England Faithfully Watched, Lecture 9
Coloſs. 1.14. Even the forgiveneſſe of ſinne.
THe eſſence of Chriſtianity, and the foundation of all felicity. providence now puts me plainly to ſpeak of to you. This laſt clauſe of the verſe is an application of the former: what is firſt borrowedly, is here properly expreſſed: if you underſtand not ſpirituall redemption, 'tis forgiveneſſe of ſinne. In whom we have redemption through his bloud, [the forgiveneſſe of ſinne.
Forgiveneſſe notes two things, and ſo doth ſinne▪ which ſhall be touched in their order. Forgiveneſſe neceſſarily notes tranſgreſsion, and therefore are they here both joyned together, forgiveneſſe of ſinnes. Sinne is tranſgreſſio legis, man out of his way his action is treſpaſſe, he eats forbidden fruit; his life is diſallowed by truth, and his perſon abhorred by God. Man in his beſt ſtate was an inferiour, inferiority is minority, and hath alwayes ſome obſervation upon it, to ſpeak it out to beholders; the will of God was mans law and his felicity, the obſervation of this was was the acknowledgement of his diſtance, and yet his fellowſhip with God, and his heaven upon earth. The ſtate of inferiority though ſo bleſſed, yet diſliked; man would be no inferiour, but equall another god: Diſlike of condition made tranſgreſſion, the ſoul did ſinne, (as that expreſſion in Ezekiel is) as well as the body; the eye changed its object, and carried the heart with it; fruit forbidden was looked upon, and then pleaſant to the eyes, and to be deſired to make one wiſe. That heart which had the will of God perfectly written upon it, and the glorious preſence of God as the daily majeſty of it, broke out againſt both, to the proſecution of its own private will, as ſuch an abſolute being, venturing its prerogative to raiſe or ruin his condition, which made Adams tranſgreſſion without ſimilitude, as the Apoſtle ſpeaks (who had not ſinned after the ſimilitude of Adams tranſgreſſion.) Our tranſgreſſion is the tranſgreſſion of the law written in books, his was the tranſgreſſion of the law written in his heart; ſinnes of the latter ſort the Apoſtle did mean here, forgiveneſſe of tranſgreſſion againſt the externall written word of Chriſt.
Sinne notes tranſgreſſion and it notes guilt: ſin is an abiding thing, the act dies as ſoon as done, but the obliquity of the act lives as long as the ſoul is. Miſcarriage of the hand in making a blot, that's over preſently, but the blot abides as long as the paper is; Now you ſay, We ſee; therefore your ſinne remains, ſaith Chriſt. Theſe words materially conſidered, died aſſoon as ſpoken, but the wickedneſſe of theſe words lives, remains. Where? upon record in the breaſt of God, which is beyond all record, to meet the man when he goes out of this world. Sinne hath two things in it, obliquity and obligation, tranſgreſſion of truth, and obligement to wrath, God layes ſinne to heart, and keeps it there, though we do not. Treſpaſſe makes debt; obligation to Gods diſpleaſure, is the debt of ſinne, this is bloud upon the man that ſhed it, the ſpots of the bloud ſticking faſt upon the murtherer to detect him, and bring him to the gallows. His bloud be upon us, ſaid they, that is, whatſoever it obliges to in this world or in the world to come, let that fall on us. Sinne in the text notes three things; act, obliquity, & obligation; and forgiveneſſe takes off all theſe, and I will now tell you what that is.
Forgiveneſſe notes remiſſion, which is the term in the originall foreign, remiſsio, remittere quaſi retromittere, which ſignifieth the ſending of a thing back again from whence 'twas taken, the unravelling and undoing of a thing miſdone, the nullifying of a diſallowed and unlawfull action. As ſinne makes void the law, and nullifies it, ſo doth forgiveneſſe nullifie and make void ſinne: obliquity and obligation not onelyonly nullified, but the very act that bare theſe, all nullified by forgetfulneſſe, and therefore is forgiveneſſe called forgetfulneſſe, I will remember their iniquities no more. Iniquity notes the crookedneſſe of the action, and the incongruity of it to rule, and this is as if it had never been, remembred no more. And not onelyonly iniquity is blotted out, but the very act that bears this obliquity: therefore as you read of ſubduing, ſo of deſtroying the work of the devil: and therefore is pardon elſewhere called blotting out iniquity as a cloud: a cloud is by ſuperiour power of the heavens nullified, neither form nor matter to be found, not any circumſtance like it, to note that ever ſuch a being was; and this is our ſtate in Chriſt, we are remitted, we are retromiſsi, ſent back again to our firſt condition, as when we were in Paradiſe, no more mentioned, nor no more thought oſ, rhen of Adam before his fall. What we were in our own perſon then, that we are now in the perſon of Chriſt, which lived and died for us.
Forgiveneſſe notes reconciliation, reconciliation notes acceptation to favour, and acceptation to favour notes peace of conſcience, joy in the holy Ghoſt, and fruition of glory, as many bleſsings as heaven and earth can hold, as many bleſſings as a God can hold, which is greater then heaven and earth. Sinne ſeparates, God and man are out, and God-man interpoſeth with his life, and gives up this wholly to the laſt drop of bloud in this quarrell, and in this is juſtice ſatisfied, and all truth fulfilled, and Chriſt as a generall perſon deſigned ſo to act in the perſon of many, and ſo hath reconciled two in one body, God and man, and hath ſlain the enmity that was between them: And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body, by the croſſe, having ſlain enmity thereby, Epheſ. 2.15, 16. that is, Jews and Gentiles one unto another, and borh unto God by the expiration of ſuch a noble life in ſuch a curſed death as the Croſſe. The ſumme of all is this, Forgiveneſſe of ſinne is an act of God, putting all tranſgreſſions utterly out of remembrance, and eſteeming our perſons in crucified Chriſt as Chriſt, the deareſt to himſelf, and ſo held communion with, and diſpenſed to, both here and hereafter,
I ſay, 'tis an act of God: this act is evangelicall: pardon ſprings from compaſſion, kindneſſe makes God ready to forgive, and not any motive from without him: Thou Lord art good, and ready to forgive, plenteous in mercy, Pſal. 86.5. The latter expreſſion explains the former; good, that is, plenteous in mercy, and this makes readineſſe to pardon; were not God plenteous in kindneſſe, a God rich in love, he would never be ready to pardon ſinne, becauſe it deſtroyes his viſible being, all this world and all things in it, yea it deſtroyes his inviſible being; God is no God without, nor no God within: The fool hath ſaid in his heart, There is no God. He affirms it to Gods face within, the fool doth this, that is, the man that lives in his ſinne. Can you forget ſuch as would cruſh you to nothing?
'Tis a conditionall act: Men muſt repent, and then God forgives. Repent that your ſinnes may be blotted out, thus runs the Goſpel throughout. Repentance hath two things; ſence of ſinne, and faith in Chriſt, which grace is ſaid to juſtifie, becauſe a neceſſary condition of juſtification, and without which, though not for which doth God forgive. Abraham believed, and it was imputed to him for righteouſneſſe; which is as much as if the holy Ghoſt had ſaid, Abraham went in the right way of juſtification, and ſo found it, he ſought it not by works, but by faith▪ (for you know that's the diſpute there.) This was imputed to him for righteouſneſſe, this▪ that is, not nudus actus cred…ndi, the naked act of believing; the act abſtractively conſidered, but con…unctively conſidered as ſuch a hand laying hold of ſuch a perſon, this is the condition which the Goſpel calls for, that Chriſt be truſted in which alſo God works; which work beeing wrought, juſtification follows actually.
'Tis actus numeratas, a numerall act, an act repeated, in order to ſenſe, though not in order to the thing it ſelf to wit, ſinne: a repeated act in order to chaſtiſements, though not in order to condigne puniſhment. We are forgiven this day, and we are forgiven to morrow, and when to morrow comes, a man muſt be in this to …e again; we muſt pray daily for the forgiveneſſe of debts, or elſe they are as not forgiven, in order to internall ſenſe, and externall ſuffering. Forgiveneſſe is a daily thing with him are forgiveneſſes, ſaith Daniel; and God doth multiply to pardon, ſaith the Prophet Eſay, 55.7. Forgiveneſſe is actus multiplicatus, and this with the property thereof, and this property eſſentiall, and which deſtroyed as many miſled perſons now do, deſtroy forgiveneſſe and deſtroy their ſouls. As ſuch a multiplied act doth David apprehend mercy, and maketh towards it: According to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my tranſgreſsions. Mercy thou haſt ordained to go forth in a multipli'd way, in a repeated and a renewed way, and in this way I come unto thee, ſaith the Prophet. Forgiveneſſe in the court of conſcience, eſt actus repetitus.
I have now opened to you the weightieſt point in Divinity▪ that vponupon which your temporall and eternall good depends, a very conſiderable point, and circumſtanced with a very conſiderable time, 'tis a bloudy time, a very bloudy deadly time. Sinners, are your ſinnes forgiven? A dreadfull throne is palpably errected, the judge of all the world is now riding his circuit in England, and his trumpets ſound ſadly in every Countie; Drunkards, ſwearers, bad good, come away to judgement; Sinners, are your ſinnes forgiven? Execution is generall, great and ſmall are truſſ'd up every where: bodies leave bloud, bloud leaves ſpirits, ſpirits leave this world apace, but ah Lord, to what world do they go? England, wicked England, where doſt thou bury thy dead, thy dead ſouls which depart by troups? in heaven or in hell? One ſad thing let me tell you all, Death is at your doore, therefore let every man ſmite his breaſt. and ſay, Shall I die in my ſinne, or ſhall I die in thy favour.