An exposition with practical observations continued upon the eleventh, twelfth, & thirteenth chapters of…

Sixthly, From the extreme perverseness and stubbornness ¹of the Jews we may learn this Lesson, That Gods free Grace is very great and very strong; the Lord was merciful to his people that were thus stubborn and stout, but the more they were called to obedience the more wicked they grew, and yet Gods mercy continued towards them for a long time together, and indeed in that God should set his heart and love upon such a people as this, it is one of the greatest helps against despair almost as any we know, Do but look into the Book of God, and read of ²the people of the Jews what wretched, froward, perverse, stubborn, stout-hearted people they were, and yet that God of all the people of the earth should choose them to be his peculiar people; Oh! the free Grace of God! there's nothing that God hath in his design more than to honour free Grace. I confess I had thought to have spent some time in showing to you the extreme stubbornness of ³the people of the Jews, and all to this end to magnify the free grace of God towards such an unworthy people; you find that God doth so himself when he speaks of his Mercy to that people, he doth give them this notice, That he would have them to know, that what he did for them was not for their own righteousness, in Deut. 9. 6. Understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this ⁴good I and to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiff-necked people; As if God should say, I might magnify free Grace, whereas I might have chosen some other people that might have been more yieldable to my hand, I ⟨p. 26⟩⁵chose you, that it might appear that all that I did was out of free Grace. In Psal. 78. 8. Be not stubborn as your ⁶