hinders but thy trembHng conscience should go to Christ, and thy discouraged soul move onward with hope, in the way of beUeving, whatever thy former enormities have been? (2.) If God raise glory ta his name, out of the greatness of the sins he pardoneth, then the greatness of sin can be no discouragement to believing; but so God doth ; he raiscth the glory of his name from the mul- titude and magnitude of the sins he pardoneth, Jer. xxxiii. 8, 9. " I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have *' sinned against me ; and will pardon their iniquities wherebv they ^' have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me ; " and it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour be- " fore all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good I *' do unto them. And they shall fear and tremble for all the good- '" ness, and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it." As a cure performed upon a man labouring under il desperate disease ; it magnifies the physician, and spreads his name far and near. The devil envies God tliis glory, and thy soul this comfort ; and there- fore scares thee off from Christ, by the aggravations of thy sins. David was willing to give God the glory of pardoning his great ini- quities, and with that very argument moves him for a pardon, Psal. XXV. 11. " Pardon my iniquity, for it is great." You see there are strange ways of arguing in scripture, which are not in use among men ; this is one, " Lord, pardon my sin, for it is great." He doth not say, Lord pardon it,Jbr it is but a small offence ; no, but pardon it because it is great ; and the greater it is, the greater glory ^vilt thou have in pardoning it. And then there is another way of arguing for pardon in the scripture, which is peculiar ; and that is, to argue from former pardons unto new pardons. When men beg their pardon one of another, they use to say, I never wronged you before, and therefore forgive now; but here it is quite otherwise; Lord, thou hast signed thousands of pardons heretofore, therefore pardon me again. Such is that plea, Numb. xiv. 19. ** Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people, " according to the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast for- " given them from Egypt even until now." (3.) As great sins as those that now stare in the face of thy conscience, have been actually forgiven to men, upon their humiliation and closing with Christ. Poor sinners, under trouble of conscience, are apt to think there is no sin hke theirs. God forbid I should diminish and extenuate sin ; but certain I am that free grace hath pardoned as great sinners as thou art, upon their repentance and faith. What think you, had you had a "hand in putting Christ to death, w^ould not that sin have been as dreadful as any that now discourages you ? Yea, certainly you would have thought that an unpardonable sin ;
and yet behold tbat very sin was no bar to their pardon when once they were pricked at their heart, and made wilhng to come to Christ, Acts ii. 36, 37, 38. (4.) If it be the design and pohcy of Satan to object the greatness of your sins, to prevent the pardon- ing of them ; then certainly it is neither your duty nor interest to plead it to the same end the devil doth, to say a confederacy, and join with your mortal enemy in a plot against the honour of Christ, and salvation of your own souls. Take heed what you do,^ seal not Satan's conclusions. Do you think it is a small matter to be confederate with the devil ? Certainly this is his design, he magni- fies your sins on purpose to discourage you from faith. While you were secure and carnal, the devil never aggravated, but diminished your sins to you ; but now the Lord hath opened your eyes, and you are come near to the door of hope, mercy, and pardon, now he magnifies them, hyping thereby to lame and weaken thy faith, that it shall not be able to carry thee to Christ. (5.) If thy sin be really unpardonable, then God hath sohiewhere excepted it in the gospel-grant. He hath somewhere said> The man that hath committed this sin, or continued so many years in sin, shall never be forgiven : but now in the whole gospel there is but one sin that is absolutely excepted from the possibility of pardon, and that such a sin as thy sorrows and desires after Christ do fully acquit and clear thee from the guilt of. This sin indeed is excepted, Mat. xii. 31 . " But the sin against the Holy Ghast shall never be forgiven." This is that which the scripture calls a sin unto death. Let apos- tate professors, transformed into persecutors, scoffers, and haters of godliness, and the professors of it, look to themselves ; the dread- ful symptoms of this sin seem to appear upon such. But the hum- bled, thirsty soul after Christ, stands clear of the. guilt of that sin. (6.) If there were no forgiveness with God for great sinners, then great sinners had never been invited to come to Christ. The invi- tations of the gospel are no mockeries, but things of most awful solemnity. Now such sinners are called and invited under the encouragement of a j^ardon. Consult Isa. i. J?'om ver. 10. to 17. and see the horrid aggravations of thy people's sins ; and yet at ver. 17, 18. you may read the gracious invitations of God, with conditional promises of a plenary remission. So in Jer. iii. from 1. to 13. what a sad catalogue of sins, with their horrid aggravations, do you find there ? and yet it is said, ver. 12. " Go and proclaim " these words towards the north, and say, return thou backsliding " Israel, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I " am merciful."* (T.) If thy sins had not been capable of remis- sion, God would never have given thee conviction and compunc- tion for sin, nor have drawn forth the desires of thy heart in this manner after Christ. He hath tacked remission to repentance.
Acts V. 31. a blessing to gracious desires and hungerings, Mat. v. ij. There is therefore hoj>e, that when God liath given thee one, he will not long with-hoid the other. This very wounding of thy heart by compunction, and drawing forth thy will by inclination, shews that remission is not only possible, but even at the door. (8.) And lastly. Let this be thine encouragement, (whatever Satan or thine own heart suggests to discourage thee) that great sinners are moving in the way of repentance and faith to a great Saviour, who hath merit enough in his blood, and mercy enough in his bowels, to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, Heb. vii. 25. The Lord open to the eyes of your faith that rich treasury of free-grace, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. and give you a sight of that plenteous redemption and forgiveness that is with God, Psal. cxxx. 4, 7. that you may not at once cast reproach upon the most glorious attribute of God, impeach the precious blood of Christ, and stab your own souls with a death- wound of desperation; which is that the devil intends, and the whole strain of the gospel- designs to prevent