THE PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE OR A Sermon preached at PAVLS CROSSE the fifteenth of September last passed By RADFORD MAVERICKE Preacher of Gods Word in DEVON IER 17. 21. Thus saith the Lord Take heede to your soules LONDON Printed by WILLIAM STANSBY 1617. TO THE RIGHT Honorable THOMAS Lord RIDGEWAY Baron of GALTEN-RIDGEWAY And to the right Vertuous and Religious LADY his WIFE all grace and happinesse in Earth accompanyed with all glorie and renowne in Heauen HONORABLE PERSONAGES MAy it please you to peruse these printed Papers contayning the summe of a Sermon preached at the Crosse not long sithence the Printer perswading it onward with this reason for that a Sermon touching Repentance being preached at the same place now twentie yeeres gone he thought it not meete that this present Sermon perswading vnto the practice of Repentance and being so neere of Kinne to the other both in respect of the Author and Subiect should sleepe in the graue of silence or obliuion but rather taking her elder Sister by the hand should seeke their fortunes in the wide Wildernesse of this World where happily some godly disposed will either for pitty or pieties sake giue them intertaynement And for mine owne part this benefit I hope may redound by the printing of it that as it may be with farre greater ease read and perused of them that heard it then at that time it could well be attended vnto by reason the winde was somwhat high and hard at the publishing thereof so such as were not present may by this means be made partaker of the same both for their profit and comfort the mayne point therein handled being a doctrine so necessary and generall that it concernes all persons and people whosoeuer that either long for or desire their eternall saluation And now Honorables I will not spend many wordes to yeeld reasons or causes of this my Dedication to your honored selues you are not ignorant that my ancient and long acquaintance with you with reuerence I speake it here in your owne Country and the certayne knowledge I tooke of your zealous and pious courses you euer held in the right path of Religion which happily hath prepared you for these greater Honors and Places were motiues enough to perswade me to suffer these lines if they had beene written with gold to passe vnder your godly protections to speake nothing of the many fauours I haue receiued from you and your worthy Ancesters which as I may neuer forget so I take pleasure with all thankefulnesse often to remember them One thing more I must adde and so I end at my being in London when this Sermon was preached some few dayes before I promised your brother and verily intended to shew my dutie vnto you at Lambeth when my paynes had beene ended about the same but I was hindred only by sicknesse and weakenesse which made me to returne home speedily where I thanke God I haue now after a long sicknesse reasonably well recouered my health and strength againe and am not altogether without hope but that I may see you once more before I goe hence and be no more seene Meane while and for euer I will not cease to pray for your Honors prosperitie both in your honored selues and worthy Progenie that as God of his goodnesse hath aduanced you to these earthly Honors which you know are but fading so you may seeke by all meanes possible to aduance Gods glorie in the Gospell of his Sonne and the true Professors thereof which shall be the Churches good and your glorie for euer AMEN From my poore house at ILSINGTON in DEVON the sixt of AVGVST 1617. Your Honors euer in the Lord to be commanded RADFORD MAVERICKE THE PRACTICE OF REPENTANCE IEREM 4. 14. O Ierusalem wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou mayest be saued how long shall thy wicked thoughts remayne within thee Exordium SEeing this my Text seemeth to be but an abrupt speech of our Prophet I shall the lesse neede to be curious in obseruing the Coherence of the same Coherence Yet being well obserued we shall finde that it hath good dependency vpon the former part of this Chapter where the Prophet biddeth Israel to returne to the Lord and now sheweth them how they should returne by willing them to wash their hearts from wickednesse saying O Ierusalem wash thine heart c. Diuisio In which wordes we may obserue two generall parts First an Exhortation Secondly a Reprehension An Exhortation to Repentance The Reprehension for that they linger so long their Repentance The Exhortation in these wordes O Ierusalem wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou mayest be saued The Reprehension in these wordes How long shall thy wicked thoughts remayne within thee In the exhortation I obserue foure circumstances Who exhorteth Ieremie Who are exhorted The people of Ierusalem Whereunto they are exhorted To Repentance Wherefore That they may be saued First then we are to consider in the exhortation who exhorteth namely Ieremie one of the Lords Prophet Excelsus Domino one very highly beloued of the Lord knowne vnto God before he was formed in the wombe sanctified in his Mothers belly and ordayned to be a Prophet vnto Nations For so it is read in the Text Then the Word of the Lord came vnto me saith Ieremie Ierem. 1.5 saying Before I formed thee in the wombe I knew thee and before thou camest out of the wombe I sanctified thee and ordayned thee to be a Prophet vnto Nations Obser 1 Now in that Ieremie is appointed and ordayned to be a Prophet vnto Nations specially vnto Ierusalem before he was borne We are to obserue therein the care that the Lord hath for the good of his Church and Children long before in prouiding for them Pastors Teachers likewise Kings Queenes Captaynes and Gouernours who are nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers as well to Church as Common-weale Example So were Moyses and Aaron prouided and miraculously preserued for the deliuerance of the Israelites of Egypt Exod. 2. So was Ioseph before that for the preseruation of that whole Family which grew afterward into so great a Nation Gen. 41. So was Queene Hester and Mordecay preserued from the conspiracy of that wicked Haman for the great good of the Iewes who were adiudged to the slaughter Hest 6. So was King Dauid preserued first from the Lyon and the Beare and afterward from Goliah and Saul that he might feed the children of Israel prudently with all his power 1. Sam. 17.37 So was Iosias Hezechias and other godly Kings so was Samuel and the rest of the Prophets so was Paul and the rest of the Apostles all prepared and prouided for the good of Gods Church as well of the Gentiles as of the Iewes So was that good and great King Constantine ordayned of God to giue some breathing time to the persecuted Christians after their so many and cruel persecutions So likewise we may say was Iohn Husse Hierome of Prage
will not dispute sure I am now the heart of man is the sinke of sinne as our Sauiour saith Out of the heart proceede euill thoughts Adulteries Fornications Murther and the rest And God himselfe who is the true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and onely searcher of the heart pronounceth that the heart of man is euill continually And our Prophet in another place affirmeth that the heart of man is deceitfull of all other things who can finde it out Ierem. 17.9 there are so many concauities and hollow places in the heart so many hidings and so many turnings that it hath neede of a great deale of skill and care to cleanse and wash the same and much filth is left behinde in secret foldings which we know not of Insomuch that he must be a very wise carefull and diligent Man that can finde out but euen the corruption of his owne heart Hence is it that there are so many Hypocrites in the world that hiding many foule and secret sinnes in their hearts can yet make shew to the world that they are very holy and religious Many men there are that desire to be taken for godly and faithfull men yet the question may still be demanded Where shall one finde a faithfull man such a one as Nathaniel was euen a true Israelite in whom there is no guile Ieremie is commanded in the next Chapter to our Text to runne too and fro by the streets of Ierusalem and to enquire in the open places of the same if he can finde a man that executeth iudgement and speaketh the truth from his heart that God might spare that Citie to punish it Ierem. 5.1 And in the two and twentieth Chapter of Ezechiel God complayneth that he sought for a man among them that should make vp the hedge and stand in the gap betwixt him and the Land that he might not destroy the same but could find none Therefore saith the Lord haue I powred out mine indignation vpon them and consumed them with the fire of my wrath their owne wayes haue I rendred vpon their owne pates saith the Lord. Ezech. 22.30 And it is greatly to be feared how we should fare if the Lord should looke downe from heauen vpon vs that liue in this last age of the world as he did vpon the old world a little before he destroyed it to see the greatnesse of the wickednesse of men vpon the earth and that all the imaginations of mans heart are euill continually And who knoweth whether the Lord be ready to come out from heauen or to send his Angels because the sins of our Land are exceeding grieuous and the crie thereof very great to inquire whether we haue done altogether according to the crie that is euen ascended to the heauens or no Let vs therefore beloued if we will haue any care to preuent the fierce wrath of the Lord which is readie to fall vpon vs returne speedily vnto the Lord by true and vnfayned Repentance or to vse the wordes of our Text Let vs wash our hearts from wickednesse that we may be saued Obiect But Christ saith vnto Peter He that is washed needeth not saue to wash his feete Ioh. 13. 10. Answ I answere that by feete there is meant all our filthy affections which proceede from the heart of man therefore with Christ to wash our feete and with Ieremie to wash our hearts from wickednesse is all one The Iewes about the time our Prophet preached this and afterward were very ceremonious and superstitious too in their washings they thought and perswaded themselues if they did or could obserue the outward rites or customes of their Fathers touching their eternall cleansings and washings it was well enough nay rather very well But Ieremie here wisheth them to wash their hearts because they drew neere vnto God with their mouthes but their hearts were farre from him Esay 29.13 Our Sauiour himselfe reproueth these Iewes very sharply Matth. 23. as we reade in the Gospell for this their hypocrisie for that they were ouer-carefull to make cleane the vtter-side of the cup and platter but their hearts were full of all rauening and wickednesse Therefore wisedome willeth vs to consecrate our hearts vnto God Not that God wil not haue the hand as wel as the heart the worke as well as the vvill the body as well as the soule and all the members and faculties both of body and soule sanctified vnto his seruice As St. Paul exhorteth to giue our bodies a liuely sacrifice vnto God but because the heart is the chiefest part and the fountayne from whence all our thoughts wordes and workes doe arise therefore the heart must first be washed and cleansed purified by faith in a good conscience to serue the liuing God For if the fountayne be foule the waters that issue from it cannot be cleane And as St. Austen saith well Deus magis cordis intentionem quà m actum operationis intendit God doth more respect the intention of the heart then the operation of the worke whatsoeuer Man iudgeth according to the outward appearance but God seeth the heart For he is the only searcher of the hearts and reynes All things are naked before him Can any hide himselfe in secret places Ierem. 23.24 saith the Lord He vnderstandeth all thy pathes yea euen thy priuy pathes of pride of dissimulation of disdayning thy brother of fornication of couetousnesse of briberie theft extortion and the like though acted by thee neuer so secretly God saw and discouered Achans vvedge of gold though hid in his Tent God saw Achab sicke at the heart for Naboths Vineyard God saw Gehesies heart and made Elisha to see him also Did not my heart go with thee saith the Prophet that is did not I see thee when thou rannest after Naaman for a bribe God grant we haue not among vs too many Achans too may Achabs too many Gehesies that couer many foule sinnes vnder their gownes or cloakes of hypocrisie that make a goodly shew to the world that they are godly but their hearts are full of wickednesse that wash their hands cleane euery day but their hearts scarce once in the yeere scarce once by their liues with the water of true repentance yet still my text saith Wash thine heart from wickednesse Wash thine heart If Pilate had washed his heart as cleane as he washed his handes he would neuer haue condemned an Innocent to death for feare of the people The feare of man chased away the feare of God as the Wiseman saith contrary wise As the face of the King chaseth away euill from his Throne so the feare of God driueth out wickednesse from the heart of man Prou. Vse The vse of all this is to haue God and his feare alwayes before our eyes so that what sinne soeuer we are tempred to commit wee may say with godly Ioseph How shall I commit this wickednesse and so sinne against God Therefore the Scripture sayth Blessed is
we thinke the best of vs all haue great neede to haue our hearts washed cleansed and purged together cum magna comitante caterua with an innumerable company of our secret sinnes which neuer come within the compasse of our knowledge to be repented of And if euery one haue neede to pray with Dauid that the Lord would forgiue vs our secret sinnes Psal 19.12 how much more neede haue we to pray the Lord of Lords to wash our hearts our tongues our hands our thoughts our wordes our workes being so grosly polluted and defiled with all manner of sinne and pollutions And thus much for the Exhortation Wash thine heart from wickednesse wherein if any shall thinke I haue beene too long and tedious let him know if so long time neede to be spent only in exhorting to such a businesse how much time had we need to spend to act and performe the same rightly and religiously as we ought to doe The fourth circumstance The reason Now come we to the reason why we should wash our hearts from wickednesse Which is in a word that we may be saued A reason of all reasons to be regarded for what should it gaine vs to win the whole world c And that we may the better consider of it let vs obserue from thence these three points Three things First the great patience mercy and loue of God towards vs in wayting for our Repentance that we might be saued Secondly the care of all good Pastors in all Ages to exhort Gods people to repentance that they may be saued Thirdly we may here-hence collect and plainely conclude that except we repent we cannot be saued Of these three particulars as briefly as I may and as the Lord shall inable me with his grace Touching the first To what thing else may we ascribe this so long forbearance of punishment for our so manifold transgressions but to the long patience and meere mercy of our so good and gracious a God for the earth is wearie to beare the burden of our sinnes the heauens are ashamed of them and the Angels of glorie blush to behold them Only God in his mercy and for his Sonnes sake turneth the face or edge of his iustice from them that so we might repent and be saued But sinfull man which either cannot or will not repent heapeth sinne vpon sinne to his owne destruction Whereof S. Paul giueth good warning in the second to the Romanes Rom. 2.4,5 aduising that we should not despise the riches of Gods bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance vsing so many wordes to expresse Gods Ioue towards vs adding that this bountifulnesse of God should leade vs to repentance But thou saith the Apostle speaking to such despisers of Gods mercies after the hardnesse and heart which cannot repent heapest vnto thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath and declaration of the iust Iudgement of God And S. Peter saith likewise That the Lord is not slacke concerning his promise 2. Pet. 3.9 of comming to Iudgement but is patient toward vs and would haue no man to perish but would haue all men to come vnto repentance for it is not mans merit but of Gods mercy that we are not daily consumed in our sinnes and as Esay saith Except the Lord of Hosts had reserued a remnant Esay 1.9 we should haue beene as Sodom and like vnto Gomorrah Whereby we are also taught that the wicked are oftentimes spared from punishment for the Godlies sake for Sodom it selfe should not haue beene destroyed if there could haue been but ten godly persons found in it Therefore the Prophet Ieremie is willed as we heard before to runne to and fro by the streets of Ierusalem and to inquire in the open places thereof if he could finde a man Ier. 5.1 And God himselfe complayneth in Ezechiel that he could not finde a man Ezech. 22.30 Wherein appeareth the infinite patience and mercy of God towards vs in expecting our repentance and staying his hand from punishing as long as possible may be The vse of this point may be Vse 1 To teach vs to be thankefull vnto God for this mercy who wayteth daily for our conuersion and to praise him continually for the same for if we be sinnefull and vnthankefull too then wo wo be vnto vs. Vse 2 To teach vs to loue heartily and to make much of such as feare the Lord for it is for the godlies sake many times that a whole Citie or Countrie is saued and preserued and when the godly Magistrates or Ministers are taken away it is a fearefull signe some imminent danger may insue for Aaron and Moyses may preuaile more in the Lords warres with feruent prayers then the people with all their Pikes Therefore Esay complayned not without cause That good men perished though he knew they were taken away from the euill to come Yea Dauid himselfe cryed out for helpe to God when godly men were diminished from the earth Psal 12.1 therefore I say still if thou canst not thy selfe attayne to be so godly as thou desirest yet pray heartily and praise God continually for them that are godly for God harkeneth and is attentiue to their prayers as Malachy speaketh Malach. â— And we know that S. Iames saith The prayer of one righteous man auayleth much if it be feruent Vse 3 The last vse must be to teach vs to call our selues to a reckoning how long God hath with-holden his iudgements from vs for any sinne which long since haply we haue iustly deserued to be powred vpon vs euery man is Conscius sibi best knowne to himselfe therefore following the counsell of S. Paul Let euery one examine himselfe for his owne sins and let him doe this businesse throughly as he ought to doe and he shall finde little leisure to prie into other mens faults which is the fault of all the World O deare Christians if this course of examination might be presently put in practice without fauour or affection to our selues what a crying of consciences would there be among vs seeing they are priuie to all our faults yea our owne soules would exclaime against our owne bodies and against euery member and facultie thereof One would crie out Oh my head for craftinesse another O my heart for couetousnesse another Oh my throate for drunkennesse another Oh my belly for beastlinesse another Oh my tongue for blasphemie another Oh mine eyes for adulterie another Oh my hands for briberie another Oh what shall become of my poore soule for vsurie To speake nothing of Enuie Malice Pride Theft Murther and Trecherie with an innumerable multitude of all sinnes which like a great floud haue ouer-flowne all our Countrie of all which sinnes we may I feare me too too truely say as the yong man did in the Gospell though in another sense All these sinnes haue we commited from our youth and it is only of Gods mercy that we haue not beene consumed in them and for