The safety of appearing at the day of judgement, in the righteousness of Christ

For the removal of this discouragement,

Consider: 1.

That the law of God leaves as much room for the pardon of great fins as of little ones: lesser sins and greater sins are all mortal by the law, by the sentence of the law, one sin is as certainly destructive as a thousand: The wages of sin is death, Rom. 6.23. and the Law does allow of the pardon of multitudes as well as of one: the Law allows of the pardon of sin; provided there be satisfaction, the Law stands upon it to have punishment, but it does not stand for personal punishment; in case of great sins no more than in case of little sins the Law makes no distinction: ⟨p. 322⟩but it gives as much liberty for the pardon of great offenders as of lesser, there is no tittle that way in the covenant of works, that great sinners must dye in their own persons: the thing that the Law looks at is, that sin be punished according to the demerit thereof, that the Justice of God be vindicated, but God does not bind up his own hands, that he may not forgive great sinners, he reserves that liberty to himself in the law of punishing any sins in a surety, and so of pardoning them: the law admits of the pardon of any sin if there be satisfaction: the reason that the sin against the Holy Ghost is unpardonable, is not from any thing in the covenant of works, but because God when he provided a surety, made an exception of that sin: but if sin be punished, the law is satisfied: the law does not forbid the pardon of great sinners: that is evident, because God does pardon great sinners, Luk. 7.47. her sins which are many are forgiven.