wicked men who remain unreformed; and a repentance which is said to be unto life, which is commonly stiled evangelical or sav

ing repentance.

Repentance is often attributed to the Supreme Being in the scriptures. But this must be ever understood and explained in consistency with his infinite and immutable nature. Thus we read, "God repented that he had made man on the earth; he re"pented that he had made Saul king over his people." And thus repentance is ascribed to God in various places. And there is one expression of an extraordinary nature, "That he repented "according to the multitude of his mercies." It is impossible when repentance is attributed to Jehovah, that any event should take place out of the reach of his prescience. To suppose any futurity not in his comprehension, is atheism. As good have no God, as not to feel and acknowledge a God, before whom all things past and future are not equally present with the momentary occurrences. The God in whom christians believe, is unchangeable; no additions can be made to his knowledge, nor can it be diminished. "He is the Lord, who changes not." Yet, notwithstanding all this, repentance is ascribed to him. All the passions of the human nature, all the feelings and various affections, all the members of the human body, eyes, ears, hands, feet, &c. are attributed to him. Yet all these matters are fully understood, even by the most feeble and ignorant christians, in perfect consistency with all the divine perfections. They know it expresses none of the regret, relentings, sorrows, or changings of mind, proper to mortals. The whole that is intended by all these things, is only a variation in the aspects of his providential dispensations towards his rational creatures, who are sinners.— He never repented towards angels or devils. All these strange declarations respect guilty man. And the whole must be understood in the view of the grand plan of the illustration of the Godhead, in the salvation of our fallen world. God never felt sorrow, anguish or distress, as man doth for sin.

He changes the

goings of his providence towards them, his threatenings and proinises; after declarations of mercy, he sends destruction upon them for their iniquities; upon their humiliation and reformation, instead of visitation of wrath, he grants them a reprieve and inany blessings, as in the case of Niniveh and many others. Thus repentance ascribed to God, implies no grief or change in him, only a variation and alteration in his providential dispensations, towards his sinful creatures, according to their mutable conduct, all which were under his prescience and direction.

We also read of a repentance of wicked men, who remained unreformed. It is storied of Ahab, "that he did evil above all "before him. Did more to provoke the Lord than all the kings. "There was none like Ahab who did sell himself, to work wick"edness in the sight of the Lord." Yet this man, superior in (6 iniquity, came to his house heavy and displeased. He humbled "himself before God." He relented, regretted, and repented his unhappy conduct. But all his sorrow and repentance, produced no real amendment either of heart or life. So Judas "re"pented of what he had done;" but this repentance, instead of reformation, drove him to despair, and he went and hanged himself. This is what is usually termed legal repentance. Multitudes are the subjects of this repentance, who never become better. Most of people under the gospel, though they have some twinges of conscience, regret about their state, and remorse for their sins, never become truly reformed. They may amend for a while, like Pharaoh, Ahab and others, yet they relapse to hardness of heart, and to their former evil courses.

There is also another species of repentance, essentially different from this, stiled a repentance unto life, a repentance which stands connected with eternal salvation. If we can learn and experience this repentance, then we shall not perish, but be re instated in the favor of God, and made the subjects of everlasting felicity. Were I to give a brief description of this repens

ance, it may be done in some such words as these. "It is a true, 86 sincere, and sorrowful sense of our sins, in a view of the holi

ness of God, the rectitude of his government and the perfec "tion of his law." This repentance will always be accompanied with a cordial acquiescence in the gospel, and followed by an ef fectual reformation of life and manners. And by these marks it will be known and distinguished from all transient, temporary and legal repentances.

Saving repentance is a true, sincere, and sorrowful sense of our sins. We begin to see, and feel towards sin in some measure as we ought. The sinner views himself as loathsome, hateful, and hell deserving. He contemplates sin as the most odious and vile thing in the universe. Acknowledges himself unspeakably vile, and altogether to blame; he acquits the throne of God; justifies his justice; and vindicates the divine law as holy, perfect and good. In this view of sin, under apprehensions of the glory of God, and the transcendant amiableness of his moral government, he abhors himself, the baseness of his heart, and the disorders of his life, and repents in bitterness of soul. He is filled with regret and sorrow, bemoans himself, and mourns in secret places. As a man beholds his natural face in a glass, so the deformity, evil and turpitude of sin is discovered by the divine law; "For by the law is the knowledge of sin." Hence the sinner feels ashamed before God; ashamed not only for his gross acts of impiety; but also for the very temper, disposition and propensities of his heart. Therefore, "it is by the law that sin "becomes exceeding sinful." In this way the sinner is effectually emptied of all conceit of his own goodness and righteousness. He is disposed from the heart to renounce his iniquities, and discard all hopes of acceptance with God by any possible performances of his own. He now with Job, abhors himself; with the Psalmist, acknowledges that he is as a beast before God; with Augur, that he is more brutish than any man, and that he has not the understanding of a man; and his only cry is that of the Publican, "God be merciful to me as a sinner."

It is time to close this discourse at present, with a remark or two. It shall again be resumed, if divine Providence affords opportunity.

First, We remark, it must be presumptuous madness in sinners, to expect the remission of their sins, while they continue impenitent, and their hearts full of opposition to God, and disaffection to his law and government. The divine decree is, "He

that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth "and forsaketh them shall find mercy." While the soul is impenitent and hardened in iniquity, it feels no want of pardon.— He is safe and satisfied with himself. To offer him pardon for crimes, is to offer him insult, and awaken his resentment; therefore, the grace and forgivness of the gospel is universally rejected by impenitent sinners. Hence it comes to pass, that the gospel is generally considered as a light thing; to some it is foolishness, and to others a stumbling block. Such a weak and foolish presumption, that in impenitence we may be forgiven, contradicts. reason and nature, as well as the most explicit declarations of heaven. Pardon is the consequence of evangelical repentance, Hence the combut never precedes or takes place without it. mandment extends to all men every where to repent. cept we repent, we must all likewise perish."

"And ex

Secondly, We remark, there are many things in the christian world, which bear the resemblance of repentance, in which there is no saving grace. Pharaoh repented often; Saul repented once and again; Esau repented and sought the blessing with tears and bitter lamentations. Felix trembled; and Simon Magus, filled with horror, besought the prayers of the Apostles. All these, and a thousand other similar cases, should direct us to a We should often be reviewfrequent examination of ourselves. ing our experiences, and enquiring into the nature of our repentRemember it is not a temporary and transient sorrow will prove it to be genuine. It must be founded in proper views of God, of his law, of sin and our own character. Many a sorrow

ance.

ful tear has been shed, many a bitter feeling, and much anguish of heart experienced, through fear of punishment, and by reason of the dread and horror of the consequences of transgression,when there never were any views of the evil, odiousness, or awful nature of sin considered in itself. When we contemplate the deluge, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the death of the first born of the great nation of Egypt in a night, the perishing of Senacharib's mighty host, the sacking of Babylon, Jerusalem, &c. our souls start back upon themselves with horror; they mourn, they weep, but all this is no repentance. Let us beware, lest our imaginary and penitential exercises be founded in the mere fears and horrors of punishment. This has been the case of multitudes, whose glooms of sorrow have passed off like the morning cloud, and their tears of distress have evaporated like the early dew. Take to yourselves and see that your repentance be that of God's people. Let it ever remain a deep and indeliable impression upon our minds, "That it is a "true, sincere, and sorrowful sense and feeling of our sins, in a "view of the holiness of God, the rectitude of his government, "and the perfection of his law, that lays the foundation, and t opens the source of true and evangelical repentance, or repént ance unto life."

Let the subject be closed in a short exhortation to those who have hope, that they have and do experience a gospel repentance. The counsel to you is, bring forth fruits meet for repentance. Herein God will be glorified, Christ honored, grace magnified, and your salvation sure. O let true penitents be careful to maintain works of righteousness, that the enemies of the gospel may have no cause to blaspheme, speak reproachfully of our holy religion, or harden themselves in their infidelity. Infidelity gains perhaps more from the ungodly lives of professed penitents, than from any other source. Her arguments would have little weight, did they not derive force from the wicked lives of christians. o let us watch and be sober, and all our conversation be as becom→ eth christianity.