ESSAY VII.

REPENTANCE.

THE fall of Adam involved both himself and his posterity in sin and ruin. From the moment of the first transgression, sin challenged universal empire. From that fatal hour, it began to assume dominion, with the certain prospect of swaying its sceptre over every clime and every heart. But blessed be God, though its empire is universal, it is not in all its extent everlasting. There is One who taketh the prey from the mighty. The conqueror is vanquished. Though sin reigns unto death, grace reigns unto eternal life.

A mere glance at the ruin and recovery of man, is enough to convince us, that of the religion of fallen beings, repentance forms an essential part. It is alike significant of the character and

indispensable to the happiness of a CONVERTED SINNER, to be penitent.

In the order of gracious exercises, repentance follows love to God. An affectionate view of God, prepares the mind to take a just view of sin. As it is impossible to repent of having sinned against a God that we hate; so it is impossible not to repent of having sinned against a God that we love. When the heart has been renewed; when the soul, enlightened by the Divine Spirit, sees the beauty, the loveliness of the Divine character-it cannot seriously reflect upon a life of sin, without unfeigned grief. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

Genuine repentance is that sorrow for sin which arises from a sense of its intrinsic turpitude.

It is essential to the nature of godly sorrow, that we possess a settled conviction of the evil of sin. It is not enough to have merely a transient view of our sinfulness; we must possess a settled conviction of the great evil of sin. The real penitent, though he has reason to lament that he is never so deeply affected with the view of his sin

as he should be; seldom so much so as he hoped to be; and very frequently not affected at all; yet at some favoured seasons, he is enabled to view it in a measure as it is. He sees its detestable nature. He is deeply impressed with a sense of its turpitude as a violation of law. This is the definition which the Apostle has given of sin. It is (asoμia) the transgression of law. The God who made all worlds, and who alone is qualified to govern the worlds which He has made, has given a rule of action to His creatures, which is the result of infinite wisdom and goodness. The precept and the sanction of this law are perfectly equitable. The highest authority has pronounced them to be holy, just, and good.

To violate this law, is an evil. To violate this law, is nothing less than an attempt to sunder the bond that holds the moral world together. It is therefore a great evil. Every violation of this law, is an effort to resist the salutary effects of a perfect rule of action. It is a virtual opposition to all the good which that rule of action, if obeyed, would eventually secure. Could the evil nature and tendency of sin therefore be fully expressed; could this enemy of all righteousness be clothed with the energy of omnipotence; all that is good, all that is happy, would be chased away, and the

world that once smiled under the beneficent hand of its Maker, would be left bare of the last vestige of bliss. The same accursed foe that hurled the Angels from the highest heavens; that drove our first parents from Paradise; that deluged the world by a flood; that laid waste the cities of the plain; that has multiplied its trophies in slaughtered thousands; that has given death its sting and the law its curse; that has crucified the Lord of glory-would not stay his ruthless hand until he had "rolled the volume of desolation" through the empire of the Eternal, and enjoyed the malignant pleasure of brooding over the ruins of the desolated universe.

In violating the law, sin also dishonours the Lawgiver. It aims the blow at God. It rises in rebellion against His rightful authority. It is contrary to every attribute of His nature. It is the abominable thing which His soul hateth. To enhance its turpitude, think a moment against what a God sin is committed. He is a great God ; a God of infinite majesty. He is decked with majesty and excellency. The everlasting mountains are scattered at His approach; the perpetual hills bow before Him. He is a holy God; so holy, that the heavens are not pure in His sight, and his angels are charged with folly. He is a good God.

He is love itself. He is a merciful God. His mercy is everlasting; it is great unto the heavens. He is the Being whom we are under the greatest obligations to adore, because He is supremely adorable; a Being whom we are under the greatest obligations to love, because He is infinitely lovely; a Being whom we are under the greatest obligations to obey, because his government is perfect. And yet we rebel. Creatures whose foundation is in the dust, contend with their Maker! Creatures who hang every hour upon His bounty, forget His power, abuse his love!" Sinners who are upheld every moment by His mercy, tread that mercy under their feet! O how great an evil is sin! If one man sin against another, the Judge shall judge him, but if a man sin against God, who shall entreat for him!

Thoughts in kind like these, pass through the mind of the penitent, as he calls to remembrance his multiplied transgressions. No longer does he make light of sin. He views it in an entirely different light, from that in which it is viewed by a thoughtless world. To him, it is odious; it is vile; it is utterly detestable; nay more, it is exceedingly sinful.