I have laboured to establish this conclusion, my friends, not because it involves in it the destiny of some distant, and unknown people, with whom we have never had any connexion of society, or interest, but as they belong to the common family of man; but because it involves in it, in an affecting, and most solemn manner, your interest, and mine for eternity. I have endeavoured to prove, that you are both able, and under obligations to repent, under the hope, that if any of you have been ready to satisfy yourselves, in your continued impenitency, with the groundless excuse, that you would repent if you could, you might be brought, by the exhibition of the truth in relation to this subject, deeply to feel, that the terms of your excuse ought to be reversed, that you could repent if you would. Now so long as you make it the labour of your life, to shield your consciences against the influence of this truth, you are taking the most sure method, possible, to render your ruin inevitable. The plain fact, on this subject, is, that you are sinners, and consequently the enemies of God, because it is agreeable to your depraved, and selfish hearts to be so ; and every ground of self-justification which you assume, can only be designed, to cover from your view, the truth, as it regards your real character, that you may pursue, with as little distress of conviction as possible, your own chosen way. I will not say that you are entirely sensible that this is your case; if you were, you could scarcely fail to be alarmed at the thought, that you are making yourselves the subjects of your own deceitful practicing. You are an easy prey to your own corruptions. With very little trouble, you are flattered

1

into a belief of errour, by your strong propensity for sinful

pleasures.

Know then, I beseech you, that God holds you under obligations to repent: All your excuses in his sight are vain. He, who has formed you, knows that you have the ability, and thence, has not only commanded you to repent, but has added, also, expressions of terrour and wrath, to set commanded duty home upon your consciences with weight and power. The obligation rests upon you now: You are now as able, as you ever will be, to make a total surrendry of yourselves to HIM who died for you. Nothing that you can suppose God will do for you, at any future period, will add to those capabilities of your nature, that form the basis of your obligations. With the powers you have; you will go to the judgement, and measure your eternity; and all that God can do for you, or will ever be able to do for you. consistently with your character, and relations as accountable beings, will not alter the nature of those powers of your physical, and moral constitution, on which your responsibilities to him are founded. But I have › fallen upon the

III. Article proposed for consideration: THAT REPENTANCE IS A PRESENT DUTY; OR A DUTY WHICH EVERY MAN IS UNDER A PRESENT OBLIGATION TO PERFORM.

Men seem very ready, in general, to acknowledge that it is their duty to repent; but they labour to persuade themselves that they are not under a present obligation. When they are told that it is a present duty, and that they are without any ground of justification for their delay, they are prepared to

resist; and for the reason, doubtless, that duty, pressed home upon them, comes into direct contact with their prevailing corruptions; and demands sacrifices, and an immediate breaking up of sinful habits, to which they are at present, totally disinclined. So long as they can successfully silence their consciences, with regard to the claims of God upon their present obedience, and throw the period, when his claims upon them will have become of the nature of present obligation, into some indefinite hereafter, they are not unwilling to acknowledge the general proposition, that they are bound to repent ; but when they are told that now is the time, and that under the authority of God, they are commanded to give their present attention to the subject, the world, their desire for indulgence, and their ungracious associations unite their force, and a mighty struggle is made, to resist the influence of truth.

I would ask you now, my friends, if you are ever brought to repentance, whether you must not repent for yourselves? Can any being in the universe repent for you? Can any besides yourselves feel sorry for the sins you have done? The repentant feeling must be your own exercise; and repentance is your own work, to the full extent that God holds you responsible. He does not require you to do, what, under the fixed and unceasing perversity of your hearts, HE must do for you, if you ever do repent: be any more or less guilty, because, in the exercise of his inscrutable sovereignty, he may not see fit, so to operate on your hearts as to bring you into a willing subjection to his authority. The necessity for divine influence in your case,

Neither will

you

does not arise from any physical, or constitutional defect, but from a settled, unchanging, voluntary hostility of heart to God. This is evident from the fact, that in regeneration, the natural endowments, neither of the mind, nor of the body are changed. The change accomplished in regeneration, is uniformly spoken of as a change of feelings, a change in the views which the mind takes of God, and thence, a change in the conduct of the life, correspondent to these views and feelings. Men naturally hate God; the Holy Spirit, by his influences in regeneration, excites them to love him. Their wills are naturally opposed to God; the Holy Spirit, by his influences in regeneration, brings their wills into sweet subjection to the obedience of Christ. Thus the Holy Spirit works in them, both to will, and to do those things, to which, they would, otherwise, never have been inclined. Whatever influence God may be pleased to exert upon you, therefore, will affect neither your ability, nor your obligation to repent. Your penitential feelings, by what means soever induced, will be your own voluntary exercises.

Now have you any evidence, either from scripture, or reason, that God will be better pleased to have you repent at some future, than at the present time? Have you any evidence to believe, that he will be more able and willing, at some future time to extend to you his gracious aid, than he is now? His help is indeed necessary; not, however, to give you new powers, but to change the wicked and wayward inclinations of your hearts, and to make you willing to lie down in cheerful submission at his feet. Does he any where tell you

that you cannot now repent, and that you must wait until he moves you? Does he not rather complain of your insensibility to his kindness, and of the continued enmity of your hearts, when he expostulates, "O my people! what have I done unto thee? wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me."All his calls and invitations are present. "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." If we are bound to hate sin, and to love God, and to live holy and obedient lives, the obligation rests upon us now, as much as it ever will, in any future period of our existence. The obligation arises from the nature of God, and of our relations to him: But both his nature, and our relations to him, have uniformly been the same, and will never be essentially different from what they now are. Hence, our obligation to love God,

is a present obligation.

Are you

If what has been said be true, you are as able to repent now as you ever will be. God, also, has as strong a desire that you should now repent, as he will ever have. flattering yourselves that you are not to blame for your continuance in sin, under the vain pretence that you cannot repent without his aid? He is ready now to help you, if you seek to him with all your heart, and with all your soul. He is as ready now to perform all that is necessary on his part, as you have any reason to believe he will ever be, at any future period of your lives. Can you think that he is pleased with your continuance in sin? Does it, suppose you, delight his heart, and further the designs of his mercy, to have you remain for years in rebellion against his authority and govern