(4.) The work of faith is to make application ; not only to see that sin may be pardoned, and how, but that our sins are or shall be pardoned for Christ's sake. There are degrees in this application ; sometimes God's children apply promises in the humbling way, and creep in at the backdoor of a promise : 1 Tim. i. 15, ' Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.' There I can put in for a share ; I am sure I am sinner enough, if Christ came to save sinners. They put their mouths in the dust, yet look up, because there is hope. And sometimes they express their confidence for the future ; though they are not persuaded of their good estate at present, yet they hope they shall at length be pardoned and accepted : Ps. Ixv. 8, 'As for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.' He can and will do it. So Micah vii. 19, 'He will turn again, he will have compassion on us, he will subdue our iniquities; thou wilt cast all their sins into the depth of the sea.' At other times they express their confidence of pardon as an act past : Ps. xxxii. 5, ' Thou for- gavest the iniquity of my transgression ; and Isa. xxxviii. 17, ' Thou
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hast cast all my sins behind thy back.' To say so is an act of experi- ence of a sinner now justified by faith ; and though every self -con- demned sinner cannot thus apply his pardon, nor thus lay hold upon this benefit, and apply it to himself, yet he should endeavour it.
(5.) It is a work of faith to wait the Lord's leisure, though comfort doth not succeed and flow as soon as we would have it. You must not throw up all, as if God were beholden to you, or at your beck and command. As soon as you have used the means, you must be satisfied and contented with his word till the promise be made good. Many give the lie to God when they find not at first what they hope for ; but we must be satisfied with God's word till it be made good to us : Isa. xxvi. 8, ' In the way of thy judgments we have waited for thee ; the desire of our souls is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.' Whatever desires we have after comfort and the enjoyment of this benefit, we must be contented to tarry the Lord s leisure ; though we be not answered, his word is sure ; though we do not presently feel the comfort and efiect of it, his word is gone forth in truth. ' I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance/ Ps. xlii. 5. There may be a grant where there is no sense of it. We do not live by sense or actual comfort, but by faith.
3. What must we do that we may so live and set faith a-work ? To this end and purpose directions are several, according to the difierent state and posture of the soul. As for instance, if the heart be sluggish, and your desires cold and dull towards this benefit, then there is one course to be taken ; but if the heart be comfortless and dejected, then there is another cour.«e to be taken ; and then, if you find your hearts too sliglit in the work of pardon, and you make a small matter of it, another course must be taken.
[1.] If the heart be sluggish, and your desires cold and faint, and you cannot be earnest in the pursuit of so considerable a blessing, then you must quicken and awaken the heart by considering the danger on the one side, and the profit and utility on the other.
(L) The danger of security, or not prizing of a pardon, and of the comforts of a justified estate. Let me tell you, it is as ill a sign as can be when a man esteemeth not of pardon, or of God as a pardoner ; it argues deep carnality and security in those that were never ac- quainted with God, and a strange witchery and fai<cination of soul that is fallen upon them that are regenerate, and will in time cause them to smart for it.
\st. It argues deep carnality and security in those that are strangers to God. For this is the first notion that rendereth God amiable, because he is so necessary to our consciences. Guilt and bondage are natural to us ; but it is a sign men are hardened in fleshly delights when they have lost their actual sense of this, and are past feeling. Therefore consider how dangerous their condition is, if God put the bond of the old covenant in suit, and require their souls at their hands : Luke xii. 20, ' Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.' Oh, miserable they ! when they shall be haled to hell, and the direful sentence shall be executed upon them, ' Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.' And consider, there is nothing but the slender thread of a frail life between you and this ; and how soon is that fretted asunder !