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cessarily be understood of faith comprehending obedience.

And thus you see what God the Father's part is in remitting our sins, viz. that it consists in granting to us an universal act of pardon and indemnity, in consideration of our Saviour's sacrifice, and upon condition of our sincere repentance and future obedience. And this is the groundwork and foundation of all remission of sins; without which our Saviour himself hath no right to pardon and forgive us. For since the law against which we have all sinned was peculiarly from God the Father, as he is the fountain of divinity, and consequently the head of the divine dominion, it was he peculiarly that was the party offended, and consequently it was he to whom our obligation to punishment was due, and by whom alone it can be released and remitted: and as the grant of remission was wholly in his will and pleasure, so was it also to accept the consideration and appoint the conditions of it. So that now, as none can be pardoned but upon his grant, so neither can his grant be available to any, but upon that consideration which he hath accepted, viz. the precious sacrifice of his own Son, and upon such conditions as he hath appointed; viz. faith working in us sincere repentance and obedience. And accordingly our Saviour, in all that he doth in the part he acts in forgiving sins, proceeds upon and according to this grant of his Father: for it is in the right and upon the consideration and condition of this grant that he forgives us; nor can he forgive any by any other right than that which it gives him, or upon any other consideration than that which it hath admitted, or upon any other condition than that which

it hath specified and determined. And this brings me to the second head I proposed, which was to shew what it is that the Son doth in forgiving

sins.

In short therefore, the part which our Saviour bears in it, considered as King under God the Father, is to make an actual and particular application of this general grant of his Father to particular sinners, upon their faith and repentance. For the Father's grant is only a general promise, that we shall be pardoned for Christ's sake whenever we sincerely believe and repent; but the actual pardoning us consists in the application of this general promise to us in particular, by which the general promise of pardon is converted into a particular sentence of pardon. For the promise says thus, Whosoever believes and repents shall be pardoned: the particular application of the promise says thus, Thou doest believe and repent; and therefore, by virtue of that promise, I pardon and forgive thee. And this is the proper part of our blessed Saviour, who, having first obtained this promise of his Father by his sacrifice upon earth, and then still continuing to obtain of him, by his continual intercession in heaven, royal authority to dispense that promise to us, doth, by virtue of that authority, actually pardon us upon our actual repentance. So that as soon as ever we perform the condition of God's grant of pardon, our Saviour (who knows the inmost thoughts of our hearts, and perfectly discerns our sincerity) immediately pronounces our sentence of pardon, and by a particular application of that general grant to us absolves us from our obligation to eternal punishment, and freely receives us into grace and favour.

For though the completion and publication of our pardon is reserved for the day of judgment, when we shall be absolved from all punishment (i. e. not only of eternal misery, but also of corporal death and temporal sufferings) in the public view and audience of the world; yet it is certain that every penitent believer in Jesus is actually pardoned by him in heaven as soon as ever he believes and repents; that is, he is, in foro Christi, and before the tribunal of his royal judgment, absolved from the obligation to suffer eternal misery which he lay under during his state of impenitence; and Christ, in his own mind, judgment, and estimation, hath judicially thus pronounced concerning him: By virtue of my Father's grant to all penitent offenders, and of that royal authority which he hath committed to me, I freely release thee from all that vast debt of everlasting punishment which thou hast too justly incurred by sinning against him. Thus as the Father forgives us virtually by that public grant of mercy, which for Christ's sake he hath made to all penitent offenders; so the Son forgives us actually by that royal authority, which the Father hath given him to make a particular application of that his general grant to us upon our actual repentance; and as it is by the Father's grant that the Son pardons us, so it is by the Son's application of it that the Father pardons us: and therefore we are said in or by Christ to have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin, Col. i. 14. i. e. to be forgiven for the sake of his blood; in consideration whereof God the Father hath given him power to forgive us. For so he himself tells us, that all power in heaven and earth was given him, Matt. xxviii. 18. and

there is no doubt but in all power the power of forgiving sins was included; for so St. Peter tells us, that through his name, i. e. by his authority or judicial sentence, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins, Acts x. 43.

And thus you see what the first regal act is, which our Saviour hath always performed, and will always continue to perform, viz. forgiving of sins.

II. Another of his regal acts of this kind is punishing obstinate offenders. For as he mediates for his Father in ruling and governing us, he must be the minister of his Father's providence; and being so, whatsoever divine punishments are inflicted upon offenders are to be looked upon as the strokes of his hand, and the ministries of his power; for he hath the keys of death and hell, i. e. the power of punishing both here and hereafter, Rev. i. 18. and accordingly he threatens the corrupt churches of Asia, that he would remove their candlestick, and that he would fight against them with the sword of his mouth, that he would come upon them as a thief, and that he would spue them out of his mouth, Rev. ii. 5, 16. and chap. iii. 3, 16. All which is a sufficient proof, that the punishment of offenders, both here and hereafter, is committed to him as a branch of that royal authority with which he is invested by the Father. In the execution of which commission he many times chastens bad men in this life, in order to their reformation and amendment; for as many as I love, saith he, (i. e. wish well to,) I rebuke and chasten, Heb. iii. 19. And many times he persecutes them with exterminating judgments, thereby hanging them up in chains, as it were, as public examples of his vengeance, to

warn and deter the world from treading in their impious footsteps. For so he threatens Jezebel and her followers: I gave her space to repent of her fornications; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, i. e. into a bed-rid and irrecoverable condition, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation.And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts : and I will give unto every one of you according to your works, Rev. ii. 21, 22, 23. And though, for wise and gracious ends, he oftentimes spares bad men in this life, and sometimes shines upon them a continued day of prosperity, without any cloud or interruption; yet he always overtakes them with the fearful storms of his vengeance in the life to come. For no sooner do their souls depart from their bodies, but they are immediately consigned by his warrant into the hands of evil angels; those skilful, spiteful, and powerful executioners of his justice, under whose savage tyranny they endure all the tortures and agonies that wrath and power of devils, together with their own awakened consciences, and furious and unsatisfied affections, are able to inflict. Of which see vol. i. part 1. chap. 3. For that the souls of bad men are transmitted into a state of wretchedness and misery immediately upon their separation from their bodies, is evident from the parable of Dives and Lazarus; wherein, in the first place, Dives immediately after his death is said to be in great torment in hell; and this while his body lay buried in the grave, Luke xvi. 22, 23. which is a plain argument, that in all that interval between death and the resurrection of the body, the souls of bad men

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