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capable of the mercy and forgiveness of GOD, in SERM. this world and the other, and "to deliver us from CLX. "the wrath which is to come," and from those terribie ftorms of vengeance, which will infallibly fall upon impenitent finners: fo that we have all the reafon and all the encouragement in the world, to resolve upon a better course. Upon this condition, the mercy of GoD is ready to meet and embrace us, GoD will pardon our greatest provocations, and be perfectly reconciled to us. So he hath declared by the prophet, Ifaiah i. 16. "Wafh ye, make you clean, "put away the evil of your doings from before "mine eyes, ceafe to do evil, learn to do well. "Come now and let us reafon together, faith the "LORD; through your fins be as fcarlet, they fhall be "as white as fnow; though they be red as crimson, they shall be as wool." And what greater encouragement can we defire, than that upon fo easy and advantageous terms, GoD fhould be fo ready to have an end put to all controverfies and quarrels between him and us?

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"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mer"cies of GOD," to take up a serious refolution "to "break off your fins by repentance,” and to reform whatever, upon due fearch and trial of your ways, fhail find to be amifs in your "I beseech you by the mercies of GOD," that mercy which naturally "leads to repentance," and which is " long-fuffering to us-ward," on purpose “that "we may not perish, but come to repentance;" which hath spared us so often, and is not yet exhausted and tired out by our intolerable obftinacy, and in-numerable provocations; that mercy which moved the Son of GOD to become man, to live among us, and to die for us; who now as it were fpeaks to us

from

SERM. from the crofs, extending his pierced hands, and

CLX. painful arms to embrace us, and through the gasping wounds of his fide let us fee the tender and bleeding compaffion of his heart; that mercy, which if we now defpife it, we fhall in vain one day implore, and catch hold of, and hang upon, to fave us from finking into eternal perdition; that mercy, which how much foever we now prefume upon, will then be fo far from interpofing between us and the wrath of GOD, that it will highly inflame and exafperate it: for whatever impenitent finners may now think, they will then certainly find that the divine juftice, when it is thoroughly provoked, and whetted by his abused mercy and goodnefs, will be moft terribly fevere, and like a razor fet with oil, will cut the keener for it's fmoothness.

"Confider this all ye that forget GoD, left he "tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver : "confider and fhew yourfelves men, O ye tranfgreffors!"

We do confider all this (may fome perhaps fay) but we have been great finners, fo great, that we doubt whether our cafe be not already defperate.

This, if it be fenfibly faid, with deep forrow and contrition, with that fhame and confufion of face, which becomes great offenders, is a good confeffion, and the best reafon in the world, why ye fhould now "break off your fins :" for if what you have already done, do really make your cafe fo doubtful and difficult; do not by finning yet more and more against the LORD, make it quite desperate and past remedy; do but you repent, and GoD will yet "re"turn and have mercy upon you." And do not fay you cannot do it, when it must be done, or you are undone. Power and neceffity go together: when

men

men are hard preffed, they find a power which they SER M. thought they had not; and when it comes to the CLX. push, men can do that which they plainly fee they either must do, or be ruined for ever.

But after all this, I am very fenfible how great a need there is of God's powerful affistance in this cafe, and that it is not an ordinary refolution, and common measure of God's grace, that will reclaim those who have been long habituated to an evil course.

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Let us therefore earneftly beg of him, that he would make these counfels effectual, that he would grant us repentance unto life," that he would make us all fenfible of our faults, forry for them, and refolved to amend them; and let us every one put up David's prayer to God for ourfelves, "deal "with thy fervant according to thy mercy, and "teach me thy ftatutes; order my steps in thy word, "and let not any iniquity have dominion over me; "teach me, O LORD, the way of thy ftatutes, that I "may keep them unto the end."

I have now done; I am only to mind you of another duty, which is to accompany our repentance, and fafting, and prayer, as a teftimony of the fincerity of our repentance, and one of the best means to make our fafting and prayer acceptable to GoD, and to turn away his judgments from us, and that is charity and alms to the poor, whofe number is very great among us, and their neceffities very preffing and clamorous, and therefore do call for a bountiful fupply.

And to convince men of the neceffity of this duty, and the efficacy of it in conjunction with our repentance, and fasting, and prayers, I fhall only offer to your confideration a few plain texts of fcripture,

SERM. which need no comment upon them. Dan. iv. CLX. 27. It is the prophet's advice to Nebuchadnezzar ; "Break off thy fins by righteoufnefs, and thine ini

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quity by fhewing mercy to the poor; if fo be it 66 may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity." Acts x. 4. the angel there tells Cornelius, "Thy prayers and "thine alms are come up for a memorial before God." Ifa. lviii. 5. "Is not this the faft which I have "chofen, to loofe the bands of wickednefs, to un"do the heavy burthens, and to let the oppreffed

go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not "to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou

bring the poor that are caft out, to thy houfe ; "when thou feest the naked, that thou cover him, "and that thou hide not thyfelf from thy own flesh?

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then fhall thy light break forth as the morning, " and thine health fhall fpring forth fpeedily, and thy righteousness fhall go before thee, and the glory of the LORD fhall be thy reward: then fhalt "thou call, and the LORD fhall anfwer thee; thou "fhalt cry, and he fhall fay, here I am." To which I will only add that gracious promife of our SAVIOUR;"Bleffed are the merciful, for they shall "find mercy ;" and that terrible fentence in St. James, "He fhall have judgement without mercy, "that hath fhewed no mercy.

SER

79

I

SERMON

CLXI.

Of confeffion, and forrow for fin.

PSAL. xxxviii. 18.

I will declare mine iniquity, and be forry for my fin.

CLXI.

N this pfalm David does earnestly beg mercy and SERM. forgiveness of GOD, and in order to the obtaining of it, he declares both his fins, and his repentance for them in thefe words, which contain in them two of the neceffary ingredients, or at least concomitants of a true repentance, viz. confeffion of fin, and forrow for it.

I shall speak something of the first of these, viz. confeffion of fin: but the fecond, viz. forrow for fin, shall be the main fubject of my discourse.

I. Confeffion of fin; "I will declare mine iniqui"ty," or as it is in the old tranflation, "I will con"confefs my wickednefs." Of which I fhall speak under these three heads.

I. What confeffion of fin is.

II. How far it is necessary.

III. What are the reafons and grounds of this neceffity.

I. What confeffion of fin is. It is a declaration or acknowledgment of fome moral evil or fault to another, which we are confcious to ourselves we have been guilty of. And this acknowledgment may be made by us, either to GoD or man. The fcripture mentions both. Confeffion of our fins to GOD is very frequently mentioned in fcripture, as the first and neceffary part of repentance; and fome

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