Thomas Manton · 10 of 67

Verse 2. · Part 1

Ver. 2. Mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied.

We are now come to the third thing in the inscription, and that is the form of salutation, delivered, as all apostolical salutations are, in the way of a prayer. In which we may observe—(1.) The matter of the prayer, or blessings prayed for, which are three, mercy, peace, and love. (2.) The manner or degree of enjoyment, be multiplied.

I begin with the matter, or blessings prayed for. It will not be altogether unuseful to observe that diversity which is used in salutations. In the Old Testament peace was usually wished without any mention of grace; as Ps. cxxii. 8, ‘For my brethren and companions’ sake I will say, Peace be within thee;’ and Dan. vi. 25, ‘Peace be multiplied unto you.’ But in the times of the gospel, grace being more fully delivered, that was also added and expressed in the forms of salutation. But yet in the times of the gospel there is some variety and difference. Sometimes you shall meet with a salutation merely civil, as James i. 1, ‘To the twelve tribes χαίρειν, greeting;’ so Acts xv. 23, which was the usual salutation among the heathen; but most usually it is ‘grace and peace.’ Rom. i. 7; and in other places, ‘grace, mercy, and peace,’ as 2 John 3 and 1 Tim. i. 2; and here it differeth from them all, for it is ‘mercy, peace, and love.’ And Causaubon observeth that the Greek fathers, if they wrote to a carnal man, they would wish him grace, but not peace; if to a godly man, they would wish him grace and peace too. To touch upon these things is sufficient. From these blessings mentioned in this place I shall observe something in general, and then handle them particularly and apart.

First, In the general consideration you may observe:—

Obs. 1. That spiritual blessings are the best blessings that we can wish to ourselves and others. The apostles in their salutations do not wish temporal felicity, but spiritual grace. God’s people pray for one another out of the communion of the Spirit, and for themselves out of a principle of the divine nature; and therefore they do not seek wealth and honour for themselves or one another, but increase of God’s favour and image. It is true, nature is allowed to speak in prayer, but grace must be heard first. Our first and chiefest requests must be for mercy, peace, and love, and then ‘other things shall be added to us,’ Mat. vi. 33. The way to be heard in other things is first to beg for grace: Ps. xxi. 4, ‘He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him length of days for ever.’ Solomon sought wisdom, and together with it found riches and honour in great abundance. Well, then, if thou prayest for thyself, make a wise choice, beg for spiritual blessings. So David prayeth, Ps. cvi. 4, ‘Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto thine own people.’ Nothing less would content him than favour ites’ mercy. Other blessings are dispensed out of common pity to the generality of men; but these are mercies privilegiate, and given to favourites. Now, saith David, Of this mercy, Lord. No common blessing would serve his turn. So Ps. cxix. 132, ‘Look upon me, and be merciful to me, as thou usest to do to those that love thy name.’ Surely that which God giveth to his people, that is a better mercy than that which God giveth to his enemies. Again, these are mercies that cost God dearer. They flow to you in the blood of his Son; yea, they are mercies that are better in themselves. Wealth and honour may become a burden, yea, life itself may become a burden, but not mercy, not grace, not peace of conscience; and therefore they are ‘better than life,’ Ps. lxiii. 3, than wealth, than honour. None ever complained of too much mercy, of too much love of God. These are blessings that swallow up other miseries, yea, the loss of other blessings. Grace with poverty, it is a preferment, James i. 9. Peace of conscience with outward troubles is a happy condition. If there be a flowing of spiritual comforts, 2 Cor. i. 5, as there is an ebbing of outward comforts, we are not much wronged. Therefore first seek these blessings. Again, if you pray for others, pray for grace in the first place. That is an evidence of spiritual affection. Carnal men wish such things to others as they prize and affect themselves; so also do gracious men, and therefore their thoughts run more upon mercy, peace, and grace than wealth and honour and greatness. When a man sendeth a token to a friend, he would send the best of the kind. These are the best mercies. If you were to deal with God for your own souls, you can ask no better. You may ask temporal things, for God ‘loveth the prosperity of his saints;’ but these special blessings should have the preferment in your wishes and desires of good to them, and then you are most likely to speed. Our Lord Christ, in the 17th of John, commendeth the college of the apostles to the Father; and what doth he ask for them? dominion and worldly respect? Surely no; nothing but preservation from evil, and sanctification by the truth. These are the chiefest blessings we should look after as Christians.

Obs. 2. Observe, again, the aptness of the requests to the persons for whom he prayeth. ‘Those that are sanctified and called’ have still need of ‘mercy, peace, and love.’ They need mercy, because we merit nothing of God, neither before grace received nor afterward. The very continuance of our glory in heaven is a fruit of mercy, not of merit. Our obligation to free grace never ceaseth. We need also more peace. There are degrees in assurance as well as faith. There is a temperate confidence, and there are ravishing delights, so that peace needs to be multiplied also. And then love, that being a grace in us, it is always in progress. In heaven only it is complete. Take it for love to God; there we cleave to him without distraction and weariness or satiety. God in communion is always fresh and new to the blessed spirits. And take it for love to the saints; it is only perfect in heaven, where there is no ignorance, pride, partialities, and factions—where Luther and Zuinglius, Hooper and Ridley, join in perfect concert.

Obs. 3. Again, observe the aptness of these requests to the times wherein he prayed, when religion was scandalised by loose Christians, and carnal doctrines were obtruded upon the church. In times of defection from God, and wrong to the truth, there is great need of mercy, peace, and love. Of mercy, that we may be kept from the snares of Satan. Christians, whence is it that any of us stand? that we are found faithful? It is because we have obtained mercy. They would ‘deceive, if it were possible, the very elect,’ Mat. xxiv. 24. Why is it not possible to deceive the elect as well as others? of what mould are they made? wherein do they differ from other men? I answer—Elective grace and mercy interposeth; it is not for any power in themselves, but because mercy hath singled them out, and chosen them for a distinct people unto God. And we need peace and inward consolations, that we may the better digest the misery of the times; and love, that we may be of one mind, and stand together in the defence of the truth.

Obs. 4. Again, note the aptness of the blessings to the persons for whom he prayeth. Here are three blessings, that do more eminently and distinctly suit with every person of the Trinity; and I do the rather note it, because I find the apostle elsewhere distinguishing these blessings by their proper fountains; as Rom. i. 7, ‘Grace to you, and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Sort the blessings right; there is grace from the Father, and peace from Christ. So here is mercy from God the Father, who is called ‘the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort,’ 2 Cor. i. 3; and peace from the Son, for ‘he is our peace,’ Eph. ii. 14; and love from the Spirit: Rom. v. 5 , ‘The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us.’ Thus you see every person concurreth to our happiness with his distinct blessing.

Obs. 5. In the next place, how aptly these blessings are suited among themselves: first mercy, then peace, and then love. Mercy doth not differ much from that which is called grace in Paul’s epistles, only grace doth more respect the bounty of God, as mercy doth our want and need. By mercy, then, is meant the favour and good-will of God to miserable creatures; and peace signifieth all blessings inward and outward, as the fruits and effects of that favour and good-will; more especially calmness and serenity of conscience, or a secure enjoying of the love of God, which is the top of spiritual prosperity. And then love sometimes signifieth God’s love to us; here I should rather take it for our love to God, and to the brethren for God’s sake. So that mercy is the rise and spring of all, peace is the effect and fruit, and love is the return. He beginneth with mercy, for that is the fountain and beginning of all the good things which we enjoy: higher than love and mercy we cannot go, for God’s love is the reason of itself, Deut. vii. 7, 8; Rom. ix. 15; Isa. xlv. 15, and we can deserve nothing at God’s hands but wrath and misery; and therefore we should still honour mercy, and set the crown upon mercy’s head (as further anon); that which you give to merit you take from mercy. Now the next thing is peace. Mark the order still; without mercy and grace there can be no true peace: Isa. lvii. 21, ‘There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked;’ they say, ‘Peace, peace,’ but my God doth not say so. Christ left his peace with his own disciples, John xiv. 27, and not as worldly and external peace is left, in the happiness of which both good and bad are concerned; that is general, but this is proper, confined, within the conscience of him that enjoyeth it, and given to the godly. It is the Lord’s method to pour in first the ‘oil of grace,’ and then the ‘oil of gladness.’ Alas! the peace of a wicked man it is but a frisk or fit of joy, whilst conscience, God’s watchman, is napping; ‘stolen waters and bread eaten in secret,’ Prov. ix. 17. The way to true peace is to apply yourselves to God for mercy to be accepted in Christ, to be renewed according to the image of Christ; otherwise sin and guilt will create fears and troubles. Again, the last thing is love; great privileges require answerable duty. Mercy and peace need another grace, and that is love. It is God’s gift as well as the rest; we have graces from God as well as privileges, and therefore he beggeth love as well as mercy and peace; but it must be our act, though we have the grace from above. We would all have mercy and peace, but we are not so zealous to have love kindled in our hearts. Mercy, peace, all this runneth downward, and respects our interest, but love, that mounteth upward, and respects God himself. Certainly they have no interest in mercy, and were never acquainted with true peace, that do not find their hearts inflamed with love to God and a zeal for his glory; that as he hath ordered all things for our profit, so we may order and refer all things to his glory and honour. Mercy runneth down from God, and begets peace of conscience, for peace of conscience is nothing else but a solid taste of God’s mercy; and peace of conscience begets love, by which we clasp about God again; for love is nothing else but a reverberation or beating back of God’s beam upon himself, or a return of duty in the sense of mercy; so that God is at the beginning and ending, and either way is the utmost boundary of the soul: all things are from him and to him.

Secondly, Let me handle them particularly and apart. And first, mercy, which is the rise and cause of all the good we have from God. The Lord would dispense blessings in such a way as might beat down despair and carnal confidence. Man hath need of mercy, but deserveth none. Despair would keep us from God, and carnal confidence robbeth him of his glory; therefore, as the Lord would not have flesh to glory, so neither to be cut off from all hope. Mercy salveth both; we need not fly the sight of God: ‘there is mercy with him, why he should be feared, 7 Ps. cxxx. 4. False worships are supported by terror; but God, that hath the best title to the heart, will gain it by love and offers of mercy. And we have no reason to ascribe anything to ourselves, since mercy doth all in the court of heaven, and not justice. If you reckon upon a debt, you are sure to miss. It is a part of God’s supremacy that all his blessings should come as a gift; that he should act freely, and entertain us as a king, not as an host. Merit taketh off something of his royalty and supreme majesty. Touching the mercy of God, give me leave to give you a few observations.

1. It is the aim of the whole scripture to represent God merciful. It is true, God is infinitely just, as well as infinitely merciful; but he delighteth in gracious discoveries of himself to the creature; he counteth it his glory. Moses was earnest with God to show him his glory, and then God proclaimeth his name: Exod. xxxiv. 5, 6, ‘The Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin,’ &c. In this description there is more spoken of his mercy than of his justice; and, first, his mercy is described, and then his justice; for justice is only added to invite men to take hold of his mercy, and to show that justice is never exercised but in avenging the quarrel of abused mercy. So he is called ‘a God of pardon,’ Neh. ix. 17, as if wholly made up of sweetness. So 2 Cor. i. 3, he is called πατὴρ οἰκτίρμωμ, ‘Father of mercies, and God of all consolations.’ He is a just God, but he is not called the Father of justice. Mercy is natural to him; he counteth it as the proper fruit and product of the divine essence.

2. Mercy is represented as his delight and pleasure: so Micah vii. 18, ‘Mercy pleaseth him.’ It is an act exercised with complacency. Judgment is called his ‘strange work,’ Isa. xxviii. 21. God loveth to bless and protect; to destroy is not suitable to his disposition; it is a thing that he is forced to. Punitive acts in the representations of the word are most against his bowels, drawn and extorted from him; as Jer. xliv. 22, ‘The Lord could no longer bear because of your doings: ‘their sins were so clamorous that they would not let God be quiet; he would bear no longer, unless they would make an idol of him. But now all acts of grace and favour are exercised with delight: ‘I will rejoice over them to do them good,’ Jer. xxxii. 41. It is as pleasing to God to do it as it is to us to receive it. The scripture, after the manner of men, doth often represent a conflict in the attributes about sinners; and if mercy get the upper hand, it is always with joy and triumph: James ii. 13, ‘Mercy rejoiceth over judgment;’ but if he be compelled to strike, and justice must be exercised, the scriptures represent a reluctation in his bowels: Lam. iii. 33, ‘He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men;’ in the original, ‘from his heart;’ but is like a father, with a rod in his hand, and tears in his eyes.

3. The scripture representeth God as exercising mercy, though with some present disadvantage to his glory; as mercy to the Ninevites, though the credit of his message lay at stake: ‘Nineveh shall be destroyed in forty days;’ yet God spared it, and therefore Jonah, in a pet, challengeth him for it: Jonah iv. 2, ‘Lord, was not this my saying when I was in my country? for I knew that thou wert a gracious God.’ As if he said, I knew it would come to this; that the prophets of Israel should be disgraced before the men of Nineveh; and to threaten judgments in his name is to expose ourselves to derision. When we have done our errand, free grace will make us all liars. To this effect did he expostulate with God. God might easily destroy sinners with much honour to himself; but he is long-suffering, even then when his patience for a while seemeth to impair the revenues of heaven. The world suspects his being, the saints quarrel his justice and question his love, and all because the wicked are prosperous, and God keepeth silence. The great stumbling-block at which most have dashed the foot of their faith, is the suspension of due judgments. What was the effects of his patience to them of Assyria and Babylon? The Lord himself telleth you, Isa. lii. 5, ‘My name every day is blasphemed.’ That was all he got by it: his people suffered in person, and God himself in his reputation; all that he got was blasphemies, and reproaches, and injuries: so Ps. 1. 21, ‘I kept silence, and thou thoughtest that I was every way like thyself;’ that was the effect—gross conceits of his glory and essence. When judgments are quick and speedy, the world is under greater awe, the confidence of the saints is strengthened and supported, and God’s honour is more clear and un stained; yet, with all these disadvantages to his glory, if we may speak so, God forbeareth. Certainly his heart is much set upon the honour of his mercy, that God will glorify it though other attributes seem to suffer loss.

4. The scriptures speak much of his readiness to receive returning sinners. Though they have done infinite wrong to his holiness, yet upon repentance, and as soon as they begin to submit, mercy embraceth and huggeth them, as if there had been no breach: Luke xv. 20, ‘I will go to my father,’ and ‘the father ran to meet him.’ So Isa. lxv. 24, ‘Before they call,’ &c. So Ps. xxxii. 5.’1 said, and thou forgavest,’ &c. So Jer. xxxi. 18, with 20, ‘I have heard Ephraim be moaning himself,’ &c.; and presently, ‘O my dear and pleasant child!’ The first relentings of the creature work upon the bowels of mercy. Love’s pace is very swift, it runneth to meet a returning sinner. Christ cometh ‘skipping over the mountains,’ Cant. ii. 8. He thinketh that he can never be soon enough with us. He would fain have the company of sinners, and therefore meeteth them more than half-way. When we but conceive a purpose, we presently receive the fruit of his early mercies.

5. God doth not only admit them to come, but of his own accord inviteth them that are slack and backward. The scriptures do every where record the intreaties of God: he draweth us with cords of love; cords that are woven and spun out of Christ’s heart and bowels. In one place thus, Cant. iv. 8, ‘Come away from Lebanon, my sister, my spouse, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of leopards.’ Christ’s love is hot and burning, he thinketh we tarry too long from his embraces. So Cant. v. 2, ‘Open to me, my sister, my spouse,’ &c. Christ stands begging for entrance. Lost man! do but suffer me to save thee; poor sinner! suffer me to love thee. These are the charms of gospel rhetoric. So Isa. xlix., ‘Hearken to me, and attend to the words of my mouth,’ &c. O sinners! you will not hearken to me for the good of your souls! You see none singeth so sweetly as the bird of paradise, the turtle that chirpeth upon the church’s hedges, that he may cluck sinners to himself. The scripture is full of such a holy witchcraft, such passionate charms, to entice souls to their happiness.

6. They that constantly refuse the offers of his grace are borne with for a long time: Rom. ix. 22, πολλὴ μακροθυμία, ‘He endured with much long-suffering,’ &c. All may bless God for patience; they owe a heavy debt to divine justice, yet it is a long time ere God putteth the bond in suit; though they dare him to his face, yet they walk up and down without the arrest of vengeance. He beareth with them years and years, after a thousand and a thousand affronts, from their cradles to their graves. When they were green wood, they were fuel fit enough for divine wrath. Oh! consider, there can be no cause of this but his mercy to his worst creatures. It is not out of any delight in sin, for he is holy, and cannot endure to look upon it: Hab. i. 13, ‘Of purer eyes,’ &c. It is not out of any stupid neglect; he is just, and ‘will not clear the guilty,’ Exod. xxxiv. 7. It is not out of any ignorance; ‘he telleth man his thoughts;’ nor for want of power; so men forbear. The sons of Zeruiah may be too hard for them; but, 1 Sam. xxiv. 19, ‘If a man findeth his enemy, will he let him go well away?’ When they are in our power, we satisfy our wrath and revenge to the full. But now God ‘upholdeth all things by the word of his power;’ he can in a minute speak us into nothing. As the impression of a seal upon the water dependeth upon the seal, if the seal be taken away the impression vanisheth; so do our beings depend upon providential influence and supportation. If God should withdraw the word of his power, we should soon vanish and disappear; therefore it is not for want of power, but merely out of mercy that we are forborne. How may we wonder at this! We are of eager and tart spirits, sharp-set upon revenge. Could we have put up so many refusals of love, such despites done to mercy, such wrongs, such grievings of spirit, and yet have contained? The disciples themselves, though holy men, when they were sensible of being slighted in the village of Samaria, called for ‘fire from heaven,’ Luke ix. 54. Certainly we could not endure such a contradiction of sinners. If thunderbolts were in our power we should soon kindle a burning, and turn the world into smoke and desolation.

7. It is not only the aim of the word, but of providence, and of all the dispensations of God to the creature, to represent him merciful. The whole world is a great volume, written within and without with characters and lines of mercy: Ps. cxlv. 9, ‘His mercy is over all his works.’ Every creature beareth the marks and prints of divine goodness and bounty. Once more, the world is a great theatre and stage whereon mercy has been acting its part for these six thousand years. Justice is to have a solemn triumph at the last day. Now and then God hath kept a petty sessions, and given us occasion to say, ‘Yerily there is a God that judgeth the world,’ as well as preserveth the world. But the greatest part that hath been acted upon the theatre of the world is mercy; as you will easily see, if you consider—(1.) The black lines of providence. If God threaten, it is that he may not punish; if he punish, it is that he may not punish for ever. In the sadder providences, though there be misery at the top, yet there is mercy at the bottom. Many times God threateneth, but it is to reclaim; though he doth not change his counsel, yet he doth often change his sentence,Jer. xviii. 7, 8: when the message is nothing but plucking up and pulling down, free grace cometh in with a sudden rescue, and prevents the execution. Mercy, you see, is forced to use all methods, and to speak in the language of justice, that men may be more capable to receive it. Sometimes God punisheth, but with what aim? That he may not for ever punish. It is we that make punishment to be a pledge of eternal damnation; in its own aim it is a prevention, and so it proveth to the elect: ‘We are judged of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world,’ 1 Cor. xi. 32. So Hosea ii. 6, ‘I will hedge up her way with thorns,’ &c. We should soon grow worldly, and drowned in carnal business and projects, if God did not come now and then and blast our enterprises, and make us see our folly. We are puffed up, and God pricketh the bladder, 2 Cor, xii. 7. How sweet is this, when ‘in the midst of judgment God remembereth mercy!’ Yea, the very executions of justice are found to be one of the methods of mercy. In the middle of the first curse God dropped out a promise of the blessed seed; so often mercy overtaketh a judgment, and maketh it cease in the midway. Look, as there was a conflict between the twins in Tamar’s womb, Zarah did put out the hand, but Pharez broke out first; so is there between God’s mercy and justice: justice puts out the hand in a threatening, or some beginnings of a judgment, but mercy gets the start and breaketh out first. (2.) Consider the white lines of providence. He entreateth that he may do us good, and doth us good that he may do us good for ever. For his entreaties: It is not duty so much that is in the bottom of the exhortation as mercy. To glorify mercy is the last aim of God and his eternal purpose: ‘He hath accepted us in the beloved, to the praise of his glorious grace,’ Eph. i. 6. God receiveth no profit; he entreateth us not that he may be happy, but that he may be liberal. See Prov. ix. 12, ‘If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.’ God dealeth with us as earnestly, as effectually, as if the profit were his own, but it wholly redoundeth to us. Again, he doth us good that he may do us good for ever. He trusteth us with mammon to prepare us for the true riches, Luke xvi. 11, and with the riches of grace to prepare us for glory. Look, as men, when they would put precious liquor into a vessel, first try it with water to see whether it leaketh or no, so doth God try us with common mercies; he giveth us an estate in the world, that, being moved with his goodness, we may look after an estate in the covenant and an interest in Christ, and so fit us for heaven. It is our wretchedness to make our table a snare and our welfare a trap. As the sea turneth all that it receiveth into salt water, the fresh streams, the influences of the heavens, &c., so do carnal men assimilate and corrupt their comforts, and by little and little all their blessings are cursed; for mercy can bear anything but a constant abuse and neglect of itself. Certainly God’s revealed will is otherwise; that which cometh from God should lead us to God. See Rom. ii. 4, 5.

8. Consider in how many notions mercy is represented to us. God’s mercy hath many names; a distinct consideration of them yieldeth an advantage in believing; for though they express the same thing, yet every notion begetteth a fresh thought, by which mercy is more taken abroad in the view of conscience. This is that ‘pouring out of God’s name,’ spoken of Cant. i. 3. Ointment in the box doth not yield such a fragrancy as when it is poured out, and spices do not give forth their smell till they are chafed. Nothing is more conducible to beget a trust than distinct thoughts and conceptions of God’s mercy. Let us take notice of some places where it is set forth. See Ps. ciii. 8, ‘The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.’ The expression is diversified, and I note it the rather, because in other places the same notions of mercy are punctually expressed: see Neh. ix. 17; so Ps. cxlv. 8, and in divers other places: Joel ii. 12; Jonah iv. 2; chiefly see that Exod. xxxiv. 7, and you will find that this is the very description which God hath given of himself. Now what doth the Spirit of God aim at in this express enumeration and accumulation of names of mercy, but to give us a help in meditation, and that our thoughts may be more distinct? (1.) The first notion is mercy, which is an attribute whereby God inclineth to succour them that are in misery. It is an attribute that merely respecteth the creature. The love and knowledge of God first falleth upon himself, but mercy is only transient, and passeth out to the creatures. God knoweth himself, loveth himself, but he is not merciful to himself. And then it respecteth the creatures in misery; for misery is mercy’s only motive; justice seeketh a fit object, but mercy a fit occasion; justice requireth desert, but mercy only want and need. (2.) The next notion is grace, which noteth the free bounty of God, and excludeth all merit of the creature. Grace doth all gratis, ‘freely.’ Rom. iii. 24, though there be no precedent, obligation, or debt, or hope of recompense, whereby anything may accrue to himself; only that it may be well with the creature. God’s external motive is our misery, his internal motive is his own grace and elective love. Am I in want? there is mercy; am I unworthy? there is grace. Mercy respects us as we are in ourselves worthy of condemnation, grace as compared with others not elected. The ultimate reason of the choice is God’s grace. The angels that never sinned are saved merely out of grace, but men that were once miserable are saved not only out of grace, but also out of mercy. (3.) The next notion is long-suffering, or slowness to anger. The Lord is not easily overcome by the wrongs or sins of the creature, but easily overcometh them by his own patience and goodness. He doth not only pity our misery, that is mercy; and do us good for nothing, that is grace; but beareth long with our infirmities. Alas! if God were as short and swift in the executions of revenge as men are, God must create another world to raise up seed to Christ. If he did not wait upon sinners, there would be none made saints. We provoked him to cut us off long since, but wrath is not easily heightened into rage, and therefore ‘he waiteth that he may be gracious,’ Isa. xxx. 18. (4.) Kindness or bounty, ‘plenteous in goodness,’ berab chesid. God’s communications of his grace to the creature are every way rich and full. You may say, God is merciful, gracious, patient, but will he be thus to me? Yes, he is ‘plenteous in goodness,’ kind and communicative: Ps. cxix. 68, ‘Thou art good, and dost good;’ therefore David goeth to him for grace. Well, then, study God’s name, and answer all your discouragements out of the descriptions of his mercy.