[2.] We are freed from the great blemish of our natures. Sin defaced the image of God in us : Rom. iii. 23, 'All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.' We lost not only the favour of God, but the image of God ; the great excellency of our nature Avas eclipsed and defaced. Now the plaster will not be as broad as the sore, nor our reparation by Christ correspondent to our loss by Adam, if our nature be not healed, and the image of God restored in us. If Adam had only left us guilty, the pardon of sin had been enough ; but he conveyed an evil nature, and therefore we must be turned from our sins, as well as pardoned, otherwise Christ would not restore all that Adam took away, Ps. Ixix. 4. Is he a good physician that takes away the pain, and leaves the great disease uncured ? But Christ has procured the favour of God for us, and repaired the image of God in us, and therefore certainly put us into a way of blessedness again. Holiness was our primitive excellency and amiableness.
[3.] We are freed from that that is the great burden of the crea- ture, as well as his blemish. Whatever it be to the common sinner^ that is no matter ; he hath no right thoughts of things, and is besotted with his carnal choice ; for sin is an evil, whether it be felt or no. But the awakened sinner is sensible not only of the guilt of sin, but it is his greatest burden that he should have a nature inclines him to grieve and dishonour God. Pharaoh could say, ' Take away this
20G THE THIUD SERMON, [ACTS III. 26
plague.' But a penitent, broken-hearted sinner cries, ' Take away all iniquity.' They desire a change of this state by regeneration. There- fore the promises of the gospel, considering a penitent soul under such a distress, are suited to the case : 1 John i. 9, ' If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' If you know what sin is, and penitently bemoan yourselves to God, you will be troubled with the power and pollution of it, as well as the guilt : Micah vii. 18, 19, ' Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage ? He will turn again, he will have compassion, he will subdue our iniquities.' A heart truly affected doth not only desire pardon and ease, but power against sin. A man that hath his leg broken would not only desire ease of his pain, but to have his leg set right again. A leprous condemned malefactor desires not only to be freed from the sentence of condemnation, but to be cured, or his pardon will do him no good. Now, surely, it is a great blessing to be turned from our sins, to be freed from that a penitent soul finds to be so great a burden ; and the Mediator gives us a not- able proof of his love in it.
[4.] Being turned from our sins, we are freed from the great bane of our persons and all our happiness. Sin is a cursed inmate, it fires the lodging where it is entertained and harboured, unless speedily cast out of doors ; it involves us in the curse of the law, * The wages of sin is death ;' therefore Christ, that he might free us from misery, doth first free us from sin. If pardon of sin be a blessing, certainly to be turned from sin is a blessing (for the one cannot be had without the other) ; till you are turned from sin you cannot be pardoned, not justified till you are sanctified : Ps. xxxii. 1, 2, ' Blessed is the man whose sin is forgiven, and whose iniquity is covered, and unto whom the Lord will not impute his sin, in whose spirit there is no guile.' When God hath given us a holy sincere heart, and turned us from our sins, then we have the blessedness of pardon : ' There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ, who w\alk not after the flesh, but after the spirit/ Kom. viii. 1. We are freed from the condemning power of the law when freed from sin, and all that woe and wrath that belongs to every soul that doth evil.
By all these considerations it appears how great a blessing the turn- ing us from sin is in the privative notion, that is, the removal of so great an evil.
2. Take ble.sscdness in the positive notion, that is, to enjoy a great good ; and it will appear it is a blessed thing to be turned from our sins.
[1.] Because this is the matter of our serenity, comfort, and peace liere, and the pledge and beginning of our eternal felicity hereafter. The soul can never be settled in a holy peace till it be turned from its sins ; we can never find rest till we get out of Satan's yoke and get into Christ's ])lessed liberty: ' The fruit of righteousness is peace,' Isa. xxxii. 17. We are freed from those unquiet and troublesome thoughts wherewith others are haunted. A wicked man's soul is in a mutiny, one affection wars against another, and all against the con- science, and the conscience againet all ; but where the heart is framed