him that gave the sinner a being, brought him out of nothing, gave him life and reason, a rational soul, and a free will; yea, to whom the sinner is beholden, even for this, that he is able to sin against him.

But this is not all: it is also against the more obliging relation of a preserver; against him, who continued and upheld that being, that he might have took in forfeit for the breach of his law: against him that causes his sun to shine and his rain to fall upon his professed enemies; that sows their fields with plenty, and spreads their tables with abundance; and returns them one increase for another, the increase of blessing for the increase of sin.

So that now every sin which is committed by man, puts on the nature of that quality which comprehends in it all other instances of baseness, which is ingratitude. And if the sin be so great, the forgiveness must needs be proportionable.

And thus much for the second thing, in which is displayed to us the largeness of God's pardoning mercy; namely, the number and greatness of the sins pardoned by it.

(3.) The third thing in which it appears is, the persons on whom this pardon is conferred, who are men; that is, very worthless and inconsiderable creatures, in comparison of those to whom the same pardon is denied.

Those excellent and glorious spirits the angels, they fell without recovery: those glistering sons of the morning, those more lively representations of the divine nature, they are set under a perpetual night, never to rise and return again to their former lustre. As it is in the 6th verse of the Epistle of Jude; They are reserved under everlasting chains of

darkness, to the judgment of the great day. And in Heb. ii. 16, Christ took not upon him the nature: of angels, to be a mediator for them; but he took upon him the seed of Abraham.

Now that God should pass over the glory of the creation, and cast the skirt of his pardoning mercy upon poor vile creatures, that lay wallowing in their blood, to the loathing of their persons; that he should prefer dust and ashes before principalities and powers; and choose vessels of honour out of the lowest objects of contempt: this is an act of forgiveness, mixed of mercy and prerogative, and of which no reason can be assigned, but the good pleasure. of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will.

It is as if a man should pass over and trample upon pearls, and in the mean time stoop down to take up pins for the distance of the angelical and the human nature is as great, and their perfections fall under the same disproportion.

Certainly, God could not intend the advancement of his service in this unequal proceeding; for correspondent to the creature's abilities, such will be the measure of his service. And could the narrow compass of human wit and power do as much for God as the activity and intellectuals of an angel, who had none of these clogs of flesh and blood to allay their fervours, and to slack their devotions, God would have been served without lassitude or weariness: for, as it is in Psalm civ. 4, he has made those ministering spirits a flaming fire; and therefore they can be no more weary of serving him, than a fire can be weary with burning.

It remains, therefore, that this difference of God's

dealing with men and angels is entirely from the differences of his own purposes, by which he was pleased to design mercy for one, and to deny it to the other; and since he was free to have denied it, it enhances the kindness of the gift.

And thus I have done with the first general part of the text, viz. the declaration of the divine forgiveness; the greatness and latitude of which we have laid open, from those three several respects and considerations, by which all pardons are to be measured.

II. Pass we now therefore to the second part of the words, the end and design of this forgiveness, the fear of God: there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

In which we are to do thèse two things:

1st, To shew what that fear is, which is here intended.

2dly, To shew what there is in this forgiveness, by way of reason or argument, to enforce this fear. For the first of these, we- must distinguish of a double fear.

1. An anxious, distracting, amazing fear; in respect of which, Moses, upon the sight of God, in the terrible and fiery promulgation of the law from mount Sinai, in Heb. xii. 21, said, I exceedingly fear and tremble. In respect of this also, David says, in Psalm cxix. 120, I am afraid of thy judgments. Such an one also was it that possessed Christ in his agony, and in the time of his dereliction, when he cried out upon the cross, Matt. xxvii. 46, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? In short, it is such a kind of fear as possesses those who lie under the tortures of a guilty, troubled

conscience; such an one into which is infused all the malignity of this afflicting passion. It is the first-fruits of despair, and may, with more significance, be called horror and distraction.

Now this cannot be the fear intended in the words; for the motive of this cannot be forgiveness, but the divine wrath and anger. Besides, the proper effect of this fear is not duty, but despair; not obedience, but affrightment; not an adherence to God, but a flight and a departure from him. But now we shall presently shew, that the fear spoken of in the words, is to be a sovereign means of duty, an argument of piety, and an instrument of obedience.

2. There is a slavish and servile fear; such an one as, Rom. viii. 15, is called the spirit of bondage; and in respect of which, John says, 1 John iv. 18, that he that fears is not perfect: and in the same verse, that love casts out fear. As, on the contrary, where this fear is predominant, it expels and casts out love for there is so direct a contrariety between these two affections, that the increase of one is always built upon the decrease of the other. And indeed fear, for the most part, is the cause of hatred, but always the concomitant.

Now this cannot be the fear that is meant in the text; for God hates that his service should proceed from this principle. Fear properly, both in a natural and a spiritual sense, contracts the heart: but it must be an enlarged heart, that runs the ways of God's commandments. Fear ties up the spirits, checks the freedom, and dulls the motion of a more active devotion.

3. And lastly; therefore there is a filial, reverential fear, such an one as is enlivened with a prin

ciple of love, quickened and acted with that contrary affection, that is in Romans viii. 15 styled the spirit of adoption.

Now there is this difference between these three sorts of fear; that the first is properly the fear of a malefactor, the second of a slave, and this last of a

son.

Which is that alone that is designed in these words; and indeed there is good reason that God should require it, since he intends to turn all his servants into sons. And is it not equal to require a son's affection, where he resolves to bestow a son's inheritance?

Besides, this affection is of all others the most sedulous, diligent, and serviceable, and therefore there is a more than ordinary significance in those words, Mal. iii. 17, where God is said to spare and pity those that fear him, as a man spareth his son that serveth him. There is a great deal of difference between the service of a son, and of a slave or hireling; it is done with more accurateness, more concernment and activity.

And if we consider well the scope of the words, we must acknowledge that the word fear is used here by a metonymy of the cause for the effect, and signifies rather that obedience which is the effect and product of this fear; God therefore manifesting his forgiveness, that he may gain the creature's service and obedience.

For it is this only that God regards, this alone, by which the creature owns and confesses his homage and subjection to his Maker. All other pretences vanish into air and nothing, as being neither available to God's glory nor man's salvation.