The degrees of penitential sorrow are extremely various in different converts. He who has been convinced of gospel truths step by step, and has been in the same manner brought to the love and fear of God, and to a universal conscientiousness, may have grounds of peace and comfort equally safe, as he whose convictions have been the most sensible; for not their height but their fruits prove them to be genuine.
[77]. Grace here is put for repentance, and not the immediate influence on the soul.
[223]. Τελεσος.
[78]. Αρλος.
[79]. The word is καταρτισαι; which signifies to give them an internal disposition or fitness for the performance of the duties which they were to engage in, Heb. xiii. 21.
[80]. It is a true observation which some have laid down in this known aphorism, Nemo repente fit turpissimus.
[81]. See Whitby’s discourse, &c. page 463.
[82]. See Vol. I. Page 469.
[83]. See Vol. I. page 481, and page 135-138.
[84]. See Vol. II. page 170, 171.