sin light; and disclaims the exaltation MED. of infinite mercy at the of inexpence

finite justice.

In these instances we have conviction without conversion. Meditate on this,

all

ye whose feelings are not deadened by the hard severity of sin. Preserve one tender corner of your heart from whence the best effects may flow. Conviction, though not perfect, if its principle be good, offers the first pure symptom of reformation. But remember, that it is like the early flower of the spring; a genial breeze may nourish it, a bitter frost destroy it. Let the refreshings of thy spirit cherish the first dawning of repentance in my soul,

as the tender grass springing out of "the earth by clear shining after "rain *."

"O holy Lord! who art merciful to "true penitents, but just in thy judg"ments towards obstinate sinners, how

2 Sam. xxiii. 4.

III.

MED.

III.

"shall I approach Thee, who have so many sins to provoke thy wrath, and

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66

so little sincere repentance to incline "thy mercy! O be Thou pleased to "soften and melt this hard obdurate

heart, that I may heartily bewail the iniquities of my life. My soul hath too long slept securely in sin; Lord! "awake it, though it be with thunder, "and let me rather feel thy terrors " than not feel my sin. Thou sentest

thy blessed Son to heal the broken"hearted: O let me be sensible of this

healing virtue; and grant, I beseech "Thee, that having once tasted the "bitterness of sin, I may fly from it as "from the face of a serpent, and bring "forth fruits of repentance, in amend"ment of life, to the praise and glory "of thy grace in Jesus Christ, our "blessed Redeemer *." Amen.

* Whole Duty of Man.

MEDITATION IV.

PSALM li. 17.

A broken and a contrite Heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

IV.

THE progress of repentance is by MED. many steps. The mind, long accustomed to evil, is not easily accommodated to good. It is the residence of a stubborn principle, supported by 'vio lent and unruly passions, and instigated by the very worst propensities of human nature. I do not exaggerate the condition of the sinner by these expressions; and I appeal to the mournful inhabitants of a prison for their truth. There is no contending against facts; and whilst we behold the necessity of

D

IV.

MED. places of confinement in every country, and in every age, we must acknowledge that human nature has remained the same, and required the same system of

coercion.

It is not my intention here to reflect, why reformation has not sooner worked a more perfect work. We deal with individuals, not with a whole species. A tendency to sin is indeed general, and only to be conquered finally by the application of the Gospel of Christ. Where this has been made the true ground of reformation, the happiest effects have followed. But as, in the infliction of punishment, the moral restoration has generally been left out of the account, we do not wonder that, even in this enlightened nation, we often see the discharged prisoner worse than he was before. “Then goeth he, "and taketh with himself seven other "spirits worse than himself, and they "enter in, and dwell there, and the

"last state of that man is worse than MED.

"the first*"

Whoever may not be startled at a prediction like this, a prediction wholly applicable to the hardened and resisting offender, the penitent prisoner must feel its force. The prospect before him, unless brightened by a ray of hope, a gleam of increasing spiritual light, will indeed be dark and dreary. He has no reflection of past events to cherish him, no expectation of future comfort to support him. He has trod a thorny path, and one, more rough, more difficult, more miserable, is yet in view. The morning of his days has been shaded by distress, and the whole promise of the evening is "the blackness of darkness "for ever." I cannot contemplate this state of the prisoner's mind, without imploring the blessing of God to dart one ray of mercy and grace, through the grated window of the prison-house,

* Matt. xii. 45.

IV.