of God, and observing his judgments; and if this new state of life be sincere and permanent, then he shall not die, "he shall save his soul alive."-He shall be delivered from the misery denounced upon final impenitence, and shall obtain everlasting happiness and glory.

But some are not sensible of their guilt.-Ignorance, or vanity, prompts them to fancy that they have no sin, and consequently, no need of repentance. To counteract the effects of so fatal a delusion, the following passage from St. John is introduced, to which the self-righteous, the presumptuous self-deceiver, will do well to attend :

If we say that we have no sin, &c.

In this state of imperfection the best men are liable to many frailties, and all of us offend God daily. The Apostle declares, that if we say, or think in our hearts, that we live without sin, we deceive, not God, who sees and will punish our guilt, but ourselves, by believing a most gross falsehood. He assures us, that the truth of God's word, which says, that "all "have sinned," is not in us: whereas, if we examine our hearts, acknowledge our sins, and repent of them, God has promised, and Christ has purchased us, pardon. His faithfulness and justice will fulfil his promise. He will forgive us our past sins; and by his grace, and the assistance of his Holy Spirit, he will, for the future, preserve us from "all deadly sin," and "confirm and establish us in every good work."

4

ADMONITION TO THE NEGLIGENT AND INCONSIDERATE.

Others are not ignorant, but negligent. They are ready enough to acknowledge their sin, and appear to be aware of their danger. But though they are convinced, that, without repentance and amendment of life, neither their prayers nor persons will be accepted by God, yet they defer from day to day, from week to week, from month to month, from year to year, the practice of these duties. To excite such persons to repent in earnest, the Church furnishes us with two striking passages. The former is taken from the 51st Psalm, in which the royal Psalmist, after the commission of a very grievous crime, makes Confession of his sin before God:

I acknowledge my transgressions, &c.

Conscious that he has offended God, he does not, when reproved by the mouth of the Prophet*, attempt to conceal, or extenuate his offence. He confesses it with all its aggravations; he avows that his conscience knows no rest, and that the sense of his sin haunts him day and night. Now if holy David, when, in one deplorable instance, he had been surprised into sin, entertained such dreadful apprehensions of God's anger, let the thoughtless, inconsiderate sinner reflect, what impressions the sense of his manifold offences should make upon his mind.

If he disregard the example of David, let him attend to the summons from God, delivered by the

See 2 Sam. xii.

Baptist, commanding all men, especially the thoughtless and inconsiderate, to repent:

Repent ye, &c.

That is, by repentance and reformation make your peace with God, whilst the day of life, and the kingdom of grace last. If you live and die in your sins you will, at the Day of Judgment, which precedes Christ's kingdom of glory, be excluded from heaven, and cast into hell.

MODELS OF PENITENTIAL DEVOTION TO THOSE WHO ARE APPREHENSIve of god's JUDGMENTS.

By the preceding Sentences we have been taught, that men universally deserve the wrath of God, and that all should "fear before him." But when we observe, in the person of the humble penitent, how apt the excessive dread of God's righteous judgment is to deject the heart, oppress the spirits, and prevent the exercise of devotion, we discover with what propriety, the compilers of our Common Prayer have, in the three succeeding sentences, supplied us with models of penitential supplication.

Hide thy face, &c.

Let us suppose a sinner, awakened to a true sense of his deplorable situation, and looking around him for help and deliverance. Above, is an insulted, offended God, prepared to take vengeance: below, the fiery gulph gapes ready to receive him. In this season of distress and dismay, the example of David

will teach him, not to turn away through fear from the Almighty, but to approach him more speedily, and to pray to him more humbly, and earnestly, for the pardon of his sins. The royal penitent here reiterates his former requests, that God would cease to behold his iniquity, that he would blot it out, as a man blots out what he has written, so that it can never be read again.

Enter not into judgment, &c.

Here David urges the fallen, sinful, wretched state of human nature. Of all the sons of Adam, not one could be saved, should God enter into judgment with him *, and instead of pardoning his offences by an act of grace, inflict the punishment due to them by the rigour of the law. The thought of such a trial appals the soul of the best man living, makes his flesh to tremble, and all his bones to shake. To God's grace and mercy, through the merits of Christ alone, the most innocent man living, must owe his justification and acquittal.

O Lord, correct, &c.

If the justice of Jehovah is determined to punish, and the penitent offender cannot be forgiven without some chastisement, the humble supplication of the Prophet instructs us to pray, that it may be inflicted, not with the vindictive fury of an adversary, but with

The word rendered judgment is used in Scripture in a very extensive signification. Here it implies a strict judicial process against the guilty, and the consequence of such a trial before an infallible judge, i. e. condemnation and the execution of judg

ment.

the moderation of a merciful judge*. Should the Lord proceed with rigour proportionate to the sinner's demerit, he would be totally consumed; reduced to a state worse than annihilation.

CONSOLATION TO THE DIFFIDENT AND CONTRITE.

That the heart of the penitent overwhelmed with grief may not despair of forgiveness, as if God were utterly irreconcilable, and no more to be entreated, and to prepare him to supplicate mercy through faith and repentance, the Church has provided three Sentences for the encouragement of those who are diffident of God's favour, and for the consolation of the contrite;

The sacrifices of God, &c.

The first shews, how well qualified such persons are to pray for pardon; that with a penitent and contrite heart God is well pleased; that a broken spirit, a soul pierced with the many genuine sorrows, which always accompany true repentance, is a sacrifice, which he will most graciously accept.

* The word rendered judgment, as we before observed, is taken in great latitude. Here it is used in the favourable sense. Correct me, but with judgment: that is, favourably, reasonably, moderately. Taylor's Heb. Concord.-Cum judicio. i. e. modicè, in modo. Junius. See Jeremiah, xxx. 11. "I will correct thee “in measure, and not leave thee altogether unpunished.” The original is literally, "I will chasten thee in judgment, and in "clearing I will not clear thee." That, is, I will deal mercifully with thee; and though justice requires that I should punish thee, yet thou shalt not be utterly destroyed.