Here only that balm is to be found that heals your spiritual wounds. The gospel hath been a low-priced commodity in England : The Lord pardon the guilt thereof to us. Ah ! brethren, if you were in the heathen world with your sick and wounded consciences, what would you do ? There are no Bibles, ministers, or promises, not a breath of Christ, or the blood of sprinkling, which are the true and proper remedies of sick souls. That is a pitiful cry, Micah vi. 6. " Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself *' before the high God ? Shall I come before him with burnt-ofFer- '' ings, with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased w ith " thousands of rams, or ten thousand rivers of oil ? Shall I give *' my first-born for my transgression ; the fruit of my body for the '^ sin of my soul .f^" Behold here the anguish of a distressed, sin- burdened conscience ; it would give up any thing in the world for peace and ease ; they would cast their children, their dearest chil- dren, their first-born into the burning flames, if that might be an atonement for their sins. O the efficacy of conscience ! and the misery of an unrelieved conscience ! but the gospel which you en- joy leads you to the fountain of pardon and peace, Isa. liii. 5. " By " his stripes we are healed.'" The voice of the gospel is peace, " peace to every one that belie veth ; a rational peace, founded upon the full satisfaction of Christ, Eph. i. 7. " In whom we have re- " demption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, " according to the riches of his grace.'' Here you see justice and mercy kissing each other ; God satisfied, and the sinner justified : for conscience demands as much to satisfy it, as God demands to satisfy him ; if God be satisfied, conscience is satisfied. "O blessed " are the people that hear this joyful sound,*' Psalm Ixxxix. 1-5.
And, doubtless, it is a joyful sound to every convinced humbled souL " Beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that " bring good tidings, that publish peace." It is a gospel worthy of all acceptation, 1 Tim. i. 15. It brings with it a fulness of bles- sings among the people. O England ! O Dartmouth ! Provoke not thy God to extinguish this blessed light. Great is our wanton- ness, and ominous is our barrenness and ingratitude. " Yet a *' little while the light is with you, walk whilst ye have the light, '' lest darkness come upon you ; for he that walketh in darkness " knoweth not whither he goeth,'' John xii. 35. Should God blow out this light, whither will ye go ? Who shall pour in balm to your distressed bleeding consciences ?
Infer. 2. Hence, in like 7nanner it follows, that the greatness or heinousness of past sins is no bar to believing- and accepting Christ tipon gospel-terms. Let no sinner be dismayed by the atrocity and heinousness of sins past, from coming unto Jesus Christ for remis- sion and peace. I am aware what mischievous use Satan makes of former sins to discourage souls from the work of faith. By heaping them together, he raiseth up a mountain betwixt Christ and the distressed soul ; but behold this day Christ leaping over these moun- tains, and skipping over these hills. Could this objection be rolled out of the way, sinners would go on in hope : but, certainly, if God hath given thee a broken heart and a willing mind, the greatness of thy sin needs not discourage thee from beheving. For (1.) thou hast sufficient encouragement from the sufficiency of the causes of pardon, whatever thy particular enormities have been. There is a sufficiency in the impulsive case, the free grace and mercy of God, Expd. xxxiv. 6, 7. Mic. vii. 18, 19. Isa. Iv. 7, 8, 9. It is well thei"^ is mercy enough in God to heal and cover all ; and there is no less sufficiency in the meritorious cause of pardon, the blood of Jesus Christ, which taketh away all sin, 1 John i. 7. John. i. 9Q. And it must needs be so because of its divine blood. Acts xx. 28. Neither is there any defect in the applying cause, the Spirit of God, who hath already begun to work upon thy heart, and is able to break it and bow it, and bring it home fully to Christ, and tp com- plete the work of faith upon thee with power. Thou compiainest, thou canst not mourn nor believe as thou wouldst ; but he wants no ability to supply all the defects of thy repentance and faith. Well then, if the mercy of God be sufficient to pardon the sin of a creature ; if the blood of Christ, the treasures and revenues of a king, be able to pay the debts of a beggar, if th& Spirit of God, who works by an Almighty power, be able to convince thee of righteousness, as well as sin, John xvi. 9. I say, if all these three causes of forgiveness be sufficient, every one in its kind, the first tp move, the second to purchase^ and the third to apply ; what