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death of Christ for deliverance from the wrath of an offended God. Nay, I have not the least doubt that some may, by a confident presumption, imitate the faith of God's elect, and believe that Christ died for themselves in particular. So long as this persuasion can maintain its ground, it may, and must give them great joy and satisfaction. Who would not find consolation in thinking themselves in safety from divine wrath? Yet all this while they never see the evil of sin in itself, as an opposition to the nature, and a breach of the law of God. They are never brought to love an infinitely holy God in sincerity of heart. They may love him, because they suppose themselves the peculiar objects of his love, with some obscure, confused, sensual idea of the delights of heaven; but they know not, or consider not the nature of that salvation he hath provided for his chosen.

All such love, it is plain, ariseth from a false confidence in their own state, and not from a true knowledge of God. Their notions of God's love to them contain more of a partial indulgence to them as they are, than of his infinite compassion in forgiving what they have been. The effects of such religion are just what might be expected from its nature, violent and passionate for a season, and commonly ostentatious but temporary and changeable. Self-love lies at the root, and therefore, while they are pleased and gratified, they will continue their profession of attachment; but when self-denial or bearing the cross is required, they reject the terms, they lose their transporting views, and return to their sins.

There are many examples of this, not only in Scripture, but in the history of the church in every age. Many of those disciples who seemed gladly to embrace the doctrine, and highly to honor the person of Christ when they heard some of the most mortifying precepts, "went back and walked no more with him." The character is little different which we find de

scribed under the image of the stony ground hearers who "having not root in themselves, when persecution or tribulation arose because of the word, by and by were offended." I hope this, with the explication above given of its cause, may be of use to account for some appearances in a time of the revival of religion. Persons who seem to have the same exercises with real converts, yet afterwards fall away, and "return with the dog to his vomit again, and with the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire." This gives occasion to adversaries to speak reproachfully, and is greatly distressing to those who truly fear God. But would men carefully attend to what the holy Scriptures teach us to expect, their surprise in all such cases would cease: "For it must needs be that offences must come." And though their are many counterfeits, there will still be sufficient means to distinguish the gold from the dross.

SECTION 3. There must be a conviction of sin and danger.

The next great step in a saving change, is a deep humiliation of mind and conviction of sin and danger. The absolute necessity of this is very evident, and indeed generally confessed. It is equally evident, whether we consider the nature of the change itself, the means of its production, or the motives to all future duty. If an entire change is necessary, there must be and entire and thorough dissatisfaction with, and disapprobation of our past character and state. Whoever is pleased with his present character, will neither desire, endeavour, nor even accept of a change. If we consider the means of our recovery, by Jesus Christ suffering in the room of sinners, the same thing will appear with increasing evidence. Those who are not humbled under a sense of guilt and corruption, will treat with great contempt a purchased pardon

and a crucified Saviour. This our Lord himself often tells us in the plainest terms: "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." To these indeed his invitation and call is particularly addressed "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

To the same purpose we shall find many other passages, both of the prophetic and apostolic writings. The glad tidings of salvation are always directed to the humble, miserable, broken hearted, thirsty, per ishing soul. Thus in the prophet Isaiah, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money: come ye, buy and eat? yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price." When Christ entered on his personal ministry, he opened his commission in the following terms: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." I shall only mention one other passage: "And I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely."

From these passages, and many others in the same strain, it is evident, beyond contradiction, that there must be a deep humiliation of mind, and sense of guilt and wretchedness, before a sinner can be brought unto God. This indeed hath ordinarily been considered as the first step toward conversion. In order to treat of it in the most clear, and, at the same time, the most useful manner, I shall divide it into two branches; and, first, consider what is the true and genuine source of conviction or sorrow for sin; and secondly, to what degree it must be in order to a saving change. First, then, let us consider what is the true and genuine source of conviction and sorrow for sin. And

here we may observe in general, that, properly speaking, there can be but two sources of sorrow or humiliation of mind at all, namely, fear of suffering, and sense of the evil and desert of sin. Both these are found in true penitents; and it is their union and mutual influence that distinguishes repentance unto life from every counterfeit. Many have trembled through fear of punishment from God, and been dismayed at the tokens of his presence, who, notwithstanding, lived and died strangers to true religion or any saving change. We see that even Judas the traitor to his Lord repented, confessed his sin, nay, did what he could to repair the wrong, throwing back the price of innocent blood; and yet hanged himself in despair. The Scripture only farther says he went into his own place; but there have been few, if any, interpreters of Scripture, who entertained any doubt that it was the place of torment. We every day see that occasional danger, or the apprehension of immediate death, throws some into fits of terror, extorts from them confessions of guilt, or promises of amendment; and yet in a little time they return to their former practices, and sin with the same security, and perhaps with greater avidity than before.

What is the essential defect of such seeming penitents? It is that they have no just sense of the evil of sin in itself; they have no inward cordial approbation of the holiness of God's nature and law, or of the justice of that sentence of condemnation which stands written against every transgressor. Here, O Christian, is the cardinal point on which true repentance turns, and the reader may plainly perceive the reason and necessity of what was formerly observed, that there must be a discovery of the infinite glory and amiableness of the divine nature. Without this there may be a slavish terror, but no true humiliation. is only when a sinner sees the unspeakable majesty, the transcendent glory, and infinite amiableness of the

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divine nature, that he is truly, effectually, and unfeignedly humbled.

Ŏ that I could deliver this with proper force! that I could write and speak under an experimental sense of its truth! The sinner then perceives how infinitely worthy his Maker is of the highest esteem, the most ardent love, and the most unremitted obedience. He then sees that every intelligent creature, from the most shining seraph in the heavenly host, to the meanest and most despised mortal worm, is under an infinite, eternal, unchangeable obligation to love God with all his heart, and strength, and mind. On this account he is convinced, that alienated affection and and misplaced allegiance is infinitely sinful. He sees this obligation to be founded, not merely nor chiefly on the greatness of divine power, but on the intrinsic inherent excellence of the divine nature. Therefore he is persuaded, that there is not only danger in rebelling against or dishonoring God, but a great and manifest wrong and injustice in refusing to honor him. This strikes him with a sense of his own guilt, and the guilt of all those who live," without God in the world."

At once to confirm and illustrate this truth, I must make two observations, which will be found universally to hold, on the character and conduct of true penitents. I. That they obtain a new sense of the excellence and obligation of the duties of divine worship, both public and private. Before, they were apt to consider the duties of worship as little more than the means of religion; that the fear of an invisible Judge might be a bond upon the conscience, and keep men from fraud and dishonesty, or from riot and sensuality. They were cold and formal therefore in their own attendance, and never heard any speak of joy or sensible communion with God in his sanctuary, but they were ready to express their detestation of it as hypocrisy, or their contempt of it as enthusiasm and folly.

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