A. 4. Men seek not after tlie forgiveness of sin, tliroiio;], a bold presumption of mer- cy ; they eonccit God to be made up all of mercy, and that lie will indulge them, though they take little or no pains to sue out their pardon. *Tis true, God is merci- ful, hut withal he is just, he will not wrong his justice hy shewing mercy. Read the proclamation, Exod. xxxiv. 6., " The Lord, tlie Lord (jod. merciful and gracious ; v. 7,, " and that will by no means clear the guil- ty." Such as go on in sin, and are so sloth- ful or wilful, that they will not seek after forgiveness, though there be a whole ocean of mercy in the Lord, not one drop shall fidl to their share, " he will by no means clear the guilty."
J. 5. Men seek not earnestly after for- giveness, out of hope of impunity. They flatter themselves in sin, and because they have been spared so long, therefore think, God never intends to reckon with them, Ps. X. i I., " He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten : hejiideth his face; he will never see it." Atheists think, either the judge is blind, or forgetful ; but let sinners know, that long forbearance is no forgive- ness. God did bear with Sodom a lou"- time, but at last rained down fire and brim- stone upon them : the adjourning of the assizes doth not acquit the prisoner : the longer God is taking the blow, the heavier it will be at last, if sinners repent not.
A. 6. Men do not seek earnestly after forgiveness through mistake ; they think getting a pardon is easy, it is but repeating at the last hour, a sigh, or a Lord have mercy, and a j)ardon will droj) into their mouths. But, is it so easy to repent, and liave a pardon ? Tell me, O sinnei-, is re- generation easy ? Are there no pangs in the new birth ? Is mortification easy ? Is it nothing to pluck out the right eye? Is it easy to leap out of Delilah's lap into A- braham's bosom ? This is the draw-net, by which the devil drags millions to hell, — the facility of repenting and getting a pardon !
A. 7. Men do not look after forgiveness through despair. " Oh," saith the despond- ing soul, " it is a vain thing for me to ex-
pect pardon ; my sins are so many and hei nous, that sure God will not forgive me : Jer. xviii. 12., 'And they said, There is no hope.' My sins are huge mountains, and, can they ever be cast into the sea ?" De- spair cuts the sinews of endeavour ; who will use means that despairs of success? The devils shews some men their sins at the little end of the perspective-glass, and they seem little, or none at all; but he shews others their sins at the great end of the perspective, and they fright them into despair. This is a soul-damning sin ; Ju- das's despair was worse than Ins treason. Despair spills the cordial of Christ's blood ; this is the voice of despair, " Christ's blood cannot pardon me." Thus you see whence it is that men seek no more earnestly after the forgiveness of sin. Having answered this question, I shall now come to press the exhortation upon every one of us, to seek earnestly after the forgiveness of our sins.
1. Our very life lies upon the getting of a pardon : it is called " the justification o£ life," Rom. V. 18. Now, if our life lies up- on our pardon, and we arc dead and damn- ed without it, doth it not concern us above all things to labour after fiirgiveness of sin? Dent, xxxii. 47., "For it is not a vain thing lor you, because it is your life." If a man he under a sentence of death, he will set his wits a-work, and make use of all his friends to get the king to grant his pardon, because his life lies upon it : so we are, by reason of sin, under a sentencs of damna- tion ; now, there is one friend at court we may make use of to j)rocure our pardon, namely, the Lord Jesus ; how earnest thea should we be with him to be our Advocate to the Father for us, and that he would present the merit of his blood to the Fa- ther, as the price of our pardon ?
2. There is that in sin may make us de- sire forgiveness. Sin is the only thing that disquiets the soul. — 1. Sin is a burden, it burdens the creation, Rom. viii. 22., it bur- dens the conscience, Ps. xxxviii, 4. wicked man is not sensible of sin, he is dead in sin ; and if you lay a thousand weight upon a dead man, he feels it not. But to an awakened conscience there is no such burden as siu ; when a man seriously weighs
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OF THE FIFTH PETITION IN THE LORD'S PRAYER.