was held in the utmost detestation by all professors of paganism.

The apostle tells the Corinthians, that instead of having adopted, as they had, maxims which seemed to paliate incest, they should have imitated the conduct of the Jews, when they were obliged to excommunicate any scandalous offenders from their community. On these sad occasions, it was customary with the Jews to fast, to weep, and to put on mourning, as if the person were dead. Ye are puffed up, and have not mourned, as if he who had done this deed had been taken from you, ver. 2. This custom was followed afterward by Christians, witness a famous passage in the book entitled apostolical constitutions*; witness also these words of Origen, Christians mourn as over the dead for those whom they are obliged to separate from them; however odious and infectious a member of our body may be, we always do violence to our selves when we are under a necessity of cutting it offt. This is not all. St. Paul, not content with general censures and reproofs, thought this one of the extreme cases, in which the honour of his apostleship would oblige him to take his ecclesiastical rod, and to perform one of those formidable miracles, which God enabled the primitive Christians to work. You cannot but know, that among other miraculous gifts which God communicated for the establishment of Christianity, that of inflicting remarkable punishments on some offenders was one of the most considerable. St. Peter employed this power against *Constit. Apostol. lib. ii. cap. 41. † Orig, lib. iii. cont. Celsum.

3

Ananias, whom he caused to fall dead at his feet, and against the wife of this miserable prevaricator, to whom he said, Behold! the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out, Acts v. 9. St. Paul speaks of this power in this style, The weapons of our warfare are mighty through God, in readiness to revenge all disobedience, 2 Cor. x. 4, 6. Our apostle used this power against Elymas the sorcerer, and against Hymeneus and Alexanders he thought he ought also to use it against the incestuous Corinthian, and to deliver him to Satan, 1 Cor. v. 5. thus was this terrible dispensation described.

Such an exertion of apostolical power was indispensibly necessary; it reclaimed those by fear whom mildness could not move; while an indulgence for such a crime as this would have encouraged the commission of many more. But the apostle, while he used this power, was extremely uneasy on account of the necessity that forced him to exercise it. I wrote unto you, says he, out of much affliction and anguish of heart with many tears, 2 Cor. i. 4. He not only declares, that he had no intention by punishing the culprit to destroy his soul; but that he even feared those sharp censures which his letter had engaged the Corinthian church to inflict, would produce impressions too terrific on the soul of the incestuous sinner, or, as he expresses it, that he would be swal lowed up with over much sorrow, ver. 7.

He goes further in my text, and in the whole chapter from which I have taken it. He wishes to indemnify himself for the violent anguish that he had suffered, when he was obliged to treat his dear Co

rinthians with extreme rigour. He comforts himself by recollecting the salutary effects which his zeal had produced, Though I made you sorry with a letter, says he in the words immediately before the text, I do not repent; though I did repent; because ye sorron' to repentance, for ye were made sorry after a godly manner. In the text he establisheth this general maxim for all Christians, "Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death."

Godly sorrow has for its

The connection of the text with the whole subject, that we have been explaining, was, as I said before, the best comment that we could propose to explain the text itself. By what we have heard, it is easy to understand what godly sorrow is, and what the sorrow of the world. object sin committed against God, or rather, godly sorrow is the grief of a man who repents of his sins as God would have him repent; it is the sorrow of a man who afflicts himself not only because he is miserable, but because he deserves to be so ; and because he hath violated those laws of righteousness and holiness which his own conscience approves. The sorrow of the world is that which hath worldly blessing for its object; or it is the grief of a man who repents of his sins as worldly men repent; it is the sorrow of one who is more concerned for his misery than for sin, the cause of it, and who would even increase his crimes to get rid of his troubles. The ground of St. Paul's reasoning then, is this: Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, or, as it may be rendered, saving repentance not to be repented of;

that is to say, a man who afflicts himself on the accounts which we have mentioned, will be exercised at first, indeed, with violent anguish; but in a little time he will derive from this very anguish substantial comfort and joy, because his sorrow for sin will induce him to subdue it, and to pray for the pardon of it. On the other hand, the sorrow of the world worketh death, that is to say, either the sorrow which is occasioned by the loss of earthly enjoyments is fatal to him who gives himself up to it; for, as the wise man saith, a broken spirit drieth the bones, Prov. xvii. 22. or the sorrow of the world worketh death, because such a repentance as that of worldlings will never obtain the forgiveness that is promised to those who truly repent. In this latter sense I take the words here.

This is a general view of the scope of the apostle, and of his ideas in the text, ideas which we must develope in order to lead you into the spirit of the holy supper of the Lord, that so the sermon may contribute to the devotion of the day. I speak of those ideas which St. Paul gives us of godly sorrow, saving repentance, not to be repented of; for we cannot enlarge on that which he calls sorrow of the world, without diverting your attention from the solemn service of this day. We will, therefore, content ourselves with tracing a few characters of it in the body of this discourse, that you may perceive how different the virtue which the apostle recommends is, from the vice which he intends to destroy.

Godly sorrow then, is the principal object of our contemplation, and there are three things that de

mand a particular attention. The causes which produce it; the effects that follow it; and the blessings with which it is accompanied. The first of these articles will describe your state a few days ago, when examining your consciences, (if, indeed, you did examine them,) you were overwhelmed with a remembrance of your sins. How could you cast your eyes on these sad objects without feeling that sorrow which a penitent expresses thus, O Lord! righteousness belongeth unto thee: but unto me confusion of face, Dan. ix. 7. Against thee, thee only, O God! have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight; Psal. li. 4. The second article will describe your present condition. How can you feel godly sorrow, without resolving, by reiterated acts of love to God, to dissipate that darkness which covered all the evidences of your love to him, during the whole course of your sins? The third article will describe your future condition, through life, at death, in the day of judgment, and throughout all eternity. Happy periods! joyful revolutions! in which penitent souls, washed in the Redeemer's blood, may expect nothing but grace, glory, and fulness of joy! This is the whole plan of this discourse. Blessed be God, who calls us to day to exercise such an honourable ministry! What pleasure to preach such a gospel to a people to whom we are united by the tenderest love! "O ye Corinthians! O ye our beloved brethren, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us: but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged, 2 Cor. vi. 11—13.