Lord's exhortations would warrant St. Peter in admonishing Christian converts to testify their faith by suitable obedience. We have selected from our Lord's discourses sufficient to convince us, that they did justify St. Peter in his preceptive manner of writing. And we may pronounce St. Peter to have been a true disciple of his heavenly teacher, a faithful Apostle to those for whom he intended his Epistles. He takes frequent occasion for introducing and placing in a strong light the great and leading facts of Christianity; he is anxious that his brethren should not rest satisfied with barely admitting and assenting to those facts; he presses it on them to make those extraordinary circumstances, which were incident to the ministry and exaltation of our Lord, the grounds, motives, and reasons, for stedfast perseverance in the reformation begun, and for conscientious observance of Christian precepts and duties. When for the sins of the world our Lord had made that atonement, through which alone we hope for salvation; when He had risen from the dead, and was preparing for return to that state of glory, from which He had descended for the merciful purpose of redeeming mankind; He thus commissions his Apostles: "Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the "name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy "Ghost; teaching them to observe all things, what"soever I have commanded you.' duties required and proclaimed by warning voice, what were the first? Repent and believe the Gospel."+ Strictly, then, did St. Peter comply with the injunction and will of our Lord, when in his preaching, even more forcibly than in his writing, he urged the very same points, St. Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. Now, among the our Lord with a They were these: considering both to be indispensable. At the commencement of his ministry, he speaks thus : — “ Repent "and be baptized every one of you, in the name of "Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins."* We do not advance far in the Acts of the Apostles, before we find St. Peter thus exhorting: :-"Repent and be "converted, that your sins may be blotted out."+ How are we to interpret the word " Repent," but by making it mean this?" Under a deep sense of our Lord's "authority, and firm belief that the declarations made 66 by him will surely be accomplished; under a sincere "wish to do what the Lord hath commanded, and an "anxious hope to avoid what He hath forbidden; our hearts must be sorry for past transgression; our "minds be disposed to follow what is good; evil 66 66 66 thoughts must be abhorred; inordinate desires must "be repressed; sinful practices must be renounced "with utter aversion; and we must prove by our out"ward behaviour, that we are thus contrite, that we "are thus changed, that we are thus influenced, in our principles, in our inclinations, in our habitual propensities." Those, to whom the compassionate forbearance of God prolongs existence in this world; those, to whom are vouchsafed opportunities for demonstrating by their actions the real state of their souls; must not conceive themselves to have thoroughly "pented," until they have attained these Gospel requisites. "re Repentance, then, originates in Christian faith, which leads to obedience, showing itself by works. Hence, in the example of the truly penitent, whether for sins committed, or for duties neglected, are seen faith and works inseparably connected. It was, therefore, with perfect and correct understanding of Scripture doctrines, that among the beautifully composed, although brief prayers, which are styled "Collects," the compilers of our Liturgy introduced the following: "Lord! we pray Thee that Thy grace may always prevent and follow us, and make us continually to "be given to all good works."* "Lord! we beseech Thee to keep thy household "the church in continual godliness; that through Thy "protection it may be free from all adversities, and devoutly given to serve Thee in good works."+ "Stir up, we beseech Thee, O Lord! the wills of "Thy faithful people, that they plenteously bringing "forth the fruit of good works, may of Thee plenteously "be rewarded."‡ "Do you It may here, perhaps, be tacitly asked, "then trust to your works? Do you depend on works "for salvation?" That such presumption is far from us, we may not only with confidence aver, but can by demonstration clearly prove. Where the heart is sincere, the thoughts of man are known by his language. What is our language on occasions most serious, most solemn? When for the purpose and observance of habitual devotion, on the return of each morning and close of each day, we are entirely withdrawn from the sight of men, and appear in the presence only of Almighty God! our supplication is this: 66 - Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive "them that trespass against us." When we are assembled together for congregational worship, with a deep sense of our own transgressions, with an earnest * Collect for 17th Sunday after Trinity. solicitude for divine compassion, for divine pardon, we use these imploring expressions:-"Have mercy upon "us miserable offenders *;" "Have mercy upon us "miserable sinners†;" " Mercifully forgive the sins "of thy people." Now, are these the words of selfrighteousness? Are they not rather the words of selfabasement? Do they not indicate the hearts of Christians, who are convinced of their own inability for the attainment of salvation through any works of their own, which at best are imperfect? What, again, is our language in the communion service, when in a more peculiar manner we profess our hearty repentance and true faith? We pray thus: "For Thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, forgive us all that is past."-" Most humbly beseeching Thee to grant, that by the merits "and death of Thy Son Jesus Christ, and through "faith in his blood, we and all Thy whole Church may "obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits "of His passion." Surely these are the words of Christians, who renounce their own deeds, and who look only where our religion perpetually directs Christians of every denomination and of every sect to look, if they hope and expect that the final issue of all their actions, in this state of trial, should be immortal happiness in the future world. The sum of the whole matter is this: We are, indeed, and by our Lord himself it was intended we should be," zealous of good works‡:" but we do not trust to works; we do not depend on them for salvation. We depend on the atonement and intercession made for us, by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We know and believe," there is none other name under heaven "given among men, whereby we must be saved."ş * Confession. + Litany. Tit. ii. 14. § Acts, iv. 12. We know and believe, that, as we have all sinned, we are all pardoned only "through the redemption that "is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be "a propitiation, through faith in his blood, for the "remission of sins."* We know and believe, that Christ " is able to save those that come unto God through "him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for "them." To the efficacy of the sacrifice once made, and to the prevalence of the mediation continually exercised by Christ for us, who can plead no merits of our own, we trust for mercy, for pardon, for acceptance with God. + *Rom. iii. 23, 24, 25. + Heb. vii. 25. Bp. Horne's Sermon on Numbers xvi. 47, 48. |