SERMONS.

SERMON I.

REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS.

ACTS V. 31.

Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

ACCORDING to the Scriptures, Christ died that he might secure our redemption, and was afterwards exalted that he might bestow upon us what he had thus secured. The regal power to which he was elevated was the appointed consequence, or just reward, of that saving merit which he established by his humiliation, and sufferings, and "fulfilment of all righteousness." And that the great objects which he had in view when he "humbled himself and became obedient unto death," might be ultimately and fully accomplished, and that a closer connection might be maintained and encouraged with him as the author of our salvation, it was made a part of his prerogative to

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dispense to us, from his throne of majesty on high, every individual blessing of his purchase.

All this took place in conformity to the wise and gracious counsel of God. He "set forth" his own Son as "a propitiation for our sins." When this propitiatory sacrifice had been offered up, he received Jesus into heaven, and "gave him glory" by making him "head over all things" for the benefit of "the church." And he now directs our attention to him, as the source from which we are to derive whatever is requisite for our deliverance and our happiness.

The things which Christ, acting in the twofold capacity of a Prince and a Saviour, is here said to confer upon us, are Repentance and the Forgiveness of Sins.

Now, there are some persons who would object to this phraseology as unsound, if it were not the phraseology of Holy Writ; and even with that authority for its sanction, they can with difficulty be reconciled to it. It appears to them to savour too much of legalism, both because it is repentance,-not faith-with which the forgiveness of sins stands connected, and be cause in the statement of the two things, repent ance is placed first in order. But, not to mention the absurdity of supposing that, in the very record from which we derive all our ideas and knowledge of orthodox doctrine, there should be any thing of an opposite description, it will be seen

from a very short examination of the passage, that here, as every where else, the grace of the Gospel and the authority of the law are equally recognised, and that there is not the slightest sacrifice of the one of these divine dispensations to the other.

I. Repentance and forgiveness of sins are here employed to denote the whole extent of that salvation which Christ has effected in our behalf.

Forgiveness of sins denotes it as applied to our condition. We are in a state of guilt-liable to God's displeasure, and under a sentence of condemnation. But Christ by "suffering, the just for the unjust," procures for us "redemption, even the forgiveness of sins." And thus, the only thing which separated between God and us being effectually removed, we are restored to his favour, and regain a title to every blessing which, in the exercise of that favour, he may be expected to bestow upon those who are the objects of it. In this view, and on this account, forgiveness comprehends our deliverance from all the penal consequences of transgression, and our attainment of all the happiness which, by that transgression, we had forfeited, or which may be looked for from the new and merciful constitution under which the Gospel has placed us.

And as forgiveness of sins signifies the whole of that salvation which Christ has wrought out

for us, in reference to our condition, so repentancé signifies the whole of that salvation which he has wrought out for us, in reference to our character. A change of character was as essentially requisite for us as a change of condition. Though pardon and eternal life had been procured for us, yet these we could not have enjoyed, so long as we were alienated in affection and in conduct from God, by whom that pardon was to be granted, and with whom that eternal life was to be spent. And accordingly, provision is made in the Gospel scheme for producing the revolution in our moral nature which is thus found to be not merely useful but indispensable. Of this revolution Christ is the author, as he is of every other benefit that is derived from the plan of redemption. And, though consisting of a variety of parts, it is all one connected and indivisible process, which, in the language of

my text, is comprehended under the term Repentance, and through the medium of that term intimates that the sinner, from being an

enemy to God in his mind and by wicked works," has been brought to renounce his enmity to him, and to become a willing, obedient, and devoted servant.

In this way our salvation is complete. Having our sins forgiven, the happiness of heaven is secured-the gate of heaven is thrown open to us. And having undergone that thorough change of heart and life, which is the just interpretation of

repentance, we are qualified for admission into heaven, and for a full and everlasting participation of its joys.

The circumstance that faith is not here particularly specified, or that it is not made use of instead of repentance, does not amount to any thing like an underrating of the value of faith, or

depriving it of its just province in the economy of the Gospel. Repentance, in the view we have taken of it, and as explained by the record which God has given us, includes faith, not only as one of its component parts, but as its leading, prominent, most essential feature. The grace of faith, whether considered simply as a belief in the divine testimony respecting Christ, or understood to be an actual embracing of him, and trusting in him, as the appointed Redeemer, stands in the very foreground-enters into the very substance-constitutes the very peculiarity and distinction, of that great moral renovation which passes upon us when we truly repent. Thus it is clearly in the case before us. It is the " repentance of Israel" that is especially spoken of. Now, observe how the Jews had acted. They had despised, rejected, crucified Christ-having taken offence at him because, in his character and situation and fate, he did not correspond with the deliverer whom their carnal minds had fancied and expected. This formed the essence and aggravation of their sinfulness.