Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

DISCOURSE XXII.

2 COR. vii. 10.

Godly forrow worketh repentance to falvation not to be repented of; but the forrow of the world worketh death.

You have, in the words of the text, a character given you of religious forrow, and the advantages of it fet forth, and illuftrated by a comparison between them and the evil effects of worldly forrow. Sorrow in all cafes arifes from the conceit of mifery either present or expected. When our forrow grows from the confideration of our spiritual condition, from a sense of our own iniquity, and the pains of a guilty mind; from the fear of God's wrath and heavy judgments denounced against finners; which are the proper objects of religious forrow, and diftinguish it from the grief of a worldly mind, which reaches only to the real or fuppofed evils of this life in this cafe, forrow is not only the confequence of the evil we fuffer or apprehend, but likewise its very cure and remedy. But in worldly grief, where men lament the lofs of riches and honours, and vex their fouls with the various disappointments of life; which are perpetual fprings of uneafiness to all

whofe affections are wedded to the pleafures and enjoyment of the world; there forrow is a remedy worse than the disease, and adds weight to our misfortunes, which, could they be neglected, would not be felt.

It is the glory of philosophy to raise men above the misfortunes of life, to teach them to look with indifference upon the pleasures of the world, and to fubmit with manly courage and a steady mind to thofe calamities which no care can prevent, and which no concern can cure. Such are all the miferies which are brought on us by a change of fortune, or the neceffity of human condition. And the confiderations of philofophy not extending beyond these limits, it is no wonder to find wisdom placed in an abfence of paffion; and grief and forrow and all the tender motions of the mind exposed as certain' marks of a flavish abject spirit. But when the reasons of philofophy are transferred to the cause of religion, they lose their name; and the fame conclufions, for want of the fame principles to fupport them, are foolish and abfurd. In natural evils, forrow and grief of mind give us the quickest and sharpest sense of our afflictions, and diveft us of the power of looking out for the proper comforts and supports: they increafe and lengthen out our misery; nor can the mind ever lofe fight of its afflictions, till length of time fets it free from grief, or the very excess of forrow so far ftupifies the sense of feeling, that it deftroys itself. And when it leaves us, often it carries off with it our ftrength and health, and bequeaths to us a weak body and a feeble mind, and entails upon the very

best days of our youth the very worst infirmities of age and fickness: for the forrow of the world worketh death. But in fpiritual evils, where fin and guilt threaten the life of the foul, and haften to bring on us death eternal, forrow is the beft indication of life, and, like the pulse in the natural body, fhews there is fome heat and vigour still remaining: as it increases, it brings with it the symptoms of recovery; fin and guilt fly before it; life and immortality follow after it. And the mind thus purged by religious forrow fends into the heart fresh streams of pleasure, and abounds with all the joys which the sense of the love of God, the prefent poffeffion of peace, and the firm expectation of future glory can produce: for godly forrow worketh repentance unto falvation not to be repented of. From the confideration of thefe different effects of worldly and of religious forrow, the Apoftle with no lefs truth than art infinuates to the Corinthians, how truly he had acted the part of a friend towards them, in bringing them to a due fenfe of forrow for the fins they had committed. It is the part of a friend to ease our minds of grief, to step in between us and forrow, and to make us, as far as it is poffible, forget our misfortunes: why then do the minifters of Chrift perpetually fuggeft new fears to us, and ftill labour to awaken our fouls to a fenfe of their mifery, and to fill us with forrow, by continually reprefenting to us the greatnefs of our lofs ? To this let the Apostle answer for himself, and for all: I rejoice not that ye were made forry, but that ye forrowed to repentance. If from worldly forrow there can arise nothing but certain pain and mifery,

[blocks in formation]

if the anguish of mind produces feebleness of body, and the lamenting our paft misfortunes renders us incapable of the enjoyments which are present, happy is the man who can bear up againft afflictions, and with an undisturbed mind submit to those evils which no forrow can either eafe or prevent. But if in godly forrow the effects are just contrary, if grief can blot out the guilt of fins paft, and preferve us from the infection for the time to come; if it brings ease to a wounded fpirit, and makes ús to be at peace with ourselves, and with God; if it renders life comfortable, and death not terrible; if it rids us of fear for the prefent, and fills us with hope full of future glory: how happy then are they who go to the house of mourning, and by a wife choice escape the punishment of fin, by fubmitting to the forrow of it?

How these blessed fruits grow out of godly forrow, will appear to you from the Apoftle's words in the text, in which the effects of godly and worldly forrow are fully expreffed in few words: Godly forrow worketh repentance unto falvation not to be repented of; but the forrow of the world worketh death. In which words you may observe, firft, that forrow is distinguished from repentance; for godly forrow is faid to work repentance, and is therefore fuppofed to have the fame relation to it that the cause has to its effect. Secondly, you may observe that forrow is not said to work falvation immediately and of itfelf, but by the means of that repentance which it produceth. Thirdly, you may obferve that worldly forrow is faid to produce death immediately it brings forth nothing analogous to repentance, but

does indeed confirm and ftrengthen the evil difpofition from which it grows. Fourthly, the death which is wrought by worldly forrow is opposed to the falvation which follows repentance; and may therefore fignify eternal death, as well as temporal; the truth of the propofition admitting either or both of these explications. As I explain and enlarge these observations, I fhall take in what I judge neceffary to give you a diftinct conception of the nature of godly, and of worldly forrow, and to fhew the effects of both.

First, then, you may obferve that forrow is diftinguished from repentance; for godly forrow is faid to work repentance, and is therefore fuppofed to bear the fame relation to it as the caufe does to its effect. In common speech we are apt to fpeak of forrow for fin under the name of repentance, and to afcribe to it the effects belonging only to repentance but the Apostle in the verfe before us has plainly another notion of repentance, fince the common notion would make an abfurdity in the text; for if by repentance you understand forrow for fin, the Apostle muft then be understood to say that godly forrow produces forrow for fin; that is, that godly forrow produces itself, fince that only is godly forrow which is upon the account of fin. Repentance therefore is diftinct from forrow, and is wrought by it, and properly denotes a change of mind which is indeed the natural effect of godly forrow, and the neceffary condition of falvation; and muft therefore be the true and genuine explication of that repentance which stands in the middle between godly forrow and falvation, as proceeding

« ElőzőTovább »