52 SERLION UPON 1 JOHN I. 7.
garments, we are unpleasiug objects in God's sight, therefore they are removed, that we may he accepted.
2. The guilt. There is a twofold guilt, reatus culpce and reafus pcence ; the guilt of sin and the guilt of punishment. The reatus culpce, or guilt of sin, is seen by applying the law to the fact, and both to the person that hath committed it : 1 John iii. 4, ' Whosoever com- raitteth sin transgreseeth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.' Such a fact is sin, because the law forbiddeth it, and I am a sinner because I have done it. Now this is not taken away. ; my faulty act is an offence, and I am an offender, and none of us can be reputed as those that never omitted any duty, or committed any sin ; for the new covenant is not set up to make us innocent, but pardonable upon certain terms. And when we come to God as our offended governor, we plead not as innocent, but as sinners, desiring that in the behalf of Christ our sins may be forgiven to us. There is also reatus pcence, or guilt of punishment, which resulteth from the sanction of the law, binding us to suffer such penalties as the law hath determined. Now this may be considered, quoad meritum, vel quoad eventum, accord- ing to the merit, or according to the event ; according to the merit of the action, what the action in itself deserveth, which is condemnation to punishment ; this Christ hath not taken away, nor ever intended to take away. Every sinful action is in se, et merito operis, in itself, and by the desert of the work, damnable or deserving damnation ; but quoad eventum, as to the event and effect : ' There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ,' Eom. viii. 1. By the new covenant we are discharged from the obligation to punishment, and so are said to be cleansed, purged, pardoned. This will be more clear and plain to you by considering what is required of us in suing out our pardon. We must not deny the fault or sin, but confess it : 1 John i. 9, ' If we con- fess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse US from all unrighteousness.' And we must acknowledge the guilt and desert of God's righteous law: 1 Cor. xi. 31, ' If we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged of the Lord.' There must be self-accusing and self-judging. In self-accusing we confess reatum cidpce, the guilt of sin, our breach of the law. In self-judging we confess reatum 2Jcence, that we deserve condemnation ; without either of which there would be no due recourse to God for pardon, or that humiliation and broken- ness of heart which the scripture calleth for, or else these would be performed perfunctorily and formallj^ if there were not a ground in the nature of the thing. For if the guilt of the fault were utterly dissolved, how can I heartily accuse myself of such and such things before the Lord ? Or if the guilt of punishment were so far dissolved that my actions did not in tlieir own nature, and by God's righteous law, deserve such condemnation and punishment, how can I broken-hearted ly ac- knowledge myself to have deserved the greatest evil which his law threatened ? So that this cleansing of us is not a vacating the action, as if it had never been done, or a denial of the fault, as if it were no fault, nor a disannulling of the desert of punishment, but a remission of the punishment itself, or a discharge from the penalty which sin hath made our due debt.
3. The punishment. Where sin is pardoned, there is a discharge
SERMON UPON 1 JOHN I. 7, 53
from the punishment due upon the guilt. Sin is not imputed to con- demnation ; nay, the man is dealt with hefore the tribunal of the judge as if he were pure and clean from all sin. He deserves indeed to be accursed, but the penitent, broken-hearted sinner is accepted to pardon, and shall be exempted from eternal punishment: John v. 29, ' He hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation ; ' that is, he hath escaped eternal death and shall enjoy everlasting life.
But now for the question, whether all sins be forgiven at once ; past, present, and to come ? I must answer negatively ; sins to come cannot properly be said to be pardoned, for till they are committed we are not guilty of them, and this would be not so much a pardon, as an indul- gence and licence to sin ; such as the man of sin is wont to give to his superstitious adherents, indulgences for so many years to come. Then a man once converted could no otherwise than frivolously pray, ' Forgive us our trespasses.' It would take away care of avoiding sin to come, and repentance for what is past. Daily sins displease God, and deserve death. Forgiveness of sin sometimes is spoken of with respect to the purchase : Heb. x. 14, ' For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.' There needeth no more sacrifice. Some- times with respect to the offer in the new covenant : Acts xiii. 38, 39, * Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.' The same covenant pardoneth all ; there needeth no other covenant. Sometimes it may be considered as applied as soon as we do believe : Eom. viii. 1, ' There is now no con- demnation to them that are in Christ ; ' Eph. i. 6, ' Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.' By pardon we partake of a threefold benefit.