VIII.

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the Anfwer he made them, contains in it SERM. this Severe Sting; Ye who fancy your felves whole, what need have ye of a Phy fician? Ye who truft in yourselves that ye are righteous, what need have ye being invited to Repentance? :

of

THESE are the Obfervations naturally arifing from the several particular expreffions made ufe of in the Text. That which remains is, to confider, in the

II. Second place, the general Doctrine of Repentance, as here laid down by our Lord: The Defign of his Preaching, was to call Sinners to Repentance.

GOD being the Author and Preferver of our Being, and our Supreme Governour; 'tis manifeft that his Will, however made known to us, whether by natural Reason, or by additional Revelation, is the Rule and Law of our Actions. This Law or Rule, all men, as they are rational Creatures, are originally obliged to obey at all times and in all particulars; nor can there in any cafe, in the nature and reafon of things, be any Excufe or Difpenfation for tranfgreffing it. Nevertheless in fact, in this prefent ftate, fuch VOL. III.

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is

VIII.

SERM.is the Frailty and Infirmity of our Nature, fuch is the Blindness and Erroneoufness of our Understandings, fuch the Falfenefs and Corruption of our Wills, fuch the Power and Headiness of our Paffions, fuch the Influences of innumerable Temptations furrounding us in a degenerate and unrighteous World; that there is no man liveth, and finneth not. Now of Sin, in proportion to the feveral degrees of its aggravation, the natural and juft Effect is Fear, and Looking for of Judgment, and mens being confequently all their Life-time fubject to Bondage, Heb. ii. 15. By this Fear of the Divine Difpleasure, joined with a Sense of past Follies, and of the unreasonableness of Sin in the nature of the thing itself; they who have in them a root of general good Difpofition, and have not been corrupted with long and fixt Habits of Vice, are apt to be led to Repentance: And the confideration of the nature and perfections of God, That Goodness and Mercy which the Light of Nature teaches us must be found in the most perfect Being, gives them very reasonable Grounds of Hope,

that

that their Repentance and Amendment SER M. fhall not be in vain. By Thefe confider VIII. ations, many worthy and well-difpofed Minds, even in the Heathen World itself, regulated their Behaviour; and, forfaking the Corruptions of the World around them, made very great Improvements in the ways of Virtue. Nevertheless, fince a man's performing his Duty for the future, is nothing more, but doing what is Then his Duty to do, and makes no Expiation for Past Offences; there could not but remain upon the Minds of Penitents ftill Some Uncertainty and uneasy Doubts. In revealing himself to the people of the Jews, God was pleafed by degrees to clear this matter; afcertaining the Hopes, and removing the Sufpicions, of natural Reafon, by exprefs Promifes and Declarations of Mercy: Appointing first, in the Law itself, Sacrifices for All Offences, except the most prefumptuous: Afterwards fignifying, by his Prophets, that, upon a real Forfaking and effectual Amendment even of Prefumptuous Faults, he would accept the Sacrifice of a broken Spirit, a broken and contrite heart ke N 2 would

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SERM. would not defpife: Inviting men, as in the VIII. prophecy of Ifaiah, ch. lv. 7, Let the wicked for fake bis way, and the unrighteous man his Thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon: And intimating, as in the liiid chapter of the fame Book, that he had appointed an univerfal propitiation, to be reveal'd in his due feason, who was to be wounded for our Tranf greffions, and bruifed for our Iniquities, and by whofe ftripes we should be healed At length, in the fulness of Time, by the actual Coming of Chrift, this great Difpenfation was completely opened; and Repentance and Remiffion of Sins, was commanded to be preached, in His name, unto all the Nations of the Earth. Come unto Me, fays he, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you Reft. And again: Let him that is athirst, come; and whofoever will, let him take the water of life freely. He has given us af furance, that God wills not that Any Should perish, but that All should come to Repentance: Nay, that as a Shepherd rejoices

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joices over a Sheep that had been loft; foS ER M it is not the Will of our Father which is VIII. in Heaven, that One of these little ones Should perish. Further; that there is joy in the prefence of the Angels of God, over One Sinner that repenteth; Nay, that Joy' fhall be in Heaven over One Sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just perfons that need no Repentance. The Meaning is; not that Repentance is in itfelf more, or fo much valuable as Innocence; or that a returning Sinner is more acceptable, or fo much acceptable to God, as One that never Sinned: But that, in like manner as either a man's Self, or his Friend's, having efcaped any extraordinary and very imminent Danger, caufes à greater and more fenfible prefent Pleasure, than his having never fallen into any fuch danger at all; and yet it does not at all follow, that Danger is in any cafe defireable: So it may very reasonably and confiftently be apprehended, how the Repentance of a Sinner may cause greater immediate joy in the prefence both of Men and Angels; than the fteddy perfeverance of One who, by the regular and uniform Practice of all N 3 Virtue,