Chapter 5 from Gospel Remission by Jeremiah Burroughs

 

     Blessed is the man that hath his sins forgiven; for indeed, it is a mercy that passes through many difficulties before it comes to the soul; and that that passeth through many difficulties is strong and great indeed, and therefore makes the man blessed, because it is grace that doth pass through many difficulties, it is an argument of a great deal of strength of grace, when grace shall pass through many difficulties; as it is an argument of the great strength of sin, when sin passes through many difficulties to bring forth; a soul being set upon sin, there lies a  great many difficulties in the way, yet lust to that sin being strong, it will break through all difficulties to get to it; so in mercy, when God comes with mercy to forgive a soul, this mercy of God must go through abundance of difficulties before it gets to you, which argues it to be wonderful strong mercy, and therefore makes him blessed that partakes of it. When God made the World, it was done with a word speaking, God said, Let there be light, and there was light: But when God comes to pardon a sinner, Heaven and Earth must be moved; there must be a greater work of God in pardoning of a sinner, than in making of the world; certainly the work is greater and passes through more difficulties. As

     First, All the wrongs that ever thou hast done to God stand betwixt thee and pardon; never did any man in the world wrong another man as thou hast wronged God: How sin wrongs God has in part been held forth to you, in the evil of sin and how contrary sin is to the infinite holiness of God, yet mercy breaks through that, yea above all, that great and difficult work of the satisfying the infinite justice of God, yet mercy breaks through that, and there stands in that.

     This difficulty, that before thou canst be pardoned, God must be made Man, and yet must remain the same God he was before; thou criest for pardon of sin, or thou art undone; suppose now, that Gods bowels of mercy did even yearn towards thee for to pardon thy sin, yet before this is done, there must be this great work done; that God must be made man, and yet remain the same God he was before; here’s a mighty difficult work, a greater work than making of the world, and yet mercy breaks through this.

    Here’s this stands between sin and pardon, That when God is made Man, he must die and be made a curse; and not only so, but God the Father must do it; he must take his own Son and stab him for thee, he must himself take him and put him to death, and himself must pour out his wrath upon his own Son, before thy sins can be pardoned. Now that God the Father should take his own Son, the Son of his delight, stab him to the heart, and himself put him to death, this is a mighty great work; and yet this must be done before thou can’st be pardoned.

     There’s this difficulty stands in the way, That before sin can be pardoned, the blind, dead, wicked, carnal, sottish heart of Man, must be raised up to perform the most glorious Act that ever any creature did; which is an Act of believing: yet says God, that thy sin may be pardoned, I will put forth my infinite power to effect it, to raise that blind, dead, sottish, carnal, wicked heart of man so full of all wickedness, to perform the greatest work that ever any creature did, for so is believing; God’s mighty power is put forth to effect this: Now there is all these difficulties lying in the way, and yet mercy passes through them all to pardon sin; surely then, that soul must needs be blessed that hath his sin pardoned; that God sets his heart upon him so much, that rather than he will not shew mercy unto him, he will pass through all these great difficulties that lie in the way; and truly on consideration of this, before I pass any further, there are three Meditations that may be collected hence, and may come with a great deal of power upon all our souls. 

     First, Then it must needs be a great taking the Name of God in vain, for any man or woman to have slight thoughts of such a mercy, as pardon of sin is, that comes through so many difficulties.

     Secondly, This may come with power upon our hearts, if God’s mercy pass through so many difficulties for the pardon of thy sin thou mayst be content to endure much difficulty in seeking for the pardon of thy sin; thou seest what an evil sin is, and art more sensible of it than ever thou wert before; well, thou art seeking for pardon, and thou conplainest, thou hast waited long for pardon, it may be a quarter, or half a year, or it may be twelve months, and thou hast got little assurance of pardon, and thou findest it much more difficult than thou thoughtest it would be, temptations come stronger than ever, and the Devil suggests more evil thoughts than ever; thou findest duties hard to flesh and blood, and thou art wearied and tired with temptation, these are some difficulties; but yet art thou about that great work of seeking pardon of sin, be contented to suffer some difficulties, yea ten times more than thou hast; if God see good to lay it upon thee, for God’s mercies pass through difficulties to pardon thy sin, and if thou get’st through, though thou meetest with difficulties, thou hast no cause to complain at all; Why should not you be willing to pass through difficulties in seeking pardon, when as God’s mercies pass through many difficulties to come to thy soul; thou art going to God, and seeking to him for mercies, and there lies many difficulties in the way; when God was coming to thee, there lay many difficulties in the way, and yet he passed through them all; therefore thou mayst be content though thou meetest with some difficulties in seeking the pardon of thy sins.

     Thirdly, This may make us willing to go through any services, though they be hard, if thou art in getting of pardon; Suppose God set us about some hard work that hath many difficulties in it, do not complain as if God were a hard Master, when he sets you about any hard work; for be it known unto you, thou art never set about any such hard work in all thy life for God, that hath so many difficulties in it, as the work of God in pardoning thy sin hath; there are more difficulties when God comes to pardon thy soul for sin, than in any service whatever that God requires of thee; thou look’st upon the service of God, and there are many difficulties in it; be contented, do not complain, for God passed through many difficulties to pardon thy sin; and this is another consideration, the difficulties God passes through to pardon sin, is a great Argument that that soul is blessed that hath his iniquities forgiven.