Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n
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A26806
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Sermons upon Psalm CXXX, ver. 4 but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayst be feared / by William Bates.
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Bates, William, 1625-1699.
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1696
(1696)
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Wing B1124; ESTC R25865
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50,575
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129
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SERMONS UPON Psalm CXXX Ver. 4. But there is Forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared BY WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1696. SERMONS OF THE Forgiveness of Sins PSAL. CXXX 4. But there is Forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared THE Psalmist in the first and second Verses addresses to God with earnest Desires for his saving Mercies Out of the Depths have I cried to thee O Lord Lord hear my Voice let thine Ear be attentive to my Supplication He humbly deprecates the severe Inquiry of Divine Justice ver 3. If thou Lord shouldst mark Iniquities O Lord who shall stand If God should with an exact Eye observe our Sins and call us to an account who can stand in Judgment who can endure that firy Trial The best Saints tho never so innocent and unblameable in the sight of Men tho never so vigilant and watchful over their Hearts and Ways are not exempted from the Spots of humane Frailty which according to the Rigour of the Law would expose them to a condemning Sentence He relieves and supports himself under this fearful Apprehension with the Hopes of Mercy But there is Forgiveness with thee that thou mayst be feared 'T is in thy Power and thy Will to pardon repenting and returning Sinners that thou mayst be feared The Fear of God in Scripture signifies the humble holy Reverence of him as our heavenly Father and Soveraign that makes us cautious lest we should offend him and careful to please him For this Reason the Fear of God is comprehensive of all Religion of the whole Duty of Man to which it is introductive and is a principal Ingredient in it The Clemency and compassionate Mercy of God is the Cause of an ingenuous filial Fear mix'd with Love and Affiance in the Breasts of Men. Other Attributes his Holiness that fram'd the Law Justice that ordain'd the Punishment of Sin Power that inflicts it render his Majesty terrible and cause a Flight from him as an Enemy If all must perish for their Sins no Prayers or Praises will ascend to Heaven all Religious Worship will cease for ever But his tender Mercy ready to receive humble Suppliants and restore them to his Favour renders him amiable and admired and draws us near to him There are two Propositions to be considered in the Verse 1. That Forgiveness belongs to God 2. That the forgiving Mercy of God is a powerful Motive of Adoration and Obedience I propound to discourse of the first and to touch upon the second in the Application In managing the Point with Light and Order 't is requisite to consider 1 st What is contain'd in Forgiveness 2 dly The Arguments that demonstrate that Forgiveness belongs to God 1. What is contained in Forgiveness This necessarily supposes Sin and Sin a Law that is violated by it The Law implies a Sovereign Law-giver to whose declared Will Subjection is due and who will exact an Account in Judgment of Mens Obedience or Disobedience to his Law and dispense Rewards and Punishments accordingly God by the clearest Titles is our King our Law-giver and Judg for he is our Maker and Preserver and consequently has a full Propriety in us and absolute Authority over us and by his sovereign and singular Perfections is qualified to govern us A derived Being is necessarily in a State of Dependance and Subjection All the Ranks of Creatures in the World are order'd by their Maker his Kingdom rules over all Those in the lowest degree of Being are order'd by Power Sensitive Creatures are determin'd by the Impulses of Nature to their Actions for having no Light to distinguish between moral Good and Evil they have no Choice and are incapable of receiving a Law Intelligent Creatures endowed with judicious and free Faculties an Understanding to discern between moral Good and Evil and a Will to choose or reject what is propounded to them are capable of a Law to direct and regulate their Liberty To Man a Law was given by the Creator the Copy of his Wisdom and Will that has all the Perfections of a Rule 'T is clear and compleat injoining what is essentially good and forbidding what is essentially evil God governs Man conveniently to his Nature and no Service is pleasing to him but the Result of our Reason and Choice the Obedience of our supreme leading Powers Since the Fall the Light of the Understanding compared with the bright Discovery it afforded of our whole Duty in our Original State is either like the Twilight of the Evening the faint and dim Remains of the Light of the Day when Night draws a dark Vail over the World or like the dawning of the Morning when the rising Sun begins to scatter the Darkness of the Night The latter Comparison I think is more just and regular for 't is said that the Son of God enlightens every Man that comes into the World The innate Light discovers there is a streight Line of Truth to regulate our Judgment and a streight Line of Vertue to regulate our Actions Natural Conscience is a Principle of Authority directing us to choose and practise Vertue and to avoid Vice and according to our Neglect or Compliance with its Dictates reflects upon us 'T is hardly presumable that any are so prodigiously wicked as not to be convinc'd of the natural Rectitude in things they can distinguish between what is fair and what is fraudulent in Dealings and acknowledg in the general and in judging of others the Equity of things tho they elude the Force of the Conviction in the Application to themselves Now since common Reason discovers there is a common Rule there must be a common Judg to whom Men are accountable for the Obliquity or Conformity of their Actions to that Rule The Law of God is revealed in its Purity and Perfection in the Scripture The Law binds first to Obedience and in neglect of it to Punishment Sin is defin'd by St. John to be the Transgression of the Law The Omission of what is commanded or doing what is forbidden is a Sin Not only the Lusts that break forth into Action and Evidence but inward Inclinations contrary to the Law are Sin From hence results a Guilt upon every Sinner which includes the Imputation of the Fault and Obligation to Punishment There is a natural Connexion between the Evil of Doing and the Evil of Suffering the Violation of the Law is justly revenged by the Violation of the Person that breaks it It is an impossible Imagination that God should give a Law not enforc'd with a Sanction This would cast a Blemish upon his Wisdom for the Law would cancel it self and defeat his Ends in giving it it would reflect a high Dishonour upon his Holy Majesty as if he were indifferent with respect to Vertue or Vice and disregarded our Reverence or Rebellion against his Authority The Apostle declares
Sin and renewing us into the Image of God are obtained by the Gospel The Law is called the Law of Sin and Death which must be understood not as consider'd in it self but relatively to our depraved Nature The Law supposes Men in a State of uncorrupted Nature and was given to be a Preservative of our Holiness and Felicity not a Remedy to recover us from Sin and Misery It was directive of our Duty but since our Rebellion the Rod is turn'd into a Serpent The Law is hard and imperious severe and inexorable the Tenor of it is Do or die for ever It requires a Righteousness entire and unblemish'd which one born in Sin cannot produce in the Court of Judgment Man is utterly unable by his lapsed Powers to recover the Favour of God and to fulfil his Obligation by the Law to Obedience But the Gospel discovers an open easy way to Life to all that will accept of Salvation by the Redeemer The Apostle expresses the Difference between the Condition of the Law and the Gospel in a very significant manner Moses describes the Righteousness which is of the Law that the Man that does those things shall live in them but the Righteousness which is of Faith speaks on this wise Say not in thine Heart Who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring down Christ from above Who shall descend into the Deep that is to bring Jesus Christ again from the dead but what saith it The Word is nigh thee that if thou shalt confess with thy Mouth and shalt believe in thy Heart that God hath raised him from the Dead thou shalt be saved The meaning of the Apostle is that things in Heaven above or in the Depths beneath are of impossible Discovery and Attainment so 't is equally impossible to be justified by the Works of the Law The anxious Sinner seeks in vain for Righteousness in the Law which can only be found in the Gospel It may be objected that the Condition of the Law and the Condition of the Gospel compar'd relatively to our deprav'd Faculties are equally impossible The carnal Mind and Affections are as averse from Repentance and receiving Christ as our Lord and Saviour as from obeying the Law Our Saviour tells the Jews Ye will not come to me that ye may have Life and no Man can come to me unless the Father draw him Which Words are highly expressive of our utter Impotence to believe savingly in Christ. But there is a clear Answer to this Objection the Difference between the two Dispensations consists principally in this The Law requires compleat and constant Obedience as the Condition of Life without affording the least supernatural Power to perform it But the Gospel has the Spirit of Grace a Concomitant with it by whose Omnipotent Efficacy Sinners are revived and enabled to comply with the Terms of Salvation The Spirit of the Law is stiled the Spirit of Bondage from its rigorous Effects it discover'd Sin and terrified the Conscience without implanting a Principle of Life that might restore the Sinner to a State of Holy Liberty As the Flame in the Bush made the Thorns in it visible without consuming them so the firy Law discovers Mens Sins but does not abolish them But the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus i. e. the Gospel has freed us from the Law of Sin and Death I will more particularly consider the gracious Terms prescribed in the Gospel for the obtaining Pardon Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The requiring of them is not an arbitrary Constitution but founded in the unchangeable Nature and Congruity of things Repentance signifies a sincere Change of the Mind and Heart from the Love and Practice of Sin to the Love and Practice of Holiness upon Evangelical and Divine Motives The principal Ingredients in it are Reflections with Grief and Shame upon our past Sins with stedfast Resolutions of future Obedience 'T is a vital Principle productive of Fruits sutable to it 'T is call'd Repentance from dead Works Repentance unto Life 'T is the Seed of new Obedience Repentance in order of Nature is before Pardon but they are inseparably join'd in the same Point of Time David is a blessed Instance of this I said I will confess my Transgressions to the Lord and thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin The Sum and Tenour of the Apostles Commission recorded by St. Luke is That Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in the Name of Christ to all Nations That a repentant Sinner only is qualified for Pardon will be evident in considering 1. That an impenitent Sinner is the Object of revenging Justice and 't is utterly inconsistent that pardoning Mercy and revenging Justice should be terminated upon the same Person at the same time in the same respect 'T is said The Lord hateth all the Workers of Iniquity and his Soul hates the Wicked The Expression implies the intense Degrees of Hatred In the glorious Appearance of God to Moses when proclaim'd with the highest Titles of Honour The Lord God gracious and merciful pardoning Iniquity Transgression and Sin 't is added he will by no means spare the Guilty i. e. impenitent Sinners We must suppose God to be of a changeable flexible Nature which is a blasphemous Imagination and makes him like to sinful Man if an impenitent Sinner may be received to Favour without a Change in his Disposition God cannot repent of giving a holy Law the Rule of our Duty therefore Man must repent of his breaking the Law before he can be reconciled to him The Truth is Man consider'd merely as a Sinner is not the Object of God's first Mercy i. e. of Pity and Compassion for as such he is the Object of God's Wrath and 't is a formal Contradiction to assert that he is the Object of Love and Hatred at the same time and in the same respect But Man consider'd as God's Creature involv'd in Misery by the Fraud of the Tempter and his own Folly was the Object of God's Compassion and the Recovery of him from his forlorn wretched State was the Effect of that Compassion 2. Tho Mercy consider'd as a separate Attribute might pardon an impenitent Sinner yet not in Conjunction and Concord with God's essential Perfections Many things are possible to Power absolutely consider'd which God cannot do for his Power is always directed in its Exercise by his Wisdom and limited by his Will It would disparage God's Wisdom stain his Holiness violate his Justice to pardon an impenitent Sinner The Gospel by the Promise of Pardon to such would foil it self and frustrate its principal End which is to purify us from all Iniquity and to make us a People zealous of good Works 3. If an impenitent Sinner may be pardoned as such he may be glorified for that which qualifies a Man for Pardon qualifies him for Salvation and the Divine Decree establishes an inseparable Connexion between them