By this word grace, we are to understand God's free, sovereign, good pleasure, whereby He acts in Christ towards His people. Grace and mercy therefore are terms that have their distinct significations; mercy signifies pitifulness, or a running over of infinite compassion to objects in a miserable and helpless condition. But grace signifies that God still acts in this as a free agent, nor being wrought upon by the misery of the creature, as a procuring cause; but of His own princely mind.
Were there no objects of pity among those that in the old world perished by the flood, or that in Sodom were burned with fire from heaven? Doubtless, according to our apprehension, there were many. But Noah, and he only, found grace in God's eyes; not because that of himself he was better than the rest, but God acted as a gracious prince towards him, and let him share in mercy of His own sovereign will and pleasure. But this at first was not so fully made manifest as it was afterwards. Wherefore the propitiatory was not called, as here, a throne of grace, but a mercy seat. Yet there was great glory in this term also; for by mercy seat was showed, not only that God had compassion for men, but that this was His continual resting place, whither He would at length retire, and where He would sit down and abide, whatever terrible or troublesome work for His church was on the wheel (an allusion to Jeremiah 18: 1-10) at present. For a seat is a place of rest, yea, is prepared for that end; and mercy is here called that seat, to show, as I said, that whatever work is on the wheel in the world, let it be never so dreadful and amazing, yet to God's church it shall end in mercy, for that is God's resting place. Wherefore after God had so severely threatened and punished His church under the name of a whorish woman, as you may read in the prophet Ezekiel, He says, "so will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee; and I will be quiet , and will be angry no more."
And there is more to come folks...
Were there no objects of pity among those that in the old world perished by the flood, or that in Sodom were burned with fire from heaven? Doubtless, according to our apprehension, there were many. But Noah, and he only, found grace in God's eyes; not because that of himself he was better than the rest, but God acted as a gracious prince towards him, and let him share in mercy of His own sovereign will and pleasure. But this at first was not so fully made manifest as it was afterwards. Wherefore the propitiatory was not called, as here, a throne of grace, but a mercy seat. Yet there was great glory in this term also; for by mercy seat was showed, not only that God had compassion for men, but that this was His continual resting place, whither He would at length retire, and where He would sit down and abide, whatever terrible or troublesome work for His church was on the wheel (an allusion to Jeremiah 18: 1-10) at present. For a seat is a place of rest, yea, is prepared for that end; and mercy is here called that seat, to show, as I said, that whatever work is on the wheel in the world, let it be never so dreadful and amazing, yet to God's church it shall end in mercy, for that is God's resting place. Wherefore after God had so severely threatened and punished His church under the name of a whorish woman, as you may read in the prophet Ezekiel, He says, "so will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee; and I will be quiet , and will be angry no more."
And there is more to come folks...
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