tranquillity. Even in this life sorrow for sin produces the pleasures of righteousness, whilst the worldly man, pursuing false enjoyments, is ever reaping misery in the world to come the tears of repentance will be wiped away; but the guilty tears of worldly sorrow will stand in judgment against us, and exclude us from the joys of heaven; as it is forcibly expressed in the words of the text, the sorrow of the world worketh death.'

DISCOURSE XXII.

II CORINTHIANS, CHAP. VII.-VERSE 10.

Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

You have, in the words of the text, a character given you of religious sorrow, and the advantages of it set forth, and illustrated by a comparison between them and the evil effects of wordly sorrow. Sorrow in all cases arises from the conceit of misery either present or expected. When our sorrow grows from the consideration of our spiritual condition, from a sense of our own iniquity, and the pains of a guilty mind; from the fear of God's wrath and heavy judgments denounced against sinners; which are the proper objects of religious sorrow, and distinguish it from the grief of a worldly mind, which reaches only to the real or supposed evils of this life: in this case sorrow is not only the consequence of the evil we suffer or apprehend, but likewise its very cure and remedy. But in worldly grief, where men lament the loss of riches and honors, and vex their souls with the various disappointments of life, which are perpetual springs of uneasiness to all whose affections are wedded to the pleasures and enjoyment of the world; there sorrow is a remedy worse than the disease, and adds weight to our misfortunes, which, could they be neglected, would not be felt.

It is the glory of philosophy to raise men above the misfortunes of life, to teach them to look with indifference on the pleasures of the world, and to submit with manly courage and a steady mind to those calamities which no care can prevent, and which no concern can cure. Such are all the miseries

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which are brought on us by a change of fortune, or the necessity of human condition. And the considerations of philosophy not extending beyond these limits, it is no wonder to find wisdom placed in an absence of passion; and grief and sorrow, and all the tender motions of the mind exposed as certain marks of a slavish abject spirit. But when the reasons of philosophy are transferred to the cause of religion, they lose their name; and the same conclusions, for want of the same principles to support them, are foolish and absurd. In natural evils, sorrow and grief of mind give us the quickest and sharpest sense of our afflictions, and divest us of the power of looking out for the proper comforts and supports: they increase and lengthen out our misery; nor can the mind ever lose sight of its afflictions, till length of time sets it free from grief, or the very excess of sorrow so far stupifies the sense of feeling, that it destroys itself. And when it leaves us, often it carries off with it our strength and health, and bequeaths to us a weak body and a feeble mind, and entails on the very best days of our youth the very worst infirmities of " and sickness: for the sorrow of the world worketh death.' But in spiritual evils, where sin and guilt threaten the life of the soul, and hasten to bring on us death eternal, sorrow is the best indication of life, and like the pulse in the natural body, shows there is some heat and vigor still remaining: as it increases, it brings with it the symptoms of recovery; sin and guilt fly before it; life and immortality follow after it. And the mind thus purged by religious sorrow sends into the heart fresh streams of pleasure, and abounds with all the joys which the sense of the love of God, the present possession of peace, and the firm expectation of future glory can produce: ' for godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of.' From the consideration of these different effects of worldly and of religious sorrow, the Apostle, with no less truth than art, insinuates to the Corinthians, how truly he had acted the part of a friend towards them, in bringing them to à due sense of sorrow for the sins they had committed. It is the part of a friend to ease our minds of grief, to step in between us and sorrow, and to make us, as far as it is possible, forget our misfortunes: why then do the ministers of Christ perpetually suggest new fears

to us, and still labor to awaken our souls to a sense of their misery, and to fill us with sorrow, by continually representing to us the greatness of our loss? To this let the Apostle answer for himself, and for all: I rejoice not that ye were made sorry, but that but that ye sorrowed to repentance.' If from worldly sorrow there can arise nothing but certain pain and misery, if the anguish of mind produces feebleness of body, and the lamenting our past misfortunes renders us incapable of the enjoyments which are present, happy is the man who can bear up against afflictions, and with an undisturbed mind submit to those evils which no sorrow can either ease or prevent. But if in godly sorrow the effects are just contrary, if grief can blot out the guilt of sins past, and preserve us from the infection for the time to come; if it brings ease to a wounded spirit, and makes us to be at peace with ourselves, and with God; if it renders life comfortable, and death not terrible; if it rids us of fear for the present, and fills us with hope full of future glory: how happy then are they who go to the house of mourning, and by a wise choice escape the punishment of sin, by submitting to the sorrow of it?

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How these blessed fruits grow out of godly sorrow, pear to you from the Apostle's words in the text, in which the effects of godly and worldly sorrow are fully expressed in few words: Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.' In which words you may observe, first, that sorrow is distinguished from repentance; for godly sorrow' is said to work repentance,' and is therefore supposed to have the same relation to it that the cause has to its effect. Secondly, you may observe that sorrow is not said to work salvation' immediately and of itself, but by the means of that repentance which it produceth. Thirdly, you may observe that 'worldly sorrow is said to produce 'death' immediately: it brings forth nothing analogous to repentance, but does indeed confirm and strengthen the evil disposition from which it grows. Fourthly, the death which is wrought by worldly sorrow is opposed to the salvation which follows repentance; and may therefore signify eternal death, as well as temporal; the truth of the proposition admitting either or both of these explications. As I explain and

enlarge these observations, I shall take in what I judge necessary to give you a distinct conception of the nature of godly and of worldly sorrow, and to show the effects of both.

First, then, you may observe that sorrow is distinguished from repentance; for 'godly sorrow is said to work repentance,' and is therefore supposed to bear the same relation to it as the cause does to its effect. In common speech we are apt to speak of sorrow for sin under the name of repentance, and to ascribe to it the effects belonging only to repentance: but the Apostle in the verse before us has plainly another notion of repentance, since the common notion would make an absurdity in the text; for if by repentance you understand sorrow for sin, the Apostle must then be understood to say that godly sorrow produces sorrow for sin; that is, that godly sorrow produces itself, since that only is godly sorrow which is on the account of sin. Repentance therefore is distinct from sorrow, and is wrought by it, and properly denotes a change of mind which is indeed the natural effect of godly sorrow, and the necessary condition of salvation; and must therefore be the true and genuine explication of that repentance which stands in the middle between godly sorrow and salvation, as proceeding from one, and producing the other. And so distinct is this change of mind from sorrow, that of all its effects it is the happiest; ease and comfort attend on it, joy and hope flow from it. This is a change not to be repented of;' it can never cause us any grief or pain, or give us reason to lament any effect proceeding from it.

Sorrow then is not repentance, though it be the cause of repentance in most cases. The alliance between them will be best explained by considering the nature of sorrow in general, and the impressions it makes on every man's mind. Whatever is the cause of our sorrow must needs be the object of our aversion; since to take pleasure in the thing that grieves us and causes us pain, is a contradiction in nature. Many things occasion us sorrow which are out of the reach of our power, which come without our seeking, and go without our bidding. In all these cases sorrow is a useless passion, for the aversion arising from it brings torment without security; for to what purpose can our love or our concern serve, where the objects