bad effect, in many ways, that a multitude of small debts are never paid. It is not only unjust to the creditor, but it is a moral injury to the debtor and the community. It introduces confusion into the business world, lowers the standard of integrity, and sears the conscience. The same loose system of morals, if suffered to pass, extends to other subjects and diffuses its influence through the body politic. Such a state as this, is far more to be deprecated than the rigid execution of law upon delinquent debtors. If their neglect is not voluntary, let mercy reign. Its influence is like the dew of heaven. It is an attribute, bright in God and lovely in man. In our world, it is greatly needed; and here let it exist and triumph. But "the lawless and disobedient" may, with propriety, be compelled to do justice to others, and pay their debts. The apostle who wrote the precept, "Owe no man any thing," informs us, that the law was made for such. Indeed both law and gospel enforce the injunction of the text, by the authority of God and the solemn sanctions of eternity.

NATIONAL PREACHER.

No. 12. VOL. XI.]

MAY, 1837.

[WHOLE NO. 132.

SERMON CCXXXVIII.

BY JOEL HAWES, D. D., HARTFORD, CONN.

THE GOODNESS OF GOD FITTED TO LEAD MEN TO' REPENTANCE.

ROMANS, ii. 4. Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

THE same fire that softens wax, hardens clay; the same sun, that warms and fertilizes the earth and clothes its fields with verdure, exhales from its marshes and fens the noxious vapors, which poison the air and produce contagion, disease, and death. In like manner, the same goodness of God that wakens to ecstacy the joys of heaven, and fills every heart, around the throne, with love and praise, hardens the impenitent in their sins, and forms them vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. These different effects are not owing to any difference in the nature of the cause which produces them, but to the nature of the subjects on which that cause operates. The element of heat is simple; and the rays of the sun, though diversified, are so harmoniously blended, that they always produce, in any given case, precisely the same effects. So the goodness of God, simple in its nature and uniform in all its operations, tends directly, in its natural, unperverted influence on moral agents, to conform them to the divine image and to make them holy and happy. This is its design, this its natural tendency. But by perversion and abuse, this same goodness may be made to produce effects entirely the opposite of these. It may stupify, and harden, and destroy the very persons, whom, if its proper design and tendency had not been resisted, it would have led to repentance, and prepared for heaven.

The text is a solemn expostulation addressed to those who are guilty of thus perverting the goodness of God. "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"

The object of the present discourse is to show, that the goodness of God is fitted and intended to lead sinners to repentance. Let it be observed then,— 1. There is much, in the very nature of divine goodness, which is fitted to produce this effect. It lays all intelligent creatures under everlasting obligations to God, the great Author of their being, and of their mercies. It shows VOL. XI. No. 12.

also, in a very strong light, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, as an offence against the greatest and best of beings, our Father and our God; and while, in its long suffering and forbearance, it gives assurance of his readiness to pardon all the penitent, it appeals in the most direct and powerful manner to all the faculties and feelings of the soul. The language of divine goodness to every sinner, is,-What provocation hast thou, that thou shouldst cast off the service of thy God, and refuse to hearken to his voice of love and salvation? Is he not thy Father, the Author of thy being, and the giver of thy blessings? Is it not he that has kept thee alive till this hour; that has fed and clothed and blessed thee ever since thou hast had a being, and is even now, after all thy ingratitude, waiting to welcome thy return to his love, and to make thee partaker of the eternal joys of his kingdom? Why dost thou then yet sin against thy God, and turn a deaf ear to his calls of mercy? Has he been a wilderness unto thee; a land of darkness; a hard master? Look abroad upon the works of this all-wise and benevolent God, and see how all things proclaim his goodness and show forth his glory, and unite in calling thee to duty and heaven and hast thou a heart to resist the claims of his infinite love, and still go on in thy sins? The whole creation, beaming forth the brightness of his perfections and the glories of his name, is one constant admonition to the impenitent of their unreasonableness and guilt. Thou canst look no where, without meeting demonstrations of the loving kindness and tender mercy of God; and every fresh manifestation of love is a new argument to enforce the duty of immediate and entire submission to his will.

In this manner does the goodness of God make its appeal to the heart, and urge us, one and all, to repent and live. It appeals to our reason, and the verdict is, that to sin against such a Being is a deep debasement of our nature, and a most guilty perversion of the noble faculties with which he has endued us. It appeals to our sense of duty; and the verdict is, that no obligation is so strong as that which binds us to Jehovah, our God, and no guilt so great, as that of violating such obligation, and refusing to repent. It appeals to our gratitude, and the verdict is, that to slight such goodness, as God is daily manifesting, indicates a heart dead to every generous emotion. It appeals to our hopes and fears; and the verdict is, that no good can be secured so great, as that which flows from repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ; and no evil incurred so tremendous, as that which must result from continued impenitence and rejection of offered mercy. These appeals, addressed by infinite goodness to all the sensibilities of the heart, constitute a motive to repentance the most powerful of which we can form any conception.

No appeal, we are sensible, căn be made to a disobedient child so tender and moving as that which springs from the kindness of a parent's heart. Go to such a child and tell him, there is no just cause for the ill temper he is indulging; tell him that the parent against whom he is rebelling feels towards him only the spirit of kindness and love, and is even now longing to welcome back to his bosom this one of his family, who has done so much to alienate his affections; and if the appeal does not reach the heart, and cause him to return to duty, you feel at once that no motives can reach his case. He is hardened beyond the power of persuasion. But what is the goodness of the kindest

earthly parent, compared with the goodness of Him who is the Father of us all? His very nature is love, is goodness; and that goodness, in all its riches and forbearance and long suffering, is incessantly poured upon the heart of rebellious man to lead him to repentance.

There is too a peculiarity in the mode in which divine goodness flows to guilty man, which adds inexpressibly to its tender and persuasive energy. It is not goodness flowing to innocent beings through the unobstructed channels of benevolence; but goodness, flowing to lost sinners through the mediation of the Son of God; it is goodness purchased with blood; goodness pressing its suit and pleading for the life of your souls, by the love of the eternal Father, by the compassion of a bleeding Savior, by the deep sorrows of the garden, and the deeper agonies of the cross. Here is goodness such as was never manifested in any world but ours, nor towards any other beings but the lost children of men. No wonder that angels desire to look into this new discovery of the divine benevolence; no wonder that they rejoice to witness its triumphs in the salvation of repenting sinners; the only wonder is that all on earth are not melted and subdued by it, and brought to adore and love that goodness which moved God to give his Son to die for our lost world.

2. The goodness of God is fitted to lead sinners to repentance, as it secures for them a respite from punishment and gives them a space for repentance. This is expressly assigned in the Bible as the reason why God spares sinners in this world of mercy, and follows them with his calls of love. He waits to be gracious, is long suffering towards them, because he is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Why else does God prolong the lives of those who daily trample on his authority and despise his goodness? He is able to punish them, and they deserve to be punished. If every sinner were immediately to be cut off from hope, and have executed upon him the penalty of the violated law, God would be just, and a holy universe would approve his conduct. And yet he bears long with the angrateful despisers of his grace; year after year, he keeps back the stroke of justice, lengthens out their probation and follows them still with the offers of pardon—all the fruit of unmerited goodness, and all to give them a space for -repentance. And what motive to repentance more persuasive than this forbearance of a long suffering and gracious God towards those who requite him only evil for good? It shows not only that he is willing, but earnestly desirous that the sinner should turn and live. Every hour and minute is a fresh respite from deserved punishment, and a fresh call to repentance and salvation. Every evening and morning, as you lie down and rise up, as you go out and come in, the divine goodness meets you with a renewed reprieve from your Sovereign and with renewed offers of pardon and eternal life. Every Sabbath, as its sacred light dawns, invites you to the sanctuary, repeats the -calls to repentance, and enforces those calls by assurances that God is still waiting to be gracious, and ready to pardon and save all who turn unto him.

3. The goodness of God leads to repentance, as it has opened a way in which repentance is available to secure pardon and life for the chief of sinners. If the Lord Jesus Christ had not interposed in our behalf, and by his sufferings and death in our stead, opened a way whereby God can be just and yet justify him that believeth in Jesus, the unwelcome call to repentance had

never fallen upon the ear of reluctant sinners, but every rebel had been left to perpetual impenitence and to its endless punishment. But now, in Christ Jesus, God is reconciling the world unto himself. In his eternal and infinite goodness, he so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth, in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. On the broad ground of an atonement, thus made for the sins of the world, all are invited to come unto God; and though burdened with guilt deep as that of Manasseh or Saul of Tarsus, they have assurance, that, coming penitent and believing, they shall obtain mercy and everlasting salvation. The condition of pardon now is, not that you present a perfect righteousness, of your own, not that you work out an atonement for your sins, or merit forgiveness by doings of your own, but that you repent and look unto God for mercy through Jesus Christ. And what motive to repentance stronger than this? The doors of your prison house are thrown open, every obstacle to your coming forth is taken out of the way, and God in mercy meets you with his calls of love and bids you welcome, on condition of repentance, to all the privileges and hopes of his children. No past sins form any barrier in the way of your access to God. His goodness, manifested in the gift of his Son, has broken down every wall of separation, and bids you, however poor, helpless, and guilty, to come boldly to the throne, that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. It is, as if divine goodness, taking you by the hand and leading you aside, should say,-Come now and let us reason together; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Behold the door of mercy set open before you, and God waiting to hear the first sigh of repentance, that he may pour into your bosom the joys of his salvation. No depth of guilt need exclude you from his favor. With him is plenteous redemption. It is only to look and live. O, admire the patience, adore the love, and accept the mercy of your long suffering God. Arise and go to your Father; and while yet afar off, he will meet you with his love and restore you to all the privileges of his blessed family. I add,

4. That the goodness of God is fitted to lead sinners to repentance, as it furnishes the best possible means of repentance and the most powerful motives to this duty. Some of these have already been mentioned; but they demand, in this place, a more distinct consideration. What but a means of bringing you to repentance is that direct and solemn appeal which the goodness of God is constantly making to all the sensibilities and faculties of the soul? What but a means of repentance is that forbearance and long suffering of God which holds back the stroke of justice and prolongs your existence in this world of hope and salvation? And what but a means to the same end is that love of God which gave his Son to die for you, and now extends to you the offer of a free and full pardon, on the one condition that you confess your transgressions and be sorry for your sins?

But let us notice some other means and motives which God in his goodness has furnished for the same great end.

Consider then the ample and impressive instruction poured around you from the word, the providence and the works of God. All these conspire to impress on your mind the same lessons of eternal wisdom and love. They