Part II. The LivingTemple. 2 t 5 ably the lefs on ours. The more know- ing are the more deeply guilty ; the Deceiver, than the Deceived, and de- ferve the more Stripes. 'Tis true, that none can deferve Mercy : For then it were Juflice, and not Mercy. But tho' none can deferve to have Mercy [hewn them, they may deferve not to have it. The more a Ruler is aboveus, and the ids he needs u9; the lefs poble it is for us to oblige him, and the more poJfable -to difoblige, and offend him, and the more heinous will the Offence be. Therefore, though none can claim Mercy, they may forfeit it ; and will, by the deeper Guilt, incur fuch a Forfei- ture,by howmuch the more,and clearer the Lighr and Knowledge is, againft which they offend : And this we find to have been a Meafure with the Blef fed God, in the Exercife of his Mercy, even in fame of the higheft Inftances hereof that we meet with in Holy Scripture. I obtained Mercy becauf I did it ignorantly in unbelief; z Tim. I. Not that this conld fpecify a more de- ferving Object of Mercy. For where there can be noDefert at all, there can be no more or lefs. - But
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=