that was the intent of looking upon it that we might fix our Faith on Christ and come under the shelter of his Wing We beg upon a sense of our own unworthiness the Acceptance of Christ's Satisfaction for us 2. We pray for the Continuance of Pardon though we are already justified yet Forgive us our Sins As in daily Bread though we have it by us and God hath stored us with Blessings in our Houses yet we beg the continuance and use of it so what ever Right we have to pardoning Mercy yet we beg the continuance of it for two reasons Partly because Justification is not compleat until the day of Judgment but Mercy is still in fieri that is God is still a doing Acts 3. 19. That your Sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the Presence of the Lord. Then are our Sins blotted out then is this Priviledg compleat We read of Forgiveness in this World and Forgiveness in the World to come Matth. 12. 32. Forgiven in this World when accepted to Grace and Favour with God and forgiven in the World to come when this Priviledg is compleat and fully made up to the Elect. Some Effects of Sin remain till then as Death which came into the World by Sin remains upon the Body till then then our Sin is blotted out when all the Fruits of it are vanished and done away so that whilst any penal Evils that are introduced by Sin remain we ought to pray for Pardon that God would not repent of his Mercy Look as when we are in a state of Sanctification we pray for the continuance of Sanctification as well as the increase of it because of the Reliques of Sin though our perseverance in Grace and Sanctification be as much secured by God's Promise as our perseverance in God's Favour and the Gift of Justification So we pray for the continuance of Pardon because the Evils of Sin yet remain in part And partly because God for our Exercise will make us feel the smart of old Sins which are already pardoned As an old Bruise though it be healed yet ever and anon we may feel it upon change of Weather Accusations of Conscience may return for Sins already pardoned as Iob 13. 26. Thou makest me possess the Iniquities of my Youth Though a Man be reconciled to God and in favour with him yet the Sins of his Youth will trouble him after he hath obtained the Pardon of them God may make these return with a horrible and frightful appearance upon the Conscience their Visage may be terrible to look upon Tho these Sins are blotted out Satan may make the Remembrance of them very frightful and God in his holy wise Dispensation may permit it for our Humiliation Though this be no intrenching of the Pardon already past yet it may exceedingly terrify the Soul and over-cloud our Comfort and therefore we must beg the continuance of this Benefit Go to God as David did Psal. 25. 6 7. Remember O Lord thy tender Mercies and thy loving Kindness for they have been ever of old Remember not the Sins of my Youth nor my Transgressions He begs God's ancient Mercies would continue with him He acknowledged he had received Mercy of old he could run up to Eternity that had been for ever of old yet Lord remember not against me the Sins of my Youth When the sense of old Sins are renewed we must renew Petitions for the pardon of them It is usual with God when we are negligent to permit the Devil to make use of Affliction to revive old Sins that they may stare afresh in the view of the Eye of Conscience therefore we had need to beg the continuance of this Priviledg for it is not compleat Though the Pardon it self be not abrogated yet the Comfort of it may be much intrenched upon and old Sins may come and terrify the Soul with a very hideous Aspect 3. We beg here the Sense and Manifestation of Pardon though it be not the only thing we pray for Forgive us our Sins that is let us know it God may blot Sins out of his Book when he doth not blot them out of our Consciences There 's the Book of Conscience and the Book of God's Remembrance The Book of God's Remembrance may be cancell'd to speak after the manner of Men as soon as we believe and repent then the Hand-writing which was against us is torn but he blots it out of our Consciences when the Worm of Conscience is kill'd by the Application of the Blood of Christ through the Spirit when we are sprinkled from an evil Conscience as the Expression is Heb. 10. 22. And David is earnest with God for this Benefit the sense of his Pardon Psal. 51. 8 12. Make me to hear Ioy and Gladness that the Bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce and restore unto me the Ioy of thy Salvation Nathan had told him his Sins were pardoned yet he wanted the Joy of God's Salvation that ancient free Spirit that comforting inlarging Spirit he was wont to have God may forgive in Heaven when he doth not forgive in our sense and feeling therefore we beg the Manifestation of it by the Comforts of the Gospel 4. We beg the Increase of that Sense for this Sense is given out in a different Latitude Spiritual Sense is not in all alike quick and lively many have only a probable Certainty but have many Doubts Some have Comfort but never arrive to Peace Comfort you know is that thing which holds up it self against Encounters when we are confronted so there may be many doubts when the preponderating part of the Soul inclineth to Comfort Some have Peace for the present rest from Trouble of Conscience others have Ioy which is a degree above Peace and Comfort 5. We beg the Effects of Pardon or Freedom from those penal Evils which are continued upon God's Children and are the Fruits of Sin Clearly this is intended for we beg of God to pardon us as we pardon others that is fully intirely to forgive forget We beg of God to forgive us our Sins that is to mitigate those Troubles Evils and Afflictions which are the Fruits of Sin It is true when a Man is justified the State of his Person is altered yet Sin is the same in it self it deserves all manner of Evils therefore we beg not only a Release from Wrath to come but from those other temporal Evils that dog us at the Heels Sin is the same still though the Person is not the same It is still the Violation of a holy Law an Affront done to an holy God an Inconvenience upon the precious Soul it brings a Blot upon us an Inclination to sin again nay it brings eternal Death Though it do not bring eternal Death upon pardoned Persons yet it may occasion temporal Trouble God hath still reserved this Liberty in the Covenant That he will visit their Trangression with the Rod and their Iniquity
God God is greater than our Consciences His Authority is greater for God is Supream whose Sentence is decisive Now tho Conscience should not do its Office 1 Cor. 4. 4. For I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. All depends upon God's Testimony 2. Because of his Power who only can still the Conscience Isa. 57. 19. I create the Fruit of the Lips to be Peace Peace That is the Lips of his Ministers or Messengers who bring the glad tydings of Peace or the reconcilement of God to his People And therefore 't is called the Peace of God Phil. 4. 7. as wrought by him The Gospel is a sovereign Plaister but 't is God's Hand that must make it stick upon the Soul otherwise we hear Words and return Words 't is by the lively Operation of his Spirit that our Hearts are setled God cometh in with a sovereign powerful Act upon the Soul Otherwise one Grief or sad Thought doth but awaken another Till he command Loving Kindness Psal. 42. 8. We are still followed with Temptations As the Rain swells the Rivers and Rivers the Sea and in the Sea one Wave impelleth another so doth one Temptation raise another Vse 1. It reproveth those that do not deal with God about the Pardon of their Sins If God alone pardon Sins then God must be sought to about it For tho there be none in Earth to call us to an Account yet God may call us to an Account and then what shall we do Many if they escape the Judgment of Man think they are safe But Alas your Iniquities will find you out You think they are past and never more to be remembred but they will find you out in this World or the next our Business lieth not with Man so much as with God Therefore this should be the question of your Souls Job 31. 14. What then shall I do when God riseth up and when he visiteth what shall I answer him Which way shall I turn my self when God calleth me to an Account He will come and enquire into our ways are you provided of an Answer David's Sin was secret his Plot for the Destruction of Vriah closely carried Nathan tells him 2 Sam. 12. 12. Thou didst it secretly But against thee have I sinned Many escape blame with Men but God's Wrath maketh Inquisition for Sinners You cannot escape his Search and Vengeance if you do not treat with him about a Pardon Vse 2. It shews the Folly of those that have nothing to shew for the pardon of their Sins but their own secure Presumptions 'T is God's Act to pardon Sin Man may forget his Sin But if God remember it he is miserable Man may hide his Sin but if God bring it to Light Man may put off the Thoughts but if God doth not put away Man may excuse his Sin but if God aggravate it the Debtor may deny the Debt but if the Book be not crossed he is responsible Psal. 32. 1 2. Blessed is he whose Transgression is forgiven whose Sin is covered Blessed is the Man to whom the Lord imputeth not Iniquity c. We must have God's Act to shew for our Discharge then we may triumph 'T is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth c. Rom. 8. 33 34. God is the offended Party and the Supream Judg. Then Conscience hath nothing to do with us nor Satan neither as Accuser or Executioner Not as an Accuser for then he is but a Slanderer not as an Executioner for he is turned out of Office Heb. 2. 14. That he might destroy him that had the power of Death even the Devil Have you your Pardon from God Is your Discharge from him When have it we from God 1. Have it you from his Mouth in the Word or Prayer upon suing to him in Christ's Name and earnest waiting upon him If Men would consider how they come by their Peace they would sooner be undeceived You were praying and wrestling with God and so your Comfort came God speaketh Peace But when it groweth upon you you know not how it was a thing you never laboured for like Ionah's Gourd it grew up in a Night 't is but a fond Dream 2. Have it you under his Hand Is it a Peace upon Scripture terms of Faith Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have Peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. Repentance Luke 24. 47. That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations c. And the Exercise of Holiness Then have you God's word to shew for it But if it be not a Peace consistent with Scripture-Rules nay you are afraid of the Word Ioh. 3. 20. You are loth to be tried 't is a naughty Heart 3. Have it you under his Seal 2 Cor. 1. 22. Who hath also sealed us and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our Hearts Have you the Impress of God upon you God's Seal his Image Doth the Spirit of Promise assure your Hearts before God that you can live in the Strength of this Comfort and go about Duties chearfully Then 't is God's Pardon otherwise 't is but your own Absolution which is worth nothing Vse 3. It sheweth that we need not fear the Censures of Men nor the Hatred of the Ungodly for 't is God pardoneth and who can condemn God will not ask their Vote and Suffrage who shall be accepted to Life and who not 1 Cor. 4. 3. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of Mans Iudgment c. A Man must expect Censure that will be faithful to God but if he acquit us it is no matter what our guilty Fellow-Creatures say Vse 4â— Is Comfort to broken-hearted Sinners to those that need and desire Pardon 'T is well for them that God doth not put them off to others but reserveth this power of pardoning Sins to himself 1. 'T is his Glory to forgive Sins Exod. 33. 18. And he said I beseech thee shew me thy Glory compared with Exod. 34. 6 7. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed The Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth Keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin c. 'T is not only the Glory of a Man who is so offensive himself and so passionate that this Passion will draw him to what is unseemly but of God 2. 'T is his Glory not only above the Creatures but above all that is called God in the World Mic. 7. 18. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth Iniquity and passeth by the Transgression of the Remnant of his Heritage He retaineth not his Anger for ever because he delighteth in Mercy The Heathen Gods were known by their Terrors rather than their Benefits and feared rather for their Revenges than their Mercies We may boast of him above all Idol Gods
upon this Account He is known among his People not so much by acts of Power as acts of Grace and the greatness of his Mercy in pardoning Sins for Christ's sake 3. He is willing to dispence a Pardon Miâ— 7. 18. He delighteth in Mercy God delighteth in himself and all his Attributes and the Manifestation of them in the World but above all in his Mercy Justice is his strange act Isa. 28. 21. There is not any thing more pleasing to him 'T is the Mercy of God that he hath drawn up a Petition for us he would never have taught us to have asked Mercy by Prayer if he had not been willing to shew us Mercy 4. God will do it for his own sake and not for any forreign Reasons Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and out of a respect to his own Honour See how God casts up his Accounts It is Mercy Jer. 3. 12. I am merciful saith the Lord and I will not keep Anger for ever So his Truth Psal. 106. 45. He remembred for them his Covenant and repented according to the Multitude of his Mercies Not from any desert of theirs who do so neglect him and wrong him God will do it upon his own Reasons 5. He will do it in such a way as Man doth not in a way of infinite Mercy Hos. 11. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine Anger for I am God and not Man 'T is the great Advantage of us Sinners that we have to do with God and not Man in our Miscarriages For Man's Pity and Mercy may be exhausted be it never so great What seven times a Day But God is Infinite Man may think it dishonourable to agree with an Inferior when he stoops not to him but God is so far above the Creature that we are below his Indignation Man is soon wearied but not God Isa. 55. 8 9. For my Thoughts are not your Thoughts neither are your Ways my Ways saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my Ways higher than your Ways and my Thoughts than your Thoughts I now come to the fourth and last Consideration IV. That Forgiveness of Sins is one great Benefit that we must ask of God in Prayer Here it will be needful to shew First The Necessity of treating with God about Forgiveness Secondly The Nature of this Benefit Thirdly The Terms how God dispenseth it First The Necessity will appear in these Propositions 1. Man hath a Conscience Rom. 2. 15. Thoughts accusing or excusing c. A Beast cannot reflect 2. A Conscience inferreth a Law 3. A Law inferreth a Sanction 4. A Sanction inferreth a Judgment 5. A Judgment a Condemnation to the fall'n Creature 6. There is no avoiding this Condemnation unless God set up a Chancery or another Court of Grace 7. If God set up another Court our Plea must be Grace Of this see more at large 20. Serm. 1 Serm. on Psal. 32. 1 2. Secondly The Nature of this Benefit or manner how God forgiveth 1. Freely 2. Fully 1. Freely and meerly upon the Impulsions of his own Grace Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that forgiveth your Iniquities for my Name sake Nothing else could move him to it but his own Mercy and he could have chosen whether he would have done so yea or no For he spared not the Angels but offereth Pardon to Man and all Men are not actually pardoned And therefore the only reason why he sheweth us Mercy and not others is meerly his own Grace The Intervention of Christ's Merit doth not hinder the Freedom of it Tho dearly purchased by Christ yet freely bestowed on us For 't is said Rom. 3. 24. Iustified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ. Why partly because it was Mercy that he would not prosecute his Right against us Partly because he found out the way how to recompense the wrong done by Sin unto his Majesty and out of his Love sent his Son to make this Recompence for us Ioh. 3. 16. 'T was Love set all a-work And lastly not excited hereunto by any worth on our parts but the external moving cause was only our Misery and the internal moving cause his own Grace Nor is the Freedom of this Act infringed by requiring Faith and Repentance on our part because that only sheweth the way and order wherein this Grace is dispensed not the cause why 'T is not for the worth of our Repentance or as if there were any Merit in it A Malefactor that beggeth his Pardon on his Knees doth not deserve a Pardon only the Majesty of the Prince requireth that it should be submissively asked These are not Conditions of Merit but Order not the Cause but the way of Grace's working And these Conditions are wrought in us by Grace Acts 5. 31. not required only but given In all other Covenants the Party contracting is bound to perform what he promiseth by his own strength But in the Covenant of Grace God doth not only require that we should Believe and Repent but causeth it in us Conditions of the Covenant are Conditions in the Covenant God requireth Faith and Repentance and giveth Faith and Repentance compare Isa. 59. 20. with Rom. 11. 26. 'T is Christ's Gift as well as his Precept So that when we come about pardon of Sin we have only to do with Grace We beg Pardon and a Heart to receive it 'T is a Free Pardon 2. 'T is a Full Pardon 'T is Full in several respects 1. Because where the Party is forgiven he is accepted with God as if he had never sinned Psal. 103. 12. As far as the East is from the VVest so far hath he removed our Transgressions from us And Mich. 7. 19. Thou wilt cast all their Sins into the depth of the Sea Isa. 38. 17. Thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back It shall not be remembred nor laid to their charge any more 'T is true for a while after they may trouble the Conscience as when the Storm ceaseth the Waves rowl for a while afterwards So may Sin in the Consciences of God's Children work trouble after the fiducial Application of the Blood of Christ But the Storm ceaseth by degrees And 't is possible that the commitment of new Sins may revive old Guilt as a new Strain may make us sensible of an old Bruise Yet we must distinguish between the full Grant of a Pardon From the full sense of it when we are not Thankful Humble Fruitful former Sins may come into remembrance and God may permit it as matter of Humiliation to us and to quicken us to seek after new Confirmation of our Right and Interest Yet God's Pardon is never reversed nor will the Sin be charged again or put in suit against him to the final condemnation of the Person so pardoned Once more though the Sins of the Justified should be remembred at the Day
3. When we do our best we cannot deserve these Mercies or merit ought at God's Hands for all we do is already due to God as we are his Creatures and the paying new Debts will not quit old Scores The Question is propounded Iob 22. 2. Can a Man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself See the Answer Chap. 35. 7. If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine Hand and wherein is God profited if a Man's ways be perfect And therefore what ever God doth for Creatures he doth it freely because he cannot be obliged by any Act of ours and pre-ingaged Thus Adam in Innocency could not obtain the Blessing but by virtue of the Covenant nor merit ought at God's Hands that is put any Obligation upon God and therefore certainly now we cannot And partly too not because whatever we do it will carry a Proportion with these common Mercies We are proud Creatures and think of a Condignity of Works and to merit from Heaven these Mercies But alas there 's no Comparison and if God would deal with us upon Merit and strict Commutative Justice we cannot give him a valuable Compensation for temporal Mercies Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the Mercies which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant Though none of God's Mercies can simply be said to be little for whatsoever comes from a great God should be great in our Value and Esteem as a small Remembrance from a great Person is much prized therefore no Mercy is simply little but comparatively now the least Mercies some have and others the greatest temporal Things When we are put into the Ballance We and all our Worth and Deservings cannot counterpoize the least Mercy or merit the daily Bread we have from God And then the little Good we do it is meerly by the Grace that we have received If one Man differs from another who made him differ It is but a new Gift he is the more indebted to God 4. We deserve the contrary We have forfeited our Lives and all our Comforts we have put our selves out of God's Protection by Sin Death way-laid us when we were in our Mothers Womb and as soon as we were born there was a Sentence in force against us Rom. 5. 12. Death came upon all for that all have sinned And still we continue the Forfeiture We provoke God to cut us off It is a kind of pardoning Mercy by which we subsist every moment This is sensible in case of Sickness when our Lives and Comforts slide from us when there is but a Step between us and Death when the Old Covenant comes to be put in Suit and God seems to be executing the Sentence of the Law And that is the Reason why the temporal Deliverance of the Wicked and Impenitent is called a Remission as Psal. 78. 38. But he being full of Compassion forgave their Iniquity and destroyed them not And Mat. 18. 26 27 28. Have Patience with me and I will pay thee all And the Lord of that Servant was moved with Compassion and forgave him the Debt Why is it call'd a Remission Improperly because it was a Reprieve from the temporal Judgment for a time it was not an executing the Sentence which was in force against us And it was not from any thing in the Sinner but from God's pity over his Creatures And a godly Man every time his Life and Comforts are in danger hath a Pardon renewed at that time Isa. 38. 17. Thou hast in love to my Soul delivered it from the Pit of Corruption for thou hast cast all my Sins behind thy Back They are loved out of Danger and loved out of Sickness the pardoning Mercy of God is indeed renewed to them APPLICATION Vse 1. For Information in two Branches First That God will give his People temporal Things Not only Pardon and Grace and Glory but no good Thing will he with-hold Psal. 81. 11. Many say they can trust God for eternal Life but cannot trust him for daily Bread This is an utter Mistake Certainly it is far more easy to trust God for daily Bread than for eternal Life because there are more Difficulties more natural Prejudices against these greater Mercies of Pardon and Eternal Life than there can be against the daily Effects of God's Bounty It is a harder matter to work through our natural Prejudices which lie against Eternal Life than to work through that Distrust which lies against God's Care over us and Provision for us Why For God's common Bounty it reacheth to all his Creatures even to the smallest Worm his Mercy is over all his Works And surely it is more easy to believe his common Bounty than his special Love which runs in a distinct Channel to such a sort of Men. But because many have too weak a Faith about temporal Things let us consider how willing God is to distribute and give out these Supplies Several Things I might mention 1. God's Respect to the Bodies of his People is a mighty Ground and Encouragement God is in Covenant with the Body as well as the Soul Jesus Christ proves the Resurrection from thence that God is the God of Abraham Isaac and Iacob Mat. 22. 32. This Argument can never be made good but upon this Supposition that God is in Covenant with Abraham's Body with the whole Believer and therefore the Mark of Circumcision was in their Flesh as the Water of Baptism is sprinkled upon our Bodies Well then if the Bodies of the Saints be in Covenant with God certainly some of the Promises of the Covenant do concern the Body and Sustentation of the present Life But that is not all but Jesus Christ hath purchased both Body and Soul 1 Cor. 6. 20. Ye are bought with a Price therefore glorify God in your Body and in your Spirit which are God's Not only the Soul is Christ's but the Body You will say That is ground of Service but what can it be inferr'd that therefore God will provide for us It is not only a ground of our Service but of Christ's Care of us If Christ had only purchased our Service yet it were a ground of Hope If you expect Work and Service from a Body you will give maintenance to that Body But Christ's Purchase implieth his Care over that he hath purchased for the Interest God hath in us in Redemption is a gracious Interest God had an Interest in us before we were redeemed we could not make void his Right by any Rebellion of ours But then God hath such an Interest in us as engaged and sollicited him to destroy us Look as a Prince hath an Interest in his Subjects if they rebell and revolt from their Obedience they cannot disannul his Right but it is such a Right as binds him to pursue and chastise them until they return to their Duty So God hath a Right to the fallen Creature but it was
thy self to him and then come and offer thy Gift It is not said if any have ought against thee but if thou hast ought against any one I confess in some Cases it is enough to lay it aside before the Lord. But at other times we are to seek reconciliation with the Party which hath wronged us But this Case is mightily to be guided by Spiritual Prudence As for God's Example God is Superior bound to none he acts freely it is his Mercy that pardons any and yet God gives us a Heart to repent of his good Pleasure he begins with a Sinner But this is nothing to our Case who are under Law who are bound to forgive others III. The Person to whom we Pray Our Heavenly Father The Note is That God doth alone forgive Sin There is a double forgiveness of Sin In Heaven and in a Man 's own Conscience and therefore sometimes compared to the blotting out of something out of a Book sometimes to the blotting out of a Cloud To the blotting out of a Book Isa. 43. 25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy Transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy Sins That it may be no more remembred or charged upon us To the blotting out of a Cloud Isa. 44. 22. I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy Transgressions and as a Cloud thy Sins As the Sun when it breaketh forth in its Strength dispelleth the Mists and Clouds Sin interposeth as a Cloud hindring the Light of God's Countenance from shining forth upon us Both these are God's Work to blot the Book and to blot out the Cloud 1. Pardoning of Sin in the Court of Heaven it belongeth to God peculiarly Dan. 9. 9. To the Lord our God belong Mercies and Forgivenesses c. 'T is God alone can do it for two Reasons 1. He is the wronged Party 2. He is the Supream Judg. 1. He is the wronged Party against whom the Offence is committed Psal. 51. 4. Against thee against thee only have I sinned He had sinned against Bathsheba against Vriah whose Death he projected How is it said against thee only There may be wrong and hurt done to a Creature but the Sin is against God as 't is a breach of his Law and a despising of his Sovereign Authority the Injury done to the Creature is nothing in Comparison of the Offence done to God against so many Obligations wherein we stand bound to him Amongst Men we distinguish between the Crime and the Wrong And a Criminal Action is one thing and an Action of Wrong and Trespass is another If a Man steal from another 't is not enough to make him Restitution but he must satisfy the Law 2. He is the Supream Judg. Father Son and Holy Ghost as one God are the Judg of all the Earth to whom they must be accountable for the Offence Gen. 18. 25. Shall not the Iudg of all the Earth do right But in the Mystery of Redemption the Father as first in order of the Persons is represented as the Judg to whom the Satisfaction is tendred and who doth Authoritatively pass a Sentence of Absolution And therefore 't is said 1 Joh. 2. 1. We have an Advocate with the Father Iesus Christ the Righteous He is to deal with him as the Supream Judg and 'T is God that justifieth Rom. 8. 33. The whole Business of our Acquitment is carried on by the Father who is to receive the Satisfaction and our humble Addresses for Pardon But to answer some Objections that may arise Object 1. 'T is said Mat. 9. 6. The Son of Man hath power on Earth to forgive Sins I answer That is brought there as an Argument of his God-Head He that was the Son of Man was also very God And therefore upon Earth in the time of his Humiliation he had power to forgive Sins for he ceased not to be God when Incarnate And it became him to discover himself as by his Divine Power in the work of Miracles so his Divine Authority in the Forgiveness of Sins Object 2. Is taken from the Text Forgive us our Debts as we forgive those that trespass against us I answer In Sin there is the Obliquity or Fault in it and the Hurt or Detriment that redounds to Man by it As it is a Breach of the Law of God or an Offence to his Infinite Majesty God can only pardon it or dispense with it As it is an hurt to us so restitution is to be made to Man and Man can pardon or forgive it Object 3. 'T is said Joh. 20. 23. Whosesoever Sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosesoever Sins ye retain they are retained So that it seemeth Man hath a power to remit Sins I answer They do it Declaratively and by Commission from God The Officers of the Church have the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven committed to them the Key of Knowledg or Doctrine and the Key of Order and Discipline Accordingly this Power is called The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 16. 19. And the use of them is to open or shut the Doors of God's House and to bind or loose as the Expression is Mat. 18. 18. That is to pronounce Guilty and liable to Judgment or to absolve and set free declaratively and in God's Name or as it is litterally expressed in the place alledged To remit or retain The Key of Doctrine is exercised about all Sin as Sin were it never so secret and inward and the Key of Order and Discipline about Sin only as 't is Scandalous and Infectious Now what they act Ministerially according to their Commission 't is ratified in Heaven for it is a Declaration or Intimation of the Sentence already passed there So that a Declarative and Ministerial Power is given to the Church but the Authoritative Power of forgiving Sins that God hath reserved to himself Man can remit doctrinally and by way of Judicial Procedure but that is only by way of Commission and Ministerial Deputation Such as are Penitent and feel the Bonds of their Sins they do declaratively absolve and loose them or take off the Censure Judicially inflicted for their scandalous Carriage This Ministerial forgiving however Carnal Hearts may slight it both in Doctrine and Discipline yet being according to the Rules of the Word is owned by God and the Penitent shall feel it to their Encouragement and the Obstinate to their Terror 2. As he pardoneth Sin in the Conscience and there God alone can forgive Sin or speak Peace to the Soul upon a double Account 1. Because of his Authority 2. Because of his Power 1. Because of his Authority Conscience is God's Deputy and till God be pacified Conscience is not pacified upon sound and solid Terms Therefore 't is said where Conscience doth its Office 1 Joh. 3. 20 21. If our Hearts condemn us God is greater than our Hearts and knoweth all things if our Hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards
of Judgment it will not be to the confusion of their Faces but the exaltation and praise of the Lord's Grace Then is this Acquittance in all respects full 2. 'T is full because where God forgiveth one Sin he will forgive all Psal. 103. 3. Who pardoneth all thy Sins And Mich. 7. 19. Thou wilt cast all their Sins into the depth of the Sea Sins Original Actual of Omission Commission Small Great Secret Open Lust that boileth in the Heart and breaketh out in the Life Sins of Worship of ordinary Conversation Look in the Bill What owest thou A Christian is amazed when he cometh to a serious account with God but the self-judging Sinner needeth not be discouraged when he cometh to God For where God pardoneth all that is past the Fountain stands daily open for him to flee unto with all his Faults as they are committed and upon the renewing of his Faith and Repentance he shall obtain his Pardon All Sins are Mortal all of them Damnable Therefore if all Sins be not pardoned he remaineth in danger of the Curse and one Sin let alone is sufficient to exclude us out of Heaven Therefore all is pardoned first or last Justice hath no more to seek of Christ And we have all leave to sue out our Pardon in Christ's Name He is under that Covenant that will pardon all 3. 'T is Full Because where God forgiveth the Sin he also forgiveth the Punishment 'T will not stand with God's Mercy to forgive the Debt and yet to require the Paiment 'T is a moâ—king to say I forgive you the Debt and yet cast the Man into Prison and to pardon the Malefactor and yet leave him liable to Execution Here in the Text God forgiveth us as we are bound to forgive our Brother not in part but in whole Guilt is nothing but an Obligation to Punishment 1. As to Eternal Punishment 't is clear Rom. 5. 9. The Eternal Promises and Threatnings being of Things absolutely Good and Evil are therefore absolute and peremptory that is certain 2. But now as to Temporal Afflictions there is some difficulty for where the whole Punishment is done away such Grace and payment of any part of the Debt cannot stand together That Pardon which is given upon valuable and sufficient Price is full and perfect Jesus Christ satisfied the Justice of God for all our Sins How is it then that the Saints are subject to so many Afflictions 1. So far as Sin remains so far some penal Evil remains when the Dominion of it is broken there remains no Condemnation but yet some Affliction and when 't is wholly gone there is no Evil at all We are not yet purged from all Sin And therefore 2. These Afflictions are not satisfactory Punishments and need not as to the compleating of our Justification but are helps to us as the furtherance of our Sanctification And so are of great use 1. To make us hate Sin more If we only knew the sweetness of it and not the bitterness we would not be so shy of it Now the bitterness of it is seen by the effects Ier. 2. 19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy back-slidings shall reprove thee Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God and that my Fear is not in thee saith the Lord God of Hosts 2. 'T will cause us to prize our deliverance by Christ. If Affliction be so grievous what would Hell be 1 Cor. 11. 32. But when we are judged we are chastned of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the World 'T is a gentle remembrance of Hell-pains or a fair warning to avoid them when scorched or sindged a little 3. To make us walk more humbly We forget our selves and are apt to be puffed up Paul saith 2 Cor. 12. 7. Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the Revelations there was given to me a Thorn in the Flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should be exalted above measure 4. 'T is Full Because where God forgiveth Sin there are many consequent Benefits 1. God is reconciled Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. This is the great Blessing and our great Work is to make and keep peace with God to have no Cloud between us and his Face Light is pleasant What then is the Light of his Countenance that filleth us with a Peace that passes understanding We would have a powerful Friend especially if we need him Acts 12. 20. They sought Peace with Herod because their Country was nourished by the King's Country so should we do we cannot live without God If Sin be pardoned then we are at peace with God and may have free access to him with a free use of all that is his 2. A Heart sanctified is a connexed Benefit 1 Cor. 6. 11. And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Iesus And 1 Iohn 1. 9. Sin is considerable in the guilt and filth of it as it rendreth us obnoxious to God's Justice or as it tainteth our Faculties and Actions According to this double respect Christ destroyeth Sin and no Man hath benefit by him that is not freed from the guilt and filth thereof Christ was sent into the World to restore God's Image in us But the Image of God consisteth in the participation of Holiness as well as the participation of Blessedness for God that is Happy and Blessed is also Holy and Good the filthiness of Sin is opposite to Holiness and the guilt of it to blessedness So that either Christ must restore but half the Image of God or he must give us this double Benefit if he should give us one without the other many Inconveniences would follow Therefore both are given he justifieth that he may sanctify and he sanctifieth that he may glorify 3. Providence is blessed The Curse is taken out of our Blessings and the Sting out of our Afflictions As long as Sin remains unpardoned our Blessings are cursed Mal. 2. 2. If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory to my Name saith the Lord of Hosts I will even send a Curse upon you and I will curse your Blessings yea I have cursed them already because ye do not lay it to heart There will be a Worm in our Manna our Table will become a Snare Psal. 69. 22. But when once Sin is pardoned the Sting of Misery is taken away 1 Cor. 15. 56. The Sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. Crosses are not Curses 4. We have a right to Heaven which is the great ground of Hope Rom. 5. 10. For if when we were Enemies we were reconciled to
him out of all his Troubles He doth not say this wise Man this eminent Saint but this poor Man This was the Doctrine of the Gentiles That the Divine Powers did only care for the great and weighty Concernments of the World but other things he left to their own Event and their own Chance as if God in the great throng of Business were not at leisure to attend every private Man's Request These were the fond Surmises the Gentiles had of God But we are taught better This poor Man cried unto the Lord and be heard him Poor Men in the World when they have any thing to do with great Persons they must look long wait pray and pay to seek their Face and Favour at length meet with a rough Answer and sour Look But God will not shut the Door the Throne of Grace lies open for every Comer You will say this would sweeten Mercies to the Poor Nay it concerns not only those that are actually poor but the great ones of the World for they are poor and shiftless in themselves if God did not provide for them others are but Glasses where they might see their own Misery If they did well weigh the Wants and Necessities of others they might see what would have been their own Case if the Lord had not been merciful to them As Austin when he saw a Beggar frisking and leaping after his Belly was fill'd the Spectacle wrought much upon him that he had not such rejoycing in God who tasted so much of his Abundance Saith Chrysostome If you are not thankful for Health go to the Spittles and Lazar-houses and see what might have been your own Case Thus if you are not thankful for abundance go to the Families where there are Children that want Bread It is the Lord's Mercy to the richest for they were miserable and indigent It is a great Mercy to relieve those from Hand to Mouth But you that have abundance it is a double Mercy to you for he prevents the Necessity before it was felt as Psal. 21. 3. Thou preventest him with the Blessings of Goodness David takes notice of the Goodness of God to him Before the need is felt and observed you are stored and this should be a great Indearment of the Lord's Mercy to you 2. It is Mercy if we consider not only our Want but our Forfeiture It is not only Mercy but pardoning Mercy at least a reprieving from Trouble for we deserved the contrary There is a kind of Temporary-Pardon which continueth all these Blessings It is as great a Curse as possibly David could thunder out against obstinate Sinners and God's implacable Enemies Psal. 28. 4. Give them according to their Deeds and according to the wickedness of their Endeavours Do we think this would be matter of Mischief only to David's Enemies No every one of us if we had our Deserts we should soon be shiftless harbourless begging from Door to Door yea howling for one drop of Mercy to cool our Tongues O then surely the Lord is to be praised and acknowledged in bestowing the good things of this present Life Well then As these Blessings come from God let them carry up your Heart to God again As all Rivers they run from the Sea and they discharge themselves into the Sea again so let all be returned to God with Thankfulness with acknowledgments that you have received them from God I shall urge it with one Example Jesus Christ though he were Heir Lord of all things Who thought it no Robbery to be equal with God yet you find him ever giving Thanks when he used the Creatures Mat. 15. 36. And it is the main thing Iohn taketh notice of and passeth by the Miracle Iohn 6. 23. Where they did eat Bread after that the Lord had given Thanks Nigh to Tiberias there was the place where our Lord fed many with five Loaves and two Fishes but he only saith this where they did eat Bread after that the Lord had given Thanks he saw this was a notable Circumstance so he doth but cursorily mention the Miracle only calls it eating Bread but expresly mentioneth Christ's blessing the Creature He would teach us that the blessing of all Injoyments is in God's Hand VSE 4. If the Lord be the Donor and Giver of all these outward things let us beware we do not abuse these Gifts of God as Occasions of sinning against the Giver that we fight not against him with his own Weapons Jesus Christ speaking to his own Disciples though they were trained up with him a Company chosen out and select Family who were to be his Heraulds and Ambassadors to the World yet he gives them this Caution Luke 21. 34. Take heed to your selves lest at any time your Hearts be over-charged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and Cares of this Life and so that day come upon you unawares He saw it needful to warn his own Disciples We had two common Parents Adâ—m and Noah and one miscarried by eating and the other by drinking these Sins are natural to us The Throat is a slippery place and had need well be looked unto Mark Christ there doth not mean Surfeiting and Drunkenness meerly in a gross Notion When we hear of Surfeiting and Drunkenness we think of spuing staggering reeling vomiting and the like but we are to consider it in a stricter Notion Take heed lest the Heart be over-charged The Heart may be over-charged when the Stomach is not that is when we are less apt to praise God grow more lumpish and heavy or rather when we settle into a sensual frame of Spirit and by an inordinate delight in our present Portion are taken off from minding better things Look as the Heart is over-charged with the Cares of the World so likewise with Creature-Delights and Comforts of this World when it is set for Ease and Vanity Many that would be loathers of the other Drunkenness yet are guilty of this kind of Surfeiting and Drunkenness the Heart is over-charged with an inordinate Affection to present things There cannot be a more heavy Judgment than when our Table is made our Snare Psal. 69. 22. A Snare it is God's spiritual Judgment when the Comforts of this Life serve not so much to lengthen and strengthen Life but when their Hearts are hardned in Sin and they grow neglectful of God and heavenly things Raining Snares is an Argument of God's Hatred First The Lord shall rain Snares and then Brimstone and an horrible Tempest shall be their Portion Psal. 11. 6. So it makes way for his eternal Anger VSE 5. Let us be contented with that Portion which God hath given us of worldly things if the Lord be the Donor Why 1. Because God stands upon his Sovereignty you must stand to God's Allowance though he gives to others more and to you less for God is supream and will not be controll'd in the disposal of what is his own The good Man of the House pleaded Mat. 20. 13
us over-born with Sollicitude but look no further than this day 6. Christ would teach us that worldly things should be sought in a moderate Proportion if we have sufficient for a day for the present Want we should not grasp at too much Ships lightly loaden will pass through the Sea but when we take too great a burden the Ship will easily sink with every Storm We have sore Troubles to pass through in the World now when we are over-burdened with present things we have more Snares and Temptations 7. Christ would train us up with thoughts of our Lives Vncertainty Iames 4. 13. say not This and this I will do to day or to morrow What is your Life it is but a Vapor One being invited to Dinner the next day said for these many Years I have not had a to-morrow meaning he was providing every day for his last day We do not know whether we have another day but are apt to sing Lullabies to our Souls and say Soul take thine Ease thou hast Goods laid up for many Years Luke 12. 19. We are sottishly secure and dream of many Years whereas God tells us only of to day 8. To awaken us after heavenly things When we seek Bread for the present Life then give us this day but now come to me saith Christ and I will give you Bread that shall nourish you to eternal Life Bread that endureth for ever Iohn 6. 27. Labour not for the Meat which perisheth but for that Meat which endureth unto everlasting Life There is Meat that will endure for ever but for the present we beg only for this day 1 Pet. 1. 4. To an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you That 's an eternal State this is but of a short and of a small continuance You see what need you have to go to God that he will most plentifully provide for you And forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtoâ—s WE have now done with the Supplication of this Prayer and are come to the Deprecations The Supplications are those Petitions which we make to God for obtaining of that which is good The Deprecations are those Petitions we make to God for removing of that which is evil Now of this latter sort there are two 1. We pray for the Remission of Evil that is already committed 2. We pray for the prevention of the Evil which may be inflicted The first of these is the Petition we have now in hand Here 1. The Petition is proposed Forgive us our Debts 2. 'T is confirmed by an Argument As we forgive our Debtors In the first take notice 1. Of the Object or Matter of this Petition and that is Debts 2. The Subject or Persons praying Vs. 3. The Person to whom we pray our Heavenly Father who alone can forgive our Sins 4. The Act of God about this Object Forgive Then the Petition is confirmed by an Argument which is taken from our forgiving of others In which there 's an Argument 1. A Simili from a like Disposition in us Thus what is good in us was first in God for he is the Patern of all Perfection If we have such a Disposition planted in our Hearts and if it be a Vertue in us surely the same Disposition is in God for the first being wanteth no Perfection 2. The Argument may be taken à dispari or à minori ad majus from the less to the greater If we that have but a drop of Mercy can forgive the Offences done to us surely the infinite God that is Mercy it self he hath more Bowels and more Pity For his ways are above our ways as high as the Heaven is above the Earth Isa. 55. 9. So it seems the Argument is propounded Luke 11. 4. Forgive us our Sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us 3. The Argument may be taken from the Condition or the Qualification of those that are to expect Pardon They are such that out of a sense of God's Mercy to them and the Love of God shed abroad in their Hearts are inclined and disposed to shew Mercy to others So Christ explains it vers 14. making it a Condition or Qualification on our part If ye forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you But this will be more abundantly clear when I come to examine that Clause Before we come to the Petition it self the Connection is to be considered for the Particle And links it to the former Petition After Hallowed be thy Name he doth not say And thy Kingdom come they are propounded as distinct Sentences but Give us this day our daily Bread And forgive us our Debts for three Reasons 1. Without Pardon all the good Things of this Life will do us no good They are but as a full Diet or as a rich Suit to a condemned Person they will not comfort him and allay his present Fears Until we are pardoned we are under a Sentence ready for Execution and therefore we cannot have that Comfort in outward Things until we have some Interest in God's fatherly Mercy A Man that is condemned hath the King's Allowance until Execution So it is the Indulgence of God to a wicked Man to give him many outward Things tho he is condemned already We should not satisfy our selves with daily Bread without a sense of some Interest in pardoning Mercy 2. To shew us our Unworthiness Our Sins are so many and grievous that we are not worthy of one Morsel of Bread to put in our Mouths When we say Give us this day c. we need presently to say Forgive us our Sins There is a Forfeiture even of these common Blessings Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the Mercies and of all the Truth which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant All that we have we have from Mercy and it is Mercy undeserved As we are Creatures there can be no common Right between God and us to engage him to give temporal Blessings for we owe our selves wholly to him as being created out of nothing Children cannot oblige their Parents But much more as we are guilty Creatures it is meerly of the Mercy of the Lord. 3. These are join'd together because Sin is the great Obstacle and Hindrance of all the Blessings which we expect from God Ier. 5. 25. Your Sins have with-held good Things from you When Mercy comes to us Sin stands in the way and turns it back again so that it cannot have so clear a Passage to us Therefore God must forgive before he can give that is bestow these outward Things as a Blessing on us Having spoken of this Connexion let me observe something from the Petition it self The first Thing I shall observe is the Notion by which Sin is set out Forgive us our Debts The Point is Doct. I. That Sins come under the Notion of Debts In Luke 11. 4. it is Forgive us our
with Stripes nevertheless my loving Kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my Faithfulness to fail Psal. 89. 32 33. And Prov. 11. 31. The Righteous shall be recompensed in the Earth That is he shall smart for his Evil-doings A Child of God when he sinneth against him tho he be not executed yet he may be branded he may have a Mark of Shame put upon him his Pilgrimage may be made uncomfortable and these may be fully consistent with God's Grace and Love Therefore we beg a Release from these penal Evils that as the Guilt so the Punishment also my be abolished 2. The Right that a justified Person hath to the Pardon of his daily Sins Pardon of Sin is to be considered 1. In the Impetration of it 2. The Offer 3. The Judicial Application or legal Absolution of the Sinner 1. In the Impetration and Purchase of it So when Heb. 10. 14. By one Offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified there needed no more to expiate them to satify Justice 2. In the offer of it So God hath proclaimed Pardon upon the Condition of Repentance Ezek. 33. 11. Say unto them As I live saith the Lord God I have no Pleasure in the Death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil Ways for why will ye die O House of Israel 3. In the Judicial Application or legal Absolution of a Sinner God in Word hath pronounced the legal Absolution of every one that believeth in Christ. Assoon as we repent and believe a threefold Benefit we have 1. The state of the Person is altered He is a Child of God Iohn 1. 12. To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name He hath full leave to call God Father a kind of fatherly dealing from him Translated from a state of Wrath to the state of Grace from a Child of the Devil he is made a Child of God never to be cast out of his Family 2. The actual Remission of all past Sins Rom. 3. 25. To declare his Righteousness for the Remission of Sins that are past through the Forbearance of God 'T would be a Licence to sin if his Sins were remitted before committed 3. A Right to the Remission of daily Sins or free leave to make use of the Fountain of Mercy that is always running and is opened in the House of God for the Comfort of Believers Zech. 13. 1. In that day there shall be a Fountain opened to the House of David and to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem for Sin and for Vncleanness 2. The Utility and Profit of such a Course See Serm. on Psal. 32. 1. Serm. 20. Vse The Use is to press us to be often dealing with God about the pardon of our Sins by a general and daily Humiliation none are exempted from bewailing the Evil of Sin The Death of Christ doth not put less Evil into Sin it is still damning in its own Nature 't is still the Violation of an holy Law an Affront to an holy God an Inconvenience to thy precious Soul When Christ paid the Price for our Sins it was upon this Condition That we should renew our Faith and Repentance that we should sue out our Discharge in his Name that when we sin we may come and humble our selves before the Lord. Under the Law if a Man were unclean he was to wash his Cloaths before Evening He was not to sleep in his Uncleanness So if you have desiled your selves you should go wash in the Laver that God hath appointed The Lord taught his People under the Law of repeating a daily Sacrifice Morning and Evening If one be fallen out with another God hath advised us before the Sun be set to go and be reconciled to our Brother and wilt thou lie under the Wrath of God for one Night If we would oftner use this Course the Work of Repentance would not be so hard Wounds are best cured at first before they are suffered to fester and rankle into a Sore So are Sins before they grow longer upon us And if we did oftner thus reckon with our selves we should have less to do when we come to die Therefore do as wise Merchants at the Foot of every Page draw up the Account so help it forward So it will not be hard to sum up a long Account and reckon up our whole Lives and beg a Release of all our Debts therefore daily come and humble your selves before the Lord. The oftner you do this the sooner you will have the Comfort of Pardon but when you keep off from God and delay you suffer the loss of Peace and the loss of God's Favour and Hardness of Heart and Atheism and carnal Security increase upon you As we forgive our Debtors I come to the last Branch Hence observe Doct. 3. Those that would rightly pray to be forgiven of God they must forgive others First I shall give you the Explication 2. The Reasons For Explication I shall speak to three things 1. Who are Debtors 2. What respect our forgiving of others hath to God's forgiving of us 3. In what manner we must forgive others First Who are our Debtors It is not meant in a vulgar Sence of those only which stand ingaged for a Sum of Mony due to us but of all such as have offended us in Word or Deed. There is a Duty we owe to one another which when we omit or act contrary unto it we are not only Debtors to God but to one another and the Doers of the Injury are bound to repair the Wrong and to make Restitution In this large sence is the word Debtors here taken with respect to the Person that hath done the Injury He becomes a Debtor is to make Satisfaction and suffer the Punishment which the Wrong deserves Secondly What Respect hath our forgiving of others to God's forgiving us I shall speak to it Negatively and Positvely 1. Negatively 1. It is not a meritorious Cause or a Merit and Price given to God why he should pardon us for that 's only the Blood of Christ. Every Act of ours is due it is imperfect and no way proportionate to the Mercies we expect and therefore it cannot be meritorious before God It is due it is a Duty we are bound to do and paying of new Debts doth not quit old Scores God hath laid such a Law upon us that we are to forgive others that cannot expiate former Offences And it is imperfect too The Remembrance of Injuries sticks too close to us When we do most heartily and intirely forgive others even then we have too great a sense of the Injury and Wrong that is offered to us Now that which needs Pardon cannot deserve Pardon And it is disproportionate to the Mercy which we expect What a vast Disparity and Difference is there between God's pardoning of us
and our pardoning of others whether we respect the Persons that are interrested in this Action or the Sâ—bject Matter or Manner and way of doing or the Fruit and Issue of the Action First In the Persons pardoning what Proportion can there be between God and Men the Creator and the Creature God he is most free and bound to none of infinite Dignity and Perfection which can neither be increased or lessened by any Act of ours for him or against him but we live in perfect Dependance upon God's Pleasure are subject to his Command and bound to do his Will and therefore what is our forgiving our fellow Creatures made out of the same Dust animated by the same Soul and every way equal with us by Nature when they wrong us in our petty Interests what Proportion is there between this forgiving and God 's forgiving he that is of so infinite a Majesty his forgiving the Violations of his holy Law And 2ly To the subject Matter that which is forgiven there is no Proportion When we compare the Multitude or Magnitude the Greatness and the Number of Offences forgiven of the one side and the other we see there 's a mighty Disproportion we forgive Pence and God Talents we an hundred Pence he ten thousand Talents Mat. 18. So 3dly the manner of forgiving on God's part by discharging us freely and exacting a full Satisfaction from Christ therefore our forgiving can hold no Comparison with it which is an Act of Duty and Conformity to God's Law And 4thly As to the Fruit and Issue of the Action our Good and Evil doth not reach to God Though our forgiving of others be an Action of Profit to our selves yet no Fruit redounds to God And therefore there being no Proportion between finite and infinite there can be no such proportion between our forgiving and God 's forgiving as that this Act may be meritorious before God Thus it is not brought here as Merit as that which doth oblige and bind God meritoriously to forgive us 2. It is not a Patern or Rule We do not mean our forgiving should be a Patern of forgiving to God So as is taken indeed ver 10 Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven there it implies a Conformity to the Patern But when we say Forgive us as we forgive it doth not mean here a Patern or Rule We imitate God but God doth not imitate us in forgiving Offences And it would be ill with us if God should forgive us no better than we forgive one another God is matchless in all his Perfections there is no Work like his Psal. 86. 8. As God is matchless in other Things so in pardoning Mercy As the Heavens are above the Earth so are his Ways above our Ways and his Thoughts above our Thoughts Isa. 55. 9. And upon this very occasion the Lord will multiply to pardon As far as the Heavens c. This is the greatest Distance we can conceive The Heavens they are at such a vast distance from the Earth that the Stars tho they be great and glorious Luminaries yet they seem to be but like so many Spangles and Sparks This is the distance and disproportion which is made between God's Mercy and ours Hos. 11. 9. I will not return to destroy Ephraim for I am God and not Man If God should forgive but only as Man doth it would be ill for Ephraim if he had to do with revengeful Man God acteth according to the Infiniteness of his own Nature far above the Law and manner of all created Beings Therefore it is not put here as a Patern and Rule 3. It doth not import Priority of Order as if our Act had the precedency of God's or as if we did or could heartily forgive others before God hath shewed any Mercy to us No in all Acts of Love God is first his Mercy to us is the Cause of our Mercy to others As the Wall reflects and casts back the Heat upon the Stander-by when first warmed with the Beams of the Sun So when our Hearts are melted with a sense of God's Mercy his Love to us is the Cause of our Love and Kindness to others 1 Iohn 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us that is we love him and others for his sake For Love to God implies that why because he hath been first with us And then it is the Motive and Patern of it In that Parable Mat. 18. 32 33. God's forgiving is the Motive to our forgiving I forgave thee all thy Debt and shouldest not thou have compassion on thy Fellow-Servant In those that have true Pardon it causeth them to forgive others out of a sense of God's Mercy that is they are disposed and inclined to shew Mercy to others But in others that think themselves pardoned and have only a temporary Pardon and Reprieve such as is there spoken of it is a Motive which should prevail with them tho it doth not Nay it is the Patern of our Love to others Eph. 4. 32. Forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you in that manner and according to that Example 4. It doth not import an exact Equality but some kind of Resemblance As it is a Note of Similitude not Equality either of Measure or Manner it only implieth that there is some correspondent Action something like done on our part So Luke 6. 36. Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful As notes the certainty of the Truth tho not the exact proportion there will be something answerable to God 2. But positively to shew what respect it hath 1. It is a Condition or moral Qualification which is found in Persons pardoned Mat. 6. 14. For if ye forgive Men their Trespasses your heavenly Father will also forgive you But ver 15. If ye forgive not Men their Trespasses neither will your Father forgive your Trespasses These two are inseparably conjoin'd God's pardoning of us and our pardoning of others The Grant of a Pardon that 's given out at the same time when this Disposition is wrought in us but the Sense of a Pardon that 's a thing subsequent to this Disposition And when we find this Disposition in us we come to understand how we are pardoned of God 2. It is an Evidence a Sign or Note of a pardoned Sinner when a Man's Heart is entender'd by the Lord's Grace and inclined to shew Mercy here 's his Evidence Mat. 5. 7. Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy The Stamp or Impression shews that the Seal hath been there so this is an Evidence to us whereby we may make out our Title to the Lord's Mercy that we have received Mercy from the Lord. 3. It is a necessary Effect of God's pardoning Mercy shed abroad in our Hearts for Mercy begets Mercy as Heat doth Heat Titus 3. 2 3. Shew meekness to all Men for we our selves also were sometimes foolish disobedient c. There 's none
so tender to others as they which have received Mercy themselves that know how gently God hath dealt with them and did not take the advantage of their Iniquity 4. It is put here to shew that it is a Duty incumbent upon them that are pardoned God hath laid this Necessity upon Men. And that may be one reason why this Clause is inserted that every time we come to pray and beg Pardon we may bind our selves to this Practice and warn our selves more solemnly of our Duty and undertake it in the sight of God So that when we say Forgive us our Debts as we forgive our Debtors it is a certain Undertaking or solemn Promise we make to God if he will shew mercy to us this will incline us to shew mercy to others In earnest Requests we are wont to bind our selves to necessary Duties 5. It is an Argument breeding Confidence in God's pardoning Mercy When we that have so much of the old Leaven that soure revengeful Nature in us yet when we have received but a Spark of Grace it makes us ready to forgive others then what may we imagine in God! What is our Drop to that infinite Sea of Fulness that is in him Clearly thus it is urged in that Clause Luke 11. 4. And forgive us our Sins for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us There is a special Emphasis upon that For we also that is we that have so little Grace we that are so revengeful and passionate by Nature we also forgive those that are indebted to us Therefore the gracious God in all Goodness and in all moral Perfections doth far exceed the Creature and if this be in us what is there in God This kind of Reasoning is often used in Scripture as Mat. 7. 11. If ye then being evil know how to give good Gifts unto your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good Things to them that ask him If evil Men have such Bowels and Affections towards their Children certainly there 's more of this Goodness and Kindness in God Thirdly Wherein this forgiving of others doth consist 1. In forbearing others 2. In acquitting others 3. In doing good to them 1. In forbearing one another and with-holding our selves from Revenge This is a thing that is distant from forgiving and accordingly we shall find it so propounded by the Apostle Col. 3. 13. Forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any Man have a Quarrel against any even as Christ forgave you so also do ye Mark there 's first forbearing and then forgiving What is forbearing a ceasing from Acts of Revenge which tho they be sweet to Nature yet they are contrary to Grace Some Men will say we will do to him as he hath done to us Prov. 24. 29. Say not I will do so to him as he hath done to me I will render to the Man according to his Work Corrupt Nature thirsteth for Revenge and hath a strong Inclination this way but Grace should give check to it Say not c. Men think it 's a base thing and argueth a low pusillanimous Spirit to put up Wrongs and Injuries O it argueth a stupid Baseness But this is that which giveth a Man a Victory over himself nay it gives a Man the truest Victory over his Enemy when he forbears to revenge It gives a Man a Victory over himself which is better than the most noble Actions amongst the Sons of Men. Prov. 16. 32. He that overcometh his own Spirit is more than he that taketh a City There is a Spirit in us that is boisterous turbulent and revengeful apt to retaliate and return Injury for Injury now when we can bridle this this is an overcoming of our own Spirits But that 's the true weakness of Spirit when a Man is easily overcome by his own Passion And then hath our Enemy a true Victory over us when his Injuries overcome us so far as we can break God's Laws to be quit with him Therefore the Apostle saith Rom. 12. 21. Be not overcome of Evil but overcome Evil with Good Then is Grace victorious and then hath a Man a noble and brave Spirit not when he is overcome by Evil for that argueth Weakness but when he can overcome Evil. And it is God's way to shame the Party that did the wrong and to overcome him too it is the best way to get the Victory over him When David had Saul at an advantage in the Cave and cut off the Lap of his Garment and did forbear any Act of Revenge against him Saul was melted and said to David Thou art more righteous than I. 1 Sam. 24. 17. Tho he had such a hostile Mind against him and chased and pursued him up and down yet when David forbore Revenge when it was in his Power it overcame him and he falls a weeping So the Captains of the Syrians when the Prophet had blinded them and led them from Dothan to Samaria what saith the King of Israel he is ready to kill them presently No 2 Kings 6. 22. Set Bread and Water before them that they may eat and drink and go to their Master He was kind to them and what followeth They did no more annoy Israel This wrought upon the Hearts of the Syrians so that they would not come and trouble them any more 2. In Forgiving it is not only required of Christians to forbear the avenging of themselves but also actually to forgive and pardon those that have done them Wrongs They must not only forbear Acts of Revenge but all Desires of Revenge must be rooted out of their Hearts Men may tolerate or forbear others for want of a handsom Opportunity of executing their Purposes But the Scripture saith Forbearing one another forgiving one another This Forgiving implieth the laying down of all Anger and Hatred and all Desire of Revenge Now this should be done not only in word but sincerely and universally 1. Sincerely and with the Heart In the Conclusion of that Parable Christ doth not say If you do not forgive thus it shall be done to you but If ye from your Hearts forgive not every one his Brother their Trespasses so also shall my Heavenly Father do to you We must not only do this but do it from the Heart Ioseph when his Brethren came to him and submitted themselves did not only remit the Offence but his Bowels yearned towards them and his Heart was towards them Gen. 50. 17. Then 2. It must be done universally whatever the Wrong be be it to our Persons Names or Estates To our Persons Acts 7. 60. Stephen when they stoned him he said Lord lay not this Sin to their Charge Tho they had done him so great an Injury as to deprive him of his Life and Service yet Lord lay not this Sin to their charge So to our Names When Shimei came barking against David the poor Man was driven out of Ierusalem by a rebellious Son and this