THE leading principle upon which he sets out is this: God is my God and Father. He is perfectly reconciled unto me, and my conscience is at peace with him, through faith in his beloved Son. He loves me in him. He has manifested it plainly to me, and now my heart would cleave to him as my most tender parent. I would rest in my love to him, as he rests in his love to me. It is entirely through the grace of the eternal Spirit that I have been enabled thus to believe in the finished work of Jesus, and to experience the Father's love in him. By which means I have been satisfied of the love of the ever-blessed Trinity to my soul. Father, Son, and Spirit have covenanted to make me an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ. From my belief and experience of these truths, I have been enabled to choose God for my portion. His will is become mine;–his appointed way is my course; and now I desire so to walk with him as to maintain in my conscience the peace of God, and in my heart the love of God.
I do not expect any new title to these inestimable braces. My claim is good and valid under Christ. I would not disparage it by supposing that my close walk with God was to make any atonement for my sins, or to be the least part of my justifying righteousness. I have these already, and perfectly, too, in Jesus. The enjoyment of them is the thing I want. I am seeking for more of that peace with, and love to, the Father, to which I am entitled in his Son. His fulness, the fulness of him that filleth all in all, is mine. A free grant of it has passed in the court of heaven, has been revealed in the record of truth, and I, by believing, have accepted the grant. I am in possession of its privileges, and am enjoying its blessings. On the fulness of Jesus I live this day. Out of it I hope to be receiving every grace which I shall want for my safe and happy walk with his Father, and my Father.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, for what thou knowest and hast experienced of his abundant grace; which has enabled thee thus to resolve to walk with thy reconciled God, and loving Father. This day thou art called upon to maintain peace with him in thy conscience, and love to him in thy heart: peace like his, flowing from the sense of being perfectly reconciled to thee–love like his, the happy fruit of his unchangeable love to thee. Whatever thou meetest with in thy work or warfare, ought not to lessen, but ought to exercise and to improve those graces. Never forget that he is thy God–the God of peace. He stands related to thee in the dearest and most indissoluble bond of love. He is thy Father in Jesus. Keep the sense of this always fresh upon thy mind, and thy steps will be ordered aright. Nothing will be able to stop thee in the way to heaven, or to seduce thee out of it; but everything will bring thee forward. Whilst thou caner maintain peace and love, thou wilt go on prosperously against guilt and self-righteousness, against the wiles and assaults of' thy spiritual foes, against the world which lieth in wickedness, and against every inward and outward trial. The Lord being on thy side, all these shall work together under him for thy good, and they shall be the means of making thee walk safely in the way, and of bringing thee happily to the end of it.
The apostle has given us the whole plan in a few words: "WE WALK," says he, "BY FAITH, and not by sight." We direct our Christian course by believing, and not by seeing. Faith is to us the evidence of things not seen, and the ground of our hoping to enjoy them. We believe, upon the authority of God's word, that they are what he describes them to be; for faith, as a grace of the Spirit, consists in giving credit to what God says. If it be a truth proposed to the understanding, faith relies upon the infallible word; if it be a promise, faith depends upon the arm of God to make it good. And whatever he has promised, faith (when it is as it should be) does not stagger at difficulties, but rests fully persuaded that what God hath promised he is able also to perform. Faith looks at the word spoken, and overlooks seeming impossibilities. Thus SAITH THE, LORD that is enough for faith–full of satisfying evidence: for it knows that to speak and to do are the same thing with an unchangeable God. How many errors in judgment, and consequent mistakes in practice, prevail at this day, chiefly arising from confounding faith with its fruits, and from not distinguishing between the word of God believed, and what will follow upon believing it aright. Thus some make assurance to be of the essence of faith, others make appropropriation; and many make it consist in an impression upon the mind that Christ loved me and gave himself for me. These are fruits–what faith should produce, but not what it is. These are effects of faith working, and not definitions of the nature of faith. A believer should be exhorted to make his calling and election sure: for it is his privilege, He ought to give all diligence to attain assurance, to appropriate Christ with all his blessings to himself, and to be clearly persuaded that Christ loved him, and gave himself for him. These are blessed fruits of believing. May God give his people more of them.
But then the tree must be before the fruits, and the fruits grow upon the tree. Faith is first, and faith derives its being from believing the word of God, and all its fruits are continued acts of believing. And when you hear of believing, do you not always think of something spoken? You cannot separate these two in your mind. Something has been said and proposed to you you before your belief can be called for. If nothing has been said, belief has no exercise. Faith and the word of God, therefore, are related, as the effect and the cause: because faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. What God hath spoken in his woful, demands belief from all that hear it. When faith cometh by hearing it, then we assent to the truth of what God has said, and we rely upon his faithfulness to make good what he has promised. Assurance is this faith grown to its full stature: but we are not born six feet high. Appropriation is a very comfortable acting of faith when a man is persuaded of his interest in covenant mercies; and from what he then feels can say, Christ loved me, and gave himself for me. But he has not this comfort; in times of heaviness; he may be walking in darkness and having no light; yea, in the hidings of the Lord's countenance, and yet even then he may trust simply to what God hath spoken; which is true faith, and more exalted faith than that which draws its evidence from its appropriating acts and its present experience.
The more a man trusts to sense, the less he lives by faith: for sensible feelings are not faith. Impressions are not believing. I see the sun; I hear a sound; I feel an object: faith has no place in these instances. Its essence is believing and trusting what God hath spoken. If his word be believed, and by believing the conscience find peace, and the heart joy, these are joy and peace in believing. They come from believing, are its effects, and no more enter into the essence of faith than comfortable feelings do into the essence of man. He is as truly a man when miserable as he is when comfortable.
These mistakes should be carefully guarded against, because they are chiefly pernicious to the children of God, who are kept by them from growing up into assurance, into appropriation, and into the sensible experience of God's love to them in Christ Jesus. They are puzzled, they are misled, by being told they have no faith if they have not assurance, &c. They examine themselves, but cannot find any such faith. This discourages them. They are tempted to think they have no true faith, because they have not what certain persons talk of. But if they would adhere strictly to the word of God, and would take their ideas from it, they would see how simple and plain a thing believing is, and would soon be satisfied that they were true believers; which conviction would have many blessed effects, especially these: it would put them upon seeking for an increase of faith, and upon expecting the proper fruits of faith. What nourishes faith ripens them: for they cannot be produced so long as persons are doubting whether they have any faith at all. They would see how desirable it is to believe without doubt or wavering, what honour it puts upon God's' word, what comfort it brings to them. And they would be waiting in the appointed means for grace to maintain, for grace to improve their While, that they may be going on from/kith to faith. While this was their end and aim, faith in act and exercise, main-rained and improved, would bring in daily growing evidence of their being indeed partakers of the faith of God's elect. Living by faith, walking by faith, would demonstrate to them their spiritual life and walk, as plainly as natural life and walk can be demonstrated by any outward actions. Here is great need, O my soul, to read the Scripture, and to pray for the Spirit of Wisdom. Read, pray much, lest thou shouldst err concerning the faith. Every error will be a stumbling-block in the way of thy holy walk and make thee tired of it, or seduce thee out of it. Let it be one of thy daily petitions, Lord, save me from all mistakes concerning the faith of the gospel; and let the word of God, by which faith cometh and groweth, be thy daily study. This is thy present business. Now set out trusting to what God hath spoken, and relying on what he hath promised. On this principle proceed, as it is laid down by the apostle, Col. ii. 6: "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." He is expressing his joy at his beholding their order, and the steadfastness of their faith in Christ, and he would teach them how to maintain their faith throughout their Christian course. How did you receive Christ at first? Was it not by believing? Receiving Christ and believing in him are, in John i. 12, supposed to mean the same thing. And in John xvii. 20, 21, our Lord says, that they who believe in him through the word are one with him.
Christ then is received by faith, and by the same faith, by the belief of the same word of God, we walk in him, so as to be rooted, and grounded, and established in the faith. Our walk is in him, not anything distinct from him; but is the effect of union with him. By him we live, in him we walk,–rooted in him, we grow as a branch in the vine; built up in him, we are fixed as a building on a sure foundation, and thereby we become established and strengthened in the faith. Every step we take is by faith, by the same faith wherewith Christ was received.
He must be received always as he was received once. There is no change of object, and there must be no change of faith, but the same continued trust on his word, and the same dependence on his promised strength. We never set out to walk with a reconciled God, till we are one with Christ by faith, and know our union with him, and our walk is in consequence of this. If we go on at all, ii; is by communion with him. We can receive only out of his fulness, grace for grace, to make us willing and able to go forward. Our fellowship with him is in every part and in every moment of our walk, and this is as necessary as our fellowship with the air and elements of this world is to everything that concerns our natural walk. Our wisdom to guide our steps, our progress in the way, our courage and strength, our warfare and victory, every grace and every blessing is received by faith, and is the effect of our communion with Jehovah Jesus. We trust in his word, we rely on his arm, we wait on his faithfulness, and so go forward; for he makes good what he hath promised to give us in our walk, which confirms the peace of God, establishes our hearts in the love of God, increases our faith, and thereby makes our daily walk more comfortable to us, and more glorious to him.
But if faith consists in believing and trusting the word of God, it may be inquired, how shall we know the difference between true and false, between dead and living faith?. It may be known from the cause. The fruit of the Spirit is thigh. He produces it. It is his gift bestowed by his operation, continued by his power, increased by his blessing, and carried on to the end by his never leaving nor forsaking his own work. And he makes it known to be his. He gives eyes to see it, and hearts to acknowledge it. Therefore the apostle says of them who have received the Spirit of God, that they KNOW the things which are freely given to them of God; by faith, they both know the reality and also taste the sweetness of those free gifts of free grace.
It may be known from the effects. Dead faith brings forth nothing; living faith is fruitful: it produces a hearty trust in the truth of what God hath spoken, and a quiet reliance on the faithfulness of what God hath promised. It gives him credit for the finished salvation of his Son, and puts honour upon his record concerning it; whereby peace is received into the conscience, and love into the heart. Upon which there follows a settled dependence upon this reconciled God and loving Father, for the fulfilling, of every promise; and this is improved by daily experience. He that trusteth in the Lord is never eon-founded. God is faithful: his promises, cannot fail. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him: the Lord God will be a sun and shield unto him; the Lord will give him grace and glory.
As for the hypocrites, it is not so with them; the Holy Spirit was not the author of their faith: it was a fancy of their own, formed in their heads, without any warrant from God. There was no life in it, and no living effects from it: there was the form, and nothing more. They made a profession, but never came to any enjoyment. They had no vital union, and therefore they could not have any real communion with Christ. They could not, as the apostle expresses it, walk IN him, and therefore, in the hour of temptation, they fell away and came to nothing. Take heed, then, O my soul, of mistakes. Examine carefully of what sort thy faith is; bring it to the standard of Scripture, and see what went before believing:–see whether thou dost now from thy heart believe what God hath spoken;–wait for the effects. Dost thou so trust his word, as to take him for thy God and thy portion? Art thou walking with him? And art thou depending on him to bestow the promised graces and blessings on thee in thy walk? If this be thine experience, thou art set out well,–go on. Remember where everything relating to thy walk is to be had. The Father's love has laid it all up in the Son's fulness, and it is the office of the Holy Spirit to teach thee how to receive out of it grace for grace.
He teaches by his word. With this in thy hand, and his light in thine understanding, read and study what he has promised thee for thy sate, happy, and holy walk. Take no step without the direction of his word, and expect at every step that he will make good to thee what he has promised. Thou wilt very soon find the necessity of this dependence upon him; for ere thou hast well begun thy walk, thou wilt be called upon to exercise thy faith and put it to trial. Thou wilt meet with many things in thee averse to this holy walk, and many more to distress thee in it. The body of sin, the old man, the flesh, with its affections and lusts, are still in thee. It is of their nature to be lusting, and to be always putting forth some of their filthy motions, in order to draw thee to walk after the flesh, and not after the Spirit. The tempter helps them all he can; he knows how to improve them to his own interest; and if from what is passing within thee, there be a sight and sense of sin, then if he can get thee to look at it in his view, he will act upon thy legal and self-righteous tempers, and will inject such vile insinuations as these, against the Lord and against his Christ:–
How is it that I am yet the subject of sin? It is still in me. It cleaves to mo as the flesh to my bones, and it, mixes so with my duties that I cannot perform them without it. I sometimes fear I am nothing but sin. When I attempt to walk with God, ere I set out, something evil arises within me, and stops me. Some proud, unbelieving thought, some sensual affection, some worldly disposition, some corruption or other is ever at hand to hinder my course. What then must I think of myself? I scarce know what. Things, I see, do not grow better, I have been long hoping for it; but I find there still dwelleth no good thing in me; so that I am almost ready to question the truth of my grace, and it is with great difficulty I can keep up any peace in my conscience.
When the believer is attacked in this manner (and who is not, at some time or other?), how is he to defend himself? Will his skilfulness in the word of righteousness, and his faith in the word of reconciliation, keep him safe in the hour of temptation? Yes: by the grace of the Holy Spirit, the lessons before learnt will be enforced and brought into use. This is the time to maintain faith in the atonement, and in the righteousness of the God-man. Now it is to be tried in the fire, and it is put to the trial, that it may come out of it like gold–proved to be sterling metal, and refined from its dross, better in every respect for having gone through the fire. The trial of faith is far more precious than that of gold which perisheth. It is therefore put into the furnace, that the believer may know the truth of it, and may experience the blessings of it.
Faith conflicting with unbelief, is a good fight,–sometimes sharp, but always profitable. The flesh may be weak and ready to yield, faith may be hard put to it, but victory is certain. During the battle, the warrior is invincible in the whole armour of God. He takes to him the shield of faith, and holds it up against the fiery darts of Satan; he draws out the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and with it he defeats Satan;–he consults or remembers a scripture suitable to his present case, and this being set home by the Holy Spirit, puts an end to the engagement, and restores and settles sweet peace in the conscience. How often has he applied the following passage, which the Lord speaks concerning his true Israelites (Jer. xxxii. 38–41):–"They SHALL be my people, and I WILL be their God; and I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me FOREVER, for the good of them, and of their children after them; and I will make an everlasting covenant for them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but, I will put my fear into their hearts, that they shall not depart from me; yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good."
What strong consolation is there in this scripture! Every sentence has an argument in it tending to establish peace with God, and to maintain it in the midst of war. How quieting and satisfying to the troubled conscience is his covenant purpose! "They SHALL be my people, and I WILL be their God." They shall, because I will; my will shall make them willing. And in the day of my power, when my purpose takes place, I will give them one heart, turned to myself; and one way, to walk with me by faith, as obedient children with their loving Father. This I will do for them, that they may fear me FOR EVER, that the fear of offending me may rule always and by all means in their hearts.
O what promises are these! What can weak faith require farther to silence its doubts? How great is the goodness of God to his children, who, knowing their frame and whereof they are made, for the good of them, and of their children after them, has laid such a foundation for their faith, that they may build on it and not be afraid, yea, standing on it, they may fight the good fight of faith, assured of victory.
I will make, says their God, an everlasting covenant for them, a covenant ordered in all things and sure by the counsel and oath of the blessed Trinity, the two immutable things, in which it is impossible God should lie: The mountains shall depart and the hills shall be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from them, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on them. My covenant; was made for them, and shall be made good to them. As I live, saith the Lord, I will not turn away from them to do them good; I will never change my purpose, nor alter the word that is gone out of my mouth. I mean nothing but good to them; my heart is fixed upon it, and I will not leave the event to them; they shall not have the management of my purposes, nor have any power to defeat them. My will to do them good shall not depend on their will or on their faithfulness, or on anything in themselves. I have taken all their concerns into mine own hands, and l will conduct them all to the praise of the glory of mine own grace. I will put my fear into their hearts, that they shall not depart from me,–they SHALL not depart from me. They are not the cause of their not departing, but I am. I have taken it upon myself. I will give them grace to walk close with me, and to fear me always. I have covenanted for all, the means as well as the end, and I will keep them by my almighty power, till they receive the cud of their faith, even the salvation of their souls; "yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good."
This confirms all the rest. His purpose of doing them good, his executing it, his continuing it, his increasing it through time and through eternity, is a matter of rejoicing to the Lord God. He delights in it. It always was, and always will be, the joy of his heart, his crown and glory. He will not, he cannot, be deprived of his joy. Consider tiffs, thou poor distressed soul, who art in heaviness through manifold temptations, and ready to faint through the weakness of thy faith. Take courage. Thy salvation is safe. Thy Father, who is in heaven, rejoices in it; he will save; he will rejoice over thee with joy, he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing: and his joy too shall be thine. As sure as God is in Zion, thou shall return and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon thy head; thou shalt obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away for ever.
O what a discovery is here of the ever-loving heart of our heavenly Father! What more could tie promise in order to put an end to all strife in the consciences of his afflicted children! He has engaged in a covenant of peace to do good, nothing but-good, to them. He has undertaken the whole of the covenant–-what was to be done in them, as well as for them–to work out, to apply, and to secure their salvation. It is his unchangeable purpose, not to depart from them, and not to suffer them to depart from him, but he will rejoice in doing them good, and that for ever. This scripture, when understood and applied by the Holy Spirit, is received as full evidence of the unchangeable love of God to his children, and then it quiets their troubled minds. They can believe God to be their God still in an unchangeable covenant, and they become satisfied that he has made them, and will keep them his people for ever.
When they can thus mix faith with the promise, it then becomes the means of their resting on the faithful arm of God in the hour of temptation, and of their finding him still a God of peace: whereby peace is established in their consciences, and multiplied in their hearts. They learn to put more trust in him, as their perfectly reconciled Father, and to approach him with more holy filial confidence. The trial of their faith, sharp as it was, yet has done them great good. It has proved their peace, and has confirmed it. They know now well that it is the peace of God; and they have been taught how to main-rain it. War makes good soldiers. The trials of their grace are for their improvement of grace. Their peace has been therefore shaken, like a new-planted tree, that it may take deeper and faster root Being thus strengthened in the faith, and having the peace of God ruling in their hearts, they can meditate upon this scripture and turn it into a subject of prayer and praise– O gracious God and Father, pardon my thoughts of thy love to me in Jesus. I was tempted, and ready to give way to unbelief: but the gracious provision made in thy word was the means of keeping me in the hour of temptation. O my God, make the word, in which thou hast caused me to put my trust, more precious to my soul. Open still more to me the fullness of it, and put me into happier possession of its promised blessings. I praise thee, I worship thee, for revealing this promise by thy Spirit, and for applying it by his grace with comfort to my heart. I now set to my seal that it is true. It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation. Glory be to thee that I accept it, and enjoy the good promised in it. O Father of mercies, what am I that I should be made one of thy people, and should have thee for my God? This love passeth knowledge. O help me to understand more, give me to find more, of thy covenant love. Make my heart one with thee. Lead me in thy one way, that I may fear thee forever. And when temptations come, such as I have been in, grant they may bring me nearer to thee, and may be the means of my making use of what thou hast provided for mc in thy Son's fulness. O let; thy good Spirit abide with me to establish my faith in thine everlasting covenant, that I may believe thou wilt never turn from me to do me good. Merciful God, grant me this grace in every hour of need. Thou hast given me thy word for it, and therein thou hast enabled me to put my trust. On thy faithful promise I would depend, and on nothing in myself. Thou hast showed me something of my heart, and I feel it is revolting and ready always to rebel against God; but thou hast undertaken to put thy fear into it, that. it shall not depart from thee: therefore into thy faithful hands I commit it. Keep me, my God, by thy mighty power, through faith unto salvation. Amen. Amen. Happy trials! which have so good an issue, and bring forth such peaceable fruits. My brethren, account it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations, if they lead to the exercise of grace, and occasion fervent effectual prayer. The believer, thus tried, learns by practice the necessity of being at peace with God, and of maintaining it in order to walk with God. He is put upon studying the nature of this peace. He reads and meditates upon the revealed account of it. He sees it is a perfect, unchangeable peace, secured to him by the everlasting covenant of the blessed Trinity, who have engaged to save him from all his sins and miseries, and never to turn away from doing him good. To this he trusts. He commits himself to the care of this covenant God; and he finds the promise true. In temptation he believes, and is delivered. In his warfare, out of weakness he is made strong, He fights the good fight of faith, and he conquers all his enemies, He learns from trials to trust with more confidence. He not only maintains, bat also improves peace with God. He depends on what God has promised to them who walk with him, and the pro-raise is made good, and he learns to go on more comfortably, and daily walks closer with His heavenly Father.
The enemy looks on him with malice. He envies his state. He once knew the heaven of communion with God, but he was lifted up with pride, and fell. It stirs up every infernal temper in him to see the happy believer, who had fallen like him, restored to what he can never expect. Hence, either as a sly serpent, or as a roaring lion, he never ceases to tempt. As soon as one wile fails, he has another ready. He is night and day plotting and scheming, waiting for an opportunity to make a seasonable attack. While conscience is at peace with God, and lives under the protection of the blood of sprinkling, he tempts in vain. But he does not despair of success, He knows he has an ally within us in fast league with sin, and therefore he still hopes to draw him into sin by surprise or assault. In which ho is indefatigable, He is never tired. He is always tempting the believer, not so much to gross offences, as to spiritual wickedness. Sly injections, legal insinuations, and self-righteous thoughts are his most common temptations. With these he tries to shake the peace of conscience, and he forms his attack generally in this manner:–
How can you be a, child of God, and yet be as you are? There is nothing in you for which God should look upon you and love you. What have you? What ceasing from evil, what learning to do well, to recommend you to him? How can God love anything, unless it be agreeable to his will; and what can he delight in, unless it be conformable to his image? But do you live up to his will, and is his image perfectly renewed in you? Have you grace, and do you live up to it? Are you a Christian, and are you like Christ? How are your duties? just as they should be? You know they are not; and how can God be pleased with them when you are not pleased with them yourself? How is your walk? Is it such as becometh your high calling–-close with God, and at a vast distance from sin and the world How is your warfare? Is the whole armour of God kept buckled on? And are you always in the strength of the Lord, a conqueror? Examine and try yourself. Bring forth that one good thing for which God should love you, and bestow his blessing upon you. You have no such thing. You have nothing to merit, yea, nothing to recommend you to the divine favour: and therefore is it not great presumption to fancy that God will love such a one as you, whose just desert is wrath and everlasting destruction? These are some of the depths of Satan. He knows how strongly we are by nature attached to the covenant of works, and that if he can get the believer to look off from Jesus, expecting to see something in himself for which God should love him, he shall then weaken his faith and shake his peace. In this snare he has catched many a child of God. The temptation is suitable to the workings of our legal minds; it flatters our self-righteous hopes, and is vastly pleasing to the pride of our carnal hearts. No wonder, then, so long as there is flesh in us as well as spirit, this artful suggestion should be sometimes received in this manner:–Have I anything for which God should esteem me and bless me? I wish I could discover some amiable temper, or some praiseworthy deed, which might recommend me to the particular regard of God. Indeed, at present, I have not any such; but I hope to attain it some time or other. If I do but use more diligence and watchfulness, and wait more constantly in the means of grace, perhaps I may attain it soon. However, there can be no harm in trying. I will exert myself; and I hope the day will come when I shall be some way deserving of the divine favour.
Here the temptation has taken place. As the serpent beguiled Eve, through his subtlety, so is this man's mind corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The subtle serpent has attacked the liberty of the child of God, and has darkened his understanding, and obsured his view of gospel grace. His eye is not now single: his heart is not now simple in the finished salvation. He has been deceived into a legal dependence, and is giving way to a spirit, of bondage. If he was left to himself; the enemy would lead him captive at his will. Satan desires to have him, that he may sift him as wheat; but he is not suffered to blow anything away, except a little chaff: for the Holy Spirit, in whose keeping he is, discovers and defeats the attempts of Satan. He brings to his mind and enables him to make use of what he before knew of the doctrine of grace. The present trial requires the practice, and affords occasion for the improvement of his former lessons, He had learned from Scripture truths very different from the suggestions to which he was ready to yield, He was therein taught that the Father's love to his children does not suppose merit in them.
Grace does not follow works: for then grace would be no more grace. Election is not of him that; willeth, or of him that runneth, but of God who showeth mercy. For we are saved freely by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves; it is the gift of God. The election of grace is from mere love and sovereign favour, and has no motives to influence it but the good pleasure of the Divine will. The objects of it are not the worthy, but the unworthy; not innocent, but fallen man: sinners–as such, no way conditioned or qualified; the lost, the hopeless, the ungodly–yea, the chief of sinners–open enemies and rebels against God. They are not saved by works of righteousness which they have done, or can do, lest any of them should boast: for boasting is absolutely excluded. Salvation was so contrived, was so wrought out, and is so applied, that he who glorieth shall have nothing left him to glory in but the Lord. No flesh cart glory in his presence: for of him, and through him, and to him, are all things; to whom be glory for ever. AMEN.
So soon as the Spirit of God opens this view of the exceeding riches of divine grace, the believer sees his mistake. He finds that he was departing from the simplicity of the gospel, by supposing that the love of God followed merit, and that he should he loved more according as his walk recommended him. His eyes are opened. The delusion vanishes. The perfect freeness, and the absolute sovereignty of the Father's love, as revealed in Scripture, is manifested to him. He reads, and mixes faith with what he reads, and so recovers himself out of the snare of the devil. Some such passage as this is made the means of his deliverance (Psal. ciii. 17):–"The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him." Precious words! full of rich consolation to those who have been tempted to seek some qualifications in themselves, on account of which they might be entitled to the love of' God, and who have been distressed upon their not finding it. The Holy Spirit teaches such persons to look out of themselves, to an object exactly suitable to their case. He directs them to. the divine mercy–a never-failing springs of comfort–to that mercy which reacheth from eternity to eternity–and which confers its richest favours, not for the worthiness of the receiver, but to the praise of the grace of the giver. Here he would have them fix their eyes, and expect relief to their hearts. Out of the fulness of mercy they may always receive grace for grace; for the mercy of the Lord is 'from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him. Every word is weighty.. Meditate upon it, O my soul, and may the consideration of each, lead thee to exalt that mercy of God, which is over all his works.
JEHOVAH is the word here rendered Lord. It is the incommunicable name, expressive of the incommunicable nature of the Godhead. It signifies the peculiar manner of the divine existence, which is in and of itself; underived and independent. O how happy is it for thee, that there is mercy in the self-existent Godhead, and that every perfection in it will be for ever exalted, even justice self, for the exercise of mercy. May the Holy Spirit teach thee more of its nature, and make thee daily more acquainted in thine experience with its free grace and free gifts.
MERCY is that perfection in Jehovah, which disposes him to save miserable sinners: not a blind mercy, such as infidels dream of–but consistent with the honour of his law, and exercised to the glory of its holy precepts and of its just sanctions; therefore mercy and truth are so often mentioned together in Scripture. God will not show any mercy to sinners, but such as tends to establish his truth. Not one of his words can be broken, nor can one tittle of them ever fail. He will be justified in all his sayings, and clear when he is judged. He will be true and just, whenever he is merciful; his mercies being all covenant mercies, and all given in and through Christ Jesus. All men are by nature children of wrath, and only they who are chosen and called in Christ Jesus are saved from wrath. These are vessels of mercy. His mercy is to them the love of a tender parent to his miserable children, He pities them, and determines to save them from their sins; in due time he quickens them, gives them eyes to see, and hearts to believe his love to them in Jesus, as the apostle witnesses–"God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love, wherewith ho loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ."
But for what reason, and upon what account, is he merciful to them? His mercy has no motive but his own will. The objects of his mercy are corrupt, fallen creatures, deserving his wrath, even as others; and therefore he does not deal with them upon the footing of desert. If he showed them mercy for any foreseen works of theirs, because he knew they would repent and believe the gospel, and walk worthy of it, mercy would then be turned into justice, and would lose both its name and its nature. Whereas he saith unto Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. It is from mine own freedom and sovereignty, that I have mercy on any sinners. The cause is in myself, and not in them. I have compassion on whom I will. It is from mine own mere love that I have determined to be gracious to them; and nay love has determined to save them, and the way also in which I will save them. I have appointed the end, and the means, at the same time. Of mine own motion and good will I have resolved to give my Son for them, and my Spirit to them, that they may repent and believe the gospel, and walk worthy of it, and so I may bring them, through my tender mercies, to eternal salvation.
If this was not the case, how could the description be true, that mercy is FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING? The mercy of God knows no variableness, nor shadow of turning. It is always the same. His fatherly heart ever entertained thoughts of mercy towards them: for when he shows them mercy, it is said to be according to the eternal purpose, which he had purposed in Christ Jesus–not for their merits, but for his mercies' sake–not for what they have any claim to, but for his own name's sake. He gives all from mercy, and he would have all the glory returned to the mercy of the giver. What he gives, that he continues, and according to covenant engagements. Covenant mercies are sure mercies. "I will make an everlasting covenant for you," says he, "even the sure mercies of the beloved." They have already been made sure to him. He is now in full possession of every promised mercy. And he has received them, not as a private person, but as the head of the body the church, He keeps them for the use of' his church-members. And as sure as the crown is upon his head, so surely will it be upon every one of their heads: for they are in the same covenant with him, whose sure mercies reach from eternity to eternity.
O what a view is here open to the eye of faith! Mercy always purposing, and in due time bestowing its free blessings upon stoners–mercy, without beginning, and without ending. The Holy Spirit often calls upon us to behold it in this light; for he has not celebrated any of its divine properties, so much as this. It is frequently the noble subject of thanksgiving in the Psalmist's hymns. He has dedicated the 186th entirely to the praise of mercy; and, going through the works of nature, providence, and grace, he ascribes them one by one to that mercy, which endureth for ever. O happy, thrice happy objects of it! What was in the heart of the Father of mercies towards you from everlasting, will be so to everlasting. His sure mercies are yours. His compassions towards you fail not. Whatever you want for your successful walk, he has promised to give you. Be not discouraged, then. He will supply all your wants, not for your sakes, but for his mercies' sake. Are you sensible of your unworthiness? That's well, mercy is for such. It can have no glory, but from such as you. Trust it, and be assured you will find that it endureth for ever and ever,
If a doubt should arise in your mind–It is true, mercy in God cannot fail, but the exercise of it towards me may fail: I may so walk as to deprive myself of all claim and title to it. The Psalmist has given a direct answer to this ill-grounded suspicion. He says, the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting–UPON THEM THAT FEAR HIM. This is their character: they fear their God. Once there was no fear of God before their eyes; but now they know him to be their Father. The Spirit of adoption has given them joy and peace in believing it. Hence a holy filial fear rules in their hearts, and influences their walk. While it operates thus, and, as obedient children, they fear to offend their loving Father, and desire to please him in all things, what ground have they to suspect that his mercy towards them should fail?
But may they not cease to fear him, and then he will cease to be merciful to them? No, blessed be God. He has made ample provision in this case. "I will put my fear," says he, "into their hearts, and they SHALL NOT depart from me." This fear is one of the fruits of the Spirit, which he produces in all the children of God. And they have it from him as a covenant blessing, which is full security for its continuance. It is one of the graces provided for them in Jesus, by the Father's immutable love. "I will give them," says he, "one heart and one way; that they may fear me FOR EVER!" The Holy Spirit is the guardian of this never-failing fear. It is his office to put it, and then to keep it in their hearts, He has the whole charge of it, and therefore he has promised to abide with them for ever, that they may fear the Lord all the days of their lives.
How exactly suited is this scripture to the case of the tempted Christian! What a full provision is there made in it for his safety and peace! God has mercy for him and plenteous redemption–mercy reaching from ever-lasting to everlasting–always kind to the miserable. Mercy and misery are related as sin and salvation. There is not anything which a sinner can want, but mercy has a supply for him–a promised, a covenant, a never-falling supply. It is a Father's mercy, which will never leave his children, and the same mercy will not suffer them to leave him. His mind is fixed upon showing them mercy for ever and ever; and therefore he gives them his Spirit to abide with them, and to dwell in them. He abides with them, and they live: he dwells in them, and they walk in the fear of God. And by the supply of the Spirit, they go on, till they finish their course with joy.
By meditating upon this scripture, the believer is set at liberty. Though his faith staggered a little, yet the trial of it has done him good. He has learned a useful lesson, and gained much experience by it. His reflections upon what has passed in his mind are such as these–
O how foolish was I to forget the atonement and righteousness of my dearest Immanuel, in whom alone I have pardon and acceptance! How base was I, and ungrateful! I was tempted to expect that in myself, which I can have only in him. Vile legal creature that I am! I abhor myself for behaving so ill to my best friend. What good can I have, but what I first receive from him? I agree with the apostle, that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. I am a very sink of sin, and of all uncleanness. I deserve mercy no more than the devil does. And yet I was looking out for some good quality in myself, on account of which God might be merciful to me. Whereas I am now satisfied he has no mercy, but in Jesus.
All his mercies are covenant mercies, given from mere grace, and given to miserable sinners–not to make them self-admirers, but to humble them–not to lead them to think that they can bring God in debt to them for his own gifts, or for the right use of them, which is a fresh gift; but he gives all to the praise of the glory of his grace, He delighteth in mercy; and my case required mercy. It was such as his mercy could get all the honour of relieving. Therefore I ought, in the hour of temptation, to have trusted in his mercy, to have hoped in his mercy in time of trouble, and to have loved him for his mercy in time of misery. Here should my faith have directed its eye, and not to any good which I have done or can do. I should have remembered how it was with the election of grace, and with the vessels of mercy. God has one way of dealing with them all. Not by works of righteousness which they have done, but, according to his mercy he sayeth them freely, fully, eternally. All is from his own good will from first to last. Every motive, which inclines him to do good to any sinner, is not excited by what the sinner does or is, but arises from himself. And when he bestows any good, it never is deserved, but is entirely an act of sovereign grace, flowing from the Father's love out of the Son's fulness, by the influence of the Holy Spirit; and is given and continued to magnify and exalt the mercy of the eternal Three.
O how did I dishonour the divine perfections by giving way to legal hopes, and by supposing that the divine will would be governed by my more or less deservings? Where should I be, if I had my deservings? God forgive me. I see mine error. I am humbled for it, and I repent with shame and sorrow. I hope my past misconduct will prove a blessing to me; for it has certainly taught me to trust less to myself, and more to the word of God; to depend less upon my own doings, and more upon free grace promises. To the word which cannot be broken, I would trust in time of need. Whoever trusts in it shall never be confounded. This I know to be true by happy experience. I will therefore read, and hear, and study it, night and day. By means of it the Lord wrought a great deliverance for me. My feet were almost gone, my treadings had well nigh slipped; but he sent out his word and saved me.
I read and believed, that the Father was not reconciled to me for the goodness of my walk, but that reconciliation was planned in the great covenant before all worlds, and was carried into execution by the life and death of Immanuel; it was his peculiar, his glorious, his incommunicable work: it was his sole prerogative to make peace by the blood of his cross. O that I may be enabled to maintain it the next time my faith is tried, and to put honour and glory upon the divine record concerning it.
I read and believed, that the Father does not love me upon account of my walk, but for his mercies' sake. His mercy was towards me from everlasting. He loved me in his Son–chose me–accepted me in the beloved–and all his dealings with me, since he called me by his grace, have come from the tender mercies of a covenant God and Father. I would not henceforth have one doubt of his being reconciled to me, and of his loving me perfectly in Jesus. My faith herein has been eon-firmed by my late trials. I have learned by experience to rely upon what God has spoken, for preserving his peace m my conscience, and his love in my heart Depending on his faithful word, and mighty arm, I would walk with him this day for the strengthening and increasing of those graces. This is the desire and prayer if my soul,
O Father of mercies, hear me for Jesus' sake. I acknowledge my sinfulness and unworthiness, even in my closest walk with thee. I am less than the least of thy mercies: yea, deserving the heaviest of thy vengeance. It is of the Lord's mercy, that it has not fallen upon me long ago; and I trust in his word, that it will never fall upon me. Who is a God like unto thee, thug pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of thine heritage? Thou retainest not thine anger against them for ever, because thou delightest in mercy. Glory be to thee for thine unspeakable mercies: for thou hast given me faith in the atonement of Jesus, by whom I have peace with thee, my reconciled God, and by whom I have experienced thy great love to me.
On thee, O my God, is still my hope. I look up to thee, the giver of those graces, for strength to maintain them in my daily walk. I do believe in the sacrifice and righteousness of Immanuel. Lord, help mine unbelief. I find it hard to preserve in my practice, what! believe to be true in doctrine; and, therefore, on thy present help I must continually depend. Lord, strengthen me mightily by thy Spirit in the inner man against temptations. I am daily and hourly called upon to exercise my faith; and when thy grace does not hold me up, I fall. The fiery darts of Satan easily inflame me, when they are thrown at nay legal hopes, false dependencies, or self-righteous tempers, My shield, which should quench them, is ready to drop out of mine hand. I should fall a prey to the enemy, and the fire would consume me, if thy mercy was not over me for good.
O my God and Father, strengthen my faith against the wiles and assaults of Satan, and against the workings of mine own unbelief. When these trials come, keep me sensible of my weakness, and dependent on thy promised strength, that I may meet them strong in the Lord, and m the power of thy might. O let every trial teach me more of thy peace in my conscience, and more of thy love in my heart, that I may keep on in a steady course, walking humbly with my God. This is the work of thy good Spirit. I cannot preserve nor improve his graces, unless he be every moment present with me. He is the giver, the continuer, the increaser of them all. O God the Holy Ghost, I therefore beseech thee to water thy graces every moment. Lest any hurt them, keep them night and day. Never leave me nor forsake me, but what thou hast graciously begun, that mightily carry on, in my soul.
Temptations are strong, and I am weak; stand by me in the hour of need. And if my faith be tried with fiery temptations, let it come out of them, like gold out of the fire. O thou Almighty Spirit, confirm by trials, improve by experience, my trust in thy promised help. Let me go on from faith to faith. Keep up the confidence of my rejoicing in my reconciled God and loving Father, that I may walk humbly with him in sweet communion and holy fellowship, in the way everlasting. Grant me these mercies, gracious Father, for thy dear Son's sake, by the influence of the eternal Spirit, three persons is one Jehovah, to whom be equal praise for ever and ever.
Amen.