Jehovah Our Righteousness, Title page 2 – Dedication 2
THE Humble Sinners Supplication for Pardon, Opened and Applied, IN A SERMON PREACHED On the late FAST, June 26, 1696. By Samuel Comlyns, M. A. a Miniſter of the Goſpel in Marleborough.
London, Printed for Tho. Parkhurſt, at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapſide, near Mercer's Chappel. 1696.
To the Right Honourable the Lord JAMES RƲSSEL, Son to the Duke of Bedford, Grace, Mercy and Peace be multiplied, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jeſus Chriſt.
My Lord,
EVery awakened humble Soul ſhould with the Publican, cry earneſtly, God be merciful to me a ſinner. Without a pardon God's Armoury cannot be ſhut, or his Treaſury opened. God cannot take us for his Inheritance, Exod. 34 9. Times of refreſhment cannot come to us from the preſence of the Lord, if our ſins are not blotted out, Acts 3.19. If our Conſciences are not purged from dead works with the clean water of Chriſt's Blood, we cannot now walk in peace, go out of the world with comfort, enter into the heavenly Sanctuary with confidence. How therefore ſhould pardoning mercy endear God to us, ond engage us to God? We are naturally without ſtrength to help our ſelves, and are alſo ungodly and ſo provoke God to withhold and deny his help to us. We had robbed God, and an Arreſt ſhould have followed, and an Execution have taken hold of us. It is God's Right and Royal Prerogative, That his Will ſhould be our Supream Law, and his Glory our laſt End; but how have we debaſed God to exalt our ſelves? how have we as it were ſpoiled him of his Soveraignity, and juſtled him out of his Throne to eſtabliſh our wicked wills, and obtain an abſolute, unlimited and an independent liberty. But Jeſus Chriſt died to make ſatisfaction for the wrong Man had done God, Pſal. 69.4. Then reſtored I that which I took not away. The firſt Adam affected to be as God in Knowledge and Independency; the ſecond Adam was condemned for ſaying he was the Son of God, Mat. 27.64, 65, 66. and making himſelf equal with God, John 5.18. John 10.36. So Chriſt paid the Debt he did not contract, and pacified the Wrath be did not provoke. And how much ſhould pardoning mercy engage our hearts to God? The beſt of men are but reconciled Enemies, releaſed Priſoners, pardoned Malefactors. What mercy is it that he who ſeeth our ſins with indignation, ſhould yet himſelf cover them in mercy, Jer. 13. laſt. Pſal. 85.2. That the God that wrote down ſin, Iſa. 65.6. ſhould himſelf blot it out, Iſa. 43.25. Sin is a terrible writing it ſelf, and it draws after it another more dreadful writing, Job 13.25. Thou writeſt bitter things againſt me, and makeſt me to poſſeſs the ſins of my Youth. The Sentence of Death did uſe to be written, and then read to Criminals. Sin recorded will procure a written Sentence of Condemnation. Puniſhment is the Eccho of ſin. In this ſenſe Sanctius takes the Hebrew word, Iſa. 59.12. Our ſins anſwer to us. How bad will it be to poſſeſs the ſins of Youth? The word rendred Youth, Job 29.4. foreign, ſignifies alſo Reproach. It is too often that Youth is perverted ſo that it is a Reproach to God and to us too. How neceſſary therefore is a Pardon to croſs God's Book, cancel our Bond, and reverſe the Sentence of Death? God that wounds us with the threatnings of his Law, heals us by the ſtripes of Chriſt. He received Wounds that God might be Juſt in juſtifying them that believe in Jeſus, Rom. 3.25, 26. How gracious is God that at once removes from us the Incentives of Wrath, and preſents to us the Fuel of Love, Luke 7.47, 48. How precious ſhould Juſtification be to us, that hath a ſweet retroſpect to Election, and as accompanied with, a comfortable proſpect of Glory; Whom God predestinated and called, them he juſtified. Thus we may with admiration look back; And whom God juſtifies, them he glorifies, Rom. 8.30. And ſo we may with Joy look forward: Pardon ſprings from everlaſting Love; flows to, and iſſues in eternal Life. What Thankfulneſs therefore doth it call for? If he juſtifies, we are no more to fear Crimes paſt, ſo they are no more to go on in ſin for time to come. Hath not Chriſt born ſufferings enough on the Croſs, that men will load him with new Affrints and Provocations? Thoſe do not think Chriſt's Sufferings to be bitter and heavy, that can make light of, and take delight in ſin. The Heart is to be Chriſt's habitation, Eph. 3.17. and not the receptacle of any ſweet and ſecret Luſt. We that daily need mercy, ſhould not daily provoke anger. As the work of Creation is attended with providence, which is a continual Creation, ſo the new pardon we need, and God beſtows, is a continual Juſtification; as the Creation would ſink without a day by providence to uphold it, ſo Juſtification would ceaſe without a daily pardon to continue it. There may be a Pardon before a Trial, to prevent Condemnation, as well as a pardon after Sentence to hinder Execution. That the Blood of Chriſt, which meritoriouſly purged ſin on the Croſs, Heb. 1.3. may be applied to you, and ſprinkled on you, to purge your conſcience from dead works to ſerve the Living God, is the unfeigned and ſervent deſire of,
Your Lordſhip's moſt Humble and Obliged Servant, SAMƲEL TOMLYNS. Hilcot, July 1. 1696.