Mercy magnified on a penitent prodigal, or A brief discourse, wherein Christs parable of…

USE 1. Here we see how far the name and term of merit is a stranger from Gospel language; and what care we ought to take that we do not entertain any thoughts of it. God is no debtor to his creatures except voluntarily: as it was free to him to make them, so also to assign them their end and use: and it is certain that he designed or appointed no creature to any use, but withal completely furnished it for that end; and if, through its own default, that be lost, it can claim no restitution at Gods hands: hence let no man think that his misery should be a sufficient ground to engage Gods mercy to him; no nor his acknowledgement of his sin and misery neither: for if we stand at the tribunal of Justice (unto which merit is properly reckoned) it doth not deserve pardon for a delinquent to fall down at the Judges feet, confess his fault, and beg that it may be past by, and not imputed to him: if the Law condemns him, and he stands guilty before the Bar, it is only a free pardon that can acquit him. Now though an humane Judge ⟨p. 305⟩may be moved by the submiss and lamentable expressions of a justly condemned person; yet God is capable of no such impressions; but if he intends a soul good, he puts this very frame into him, and then accepts him in this way, though not for this carriage: but in all this there is not any room or occasion to speak of merit.

USE 1. Here we see how far the name and term of merit is a stranger from Gospel language; and what care we ought to take that we do not entertain any thoughts of it. God is no debter to his creatures except voluntarily: as it was free to him to make them, so also to assign them their end and use: and it is certain that he designed or appointed no creature to any use, but withal compleatly furnished it for that end; and if, through its own default, that be lost, it can claim no restitution at Gods hands: hence let no man think that his misery should be a sufficient ground to engage Gods mercy to him; no nor his acknowledgment of his sin and misery neither: for if we stand at the tribunal of Justice (unto which merit is properly reckoned) it doth not deserve pardon for a delinquent to fall down at the Judges feet, confess his fault, and beg that it may be past by, and not imputed to him: if the Law condemns him, and he stands guilty before the Bar, it is only a free pardon that can acquit him. Now though an humane Judge ⟨p. 305⟩