are immortal beings, and are hastening to a state, where a period will arrive, at which our present existence, even though it should have been con- tinued a thousand years, will have been only as the twinkling of an eye. In that state either happiness or misery awaits us, according as we enter upon it under the guilt of our former sins, or with our sins forgiven. We may justly say, therefore. True happi- ness consists, as our text informs us, in having our sins forgiven. To elucidate this topic, let us consider the blessing here spoken of,
1. As a non-imputation of sin —
[Who that is in the smallest degree conscious of the num- ber and heinousness of his transgressions, and of the awful punishment due to him on accomit of them, must not regard it as an unspeakable mercy to have them all blotted out from the book of God's remembrance ? What in the whole universe can in his estimation be compared with this ? If he could possess the whole world, yea, if he could possess ten thousand worlds, what comfort would the acquisition give him, if he had the melancholy prospect of being speedily plunged into the bot- tomless abyss of hell ? If there were a large company of con- demned criminals, some rich and noble, others poor and ignoble, and one of the meanest of them had received the king's pardon whilst all the rest were left for execution ; who among them would be accounted the happiest? How much more then, when the death to which unpardoned sinners are consigned is an everlasting death in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone ! No one who reads the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, and sees the termination of their respective states, can for a moment hesitate to pronounce Lazarus, with all his miseries and privations, far happier in a sense of reconciliation with his God, than the rich worldling in the enjoyment of all his pomp and luxury.]
2. As a positive imputation of righteousness —
[In the words of David we should not have seen the doc- trine of imputed righteousness, if St. Paul had not expressly told us that that doctrine was contained in them. He tells us% that in these words " David describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without ivorks, saying, " Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Now this idea goeth much farther than
a Rom. iv. 6—8.