LECTURES ON THE SHORTER CATECHISM OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES-ADDRESSED TO YOUTH.

LECTURE LXV.

In our last lecture, we entered on the consideration of the important doctrine of repentance, as stated in our catechism; and I proposed to make the several clauses of the answer relative to this doctrine, the subject of discussion, in the same order in which they stand in the answer itself. Without recapitulating any thing already said, I now ask your attention to the clause which states, that in repentance unto life, a sinner "doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto

God."

There is a very striking passage in the prophecy of Zechariah, [xii. 10] which will furnish us with a just view of the chief source, and the just measure, of that grief which a true penitent will feel on account of his sin-"They shall look upon me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first born." We know from the quotation of these words by the beloved apostle, [John xix. 37] and his referring them to the Ch. Adv.-VOL. X.

crucifiers of our blessed Lord, that this was intended to be their primary application: and there was a striking fulfilment of the prophecy on the day of Pentecost, when many of those who had been concerned in the actual crucifixion of Christ, " were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?" But this, though the special, was not intended to be the exclusive application of the prophecy, it was doubtless intended to exhibit the feelings of all, who truly repent of their sins under the gospel dispensation, in a view of their guilt as exhibited in the cross of Christ. Scott's remarks on this passage, in his commentary, is unquestionably just. He says "Whilst we condemn the conduct of him who betrayed, and of those who crucified the Lord of glory, we shall not exculpate ourselves. We shall remember, that in fact our sins were the cause of the Redeemer's crucifixion; our ingratitude and dishonourable conduct have often tendered towards the guilt of crucifying him afresh. We may therefore all look to him whom we have pierced, and upon our sins as the thorns, the nails, and the spear. This will increase the poignancy of our sorrow and remorse, while we hope for mercy through that

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blood which we helped to shed. When our sins are viewed in this glass, we see more cause to mourn for them, than for the loss of any earthly object; and we become inconsolable, save by the consolations of the blessed gospel." To this place I have reserved what might have been added, and if strictness of method had alone been considered, should have been added, as a third particular, when I showed in my last lecture, what is included in a true sense of sin. But as the deepest mourning does commonly arise in the mind of the believer, from a view of his sin as being concerned in the awful and inconceivable sufferings and ignominious death of his Saviour, it seems peculiarly proper to point your attention to this source of godly sorrow, when speaking distinctly of the true penitent's grief for sin. Often when he thinks of the ineffable agony and unparalleled humiliation of the Son of God, at the time that the combined inflictions of heaven, earth, and hell, fell upon him, he is ready to cry out "My sins had a share in it all; yes, those very sins which he thus suffered and died to expiate, were concerned in degrading, and tormenting, and murdering my blessed Saviour. What a guilty wretch have I been!-'O that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night' for those crimson and scarlet crimes, which insulted and slew the Redeemer in whom is all my hope. He has indeed forgiven me all; but that matchless generosity, grace, and goodness, is the very thing that touches me the most tenderly; so that when I think what to him was the cost of his forgiveness of me, I am ready to ask, how shall I ever forgive myself? Shall I not forever grieve to think that the best friend of my soul, he who has delivered me from eternal perdition, and raised me

to the hope of heavenly bliss, was wounded for my transgressions, was bruised for my iniquities, that the chastisement of my peace was upon him, and that with his stripes I am healed." My dear youth, such grief for sin as this, is discriminating. The ungodly world know nothing of the kind. The carnally minded may indeed weep, and I believe they sometimes do in fact weep, when they hear a lively description of the sufferings of Christ. But they weep, just as they do at a tragedy in the theatre. They never, I suspect, weep in secret; and I am sure they never grieve and weep under a view of their own sins, as the crucifiers of the Lord of life and glory-They never weep at the indignities and anguish which their guilt caused to him who must save them, if saved they ever are, from the awful wrath to come. This is a weeping and a grief, which belong only to the genuine and pardoned penitent.

The sensibilities of some minds are much keener and stronger than those of others, and this difference of natural temperament will, as I have heretofore remarked, commonly show itself in religion, as in every thing else. But that individual who has tears in abundance to shed over earthly losses-over the loss of relatives, of property, of personal reputation, or of public calamity-and yet never weeps for his sins-knows nothing of the repentance which is unto life. Think of the strong language of the text I have quoted-" they shall mourn as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness for his first born." Can any construction be given to this language, which can render it applicable to those who think of their sins with but a slight and seldom repeated sorrow? Truly I am ready to believe, that he who has been for any length of time in the profession of

religion, and has not shed more tears before his God on account of his sins, and in pleading for their remission and for renewed pardon, than he has shed for all other causes and on all other occasions of weeping, in his whole life-he, I am ready to believe, is a Christian only in profession. Of genuine repentance, it seems to me, he must be entirely ignorant. How did the apostle Paul, although he was assured of his forgiveness, humble himself through the whole of his life, in the recollection of his guilt in his unconverted state; and after all his high attainments in grace, how did he mourn and lament over the remaining sinfulness of his heart-"O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

I now proceed to remark, that he who truly grieves for sin, will of necessity hate it. We never grieve, because we possess that which we love, and in which we delight. It is true, indeed, as has been shown, that he who has only a legal repentance, may be really sorry that he has exposed himself to punishment. But let any one perceive impressively, that his sin has rendered him a guilty and an inexcusable rebel against his God; has made him loathsome and abominable in his own view, and in the view of all holy beings; and has made him a partner with the crucifiers of that Saviour through whom alone he has the hope of pardon and eternal life-let him have this apprehension of sin, and he cannot but hate it-hate it, worse than he hates any thing beside. He will hate it in all its shapes, and forms, and degrees. Shame, and poverty, and pain, and death itself, will not be the subjects of as much aversion, as that which he feels against sin. He will be ready to say, "keep me from sin, and let whatever else

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befall me, I can and will, by the help of God, endure it." The inbred sin of his nature, and the sin which most easily besets him, he will hate as much as any overt acts of transgression whatsoever. word, love and hatred are the exact opposites of each other; and as the love of holiness is implanted in the heart of every true penitent, sin, which is the opposite of holiness, must be hated-and hated just in proportion as holiness is possessed.

From the perceptions and feelings that I have now described, you perceive at once, that he who experiences them must and will turn from sin. We are naturally and strongly prone to turn away from that which we loath and hate, and when left to our voluntary choice, we do so in every imaginable instance. Now, there is no other conceivable object, as we have seen, that is so perfectly detestable, to every genuine penitent, as sin. From this, therefore, he will turn with the most deep-felt abhorrence. It is no valid objection to this assertion, that the remainders of sin adhere to the really penitent while they live, and that there is not a day of their lives in which they can say that they have not sinned. Our position may seem like a paradox to those who have no experimental acquaintance with a divine and spiritual life. But hear the apostle Paul, whose explanation of this paradox needs no comment: "For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not. For the good that I would, I do not: but the evil which

I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." Again, this same apostle says "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." Alas! my young friends, it is this abhorrence of all sin, and himself on account of it— this turning away from it, and struggling against it, while a portion of unsanctified nature is perpetually drawing in an opposite direction-drawing him into what he hates-it is this very thing, that constitutes the believing penitent's sorest conflict while he remains in life. Still it is true, that he watches and strives against all sin, and all temptations to it, both outward and inward; and therefore it may be said with the strictest truth, that he turns from it, and "exercises himself to have always a conscience void of offence, toward God and toward man."

The catechism adds, that it is "unto God" that the true penitent turns. This is the point which distinguishes genuine repentance from every counterfeit. Every legalist, and all unsanctified persons, whatever length they may apparently go in religion, do not return unto God. It was this, of which the prophet Hosea represents the God of Israel as complaining"They have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds-They return, but not to the Most High." It is no uncommon thing for impenitent men to turn from one sin to another; from sins which are re

proachful before the world, to those which have fashion or popular opinion on their side; or to impieties or impurities which may be indulged in secret. But the real penitent turns from all sin unto God-To God he comes, through faith in Christ Jesus, as the great Mediator and intercessor between him and his offended Maker as the appointed propitiation for the sins of men-he comes and confesses his aggravated guilt; he comes and pleads the efficacy of that blood which cleanseth from all sin, that he may be pardoned, and cleansed, and justified, and sanctified, and saved; he comes and prays for the powerful influence of the Holy Spirit, to renew and sanctify him more and more, to destroy the love of sin, and cherish the love of holiness in his heart; he comes and pleads that God would constantly strengthen him against the power of temptation; he comes, in a word, and devotes himself unreservedly to God, to do his will, to obey his commandments, to be his guide even unto death, and his eternal portion beyond the grave.

It cannot be otherwise than that he who acts in the manner just described, should have “a full purpose," and use his most strenuous "endeavours," to walk before God in "new obedience." A full purpose to yield obedience to all the commands of God, may here be considered as opposed to a purpose that is partial or temporary, or to one that is to be carried into effect at some future time. How many are there who purpose to leave off the commission of certain sins, and even do what they purpose, while they form no resolution to abandon others of equal moral turpitude? How many are there whose resolutions of an entire amendment, however ardently formed, are broken and forgotten, without being followed by any lasting change of outward conduct

or inward disposition? And how very many are there, who purpose and fondly flatter themselves that at some future period they will turn from sin to God, and yet live and die impenitent and utterly unreformed? But the execution of the full purpose we consider, is commenced without any delay, is directed against every sin, and becomes a fixed principle of the mind. He who entertains it says with the prodigal, "I will arise and go unto my father." Hence it is, as the Catechism states, that this full purpose is connected with an "endeavour"—and it is a full, or strenuous endeavour-to yield a new obedience to all the divine requisitions. Purposes without endeavours, professed repentance without reformation, declarations of sorrow for sin without forsaking and avoiding it, are all empty, vain, and useless-They indicate nothing, except that the parties concerned deceive either themselves or others. He who has a sincere and full purpose to obey, will look to God in earnest prayer for grace and strength, and in reliance on these will instantly endeavour, with all his might, to carry his purpose into effect and into effect it will in some good measure be carried-True repentance will always produce, as its natural fruit, obedience to what God requires.

The terms new obedience, used not only here, but in another answer of the catechism, seem to demand some special attention. Why, it may be asked, is the obedience which the true penitent endeavours after, called a new obedience? In what respects is it new? I answer, 1. it is new in regard to its extent. Impenitent men, as we have seen, may render a partial outward obedience to the commands of God; but they never go farther. But the true penitent says with the Psalmist, "then shall I not be ashamed, when I have re

spect unto all thy commandments." There is with him no taking of one duty and leaving another; no satisfaction in obeying the second table of the law, while the first is disregarded; no separating the duties which we owe to God, our neighbour, and ourselves; no severing of the feelings and affections of the heart from outward visible actions. In a word, a new obedience, though imperfect in degree, is impartial and universal in regard to its objects. It says with David-" I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way." 2. The obedience we consider may be called new, because it proceeds from new principles and motives. Men in their natural state are often influenced to perform what they call duty; and which, as to the external act, is duty, from the dictates of natural conscience, from a regard to their own interest or reputation, or from a mercenary hope of heaven, or a slavish fear of hell. But evangelical obedience

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the obedience of every true penitent-springs from sources of a character entirely different. origin is the imparted grace of God, and it flows forth as the expression of faith and love-“ The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Show me thy faith by thy works-Whatsoever is not of faith is sin-This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith-faith that worketh by love. Love is the fulfilling of the law--If ye love me keep my commandments-The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died for them and rose again."