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The finner has his invitation, If lver. Ho, Severy one that thirftetb, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money, and without price. (2.) The declaration of God's good pleafure in their fo doing, John vi. 29. This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath fent. And lastly, his peremptory command, 1 John iii. 23. And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jefus Chrift.

I fhall conclude with a very few inferences.

Inf. 1. Faith is a precious thing, 2 Pet. i. il Not to be sworn by, but fought of the Lord. It faves the precious foul, and wraps it up in precious promifes.

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2. It is a moft neceffary grace; for it is that which brings Chrift and the foul together.meAnd without it it is impoffible to pleafe God, Heb. xiq 6.

3. It is of perpetual ufe while here; it is an eye, hand, and foot to the foul, Pfal. xxvii.eg, and at death it does the laft office to the man, fupports him when all other comforts fail, Heb. xi.13

4. Lastly, Seek faith, to have it wrought, actuated, and ftrengthened in you; and for that effect. Pof. VIII. and laft. The righteoufnefs, which is the relative and object of faith, viz. the righteoufnefs of Chriff, is reckoned or imputed to believers, as really theirs, as well as their faith, theirs, I fay, antecedendly to the imputation of it at God's bar; though the former is not indeed inherent in them, as lat1, as the teris. This is evident from the true fenfe of the fifth phrafe, reckoning a thing to a perfon, eftablished by the instances of it above adduced. Chrift's righteoufuefs becomes ours, by faith uniting us to him: from which union immediately refults a communion with him in his righteoufnefs; which being legally found at the bar of heaven, that perfect righteousness is reckoned or imputed to us, fet down on our fcore, put on our account, as really ours: even as guilt of blood is reckoned to the man, Lev. xvii. 4, as really his guilt; and as the plat of ground, Jofh. xiii. 3. was reckoned to the Canaanites, as really theirs, or belonging to them, &c. And thereupon we are juftified, on the account of that rightecufnefs truly being and rekoned to be curs.

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caufe diligently attend ordinances, the preaching of the word particularly; for faith cometh by hearing, Rom, X. 17

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g Of Repentance unto Life.

ACTS xi. 18.

Then hath God alfo to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

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EPENTANCE is an infeparable companion of faith, fo that the foul bleifed with raith in Chrift will be alfo endowed with repentance, towards God...

This is a conclufion drawn by the believing Jews bfrom the account Peter had given them of what paffed with refpect to his receiving the Gentiles into Chriftian fellowship, with which they re fatisfied, namely, That God had given repentance to the Gentiles Where confider,

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Ableffing granted; repentance unto life; fo called, to diftinguish it from legal repentance, and the forrow that is unto death. This true repentance is unto life; for, by God's appointment, it must go before eternal life; and whofo have it, fhall be fure of that.

The parties to whom it was granted; the Gentiles, thofe who were once without hope, and Without God in the world.

milog. The author of it, God. It is his gift, as well as faith is. He works it in the heart.

The doctrine of the text is,

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25 Docr. To those whom God defigns for life, he gives repentance unto life. They come all through this trait gate who enter into life. Or, " Repentance unto life is a faving grace, whereby a finner, out of

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a true fenfe of his fin, and apprehenfion of the mercy of God in Chrift, doth, with grief and hatred of his fin, turn from it unto God, with full purpofe of, and endeavour after new obe dience,"

e Here I fhall fhew,

I. What are the kinds of repentance. 2001
II. The general nature of repentance unto life.or
III. Who is the author of this repentance. gnid
IV. The springs of it.

V. The parts thereof.

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VI. Deduce an inference or two for application.

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I. I am to fhew what are the kinds of repentanceq They are two. stri lett

1. Legal repentance, fuch as was in Judas, and may be in other reprobates, and fo is not faving, Matth. xxvii. 3. being produced by law-terrors, without gofpel-grace changing the heart..

2. Evangelical repentance, peculiar to the elect which is that in the text, and is the only true and faving repentance, of which we fpeak. The gene ral difference betwixt them lies here, that in this laft one repents of his fin as it is fin, or offenfive to God, as David did, Pfal. li. 4. faying, Against thee, thee only have I finned, and done this evil in thy fights in the other only as it brings wrath on him, Gen. ivo 13.

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II. I proceed to fhew the general nature of treet pentance unto life. It is a faving grace, Tim i. 25. difpofing the foul unto all the acts of turn ing from fin unto God.

I. It is not a tranfient action, a figh for fin, an pang of forrow for it, which goes away agains But it is an abiding grace, a new frame and difposs fition, fixed in the heart, difpofing one to turn from fin to God on all occafions; Zech.xiao. I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the t

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habitants of Ferufalem, the spirit of grace and of fupplications, and they fhall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they hall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only fon, and fhall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.

2. Nor yet a paffing work of the first days of one's religion; but a grace in the heart, fetting one to an anfwerable working all their days. The heart being fmitten with repentance at converfion, the wound is never bound up to bleed no more, till the band of glory be put about it.

It is not a common grace, as legal repentance is, but a faving one; diftinguifhing one from a hypocrite, and having a neceffary connection with eternal life.

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lll I fall fhew who is the author of this

tance.

repen

1. Not men themfelves; it is not owing to one's natural powers: Jer xxii. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his fkin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye alfo do good that are accustomed to do evil. The ftony heart is beyond man's power to remove.

2. It is God's free gift, and wrought by the. power of his Spirit in the heart, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 27. A new heart alfo will I give you, and a new fpirit will I put within you, and I will take away the ftony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and caufe you to walk in my ftatutes, and ye shall keep my judgements, and do them. Jer. xxxi. 18. 19. I have furely sheur de Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chaftifed me, and I was chaftifed, as a bullock unac customed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I fhall be turn ed for thou art the Lord my God. Surely after that I was turned, Irepented and after that I was inftructed, I fmote upon my thigh; I was afbamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. Sometimes notorious finners become penitents, as

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Manaffeh, Paul, &c. Where he is the matter, the knotticft timber is as easy for the Spirit to work as any other, Zech. xii. 10. forecited.

The means the Spirit makes ufe of is the word; hence we read of preaching repentance. And (1.) The law ferves to break the hard heart, Jer. xxiii. 29. Is not my word like a fire? faith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? It is like the Baptift preparing the way for the Meffiah's coming. Hence it is called the Spirit of bondage, Rom. viii. 15. (2.) The gofpel ferves to melt the hard heart, like a fire, Jer. xxiii. 29. forecited; and fo to bow and bend it from fin unto God. The foul is driven by the law, but drawn by the gofpel. The Lord comes in the ftill fmall voice. (19.0

IV. I proceed to fhew the fprings of this repent-
There are two opened in the heart by the

ance.

Holy Spirit.

1. A true fenfe of fin. And in this there are two things.

(1.) A fight of it, Pfal. li. 3. My fin is ever before me. The man's eyes are opened, and be fees his finfulness, of nature, heart, lip, and life; the evil of his fin, in the mifery and danger of it to himfelf, and the difhonour it does to God.

(2.) A painful feeling of it, Acts ii. 37. The fin which fat light on them before, becomes a burden which they are not able to bear; for now they are roufed out of their lethargy, and feel their fores: it is a burden on their fpirits, backs, and heads. They are filled with terror, anguish, and remorfe at the fight, as was the Philip pian jailor, Acts xvi. 30. This is neceffary for repentance, because otherwife the finner will never part with his fin, nor prize Chrift and his grace, Rev. iii. 17. He will reign as king without Chrift till he feel his loft eftate, as did the prodigal, Lake

AV.

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