Page:Harmony of the divine attributes displayed in the redemption and salvation of sinners by Jesus Christ.pdf/10

                                    (10) mercy craves to be magnified, and must have honour at this meeting, well, mercy having spoken her mind, 2. Truth comes in naked and open mouthed, in favours of God’s faithfulness, and in opposition to man’s perfidy and treachery, saying, I have heard what meroy craves in favour of this criminal ; But O thou faithful and true God! The word is gone out of thy mouth, and there is no revoking of it: ' Thou hast said to Adam in the day thou eatest thou shalt surely die,’ and now he hath eaten, he hath sinned, and shall he not die? What, is there yea and nay with God, who hath faithfulness for the girdle of his loins, must not God’s word of threatening take effect; Yea heaven and earth shall pass away, but a jot of his word shall not fall to the ground: And therefore, whatever be the demand of mercy, let it be marked in the records of this meeting, that truth craves to be magnified, and that its honour be not infringed in the least by any claim or plea that mercy hath brought in. Well, truth hath spoken, gives way to her sister justice; and thereupon, 3. Righteousness or justice comes in and pleads against the rebel sinner: Righteousness, I say, bringeth her scale in her hand, in which she hath tried him, and found him lighter than vanity itself; he is weighed in her balance and found wanting: yea, not only wanting and destitute of all that perfection and obedience that the law required, but full of all that rebellion which the law discharged, having sinned, and come short of the glory of God: and so is righteously subjected to the sanction of the law and' sentence of eternal death; And therefore, says righteousness, O thou infinitely righteous and just judge, mercy can have no hearing in this court, to the prejudice of thy honour and glory, as a just and righteous God, as truth has pronounced the sentence of wrath and vengeance against sin: so, if thou be a just God, thy infinite vengeance due to such an infinite evil must be execute to the full: This pannel is my prisoner, and loosed he shall not be till I get full satisfaction, and my sword be drunk with blood, for vengeance is mine, and I will repay it saith the Lord; and I will by no means clear the guilty. And therefore let it be registrate in this court.