170 An Expofition of the EpijUe ~ ned again? 0 do b;lt flretch them out a little ,further: Why, he will fuetclt ~ them out unto etermty, unto everlaflmg; and tf one Everlajlzngbe not enough _ there arc twenty fix Everlajlings in one. Pfalm, 'Pfol. I36. · In Ifa. H· 8. In ; little Wrath I hid my face front thee, but wzth everlafling /,Jndnefs will I have MercJ on thee. And then again, God is faid to be rich in Mercy, becaufe he is rich unto all unto Multitudes ; not unto oge, or ullto fome only, but unto all that do ccime in' that ?o call upo~ him, '!(pm. 10. 12. )Into the_C?emiles, as well as the Jews, a~ here tt \s. And mdeed, my Brethren, when ts tt that that Attribute [Riches J began t6be giVen unto the Mercy and Grac~ ?f God, but wh.en the calling of the Gentiles began to be fpoken of, becaufe tt ts an extenfive Rtches, a Riches that fe~ves aJI ~he World. I have a Treafure ofRiches by me, faith God, and do you thmk I wtJI coop my felf up to the Jews only ? No, He is Lord over all and rich unto Ill! that caD 11pon him. · And this is proper unto the fcope here ( it ls the Obfervation of.Cajetan upon the place,) .fur _you fhall ~bferve, that ~he-Apoflle . aJI along, both m the firfl Cha~;ter, and m this, had earned it both to Jew and to Gentile, that God predeflmated the Jews, and predeflinated the Gentiles alfo, &c. He fheweth forth his Mercy unto all, he doth not do it to a few but to all forts of multitudes of Men. · ' And fo much now for thef€cond Head, namely, the Abundance ofthe Riches of Mercy that are in God. I come now to th~ third, viZ;·· To fhew y~:m, •what Riches ?f Mercy (.as the caufe of our Salvation) are m God. Thts Phrafe ['J{tch zn Mercy J ·I told you, comes in here, as the Caufe of our Salvation. Now God, he is rich in Mercy three ways ; he bath three Treafuries ( as I may fo !peak) of Mercies that do lie by him. ' 1. He bath the Riches of his own Nature, of the Mercies that are natural to him, as I !hewed in the lafl E>ifcourfe, that Mercy was natural to him : We were by Nature (faith he) Children of Wrath, but God is by Nature rich in Mercy. 2. He hath not only Riches ofMercy in his Nature, (for fo he might have had, and never a Sinner the better,) but he hath laid up Riches of Mercy in his ever– lafling Purpofes and Decrees, as much as the Elect can fpend, or !hall fpend. 3· He hath acquired Riches, purchafed Riches; he bath aJI the Merits ofChrill: lying by him, that purchafedall the Mercies that ever he meant to beflow. And all thefe three he had, as the Caufes that moved him to !hew Mercy to us: God whu is riciJ in Mercy, faith he ; rich in his own Nature, rich in his everlafling Purpofes of Mercy, rich in refpeCl: of that Purchafe of Mercy which Chrift brought in to him. He is, firfl, rich, in refpefr of a Mine of Mercies which are in his own Heart, which are in his own Nature. My Brethren, this is the differenc betwixt God's Riches, and Man's: Man"s Riches are gotten by receiving, ( becaufe they conflll: in outward things, they are added to a Man,) and indeed they are, if great; ufu– ally gotten by defpoiling of others, and others are the poorer for it ; but God's Riches, they are all in Himfelf, Himfelf is the Mine ofthem. I !hewed you once, .(of which I will not !peak one whit now) the Wefi-Indies of all thefe Mercies, and the Proceed wasthis, (and I know nothing roore to fet forth the Mercy of God, ) that all the Attributes that ar~ in God, all his Wifdom, all his Truth, ~ll his very Juflice it felf, all.that is in God, moves him to be merciful. To make good this, isa great undertaking ; but the Scripture is fo clear in ir, as in no– thing more. Now ifthere were an EliXir, a Philofopher's Stone, as they call it,' that would turn all that a Manhath into Gold,how rich would that Man be I Why, Mercy in God turns all his Attributes to it felf, to thofe that God loves. And therefore, in Exod. 34· it is made his whole Name: The Lord (faith he, v. 5·) defcwded b1a Cloud, and proclaimed the Name~~ the L»·d, and the Lord pajftd bj, a11d proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracioM, &c. I
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