3. It may be the rule of the laiu v/hereby the sinner is to be tried is not so strict, but that, in the case of such sins as he is guilty of, it may admit of a favourable interpretation; or that the good that he hath done may be laid in the balance against his evil, and so some relief be obtained that way. But the matter is quite otherwise. There is no good action of a sinner, though it were perfectly good, that can lie in the balance with, or compensate the evil of, the least sin com- mitted; for all good is due on another account, though no guilt were incurred. And the payment of money that a man owes, that he hath borrowed, makes no satisfaction for what he hath stole; no more will our duties compensate for our sins. Nor is there any good action of a sinner but it bath evil and guilt enough attending it to render itself unacceptable ; so that men may well cease from thoughts of their supererogation. Besides, where there is any one sin, if all the good in the world mig'ht be supposed to be in the same person, yet, in the indisiiensable order of our depcmlence on God, nothing
Yer.8.] god marking sin. SG7
of tliat good could come into consideration until the guilt of that sin were answered for unto the utmost. Now, the penalty of every sin being the eternal ruin of the sinner, all his supposed good can stand him in little stead. And for the law itself, it is an issue of the holi- ness, righteousness, and wisdom of God; so that there is not any evil so gi-eat or small but is forbidden in it, and condemned by it. Here- upon David so states this whole matter, Ps. exliii. 2, " Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified ; " — that is, if things are to be tried out and determined by the law, no sinner can obtain acquitment ; as Paul declares the sense of that place to be, Eom. iii. 20, Gal. ii. 16. But yet, —
4. It may be the sentence of the law is not so fierce and dreadful, hut that, though guilt he found, there may he yet a way of escape. But the law speaks not one word on this side death to an offender. There is a greainess and an eternity of wrath in the sentence of it; and it is God himself who hath undertaken to see the vengeance* of it executed. So that, on all these accounts, the conclusion men- tioned must needs be fixed in the soul of a sinner that entertains thoiiohts of drawing niirh to God.
Though what hath been spoken may be of general use unto sin- ners of all sorts, whether called home to God or yet strangers to him, yet I shall not insist upon any general improvement of it, because it is intended only for one special end or purpose. That which is aimed at is, to show what are the first thoughts that arise in the heart of a poor entangled soul, when first he begins to endeavour a recovery in a returnal unto God. The law immediately puts in its claim unto him and against him; — God is represented unto him as angry, displeased, provoked ; and his terror more or less besets him round about. This fills him Avith fear, shame, and confusion of face ; so that he knows not what to do. These troubles are greater or lesser, according as God seeth it best for the poor creature's present humiliation and future safety. What, then, doth the sinner? what are his thoughts hereupon? Doth he think to fly from God, and to give over all endeavours of recovery? Doth he say, " This God is a holy and terrible God; I cannot serve him; it is to no purpose fur me to look for any thing but fury and destruction from him : and therefore I had as good give over as persist in my design of drawino- nigh to him?'' It cannot be denied but that in this case thoughts of this nature will be suggested by unbelief, and that sometimes great perplexities arise to the soul by them: but this is not the issue and final product of this exercise of the soul; it produceth another effect; it calls for that which is the first particular working of a gracious soul arising out of its sin-entanglements. This is, as was declared, a sincere sense of sin, and acknowledgment of it, with self-condem-
oC8 AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. [Vtr.8.
nation in the justification of God; this is the first thing that a soul endeavouring a recovery from its depths is brought and wrought unto. His general resolution, to make serious and thorough work with what he hath in hand, was before unfolded. That which, in the next place, we are directed unto in these words is, the reflection on itself, upon the consideration of God's marking iniquity, now men- tioned. This is faith's great and proper use of the law; the nature whereof shall be farther opened in the next discourse.
The first particular actings of a soul towards a recovery out of the depths of sin — Sense of sin, wherein it consists, how it is wrought — Acknowledgment of sin ; its nature and properties — Self-condemnation,