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LECTURE II.

MOTIVES TO REPENTANCE.

ACTS III. 19.

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.

IN a former discourse I endeavoured to exhibit the nature of true Repentance, and to trace the stages through which the mind of the repenting sinner passes, on emerging "out of darkness into light." These stages of its progress are so many gradations of that entire change of mind which the term, rendered Repentance, is employed to denote. They were specified in five words,-Retrospection-Conviction-Contrition-Confession and Conversion. The first was shewn to be a change as it regards the employment of the thoughts-the second, as it regards the decisions of the conscience-the third, as it regards the emotions of the heart-the fourth, as it regards the acknowledgments of the lips, and the fifth, as it regards the course of the life.

Beyond all doubt, it is of high importance to entertain correct and scriptural views in

reference to the nature of true repentance; but accuracy of conception on the subject is not of itself sufficient. It is necessary, not only that we know in what Repentance consists, but that we actually exercise that Repentance which is "unto salvation, and which needeth not to be

repented of." Whenever the Apostles proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation, they invariably urged their hearers to repent, and enforced the most powerful motives to the exercise of Repentance. With "the word of their testimony," then, and the record of their proceedings for our guidance, and with the hope of that influence of the Holy Spirit, to which they owed all their success, let our attention be now directed to the great inducements to the exercise of Repentance which the gospel presents to our hearts. Be it then considered,

FIRST, That the imperative command of God requires us to exercise Repentance.

Without one single exception in the mass of this world's inhabitants," God now commandeth all men every where to repent." And does not the reasonableness of that requirement at once commend itself to our minds? Are we not all rebellious and apostate creatures, alienated in heart from God, and demonstrated to be “enemies by wicked works?" Have we not been criminally disaffected to the Author of our being,

both as the Sovereign Ruler, and as the Supreme Good? Have we not withheld from him both the obedience due to his authority, and the love due to his infinite excellencies? Of this disaffection, then, this disloyalty, this enmity, he calls us and commands us to repent. He requires an entire change of mind and feeling, of views and sentiments, in reference to his character and his claims; and he cannot but require it. He cannot waive the demand. At our peril we disregard the injunction, or even for a single moment postpone the act of obedience.

And while this command is undeniably reasonable, is it not also replete with encouragement? No such command is given to the fallen angels. Never went there forth from the throne of Him "that liveth for ever," a command that devils should repent. Whence then arises the difference? The answer is obvious. Apostate angels were never required to repent, and to return to their allegiance, because there was never any design to restore them from ruin, by the exercise of forgiving mercy. To us, on the contrary, the command is given, because for us is provided " a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord!" Obey, then, O sinful man, this reasonable and encouraging command. Draw near the throne of the heavenly grace and say "O thou who art the best of beings, and who hast on my heart the strongest claims, I

confess, I lament the baseness of my apostasy and the awful corruption of my heart. Most anxiously I desire to return to thee from whom I have revolted, through the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed and only Mediator, the gift of thine unspeakable love. Meekly and submissively would I acknowledge and obey the authority against which I have rebelled; and, repenting in dust and ashes, I implore thy forgiving mercy. To thee I now yield myself in body and soul and spirit; and in thy favour, which is better than life, would I henceforth seek my happiness!"

SECONDLY, It is the unalterable determination of God, that without Repentance there shall be no salvation.

To us, without exception, may be applied the words which the Lord Jesus Christ himself addressed to the inhabitants of Jerusalem-" Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." It might have been supposed, that such a declaration from the lips of him who came to save sinners, and who will hereafter come to judge the world, would sink deep into every heart, and excite universal solicitude. Yet it is with sinners now, as it was with the first transgressors, who listened to the father of lies rather than to the God of truth, and gave credit to those words of seducing falsehood-" Ye shall not surely die." They flatter themselves, that if they have faults,

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they have also excellencies; that if they have defects, they have also redeeming qualities; so that they may discharge from their minds all terrific apprehensions of being sentenced to " go away into everlasting punishment," in company with the immoral and the profane. But, Oh, thou who art still impenitent, let not a deceived heart delude thee to thy perdition; let not the enemy of thy soul seduce thee to thy ruin. It is the Son of God himself who has saidExcept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Rests thy hope for eternity on the fallacious and criminal supposition, that his words are wanting in truth? Is there, in his direct and explicit assertion, that which appears improbable, or unreasonable? Consult thine understanding, and say whether, without Repentance, there can be any fitness for the enjoyment of salvation, or any ground on which to build a hope of admission to its felicities? Canst thou expect to secure an entrance into heaven, retaining all thy disaffection towards its Sovereign, and those very propensities of mind and heart, which have given origin to all the iniquities of thy past life? Can there be tolerated in that world either positive aversion, or cold indifference, towards Him whom all heaven adores and loves, under the name and title of "the Lamb that was slain?" Will there ever be found within the precincts of the celestial

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