The justice of God in the damnation of sinners. Illustrated in a sermon

6. Have you not taken encouragement to sin against God, on that very presumption, that God would show you mercy when you fought it? And may not God justly refuse you that mercy that you have so presumed upon? That has been what you have flattered yourself with, and that which has made you bold to disobey God, viz. that though you did so, yet God would show you mercy when you cried earnestly to him for it: How righteous therefore would it be in God, to disappoint such a wicked presumption? It was upon that very hope that you dared to affront the Majesty of heaven so dreadfully as you have done; and can you ⟨p. 42⟩now be so sottish as to think that God is obliged not to frustrate that hope?

6. Have you not taken encouragement to sin against God, on that very presumption, that God would show you mercy when you fought it? And may not God justly refuse you that mercy that you have so presumed upon? That has been what you have flattered yourself with, and that which has made you bold to disobey God, viz. that though you did so, yet God would shew you mercy when you cried earnestly to him for it: How righteous therefore would it be in God, to disappoint such a wicked presumption? It was upon that very hope that you dared to affront the Majesty of heaven so dreadfully as you have done; and can you ⟨p. 42⟩now be so sottish as to think that God is obliged not to frustrate that hope?

When a sinner takes encouragement to neglect that secret prayer that God has commanded, and to gratify his lusts, and to live a carnal, vain life, and thwart God, and run upon him, and contemn him to his face, thinking with himself, "If I do so, God would not damn me; he is a merciful God, and therefore when I seek his mercy he will bestow it upon me;" must God be accounted hard because he will not do according to such a sinner's presumption? Cannot he be excused from showing such a sinner mercy when he is pleased to seek it, without incurring the charge of being unjust? If this be the case, God has no liberty to vindicate his own honour and majesty; but must lay himself open to all manner of affronts, and yield himself up to the abuses of vile men, and lot them disobey, despise, and dishonour him as much as they will; and when they have done, his mercy and pardoning grace must not be in his own power and at his own disposal, but he must be obliged to dispense it at their call: He must take these bold and vile contemners of his majesty, when it suits them to ask it, and must forgive all their sins, and not only so, but must adopt them into his family, and make them his children, and bestow eternal glory upon them. What mean, low, and strange thoughts have such men of God, as think thus of him?