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It is true, that God is most merciful; but how? Know, he is not necessarily merciful, as if he could not choose but show it to all men. He is voluntarily merciful, showing mercy only to those unto whom he will show mercy, Rom. ix. 18. God could and did hate, and in his justice condemned Esau, Rom. ix. 13, notwithstanding his love and mercy to Jacob. God is all justice, as well as all mercy; but he has his several objects of justice and mercy, and has his several vessels of wrath and mercy, Rom. ix. 22, 23, into which respectively he does pour his wrath or mercy. When God speaks of obstinate sinners, he says, That he will not be merciful to their iniquities, Isa. xxvii. 11; and again, He that made them will not have mercy on them. And David prays with a prophetical spirit, saying to God, Be not merciful to wicked transgressors, Psa. lix. 5; and who are these, but such as hate to be reformed, Psa. l. 17, 22, who are presumptuous, and turn the grace of God into wantonness, Jude 4? Nay, concerning them that always err in their heart, he has in effect sworn that he will show them no mercy; for he has sworn that they shall not enter into his rest, Heb. iii. 10, 11.

8. Some others go further; they acknowledge that God's justice must be satisfied, and they think it is satisfied for them, dreaming of universal redemption, by Christ, who indeed is said to die to take away the sins of the world, John i. 29. This causes their conscience to be quiet, notwithstanding that they live in sin.

It must be granted, that Christ gave himself a ransom for all, 1 Tim. ii. 6. This ransom may be called general, and for all, in some sense: but how? namely, in respect of the common nature of man, which he took, and of the common cause of mankind, which he undertook; and in itself it was of sufficient price to redeem all men; and because applicable to all, without exception, by the preaching and ministry of the gospel. And it was so intended by Christ, that the plaster should be as large as the sore, and that there should be no defect in the remedy, that is, in the price, or sacrifice of himself offered upon the cross, by