now and then make him uneasy So did Herod, when he swore to the daughter of Herodias, that he would give her whatsoever she would ask; and upon her demanding the head of John the Baptist, it is said, "The king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oaths sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not deny her; and immediately sent an executioner, and commanded the head to be brought." Mark vi. 25, 26, 27.

Herod's sorrow was not repentance; for though he had a strong conviction in his mind that he was about to commit a very henious sin, yet he persisted, and perpetrated an act of the vilest cruelty upon an innocent and just man. So if the sinner is sorry for his sins, and yet continues in them, he is no more a true penitent, than if he went on in an uninterrupted course of wickedness. Nay, on the contrary, when he goes on in sin, in spite of the checks of his conscience, it must be an aggravation of his guilt, and make him so much the greater sinner in the sight of God; for as much as he acts in direct opposition to the clearest conviction cf mind.

A: may resolve to leave his sins, and lead a new life, and walk in the commandments of God; and yet this may not be repentance for mere resolving to do a thing is not doing it; so a man's resolving to repent is not repentance. He must bring his good resolutions into act, or else he can have no certain evidence that his heart is altered; for this

may be only a sudden passion of his mind, occasioned by some particular circumstance that has awaked him from his lethargy, and leaves no lasting impression hehind it, bat quickly evaporates, and he returns to his old courses again.

A wicked man may, notwithstanding the utmost care and foresight, be brought into imminent danger of his life, or be thrown upon a bed of sickness, which he apprehends to be his last; then his guilty conscience flies in his face, his past actions are exposed to view, and he is terrified with the apprehension of his approaching hour, and dreads the thought of launching into eternity loaded with guilt. Then it is that the vain mortal sees his misery, and is struck with the utmost horror at the prospect of being brought to the bar of heaven to answer for his actions. But when he is delivered from 'this danger, he forgets the solemn protestations he made to God of amendment, and madly returns to his former wicked courses. Can such a man as this be a penitent? Can he be said to repent? No, it is all worldly sorrow, arising more from the apprehension of his danger, than from a resolution to act better. The fear of the vengeance of God, as the just desert of his sins, makes him bewail his miscarriages, and promise a reformation. But when he is recovered, where are his good resolutions? "Like a morning cloud, and as the early dew, they pass away.

Such sorrow as this is not repentance, and

if a sinner dies under such circumstances, he must be eternally lost and undone! In short, true repentance consists in a deep and unfeigned sorrow for our past sins, and an entire change of heart; productive of a holy and virtuous life; in order to which, the proud heart must be humbled, every secret lust mortified, every evil thought checked, and every vicious habit rooted out.

We must earnestly implore pardon and forgiveness through the merits of Jesus Christ, and appear before our Judge as sinners that have forfeited our lives; bewail our miscarriages, promise amendment, and intreat God's grace to assist us in our good resolutions; and then, when we bring them into act, we need not doubt but that we have rightly performed the duty of repentance. I shall

now,

Secondly, Proceed to remove some prevailing mistakes about this important duty.

And First, Some imagine their repentance is not sincere, unless it be accompanied with a great many tears, whenever they review their past actions, or when they are attending the public worship of God. But we very well know that there are many who cannot shed a tear, though they are, at the same time, exceeding sorrowful: and many can shed tears who have no sincere sorrow at all. We should always make allowances for constitutional heats, or melancholly.

Such as are of a melancholy cast, whenever

they examine their lives, are often overpowered with grief, (especially when they have been guilty of crying sins) and this, when the nerves are weak, will vent itself in a flood of tears. But this very soon wears off, and so far is it from leaving any true sorrow behind, that it rather puffs them up with the conceit of being really converted; by this means, they are drawn off their guard, and imagine they have nothing more to do but weep in this

manner.

If we measure people's repentance, by the quantity of tears which they shed, we shall find very few men that are penitents.

It is not my intention, by any thing I have now said, to depreciate the value of tears; the virtue of which may cure the disorders of the soul, as the troubled waters of Bethesda did those of the body. But then they are silent, not noisy tears; they are such as are shed not in the church only, but in the closet also. When St. Peter wept, he went out to weep.

True repentance is seated in the inmost recesses of the heart, and is a calm and sober virtue; it does not stand in the eye only, ready to come forth at every melting expression, which works people up into rapturous heats, and ecstatic affections. It is not only modest and silent, but sweet and natural; and we may know it, not by this mechanical whining, but by the reformation it produces in our lives.

When people indulge these passionate im

pulses, it throws them into a dejection of spirits then follow perpetual scruples and fearful anxieties, which, if not carefully avoided, may lead to despair.

7

Again, many think they are not truly penitent, unless they perform some outward acts of penance; and they are persuaded they must inflict upon themselves some bodily punishment, in order to purify the soul. This is the doctrine of the church of Rome. Indeed, the church of Scotland and that of England did formerly run into this error. They obliged the offenders to stand upon the stool of repentance, or in a white sheet, in order to shame them into a better conduct. But this, so far from having the desired effect, rather proved the most effectual method of driving them into greater enormities; they had some modesty, and could blush before they underwent that public penance, but afterwards had lost all modesty, and had forgot to blush from that day. And as modesty and shamefacedness are the guards that nature has put upon our actions; when these are gone, we may bid farewell to religion and virtue.

God has kindly provided repentance for our comfort and happiness, therefore he must be a very weak man, whoever he is, that will undergo a voluntary misery in the very thing from which he is to expect relief and satisfaction.

If the sinner makes a sincere confession of his sins to God, and amends his life, he will find