This is the cry of the penitent soul, rendered so by divine grace and truth," Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." This is the unfailing test of genuine repentance. The true penitent desires to obtain remission of sins, and thus to be delivered from the hands of his spiritual enemies, that so he may serve God without fear, in righteousness and holiness before Him all the days of his life.

They who have to give counsel to them that mourn in Zion, should look well to this. Repentance, like the Baptist, has to prepare the way of the Lord; but it is not by repentance that His saving power is apprehended. To the truly penitent it must be said, "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world;" but this is only to be said to the truly penitent. And the truth of penitence is to be ascertained, not so much by the strength and pungency of the conviction and sorrow, as by the objects of desire and prayer. These are the questions to be proposed,-Do you truly and earnestly desire, from the abundant mercy of God, the full forgiveness of all your past sins? Do you truly and earnestly desire that, by the grace of God, your beart may be inclined to keep His law,-nay, that He would write all His laws there, and thus restore you, not only to His favour, but to His image also? This is "repentance toward God."

"Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" has now to be considered. If there be one truth evident on the very face of the New Testament, on even its first perusal, it is the immediate connexion of faith, and a personal, present salvation. "By grace are ye saved, through faith," is the Apostle's language to them to whom also he says, "You hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins ;" and, "Ye are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works." To the Philippian jailer, so rapidly brought into a state of repentance, St. Paul said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;" and the sacred joy which he experienced, and the change of character which he manifested, show that his "faith had saved him." St. Peter, addressing those who, believing in Christ, loved Him, and "rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory," adds, "Receiving "-not hoping for, but actually receiving"the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter i. 8, 9.) Not to repentance, important as it is, and in its place necessary, is the promise of actual, present, personal salvation given, but to faith. And the reason is given by St. Paul, "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace." (Rom. iv. 16.) Repentance is the right condition of a sinner, and he who repents, thus far does right. But the repentance which acknowledges the fact of sin cannot alter it. In repentance there is no expiation, no atonement. It has pleased God to appoint that our salvation should be, evidently as well as actually, all of His free grace and mercy. And that He might be, evidently as well as actually, "a just God, and a Saviour," He has "set forth" Christ "to be a propitiation through faith in His blood," that thus, even while He is the "justifier of the ungodly," "His

righteousness," as the holy and just Ruler and Lord of man, might be "declared." Repentance, therefore, in and of itself, is not made the immediate, proximate condition of salvation, lest it should be imagined that we had ourselves atoned for our sins, and washed them away by our own tears. It is the blood of Christ alone that cleanseth from sin, and therefore "to faith in His blood" is the promise of salvation made. Repentance, indeed, is necessary previously; for he who sees not, feels not, his sin and guilt, will never come in God's appointed way to Christ for salvation; repentance is necessary to faith; faith in Christ immediately necessary to present salvation.

We go back to the case of repentance to mark a feature only adverted to in passing. It is repentance under the Gospel and its ministry. More, therefore, is known than what only relates to the divine law, though at first that is what chiefly engages the attention. The whole truth will be presented. God's love to man in Christ Jesus will be seen. The whole range of truth, from Sinai to Calvary, is in view. It is known that salvation is provided and offered, and is therefore attainable, and that this salvation is just what the repenting sinner desires. Hence, while he mourns, it is not without hope. He so sits in present darkness as that light from heaven shines on the way of peace before him; and guided by that light, to that way his whole soul is moving, that he may "strive to enter in at the strait gate;" and rejoice to find that a new song is put into his mouth, and that his goings are established. The truth, that God was “in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself," is before him, preserving him from despair, and prompting and encouraging him to pray, standing, as it were, in the temple which proclaims atonement, and contains the mercy-seat; standing, perhaps, afar off, but still in the temple, and praying there, "God be merciful to me a sinner!"*

In striving to "obey the truth through the Spirit," he may still, and not unnaturally, have to struggle with error. In some there may be strong tendencies to "self-righteousness" which require beating down their penitence, they say, is not deep enough, they are too vile to come as they are. In others there may be an equally strong tendency to yield to unbelieving despondency; their sin is too great to be forgiven, or the mercies of the Lord are clean gone for ever, and He hath forgotten to be gracious. It is possible that in some cases there may be a cherished evil which requires to be brought into the light of truth for exposure and a renouncing abhorrence. Let them be directed to examine themselves, and still to pray as with their faces Christward, believing the mercy of God, and that infinite fulness of redeeming merit which dwells in their atoning and interceding Saviour. Do they lament their want of power to enter into the holiest ? Let them draw as near to the rent veil as possible; let them encou

*The reader is requested to turn to page 120 of the Wesleyan "Large HymnBook," and read carefully the three verses of hymn 121, which he will find there. But for want of space, we should gladly quote them, as well as the 118th and 122d hymns. Let them be taken as illustrating any remarks in which labour for brevity produces partial obscurity.

rage believing expectation; and in Christ's name let them cry mightily for the "Spirit of faith," that by Him they may be enabled, in obeying the truth, to apply it to themselves, and say,*

"Who did for every sinner die,

Hath surely died for me."

Faith is "the gift of God;" and no one who earnestly prays for it, and is willing to receive it in God's own way, and for God's own purposes, shall pray for it in vain. Let these great truths be faithfully proclaimed, and multitudes of witnesses shall be raised up, testifying that the Holy Spirit does

"Inspire that living faith,

Which whosoe'er RECEIVES,
The witness in himself he hath,
And consciously believes."

For even here the truth is obeyed. Power to believe is given, and with that spiritual power the mourning penitent puts his whole trust in Christ as his Saviour, and immediately receives "the end of his faith, even the salvation of his soul." He is "justified through faith," and "receives the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Gal. iii. 8, 14.) "The love of God" (not his love to God, but God's love to him) "is shed abroad in his heart, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto him." And thus, beholding all the love of God to him, as declared in the "Scriptures of truth," and now happily realized in his own personal religion, he takes his place in that sacred fellowship of penitent believers, whose simple, yet sublime, religion is expressed by St. John in the few words which constitute one of the most profound sentences ever written : "We love Him, because he first loved us." Through the exercise of "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ," they have entered in at the strait gate; and it now becomes their interest, privilege, and duty to walk in truth and love; that is, in the narrow, but delightful, way of holiness, where alone can be found true peace and hope and joy, all the days of their life.

The nature of the subjects which thus constituted the substance of the practical preaching of the Apostle having been considered, our investigation of them will be concluded by a few general observations upon them respectively.

And, first, their proper order, and their mutual references to the present, the retained, and the future salvation of man, must be pointed

out.

(I.) Their order. This is given us by the Apostle himself,-repentance first, then faith in Christ. Undoubtedly there is a sense in which repentance may be said to be preceded by faith; and therefore many teachers, whose views of evangelical truth are exceedingly low and obscure, often speak as if the order were, faith and repentance.

* Hymn-Book, p. 86, hymn 85. This hymn also is commended to the reader's careful consideration.

That is, men are to believe all the articles of the Christian creed, and to add to this belief sorrow for sin, and amendment of life, together with a general hope that God will be merciful to them for the sake of His Son, our Saviour. But they who thus speak show themselves to be deplorably ignorant of the established plan of personal salvation. They who repent, in the manner in which repentance has been described, will indeed believe the great truths of the Christian revelation; but this belief is not that "faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" of which the Apostle speaks, and which is, as we have seen, a spiritual reliance on Christ for ourselves, as our Saviour, for the pardon of our sins, for the renewal of our nature in righteousness and holiness. No man can exercise this faith in Christ but the one that is truly penitent for his sins, that desires deliverance from their guilt, power, and pollution, and that, knowing that he cannot save himself, comes to Christ that he may thus be saved by Him. Repentance precedes faith, considered as saving; faith follows repentance, and, by the appointment of God, secures that which repentance desires and seeks, but cannot by itself obtain.

(II.) Observe, therefore, their mutual references to our personal and present salvation. In repentance we see and feel our need of salvation, which thus becomes the object of our most earnest desire and search. But we likewise both see and feel that we cannot save ourselves; that salvation must come to us from without, even from the mercy and grace of God in Christ Jesus. By itself considered, repentance tends even to despair, and is designed and calculated to produce despair of all deliverance from any human source. But in the Gospel are announced and offered to us a Saviour and salvation; such a Saviour and such a salvation as we feel that we need. We are required to renounce both our self-confidence, and our despair of mercy produced by our sight of our own guilt and sinfulness, and to come to Christ, believing His power and willingness to save, and trusting in Him that He will save us. They who "have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us," and who can therefore say, by the power of the "spirit of faith," "Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me," have exercised "faith toward our Lord Jesus," and have received-not as penitents merely, but as penitent believers" the end of their faith, even the salvation of their souls." Repentance discovered their need of salvation, excited their desires for it, and in an important sense prepared them for its reception; but it was actually received by faith alone. "By grace are ye saved through faith."

(III.) This will be seen still more clearly if we view them in reference to our personal salvation considered as continued and held fast. And in this respect they may be regarded both as conditions and instruments.

We use the term "condition," not as implying any meritorious worthiness, but as denoting the declared appointment of God. It is He who saves us; and in our salvation it is He who is glorified. But having made us capable of the exercises of submission and obe

dience, while He mercifully "worketh in us to will and to do," in His sovereign authority He requires that we submit to His will, and become obedient to His truth. We speak of repentance and faith as conditions, because God has commanded that we repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus. Impenitence and unbelief are sins which God will finally punish, because they are wilful and avoidable. It is in this sense that an ancient father, than whom no uninspired man ever laid greater stress on the doctrines of evangelical grace, said, that "He who created us without ourselves, will not save us without ourselves."

We are therefore always to be humble penitents before God. The pain of repentance, indeed, arising from the consciousness of personal guilt and sinfulness, is removed by the sense of pardoning mercy, and the experience of renovating, sanctifying grace. But the hatred of sin, the desire of perpetual preservation from it, the cherished conviction of personal unworthiness on account of it, and of inexpressible obligation to divine love for every blessing we enjoy; that is to say, all the principles of repentance, are still to be retained and exercised.

So, likewise, are we always to be spiritual, trusting believers in Christ. The life that we live is to be by the faith of the Son of God. It is the blood of Christ that cleanseth from all sin; and its merit and power are, from first to last, received by faith alone. Pardon and acceptance are to produce no self-confidence; power over sin and holiness, no vain-glorying. What God continues to give us in Christ, we continually receive by faith in Christ. By faith did we "lay hold" of the offered blessings, and by faith do we keep hold of them. Whatsoever we are saved from, whatsoever we are saved into, all our salvation is always by grace through faith.

But the brevity of this review must not cause us to overlook the fact, that from the very commencement of man's turning unto God, through all the exercises of grace, until its consummation in heavenly glory, repentance and faith are instruments of great moral power, producing results the most energetic and decided.

From the preceding description of repentance, it will be seen that it amounts to a thorough revolution in the moral condition of man, producing hatred of things formerly loved, and leading to the approval and desire of things formerly despised and neglected. To repentance let saving faith be added, and the revolution will be seen to be complete. There has been not merely a turning from sin, but such a turning unto God as implies an actual coming to Him, a union with Him, and such love towards Him as possesses ability as well as inclination to obey His commandments. Repentance implies the recognition of the authority, righteousness, and goodness of the divine law; the approval, the admiration, the desire of holiness; hatred to sin; aversion from it both inward and practical. Faith implies the thankful acceptance of the proffered mercy of God in Christ, in the way in which it is proffered, and for the purposes which it is designed to accomplish. Obtaining the pardon of sin, and that sense of pardoning love which the Holy Ghost pours into the heart, it thus brings