present evil world, and arrive at that state of rest and perfection, which remains for the people of God.

6. This subject teaches christians the importance of their constantly and sincerely attending to all the means of grace, which God has appointed for their spiritual benefit. The reading of the holy Scriptures, the hearing of the gospel preached, the commemorating of the death of Christ at his table, the meditating much upon heavenly and divine objects, and especially the frequent and devout calling upon God in secret, private, and publick, will have a happy tendency to enliven and increase every religious affection, and keep them from all the paths of the destroyer. All the means of grace were appointed for the edifying and perfecting of the saints, who need such aids to carry · them forward in the divine life, and to guard them against the dangers to which they are daily and constantly exposed. This is the only way in which they can have any ground to expect, they shall be always able to keep their hearts. By attending to good objects, they will exclude bad ones, and by exercising good affections, they will banish bad ones from their hearts. If they will constantly and faithfully improve the means of grace, God has promised they shall experience these happy effects. “The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; they shall grow like the cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.”

SERMON XIII.

THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS ONLY FOR CHRIST'S

SAKE.

Acts xiii, 38.
Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren,

that through this man is preached unto you the for

giveness of sins. THE apostle Paul determined to know nothing, in his preaching, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. Whether he preached to Jews or to Gentiles, he commonly and largely insisted upon the atonement of Christ, as the only foundation of pardon and acceptance in the sight of God. In the discourse which contains the text, he first speaks of the descent, the life, and death of Christ, and then represents what he did and suffered, as the only ground of the pardon and justification of sinners.

“Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.” These words plainly teach us, that forgiveness is the only favour, which God bestows upon men, on Christ's account. In treating upon this subject, I shall,

I. Consider what we are to understand by forgive

ness.

II. Consider what we are to understand by being forgiven, on Christ's account.

III. Make it appear, that forgiveness is the only favour, which God bestows upon men, on the account of Christ.

I. Let us consider what we are to understand by forgiveness.

To remit, to pardon, to forgive, are terms of the same import. To forgive a debt, is to cancel the obligation of the debtor to pay the sum which he engaged to pay. And to forgive sins is to cancel the obligation of the transgressor to suffer the punishment, which his sins deserve. Some have justly made a distinction between the guilt of blame and the guilt of punishment. When a man has sioned, he deserves to be blamed, and when he deserves to be blamed, he deserves to be punished. Every sin carries in it a desert of both blame and punishment, which never can be removed. The Deity himself cannot take away the demerit of sin, which is inseparable from its nature. After a man has once transgressed, his transgression will forever remain, and justly deserve both blame and punishment. But though God cannot remove the demerit of sin, yet he can free men from the punishment of it. And in this, the essence of forgiveness consists. So far as God frees men from the punishment due to them for sin, so far he actually forgives them. Forgiveness may be partial, or total. Partial forgiveness is the remission of part of the penal evil which the sinner deserves. Thus rebels are sometimes partially pardoned. They are freed from the punishment of death; but not from certain civil disadvantages, such as the deprivation of former privileges, and an incapacity for future preferments. But total forgiveness removes all penal pains, evils, or inconveniences arising from transgression. Every sin deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life, and in that which is to come. And though God forgives every believer the future punishment of all his sins; yet he reserves it in his own power to punish him in this life, as often and as severely as he sees best. Se

that the forgiveness of sin in this life is not total, but partial. It consists, however, as far as it extends, in the prevention or removal of punishment. God does, for Christ's sake, absolve true believers from all punishment in a future state.' He assures them, that they shall be saved from the wrath to come, and never suffer that eternal death, which is the proper and full wages of sin. Having shown what is to be understood by forgiveness, I proceed to consider,

II. What we are to understand by being forgiven for Christ's sake, or on his account.

Through Christ, for Christ's sake, on Christ's account, are phrases of one and the same signification. “Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins," says the apostle. Forgiveness comes through the medium of Christ. His atonement is the sole ground of pardon. God forgives for Christ's sake, or on account of what Christ has done to render it consistent with his character, to absolve or release the transgressor from bearing the punishment due to him for sin. Sometimes men forgive for the sake of their own honour or reputation; and sometimes they forgive for the sake of compassion towards the offender. But God never forgives for his own sake, nor for the sake of the sinner, but merely for Christ's sake. Neither his own honour, nor the sinner's misery, is the ground of his forgiveness, but simply the atonement of Christ. God can consistently punish sinners without respect to Christ; but he cannot consistently pardon them, or free them from deserved punishment, without respect to the Mediator. Without shedding of blood there is no remission. There must be a peculiar reason for God's forgiving the guilty. And the atonement of Christ is the only sufficient reason for his forgiving the guilty. This indeed is sufficient; and while he forgives sinners

entirely on Christ's account, he appears to be just as well as gracious. The way is now prepared to show,

III. That forgiveness is the only favour, which God bestows upon men, on Christ's account. This will appear,

if we consider, 1. There was no need of an atonement, in order to God's bestowing any other favour, than forgiveness. He can shew favour to holy and innocent creatures, without any thing's being done to render the displays of his goodness consistent with his character. From mere benevolence, he has raised the holy angels to the highest degrees of holiness, and caused them to drink of those rivers of pleasure which perpetually flow at his right hand. And when man was formed in his own image, he treated him in the same manner in which he treated, and will forever treat, the angels of light. God placed him in the garden of Eden, and loaded him with benefits, as long as he continued holy and innocent. And even now, he bestows innumerable blessings upon his degenerate offspring, without respect to Christ. He causes his sun to rise and his rain to fall, upon the evil as well as the good, and grants as large a portion of the good things of this life to his enemies, as to his friends. There is no temporal favour so great, but he can bestow it upon the vilest of men, as a mere act of sovereignty, without the least respect to Christ as Mediator. But it is only through the atonement of Christ, that he can and does forgive sinners. And from this, we may justly conclude, that forgiveness is the only favour, which he grants to mankind merely for Christ's sake.

2. The great design of Christ's coming into the world and making atonement for sin, was to open the way for forgiveness. This appears from the whole current of scripture. The types of Christ, under the law, re