126 An Expofition of the Epifile Se~ ?fan admiration andaftonifhment in himfelf, of excefs a~d abundance of Grace ~ 111 God, and refervatton of a fuper-aboundtng Happmefs Intended to theni. 13 11t God, faith he. And at the fecond word, he names him that is the,Subjel:l: of all this Goodnefs, and the Defigner and Author of all tlliS Happmefs to them, to the end they might have him in their eye, even fi·om the firft : 'But God. • My Brethren, I appeal to you: Ifyou had firftonlyheard the Story ofyour na– tural condition, and the defert of it, from an Ambaffador fent from Heaven, and he had done nothing but l,aid open to ;you the woful,ruful,wretched condition that you are in, with all the Punifhment God had tbreatned to inflict, and you had deferved; andbis laft words had been, concluding you under the Wrath of the great God, Chtldren of Wrath, as here; and then fi1ould have gone, and fur– th~r f.1id, "But God, and gone no further, and paufed there for a while, your Thoughtsnaturally would have meditated nothing but Terror, and have thought nothing, but that God, that is [o difpleafed with Sin, that isfo great a God, he will be nvcnged, he will defrroy us, he will do unto us according to his Wrath, and our defert. But what follows ? - 'B11t God, tbat iJ ricb in Mercy. Here is a happy Turn, a Beam of Hope breaks out now to, poor Prifoners of Hope : Here is a Mine fprung, that nei– ther Aclam, nor the Angels knew; it is a Mine of Mercy ; a rich Mine, and an-In– timation of an engagement of all that Riches; for why elf'e fi10uld it come ilil here for the Pardon? .. And this Mercy in God (having laid open fuch a Treafure, both of Difobe– dience and Wrath upon this occalion) he loadeth with as great Attributes and Epithetes : God ( faith he ) who is rich in Merry : And yet God might have been merciful in his Nature, and we never the better for it; he might airo have been rich in Mercy, of Long-fuffering, and Patience, and yet deftroyed us at )aft; as in Rom. 2. you read of the Riches of his Patiwce and Long-jitjforing, to them that treajitre"P Wrath agajnft the Day of Wrath -• No, God, who ir ricb in Mercy, and hatb loved "'• faith he; fpecial Mercy, joined with, and rooted in fpecial Love. And that Love is not a new Love, newly taken up, but it is a Love which he bath born: For the Love wherewith he bath loved 11<, faith he : Loved'us that were thus linful, and thus wretd>ed, and loved us while we were thus !inful, and thus wretched, yea, from everlafting ; yea, who ordained us, thus linful, to fhew this Love and Mercy, v. 7And he contents not himfelf barely to mention this Love, but he loads that alfo with a new Epithete, Great Love, contents not himftlf to f.1y, God, who if rich in Mere)', and hath loved"'; but, For thegreat Love wberewith te hath loved 11<. So that now as in refpe/1 of Mercy, there is an expel:l:ation of being freed from all this Mifery ; fo in refpetl: of this great Love, there is an expectation raifed of as great an Advancement, that fhall anfwer the mention of the Love of fo great a God, and fo 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 bath been in the purpofes of his Hean, in this 4th Verfe, he goes on further, to tell them, what this Mercy and Love bath intended and done for them : And ( ftill to take and affetl: their Heart• the more) whilft be is in the midft of doing of it, he windes in the mention of what they were and had been, he minds them of that: God (faith he) who is' rich in Mercy, for the great Love n>l-erewith be loved 111, even wbetr we -were dead ilt Sim, ( fo v. 5.) (He repeats no more, but he would have them take in all that he had faid, in the 1, 2, and 3d Verfes, When we were dead in Sins and Tref paf!u, wal/zed according to the Courfe of thh World, according to tbe Prince of the 'Power of the Air; when we were Children of Difobedience, Slaves to the Devtl, Children of Wrath by Nat11re.) He intermingleth, as I may fo fay, the fenfe of their Sinfulnefs and Wretchednefs, in the midft of his Difcourfe of God's Graci– oufilefs and Mercy, that they might be fure to carry that along in their eye, have inlaid thoughts of their Wretchednefs, to affect their Hearts with his Goodnefs. And then, left they fi10uld not take in, and think foon enough of the Mercy o_f God, which he had fpoken of but even now, he darts m another Beam ofGods l.ovc into their Heam, under a new Name, with a new Memento to fet it e_n, . * ·~
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=