This is infinitely the most important relation, which intelligent creatures can sustain. To be the child of GOD; to have him for our Father, Redeemer, and Sanctifier; is to be blessed indeed. What creature would dare, unless expressly permitted by his Creator, to challenge this relation, and adopt this language? How much less would sinners, if possessed of sober thought, presume, without a direct license from heaven, to change the awful name Creator for the venerable, endearing, and delightful epithet of Father; or to convert the humble title of creature, into the elevated appellation of child? Who, of a servant, of a slothful servant, a rebellious servant, would expect to become an heir; to be acknowledged as a child; and to be put in possession of the inheritance which is undefiled, and fadeth not away? Yet this is the language, which we are commanded to adopt; this the character, which we are required to assume; and these the blessings, which we are destined to enjoy ; whenever we become the subjects of a penitent spirit.

3dly. True repentance is followed of course by the confession of sin.

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Father, I have sinned," was the language of the penitent prodigal. He was ready of himself; while yet unassured of acceptance, and before his parent had demanded such an acknowledgment. It was the spontaneous dictate, the instinctive language, of his heart; produced as naturally by his present disposition, as the fruit springs from its native tree.

This, also, is the conduct of every penitent. While his original spirit remained; while he was stout hearted, and therefore far from righteousness; nothing was farther from his thoughts, than a confession of his guilt. But whenever he becomes the subject of evangelical contrition, he hates the sin which he so intensely loved before and abhors himself for having committed it; sorrows for that, in which he delighted, and is deeply ashamed for that, in which he gloried. This sense of his guilt is a burden upon his heart, with which he labours, and is heavy laden ; and to confess it to God is the first method of lightening the burden. At the same time, it is the most natural, the most obvious,

and therefore the first, mode of endeavouring to make some amends for the injustice which he has done to his Maker. In addition to this, he is, also, earnestly desirous to declare solemnly the new views which he entertains concerning his conduct; the change, which his disposition has undergone; and the determinations, which he has formed to obey hereafter. A prime difference between the true and false penitent lies in this: the false penitent hates the confession, and loves the sin the true penitent hates the sin, and loves the confession.

4thly. A real penitent feels, that all his sins are committed against GOD.

"I have sinned against Heaven."

The crime of the prodigal was immediately committed against his earthly parent; yet, we see, he felt it to have been supremely committed against Heaven. Accordingly, his confession is, "I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee." The consideration, that he had sinned against GoD, was that, which plainly distressed him more than any other. Sinners, during their impenitence, have very commonly most erroneous apprehensions concerning this subject. Some of them feel, as if their sins were never committed against GOD, because they are unable to do him any harm; because they cannot lessen his glory or happiness nor prevent the accomplishment of his designs. Were this opinion just; all the guilt of man would lie in the power to do evil, and not in the inclination. Others suppose sins against God to be only those, which are directed to him immediately; such as blasphemy; perjury; profaneness, and other exertions of impiety. Those, directed immediately to men, they consider as sins against men only; not remembering, that God has forbidden trangressions of this sort equally with such as respect himself; and that, therefore, his law is violated in the one case in the same manner as in the other.

That these views are false and groundless, can hardly need proof. The divine law is that, which is broken in all sin; and GOD is the Being, who is supremely offended. In this fact consists the heinousness of sin, wherever it exists. It is true, that

in the crimes which immediately respect men, we sin against them also, and equally true, that even then our principal guilt lies in sinning against God.

In this manner all good men have regarded their own trans gressions. In this manner David regarded his crime against Uriah; whom yet he had injured in a most shameful and abominable manner. In the 51st Psalm, referring to this transaction, he says, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." With the same views, Joseph, when solicited by Potiphar's wife, replied, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against GOD?" The crime, if it had been perpetrated, would have been committed immediately against his Master. Yet Joseph dreaded it supremely, as an offence against his Maker. Such, everywhere, are the views of penitence and piety.

Hence it is evident, that he, who refers his sins principally to men; even those which are committed immediately against them; who feels regret, when they are offended, and is at ease when they forgive; whose conscience looks not beyond the immediate objects of his crimes, and is unsolicitous about the evil, which he has done against GOD; is destitute of the repentance of the Gospel.

5thly. A real penitent is of course humble.

"Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee; and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of

thy hired servants."

Sin is the most disgraceful character in the Universe; the most odious, debasing, and unworthy. In better language, it is the only debasement, and the only disgrace. When the sinner comes to himself, and begins to see things as they are; he perceives this truth, among many others, in a clear and convincing light. Then there is no character too humble for him to assume; no station too lowly for him to take. "I have heard of thee," said Job to his Maker, "by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." "But we are all," says the church in Isaiah lxiv, "as an unclean thing; and our righteousnesses are as filthy rags:

and we all do fade, as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." "This is a faithful saying," said St. Paul to Timothy, "that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." And again, "I am the least of the Apostles, and am not worthy to be called an Apostle." "I am a worm," said David, "and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. Mine iniquities are gone over my head, as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me." In this manner have all the sacred writers felt and spoken, whenever the subject has been brought up to view and in this manner has every penitent felt and spoken, from the begining of time. Every penitent knows, that he has been an apostate; and that, therefore, he is odious, debased, and polluted, in the sight of his Maker; that he has nothing of his own; and that he can claim nothing at the hand of GoD. If he is forgiven; if he is sanctified; if he is adopted; if he escapes perdition; if he has a single hope, a virtuous affection, or a good thought all these are mere gifts from the free sovereign love of God. When, therefore, he considers either what he was or what he is, the instinctive language of his heart will be, "Not unto me, not unto me, but unto thy name, be the glory."

6thly. A real penitent brings nothing to GOD, but his want, shame, and sorrow.

The prodigal brought nothing to his father, but his rags, and wretchedness. He came as a beggar, possessing nothing; pretending to nothing; soliciting alms; and asking for a very humble and menial employment in his father's family.

A sinner, when he returns to GOD, has in the same manner nothing which he can offer to his Heavenly Father, beside his wants and woes, his broken heart and contrite spirit. He has no works of righteousness to recount; no merit to present; and no claims to allege for acceptance. His hope, therefore, instead of being placed on himself, rests wholly on his father's sovereign and undeserved goodness. "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." This humiliating truth he not only acknowledges, but acknowledges cheerfully; with ardent gratitude; with high exultation.

His sense of total want and extreme guilt, is the very cause, which prompts him to return: and his only address to his Maker is, "Father, I have sinned against Heaven, and before thee; and am no more worthy to be called thy son." A broken heart is the sacrifice, which GoD accepts through the Redeemer; but he will accept no other sacrifice. To this man will he look; even to him, who is of a humble and contrite spirit; but he will look to no other. The hope of obtaining forgiveness by means of our own righteousness is a direct contradiction to the repentance of the Gospel; and is entirely opposed to the Scriptural scheme of coming to God. The prodigal thought it a very great favour to be made as one of his father's hired servants; a favour, to which he makes not the least claim; but humbly hopes, that he may derive it from the bounty of his parent.

7thly. A true penitent executes his resolutions of obedience. "And he arose, and came to his Father."

The prodigal not only resolved, that he would go, and confess his sins; but he actually arose, and went, and confessed.

Sinners, who enjoy the light of the Gospel, usually, perhaps universally, with more or less strength, and more or less frequently, resolve that they will amend their ways and their doings, and obey the voice of the Lord, their God. In most cases, however, their resolutions die, as an untimely birth.

Look back at the past state of your own lives. When solemn occasions have occurred; when you have heard discourses from the desk, of a tenour peculiarly affecting; when you have been brought by disease near to the grave; when your companions have fallen suddenly around you: have not you yourselves been alarmed on account of your sins; trembled under a sense of your danger; and formed serious resolutions to repent, and turn to GOD? But what has been the effect of these resolutions? Have they not been mere blossoms; which, though fair indeed to the eye, and promising good fruit, have fallen prematurely, and perished forever?

Such is not the conduct of a penitent. He resolves, as you have done; but never rests, till the object of his resolutions is accomplished. The purpose of returning to GOD is the favorite