they are many, but that they are manifold, there is variety of them. Rom. xii. 1, I beseech you by the mercies of God. In Neh. ix. 19, 27, a chapter wherein God and man striveth, as it were, whether God s mercies or man s sin should outvie one another, there is mention made of the manifoldncss of his mercies. And in Isa. Ixiii. 7, there is the multitude of his loving-kindnesses, which arc there called the praises of the Lord, because they arc his glory. As our hearts and the devil are the father of variety of sins, so God is the father of
variety of mercies, and they are as so many children to him which he begets. And there is no sin or misery but God hath a mercy for it, and he hath a multitude of mercies of every kind too ; even like an apothecary that hath an abundance of drugs of all sorts for all kind of diseases. As there is no disease but God hath made a remedy for it, so there is no misery but God hath mercy for it. He hath found out a remedy for sin, the hardest thing to cure of all things else, and therefore he hath provided a remedy for all other misery. And as there are variety of miseries which the creature is
subject unto, so he hath in himself a shop, a treasury of all sorts of mercies, divided into several promises in the Scripture, which are but as so many boxes of this treasure, the caskets of variety of mercies. If thy heart be
hard, his mercies are tender. If thy heart be dead, he hath mercy to quicken
it, as Ps. cxix. hath it again and again. If thou be sick, he hath mercy to heal thee. If thou be sinful, he hath mercies to sanctify and cleanse thee. As large and as various as are our wants, so large and various are his mercies. So as we may come boldly to find grace and mercy to help us in time of need,
AN Till: Ki IVTLE [jSKK.V.t N X 1 I 1.
a mercy for every nerd, as tluApostle speaks. All the mercies that anin
his own heart he hath transplanted them into several beds, as I may so ex
press it, in the garden of the promises, where they grow, and he hath abund ance of variety of them, suited to all the variety of the diseases of the soul.
Secondly, As riches are attributed unto mercy in respect of abundance, so
in respect of hiddenncss and unknownness. We use to say of a rich man that he is of an unknown wealth and estate ; so the Scripture calls it hidden t
* the treasures of darkness, and hidden, riches of secret places. Now, the mercies of God, they are hidden, they are unsearchable. As there are curses, written and not written, as in Dent, xxviii. 61, after the mention of several curses
* I will give thee, saith he, speaking of Cyrus,
sure. In Isa. xlv. 3,
* Also I will bring upon thee every plague which
for disobedience, he saith,
is not written in this book, so there are also blessings which are not written. He had told them of blessings that he would bestow upon them for their obedience in the former part of that chapter, but he tells them, ver. 12, as the conclusion of all the blessings enumerated before, that he had a treasury to open
* shall open upon thee his good treasure ; as
: The Lord, saith he,
if he had not mentioned half before, and that those he had mentioned were but a few instances of that treasure of mercy he had by him. And in that
respect, because of hiddenness, the riches of mercy in God are called a depth of riches, Rom. xi. 33,
* O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God ! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out ! If he had said, O the depth! it had been enough ; but he saith, O the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how unsearch
able are his judgments
! For it is a treasury that hath no bottom, it is past
finding out. lie speaks of mercy, because he speaks of foreknowledge, which contriveth ways of shewing mercy, as the beginning of chap. xi. shews. Now, my brethren, if his judgments be a great depth, as you have it, Ps. xxxvi.
* Thy judgments are a great deep ; his mercies then are much more. For
if you compare ver. 5-7 of that psalm, you shall find that by judgments he doth not mean outward judgments of wrath and vengeance ; but he
speaks of mercy, and but of common mercy there, the works of his provi dence, for so judgments is often taken in the Scripture likewise, for when he saith, Thy judgments are a great deep, O Lord, it follows, Thou preservest man and beast, meaning the mercies he sheweth to man and beast
in common : these, he saith, are a great deep. And the Apostle, in that Rom. xi. which place this of the psalms openeth saith they are unsearch
able, and past finding out.
Now, I say, if these judgments of God are a great deep, these common mercies that are exercised to man and beast, how excellent is his lovingkindness for so.it follows in that psalm or his grace unto those that trust
in him ? They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house ; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life : in thy light shall we see light. Oh, contimit
loving-kindness unto them that know thee ! &c. Clearly this is the mea of it. If, saith he, thou shewest so much mercy and goodness and faithful
ness here in the earth, that thy mercy is in the heavens, and thy faithful
ness reacheth unto the clouds, and thy righteousness is like the great moun
tains, and thy judgments and common ways of mercy, whereby thou pr est man and beast, are a great deep ; what is that men y thou hast laid up for those that fear thee ! The psalmist breaks out, How excellent is thy lov
1 i I. ofi .;:: .- AM
: ; . rthbeao
i>, iur riches of patience and long-suli
fiill of thy mercy, as indeed it
EPH. II. 4-G.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 189
arc the common mercies which all the world live upon ; if these mercies
reach to the clouds, and are over all his works, what hath he reserved and
laid up for those that are vessels of mercy, whom he hath prepared for mercy, whom he hath widened and extended for mercy
! The Scripture itself can
not hold them. There are mercies written and unwritten ; there is a treasury laid up in heaven, to be broke up at the latter day, which we know not of. And what is the reason ? Because God shcweth mercy according to his own heart, 1 Chron. xvii. 19. Now if a king give, he will give as a king,
according to his riches; so doth God. In 1 Kings x. 13, it is said that TCing Solomon
* gave the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked. So will God do ; open thy mouth as wide as thou canst, ask of God what
riches of mercy thou wilt, he will give thee all thy desire. Besides, saith
the text, that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So here, God hath mercy to give whatsoever thou canst ask, besides those hidden trea
sures of mercy which he hath lying by him, to bestow according to his own
greatness.
Thirdly, Riches imply, as abundance and hicldenness, so inexhaustedness. You shall find, in Isa. ii. 7, mention made of treasures that have no end ;
for that is riches indeed that seems to have no bottom. Such is the mercy of God, it is riches of mercy, mercy that hath no end, no bottom. He can
forgive great sins, and continue to do it : Forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, saith the text, Exod. xxxiv. ; and so in Micah vii. 1 8, Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoncth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? In Matt, xviii. 24, 27, speaking there in
the parable of forgiveness, he saith, he forgave ten thousand talents which
one that was brought unto him owed him ; and he speaks of that common
forgiveness of a temporary believer too. Ten thousand talents is a mighty sum. Do but think what they are. Amaziah, in 2 Chron. xxv. G, hired a hundred thousand mighty men of valour for an hundred talents. What would
a thousand talents do then % What would ten thousand talents do then ?
All this is to express the great riches of his mercy in forgiving. When thou
wast first turned unto God, what a world of sin didst thou bring with thee !
ten thousand talents ! He forgave them all, when he first quickened thee, when he first converted thee, and he doth continue, and will continue, to do
so too. How oft, saith Peter, in that Matt, xviii. 21, shall my brother
sin against me, and I forgive him ? Till seven times V Thou art a niggard, saith Christ ; forgive not until seven times, but until seventy times seven. And Christ there alludeth to that phrase of the Jews, when they would ex
press an unlimited number, they would say, till seven times : Gen. iv. 24,
* Cain shall be avenged sevenfold ; they went no further than to seven to
express an unknown number. But, saith Christ, I say, forgive until seventy times seven. And mark, as I may say, the gracious wit of the allusion.
Until seven times, is spoken of vengeance ; but when he speaks of forgive
ness, he saith, until seventy times seven ; that is, to an infinity. So that
though his vengeance be to seven times, his mercy is to seventy times seven.
His compassions are said to fail not/ in Lam. iii. 22, and that because
they are renewed every morning. But I will not insist upon opening that
neither, for I think I spoke more largely to it heretofore, and I would speak those things now which I did not speak then. My brethren, they are mercies
from everlasting, and they will continue unto everlasting ; it is a treasure
that can never be spent, never be exhausted, unto eternity. In Isa. Ixiv. 5, In thy mercy is continuance. If God will but continue to be merciful to
me, will a poor soul say, I have enough. Why, saith he, in his mercies is
190 N OK Tin: r.r:siLE [SKI:M..N \ I i 1.
continuance, and wo .O.all be saved. Hath God, or can God pardon th.
hitherto, but now thou hast sinned again? Oh, do but stivt.-h th.-m out a-
little further. Why, he will stretch them out unto eternity, onto ing; and if one everlasting be not enough, there are twentysix inysln one psalm, Pa cxxxvl In Isa. liv. 8, In a little wrath I hid my face from thee, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on t And then again, God is said to be rich in mercy because he is rich unt nil, unto multitudes; not unto one, or unto some only, but unto all tkvt do come
in, that do call upon him, Horn. x. 12; unto the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, as here it is. And indeed, my brethren, when is it that that attri bute riches began to be given unto the mercy and grace of God, but when the calling of the Gentiles began to be spoken of, because it is an exten sive riches, a riches that serves all the world I I have a treasure of riches by me, saith God, and do you think I will coop myself up to the Jews only 1 No, he is Lord over all, and rich unto all that call upon him. And this is proper unto the scope here, it is the observation of Cajctan upon the place, -for you shall observe that the Apostle all along, both in the first chapter and in this, had carried it both to Jew and to Gentile, that God predes tinated the Jews, and predestinated the Gentiles also, &c. He sheweth forth his mercy unto all, he doth not do it to a few, but to all sorts of multitudes of men.
And so much now for the second head, namely, the abundance of the riches of mercy that arc in God.
I conic now to the third, viz., To shew you what riches of mercy, as
salvation, are in God. This phrase, rich in mercy, 1 told you, comes in here as the cause of our salvation. Now God is rich in mercy three ways; he hath three treasuries, as I may so speak, of mercies, that do lie by him :
1. He hath the riches of his own nature, of the mercies that are natural to shewed in the last discourse that mercy was natural to him. We were by nature, saith he, children of wrath, but God is by nature rich in mercy.
1 . He hath not only riches of mercy in his nature, for so he might have had, and never a sinner the better, but he hath laid up riches of mercy in his
everlasting purposes and decrees, as much as the elect can spend, or shall
.spend.
. He hath acquired riches, purchased riches; he hath all the merits of Christ lying by him, that purchased all the mercies that ever he meant to bestow.
And all these three he had as the causes that moved him to shew mercy to us. God, who is rich in mercy, saith he ; rich in his own nature, rich in his everlasting purposes of mercy, rich in respect of that purchase of mercy which Christ brought in to liim.
He is, first, rich in respect of a mine of mercies which are in his own
cart, which are in his own nature. My brethren, this is the diflerence be twixt God s riches and man s. Man s riches are gotten by receiving, because hey consist in outward things, they are added to a man ; and indeed they are, if great, usually gotten by despoiling of others, and others arc the poorer for it ; but God s riches are all in himself, himself is the mine of them. I hewed you once, of wliich I will not speak one whit now, the West Indies of all these mercies, and the proceed was this, and I know nothing mor net forth the mercy of God, that all the attributes tli.it are in God, all his wisdom, all his truth, ail h; doe itself, all that is in God, moves
EPH. II. 4-6.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 191
him to be merciful. To make good this is a great undertaking ; but the
Scripture is so clear in it, as in nothing more. Now if there were an elixir, a
philosopher s stone, as they call it, that would turn all that a man hath into
gold, how rich would that man be ! Why, mercy in God turns all his attri butes to itself, to those that God loves. And therefore, in Exod. xxxiv. it is made his whole name.
* The Lord, saith he, ver. 5, descended in a cloud, and proclaimed the name of the Lord ; and the Lord passed by, and pro claimed, The Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious, &c. I come now to the second, how there is a mine of mercy laid up in his purposes and decrees. A man is said to be rich that hath a stock and trea sure laid up by him. Thou hast much goods laid up for many years, saith the rich man in the parable. Now God hath so. He is not only infinitely merciful in his nature, that is the mine, but in his purposes and decrees. He hath laid by as many mercies for his children as they shall for ever spend, or stand in need of. Mercies might have been in his nature, and reserved to himself. He might have had that treasure, and have hid it. No, but he took what was in his nature, in his own gracious disposition. He found himself to be so and so compassionate to sinners, and he decrees so to be in the manifestation of it to them. If you compare that place in Exod. xx. 5, G, with Exod. xxxiv. 7, you shall find that the text saith that he reserveth or keepeth mercy, lays it up by him as a stock and as a treasure. And for how
long doth he lay it up ] What, for one or two generations ? So indeed he saith in respect of punishing. Visiting, saith he, the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me ; but he keepeth mercy for thousands of generations of them that love him. So that, look what proportion three or four have to millions, that
proportion hath the treasury of mercy to that of justice and vengeance. God stretcheth the supposition beyond what will ever fall out ; for in the succession of men there will not be a thousand generations, there hath not been a hundred since the world stood. But to shew the great stock of mercy which he hath reserved by him, he saith, if there were thousands of
generations, and ten thousands of generations, if this world should last so
long, he hath reserved mercy enough for them all, and all this mercy he will empty into the vessels of mercy. Therefore mercy is said to be from ever
lasting to everlasting. How long hath this stock and treasury of mercy been
lying up too ? It hath been lying up even from everlasting. And therefore David, in Ps. xxv. 6, hath recourse to the mercies of God, which, he saith, have been for ever of old.
And, my brethren, if God have been thinking thoughts of mercy from
everlasting to those that are his, what a stock and treasury do these thoughts arise to, besides those that are in his nature and disposition
! This is in his actual purposes and intentions, which he hath thought, and doth think over, again and again, every moment. Ps. xl. 5, Many, O Lord, are thy wonder ful works, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward/ saith Jesus Christ ; for
it is a psalm of Christ, and quoted by the Apostle, and applied unto Christ in Hcb. x., How many are thy thoughts to us-ward ! he speaks it in the name of the human nature, that is, to me and mine. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. And what is the reason ? Because God hath studied mercies for his children, even from ever
lasting. And then, He reneweth his mercies every morning ; not that any mercies are new, but he actually thinkcth over mercies again and again, and so he brings out of his treasury mercies both new and old, and the eld are always new. What a stock, my brethren, must this needs amount unto ! Mercies
! LI: [SERMOX XIII.
from everlasting to everlasting, so you h:uv it in Ps. -iii. 17. And tl mercies always new, fresh every mornim:. Look therefore for mercy when you come to heaven. You have the phrase of
* finding mercy Jit that day in 2 Tim. i. 18. There is indeed a stock of mercies laid up in heavi-n.
mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, saith Ps. xxxvi. 5. And the niriv u-s that axe in heaven are higher and greater, infinitely greater mercies, that we shall have when we come thither, than what we have here. It is a treasury which God hath laid up there in his own everlasting purposes, Col. i. 5. And, my brethren, let me tell you this, that God, when he laid up mercies
for his children, he did not say, I will lay up such a stock, or so much mercy. This he doth indeed to wicked men. He lays by a pittance, an allowance of mercy for them, gives them such a portion of the riches of his long-suffer ing and patience, which is called riches too, because it is the glory of God, and an eminent excellency in him. Carnal men, I say, whom God means to throw away, he saith of them, I will lay by so much, and when you have
spent this, you shall have a treasure of wrath for it ; and the truth is, when that portion of mercy is spent, they are undone. But God hath laid by mercies for his saints, without telling of it what his children shall spend. They are called the sure mercies of David. And in Ps. Ixxxix., where the covenant with David is mentioned, If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my com mandments ; and suppose they do it, if it may be supposed, never so much,
* nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from them, nor
sutler my faithfulness to fail : my covenant will I not break, &c. So that
they are the sure mercies of David, for God hath laid mercies by him un
limited. Suppose they do thus and thus, and never so much, and his mercy shall be sure to keep them from the sin against the Holy Ghost, let them do thus and thus, nevertheless I will be thus and thus merciful to them. He hath laid by in his own purposes an indefinite mercy for them. There
fore now, my brethren, if you could suppose that those whom God loves should live in tliis world in that mixture of sin and grace we now are in unto eternity, God hath laid by mercies enough to pardon you and to pity you notwithstanding, and to keep communion and fellowship with you. He that pardoned the sin of nine hundred years to Adam, he would have par doned nine thousand, and nine thousand after that, even unto eternity, if he had continued ; such a stock and treasure of mercy hath God lying by him.
The third and last stock which God may be said to be rich in, is in the mercies purchased, and that is by the merits of Christ. For, know this, that
all the merits of Christ are called the mercies of God. And why ? Because
all the mercies that he hath laid by, and meaneth actually to bestow, Christ was to purcha.se every whit of them. In Isa. Iv. 3, they are called the sure mercies of David ; but look in Acts xiil 34, where that place in Isaiah is
quoted, and they are called the holy things of David, so you shall find it in
your margins, as holding forth the merits of the Lord Jesus. That right eousness of his, all the holy things of Christ, they are called the mercies of
David, because Christ purchased those mercies for the elect ; God therefore may well afford to shew mercy. How rich must he be in mercy, think you, that besides the mercies of his own nature, and the mercies of his decrees and purposes, hath the mercies purchased by Christ ? What a stock did
Christ bring into this treasury when he hung upon the cross ! How did lie
! That is one reason why God ordaineth that
fill it, even to an overflowing
this treasury of the riches of mercy should be broken open after Chi
ascension, when both Jews and Gentiles were to be called in. He is now
EPH. II. 4-6.] TO THE EPITERIANS. 193
rich unto all, because he hath now a stock come in by the purchase of Christ He may well now keep a great house, for Jesus Christ hath laid in provision enough. They are called therefore the unsearchable riches of Christ and all those riches are mercies, because they purchase mercy. He hath pur chased mercy to pardon all sin, to bestow all good. Nay, let me tell you tluX though the merits of Christ are not of that extent that the mercies in God s nature are, yet they are adequate to all the mercies that God means to bestow. God doth not bestow one mercy out of Christ, therefore we have peace and mercy wished from Jesus Christ ; and you have them both in Ps. cxxx. 7, Mercy and plenteous redemption. God is not more mer ciful in his nature by virtue of Christ s death; but look what mercies God meant to bestow, Jesus Christ, that was so rich, became poor to purchase them all. And if we could suppose as to illustrate it we may that God were poor in his own nature, yet he hath such a mine brought in by Christ, that he may well shew mercy ; yea, it were injustice for God now not to shew mercy, for Christ hath purchased at his hands that he should do it. I shall give you but an observation or two, which I think are natural to the text, and so I shall conclude.
Obs. 1. The first observation is this : That God so loveth those that he means to save, that, if they need it, aU the riches of mercy that are in him shall be laid out for it. God, saith he, being rich in mercy, he hath quick ened us, and saved us, and done all things for us. He hath engaged, in his own everlasting purposes, all the mercies in him to save sinners : he hath laid them all to pawn he will do it. And the reason why God will lay out, if need were, aU the riches of mercy in him for those he loveth, is this : because that mercy no way tendeth to profit him, not as mercy. He hath a glory indeed out of it but the object of mercy is not himself; but the object of mercy, and of all the riches of it, is poor creatures, poor sinners, whom he hath set himself thus to love. God is not said to be rich to himself, but unto us; he is rich unto
all, saith the text, Rom. x. 12. Nay, let me tell you this further, as God needs no mercy, so Jesus Christ himself needs no mercy. This goodness extendeth not unto God, nor cloth it extend to Jesus Christ. We must not say that he was dealt withal in a way of mercy, for he could merit nothing to himself, as our divines say, much less that there should be need of mercy for him, having right to all that glory which is in neaven, at the very first moment, which he was enriched withal as his due. Therefore all this ex tendeth not unto him, but to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all Ms delight ; therefore mercy, and all the whole riches of it, is wholly for them if they stand in need of it. And then again, as mercy is the riches of God, so he accounts his saints and elect children his treasure. They are a peculiar treasure to himself, and he laid up this treasure for that other treasure. Deut. xxviii. 12, if they will do
^ thus and thus, then, saith God, I will open my good treasure. He speaks in the language of the old law, birt he types out all the heavenly blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Those that are his children, he will open all his treasury for them if they stand in need of it. In heaven what a treasury is there to be opened, and we are heirs of all that treasury! Jesus Christ is an heir, but he inheriteth not mercy ; we only are heirs of mercy. Abraham was troubled because he had not an heir to inherit his riches. Why, God hath riches, and riches of mercy that lie by him, and he hath heirs to inherit them. He will not heap up riches and have none to inherit them, as those in Ps. xxxix. 6, but he hath those that shall inherit all these riches VOL. II.
101 AN EXPOSITION OF THE EHSTLE [SERMON XIII.
of mercy that lie by him. His Son mrds not mercy, ami himself needs not
mercy, as mercy ; therefore he hath heirs, and all these riches of mercy are
theirs.
Obi. 2. Again, another observation from hence is this : That the saints do in a manner need all the riches of mercy that are in God. For so the words likewise come in, in such a coherence, after he had so set out our sin-
fulness. God, saith he, being rich in mercy. Had he not been God and had all these riches of mercy in him, we had never been saved; but he 1
rich in mercy, even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us and saved us. He is rich unto all that call upon him, Rom. x. 12. It is spoken in respect of salvation, for it is written, saith he, Whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So that to salvation the riches of
mercy that are in God are necessary. Less would not serve the turn; if
there were but one shiner, and one sin, let me say that, that sinner for that one sin needed in some respect the riches of the mercy of a great God to save him.
* I am God, and not man, saith he ; therefore ye are not con sumed And,
* My thoughts are not your thoughts ; for if niy thoughts were as yours, were they not the thoughts of a God, and were not that God
rich in mercy, no one sinner for one sin could be saved. My brethren, we need a treasury of mercy to save us. There are two treasuries that man
hath, which must be taken off and bought out by two answerable treasures
in God. There is first a treasure of sin. I told you before of ten thousand
talents. How many thousand talents, if they were summed up, doth every man of us bring unto God ? And then there is a treasury of wrath. Every one is a child of wrath by nature ; but he goeth on treasuring up wrath by every sin, if God did not put him into a state of mercy. Now, to take off both these treasures, to outvie them, we need the riches of mercy that are in an infinite God. To forbear a wicked man here till he go to hell, it is riches of mercy ; but to forbear such a man to eternity, what riches will it cost ? But not only to forbear him, but to forgive that man, and to forgive him so
ns to remember his sins no more, what a world of mercy is there in this ? My brethren, there is a world of mercy in every mercy you receive from God. If thou comest to the ordinances, it is mercy ; thou mightest have been in hell : .* I will come to thy sanctuary in the multitude of thy mercies. If a sin be to be pardoned by God, Pardon me, according to the multitude of thy mercies, 1 s. li. 1. Wast thou dead in sins and trespasses ? It is the infinite riches of mercy of the great God that quickened thee. It is true indeed the Scripture speaks both ways. It tells us there is more mercy in God than we need Why ? Because it is the mercy of an infinite God, and no less would serve to save us. They are not crumbs, as the woman in the Gospel said, that serve our turn. If there had not been an overflowing of mercy, if it were not the mercy of an infinite God, we had never been
saved.
I shall end only with a use, to quicken our hearts at last. Are there all
these riches of mercy in God, and are we the heirs of it ? Never forsake
your own mercies, it is a speech that Jonah hath, chap. ii. 8. And are there these riches of mercy in God ? Let us come unto him. Tyre was a rich
place, had a multitude of all kind of riches, and by reason thereof she had a world of customers, she was the mart for all nations ; one nation came and traded in her fairs for iron, another for lead, and another for tin, and another for rich apparel O my brethren, is God Lord over all, and rich unto all that call upon him] How should this invite us all t< mmc unto him! how should we trust perfectly upon ics ! If a man be rich, he
EPH. II. 4-G.] TO THE EPHESIANS. 1QJ
is apt to set his heart upon them, to trust in them ; do you trust in these riches of mercy that are in God, which are all yours that do come unto him. Riches in other things make men harsh and rough
: Prov. xviii 23, The rich answcreth roughly. Riches strengthen men s spirits to be proud, and to carry it scornfully. The rich oppress you, saith James : but if they were rich in mercy they would not be so. Now God is rich in mercy, and there fore the more riches of mercy he hath, the more easy he is to be entreated. Men that are rich must be charged to do good, and to be rich in good works, so the Apostle saith, 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18, for they will not do it naturally. But God is rich, and his riches lie in mercy. If men s riches lay in mercy, as it is a grace, they needed not to be charged to be rich in good works ; but God s riches lie in mercy, therefore come to him, he is easy to be en
treated, he giveth richly all things to enjoy, givcth freely, giveth bountifully like himself.
And so much now for the opening this head, which I have not done commonplace-wise, as heretofore I handled it, but so far forth as might open the text, and quicken our hearts.
196 AN IMPOSITION OF THE ETISTLE |_,Si:KMiN XIV.