punish whence follows the non-imputation of sin Not imputing their trespasses unto them The justice of God will not suffer that that sin which is pardoned should be punished for can that be justice in a prince to pardon a thief and yet to bring him to the gallows for that fact Though the malefactor doth justly deserve it yet after a pardon and the word passed it is not justly inflicted God indeed doth punish for that sin which is pardoned Though Nathan by Gods Commission had declared Davids sin pardoned yet the Sword was to stick in the bowels of his family 2 Sam. 12.10 15. The Sword shall never depart from thy house the Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye But 1. 'T is not a punishment in order to Satisfaction Because Christs Satisfaction had no flaw in it and stood in need of nothing to eek it out But 't is for the vindication of the honour of Gods holiness that he might not be thought an approver of sin and this was the reason of Davids punishment in the death of his child by Bathsheba 2 Sam. 12.14 Because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to Blaspheme 2. 'T is not so much poenal as medicinal A judg Commands a hand to be cut off that is for punishment a Physician and a Father order the same but for the Patients cure and the preservation of the body And though God after pardon acts not towards his people in the nature of a Judg yet he never lays aside the authority and affection of a Father We are delivered from a Judges wrath but not from a Fathers anger In that remarkable dumbness inflicted upon Zachary for his unbelief Luk 1.18.20 there was a confirmation of his Faith as well as the chastisement of his incredulity The Angel upon his unbelieving desire of a sign gives him a Testimony of the truth of his errand but such an one that should make him feel in some measure the smart of his unbelief 3. If it be penal 't is not the eternal punishment due to sin 'T is but temporary and not embittered by wrath which is the gall of punishment This taking off the obligation to punishment is the true nature of pardon Which will be evident from 2 Sam. 19.19 Let not my Lord impute iniquity unto me Shimei desires David not to impute iniquity and not to remember it It was not in Davids power absolutely to forget it and Shimei's confessing the fact with those circumstances in verse 20. was enough to recall it to Davids memory if he had forgot it but he desires David not to bring him to satisfy the penalty of the law for reviling his Soveraign II. The Author of Pardon God For pardon is the Soveraign prerogative of God whereby he doth acquit a believing Sinner from all obligation to Satisfactory punishment upon the account of the Satisfaction and Righteousness of Christ apprehended by Faith 1. 'T is Gods act Remission is the Creditors not the Debtors act though the Debtor be obliged in Justice to pay the debt yet there is no obligation upon the Creditor to demand the debt because it is at his liberty to renounce or maintain his right to it and God hath as much power as man to relax his right provided it be with a Salvo to his own honour and the holiness of his nature which he cannot deny for the sinners safety as the Apostle tells us God cannot deny himself Yet properly say some though sin be a debt God is not to be considered in pardon as a Creditor because sin is not a pecuniary debt but a criminal and so God is to be considered as a governor law-giver guardian and executor of his laws and so may dispence with the severities of them If an inferior person tear an indictment it may be brought again into Court but if the chief Magistrate order the casting it out who can plead it 'T is Gods act and if God justifies who can condemn Rom. 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifies who shall condemn That God absolves thee that hath power to condemn thee that God who enacted the law whereby thou art sentenced proclaims the Gospel whereby thou art reconcil'd 'T is an offended God who is a foregiving God that God whose name thou hast prophaned whose patience thou hast abused whose laws thou hast violated whose mercy thou hast slighted whose justice thou hast dared and whose glory thou hast stained 2. 'T is not only his act but his prerogative and he only can do it God is the party wronged Nemo potest remittere de jure alieno This prerogative he glories in as peculiar to himself the thoughts of this honour are so sweet to him that he repeats it twice as a title he will not share with another Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blots out thy transgressions Pardoning offenders is one of a Princes royalties And this is reckoned among his Regalia as a choice flower and jewel in his Crown Exod. 34.7 for giving iniquity transgressions and Sins A Prince punisheth by his ministers but pardons by himself And indeed God is never so glorious as in acts of mercy Justice makes him terrible but mercy renders him amiable When Moses desired to see God in his royalty and best perfections he displays himself in his goodness Exod. 33.18 Shew me thy glory v. 19. I will make all my goodness pass before thee I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious And though the Apostles had a power of Remission and binding that was only ministerial and declarative like that prophetical power which Jeremy had to root up nations and destroy Jerm 1.10 i. e. to declare Gods will in such and such Judgments as he should send him to pronounce Men cannot pardon an infinite wrong done to an infinite justice Forgiveness belongs to God as 1. Proprietor He hath a greater right to us than we have to our selves 2 Soveraign He is Lord over us as we are his creatures 3. Governour of us as we are parts of the world 3. 'T is an act of his mercy Not our merit Though there be a conditional connexion between pardon and repentance and Faith yet there is no meritorious connexion ariseth from the Nature of those graces but remission flows from the gracious indulgence of the promise 'T is the very tenderness of mercy the meltings of inward bowels Luke 1.78 To give knowledg of Salvation and Remission of their sins through the tender mercies of our God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an inexhaustible mercy Psal 86.5 Thou Lord art ready to forgive and art plenteous in mercy A multitude of tender mercies Psal 51.1 What Arithmetick can count all the bublings up of mercy in the breast of God and all the glances and all the doles of his pardoning grace towards his creatures And he keeps this mercy by him as in a treasury to
time and the sins thou hast committed twenty years ago are as fresh as if thou hadst acted them all since thy coming into the congregation Josephs brethren Gen. 37.24 laboured to wipe out the thoughts of their late cruelty by their eating and drinking when the cries and tears of their brother were fresh in their memory and might have dampt their jollity His affliction troubled them not his relation to them his youth and their Fathers Love to him could not make them relent but twenty two years after conscience began to fly in their faces when awakened by a powerful affliction Gen. 42 21. Is not thy conscience oftentimes a remembrancer to thee of thy old forgotten sins and doth it not turn over the old records thou hadst quite forgot 7. Hopes of Gods mercy are no grounds of thy being pardoned Gods mercy is not barely enough for then Christ needed not have dyed for sin Nor Christs death enough without the condition of that covenant whereby God will make over the interest and merits of his death to thee Gods mercy must be considered but in Gods own way God is merciful but his Mercy must not abolish his Truth Doth not a Judges mercy consist with condemning a malefactor God hath been merciful to thee and thou would'st not accept of it thou wouldst not hear mercy speak in a day of grace why then should not justice speak in a day of vengeance Thou would'st not hear a God of mercy when he cryed to thee how then should mercy hear thee when thou comest to begg 2. Some false grounds why those that are pardoned think themselves not pardoned 1. Great afflictions are not signs of an unpardoned state Moses had sinned by unbelief Aaron by making a golden calf God pardoned their sin but took vegeance on their inventions Psal 99.8 Thou wast a God that forgavest them though thou tookest vengeance Nathan in his message to David brings at once both pardon and punishment The sin is removed but the sword must still stick in the bowels of his family 2 Sam. 12 13 14. The Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye Howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to Blaspheme the child also that is born unto thee shall surely dye God may afflict temporally when he resolves not to punish eternally What! because he will not condemn thee as a Judg will he not chastize thee as a Father We may well bear a scourge in one hand when we have a pardon sealed in the other God pardons thy sin but there is need of affliction to subdue that stout stubborn heart of thine Psal 89.32 33. God doth visit with rods when he is resolved not utterly to take away his loving kindness from a people 2. Terrors of Conscience are no sign of an unpardoned state We find a pardoned David having broken bones and a rackt Conscience after Nathan had pronounced his pardon when there was no remorse before Psal 51. He had the grant of a pardon but the comfort of a pardon was wanting God may scorch thy Soul when he gives a pardon not that justice is thereby Satisfied but sin more embittered to thee By a pardon thou dost rellish his mercy and by the torments thou mayest have in thy Soul thou wilt understand his Justice He shews thee what he freely gives but he would have thee know what thou hast fully deserved he gives thee pardon but Gall and Wormwood with it that thou mayest know what the purchase of it did cost thy Saviour The Physick which heals causeth pain That Physick which doth not make thee sick is not like to bring thee health God pardons thee that thou mayest be saved he terrifies thee withal that thou mayest not be induced by temptations to sin 3. Sense of sin is no argument of an unpardoned state A pardon may be granted when the poor condemned man expects to be haled out to Execution Mary stands weeping behind her Saviour when Christ was declaring her pardon to Simon That much was forgiven her and afterwards Christ turns to her and cheers her with the news of it Luke 7.44 45 46 47. He pronounceth her pardon v. 48. and the comfort of it v. 50. Thy Faith hath saved thee go in peace The Heavens may drop when now and then the Sun may steal a Beam thorow the Clouds There may be a pardon where there are not always the sensible effects of a pardon We find after the stilling of a Storm the ragings and roulings of the Sea A penitents wound may ake afresh when a Saviours blood drops in mercy 4. The Remainders of sin are not a sign of an unpardoned state Though a Disease be mastered by Physick there may be some grudgings of it in a person Though sin be pardoned yet the dregs of sin will be remaining and sometimes stirring Christ hath enliven'd us not by wholly destroying but pardoning sin Pardon takes away the guilt of sin grace takes away the power of sin but neither pardon nor infusion of grace takes away the nature and all motions of sin for in purging out an humour some dregs still remain behind Col. 2.13 And you hath he quickened together with him having forgiven you all trespasses 3. What are the true signs of a pardoned man 1. Sincerity in our walk A Spirit without guile is made the Character of a pardoned man in the Text There may be failings in the life yet no guile in the heart such a man is a pardoned man A heart that hath no mixtures no pretences or excuses for sin no private reserves from God A heart that as the needle in a Compass stands right for the Interest glory of God answers to the profession as an Eccho to the voice A heart that would thrust out any sin that harboured there would not have an Atom of any filth odious to the Eye of God lurk there Where this sincerity is a willingness and readiness to obey God which is the condition of the Covenant the substance of the Covenant is kept though some particular Articles of it may be broken Grace the pardoning grace of God is with them that love Christ in sincerity Eph. 6. ult Grace be with all them that love Christ Jesus in sincerity Not a man excluded that is sincere though he hath not so sparkling a flame as another yet if he be sincere the Crown of pardoning grace and that of consummating grace shall be set upon his head 2. Mourning for sin A tender heart is a sign of a pardoned state when sin discontents thee because it displeaseth God What showers of tears did Mary Magdalen weep after a pardon Love to God like a gentle fire sets the Soul a melting Tears that come from love are never without pardoning mercy God's bowels do first stir our mournings 'T is impossible a gracious heart can read a pardon with dry Eyes 't is the least it thinks it can do as it
as there was an act of his will for the doing good preceding his not doing it Rom. 7.19 The good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do The act of his will was present v. 18. To will is present with me I have that standing in a readiness to do good but the executive power is at a distance I know not how to have it But how to perform that which is good I find not He speaks as a man that was searching for something which he had a great desire to find and could not meet with it Many times a good man is tyred out with the importunity of a temptation and is fain to fling down his weapons and sink under the oppression till he receive a new recruit of strength by exciting and assisting grace 2. Sometimes concomitant in the very commission of a sin Peter seems to have had some resistance in the very act of denying his Master The Spirit of God blew up some sparks of shame in him at that very time for after the very first denial he went out into the porch Mark 14.68 By his retirement he discovers some willingness to have avoided a further temptation There is many times an exercise of displeasure against it while a man cannot avoid it Rom. 7.15 That which I do I allow not that which I hate that I do I hate it even while I do it and my hatred is excited against it in the very act he means it of sins of infirmity The Seed of God in the heart cannot consent to sin but will many times in the very acting of it be shewing its displeasure weakly or strongly against it As a Needle touched with a Loadstone if it be disturbed in its standing to the North-pole will shake and tremble while the impediment is upon it * Smith oâ— the Creed Some demurrers were made in Peter's heart but fear over-ruled the plea and it is probable his heart was not wholly asleep even in the very act else it is not likely he should have been so suddenly rouzed There is a voice in him Grace speaks for God but it is over-ruled and opprest by a temptation there are some pull-backs some spiritual whisperers even when it presses hard Why art thou cast down my Soul Psal 43.5 There is the carnal part stirring in distrust Hope thou in God there is a spiritual part rising in Faith A neat person may by stumbling he bemir'd in a dirty hole but while he stumbles there is a natural impetus which endeavours to keep him upright and if he doth fall he struggles till he be delivered But when a Swine falls into a puddle he lies grunting with pleasure and grumbles at any that will drag him out Which leads me to a third thing 3. But there is always a consequent dissent after the fall He hath many rebukes in his Conscience whereas a natural mans sin is brought up and nurtur'd with him Eccles 5. â— They consider not that they do evil they lay it not to heart especially if it break not out in some foul and notorious manner A renewed man is displeased at the very first motion that clambered up into his heart to entice him to his sin not only the fruit but the root that bears it is odious to him Psal 51.5 Behold I was shapen in iniquity By the same reason that he directs his hatred to the sin of his Nature by the same reason he will do it to the first motion that immediately brought forth that bitter fruit which a natural man doth not 'T is the character of a wicked man to rejoyce that he hath done evil Prov. 2.14 which I think is never found in a renewed man for this is indeed to be under the power of Satan and like their Father the Devil But he condemns what he hath committed and the greater his delight in it the greater will his abhorrency be of it and the more earnest his cry to be rid of his burden When he comes to see what contrariety there was in his act to the Law of God it is impossible but his heart should smite him It cannot be but that delight in the Law of God which is a constitutive part of a regenerate man Rom. 7.22 must revive when the weights which did suspend it are removed and according to the degrees of his revived delight there will be suitable degrees of displeasure with what was contrary to the object of it for since a delight in the Law of God is essential to a renewed nature that delight must needs produce an aversion from every thing contrary to that Law otherwise it is not a delight If there be not such workings after a review of sin I dare pronounce that such a man is not regenerate But how long he may lie in a sin without acting consideration about it I cannot determine He must needs have torment in his Soul and a high disaffection to his sin and himself for it because upon a review he cannot but see how unlike to God it hath made him how much it hath defiled his Soul and impaired the Divine Image No disease can be more grievous to the body than a sin fallen into is to the new nature it grieves and pains the new creature which is restless till it be rid of the disease the new nature is a tender thing Though he be assured of its pardon he is in anxiety till he finds it purged Psal 51.7 Purge me with Hyssop and I shall be clean David had been assured of the pardon of his Sin by Nathan that would not quiet him as long as the filth remained he would not only have the guilt removed but the stain washed off as a man fallen in the dirt is desirous not only to be raised up but to be washed clean from any remainders of the mire A good man hath a disquietness in his heart and is as much troubled at his sin as at a stinking wound or a loathsom disease Psal 38.5 6 7 8. and his sorrow is continually before him v. 17. He is more displeased with that sin than he is pleased at present with all the grace he hath David's sin was ever before him Psal 51.3 Peter brought forth no other fruit immediately after the review of his sin but sorrow and exercised more grief for that than he did joy at the present for the not failing of his Faith as a man is more troubled with a pain of the Tooth or a fit of the Gout than pleased with all the health in his vital parts which is far greater than his pain Here then is a difference Regenerate men have pain in their sins natural men pleasure the one is ashamed of his sin the other at best but ashamed of his discredit he condemns himself for it with so much severity rips his heart open before God that if a wicked man should hear him praying in his Closet after some sin he would think
he did belye himself or else that he were the vilest Villain in the world He will study no excuses and present no pleas to God for his sin If he hath not strength to conquer it he hath a voice to cry against it Prayers are doubled one Messenger goes to Heaven upon the heels of another and so moderation which was in his requests before is turn'd to an unsatisfied importunity So that you see there is not a plenary consent of will but the dissent is habitual and actual if not antecedent or concomitant yet alwaies consequent What then doth the regenerate mans sin arise from It ariseth 1. Either from a strong passion which many times bears down the bars both of grace and reason That is not wholly voluntary which is done by the prevalency of passion which suspends the determination of the understanding and consequently the regular and free motion of the Will Such was the accusation of God in his Prophet which David was guilty of Psal 116.11 I said in my haste all men are liars I said 't is true all men are liars even the Prophet too but it was in my haste And in his haste he accuseth God of the breach of his promises Psal 31.22 I said in my haste I am cut off from before thy Eyes God hath either forgot his promise or changed his resolutions for not one of them will be made good unto me It was a passion in Moses which made him guilty of that act of unbelief that cost him his exclusion from the land of promise Num. 20.8 10 11 12. God commands him to use his Tongue not his Rod on the Rock but the passion the good man was in by the provocation of the people transported him beyond his bounds Peter's heart was not so full of courage as of Loyalty his Zeal was put out of countenance by his fear A strong fit of passion may make a man as good and meek as Moses fling away both the Tables of the Law which otherwise would be as dear to him as the Apple of his Eye 2. From inconsiderateness There cannot be a full consent of Will where a deliberate judgment doth not precede Many a man through an inconsiderate indulging his appetite eats that meat which foments his humors into some dangerous disease Sin creeps upon a good man when the liveliness and activity of his Spirit in former duties is in a slumber but another hath as great inclinations to sin when his understanding is in its strength Peter had the grace of faith but he fell into his sin for want of acting it upon his repentance it is said Luke 22.6 And Peter remembred the words of the Lord. He had forgot Christs words and that made him forget himself and his Master in that act of sin If our Saviour had cast his Eye upon Peter and excited his slumbering grace before the Maid had spoken to him he might have prevented Peter's fall as well as afterwards recovered him If God had sent Nathan with a message to David when his corruption began first to put on its Arms to have shewed him the vileness of his intentions and excited him to a stout resistance he might have prevented the loss of his innocency as well as restor'd him after it had lain in the dust so long David might have kept his standing and dismist those inclinations as he did his inconsiderate design of murdering Nabal and his family upon Abigail's admonition for which he blesseth God 1 Sam. 25.32 33. In short The motion of a regenerate man to sin is violent like a stone upward the motion of an unrenewed man is natural like a stone downwards The Godly are violently pursued but the wicked fottishly infatuated by a temptation * Greenham And certainly when the strength of the passion is abated and the free exercise of reason recovered there will be the exercise of grace again for it is not conceiveable that the habit of grace and repentance should be without the actual exercise of it when the impediments are removed and an occasion presented so that he that doth not recover himself to his former exercise never had this true seed of God infused into him 7 Proposition Though a regenerate man may fall and sin have a temporary dominion yet he recovers out of this state and for the most part returns to his former holiness and an increase of it though not always to his former comforts There are none whose sins are recorded in Scripture but there are some evidences of their repentance for it or the acting the contrary grace Davids sin was gross and his repentance remarkable he was more tender afterwards in point of Blood 2 Sam. 23.16 17. when he desired Water out of the Well of Bethlehem and it was brought him by three valiant men with the Jeopardy of their lives he would not drink it because it was the Blood of the men that ventured their lives to satisfy his curiosity Peters repentance is eminent his affection is hot for the truth of which he could appeal to his masters omnisciency John 21.17 Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee His courage is illustrious in asserting his Masters honour in the face of the greatest dangers in which exercise you find him the Foreman of that Jury of the 12 Apostles before every Assembly Acts 2.3.4.5 c. Though Abraham had discovered a distrust of God in Pharaohs and Abimelechs courts yet his faith afterward in his readiness to sacrifice Isaac was as glorious as his unbelief had been base which gave him the title of the Father of the faithful Noah who was drunk and thereby exposed to the derision of his Son could not so well have curst him had he not abhorred the sin as well as the reproach And Lot whose righteous Soul was vexed with the filthiness of others could not have a less vexation at his own when he came to know of it Those that affirm that mortal sins expel grace yet doubt whether they expel the gifts of the Spirit one end whereof say they is to render the Soul pliable and flexible to the motions of the Spirit * Suarez de Gratia lib. 11 c. 3. num 10 p. 415. If they do not expel the gifts I know not why they should expel the grace which is under the manutenency of the Spirit of God in a particular manner The Spirit lusts against the flesh as well as the flesh against the Spirit and the lusting of the Spirit will prevail as well as the lusting of the flesh and more Gal. 5.17 All natural things that are removed out of their proper place are restless till they are reduc'd to their right station A good man is as Water that though it be turned into a Mass of Ice wholly cold in the ways of God yet still there is a principle in him as there is in Ice to return to his former form figure and activity upon the warm eruptions of
the Spirit of God There is a powerful voice behind him that brings him back when he turns either to the right hand or to the left from the ways of God Isa 30.21 By virtue of this seed within him and the Spirit of God exciting it that word which comes home to the Soul after a sin becomes efficaciously melting and raises up springs of penitential motions which could not arise so suddenly were the spiritual life wholly departed For a man that hath no habit of grace in him cannot so suddenly concur with Gods proposals and exercise a repentance In such an one we see first a stupefaction of mind and an unaptness to faith no motions of a true repentance though some preparation to it But with a regenerate man it is otherwise David being admonisht by Nathan was struck to the heart and Peter presently upon our Saviours look melted into tears Their grace like tinder took fire presently upon those small but powerful occasions though it did not act at the time of their sin yet it had an aptness to act upon the removal of the impediments Though Jonah seems to cast off all regard of God and his command yet upon the first occasion in the Whales Belly he brings forth excellent fruits of faith in a moment Jonah 2. Grace in an instant upon the first motion of the Spirit will rise up and take its place from whence it seems to be deposed As a natural man under some sting of Conscience and flash of a lightning conviction may be restrained from sin yet his natural inclination to it remains though suspended at the present and may be carried the quite contrary way as the stream of a river by the force of the Tide is turned against its natural current yet slides down its channel with its wonted calmness upon the removal of the force so a good man under the violence of some lust hath not his new nature changed though at present it is restrain'd by an extrinsick force so that as the one upon the taking off his conviction returns to his sin so the other upon the removal of his fetters returns to his holiness with a greater spirit and delight A wicked man may sometimes do a good action but he continues not in it As a Planet is sometimes retrograde but soon returns to its direct course When their Conscience pinches them they awake out of their trance So a good man may sin through infirmity but he will revoke it by repentance The seed of God remains in him as the Sap in the Root of a Tree that recovers the leaves the next return of the Sun at the spring He may sink by nature and rise again by grace but the Devil who sinned at the beginning fell and never rose more Vse of Examination If you find your selves in these cases in a course of known sin resolution to commit it were it not for such bars unwillingness to know Gods pleasure and injunction despising admonitions and reproofs a settled love to it a full consent of Will without any antecedent concomitant or consequent dissent tumbling in it without rising by repentance a circle of sinning and repenting without abhorrence of sin you may conclude your selves in an unregenerate state you sin like the Devil who sinned from the beginning A DISCOURSE OF The Pardon of Sin Psalm 32.1 2. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes not iniquity THis Psalm as Grotius thinks was made to be sung upon the Annual day of the Jewish Expiation when a general confession of their sins was made 'T is one of David's poenitential Psalms supposed to be composed by him after the Murder of Vriah and the pronouncing of his pardon by Nathan v. 5. and rather a Psalm of Thanksgiving 'T is called Maschil a Psalm of understanding Maschil is translated eruditio intelligentia and notes some excellent Doctrine in the Psalm not known by the light of Nature Blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Blessednesses Ex omni parte beatus Three words there are to discover the nature of sin and three words to discover the nature of pardon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transgression Prevarication Some understand by it sins of omission commission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sin Some understand those inward inclinations lusts and motions whereby the Soul swerves from the Law of God and which are the immediate causes of external sins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iniquity Notes original sin the root of all Three words that note pardon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levatus forgiven Eas'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to take away to bear to carry away Two words in Scripture are chiefly used to denote remission 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to expiate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bear or carry away the one signifies the manner whereby it is done viz. atonement the other the effect of this expiation carrying away one notes the meritorious cause the other the consequent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covered Alluding to the covering of the Aegyptians in the Red Sea Menochius thinks it alludes to the manner of writing among the Hebrews which he thinks to be the same with that of the Romans as writing with a Pencil upon wax spread upon Tables which when they would blot out they made the Wax plain and drawing it over the writing covered the former letters And so it is equivalent with that expression of blotting out sin as in the other allusion it is with casting sin into the depths of the Sea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Impute Not charging upon account As sin is a defection from the Law so it is forgiven as it is offensive to God's holiness so it is covered as it is a debt involving man in a debt of punishment so it is not imputed They all note the certainty and extent and perfection of pardon The three words expressing sin here being the same that are used by God in the declaration of his Name Exod. 34.7 Here are to be considered 1. The Nature of Pardon 2. The Author of it God 3. The Extent of it Transgression Sin Iniquity 4. The Manner of it implied by Faith in Christ The Apostle quoting this place Rom. 4.7 to prove Justification by Faith As sin is not imputed so something is imputed instead of it Covering implies something wherewith a thing is covered as well as the act whereby it is covered 5. The Effect of it Blessedness I shall not divide than into distinct Propositions but take the words in order as they lie I. The Nature of Pardon 1. Consider the words and what notes they will afford to us 1. Covering as it alludes to the manner of writing and so is the same with blotting out Isa 43.25 I even I am he that blots out thy transgression whereby is implied that sin is a debt and pardon is the remitting of it It notes 1. The nullity of the debt A crossed book will not
rank what are the weeds Satan's devices and our thoughts are of the same nature 1 Cor. 2.11 2 Cor. 10.5 and sometimes in Scripture exprest by the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As he hath his devices so have we against the authority of God's Law the power of the Gospel and the Kingdom of Christ The Devils are call'd spiritual wickednesses because they are not capable of carnal sins Eph. 6.12 Prophaneness is an Uniformity with the world and intellectual sins are an Uniformity with the God of it Ephes 2.2 3. There is a double walking answerable to a double pattern in v. 2. Fulfilling the desires of the flesh is a walking according to the course of this world or making the world our copy and fulfilling the desires of the mind is a walking according to the Prince of the power of the air or a making the Devil our pattern In carnal sins Satan is a tempter in mental an actor Therefore in the one we are conformed to his will in the other we are transformed into his likeness In outward we evidence more of obedience to his laws in inward more of affection to his person as all imitations of others do Therefore there is more of enmity to God because more of similitude and love to the Devil a nearer approach to the Diabolical nature implying a greater distance from the Divine Christ never gave so black a character as that of the Devil's children to the prophane world but to the Pharisees who had left the sins of men to take up those of Devils and were most guilty of those high imaginations which ought to be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 5. In respect of contrariety and odiousness to God Imaginations were only evil Rom. 8.7 and so most directly contrary to God who is only good Our natural enmity against God is seated in the mind The sensitive part aims at its own gratification and in mens serving their lusts they serve their pleasures but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prince in man Titus 3.3 serving divers lusts and pleasures is possest with principles of a more direct contrariety whence it must follow that all the thoughts and counsels of it are tinctured with this hatred They are indeed a defilement of the higher part of the Soul and that which belongs more peculiarly to God And the nearer any part doth approach to God the more abominable is a spot upon it as to cast dirt upon a Prince's house is not so heinous as to deface his Image The understanding the seat of thoughts is more excellent than the will both because we know and judge before we will or ought to will only so much as the understanding thinks fit to be willed and because God hath bestowed the highest gifts upon it adorning it with more lively lineaments of his own Image Col. 3.10 Renewed in knowledge after the Image of Him that created him implying that there was more of the Image of God at the first Creation bestowed upon the understanding the seat of knowledge than on any other part yea than on all the bodies of men distill'd together Father of Spirits is one of God's titles To bespatter His Children then so near a relation Heb. 12.9 the Jewel that he is choice of must needs be more heinous He being the Father of Spirits this spiritual wickedness of nourishing evil thoughts is a cashiering all child-like likeness to him The traiterous acts of the mind are most offensive to God as 't is a greater despite for a Son to whom the Father hath given the greater portion to shut him out of his house only to revel in it with a company of Rioters and Strumpets than in a Child who never was so much the subject of his Father's favour And 't is more heinous and odious if these thoughts which possess our Souls be at any time conversant about some Idea of our own framing It were not altogether so bad if we loved something of God's creating which had a physical goodness and a real usefulness in it to allure us but to run wildly to embrace an Ens rationis to prefer a thing of no existence but what is colour'd by our own imagination of no vertue no usefulness a thing that God never created nor pronounced good is a greater enmity and a higher slight of God 6. In respect of Connaturalness and Voluntariness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plutarch Moral 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thales Diog. Laert. They are the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart and they are continually evil They are as natural as the aestuations of the Sea the bubblings of a Fountain or the twinklings of the Stars The more natural any motion is ordinarily the quicker it is Time is requisite to action but thoughts have an instantaneous motion The body is a heavy piece of clay but the mind can start out on every occasion Actions have their stated times and places but these solicit us and are entertain'd by us at all seasons Neither day nor night street nor closet exchange nor temple can priviledge us from them We meet them at every turn and they strike upon our Souls as often as light upon our Eyes There is no restraint for them the Laws of men the constitution of the body the interest of profit or credit are mighty bars in the way of outward profaneness but nothing lays the reins upon thoughts but the Law of God and this man is not subject to neither can be Rom. 8.7 Besides the natural Atheism in man is a special friend and nurse of these few firmly believing either the omniscience of God or his Government of the world which the Scripture speaks of frequently as the cause of most sins among the sons of men †Isa 29.15 Ezek. 9.9 Job 22.13 14 Actions are done with some reluctance and nips of natural conscience Conscience will start at a gross temptation but it is not frighted at thoughts Men may commit speculative folly and their conscience look on without so much as a nod against it Men may tear out their neighbours bowels in secret wishes and their conscience never interpose to part the fray Conscience indeed cannot take notice of all of them they are too subtil in their nature and too quick for the observation of a finite principle They are many †Prov. 19.21 There are many devices in a man's heart Florus l. 2. c. 3. Major aliquanto labor erat invenire quam vincere and they are nimble too like the bubblings of a boyling pot or the rising of a wave that presently slides into its level and as Florus saith of the Ligurians the difficulty is more to find than conquer them They are secret sins and are no more discerned than motes in the air without a spiritual sun-beam whence David cryes out Psal 19.12 Cleanse me from secret sins which some explain of sins of thoughts that were like sudden and
For the raising good thoughts 2. Preventing bad 3. Ordering bad when they do intrude 4. Ordering good when they appear in us 1. For raising good thoughts 1. Get renewed hearts The fountain must be cleansed which breeds the vermine Pure vapors can never ascend from a filthy quagmire What issue can there be of a vain heart 2 Cor. 5.17 Jer. 4.14 Wash thy heart from wickedness c. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee but vain imaginations Thoughts will not become new till a man is in Christ We must be holy before we can think holily Sanctification is necessary for the dislodging of vain thoughts and the introducing of good A sanctified reason would both discover and shame our natural follies As all animal operations so all the spiritual motions of our heads depend upon the life of our hearts * Prov. 4.23 as the principium originis As there is a law in our members to bring us into Captivity to the law of sin Rom. 7.23 so there must be a law in our minds to bring our thoughts to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 We must be renewed in the spirit of our minds Ephes 4.23 in our reasonings and thoughts which are the spirits whereby the understanding acts as the animal spirits are the instruments of corporeal motion Till the understanding be born of the spirit †John 3 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit it will delight in and think of nothing but things suitable to its fleshly original but when 't is spiritual it receives new impressions new reasonings and motions suitable to the Holy Ghost of whom it is born A stone if thrown upwards a thousand times will fall backward because 't is a forced motion but if the nature of this stone were changed into that of fire it would mount as naturally upward as before it sunk downward You may force some thoughts toward heaven sometimes but they will not be natural till nature be changed Grace only gives stability †Heb. 13.9 It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace and prevents fluctuation by fixing the soul upon God as its chief end and what is our end will not only be first in our intentions but most frequent in our considerations Hence a sanctified heart is called in Scripture a stedfast heart There must be an enmity against Satan put into our hearts according to the first promise before we can have an enmity against his imps or any thing that is like him 2. Study Scripture Original corruption stuffs us with bad thoughts and Scripture-knowledge would stock us with good ones for it proposeth things in such terms as exceedingly suit our imaginative faculty as well as strengthen our understanding Judicious knowledge would make us approve things that are excellent and where such things are approved Phil. 1.9 10. toys cannot be welcom Fulness is the cause of stedfastness The cause of an intent and piercing eye is the multitude of animal spirits Without this skill in the Word we shall have as foolish conceits of Divine things as ignorant men without the Rules of Art have of the Sun and Stars or things in other Countries which they never saw The Word is call'd a Lamp to our feet i. e. the affections a light to our eyes i. e the understanding Psa 119.105 Psal 19.8 enlightens the ey s. It will direct the glances of our minds and the motions of our affections It enlightens the eyes and makes us have a new prospect of things as a Scholar newly entred into Logick and studied the Predicaments c. looks upon every thing with a new eye and more rational thoughts and is mightily delighted with every thing he sees because he eyes them as clothed with those notions he hath newly studied The Devil had not his engines so ready to assault Christ as Christ from his knowledg had Scripture-precepts to oppose him Lectione assidua meditatione diuturna pectus suum bibliothecam Christi secerat Hierom Ep. 3. As our Saviour by this means stifled thoughts offered so by the same we may be able to smother thoughts arising in us Converse therefore often with the Scripture transcribe it in your heart and turn it in succum sanguinem whereby a vigor will be derived into every part of your soul as there is by what you eat to every member of your body Thus you will make your mind Christ's library as Hierom speaks of Nepotianus 3. Reflect often upon the frame of your mind at your first conversion None have more settled and more pleasant thoughts of divine things than new converts when they first clasp about Christ partly because of the novelty of their state and partly because God puts a full stock into them and diligent trades-men at their first setting up have their minds intent upon improving their stock Endeavour to put your mind in the same posture it was then Or if you cannot tell the time when you did first close with Christ recollect those seasons wherein you have found your affections most fervent your thoughts most united and your mind most elevated as when you renewed repentance upon any fall or had some notable chearings from God and consider what matter it was which carried your heart upward what employment you were engaged in when good thoughts did fill your soul and try the same experiment again Asaph would oppose God's ancient works to his murmuring thoughts he would remember his song in the night i. e. the matter of his song and read over the records of God's kindness * Psal 77.6 7 8 9 10 11 12. David too would never forget i. e. frequently renew the remembrance of those precepts whereby God had particularly quicken'd him †Psa 119.93 Yea he would reflect upon the places too where he had formerly conversed with God to rescue himself from dejecting thoughts therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill Missar ‖ Psal 42.6 Some elevations surely David had felt in those places the remembrance whereof would sweeten the sharpness of his present grief When our former sins visit our minds pleading to be speculatively reacted let us remember the holy dispositions we had in our repentance for them Luke 24.32 Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the Scriptures and the thankful frames when God pardoned them The Disciples at Christ's second appearance reflected upon their own warm temper at his first discourse with them in a disguise to confirm their faith and expel their unbelieving conceits Strive to recollect truths precepts promises with the same affection which possest your Souls when they first appeared in their glory and sweetness to you 4. Ballast your heart with a Love to God David thought all the day of
of it When we dislike and disapprove of others sins as well as our own we acknowledg the glory of the law that it is just holy and good and set our seal of approbation to it It justifies the holiness of the law in prohibiting sin the righteousness of the law in condemning sin It owns the soveraignty of God in commanding and the justice of God in punishing The law requires two things obedience to it and suffering for the transgression of it This frame of heart approves of the obedience the law requires of men as rational creatures and justifies the sufferings the law inflicts upon men as impenitent sinners Unless we mourn for the sins of others and thereby shew our distast we cannot give God the glory of his Judgments which he sends upon a people This disowning of sin is very acceptable to God because by it Men honour that law for whose violations they are so troubled and own Gods right of imposing a law upon his creatures and the creatures vileness in disgracing that Law 4. 'T is a sign of such a temper God hath evidenced himself in scripture much affected with 'T is a sign of a heart of flesh the noblest work of God in the creature A sign of a contrite heart the best sacrifice that can smoak upon his Altar next to that of his Son This he will not despise because it is a beam of glory dropped down from him and ascending in a sweet savour to him Psal 51.17 Without this we cannot have a sufficient evidence that we are truly broken-hearted We may mourn for our own sins for secret by-ends because they are against our worldly Interests and have reproaches treading upon the heels of them we may mourn for the sins of our friends out of a natural compassion to them and as they are the prognosticks of some approaching misery to them but in sorrowing for the sins of the world we have not so many and so affecting obligations to divert us from a sound aim in our sorrow To be affected with the dishonour of God by the sins of others is a distinguishing character of a spiritual constitution from a natural tenderness 'T is both our duty and God's pleasure No grief is sweeter to God nor more becoming us III. 'T is a means of preservation from publick Judgments Noah did not preach righteousness without a sensible reflection on that unrighteousness he preached against and he of all the world had the security of an Ark for him and his Family when all the rest struggled for life and sunk in the waters No meer man ever wore more black for the Funeral of God's honour than David nor was any blessed with more gracious deliverances The more zeal we have for God which is an affection made up of grief and anger the more protection we have from him * The steps of a man good man our translation renders it But the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a valiant man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way Psal 37.23 The more courage we have for God the more we may expect both his conduct and security If there be any hope in a time of actual or threatned Judgments 't is by laying our mouths in the dust Lam. 3.29 If there be any ground of hope it will shine forth when we are in such a posture There might be others in Jerusalem who had not complied with the Idolatry of that Age but none exempted from the stroke of the Six Destroyers but those whose mouths lay in the dust and whose cries against the common sin ascended to Heaven only the mourners among the good men are marked by the Angel for indemnity from the publick punishment 1. Sincerity always escapes best in common Judgments and this temper of mourning for publick sins is the greatest note of it This is the greatest note of sincerity We read of an Ahab who put on Sackcloth for his own sin and humbled himself before the Lord of a Judas sorrowing that he betrayed his Master Self-interest might broach their tears and force out their sorrow but never an Ahab or Judas or any other ungodly person in Scripture lamented the sins of others Nay they were all eminent for holiness that were noted for this frame whom we have mentioned before Moses a non-such for speaking with God face to face David who only had that honourable title of a man after God's own heart Isay who had the fullest prospect of Evangelical glory of all the Prophets Ezra a restorer of his Country Daniel a man greatly beloved Christ the Redeemer of the world and Paul the only Apostle rap't up in the third Heaven he was also humbled for the sins of the Corinthians 2 Corinth 12.21 Ezra hath a mighty Character Ezra 7.10 He prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel Statutes and Judgments And he both mourned for and prayed against the common sin Lot is not recorded for this without a glorious Epithete The Spirit of God over-looks those sins of his mentioned in Scripture and speaks not of him by his single name but Just Lot his righteous Soul 2 Pet. 2.7 8. A sincere Righteousness glittered in his vexation for the wronged Interest of God What a mark of honour doth the Holy-Ghost set upon this temper 'T is not drunken Lot or incestuous Lot with which sins he is taxed in Scripture This publickly religious spirit covered those temporary spots in his Scutcheon When all other signs of Righteousness may have their exceptions this temper is the utmost term which we cannot go beyond in our self-examination The utmost prospect David had of his sincerity when he was upon a diligent enquiry after it was his anger and grief for the sin of others when he had reached so far he was at a stand and knew not what more to add Psal 139.21 22 23 24. Am I not grieved with those that rise up against thee I hate them with perfect hatred I count them mine enemies Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me If there be any thing that better can evidence my sincerity than this Lord acquaint me with it know my heart i. e. make me to know it He whose sorrow is only for matter confin'd within his own breast or streams of it in his life has reason many times to question the truth of it But when a man cannot behold sin as sin in another without sensible regret 't is a sign he hath savingly felt the bitterness of it in his own Soul 'T is a high pitch and growth and a consent between the Spirit of God and the Soul of a Christian when he can lament those sins in others whereby the Spirit is grieved when he can rejoyce with the Spirit rejoycing and mourn with the Spirit mourning This is a clear testimony that we have not self-ends
God A Son is as much a Son under the Rod as in the Bosom neither the Fathers stroke nor the Childs grief dissolve that dear relation Nay a Father may shew more of a true paternal affection in his Chastisements than in his Caresses The Branches which are battered with Sticks may be nearer the Root than those that flourish at their ease Christ while a Man of sorrows was pronounced by God his well beloved Son and bore our punishment not only without forfeiting his Fathers affection but with a high gratification of him Neither doth God's visiting the seed of Christ with stripes cut off their relation to him Psal 89.32 Then will I visit their transgressions with Rods. Whose transgressions v. 30 His Children Whose Children Even the Children of him whom he would make the first born higher than the Kings of the Earth v. 27. Which cannot be understood literally of David or his Lineal Posterity in the Jewish Kingdom who were never higher than the Kings of the Earth 2. They debar not from the presence of God God may be and is as near to us in supporting as he is in punishing 'T is not the cloud that interposeth between the Sun and us that alters the Suns course or obstructs its influences Christ took not off the badges of Original Guilt from those disciples which had the greatest interest in his affections he left them in a sinful world to endure the fruits of sin he sent them not to ease pleasure and a quiet and painless life but to labour toyl and sweat yet promised that he would abide with them that he and his Father would manifest themselves to them And he turned that sweat and pain which was the fruit of sin by his presence with them to be instrumental for the glory of God and the good of themselves in the world 3. They break not the Covenant His Rod and his Stripes tho they seem to break our Backs make no breaches in his Covenant Psalm 89.32 33 34. he will visit transgression with Rods but he will not suffer his faithfulness to fail nor break his Covenant No they are rather covenant mercies when they break our Hearts and are means by his Grace to make our Stony Hearts more Fleshy He makes even those dispensations which were pronounced for punishment to bring forth covenant mercies and the rich fruits of his grace to grow upon the sour crab-stock of his judgments Jacob in Gen. 49. is said to bless his Children tho he predicts smart afflictions to come upon them they are rankt among the blessings because the covenant should remain firm The lash removes not the inheritance Austin saith well Noli attendere quam poenam habes in flagello sed quem locum in Testamento 6. Add to all this That the first promise secures a believer under the sufferings of those punishments Gods affection in the promise of bruising the Serpents head was more illustrious than his wrath in the threatning There are the Bowels of a Father in the promise before there was the voice of a Judge in the Sentence God brought Sugar with his Potion and administred his Cordial before he struck with his Lance. And therefore that threatning which commenc'd after the promise can no more prejudice the fruits of the promise to a Believer than the Law which was given 430 years after the promise to Abraham could disannul that and make it of no effect as the Apostle argues in another case Gal. 3.17 Much less can the threatning denounced immediately after the promise change the veracity of God in that which was fresh in his mind at the very time of his threatning Ob. But it may be askt What is the reason these punishments are continued since the redemption wrought by Christ Ans 'T is frequent with God to inflict a temporal punishment after pardon Not as the Papists assert in order to satisfaction Moses his unbelief hindred him from coming unto Canaan so that when he desired to go over Jordan God was wroth with him cut him off short and commands him silence Deut 3.25 26. Speak to me no more of this matter There are reasons 1. On Gods part 2. On our part 1. On Gods part 1. 'T is congruous to the wisdom of God to leave them upon us while we are in the World Since God created man to gain glory by his actions but was presently after his creation disgrac'd and disparag'd by him it seems agreeable to the wisdom of God not immediately to bring him to his former state but to leave some marks of his displeasure upon Man to mind him of the state whence he was fallen the misery he contracted and the necessity of flying to his mercy for succour 2. 'T is congruous to the holiness of God God keeps up those punishments as the Rector and Governour of the World to shew his detestation of that sin which brought a disorder and deformity upon the Creation and was the first act of dishonour to God and the first pollution of the Creature 'T is an high vindication of the Holiness and Authority of God and the Majesty and Purity of his Law to punish sin in them that are dear to him upon anothers righteousness whereby he evidenceth that he hates sin in all and will not wink at it or approve of it So he pardoned David but for the honour of his name which had been blasphemed by occasion of David's sin he would leave the smart of it upon his Family 2 Sam. 12.10 14. 3. 'T is a declaration of his Justice 'T is not congruous to the Justice of God not to leave some marks of his anger against that sin which caused him to be at the expence of his Sons Blood and is the source of all those evils whereby God is injur'd for which the Redeemer bled and by which the Spirit is grieved Since Pardon doth not neither can alter the demerit of sin but that will continue and what is once meritoriously a capital crime in its own nature can never be otherwise God may for the demonstration of his justice inflict and continue something upon the creature though he free him from actual condemnation We should not be so sensible of the justice of God in the death of Christ did we not feel some strokes of it upon our selves nor what the purchase of our redemption did cost our Saviour What we hear doth not so much affect as what we feel That which brought disorder into Gods Government of the world and made him change the Scene of his Providence may very justly have some signal remark upon it notwithstanding the Redemption especially when the fruits of it are not fully compleat For since Man was the immediate end of the creation of this lower world and since all Creatures were made for the service of Man that he might be fit for the service of his righteous Creator he did by his fall violate the order of the Creation and subjected it to the service
require food to keep it alive A good man in this case is like the Planets which though they be turned about daily from East to West by the motion of the primum mobile yet they still keep up their proper motion from West to East either slower or quicker 2. Not in a customary commission of any known sin To work iniquity is the proper character of natural men hence called workers of iniquity Psal 5.5 Thou hatest all workers of iniquity And by the same title are they called by Christ at the Day of Judgment Depart from me all you workers of iniquity that contrive lay the plat-form of it and work at it as at a Trade or as a curious piece of Art 'T is one thing to sin another to commit or do a sin Psal 119 3. They do not iniquity they walk in his ways their usual constant course is in the way of God they do not iniquity they settle not to it take not pleasure in it as their work and way of livelihood So it is the character of an ungodly man to walk in the ways of sin Walking according to the course of the world and fulfilling the desires of the flesh are one and the same thing Ephes 2.2 3. A good man may step into a way of sin but he walks not in it to make it either his business or recreation So walking in sin and living in sin are put together What is called walking after the flesh Rom. 8.1 is called living after the flesh v. 13. which is the same with committing sin in the Text So ways and doings are joyned together Zach. 1.6 To make sin our way or walk is when a man chuses it as a particular trade and way of living A good man in sin is out of his way a wicked man in sin is in his way a good man will not have so much as one way of sin a wicked hath many ways for he seeks out many inventions Not one Example of the gross fall of a good man in Scripture will countenance any pretence for a course in sin for either they were not in a course of sin or it was not a course of known sins Noah was drunk but once yet that was not a sin of the same hue with that among us He first found out the fruits of the Vine Gen. 9.20 knew nothing of the strength of the Grape and therefore might easily be overcome by an unusual liquor Lot's Incest was but twice and that unwillingly He knew not his Daughters lying down or rising neither time Gen. 19.33 35. And for his Daughters some think that they thought there was no man left upon the Earth but their Father but that is not clear for Lot had been in Zoar and departed thence to the Mountain where their fact was committed His drunkenness admits of some aggravations it was no fit season for him to swill after so sharp a Judgment upon Sodom so severe a remark of God upon his Wife and so great a deliverance to himself Yet this was not a course of sin you read no more of it There is difference between a mans being drunk and being a drunkard the one notes the act the other the habit and love of it Peter denied Christ yet but three times together not three times with considerable intervals for a full deliberation 'T is probable Peter's Faith was so stupified as well as the Faith of those Disciples that were going to Emmaus Luke 24.21 We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel who and indeed all the Disciples in several passages seem'd to expect a temporal Kingdom to be erected by him as therefore not to judge it fit to hazard himself for a person he thought himself so much mistaken in Howsoever it was it was not a course of sin and his Repentance over-rules the plea for any customary transgression And though the Corinthians were charged with Fornication and eating things sacrificed to Idols yet it seems to be out of a corrupt Judgment as appears by the Apostles disputing against the one 1 Cor. 6.13 14 15. and against the other 1 Cor. 8. And that neither of those were generally judged to be sins by the converted Gentiles as appears by the Decree of the Apostles Acts 15.28 29. where they determine against both these though this was a course of sin yet not a course of known sins and after they were informed by the Apostle of the sinfulness of them they abstain'd therefore in the second Epistle * The first Epistle was writ the 25th year after the death of Christ and 2d Epistle the 26th year according to Baronias writ the year after to them he charges them not with those former crimes but comforts them for their being so much cast down with sorrow David's sin though lying upon him for about ten or twelve months yet it was not a course of sin and we find a signal Repentance afterwards but of that after To walk in a road of known sins is the next step to committing sin as sin and manifests the habit of sin to have a strong and fixed dominion in the will I shall confirm this by some Reasons because upon this Proposition depend all the following 1. Regeneration gives not a man a dispensation from the Law of God As Christ came not to destroy the Law but to establish it so grace doth not dispense with the Law but confirms the Authority of it Habitual grace is not given us to assist us in the breaches of it but to enable us to the performance of it As the grace of God which hath appeared to all men teaches the Doctrine of Holiness so the grace of God in us enables us to walk in the way of holiness Grace in a Believer embraceth what the grace of God teaches The Moral Laws of God are indispensable in themselves and of eternal verity Therefore as no rational creature much less can a regenerate person be exempted from that obedience to the Law which as a rational creature he is bound to observe The grace of God justifying is never conferred without grace sanctifying 'T is certain where Christ is made righteousness he is made sanctification 'T is not congruous to the Divine Holiness to look upon a person as righteous who hath not a renewed principle in him no more than it is congruous to the Divine Justice and Holiness to look upon him as righteous meerly for this principle so imperfect 2. 'T is not for the honour of God to suffer a custom and course of sin in a renewed man 'T is true a renewed man should not voluntarily nor doth commit willingly even sins of lighter infirmities but God suffers those because they do not wound the honour of Christianity though they discover a remoteness from a state of perfection But they do not customarily fall into great sins for it seems not congruous to permit such courses commonly in any one which would disgrace Religion and make that
throat is ready to swallow if he had a morsel for it 2. 'T is a sign of habitual sin a state of sin This temper manifests that the will is habituated in sin though the hand doth not outwardly act it The inherent power of sin must be great when a man is greedy to commit that to which he hath no outward allurements or when those allurements are ballanced with contrary considerations when he hath either no outward temptation to it or the cross impediments are as strong or stronger than the temptation When men in the midst of such bars long for a temptation it is such a kind of desire in one way as the Creature hath in an other for the manifestation of the the Sons of God Rom. 8.19 For the earnest expectation of the Creature waits for the manifestation 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a putting out the head to see if he can find any coming to knock off the fetters not of his sin but of his forced morality In this case take two men one Commits a great sin upon a temptation even as it were over-power'd by it and had no thoughts no inclinations before that temptation appear'd which began first to spirit him Another Commits a lighter sin or would fain Commit it upon a weak temptation and many bars lying in the way and his heart was hankering and thirsting for some opportunity to Commit it which do you think really is the greater offence in point of heart and affection The first appears blacker but it is an invasion the other is really blacker because it is an affection and shews sin to be rooted in the heart as its proper soil wherein sin delights to grow and the soil delights to nourish it The one shews sin to be a stranger and a thief which hath waylaid him the other evidenceth sin to be an inmate and intimate friend Such a man is not oblig'd to his will for his abstinence from sin but to the outward hindrances and the resolving act of the will to Commit it were those impediments remov'd is as real an act of sin in the sight of God as any outward act can be in the sight of man because God measures the greatness of sin by the proportion of the will allowed to it therefore many sins which may be little in our account may be greater in Gods account than the seemingly blacker sins of others because there may be a greater ingrediency of the heart and affection in them than in the other 3. 'T is against the nature of our repentance and first closing with God Repentance is a change of the purpose of the heart not to Commit the same iniquity again nor any other Job 34.32 If I have done iniquity I will do no more 'T is the property of converting grace to make the Soul cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart Act. 11.23 This is essential to it though there may be some startings out by passion and temptation A Pilots intention stands right for the port though by the violence of the wind he may be forced another way It alters not his purpose though it defer his performance This purpose is a perpetual intent Psal 119.112 v. I have inclined my heart to keep thy statutes alway even to the end It was an heart-purpose and inclination It regarded all Gods statutes not for a fit but perpetually which he manifests by two words alwaies even to the end to shew that the perpetuity of it doth difference it from the resolutions of wicked men who may indeed have some fits to do good but not a fixed purpose to cleave to the Lord these flashy purposes are like the flight of a bird which seems to touch Heaven and in a moment falls down to the earth as Saul resolved not to persecute David but we soon find him again upon his old game pursuit Where there is true grace there is hatred of all sin for hatred is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can a man be resolv'd to Commit what he hates No. For his inward aversion would secure him more against it than all outward obstacles As this inward purpose of a good man is against all sin so more particularly against that which doth so easily beset him David seems in several places to be naturally inclind to lying but he takes up a particular resolution against it Psal 17.3 I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have contrived to way-lay and intercept the sin of lying when it hath an occasion to approach me A good man hath not only purposes but he endeavours to fasten and strengthen those purposes by prayer So David v. 5. hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not He strengthens himself by stirring up a liveliness in duty and by avoiding occasions of sin v. 4. I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer Whereas a wicked man neither steps out of the way of a temptation nor steps up to God for strength against it Now if all this be true that in conversion the heart hath a fixed resolution for God and his ways and that perpetually against all sin and particularly against the sin of our natural inclination and all this backt with strong cries how can it have a fixed resolution to Commit it if the way were outwardly fair for it 4. 'T is absolutely against the terms of the Covenant God requires in that a giving up our selves to him to be his people with our whole heart and Soul as he gives himself to us with his whole heart He will not be a Sharer of the heart with sin much less an underling to it God will not indure a competitor in the affections To serve God and mammon are inconsistent by the infallible Axiom of our Saviour Luke 16.13 Now as God cannot be true to his Covenant if he had purposes against the articles of it on his part so neither can we be true to our covenanting with him if we have setled purposes of heart against the Conditions of it Therefore the instability in the Covenant ariseth only from the falseness of the heart Psal 78.37 Their heart was not right with him neither were they stedfast in his Covenant The iniquity of our heels may compass us about and make us stumble in our walk yet our fears of being out with God may receive no establishment Psal 49.5 Wherefore should I fear when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about Whether he means by iniquity the sins of his ordinary walk or the punishment of them is all one But yet if purposes of iniquity settle their residence in the heart though we never act it by reason of obstacles 't is a sign we never sincerely closed with God in Covenant nor God with us The very regards of iniquity in the heart put a bar to the regards of God towards us It hinders all Covenant acts on Gods part because it is a manifest breach of
stand good in law because the crossing of the book implies the Satisfaction of the debt A debt may be read in our manner of writing in a crossed book but it cannot be pleaded God may after pardon read our sins in the book of his Omniscience but not charge them upon us at the bar of his Justice 2. Gods willingness to pardon Blots not razeth He engraves them not upon marble he writes them not with a pen of Iron or point of a diamond writing upon wax is easily made plain 3. The extent of it Blotting serves for a great debt as well as a small a thousand pound may as well and as soon be dasht out by a blot as a thousand pence 4. The quickness of it upon repentance It takes more time to write a debt in a book than to cross it out one blow would obliterate a great deal of writing upon wax Sins that have been contracting many years when God pardons he blots out in a moment 2. Covering as it alludes to the drowning the Aegpytians is exprest by casting into the depths of the Sea Micah 7.19 Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea This notes also 1. Gods willingness to pardon Casts them not lays them gently aside but flings them away with violence as things that he cannot endure the sight of and is resolved never to take notice of them more 2. Gods reality in pardon He will cast their sins as far as the arm of his omnipotency can reach If there be any place further than the depths of the Sea thither they shall be thrown out of the sight of his justice 3. The extent All their sins The Sea covered Aegyptian Princes as well as the people The mighty Lord as well as the Common Souldier sank like lead in those mighty waters 4. The Duration of it The Sea vomits up nothing that it takes into its lower bowels things cast into the depths of the Ocean never appear more Rivers may be turned and drain'd but who can lave out the Ocean 2. Not imputing Not putting upon account not charging the debt in a legal process To this is aequivalent the expression of not remembring Isa 43.25 I will not remember their sins An act of oblivion is past upon sin This notes 1. That God will not exact the debt of thee God doth not absolutely forget sin for what he knows never slips out of his knowledg So that his not remembring is rather an act of his will than a defect in his understanding As when an act of oblivion is passed the fact committed is not Physically forgotten but legally because the fear of punishment is removed God puts them out of the memory of his wrath though not out of the memory of his knowledge He doth remember them paternally to chastize thee for them though not judicially to condemn thee 2. Not upbraid thee Not with a scornful upbraiding mention them to cast thee off but with a merciful renewing the remembrance of them upon thy Conscience to excite thy repentance and keep thee with in the due bounds of humility and reverence More particularly the nature of pardon may be explained in these Propositions We must not think that these expressions as they denote pardon do intimate in this act the taking away of the being of sin nature of sin or demerit of sin 1. The being and inherency of sin is not taken away Though sin be not imputed to us yet it is inherent in us The being remains though the power be dethroned By pardon God takes away sin not as it is a pollution of the Soul but as it is an inducement to wrath Though remission and Sanctification are concomitants yet they are distinct acts and wrought in a distinct manner 2. The nature of sin is not taken away Justification is a relative change of the person not of the sin for though God will not by an act of his justice punish the person pardoned yet by his holiness he cannot but hate the sin because though it be pardoned it is still contrary to God and enmity against him 'T is not a change of the native malice of the sin but a non-imputation of it to the offender Though the person sinning be free from any indictment yet sin is not freed from its malitia and opposition to God For though the law doth not condemn a justified person because he is translated into another state yet it condemns the acts of sin though the guilt of those acts doth not redound upon the person to bring the wrath of God upon him Though David had the sins of murther and adultery pardon'd yet this pardon did not make David a righteous person in those acts for it was murther and adultery still and the change was not in his sin but in his Soul and state 3. The Demerit of sin is not taken away As pardon doth not alter sins nature so neither doth it alter sins demerit for to merit damnation belongs to the nature of it so that we may look upon our selves as deserving Hell though the sin whereby we deserve it be remitted Pardon frees us from actual condemnation but not as considered in our own persons from the desert of condemnation As when a King pardons a thief he doth not make the theft to become formally no theft or to be meritoriously no capital crime Upon those two grounds of the nature and demerit of sin a justified person is to bewail it and I question not but the consideration of this doth add to the triumph and Hallelujahs of the glorified Souls whose chief work being to praise God for redemption they cannot but think of the nature and demerit of that from which they were redeemed Rev. 5.13 4. The guilt of sin or obligation to punishment is taken away by pardon Sin committed doth presently by vertue of the law transgressed bind over the sinner to death but pardon makes void this obligation so that God no longer accounts us persons obnoxious to him Peccatum remitti non aliud est quam non imputari ad poenam * Durand lib. 4. dict 1. q. 7 For sin to be pardoned is nothing else but not to be imputed in order to punishment 'T is a revoking the sentence of the law against the sinner and God renouncing upon the account of the Satisfaction made by Christ to his justice any right to punish a believer doth actually discharge him upon his believing from that sentence of the law under which he lay in the state of unbelief and also as he parts with this right to punish so he confers a light upon a believer humbly to challenge it upon the account of the Satisfaction wrought by his surety God hath not only in his own mind and resolution parted with this right of punishing but also given an express declaration of his will 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself i. e. openly renouncing upon Christs account the right to
whether your Souls are sure Here I shall 1. Remove false signs whereon men rest and think themselves pardoned 1. The littleness of sin is no ground of pardon Oh may some say my sins are little some tricks of youth some petty oaths or the like The Scripture saith that Drunkards Fornicators Extortioners and Covetous shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven not Great Drunkards only but those that are drunk but now and then as well as those that are Drunkards every day 1. Dost thou know the malignity of the least sin No sin can be called absolutely though it may comparatively little Is it a little God who is offended by sin Is it a little wrath which is poured down on sin Is it a little Christ that hath dyed for sin Is it a little Soul that is destroyed by sin and is it a little Hell that is prepared for sin Is not the least sin Deicidium as much as in a man lieth a destroying of God Did not Christ shed his blood for the least as well as for the greatest Is not Hell kindled by the breath of the Lord for the least as well as the greatest sins Is that little which is Gods burden Christs wound the Spirits grief the penitents sorrow and the Devils Hell Every drop of poison is poison every drop of Hell is Hell every part of sin is sin and hath the destroying and condemning nature of sin Can Angels expiate the least sin or can a thousand worlds be a sufficient recompence for the injury that is done to God by the least sin 2. The less thy sin the less the excuse for thy self 'T is the aggravation of their injustice that they sold the Righteous for a pair of Shoes Amos 2.6 Dost thou undervalue God so as to sell a Righteous and Eternal God so cheap for a little sin Is a little sin dearer to thee than the favour of the great God Is a little sin dearer to thee than an Eternal Hell is grievous To endanger thy Soul for a trifle to lose God for a bubble is a confounding aggravation of it as it was of Judas his sin that he would sell his Saviour for a little Silver for so small a Sum. Sin is not little in respect of the formality of it but in respect of the matter in respect of the temptation and this littleness is an aggravation of sin 3 Dost thou know how God hath punished the least sin A drop of sin may bring a Deluge of Misery An Atom of sin is strong enough to overturn a World It was but an Apple that poisoned Adam and his whole Posterity Less sins are punisht in Hell than are pardoned here God casts off Saul for less sins than he pardoned David for How many Ships have been destroyed upon small Sands as well as great Rocks 2. Fewness of sins is no argument of pardon Conceive if thou canst the amiableness and lustre of the Angels how far beyond the glory of the Sun it was yet one sin divested them of all their glory It was but one sin kindled Hell for the fallen Angels Every sin must receive a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 Shall one single sin intitle thee to Hell what will millions of sins then intitle thee to One sin is too much against God Had thy iniquities been never so few Christ must have died to answer the Pleas of his Fathers Justice against thee Every sin is Rebellion against God as a Soveraign undutifulness to God as a Father * Burges Contempt of God as a Governour and preferring the Devil before God the Devil that would destroy and damn thee before God that made thee and preserves thee a preferring the Devil's temptations before God's promises 3. The commonness of sin is no argument of pardon Many Angels combin'd in the first Conspiracy against God but as they were Companions in sin so are they Companions in torments The commonness of Sodoms sin made the louder cry and hastened the severer Judgment Not one Inhabitant escaped but only righteous Lot and his Family Common sins will have common Plagues It doth rather aggravate thy sin than plead for pardon when thou wilt rather follow mens Example to offend God than conform to God's Law to please him Sin was common in the Old World for all flesh had corrupted their ways Gen. 6.12 and all were swept away by the destroying Deluge To walk according to the course of the World is so far from being a foundation of pardon that it is made a Character of a Child of the Devil To walk according to the course of the World is to walk according to the pattern of the Devil and to be in the number of the Children of Wrath Eph. 2.2 Wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this World according to the Prince of the Power of the Air. 4. Forbearance of punishment is no argument of pardon Eccles 8.11 Because Sentence against an evil-work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the Sons of men is fully set in them to do evil Forbearance is made use of by men to make them sin more desperately more headily Fully set all checks silenced and stopt Forbearance is no acquittance it argues not God's forgiving the debt the debt is due though it be not presently sued for and the longer the debt remains unpaid the greater Sum will the Interest amount unto because the longer God doth forbear punishment the longer time thou hast for Repentance the account for that time will run high That God doth not punish is an argument of his patience not of his pardoning mercy God laughs at Sinners he sees their day is coming though they may be jocund and confident of a pardon God's forbearance may be in Justice he may be brewing the Cup and mixing that which thou art to drink Prisoners may be reprieved one Assize and executed the next Reprieval of Execution is no allowance of the Crime or change of the Sentence 5. Prosperity is no sign of pardon Oh! I am not only born with and forborn but I have a great addition of outward contentments since my sin That which you make an argument of pardon may be an argument of condemnation Asaph was much troubled at the prosperity of the wicked but at last saith Pride compasseth them as a Chain and violence covers them as a garment Psal 73.6 That kindness which should have made them melt made them presume That which should broach thy Repentance enflames thy Pride Thy goods may increase thy sins 6. Forgetfulness of thy sin and Commission long ago is no sign of pardon and therefore having no checks for them is no sign of pardon God doth not forget though thou dost no sin slips from the memory of his knowledge though now he doth cast many sins away from the memory of his justice In regard of Gods eternity the first sins are accounted as committed this moment for in that there is no succession of
mightily troubled at it 1. T is a high Testomony of Love to God The Nature of true Love is to wish all good to them we love to rejoyce when any good we wish doth arrive unto them to mourn when any evil afflicts them and that with a respect to the beloved object 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Aristot Rhetor l. 1. c. 4. Where there is this love there is a rejoycing at one anothers happiness a grieving at one anothers misfortunes If it be a part of love to rejoyce at that whereby God is glorified 't is no less a part of love to mourn for that whereby God is vilified So strait is the union of affection between God and a righteous Soul that their blessings and injuries joys and sorrows are twisted together The increase of Gods glory is the greatest good that can happen to a Soul enamoured of him his dishonour then is the greatest misery A gracious Soul is like John Baptist content to decrease that Christ might encrease in the esteem of men He is like Jonathan that would rather have the Crown upon Davids head than his own as the words intimate 1 Sam. 23.17 v. thou shalt be King over Israel I shall be next unto thee And grieved more for his Fathers displeasure against David than against himself So doth a Christian grieve more for the wrongs of God than for those in his own liberty estate or life Joshua was more careful of the name of God than of the safety of the people singly considered Josh 7.9 What wilt thou do unto thy great name The glory of God is not dear to that man that can without any regret look upon his bespattered name What affection hath he to his friend who can see him torn in pieces by Dogs and stand unconcerned at his calamity God indeed is uncapable of suffering but what rending is to a creature that is sin to the Divine Majesty Can that man be said to love God who hath no reflection when he sees others tumbling God from his Throne and setting up the Devil in his stead Who can hear the tremendous name of God belcht out by polluted lips upon every vile occasion and made the sport of Stage and Stews without any inward resentment He only esteems God as his King who cannot see his laws broken without remorse How Loyally did Moses his affection to God work when he heard the name of God blasphemed and saw a calf usurp the adoration due to the God of Heaven And David felt the stroak of that sword in his own bowels which was directed against the heart of God Psal 139.20 21 22. The dearer Gods name is to any the more affected they are that God and Christ are loved and honoured less than they desire they should be 'T is hard sometimes to discern this Love to God when Gods interest and ours are joyned when we would mask our displeasure against some mens offences with a care of Gods honour which is nothing but a hatred of the Person sinning or revenge against him for some conceived injury to us The Apostles calling for fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans when they refused Christ Luke 9.53 54 55. might seem to be a generous concern for their masters honour but Christ knew it proceeded much from that natural enmity which the Jews bore to the Samaritans The best way to judg is when the interest is purely Gods and hath no fuel of our own discontents to boil up either grief or anger Such an affection cannot but be highly acceptable to God who is affected with the love of the creature and honours them that honour him as well as despises those that lightly concern themselves for him 2. Love to our Neighbours Nothing can evidence our love to man more than a sorrowful reflection upon that wickedness which is the ruine of his Soul the disturbance of humane society and unlocks the treasures of Gods judgments to fall upon mankind Sin is a reproach to a people Prov. 14.34 'T is always an act of Charity to mourn for the reproaches and ruine of a people 'T is a gross enmity to others to see them stab themselves to the heart jest with eternal flames wish their damnation at every word run merrily to the bottomless gulf and all this without bestowing a sigh upon them and pitying their madness the greater should be our grief by how much the further they are from any for their own destruction If Cain discovered both his enmity to God and also to his brother in grieving that his brothers works were so good Abel musts needs in the practice of the contrary duty manifest his love to Cain in grieving that his works were so bad Our Saviours tears for the Jews discovered no less a concern for their misery than for Gods dishonour Anger for sin may have something of revenge in it Grief for sin discovers an affection both to God and the sinner A duty which respects at once the substance of both the tables cannot but be pleasing to God 2. 'T is an imitating return for Gods affection How doth God resent the injuries done to his people as much as those done to himself Those sins that immediately strike at his glory are not accompanied with such quick judgments as those that grate upon his Servants Sharp persecutions that tear the people of God in pieces have fuller vials of judgments here than Vollies of others sins which rend the name of God When Cain affronted God by his Sacrifice God comes not to a reckoning with him till he had added the murther of his Brother to his former crimes against his maker A sweeter and more thankful return and a more affectionate imitation of God there cannot be than to resent the injuries done to God more than those done to our selves The pinching of his people doth most pierce his heart a stab to his honour in gratitude should most pierce theirs The four Kings that came against Sodom Gen. 14.9 c. sped well enough in their invasion gained the victory and had been in a fair way to have enjoyed the spoil had they not laid their hands upon Lot which was the occasion of their disgorging their prey As God ingaged himself in the recovery of Lot so Lot concerned himself in the honour of God Gods anger is stirred at the Captivity of Lot and Lots vexation is awakened at the injuries against God What troubles his Children raises sensible compassion in him to the sufferer and revenge upon the persecutor whatsoever doth blaspheme the name of God doth at the same time rack a sincere heart A persecutor cannot injure a believer but Christ records it as a wrong done to himself and Christ cannot be dishonoured by men but a righteous Soul doubles his grief Here is a mutual return of affection and aestimation which is highly pleasing 3. This temper justifies Gods Law and his justice David's grief being for mans forsaking the Law testified his choice valuation