A26806:78
Sermons upon Psalm CXXX, ver. 4 but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou…
Sermons upon Psalm CXXX, ver. 4 but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayst be feared / by William Bates.
London: printed by J.D. for Brabazon Aylmer, 1696
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The APPLICATION.
The first Use shall be of Caution, lest Men abuse carelessly and contemptuously the Doctrine of Divine Forgiveness. Many sin freely, as if they believed the Permission of Sins, or presumed upon a ready Remedy, and are without Fear of Judgment to come. This is the Language of their Actions, tho not of their Tongues. There are not a worse sort of Sinners out of Hell. If that ⟨p. 68⟩which should soften and reclaim Sinners hardens them, the Case is desperate and incurable. To correct the vile Conceits Men have of obtaining an easy Pardon of their Sins, tho habitually committed upon that Account, let them consider,
The first Use shall be of Caution, lest Men abuse carelesly and contemptuously the Doctrine of Divine Forgiveness. Many sin freely, as if they believed the Permission of Sins, or presumed upon a ready Remedy, and are without Fear of Judgment to come. This is the Language of their Actions, tho not of their Tongues. There are not a worse sort of Sinners out of Hell. If that ⟨p. 68⟩which should soften and reclaim Sinners hardens them, the Case is desperate and incurable. To correct the vile Conceits Men have of obtaining an easy Pardon of their Sins, tho habitually committed upon that Account, let them consider,
1. The Angels who were the first and brightest Offspring of the Creator, for one Sin were decreed and doomed to an Exclusion from the Glory of Heaven for ever. Mercy did not suspend the Sentence: Their mighty Numbers, and the Nobility of their Nature, did not incline the Judg of the World to spare them. They are now in the Chains of powerful Justice, and have perpetual Hell within them. And shall rebellious Men, who are but Dust in their original Composition and final Resolution, expect to escape Vengeance? If we should see a hundred Noble Men executed in a Day, the Sight would strike us with Terror: How much greater Reason is there awfully to adore the inflexible Judg, for such a dreadful Execution and Example of Justice upon an innumerable Company of Angels?