When he seeth the infinite beauty of holiness, and the amiableness of the divine nature, he cannot forbear crying out of himself, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." As the impurity of his heart, so the irregularities of his life will stare him in the face: they never appear so hateful, as when brought into comparison with the divine holiness; and, if he "essay to justify himself, his own mouth will condemn him" as guilty from choice.

Once more: The same view will effectually confute and show the vanity of those pretensions which are derived from our own imperfect and defective obedience. When conviction first lays hold of a sinner, however vain the attempt, he has still a strong inclination that righteousness" should come by the law." This is not wonderful: for in no other way can he himself have any title to glory; and a thorough renunciation of all self-interest is too great a sacrifice to be made at once. Hence he is ready to look with some measure of satisfaction on those who have been greater sinners than himself, and secretly to found his expectation of pardon for those sins he hath committed, on the superior heinousness of those from which he hath abstained. Hence also he is ready to hope he may make sufficient atonement for his past sins by future amendment; but a discovery of the holiness of God, and the obligation to love him "with all the heart, and soul, and strength, and mind," soon destroys this fond imagination. It shows him that he can at no time do more than his duty;

that he never can have any abounding or soliciting merit; nay, that a whole eternity, so to speak, of perfect obedience, would do just nothing at all towards expiating the guilt of the least sin. But, besides all this, the same thing shows him, that his best duties are stained with such sins and imperfections, that he is still but adding to the charge, instead of taking from the old score: for " we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are but as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have carried us away." Thus, one after another, he is stript of every plea, however eagerly he may cleave to them, and support or bolster up one by the addition of another. He sees not only his danger, but his guilt; not only the fearfulness of his state, but the holiness and righteousness of his Judge. He lies down prostrate at the footstool of the Almighty, and makes unmerited mercy and sovereign grace the only foundation of his hope.

SECTION IV. Of the degree of sorrow for sin in true penitents.

Having thus considered the proper source of genuine conviction and sorrow for sin, it was proposed next to inquire to what degree it must be in order to a saving change. The truth is, were not this a question often proposed, and the resolution of it desired by serious persons, the weakest of whom deserve all attention and regard from every minister of Christ, I should have left it altogether untouched. The reason of this observation is, that I am persuaded, and take the present opportunity of affirming it, that the chief

distinction between convictions genuine or salutary, and such as are only transitory and fruitless, does not lie in their strength or violence, so much as their principle and source, which has been formerly explained.

There is often as great, or perhaps it may be safely said, there is often a greater degree of terror, in persons brought under occasional convictions, which are afterwards fruitless, than in others in whom they are the introduction to a saving change. It is probable, that the horror of mind which possessed Cain, after his brother's murder, was of the most terrible kind. It is probable, that the humiliation of Ahab, after he had caused Naboth to be destroyed by false evidence, and was threatened with a dreadful visitation, was exceeding great. It is probable, that the mere passion of fear, in either of these criminals, was equal, if not superior, to the fear of any true penitent recorded in Scripture. It is the principle that distinguishes their nature. It is the differing principle that produces opposite effects. The one is alarmed, and trembles through fear of wrath from an irresistible and incensed God; the other is truly sensible of sin in all its malignity, and fears the sanction of a righteous but violated law. The one feels himself a miserable creature; the other confesses himself a guilty sinner. The one is terrified, and the other is humbled.

It is some doubt with me, whether in fruitless convictions there is any sense at all of sin, as such; I mean, as truly meriting punishment from a just and holy God. Such persons ordinarily are displeased at the holiness of God's nature, and murmur at the strictness of his law; and therefore, however much they may dread suffering here or hereafter, they can

not be said to be convinced of sin. We have seen some who, when afflictions brought their sins to remembrance, were but driven on by despair to higher degrees of guilt, and the more they seemed to fear the approaching judgment of God, only increased in the impatience of blaspheming rage.

However, as there is a great measure of deceit in the human heart, some may be ready to flatter themselves, on the one hand, that they have seen the evil of sin in itself; and some, on the other, to fear that they have not seen it as they ought, because their sorrow has not risen to the requisite degree. Many have expressed uneasiness that they never mourned for sin in a manner corresponding to the strong Scripture declarations of its odious and hateful nature, or to the following description of gospel penitents: "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications; and 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." For this reason I shall make an observation or two on the degree of sorrow for sin in true penitents, which may enable us to judge in every question of the same nature.

1. One thing in general must be carefully remembered, that we ought not to lay down one rule for all persons. We are not to measure the sorrow of any true penitent, and make a standard from it for the effects or expressions of sorrow in any other. The strength of all the passions, and their readiness to express themselves, is greater naturally in some

than in others. There is nothing of which men may be more sensible from daily experience. Love and hatred, joy and grief, desire and aversion, show themselves by much more violent emotions in some than in others. It would be wrong, therefore, to reduce all to one rule; and none ought to look upon it as a just cause of disquiet, that they have not had the same degree or depth of distress and anguish which others have had of whom they have read or heard. Another circumstance may also be the occasion of diversity. In some, convictions may have been more early and gradual, and therefore less violent and sensible. It is not to be supposed that Samuel, whose very conception was the answer of prayer, who was called from his mother's womb, and served in the temple from his being a child, should have experienced the same depth of humiliation with such as Manasseh, for example, who had been guilty of many atrocious crimes, and continued long in a hardened and insensible state. Therefore,

ence.

2. Suffer me to observe, that the great and principal evidence of a proper degree of conviction and sorrow for sin, is its permanency and practical influGenuine conviction is not a flash of fervour, however strong, but a deep, abiding, and governing principle, which will show its strength by its habitual power over its opposite. Every true penitent will join in these words of Elihu: "Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: that which I see not, teach thou me; if I have done iniquity, I will do no more." Nothing else will be a sufficient evidence of penitence where this is wanting; and where this is the case, nothing