Self-examination a necessary Duty.

II. Whether we "have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ?"

III. Whether we have a thankful remem"brance of his death?"

IV. Whether we 66 are in charity with all "" men?"

Points, each of which deserves a larger treatment than this short exercise; and yet you may come to some safe determination about them, if you will attend to what is now to be set before you.

I. Then, to examine whether you repent truly "of your former sins, stedfastly purposing to lead a new life," you must understand what is meant by evangelical repentance, and newness of life. shall describe them as including,

1. Divine conviction of sin.

2. A sorrow for sin.

3. Hatred of sin.

4. Forsaking of sin.

5. An evident change wrought upon your heart and life.

1. Divine conviction of sin. This, our Lord says, is the express work and office of the SpiritHe shall convince the world of sin. The conscience

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Self-examination a necessary Duty.

may receive from other sources conviction, but till God the Spirit effectually opens the eyes to see, and the heart to feel, no repentance unto salvation never to be repented of, will be exercised. Other sources of conviction will be as the early dew, or morning cloud, transient-will leave no deep, permanent, and effectual impression: but when God will work, and he turns the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, then shall we be turned. The means he usually employs for this purpose are his Law and Gospel; opening the spirituality of the one, and the guilt of rejecting the other. Sometimes awakening providences, afflictive losses, sudden bereavements, or personal sufferings, or the like, prepare the heart for receiving the word of salvation; and perhaps, though less frequently, without the instrumentality of means, God the Spirit may make secret impressions on the conscience, and bring sin to remembrance. But in whatever way he works, his arrows stick fast, and leave no rest to the soul, till it turns to him from whom we have so greatly departed.

2. Evangelical repentance includes sorrow for sin. They who sow in tears, shall reap in joy. And when have we so much cause to be exercising sorrow for our sins, and to mourn, as when we are coming to look upon him whom we have pierced? Here the foundation of repentance must be laid. We must lay to heart the great dishonour we have done to God by our sins, how many and great they have been, how vile our nature and hearts are, as well as how perverse our ways have been. We

Self-examination a necessary Duty.

must reflect upon the ingratitude of sin, and how every act, every thought of it, has added a pang to the Saviour's agony. We must consider it as the grieving of the Spirit, the defilement of his temple, our bodies, and the abominable thing which he hateth. We should reflect on the wages of sin, even death eternal, and that of but one sin. How deeply then are we in arrear to the divine justice, when heart and life have been nothing but sin! Thus its evil nature and heavy guilt should both conspire to beget in us the deepest sorrow and remorse that ever we should dare transgress against the Majesty of Heaven and the Father of Mercy; that ever we should be ungrateful to a dying Jesus; that ever we should provoke the patient Spirit; that ever we should madly trifle with our souls, and plunge them into such awful condemnation. But have such thoughts ever been harboured in your hearts? Are you now desiring to mourn for your iniquities; and do they, in these views, dwell upon your heart as a sore burden, too heavy for you to bear? Are you sore smitten on the grievous remembrance, and ready, like the Prophet, to wish for a head of waters, and eyes like a fountain of tears, to run down day and night, for iniquities which a sea of your own tears would never wash away? Do you know any such sorrow, and is the grief for your sins the bitterest cup you have ever drank of? This is a gracious disposition; for true godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, never to be repented of.

3. Repentance implies an abhorrence of sin and ourselves. Behold (says Job) I am vile, therefore I

Self-examination a necessary Duty.

repent, and abhor myself in dust and ashes. It is impossible, where a true sense of sin is upon the heart, this should be wanting; the heart then rises up with indignation, with revenge against himself, as St. Paul expresses it, and cannot bear the view of the past without self-loathing. To think how vilely we have acted, how insolently we have returned all God's kindness with abuse, how we have turned all his blessings into a curse, how we have slighted the love of Christ, how we have resisted the Holy Ghost in his word, in his providences, in all the methods of grace he hath used with us; in short, how we have sold ourselves, as it were, to work wickedness; and now to think of returning to the bosom of our God thus polluted and defiled, what vile wretches must we be in our own eyes ! and to see ourselves such, is absolutely necessary before we can return. Then (saith the Lord) they shall return, and remember their own evil ways, and their doings which were not good, and shall loathe themselves for all their iniquities, and for all their abominations. Are you conscious of any such selfabhorrence? Can you adopt the language of Job's self-loathing, and, in the view of your sins, find the inward risings of disgust and displeasure against yourself and them? Do you appear in your own eyes a monster of ingratitude, and feel your heart detesting sin, which hath made you so, more than you detest the vilest objects in nature? At least is it your desire to hate it more than you do? This is the work of true repentance,

4. Repentance implies a forsaking of sin. We cannot indeed but forsake it, if we have groaned

Self-examination a necessary Duty.

under its burden, and felt its odious ingratitude. How shall we think of continuing a moment longer in a state so displeasing to God, so grievous to ourselves? Here the sword of the Spirit is lifted up against every darling idol. Repenting, we renounce every covenant with sin, and our allegiance to Satan, and burst his bands, and break his cords off from us. No known sin can be any longer habitually indulged; not only the outward sins, whose open nature was more flagrantly rebellious, such as profaneness, passion, lewdness, drunkenness, lying, sabbath-breaking, covetousness, and the like; but the more secret heart-sins will be renounced; vain thoughts, and vile affections, as well as actions, must be forsaken; no little sins any longer plead the privilege of custom or necessity, If we are sincere in our repentance, without pitying or sparing, our eye will search every corner of our heart; and wherever we find the traitor, we shall bring him forth, and slay him before the Lord; and our darling sin will meet with the severest treatment; that we shall lay most violent hands upon, whilst repentance cries, Down with it, down with it even to the ground! a right eye, a right hand, any thing, however near and tear to us, away it goes! Repentance makes thorough work. It is not a partial reformation—this is in many where true repentance hath never wrought its effectual work; and thousands have been undone by the mistake, whilst conscience hath made them part from some sins, and be more restrained and decent than before but they have still dealt deceitfully with the Lord, their hearts have not been whole with him, and so they have gone no further than Ahab's hu