when the Holy One visits it with retribution, He is manifesting the purest moral excellence and the most immaculate perfection of character that we can conceive of.  But if by goodness you mean mercy, then we say that this is the very point in dispute, and you must not beg the point but must prove it.  And now, if you deny the authority and credibility of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, we ask you upon what ground you venture to affirm that God will pardon man’s sin.  You cannot demonstrate it upon any a priori and necessary principles.  You cannot show that the Deity is obligated to remit the penalty due to transgression.  You can prove the necessity of the exercise of justice, but you cannot prove the necessity of the exercise of mercy.  It is purely optional with God, whether to pardon or not.  If, therefore, you cannot establish the fact of the Divine clemency by a priori reasoning,—­if you cannot make out a necessity for the exercise of mercy,—­you must betake yourself to the only other method of proof that remains to you, the method of testimony.  If you have the declaration and promise of God, that He will forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, you may be certain of the fact,—­as certain as you would be, could you prove the absolute necessity of the exercise of mercy.  For God’s promise cannot be broken.  God’s testimony is sure.  But, by the supposition, you deny that this declaration has been made, and this promise has been uttered, in the written Revelation of the Christian Church.  Where then do you send me for the information, and the testimony?  Have you a private revelation of your own?  Has the Deity spoken to you in particular, and told you that He will forgive your sin, and my sin, and that of all the generations?  Unless this declaration has been made either to you or to some other one, we have seen that you cannot establish the certainty that God will forgive sin.  It is a purely optional matter with Him, and whether He will or no depends entirely upon His decision, determination, and declaration.  If He says that He will pardon sin, it will certainly be done.  But until He says it, you and every other man must be remanded to the inexorable decisions of conscience which thunder out:  “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”  Whoever, therefore, denies that God in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments has broken through the veil that hides eternity from time, and has testified to the human race that He will forgive sin, and has solemnly promised to do so, takes away from the human race the only ground of certainty which they possess, that there is pity in the heavens, and that it will be shown to sinful creatures like themselves.  But this is to shut them up again, to the doubt and hopelessness of the pagan world,—­a world without Revelation.

2.  In the second place, it follows from this subject, that mankind must take the declaration and promise of God, respecting the exercise of mercy, precisely as He has given it.  They must follow the record implicitly, without any criticisms or alterations.  Not only does the exercise of mercy depend entirely upon the will and pleasure of God, but, the mode, the conditions, and the length of time during which the offer shall be made, are all dependent upon the same sovereignty.  Let us look at these particulars one by one.