revolution in a man's views and judgment respecting himself, and every thing to which he stands related; and in all his corresponding dispositions and affections. But, though this internal change be especially denoted by the word thus translated, yet when the term is used in a popular sense, and as distinguished from regeneration, it includes fear of divine wrath, godly sorrow, humiliation, hatred of sin and all its pleasures and profits, forsaking sin, turning to God with ingenuous confession and cries for mercy, and entering on a new course of life. It is needless in this place to enter further on the subject, as the public has long been in possession of the author's deliberate thoughts upon it:* but, if any man doubt of what has been here advanced, let him carefully and impartially consider the scriptures referred to, with the several contexts; and I apprehend he will find it impossible to resist conviction. In the last passage referred to, the apostle speaks of "godly sorrow" as preceding, and "working repentance unto salvation, not to be re"pented of:" surely then no repentance is saving or genuine, which is unconnected with godly sor row! Repentance is both the command and the gift of God. It is our duty; but without divine grace we are wholly indisposed to perform it: and in this respect it resembles all other duties, each of which is the subject of promises as well as of precepts ; and none of them are performed in the right man See Discourse upon Repentance.' + Job xlii. 6. Jer. xxxi. 19. Ezek. xviii. 28. Matt. iii. 8-10. xxi. 29-32. Luke xv. 10, 17, 21. 2 Cor. vii. 9-11. ner, except as the Lord gives us a new heart and "a new spirit." "God" (by the gospel) com "mandeth all men every where to repent." "Jesus "is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give "repentance-and forgiveness of sins." Repentance belongs entirely to the gospel and to the covenant of grace, and has nothing to do with the law and the covenant of works; except in our being grieved and humbled at heart for violating them, and in our humbly confessing that we deserve that wrath of God which is denounced against every transgressor. The gospel alone gives the call to repentance, the encouragement to repentance, and the grace of repentance: it is therefore most astonishing that the preaching of repentance should have ever been called legal, or thought inconsistent with the free grace of the gospel! or that repentance should ever have been almost excluded from the list of evangelical graces, the constituent parts of true holiness! 66 66 "But," says our Lord, "what think ye? A "certain man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not; but af"terwards he repented and went. And he came "to the second, and said likewise; and he an“swered and said, I go Sir, and went not.-Verily, "I say unto you, the publicans and the harlots go "into the kingdom of heaven before you. For "John came unto you in the way of righteousness, " and ye believed him not; but the publicans and "the harlots believed him: and when ye had "seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might ye, "believe."* Hence we learn that the general belief of John's testimony brought the publicans and harlots to repentance, and this repentance prepared them for admission into the Messiah's kingdom by faith in him: and, if the Pharisees had repented of their sin in rejecting the ministry of John, their repentance would have been connected with the same faith in Him to whom John bare testimony. -Indeed the office of John Baptist, in preparing the way of the Lord, as the herald of the Saviour to proclaim his appearance and introduce his gospel, is peculiarly important in this argument. He first called sinners to repentance; shewed the Jews in general the fallaciousness of trusting in their national privileges, and the Pharisees in particular the emptiness of their forms and external services; he used. the proper means of convincing all sorts of persons of their guilt and danger; and then pointed out to them "the Lamb "of God that taketh away the sin of the world;" "the Son of God," who "baptiseth with the Holy "Ghost:" concluding with this solemn declaration and warning," the Father loveth the Son, and "hath given all things into his hand. He that be"lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he "that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." And his whole ministry undeniably proves, both that genuine repentance is always connected with saving faith; and that it is an important part of that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord." This appears also in a very convincing manner * Matt. xxi. 28-32. + John iii. 35, 36. in the singular example of the penitent thief, who upon the cross humbly acknowledged, that he deserved his ignominious and torturing death; while he believed in the Saviour, suspended beside him, for the salvation of his soul from future condemnation. Was there no essential difference in the frame of his spirit, from that of the other thief, who, in the agonies of death, joined the multitude in reviling the holy Jesus? Did this difference arise from any other cause than regeneration? And was not he a partaker of true holiness? Confession of sin, an essential part of true repentance, is every where represented as inseparable from saving faith, and preparatory to forgiveness. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh "them shall have mercy."* "If we say that we "have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth "is not in us. If we confess our sins he is faithful "and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." "I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. "I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the "Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." "Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and "cleanse me from my sin; for I acknowledge my "transgressions, and my sin is ever before me."§ The publican, the prodigal son, the thief upon the cross, and other instances already adduced, exemplify this ingenuous unreserved confession of sinfulness nor is there a single case in scripture, real * Prov. xxviii. 13. + 1 John i. 8, 9. or parabolical, of a sinner acceptably applying to God for pardoning mercy, in which this disposition to glorify him, by a full and free confession, is not implied or expressed. "He looketh upon men ; " and if any say, I have sinned and perverted that "which was right, and it profited me not: he will "deliver his soul from going down into the pit, and "his life shall see the light."* No doubt this (as well as all other holy dispositions) may be counterfeited; and the appearance of humility assumed where the heart remains unhumbled. Thus Pharaoh, Judas, and several others, confessed their sins in a partial, extorted, and reluctant manner. Yet no doubt, if genuine, it implies "a right spirit," the proper frame of mind, in which a sinner ought to appear before his of fended Lord: being exactly the reverse to a proud self-justifying disposition. He, who ingenuously confesses his sins, gives unto God the honour both of his justice and of his mercy; he expresses approbation both of the holy law and of the blessed gospel; he willingly submits to God's righteousness, and is prepared to welcome a free salvation; he adores the grace,which "hath abounded towards us, in all wisdom and prudence;" and glorifies the Lord, as “just, and the justifier of him that "believeth in Jesus." "His name," says the angel, "shall be called "Jesus; because he shall save his people from "their sins." "God, having raised up his Son Jesus," says the apostle, " hath sent him to bless 66 you, in turning away every one of you from his * Job xxxiii. 27, 28. |