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visible, and the sincerity certain, because the new state of mind is discovered, by a new train of outward actions. I this is I say, the nature of repentance, in the general state of christian life, where life and opportunity are left to the penitent; and then, to be sure, there is no authority for us to say, that repentance will be effectual without amendment, and that the repentance which is thus proved and followed by actual amendment is not effectual.

But numerous instances occur, in which, from the nature of the case, it is impossible for the sinner to testify the truth of his repentance, either to himself or to the world, by actual reformation. It is so with the repentance of a deathbed. It is so when confinements from sickness, for crimes, or for any other cause, disables men from the duties and vices of active life. It is so where poverty puts it out of men's power to repeat their old sins; when many vices as well as many virtues are become impossible. The shortness of their time, the distress of their situation, the feebleness of their constitution, the narrowness and reduction of their circumstances, leave little power of active virtue, and of themselves, without any merit on their; part, preclude them from the commission of most vices, Therefore some other measure must be appointed for them; because, to expect actual reformation, where virtue and vice are equally out of their power, is to require impossibilities. Here then we seem to have authority for saying, that this simple decision is the truth; namely, that God will consider that life as amended, which would have been amended, if he had spared it, and vouchsafed opportunities. Whether this would take effect, can never be known to the world. It cannot always be known to the penitent himself; but it is known to God. He can see the fruit in the blossom, or the seed. He knows those resolutions that are fixed, and would hold, those conversions which would be permanent; and will receive them who are qualified by these new dispositions and desires for works of righteousness, without exacting from them those outward duties, which the circumstances of their health, their confinement, their inability, or the shortness of their lives, hinder them from performing. Nothing therefore remains to conditions like these, but that the persons in them apply with all their strength to rectify their desires and purify their thoughts; that they set God before them in his goodness, and in his terror; that they consider him as the father and the judge of all the earth, as a gracious father desirous to save, as a wise judge who cannot, consistently with the rules of good govern

ment, pardon unrepented iniquity; that they excite in themselves an intense detestation of crimes, for if they cannot do this, it is not probable they would forsake them if they retained the power of acting, with vehement and steady resolutions; that if life and opportunity were granted them, they should be spent hereafter in the practice of their duty; that they pray to the giver of grace to strengthen and impress these holy thoughts, and accept the repentance, though late, and in its beginning violent; that they improve any good motion by prayer; and lastly, that they deliver themselves into the hands of their faithful Creator.

The promises of acceptance and forgiveness, which are made to repentance in the scriptures, are general; and we are not authorized to limit by exceptions, what God has not limited. So far, therefore, we may speak comfort to the contrition of a deathbed, or the circumstances relative to a deathbed, by assuring them of our hope, that God will consider that life as amended, which would have been amended, if he had spared it. On the other hand, it is necessary that they, at least that others in different circumstances, should be apprized that their state is precarious, their hazard great; that though it be possible their present sorrow may be productive of amendment, yet experience forces us to declare, that there is nothing farther from certainty; that they have many disadvantages to contend with, their sins old and obstinate, their faculties of resistance weak, their vision clouded, distempered, distorted; that they can never be assured that their repentance would be effectual to their reformation, and consequently must leave the world, without any well grounded assurance of God's forgiveness; for it is impossible even to ourselves to distinguish the effects of terror from those of conviction, to decide whether our passions and vices be really'subdued by the fear of God, or only arrested and restrained for a while by the temporary force of present calamity. And, lastly, the deliberately and designedly putting off repentance to a deathbed makes even that repentance, morally speaking, impossible to prove; at least, I will venture to pronounce, that no mere repentance can be effectual in consequence of such previous design.

The last, but not the least, test of recovery, which I shall mention, is restitution. Upon the fullest consideration of the matter, it is my judgment, that where restitution is practicable, repentance cannot be sincere or effectual without it. In truth, it is only mockery to pretend to repent of our sin, while we keep and enjoy the fruits of it. If we have by mistake, from

distress, in haste, or in consequence of disposition and conduct which we now see the guilt of, taken any thing, or withheld any thing from any other person, we must restore what we have so unjustly taken and withheld, or an equivalent, or it is in vain to talk of repenting of our sin.

I know this is a hard lesson, besides the expense of restitution, which is very much more than we like, or than we can well bear. There is a shame, and confusion, and humiliation in acknowledging our fault, which is one part of the evil. All this I own, and can only say, that if restitution be a duty, it is not less a duty because it is attended with difficulties or disagreeable circumstances.

When once it has been made apparent that a thing is our duty, it is then of no service to prove that it is inconvenient, that it is chargeable, that it is painful. But then restitution may not be practicable. Some injuries are not capable of it. The person entitled to restitution may be dead. We may not have it in our power to make restitution. In such cases we have not this to exercise. Restitution, like every thing else, is no longer required than while it can be performed. All I mean is, that if it be practicable, it is our duty. Repentance will not avail us without it, and it is no excuse to say that it is unavoidable. I have only farther to observe, that restitution is not merely giving back the property which we unjustly kept, but it is in general the undoing, as far as remains in our power, what we have done wrong, as well as unsaying what we have said wrong. Therefore when, by confessing our mistakes, recanting our falsehoods, exposing our faults, we can put a stop to any bickerings or quarrels we have excited, remove suspicions and irritations which we have infused, call back the evil reports which we have circulated, or, in short, alleviate anyhow the uneasiness we have occasioned, we are bound to do so. may produce shame, but it is false shame. It is false shame, but true magnanimity. But whether shame or magnanimity, it is to be, if we would obtain remission from God of our fault through the merits and death of Christ, by means on our part of a hearty, unreserved, unfeigned repentance.

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XXXVI.

GOOD FRIDAY.

COLOSSIANS I. 12, 13, 14.

Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son; in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

It is observable, in the ordinary course of God's providence, that a variety of ends are sometimes brought about by the same means; and it is not unnatural to expect something of the same contrivance in his extraordinary interpositions. Agreeable to this, the death and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ was probably subservient to many beneficial purposes to one part or other of the universe, and to more than we can understand. Therefore, I question whether those proceed upon any good authority, who propose one single end and use of the death of Christ, as exclusive of all others, or as the only end designed by it, all others being accidental consequences or figurative applications. The death of Christ is represented as a sacrifice of the same nature, but of superior efficacy, with the Jewish sacrifice of old. Again, it is represented as a price paid for our redemption from sin and death, like the ransom that is paid when captives are redeemed and set at liberty. Again, it is considered as a martyrdom calculated to testify the truth and sincerity of our Lord's profession. Again, it is an exalted instance of love and affection to mankind; for, although he foresaw all along that this would be the consequence of his undertaking, yet, because he loved us, he would not desist from his ministry, though it cost him his life. It may be again conceived, and is in scripture conceived, that the death of Christ is a pattern to us of patience and humility, of fortitude and resolution in our benevolent endeavours, and firm constancy against whatever man was able to inflict or threaten. Others, lastly, represent it as the method by which God testified his utter and irreconcilable hatred to sin, which nothing was allowed to expiate but the blood of his own Son, and his love also to his creatures, who gave his own Son to die for our sins. But why might not the death of Christ be all these? There are separate passages of scripture where each one of these is spoken

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of as the end and effect of Christ's death; and to suppose that but one of those is the strict and literal account, and that all the rest are to be taken in a figurative or some qualified sense, is bringing great and unnecessary difficulties into the interpretation of scripture. These ends are all consistent with one another; and it is surely no defect in a scheme, that it serves many purposes at the same time. On the contrary, it affords a striking proof of the wisdom of the contriver; and if he contrive some of them plainly and others figuratively to express what he wants, they may be all equally real ends and equally appropriate; for it is very necessary, in explaining scripture, to observe, that when a reason, or motive, or end is assigned for a thing, it does not imply that this is the only reason, or motive, or end, though no other be mentioned, possibly, in that passage. Thus, in one place of the Old Testament it is said that God would deliver Jerusalem for his servant David's sake.' No other reason is mentioned here; but turn to the prophet Isaiah, and you there find that God would deliver Jerusalem for mine own name sake and my servant David's sake.' God's distinguished indulgence to the house of Israel is described to be sometimes for Jacob's sake, for his ancestor's sake, for God's own name sake, for his truth's sake, for his mercy's sake. All I wish to be observed is, that these reasons are not applicable to one, but are regarded as so many concurring motives and reasons for the same measure. I mean that, in order to give an adequate sense and substance to many passages of scripture, it is necessary to regard the manner of the writers; and that this regard may be without unfairness extended to the death of Christ.

The various ends of Christ's death may be divided into two kinds, the spiritual and moral. The spiritual consists in the benefit it procured us in the attainability of final salvation. The full nature and extent of this benefit, or in what precise way the death of Christ operates to produce it, needs not perhaps be perfectly understood. Reflect how little we know of the laws of nature, as they are called, or the laws and regulations by which the world of spirits is governed; still less of the lives which we shall experience in a world for which we are destined. According to that, the death of Christ may, both in an intelligible and a natural way, have an efficacy in promoting the salvation of human creatures. The moral ends of the death of Christ consist in the additional motives which it furnishes to a life of virtue and religion, as it is a pattern, and example, and

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