~nExpojition of the Epi[Ue ' ~hid as it were in ambufhment, letting you march on in finful w:ys under Sat : ~.._; Banners; that in the end appears, and prevents all that MiCery, a~d refcues ans ~>Ut of it. Thereis,- I fay, a kiD<l of-Ambufh!"ent, ( if I may fo exprefs it~o~ way·laytng of all that Sm ~nd Mt!ery-the Ele[t fell mto. Aod how many fuch [ Butr J of Mercy, .lymg m wait to dehver and Jave us out of great and f\r Evils, did we meet Wtth tn our LIVes? And this [But J here of this gong S:11vation, is the great Seal and Ratification, or .Ante fignamus of .all the ~:fr To this purpofc you may opferv~, that oftentimes. in the New Tefiamcltt, whe~ mentton JS made ofGods erdam1r(g us unto Salvation, this Phrafe is ufed · He did it ji·om the beginning: So it is it~ ? Thejf 2. 13. God (faith he) bath from the beginning choft" ·you "to Salvatiun ; •that is, he had before-bancl;··~ven from ~he be– ~inning, fct his love upon you, fo that all that finful efiate you have fince run 1nto, f\lo'Uid be no prC)Udtce nor dammage to you. And it comes in here, as if that a Company of Men, whom a Kmg or a Pnnce loveth, nr Children whom a Fathers heart i<[et upon, are permi,tted, and let alone, to rim into the highefl: rebellion, to do as e-vil as they could, as the Phrafc is, ']er. 3· So that by the Law they are dead Men, Men undone, Men of death and co~emnation, there is no hope for them: [But, J but that the Kmg, as he IS mercitul in his Nature, and fo apt to pardon any; fo befides, he bath bad h1s Heart fet upon it, and it is but his defign, to fhew his_ Princely Gr~ce the more in pardoning them, and advan– cing_them to h1gher dtgmnes upon 1t. 'But God,] And God cometh in alfo here ( befides what I mentioned in ihe lafi Di!Courfe) to {hew, that all Salvation is from him, he is the foie Author and Founder of it; as in Rom. 9· 16. It is not of lrim that wiUeth, nor of ~im that rmmetb, but of God that jhewetb mercy: So here, 'But God thdl is rich ), Mercy. • I .came in the next place (for the opening ofthe words) to fhew you the dif– ference between Mercy, and Love, and Grace; for you have all thofe three in thefe three firfl Verfes. Love is a defire t0 communicate good unto us, limply' CGnfid(;red as we are Creatures ; but Mercy refpeC'ceth us, as we are fallen into Sin :ind Mifery, as we are dead in Sins and Trefpafies: And then tbat of Grace, (as 1 fhall open in its due place) it adds but this, a freenefs unto both: Love and Mercy freely befl:owed, that is called Grace in either. Alfo for explication's fake, I fhewcd you, why the Apofile doth not content l;limfelf to name Mercy only, or Love only, as the coufe of our Salvation, but iliat he addeth Love to Mercy. I gave you tworeafons of it, in a word: Ifhe had riamed Mercy only, that refpeC'cing Mifery, it might be thought, that that would bnt relieve us out of Mifery : But becaufe he menrioneth not only a deliverance out of the Mifery we lay in by Nature, ( which Mercy cloth) but the highefl: advancement befides, to fit together withChrifl in heavenly 7>/aces; therefore he mentioneth Love. It comes in likewife, in the feeond place, to intend and make Mercy the greater; for when Mercy cometh out of Love, and not Gmply out of a virtue of Mercy ; if a Father be of a merciful difpofition, he will pity any one out of a vir~ue of Met~y in him, but he will pity his Son out of Love. Then again, for the further explication and underfianding of this, I told you, That of the two, the main and the primitive caufe is Love; for fo, if you ob– ferve it, the Text implies : God being rich in Mercy, (faith he) for his great Love: It is refolved into Love. To explain this, In the firf1: place, you may obferve here, That God'sbeingmerciful is mentioned but as his Nature and Difpofition, which may be wrought upon; but Love comes in,as having pafi an aC'cofhisWill,fetupon us. For, my Brethren, bad Godhad never fo much Mercy in his Nature, never fo much goodnefs and lovingnefs as he hath, Jet if it had not been a full all: ofLove, through his Will pitch'cl upon us, we had llever been the beuer. Our Salvation cloth not only depend upon Mercy, but upon Love ;'and not only upon the Love ofhis Nature,_but upon an Act o.fL0ve,a Love let upon us with his Will and Heart. It IS not an mdefimte dtfpofitton of Mercy inhim, as it is Jaid of the Kings of lfrael, that they were merciful Kings; but r?at * wh1ch
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