184 THE FIRST SERMON. [Ps. XXXII. 1, 2.
confess their sins with brokennness of heart, and that it may be just with God to condemn them for ever.
(2.) We must thankfully accept the Lord's grace, that offers pardon to us. For since God is pleased to try us a second time, and set us lip with a new stock of grace, and that brought about in such a wonderful way, that he may recover the lost creation to himself, surely if we shall despise our remedy, after we have rendered ourselves inca])able of our duty, no condemnation is bad enough for us, John iii. 18, 19. Therefore we should admire the mercy of God in Christ, and have such a deep sense of it, that it may check our sinful self-love, which hath been our bane and ruin. And since God showed himself willing to be reconciled, we must enter into his peace, not look upon ourselves in a hopeless and desperate condition, but depend upon the merit, sacrifice, and intercession of Christ, and be encouraged by his gracious promise and covenant to ' come with boldness, that we may find grace and mercy to help in a time of need,' Heb. iv. 16. Thus you see the need we have to look after this pardon of sin.
2. Secondly, I must show our misery without this ; and this will be best done by considering the notions here in the text. Here is tilth to be covered, a burden of which we must be eased ; and here is a debt that must be cancelled : and unless this be, what a miserable condition are we in !
[1.] What a heavy burden is sin, where it is not pardoned ! Carnal men feel it not for the present : elements are not burdensome in their own place ; but how soon may they feel it ! Two sorts of consciences feel the burden of sin — a tender conscience, and a wounded conscience. It is grievous to a tender heart, that values the love of God, to lie under the guilt of sin, and to be obnoxious to his wrath and displea- sure : Ps. xxxviii. 4, ' Mine iniquities are gone over mine head, as a burden too heavy for me.' Broken bones aie sensible of the least weight; certainly a broken heart cannot make light of sin. What kind of hearts are those that sin securely, and without remorse, and are never troubled ? Go to wounded consciences, and ask of them what sin is : Gen. iv. 13, ' Mine iniquity is greater than I can bear ; ' Prov. xviii. 14, ' A wounded spirit, who can bear ? ' As long as the evil lies without us, it is tolerable, the natural courage of a man may bear up under it ; but when the spirit itself is wounded with the sense of sin, who can bear it ? If a spark of God's wrath light upon the conscience, how soon do men become a burden to themselves ; and some have chosen strangling rather than life. Ask Cain, ask Judas, what it is to feel the burden of sin. Sinners are ' all their lifetime subject to this bondage ;' it is not always felt, but soon awakened : it may be done by a pressing exhortation at a sermon ; it may be done by some notable misery that befalls us in the world ; it may be done by a scandalous sin ; it may be done by a grievous sickness, or worldly disappointment. All these things and many more may easily revive it in us. There needs not much ado to put a sinner in the stocks of conscience. Therefore do but consider to be eased of this burden ; oh the blessedness of it 1
[2.] It is tilth to be covered, which renders us odious in the sight of God. It is said, Prov. xiii. 5. that * a sinner is loathsome.' To
Ps. XXXII. 1, 2.] THE FIRST SERMON. 185
whom ? To God. Certainly he is of purer eyes than to hehokl iniquity. To good men. ' The wicked is an abomination to the righteous ; ' the new nature hath an aversion to it. Lot's righteous soul was vexed from day to day with the conversation of the wicked. A wicked man hates a godly man with a hatred of enmity and abomination ; but a godly man doth not hate a wicked man with a hatred of enmity — that is opposite to good-will — but with that of abomination, which is opposite to complacence. It is loathsome to an indifferent man, for holiness darts an awe and reverence into the conscience. ' The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour,' and a wicked person is a vile person in the common esteem of the world : horrible profaneness will not easily down. Nay, it is loath- some to other wicked men. I do not know whether I expound that scripture rightly, but it looks somewhat so, ' Hateful and hating one another.' We hate sin in another, though we will not take notice of it in ourselves. The sensuality and pride and vanity of one wicked man is hated by another ; nay, he is loathsome to himself. Why ? because he cannot endure to look into himself. We cannot endure ourselves when we are serious. ' They will not come to the light, lest their deeds should be reproved.' And we are shy of God's presence ; we are sensible we have something makes us offensive to him, and we hang off from him when we have sinned against him ; as it was David's experience, Ps. xxxii. 3. That was the cause of his silence : he kept ofi' from God, having sinned against him, and had not a heart to go home and sue out his pardon. Oh, what a mercy is it, then, to have this filth covered, that we may be freed from this bashful incon- fidence, and not be ashamed to look God in the face, and may come with a holy boldness into the presence of the blessed God ! Oh, the blessedness of the man whose sin is covered !