Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/74

70 sin, is the servant of sin; and the servant abideth not in the house for ever; but the Son abideth for ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed," John viii. 34 to 36.

Whatever is done by man in freedom, becomes his own, and remains with him. But whatever he does by the compulsion of another, being in disagreement with his own will, cannot be said to be his own act, but the act of the person who compels him. Hence it is, that repentance, to be effectual, must be performed by man, while he is in a state of freedom, undisturbed by fear: and hence also a free service, proceeding from a willing heart, is acceptable to the Lord, but not a forced service: wherefore it is written of the children of Israel, that "they brought a willing offering unto Jehovah, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing," Exod. xxxv. 29. And the Psalmist David says, "I will freely sacrifice unto thee; I will praise thy name, O Jehovah, for it is good," Ps. liv. 6.

REPENTANCE is the beginning and foundation of the church in man; and it consists in a man's examining not only the actions of his life, but also the intentions of his will, and in abstaining from evils, because they are sins against God. It is not sufficient for a man to confess himself a sinner in general terms, and to acknowledge that from head to foot he is full of evil, deserving of eternal damnation, and therefore unworthy to lift up his eyes to heaven: for this he may do, and yet not select one evil out of all the multitude within him, which he is determined, by divine assistance, to resist, to shun, and to remove