Sermon 5 - I will heal their backsliding - Hos 14:4
are, and who is reconciled to God in Christ, having all the angels and creatures for his servants, Heb. 1:14, for whose sake 'all things must needs work together for good?' Rom. 8:28.
THE FIFTH SERMON
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from them.—HOS. 14:4.
THE superabounding mercies and marvellous lovingkindnesses of a gracious and loving God to wretched and miserable sinners, as we have heard, is the substance and sum of this short, sweet chapter, wherein their ignorance is taught, their bashfulness is encouraged, their deadness is quickened, their untowardness is pardoned, their wounds are cured, all their objections and petitions answered; so as a large and open passage is made unto them, and all other miserable penitent sinners, for access unto the throne of grace. If they want words, they are taught what to say; if discouraged for sins past, they are encouraged that sin may be taken away; yea, all iniquity may be taken away. 'Take away all iniquity.' If their unworthiness hinder them, they are taught for this, that God is gracious. 'Receive us graciously.' If their by-past unthankfulness be any bar of hindrance unto them, they are taught to promise thankfulness. 'So will we render the calves of our lips.' And that their repentance may appear to be sound and unfeigned, they are brought in, making profession of their detestation of their bosom sins, of false confidence and idolatry.
'Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses; neither will we say any more to the works of our hands, Ye are our gods.' And not only do they reject their false confidence, to cease from evil, but they do good, and pitch their affiance where it should be. For 'in thee the fatherless findeth mercy.'
None must therefore be discouraged, or run away from God, for what they have been, for there may be a returning. God may have a time for them, who, in his wise dispensation, doth bring his children to distress, that their delivery may be so much the more admired by themselves and others, to his glory and their good. He knows us better than we ourselves. How prone we are to lean upon the creature. Therefore he is fain to take from us all our props and supports, whereupon we are forced to rely upon him. If we could do this of ourselves, it were an excellent work, and an undoubted evidence of the child of God, that hath a weaned soul in the midst of outward supports, to enjoy them, as if he possessed them not; not to be puffed up with present greatness, not to swell with riches, nor be high-minded; to consider of things to be as they are, weak things, subordinate to God, which can help no further than as he blesseth them. But to come to the words now read.
'I will heal their backsliding, and love them freely,' &c.
After that the church had shewed her repentance and truth of returning to God: now in these words, and the other verses, unto the end of the chapter (saving the last verse, which is a kind of acclamation issuing from all the rest of the foregoing verses, 'Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?' &c.), is set down an answer unto that prayer, repentance, and reformation which the church made; all the branches of which their former suit the Lord doth punctually* answer. For they had formerly prayed, 'Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously; do good unto us.' Unto which he answers here, 'I will heal their backsliding,' &c.
Which is thus much: I will pardon their iniquities, I will accept graciously of them, I will love them freely, and so of the rest, as will appear afterwards; and, in sum, God answers all those desires which formerly he had stirred up in his people. Whence, ere we come to the particulars, observe in general, Obs. Where God doth give a spirit of prayer, he will answer.
It needs no proof, the point is so clear and experimental. All the saints can say thus much from, their experience of God's gracious dealing with them; and the Scriptures are full of such instances and promises, which we all know. To name a place or two for all the rest,
'Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me,' Ps. 50:15. So in another place, 'And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and whilst they speak, I will hear,'
Isa. 65:24. It hath been made good to persons, as Daniel, Elijah, Solomon, Jacob, and others; and it hath been, and is, made good unto all ages of the church, from time to time, and shall be unto the end of the world. And therefore the prophet sets down this as a conclusion undeniable from the premises, 'O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come,' Ps. 65:2. Whence he draws this excellent consolation, 'Iniquities prevail against me; as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.'
Reason. The reason is strong, because they are the motions of his own Spirit, which he stirs up in us. For he dictates this prayer unto them, 'Take with you words,' &c., 'and say unto the Lord, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.' So that, where God stirs up holy desires by his Spirit, he will answer exactly; there shall not a sigh be lost. 'Likewise,' saith the apostle, 'the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered,' Rom. 8:26. Therefore there cannot a groan be lost, nor a darting of a sigh. Whatsoever is spiritual must be effectual, though it cannot be vented in words. For God hath an ear, not only near a man's tongue, to know what he saith; but also in a man's heart, to know what he desires, or would have. As the observing, careful, tender mother many times knows what the child would have though it cannot speak; so God, he knows the desires, sighs, and groans of the heart when we cannot speak. For sometimes there may be such a confusion upon the soul, by reason of divers disturbances, that it cannot express nor vent itself in words. Therefore the Spirit vents itself then in sighs and groans, which are heard and accepted, because they are the desires of his own Spirit. Thus much the
prophet David excellently sheweth, 'Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear,' Ps. 10:17. God, he first prepares the heart to pray, then his ear to hear their prayers and desires. If this will not encourage us to be much in suit to God, and put up our petitions to him, to labour for a spirit of prayer, I know not what will prevail; when we know that no petition shall be turned back again unanswered. When we are to deal with princes upon earth, they oftentimes regard neither the persons nor their petitions, but turn their backs upon both. Oh! but a Christian hath the ear of God and heaven open upon him; such credit in heaven, that his desires and groans are respected and heard. And undoubtedly a man may know that he shall be heard when he hath a spirit of prayer; in one kind or other, though not in the particulars or kinds we ask, hear he will for our good. God will not lose the incense of his own Spirit, of a spirit of prayer which he stirs up, it is so precious. Therefore let us labour to have a spirit of prayer, which God regards so much; seeing for a certain, wheresoever he gives a spirit of prayer, he means to give that we pray for; but according to his heavenly wisdom, as here his answer is,
'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely,' &c.
God answers them exactly unto all they prayed for, beginning first with the ground of all our comfort, 'forgiveness of sins.' According to their petition, 'Take away all iniquity,' he answers, 'I will heal their backsliding,' or their rebellion. Backsliding is an aggravation of sin.
Every sin is not a rebellion, apostasy, or backsliding for there be also sins of infirmities. We usually rank sins thus, in 1. Sins of ignorance.
2. Sins of infirmity.
3. Sins against knowledge, with a higher hand; and 4. The sins against the Holy Ghost.
Now, this is more than to cure sins of ignorance and of infirmity when he saith, 'I will heal their backsliding.'
Quest. But why doth he answer the higher pitch of an aggravation, when their petition was in a lower strain only, 'Take away all mine iniquity'?
Ans. To shew that he would answer them fully; that is, that he would heal all sins whatsoever, not only of ignorance and of infirmity, but also sins willingly committed, their rebellions and backslidings. For, indeed, they were backsliding. From the time of Jeroboam, that made the rent, the ten tribes grew worse and worse continually, so that they had been utterly extinguished, but that God was wondrous gracious to send them prophets to preserve many that they should not bow the knee to Baal, being merciful to them to bear with their backsliding so long. For besides their calves, they had false gods.
They did not only worship the true God in a false manner by the calves, but they had Baals also. So that we see, God, when he will comfort, will comfort to purpose, and take away all objections that the soul can make, a guilty soul being full of objections. Oh! my sins are many, great, rebellions and apostasies. But, be they what they will, God's mercy in Christ is greater and more. 'I will heal their backsliding,' or their rebellion. God is above conscience. Let Satan terrify the conscience as he will, and let conscience speak the worst it can against itself, yet God is greater. Therefore, let the sin be what it will, God will pardon all manner of sins. As they pray to pardon all, so he will 'take away all iniquity, heal their backsliding.' But to come nearer the words.
'I will heal,' &c. The healing meant here is especially in the pardon of their sins, answerable to their desires in justification. And there is a healing also in sanctification by the Spirit. When God takes away the venom from the wound, then God cures in sanctification. Both are meant, but especially the first. In a wound we know there is,
1. The malignity and venom of it; and then,
2. The wound itself, so festered and rankled.
Now, pardoning grace in justification takes away the anguish and malice of the wound, so that it ceaseth to be so malignant and deadly as to kill or infect. And then sanctification purgeth and cleanseth the wound and heals it up. Now, God through Christ doth both. The blood of Christ doth heal the guilt of sin, which is the anger and malignity of it; and by the Spirit of Christ he heals the wound itself, and purgeth out the sick and peccant humour by little and little through sanctification. God is a perfect healer. 'I will heal their backsliding.' See here the state of the church and children of God.
They are prone to backsliding and turning away. We are naturally prone to decline further and further from God. So the church of God, planted in a family in the beginning of the world, how soon was it prone to backsliding. This is one weakness since the fall. It is incident to our nature to be unsettled and unsteady in our holy resolutions. And whilst we live in the midst of temptations, the world, together with the fickleness of our own nature, evil examples, and Satan's perpetual malice against God and the poor church, are ill pilots to lead us out of the way. This is spoken to make us careful how to shun backsliding. For we see how many opinions are foisted in amongst us, and have got some head, that durst not before once be named amongst us. Popery spreads itself amain. Even churches are prone to backsliding. Therefore, St Paul's advice is, 'Be not highminded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee,' Rom. 11:20, 21. What is become of Rome? So the same will become of us if we stop not our backslidings.
Now, in that God's promise is, 'I will heal their backslidings,' observe, in the first place, That sin is a wound and a disease.
Now, as in sickness there is, 1, grief troubling and vexing the party who feels it; and, 2, deformity of the place affected, which comes by wounds and weaknesses; so in all sin, when we are sensible of it,
there is first grief, vexation, and torment of conscience, and then, again, deformity. For it takes away the beauty and vigour of the soul, and dejects the countenance. It debaseth a man, and takes away his excellency. As Jacob saith of Reuben, 'Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou wentest up to thy father's bed,' Gen. 49:4.
Saith God to Cain, 'Why art thou wroth, and why is thy countenance fallen?' Gen. 4:6. And the prophet David, he confesseth, 'When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long,' Ps.
32:3, 4. So again, 'There is no soundness in my flesh, because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin,'
Ps. 38:3. So that sin is a wound and a disease, whether we consider the miseries it brings on soul and body, or both. Therefore, howsoever a sinful person think himself a goodly person, and wear his sins as ornaments about him, pride, lust, and the like, yet he is a deformed, loathsome person in the eyes and presence of God; and when conscience is awakened, sin will be loathsome, irksome, and odious unto himself, fill him full of grief and shame, so that he cannot endure the sight of his own soul.
Now, all sins whatsoever are diseases. The first sin of all sins, which we call hereditary, original sin, what was* it but an hereditary disease? A leprosy, which we drew from our first parents, spread over all the soul, having the seeds and spawn of all sin in it. The church of Rome makes it less than other sins, as indeed popery is ignorant both of the height of grace and of the depth of corruption, for if they knew the one, they would be more capable of the other.
Why do they not conceive aright of grace and of the height of it?
Because they know not the depth of original sin. And, indeed, the true knowledge of this disease is proper only to the child of God in the true church. None but he knows what original sin is. Others can dispute and talk of it, but none feels it but the child of God. Now, all other particular, actual sins be diseases flowing from hence. So that all diseases in this kind arise either, 1, from ourselves, as we have a seminary of them in our own hearts; or else, 2, from the infection and contagion of others; or, 3, from Satan, who hath society with our spirits, as men have with the outward man, coming in by his
suggestions, and our entertaining of them. So that in that respect sin is like unto a wound and a disease, in regard of the cause of them.
And, in regard of the effects, sin is like a disease. Diseases, if they be neglected, breed death itself, and become incurable. So it is with the diseases and sins of the soul. Neglect them, and the best end of them will be despair in this world. Whereupon we may have advantage to fly unto the mercy of God in Christ. This is the end of sin, either to end in a good despair or in a fruitless barren despair, at the hour of death leading to hell, when they have no grace to repent. 'The wages of sin is death,' &c., Rom. 6:23. Sin itself is a wound, and that which riseth from sin is a wound too, doubting and despair; for this disease and wound of sin breeds that other disease, a despair of mercy, which is the beginning of hell, the second death. These things might be further enlarged. But for the present only in general know that sin is a disease and a wound of the soul; so much worse than the diseases of the body, by how much the soul is more precious than it, and the death of the soul more terrible than the death of the body.
Sin is a disease and a wound; for what is pride but a swelling? What is anger but an intemperate heat of the soul, like an ague, as it were?
What is revenge but a wildfire in the soul? What is lust but a spreading canker in the soul, tending to a consumption? What is covetousness but a sword, a perpetual wounder of the soul, piercing it through with many sorrows? What is security but, as it were, the lethargy and apoplexy of the soul? And so we might go on in other resemblances (f).
Quest. But, it may be demanded, how shall we know that we are sick of this sickness and disease you speak of?
Ans. How do we know that we are sick in body? If the body be extreme cold we know there is a distemper, or if it be extreme hot. So if the soul be so extreme cold that no heavenly motives or sweet promises can work upon it, stir it up, then certainly there is a disease upon the soul.
If the soul be inflamed with revenge and anger, that soul is certainly diseased. The temper of the soul is according to the passions thereof.
A man may know by his passions when he hath a sick soul.
If a man cannot relish good diet, then we count him a sick man; so when a man cannot relish holy discourse nor the ordinances of God.
You have some men that can relish nothing but profits and pleasures, and such vanities, but no divine thing. Such have sick souls undoubtedly.
So, again, a man may know there is a deadly sickness and soreness upon the soul, 1, when it is senseless of its wounds; and, 2, is senseless of that which passeth from it. As men, we say, are ready to die when excremental things pass from them without any sense, so a man may know that he is desperately soul-sick when oaths, lies, and deceitful speeches pass from him, and yet he is senseless of them.
They think not of them. They mean no harm. Doth that argue a sound state of body, when a man is so desperately ill that he feels not his bodily hurts? And is this a good state of soul, when these filthy things come out from it insensibly? It is an argument of extreme deadness of spirit and irreverence, and of a desperate sin-sick soul, when there is no dread or awe of the majesty of God. Let such look about them. It is an aggravation of the danger of the soul this kind of temper. We usually say, when the stomach is so weak that it can hold no nourishment without casting it up again as fast as it receives it, certainly such an one is sick, and in a dangerous state of body. So when a man hears and hears, and reads and reads, and digests nothing into nourishment, but all is left where he heard it, it is a sign they have sick souls when their retentive power is so weak. And there is certainly some sickness, some dangerous obstruction in that soul that cannot digest the wholesome word of God, to make use of it; some noisome lust then certainly obstructs the soul, which must be purged out.
It is a pitiful thing to see the desperate condition of many now, who, though they live under the tyranny of sin, yet flatter their own
disease, and account them their greatest enemies who any way oppose their sick humour. What do they most cordially hate? The sound preaching of the word. The very sight of such an one whose calling hath been to put us in mind of our sins, evil courses, and vanities of the world, is loathsome and offensive to carnal men, in whom corruption is grown up to such a tyranny that it sways the whole soul to devise how to satisfy it. Man is so diseased that those lusts in him, which he should labour to subdue and mortify by the power of the Spirit, do so oversway him that all his life is nothing else but a disease and backsliding into sin. And as if we were not corrupt enough ourselves, how many are there who feed their corruptions when they frequent ill places and company, whom they cannot do without, and are as fish in the water, feeding the old man in them. So that such are not only sick, but defend, maintain, and feed their sickness, their whole life being spent this way, which they laugh at, and make 'pride their chain and ornament,' Ps. 73:6, as the prophet speaks. This is spoken that we may take up a lamentation for the vileness of man's nature, and to teach us how to judge aright of men when they devise how to have their liberty strengthened to go to hell, as it were, with an high hand, having their will so fortified that no man is able to deal with them, thwart them, or teach them anything.
If it were offered to most men to have what estate they would in this world, what are their wishes and desires? O that I might live as I list, that I might have what would content my pleasures without control, that I might have no crosses, but go smoothly on! Yet this, which is the desire of most men, is the most cursed estate of all, and most to be lamented. Thus it appeareth sin is a wound and a disease. What use may we make of it?
Use 1. If this be so, then, in the first place, let us know and consider, that no man who lives in sins unrepented of and uncured, is to be envied, be they never so great. Who will envy a man that hath a rotten body, covered over with glorious attire? when every man knows that he carries a rotten disease about him; either some disease in the vital parts, or from the rottenness of sin, which puts a kind of shame and scorn. Can we pity a man thus in glorious attire, having a
filthy body under it? thus covering their nakedness, in whose case we would not for anything be. And are they not much more to be pitied, who have ulcerous souls, galled and pierced through with many sins?
When we see men that are blasphemers, swearers, men guilty of much blood and filthiness, and of many sins hanging upon them, to envy such a man's greatness is extreme folly. Oh, he carries his death's wound about him, as we say. He is stricken already in his side with a deadly dart. Without the healing mercy of God, there is but a step betwixt him and eternal death; wherefore no man is to be envied for his sinful greatness.
Use 2. Again, if this be so, that sin is a disease and wound of the soul, let us therefore labour to cure it presently. It is desperate folly in men to neglect their bodies, when they know that they are prone to such and such diseases, which are growing upon them every day. How careful are men, perceiving thus much, to prevent diseases by timely physic! All sins are diseases, and growing like diseases, run from ill to worse, worse and worse. 'Wicked men,' saith the apostle, 'grow worse and worse,' 2 Tim. 3:13. Therefore, if sin be a disease, prevent it presently. For as we see, heretics and other the like are hardly sound but at the first, and then are hardly cured. So, if we neglect the diseases of our souls, they will breed a consumption of grace, or such an ill temper of soul, as that it cannot well desire to repent. Nay, when a man lives in wicked, rebellious courses long, God will give him up to such terrors of conscience, that it will not be pacified, but upbraid itself. I have been a sinful, wretched creature; mercy hath been offered me again and again, but now it is too late, having outstood all the means of grace, and rejected them. When they have considered that their lives have for a long time been a mere rebellion, and that they have put off the checks of conscience, the admonitions of the word and Spirit, with the motions thereof. It is long in this case before a man can have peace. For answerable to the continuance in sin, is the hardness of the cure, if it be cured at all.
Therefore there is no dallying with sin. I shall repent at length, but not now. Yet a while I will continue these and these courses, I shall
do well enough, &c.; as if a man who were sick, or desperately wounded, should say, I shall do well, and yet neglect to send for the physician. None are so desperately foolish in case of the body, why should we for our souls? Is not that in much more hazard than the body, if we had spiritual eyes to consider of it? The truth is, people are not convinced of this, that sin is such a sickness, which is the reason they are so careless of it. But when the conscience is awaked, as it will be one day, here or in hell, then they will be of another mind. Nay, in this world, when friends, nor riches, nor anything can comfort, then they cry out, O that they had not been so foolish! They would give a world, if they had it, for peace of conscience! This will be the best of it, for men that go on in sin. Therefore, before hardness of heart grow upon us, that disease following the disease of sin, let us take heed, and labour to have our souls healed in time. Thus we have found that sin is a sickness; for so much is implied, when he saith, 'I will heal their backsliding.' Whence the direct observation is,
That God is the great physician of the soul.
For he saith here, 'I will heal their backsliding;' so that healing implies the taking away of— 1. The guilt of sin, which is the venom of it, by justification.
2. The rage of sin, which is the spreading of it, by sanctification.
3. The removing the judgment upon our estate.
For, unless God be the more merciful, these things follow. Where there is sin, and breaking of his law, there is a state binding over to damnation and guilt. When there is a sinful disposition raging, and bringing us from one degree of sin to another, then there is God's judgment and wrath revealed from heaven against this. Now, when
God heals, he heals perfectly, but in some regards slowly, as we shall see hereafter. In regard of forgiveness of sins, he healeth perfectly.
But by little and little in regard of the other, of sanctification. He stops up the issues of our corruption by little and little. For other
things, and judgments in this world, he removes the malice, and takes away the sting of them, which is the venom; as he saith afterward, 'For mine anger is turned away,' which being removed and turned from things, then they are no more judgments. What cared
Paul for imprisonment, when he knew God's wrath accompanied not the stocks? Acts 16:19, seq. Let wrath be taken from the suffering, that the soul be sound, then it is no matter what condition a man be in, he carries heaven and paradise with him. Therefore, so far God removes those diseases and sicknesses of condition, as they carry venom in them; so changing the condition, that whatsoever we suffer, it hath the nature of an exercise, medicine, or correction only.
But that which envenoms all, and makes the least cross a curse, and sinks deep, is the anger of God joined with things, Ps. 89:46. The least cross, when it carrieth with it the anger and vengeance of God, and reports that to the soul, I have offended God, and it is just with him thus to inflict wrath upon me: this is terrible, and it puts a sting to the cross. Now, God here promiseth to remove that, 'I will heal their backsliding.' This principally, in the first place, is meant of healing in regard of justification; taking away that guilt from the soul which enthrals it, and binds it over to condemnation and judgment.
God will set the soul at a spiritual liberty, and so heal it. Thus you see the point clear, that God is the great physician of the soul.
Reason 1. For God who made the soul, knows all the diseases, windings, and turnings of it. He is an excellent anatomist: 'all things are naked and open before his eyes,' Heb. 4:13. He knows the inward part of the soul, the seat of all sin. We know not ourselves as he knows us. There is a mystery of self-deceit in the heart, which he knows who can search all the hidden corners of the heart, which is the reason why he is so good a physician, and so excellent. Because he is a discerner and searcher of the heart, who can see all, and so can cure all, being above the sting of conscience, he hath a remedy above the malady. He is greater than our conscience. Therefore he can cure our conscience.
Reason 2. And in the next place, as he can heal our souls, so he is willing to do it, which his willingness we may know by the medicine he doth it by, his own dear Son. He hath provided a plaster of his
Son's blood to heal us. And besides his own inward willingness, being now a gracious father to us in Christ Jesus, he sends his ambassadors to heal and cure us in his name, 2 Cor. 5:20, to apply his medicines, and to beseech and entreat us to be reconciled. God, by them, entreats us to entreat him for pardon and mercy, and is so willing to be entreated, that ere we shall set out he teacheth us words, as we heard, 'Take unto you words,' &c. As he is an able, so he is a willing physician. Christ, the great physician, together with his Father, expects not that we should first come to him, but he comes first, and sends to us. The physician came to the sick, though for the most part the sick, if able, go to the physician, 1 John 4:9, 10. But here is the contrary. He came from heaven, took our nature upon him, and therein died, by which his blood-shedding, he satisfied the wrath of God, justly offended with us, Isa. 53:10. So he heals our souls that way, having undergone the anger and wrath of God, that his blood might quench and appease that anger by a plaster thereof made, and applied to our souls, Isa. 53:11, 12.
Do we doubt of his willingness, when he comes to us and calls us, 'Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest'? Mat. 11:28. It is his office which he hath assumed to heal our soul. The many cures he hath done sheweth the ability and willingness of the physician; cures whereof we are incapable, by reason of our mean condition. A king, as his place is greater, so sometimes his sins are greater than others are; yet he cured
Manasseh, that sinful king, 2 Chron. 33:23, together with Mary Magdalen, Paul, Peter, and the rest, who were a company healed by this physician. Therefore all this is for the glory of our physician. We may see what he can do by what he hath done; as amongst us physicians are sought after according to their skill and cures done.
Consider in the sacrament how ready God is to cure and to heal us, how gracious he is in the sacrament of baptism, wherein he engageth us to believe, admitting us into the covenant, and preventing us with
mercy, before we knew what a covenant or seal was, Ezek. 16:6, seq.
And so to persuade us of his willingness to forgive our sins and heal our rebellions, he hath ordained the sacrament, not for his sake, but to strengthen our weak faith, and help us. The point is easy for matter of our understanding, but hard in regard of use and application, especially when it should be made use of, in time of temptation. Then let us lay it up as a comfortable point, this gracious promise of God, 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely,'
&c. Lay this up against the hour of temptation, make use of it then, alleging unto God his own promise and nature, as David did, 'Lord, remember the promise wherein thou hast caused me to trust,' Ps.
119:49. Thou hast promised pardoning and healing [of] all our trangressions, &c. Remember thy free promises made in Jesus
Christ. God cannot deny himself nor his word, but loves to have his bonds sued. Remember this. And when conscience is surprised with any sin, though it be never so great, look not on the disease so much as who is the physician, and what his plaster and medicine is. God is the physician, and the blood of Christ is the plaster. What if our sins be mountains! There is an ocean and a sea of mercy to swell above and cover these mountains of our sins, Mic. 7:18, 19. Our sins in this case are like fire, which, falling into the sea, is by and by quenched.
What if our sins be of never so long standing (as these their backslidings here had continued hundreds of years, wherein they were a backsliding generation), yet it is no matter of what standing or continuance the disease is, so long as God hath promised to be the physician, and the blood of Christ is the plaster that healeth us, Isa.
1:18, 19. The question is not, What? How many? How great? and of what continuance our sins? but how we stand affected towards them, hate them, and resolve against them? That sin cannot hurt us which we fight against, mourn for, complain of, resolve to leave, and truly hate. Let us never stand, then, in comparisons with our sins, which bear no proportion to the infinite skill and power of our great physician, and to the infinite work of Christ's all-sufficient satisfaction. What canst thou object, O man? 'It is Christ that justifieth the ungodly, who art thou that condemneth? It is he that died, yea, rather, who is risen again, who is also at the right hand of
God, and also maketh intercession for us,' Rom. 8:33, 34. Thou canst not satisfy for the least sin. God hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all, Lev. 16:21. 'The chastisements of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed,' Isa. 53:5.
Let us, therefore, be wise for afterwards, hear, read, lay up, and meditate for the time to come. For times will come, if we belong to God, that nothing will content or pacify the soul but the infinite worth and merit of an infinite and free mercy apprehended in the face of Jesus Christ. When our sins are set in order before us, the sins of our youth, middle, and old age, our sins against conscience, against the law and gospel, against examples, vows, promises, resolutions, and admonitions of the Spirit and servants of God; when there shall be such a terrible accuser, and God shall perhaps let the wounds of conscience fly open and join against us; when wrath shall appear, be in some sort felt, and God presented to the soul as 'a consuming fire,' Heb. 12:29, no comfort in heaven or earth appearing, hell beneath seeming ready to revenge against us the quarrel of God's covenant, Oh then for faith to look through all these clouds! to see mercy in wrath! love in correction! Heb. 12:6, life in death! the sweetness of the promises! the virtue and merit of Christ's sufferings, death, resurrection, and intercession at the right hand! the sting of death removed, 1 Cor. 15:55, sin pardoned and done away, and glory at hand! In sum, this promise made good, which leads unto all this happiness, as we shall by and by hear, 'I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away.' Oh, this is a marvellous matter, then, to be persuaded of!
Therefore let us make a right use of these words in due season, for they are 'like apples of gold, with pictures of silver,' Prov. 25:11, like balm to a green wound, like delivery in a shipwreck. But, indeed, all comparisons come far short of this illustration, as the terror of incensed wrath in the fearful apprehension of eternal, unspeakable misery, is beyond any other fear, apprehension, or joy.
But lest this grace be abused by others (for we must not withhold the children's bread, for fear others partake with them unto whom it
belongs not), let them know thus much: that those who turn this grace into wantonness, and will be evil, because God is thus gracious
—that there is no word of comfort in the whole Scripture for them, who stand resolved to go on in their sins, presuming of mercy. See what God saith in this case, 'Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; and it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst: the Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven,' Deut.
29:18–20. 'God will wound the hairy scalp of such an one,' Ps. 68:21, who goes on in his wickedness, and means to be so. And in the New
Testament those who thus make a progress in sin, what do they?
They are said 'to treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,' Rom. 2:5.
Therefore God's word speaks no comfort to those who purpose to live in any sin. All the comfort that can be spoken to such is, that yet they are not in hell; that yet they have time to return to this great
Physician of the soul. But take such an one in his present condition, he can have no comfort in this estate, wherein there is but a step between him and hell. So as when the rotten thread of this uncertain life shall fail, or is cut asunder, down they fall. We have no comfort here for them, till they return. This precious balm belongs to the wounded conscience. Briefly for use then.
Use. Seeing that our God is a healing God, as we can admire the wisdom, skill, and excellency of our physician, so let us much more make use of him upon all occasions. Trust and cleave to him, not like good Asa (but not good in this), who forgot himself, and sent first to the physicians, 2 Chron. 16:12. But let us especially rely upon God, and look to him, who can 'create help,' Isa. 4:5, and must bless all means whatsoever. He is a healing God, who will heal all rebellions, and the most grievous sicknesses. He is a physician that is good for all turns. There are some diseases which are called the scorn of
physicians, as the gout, the ague, and the like; wherein, in some cases, they are put to a stand, and know not what to do. But God is never at a loss. His skill cannot be set down. He is good at all diseases, to pardon all manner of sins. Therefore let us go to him for cure, seeing there is neither sin, nor grief, nor terror of conscience arising thereupon, which can be so great but God can cure both the sin and the terror, if we take a right course, and speak peace to the soul. God is a healing God, arising when he comes 'with healing in his wings,' Mal. 4:2. As he saith, 'I will heal their rebellion,' &c. And as he is a healing physician, so he puts his patients to no charge. For as he saith, 'I will heal their backslidings;' so he saith, 'I will love them freely.'
Therefore let us the more build upon this truth, which is indeed the sum of all godliness. For what is the gospel but the triumph of mercy? Do but consider the scope of God in the new covenant, whereof the sacrament is a seal, which is only to shew forth the exaltation of the grace and mercy of God in Jesus Christ, above all unworthiness whatsoever. For all there is for the glory of his mercy.
For in the covenant of grace, mercy doth triumph against judgment and justice; which mercy of God in Christ is said by the apostle 'to reign unto life everlasting, by Jesus Christ our Lord,' Rom. 5:21. It reigns, and hath a regiment* above, and over all. For mercy in God stirred up his wisdom to devise a way, by shedding of the blood of Christ Jesus, God-man, to satisfy divine justice, and rejoice against it. But whence comes this, that justice should be so satisfied?
Because a way is found out, how none of God's attributes are losers by mercy. Wherefore in any temptation, when we are prone to doubt of God's love, say, What! shall we wrong God more, by calling in question his mercy, and the excellency of his lovingkindness, which is more than any other sin we have committed? This is a sin superadded against his mercy, power, goodness, graciousness, and love in healing of sin; which takes away the glory of God in that attribute, wherein he labours to triumph, reign, and glorify himself most, and 'which is over all his works,' Ps. 145:9. Therefore he that offends herein, in denying God the glory of his great, tender,
unspeakable mercy, whereby he would glorify himself most in the covenant of grace, he offends God most.
Therefore let us, at such times as God awakens conscience, be so far from thinking that God is unwilling to cure and help us, as to think that hereby we shall honour God more by believing than we dishonoured him by our sin. For the faith of an humble, contrite sinner, it glorifies God more than our better obedience in other things doth; because it gives him the glory of that wherein he delights, and will be most glorified, the glory of his mercy and truth, of his rich, abundant mercy that hath no bounds. There is no comparison between the mercy of God in the covenant of grace, and that to Adam in the state of nature. For in the first he did good to a good man; first he made him good, and then did him good. But when man did degenerate, and was fallen into such a cursed estate as we are, for God then to be good to a sinner, and freely to do good, here is goodness indeed, triumphant goodness. Cain was a cursed person, who said, 'My punishment is greater than can be borne,' Gen. 4:13.
We know who spake it. No; God is a physician for all diseases. If they be 'crimson sins,' he can make them 'white as wool,' Isa. 1:18.
Who would not be careful therefore to search his wounds, his sins to the bottom? Let the search be as deep as we can, considering that there is more mercy in God, than there can be sin in us. Who would favour his soul? especially considering, if he neglect searching of it, sins will grow deadly and incurable upon that neglect. Let this therefore encourage us not to spare ourselves, in opening the wounds of our souls to God, that he may spare all. Thus we saw formerly, the church here is brought in dealing plainly with God, and confessing all
(for she had an excellent teacher), and God answers all; beginning with this, 'I will heal their backsliding.' They were idolaters, and guilty of the sins of the second table in a high measure (no petty sins), yet God saith, 'I will heal their backsliding,' &c. Which being healed, then an open highway is made for all other mercies whatsoever, which is the next point we observe hence:
Obs. That the chief mercy of all, which leads unto all the rest, is the pardon and forgiveness of sins.
Healing of the guilt of sin, we see, is set in the front of these petitions formerly shewed; which as it is the first thing in the church's desire,
'Take away all iniquity,' &c, so it is the first thing yielded to in God's promise, 'I will heal their backsliding,' &c. Pardon of sin, and cure of sin, whereby the conscience ceaseth to be bound over to condemnation, is the first and chiefest blessing of God, and is that for which the church falls out in a triumph. 'Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage, because he delighteth in mercy,' &c., Micah
7:18, 19, 20. And this is that excellent and sweet conclusion of the new covenant also, whereupon all the rest of those former foregoing mercies there are grounded. For, 'I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more,' Jer. 31:34. Yea, this is the effect of that grand promise made to his church after the return of their captivity. 'In those days, and at 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. 50:20. The point is plain and clear enough; it needs no following. The reason is, Because it takes away the interposing cloud. God is gracious in himself. Pardon of sin removes the cloud betwixt God's gracious face and the soul. Naturally, God is a spring of mercy; but our sins stop the spring. But when sin is pardoned, the stop is taken away, and the spring runs amain. God is not merciful as a flint yields fire, by force; but as a spring, whence water naturally issues.
Quest. Seeing forgiveness of sins unstops this spring, why do we not feel this mercy?
Ans. Surely, because some sin or other is upon the file uncancelled,* perhaps unconfessed; or because we are stuffed with pride, that we believe not; or are so troubled, or trouble ourselves, that we
apprehend not, or believe not the pardon of sins confessed and hated. But sure it is, forgiveness of sins unstops the spring of mercy, and unveils God's gracious face in Jesus Christ unto us. Sin being not pardoned, this stops, as the prophet speaks. Our iniquity is that which keeps good things from us. Therefore the chief mercy is that which removes, that which unstops the current of all mercy. 'I will heal their backsliding,' &c. Look at a condemned prisoner in the tower! Let him have all contentment; as long as he is in the displeasure of the prince, stands condemned, and the sentence unreversed, what true contentment can he have? None at all. So it is with a sinner, that hath not his pardon and quietus est from heaven.
Yield him all contentment which the world can afford; all the satisfaction that can issue from the creature; yet what is this to him, as long as he hath not mercy, and that his conscience is not pacified, because it is not cleansed and washed with the blood of Christ?
Sin is like Jonah: whilst he was in the ship, there was nothing but tempest, Jonah 1:4; like Achan in the army, Joshua 7:11, 12: whilst he was not found out, God's judgment followed the camp. Sin is that which troubleth all. Therefore it must be taken away first; and therewith all evil is taken away. Therefore, the first mercy is a forgiving, pardoning, and quieting mercy. When the blood of Jesus
Christ, by the hand of faith, is sprinkled upon the soul, God creating a hand of faith to sprinkle and shed it upon the soul, 'Christ loved me, and gave himself for me,' then the soul saith, Though my sins be great, yet the satisfaction of Christ is greater. God hath loved me, and gave his own Son for me; and I apply this to myself, as it is offered to me, and take the offer. This pacifieth the soul, as it is written, 'The blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, is that which purgeth our conscience from dead works to serve the living God,' Heb. 9:14. To a repentant sinner, this
'blood of sprinkling speaks better things than the blood of Abel,' Heb.
12:24: not as his blood cried for vengeance, but mercy, mercy. When the soul is thus pacified, there is the foundation of all other mercy whatsoever. The order is this: when God is reconciled, all is reconciled; when God is at peace with us in the forgiveness of sins,
then all is peaceable at home and abroad. Conscience is in peace within, and all the creatures at peace without; all which, with all that befalls us, have a command to do us no hurt; as David gave charge to the people, of Absalom. When God is reconciled and at peace, all things are at peace with us. For is not he Lord of hosts, who hath the command of all the creatures? Therefore this grace of forgiveness is the chief grace.
To shew it in one instance more. David was a king and a prophet, a comely and a valorous person. But what esteemed he most? Did he say, Blessed is the man who is a king, or a prophet, or a valiant warrior, or hath dominion, obedience, or great possessions, as I have? Oh, no. 'Blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven, and whose iniquities are covered,' Ps. 32:1. You see wherein this holy man David sets and pitcheth happiness, in the forgiveness of sins. Blessed is such a man. Though he were a king, he knew well enough that if his sins were not pardoned and covered he had been a wretched man.
Use 1. Therefore, this should teach us to desire of God continually the pardon of our sins; and we should make it the chief desire of our souls that God would shine upon them in Jesus Christ, pardon and accept us in his beloved. They go together.
Use 2. And bless him for this above all other blessings, as it is Ps.
103:1, 3, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name,' &c. Why? 'Who forgiveth all thy iniquities, and healeth all thy diseases.' We should bless God most of all for this, that he hath devised a way by Christ to receive satisfaction for sin, to pardon it, and say unto our souls, 'I am thy salvation,' Ps. 35:3. This is the greatest favour of all.
Quest. But you ask, How shall I know that God hath healed my soul in regard of the forgiveness of sins?
Ans. The answer is, If, together with pardon of sin, he heal sin. For God, when he takes away the venom of a wound that endangers
death, the deadly disease, he takes away also the swelling of the wound and glowing of it. When he ceaseth to make it deadly, he heals the soul withal, and subdues our iniquities, as his promise is, Micah
7:19. So there is, together with pardoning mercy, curing mercy in regard of sanctification. Where God is a Father to make us sons, he is a Father to beget us anew. So where Christ comes by blood to wash away our sins, he comes by water also and the Holy Ghost; where he is a Comforter in the forgiveness of sins, he is a sanctifier. And the soul of a distressed sinner looks to the one as well as the other. Ask the soul of any man who is truly humbled, What do you chiefly desire? Oh, that God would pardon my sins! But is that all? No; that he would also heal my sins and subdue my rebellions, that I may not any longer be under the government and tyranny of my lusts, but under God's gracious government, who will guide me better than before, Hos. 2:7. This we see to be the order in the Lord's prayer.
After we are taught to say, 'Forgive us our trespasses,' it follows, 'And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,' which is for the time to come, Mat. 6:12, 13. So David, 'Cleanse me from my secret sins, and keep me, that presumptuous sins have not dominion over me,' &c., Ps. 19:12, 13. So that this is the desire of an afflicted conscience truly humbled, curing as well as covering of sin. This is a sure evidence that our sins are pardoned.
2. Then again, when there is peace: when the soul feels this, it is a sign that God hath healed the soul. 'For,' saith the apostle, 'being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ,' Rom. 5:1. The blood of Christ hath a pacifying power in forgiveness of sins. When Jonah was cast out, there was a calm,
Jonah 1:12; so when sin is cast out and pardoned, there is a calm in the soul, which comes from the forgiveness of sins.
3. Again, healing is known by this, if we have hearts willing to be searched, for then our will is cured, which in the state of grace is more than our obedience. When we would be better than we are, then certainly our will is not in league with corruptions. Now, where the will is so much sanctified, I resolve to be better, I would be better,
and I use all means, being glad when any joins with me against my corruptions, I am glad of all such advantages, here is a good sign. As now, when a man goes to church, and desires, 'O that my corruptions might be met withal! O that I might be laid open to myself, and know myself better than I have formerly done!' this is the desire of an ingenuous soul. Where there is no guile of soul, a man is glad to have himself and his corruptions discovered, whereas another frets and kicks, and rageth against the word of God, which is a sign that there is some league betwixt him and his sin. You have some that, above all things in the world, they would not have such and such downright ministers. O take heed; this is a sign of a hollow heart, and that a man is in love with his disease. Can there be a cure where there is a love of the disease?
4. Not to name many, the last, which is a high pitch, shall be, by our estimation of things here and above. What hath this healing wrought in thee? What estimation of things? How is thy heart weaned from the world? How are thy affections set on things which are above? Col.
3:1. When a sick man is soundly recovered, though his distempered palate could not relish the best meats in his sickness, yet now he relishes and loves the best most of all. Look, then, to ourselves. How forget we, with blessed St Paul, 'the things which are behind, pressing hard to the mark which is before, for the high prize of that calling'? Philip. 3:13. How stand we affected, to long for our country? this world being only the place of our pilgrimage. Surely a soul that is soundly healed is an undervaluing soul, to use this world and all things therein as though we used them not; and it is also a valuing soul, to covet spiritual things above all, 1 Cor. 7:29, 31. 'O,' saith
David, 'how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day; I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold,' Ps. 119:97, 127.
The joy of this estate 'is a joy unspeakable and glorious,' 1 Pet. 1:8, of which it is said 'the stranger shall not meddle with,' Pro. 14:10. Thus much concerning the disease. Before we come to the cure a question ariseth.
Quest. Whence, then, comes a calm in a carnal person?
Ans. From ignorance and deadness of conscience, or from diversion.
As a sick man, when he talks with another man that is his friend, his mind is diverted that he feeleth not his sickness all the while, so wicked men, either their consciences are seared, and they go on in sin, or else they have diversions. Great persons are loath to hear, and are usually full of diversions from the time they rise till they sleep again. All diversions busy conscience about other things; so they keep themselves, that it may not trouble them. But the peace of a true Christian comes from another ground, from sound knowledge of his disease, and from sound satisfaction, by faith knowing Christ, the Spirit of God sealing this knowledge to the soul. If peace be thus settled, it is a sign of a sound cure.
Quest. But you will say, How shall I know that my sins are pardoned when I am subject to those sins still?
Ans. Not to speak of transient actual sins, that are past and pardoned, when we have repented of them; but of the root of all sin, which is weakness and corruption in us, fortified, and, as it were, intrenched by nature, occasions and custom. Of this the question is,
How to discern of pardon, the root of sin remaining, and now and then foiling us? The answer is affirmative. We may have that sin pardoned, which yet occasionally may foil us still. For a man is in the state of health, though he have the dregs of a disease hanging upon him, whereby a man ofttimes hath some little fit of the disease. When nature and physic hath prevailed over the disease, yet after that, there may be grudgings. So when God hath cured the soul by pardon, and hath begun to cure in sanctification, the cure is wrought, though some dregs remain, because those dregs are carried away with daily physic, and daily flying to God, 'Lord, forgive our debts; Lord, heal us.' Every prayer and renewing of repentance carries some debt away, till death comes, that excellent physician, which once for all perfectly cures both soul and body, bringing both there where both shall have perfection.
Quest. But you will say, Is God's grace weak, that it cannot carry away all dregs of corruption as well as pardon? Why is pardon in the forgiveness of sins absolute, when yet God suffers the dregs to remain, so as we still are subject to the disease of sin?
Ans. God is wise. Let us not quarrel with our physician, for he is wiser than we ourselves. For he makes these relics medicinal to us, as thus: naturally we are prone to security and spiritual pride, therefore he makes a medicine of our infirmities, to cure spiritual pride and security, and to set us a-work. Therefore the Jebusites, and the residue of that kind, were left uncast out from among Israel, that thereby he might prove Israel, and lest they should be a prey unto wild beasts to devour them, Judges 3:1. So some remainders of the flesh are left still in the best, that these wild beasts might not prey upon their souls. Spiritual pride, which is a detestable sin, robbing and denying God of his prerogative, and security, the grave of the soul, to cure these two especially, God makes the relics and remainders of sin a medicine unto us.
Quest. Why doth God suffer these infirmities and diseases to remain in us?
Ans. Diseases are suffered, to put us in mind of infirmities in the root, which we knew not before. For if these should not sometimes break forth into a disease, we would think our nature were pure.
Therefore God suffers them to break forth into diseases. Who would have thought that Moses had been passionate? Certainly, himself did not know himself, at the waters of strife, that the seeds of anger should be in the meekest man in the world! Num. 20:2. Who would have thought that David, whose heart smote him for cutting off the lap of Saul's garment, 1 Sam. 24:4, that so mild a man should have cruelty in him, and yet after that he committed murder? Who would have thought that Peter, who made such protestations of love to Christ, that though all men forsook him, yet he would not; yet after that should deny his Master, and forswear him? Matt. 23:33, 39, &c.
All which was to shew us, that it is useful for us sometimes to have
our corruptions break out, to put us in mind what inward weaknesses we have unknown and unsearched in us, and that we may know the depth of our corruption. God's children are gainers by all their infirmities and weaknesses, whereby they learn to stand stronger. Here is a main difference betwixt the slips of God's children, and the ordinary evil courses of others. They grow worse and worse. The oftener they fall into sin, the more they are settled upon their dregs. But God's child hath the remainders of corruption in him, from whence he hath infirmities, and whence he breaks into diseases. But notwithstanding, corruption is a loser hereby. For the oftener he falls into sin, it is the weaker and weaker. For the more he sees the root of it, the more he hates it, resolves and strives against it, till it be consummated by repentance and sanctifying grace. Let no man therefore be too much cast down for infirmities, though ofttimes they break out, if thereupon we find a renewed hatred, repentance, and strength against them. For God looks not so much, how much corruption there is in us, as how we stand affected to it, and what good there is, whether we be in league with it, and resist it.
It is not sin that damns men, but sin with the ill qualities, sin unconfessed, not grieved for, and unresisted, else God hath holy ends in leaving corruption in us, to exercise, try us, and keep us from other sins. Therefore sin is left uncured.
Now the way to have it cured, both in the pardon and likewise in sanctification, we have it in the context. What doth God say? 'I will heal their backsliding,' &c. After they had searched their hearts, and thereupon found iniquity, and then prayed, 'Take away all iniquity;' after they had desired a divorce from their sins, 'Asshur shall not save us;' and when they had some faith that God would cure them, and accordingly put confidence in God, 'the Father of the fatherless;' then saith God, 'I will heal their backsliding.' So that sense of pardon in the forgiveness of sins, and sense of grace, comes after sight, sense, weariness, and confession of sin. God doth not pardon sin, when it is not seen, sorrowed for, nor confessed, and where there is not some degree of faith, to come to God, 'the Father of the fatherless,' and the great Physician of souls. When we do this, as it is
said in the context, then we find the forgiveness of sins, with the gracious power of God's Spirit healing of our diseases, 'I will heal their backsliding.'
Let us therefore remember this, lest we deceive our souls, for it is not so easy a thing to attain unto forgiveness of sins as we think.
And then again, though forgiveness of sins be free, yet notwithstanding there is a way whereby we come to forgiveness of sins that costs us somewhat. God humbles the soul first, brings a man to himself, to think of his course, to lay open his sins and spread them before God in confession, and working upon the soul hearty repentance; so to come to God, and wait for forgiveness of sins, perhaps a good while before there be a report of it. There are none who have sins forgiven, but they know how they come by it. For there is a predisposition wrought in man's soul by the Spirit, which teacheth him what estate he is in, and what his danger is, whereupon follows confession; and upon that, peace. God keeps his children many times a long while upon the rack before he speaks peace unto them in the forgiveness of sins, because he would not have them think slightly of the riches of his mercy. It is no easy matter to attain unto the sense of the forgiveness of sins, though indeed we should strive to attain it, that so we may walk in the comforts of the Holy
Ghost. The difficulty of obtaining or recovering the sense of forgiveness, may be seen in David after his fall. Did he easily obtain sense of pardon? Oh no! God held him on the rack a long time, 'He roared all the day long, his moisture was turned into the drought of summer,' Ps. 32:3, 4. But when he had resolved a thorough, and no slight, confession; when he had resolved to shame himself and glorify
God; then saith he, 'And thou forgavest my sin.' But till he dealt thoroughly with his soul without all guile, he felt no comfort. So it is with the children of God. When in the state of grace they fall into sin, it is no slight 'Lord, have mercy upon me' that will serve the turn; but a thorough shaming of themselves before God, and a thorough confession, resolving and determining to be under another government; to have Christ to govern them as well as to pardon
them. God will no otherwise do it. Because he would glorify his rich mercy herein; for who would give mercy its due glory, if forgiveness were easily attained, without shaming of ourselves? If it came easily, without protestation and waiting upon God, as the church here, we should never be thoroughly humbled for our sins, and God would never have the glory of his mercy, nor known to be so just in hating of sin in his dear children, who long ago upon such terms have attained sense of forgiveness of sins. It is worth our trouble to search our souls and to wait at Christ's feet, never to give over until we have attained the sense of forgiveness of sin. It is heaven upon earth to have our consciences enlarged with God's favour in the pardon of sin.
What is the reason that many profess that God is merciful, and Christ hath pardoned their sins, &c.? If the ground be right, it is a high conceit of mercy; and such have been soundly humbled for their sins.
But dost thou profess so, who livest carelessly in thy sins, and licentiously still? Surely* thy ground is naught, for hadst thou been upon the rack, in God's scalding-house, and smarted soundly for sin, wouldst thou take pleasure still to live in sin? Oh no! Those that go on carelessly in their actions and speeches, not caring what they are, did they ever smart for sin, who carry themselves thus? Surely these were never soundly humbled for sin, nor confessed them with loathing and detestation. Therefore let us mark the context here inferred. After they had confessed, prayed, and waited, resolving reformation in their false confidence, then God promiseth, 'I will heal their backsliding.' It is a fundamental error in a Christian course, the slighting of true humiliation, which goes along in all the fabric and frame of a Christian course. Let a man not be soundly humbled with the sight of his sins, his faith is weaker, and his sanctification and comfort the slighter. Whereas, if a man would deal truly with his own heart, set up a court there, and arraign, judge, and condemn himself
(which is God's end in all his dealings, afflictions, and judgments inflicted upon us), the deeper we went in this course, the more would our comfort be, and the report of God's mercy, in the sense of that which follows, 'I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away.'