off, and ease himself of such a provoking generation? "No," saith the Lord; "there lie five things in the way, upon whose account I cannot so deal with them." All regard the same persons, as is evident from the antithesis that is in the discourse.

1. There is my loving-kindness, saith God, which is eternal and unchangeable; for "I love them with an everlasting love," Jer. xxxi. 3. This I cannot utterly take away. Though it may be hid and eclipsed as to the appearance and influences of it, yet utterly it shall not be taken away as to the reality of it. Though I chasten and correct them, yet my loving-kindness shall be continued to them. And then, saith he,

2. There is my faithfulness, which I have engaged to them; which, whatever they do (that is, that I will suffer them to do, or that they may do upon supposition of the grace of the covenant,' wherewith they are supplied), though they behave themselves very foolishly and frowardly, yet that I must take care of,-that must not fail. 2 Tim. ii. 13, "He abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself." And this faithfuluess, saith God, I have engaged in three things:

(1.) In my covenant that I have made with them to be their God, and wherein I have promised that they shall be my people; wherein also I have made plentiful provision of mercy and grace for all their failings. And this must not be broken; my faithfulness is in it, and it must abide. My covenant of peace that I make with them is an everlasting covenant; it is "an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure," 2 Sam. xxiii. 5; Ezek. xxxvii. 26; it is a covenant of peace, an everlasting covenant.

(2.) "In the thing that is gone out of my lips," or the grace and love I have spoken of in the promise. Herein also will I be faithful, and that shall not be altered. All my promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus, 2 Cor. i. 20. And,(3.) Lastly, All this I have confirmed by an oath, "I have sworn by my holiness," and "I will not lie."

So that in all these immutable things, wherein it is "impossible for God to lie," he hath treasured up strong consolation for them that do believe. Though, then, the seed of Christ, which he is to see upon the account of his suffering for them (Isa. liii. 10), do sin and transgress, yet God hath put all these gracious obligations upon himself to reduce them by correction and affliction, but never to proceed to final sentence of utter rejection.

To this purpose, I say, are the words in the place of Samuel now mentioned:

1. The matter of the promise, or what he promiseth the people, is, "he will not forsake them." God's not-forsaking them is not a bare not casting them off, but an active continuance with them in

1 Isa. xliii. 22-26.

Heb. vi. 18.

love and mercy. He exercises not a pure negative act of his will towards any thing or person. Whom he hates not, he loves. So Heb. xiii. 5, these words, "I will not forsake thee," hold out a continual supply of all those wants whereunto in ourselves we are exposed, and what from his presence we do receive. "I will not forsake them" is, "I will continue my presence with them, a God in covenant." So he expresseth his presence with them, Isa. xxvii. 3, "I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day." He abideth with his vineyard, so as to keep it and to preserve it from being destroyed. But may it not at one time or other be surprised into desolation? No; saith he, "I will keep it night and day." But what if this vineyard prove barren? what will he then do? Nay, but he will so deal with it that it shall never be so barren as to cause him to cast it up. He is not with it for nought; his presence is attended with grace and kindness. "I will water it," saith he; and that not now and then, but "every moment." He pours out fresh supplies of his Spirit upon it to make it fruitful. Thence it becomes "a vineyard of red wine," verse 2; the best wine, the most delicious, the most precious, to cheer the heart of God himself, as Zeph. iii. 17, "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." He causes them thereby that come out of Jacob to take root; he makes Israel blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. This is that which God promiseth his people: He will not forsake them, he will always give them his presence, in the kindness and supplies of a God in covenant, to protect them from others, to make them fruitful to himself. This is his not-forsaking them. He will preserve them from others; who shall take them out of his hand? He will make them fruitful to himself; "he will work, and who shall let him?"

2. The reason why the Lord will not forsake his people, why he will continue doing them good, is expressed in these words, "For his great name's sake." And in this assertion two things are considerable:

(1.) A tacit exclusion of any thing in themselves for which, or upon consideration whereof, God will constantly abide with them. It is not for their sakes, for any thing in them, or for what they have done, may, or can do,—it is not upon the account of any condition or qualification whatever that may or may not be found in them,—but merely for his name's sake; which in the like case he expresseth fully, Ezek. xxxvi. 32, "Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel." The truth is, they may prove such as, on all accounts whatever, shall deserve to be rejected, that nothing in appearance, or in their own sense, as well as others', though the root of the

-

matter be in them, may be found upon them,-when God takes delight in them; like those you have described at large, Isa. xliii. 22-25, "But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt-offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities. I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." Weary of God they are, neglecting his worship, making his patience and forbearance to serve with their iniquities. It seems to be impossible almost for any creature to apprehend that God will not give them up to everlasting confusion. Yea, perhaps they may be froward in their follies, and contend with God when he goes to heal them: Isa lvii. 17, "For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart." Iniquity is upon them, a vile iniquity, "the iniquity of covetousness." God is wroth with them, and smites, and hides him, and they go on frowardly. And yet for all this he "forsaketh not for ever," he abides to be their God; and that because his so doing is not bottomed on any consideration of what they are, have been, or will be, but he doth it for his name's sake, and with regard unto that which thereupon he will do for them. And upon this account this promise of God's abiding and continuing with his, let grace be never so weak, corruption never so strong, temptations never so violent, may be pleaded; and the Lord rejoices to be put in remembrance of it by the weakest, frailest, sinfulest saint or believer in the world.

(2.) The cause or reason is positively expressed why God will not forsake them: it is "for his great name's sake." His great name is all that he consults withal about his continuance with his people. This he calls himself, Isa. xliii. 25, "I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake;" that is, " For no other cause in the world that may be found in thee or upon thee." The "name" of God is all that whereby to us he is known; all his attributes, his whole will,all his glory. When God is said to do any thing for his name, it is either the cause and end of what he doth, or the principle from whence with the motive wherefore he doth it, that is by him intended. In the first sense, to do a thing for his name's sake is to do it for the manifestation of his glory, that he may be known to be God in the excellency of those perfections whereby he reveals himself to his, with most frequently a special regard to his faithfulness and grace. It is in these properties to make himself known, and to be exalted in the hearts of his. So all his dispensations in Jesus Christ are for "the praise of the

glory of his grace," Eph. i. 6,-that he may be exalted, lifted up, made known, believed, and received as a God pardoning iniquity in the Son of his love. And in this sense may the Lord be said to abide with his people "for his name's sake," for the exalting of his glory, that he may be known to be a God faithful in covenant and unchangeable in his love, who will not "cast off for ever" those whom he hath once received into favour. It will not enter into the hearts of believers sometimes why the Lord should so deal with them as he doth, and not cast them off. Their souls may go to rest as to this thing. He himself is glorious herein; he is exalted, and doth it on that account. If by his "name" you understand the principle from whence he worketh, and his motive thereunto, as it comprehends the whole long-suffering, gracious, tender, unchangeable nature of God, according as he hath revealed himself in Jesus Christ, in whom his name is, Exod. xxiii. 21, and which he hath committed to him to be manifested, John xvii. 6; so evidently two things in God are engaged, when he promiseth to work for his name's sake, or according to his great name:

[1.] His power or sufficiency. Upon the engagement of the name of God on his people's behalf, Moses carefully pleads this latter or part thereof, Num. xiv. 17-19. God hath given his name unto his people; and this is wrapped up in that mercy, that he will lay out his power to pardon, heal, and do them good, in his preserving of them and abiding with them: "Let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is long-suffering,” etc. And as, when he works for his name, the way whereby he will do it is according to the greatness of his power, so the fountain and rise from whence he will do it is,

[2.] His goodness, kindness, love, patience, mercy, grace, faithfulness, in Jesus Christ. And thus, under the title of his "name," doth he call poor, afflicted, dark, hopeless, helpless creatures (upon any other account in the world), persons ready to be swallowed up in disconsolation and sorrow, to rest upon him: Isa. 1. 10, "Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God." When all other holds are gone, when flesh fails and heart fails, then doth God call. poor souls to rest upon this name of his. So the psalmist, Ps. lxxiii. 26, "My flesh and my heart faileth," all strength, natural and spiritual, faileth and is gone: "but God is the strength of my heart," saith he, "and my portion for ever." Now, this is the sole motive also of God's continuance with his: he will do it because he himself is. good, gracious, merciful, loving, tender; and he will lay out these properties to the utmost in their behalf, that it may be well with

VOL XI

John xvii. 6, 26; Ps. xxii. 22, lxiii. 4, lxix. 30.

17

them, lifting up, exalting, and making himself gracious in so doing. This the Lord emphatically expresseth five times in one verse: Isa. xlvi. 4, "Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you."

This, then, I say, is the reason and only ground, this the principal aim and end, upon the account whereof the Lord will "not forsake his people."

3. The rise of all this goodness, kindness, faithfulness of God to his people, as to the exercise of it, is also expressed, and that is his own good pleasure: "Because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people." This is the spring and fountain of all the goodness mentioned. God is essentially in himself of a good, gracious, and loving nature; but he acts all these properties, as to the works that outwardly are of him, "after the counsel of his own will," Eph. i. 11, according to the purpose which he purposeth in himself, and his purposes, all of them, have no other rise or cause but his own good pleasure. Why did the Lord make us his people, towards whom he might act according to the gracious properties of his nature, yea, and lay them forth and exercise them to the utmost on our behalf? Was it because we were better than others? did his will? walked with him? Did he declare we should be his people upon condition we did so and so? Not on any of these or the like grounds of proceeding doth he do this, but merely because "it pleaseth him to make us his people;" Matt. xi. 26. And shall we think that he who took us to be his people notwithstanding our universal alienation from him, on the account of his own good pleasure, which caused him to make us his people (that is, obedient, believing, separated from the world), will upon any account, being himself unchangeable, not preserve us in, but reject us from, that condition?

Thus is God's mercy in not forsaking his people resolved into its original principle,—namely, his own good pleasure in choosing of them, carried on by the goodness and unchangeableness of his own nature to the appointed issue.

This, then, is the sum of this argument: What work or design the Lord entereth upon merely from his own good pleasure, or solely in answer to the purpose which he purposeth in himself and engageth to continue in mercy for his name's sake, thereby taking upon him to remove or prevent whatever might hinder the accomplishment of that purpose, work, or design of his, that he will abide in unchangeable to the end; but this is the state of the Lord's undertaking, to abide with his people, as hath been manifested at large.

Let us add in the next place that of the psalmist: Ps. xxiii. 4, 6, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort