9
Nov

Roger Hutchinson (d. 1555) on the Mercy of God

   Posted by: CalvinandCalvinism   in God is Merciful

Hutchinson:

1) HE is also full of mercy; letting the sun shine upon good and evil, and sending rain to both sorts. “Thou, most gracious Lord, brings forth grass and herbs for cattle, and food out of the earth; thou gives us wine to make our hearts glad, and oil to cheer our countenance, and bread to strengthen the heart; thou satisfies all men’s desires with good things” [Psal. civ.], and specially of those that be merciful; as the only-begotten Son makes proclamation in the mountain: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” [Matt. v.]. The earth is full of thy mercies: and it, O Lord, reaches unto the heaven” [Psal. xxxiii.]. No place is empty of thy mercies. Roger Hutchinson, The Works of Roger Hutchinson (Cambridge: CUP, 1842), 56. [Some spelling modernized; some reformatting; marginal references cited inline; and underlining mine.]

2) HE is full of all goodness, St James witnessing of him, that “every good gift is from above, and comes down from the father of light” [James i.] that is, father of good men; for they are called light. Vos estis lux mundi, “you are the light of the world” [Matt. v.]. “What have we, that we have not received!” [1 Cor. iv.]. He is liberal, patient, merciful, wise, strong, constant, equal, faithful, magnifical, affable. Liberal, “giving to all men indifferently, and casting no man in the teeth;” patient, “calling us through his long-suffering unto repentance,” [Rom. ii.], merciful, “not dealing with us after our sins, nor rewarding us according to our wickedness” [Psal. ciii.] wise, for “of his wisdom,” David saith, “there is no number” [Psal. cxlvii.], strong, for “he is our buckler, our shield, our strength and defense, the rock of our might, and castle of our health” [Psal. Lxii.], constant, “with whom no man can prove any variableness,” [James i.], equal, for “there is no partiality with God,” [Rom. ii.], “there is no Jew neither Gentile, neither bond nor free, neither man ne woman, but all be one in Christ Jesu” [Gal. iii.], faithful, for “he is a strong God and a faithful; stable in all his words” [Deut. vii.], magnifical, for “the work of the Lord is great, and worthy to be praised” [Psal. cxlv.], “the heavens, the sun, and the stars, the waters, and great fishes therein, are the work of thy fingers,” [Matt. vii.], affable, exhorting us continually to ask, knock, and pray unto him; and talking with us most familiarly, first by holy fathers, his prophets and patriarchs; afterward by his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ [Heb. i.], walking here upon earth, to whom belongs all power, majesty, rule, and honor. We read of a certain ruler, which called Christ “Good master,” asking him what he should do to obtain everlasting life: whom Christ rebuked, saying, “Why call thou me good! None is good, save God only” [Luke xviii.]. If God only be good, then all goodness is in him. Roger Hutchinson, The Works of Roger Hutchinson (Cambridge: CUP, 1842), 60-61.

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