THUS have I gone through the first part of the text., which consists of an exhortation to hope in the Lord And I have showed you, 1. The matter contained therein. 2. Something of the reason of the manner of the phrase:

And 3. Have drawn, as you see, some inferences from it.

I now come to the second part of the text, which is aREASON urged to enforce the exhortation. “Let Israel hope in the Lord.” Why? “For with the Lord there is mercy.” There is the reason. Let him hope, for there is mercy; let him hope in the Lord, for with him there is mercy.

The reason is full and suitable. For what is the ground of despair, but a conceit that sin has shut the soul out of all interest in happiness? And what is the reason of that, but a persuasion that there is no help for him in God?

Besides, could God do all but show mercy, yet the belief of that ability would not be a reason sufficient to encourage the soul to hope in God: for the block, sin, which cannot be removed but by mercy, still lies in the way.

The reason, therefore, is full and suitable, having naturally an enforcement in it, to the exhortation.

And, first, to touch upon the reason in a way general, and then to come to it more particularly. “Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy:” mercy to be bestowed; mercy designed to be bestowed. 1. Mercy to be bestowed. This must be the meaning. What if a man has ever so much gold or silver, or food or raiment; yet if he has none to communicate, what is the distressed, or those in want, the better? What if there be mercy with God, yet if he has none to bestow, what force is there in the exhortation, or what shall Israel, if he hopeth, be the better? But God has mercy to be bestowed; to give. “He saith on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.” And again, “The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus.” Now then, here lies the encouragement: the Lord has mercy to give; he has not given away all his mercy; his mercy is not clean gone for ever. He has mercy yet to give away, yet to bestow upon his Israel. “Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy.” 2. As there is with God mercy to be bestowed, so there is mercy designed to be bestowed or given to Israel. Some men lay by what they mean to give away, and put that in a bag by itself, saying, This I design to give away; this I purpose to bestow upon the poor! Thus God, He designeth mercy for his people. Hence the mercy that God’s Israel are said to be partakers of, is a mercy kept for them. “And thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor,” and laid it up for them. This is excellent and true. “Let Israel hope in the Lord;” for there is with him mercy, kept, prepared, and laid up for them. When God designs the bestowing of mercy, we may well hope to be partakers. The poor will go merrily to weddings and funerals, and hope for an alms all the way they go, when they come to understand that there is so much kept, prepared, and laid up for them, by the bridegroom, etc. But the Lord “keepeth mercy for thousands.” 3. As God has mercies to bestow, and as he has designed to bestow them; so those mercies are no fragments, or the leavings of others, but mercies that are full and complete to do for thee, what thou wantest, wouldst have, or canst desire. As I may so say, God has his bags that were never yet untied, never yet broken up, but laid by him through a thousand generations, for those that he commands to hope in his mercy. As Samuel kept the shoulder for Saul, and as God brake up that decreed place for the sea; so he hath set apart, and will break up his mercy for his people. Mercy and grace that he gave us before we had a being, is the mercy designed for Israel. Whole mercies allotted to us; however, mercy sufficient.

But to be a little more distinct:

First, I find that the goodness of God to his people is diversely expressed in his word; sometimes by the word, grace; sometimes by the word, love; and sometimes by the word, mercy; even as our badness against him is called iniquity, transgression, and sin.

When it is expressed by that word, grace, then it is to show that what he doth is of his princely will, his royal bounty, and sovereign pleasure. When it is expressed by that word, love, then it is to show us, that his affection was, and is, in what he doth; and that he doth what he doth for us, with complacency and delight. But when it is set forth to us under the notion of mercy, then it bespeaks us to be in a state both wretched and miserable, and that his bowels and compassion’s yearn over us in this our fearful plight.

Now, the Holy Ghost chooseth (as it should seem) in this place, to present us with that goodness that is in God’s heart towards us, rather under the term of mercy, for, as I said before, it so presenteth us with our misery, and his pity and compassion; and because it best pleaseth us when we apprehend God in Christ as one that has the love of compassion and pity for us. Hence we are often presented with God’s goodness to us to cause us to hope, under the name of pity and compassion. “In his pity he redeemed them;” and “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.” “The Lord is very pitiful and of great mercy: he also is gracious and full of compassion.” “Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and thy compassion’s fail not.”

The words being thus briefly touched upon, I shall come to treat of two things.

First , More distinctly, I shall show you what kind of mercy is with the Lord, as a reason to encourage Israel to hope.

Secondly , And then shall show what is to be inferred from this reason, “Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy.” 1. For the first of these. 1. With him there is tender mercy; and therefore let Israel hope. Tender mercy is mercy in mercy, and that which Israel of old had in high estimation, cried much for, and chose that God would deal with their souls by that, “Withhold not thy tender mercy from me, ” said David; and, “According to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.” And again, “Let thy tender mercy come unto me, that I may live.” Now, of this sort of mercies God has a great many, a multitude to bestow upon his people. And they are thus mentioned by the word, to cause us to hope in him. And is not this alluring? Is not this enticing to the Israel of God to hope, when the object of their hope is a God very pitiful, and of tender mercy. Yea, a God whose tender mercies are great, and many.

There are two things that this word, “tender mercy,” importeth. (1.) The first is, that sin will put a believer, if he giveth way thereto, into a very miserable condition. (2.) That God would have them hope, that though sin may have brought any of them into this condition, the Lord will restore them with much pity and compassion. “Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, ” tender mercy.

For the first of these. Sin will put a believer, if he gives way thereto, into a very miserable condition; and that upon a double account. 1. It will bring him into fears of damnation. 2. It will make his soul to be much pained under those fears. We will waive the first, and come to the second of these.

The pains that guilt will make, when it wounds the conscience, none know but those to whom sin is applied by the Spirit of God, in the law. Yet all may read of it in the experience of the godly; where this pain is compared to a wound in the flesh, to fire in the bones, to the putting of bones out of joint, and the breaking of them asunder.

He that knows what wounds and broken bones are, knows them to be painful things; and he that knows what misery sin will bring the soul into with its guilt, will conclude the one comes no whit short of the other. But now, he that hath these wounds, and also these broken bones, the very thoughts of a man that can cure, and of a bone-setter, will make him afraid, yea, quake for fear; especially if he knows that, though he has skill, he has a hard heart, and fingers that are like iron. He that handleth a wound, had need of fingers like feathers or down. To be sure the patient wisheth they were. Tenderness is a thing of great worth to such and such men are much inquired after by such; yea, their tenderness is an invitation to such to seek after them. And the thing is true in spirituals. Wherefore David cried, as I said before, “Have mercy upon me, O God; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.” ‘O, handle me tenderly!

Lord, handle me tenderly!’ cried David. ‘O cure me, I beseech thee, and do it with tender mercy.’

Now, answerable to this, the Lord is set forth to Israel, as one with whom is mercy, consequently tender mercy. “Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is tender mercy.”

God therefore would have the wounded and bruised, and those whose pains may be compared to the pains and pangs of broken bones, to hope that he will restore them with much pity and compassion, or, as you have it before, in pity and tender mercy. See how he promiseth to-do it by the prophet. “A bruised reed shall he not break; and the smoking flax shall he not quench.” See how tender he is in the action: “When he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.” Every circumstance is full of tenderness and compassion. See also how angry he maketh himself with those of his servants that handle the wounded or diseased without this tenderness; and how he catched them out of their hand, with a purpose to deal more gently with them himself: “The diseased (saith he) have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away; neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the words of the Lord: I will feed my flock, and will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord.

I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which is broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.” Here is encouragement to hope, even according to the reason urged: “Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy,” tender mercy. 2. As with him is tender mercy, so there is with him mercy that is great.

For with him is great mercy. “The Lord is long-suffering, and of great mercy.” When tenderness accompanies want of skill, the defect is great; but when tenderness and great skill meet together, such a surgeon is a brave, accomplished man. Besides, some are more plagued with the sense of the greatness of their sins than others are; the devil having placed or fixed the great sting there. These are driven by the greatness of sin into despairing thoughts, hotter than fire: these have the greatness of their sin betwixt God and them, like a great mountain; yea, they are like a cloud that darkeneth the sun and air. This man stands under Cain’s gibbet, and has the halter of Judas, to his own thinking, fastened about his neck.

And now, cries he, ‘GREAT mercy or NO mercy; for little mercy will do me no good.’ Such a poor creature thus ex-postulateth the case with God, “Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee?” ‘Lord, I have destroyed myself: can I live? My sins are more than the sands; can I live? Lord, they are every one of them sins of the first rate of the biggest size, of the blackest line; can I live? I never read that expression but once in all the whole Bible: “For thy name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, FOR IT IS GREAT.” Not that there was but one man in Israel that had committed great iniquities, but because men that have so done have rather inclined to despair, than to an argument so against the wind. If he had said, ‘Pardon, for they are little!’ his reason had carried reason in it; but when he saith, ‘Pardon, for they are great, ’ he seems to stand like a man alone. This is the common language ‘If our transgressions be upon us, and we pine away in them, how shall we then live? Or thus, Our bones are dried, our hope is lost, and we are cut off. for our parts.’

Wherefore to such as these, good wishes, tender fingers and compassion, without GREAT mercy, can do nothing. But behold, O thou man of Israel!

Thou talkest of great sins. Answerable to this, the scripture speaks of great mercy; and thy great sins are but the sins of a man, but these great mercies are the mercies of a GOD! Yea, and thou art exhorted, even because there is mercy with him, therefore to trust thy soul with him. “Let Israel trust in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy,” great mercy.

This therefore is a truth of singular consolation, that mercy is with the Lord, that tender mercy is with him, that great mercy is with him; both tender and great. What would man have more? But, 3. As great mercy is with the Lord to encourage us to hope, so this mercy that is great, is rich. “God is rich in mercy.” There are riches of goodness and riches of grace with him. Things may be great in quantity, and of little value; but the mercy of God is not so. We use to prize small things when great worth is in them; even a diamond as little as a pea, is preferred before a pebble, though as big as a camel. Why, here is rich mercy, sinner! here is mercy that is rich and full of virtue! a drop of it will cure a kingdom. ‘Ah! but how much is there of it?’ says the sinner. Oh, abundance, abundance! for so saith the text: “Let us fall now into the hands of the Lord, for his (rich) mercies are great.” Some things are so rich, and of such virtue, that if they do but touch a man, if they do but come nigh a man, if a man doth but look upon them, they have a present operation upon him; but the very mentioning of mercy, yea a very thought of it, has sometimes had that virtue in it, as to cure a sin-sick soul. Here is powerful mercy!

Indeed mercy, the best of mercies, are little worth to a self-righteous man, or a sinner fast asleep. We must not therefore make our esteems of mercy according to the judgment of the secure and heedless man, but according to the verdict of the word. Nay, though the awakened sinner, he that roareth for mercy all day long, by reason of the disquietness of his heart, is the likeliest among sinful flesh, or as likely as another, to set a suitable estimate upon mercy; yet his verdict is not always to pass in this matter.

None can know the RICHES of mercy to the full, but he that perfectly knoweth the evil of sin, the justice of God, all the errors of man, the torments of hell, and the sorrows that the Lord Jesus underwent, when mercy made him a reconciler of sinners to God: but this can be known by none but the God whose mercy it is! This is the pearl of great price.

The richness of mercy is seen in several things. It can save from sin — from great sin, from all sin. It can save a soul from the devil — from all devils. It can save a soul from hell — from all hells. It can hold us up in the midst of all weaknesses. It can deliver from eternal judgment.

Yea, what is it that we have or shall need that this powerful mercy cannot do for us? “Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord is RICH mercy,” mercy full of virtue, and that can do great things. 4. As the mercies that are with the Lord, are tender, great, and rich, so there is a multitude of them, and they are called “manifold. ” There is a multitude of these rich and virtuous mercies. By multitude, I understand mercies of every sort or kind; mercies for this, and mercies for the other malady; mercies for every sickness, a salve for every sore. Some that are rich and very full of virtue have yet their excellency extending itself but to one, or two or three things for help; and this is their leanness in the midst of their excellencies: but it is not thus with the mercy of God. Some things that are rich and powerful are yet so only but at certain seasons; for there are times in which they can do nothing: but it is not so with this tender, great, and rich mercy of God. There are some things, though rich, that are sparingly made use of: but it is not so with the mercy of God. There is a multitude of them; so if one will not, another will. There is a multitude of them: so one or other of them is always in season. There is a multitude of them; therefore it must not be supposed, that God is niggardly as to the communicating of them.

As they are called “a multitude,” so they are called “mercies manifold.”

There is no single flower in God’s gospel-garden: they are all double and treble. There is a wheel within a wheel, a blessing within a blessing, in all the mercies of God. Manifold: a man cannot receive one, but he receives many; many folded up, one within another. For instance.

If a man receiveth Christ, who is called God’s tender mercy; why, he shall find in him all the promises, pardons, justifications, righteousnesses, and redemption’s that are requisite to make him stand clear before the justice of the law, in the sight of God, from sin.

If a man receive the Spirit he shall have, as folded up in that, (for this is the first unfolding itself,) many, very many mercies. He shall have the graces, the teachings, the sanctification’s, the comforts, and the supports of the Spirit. When he saith in one place, he will give the Spirit, he calleth that in another place, the good things of God.

If a man receive the mercy of the resurrection of the body, (and God’s people shall assuredly receive that in its time,) what a bundle of mercies will be received, as wrapt up in that! He will receive perfection, immortality, heaven, and glory: and what is folded up in these things, who can tell?

I name but these three, (for many more might be added,) to show you the plenteousness, as well as the virtuousness (or potency) of the tender, great, and rich mercy of God.

A multitude! There is converting mercy, there is preserving mercy, there is glorifying mercy: and how many mercies there are folded up in every one of these mercies none but God can tell.

A multitude! There are mercies for the faithful followers of Christ, for those of his that backslide from him, and also for those that suffer for him; and what mercies will by these be found folded up in their mercies, they will better know when they come to heaven.

A multitude of preventing mercies, in afflictions, in disappointments, in cross providence’s, there are with God. And what mercies are folded up in these afflicting mercies, in these disappointing mercies, and in these merciful cross providence’s, must rest in the bosom of him to be revealed, who only is wonderful in counsel? and excellent in working.

A multitude of common mercies; of every day’s mercies, of every night’s mercies; of mercies in relations, of mercies in food and raiment, and of mercies in the want of these things, there is. And who can number them?

David said, he daily was loaded with God’s benefits; and I believe, if, as we are bound, we should at all times return God thanks for all particular mercies, particularly, it would be a burden intolerable, and would kill us out of hand.

And all this is written, that Israel might hope in the Lord. “Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy.” 5. As the mercies that are with the Lord are tender, great, rich, a multitude, and manifold, so they are abounding; mercies that diminish not in the using, but that rather increase in the exercising of them. Hence it is said, grace aboundeth, and hath abounded unto many; and that God is able to make all grace abound towards us: the grace of forgiveness I mean, wherein he hath abounded towards us. Now, to abound, is to flow, to multiply, to increase, to greaten, to be more and more; and of this nature is the mercy that is with the Lord; mercy that will abound and increase in the using. Hence he is said to pardon abundantly, to pardon and multiply to pardon: and again, to exercise loving-kindness; to exercise it, that is, to draw it out to the length; to make the best advantage and improvement of every grain and quantity of it. “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful, and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.”

Mercy to a man under guilt, and fear of hell-fire, seems as a little shrunk up, or shriveled thing; there appears no quantity in it! ‘There is mercy,’ said Cain, ‘but there is not enough;’ and he died under that conceit. Nor is it as to judgment and thought many times much better with the Israel of God. But behold, when God sets mercy to work, it is like the cloud that at first was but like a man’s hand; it increaseth until it hath covered the face of the whole heaven. Many have found it thus, yea, they have found it thus in their distress. Paul has this expression: “The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant;” that is, increased towards me exceedingly.

And this is the cause of that change of thoughts that is wrought; at last in the hearts of the tempted. At first they doubt, at last they hope; at first they despair, at last they rejoice. At first they quake, while they imagine how great their sins are, and how little the grace of God is; but at last they see such a greatness, such a largeness, such an abundance of increase, in this multiplying mercy of God, that with gladness of heart, for their first thoughts they call themselves fools, and venture their souls, the next world, and their interest in it, upon this mercy of God.

I tell you, sirs, you must not trust your own apprehensions nor judgments with the mercy of God. You do not know how he can cause it to abound.

That which seems to be short and shrunk up to you, he can draw out, and cause to abound exceedingly. There is a breadth, and length, and depth, and height therein, when God will please to open it, that for in-finiteness can swallow up not only all thy sins, but all thy thoughts and imaginations, and that can also drown thee at last. “Now unto him that is able (as to mercy) to do exceeding 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.”

This therefore is a wonderful thing, and shall be wondered at to all eternity, that that river of mercy, that at first did seem to be but ankle deep, should so rise, and rise, and rise, that at last it became “water to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.”

Now all this is written that Israel might hope. “Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is mercy.” 6. As there are with God mercies, tender, great, rich, a multitude, and mercy that abounds; so to encourage us to trust in him, there is mercy to compass us round about. “Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.” This is therefore the lot of the Israel of God, that they shall (they trusting in their God) be compassed with mercy round about. This is mercy to do for us in this world, that we may arrive safely in that world which is to come. Another text saith, “For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield.” As with a shield: this compassing of them, therefore, is to the end they may be defended and guarded from them that seek their hurt. When Elisha was in danger, by reason of the army of the Syrians, behold the mountains were full of horses and chariots of fire, round about him, to deliver him. Round about, on every side. As David hath it, “Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.”

I will “camp about mine house,” saith God, “because of the army of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth.”

This, therefore, is the reason why, notwithstanding all our weaknesses, and also the rage of Satan, we are kept and preserved in a wicked world; we are compassed round about. Hence, when God asked Satan concerning holy Job, he answered, Thou has made “a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side.” ‘I cannot come at him; thou compassest him, and keepest me out.’

By this, then, is that scripture opened, “Thou art my hiding-place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.” And indeed, it would be comely, if we, instead of doubting and despairing, did sing in the ways of the Lord. Have we not cause thus to do, when the Lord is round about us with sword and. shield, watching for us against the enemy, that he may deliver us from their hand?

This also is the reason why nothing can come at us, but that it may do us good. If the mercy of God is round about us, about us on every side, then no evil thing can by any means come at us, but it must come through this mercy, and so must be seasoned with it, and must have its deadly poison, by it, taken away. Hence, Paul understanding this, saith, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” But how can that be? Did they not come to us through the very sides of mercy? And how could they come to us so — since Satan pryeth to wound us deadly in every, or in some private place — if mercy did not compass us round about, round about as with a shield? Satan went round about Job, to see by what hog-hole he might get at him, that he might smite him under the fifth rib. But behold, he found he was hedged out round about; wherefore he could not come at him but through the sides of mercy; and therefore what he did to him must be for good. Even thus also shall it. be in conclusion with all the wrath of our enemies; when they have done what they can, by the mercy of God we shall be made to stand. “Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man?” said David, “the goodness of God endureth continually;” and that will sanctify to me whatever thou doest against me.

This, therefore is another singular encouragement to Israel to hope in the Lord; that there is with him mercy to compass us round about.

Here is, I say, room for hope, and for the exercise thereof, when we feel ourselves after the worst manner assaulted. “Wherefore should I fear,” said David, “in the day of evil, when the iniquity of my heels compasseth me about?” Wherefore! Why now, there is all the reason in the world to fear the day of evil is come upon thee and the iniquity of thy heels doth compass thee about. The hand of God is upon thee, and thy sins, which are the cause, stand round about thee, to give in evidence against thee; and therefore thou must fear. No, saith David; that is not a sufficient reason. “He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.”

Here is ground also to pray in faith, as David, saying, “Keep me as the apple of the eye; hide me under the shadow of thy wings, from the wicked that oppress me from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.” 7. As all this tender, great, rich, much abounding mercy compasseth us about, so that we may hope in the God of our mercy, it is said this mercy is to follow us. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” ‘It shall follow me, go with me, and be near me, in all the way that I go.’

There are these six things to be gathered out of this text, for the support of our hope.

It shall follow us to guide us in the way. “I will guide thee with mine eye,” says God, that is, “in the way that thou shalt go.” The way of man to the next world, is like the way from Egypt to Canaan; a way not to be found out but by the pillar of a cloud by day, and of a flame of fire by night; that is, with the word and Spirit. “Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” Thou shall guide me from the first step to the last that I shall take in this my pilgrimage. “Goodness and mercy shall follow me.”

As God in mercy will guide, so by the same he will uphold our goings in his paths. We are weak, wherefore though the path we go in were ever so plain, yet we are apt to stumble and fall. “But when I said, My foot slippeth! thy mercy, O, Lord, held me up.” Wherefore, we should always turn our hope into prayer, and say, “Lord, hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.” That I be not moved, let mercy follow me.

As the God of our mercy has mercy to guide us, and uphold us; so by the same will he instruct us when we are at a loss, at a stand. “I led Israel about, (says God,) I instructed him, and kept him as the apple of mine eye.” I say we are often at a loss. David said, after all his brave sayings, in the 119th Psalm, “I have gone astray like a lost sheep: seek thy servant.”

Indeed a Christian is not so often out of the way, as he is at a stand therein, and knows not what to do. But here also is his mercy as to that. “Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” Mercy follows for this.

Mercy shall follow to carry thee when thou art faint. We have many fainting and sinking fits as we go. “He shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom,” or, upon “eagles’ wings.” He made Israel ride on the high places of the earth, and made him to suck honey out of the rock.

Mercy shall follow us, to take us up when we are fallen, and to heal us of those wounds that we have caught by our falls. “The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” And again: “The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth up them that are bowed down; the Lord loveth the righteous.” Or, as we have it in another place, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord up-holdeth him with his hand.” Here is mercy for a hoping Israelite; and yet this is not all.

Mercy shall follow us to pardon our sins as they are committed. For though by the act of justification, we are for ever secured from a state of condemnation; yet as we are children, we need forgiveness daily, and have need to pray, “Our Father, forgive us our trespasses.” Now, that we may have daily forgiveness for our daily sins and trespasses, mercy and goodness must follow us. Moses has it: “And he said, if now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go amongst us, (for it is a stiff-necked people,) and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.” Join to this that prayer of his, which you find in Numbers: “Now, I beseech thee let the power of my Lord be great; according as thou hast spoken, saying, the Lord is long-suffering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Pardon, I beseech thee the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people from Egypt, even until now,” or hitherto.

How many times think you did Israel stand in need of pardon, from Egypt, until they came to Canaan? Even so many times wilt thou need pardon from the day of thy conversion to the day of death; to the which God will follow Israel, that he may dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. 8. As all this tender, great, rich, abounding, compassing mercy, shall follow Israel to do him good; so shall it do him every good turn, in delivering him from every judgment that by sin he hath laid himself obnoxious to with rejoicing. “For mercy rejoiceth against judgment:” That is, (applying it to the mercy of God towards his,) it rejoiceth in delivering us from the judgments that we have deserved; yea, it delivereth us from all our woes with rejoicing. In the margin it is, “glorieth:” it glorieth in doing this great thing for us. I have thought, considering how often I have procured judgments and destruction’s to myself, that God would be weary of pardoning, or else that he would pardon with grudging. But the word saith, “He fainteth not, neither is weary.” “I will rejoice over them to do them good, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul.” This doing us good with rejoicing; this saving us from deserved judgments with rejoicing; this getting the victory over our destruction’s for us, with rejoicing; Oh! it is a marvelous thing! “O sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvelous things; his right hand, and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory;” the victory for us; as Paul saith, “We are more than conquerors through him;” and this he did with triumph and rejoicing. The heart is seen ofttimes, more in the manner than in the act that is acted; more in the manner of doing than in the doing of the thing. The wickedness of the heart of Moab was more seen in the manner of action than in the words that he spake against Israel: “For since thou spakest against him thou skippest for joy.” So Edom rejoiced at the calamity of his brother; he looked on it and rejoiced: and in his rejoicing appeared the badness of his heart, and the great spite that he had against his brother Jacob.

Now, my brethren, I beseech you consider, that God hath not only showed you mercy, but hath done it with rejoicing. Mercy doth not only follow you, but it follows you with rejoicing. Yea, it doth not only prevent your ruin, by your repeated transgressions procured, but it doth it with rejoicing.

Here is the very heart of mercy seen, in that it rejoiceth against judgment.

Like unto this is that in Zephaniah: “The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty: he will save; he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing.”

There are many things that show with what a heart mercy is of God extended, as is afore described, to Israel for his salvation. But this, that it acteth with rejoicing, that it sayeth with rejoicing, and gets the victory over judgment with rejoicing, is a wonderful one, and one that should be taken notice of by Israel, for his encouragement to hope. “Let Israel hope in the Lord:” for with him there is mercy, tender, great, rich, multiplying mercy; mercy that compasseth us about, that goeth with us all the way, and mercy that rejoiceth to overcome every judgment that seeketh our destruction, as we go toward our Father’s house and kingdom.

It is said in the word, God delighteth in mercy. “Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.”

Here then is a reason of the rejoicing of mercy against judgment. Why, mercy is God’s delight; or, as another hath it, Mercy pleaseth thee. What a man delights in, that he will set on foot, and that he will seek to manage, that he will promote, and that he will glory in the success and prosperity of.

Why, the text saith, God delighteth in mercy; nor do I believe (how odious soever the comparison may seem to be) that ever man delighted more in sin, than God hath delighted in showing mercy. Has man given himself for sin? God has given his Son for us, that he might show us mercy, Has man lain at wait for opportunities for sin? God has waited to be gracious, and that he might have mercy upon us. Has man, that he might enjoy his sin, brought himself to a morsel of bread? Why, Christ, the Lord of all, that he might make room for mercy, made himself the poorest man. Has man, when he has found his sin, pursued it with all his heart? Why, God, when he sets forth a showing mercy, shows it with rejoicing, for he delighteth in mercy.

Here also you may see the reason why all God’s paths are mercy and truth to his. I have observed that what a man loveth he will accustom himself unto, whether it be fishing, hunting, or the like. These are his ways, his course, the paths wherein he spends his life; and, therefore he is seldom found out of one or another of them. Now, saith David, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy,” etc. He is never out of them: for wherever he is, still he is coming towards his Israel in one or other of these paths, stepping steps of mercy!

Hence again it is that you find, that at the end of every judgment there is mercy; and that God in the midst of this remembers that. Yea, judgment is in mercy; and were it not for that, judgment: should never overtake his people.’ Wherefore let Israel hope in the Lord, seeing with him is all this mercy. 9. Besides all this, the mercy that is with God, and that is an encouragement to Israel to hope in him, is everlasting. “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him.” “From everlasting to everlasting;” that is more, more than I said. Well, Then first, from everlasting; that is, from before the world began. So then, things that are and are to be hereafter, are to be managed according to those measures that God in mercy took for his people then. Hence it is said, that he has blessed us “according as he chose us in Christ, before the world began;” that is, according to those measures and grants that were by mercy allotted to us then. According to that other saying, “according to his mercy he saved us,” that is, according as mercy had allotted for us before the world began; “according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before the world began.” This is mercy from everlasting, and is the ground and bottom of all dispensations that have been, are, or are to come to his people. And now, though it would be too great a step aside, to treat of all those mercies that of necessity will be found to stand upon that which is called mercy from everlasting; yet it will be to our purpose, and agreeable to our method, to conclude, that mercy to everlasting stands upon that; even as vocation, justification, preservation, and glorification, standeth upon our being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.

Here then, is the mercy that is with God: and that should encourage Israel to hope. The mercy that has concerned itself with them, is mercy from everlasting. Nor may it be thought that a few quarrels of some brain-sick fellows will put God upon taking new measures for his people. What foundation has been laid for his, before he laid the foundation of the world, shall stand; for that it was laid in Christ by virtue of mercy; that is, from everlasting. The old laws, which are the Magna Charta, the sole basis of the government of a kingdom, may not be cast away for the pet that is taken by every little gentleman against them. We have, indeed, some professors that take a great pet against that foundation of salvation that the mercy that is from everlasting has laid; but since the kingdom, government, and glory of Christ are wrapped up in it, and since the calling, justification, perseverance, and glorification of his elect, which are called his body and fullness, are wrapped up therein; it may not be laid aside nor despised, nor quarreled against by any, without danger of damnation.

Here then, is the mercy with which Israel is concerned, and which is with God as an encouragement to them that should hope, to hope in him. It is mercy from everlasting; it is mercy of an ancient date; it is mercy in the root of the thing; for it is from this mercy, this mercy from everlasting, that all, and all those sorts of mercies, of which we have discoursed before, do flow. It is from this that Christ the Savior flows; that is it, from which that tender mercy, that great mercy, that rich mercy, and that mercy that aboundeth towards us, doth flow; and so of’ all the rest. Kind brings forth its kind: know the tree by its fruit, and God by his mercy in Christ; yea, and know what God was doing before he made the world, by what he has been doing ever since.

And what has God been doing for, and to, his church from the beginning of the world, but extending to, and exercising loving-kindness and mercy for them? Therefore he laid a foundation for this mercy from everlasting.

But mercy from everlasting is but the beginning, (and we have discoursed of those mercies that we have found in the bowels of this already,) wherefore a word of that which is to everlasting also. “From everlasting to everlasting.” Nothing can go beyond “to everlasting!” wherefore this, to everlasting, will see an end of all. The devil will tempt us, sin will assault us, men will persecute; but can they do it to everlasting? If not, then there is mercy to come to God’s people at last, even when all evils have done to us what they can. After the prophet Isaiah had spoken of the inconceivable blessedness that God hath prepared for them that wait for him, he drops to present wrath, and the sin of God’s people in this life. This done, he mounts up again to the first, and saith, “in those is continuance:” that is, the things laid up for us are everlasting, and, therefore, “we shall be saved.”

How many things since the beginning have assaulted the world to destroy it, as wars, famines, pestilence’s, earthquakes, etc., and yet to this day it abideth. But what is the reason of this? Why, God liveth, upon whose word, and by whose decree it abideth. He hath established the earth, and it abideth: it standeth fast and cannot be moved. Why, my brethren, mercy liveth, mercy is everlasting. “His mercy endureth for ever.” And, therefore, the church of God liveth, and when all her enemies have done their all, this is the song that the church shall sing over them: “They are brought down and are fallen; but we are risen and stand upright.” Everlasting mercy, with everlasting arms, is underneath.

And as this shows the cause of the life of the church, notwithstanding her spiritual and bodily enemies, so it showeth the cause of her deliverance from her repeated sins. As God said of Leviathan, “I will not conceal his parts,” etc., so it is very unbecoming of God’s people to conceal their sins and miscarriages, for it diminisheth this mercy of God. Let, therefore, sin be acknowledged, confessed, and not be hid nor dissembled: it is to the glow of mercy that we confess to God and one another what we are, still remembering this, that mercy is everlasting.

As this shows the reason of our life and the continuance of that, notwithstanding our repeated sins; so it shows the cause of the reviving of our graces, from so many decays and sicknesses. For this mercy will live, last and outlast, all things that are corruptible and hurtful unto Israel.

Wherefore, “Let Israel hope in the Lord,” for this reason, “For with the Lord there is mercy.” 1. Tender mercy for us. 2 . Great mercy for us. 3. Rich mercy. 4. Manifold mercy. 5. Abounding mercy towards us. 6. Compassing mercy wherewith we are surrounded. 7. Mercy to follow us wherever we go. 8. Mercy that rejoiceth against judgment. 9. And, mercy that is from everlasting to everlasting.