As when a prince reads over many treasons and rebellions, and meets with such and such which he hath pardoned, he reads on, he passeth by, he taketh no notice of them, the pardoned person shall never hear more of them, he will never call him to account for those sins more ; so here, &c. When Caesar was painted, he puts his finger upon his scar, his wart. God puts his fingers upon all his people's scars and warts, upon all their weaknesses and infirmities, that nothing can be seen but what is fair and lovely : ' Thou art all fair, my love, and there is no spot in thee,' Cant. iv. 7.
Sixthly, It best agrees to that] expression of not imputing of sin. ' Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile,' Ps. xxxii. 2. So the apostle in that Kom. iv. 6-8. Now not to impute iniquity, is not to charge iniquity, not to set iniquity upon his score who is blessed and par- doned, &c.
Seventhly, and lastly. It best agrees with that exp'ession that you have in the l\?>th Psalm and the l\th and 12th verses, ' For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him ; as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he re- moved our transgressions from us.' What a vast distance is there betwixt the east and west ! of all visible latitudes, this is the greatest ; and thus much for the third argument. The
[4.] Fourth argument that prevails with me to judge that Jesus Christ will not bring the sins of the saints into the judgment of discus- sion and discovery in the great day is, because it seems unsuitable to three considerable things for Jesus Christ to proclaim the infirmities and miscarriages of Ms people to all the ivorld.
First, It seems to be unsuitable to the glory and solemnity of that day, which to the saints will be a day of refreshing, a day of restitution, a day of redemption, a day of coronation, as hath been already proved. Now how suitable to this great day of solemnity the proclamation of the saints' sins will be, I leave the reader to judge.
Secondly, It seems unsuitable to all those near and dear relations that Jesus Christ stands in towards his. He stands in the relation of ' Sic velantur, ut in judicio non revelentur.
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a Father, a Brother, a Head, a Husband, a Friend, an Advocate, l Now, are not all these by the law of relation, bound rather to hide, and keep secret, at least from the world, the weaknesses, and infirmi- ties of their near and dear relations ; and is not Christ, is not Christ much more, by how much he is more a Father, a Brother, a Head, a Husband, &c., in a spiritual way, than any others can be in a natural way? &c.
Thirdly, It seems very unsuitable to what the Lord Jesus requires of his in this world. The Lord requires that his people should cast a mantle of love, of wisdom, of silence, and secrecy over one another's weaknesses and infirmities, &c.
Hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins — love's mantle is very large. Love will find a hand, a plaster to clp,p upon every sore, Prov. X. 12, and 1 Pet. iv. 8. Flavins Vespasianus, the emperor, was very ready to conceal his friends' vices, and as ready to reveal their virtues. So is divine love in the hearts of the saints, ' If thy brother offend thee, go and tell him his fault between him and thee alone ; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother,' Mat. xviii. 15. As the pills of reprehension are to be gilded and sugared over with much gentleness and softness, so they are to be given in secret. Tell him between him and thee alone. Tale-bearers and tale-hearers are alike abominable. Heaven is too hot, and too holy a place for them, Ps. XV. 3. Now will Jesus Christ have us carry it thus towards offending Christians, and wiU he himself act otherwise ? Nay, is it an evil in us to lay open the weaknesses and infirmities of the saints to the world ? and will it be an excellency, a glory, a virtue in Christ, to do it in the great day ? &c.
[5.] A. fifth argument is this. It is the glory of a man to pass over a transgression. ' The discretion of a man defer reth his anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression,' Prov. xix. 11. Or to pass by it, as we do by persons or things we know not, or would take no notice of. Now, ' Is it the glory of a man to pass over a transgression ?' and will it not much more be the glory of Christ, silently to pass over the transgressions of his people in that great day ? 2 The greater the treasons and rebellions are that a prince passes over, and takes no notice of, the more is his honour and glory ; and so doubtless it will be Christ's in that great day, to pass over all the treasons and rebel- lions of his people, to take no notice of them, to forget them as well as to forgive them.
The heathens have long since observed, that in nothing man came nearer to the glory and perfection of God himself than in goodness and clemency. Surely, if it be such an honour to man, ' to pass over a transgression/ it cannot be a dishonour to Christ, to pass over the transgressions of his people, he having already buried them in the sea of his blood. Again, saith Solomon, ' It is the glory of God to conceal a thing,' Prov. xxv. 2. And why it should not make for the glory of divine love, to conceal the sins of the saints in that great day, I know not. And whether the concealing the sins of the saints in the great day, will not make most for their joy and wicked men's sorrows, for
1 Isa. ix. 6 ; Heb. ii. 11, 12 ; Eph. i. 21, 22 ; Rev, lii. 7 ; John xv. 1 ; ii, 1, 2. * Non amo quinquam nini offendam, said a heathen.
CLEARLY AND SATISFACTORILY ANSWERED. 61
their comfort and wicked men's terror and torment, I will leave you to judge, and time and experience to decide ; and thus much for the resolution of that ^reat question.
I. Now, from what has been said, in answer to this third question, a sincere Christian may form up this first plea as to the ten scriptures in the margin,i that refer either to the general judgment, or to the particular judgment that will pass upon every Christian immediately after death. 0 blessed God, Jesus Christ has by his own blood bal- anced and made up all reckonings and accounts that tvere between thee and me ; and thou hast vehemently protested, that thou wilt not bring me into judgment; that thou wilt blot out my transgressions as a thick cloud, and that thou wilt remember my sins no more ; and that thou luilt cast them behind thy back, and hurl them into the depth of the sea; and that thou wilt forgive them, and cover them, arid not impute them to me, &c. This is my plea, 0 Lord, and by this plea I shall stand. Well, saith the Judge of quick and dead, ' I own this plea, I accept of this plea, I have nothing to say against this plea ; the plea is just, safe, honourable, and righteous, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'