any Rewards or Punishments We had been obliged by the Laws of Creation to embrace and practice it to obey the Dictates of Reason that by obeying them we might have procured the perfection of our Nature Many Duties do arise from the Consideration of our Nature and that Relation which we bear to God and the whole world which would not have ceased to oblige us although no Revelation had been made unto us Or if it had pleased God to re-inforce these Duties by a particular Revelation yet was it not necessary that he should entail any rewards on the performance of them as being parts of our Duty antecedently to any such Revelation If he had required of us more than was naturally suggested to us by the light of Reason even the most difficult and laborious Duties He might justly have done it by the right of Creation as being the Author of our Being It had been a sufficient Reward to Mankind to have received from God the benefit of Existence and the Continuation of it and to enjoy the ordinary effects of his Providence If to these he had added Threats and Punishments he might reasonably be supposed to have abundantly secured Mankind from the neglect of his Commands since none but the most stupid and brutal Persons would for the Fruition of a few not only irrational but trifling Vanities incurr the displeasure of an Almighty Being and draw upon themselves the effects of his Vengeance Or if to Actions in themselves indifferent and not in the least contributing to the perfection of our Nature Actions having nothing extraordinary in them beside the greatness of their Difficulty he had adjoyned a Promise of infinite Rewards yet could we not have omitted them without the highest degree of Folly when the performance of them might procure so vast a Reward the sole hopes of which might induce us to force our Inclinations and do violence to our Nature But when to the common Benefits of Creation and Preservation he hath added the Revelation of Divine Truths and adapted those Revelations to the capacity and imperfection of our Nature when he hath urged the practice of these revealed Truths by the Promise of Reward on the one side and the Threats of Punishment on the other And as if all this were not sufficient proceeds to heap new Favours on us intreats us as a Friend bears with us as a Father and by Prodigies of Mercy leads us to our own Happiness we must profess our selves astonished and confounded at so stupendious a Goodness and acknowledge our selves unable to celebrate as we ought the Mercy of God who when he might have satisfied both the Justice and Holiness of his Nature by requiring of us the performance of the greatest Duties without any Reward or proportioned his Reward to the imperfection of our Service or proposed both Rewards and Duties without adding continued Acts of Mercy and Forgiveness yet contributed all to the Happiness of Mankind and thereby made the Emanation of his Goodness to be no less infinite than his Nature the Fountain of them Who when it was sufficient alone to manifest the Justice of his proceeding to appeal even to the Judgment of Mankind as he did sometime in the Prophet Are not my ways equal are not your ways unequal O house of Israel chose rather to conquer us by kindness and by the greatness of his Goodness lead us to Repentance By the Goodness of God in this place we are not so much to understand that incommunicable Attribute of perfect Holiness upon account of which our Saviour said Matth. XIX 17. There is none good but one that is God As his kindness and benignity which inclines him to exercise Acts of Beneficence Love and Mercy which is frequently in Scripture called by the name of Goodness as Psalm LXXIII 1. Truly God is good unto Israel even unto such as are of a clean heart And again Psalm CXLV 9. The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works Where his Goodness is aptly expressed by the Tenderness of his Mercy The former Attribute indeed representeth God to Mankind as a fit object of Worship and Adoration and inciteth brave and generous Souls to the exercise of Vertue that so they may attain a nearer Similitude and Conformity to their Creator the imitation of whom is their ùtmost perfection But the latter chiefly creates in us that Love of God which is the best and most efficacious Principle of all religious Actions by representing to us his infinite affection to Mankind his benefactive Nature and proneness to Acts of Mercy and Compassion which even although we forget our Duty and neglect our Interest cannot but excite a lively Senfe of gratitude in us and a profound Veneration of the Divine Mercy This Beneficence and indulgence of God is designed in the Text by the term Goodness or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an eminent instance of which the Apostle had laid down in the former part of this Verse in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Forbearance and Long-suffering whereby God does not immediately inflict the deserved Punishments upon Sinners but with-holds his anger and patiently awaits their Repentance whereby he does not presently revenge the Injuries and Affronts done to his Laws and Person by the sins of Mankind but compassionates our Nature and at all times reserveth Mercy for penitent Sinners An Attribute than which nothing can render God more amiable and dear unto us or more effectually secure our Obedience to him were not the Perverseness of Mankind no less infinite than his Goodness Yet did many in that Age and as I fear more in our Times make a contrary use of this Goodness by thence taking Encouragement to continue in their sins because they see not Vengeance to be speedily executed and experience in themselves and others the Forbearance and Long-suffering of God The Apostle complains of these Men in the former part of the Verse That they despised the riches of the goodness forbearance and long-suffering of God and from these Attributes inferrs a contrary Conclusion to what they had formed namely That this ought rather to dispose us to repentance and reformation of Life by enforcing all other Arguments of our Duty with a powerful Obligation of gratitude which is violated in a most enormous manner by those who abused the Divine Mercy to a contrary intent Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth us to repentance In handling these words I shall endeavour to illustrate and improve the Apostles Argument by considering it as well in Relation to that influence which it ought to have upon all our Actions in general as in disposing us to this Duty of Repentance in particular In Discoursing of the first Head I will lay down these two Propositions I. That gratitude or a right Sense of our Obligation arising from the consideration of the infinite Benefits and Mercies of God towards us was intended by God
to be to us the grand Motive of obedience to his Laws II. That it is the best and most effectual Motive which could be employed for that Purpose I. Then That gratitude or c. And this appears from the very Nature and end of Religion which was intended to bring Man to the practice of his Duty and consequently to Happiness and Salvation by other Arguments than what arose from the bare Consideration of the Divine Attributes and our own Relation to God our Creator our Selves and our fellow Creatures suggested by the light of Reason If these Considerations had been duly pondered by our first Parents they would have prevented the Misery of their Fall And that they were sufficient none will deny who acknowledgeth their Fall to have been an Effect of Choice not of Necessity Yet was the light of Revelation which God conferred on them very small and dim in respect of that Evidence which God conferred on following Ages He shew them the means whereby they might obtain remission of their Sins by promising that in due time The seed of the woman should break the serpents head and thereby to the Obligation of Creation added that of Redemption But it was the Memory of their Creation yet fresh in the Minds of men that maintained Religion in the world and preserâ—…ed a right Sense of the Majesty of God and their Duty to him It could not so easily be forgotten that God had produced Man out of nothing and eminently distinguished him from all other Creatures by giving him Dominion over them So great a Benefit could not easily be obliterated from their Minds but for many Ages kept alive an awful regard of the Divine Power and Beneficence When the Memory of that decayed and therewith an universal Corruption of Life and Manners ensued God re-inforced it with the Benefit of preserving Noah and his Family from the common Destruction of Mankind His Descendants could not but for many Ages retain a lively Sense of so signal a Mercy which had rescued them from an universal Calamity and manifested thereby how dear they were to God Yet in time the remembrance of this Benefit grew faint and Men thought themselves little concerned in that which was common to them with the rest of Mankind I mean the Benefits of Creation and Preservation They required nearer and more particular Testimonies of the Divine Favour which being appropriate to themselves might distinguish them from other Men by a greater Participation of the Divine Bounty This was the effect indeed of an irrational Judgment and prevailing ingratitude for was it not enough that God was the Author and Continuer of their Beings to engage them to his Service But an effect to which the corrupt Nature of Mankind was so prone that to restore decayed Religion in the World and revive the true Worship of himself he found it necessary to set apart a peculiar People whom he might oblige by particular Benefits to retrieve that gratitude which the Sense of his universal Benefits ought in all reason to have produced yet wanted its effect Hence forward God was worshipped primarily not as the Creator of Mankind and producer of the ordinary effects of Providence but as the Author of particular and peculiar Favours Which however could have no other direct influence upon the minds of Men thus signally obliged than to produce an extraordinary Sense of gratitude since the common Benefits of Creation and Conservation tended more naturally to beget a right Apprehension of the Divine Omnipotence and our dependance on it Thus God separated Abraham from the rest of Mankind and assured him with his Posterity to himself by a particular Covenant and Promise of giving to him the Land of Canaan Upon which account he was worshipped by Abraham under the Notion of the Author of that Promise by Isaac as the God of his Father by Jacob as the God of Abraham and the fâ—…ar of his Father Isaac by their Descendants till their Deliverance out of Egypt as the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob that is as the God who by the Promise made to their Forefathers had entailed upon themselves particular Blessings After their Deliverance out of Egypt and those many wonders and prodigies wrought in Favour of them God chose to be worshipped by them as the Author of that Deliverance and ushers in all his Commands with this Preface I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egpt out of the house of bondage And accordingly he was in all succeeding Ages worshipped by them under that Notion as appears from the frequent Commemoration of that Benefit in the Old Testament and the whole System of the Jewish Religion In which God challengeth Adoration and Worship from them not as the Author of their Creation but of their Deliverance who had so signally employed his Almighty Power in their Favour and by the very words of the Covenant so often repeated declared himself to be their God and them to be his people whereby he manifestly implyed that he intended to distinguish them from the rest of Mankind by the greatness of his Benefits and to be worshipped by them upon that account For to all other Men he was a God in the Notion of a Creator but to them only he was a God in the Notion of a particular Benefactor The Memory of these particular Benefits are every where the chief Argument which he employeth to excite the Jews to his Service or reduce them to Obedience when gone astray Thus Esai XLI 8 9. But thou Israel art my servant Jacob whom I have chosen the seed of Abraham my friend Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth and called thee from the chief men thereof and said unto thee Thou art my servant I have chosen thee Could any thing be spoken more passionately or more effectual to gain the Devotion of that People whom if the Sense of being the Servant the Friend and the Chosen of God could not perswade to an exact Obedience the Dictates of Nature and common Principles of Reason would be little able to over-rule them Not only doth he own them in other places for his chosen People but as if for their sakes he disclaimed his Relation to the rest of Mankind he condescends to be in a peculiar manner called their God as Esai XLIII 14 15. Thus saith the Lord your Redeemer the holy one of Israel I am the Lord your holy One the Creator of Israel your King In urging the practice of his Commands he seldom makes use of his Supream Authority or Claims Obedience to them any otherwise than in Gratitude to those wonderful and signal Mercies Thus Ezek. XX. 5 6 7. reproving them for their Idolatry he justifies his Law whereby he had appropriated all Divine Worship to himself alone not from the Incommunicativeness of his Divine Nature but from the right which he had acquired by conferring on them those many Benefits Thus saith the Lord
tendeth no less effectually to the Honour and Glory of God than a due Command of our Will For God is no less dishonoured by mean and unworthy Apprehensions of him by Idolatry and Superstition by denying his Existence or debasing his Attributes which are the effects of misguided Reason than by an open Violation of his known Precepts which proceeds from the Corruption of the Will And thus it appears that a full Enquiry into the Reasons and Arguments of the Christian Religion and a perfect knowledge of the truth of them not only contributes exceedingly but in Persons having means to attain it is absolutely necessary to beget a true and perfect Faith and secure to us the reward of it III. A distinct and clear knowledge of the Mysteries of our Faith and Rules of our Religion will afford to us many and great Motives to the practice of our Duty and direct us in the performance of it It is the peculiar Prerogative of the Christian Religion that the more we search into the Reasons and Constitution of it the more fully the Divinity of it will appear Every new Discovery will give us fresh occasions to admire the Wisdom Goodness and Justice of God eminently conspiring in the Revelation of it This will excite in us if we be not insensible a profound Veneration of the Divine Majesty an ardent Love of his Excellencies and the most intense degree of Gratitude It will manifest to us the Misery of Man and his lost Condition without the Sacrifice of the Cross which might expiate for his Sins and mediate his Pardon and hereby will increase our Sense of the Divine Mercy will enhance the value of that inestimable Sacrifice teach us to adore love and devote our selves to our Saviour to resign up our belief to his Revelations as to our Prophet to depend wholly upon the Expiation of our sins once made and Intercession for us always continued by him as of our High Priest to yield an intire Obedience to his Commands and Precepts as to our King Can we view the Love and Mercy of God manifested in our Redemption the wonderful Contrivances of Providence both to secure the Divine Justice and Honour and yet give Pardon to sinful Man and not be wound up into an Extasie of Love and Admiration Can we consider the most wise Methods whereby God brought this wonderful design to perfection and trace the footsteps of it through all Ages can we think upon the Majesty of him who condescended to suffer for us and the unworthiness of Man to receive so great a Favour without filling our Understandings with awful and reverent Conceptions of him our Wills with a passionate desire of Union with him and enlarging all the Faculties of our Souls to approach his Presence and receive his influence Or can we hope to raise our Souls to a worthy Sense of the Divine Favours and Benefits and carry up our Affections to a gratitude not inferiour to the Greatness of them without a perfect knowledge of their Design and Excellency Surely the Admonitions of the Prophets Apostles and even our Blessed Saviour were not in vain which so earnestly press us to the study of Divine Truths command us to search the Scriptures assure us That they were written for our instruction and which is to be observed commend those who were conversant in them above all other Persons Yet how small a part of the Holy Scripture are those things which are absolutely necessary to be believed The infinitely greater part of it serveth only to declare the extraordinary Acts of his Providence to the Church and Testimonies of his Love to Mankind to celebrate his Mercy and Goodness and induce us by manifold Arguments to our Duty Yet these also hath the Divine Wisdom thought necessary to the knowledge and instruction of Men and surely not without Reason For what can be more worthy of Man more perfective of his Nature or conducing to enstate him in the greatest Happiness than to comprehend the Riches of the Divine Goodness to entertain noble Conceptions of his Creator and by a constant Meditation and exalted Knowledge raise his Affections to a vehement Love of him By this we anticipate the Joys of Heaven and begin to possess them even before we are received into them For both Reason and Revelation assureth us that the Fruition of Celestial Happiness consists in a constant and unwearied Contemplation and Love of the Divine Perfections The study of these sacred Matters was esteemed the best indication of a pious Mind and the most certain method of attaining the utmost degree of Happiness upon Earth even under the Old Law when God had not yet made a full Manifestation of himself and the Reasons of the Divine Oeconomy were obscure and hid under a veil of Ceremonies and Ritual Observations For proof of this to go no farther than the CXIX Psalm wherein such inimitable strains of Piety Devotion and an ardent Love of God appear The Holy Psalmist every where ascribes his Proficiency in Vertue and the inward satisfaction and Happiness of his mind to the assiduous study of the Divine Laws I will thank thee with an unfeigned heart when I shall have learned the judgments of thy righteousness Open thou mine eyes that I may see the wondrous things of thy law For I remembred thine everlasting judgments O Lord and received comfort Lord what love have I unto thy law all the day long is my study in it O how sweet are thy words unto my throâ—… yea sweeter than honey unto my mouth Thy word is a lantern unto my feet and a light unto my paths For thy testimonies are my delight and my Counsellours See all the Marks of a Soul big with Devotion and filled with transports of Joy from the Consideration of the Divine Goodness and Excellency manifested under the Mosaick Law But alas how inconsiderable is this if compared to that greater Light which Christianity hath brought into the world What satisfaction and advantage may not we now hope for from the study and Contemplation of the more perfect Law of Christ that hath revealed to us the Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and represents to us the Divine Goodness not under a veil and shadow but in its full Dimensions The antient Christians were truly sensible of this who placed their Happiness on this side Heaven in this Holy study chose rather to part with their Lives than Bibles and branded those who delivered them up to their Persecutors although in exchange for their dearest Blood with the name of Traditores or Traitors And in the last Age our Forefathers gave eminent Instances of the same perswasion and resolution when great numbers of them ventured their Lives to enjoy the advantage of reading the Scriptures in their Mother tongue and rather than forego that Benefit chose to forfeit their Lives to the Persecution of a Church whose interest it was that those Divine Truths should not be known It is our
God in the day when I chose Israel and lifted up my hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob and made my self known unto them in the land of Egypt when I lifted up my hand unto them saying I am the Lord your God In the day that I lifted up my hand unto them to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them flowing with milk and honey which is the glory of all lands Then I said unto them Cast ye away every man the abomination of his eyes and defile not your selves with the Idols of Egypt I am the Lord your God To say no more this appears evidently from the name of JEHOVAH under which God was constantly worshipped from the giving of the Law till the coming of Christ. For this name imported no more than the Immutability of the Divine Nature and Constancy in effecting his Promise the Completion of which should necessarily as often return into their Minds as that most Holy Name was taken into their mouths And therefore at that moment in which the Promises were compleated God made himself known unto the Jews by this name Jehovah saying unto Moses Exod. VI. 3. And I appeared unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name of El Shaddai or God Almighty but by my name Jehovah was not I known unto them As if he should say I was known indeed unto your Forefathers by my Attributes of Greatness and Omnipotence whereby they were intirely satisfied that I was able in due time to conferr upon them all those Benefits which I had promised to them but my Attributes of Veracity and Immutability were not sensibly made known to them by the Completion of those Promises These now you see performed and consequently are convinced that I am a God true to my Promise and invariable to my Resolutions By this Name or under this Notion will I be henceforward worshipped by you The exceeding Care which God took to perpetuate the Memory of these Benefits among the Jews does manifest it to have been the best means of preserving Religion and the true Worship of himself among them To this all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Law in some mea sure tended but especially the grand Festival of the Passover was instituted for no other Purpose than to continue the remembrance of their Deliverance out of Egypt Annual repetitions of the History of those Benefits were enjoyned and Parents commanded to teach them to their Children on the severest Penalties The greatest part of the Book of Deuteronomy which was in more frequent use among the Jews than any other Book of the Old Testament is employed in repeating the Favours of God and urging the Duty of gratitude arising from them And as if the whole Duty of that People consisted in retaining the Memory of those Favours Moses in one place seems to require nothing else of them Who after he had described the Excellency of that Law and Religion which God had revealed to them subjoyns Only take heed to thy self and keep thy soul diligently least thou forget the things that thine eyes have seen and least they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life but teach them thy sons and thy sons sons Deut. IV. 9. He was sufficiently assured That if this grateful remembrance were preserved among them it would draw along with it an universal Obedience to the whole Law And therefore as our Savioâ—…r summed up the whole Duty of Man in the Love o God and our Neighbour so he comprized all in a thankful remembrance of the Divine Benefits Afterwards when the deplorable Idolatry of the Jews for which God caused them to be led into Captivity had almost effaced the Memory of their miraculous Deliverance out of Egypt and by a new Prodigy of Mercy God had brought them out of Captivity and replaced them in their ancient Possessions he tells them he would not any longer be worshipped by them as the Author of that almost forgotten Benefit of their Deliverance out of Egypt the Memory of which was grown faint among them but as the Author of the late Restitution the remembrance of which was yet fresh in their Minds and might therefore be supposed to produce a greater Sense of gratitude in them For thus he bespeaks them Jerem. XVI 14 15. Therefore behold the days come saith the Lord that it shall no more be said the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt But the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the North and from all the lands whither he had driven them and I will bring them again into their Land that I gave unto their fathers The same words he repeats in the XXIII 7th and 8th Verses So studiously did God indeavour to oblige the Jews to pursue their own Happiness in the true Worship of him by heaping new Benefits upon them and inculcating the Memory of them in all solemn Acts of Worship Under the Gospel also God continues to be worshipt as the Author of some signal Benefits as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we obtained Redemption from our sins and Deliverance out of the spiritual Egypt the bondage of Sin and the Devil In every Act of our Christian Worship the Memory of this Benefit is presented to us while we are taught to direct our Prayers to him and to worship him in the Notion of the Father which cannot be without recalling to mind his infinite Mercy manifested in our Redemption which was designed by him and effected by his only begotten Son All the Sacraments and external Worship of the Christian Religion tend no less to preserve the Memory of this Benefit than did the Rites of the Jewish Law to Commemorate their Deliverance out of Egypt particularly the Holy Eucharist which was intended for the constant and most solemn Act of the Christian Worship was instituted to this very Purpose to preserve a lively Memory of that great and final Act of our Redemption to represent to us the Death of our Saviour and continue the Memory of those stripesby which we were healed and of that blood by which we were cleansed If by the degeneracy of latter Ages it hath in great measure failed to produce that Effect for which it was at first intended that is to be ascribed to that deplorable disuse of the Celebration of it which crept into latter Ages and is continued in our times That universal decay of Religion and Piety which we all acknowledge and lament cannot with so much Reason be attributed to any other cause as to this the Memory of our Saviours Passion and with that of our Redemption sensibly decayed in the minds of Men when that venerable Mystery began to be discontinued which was instituted on purpose to continue for ever a lively Representation of it in the Church Men perhaps may retain an Historical remembrance of
Gratitude by their direct Tendency to the benefit of Mankind For among all the Miracles of Christ not above three or four can be found which do not immediately respect the Cure of the Infirmities the relief of the Wants or in general the good of Mankind And thus it appears both from the Nature of the thing and the Example of the Divine Oeconomy that a right Sense of the Divine Beneficence is the most effectual Motive of Obedience to the Laws of God But then Secondly This will appear more manifestly if we consider the Nature of the Divine Benefits how much greater influence they deservedly Challenge than any others Benefits so truly infinite and exceeding our comprehension that God might justly make that appeal to the whole world which he doth in the Prophet Isaiah Chap. V. Ver. 3 4. And now O Inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah judge I pray you betwixt me and my Vineyard What could have been done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it So studiously hathGod endeavoured to procure the Happiness os Mankind by all thoseObligations which are wont to make impression on it Every one of the Divine Benefits may Challenge the most exalted Gratitude of our Soul and affords us Entertainment for Admiration as well as Love For to omit the common Benefits of Creation Preservation and the ordinary Acts of Providence and the peculiar ones of Redemption and Sanctification The means of grace and the hopes of gloâ—…y I will consider only that mentioned in the words immediately preceding my Text which the Apostle expresseth by the riches of his Goodness forbearance and long suffering whereby he winks at the sins of Mankind while there are any hopes or possiblity of Reformation left prolongeth the Execution of his Judgment giveth â—…s space for Repentance and gently leads us to it A Mercy which might justly alone incline us to conquer the Temptations of the world and depraved Inclinations of our mind and henceforward devote our Lives to the Service of God which having been so often forfeited to his Justice have been as often remitted by his Mercy A Vertue which hath been always wont beyond others to win the hearts of Men and hath antiently procured to the most admired Princes the Titles of Fathers of their Countrey and the delight of Mankind In them it was esteemed the highest degree of Perfection and to deserve from Posterity the most grateful Acknowledgements to pardon their conquered Enemies remit the offences of their Subjects and deferr the execution of Justice until the Criminal should appear incorrigible But alas how mean and inconsiderable are these Acts of Clemency if compared to the Divine Forbearance and Long-suffering where the Person offended is of infinite Worth and Dignity and Author of the most illustrious Benefits who is able to strike the Sinner dead in a moment and vindicate the Honour of his Name by a single nod where the offence is repeated not once or twice but very often perhaps every day and moment and that by inconsiderable Creatures who are the work of his hands the dependants of his Power and unable to render any Service to him which may tend to his Interest or augment his Greatness We are not ignorant with what transports of Joy and Resolutions of extreme gratitude a condemned Person would receive his Princes Pardon And if the same affection doth not seize us as often as we view the sins of our Life and consider the offers of Pardon made to us upon condition of Repentance if we do not with equal Gratitude resent the remission of every single sin we must acknowledge it to be no other than the product of a brutish stupidity which can be convinced by Sense that hainous Offences may forfeit their Lives to the Laws of their Countrey but will not be convinced by Reason that more hainous sins do forfeit them to the Divine Justice But I speak to those who are convinced of the Truth of the Christian Religion who believe they were created for no other end than to honour God by Obedience to his Laws that even by the Law of Nature the Commission of sin renders us obnoxious to undergo the Divine Vengeance in whatsoever way that may be inflicted on us but that by the revealed Law of Christianity every single sin in its own Nature subjects us to the Divine Wrath and in that to eternal Punishment How infinitely therefore are we bound to celebrate the Mercy of God in that he doth not immâ—…diately pour out his Wrath upon us but patiently awaits our Repentance and is not only ready to re-admit us to his Favour but by an extraordinary Act of loving kindness not to be parallelled in the Actions of Mankind passionately wisheth that by our Repentance we would capacitate our selves to receive his Favour For thus Psalm LXXXI 14 15. he testifieth how delightful it would have been to him to continue his Favours to the Children of Israel if their obstinate perseverance in sin had not rendred it incongruous to the Holiness of his Nature to do it O that my people would have hearkened unto me for if Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have put down their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries And in like manner Esai XLVIII 17 18. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer the Holy one of Israel I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go O that thou hadst hearkned to my commandments then peace had been as a river and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea To name no more Passages of this Nature how passionate is that Protestation of God Ezek. XXXIII 11. As I live saith the Lord God I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O ye house of Israel This carnest desire of God that by Repentance we would qualifie our selves to receive his Mercy can proceed from no other Principle than the utmost perfection of Clemency and Goodness to Mankind and beyond all other Arguments demonstrates to us the Greatness of it since the execution of Justice tendeth no less to manifest the Divine Glory than Acts of Mercy do And thus it again appears that a right Sense of our Obligation arising srom the Divine Benefits is the most effectual Motive of Obedience since his Benefits being infinite and transcendent may reasonably be expected to produce a sutable and not inferiour degree of Gratitude But then farther in Relation to the Divine Benefits it is to be considered that they are not only great in their own Nature but also wholly undeserved by us which contributeth very much to raise the esteem of their Excellency in our Minds and amplifie the riches of the Divine Beneficence The Psalmist made excellent use of this Consideration when comparing the unworthiness of Man to the