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the whole world to destruction without any pity, or so much as one thought of mercy. Herein was love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. 1 John iv. 10. While we were sinners and enemies, (Rom. v. 8. 10.) and most strongly averse to a reconciliation. 2 Cor. v. 20.

4. Nor did his designs of mercy take their rise from any expectation that a rebellious, guilty, perishing world, would be so good as, of their accord, ever heartily to thank him for it.No, he knew well enough how it would be; that many would make light of it, and go their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandize; and that others would be affronted, and some so very angry that they would take his messengers, and stone one, and beat another, and kill another, and finally would crucify his Son. And he expected that mankind in general would be disposed to hate his law, and pervert his gospel, and resist his spirit; and never one, in all the world, repent and convert, and come and humble himself before him, and bless his holy name, unless brought thereto by his own all-conquering grace. Mat. xxi. 33-39. and xxii. 1-7. Luke xiv. 16-23. 1 Cor. iii. 6, 7.

So that, from the whole, it is very plain God was not moved to entertain thoughts of mercy towards mankind, neither under a notion that they had been, in any respect, hardly dealt with; nor under a notion that their impotency rendered them in any measure excusable; nor under a notion that there was any good in them, or to be expected from them; but, on the contrary, he looked upon the original constitution with Adam to be holy, just, and good; and that, upon that footing, all mankind deserved all ruin; and he looked upon the law of nature also holy, just, and good; and that, upon that footing, a wicked world deserved his everlasting wrath; and he looked upon them altogether criminal for their impotency in a word, he looked upon them voluntary in their rebellion, and obstinate in their enmity, and infinitely unworthy of the least pity; yea, so unworthy of pity, that, to secure his own honour, and to save himself from just reproach, while he pitied them, and showed them mercy, he thought it needful that his own Son should become a Mediator, and bear their sin and suffer for

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their guilt, and so open a way for the honourable exercise of

his mercy.

To conclude, therefore,

5. It is evident that his designs of mercy took their rise merely, absolutely, and entirely from himself : from his own infinite benevolence: from his self-moving goodness and sovereign grace. GOD so loved the world:

As for us, we lay in the open field of perdition, polluted, perishing in our blood and guilt; and it was perfectly right that the righteous sentence of the law should be executed upon us : and God had been for ever glorious in the everlasting ruin of a rebellious world. There was nothing in our circumstances, all things considered, of the nature of a motive to pity: we were too bad to deserve any pity or relief; yea, so bad, that the great Governor of the world could not, without counteracting all good rules of government, show any mercy but by the interposition of his own Son, to stand and die in our room and stead. So that, instead of any motive to pity, there was every thing to the contrary. Our infinite ill-desert lay as an infinite bar in the way. Here, now, was an opportunity for infinite goodness and self-moving mercy to exert itself, in the most illustrious manner, in designing mercy; in providing a Mediator, and in opening a door for the exercise of much grace to mankind in general, and of special saving mercy in ten thousand thousand instances. There was nothing, ab extra, from without God himself, to move and put him on to such a wonderful and glorious enterprise. The motion was wholly from himself from his self-moving goodness; from his good pleasure, according to the counsel of his own will. Eph. i. 3—12. No wonder, therefore, the gospel every where celebrates the love and goodness, mercy and grace of God, as being rich and free, unparalleled, unspeakable, inconceivable, infinitely great and glorious, as discovered in this most wonderful of all God's works. And to suppose that God was under any obligations to show these favours, would be to undermine and overthrow the whole gospel, and turn a deed of the freest and greatest grace into a work of mere justice. Thus we see whence God's thoughts of mercy, towards a sinful, guilty world, had their rise.

He had in view a great variety of glorious designs, all infinitely wise all suited to display the glorious perfections of his nature, and bring everlasting honours to his great name. He designed to destroy the works of the devil. Gen. iii. 15. 1 John iii. 8. Satan had induced mankind to their rebellion; and had, perhaps, in his conceit too, made himself strong against the Almighty. He first rebelled himself, and now he had brought others to join with him, and in this world he intended to rule and reign; and, by the whole, bring much reproach upon the rightful Lord of heaven and earth. God wrought therefore, for his great name's sake, that it might not be polluted; and entered upon methods to defeat his designs, and bring his kingdom to naught, and crush the rebellion, and put him to open shame; and at length bind him upin his chains, that he should deceive the nations of the earth no more; and give all nations, languages and tongues, to Jesus Christ, and bring the whole world into subjection to him. Rev. xx. 1-4. He designed to display his glorious grace, in bringing millions of this seduced, apostate race from the jaws of eternal destruction to eternal glory. Rom. ix. 93. Eph. ii. 7. He designed to put all mankind in a new state of probation, and to display his glorious goodness, patience, forbearance, and longsuffering, in his dealings with the obstinate and finally impenitent in this world, and his glorious holiness and justice in their everlasting punishment in the worid to come, in the same lake of fire and brimstone which was prepared for the devil and his angels, with whom they had joined in their rebellion against the Majesty of heaven. Acts xiv. 17. Rom. ii. 4. xix. 22. Mat. xxv. 41. In a word, he designed to take occasion, from the apostacy of mankind, in the innumerable instances in this world, and throughout eternal ages in the world to come, to display all his glorious perfections: and so, by his whole conduct, to exhibit a most perfect and exact image of himself.

Thus we see that his designs of mercy towards a rebellious, guilty, undone world, took their rise, not from any motives in us, but altogether from the motives in himself; from the infinite, boundless goodness of his nature, and his sovereign good pleasure. And in this light must we view the grace of the

gospel; and all our encouragements to hope in his mercy, through Jesus Christ, must take their rise, not from any thing in ourselves, but only from that self-moving goodness and free grace which he has manifested through Jesus Christ. Rom.. iii. 19, 20. 24. Eph. ii. 8..

And thus we see that his end, as to the elect, was to bring them back from their apostacy, their rebellion, and wickedness, and ruin, to God, their rightful Lord and sovereign, to become his servants, to love him, and live to him, and live upon him, and be blessed in him for ever. And in this light must we view the gospel; and with this its design must we heartily fall in. And being encouraged by the grace of the gospel to hope for acceptance in the sight of God, through Jesus Christ, we must, through Christ, give up ourselves to God, to be his servants for ever. Luke i. 74, 75. 2 Cor. v.

20. Rom. xii. 1. Tit. ii. 11-14.

From what has been said, it will be very natural to makę these following remarks:

REM. I. If all God has done in the gospel, for our recovery from ruin, be of mere free grace, then it is self-evident that God was under no obligations to a fallen, sinful, guilty, rebellious world; but, as for us, might have, consistent with all his perfections, left us in ruin, to inherit the fruit of our doings, and the punishment of our sin. He was under no obligation to provide a Redeemer, or a Sanctifier; to give the least hint, of a pardon, or take any methods to recover us from the power of sin. He was under no obligations to deal any better by us than would, the whole, be no worse than damnation. By the constitution with Adam, and by the law of nature, this would have been our proper due. Every thing, therefore, whereby our circumstances have been rendered better than the circumstances of the damned, God was under no obligations unto; but all, over and above that, has been of free and sovereign grace. God was at liberty, as to us, not to have done any of these things for us. Yea, there were on our part mighty hinderances to prevent the mercy of God, and to put a bar in the way of the free and honourable exercise of his grace: even such hinderances, that nothing could remove them but the blood of Christ. Hence,

REM. 2. Mankind were, by their fall, brought into a state of being infinitely worse than not to be. The damned in hell, no doubt, are in such a state, else their punishment would not be infinite; as justice requires it should be. But mankind, by the fall, were brought into a state, for substance *, as bad as that which the damned are in. For the damned undergo nothing in hell, but what, by the constitution with Adam, and the law of nature, all mankind were, and would have been, for substance, exposed unto, if mere grace had not prevented. And, according to what was but now observed, God was under no more obligation to grant any relief to mankind, in this their fallen, sinful, guilty, undone condition, than he is now to the damned in hell; i. e. under no obligations at all but the way for mercy to come to them was mightily barred and blocked up, by the infinite reasonableness of their being punished, and their infinite unworthiness, in the very nature of things, as the case then stood, of ever being pitied. So that mankind were, by the fall, brought into a state of being, (in scripture called condemnation and wrath, Rom. v. 18. Eph. ii. 3.) for substance, as bad as that which the damned are in; so that, if the damned are in a state of being infinitely worse than not to be, as no doubt they are, then so also were mankind. And mankind being actually brought into such a state by the fall, is what renders the grace of the gospel so inconceivable, so unspeakable in its greatness, and so absolutely free. To deny that mankind, by the fall, were brought into such a state, is the same thing, in effect, as to deny original sin, and undermine the glorious grace of the gospel.

OBJ. But how could God, consistent with his perfections, put us into a state of being worse than not to be? Or how can we ever thank God for such a being?

ANS. Our being brought into so bad a state was not owing to God, i e. to any fault in him, but merely to ourselves; to our apostacy from God. It was our apostacy from God that

* For substance, I say, because it must be remembered that the superadded punishment inflicted upon any in hell, for despising the gospel, must be left out of the account. For all this is over and above what, by the constitution with Adam, and the law of nature, mankind were or ever would have been expos ed unto.

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