merable company of angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect: that is,

"Earth and heaven all agree;

All is one great family."

And they are likewise holy and undefiled, while they walk after the Spirit: although sensible, there is another principle in them, and that these are contrary to each other.

7. "But Christians are reconciled to God. Now this could not be, if any of the carnal mind remained: for this is enmity against God: consequently, no reconciliation can be effected, but by its total destruction."

And in

We are reconciled to God through the blood of the cross. the moment, the goua cagxos, the corruption of nature, which is enmity with God, is put under our feet, the flesh has no more dominion over us. But it still exists: and it is still in its nature enmity with God, lusting against his Spirit.

8. "But they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with its affections and lusts," Gal. v. 24. They have so: yet it remains in them still, and often struggles to break from the cross. "Nay, but they have put off the old man with his deeds," Col. iii. 9. They have: and in the sense above described, "old things have passed away; all things are become new." A hundred texts may be cited to the same effect. And they will all admit of the same answer. "But to say all in one word, Christ gave himself for the Church, that it might be holy, and without blemish," Eph. v. 25. 27. And so will it be in the end but it never was yet, from the beginning to this day.

9. "But let experience speak. All who are justified do at that time find an absolute freedom from all sin." That I doubt: but, if they do, do they find it ever after? Else you gain nothing. "If they do not, it is their own fault." That remains to be proved.

10. "But in the very nature of things, can a man have pride in him, and not be proud? Anger, and yet not be angry?"

A man may have pride in him, may think himself in some particulars above what he ought to think, (and so be proud in that particu¬ lar,) and yet not be a proud man in his general character. He may have anger in him, yea, and a strong propensity to furious anger, without giving way to it. "But can anger and pride be in that heart, where only meekness and humility are felt?" No; but some pride and anger may be in that heart, where there is much humility and meekness.

"It avails not to say, these tempers are there, but they do not reign. For sin cannot, in any kind or degree, exist where it does not reign. For guilt and power are essential properties of sin. Therefore, where one of them is, all must be."

Strange indeed! "Sin cannot, in any kind or degree, exist where it does not reign." Absolutely contrary this to all experience, all Scripture, all common sense. Resentment of an affront is sin, it is avouta, disconformity to the law of love. This has existed in me a thousand times. Yet it did not, and does not reign. "But guilt

and power are essential properties of sin; therefore, where one is, all must be." No in the instance before us, if the resentment I feel is not yielded to, even for a moment, there is no guilt at all, no condemnation from God upon that account. And in this case, it has no power though it lusteth against the Spirit, it cannot prevail. Here, therefore, as in ten thousand instances, there is sin without either guilt or power.

11. "But the supposing sin in a believer is pregnant with every thing frightful and discouraging. It implies the contending with a power, that has the possession of our strength, maintains his usurpation of our hearts, and there prosecutes the war in defiance of our Redeemer." Not so. The supposing sin is in us, does not imply, that it has the possession of our strength. No more than a man crucified has the possession of those that crucify him. As little does it imply, that "sin maintains its usurpation of our hearts." The usurper is dethroned. He remains indeed where he once reigned; but remains in chains. So that he does, in some sense, "prosecute the war," yet he grows weaker and weaker: while the believer goes on from strength to strength, conquering and to conquer.

12. "I am not satisfied yet. He that has sin in him is a slave to sin. Therefore, you suppose a man to be justified, while he is a slave to sin. Now, if you allow, men may be justified while they have pride, anger, or unbelief in them; nay, if you aver, These are (at least, for a time) in all that are justified: what wonder that we have so many proud, angry, unbelieving believers ?"

I do not suppose any man who is justified, is a slave to sin. Yet, I do suppose, sin remains (at least for a time) in all that are justified. "But, if sin remains in a believer, he is a sinful man: if pride, for instance, then he is proud: if self-will, then he is self-willed; if unbelief, then he is an unbeliever; consequently, no believer at all. How then does he differ from unbelievers, from unregenerate men."

This is still mere playing upon words. It means no more, than, if there is sin, pride, self-will in him, then-there is sin, pride, selfwill. And this no body can deny. In that sense then he is proud, or self-willed. But he is not proud or self-willed in the same sense that unbelievers are, that is, governed by pride or self-will. Herein he differs from unregenerate men. They obey sin, he does not. Flesh is in them both. But they walk after the flesh he walks after the Spirit.

"But how can unbelief be in a believer?" That word has two meanings. It means either no faith, or little faith; either the absence of faith, or the weakness of it. In the former sense, unbelief is not in a believer; in the latter, it is in all babes. Their faith is commonly mixed with doubt or fear, that is, in the latter sense, with unbelief. "Why are ye fearful, says our Lord, O ye of little faith?" Again, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ?" You see here was unbelief in a believer: little faith and much unbelief.

13. "But this doctrine, That sin remains in a believer: That a

man may be in the favour of God, while he has sin in his heart, certainly tends to encourage men in sin." Understand the proposition right, and no such consequence follows. A man may be in God's favour though he feel sin; but not if he yields to it Having sin,

does not forfeit the favour of God; giving way to sin does. Though the flesh in you lust against the Spirit, you may still be a child of God. But if you walk after the flesh, you are a child of the devil. Now this doctrine does not encourage you to obey sin, but to resist it with all your might.

V. 1. The sum of all is this. There are in every person, even after he is justified, two contrary principles, nature and grace, termed by St. Paul, the flesh and the spirit. Hence, although even babes in Christ are sanctified, yet it is only in part. In a degree, according to the measure of their faith, they are spiritual: yet, in a degree, they are carnal. Accordingly, believers are continually exhorted to watch against the flesh, as well as the world and the devil. And to this agrees the constant experience of the children of God. While they feel this witness in themselves, they feel a will not wholly resigned to the will of God. They know they are in him, and yet find a heart ready to depart from him, a proneness to evil in many instances, and a backwardness to that which is good. The contrary doctrine is wholly new: never heard of in the church of Christ, from the time of his coming into the world, till the time of Count Zinzendorf. And it is attended with the most fatal consequences. It cuts off all watching against our evil nature, against the Delilah, which we are told is gone, though she is still lying in our bosom. It tears away the shield of weak believers, deprives them of their faith, and so leaves them exposed to all the assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

2. Let us, therefore, hold fast the sound doctrine "once delivered to the saints," and delivered down by them, with the written word, to all succeeding generations: that, although we are renewed, cleansed, purified, sanctified, the moment we truly believe in Christ, yet we are not then renewed, cleansed, purified altogether: but the flesh, the evil nature still remains (though subdued) and wars against the Spirit. So much the more, let us use all diligence in "fighting the good fight of faith." So much the more earnestly let us "watch and pray," against the enemy within. The more carefully let us take to ourselves, and "put on the whole armour of God:" that, although "we wrestle" both "with flesh and blood, and with principalities, and powers, and wicked spirits in high places," we "may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

SERMON XIV.

THE REPENTANCE OF BELIEVERS.

Repent ye, and believe the Gospel." MARK i. 15.

1. IT is generally supposed, That repentance and faith are only the gate of religion; that they are necessary only at the beginning of our Christian course, when we are setting out in the way to the kingdom. And this may seem to be confirmed by the great Apostle, where, exhorting the Hebrew Christians to "go on to perfection," he teaches them to leave these "first principles of the doctrine of Christ not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God:" which must at least mean, that they should comparatively leave these, that at first took up all their thoughts, in order to "press forward toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

2. And this is undoubtedly true, that there is a repentance and a faith, which are, more especially, necessary at the beginning. A repentance, which is a conviction of our utter sinfulness, and guiltiness, and helplessness: and which precedes our receiving that kingdom of God, which our Lord observes, is "within us," and a faith, whereby we receive that kingdom, even "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."

3. But, notwithstanding this, there is also a repentance and a faith, (taking the words in another sense, a sense not quite the same, nor yet entirely different,) which are requisite after we have "believed the Gospel " yea, and in every subsequent stage of our Christian course, or we cannot "run the race which is set before us." ." And this repentance and faith are full as necessary, in order to our continuance and growth in grace, as the former faith and repentance were, in order to our entering into the kingdom of God.

But in what sense are we to repent and believe, after we are justified? This is an important question, and worthy of being considered with the utmost attention.

I. And, first, In what sense are we to repent?

1. Repentance frequently means, an inward change, a change of mind from sin to holiness. But now we speak of it in quite a dif

ferent sense, as it is one kind of self-knowledge, the knowing ourselves sinners, yea, guilty, helpless sinners, even though we know we are children of God.

2. Indeed when we first know this, when we first find redemption in the blood of Jesus, when the love of God is first shed abroad in our hearts, and his kingdom set up therein, it is natural to suppose that we are no longer sinners, that all our sins are not only covered but destroyed. As we do not then feel any evil in our hearts, we readily imagine none is there. Nay, some well-meaning men have imagined this not only at that time, but ever after; having persuaded themselves, that when they were justified, they were entirely sanctified. Yea, they have laid it down as a general rule, in spite of Scripture, reason, and experience. These sincerely believe and earnestly maintain, that all sin is destroyed when we are justified, and that there is no sin in the heart of a believer, but that it is altogether clean from that moment. But though we readily acknowledge, "he that believeth is born of God," and "he that is born of God doth not commit sin :" yet, we cannot allow that he does not feel it within; it does not reign, but it does remain. And a conviction of the sin which remains in our heart, is one great branch of the repentance we are now speaking of.

3. For it is seldom long, before he, who imagined all sin was gone, feels there is still pride in his heart. He is convinced both that in many respects he has thought of himself more highly than he ought to think, and that he has taken to himself the praise of something he had received, and gloried in it as though he had not received it. And yet he knows, he is in the favour of God. He cannot, and ought not, to cast away his confidence. The Spirit still witnesses with his spirit, that he is a child of God.

4. Nor is it long before he feels self-will in his heart, even a will contrary to the will of God. A will every man must inevitably have, as long as he has an understanding. This is an essential part of human nature, indeed of the nature of every intelligent being. Our blessed Lord himself had a will as a man: otherwise he had not been a man. But his human will was invariably subject to the will of his Father. At all times, and on all occasions, even in the deepest affliction, he could say, "Not as I will, but as thou wilt." But this is not the case at all times, even with a true believer in Christ. He frequently finds his will more or less exalting itself against the will of God. He wills something, because it is pleasing to nature, which is not pleasing to God. And he nills, (is averse from,) something, because it is painful to nature, which is the will of God concerning him. Indeed, suppose he continues in faith, he fights against it with all his might. But this very thing implies, that it really exists, and that he is conscious of it.

5. Now self-will, as well as pride, is a species of idolatry: and both are directly contrary to the love of God. The same observation may be made, concerning the "love of the world." But this likewise even true believers are liable to feel in themselves; and Vol. 5.-R