God not of workes lest any man should beast Ephes 2.8 but yet so as followeth in the same Text that God hath ordayned good workes for euery good Christian to walke in And therefore let euery one that beleeueth in Christ be carefull to bring forth good workes to testifie his Faith Repentance without which he cannot be saued Vse 1 The vse of this point may then serue To teach all people to take heede that they linger not their Repentance and put it off from day to day because euery houre they are in danger of death and if they dye without Repentance they cannot be saued Vse 2 To teach vs all neuer to soothe our selues in any sinne though neuer so sweet though neuer so pleasing though neuer so profitable for that is not Repentance that only sorroweth for sinne but that which causeth vs to hate all sinne and to labour to leaue the same to the vttermost of our power In a word true Repentance or conuersion as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth is the whole conuersion of the minde vnto God with a full purpose and holy resolution to denie all vngodlinesse and worldly lusts and to liue soberly righteously and godly in this present world Vse 3 Lastly seeing except we thus repent we cannot be saued let vs pray night and day for this grace of Repentance for it is not in our selues to turne vnto the Lord for euen Ieremie himselfe prayeth Conuert thou vs good Lord and we shall be conuerted turne thou vs good Lord and we shall be turned Let vs know that this is a businesse that of necessitie must be done whatsoeuer be left vndone if we will be saued and the sooner it is done the easier it is to be done and the better accepted put not off thy Repentance therefore any longer lest Gods wrath fall vpon thee to thine euerlasting destruction Thinke vpon the end of thy Creation thinke vpon the price of thy Redemption it was to this end that thou mayest be saued for this end was Prayer Preaching and Sacraments commanded and ordayned that thou mayest be saued In a word this is the end of thy faith as S. Peter saith The saluation of thy soule Therefore not without great cause is it that our Text saith Wash thine heart from wickednesse that thou mayest be saued And so much for the Exhortation being the first generall part of our Text. Wherein we haue obserued first Who exhorteth Ieremie secondly Who is exhorted Ierusalem thirdly Whereunto to Repentance fourthly For what end That they may be saued Second part Now come we to the second and last part of our Text which is the Reprehension in these words How long shall thy wicked thoughts remayne within thee The Prophet hauing so louingly exhorted vs to Repentance by willing vs to wash our hearts from wickednesse he falleth now to reprouing vs for lingring so long our Repentance saying How long shall your wicked thoughts remayne within you Wherein we may obserue things worthy of obseruation both in the manner and in the matter of this reproofe The manner In the manner I obserue the dutie of a good Pastor and Teacher who must often-times ioyne with Doctrine and Exhortation Reproofe and Reprehension as also the Apostle S. Paul exhorteth when he saith Improue rebuke exhort 2. Tim. 4.2 Examples of this kinde of teaching we haue store in all the Prophets Euangelists and Apostles which being so well knowne to all I shall not neede to relate any of them but in stead thereof will take vp a reproofe which I thinke euery one of vs must be cōtent to beare of what estate or calling soeuer we are of either in the Church or Common-weale that is That euery one almost can be contented to heare the Preacher patiently so long as he is in his generall doctrine and exhortation or if sometime he reproue sinne in some generall sort for that which seemeth to be spoken to all is taken many times as spoken to none But if the Preacher once begin to fall vnto more particular reprehension As haply when there is great cause to reproue the Magistrate and Gouernors of some remissenesse in their duties that they suffer sinne and sinners as Idolaters Adulterers Drunkards Swearers Prophaners of the Sabbaths and the like to goe vnpunished yea vncontrolled and that not in corners but in publike places to the great offence of Almightie God and to the scandall of our holy profession Or when sometimes many zealous Preachers taxe others of their owne profession for neglecting of their callings or reproue Merchants and men of Trades for their seuerall deceits or Land-lords for inhansing their Rents or Lawyers for delaying of their Clyents or mightie Men for oppressing the poore or Noble men and Gentlemen for sacriledge or Rich men for vsurie or Gentlewomen for their excessiue pride in their apparel or women of lower degree for following of the fashion or any one of these or the like for their seuerall sinnes whatsoeuer Oh then that Preacher is either too precise or peremptorie he leaueth his Text and falleth to rayling as some thinke Notwithstanding like a paynefull Silke-worke he draweth his reprehension out of the very bowells of his Text and doth no more then God commands him To shew the people their sinnes and the house of Iacob their transgressions Esay 58.1 O beloued if this gentle kinde of preaching vsed in our dayes be so hard to be digested how would you take it if Preachers should take libertie by the example of the Prophets to reproue sinne and sinners in such playnenesse and boldnesse that they single them out by name as Esay Amos Ieremie Iohn Baptist haue done though it cost them full deare for their labour But they knew their reward was with the Lord and their labour with the Almightie One thing more we may not passe vnremembred in the manner of the reproofe and that is the vehemencie of the interrogation which our Prophet vseth when he saith How long shall your wicked thoughts remayne within you Text. for it is a reproofe with a certayne kinde of indignation striking to the very heart of them whom he reproueth such force doth the Maiestie of Gods Word carry with it When it is preached with authoritie and in the zeale of Gods Spirit It is then liuely and mightie in operation Heb. 4.12 as the Apostle speaketh and sharper then any two-edged sword and entreth through euen to the diuiding asunder of the soule and the spirit and of the ioynts and the marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart How long shall your wicked thoughts remayne within you Vse 1 The vse drawne here-hence may be First to teach Preachers which are to fight the Lords battell against the sinnefull Amalekites to take courage vnto themselues and like Samuel the Lords Prophet in pieces To cut and hew Agag 1. Sam. 15.33 with the sword of Gods Spirit and not to
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
Son of God did second him saying Repent for the Kingdome of beauen is at hand repent and beleeue the Gospell This we know was alwayes the manner of the Prophets before that time to call people to Repentance And it was the first and chiefest point of doctrine which the Apostles of Christ were commanded by our Sauiour to vrge after his Resurrection That Repentance and Remission of sinnes should be preached in the name of IESVS beginning at Ierusalem Luk. 2. Where our Prophet Ieremie prophesied long time before Ob. But if Ieremies minde and purpose were to exhort the Iewes vnto Repentance why doth he not vse plaine words to perswade thereunto Answ I answere that this Metaphor of washing which our Prophet vseth in this place is farre more significant then if he had exhorted to Repentance in plaine termes For now in stead of one word which he might haue vsed namely Repent he vseth such wordes whereby they are both exhorted to Repentance and also taught how to repent We will therefore consider the wordes in particular and take them both for an exhortation and as a direction to Repentance Only this one thing I would craue by the way of intreatie that hereafter in all this Sermon you would not take these wordes of our Prophet any more as spoken to the Iewes but directed vnto vs for whatsoeuer is written you know it is written for our learning And as Ierusalem to whom this was first spoken was a type and figure of the Church of God so doth this exhortation Wash thine heart from wickednesse belong to all Churches and Kingdomes Cities Countries Nations and People to all I say in generall and to euery one in particular euery one hath neede to haue his heart washed and clensed from wickednesse So that now in this third circumstance we must speake of three things Three things First of washing or clensing Secondly of washing or clensing of the heart Thirdly of vvashing or clensing the heart from vvickednesse And first of vvashing or clensing 1. Note Washing This Metaphor of vvashing as it is very significant so it is very vsuall among the Prophets The Prophet Esay vvhen he had most sharply reproued the same Nation of the Iewes calling the Princes thereof the Princes of Sodome and the People thereof the People of Gomorrah vpbrayding them that they were a finnefull Nation a People laden vvith iniquitie and corrupt children telling them plainely and peremptorily that the whole head vvas sicke and the vvhole heart vvas heauy that from the sole of the foote to the crowne of the head there vvas no vvhole part but vvounds and swellings and sores of sinne full of corruption and so proceedeth on with such terrible menacings and threatnings as though the Lord had vtterly reiected them and would neuer receiue Prayer or Oblation more at their hands for it was a burthen vnto him Yet on a sudden the Prophet changeth his speech and exhorteth them to Repentance with these like vvordes of our Text Wash you make you cleane take away the euill of your workes from before mine eyes cease to doe euill learne to doe well seeke iudgement releeue the oppressed iudge the fatherlesse and defend the widdow Obser Where-hence I obserue that washing and clensing are fit vvordes to expresse the nature of true Repentance which thing also vvas plainely signified by the diuers vvashings in the Leuiticall Law Leuiticall Law for such indeede is the nature of sinne before it be truely repented of that it maketh man more vgly in the sight of God then the foulest Leper in the vvorld can be in the sight of man And indeede to speake all in a vvord sinne is a spirituall Leprosie and therefore if Naaman the Syrian had neede to vvash himselfe seuen times in the floud of Iordan vvhich signifieth the Riuer of Iudgement before the could be clensed from his bodily Leprosie how many times aboue seuentie times seuen times haue wee neede to be washed and clensed from our spirituall Leprosie which hath so taynted and soyled our bodies and soules that all the vvater in Iordan is not able to clense one soule from this disease of sinne but only the blessed bloud of our sweet Sauiour that was baptized in Iordan is it that must clense vs from all sinne For this cause Christ the true Physician of our soules did of his gracious goodnesse cure and clense many Lepers from the filth of their bodies that thereby he might make knowne to the world that it is he onely which was appointed by God to bee to the purgator and clenser of our soules as Saint Iohn sayth The bloud of Christ clenseth vs from all sinne 1. Iohn 1.7 And the same Apostle in the Reuelation signifyeth vnto the seuen Churches that it is Iesus Christ which loued vs and washed vs from our sinnes in his bloud Reuel 1.5 This cleansing and washing of our sins in the bloud of Christ was prefigured in that bloud of the Paschall Lambe wherewith the Doore postes of the children of Israel were stricken Exod. 12.7 And also in the bloud of those sacrifices which Aaron was to offer part of the bloud whereof was to be put vpon the hornes of the Altar with his finger and the rest of the bloud to be powred on the foote of the Altar Exod. 19.12 Many such Ceremonies and prefigurations are euery where to be read in the old Testament the truth and substance whereof was accomplished in the new Therefore Saint Austen saide well The new Testament was wrapped vp in the olde and the olde vnfolded in the new Nouum in veteri obuolutum vetus in none explicatum All which are more plainely opened vnto vs by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes where he sheweth that all things almost were by the Lawe purged by bloud and without sheading of bloud was no remission Hebr. 9.22.23 And hee addeth further that it was necessary that the similitude of heauenly things should be purified by such things but that the heauenly things themselues are purified with better sacrifices then these Moreouer Isaack Isaack who was readie to be sacrificed was a true figure of Christ which was the substance that was sacrificed for vs being both Priest and sacrifice who offered himselfe for our sinnes vpon the Altar of the crosse his holy body being the night before he suffered washed all ouer with his owne most precious bloud like as the high Priest was vsed to bee washed the night before hee came into Sancta Sanctorum And his sacred side when he hung vpon the Crosse to the very piercing of his harmelesse heart was opened with a speare or launce Vt pateant viscera per vulnera saith Saint Austen sweetely vt per foramina Corporis pateant arcana cordis Augustin That the bowels of Christs loue might appeare in his wounds and that the secret sweetnesse of his heart towards vs might be shewed foorth through the windowes