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But there is forgiveness with thee; that thou mayest be feared.

FTER confidering our own miferable and guilty ftate, and how little any plea which we can offer will avail before the holinefs and juftice of God, it is proper to turn our eyes to his mercy, as the only foundation of our hope and peace. This is of the utmost neceffity to every penitent. When a fenfe of fin hath truly taken hold of the confcience, it is fo intolerable, that no man can continue long in that condition. When the waves and billows of divine wrath are going over him, he must either faften upon fome ground of hope, or suffer fhipwreck upon the rocks of defpair. There are indeed, alas that we fhould be fo liable to delufion! many ways of weakening the force of conviction, and obtaining a temporary, imperfect, or falfe peace. But the only fafe and ftable ground of hope is the divine mercy. And happy the finner who obtains fuch difcoveries of its extent and efficacy, as to make him cleave to it with undivided affection, and reft upon it as the anchor of his foul, from which he is refolved never to depart.

Believe it, Chriftians, the more the finner looks into his own ftate, the more real and thorough his acquaintance with his own heart is, the more he finds, that not the leaft ray of hope can arife from that quarter. This is precifely the import of the Pfalmift's declaration in this

paffage, taking the one branch of it in connexion with the other; as if he had faid, When I confider how great and multiplied my tranfgreffions have been, I must fland fpeechlefs, and without excufe, before thy holy tribunal, and juftify thee, although thou fhouldft condemn me. But Lord, thou art a God of infinite mercy. This I fix upon as the foundation of my hope. I fee nothing in myfelf to plead. Thy law accufes me. My own confcience paffes fentence upon me. I am not able to fup. port the view of thy juftice and holiness. Whither can I fly, but to thy mercy? Here I defire to take refuge, and to my unspeakable confolation there is forgiveness with thee; fo that thou mayeft and oughtest to be feared. In difcourfing further on this fubject, which I intend to do in a manner entirely practical, I propose, in a dependance on divine grace, to follow this method.

I. I fhall give a brief view of the difcoveries which God hath made of his mercy, as the foundation of the finner's hope; or, in other words, fhew what reason we have to believe, that there is forgiveness with him.

II. I shall point out the connexion between the mercy of God and his fear; or explain the import of this expreffion," There is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest "be feared."

III. I fhall make fome practical improvement of the fubject.

I. First, then, let us attempt to give a brief view of the difcoveries which God hath made of his mercy, as the foundation of the finner's hope; or, in other words, fhew what reafon we have to believe, that there is forgiveness with him. For this purpofe I obferve, firft of all, that the patience and forbearance of God towards finners, in the course of his providence, is the effect of his mercy. Even this affords fome faint hope, that there may be for givenefs with him. See the reasoning or the expoftulation of Jonah on the refpite of the destruction of Nineveh, Jonah iv. 2. "And he prayed unto the Lord and said, "I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my faying, when I "was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto

"Tarthith: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, flow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteft thee of the evil." The fentence being fufpended, there is time given to apply for pardon, and fpace for the exercile of repentance, with a peradventure, or who can tell, whether he may not be gracious. We may add to this, his continual benignity and kindness to all his creatures, not excepting the evil, the unthankful, and the unholy. The native tendency of both these is to lead the guilty to repentance, as we are told, Rom. ii. 4. Or defpifelt thou the riches of his goodness and for"bearance, and long-fuffering, not knowing that the "goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" But though this ought to be mentioned, I am very fenfible, how infufficient it is of itfelf to give confolation to a wounded spirit. Taking in the whole plan of providence, there are so many tokens of our Creator's difpleafure, fo much to be seen of the justice and holiness, as well as of the goodness of God, that it must leave the finner flill under a dreadful uncertainty in a matter of fuch infinite Torn by the fufpicion which is infeparable from guilt, he is full of reftlefs anxiety; and knowing that he muft fhortly appear before God in an unembodied flate, he is often putting this queftion to himfelf, Wherewith fhall I come before the Lord? How fhall I be able to ftand in the judgment? And therefore,

concern.

2. God hath revealed himself in his word, as merciful and gracious, long-fuffering, and flow to anger. This was the great truth on which the finner's hope depended ever fince the apoftafy of our first parents. Never fince that time could any man produce his title to divine favor in his own obedience: and therefore the mercy of God early intimated in the firft promife, continued to make, if I may fpeak fo, the leading part of the divine character in all the difcoveries he made of himfelf. Thus, at the giving of the law, Exod. xxxiv. 5, 6, 7. "And the Lord. "defcended in the cloud, and ftood with him there, and "proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord paff"ed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The "Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-fuffering, and VOL. I.

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"abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for "thousands, forgiving iniquity and tranfgreffion and fin. "and that will by no means clear the guilty; vifiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the "childrens children, unto the third and to the fourth ge"neration." To the fame purpose the Pfalmift David, Pfal. ciii, 8. "The Lord is merciful and gracious, flow to anger, and plenteous in mercy." Hear alfo the prophet Micah; Micah vii. 18. "Who is a God like unto "thee, that pardoneth iniquity; and paffeth by the tranfgreffion of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth "not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy."

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I do not here stay to confider what hints were given in the ancient difpenfation, of the atonement which was afterwards to be made by the incarnation of the Saviour. Doubtless there was fome refpect to this in the very first promife of the seed of the woman, and alfo in the promise to Abraham, that in his seed all nations of the earth fhould be blessed. The fame thing was prefigured by the facrifices, and fhadowed out by many different rites of the Mofaic œconomy. It muft, however, be allowed, that the faithful in thofe ages faw it only obfcurely, and of con. fequence understood it very imperfectly. But it was on the revealed mercy of God, which they were obliged to feek in the way appointed by himself, that they placed their entire dependance.

I cannot help obferving to you, how very encouraging the affurances of pardon are through many paffages of the Old Teftament; how very gracious the invitations to the finner, as if they had been contrived on purpose to remove the jealoufy which the guilty are too apt to entertain; Ifa. i. 18. "Come now and let us reason together, "faith the Lord: though your fins be as fcarlet, they fhall "be as white as fnow; though they be red like crimson, "they fhall be as wool." Ifa. xliii. 25. "I, even I am "he that blotteth out thy tranfgreffions for mine own fake, "and will not remember thy fins." Ifa. xliv. 22. " I "have blotted out as a thick cloud, thy tranfgreffions, and "as a cloud, thy fins: return unto me, for I have redeem"ed thee." Ifa. lv. 1. "Ho, every one that thirsteth,

"come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; "come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk "without money, and without price." Is this the word of God? Are these paffages written for our benefit? Is there any thing more plain, than that God is merciful and gracious; nay that he delighteth in mercy? How great encouragement is this to the exercife of repentance? In this very view, indeed, it is urged by the prophet in the 6th and 7th verfes of the last cited chapter; "Seek ye the "Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while " he is near. Let the wicked forfake 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."

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I fhall only add, that as the fcripture every where bears teftimony to the readinefs of God to pardon returning inners, so there are also many paffages in which he declares his readiness to pardon the failings which continue to cleave to his own people, and treat them with the ut moft tenderness and grace: Pfal. ciii. 13. "Like a father pitieth his children, fo the Lord pitieth them that fear "him." Ifa. xl. II. "He fhall feed his flock like a fhepherd: he fhall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bofom, and fhall gently lead those that "are with young." Mal. iii. 17. "And they fhall be "mine, faith the Lord of hofts, in that day when I make up my jewels, and I will fpare them as a man spareth "his own fon that ferveth him."

3. But that nothing may be wanting for the complete illuftration of this truth, obferve that it appears in the clearest manner, from the gofpel of Chrift, that there is forgiveness with God. In the fulness of time, God fent his own fon in our nature, to be a victim and facrifice for our offences, to bear our fins in his own body on the tree. In this aftonishing event, indeed, the love and mercy of God fhines with the brighteft luftre: John iii. 16. 66 God fo loved the world, that he gave his only be"gotten Son, that whofoever believeth in him, fhould "not perish, but have everlasting life." In this great tranfaction, we have not only an affurance of obtaining,

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