A soul stung with sin, should fly to the free mercy of God
for we appeal from God to God; from God armed with justice, examining by law, to God a father armed with love, looking upon us in the comfortable promises of the gospel; from Sinai to Sion, from Moses to Christ. And in this appeal, as in others, the former sentence of the law, whereby we are 'cursed,' is utterly disannulled, so as 'no condemnation is to those that are in Christ,' Rom. 8:1. But this belongs to such (as it is in other appeals) who must see themselves condemned, before they can have the benefit of this appeal. There is no flying to mercy unless we find ourselves in need. But to come to some observations. In the first place, we may see by this example that the soul of a Christian apprehends God according to its estate, to comfort itself, and therefore beholds him as a forgiving God. And therefore the children of God, when they are at the lowest, they recover themselves with something they find in God's nature and promise, and to that end have a spirit of faith to trust and rely upon God; and those that have it not, sink lower and lower.
A soul stung with sin, should fly to the free mercy of God Doct. 1. Here we may observe, that the Christian soul, once stung with sin, flies to the free mercy of God for ease. Let a sinner be in Haman's estate, tell him of all pleasures, whatever they be, he cares not; nothing but pardon delights his soul. David, a king, a prophet, a man after God's own heart, Acts 13:22, beloved of his people, wonderfully graced, yet being troubled with his sin, could not stand.
He respects not his outward privileges, prerogatives, majesty, and the like. No; he is the blessed man to whom God imputes no sin, Ps.
32:1. And this is the reason why so much is attributed still to the blood of Christ, everywhere, in the Scripture; because the soul once pricked, finds no ease nor cure but in it principally, yet not excluding