Micah 6:8 He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy… "Do justly." There is a justice of expiation, to break off our sins by repentance. A justice of compensation, by meet repairing our public injuries. A justice of vindication, to confirm our laws by inflicting such just penalties and restraints as some men's insolvencies have deserved. There is the allay of mercy, or moderation, compassion, and tenderness, by way of pardon, indemnity and oblivion. There is added the root and crown of all virtues and graces, humility; which makes you surest of God's acceptation and benediction. Humility is the salt that must be mingled with every sacrifice; a sweet perfume that must attend every oblation. It is the glory of all human and Divine perfections; the security of justice, and the sanctuary of mercy. If you intend to walk with God, and hope that God will go along with you, you must not only deny, you must so far utterly renounce, and annihilate yourselves, as not to trust in or seek yourselves, but the living God. I. THE DEMONSTRATOR OR SHEWER. "The Lord." 1. The rise or occasion of this demonstration. Find this in verses 6, 7. Observe the vaunting questions and presumptuous postulations of a company of formal hypocrites. 2. The credit and authority of this Demonstrator, which makes His words, both for the truth and goodness of them, most worthy to be believed, received, and obeyed. He is the great and inexhaustible fountain of all power and order, natural, civil, spiritual. He is not more able by His wisdom, than willing by His indulgence and love, to instruct mankind in the way that is best for him. He has showed us the most infallible and immutable rules of justice, mercy, and humility. II. THE THING DEMONSTRATED. Denoted under three grand heads — 1. Consider justice, mercy, and humility together, and conjointly. Note the sanctity of these grand demands. The shortness of the discourse concerning them. Their perspicuity, though stated so briefly. The order and situation of the particulars. Justice comes first; then mercy; and then humility. The juncture of these three is inobservable, because they are inseparable where they are sincere. The common epithet, or predicate, to all of them. "The Lord hath showed thee what is good." 2. Consider them separately. (1) In the subject or substance, spirit and quintessence, of each of them. What is justice? Some measure it by their power; others by their wills; yet others by their fancies and imaginations. Some measure justice by necessity; some measure justice by forcible power and possession; as if might were right. Justice must be considered, in its fountain and original, the wisdom and will of God; in the grand cistern and conservatory, which is the sovereign and legislative power in every society and polity. Justice is considerable in the pipes and conduits of all subordinate magistrates. There is a justice due to God, to ourselves, and to others. What is mercy? By mercy God is, as it were, greater than Himself: a denier of Himself, and a sider with our interests. All our hopes and happiness are founded upon, and bound up in, the mercy of God. Mercy in God is a perfection of goodness, by which He moderates the severity of His justice toward sinful mankind. Mercy in man is an affection by which he lays to heart the misery of another, and is disposed to relieve them. Mercy is an inseparable attendant to human justice; yea, and to the Divine. Penitents are the proper objects of mercy. There are but few cases wherein the summum jus is required. In most cases there is possibility of remission, and moderation. What is humility? It is a most Christian grace, no less than a most manly virtue, becoming all men, — in the sense of their common infirmities, and mortal condition; in the conscience of their many sins and deserved miseries; in the reflection upon their best actions, full of failings and defects. Pride destroys and sours all the good, even of justice and mercy, that any man doth. Pride hath its reward only from itself, or the vain world. Consider the predicates or actions applied so each of these three terms. Consider justice — 1. Materially, as to the merit of the cause or person. 2. Regularly, as to the law prescribed by God or man, not by private opinion. 3. Authoritatively, by due order and commission, derived to thee from the lawful supreme power.Do justice as to the inward form, principle, or conscience, for justice sake, not for ambition. Do justice in practice; impartially, speedily, in due measure and proportion, with humanity and compassion to the person. "Love mercy." Observe the order; justice of showing mercy. Observe the emphasis of the word "love" put to mercy. Justice must be done as a task enjoined. Mercy must be loved and delighted in. This love is conjoined to mercy as a thing in itself most desirable, as most beneficial to ourselves and others, as obedience to God's commands, and in imitation of the Divine perfections. Love mercy for the advance of all graces; as the best sign of the best religion, remembering that sin exposeth thee to misery; in order to confirm thy hope, and increase thy reward in glory. "Walk humbly." Be ready and prepared to go with God. The words imply a freedom and familiarity of conversation which cannot be without two are agreed; nor can there be agreement with God, except where the heart is humble. Walking is a social and friendly notion, and it is progressive and parallel, in a way of confirmity, not contrariety. The more a man walks with God, the more he will grow in humility. 3. To whom God shows, and of whom He requires, these great lessons and duties. "Thee, O man." (1) All mankind. (2) Those who enjoy the light of God's Word. (3) Each in His particular station. 4. The manner of God's showing and requiring these duties of all sorts of men, in all occasions, times, and dealings. God hath showed it to mankind in those inward Principles of right reason, and that standard of justice which is set up in each man's own heart. By the letters patent of the Holy Scriptures. By the greatest exemplars of holy men in all degrees. With frequent obtestation, threatening punishment. (John Gauden,, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? |
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