2. Second reason is taken from Christ's vehement protestations that they shall not come into judgment : John v. 24, ' Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.' Those words, ' shall not come into con- demnation,' are not rightly translated ; the original is, hg xgkn, shall not come into judgment, not into damnation, as you read it in all your English books. I will not say what should put men upon this exposi- tion rather than a true translation of the original word.2 Further, it is very observable, that no evangelist useth this double asseveration but John, and he never useth it but in matters of the greatest weight and importance, and to shew the earnestness of his spirit, and to stir us up to better attention, and to put the thing asserted out of all question, and beyond all contradiction ;3 as when we would put a thing for ever out of all question, we do it by a double asseveration, Verily, verily, it is so, &c.
3. Thirdly, Because his not bringing their sins into judgment doth most and best agree with many precious expressions that we find scat- tered, as so many shining, sparkling pearls, up and down in Scripture, as, First, (I.) With those of God's blotting out the sins of his people : 'I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins.' 'I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins,' Isa. xliii. 25, xliv. 22. Who is this that blots out transgressions? He that hath the keys of heaven
1 2 Tim. iv8, Mai. iii, 17, 18.
a Vide A quiii 87, Suj.pl. Estius. in I. iv. Sen. dist. 47.
3 John i. 51 ; iii. 3, 11 ; vi- 20, 32, 47, 63, &c
1 Kings XIV. 13.] apples of gold. 221
and hell at his girdle, that opens and no man shuts, that shuts and no man opens ; he that hath the power of life and death, of condemning and absolving, of killing and making alive, he it is that blots out trans- gressions. If an under-officer should blot out an indictment, that per- haps might do a man no good, a man might for all that be at last cast by the judge ; but when the judge or king shall blot out the indictment with their own hand, then the indictment cannot return. Now this is every believer's case and happiness. (2.) Secondly, To those o-lorious expressions of God's not remembering of their sins any more : Isa. xliii. 25, ' And I will not remember thy sins.' ' And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying Know the Lord : for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord : for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more,' Jer. xxxi. 34. So the apostle, 1 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more/ Heb. viii. 1 2.
And again the same apostle saith, ' This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into £heir hearts, and in their minds will I write them ; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more,' Heb. x. 17.
The meaning is, their iniquities shall quite be forgiven, I will never mention them more, I will never take notice of them more, they shall never hear more of them from me. Though God hath an iron memory to remember the sins of the wicked, yet he hath no memory to remember the sins of the righteous.1 (3.) Thirdly, His not bringing their sins into judgment doth most and best agree with those blessed expressions of his casting their sins into the depth of the sea, and of his castino- them behind his back : ' He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea/ Micah vii. 19. Where sin is once pardoned, the remission stands never to be repealed. Pardoned sins shall never come in account against the pardoned man before God any more, for so much doth this borrowed speech import. If a thing were cast into a river it might be brought up again ; or if it were cast upon the sea, it might be discerned and taken up again ; but when it is cast into the depths, the bottom of the sea, it can never be buoyed up again.
By the metaphor in the text, the Lord would have us to know the sins pardoned shall rise no more, they shall never be seen more, they shall never come on the account more ; he will so drown their sins, that they shall never come up before him the second time.
And so much that other scripture imports : ' Behold, for peace I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption ; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back/ Isa. xxxviii. 17. These last words are a borrowed speech, taken from the manner of men, who are wont to cast behind their backs such things as they have no mind to see, regard, or remember. A gracious sou] hath always his sins before his face : ' I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me;' and therefore no wonder if the Lord cast them behind his back. The father soon forgets and casts behind his back
' That which Cicero said flatteringly of Csesar is truly affirmed of God, Nihil oblivisci solet prceler injurias, he forgetteth nothing hut the wrongs that daily are done him by his.
222 APPLES OF GOLD. [1 KlNOS XIV. IS