el 12ernision. goodnefs may flow forth'plentifully and [weedy to the foul, bo-. dy and ftate ; yea,to all that b.longs to a believer : Youmay. con- ceive Gods mercy to be as an infinite fcreamofgoodnefs running with a full current towards his creatures ; for God delights in the Communication ofhimfeif tohis creatures : But nowmans fin made a dam, and flopt the pipe that not one drop of mercy could come iòrth, not a drop of all that mercy that in the eternal, purpofe ofGod he Bath appointed in time shall come forth to fuch and fuch a poor creature ; but when hecomes toPardon and Juftitication, he pills out the plug, and pulls up the flood-gates and iluces, and then mercies come flowing in amain ; when fin is pardoned, then the full fireams of all the mercies in the Covenant cf grace come flowing into the foul. Well then, if it be thus, that pardon of fin is an inlet to other mercies; then he that bath his fin pardoned is a very bleffed man. I fhaff . open this; -hat Pardon of Sin is the foundationto, and opens the fluce to set in all other mercies, Ter. 3i. 31. Behold ; the dayes come that I will make a new Covenant with the honfe ofIfrael; and the houfe of Judah : here God opens his goodness, and tells them he will make a new Covenant, not like that he made with their fathers, verfe 32.But this fhall be the Covenant,.. verfe 33. and he inftances in forceparticulars, I will put my Larn into their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and they fhall teach nomore"every man his neighbour, and every man his brother faying, k know the Lord, for they (hall all know me, &c. But what is the foundation of all this ? at the end of the 34.. For Iwillforgive their iniquity, and remember t?eir fin no more. I will maizea newCovenant with them, and, put my Law into their inwardparts, and they(hall all know me ; I will come in with all my mercies and blef ings, Illumination and Sanctification he mentions thefe infteadof the reft , as in a grant of great things fame particulars are mentioned ; but then he comes in with a general ; For 'willforgive their iniquity, and remember 'their fin no more : As if it fhould be faid, Why, Lord wilt thou come in thus to thy people in fuch an abundant. way of mercy more than formerly, and let in thefe graces of thy Co- venant ? Why ? here is the ground of all ; for I willforgive their iniquity : fo that forgivenefs of iniquity is the fpecial E 3 inlet.
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