in thee I say unto thee in the Name of Christ be of good comfort thy sins are pardoned God will shew good unto thee when this world is ended thou art one that Jesus Christ hath brought into his Kingdom and set up his Throne in thy heart and therefore thou may'st be assured that he will take thee at last into his everlasting Kingdom Fourthly Where God forgives he gives much giving follows forgiving God never forgives any but he gives much to that soul whom he forgives As in that case when the Apostles preacht the Doctrine of forgiveness and pardon of sin the Holy Ghost fell upon them so certainly where the Preaching of pardon of sin hath power through the Ministry of the Gospel over a soul God gives much to that soul and there are three things especially that God gives presently unto the soul whom he pardons which have all been mentioned before in opening the blessedness of pardon of sin and therefore I will but mention them now to strengthen this note of tryal 1. Hath God forgiven thee then he hath given his Spirit to inlighten thee in the great mysteries of Salvation thou pleadest thou art ignorant and art not Book-learned if God have so great a favour for thee as to pardon thy sin he will give thee understanding in the mysteries of the Gospel Jer. 31.34 where God pardons sin they shall have this mercy to be taught of him 2. God will give this unto thee he will write his Law in thy heart that is he will work in thy heart a sutable frame and disposition to his Law that thy heart and the Law of God shall be like two copies that have the same things in them and vary not one title from one another there shall be a sutableness between thy heart and the Law of God not only to do that which God requires because I must do it but because I find it sutable to the new nature bestowed on me he will write his Law in the heart and therefore I pronounce before the Lord this day again that whosoever has his sin pardoned and his iniquities forgiven that God hath writ his Law in the heart of that man or woman by the finger of his own Spirit that heart of thine that was as a heart of stone God will write his own Law thereon as he did on the Tables that Moses broke though always thou hast not a real sight of it yet such a thing is there and is a comfortable assurance of the pardon of thy sin 3. God gives healing mercies to cleanse thee from thy sin Jer. 33.8 I will cleanse them from their iniquities and pardon all their sins cleansing from sin and pardon of sin they ever go together if God pardon thy sin he cleanses thee from sin do not look therefore only after pardoning mercy but likewise after cleansing mercy those whom God hath joyned together let no man put asunder pardoning and cleansing God hath put together God may bestow other mercies as health strength and success in outward things without pardon but never cleansing from sin without pardon of it and therefore if thou findest thy heart cleansed Peace be to thy soul thy sins are forgiven Fifthly Besides these those whom God pardons he puts a glory upon them there is a glory put upon all pardoned sinners they are indeed glorious creatures in the eyes of God and Angels yea and there is a glory put upon them that the Saints of God are able to see perhaps that glory is not seen by the purblind eye of the world that are in darkness but those that have their eyes in their heads may see a glory put upon every soul that is pardoned and for that that Text is clear Rom. 8.30 Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified 't is not spoken only of that glory the Saints shall have in the highest Heavens when they shall be in glory with Christ but of that glory God puts upon the soul in this world 't is not said them he will glorifie but them he hath also glorified there is no justified soul but is a glorified soul this is a certain truth in Divinity That at that instant any soul is justified at that instant he is glorified in Jer. 33.9 there is an expression somewhat like unto that and it follows upon pardon of sin And it shall be to me a Name of joy a praise and an honour before all the Nations upon Earth c. that is I will put glory upon them and so they shall be to me a name of joy a praise and an honour before all the Nations in the world you will say How is that What is the glory of a justified soul certainly the soul that is justified is glorious God puts a glory on it by those glorious graces of his Holy Spirit that he endows the soul withal there is no justified soul but hath the glorious graces of the Holy Spirit put presently upon it and so 't is beautiful and glorious yea the only glorious object that the Lord Jesus Christ delights in in all the world take the poorest soul in the world God putting his Image upon it there is a greater glory and lustre on that soul than is on all the Heavens and the Earth besides take all other creatures in their greatest glory and God sees not so much glory on them as on any one soul whom he hath justified for so it is Holiness and the graces of Gods Spirit are called the glory of God himself Rom. 3.23 24. For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God What is it to be deprived of the glory of God but the loss of that Image of God that man was made in but when a man is justified that glory of God is put upon him a fresh upon his heart his understanding his will and affections and that makes the Lord to delight to dwell with thee converse and have Communion with thee because of that glory that he hath put upon thee so there is a glory also in the life and conversation for on every soul that God justifies there comes presently a new lustre upon their life and conversation All those that have lived in horrible wickedness and base courses now when they are changed and they manifest the graces of the Spirit of God shining in their conversation through the whole course of their lives in meekness patience humility heavenly-mindedness and the like there is a lustre on their conversations to those that are able to judge of it they see it and the world many times is dazled with it they see a glory on them and are convinc't that certainly there is a work of God upon these men and in their good moods they are wishing to die their deaths and that their ends might be like theirs the poorest servant or child in a family that was
against God that I know not that I cannot tell how to make up his glory for there is care taken for that already and therefore that need not discourage thee Tenthly There are as vile sinners now Triumphing in Heaven as any of you that are here be you never so black and vile and therefore be not discouraged at the greatness of thy sins for though they be very great yet that may not keep thee out others as vile as thou art are now in Heaven Eleventhly Make the utmost of thy sin thou can'st yet this need not hinder thee to come to God for for ought that either men or Angels know thou hast as much interest in Christ as any Saint in Heaven over had and if thou comest in and layest hold on Christ thy very laying hold on Christ will plainly shew thou hast a right unto him and therefore be not discouraged but come in Twelfthly Vpon thy closing with Christ thou wilt find such a change as was never wrought in any creature besides for though thou wer 't vile and filthy more vile and filthy than a child new born by original and actual sins ingendred in thee yet thou shalt be made cleaner than a child and more pure in the eyes of God than any child cleansed from his filthiness would not you do any thing to be pure in the eyes of God make use of what I say and you shall be clean when you hear the Ministers utter the threatnings of God you fall out with the man and say he preaches nothing but terror alas 't is our delight to preach the pardoning grace of God but we must shew the evil of sin and it is that you might come in and imbrace mercy for know we delight to preach mercy more than any thing else and know that if thou desirest that all thy thoughts ways and actions may be for Gods glory he will not upbraid thee for coming in unto him Joh. 6.37 He that cometh to Christ he will in no wise cast out though thou hast been never so great a sinner yet thou may'st come in and close with Christ for he that comes to him be he what he will he will in no wise cast out Thirteenthly Thou wilt fill Heaven with joy and there will be more melody in Heaven than at the coming in of any Prince to his Kingdom and I may say unto you even in this place if you come in the Angels will rejoyce at it for there are many Angels stand about you therefore take heed of your carriage for they come to see your behaviour have a special care your hearts be set upon the work you come about for they are here to see how you carry your selves Fourteenthly In obtaining pardon of sin and closing with Christ by faith thou art made heir of the whole world Rom. 4.13 How does many of you Marriners and others venture upon dangerous voyages to get great Estates in this world and you count them happy that are born to great Estates Why by closing with Jesus Christ by faith for remission of sins you are made heirs of the whole world I mean not of that to come but of this present world though none of you certainly desire more than may carry you to Heaven yet you are true and proper heirs of the whole world All is yours the Scripture is very clear in it but I cannot now stand to inlarge upon it 1 Cor. 3. latter end Fifteenthly For any thing thou knowest thou art one of Gods Elect and there is nothing thou art to do but God hath promised to inable thee to do it for there is such a transaction between God and Christ that he that shall be saved shall not have only savour vouchsaf't unto him but shall be inabled to do whatsoever God requires of him there shall be grace given to every one of the Elect of God And now if thou comest in and givest up thy self and all that thou art hast or can'st do to Christ How knowest thou but thou art one of those that art Elect and so shall be made for ever happy But if after all that has been said thou goest away with slight thoughts of this rich and transcendent grace of pardoning mercy and dost not set presently upon the work to obtain it Be thou for ever ashamed and confounded but let the pardoning mercy of God be for ever magnified FINIS A TABLE of the Principal Things contain'd in this Treatise CHAP. I. THe Text opened and the main Doctrine propounded viz. pag. 1 Doct. That the blessedness of a man or of any soul consists in the free grace of God forgiving of his sin 4 CHAP. II. Of the blessedness of the pardon of sin which appears 6 1. Negatively in the evil it frees us from ibid. 2. Positively in the good bestowed upon us therein consider 8 1 The Efficient cause of mercy in forgiveness of sin ibid. 2 The Final cause of mercy in forgiveness of sin 9 CHAP. III. Of 11 wonderful Mysteries of Godliness included in in the great mercy of forgiveness of Sin 10 1 It is by means of a Mediator 11 2 It is through Christs undertaking the debt upon himself 12 3 It is by Christs sufferings 13 4 Sin pardoned makes the soul stands righteous before God 14 5 This righteousness is in another ibid. 6 A near union is made between Christ and the Soul 15 7 It is by faith yet boasting is excluded 16 8 God is infinitely just and yet infinitely merciful 18 9 When God forgives sin at present he forgives all to come 19 10 God pardons a sinner not because he is but that he might be changed 25 11 God himself purchases the Pardon 27 CHAP. IV. Of Pardon of Sin not only being a mercy in it self but the Foundation of many other Mercies 28 1 Peace 1 with God 2 with 1 Conscience 2 Creatures 30 32 33 2 The Revelation of Gods secrets to them he pardons ibid. 3 It makes all other injoyments to be mercies which otherwise are not 38 1 By reason of guilt of sin 39 2 Not known whether they be given in love or hatred ibid. 4 It makes all afflictions easie to be borne 40 1 The great good of pardon makes the bitterest evil nothing 41 2 It assures the soul the evil of affliction is gone 42 5 Pardoning mercy brings healing with it into the soul 43 6 Comfort against death the effect of pardoning mercy 45 7 Security against the worlds reproaches 46 8 It is the foundation of eternal life 48 9 It is the bottom of all true comfort ibid. CHAP. V. Of Pardoning Mercy passing through a great many difficulties by reason of the wrong that man hath done to God by Sin 49 1 God must be made Man and yet remain the same God he was before 50 2 He must die and be made a curse ibid. 3 The dead heart of man must be raised to do the gloriousest work that any creature ever did 51 Hence 1
free altogether from himself 't is his own work and proceeds from his own hearts love and nothing in us that may challenge it from him Now seeing there is that in the Creature that challenges justice and nothing at all that can require mercy therefore if God shew mercy but to a few it is as great a glory to his mercy as it is to his justice if he condemn a hundred but if he should save as many as he condemns the mercy of God would be beyond all proportion to his justice but because that cannot be hence it is that few are saved and many damned Answer 2. There are more damn'd than saved because God would hereby manifest his mercy the more to thee that art saved by suffering so many others to perish this is one end that God hath in it that their destruction might set out the excellency of the glory of his grace to thee When a Limner would draw a Scutcheon or a Picture in Or or any other curious colours he lays the ground-work in black and then the beauty of the other colours will thereby most appear thou oh soul that hast thy sin pardoned know that God lays the ground-work of thy mercy in the black dismal destruction of multitudes of ungodly sinners he gives them their due that that is their right but the ultimate aim of God in it rises to this that their destruction may make the brightness of his glorious grace appear the more gloriously to them that are saved that the Saints whose sins God hath pardoned may in Heaven have this argument to praise his grace so much the more because they are cull'd out of the mass and multitude of sinners that are damn'd this will mightily inflame the hearts of Saints in giving God glory in Heaven when they shall see so many thousands and millions of thousands cast down to eternal destruction that God should do this to set off the riches of his grace to them How will this inflame their hearts in giving God glory and this God aims at as the top of his glory that he might have a company to be the eternal objects of the riches of his grace and this shews the base and low account God hath of wicked men that he lets them perish eternally that he might magnifie the glory of his grace to Saints What an aggravation is it of the greatness of Gods mercy to Saints when he is content that so many thousands of others shall perish that his mercy to them may more gloriously appear As when a Prince hath a Child born that he might shew his honour to the Child in solemnizing the Christning of the Child it may be thousands of Oxen and Sheep shall loose their lives in the solemnizing of the joy the Prince hath in his Child If the Solemnity of the Joy the Prince hath in that little Infant may be the cause of thousands of creatures losing their lives this shews the dear respect he hath to his Child or else he would never let so many creatures go to the Shambles but that he might shew his respect to his little Infant So says God there is a handful of People that I have thoughts to do good too to all eternity and I have set my heart upon them and that I may manifest the greatness of my mercy to them I will let thousand thousands of others perish eternally to be but as a black ground for that glorious work that I intend to manifest in the riches of my grace in Christ in the pardoning of their sin thus you see it is a peculiar mercy and therefore blessed are they that have their iniquities forgiven for it is a mercy that is peculiar to them only Oh how ought they to bless God that he hath call'd them out of the multitude when he has left others to the sway of their own carnal sottish and malitious hearts to go on against the ways of grace and all because he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy CHAP. XII Of the Possibility of Pardoning Mercy how it would be prised by poor Souls now under wrath FUrther Blessed is he that hath his iniquities forgiven because the very possibility of it to thousands of creatures now under wrath would be prised more than ten thousand worlds to have but a possibility of it upon any terms those that are now damn'd in Hell and see the stroaks of Gods dreadful wrath against them for their sin that are now swallowed up in the gulf of misery and condemnation if they might have but any possibility to have their sins pardoned how would they prise it if such a Messenger were sent from God to Hell-gates to call there and to cry out O ye damned spirits behold a message from the Almighty I come unto you from him and this is the message to let you know That there is a possibility upon some terms that God will require that your sins may be pardoned and you delivered from that dreadful wrath you now lie under How would the damned spirits sing and rejoyce and look about them to attend this message What acclamations would there be in Hell in the mid'st of those fiery flames What holding up of hands and rejoycing would there be to hear of such a thing that there is a possibility on any terms they would not stand to enquire what the terms were whether hard or easie they would answer let them be what they will if there be but a possibility it is enough thinking every one it might be he Well then if the possibility of being saved would be received with such joyfulness by the damned in Hell What then is the Possession of it and glorious knowledge of it to a soul that is already pardoned if they would all cry out on supposition a message should be delivered of a possibility that some should be freed from Hell and have their sins pardoned They would all cry out Oh blessed blessed indeed is he that shall have his sins pardoned and be delivered from Hell if they would give this testimony let us give it much more Though there be a blessed difference between their condition and yours yet not long since there was not it may be for ought you know some of them might go to Church with you sit in the same Pew and hear those Sermons of the Evil of Sin which now they are gone to feel and are shut up in the bottomless pit beyond any possibility of pardon But this is granted to you all that are before the Lord this day In the Name of God I can boldly preach this unto you that if you come in and believe there is a possibility yea even for the worst of all they may come in and be pardoned Now if the damned in Hell would prise it so high if there were a possibility for them to be pardoned shall not you prise it as high as they as I remember in setting out the evil of sin that was
in chains eternally except thy soul be rent from that sin as well as from any other thou understandest not the way of God in the dispensing of his grace to the soul if thou thinkest God will pardon some sins and give thee liberty in others thou sottish soul know that when thou goest to God for pardon of sin thou must go with a heart resigned up from every sin or else thou losest all thy labour and art held in the chains of them all 3. Those that never look after their Prayers to call it into Question what answer they have had I have prayed to God but have I got any answer in my own heart or hath God come in in any Ordinance and sealed to me my pardon thus the soul should look after pardon in Prayer and all other means Many pray but never look after their Prayers whether God hear or no Psal 85 8. I will hear and hearken what the Lord God will speak thus the Psalmist and thus it would be with thee if thou did'st not dally with God after thou hast cryed for pardon thou would'st be listning at Heaven gates and looking towards God What answer doth God give I have prayed and there comes no answer the soul that sets it self in a solid and serious way to seek for pardon will be often looking out and remain much troubled till an answer come Many cry for pardon but are not troubled till God give answer they deal with God as Pilate did with Christ ask't him What is Truth but never stayed to have an answer but went his way so we do but dally with God in our Prayers and Petitions when we ask for forgiveness of sin and neglect to look after an answer 4. As those that look not after the answer of their Prayers dally with God so those that follow not their Prayers with answerable indeavours they Petition that God would be merciful unto them but what are the indeavours of your souls after your Petitioning if there be not indeavours to attend upon the means of grace that God uses to speak peace to souls in all your Prayers are nothing but of this I shall speak afterwards you are to search into the Covenant and enquire after the Saints what course they have taken and what means they have used to obtain pardon 5. Those that pray for pardon yet are satisfied with other things as thus they pray for pardon but if the world come in they are satisfied and quieted with that as a Child that hath a piece of Gold given him and an Apple he will be still'd with the Apple so many men sue to God for this great work of pardon of sin but let God give them health and accommodations in the world they are satisfied and contented with them and little or never seek after the pardon of their sin that is a fifth sort that are charged this day before the Lord that do but dally with God about seeking pardon for their sins Sixthly They that are quiet upon weak and slight Evidences dishonour God certainly they have not those high thoughts of the mercy of God in pardoning sin that content themselves with poor Evidences about it as most do come to many people and ask them What you hope that God will pardon your sins yes we do hope but upon the poorest Evidences imaginable those Evidences they lay the waight of the pardon of their sins upon are such broken reeds that it would make a man amazed that understands what the worth of a poor soul is that they should venture so great a thing on so slight a reed What is the reason because they have but slight thoughts of the forgiveness of sin that that a man puts a high valuation of he will make sure but that which he slights he is not so intense in as to instance if one give you in payment Silver Gold and Farthings you take the Farthings and do not tell them but you tell the Silver and the Gold you not only tell it but weigh it too What is the reason because you little esteem of the Brass and so will not tell it you more esteem the Silver and therefore tell that but the Gold you not only tell but weigh it because you have a greater esteem of that than the other this is an argument may convince the men of the world that their esteem of earthly things is more than of Heaven and their souls because they labour to make earthly things more sure than the things of heaven a worldly man to make sure his Estate will have Bond upon Bond and Seal upon Seal and carry his Evidences to Counsellors and say I beseech you Sirs see whether there be not some flaw in them I shall lose all my money if there be but a crack in my Evidences he is mighty careful of this because he hath such a high esteem of his worldly concerns But how does it appear that men have but poor low thoughts about the pardon of their sins because they content themselves with such poor mean Evidences for had they a high esteem of it they would labour to make pardon of sin surer than any thing in the world To wind up all those that know what pardon of sin is how do they spend their time and lay out themselves to get assurance Take this one note Because God sees those that are his own people understand what forgiveness is have a high esteem of it and are very solicitous about it he condiscends in his kindness to assure them by all sorts of ways and means methinks God deals with them in this manner the poor soul stands shaking and trembling crying our Oh! that I might have my sins forgiven and have assurance of it Why says God what way do you take to make things sure from one to another says you first we give our word one to another says God you shall have that I give you my Word What have you else Secondly say you we cause it to be written well says God you shall have it written and this is a great mercy the Covenant of grace is written we have it not from hand to hand as our fore-fathers had What do you else require Thirdly you say to have witnesses well says God you shall have witnesses in things between man and man In the mouth of two or three witnesses every thing is established Matth. 10.16 Now God in reconciling a Soul to himself brings no less than six witnesses to confirm a Believer in assurance of his grace and favour to him 1 Joh. 5.7 8. There are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and three that bear witness on Earth the Spirit Water and Blood three in Heaven and three on Earth to assure thee of forgiveness of sin that is a third way Is there any other way yea Lord Fourthly we use not only to have a word and this word put in writing
might have been sorrowful and I might have reformed and said God is merciful though Christ had never come those that never knew Christ nor heard of him yet they may be sorrowful reforme and say God is mercifull I beseech you consider this note I can never be pardoned and saved in such a way as it might be done though Christ had never come I can then never be pardoned and saved by all the means I take for pardon and Salvation if those things might be done though Christ had never come and if you have nothing else but them to rest upon then you can never be saved put this to your hearts what have I wrought in my heart that I might not have had if Christ had not come into the world certainly the most things that most people have to rest upon for pardon and salvation they might have had though Christ had never come into the world Further Thou saist God is merciful True the mercy of God is sweet and a blessed argument and our souls much delight to open the grace and mercy of God and I have endeavoured to open to you what is revealed in the Gospel yet Gods mercy is free though he delight to glorifie his mercy and he hath thousand thousands of Subjects to glorify his mercy in though thou perish eternally Though thou perish eternally yet God may be glorious in the blessedness of his mercy God hath others to magnifie his mercy unto besides thee a beggar comes and asks an almes of a man and he gives him none that is not an argument the man is not merciful for he hath other objects that are more suitable and fit though he give not to every one t is no dishonour to his compassion so it is with God he hath thousands of objects to bestow his mercy on though thou perish Further Thou saist God is merciful and thererefore thou hop'st for pardon Why God is and hath been merciful to thee beyond all that thou canst conceive God hath shew'd his mercy to thee already thou saist God is merciful true or else thou hadst not been alive at this present that thou shouldst hear and see and have all thy members whole and the use of all thy sences and that thou shouldst stand here this day under the meanes of grace and that thou shouldst hear God call on thee to repent and believe in his Son while thou walk'st on in thy sin and art dead in sins and trespasses he sends his son and spirit to thee to tell thee that he would rescue thee and give life unto thee again is not here rich mercy perhaps thou hast had thy portion of mercy already that God intends for thee yea so much mercy that all the Angels and saints will give acclamations to God for that mercy thou hast had though thou perish God hath many waies shewd mercy to thee in so much as that the very devils themselves will acknowledge that God was very good to his poor creatures Further Thou speakest of mercy hast not thou abused and turn'd mercy into wantonness perhaps the mercy thou speakst of now is at this very present pleading to God against thee saying how have I been abused by this wretched man the more my beauty excellency hath been displayed the more wicked he hath grown what if mercy be now pleading against thee even those mercies that thou hast abused and therefore thou hadst need to look for somewhat else to settle thy soul upon then this to say that God is merciful this is to the first sort those that are grosly Ignorant Secondly There are others that mourne pray and reform and then have some kinde of relyance on God to pardon them for his mercies sake and therefore to them I shall say thus much Know the mercy of God must be received after Gods own way he hath appointed the communications of it and so it must be received otherwise it can never attain to such an effect as the pardon of thy sin note this that all the mercy in God considered as he is creator of Heaven and Earth and not let out through the Mediator Christ Jesus God-man it never wrought to the pardon of any one sin and therefore if you looke upon the mercy of God and do not look to the right way of the conveyance of it you may most dangerously mistake The ground and bottom of faith that justifies is not meerly to cast ones self on the mercy of God for there is none but in a natural way know that God is a merciful God but the main ground of Justification or of justifying faith is the free grace of God through Jesus Christ That God is merciful through a Mediator Otherwise the ground of your faith is but on a meer confused notion of the mercy of God which will certainly faile you a heathen may have as much to be the ground of his faith that the great creator of Heaven and Earth pitties those that are in misery and I am a poor creature in misery I le cry to him and I le reform my life and I le relye on him thus far a heathen may go but the ground and bottom of faith is not the mercy of God in general but the mercy of God in and through a Mediator observe a little further the ground of justifying faith is not thus that God for Christs sake will forgive me for what Christ hath done to purchase my pardon but there is another work of faith in the souls of believers though the soul apprehend it not t is not the work of faith in justification to believe that Christ hath paid so much as my debt comes to but thus the work of faith is to bring the soul unto Christ and to pitch it upon the person of Christ to be made mine first and then the righteousness of Christ to be mine T is not thus I believe this is my debt and there is so much money to pay it but this is the work of faith to bring thee to be marryed to such a person and so the debt is transacted on him to whom thou art marryed and he will discharge the debt because thou art marryed to him so that the ground of faith is not to look unto God meerly through his son that so I may have pardon but thus I must come to have Christ to be mine I must be marryed with Christ and so through my union with the person of Christ I come to have all that Christ hath done and suffered to be made over to me and therefore when I come to look upon the riches of the grace of God in the mediation of his son I must come with an eye of faith to be marryed unto Christ and Christ with me the riches of Gods grace in Christ was opened before we now make use of it as a trial to shew the danger of false grounds in relying upon God for pardon Further Though it be through the mercy of God to
hope their sins are pardoned Do you so then you know the love of God in Christ for this is a special work of the love of God in Christ to pardon sin now the Apostel says when you come to know this you come to be filled with all the fulness of God What is the fulness of God as faith increases with the rest of the graces so you grow fuller and fuller in Gods fulness and so you grow more into a fuller assurance of pardon of sin now the soul can say as I find more assurance of the love of God in his Son so I find my soul more filled with this grace of the fulness of God Alas when I was under the Law God and I were strangers I felt little of God in me but now I begin to know the love of God in the Gospel I begin to have my soul filled with fulness of God not with chaff and dross and filthy things which heretofore my thoughts will and affections were filled withal but now 't is otherwise with me my soul is now filled with all the fulness of God certainly that soul that can say thus may well go a way with that word of Christ spoken to the woman Luk 7.50 Go in peace thy faith hath saved thee Rom. 5.1 The Apostle speaks of pardon of sin being justified by Faith we have peace with God that is God revealing justification by Faith in Christ it brings peace with it and by whom we have access and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God and not only so but we glory in tribulation knowing that c. What knowledge is this It 's this that we are justified by Faith and so come to have peace with God How does this cause the heart to be inlarged we rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God and not only so but we are strengthened and can glory in tribulation our hearts grow up to that strength that whatsoever tribulations we meet withal we are able to bear them with patience and not only so but to glory in them we not only grow up to bear that which many cannot but to rejoyce in them that is more and then to glory is above rejoycing Now Do you find that the assurance that you have of the love of God brings strength in to your soul to inable you to rejoyce in hope of the glory to come as if the Apostle had said let what will become of us for the present what though the world scorn us hate persecute us yet we rejoyce in hope of the glory that is to come and this makes us glory in tribulation knowing that tribulation works patience patience experience and experience hope Here 's a working of several graces together and this may help many a poor soul O says the soul at such a time I had a great deal of assurance of pardon of sin and much joy thereupon But have not Hypocrites joy yes certainly a Hypocrite may have wonderful ravishments of spirit and flashes of pardon of sin but yet there is somewhat wanting in other graces but how shall I know that my assurance of pardon of sin is right thus according to the degree you have of assurance of pardon you have an answerable degree in the growth of other graces as Humility Patience Heavenly-mindedness Self-denyal and the rest according as your faith grows so you have a proportionable growth in all other graces faith is as the root and the more sap there is in the root the more will the branches grow those people that are so full of assurance and never doubted as they say but as for other graces they are empty as the Fear of God Meekness Patience Self-denyal Heavenly-mindedness and the like certainly if thy faith be so high and thy other graces so low thou hast much cause to fear thy faith is not right 't is not the faith of Gods Elect as the Scripture speaks it is not pretious faith for according to the degree you have of that all other graces will grow you hope that your sins are pardoned How come you by it the soul that hath true pardon of sin hath fetch 't it from Heaven in a right way in Gods own way How is that it is on this wiâ—e the soul that sees it self lost and undone through the guilt of sin God revealing his infinite riches of grace in the Gospel such a soul seeing God on his Throne holding out his Son God-Man as Mediator to make an attonement it by a mighty work of faith closes with that glorious way of Reconciliation by the Son that it sees God the Father tender to him and so fetches grace out of the Treasury of Gods bounty in the way of the Gospel in an Evangelical way that was before opened Examine now Have you fetcht out your pardon through the way of the Gospel that the soul by a mighty act of faith hath been willing to venture its self and its eternal station on the Son of God Have you look't on Christ as a mighty Mediator as one able to save you then you have acted faith in a Gospel way and your sins are pardoned Again Are you pardoned then you are sealed that you heard likewise of there is the Broad Seal of Heaven that stamps the Image of God upon the soul as the Image of the King is on the Seal of the Kingdom so the Image of God the Broad Seal of Heaven is stampt upon the soul which I mention that you may make use of it in examination Ninthly Whomsoever God pardons there will be an answerable work in thy soul unto the work of God in justifying thee as in Election and Vocation so in Justification How is that thus that as God notwithstanding all thy sin accepts of thee to his grace and love so notwithstanding all the trouble and afflictions that are in Gods ways thou wilt accept of God and his ways he accepts of thy soul notwithstanding thy sin thou wilt accept of him and his wayes notwithstanding all evils and afflictions that accompany company them there are woful evils of sin that accompany thy soul yet God will accept of thee so there are great evils in the ways of God Afflictions that accompany them yet thou wilt accept of them and think it reasonable What shall God accept of my soul notwithstanding all the evil of sin and shall not I accept of Gods ways notwithstanding all the evil of affliction and trouble certainly the soul that is pardoned cannot but answer God so far as this Will God justifie me notwithstanding my sin I will justifie God notwithstanding any trouble affliction difficulty or sufferings that may befal me in his ways and I will justifie the ways of God this is both an Evidence and a duty God justifies our souls though they be very sinful we have cause to justifie Gods ways though they be very troublesom if thou dost not so thou art none of Gods child for wisdom is justified of her Children