7t GoTel .i eynilsionr. very gaol reafon and fatisfaftion , in íhewing you how the infi- nite glory of the mercy of God appears, and yet but few are pardoned ; yea rather the more, becaufe that few are pardoned : Godwould thereby manifeft themore his glorious mercy. t . It may wellfdandwith the glorious. riches of the mercy of God,that mai;y are defiroyed,andyet butfew pardoned; tious,Bc- caufe that God would have a proportion between his . uflice ands_ .Mercy ; you fay,he would have a proportion,Is not he as merci- ful as he is juft ? Then there muft be as many pardoned as con- demned. No, ifGcdwill obferve a proportion between his mercy and juftice, and that hewill have his Juftice appear as well as his Mercy,then more muff be damned than faved ; Hew does that appear ? thus ; Bccaufe the glory ofGods juftice in damning twenty hundred,isnot fo muchas theglory ofhis Mercy infaving two; you mayconceive it by what is ordinarily ufed among men: If the King fave but twomen that are Malefactors, he magnifies his mercy as much in that as his juftice if he hang up a hundred : fo ifGod fave but two, his mercy is as much magnified as his ju- ítice indamning twenty hundred,the reafon is this ; Becaufe there is fomething in the creature that calls for Gods jujtice, that re- quires that : But there is nothing in the creature, that requires his mercy ; when Godmanifefts his juftice, he does fuch a work as is due to the Creature ; there is fomething in the Creature that challenges fuch a work from God : but whenGod comes to manifeft mercy, there is nothing at all in us that ihould require fuch a work fromGod ; no, his mercy is free, altogether from himfelf, 'tis his own work, and proceeds from his own hearts love, and nothing in us that may challenge it from him : Now feeing there is that in theCreature that challenges juftice,and no- thing at all that -can require mercy; therefore if God íhew mercy but to a few, it is as great a glory to his mercy, as it is to his juftice, if hecondemn a hundred ; but ifhe íhould fave as many as he condemns, the mercy of Godwould be beyond all propor- tion to his }uftice, but becaufe that cannot be, hence it is that few are faved, and many damned. Anfwer 2. There are more damned thanfaved, becaufe God would he t'by manifeft his mercy the more to thee that artfavedc, by fuffering fo many others to perifh this is one end that God
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