Indifferency and faint Desires In our Petitions for temporal things our Affections should be temperate always mix'd with resign'd Submission to the Will and Wisdom of our Heavenly Father who knows what is better for us than we do and loves us better than we do our selves but in praying for the Pardon of our Sins our Affections should be inflamed we should as it were offer Violence to the King of Heaven and be unsatisfied without it What ardent and repeated Addresses were made by David for this great Blessing Have Mercy upon me O Lord according to thy Loving-kindness according to the Multitude of thy tender Mercies blot out my Transgression Wash me throughly from mine Iniquity and cleanse me from my Sin Purge me with Hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than Snow Deliver me from Blood-guiltiness O God thou God of my Salvation He prays as if the Ghost of Vriah were always in his View covered with Blood and reproaching him for his treacherous Cruelty The Affairs and Pleasures of his Kingdom could not divert and calm his Spirit till he was restored to the joyful Sense of God's saving Mercy If it be said that David's complicated Sins were of a crimson Guilt and justly terrified his Conscience with the Apprehension of Vengeance I answer 't is true but supposing that preventing Grace has kept us from Sins of a high Nature whereby we should have incurr'd greater Guilt and been exposed to greater Punishment yet even the best Men are in infinite need of pardoning Grace for the least Sin makes us guilty of eternal Death and the infinite Number of our Sins tho according to the carnal Conceits of Men small would be over-whelming What is weaker than a Drop of Water yet the Sea that is a Collection of innumerable Drops of Water does often by an irresistible Inundation drown the Land The Wind is a Collection of many Vapours which singly are of no Force yet it often tears up the strongest Trees and overthrows the firmest Buildings If the numerous Sins of one Man's Life were set in order before his Eyes he would sink into the Depths of Despair were not the Divine Mercy superabundant to our abounding Sins We must renew our Requests for Pardon every day 't is more necessary than to pray for our daily Bread We contract new Guilt every day and as our Saviour tells us he that is washed needs to wash his Feet i. e. the Sins of Frailty and daily Incursion must be purged away by serious Repentance and the Application of the Blood of Christ and our earnest Prayer for Pardon 'T is the cruel Character of Satan he accuses the Saints before God Day and Night He is an ardent Accuser and watchful always to find Matter to provoke God's Displeasure against us 'T is therefore a Duty of daily Revolution to pray for our Pardon Besides the Neglect of seeking for the daily Pardon of our Offences against God argues the despising his Anger and consequently the despising his Love which is infinitely provoking We are commanded not to let the Sun go down upon our Wrath much less upon God's Repentance is not an initial Act of Sorrow but must be renewed all our Lives God's pardoning us is not a transient Act but continued as Conservation is a continued Creation Prayer for Pardon must be mix'd with Faith in our blessed Advocate who ever lives to make Intercession for us If we could fill the Air with our Sighs and Heaven with our Tears we could not incline the righteous and holy God to pardon us his Justice is inflexible and his pardoning Mercy a sealed Fountain 't is by the precious Merits and Mediation of his Son we are reconciled to him Jesus Christ is the same powerful compassionate Saviour yesterday to day and for ever His obedient Sufferings are of infinite Value and everlasting Efficacy Lastly Confession of Sin is a relative Duty and must be joined with forsaking of Sin The sharpest Sorrow the most confounding Shame for Sin the strongest Desires for Mercy without the forsaking of Sin are ineffectual There must be a renouncing of Sin in our Hearts a Resolution firm and permanent against it an avoiding the Appearance and Approaches of Sin and an actual leaving it If it be said 't is impossible we should preserve our selves from all Sin St. John tells us If any Man saith he has no Sin he is a Liar there is no Truth in him I answer we must distinguish between Sins there are some which while we are united to Flesh that is a Principle of Weakness and are in this open State surrounded with Temptations we cannot absolutely be freed from Such are Sins of Ignorance and Inadvertence and of sudden Surreption for Grace is not bestowed in such a degree of Eminence to the Saints here whereby they may obtain a clear and final Victory over them but if we pray and watch and strive against them and mourn for their Adherence to us God will spare us as a Father spares his Son that serves him And 't is a certain Sign of our Sincerity if we are gradually cleansing our selves from them If they grow and increase 't is a sad Indication as 't is said if a Scald in the Head spreads 't is a Leprosy But there are Sins of a more heinous Nature the not forsaking whereof excludes from Heaven such are enumerated by the Apostle The Works of the Flesh are manifest Adultery Fornication Vncleanness Lasciviousness Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred Variance Emulations Wrath Strife Seditions Heresies Envyings Murders Drunkenness Revellings and such like of the which I have told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Besides if the Love of any Sin remains in the Heart of a Man he cannot be justified here nor glorified hereafter An indulged Sin tho small in the Matter is great in the Disposition of the Sinner In short God requires sincere Repentance express'd in the confessing of our Sins not to inform him for neither the Solitude or Secrecy wherein Sin is committed can hide us from his all-discerning Eye tho there is no Witness to accuse and give Evidence nay if the Sinner could extinguish his Conscience yet God will set the Sins of Men in order before them and convince the Guilty he needed not their Confession to discover them but the humble ingenuous and sorrowful Confession of Sin is required that his Mercy may be more illustrious in the Pardon of our Sins and that the Sinner may fear to return to Folly And this Confession must be attended with the forsaking of Sins in order to our Pardon because of his immutable Perfections A Malefactor may justly be condemned for his Crimes and tho he remains impenitent and obstinate in Evil may be pardoned because a temporal Prince is capable of various Apprehensions and Passions and may deflect from the Rule of Justice but the Judg of the World is unchangably
that all the World are become guilty before God that is justly chargeable with their Crimes and liable to his Judgment The Act of Sin is transient and the Pleasure vanishes but the Guilt if not pardoned and purged away remains for ever in the Records of Conscience The Sin of Judah is written with a Pen of Iron and with the Point of a Diamond it is graven on the Tables of the Heart When the Books of eternal Life and Death shall be opened at the Last Day all the unpardoned Sins of Men with their killing Aggravations will be found written in indelible Characters and shall be set in order before their Eyes to their Confusion The righteous Judg has sworn he will forget none of their Works According to the Number and Heinousness of their Sins a Sentence shall pass upon them No Excuses shall suspend the Judgment nor mitigate the immediate Execution of it The Forgiveness of Sins contains the Abolition of their Guilt and Freedom from the deserved Destruction consequent to it This is express'd by various Terms in Scripture Pardon relates to some Damage and Offence which the offended Party may severely vindicate Now altho the blessed God in strictness of speaking can receive no Damage by rebellious Creatures being infinitely above the Impression of Evil yet as our Saviour speaks of one that looks upon a Woman with an impure Desire that he has committed Adultery with her in his Heart tho the Innocence of the Woman be unstained so the Sins of Men being Acts of foul Ingratitude against his Goodness and notorious Unrighteousness against his Authority are in a Sense injurious to him which he might justly revenge upon them but his Clemency spares them The not imputing Sin is borrowed from the Accounts of Servants with their Masters and implies the Account we are obliged to render the supreme Lord for all his Benefits which we have so wretchedly misimproved he might righteously exact of us ten thousand Talents that are due to him but he is graciously pleased to cross the Book and freely to discharge us The purging from Sin implies 't is very odious and offensive in God's Eyes and has a special respect to the expiatory Sacrifices of which 't is said that without Blood there was no Remission This was typical of the precious Blood of the Son of God that purges the Conscience from dead Works from the deadly Guilt of Sin that cleaves to the Conscience of the Sinner By the application of his Blood the crimson Guilt is wash'd away and the pardoned Sinner is accepted as one pure and innocent 2. I shall next demonstrate that Forgiveness belongs to God This will be evident by the following Considerations 1 st 'T is the high and peculiar Prerogative of God to pardon Sin His Authority made the Law and gives Life and Vigour to it therefore he can remit the Punishment of the Offender This is evident from the Proportion of humane Laws For tho subordinate Judges have only a limited Power and must acquit or condemn according to the Law yet the Soveraign may dispense with it This is declared in Scripture by God himself I even I am he that blots out thy Transgressions for my Name sake He repeats it with an Emphasis He is proclaimed with this Royal Title The Lord gracious and merciful pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin 'T is a Dispensation of Divine Soveraignty to pardon the Guilty 'T is true God pardons as a Father according to that most gracious Promise I will spare them as a Father spares his Son that serves him but as invested with the Dignity of a Soveraign Our Saviour directs us in the perfect Form of Prayer dictated to his Disciples to pray to God for the Forgiveness of our Sins as our Father sitting in Heaven upon a high Throne from whence he pronounces our Pardon His Majesty is equally glorious with his Mercy in that blessed Dispensation His Royal Supremacy is more conspicuous in the Exercise of Mercy towards repenting Sinners than in the Acts of Justice upon obstinate Offenders As a King is more a King by the pardoning humble Suppliants by the Operation of his Scepter than in subduing Rebels by the Power of the Sword For in Acts of Grace he is above the Law and over-rules its Rigour in Acts of Vengeance he is only superiour to his Enemies 'T is the peculiar Prerogative of God to pardon Sin The Prophet challenges all the reputed Deities of the Heathens as defective in this Royal Power Who is a God like unto thee pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin The Pharisees said true Who can forgive Sins but God only for 't is an Act of Empire The judicial Power to pardon is a Flower inseparable from the Crown for 't is founded in a Superiority to the Law therefore inconsistent with a depending Authority A Creature is as incapable of the Supremacy of God in pardoning Sin as of his Omnipotence to create a World for they are both truly infinite Besides the Power of pardoning Sins necessarily implies an universal Knowledg of the Minds and Hearts of Men which are the Fountains of their â—ctions and according to their Ingredâ—â—ncy the moral Good or Evil of them rises The more deliberately and wilfully a Sin is committed the Sinner incurs a greater Guilt and is obnoxious to a more heavy Punishment Now no Creature can dive into the Hearts of Men They are naked and open to the piercing Eye of God alone Add farther the authoritative Power to pardon has necessarily annex'd to it the active Power of dispensing Rewards and Punishments Now the Son of God alone has the Keys of Life and Death in his Hands It may be objected That our Saviour declares that the Son of Man has Power to forgive Sins The Answer to this will be clear by considering there are two Natures in Christ the Divine Nature that originally belongs to him and is proper to his Person and the Humane Nature which is as it were adoptive and was voluntarily assumed Now the Divine Person is the sole Principle and Subject of this Royal Dignity but 't is exercised in its Conjunction with the humane Nature and attributed to the Son of Man As in the Humiliation of Christ the Principles of his Sufferings and the actual Sufferings are solely in the humane Nature but upon the Account of the personal Union they are attributed to the Divine Person 'T is said The Lord of Glory was crucified and the Blood of God redeemed his Church The Church of Rome with high Presumption arrogates to their Priests a judicial Power of forgiving Sins and by the easy Folly of the People and crafty Deceit of their Instructors exercise a Jurisdiction over Conscience To avoid the Imputation of Blasphemy they pretend there is a double Power of Forgiving supreme and subordinate the first belongs to God the other is delegated by Commission to the Ministers of the Gospel But this is an irreconcileable Contradiction for
Sinners that will humbly submit to the gracious Terms proposed in the Gospel for our obtaining it Besides what has been said of Faith and Repentance I will more particularly consider what God requires of guilty Creatures in order to their Pardon First The Confession of our Sins is indispensably required to qualify us for Pardon The Promise is express and full He that confesses and forsakes Sin shall find Mercy That we may not be deceived in the Application of this Promise I will briefly consider what is preparatory to this Duty the Properties of it and the Connection of Pardon with it 1 st The Understanding must be enlightned by the Divine Law to discover Sin The Law is the Rule of our Duty and the Obligation to obey it is immediately conveyed by Conscience While there is a Cloud of Darkness in the Mind there will be a Silence in the Conscience Paul declares that he was once alive without the Law i. e. not understanding his Guilt he presum'd of his Justification but when the Commandment came in its Light to convince him of the Transgression of it the Apparition of Sin in the clear Glass of the Law struck him dead There must be a Discussion of Conscience a comparing our Actions with the Rule to discover their Obliquity for Sins unknown and unconsider'd cannot be confest Some Sins are notorious and present themselves to our Knowledg and Memory others are of a weaker Evidence Inquiry must be made after them 'T is an unpleasant Work to rake in the Sink of a corrupt Heart but 't is necessary 2 ly The Properties of Confession are 1. It must be free and ingenuous That which is extorted by bitter Constraint is of no Value and Acceptance Pharaoh an obstinate Rebel upon the rack acknowledg'd he had sinned 'T is true the Penal Effects of Sin may be the first Excitation of Sinners to consider their Ways but the Holy Spirit by that Means so deeply affects them with the Evil of Sin that they voluntarily confess them before the all-discerning Judg. David declares When I kept Silence my Bones waxed old I said I will confess my Sins and thou forgavest them He came to a deliberate Resolution I will confess them 2. Confession must be sincere and full that our Sins may be more evident and odious to us The covering of Sins is like the keeping a Serpent warm that will sting more fiercely The concealing Sin argues the Love of it and is a Bar against Pardon Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputes no Iniquity in whose Spirit there is no Guile 'T is not said In whose Spirit there is no Sin but no Guile no reserved allowed Sin The sincere Penitent pours forth his Heart like Water before the Lord. Of all Liquids none are so clearly pour'd out of a Vessel as Water Wine or Oil leave a Tincture We should in Confession pour out all our Sins and leave no Tincture of Affection to them If it be said How can we confess our Sins that are above our counting 'T is true but we must reserve none We must confess the kinds of our Sins against the first and second Table that were both written with God's Hand Sins of Omission and Commission and particular Sins of greater Guilt we must wash off their deceitful Colours that they may appear in their hellish Shape and more deeply affect us Men are very averse from this Duty and apt to conceal or extenuate their Sins The Art of concealing and Excuses is learnt from the first Transgressor When God called to Adam Where art thou tho his Dread to appear before the Divine Presence was a tacit Confession of his Fault and his hiding himself discovered his Sin yet he does not acknowledg his Sin but alledges the Consequence of it his Shame to be the Cause of his guilty Fear I heard thy Voice and was afraid because I was naked And to extenuate his Offence transfers his Guilt on the Woman and constructively reflects upon God as the Cause of it The Woman which thou gavest me gave me of the Fruit and I did eat The wicked Excuse did infinitely aggravate his Sin The Woman lays her Fault at the Serpent's door The Serpent beguiled me Aaron pretends that the People compell'd him to Idolatry and that the golden Calf was not the Effect of Design and Art but of Chance I cast the Gold into the Fire and there came out this Calf Saul coloured his Rebellion with the Pretence of Religion He kept the best of the Cattel for Sacrifice In short as in Sweating 't is observed that a general Sweat of the Body is for its Advantage but the Sweat of a Part only is the Symptom of a Disease So a clear unfeigned Confession is for our Profit but a semi-Confession is counterfeit an Indication of Hypocrisy 3. Confession must be mix'd with Sorrow and Shame in the Remembrance of our past Sins 1. A piercing deep Sorrow from spiritual Principles and Perswasives is the Ingredient of an acceptable Confession There is a natural Sorrow proceeding from the Impression of afflicting Evils Sense is very tender and apt to resent what is oppressive to it A Sinner that has wasted his Estate blasted his Reputation shortned his Life by his Excesses and hasten'd his Damnation may feel Anguish in his Breast for his Sins the procuring Causes of his Punishment But this Sorrow proceeds only from the Sense of external Evils not from the melted Heart for the intrinsick Evil of Sin As Marble Pillars are wet from the Moisture of the ambient Air. 'T is the miserable Man not the miserable Sinner that mourns This Sorrow is consistent with the Love of Sin and when the penal Evil is removed the Sinner returns to the Practice of it Carnal Sorrow only respects a Man's self as a Sufferer 't is in Hell in the extreme Degrees there is weeping for ever There is a godly Sorrow of which the Holy Spirit is the Spring 'T is the Promise of God to his People I will pour forth the Spirit of Grace and Supplication upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and they shall see him whom they have pierced and mourn over him as one mourns for the Death of his First-born The Perswasive of our Sorrow is answerable to its Principle The serious Contemplation of our bleeding dying Saviour is a spiritual and powerful Motive to melt us into the Tears of Repentance How congruous is it if the Purchase of our Pardon cost our Saviour his bloody Agony that the applying of the Pardon to us should cost us the most bitter Sorrow Divine Grief is more from the Memory of the Evils we have committed against our heavenly Father than from the Evils we suffer Carnal Sorrow is barren and unprofitable It may be said of it what the wise Preacher says of wild Mirth What dost thou only that Sorrow that comes from Heaven is accepted there One spiritual Tear is of more Value and
Efficacy with God than a Torrent of natural Sorrow Repenting Sorrow is an indispensable Qualification in order to our Pardon not merely from the Will of the Law-giver as the Reason of our Duty but from the Congruity of the thing it self 'T is observable that 't is the Wisdom and Kindness of the God of Nature that the Food that preserves Life is pleasant to our Taste to invite us every Day to eat and renew our Strength but Physick that is necessary for the Recovery of Health is very distastful that our Aversion from it may make us circumspect to prevent all Excesses that are the Causes of Diseases Thus the sorrowful Confession of Sin which is medicinal to the Soul is very afflicting it wounds the Spirit and breaks the Heart that we may be jealous of our selves lest we eat of the forbidden Fruit that requires so bitter a Remedy Godly Sorrow tho it be very afflicting to Nature yet the Exercise of it is more satisfying to a sincere Penitent than all the Pleasures of Sin In two cases Grief is pleasant when 't is upon the account of a Person dearly loved a Parent indulges his Sorrow for the Death of a Child that was the Life of his Life Or when Pain is beneficial and an Advantage as in the Application of a Plaister we are pleased with the Pain it causes that being a Sign and Effect of its healing Operation Now both these Considerations are mix'd with repenting Sorrow for it principally arises from the Reflection upon Sin as that which has so dishonour'd and displeased the blessed God our Maker Preserver and Redeemer that we have preferr'd the pleasing our corrupt and licentious Appetites before the obeying his holy just and good Will The repenting Sinner declares his Love to God by his Grief for offending him and voluntarily remembers his past Sins and is pleased in overflowing Sorrow for them And this Sorrow is preparative for Peace Vnutterable Groans are introductive of unspeakable Joys the Holy Spirit that convinces of Sin is the blessed Comforter 2. The Confession of Sin must be mix'd with Shame All the just Causes of Shame Guilt Turpitude Folly and Disappointment are complicated in Sin The repenting Sinner by Consciousness and Reflection upon Sin that induces so heavy a Guilt that defiles the Soul with so deep a Pollution that no Ray of its Original Purity remains that debases it infinitely below its heavenly Descent mourns with Tears of Confusion for what he has done Repenting Ephraim bemoans himself that he had been rebellious against the Methods of God's Mercy like a refractory Bullock unaccustom'd to the Yoke and his recoiling Thoughts made him to smite on his Thigh to be ashamed to the degree of Confusion for his Disobedience How affecting an Object he was in God's Eye the immediate Answer declares Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I do earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have Mercy upon him saith the Lord. The Psalmist reflecting upon his being almost vanquish'd by a vexatious Temptation degrades and vilifies himself so foolish was I and ignorant and like a Beast before thee Ezra in the Confession of the Holy Seed's mixing with Heathen Idolaters saith O Lord I blush and am ashamed at the foul Deformity of their Sin The Apostle upbraids the Romans with a stinging Reproach What Fruit have you of those things whereof ye are now ashamed the End whereof is Death When a foolish Choice is made and the Folly is detected and Experience disappoints the Expectation the natural Consequent is Shame At the last Day when the Filthiness and Folly of Men shall be publish'd before God and all the Angels and Saints how much rather would they be hid in the Darkness of their Graves than be clothed with Confusion before that glorious and immense Theatre The sorrowful Confession of Sin with deep Shame here will prevent the exposing the Sinner to publick Shame hereafter 4. Confession must have Concomitant with it the judging our selves as unworthy of the least Mercy and deserving severe Punishment The Apostle assures us If we would judg our selves we should not be judged He does not say if we are innocent we shall not be condemn'd for then who can appear before the high and inlightned Tribunal of Heaven but if we acknowledg our Guilt and the Righteousness of the Sentence to which we are obnoxious we shall be spared We cannot satisfy God's Justice but we must glorify it In this the admirable Mercy of God appears Suppose a Court on Earth wherein the Rule of Judgment were that all the Faults which the Guilty confess and condemn themselves for should be pardoned and only those they conceal should be deadly to them how willingly and humbly would those who are conscious of many capital Crimes and are summon'd to appear accuse themselves In the Court of Heaven if we are faithful to God and our own Souls in the confessing our Sins and passing Sentence upon our selves we prevent his Sentence against us 5. Prayer for Pardon must be joined with the Confession of Sin The Lord is good and ready to forgive and plenteous in Mercy unto all that call upon him God who is rich in Mercy has appointed Prayer as the Means of our receiving it it being most honourable to him that we should have a serious Sense of our Wants and Unworthiness and our absolute Disability to supply them and by our Desires we should glorify his Power and Love whereby he is all-sufficient and ready to bestow upon us his Blessings Prayer for Pardon must have these Ingredients 1 st Humility is the most becoming Qualification of a Suppliant to the high Judg of the World to reverse the Sentence of eternal Death The deep Apprehension of our Guilt will humble us before his dreadful Tribunal 2 dly Fervency which is the Life of Prayer A cold Prayer the spiritless Motion of the Lips is so far from inclining the Divine Mercy to pardon us that it increases our Guilt and provokes God's Displeasure If our Apprehensions were as real and quick of our spiritual Wants as of our temporal our Prayers would be as ardent for Supplies Our Desires should be raised in the most intense degrees in some proportion to the Value of the Blessing they should be strong as our Necessity to obtain it The Pardon of our Sins is the Effect of God's highest Favour of that Love that is peculiar to his Children 't is the Fruit of our Saviour's bloody Sufferings without it we are miserable for ever and can we expect to obtain it by a formal superficial Prayer It deserves the Flower and Zeal of our Affections How solicitous and vehement and unsatisfied should we be till we have the clear Testimony that we are in a State of Divine Favour Only fervent Prayers are regarded by God and recorded in Heaven We disvalue his Pardon by our
righteous and holy and cannot pardon Sinners to the Disparagement of his Majesty his Purity and Justice 2. Our pardoning the Offences of others is an evangelical Condition of our obtaining Pardon We are commanded When ye stand praying forgive if ye have ought against any that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your Trespasses But if you do not forgive neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your Trespasses The Command is peremptory and universal frequently and severely urged upon us by our Saviour The Reasonableness and Congruity of it is most evident if we consider the Disparity of the Object or the Number of Offences Our Sins against God are relatively infinite for his Majesty and Authority are truly infinite which are despised and abused by the Transgression of his Laws they are against all the Duty and Motives of Justice and Gratitude that oblige reasonable Creatures to obey their Maker Now the Offences and Injuries done to us are incomparably less for we are mean Creatures far less in comparison to God than a Worm is to an Angel and by our Sins are viler than the Earth Besides the Obligation that should restrain Men from being injurious to us are of infinitely a lower Nature The Disparity in the Number is very considerable Our Sins against God are like the Sand upon the Sea-shore their Number is astonishing Our Imaginations have been continually evil from the dawning of our Reason but Offences against us are comparatively few for the Variety of Objects in the World often divert the Thoughts and Passions of our Enemies from us We owe to the Lord 10000 Talents a vast Sum that can never be paid if it be not forgiven and shall we be unwilling to forgive a few Pence What is more becoming than that we who want a great Pardon should give a little one The Divine Mercy is proposed as a Model for our Imitation We must pardon intirely and take no Revenge for Injuries done to us but return Love for Hatred Good for Evil for so God does to us We must not only forgive but forget Injuries in the Sense of Love not like those who pardon in Words but retain the Memory of Offences and upon a slight Occasion renew their Resentments We must forgive great Offences as well as small and renew our Pardon as often as Offences are repeated unless we will set Bounds to the Divine Mercy We must rejoice more in pardoning than in revenging Injuries and seek to be reconciled to those who are averse from us for that is according to our Pattern 'T is pretended that by bearing a single Injury we expose our selves to a double Injury but we must imitate our heavenly Father If we do not follow him in forgiving he will follow us in retaining our Sins The Psalmist tells us With the Merciful God will shew himself merciful but with the Froward he will shew himself froward A holy and righteous Punishment in Retaliation of their sinful Disposition The pardoning Injuries is contrary to corrupt Nature and the Duty is difficult but the Reward is infinite Tho it seems to vilify us as if defective in our Minds not to understand Injuries or in Courage not to repay them which makes Men hard to forgive yet upon calm Consideration we shall esteem it a Duty easy and honourable for it prevents the inflaming our Passions and the troubling of our selves and others 't is an Act of Royalty and makes us superiour to them 't is the noblest Victory and often conquers and changes an Enemy into a Friend And above all Motives this should recommend it to us it seals our Pardon from God and conveys the most clear and comfortable Sense of it to us For as the Psalmist excellently argues He that planted the Ear shall he not hear He that formed the Eye shall he not see If we are by Divine Grace inclin'd and enabled to pardon frequent Offences against us shall not the God of all Grace be ready to pardon our many Offences against him Our Saviour reasons from the Love of natural Parents If you that are evil know how to give good things to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask it The Illation is as strong in forgiving Love If we who are of an unforgiving Nature sincerely forgive those who injure us and restore them to our Favour how much more shall God who is Love forgive our Sins and be reconciled to us 4. The Divine Forgiveness should be a powerful Motive to Thankfulness David addresses to his Soul in an ardent and lively manner Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Holy Name He excites every Faculty the Understanding to consider and value the Mercies of God the Memory to register them and retain a thankful Sense of them the Affections to celebrate them He repeats the Call Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits We are apt to forget Favours and remember Provocations Benefits are written in the Dust Injuries are engraven in Marble But strong Affections will make indelible Impressions of Thankfulness If we duly consider the Greatness and Goodness of God and our Meanness and Unworthiness that we are less than the least of his Mercies we must be convinc'd every Benefit we receive from God deserves to be remembred and acknowleged with serious Thankfulness That God draws a Curtain of Rest about us in the Night provides for us in the Day regards us with a compassionate Eye and relieves us in our Wants and Sorrows should cause such deep Affections as flow into outward Declarations of Praise 'T is true our most solemn Recognition of his Benefits is but a poor Duty compar'd with his immense Bounty to us our Thanksgiving is an Echo to God's Mercies that repeats a few Syllables what can our fading Breath add to his Blessedness and Glory that are in the highest degree of Perfection and truly infinite But 't is most reasonable that as all our Blessings flow from his Mercy they should fall into the Sea of his Glory and when our Souls bless him he accepts our Sincerity and does not despise our Thanksgivings for want of Perfection In the recounting God's Benefits the Psalmist mentions in the first place the Pardon of Sin who forgives all thy Iniquities as the Principal and Foundation of all the rest This in a most powerful way enter'd into his Heart and kindled a sacred Fire there I will briefly shew that the Pardon of Sin is so divine a Benefit that it deserves our most solemn Thankfulness and that it inclines and disposes the Soul to that Duty 1 st That the Pardon of our Sins deserves our most solemn Thankfulness will appear by an evident Light if we consider the Nature and Quality of the Benefit the Means by which 't is obtain'd the Circumstances in the dispensing it and the Consequents 1. The Quality and the
had never been born or made in a lower Rank of Creatures uncapable of Damnation According to the Conviction of the Greatness of our Misery our Longings will be for Deliverance The Desire accomplish'd is a Tree of Life The Tree of Life was in the midst of Paradise the Centre of its Pleasures According to the Degrees of our Desires such is the Sweetness of Fruition Now when the Soul is overwhelm'd with the fearful Apprehensions of everlasting Death how ardent are the Desires of Pardon how unsatisfied without it and what Impressions of Joy are felt from the sealing its Pardon Solomon tells us That good News from a far Country is like cooling Water to one burnt up with Thirst. How much more refreshing is the Testimony of the blessed Comforter from Heaven to one fainting in the Estuations of Conscience that his Sins are pardoned David expresses his Valuation and earnest Longing for the Favour of God and his joyful Sense of it There be many that say Who will shew us any Good Lord lift up the Light of thy Countenance upon me Thou hast put Gladness in my Heart more than in the time that their Corn and Wine increased An inward cordial Joy that far exceeds the counterfeit Joy in the Countenance that ends in Heaviness Now the thankful Sense of a Benefit is correspondent to the joyful Sense of it and the joyful according to our languishing longing after it Fervent Prayer for the pardoning Mercy of God and a frozen Acknowledgment of it are utterly inconsistent There is no Joy in the World so sensible and affecting as the Joy of one saved from present Death A condemned Man values and rejoices more in receiving two Lines where his Pardon is contained than in the Conveyance of a Kingdom Hezekiah when under the Sentence of Death in his Sickness how passionate were his Addresses for Recovery how exuberant were his Joy and Thankfulness for his Rescue from perishing The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day He resolves to renew the Praises of his gracious Preserver every day The Lord saved me therefore we will sing my Songs to the stringed Instruments all the Days of our Life in the House of the Lord. Had he so quick and warm a Sense of the Divine Mercy that saved him from the Grave how much more ardent should our Acknowledgments be for the saving us from Hell If we have the Feeling of Sin as we have of Sickness and are as duly sensible how much the Life of the Soul our excellent and immortal Part is to be preferred before the Life of the frail and perishing Body our Joy and Thankfulness would be in the highest Elevation in remembring forgiving Mercy This will be the Argument of the high and everlasting Praise of God in Heaven I shall conclude with this Advice Let us not content our selves with verbal Acknowledgments of this real and glorious Benefit Let our Thanksgiving be joined with Thanksdoing then we shall be accepted Of this we have the most comforting Assurance from God himself He that offers Praise glorifies me and to him that orders his Conversation aright I will shew the Salvation of God FINIS BOOKS writ by William Bates D.D. and sold by B. Aylmer THE Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that great and blessed Work Considerations of the Existence of God and of the Immortality of the Soul with the Recompences of the future State To which is now added The Divinity of the Christian Religion c. The Four Last Things Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell practically considered and applied The Danger of Prosperity discovered in several Sermons The great Duty of Resignation in Times of Affliction c. A Funeral-Sermon on Dr. Thomas Manton who deceased October 18 1677. With the last publick Sermon Dr. Manton preached The Sure Trial of Uprightness opened in several Sermons upon Psal. 18. v. 23. A Description of the blessed Place and State of the Saints above on John 14.2 Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Clarkson The Way to the highest Honour on John 12.26 Preached at the Funeral of Dr. Jacomb The speedy Coming of Christ to Judgment on Rev. 22.12 Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Benj. Ashhurst A Sermon on the Death of the Late Queen Mary Ver. 3. Isa. 43. Mal. 3. Mic. 7. Psal. 86. Rom. 8. Rom. 10. Psal. 32. Luke 24. Rom. 8. Acts 5. Jonah 2. Jam. 3.10 Luke 2. 1 Tim. 1. Isa. 6. 2 Cor. 5. Phil. 3. Ephes. 2. Rom. 4. Jer. 7.16 Hos. 14. 2 Cor. 5. 1 John 1. Heb. 6.18 Joh. 8.24 Hos. 11.8 Prov. 1. Lam. 3. Acts 11. Ephes. 2. Rom. 8. Prov. 9. ult John 5. Gen. 6. Ephes. 2. Rom. 8. Psal. 103. Mich. 7. Jer. 31.34 Heb. 9.14 Cor. 11. Heb. 12. Mal. 3. Mic. 7. Rom. 1. Deut. 29. Prov. 29. Psal. 116. Exod. 33. Mic. 7. Hos. 11. Isa. 43.25 1 Tim. 1. Prov. 28.13 Alitur vitium vivitque tegendo Psal. 32.2 Gen. 3.10 Exod. 32. 1 Sam. 15.15 Jer. 31. Psal. 73. * Nam pro jucundis aptissimae quaeque dabunt Dii charior est illis homo quam sibi Juven Lev. 5.13 Gal. 5. Mark 11.25 26. Psal. 103.1 2. Psal. 32.1 Acts 26.18 Psal. 48. 2 Sam. 24.24 Isa. 33. ult Psal. 118. Psal. 5. Isa. 38.19 Ver. 20. Psal. 50. ult