Burgess - BT715 B85 1654

7he gnat ExAlUrs tJfGr~c~: God foq~iveth,he doth fully and perfeCl:ly forgive, h~ remem ~ bc:rs thefinne nomore, ·he throwech them into the bottom of ihe[ea, never t come in figh t more: Oh how welcome mull ; fuch a privil.edge be,when it !lull be told, the hambled fin.ner, Thy fi nncs are quite taken away, God will never mention them more to thee ; God wi!J be as gracious to thec,as if thou hadft never been che m1n. Incked, though God doth forgive · the: finne, yet hem11.y (ometimes chaftife and affiid: no twith· fianding, as we fee ia D~tvidand others, but thefe are medi ~ dnall and cQme onely from Gods love, they are not pcenall or vindictive; fo then Gods forgiveneffe is full and perfect~ that wh~reas in fubdui_ng the filth and power offinne, God goeth by degrees, and the reliques of it abide in the godly, till the very laft; in removing the guilt offinne, God taketh all that away at om:e, There uno crmdcmn~ttion to tho[e thAt are in Chrift Je[m;R.om.8.I. Whoc;m laj11ny thing to their charge? It u God th~tt juftifieth. · · . 3· The plentJ ofmercy in pardonin._e:, thualfomuft needs a{feEt 3•, the foul. Pfal. 5I. According to the mult!fudeofthy mercy. And The multi• God is faid tD multiply to pardon; fo that as a man can never ~ude of par~ underfiand his errors,fO he can never underftand Gods mercy. ons. Thus when God promifed by Efay, that he Would a6un4a.nt• ly, ot multiply to pardun: he giveeh this reafon, Gods thoughts "'ere not M theirJ ;· but M the HMveru Were above the earth, (o Were hi& mercies to their Jinnes, Ifa. 55.8. As therefore high hills and great mountains m:.ty feein very, big to us on the earth; butifthey be compared to Heaven, the wbole earth it fdf is but a punEtum. Thus, though our linnet may be vafi, and numberldfeco us, yet in refpect: ofGods grace and mercy, they are nothing: As Gods elfence and being is itifinite, all the nations of che world, are but as a drop to him; fo are all our finnes to him, whofe mercy is as infinite as his e.lfence. Oh then how fweec mufl the meditations o~ Gods mercy be to that foul, who findes fuch a multitude, fuch aburden of finAes, that it crieth out, Oh it is not an ordinary thing that can help me; it muff be the infinitemercy ofGod, it mull: be the infinite merits of Chrift : and then it·mull: not be pardon for one~or ~ne day,or one years pardon, but as my finnes are X -- --- ·· malti: .

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