1. It supposeth that sin is a debt. Mat. vi. 12, — "Ai^e-i 7][uv ra 6(f)€L\j]nara yficov, ' and forgive us our debts.'
2. That God will one day call sinners to an account, and charge such and such debts upon them : Mat. xxv. 19, ' After a long time the lord
Yeh. 19.] SERMONS rrox 2 comxTHL^JS's V. 263
of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.' For a while men live joUily and in great security, care for nothing ; but a day of reck- oninsr will come.
3. In this day of accounts, God will not impute the trespasses of those who are reconciled to him by Christ, and have taken sanctuary at the grace of the new covenant, to their condemnation, nor use them as they deserve. Every one deserves wrath and eternal death, and sin obligeth us thereunto, but God will not lay it to our charge ; and so it is said : Ps. xxsii. 2, ' Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.' Now this is an act of great grace on God's part, and of great privilege and blessedness to the creature.
[1.] An act of great grace and favour on God's part. (1.) Partly because every one is become ' guilty before God,' and obnoxious to the process of his righteous judgment : Eom. iii. 19 — v7r6SiKo<; to &£^, ' and all the world may become guilty before God.' There is sin enough to impute ; and the reason of this non-imputation is not our innocency. but God's mercy. Among men imputations are often unjust and slanderous, as David complaineth that they imputed and 'laid things to his charge that he was not guilty of,' or never did ; but we are all guilty. (2.) Partly that he would not prosecute his right against us as a revenging and just judge, calling us to a strict account, and punishing us according to our demerits, which would have been our utter undoing : Ps. cxxx. 3, ' If thou shouldest mark iniquity, 0 Lord, who could stand ? ' Ps. cxliii. 2, ' Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in th}' sight shall no flesh be justified.' There is not a man found which hath not faults and failing's enough, and if God should proceed with him in his just severity, he would be utterly incapable of any favour, (3.) Partly, because he found out the way how to recompense the wrong done by sin unto his majesty, and sent his Son to make this recompense for us, ' who was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.' ' Our iniquities were laid on him,' Isa. liii. 4 ; ' and his righteousness imputed to us,' Kom. iv, 11. (4.) And partly, that he did this out of his mere love, which set a-work all the causes which concurred in the business of our redemption: John iii. 16, ' God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' The external moving cause was only our misery ; the internal moving cause was his own grace and mercy. And this love was not excited by any love on our parts : Eom. iii. 24. ' Justified freely by his grace ; ' that is, by his grace working of its own accord. (5.) And partly, that this negative or non-imputation is heightened by the positive imputation — there is a non-imputing of sin and an acceptance of us as righteous in Christ ; his merits are reck- oned and adjudged to us ; that is. we have the effect of his sufferings — as it we had suffered in person : Christ is become to us ' the end of the law for righteousness,' Kom. x. 4.
[2.] It is matter of great privilege and blessedness to the creature, if so be the Lord will not impute our sins to us, and account them to our score. This will appear, —
(1.) If we consider the evil we are freed from ; guilt is an obligation to punishment, and pardon is the dissolving and loosening this obliga-
264 SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V, [SeR. XXXV.
tion. Now the punishment of sin is exceeding great ; what maketh hell and damnation, but not-forgiveness ? Hell is not a mere scarecrow, nor heaven a May-game ; it is eternity maketh every thing truly great, an everlasting exile and separation from the comfortable presence of the Lord, which is the j^cam damni: Mat. xxv. 41, ' Go, ye cursed;' and Luke xiii. 27, ' Depart from me, ye worlcers of iniquity ; ' they are shut out, and thrust out from the presence of the Lord. When God turned Adam out of paradise, his case was very sad, but nothing com- parable to this ; God took care of him in his exile, and made coats oi skins for him. God gave him a day of patience afterwards, promised the seed of the woman, intimated hopes of a better paradise ; but instead of all comforts, how sad is it to be sent into an endless state of misery ! which is the pcena sensus : Mark ix. 44, ' The worm that never dieth, and the fire that shall never be quenched ' — the worm of conscience, when we think of our folly, imprudence, disobedience to God. A man may run away from his conscience now, by sleeping, running, riding, walking, working, drinking, distract his mind by a clatter of business, but then not a thought free. The soul will be always thinking of slighted means, abused comforts, wasted time, and of the course wherein we have involved ourselves. Then our repen- tance will be fruitless. Our sorrows now are curing, then tormenting, when under the wrath of God ; yon coldly now entertain the offer of a pardon ; then, oh for a little mitigation, a drop to cool your tongue !