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God's
one
Goodpleafure
the Rife
of his Goodneffe
to His.
CAP.Vf.4:
7,ß
eth
the voyceof his Servant
,thatroalkethindarkneffe
and hath
no
light
let
him
135
truft
in
the
name
of
the Lord and fray
upon his God.
When
all
other
holds are
gon, when
flefh failes,
and
heart
failes,
then
Both
God
call
poore
foules
to
reff
upon
this
Name
of
his.
So
the
Pfalmiff Pfal:73.26.
My
flef.,,and
my
heart
faileth, (all ffrength,naturall and
fpirituall , faileth
and
is
gone
)
but
God
is
the Iirength
of
my
heart
(faith he)
and
my
portion
for
ever.
Now
this
is
the
fole
motive
alto
of
Gods continuance with
his:
He will doe it , becaufe he
him-
felfe
is
good, gracious, merciful!, loving,
tender
:
and he
will
lay
out
there
Properties to
the turnoff
in
their
behalfe,
that
it
may
be
well
with them,
lift-
ing up,exalting,and making
himfelfe Gracious
in fo
doing.This
the Lord
ern-
phatically expreffeth
five
times
in one verfe,
Ifa.46.4.
Even to
your old
age
I
am
he, even to hoary
haires,
will
I
carryyox,I have made,and
I
will
beare, I
will
car
-
ry
and
will
deliveryou: this
then
I fay
is
the
reafon
,
and
only
ground :
This
the principali aime and End,upon
the
account
whereoftheLord
will
not
for
-
fake
hit
People.
3.
The
Rife
of
all this Goodneffe
,Kindneffe,Faithfbineffeof God to
his
4.
7.
People,
as
to
the
exercife
of
it,
is
alto
expreffed
.
and
that
is,
his.own
good
pleafure,
becaufe
it
hath pleafed
the Lord
to
make you his
People.
This
is
the
fpring, and fountaine
of
all
the
goodneflè mentioned. God
is
effentially in
himfelfe
of
a
good, gracious, and loving nature,
but
he
as
all
thefe
proper-
ties,
as
to
works
that outwardly
are
of
him
, according
to
the Coanfell
of
his
Will, Eph:
r.
i
I.
according
to
thePurpofe
which he
purpofeth
in
himfelfe,and
his
Purpofes
all
of
them
have no
other
rife,
or
caufe,
but
his
own good plea-
fure.
Why
did
the
Lord
make
us his
People , towards whom
he might
a&
according
to the
Gracious
Properties
Of
his
nature,
yea
and
lay
them
forth
and
exercife
them
to
the utmoff
on
our
behalfe?
Was
it
becaufe we
were
better
then others? did
his
Will
?walked
with him?
Did he declare
we fhould
be
his
People upon condition
we
did4b and
fo ?
Not
on any
of
thefe, or
the
like grounds
of
proceeding
doth
he doe this,
but
meerely becaufe
it
pleafeth
him
to
make
to
his
People.
Mat:
r
i.
26.
and
fhall we
think
that
he who
took
us
to
be
his
People,notwithffanding our univerfall alienation from him,
on
the
account
of
his
own good pleafure, which caufed him
to
make
us
his
People,
(that
is
obedient, believing, feparated from
the
World)
will, upon any ac-
count,
being himfelfeUnchangeable,
not
.perferve
us
in,
but
reje&
us
from
that
Condition
?
Thus
is
God's Mercy
in
not
forfaking
his
People, refofved
into
its
originall principle,
viz,
his
ozone
good-pleafure in
choofing
of
them,
carried on
by the
Goodneffe & Unchangeableneffe
of
his
own
Nature to the
appointed
Iffue.
This then
is
the
fumme
of
this
Argument.
What workeor
Defigne
the Lord entereth
upon meerly from
his
own
goodplea lure,
or
folely
in anfwer
to
the
Purpofe, which he purpofeth in himfelfe,
and engaged'
to
continue
in
Mercy for
his
Name
fake,thereby taking upon
him
to
remove,or
prevent
what ever mighthinder
the
accomplifhment
of
that
Purpofe,
Work,
or
Defigne
of
his,
that
he will
'abide
in
unchangeable
to
the
end.Eut
this
is
the
flare
of
the Lords undertaking
to
abide
with
his
People,
as
hath
been
mani-
felfed
at large.
Let
us
adde
in
the next
place
that of
the
Pfalmifl,
Pf
23.
4,
6. Thoueh
I
4 S.
walke through
the
wally
of
the fhaddow
of
death,'
will
feare
none
evill,forthou
art
with me;thy rod
&
thyfiaff'e
doth
comfort me:
Surely Goodnef/è
6
mercy
Pall
follow
me
all
the
day
es
of
my
life,
and
I
will
dwell
in the
houfe of' the
Lord for
ever.
The
Pfalmifi
expreffeth
an
exceeding confidence
in
the
middeff
ofmoft
inexpreffible
troubles and
preffures.
He
fuppofes himfelfe
walking
through
the
vally
ofthe
fhadow
of
death, as
death
is
the
worfl
ofevills
and comprehen-
five
of
them all,
fo
the
fhaddow
of
death
is
the
moff difmall
and
darke Repre-
fentation