2. As it is a part, so it is a principal part. This will appear if you consider the evil we are freed from.
[1.] The power of the devil is destroyed. All the advantage which he hath against us is as we are sinners, guilty sinners before God. For w^e are put into his hands when we have forfeited the protection of our righteous Lord, but forgiveness of sins gives us a release from him. Acts xxvi. 18. When Christ came to procure it he destroyed the devil's power ; when we are converted we are interested in the privilege.
[2.] The reign of sin is broken, or sanctifying grace is inseparable from pardoning grace ; yea, I will venture to say, that the gift of the sanctifying Spirit is a part of our pardon executed and applied ; for a part of the punishment of sin was spiritual death, or the loss of God's image : Col. ii. 13, ' He hath quickened you together with Christ, having forgiven all your trespasses.' When God pardoneth he sanctifieth and createth us anew, that we may be fit for his service, so that we are renewed by the Spirit, as well as recovered out of the snares of the devil.
[3.] We are eased of tormenting fears in a great measure. Man can have no firm peace and comfort in his own soul while sin remaineth upon him. Our case is dangerous, whether we be sensible of it or no, because our condition is not to be valued by our sense and feeling, but by the sentence of the law of God, which we have broken and violated. If there be any diflerence in the case, the more insensible we are, the more miserable. The generality of men indeed are senseless and care- less, put far away the evil day from them, and so make light work of reconciling themselves to God. Bat are they the more safe for this ? No; if they will dance about the brink of hell, and go merrily to their execution, it argues not their safety, but their stupidness. The thought of danger is put off when the thing itself is not put away, bat if they be serious they cannot be without trouble : Eom. i. 32, 'Knowing the judgment of God, they conclude that they that do
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such things (ire worthy of death.' The very h'glit of nature will re- vive many unquiet thoughts within them. The justice of the supreme Governor of the world will still be dreadful to them, whose law they have broken, and whose wrath they have justly deserved. They may lull the soul asleep by the stupifying potion of carnal delights, and while conscience is asleep please themselves with stolen waters, and bread eaten in secret, which is soon disturbed by a few serious and sober thoughts of the world to come. God is offended, and what peace can they have ?
[4.] Death is unstinged. That is the usual time when convictions grow to the height, and the stings of an awakened conscience begin to be felt, 1 Cor. xv. 56. Then the thoughts of death and judgment to come are very terrible to them, and men begin to see what it is to bear their own sins, and how happy they are who are sure of a pardon.
[5.] The obligation to eternal punishment ceases. Pardon is dis- solving and loosing that obligation. Now the punishment is exceed- ing great ; hell and damnation are no vain scarecrows. Eternity makes everything truly great, the jjoena damm, an everlasting separation from the comfortable presence of the Lord : Mat. xxv. 41 , 'Go, ye cursed;' Luke xiii. 27, 'Depart, ye workers of iniquity.' When God turned Adam out of paradise his case was very sad, but God took care of him in his exile, made him coats of skin, gave him a day of patience, afterwards promised the seed of the woman, who should recover the lapsed estate of mankind, intimated hopes of a better paradise. That estate, therefore, is nothing comparable to this, for now man is stripped of all his comforts, sent into an endless state of misery, whence there is no hopes of ever changing his condition. So for the poena sensus, the pain : Mark ix. 44, ' Where their worm never dieth, and their fire is never quenched.' The worm is the worm of conscience reflecting on past folly and disobedience. See here a man may run away from the rebukes of conscience by many shifts — sleeping, sporting, distracting his mind with a clatter of business ; but there not a thought free, but is always thinking of slighted means, abused mercies, wasted time, the offences done to a merciful God, and the curse wherein they have involved themselves ; the fire is the wrath of God, or these unknown pains that shall be inflicted on body and soul, which must needs be great when we fall into the hands of the living God. If a little mitigation, a drop to cool your tongue be thought a great matter, oh ! what a blessedness is it to be freed from so great an evil. Perhaps you coldly entertain the offer of a pardon now, but then to be freed from wrath to come — oh, blessed Jesus ! 1 Thes. i. 10.