September 3

SEPTEMBER 3.—"Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity?" Micah 7:18.

To whom will ye liken me? or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? God is a being incomparable in his essence, his perfections, his works, and his ways. Hence the sacred writers are constantly expressing their admiration of him. Sometimes they extol the displays of his wisdom; sometimes those of his power; sometimes those of his holiness. But they never utter themselves more forcibly and feelingly than in the praise of his goodness. Hence David exclaims: "Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!" And if this be exemplified in the provisions of nature and providence, how much more in "the exceeding riches of his grace?" "Herein is love."—"Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity?"

—Pardon regards guilt. Guilt is obnoxiousness to the penalty of the law we have transgressed: for the soul that sinneth it shall die. Pardon frees us from the sentence of condemnation, absolves us from all liableness to suffer; and gives us the security arising from innocency. Now in the exercise of this, God is supreme and unrivalled. None pardons like him.

None so peculiarly. He displays at once his justice and his mercy: his justice with regard to our surety, his mercy with regard to us. He laid on him the iniquity of us all; and was pleased to bruise him, and put him to grief, and make his soul an offering for sin. Thus he magnifies his law, preserves the honour of his government, declares his righteousness, and shows himself just in justifying the ungodly; and the offender is not allowed to escape without being reminded that he had forfeited his life, and owes every thing he has to mere favour. For with regard to himself this pardon is an act of mercy. The law was holy, and just, and good, and entirely worthy of God; and this was true of the penalty as well as of the precept. He could righteously have inflicted the penalty upon the person of the transgressor; and his willingness to release him, and admit a substitute, was an exercise of pure grace, to which he was not obliged. Besides, if he required an atonement he provided the propitiation, and it was his own Son, whom he spared not. How wonderful is this! A king cannot thus at once equally display his justice and his mercy. If he punishes the rebel he shows his justice, if he spares him he shows his mercy; but he cannot equally evince both in the same instance—This is the prerogative of God only—But

"Here the whole deity is known; Nor dares a creature guess, Which of the glories brightest shone, The justice or the grace."

None pardons like him—None so readily. Men, if not implacable, are yet commonly backward to forgive. They often assume airs of haughtiness; require the offender to feel the effects of his misconduct; exact from him the most trying humiliations; and always think it enough to comply after they have been frequently 11*

and earnestly implored. Every thing shows that it is their strange work, and not natural to them. But the Lord not only waits to be gracious, and is exalted to have mercy, but is ready to forgive. It is true that he requires confession and submission—and must require them; but it is equally true that he himself encourages and excites them. The first advance is always from him; and he not only makes the overture, but beseeches us to be reconciled.

None pardons like him—None so perfectly. He forgives our trespasses, however numerous, and however aggravated. "Come," says he, "and let us reason together; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." In confirmation of this assurance he has added examples, and shows us in his word characters the most criminal and hopeless obtaining mercy. He also tells us that in this dispensation he is not to be judged of by a human standard; men's usages and conceptions with regard to forgiveness being infinitely below his own: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for 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." So he pardons fully and for ever. As far as the East is from the West, so far he removes our transgressions from us. He throws them behind his back. He casts them into the depths of the sea. If sought for they shall not be found. He not only forgives them, but forgets them; he remembers them no more for ever. He retains no anger, no indisposition towards us. He delights in us as if we had never sinned. He restores us to the most intimate friendship. He allows us not only to dwell in his house, but to lean upon his arm, and repose on his bosom.

There are some who not only believe all this, but know the truth of it from their own experience. They were once children of wrath, even as others; but they were made to see and feel their desert, and to cry, with the publican, God be merciful to me a sinner. And they were heard and accepted in the Beloved. They are now passed from death unto life, and their grateful hearts are saying, "O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JELOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation."

Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven! But how dreadful is the condition of those who are strangers to this remission. You lie open every moment to all the afflictions of life, the sting of death, and the damnation of hell. How is it you can enjoy any thing like pleasure by day, or sleep at night, while you know that lying down and rising up the wrath of God abideth on you. But if willing to return you need not despair. There is forgiveness with him. O hear his voice. Come and seek a share of this blessedness for yourselves. He will in no wise cast you out. But the time wherein he may be found is short and uncertain. Therefore seek