A Pardoned Man, is a Blessed Man; That person who hath obtained at the hand of God a Remission of his sins, is possessed of true felicity; a state of forgiveness, is a state of real happiness▪ I might here spend some time in enquiring into the nature of Pardon; but that will follow to be distinctly considered afterwards; here therefore let it be only in general observed, that pardon properly consists in the removal of the Guilt of sin from the sinful creature. It ever supposeth guilt arising from sin, with which the man was justly charged, and by which he was under a Sentence of Condemnation. When this Sentence is taken off, and the person is acquitted, then he is said to be pardoned. It is therefore an act of authority, done by one who hath power to apply it; and that is no other but God; they said the truth in Thesi, Mark 2.7. Who can forgive sins but God only? only their charge was false, because Christ was God; and being ⟨p. 12⟩constituted by his Father to be Judge of all the World, he had this authority, verse 10. But that which I here design, is only to clear up the truth of the Doctrine, by essaying to discover the great blessedness of such an one as is pardoned: only observing, that their whole blessedness doth not consist in this; it being a collection of many things together, that are requisite to the making one completely happy; but this is one of them, and inseparable from the rest; and doth also communicate to the man that which is truly happifying.
A Pardoned Man, is a Blessed Man; That person who hath obtained at the hand of God a Remission of his sins, is possessed of true felicity; a state of forgiveness, is a state of real happiness▪ I might here spend some time in enquiring into the nature of Pardon; but that will follow to be distinctly considered afterwards; here therefore let it be only in general observed, that pardon properly consists in the removal of the Guilt of sin from the sinful creature. It ever supposeth guilt arising from sin, with which the man was justly charged, and by which he was under a Sentence of Condemnation. When this Sentence is taken off, and the person is •cquitted, then he is said to be pardoned. It is therefore an act of authority, done by one who hath power to apply it; and that is no other but God; they said the truth in Thesi, Mark 2.7. Who can forgive sins but God only? only their charge was false, because Christ was God; and being ⟨p. 12⟩constituted by his Father to be Judge of all the World, he had this authority, verse 10. But that which I here design, is only to clear up the truth of the Doctrine, by essaying to discover the great blessedness of such an one as is pardoned: only observing, that their whole blessedness doth not consist in this; it being a collection of many things together, that are requisite to the making one compleatly happy; but this is one of them, and inseparable from the rest; and doth also communicate to the man that which is truly happifying.
