An exposition with practical observations upon the three first chapters of the book of…

That every step of life stands in need of a step of mercy. When the infant is conceived, there must be an act of mercy to quicken it, an act of mercy to nourish it in the womb; an act of mercy for the birth, an act of mercy being borne to take it upon the knee, an act of mercy to bind it up, an act of mercy to give it suck. The beginning of our lives, and the progress of our lives, our generation and our preservation call for acts of mercy, or else (poor creatures as we are,) we quickly perish and return unto our dust. We owe our lives to God at first, and we owe them every moment; if he did not renew mercy every moment, we could not continue life one moment: As it is with our spiritual life, so it is with our natural, Our lives are hid with Christ in God, Col. 3.3. Of and from our selves we cannot subsist, either in grace or nature. It follows, For now should I have lien still, and been quiet, I should have slept; then had I been at rest.

That every step of life stands in need of a step of mercy. When the infant is conceived, there must be an act of mercy to quicken it, an act of mercy to nourish it in the wombe; an act of mercy for the birth, an act of mercy being borne to take it upon the knee, an act of mercy to binde it up, an act of mercy to give it suck. The beginning of our lives, and the progresse of our lives, our generation and our preservation call for acts of mercy, or else (poore creatures as we are,) we quickly perish and returne unto our dust. We owe our lives to God at first, and we owe them every moment; if he did not renew mercy every moment, we could not continue life one moment: As it is with our spirituall life, so it is with our naturall, Our lives are hid with Christ in God, Col. 3.3. Of and from our selves we cannot subsist, either in grace or nature. It followes, For now should I have lien still, and been quiet, I should have slept; then had I been at rest.

These words are an enlargement of the former reason, taken from a description of the state and condition of the dead; For now (saith Job) I should have lien still, If you should ask me a reason of my former reason, why I was so angry with that day or night wherein I was conceived and borne, wherein I had that (to me unacceptable) mercy to be preserved and kept alive? This I subjoin for the reason of it, If none of those unwelcome favours or natural rights had been done me, then, I had lien still, I had been quiet, I should have slept, I had been at rest, Either I should have been as one that never was, or I should have been at rest and quiet. The argument lies thus; Rest and quiet are desirable things, but death, in the omission of those succours, would have given me rest, therefore I desire those succours had been omitted. This conclusion is in the 11th, and 12th, verses, which we heard before. The assumption is in this 13th, verse, which he further confirms