most assuredly it is the duty of every one, according to his ability and opportunities, to engage in it; since the execution of it is a very principal fruit and evidence of "pure and undefiled religion." We would call on all, therefore, in their respective stations, to consider how they may execute this office to the utmost possible advantage. And let all know, for their encouragement, that if they receive not honour from their fellow-creatures for these self-denying exertions, they shall certainly ere long be honoured and rewarded by their God'.]

2. How blind are they who are averse to have such pious instructors introduced to their sick and dying friends!

[There exists in the minds of many an idea, that religious conversation will prove injurious to a person on a bed of sickness; and that, by the anxiety that it will create, it will retard, rather than accelerate, a restoration to health. Now, if in any instance this should be the case, it may justly be said, that some risk of injury to the body would be but a small sacrifice for the obtaining of spiritual instruction under such circumstances: for, who can reflect on a soul perishing in ignorance and sin, and not see the indispensable necessity of plucking it as a brand out of the burning, ere yet it be gone beyond a hope of recovery? Methinks, if a certainty of some injury to the bodily health were put in the scale against the near and almost certain prospect of dying in an unconverted state, there can be no doubt which should preponderate: no man that knows the value of an immortal soul, can hesitate which alternative to choose. But such cases, if they exist at all, are very rare: the mind of an ungodly man is not so easily moved; nor are the emotions that may be excited so injurious as worldly vexation or worldly care: they do not prey upon the mind, as carnal feelings do. Religious feelings, even where they are not altogether of the best kind, have rather a tendency to compose the mind; inasmuch as they generate a hope in God, and open prospects of progressive improvement and of ultimate salvation. But we will not rest this matter upon the dictates either of reason or experience: God himself shall determine it: and he says, "Is any sick among you ? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him." Doubtless it is expedient for the visitor to consult the weakness of the patient: but it is the height of cruelty to deny to those who are going into the presence of their God, the means of obtaining that wedding-garment that can alone make them acceptable guests at the marriage-supper of the Lamb.]

9 Jam. i. 27.

Matt. xxv. 35, 36.

s Jam. v. 13.

3. How desirable is it to support such a society as this!

But how can they execute their functions, if not aided by pecuniary contributions? The poor, if some relief can be afforded them in their sickness, will on that account welcome the Visitor as "a Messenger" from heaven: and, having received him as "a Messenger," they will be disposed to listen to him as " an Interpreter." It cannot be supposed, that the Visitors can effect much in this way from their own individual resources: it must be through the liberality of the public alone that this plan can be executed to any great extent. Let the hearts of all, then, be open on this occasion. If we pleaded only for the temporal relief of our poorer brethren in a time of sickness, we should feel that we had a claim upon your charity but the temporal relief is of small importance when compared with that which we contemplate, the instruction and salvation of the soul. Bear this in mind; and let your contributions shew in what light you appreciate an immortal soul. Multitudes who would otherwise die in ignorance and sin may by these means be rescued from perdition: and, if our blessed Lord came down from heaven to "ransom' them by his own blood, let it be a light matter in your eyes to contribute liberally of your substance for the purpose of making known to them that "ransom," and thereby "delivering them from going down to the pit."]

t Here state the nature and plan of the Society.

CCCCLXXXV.

THE NATURE AND EFFICACY OF REPENTANCE.

Job xxxiii. 27, 28. He looketh upon men; and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; he will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

GOD is often pleased to make use of affliction as the means of bringing persons to a right mind: and where he has sent any affliction as a chastisement for some particular sin, it is probable that on our repentance he will remove the chastisement. we must not always associate the ideas of affliction and punishment, or of repentance and recovery, so

a Jam. v. 14, 15.

But

as to conclude every person wicked in proportion to the calamities that may come upon him. This was the error which occasioned the whole controversy between Job and his friends. They conceived, that, by visiting him with such accumulated afflictions, God designed to point him out as a hypocrite: and, upon that presumption, they exhorted him to repent, and assured him that on his repentance God would restore to him his former health and prosperity. In support of their argument they spoke many valuable truths; but they erred in the extent to which they carried those truths, and in the application which they made of them to the case of Job. The fact is, that "no man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before him all things come alike to all" and the inequalities which we observe in the dispensations of Providence will all be rectified in the day of judgment, which is on that very account denominated, "The day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God." We shall therefore drop that which we apprehend to be the primary meaning of these words, because in that sense they are not true to the extent that Elihu designed them. We doubt not but that the most righteous persons may be reduced by sickness, and that the most penitent persons_may have their sickness continued unto death. Fully persuaded of this, we shall not insist upon our text in reference to bodily sickness and recovery, but simply in reference to the concerns of the soul. In this view of the words, they point out to us,

I. The nature of repentance

Few consider properly the nature of repentance. It does not consist in a mere acknowledgment that we are sinners, or in a dread of the consequences of our sin; but in a deep and humbling view of sin, 1. As unreasonable

[The law of God is right; it is "holy, and just, and good." And whoever views its requisitions with an impartial

eye, must of necessity confess them to be most highly reasonable. Who can doubt one moment the reasonableness of the creature serving his Creator; or of the sinner feeling gratitude to his Redeemer? Who does not see the propriety of having the bodily appetites in subjection to the nobler faculties of reason and conscience; and of governing our lives in reference to eternity, rather than to the poor vanities of time and sense? The most ignorant and most prejudiced person cannot but acknowledge that these things are "right."

Now what is the life of the generality, but a direct opposition to all this, or, in other words, "a perversion of that which is right?" We speak not now concerning gross sins, but concerning that kind of life which even the most moral and decent live: they forget their God; they disregard their Saviour; they live as if they thought the salvation of their souls a matter of only secondary importance.

A penitent, when he comes to a just sense of his condition, views things in this light: he is ready to exclaim with Agur, "Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man." He is amazed that God should have borne with him so long in the midst of his perverseness: and there are no terms too humiliating for him to adopt, in order to express his shame and self-abhorrence before God.] 2. As unprofitable

[All expect that sin will profit them in some respect or other; and the gratifications purchased by it are considered as more than an equivalent for any consequences that may ensue from it.

This delusion often lasts for a considerable time: but, when a person begins to turn unto God, the scales fall from his eyes; he sees, that if he had gained the whole world, it would have been an unprofitable bargain for his immortal soul. He feels himself much in the state that our first parents were after their fall. What Satan had promised them was indeed true in some sense: "their eyes were opened; and they did discern good and evil;" but it was good which they had lost, and evil which they had incurred. Ah! how unprofitable did their sin now appear! for one taste of the forbidden fruit to sacrifice their innocence and the favour of their God! If we contemplate their feelings when they were driven out of Paradise, we shall form some idea of what a penitent feels, when once he comes to a just apprehension of his state. His folly appears to him even greater than his guilt. He now begins to understand those words, " Madness is in their hearts while they live":" and he feels the full force of that pointed interrogation,

"What fruit had ye then of those things whereof ye are now ashamedh ?"]

That we may not be discouraged by this view of repentance, let us contemplate,

II. The benefits of it

We have before assigned our reasons for declining to notice our text in reference to a recovery from bodily sickness: on that subject we could promise you nothing with any certainty: but in reference to spiritual benefits, we do not hesitate to promise you, 1. Deliverance from condemnation

[Besides "the pit" of the grave, there is also a pit into which sinners must be cast, even "the bottomless pit," the miserable abode of Satan and his angels'. Into that pit your soul shall never come. The impenitent alone shall have their portion there. The word and oath of Jehovah are pledged to rescue you from thence. "He has found a ransomk:" the ransom has been paid: and God (if we may so speak) would violate his engagements with his Son, if he were to spurn from his footstool one who came to him in the name of Jesus'. But you need not be afraid; for this is his own gracious declaration: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness":" and again, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy "."

Perhaps from a retrospect of your past lives you may be led to fear that you have sinned beyond the reach of mercy: but there is no ground for despondency, even to the vilest of mankind: the blood of Christ is sufficient to cleanse from all sin, however heinous°; and the promises of acceptance through him are so extensive as to preclude all possibility of doubt to those who humbly rely upon them".]

2. Exaltation to glory

The light of God's reconciled countenance shall certainly be enjoyed by the penitent in this world; "his light shall rise in obscurity, and his darkness shall become as the noon-day." But who can conceive of that "light" which he shall enjoy in the world to come? The highest joys which the soul can experience here, are no more in comparison of heaven, than a taper is of the meridian sun. There" the sun shall not be