Sinners that will humbly submit to the gracious Terms proposed in the Gospel for our obtaining it Besides what has been said of Faith and Repentance I will more particularly consider what God requires of guilty Creatures in order to their Pardon First The Confession of our Sins is indispensably required to qualify us for Pardon The Promise is express and full He that confesses and forsakes Sin shall find Mercy That we may not be deceived in the Application of this Promise I will briefly consider what is preparatory to this Duty the Properties of it and the Connection of Pardon with it 1 st The Understanding must be enlightned by the Divine Law to discover Sin The Law is the Rule of our Duty and the Obligation to obey it is immediately conveyed by Conscience While there is a Cloud of Darkness in the Mind there will be a Silence in the Conscience Paul declares that he was once alive without the Law i. e. not understanding his Guilt he presum'd of his Justification but when the Commandment came in its Light to convince him of the Transgression of it the Apparition of Sin in the clear Glass of the Law struck him dead There must be a Discussion of Conscience a comparing our Actions with the Rule to discover their Obliquity for Sins unknown and unconsider'd cannot be confest Some Sins are notorious and present themselves to our Knowledg and Memory others are of a weaker Evidence Inquiry must be made after them 'T is an unpleasant Work to rake in the Sink of a corrupt Heart but 't is necessary 2 ly The Properties of Confession are 1. It must be free and ingenuous That which is extorted by bitter Constraint is of no Value and Acceptance Pharaoh an obstinate Rebel upon the rack acknowledg'd he had sinned 'T is true the Penal Effects of Sin may be the first Excitation of Sinners to consider their Ways but the Holy Spirit by that Means so deeply affects them with the Evil of Sin that they voluntarily confess them before the all-discerning Judg. David declares When I kept Silence my Bones waxed old I said I will confess my Sins and thou forgavest them He came to a deliberate Resolution I will confess them 2. Confession must be sincere and full that our Sins may be more evident and odious to us The covering of Sins is like the keeping a Serpent warm that will sting more fiercely The concealing Sin argues the Love of it and is a Bar against Pardon Blessed is the Man unto whom the Lord imputes no Iniquity in whose Spirit there is no Guile 'T is not said In whose Spirit there is no Sin but no Guile no reserved allowed Sin The sincere Penitent pours forth his Heart like Water before the Lord. Of all Liquids none are so clearly pour'd out of a Vessel as Water Wine or Oil leave a Tincture We should in Confession pour out all our Sins and leave no Tincture of Affection to them If it be said How can we confess our Sins that are above our counting 'T is true but we must reserve none We must confess the kinds of our Sins against the first and second Table that were both written with God's Hand Sins of Omission and Commission and particular Sins of greater Guilt we must wash off their deceitful Colours that they may appear in their hellish Shape and more deeply affect us Men are very averse from this Duty and apt to conceal or extenuate their Sins The Art of concealing and Excuses is learnt from the first Transgressor When God called to Adam Where art thou tho his Dread to appear before the Divine Presence was a tacit Confession of his Fault and his hiding himself discovered his Sin yet he does not acknowledg his Sin but alledges the Consequence of it his Shame to be the Cause of his guilty Fear I heard thy Voice and was afraid because I was naked And to extenuate his Offence transfers his Guilt on the Woman and constructively reflects upon God as the Cause of it The Woman which thou gavest me gave me of the Fruit and I did eat The wicked Excuse did infinitely aggravate his Sin The Woman lays her Fault at the Serpent's door The Serpent beguiled me Aaron pretends that the People compell'd him to Idolatry and that the golden Calf was not the Effect of Design and Art but of Chance I cast the Gold into the Fire and there came out this Calf Saul coloured his Rebellion with the Pretence of Religion He kept the best of the Cattel for Sacrifice In short as in Sweating 't is observed that a general Sweat of the Body is for its Advantage but the Sweat of a Part only is the Symptom of a Disease So a clear unfeigned Confession is for our Profit but a semi-Confession is counterfeit an Indication of Hypocrisy 3. Confession must be mix'd with Sorrow and Shame in the Remembrance of our past Sins 1. A piercing deep Sorrow from spiritual Principles and Perswasives is the Ingredient of an acceptable Confession There is a natural Sorrow proceeding from the Impression of afflicting Evils Sense is very tender and apt to resent what is oppressive to it A Sinner that has wasted his Estate blasted his Reputation shortned his Life by his Excesses and hasten'd his Damnation may feel Anguish in his Breast for his Sins the procuring Causes of his Punishment But this Sorrow proceeds only from the Sense of external Evils not from the melted Heart for the intrinsick Evil of Sin As Marble Pillars are wet from the Moisture of the ambient Air. 'T is the miserable Man not the miserable Sinner that mourns This Sorrow is consistent with the Love of Sin and when the penal Evil is removed the Sinner returns to the Practice of it Carnal Sorrow only respects a Man's self as a Sufferer 't is in Hell in the extreme Degrees there is weeping for ever There is a godly Sorrow of which the Holy Spirit is the Spring 'T is the Promise of God to his People I will pour forth the Spirit of Grace and Supplication upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem and they shall see him whom they have pierced and mourn over him as one mourns for the Death of his First-born The Perswasive of our Sorrow is answerable to its Principle The serious Contemplation of our bleeding dying Saviour is a spiritual and powerful Motive to melt us into the Tears of Repentance How congruous is it if the Purchase of our Pardon cost our Saviour his bloody Agony that the applying of the Pardon to us should cost us the most bitter Sorrow Divine Grief is more from the Memory of the Evils we have committed against our heavenly Father than from the Evils we suffer Carnal Sorrow is barren and unprofitable It may be said of it what the wise Preacher says of wild Mirth What dost thou only that Sorrow that comes from Heaven is accepted there One spiritual Tear is of more Value and
Sin and renewing us into the Image of God are obtained by the Gospel The Law is called the Law of Sin and Death which must be understood not as consider'd in it self but relatively to our depraved Nature The Law supposes Men in a State of uncorrupted Nature and was given to be a Preservative of our Holiness and Felicity not a Remedy to recover us from Sin and Misery It was directive of our Duty but since our Rebellion the Rod is turn'd into a Serpent The Law is hard and imperious severe and inexorable the Tenor of it is Do or die for ever It requires a Righteousness entire and unblemish'd which one born in Sin cannot produce in the Court of Judgment Man is utterly unable by his lapsed Powers to recover the Favour of God and to fulfil his Obligation by the Law to Obedience But the Gospel discovers an open easy way to Life to all that will accept of Salvation by the Redeemer The Apostle expresses the Difference between the Condition of the Law and the Gospel in a very significant manner Moses describes the Righteousness which is of the Law that the Man that does those things shall live in them but the Righteousness which is of Faith speaks on this wise Say not in thine Heart Who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring down Christ from above Who shall descend into the Deep that is to bring Jesus Christ again from the dead but what saith it The Word is nigh thee that if thou shalt confess with thy Mouth and shalt believe in thy Heart that God hath raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved The meaning of the Apostle is that things in Heaven above or in the Depths beneath are of impossible Discovery and Attainment so 't is equally impossible to be justified by the Works of the Law The anxious Sinner seeks in vain for Righteousness in the Law which can only be found in the Gospel It may be objected that the Condition of the Law and the Condition of the Gospel compar'd relatively to our deprav'd Faculties are equally impossible The carnal Mind and Affections are as averse from Repentance and receiving Christ as our Lord and Saviour as from obeying the Law Our Saviour tells the Jews Ye will not come to me that ye may have Life and no Man can come to me unless the Father draw him Which Words are highly expressive of our utter Impotence to believe savingly in Christ. But there is a clear Answer to this Objection the Difference between the two Dispensations consists principally in this The Law requires compleat and constant Obedience as the Condition of Life without affording the least supernatural Power to perform it But the Gospel has the Spirit of Grace a Concomitant with it by whose Omnipotent Efficacy Sinners are revived and enabled to comply with the Terms of Salvation The Spirit of the Law is stiled the Spirit of Bondage from its rigorous Effects it discover'd Sin and terrified the Conscience without implanting a Principle of Life that might restore the Sinner to a State of Holy Liberty As the Flame in the Bush made the Thorns in it visible without consuming them so the firy Law discovers Mens Sins but does not abolish them But the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus i. e. the Gospel has freed us from the Law of Sin and Death I will more particularly consider the gracious Terms prescribed in the Gospel for the obtaining Pardon Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The requiring of them is not an arbitrary Constitution but founded in the unchangeable Nature and Congruity of things Repentance signifies a sincere Change of the Mind and Heart from the Love and Practice of Sin to the Love and Practice of Holiness upon Evangelical and Divine Motives The principal Ingredients in it are Reflections with Grief and Shame upon our past Sins with stedfast Resolutions of future Obedience 'T is a vital Principle productive of Fruits sutable to it 'T is call'd Repentance from dead Works Repentance unto Life 'T is the Seed of new Obedience Repentance in order of Nature is before Pardon but they are inseparably join'd in the same Point of Time David is a blessed Instance of this I said I will confess my Transgressions to the Lord and thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin The Sum and Tenour of the Apostles Commission recorded by St. Luke is That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in the Name of Christ to all Nations That a repentant Sinner only is qualified for Pardon will be evident in considering 1. That an impenitent Sinner is the Object of revenging Justice and 't is utterly inconsistent that pardoning Mercy and revenging Justice should be terminated upon the same Person at the same time in the same respect 'T is said The Lord hateth all the Workers of Iniquity and his Soul hates the Wicked The Expression implies the intense Degrees of Hatred In the glorious Appearance of God to Moses when proclaim'd with the highest Titles of Honour The Lord God gracious and merciful pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin 't is added he will by no means spare the Guilty i. e. impenitent Sinners We must suppose God to be of a changeable flexible Nature which is a blasphemous Imagination and makes him like to sinful Man if an impenitent Sinner may be received to Favour without a Change in his Disposition God cannot repent of giving a holy Law the Rule of our Duty therefore Man must repent of his breaking the Law before he can be reconciled to him The Truth is Man consider'd merely as a Sinner is not the Object of God's first Mercy i. e. of Pity and Compassion for as such he is the Object of God's Wrath and 't is a formal Contradiction to assert that he is the Object of Love and Hatred at the same time and in the same respect But Man consider'd as God's Creature involv'd in Misery by the Fraud of the Tempter and his own Folly was the Object of God's Compassion and the Recovery of him from his forlorn wretched State was the Effect of that Compassion 2. Tho Mercy consider'd as a separate Attribute might pardon an impenitent Sinner yet not in Conjunction and Concord with God's essential Perfections Many things are possible to Power absolutely consider'd which God cannot do for his Power is always directed in its Exercise by his Wisdom and limited by his Will It would disparage God's Wisdom stain his Holiness violate his Justice to pardon an impenitent Sinner The Gospel by the Promise of Pardon to such would foil it self and frustrate its principal End which is to purify us from all Iniquity and to make us a People zealous of good Works 3. If an impenitent Sinner may be pardoned as such he may be glorified for that which qualifies a Man for Pardon qualifies him for Salvation and the Divine Decree establishes an inseparable Connexion between them
that all the World are become guilty before God that is justly chargeable with their Crimes and liable to his Judgment The Act of Sin is transient and the Pleasure vanishes but the Guilt if not pardoned and purged away remains for ever in the Records of Conscience The Sin of Judah is written with a Pen of Iron and with the Point of a Diamond it is graven on the Tables of the Heart When the Books of eternal Life and Death shall be opened at the Last Day all the unpardoned Sins of Men with their killing Aggravations will be found written in indelible Characters and shall be set in order before their Eyes to their Confusion The righteous Judg has sworn he will forget none of their Works According to the Number and Heinousness of their Sins a Sentence shall pass upon them No Excuses shall suspend the Judgment nor mitigate the immediate Execution of it The Forgiveness of Sins contains the Abolition of their Guilt and Freedom from the deserved Destruction consequent to it This is express'd by various Terms in Scripture Pardon relates to some Damage and Offence which the offended Party may severely vindicate Now altho the blessed God in strictness of speaking can receive no Damage by rebellious Creatures being infinitely above the Impression of Evil yet as our Saviour speaks of one that looks upon a Woman with an impure Desire that he has committed Adultery with her in his Heart tho the Innocence of the Woman be unstained so the Sins of Men being Acts of foul Ingratitude against his Goodness and notorious Unrighteousness against his Authority are in a Sense injurious to him which he might justly revenge upon them but his Clemency spares them The not imputing Sin is borrowed from the Accounts of Servants with their Masters and implies the Account we are obliged to render the supreme Lord for all his Benefits which we have so wretchedly misimproved he might righteously exact of us ten thousand Talents that are due to him but he is graciously pleased to cross the Book and freely to discharge us The purging from Sin implies 't is very odious and offensive in God's Eyes and has a special respect to the expiatory Sacrifices of which 't is said that without Blood there was no Remission This was typical of the precious Blood of the Son of God that purges the Conscience from dead Works from the deadly Guilt of Sin that cleaves to the Conscience of the Sinner By the application of his Blood the crimson Guilt is wash'd away and the pardoned Sinner is accepted as one pure and innocent 2. I shall next demonstrate that Forgiveness belongs to God This will be evident by the following Considerations 1 st 'T is the high and peculiar Prerogative of God to pardon Sin His Authority made the Law and gives Life and Vigour to it therefore he can remit the Punishment of the Offender This is evident from the Proportion of humane Laws For tho subordinate Judges have only a limited Power and must acquit or condemn according to the Law yet the Soveraign may dispense with it This is declared in Scripture by God himself I even I am he that blots out thy Transgressions for my Name sake He repeats it with an Emphasis He is proclaimed with this Royal Title The Lord gracious and merciful pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin 'T is a Dispensation of Divine Soveraignty to pardon the Guilty 'T is true God pardons as a Father according to that most gracious Promise I will spare them as a Father spares his Son that serves him but as invested with the Dignity of a Soveraign Our Saviour directs us in the perfect Form of Prayer dictated to his Disciples to pray to God for the Forgiveness of our Sins as our Father sitting in Heaven upon a high Throne from whence he pronounces our Pardon His Majesty is equally glorious with his Mercy in that blessed Dispensation His Royal Supremacy is more conspicuous in the Exercise of Mercy towards repenting Sinners than in the Acts of Justice upon obstinate Offenders As a King is more a King by the pardoning humble Suppliants by the Operation of his Scepter than in subduing Rebels by the Power of the Sword For in Acts of Grace he is above the Law and over-rules its Rigour in Acts of Vengeance he is only superiour to his Enemies 'T is the peculiar Prerogative of God to pardon Sin The Prophet challenges all the reputed Deities of the Heathens as defective in this Royal Power Who is a God like unto thee pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin The Pharisees said true Who can forgive Sins but God only for 't is an Act of Empire The judicial Power to pardon is a Flower inseparable from the Crown for 't is founded in a Superiority to the Law therefore inconsistent with a depending Authority A Creature is as incapable of the Supremacy of God in pardoning Sin as of his Omnipotence to create a World for they are both truly infinite Besides the Power of pardoning Sins necessarily implies an universal Knowledg of the Minds and Hearts of Men which are the Fountains of their â—ctions and according to their Ingredâ—â—ncy the moral Good or Evil of them rises The more deliberately and wilfully a Sin is committed the Sinner incurs a greater Guilt and is obnoxious to a more heavy Punishment Now no Creature can dive into the Hearts of Men They are naked and open to the piercing Eye of God alone Add farther the authoritative Power to pardon has necessarily annex'd to it the active Power of dispensing Rewards and Punishments Now the Son of God alone has the Keys of Life and Death in his Hands It may be objected That our Saviour declares that the Son of Man has Power to forgive Sins The Answer to this will be clear by considering there are two Natures in Christ the Divine Nature that originally belongs to him and is proper to his Person and the Humane Nature which is as it were adoptive and was voluntarily assumed Now the Divine Person is the sole Principle and Subject of this Royal Dignity but 't is exercised in its Conjunction with the humane Nature and attributed to the Son of Man As in the Humiliation of Christ the Principles of his Sufferings and the actual Sufferings are solely in the humane Nature but upon the Account of the personal Union they are attributed to the Divine Person 'T is said The Lord of Glory was crucified and the Blood of God redeemed his Church The Church of Rome with high Presumption arrogates to their Priests a judicial Power of forgiving Sins and by the easy Folly of the People and crafty Deceit of their Instructors exercise a Jurisdiction over Conscience To avoid the Imputation of Blasphemy they pretend there is a double Power of Forgiving supreme and subordinate the first belongs to God the other is delegated by Commission to the Ministers of the Gospel But this is an irreconcileable Contradiction for
SERMONS UPON Psalm CXXX Ver. 4. But there is Forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared BY WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1696. SERMONS OF THE Forgiveness of Sins PSAL. CXXX 4. But there is Forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared THE Psalmist in the first and second Verses addresses to God with earnest Desires for his saving Mercies Out of the Depths have I cried to thee O Lord Lord hear my Voice let thine Ear be attentive to my Supplication He humbly deprecates the severe Inquiry of Divine Justice ver 3. If thou Lord shouldst mark Iniquities O Lord who shall stand If God should with an exact Eye observe our Sins and call us to an account who can stand in Judgment who can endure that firy Trial The best Saints tho never so innocent and unblameable in the sight of Men tho never so vigilant and watchful over their Hearts and Ways are not exempted from the Spots of humane Frailty which according to the Rigour of the Law would expose them to a condemning Sentence He relieves and supports himself under this fearful Apprehension with the Hopes of Mercy But there is Forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared 'T is in thy Power and thy Will to pardon repenting and returning Sinners that thou mayst be feared The Fear of God in Scripture signifies the humble holy Reverence of him as our heavenly Father and Soveraign that makes us cautious lest we should offend him and careful to please him For this Reason the Fear of God is comprehensive of all Religion of the whole Duty of Man to which it is introductive and is a principal Ingredient in it The Clemency and compassionate Mercy of God is the Cause of an ingenuous filial Fear mix'd with Love and Affiance in the Breasts of Men. Other Attributes his Holiness that fram'd the Law Justice that ordain'd the Punishment of Sin Power that inflicts it render his Majesty terrible and cause a Flight from him as an Enemy If all must perish for their Sins no Prayers or Praises will ascend to Heaven all Religious Worship will cease for ever But his tender Mercy ready to receive humble Suppliants and restore them to his Favour renders him amiable and admired and draws us near to him There are two Propositions to be considered in the Verse 1. That Forgiveness belongs to God 2. That the forgiving Mercy of God is a powerful Motive of Adoration and Obedience I propound to discourse of the first and to touch upon the second in the Application In managing the Point with Light and Order 't is requisite to consider 1 st What is contain'd in Forgiveness 2 dly The Arguments that demonstrate that Forgiveness belongs to God 1. What is contained in Forgiveness This necessarily supposes Sin and Sin a Law that is violated by it The Law implies a Sovereign Law-giver to whose declared Will Subjection is due and who will exact an Account in Judgment of Mens Obedience or Disobedience to his Law and dispense Rewards and Punishments accordingly God by the clearest Titles is our King our Law-giver and Judg for he is our Maker and Preserver and consequently has a full Propriety in us and absolute Authority over us and by his sovereign and singular Perfections is qualified to govern us A derived Being is necessarily in a State of Dependance and Subjection All the Ranks of Creatures in the World are order'd by their Maker his Kingdom rules over all Those in the lowest degree of Being are order'd by Power Sensitive Creatures are determin'd by the Impulses of Nature to their Actions for having no Light to distinguish between moral Good and Evil they have no Choice and are incapable of receiving a Law Intelligent Creatures endowed with judicious and free Faculties an Understanding to discern between moral Good and Evil and a Will to choose or reject what is propounded to them are capable of a Law to direct and regulate their Liberty To Man a Law was given by the Creator the Copy of his Wisdom and Will that has all the Perfections of a Rule 'T is clear and compleat injoining what is essentially good and forbidding what is essentially evil God governs Man conveniently to his Nature and no Service is pleasing to him but the Result of our Reason and Choice the Obedience of our supreme leading Powers Since the Fall the Light of the Understanding compared with the bright Discovery it afforded of our whole Duty in our Original State is either like the Twilight of the Evening the faint and dim Remains of the Light of the Day when Night draws a dark Vail over the World or like the dawning of the Morning when the rising Sun begins to scatter the Darkness of the Night The latter Comparison I think is more just and regular for 't is said that the Son of God enlightens every Man that comes into the World The innate Light discovers there is a streight Line of Truth to regulate our Judgment and a streight Line of Vertue to regulate our Actions Natural Conscience is a Principle of Authority directing us to choose and practise Vertue and to avoid Vice and according to our Neglect or Compliance with its Dictates reflects upon us 'T is hardly presumable that any are so prodigiously wicked as not to be convinc'd of the natural Rectitude in things they can distinguish between what is fair and what is fraudulent in Dealings and acknowledg in the general and in judging of others the Equity of things tho they elude the Force of the Conviction in the Application to themselves Now since common Reason discovers there is a common Rule there must be a common Judg to whom Men are accountable for the Obliquity or Conformity of their Actions to that Rule The Law of God is revealed in its Purity and Perfection in the Scripture The Law binds first to Obedience and in neglect of it to Punishment Sin is defin'd by St. John to be the Transgression of the Law The Omission of what is commanded or doing what is forbidden is a Sin Not only the Lusts that break forth into Action and Evidence but inward Inclinations contrary to the Law are Sin From hence results a Guilt upon every Sinner which includes the Imputation of the Fault and Obligation to Punishment There is a natural Connexion between the Evil of Doing and the Evil of Suffering the Violation of the Law is justly revenged by the Violation of the Person that breaks it It is an impossible Imagination that God should give a Law not enforc'd with a Sanction This would cast a Blemish upon his Wisdom for the Law would cancel it self and defeat his Ends in giving it it would reflect a high Dishonour upon his Holy Majesty as if he were indifferent with respect to Vertue or Vice and disregarded our Reverence or Rebellion against his Authority The Apostle declares