Of Repentance. 7S is required of thofe who fin wilfully under S E R M. the chriftian profeffion. The gofpel was IV. firft declared to fuch as, by the account it `--v.""i gives of them, were very ignorant and very wicked ; all fiefh had corrupted their ways, and the whole world became guilty before God. The religion of the Jews had degenerated into empty formality; external rites and ce- remonies, were put in the place of fubftan- tial piety and virtue : And the Gentiles were dead in trefpalès and fins, foolifh and difobe- dient, ferving diverfè lulls and pleafures. Such were they whom our Saviour and his apoftles called to repentance, to an entire change of their tempers and their manner of life, to become new creatures, to put of the old man and be renewed after the image of God, in righteoufnefs and true holinefs. To this purpofe very ftrong motives were fet be- fore them, taken from the death and refur- reétion of Chrift, and from the hope of a glorious immortality, which Jefus Chrift brought to light; and they came under a folemn obligation by baptifm, which was a feal of their religious profeffion, and a facred engagement upon them to walk in newnef of life, as the apoftles explain it. A perfe- vering courfe of fincere obedience, as the condition of their claim to the benefits of the
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