Of Mercy, The indelible Stain and Guilt of Sin. Of the Kingdom which GOD recovered by Mercy, The transcendent Nature of that Duty, with its Effects and Benefits.

SUCH is the infinite Justice of God, and the Severity of his Displeasure at Sin, his Holiness so Pure, and his Nature so irreconcilable, his Hatred so real and infinite against it, that when a Sin is committed, his Soul is alienated from the Author of the Crime, and his infinite Displeasure will ever see the Obliquity, and ever loath the Deformity therein.

THE Person of a man is concerned, in (and always represented in the Glass of) his Action. Union between him and his Deeds is Marvellous. Tis so close, that his Soul it self is hated or Beloved in his Actions. As long as it appeareth in that deed which is Odious and Deformed, he can never be Beloved.

HOW slight soever our Thoughts of Sin are, the least Sin is of infinite Demerit, because it breaketh the Union between God and the Soul, bereaveth him of his Desire, blasteth his Image, corrupteth the Nature of the Soul, is committed against infinite Goodness and Majesty, being as the Scripture speaketh Exceeding sinful, because it is committed against infinite Obligations and Rewards, displeasing to all the Glorious Angels, abominable to all the Wise and Holy, utterly against all the Rules of Reason, and infinitely Opposite to the Holiness [of] God, who is of purer Eys then to behold the least Iniquity. So that unless there be some way found out to deliver the Soul from the Guilt of Sin, to blot out the Act and to purifie it from the Stain, there can be no Reconciliation between GOD and a Sinner. That an offence so infinite should be Eternally punished, is the most reasonable thing in the World.

NOTHING but infinite power and Wisdome is able to wash away Leprosie of guilt, and to restore the Soul to its former Beauty and Perfection. Without which all Pardon is vain, and the Soul dishonourable, and sick unto Death, as long as the shame and Confusion of its Guilt does lie upon it. Which cannot be removed by feeble Tears, nor by Acts of Indignation against our selves, nor by any Penitence or Sorrow of ours.