much less therefore can we do any thing that may deserve it All that we can do is either sinful or holy if what we do be sinful it only encreaseth our Debts If it be holy it must proceed from God's free Grace that enables us to do it and certainly it is free Grace to pardon us upon the doing of that which free Grace only enables us to do Far be it from us to affirm as the Papists do that good Works are meritorious of pardon what are our Prayers our Sighs our Tears yea what are our Lives and our Bloud it self should we shed it for Christ All this cannot make one blot in God's Remembrance-Book Yea it were fitter and more becoming the infinite Bounty of God to give Pardon and Heaven freely than to set them to sale for such inconsiderable things as these are Heaven needed not to have been so needlesly prodigal and lavishing as to have sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the World to lead a miserable Life and die a cursed Death had it been possible for Man to have bought off his own guilt and to have quitted Scores with God by a lower price than what Christ himself could do or suffer And so much for the Resolution of the first Question God's pardoning Grace though it be purchased in respect of Christ yet is it absolutely free in respect of any merit of ours The Second Question is Whether the Grace of God be so free as to require no Conditions on our part Of gifts some are bestowed absolutely without any terms of Agreement And some are Conditional upon the performance of such Stipulations and Conditions without which they shall not be bestowed of which sort is this Grace of God Sanctifying Grace is given absolutely I Answer First The Sanctifying and Regenerating Grace of God whereby the great Change is wrought upon our Hearts in our first Conversion and turning unto God is given absolutely and depends not upon the performance of any Conditions Indeed we are commanded to make use of means for the getting true and saving Grace wrought in us but these means are not Conditions for the obtaining of that Grace For the Nature of Conditions are such that the benefits which depend upon them are never bestowed but where the Conditions are first performed And therefore we call Faith and Repentance Conditions of Eternal Life because eternal Life is never confer'd upon any who did not first believe and repent But now certain it is God hath converted some without the use of ordinary means as St. Paul and the Thief on the Cross Therefore though we are commanded to use the means yet the use of Means and Ordinances cannot be called Conditions of our Regeneration And indeed if any thing could be supposed a Condition of obtaining Grace it must either be a work of Nature or a work of Grace Now a work of Grace it cannot be till Grace be wrought and to go about to make a work of Nature a Condition of Grace it is to go about to revive that old Errour of the Pelagians for which they stand Anathematized in Count Pallestine many Years since Sanctifying Grace is given freely excepted from any Conditions though not excepted from the use of means Secondly Justifying and pardoning Grace though it be free yet is it limited to the performance of certain Conditions without which God never bestows it upon any and they are two Faith and Repentance And these Graces God bestows upon whom he pleaseth without any foregoing Conditions Faith in Christ it is the freest gift that ever God bestowed upon any except that Christ on whom we believe But pardon of sin is restrained to Faith and Repentance as the Conditions of it nor is it ever obtained without them These two things the Scripture doth abundantly confirm to us Whoever believeth on him shall obtain remission of sins Acts 10.43 Repent that your sins may be blotted out Acts 3.19 Whoever believes on him there Faith is made the Condition of Pardon Repent that your sins may be blotted out there Repentance is made the Condition of Pardon These two particulars correspond with the two-fold Covenant of Grace God made with Man His absolute Covenant wherein he promiseth the first Converting Grace this Covenant now is independent from any Conditions a Copy of which we have in Ezek. 36.26 A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will cause you to walk in my Statutes and you shall keep my Judgments and do them And then there is God's Conditional Covenant of Grace wherein he promiseth Salvation only upon the foregoing Conditions of Faith and Repentance this we have Mark 16.16 He that believeth shall be saved Thus I have stated the great Question concerning the free Grace of God The first Sanctifying Grace of God is so free as to exclude all Conditions but the Justifying and Pardoning Grace of God is limited to the Conditions of Faith and Repentance and both Sanctifying and Justifying Grace are freely bestowed without any Merit of ours but not without respect to the Merit of the Lord Jesus Christ who hath purchased them at the highest rate even with his own most precious Bloud In the next place I shall endeavour to set before you some particulars wherein the Glory of God's free Grace in pardoning sin may be more illustrated that it may appear God assumes to himself this as the greatest honour to be a sin-pardoning God And First This highly commends the freeness of pardoning Grace in that God decreed to bestow it without any Request or Entreaties of ours There was no Rhetorick moved him besides the Yearnings of his own Bowels This was a Gracious Resolution sprung up spontaneously in the Heart of God from all eternity He saw thee wallowing in thy Bloud long before thou wert in thy Being and this time it was a time of Love even a time before all times What Friend could'st thou then make in Heaven What Intercessour hadst thou then when there was nothing but God When this design of Love was laid there was neither Prayers nor Tongues to utter them Yea Christ himself though now he intercedes for the Application of Pardon did not then intercede for the Decree of Pardon he could not then urge his Bloud and Merits as Motives for God to take up thoughts of forgiving us for had not God done so before Christ had never shed his Bloud nor wrought out Salvation for us What Arguments What Advocates did then perswade him Truly the only Argument was our Misery and the only Advocate was his own Mercy and not Jesus Christ God pardons sin when he is able to destroy sinners Secondly God pardons sin when yet he is infinitely able to destroy the sinner and this greatly advanceth the Riches and freeness of his Grace The same breath that pronounceth a sinner Absolved might have pronounced him Damned The Angels that fell could not stand before the power and
hold it was long before must fall within the compass of six Days for in that space the Scripture tells us God made Heaven and Earth and all things therein and therefore within the space of six Days he created the Angels also Some refer their Creatioâ— to the first Days Work others to thâ— fourth Day and it 's probably thoughâ— That Adam's continuance in Innocency was not much above one Day and yeâ— even then there were fallen Angels tâ— tempt him so that their glorious anâ— blessed State could not according to thâ— Computation last above six or seven Days such a speedy issue did God make with them upon their very first sin But now how is his Patience and Forbearance extended towards sinful Man He drives Adam out of Paradise but iâ— was free Grace he did not drive him into Hell where he had but a little before plunged far more excellent Creature than Adam was his Patience is prolonged to impenitent unbelieving Sinners he bears with their proud Affronts waits their returns and with a Miracle of Mercy reprieves them for a much longer date than he did the Angels themselves How much more then oughâ— free Grace to be extolled by us which did not so much as Reprieve the Angelâ— for one sin and yet every moment grants out a free and absolute Pardon to his Servants not for one sin but for reiterated Provocations they could not obtain respite and we obtain pardon How many Leaves in God's Remembrance-Book stands written thick with multitudes of sins and yet no sooner doth God write down but he also wipes out His Pen and his Spunge keep the same measure our sins find constant Employment for the one and God's free Grace and Mercy finds constant Employment for the other Fourthly add to this what some with great probability affirm the same price that bought out our Pardon might have procured theirs also By which it plainly appears that there is no other Reason why our Estate differs from theirs but only God's free Soveraign Grace Upon the same Account God might have Damned all Mankind that he Damned the Angels for and at the same cost he might have saved all the fallen Angels at which he saved some of Mankind The Merits of Christ are the price of our Pardon and Redemption and these have in them an infinite worth and an All-sufficient Expiation not for our sins only but for the sins of the whole World both Men and Devils The Streams of Christ's Bloud shed on the Cross for us was sufficient to quench the flames of Hell and utterly to have washt away the Lake of Fire and Brimstone Hell might have been depopulated and those black Mansions left void without Inhabitants for ever and the Devils and Men have been common sharers in that same common Salvation For Christ having an infinite Dignity in his Person being God as well as Man his Bloud the Bloud of God his Sufferings the Sufferings and Humiliation of a God inhanced his Merits to such a redundancy as neither fallen Angels nor fallen Men were their Sins more and their Miseries greater were ever able to drain out Not a drop more of Gall and Wormwood should have been squeezed into the Cup of Christ's Sufferings though it had proved a Cup of Health and Salvation to them as well as to us And yet such was God's dreadful severity that he excluded the Angels from the benefits of Christ's Death though he had been at no more Expences to save them the price of whose Pardon and Redemption would have been the same And yet we such is the infinite Riches of his Grace and Mercy are Redeemed by a price that infinitely exceeds the purchace O the freeness and riches of God's Grace that he should thus pass by the Angels and pitch upon and choose such vile wretched Creatures as we are Sixthly consider Pardoning Grace is free whether we consider the generality of its designation or the speciality of its Application First It is free Pardoning Grace is free in its Designation in its general designation in that God hath design'd and purposed to forgive the sins of all the World if they will believe and repent It is the Universality of Grace that mightily exalts its freeness now what can be more universal than that Proclamation of Pardon that God makes to poor sinners in Acts 10.43 Whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins The whole World is under this Conditional Promise not one Soul of Man excepted Be thy sins more than the Sands greater than Mountains though the cry of them reacheth up to Heaven and the guilt of them reacheth down to Hell yet thou hast nâ— Reason O Sinner to exclude thy selâ— from Pardon for God hath not only believe and repent But as general aâ— this pardon is yet is there somewhaâ— that is discriminating in it that makeâ— it more illustrious for it is not tendreâ— to Devils and Damned Spirits Christ iâ— not appointed to be a Saviour unto them nor is his Bloud a propitiation for their sins they are not under any Covenant of Grace nor have they any promise of Mercy no not so much as Conditional It is not said unto them believe and you shall be rescued from the everlasting residue of your Torments believe and those unquenchable Flames you are now burning in shall be put out No God requires no such Duty from them neither hath he made any such Promise to them yea should it be supposed that they could believe yet this their Faith would not at all avail them because God hath ordained no Ransome for them and resolves to receive no other satisfaction to his Justice than their personal Punishment But while we are alive we are all the Objects of God's free pardoning Grace And for any Man that hears the sound of the Gospel and upon what terms God hath proclaimed forgiveness of Sin if any Man notwithstanding shall perish in his sins it is not because God hath excluded him from Pardon which he doth seriously and with vehement importunity offer and urge upon him but because he excludes himself by his own Impenitency and Unbelief in not accepting of it Secondly Pardoning Grace is free Pardoning Grace is free in its special Application in the special Application of it Now the Application of Pardon is not made unto any till the performance of those Conditions upon which Pardon is tendred and they are Faith and Repentance Now herein is God's Grace infinitely free who first fulfils these Conditions in his Children that so he may fulfill his Gracious Promises unto them of Life and Pardon The Conditional Covenant of Grace promises Pardon and Remission of Sins unto all that shall believe and repent But notwithstanding all this the whole World might perish under a contracted Impotency whereby they could not believe nor repent did not the Absolute Covenant engagâ— God's Truth to work Faith and Repentance in the Hearts of his People Sâ— that one Covenant promiseth Pardon
though St. Peter when he walked upon dry Land was â—pheld by the Power of Christ as God â—et that Power was not so remarkably glorious in his preservation and walking upon the dry Land as when Christ â—ent him his hand and upheld him from â—inking when he walked and stood upon the surface of the Water because â—hen he had a proneness and propension â—n him to sink more than when he stood upon the dry Land So truly I may say â—hat the standing of the glorified Saints â—n Heaven in a State of Holiness altho â—t may be and is a Work of God's Almighty Power yet it seems not altogether so much to magnifie the Power of God in preserving them in that State of Holiness and Glory no not to Eternity as it doth to preserve a poor weak Christian one day in a State of Grace because there is no proneness in a glorified Saint to fall from his happiness into Sin but there is in a Saint on Earth to â—all from Grace and from the Work of God upon his Soul The prevalency of Christs Intercession is hereby Glorified Fourthly and lastly This glorifies also the prevalency of Christ's Intercession and the triumph of God's pardoning Grace and Mercy O how exceedingly glorious is free Grace in that God can and doth for Christ's sake pardon many and great sins though he certainly knows there is such a sinful Propension left behind in Mans nature that will again be breaking out into the same or greater provocations Vse I The application of this point shall be in these particulars First is there so strong a proneness in the best Christians to the worst Sins hence then let wicked Men learn not to insult over them when they fall nor to reproach holiness with their foul miscarriages truly Grace hath always found it ill neighbourhood to dwell in the same Soul with Sin for wicked Men being themselves all of one piece they know not how to distinguish betwixt the Propensions of the one and of the other they know not how to distinguish when a Saint in a Christian acts and when the Sinner and so they very irrationally charge Holiness with those crimes that were they not in part unholy they should never commit when a Man that makes a forward profession of Religion and in the general course of his life makes Conscience of his ways when he doth through temptation or inadvertency fall into some sin that becomes notorious what is more common in the mouths of profane scoffers than this This is one of your Godly ones This is one of the sanctified gang thus they laugh and snear at him No but Sinner let me tell thee thou mistakest the Man Did you ever hear him pray so as to charm Heaven and which is more so as to melt even your hearts into affections Did you ever hear him discourse of spiritual things as if he had been intimate with Angels and one of Heavens Secretaries Have you formerly observed in him a blameless and exemplary Conversation then indeed you might say this is one of the Godly Holiness owns him Religion glories in him while he thus adorns his Profession but when he sins say not Behold one of the Godly this is Blasphemy against Religion No it is not the Godly Man that sins no it is the corrupt and unholy part in him it is that part in him that is most like to thee In Romans 7.17 says the Apostle there it is no more I but sin that dwells in me and if it bâ— indwelling sin that is the cause of actual sin in the best why then do you belyâ— their Graces Why do you accuse theâ— whom the Apostle vindicates and tell you plainly that it is not they but siâ— in them Learn therefore to put a difference betwixt a Saint and a Sinner in every Child of God and if it be the Sinner in them that exposeth them to you scorns and flouts what else do you iâ— upbraiding of them but more upbraid your selves that are nothing but Sinner throughout Judge therefore how sensless and unreasonable it is for you to reproach them who were they not so much like you you would have nothing to reproach them with therefore leâ— wicked Men never more flout and jeaâ— at the falls and sins of those that are holy imputing them to them as holy for it is the Sinner in them that sins and not the Saint and by upbraiding them for sin they do more upbraid and reproach themselves A Proneness to Sin in God's Children should make them humble Secondly Is there such a strong Propension in the best to the worst Sins See then what cause even the best have to be continually humble Oh this is that which breaks the very heart and rends the very Bowels of a true Christian that â—e should be so violently inclined to that which of all things in the world his God â—s most averse to and which of all things in the world as it is the only thing he never made so it is that which he always hates this is that which makes him smite his Breast with anguish and to cry out with the Apostle O wretched Man that I am And well truly may the best Saint call himself a wretched man since he carries that â—n his bosom that will be a perpetual torment and vexation to him as long as he lives there are Factions and Rebellions intestine Discords and civil Wars within the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit lusting against the Flesh there 's a Sea of wickedness and yet in the midst of it true Grace like Fire striving to burn it up Nay no wonder this great Combustion makes such a Smoke and Smother as wrings Tears from his Eyes for when he meditates this choaks his Meditation he begins with God but through this sinful proneness he fall he knows not how into some impertinent thought oâ— other and in a moment he slides from Heaven to Earth his Thoughts are likâ— ravell'd Thread he knows not theiâ— method and order nor end of them When he prays this Corruption sits very heavy upon his Heart and as at the Evening the shadow of the Body move much faster so truly many times thâ— Lips move apace in Prayer when yeâ— the Heart is dull and drowsie where ever he is whatever he is about Lusâ— is intruding into his company Corruption will be thrusting it self into all hiâ— Actions This is that which makes him weary of his very Life so that he could very well be content nay he really and heartily wishes from his heart that thiâ— House of Clay were pulled down abouâ— him Truly when we look abroad in to the world and take notice in whaâ— filthy Sins it wallows what Oaths and Cursings what Blasphemies and Drunkenness what Murthers Uncleannesses and Riots have every where over-spread the face of the whole Earth What do we see but the Effects of that sinful Nature that is common to us as well as unto
is one and the same faculty bandying against it self and the reason of this is because a Child of God hath two Principles in every single faculty there is in him a mixture of Flesh and Spirit a carnal part that sides with sin and a spiritual part that always contradicts and opposeth it and these two are spread over his whole Soul and are mingled with every power and faculty thereof so that he can neither do the evil nor do the good that he would do without contradiction strife and reluctancy now try your selves by this when you are tempted to sin what is it that resists it Is it your Will or is it only your Conscience are you only frighted from it doth the fear of Hell overcome the love of sin why all this may be from a mere restraint in those who are altogether unacquainted with the power of sanctifying Grace this is the symptom and Character of a gracious Soul that when it is most inclinable unto sin yet at the same time is most averse from it when it most wisheth the accomplishment of sin yet even then it strongly wishes the subduing and mortifying of that sin I know this appears a Riddle and a strange Paradox to wicked Men but those who have any true sense of the work of Grace upon their own hearts know it to be a truth and rejoyce in the experiences that they have of it Fourthly and lastly Restraining and sanctifying Grace differ in the motives and arguments that they make use of for the resisting of sin there are two general Topicks or common places whence all arguments against sin are drawn and those are the Law and the Gospel both of these administer such weapons that if rightly used are very effectual for the beating down of sin and commonly restraining Grace useth those only that are borrowed from the Law it urgeth the command it thunders the curse it brandisheth the sword of Justice and makes reports of nothing but Hell and eternal Damnation and such like arguments that scare Men from the committing of their sins though still they love them now sanctifying Grace though it also makes a most profitable use of these very arguments yet it chiefly useth more mild and more ingenious motives drawn from the love of God from the Death of Christ from the comforts of the Holy Ghost and these though they strike softer yet they wound deeper now hereby also you may give a guess whether your abstaining from sin be merely from restraining or from sanctifying Grace observe what weapons you use What considerations do over-awe your hearts Are they such as are drawn only from the Law and the sad reflections of the end and issue of sin That it brings Shame and Death and Hell must you run down to Hell every time a temptation comes to fetch arguments thence to oppose against your corruptions can you no where else quench the fiery Darts of the Devil unless it be in that Lake of Fire if this be all though this too is well yet know if it be all this is no more than what restraint and common Grace may perform it is the proper character of restraining Grace to keep Men back from the commission of sin only by dread and fear of punishment but now sanctifying Grace that especially betakes it self to Gospel Arguments and considers how disingenious it is to sin against a reconciled and a gracious Father against a crucified and a bleeding Saviour against a patient and long suffering Spirit and heaps up many such like ingenious arguments that work kindly upon the heart he leads every temptation to the Cross of Christ and there shews it his Saviour hanging and bleeding and can I commit this sin that hath drawn so much blood from my Saviour to expiate it and would draw so much blood from my Conscience to perpetrate it did he die to free me from the condemnation of it and shall I wilfully rush into the commission of it no O Lord thy love withholds me I cannot do this thing and sin against so rich so free and infinite Mercy and Goodness that thou dayly extendest towards me Thus true Grace usually teacheth a Child of God to argue against his sins and this keeps him from the commission of those sins that others rising up against them only from the terrors and threatnings of the Law and other such dreadful considerations fall into notwithstanding a Wooll-pack sooner damps a bullet than a Stone-wall and truly sofâ— arguments taken from the Gospel from the love of God from the death oâ— Christ from the patience and long suffering of the Spirit these soft arguments sooner damp a temptation and resist a corruption than more rigid and severe ones will when alone used by themselves Now having thus in general shewed you the difference betwixt sanctifying and restraining Grace I shall now descend to more particular considerations of those ways and methods that God useth in keeping Men back from Sin by his special and sanctifying Grace and here I shall premise this That whatever Sin God doth I mean by his sanctifying Grace prevent his own Children from the commission of he doth it by exciting the inward Principle of Grace to the actual use and exercise of it there is a two-fold Grace always necessary to keep the best Christians from Sin Habitual and Exciting Grace and God makes use of the one to quicken and stir up the other he makes use of exciting Grace to quicken habitual Grace that else would lie sluggish and dormant in the Soul Habitual Grace that denominates the Soul alive unto God but yet it is no otherwise alive than a Man in a Swoon is it is exciting Grace that alone can enable it to perform the Functions and Offices of Life in the deepest Winter there is life in the seed that lies buried under ground but yet it acts not till the Sun's influence draws it forth and then it heaves and shoves away the Earth that covered it and spreads it self into the beauties of a Flower So is it here inherent habitual Grace is an immortal seed and it is but a seed till the influences of the approaching and exciting Grace of God awaken it and chafe it's benumbed vertue and then it stirs and thrusts away all that dung and filth of corruptions under which it lay buried and then it flows forth into actual Grace habitual and exciting Grace must both concurr to the producing of actual Grace as necessarily as there must be the concurrence both of the heat of the Sun and of life in the seed to produce a Flower now by God's exciting inherent habitual Grace in the Soul he keeps Men from sinning two ways First by prevention and secondly by suppression of Sin First hereby he prevents and excludes those Sins that werâ— we not employed in the exercise of Gracâ— we would commit when the Soul is constantly employed in holy and spirituaâ— affairs Sin hath then neither room noâ— opportunity to put
forth it self it is kept out from the thoughts when they are busied in holy Meditation it is kepâ— out from the affections when they are set upon heavenly Objects it is kept ouâ— from the life and conversation wherâ— the duties both of the general and particular calling are duely performed in their respective seasons the Apostle exhorts us in Ephesians 4.27 not to give place to the Devil truly when God's exciting Grace quickens our inherent Grace into continual exercise when every faculty is filled with holy actings and every season with holy duties the Devil can have no place to tempt nor corruption to stir it is the best security God can give from the commission of Sin to quicken to the performance of Duty when we pray or meditate or attend upon publick Ordinances we ought to bless God for his exciting Grace whereby we have not only performed a duty but also escaped some soul and notorious Sin that we might have committed had we not been so holily employed we who are here now present before the Lord this day had we neglected this present opportunity who of us knows what horrid temptations and foul sins we might have been exposed to in our own Houses which in the House of God we have avoided David when he walked idly upon the roof of his House he lies open to the Snares of the Devil and sins foully had he then been at his Harp or Psalms he might thereby have driven the Evil Spirit from himself as formerly he did from his Master Saul running Streams preserve themselves pure and clean when standing Pools soon grow corrupt and noisome and venomous creatures breed in them so is it with the heart whilest God's exciting and quickning Grace puts it upon continual act it is preserved from corruption but when once it grows sluggish and doth not freely flow forth into the actings of Grace and performance of Duties the spawn of all manner of sin breeds there and filthy lusts crawl to and fro in it without any disturbance and therefore we should continually pray that God would vouchsafe us the quickning influence of his Spirit that he would fill our sails with that wind that blows where it listeth arise O North Wind and come thou South Wind and blow upon our Gardens that the Spices thereof may flow forth for if the Spices do not the stench will Secondly As God by his exciting Grace hinders those Sins that might arise in the Heart so he also suppresseth those Sins that do arise There is the greatest contrariety imaginable betwixt inherent Sin and inherent Grace when the one is vigorous the other languisheth when the one is acted the other grows dull and sluggish Now both these opposite Principles have their seat and abode in the same Heart and both of them are in continual expectation of exciting influence to call them forth into act Indwelling Corruption that is usually rouzed up by Temptation when it stirs in the heart and is ready to break forth in the life Habitual Grace though it looks on yet is of it self so feeble that it can make no opposition till a kindly influence from the Spirit of God calls out some particular Grace that is directly contrary to that Sin that stirs and this resists and subdues it This Method God used in keeping the Apostle from sinning 2 Cor. 12. He was there under a sharp and pungent Temptation that is therefore called a Thorn in the Flesh v. 7. Satan buffets and the Apostle prays and God answers My Grace is sufficient for thee My Grace is sufficient not thy Grace that Grace that is in thee is but weak and helpless yea a very nothing if I withdraw my influence from it but that quickning Grace that flows from me that alone is sufficient to remove the Temptation and to prevent the Sin Why now while God's exciting Grace work'd upon the Apostle's inherent Grace this Temptation this Thorn in the Flesh only made him more watchful and more industrious against it but if God should have suspended this his Influence this Thorn in the Flesh would immediately notwithstanding all his Grace sadly have wounded his Conscience by the commission of some great and foul Sin Now as all manner of Sin lies couched in that Body of Sin that we bear about with us so all manner of Grace lies couched in that Principle of Grace that God implants in his own Children Now when the Devil by his Temptations calls forth some particular Sin God also at the same time by his exciting Grace calls forth a particular Grace to hinder the commission of that Sin Thus when they are tempted to Pride God calls forth Humility to prick that swelling puffing Bladder when they are tempted to Wrath and Passion he stirs up Meekness when to murmuring and repining against the dispensations of God he puts Patience upon its perfect work Briefly there is no Sin whatever that the Devil can by his Temptation stir up in the Heart but God also can stir up a contrary Grace to it to quell and master it This is the Method of God's exciting Grace in the preventing of Sin that when the Devil calls forth a particular Corruption out of the Stock of Corruption God calls forth a particular Grace contrary to it from the Stock of Grace But yet there are some particular Graces that are more especially employed about this Service and which God doth most frequently exercise and set on work to keep his Children from the commission of Sin First God hinders the commission of sin by keeping up the lively and vigorous actings of Faith Indeed if Faith fail all other Graces must fail by consequence Faith is the Soul's Steward that fetcheth in Supplies of Grace from Christ in whom is the Treasure of it and distributes them to all the other Graces of the Soul Therefore when Christ tells St. Peter Satan had desired to sift him by his Temptations lest he should be thereby discouraged and dejected presently he adds in v. 32. But I have prayed for thee that thy Faith fail not And wherefore his Faith rather than any other Grace but because other Graces must take their Lot with Faith and must be strong or weak victorious or languishing as Faith is and therefore it is called the Shield of Faith Ephes 6.6 Now the Office of a Shield is to defend not only the Body but the rest of the Armour also and so doth Faith when it is dexterously managed it keeps both the Soul and its Graces also from the Attempts of the Devil I might be large here in shewing you how Faith preserves from Sin as by deriving vertue and strength from the Death and Blood of Christ by pleading God's Engagements and Promises to tread Satan under our feet by urging and importuning Christ to fulfill in us the end of his coming into the World which was to destroy the Works of the Devil and many such Ways I might name by which Faith prevents Sin
shall unfold it in these following Particulars First Pardon and Remission of sin Pardon of sin an Act of God's only is no Act of ours but an Act of God's only It is nothing done by us or in us but an Act of God's free Grace meerly without us and therefore God ascribes it wholly unto himself I even I am he And when our Saviour cured the Paralytick the Scribes storm at him as a Blasphemer thou blasphemest say they to him not knowing him to be God for who say they can forgive sins but God only But be it an Act of God's only and not ours and an Act wholly without us what Comfort is there in this yes much and that upon these Grounds because God's Acts within us are always imperfect in this Life but God's Acts without us are always perfect and consummate Sanctification is a work of God's Grace within us Now this because it meets with much opposition in every Faculty from inherent sin which spreads it self over the whole Soul therefore this work is always in this Life kept low and weak But Pardon of sin is an Act without us in the breast of God himself where it meets with no opposition nor allay nor doth it increase by small degrees but is at once as perfect and intire aâ— ever it shall be I do not mean aâ— some have thought and taught That God at once pardons all the sins of true Believers as well those they do or shal commit as those that they have already committed but only That what sin God pardons he doth not pardon then gradually There is nothing left oâ— Guilt upon the Soul when God pardons it but there is something left oâ— Filth upon the Soul when God sanctifies it And therefore as it is the grief of God's Children That their inherent Holiness is so imperfect here that they are so assaulted with Temptations so dogg'd by Corruption so oppressed and almost stifled to Death by a body of sin that lies heavy upon them yet this on the other side may be for their Comfort and Encouragement That God's pardoning Grace is not as his sanctifying Grace is nor is it granted to them by the same stint and measure A sin truly repented of is not pardoned to us by halves half the Guilt remitted and half retained as the Papists fansie to establish their Doctrine of Purgatory but it is as fully pardon'd as it shall be in Heaven it self And hence it follows First Though the Guilt of sin be removed yet it is not our Repentance that removes it for then as no Man's Repentance is absolutely perfect so no Man's Sins should be fully pardon'd but still there would be remainders of Guilt left upon the Conscience as there is still a mixture of Impenitency in the best Christians But Pardon and Remission is not mingled with Guilt as Grace is with Sin because it is an Act of Mercy wrought not in our breast but arising in God's only where it meets with nothing to allay or abate it and it is infinitely more perfect than our Repentance can be Secondly Hence we may inferr Pardon of Sin more sure than our Assurance of it can be That our Pardon is infinitely more sure than our Assurance of it in our own Consciences can be satisfactory for the sense of Pardon is a work of God's Spirit within us which commonly is mixed with some Hesitations Mis-givings Doubts and Fears And therefore tho our Comforts be never so strong tho it be Spring-Tide with us yet our ground for Comfort is still much more Oh what rich and abundant Grace is this in God towards us that exceeds both our Grace and our Comfort And therefore though O Christian thy Sanctification be the best Evidence of thy Justification and Pardon yet is it not the best Measure of it for thou art justify'd and thou art pardon'd much more than thou art sanctified Sanctifying Grace in thee indeed is in its first Rudiments and Inchoation but Pardoning-Grace in thy God is consummate and perfect And that is the first thing Secondly Remission of Sin makes Sin to be as if it had never been committed Things that are forgotten are no more to us than if they had never had a being Now God tells us he forgets our sins their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more Nor is there any long Tract of Time required to wear the Idea of them out of his Memory as is necessary among Men to make them forget the Wrongs and Injuries done to them by their fellow-Creatures for God forgets the sins of his Children as soon as they are repented of yea sometimes sooner than our Consciences do for many times a Christian after a heart-breaking-Repentance for some great Sin lies under the upbraidings of Conscience when God hath forgiven it yea and forgotten it also God's Officer is not so ready to acquit them as God himself is He forgets as though no Provocation or Offence had ever been committed He retains not his Anger for ever says the Prophet Micah 7.14 not for ever but so soon as ever we grow displeased with our selves he begins to be well-pleased with us no sooner doth Sorrow and Grief overspread our Faces but Favours and Smiles clear up his Face to us See this gracious Disposition of God in Jerem. 31.20 Ephraim is there brought in bewailing his sin Surely says he after I was turned I repented after I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth Now what doth God but presently embrace him with most tender and most melting Expressions of Love as if he had never been angry nor had any cause for it Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child since I pass against him I do earnestly remember him still my bowels are troubled for him I will surely have mercy upon him saith the Lord. And therefore O Christian thou who now perhaps cryest out in the bitterness of thy Soul Oh that I had never committed this or that sin against God! Oh that I had never offended him in this or that manner Why thou hast thy Wish O Sinner herein for God when he pardons sin makes it as if it had never been committed against him Remission of Sin makes God account of us as just and righteous Thirdly hence it follows That upon Remission of Sin God no longer accounts of us as Sinners but as Just and Righteous It is true after a Pardon is received we still retain sinful Natures still Original Corruption is in us and will never totally be dis-lodged out of us in this Life but when God pardons us he looks not upon us as Sinners but as Just and Righteous A Malefactour that is discharged by satisfying the Law or by the Prince's Favour to him is no more look'd upon as a Malefactour but as Just and Righteous as if he had never offended the Law at all so is it here