VERSE 124.-Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy; and teach me thy statutes. In this verse, we have two requests, the one general, the other particular; wherein he would have the Lord exercise his mercy to him, 'Show thy mercy to me, in teaching me thy law.' The one respects the privilege part of religion, the other the duty part. The one concerns time past, or the pardon of sin already committed, "Deal with thy servant according to thy mercy;" the other, prevention of sin for the time to come, That I may perform my duty for the future, "teach me thy statutes." Mercy is the ground of his request; teaching God's law, the matter of it. He would have this gift bestowed on him freely. First branch, "Deal with thy servant," &c. Where we have,— II. The terms upon which he would have God deal with him, not according to my works, but "according to thy mercy." I. His relation is mentioned either, first, as a part of his plea, as if he had said, 'Lord, thou art merciful to all; for thy tender mercies are over all thy works (Psalm cxlv. 9), much more to thy servants; now, I am thy servant.' God's servants have a special claim and interest in God; besides his general bounty, they expect his special mercy and favour: "O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid (Psalm cxvi. 16). Clear that, that you are some of God's servants, once; and then you may the better expect your master's bounty. Or, secondly, to show his need of mercy, though God's servant. Such an emphasis it seemeth to have: "Enter not into judgment with thy servant" (Psalm exliii. 2). Non dicit cum hostibus tuis; he doth not say, 'Enter not into judgment with thine enemy;' but, "with thy servant.' So here David, that was God's servant, a man of singular holiness, desireth that God would deal with him in mercy: from first to last, the saints have no other plea. Theodoret on the text observeth, Ὁ τοσαύτης ἀρετῆς ἐργάτης ¿éac Tuxeïv, &c.; so great a worker of righteousness beggeth to receive mercy, and looketh for all his salvation by mercy. And again, Our átaitei μίσθον, ἀλλὰ φιλανθρωπίαν αιτεῖ. He doth not challenge a reward, but asketh favour and kindness. 537 DOCTRINE.-That God's best servants have no other and no better plea, than that God would deal with them in mercy. First, Because there is and can be no merit on the creature's part towards God, according to the rule of justice. Adam in innocency could impetrare, not mereri. It was his grace to covenant with the creature, when innocency and purity did adorn our nature; how much more since the fall, and the distance between God and us hath been so widened by sin! What merits, must be indebitum and utile. It must be indebitum. When our righteousness was perfect, yet still due, by virtue of our relation to God as creatures; and paying of debts deserveth no reward. The lawyers tell us, Nemo consequitur præmium, quid facit ex officio debitum. We are bound, and do but our duty; but God is not bound to us. All that the creature hath, and is, and can do, it oweth to God, and hath received it from him; and God is in such a degree of excellency above us, that he cannot be obliged. Where there is so great a disparity of nature and being, there is no common right to make him obnoxious, to make it justice to any action of ours to reward us. Aristotle denied children could requite their parents, and merit from them, and that the obligation of merit is only between equals; certainly, not between God and men. There was nothing which bound him necessarily to reward his creature, but his free covenant. Again, that which merits must be utile, profitable to him from whom we challenge reward. If we be never so righteous, the benefit is ours, not God's: he is not beholden to us, useth us not out of indigence, but indulgence; not as if he needed anything, but we need his blessing. When we have done all, we are unprofitable servants; and, "My goodness extendeth not to thee" (Psalm xvi. 2). God giveth all, receiveth nothing from us. The beam oweth all to the sun, the sun nothing to the beam. In the first Secondly, Because, since the fall, there is no claiming but by the covenant of grace and mere mercy. A sinner cannot expect anything, but upon terms of mercy. The covenant of works supposed us innocent and holy, and bound us so to continue; so that the law knoweth not how to do good to a sinner. Once a sinner, and for ever miserable; it leaveth no room for repentance. So that now there is no hope for the best, according to the rule of strict justice; but only according to the law of mercy. In the new covenant, there are special differences from the law of works. 1st, That there is not only grace, but mercy and grace too. covenant, there was grace, but no mercy: grace doth all things gratis, freely; but mercy pitieth the miserable: therefore, till sin and misery entered, there could be no room for mercy. There was grace in that covenant; for it was of grace that God did enter into covenant with man at all, and of grace that he did accept man's perfect obedience, so as upon performance of it to make him sure of eternal life. But now, in the new covenant, God doth show mercy and grace too; and grace in the most rich and glorious manner. Mercy and grace too in this way of salvation, in that there is hope for a sinner, a plank cast out after shipwreck. And grace in the richest and most glorious manner: partly, for the design and end that was driven at, it was the glory of grace: "To the praise of the glory of his grace" (Eph. i. 6); and partly, the ground of it was founded. the infinite mercy of God and the infinite merit of Christ. The infinite mercy of God: mercy is the infinite goodness of God, flowing out freely to the creature, without any moving cause or worth on the creature's upon part to expect it: "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth; but of God that showeth mercy" (Rom. ix. 16). And the infinite merit of Christ: "I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David" (Isa. lv. 3); "And give thee for a covenant of the people" (Isa. xlii. 6); and, "I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant to the people" (Isa. xlix. 8). David, that is Christ, the seed of David; all the mercies of the covenant are exhibited in and by him, in whom the covenant is made with us, and made good to us (2 Cor. i. 20). And he is given for a foundation; that is, the foundation of a new and better covenant. And partly, because of the terms wherein it is dispensed, which is not unsinning obedience, but a sincere owning of Christ, unto the ends for which God hath appointed him. So that, in effect, a thankful acceptance of a free discharge, is all that we do for paying the debt, or to make way for our acceptance with God: "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed" (Rom. iv. 16). And, "By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Eph. ii. 8). By the grace of faith, we lay hold upon, or apply to ourselves, Christ and all his benefits; and that faith God giveth us by his mere grace, not exhibited by any work of others. The whole work of salvation, from its first step in regeneration to its last step in glorification, doth entirely flow from God's free grace, and not from any worth in us. So that this being the end, grounds, terms of the new covenant from first to last, mercy doth all on which our hope dependeth. We must claim by mercy. Thirdly, As there is no merit in the best saints, so there is much demerit; and, as there is nothing to induce God to be good to us, so there is much to hinder him, much that standeth in his way: yet God will do us good: "I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him" (Isa. lvii. 18). He taketh motives from himself to pity, when he might take occasion to punish. There are many sins to be forgiven both before and after conversion. We are not only undeserving, but ill-deserving. It was much that God would take us with all our faults, when he first drew us into acquaintance with himself, and entrust us with a stock of grace; but, after he hath done that, we still are faulting and sinning: yet now there is "no condemnation to them which are in Christ" (Rom. viii. 1); notwithstanding the relics of corruption, and its breaking out. Fourthly, From the temper of the saints, their humility. None have such a sight and sense of sin as they have, because their eyes are anointed with spiritual eye-salve. They have a clearer insight into the law: "After that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh" (Jer. xxxi. 19). They are enlightened by God's Spirit: the least mote is espied in a glass of clear water. None are so acquainted with their own hearts and ways, as they who often commune with their own hearts, and use self-reflection.. Others, that live carelessly, do not mind their offences; but they that set themselves, do more consider their ways; none have a more tender sense of the heinousness of sin. She loved much, wept much, because much was forgiven her (Luke vii.). Some are of a more delicate constitution; the back of a slave is not so sensible of stripes, as they that have been more tenderly brought up. The beams of the sun shining into a house, we see the dust and motes in the sunbeams, which we saw not before. They profess as Jacob, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant." They groan as Saint Paul," Oh! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" USE I.-Is information. We learn hence that we should not be discouraged, when our hearts are touched with a deep remorse and sense of our failings, and we are desirous to break off our sins by repentance: that mercy which is freely vouchsafed in the covenant, which all God's servants have so often experienced, which the best make their only plea and ground of hope, will find out a remedy for us. If you have a heart to give up yourselves to God's service, and so to get an interest in the promises and blessings of the covenant, you may come and sue out this mercy; for God desireth to exalt his grace. God saith, "Return unto the Lord thy God: I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (Hos. xiv. 1, 4). It is the delight of grace to do good, notwithstanding unworthiness. The worse of sins do not hinder God's help, are not above his cure. There is hope for such as are convinced, and see no worth in themselves why God should do them any good: God needs not, will not be hired by the creatures to do it. USE II.-How inexcusable those are that reject the offers of grace. If they have any liking to the blessings of the covenant, they have no ground to quarrel and differ with God about the price: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money" (Isa. lv. 1). You have no cloak for your sin, if you will not deal with God upon these terms. Nothing keepeth you from him, but your own perverse will. USE III.-What reason there is why the best of God's servants should carry it thankfully all their days. From first to last, the mercy of God is your only plea and claim. No flesh hath cause to glory in his pre sence, there being no meritorious cause in the covenant of grace, no moving and inducing cause, no co-ordinate working cause: "Not for your sakes do I this" (Ezek. xxxvi. 32). And in the 1 Cor. iv. 7, it is said, "Who maketh thee to differ?" We paid nothing for God's love; nothing for Christ, the Son of his love; nothing for his Spirit, the fruit of his love; nothing for sanctifying grace and faith, the effects of his Spirit dwelling and working in our hearts; nothing for pardon, we have all freely; nothing for daily bread, protection, maintenance; and shall pay nothing for glory, when we come to receive it: " Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 21). It is all without our merit, and against merit: we should regard this, especially when we are apt to say in our hearts, This is for our righteousness; as Haman thought none so fit for honour and preferment as himself: Haman thought so in his heart (Esther vi. 6). So proud-hearted, self-conceited sinners say in their hearts, God seeth more in them than in others. Alas! you are not only unworthy of Christ, the Spirit, grace, and glory, but the air you breathe in, and the ground you tread upon. What did the Lord see in you to judge you ineet for such an estate? “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth" (Gen. xxxii. 10). Did not you slight grace, neglect Christ, as well as others? and doth not sin break out, and make a forfeiture every day? USE IV. That we should carry it humbly, as well as thankfully. The best of God's children should most admire grace and glorify mercy, set the crown on mercy's head. Consider, 1. What was the first rise of all God's love, what set all a-stirring in |