and gnawings of an evill conscience for the evill they have done This death shall be their portion after death and follow some wicked men all the dayes of their life A dreadfull sound is in his ears Job 15.21 And sometimes with Cain they think every one that meeteth them will kill them Gen. 4.14 And so God sets Cain's mark upon them fear of heart and trembling of body A fearfull heart and a shaking body is often the portion of men that live in sin Timor cordis et tremor corporis Pareus If ye compare the 2. of Habacuck 10 11 12. with Job 15. ye shall see this for substance that when men live in sin they provoke God either to take away their lives or to make their lives miserable Sometimes God taketh away that which they have ill gotten and driveth them to dwell in desolate cities and houses which no man inhabiteth which are ready to become heaps cursing the stones of the wall and the timber of their houses And if they do leave any thing when they wretchedly dy they leave it with the appurtenances as one wittily said to wit the curse of God to have and to hold to their heirs and children after them And as wicked men abuse this Jewel of great worth life in themselves in their readinesse to destroy it or make it miserable in regard of their bodies and temporall enjoyments so also in regard of their poor souls They live so wickedly so prophanely so disobediently to God and his Word that they provoke God to take away the means of grace from them or to give them up to a mind past feeling and to bring upon them a famine of the Word the greatest of all judgment except a reprobate spirit and mind void of judgment under the Word And Lastly they fall under this reproof and wo that abuse the life of others by oppression when they throw down the right of others and thrust them out of doores to set their own nest on high their Tabernacles are Tabernacles of bribery Job 15.34 and their houses are full of blood which the earth shall not cover Et vae vae vae illis qui causa sunt quod ecclesiae sine ministris et verbo relinquuntur Luther but it shall ly as a record upon the file to be brought forth against them at the last day And some abuse life grossely by murther of which crying sin I think it not needful to speak now To conclude this use Wo to such as endeavour to drive a way from poore people the word of God and Ministers therof they are guilty of abusing life in regard of others in a very high measure the blood of poore souls that dy and perish for want thereof will be required at their hands and also at the hands of such wretched formalists clawbacks of the Ministry as do not do their utmost in sincerity for the salvation of poor soules We now come to an other Use Is it so that life is an attribute of God and such a jewell as hath been shewed Vse 3 then it must needs follow that it is a worthy thing to be instruments of preserving life and of saving people from death and destruction Theâ—â—herefore are worthy of honour that have been the preserved of our temporal lives but especially such are worthy of 〈◊〉 honour whom God makes instruments of working and preserving spiriual life As in 1. Tim. 3.1 This is a true saying 1 Tim. 5.17.18 if any man desire the office of a Bishop he desireth a good work or a worthy work And a promise of great reward is made to such as turn many to righteousnesse to wit to shine as the starres for ever and ever Dan 23 1 Pet. 5.4 and when the chief shepheard shall appear such shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away which may be matter of comfort to them in their calling O to preserve men from hell it is a worthy an honourable work to be instruments of converting and bringing souls to the Lord to live with him for ever the life of glory is a work that calls for great respect to the workmen and how they have it let God judge 4. Vse Fourthly We are now come to a Use of exhortation that we be all carefull of life of our own life and of the life one of another of bodily life and of the life of the soule for such a life and death too there is as may be gathered out of Mat. 10.28 And fear not them which kill the body and are not able to kill the soule but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soule in hell ye see mention there of killing and destroying the soule as well as the body Now in the prosecution of this use of exhortation I shall lay before you some motives and considerations As first Gods example who hath Provided many good things for the preservation of life as Food Raiment Physick and shall we be carelesse of that which God hath been so careful about This cannot but be construed high contempt of this jewell of Life But now let us be like God who hath so provided for the preservation of life so let us for the lives of our selves and others And for the life of the soul what a deal of pains and trouble hath God and his Son Jesus been at to redeem it from Hell and Death God about this sent his only Son into the World to dy a most shamefull and painfull death He hath suffered many of his choice and eminent servants to endure exquisite torments that souls might be saved from death And therefore let this prevaile let us be herein like unto God do all that we can to preserve life and to save souls Let us be rich in good works of this nature that is in saving life and give comfort to those that have none For otherwise we shall not shew our selves to be like to God And the cry of the dying will enter into his eares Secondly consider the necessity of this work of saving life The body without life stinketh now God may have glory by its living The dead go downe to the pit of silence The grave cannot praise thee saith Hezekiah death cannot celebrate thee They that go downe into the pit cannot hope for thy truth The living the living he shall praise thee Isa 38.18.19 If we do not what we can to preserve life we do as it were bereave God of that honour which he might have in our life and in the lives of others We have a proverb make much of your selves good folks be scarce This hath some place here if it could be thought and spoken with holy gravity and seriousnes and in the fear of the Lord. Ye that fear God make much of your selves and one another do what ye can to preserve life and to make your own and each others life comfortable that God may have the more glory by
others For by living to Gods glory we shall gaine to our selves glory and be matter of good example worthy the imitation of others And this is praise worthy to give good examples It is commanded Math. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good workes and glorifie your father which is in heaven And 1 Pet. 2.12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that where as they speak against you as evill doers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorifie God in the day of visitation And as it is profitable to others so also to our selves abundantly For as ye sow so shall ye reap if yee sow to righteousnes your name shall be spoken of with honour when ye are dead and gone The righteous shall be honorable both in their lives and in their death And therefore while we live let us live to the glory of God that so it may befall us that we may have honour in life a sweet name after death and that we may be good examples to them amongst whom we live that they also may glorifie God when God shall visit their soules in mercy Then will they with David blesse the Lord that gave us a life and blesse us and our good examples as he did the Lord that sent her 1 Sam 25. and her and her good councell But how should a man live to Gods glory may some say Quest Answ I Answer in the performance of these three particular duties First He that would live to Gods glory must shun all manner of sin and sinfull wayes he must forsake those contrary courses that tend to Gods dishonour you must know what God can not abide and lay that aside Pro. 8.13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evill pride and arrogancy and the evill way and the froward mouth do I hate saith wisedome there Now would you glorify God then hate evill lay aside your pride and let not arrogancy come out of your mouth and so Prov. 14.16 A wiseman feareth and departeth from evill evill courses must be forsaken yea evill men that worke wickednesse for both read Psal 141.4 Incline not my heart saith David to any evill thing to practice wicked workes with men that worke iniquity and let me not eat of their dainties both evill workes and evill workers must be shunned by such as would live to the glory and honour of the Author of their life Secondly Such must carefully set and settle themselves to the workes of holinesse and righteousnesse every one in his owne particular person dilligently endeavouring to walke holily and uprightly towards God and the world That ye may be blamlesse and harmlesse the sons of God without rebuke in the middest of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world saith the Apostle Paul Phillip 2.15 Thirdly We must labour all that we can so much as lyeth in our power to provoke others to the wayes and workes of godlinesse especially those that are any wayes allyed or related to us either in regard of kindred or acquaintance or any such like respect as in the verse following my text viz. Heb. 3.13 But exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfullnes of sinne And chap. 10.24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good workes This is a speciall way to glorifie God in our lives to exhort one another to provoke one another to love and to good workes If people instead of provoking God by their sinnes and provoking one another to wrath by speaking and doing such things as they know they cannot beare Would study this commendable kind of provocation we should have a sweet time of it In Isaiah 2.3 it is prophesied that many people should go and say come yee and let us go to the mountain of the Lord c. O that this prophesie might be more and more fulfilled among us In the use of these helpes we may some what live to Gods glory which who so doth God lives in him and he shall live with God for ever Because I live saith Christ Joh 14.19 ye shall live also The third proposition in this attribute is That God in respect of his attribute of life is infinite and incomprehensible This is evident in divers respects Doct. Reas 1 First because Gods life is independant he hath life in himself he received it not from any other The Father hath life in himselfe John 5.26 Whereas the life of creatures depends upon him Deut. 30 20. He is thy life and the length of thy daies saith Moses there And further as ye have heard already out of Acts 17.20 and 25 verses In him we live move and have our being God liveth I say of himself Reas 2 Deus est ita perse vivens ut ipse sit vita sua Zanch. Secondly Because life in God is not a part of God but his whol essence life is but apart of man the bond or tie that kniteth the two essentiall parts viz the body and soul of a man together But it is not so in God 1 John 5.10 this is the true God and eternall life Life and God is all one Reas 3 Thirdly Because God in respect of his life is eternal therefore by an excelency he is termed the living God Dan 6.26 Darius is made to confesse that he is the living God and stedfast for ever And so Nebuchadnezzar before to wit Cap. 4.34 honoureth him that live 1 Thes 1.9 Heb. 9.14 for ever c. And in this regard he is said Only to have immortality 1. Tim. 6.16 He is called a living God to distinguish him from all those other things that are said to live His life being eternall as well as his whole essence and of himselfe These are the three Reasons Vse 1 First Therefore to make some application we may learn that there is no want nor defect hereof to be found in God God hath such a life as ever was and ever will be the same How greatly then do they abuse the Majesty of God who fain God to be like the gods of the heathen A deaf a dumbe idole a thing without life as a senceless creature that understands not the ways and works of men who imagine God to be so confin'd to one place in respect of the powers of life as that he sees not nor knows not what is done afar off Job 22.13.14 And thou saist how doth God know Can he judge through the darke clouds Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of heaven Hereupon wicked men are encouraged to go on in their sinfull way Psal 10.13 Condemning God in their hearts c Thinking God ' cannot be present at all times But alwayes they are deceived Jer. 23. â—3 24 Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God a far off Can
a perfection of holines in life and conversation a perfection of manners in act and habite as the Schoolmen call it So we account righteous livers to be Saints And because there are none perfectly holy in this life we cannot gain say the Popish Schoolmen in that sence that aver and teach none to be properly holy in his life I say if they mean by properly holy perfectly holy For to make a man holy there must be in him a perfection of habite and conversation agreeable to the eternall law of God And as nothing is weight till it counterpose the weight that is set against it so no mans life is compleatly that is perfectly holy untill it be exactly answerable to the holy law of God which cannot be said of any man in this life until he come unto a perfect man unto the measure of the fulnes of Christ Ephes 4.13 It is true Christ was full weight according to the weight-stones of Gods eternal law he was full measure according to that met-yard but so was never any man else holy or righteous perfectly I meane and exactly This by the way let me tell you is one cause why when an emenient person dies in Popish countries whom they judge fit to be canonized for a Saint they let a hundred years passe after his death before they do it allowing a considerable time for the purgatory-purgations of his soule before he passe for a Saint But yet though properly when by it we mean compleatly none be holy in this life Yet are there holy one on earth to whom the holy eternal morall law of God is a rule And there are some who though they cannot keepe all Gods Commandements Yet they have respect unto them all Such a one was David Ps 119.6 And ver 111. he saith Thy testimony have I taken as an heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart and ver 112 I have inclined my heart to performe thy statute alway even unto the end But to proceede in shewing you what holines is according to this second use of the word I have said it is a conformity to the eternal law of God and so it is For as the conception of the divine mind is the measure of natural perfections and of that being that is in all things So the eternal law is the mesure and rule of morall perfection and of the holines of a reasonable nature in all good workes He is holy therefore whose affection and manners do exactly agree to the eternall law of God But here falls in a question by the way that calls for an answer To wit whether all acts of obedience required now were required ever and such as have beene required heretofore are still required To which I answer shortly That Obedience to Gods mind is still required Moralia sunt aeternae veritatis and for all moralls they are still the same But God hath been pleased to make positive lawes some ceremonical some judiciall which are now out of date He trained up the Jewes under them indeed but upon the dissolution of their common wealth their judicial lawes ceased to be of use And upon the comming of Christ to be a sacrifice for the sins of mankinde the ceremonies as shadows of good things to come did fly away And so also we now in Gospel times have our proper Gospel laws which the Jewes had not But yet the moral law is still one and the same and of it not one jot or title shall ever be altered or made void Well then let us come to some issue A man of an upright life and conversation is a holy man Ye see what holines is in man let us a little take a view of Angels those holy celestial flames And we shall find that they are holy in both the formentioned respects For they make Gods glory the end of their actions being given up to him and to his honour and there is no blemish in their obedience None in their nature none in their lives It is true their holines is but finite because created and therefore perishable holines in it selfe for they might fall if they were not supported those Angels that fell at first were holy Yea it is by the grace and decree of God that these elect Angels do and shall continue holy as it also is that the Saints-separate from the world unto God do not return to the world againe Yea this is true of the holines and hapynes of Angels and saints in heaven One thing more touching the holy Ghost who in this sense is called holy not as he is the holy God but as he is the giver and worker of holines and makes men conformable to the law of God And therefore he is called God the holy Ghost or holy spirit al the three persons Fatner Son Spirit are holy essentially but the third person is called the holy Ghost or holy Spirit because he it is that worketh holines and frameth your Spirits suteable to the holy law of God Now if holines be such a conformitie in men to Gods law what glory is there in Gods holy conformitie to his own mind and law as you will heare when we come to it And in the mean time judge whether there be not sufficient ground of calling upon men to exalt the Lord our God and to worship at his holy hill in the rememberance of his holines because he is a holy God because he never required any thing of any man that was not holy just and good it is meet such a one should be exalted and set high worshiped and honoured Therefore Worship for he is holy both wayes in both acceptations of the word he is dedicated to his owne glory and so he is holy and he is perfectly just and holy righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works Ps 145.17 Therefore exalt the Lord our God therefore worship him Ye see the emphasis of the reason and why the consideration of the attribute of holines is rather then of another attribute made the ground of this inculcated exhortation of exalting and worshiping God Now as in other Attributes formerly handled so in this I shall speak of these three propositions out of this Scripture 1. That holinesse is an attribute of God 2. that it is a Communicable attribute 3. That Holines in God is Infinite and incomprehensible For the first that holines is an attribute of God Let those things be remembred that have been spoken of the twofold acceptation of the word holy and we shall find that both are eminently true of God He is all for himselfe he will not give his honour to another Herod shall be smitten by an Angel and eaten of wormes for not giving God his glory Act. 12.23 Selfe love as you have formerly heard affirmed of men renders them ugly but it is a glorious attribute of God And then also the conformity that is in God between his mind and will that I
this in his minde can chuse but be astonished who can hold teares in the consideration of so great mercy That God would send his Sonne out of his owne bosome even him who thought it not robbery to be equall with God Phillip 2.6 ver 7. to be made of no reputation and to take upon him the forme of a servant and to be made in the likenesse of men Rather then man should be utterly lost That he I say of infinite majesty with the father and Holy Spirit wanting nothing who created all things whom so many millions of Angles serve and who in a moment of time is able of nothing to create infinit other more excellent then men to worship him should be borne in a stable laid in a mangre that man wretched man the lowest of rationall nature next of kind to the bruite beasts addicted to earthly things void of heavenly uncleane unthankfull rebellious in whom there was nothing worthy of love many things worthy of hatred and punishment Should be freed from everlasting damnation and raigne eternally with God in glory Here is a rare effect and fruit of mercy indeed If a man riding a long the high way should find a poor raged louzy wretch almost dead groveling and wallowing in blood and dirt and beholding this wofull sight should alight from his horse and take up this poore creature carry it upon his back or in his arme to some house and take all possible care for its washing dressing and recovery and in the meane time have his horse stollen by thieves himselfe persuing beaten and wounded should yet rejoice that he hath saved the life of the poore creature would not such a man be noted for a good man a mercifull man Beloved bretheren this is nothing in comparison of what Jesus Christ hath done for us He did lay aside his glory and tooke part with our even with the worst miseries and all in mercy to deliver us from hell and to bring us to glory Stand amazed O ye sons of men If ye did but consider what ignorance of God athisme brutishnes and hellish cruelties are in Christendom and ye must think there is much more out of it ye would conclude that the world is in a most miserable condition being God is righteous And therefore to do as hath beene a little said for the salvation of such must needs proceed from unspeakable mercy even the mercy of a God To this head is to be referred the bitter passion of our blessed Saviour His nakednes and poverty his hunger and thirst his labours and hardships of life his reproaches and persecutions his buffetings and spittings his whipings and prickings of thornes his agony and bloody sweat all kindes of opprobies and dolorous sufferings even unto the accursed death of the crosse And this is the first effect of Gods mercy Christ Incarnation Behold next the revelation of the mind of God by this Lord Jesus Christ so Incarnated Heb. 1.1.2 God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by by the prophets hath in these last dayes spoken to us by his sonne John 17. ver 3. If to know God the only true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ be life eternal which who dares question Then it must be another rare fruit of mercy to ignorant blind sotish brutish mankind to have such a glorious Sunne to shine that people that sit in darknes and in the shadow of death may have their feet guided into the wayes of peace and salvation And truly herein English men have a great share in this mercy that when so many places in the world are without the sound and saving discoveries of the Gospel have such as no nation under heaven doth or ever did goe beyond us scarce any surely very few ever enjoyed the like But that we may be somewhat taken with his effect of mercy let us looke into it somewhat further by the consideration of two things about it First The condition the world was in when Christ came The condition that the world was in when Christ came and then his comming and behaviour for the enlightening thereof For the first the whole world except a very few was ignorant of Christ and of its maker of divine providence and the government of the world of the end of good and evill to wit eternall life and eternal death heaven and hell How few then and yet indeed tooke notice of the soules immortality the evill of sinne both in regard of his wages and work sorrow deformity the worth and beauty of exact walking The devill the Prince of darknesse being the God of this dark world held all as he doth the greatest part to this very day under his government and discipline behold deadly darknes was upon the face of the whole earth incomparably worse then the darknesse that was in Aegypt mentioned Exod. 10.21 All their beauty was deformity their potency wealth and eloquence with which they flourished were of no worth because of no efficacy to the obtaining of eternall life or freedom from hell Now in this misery and blindnes in which the whole world in a manner lay The Lord Jesus moved with mercy and pity came into this dark and blind world dispelled these darknesses with his discovery of the mind of his father He detects errors opens the frauds tyrany of the Devil illuminates the world and shews them the author of all things his power providence mercy justice the reward of good men in graffed into Christ and the punishment everlasting prepared for ungodly men and unbelievers This light shone three yeers and halfe in the person of the son of God in the flesh in diverse townes and villages in the wildernesse in thâ— mountaines in the fields on the land and on the sea of Galilee publiquely and privately in houses and in Synagogues in the Temple and in the streets in all places upon all occasions The excellency of this light it contained nothing but what was profitable to salvation for the manner it was plane and familiar that all might be capable of it It was pure and perfect enlightning the understanding reforming the soule excluding sinfullnes and iniquity directing in piety righteousnesse and sobriety composing the whole life and conforming the whole man within and without to the divine will and eternall love of the most holy God This was done by Christ in the flesh his humanity was the instrument made use of in the administration of the Gospel of salvation And therefore nothing can be desired for matter or manner that is wanting this mystery of salvation coming out of so good a hand The very particulars insisted on by Christ in his sermons have in them sublimatie and beauty He commandeth selfe-deniall the renouncing of all the world for his sake a patient taking up of the crosse the love of our enemies The Lords prayer not to be used as a charme but to
can take pleasure in such as ye be But Gods people are made comely by the holy Ghost Ninthly From the mercy of God in Christ the people of God come to have the sweetenes of ordinances while others mumble on a brown dry crust or on a chew'd gobbet that hath no sweetnes at all left in it Formall and Carnall Christians have an egge-shell but no yolke an nutshell but no kernell they heare good wordes of God but never tasted that the Lord was gratious and mercifull The Saints upon whom the mercy of God is descended find sweetenes in all religious exercises and holy ordinances They have the sweetenes of prayer preaching reading conference and when they come to break bread with the Church Mendicato hic pane vivamus annum hoc pulchrem sacritur in eo quod pascimer pane cū angelis c. Luth. in Ps Burroughs Moses choice Psal 36.7 8. they are made to be in the sweete sence of their neer relation to Jesus Christ they are in the spirit on the Lords day Ordinances are like that sealed booke we read of in the Revelation c. 5.1 Iohn wept because no man was found to open it and read it But for them that are in Christ mercy hath better provided The seales are taken away the booke is opened the nutts are brokened the kernels are to be eaten which are very sweete O t is a blessing and full of sweetenes to be joyned in union and communion with the people of God Though we beg our bread sayes Luther is it not made up with this that we are fed with the bread of angels with eternal life Christ and the Sacraments c. It is certaine the servants of God find such comfort in these prescribed practises that they would not for any good be bereft of them Neither can they possibly free themselves from the guilt of prophanesse that do not highly prize and heartily rejoyce in these things Such as do believe themselves to be members of Christs body must needes desire those ordinances that he hath appointed for the building of it up and do find thriving in grace and comfort in spirit farre beyond any creature comforts Here they meete with rivers of pleasures And thou saith David shall make them drinke of the river of thy pleasure to wit in ordinances Tenthly all particular vouchsafements come to the servants of God as a fruit and effect of mercy Somtimes they have more of this worlds goods then ever they expected and grace with all to use what they have to the glory of God and this makes their enjoyments mercys Many are crying and wishing every where for wealth and riches and outward accomodations but they are not so earnest to have grace to use them to Gods glory which plainly shews they have not what they have in mercy Vouchsafments injoyments longer then they are improved to Gods glory are not blessings mercies Now these common mercies cannot be denied so far as we have a state calling for them grace to use them to the glory of the giver We for our parts have no cause to complain we eat drinke mercies and weare them upon our backe We have mercies above and mercies beneath us mercies round about If we want one kind we have it made up in another Thou shalt have rubish to serve thy turne which God throwes away for he hath given thee gold There is no fear of having too few crusts but of having good teeth to gnaw nourishment out of them In the Eleventh place this is a choise effect of Gods mercy to have communion with God The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the fellowship of the holy spirit Carolus plus cum Deo quam cum hominibus loquitur Are uprising and down-lying with a gratious soule This is a mercy indeed It is said of Charles the greate that he spake more with God then with men Ah Sirs why should it not be true of us Brethren it concernes us much to look after this fruit of mercy By this mercy we stand in times of temptation and triall A soule high in communion with God may be tempted but will not easily be conquered such a soule will fight it out to the death O this is a choise mercy It is Iacobs ladder where you have Christ sweetly comming downe into the soule and the soule sweetely ascending up to Christ It was a mercy vouchsafed to holy and patient Iob upon the dungil that he knew that his redeemer lived and behold how he conquers the Devill both in blacke and white Communion is a reciprocall exchange betweene Christ and a gratious soule And of this mercy there is a continuall ground in a gratious soule for either I shall be praying for what I want or praising him for what I have by both which I have oppertunity to keepe my acquaintance and hold communion with the Lord my God Communion with God brings all Gods attributes to us for our use upon occasions Great is this mercy vouchsafed to the Saints and servants of God Lastly From this mercifull disposition to lost believing mankind life everlasting comes He hath granted to them a life as long as his owne Now heere I am at a losse Thousands of millions of yeeres as holy writ teacheth us and the spirit maketh us to believe is not time enough in Gods esteem to vouchsafe fullnesse of joy these pleasures must be for evermore O this perpetuity O this eternitie O this life everlasting I conclude then that God is merciful that mercy is an attribute of God Men in desperate conditions may meete with mercy for with the Lord there is mercy What more desperate condition then to be fallen in Adam's I could tell you many things of other miseries and dangers creatures have been in and neere unto and have met with a mercifull God Moses like to be drowned The male Jewish children to be ruined and so by consequence in time the whole nation Cruel bondage upon them all The heads of Gods people on the block by Hamans plot mentioned in Hester The three Saints commonly called the three Children in the fiery furnace Daniel in the Lions Den. The Thief upon the Crosse even as it were droping into hell Yet Gods mercy was seen in saving all these In extremities is the Lord seen Though the blow were as it were in the giving to the whole Church by Haman yet when the people of God made worke upon earth by prayer and humiliation that made worke in heaven and the issue of it quickly came downe And when Christ will be exalted for his mercy he will convert one upon the Gallowes and save a thiefe at the last cast And therefore we may conclude upon this attribute of mercy that it is in God That God is a God of mercy a God full of mercy a God that delights in mercy a God that is ready to shew mercy a God that is never weary
God loveth them that are like unto him but so are not wicked men They do not shew themselves to be the children of this Father which is in heaven We read of God Psalm 10.17 That he doth hear the desire of the humble or poore c. And that he giveth food to all flesh because his mercy endureth for ever Psalme 136.25 and Luc. 6.36 He commandeth that we be mercifull Mat. 5.45 as our Father also is mercifull And he made lawes for mercy Deut. 15.7 8. If there be among you a poore man of one of thy bretheren within thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee thou shalt not harden thy heart nor shut thy hand from thy poore brother But thou shalt open thy hand wide unto him and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth And God is so mercifull that he takes order that the poor the maimed the lame the blind be called when men make feasts Luke 14.13 But unmercifull men have not such a disposition they are altogether unlike God and therefore want a glorious property 4. Unmercifulnes bars audience of Prayers In the Forth place we read Prov. 21.13 Who so stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poore he also shall cry himselfe but shall not be heard Unmercifulnes bars audience of prayers Certainly they want a glorious commoditie that want that which makes the eare of the Lord to be open to cries and cals in the time of neede T is no ordinary priviledge to have accesse and welcome to the throne of grace and therefore to want it whereby prayer becommeth an abhomination to the Lord must needs be a very great want O when unmercifull men hard-hearted wretches shall ly and cry on their death beds O Lord shew some mercy O Lord shew some comfort Lord help me Lord help me Lord forgive me Lord Jesus receive my soule let them be sure God will turne the deafe eare to them as they have formerly to others Oh this is dreadfull Fifthly Unmercifullnes is a degree of murther Job 24.14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poore and needy 5 Unmercifulnes is a kind of murther Qui non tollit injuriam cur potest facit and in the night is as a thiefe That place is to be understood of such a murther as the rich man mentioned Luke 16.21 was guilty of He that deviseth waies how to oppresse suck squeeze yea not to succour a dying man in Gods account is a murtherer Not to give meate to the hungry hath a sentence of go ye cursed Math. 25.42 If people be in misery and want and such as are able will not pitty and succour them and supply their wants they are in a sort before the Lord murtherers Sixthly It is a shrewd signe of a reprobate condition 6. A shrewd signe of a reprobate condition For we read in the third chapter of the Collos ver 12. That bowels of mercy is put among those properties which do belong to the elect of God Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercie kindnesse of mind meeknesse long suffering c. Who can think but such do belong to the state of reprobation that have not the markes and signe of Gods elect upon them Who can hope that they have relation to the God of mercy that in their place and to their power do not labour to make it evident by relieving such as be in misery To conclude this use Lastly their end dolefull that are unmercifull surely we may agree from the wofulnesse of their future condition from their dolefull end That they want that which is of great concernment that want a mercifull disposition James 2.13 For he shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy They must look to drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is powred out without mixture into the cup of his indignation Without mixture marke that phrase that is without allaying of it God will not moderate it at all They shall have judgement without mercy We have yet another use and it is of exhortation We have Vse 2 heard much of the beauty of his grace and of the misery of such as are without it Now therefore be stirred up to be mercifull shew your selves to be mercifull as God is mercifull Be as Job was ye may read cap. 29.16 I was saith he a father to the poore and the cause which I knew not I searched out c. cap. 31.17 He did not eate his morsels alone but the fatherlesse did eat with him and ver 20. The loynes of the prore warmed with the fleece of his sheep blessed him Ye read of Dorcas Act. 9.39 that She made coats and garments for poor widows while she was alive Dives had beene better to have given all that he had to Lazarus then have fared as he did To move you to be mercifull Motives to be mercifull 1. It is a blessed thing First it is a more blessed thing to give then to receive Acts 20.35 It makes such as practice workes of mercy truly noble and honorable and that in the account of God himselfe The Lord Jesus said and his words are to be remembred that it is more blessed to give them to receive Consider the forementioned place in the Acts of the Apostles 2 Ye give to Christ Secondly Christ takes all acts of mercy as if they were done unto himself He takes them all to his own account And this ye may be sure of he is a good paymaster sooner or latter will quit scores and reckonnings with you He will not forget that when he was hungry ye fed him c. Math. 25.42 And if the Paps are blessed which gave him suck then shall that table also that hath fed him Luc. 11.27 Ye have plaine Scripture that in as much as ye have done works of mercy to the least of these which he is not ashamed to call his bretheren ye have done it unto him This is the second motive ye give to Christ 3 God will not dy in your debt Lastly reade Prov. 19.17 He that hath pitty upon the poore lendeth unto the Lord and that which he hath given will he pay him again God will not dy in your debt If all sufficiency can make requitall ye shall surely have it Quest But how shall I do may some one say to get this property of mercy Answ I Answer First you must pray to God for it James 1â—17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and commeth downe from the father of lights Pray therefore to the Lord to give you mercifull hearts Prayer ye see is the Bucket to fetch up some of this mercy out of the deepe Well that can never be emptied Secondly you must consider what hath beene said formerly you must lay it to heart and think upon it And Thirdly and lastly ye must fall