opposition to that provocation, he pacifies wrath,
and then conciliates favour by the sacrifice of himself. All the
expressions of the gospel import the damnable and deplorable estate that
sin puts man into, _reconciliation_ imports the standing enmity and feud
between God and man, _propitiation_ imports the provocation of the holy
and just indignation of God against man, the fuel whereof is our sins,
_justification_ implies the lost and condemned estate of a sinner, under
the sentence and curse of the law. All that is in the gospel reminds us of
our original, of the forlorn estate in which he found us, none pitying us
nor able to help us. I would desire that this might first take impression
on your hearts,--that sin sets God and man at infinite distance, and not
only distance, but disaffection and enmity. It hath sown the seeds of that
woful discord, and kindled that contention, which, if it be not quenched
by the blood of Christ, will burn to everlasting, so that none can dwell
with it, and yet sinners must dwell in it. There is a provoking quality in
it, fit to alienate the holy heart of God, and to incense his indignation,
which, when once it is kindled who can stand before it? Do but consider
what you conceive of wrongs done to you, how they stir your passions and
provoke your patience so that there is much ado to get you pacified, and
what heinousness must then be in your offences against God, both in regard
of number and kind? O that you could but impartially weigh this matter,
you would find, that in the view of God all wrongs and injuries between
men evanish. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned." That relation and
respect of sin to God, exhausts all other respects of injuries towards
men. It is true, that his Majesty is free from passion, and is not
commoved and troubled as your spirits are. Yet such is the provoking
nature of sin, that it cries for vengeance, and brings a sinner under the
dreadful sentence of divine wrath, which he both pronounceth and can
execute without any inward commotion or disturbance of spirit. But,
because we conceive of him after our manner, therefore he speaks in such
terms to us. But that which he would signify by it is, that the sinner is
in as dreadful and damnable a condition by sin, as if the Lord were
mightily inflamed with anger and rage. The just punishment is as due and
certain as if he were subject to such passions as we are, and so much the
more certain, that he is not. N