[Joseph Alden], Our Father, or, Considerations Relating to the Lord’s Prayer (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1846), ch. VII, “Forgive Us Our Debts, as We Forgive Our Debtors,” pp. 65–66

So if the sinner should render perfect obedience to the law in future, it would not make amends for his past transgressions. He can do nothing to merit forgiveness, and yet he must receive it, or be lost forever. If he r…