VeR. 14.] SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. 255
1. That it is the ground and pledge of all the rest. Sin being pardoned, the power of the devil is abolished, the wrath of God removed, the guilt of eternal death is taken away: Acts v. 31, 'Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a prince and a saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sin ; ' so Lake xxiv. 47, ' And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name/ Repentance is the beginning of all new obedience, and remission of sins is the seed of eternal life ; all duties are included in repentance, and all blessings in pardon. The gospel is nothing else but a doctrine of repentance and remission, so that the devil cannot hold us as his captives, nor sin rule in us as in slaves. This is the ground and pledge of the rest.
2, Sin being pardoned, we are freed from the penalties of sin, viz., the evils after sin. Sin hath a long train of judgments, all which are done away when sin is pardoned. It will not stand with the honour of his mercy to forgive the debt and yet to require payment ; it is a mocking to say, I forgive the whole debt, and yet to expect part of payment. Certainly God forgiveth us our debts, as we are bound to forgive others , so we are bid to pray. Mat. vi. 12, ' Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.' Now we are bound to forgive them wholly, and not in part. It would not stand with God's justice to exact the debt twice — of us and of om- surety : Isa. liii. 4, ' Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.'
Object But we are still subject to corruption and misery, the miseries of the present life, and death hereafter.
Ans. 1. As to miseries. The afEictions of God's people seem to be punishments, but are not, and differ as much as a punishment and a medicine. God acts the part of physician, not of a judge ; he burneth us, cutteth us, puts us to pain, but not to do us hurt ; not to satisfy vengeance, but to better our hearts. Hie ure, hie seca, Domine ! modo parcas in eternum. Our afflictions are troublesome to the flesh, as pun- ishments are , we cannot expect full security or total exemption from them. Again, they come not by chance. Affliction doth not spring out of the dust, but they come by special dispensation. As punishments also they do not come by chance ; sin is for the most part the occasion of them. God chasteneth them because they have sinned, as we quench a brand plucked out of the burning ; or he warneth them that they may not sin again. The chastisements of the godly serve for examples, as well as the punishments of the wicked. But they are not properly judicial acts to satisfy the law ; as a judge taketh no notice of the repentance of the delinquent, but of his fault. They are acts of love, and a part of God's family discipline. Brambles are not pruned, but vines: Heb. xii. 6, 'For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.' Bastards are left to live more at large. Again, they are for the exercise of grace, not for the destruc- tion of our persons. A judge doth not punish offenders because he loveth them, but because the law requireth it. If corrections were punishments, wicked men should have the greatest share : Heb. xii. 10, ' He chasteneth us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.' A judge looketh to the good of the commonwealth, to keep authority, and the majesty of government, not the benefit of the
256 SERMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. " [SeR. XX.
malefactor: 1 Cor. xi. 32, 'When we are judged, we are chastened o£ the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.' The godly are punished here, that they may not be condemned hereafter. The scripture everywhere maketh it a part of our blessedness : James i. 1*2, ' Blessed is the man that endureth temptation ; ' Phil. i. 29, ' Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake,' e'x^apiaOi]. They are dispensations of love.
Ans. 2. For death. This was the primary effect of sin, yet it re- maineth : Gen. ii. 17, 'In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shaft surely die.' But the curse of the law is become a blessing of the gospel; death is ours : 1 Cor. iii. 22, ' Whether Paul, or Apollos,or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, &c., all are yours.' Adam might have lived here happily for ever, but Christ hath provided a better place for us ; there is a deep gulf, which cannot be passed but by death ; our present earthly nature is not fit for that happy state : 1 Cor. xv. 50, * Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.' If Christ could have contented him- self with giving us an earthly paradise, death had not been necessary. That state in the garden was an innocent and happy, but an earthly state ; these bodies of ours, that need meat and sleep, would have sufficed for the earthly garden ; but we expect a greater benefit, and therefore we must be contented with the way and passage. Sense and reason telleth us that these bodies which we now carry up and down are not fit for that state ; we must lay what we received from Adam in the grave, that when it is purged and renewed, we may be like to Christ. The grain liveth not except it die ; the shed and old house is pulled down that God may raise a more glorious structure. If all believers should be rapt up into heaven and changed, miracles "would be multiplied without need. It is no punishment to lose our corruption and mortality.