SERMON V.

MARK Vi. 12.

And they went out and preached that men should

repent.

THE preceding passage of the evangelist gives an account of our Saviour's sending forth his twelve disciples in his lifetime; and by his authority from God investing them with extraordinary divine powers, to give credit to their doctrine as coming from God, and to make men to attend to it.

And he here concludes with informing us what their great errand was, and the doctrine they were to preach; "that men should repent.' It was indeed the chief subject of the preaching of John the Baptist the forerunner of our Lord, and of Christ himself. And also after his resurrection we find him declaring (Luke xxiv. 47.) that the great end of his mission, of his death and resurrection, was to give authority

VOL. I.

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authority to this doctrine; "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." It is assuredly a subject of vast importance to all of us, both as men and as Christians.

I propose, therefore, to review the general doctrine of repentance: on what it is founded; the mistakes men have fallen into; and also what the Gospel teaches concerning it: closing the whole with an application of it to ourselves.

I.

It has been obvious to every serious mind, in all ages, that the will of the gracious Power that gave us our being, must be the rule and guide of the actions of his creatures, so far as they can discover it. This is a natural obligation and deference which we owe to, and cannot but think it a duty and our happiness to pay to, that wisdom and goodness of our Maker to which we are so much and so continually indebted, and by whose power we are every moment sustained.

And as in our feeble inquiries after him, who is at such an infinite distance from us, we cannot conceive or descry that he, who is

the

the most perfect goodness, could have any other end in creating reasonable beings, but to make them happy suitably to their natures,and which we also discover to be in fact his design, we gather from thence that it must be our duty to follow this great direction and example, and to contribute to the happiness of each other in its utmost extent. And in attending further to what we can know of the perfections of our Maker, of his will concerning us, and especially in our obeying this his primary design of creation and rule of duty to us, we are unavoidably led to see the fitness and the necessity of restraining our passions and appetites, of giving up our own ease and taking pains for the good of others, and of learning what is right, and fair, and just, and pure, and kind, and holy, and virtuous; and thereby framing our conduct, that we may approve ourselves to him who placed us here for a short time, but who has further views for us, which extend to endless time, if we defeat not his designs.

But so frail, alas! and fallible are we; so liable to be misled, especially in that first early season of life when reason is weak and passion strong, through others' neglect of us, and through

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through the influence of temptations in the world without us, that we are too often drawn to do wrong, to forget our duty to God and man, and to disturb the government and violate the laws of him that made us, and thereby lay a foundation of lasting misery to ourselves: because there can be no real happiness in opposition to his will; and we have reason to dread the consequences of his displeasure, while we violate his laws. For as he hath made us capable of governing ourselves by that rule of life and knowledge of his will, of what is good, and just, and pure, with which he hath made us acquainted; and we find that, by attending to or resisting those motives to our duty which he lays before us, we have it in our power to choose and pursue that virtue and holiness which he has prescribed, or the contrary; our conscience tells us, that whilst we act upon evil principles, and cherish unholy and unrighteous dispositions, we must be odious to him, the object of his dislike; and what he dislikes must be miserable.

And these our natural fears and most just conclusions we find to be verified in fact, in the constitution of things in which we are

placed.

placed. For however some few may outbrave it to the world, and may, by means of a singular good constitution and concurrence of outward circumstances, enjoy for a time great flow of health and strength in the midst of a life of vicious self-indulgence, and whilst they are trampling by their vices upon the happiness of others; some such monsters as these being now and then permitted to riot in ease and quiet, for wise ends of God's unsearchable providence: yet look around you, and observe, in general, if there be any being so miserable as the selfish, the vicious, the false, the designing, who regard not God or man, so that their own low views may be gratified; such habits and pursuits usually drawing after them a long train of bodily evils and present mortifying disappointment, and not seldom ending in anguish and debility of mind, more torturing and insupportable than the acutest bodily pains.

Now it is by these sufferings, brought on themselves by their evil doings, in various degrees, and these just sentiments of fear of the divine justice overtaking them, that sinful men, in general, are first awakened to a sense

of