We shall take occasion, from the words before us, to trace repentance, I. In its nature —
[Repentance, as a grace, proceeds from God, the giver of every good giff^, and from Christ, who is exalted to bestow it*^ ; and who alone can produce in the heart that " godly sorrow which worketh it."
To ascertain what godly sorrow is, we must compare it with " the sorrow of the world," with which all of us are in some measure acquainted. The sorrow of the world may either relate to that sorrow tvhich arises from zcorldly troubles, or that sorrotv tvhich a ivorldly man may have in reference to his sins. In either view it is a sorrow which '* worketh death."
The troubles of this life often depress men, so as to indis- pose them for their proper business, and rob them of all their comfort, and destroy their constitution, and ultimately to bring them to the grave''.
Many also are greatly distressed in reference to their sins : they are filled with dreadful apprehensions of God's wrath ; they are harassed with unbelieving fears ; they are even brought into the depths of despair, conceiving, that there is no mercy for them — that they are not of the number of God's elect — that they have committed the sin against the Holy Ghost — and that it would be either hypocrisy or presumption in them even to offer up a prayer to God. Now this sorrow, like that before- mentioned, worketh only death. It keeps us from God, in- stead of bringing us to him^; it leads us to cloke and extenuate, rather than to confess and aggravate, our sins ; it stimulates only to self-righteous purposes and endeavours, which are invariably frustrated by the power of indwelling corruption ; and sometimes it terminates even in suicide itself^. At all events it causes hard thoughts of God, and utterly unfits the soul for real humiliation and contrition ; so that, whether it be more or less afflictive at present, it equally furthers our eternal condemnation.
In direct opposition to this is that godly sorrow which pro- duces genuine repentance. The fore-mentioned sorrow con- sists oi unbelief , despondency, awA fear oi^\\n\&\\me\\t\ but the most essential ingredients of godly sorrow are faith, hope, and love. The person sorrowing goes to God, believing him to be
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him He goes
to God through Christ, hoping that for Christ's sake his sins
c Jam. i. 17. •' Acts v. 31.
^ It is not uncommon to say of such persons, they died of a broken heart.
f Jer. ii. 25. « Judas.