[5.] Fifthly, Christ gives pardon of sin. And do you know what a mercy that is ? Ask the troubled soul, ask the soul that knows what it is to lie under the wrath of the Almighty, and he will tell you that pardon of sin is a gift more worth than a thousand worlds. Now that pardon of sin is a gift of God, you may see in Acts v. 31, ' Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.'^ So in Acts xxvi. 18. Ah, souls ! of all mercies pardoning mercy is the most necessary mercy. I may to heaven without honours, and without riches, and without the smiles of creatures ; but I can never to heaven ^vithout pardoning mercy. A man may be great and graceless, he may be rich and miserable, he may be honourable and damnable, &c.,^ but he cannot be a pardoned soul, but he must be a very blessed soul,* Ps. xxxii. 1, 2. It entitles souls to all blessedness, it puts the royal crown upon their heads. Of all mercies pardoning mercy is the most sweetening mercy ; it is a choice jewel, and swims to the soul in blood, Heb. ix. 22. It is a mercy that makes all other mercies to look like mercies, and taste tike mercies, and work like mercies ; and the want of it takes off the glory and beauty of all a man's mercies, and makes his life a very hell. Pardon of sin is a voluminous mercy, a mercy that has many, many precious mercies in the womb of it. You may well call it Gad, Gen. XXX. 11, for it ushers in troops of mercy. When you can number the sands of the sea, and tell the stars of heaven, then, and not till then, shall you be able to recount the mercies that atteud pardoning mercy. He that has this mercy cannot be miserable, and he that wants it cannot be happy : get this and get all, miss this and miss all. This is a gift conferred only upon Christ's favourites : ' Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee,' Mat. ix. 2. No mercy will make a man ever- lastingly merry below pardoning mercy. He hath no reason to be sad that hath his pardon in his bosom, nor he hath no reason to be glad, who is upon the last step of the ladder, ready to be turned off without his pardon. And this is the fifth gift that Christ gives to his, viz. pardon of sin.
[6.] Sixthly, Christ gives precious jyi'omises : 2 Peter i. 4, 'Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises,' &c. The promises are a precious book ; every leaf drops myrrh and mercy. The promises are golden vessels, that are laden with the choicest jewels that
» Rom. V. 9 ; Eph. i. 7 ; Col. i. 20 ; Heb. ix. 7, 26, x. 19 ; 1 Jolm i. 7 ; Rev, i. 5. &c.
* T>7 Itlia aiiTou, to his right liand ; that is, to honour and dignity, &c.
* As Aluib, Haman, Dives, &c.
* *"IJ^N, bleHsednesses. In the plural, pardon of sin includes a plurality of mercies, a„ chain ot pearls, a chain of blessings.
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 107
heaven can afford or the soul desire. All our spiritual, temporal, and eternal good is to be found in the belly of the promises.' Promises are big-bellied mercies. There is nothing you can truly call a mercy but you "will find it in the belly of a promise. Under all changes they are the comfort, support, and relief of the soul : Ps. cxix. 49, 50, ' Remember thy word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word hath quickened me.' If the soul groan under the power of sin, then that promise relieves it: Rom. vi. 14, ' For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace.' If the soul groan under the guilt of sin, then that promise relieves it : Jer. xxxiii. 8, 'I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned against me,' &c. And that pro- mise, Isa. xliii. 25, ' I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy trans- gressions for my own sake, and will not remember thy sins. I, even I, am he, blotting out thy transgression ;' ' I, even 1' whom thou hast offended ; ' I, even I,' whom thou hast provoked ; ' I, even I,' whose glorious name thou hast profaned ; ' I, even I,' whose righteous law thou hast violated ; ' I, even 1,' whose holy covenant thou hast transgressed ; ' I, even I,' whose mercies thou hast despised ; ' I, even I, whose chas- tisements thou hast slighted,' will blot out thy transgressions for my own sake.'
' I, even I,' is a passionate and emphatical expression. God's good- ness runs over to sinful creatures ; and ' where sin abounds, there grace doth superabound.'
If the creditor himself blot out the debt, and cross the book, surely it shall never be remembered more.^ Our sins are debts, which God, who hath the power of life and death, of heaven and hell, of condemning and absolving, hath engaged himself to blot out as a thick cloud : Isa. xliv. 22, ' I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.' An under-ofiicer may blot out an indictment, and yet the offender may be never the better for it ; but if the king, who is the supreme judge, shall blot it out, then the offender is safe. The appli- cation is easy. If the soul be deserted, then that promise relieves it : Micah vii. 18, 19, 'He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us,' &c. If the soul be sliding and ready to fall, then that promise supports and upholds it : Ps. xxxvii. 24, ' Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand ;' or, as the Hebrew hath it, 'the Lord upholding him with his hand;' Deut. xxxiii. 26, 27. The Hebrew particle T^^D notes a continued act of God. God hath still his everlasting arms under his people, so that they shall never totally nor finally fall. And the root samach, from whence this word is derived, signifies to sustain or uphold, as the tender mother doth the little babe. The safety and security of the child lies not so much in the child's hanging about the mother's neck, as in the mother's holding it fast in her arms. So our safety and security lies not so much in our weak holding upon Christ, but in Christ's holding of us fast in his ever- histiug arms. This is our glory and our safety, that Christ's ' left hand
• The promises are precious beds of spices ; they are titres coelestes, bottles filled with tliose heavenly dews that will never fail, like that of Hagar's, but will cherish and nourish the soul to life eternal, &c.
« Mat. vi. 12, 14, 15, and xviii. 24, 27, 33 ; Luke vii. 41-48.
108 THE UNSEARCHABLE [EPH. III. 8.
is alwa^^s under us, and his right hand does always embrace us,' Cant, ii. 6. If the soul be forsaken b}' friends, then that promise relieves it, Heb. xiii. 5, 6, ' I will never leave thee nor forsake thee/