beuse of guilt, be much increased by those secondary considerations; such as loss of character, estate, health, time squandered away and lost, (which characterise the whole of the soTTOW of the world, the shallow repentance which worketh death,) the sincere penitent is chiefly concerned at the magnitude of his sin as committed against God. This is the consideration which gives to sin all its bitterness; making it in the eye of Him and of the penitent, to be exceeding sinful. Against Thee, Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and clear when thou judgest." Before God sent his prophet to bring his sin to remembrance, and to denounce vengeance, it is probable, that David had little sense of the matter beyond an offence committed against man, against the injured and murdered Uriah. But when his sin is represented in its true light and deformity, he exclaims immediately, I have sinned against the Lord!' He views his sin in the light of ingratitude, as committed against a God of love; he therefore cries for forgiveness. "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions." A string is touched within his breast, which never vibrates

but in that of the true penitent; viz. a deep sense of mercies received, and of mercies abused. He implores the exercise of that mercy he had so greatly abused. So said he on another occasion, let me now fall into the hands of God, for his mercies are great.'

These are the considerations which mark the sorrow of the sincere penitent; his sinning against a God of knowledge and a God of love. His sin, therefore, cannot but be ever before him.'

II. Having considered what repentance sup. poses in order to be sincere; we will next point out the benefits arising herefrom.

Now although it may be, and is, a painful exercise to have sin always before us; to have conscience on the one hand reading us many a bitter lesson, and making us to possess the sins of our youth and the law of God on the other hand, unfolding to us all its purity; yet is it most salutary and beneficial. The end thereof is peace. When David had confessed his sin to the Prophet, what was the instant and gracious reply of the man of God? The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. God met also the Prodigal upon his return; nay, he almost prevented the repentance with which his heart was full. And how many are the instances recorded

in the Gospel of our Lord's merciful condescension and encouragement shown to the first returning symptom, Thy sins be forgiven thee;' 'go in peace;' her sins, though many, are forgiven her,' are phrases of perpetual occurrence. And how much more will He raise up and support those who for years have been bowed down under a sense of sin! Assuredly, they that sow in tears, shall reap in joy. He that now goeth on his way weeping, and beareth forth good seed, shall doubtless come again with joy, and bring his sheaves with him. "Blessed are they

that mourn, for they shall be comforted."

We cannot, I repeat, have our sin ever before us, and not derive the most beneficial effects therefrom. In addition to sorrow for the past, which is the very essence of repentance, it will produce in us watchfulness and circumspection for the future. Both these effects are strikingly set forth by the Apostle to the Corinthians. "For behold, says he, this same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you; yea, what clearing of yourselves; yea, what indignation; yea, what fear; yea, what vehement desire; yea, what zeal; yea, what revenge?"

It is evident, that a transient sorrow for sin, a momentary feeling of compunction, occasioned

by merely a glance at it, although appearing in all its terror and deformity, cannot involve all these particulars. It is true, indeed, that many of those cases we have alluded to which occur in scripture, of repentance, sudden as they appear to be, seem to belong to this transient kind of repentance, which we are now deprecating. But we may observe, first, that nothing more is re corded of such cases, in general, than what comes under our view at the moment. Secondly, that the spirit of God may have so touched the hearts of those persons as to produce instantaneous effects; and where, therefore, the ordinary steps and gradations were rendered unnecessary. These, however, are extraordinary instances of repentance and conversion; and, therefore, not applic able to our present purpose; although, thirdly, it is to be observed, that even with respect to these instances, we are not to suppose that such persons had never any further occasion for repentance; or, that even those sins, which were thus graciously forgiven them on an apparently short repentance, were done with, and cast behind their backs, never to return again to disquiet their consciences. Such is not the case. Their sins were, doubtless, ever before them, to humble them for the past, and to deter them for the future. Repented of, and forgiven, they

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Firm. How far is the condition of those viore sin is never before them? As a tender conscience is of all blessings perhaps the greatest, so a seared one, a conscience hardened in sin, and bind to consequences, is without doubt the greatest calamity that can happen to a man. And yet this is the condition of every habitual sinner. Many is the awful check he receives from conscience in the midst of his heedless career of vice and folly; but like Pharoah, upon every successive escape from its pressure, he still hardens his heart the more, till having filled up the measure of his iniquities, he is swallowed up and lost. Or allowing that he sometimes lends an ear to conscience; that he admits it to a conference, as the Roman Governor did Paul, yet alas! the impression is but momentary, the