sins that may have been previously committed ; nor any ex- ception as to the measure of depravity which may have defiled the soul, or the degree of obduracy to which it may have attained. " Though our sins may have been as scarlet, or of a crimson dye, they shall all be washed away in the blood of Christ, and the soul become white as the driven snow8." " Clean water also shall be sprinkled on us, even the Holy Ghost in his sanctifying operations, to cleanse us from all our filthiness and from all our uncleanness. A new heart shall be given us, and a new spirit be put within us : and God, by the mighty working of his own power, will cause us " to walk in his judgments and to keep his statutes'1." Here is all that the penitent can desire. The promises are perfectly commen- surate with his necessities : and, " laying hold on these pro- mises, he shall be able to cleanse himself from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God1."]
2. For this, those very perfections of the Deity which are most adverse to them, are pledged —
[If the penitent desire mercy, Justice frowns upon him, and demands judgment against him: and Truth reepjires, that all the threatenings which have been denounced against sin and sinners should be executed upon him. But, through the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ, these perfections of the Deity are not only satisfied, but are converted into friends, yea, and made the strongest advocates for the penitent's sal- vation. What a wonderful declaration is this, that, " if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness!" That mercy should be displayed in forgiveness, we can easily imagine : but how can justice ? and how can truth ? when, as has been before observed, both these attributes demand the sinner's condemnation ? The Gospel solves this difficulty : it declares to us, that the Lord Jesus Christ has undertaken for us, and become our Surety, and by his own obedience unto death has satisfied all the demands of law and justice, and obtained for us the promise of eternal life : so that, if only we believe in him, and come to God through him, we may plead, even upon the very ground of justice and of truth, that God will fulfil to us all that he has promised to the Lord Jesus in our behalf, and impart to us all the blessings which his only dear Son has purchased for us. Through this mysterious dispensation, the very righteousness of God is magnified in the exercise of mercy; and " God is just, whilst justifying the sinner that believes in JesusV
g Isai. i. 18. h Ezek. xxxvi. 25 — 27.
» 2 Cor. vii. 1. " Rom. iii. 26.