much less therefore can we do any thing that may deserve it All that we can do is either sinful or holy if what we do be sinful it only encreaseth our Debts If it be holy it must proceed from God's free Grace that enables us to do it and certainly it is free Grace to pardon us upon the doing of that which free Grace only enables us to do Far be it from us to affirm as the Papists do that good Works are meritorious of pardon what are our Prayers our Sighs our Tears yea what are our Lives and our Bloud it self should we shed it for Christ All this cannot make one blot in God's Remembrance-Book Yea it were fitter and more becoming the infinite Bounty of God to give Pardon and Heaven freely than to set them to sale for such inconsiderable things as these are Heaven needed not to have been so needlesly prodigal and lavishing as to have sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the World to lead a miserable Life and die a cursed Death had it been possible for Man to have bought off his own guilt and to have quitted Scores with God by a lower price than what Christ himself could do or suffer And so much for the Resolution of the first Question God's pardoning Grace though it be purchased in respect of Christ yet is it absolutely free in respect of any merit of ours The Second Question is Whether the Grace of God be so free as to require no Conditions on our part Of gifts some are bestowed absolutely without any terms of Agreement And some are Conditional upon the performance of such Stipulations and Conditions without which they shall not be bestowed of which sort is this Grace of God Sanctifying Grace is given absolutely I Answer First The Sanctifying and Regenerating Grace of God whereby the great Change is wrought upon our Hearts in our first Conversion and turning unto God is given absolutely and depends not upon the performance of any Conditions Indeed we are commanded to make use of means for the getting true and saving Grace wrought in us but these means are not Conditions for the obtaining of that Grace For the Nature of Conditions are such that the benefits which depend upon them are never bestowed but where the Conditions are first performed And therefore we call Faith and Repentance Conditions of Eternal Life because eternal Life is never confer'd upon any who did not first believe and repent But now certain it is God hath converted some without the use of ordinary means as St. Paul and the Thief on the Cross Therefore though we are commanded to use the means yet the use of Means and Ordinances cannot be called Conditions of our Regeneration And indeed if any thing could be supposed a Condition of obtaining Grace it must either be a work of Nature or a work of Grace Now a work of Grace it cannot be till Grace be wrought and to go about to make a work of Nature a Condition of Grace it is to go about to revive that old Errour of the Pelagians for which they stand Anathematized in Count Pallestine many Years since Sanctifying Grace is given freely excepted from any Conditions though not excepted from the use of means Secondly Justifying and pardoning Grace though it be free yet is it limited to the performance of certain Conditions without which God never bestows it upon any and they are two Faith and Repentance And these Graces God bestows upon whom he pleaseth without any foregoing Conditions Faith in Christ it is the freest gift that ever God bestowed upon any except that Christ on whom we believe But pardon of sin is restrained to Faith and Repentance as the Conditions of it nor is it ever obtained without them These two things the Scripture doth abundantly confirm to us Whoever believeth on him shall obtain remission of sins Acts 10.43 Repent that your sins may be blotted out Acts 3.19 Whoever believes on him there Faith is made the Condition of Pardon Repent that your sins may be blotted out there Repentance is made the Condition of Pardon These two particulars correspond with the two-fold Covenant of Grace God made with Man His absolute Covenant wherein he promiseth the first Converting Grace this Covenant now is independent from any Conditions a Copy of which we have in Ezek. 36.26 A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will cause you to walk in my Statutes and you shall keep my Judgments and do them And then there is God's Conditional Covenant of Grace wherein he promiseth Salvation only upon the foregoing Conditions of Faith and Repentance this we have Mark 16.16 He that believeth shall be saved Thus I have stated the great Question concerning the free Grace of God The first Sanctifying Grace of God is so free as to exclude all Conditions but the Justifying and Pardoning Grace of God is limited to the Conditions of Faith and Repentance and both Sanctifying and Justifying Grace are freely bestowed without any Merit of ours but not without respect to the Merit of the Lord Jesus Christ who hath purchased them at the highest rate even with his own most precious Bloud In the next place I shall endeavour to set before you some particulars wherein the Glory of God's free Grace in pardoning sin may be more illustrated that it may appear God assumes to himself this as the greatest honour to be a sin-pardoning God And First This highly commends the freeness of pardoning Grace in that God decreed to bestow it without any Request or Entreaties of ours There was no Rhetorick moved him besides the Yearnings of his own Bowels This was a Gracious Resolution sprung up spontaneously in the Heart of God from all eternity He saw thee wallowing in thy Bloud long before thou wert in thy Being and this time it was a time of Love even a time before all times What Friend could'st thou then make in Heaven What Intercessour hadst thou then when there was nothing but God When this design of Love was laid there was neither Prayers nor Tongues to utter them Yea Christ himself though now he intercedes for the Application of Pardon did not then intercede for the Decree of Pardon he could not then urge his Bloud and Merits as Motives for God to take up thoughts of forgiving us for had not God done so before Christ had never shed his Bloud nor wrought out Salvation for us What Arguments What Advocates did then perswade him Truly the only Argument was our Misery and the only Advocate was his own Mercy and not Jesus Christ God pardons sin when he is able to destroy sinners Secondly God pardons sin when yet he is infinitely able to destroy the sinner and this greatly advanceth the Riches and freeness of his Grace The same breath that pronounceth a sinner Absolved might have pronounced him Damned The Angels that fell could not stand before the power and
force of his Wrath but like a mighty Torrent it swept them all into Perdition How much less then could we stand before him God could have blown away every sinner in the World as so much loose Dust into Hell It had been easie for his Power and Justice if he had so pleased to have triumph'd in the Destruction of all Mankind but only that he intended a higher and more noble Victory even that his Mercy should triumph and prevail over his Justice in the pardoning and saving of sinners Thirdly God pardons tho he might gain Renown as on the Damned God pardons sin though he might gain to himself a great Renown as he hath on the Damned God might have written thy Name in Hell as he hath written theirs and might have set thee up a flaming Monument and inscribed on thee Victory and Conquest to the Glory of his Everlasting Vengeance Both Books were open before him both the Book of Life and of Death and the Contents of both shall be rehearsed to his infinite Glory at the last Day Now what was it dictated thy Name to him that guided his Hand to write thee down rather in the Book of Life than in the Book of Death that set thee down a Saint and not a Sinner Pardon'd and not Condemn'd What moved him to do all this for thee Why truly the only Answer that God gives and which is the only Answer that can be given is the same which Pilate gives concerning our Saviour What I have written I have written Fourthly Consider the paucity and smallness of the number of those that are pardon'd Professours of Christianity are calculated by some to possess not above the sixth part of the known World and if among them we make a proportionable abatement for those that are professed Idolaters for the grosly ignorant for the prophane and the Hypocritical Certainly there will be but a small Flock remaining unto Jesus Christ here and there one pick't and cull'd out of the Multitudes of the World like the Olive berries the Prophet Jeremiah speaks of left on the top of the uppermost Branches when the Devil hath shaken down all the rest into Hell Now is it not infinite Mercy that thou should'st be found among these Gleanings after Harvest that thou shoul'dst be one of these few God might have left thee to perish upon the same Reason that he left others but he gathered thee out of all Nations Kindreds and Languages of the Earth to make thee a Vessel of Mercy for himself Indeed thou canst never enough admire the peculiar Love of God to thee herein till the last Day when thou shalt see the small number of those that are saved standing on the Right Hand of Christ compared with the vast numbers of those that perish standing at the Left Hand of Christ and seest thy self among the small number of those that are saved Fifthly This also commends the freeness of pardoning Grace that whereas the fallen Angels themselves were absolutely excepted out of God's Act of Indemnity and Oblivion yet fallen Man is again restored unto his Favour Them God hath reserved in chains of darkness unto the Judgment of the great Day us he hath brought into glorious Light and Liberty Our sins are blotted out of the Book of God's Remembrance whereas their Names are blotted out of the Muster-Roll of God's Heavenly Host Now here there are four things that dâ— greatly advance the Glory of free Grace First Their Natures were more excellent than ours Secondly Their Services would have been much more perfect than ours Thirdly Their Sins were fewer thaâ— ours are And Fourthly Their Pardon might have been procured at as cheap a rate and at a little Expence as ours And yet not them but us God hath chosen to be Vessels oâ— his Mercy First Their Natures were more excellent than ours They were glorious Spirits the top and cream of the Creation we Clods of Earth the Lees and Dregâ— of Nature our Souls the only part by which we claim Kin to Angels even they are of a younger House and of a more Ignoble Extract how are they debased by being confined to these Lumps of Flesh which with much adoe they make a shift to drag with them up and down the Earth rather as Fetters of their Bondage than Instruments of their Service nay so low sunk are we in this slime of matter that we have not Excellency enough so much as to conceive what a pure Heavenly Orient Substance a Spirit is And yet such as we are Dust and Filth hath God gathered up into his own Bosome though he hath disbanded whole Legions of Angels and sent them down into Hell In these Natures of ours hath the Son of God Revealed or rather hid himself Even he who thought it no Robbery to be equal with God thought it no scorn to become lower than Angels He took not on him the Nature of Angels but the Seed of Abraham Secondly Their Services would have been more perfect upon their restoration than ours can be Indeed when we arrive at Heaven our Services our Love our Joy and our Praises shall then attain to a perfection exclusive of all sinful defects But even then must we give Place to the Angels as in our Beings so in our Actings also Had God restored them and given them a Pardon Heaven would more have resounded with the Shouts and Hallelujahs of one fallen Angel than it can now with a whole Consort of glorified Saints They would have burnt much more ardently in Love who now must burn much more fiercely in Torments They would much more mightily and sweetly have sung forth the Praises of God their Redeemer who now curse and blaspheme him more bitterly And as far have out-stript a Saint in the work of Heaven as they shall do a sinner in the Punishment of Hell And yet free Grace passeth by them and elects and chuseth narrower Hearts to conceive and feebler Tongues to utter the Praises of their Redeemer whose Praises ought therefore to be the more because he chuseth not them that may give him the most Thirdly Consider this their sins were fewer then ours are We cannot exactly determine what their sins were only the Apostle gives us a hint that it was Pride gave them their fall 1 Tim. 3.6 Not a Novice lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the Condemnation of the Devil Whether it was Pride in that they affected to be God or in that they scorn'd to be Guardians and Ministring Spirits unto Man or in that they refused to become subject unto the Son of God who was shortly to become Man the Schools boldly enough dispute but no Man can determine but whatever it was this is certain God was speedy in the execution of wrath upon them tumbling them all down headlong into Hell upon their first Rebellion The time of their standing in their Primitive State is conceived to be very short for their Creation though the Socinians
we are both ways discharged from our Guilt by Satisfaction unto the Penalty of the Law in Christ our Surety and by the free Grace and Mercy of God who hath made and sealed to us a gracious Act of Pardon in Christ's Blood and therefore we stand upright in Law and are as Just and Righteous in God's sight as if we had never sinned against him O how great Consolation is here unto the Children of God! They account themselves great Sinners yea the greatest and worst of Sinners but God accounts them Just and Righteous they keep their sins in remembrance as David speaks my sin is ever before me when God hath not only forgiven but fotgotten them they write and speak bitter things against themselves when God is writing out their Pardon and setting his Seal unto it God's Grace as easily pardons great as small sins Fourthly Pardoning Grace can as easily triumph in the remitting of great and many Sins as of few and small Sins What a great blot upon the Heavens is a thick Cloud and yet the Beams of the Sun can pierce thorow that and scatter it easily Why now God will blot out our Trangressions as a thick Cloud so himself tells us by the Prophet Isa 44.12 I will blot out thy transgressions as a cloud and thine iniquities as a thick cloud A great Debt may as easily be blotted out as a small one Ten thousand Talents is a great Summ yet it is as easily and freely forgiven by the great God as a few Pence God proclaims himself to be a God pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin that is Sins of all sorts and sizes The greatest Sins repented of are no more without the Extent of Divine Grace and Mercy than the least Sins unrepented of are without the Cognizance of Divine Justice Esay 1.18 Though your sins be as scarlet yet shall they become as white as snow though they be red as crimson yet they shall be as wooll And can there then be found a despairing Soul in the World when the great God hath thus magnified his Grace and Mercy above all his Works yea and above all ours also Say not then O Sinner my sins are greater than can be forgiven this is to stint and limit the Grace of God which he hath made boundless and infinite and thou mayest with as much Truth and Reason say thou art greater than God as that thy Sins are greater than his Mercy Of all things in the World take heed that you be not injurious to this rich Grace to this free Love and Mercy that pardons thee even for his own sake God pardons thee for himself for his own Sake and dost thou fear O Penitent believing Soul that ever he will condemn thee for thy Sins no but as much as God and his Mercy is greater than our Sins so much more Reason will he find in himself to Pardon the Repenting Believing Sinner than he can find Reason in his Sins to condemn him Thus we see what cause of Comfort there is in this Pardoning Grace of God And thus also we have consider'd Pardon of Sin in its own Nature Of the Concomitants of Pardon of sin Secondly We shall now consider Pardon of Sin in its Concomitants and Adjuncts and so we shall take a view of those things which do inseparably accompany it and thereby also we may see how great and unspeakable a Mercy it is It is a Mercy that is never bestowed upon the Soul singly and alone but evermore comes environ'd with whole Troops and Associate-Blessings As Pardon of Sin and Acceptation go together First Pardon of Sin is always conjoyn'd with the Acceptation of our Persons Indeed these two are the twin Parts of our Justification and therefore we have them coupled together Ephes 1.6 7. He hath made us accepted in the beloved In whom we have Redemption thorow his blood even the Forgiveness of Sin The whole Mystery of our Justification stands in these two things Remission and Acceptation Remission takes away our liableness unto Death and Acceptation gives us a Right and Title unto Life for to be accepted of God in Christ is no other than for God through the Righteousness and Obedience of Christ imputed to us to own and acknowledge us as having a Right and Title unto Heaven and therefore we have mention made of Pardon and an Inheritance together as the full summ of our Justification Acts 11.18 That they may receive forgiveness of sin and an inheritance among those that are sanctified It is not therefore O Soul a bare negative Mercy that God intends thee in the Pardon of thy Sins it is not merely the removing of the Curse and the Wrath that thy sins have deserv'd though that alone can never be sufficiently admired but the same hand that plucks thee out of Hell by pardoning Grace and Mercy lifts thee up to Heaven by what it gives thee together with thy Pardon even a Right and Title to the glorious Inheritance of the Saints above Secondly Another Concomitant is this Pardoning and sanctifying Grace go together Who-ever God pardons he doth also in some measure sanctifie He subdues our sins as well as blots them out he abates their Power as well as removes their Guilt And indeed it were no better than lost labour for God to pardon sin if he did not purifie the Sinner also for were but the least Sin and Corruption left to rule and reign in us we should presently run our selves as far into Debt and Arrears as ever we were Indeed the best Christian in whom Grace is most prevailing and Corruption weakest yet even he stands daily and hourly in need of pardoning Mercy but yet withal his Sins are not of so high a Nature nor so deep a Stain as usually the Sins of wicked Men are His Sins usually are such rather for the manner of them than for the matter of them God by his pardoning Grace forgives Infirmities Failings and Defects and by his sanctifying Grace ordinarily keeps him from the commission of more gross and scandalous Sins And how then can we enough admire the rich Grace of God that not only forgives us our Debts but withal bestows a new stock upon us to keep us from running into Debt again in any great and desperate Summs Pardon of Sin and Adoption are inseparable Thirdly Pardon of sin is always conjoyn'd with our Adoption into the Family of Heaven Herein is the Love of God greatly seen not only to pardon Rebels but to make them his Children not only to forgive Debtors but to make them Heirs of his own Estate The same precious Blood that blots out our Sins writes us down Heirs of Glory and Co-heirs with Jesus Christ himself O infinite and unspeakable Mercy of God thus richly and bountiful to give as well as freely to forgive that he should thus instate us at present in his Love and Favour and hereafter instate us in his Glory This is not the
the future to shun such Snares and Intanglements as these are thy sins will be judged by God at the last Day to be wilful and presumptuous Sins for they are so if not in themselves considered yet at least in their Cause for you presumptuously run into those Occasions and Temptations whereby in all likelihood you will be overcome and this is to sin presumptuously If when we are tempted we yield without vigorous resistance we then sin presumptuously Thirdly Suppose that we are strongly tempted without the betraying of our selves to the Temptation Why then consider If you commit the Sin to which you are tempted without vigorous and resolute resistance if you do this is a certain sign you sin presumptuously Let the Temptation be never so strong and irresistible yet if you yield to it without opposition and resistance made against it to your utmost you then sin presumptuously A Child of God when he acts like himself falls fighting the Devil gets not a foot of ground upon him but by main force and strength though Principalities and Powers though the Rulers of the Darkness of this World and spiritual Wickednesses in high Places set themselves all in array against him why yet he encounters them all and wrestles with them all and though sometimes through weakness he is overcome yet he never basely yields he fights standing and he fights falling and he fights rising and therefore when he sins it is through Weakness and not through Presumption but now others though they are very bold and presumptuous against God yet they are very Cowards against their Lusts and against the Temptations of the Devil when a Temptation assaults them they dare not presume to oppose that but they dare presume to offend and provoke God himself that they dare do Believe it Sirs you must be bold and resolute either against the Devil or against the great God one of these you must grapple with chuse which you think you may best oppose and soonest conquer the Devil stands before you armed with his fiery darts God follows you armed with everlasting vengeance If you will not engage against Satan and resolutely oppose him and all his force what do you else but turn upon God and challenge him to the Combat and make him your Enemy that is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell-fire for ever Why what a most daring presumption is this that ever we should basely surrender up our selves to the Devil without striking one stroke in our own defence and yet at the same time we should dare to provoke that God that can with one look and frown sink us into the lowest Hell And thus in these Three Particulars we see when a Sin is presumptuous in respect of Temptations when it is committed without Temptations when we run into Temptations and Occasions of Sin and when we make no vigorous opposition against them To sin under eminent judgments and afflictions is to sin presumptuously In the Fifth Place another Trial is this When Men will dare to sin under eminent and remarkable Judgments and Afflictions that God brings upon them then they sin presumptuously What is this else but when God stands visibly in your way yet you will desperately run upon the thick Bosses of his Buckler he hedges up your way with thorns and yet you will break through though it be to the tearing of your Flesh he strikes at you by his Judgments and oh the Madness and Presumption of vile Dust and Ashes that they dare to strike at God again by their Sins what is this else but even to dare God to do his worst When God treads upon us should such vile Worms as we are turn the Tail and threaten to take revenge upon the Almighty This is Presumption and Boldness that God takes special notice of In 2 Chron. 28 and 22. Ahaz was brought very low says the Text and yet in the time of his distress he trespassed yet more against the Lord This is that Ahaz God sets a Mark and Brand upon him that he may be known to all posterity for a most daring Sinner that when God had brought him so low when so many Enemies waged War against him and distressed him yet even then he provoked a greater Enemy than them all and challengeth God against him This is that King Ahaz Truly may it not be said of many among us This and this is that person who when God afflicted them instead of humbling themselves under the mighty hand of God grew enraged at their Sufferings and sinned yet more and more against him Oh it is dreadful when those punishments that should break and melt us prove only to harden our hearts and to exasperate and embitter our Spirits against God What can reform us when we offend under the very smart of the Rod Hereby therefore judge of your Sins if so be God be gone out against you if he hath laid his hand heavy upon you and yet you regard it not but still persevere in your old Sins and still add new iniquities to them if instead of humility and brokenness of heart your hearts rise up against God and you are ready to say with that wicked King This Evil is of the Lord why should I wait upon the Lord any longer conclude upon it you are those desperate presumptuous Sinners that scorn to shrink for whatever God can lay upon them To encourage our selves with hopes of Mercy while we live impenitently in Sin is to sin presumptuously Sixthly and lastly When we can encourage our selves with hopes of Mercy though we live in Sin impenitently this is to sin presumptuously You that know your selves to be Sinners what is it that makes you to bear up with so much peace and confidence why do you not every moment fear lest Hell should open its mouth and swallow you up lest God should suddenly strike you dead by some remarkable Judgment lest the Devil should fetch you away alive to Torments Why do you not fear this since you know your selves to be Sinners Why truly you still hope for Mercy and it is only from this very presumption that men cry Peace Peace to themselves when yet God is at enmity with them they flatter themselves that it shall be well with them in the latter end though God swears he will not spare them but his Wrath and Jealousie shall smoke against them In Deut. 29.19 20. says God there If any Man shall encourage himself when he goes on presumptuously in the way of his own heart adding Drunkenness unto Thirst I will not spare him says God but my Wrath and my Jealousie shall smoke against him and all the Curses that are written in this Book shall fall upon him Were but Sinners truly apprehensive of their wretched Estate how they stand liable every moment to the stroke of Divine Justice how that there is nothing that interposeth betwixt them and Hell but only God's temporary forbearance of them
The best Christians proved to be prone to the worst Sins From which Words I formerly collected and shall now prosecute this proposition That in the best Christians there is great Proneness to the worst Sins In the handling of this to true a point I shall First By some demonstrations make it evident that there is a strong inclination in the best to the worst Sins and then search out the Original Cause whence it is that since in the first Creation Man's Will was left wholly free and indeterminate without any other inclination to Good or Evil besides what its Free and Arbitrary Choice made yet in the new Creation whereby Souls are repaired there should be still left in it that Biass that strongly sways it unto Evil. These Two things God assisting I shall at present do For the demonstratious of the point I shall give you them in these following particulars First From the Examples of others The Examples of others may here be a convincing Argument If I should summon in the most excellent of God's Saints a Man might wonder that Drunkenness Incest Murder and Abjuration of Christ that such Brats of Satan should ever be found in company with such an Angelical Troop as they are and yet Noah is Drunk Lot is Incestuous David Murders and Peter Abjures these glorious Stars have had their twinklings and if the Leaders and Champions are thus foiled what may we think then hath in all Ages befallen the Croud of Vulgar Christians We may with truth and boldness say Never was there a sin committed in the World how horrid soever unless the unpardonable Sin against the Holy-Ghost but God may find it written down in his Book of Remembrance under their Names whose Names he himself hath written down in the Book of Life And what shall we say when we see a Stone falling that there is no weight nor propenseness in it to fall shall we say when we see such Eminent Christians falling into sin yea even into great and gross sins that they have not strong propensions and inclinations to sin Yet O ye Saints divulge not these things to Wicked Men whisper them softly one to another with fear and trembling least some Profane Wretch or other over-hear you and take that for encouragement that was only meant for caution What is more common than for the Vilest Sinners to plead for their Excuse or warrant rather the foul Miscarriages of God's dearest Saints Thus the Drunkard looks upon Holy Noah as a Pot-Companion whereby he discovers his Nakedness in a worse sence than ever Cham did And thus the unclean Sensualist Quotes David and calls him in to be the Patron of his Debauchery certainly if there be any Grief that can overcast the perfect Joys of the Saints in Heaven it is that their Names and Examples should to the great dishonour of God be produced by wicked and sinful Men to countenance their grossest Sins and Wickednesses But let such know that though God hath set up these in his Church to be Monuments of his Mercy to declare to Humble and Penitent Sinners how great Sins he can Pardon yet if any hereupon imbolden themselves in Sin instead of being set up as Monuments of Mercy God will set them up as Pillars of Salt Secondly From those frequent Exhortations given in Scripture to Watchfulness against and Mortification of these Sins It appears that there is a strong proneness in the best to the worst Sins from those frequent and pressing Exhortations that are given us in Scripture to Watchfulness against them and to the Mortification of them Wherefore were these Curbs necessary but that God sees our Lusts are head-strong and ready to fly out and hurry us into all Excesses Nay these Exhortations are not so particularly nor with so great Emphasis given to the Wicked as they are to the Children of God Of the Wicked God saith He that will be Wicked let him be Wicked still that 's all the Care God takes of them as we use to say of them that we despair to reclaim Nay let them take their own courses But he especially warns and exhorts the Godly to beware of those Sins that one would think a Godly Man were scarce liable to commit See how Christ Cautions his Disciples Luke 21.34 Take heed to your selves says he least at any time your Hearts be overcharged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and the Cares of this Life Why would not any Man wonder that our Saviour should so solicitously warn them against Surfeiting and Drunkenness which are the Sins usually of a Plentiful Estate but what warn them against these Sins whose Poverty was such and was to be such that those that gave unto them a Cup of cold Water should receive a plentiful Reward for their pains were they in such danger to be Surfeited by the one and Drunk with the other and what they like to be choaked with the Cares of this Life and with Carking to get what they had not who had but just before renounced all that they had to follow Christ Yea but Christ knew that even in these poor abstemious Disciples there was a Natural Proneness to Gluttony and Rioting and Drunkenness and therefore he thus Exhorts them and he doth it that Grace may keep them from enclining to these Sins as their Low and Persecuted Condition should be sure to keep them from committing them So also the Apostle in Coloss 3.5 speaking to them that should certainly appear with Christ in Glory as you may see in verse 4. yet these he commands to Mortifie their Members that were upon the Earth Well but what Members are these it may be they are only vanity and inconstancy of Thoughts levity and unfixedness of Affections deadness and heaviness of Heart and such other less Sins that should they be perfectly free from they should be perfectly Holy No says the Apostle these Members are the big Limbs of the Old Man they are Fornication Vncleanness Inordinate Affections Evil Concupiscence and Covetuousness And in verse 8. he Exhorts them again to put off all these things Anger Wrath Malice Blasphemy Filthy Communication and Lying and so he goes on reckoning up foul and horrid Sins and Exhorts them to Mortifie these Sins who were to appear with Christ in Glory those who never Lived in them not at least after their Conversion is it not strange that such eminent Christians as these were should need Exhortations against such foul Sins Why there 's many a Person in a state of Nature that would count their Morals much wronged if you should be officiously importunate with them not to commit Adultery or Blasphemy not to be Covetous or Drunkards or the like this they would look upon as an Injury done to them that you should suspect such things as these are of them would not they say as Hazael did to the Prophet What are thy Servants dogs that they should do such great things as these are But the Apostle knew
shall unfold it in these following Particulars First Pardon and Remission of sin Pardon of sin an Act of God's only is no Act of ours but an Act of God's only It is nothing done by us or in us but an Act of God's free Grace meerly without us and therefore God ascribes it wholly unto himself I even I am he And when our Saviour cured the Paralytick the Scribes storm at him as a Blasphemer thou blasphemest say they to him not knowing him to be God for who say they can forgive sins but God only But be it an Act of God's only and not ours and an Act wholly without us what Comfort is there in this yes much and that upon these Grounds because God's Acts within us are always imperfect in this Life but God's Acts without us are always perfect and consummate Sanctification is a work of God's Grace within us Now this because it meets with much opposition in every Faculty from inherent sin which spreads it self over the whole Soul therefore this work is always in this Life kept low and weak But Pardon of sin is an Act without us in the breast of God himself where it meets with no opposition nor allay nor doth it increase by small degrees but is at once as perfect and intire aâ— ever it shall be I do not mean aâ— some have thought and taught That God at once pardons all the sins of true Believers as well those they do or shal commit as those that they have already committed but only That what sin God pardons he doth not pardon then gradually There is nothing left oâ— Guilt upon the Soul when God pardons it but there is something left oâ— Filth upon the Soul when God sanctifies it And therefore as it is the grief of God's Children That their inherent Holiness is so imperfect here that they are so assaulted with Temptations so dogg'd by Corruption so oppressed and almost stifled to Death by a body of sin that lies heavy upon them yet this on the other side may be for their Comfort and Encouragement That God's pardoning Grace is not as his sanctifying Grace is nor is it granted to them by the same stint and measure A sin truly repented of is not pardoned to us by halves half the Guilt remitted and half retained as the Papists fansie to establish their Doctrine of Purgatory but it is as fully pardon'd as it shall be in Heaven it self And hence it follows First Though the Guilt of sin be removed yet it is not our Repentance that removes it for then as no Man's Repentance is absolutely perfect so no Man's Sins should be fully pardon'd but still there would be remainders of Guilt left upon the Conscience as there is still a mixture of Impenitency in the best Christians But Pardon and Remission is not mingled with Guilt as Grace is with Sin because it is an Act of Mercy wrought not in our breast but arising in God's only where it meets with nothing to allay or abate it and it is infinitely more perfect than our Repentance can be Secondly Hence we may inferr Pardon of Sin more sure than our Assurance of it can be That our Pardon is infinitely more sure than our Assurance of it in our own Consciences can be satisfactory for the sense of Pardon is a work of God's Spirit within us which commonly is mixed with some Hesitations Mis-givings Doubts and Fears And therefore tho our Comforts be never so strong tho it be Spring-Tide with us yet our ground for Comfort is still much more Oh what rich and abundant Grace is this in God towards us that exceeds both our Grace and our Comfort And therefore though O Christian thy Sanctification be the best Evidence of thy Justification and Pardon yet is it not the best Measure of it for thou art justify'd and thou art pardon'd much more than thou art sanctified Sanctifying Grace in thee indeed is in its first Rudiments and Inchoation but Pardoning-Grace in thy God is consummate and perfect And that is the first thing Secondly Remission of Sin makes Sin to be as if it had never been committed Things that are forgotten are no more to us than if they had never had a being Now God tells us he forgets our sins their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Nor is there any long Tract of Time required to wear the Idea of them out of his Memory as is necessary among Men to make them forget the Wrongs and Injuries done to them by their fellow-Creatures for God forgets the sins of his Children as soon as they are repented of yea sometimes sooner than our Consciences do for many times a Christian after a heart-breaking-Repentance for some great Sin lies under the upbraidings of Conscience when God hath forgiven it yea and forgotten it also God's Officer is not so ready to acquit them as God himself is He forgets as though no Provocation or Offence had ever been committed He retains not his Anger for ever says the Prophet Micah 7.14 not for ever but so soon as ever we grow displeased with our selves he begins to be well-pleased with us no sooner doth Sorrow and Grief overspread our Faces but Favours and Smiles clear up his Face to us See this gracious Disposition of God in Jerem. 31.20 Ephraim is there brought in bewailing his sin Surely says he after I was turned I repented after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Now what doth God but presently embrace him with most tender and most melting Expressions of Love as if he had never been angry nor had any cause for it Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child since I pass against him I do earnestly remember him still my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. And therefore O Christian thou who now perhaps cryest out in the bitterness of thy Soul Oh that I had never committed this or that sin against God! Oh that I had never offended him in this or that manner Why thou hast thy Wish O Sinner herein for God when he pardons sin makes it as if it had never been committed against him Remission of Sin makes God account of us as just and righteous Thirdly hence it follows That upon Remission of Sin God no longer accounts of us as Sinners but as Just and Righteous It is true after a Pardon is received we still retain sinful Natures still Original Corruption is in us and will never totally be dis-lodged out of us in this Life but when God pardons us he looks not upon us as Sinners but as Just and Righteous A Malefactour that is discharged by satisfying the Law or by the Prince's Favour to him is no more look'd upon as a Malefactour but as Just and Righteous as if he had never offended the Law at all so is it here
manner of Men O Lord but as far as the Heavens are above the Earth so far are the Thoughts of God above our Thoughts and his Ways above our Ways And therefore as far as the East is from the West so far hath he removed our Sins from us And why so far but only that he might make room for these great and unspeakable Mercies of Justification Sanctification and Adoption to intervene And so much for the Second thing proposed namely the Concomitants and Adjuncts of Pardon of Sin Of the Effects and Consequences of Pardon of Sin Thirdly Let us now Consider Pardon of Sin in the Effects and Consequences of it and from hence also it will appear How transcendent a Mercy it is and how just a Title God hath to glory in it when he saith I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions Mercies temporal and spiritual the Blessings of this Life and the Glory of a future what-ever indeed can be called a Mercy or good thing doth acknowledge it self a retainer to this primitive and fountain-Mercy of Pardon of Sin Now in such a heap of them I shall only cull out some few that are most conspicuous Now Remission of Sin may be consider'd either as it lies in God's Eternal Intention or in the Spirit 's temporal Application of it The one is God's purpose before all time to forgive us the other is rhe execution of that purpose in time If we consider Pardon of Sin in God's Eternal purpose and intendment so there are two blessed Effects flowing from it and they are these First The sending of Jesus Christ into the World Secondly The great Gift of Faith First The sending Christ into the World the effect of God's purpose to pardon sin The sending of Jesus Christ into the World who is the cause of all happiness unto sinful Man was it self the effect of this purpose of God to pardon and forgive Sinners It is very difficult to trace out the Order of the Divine Decrees concerning the Salvation of Mankind and to pass from one of them to another as they lie ranked and methodized in God's Breast And divers that have attempted to search out these Arcana Dei this Art and Mystery of Justice and Mercy have trodden in paths different from one another and doubtless many of them differing from the Truth also I shall not stand to draw a Scheme of these Decrees of God let it now suffice us to know that God from all Eternity foreseeing the Sin and Misery which Man would by his permission and his own sin involve himself in did for the manifestation of the Riches both of his Mercy and Justice enter into Counsel how to pardon and save him This was the end of God's design even to restore again to Happiness some of Mankind even as many as he should select out of the Mass and common Rubbish of Sin and Misery and set apart for himself Well but how shall this end be accomplished and brought about Justice brandisheth its Sword in the Face of Sinners and demands as great a share of Glory in punishment as Mercy doth in pardoning and God is resolved to glorifie both of these Attributes of his in their several demands This now put him upon ransacking of the deepest Counsel that ever lodged in his Heart even of an Adored Mediatour in whom Justice receives full satisfaction and Mercy triumphs in a full Pardon and both are infinitely glorious For this end God sent down his Son from Heaven to Earth to become a Propitiation for us and so through the shedding of his Bloud to obtain remission and forgiveness of sins for us God's Mercy and his Beloved Son could not rest together in his Bosom and therefore his purpose of pardoning Sin was so efficacious that to make room for the displaying of his Mercy he sends his own Son out of Heaven never to enter again there till by his Merit and Sufferings he had procured Remission of Sins for all those that believe in him Hence the Apostle Rom. 3.26 tells us That God sent forth Christ to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Bloud to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through God's forbearance that he might be Just and the Justifier of them that believe in Jesus As if the Apostle had said God could not be Just if he should justifie Sinners that deserve his Wrath unless he had sent forth Jesus Christ into the World to become a Propitiation and Sacrifice to his Justice for their Sins For having threatned in his unalterable word to inflict vengeance upon all that are guilty his Truth obliged him to this dreadful severity upon all since all are guilty But that Christ taking on him the guilt of sinners by his own undergoing the wrath of God and the Curse of the Law hath so fully appeased Divine Justice that now God though he doth not punish Sinners in themselves can yet be Just and the Justifier of Sinners therefore he sent forth Christ to be a Propitiation God's Eternal Purpose to glorifie his Justice in the punishing sin and yet to glorifie his Grace and Mercy in pardoning Sinners wrought this great effect of sending Christ into the World whereby two such different ends might with Infinite Wisdom be accomplished So that Christ who is the cause of all our Happiness and Mercy is yet himself the effect of God's Purpose and Intent to pardon sin And what can be said more to advance the greatness of this Mercy a Mercy so great that one of the Fathers St. Gregory by Name doubted whether it were more Misery or Happiness that Adam fell since his Sin and Fall occasioned such a wonderful Redeemer and such a Glorious Salvation Foelix culpa says he O Happy Fall that obtained such a Redeemer Faith the Effect of pardoning Mercy Secondly Another blessed Effect of God's purpose in pardoning sin is the great gift of Faith Indeed to give Jesus Christ were utterly in vain did not God withal give Faith to accept him To tender Christ to an Unbeliever is to offer a Gift where there is no Hand to receive it Hence that God's purpose of giving pardon might stand valid that the Death of Christ might not be fruitless and that his Bloud might not be like Water spilt on the ground that cannot be gathered up again God decreed to bestow Faith upon them that believe that may convey to them the Benefits of Christ's Merits in their Pardon and Remission These two blessed Effects now follow in God's Purpose and Intention of pardoning sin even the Gift of Christ to procure and the Gift of Faith to apply Pardon unto the Soul Secondly And more especially Let us consider Pardon of Sin in its temporal and real Application And so the happy Effects of it are manifold I shall only instance in some at present First Pardon of sin gives security against God's Justice Pardon of Sin gives an inviolable security
and quicken it The next thing to be enquired into is how God keeps Men back from presumptuous Sins even then when their proneness to them is most violent and eager Now for satisfaction to this you must know God hath two hands whereby he holds Men back from their Sins First The strong hand of his providence Secondly The powerful hand of his Grace and sometimes God puts both these hands to it in a mixt way of Providence and Grace together these are as it were God's left hand and his right hand by the one he over-rules the actions and by the other he over-rules the hearts of Men and both almightily God by his Providence keeps Men from sin First God frequently withholds Men from the Commission of Sin by a strong hand of Providence upon them frequently he doth so and that he doth not so always is not because he is defective either in Power or Goodness whereby he should restrain them from evil but because he is Infinite in Wisdom whereby he knows how to bring good out of evil and therefore before I proceed to lay down those several ways that Providence takes to hinder the commission of sin I shall premise this That it is no taint at all to the pure Holiness of God that he doth by his Providence concur to those wickednesses of Men that if he pleased he might prevent and hinder that God doth so is clear for Providence is not so often a restraint from sin as it is a powerful temptation unto Sin it is a temptation as it administers Objects and Opportunities and as it sutes them both unto the lusts of Men thus Cain killed his Brother Abel by a Providence and Achan stole the wedge of gold Judas betrayed his Master and the Jews Crucified him by a Providence yea all that villany that ever was acted under the Sun was all brought forth out of the cursed Wombs of Mens lusts and made fruitful by God's Providences neither is it hard to conceive how God should without sin himself concur to sin in others since his most Soveraign Will being above all Law cannot possibly fall under any guilt we are obliged to keep back Men from the commission of sin when it is in our power to do it but no such obligation lies upon God though he can easily keep all wicked Men in the World from ever sinning more yea though they are so tied up that they are not able to sin without his permission and concurrence yet he permits wisely concurs holily and yet notwithstanding at last punishes justly In brief God doth whatever Man doth for as the Prophet saith he works all our works in us and for us and in him we live move and have our beings and yet in one and the same action Man sins and God is holy because Man acts contrary to that Law which God hath set him but God himself is subject to no Law besides his own Soveraign Will and where there is no Law there is no transgression as the Apostle speaks in Romans 4.15 God is not bound to hinder the commission of sin as we are and therefore when he permits nay when Providence accomplisheth it still is he holy just and good still is he righteous in all his ways and holy in all his works though he works that together with Men that makes them unrighteous and unholy this I thought fit to premise that so when you hear how many ways God is able to hinder the commission of sin by his Providence you should not suffer any undue thoughts to rise up in your hearts against his Holiness when he chuseth sometimes rather to permit and concur to the sins of Men than to hinder and forbid them who when he permits sin permits it righteously and when he hinders sin hinders it almightily Now there are four remarkable ways whereby the All-wise Providence of God hinders the commission of a sin even then when Men are most bent and eager upon it Providence prevents sin by shortning the life of the Sinner First Sometimes where his Grace doth not sanctifie the heart his Providence shortens the life of the Sinner where he doth not cleanse the Fountain yet there he removes the Foundation of a Sin that is he takes away the very life and being of the Sinner many times when wicked Men have imagined some presumptuous sin and go big with it God suddenly cuts them off from the Land of the Living and gives them no space to bring it forth unless it be in Hell among these Devils that inspired it Psal 64.6 7. says the Psalmist there they search out iniquity they accomplish a diligent search but what follows God shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded while they are thinking and contriving wickedness in their hearts in that very day they perish and their thoughts with them Thus proud Pharaoh resolves in spight of God and all his Miracles to bring back the Children of Israel to their old Bondage but before he could bring his purpose into execution God brings him to execution and so Senacherib intends the destruction of Jerusalem but before he could compass it God slays his Army and his own Children also Herod he intends a bloody Persecution against the Church but God smites him Lice devour him and eat a way into that very heart that conceived so wicked a purpose it were endless to cite instances in this particular Histories and Helâ— are full of those whom God's Providence hath cut off before they could fulfil theiâ— ungodly designs upon whom thaâ— threatning in Ecclesiastes 8.11 hath been signally verified It shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days because he feareth not before God Now this Providence God doth usually if not only exercise upon wicked Men snatching them away from their sins and yet in their sins also yea and herein he deals with them also in some kind of Mercy in that he abridges the time of his Patience to them whom he foresees will only abuse it and treasure up to themselves Wrath against the day of Wrath for hereby their account is lessened and their torments made more tolerable it had been better for Sinners that they had dropt immediatly from the Womb to the Tomb better that they had been swadled in their Winding-sheets yea shall I say it had been better for them that they had been doomed to everlasting torments as soon as they saw the Light than that God should suffer them to live Twenty Forty or Sixty Years adding iniquity to iniquity without repentance and God accordingly adding torments to torments to punish them never to be repented of O the desperate conditions that Sinners are in unless God give them repentance the sooner they are in Hell the better it will be for them and it is a Mercy if God will damn them betimes those whom God doth not endear to his Grace by changing their natures yet he indebts to his Providence