by man or afflicted by God but then why should not carnall and worldly sorrow be repentance when carnall men mourne for the losse of wife or child or some losse by fire or water sea or land Some thinke it is a little weeping or grieuing when they are made to see their sinnes or rather the punishment due to them but then why did not Esau repent Others conceit that a little humbling of themselues to hang downe the head like a bulrush to fast certain daies and to put on sackcloth is repentance but then why was not Ahabs repentance good and true Others deceiue themselues by an opinion that good words and good purposes is repentance but then why should not those sicke men repent who haue manie goodly promises and purposes which they neuer performe nor bring to perfection if once they haue crept from vnder Gods hand and haue worne away the circles of his strokes Others thinke it only to bee confession contrition and satisfaction but then what should let that Iudas repented not But some will grant vs that it must be a turning and will practise a change yet that is but from one sinne to another as the prodigall man leaues off his prodigalitie and giues himselfe to the practise of couetousnesse one man forsakes infidelitie and falles into idolatry the greater wound as Augustine speaketh another being a carnall Gospeller or an Atheist fals from these to Poperie and superstition as a sicke man doth out of a tertian into a quartane ague or if they turne from sin yet not from all sinne but as Herod who obeyed in many things as Nahaman who looked that God should be mercifull vnto him in one thing as Agrippa who had but his almost and not altogether So we see many ciuil men repent who change words and outward acts but not their hearts and the whole man being therein the hypocriticall Pharisie making the outside of the cup cleane but leauing it foule and fiâ—thie within But some men may goe forward and begin to returne in soule and change the inward powers and faculties of it not indeed from sinfulnes to holines yet from ignorance to knowledge and from vice to vertue as many heathen men specially Philosophers haue attained vnto But all these deceiue themselues with the shadow of repentance without substance some hauing made no turning at all some but an imperfect and partiall change Vse 2. 2 This should teach him that would repent indeed to endeuour to change himselfe euen his whole selfe his owne heart and outward man doing as Chrysostome perswaded the people of Antioch Homil. 80. ad pop Antioch Quod in antiquis domibus facere solemus cum fuerint putrefactae putrida subtrahimus supponimus noua à continua cura nunquam desinimus Si sueris antiquatus à peccato per poenitentiam te renoua as men vse to doe in olde houses when they were rotten they take away the rotten postes and put new in their places and haue a continuall care to keep them in repaire So if he be growne old and rotten in sinne hee must renew himselfe by repentance euen both the outward and inward man still changing from some and from al sinne and that in all the faculties and powers of his bodie and soule and parts of his life And in this endeuor though a mans best way is to begin with the inward man as in purging a chanell the best is to begin in the fountaine and the spring head yet lest the hardnes and difficultie of the worke may discourage him make him faint in it and giue ouer I would deale with him as schoole-masters doe with children which teach them the easiest things first though they be not so needfull and profitable and perswade him to begin with the change of the outward man being easier to compasse then the change of the inward and disposition of the mind He must then call himselfe to an examination for the sinnes whereun to he is addicted and finding them to be fornication adulterie drunkennesse theft vsury oppression swearing or the like he must make this resolution vtterly to forsake them all and for euer be they as no doubt they may be neuer so sweet bring they in neuer such pleasure or profit yet must he turne from them all and vtterlie breake them off And to that end carefully auoid all manner of occasions and prouocations entising and drawing to these sinnes by which he is either put in minde of them or tempted to commit them By which care God assisting of him the weakest man that is subiect to any sinne may get the mastery ouer it wheÌ„ as he that is furthest from that sin may easily be ouertaken if he auoid not the occasions As a weake man may keepe his treasure long that can keep his doores shut and theeues out when as a strong man shall be soone robbed of it if he let in the theeues Now when hee is able to abstaine from these then must he endeuoury contrary good workes as we heard Daniel counselled Nebuchadnezzar Zaccheus practised and Peter perswaded his repentants Act. 2.38 Amend your liues And this done then must hee proceede to the reforming and purging of the soule and all the faculties of it for to the reforming of the outward act may hee attaine and yet neuer repent Yet say I not that he shall lose his labour for he may by it procure to himselfe the fauour of God for some forbearance and sparing in temporall iudgement or obtaining of some earthly blessing as Ahab did But if he would truly repent he must endeuour to purge the mind from ignorance his will from frowardnes and peruersnes his affections from corruptions and vncleannesse and labour to haue knowledge of the mysteries of saluation in his vnderstanding vprightnesse in his will holinesse in his affections not onely abstaining from grosse sinnes or liuing vnblamable before men but from all small and secret sinnes by keeping a good conscience in all his waies in the sight of God not leauing some sinnes onely but all not doing some good onely but laboring to doe all knowne duties circumcising the flesh and the heart making not onely a new hand a new soote a new eie a new tongue c. but specially a new heart and a new spirit And so his endeuour shall bee to some purpose and indeede the practise of Repentance prouided that this turning be without a returning to his sinnes againe for as the whole man so the whole life must be changed and not for a day or two but continually for as he that was sicke and is recouered to whom the Physitian hath prescribed a diet for preseruation of his health must keepe it not a day or two but during the time by him prescribed left he haue a relapse which is alwaies most dangerous So he that hath repented must obserue the diet prescribed to abstaine from all cuils and doe the contrarie good and that constantlie and
of it and lesse practiseth the dutie we must first shew them what it is which may thus bee described What repentance is Repentance is the constant turning of a man in his whole life from al sinne vnto God arising from true faith and the true knowledge of a mans owne spirituall estate euer ioyned with true humiliation Repentance is a turning When I say it is a turning I say it by the authoritie of the Prophets in the old Testament and of Christ and his Apostles in the new which is manifest by their preachings and writings Isaiah saith Isai 9.13 The people turneth not vnto him that smiteth them neither doe they seeke the Lord of hostes Hosea exhorting the people to repentance saith Hosea 6.1 Come and let vs returne vnto the Lord. And againe Hosea 14.2 O Israel returne vnto the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thy iniquitie Likewise saith Ieremiah Ier. 4.1 O Israel if thou returne returne vnto me As much hath Ezechiel Ezech. 18.30.32 I will iudge you O house of Israel euery one according to his waies saith the Lord God returne therefore and cause other to turne away from all your transgressions The like is also in the 32. verse In the new Testament the word vsed to expresse this signifies to change the mind whereupon the change of the manners will follow Iohn Baptist saith while he prepared the way for Christ Matth. 3.2 Repent for the kingdome of heauen is at hand As if he should say Returne from an euill mind to a good And our Sauiour Christ vseth the same word Matth. 4.17 Amend for the kingdome c. The Apostle Saint Paul expresseth the meaning of both these when hee saith The Gentiles were taught Act. 26.20 they should repent and if you aske him what that is he expresseth himselfe thus and turne to God and doe workes worthie amendment of life By all which it is manifest that repentance is a turning I say further it is a turning of the whole life Repentance a turning of the whole life or from all sinne In nature there are foure kinds of turnings or mutations One is in substaÌ„ce called generation and corruption a second is in quantitie either from the greater to the lesse or from the more to the fewer and contrary called augmentation and diminution a third in place when things change places called locall mutation a fourth in qualitie when things change from one condition to another called alteration Now here is no change in substance for the partie sinning and repenting is the same and hath the same body and soule the same faculties and powers both of soule and bodie neither is there any change in quantitie for the change from greater sins to lesse or from more to fewer is not repentance Nor is there any change of place for sinne like a mans sicknes is caried with him and change of place as change of beds doth not free him or make him whole Being then none of these it must needes be the change in qualitie that is when one and the same man is changed in the condition both of his soule and bodie from iniquitie to righteousnes from all sinne to the liuing God both in the inward man and outward conuersation Which is manifest by the Scripture as first for the inward man Ezekiel speaketh from the Lord Ezech. 18.31 Make you a new heart and a new spirit not in substance not in quantitie but in qualitie Hence Moses promiseth to his people the blessing if they shall Deut. 30.2 returne with all their heart and with all their soule Hence it is that Ioel speaketh Ioel 2.13 of renting the heart and not the garment And Ieremie Ierem. 4.4 of taking away the foreskin of the heart True repentance then is the change of the heart and inward man but that is not all there must also be a change of the outward man as well as the mind the vnderstanding the wil and affections must be changed so must the eies and the tongue the hands and the feete be changed also Therefore Daniel perswading Nebuchadnezzar to repent he saith vnto him Daniel 4.24 Breake off thy sinnes by righteousnesse and thine iniquities by mercie toward the poore let there be an healing of thy error As if he should say it is not true repentance vnlesse a man breake off sinne and doe the contrarie good and be reformed in the outward man So Zacchâ—us Luk. 19.8 when he turned to God what did he euen breake off his oppression gaue halfe of his goods to the poore made fourefold restitution to those he had wronged and so was turned in the outward man The like might bee said of Peter Mary Magdalene and others who were turned as well inwardly as outwardly and both and so accounted true repentants and their repentance good when as the repentance of Ahab and Herod were not good nor sauing repentance being but in the outward man onely or but for some sinne and not a whole conuersion The reasons that proue repentance to be such a turning are two Reason 1. The first because man who at the first was made a goodlie creature in the image of God hauing fellowship with him whereby he was one with God and God with him by sinne was separated from God there being a partition made betwixt them as Isaiah saith Isai 52.2 he being alienated and estranged from God and become the childe of wrath as S. Paul speaketh Ephes 2.3 and 4.18 and was made like the prodigall sonne gone from his father into a farre country euen become the straied yea the lost sheepe Now when men haue grace to repent then they begin to renew this fellowship to recouer this image and to bee reconciled to God therefore I call it a turning againe to God and a change of the condition Reason 1. 2 I say it is of the whole life or the whole man and from all sin because one sinne separates from God as well as many and all parts are to be reduced to God as well as one one facultie of the minde as well as another for if the outward man only be turned it is but hypocrisie and Pharisaicall and the inward cannot be turned but the outward will follow neither can any man forsake one sinne to be at one and reconciled to God which will not be willing and carefull to leaue off and forsake all Now the vse of this is double Vse 1. First if repentance bee a turning and such a turning as is spoken of then many men deceiue themselues in their iudgment of repentance and thinke that to be it which is not and that they haue it when they haue nothing lesse For many thinke in repentance of nothing lesse then turning and when they would seeme to repent neuer endeuor to turne Some thinke repentance is onely a sorrow and sighing when they are by any meanes checked and reprooued
ioyned vnto him but to driue vs by bitter sorrow to purge out that sinfulnes and those remainders which our precedent sins left behind them in respect whereof we are not yet fully ioyned to Christ And so hauing this signe as the others may bee assured they haue truly repented are regenerated and haue Christ in their hearts as the shepheards were sure when they found all the signes the Angel gaue them that that was he they found in the cratch and so may they bee assured that when death shall come they shall as Simeon prayed when he had Christ in his armes Luke 2.16 depart in peace and enter into glorie The time of repentance Now from these signes and fruits of repentance we must proceed in the next place to the time of repentance when men ought to performe this dutie And first of the generall time of repentance This life is the only time of repentance In this life and vpon the earth there is only place for repentance men onely can heere repent and turne to God So much that place of Timothie prooueth 2. Tim. 2.25 Instructing them with meekenes that are contrarie minded proouing if God at any time will giue the repentance c. Wherby it appeareth that this repentance must bee in this life because the ministery of the word is onely of vse in this life Again in the Reuelation Christ speaking of Iezabel saith Reuel 2.21 he gane her time space to repent Meaning he had let her liue to repent if he had cut her off before hee had taken from her the time of repentance This is insinuated in the parable of the figtree in the Gos-Gospel Luke 13.5.6 where our Sauior Christ saith Except you repeÌ„t you shal al perish wherupon he doth inferre the parable that 〈…〉 and bestowed all the cost that might be and yet it brought forth no fruit the Master of the Vineyard commanded it then to be cut downe Insinuating that if they did not bring forth the fruit of repentaÌ„ce before they were cut downe and died they should neuer do it Also the preaching of Iohn Baptist witnesseth the same who saith Math. 3.10 Now is the axe put to the roote of the tree therfore euery tree that bringeth not foorth good fruit is hewen down and cast into the fire Also the Lord speaketh by the Prophet Ezechiel Ezech. 33.11 As I liue saith the Lord God I delight not in the death of a sinner but that he turne and liue Turne you turne you from your euill waies for why will yee die O ye house of Israel Cyprian thinketh that this place doth prooue Cyprian lib. 3. Testimo aduersus Iudaeos ad Quirinum that repentance is only to bee performed in this life because God saith that he will not the death of a sinner but rather that he returne noting that if he do die then the time â—s pâ—st therfore he desireth his turning â—efore he dieth S. Paul saith 1. Cor. 5.10 We must â—ll appeare before the iudgement seat of Christ that euery man may receiue the â—hings that are done in his body accorâ—ing to that he hath done whether it be â—…d or euill Whence I gather that euery one at the general iudgemeÌ„t day must giue an account of the things done in his bodie in this life but nothing of things done after this life Which place with the other proue that repentance is an act to be performed in this life onely and reason it should be so Reason 1. 1. Because repentance is a fruit of faith and is performed of none but they who haue faith it neither goeth before faith neither can come afterward when faith is ceased and is no longer but in this life onely faith hath a being and not in that life whith is to come for both faith and hope cease to be after this life For S. Paul saith 1. Cor. 13.13 Now abideth faith hope and loue euen these three but the chiefest of these is loue The reason is because faith and hope end in this life when a man hath obtained that he beleeued and hoped for but loue is euerlasting faith then ceasing in this life which is the tree that bringeth forth repentance repentance being the fruit must needs cease Reason 2. 2. Because the essentiall parts of repentance cannot be performed but in this life which are mortification and regeneration there being afterwards no corruption and sinne to be mortified namely in those who haue right to repentance and are the subiects of it Vse 1. The first vse of this doctrine is this to reach vs that if there be no vse of repentance after this life then is there no vse of Purgatory such as the Papists speake of for men die either repentant and so not capable of that place or vnrepentant and so deseruing a worse For afterward is no place for repentance and then for no redemption and deliuerance for their satisfaction being a part of their repentance and no repentance but in this life therefore after this life can be no satisfaction For for them by commutation of penance to free men from the paines of Purgatorie is absurd for that commutation cannot be without repentance This error â—…meâ—h to rise from the practise of the Church who in the more purer times of it when they had excommunicated any for a publike offence and haâ—… for him a long time of his repentance that is to manifest it vnto the Church if before that was accomplished they saw surficient signes of his repentance they sometime remitted 〈◊〉 esse of it And vpon this and 〈◊〉 this grew these satisfactions and commutations But that was onely a mitigation of the punishment which the Church had designed and yet not without repentance but neuer of that which God had appointed did they remit or think vpon to change which these malepartly do at least according to their owne doctrine and that without repentance there being no repentance after this life nor place for that But as Iustin Martyr saith Post animae è corpore egressum statim fit bonorum malorum distinctio ducuntur enim animae ad loca quae eis digna sunt ab angelis bonorum quidem in paradisum impiorum vero ad inferiora loca vbi custodiuntur vsque ad resurrection em Iust. Mart. quaest 75. After the soule is departed out of the bodâ—e eftsoones is there made a distinction of good and euill For the soules are carried by the Angels to those places which are worthie of them and are fitted for them the soules of the good are carried into paradise but the soules of the wicked are carried to hell where they shall be kept till the resurrection Vse 2. 2. This will afford comfort vnto as many as haue cruelie repented which comfort standeth in this that though their liues be short and not so short as vncertaine being not certain of one day or houre being tennants
himself from the Lord that he would 2. Sam. 16.12 looke vpon his affliction and to doe him good for their cursing amongst other things happily this good which Dauid speaketh of that the Lord would make him of the very sume seruants which Michol told him had despised him 2. Sam. 6.22 to be had in honour So that God wil make those who now reproch and dospise him afterwards to honour him yea and to glorifie God for them 1. Pet. 4.2.12 in the day of their visitation when God shall call them And as for scandals which arise from professors hee must learne to put a difference betwixt the person and the profession and not for the faults of him to condemne this I haue heard it often obserued that in many handie crafts the more skilfull the trades man is the more vitious he proues in his carriage as in drunkennes and such like yet no man condemnes his Art for all that and why then should men condemne this art of pietie for the impieties of the professors of it Alas how many should haue stumbled at pietie when Dauid fell into his vncleane and bloody sinne how many at Christianitie when Iudas an Apostle of Christ hanged himselfe being before filthie and couetous how many at Peters deniall and forswearing his Master Nay take heede whosoeuer thou art and know that these scandals may be laid before thee in Gods iustice that thou mightest stumble at to thy destruction but labor to make good out of their euils and let them moue thee to striue and pray for more grace that thou maist be able to stand though they fall And thinke that if a wo◠belong to them who giue the scandall which yet by their repentance they may auoid it cannot be well with thee which takest the scandal and art by it kept from repentance The peaceable ends of sinners is the seuenth impediment to repentance Now we must proceede to the seuenth let and impediment which is the ends of other men who hauing liued very wickedly and vngratiouslie yet haue died very peaceablie and either in truth or shew very happily whereupon they gather that they also may make the like end though they liue impiouslie and impenitentlie all the daies of their liues hence it is that nothing is so common in their mouthes as the good theefe saued at the last houre who at the last houre passed from the state of a wicked man to the condition of a godly man and out of the place of dead bodies into the place of liuing soules yea and they will long talke of the end of a wicked man or men which they haue seene or heard to haue been quiet and peaceable to animate themselues to goe on still in their sinnes and keepe them from repentance Yea they will not passe ouer the vnquiet ends and deaths of many who haue repented and their vncomfortablenes at their death who exercised this dutie much in their life time and so are kept from this repentance yea and they haue reason why they should not make such hast to this Reason 1. 1. Because they thinke of themselues that they haue liued and do still liue a farre more orderly and ciuill life then they haue done though not so holily as some others And so doubt not to make as good or rather a better ende then the best of them Reason 2. 2. Because in the hypocrifie of their hearts they perswade themselues that they are the children of God and more deere vnto him thē those whose ends they remember and therefore make no doubt to find as much fauour as they suppose they haue done alreadie Reason 3. Thirdly because by the discomfortable ends of such as haue repented Satan worketh vpon their corruption and perswades them that it is abootelesse and vnprofitable thing for them to vexe and disquiet themselues in crucifying their corruptions seeing they see but little fruite of it in the end But let vs make some vse of these mens follie Vse Euery man ought to striue against this if they desire at all to bee saued which must bee by repentance they ought to labour to remooueit which that they may doe the more easilie they should first remember and consider it well that the quiet ends of most wicked men though not of all commeth partly by the iustice of God and partly by the subtiltie of S◅n and their owne corruption so to blind them that they may haue and doe still imagine that they are as deare to God as any of his and as sure of heauen and euerlasting happinesse and life though they neuer repented in truth neither knew hee what it meant And to change Augustines words a little Sperando desperando pereunt homines c. By hoping and despaire many men perish I say By hoping and presuming manie perish hoping euill in their liues but presuming worse in their deaths And this God doth either lest they should bee conuerted and bee saued as the Lord commandeth in Esay Esay 6.10 to make the heart of this people fat make their eares heauie and shut their eies lest they see with their eies and heare with their eares and vnderstand with their hearts and conuert and hee heale them Or that their companions who haue contemned God and his lawes with them might bee hardned in their course he hauing a purpose to destroy both the one and the other If it proceed from Satans craft and subtiltie that men be thus holdē in impenitencie then is it after this manner he being sure of them and by the former delusion hauing held them seeing what is for his purpose will not trouble them but feede them on still with a vaine hope of saluation by which not onely they dying are as the diuell said to Saul 1. Sam. 28.19 To morow thou and thy sonnes shall be with me so they and their soules with him but he also holdeth many in his power still who outliue them which would be made to bethink themselues if they should see their companions for their former courses to be at their deaths full of doubts and perplexities Againe this should bee thought on when the repentant dieth not so comfortable that it argueth not he neuer had it because now hee hath not the seeling of it no more then a mans feeling of nothing but aches and paines will prooue that he was neuer healthfull or that it is not now because it appeareth not for so should all trees in the winter be accounted dead because their life appeareth not for as this commeth from extremitie of cold so that may come from extremitie of heate by a burtting ague which may so distemper the braine that he may be like Peter in the mount speake he know not what The iudgement of a man then is to be fetched from his life in former time for as he liue◠and beleeued so shall he end in trueth whatsoeuer he do in shew for the