ANN 212 FORGIVENESS OF SIti. 1. God himself distinguishes his forgiveness from any thing that our thoughts and imaginations can reach, and that because it is his, and like himself. It is an ob-. ject for faith alone, which can rest in that which it can- not comprehend. It is never safer than when it is, as it were, overwhelmed with infiniteness. But set mere rational thoughts, or the imaginations of our minds, at work about such things, and they fall inconceivably short of them. They can neither conceive of them aright, nor use them to their proper end and purpose. Were not forgiveness in God something beyond what men could imagine, no flesh could be saved. This he himself expresses, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him re- turn unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isa. 55 : 7-9. They are, as is plain in the context, thoughts of forgiveness and ways of pardon of which he speaks. These our apprehensions come short of; we know little or nothing of the infinite largeness of his heart in this matter. The person that God speaks of, is, as the Hebrew expresses it, an impiously wicked man, or a man of deceit and perverse wickedness : he whose design and course is nothing but a lie, sin and iniquity; such a one as we should have little or no hope of, that we should scarcely think it worth our while to deal with, in reference to his conversion; one that we can scarcely find it in our hearts to pray for, but are ready to give up as profligate and desperatehut let him return unto the Lord, and even he shall obtain forgive- ness. But how can this be 1 Is it possible there should be mercy for such a one 1 Yes! for the Lord will multi-
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