Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 2.djvu/86

8 self, and all sober Christians, that the sinner is a true penitent; that he has forsaken all his evil ways, evil company, evil habits; that he is grown habitually serious, devout and religious,—and that by fasting and prayer, he has, in some good measure, got the mastery of his corrupt nature, and has begun a repentance not to be repented of.

For want of this care and method, many Christians are ruined eternally. They sin, and repent, and sin again, and think all is safe, because they have repented, as they think, and are pardoned.

There are people who are in the same sad case with those that stand excommunicated, though no sentence has passed upon them, namely, such as live in a contempt of the public worship of. They cannot properly be turned out of the Church, who never come into it, but they keep themselves out of the ark, and consequently must perish.

Excommunication, in the primitive times, was pronounced in the congregation to which the offender belonged. After which, they gave notice to all other Churches; namely, 'let no temple of God be open to him, let none converse with him,' &c.

2 Sam. xii. 13, 14. "And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said, the Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child that is born unto thee shall surely die." The divine justice punisheth every sin, either in this world or in the next. A sinner's willingness to undergo any punishment which shall be appointed by the minister of God, in order to make proof of, and to establish his repentance, is a sure sign that God has not withdrawn his grace, notwithstanding his sin.