Here then is the mercy with which Israel is concerned, and 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 in the root of the thing. For it is from this mercy, this mercy from everlasting, that all, and all those sorts of mercies we have discoursed before, flow. From this, Christ the Saviour flows; this is it, from which that tender mercy, that great mercy, that rich mercy that aboundeth towards us, doth flow; and so of all the rest. Kind brings forth its kind; know the tree by his fruit; and God by his mercy in Christ; yea, and understand 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 in mercy everlasting.
2. But mercy from everlasting is 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, even when all evils have done to us what they can. After the prophet has spoken of the inconceivable blessedness that God has prepared for those waiting 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' (Isa 64:4,5). How many things since the beginning have assaulted the world to destroy it, as wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, &c., and yet to this day it abideth. But what is the reason for that? 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' (Psa 119:90, 93:1, 96:10). Why, my brethren, mercy liveth, mercy is everlasting; 'His mercy endureth for ever!' (Psa 136). 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 fallen, but we are risen, and stand upright!' (Psa 20:8). Everlasting mercy, with everlasting arms, are underneath (Deut 33:27).
This shows the cause of the church's life, notwithstanding her ghostly and bodily enemies, and the cause of her deliverance from her repeated sins. As God said of leviathan 'I will not conceal his parts,' &c. (Job 41:12). So it is very unbecoming of God's people to conceal their sins and miscarriages, for it diminishes this mercy of God. Let, therefore, sin be acknowledged, confessed, and not be hid nor dissembled; it is to the glory of mercy that we confess to God and one another what we are; still remembering this, but mercy is everlasting!
As this shows the reason of our life, and the continuance of that, notwithstanding our repeated sins, it shows the cause of the receiving [or renewing] of our graces, from so many decays and sickness. 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. And 9. Mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. All these mercies are with God, to allure, to encourage, and uphold Israel in hope.
SECOND. What is to be inferred from this reason? I now come to the second thing: to show what is inferred from this reason. And,
First. This, to be sure, is to be inferred, that Israel, as the child of God, is a pitiful thing of himself, full of weaknesses, infirmities, and defects, should we speak nothing of his transgressions. He is to be attended with so many mercies, absolutely necessary mercies, for there is not in these mercies one that can be spared, and he must be in himself a poor indigent creature. Should you see a child attended with so many engines to make him go, as the child of God is attended with mercies to make him stand, you would say, What an infirm, decrepit, helpless thing is this! Alas! I have counted up mercies here in number nine. If I had counted up nine hundred and ninety-nine, all had been the same, for the child of God would not have one to spare. The text saith, 'The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy,' and all little enough to preserve his Israel (Psa 119:64). Indeed, those that I have presented the reader with are the chief heads of mercies; or the head-mercies from which many others flow. However, were they but single mercies, they show our deficiency with great evidence; but being double, they show it much more.
