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SERMON 2

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By Johnson, Samuel

Samuel Johnson: Sermons

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SERMON 21

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

ISAIAH lv.7

That God is a being of infinite mercy;2 that he desires not the death of a sinner,3 nor takes any pleasure in the misery of his creatures; may not only be deduced from the consideration of his nature, and his attributes; but, for the sake of those that are incapable of philosophical enquiries, who make far the greatest part of mankind, it is evidently revealed to us in the Scriptures, in which the Supreme Being, the source of life, the author of existence, who spake the word, and the world was made, who commanded, and it was created, is described as looking down from the height of infinite felicity, with tenderness and pity, upon the sons of men; inciting them, by soft impulses, to perseverance in virtue, and recalling them, by instruction and punishment, from errour and from vice. He

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is represented as not more formidable for his power, than amiable for his mercy; and is introduced as expostulating with mankind upon their obstinacy in wickedness; and warning them, with the highest affection, to avoid those punishments, which the laws of his government make it necessary to inflict upon the inflexible and disobedient. “Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts.” Malachi iii. 7. “Make you a new heart, and a new spirit, for why will ye die, O house of Israel.” Ezekiel xviii. 31. His mercy is ever made the chief motive of obedience to him; and with the highest reason inculcated, as the attribute which may animate us most powerfully to an attention to our duty. “If thou, O Lord, wert extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who shall abide it? But there is mercy with thee, therefore shalt thou be feared.”4 If God were a power unmerciful and severe, a rigid exactor of unvaried regularity and unfailing virtue; if he were not to be pleased but with perfection, nor to be pacified after transgressions and offences; in vain would the best men endeavour to recommend themselves to his favour; in vain would the most circumspect watch the motions of his own heart, and the most diligent apply himself to the exercise of virtue. They would only destroy their ease by ineffectual solicitude, confine their desires with unnecessary restraints, and weary out their lives in unavailing labours. God would not be to be served, because all service would be rejected; it would be much more reasonable to abstract the mind from the contemplation of him, than to have him only before us, as an object of terrour, as a being too mighty to be resisted, and too cruel to be implored; a being that created men, only to be miserable, and revealed himself to them, only to interrupt even the transient and imperfect enjoyments of this life, to astonish them with terrours, and to overwhelm them with despair.

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But there is mercy with him, therefore shall he be feared. It is reasonable, that we should endeavour to please him, because we know that every sincere endeavour will be rewarded by him; that we should use all the means in our power, to enlighten our minds, and regulate our lives, because our errours, if involuntary, will not be imputed to us; and our conduct, though not exactly agreeable to the divine ideas of rectitude, yet if approved, after honest and diligent enquiries, by our own consciences, will not be condemned by that God, who judges of the heart, weighs every circumstance of our lives, and admits every real extenuation of our failings and transgressions.

Were there not mercy with him, were he not to be reconciled after the commission of a crime, what must be the state of those, who are conscious of having once offended him? A state of gloomy melancholy, or outrageous desperation; a dismal weariness of life, and inexpressible agonies at the thought of death; for what affright or affliction could equal the horrours of that mind, which expected every moment to fall into the hands of implacable omnipotence?

But the mercy of God extends not only to those that have made his will, in some degree, the rule of their actions, and have only deviated from it by inadvertency, surprize, inattention, or negligence, but even to those that have polluted themselves with studied and premeditated wickedness; that have violated his commands in opposition to conviction, and gone on, from crime to crime, under a sense of the divine disapprobation.

Even these are not for ever excluded from his favour, but have in their hands means, appointed by himself, of reconciliation to him; means by which pardon may be obtained, and by which they may be restored to those hopes of happiness, from which they have fallen by their own fault.

The great duty, to the performance of which these benefits are promised, is repentance; a duty, which it is of the utmost importance to every man to understand and practise, and which it therefore may be necessary to explain and enforce, by shewing, First, what is the true nature of repentance.

Secondly, what are the obligations to an early repentance.

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First, what is the true nature of repentance.

The duty of repentance, like most other parts of religion, has been misrepresented by the weakness of superstition, or the artifices of interest. The clearest precepts have been obscured by false interpretations, and one errour added to another, till the understanding of men has been bewildered, and their morals depraved by a false appearance of religion.

Repentance has been made, by some, to consist in the outward expressions of sorrow for sin, in tears and sighs, in dejection and lamentation.

It must be owned that where the crime is publick, and where others may be in danger of corruption from the example, some publick and open declarations of repentance may be proper; if made with decency and propriety, which are necessary to preserve the best actions from contempt and ridicule; but they are necessary only, for the sake of destroying the influence of a bad example, and are no otherwise essential to this duty. No man is obliged to accuse himself of crimes, which are known to God alone; even the fear of hurting others ought often to restrain him from it, since to confess crimes may be, in some measure, to teach them, and those may imitate him in wickedness, who will not follow him in his repentance.

It seems here not impertinent to mention the practice of private confession to the priest, indispensably enjoined by the Roman church, as absolutely necessary to true repentance; but which is no where commanded in Scripture, or recommended otherwise, than as a method of disburthening the conscience, for the sake of receiving comfort or instruction, and as such, is directed by our own liturgy.5

Thus much, and no more, seems to be implied in the Apostle’s precept, “of confessing our faults one to another,”6 a precept expressed with such latitude, that it appears only to be one of those which it may be often convenient to observe, but which is to be observed no further, than as it may be convenient. For we are left entirely at liberty, what terms, whether general or particular, we shall use in our confessions.

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The precept, in a literal and rational sense, can be said to direct no more, than general acts of humiliation, and acknowledgements of our own depravity.

No man ought to judge of the efficacy of his own repentance, or the sincerity of another’s, by such variable and uncertain tokens, as proceed more from the constitution of the body, than the disposition of the mind, or more from sudden passions and violent emotions, than from a fixed temper, or settled resolutions. Tears are often to be found, where there is little sorrow, and the deepest sorrow without any tears. Even sorrow itself is no other than an accidental, or a secondary, part of repentance, which may, and indeed ought to arise from the consciousness of our own guilt; but which is merely a natural and necessary effect, in which choice has very little part, and which therefore is no virtue. He that feels no sorrow for sin, has indeed great reason to doubt of the sincerity of his own repentance, since he seems not to be truly sensible of his danger and his misery; but he that feels it in the highest degree is not to put confidence in it. He is only to expect mercy upon his reformation.

For reformation is the chief part of repentance; not he that only bewails and confesses, but he that forsakes his sins, repents acceptably to God, that God who “will have mercy, and not sacrifice”;7 who will only accept a pure heart and real virtue, not outward forms of grief, or pompous solemnities of devotion. To conceive that any thing can be substituted in the place of reformation is a dangerous and fatal, though perhaps no uncommon errour; nor is it less erroneous, though less destructive, to suppose, that any thing can be added to the efficacy of a good life by a conformity to any extraordinary ceremonies or particular institutions.

To false notions of repentance many nations owe the custom, which prevails amongst them, of retiring in the decline of life to solitudes and cloysters, to atone for wickedness by penance and mortifications. It must indeed be confessed, that it may be prudent in a man, long accustomed to yield to particular temptations, to remove himself from them as far as he can, because every passion is more strong or violent, as its

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particular object is more near. Thus it would be madness in a man, long enslaved by intemperance, to frequent revels and banquets with an intent to reform; nor can it be expected that cruelty and tyranny should be corrected, by continuance in high authority.

That particular state which contributes most to excite and stimulate our inordinate passions, may be changed with very good effect; but any retirement from the world does not necessarily precede or follow repentance, because it is not requisite to reformation. A man whose conscience accuses him of having perverted others seems under some obligations to continue in the world, and to practise virtue in publick, that those who have been seduced by his example, may by his example be reclaimed.

For reformation includes, not only the forbearance of those crimes of which we have been guilty, and the practice of those duties which we have hitherto neglected, but a reparation, as far as we are able to make it, of all the injuries that we have done, either to mankind in general, or to particular persons. If we have been guilty of the open propagation of errour, or the promulgation of falsehood, we must make our recantation no less openly; we must endeavour, without regard to the shame and reproach to which we may be exposed, to undeceive those whom we have formerly misled. If we have deprived any man of his right, we must restore it to him; if we have aspersed his reputation, we must retract our calumny. Whatever can be done to obviate the ill consequences of our past misconduct, must be diligently and steadily practised. Whoever has been made vicious or unhappy by our fault, must be restored to virtue and happiness, so far as our counsel or fortune can contribute to it.

Let no man imagine that he may indulge his malice, his avarice, or his ambition, at the expence of others; that he may raise himself to wealth and honour by the breach of every law of heaven and earth, then retire laden with the plunder of the miserable, spend his life in fantastick8 penances, or false

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devotion, and by his compliance with the external duties of religion, atone for with-holding what he has torn away from the lawful possessor by rapine and extortion; let him not flatter himself with false persuasions that prayer and mortification can alter the great and invariable rules of reason and justice. Let him not think that he can acquire a right to keep what he had no right to take away, or that frequent prostrations before God will justify his perseverance in oppressing men. Let him be assured that his presence profanes the temple, and that his prayer will be turned into sin.

A frequent and serious reflection upon the necessity of reparation and restitution, may be very effectual to restrain men from injustice and defamation, from cruelty and extortion; for nothing is more certain, than that most propose to themselves to die the death of the righteous, and intend, however they may offend God in the pursuit of their interest, or the gratification of their passions, to reconcile themselves to him by repentance. Would men therefore deeply imprint upon their minds the true notions of repentance in its whole extent, many temptations would lose their force; for who would utter a falsehood, which he must shamefully retract, or take away, at the expence of his reputation and his innocence, what, if he hopes for eternal happiness, he must afterwards restore? Who would commit a crime, of which he must retain the guilt, but lose the advantage?

There is indeed a partial restitution, with which many have attempted to quiet their consciences, and have betrayed their own souls. When they are sufficiently enriched by wicked practices, and leave off to rob from satiety of wealth, or are awakened to reflection upon their own lives by danger, adversity, or sickness, they then become desirous to be at peace with God, and hope to obtain, by refunding part of their acquisitions, a permission to enjoy the rest. In pursuance of this view churches are built, schools endowed, the poor cloathed, and the ignorant educated. Works indeed highly pleasing to God, when performed in concurrence with the other duties of

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religion, but which will never atone for the violation of justice. To plunder one man for the sake of relieving another, is not charity; to build temples with the gains of wickedness, is to endeavour to bribe the Divinity. This ought ye to have done, and not left the other undone.9 Ye ought doubtless to be charitable, but ye ought first to be just.

There are others who consider God, as a judge still more easily reconciled to crimes, and therefore perform their acts of atonement after death, and destine their estates to charity, when they can serve the end of luxury or vanity no longer. But whoever he be that has loaded his soul with the spoils of the unhappy, and riots in affluence by cruelty and injustice, let him not be deceived! God is not mocked.1 Restitution must be made to those who have been wronged, and whatever he with-holds from them, he with-holds at the hazard of eternal happiness.

An amendment of life is the chief and essential part of repentance. He that has performed that great work, needs not disturb his conscience with subtle scruples, or nice distinctions. He needs not recollect, whether he was awakened from the lethargy of sin, by the love of God, or the fear of punishment. The Scripture applies to all our passions; and eternal punishments had been threatened to no purpose, if these menaces were not intended to promote virtue.

But as this reformation is not to be accomplished by our own natural power, unassisted by God, we must, when we form our first resolutions of a new life, apply ourselves, with fervour and constancy, to those means which God has prescribed for obtaining his assistance. We must implore a blessing by frequent prayer, and confirm our faith by the holy sacrament. We must use all those institutions that contribute to the increase of piety, and omit nothing that may either promote our progress in virtue, or prevent a relapse into vice. It may be enquired whether a repentance begun in sickness, and prevented by death from exerting its influence upon the conduct, will avail in the sight of God.2 To this question it

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may be answered in general, that as all reformation is begun by a change of the temper and inclinations, which, when altered to a certain degree, necessarily produce an alteration in the life and manners; if God who sees the heart, sees it rectified in such a manner as would consequently produce a good life, he will accept that repentance.

But it is of the highest importance to those who have so long delayed to secure their salvation, that they lose none of the moments which yet remain; that they omit no act of justice or mercy now in their power; that they summon all their diligence to improve the remains of life, and exert every virtue which they have opportunities to practise. And when they have done all that can possibly be done by them, they cannot yet be certain of acceptance, because they cannot know, whether a repentance, proceeding wholly from the fear of death, would not languish and cease to operate, if that fear was taken away.3

Since therefore such is the hazard and uncertain efficacy of repentance long delayed, let us seriously reflect, Secondly, upon the obligations to an early repentance.

He is esteemed by the prudent and the diligent to be no good regulator of his private affairs, who defers till to-morrow what is necessary to be done, and what it is in his power to do, to-day. The obligation would still be stronger, if we suppose that the present is the only day in which he knows it will be in his power. This is the case of every man, who delays to reform his life, and lulls himself in the supineness of iniquity. He knows not that the opportunities he now rejects will ever be again offered him, or that they will not be denied him because he has rejected them. This he certainly knows, that

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life is continually stealing from him, and that every day cuts off some part of that time which is already perhaps almost at an end.4

But the time not only grows every day shorter, but the work to be performed in it more difficult; every hour, in which repentance is delayed, produces something new to be repented of. Habits grow stronger by long continuance, and passions more violent by indulgence. Vice, by repeated acts, becomes almost natural, and pleasures, by frequent enjoyment, captivate the mind almost beyond resistance.

If avarice has been the predominant passion, and wealth has been accumulated by extortion and rapacity, repentance is not to be postponed. Acquisitions, long enjoyed, are with great difficulty quitted, with so great difficulty, that we seldom, very seldom, meet with true repentance in those whom the desire of riches has betrayed to wickedness. Men who could willingly resign the luxuries and sensual pleasures of a large fortune, cannot consent to live without the grandeur and the homage. And they who would leave all, cannot bear the reproach, which they apprehend from such an acknowledgment of wrong.

Thus are men with-held from repentance, and consequently debarred from eternal felicity; but these reasons, being founded in temporal interest, acquire every day greater strength to mislead us, though not greater efficacy to justify us. A man may, by fondly indulging a false notion, voluntarily forget that it is false, but can never make it true. We must banish every false argument, every known delusion from our minds, before our passions can operate in its favour; and forsake what we know must be forsaken, before we have endeared it to ourselves by long possession. Repentance is always difficult, and the difficulty grows still greater by delay. But let those who have hitherto neglected this great duty, remember, that it is yet in their power, and that they cannot perish everlastingly but by their own choice! Let them therefore endeavour to redeem the time lost, and repair their negligence by vigilance and

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ardour! “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Editorial Notes

1 Rambler 110 (Yale IV.220-226), a close parallel to this sermon, discusses the theme of repentance in a similar sequence: (1) the character of God (power and mercy), (2) the inadequacy of external repentance only, (3) superstition in piety, (4) definition of repentance as a change of life and practice, (5) future punishment, (6) repentance as a result of sorrow and fear.

2 “The amiable Dr. Adams suggested that God was infinitely good. JOHNSON. ‘That he is infinitely good, as far as the perfection of his nature will allow, I certainly believe; but it is necessary for good upon the whole, that individuals should be punished. As to an individual, therefore, he is not infinitely good; and as I cannot be sure that I have fulfilled the conditions on which salvation is granted, I am afraid I may be one of those who shall be damned.’ (looking dismally.) DR. ADAMS. ‘What do you mean by damned?’ JOHNSON. (passionately and loudly) ‘Sent to Hell, Sir, and punished everlastingly’” (Life, IV.299). The entire conversation, which increases in intensity until SJ says, “I’ll have no more on’t,” should be compared with the present sermon. On SJ and the Last Judgement, see Chapin, pp. 25-27.

3 “Almighty God ..., who desireth not the death of a sinner” (Order for Morning and Evening Prayer, Book of Common Prayer).

4 Psalms cxxx.3-4. SJ here quotes, apparently from memory, the Psalter as it appears in the Book of Common Prayer-that is, in the version of the Great Bible of 1539: “If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss: O Lord, who may abide it? For there is mercy with thee: therefore shalt thou be feared.” SJ habitually quotes or adapts from either the King James version of the Bible or the Prayer Book version. Unless otherwise noted, the King James version is referred to.

5 With this precise statement of the Anglican position on the auricular confession, compare Life, II.105 and III.60.

6 “Confess your faults one to another” (James v.16).

7 “For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice” (Hosea vi.6).

8 SJ defines fantastick in the Dictionary as “Subsisting only in the fancy; imaginary,” and he illustrates his second definition from the Decay of Piety (that is, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety Written by the author of the Whole Duty of Man, 1667): “Men are so possessed with their own fancies, that they take them for oracles ....” In the sermon SJ calls penances “fantastick” because it is a delusion to believe they will produce forgiveness.

9 Matthew xxiii.23; Luke xi.42.

1 Galatians vi.7.

2 “BOSWELL. ‘When a man is the aggressor, and by ill-usage forces on a duel in which he is killed, have we not little ground to hope that he is gone into a state of happiness?’ JOHNSON. ‘Sir, we are not to judge determinately of the state in which a man leaves this life. He may in a moment have repented effectually, and it is possible may have been accepted by God. There is in “Camden’s Remains,” an epitaph upon a very wicked man, who was killed by a fall from his horse, in which he is supposed to say, “Between the stirrup and the ground,/I mercy ask’d, I mercy found”’” (Life, IV.212). For a discussion of the Anglican position on death-bed repentances, see Donald J. Greene, “Dr. Johnson’s ‘Late Conversion’: A Reconsideration,” Johnsonian Studies, ed. Magdi Wahba (Cairo, 1962), pp. 78-79.

3 “No man can be sure that his obedience and repentance will obtain salvation” (Life, III.295).

4 See Idler 31 (Yale II.98), where Mr. Sober, at his chemical experiments, “sits and counts the drops as they come from his retort, and forgets that, while a drop is falling, a moment flies away.”

Transcription

Document Details

Document TitleSERMON 2

AuthorJohnson, Samuel

Creation DateN/A

Publ. Date1788

Alt. TitleN/A

Contrib. AuthorN/A

ClassificationSubject: Isaiah; Subject: Repentance; Subject: Mercy; Subject: Sin; Subject: Forgiveness; Genre: Sermon

PrinterN/A

PublisherT. Cadell

Publ. PlaceLondon

VolumeSamuel Johnson: Sermons

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