A discourse of the saving grace of God

1. It Defaces the Mercy of God, and ⟨p. 94⟩makes it in effect no Mercy. They pretend indeed to represent God under such a Notion as will endear him, and render him lovely to the World, upon the account of his Mercy and Goodness, the Extensiveness and Universality; but when their Pretensions are strictly and impartially examined, they prove quite of another tendency: That Mercy which they ascribe to God, is without an Object, or without Effect, or without Grace; a Mercy which is not an Honour to him, nor an Endearment of him to others.

1. It Defaces the Mercy of God, and ⟨p. 94⟩makes it in effect no Mercy. They pretend indeed to represent God under such a Notion as will indear him, and render him lovely to the World, upon the account of his Mercy and Goodness, the Extensiveness and Universality; but when their Pretensions are strictly and impartially examined, they prove quite of another tendency: That Mercy which they ascribe to God, is without an Object, or without Effect, or without Grace; a Mercy which is not an Honour to him, nor an Indearment of him to others.

1. It is a Mercy without an Object; a Mercy not for any certain Person, but for Qualities, which are no Objects of Mercy: A Mercy for some, when it appears not who they are, or whether there will be any such. A Mercy for no Body, which pretends to be for all and every one, when it is not for any one. This is their antecedent Mercy, whereby they pretend that he loves all that Believe and Obey, before he knows who they are, and is uncertain whether ever any such will be. It speaks a respect to those Qualities, but no Love or good Will for any particular Person.