the hands of an Omnipotent Physician Use 1. The first use is of Caution Corruption is apt to abuse the sweetest Mercies We should take heed that we venture not presumptuouslly to commit great sins because we hear that the greatness of sin should be an argument to make us seek for pardon this is to turn the grace of God into wantonness Jude 4. 'T is sad when the goodness of God should lead us to repent that corruption should abuse it as an occasion to commit sin That Scripture may serve as a flaming sword to keep hardened Sinners from this presumption Deut. 29. 20 If any one hear the words of this curse shall bless himself in heart and say I shall have peace though I walk according to the stubbornness of my own heart c. The Lord will not be merciful unto that man but the wrath of the Lord and his jealousie shall smoke against him c. Such blessed truths should not be used as spurs to provoke us to sin but as a bridle to curb corruption and to restrain us from sin Use 2. In the next place it informs us That they are out of the way that seek to get pardon by lessening and extenuating their sin loth to speak the one half of their guilt as Jonathan I did but take a little honey This is not the guise of the godly David acknowledges his sin a great sin and thence pleads for mercy In Exod. 32. 31 Moses interceded for the people after they had made the golden Calf and he makes report of it to God in the fullest aggravation thereof This people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods of gold He doth not only confess that they had sinned but that they had sinned greatly and again they did not only do that that was sinful but they had sinned a sin that 's more And above all this they had sinned a great sin in making them golden gods Oh what divine Rhetorick will grace teach a believing Soul not only in abasing it self for sin but also in exalting Divine Mercy 3. We may learn hence the Admirable Vertue and Efficacy of Faith that reâ—â—rts the arguments of reason drawing grounds of hope from those very suppositions which carnal reason would use as arguments to despair Take one instance for many in the Canaanitish Woman Mat. 15. 27 when Christ seemed to put her off by calling her dog yet by Faith she picks an argument of speeding out of her very repulse truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs c. Use 4. Lift up then your drooping heads ye doubting and despondent Souls whose sins have out-grown your hopes and you are ready to conclude fearful things to your selves saying Verily there is no hope Could we pry into the bosoms of distressed Christians 't is not to be questioned but we should find thousands that are strangers unto peace from a woful mistake of Divine mercy Deal with the one half of the doubting Souls in the world they 'l tell you that that which discourages them to go to God is the greatness of their sin But lo here lyes the art of a Christian to go to God with boldness and tell him Lord the greater are my sins the greater will thy glory be when thou hast pardoned them This art holy David had learnt who for abundance of sin cryes out not for mercy but for abundance of mercy Psal. 51. 1. And for your encouragement let me add but a few Considerations 1. Consider that God in the Salvation of Sinners had a design to magnifie the riches of his mercy and to work it in such a way that the creature might have no cause of glorying in himself Ephes. 2. 7 That he might shew in the ages to come the exceeding riches of his grace c. Now know that Gods mercy is not only above all his works but above ours too One depth swallows up another if we sin to our utmost he saves to his utmost And where sin abounds grace much more abounds And thus God so over-rules even sin it self that he keeps it under the reach of his pardoning mercy 2. God doth not pardon sin unwillingly no 't is a very pleasing work to him though he be slow to vengeance yet he is ready to mercy Mic. 7. 18 He retaineth not wrath for ever because mercy pleaseth him Whatsoever thou art Sinner be sure thou wert never so delighted to commit sin as God delights to pardon it 3. 'T was Christs intention in making himself an offering for sin to save the chief of Sinners he suffered not only for small Sinners but for the greatest 1 Tim. 1. 15 This is a faithful saying c. that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief Now can we think that Christ Jesus can be defeated of his end Shall Christ dye of purpose to save the greatest Sinners and shall he not obtain it Yea sure he shall see the fruit of the travel of his soul and he shall be satisfied Isa. 53. 11. 4. Consider This suits with the expressions whereby God describes his pardoning of sin he promiseth to blot out our sins Isa. 43 25. Now when the pen is going it will as soon cross a great debt as a small one Besides the more Gods holiness hates sin the more inclined he is to cross and cancel it And to cast our sins unto the bottom of the Sea that covers the greatest rocks c. Mic. 7. 19. 5. Consider what Sinners have been pardoned What think you of Aarons idolatry Lots incest Manasses witchcraft and idolatry Peters denying and forswearing his Master Pauls Persecution and Blasphemy But beyond all what think you of that sin of Adam whom yet God hath set forth as a Monument of his Mercy who though he were advanced above all the creatures and taken into so near communion with God having perfect ability given him to persist in his created holiness yet wilfully rebelled against his Maker and in some sense is guilty of all the sins of his Posterity yet all these saved and pardoned by believing in Christ who is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 11. 8. Oh then keep the eye of your Faith on the promises of the Gospel in the darkest day of adversity Hear what God says Isa. 1. 18 Though your sins be as scarlet I will make them as snow Scarlet in the Hebrew signifies twice because 't is twice died though we are died twice thrice or a hundred times in sin though we be never so deep-grained by our recidinations and back slidings yet now there is Balm in Galead God pardons not only seven times but seventy times seven Jer. 8. 22. Mat. 18. 22. Beware of this gulf of despair 't is a high point of Atheism to distruct mercy one well observes that Judas in betraying Christ was an occasion of his death as man but in despairing of mercy he did what in him lay to take away his
BALM in GILEAD Or a SPUR to REPENTANCE As it was lately delivered in a SERMON By James Strong M. A. and Minister of the Gospel Si remorsum conscientiâ propter peccatum sentio serpentem illum eneum Christum in cruce aspicio ibi peccatum aliud invenio contra meum peccatum quod me accusat devorat Peccatum vero aliud scillicet in carne Christi qui tollit peccatum mundi omnipotens est damnat devorat peccatum meum Luth. Tom. 4. fol. 54. a. Idem Omnia alia peccata que agnoscimus non defendimus condonantur peccatum autem quod defenditur est irremissibile Luth. Tom. 4. fol. 294. b. All sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men c. Mat. 12. 31. LONDON Printed by A. Maxwell for Edward Brewster at the sign of the Crane in St. Pauls Church-yard 1676. Dom. Edvardo Ceely seniori Armigero Religionis petatis fautori Eximio in testimonium summe suae observantiae Chartas has summissime dicat dedicat I. S. To the experienced Christian unto whose hands the ensuing Discourse shall come especially the Hearers and Favourers of it in and about Taunton to whom it was preached Grace Mercy and Peace c. THere 's none that is but initiated in Christianity but will readily confess sin to be his deadly enemy and is convinced that if ever he fall it will be under this enemies hand Were we but safe from this enemy how easie were it to bid a defiance to the rest Death Hell and the Grave What Requiems should we sing to our Souls what heavenly Jubilees should we keep in our hearts But Oh! the conscience of guilt damps all our joys and makes our hearts like Nabals die within us while we are alive Now it hath ever been deemed good policy to know what the strength of an enemy is And though it be true that there 's no sin so small but of it self its damnable yet withal there 's none so great but by repentance is pardonable And this is the subject of this following Discourse 'T is a remarkable passage that Luther hath in a discourse of this nature He reports of one Martinus when the Devil reproached him of his facility in absolving men of their sins even such as were most wicked yea said he and I would absolve thee to couldest thou but say I do repent me of my sin Oh that Repentance which is that only door of hope that is opened to Sinners in the death of Christ we should either shut it our selves or suffer Satan to shut it against us And yet what a root of Novatiasme doth there naturally grow in the hearts of the Sons of Adam How apt are we to have hard thoughts of God and heavy thoughts of our selves especially if Conscience charge upon us the guilt of any scarlet sin we presently conclude our case desparate and our wound past remedy Reader art thou such a sinner thou wilt find thy self deeply concerned in this short Discourse Take heed thou faint not under thy fears lest thy last error be worse than the first Read and Consider Here 's good news for great Sinners Learn this great duty of Repentance and thou mayest cut off Goliah's head with his own sword and foil Satan even in his own wiles by making that sin an argument to repent which thy Adversary designed of purpose for thy ruin Here 's a Mystery worth the studying i.e. the reality of the Christians Charter that all things even sin it self shall work together for good to them that love God Many have blessed God for their crosses and one I have read who had a reach higher 'T is an high expression of Holy Mr. Rutherford Though I do not properly bless God for my sins yet fo far I do as they are an occasion of magnifying Gods mercy in their pardon Sure 't is a double torment to Satan when he is out-shot in his own bow worsted at his own Weapon and God turns his wiles like Achitophel's into foolishness What ever thou be that art a great sinner know thou art such a one whom God hath designed to be an occasion of discovering the unsearchable riches of his mercy Now perhaps thou magnifiest thy own sin make it thy work at last to magnifie the mercy of God and thou art safe Come do not any longer dispute against thy right to that pardon that is sealed and sent to thee in the blood of Jesus Be no longer faithless but believe As incrudelity strengthens Satans arm so it doth in some sense weaken Gods and gives him cause to complain of us as of Nazareth he can do no great things for us because of our unbelief What ever be thy disease try that Soveraign remedy Isa. 55. 3 and thou eanst not miscarry And now that God who alone can perswade Japhet c. perswade every Soul into whose hand this discourse shall come when they know their Masters will to do it which is and shall be the prayer of him who hath no higher Ambition than in his place to be an instrument to serve the Lord Jesus and his people I. S. Psal. the 25. v. 11. For thy names sake O Lord pardon my iniquity for it is great T Was Mans happiness by nature that in his first creation he was made without sin but in his new creation his happiness consisteth in the forgiveness of sin Let the Psalmist witness himself Psal. 32. 1 Blessed is the man whose wickedness is forgiven c. For this blessedness the Psalmist begs and prays as heartily as ever a poor Beggar did for an Alms again and again in this Psalm Outward dangers with inward and spiritual distresses like a complicated disease had now enwrapt poor David on every side Look on him without his enemies pursue him within there the sense of his sins oppresseth him especially the sins of his Youth v. 5 Remember not the sins of my youth c. Well against both these evils he useth one common remedy viz. Prayer but we find him bending the strength of his Soul against the latter of these evils viz. The evil of sin which is the sting that invenoms all other evils No less then three several times is he at it in this Psalm 1. Ver. 7. Remember not the sins of my youth nor my rebellions but according to thy kindness remember thou me even for thy goodness sake O Lord. The wanton wickedness of his youth is now remembred with new remorse and good reason for the sins of youth are oft-times punisht in old Age Job 13. 26 Thou writest bitter things against me and makest me possess the iniquities of my youth 2. After a while he had by Prayer and Meditation strengthned his Faith in God he falls to prayer again in this 11. v. See then that conscience of sin doth not do all its work at one storm no the guilty sinner must look for more assaults than one and in every new assault prayer must be a
the dark O that Christians should be sent to School to Heathens we shall never prove our selves Children of God unless we resemble our Father God to make known his Power and Patience endureth with much long-fuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction Rom. 9. 22. What relation have they then to God that must have an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth Use 2. Here then we should even lose our selves while we admire the bottomless depths of Gods unspeakable mercies When infinite Majesty is wronged by his own creatures and hath another way to right himself on vile dust and ashes viz. by pursuing and punishing us according to Rules of Justice yet he chuseth rather to glorifie his Mercy in pardoning the sins of his people than his Justice in destroying their Souls Let us willingly give God the glory of his own title who chuseth to be called the father of mercies 2 Cor 1. 3. Use. 3. And to this purpose let us in the next place comply with God and give God the glory of that sweet attribute wherein he so delighteth What do we mean that by nature are but masses of sin and of corruption that we do not sue out that pardon which God is so ready to give us 'T is true the promise is free yet God expects we should be his remembrancers Isa. 43. 26 and will be enquired after by the house of Israel Ezek. 36. 37 for all those good things which he hath promised in his Covenant of Grace 'T is but to open the wound and he will pour in the oyle of grace Oh who would live in debt and be subject every hour to an arrest by that dreadful Serjeant Death when we have so merciful a Creditor who upon our request is ready to forgive us all Note next that Doct. 4. Confession of sin is a necessary condition to the remission of sin The Psalmist freely confesses his guilt he acknowledgeth his iniquity with its agravations and God freely pardons him And these are the terms on which the promise is still of force to us 1 Joh. 1. 9 If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us c. Reas. 1. Confession of sin honours the Justice of God When ever a sensible sinner makes a serious confession of his sins to God he doth but condemn himself and justifie God though God should for ever destroy him read Psal. 51. 4 Against thee only have I sinned and done evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified in thy saying and clear when thou judgest And thus the unrighteousness of man doth but commend the righteousness of God Rom. 3. 4 5. The humble penitent doth freely acquit and justifie God in whatsoever he threatens or inflicts Reas. 2. Confession magnifies the Mercy of God Why doth the Apostle so studiously set forth the sinfulness of all in Rom. 2. 3 but that thereby he may afterward advance and magnifie the mercy of God in the Salvation of many For sith all have sinned it must needs follow that if God left all to perish he were most just and if he save any it 's the fruit of his mercy Reas. 3. Again from our selves we have these Reasons 1. Hearty confession exceedingly humbles 'T is the hardest matter in the world to get a man to keep an Assize on his own heart to arraign charge accuse and pass sentence on a mans self No though we are severe in judging others yet in our own case we are partial But serious confession makes way for all this and when once God hath humbled us he knows what to do with us Exod. 33. 5 The sick man we see is unruly till the Physician tells him plainly he is but a dead man before he cannot take this Potion 't is not pleasant nor swallow that pill it is not toothsome but when once he sees he must purge or dye then he submits and begs the Physician to bleed him purge him any thing so that he save his life 'T is just so between God and Sinners They complain this remedy is too hard and that 's too bitter But when once by confession God hath humbled us when we find by experience that sin is an evil thing and a bitter then the poor sinner is at a plain point with God then do with me Lord as pleaseth thee only save my Soul Read Lev. 26. 41 42 If their uncircumcised heart shall be humbled and they shall willingly bear the punishment of their iniquity then I will remember my covenant made with Abraham c. Reas. 4. 'T is the way to put the Soul to a holy penance Whilst by a sinful silence we bite in our own grief the sinner hath a shift to shun that contrition and confession that becomes a penitent but when once the poor sinner comes to confession then every other sin and every other circumstance of sin lays on another lash Thus sin comes to have its true weight and so presseth the Soul till at last the sinner cry out that 't is a burden too heavy for him to bear Reas. 5. Serious eonfession is one good means to prevent backsliding as a man sick of a surfeit the more pains he hath been at in Vomiting up an offensive morsel the more he is fortified against swallowing that loathsome bit again No he is unwilling to buy repentance at so deer a rate Use. 1. Whoever he be then that needs pardon of sin is hereby advised what course to take why doth thy trembling heart stand doubting of success What greater security can we desire to imbolden us to seek pardon by confessing sin than the Faithfulness and Righteousness of God to forgive O learn we to defie all sinful fears how grim and hideous soever thy sins look yet this promise is sure and stands like Mount Sion that can never be removed Though God may suspend the sense of pardon yet be sure he cannot deny it The Jesuits tell us of a Student in Paris while he was bitterly making confession of his sins and writing them in a paper the paper on a sudden vanished Whether the story be true I shall not debate but to our purpose be sure as soon as we by confession acknowledg the debt God crosseth the Book Yea the Lord is afore hand with us in Psal. 32. 5 the Psalmist said only he would confess his sins and God forgave the iniquity of sin Come we next to the last argument whereby the Psalmist pleads with God for pardon and that is a strange one i. e. the greatness of his sin for it is great Doct. 5. Observe then in the last place That the greatness of sin should be an argument to provoke us to seek pardon by Repentance Now to prevent a mistake I do not say that the greatness of sin is properly an argument why we should be pardoned but I would thus be understood That the greater is our sin the more reason we have to repent And repentance being supposed
there is somewhat more reason to expect pardon I do not suppose it necessary here to prove a difference between sins That stoical opinion that there is a parity or equality among all sins hath in all ages been justly exploded as an errour out of the Church He that list may read the Question debated at large in Aquin. prima secund Q. 73. Art 2. Let it satisfie us That though no sin in it self can possibly be small that is committed against the great God yet some sins are more sinful than other and such was the sin for which the Psalmist here begs pardon when he calls it a great sin John 19. 11. This only by the by I shall return to the assertion Let us weigh the case and we shall see mercy so magnified in the pardon of sin that we shall see cause sufficient to magnifie the riches of Gods grace and shame our selves that ever we dared to measure divine compassions by the short line of corrupt reason Musculus on the words thus debates the matter Quid hoc facit ad impetrandum remissionem c. How should the greatness of sin be an argument to provoke God to pardon Certainly with men it would be an argument to hinder pardon and not to procure it should I tell a man Sir I have done you a very great wrong and therefore I hope you 'l pardon me Yet hear and wonder with God 't is not so That which reason would make an argument to drive us to despair faith improves as a ground of hope We see here an eminent Believer plead for pardon by an argument taken from the greatness of his sin which among distressed Consciences is the common reason why men conclude their case desparate Reas. 1. As every sin hath more need of pardon by how much the greater it is so God hath the more glory by forgiving it The deeper is the wound the more mortal is the sickness and the more need the Patient hath of Curing and if the Physician work a cure the greater is his Honour God that great Physician never gets so much glory as by pardoning great sins The greatness of our sin doth commend the greatness of Divne Mercy For where sin abounds grace much more abounds Rom. 5. 20 21 that is where sin abounds with the sense sorrow and detestation of it there grace much more abounds As the sins of wicked men by their greatness do commend the Justice of God in punishing them so the great sins of Believers do commend the Mercy of God in pardoning them 'T is storied of Alexander when he was to attempt any Service that was more difficult and dangerous than ordinary he was wont to say This is a work fit for Alexander 'T is a great God that we have to do with and great things become him His ways are not as ours nor his thoughts as ours Reas. 2. As in pardoning great sins God advances his glory by a discovery of his Mercy so also by ingaging the pardoned Sinner to returns of duty 'T is said of Mary Magdalen she loved much because much was forgiven her Luk. 7. 47. Whose heart is so enlarged or whose mouth is so widened in blessing God as he who hath had larger experience than ordinary of Divine Mercy Reas. 3. Another reason may be drawn from our own necessity For the greater is our sin the more need we have of Mercy and Pardon Men do not send to the Physician for every light distemper but if the disease be sharp they are the more instant and cry out Do something or I die Even thus the Psalmist comes running to God as a wounded man that is every moment bleeding himself to death Heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Psal. 41. 4. And elsewhere Mine iniquities prevail against me c. Psal. 65. 3. Reas. 4. A fourth argument may be drawn from the Merits of Christ. Were the Death and Sufferings of Christ of force only to deliver us from some lesser sins this would darken the glory of Chirsts sufferings but his blood cleanseth us from all sin 1 John 1. 7. Nullum proinde est peccatum in sanctis quod per sanguinem Christi non remittatur saith Zanchy There is no sin then in Believers 〈◊〉 is not pardoned in Christ and thence infers that a Believer can never possibly commit the sin against the Holy Ghost Oh what unworthy thoughts have we all by nature of the sufferings of the Son of God which were the price of our redemption When the Apostle would shew the excellency of this ransome he searches the hidden treasures of the earth and throws aside silver and gold as base drossie stuff unworthy to be compared with this in 1 Pet. 1. 18 19 Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation but with the precious blood of Christ c. To raise our hearts a little to some suitable conceptions of the worth of this sacrifice I would but a little ingage your thoughts in considering these dreadful and stupendious concomitants of the Lord Jesus sufferings When Christ was expiring even Nature it self lay gasping The Sun hid his head in a black mantle as ashamed to behold those base indignities that were done to the Sun of Rigâ—â—eousness The earth quaked The â—â—cks were rent The graves opened c. Insomuch that 't is reported That that arch Atheist Porphiry cried out Aut natura dissoluitur aut Deus nature patitur Either nature it self expireth or the God of nature suffereth Well what low thoughts soever we have of the Death of Christ yet God will have us know that the Manhood of Christ only suffered yet the Person that suffered was God and Man And then the vertue of Christs Death is known when 't is applied and improved Phil. 3. 10. Reas. 5. A fourth argument may be drawn from the Covenant of Grace And this is of as large extent as the Death of Christ in whom the Covenant is made Read Jer. 33. 8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me yea I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me c. What sins doth God promise to pardon Some and not all less and not greater No such thing the Covenant makes no difference Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men Mat. 12. 31. All without exception gross enormities as well as lesser infirmities As the Sun scatters the thickest mist as well as the least vapour even so God promises to blot the sins of his people though they are as thick as a cloud Isa. 44. 22. We read in John 7. 23 That Christ made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day Christ did not heal him in part such are all God cures whenever he takes a poor sinner in hand There 's no disease can stand before him Omnipotenti medico nullus morbus est insanabilis No disease is incurable when we are in