to8 What Faith refpecis in Forgivenef .. fal.i3o, gcrs; and we lye every moment at the door of Eternity; what courfe {hall we take, what way (hall we proceed ? Ifwe abide at a difiance fromGod, we (hall affuredly perifh; who ever hardned himfelf againfl him and proTiered 2 Nor is there the Ieaff relief to be had but from and by him ; for who can forgive fins but God ? We will then bring our guilty flub- into his pretence, and attend- the pleafure of his Grace; what he (peaks concerning us, we will willingly fubmit unto. And this fometimes proves an Anchor to a told foul ; which though it gives it not ref( andpeace, yet it fives it from the rock, of delpair. Fiere it abides until Light do more, and more break forthupon it. Thirdly, Faithdealing about forgivenefs, doth commonly eye in a peculiar manner its relation to the mediation and blood ofChrifl. So the Apoftle dire6}s, i John 2. I. Ifany man fin, we have an Advocate with theFather Jefns Chrifl the Righteous, and he it the propitiationfor our fins. If any one hath finned, and is in depths and entanglements about it ; what courfe (hall he take, how (hall he proceed to obtain deliverance ? why he mutt unto God forpardon ; but what (hall he rely upon to encourage him in his fo doing ? faith the Apoftle, confider by faith the Attonement and propitiation made for fin by the blood ofChrift, and that he is (fill purfuing thework of Love to the fuing out of pardon for us ; and refi thy foul thereon. This I fay molt commonly is that which faith in the firfi place immediately fixes on. Fourthly, Faith eyes anual pardon or condonation. So God propofeth it as a motive to further believing, Ifa.44.22. 1 have blottedout as a thick cloud thy tranfgregions, and as a cloud thy fins ; returnunto me, for Ihave redeemed thee. Actual pardon of fin is propofed to faith, as an encouragement unto a full returning unto God in all things, 2 Sam. 23.5 . And the like may be laid of all the other particulars which we have infìff- ed on. There is not any of them, but will yield peculiar re- liefunto a foul dealing with God about forgivenefs, as having force one fpecial concernment or other offorgivenefs inwrap- 'ped in them. Only as I faid, they do it not ?xclufively, but are the fpecial doors, whereby believing enters into the whole. And
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