Ver.4. proves Forgivenef?in God. nothing is Grace or Vertue, bit what fo anfwers to thmewhat in God. So then whatever is in us of this kind, is in God abfolutely, perfe4tly, in a way and manner infinitely more ex- cellent. Let us now therefore put thefe things together. God re- quires of us, that there fhould be forgivenefßin us for thole that do offend us; forgivenefs without limitation and bounds; The Grace hereof he befloweth on his Saints; fits an high price upon it, and manifclls many wayes, that he accounts it among the moti excellent of our endowments ; one of the molt lovely and praife worthyqualifications of any perfun. What then shall we now fay ? Is there forgivencfl with him or no i? He that made the Eye, jhall he not fee ? He that planted the Ear, jhall he not hear? He that thusprcfcribes forgiveneft to us, that bellows the Grace of it upon us, is there not forgivenefi with him ? It is all one as to lay, though we are good, yet God is not ; though we are E.nign and Bountiful, yet he is not. He that finds this Grace wrought in him in any meafure , and yet tsars that he fhall not find it in God for himfelf, doth therein, and fo far prefer himfelf above God; which is the natural Effet of curled unbelief. But the Truth is, were there not forgivenefl with God, for- giventß in man would be no vertue,with all thole qualities that encline thereto; fuch are meeknefs, pity, patience, compaflion and the like. Which what were it,but to let loofe Humane Na- ture to rage and madnefs. For as every Truth contitis in its anfwerablenefs to the Prime andEternal Verity ; So vertue con- fills not ablolutely nor primarily in a conformity to a rule of Command , but in a Correj#ondency into the fir[i abfolute per ftd Being and its perfections. E f 3 Properties
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