10. 49. 50 did his Garment and go unto him that calls us Not to do it 1. Is Ingratitude to God 2. Inconsistent with a true purpose of Heart ever to repent 1. It is Ingratitude to God viz. Father Son and Holy Ghost 1. To God the Father In giving our first Fruits to Sin that he by right should have and above all deserves for he lov'd us with a primary and ancient Love a Love before we were 2. To God the Son Who delay'd not the Work of our Salvation but was early at it and in his full strength and the prime of his Years laid down his Life to secure it 3. To God the Holy Ghost Who has not only striven with us by importunity but waited upon us with Patience that we might repent Rev. 3. 20. 2. It is inconsistent with a true purpose of Heart ever to repent Repentance is a Debt that we all as Sinners owe to God a Debt that must be paid God is indeed a kind Creditor and waits with patience but his Forbearance is no Discharge nor are we the less indebted by not paying it but appear by so much the more unwilling to it It is a sign of a desperate Debtor not to reckon with his Creditor and of his unwillingness to pay the Debt in that he delays it and no less of a cursed Resolution in all never to repent a sign that they either intend it not or have little or no mind to it in that they defer it They that will not repent this day would never repent if they might have their choice or they that wilfully remain impenitent this day would if they might with safety be everlastingly so for the same reason for delay this day would be so the next and the same for ever 3. The best for Safety The Physician 's Rule to avoid the Plague is to flee soon enough far enough Fuge cit longè tradè and to return slowly and to prevent Death by Sin of all Diseases the most dangerous the best Remedy is to flee soon enough and it can never be too soon far enough and it can never be too far nor is it far enough unless the flight be to God nor right to him unless with a resolution never to return back to it more and the sooner the better In many things haste makes waste the more haste the worse speed but if here we make haste we can never speed amiss Sickness or old Age are the Times that presumptuous Sinners set apart for Repentance their youthful strength they make a Bulwark against Repentance Sorrow for Sin they think a fit Companion for old Age only their Sighs and Groans they reserve for a sick and dying hour and never think it seasonable to die to Sin but when they can live no longer in it prodigious Fools that flee to these as a Sanctuary to shelter them from the Wrath of God when they cannot be sure 1. That they shall be sick before they die 2. That they shall live to be old 3. That when either sick or old they shall have a Heart to repent 4. That what they then think is Repentance will be accepted of God 1. That they shall be sick before they die Death does not give warning to all by sickness for some die suddenly Now that which befalls one may happen to many and that which has Luke 13. 1 2 3 4 5. been the Case of many may betide any one Since then that is uncertain Repentance can never be unseasonable but the sooner the better 2. That they shall live to be old Death is not slow-pac'd to all but swift in its motion to some it does not always stay till gray Hairs the sign of old Age are upon them All hasten alike to Death but some have a less way to go than others 3. That when either Sick or Old they shall have a Heart to repent When Sick None can be sure that they shall have time when Sick to repent they may have but just so much time left as to tell their Companions in Sin that they are going to Hell if they have time they cannot be sure of ease whereby they may be fit to attend it Reason Sense and Speech may fail or pains the Companions of Sickness may so seize on them that neither their Bodies nor Souls may be much at ease nor they with the Israelites be able to hearken to any thing for Exod. 6. 9. anguish of Spirit if not yet they may not have a Heart then to repent The Duty of Repentance is ours but 2 Tim. 2. 25. the Grace is God's When old There are no Examples in Scripture of any as some observe converted in their old Age Manasses and the Thief on the Cross were not as is suppos'd old or if they were the Repentance of one was more than ordinary and of the other no less than miraculous and from a Miracle nothing can be concluded no Person should neglect it then lest he prove felo de se and bring destruction upon himself nor put it off till then lest it come too late to prevent it It is never too late when true but seldom true when late 4. That what they then think Repentance will be accepted of God The sad Effects of sick-bed Repentance in many whose Repentance prov'd as sick and unsound as their Bodies were then shews reason to suspect that Repentance that is extorted from any by Pain when sick or by Fears when dying were sickness and the thoughts of Death a little farther off and not so close and pressing upon them perhaps they would neither bewail their Sins nor leave them therefore God may and justly if he should reject their Repentance and forget them in sickness who forgat him in their health and make them Warnings to others who disregarded Gal. 6. 7 8. so many from him Delays of Repentance to a time of sickness are usually punish'd with a not caring to seek or not so as to find It is usually but an untoward Repentance that is exerted in Age decrepit weak and impotent as feeble as old Age like the dim flashes of a Taper when sunk in the socket and may justly be rejected by God and the Penitent as one when repenting in old Age by a Voice was bid to spend his Bran where he had spent his Flower his Evening where he had spent his Morning We shall have as Solomon says but Eccles 12. 1. little pleasure in the days of old Age and God may take as little pleasure in the repentance of them 5. That singular Examples constitute no general Rule Some draw an Argument for Presumption from those in the Parable that came in at the eleventh hour and receiv'd a Reward equal with Mat. 20. 1 6 7 9. them that came early in the morning but without any Reason for though it be granted that Parables do more than illustrate or shew the Soveraign freedom of Grace to some only
Interest in the Promises 5. We have Victory over our Enemies 1. We have Union with Christ What this Union is is hard to tell the word Mystical implies as much but that there is a Union is most certain for it is one of the great Mysteries of Godliness It is not the Essential Union of divers Persons in one Nature nor the Hypostatical Union of two Natures in one Person but more than a Political Natural or Moral Union for it is Mystical viz. of divers Natures in one Person and Spiritual not outward by External Profession only but inward by Internal Implantation made by the Spirit on Christ's part and by Faith on ours by that Primarily and Efficiently by this Secondarily and Instrumentally There is a Moral Union by Love and a Mystical one by Faith a Union both Real and Inseparable 1. Real As Real as the Union betwixt God and Christ tho' in a different manner that is Essential and Substantial this Mystical only yet not less Real because Mystical and Christ and they John 17. 21. who are thus united are as truly One as God and Christ are they are one with Christ tho' not the same one Body tho' not one Person 2. Inseparable The Ax may sever the corporal Union betwixt Root and Branches and the natural Union betwixt Head and Members Death the Conjugal Union betwixt Husband and Wife Time the Artificial Union betwixt the Foundation and Building distance of Place or an Accidental Difference the Moral Union betwixt Friend and Friend Vnus uterqut fait alter ego who were one in Affection and in whom there was but one Soul tho' two Bodies but neitheir Men nor Devils can break this Union betwixt Christ and them no nor Death it self Jer. 31. 3. 32. 40. Hos 2. 19 Rom. 8. 38 39. whether Natural or Violent The Hypostatical Union was not broken by Death the Vision was suspended but the Union was not broken nor can the Mystical it is then more near and firm and the Reason is because it depends on God's Will and not on theirs The great Honour conferr'd upon us is by the Hypostatical Union to our John 13. 1. Heb. 7. 25. 2. 16. Nature and the Mystical Union to our Person an Honour above any conferr'd upon Angels for Christ took not on him the Nature of Angels nor has he at any time said unto them Ye are my Body Other Graces make us like to Christ This makes us one with him 2. We are reconciled to God Adam by Creation was a Son of Luke 3. 38. Love by Corruption he became a Son of Wrath his state of Innocency was a state of Favour that of his degeneracy a state of Wrath in that God and he were one in Point of Affection but in this at Variance Sin separated those Friends he rebell'd and God proclaim'd his displeasure against him Adam being the Natural Head and Representative of all Mankind the Covenant made with him concerned them as well as him being as naturally in him as Branches in the Root sinning in him they fell with him and became Enemies to God haters of Rom. 1. 30. him and hated by him Enemies without a Power to flee from him a Strength to withstand him or a Will to be reconciled to him God that in Ephes 2. 7. 3. 11. 2 Cor. 5. 19. 2 Tim. 1. 9. 1 Pet. 1. 20. the Ages to come he might shew the exceeding Riches of his Grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus in whom he was reconciling the World to himself ordain'd him before time and sent him in the fulness of Time to make reconciliation for Iniquity by reconciling him to the World and the World Gal. 4. 4. Dan. 9. 24. to him Christ the Prince of Peace as the only Mediator betwixt God and us was usher'd into the World by a Quire of Angels with a Song of Peace on Earth peace and good-will towards Luke 2. 14. Men while living he published it and when dying purchased it for us In the first Adam we lost Peace in the second Adam by whom the Enmity is abolished we may find it but not unless by Faith in him we apply to us what he by his Death hath purchas'd for us for tho' merited for us without any Qualification in us it will not be conferr'd upon us without an Application by us the Blessing of Peace is the Blessing of Faith in Christ who as a Prophet published it as a Priest purchased it and as a King applies it to none but them and to all them that believe in him He died to merit it and ever lives to maintain it by him they have a right to it and by Faith in him the possession of it 3. Our Duties are accepted In the first Covenant the Person was accepted for the Work 's sake In the Second the Work is for the Person 's Ephes 1. 6. sake viz. accepted in Christ Until our Persons are accepted we are Enemies Objects of Wrath and appear before God as an incensed Judg upon the Seat of Justice we stand at a Exod. 24. 1. distance and worship as the Elders of Israel afar off with Fear but when they are accepted we come to him as a reconciled Father upon a Ephes 3. 12. Heb. 10. 22. Throne of Grace and may come in the full Assurance of Faith with boldness by Faith our Persons are accepted and by the same Faith our Works are Faith justifies our Persons Works justify our Faith and Faith sanctifies our Works they shew our Faith to 1 Pet. â— 2. Splendida peccata omnis virtus absque Christo vitium be good and Faith makes them so for they are all but splendid Sins without it viz. without Faith looking to the Command as the ground of them to the Promise as the encouragement to them to God's Glory as the end of them to the Spirit for assistance in them and to Christ for the acceptance of them the Law as a Rule directs the Promise quickens the End excites the Spirit assists and Christ presents but not unless they are by Faith offer'd up in his Name in whose strength all our Duties are to be perform'd and for whose sake alone they are accepted 1 Pet. 2. 5. There is no pleasing God meritoriously without Christ nor instrumentally without Faith in him without whom the best Duty and worst Sin are both alike 4. We have an Interest in the Promises The Promises run for this Life and that to come an Entail that can never be cut off and are all as so many Bonds and Bills under God's Hand either Explicitly or Implicitly made over to Faith None are ours until we believe nor any that are not when we do for if Christ is ours all are ours â— Coâ— 3. 23. The Rabbins suppose that Abraham's â—en 24. 10 Servant when sent to get a Wife for his Son Isaac carried with him Tesseram hospitalem wherein was written
our part to make us meet for it and declares That God loves us better than himself and saves us in contradiction to himself in that he loves and saves us in our Sins and that Christ justifies Sinners to his own reproach or rather justifies Sin than Sinners It concerns us therefore in all our Supplications for Mercy to have an eye to the End of Mercy to seek Mercy upon the Terms of Mercy viz. the Terms upon which it is offer'd lest we make Patents of Mercy to our selves that God will never confirm For As his Justice is wrong'd by a distrust of Mercy upon Repentance so his Mercy is abus'd by an expectation of it without it 1. We should then admire the distinguishing love of God to us He passed by the Fallen Angels more excellent Creatures than we and left them to perish in their Sin but has found out an Expedient for us by Repentance to escape the Wrath due to it The Devils cannot repent nor are they assur'd of Pardon if they could but sinful Men are the more happy they and the more astonishing the freeness of Grace to them they are not call'd to Repentance but these are and assur'd of Pardon if they do repent but not unless they do for as Devils and impenitent Sinners are alike in Nature viz. in their sinful not in their created Nature alike as to kind tho' not as to degree both sinful but one more than the other so they shall fare alike as to punishment They are now reserv'd in everlasting Chains unto Jude 6. â—… the Judgment of the great Day and these are upon a Chain that if not broken will lead them captive to Hell they are shut out of Heaven these are not unless their own Wills keep them John 5. 40. out they are without hope of Pardon these are under a possibility yea a certainty of it upon Repentance for God has ratified the Promise of Pardon upon it As a God of Mercy he made the Promise and as a God of Truth he will perform it 2. Since Repentance is the first Lesson that we are to learn under the Gospel it was the first in St. Paul's Catechism Heb. 6. 1. and a Duty that we are daily to perform and never to neglect we should no more dare to live than we would dare to die without it They that look upon Repentance as a Legal Duty and flee from it as that which is more likely to scare them out of their Wits than Sins will at last find more terror in the Neglect than ever they would have found in the practice of it The neglect of it will make two Hells viz. within and without here and hereafter but a serious and daily exercise of it will make two Heavens viz. without and within above and below in Heaven and in our own Souls 1. In Heaven For when Sinners repent Luk. 15. 7 10. God the Father rejoices As a Father in the Birth of an Heir God the Son rejoices He died big with love to Sinners and cannot but rejoice to see of the travel of his Soul in the Conversiof Isa 53. 11. of theirs God the Holy Ghost rejoices He who has so long and so often been grieved by Sinners rejoices and is made glad that now he shall be a Comforter to them Angels rejoice As having one Companion more join'd to their Heavenly Quire It should be our Joy to promote Heaven's 2. In our own Souls The Song of Lamentation must be sung here or hereafter Therefore If we have not mourn'd for Sin or resolve not to do it we would do well to remember that the more is behind and that the time of mourning for Sin will come for it is like Jabez brought 1 Chron. 4. 9. forth with Sorrow its Issue will be sorrow here or hereafter and we must either begin or end in it in Time or Eternity But if we are in Sorrow we may be Dâ—â—o de peccatis poenitens de dolore gaudâ—o glad at our Heaviness there is a Song of Joy that attends the Song of Lamentation Sun-shine with our Rain God will give us joy of our Repentance and the greater our Sorrow is the greater shall our Joy he The deeper the Wound the farther the Balm shall go in Of the Nature of Repentance REpentance Is not a bare suspending the Acts of Sin It is more than that It is not a destroying the Being of Sin It is less than that 1. It is not a bare suspending the Acts of Sin All are alike evil by Nature tho' not by practice and there is ever a proneness in us to sin the more unhappy we but we are not always actually in it yet some Acts may cease not from any inward Principle either of Love to God or hatred to Sin but from a Principle of slavish Fear or through the want of a Supply for Sin or an occasion to it and when so can no more be called Repentance than that can be said to be a Merciful Fire that goes out through want of Fuel The Influence of the Sun may by an Eclipse be suspended and yet its Light not extinguish'd and Sin for a time deprest and yet not destroy'd 2. It is not a destroying the Being Rom. 7. 9. Patitur non facit Bern. of Sin It is true when Penitent Persons commit Sin it is usually contrary to the purpose of their Will but to some particular Acts only and ever attended with shame and grief but yet commit it they both do and may even then when they have truly repented of it for tho' Sin by Repentance receives its Death's Wound yet it has a strong Heart and will be long a dying A Being it will have in them while they have a Being So that Repentance is neither a suspension of the Acts of Sin nor the destruction of its Being it is more than the first and less than the second viz. That Work of the Spirit whereby an humbled Sinner being made sensible of the Evil of Sin in the general and the Misery due to it and of his own Sins in particular and of the Mercy of God in Christ ready to pardon them does most affectionately mourn for them and most effectually turn from them unto God 1. It is the Work of the Spirit Our Times are in God's Hands and Psal 31. 15. Rev. 2. 21. so are our Hearts too one for the Space the other for the Grace of Repentance for it is in his Soveraign Power alone to give both viz. the Time without which we cannot well repent with any comfort to our selves or others and the Grace without which we cannot repent at all neither begin nor proceed in it for it is a supernatural Work and falls not within the Love Desire or Power of Nature Water came not out of the Rock in Horeb until Moses smote it with his Exod. 17. 5 6. Rod Nor will ever the Waters of Repentance flow from our
Hearts more hard than that Rock unless they are smitten not only with the Rod of the Law but the Staff of the Acts 2 27. Gospel It was God's standing upon Psal 78. 15 16. 105. 41. the Rock more than Moses's smiting with a Rod that caused the Waters to run down like Rivers and the Spirit more than the Staff that causes Tears the Blood of a wounded Heart to flow from us for without it it will like the Staff of Elisha in Gehazi's 2 Kings 4. 31. Hand prove ineffectual to it When God causeth the Wind viz. the Wind of his Spirit to blow then Psal 147 18. and not before will those Waters flow 2. That Work of the Spirit whereby a Sinner is made sensible of the Evil of Sin in the general and the Misery due to it The Devil when he tempts to Sin holds the wrong end of the Prospective Glass that Sin may not appear as it is but in a disguise under the false representations either of Pleasure or Profit the usual Vermilion he paints most Sins with But the Spirit when convincing of Sin in order unto Repentance pulls off Sin 's Visard washes off that Jezabel's Paint and shews the evil of it it is a Isa 4 4. Jer. 31. 19. Spirit of Judgment and it's Office is to convince as well as comfort and to convince of Sin in order to it and where the Conviction is right the sight it gives of Sin is clear not through thick Mediums but in the Chrystal Glass of the Word a true not flattering Psal 19. 8. Glass pure enlightning the Eyes to behold Sin as it is viz. in its own proper Nature and native Deformity original and actual Sin the Flesh and the Lusts of the Flesh and both in their Filthiness and Depravation Folly and Disingenuity and Demerit too viz. the Wrath deserved by them and due to them The Degree is not alike in all tho' the more the better yet a less Degree will not serve than that which discovers the great Evil of Sin and the Wrath due to it for tho' Sin is Jâ—â— 2.19 an evil and bitter Thing evil in it Self and evil in the Cause yet unless so apprehended it will not be bitter in the Effects or not so bitter as it should be to us 3. That Work of the Spirit whereby a Sinner is made sensible of his own Sins in particular Sin lies hid in the Heart of an Impenitent Sinner it plays least in sight but the Spirit in the Work of Repentance brings it to Light when the Rom. 7 9. Commandment came Sin revived viz. in sense and appearance by giving sometimes a particular but ever a full and lasting sight of it Sometimes the Spirit makes use of one particular Sin as an entring Wedg as one says to rend the Heart of a Sinner asunder It was that particular Sin of crucifying Christ when made known that wounded the Penitent Jews through and through as the Word Acts 2. 37. notes and stuck as an Arrow so fast in their Hearts that no Hand but that which wounded them could pull it out But it ever gives whether a particular or no a full and durable sight of Sin viz. in the extent and latitude and in the aggravating Circumstances of it as under with and against both Judgments and Mercies little Sins are made great and heavy forgotten Sins are brought to mind and secret Sins either as secretly committed or kept secret from the Understanding Psal 19. 12 are brought to light and all with their particular Aggravations that Sin may appear as it is exceeding sinful and this not in a glance only or in transitu like a flash of Lightning that is as soon gone as come but so as ever to have them in his Eye and always upon his Heart as Job who possessed Job 13. 26. his Sins and David who had his ever Psal 51. 3. before him If Sin comes not to our remembrance here it will hereafter to God's if not to ours to conviction it will to his to our condemnation 4. That work of the Spirit whereby a Sinner is made sensible not only of his Sins but of the Mercy of God in Christ ready to pardon them Christ Acts 5. 31. having purchased for and God promised to all that repent the pardon 1 John 1. 9. not of one Sin only viz. the first nor of many Sins the lesser but of all both great and small The greatness of Mercy reveal'd shews the greatness of our Misery as much Physick prepar'd shews many Diseases and the greatness of Misery the need of great Mercy and a sense of both is necessary in order unto Repentance one that he may tremble before God the other that when afraid he may put his trust in him one that we may see his need of Mercy the other that he may seek after it None but Sinners need repent and none but they that are thus sensible will therefore such a sense is necessary without which they would rather flee from God than to him If God did not hate Sin Repentance would be needless and if he would not pardon it it would be hopeless 5. That Work of the Spirit whereby a Sinner made sensible of his Sins and the freeness of Mercy to pardon them does most affectionately mourn for them and most effectually turn from them to God 1. Most affectionately mourn for them Some count it the Perfection of Grace not to be troubled for Sin but Jer. 31. 18. Joel 2. 13. Zech. 12. 10. it is a cursed Piety that denies it they that have had the greatest assurance of Divine Love have been most deeply concern'd in sorrow for Sin Paul after he had been in Heaven mourn'd for it and all that ever truly repented of Sin have been so too for true Repentance is never without Sorrow tho' Sorrow may be without that it is not Repentance for that lies in the turn from Sin to God but a necessary adjunct of it and as necessary to it as Joy is to Thankfulness Sorrow is good for little else and all Joy to be suspected that is not founded on it 2. Most effectually turn from them Purposes are no Deeds a Purpose to give is no Gift in Law nor a bare resolution to forsake Sin Repentance for that seconds Purposes with Endeavours and follows Resolution with Action and all that are sincere in it not only confess and bewail the Sins committed but forsake the Sins bewail'd They do not as some barely confess and not forsake nor as others confess and Sin the more as if by Isa 1. 16. that they had obtain'd a Dispensation to it but cease to do Evil and depart from all Iniquity not from some Sins only but all viz. against God and Man themselves and others Personal and Relative Publick and Secret Great and Small Inward and Outward of Heart and Life and as Ephraim from his Idols so as never to have
any more to Hosea 4. 18. do with them One Commodity as well as many makes a Trader and one Sin though the least indulg'd an impenitent Sinner 3. And sincerely turn to God Jer. 4. 1. Acts 26. 20. Sin is a turning from God Repentance is a turning to him and all that exercise a Repentance toward God turn from the Love of Sin to the love Isa 55 7. of Him as their chief Good and from the service of Sin to his Service as their Sovereign-Lord and so to it as 1 Thess 1. 9. never to depart from it All God's Covenant-Servants are his for their Lives 1. Then they are much mistaken that look upon Repentance as an abstracted Notion from a Holy Life Impenitency is a doing of that which Dan. 4.27 Titus 2 1â— Rom. 7.15 1 Cor. 11.31 Isa 30.22 Job 42.6 Psal 97.10 Isa 1.16,17 Rom. 12.9 is Evil and continuing in it Repentance is an undoing of it a facing about a happy Apostacy a turning from it the Work of the whole Man viz. of the Judgment in denying disallowing and condemning of Sin of the Will in declining it and resolving against it of the Affections in loathing hating and abhorring of it Mutatio voluntatis rei and of the Life in forsaking it and turning from it it begins in the Heart but ends in the Life It is abomination to Fools to depart from Evil but none repent truly Prov. 13. 19. unless they do 2. And as much mistaken are they that think it an easy thing to repent as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it was as Alexandrinus notes rather the turning of a Shell than a Soul To repent is to accuse and condemn our selves to charge upon our selves the desert of Hell to take part with God against our selves and to justify him in all that he does against us to be asham'd and confounded for our Sins to have them ever in our Eyes and at all times upon our Hearts that we may be in daily sorrow for them to part with our right Hands and Eyes those pleasurable and profitable Sins that have been as dear to us as our Lives so as never to have to do with them more and to hate them so as to destroy them things that by Nature we are wholly averse from For We naturally love and think well of our selves hide our Deformities lessen and excuse our Faults indulge our selves in the things that please us are mad upon our Lusts and follow them though to our own destruction but yet though difficult in themselves and things that we of our selves cannot do yet such as God has promised if we are not wanting to our selves to enable us to do for what is a Command in one place is a Promise in another The Command bids us Wash and be clean The Promise says We Isa 1. 16 18. Ezek. 36. 25 26 27. shall be cleansed One bids us put away Evil the other says it shall be taken away One bids us convert our selves the other says We shall be converted One injoins Repentance the other assures it Now we must not be frighted by the Precept but allur'd by the Promise not driven from our Obedience to it because of difficulty but driven by it to the Promise or rather to him that made it with a desire that since by his Command he has made it our Duty he would by fulfilling his Promise enable us to it by giving his Da domine quod jubes da prius poenitentiam postea indulgentiam Spirit to us that only can work it in us The Grace of Repentance goes before the Grace of Indulgence but they are both from God What St. Austin says concerning the Ni nihilo facitius ni nihilo pâ—riculosius erratur plures damnat poenitentia quam ipsum peccatum Trinity may be said here as to Repentance viz. that Mistakes are both easy and dangerous that we may not therefore be mistaken in it it concerns us to enquire What our Repentance is viz. Whether a dead Repentance or a Repentance unto Life toward God or Acts 11. 18. 20. 21. 2 Cor. 7. 10. our selves a Repentance to be repented or not to be repented of and this by considering these four things that are either necessary in order unto it or comprehended in it viz. 1. Confession of Sin 2. Sorrow for Sin 3. Hatred to Sin 4. Departure from Sin 1. Confession of Sin Supplication precedes Remission and Psal 32. 5. Prov. â—8 13. Hos 14. 2. words of Confession take with the words must go before words of Petition and Supplication which Confession is then right When full and without reserve We confess none truly unless fully none unless all for what is partial is hypocritical When free and not forc'd Forc'd Confessions are of little credit on Earth of none in Heaven When with Humiliation and Detestation Job 4. 26. Ezek. 20. 43. viz. of our Sins and of our selves too for them Caligula boasted that he could not be asham'd tho' he could not that he was never afraid but it is the Glory and honour of all penitent Sinners Perit homo cui perit pudor to be so for true Confession is an acknowledgment with dislike and is ever accompanied with shame Silence or saying little in other Cases will do us no hurt but here it will for those Sins only that are condemned Agnoscit reus ignoscit Deus by us on Earth are pardon'd by God in Heaven 2. Sorrow for Sin Sorrow for Sin is not Repentance yet there is no true Repentance without it for as Sorrow worketh Repentance it is not Repentance but 2 Cor. 7. 10. that which worketh to it so Repentance worketh Sorrow which Sorrow is then right When free and without constraint Not as a Water from a Still but from a Fountain that flows freely When Constant This Heavenly Dew must fall upon us Morning and Evening Day and Night When Genuine 2 Cor. 7. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Godly Sorrow as respecting God and so oppos'd to worldly Sorrow which has a respect only to evil The Sorrow not of a Slave but of a Child more out of Love than Fear more because God is offended than Hell deserv'd When proportionable to the Measure of Sin Proportionable to the Nature of Sin it cannot be but to the Measure of it so far as we can it must Great Sorrow like Naaman's seven 2 Kings 5. 14. times washing for great Sins Manasses sorrow for Sin was great 2 Kings 33. 12. He had greatly sinn'd and was greatly humbled David's Sorrow for Sin was great Tears were his Meat and Drink the Night a time appointed for rest as Psal 6. 6. 32. 34. well as the Day was to him a time of Sorrow and the Flood rose so high that it made his Bed to swim And so was Peter's For His Eyes were as Nicephorus says red with Tears died red with daily Sorrow
for as Clemens his Scholar says whilst he liv'd upon the hearing of a Cock crow he wept His Faith was great when he threw himself into the Sea to go to Christ but his Sorrow was greater when he threw himself into a Sea of his own Tears for sinning against him Once he was nothing but words tho' all be Mat. 26. 33. offended yet will I never be offended but then he was nothing but Tears the remembrance of his Sin was bitter and so was his Sorrow for he wept bitterly and so must all that are true Penitents rising up and lying down Mat. 26. ult Psal 38. 6. with mournful Confessions of Sin and with inward hearty and daily sorrow for it Ever fearing lest they should Sin and Semper in timore semper in dolore ever sorrowing because they have The Heathen wish'd that he might ever laugh but instead of wishing one another much Joy we may better for justly wish one another much Sorrow we have been impudent in sinning and must be humble in sorrowing for it we cannot be found in Innocency it is fit therefore we should be found in Tears We cannot with the Purifier under the Law offer up a Lamb of Innocency we must therefore a pair of mournful Turtles it being all the amends we can make for our sinning the best way we can testify our Love to Christ who shed Blood as well as Tears for our Sins and the most acceptable Sacrifice we can offer unto God who has an Eye an Ear and a Bottle for our Tears An Eye Tears blot our Book but they are Isa 38. 5. written in God's he sees them and takes notice of them An Ear. Mutae sunt loquuntur dearsum cadunt sursum petunt ponders vocis habent Sighs and Tears are the Rhetorick of an humbled Heart they are words they descend and yet ascend they are dumb and yet speak and God hears their Voice Psal 6. 8. A Bottle Tears of godly Sorrow are Angels Lachrymae poenitentium angelorum vinum Bern. Wine and none of that noble Liquor shall be lost nor fall to the Ground For Christ the Sun of Righteousness will exhale them God will bottle them up and the Spirit the Comforter will turn them as Christ did the Water into Wine For They that mourn and they only Mat. 5. 4. shall be comforted Since then God has an Eye for our Tears let our Eyes be daily filled with them since he has an Ear for them let the Voice of our weeping go daily up into it to drown the cry of our Sins Gen. 18. 20 21. that is great and gone up to Heaven and since he has a Bottle for them let Job 14. 17. us who have filled his Bag with our Sins fill his Bottle with our Tears pouring out floods of Tears for those floods of Sins we have poured down Musick on the Water and Repentance with Tears are ever most pleasant 3. Hatred to Sin Contrition if true rises up to Detestation and then Detestation is Psal 97. 10. Rom. 12. 9 right 1. When it is to Sin as Sin To the Intrinsecal Evil more than the Extrinsecal the Evil of Sin more than the Evil of Punishment the Filth more than the Guilt and the defiling more than the damning Nature of it not only because of Hell but worse than Hell more to the Hell that is in it than the Hell that comes by it 2. When Universal Anger is against Individuals but Hatred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to the whole kind and if right here it is to all Sin and especially to the Sin that once we loved most 3. When implacable We never hate Sin truly unless we hate it to the Death Some are angry with Sin when it has impair'd their Credit in the World and made a breach upon their Peace within but are soon pleased with it again for Anger is a mixt Passion and cease from the Act of Sin for a time and yet love it but hatred to Sin if right is irreconcileable A thing that is poison'd we pity but a thing that is poisonous we hate the Serpent is hated above all Creatures and of all and so must Sin of a far more venemous Nature be hated by us The Israelites hated every Canaanite 4. Departure from Sin Humiliation if right leads to and issues in Reformation Repentance consists of two parts viz. Aversion from Sin and Conversion to God 1. Aversion from Sin Repentance is a Covenant-Engagement against Sin in the use of all means to keep that Covenant And is then right When Universal viz. from all Sin forsaking gross Sins and bewailing unavoidable Infirmities Hypocrisy turns from some Sins or from one Sin to another true Repentance departs from all When perpetual True Repentance sues out a Bill of Divorce with a resolution never to return to folly more When out of hatred to it We may cease from the Act of Sin while we love it indulge the Lust even then when we deny the Act and hate the evil Consequence of Sin and yet never hate the Evil in it but as no hatred to Sin is right unless it is to the Evil that is in it so no departure from it neither unless it arises from a hatred to it When a Traveller changes his way it is out of dislike 2. Conversion to God from whom and against whom we have turn'd by Hos 6. 1. Isa 1. 16 17. Titus 2. 12. 1 Pet. 2. 11 12. Rom. 8 1 13. 1 Thess 1 9. Sin Ceasing to do Evil is not a learning to do well nor departing from Evil a doing Good nor is it enough to deny Ungodliness unless we live godly not to walk after the Flesh unless we walk after the Spirit to cease to bring forth the Fruits of the Flesh unless we bring forth the Fruits of the Spirit Fruits meet for Repentance nor that Mat. 3. 8. we turn from Sin for we never truly repent unless we turn to God nor turn to God truly unless universally viz. In all the ways of Righteousness and Holiness Perpetually Optima poenitentia nova vita Wholly and for ever To him we cannot in this Life fully turn and therefore must daily so to him as never willingly to turn from him Once is above any Indulgence granted Of the Danger of delaying Repentance SOme reject Repentance as a legal and needless thing some counterfeit and dissemble it some mistake it but most neglect and delay it Mistakes and Delays are two great Impediments to it yet more delay than refuse it Our Passage to Heaven is dangerous we either split on the Rock of Presumption or fall into the Gulph of Despair and all Delays are grounded either on Despair or Presumption 1st Despair which arises Either from a sense of Sin 's Greatness as Impardonable or a fear of the loss of time as Irrevocable 1. From a sense of Sin 's Greatness as Impardonable The