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and nothing elfe, is the Notion of Faith in Chrift, where-ever it is spoken of as the Condition of Salvation.

This is St. Paul's Faith made perfect by Love, by which, he faith, we are to be faved. And this is St. James's good Works, proceeding from a lively Faith, by which, he faith, we are to be justified. St. Paul's Faith, and St. James's good Works, are perfectly the fame thing; to us, at least, who are already Chriftians.

To conclude: Whoever doth thus believe in Christ, as I have now represented, hath certainly true Faith, and all the Promifes of God belong to him, how doubtful foever he be of his own State, or how little foever he can apply the Promises to himself. But, whofoever doth not thus believe, be otherwife his Confidence or Affurance in applying the Promises never fo great, he hath not true Faith, but may prove a Hypocrite.

And this, I think, may be fufficient to give Satisfaction to the Perfons whofe Cafe I have been fpeaking to. As for the Doubts and Scruples, that are commonly raised about Repentance, thofe I fhall confider another Time.

Confider what ye have heard, and the God of, &c.

SERMON

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AITH and Repentance are the great, nay, I may fay, the only Conditions required in the Gofpel, in order to Salvation; and therefore, as it is of infinite Concernment to every one, to poffefs himself of these two Qualifications, fo it must needs be a Matter of unspeakable Trouble, to all fuch as have any Care of their Salvation, to find themselves deftitute of them.

And yet, fuch is the Infelicity of a great many, even good Perfons, that, very often, they are apt to pafs fuch a Judgment upon themselves being ready to conclude, that they are in a State both of Unbelief and Impenitence; that they have neither true Faith, nor true Repentance.

As for the Grounds and Reafons of their Doubts concerning their Faith, I confidered them

them in my last Discourse, wherein I an Account of faving, juftifying Faith.

gave

I now come to fpeak of the Doubts they are apt to entertain concerning the Truth and Sincerity of their Repentance; and for that Purpose I have chofen for my Text the Words I have now read unto you.

And here my Bufinefs fhall be to explain the Doctrine of Repentance, as that neither bad Men may be encouraged to think they are true Penitents, when they are not; nor good Men difcouraged from believing the Sincerity of their Repentance, notwithstanding the manifold Failures they apprehend in themselves, as to the Expreffions of it.

You fee I here fpeak of Repentance, not as of fome fingle tranfient Act or Actions that are now and then to be performed by a Man, upon Occafion: Not only as it is a Man's first Paffage, from a heathenish or a wicked Life to a chriftian Life; which is that we call a Man's Converfion, and in which Senfe it is often taken in the New Teftament.

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But I confider it as an Habit, a permanent State of Life, a Difpofition and Qualification of Mind and Manners, which a Man must poffefs himself of, and continue in, as long as he lives; otherwife he is not to expect the final Remiffion of his Sins. And hence it is that the Good, as well as the Bad among us, are taught in our Publick Liturgy, not only every Day to confefs our Sins, but alfo every VOL. III. M

Day

Day to pray to God to grant us true Repen tance. Having premised this, I come to the Argument.

Bring forth therefore Fruits meet for Repen

tance.

Thefe are St. John Baptift's Words to the Pharifees that came to his Baptifm. And from them we may gather, what that Repentance is, that will be available for the Forgiveness of our Sins, and fecuring us from that Wrath to come, which he fpeaks of in the Verse before; namely, it must be fuch a Repentance as brings forth worthy Fruits: Bring forth (faith he) Fruits meet for Repentance; or, as the Words may be rendered, Bring forth the worthy Fruits of Repentance.

So that the Evangelical Repentance which we now treat of, confifts of Two Parts, or is made up of two Things. The one Inward in our Minds, which is that we properly call Repentance, (error) and that confifts in fuch a Sense of our Sins, and Hatred of them, as makes us heartily forrow for them, and refolve to commit them no more. And this the Pharifees were prefumed to have, when they came to St. John's Baptifm.

The other is Outward, and fhews itself in our Lives, and that confifts in the actual forfaking thofe Sins which we fo refolved againft. And this is that St. John here styles the worthy Fruits of Repentance, or Fruits meet for Repentance.

This is certainly the Account which the Scripture every-where gives of that Repentance which God requires of us, in order to the Forgiveness of our Sins: Only with this flight Difference, that fometimes the inward Contrition has the Name of Repentance given to it; and the Reformation that follows thereupon, is called the Fruits of it, as here in my Text; at other times, the Reformation in our Lives is called by the Name of Repentance; and the inward Sorrow and Contrition is reckoned only as a Preparative or Difpofition towards it; as when St. Paul tells us, 2 Cor. vii. 10. that Godly Sorrow worketh Repentance.

Well but, fay fome Perfons among us, (who yet, as we have Reafon to believe, are very good Chriftians) if this be the Notion of true Repentance, then are not we in the penitent State. For we have neither that Sorrow and Contrition for our Sins, which true Repentance requireth; nor do we bring forth the Fruits of Repentance, by reforming ourselves as to feveral particular Sins, which we have often begged Pardon for, and refolved against. These are the Two Cafes which I fhall now fpeak to; and I begin with the First.

They complain that they have not that Sorrow for their Sins, which is fufficient to denominate their Repentance true and fincere. They can think of their many Offences and Provocations with dry Eyes; and, even at M 2 thofe

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