Aspects of Piety 15

Forgiveness ‘God is glorious’ Adams observes ‘in all of his works, but most glorious in his works of mercy’. He suggests that this may be why Paul refers to the glorious gospel in 1 Ti 1:11. (Works 1, p 51). It is in forgiving men’s sins that God shows his greatest glory. In his sermon Mystical Bedlam (Works 1, pp 254-293, see pp 267, 268) he says that the heart needs, emptying, cleansing and replenishing. 'If you welcome repentance, knocking at your door from God, it shall knock at God’s door of mercy for you. It asks of you amendment, of God forgiveness.' He goes on

The heart thus emptied of that inveterate corruption, should fitly be washed before it be replenished. The old poison sticks so fast in the grain of it, that there is only one thing of validity to make it clean - the blood of Jesus Christ. It is this that hath bathed all hearts that ever were, or shall be, received into God’s house of glory. This ‘blood cleanseth us from all sin,’ 1 John 1:1. … In vain were all repentance without this: no tears can wash the heart clean but those bloody ones which the side of Christ and other parts wept, when the spear and nails gave them eyes, whiles the Son of eternal joy became a mourner for his brethren. Could we mourn like doves, howl like dragons, and lament beyond the wailings in the valley of Hadadrimmon, quid prosunt lachrymae - what boots it to weep where there is no mercy? And how can there be mercy without the blood of Christ? This is that ever-running fountain, that sacred ‘pool of Bethesda,’ which, without the mediation of angels, stands perpetually unforbidden to all faithful visitants. Were our leprosy worse than Naaman’s, here is the true water of Jordan, or pool of Siloam ‘Wash, and be clean.’ Bring your hearts to this bath, ye corrupted sons of men. Hath God given you so precious a layer, and will you be unclean still? Pray, entreat, beseech, send up to heaven the cries of your tongues and hearts for this blood; call upon the ‘preserver of men,’ not only to distil some drops, but to wash, bathe, soak your hearts in this blood. Behold, the Son of God himself, that shed this blood, doth entreat God for you; the whole choir of all the angels and saints in heaven are not wanting. Let the meditation of Christ’s mediation for you give you encouragement and comfort. Happy son of man, for whom the Son of God supplicates and intercedes! What can he request and not have! He doth not only pray for you, but even to you, ye sons of men. Behold him with the eyes of a Christian, faith and hope, standing on the battlements of heaven, having that for his pavement which is our ceiling, offering his blood to wash your hearts, which he willingly lost for your hearts; denying it to none but wolves, bears, and goats, and such reprobate, excommunicate, apostate spirits that tread it under their profane and luxurious feet, esteeming that an ‘unholy thing wherewith they might have been sanctified’ Heb. x. 29. Come we then, come we, though sinners, if believers, and have our hearts washed. By his death Christ the Lamb has provided nourishment, covering and cleansing for all who trust in him. His flesh is meat indeed … the fleece of his imputed righteousness keeps us warm, clothes our nakedness, hides out uncleanness. … His blood hath recovered our life, our health, and washed us as white as the snow in Salmon. (Works 2, p 114)

On the fullness of forgiveness he says that ‘Sins are so remitted as if they had never been committed’ (Puritan Golden Treasury, p 110). Of course, without faith all that Christ has done is useless to us. Adams urges 'The blood of Christ runs fresh; but where is thy pipe of faith to derive it from his side to thy conscience? Say it should shower mercy, yet if thou wantest faith, all would fall beside thee. There would be no more favour for thee than if there was no Saviour.' (Works 2, p 276).