The truly blessed man, or, The way to be happy here, and forever being…

A Pardoned Man is one without Guile.

DOCTRINE VI.

THE Pardoned Man is one in whose Spirit there is no Guile. It was observed in opening of the Text, that these last words of it, are put for the evidence of such a person, whose happiness is described from his pardoned state: or a Characteristical note by which a man may know himself to be such an one. Pardon of sin, in a Theological sense, properly refers to the great benefit of Justification: for though, among men• is one thing to Justify a person, and another thing to pardon him: a man is then only Justified at a Civil Bar, when he is legally found innocent, or not Guilty of the Crime he was Indicted for; whereas a pardon supposeth the man to have been found Guilty, and a Sentence accordingly to have past upon him to suffer according to the Law; and then the supreme power doth, upon prerogative, acquit him from the Sentence, and set him at liberty, without any satisfaction given for the Crime: whereas God, in pardoning the Sinner, looks upon him in his Surety, at whose hands his Justice hath received Satisfaction, and accordingly acquits him Judicially, as, 2 Cor. 5. 21. And so the Justice, as well as the Mercy of God doth herein display it self, 1 Joh. 1. 9. It is true, if we look upon the man in ⟨p. 100⟩himself, and with reference to the Covenant of Works, so it is a pardon; for the Law hath found him Guilty, and condemned him. Such is the condition of every one in his natural state; and in that regard there is an act of free forgiveness passeth upon him, who hath done nothing himself to obtain it, and so the wonderful grace of God herein appears. But look upon him in Christ, as he was indented for in the Covenant of Redemption, and is put into him under the Covenant of Grace, so the satisfactory Obedience of Christ is reputed as his, and on this trial he is sound without iniquity, i. e Imputatively; and hereupon is acquitted: and that is a Justification, and belongs to […] as one essential part of it: and so is that to be understood,