in heart justifies it, he virtually recommits it. If in the presence of accumulated light he holds on to present sin, he vir tually endorses, recommits, and is again guilty of all past sin.

10. Impenitence is a charging God with sin; it is self-justification, and consequently it condemns God. It is a direct controversy with God and a denial of his right to govern and of the sinners duty to obey.

11. It is a deliberate rejection of mercy and a virtual insisting that God is a tyrant, and that he ought not to govern, but that he ought to repent.

12. It implies a total want of confidence in God; want of confidence in his character and government; in his works and ways. It virtually charges God with usurpation, falsehood, and selfishness in all its odious forms. It is a makin gwar on every moral attribute of God, and it is utter enmity against him. It is mortal enmity, and would of course always manifest itself in sinners as it did when Christ was upon the earth. When he poured the light upon them, they hardened themselves until they were ripe for murdering him. This is the true nature of impenitence. It involves the guilt of a mortal enmity against God.

VII. NOTICE SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OR EVIDENCES OF IMPENITENCE.

1. A manifested indifference to the sins of men is evidence of an impenitent and sin-justifying state of mind. It is impossible that a penitent soul should not be deeply and heartily opposed to all sin; and if heartily opposed to it, it is impossible that he should not manifest this opposition, for the heart controls the life by a law of necessity.

2. Of course a manifest heart-complacency in sin or in sinners is sure evidence of an impenitent state of mind. "He that will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God." Heart-complacency in sinners is that friendship of the world that is enmity against God.

3. A manifest want of zeal in opposing sin and in promoting reformation, is a sure indication of an impenitent state of mind. The soul that has been truly convinced of sin, and turned from sin to the love and service of God, can not but manifest a deep interest in every effort to reform sin out of the world. Such a soul can not but be zealous in opposing sin and in building up and establishing righteousness in the earth.

4. A manifest want of sympathy with God in respect to his government, providential and moral, is an evidence of im

penitence of heart. A penitent soul, as has been said, will and must of course justify God in all his ways. This is implied in genuine repentance. A disposition to complain of the strictness and rigor of God's commandments-to speak of the providence of God in a complaining manner-to murmur at its allotments, and repine at the circumstances in which it has placed a soul, is to evince an impenitent and rebellious state of mind.

5. A manifest want of confidence in the character, faithfulness and promises of God, is also sure evidence of an impenitent state of mind. A distrust of God in any respect can not consist with a penitent state of heart.

6. The absence of peace of mind is sure evidence of an impenitent state. The penitent soul must have peace of conscience because impenitence is a state of conscious rectitude. It also must have peace with God. Repentance is the turning from an attitude of rebellion against God, to a state of universal submission and embracing of his will. This must of course bring peace to the soul. When, therefore, there is a manifest want of peace, there is evidence of impenitence of heart.

7. Every unequivocal manifestation of selfishness is a conclusive evidence of present impenitence. Repentance, as we have seen, consists in the turning of the soul from selfishness to benevolence. It follows of course that the presence of selfishness in the soul is proof conclusive of the absence of repentance.

8. A spirit of self-indulgence is conclusive evidence of an impenitent state of mind. Repentance implies the denial of self; the denial or subjection of all the appetites, passions, and propensities to the law of the intelligence. Therefore a manifest spirit of self-indulgence, a disposition to seek the gratification of the appetites and passions, such as the subjection of the will to the use of tobacco, of alcohol, or to any of the natural or artificial appetites under light and in opposition to the law of the reason, is conclusive evidence of present impenitence.

9. A spirit of self-justification is another evidence of impenitence. This manifestation must be directly the opposite of that which the truly penitent soul will make.

10. A spirit of excuse-making for neglect of duty is also a conclusive evidence of an impenitent heart. Repentance implies the giving up of all excuses for disobedience and a hearty obedience in all things. Of course, where there is a manifest disposition to make excuses for not being what and

all God requires us to be, it is certain that there is and must be an impenitent state of mind. It is war with God.

II. A fearfulness that implies a want of confidence in the the perfect faithfulness of God or that implies unbelief in any respect, is an indication of an impenitent state of mind.

12. A want of candor upon any subject also betrays an impenitent heart. A penitent state of the will is committed to know and to embrace all truth. Therefore a prejudiced, uncandid state of mind must be inconsistent with penitence, and a manifestation of prejudice must evince present impenitence.

66

13. An unwillingness to be searched, and to have all our words and ways brought into the light of truth, and to be reproved when we are in error, is a sure indication of an impenitent state of mind. Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God."

14. Only partial reformation of life, also indicates that the heart has not embraced the whole will of God. When there is a disposition manifested to indulge in some sin, no matter how little, it is sure evidence of impenitence of heart. The penitent soul rejects sin as sin; of course every kind or degree of iniquity is put away, loathed, and abhorred. "Whoso keepeth the whole law and yet offends in one point, is guilty of all;" that is, if a man in one point unequivocally sins or disobeys God, it is certain that he truly from the heart obeys him in nothing. He has not an obedient state of mind. If he really had supreme respect to God's authority, he could not but obey him in all things. If therefore it be found that a professor of penitence does not manifest the spirit of universal obedience, if in some things he is manifestly self-indulgent, it may be known that he is altogether yet in sin, and that he is still in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.

15. Neglect or refusal to confess and make restitution so far as opportunity and ability are enjoyed, is also a sure indication of an unjust and impenitent state of mind. It would seem impossible for a penitent soul not at once to see and be impressed with the duty of making confession and restitution to those who have been injured by him. When this is refused or neglected, there must be impenitence. The heart controls the life by a law of necessity; when therefore there

is a heart that confesses and forsakes sin, it is impossible that this should not appear in outward confession and restitution.

16. A spirit of covetousness or grasping after the world is a sure indication of impenitence. "Covetousness is idolatry." It is a hungering and thirsting after, and devotion to this world. Acquisitiveness indulged must be proof positive of an impenitent state of mind. If any man love the world, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

17. A want of interest in and compassion for sinners, is a sure indication of impenitence. If one has seen his own guilt and ruin, and has found himself sunk in the horrible pit and miry clay of his own abominations, and has found the way of escape, it is natural as his breath to feel deeply for sinners, and to manifest a great compassion and concern for them, and a zeal for their salvation. If this sympathy and zeal are not manifested, it may be relied upon that there is still impenitence. There is a total want of that love to God and souls that is always implied in repentance. Seest thou a professed convert to Christ whose compassions are not stirred and whose zeal for the salvation of souls is not awakened? Be assured that you behold a hypocrite.

18. A disposition to apologize for sin, to take part with sinners, or a want of fulness and clearness in condemning them and taking sides altogether with God, is evidence of an impenitent state of mind. A hesitancy or want of clearness in the mind's apprehension of the justice of God in condemning sinners to an eternal hell, shows that the eyes have not yet been thoroughly open to the nature, guilt, and desert of sin, and consequently this state of spiritual blindness, is sad evidence of an impenitent heart.

19. A want of moral or spiritual perception, is also an indication of impenitence. When an individual is seen to have little or no conscience on many moral questions, can use tobacco, alcohol and such like things under the present light that has been shed on these practices, when self can be indulged without compunctions, this is a most certain indication of an impenitent heart. True repentance is infallibly connected with a sensitive and discriminating conscience. When, therefore, there is a seared conscience, you may know there is a hard and impenitent heart.

20. Spiritual sloth or indolence is another evidence of an impenitent heart. The soul that thoroughly turns to God and consecrates itself to him and wholly commits itself to promote his glory in the building up of his kingdom, will be

must be any thing but slothful. A disposition to spiritual idleness, or to lounging or idolence of any kind, is an evidence that the heart is impenitent. I might pursue this subject to an indefinite length; but what has been said must suffice for this course of instruction, and is sufficient to give you the clew by which you may detect the windings and delusions of the impenitent heart.

I must conclude this discussion with several

REMARKS.

1. Many mistake conviction of sin with the necessarily resulting emotions of remorse, regret, and sorrow for evangelical repentance. They give the highest evidence of having fallen into this mistake.

2. Considering the current teaching upon this subject and the great want of discrimination in public preaching, and in writings on the subject of repentance, this mistake is natural. How few divines sufficiently discriminate between the phenomena of the Intelligence, the Sensibility and the Will. But until this discrimination is thoroughly made, great mistakes upon this subject may be expected both among the clergy and the laity, and multitudes will be self-deceived.

3. It is of the highest importance for the ministry to understand, and constantly insist in their teaching, that all virtuous exercises of mind are phenomena of the will, and in no case merely passive states of mind; that, therefore, they are connected with the outward life by a law of necessity, and that therefore, when there is a right heart, there must be a right life.

4. It is a most gross, as it is a very common delusion, to separate religion from a pure morality, and repentance from reformation. "What God," by an unalterable law of necessity, "has joined together let not man put asunder."

5. It is also common to fall into the error of separating devotion from practical benevolence. Many seem to be striving after a devotion that is not piety. They are trying to work their sensibility into a state which they suppose to be devotion, while they retain selfishness in their hearts. They live in habitual self-indulgence and yet observe seasons of what they call devotion. Devotion is with them mere emotion, a state of feeling, a phenomenon of the sensibility, a devotion without religion. This is a horrible delusion.

6. The doctrine of repentance or the necessity of repentance as a condition of salvation, is as truly a doctrine of