them; and also prepared to return good for evil, and blessing for reproach, that by our good works, which they behold, they may glorify God in the day of visitation.

Finally we are led from this subject,

III. TO BLESS GOD IF WE OURSELVES HAVE BEEN ENABLED TO DISCOVER AND FEEL THE POWER

AND WISDOM OF THE CROSS OF CHRIST. It is to the same grace which gave the Saviour to die for sinners, that we are indebted for being brought to a saving knowledge of him. By the grace of God we are what we are. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. This is implied in an expression of my text to which I have not hitherto expressly adverted; it is to them that are CALLED, says the Apostle, that Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. We are directed by this language devoutly to attribute any difference between ourselves and others, to the free mercy of God, It is he who hath called us by his grace; who hath called us according to his purpose; who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Let us then ascribe to him ali

the praise. Let us glory in any sufferings which may arise from this heavenly vocation. Let us walk worthy of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus; and, renouncing more and more our pride and vain wisdom, confine our exultation to that Cross, in which are combined all the displays of God's power, and all the treasures of his wisdom and knowledge.

SERMON 11.

CONVICTION OF SIN.

ACTS, II. 37.

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

THE first step in repentance is a due sense of our sins. This sense of sin is the beginning of true religion in the heart; and it is substantially the same in all who are converted unto God. Man is a transgressor of the divine law, and till he is deeply sensible of this, he will not forsake his iniquities, or seek for the pardonof them through the atonement of Jesus Christ, or begin a new course of life. The chief object of the Christian ministry, so far as irreligious persons are concerned, should, therefore, be the same with that of the Apostle Peter in the sermon connected with the text, to produce conviction of sin. The circumstances may indeed vary; but the end to be pursued is the same and it is by the plain statement of truth that God is pleased to impress men with the

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sense of their condition and danger. In endeavouring then to explain the nature of that sorrow, or compunction, of mind which is the beginning of real repentance, I shall consider, from the words before us,

I. The instructions which are the means of producing it;

II. The sorrow or compunction itself;
III. And the inquiry to which it leads.

I. We are to notice THE INSTRUCTIONS WHICH

ARE THE MEANS OF PRODUCING SORROW FOR SIN.

It is particularly stated in the text, that the Jews to whom St. Peter addressed his sermon, When they had heard this, that is, his declaration that Jesus whom they had crucified was Lord and Christ, were pricked in their hearts. The means which God used, therefore, to awaken their minds was the word of truth. St. Peter demonstrated in a plain argumentative discourse that Jesus was the true Messiah: he proved that the gift of tongues was a fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel; that God had accomplished his own purposes in the death of Christ; and that the resurrection of Jesus was expressly foretold in the book of Psalms. He boldly declared that he and his brethren were witnesses of this resurrection, and that the miracles which followed were the effects of his exaltation to the right hand of the Father. He then demon

strated, from the 110th Psalm, that the Messiah was seated on the right hand of God, in order that his foes might be made his footstool: and he concluded by affirming, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. Similar was the method pursued by the Apostles in several other sermons recorded in the AcTs. They appealed to the Old Testament, which their audience regarded as the Oracles of God; they proved from this that Jesus was the true Messiah; they charged upon the Jews the guilt of his death; and then they exhorted them to repentance and conversion. Their instructions consisted of faithful statements of those truths which were best adapted to convince them of their sins, and of bold and forcible appeals to their consciences. Thus numbers were pricked in their heart, and the Lord added to the church such as should be saved. (Ver. 47.)

In like manner, the preaching of the word of God is, in every age, the usual means of producing sorrow for sin in the minds of the impenitent. Truth is the instrument of conviction. Our congregations are not now, indeed, in the same circumstances with those whom the Apostles addressed. The Saviour does not come in person to them, or work his miracles, or deliver his divine discourses in their presence;