by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested being witnessed by the Law and by the Prophets even the righteousness of God which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe without difference That there should be a righteousness by the faith of Christ closing with him for pardon O! what a wonder is that and how good news should that be to sinners how should it quicken up and revive any that are ready to sink under the burden of the sense of sin That when they look upon a holy and just God that hates sin with a perfect hatred they may also look upon him as one who will pardon That when they look to the Law and Covenant of Works their expectations are to be limited thereby because there is a Righteousness without the Law manifested to be had by Faith in Christ 3. But because sensible souls may readily think how can this be And may be afraid to lean their weight on a Pardon they have so much Guilt and the Conscience iâ— alarmed with it and pardoning mercy is an Act of free Grace whereupon they know not that they may venture Therefore to enforce this that God is a pardoner of Iniquity I shall not anticipat what may come to be spoken to this afterwards but the sensible Sinner would consider 1. That the pardon of Sin is an Act of Royal Prerogative in free Grace It 's an act of Princes Royal Prerogative to pardon Criminals in many cases and shall we deny that to God which we give to Creatures Seing He is above all Law who can hinder him to have Mercy on whom he will have mercy to do with his own what he will and pardon whom he will Salvation belongs to him as his Prerogative Royal. 2. Sensible sinners would consider that satisfaction is payed to Justice for their Sins though he freely pardons which will come in afterward only here such would remember that thoughts of the Holiness and Justice of God needs not afright the sensible Sinner why Justice is fully satisfied That fire that brunt continually on the Altar and was not quenched by these Sacrifices under the Law is now quenched the burning fire of the Justice of God is now satisfied and hence God in pardoning sins is not only Merciful but Just therefore Rom. 3.26 Upon Christ the Redeemer his being set forth as the propitiation through Faith in his Blood it follows to declare his Righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus without reflection upon his Justice and hence the Apostle 1 Joh. 1.9 says If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness not only upon the account of his fidelity that he will keep his promise but upon the account of the Paction past betwixt him and the Mediator and upon the account of the Satisfaction and Price payed by the Mediator upon that account he is faithful and just to pardon sin And hence 3ly Things being thus when sensible sinners come to Christ or to God through him for pardon and yet are filled with doubts and fears they would conclude that there hesitation results not on the uncertainty of their pardon for the holy and just God will not break bargain with his Son but partly it results on our ignorance of that Righteousness which is by the Covenant of Grace we know no Righteousness by the Covenant of Works but that which is inherent and the Ignorance of that Righteousness which is by the Covenant of Grace is the groâ—â—â—d of our hesitation and of many doubts and fears partly it results on a proud competition whether thy abounding sin or his superabounding grace should carry it Rom. 5.20 Where sin abounded grace did much more super-abound and therefore thou that comes to Christ for pardon and yet will not settle upon it thou would say upon the matter that thy abounding sin should carry it not his Super-abounding Grace So much for the second head proposed to be spoken to concerning the Author of Pardon The 3d. Thing I proposed to be spoken to was anent the nature of the pardon of Sin what this pardon of Sin Imports or Is And this when I have spoken to it at this time will give the rise to several other Questions which will come in in their own place and may be useful for you I shall not detain you upon the signification and importance of these Words and Phrases that expresses pardon in Scripture that may come in afterward that word Mat. 6.12 Forgive us our Debts signifies the dismissing of one accused and a loosing of one bound for Debt both concurr here as sins are a Debt they are forgiven and they are a Bond tying the Conscience to answer at the Tribunal of God they are remitted and loosed and considering sins as accusations as they that are in a Court accused a pardon remitts assollzies them So the pardoned man may say as Rom 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that Justifies c. The word rendered pardon or forgivenness Col. 2.13 Having forgiven you all trespasses hints at the freedom of the grace of God in pardoning of Sin It 's the Publicans Word Luk. 18.13 God God be merciful to me a sinner the word in the Original expresses pardon with an eye to the propitiation Pauls word also I obtained mercy 1 Tim. 1.13 which also is a word made use of in the new Testament or Covenant Heb 8.12 Intimats the yearning of the bowels of God relative to the miserable state of the pardoned sinner expressed in pardoning That word Psal 32.2 Rom. 4.8 not imputing of sin or iniquitie is borrowed from Merchants that in casting up accompts pass some Debts And that word Psal 32.1 Of covering sin imports that as sin is a loathsome thing so the pardoning of Sin takes sin out of the sight of Gods vindictive Justice Now all these expressions put together might give some general hint what pardon of sin is when God out of his free grace out of the yearning bowels of his mercy compassion accepts of the propitiation made by Jesus Christ and upon that accompt remitts the sinners obligation to wrath by pardoning sin dismisses him from the accusation laid against him looses him of his Bonds puts his Debts out of his Books and covereth the loathsomness of his Sin But to follow out this a little more distinctly what this pardon is I shall take up both negatively what it is not and then positively what it is For an error here is an error in the first digestion or concoction that will not be gotten well helped in the second For the first of these negatively what the pardon of sin is not and for clearing of this
is forgivenness with God and this is it in the Text for verse 3. he sayeth If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquity Who can stand But verse 4. Forgivenness is with thee That is it ye have Mat. 9.2 Son be of good chear thy sins be forgiven thee Now for this Pardon the nature of it and the terms upon which it is attained it will come in in the own proper place to be spoken to Here I am upon consideration of the thing remitted and that that I shall pitch upon is That there is a remission of sin attainable by sinners in the due order It 's a blessed Article of our Creed the remission of sins When I spoke of the remission of sin I spoke of the remission of all sins great and small in their nature and number There is forgivenness with God for iniquities I confess there is an exception made Math. 12.31 32. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall not be forgiven Heb. 10.26 They that sin afer they have received the knowledge ef the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin And 1 John 5.1 There is a sin unto death But the sin against the holy Ghost needs not trouble the sensible sinner that would fain have pardon It is true it should warn all to beware of malicious sinning against light and having sinned to beware of running away from God but the sensible sinner that is seeking peace and pardon needs not to be afraid of it That sin is therefore irremissible because the sinner comes not to seek pardon but if thou hast the sense of sin and if it be thy desire and endeavour to repent and to have pardon it is an evidence that thy sin is not that unpardonable sin But that I may make something of this I shall deduce it in two or three Branches The first whereof shal be 1. That small sins need Pardon 2. That gross sins are Pardonable 3. A word to the consideration of the persons whose sins are pardonable 1. The smallest of sins needs a pardon we are not as Papists would charge us Stoicks who affect a parity and equality of all sins we grant there are different degrees of sins and different degrees of punishment A beating with many stripes and a beating with few stripes Luke 12.47 48. But yet when we assert this difference we dare not with them assert venial sins that deserves not everlasting Wrath without repentance and fleeing to Christ for refuge sure the Apostle tells us Rom 6.23 The wages of sin is death What death look to the opposition and it will clear it but the gift of God is eternal life if the Gift of God be eternal life the wages of sin must be eternal death that he sayes it of sin indefinitly it 's equivalent to an universal the wages of sin is death so that they must take away the nature of sin from these sins they call Venial or grant the wages thereof is death and likewise Mat. 12.36 Christ tells that Every idle word that men speak they shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment And an idle word might seem a small sin well then if the smallest sin needs a pardon look that we do not practically make a distinction of mortal and venial sins even gross men if they fall into gross out-breakings it will affect them somewhat when they do not heed their ordinary escapes Godly persons also are culpable here a scandalous sin will affect them and so it should but how little are they affected with wanderings of mind in holy duties idle words and thoughts habitual distance from God and is not that a practical distinguishing of sin It is true none can in repentance distinctly overtake all their failings for Psal 19.12 Who can understand his errors Yet we ought to do what we can to overtake them and if we cannot overtake them be at Gods Foot-stool with them mourning over them in the bulk But 2. as the smallest of sins needs a pardon so the â—rossest of sins are pardonable in the due order There is forgivenness with him for iniquities as in the Text and Isai 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will aboundantly pardon He will pardon greatest sins in their nature and kind and hence David saith Psal 25.11 Pardon mine iniquity for it is great And Isai 1.18 The Lord sayes Come now and let us reason together though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow though they be red as crimson they shall be as wool And these great sins are pardonable in the due order whether they be done in ignorance as Paul's persecution was 1 Tim. 1.13 I was a blasphemer a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief Or whether they be committed through the power of temptation even against light as Peter's threefold denyal of his Master was yet not being malicious it 's pardoned Again as great sins for nature and kind are pardonable so great sins for the multitude and number of them when they are like a cloud and a thick cloud he will blot them out Isai 44.22 I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions and sins And that word Isai 55.7 He will aboundantly pardon In the original it is he will multiply to pardon one and moe a multitude of them and Psal 40.11 12. David pleads for mercy for innumerable evils for iniquities that are moe than the hairs of his head And as God pardons great sins for kind and many for number so frequent relapsing in these sins which I may speak to afterward Jer. 3.1 She that hath played the harlot with many lovers is allowed to return And he that bade Peter Mat. 18.22 Forgive his brother not only seven but seventy times will much more do so to his penitent People renewing their repentance But when I say he will pardon great sins I would have it well applyed It is not to embolden any body to sin thou that so improves this Doctrine does turn the grace of God into wantonness and thou that ventures on sin because God is merciful to pardon great and many sins and thinks thou may take a whelps fill of sin and then go and repent and get mercy the woful shift that many follow O! remember that Repentance is not in thine own hand nay I will say more thou bears a sad evidence of one that will never get the grace to Repent but that abuse of this doctrine being laid aside ye shall while I am upon the explication of this great Article of Faith take a word or two of Inference in the by And 1. It may be great encouragement to sensible sinners thou who art sensible of thy sins thy Dyvour-bill of great and many sins if thou come
manifested to them as they stand in need of it for if he have mercy he shall compassionat them in their misery if plenteous redemption be with him He shall redeem Israel from all their iniquities If he have authority and power to redeem it shall undoubtedly be evinced in actual redeeming of them Now there remains a 4th Observation to be spoken to That it is the great and peculiar ground of hope and encouragement to God's Israel that he will redeem them from all their iniquities which is the very words of the Text He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities Therefore let Israel hope in the Lord This Point though it be rich and full in it self yet I may be the more brief in the handling of it That on the 4th Verse I spoke at great length to that Doctrine concerning forgiveness of sins I shall therefore here first Explain the Point a little as it is held out in the Text and then speak to some Inferences and Uses from it What we say in Explication of the Point may be reduced to 4 Heads 1. More generally ye would consider That it is a great encouragement to God's people that guilt sin and iniquity needs not mar their hope in God for though Israel have sinned and though their sins here be called iniquities and though there be an all of these iniquities notwithstanding all that the Spirit of God makes it here evident Israel may hope in God for He shall redeem them from all their iniquities By the Covenant of Works iniquity getting once place all hope is forefault that bargain being once broken it is everlastingly and irrecoverably broken But here is the Gospels glad news and great encouragement That iniquities if folks be seeking redemption from them needs not hinder hope in God That when as it is Rom. 3.20 By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight For by the law is the knowledge of sin That Verse 21. There is a righteousness of God without the Law manifested being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets that affords ground of hope that when Israel hath trespassed against God Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing Ezra 10.2 In a word these are no small part of the glad news of the Gospel That there is any trysting betwixt God and sinful man That every step in guilt is not a step into utter despair That man upon every failing has not done everlastingly with any ground of hope to the sight of God's face in favour That 's the first and chief part of the glad news of the Gospel 2. Consider what it is that God does in reference to iniquity which gives ground of hope to Israel He redeems from iniquity Now as ye heard from Verse 4. There is in iniquity these two The guilt or offence done to God and the obligation to punishment resulting thereon And there is the dominion power and tyranny of sin which it exexcises over the sinner where it once gets access Now redemption from both these is the work of God by Christ He redeems from the guilt of sin by the price and merit of his death by that infinite compleat and sufficient ransom which he hath payed to Justice to appease the wrath of God and to restore the guilty sinner to favour with him and he redeems from the dominion power and tyranny of sin by the power and vertue of his death and to this may be applyed that of Tit. 2.14 He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works He gave himself for us not only by his death to expiat the guilt of sin but that he might break the bonds of iniquity and make us a purified and peculiar people to himself zealous of good works I shall not need here to obviat the Socinians cavillations who from this phrase of redeeming from iniquity would obscure the truth of the satisfaction of Christ as if the term Redemption did not import a satisfaction or paying of a price for say they We are redeemed from the iniquity and power of Satan to whom no satisfaction is payed But that is but a mistake of the import of the phrase for as it is spoken of in reference to God it imports constantly a ransom as Job 33.24 Deliver him from going down to the pit I have found a ransom and 1 Joh. 2.2 He is the propitiation for our sins but when it is spoken in reference to sin or Sathan it is improperly taken and is a redemption by force as if a person arrested for debt in prison when the principal Creditor were satisfied his Cautioner should break the fetters that is redemption from sin and as if he should deliver him from the Jaylor by giving him a broken Head that 's redemption from Sathan 3. Ye would consider the universality of this Redemption and this is also in the Text He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities holding forth the universal extent of their Redemption which for your better understanding ye shall shortly take up under these three 1. He redeems his people from the guilt of all their sins for as on the one hand there is no sin so little that God will pass over without a satisfaction There is no venial sin that needs not a satisfaction to Justice and that merits not condemnation for Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death even eternal death which is opposed there to eternal life the gift of God So on the other hand no sins of his people are so hainous though they be iniquities as in the Text though they be scarlet and crimson coloured sins as Isai 1.18 But if God in Christ be made use of they shall be redeemed from them He will blot out as a thick cloud their transgressions and as a cloud their sins when they return to him for he hath redeemed them Isai 44.22 So he will redeem them from the guilt of all their iniquities 2. This universal all may be understood in relation to the power of iniquity that where he falls in on the sinner he redeems from the bondage and slavery of all sin and when that work is rightly undertaken in his strength the sinner is a slave to no iniquity he balks none he spares no Zoar no Delila no darling sin when he comes to redeem and subdue the iniquities of his people all that is iniquity he puts them to take it to task to have a respect to all his commands Psal 119.6 And to esteem all his precepts concerning all things to be right and to hate every false way verse 128. A study of universal Mortification is that which he puts them on to when he will redeem from iniquity And 3. The universal all may be extended yet further even to all the degrees of iniquity that not only doth he redeem his people from the guilt and from the power and dominion of all