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A07287
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The practice of repentance. Or A sermon preached at Pauls Crosse, the fifteenth of September last passed, by Radford Mavericke, preacher of Gods word in Devon
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Mavericke, Radford, b. 1560 or 61.
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1617
(1617)
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STC 17682; ESTC S105958
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30,434
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48
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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
or holes of his body Hence issued saith the Scripture both bloud and water Iohn 19.34 bloud because without shedding of bloud there was no remission water to signifie the continuall washing of our sinnes in the bloud of Christ 1. Iohn 2. 5. This is that Iesus Christ saith Saint Iohn that came by water and bloud not by water onely but by water and bloud and it is the Spirit that beareth witnesse for the Spirit is truth For there are three which beare record in heauen The Father the Word and the holy Ghost and these three are one And there are three which beare record in the earth The Spirit and Water and Bloud and these three agree in one If we receiue the witnesse of men the witnesse of God is greater for this is the witnesse of God which hee testified of his Sonne He that beleeueth in the Sonne of God hath the witnesse in himselfe Hee that beleeueth not God hath made him a lyer because hee beleeueth not the recorde which God witnessed of his Sonne And this is the record that God hath giuen vnto vs eternall life and this life is in his Sonne He that hath the Sonne of God hath life and he that hath not the Soune of God hath not life Here beloued is life here is water of life offered vnto vs. Ho euery one that is athirst come saith the Euangelical Prophet come buy without siluer that will not the Pope doe he will not sell his pardons without siluer but the Prophet saith Come buy without money without penny or pennie-worth Esay 55.1 Therefore it was that our Sauiour himselfe cried out in the last and great day of the feast If any man thirst let him come vnto me and drinke Iohn 7.37 And likewise saith vnto the vvoman of Samaria John 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that sayeth vnto thee Giue mee drinke thou wouldest haue asked of him and hee would haue giuen thee water of life And in the last of the Reuelation The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that heareth say Come and let him that is athirst come and whosoeuer will let him take of the water of Life freely Reuel 22.17 Vse Now to make vse of all this let vs call to remembrance what the Eunuch saith vnto Philip in the eight of the Acts See saith he here is water What should let me to be baptized Philip answered If thou beleeuest with all thine heart thou mayst Act. 8. So may you all say vnto me beloued Here you propose vnto vs Water and here you propose vnto vs water of Life What should let that wee should not bee saued I answere you all in generall and euery one in particular out of my Text If thou wash thine heart from wickednesse thou mayest be saued Thou art a Christian and the badge of a Christian is Baptisme As Water doth serue to wash away the filth of thy body so the effect of Baptisme is to wash away the filth of thy soule Thou art buried by Baptisme into the death of Christ that like as Christ was raysed vp by the glorie of the Father so thou shouldest walke in newnesse of life Rom. 6.3 1. Pet. 3.18 For Christ as St. Peter saith hath once suffered for our sinnes the iust for the vniust to bring vs vnto God and was put to death as concerning the flesh but was quickned in the Spirit By which Spirit he also went and preached vnto the spirits that are in prison which were in time passed disobedient when once the long suffering of God abode in the dayes of Noah while the Arke was preparing wherein few that is eight soules were saued in the water To the which also the figure that now saueth vs euen Baptisme agreeth not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but in that a good conscience maketh request to God by the resurrection of IESVS CHRIST from the dead Allusion Gen. 7. By which allusion of the Apostle it is nothing obscure to be collected that the water wherein Noah was saued the Red Sea Exod. 14. and after the Riuer Iordan wherethrough the children of Israel passed Iosh 3. together with the two Prophets Elias and Elisha 2. King 2 5. whom St. Cyprian compareth to Christ and Christians Elias to Christ Elisha to Christians Also the Cloude which passed ouer the Israelites in the Wildernesse Exod. 17. The washing of Naaman the Assyrian the Poole of Bethesda in Ierusalem Ioh. 5. these all of them were types and figures of our Baptisme like as our Baptisme is and should be vnto vs a badge or token of our new Birth or Regeneration that so in the water of true Repentance we should daily wash our hearts from wickednesse The which mysterie the Apostle Paul doth make more plaine vnto vs in his first Epistle to the Corinthians and tenth Chapter where speaking of the Fathers liuing vnder the old Law he saith That they were all baptized vnto Moyses in the cloude and in the Sea and did all eate the same spirituall meate and did all drinke of the same spirituall drinke meaning with vs Christians For they dranke saith he of the spirituall Rocke which followed them and that Rocke was Christ 1. Cor. 10. But as in many of these Iewes God had no delight so with many of vs Christians that are baptized only with the outward Water of Baptisme God is not pleased because together with the signe of Baptisme wee doe not care for the thing signified that is to wash our hearts from wickednesse Saint Paul telleth vs that Circumcision vnto the Iewes was nothing but the keeping of the Commandements of God S. Paul Rom 7.19 What then can Baptisme be vnto vs Christians but the washing away of our sinnes in the bloud of Christ Which thing we shall doe if we truely repent and beleeue the Gospell and bring forth fruits worthy of Repentance daily and hourely labouring to wash our hearts from wickednesse As Dauid washed his Couch with weepings and as Mary Magdalen washed the feete of Christ with her teares which was a true token of her vnfayned repentance And thus much haue I spoken concerning washing or cleansing Note 2 Next we must consider what must be washed namely our hearts Cor pro anima sensu acceptum As the Prophet Ioel saith Rent your hearts and not your garments So saith Ieremie here Wash your hearts and not your clothes And a little before in this Chapter he saith Breake vp the fallow ground and sow not among thornes be circumcised to the Lord and take away the foreskin of your hearts Jerem. â— 4 The heart of Man as some thinke is the seate of the soule And true Repentance indeed must be from the heart and soule therefore God craueth that chiefely My sonne giue me thine heart Prouerb But whether the heart or the braine of man be the seate of the soule we