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THE 
 
 NATURE, EFFECTS, 
 
 AND 
 
 PARDON OF SIN; 
 
 TO WHICH 
 
 IS ADDED A WARNING AND EXHORTATION TO 
 SINNERS. 
 
 13 Y 
 
 REV. JNO. W. HARSH A, A.M. 
 
 PROF. IN WESTMINSTER COLLEGE, PA. 
 
 “ 0 Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.”— Ps. xxv, 11. 
 “ I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for 
 mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.’'—A h. xliii, ‘25. 
 
 
 ♦ 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PUBLISHED BY M. W. DODD, 
 
 BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL, CORNER OF PARK ROW. 
 
 OPPOSITE THE CITY HALL. 
 
 1853. 
 
ALBANY*. 
 
 J. MUNSELL, PRINTER, 
 
TO 
 
 DAVID A. HARSHA, 
 
 HIS BELOVED BROTHER, 
 
 Author of ‘‘Thoughts on the Love of Christ;” ‘‘Christ, amt 
 Him crucified ; ” “ Immanuel’s Land,” &c. 
 
 AXD TO HIS 
 
 Prienfls wd Jeiioto-Sioiielrs, 
 
 THIS LITTLE VOLUME 
 
 Is affectionately Inscribed by the 
 
 AUTHOR. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 __ ...._ 
 
 a . 
 
 
 — 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Being disabled by laryngeal affection from ad¬ 
 dressing persons orally, we resort to the press, 
 which, though it wants the eloquence of the living 
 speaker, is more extensive in its influence and 
 lasting in its duration. As far as observation and 
 experience extend, no subject is of more interest 
 and importance to the sinner, aroused to see in the 
 light of divine truth, his true character before 
 Jehovah, than the one under consideration. Feel¬ 
 ing his insignificance in the scale of being and 
 his vileness as a sinner, he stands afar off, trem¬ 
 bling under a sense of extreme guilt, and cries 
 for mercy—God be merciful to me a sinner. 
 Pardon mine iniquity for it is great. Save me, I 
 perish. 
 
 This work was originally designed for per¬ 
 sonal satisfaction; and in offering it to the public, 
 our object is to exhibit the enormous evil of sin— 
 to magnify the riches of free grace in forgiv¬ 
 ing it—to encourage the anxious, desponding 
 and despairing sinner to flee to God for mercy, 
 and so comfort others with the comfort wherewith 
 we ourselves are comforted of God. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 V i 
 
 Though it embraces a subject of vast import¬ 
 ance, yet from its nature and the aversion of the 
 unrenewed heart to any thing good, it is not 
 expected that this work will be one of general 
 interest, eliciting the attention and applause of 
 the world, but if it obtains the approbation of 
 Heaven, relieves the awakened sinner, and com¬ 
 forts the saint, our utmost expectations will be 
 realized. In it we have used plainness of speech, 
 and studied brevity, often stating general pro¬ 
 positions and scripture passages without com¬ 
 ment, and where several passages occur together, 
 chapter and verse ore generally marked at the 
 end in regular succession. If it will be instru¬ 
 mental in advancing the Divine glory and saving 
 a soul from death, we will feel amply rewarded 
 for our labors. We kuow our labor shall not be in 
 vain in the Lord, who often works by the most 
 obscure and humble instruments. In him we 
 trust; on his grace and mercy we rely for life and 
 salvation through the merits of Jesus Christ. To 
 his blessing we commend this work, praying that 
 sinners may be thereby converted unto Him who 
 is rich in mercy and ready to forgive all who in 
 truth call upon his name. 
 
 North Beaver, Pa. 
 May, 1853. 
 
 J. W. II. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Nature of Sin,. 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Effects of Sin,. 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Pardon of Sin,. 65 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The necessity of Pardon,.-83 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Encouragements to seek Pardon,. 97 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Relief Obtained,. 130 
 
THE 
 
 NATURE, EFFECTS AND 
 PARDON OF SIN. 
 
 -o- 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 NATURE OF SIN. 
 
 “ I had not known sin, but by the law.”—R om. vii, 7. 
 
 The divine law, by which is the knowledge 
 of sin, is a transcript of the moral nature of 
 God. It was originally engraven on man’s 
 heart, and is perpetually binding on all men, 
 in all ages, in all places, and in all circum¬ 
 stances. It is holy, just and good; exceed¬ 
 ing broad, extending to the thoughts and 
 intents of the heart, and serves as a school¬ 
 master to bring us to Christ. It is perfect 
 as its author; needs no amendment, and is 
 not capable of any improvement. But there 
 are many whose moral perceptions and sensi¬ 
 bilities are so stupified and hardened by sin 
 2 
 
10 
 
 SIN, 
 
 that they neither see nor feel its evil detected 
 in them by the law. They are described by 
 the pen of unerring wisdom as the whole 
 that need not a physician, the just that need 
 no repentance, or as men whose conscience 
 is seared with a hot iron, past feeling, twice 
 dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves 
 of the sea, foaming out their own shame. 
 As they have never been aroused by the ter¬ 
 rors of the law, to see in the light of heaven 
 the true state of their souls before God, it 
 can not be expected that they will regard 
 with interest any effort that may be made to 
 point them to the only remedy which is pro¬ 
 vided for the dying sinner. But it is not so 
 with all. There are others whose conscience 
 is tender, and who, smitten with the arrows 
 of God, both see and feel the loathsome dis¬ 
 ease of sin in their soul. These awakened 
 and anxious sinners, weeping under a true 
 sense of sin, are in diligent search for that 
 remedy which it is the province of the gos¬ 
 pel to prescribe, and which they hold in the 
 highest estimation. Like the natural man 
 afflicted with some painful disease, they. 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 11 
 
 regardless of cost, will ransack creation to 
 discover a true remedy for that disease, 
 which is drinking the life-blood of their 
 souls. Then, may the Holy Spirit assist us in 
 discovering that remedy; and may he apply 
 it to our souls, withering and wasting under 
 the corroding influence of sin, that they may 
 yet bloom in immortal youth, to honor and 
 praise in triumphant song the God of all our 
 mercies. 
 
 Sin is a transgression of the law , or an 
 omission of what it requires. It is any 
 thought, word or action, omission or desire, 
 contrary to the divine law; it is rebellion 
 against the nature and authority of the 
 Supreme Ruler of the universe, who is of 
 purer eyes than to behold evil. Numerous 
 passages of scripture warrant this definition. 
 They teach that omissions of duty, with 
 regard to God or man are culpable and 
 ruinous to the soul. “ Woe unto you, 
 Scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay 
 tythe of mint, anise and cummin, and have 
 omitted the weightier matters of the law— 
 judgment, mercy and faith. These ought 
 
12 
 
 SIN, 
 
 ye to have done, and not to leave the other 
 undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a 
 gnat, and swallow a camel.” Woe unto 
 you, also, who have no benevolent hand, no 
 sympathetic heart, to minister to Jesus 
 Christ, in the person of his poor and afflicted 
 and persecuted people; you have omitted the 
 requirements of the law of nature and of 
 God: therefore ye shall go away into ever¬ 
 lasting punishment, but the righteous into 
 life eternal. It was once said, and is still 
 true of the unrenewed man, that every 
 imagination of the thoughts of his heart is 
 only evil continually. The thought of fool¬ 
 ishness is sin. The heart is not only the 
 seat of life, but also the great source from 
 which all actions, good and bad, flow, as 
 the stream from the fountain; out of it 
 are the issues of life; “ out of the heart pro¬ 
 ceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, forn¬ 
 ications, thefts, false-witnesses, blasphemies. 
 A good man, out of the good treasure of his 
 heart, bringeth forth good things, and an 
 evil man, out of the evil treasure of his 
 heart, bringeth forth evil things.” Accord- 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 13 
 
 ing to the Saviour’s comment on the law, the 
 wanton look, the secret and inordinate de¬ 
 sire, is sin in the sight of Jehovah, as well 
 as the external act: “ whosoever looketh on 
 a woman to lust after her, hath committed 
 adultery with her already in his heart.” 
 Already! Lust, when it hath conceived, 
 bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, 
 bringeth forth death. Alas, how many erro¬ 
 neously think they have fulfilled the law when 
 they have obeyed only the letter of it; that 
 they have kept all the commandments, when 
 they have left the half undone. How 
 many flatter themselves that, as touching the 
 righteousness of the law, they are blameless; 
 while their hearts are yet impure, covetous, 
 unrenewed, unbelieving. But language fails 
 to express the enormous evil of sin which is 
 almost coeval with creation, extending its 
 baneful influence wide as the world, and 
 running parallel with eternity. 
 
 “ 0 cursed, cursed sin ! traitor to God 
 
 And ruiner of man! mother of wo, 
 
 And death and hell—wretched, yet seeking worse.” 
 
 2* 
 
14 
 
 SIN, 
 
 In nature, sin is enslaving . In this res¬ 
 pect, thousands are slaves who would 
 scorn to be called so. The Jews boasted 
 that they were never in bondage to any 
 man, when they had been in bondage four 
 hundred years in Egypt, seventy years cap¬ 
 tives in Babylon, and were then tributaries 
 to the Roman government. But to convince 
 them that they were slaves of their own 
 lusts, a more dreadful tyrant than man to 
 man, Jesus said, whosoever commits sin is 
 the servant of sin; and says Paul, know 
 ye not, that to whom ye yield your members 
 to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye 
 obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedi¬ 
 ence unto righteousness? Let any one sin 
 obtain dominion over man, whether it be 
 pride, profanity, intemperance, licentious¬ 
 ness, self love, the love of the world, or 
 whatever it be, and it will hold him to serv¬ 
 itude cruel as the grave. Every thing must 
 bend to its power and contribute to its plea¬ 
 sure—the innocence of youth, the bloom of 
 health, the charms of beauty, the strength 
 of manhood, the noble powers of the mind, 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 15 
 
 the treasures of earth, the trophies of war, 
 the laurels of fame, the sweet endearments 
 of life, the voice of conscience, the love and 
 service of God, and eternal felicity. I or 
 example, take covetousness, or the love of 
 money, which is the root of all evil, and the 
 ruling spirit of the age, swaying, in common 
 with others, both the Throne and the Altar, 
 already casting their crowns and sacred 
 vestments into the “ gold regions. 5 ’ 
 
 u Gold many hunted, sweat and bled for gold, 
 Waked all the night, and labored all the day, 
 
 * * * admired and called 
 
 A God, and in devout and humble plight 
 Before it kneeled, the greater to the less, 
 
 And on its altar sacrificed ease, peace, 
 
 Truth, faith, integrity, good conscience, friends, 
 
 Love, charity, benevolence, and all 
 
 The sw r eet and tender sympathies of life; 
 
 And to complete the horrid, murderous rite 
 And signalize their folly, offered up 
 Their souls, and an eternity of bliss, 
 
 To gain them what? an hour of dreaming joy, 
 
 A feverish hour that hasted to be done, 
 
 And ended in the bitterness of w r o.” 
 
 All this is true of any other sin, espe¬ 
 cially the sin which doth so easily beset us 
 
16 
 
 SIN, 
 
 it cries, give, give; and never says, enough. 
 It reigns in our mortal body till subdued by 
 divine power. Without this power, all our 
 efforts, our prayers, our tears, our vigilance, 
 our resolutions, our vows and engagements 
 against it, are in vain. Here human nature, 
 with all her pride and power of intellect, 
 must confess her inability to do any thing 
 efficiently and meritoriously good. “ We 
 have no might against this great company 
 that cometh against us, neither know we 
 what to do: but our eyes are upon thee,”— 
 our God (2 Chron. xx, 12). It is God who 
 worketh in you, both to will and to do of 
 his good pleasure. No man, says Christ, 
 can come unto me except the Father who 
 hath sent me draw’ him. No man can be 
 his own saviour. His spiritual liberty and 
 salvation must be achieved by one invested 
 with supreme power. Accordingly, when 
 his emancipation from sin is effected, he is 
 said to be brought into the glorious liberty 
 of the children of God. He receives the 
 spirit of adoption : vdiere this spirit of 
 Christ is, there is liberty. So the institu- 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 17 
 
 tions of grace are for the express purpose oi 
 proclaiming liberty to the captive and the 
 opening of the prison to them that are 
 bound—bound with the servile, mortal cords 
 of sin. 
 
 It is also the nature of sin to deceive. It 
 allures, beguiles, misleads from the great 
 fountain of life and happiness. Like its 
 author it deceives the whole world, and like 
 him it will yet be cast into the bottomless pit, 
 that it may deceive the nations no more. 
 With the exception of the Son of God, who 
 could not be allured by the offer of all the 
 kingdoms and glory of this world, all orders 
 of intellectual beings have been deceived 
 by it. The abodes of innocence were not a 
 sufficient shield against its aggressions. 
 The woman was beguiled and deceived bv 
 the lying lips of the old serpent, “ more 
 subtile than any beast of the field. 5 ' 1 “ The 
 man of sin” is thus described: “whose 
 coming is after the working of Satan, with 
 all power and signs and lying wonders in 
 them that perish.” He, and all under his 
 power, have a “slight and cunning craft- 
 
IB 
 
 C1N, 
 
 iness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, 
 if it were possible, the very elect.” What 
 is more deceitful than sin? It is said the 
 heart is deceitful above all things — not 
 originally; nor when washed from all guile 
 by the blood of the Lamb — but when 
 defiled with sin the very quintessence of de¬ 
 ceit. So wine is a mocker which, however 
 alluring to the eye and sweet to the taste, 
 at last bites like a serpent and stings like 
 an adder. Sin assumes false titles, asserts 
 false claims, offers false excuses, and makes 
 false resolutions. It calls pride, dignity; 
 prodigality, generosity; covetousness, pru¬ 
 dence; revelry, sociability. It claims to do 
 evil from antiquity and custom, from the 
 prevalence of its influence, and from the 
 sanctions it receives from society. It offers 
 as an excuse, inability to do otherwise, con¬ 
 stitutional failing, the power of Satan, and 
 counter excellence of motive and action. It 
 pleads for the present. It pleads the ease 
 and readiness of future amendments. It 
 determines only to make a few experiments 
 in evil, and then seek and walk in the right 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 19 
 
 
 
 w a y. It claims the present, and gives the 
 uncertain future to better things, puts off 
 repentance ancl religion till to-morrow, and 
 thus deceives men. Here the proverb is 
 true: all is not gold that glitters. All is 
 not true that sin promises. Its allurements 
 and pleasures are but for a season; its sure 
 reward, its total recompense to all, is vexa¬ 
 tion, disappointment and remorse. Its mo¬ 
 tions are trackless as the flight of a comet 
 
 or the illusions of the ignis fatuus, the will 
 o’ the wisp, or the way of an eagle in the 
 air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, or 
 the way of a ship in the midst of the sea. 
 It assumes every form and garb, from the 
 dark serpent’s coils to the shining robes of 
 an angel of light. To personify it, she has 
 a heart full of guile, with lying tongue and 
 lips of flattery, “ arrayed in harlot’s soft at¬ 
 tire, she lies in wait at every corner, and 
 says: I have peace offerings with me. This 
 day have I paid my vows. I have decked 
 my bed with coverings of tapestry, wbth 
 carved w T orks, with fine linen of Egypt. I 
 have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and 
 
 9 
 
20 
 
 SIN, 
 
 cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love 
 until the morning.” But he knows not that 
 the snare is for his life; for she hath cast 
 down many wounded; yea, many strong men 
 have been slain by her. Her house is the 
 way to hell, going down to the chambers of 
 death. Alas! poor deluded wretch, now the 
 laughing-stock of devils and of men, in 
 darkness pursuing sin, under a thousand 
 forms she took and garbs she wore in every 
 age and clime:— 
 
 “ Wretched, yet seeking- worse; 
 Polluted most, yet wallowing in the mire; 
 
 Most mad, yet drinking frenzy’s giddy cup— 
 
 Folly for wisdom, guilt for innocence, 
 
 Anguish for rapture, and for hope, despair.” 
 
 Nor is this all. Sin is of a defiling and 
 deforming nature. It defiles the soul as filth 
 does the body. The similes by which it is 
 represented in the Bible lead to this conclu¬ 
 sion. The plague of leprosy, which no 
 human skill and power could remove, and 
 which because of its ceremonial uncleanness 
 excluded the leper from the camp of Israel, 
 is a fit emblem of sin, which can not be re- 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 21 
 
 moved except by the blood of Christ, and 
 which, because of its moral pollution, ex¬ 
 cludes the impenitent sinner from the new 
 Jerusalem. Small in its beginning, yet 
 deep-rooted and inveterate, the leprosy 
 spread and rendered the whole man vile; no 
 part of the leper was clean, and it was 
 transmitted from father to son—as Elisha 
 said to Gehazi: the leprosy of Naaman shall 
 cleave unto thee and unto thy seed for ever. 
 It was loathsome in appearance, making 
 the eyes and countenance assume a horrid 
 and distressing and painful aspect. It ren¬ 
 dered life a curse and the leper a burden to 
 himself. It excluded him from society and 
 made him an object of terror to all around; 
 alldreaded his breath and were afraid to 
 meet him. It was incurable by human 
 power; it polluted every thing it touched, 
 and generally produced the most awful death; 
 it raged till the person became one mass of 
 filth and pollution, and then terminated in 
 death. What an emblem of the defiling 
 and deforming and ruinous nature of sin! 
 Small in its beginning, yet deep-rooted and 
 3 
 
22 
 
 SIN, 
 
 inveterate, defiling the whole man, physical, 
 mental and moral, it is transmitted from 
 father to son. It extends to all the faculties 
 of the soul and all the members of the body, 
 the whole man, the whole race. None right¬ 
 eous; all guilty, abominable to God and to 
 holy angels. In his natural state, filled with 
 anguish, and misery depicted in his counte¬ 
 nance, man is excluded from the family and 
 presence of the Lord—his original beauty 
 faded; the divine image effaced; his holiness 
 withered—God now beholds him loathsome 
 and vile; his features changed; the whole 
 man polluted and without strength; his 
 energies prostrated, and himself debased. 
 The Jews were called a sinful nation, whose 
 hands were defiled with blood and fingers 
 with iniquity; their leaders were likened 
 to whited sepulchres, beautiful without, but 
 within full of dead men’s bones and all 
 uncleanness; their hearts were like mystical 
 Babylon, that is become the habitation of 
 devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and 
 a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 
 Paul, describing sin by reference to a mode 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 23 
 
 of punishment among the Romans, by which 
 a dead body was fastened to a living one, 
 and carried about, till it would consume 
 away and waste its stench in the desert air, 
 exclaims, “ 0 wretched man that I am, who 
 shall deliver me from the body of this death?” 
 What except sin is more loathsome than the 
 putrid carcass from which nature itself re¬ 
 coils. Another simile is taken from the 
 dog returning to his vomit again, and the 
 sow that was washed to her wallowing in 
 the mire. The swine is noted for its filth¬ 
 iness; hence this is a striking emblem of the 
 filthy nature of sin. Every where the script¬ 
 ures denominate it by uncleanness, pollution, 
 corruption, defilement, filthiness of the flesh 
 and of the spirit. It is said, all flesh had 
 corrupted his way upon the earth, and to 
 the defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, 
 yea, even their mind and conscience is de¬ 
 filed—so defiled that, like a diseased man, 
 they call good evil, and evil good; sweet, > 
 bitter, and bitter, sweet. Th£ spiritual taste 
 of all men in a state of nature is thus per¬ 
 verted, for when God spread his skirt over 
 
24 
 
 SIN, 
 
 his own people, he found them in this con¬ 
 dition, and said, in the day that thou was! 
 born no eye pitied thee, but thou wast cast 
 out in the open field to the loathing of thy 
 person in the day that thou wast born, and 
 w r hen I passed by thee and saw thee polluted 
 in thine own blood, I said unto thee when 
 thou wast in thy blood, live. When they 
 begin to live that spiritual and immortal 
 life, and see how far they are yet from the 
 holiness of God, they in self abasement ex¬ 
 claim before him: “ Unclean, unclean; woe 
 is me, for I am undone, because I am a man 
 of unclean lips, and dwell in the midst of a 
 people of unclean lips. Behold, I am vile; 
 wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity and 
 cleanse me from my sin. Purge me wuth 
 hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and 
 I shall be whiter than snow;” and God in 
 mercy replies, I will sprinkle clean water 
 upon you, and ye shall be clean from all 
 your filthiness, and from all your idols will I 
 cleanse you; I will also save you from all 
 your uncleanness. There is a fountain 
 opened for sin and for uncleanness. Then, 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 25 
 
 dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from 
 all filthiness of the flesh and of the spirit, 
 perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. 
 There shall in no wise enter into the new 
 Jerusalem any thing that defileth; for this 
 ye know, that no whoremonger nor unclean 
 person, nor covetous man who is an idol - 
 ator, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of 
 Christ and of God. Then lay aside all filth¬ 
 iness and superfluity of naughtiness; let no 
 corrupt communication proceed out of your 
 mouth; let your conversation be without 
 covetousness, “ the prevailing sin of the 
 world and the ruling sin of the church.” 
 Bridle the tongue, which defileth the whole 
 body and setteth on fire the course of nature; 
 and it is set on fire of hell. The soul of 
 righteous Lot was vexed with the filthy con¬ 
 versation of the wicked from day to day. 
 We are exhorted not to defile with sin our 
 bodies which are the temple of God. These 
 references, among many others, prove beyond 
 all contradiction the defiling nature of sin. 
 By its polluting touch all nature fades as a 
 flower of the field or a leaf of the forest 
 3 * 
 
26 
 
 SIN, 
 
 nipped by an early frost. The forest is 
 robbed of its vernal beauty; so sin, dishon¬ 
 oring in its nature, robs man of bis honor. 
 “ Slander, the foulest whelp of sin,’’ robs 
 him of his good name, better to him than 
 precious ointment, thus making him miser¬ 
 ably poor, without enriching itself. “With¬ 
 out a good name none can sleep soundly, 
 even on a royal bed, or drink with relish 
 from a golden cup; but with it, on his couch 
 of straw or grassy pillow beneath the azure 
 canopy of heaven, the beggar takes undis¬ 
 turbed repose. Its price is above riches,health, 
 empires, life itself. But by sin man dishonors 
 himself. The moment he breaks the law he is 
 like Israel when the ark was taken; his 
 glory is departed; his crown is fallen from 
 his head, and he is become the degenerate 
 plant of a strange vine, yielding the grapes 
 of Sodom and the clusters of Gomorrah. 
 This is true of all sin. Says Paul, thou that 
 abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? 
 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, 
 through breaking the law dislionorest thou 
 God? Since it tramples on the authority of 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 27 
 
 Jehovah, it is true of all sin, however small 
 in the eyes of the world, that it is dishonor¬ 
 ing to God as well as dishonoring and ruin¬ 
 ous to man. But some sins are confessedly 
 so, as idolatry, licentiousness, theft, murder, 
 perjury. Perjury robs man of fair reputa¬ 
 tion, and no less so does licentiousness, 
 whether it be found in the liquid fires of the 
 intoxicating draught, sinking man below the 
 level of the brute, or leading him to give 
 his honor to the cruel, in the polluted em¬ 
 brace of the adulterous bed, or the more 
 dark, putrid and poisonous haunts of a bro¬ 
 thel. “ A wound and dishonor shall he get, 
 and his reproach shall not be wiped away.” 
 How true is this of man, and especially of 
 the other sex, the guardians of virtue, which 
 if not kept inviolate brings on them an in¬ 
 delible stain, which tears of blood and oceans 
 of water can not wash away. It is said of 
 them that did not like to retain God in their 
 knowledge, that he gave them up to dis¬ 
 honor their own bodies between themselves, 
 gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do 
 those things that are not convenient. The 
 
2S sin, 
 
 klolator degrades himself below the creature 
 of his own hand, changes the glory of the 
 incorruptible God into an image like to cor¬ 
 ruptible man, and to birds and four-footed 
 beasts and creeping things. The thief has 
 no standing in society, nor scarcely a place 
 in the wide world except within some massy 
 walls, iron gates and gloomy cells* He who 
 like Cain stains his hands with innocent 
 blood, draws a mark of infamy on his own 
 face and wanders awhile as a vagabond, or 
 at length hangs on his own gibbet. But, 
 strange to tell, by a standard of false honor 
 in the art of chivalry, if sin can be reduced to 
 a system and practiced by her laws of honor 
 on a large scale; vice is called virtue— 
 murder, heroism. One word writes the his¬ 
 tory. A “hero is a murderer above the laws, 
 and greatly praised for doing murderous 
 deeds;” just as in the world’s vocabulary 
 “ wealth means worth; wisdom, the art of 
 acquiring it.” Riches is virtue; poverty, 
 crime. To call a man rich, is to pronounce 
 his highest eulogy, and to call him poor is 
 to brand him with infamy. But, in the 
 language of poetry, 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 29 
 
 “ Honor and shame from no condition rise, 
 
 Act well your part, there all the honor lies — 
 Merit seldom shows itself bedecked with tinsel 
 and fine clothes; 
 
 But hermit like ’tis oftener used to fly and hide 
 its beauties in obscurity.” 
 
 Ah, when will the world look at things in 
 their true light, call them by their right 
 names, and esteem and honor men not for 
 their vices, nor for the gold ring and goodly 
 apparel, but for their moral worth—not for 
 their name,but for their righteous and heaven- 
 approved conduct. When will they learn 
 that divine and unalterable truth, “righ¬ 
 teousness exalts a nation, but sin is a re¬ 
 proach to any people.” 
 
 In the same way the contagious , diffusive , 
 hardening , and destructive nature of sin 
 might be described. It is incurable by hu¬ 
 man agency. No man can cure himself nor 
 deliver his brother from death. Human rea¬ 
 son, human learning, human legislation, and 
 human systems of religion, have all tried, 
 but never did any nor all of them restore 
 one sin-stricken soul to life and health. All 
 have failed. God alone can deliver and save 
 
30 
 
 SIN, 
 
 the soul. But as these points will substan¬ 
 tially appear again, it is sufficient now 
 merely to mention them. It is generally 
 admitted that some diseases are contagious, 
 so contagious that one can scarcely go in 
 their atmosphere without receiving the poi¬ 
 sonous infection. They spread through a 
 town, city, country, and even the world, and 
 like a plague; a sweeping rain, and over¬ 
 whelming torrent, carry thousands down the 
 stream to an untimely grave. As appears 
 from the history of war, familiarity with 
 scenes of distress has a hardening tendency. 
 It benumbs the sensibilities, and closes the 
 avenues to the heart. All this is true of sin. 
 It is a moral plague which communicates 
 and diffuses itself through the whole country 
 and world, cutting down in its course all, 
 without distinction and without exception. 
 Like the leaven in the meal it spreads 
 through the whole human family. Hence 
 the testimony of scripture, is “ evil commu¬ 
 nications corrupt good manners, and one sin¬ 
 ner destroys much good; a companion of 
 fools shall be destroyed.’ 5 Sin reigned from 
 
ITS NATURE. 
 
 31 
 
 Adam to Moses. It has spread through the 
 whole man; the whole species—not one 
 exempt. It has seared the conscience until 
 past feeling; twice dead; until man has re¬ 
 strained prayer before God—grown bold in 
 crime—gloried in his shame, and sat down 
 in the scorner’s chair. It closes the eye, 
 stops the ear, and hardens the heart against 
 the invitations of the Gospel—the voice of 
 conscience; the strivings of the Holy Spirit; 
 the admonitions of Providence, and the 
 warnings of the Bible. Stiffened in the cold 
 it excites pity, but warmed and cherished in 
 the affections, it recovers its natural strength 
 and stings its benefactor. 
 
 “ Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, 
 
 Aa to be hated, needs but to be seen, 
 
 But seen too oft, familiar with its face, 
 
 We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” 
 
 But alas, it is a mortal embrace; sin when it 
 is finished bringeth forth death; the wages of 
 sin is death; death in its most alarming fea¬ 
 tures; death temporal, spiritual and eternal; 
 certain in its event; irresistible in its ap¬ 
 proach; universal in its extent; dreadful in 
 
32 ' sin, 
 
 its ravages and eternal in its consequences. 
 All this, unless the sting is extracted by 
 Him who triumphed over death and the 
 grave. 
 
 “ 0 death—thou hast been the terror long, 
 
 And murderer of all of woman born, 
 
 None could escape thee— 
 
 Thou satt’st from age to age insatiate, 
 
 And drank the blood of men, and gorged their flesh-, 
 And with thy iron teeth didst grind their bones 
 To powder—treading out beneath thy feet 
 Their very names and memories-, the blood 
 Of nations could not slake thy parched throat. 
 
 No bribe could buy thy favour for an hour, 
 
 Or mitigate thy ever cruel rage 
 
 For human prey. Gold, beauty, virtue, youth; 
 
 Even helpless swaddled innocency failed 
 
 To soften thy heart of stone; the infant’s blood 
 
 Pleased well thy taste—and while the mother wept 
 
 Bereaved by thee, lonely and waste in woe, 
 
 Thy ever grinding jaws devoured her too.” 
 
 “ Death! great proprietor of all! ’tis thine 
 To tread out empire, and to quench the stars; 
 
 The sun himself by thy permission shines, 
 
 And one day thou shalt pluck him from his sphere.” 
 
 In view of all this, well may it be asked 
 in the language of inspiration: “ What 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 33 
 
 fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are 
 now ashamed, for the end of those things is 
 death.” 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EFFECTS OF SIN. 
 
 The tree is known by his fruit. Do men 
 gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? 
 Mat. vi, 16; xii, 33. As sin is an evil tree 
 spontaneously sprung up in its own native 
 soil, it never yields anything better than 
 thorns. Its germ was first found among 
 the rebel angels, but their celestial abode 
 being uncongenial to its growth, it has 
 planted its roots deep in the earth, rearing 
 its trunk and extending its branches far and 
 wide through the universe to supply fuel for 
 eternal fires. To the eye its luxuriant 
 fruit seems beautiful as apples of gold in 
 pictures of silver, and supposing it is equal¬ 
 ly delicious to the taste, no order of beings 
 was too high and holy not to pluck and eat. 
 But all have found its poisonous, mortal taste 
 
 more bitter than the gall of wormwood and 
 4 
 
34 
 
 SIN, 
 
 death. The angels of heaven found it so. 
 Among them, aspiring to be Gods, sin had 
 its origin. And there was war in heaven; 
 Michael and his angels fought against the 
 dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought 
 and prevailed not, neither was their place 
 found any more in heaven. Rev. xii. The 
 battle was soon decided. The Most High 
 prevailed over the rebel angels, and in “ judg¬ 
 ment pursued them with terrors to the crys¬ 
 tal wall of heaven, and from its verge cast 
 them down headlong” bound hand and foot 
 without hope and without mercy into the 
 bottomless pit. For them no ransom is pro¬ 
 vided. They must lie down in eternal de¬ 
 spair. Peter informs us that God spared not 
 the angels that sinned, but cast them down 
 to hell and delivered them into chains of 
 darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. 
 With reference to this whole transaction, 
 Isaiah exclaims “ How art thou fallen, 0 
 Lucifer son of the morning; thou thatsaidst 
 in thine heart I will ascend into heaven. 1 
 will exalt my throne above the stars of God. 
 I will be like the Most High, yet thou shalt 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 35 
 
 be cast clown to hell to the sides of the pit.” 
 Isa. xiv. 
 
 u But his doom 
 
 Reserved him to more wrath, for now the thought 
 Both of lost happiness and lasting pain 
 Torments him— 
 
 A dungeon horrible on all sides round 
 
 As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames 
 
 No light, but rather darkness visible, 
 
 Served only to discover sights of woe— 
 
 Regions of sofrow! doleful shades! where peace 
 And rest can never dwell, but torture without end 
 Still reigns, and a fiery deluge fed 
 With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed— 
 
 —But 0 how fallen! how changed— 
 
 Is this the region-, this the soil—the clime—this the 
 seat 
 
 That we must change for heaven? This mournful 
 gloom 
 
 For that celestial light ? be it so!— 
 
 Farewell happy fields 
 
 Where joy forever dwells! hail horrors! hail 
 Infernal world! and thou profoundest hell 
 Receive thy new possessor! ” 
 
 So sung the prince of poets concerning 
 the fallen angels, and had sin been confined 
 to them, this earth would have remained in 
 its original beauty and grandeur; the blessed 
 
36 sin. 
 
 abode of man. But alas! he too has tasted 
 the bitter fruit of sin and felt the shock 
 that once resounded thro’ the spacious vaults 
 of heaven. Its first effect on man was to 
 divest him of his original righteousness, and 
 expel him from paradise. This first disobe¬ 
 dience brought death into the world, and all 
 our woe. That moment his happiness fled 
 like the morning cloud and early dew; sin 
 impaired all his faculties, physical, mental, 
 and moral. It deprived him of blessings in¬ 
 numerable both of a temporal and spiritual 
 nature, and brought on him and his posterity 
 a train of positive evils without number and 
 without end. Speaking of man’s first sin, 
 the sacred historian says, their eyes w^ere 
 opened, and they knew that they were na¬ 
 ked. Knew that by their own wayward act 
 they were divested of original righteousness; 
 of the divine image; of their crown which 
 had now fallen from their heads, and knew 
 that they had thus become wretched, miser¬ 
 able, unprotected, and exposed to the wrath 
 of an offended God. As a consequence of 
 this act, fear and shame and anguish seized 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 37 
 
 their hearts, and trembling all dismayed, 
 they hid themselves from the presence of the 
 Lord God, among the trees of the garden. 
 But he whose eyes are as a flame of fire: 
 before whom all things are naked and open; 
 who searches Jerusalem as with lighted can¬ 
 dles, and sets our secret faults before the 
 brightness of his face; discovered them in 
 their concealment, and summoned them to 
 appear before his presence, and passed a 
 sentence multiplying their sorrow; dooming 
 them to the toils and miseries of life, and 
 finally to death itself; expelling them from 
 that garden which was too holy and delight¬ 
 ful to be an abode of the guilty, and sending 
 them into the wide world now cursed for 
 their sake, where new toils and new trou¬ 
 bles awaited them. And the Lord God said, 
 Behold the man is become as one of us, to 
 know good and evil, and now lest he put 
 forth his hand and take also of the tree of 
 life and live forever; therefore the Lord 
 God sent him forth from the garden of Eden 
 to till the ground from whence he was taken. 
 So he drove out the man, and he placed 
 4 * 
 
• 38 
 
 SIN, 
 
 Cherubim and a flaming sword which turned 
 every way, to keep the way of the tree of 
 life. It is true that the sentence of death 
 threatened in case of disobedience, was not 
 literally executed on man in the day he 
 sinned; but that moment he died spiritually 
 and legally, and became mortal and liable 
 to temporal and eternal death. The seeds of 
 mortality were sown in his constitution. 
 His body was now subject to internal dis¬ 
 eases and external injuries; it was exposed 
 to the wasting influence of the elements; it 
 was doomed to decline in vigour and activity 
 and to feel the infirmities of old age and at 
 last sink into the grave. At the same time 
 his mind was disturbed with fear hitherto 
 unknown, and the awful prospect of the 
 termination of his earthly career aggravated 
 the other evils which he suffered and embit¬ 
 tered his remaining pleasures. He lost all 
 hope of the happiness which would have 
 been the reward of his obedience, and would 
 have consisted in the enjoyment of endless 
 life and felicity. His right to it depended 
 on his fulfilling the terms of the covenant. 
 
ITS EFFECTS* 
 
 39 
 
 and as he failed to fulfill them, he had no claim 
 to the promise. That noble prize which 
 would have blessed him and his posterity 
 through the ages of eternity was forever 
 forfeited* He fell under the curse, and be¬ 
 ing unable to extricate himself from its 
 pow r er, he was still less capable of regain¬ 
 ing, by his utmost exertions the immense re¬ 
 ward which having been once rejected, 
 would not be offered again. He was rejec¬ 
 ted from paradise that he might not with 
 presumptuous hand pluck the fruit of the 
 tree of life; the symbol and seal of immor¬ 
 tality. In the day of his transgression he 
 underwent spiritual death. His sin shed its 
 baneful influence over his soul, and in a mo¬ 
 ment turned its beauty into deformity. The 
 image of God was totally lost. The tie that 
 bound him to his Creator, and inspired and 
 sustained his moral excellence, withered and 
 died like the verdure of autumn. “ Nothing 
 remained but his natural faculties, weakened 
 and corrupted; a darkened understanding, a 
 wayward will; sensual appetites, and irre¬ 
 gular affections. The change was sudden* 
 
40 
 
 SIN, 
 
 but it was complete. Human nature was 
 essentially the same, but it was divested of 
 its brightest ornaments.” Its glory was de¬ 
 parted. The effects of sin spread over the 
 whole human family. It is owing to 
 Adam’s sin, that “ death has ever since been 
 making havoc of mankind, and sweeping 
 one generation after another into the grave. 
 It is owing to his sin that holiness has been 
 banished from the earth, and crimes and 
 miseries have been multiplied from age to 
 age; it is owing to his sin that myriads of 
 beings capable of immortal felicity, and 
 endless improvement have been lost, and are 
 doomed to spend an interminable existence 
 in sorrow and despair.’’ By one man, sin 
 entered into the world, and death by sin, 
 and so death passed upon all men for that 
 all have sinned. Ro. v, 12. This truth is 
 corroborated by the sufferings and death of 
 infants which can not be accounted for ex¬ 
 cept by admitting that they sinned and fell 
 in Adam as the representative of his pos¬ 
 terity. God is infinitely holy and just, and 
 never can inflict punishment on an innocent 
 
STS EFFECTS. 
 
 41 
 
 being, and especially such a punishment as 
 death, without ceasing to be what he is, a 
 “ God of truth and without iniquity, just 
 and right is he—just in all that is brought 
 on us—a just God and a Saviour,” to whom 
 it may well be said: 
 
 Justice and judgment of thy throne are made the 
 dwelling place; [face. 
 
 Mercy, accompanied with truth, shall go before thy 
 
 Death reigned from Adam to Moses even 
 over them that had not sinned after the si¬ 
 militude of Adam’s transgression. Ro. v, 
 14. But waiving this point, “ the body is 
 affected by the elements; by vicissitudes of 
 cold and heat; by the air which it breathes; 
 by the rain and dew of heaven: by exhala¬ 
 tions from the earth, and the waters, which 
 cause sickness, pain, debility and decay. It 
 is worn out by the toil which is necessary 
 to procure a subsistence.” Diseases of va¬ 
 rious names which assail us by day and by 
 night; earthquakes, famine and pestilence, 
 are means by which God avenges the viola¬ 
 tion of his law. To these may be added, 
 “ the anxiety, the fear, the disappointments, 
 
42 
 
 SIN, 
 
 the regret, the foreboding apprehensions 
 which haunt the mind, and, in consequence 
 of the intimate connection between the soul 
 and body, make the latter pine away and 
 sink into an untimely grave.” Even tem¬ 
 poral death is a great evil. It was particu¬ 
 larly so to Adam, who having the prospect 
 of eternal life and endless felicity was sud¬ 
 denly brought to a state that would soon ter¬ 
 minate in darkness. He must have trembled 
 at. the dreadful sentence, and been for a mo¬ 
 ment sunk in despair. Though life does not 
 now possess the attractions it did to him, 
 yet all that a man hath will he give for his 
 life. It is his constant care and labor to 
 preserve it and to support it from dangers 
 and repair its injuries, he calls in the aid of 
 others. The very thought of dissolution is 
 terrible, at which we shudder and turn pale. 
 “ To be arrested in the midst of our career; 
 to be separated forever from those we love; 
 to close our eyes for the last time on the 
 light of the sun; to give up our joys and 
 hopes with our parting sigh,” is an evil of 
 no small magnitude, and if temporal death 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 43 
 
 is such an evil, what is spiritual and eternal? 
 No tongue during the longest period of time 
 can answer this question. Its solution re¬ 
 mains for eternity. But this evil in all its 
 magnitude is the effect of sin; yea the first 
 sin of man, which to the unreflecting mind 
 appears trifling, but which expelled man 
 from paradise; brought death into the world 
 and all our woe. 
 
 “ O unexpected stroke, worse than death! 
 
 Must I leave thee Paradise? thus leave 
 Thee native soil? These happy walks and shades 
 Fit haunt of Gods? where I had hope to spend 
 Quiet though sad, the respite of that day 
 That must be mortal to us both. O flowers 
 That never will in other climate grow, 
 
 My early visitation and my last— 
 
 Thee lastly nuptial bower by me adorn’d 
 
 With what to sight or smell was sweet, from thse 
 
 How shall I part, and wither wander down 
 
 Into a lower world, to this obscure 
 
 And wild? How shall we breathe in other air 
 
 Less pure, accustomed to immortal fruits?” 
 
 Did sin cast the angels out of heaven in¬ 
 to the regions of despair; did it drive mad 
 out of paradise into a world of sin and sor¬ 
 row; rob him of the divine image; hide 
 
44 
 
 sn^ 
 
 God’s face and prevent that enjoyment with 
 him, which belonged to a state of innocence, 
 so it still deprives him of that communion 
 which is the earnest and constant desire of 
 the heaven-born soul; hides God’s face and 
 draws a cloud over the evidences of his fa¬ 
 vour and loving kindness which are better 
 than life. This is beyond doubt, and this is 
 the reason why so many Christians walk in 
 darkness and have no light. Sin of some 
 kind and degree deprives them of it. Your 
 iniquities have separated between you and 
 your God, and your sins have hid his face 
 from you that he will not hear; for what 
 fellowship hath righteousness with unrigh¬ 
 teousness, and what communion hath light 
 with darkness, and what concord hath Christ 
 with Belial. Isa. lix, 2; 2 Cor. vi., 14, 15, 
 It not only hides his face but stops his ears 
 against our prayers. If I regard iniquity in 
 my heart the Lord will not hear me. Ps. 
 3xvi., 18. If we have no tokens of God’s 
 favor or light of his countenance, or answer 
 to prayer, it is because of sin. Yea, it pre¬ 
 vents blessings without number, affecting 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 45 
 
 nature itself as well as man and beast. 
 Cursed is the ground for thy sake, in sorrow 
 shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. 
 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth 
 to thee. The testimony of scripture is, that 
 the whole creation, groans and travails 
 together in pain till now; with pain inflic¬ 
 ted by barbarous and unmerciful men on 
 animals in their service; with pain from 
 cruelty, starvation, and consequent decay. 
 The eruptions of the burning mountain, and 
 the reeling of the rumbling earthquake; the 
 fury of the howling wind and raging tem¬ 
 pest, and ocean’s roar, and thunder’s peal, or 
 the war of elements, together with the fires, 
 of persecution, and desolations of wars 
 famine, plague and pestilence; their conse¬ 
 quent attendants, are all indications of na¬ 
 ture groaning under the wide spread evil of 
 sin. Because of it the showers of heaven 
 are stayed, and the fields yield no meat; the 
 flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no 
 herd in the stall. A fruitful land is turned 
 into barrenness, for the wickedness of those 
 that dwell therein; for this the showers of 
 
 5 
 
46 
 
 SIN, 
 
 heaven have been withholden; the former 
 and Jatter rain are not given. He reserveth 
 unto us the appointed weeks of harvest; be¬ 
 cause, says the prophet, your iniquities have 
 turned away these things, and your sins have 
 withholden good things from you. Jer. v, 
 25. And Zechariah foretold, that upon those 
 who would not come up to Jerusalem, to 
 worship the king, the Lord of hosts, even 
 upon them there shall be no rain. Ah, how 
 seldom men now think that irreligion is the 
 cause of drought and of famine. They will 
 not worship the King of heaven, and honor 
 him with their substance; hence their barns 
 are not filled with plenty and their presses 
 do not burst out with new wine. They sow • 
 much and bring in little; they earn wages 
 to put it into a bag with holes. Why? saith 
 the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house 
 that is waste, and ye run every man to his 
 own house; therefore the heaven over you is 
 stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed 
 from her fruit. (Hag. i.) For sin, temporal, 
 spiritual and eternal punishment is inflicted 
 on individuals and nations. A melancholy 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 47 
 
 list of evils threatened against the disobe¬ 
 dient, is found in Deuteronomy, 28th chapter. 
 Among these are vexation, disappointment, 
 the sword, famine, pestilence, destruction, 
 frowns of heaven and of the earth, whose 
 rain shall be powder and dust; captivity, 
 madness, blindness, astonishment, the want 
 of burial, the botch of Egypt, the defilement 
 and bereavement of those we hold most 
 dear; oppression and evil evermore. Ac¬ 
 cording to the law of his house, Jehovah 
 punished his people for all their iniquities; 
 visited their transgressions with the rod, and 
 their iniquities with stripes. For his sin, 
 the sword never departed from David’s 
 house, and for the iniquity of Israel’s covet¬ 
 ousness, the Lord says, I was wroth and 
 smote him. I hid me and was w r roth be¬ 
 cause they forsook and limited the Most 
 High, and forgot his wonders in Egypt, 
 when he destroyed their vines with hail, and 
 their sycamore trees with frost, and gave 
 their cattle also to hail, and their flocks to 
 hot thunder bolts; because they turned back 
 from him, and moved him to jealousy with 
 
 / 
 
48 
 
 SIN, 
 
 their graven images, he forsook Israel, and 
 delivered his strength into captivity; gave 
 his people over to the sword; the fire con¬ 
 sumed their young men, and their maidens 
 were not given in marriage; their priests fell 
 by the sword, and their widows made no 
 lamentations. For their murmuring and 
 mutiny, their unbelief and carnal aposta¬ 
 tizing spirit in not following the Lord whol¬ 
 ly, they were sent from the borders of Canaan 
 into the howling wilderness, where they 
 consumed their days in vanity, and their 
 years in trouble; and though, as a people, 
 they eventually inherited the land of promise, 
 yet their subsequent captivity in Babylon, 
 and subjection to the Roman government, 
 and their present dispersion among all na¬ 
 tions, is a living monument of the dreadful 
 effects of sin. It affects the mental , moral 
 and physical man. This is true, especially 
 of intemperance and sensuality. How much 
 physical strength, and mental energy, and 
 moral principle—how many cities and armies 
 have been ruined by the intoxicating draught? 
 —how much discord and ruin in families. 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 49 
 
 'churches and society—how much disease, 
 poverty and crime, and disgrace, and pre¬ 
 mature and eternal death has it occasioned ? 
 Let the downfall of Babylon and the Roman 
 empire—let history, sacred and profane—let 
 our prisons and courts of justice—let physici¬ 
 ans and hospitals—let the tears of widows and 
 orphans, and let the word of eternal truth 
 ■answer these enquiries, each of which might 
 furnish a separate volume. “ Who hath woe, 
 who hath sorrow, who hath contentions, 
 who hath babblings, who hath wounds with¬ 
 out cause, who hath redness of eyes? They 
 that tarry long at the wine, they that go 1o 
 seek mixed wine.” “ The drunkard shall not 
 inherit the kingdom of God.” The same 
 ruinous effect is produced on the moral 
 principle, on body, soul and spirit, by sen¬ 
 suality. It has produced filthy conversation 
 and hereditary disease. It has prostrated 
 the noblest powers of man to the level of an 
 idiot; brought him to poverty and disgrace, 
 and sunk him into the pit of eternal death. 
 Trampling on all law, human and divine, 
 and natural, it often places its victim beyond 
 
 6 * 
 
50 
 
 SIN, 
 
 the reach of recovery; lor by means of a. 
 whorish woman a man is brought to a piece 
 of bread. None that go unto her return 
 again, she hath cast down many wounded, 
 yea, many strong men have been slain by 
 her. Her house is the way to hell, going 
 down to the chambers of death. Hence, re¬ 
 move thy way far from her, and come not 
 nigh the door of her house, lest thou give 
 thine honor unto others, and thy years unto 
 the cruel;—lest strangers be filled with thy 
 wealth and thou mourn at the last, when thy 
 Jlesh and thy body are consumed, and say, 
 how have I hated instruction, and my heart 
 despised reproof, and have not obeyed the 
 voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear 
 to them that instructed me. (Prov.) 
 
 “At morn 
 
 I looked and saw him not among the youths, 
 
 I heard his father mourn, his mother weep; 
 
 For none returned that went with her; the dead 
 Were in her house; her guests in depths of hell: 
 
 She wove the winding sheet of souls and laid 
 Them in the urn of everlasting death.” 
 
 The mental anxiety and distress, the ter¬ 
 rors that surprise the hypocrite, the gnaw- 
 
ITS EFFECTS, 
 
 51 
 
 ings of a guilty conscience which needs no 
 accuser, the fearful apprehensions of punish¬ 
 ment, both in this life and in the next, and 
 the stupifying and searing of the conscience 
 to such an extent, that men call evil good 
 and good evil, and glory in their shame. 
 All these are the fruits of sin. Sinners in 
 Zion are afraid, fearfullness hath surprised 
 the hypocrite, a dreadful sound is in his ears— 
 in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon 
 him. The wicked flee when no man pursues* 
 All sinners are afraid of divine judgments, 
 and loss of reputation. Joseph’s brethren, 
 under a mysterious providence, were afraid, 
 and said one to another, We are verily guilty 
 concerning our brother, in that we saw the 
 anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and 
 we would not hear; therefore is this distress 
 come upon us; and Judah said, What shall 
 we say unto my Lord ? and what shall we 
 speak? or how’ shallwe clear ourselves? God 
 hath found out the iniquity of thy servants. 
 (Gen. xlii, xxi, 44, 16.) David was afraid 
 that he would be cast out of God’s sight, like 
 those that lie in the grave, who are no more 
 
52 
 
 six, 
 
 remembered, and, under the wasting influence 
 of this fear, said, my flesh trerableth for fear 
 of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments. 
 (Ps.) xxxviii,5; cxix, 120.) Even Job said, 
 the thing I greatly feared is come upon me— 
 the terrors of God are within me, the poison 
 whereof drinks up my spirits. These mental 
 troubles are expressed in scripture, by waters 
 coming into the soul—by water spouts—by 
 wave succeeding wave and billows passing 
 over the soul—by sinking in deep mire—by a 
 loathsome disease — by broken bones, and 
 roaring night and day,—by wrath, lying hard, 
 and the terrors of God sticking fast in the 
 sinner, by a body of death, by the sorrows of 
 hell encompassing the soul, and by many such 
 similies as appears from Job, David and Paul. 
 These are divine rebukes for sin, distressing 
 the soul, and wasting the conscience, awaken¬ 
 ed by a sense of guilt. This is the worm that 
 never dies, the fire that is never quenched, 
 but produces eternal weeping and wailing, 
 and gnashing of teeth. These are some of 
 the dire effects of sin, seen in the poverty, 
 and distress, and disappointment, and afflict- 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 53 
 
 ions, and crosses of the world, and in the 
 gloom of the grave—seen in the torments of 
 an awakened conscience, smitten by the light¬ 
 nings of divine wrath, and aroused from its 
 stupor to the horrors of despair — seen in 
 separation from God, the fountain of life and 
 comfort-—and seen in the first great sin which 
 brought down the curse of Jehovah on count¬ 
 less generations, and ruined the world. 
 
 But the clearest view of the evil of sin , is 
 obtained from the hill of Calvary , crimsoned 
 with blood divine. There Jesus paid the enor¬ 
 mous debt of sin by the price of his own 
 blood. Though he was rich, yet for your 
 sakes he become poor that ye through his 
 poverty might be rich. He was daily his 
 Father’s delight, rejoicing always before 
 him, but he veiled his uncreated glory in 
 our nature, to make atonement for sin, and 
 raise us, guilty and wretched with crime, to 
 the throne and dignity of heaven ! Passing 
 great were his humiliation and sufferings, 
 who being in the form of God thought it 
 not robbery to be equal with God, but made 
 himself of no reputation, and took upon him 
 
54 
 
 SIN, 
 
 the form of a servant, and was made in the 
 likeness of men, and being found in fashion 
 as a man, he humbled himself and became 
 obedient unto death, even the death of the 
 cross. In the obedience and sufferings of 
 Christ, even unto death, is given the clearest 
 possible evidence of the Father’s displeasure 
 at sin. Who can comprehend the full im¬ 
 port of that language. “ He spared not his 
 own Son, but delivered him up for us all” 
 —delivered him up to the vengeance of the 
 broken and inexorable law—to the furbished 
 sword of inflexible justice—to the insatiable 
 demands of avarice, bigotry and prejudice— 
 to the rage of his implacable enemies—to 
 the cruelty of the merciless soldiery—to the 
 buffeting of Satan, and the cup of wrath due to 
 us for sin. God delivered up his only begotten 
 Sou, ihe brightness of his glory, and the ex¬ 
 press image of his person, to sufferings and 
 death for sinners! This dear Saviour—this 
 Son of the Highest was made flesh—made of 
 a woman—made under the law—born in a 
 stable and laid in a manger—was an exile 
 from his country—despised of men and re- 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 55 
 
 jected of the people, prayed to depart out of 
 their coasts, reproached as a Galilean, as a 
 perverter of the nation, as a wine bibber, 
 a gluttonous man, a friend of publicans 
 and sinners, a deceiver, a blasphemer, in 
 league with Satan casting out devils—was 
 stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. Fol¬ 
 low him to the garden of Gethsemane, bapti¬ 
 sed with his bloody sweat, where heart¬ 
 broken with reproach, and full of heaviness, 
 without any to pity or comfort him, and 
 being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, 
 while the disciples where fast asleep on that 
 sacred ground. It was night. The noise of 
 tumultuous life had ceaSed, nature was at 
 rest, the stars poured down their splendor, 
 and the gentle breezes, fragrant with spices, 
 blew softly along. Jerusalem slumbered in 
 security, disturbed only by the watchman’s 
 step and the murmuring of Kedron passing 
 by. All was tranquil, when lo! torches were 
 seen advancing in the distance, and the on¬ 
 ward march of soldiery soon broke the sweet 
 repose—their helmets and shields glittered in 
 the blazing light of their torches. They 
 
56 
 
 SIN, 
 
 advanced, guided on their way by the in¬ 
 famous traitor, and, in a moment, Jesus was 
 surrounded by the “bulls of Bashan,” betray¬ 
 ed with a kiss, seized and taken, as a prisoner 
 from the garden through the streets of Jeru¬ 
 salem to the house of the high priest. Peter 
 followed afar off. The chief priests and 
 scribes stood and vehemently accused him. 
 Herod with his men of war set him at nought, 
 mocked him, arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, 
 and sent him again to Pilate who, after ex¬ 
 amination, found no fault in him, and resolved 
 to chastise him and release him; but this 
 only added fuel to the flame of passion al¬ 
 ready kindled, and they cried out all at once, 
 away with him, crucify him, crucify him! 
 Pilate said unto them the third time, why, 
 what evil hath he done? I have found no 
 cause of death in him, I will therefore chas¬ 
 tise him and let him go ; but they were 
 instant with loud voices, requiring that he 
 might be crucified, and the voices of them 
 and the chief priests prevailed. Then, the 
 blessed Jesus was delivered up to the base 
 and infuriated multitude, who like ravening 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 57 
 
 wolves, wreaked on him all their infernal 
 rage, and like hissing adders began to spit 
 in his face, and smite him with the palms of 
 their hands, and with reeds, to buffet him, to 
 cover his face, and with insulting mockery, 
 cry, Prophecy, who it is that smote Thee. 
 They put a crown of thorns on his head, and 
 led him away to be crucified. The tumult 
 now rose to its height, the raging waves of 
 human passion displayed all their terrors, and 
 he gave his back to the smiters and his 
 cheeks to them that plucked off* the hair. 
 When he was reviled he reviled not again, 
 when he suffered he threatened not, but com¬ 
 mitted himself to him that judgeth righteous¬ 
 ly. Neither Pilate nor the prince of this 
 world found any fault in him, yet the raging 
 multitude, deaf to every feeling of humanity, 
 and the voice of conscience, cried out, away 
 with him, crucify him, crucify him, his blood 
 be on us and on our children. A thousand 
 voices on every side uttered in wild confusion, 
 this fearful language, and Pilate gave sen¬ 
 tence that it should be as they required. 
 Dreadful sentence ! Amid these insulting 
 
58 
 
 SIN, 
 
 enemies, and the carnal security of that city 
 over which he wept, the Saviour passed, 
 bearing his cross, till nature failed, when 
 Simon, a Cyrenian, was compelled to bear 
 the cross after Jesus, to the place of execu¬ 
 tion. To his friends, following after, ming- 
 ling their lamentations with the shouts of 
 the mob, he exclaimed in plaintive tones, 
 weep not for me, but weep for yourselves 
 and for your children. At length they reach 
 the top of Calvary, and stretch Jesus upon 
 the cross—the nails are driven through the 
 quivering tendons of his hands and feet— 
 then he is raised from the ground, and with 
 his whole weight hanging on the nails, he 
 is left to die, amidst the reproach of his foes, 
 crying “He saved others, himself he can not 
 save—come down from the cross if thou be 
 be the Son of God.” But what were these 
 revilings, w r hat the cross, what the thorny 
 crown, what the spitting, and smiting, and 
 scourging, and mocking of his foes, what 
 the buffeting of Satan, what the desertion of 
 his friends, what was all else, to the desertion 
 of his Father and the cup w r hich he gave 
 
 ♦ 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 59 
 
 him to drink? It was this that made the 
 waters come into his soul now troubled and 
 exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, melt¬ 
 ed like wax in the midst of his bowels, and 
 his bones all out of joint. But what he 
 suffered in his soul, when he endured the 
 wrath due for sin, must ever surpass all 
 powers of description and conception. Here 
 is the highest pitch of suffering, every varie¬ 
 ty of agony, excessive sorrow, unutterable 
 load of dejection, inexpressible wonder, 
 alarm, and anguish at the curse of the law, 
 and the load of wrath due for sin, met in his 
 soul. The period of his mysterious agony, 
 his awful desertion and actual death, is 
 called his hour ;—the hour and power of 
 darkness—the hour that he was to go out of 
 this world, make atonement for sin, and bring 
 in everlasting righteousness. During this 
 period every aid, human and divine, with¬ 
 drew itself; he trod the winepress alone, and 
 of the people there was none with him—none 
 of all he healed came to his relief in his last 
 extremity, and his Father hid his face. Here, 
 the tide of suffering rose to its height—here, 
 
60 
 
 SIN, 
 
 every thing painful, ignominious, distressing, 
 terrific and overwhelming met in him. Here, 
 also is a scene, whether to the sufferer or to 
 the guilty world, is the most awful and mo¬ 
 mentous that ever occurred—a scene which 
 excites mingled emotions of joy and sorrow, 
 the sympathies of his people, the envy of 
 devils, and the admiration of saints and 
 angels—a scene at which all nature was 
 moved. But it was his desertion, as he stood 
 alone in the darkened universe, that brought 
 from him that piercing cry which terrified and 
 shook the world, My God, my God, why hast 
 thou forsaken me? He said, it is finished, 
 and bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. 
 At the sound of that cry, falling from the 
 cross on the astonished multitude, the veil of 
 the temple was rent in twain, from top to 
 bottom. The sun darkened in the heavens, 
 the earth groaned as if about to expire, “an 
 earthquake thundered on;”—to complete the 
 tragedy, the dead rose from their long slum¬ 
 bers, and came forth to witness the awful 
 scene. Darkness covered all the land, from 
 the sixth to the ninth hour, and the Cen- 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 61 
 
 turion, and they that werewith him, watching 
 Jesus feared greatly, saying, truly this was 
 the Son of God. Most terrible scene, fit to 
 melt the heart of stone, and fill the universe 
 with alarm, and astonishing to tell, no inter¬ 
 cessor interposed for the Saviour’s relief, and 
 no “thunderbolt fell from heaven” to destroy 
 his murderers. At such a scene well might 
 the heart melt and bleed at every pore, well 
 might nature mourn, and angels weep, and 
 silence prevail in Heaven, on hearing the 
 dying groans of Calvary. 
 
 “ The sun beheld it! No, the shocking scene 
 Drove back his. chariot, midnight veiled his face. 
 
 Sun! didst thou fly thy Maker’s pain! or start 
 At that enormous load of human guilt 
 Which bowed his blessed head, o’erwhelmed his cross, 
 Made groan the centre, burst earth’s marble womb, 
 With pangs, strange pangs! delivered of her dead! 
 
 Hell howled, and Heaven that hour let fall a tear: 
 
 / / 
 
 Heaven wept that man might smile, Heaven bled that 
 man 
 
 Might never die.”— 
 
 Communion with God is the life of his 
 soul and the cry of desertion intimated that 
 the joy and happiness of his soul were de- 
 
 I 
 
62 
 
 SIN, 
 
 parting, and that his whole nature was tossed 
 amid the billows of unmitigated woe. The 
 tokens of God’s comforting presence were 
 suspended, “ the Godhead seemed to retire 
 and sleep while his humanity suffered.” He 
 felt in his soul that he was separated from 
 the fountain of all blessedness, and the pains 
 of hell got hold on him, enduring the wrath 
 due for sin, of which this desertion was a 
 part. This dreadful scene displayed at once 
 the evil of sin, the justice of God, the love 
 of Christ, the value of the soul, and the 
 triumphs of the Saviour, eventually ascend¬ 
 ing from the darkness of the tomb amid the 
 shouts of angels to the glory of his Father; 
 and to give value and dignity to the whole 
 scene, these extreme sufferings were vicarious, 
 and voluntary, and efficacious on the part of 
 Jesus, who put away sin by the sacrifice of 
 himself, who, having power to lay down his 
 life and to take it again, gave himself a ran¬ 
 som for many—a ransom for all; gave him¬ 
 self for us an offering and a sacrifice to God 
 for a sweet smelling savor. Had he not thus 
 given himself, neither the rage of the Jews,nor 
 
ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 63 
 
 the power of the Romans, nor all the created 
 powers of the universe could have torn him 
 from his throne,—nailed him to the cross and 
 accomplished this wondrous tragedy. But the 
 appalling scene is past—the work of redemp¬ 
 tion is finished. Rage has done its utmost. 
 Sorrow filled the disciples’ hearts—the raging 
 multitude that came with insults and mockery 
 returned home smiting their breast—aston¬ 
 ished and trembling nature recovered from her 
 shock—the darkened heavens brightening a- 
 gain, laid aside their habiliments of mourning 
 and cast down their golden rays,while the gen¬ 
 tle zephyrs blew softly over the verdant fields 
 and fragrant flowers. In dying, Jesus con¬ 
 quered, triumphing over death and the grave, 
 over principalities and powers making a show 
 of them, openly triumphing over them in his 
 cross. He hurled Satan from his throne and 
 cast him like lightening from heaven and by 
 the consoling words addressed to the peni¬ 
 tent thief, “ To-day shalt thou be with me 
 in Paradise,” gave his people a sure pledge 
 of glory and immortality when time shall be 
 no more. The ensigns of mock royalty put 
 
64 SIN, ITS EFFECTS. 
 
 into his hands were converted by his Father 
 into the instruments of his absolute power and 
 universal dominion. The cross from which 
 his blood flowed as from a high altar to 
 cleanse from all sin, and which his foes 
 thought would stigmatize his followers with 
 reproach, became their standard of royalty 
 around which, they would rally with joy, and 
 their banner that would "wave in triumph 
 over the world. At the foot of the cross, the 
 Gentiles waited for his law, and the rod of 
 his power went forth from Jerusalem, bring- 
 ing joy and gladness, and proclaiming to the 
 ends of the earth that men shall be blessed 
 in him, and all nations shall call him blessed. 
 Such were the events and triumph of that 
 hour in which Jesus, with a soul full of 
 trouble, suffered, the just for the unjust, that 
 he might bring us to God. He saw them in 
 their incipient state,—saw of the travail of 
 his soul and was satisfied. Now, with joy he 
 said, it is finished. As a conqueror he retired 
 from the field reviewing his conquests, and is 
 henceforth hailed as the Glorious King of 
 men and Angels, Head over all things to the 
 
PARDON OF SIN, ITS PROPERTIES. 65 
 
 church, which is his body the fullness of him 
 that filleth all in all. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 PARDON OF SIN. 
 
 If sin be such an evil as has been imper¬ 
 fectly described, the question naturally 
 arises, is there any way to be delivered from 
 it, or must we lie down in our shame, and our 
 confusion cover us, must v;e dwell with ev¬ 
 erlasting burnings? To this all important 
 question, scripture alone can furnish a satis¬ 
 factory answer; and hence our subsequent re¬ 
 marks must be abundantly supported by the 
 word of eternal truth, and to its praise let it 
 ever be said that God has not left us without 
 hope concerning this thing, but, in the plen- 
 titude of his mercy, proclaims, in his word, 
 pardon to the chief of sinners. How sweet 
 and encouraging is the language of Daniel 
 
66 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 in behalf of sinners, suffering the just demerit 
 of their sins, “ To the Lord our God belong 
 mercies and forgiveness, though we have re¬ 
 belled against him,” (Dan. ix, 9). This 
 language conveys at once the strangely con¬ 
 nected truth “ To err is human, to forgive 
 divine ”—God is the only author of forgive¬ 
 ness. Who can forgive sins but God only? 
 (Mark ii, 7). Can any of the vanities of 
 the Gentiles, can any of the rulers of this 
 world—can the “man of sin,” who exalts ' 
 himself above all that is called God and is 
 worshiped and professes to exercise this 
 power, or can all the combined powers of 
 the universe forgive sin? No, this is God’s 
 prerogative, belonging exclusively to him. 
 There may be a judicial declaration of par¬ 
 don, by those to whom the keys of the king¬ 
 dom are committed, for the spiritual govern¬ 
 ment of the church. To them it is said,, 
 whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted 
 unto them, (John xx, 23) but it is God only,, 
 who can remove the guilt and pollution of 
 sin. As this is above human power, they 
 do not pretend to do it. Under the law,, the 
 
ITS PROPERTIES. 
 
 67 
 
 priest only pronounced the leper clean or 
 unclean as the case might be, but never, in 
 any case, healed the leprosy which defied all 
 created power. It is so with the leprosy of sin, 
 God alone can remove it. Remission of sin is 
 an act of Almighty power, every way becom¬ 
 ing and worthy of God. God graciously for¬ 
 gives our sins, and none forgives like him. 
 With admiration and praise we may exclaim, 
 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth 
 iniquity and passeth by the trangression of 
 the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth 
 not his anger forever because he delighteth 
 in mercy. He will turn again, he will have 
 compassion upon us, he will subdue our in¬ 
 iquities, and thou wilt cast all their sins into 
 the depths of the sea, (Mic. vii, 18, 19). 
 He requires us to forgive that we may be 
 forgiven,—forgive till seventy times seven, 
 and certainly he will npt do less than he re¬ 
 quires of us. Nay, he multiplies to pardon 
 above all our conceptions. He will 
 abundantly pardon, (Isa. lv, 7, 9). Plen¬ 
 teous redemption is ever found with him. 
 (Psalm cxxx. He pardons according to 
 
68 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 the greatness of his power and the 
 greatness of his mercy from Egypt land 
 till now, (Numb, xiv, 17, 20) 0, who can 
 comprehend the greatness of this power, this 
 mercy, and its continuance ! Because he is 
 God and not man, he will not execute the 
 fierceness of his anger nor stir up all his 
 wrath. If it were kindled but a little, blessed 
 are all they that put their trust in him. 
 
 Pardon is the sovereign act of God who 
 exercises it on the objects of his pleasure as 
 he said to Moses, desiring to see his glory, 
 J will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, 
 I will have mercy on whom 1 will have 
 mercy, (Ex. xxxiii, 19; Rom. ix, 15). This 
 truth before which the world trembles, is ex¬ 
 emplified in the salvation of men and not of 
 angels, in the salvation of some and not of 
 others, even apparently near the kingdom of 
 heaven, in taking one of a family and two of 
 a city, and bringing them to Zion, (Jer. iii, 
 4). For this exercise of mercy, no reason 
 can be given but that which Jesus himself 
 gave, “Even so Father, for so it seems good 
 in thy sight.” There is a reason that seems 
 
ITS PROPERTIES. 
 
 69 
 
 right to the divine mind, and this is sufficient 
 to justify his conduct, and this should sat¬ 
 isfy us till it be revealed,when it will appear 
 to the whole world that the Judge of all the 
 earth has done right. 
 
 Though pardon does not necessarily flow 
 from God, as the stream from the fountain, 
 or as light emanates from the sun, yet it is 
 free in its bestowment , suspended on no con¬ 
 dition of ours as a meritorious ground of its 
 reception. Even faith is only the instru¬ 
 ment of receiving forgiveness, and is neither 
 the condition nor the procuring cause of it; 
 for faith is the gift of God, a supernatural 
 grace, and hence can not be a condition of 
 pardon. Nor is remission of sins granted for 
 ancestry, for wealth, for works, for talents,for 
 learning, for external relation to the church, 
 or any such thing. It is bestowed according 
 to the good pleasure of his will. We have 
 redemption through his blood, the forgive¬ 
 ness of sins, according to the riches of his 
 grace, (Eph. i, 5-7). Hence it is of grace, 
 and not of works. Jesus Christ is exalted 
 a Prince and a Saviour, to give repent- 
 7 
 
'70 3PARD0N OF SIN, 
 
 ance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. This 
 truth is taught throughout the scriptures, 
 which declare, ye have sold yourselves for 
 nought, ye shall be redeemed without money, 
 —come, buy wine and milk without money 
 and without price,—come eat of my bread 
 and drink of the wine which I have mingled, 
 —come take the water of life freely. I am 
 the living bread which came down from 
 Heaven, if any man eat of this bread he shall 
 live forever, and the bread which I will give 
 him is my flesh, which I will give for the 
 life of the world. Knowing that we are 
 naturally wretched, and miserable, and poor, 
 and blind, and naked,—that in our flesh dwells 
 no good thing,—that we have nothing to bring 
 as an equivalent, Christ has made provision 
 according to our wants, and the riches of his 
 grace. The method of pardon is strange to 
 the unrenewed and anxious sinner, whose 
 language is, wherewith shall I come before 
 the Lord and bow myself before the high 
 God? Shall I come before him with burnt 
 offerings, with calves of a year old; will the 
 Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or 
 
ITS PROPERTIES. 
 
 71 
 
 with ten thousands of rivers of oil; shall I 
 give my first born for my trangression, the 
 fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? or 
 what good thing shall I do that I may have 
 eternal life; what must I do to be saved; what 
 must I give to procure salvation? Like 
 Simon, he comes with a price in his hand, 
 a price of wealth, of works of merit; and if 
 he can find none of these in himself of suffi¬ 
 cient value to commend him to the divine 
 mercy, or if he can make no amends for the 
 past, he is often brought to the borders of 
 despair, from which he is relieved only by 
 seeing that pardon is free as the air, sus¬ 
 pended on no human merit. God forgives 
 freely, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy 
 transgressions for mine own sake, and will 
 not remember thy sins. Praise the Lord, Q 
 my soul for this plan of salvation, by which 
 lost, helpless sinners can obtain pardon and 
 eternal life. 
 
 But though free to us, pardon is procured by 
 an infinite price ,—a price more precious than 
 rubies,—than the gold of Ophir,—than the 
 w r orld and its fullness. What is said of wisdom 
 
72 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 is true of this,—Man knoweth not the price 
 thereof, neither is it found in the land of the 
 living. The depth saith it is not in me and 
 the sea saith it is not with me. It can not 
 be gotten for gold neither shall silver be 
 weighed for the price thereof. It can not 
 be valued with the gold of Ophir,—with the 
 precious onyx or the sapphire. The gold 
 and the crystal can not equal it, and the ex¬ 
 change of it shall not be for jewels of fine 
 gold. No mention shall be made of coral 
 or of pearls, for the price of it is above ru¬ 
 bies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal 
 it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold 
 (Job xxviii, 13, 19). Whence then cometh 
 its price? Not from the blood of legal sac¬ 
 rifices which could never take away sin, nor 
 from human blood and human merit, but 
 from blood divine. Blood is the price of 
 pardon. Without shedding of blood is no 
 remission. When there was none to pity and 
 no arm that could save, God’s eye pitied and 
 his arm brought salvation. He found out a 
 ransom. He spared not his own son but de¬ 
 livered him up for us all Herein God com- 
 
ITS PROPERTIES. 
 
 73 
 
 mendeth his love towards us, in that, while 
 we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He 
 purchased the church with his own blood. 
 Ye are redeemed not with corruptible 
 things, as silver and gold, but with the pre¬ 
 cious blood of Christ, as a lamb without 
 blemish; and by the same precious blood, he 
 has entered heaven, and taken possession in 
 our name. Neither by the blood of goats 
 and calves, but by his own blood, he entered 
 once into the holy place, having obtained 
 eternal redemption for us. He made his soul 
 an offering for sin, and by that one offering, 
 he has perfected forever them that are 
 sanctified; and the triumphant song of the re¬ 
 deemed in glory is—unto him that loved us and 
 washed us from our sins in his own blood, to 
 him be glory, and honor, and dominion, for¬ 
 ever and ever; and they sing a new song 
 saying thou art worthy to take the book, and 
 open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain 
 and hast redeemed us to God by thy own 
 blood, out every kindred, and tongue, and 
 people, and nation. O, astonishing wondrous 
 price. The price of the Saviour’s blood! 
 
 7 * 
 
74 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 Jesus died for our sins,—and rose again for 
 our justification. 
 
 “ The ransom was paid down, the fund of heav’n 
 Heaven’s inexhaustible, exhausted fund 
 • Amazing and amazed pour’d forth the price 
 All price beyond-, Tho’ curious to compute 
 Archangels failed to cast the mighty sum 
 Its value vast ungrasped by minds create 
 Forever hides and glows in the Supreme ”— 
 
 O my soul ct survey the wondrous cure! 
 
 And at each step let higher wonder rise! 
 
 Pardon for infinite offence! and pardon 
 Thro’ means that speaks its value infinite! 
 
 A pardon bought with blood! with blood divine! 
 With blood divine of him I made my foe! 
 
 Persisted to provoke! Tho’ woo’d and aw’d 
 Bless’d’and chastis’d a flagrant rebel still: 
 
 A rebel ’midst the thunders of his throne! 
 
 Nor I alone! a rebel universe! 
 
 My species up in arms! not one exempt! 
 
 Yet for the foulest of the foul he dies; 
 
 Most joyed for the redeemed from deepest guilt! 
 
 As if our race were held of highest rank 
 And Godhead dearer as more kind to man!” 
 
 This dear bought pardon is full, extending , 
 with one exception, to all sin of every degree 
 and of any number. All manner of sin and 
 blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but 
 
ITS PROPERTIES. 
 
 75 
 
 the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall 
 not be forgiven unto men, (Matt, xii, 31). 
 This is often called the unpardonable sin; 
 and what that peculiar sin is, has often been 
 a subject of anxious inquiry. It may consist 
 in a willful, malicious, avowed and constant 
 rejection of Jesus Christ, against the con¬ 
 victions of conscience, the evidence of truth, 
 and the influences of the Holy Spirit; as the 
 Scribes and Pharisees, to whom this text was 
 first applied rejected him, or since the Saviour 
 has committed the affairs of his kingdom unto 
 the Holy Spirit, (John xvi,7 - 15), that he 
 may be exalted and honored even as the 
 Father and the Son, and receiving from them 
 may act in their name, it consists in thus 
 denying, despising, rejecting and reproach¬ 
 ing the divinity, personality and operations 
 of the Holy Spirit in the church, and in the 
 world; and it is clear as a sunbeam that when 
 men thus reject the only sacrifice for sin, and 
 the Holy Spirit of promise, by whom sinners 
 are renewed after the divine image, and 
 sealed until the redemption of the purchased 
 possession, unto the praise of his glory, they 
 
76 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 can not be forgiven. They sin knowingly, 
 willfully, maliciously, avowedly, obstinately, 
 and constantly persist in their sin. How, in 
 such a case can they look for pardon any more 
 than those who have gone into everlasting 
 punishment, where no ray of hope ever 
 enters, where their worm dieth not, and the 
 fire is not quenched. With this exception, 
 pardon extends to all sins however numer - 
 ovs , great , aggravated , long standing , or 
 often repeated. Under the law no sacrifice 
 was provided for some sins, as idolatry, adul¬ 
 tery, cursing God or parents, breaking the 
 Sabbath, and for presumptuous sin. These 
 were punished with immediate death. But 
 now, all that believe are justified from all 
 things, from which they could not be justified 
 by the law of Moses. The blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanses us from all sin—if we confess 
 our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us 
 our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteous¬ 
 ness, (Acts xiii, 39; 1 John i, 7 -9). All 
 manner of sin and blasphemy shall be for¬ 
 given unto tnen. When God returns the 
 captivity of Judah and Israel, he says, I will 
 
ITS PROPERTIES 
 
 77 
 
 cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby 
 they have sinned against me, and I will par 
 don all their iniquities. Then will I sprinkle 
 clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; 
 from all your filthiness and from all your 
 idols will I cleanse you. I will also save you 
 from all your uncleanesses. Bless the Lord 
 O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 
 who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who 
 healetb all thy diseases, (Jer. xxxiii,8; Ezk. 
 xxxvi, 25, 29; Psa. ciii, 2, 3). There is 
 no exception, all thine iniquities, all sin, all 
 manner of sin is forgiven. In the language 
 of Dr. Owen, “ Without mention of par¬ 
 ticulars, I may safely say, that there is no 
 sin, no degree of sin, no aggravating circum¬ 
 stance of sin, no kind of continuance in sin, 
 (one sin only excepted) but that there are 
 those in heaven, who have been guilty of 
 them.” The nature of the covenant of 
 grace, well ordered in all things and sure, 
 the gracious character of God who is rich 
 in mercy and ready to forgive, and who has 
 forgiven the chief of sinners, and the all suf¬ 
 ficiency of the atonement which Jesus has 
 
78 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 made for our sins, lead to the same comfort¬ 
 able conclusion. Our blessed Saviour is able 
 and willing to save to the uttermost. He 
 came to do the will of Him who sent him, 
 and his revealed will is, that all men might 
 be saved and come unto the knowledge of the 
 truth; and says Christ, him that cometh to me 
 I will in no wise cast out, no in no wise, on 
 no account. To the poor trembling sinner, 
 desiring to be washed from his sins, his en¬ 
 dearing, consoling language is, “ I will; be 
 thou clean.” It has pleased the Father that 
 in Christ Jesus should all fullness dwell; all 
 wisdom for our instruction, all power to pro¬ 
 tect us, all merit to save and all grace to 
 glorify us. All power is given to him in 
 Heaven and in earth, for bringing many sons 
 to glory. Then, it would be an impeach¬ 
 ment of the divine veracity and a reflection on 
 the Saviour’s merits to suppose, for a moment, 
 that his blood does not cleanse from a//sin. 
 It is a fountain open for sin and for unclean¬ 
 ness. It descends into the deepest valleys 
 and prevails over the highest mountains of 
 sin, many cubits upwards, and it will never 
 
ITS PROPERTIES. 
 
 T9 
 
 fail to accomplish the great and glorious end 
 for which it was opened, in the eternal coun¬ 
 sel of God, in the promises, types, and 
 prophecies of the Old Testament, and in their 
 fulfillment. God grants pardon, Jesus 
 procures it, the gospel reveals it, and the 
 Holy Spirit applies and seals it to all 
 them that believe; and when we remember 
 that God is Omnipotent, that man’s sal¬ 
 vation from first to last is all to the praise 
 of the riches of the glory of his grace, 
 we can not, for a moment, hesitate in saying 
 that the pardon which he grants is full, ex¬ 
 tending to all sin. 
 
 It is also irrevocable , unchangeable , ever - 
 lasting . The sentence of acquittal, that has 
 gone forth from the Lord, will never be re¬ 
 versed nor recalled. Hath he said it, and 
 will he not do it? Hath he spoken it, and will 
 he not make it good? He is not man that he 
 should lie, nor the son of man, that he should 
 repent; and sooner will heaven and earth pass 
 away, than one word of all he has spoken, 
 fail to come to pass. The gifts and callings 
 of God, are without repentance. Christ has 
 
80 
 
 PARDON OF SIN. 
 
 made atonement for our sins. Divine justice 
 is satisfied, and will never require a second 
 payment. There is therefore now no con¬ 
 demnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. 
 God does not forgive them to-day, and con¬ 
 demn them to-morrow. He does not write 
 their name in the book of life, and again blot 
 it out, (Rev. iii, 5). If his children go 
 astray he will visit their faults with the rod, 
 and their iniquities with stripes; but he will 
 not take his love from them, nor make false 
 his promise. The mountains shall depart, 
 and the hills be removed, but my kindness 
 shall not depart, neither shall the covenant 
 of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that 
 hath mercy on thee, (Psa. Ixxxix, 33; Isa. 
 liv, 10). The language by which pardon is 
 expressed, proves that it is everlasting. Come 
 now, and let us reason together, saith the 
 Lord; though your sins be as scarlet,they shall 
 be as white as snow; though they be red like 
 crimson they shall be as wool. I, even I, am 
 he that blotteth out thy transgressions for 
 mine own sake, and will not remember thy 
 s ins ; (Isa. i, 18; xliii > 25). I will forgive their 
 
ITS PROPERTIES. 
 
 81 
 
 iniquity and I will remember their sins no 
 more. In those days and in that time saith 
 the Lord the iniquity of Israel shall be sought 
 for and there shall be none, and the sins of 
 Judah, and they shall not be found for I will 
 pardon them whom I reserve (Jer. xxxi, 34; 
 1, 20). I will sprinkle clean water upon you 
 and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness; 
 and from all your idols I will cleanse you, 
 Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths 
 of the sea. What language can be more 
 expressive, absolute and unequivocal than 
 this. If sin is represented by uncleanness it 
 is washed away, if as a debt it is blotted 
 out, if as a charge it can not be found, it is 
 sunk into the bottom of the sea, out of sight, 
 out of memory, in oblivion. This pardon 
 the gospel reveals. As it is full it includes 
 all sins,as it is free it encourages all sinners, 
 the poor, the blind, the halt, the lame, the 
 wretched, the chief. As it is everlasting it 
 gives the greatest peace to the soul assured 
 that it will never be reversed nor recalled, 
 and whatever abuse the impenitent sinner 
 may make of it is holy in all its nature, ten- 
 8 
 
82 PARDON OF SIN, ITS PROPERTIES. 
 
 dency and effects because it comes from an 
 infinitely Holy God. It has then every re¬ 
 quisite suitable to the wants of sinful men, 
 the most sinful. O, let us adore God for 
 such pardon for us wretched sinners even the 
 chief. What can more clearly display his 
 beneficence and good will to man than re¬ 
 demption through the blood of his own dear 
 Son, and what can display our gratitude 
 more than a hearty and honest endeavor to 
 proclaim on highest and sweetest notes the 
 praises of redeeming love, “ If holy Angels 
 on their lofty thrones in glory desire ” to 
 look into the mystery of redemption by God 
 incarnate “ well may we who are the ob¬ 
 jects of such unprecedented love raise our 
 grateful hearts to the God of Heaven and 
 shout forth in language like this, glory to 
 God in the highest for such peace and good 
 will toward men.” 
 
PARDON OF SIN, ITS NECESSITY. 
 
 83 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE NECESSITY OF PARDON 
 
 u Those holy gates forever bar 
 Pollution, sin and shame 
 And none shall gain admittance there 
 But followers of the Lamb.” 
 
 Since all have sinned and come short of 
 the glory of God all need pardon in order to 
 obtain happiness. All of every age or con¬ 
 dition, the vile sinner, the strict moralist, the 
 fallen believer, the rich and the poor, bond 
 and free, male and female, the careless at 
 tease in Zion, the gay and fashionable, polite 
 to man, to God most rude, all need it. 
 Money will not procure pardon nor the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost, nor a passport to Heaven, 
 ft will scarcely he denied that the unrenewed 
 in heart, stained with the blackest crimes, 
 need forgiveness, covered with crime they 
 can not stand in judgment. If the righteous 
 scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and 
 the sinner appear. But there are others in a 
 
84 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 state of nature as infants, and moralists, and 
 nominal professors, about whom there may 
 he some doubt and dispute. That they also 
 need pardon is evident from the fact that all 
 are by nature children of wrath and heirs of 
 Hell, shapen in iniquity, conceived in sin, 
 death has passed upon all men, for that all 
 have sinned. Death is the wages of sin and 
 we know not how this penalty can be inflicted 
 by a righteous God on infants if they are 
 innocent and in no way affected by' sin. 
 Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? 
 But it would not be right for him to punish 
 an innocent being. Far be it from him to 
 do so, and far be it from us to charge him 
 with such injustice. Then there seems to be 
 no alternative left but to admit that they are 
 sinners standing in need of forgiveness, and 
 that those of them that are saved are saved 
 through the pardoning mercy of God. That 
 the moralist needs it, appears from the fact 
 that morality is not religion. There are 
 many that neither know or believe the gos¬ 
 pel who come under this class and to the 
 shame of Christians, their lives are often 
 
ITS NECESSITY. 
 
 85 
 
 more exemplary. Though they omit what 
 the laws requires, they abstain from what it 
 forbids, are strictly honest, kind, obliging, 
 amiable and every thing that is commend¬ 
 able among men. But like the young man 
 in the gospel w~ho had kept the command¬ 
 ments externally from his youth up and was 
 not far from the kingdom of heaven, they 
 lack one thing, true love to God. They still 
 carry about with them the old corrupt nature, 
 a body of death, a heart deceitful above ail 
 things and desperately wicked. Go a step 
 further and view those who make a mere 
 nominal profession of religion, perhaps the 
 most scriptural profession in the world. 
 Clad with this holy garb bound on with the 
 girdle of self-righteousness and pride of 
 heart, they in supercilious disdain say to 
 others stand by for I am holier than thou, 
 we alone are left to serve God in purity of 
 word and doctrine, all others are bowing 
 the knee to the image of Baak The temple 
 of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the 
 temple of the Lord are these. They are the 
 people and wisdom will die with them and 
 8 * 
 
86 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 religion too! After all they are only outer 
 court worshipers, having only a form of 
 godliness but denying the power thereof. 
 They have a name to live whilst dead 
 • in God’s account. They are like the 
 Scribes and Pharisees who went the round 
 of external duty and were held in great 
 esteem as the best expositors of the 
 law and the brighest paterns of morality; but 
 ■were inwardly ravenous wolves—whited 
 sepulchres. Here is the fatal rock on which 
 thousands make shipwreck of their faith. 
 Building their hopes of glory on the sandy 
 foundation of external forms of religion and 
 lives exempt from open crime and having a 
 form of godliness but denying the power. 
 They think all is well, that they are whole 
 needing no physician, that they are just need¬ 
 ing no repentance, no pardon. But who 
 will say they do not need them all. Except 
 ye repent ye shall all likewise perish. 
 
 But the fallen and even the standing be¬ 
 liever needs the renewed manifestation of 
 pardon. This is true, especially of those who 
 have fallen by their iniquity. Though the 
 
ITS NECESSITY. 
 
 87 
 
 power of sin is broken in the believer its ex¬ 
 istence still remains to the end of life, and 
 is like the Canaanites with iron chariots, that 
 remained in the land after the general con¬ 
 quest, as scourges in the sides and thorns in 
 the eyes of Israel, and could not be entirely 
 subdued but would dwell in that land, yet 
 they were under tribute (Judges i, 19, 27). 
 The remains of depravity, in the best of men 
 is called, in scripture style, the old man with 
 his deeds which are corrupt, the flesh lusting 
 against the spirit, the law in the members 
 warring against the law of the mind, the 
 body of death under which they groan. 
 That this does overcome and annoy them ap¬ 
 pears from Abraham’s prevarication, Noah’s 
 drunkenness, Lot’s incest, Joseph’s profanity, 
 the Israelite’s idolatry, David’s adultery and 
 murder, Solomon’s polygamy and sin by out¬ 
 landish wrnmen, Peter’s denial of his Lord 
 and Master, and Paul’s complaints of a law 
 in his members warring against the law of 
 his mind, and bringing him into captivity to 
 the law of sin, w T hich was in his members. 
 These falls of believers to the discredit of re- 
 
88 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 ligion, the wounding of their conscience and 
 the rejoicing of the enemy, were not only 
 after conversion,but also after signal mercies, 
 after Abraham’s call, Noah’s preservation, 
 Lot’s escape, Joseph’s promotion, the Israel¬ 
 ites’ deliverance, and at the foot of Sinai, Da¬ 
 vid’s exaltation, Solomon’s wisdom, Peter’s 
 communion and warning, and Paul’s com¬ 
 plaints were after his conversion. Alas what 
 is man, what are the best of men, when left 
 to themselves, but feeble erring creatures. 
 There is no man that liveth here and sinneth 
 not, if we say we have no sin we deceive 
 ourselves and the truth is not in us. In me 
 says Paul, that is in my flesh dwelleth no good 
 thing; and says David, if thou Lord shouldst 
 mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand. 
 These falls arise from corrupt nature, pre¬ 
 vailing sin, the power of temptation, cus¬ 
 tom, society, evil communications, self-confi¬ 
 dence, the want of vigilance and prayer for 
 
 restraining grace, the suspension of the 
 Spirit’s operations and the dormant state of 
 
 grace in the soul. They are permitted in di¬ 
 vine sovereignty to show man his dependence 
 
ITS NECESSITY. 
 
 89 
 
 and frailty, and to warn those who think they 
 stand to take heed lest they fall. But though 
 fallen they are not lost, though cast down 
 they are not destroyed. They do not fall 
 totally and finally from a state of grace, a 
 just man falleth seven times and riseth up 
 again, though he fall he shall not be cast 
 down utterly, (Prov. xxiv, 16; Ps. xxxvii, 
 24), for the Lord upholdeth him with his 
 hand. They shall never perish, none is able 
 to pluck them out of my Father’s hands, 
 they are kept by the power of God through 
 faith unto salvation, the prodigal will arise 
 and go to his father, deeply deploring his 
 sin, the lost sheep will be found and brought 
 back with rejoicing, being confident of this 
 very thing, that he which hath begun a good 
 work in you, will perform it until the day of 
 Jesus Christ. They are born again of the 
 incorruptible seed of the word, which liveth 
 and abideth forever, the spirit of truth whom 
 the world can not receive, dwells in them, 
 and shall be in them, and abide with them 
 forever, and never be utterly taken away 
 (Johnxiv, 16, 17; Ps. li,l 1). This prayer of 
 
90 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 David in his fallen state implies that the 
 Holy Spirit was not taken away, too much 
 has been done for them to be done in vain. 
 They are bought at too dear a rate, Christ 
 has purchased them with his own blood and 
 prayed for them that their faith fail not, and 
 that where he is there may they be also to 
 behold his glory. He has prepared mansions 
 of bliss for them, entered as their forerunner, 
 and taken possession in their name,and prom¬ 
 ised to come again and receive them to him¬ 
 self. They are brought into covenant with 
 God, and that covenant secures their return, 
 their pardon, their final perseverance and 
 eternal happiness. The purpose or counsel 
 of God, the nature of the covenant of grace, 
 the fact that Jesus has paid the price of their 
 redemption, and that he intercedes for them, 
 and that the Holy Spirit possesses their souls, 
 all proves the final perseverance of the saints. 
 God’s counsel shall stand and he will do all 
 his pleasure (Isa. xlvi, 10). This covenant 
 of peace shall not be removed. He is well 
 pleased for the righteousness’ sake of his own 
 son who ever liveth to make intercession for 
 
ITS NECESSITY. 
 
 91 
 
 us and whom he hears always (John xiv, 
 16, 19; 17). The Holy Spirit seals their 
 title to life and is the earnest of their 
 inheritance (Eph. i, 13, 14). An earnest 
 is a part given for the security of the 
 whole. Well then may we enquire who 
 shall separate us from the love of Christ? 
 Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, 
 or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 
 Nay, in all this, we are more than conquerors 
 through him that loved us. Whom he did 
 predestinate them he also called, and whom 
 he called them he also justified, and whom he 
 justified them he also glorified (Rom. 8). 
 
 But to the doctrine of the final perse¬ 
 verance of the saints, it is objected that it 
 encourages licentiousness. It is said that if 
 the believer can not fall totally and finally, 
 he may indulge in sin, for he is sure to be 
 brought back and pardoned, and saved at 
 last: yea, the more he sins the more will 
 grace shine in his salvation according to the 
 principle that where sin abounded grace did 
 much more abound. In reply we say that 
 the man who would thus sin and turn the 
 
92 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 grace of God into lasciviousness, has great 
 reason to fear that he has never experienced 
 that grace in his heart; for the grace of God 
 which bringeth salvation teaches us that 
 denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we 
 should live soberly, righteously, and godly 
 in this present world. Faith works by love, 
 and purifies the heart, and overcomes the 
 world. The sorrow of the world works 
 death, but godly sorrow works repentance to 
 salvation, works carefulness, clearing of our¬ 
 selves, indignation, fear, vehement desire, 
 zeal, revenge on sin (2 Cor. vii, 10, 11). 
 Hence love to God, purity of heart and life 
 and revenge on sin are the fruits of grace 
 and its doctrines. Paul anticipates and in¬ 
 dignantly repels this objection. What? 
 shall we continue in sin that grace may 
 abound? God forbid how shall we that are 
 dead to sin live any longer therein (Rom. vi, 
 1, 2). How shall we continue in sin, how 
 shall we do this great wickedness, and sin 
 against God, how shall we who have just 
 escaped from chains and slavery voluntarily 
 return to them again? How shall we act 
 
ITS NECESSITY. 
 
 93 
 
 contrary to nature, contrary to all of God 
 that is in us, and around us and before us. 
 How shall we who have just escaped from 
 the servitude and tyranny of a foreign nation 
 go back of our own accord into bondage 
 and serve our enemies? Is it in the breast of 
 any man to do so and choose slavery rather 
 than liberty, death rather than life? IN ay, 
 all cry give me liberty or give me death. 
 So how is it in the nature of a child of God 
 just escaped from the most abject slavery, to 
 go again of his own accord into it and serve 
 his worst enemies, because he is to be 
 eventually restored to the glorious liberty of 
 the sons of God? Indeed it is absurd to say 
 that a man will act in this unnatural way. 
 Nature will act out itself whether it be in the 
 old or the new man, and sin is to the be¬ 
 liever such a frightful, hateful monster that 
 if there were no Glorified Saviour to see, no 
 hell to shun and no happy shores of glory to 
 gain he would not commit, much less con¬ 
 tinue in it: seeing we have purified our hearts 
 in obeying the truth through the Spirit, we 
 hate every false and wicked way and love 
 9 
 
94 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 God’s holy law. Continuance in sin is con¬ 
 trary to a life of faith, and to live in sin know¬ 
 ingly, willfully and designedly, and indulge 
 in it, that grace may abound is to turn the 
 grace of God into laciviousness, and is con¬ 
 trary to the nature, and desire, and conduct of 
 the believer, as well as to the scriptures: yet 
 some eminent saints have been overcome by 
 sin and continued for a time under its influ¬ 
 ence. Peter soon recovered from his dread¬ 
 ful sin in denying his Lord thrice and-with 
 an oath. But David, who went astray like 
 a lost sheep, must have continued under the 
 stupifying power of sin for nearly a year, be¬ 
 fore he was aroused and restored by the 
 scathing parable of the Lord’s messenger. 
 And what shall we say of Solomon who 
 lived for many years in sin, probably from 
 manhood till he passed the meridian of life, 
 from the time he married so many wives 
 who caused him to sin, there is no evidence 
 of his repentance and reformation till it 
 appears in his Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, 
 written in his advanced years. These books 
 bear the marks ol a true penitent. The 
 
ITS NECESSITY. 
 
 95 
 
 vanity of the world, the character of sin, and 
 of her whose house is the way to hell, the 
 warnings and exhortations there given to all 
 and the conclusion of the whole matter, to 
 fear God and- keep his commandments is the 
 language of one who has seen the evil of 
 his ways and turned to the Lord for pardon 
 and reconciliation. Some deny that Solo¬ 
 mon was ever restored and saved, and we 
 admit the evidence is not so express and clear 
 as could be desired. But when we remem¬ 
 ber that he is called Jedidiah, which signi¬ 
 fies beloved of his God, and that among 
 many nations there was no king like him 
 who was beloved of his God (2 Sam. xii, 
 25; Neh. xiii, 26), and take this in connex¬ 
 ion with the fact that the gifts and callings 
 of God are without repentance, that whom 
 he loves he loves unto the end, we think there 
 is sufficient evidence to warrant the belief 
 that Solomon was renewed again to repent¬ 
 ance, pardoned and saved, after his long and 
 fearful apostacy and sin. Sin aggravated by 
 being done after God had appeared unto 
 him twice and given him wisdom, and 
 
96 PARDON OF SIN, ITS NECESSITY. 
 
 riches, and honor above all kings that were 
 before him and that will be after him (1 
 Kings xiv, 9; 35; ix, 2). Moreover God 
 said I will be his father and he will be my 
 son, and I will not take my mercy away 
 from him (1 Chron. xvii, 13). If it be ad¬ 
 mitted that he was once beloved of God as 
 his people are, it must also be admitted that 
 he was restored and saved, or that God is 
 changeable in his love which is not true, 
 but is contrary to what he says of his 
 people, “ I have loved thee with an ever- 
 1 asting love, my loving kindness will I not 
 utterly take from him, nor suffer my faith- 
 fullness to fail, the Lord will not cast off 
 forever.” Whilst we maintain the final 
 perseverance of the saints we do not maintain 
 that men will be saved if they have once 
 believed although they live as they list, but 
 that believers will persevere in holiness un¬ 
 to the end. We hold out no hope to those 
 who are resolved to walk contrary to God. 
 But while sin thus prevails over the believer 
 he is not in his element. He is like Samson 
 with his locks shorn and eyes put out, like 
 
PARDON OF SIN, 97 
 
 the Israelites in Babylon and the captive in 
 his chains, restless, longing, struggling 
 for liberty. He cries, how long wilt thou 
 forget me, 0 Lord! forever? How long wilt 
 thou hide thy face from me? How long 
 shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow 
 in my heart daily? How long shall mine 
 enemy be exalted over me, and when wilt 
 thou come unto me? Remember me I pray 
 thee,“ and strengthen me I pray thee, only 
 this once, O God, that I may be at once 
 avenged of the Philistines, for my two eyes 
 (Judges xvi, 28). 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO SEEK PARDON. 
 
 All are encouraged to seek pardon,—the 
 young and the old in sin,—the compara¬ 
 tively holy, and the notoriously wicked,—anil 
 the believer, though far and long backslidden 
 from his father’s house, till he has wasted his 
 9* 
 
98 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 substance, and begins to be in want. They 
 are encouraged by the institutions of religious 
 worship , by the invitations, promises and re¬ 
 quirements of the gospel, by the nature of 
 God, the gift of his Son, and the atonement he 
 has made, by the provisions of the covenant 
 of grace, and by the examples of those that 
 have been pardoned. Among these are sin¬ 
 ners of all grades, from the lowest to the 
 highest, the chief before and after conver¬ 
 sion. The institutions of religious worship, 
 together with the organization of the church, 
 are designed for the conversion and salvation 
 of sinners. They are brought into the church, 
 which is Christ’s body, by the ministry of the 
 word and sacraments, the instrumentality of 
 men and the agency of the Holy Spirit. It 
 has pleased God by the foolishness of preach¬ 
 ing to save them that believe. Ministers are 
 ambassadors for Christ, beseeching and pray¬ 
 ing sinners in Christ’s stead to be reconciled 
 to God, who of his own will begets them with 
 the word of truth that they should be a kind of 
 first fruits of his creatures. The gospel 
 treasure is put in earthen vessels, that the ex- 
 
99 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 cellency of the power may be of God and 
 not of us. Whoever waters, it is God that 
 gives the increase and builds up the church, 
 not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit 
 saith the Lord; and of Zion it shall be said,this 
 and that man were born in her. When Ma- 
 noah said to his wife we shall surely die be¬ 
 cause we have seen God, his wife said unto 
 him if the Lord were pleased to kill us he 
 would not have received a burnt offering and 
 a meat offering at our hands (Judges xiii, 
 23). This shows that the design of religious 
 worship is to accept,through the merits of the 
 great Atoning Sacrifice, the persons and ser¬ 
 vices of sinners. Baptism and the Lord’s 
 Supper are instituted for the express purpose 
 of granting pardon. John preached the bap¬ 
 tism of repentance for the remission of sins; 
 and in the first institution of the Lord’s 
 Supper, Jesus said of the cup, this is my 
 blood of the New Testament, which is shed 
 for the remission of sins (Mark i, 4; Matt* 
 xxvi, 28). The invitations , 'promises and 
 requirements of the gospel are made to sin¬ 
 ners as such , irrespective of age .or sex, or 
 
100 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 condition, or nation. God is no respecter of 
 persons, but in every nation he that fears 
 Him and works righteousness, is accepted of 
 Him. The young, are particularly invited 
 to seek the Lord and remember their Creator 
 in the days of their youth, and the old are 
 not excluded; for he hires laborers in his 
 vineyard, from early in the morning till the 
 eleventh hour of the day (Matt. 20). Men are 
 not invited because they are holy, or rich, and 
 wise, and honorable, or have done some good 
 deeds, and have some prerequisite qualifica¬ 
 tions, but as destitute of all good. Every one 
 is required to forgive from the heart if he 
 would be forgiven by God,—to freely forgive 
 as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven us. The 
 scriptures show the character of those, to 
 whom the invitations and promises are made; 
 and that these are as broad as the sentence 
 of the law which declares the soul that sin- 
 neth, it shall die. In his word, God says, 
 Unto you, 0, men, I call, and my voice is 
 to the sons of man. Ho, every one that 
 thirsteth come ye to the waters. Look unto 
 me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth. 
 
101 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted, and far 
 from righteousness; come now and let us 
 reason together, though your sins be as scar¬ 
 let they shall be as white as snow; though 
 they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wool. Let the wicked forsake his way, and 
 the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let 
 him return unto the Lord, and he will have 
 mercy upon him, and to our God for he will 
 abundantly pardon (Isa. i, 18; xlv,22; xlvi, 
 12; Iv, 7). As I live saith the Lord I have no 
 pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that 
 the wicked turn from his way and live; turn 
 ye, turn ye, from your evil ways, for why 
 will ye die? (Ezk. xxxiii. 11.) Come unto me 
 all ye that labor and are heavy laden,and I will 
 give you rest (Matt, xi, 28). Him that 
 cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out 
 (John vi, 37). Go out quickly into the 
 streets and lanes of the city, and bring in 
 hither the poor, the maimed the halt, and 
 the blind; go out in to the highways and 
 hedges, and compel them to come in, that 
 my house may be filled. Go out and bring in 
 hither sinners of all grades; compel them to 
 
102 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 come in. The kingdom of heaven is like a 
 net that gathered of every kind (Matt, xiii, 
 47; Luke xiv, 21, 23). Ye see your calling 
 brethren, how that not many wise men after 
 the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble 
 are called, but God hath chosen the foolish 
 things of the world to confound the wise; 
 and God hath chosen the weak things of the 
 world to confound the things which are 
 mighty; and base things of the world and 
 things which are despised hath God chosen, 
 yea, and things which are not, to bring to 
 nought things that are, that no flesh should 
 glory in his presence (1 Cor. i, 26-29). To 
 God’s backslidden people, he says, 0 Israel, 
 return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast 
 fallen by thine iniquities. I will heal their 
 bac.kslidings, I will love them freely (Hos. 
 14). Thou hast played the harlot with many 
 lovers, yet return again to me, saith the 
 Lord (Jer. iii, 2). Even from the days 
 of your fathers, ye are gone away from 
 mine ordinances and have not kept them. 
 Return unto me, and I will return unto you, 
 saith the Lord of hosts (Mai. iii, 7). 
 
103 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 Though ye have lain among the pots, yet 
 shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered 
 with silver and her feathers with yellow gold, 
 (Ps. Ixviii, 13). I will cleanse you from all 
 your iniquity; from all your filthiness and 
 from all your idols will I cleanse you. Ask, 
 and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall 
 find (Matt, vii, 7). O, what exceeding great 
 and precious promises are given us, that by 
 these we might be partakers of the divine na¬ 
 ture. Who are not included in them? O 
 sinner, whoever, and whatever you are, they 
 are given to you, and to me, and to all who 
 hear the gospel; and 0, may God in his 
 infinite mercy give us grace to receive them 
 in love. 
 
 The nature of God, the gift of his Son to 
 a lost world and the atonement he has made, 
 encourage all to seek pardon. In nature he 
 is long suffering, slow to anger, ready to 
 forgive, waiting to be gracious, delighting 
 in mercy. In him compassions flow, and 
 with him the fatherless find mercy. The in¬ 
 spired penman assures us that he “ is long suf¬ 
 fering and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity 
 
104 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 and transgression. He proclaimed his 
 name the Lord, the Lord God merciful and 
 gracious, long suffering and abundant in 
 goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou¬ 
 sands, forgiving iniquity and transgression, 
 and sin. Thou art a God ready to pardon, 
 gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of 
 great kindness. He retaineth not his anger 
 forever, because he delighteth in mercy; his 
 mercy is above the heavens and it endureth 
 forever (Numb, xiv, 18). He exercises loving 
 kindness, judgment and righteousness in the 
 earth ” (Jer. ix, 24; Ex. xxxiv, 67; Neh. ix, 
 17; Mich, vii, 18; Ps. ciii, 8; 13). 
 
 “ The Lord our God is merciful 
 and he is gracious, 
 
 Long suffering, and slow to wrath, 
 in mercy plenteous. 
 
 He will not chide continually, 
 nor keep his anger still. 
 
 With us he dealt not as we sinn’d 
 nor did requite our ill. 
 
 For as the heaven in its height 
 the earth surmounteth far*. 
 
 So great to those that do him fear 
 his tender mercies are; 
 
105 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 As far as east is distant from 
 the west, so far hath he 
 From us removed, in his love, 
 all our iniquity.” 
 
 The whole earth is full of his goodness 
 which is manifested in our creation, pre- 
 servation and redemption. He has made us 
 so that nature and our various senses are in¬ 
 struments of pleasure, instead of pain; 
 whereas, if he intended our misery how 
 easily could he have accomplished it by 
 making us a terror to ourselves and to all 
 around us, by making “ every thing we 
 tasted bitter, every thing we saw loathsome? 
 every thing we touched a sting, every smell 
 a stench and every sound a discord.” How 
 different is it and how great is his goodness 
 which he has laid up for them that fear him. 
 With the utmost care and tenderness, “the 
 Lord preserves all who him love, that nought 
 can them annoy,” preserves them at all 
 times, in all places and in all circumstances; 
 the sun shall not smite them by day nor the 
 moon by night. He keeps them as the 
 apple of his eye; he preserves man and beast; 
 
106 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 and his tender mercies are over all his works* 
 A sparrow can not fall to the ground without 
 his knowledge. “ He sees with equal eye as 
 God of all, a hero perish or a sparrow fall.” 
 God is love; and his love is signally displayed 
 in the gift of his Son to perishing sinners He 
 has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; he 
 is not willing that any should perish, but that 
 all should come to repentance. He hates put¬ 
 ting away; he so loved the world that he 
 gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in him, should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life. O, wonderful, stupendous, 
 unspeakable gift! Would it ever have been 
 given if God had not designed our salva¬ 
 tion? Nay. But God commendeth his love 
 towards us in that while we were yet sinners, 
 Christ died for us (Rom. v, 8). It is by the 
 gift and death of his Son, that he can exer¬ 
 cise mercy to the guilty, that he can and 
 does exercise it in consistency with his jus¬ 
 tice, and the rectitude of his moral govern¬ 
 ment; and only in this w T ay can he be just 
 and yet the justifier of him that believeth in 
 Jesus. He is just, as well as merciful, and 
 
PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 107 
 
 he must be so or cease to be a holy and 
 righteous God. “ A God all mercy is a 
 God unjust.” His law and justice must 
 be vindicated, and Jesus has done this by the 
 atonement he has made. He satisfied divine 
 justice; he magnified the law and made it 
 honorable; he gave himself for us, an offering 
 ami a sacrifice to God, ora sweet smelling 
 savor,—gave himself a ransom for many,—a 
 ransom for all; he died for our sins according 
 to the scriptures; he bore our sins in his own 
 body on the tree, he is the propitiation for 
 our sins; he was made a sin offering for us; 
 and by his death we are reconciled to God; 
 he has redeemed us to God by his own blood. 
 It is by him that we have now received the 
 atonement, and there can be no dispute about 
 its all sufficiency to cleanse from all sin. 
 On this point we can freely adopt the senti¬ 
 ment of Dr. Wardlaw, “ Such is my opinion 
 of its sufficiency, that were the guilt of all 
 the millions of mankind that have ever lived 
 concentrated in my own person, I should see 
 no reason,relying on that blood which cleanses 
 from all sin, to indulge despair.'” 
 
108 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 The provision of the covenant of grace af¬ 
 fords the same encouragement . “ This is 
 
 the covenant that I will make with the house 
 of Israel; After those (lays, saith the Lord, I 
 will put my law in their minds, and write it 
 in their hearts; and will be their God, and they 
 will be my people. I will forgive their 
 iniquity and I will remember their sin no 
 more. I will make an everlasting covenant 
 with them that I will not turn away from 
 them to do them good but I will put my fear 
 in their hearts that they shall not depart from 
 me. Yea I will rejoice over them to do them 
 good, with ray whole heart and with my 
 whole soul ” (Jer. xxxi, 33, 34; xxxii, 40, 
 41; Heb. viii, 10, 12). This covenant is 
 made with the house of Israel, which is a 
 term signifying all believers, not only 
 all who have, but all who will hereafter 
 believe. It contains provision for all the 
 sins of all believers,—it contains pardon and 
 security, grace and glory,—all that pertains 
 to life and godliness. God engages to re¬ 
 generate them, pardon their sins, sanctify 
 their natures, preserve them in a state of 
 
PARDON OF SIN 
 
 109 
 
 grace, glorify them, rejoice over them, to do 
 them good,with his whole heart, and with his 
 whole soul. In a word, he engages to be 
 their God, and take them to be his people. 
 This is taught by the language of the cove¬ 
 nant. I will put my law in their mind and 
 write it in their heart, and this language sig¬ 
 nifies their regeneration; as when he says, a 
 new heart also will I give you, and a new spi¬ 
 rit will I put within you; and this is done 
 when they are dead in trespasses and in sins, 
 unable and unwilling to return to him. Yet it 
 is done in the use of means. I will forgive 
 their iniquity and I will remember their 
 sins no more, teaches that pardon is pro¬ 
 cured for them by the atonement of Christ, 
 and includes not only their past and present 
 sins, but “ secures them against the imputa¬ 
 tion of the guilt of such sins as they may 
 afterwards commit.” As the first principles 
 of holiness or seed of regeneration is sown 
 in them, signified by writing his law in their 
 hearts, so it is -watered and cherished for 
 their sanctification. I will sprinkle clean 
 water upon you, and ye shall be clean; the 
 10 * 
 
110 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 very God of peace will sanctify them wholly, 
 for he is faithful who hath called them, 
 who also will do it. They are also pre¬ 
 served in Christ Jesus. God who rests in his 
 love, is not changeable like man. He engages 
 to not turn away from them to do them good, 
 but to put his fear in their hearts, that they 
 shall not depart from him. His covenant 
 of peace shall not be removed (Isa. liv, 10). 
 “ Their faith may be feeble, but it shall not 
 utterly fail; their holiness may lose its lustre, 
 but it shall not be extinguished; sin may, oc¬ 
 casionally prevail against them, but shall not 
 recover the dominion.The water I shall give 
 him,shall be in him,a well of water springing 
 up into everlasting life (John iv, 14). He 
 will finally glorify them; whom he justified, 
 them he also glorified (Rom. viii, 30). The 
 Lord will give grace and glory (Ps. Ixxxiv, 
 11). The ransomed of the Lord shall return 
 and come to Zion with songs and everlasting 
 joy upon their heads. They shall obtain joy 
 and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall 
 flee away (Isa. xxxv, 10). Such are, briefly, 
 the blessings of this covenant; but as it con- 
 
PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 111 
 
 tains our salvation, let us further say, in ac¬ 
 cordance with the views of the Rev. Francis 
 Gillies,that it is one of the only two covenants 
 ever made on the part of God, relative to the 
 eternal state and happiness of man. The 
 covenant of works was broken by Adam, 
 the head and representative of his posterity; 
 in consequence of which its blessings were 
 lost; and depravity, guilt, and misery, tempo¬ 
 ral and spiritual, ensued to the whole human 
 family. But the covenant of grace, that 
 everlasting covenant, well ordered in all 
 things and sure, which is all our salvation 
 and all our desire (2 Sam. xxiii, 5). Was 
 made with Christ the head and representa¬ 
 tive of his spiritual seed and with them in 
 him and is fulfilled, ratified and sealed by 
 the blood of Jesus, its head, and surety, and 
 administrator, and is the source of holiness, 
 and happiness, and eternal life. Here is 
 their security, the covenant of grace, God 
 himself who engages to see that, all believers 
 shall be brought to enjoy all its blessings. 
 It is by way of eminence the covenant of 
 grace , all of grace , here the grace of God 
 
112 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 reigns. Its end and design are to manifest 
 the exceeding riches of his grace. God was 
 under no necessity of making it with fallen 
 man, guilty and depraved, having no claims 
 on his mercy more than the fallen angels. 
 He is self-existent, perfectly happy, in and 
 of himself, independent of all his creatures 
 and needeth not the services of any, and 
 though all would perish his happiness and 
 glory are not diminished. It is then all of 
 grace containing a cluster of the richest and 
 freest promises, to obtain which, no human 
 merit or prerequisite qualifications are neces¬ 
 sary or required. The merits of Christ, his 
 vicarious sufferings and dying for his people 
 are the only proper conditions of it. To us 
 it is free and “ absolute as the covenant of 
 the seasons with Noah. 5 ’ The character of 
 those in whom it is fulfilled, proves its free¬ 
 ness. They are great sinners, often the 
 oldest and vilest, hell-deserving. It begins 
 at Jerusalem, and publicans and harlots are 
 brought into it, while the Scribes and Phari¬ 
 sees, the decent, and respectable, and moral 
 among men are often left out. 
 
PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 113 
 
 It is a covenant for good, all about doing us 
 good,without a word of wrath, and curse, and 
 deserving punishment. It is from the Author 
 of every good and perfect gift, who will not 
 turn away from doing his people, constant, 
 certain and unlimited good. His word and 
 faithfulness are given that he will not turn 
 away, and that he will not permit them by 
 their own voluntary act to go back to perdi¬ 
 tion. Whom he loves he loves unto the end. 
 He hates putting away, and he will never 
 leave nor forsake them. His gifts and call¬ 
 ings are without repentance. His eyes are 
 on them for good. 
 
 Sanctified afflictions are among the great¬ 
 est blessings, and the richest jewels in their 
 crown. “ Even crosses from our Maker’s 
 hand are blessings in disguise.” They shall 
 work out for us a far more exceeding and 
 eternal weight of glory. Though ungrate¬ 
 ful for his mercies, though sinful in their en¬ 
 joyment, though forgetful of the all-bounti¬ 
 ful giver, though we often abuse and pervert 
 them to his dishonor and our injury, yet he 
 will not turn away. It is ordered in all 
 
114 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 things and sure; and this includes all good, 
 temporal, spiritual and eternal, for the body, 
 the mind and the soul, grace and glory,—all 
 that God can in wisdom give and man re¬ 
 ceive,—immortality, eternal life, deliverance 
 from the reign of sin, the curse of the law, 
 the tyranny of Satan, the love of the world 
 and the wrath to come,—good before and 
 after conversion, through eternity. O, how 
 great is thy goodness which thou hast 
 laid up for them that fear Thee ? It is 
 complete and sure, providing for all on the 
 part of God, and man for his enjoyment of 
 it. Left to ourselves we would just sin on, 
 and if possible disannul the covenant. But 
 he will put his fear in our hearts, that we 
 shall not depart from him totally, and finally; 
 and all our departures, he will overrule for 
 our good. They are kept by his power 
 through faith unto salvation, I will make 
 and who will or can hinder ? Neither sin, 
 nor men, and angels, and all the combined 
 powers of the universe. I will make and 
 who will or can unmake it ? It is sure 
 and immutable as God himself, vast as the 
 
PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 115 
 
 desires of man, high as heaven, endless as 
 eternity, and made with believers 'personally 
 in the day of their regeneration. It is not 
 then made with all men for many have never 
 heard of its existence, nor had its offer any 
 more than they have heard of a Saviour and 
 had the offer of him in the Gospel. But as 
 to believers, their names are written in it as 
 in the book of life, graven upon the palms 
 of his hands, set as a seal upon his heart 
 and upon his arm, constantly in his eye, 
 borne upon his spirit at all times, in all 
 places, and in all his actions. This fear in 
 their hearts exhibited in a holy life, is the 
 external mark of their interest in it, and this 
 evidence is in proportion to their holiness . 
 That it is not made with all men, nor de¬ 
 signed for all without exception , is evident 
 from the event. It is not made known and 
 offered to all, and all are not saved ; and it 
 is begging the question to say that the fail¬ 
 ure of salvation is owing to man’s unbelief, 
 for it is not revealed and offered to all, and 
 how can they believe in Him of whom they 
 have not heard. Besides, God pledges him- 
 
116 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 self to secure its blessings to all for whom it 
 was designed, and faith is one of those bless¬ 
 ings which he works in them with power. 
 All men, without exception , are not included 
 in it more than all angels, and none can find 
 fault, “Even so, Father, for so it seemed good 
 in thy sight; 7 ’ yet all men,without distinction , 
 are included in it, and in taking hold of it, 
 are blessed with a place and a name in God’s 
 house—an everlasting name that shall not 
 be cut ofif; (Isa. lvi. 4, 7,) also the sons of 
 the stranger that join themselves to the 
 Lord, and that take hold of my covenant, 
 even them will I bring to my holy mountain, 
 and make them joyful in my house of prayer, 
 make them pillars in the temple of God, and 
 they shall go no more out. It is holy, called 
 God’s holy covenant (Luke i. 72). It pre¬ 
 serves and displays the righteousness and 
 holiness of God’s government in the salva¬ 
 tion of sinners by Jesus Christ. Man’s de¬ 
 vised plans of salvation, always lower the 
 righteousness, and stain the holiness of 
 God’s conduct. They make him infinitely 
 merciful, but not infinitely holy and just. 
 
PARDON OF SIN. 
 
 117 
 
 But here, the infinite holiness and justice of 
 God appear. He is just, and yet the justi- 
 fier of him that believeth in Jesus. He is 
 faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and 
 to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. It 
 also secures the personal holiness of all 
 brought into it. God promises to put his 
 fear into their hearts; that is, all holy prin¬ 
 ciples and right dispositions, by which their 
 holiness is secured—infallibly secured. Ho¬ 
 liness is a beauty of this covenant, at the re¬ 
 membrance of which, the believer gives 
 thanks. Nor is holiness the condition of 
 taking hold, or entering into it. Men are 
 chosen, not because they are holy, but tha 
 they should be holy, and without blame be¬ 
 fore him in love. This holiness, without 
 which no man shall see the Lord, is secured 
 to them by his invisible, and unerring, and 
 almighty hand. It is everlasting. The de¬ 
 privation of its blessings after tasting their 
 sweetness,would torture and agonize the soul, 
 in proportion to its sense of the loss sus¬ 
 tained. But it is everlasting, perpetual, 
 constant, immutable, unfading,unending; be- 
 
118 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 cause its condition is fulfilled by the Son, 
 and accepted by the Father, whose faithful¬ 
 ness will secure its blessings, and its perpe¬ 
 tuity. The mountains shall depart, and the 
 hills be removed, but my kindness shall not 
 depart, neither shall the covenant of my 
 peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath 
 mercy on thee. Its perpetuity does not de¬ 
 pend on our works, or merits, or the work of 
 grace in our hearts, or it would fail; but on 
 the Lord our righteousness, and resting on 
 this Rock of Ages, it is stable and eternal as 
 the throne of God. “All else is sand,” but 
 this “ will outlive death and the judgment, 
 survive the wreck of the world, and run 
 parallel with eternity.” Faith is the only 
 way of entering into the enjoyment of it. 
 It is the covenant of promise, and all that is 
 necessary to the enjoyment of a free prom¬ 
 ise, is simply to receive and rely on it. This 
 is the part w^hich faith acts. It receives and 
 rests on Christ, and the promises in him. 
 Faith is part of the good of this covenant, 
 to be done to us. It is God’s gift, of his 
 operation; and Christ’s righteousness is the 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 119 
 
 only proper condition of it. Any thing else 
 would destroy the grace of it, and make it a 
 modified covenant of works. But it is all of 
 grace, or all of works, otherwise grace is no 
 more grace, or works are no more works. 
 It is freely offered, and must be so received 
 by all who would enjoy its blessings—free 
 as the air, or the light of the sun; and work 
 or merit on our part, would mutilate, nullify 
 and subvert it. We are blessed not for 
 taking, but in receiving it. We must re¬ 
 ceive it not as laborers claim and receive 
 wages due, but as beggars receive alms. 
 It is then of faith, that it might be by grace, 
 and sure to all the seed, (Romans iv. 16 ). 
 Moreover, all true covenanting, consists in 
 taking hold of this covenant by an act of live¬ 
 ly appropriating faith in God, or true believ¬ 
 ing in Jesus. Our covenanting will be just in 
 proportion to our faith. Covenants of duty 
 by which men bind themselves to discharge 
 all religious duties, are built on this cove¬ 
 nant. Men may write them out and sign 
 them with their own blood, but all is vain 
 without genuine, appropriating faith in 
 
120 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 Christ Jesus; and as often as we act faith in 
 him, we covenant with God. Here is the 
 sinner’s encouragement and the believer’s 
 security. It secures his pardon and final 
 happiness, and shows that though he fall he 
 shall not be utterly cast down. It is not 
 falling into the mire, but lying there, that 
 destroys men: it is not falling into sin, but 
 continuing in it, that destroys the soul eter¬ 
 nally. Then lay hold of God’s covenant: 
 acquaint now thyself with him and be at 
 peace; thereby good shall come to thee. 
 
 The examples of those who have been par¬ 
 doned, encourage all to see/c forgiveness. 
 Among these, are found the chief of sinners, 
 some before and some after conversion; as 
 Noah, Lot, David, Solomon, the Israelites, 
 Manasseh, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Paul, 
 the Corinthians, and the murderers of our 
 Lord. Lot and Peter are instances of re¬ 
 lapses into the same sin, the Israelites and 
 Solomon, of repeated acts and long continu¬ 
 ance in sin. They tempted God these ten 
 times; oft did they provoke him in the wil¬ 
 derness, and grieve him in the desert: turned 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 121 
 
 back, tempted God, and limited the Holy 
 One of Israel: from the days of their fathers, 
 from their youth unto this day they forsook 
 him; but being full of compassion he for¬ 
 gave their iniquity, (Num. xiv., Ps. lxxviii., 
 Jer. iii.) Mary Magdalene, out of whom 
 were cast seven devils, and the Corinthians, 
 are examples of unchaste and scandalous 
 sinners, and also the publicans and harlots, 
 (Luke vii., 1 Cor. vi. 9, 11). Manasseh, 
 and Paul, and the murderers of Jesus Christ 
 are instances of the chief of sinners. Know 
 assuredly that God hath made that same 
 Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord 
 and Christ. Now w T hen they heard this, 
 they were pricked in their heart, and said, 
 what shall we do? Then Peter said unto 
 them, repent, and be baptized, every one 
 of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the 
 remission of sins, for the promise is to you. 
 Then they that gladly received his word 
 ■were baptized; and the same day, were 
 added unto them, about three thousand souls, 
 some of whom had imbued their hands in the 
 blood of Christ. (Acts ii.) Paul says he 
 11 * 
 
122 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 was a blasphemer and a persecutor, and inju¬ 
 rious,—persecuted them (the saints) unto the 
 death—persecuted them often in every syna¬ 
 gogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; 
 and being exceedingly mad against them 
 I persecuted them even unto strange cities. 
 But I obtained mercy: the grace of our 
 Lord was exceeding abundant. This is a 
 faithful saying and worthy of all accepta¬ 
 tion, that Christ Jesus came into the world 
 to save sinners, of whom I am chief. How- 
 beit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in 
 me first, Jesus Christ might show forth all 
 long suffering, for a 'pattern to them which 
 should hereafter believe on him, to life ever¬ 
 lasting. . What a pattern of pardon. ( ITim. 
 i. 13,16.) As to Manasseh, he was guilty of 
 every thing that is bad—guilty of the great¬ 
 est sins, for which no sacrifice was provided 
 under the law, and against which there was 
 express warning that those guilty of them 
 should be put to death, especially the idola¬ 
 ter, the murderer, and those who sacrificed 
 their children to idols, and consulted evil 
 spirits, witches, wizards, etc.; for which the 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 123 
 
 kingdom was rent from Saul, and he rejected 
 by God, whom he thus denied. (Lev. xviii. 
 21; xx. 2, 6; Deu. iv. 18, 10,11). But con¬ 
 trary to all this he sold himself, like Ahab ? 
 to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord. 
 He destroyed, as far as possible, the true re¬ 
 ligion, by raising up altars unto Baal, making 
 groves and worshiping all the host of heav¬ 
 en. He was guilty of idolatry, and pro¬ 
 faned the house of God with his idols, and 
 sacrificed his children to idols; which sin 
 filled up the measure of the iniquity of 
 God’s people, (Ezek. xvi. 20,): he was in 
 league with Satan, and observed times, and 
 used enchantment and witchcraft, and dealt 
 with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he 
 shed much innocent blood—the blood of the 
 saints and prophets, of fathers, mothers and 
 children, (2 Kings xxi. 16,): he did much 
 evil in the sight of the Lord like the abom¬ 
 inations of the heathen, and caused God’s 
 people to sin even worse than the heathen; 
 
 • and after his sins he would not hearken to di¬ 
 vine admonitions and reproofs,—worse than 
 the abominations of the heathen, among 
 which were idolatry, adultery, fornication. 
 
224 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 incest, sodomy, bestiality, sins that are the 
 perpetual reproach of human nature. (Lev. 
 xviii.) These are some of his sins, and yet 
 after all, he besought the Lord and obtained 
 mercy. (1, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 2, 3, 6, 7, 9,10, 
 12, 13). Who then need despair: your case 
 may not be like Manesseh’s, Noah’s, Lot’s, 
 David’s, the Corinthians’, etc., but for all 
 sorts of sins and sinners there is forgiveness 
 with God; and there are those in heaven who 
 have been guilty of them. May we be 
 added to that happy number who are forgiven. 
 
 But there is a time to seek and obtain: 
 now is the accepted time—now is the day of 
 salvation: to-morrow may be too late: the 
 ark may be closed: this night your soul may 
 be required. There is one case on record of 
 a sinner saved at the eleventh hour, that none 
 may despair, and but one, that none may 
 presume to delay this important duty. 
 
 “Be wise to Jay, ’tis madness to defer, 
 
 Next day the fatal precedent will plead; 
 
 Thus on, till wisdom is pushed out of life. 
 Procrastination is the thief of time. 
 
 Year after year it steals till all are fled, 
 
 And to the mercies of a moment leaves 
 The vast concerns of an eternal scene.” 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 125 
 
 Then seek without delay: seek with all 
 your heart and might: the kingdom of heav¬ 
 en suffereth violence, and the violent take it 
 by force. Strive to enter in at the strait 
 gate, for many shall seek to enter in and 
 shall not be able. Whatsoever thy hand 
 findeth to do, do it with thy might, for there 
 is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor 
 wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. 
 The divine command, the brevity and uncer- 
 tainty of life, and the importance of the 
 work,— all demand this exertion. Seek in 
 the use of the means of grace by prayer and 
 supplication: take with you words and say, 
 Take away all iniquity and receive us gra¬ 
 ciously: pardon mine iniquity for it is great. 
 Seek in faith, and love, relying on the prom¬ 
 ises, and divine aid: seek with importunity, 
 in the language and spirit of the patriarch, 
 “ I will not let thee go except thou bless 
 me. 5 ’ 
 
 But it is objected that wilful sinners and 
 backsliders can not be forgiven, u for if w T e 
 sin wilfully after that we have received the 
 knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no 
 
126 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 more sacrifice for sins.” (Heb. x. 26).Wereply 
 that this text does not refer to all wilful sin- 
 ing, for the best of men sin wilfully, that is, 
 with the consent of their will. Peter,and others 
 already noticed, sinned with their own con¬ 
 sent, even after they had received the know¬ 
 ledge of the truth, and yet were forgiven. 
 It then refers to a wilful and obstinate course 
 of sinning, or to the rejection of Christ and 
 the doctrine of salvation by him. After 
 men have professed the great truth, that Je¬ 
 sus is the only Saviour of sinners, and yet, 
 against all evidence, all the light and con¬ 
 victions of their consciences, they deny this 
 truth, and obstinately presist in the denial of 
 it, seeing there is no more, no other sacrifice 
 for sin, no other Saviour, nor any salvation 
 by any other way: “ there is no hope—no 
 help for them, for they shut themselves out 
 from all hope, and all help. Again, “ it is 
 impossible for those who were once enlight¬ 
 ened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, 
 and were made partakers of thePIoly Ghost, 
 and have tasted the good word of God and 
 the powers of the world to come, if they 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 127 
 
 shall fall away, to renew them again to re¬ 
 pentance.” (Heb. vi. 4, 6). This passage 
 and the former have been a stone of stum¬ 
 bling to many, and an occasion of much 
 trouble to many a true believer, who has 
 fallen by his iniquity; and though the back¬ 
 slider in heart shall be filled with his own 
 ways, let us place in opposition to this pas¬ 
 sage, God’s promise to his backslidden peo¬ 
 ple—“ I will heal their backslidings, I will 
 love them freely.” (Hos. xiv.) And the 
 fact that he has renewed and healed many 
 who have fallen, after they were enlightened 
 or converted, and then what becomes of the 
 objection. Does it not fall, and show that 
 any passage taken by itself will prove al¬ 
 most anything? The passage is hypotheti¬ 
 cal; that is, on the supposition that they 
 shall fall away—fall totally and finally. 
 But God has engaged to put his fear in their 
 hearts that they shall not depart from him in 
 this way.” (Jer. xxxii. 40.) Now, admit- 
 ing that the person here spoken of has been 
 converted or enlightened, and tasted of the 
 heavenly gift, etc., and after all this, has 
 
128 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 fallen away from these great and rare at¬ 
 tainments, though it may not be possible 
 with men and with the ordinary means of 
 grace to renew him yet with the extraordi¬ 
 nary means, and with God it is possible, for 
 with God all things are possible—all things 
 that are agreeable to his nature. But it is 
 agreeable to his nature to save sinners, and 
 to renew those that have fallen after conver¬ 
 sion, as appears from his promises and re¬ 
 newing acts in the case of fallen believers 
 al. eady noticed. As it is not from an isolat¬ 
 ed passage, but from the analogy of faith; 
 that is, the agreement of one part of script¬ 
 ure with another that our view’s are to be 
 established; so this text may be explained 
 by a parallel one. (Mat. xix. 24, 26; Mk 
 x. 25, 27). It is easier for a camel to go 
 through the eye of a needle than for a rich 
 man to enter into the kingdom of God. To 
 the disciples, astonished out of measure at 
 this saying, and inquiring who then can be 
 saved, Jesus said, with men it is impossible 
 but not with God, for with God all things 
 are possible. It is possible with him to save 
 
ENCOURAGEMENTS. 
 
 129 
 
 a rich man as well as a poor one. It is pos¬ 
 sible with him to renew those who were 
 once enlightened, but are now fallen, as well 
 as to renew those who were never enlight¬ 
 ened, nor fallen into any sin, nor from any 
 attainment. Who then will limit the Holy 
 One of Israel, but those who deny that it is 
 not possible with him to renew and save the 
 vilest sinner, and the greatest apostate? Mer¬ 
 ciful Father, wilt thou not heal our back- 
 slidings and love us freely? Wilt thou not 
 revive us again that we may rejoice in thee: 
 show us thy mercy and grant us thy salva¬ 
 tion? 
 
 The objection also falls,when we see that 
 there is nothing said in this passage or any 
 similar one, as in Ezek. xviii. 2; Pet. xx° 
 21, but what may be said of or found in the 
 unregenerate. They are enlightened; so are 
 all who hear the gospel, and hence have no 
 cloak for their sin—they are partakers of the 
 Holy Ghost; so are all who have the com¬ 
 mon influences, or the extraordinary gifts of 
 the spirit, by which they have prophesied, 
 
 and cast cut devils, and done many wonder- 
 
 12 
 
130 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 ful works, yet were unregenerate. (Mat. vii. 
 22, 23). They have tasted the good word 
 of God; so did the stony ground hearers, 
 and yet had no root in themselves. The 
 terms—partakers of the heavenly gift, and 
 of the powers of the world to come, are ex¬ 
 pressions doubtful in their meaning, and so 
 can furnish no legitimate argument. Con¬ 
 jecture proves nothing, much less does it 
 prove what our opponents desire. It then 
 seems to us that the objection vanishes, and 
 that the sinner who goes astray, even with 
 his own consent, may be sought out by the 
 Great Shepherd of the sheep, renewed again 
 to repentance, pardoned and brought back 
 with rejoicing. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 A believing discovery of pardon , is the 
 only relief for an awakened sinner. Vari¬ 
 ous are the expedients to which men resort 
 to relieve their distressed souls from the 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 131 
 
 burden of sin. They attempt to hide them¬ 
 selves from the presence of the Lord, as did 
 Adam among the trees of the garden, or 
 like Cain, go into another land and build a 
 city; or like the nations after the flood, 
 build a tower whose top may reach unto 
 heaven; or like Saul, reject the word of the 
 Lord and have recourse to witchery and 
 enchantment, (clairvoyance, etc.,) for which 
 he was rejected from being king, (1 Sam. 
 xv. 23); or like Judas, in a fit of despair, 
 take away their own lives. The Israelites 
 went to the Assyrians for help, (Hos. xiv). 
 The heathen torture, lacerate and sacrifice 
 themselves to appease the anger of their 
 deities. The unfortunate vassals of Popery 
 do penance, take many a long and weary 
 pilgrimage, and submit to any sacrifice and 
 debasement that may be required by the 
 “ man of sin.” Some attempt to drown 
 their sorrow by the intoxicating bowl, and 
 scenes of revelry and debauchery. They 
 sacrifice to Bacchus, the god of wine, chant¬ 
 ing their silly ode, “drink boys, drink, and 
 drown all sorrow;” others resort to the giddy 
 
132 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 whirlpool of pleasure, and vain society, and 
 theatrical plays; they invent to themselves 
 instruments of music, they take the timbrel 
 and harp, and chant to the sound of the viol. 
 Again, some make an external reformation; 
 perform deeds of charity and benevolence; 
 endow some religious institution; flatter 
 themselves that they are as good as their 
 neighbors, and thus go about to establish 
 their own righteousness, by which they ex¬ 
 pect to atone for all the ills they have done, 
 and so obtain heaven. But these are all 
 devices of the natural man, who, enquiring 
 wherewith shall I come before the Lord, 
 expects, by his own merits, to appease the 
 Most High, and pluck the crown of life 
 from Jehovah’s hands. By these, and simi¬ 
 lar expedients, their minds may be somewhat 
 diverted from the burden of their souls, but 
 they are not relieved. The burden still 
 remains. All these are indeed miserable 
 comforters, and broken reeds that will at 
 last pierce them through with many sorrows. 
 There is still “ poison in the drunkard’s cup, 
 and worse than poignards in the harlot’s 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 133 
 
 embrace.” Still the rankling thorn sticks 
 fast in their hearts, and their wounds bleed 
 afresh from every pore. They can not make 
 amends for the past, nor atone for the pre¬ 
 sent. At last, renouncing all these vain helps, 
 and self too,—that oldest and foulest idol,— 
 they cry, what must I do to be saved ? and 
 never, till they believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, can they find relief and salvation; ne¬ 
 ver, till they apprehend, by faith, the mercy of 
 God in Christ flowing to them though the 
 chief of sinners, can they find rest to their dis¬ 
 tressed souls. Hence, faith and repentance 
 too, and confession and patience, are neces¬ 
 sary to the enjoyment of pardon, and to 
 overcoming the obstacles in the way of this 
 enjoyment. A believing discovery of pardon 
 through Jesus Christ removes the thorn and 
 burden, and gives that peace, which all the 
 expedients, and pleasures, and honors, and 
 riches, and powers of the world, can never 
 afford. Being justified by faith we have 
 peace with God. Take for example the 
 Philippian jailor trembling and enquiring 
 what must I do to be saved 1 The answer 
 12 * 
 
134 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 is, not to try any of the above or similar 
 expedients, but “ believe on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ and thou shall be saved.” Then he 
 rejoiced, believing in God, and was at rest. 
 Jesus is the glorious object of faith, and the 
 word of Him who can not lie is the ground 
 of faith. We believe many things on testi¬ 
 mony, and here we believe on the testimony 
 of God, and not of man, nor of our own 
 senses. Faith is the gift of God, expressed 
 in scripture by believing, coming, looking, 
 eating, resting on Christ. “ Look unto me, 
 and be ye saved,” says he; and believing, 
 we reply, “ Behold we come unto thee for 
 thou art the Lord our God.” He that be- 
 lieveth on the Son of God hath everlasting 
 life. Him that cometh to me I will in no 
 wise cast out, says Jesus; and he that eateth 
 with me even he shall live by me. Coming 
 to Christ, and believing on him, are the 
 same thing, and in coining to him by faith 
 we renounce all sin, self righteousness, 
 houses, lands, and all that would hinder us. 
 We can not serve two masters, Christ and 
 Belial, nor “ stay in Sodom and set foot in 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 135 
 
 Zoar.” But in coining we do not wait till 
 we are free from sin, or till we have even 
 “ renounced the love of it,” for then we • 
 would never come to the Lord Jesus Christ 
 for pardon. But we come as we are, sin” 
 ners, and at the same time renounce all sin, 
 breaking our league with death and our 
 agreement with hell. Coming and renounC” 
 
 o o 
 
 ing are inseparable, as the sun and his light. 
 Believing and coming are the same. He 
 that cometh to me shall never hunger, and 
 he that believeth on me shall never thirst, 
 (John vi. 35). But faith and sense , or the 
 assurance of sense, are different things. We 
 walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. v. 7). 
 Blessed are they who have not seen and yet 
 believe. Hence that may be believed which 
 is not seen, felt or experienced. Who is 
 among you that feareth the Lord, that obey- 
 eth the voice of his servant, that walketh in 
 darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust 
 in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his 
 God (Isa. 1. 10). This man fears the Lord, 
 and obeys the voice of his servant and is 
 then a believer. Abraham, against hope, 
 
136 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 believed in hope. In the promise of a son 
 there was nothing external for sense to 
 rest on, but every thing to oppose it; 
 yet he staggered not at the promise, 
 through unbelief, but was strong in faith, 
 giving glory to God and being fully per¬ 
 suaded that what he had promised he was 
 able also to perform (Rom. iv. IS, 21). He 
 was fully persuaded, was assured, and this 
 assurance which belongs to the nature of 
 saving faith, must be distinguished from the 
 assurance of sense, or from the knowledge 
 of our being believers. The assurance of 
 faith arises from “ the single view of what 
 is contained in the word of promise, but the 
 assurance of sense arises from the joint view 
 of God’s word without us and from his work 
 within us,” from the Holy Spirit shining on 
 his own work in the soul, from self exami¬ 
 nation, and the marks of grace in our hearts 
 and lives. “ The assurance of sense is 
 founded on evidences, and supposes actual 
 progress in holiness;” the assurance of 
 faith is founded on the word of God 
 Faith and doubts are antagonists, yet doubts 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 137 
 
 and complaints of desertion and of pre¬ 
 vailing iniquity may be in the believer. 
 Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me, and 
 my Lord hath forgotten me. Iniquities pre¬ 
 vail against me, says David; and Jesus said 
 to Peter, 0 thou of little faith, wherefore 
 didst thou doubt (Isa. xlix. 14; Ps. lxv. 3; 
 Mat. xiv. 31) ? We do not say that a per¬ 
 son is required by the gospel, “ in the first 
 instance, to believe that Christ died for him,” 
 or that he is one of the elect and pardoned, 
 but he is required to believe that the gospel 
 is preached to him and Christ therein offered 
 to him in particular. The father of the 
 child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I 
 believe, help thou mine unbelief (Mk. ix. 24). 
 To you is the word of this salvation sent; 
 the promise is to you, to you who have cru¬ 
 cified the Lord of glory (Acts iii. 3G, 39). 
 This he is “ required to believe while yet he 
 has no sensible evidence that Christ is his 
 in possession;” required to believe that 
 Christ is made sin for us, delivered for our 
 offences and raised again for our justifica¬ 
 tion; that he is offered to sinners, and hence 
 
138 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 to him, a sinner. The promise of pardon 
 and eternal life is made to sinners hearing 
 the gospel, irrespective of age, sex, nation, 
 condition or moral worth; made to sinners 
 as such even the chief; to all that hear it; 
 to the stout hearted and far from righteous¬ 
 ness; to the vilest of the vile (Isa. xliii. 24, 
 25; xlvi. 12; xlix. 6; Ezk. xxxvi. 26; Jno. 
 vi. 32, 33; 1st Jno. v. 11). The promise, 
 or the gospel is broad as the law. But the 
 law includes all. The soul that sinneth it 
 shall die; cursed is every one that continueth 
 not in all things written in the book of the 
 law to do them. So the promise of the gos¬ 
 pel is to all sinners 44 not as having expe¬ 
 rienced the work of grace in them, but as 
 destitute of it;” to the stout hearted and far 
 from righteousness; to the outcasts and those 
 that are ready to perish. Then, in exercising 
 the direct act of faith on the promise of 
 pardon, of life and salvation, we do not wait 
 for any recommendation in ourselves, nor for 
 the sensible assurance of faith; but we apply 
 to ourselves Christ and salvation made over 
 to us in the free, unconditional offer of the 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 139 
 
 gospel, and this faith the believer exer» 
 cises even “ under a sense of extreme guilti¬ 
 ness;” though destitute and undone in him¬ 
 self he is persuaded that in the Lord Jesus 
 Christ he has righteousness; that he is the 
 propitiation for his sins, and that his blood 
 will cleanse him from them all, be they ever 
 so great. Zaccheus, the Samaritan woman, 
 the Philippian jailor, and the thief on the 
 cross, are instances of persons pardoned 
 without previous qualifications recommend¬ 
 ing them to God’s mercy. None need wait 
 till he experiences the work of the spirit, or 
 some good qualifications in himself, before 
 he applies the promises, for the promise is 
 to all as sinners, and “ all genuine experi¬ 
 ence of the work of grace is after believing.” 
 For example, a king promises pardon to a 
 rebel or to a class of rebellious subjects, and 
 they, trusting in his word do not, nor are 
 they required to wait till they experience 
 some good in themselves, worthy of pardon, 
 before they apply the promise, and receive 
 the benefit of it. So God, the King of kings, 
 promises his rebellious subjects pardon and 
 
140 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 eternal life through his Son, and those that 
 believe his word of promise do not wait, nor 
 are they required to wait till they experi¬ 
 ence some good in themselves, or a change 
 of heart before they receive and apply the 
 proffered blessings. That the soul be re¬ 
 lieved from fear and punishment, it is neces¬ 
 sary that ihe application of the gospel be as 
 broad and particular as the law in condemn¬ 
 ing, and he that makes the application says, 
 Christ is my righteousness, iny peace, my 
 hope, my all. No person has a spiritual 
 view of the grace and mercy of God in 
 Christ, who does not see them extending to 
 himself in particular, though the chief of 
 sinners ; and such only, have a heart to mor¬ 
 tify sin and live to God. Many persons dis¬ 
 tressed by sin, and not finding in themselves 
 the sensible assurance of faith, are, under a 
 mistaken view of the gospel, often fearing 
 to appropriate Christ to themselves. But 
 they are looking for the fruit of faith before 
 they believe—for the effect before the cause. 
 They are looking to something within them, 
 and not to the word of promise, for a war- 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 141 
 
 rant to receive and appropriate Christ Jesus* 
 But it must be evident that it is not our ex¬ 
 perience, excellence, condition &c. but the 
 free gift and grant of Christ in the gospel, 
 that gives us a warrant to appropriate him 
 to ourselves. That, would be to subvert the 
 gospel plan of salvation ; for, if we could 
 produce this excellence in us before coming 
 to Christ, what would be the necessity of 
 coming at all, and would we not thus be our 
 own saviour? Then, the free offer of Christ 
 in the gospel, is our warrant to receive and 
 appropriate him to ourselves. Our excel¬ 
 lence, good frames, and all such things are 
 naught but sand and stubble. The assurance 
 of faith is different from the sensible assur¬ 
 ance , or the assurance that we have believed 
 in a right manner —that Christ is already 
 ours in possession. The former may exist 
 without the latter, which may be, or not be, 
 according to God’s pleasure, as it is not es¬ 
 sential to our interest in Christ, or to pardon. 
 Our comfort depends on it, but our safety does 
 not. Perhaps it will not do to be entrusted 
 
 with it, just as it will not do for some men to 
 
 13 
 
142 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 be entrusted with their wages, till their time 
 of service is done. A true believer may fol¬ 
 low God long—perhaps ten, twenty or thirty 
 years, or a life time, before he obtains the 
 sensible assurance of faith and pardon. It 
 may cost another many prayers offered up 
 with strong crying and tears, before he ob¬ 
 tains it. By the raging waves of temptation 
 and sin he is driven almost from the anchor 
 of hope, yet he still cleaves to God and cries 
 why castest thou off my soul—why hidest 
 thou thy face from me, I am afflicted and 
 ready to die from my youth up, while I suffer 
 thy terrors I am distracted (Ps. 88). Why 
 hast thou forgotten me, w T hy go I mourning 
 because of the oppression of the enemy (Ps. 
 42). Strengthen the things which remain, 
 that are ready to die. A person may have 
 faith, without sense, peace and joy, as they 
 are not essential to salvation. “Faith, is the 
 spring of obedience. Duties, without faith, 
 are legal—their principle, is legal fear—their 
 end, is legal righteousness—their aim, is to 
 quiet conscience, and appease God” in this 
 way, and not by the righteousness of his 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 143 
 
 own beloved Son. Even the obedience of 
 faith, must not be brought to mingle with 
 Christ’s righteousness. Pardon, through 
 Christ, must be accepted as a free gift, and 
 not obtained, partly by works, as a price. 
 We must believe that God, for Christ’s sake, 
 freely pardons all our sins, and then go on, 
 in active, and holy obedience, without com¬ 
 plaining, as did Zion and Jacob—Why hast 
 thou forgotten me—my way is hid from the 
 Lord, and my judgment is passed over from 
 my God. It is not complaints, and indo¬ 
 lence, and desires, but great exertion, and 
 diligence, that, under the divine blessing, 
 crowns us with success. The kingdom of 
 heaven suffereth violence, and the violent, 
 take it by force; and besides this giving all 
 diligence, add to your faith, virtue (Mat. xi. 
 12. 2 Pet. i. 5). 
 
 The obstacles to be overcome , require this 
 exertion and diligence. These arise from the 
 inflexibility of the divine law and justice— 
 from the enormity of sin—from relapses into 
 sin—from the voice of conscience—from a 
 sense of ingratitude for great favors receiv- 
 
144 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 ed—from unbelief—from apprehensions of 
 temporal judgments, and fears of being ut¬ 
 terly cast away—from sins, after a sense of 
 God’s love and special mercies—after wan¬ 
 derings, after vows, and engagements to du¬ 
 ty. They arise from sins, that waste the 
 conscience, and bring reproach on religion, 
 and that are committed against knowledge, 
 light and love—from afflictions, that seem to 
 be peculiar to them, as the loss of property, 
 of friends, of reputation, and from presecu- 
 tion—from strong corruptions, and indwell¬ 
 ing sin—love of the world, and of reputa¬ 
 tion—from the temptations of Satan, also, 
 from their darkness about the state and op¬ 
 erations of their souls, for they complain, 
 that they can tell neither the time nor place 
 of their conversion; and, unless a man be 
 born again, he can not enter into the king¬ 
 dom of God. They say, this evil comes 
 from the Lord, why should we wait any long¬ 
 er for him—why does he set himself in bat¬ 
 tle array against us, and pursue us as a flea 
 in the mountain, or a leaf driven by the 
 wind—we can make no amends for the past. 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 145 
 
 and must give up, and lie down in our shame, 
 and our confusion cover us, for we have sin¬ 
 ned against the Lord our God, we, and our 
 fathers, from our youth, even unto this day 
 (Jer. iii. 25). All these, and similar obsta¬ 
 cles, true lively faith, overcomes. It may 
 be shaken, diminished, interrupted, and small 
 as a grain of mustard seed, but it can not be 
 wholly lost, for it is the gift, and grace of 
 God, which he will nourish, and cherish, to 
 life eternal. When in lively exercise, it 
 quickens and enlivens our duties—perfumes 
 our services—supports in trials, and gives 
 hope and comfort in life and death—-rebukes 
 anxiety and fear, and gives joy and consola¬ 
 tion, in the midst of trouble and privation. 
 
 It enables the believer to say, the Lord is 4 
 my shepherd, I shall not want. Although 
 the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall 
 fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive 
 shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, 
 the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and 
 there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will 
 rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of 
 
 my salvation (Hab. iii). This believing dis- 
 13* 
 
146 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 covery of pardon, is a great support in trials, 
 and some have had the assurance and com¬ 
 fort of it: as David, Job, Paul and others. 
 All are required to seek it, and draw near to 
 God, in the full assurance of faith, (Heb. x. 
 22.) but through sinful indulgence, sloth, 
 and living so far from God, few obtain it, 
 and bring forth its fruits, which are love, 
 joy, peace, and even readiness to suffer, for 
 Christ and his cause. It appears from (Isa. 
 1. 10.) that there may be a discovery of par¬ 
 don, when there is no sensible assurance of 
 it. Here, the person is described, as walk- 
 lag, or continuing; in darkness, yet he is one, 
 that fears the Lord, and his language is, that 
 however it be with him, there is pardon for 
 him with God, and I will not let him go, ex¬ 
 cept he bless me; though he slay me, yet 
 will I trust in him. His mountain may at 
 one time stand strong, and from the top of 
 Pisgah, he may see the King in his beauty, 
 and the land that is yet far off: and, at an¬ 
 other, he may be in the valley of desertion, 
 mourning without the sun. Job said, I know 
 hat my Redeemer liveth; and again, 0! 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 147 
 
 that I knew where I might find him-—0 ! 
 that I were as in months past—as in the 
 days when God preserved me, when his can¬ 
 dle shined upon ray head, and when by his 
 light, I walked through darkness (Job xix,25. 
 xxiii, 3. 8. 9. xxix, 2. 3). Jesus said, this 
 is the work of God, that ye believe on him, 
 whom he hath sent—and that believing, ye 
 might have life through his name (John vi, 
 29. xx, 31). It is then, our duty to believe, 
 and all that “believe in pardon, believe it 
 for the ends, and purposes, for which God 
 revealed it; and he revealed it,that in grant¬ 
 ing pardon, he might be all in all, and 
 that all, might be by grace—that we might 
 have a new foundation for obedience, love 
 and gratitude—that men should love, be¬ 
 cause forgiven, and be holy, because pardon¬ 
 ed.” Her sins, which are many, are forgiv¬ 
 en, for she loved much; but to whom little 
 is forgiven, the same loveth little (Luke vii, 
 47). 
 
 But for receiving , and enjoying pardon , 
 true evangelical repentance is necessary — 
 that saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of 
 
148 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 a true sight and sense of his sin, and appre¬ 
 hension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, 
 with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from 
 it unto God, with full purpose of heart, and 
 endeavor after new obedience. Except ye 
 repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Repent¬ 
 ance is not the meritorious and procuring 
 cause of forgivness, but the connecting link,, 
 or cause, and is inseparable from pardon and 
 eternal life. It contains contrition, confess¬ 
 ion, and conversion. True brokenness of 
 heart for sin, as offensive to God, and contra¬ 
 ry to his law, is essential to it, and this is a 
 sacrifice, God will not despise (Ps. li, 17). 
 While the penitent further exclaims, against 
 thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this 
 evil in thy sight-—I will arise, and go to my 
 father, and will say unto him, father, I have 
 sinned against Heaven, and before thee^ 
 (Luke xv). He resolved and went, not like 
 Cain and Judas, from God, but to him,* leav¬ 
 ing his dry husks, and filthy swine, all behind. 
 The tears of godly sorrow, are not all dried 
 up, when the sin that caused them, is forgiv¬ 
 en and put away: but it is a continual exer-* 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 149 
 
 cise, leading the penitent to weep in secret, 
 for his own sins, and the sins of others, be¬ 
 cause they keep not God’s law, and to ex¬ 
 claim, “0 that my head were waters, and 
 mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might 
 weep day and night, for the slain, of the 
 daughter of my people,” and for the sin of 
 my soul. Surely after that I was turned, I 
 repented, and after that I was instructed, I 
 smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, yea, 
 were confounded, because I did bear the re¬ 
 proach of my youth. Then thou shalt re¬ 
 member thy ways and be ashamed—that 
 thou mayest remember, and be confounded, 
 and never open thy mouth any more, because 
 of thy shame, when I am pacified toward 
 thee, for all that thou hast done, saith the 
 Lord God. (Jer. ix, 1. xxxi, 19. Ezk. xvi, 
 61,63). Then repent, and be baptized, 
 every one of you, in the name of Jesus 
 Christ, for the remission of sins—Him hath 
 God exalted, with his right hand, to be a 
 Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance 
 to Israel, and forgivness of sins (Acts ii, 3S. 
 v, 31). It is after the new heart is given 
 
150 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 that they repent and weep, because of sin 
 (Ezk. xxxvi, 26.31). 
 
 Confession also , is not only necessary , but 
 in the order of nature , goes before pardon. 
 "When the Israelites would confess their sin, 
 and humble their hearts, God would remem¬ 
 ber his covenant with them (Lev. xxvi, 40- 
 42). He that covereth his sins, shall not 
 prosper, but whoso confesseth, and forsaketh 
 them, shall have mercy (Prov. xxviii, 13). 
 Forsaking is absolutely necessary, for it is 
 solemn mockery to confess, and still retain 
 our sins. If I regard iniquity in my heart, 
 the Lord will not hear me, we must lay aside 
 every weight, and the sin which does so easily 
 beset usor we can not run the Christian race; 
 we must part with every sin, though dear to 
 us as a right hand or right eye, we must slay 
 them or they will slay us; break our league 
 with death and our agreement with hell. If 
 thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and 
 cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee 
 that one of thy members should perish, and 
 not that thy whole body should be cast into 
 hell; and if thy right hand offend thee, cut 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 151 
 
 it off and cast it from thee, for it is profitable 
 for thee that one of thy members should 
 perish, and not that thy whole body should 
 be cast into hell. (Matt, v, 29, 30.) When 
 God called his backslidden people to return, 
 because he is merciful and will not keeP 
 anger forever, he said, only acknowledge 
 thine iniquity, thus intimating that on ac¬ 
 knowledgment they would obtain pardon. 
 (Jer. iii, 12, 13.) Even nature teaches this 
 order of duty, as seen in the case of David 
 and the Prodigal. I said, I will confess my 
 transgression unto the Lord, and thou for- 
 gavest the iniquity of my sin. (Ps. xxxii,5.) 
 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just 
 to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from 
 all unrighteousness. (1 John i, 9.) The 
 confession must be made to God, or to mam 
 or to both, as the case may be. If the olfence 
 be against man only, the confession must be 
 to him. Confess your faults one to another* 
 If against God only, it is to him alone we 
 must confess. And if we have offended both 
 God and man, confession must be made to 
 both the offended parties. Confession must 
 
152 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 also be public or private, according to the 
 nature of the offence. If the offence be pub¬ 
 lic the confession must be public, but if it 
 be private, the confession must be so; and 
 those who give publicity to a private offence, 
 act the part of slanderers. No law, human 
 or divine, requires a man to accriminate him¬ 
 self ; and to make a public disclosure of his 
 own private crimes, which from their nature 
 would not disclose themselves, is to expose 
 his own shame. But if from the nature of 
 the offence it will become public, every hon¬ 
 est man will freely confess his sin. In this 
 view we are supported by Dr. Dodridge, 
 Rev. E. Erskine, and others. The general 
 rule for private offences, is “ If thy brother 
 trespass against thee, tell him his fault be¬ 
 tween thee and him alone. If he shall hear 
 thee thou hast gained thy brother. But if 
 he will not hear thee, then take with thee 
 one or two more, that in the mouth of two 
 or three witnesses every word may be estab¬ 
 lished; and if he neglect to hear them, tell 
 it to the Church; but if he neglect to hear 
 the Church, let him be unto thee as an 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 153 
 
 heathen man, and as a publican. (Mat. 
 xviii, 15, 17.) But the confession must be 
 free without constraint—full without reserve, 
 It must be particular and ingenuous. Against 
 thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this 
 evil in thy sight. Pardon mine iniquity, for 
 it is great. If any say I have sinned and 
 perverted that which was right, and it profit¬ 
 ed me not; he will deliver his soul from 
 going into the pit, and his life shall see the 
 light. (Job xxxiii, 27, 28.) 
 
 It is necessary for those who believe there 
 is forgiveness for them with God, but who 
 have not yet a sense of their interest in it, 
 still to wait on Him . This waiting includes 
 patience, quietness, and diligence in the use 
 of means, and epxectation in opposition to 
 distrust and despair. The means are, reading 
 the word, meditation and prayer, the dispen¬ 
 sation of ordinances, mortification of sin and 
 religious conference. As iron sharpeneth 
 iron, so doth the face of a man his friend. 
 If, on the eruption of old sins or new lusts, 
 and a perplexing sense of guilt, and burden 
 of sin, you say, We wait for light, but behold 
 14 
 
I 
 
 154 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in dark¬ 
 ness; we looked for peace and there is no 
 good, for the time of healing, and behold 
 trouble; the harvest is past, the summer is 
 ended, and we are not saved; and thus give 
 up waiting, you may expect to fail. (Isa. 
 lix, 9; Jer. xiv, 19.) Or, if through pre¬ 
 vailing iniquity after a season of obedience 
 you are overcome by the same or similar 
 sins you had forsaken, you give up and say 
 it is in vain to contend any more, all is lost 
 and gone, I have labored in vain, I have 
 spent my strength for nought and in vain, I 
 shall one day fall totally and finally, by the 
 hand of mine enemy, the same result may be 
 expected: for it is distrusting God’s promise 
 and power to save. Perhaps you have not 
 yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 
 Job and Jonah and the Church complained^ 
 but still adhered to God and recovered. They 
 said it is good unto thee that thou shouldst 
 oppress, that thou shouldst despise the work 
 of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel 
 of the wicked, for now thou numberest my ' 
 steps, dost thou not 'watch over my sin 
 
/ 
 
 RELIEF OBTAINED. 155 
 
 Also when I cry and shout he shutteth out 
 my prayer. My strength and my hope are 
 perished from the Lord. Thou hast covered 
 thyself with a cloud, that our prayers should 
 not pass through. (Job. x, 3, 14, 16; Lam. 
 iii, 8, 18, 44.) Then I said I am cast out 
 of thy sight, yet will I look again toward 
 thy holy temple. (Jonah ii, 4.) The lat¬ 
 ter part of this verse shows that the true 
 believer will not give up even when cast out 
 of God’s sight—when all evidence of sense 
 fails, he will still hold on his way and endure 
 to the end, waiting God’s time, which is the 
 best. He that believeth shall not make haste. 
 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. 
 My soul wait thou only upon God, for my 
 expectation is from him. In the morning 
 will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will 
 look up, waiting and expecting an answer. 
 Like a merchant whose goods are yet on a 
 foreign shore, his inheritance may yet be in 
 a foreign land, but he watches every gale of 
 the spirit, examines all evidences, and finding 
 them in his favor, though his treasure is not 
 yet in actual possession, he rejoices to find 
 
156 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 that it is safe. He takes joyfully the spoil¬ 
 ing of his goods, knowing that in heaven he 
 has a better and an enduring substance. He 
 does not entertain hard thoughts against God, 
 for these would alienate his heart from him. 
 He remembers that God is sovereign, and 
 infinitely wise, and says, I will bear the in¬ 
 dignation of the Lord, because I have sinned 
 against him, until he plead my cause and ex¬ 
 ecute judgment for me. He will bring me 
 forth to the light, and I shall behold his 
 righteousness. (Mic. vii, 9.) The great 
 difficulty with many is, that in their estimation, 
 their sins are so numerous, and so great, and 
 so aggravated,that they can not be forgiven. 
 But let such remember that God is plenteous 
 and abundant in mercy—that there is mercy 
 with him to suit the case of the greatest 
 sinner. He has promised to redeem Israel 
 from all his iniquities. (Ps. cxxx; Jer* 
 xxxiii, S.) The promise is universal, and it 
 is sure. The evidence of pardon might be 
 abused , by us, as temporal mercies are by 
 many, and for this reason withheld from 
 God’s people, lest they would be their ruin. 
 
RELIEF OBTAINED. 
 
 157 
 
 Riches are often kept for men to their hurt; 
 wisdom and high places are the ruin of 
 many; liberty has proved a snare; prosperity 
 slays the foolish; luxury, riot, pride, profan¬ 
 ity, intemperance, oppression and atheism 
 are the fruits of affluence. “ Gold glitters 
 most where virtue shines no more,” and 
 many think it gives moral worth and a passport 
 to heaven. There is so much of the pharisee 
 about us, that a sensible evidence of pardon 
 t{ might degenerate into self-righteousness } 
 and be set down as a part of our justification;” 
 and for this reason is withheld that we may 
 wait on God for daily supplies, as the Israel¬ 
 ites did for manna from heaven. Then it is 
 our duty to wait till he send relief as did the 
 Church, knowing that the work of righteous¬ 
 ness shall be peace, and the effect of right¬ 
 eousness quietness and assurance forever. 
 (Isa. xxxii, 17.) One experimental embrace 
 of an interest in Christ, though not till the 
 hour of death, is well worth waiting for all 
 our life; and it shall be said in that day, Lo 
 this is our God, we have waited for Him, and 
 he will save us. This is the Lord, we have 
 14* 
 
 
15S PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice 
 in his salvation. (Isa. xxv, 9.) Yea, in 
 the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we 
 waited for thee. The desire of our souls is 
 to thy name, and to the remembrance of 
 thee. Now lettest thou thy servant depart 
 in peace according to thy word, for mine 
 eyes have seen thy salvation. (Isa. xxvi, 
 S; Luke, ii, 29, 30.) 0, here is joy unspeak¬ 
 able and full of glory. Whatever then may 
 befall the believer, all things shall work 
 together for good to them that love God. 
 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
 their strength; and it is their duty to rest in 
 the Lord, and wait patiently for him, with¬ 
 out complaining. “ Thou hast removed my 
 soul far off from peace; I forgat prosperity, 
 and I said my strength and my hope is per¬ 
 ished from the Lord, remembering mine af¬ 
 fliction and my misery, the wormwood and 
 the gall, my soul hath them still in remem¬ 
 brance, and is troubled in me. This I call to 
 mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the 
 Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, 
 because his compassions fail not; they are 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 
 
 159 
 
 new every morning; great is thy faithful” 
 ness; the Lord is my portion saith my soul, 
 therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is 
 good unto them that wait for him, to the soul 
 that seeketh him. It is good that a man 
 should both hope and quietly wait for the sal¬ 
 vation of the Lord. (Lam. iii, 17,26.) For 
 the vision is yet for an appointed time, but 
 at the end it shall speak and not lie, though 
 it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely 
 come, it will not tarry.” (Hab. ii, 3.) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 
 
 The great inquiry of the awakened and 
 anxious sinner remains yet to be answered. 
 He not only enquires, is there pardon for sin¬ 
 ners, but is there pardon for him. His 
 language is, I am now satisfied that there is 
 forgiveness with God, and plenteous redemp- 
 
160 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 t 
 
 lion is ever found with him. Jesus is able 
 to save to the uttermost, but have I an in- 
 terest in the salvation he has wrought out 
 and brought in, for if not, it will be of no avail 
 to me to know this, unless to enhance my 
 misery. A great estate is bequeathed to 
 men, but unless I am among the legatees it 
 profits me nothing. There is an inheritance 
 incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not 
 away, and it is of the utmost importance to 
 have a clear title to it. All men are in a 
 state of nature or of grace. The one is a 
 state of death, the other of life; the one o^ 
 darkness the other of light; the one of en¬ 
 mity, the other of love; and we must be 
 born again—born of water and of the Spirit 
 or we can not enter into the kingdom of God. 
 But we do not know assuredly that we are 
 born again—can not tell the time and place 
 of this birth, and as sin still cleaves to us, 
 we fear that we are still in a state of nature 
 without a title to pardon and eternal life. 
 But, my friend, you may not be able to tell 
 the time, place and manner , of your natural 
 pirth, and are you not then afraid that you 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 
 
 161 
 
 were never born ? Moreover as this igno¬ 
 rance does not affect your natural existence, 
 so neither does it affect the reality of your 
 spiritual existence, to be unable to tell the 
 time , place apd manner of your conversion. 
 The existence of the natural man is known 
 by his actions , so the existence of the spirit¬ 
 ual man is known by his operations. Some 
 are sanctified from the womb, as Jeremiah; 
 others are gradually renewed by the still, 
 small voice of the gospel, and the mysterious 
 operations of the Spirit and grace in the 
 soul, and may not be able to mark any change 
 in their life,unless that they know that whereas 
 they were blind, now they see. Others are 
 suddenly arrested in a course of sin, and may 
 easily tell the time and place of their conver¬ 
 sion. But the general evidence is their con¬ 
 duct. 44 Ye shall know them by their fruits. 
 Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of 
 thistles. Even so every good tree bringeth 
 forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth 
 forth evil fruit. A good tree can not bring 
 forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree 
 bring forth good fruit. Wherefore by their 
 
162 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 fruits ye shall know them. (Matt, vii.) But 
 we are not to look for absolute evidence to 
 the exclusion of all doubts and cause of self- 
 examination. Sin and unbelief will stiU 
 abide in the best of men, and work against 
 the principle of grace—a constant warfare 
 will be going on, in which the victory some¬ 
 times seems doubtful. Nor must we look for 
 an extraordinary evidence by the testimony 
 of the Spirit. The nature of that evidence 
 is not well understood, and about it men dif¬ 
 fer in their views. If we have ever received 
 a special testimony by the Spirit, even of our 
 sincerity, it is our duty to retain it with grat¬ 
 itude, or if lost, to endeavor to recover a 
 sense of it again, for support in time of 
 darkness and trial. God may give a secre t 
 intimation of his love and acceptance or he 
 may shine immediately into the soul. These 
 intimations are generally transient, like the 
 glimmering of light in some obscure place, 
 and should be treasured up for time of need, 
 that in trouble we may remember those 
 precious seasons when God shone upon our 
 ^ouls, and we apprehended his mercy, ex- 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 16 S 
 
 tending through Christ to us though the chief 
 of sinners. 
 
 But to come to particulars. Purity of hear^ 
 and life is an evidence of pardon. Blessed 
 are the pure in heart, for they shall see God- 
 Every man that hath this hope purifieth him¬ 
 self even as he is pure; and God purifies 
 their hearts by faith. To their eye, holiness 
 is more beautiful than the purling, silvery 
 stream, or the glory of the azure firmament, 
 and next to the divine glory, they pursue 
 it as indispensable to seeing the Lord, They 
 may yet have no sensible evidence of this 
 purity, but their constant and earnest desire 
 to obtain it, is rather an argument in favor 
 of its present existence in the soul, encotir- 
 aging them to believe that God will, in due 
 time, hear and fulfill their utmost desire, as 
 he does the poor and needy, that seek and 
 thirst for water, when there is none. (Isa. 
 xli, 17.) Many things counteract and weak¬ 
 en this evidence especially the remains ol 
 depravity, warring to their heart sorrow 
 against the law of their mind. Since it is 
 written, they that are Christ’s have crucified 
 
164 
 
 FAKDON OF SIN. 
 
 the flesh with the affections and lusts, many 
 think there should not be a vestige of that 
 depravity which excites to every sin, and at¬ 
 tempts to hinder and defile every duty. But 
 finding it still within them, and forgetting 
 that they are only partially sanctified, till the 
 close of natural life, when they are made 
 perfect in holiness, and immediately pass 
 into glory, they are often greatly troubled, 
 they often lose sight of the fact that there 
 are two principles in the believer, as there is 
 in the Shulamite a company of two armies; 
 the flesh lusting against the spirit, and the 
 spirit against the flesh; and these are con¬ 
 trary the one to the other, so that ye can not 
 do the things ye would. I see, says Paul, 
 another law in my members, warring against 
 the law of my mind, and bringing me into 
 captivity to the law of sin. Here there is a 
 warfare which commences with the new 
 birth, and terminates only with death, when 
 the believer is more than conqueror, through 
 Jesus Christ; and your state is to be mea¬ 
 sured not so much by the opposition of 
 sin to you, as by your opposition to it. 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 165 
 
 Is this sincere, constant, determined, leading 
 you to resist unto blood, striving against sin, 
 or is it the reverse ? If this conflict is going 
 on in you, what is it that gives you trouble, 
 and makes you complain of the burden of 
 sin ? Is it not the principle of grace, strug¬ 
 gling against the principle of depravity and 
 sin, because it is so hateful and loathsome to 
 you, in view of all that God is doing and 
 has done for you, as a sinner ? Is there any 
 such struggle and conflict in the unregenerate 
 who are dead in trespasses and sins ? Might 
 we not as well think to hear the dead com¬ 
 plain of pain, as to hear the unrenewed 
 sinner complain of sin ? We do not look 
 for perfection, or perfect purity, till sanctifi¬ 
 cation is completed by its divine Author. 
 But, as the needle inclines to the pole, so we 
 look for purity to prevail, inclining the soul 
 to God, in his nature, will, and ordinances, 
 and making the path of the just shine brighter 
 and brighter, like the natural day, from the 
 taint dawn of the morning to its meridian 
 splendor. Paul, after having been caught up 
 in a vision, to the third heavens, did not con 
 15 
 
 I 
 
166 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 sider himself already perfect, but pressed on 
 toward the mark, for the prize of the 
 high calling of God in Christ Jesus. So 
 it is with the true Christian, who, lean¬ 
 ing on the Beloved of his soul, goes 
 up through the wilderness of this world, 
 perfecting holiness in the fear of God, till he 
 arrives at the portals of bliss, enters into the 
 joy of his Lord, drinks of the river of water 
 of life, that proceeds out of the throne of 
 God and of the Lamb, and bathes in an ocean 
 of glory forever and ever. Now his conver¬ 
 sation is from heaven, and as becometh the 
 gospel. No filthy communication proceeds 
 out of his mouth, but that which is good to 
 the use of* edifying, that it may minister 
 grace to the hearers. That his religion may 
 not be vain, he bridles his tongue, and keeps 
 his heart with all diligence, for out of it are 
 the issues of life, and his speech bewrays 
 him. He is renewed in heart and purged 
 from his old sins, so that he can enter heaven 
 by the strait gate, which is too narrow to 
 admit any with unmortihed lusts. But while 
 imperfection remains, he is fallible, incon- 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 167 
 
 stant, and liable to decay—to be guilty of 
 actual sin, and to grieve the Spirit—and God 
 never intended that any should retain their 
 confidence, and sin at the same time. The 
 assurance that sin will not shake, does not 
 deserve the name. But “ the soul has not 
 ceased to do with sin; the saint traverses a 
 battle field to his rest only with much con¬ 
 flict, many wounds, many stumbles, occa¬ 
 sional overthrows. His course is for the 
 most part, that of a victor. Around the soul 
 on earth, there is a body of death, wisely 
 left to try and purify it, but it is there only 
 by protest; it is not welcome. Duties are 
 mixed with sin, but an outside performance 
 will satisfy only an outside Christian.” But 
 like the river to the ocean, widening and 
 deepening, and flowing with incredible 
 smoothness, as it approaches the end, so the 
 believer’s course is onward and heavenward? 
 increasing in holiness, righteousness and 
 peace, as he advances nearer his eternal rest. 
 His affections are set on things above,where 
 Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, and 
 where his utmost desires for holiness will be 
 
168 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 fully anti forever gratified. What a contras* 
 is there between him and the unrenewed man, 
 whose heart is like the vineyard of the slug¬ 
 gard, all grown over with thorns, and nettles 
 have covered the face thereof, and like mys¬ 
 tical Babylon, which is become the habita¬ 
 tion of devils, and the hold of every foul 
 spirit, and a cage of every unclean and 
 hateful bird; wallowing in the filth and mire 
 of sin, his thoughts are unclean, sensual, 
 worldly, devilish. His filthy conversation, 
 like a pestilence, every where spreads moral 
 disease and death, and his whole life is a 
 tissue of cherished sin, in which he delights 
 as most congenial to his unrenewed nature. 
 
 Those that are forgiven will love God and 
 all that 'pertains to him. How can it be other¬ 
 wise ? How can those who have received 
 such an unspeakable blessing as pardon, ever 
 cease to love him, who, in the greatness of 
 his mercy, has granted it. It is a principle 
 both of nature and of grace, that w’e love a 
 kind benefactor. A slave will greatly love 
 *he man who freely gives him his liberty. 
 A debtor spontaneously loves and celebrates 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 169 
 
 the beneficence of one that has freely forgiven 
 him a great debt; so the sinner can never 
 cease to love and adore God, who freely for¬ 
 gives him the enormous debt of sin, which 
 he could never pay, and who brings him from 
 the slavery of sin and Satan, into the glori¬ 
 ous liberty of his children. The song of the 
 redeemed is unto Him that loved us, and 
 washed us from our sins in his own blood. 
 To him be glory and dominion forever and 
 ever. Mary Magdalene, who washed the 
 Saviour’s feet with tears, and kissed and 
 anointed them, loved much, because her 
 sins, which were many, were forgiven her. 
 This is true of all that are forgiven. The lan¬ 
 guage of their hearts is, we love him because 
 he first loved us, and has given us the clearest 
 possible manifestation of his love, in the un¬ 
 speakable gift of his own dear Son. Lan¬ 
 guage fails to express the length and breadth, 
 the depth and height of this divine love, 
 lasting long as eternity; extending wide as 
 the world, stooping low as hell, and exalting * 
 high as heaven. With reference to it, the 
 apostle exclaims, herein is love, not that we 
 15 * 
 
170 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 loved God, but that he loved us, and hath 
 sent his son to be the propitiation for our 
 sins. Even apart from what God has done 
 in forgiving us, he is worthy of our supreme, 
 undivided and unceasing love. No perfec¬ 
 tion of his nature is set forth like this. As 
 if it were the soul of all the rest, it is said 
 “ God is love” and taking this into the ac¬ 
 count with what he has done for us, in the 
 gift of his Son, and salvation by him, we 
 exclaim with the psalmist, I love the Lord be¬ 
 cause he hath heard my voice and my sup¬ 
 plications; because he hath delivered my soul 
 from the lowest hell. (Ps. 116.) I love him 
 more than all heaven and earth contain— 
 more than house, or brethren, or sisters, or 
 father, or mother, or wife, or children, or 
 lands or life itself. I count all things but 
 loss for Christ, and my life not dear that I 
 may win Christ, and be found in him without 
 spot or blemish, at his appearing and glory. 
 I love God with all my heart, soul, mind and 
 ' strength, and would manifest it by constantly 
 endeavoring to glorify him with my body 
 and spirit—by reverence and devotion to him 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 
 
 171 
 
 ■—by keeping his commandments out of a 
 pure heart, and faith unfeigned—by a con¬ 
 stant, and faithful, and grateful observance, 
 of the public and private ordinances of grace, 
 ■where the soul is refreshed and made like a 
 watered garden, and like a spring of water, 
 whose waters fail not—by liberally support¬ 
 ing, by all lawful and available means, the 
 kingdom of Jesus Christ, that a great rev¬ 
 enue of glory may redound to God in our 
 salvation, and in the salvation of millions of 
 our fallen race. The goodness of God lead- 
 eth thee to repentance—the love of Christ 
 constraineth us—-our evil is overcome by di- % 
 vine goodness. He loves God with all his 
 heart, and his neighbor as himself. He loves 
 God’s people and word and ordinances , and 
 thus has an evidence of forgiveness. We 
 know that we have passed from death unto 
 life, because we love the brethren. He that 
 loveth not his brother, abideth in death, for 
 he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath 
 seen, how can he love God, whom he hath 
 not seen. (1 Jno. iii, 14iv, 20.) By this, 
 says Christ, shall all men know that ye are 
 
172 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 
 (Jno. 13, 35.) Love to God, and the breth¬ 
 ren are convertible terms. Where love to 
 the one exists, love to the other exists also; 
 and for the sincerity of it, they can some¬ 
 times adopt the language of Peter, when in¬ 
 terrogated on this subject; Lord, thou know- 
 est all things; thou knowest that I love thee. 
 This love is not confined to sect, or party, 
 or nation, or to the gold ring, and goodly 
 apparel, or to names and “flattering titles ” 
 (Job. xxxii, 22), and adventitious circum¬ 
 stance — the generating principles of love, 
 and partiality, and favoritism, too manifest 
 in this day of declension, when the love of 
 many has waxed cold, and parity among 
 brethren, even of the Presbyterian name, 
 appears no greater than it did in the Aaron- 
 ical priesthood; but it extends to the whole 
 Christian fraternity, where, in the judg¬ 
 ments of charity, we have reason to believe 
 the image of Christ is found; “for those 
 who confine their love to a sect or party, to 
 whom God has not confined his grace, are 
 souls too narrow to be put among the chil- 
 
\ 
 
 EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 173 
 
 dren.” (Boston.) The true Christian loves 
 not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed 
 and in truth, and proves this by impartial 
 acts of kindness, of regard, and of mercy, 
 for which he will receive a glorious reward. 
 Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of 
 these little ones, a cup of cold water only, 
 in the name of a disciple, verily, I say unto 
 you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. 
 (Matt, x, 42.) Yea, he loves all men, and 
 prays for his spiteful, cursing, persecuting 
 enemies. (Matt, v, 44.) Time was when 
 an enemy could say of Christians, behold 
 how they Jove one another. Then all men 
 might know that they were the disciples of 
 the Lord Jesus. How simple and plain is 
 this evidence by which every one, however 
 feeble in intellect, or limited in attainment, 
 may try himself, and see if he has reason to 
 believe that his sins are forgiven. Does he 
 in deed, and in truth, love the brethren of 
 our Lord and Saviour merely because they 
 bear his divine image? He also loves the 
 word , and ordinances , and house of God, 
 with reference to which his language is, 0 
 
174 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 how I love thy law; it is my meditation all 
 the day. I love thy commandments above 
 gold, yea, abofe fine gold; how sweet are 
 thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than 
 honey to my mouth. The law of thy mouth 
 is better unto me, than thousands of gold 
 and silver. I will keep thy statutes; thy 
 word have I hid in my heart, that I might 
 not sin against thee. How amiable are thy 
 tabernacles 0 Lord of hosts. My soul long- 
 eth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the 
 Lord, for a day in thy courts is better than a 
 thousand. I had rather be a door keeper in 
 the house of my God, than to dwell in the 
 tents of wickedness. Lord, I have loved the 
 habitation of thy house, and the place where 
 thine honor dwelleth. One thing have I 
 desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, 
 that I may dwell in the house of the Lord 
 all the days of my life, to behold the beauty 
 of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. 
 I prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy. Do 
 good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build 
 thou the walls of Jerusalem. Whom have 
 I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon 
 
/ 
 
 EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 175 , 
 
 earth that I desire besides thee. Teach me 
 to do thy will, fop thou art my God. Thy 
 spirit is good—lead me into the land of up¬ 
 rightness. Jesus says to us, ye are my friends 
 if ye do whatsoever I command you; and 
 the first and great commandment is, Thou 
 slialt love the Lord thy God with all 
 thy heart, and with all thy soul, and 
 with ail thy mind: and the second is like 
 unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
 thyself. Love to God will show itself by 
 daily endeavoring to glorify him in our 
 bodies and spirits, which are his; and to our 
 neighbor, by laboring for his temporal and 
 spiritual interests. The fruit of faith is love, 
 purity, and victory over the world. Love 
 is the fulfilling of the law, and the source of 
 every Christian duty. Without it we are 
 nothing, will do nothing, and can do nothing 
 right and acceptable to God. Then what 
 evidence of pardon have those who are des¬ 
 titute of this love, and who neglect the word, 
 and ordinances of grace, and shun that 
 “ house of prayer, which is unto all people.” 
 
 0, did they know by experience that God 
 
376 ' PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 dwells in Zion—that he is a wall of fire 
 round about her, and the glory in the midst— 
 that there he meets with his people, holds 
 communion with them, and confers on them 
 the choicest blessings—gives them a new, 
 and an everlasting name, and makes them 
 pillars in his temple, where they shall go no 
 more out, but reign with him in glory un¬ 
 speakable, would they not love the habita¬ 
 tion of his house, and rejoice when it is said 
 unto them, let us go into the house of the 
 Lord, to behold his beauty, and inquire in 
 his pavilion? 
 
 Hatred of sin , and every thing opposed 
 to God , is a trait in the character of those 
 who are forgiven. They will hate what God 
 hates, and love what he loves—hate every 
 false and wicked way, and war against all 
 sin, and mourn because of it wherever, and 
 in whomsoever it is found; will hate sin as our 
 common enemy, that has spread misery and 
 death so far and wide through the universe, 
 and brought the Lord of glory down to the 
 cursed death of the cross—sin, traitor to God 
 and ruiner of man; mother of woe, and 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 177 
 
 death, and hell. As he is born of God, and 
 as sin is that abominable thing which God 
 hates, so he hates it as much as he ever loved 
 it, and this hatred is not merely from a prin¬ 
 ciple of self love, because that sin has 
 wounded and dishonored him, and brought 
 ruin on his soul, but it is from a sense of in¬ 
 gratitude done to God, and from a sense of 
 its vile and evil nature, as opposed to God 
 and his law, and therefore in humility and de¬ 
 pendence on divine aid, he declares and raises 
 a determined and irrevocable warfare against 
 all sin. He has an inward abhorrence of all 
 sin, which he loathes and shuns as a deadly 
 poison. O, sin is my enemy, and my great¬ 
 est, sorest burden. I long to be delivered 
 not only from its dominion, but also from its 
 very existence. We that are in this taber¬ 
 nacle do groan, being burdened, earnestly 
 desiring to be clothed upon with our house, 
 which is from heaven. I can not roll sin as 
 a sweet morsel under my tongue, nor make 
 provision for it. I can not love that which 
 pierced my dear Saviour with the greatest 
 
 sorrows, and drank his life’s blood, but am a 
 
 16 
 
17S 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 sworn enemy of it, and determined to resist 
 it in the name of my God, until I shall be 
 more than conqueror, through Jesus Christ, 
 my hope and Redeemer. 
 
 All may be summed up in love , purity , 
 keeping the commandments out of a pure 
 heart , and faith unfeigned; hatred of sin , vic¬ 
 tory over our spiritual foes, as the world , the 
 devil , and the flesh ; the approbation of our 
 hearts , and the testimony of the Spirit; - 
 fatherly chastisement; a forgiving and char¬ 
 itable disposition; a high estimate of pardon, 
 and earnest , untiring seeking after it. Great 
 is the influence of the world over men in their 
 natural state. It is their chief good, their 
 god. They love it, fear it, cling to it as 
 their last hope. Though professing to be¬ 
 lieve the gospel, they regulate their lives by 
 the opinions, and maxims, and policy of the 
 world, and not by the principles of revealed 
 and eternal truth. How different is it with 
 the believer. Faith enables him to over¬ 
 come the world, and live above it, regardless 
 of its favors and its frowns; to use the world as 
 not abusingit; remembering the fashion there- 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 
 
 179 
 
 of passeth away. Whosoever is horn of God 
 overcometh the world, and this is the victory 
 that overcometh the world, even our faith; if 
 any man loveth the world,the love of the father 
 is not in him. (1 Jno. ii, 15; v, 4.) The 
 believer sees that Jesus Christ gave himself 
 for our sins, that he might deliver us from 
 this present evil world, and from its vain 
 conversation. (Gal. i, 4; 1 Peter, i, 18.) 
 He remembers that to be Christ’s disciple he 
 must take up his cross, leave all and follow 
 him, who though he was rich, yet for your 
 sakes, became poor, that ye through his pov¬ 
 erty might be rich in the possession of all 
 spiritual good through time and eternity. 
 He now has desires the world can not satisfy; 
 sees neither beauty nor permanency in it, and 
 hence looks above and beyond it to the king 
 in his beauty, and the land that is very far 
 off. (Isa. xxxiii, 17.) He knows “ There 
 is a land of pure delight, where saints im¬ 
 mortal reign; infinite day excludes the night, 
 and pleasures banish pain. There no fiends 
 torment, no Christians thirst for gold.” 
 There they are clothed with white robes, and 
 
180 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 palms in their hands, and cry with a loud 
 voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which 
 sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. 
 The angels join the universal chorus, saying, 
 Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, 
 and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, 
 and might, be unto our God, forever and 
 ever, amen. (Rev. vii.) The god of this 
 world is overcome; Christ has destroyed 
 him that had the power of death, that is the 
 devil, and however he may yet obtain par¬ 
 tial victories, yet the God of peace shall 
 shortly bruise him forever under your feet. 
 Through Christ we shall be more than con¬ 
 querors, and crucify the flesh with the affec¬ 
 tions and lusts. Overcoming these and the 
 lusts that war against the soul, and all such 
 foes, is an evidence of forgiveness. By this 
 I know that thou favorest me, because mine 
 enemy doth not triumph over me. (Ps. xli, 
 11.) Our hearts , and also the Holy Spirit, 
 will bear us witness. Hereby we know' 
 that we are of the truth. Beloved, if our 
 heart condemn us not, then have we confi¬ 
 dence towrnrd God, and hereby w 7 e know that 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 181 
 
 he abideti in us, by the spirit which he hath 
 given us. (1 Jno. iii, 19, 21, 24.) This 
 does not mean that our hearts are stupified 
 
 «. X 
 
 by sin, nor that they do not smite, and re¬ 
 proach, and condemn us at any time, for that 
 would argue a state of insensibility, or of 
 perfection, but it means that our hearts are 
 sprinkled, and our consciences purged from 
 sin by the blood of Christ, which speaks 
 peace, and gives confidence toward God. 
 The testimony of the heart or conscience is 
 better fo us than a thousand external wit¬ 
 nesses, yet God is greater than our heart, and 
 know’s all things, and is a surer and swifter 
 witness. The spir it which he hath given us, 
 is a spirit like that which Caleb and Joshua 
 had, different from the other spies in search 
 of the land of promise, and to a great ex¬ 
 tent like that which rested on Jesus Christ, 
 the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the 
 spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of 
 knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord; in 
 a word it is the spirit of Christ; a spirit of 
 revelation, in the knowledge of him, a spirit of 
 meekness and forgiveness, of grace and sup- 
 16" 1 
 
382 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 plications, a spirit of union to Christ, of re¬ 
 generation and sanctification, of adoption of 
 faith- and love, the holy spirit of promise, 
 which is the earnest of our inheritance, until 
 the redemption of the purchased possession 
 unto the praise of his glory, the spirit of 
 truth by which we are sealed, evincing his 
 existence by his fruits, and the fruit of the 
 spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gen-„ 
 tleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tempe¬ 
 rance. This fruit is the evidence he gives 
 of his inhabitation in our hearts, and conse¬ 
 quently of our pardon. $ 
 
 The same truth is evinced by fatherly 
 chastisement. As many as I love I rebuke 
 and chasten. (Rev. iii, 39.) To some this 
 may seem a strange evidence. But nume¬ 
 rous passages of scripture set it forth in a 
 clear light. To his chosen people Jehovah 
 said, you only have I known of all the 
 families of the earth, therefore I will 
 punish you for all your iniquities. (Amos 
 iii, 2.) If they break my statutes, and 
 keep not my commandments, then will I 
 visit their transgression with the rod, and 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 
 
 183 
 
 their iniquity with stripes. Whom the Lord 
 loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every 
 son whom he receiveth; if ye are without 
 chastisements, whereof all are partakers, 
 then are ye bastards, and not sons; all are 
 partakers. Whoever escapes in this life, 
 they will not. In the world ye shall have 
 tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have 
 overcome the world. Consider the design 
 of affliction; it is for our profit that we may 
 be partakers of his holiness, we are chast¬ 
 ened of the Lord, that we should not be 
 condemned with the world. (1 Cor. xi, 32.) 
 Our correction, our trial, our conformity to 
 Christ, our detachment from the world, our 
 profit and salvation, and God’s glory, are all 
 designed by affliction; our light affliction, 
 which is but for a moment, worketh for 
 us a far more exceeding and eternal weight 
 of glory. (2 Cor. iv, 17.) You may 
 know that it is fatherly chastisement, 
 'and not divine wrath, by its fruits. If 
 it yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness, 
 weans us from the w r orld, conforms us to 
 Christ, drives us from sin and self, and leads 
 
184 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 us to God as our Father, in whom com¬ 
 passions flow, and with whom the fatherless 
 find mercy, it is an evidence that it is a 
 chastisement, sent in love, and not in anger; 
 and you will say, It is good for me that I 
 have been afflicted that I might learn thy 
 statutes. I know, O Lord, that thy judg¬ 
 ments are right, and that thou in faithfulness 
 hast afflicted me. He that spareth his rod, 
 hateth his son, byt he that loveth him, chas- 
 teneth him betimes. (Ps. cxix, 71, 75; 
 Prov. xiii, 22.) O Lord, correct me in 
 mercy, and in measure, not in wrath, lest 
 thou consume me; lest the spirit should 
 fail, and the souls which thou hast made. O 
 Lord, thou hast chastised me, and I was 
 chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the 
 yoke; turn thou me and I shall be turned, 
 for thou art the Lord my God. (Isa. lvii, 16; 
 Jer. x, 24.) Correct me, but with judgment, 
 not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to 
 nothing. (Jer. xxxi, IS; xxx, 11, 17.) 
 I will correct thee in measure, and will not 
 leave thee altogether unpunished. I will 
 restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 
 
 185 
 
 of thy wounds, saith the Lord, because they 
 call thee an outcast, saying this is Zion, 
 whom no man seeketh after. Thus God 
 does with his people, and he may chastise 
 them by depriving them of some blessing, 
 temporal or spiritual, dearest to their heart, 
 or he may grant the desired blessing, with 
 an attending care or thorn. 
 
 A forgiving and charitable disposition be¬ 
 longs to those who are forgiven. They 
 must partake of the same spirit that is in 
 our Lord and Saviour, who requires us to love 
 our enemies, to bless them that curse us, and 
 do good to them that hate us, and pray for 
 them which despitefully use us; requires us 
 to feed our enemy, and give him water to 
 drink; to not render evil for evil, or railing 
 for railing, but contrariwise, blessing. To 
 forgive if ye have aught against any, that 
 your Father who is heaven, may forgive you 
 your trespasses; to forgive, even as God for 
 Christ’s sake hath forgiven you (Matt, v; 
 1 Peter, iii, 9; Mark xi, 25; Eph. iv, 32). 
 And as Jesus has set us an example, who on 
 the cross apologized and prayed for his ene- 
 
186 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 t 
 
 mies: “ Father forgive them for they know 
 not what they do.” In imitation of his 
 example, the martyr Stephen, pelted with 
 stones, kneeled down, and cried with a loud 
 voice, in behalf of his murderers, Lord lay 
 not this sin to their charge. He had tasted 
 the sweetness of that greatest blessing, par¬ 
 don; pardon for infinite offence, bought 
 with blood divine; and was thus enabled to 
 forgive his foes. 0, when we remember 
 what an enormous debt of sin God has 
 forgiven us, and daily pray, forgive us our 
 debts as we forgive our debtors, can we 
 have any other feeling in our hearts, than 
 a disposition to forgive, even till seventy 
 times seven. It seems to us, that those who 
 are of a revengeful, unforgiving disposition, 
 and are scarcely willing to forgive the 
 smallest offence, real or imaginary, have 
 great reason to fear that they have never 
 obtained pardon from God; for, if ye for¬ 
 give not men their trespasses, neither will 
 your Father forgive your tresspasses. (Matt, 
 vi, 15) The same is true of charity , for 
 whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth 
 
 4 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 
 
 187 
 
 his brother have need, and shutteth up his 
 bowels of compassion from him, how dwell- 
 eth the love of God in him? (1 John iii, 1) 
 How can it dwell in him, more than in those 
 ■who saw Christ in the person of his people, 
 an hungered, and thirsty, and a stranger, 
 and naked, sick, and in prison, and did nc' 
 minister unto him? Ah, it can not. Now 
 abideth faith, hope, charity, these three, but 
 the greatest of these is charity. Without 
 it, no man is a Christian; whatever he may 
 profess, he is nothing, and has no evidence 
 of pardon. Alas, what will those think of 
 this, who are wedded to their golden dust, 
 and who with hearts steeled against the 
 wants, temporal and spiritual, of suffering 
 humanity, “ drive the poor away, unalmsed, 
 with looks which hell might be ashamed of.” 
 Certainly, they can not, with this mark of 
 Cain on them, lay claim to the faith and 
 inheritance of Abel. It is characteristic of 
 the righteous, that he “ showeth mercy, and 
 giveth.” (Ps. xxxvii, 21) His charity ex¬ 
 tends also to the views of others; itsuffereth 
 . long and is kind; beareth all things; be- 
 
188 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 lieveth all things; hopeth all things; en- 
 dureth all things, and never fails. Every 
 one who has obtained pardon, will prize it 
 as one of heaven s greatest blessings , and 
 will never rest till he has obtained a full and 
 sensible evidence of it. Even after God 
 said to David, I have put away thy sin; thou 
 shalt not die, he prayed: restore unto me the 
 joy of thy salvation; O let me see thy 
 countenance; give me some comfortable evi¬ 
 dence of the remission of my sins, that 1 
 may enjoy thee as the portion of my soul. 
 He is importunate, saying, I will not let thee 
 go, except thou bless me. The prisoner, 
 the captive, and the slave, can not prize 
 their liberty more than we do pardon; 
 nor can those doomed to death prize a re¬ 
 lease from the grave more than we do the 
 forgiveness of our sins, which bring us 
 down to the prison of death and hell. 
 Without this blessing, no other can be en¬ 
 joyed. While the curse of God rests on 
 man, he pines away in his sins, amid plea¬ 
 sures and palaces, sumptuous fare, and 
 treasures of fine gold. In a word, have you 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 
 
 189 
 
 given yourself to Christ , that he may sanct¬ 
 ify and save you, govern and use you for 
 his glory. Vain are your hopes, if there 
 has not been a cordial and entire devote- 
 ment of yourself to God, and a deep humili¬ 
 ation before him, for all your sins, and an 
 avowed and determined war declared against 
 them. This surrender must be in faith and 
 dependence on Christ, and this faith must 
 be sincere, and this opposition to sin must 
 be because of its deformity, and vileness, 
 and malignity, as contrary to God, and his 
 law. It is not enough to have assumed a 
 new name and robe, or to have a partial 
 change of heart. The change must be uni¬ 
 versal; the name and robe must be from 
 him, who gives his people a white stone, 
 and in the stone a new name written, which 
 no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth 
 it, and who clothes the returning prodigal 
 with the best robe. Have you the spirit of 
 Christ ? Is the same mind in you that was 
 in Christ Jesus 1 Have you any of his love, 
 devotion, and resignation to the will of 
 God ? Have you any of his purity, pa - 
 
190 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 tience, wisdom, contempt for the applause, 
 and honors, and riches of the world ? Have 
 you any of his fortitude, zeal, sincerity, con¬ 
 stancy, meekness, prudence, fidelity to God; 
 regard to his spirit, his people, his interests'? 
 Do you rejoice in his ordinances, and care¬ 
 fully improve them, and cherish the influen¬ 
 ces of the Holy Spirit ? Have you firmly 
 resolved with constant care to avoid what¬ 
 ever you know God would disapprove, and 
 to dispatch the work he has assigned you in 
 life, and to promote his glory in the happi¬ 
 ness of mankind ? Are your motives of 
 action pure and honest in the sight of God, 
 and are you careful to be, before him, what 
 you profess to be before men. Do you pre¬ 
 fer the soul to the body, and spiritual things 
 to temporal ? Does the remembrance of 
 your sin fiH you with shame and sorrow of 
 heart, even when it is secret, and when you 
 have reason to hope it is forgiven. Are 
 your desires for the world after, which 
 there is such an insatiable thirst, ever grow¬ 
 ing with indulgence and success, moderate, 
 and in subordination to God’s glory 1 Are 
 
EVIDENCES OF PARDON. 
 
 191 
 
 you content with such things as you have, 
 knowing he is faithful who has said, I will 
 never leave thee nor forsake thee ? Even 
 when in poverty, do you enjoy all things, in 
 God; and God in all things? Have you 
 put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humble¬ 
 ness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, for¬ 
 bearing one another, and forgiving one 
 another (1 Col. iii, 12). Have you a tender 
 regard to God’s word and ordinances, a 
 tender caution against all sin, a tender sub¬ 
 mission to God’s afflicting hand, and will 
 you allow any thing that will offend him, 
 and reproach his name and cause? Do 
 you feel and deplore your corrupt nature, 
 evil inclinations, and habits, that are so dif¬ 
 ficult to overcome as to defy human power 
 (Jer. xiii, 23) ? Have you this rejoicing, 
 the testimony of your conscience, that in 
 simplicity and godly sincerity, not with 
 lleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God 
 you have had your conversation in the 
 world (2 Cor. i, 12)? Then, amid all your 
 difficulties and opposition, from earth and 
 hell, you may look upward and onward, and 
 
192 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 you will find that Jesus is near, for your 
 deliverance, for your wisdom and righteous¬ 
 ness, and sanctification and redemption. 0, 
 that these evidences of pardon may be found 
 in us, to the praise of the glory of his 
 grace. 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 
 
 But we can not dismiss this subject, with¬ 
 out warning all against the commission of 
 sin, and without exhorting those that are yet 
 in their sins, and those that are yet in dark¬ 
 ness, to seek forgiveness from God, and all 
 who have received this great blessing, to 
 never cease their songs of praise to him who 
 forgives all our iniquities, and heals all our 
 diseases. There is no blessing, however 
 great, which is not liable to abuse, by sinful 
 men. They even turn the grace of God 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 193 
 
 into lasciviousness, and, because the blood 
 of Christ cleanses from all sin, and because 
 some of the chief of sinners have been for¬ 
 given, these graceless sinners may hence take 
 encouragement to sin. But let me warn 
 such, against, this.-fearful presumption; for 
 if this be the principle on which you act, 
 take care that God does not swear, in his 
 wrath, that you shall not enter into his rest. 
 If he spared not the natural branches, take 
 heed, lest he also spare not thee (Rom. xi, 
 21). If judgment first begin at the house 
 of God, what shall be the end of them that 
 obey not the gospel ? And if the righteous 
 scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly 
 and the sinner appear (1 Pt. iv, 17, 18) ? 
 Because sentence against an evil work is 
 not executed speedily, therefore the heart of 
 the sons of men is fully set in them to do 
 evil. But remember that the wrath of God 
 is revealed from heaven against all ungod¬ 
 liness and unrighteousness of men, who 
 hold the truth in unrighteousness; that his 
 spirit will not always strive with man; 
 justice will not sleep forever. He will arise 
 17* 
 
194 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 as a giant refreshed with wine, and rain 
 upon the wicked, snares, fire and brimstone, 
 and an horrible tempest; this shall be the 
 portion of their cup. He will render to 
 every man according to his deeds; to them 
 who by patient continuance in well doing, 
 seek for glory, and honor, and immortality, 
 eternal life; but unto them that are conten¬ 
 tious, and do not obey the truth, but obey 
 unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, 
 tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of 
 man that doeth evil ( Rom. ii). All this 
 wrath, poured out on the old world; on 
 Sodom and Gomorrah, yet suffering the 
 vengeance of eternal fire. Behold it in the 
 plagues of Egypt, and the overthrow of 
 their armies in the Red sea; in the fearful 
 destruction of Korah and his company; in 
 the destruction of the seven idolatrous na¬ 
 tions; in the leprosy of Miriam; of Gehazi; 
 and in the plagues that o r ten consumed 
 thousands of God’s chosen, but rebellious 
 people, who are now dispersed among all 
 nations, as a standing monument of Jeho¬ 
 vah’s displeasure at sin. Even Moses was 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 195 
 
 not permitted to enter the land of promise, 
 for speaking unadvisedly with his lips, and 
 not honoring God at the waters of Meribah. 
 For David’s complicated sin, his wives were 
 given to his neighbor, and the sword never 
 departed from his house. Herod was eaten 
 up of worms, because he gave not God the 
 glory. Anti-Christ — mystical Babylon — 
 will yet fall, to rise no more; the wicked 
 shall be turned into hell, with all the nations 
 that forget God. Then, sin is followed with 
 punishment either in this life or in the next. 
 Sin entails misery. The way of transgress¬ 
 ors is hard; hard, as opposed to God and 
 his law, to reason, and conscience, and hap¬ 
 piness. Then, my son, if sinners entice 
 thee, consent thou not. Resist the devil, 
 and he will flee from thee. The moment 
 you begin to listen to him, you are on the 
 highway to ruin. Suppress the first emo¬ 
 tions of sin; for lust, when it is conceived, 
 bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is 
 finished, bringeth forth death. Look not 
 upon the wine when it is red; -when it 
 giveth his color in the cup; when it moveth 
 
196 
 
 'pardon of sin, 
 
 itself aright. At the last, it biteth like a ser¬ 
 pent and stingeth like an adder. But virtue 
 brings its own reward, even in this life. 
 Godliness is. profitable unto all things; 
 having the promise of the life that now is, 
 and of that which is to come (1 Tim. iv, 8). 
 When a man’s ways please the Lord, he 
 maketh even his enemies to be at peace 
 with him; as long as Uzziah sought the 
 Lord, God made him to prosper (Prov. xvi, 
 7; 2 Chron. xxvi, 5). Hence, my son, for¬ 
 get not my law, but let thine heart keep 
 my commandments; for length of days, and 
 long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 
 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; bind 
 them about thy neck; write them upon the 
 table of thine heart; so shalt thou find 
 favor, and good understanding, in the 
 sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord 
 with all thine heart. In all thy ways 
 acknowledge him, and he shall direct 
 thy paths. Honor the Lord with thy sub¬ 
 stance, and w T ith the first fruits of thine in¬ 
 crease; so shall thy barns be filled with 
 plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 197 
 
 new wine. Happy is the man that findeth 
 wisdom; for the merchandise of it is better 
 than the merchandise of silver, and the gain 
 thereof than fine gold. She is more pre¬ 
 cious than rubies, and all the things thou 
 canst desire are not to be compared unto 
 her. Length of days is in her right hand, 
 and in her left hand, riches and honor. Her 
 ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her 
 paths are peace. She is a tree of life to 
 them that lay hold up'on her, and happy is 
 every one that retaineth her (Prov. iii). 
 
 Let us further warn the impenitent sinner, 
 by the threatenings of the divine law , and 
 the vengeance of eternal fire , to not do that 
 abominable thing which God hates, and 
 which brings on men, as its legitimate fruit, 
 a train of numberless evils in this world, 
 and, in the world to come, the wail of ever¬ 
 lasting woe. And let us here introduce, as 
 a warning to the Christian, a brief account 
 of the 'punishment of the Israelites, for their 
 sin on the borders of Canaan. Their sin was 
 murmuring, mutiny, unbelief, carnality, and 
 apostacy (Numb, vi, 14; Deut. i, 36; Neh. 
 
.198 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 ix, 17). For this, they were sent back into 
 the wilderness, by the way of the Red sea, 
 to leave their carcases in the desert, and not 
 be permitted to enter the land of promise. 
 Dreadful punishment! They were already 
 at Kadesh Barnea, the last resting place on 
 the confines of Canaan. There they had 
 come, directly from Horeb, the mount of God, 
 where he said, ye have dwelt long enough 
 (Deut. i, 6); where they had been a year, ex¬ 
 cept ten days (Ex. xix, 1; Numb, x, 11); in 
 which time, the law was given; the taberna¬ 
 cle, and all pertaining to it, were made; 
 rules, ecclesiastical and civil, were appoint¬ 
 ed, and they were numbered and marshalled, 
 in order, under four standards, ready to 
 march; and, all this being done, they must 
 stay no longer, but set forward for Canaan. 
 They must not stay long under the terrors of 
 the law, but go to mount Zion, the city of 
 the living God. Horeb is the same as Si¬ 
 nai, a famous mountain in Arabia, having 
 two tops; the western, called Horeb, and the 
 eastern, properly called Sinai; also called 
 the mount, of God, because he there com- 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION, 199 
 
 muned with Moses and Elijah (Ex. xix; 
 1 K. xix, 8). From this to Kadesh Barnea 
 was eleven days journey, or, they were 
 eleven days between the two places (Deut. 
 i, 2). Philo, the Jew, says it was but ten 
 days journey, and it is certain it was not 
 far, since it was travelled, again and again, 
 by the sons of Jacob, going from Canaan to 
 Egypt to buy corn. It was the nearest way; 
 but God led the people about, by the way of 
 the wilderness of the Red sea, and they de¬ 
 parted from Horeb, and went through all 
 that great and terrible wilderness which ye 
 saw by the way of the mountain of the 
 Amorites (Ex. xiii, 17, 18; Deut. i, 19); 
 great, as it reached from Sinai, to Kadesh 
 Barnea, and terrible, as it had no water, 
 was neither plowed nor sown, and contained 
 no fertile spot, nor flowery path, nor fruit¬ 
 ful tree; but it contained firey serpents and 
 scorpions, and the image of death (Deut. 
 viii, 15). 
 
 On the edge of this wilderness, at Kadesh, 
 the Israelites long sojourned; therice, Moses 
 sent the spies to view the promised land, and 
 
200 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 thence, also, they took their retreat into the 
 wilderness, by the way of the Red Sea, and 
 compassed Mount Seir many days, which 
 mount was a part of the possession of Esau 
 (Deut. i, 46; ii, 1-5). Now their backs 
 were upon Canaan, and their faces towards 
 Egypt. Alas! be not high minded, but fear; 
 let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed, 
 lest he fall. God soon brought the Israel¬ 
 ites from Egypt to Kadesh-Barnea; regaled 
 their senses with the fragrance of the spicy 
 breezes, wafted down into the desert from 
 that land which flowed with milk and ho¬ 
 ney, and gave them some clusters of the 
 grapes of Eshcol, to prepare and strengthen 
 them for the toils and conflicts of their jour¬ 
 ney, and after that, for their sins, sent them 
 back into the howling wilderness, to wander 
 in a solitary way. So he often brings the 
 Christian, warm with the love of his espous¬ 
 als, and strong in the exercise of that faith 
 which is the substance of things hoped for, 
 to the very confines of heaven. The gales 
 of the spirit are wafted gently on his soul, 
 the spices flow out, and his faith looks 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 201 
 
 across the gulf of time, pierces the vail of 
 eternity, and brings all heaven before his 
 eye. He imagines himself within its golden 
 streets and gates of pearl. But, alas! he 
 awakes from his pleasant dreams, and finds 
 himself again far back in the dark world of 
 sin, where he has yet something to do for 
 Christ’s .'name’s sake, and much to learn of 
 the perfections and providence of God, and 
 of the lurking depravity of his own way¬ 
 ward heart, before he can enter into eternal 
 rest, and receive the crown of glory that 
 fadeth not away. But let us conclude this 
 point, principally in the language of an em¬ 
 inent writer (Rev. Islay Burns): Israel did 
 not remain long on the confines of Canaan; 
 in a little time they are in the wilderness 
 again, with Canaan behind, and the wild 
 and desolate desert before them: the distant 
 view; the messengers; the glad tidings; the 
 grapes of Eshcol, are all now among the 
 » things that were, and they wander once 
 more in the wilderness, in a solitary way; 
 such reverses are not uncommon in the his¬ 
 tory of Israel. Thus, no sooner had they 
 18 
 
202 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 chanted their triumphant song of deliverance 
 on the shores of the Red sea, and scarce had 
 the joyful sound died away on the bosom of 
 the deep, and they turned from gazing on the 
 dark abyss where their worst enemies lay bu¬ 
 ried, than their toils and their trials began. 
 Their first step towards Canaan, was a step in¬ 
 to a howling desert. Then Moses brought 
 Israel from the Red sea, and they went into 
 the wilderness of Shur; and they went three 
 days into the wilderness, and found no wa¬ 
 ter. So it was at the rock of Horeb; they 
 were resting in peace around the rock, and 
 drinking with joy from the stream that 
 gushed from its smitten side. A distant 
 sound is heard and a cloud appears on the 
 horizon. An alarm, a stir of approaching 
 danger runs through the camp. It is Ama- 
 lek, Israel’s deadly foe, that is coming on, 
 and they must arise, and fight for their lives. 
 So it is in the experience of the saints in 
 every age. Theirs is a chequered course — 
 alternate cloud and sunshine — conflict and 
 rest — from beginning to end. The day 
 that began in feasting, may close in fighting. 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 203 
 
 To-day, they are at Kadesh Barnea, within 
 sight, and almost within a step of Canaan; 
 to-morrow, they are in the wilderness, amid 
 dark mountains, and barren, thirsty plains, 
 as though their faces were towards Egypt, 
 and they had lost sight of their home for¬ 
 ever. They are sent back into the wilder¬ 
 ness for their sin; for their cowardice, and 
 God-dishonoring unbelief, they are found 
 utterly unfit, and unable to enter and pos¬ 
 sess the land. So it is with us; and God 
 has good reasons for keeping us long in the 
 wilderness, trying and leading us through 
 fire and water, clouds and darkness. He 
 may overrule our guilty backslidings, and 
 melancholy declensions in grace, for good, 
 and make them all redound to his glory at 
 last. He may have work for us^to do, les¬ 
 sons for us to learn, which could be done 
 and learned only in a world of tribulation 
 and sin; and hence he may have us strug¬ 
 gling on with temptation and sorrow, long 
 after we had obtained the title to the in¬ 
 heritance, and the earnest of the Spirit in 
 our hearts. Great usefulness may be the 
 
204 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 reason of a long pilgrimage and toilsome 
 conflict, as it was with John and Paul, and 
 Caleb and Joshua, and others, who were 
 sent back for greater usefulness, and as a 
 reward for faithfulness, rather than a rebuke 
 for sin, as thousands were kept back in judg¬ 
 ment, for unbelief and rebellion. We are 
 so carnal, so unready, our hearts are so 
 chained to the dust, and so little in unison 
 with our high destiny, we are such slow 
 scholars in the school of Christ, that we are 
 sent back to a sterner school, to learn our 
 lessons over again. It is because we are 
 unripe, that we stand in the field, exposed 
 to the scorching suns, and bleaching rains 
 of a long and chequered scene of sorrows. 
 When the fruit is ripe, immediately he put- 
 teth in the sickle, because the harvest is 
 come. They go back of their own accord. 
 God often corrects his people by giving them 
 their own desires, as at the grave of lust, 
 when in anger he sent them the quails, for 
 their lusts after the luxuries of Egypt, for 
 which they would have sold their birthright. 
 But while the meat was in their mouths, the 
 
/ 
 
 WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 205 
 
 anger of the Lord was kindled and the 
 plague began, and swept away twenty three 
 thousand to an untimely grave. On this 
 occasion, they said, it were better for us to 
 return to Egypt, and they not only proposed, 
 but also appointed a captain, for this pur¬ 
 pose (Numb, xiv, 3, 4; Neh. ix, 17). This 
 melancholy retreat, with all its consequent 
 train of ills and sufferings, was their own 
 guilty act, the device and choice of their 
 own carnal, grovelling and unbelieving 
 hearts. Is it not even so with us ? Is 
 not the same evil heart of unbelief in us, 
 departing from the living God, and from our 
 rest! Are we not carnal, sensual, worldly, 
 and when in holy judgment he sent us back, 
 to wander here as exiles still, and aban¬ 
 doned us, it may be, to a low, selfish and 
 unspirtual life, was he not granting us the 
 very wish and device of our own hearts ? 
 He brought us to Kadesh Barnea, and would 
 have carried us, by a short and rapid course, 
 to glory; but we would not; we would not 
 enter in, because of unbelief. If we are 
 low in grace, and far behind in the heavenly 
 IS* 
 
206 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 journey, it is our own sin and shame; if we 
 are lean, and faint, and unprofitable, and 
 unhappy, it is because we desire to have it 
 so; yea, but for infinite mercy, we had been 
 infinitely worse — we would have gone back, 
 utterly and forever, to the land of death — 
 back to perdition, a thousand times, had not 
 divine and sovreign grace kept us from fall¬ 
 ing, and given us to know the bitterness of 
 backsliding, and not its deserved doom. All 
 was overruled for their good. It was ne¬ 
 cessary that this broken, degraded, faint¬ 
 hearted race, just rescued from the galling 
 yoke of iron despotism — still retaining the 
 hearts of slaves — should be sent back to 
 the school of discipline, that amid privation, 
 toil and conflict, they might acquire the 
 spirit and soul of freemen. God will not 
 have these craven, crouching cowards, who, 
 with necks set free, seem yet to wear the 
 fetters on their hearts—fretting at the least 
 privation — trembling at every danger — 
 giving vent to ignoble and unmanly tears, 
 at the very mention of the enemies between 
 them and their rest — to enter into the glo- 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 207 
 
 rious land. Besides, how much have they 
 to learn of themselves, and of their God—- 
 of his perfections and worship — before 
 they can be what he chose them for, a pecu¬ 
 liar people to himself. Hence, they are 
 sent back, to dwell in tents, and wander 
 from mountain to mountain, in the wide and 
 pathless desert. It was their school, where 
 he led them about, and instructed them, and 
 prepared them for their destiny. True, with 
 two exceptions, that race left their carcases 
 in the wilderness; but a new race sprung 
 up, better than their fathers, that served the 
 Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the 
 days of the elders that outlived Joshua, and 
 who had knowm all the w r orks of the Lord 
 which he had doneTor Israel. Do we not 
 need a similar training? Are w T e not carnal, 
 unbelieving, ungrateful; fretted by every 
 petty trial, and dismayed by every difficulty ? 
 Though free, are we not still slaves in heart, 
 crouching before a poor world’s frown, and 
 trailing the heavy chain of carnality about 
 with us? How little holy liberty—jhow 
 little strength — how little boldness in the 
 
208 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 'strength that is in Christ Jesus — how 
 unlike our high rank and glorious destiny 
 -—how little of the high bearing and royal 
 air of the children of God—of their spirit, 
 and demeanor, and life. Is it not well 
 
 P 
 
 that we are sent back into the cold and 
 desolate world again, to humble us, to 
 prove us, and know w T hat is in our hearts, 
 to prepare us for the inheritance, and give 
 us a princely heart, worthy of the crown of 
 life. They are not cast off. God never 
 cast off his people, whom he foreknew, but 
 brought to pass all he had promised them. 
 Though graceless individuals may be cast 
 off, yet as a people they are not, and never 
 will. Though troubled on every side, they 
 are not distressed; though perplexed, they 
 are not in despair; though persecuted, they 
 are not forsaken; though cast down, they 
 are not destroyed (2 Cor. iv, 8, 9). This 
 sinful, afflicted, yet still beloved people, are 
 marked as God’s, and loved with an un¬ 
 changeable love; they are delivered by him. 
 The same God who was with them in the 
 sea, and chained up its raging billows till 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 209 
 
 the last of the ransomed flock passed over, 
 was with them to the end, in the stern 
 battle field, amid the dark mountains, and in 
 the gloomy, thirsty desert. He found them 
 in a desert land, and in the waste, howling 
 wilderness. He led them about, he instructed 
 them, he kept them as the apple of his eye. 
 He sustained them; fed them with his own 
 hand; covered their tables daily with 
 bread from heaven. They had meat to eat 
 which the world knew not of. So our life 
 is hid with Christ in God. We feed on 
 hidden manna; drink life and peace out of 
 the smitten Rock of Ages; we all eat of 
 the same spiritual meat, and drink the 
 same spiritual drink. He guided them; he 
 took not away the pillar of cloud by day, 
 and of fire by night. Their tedious, circuit¬ 
 ous route — beset by dangers, and sorrows, 
 and afflictions — is not by chance. Jehovah 
 guides them with his eye, and directs every 
 step. They move, they rest, at his com¬ 
 mand. He leadeth his people by the right 
 way, unto the city of habitation. The man 
 of the world may travel on awhile cheer- 
 
21 0 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 fully, over rich and flowery paths, but he 
 travels at random. He knows not whither 
 he goes, and his next step may be a step 
 into hell. But the believer’s footsteps are 
 ordered by the Lord, and hence are safe and 
 sure. Thou who deliverest my soul from 
 death, wilt not thou deliver also my feet 
 from falling, that I may walk before the 
 Lord in the light of the living? Thou shalt 
 guide me with thy counsel, and afterward 
 receive me to glory. They are chastened 
 by him, and gracious chastisements are an 
 invincible and infallible mark of grace. 
 They are provided in the covenant, and are 
 sure to all the seed (Ps. lxxxix, 30, 31). 
 Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. This 
 is evident from the whole history of Israel, 
 which was one continued train of sin, and 
 chastisement following, in sure succession. 
 So it is with God’s people. The chastening 
 rod; the hedge of thorns; the refining.furnace; 
 the fiery darts of the enemy; frowns of Provi¬ 
 dence, and hidings of the Father’s face, 
 when his people forsake his law and go 
 astray, will follow them. These are essen- 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 211 
 
 tial features of God’s children, and as real a. 
 token of salvation as the showers of manna 
 from heaven, or the heavy grapes of Eshcol. 
 This seal of the living God is upon them. 
 Think also of the destruction of Jerusalem, 
 plowed as an heap, and of the dispersion of 
 the Jews among all nations, and the evil 
 entailed for eating the forbidden fruit. But 
 we must not rashly conclude, that every 
 afflicted man is a true Christian; nor that 
 every afflicted Christian is a great sinner. 
 Abraham and Job were afflicted for trial, and 
 so were the Israelites led about forty years in 
 the wilderness, to humble and prove them, and 
 to know what was in their heart (Deut. viii, 
 2). The wicked are not generally toiled 
 and plagued as others, yet sometimes they 
 receive correction in this life: The truth is, 
 that from external dispensations of Provi¬ 
 dence no man can tell either love or hatred, 
 by all that is before him. We must then 
 look at the design and spirit of affliction. 
 Is it to humble and prove us, and bring us to 
 God? Does it work the peaceable fruits of 
 righteousness, fitting us for an eternal weight 
 
212 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 of glory ? 0, let us take warning by what 
 
 befel God’s peculiar people, for with many 
 of them God was not well pleased, for they 
 were overthrown in the wilderness. Now 
 these things were our examples, to the in¬ 
 tent we should not lust after evil things, as 
 they also lusted. Now all these things hap¬ 
 pened unto them for ensamples; and they 
 are written for our admonition (1 Cor. x, 
 5-11). 
 
 Beware of declension in religion. It will 
 first begin by a failure in secret duties. 
 They will first be observed formally; then 
 occasionally omitted. Prayer will be re¬ 
 strained before God, and this will soon ex¬ 
 tend to social and public worship; ordinances 
 will be slighted; the Lord’s Supper neg¬ 
 lected; love to the brethren will wax cold; 
 attachment to sensual pleasures, and worldly 
 business, will increase; perhaps prejudice, 
 against purity of doctrine and religious prin¬ 
 ciple, will arise in your hearts, and it will 
 finally lead to deliberate and gross sin. Be¬ 
 ware of it. Watch unto prayer; for it is 
 not impossible for you to fall into sin—even 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 213 
 
 the sin of which you think there is the 
 least danger, and against which you have 
 most solemnly resolved, and of which you 
 have most bitterly repented — yea, to fall 
 into it again and again. Remember what 
 Peter did, after saying to our Lord, though 
 I should die with thee, yet will I not deny 
 thee. Likewise, also, said all the disciples 
 (Mt. xxvi, 35), and afterwards forsook him 
 and fled. O, how deep will it pierce your 
 heart; how dear will you pay for it; how 
 will it separate between you and your God; 
 what desolation will it spread over your 
 soul; yea, more than all you ever before 
 felt. The agonies of a sinner in the first 
 pangs of his repentance and conversion, are 
 not to be compared with those of the back¬ 
 slider in heart, when he is filled with his 
 own ways. Sin will hide God’s face; de¬ 
 stroy your comforts; dispel your hopes; 
 cloud your evidences; wound your heart 
 and conscience, and cause darkness on 
 every side; drive away consolation; em¬ 
 bitter enjoyments; sharpen afflictions; re¬ 
 joice enemies, and bring on you numberless 
 19 
 
£14 pardon of sin, 
 
 evils. The light of God’s countenance 
 expresses the manifestation of his favor, 
 and the hidings of his face is a token of his 
 displeasure. The former is the life of the 
 believer; the latter is as death to him (Ps. 
 iv, 6,,7, 63; Is. lxix, 2; lxiv, 7). Who can 
 live in his cold, or under his frowns? 
 Though now the candle of the Lord shines 
 upon you, yet sin will hide his face, and 
 you may so lose a sense of divine favor, as 
 to question whether or not you have any 
 part or lot with the people of God, and to 
 think that your hopes have been a delusion, 
 and you have nothing to do with the privi¬ 
 leges of the saints, and the work of the 
 Holy Spirit, and that those who have never 
 felt any religious impressions at all are hap¬ 
 pier than yourself. This may be the case 
 for a considerable time; and ordinances may 
 be attended in vain, and God’s presence in 
 them sought in vain, and no comfort and 
 satisfaction found any where (Ps. xxii, 2; 
 Job, xxiii, 8, 9); so that all which appeared 
 like religion in your mind may seem “ to be 
 melted into grief, or chilled into fear, or 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 215 
 
 crushed into a deep sense of your own 
 unworthiness; in consequence of which you 
 will not dare lift up your eyes to God, and 
 will be ashamed to come among his people.” 
 This has been the case with some eminent 
 Christians, distinguished by what God has 
 done in them and by them. Your distress 
 may arise from bodily disorder or mental 
 depression, from providential bereavement, 
 or, more likely, from some secret sin and 
 idol in your heart, and God is thus intending 
 to awaken and humble you, and cause you 
 to put away the accursed thing, and prepare 
 you for heaven. Then examine yourself, 
 and return to God. If thou return to the 
 Almighty, thou shalt be built up; thou shalt 
 put away iniquity from thy tabernacles; for 
 then shalt thou have thy delight in the 
 Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto 
 God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto 
 him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt 
 pay all thy vows (Job xxii, 23, 26, 27). 
 Return in humility; wait on him, and sub¬ 
 mit to his discipline. Acknowlege that, for 
 your sins, you deserve all, and more than all 
 
216 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 you suffer; deserve that your sun should be 
 clouded; go down at noon, and set in end¬ 
 less night. Stay his time, and bear his in¬ 
 dignation, because you have sinned against 
 him, hoping and believing that he will at 
 length return, and have mercy on you. Go 
 on in the way of duty; continue to use the 
 means of grace; go by the footsteps cf the 
 flock and you will find him whom your soul 
 loveth, and whose countenance will create a 
 heaven in your soul. Go to his table and if 
 you can not rejoice, go and mourn there— 
 renew your application to the blood of 
 Christ. Apply to him as to a merciful high 
 priest who has a fellow feeling with our 
 infirmities. Return to God again after this 
 apostacy and sin committed since your 
 vows and engagements to be the Lord’s. 
 Think of all the aggravating circumstances 
 of your sin—your ingratitude and abused 
 mercies, and perhaps of the reproach you 
 have brought on religion. Look on Him 
 whom you have pierced and mourn, and 
 bring your wounds under the droppings 
 of his blood, by which alone they can be 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 217 
 
 healed. Renew your covenant with God 
 and cry for mercy and grace, and in the 
 strength of it labor to return to him with 
 all your heart. Belay not. Do not add sin 
 to sin by delay. Escape for your life; look 
 not behind you; neither stay thou in all the 
 plain—lest thou be consumed, and whilst 
 you linger may God be merciful and assist 
 you to flee and escape from impending ruin. 
 Improve the ordinance of the supper which 
 is calculated to humble and revive you. 
 Repenting sinners are the only persons that 
 have any business there. The best of men 
 come to it as sinners, and as the greatest sin¬ 
 ner, come to it in the exercise of faith and 
 repentance, and prostrate yourself before 
 God; and when you have received tokens of 
 pardon, do not forget your sin nor God’s 
 mercies, but keep them ever before you to 
 humble and warn you in future. It is in this 
 way that God establishes his covenant— 
 that thou mayest remember and be confound¬ 
 ed and never open thy mouth any more, be¬ 
 cause of thy shame when I am pacified to¬ 
 ward thee for all that thou hast done, saith 
 19 * 
 
218 
 
 / 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 the Lord thy God (Ezk. xvi, 63.) life of 
 sin is a life of misery and of want. The 
 prodigal began to be in want, and every 
 prodigal child of God will be in want of 
 some blessing, temporal or spiritual—per¬ 
 haps of one that is of all others most de¬ 
 sirable to him. God withholds it for cor¬ 
 rection, for trial and for leading the wanderer 
 back to himself, the fountain of life and 
 blessedness, and lead him to his father’s 
 house, where there is enough and to spare, 
 while he perishes here with hunger. 0 
 God, for thy mercies sake and for thy glory 
 bring back this poor wanderer, and suffer 
 him no more to stray from the God of his 
 fathers and his mercies. 
 
 Let me exhort ' you, who have not yet ob¬ 
 tained pardon , or who by sin have lost the 
 evidence of it, to seek it without delay —with 
 all your heart and soul , mind and strength . 
 Relying on the promises and the strength 
 that is in Christ Jesus, use all diligence and 
 
 avail yourselves of all lawful means. If 
 %/ 
 
 you were condemned to prison or to death, 
 would you not use all diligence and means 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 219 
 
 in your power to obtain release and pardon, 
 and would you not also employ your friends 
 and neighbors to intercede for you? Well, 
 you are condemned to death at the bar of 
 
 r 
 
 God and conscience, and will you not use 
 the same diligence and employ similar means 
 to save your souls, that are of so much more 
 value than your bodies. Will you. not seek 
 the Lord while he may be found, saying 
 take aw T ay all iniquity and receive us gra¬ 
 ciously; pardon mine iniquity for it is great'— 
 wash me and I shall be w T hiter than snow— 
 and give him no rest till he blots out for 
 his own name’s sake all your transgressions, 
 and saves you from all your uncleannesses? 
 Will you not employ your friends, and espe¬ 
 cially the Friend of publicans and sinners to 
 intercede for you? Him the Father heareth 
 always. Use even the same diligence you do to 
 obtain the things of this world, and you will 
 not labor in vain. What is true of wisdom is 
 true of this. If thou seekest for her as silver, 
 and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then 
 thou shalt then understand the fear of the 
 Lord, and find the knowledge of God—if 
 
220 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 any man lack wisdom let him ask of God, that 
 giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth 
 not; and it shall be given him, yet let him ask 
 in faith nothing wavering (Prov. ii, Jas. i). 
 The promise is, seek and ye shall find; seek 
 the Lord and ye shall live—nay more, yon 
 are earnestly entreated by the Saviour, who 
 says, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried 
 in the fire that thou mayest be rich, and 
 white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, 
 and eye salve that thou mayest see (Rev. iii, 
 s!8). The mercies of God, the joys of 
 heaven—the eternal happiness of your soul, 
 all plead with you to seek forgiveness. Do 
 not plead that you have Abraham to your 
 father—that you have -pious parents —that 
 you have observed the forms of religion — 
 have done something for the cause of Christ, 
 and been zealous for the faith once delivered 
 to the saints—that you have a fair moral 
 character —have refrained from gross sins 
 and have felt some warm emotions of piety 
 in your heart and hence have “got religion.” 
 Ishmael and Esau had pious parents, and 
 the rich man in hell cried, father Abraham 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 221 
 
 have mercy on me (Luke xvi, 24). Many 
 will sit down with Abraham and Isaac and 
 Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the 
 children of the kingdom shall be cast out into 
 outer darkness, (Mt. viii, 11, 12). To many 
 who have eaten and drunk in his presence 
 and in his name have cast out devils and done 
 many wonderful works, Christ will profess 
 in that day, I never knew you. Though 
 you have a fair moral character, yet you 
 have omitted the weightier matters of the 
 law—cast off fear and restrained prayer be¬ 
 fore God—despised the Saviour and trampled 
 under foot his blood, and been guilty of 
 crimes too numerous to mention. Are you 
 then better than the Scribes and Pharisees 
 who sat in Moses’ seat with a fair moral 
 character? Is your conversion any better 
 than that of the stony ground hearers who 
 had warm emotions and received the word 
 gladly, but had no root in themselves and 
 thus withered away ? Then dismiss all such 
 vain hopes and pleas, and do not make ship¬ 
 wreck of your souls on these rocks and sands 
 that have been the ruin of many, and the or 
 
222 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 I 
 
 casion of false peace to them that were near 
 the kingdom of heaven, hut not in it. Say 
 not that you have Abraham to your father- 
 hut come to God now. Consider the uncer¬ 
 tainty of life—the importance of the work 
 to he done in it—the brevity of the time for 
 doing it, and the impossibility of doing it 
 when the day of grace is ended and time is 
 no more. Consider the advantages of early 
 piety, and that one day or one hour spent in 
 the service and enjoyment of God is far bet¬ 
 ter than ages spent in sin and neglect of re¬ 
 ligion. Perhaps you are now convinced of 
 sin and guilt, and inability to save yourself— 
 convinced that you are ignorant and guilty 
 and polluted and enslaved—that you are 
 wretched and miserable, and poor and blind, 
 and naked, and under this conviction you 
 are resolved to come to God at some conve¬ 
 nient season; that Jesus may be made of God 
 unto you wisdom, and righteousness and 
 sanctification, and redemption—that you may 
 buy of him gold tried in the fire that ypu 
 may be rich; white raiment that you may 
 be clothed, and eye salve that you may see. 
 
WARNING-AND EXHORTATION. 223 
 
 But come now. Now is the accepted time, 
 and now is the day of salvation. To-mor¬ 
 row may be too late. It is in another world. 
 The past is.gone, the future is uncertain, the 
 present only is ours. Delay is not only dan¬ 
 gerous, but it also accumulates the debt of 
 sin. Let not this artifice of Satan be your 
 ruin as it was with Felix, who, as Paul rea¬ 
 soned of righteousness, temperance and judg¬ 
 ment to come, trembled and said, go thy 
 way for this time, when I have a convenient 
 season I will call for thee (Acts xxiv, 25). 
 Alas, that season never came. We hear no 
 more of him. His convictions wore away 
 and he never sent for Paul, and most proba¬ 
 bly died in his sins. Awful death! In him is 
 exhibited the case of thousands who say. 
 To-morrow shall be as this day, and much 
 more abundant, when they have a conve¬ 
 nient season. When they have acquired 
 great worldly wealth and honor, and fame, 
 and grown grey in sin too—when their nat¬ 
 ural strength is gone, and the world, and the 
 pleasures of sin for a season have lost their 
 charms and ceased to gratify, then they will 
 
224 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 retire from the world and its follies, and thus 
 enfeebled, devote themselves to the Lord and 
 his service for the remainder of life. Alas, 
 what folly and presumption. Do you think 
 God will accept this halt, and blind and 
 lame sacrifice, and do you not know that 
 life is short and uncertain. “Ah in what 
 perils is vain life engaged! What slight 
 neglects—what trivial faults destroy the hard¬ 
 iest frame! Of toil, of indolence we die; of 
 want, of superfluity! The all-surrounding 
 heavens, the vital air is big with death!” 
 As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, 
 and as the birds that are caught in the snare, 
 so are the souls of men snared in an evil 
 time when it falleth suddenly upon them. 
 Boast not thyself of to-morrow, for thou 
 knowest not what a day may bring forth— 
 yet it may bring thee to death, and to the 
 house appointed for all living. In such an 
 hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh 
 (Mt. xxiv, 44). Or you may say you will 
 come when you have reformed and done 
 
 X 
 
 something that will recommend you to God. 
 But on this principle you will never come 
 
I 
 
 WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 225 
 
 Your help is in God. It comes from Zion. 
 
 O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in 
 me is thy help (Hos. xiii, 9). There is no 
 way of coming to God but through Christ, 
 who is the way and the truth and the life; 
 and your first great business is to believe on 
 Him whom he hath sent, (Jno. xiv, 6; vi, 29). " 
 As Paul testified both to the Jews and also 
 to the Greeks, repentance toward God and 
 faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts xx, 
 21), so we testify to you. Commit you r 
 soul into his hands to be saved by him in 
 his own way. This is the great act of sav¬ 
 ing faith, and may you and I know what 
 it means, and be enabled to say, I know 
 whom I have believed, and am pursuaded that 
 he is able to keep that which 1 have com¬ 
 mitted unto him against that day (2 Tim. 
 i, 12). Come to him now as you are, with 
 all your sins and wants and unworthiness. 
 
 In him is righteousness and merit, and every 
 thing we need. If you wait till you render 
 yourself worthy you will never come. A 
 patient does not wait till he heals himself 
 before he calls a physician, and why would 
 20 
 
226 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 you first heal yourself and then call for the 
 Physician of souls. Apply to Christ with a 
 deep abhorrence of your sins, and a firm res¬ 
 olution through grace and dependence on 
 him for acceptance, to forsake all sin. 
 Though, from a sense of sin and guilt and 
 shame and fear, you are unable to speak— 
 go and behold the Lamb of God which 
 taketh away the sin of the world—go and 
 look on him whom you have pierced and 
 mourn—mourn because that for a low and 
 sordid gratification you have killed the 
 Prince of Life, or wounded him afresh. O, 
 which of your sins is so dear that for it you 
 would crucify the Son of God afresh and put 
 him to an open shame? Repent of every 
 sin and forsake it; slay it or it will slay you 
 —you must part with it or part with Christ 
 and heaven too. If thy right eye offend 
 thee pluck it out and cast it from you—yield 
 yourself to God, as those that are alive from 
 the dead—go and say I am one of the most 
 sinful and miserable creatures, yet because 
 thou hast said come unto me all ye that la¬ 
 bor and are heavy laden, and I will give you 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 227 
 
 rest; him that cometh to me I will in no 
 wise cast out; behold I come at thy bidding. 
 O help me to come. I believe, help thou 
 mine unbelief. Hold out the golden sceptre 
 to me—enable me to touch it and live. Let 
 the life of my soul be given me at my peti¬ 
 tion, and of my people at my request (Est. 
 vii, 3,). I have no equivalent to give. 0 
 have mercy on me, make me thine and make 
 me serve and glorify thee in life and death 
 and eternity. Or you may be saying your life 
 has been a course of rebellion against God • 
 Nothing has been done rightly from your 
 earliest days till now. Mine iniquities have 
 gone up into heaven. There never was so 
 great a sinner as I. I have received so many 
 mercies and advantages, warnings and invi¬ 
 tations, and yet my heart is so hard, my na¬ 
 ture is so simple—my sins so many and so 
 aggravated that I dare not hope for mercy. 
 
 It is a wonder that I am vet out of hell. I 
 
 % 
 
 dare not apply to Christ. I can not expect 
 pardon—the promises are not to me. Can 
 I expect that Christ is willing to save me. 
 Must I not lie down in despair, or is there 
 
228 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 hope for so guilty a creature? Certainly 
 there is. God who is rich in mercy and 
 ready to forgive, says in me is thy help (Hos. 
 xiii 9). Is my hand shortened at all that 
 it can not redeem (Isa. 1, 2). God 
 was in Christ reconciling the world unto 
 himself, not imputing their trespasses unto 
 them, and declared that repentance and re¬ 
 mission of sins should be preached in his 
 name among all nations (2 Cor. v, 19; 
 Luke xxiv, 47). It is not your legion of 
 sins—your great and aggravated sins, but 
 your unbelief and impenitence that would 
 destroy you. Where sin abounded grace 
 did much more abound—where it had its 
 most unlimited sway and unrestrained tri¬ 
 umph, there righteousness reigned to eternal 
 life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That 
 will clothe you with the white robes of sal¬ 
 vation and glory. Many who are among 
 the best of saints or now in glory, have been 
 in such a case as this, and may God add you 
 to their number. Cast out of his sight, look 
 again towards his holy temple. Your case 
 is not peculiar. If you knew the heart of 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 229 
 
 others and their sins and difficulties you 
 would find at least some of them whom you 
 suppose to be almost perfect, in no better 
 case than yourself. But if you are the vil¬ 
 est of the vile, and your sins have gone up 
 to the heavens every day with great aggra¬ 
 vations, they can not exceed in number and 
 turpitude the power of God, and the all siiffi - 
 ciency of Christ's blood to save . Is there 
 any thing too hard for the Lord to do. Does 
 not Christ’s blood cleanse from all sin—have 
 not the greatest sinners been pardoned (Gen. 
 xviii, 14; 1 Tim. xv, 10; 1 Jno. vii, 9). 
 Christ is able to save to the uttermost. He 
 has saved the chief of sinners, and never sent 
 any away that came to him for life and sal¬ 
 vation. He died to redeem your soul from 
 all sins, and to the long and black catalogue 
 do not add unbelief, the greatest of all, but 
 go to Christ for pardon and purification and 
 eternal life. Believe on him and you shall 
 be saved. 
 
 Look to Christ as the only Saviour , and 
 as your Saviour, come to him as a poor, needy 
 and heavy laden sinner, that you may find 
 20 * 
 
230 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 rest to your souh O my soul return to thy 
 quiet rest. In the way of meeting divine 
 favor or justification, all our righteousness 
 is as filthy rags. Then we must come to him, 
 who is the Lord our righteousness, and who 
 is the end of the law for righteousness to 
 every one that believeth, and who is made of 
 God unto us wisdom and righteousness, and 
 sanctification and redemption. We pray 
 you in Christ’s stead to be reconciled to God, 
 and present yourselves a living sacrifice 
 holy, acceptable by Jesus Christ. God is 
 not willing that any should perish, but that 
 all should come to repentance (2 Pt. iii, 9). 
 He is offering you a free and full pardon of 
 all your sins. He is ready to receive you 
 into his family and finally unto heaven. 
 Arise and go to your Father, and say, Fathei 
 I have sinned against heaven and before 
 thee. I am no more worthy to be called thy 
 son; make me as one of thy hired servants. 
 We beseech you by the mercies of God, by 
 his compassion and goodness, by the name 
 and love of Christ, by his life and death and 
 all the painful and pathetic, and ignominious 
 
WARNING AND EXHORTATION. 231 
 
 and distressing and overwhelming scenes of 
 the cross—by the entreaties of friends and 
 ministers of the gospel—by a respect for the 
 living and by the memory of the dead—by 
 the joy in heaven over one sinner that re- 
 penteth—by the scenes of the last great 
 day—by the value of your immortal soul— 
 by the happiness of the redeemed in glory, 
 and by the wail of eternal woe in them that 
 perish, to seek forgiveness and acceptance 
 through Jesus Christ. Are you so wedded 
 to the vanities of the world—to a carnal 
 mind—to the object and ruinous service of 
 sin and Satan, or any such thing that you 
 can not forsake all for Christ. Are they 
 dearer to you than the Saviour and salvation 
 by him. O sell all and buy this Pearl of 
 great price. What is a man profited if he 
 shall gain the whole world and loose his own 
 soul, or what shall a man give in exchange 
 for his soul (Mt. xvi, 26). Let not the riches, 
 honors and allurements of the world; let not 
 the artifice of Satan and the pleasures of sin 
 for a season; let not the misguided kindness 
 of friends and physicians, who too often 
 
232 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 will not permit you to think of these things 
 in sickness, and in view of eternity with all 
 its dread realities—yea let nothing hinder 
 you from seeking pardon through the merits 
 of Jesus Christ our Lord and saviour; and 
 may God in his infinite mercy grant you and 
 me and all who call on him in truth, this 
 great and unspeakable blessing, and let us 
 ascribe all the glory and praise to his great 
 and holy name, world without end, Amen. 
 
 “Howoft alas! this wretched heart 
 Has wandered from the Lord? 
 
 ^ How oft my roving thoughts depart, 
 
 Forgetful of his word! 
 
 Yet sovereign mercy calls return, 
 
 Dear Lord and may I come? 
 
 My vile ingratitude I mourn, 
 
 O take the wanderer home. 
 
 And cans’t thou, wilt thou yet forgive, 
 
 And bid my crimes remove, 
 
 And shall a pardoned rebel live, 
 
 To speak thy wondrous love? 
 
 Almighty grace, thy healing power, 
 
 How, glorious, how divine! 
 
 That can to life and bliss restore, 
 
 So vile a heart as mine, 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 233 
 
 Thy pardoning love so free, so sweet, 
 Dear Saviour I adore. 
 
 O keep me at thy sacred feet, 
 
 And let me rove no more.” 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Finally, let every one who has received 
 forgiveness of sin never cease to express, in 
 sweet and triumphant song his gratitude and 
 praise to God for this inconceivably great 
 blessing. To assist you in this exercise, 
 look to what you were: lost, helpless; dead 
 in trespasses and sin; carnal, sold under sin; 
 sold for naught; by nature children of 
 wrath, and heirs of hell, at enmity with 
 God, and exposed to his wrath, which will 
 burn from the lowest hell, against every im¬ 
 penitent sinner. Look at your life when 
 serving divers lusts and pleasures; stained 
 with crime; darkened and embittered by sin; 
 encumbered with cares, and anxieties, and 
 fearful forebodings of the future, and your 
 souls, under a deep sense of the number 
 and aggravations of your sins and abused 
 
234 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 mercies, and base ingratitude, driven to the 
 borders of despair. Look at all the ills and 
 pains of life, and the agonies of the last 
 conflict, and look to the urn of everlasting 
 death, with ever-burning sulphur uncon¬ 
 sumed. Look at the guilt and pollution of 
 sin; the curse of the law; the tyranny of sin 
 and Satan, and the wrath to come. Look 
 at all these, and ten thousand evils from 
 which you are redeemed, and then consider 
 the means by which this redemption is ob¬ 
 tained; redeemed without money; redeemed 
 not with corruptible things, as silver and 
 gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, 
 as of a lamb without blemish; redeemed by 
 Jesus Christ, who for this purpose veiled his 
 uncreated glory in our nature, and led a life 
 of poverty, of suffering and sorrow, and 
 died the painful, lingering, accursed, and 
 ignominious death of the cross. Consider 
 his whole life, from the manger to the tomb, 
 and all the painful and overwhelming scenes 
 of that hour when he was to go out of this 
 world to make atonement for sin, and bring 
 in everlasting righteousness. O, look to 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 235 
 
 God, who, in love to sinners, spared not his 
 own Son, but delivered him up for us all. 
 Look to Jesus, who, in compassion for 
 us guilty creatures,'"died, that we might live. 
 Look to that grace which has made you dif¬ 
 fer from those that perish. Look to that 
 love which has followed you through all 
 your wanderings; pitied and pardoned you, 
 and brought you back to the fold of Christ. 
 Look to what you are exalted; to the 
 mansions of glory Christ Jesus has prepared 
 for you; to the throne upon which you will 
 sit and reign with him. Look to your 
 crown of righteousness; to your robes of 
 glory; to your blessed society and holy em¬ 
 ployments, in the new Jerusalem, enlight¬ 
 ened not by the sun or moon, but by the 
 glory of God and of the Lamb. Look to 
 the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne, 
 who will feed you and lead you to fountains 
 of living waters, and to God who shall be 
 with you, and be your God, and wipe away 
 all tears from your eyes, where there shall 
 be no more death, neither sorrow, nor cry¬ 
 ing, neither shall there be any more pain; 
 
236 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 for the former things are passed away.* 
 Look at these and similar things that are 
 calculated to fill your heart with love and 
 gratitude and praise to God, for all his mer¬ 
 cies, and lead you to say: God who is rich 
 in mercy, for his great love wherewith he 
 loved us, even when we were dead in sins, 
 hath quickened us together with Christ, and 
 hath raised us up together, and made us sit 
 together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; 
 that, in the ages to come, he might show 
 the exceeding riches of his grace in hiskind- 
 
 *The Christian reader will find his contemplation 
 of heavenly things enlivened, by the perusal of a little 
 work, entitled: Immanuel’s Land, or, a Glimpse of 
 the World of Glory, by D. A. Harsha, author of 
 The Love of Christ; Christ, and Him Crucified, <§-c. 
 “ This little work,” says an able and pious divine, “ is 
 the third in the series, from the same pen, and in the 
 same strain of Scriptural piety. If we mistake not, 
 the author has been trained by the discipline of heaven 
 for the production of such works as these. Early 
 schooled in affliction, and made familiar by experience 
 with the consolations of God, his writings taste of 
 the freshness and simplicity of one who has bathed 
 often in Siloa’s fount.” — Rev. R. F. Cleveland, of 
 Clinton, N. Y. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 237 
 
 ness toward us, through Christ Jesus. Our 
 salvation, from beginning to end, is all of 
 grace; not of works, lest any man should 
 boast; and this calls for gratitude and praise, 
 which every redeemed sinner desires to give 
 to his great and glorious Redeemer. His 
 language is, not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto 
 us, but to thy name give glory; not by 
 works of righteousness which we have done, 
 but according to his mercy, he saved us. I 
 have been a great sinner, but God has been 
 a God of boundless mercy to me, and now 
 my tongue shall never cease to sing his 
 praise, and I call upon all to assist me, in this 
 most delightful exercise, which will be the 
 endless employment of the redeemed in 
 glory. I call upon babes who “ found the 
 happy shore they never saw nor sought be¬ 
 fore;” upon those who by the grace of God 
 have escaped the pollutions of the world, 
 and upon those who are redeemed from the 
 foulest blots of numerous days, and deepest 
 guilt, who sinned in spite of light and love. 
 I call upon all to unite with me in praising 
 
238 
 
 4 
 
 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 God, O, magnify the Lord with me, and 
 let us exalt his name together. Bless the 
 Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his bene¬ 
 fits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who 
 healeth all thy diseases. Bless the Lord? 
 ye his hosts, ye ministers that do his 
 pleasure. Bless the Lord, all his works, in 
 all places of his dominion. Bless the Lord, 
 0 my soul (Ps. ciii). Praise the Lord from 
 the heavens, all his angels, all his hosts; 
 sun, moon and stars; ye heaven of heavens, 
 and ye waters that are above the heavens. 
 Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons 
 and all deeps; fire and hail, snow and va¬ 
 pors, stormy wind, fulfilling his word; mount¬ 
 ains, and all hills, fruitful trees and all 
 cedars; beasts and all cattle, creeping things 
 and flying fowl; kings of the earth, and all 
 people; princes, and all judges of the earth; 
 both young men and maidens, old men and 
 children, praise the Lord for his great love, 
 wherewith he hath loved us; praise him for 
 the gift of his Son, and for redemption 
 through his blood; the forgiveness of sins, 
 
CONCLUSION. 239 
 
 according to the riches of his grace. Herein 
 is love. 
 
 “0, love divine! 0, mercy infinite! 
 
 0 love, all height above, all depth below! 
 Surpassing all knowledge, all desire, 
 
 All thought, the Holy one for sinners dies! 
 
 The Lord of life for guilty rebels bleeds; 
 Quenches eternal fires with blood divine. 
 Abundant mercy! overflowing grace! 
 
 —-Mysterious love! 
 
 God was made flesh, and dwelt with man on 
 earth; 
 
 Blood holy, blood divine, for sinners shed! 
 
 My asking ends, but makes me wonder more. 
 Saviour of men! henceforth be thou my theme, 
 Redeemng love my study, day and night! 
 
 When man had fallen, was ruined, helpless, lost, 
 Messiah, prince of peace, eternal king, 
 
 Died, that the dead might live, the lost be saved. 
 Wonder, oh heavens, and be astonished earth! 
 Thou ancient, thou forgotten earth; ye worlds 
 admire! 
 
 Canst thou believe my song, when thus I sing; 
 When man had fallen, was ruined, helpless, lost! 
 Ye choral harps! ye angels that excel 
 In strength! and, loudest, ye redeemed of men, 
 To God, to him that sits upon the throne, 
 
 On high, and to the Lamb, sing honor; 
 
 Sing dominion, glory, blessing sing, and praise, 11 
 
240 PARDON OF SIN, 
 
 Dear reader, and fellow sinner, may it be 
 our highest aim to serve and glorify God 
 with our bodies and spirits, which are his. 
 May it be our great privilege to know the 
 blessedness of the man whose sins are freely 
 pardoned, and through the renewing and 
 sanctifying and comforting influences of the 
 Holy Spirit, and the cleansing virtue of the 
 blood of Christ Jesus, and the pardoning 
 mercy of God the Father, may it be our 
 honor and happiness to sing the song of 
 Moses and the Lamb, unto Him that loved us, 
 and washed us from our sins, in his own blood; 
 to him be glory and dominion for ever and 
 ever. Amen. Our God, our father’s God, our 
 Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, God over alJ ? 
 and blessed for ever, our undying hope, our 
 all in all, grant us these great but undeserved 
 favors, together with all the blessings of 
 eternal life. Give us thy countenance. Be 
 our shield and exceeding great reward; our- 
 souls’ eternal portion; guide us through life; 
 support us in death, and afterwards receive 
 us to glory. We humbly ask all in the 
 name, and for the sake of thy Son, our 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 241 
 
 Saviour, believing that as thou hast delivered 
 him up for us all, thou wilt with him also 
 freely give us all things. And now to God 
 the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy 
 Spirit, we would ascribe blessing and glory, 
 and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor, 
 and power, and might, for ever and ever* 
 Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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