whom shall it be filled but with vessels of mercy whom he had afore prepared unto glory Rom. 9.23 2. It is called a Throne of Grace because Grace hath here and here only a glorious display and discovery Till men get a sight of God in Christ they cannot tell what the grace of God is search Heaven and Earth you can never get a view of God's Grace till ye come to this Throne You may see Gods Infinite Power and Wisdom and Goodness written in great Characters in the great volume of Creation and Providence But till ye come to know God in Christ on this Throne you can never see that Divine Dainty and Saving Blessing the free Grace of God Grace as an everlasting fountain in the Heart of God pouring down streaming forth eternal Salvation on ruined unworthy sinners Men should make a visit to the Throne of Grace if they had no other errand but to get a sight of this precious Thing the Grace of God A right sight of it is saving Believers should long to be in Heaven if they had no other errand then to see the Spring-Head of that Flood of Grace that came down from Heaven to drag them out of Hell and to draw them up to Heaven 3. It is called a Throne of Grace because all the Acts and Sentences past at this new Court are all acts of Grace all the Blessings given from this Throne are all of meer Grace Nothing is here but Grace John 1.17 The law was given by Moses but Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ. Was there no Grace nor Truth under the Law Yes a great deal but it all belonged to Jesus Christ. There was Grace under the Law but none but what related to Jesus Christ There was Truth under the Law but only as Christ was pointed at otherwise all were but vain and beggerly Rudiments and empty dark Shadows The Jews see nothing of Christ in the Old Testament and therefore find neither the saving Mercy nor saving Truth of God in it And it is much worse with men Christians I cannot call them that see as little of Christ in the New Testament Take the Chain of Salvation and all the Links of it as the Apostle names them Rom. 8.29,30 and all of them are of Grace We are chosen by Grace we are given to Christ by Grace Redeemed by him by Grace By Grace we are justified through that Redemption by the same Grace we are adopted by the same Grace we are saved by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and by Grace we shall be glorified And they that will not claim these blessings and hold them by this Tenure of free Grace I dare not say that they shall never have them for this Grace can overcome its greatest enemies but I may say that they have at present no part or portion in this matter and when they come to partake of Grace and to know the Grace of God in Truth as Col. 1.6 they will be of another mind and count it the best Tenure to hold all by even by free Grace Yea after all the Riches of Grace poured forth on Believers in this life when they come to receive the Crown of Glory they receive it as humbly yea more than they did any former Act of Grace from this Throne The overcomer by the Blood of the Lamb will receive the Crown from his Glorious Redeemer as humbly and with owning it as a gift of Grace as much as ever he did receive a pardon in that Blood when his head was on the Block and the Ax of Law and Justice lifted up to cut him off for his Iniquity There may be proud Pleaders for or rather presumers and expecters of the Crown of Glory but no proud receivers of it We must look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Jude 21. Merit and Worth are only for Hell and they have no room in Heaven nor in the way to it Justice reigns in Hell and Grace in Heaven So all will find that come to Heaven and so must they all know and believe that would be there Sinners that are for Merit will find it sadly in Hell Mens Merit makes Hell and Christ's Merit makes Heaven Rom. 6.23 4. It is called a Throne of Grace because the Glory of Grace is the last and highest end of the building of this Throne and of all the acts of Grace dispensed at it and from it That proud Monarch spoke vainly and wickedly Dan. 4.30 and was quickly by God punished severely for his sin If we may be allowed to allude to such words we may say of the Throne of Grace Is it not that high Throne that God hath built for the house of his Kingdom by the might of his power and for the honour of the Majesty of his Grace Are any chosen in Christ and predestinated to the adoption of Children by him It is to the praise of the glory of his grace Eph. 1.4,5,6 Do they believe by Grace it is to the praise of his glory vers 12. are they sealed and at last possessed of Heaven that is to the praise of his glory vers 14. Are they quickned when dead in sin and advanced in and by Christ Jesus this is to the praise of his Grace Eph. 2.4.7 All the blessings in Time and Eternity that the Heirs of Grace enjoy are all to the praise and glory of that Grace they spring from We read in the word of none of the Counsels of God before the Creation of all things but of his purpose of saving of a company of poor sinful men by Jesus Christ and of no other design in this purpose but to magnifie his Grace in saving of them this way So much of the signification of this word a Throne of Grace 3. What is it to come unto this Throne of Grace Though the prosecuting of the Exhortation in this Text will open up the nature of this coming more fully yet I would speak somewhat of it in this place 1. This coming implys a state of distance from this Throne in them that are called to come This is called being far off Eph. 2.13 and this state all men by nature are in Men are in God's Eye and Hand he is not far from every one of us for in him we live and move and have our being Acts 17.27,28 As the Psalmist speaks excellently in Psal 139. of the nearness of men to God and of his Omnipresence and Omniscience But his gracious presence as on a Throne of Grace is far from all then by nature and they far from it This presence is far from man's knowledge no knowing of it but by Revelation Far from mens attainment for no man can come unless he be drawn of God John 6.44 Far from their Experience and far from their Love for they are alienated from the life of God Eph. 4.18 And in his favour is life Psal 30.5 and in nothing else 2. It is also
of this Mercy of God We do not reckon a man miserable only on the account of what he feels but also on that of his just Fears And generally the smart of misery is raised from fear rather and more than from feeling If any thing renders a man's present State miserable the apprehension of the duration or increase of what he feels adds greatly to his misery Many things would be little complained of as great Evils were a man sure that in a moment they shall be removed But in a Sinner's Case for as bad as it is at present it will surely be worse with him shortly if mercy prevent not There is certainty of its coming and an eternal duration of it when it comes It is called the Wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 Nothing like it ever came on them Present Wrath though dreadful is but a trifle to that that is to come It is Wrath to come for it will surely come As surely as God lives as surely as God is true in his word of Threatning this Wrath will come on the World of the Ungodly No putting of this evil Day far away but in vain Thoughts no diverting or keeping it back a moment All the united Force of the rebellious part of the Creation will not be able to stem or stop this fearful Tide of Wrath. It is Wrath to come for it is still coming and approaching As many Days and Years as an ungodly sinner counts in his life as many Days and Years Journeys hath God's Wrath made towards him Think on this Old Sinners God's Wrath and you are near to meet except mercy interpose You think you run from it but it runs after you it will come upon you and pursue you and overtake you as Deut. 28.45 It 's Wrath to come because it is always a coming and never past The Tide of God's Wrath on the Damned is an eternal Flood there will never be an ebbing Look down to Hell and see how they fare there Alas Men will not believe and fear and fly and therefore must feel How many daily hear of this Wrath to come and yet never have any fear of it till they be irrecoverably plunged into it Who never awaken out of the sleep of security till awakened by the Flashes of Hell fire Who will never believe God's Wrath till they feel it No true Believer goes to Hell all Unbelievers are sent thither but as soon they come there they become woful Believers because eternal feelers of this Wrath to come Mens danger of this dreadful State should make them cry mightily for God's Mercy as it renders them unspeakably needy of it But your own serious Thoughts about it would do you more good than many Words can The second thing proposed is What is the obtaining of mercy A frequent manner of Speech in Scripture 1 Tim. 1.13 Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious But I obtained mercy 1 Pet. 2.10 Which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy This Phrase of obtaining mercy speaks forth 1. That the mercy is God's Gift Our obtaining is the fruit of his giving I obtained mercy saith Paul and may every Believer say How so he gave it he showed he demonstrated it as 1 Tim. 1.16 It is the Lord 's shewing it tendering and giving of it that is the only spring of our obtaining it We do not buy it we do not work it out we are no way meet for it but by misery God's mercy springs not out of the Earth but comes down from Heaven It is the Gift of God And as such must all seek it that would obtain it and as such will all eternally own it that do obtain it 2. This Phrase speaks forth a particular application of mercy to the Receaver by the Giver of it I obtained mercy saith Paul general mercy would not do my business another man's mercy would not save me I must have it of my own for my self and so I got it Mercy came to me made me a Visit and applyed it self to me in particular So must it be with you You will never be saved you shall never see God's Face in Glory unless his mercy deal with you and apply it self as particularly to you as if there were no other Person in the World to be saved by Mercy besides thy self There is indeed a blessed multitude of the Vessels of Mercy and the Captain of our Salvation brings many Sons to Glory Heb. 2.10 But yet there is a personal particular Application of saving mercy to every saved sinner And for this Application of mercy we should come to the Throne of Grace Though there be infinite mercy at this Throne and though many receave of this Mercy yet you must have of this Mercy for your selves or you cannot be saved Your Soul is your own and no man's else your danger sin and misery is your own and no man's else and the mercy that saves you must be as much your own and not another body's mercy That deep Discourse of of the Apostle looks this way Rom. 11.30,31,32 For as ye in times past have not believed God yet now have obtained mercy through their unbelief Even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they may also obtain mercy For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all It is a great mystery of Judgment and Mercy the Apostle is speaking of the rejecting of the Jews and calling in of the Gentiles Mercy took occasion from the just casting off of the Jews to visit the Gentiles and will in due time bestow it self again upon the Jews But both of them must have mercy of their own Mercy to the Jews will not save the Gentiles mercy to the Gentiles will not save the Jews both must have their own mercy The Fountain is the same the Streams are the same but the Vessels are not the same and every Vessel of mercy must have its own measure of its own particular mercy So must it be with you if you be saved by mercy it must be your own and no man's else 3. Obtaining of mercy speaks forth the Receavers possessing of it Obtained mercy is not only bestowed and applyed mercy but it is possessed mercy Such things as cannot be possessed and kept are worth little pains in seeking But God's mercy is well worth the seeking because it may be both had by seeking and kept when obtained and is unspeakably beneficial when enjoyed Psal 103.17 The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him As if the Psalmist said Man is but a Flower his Life is a Wind and Vapour that quickly and surely passeth away but it is not so with God's mercy it eternally abides on all it falls upon O that Men would think on this As God lives and is true in his Word God's
Grace and Mercy 3. There is a Throne of Gods Justice spoken of This is that Throne David deprecates his being brought before Psal 143.2 Enter not into judegment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified If a man be wronged and oppressed by men stronger than he he may appeal to this Throne of Justice and expect redress But if a mans business be with God he should be afraid of this Throne of Justice Men are oft proud and vain in their thoughts and before others but if the Lord call them before this High Court of Justice they will surely be cast Job 9.2,3 How should a Man be just with God! If he will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand When God sits on a Throne of Justice to judge men according to his Law and their Works nothing but Condemnation can justly be pronounced on sinners Whoever he be of sinful Adam's seed that expecteth saving favour from God's Throne of Justice will find himself wofully deceived 4. We find the Throne of the last judgment before this all must appear 2 Cor. 5.10 Rev. 20.12 This is not the Throne of Grace in the Text. No grace nor mercy is shown to any from this Throne but to them that have plyed and sped at the Throne of Grace before When our Lord comes and sits on the Throne of his Glory Mat. 25.31 no sinner that hath despised his Grace now will find any quarter then Luke 19.27 What then is this Throne of Grace It is God in Christ dealing with men according to the Grace of the Gospel It is God in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing to them their trespasses 2 Cor. 5.19 It is Christ set forth by God to be a propitiation Rom. 3.25 This is the true Mercy-seat or Throne of Grace or Propitiation 1 John 2.2 1 John 4.10 This is the New Court or Throne erected by God and declared in the Gospel to which sinful man is invited to come 2. Why is it called a Throne of Grace Passing what is said of the Apostles alluding to the Mercy-seat in the Tabernacle and Temple of Old 1. It is called a Throne because of the Glory and Majesty of God manifested here God's condescending to display and dispense his Grace and Mercy to sinners is no debasing of God but an advancing of his Glory When he gives Grace he acts Royally and as a King with Majesty Araunahs offering to David is said to be like a King 2 Sam. 24.23 he was no King but a Subject but he had a free noble Heart The Lord on this Throne of Grace dispenseth all acts of Grace with great Majesty and as a King But not as a King-Judge and Ruler but as a King-Benefactor and Giver This Royalty of Grace shines 1. In the greatness of the Gifts Grace and Mercy Vastly above all that the Creation can give 2. In the manner of giving Free Soveraignly free Grace and Mercy is his own and he doth with them as he will When Moses prays Exod. 33.18 I beseech thee shew me thy Glory We cannot conceive what was in his holy heavenly heart He was now just come down from the Mount the first time he is going up again to spend other 40 days there in such Communion with God as never meer man enjoyed before or since out of Heaven he had prevailed with God for Israel and hath a most gracious answer vers 17. And the Lord said unto Moses I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken for thou hast found grace in my sight and I know thee by name What means Moses then by this prayer Ver. 18. What ever he meant the Lords answer is much to be observed Vers 19. And he said I will make all my goodness or Beauty pass before thee and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee What is in this Name that hath so much of Glory and Goodness in it as should satisfie such a mighty hungerer for more of God as Moses was I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy God's Glory shines highly in his being the Soveraign disposer of his own Grace and Mercy and happy is the Believer that adores this glorious Soveraignty Paul in Rom. 9.15.25 makes a deep improvement of it Jer. 17.12 A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary See then that you in all your pleadings for Grace and Mercy remember that you are before a high stately Throne Approaches to God on the Throne of Grace should be managed with the deepest Reverence and Humility So did the Publican when he came to it Luke 18.13 God be merciful propitious to me a sinner or me the sinner the great singular sinner So the Greek runs as Luke 7.37,39 The deepest profoundest adoration of the Glorious Majesty of God is performed by a self-condemned sinner pleading at this Throne for the obtaining of the soveraign free grace of God Lastly it is called a Throne because Grace reigns and is enthroned here Rom. 5.21 Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Blessed Reign and blessed are all that are under the Reign and Dominion of the Grace of God Sin reigned through the unrighteousness of the first Adam unto eternal death if men be let alone and if Grace do not break this Reign of sin and Grace reigns through the righteousness of the Second Adam unto etrnal life and nothing can dethrone Grace it will prevail and reach its end eternal life in all it falls upon O that captives to Satan and slaves to Sin and the Law would long to be under the Reign of this stately power the Grace of God And that Believers themselves would give a more free and large subjection to it 2. It is called a Throne of Grace 1. Because Grace erected and reared it up Psal 89.2 Mercy shall be built up for ever Nothing but Grace and Mercy framed the Throne of Grace I may allude to the Lords stately words to Job 38.4,5,6 speaking of the first Creation but this Throne of Grace was fixed before as the King himself saith Prov. 8.23 I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was Where wast thou when I laid the foundation and who laid the corner stone thereof No creature was on the Counsel It is a Divine Contrivance but now it is revealed our faith on the ground of this Revelation may and should go back and take a refreshing view of this eternal Contrivance The Lord builds a House of Mercy that a company of sinners may dwell in with him for ever What laid the foundation of this house but Grace What laid the Corner Stone of this Throne but Grace What brings in the Inhabitants preserves them and perfects them but Grace For whom is it prepared and by whom shall this House of Mercy be possessed and with
not turn away from me A most blessed Answer to a dreadful Question ver 4. Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me my Father thou art the guide of my youth An Interest in God by Christ is offered and promised to all in the Gospel plead it by Faith and it is yours 3. We find Instances in the Word and the like the Lord can make again of great Confidence in some at their first coming to the Throne of Grace As the blind man Mark 10.46 end He only heard of Christ's passing by He staid not for Christ's calling him but began to cry out Jesus thou Son of David have mercy on me When many charged him to hold his Peace he cried the more a great deal Thou Son of David have mercy on me Christ was never in my way before and he shall not pass now without shewing mercy on me if crying may prevail And that his crying was in Faith Christ witnesseth ver 52. In all appearance the Woman of Candan was never at the Throne of Grace before Matth. 15.22,28 at least never at Christ's Feet before yet she managed her first Address with that confidence that she not only got her desire but that high Commendation with it O woman great is thy Faith So the Centurion Matth. 8.5,10 But above all Instances is that of the believing Thief on the Cross Luke 23.40,43 Never had the Throne of Grace so little to encourage an Address to it as when the King of Grace was dying on the Cross Never had a Sinner less encouragement to come to the Throne of Grace than when the Saviour was nailed to one Tree and the Sinner to another Marvellous Faith a dying Sinner dying for his Sins imploys a dying Saviour for Salvation Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom How little did Christ nailed to and dying on the Cross look like a King How strong was the Man's Faith to believe that Christ through death was going to his Kingdom And that Christ's gracious thought of him would save him And Jesus said unto him Verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise As if our Lord had said this is thy first and thy last Address to me verily it shall be heard Believers do not think how pleasing to the Lord large and high thoughts of the Sufficiency Fulness and Freedom of the Grace that is in Jesus Christ be Believers should devise liberal things and by liberal things they shall stand Isa 32.8 Let a Believer ask and think on the Warrant of the Promise as much as he can the Lord is able to do exceeeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all Ages world without end Amen Eph. 3.20,21 SERMON V. HEB. IV. 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need IT is God's great and wonderful Mercy that ever there was a Throne of Grace erected and revealed and that he makes such a Proclamation as this in his Word Let all Men come boldly to it I have spoke unto two things in the Text. 1. Of the Throne of Grace to which we are invited to come 2. Of the Boldness allowed in coming to it The third thing follows to be spoke to the Ground of this Boldness implyed in this Therefore And we must look back to ver 14.15 for the finding the force of this Therefore The Words are Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the Heavens Jesus the Son of God let us hold fast our profession For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our Infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin Let us therefore come boldly The Doctrine I am to handle from this Inference of the Apostle is this That the main ground of all the boldness allowed in coming to the Throne of Grace is in our Lord Jesus Christ The Interest and Room and Place that Christ hath in this Throne of Grace is the ground of all allowed boldness in coming to it When people are secure nothing is more commonly practised by them than fearless rushing into God's Presence Any carnal careless Sinner can when he will bow the Knee and make that he calls a Prayer to God But when Conscience is awakened and Light darts in to make them know somewhat of God and of themselves it is then found a matter of wonderful Mystery and difficulty to perceave any thing that can justly and sufficiently support the confidence of a self-condemned Sinner in his Approaches to God for Mercy Hence it is so often seen that this is the common way of all the ungodly and of such as are ignorant of God in Christ while they are secure and blind and hardened they feel nothing and fear nothing But when Death and Judgment approach and stare them near in the Face and when they begin to think in earnest that they must stand before God and receave their eternal Doom being ignorant of a Mediator and quite estranged from any believing imploying of him they sink in discouragement and Despair And alas How many miserable Sinners are there that are never awakened out of the sleep of security until they are plunged in the very Pit of Despair The Resolution therefore of this Question How a Sinner may draw near to the Throne of Grace with confidence so as he may be welcomed by him that sitteth on it and may receive good things thence is only in this that this Boldness is all in and by Jesus Christ My Work therefore at this time and it is indeed the main Work of Ministers at all times is to declare and shew you how our Lord Jesus Christ is the Ground and Foundation of true confidence in coming to God And herein I would lead you to such things that concern the Lord Jesus as are commonly known usually talked of but rarely duly pondered and improv'd 1. Let us consider the Person of this Mediator by whom we may have access with boldness Eph. 3.12 A wonderful Person The Son of God made Man a marvellous Man by whom all Men may be accepted with God when there is not a Man in the World that can be accepted of God in his own Name Yet all that come in Christ's Name are accepted Our Lord Jesus Christ is God's own Son the Son of God tabernacling in the Flesh God manifest in the Flesh The brightness of the Father's Glory and the express image of his Person Heb. 1.3 There is one God and one Mediator betwixt God and Men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time 1 Tim. 2.6,7 In due time it will be seen what this Ransom was paid for and for whom for every one of the Ransomed shall get
Peace and Acceptance only in that blessed Beloved beloved of the Father both as his Son and our Saviour and beloved of all that ever saw but a little of his saving Face and Glory Let such go and prosper the Lord is with you the Lord is before you He will welcome the Mediator in his bringing you to him 1 Pet. 3.18 and welcome you with Salvation who come in his Name for it The Prodigals Welcome Luke 15. is but a Shadow of what ye shall meet with Christ welcomes dearly all that come to him And the Father welcomes the Believer that cometh in Christ's Name and is brought in Christ's Hand to this Throne SERMON VI. HEB. IV. 16. Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need FROM this Text I have already spoken to three of the things I did take up in it 1. Unto the Throne of Grace it self that is erected for and revealed to Sinners in the Gospel That new Court of Grace which the Lord invites the fallen Seed of Adam to come unto 2. I have spoke to that Boldness that is allowed and commanded in coming to it We are not only allowed to come but we must come or perish and bring the guilt of our own Souls Blood upon our Heads by refusing Acts 18.6 We not only may come and try but we may and must come boldly and confidently expecting to speed in coming 3. I have spoke to the great Ground of this Confidence couched in the Word therefore in the Text and relating to ver 14 15. Were it not for Christ's Place and Business and Heart in Heaven no Man on Earth could have boldness at the Throne of Grace The fourth and last thing in the Verse is the end we should come for and the great Blessings we may receave by coming expressed in two Words That we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need God's Mercy and Grace are the most comprizing comprehensive Blessings and these Expressions of them contain all that is needful for our Happiness Nothing can be added to them No Blessing but is in them no Blessing is without them It is the common Apostolick Prayer and such Prayers made by the Pen-men of the Holy Scripture under the immediate guidance of the Holy Ghost are equivalent to Divine Promises yea are such Grace be to you sometimes Grace Mercy and Peace be to you So that these Words as they stand in the Text do equally answer those two Inquiries 1. What good things shall we get at the throne of grace The Spirit of God answers You may and shall obtain Mercy and find Grace to help in time of need And are not these well worth coming for Are they any where else to be had And here they may surely be found How should this endear the Throne of Grace to us and engage to coming to it 2. Wherefore should we come with what design What end should be in our Eye Come saith the Spirit by the Apostle's Pen that ye may obtain the one and find the other Come that ye may get both Design this getting in your coming I would first speak of our coming that we may obtain Mercy and on it discourse of these three things 1. Of the Mercy that is to be got at the throne of grace 2. Of the import of the Phrase Obtaining of Mercy 3. Of the Duty required of coming with this Design that we may obtain this Mercy 1. Of the Mercy that is to be obtained at the Throne of Grace You see it is only Mercy that is named without any mention made whose Mercy it is or of what sort it is But when miserable Sinners are invited to come to God's Throne of Grace for Mercy it may be easily known whose it is and what it is It is God's Mercy in Jesus Christ who is the Mercy-seat or Throne of Grace it is uot Angel-mercy or Creature-mercy but God's Mercy And who can tell what a great and vast thing his Mercy is Mercy in the proper Notion of it is a kind relieving Compassion to the miserable The Object of Mercy is a miserable creature Divine Goodness shines in giving Being to Nothing and in creating all things Wisdom in ordering them and guiding them to his Glory Justice in disposing of them according to his Will the essential Rule of Righteousness But Mercy hath no fit Object till Misery appear for Mercy to act on The Shower of Mercy is a compassionate Person its Nature and End is to relieve the miserable Mercy with God is another sort of Mercy than what is required of and can be practised by Creatures We may and should have compassion on the miserable whom we are not able nor allowed to relieve The Judge that condemns the Criminal should do it with Mercy and Compassion but he breaks the Law if he suffer his Mercy to delay or divert a Righteous Sentence and Execution But the Lord's Mercy is not only Tenderness and Compassion in his own Heart so we borrow Words by the pattern of sound Words in the Scripture to speak of God after the manner of Men but it is always relieving to the Person on whom it is bestowed Let the misery be never so great and of what kind soever it be whoever they be that are the Objects of his Mercy they are certainly relieved thereby There is no Redemption out of the Pit though their Misery that are there is the greatest Why because there is no Mercy for them If it were possible that God's Mercy in Christ could enter into Hell it self as it falls on many very near to it that Mercy would bring them out But the Door of Mercy is quite shut upon them and the Lord hath resolved and declared that his Mercy shall never visit them That we may the better understand what this Mercy of God is the getting whereof we should make our great Errand to the Throne of Grace it will be needful to consider that misery in men that renders them needy of this mercy And this I would consider as it actually lies on them and is incumbent or as it is coming on them and imminent 1. The misery that all natural Men lye under It 's true they do not see it nor feel it but this makes not their misery the less but the greater For insensibleness of misery especially where it is removeable and when this insensibleness is a hinderance of using the right means of removing it is a great plague and an aggravation of the misery I shall give you a few Scripture-accounts of this misery 1. The misery of a natural Man and of all natural Men is that they are utterly destitute of all true good In me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7.18 Must it not be so much more with them that are Flesh and in the Flesh and have nothing in them but Flesh The first notion we
everlasting mercy or God's everlasting wrath will eternally lye upon every one of you And what an amazing difference is there betwixt these two and yet how many behave as if indifferent which of these two shall be upon them God's faving mercy is such a Jewel that though the Lord give it but to few yet he will never take it away from any he hath given it to Psal 89.28,33 Believers God may take any thing from you but his mercy and you may spare any thing but his mercy If God come to take away your Children give them if he come to take away your Estate let him have it If he come to take away your Health and Lives yield them strive not with him bless a giving and bless a taking God If he crave thy Right Eye or Right Hand and what is dearest to you give yield all to him But say Let me only keep thy mercy I cannot part with that it is the only thing I cannot spare The blessed Canaanite's striving with Christ was about his mercy Be silent disown reproach me I care not but thy mercy I must have It were a Cruelty that only Unbelief can charge God sinfully with to take away so precious a Gift as saving mercy is Let but this mercy follow me as Psal 23.6 and it s no great matter where I go If I be in the lowest Hell mercy will bring me out Psal 86.13 For great is thy mercy toward me and thou hast delivered my Soul from the lowest Hell There is no time-Hell that a Vessel of mercy can be in but mercy will bring him out again and this Mercy will secure him from the eternal Hell This mercy is God's mercy therefore soveraignly free therefore Almighty therefore eternal You sin Believers when you fear his taking away his mercy He gave it at first that you might be eternally possessed of it Mercy gave mercy and mercy will keep mercy and mercy will stay with you and keep you for ever The third thing to be spoke to is the end and design of coming to the Throne of Grace and that is that we may obtain mercy Not only that this mercy is to be got at the Throne of Grace and there only nor that this Throne of Grace is erected on purpose to dispense this mercy nor is it only that we should come to the Throne of Grace to ask and beg this mercy but that we should come to obtain it This is the Duty exhorted to in the Text. And in setting about this Duty two things are required 1. Come as sensible of your need of mercy No man can come truly without this sense He that hath no sense of misery complements God in asking mercy and takes this saving Name of God in vain It is dreadful to provoke God to Wrath in our way of asking his mercy And all such contract this Guilt and expose themselves to his Wrath that have no Heart-sense of their need of this mercy It is an amazing stupidity that the power of sin hath brought on men that in a world of sinners sinking into everlasting misery so few are really sensible of their need of saving mercy and no man is sensible till God by Grace make him so 2. Come in Faith of his mercy you cannot come at all without this Faith Faith is coming to God Heb. 11.6 Unbelief is departing from the living God Heb. 3.12 No man can come but he that is sensible of misery for coming is the act of a man drawn and moved by the Cords of a man No man can come but in Faith for there is no other coming for a Christian These three things should be in this Faith 1. A believing that there is abundance of mercy with the Lord which if shewed and put forth to you and on you would save you abundantly So argues the Prodigal Luke 15.17,18 And when he came to himself he said how many hired servants of my Father's have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger I will arise and go to my Father and say c. Psal 130.6 Let Israel hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption The highest working of Unbelief is when men judge their misery greater than his mercy The great work of Faith is to get these two to meet fairly and mercy will surely prevail His tender mercy is over all his Works much more is his abundant mercy above a sinner's misery Cain's words should be left for himself and used by none else Gen. 4.13 And Cain said unto the Lord my punishment is greater than I can bear Or My iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven Words sounding like the Language of Hell and not to be spoken by any that would escape it I know many secure people find no difficulty in that they count believing of this that there is mercy enough with the Lord. But yet the matter is far otherwise It is mighty difficult to believe the abundance of his mercy when men are in great pressures of misery The best of Saints have sometimes stumbled here When Moses is pleading with the Lord for mercy to Israel Numb 14.17 And now I beseech thee let the power of my Lord be great according as thou hast spoken and pardon I beseech thee the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy As if Moses had said Lord thou hast proclaimed thy Name and I heard it and believed it but I did not think that their wickedness would have been so great as now I find it to be Was not Moses a great Believer yet he stumbled in this point of the power of God's Mercy Numb 11.18,23 Israel murmureth for flesh God promiseth a whole months diet of it What saith Moses ver 21 22 How doth the Lord answer him ver 23. And the Lord said unto Moses Is the Lord's hand waxed short thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass to thee or not This great man's Unbelief was greatly aggravated in that he saw the Lord bring that people out of Egypt with Signs and Wonders and with a mighty Hand he saw them daily fed cloathed and led and protected with Miracles of divine power and mercy yet one new difficulty shakes his Faith When Paul gives us his last account of his Faith for that Epistle was his last Writing he lodgeth his Faith on divine Power 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day If I be perswaded that he is able I shall not doubt of his being willing to keep that charge safe I have committed to him Let the eye of Faith take up clearly the power of mercy and the Faith of its application to thy benefit will be the more easie But he is a rare Believer whose view of the power of mercy is not darkened by a clear sight and deep
sense of his own great misery at least at sometimes 2 To come for mercy in Faith is to believe the Fitness and Sutableness of God's mercy to our misery Here many stumble wofully Their Question is Am I fit for mercy when it should rather be Is his mercy fit for me And this Question every sensible Soul can answer the other none in Heaven or Earth can answer If any man think himself fit for mercy of all men that man is most unfit for it and farthest from receaving of it But every sensible Soul will say Though I be unfit for and unworthy of mercy yet mercy is very fit for me Is there pardoning mercy with God who is it so fit for as a guilty vile sinner Is there saving mercy with him Who is it so fit for as for a lost man as I am Come to the Throne of Grace for mercy in Faith of this mercy is fit for me exactly though I be utterly unworthy of it They that think they are fit for mercy will never get it nor indeed can ask it But they that think they are needy of it and that it is fit for them will both ask it and get it 3. To come to the Throne of Grace in Faith for mercy is to believe that there is all good will in him that sits on this Throne to give and shew mercy It is implyed in the Text Let us come to obtain mercy But what if when we come he will not shew mercy That is an ungodly Supposition mischievous to our selves and reflecting upon God He hath mercy in abundance to give he delights in giving he never refused mercy to any that came for it he hath promised he never will and why should men harbour such a suspicion that we may come and not obtain Benhadad could adventure on a report that the Kings of Israel were merciful Kings and yet Ahab was one of the worst of them 1 Kings 20.31 And shall not sinners come upon a more sure Report of the mercifulness of the King on this Throne of Grace It is on this Truth of the Lord 's good will to shew mercy that our Faith so readily halts Many think they ought not to believe this good will to shew mercy I would have you consider some instances of Christ's dealing with Sinners John 4.10 Jesus answered and said unto her If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee Give me to drink thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water Where we are to regard 1. To whom these Words were spoke by our Lord to a Samaritan a vile Creature as to the former course of her life a blind ignorant sottish Sinner that was guilty of refusing Christ a Cup of Water the greatest Sin she ever committed in her Life 2. What our Lord saith to her If thou knewest me thou wouldest have asked if thou hadst asked I would have given thee living Water And before he had done he made her know him made her ask and gave her of his living Water But that I mainly observe from the Word of Christ is a Truth which few will believe when they hear it even few Believers themselves will believe it as they ought That Christ is more ready to give begging Sinners eternal Life than they can be to give Christ himself a Cup of cold Water Our Lord saith it but men will not believe it Another of Christ's Words is in Luke 11.13 If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your Children how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him Christ makes the comparison favourably ver 11 12. Of a Child's asking Necessaries will a Parent refuse that desire and give what is hurtful But consider our Lord's design in this saying It is plainly to encourage to seeking and the Argument he useth is from the greater Love and readiness in God to give the best things than earthly Parents have to give their Children the Necessaries of this life The preference is not here given to God's greater Riches and fulness than that of parents who may have their Children beg of them what they have not to give as in Lam. 4.4 But it is a preference given to God's greater willingness to give Now who believes this and makes the just Application to their own Case and say confidently The Lord is much more willing to give me saving mercy if I ask it than I am to give a bit of bread to maintain the life of the nearest and dearest Relation I have in the World Appl. I shall only add a few Words of Application 1. There is no principle of natural Religion engraven more deeply on the Hearts of men than that there is misery in men and mercy in God and that God's mercy only can relieve men under this misery This runs through the whole World in all Ages and will continue as long as sense of misery is in men and any Notions of God are preserved in the minds of men And these Sentiments are not to be defaced Attempts of Atheists are damnable to themselves but vain Efforts against the Rock of Ages 2. Notwithstanding of this God's true mercy in Jesus Christ is the greatest Riddle Offence and Stumbling-block to all natural men God's mercy they like well enough and would have applied to their own relief under misery But God's only and true mercy in Christ they cannot away with That there is no mercy with God for Sinners but what flows through the Blood of Jesus Christ That God's Love should appear in sending his own Son under the charge of mens Sin and under the smart and feeling of their miseries That as God shews mercy only this way so men that would have it must only seek it this way the World never did never can never will understand nor relish it nor betake themselves to it They would have mercy to come to them another way and so seek it and look for it in vain and perish by the miss of it 3. There is no Address made to God more honourable to God more acceptable to him and more becoming a miserable Sinner than an Address to God for his mercy It is his Glory to be the Sovereign Lord of mercy it is his Honour to be attended with the Addresses of miserable men it is his delight to dispense mercy to the Addressors What is more becoming God than to shew mercy and what can be more fit than that a miserable Sinner should beg his mercy 4. There is no Provocation more common than sinful ways of begging God's mercy I shall briefly instance in a few Many profane careless Creatures have this Word frequently in their mouths God be merciful to me who yet have no more sense either of God or of themselves of his mercy or of their misery than the Ground they go on This is a gross taking of God's Name in vain Undue Addresses to God
your Consciences well resolved in this main Case that you may be able to give a peremptory answer The Importance of this Question is very obvious Can a Man retire within and look up to God and consider this I am a miserable Sinner in my self as all are nothing but God's special mercy can relieve me And not think it a matter of vast consequence to know whether he hath obtained this mercy or no Wo to them that never asked the Question and they are but in a sorry case that cannot answer it I would propose a few things to enforce the Duty of trying your selves in this matter 1. It is mercy you have been seeking If ever you made any fashion of Prayer surely it was mercy you sought most of you if not all pray at least sometimes Now whenever you pray unless you be wofully formal and stupid your Consciences must tell you it is mercy you seek Have you long and often begged God's mercy and will ye never enquire whether or not you have got it None ask in earnest but they will try how they speed There is no surer and plainer Argument of trifling in Prayer than when men are careless what they get by Prayer We would be called of the Generation of them that seek God's Face and shall we not enquire if we have found him Our Lord bids us ask that we may receave and shall we ask and not think of receaving nor try if we have receaved 2. A great many round you have obtained mercy therefore it becomes you to enquire whether you have obtained it If the mercy of God were so very rarely dispensed that none if any in an Age did partake of it this neglect would be a little more excusable But when mercy falls round about thee when one on thy Right Hand obtains Mercy and another on thy Left Hand obtains Mercy when this Mercy falls on some of the Family thou lives in on some of the Congregation thou hears in when this mercy falls on one that hath the same natural Parents that thou hast Will none of these things make you ask Have I also obtained mercy We find our Lord aggravating the misery of the damned by their seeing of the blessedness of the saved Luke 13.28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out A most dreadful Passage Christ is telling Men that were to be excluded from Heaven what they would think say and do in that dismal Case Prevent this Misery in time by enquiring whether you have obtained mercy And do so the rather that ye may see others partaking of this Mercy When you see the saving mercy of God sought and obtained by others it should provoke you greatly not to envy them their share but to desire a share of your own for there is enough and to spare And the Lord doth shew mercy to some on purpose that he may encourage others to come and ask and obtain So Paul tells wherefore he got his Mercy 1 Tim. 1.16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first or the chief Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting There were other ends Christ had in shewing mercy to Paul The Lord shewed him mercy that he might be saved eternally he shewed him mercy that he might be an able Minister of the new Testament 2 Cor. 3.6 and a successful Apostle 1 Cor. 15.10 and the Church of Christ hath good Cause now for many Ages to bless our Lord Jesus for that rich mercy which that chosen Vessel obtained and was filled with But the Apostle in that place takes notice of another design of Christ's in his mercy to him and that was to set up Paul as a Pattern and Copy of the Freedom Riches and Power of saving mercy And Christ can when he will write another Copy like Paul and somewhat like it he doth in all that he calls savingly Eph. 2.4 Take in this Argument many obtain mercy and why not I none deserve it yet many have it None deserve it less and need it more than I Why then not I If you see the Lord shewing mercy to others and you care not for mercy to your selves how can you expect it or think you have got it 3. Inquire whether you have receaved God's saving mercy because this mercy is brought so near you that it must either be receaved or refused there is no midst No Man doth neither no man doth both All that have the offer of God's saving mercy in the Gospel do and must necessarily either receave or reject it This should make people inquire the more narrowly whether they have obtained mercy If ye have not obtained it ye have refused it Acts 13.46 It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you but seeing you put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life lo we turn to the Gentiles This last is a strange Phrase I am perswaded in the Lord that no man shall ever get everlasting life that thinks himself worthy of it It is always to be sought by us always given by the Lord and always taken by the Receavers of it as an Alms of Grace for Christ's sake Nothing surely was further from Paul's mind than to have these foolish Jews to count themselves deserving of eternal life or that on the account either of their Priviledges or Works they did or could deserve Salvation at the hand of God But all the Apostle meant was this Everlasting Life is brought near to you in this Word of the Gospel you put the Word from you thereby you declare you are unwilling to receave everlasting life and God counts you unworthy of the Offer of it and we will carry it to others as he tells other Unbelieving Jews at Rome Acts 28.28 Be it known to you that the Salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and that they will hear it Now for resolving of this Question whether you have obtained special saving mercy or not This seems easily determinable There is so great a difference betwixt that State of sin and misery that mercy finds Men in when it first visits them and that State that mercy brings them to That we are apt to think the change may be easily known See Eph. 2.1,18 Yet there are so many things that obstruct both them that have obtained mercy from owning it and them that have not obtained it from acknowledging their want of it of which I shall not now speak that searching is needful and for your help in that work I offer these few plain Marks 1. A high value of special saving mercy above common mercy is a good sign of one that hath obtained saving mercy There is a special mercy of God and there is a common mercy Special mercy
is saving it comes from the Heart and Love of God Eph. 2.4 and is treasured up for and laid out only upon his chosen It is the favour he bears to his people Psal 106.4 Common mercies are thrown about with a large and indifferent hand He maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust Matth. 5.45 Now these two sorts of mercies are as far different as Heaven and Earth The excellency of the one is far beyond that of the other though we be unworthy of either I am less than the least of all thy mercies said a great Saint Gen. 32.10 And so should all say But few do perceave this great difference and many give the preference to common outward mercy Who but a Christian doth count it a greater mercy to have the Conscience sprinkled with the Blood of Jesus than to have a large and prosperous Estate in the World That the light of God's Countenance and an hour spent in his Courts when the King's presence is in them is better than all the Enjoyments of this World Moses was a Man that obtained singular mercy from the Lord it appeared in this that he esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt Heb. 11.26 He had excellent Balances and true Weights He put in the one Scale Egypt's Honours Treasures and Pleasures and how weighty are such things in the Worldlings Balances and in the other the reproach of Christ and affliction with the people of God His Judgment on this weighing is That this Reproach because of Christ's concern in it and this Affliction because it is of and with God's people is better than all the other things The true Test of Mens Spirit is justly taken from their setled inward Apprehension of the worth and value of spiritual saving mercy above all outward mercy Psal 4.6,7 There be many that say Who will shew us any good Most Men are for any good they know not well what and from any hand that can show it and give it But David knew what good he would have and who could show it Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us Why is he so earnest for this Blessing Thou hast put gladness in my heart Carnal Men seek Gladness and make it and take it to themselves as well as they can But Gladness of God's putting in their Heart they know not more than in the time that their corn and their wine encreased David doth not here compare though he doth discover the holiness of his Heart with the earthliness of that of others he compares not the tenderness of his Conversation with theirs But he compares the Joy God gave him by the Light of his Countenance not with the Joy he had but with that the Ungodly have in their sensual Satisfactions Try your selves by this Where is your Esteem lodged What sort of things are they that relish with your Spirits Common outward Mercies carry away the Hearts of the most part of Men and this shews that few Men have obtained special mercy 2. He that hath obtained special mercy hath a love to it and to the Giver of it and to the way God gives it and in which he receaves it He that is a lover of God's mercy in Christ is an Obtainer of it A natural Man may have a liking of God's mercy in general But mercy as from God through Jesus Christ mercy shown on the account of a full Satisfaction made to Justice in and by his Blood mercy given freely to glorious Ends and Purposes every natural Man seeth no Glory no Goodness no Beauty in it But every Obtainer of it doth admire every thing in it It is rich mercy saith he it flows from a blessed Fountain Free-love runs in a blessed Channel the Redemption of Jesus comes to me in a well-ordered Covenant and was shown me for his Praise in my Salvation from sin and misery 3. An Obtainer of mercy is a daily Beggar for more mercy Whenever God's special mercy is tasted hunger and thirst after more is raised No sooner did Paul obtain mercy but behold he prays Acts 9.11 There is more of mercy yet to be had mercy quickens the Soul's Desires and enlargeth them The greatest Receivers are the greatest Beggars 1 Pet. 2.2,3 Desire the sincere milk of the Word that ye may grow thereby if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious This Mark is plain and will never fail They that drive not a Trade of Prayer for special mercy have not yet obtained it 4. An Obtainer of mercy from the Lord is a shower of mercy to others He is a merciful Man to others Matth. 5.7 Col. 3.12,13 Put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness c. forbearing forgiving as Christ forgave you And Eph. 4.32 even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you How unbecoming it is that such should have Bowels of Brass on whom God's Bowels of mercy have been poured out This is a Mark that will never fail but in a high fit of Temptation All that have obtained God's mercy will be disposed to shew their mercy Forgiving one another is an easie thing it costs nothing but to think a kind thought Yet how hard is this to many through the power of Corruption There are some acts of mercy as Bounty and Charity that poor Christians have no ability for But the principal Act of mercy is in every Christians Power and that is mercy to Mens Souls We cannot give them that mercy we have obtained but we can and should wish the like to them Never did a Man obtain mercy from the Lord for himself but he wisheth that others should partake of it also The Woman of Samaria John 4. of whose Conversion we have the largest account of any Convert in the Bible as soon as she obtained mercy she forgot what she came to the Well for she had got somewhat better than the Water of Jacob's Well she met with Jacob's God and had got Jacob's Blessing she goes to the City and turns a sort of a Preacher to them Come see a man that told me all things that ever I did Is not this the Christ ver 29. She obtained mercy and would have all the City come and get mercy also And a great many came and obtained mercy Christ caught that Woman by his Grace and made her as a Bait to catch many more No Believer can deny his sense of such a Frame as this There are some Persons thou dost love and shouldst love thou prayest for them What dost thou mainly ask for Wife Children Brothers Sisters and all or any thou lovest heartily Is it not O that they might share in God's saving mercy If thou ask it for others as the greatest mercy thou thy self art an Obtainer of mercy Paul obtained mercy He loved his Countrymen the Jews dearly and on good grounds Rom.