Thoughts than your Thoughts The Distance is so great between the Heavens and the Earth that the Sun so vast a Globe of Light seems to be of a small Circumference and the Stars of the first Magnitude tho many times bigger than the Earth appear like glittering Points of Light This Comparison is so convincing as may assist us in our Contemplation of his Mercy The Apostle saith God is rich in Mercy 'T is not said that he is rich in Substance tho the Earth be the Lord's and the Fulness thereof He is rich in his own Perfections not in external things 'T is not said God is rich in Power tho he is Almighty nor in Justice but in Mercy This signifies that of all the Divine Perfections none do shine so radiantly as his Mercy This reflects a Lustre upon his other Attributes His Goodness is the Foundation of his Glory He pardon'd ten thousand Talents to the Servant that was insolvent and his Treasure is unwasted I will consider the Extent of his pardoning Mercy and the Entireness of it 1. The Extent of it with Respect to the Number and Quality of the Sins that are pardoned 1 st The Number of them David after an attentive Consideration of the Purity and Perfection of God's Law breaks forth in a very great Anxiety Who can understand his Errors Who can enumerate the many Defections from that strait Rule of our Duty In many things we offend all We are obliged perpetually to obey and glorify God yet in every Action even in our religious Duties there are many Defects and Defilements that want Pardon How many Swarms of vain and unprofitable Thoughts of carnal covetous proud envious and revengeful Thoughts and Desires lodg in the Hearts of Men What a Torrent of idle sensual vain-glorious and passionate Words flow from their Lips How many thousand sinful Actions proceed from them When the inlightned Conscience seriously reflects upon our Sins of Omission and Commission how astonishing is their vast Number What a mountainous Heap appears They reach as low as Hell and rise as high as Heaven It would tire the Hand of an Angel to write down the Pardons that God bestows upon one penitent Believer 2 dly Divine Forgiveness extends to Sins of all kinds and degrees habitual and actual Tho no Sins are absolutely small being committed against the Majesty of God yet comparatively with respect to their Quality and Circumstances there is a manifest Difference between them Some are of a weaker Tincture some are of a deeper Die Some slightly wound the Conscience some waste it and let out its vital Blood Some do as it were whisper against the Sinner some cry for Vengeance Sins of Ignorance and Infirmity Sins of sudden Surreption that steal upon us without observing Sins by surprise of the Passions when there is no time to deliberate have extenuating Circumstances but Sins against Light wherein there is more of the Nature of Sin Sins against Mercies which in the Language of the Apostle are a despising of God's Goodness Sins against solemn Vows wherein Men break double Bands the Law of God and their sacred Ingagements Sins committed habitually and presumptuously as if God were ignorant or indifferent and unconcern'd or impotent and without Power to punish Offenders These Sins derive a greater Guilt and expose to a more terrible Punishment Now a gracious Pardon is offer'd in the Gospel to all Sinners whatever the Quality and Circumstances of their Sins be if they apply and address themselves to the Father of Mercy through the compassionate Mediator and forsake their Sins Of this we are assured from the most solemn Declaration of God to Moses The Lord is merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in Goodness and Truth keeping Mercy for thousands forgiving Iniquity and Transgression and Sin The Promise is comprehensive of all sorts of Sins how manifold and mighty soever Besides to encourage us to repent and believe God promises Pardon for Sins of the fiercest Provocation Judah had violated the Marriage-Covenant with God by their impure Idolatries yet he offers to receive them Thou hast played the Harlot with many Lovers yet return again to me saith the Lord. Relapses into rebellious Sins argue a strong Propensity to them and exceedingly aggravate their Guilt yet God promises Pardon for them Return ye backsliding Children and I will heal your Backslidings There are eminent Instances of God's pardoning Mercy recorded in the Scripture The Apostle having enumerated many sorts of Sinners guilty of enormous Crimes Idolaters Adulterers Abusers of themselves with Mankind tells the Corinthians And such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God There is one sort of Sinners excepted from the general Promise of Mercy those who sin against the Holy Ghost The Reason of the Exception is not that the Holy Spirit is superiour in Dignity to the Father and the Son for they are all coeternal and coequal but from his Operations i. e. the revealing the Truth and Grace of God in the Gospel Now the obstinate malicious contradicting the Truth of the Gospel shining in the Minds of Men and the perverse despising the Grace of the Gospel is unpardonable to infinite Mercy Those who are guilty of that Sin have transform'd themselves into the Image of the Devil and Salvation cannot save them But no others are excluded from Repentance and Pardon 2. As the Extent so the Intireness of Pardon offer'd to Sinners declares God's abundant Mercy 1 st The Pardon is as full as free according to his excellent Goodness The Imputation of the Fault ceases and the Obligation to Punishment is abolish'd We have clear Evidence of this from the Scripture God assures those who repent and reform Tho your Sins be as Scarlet they shall be as white as Snow tho they be red like Crimson they shall be as Wool Pardon is more than a Reprieve or Suspension of Judgment 't is a perfect Freedom from it A repenting Believer is as clear from the Charge of the Law as an innocent Angel There is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Our cleansing from the Defilements of Sin is imperfect therefore we must be always purifying our selves till we attain to absolute Purity but our Pardon is perfect 'T is irrevocable we are assured that as far as the East is from the West God removes our Transgressions from us As soon those distant Points may be united as Guilt may be fastned upon those whom God has pardoned The Prophet declares that God will subdue our Iniquities and cast them into the Bottom of the Sea From whence they can never rise God promises I will forgive their Iniquities and remember them no more Pardon is compleat and final 'T is the Misery of the Wicked they are condemned already they live by
every day The Scripture gives an Account why Execution is respited The Lord is not slack as some Men count Slackness but is long-suffering to us ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance He waits to be gracious and spares Men in order to their Salvation 5. It appears that God is ready to forgive in that upon the first Suit of humble and penitent Believers he presently pardons them If we consider how long Men continue in a Course of voluptuous or profitable Sins how many Repulses to the Offers of Mercy they are guilty of it might justly be expected that God should with Disdain reject their Petitions or not be intreated without a long Exercise of Repentance and continued submissive and earnest Solicitations for his Mercy But the King of Heaven keeps no State the Throne of Grace is always open and accessible to humble Penitents When their Hearts are prepar'd his Ear is inclin'd to hear them David after his commission of very foul Sins and long continuing in a State of Impenitency yet upon his melting in the Sense of his Wickedness and Resolution to humble himself by a mournful Acknowledgment of it he was restor'd to the Divine Favour I said I would confess my Sins and thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin Repenting Ephraim is an admirable Instance of God's relenting Bowels to Sinners I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a Bullock unaccustom'd to the Yoke Turn thou me and I shall be turned for thou art the Lord my God Surely after I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my Thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the Reproach of my Youth Is Ephraim my dear Son is he a pleasant Child for since I spake against him I earnestly remember him still therefore my Bowels are troubled for him I will surely have Mercy on him saith the Lord. The Prodigal upon his Resolution to return to his Father and debase himself as utterly unworthy of being received as a Son while he was in the way his Father saw him at a distance and ran to him fell on his Neck and kiss'd him and entirely forgave his past Rebellion The Soul-wounded Publican said Lord be merciful to me a Sinner and was justified rather than the proud Pharisee 6. 'T is a convincing Argument that God is ready to forgive Sin in that he affords Grace to Men to prepare them for his pardoning Mercy Repentance and Faith are sacred Plants that do not spring from our Earth but have their Roots in Heaven God gives Repentance unto Life Faith is not of our selves 't is the Gift of God In our corrupt State Sin is natural to Man and hath entirely possess'd all his leading Faculties The carnal Mind is Enmity against God and judges according to the carnal Affections which deprave it The Will is rebellious and strongly inclin'd to charming Lusts Temptations are so numerous and delightful that Sinners will venture to be miserable for ever to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin that die in the tasting 'T is true such are the inviolable Inclinations of the humane Nature to Happiness that no Man can love undisguised Death nor choose Damnation for it self yet the Affection to Sin is so over-ruling that they will not forsake it tho complicated with Death The Wisdom of God tells us Those that hate me love Death i. e. constructively Our Saviour compassionately reproves the Jews Ye will not come to me that ye may have Life This is the Cause of their remaining in a State of Guilt for ever Now such is the Mercy of God that he gives his Spirit to assist Men by his illuminating preventing restraining and exciting Grace to forsake their Sins that they may be saved and if they did faithfully improve the lower degrees of Grace tho they can claim nothing by right he would from his good Pleasure afford them more Grace but they are so averse from God and strongly bent to the present World that they so long resist the pure Motions of Grace in their Hearts till the Gales of the Spirit expire and revive no more according to that terrible Threatning My Spirit shall no longer strive with Man for he is Flesh. Besides the common Grace afforded to natural Men there is a Super-effluence of Grace bestowed upon some to convert them which infallibly obtains its end Those who are the Patrons of Free Will methinks should allow that God is Master of his own Will and the free Dispenser of his own Grace This special Grace works powerfully yet conveniently to the reasonable Nature There is no Charm so sweet no Constraint so strong as the Operation of it For the Understanding is convinc'd by so clear and strong a Light of our being undone for ever without God's pardoning Mercy that his Loving-kindness is better than Life and this is represented to the Will with that powerful Application that the Will certainly chooses it When there is a Wavering and Indifferency of the Will to a propounded Object 't is either from some Defects in the Object or in the Apprehension of it but when the supreme Good is so represented that it fills all the Capacities of the Soul the Will as certainly embraces it as one that is burnt up with Thirst and near a cool Stream stoops and drinks to quench it The Holy Spirit who knows the manner of his own Operations expresses the Efficacy of them in the Resemblances of the Creation and Resurrection wherein the Divine Power cannot be frustrate yet 't is so congruous to the Frame of Man's Nature that the Freedom of the Will is then in its most noble Exercise Men are drawn to Christ by the Teachings of God not by over-ruling Violence upon their Faculties but by Instruction and Perswasion sutable to them Now from hence 't is evident that all the Persons in the Godhead concur in bestowing this admirable Blessing the Pardon of our Sins they all willingly join in this undivided Work tho with different Operations The Father pronounces our Pardon from the Throne his Majesty shines without Diminution or Condescension of his Person in forgiving us The Son purchased our Pardon by the sacred Treasure of his Blood The Holy Spirit qualifies us and applies the Pardon of our Sins to us 3. I now come to the third general Head that God is abundant in Forgiveness This God has declar'd in Words so full and expressive as may exceedingly satisfy the most tender and fearful Spirits Let the Wicked forsake his Way and the unrighteous Man his Thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have Mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon For my Thoughts are not your Thoughts neither are your Ways my Ways saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my Ways than your Ways and my
righteous and holy and cannot pardon Sinners to the Disparagement of his Majesty his Purity and Justice 2. Our pardoning the Offences of others is an evangelical Condition of our obtaining Pardon We are commanded When ye stand praying forgive if ye have ought against any that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your Trespasses But if you do not forgive neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your Trespasses The Command is peremptory and universal frequently and severely urged upon us by our Saviour The Reasonableness and Congruity of it is most evident if we consider the Disparity of the Object or the Number of Offences Our Sins against God are relatively infinite for his Majesty and Authority are truly infinite which are despised and abused by the Transgression of his Laws they are against all the Duty and Motives of Justice and Gratitude that oblige reasonable Creatures to obey their Maker Now the Offences and Injuries done to us are incomparably less for we are mean Creatures far less in comparison to God than a Worm is to an Angel and by our Sins are viler than the Earth Besides the Obligation that should restrain Men from being injurious to us are of infinitely a lower Nature The Disparity in the Number is very considerable Our Sins against God are like the Sand upon the Sea-shore their Number is astonishing Our Imaginations have been continually evil from the dawning of our Reason but Offences against us are comparatively few for the Variety of Objects in the World often divert the Thoughts and Passions of our Enemies from us We owe to the Lord 10000 Talents a vast Sum that can never be paid if it be not forgiven and shall we be unwilling to forgive a few Pence What is more becoming than that we who want a great Pardon should give a little one The Divine Mercy is proposed as a Model for our Imitation We must pardon intirely and take no Revenge for Injuries done to us but return Love for Hatred Good for Evil for so God does to us We must not only forgive but forget Injuries in the Sense of Love not like those who pardon in Words but retain the Memory of Offences and upon a slight Occasion renew their Resentments We must forgive great Offences as well as small and renew our Pardon as often as Offences are repeated unless we will set Bounds to the Divine Mercy We must rejoice more in pardoning than in revenging Injuries and seek to be reconciled to those who are averse from us for that is according to our Pattern 'T is pretended that by bearing a single Injury we expose our selves to a double Injury but we must imitate our heavenly Father If we do not follow him in forgiving he will follow us in retaining our Sins The Psalmist tells us With the Merciful God will shew himself merciful but with the Froward he will shew himself froward A holy and righteous Punishment in Retaliation of their sinful Disposition The pardoning Injuries is contrary to corrupt Nature and the Duty is difficult but the Reward is infinite Tho it seems to vilify us as if defective in our Minds not to understand Injuries or in Courage not to repay them which makes Men hard to forgive yet upon calm Consideration we shall esteem it a Duty easy and honourable for it prevents the inflaming our Passions and the troubling of our selves and others 't is an Act of Royalty and makes us superiour to them 't is the noblest Victory and often conquers and changes an Enemy into a Friend And above all Motives this should recommend it to us it seals our Pardon from God and conveys the most clear and comfortable Sense of it to us For as the Psalmist excellently argues He that planted the Ear shall he not hear He that formed the Eye shall he not see If we are by Divine Grace inclin'd and enabled to pardon frequent Offences against us shall not the God of all Grace be ready to pardon our many Offences against him Our Saviour reasons from the Love of natural Parents If you that are evil know how to give good things to your Children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask it The Illation is as strong in forgiving Love If we who are of an unforgiving Nature sincerely forgive those who injure us and restore them to our Favour how much more shall God who is Love forgive our Sins and be reconciled to us 4. The Divine Forgiveness should be a powerful Motive to Thankfulness David addresses to his Soul in an ardent and lively manner Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his Holy Name He excites every Faculty the Understanding to consider and value the Mercies of God the Memory to register them and retain a thankful Sense of them the Affections to celebrate them He repeats the Call Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits We are apt to forget Favours and remember Provocations Benefits are written in the Dust Injuries are engraven in Marble But strong Affections will make indelible Impressions of Thankfulness If we duly consider the Greatness and Goodness of God and our Meanness and Unworthiness that we are less than the least of his Mercies we must be convinc'd every Benefit we receive from God deserves to be remembred and acknowleged with serious Thankfulness That God draws a Curtain of Rest about us in the Night provides for us in the Day regards us with a compassionate Eye and relieves us in our Wants and Sorrows should cause such deep Affections as flow into outward Declarations of Praise 'T is true our most solemn Recognition of his Benefits is but a poor Duty compar'd with his immense Bounty to us our Thanksgiving is an Echo to God's Mercies that repeats a few Syllables what can our fading Breath add to his Blessedness and Glory that are in the highest degree of Perfection and truly infinite But 't is most reasonable that as all our Blessings flow from his Mercy they should fall into the Sea of his Glory and when our Souls bless him he accepts our Sincerity and does not despise our Thanksgivings for want of Perfection In the recounting God's Benefits the Psalmist mentions in the first place the Pardon of Sin who forgives all thy Iniquities as the Principal and Foundation of all the rest This in a most powerful way enter'd into his Heart and kindled a sacred Fire there I will briefly shew that the Pardon of Sin is so divine a Benefit that it deserves our most solemn Thankfulness and that it inclines and disposes the Soul to that Duty 1 st That the Pardon of our Sins deserves our most solemn Thankfulness will appear by an evident Light if we consider the Nature and Quality of the Benefit the Means by which 't is obtain'd the Circumstances in the dispensing it and the Consequents 1. The Quality and the