Imatges de pàgina
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thorough perfuafion of the clemency of the offended party. On this account, probably, it is, that the declarations of the mercy of God, to the truly penitent, are fo remarkably full and explicit in the fcriptures, infomuch that no doubt can poffibly remain with refpect to it.

At the very time of the promulgation of the law of Mofes, which is deemed to be the most rigorous of all the divine difpenfations, when Mofes waited in mount Sinai with the fecond tables of ftone, immediately after that moft aggravated offence of the Ifraelites in making the golden calf, the divine being makes the most folemn declaration of his mercy imaginable, Ex. xxxiv. 5. &c. "And the "Lord defcended in the cloud, and ftood with "him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. "And the Lord paffed by before him, and pro"claimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful "and gracious, long fuffering, and abundant in "goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou"fands, forgiving iniquity, and tranfgreffion, and "fin."

When Mofes foretels the final difperfion of the Ifraelites, in confequence of their idolatry, and other vices, he at the fame time gives them the moft folemn affurances of the divine favour in cafe of their repentance. I fhall quote two remarkable paffages for this purpose, Deut. iv. 25. &c. "When thou fhalt beget children, and children's chil

dren,

"dren, and fhalt have remained long in the land, "and fhall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven

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image, or the likenefs of any thing, and fhall do "evil in the fight of the Lord thy God, to pro"voke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to "witness against you this day, that ye fhall foon "utterly perifh from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to poffefs it: ye fhall not prolong 66 your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. "And the Lord fhall fcatter you among the na❝tions, and ye fhall be left few in number among "the heathen, whither the Lord fhall lead you. "And there ye fhall ferve gods, the work of men's "hands, wood and ftone, which neither fee, nor "hear, nor eat, nor fmell. But if from thence "thou fhalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt "find him, if thou feek him with all thy heart "and with all thy foul. When thou art in tribu"lation, and all these things are come upon thee, ❝even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord "thy God, and fhalt be obedient unto his voice : "(for the Lord thy God is a merciful God) he "will not for fake thee, neither deftroy thee, nor "forget the covenant of thy fathers which he "fware unto them." Deut. xxx. I. &c. "And "it fhall come to pafs when all these things are "come upon thee, the bleffing and the curfe, "which I have fet before thee, and thou fhalt call "them to mind, among all the nations whither the "Lord

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"Lord thy God hath driven thee, and fhalt return "unto the Lord thy God, and fhalt obey his voice "according to all that I command thee this day, “thou and thy children, with all thine heart and "with all thy foul: that then the Lord thy God "will turn thy captivity, and have compaffion 66 upon thee, and will return and gather thee from "all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath "scattered thee. If any of thine be driven out "unto the outmoft parts of heaven, from thence "will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from "thence will he fetch thee. And the Lord thy "God will bring thee into the land which thy fa "thers poffeffed, and thou fhalt poffefs it, and he "will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy "fathers."

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To thefe promifes Daniel had recourfe, when he made confeffion and prayer to God on the behalf of Ifrael, during the Babylonifh captivity, Dan. ix. 8. &c. "O Lord, to us belongeth con"fufion of face, to our kings, to our princes, "and to our fathers, because we have finned "against thee. To the Lord our God belong "mercies and forgivenefs, though we have re

belled against him." The prophet Jeremiah also repeats the fame promifes of mercy and reftoration, with a view to the fame cafe, Jer. iii. 12. &c. "Go and proclaim these words toward the “ north, and say, Return, thou backfliding If

rael,

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racl, faith the Lord, and I will not cause mine

anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, faith "the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever."Turn, O backfliding children, faith the Lord, ❝for I ain married unto you and I will take you "one of a city, and two of a family, and I will "bring you to Zion."

The declarations of divine mercy to penitent offenders, upon a great variety of occafions, in the courfe of the Jewish hiftory, and efpecially in the book of Pfalms, and of the prophets, who wrote in times of great degeneracy, are remarkably emphatical; and to give us the ftronger foundation for our confidence in the divine mercy it is always represented as arifing from himself only, from that love and compaffion which is effential to his nature, and which he bears to all the works of his hands. We cannot fo much as collect from any of them the most distant hint of its arifing from any foreign confideration whatever; and this was certainly a matter of the greateft confequence; fince a fufpicion of this kind would tend to beget an idea of uncertainty, or partiality in the distribution of the divine mercy.

Indeed every idea of this nature seems to be exprefsly excluded in feveral paffages of fcripture, as in that declaration which the divine being makes by the prophet Isaiah, xliii. 22. &c. "Thou haft "not called upon me, O Jacob, but thou haft "been

"been weary of me, O Ifrael.-Thou haft made 66 me to serve with thy fins, thou haft wearied me "with thine iniquities. I, even I am he that "blotteth out thy tranfgreffions for mine own fake, " and will not remember thy fins." David, it is evident, had no other idea when he prayed for the forgiveness of his fins, Pf. xxv. 6. &c. "Re"member, O Lord, thy tender mercies, and thy "loving kindneffes, for they have been ever of "old. Remember not the fins of my youth, nor

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my tranfgreffions; according to thy mercy re"member thou me, for thy goodness fake, O Lord. "Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will "he teach finners in the way. The meek will he "guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach "his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy

and truth, unto fuch as keep his covenant, and « his teftimonies. For thy name's fake, O Lord, "pardon mine iniquity: for it is great."

On this most important and agreeable subject, I fhall quote a few more paffages, Pf. ciii. 8. &c. "The Lord is merciful and gracious, flow to an

ger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not al"ways chide: neither will he keep his anger for 66 ever. He hath not dealt with us after our fins: ઠંડ nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. "For as the heaven is high above the earth: fo "great is his mercy towards them that fear him. "As far as the east is from the weft: so far hath

"he

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