to passe on in a way of sin casting all fear of danger behind us as if we were able to encounter devouring fire or dwell with everlasting burning especially when we consider but our own frame we cannot but know we are but dust and that which is our mould will soon decay and withal remembring our time is but short and the word redde rationem backt with a Thou fool may this night be given suddenly and then assuredly as the tree falls so it lies and in the same condition must we appear at Gods Tribunal Oh then with what circumspection should our actions be performed lest any evil or vicious habits should square themselves to joyn with us in our holiest Oblations because we pretend service to him whose power in a few words can write great Monarchs into trembling and can make a hair Adrian 4. or the kernel of a raisin as mortal as a Goliahs spear and can with ease blow down our bubling lives into nothing for the time is coming when not astuta verba but pura corda as Saint Bernard saith not fair words but honest hearts will prevail and commend us to him who judgeth all things for he will infatuate all fallacious wisdom and self-destroying wit For thou art the God that hast no pleasure in wickedness nor shall any evil dwell with thee saith holy David Psal 5.4 So that Holiness is now the onely path that leads weary and wandring souls to the Paradise of Celestial Blisse all other wayes being severely kept against us by the flaming sword of Gods irreconcileable anger and hatred against sin and sinners for no unholy thing shall enter much lesse remain in the Holy City all such shall be cast out Rev. 21.27 A good nature like a shallow brook may empty it self into the narrow river of Humane love but perfect Holiness and real Sanctity is only that noble stream which carries the soul to Heaven and loses it in the Ocean of infinite Blisse You may for a time sport your selves with the fire of lustful pleasures but ere you are aware the flame thereof will not onely sindge your gilded wings of ambitious desires which so long bore you up with the breath of popular applause but also consume your soul and body in endless woe and misery for when God shall come in flaming fire he will render vengeance to all that are ungodly not enduring longer to have the cry of our sins to come up before him and therefore holy David well considered this Meditation when he broke forth with the words of my Text If thou Lord will be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it In which words we have already considered two general parts 1 An Antecedent 2 A consequent Or if you will here is 1 The Thesis 2 The Hypothesis In the first you have Gods extremity in punishing In the second you have mans misery in suffering for he saith If thou Lord be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it From which sacred concession we have enedavoured to wind up the sum and substance of holy Davids intention into these four bottoms or doctrinal conclusions viz. 1 It is the corruption of mans nature to do amiss 2 God is not alwayes extreme to punish man when he hath done amiss 3 God can when he pleases be extreme in punishing man when he hath done amiss 4 If God be extreme in punishing man must needs be extreme in suffering Thus far our general division hath had its equal course and our progress in the dispatch of these truths hath but quitted the first and made entrance upon the second which together with the two latter acompanied with your patience shall at this time terminate my hours discourse And that I may with the more benefit to your understanding proceed therein I shall onely lead your memories back to the second conclusion namely Doct. 2 The mercy of God is such he will not alwaies be extreme to mark what 's done amiss Examples of Gods patience and long forbearance have no where such lively representations as in our selves whose unconsumed lives are nothing else but a series of continued mercy nor is there any rational account to be rendred for the same save onely that it is the good will of him that dwelleth in the bush whose glory is not to be given to another and that he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy c. Which he doth 1 For his name sake Exodus 34.6 2 For his natures sake which is alwaies prone to shew mercy 3 For his glories sake and that 1 In general 2 In particular 1 In general it is the constant language of holy Scripture as you have already heard 2 In particular he is not extreme for his Glory sake which is great in many respects I In respect of his judgements for they are his strange work and never had he felicity in executing the same but with an unwilling willingness is alwayes constrained to visit for the sins whether of nations cities or particular persons witness his sending the Gospel to the lost sheep of the house of Israel his low condescention to Abraham when he became Advocate for Sodom and his own tears over Ierusalems approching ruine yea and witness the repentings that were kindled in his bowels for revolting Ephraim but mercy is his delight because he waits to be gracious 2 Great in respect of time for the mercy of God endures for ever in Ps 136. As his power is unlimited so neither can bounds be set to his mercy sun and moon heaven and earth these all have their periods but the rich treasure of Gods mercy shall have no end I have seen an end of all perfection but thy commandement is exceeding broad saith holy David Ps 119.96 All the attributes of God like himself are from everlasting to everlasting 3 Great in extent of place for his mercy reaches unto the clouds Psal 36.6 7. Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds Thy righteousness is like the great mountains thy judgements are as a great deep Lord c. Gods extended grace makes its full appearance not onely in delivering from danger but in supplying our wants not onely in saving our bodies from temporal evils but in redeeming our souls from eternal damnation for with him is great deliverance 4 Great in extent of plenty for God is rich in mercy Eph. 2.4 But God saith the Apostle who is rich in mercy for the great love wherewith he loved us c. as if St. Paul had spoke his mind in larger phrases thus You are poor and needy you want blessings temporal and spiritual and know not whither to flee for succour and supply so that the narrowness of your hearts imagines Gods free hand is straitned but let no such scruple bear rule in your minds for with God is so great a treasure of grace as never can be exhausted
NINE SELECT SERMONS Preached upon special occasions in the Parish Church of St. Gregories by St. Pauls By the late Reverend JOHN HEWYTT D. D. Together With his publick Prayers before and after SERMON LONDON Printed for Henry Eversden at the Greyhound in St. Pauls Church-yard and Tho. Rooks at the Holy Lamb at the East end of St. Pauls near the School TO The Right Honourable LADY THE Lady Mary Hewyt Relict of the late Reverend JOHN HEWYT D. D. Madam THe principal intent of our publishing these ensuing Sermons is no other then Edification and for the avoiding all suspition of being accounted spurious and illegitimate we have assumed the boldnesse to dedicate them to your Ladiship with a confident hope of your Honourable Protection and that whereas heretofore they have been beneficiall to his Auditory they may now prove no lesse successful to the intelligent Reader it being pity the Works of so Famous and Eminent a Divine should be raked up in the embers of Oblivion And though they have no other Originall then the Pen of a ready Writer yet such diligent care hath been imployed in emitting them to the World that we doubt not but you will conclude we have endeavoured the perpetuating the memory of your Pious Consort For here lurks no Snake under these Verdant Herbs nor Poysonous Serpent under these Fragrant Flowers in this inclosed Garden growes no Root of Schisme no slip of Error no fruit of Disobedience but within this pleasant Grove are such variety of refreshing contentments to be found as may delight your Ladiship amidst your more Solitary Cogitations and yet these are but parts of that Image which ere long we hope to erect and in a larger Volume We shall crave leave to as we doe at present subscribe our selves Madam Your Ladiships humbly devoted Servants H. E. T. R. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER Courteous Reader IT was not popular applause nor private interest that induced us to expose these ensuing Discourses to publick view but only an ardent desire to draw a Landskip of the reverend Authors abilities and though but in Transitu to give a dark representation of that glorious light which continually with unwearied beams did radiate the Souls of his faithful Auditory They are but the shadows of a faithful life therefore be not displeased to find them fall short of the living Voice such curious pieces cannot be drawn without the concurrence of sable lines so that if thou find them halt and only with a crooked finger to point at the Authors stile be not discouraged thereat nor with a prejudicate opinion deem this naked Babe illegitimate because destitute of a Patron for thou wilt find assuredly they are the true off-spring of that worthy Parent and want only the Fathers hand to lead them into and preserve them from a captious world Lay aside all partiall interests and we are bold to presume that thou canst not but with unspeakable profit give them perusal we are sensible of the many calumnies that will be cast upon our persons for this innocent work having already in part undergone the reproach of some malicious tongues who have indeavoured to render the Sermons abortive and our selves contemptible in the eyes of a deceived multitude nor are we able to divine what acceptance they will gain at the hands of any But we question not ingenious Reader whoever thou art but that thou wilt love the picture for the persons sake and wilt impute whatever defect shall be found therein to the want of the Authors pen and not the ignorant or willing mistake of the Perusers thereof for they are notes taken by the pen of a ready VVriter the swiftness of whose motion is able to overtake the most voluble tongue yet thou canst not but know that sometimes the smallest hair interposing it self will make a breach in the fullest sentence thereby interrupting the perfect sense therefore our care hath been extended to the utmost that no remarkable fault might appear obvious to the most critical Reader still indeavouring that those sacred truths which formerly have been beneficial to the intelligent Hearers when preached by the reverend Author may now prove advantageous to the eternal welfare of every Soul that shall peruse them which is the earnest desire of Reader Thy unfeigned Friends and Servants H. E. T. R. A Table of the Titles and Texts of the Sermons contained in this Book MErcy and Iudgement 2 Sermons Page 1. 28. Psal 130. v. 3. If thou Lord wilt be extreme c. A Nativity Sermon page 62. Saint Luke 2. v. 7. And she brought forth her first-born son c. A Funeral Sermon p. 81. 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this life onely we have hope in Christ Testis Fidelis or the faithful witness Five Sermons upon 18. St. Iohn v. 37. To this end was I born c. whereof 1. Upon St. Thomas day p. 106. whereof 1. Upon Christmas day p. 126. Three more upon the same Text on several occasions Dr. Hewit's publique Prayer before Sermon O thou that hearest Prayers unto thee shall all flesh come for our help standeth in thy name O Lord which hast made heaven and earth we beseech thee therefore let the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and evermore acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our Redeemer O Most glorious and most powerfull Lord God whose dwelling is so far above the highest heavens that thou humblest thy self but to look upon the things that are in heaven and that are in earth thou art omnipotent and omnipresent dost whatsoever thou wilt both in heaven in earth in the sea and in all deep places thou art about our beds and about our paths thou spyest out all our wayes understandest all our thoughts long before we thought O Lord when we look up unto thee and consider thee to be a God of so pure eyes as that thou canst not behold iniquity without indignation and wrath and when we look within our selves and see that world of corruption that lyeth hidden in our breasts and those innumerable acts of transgressions that have stained both our persons and our lives we cannot but be confounded and ashamed before thy face and are not able to open our mouths for our sins witnesse against us and our iniquities are as sore burdens too heavy for us to bear they cry up to heaven for vengeance against us and it is of thy infinite patience and longsuffering towards us that thou hast not long since powred upon us the Vials of thy wrathfull indignation nor sentenced us to the pit of eternall destruction Lord who can tell how oft he offendeth The sinfulnesse of our natures the sins of our lives the sins of our souls and the sins of our bodies our secret and whispering sins our crying and open sins our idle and wanton sins our presumptuous and deliberate sins the sins we have committed to please our selves and the sins we have committed to
and send a pardon in the name of my Son and thy Jesus 2 Mercy is exercised about him as his creature to receive him into favour not to punish him above measure though he be out of measure sinful Isa 46.9 Remember the former things of old for I am God and there is none else I am God and there is none like me That God punishes sinful man is the act of his justice that he is not severe in punishing is an act of his mercy yea so loth he is to be cruel that he would have his creatures put him in mind of his mercy as if nothing so much delighted him as to have his servants to think and believe him to be merciful for so you read Put me in remembrance let us plead together declare thou that thou maiest be justified Isa 43.29 wherein he that runs may read this sacred truth that God is not alwaies extreme to mark what is done amiss but is full of compassion And this he doth 1. For his names sake which in holy Moses stile is no other then the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin Exod. 34.6 And that the power of this glorious name may never fall nor the remembrance thereof fail in the hearts of the sons of men he will still go on to make his merciful name in much glory in much majesty to pass before them for all the waies of the Lord are mercy and truth Ps 26.10 For though many sorrowes shall be to the wicked yet he that trusteth in the Lord mercy shall compass him about Ps 32.10 He is onely the God that heareth and can answer prayer therefore to him must all flesh come it is his glorious name alone which is as an oyntment poured out the excellency of whose favour perfumes the hearts of all that love him whose very goings rejoyce the morning and evening seasons Other names and titles may give us free passage among the sons of men and get or lose their favour but it is onely the name Iehovah who is mighty to save that can give us a name to live when dead in sin whose goodness crownes not onely the years Ps 60.11 but the hearts of his people with joy unspeakable and full of glory And so I pass to the second ground of mercy 2. For his natures sake whose very property is to have mercy therefore when God in mercy spares his people from demerited wrath he compares himself to a father vailing his compassion under that tender relation but when justice can no longer spare but by being injurious to its honour by the provocation of our sins calling for vengeance to be poured upon our persons then he represents himself like a woman big with pain and travailing with grief if I may so speak to bring forth that just ire he hath been long in conceiving Yea mercy appears and is seen in hell it self because though he punish to extremity of time yet not to a fulness of horror in intension of torment whereas justice like the harlots will have the sinner divided soul from body to be different sharers in eternal misery Let thy lawes O Lord be writ in bloody characters upon the sinners head is justices language that so he may eternally wound the hairy scalp of him that hath wilfully gone astray but mercy like the true mother continually cries spare the child Lord and save the sinner from eternal woe and at length this mournful voice proves effectual in the ears of Heaven and with Iacob obtaines the blessing for indeed mercy is the true mother of our lives which else had long since been a sacrifice for our sins had not the scape-goat carried them away into the land of forgetfulness and by becoming a victime for the same buried all our transgressions in his grave that so they may never be able to rise in judgement either against our persons or our services whose very nature it is to become an advocate for rebells and like an affectionate surety pay the debt that so the debtor may go free and this he doth not for our righteousness or any merit that is to be found in us or our performances but for his name and natures sake And so I pass to the third ground of mercy namely 3. For his glories sake For his glory 1. In general 2. In particular First for his glory in general that being the utmost my limited time and your patience will give leave to discuss reserving the more particular parts together with the dispatch of the two last doctrines to our second part of this discourse but I say 1. Generally and in that I shall onely but point you to those excellent graces wherewith he is pleased to furnish the hearts of the sons of men that thereby they may become vessels fit for the masters service God is delighted with shewing compassion and mercy is so joyned to his nature that he would have it wrought in as well as bestowed upon us that in this glorious attribute we may again bear his heavenly image to that end sometimes our trials are made the subject for his love to work on at other times he presents others misery as the opportunity for our mercy and therein he cals out our faith to believe that he who hath inclined our hearts to pitty others will shew abundant compassion to us our hope that God will deal no worse with our soules then he hath commanded us to use the soul of our brother and lastly he calls our charity to exercise its benevolence knowing that besides the hundred-fold which in this life we shall receive for one drop of cold water bestowed in his name and given for his sake we shall receive in the life to come a crown of righteousness which shall never be taken from us for his mercy is over all his works else should we be soon consumed which made holy Iob cry out Remember I beseech thee that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me unto dust again Job 10.9 and again Job 7.17 20. What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thy heart upon him I have sinned what shall I do uâ—to thee O thou preserver of men why hast thou set me as a mark against thee c. Once for all take it in the 14. chap. 2. vers and so on Man cometh out like a flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not and doest thou open thine eyes upon such an one and bringest me into judgement with thee as a leaf also is he blown away with every wind so is our soul tossed with various temptations sometimes with the east wind of presumption on the contrary with the west of despair now hurried with the north of rage by and by carried away with the southwind of lust thus like a tennis-ball is poor man
is but a lame consent yeilded by constraint for he that by a Tyrant is compelled with force of punishment to deny the Truth doth in a sort deny and not deny he denies it outwardly with his lips but his heart greives inwardly for the same because his conscience bears witness to the Truth but he that with a wicked life is given wholly to sin that he hath all his delights in it that man hath made himself perfect in evil 4. From the more full signification we do signifie more of wickedness to be in us by our works than by our words he sits at a farre greater denial of truth that denies it by a wicked life than he that denies it onely with his lips for fear of death though both these are great aggravations since in our lives words and works we are to bear witness to the Truth for to this end were we born and for this cause came we into the world c. Application Our Saviour bids Let your light so shine before men c. Saint Matthew 5.6 then we may hence learn that those that should light others to Heaven by their Doctrine must not darken their way by the evil example of an unholy life and not only must Ministers but people also let the light of holiness appear visible in their lives When God places a man a private Christian in the lower Orbe he puts him there to shine like a starre bright and clear in his own sphere Christians should shine and bear witness in their lives and be cautious how they walk because every sin puts a dimness upon the soul and darkness internal can expect no other but to go to darkness eternal and therefore St. Peter saith that our good works should make those that look on us as evil doers glorifie God in the day of visitation 1 Saint Peter 2.12 There be some that must believe in Christ throughout the world and witness his Truth to unbelievers by a holy life and why may it not belong to us but if on the contrary we be found to live as they live how shall they be brought to believe as we believe It was the saying of a Heathen If I did see the Christians lives better I should think their faith better than mine Religion and the Doctrines of Faith are often disgrac'd by wicked Professors 1 Tim. 1.6 7. the rebellion of a Christian that is a Servant though to an Heathen Master brings a scandal both upon God and on holy Religion Sure I am God and Religion is very much disgrac'd and the Gospel dishonoured and the Church of Christ abused by the wicked lives of those that are called the Sons of the Church Oh therefore that by holy lives judicious reading faithful hearing and constant studying and meditating in the wayes of God and the Truths of God we would make our selves able and ready to give an account of the hope that is in us that so both in our knowledge and practice we bearing witness to the Truth here on earth we may have the truth in our consciences to bear witness to our selves that we are the Sons of God that so he that ascended into Heaven to take possession of his own Glory may in time bring us thither who himself affirmed and after whose example we should walk that as he was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth so we should also account of our selves that we were born and that we came into the world that we might bear witness to the truth that we came into the world this Christian world to witness to the truth as common Christians that we came into the world the Church of God as members thereof to justifie that faith by a holy life unto which our parents had baptized us still indeavouring to carry the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus that as he did so we came into the world to bear witness to the truth for he justified himself before the judgement-seat of Pilate saying in the words of my Text To this end was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness to the truth The end of the Sermons Dr. Hewit's publique Prayer after Sermon O HOLY HOLY HOLY Lord God of heaven and earth heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory Glory be to thee O Lord glory be to thee glory be to thee glory be to thee for all those infinite favours which thou of thine infinite goodnesse hast voucsafed to us who are lesse then the least of all thy mercies for the fountain of all mercies Jesus Christ in whom thou hast loved us with an everlasting love before ever we or the world were made that thou hast created us after thine own Image and redeemed us by the bloud of Jesus Christ when we were utterly lost that thou hast called us with an holy calling and in some measure sanctified us by the graces of thy holy Spirit that thou hast spared us thus long and given us so long and so large a time of repentance when as thou mightest have cut us off in the midst of our transgressions whilst we were rebelling against thee Blessed be thy name O Lord for all thy mercies vouchsafed unto us thy mercies to allure us thy promises to wooe us thy patience and long-suffering towards us to lead us to repentance thy corrections to reclaime us thy judgements to affright and better us blessed by thy name for all opportunities of wel-doing for all hinderances of evill-doing for all the good purposes and resolutions thou hast put into our hands to draw our souls from the dregs of sin and ignorance into the glory of thy Saints for any assistance that thou hast given to any of us in any holy performance for the Communion of thy Saints the aide of their counsels the benefit of their Prayers the comfort of their conversations the protection of thy Holy Angels for all corporall spirituall temporall and eternall mercies mercies concerning this life and mercies concerning the life to come Blessed be thy name for thy mercies to us all the dayes of our lives thy mercies unto us this present day for the light thereof the greater light the light of thy truth to shine into our soules to guide our feet into the way of all truth For that portion of Scripture wherein thou hast been pleased to reveal thy self unto us at this time Lord though it be sowne in much weaknesse do thou raise it up in great power let it not be as water spilt upon the ground but let it be as seed sown in good ground that it may take deep root downward in our hearts by faith and bring forth much fruit upwards in our lives and conversations to the glory of thy holy name to the edification of thy Church and people and to the salvation of our souls in the day of Jesus Christ to whom with thy self and holy Spirit we desire to
Gods mercy that he alwayes punishes not according to our sinnes and is not alwayes extreme in observing when we have sinned mercy it was that the Almighty at first did make man who stood in no need of the best of Creatures and their most pious services but greater mercy that the Holy One should not utterly destroy man when he had sinned and that his patience should forbear destroying sinful flesh a God of so pure a nature that he cannot behold sinne without hatred and yet a God of so rich mercy that he saves the soul when it hath sinned proclaiming himself to be the Lord gracious and merciful passing by iniquity trangression and sinne the consideration whereof made S. Chrysostome cry out Lord what am I to thee that thou shouldest command me to love thee and when I love the not thou art angry seeing its misery enough not to love thee and when I sinne and run from thee yet thou waitest still to be gracious to me and leavest no means unattempted that may make me love thee And Saint Austin I remember hath this expression God saith he is weary of our sinnes and is pressed with them as a cart heavy laden with sheaves and why doth he not rid himself of us who sinne wilfully in contempt of him but casts our sinnes behind his back as if no dishonour were done to his Holy Name by them Why doth he thus saith that holy Father expostulating with himself but meerly because he will not be extreme with us O therefore admire the riches of Gods mercy who gives you space to repent and by no means wils your death Oh I beseech you then if you expect that God should make your souls incessantly happy in his eternity be you holy in tua aeternitate as Saint Bernard saith in thy limited and short eternity that so you may come to see not his footsteps or back parts but his glorious face by an immediate intuition of his Majesty O think with your selves how your souls shall then be filled with glory and happiness O praeclarum invidendum spectaculum Oh what a sea and inundation of unspeakable Joy must needs flow in upon the Soul and will you not stand and admire the riches of that grace which gives you space and means for the obtaining of so great a blessing 2 This may move every one to begin and if begun to increase their repentance the Lord is ready to forgive and with thee is mercy saith the verse following my Text therefore shalt thou be feared Our sacrifice and propitiation can be nothing as from our selves its onely Jesus Christ the righteous that can satisfie Gods offended justice for our sinnes For if any man sinne we have an advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the righteous 1 John 2.1 This is that pearl of great price which hath redeemed us from our Sins this is the Propitiation with which God is well pleased and is now become not our angry Judge but reconciled Father for were he a Judge and not our Farher he would be extreme to mark our actions and were he severe and not mercifull we could not stand before him But with thee is mercy that thou maist be feared Psal 130.4 And in his Beloved he is now made one with us the partition-wall which sin had erected by his suffering is now destroyed and broken down that so we may now come with boldness to the throne of Grace having an High Priest pleading continually for us and one who knows what it is to bear our sinnes and endure our sorrows Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the whole armour of light that so we may be able to stand in the evil day But withall let us take heed of taking occasion to live in sinne because God is merciful and because he is gracious to turn that grace which should save us into wantonness this is to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath and to lay upon our selves a mark of reprobation for though it be true of our God what Benhadads servants said of the Kings of Israel we have heard that they are merciful Kings so you may say if we sin yet our God is merciful to forgive and so sinne that grace may abound do not thus deceive your souls for the same God that is a merciful Father to true Penitents is also a jealous Lord over wretched sinners and will like Iehu drive on his Judgments furiously against rebellious sinners and will wound the hairy scalp of all Impenitents Behold therefore the goodness and the severity of God severity to them that go on in sinne impenitently but goodness to them which truly repent Rom. 11.22 Oh therefore let me perswade you whose souls as yet sit in darkness and in a state of sinne to awaken your selves out of this woful security consider if thou turn to the Lord with all thy heart and truly art sorry for thy sinnes consider I say he is ready to forgive and waits that he may be gracious to thy immortal Soul for which Christ dyed but on the other hand if thou continue in sinne know assuredly thou vile impenitent he will come in flames of fire to revenge himself upon thy implacable and immalleable heart Oh therefore while it s called to day harden not your selves against his fear but get your peace made with him ere it be too late and you that have already begun do you persevere unto the end that so you may receive that crown of Life which shall never be taken from you for he will not alwayes be extreme with you and yet severe with those that continue in sinne because when he pleases he can be extreme to mark what is done amiss and that brings me to the third Observation Third Observation That God can when he pleases be extreme in punishing man when he hath done amiss The will and the power of God in themselves are the same though to our corrupt understandings they seem distinct because our irregular wills are confined by a limited power and though God may do what he will with his Creatures because he is Omnipotent yet when they have sinned he doth not alwayes will their destruction because he is merciful his Omnipotent and executing power being alwayes limited by the will of mercy when he comes to deal with sinners for their transgressions though God when he list can be extreme to punish See the proof of this 1. A priori 2. A posteriori 1. A priori The power of God is infinite and that infinity of his is omnipotent as he can make a Genesis to give being so also an Exodus to destroy that being as there is in him a power to create so an infinite justice to destroy that creation when made though he create light out of darkness because he is the parent of Infiniteness so also is he Omnipotent and can when he pleases will the new light into its ancient state of darkness the same