Alienation and Estrangement between God and the Soul But now Pardon of Sin removes these Obstructions and causeth the intercourse betwixt God and the Soul to pass free because it gives the Soul a Holy and yet Awful Boldness in Conversing with the Great and Terrible Majesty of God So much sence of Pardon and Reconciliation as we have so much boldness shall we have ordinarily in our Addresses to God What 's the Reason the Consciences of Wicked Men drag them before God and they come with so much Diffidence Dejectedness and Jealousie Why it is because they are Conscious to themselves of guilt that lies upon them and this makes them look on God rather under the Notion of a Judge than of a Friend or Father and this makes them perform their Duties so distrustfully as if they would not have God take any notice that they were in his Presence But when a Pardon'd sinner makes his Addresses to God he may do it with a Holy freedom the Face of his Soul looks chearfully and he Treats with God with an open Heart What ground is there now for such a Confidence as this is For poor vile Dust and Ashes to appear thus before the great God of Heaven and Earth Yes there is for Guilt is removed his Peace is made in the Bloud of Christ all Enmity is abolished all Quarrels are decided and it becomes not him to serve God with such Suspiciousness as Guilty Sinners do Hence we have that Expression of the Apostle Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near to him in full Assurance of Faith having our Hearts sprinkled from an evil Conscience That is from a Guilty and an Accusing Conscience Now when the Heart and Conscience is sprinkled with the Bloud of Christ whereby this Guilt is taken off then hath a Man good ground to draw near to God in full Assurance of Faith Fourthly Pardon of Sin lays a good ground for Peace in a Man 's own Conscience I do not say that Peace of Conscience is always an inseparable Attendant upon Pardon of Sin For doubtless there are many so unhappy as to have a Wrangling Conscience in their own Bosoms when God is at Peace with them But this is certain That Pardon of Sin lays a solid ground and Foundation for Peace in a Man 's own Conscience and were Christians but as industrious as they should be in clearing up their Evidences for Heaven they might obtain Peace whenever they are pardon'd What is there that disquiets Conscience but only Guilt nothing but the Guilt of Sin doth it this is that which rageth and stormeth in Wicked Men and is as a Tempest within their Breasts this is that unseen Scourge that draws Bloud and Groans at every Lash this is that Worm that lies perpetually gnawing at the Heart of a Sinner this is that Rack that breaks the Bones and disjoynts the Soul it self In a word Guilt is the Fuel of Hell and the Incendiary of Conscience were it not for Guilt there were not a more pleasant and peaceable thing in all the World than a Man 's own Conscience Now Pardon of Sin removes this Guilt and thereby makes Reconciliation between us and our Consciences and therefore says our Saviour Matth. 9.2 to the Paralytick Man Son be of good chear thy Sins are forgiven thee why might not some say this is an Impertinent Speech to say to one that was brought to be cured of a sad Infirmity of Body That his Sins were forgiven him whilst yet his Disease was not cured Not but our Lord Christ knew that there was infinitely more cause of Joy and Chearfulness to have Sin Pardon'd than to have Diseases cured To have all calm and serene within not to have a Frown or Wrinkle upon the Face of the Soul to have all smooth Thoughts and peaceful Affections this is some faint resemblance of Heaven it self and is never vouchsaft unto any but where Pardon and the sence of it is given to the Soul Pardon of sin takes away the Curse of every Affliction Fifthly He whose Sins are Pardon'd may rest assured that whatever Calamities or Afflictions he may lie under yet therâ— is nothing in them of a Curse or Punishment It is Guilt alone that diffusetâ— Poison through the Veins as of all ouâ— Enjoyments so of all Afflictions also and turns them all into Curses Buâ— Pardon of Sin takes away this Venome and makes them all to be Medicinaâ— Corrections good profitable and advantagious to the Soul See how God by the Prophet expresseth this Isa 33.24 The Inhabitants shall not say they are sick Why so For the People that dwell therein shall be forgiven their Iniquities When Sin is Pardon'd outward Afflictions are not worth complaining of The Inhabitants shall not say We are Sick A Disease then becomes a Medicine when Pardon hath taken away the Curse and Punishment of it God hath two ends with respect of himself for which he brings Punishments upon us the one is the Manifestation of his Holiness the other is for the satisfaction of his Justice And accordingly as any Affliction tends to either of these ends so is it properly a Punishment or barely a Fatherly Chastisement If God intends by the Afflictions he lays upon thee the satisfaction of his Justice then thy Afflictions are properly Punishments and they flow from the Curse of the Law but if the manifestation of his Holiness be all he intends by them then are they only Fatherly Corrections proceeding from Love and Mercy First Those whose sins God hath pardon'd he may afflict for the declaration of his Holiness that they may see and know what a Holy God they have to deal with who so perfectly hates sin that he will follow it with Chastisements even upon those whom his free Grace hath pardon'd Secondly God inflicts no Chastisements upon those whom he hath pardon'd for the satisfaction of his Justice and therefore they are not Curses nor properly Punishments but only Corrections and Fatherly Chastisements Christ hath satisfied the demands of Justice for their Sins and God is more just than to exact double satisfaction for the same Offence one in Christ's Punishment and another in theirs The Apostle tells us Gal. 3.13 Christ hath Redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us It is not the Evils that we suffer that makes them Curses or Punishments be they never so great but only the Ordination of these Evils to the satisfaction of Divine Justice upon us And therefore Christ in Scripture is said to be made a Curse not simply because he suffered but because he was adjudged to his Sufferings that thereby satisfaction might be made unto the Justice of God Hence therefore with what calmness and peace may a Pardoned Sinner look upon any Afflictions though they are sore and heavy tho they seem to carry much of God's Anger in them yet there is nothing of a Curse or of the nature of a Punishment the Sting was all
Christians have need of much spiritual Prudence and Sobriety that while they desire and are taken with luscious and sweet Words and Expressions they do not withal suck in poisonous and destructive Errors This shall suffice to be observed from the connexion of the Words foregoing Prove all things that is all Doctrines that are delivered to you Hold fast that which is good but abstain from that which hath but the appearance of evil in it though the Doctrines themselves that are delivered be in some Sence sound and savoury yet if they be delivered in a Sence and Expression that may be wrested aside to undue and erroneous Interpretations abstain as far as is possible from such Expressions I shall now consider the Words under a more general Latitude as they relate unto Practice as well as to Doctrine and so here the Apostle lays it down as an unerring Rule That we must not embrace any thing that hath but an appearance and no more whether that appearance be of good or of evil We must not hold fast any thing that hath but the appearance of good only and we must abstain from every thing that hath but only the appearance of evil and therefore when licentious Persons are reproved for the Vanity Looseness Strangeness and Immodesty of their Garbs and Attire that possibly more disguiseth than adorneth them and other Symptoms of a vain and frothy Mind they think presently to cover their Nakedness with such Fig-leaves as these What Evil is there in these things Can you prove them sinful If you can we will forbear the use of them if you cannot forbear you to reprove them What if they could not be proved to be in themselves sinful yet have they not the shew the face and the appearance of Evil So judge all serious and sober Christians and your selves also possibly may so judge sometimes Therefore dispute not the Lawfulness or the Unlawfulness of these things in themselves if they have but the shew and the likeness of Evil in them they are to be abstained absolutely from And truly considering that great Carelesness and want of Circumspection that is even among Professors themselves who if they can but keep themselves from that which is intrinsically in it self sinful make no scruple of venturing upon the borders and edges of Sin I thought it therefore very necessary to open this Phrase and Exhortation of the Apostle unto you which I shall endeavour to do in the prosecution of this plain Proposition Doctrine That a truly Conscientious Christian ought carefully to avoid not only the Commission but also the very Appearance of Evil. Abstain from all Appearance of Evil. This Point is indeed full of Niceness Difficulty and truly when the most is said of it that can be we must stand very much to the Judgment of Christian Prudence and Christian Charity for our chief Resolution in it of Christian Prudence to know when an Action hath the Appearance of Evil in it and when not and of Christian Charity to shun whatever may scandalize others though we do not defile our selves It is a Point hardly limited to such Bounds but in some places there will be a failing yet that I may afford you some Light in the Knowledge of a Duty so necessary as this is I shall First Lay down some Distinctions concerning the Appearance of Evil and from them Secondly Lay down some Positions whereby it may be cleared how far forth we stand obliged to avoid even the very Appearance of Evil. Thirdly Some Demonstrations whereby it may appear how necessary and requisite this Duty of avoiding of the Appearance of Evil is I will begin with some Distinctions of the Appearance of Evil And First An Appearance of Evil may be either altogether groundless or else it may be built upon good Grounds and upon probable Presumptions Secondly That which hath only a groundless Appearance of Evil it may so appear either to our selves or to the Consciences of others Thirdly We must also consider whether this Action that appears to be evil be a necessary Action and Duty in it self or only free and indifferent and lest to our own free Choice Now from these Distinctions I shall lay down several Positions concerning the Limitation of our Obligation to abstain from all Appearance of Evil. First We ought in no Case whatsoever to do that which hath an appearance of Evil in it if that appearance be grounded upon a probable Presumption Now to explain this An Action then carries in it a probable Presumption of being evil either First When ordinarily it proves an occasion of Evil such Actions there be that are in themselves possibly lawful but yet they prove occasions of Sin to most that venture upon them because hereby many times they are brought within the Verge and Compass of a Temptation which Temptation overcomes them It was not simply unlawful in it self for Achan to look upon the Babylonish Garment and the Wedge of Gold but yet hereby the Devil got an Advantage upon him and made that an occasion to stir up his Covetousness and therefore because it was probably to be feared and presumed that this might be an occasion of Sin to him therefore he ought to have refrained even his very Eyes from looking upon them Secondly When an Action is ordinarily done to an evil End then it hath in it the appearance of Evil grounded upon a probable Presumption Thus to enter silently into another Man's House in the dead of the night carries in it a presumption of Theft And to enter into the Temples of Idols at the time of Idolatrous Worship carries in it a presumption of Idolatry and so our Intimacy Familiarity and Friendship with those that are wicked is a grounded presumption that we are like them and that we do as they do And the reason of this is because when we do those Actions that commonly tend to a bad and sinful end it is an ill sign that we intend the end it self to which those Actions lead Now from every such Appearance of Evil we ought in all Cases to abstain and that for these Two following Reasons First Because all such Appearances of Evil always prove Scandals unto others A Scandal is twofold either the Scandal of Sin or the Scandal of Sorrow Now this venturing upon the presumed Appearance of Evil proves a Scandal in both respects it proves a Scandal of Sin to the weak and it proves a Scandal of Sorrow to the strong First It proves a Scandal of Sin to the weak Then are we said to give a a Scandal of Sin when we do any thing that tends naturally to bring others into the commission of Sin but now the very appearance of Sin in us may lead others to the practice of Sin when a weak Christian sees us run into those things that are Occasions of Sin he also thinks he may lawfully venture as far as we do and he venturing because possibly he is weaker than
he intends to sin and therefore by crossing an erroneous Conscience though possibly he doth well in the Action yet he sins in Intention since he doth that that he himself thinks doth cross the Rule by which he should walk Secondly Another Reason is this because by acting contrary to Conscience though mis-informed and erroneous we do contemn the Authority and Will of God and therefore it is Sin We are all to guide our Consciences by the Word that is God's written Will and we are all to guide our Lives by our Consciences No man thinks his Conscience to be erroneous but thinks it to be according to the Will of God Now if we do not act accordingly we sin as much as if indeed it were informed according to the Will of God Conscience is God's Deputy and Vice-gerent in the Soul and what Conscience saith we think it is God that commands whether it be or not and to act contrary to it is vertually and implicitely to disobey God because we think what Conscience speaks God speaks and therefore it is very sad to fall under the entanglements of an erroneous Conscience for then we are under a sad necessity of sinning on both hands if we act according to it we sin and if we act not according to it we sin We should therefore above all things heartily beg and desire of God who is the Lord of Conscience that he would rightly inform our Consciences in those things that are our Duties that so by guiding our Lives by our Consciences we may guide them also according to his Will These Three Positions now respect those things that appear evil to our selves but then there are other Things that have a good Appearance unto us that yet may have an evil Appearance to others they may scruple and be offended at what we do though for our own parts we our selves are sufficiently satisfied in the Lawfulness of it And indeed our Times what through different Customs and Interests have brought Men's Consciences also to such different sizes that it is utterly impossible but some will condemn what others allow as lawful yea what others not only allow but stiffly maintain to be necessary and our Duty How then should we behave our selves in this Case What Rules must we walk by so as to keep Consciences void of offence not only to God but as far as is possible towards Men also In this if any thing that belongs to Christianity there lies a great deal of difficulty to state the Case aright or aright to practise it and the Difficulty is increased from these two Considerations which I shall lay down as general Premises to the following Discourse First If we give no power to the scrupulous Judgments of weak and tender Consciences to oblige us to Duty to abstain from what appears evil to them then we shall sin evidently against the Law of Charity and against many Apostolical Injunctions and Commands that we should have respect to their Opinions and Censures especially in Rom. 14. and in 1 Cor. chap. 8 10. almost throughout Indeed there is scarce any one thing belonging to Christianity that hath more Rules and Prescripts oftner prescribed by the Apostle to us than this of abstaining from offending the weak Consciences of others Secondly If we make other Mens Consciences the Rule of ours and if we lay down this for a Maxim That we ought to do nothing that appears evil to another This First would be utterly impossible since Men are of such contrary Perswasions that if the doing of an Action appear evil to one the omission thereof appears as evil to another so that unless we can at once both do it and not do it some will unavoidably take offence at it and be scandalized at us Secondly This would abridge yea utterly destroy all Christian Liberty in things indifferent because if nothing should be lawful that another scruples then almost every thing would become sinful since almost every thing is scrupled by some or other In vain therefore is it to reckon it as our Priviledge that we are freed from the Old Ceremonial Law and that heavy Yoke of Ordinances that none were able to bear if yet Christian Religion brings our Consciences under the most imperious Laws of mens Humours Censures and Opinions it were far easier to abserve all the Levitical Law from one end of it to the other than to be bound to those worldly Rudiments as the Apostle calls them in Col. 2. Touch not taste not handle not wear not speak not if such a Person be offended at it and count it unlawful Now from the consideration of these Two Particulars I shall lay down this Fourth Position concerning Abstinence from the Appearance of Evil in respect of others and that is if the Appearance of Evil is to others and not to our selves then in some Cases we are bound in Duty and Conscience to abstain from it and in others not Whatever hath the Shew or Appearance of Evil in it it must either be commanded and so it is necessary or else it is left indifferent and arbitrary and accordingly we may take these following Rules First If so be those things that appear evil only to others either are in themselves or at least they appear to us to be commanded and so necessary we are bound not to regard yea we are bound to despise and scorn the Scruples of all the World if they will be offended at us for doing of that which is our duty let them be offended we may in this case use the same Plea that the Apostles did Acts 4.19 Whether it be right before the Lord to obey Men rather than God judge ye To perform a Duty can be but a Scandal to men at the most and those also usually of the prophaner sort but to omit a Duty for fear of Scandalizing men is a Scandal and an Offence even unto God himself It is most preposterous Charity to run upon Sin in our selves only to prevent Scandal in others Though all the World censure Holiness and Strictness of Life to be only a soure and rigid humour and an affectation of Singularity yet must we not upon any pretence of gratifying their humour or winning upon them remit the least part of that severity that the Law of God and our Consciences require from us But what if suppose as too often it happens that this strictness and holy severity proves to be an occasion of Sin unto others accidentally what must we do in that case What is it that makes so many hate Religion and scoff at the Professors thereof but only their Lives are too morose and reserved Duties are too frequent and tedious so that some laugh and mock others storm and rage and all are frighted from the embracing of that Profession that requires so much Rigour and Severity Why be it so yet we must not abate any thing of our Duty nor sin our selves to keep others from sinning Is it your duty
Monsters rather that boast of such things as make them more like Devils than Men and yet even to this height of profligate impudence will presumptuous sins lead you but let all such know God is resolved to try the foreheads of these Men at the last and great day of Judgment and in despight of all their swaggering and boldness shame and everlasting confusion shall cover their Faces as impudent as they are now Thirdly Consider this what a fearful thing it will be if God should cut off such Men in the very act of some presumptuous sin without affording them any time and space of repentance and have they any security that God will not what promise have they that God will forbear them one moment longer nay they have been often told that God will make a speedy end with them that he will take them away as with a Whirlwind living and in his wrath as it is in Psalm 57.9 and therefore he strikes not without giving them warning enough though he strikes suddenly God hath two chief Attributes that he especially â—ims to glorifie in all his transactions with Men his Mercy and his Justice these are the two great hinges upon which all the frame of his Providence moves the mighty affairs of Eternal Election and Reprobation were first agitated out of design to magnifie Mercy and Justice and all temporal concernments are governed in such a way as may most advance these two Attributes of Mercy and Justice why now Mercy hath already had a large share of glory in forbearing after so many provocations in waiting so long to be gracious staying year after year expecting your Repentance and if you contemn the Riches of God's Grace and Mercy still have you not Reason to fear it will be the Turn of Justice to deal with you next And believe it the commission of presumptuous Sins gives God a fair Opportunity to glorifie his Justice upon you to the utmost and why should you think God will lose such an Advantage All the World must needs fall down and with trembling adore the just severity of God when they see a notorious Sinner cut off in the very act of some notorious and presumptuous wickedness in Deuteron 17.12 13 when a presumptuous Sinner is punished says God all the People shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously and if so much glory will accrew to God by destroying you why then should he spare you one moment longer than your next sin this is the best use he can make of presumptuous Sinners even to set them up as examples and monuments of his wrath and vengeance to terrifie others and why should you think then since his Mercy hath been glorified already to you in waiting and forbearing so long that he will not upon the next sin you commit glorifie his Justice also it may be God hath begun to deal thus already with some of you in the very midst of your sins hath not the hand writing of some remarkable judgment appeared against you hath not God smitten some of you in your Persons in your Estates or in your Relations well take Christ's counsel sin no more least a worst thing befal â—ou least the next provocation he strike you through and sink you to Hell Oh consider what a fearful thing it is while your Souls are all on flame in the commission of sin then for God to hurl them down into everlasting and unâ—uenchable fire as he may take just occasion and advantage to do for the glorifying of his Justice Fourthly Consider this It is hard to bring presumptuous Sinners to Repentance It is very hard to bring presumptuous Sinners to reformation and repentance the first step to evangelical sorrow is legal terrour which the Spirit of God works by convincing the Sinner of judgment and wrath to come but now tell a presumptuous Sinner what judgment and wrath â—s due to him that it is impossible for him to escape the vengeance of God that justice will over-take him read to him all the curses contained in the Book of God and tell him that they are all entailed upon his sin this moves him not he knew and considered all this before a presumptuous Sinner must be a knowing Sinner he knows what Hell is as well as ever any Man did that hath not felt it he knows what a precious Soul he destroys how glorious a Heaven he forfeits what dreadful condemnation he exposeth himself to he knows all this and yet he sins and though this were enough one would think to daunt a Devil yet he breaks through all this knowledge to his own lusts again the Apostle speaks of such in Romans 1.32 who knows the Judgments of God that they that commit such things are worthy of death yet presumptuously continue in the commission of such sins now what hope is there of reforming and reclaiming such as these are that sin after they have cast up their accounts what it will cost them certainly they that dare sin when they see Hell before them there is no hope that they will leave sinning till they see Hell flaming round about them and themselves in the midst of it Now then though these presumptuous Sins being in their nature and aggravations so hainous yet are the best Christians exceeding prone to commit them When the Sea is tempestuous did we only stand safe upon the shoar it were enough to behold the woful Shipwracks of others with that horror and commiseration that such a spectacle deserves but when we are tossed in the same tempest and see some split against Rocks and others swallowed up of quick sands unto which naturally the stream strongly carries us also truly then our pity and detestation of their dangers our horrour and consternation of their ruin is not sufficient without great care and diligence for our own security and preservation Therefore O Christians look to your selves the glorified Saints in Heaven see the dangers they have escaped with praise and the dangers others fall into with pity but thou O Christian art not yet got to shore still thou sailest upon the same Sea wherein most do perish even the raging Sea of Corruption which is yet made more raging by the storms of temptation and if thou seest many that are bound Heaven-ward make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience it is not enough for thee to slight their dangers or to censure and pity their miscarriages but fear thou also least the same corruptions and temptations overwhelm and drown thee in the same Perdition this is the Apostle's caution 1 Cor. 10.12 Let him that thinks he stands take heed least he fall and in Rom. 11.20 Thou standest by Faith be not high-minded but fear And indeed because of that violent inclination that is in all unto Sin there is no state in this Life so perfect as to make this Exhortation useless and unseasonable David himself Prays for restraining Grace Keep back thy Servant from presumptuous Sins
a Vessel that is full of new Liquor upon the least Vent given works over into foam and froth so truly our hearts almost upon every slight trivial Temptation makes that inbred Corruption that lodgeth there swell and boil and run over into abundance of Scum and Filth in our Lives and Conversations Have we not great cause therefore to be jealous and suspicious of our selves and to keep a watchful eye over all the motions of those Bosom-Traitors our own hearts He that trusteth to his own heart says Solomon is a Fool Prov. 28.25 Certainly it were the greatest Folly in the World to trust our Hearts after so frequent experience of their Treachery and Slipperiness venture them not therefore upon Temptations What Security have you that your sinful Hearts will not sin yea and it may be betray you into such great Abominations as you cannot now think of without horrour as Men presume upon the Mercy of God to pardon their lesser Sins so they presume also upon their own strength to preserve them from greater Sins they say of small Sins is it not a little one and our Souls shall live And they say of great Sins is it not a great one and our Souls shall never commit it Alas how know you but if once you lay your head in the Lap of a Temptation these Philistines will be upon you and you like Samson think to go and shake your selves as at other times but alas your great strength is departed from you and you left a Prey to the foulest and worsâ— of Sins whatsoever And thus now you have seen in David's Prayer the besâ— Saints proneness to the worst Sins The next Thing observable is The best Saints Weakness and Inability to preserve themselves without the assistance of Divine Grace and both these namely their proneness to commit Sin and their weakness to resist it are evident Demonstrations of the general Proposition the Almighty Grace of God is their best yea and their only Security Now as the Bottom and Foundation of this present Exercise I shall lay down this Point to be treated of Doct. That it is not a Christians own but God's Power only that can preserve him from the Commission of the most daring and presumptuous Sins Advantages that men have to keep themselves from presumptuous Sins And yet truly if any Sins are easie to be resisted and overcome they are the Sins of the grosser sort for many times it is with Sins as with over-grown Bodies the vaster the Bulk of them is the less is their force and activity The Soul hath great advantage to lay hold on great Sins and to keep them off at Arms length when less Sins flip in and seize upon the heart unperceivably For First Presumptuous Sins give warning to prepare for resistance Great and presumptuous Sins seldom make an assault upon the Soul but they give warning before-hand to prepare for resistance The Stratagems of War if they are but discovered they usually prove unsuccessful as strong Liquors taking vent lose their strength and spirits so is it in this holy War also the Soul may easily foresee gross Sins and therefore may more easily avoid them If a Man feels in himself sinful Thoughts stirring and sinful Desires strugling hereupon an Assault is made and the Devil hereby gives us warning what Sins we should especially watch against Are they lascivious Thoughts Beware of Vncleanness Are they wrathful Thoughts Beware of Murther Are they murmuring thoughts Beware of Blasphemy Are they worldly Thoughts and Desires Beware of Oppression and Injustice Thus these Giant-like Sins stand forth in view and send open defiance to the Soul and bid it prepare for the Combat sinful thoughts and sinful desires go before as Armour-bearers use to go before their Champions and proclaim what great Lust is about to make an Assault upon the Soul Now such fore-warnings as these are is a great advantage that we have to repel and subdue them Job 34.32 That which I see not teach thou me And what follows Why If I have done iniquity I will do so no more When a man sees his Enemy before him this is a mighty advantage either to avoid or to conquer This Advantage now we have not against smaller Sins we cannot so easily escape sins of Ignorance because we cannot see them nor yet the Sins of our Thoughts and Desires because we cannot foresee them Who of us all knows what Thoughts will next bubble up in our Hearts whether holy and gracious or whether sinful and prophane These strike without warning and as an Enemy within rise up in the midst of our Hearts unseen Sins are of two sorts either such by which we are tempted or such to which we are tempted The Devil makes use of one Sin to tempt to another of a less to tempt to a greater â—hus wicked Thoughts are at once sins â—n themselves and also temptations unâ—o wicked Actions Now it is very hard â—nd the best Christians find it so to keep â—hemselves free from sinful Thoughts â—ecause these spring up immediately in â—he Heart without any foregoing Temâ—tations to them but while the Devil â— tempting us to sinful Actions by sinful Thoughts then the Soul hath leisure to â—ecollect it self to muster up all its â—races to set its Guards to call in Diâ—ine Help and Assistance and upon â—hese Preparations it may more easily â—esist the Sin and overcome the Tempâ—tion and that 's one great Advantage â—e have to keep our selves from preâ—mptuous Sins Secondly Natural Conscience opposeth the commission of presumptuous Sins Natural Conscience also abâ—rs more and doth more oppose these â—trageous presumptuous Sins than it â—oth those Sins that it judgeth proceed â—ly from weakness and infirmity and this so gives us a mighty Advantage to keep â—r selves from them Little Sins do not â—uch disturb the peace and quietness of Man's Conscience and therefore the â—postle speaks of himself before his Conversion in Acts 23.1 I have lived says he in all good Conscience before God until this very day And so in Phil. 3.6 Touching the Law says he speaking oâ— himself before his Conversion I waâ— blameless How could that be What blameless and unconverted and in state of Nature Yes he was not guilty of notorious scandalous Sins and aâ— for lesser Faults his Conscience over look'd them and never blam'd him foâ— them and so truly is it with many moral Man his Conscience hath not word to say against all their small anâ— petty Sins let their Hearts be sensuaâ— and their Thoughts vain and their Diâ—course unsavoury and their Lives unprofitable yet still Conscience and the live very friendly together But let thâ— Devil tempt such a sober Sinner as thâ— is to Murther or Adultery or Drunkenness or some such branded Impiety Conscience then flings Fire-brands anâ— storms and cries out with Hazaeâ— What is thy Servant a Dog that he shouâ— do such things as these are As Subjecâ— pay to their
is one and the same faculty bandying against it self and the reason of this is because a Child of God hath two Principles in every single faculty there is in him a mixture of Flesh and Spirit a carnal part that sides with sin and a spiritual part that always contradicts and opposeth it and these two are spread over his whole Soul and are mingled with every power and faculty thereof so that he can neither do the evil nor do the good that he would do without contradiction strife and reluctancy now try your selves by this when you are tempted to sin what is it that resists it Is it your Will or is it only your Conscience are you only frighted from it doth the fear of Hell overcome the love of sin why all this may be from a mere restraint in those who are altogether unacquainted with the power of sanctifying Grace this is the symptom and Character of a gracious Soul that when it is most inclinable unto sin yet at the same time is most averse from it when it most wisheth the accomplishment of sin yet even then it strongly wishes the subduing and mortifying of that sin I know this appears a Riddle and a strange Paradox to wicked Men but those who have any true sense of the work of Grace upon their own hearts know it to be a truth and rejoyce in the experiences that they have of it Fourthly and lastly Restraining and sanctifying Grace differ in the motives and arguments that they make use of for the resisting of sin there are two general Topicks or common places whence all arguments against sin are drawn and those are the Law and the Gospel both of these administer such weapons that if rightly used are very effectual for the beating down of sin and commonly restraining Grace useth those only that are borrowed from the Law it urgeth the command it thunders the curse it brandisheth the sword of Justice and makes reports of nothing but Hell and eternal Damnation and such like arguments that scare Men from the committing of their sins though still they love them now sanctifying Grace though it also makes a most profitable use of these very arguments yet it chiefly useth more mild and more ingenious motives drawn from the love of God from the Death of Christ from the comforts of the Holy Ghost and these though they strike softer yet they wound deeper now hereby also you may give a guess whether your abstaining from sin be merely from restraining or from sanctifying Grace observe what weapons you use What considerations do over-awe your hearts Are they such as are drawn only from the Law and the sad reflections of the end and issue of sin That it brings Shame and Death and Hell must you run down to Hell every time a temptation comes to fetch arguments thence to oppose against your corruptions can you no where else quench the fiery Darts of the Devil unless it be in that Lake of Fire if this be all though this too is well yet know if it be all this is no more than what restraint and common Grace may perform it is the proper character of restraining Grace to keep Men back from the commission of sin only by dread and fear of punishment but now sanctifying Grace that especially betakes it self to Gospel Arguments and considers how disingenious it is to sin against a reconciled and a gracious Father against a crucified and a bleeding Saviour against a patient and long suffering Spirit and heaps up many such like ingenious arguments that work kindly upon the heart he leads every temptation to the Cross of Christ and there shews it his Saviour hanging and bleeding and can I commit this sin that hath drawn so much blood from my Saviour to expiate it and would draw so much blood from my Conscience to perpetrate it did he die to free me from the condemnation of it and shall I wilfully rush into the commission of it no O Lord thy love withholds me I cannot do this thing and sin against so rich so free and infinite Mercy and Goodness that thou dayly extendest towards me Thus true Grace usually teacheth a Child of God to argue against his sins and this keeps him from the commission of those sins that others rising up against them only from the terrors and threatnings of the Law and other such dreadful considerations fall into notwithstanding a Wooll-pack sooner damps a bullet than a Stone-wall and truly sofâ— arguments taken from the Gospel from the love of God from the death oâ— Christ from the patience and long suffering of the Spirit these soft arguments sooner damp a temptation and resist a corruption than more rigid and severe ones will when alone used by themselves Now having thus in general shewed you the difference betwixt sanctifying and restraining Grace I shall now descend to more particular considerations of those ways and methods that God useth in keeping Men back from Sin by his special and sanctifying Grace and here I shall premise this That whatever Sin God doth I mean by his sanctifying Grace prevent his own Children from the commission of he doth it by exciting the inward Principle of Grace to the actual use and exercise of it there is a two-fold Grace always necessary to keep the best Christians from Sin Habitual and Exciting Grace and God makes use of the one to quicken and stir up the other he makes use of exciting Grace to quicken habitual Grace that else would lie sluggish and dormant in the Soul Habitual Grace that denominates the Soul alive unto God but yet it is no otherwise alive than a Man in a Swoon is it is exciting Grace that alone can enable it to perform the Functions and Offices of Life in the deepest Winter there is life in the seed that lies buried under ground but yet it acts not till the Sun's influence draws it forth and then it heaves and shoves away the Earth that covered it and spreads it self into the beauties of a Flower So is it here inherent habitual Grace is an immortal seed and it is but a seed till the influences of the approaching and exciting Grace of God awaken it and chafe it's benumbed vertue and then it stirs and thrusts away all that dung and filth of corruptions under which it lay buried and then it flows forth into actual Grace habitual and exciting Grace must both concurr to the producing of actual Grace as necessarily as there must be the concurrence both of the heat of the Sun and of life in the seed to produce a Flower now by God's exciting inherent habitual Grace in the Soul he keeps Men from sinning two ways First by prevention and secondly by suppression of Sin First hereby he prevents and excludes those Sins that werâ— we not employed in the exercise of Gracâ— we would commit when the Soul is constantly employed in holy and spirituaâ— affairs Sin hath then neither room noâ— opportunity to put
they who thus argue and who thus act never knew what a sweet and powerful Attractiveness there is in the sense of pardoning Grace and Love to win over the Heart from the practice of those sins that God hath forgot to punish Pardoning Grace engageth to Love God Secondly This should engage us to Love that God who so loved us as freely for his own sake to forgive us such vast Debts and such multiplied sins This is the import of that Speech of our Saviour he loveth most to whom most is forgiven him And hence it is and you may commonly observe it That none are such great Lovers and Admirers of free Grace as those who before Conversion were the vilest and most flagitious Sinners Thirdly Pardoning Grace should teach us to forgive others Since God doth so freely pardon us let this teach us and prevail with us to pardon and forgive the offence of others This is that the Scripture doth urge as the most natural Inference of this Doctrine of God's pardoning Grace Thus the Apostle Ephes 4.32 Be ye kind to one another tender-hearted forgiving one another as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you And say not as ignorant People are wont to do I will forgive but I will never forget for God doth forgive and forget too I will blot out your transgressions and I will remember your sins no more Your sins against God are Talents others Offences against you are but Pence and if for every trivial Provocation you are ready to take your Brother by the Throat and wreak your wrath and revenge upon him may you not fear lest your Lord and Master to whom you stand deeply indebted should also deal so with you for far greater Crimes than others can be guilty of against you and cast you into Prison until you have paid the utmost most Farthing especially considering that you pray for the forgiveness of your own sins as you do proportionably forgive the sins of others Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us And thus I have opened and demonstrated unto you the former part of the Doctrine That the Grace of God whereby he blots out and forgives sin is absolutely free I am now in the next place to prove that it is infinitely glorious Now this I shall endeavour to do by considering pardon of sin in the Nature of it in the Concomitants of it and in the Effects and Consequences of it From all which it will appear both how great a Mercy it is to us and how great a Glory it is to God that he blots out and forgets sin And First Let us consider the nature of pardon of sin what it is And this we cannot better discover than by looking into the Nature of sin Sin therefore as the Apostle describes it is a Transgression of the Law Now to the Validity of any Law there are Penalties literally expressed or tacitly implyed which are altogether necessary The guilt contracted by the transgressing of the Law is nothing but our liableness to undergo the Penalty threatned in the Law and this guilt it is two-fold the one is intrinsical and necessary and that is the desert of punishment which sin carries always in it The other is extrinsical and adventitious by which sin is ordained to be punished These two things are in every sin Every sin deserves Death and God hath in his Law ordain'd and threatned to inflict Death for it Question Now it being clear That Pardon and Remission of Sin is nothing but the removal of the guilt of sin the Question is Whether it removes that guilt that consists in the desert of punishment or that which consists in the voluntary appointment of it unto punishment or both Answer To this I Answer Pardon of sin doth not remove the intrinsical desert of punishment but only the adventitious appointment and ordination of it unto punishment flowing from the Will of God who hath in his own Law threatned to punish sin Remission doth not make that the sins even of Believers themselves should not deserve Death for a liableness to the penalty of the Law in this sence is a necessary consequent upon the Transgression of the Law But because God in the Covenant of Grace hath promised not to reward his Penitent Servants according to the evil of their doings therefore Pardoning Grace removes this guilt of sin arising from God's Ordination of it unto punishment As now suppose a Traytour should accept of the proffer of a Pardon the guilt of his Treason ceaseth not in the inward nature of it but still he deserves to be punished but this Obnoxiousness of his through the Prince's Favour and Appointment is taken away and so that guilt ceaseth So the Repenting Sinner every sin he commits deserves Death but upon his believing in the Lord Jesus Christ this liableness unto Death ceaseth being graciously remitted to them by God Now the Scripture sets forth this Pardon of sin in very sweet and full Expressions It is called a covering of sin Psal 32.1 Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered Though our covering of our sins is no Security from the inspection of God's Eye who clearly beholds the most hidden and secret things of Darkness yet certainly those sins that God himself hath covered from himself he will never again look into so as to punish for them Nay yet farther as a ground of Comfort Pardon of sin is not only called a covering of our sins from God's sight but a covering of God's Face and Sight from them so we have it Psal 51.9 Hide thy face from my sins and blot out mine iniquities It is a casting of our sins behind God's back as a thing that shall never more be regarded or look'd upon so it is expressed to us Isaiah 38.17 Thou hast in love to my soul says good Hezekiah when a Message of Death was brought to him by the Prophet cast all my sins behind thy back It is a casting of them into the depth of the Sea from whence they shall never more arise either in this World to terrifie our Consciences or in the World to come to condemn our Souls so we have it in Micah 1.19 I will cast all their Iniquities says God into the depth of the Sea It is a scattering of them as a thick cloud so it is called Esay 44.22 I will scatter their sins as a cloud and their iniquities as a thick cloud And in the Text it is called a blotting out and a forgetting of sin I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins a blotting out to shew That God will never read his Debt-Book against us and a forgetting it That we may not fear that God will accuse us without-book Now these and such like Expressions with which the Scripture doth abound do very much illustrate the Mercy of God in pardoning of sin and I
against the pursuits of avenging Justice This is its formal and most immediate Effect Justice follows guilty Sinners close at the Heels and shakes its flaming Sword over their Heads every Threatning contained in this Book of God stands ready charged against them and their Sins make them so fair a Mark that they cannot be missed Hence is that sad Complaint of Job Why hast thou set me up as a Mark Into which he emptied his Arrows as into his Reins Job 7.20 Now while Justice is driving the Sinner before him from Plague to Plague resolving never to stop till he hath driven him into Hell the great Assembly and Meeting of all Plagues Mercy interposeth and lays its Arrest upon it and this Gracious Act of Pardon rescues us though under the hands of the Executioner and we ready to be turned into Hell Here the Challenge that Justice makes to us ceaseth and we are left to walk safely under the protection of Mercy For when God issues out a Pardon he calls off Justice from its pursuit Thus you have the Psalmist thankfully acknowledging Psalm 85.2 Thou hast forgiven our Iniquities and what follows now Thou hast taken away all thy Wrath thou hast turned thy self from the fierceness of thine Anger Nor is it to be feared O Soul that thou shalt evermore be questioned for those sins that are once forgiven thee God's Acts of Oblivion can never be repealed No God sets an everlasting Sanction upon them and Justice shall never again molest thee Jeremiah 34. I will forgive their iniquities and will remember their sins no more And indeed well may Divine Justice cease its pursuit of the guilty sinner for always when God pardons a sinner he turns his pursuit after Christ and satisfies all his just demands upon him for though we are the Principals in the Debt yet our Surety who stands bound for us in the Covenant of Redemption is far the more able and absolving Person Now is not this an unspeakable mercy that Justice and Vengeance the heavy stroaks of which many thousand Wretches lie under and which thy sins have provoked and armed against thy own Soul that might every sin thou committest that is every moment of thy Life strike thee Dead in the place in the dread of which if thou hast any tenderness of Conscience left in thee thou must needs live in continual fearful expectations of this Wrath of God to destroy thee as his Enemy Is it not now Infinite Mercy that God should call in the Commission given to his Justice that Mercy might secure thee from it What is this but the effect of Pardoning Grace that gives this destroyer charge to pass over all those upon whose Consciences the Bloud of Christ is sprinkled for the removal of their guilt Peace and Reconciliation an Effect of pardon of sin Secondly Another Blessed Effect of Pardon of Sin is Peace and Reconciliation with God And what happiness can there be greater than when the Quarrel betwixt Heaven and Earth betwixt God and the Sinner is taken up and compounded Open Wars have been long proclaimed and long maintained on either part ever since the first great Rebellion Man hath stood in defiance with and exercised great Hostility against his Creatour and God on the other hand hath thundred out whole Peals of Curses against these Rebels and hath slain whole Generations of them eternally Dead upon the place God hath still maintain'd his Cause with Victory and Man his with Obstinacy and this War would never cease did not God proclaim Pardon and Forgiveness to all that will lay down their Arms and submit Now hereupon Peace is concluded fully for first God's pardoning Sinners manifests himself to be fully reconciled to them so the Apostle tells us Rom. 5.1 Being Justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. God is a sworn Enemy to all guilty sinners himself hath affixed this Title to the rest of his Name That he will by no means clear the guilty Guilt hath a malign influence not only on our Consciences to discompose them with Terrours and Affrightments but on God's Countenance also to ruffle it into Frowns and Displeasure Now when God pardons sin he wipes away this over-casting Cloud and the cause of Enmity being removed his Face and Favour clears up to us And then Secondly Pardon of Sin is a strong Inducement to us to lay down the Weapons of our Warfare and be at peace with God What Argument can be more prevailing where there is any Principle of Ingenuity When God thus proclaims Peace shall I continue War He Pardons and shall I Rebel He is Reconciled and shall I be Implacable Shall I persist in those sins which he forgives No far be it from me I submit to that God whose rich Grace conquers by condescending as well as his Power by crushing And thus the Soul lays down its Weapons at the Feet of God and humbly embraceth the terms of Agreement propounded by him in the Gospel Pardon of sin lays a good foundation for Acquaintance and Communion with God Thirdly Pardon of Sin lays a good Foundation for the Souls near Acquaintance and Communion with God Guilt is the only thing that breeds Alienation Your Iniquities says the Prophet have separated betwixt you and your God Isa 59.2 Nor indeed is it possible that a guilty Sinner should any more delight in Conversing with God than a guilty Malefactour delights in the presence of his Judge And therefore we see when Adam had contracted guilt upon himself by eating the Forbidden Fruit how childishly and foolishly doth he behave himself God calls him and he runs behind a Tree to hide himself what a suddain change was here Adam who but a little before was his Creator's Familiar now dreads and shuns him his guilt makes him apprehend God's Call to be no other than a Summons to the Bar. Nor indeed can it be otherwise but that guilt should produce Alienation betwixt God and the Soul for look how distance grows between two familiar Friends so doth it here If a Man be Conscious to himself that he hath done his Friend an Injury what Influence hath this upon him why presently it makes him more shy and reserved to him than before So is it here Consciousness of guilt fills us with a troublesome ill-natur'd shame we are ashamed to look God in the Face whom we have so much wronged by our sins And Secondly this shame is always joyned with a slavish and base fear of God lest he should Revenge himself upon us for the Injuries that we have done to him and both this Shame and Fear takes off from that holy freedom and boldness which reverently to use towards God is the gust and Spirit of our Communion and Fellowship with him and all these lessen that sweet Delight in God that formerly we relisht in the Intimacy of this Heavenly Fellowship And what can be the final product of all this but a most sad