Sinner, come to the test. Hear the indictment, and see if thou hast any defence, if thou hast any plea, or if thou canst put in any just demurrer to stay the proceedings of eternal justice and equity. But how shall human language express the debt? Thou hast violated every divine precept, pursued a course diametrically opposite to the commandments of God, trampled on his authority, and lived to thyself. Every action, word, and thought, has augmented the already incalculable debt. God has called, but thou hast refused; his providence has warned thee, but thou hast despised it, and made a covenant with hell. While thy personal transgressions have abounded like the drops of the ocean, or the sands upon the shore, thy example has perniciously influenced others. Thou owest thy whole existence and all thy faculties, thy entire obedience and constant affection, to God. He is thy Father--thy Creator--thy Benefactor, and what hast thou to pay? what are thy resources? Future obedience, supposing it perfect, could not expiate past offences. Pains, prostrations, pilgrimages, penances, and mortifications, can be of no avail. Hecatombs of animals would not suffice, or ten thousand rivers of oil; but, if they would, the treasures are not thine: "for every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" What then hast thou to pay?--Nothing! absolutely nothing!
But the parable in question represents the free pardon, which it is the privilege of the vilest transgressors to participate upon their return to God, And we should mark the sovereignty, blended with the mercy of this procedure. It is not supposed that the recipients of divine bounty and blessing have any claim upon such favors; nor, indeed, that they can plead any extenuating circumstance to conciliate offended justice. The debtors had "nothing to pay," and their impoverished condition was a sufficient excitement to their creditor to remit his dues. He "remembered them in their low estate;" and, with a liberality characteristic of him to whom we are so deeply indebted in a moral sense, he discharged them from every obligation. There is not the slightest intimation of any urgency or solicitation on their part; but he "frankly forgave them." If sinners had any just conception of their state, they would indeed seek mercy with the utmost importunity, and relinquish their present courses with the most fixed resolution of mind; but the grace of God operates in calling men to repentance, as well as in constraining their attention and acquiescence. They are "made willing" in "the day of his power;" and, like a gale that rises upon a vessel drifting to a rocky shore, and bears it from destruction, this influence effectually propels them to "the hope set before them" in the Gospel.
The exercise of mercy is distinguished also for its extensive and diversified application. Simon the Pharisee, and the woman who was a sinner, differed in the nature and proportion of their guilt. He was as much condemned for self-righteousness, as she for impurity--he transgressed by pride, and she by rebellion: but "he frankly forgave them both." "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy! He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."
If, reader, thou art impressed with a sense of guilt, and ready to exclaim, "What must I do to be saved?" it is with unspeakable satisfaction and confidence we point to "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world." That heart which was melted by the tears of this woman, is not closed against thee! That Saviour who was all pity and benevolence in the days of his humiliation, still waits to be gracious now he is exalted to his throne!
Hast thou experienced the efficacy of his grace, and the joys of his salvation? Be stimulated to love him much. What sins, what rebellions, what broken vows, what ingratitude has he forgiven thee! All are obliterated from the book of his remembrance; all are lost and buried in the ocean of his grace; and he has fixed thy name amongst a thousand promises, and in a page which his eye never peruses but with ineffable complacency!
The plan upon which forgiveness is dispensed to a sinful world, and which is now more fully developed, demands our admiration, as it glorifies God, exalts the sinner, and harmonizes the universe.
It glorifies God. The work of redemption by our Lord Jesus Christ is the central point, where all the perfections of Deity assemble and meet. Every attribute of God pointing to Calvary, seems to devout believers to say, as Jesus did to his disciples, with reference to their last interview on a mountain in Galilee, "There shall ye see me." His perfections had hitherto appeared in the world in their distinct forms.--Justice in its inflexible decisions, Truth in its firm decrees, Holiness in its terrible inflictions, operated powerfully, but often separately--as in the destruction of Pharaoh, and the deliverance of Israel--in the earthquake that devoured the rebels who presented strange fire--in the deluge that overwhelmed the world--in the burning tempest that descended upon Sodom, and the sword that scattered the nations of Canaan; but round the brink of that "fountain which was opened" on Calvary for "sin and uncleanness," they seem to unite and say, "Glory to God in the highest." This is the common and sacred ground, on which "mercy and truth can meet together." Inflexible justice does not remit her claims, but "the Lamb that was slain" satisfies them--she still demands blood--and blood is shed--she demands the life of the guilty, and the guilty are furnished with a victim who can endure the curse and suffer the chastisement--she requires a recompense for the violated law; and "he hath magnified the law and made it honorable," by becoming "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross!"
This plan of mercy exalts the sinner. If the requisitions of justice were strictly personal, and the economy of Heaven such as to admit of no substitute, the sinner's salvation would have been impossible; because his individual sufferings, though the just consequence of his guilt, could never become the meritorious means of its removal. Suffering, extreme in its nature, and perpetual in its duration, was the desert of transgression; but it could neither repair the injury which sin had done, nor constitute a claim upon divine forgiveness; or, if it could--by the very supposition there would be no possibility of any period arriving when that mercy could be enjoyed, because the suffering must be eternal. Such, however, was the infinite merit of the Saviour, that in the plan of forgiving mercy, his death was accepted as an equivalent for the sufferings of creatures. By exercising faith in his name, we transfer the burden of our debt, and he liquidates it: we confess we have nothing to pay, and wholly confide in his ability to discharge on our behalf every obligation; in consequence of which the transgressor is treated as innocent; he is released--the door is opened, his chains are broken off, and he is exalted to the favour and friendship of God; and "Who," he inquires, "shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us"
This plan of mercy harmonizes the universe. Sin has separated chief friends--it has divided man from God, man from angels, and man from his neighbour. It has introduced a general war, and generated universal anarchy and strife. But redemption is the great work that restores order and promotes concord. It is on Calvary the terms are made, and the great treaty ratified--divided interests are reunited, and peace on earth proclaimed. It is there "God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself;" and there, realizing the efficacy of atoning blood, and weeping over the follies and criminality of past rebellion, the penitent exclaims, "Abba, Father!" Thus God and man are united. It is there holy angels, instead of being executioners of vengeance, become "ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation;" while every Lazarus begins to anticipate the period of "absence from the body," when "he shall be carried by angels to Abraham's bosom," and be "ever present with the Lord." Thus men and angels become one. It is there also before the cross, having "tasted that the Lord is gracious," "the brother of low degree rejoices in that he is exalted, and the rich in that he is made low." There the murderer Saul meets his victim Stephen, with "all who in every place call on the name of the Lord;" and (O happy change!) embraces as a brother him whom he believed a foe! There the turbulence of passion is allayed--the violence of animosity ceases--the battle of conflicting interests and petty selfishness rages no more. Those who were enemies in the world, become friends at the cross. The barbarian, Scythian, bond, and free, drink together the cup of blessing, partake the "common salvation," and imbibe the fraternal spirit. Thus man and man unite, while "Christ is all and in all."
"Religion, in all its parts, requires the exercise of forgiveness. It is required by its precepts, its spirit, and its prospects. Its precepts--we are not to render evil for evil, but contrariwise blessing: we are to love our enemies, to forgive our brother as often as he returns acknowledging his misconduct, and saying, 'I repent.' Its spirit; the Gospel, or the religion of Jesus, is emphatically styled 'the ministry of reconciliation.' Its prospects; we are members of the same family, heirs of the same kingdom, and going to the same heaven. Heaven is a state of perfect and universal harmony and love. Nothing must enter there, either to defile or disturb. There must be no little disputes, no rising resentment, no shadow of reserve. All must be of one heart and of one soul. Yes, if we both be Christians indeed, there we must meet our brother, with whom wo have been angry, and towards whom we have even indulged our anger; an anger upon which not only the 'sun went down,' but over which life itself passed. Yes, happy necessity! there we must meet him! There will be no passing' by on the other side, no refusing to go into his company. Countenance must sparkle to countenance, thought must meet thought, bosom must expand to bosom, and heart bound to heart forever."