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Eph. iv. 32. God, for Christ 's sake, hath forgiven you.
IF a minister of Christ is bound to preach the Gospel with all plainness and fidelity, he is no less bound to guard it against abuse, and to inculcate on the professors of it the strictest conformity to the commands of God. St. Paul was careful to insist upon even the minutest parts of practical piety ; and to shew, that the Gospel not only required, but had a direct tendency to produce, holiness, both in heart and life. In truth, if our religion do not prevail to regulate our tempers, and to correct every evil dis- position of the soul, it is not sincere ; nor will it ever be approved of God in the day of judgment. Yet, in enforcing practical duties, we should take care to urge them upon right principles ; not as a forced obe- dience to the law, in order to obtain acceptance with God, but as a willing effort to adorn the Gospel, through which we have already been accepted of him. A sense of God's pardoning love should animate us, rather than a servile fear of his displeasure : and, whilst God's mercy to us should operate as a motive to obey him, it should also serve us as a pattern for our own conduct towards our offending brethren, whom we should "forgive, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us."
Now, it is a fact, that forgiveness is bestowed on men whilst they are yet in this world. And this truth I shall consider,
I. As revealed in Scripture —
The truth itself is fully declared —
[God, in proclaiming his name to Moses, represented himself chiefly under the character of a sin-pardoning God : " The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sina." And the whole of his deal- ings with his people, in every age, have borne testimony to
a Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7.