" he removed our tranfgreffions from us. દ Like as "a father pitieth his children: fo the Lord pitieth "them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame: " he remembereth that we are duft." Pf. lxxxvi. 5. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to for"give." If. lv. 6. &c. "Seek ye the Lord while << he may be found, call ye upon him while he is 66 near. Let the wicked forfake 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, for he will abun"dantly pardon." Ez. xxxiii. 11. "As I live, "faith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the "death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn "from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from "your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house "of Ifrael?" v. 14. &c. "When I fay unto "the wicked, Thou fhalt furely die: if he turn "from his fin, and do that which is lawful and << right; if the wicked reftore the pledge, give "again that he had robbed, walk in the ftatutes "of life without committing iniquity; he fhall "furely live, he shall not die. None of his fins "that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and " right, he fhall furely live." Ez. xviii. 31. &c. "Caft away from you all your tranfgreffions, whereby ye have tranfgreffed, and make you a new heart, and a new spirit; for why will ye ❝ die, "die, O houfe of Ifrael? For I have no pleasure "in the death of him that dieth, faith the Lord "God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." Thefe paffages certainly exprefs more than a willingness, they discover a moft earnest defire in the divine being, that finners fhould repent and be happy. I fhall therefore clofe thefe quotations with only one more from Micah vii. 18. &c. "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth "iniquity, and paffeth by the tranfgreffion of the "remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. "He will turn again, he will have compaffion "upon us: he will fubdue our iniquities: and "thou wilt cast all their fins into the depth of the "fea." The mercy of God appears not only in fuch fulldeclarations as thefe, but likewise in the history of his conduct, as recorded in the Old Teftament. As often as the Ifraelites repented, after fuffering for their frequent apoftacies, so often did they find mercy. This was the cafe, in a remarkable man. ner, with king Manaffeh, and alfo with Ahab b; nor was this grace confined to the Ifraelites. The inhabitants of Nineveh obtained the fame favour on the fame equitable terms; for upon Jonah's proclamation, that within forty days Nineveh fhould be deftroyed, we read, Jonah iii. 5. &c. that the people of Nineveh believed God, and pro "claimed "claimed a fast, and put on fack-cloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them; and "that the king of Nineveh arofe from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him "with fack-cloth, and fat in afhes. And he "caused it to be proclaimed, and published "through Nineveh, (by the decree of the king " and his nobles) saying, Let neither man nor beast, "herd nor flock, tafte any thing; let them not "feed, nor drink water. But let man and beaft "be covered with fack-cloth, and cry mightily "unto God: yea, let them turn every one from "his evil way, and from the violence that is in "his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and 66 repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, "that we perifh not? And God faw their works, "that they turned from their evil way, and God "repented of the evil that he had faid that he would "do unto them, and he did it not." Jonah himfelf was displeased that his prediction was not literally fulfilled; but the acknowledgement which he makes why he was unwilling to undertake the commiffion, is much to our present purpose, ch. iv. I. &c. "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and "he was very angry. And he prayed unto the "Lord, and faid, I pray thee, O Lord, was not "this my faying, when I was yet in my country? "Therefore I fled before unto Tarfhifh: for I "knew that thou art a gracious God, and merci ful, ful, flow to anger, and of great kindness, and "repenteft thee of the evil." The above-mentioned declarations of mercy to the penitent, were delivered under the Jewish dif penfation, and no perfon will imagine that they were restricted under the gofpel. John the Baptist, the fore-runner of our Lord, our Lord himself, and alfo his apoftles, all opened their refpective commiffions with the doctrine of repentance for the remiffion of fins, Matt. iii. I. In thofe days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilder"nefs of Judea, and faying, Repent ye: for the "kingdom of heaven is at hand: and v. 8. "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." Ch. iv. 17. "From that time Jefus began to "preach, and to fay, Repent, for the kingdom of "heaven is at hand." It is not poffible to give a more ftriking or more beautiful illuftration of the propitious nature of the divine being, than our Lord has done in the parable of the prodigal fon, in which we are informed, Luke xv. 17. that as foon as this profligate youth came to himself, and to a refolution to return to his father, and to fay, "Father, I have finned against heaven, and "before thee, and am no more worthy to be called "thy fon; that, when he was yet a great way off, his father faw him, and had compaffion, and 6.6 ran, and fell on his neck, and kiffed him." The Lord's prayer, and the illuftration of it by our our Lord himself, Matt. vi. 14. affures us, that if we forgive men their trefpaffes, our heavenly father will alfo forgive us. The fame doctrine is repeated and enforced by him in his parable of the king who took an account of his fervants, one of whom owed him ten thousand talents. Matt. xviii. 23. The apoftle Peter, at the clofe of his first fpeech, to a great multitude of Jews, who were affembled on the report of the first great miracle that was wrought after the afcenfion of our Lord, viz. the effufion of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecoft, fays, Acts ii. 38. "Repent, and be bap "tized every one of you, in the name of Jefus "Chrift, for the remiffion of fins." The fame apostle, fpeaking of the divine being, fays, 2 Pet. iii. 9. "God is not willing that any should "perish, but that all should come to repentance;" and to quote no more, the apostle John fays, I John i. 8. &c. "If we say that we have no fin, "we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. "If we confess our fins, he is faithful and just to "forgive us our fins, and to cleanfe us from all "unrighteousness.” SEC. |