PART VIL

DOCTRINE OF REPENTANCE

1. WE are sinners so far only, as we have disobey→ ed the will, and acted contrary to the sober dictates of reason and conscience, so far only, as we have trespassed against the law inscribed in the gospel, or written in our own hearts. There must be a consciousness that the sinner has violated some known law of God, and deserves punishment for such disobedience, or else he could have no repentance; for we cannot repent without knowing that we are sinners, and being conscious that we have done something to repent of. And when such has been our case, repentance must be exercised before we can be forgiven-such a repentance as implies sorrow for the offence, a resolution of of amendment, and an actual progress in piety. Thiз sorrow will manifest itself by pricking the conscience

K 2

and troubling the soul. In its first commencement it is usually excited more by the fears of hell, than the hopes of heaven. It is a stronger sense of the justice of an offended, than the tender mercy of a reconciled and reconciling God. When men have a just sense of their offences, of their disobedience and ingratitude to the greatest and best of beings, and of the consequent danger to which they stand exposed, both nature and religion prescribe a serious penitential concern for having offended; a concern proportioned to the measure of our sins, and deep as our guilt. What naturally occurs to the first reflections of the penitent is the criminality of his conduct, and this he cannot seriously review without an afflicting sense of his anworthiness, without sorrow and self abhorrence, without painful sensations of remorse, from the accusations of his own heart. Such an ingenuous sorrow, a heart thus penetrated with a conviction of its guilt will be firmly impressed; 2dly, with a determined pur pose of amendment, and sincere resolutions of future obedience. The sincerest grief if not productive of this effect is not penitential, but adds to the measure of iniquity, because it speaks a mind conscious of its

iniquity, and yet persisting in opposition to its own convictions. But when repentance begins to shew its fruits not only in the renunciation of habits of sin, but in the performance of acts of righteousness, the terrors of a troubled conscience generally subside in peace of mind, and fear vanishes in joy of heart, which leads to a third notion of scripture penitence, and that is, not only sorrow for sin, not only a resolution of amendment, but a new and actual obedience, a progressive improvement in piety and virtue. A good resolution till it produces the fruits of repentance, is still only a principle of obedience, but not obedience itself. Penitence, in its true sense, is not meant to supply the place of righteousness; is not a thing substituted in its stead, but is indeed righteousness itself, and is to be consid ered only as another name for religion or moral good

ness.

2. A death bed repentance cannot, from the nature of it, be complete; for though it be sorrow for sin, accompanied with a pious resolution, yet it is only a step towards repentance; because it wants the third and most important idea of it; the purpose of amendment carried into execution. All the precepts of the

That said Chart to

104

the Covers $

DOCTRINE OF REPENTANCE.

gospel require, and all its promises are annexed to obedience, to holiness, to habitual piety, without which no man shall see the Lord.

3. If we wish to finish that repentance which is never to be repented of, we must begin it early. Repentance, which implies a thorough conversion unto holiness, cannot be accomplished in an hour, or a day, or any short time. It is a work of years, and its operations are slow and gradual. It requires in every man labour and perseverance to oppose and conquer passions, to which he has long surrendered himself; to subdue - habits, which have long enslaved him, to accomplish a moral revolution of the mind, and consequently to render himself capable of happiness. As no one becomes profligate in an instant, so no one becomes righteous on a sudden Some indeed there are, who pretend to an immediate regeneration or new birth, to an Instantaneous transition from a life of sin and guilt, to a state of purity and holiness. But such persons deceive themselves by mistaking a pious resolution for complete repentance and amendment. A resolution may be immediately formed, upon some considerations

suddenly presenting themselves to the mind, but an