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A65293
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The doctrine of repentance, useful for these times by Tho. Watson ...
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Watson, Thomas, d. 1686.
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1668
(1668)
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Wing W1122; ESTC R38513
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84,062
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186
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more that we have fetched no more vertue from him and brought no more glory to him It should be our grief on our death-bed that our lives have had so many blanks and blots in them that our duties have been so fly-blown with sin that our obedience hath been so imperfect and we have gone so lame in the waies of God When the soul is going out of the body it should swim to Heaven in a Sea of tears CHAP. XIV The removing the Impediments of Repentance BEfore I lay down the Expedients and Means conducing to Repentance I shall first remove the Impediments In this great City when you want water you search the cause whether the Pipes are broken or stopped that the current of water is hindered So when no water of Repentance comes though we have the Conduit-pipes of Ordinances see what the cause is where is the stop that these penitential waters do not run There are ten Impediments of Repentance 1. Men do not apprehend that they need Repentance they thank God all is well with them and they know nothing they should repent of Rev. 3. 17. Thou sayest I am rich and have need of nothing He who apprehends not any distemper in his body will not take the Physick prescribed This is the mischief sin hath done it hath not only made us sick but senseless When the Lord bade the people return to him they answered stubbornly Wherein should we return Mal. 3. 7. So when God bids men repent they say wherefore should they repent they know nothing they have done amiss Surely no disease worse than that which is Apoplectical 2. People conceit it an easie thing to repent It is but saying a few prayers a sigh or a Lord have mercy and the work is done This conceit of the easiness of Repentance is a great hinderance to it That which makes a person bold and adventrous in sin must needs obstruct Repentance but this opinion doth make a person bold in sin The Angler can let out his line as far as he will and then pull it in again So when a man thinks he can lash out in sin as far as he will and then pull in by Repentance when he list this must needs imbolden him in wickedness But to take away this false conceit of the easiness of Repentance consider 1. A wicked man hath a mountain of guilt upon him and is it easie to rise up under such a weight Is salvation per saltum Can a man jump out of sin into Heaven Can he leap out of the Devils arms into Abrahams bosom 2. If all the power in a sinner be employed against Repentance then it is not easie All the faculties of a natural man joyn issue with sin Ier. 2. 25. I have loved strangers and after them will I go A sinner will rather lose Christ and Heaven than his lusts death which parts man and wife will not part a wicked man and his sins and is it so easie to repent The Angel rolled away the stone from the Sepulchre but no Angel only God himself can roll away the stone from the the heart 3. Presuming thoughts of Gods mercy Many suck poison from this sweet flower Christ who came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. is accidentally the occasion of many a mans perishing Though to the Elect he is the bread of life yet to the wicked he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stone of stumbling 1 Pet. 2. 7. * To some his blood is sweet wine to others the water of Marah Some are softned by this Sun of Righteousness others are hardned Oh saith one Christ hath died he hath done all for me therefore I may sit still and do nothing Thus they suck death from the Tree of Life and perish by a Saviour So I may say of Gods mercy it is accidentally the cause of many a ones ruine Because of mercy men presume and think they may go on in sin But should a Kings clemency make his subjects rebel The Psalmist saith there is mercy with God that he may be feared Psal. 130. 4. but not that we may sin Can men expect mercy by provoking justice God will hardly shew them mercy who sin because mercy abounds 4. A supine sluggish temper Repentance is looked upon as a tedious thing and such as requires much industry and men are settled upon their lees and care not to stir They had rather go sleeping to Hell than weeping to Heaven Prov. 19. 24. A slothful man hideth his hands in his bosom he will not be at the labour of smiting on his breast Many will rather lose Heaven than ply the oar and row thither upon the waters of Repentance We cannot have the world citra pulverem without labour and diligence and would we have that which is more excellent Sloth is the canker of the soul Prov. 19. 15. Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep It was a witty fiction of the Poets when Mercury had cast Argus into a sleep and with an inchanted Rod closed his eyes then he killed him When Satan hath by his witcheries lull'd men asleep in sloth then he destroyes them Some report while the Crockadil sleeps with his mouth open the Indian Rat gets into his belly and eats up his entrails So while men sleep in security they are devoured 5. Another obstruction of Repentance is the tickling pleasure of sin â—… Thes. 2. 12. Who take pleasure in unrighteousness Sin is a sugred draught but mixed with poison The sinner thinks there is danger in sin but there is delight and the danger doth not so terrifie him as the delight bewitcheth him Plato calls love of sin a great Devil Delighting in sin hardens the heart In true Repentance there must be a grieving for sin but how can one grieve for that which he loves He who delights in sin can hardly pray against it his heart is so inveagled with sin that he is afraid of leaving it too soon Sampson doted on Dalilahs beauty and her lap proved his grave When a man rolls iniquity as a Sugared lump under his tongue it infatuates him and is his death at last Delight in sin is a silken halter 2 Sam. 2. 26. Will it not be bitterness in the latter end 6. An opinion that Repentance will take away our joy but that is a mistake it doth not crucifie but clarifie our joy and take it off from the fulsom lees of sin What is all earthly joy it is but Hilaris insania a pleasant phrensy Falsa inter gaudia noctem 〈◊〉 Worldly mirth is but like a feigned laugh it hath sorrow following at the heels As the Magitians Rod it is instantly turned into a Serpent But divine Repentance like Sampsons Lion hath an hony-comb in it Gods Kingdom consists as well in joy as in righteousness Rom. 4. 17. None are so truly chearful as penitent ones Est quaedam flere
7. 13. 5. It is a breaking the heart of God Ezek. 6. 9. I am broken with your whorish heart as a loving husband is with the unchast carriage of his wife 6. Sin when acted to the height is a crucifying Christ afresh and putting him to open shame Heb. 6. 6. That is impudent sinners pierce Christ in his Saints and were he now upon earth they would crucifie him again in his person Behold the odious nature of sin 3. Look upon sin in its comparison and it appears ghastly Compare sin either with affliction or Hell and it is worse than both 1. Compare sin with Affliction sickness poverty death and it is worse than these There 's more malignity in a drop of sin than in a Sea of affliction For Sin is the cause of affliction and the cause is more than the effect The sword of Gods justice lies quiet in the scabbard â—…ill sin draws it out Affliction is good for us Psal. 119. 71. It is good for me that I was afflicted Affliction causeth Repentance 2 Chron. 33. 12. The Viper being stricken casts up its poison So Gods Rod striking us we spit away the poison of sin Affliction betters our grace Gold is purest and Juniper sweetest in the fire Affliction prevents damnation 1 Cor. 11. 32. Therefore Maurice the Emperour prayed to God to punish him in this life that he might not be punished hereafter So that affliction is many waies for our good but sin hath no good in it Manasseh's affliction brought him to humiliation but Iudas his sin brought him to desperation Affliction doth only reach the body but sin goes further it poisons the fancy disorders the affections Affliction is but corrective sin is destructive Affliction can but take away the life sin takes away the soul Luk. 12. 20. A man that is afflicted may have his conscience quiet When the Ark was tossed on the waves Noah could sing in the Ark. When the body is afflicted and tossed a Christian can make melody in his heart to the Lord Ephes. 5. 19. But when a man commits sin conscience is terrified witness Spira who upon his abjuring the Faith said he thought the damned spirits did not feel those torments which he inwardly endured In affliction one may have the love of God Rev. 3. 19. If a man should throw a bag of money at another and in throwing it should hurt him a little and raise the skin he would not take it unkindly but look upon it as a fruit of love So when the Lord bruiseth us with affliction it is to enrich us with the golden graces and comforts of his Spirit all is in love But when we commit sin God withdraws his love When David had sinned he felt nothing but displeasure from God Psal. 97. 2. Clouds and darkness are round about him David found it so he could see no Rainbow no Sun-beam nothing but clouds and darkness about Gods face That sin is worse than affliction is evident because the greatest judgement God laies upon a man in this life is to let him sin without controll When the Lords displeasure is most severely kindled against a person he doth not say I will bring the Sword and Plague on this man but I will let him sin on Psal. 81. 11. So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts Now if the giving a man up to his sins in the account of God himself is the most dreadful evil then sin is far worse than affliction and if it be so then how should it be hated by us 2. Compare sin with Hell and you shall see that sin is worse Torment hath its emphasis in Hell yet nothing there is of so bad an aspect as sin 1. Hell is of Gods making but sin is none of his making Sin is the Devils creature 2. The torments of Hell are a burden only to the sinner but sin is a burden to God Amos 2. 13. I am pressed under you as a Cart is pressed with sheaves 3. In the torments of Hell there is something that is good namely the execution of divine justice There is justice to be found in Hell but sin is a piece of the highest injustice it would rob God of his glory Christ of his purchase the soul of its happiness Judge then if sin be not a most hateful thing that is worse than affliction or Hell 4. Look upon sin in the issue and consequence and it will appear hateful Sin reacheth the body it hath exposed it to variety of miseries We come into the world with a â—…ry and go out with a groan which made the Thracians weep on their childrens birth-day to consider the calamities they were to undergo in the world Sin is the Trojan Horse out of which come a whole Army of troubles I need not name them because almost every one feels them While we suck the hony we are pricked with the briar Sin gives a dash in the wine of our comforts it digs our grave Rom. 5. 12. Sin reacheth the soul By sin we have lost the Image of God wherein did consist both our sanctity and majesty Adam in his pristine glory was like an Herald that hath his Coat of Arms upon him all reverence him because he carries the Kings Coat of Arms but pull this Coat off and no man regards him Sin hath done this disgrace to us it hath plucked off our Coat of Innocency but that is not all this bearded arrow of sin would strike yet deeper it would for ever separate us from the beatifical vision of God in whose presence is fulness of joy If sin then be so hyperbolically sinful it may swell our spleen and stir up our implacable indignation against it As Ammons hatred of Tamar was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her 2 Sam. 13. 15. So we should hate sin infinitely more than ever we loved it SECT VI. 6. THE sixth Ingredient in Repentance is turning from sin Reformation is left last to bring up the rear of Repentance What though one could with Niobe weep himself into a stone if he did not weep out sin True Repentance like aqua fortis eats asunder the Iron chain of sin therefore weeping and turning are put together Ioel 2. 12. After the cloud of sorrow hath dropped in tears the firmament of the soul is clearer Ezek. 14. 6. Repent and turn your selves from your Idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations This turning from sin is called a forsaking of sin Isa. 55. 7. As a man forsakes the company of a thief or forcerer 'T is called a putting sin far away Iob 11. 14. As Paul put away the Viper and shook it into the fire Act. 28. 5. Dying to sin is the life of Repentance That very day a Christian turns from sin he must enjoyn himself a Perpetual Fast. The eye must fast from impure glances the ear must fast