SUMMARY OF DISCOURSE XXII.

II CORINTHIANS, CHAP. VII.-VERSE 10.

RELIGIOUS and worldly sorrow compared in the text. The sorrow which arises from a sense of our iniquity is the cure as well as the consequence of the evil we suffer in worldly grief: sorrow shown to be a remedy worse than the disease, and to add weight to our misfortunes. The considerations of philosophy, which place wisdom in an absence of passion, and teach us to submit with indifference to the evils of life, not applicable to religion in natural evils sorrow gives us the sharpest sense of our affliction, and leaves us enfeebled both in mind and body but in spiritual evils religious sorrow produces and increases the means of our recovery, chases sin and guilt from the soul, and renders it capable of the expectation of future glory. It is shown to be the part of a friend to awaken in us a godly sorrow: example of St. Paul to the Corinthians: the blessed fruits of godly sorrow shown by the Apostle's words in the text. First, sorrow is distinguished from repentance, as it worketh repentance: secondly, sorrow worketh salvation by means of repentance: thirdly, worldly sorrow produceth death: fourthly, the death wrought by worldly sorrow, being opposed to the salvation which follows repentance, may signify eternal as well as temporal death: these observations explained and enlarged on. First, godly sorrow is said to work repentance, and is therefore distinguished from it; for if by repentance be understood sorrow for sin, we should say that godly sorrow produces sorrow for sin, i. e. godly sorrow produces itself: repentance therefore, denoting change

sorrow,

of mind, is the effect of godly sorrow, and the necessary condition of salvation: alliance between sorrow and repentance is explained, and the nature of sorrow in general considered. The cause of our sorrow must needs be the object of our aversion : cases shown where sorrow is a ridiculous passion. Worldly sorrow makes us in general feel our misfortunes, but does not enable us to redress them: this not the case in spiritual concerns, where sin is the object of our aversion, and the misery we suffer through vice the best guide to virtue. Secondly, godly sorrow not said to work salvation immediately, but by means of repentance; thus showing that a change of mind and life is necessary towards the obtaining God's mercy and forgiveness. A sense of guilt and misery leads us to the sorrow which produces repentance, and, by making us abhor our iniquities, produces that blessed change which is true repentance unto salvation never to be repented of. Fear may produce but not always repentance; as in the case of Judas. The sorrow which does not bring forth repentance and reformation, is of no account in the sight of God. Godly sorrow is that which respects God; and this will always produce repentance, and be followed by salvation, in virtue of God's promises. Repentance unto life the greatest gift of God to a sinful world. Thirdly, a comparison is drawn between godly and worldly sorrow, showing the difference between them. Worldly sorrow is said immediately to work death: it brings forth nothing analogous to repentance: but confirms the evil disposition from which it flows: the causes from which worldly and godly sorrow arise being considered, the different effects which they produce are shown. Fourthly, the death which is wrought by worldly sorrow is opposed to the salvation which follows repentance, and may therefore signify eternal death. The natural effect of grief in general is to deaden the faculties, and render us useless to ourselves and others; but the effect of godly sorrow is to destroy itself, and leave the mind in ease and

tranquillity. Even in this life sorrow for sin produces the pleasures of righteousness, whilst the worldly man, pursuing false enjoyments, is ever reaping misery: in the world to come the tears of repentance will be wiped away; but the guilty tears of worldly sorrow will stand in judgment against us, and exclude us from the joys of heaven; as it is forcibly expressed in the words of the text, the sorrow of the world worketh death.'

DISCOURSE XXII.

II CORINTHIANS, CHAP. VII.-VERSE 10.

Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

You have, in the words of the text, a character given you of religious sorrow, and the advantages of it set forth, and illustrated by a comparison between them and the evil effects of wordly sorrow. Sorrow in all cases arises from the conceit of misery either present or expected. When our sorrow grows from the consideration of our spiritual condition, from a sense of our own iniquity, and the pains of a guilty mind; from the fear of God's wrath and heavy judgments denounced against sinners; which are the proper objects of religious sorrow, and distinguish it from the grief of a worldly mind, which reaches only to the real or supposed evils of this life in this case sorrow is not only the consequence of the evil we suffer or apprehend, but likewise its very cure and remedy. But in worldly grief, where men lament the loss of riches and honors, and vex their souls with the various disappointments of life, which are perpetual springs of uneasiness to all whose affections are wedded to the pleasures and enjoyment of the world; there sorrow is a remedy worse than the disease, and adds weight to our misfortunes, which, could they be neglected, would not be felt.

It is the glory of philosophy to raise men above the misfortunes of life, to teach them to look with indifference on the pleasures of the world, and to submit with manly courage and a steady mind to those calamities which no cáre can prevent, and which no concern can cure. Such are all the miseries

which are brought on us by a change of fortune, or the necessity of human condition. And the considerations of philosophy not extending beyond these limits, it is no wonder to find wisdom placed in an absence of passion; and grief and sorrow, and all the tender motions of the mind exposed as certaint marks of a slavish abject spirit. But when the reasons of philosophy are transferred to the cause of religion, they lose their ́name; and the same conclusions, for want of the same principles to support them, are foolish and absurd. In natural evils, sorrow and grief of mind give us the quickest and sharpest sense of our afflictions, and divest us of the power of looking out for the proper comforts and supports: they increase and lengthen out our misery; nor can the mind ever lose sight of its afflictions, till length of time sets it free from grief, or the very excess of sorrow so far stupifies the sense of feeling, that it destroys itself. And when it leaves us, often it carries off with it our strength and health, and bequeaths to us a weak body and a feeble mind, and entails on the very best days of our youth the very worst infirmities of age and sickness: for the sorrow of the world worketh death.' But in spiritual evils, where sin and guilt threaten the life of the soul, and hasten to bring on us death eternal, sorrow is the best indication of life, and like the pulse in the natural body, shows there is some heat and vigor still remaining: as it increases, it brings with it the symptoms of recovery; sin and guilt fly before it; life and immortality follow after it. And the mind thus purged by religious sorrow sends into the heart fresh streams of pleasure, and abounds with all the joys which the sense of the love of God, the present possession of peace, and the firm expectation of future glory can produce: ' for godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of.' From the consideration of these different effects of worldly and of religious sorrow, the Apostle, with no less truth than art, insinuates to the Corinthians, how truly he had acted the part of a friend towards them, in bringing them to a due sense of sorrow for the sins they had committed. It is the part of a friend to ease our minds of grief, to step in between us and sorrow, and to make us, as far as it is possible, forget our misfortunes: why then do the ministers of Christ perpetually suggest new fears