commeth yea and in humility attending vpon him and waiting for his comming in the exercises of the Word and prayer as they Acts 1. 4. 14. But how many may be charged as they Acts 7. 51. Yee stiffe-necked and of vncircumcised hearts and eares yee haue alwaies resisted the holy Ghost And therefore are ye so hard hearted and stiffe-necked because you haue resisted the holy Ghost when he would haue bowe your neckes and softened your heart 4. It is said to be a grace of the sanctifying spirit The sanctifying Spirit to distinguish it from the legall repentance that is sometime in the reprobate hauing receiued the spirit of bondage vnto feare for this repentance is a fruit of an effectuall calling Ier. 31. 19. After I was conuerted I repented and so is peculiar to the regenerate And heereby also is it differenced from that blush and neere resemblance of Repentance which is in such reprobates as haue receiued the enlightning spirit 5. It followeth in the description whereby the In order of nature it is after Faith beleeuing sinner I make the subiect of Repentance to be a sinner for so doth Christ Matth. 9. shewing that such as are perfect neede Repentance no more then whole men do physick But withall I cal this sinner a beleeuing sinner to shew that faith must goe before Repentance as the ground and root thereof In time Faith and Repentance are both together but in the order of nature faith is first Reasons 1. Repentance and griefe for displeasing God by sinne necessarily argue the loue of God for a man would neuer grieue but rather reioyce at the offence of him whom he hates When Christ wept for Lazarus the Iewes sayd Loe how he loued him Ioh. 11. and Christ imputes the repenting teares of that sinnefull woman Luc. 7. to loue Much is forgiuen her for she loued much And wheras Acts 20. 21. Paul makes Faith and Repentance the summe of the Gospell the same Apostle 2. Tim. 1. 13. makes faith and loue the summe of it which shewes plainely that Repentance comes from loue and so consequently from faith because faith works by loue Gal. 5. 6. and it is impossible wee should euer loue God till by faith wee know our selues loued of God 2. Repentance beeing vnto life must needes bee drawen out of Christ the fountaine of all spirituall life and quickning grace So that a man must first receiue Christ before he can receiue Repentance or any grace from Christ Now faith is that which receiues Christ Ioh. 1. 12. 3. Repentance being the softning of our hearts and the changing of our natures how shall our stony harts bee molten but in Christs bloud and what can bathe them in that blood but faith And how shall such wilde oliue branches as wee be changed but by being engrafted into Christ as into the naturall Oliue And what can ingraft vs into him but faith 4. It is impossible that a man apprehending nothing in God but rigour and seuerity should euer relent toward him or come in and submit himselfe No there is mercy with thee ô Lord that thou mightest be feared Psal 130. This is it that brings in the sinner creeping and crouching before God as the Syrians to Ahab because they had heard the Kings of Israel were mercifull Christs 1. Kin. 20. 31. gracious aspect cast on Peter drew foorth the tears Gods gracious reuealing of himselfe not to the ear onely but eye also of Iob made him abhorre himselfe and repent Iob 42. 6. hence the exhortations to Repentance are founded commonly vpon the mercy of God in the Gospell as Ier. 3. 14. O yee disobedient children returne for I am your Lord. So Matt. 3. Repent for the Kingdome of Heauen is at hand in which Christ is ready to dispense mercy and forgiuenesse to the repenting sinner so Os 6. 1. Ioel 2. 13. Rom. 12. 1. 2. Cor. 7. 1. There must be faith then to apprehend at least some hope possibility of mercy or else the sinner will harden his heart and enrage his affections grow furiously desperate against the Lord. 5. As the legall Repentance cannot be without Faith beleeuing the threats of the Law so neither by like proportion can the Euangelicall Repentance bee without faith in the promises of the Gospell going before Ob. Mar. 1. 15. Repent and beleeue Repentance is set first and so Acts 20. 21. Answ 1. The order of placing things in Scripture is not alwayes according to the order of nature But sometimes one thing is set first which in order of nature is last as the effect before the cause and then the cause comes after to shew how wee should obtaine the effect As faith is set after a good conscience and pure heart 1 Tim. 1. 5. when yet it is faith that purifieth the heart Acts 15. So heere first repent and then that yee may repent beleeue 2. Things in Scripture are often propounded according to the order of our sense and feeling Now though faith in order of nature be first and the act of Faith before the Act of Repentance yet it is not so liuely and strong and so not so sensible to vs till after Repentance for the promises are made onely to repenting sinners Ob. Matth. 21. 32. Yee repented not that yee might beleeue Answ Sometimes then name of Repentance is giuen to the first preparatory beginnings and introductions thereof Now the preparations to Repentance are those legall fits of feare and terrour which are both in nature and time to before Faith The Vse 1. Against the Popish Repentance which is made to goe before mercy and forgiuenesse as a meritorious procurer thereof But as we haue seene Repentance is caused by the taste of Gods mercy by faith Therefore the Baptist exhorteth to repentance not that the Kingdome of Heauen may come as earned out by the sweat of pennance but because the Kingdome of Heauen is come Againe there cannot possibly bee any true repentance in Popery because repentance springeth from the particular apprehension of Gods mercy by faith which Popery cannot endure 2. Against the Libertines abusing Gods mercy and easinesse to forgiue vnto wantonnesse As the grace that Kings vse to shew against Parliaments makes many theeues But indeed they are beasts and no men that sin because of Gods mercy and it is an argument that they neuer by Faith tasted of Gods mercy in the pardon of their owne sinnes For they that feele much forgiuenesse loue much Luc. 7. If a man should tell a condemned Traytour that his Soueraigne would forgiue all his treasons and restore him to all his former dignities would not such mercy make his heart euen to melt and knit him faster in loue and duety then euer 3. Heere is comfort to all true Repentants that mourne for their sinnes and purpose a new course This repentance of theirs is an euident argument of their faith that hath tasted of the sweetnesse of Gods mercy or else their hearts would
But without any true reformation for presently after he fell to as bad cruelty against the holy Prophet Micaiah Iudas was grieued for murthering Christ yet no change ensued hee fell to murthering of himselfe The Israelites being threatned by God when as they meditated a returne into Aegypt wept and howled And yet at the same time being commanded not to goe the next way to Canaan but to fetch a compasse about they disobeyed But these men sorrow not aright because they sorrow not as the Corinthians did vnto a transmentation vnto a change of their thoughts and purposes from euill to good It is not possible a man should truely grieue and be displeased for his sins and yet continue in them without a change For as one very well sayes vnlesse sinne be made a wanton it will not stay It likes no grimme entertainement The sad countenance the weeping eyes the frowning forehead dash it quite out of countenance It is not able to stand before them The teares of true Repentance haue a purging and a raising vertue therfore the Prophet exhorting to Repentance sayes Wash yee make yee cleane These teares therefore Is 1. 16. are washing and cleansing teares where they fall they make cleane worke scouring away the filthinesse of our sinnes The abundance of naturall raine maketh the waies fowle that before were faire But contrarily the more abundantly this raine falleth the cleaner and fairer are the wayes of our hearts and fitter for the feet of the Lord to walke in For this is that same preparing of the way Matth. 3. of the Lord which the Baptist requires Worldly sorrow workes a change in the body it brings gray haires on the head and furrowes and wrinckles in the face It turnes youth into olde age and strength into weaknesse and so causeth death But the change of godly sorrow is quite contrary It turnes olde age into youth and a weaknesse and sicknesse into health and strength No distillations of waters heale our bodily diseases so as this water doth our spirituall This salt brine takes away all our raw humours and makes vs sauory meate for the Lord. This raine dissolues the clowds of our iniquities and ô what a pure cleerenesse is there in the heauen of our hearts And therfore iustly may wee suspect their repentance whose sorrow brings not with it this happy change 2. So also may we theirs whose change and alteration proceedes not from godly sorrow and touch of conscience for sinne Let it not suffice vs that in many things wee haue reformed our wayes For so did Herod Iudas and many other temporary beleeuers But alas this reformation was not grounded vpon true humiliation and so at length it came to nought as an vnfounded building And therefore by humiliation first digge wee deepe in our hearts and cast out the rotten and vnsound ground and so build wee Excellent is the counsell of Christ to luke-warme Laodicea be zealous that is reforme the fault of thy luke-warmnesse Reuel 3. but withall he addes and Repent namely of thy lukewarmnesse let the reformation of thy fault be grounded on sound sorrow for it So may I say to the couetous be liberall and repent to the vncleane be chaste and repent to the neglecter of Gods worship frequent the Church and exercises of Religion and repent Many Professours haue made a goodly flourish and of couetous haue turned liberall and of prophane deuout and who so forward as they But when they turned religious they did not heartily repent and repine at their former prophanesse grieuing and grudging at the seruice which formerly they did Sathan They sowed not the seed of their obedience in tears nay with the stony ground they beganne in ioy and therefore end in sorrow Before haruest comes all is withered and they become vnfruitfull They beganne not in humility and therefore end not in glory Nay they beganne in pride and therefore end in shame They beganne in impenitency and therefore end in despaire And thus haue we opened the definition of Repentance CHAP. II. In what order Humiliation is wrought REpentance then consisting of those two parts Humiliation and Reformation let vs speake of them both seuerally And first of Humiliation where consider first the grace it selfe And secondly the contraries to it In the grace it selfe foure things are to be considered 1. The Nature 2. The Measure 3. The Vse and Excellency 4. The Practise 1. For the nature two poynts must bee considered 1. The nature of Humiliation in two things 1. In what order it is wrought 2. What are the qualities and propeties of it being wrought For the former it is thus to be considered 1. The spirit by the shrill trumpet of the Law arouseth the sinners drousie conscience setteth his 1. The order of it sinnes in order before him and presenteth him with that fearefull spectacle of eternall death and condemnation And that so that the poore sinner selfe-conuict and selfe-condemned holding vp his guilty hands before Gods Tribunall and receiuing the sentence of death doth not onely see hell with a wide and gaping mouth ready to deuoure him but euen in a manner feeleth himselfe in hell already the terrours of God fighting against him and the envenomed arrowes of the Almighty sticking in his ribbes so that in this perplexity being brought downe to the very gate of hell and feeling the very flashings of hell fire in his conscience he cries out Miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me Who shall descend into this deepe to Rom. 7. helpe me out of the myre wherein I sticke so fast A man in this case is like a rocke which with some mighty shaking is made to tremble but yet still retaines his hardnesse or as an iron vessell which with some violent stroakes is broken into peeces but these peeces remaine whole and hard and are not yet molten by the fire Now vnto humiliation there is required not onely a broken but also a contrite spirit And Contrition is when all is stamped to very dust and ground as it were to powder so that there is a through dissolution of that which before was firmely hardened and compacted together But the Law of it selfe cannot dissolue and soften the hard heart of man Therefore the sinner though neuer so violently shaken and battred with the thunderbolts of the Law is not as yet truely humbled but onely prepared for and in the way vnto humiliation As when a thing is torne and broken though into great and solide lumps it is neerer to dissolution then when it was whole and entire 2. Therefore the spirit by the hammer of the Law hauing broken vs doth in the next place by the fire of the Gospell melt vs. For the word of God Ierem. 23. 9. is both a hammer breaking the rockes and a fire A hammer in the Law A fire in the Gospell which with the heat of Gods loue in Christ doth melt mollifie and dissolue our hearts
neuer thus yeeld nor relent toward God 6. It is further added so humbleth himselfe for It consisteth of two parts his sinne that he turnes from it to the Lord. In which words I set downe the two maine and essentiall parts of Repentance namely Contrition or Humiliation and Conuersion or Reformation That both these are required to repentance may appeare 1. By the very names which Repentance hath both in Hebrew Greeke and Latine In Hebrew it is called both Nacham and Teshubha the former 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying erking the latter turning Answerable in the Greeke Metameleia signifies after-griefe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or anxiety of minde after the doing of somewhat Metanoia after-wit or after-wisdome when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seeing our errour or slip we are better aduised and change our minde So Poenitentia as the word imports the paine of griefe and Resipiscentia the mindes recouering of wisdome or becomming wiser after our folly This harmony of languages as touching the names of Repentance shewes plainely there must bee in it these two things griefe for that which is done amisse and a change of our minde from that it was before 2. By the phrases and manner of speech which the Scripture vseth touching Repentance Sometimes repenting for or of as vncleannesse 2. Cor. 12. 21. for idolatry Reuel 9. 20. which cannot otherwise be vnderstood then of griefe for the committing of such sinnes But sometimes we meet with Repentance from Repent from thy wickednesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 8. 22. And Repentance from dead workes Heb. 26. 2. which cannot in any congruity of speech note griefe but onely a change or departure from sinne 3. By the description of it in this sort in the Scripture when it cals men to repentance as Ioel 2. 11. Turne to the Lord with weeping Rend your hearts and turne to the Lord. That is in one word Repent So Iames 4. after that Psal 8. he had sayd Draw neere to God which is the generall or whole of Repentance afterward explaining it in the particulars he addeth first Clense your hearts and purge your hands There is Renouation or Reformation and then Psal 9. 10. Suffer affliction that is bee touched with smarting griefe for your sinnes as if you were in some grieuous outward affliction Let your laughter be turned into weeping humble your selues vnder the mighty hand of God There is the other part Contrition or Humiliation And 2. Chron. 7. 14. God promising mercy to his people vpon condition of their repentance hee thus describes their repentance If they shall humble themselues and turne from their euill wayes making repentance to stand in these two points in humbling themselues for and turning themselues from their sinnes Ob. 2 Cor. 7. 10. Godly sorrow worketh Repentance Heere sorrow is distinguished from repentance as the cause from the effect Answ Repentance as may appeare by that already spoken sometimes signifies onely one part of repentance sometimes onely the change and alteration of minde sometimes onely the touch of the affections An example of the former is the place obiected as also Ier. 18. If they repent it shall repent me of the euill I had thought that is I will alter my mind and repeale my threatnings And Acts 11. 18. where the Iewes hauing heard Peter relate the descents of the holy Ghost vpon the Gentiles in hearing his sermon conclude thereon Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted Repentance vnto life There was no mention made of any sorrow or humiliation but onely of the wonderfull descent of the holy Ghost causing them to speake strange tongues and to magnifie the name of God Which strange change of their mindes by the holy Ghost it seemeth they call repentance But there are examples of the latter also where repentance onely signifies sorrow and displeasure with our selues as Gen. 6. It repenteth me I made man Luc. 17. It repenteth me the speech of a trespasser crying him mercy whom hee hath offended And Acts 26. 20. That they should repent and turne to God Where Repentance being so plainely distinguished from Conuersion must needes be restrained to the signification of sorrow and humiliation But as from this place we may not gather that Repentance is not a turning to the Lord no more may we from that other 2. Cor. 7. that it is not a godly sorrow Ob. One part is not a cause of his fellow-part But sorrow is a cause of the change of mind 2. Cor. 7. 10. Therefore sorrow and change of minde are not fellow-parts of Repentance Answ One part may bee a cause of his fellow-part As sanctification of the soule is the cause of the sanctification of the body And yet both are parts of sanctification Ob. Contrition seems to be a part of the change and alteration For what greater change then for a hard heart to turne soft and a stony to become fleshie And this is contrition or humiliation Therefore Humiliation and Alteration are not well distinguished Answ The Apostle plainely distinguisheth them when he saith Godly sorrow causeth Repentance that is the change of minde For though godly sorrow bee a part and peece of that passiue change which is wrought in vs at the first instant of our calling by God yet it is a cause of the actiue change whereby we change and alter the purpose and resolution of our harts before set on sinne and now turne them to the Lord. For were it not that we felt the bitternesse of our sinnes and were truly touched in conscience for them wee would neuer in good sadnesse forsake and abrenounce them Howsoeuer then some late Diuines take the word Repentance more restrainedly some onely for a godly sorrow others only for a turning from sinne to the Lord yet the truth is that Repentance accordingly as it is described in the Scripture is the connexion of them both Vse Heere then is the triall of our Repentance If humiliation and Reformation both meete together then is our Repentance accomplished But either of these single make but a halfe and a halting repentance An vnreformed sorrow is but deformed And a sorrowlesse reformation is but a very sorry one Humiliation without reformation is a foundation without a building And reformation without humiliation is a building without a foundation To lay a foundation and not to build on it is to no purpose but to expose our selues to laughter Luc. 14. This man began but could not finish To build without a foundation is to play the foolish builder Luc. 6. 48. for that building will soone fall and so all our labour will be lost Heere then is discouered a double errour in repentance 1. Of such hypocrites as make much adoe and seem to lay their sins much to heart yet stil continue in them bathing cherishing not drowning choaking them in their tears Such a one was Ahab who crept crouched put on sackcloath being threatned for his cruelty against Naboth
into the teares of godly sorrow For after that in the Law we haue seene our miserable and desperate estate in our selues we should presently raue and rage against the Lord did hee not in this our extremity giue vs some hope and inckling of mercy presenting vnto our eye the infinite merits of Christ the indefinite promises of the Gospell calling all without exception to the fruition of those merits excluding none but such as exclude themselues and despise the grace that is offered them But when once mercy is tendred to vs that stand condemned in the Law and that onely vpon condition of our humble submissiue embracing of it Oh then the working of our bowels the stirring of our affections the melting relenting of our repenting hearts reasoning thus with themselues And is it so indeed hath the Lord giuen his owne Son to the death to saue sinners doth hee offer vs the benefit therof who hauing been such desperate Rebels against him stand cast and condemned euen in the sentence of our own consciences What marble brest what oaken heart is there whom such kindnes would not affect How can we chuse but out of loue and affection towards so sweet and gracious a God grieue that euer we haue so grieued him And now hath Contrition it perfect worke in vs when the bloud of the Lambe hath melted the Adamant and the Sun-shine of Gods loue in Christ hath thawen the ice of our hearts For before it was the feare of hell and so indeed selfe-loue and in a manner pride that humbled vs because we would not be miserable But now it is the loue of God that humbleth vs because of the wrong wee haue done him who hath done vs so much good Before it was the hatred onely of punishment that made vs to grieue but now it is the hatred of sin that brings the punishment and that specially because displeasing to the Lord our good God that causes all the trouble And thus we see in what order and by what degrees Contrition is wrought But heere certaine questions may be mooued Quest 1. Whether the sole threatnings and curses of the Law are not of themselues auaileable vnto true contrition forasmuch as Iosiahs heart melted in godly sorrow vpon the hearing of the 2. Chro. 34. 27 threatnings Answ Those threatnings were not meerely Legall but such as were qualified with some tincture of mercy in the Gospell Afflictions soften our hearts but how no otherwise then as we apprehend Gods mercy in them So did Iosiah apprehend mercy in those threatnings that they proceeded from Gods loue and so accounted them as the wounds of a friend and thence came the melting of his heart Dauid relented euen at Shemeies bitter reuilings but it was through the sense of Gods sweet mercy in them Quest 2. Whether God keepe the order spoken of constantly in humbling his children so that none can truely be grieued for sinne till they haue beene cast downe with legall terrours Answ 1. Many may haue the first degree of humiliation by the Law which neuer come to the second by the Gospell As Iudas Caine and other Reprobates vtterly ouerwhelmed with the terrors of the Law as children sometimes in the trauell are killed with the paines thereof before they can be borne But as there can bee no birth without the paines of the trauell going before so neither no true Repentance without some terrours of the Law and streights of conscience None can haue the second degree without the first The Reason is plaine None can haue Repentance but such as Christ cals to Repentance Now he cals onely sinners to Repentance Matth. 9. 13. euen sinners heauy laden with the sense of Gods wrath against sinne Math. 11. 29. He comes only to saue the lost sheep that is such sheep as feele themselues lost in themselues and know not how to find the way to the folde Rom. 8. 15. Yee haue not againe receiued the spirit of bondage vnto feare which shews that once they did receiue it namely in the very first preparation vnto conuersion that then the spirit of God in the Law did so beare witnesse vnto them of their bondage and miserable slauery that it made them to tremble Now there vnder the person of the Romans the Apostle speaks to all beleeuers and so shewes that it is euery Christians common case 2. Yet all are not handled alike Though none wholly scape yet some haue gentler fits then others and some are but sprinkled in this baptisme wherein others are euen doused ouer head and eares and some doe but sippe of that cuppe wherof others drinke to the very dregges It is with the trauell of a sinner in his Repentance as with a womans in child-birth None trauels heere without paine yet some are like those Hebrew women Exod. 1. and haue a farre quicker dispatch then many others Those conuerts Acts 2. in their Repentance had some grudgings and prickes of conscience but yet they had none of Iobs nor Dauids fits which held them many dayes together For the same Peter that wounded presently healed them and being filled with the ioy of the holy Ghost they comfortably conuersed with the Christians Matthew as it is thought at his first conuersion entertained Christ with a feast and so did Lydia the Apostles which they could not haue done if they had beene in any extremities of the agonies of conscience God applies himselfe heere to the seuerall natures conditions and dispositions of his children 1. Some haue beene more hainous sinners and of longer standing then the rest Now the more festred and dangerous the wound is the sharper must be the cure Some sores will as easily bee let out with the pricking of a pinne as others with the Surgeons launching The more viscous and glutinous the humour is the stronger must the purge be The greater the burthen is the greater will bee the paine of the backe Hence it was that Paul being a more hainous offender then the rest of the Apostles as being a malicious persecutor whereas they had beene honest and sober fishermen hence it was I say that hee tasted deeper of this cup then they as we see Acts 9. insomuch that he sayes the Law slew him Rom. 7. Hence also it is that such who in their tender yeeres by meanes of religious nurture haue beene seasoned with the grace of God dropping by little and little into them before any grosser defilement of actuall transgression doe not behold that grim and seuere countenance of the Law which those commonly see who stand idle to the twelfth houre 2. God meanes to employ some in more worthy seruices For the which hee sees it fit to prepare them by the deepest humiliation For the higher and greater the building is the deeper must the foundation be layd in the earth 3. Some are of greater places and parts then others some naturally of a more crabbed crooked disposition some more stout bold hardy then others
Now the hard knotty wood must haue a hard wedge An angry word or looke workes more vpon a softly then an hundred blows would vpon a crosse and sturdy spirit Both these reasons hold also in S. Paul that Prince of the Apostles ordained of God to bee a worthier instrument then the rest being a man of great parts singular learning and withall as it should seeme by the story of a fierce and fiery spirit So great personages whose high places puffe them vp that they may truely repent had need to be taken down throughly with a deep sense of the legall terrors For euen we poore worms that haue nothing almost either in regard of our parts or places to make vs swell see yet what a do we haue to be humbled and what neede wee haue of the wedge of the Law and afflictions to be driuen in throughly into our hearts Quest 3. To what end and purpose doth the Lord thus exercise his children whom hee brings to repentance Answ There are more especially sixe reasons of Gods proceeding in this manner 1. To vrge them to seeke vnto Christ as the hunted beast flies to his den and the pursued malefactour to the hornes of the altar and as vnder the Law the chased man-killer to his city of refuge Thus Agar confounded with the sense of his owne brutishnesse fled vnto Ithiel and Vcal that is Christ Iesus Prou. 30. 1. 2. 3. Paul likewise when so followed by the Law that being almost out of breath he cried out Miserable man that I am hides himselfe in the hole of this rocke euen in the wounds of Christ I thanke God through Iesus Christ Rom. 7. Thus the destroying Angell droue the Israelites into their chambers and made them lurke there Exod. 12. 32. Is 26. 20. and Dauids deepes made him send foorth many a deepe sigh and strong cry to the throne of grace Psal 130. 1. as Christ himselfe did in the like case Hebr. 5. 2. To bring their tastes into better rellish with Christ Thirst makes vs rellish our drinke Hunger our meat The full stomacke of a Pharisie surcharged with the superfluities of his owne merits will loath the hony-combe of Christs righteousnesse Their heart is fat as grease saith Dauid but I delight in thy Law By the opposition shewing that Psal 119. 70. it is onely the leane heart pined and pinched with spirituall famine that feeles delight in the promises This was it which made that young Prodigall to rellish euen seruants fare though before wanton when full fed at home Nothing more vnsauoury to a senselesse brawny heart then Christs bloud No more rellish feeles hee in it then in a chip But ô how acceptable is the fountaine of liuing waters to the chased Hart panting and braying The bloud of Christ to the weary and tired soule to the thirsty conscience scorched with the sense of Gods wrath He that presents him with it how welcome is he euen as a speciall choyce man one of a thousand The deeper is the sense of misery Iob 33. 19. 23. the sweeter is the sense of mercy The traytour layd downe on the blocke is more sensible of his Soueraignes mercy in pardoning then he who is not yet attached Therefore cxcellently S. Paul God hath shut vp all vnder sinne that hee might haue mercy on all As though hee could not shew mercy without shewing iustice because wee cannot taste the sweet of his mercy vnlesse before our mouths be imbittered with the wormewood of his iustice With thee the father lee shall finde mercy saith repenting Hos 14. 4. Israel When a man is brought into the straits of a poore desolate shiftlesse orphane then is hee fit for mercy Sweetly Bernard God poures not the Deus non infundit oleum misericordiae nisi in vas contritum oyle of his mercy saue into a broken vessell For indeed whole vessels are full vessels And so Gods precious oyle would runne ouer and be spilt on the ground if powred into them Therefore first must they be emptied of their euill liquour and that they cannot vnlesse Gods hand shake tumble batter and breake them and then will they be capable of that oyle 3. To worke a more perfect cure of their sins For the cure of the stone in the heart is like that of the stone in the bladder God must vse sharpe incision and come with his pulling and plucking instruments and rend the heart in peeces ere that sin can be got out of it Euen as a tree that is deepely rooted in the earth cannot be pluckt vp by the very roots but the earth though firme before must be broke vp And as in a lethargie it is needefull the patient should be cast into a burning feuer because the senses are benummed and this will wake them and dry vp the besotting humors so in our dead security before our conuersion God is faine to let the Law Sinne Conscience and Sathan loose vpon vs and to kindle the very fire of hell in our soules that so wee might bee roused Our sinnes sticke close vnto vs as the prisoners bolt and wee are shut vp vnder them as in a strong prison and therefore vnlesse as once in Paul and Silas their case an earth-quake so heere there come a mighty heart-quake violently breaking open the prison doores and shaking of our fetters neuer shall wee get our liberty We goe on resolutely and stoutly in our sinnes and vnlesse wee bee scared as once Balaam in his couetousnesse by the naked sword of the Lord threatning destruction wee will neuer turne backe How violently did Sathan driue Paul in the way of persecution Would he euer haue giuen ouer if a contrary winde had not encountred him and blew him off his horse and smit him down to the ground dead and blinde But then hee had his lesson giuen him for euer persecuting more How now Paul is it good persecuting how now vnhappy venturous childe is it good running neer the fire the water when thy father shall take thee vp by the heeles and scorch thee and drench thee and almost let thee quite fall in How now Lot is it good staying in Sodome when fire and brimstone are comming about thine eares If Dauid like of his broken bones let him fall againe to murther and adultery If thou like the sowre sawce of a guilty hellish conscience fall to the sweet meat of thy sin and eat vnto surfet But this sowre sawce makes the Elect of God loath their meat though neuer so sweete When they see they cannot retaine their right hands eyes and feet without such aches such tortures yea and danger of the ouerthrow of the whole body then they yeelde them to the cutting and mortifying hand of the Surgeon Then farwell profit farwell pleasure treasure and all rather then I will endure such a racke such a hell in my conscience 4. To make vs the more pliable to Gods will How refractary was the woman of Samaria till
Ioh. 4. Christ sat as a Iudge in her conscience and pinched her with that close imputation of adultery There was no dealing with Iob till the whirl-wind schooled Iob. him An vnhumbled sinner is as vnfit for Gods instruction as an vnbroken colt for the saddle and as the hard and clotty fallow ground not subdued by Ierem. 4. the plough is for the seede Who can weilde a mightie hard rocke but let it bee broken to fitters and stamped to dust the hand of the Artificer may worke it as he will When Isay Is 6. Acts 9. and Paul were tamed with the terrors of the Lord then Lord heere I am What wilt thou haue mee doe When the Lyons and Beares are meekned then a little childe may lead them Is 11. Hence those speeches The Lord shall direct the humble Humble Psalm 25. Mic. 6. 2. Chro. 30. 8. Ierem. 44. 10. thy selfe to walke with thy God Be not stiffe-necked but giue the hand to the Lord to be lead by him They are not humbled neither haue they walked in the wayes of the Lord. There is no more resistance in a bruised heart against the Lord then in soft waxe against the seale 5. To procure vs the sounder comfort Whole sores throb and rage Ease is by breaking The deeper the wound is searched and teinted and the sharper corrasiues be applied the sounder will the flesh be afterward The lower ebbe the higher tide The deeper our descent in Humiliation the higher our ascent in Consolation Therefore when Christ promiseth vs his spirit to be our Comforter he shewes this shall bee the first ground-worke of Comfort which hee shall lay the conuincing of our conscience of sinne I will send the Comforter and hee Ioh. 16. shall conuince the world of sinne A miserable Comforter one would thinke no but marke whether this Conuiction of sinne tends For it is added that he shall conuince them of righteousnesse After he hath soundly conuicted them of sinne in themselues vnto condemnation He shall to their comforts conuict their iudgements and perswade their hearts of righteousnesse in Christ vnto iustification So the Prophet sheweth how his peace was wrought out of his trouble When I heard my bellie Hab. 3. 16. trembled my lips shooke rottennesse entred into my bones and I trembled but marke the end of all this that I might rest in the day of trouble Surely after the most toylesome labour is the sweetest sleepe After the greatest tempests the stillest calmes Sanctified trouble establishes peace And the shaking of these windes makes the trees of Gods Eden take the deeper rooting 6. God heerein hath respect to his owne glory which he gaineth to himselfe in working thus by contraries ioy out of feare light out of darknesse heauen out of hell When he meant to blesse Iacob Gen. 32. he wrestled with him as an aduersary euen till hee lamed him When he meant to preferre Ioseph to the throne hee threw him downe into the dungeon to the golden chaine about the necke hee laded him with iron ones about his legges and caused the iron to Psal 105. enter into his soule When he meant to make a most beautifull and orderly world he makes first a vast gulfe a grosse Chaos wherein was nothing but darknesse and confusion and yet out of it he caused light to shine and out of it brought hee this goodly frame of heauen and earth which now wee see Euen so in the second creation which is by Regeneration first there is nothing but a hellish Chaos of darkenesse in the minde of Confusion in the heart and yet at length comes forth the goodliest creature that euer was the new creature in Christ The Vse of all this is 1. To discouer their errour who thinke they haue true Repentance when they haue only some legall qualmes of sorrow some stirrings and stingings of conscience which euen the fiends in hell haue who yet are vncapable of Repentance Indeed these are preparations to Contrition as wee heard in the Elect and are as the pricking of the needle before the thread But contrition it selfe is a further matter Christ biddes the heauy loaden come vnto him and learne of him to bee humble A man therefore may be heauy loaden and as yet not come to him nor truely humbled When those whom Peter pricked asked what they should doe to be eased of that paine hee prescribed them Repentance as the salue for that sore of a wounded conscience A man may haue a sore and feele it and yet want the salue that should heale it And yet the feeling of the sore is the first step to recouery For this makes vs enquire after the salue 2. To terrifie such as being stupefied in conscience and are wholly vnsensible of sinne can carry it away lightly as Sampson did the gates of the city and their backes neuer complaine of the burthen These blocks that neuer in their life were moued with Gods threatnings neuer in any straight of conscience neuer groaned vnder the burthen of Gods anger they haue not so much as entred into the porch of this house or lift the foote ouer the threshold of this schoole of Repentance In Dauids Repentance for numbring the people this is noted at the first step his heart smote him So in 2. Sam. 24. his Repentance for adultery hee notes this to bee the ground My sinne is euer before me The terrible Psal 51. image thereof affrights me continually But for these Brutes their sinne is euer behinde them Nothing is before them but their profits their pleasures their bagges their barnes And the delightfull image of these things so bewitches and besots them that they will neuer see the face of sinne till they feele the fire of hell And iust it is that such who will not see sinne heere by the light of Gods word should at last see it for euer by the light of the Diuels fire 3. To comfort such as are distressed in conscience in the apprehension of Gods wrath against their sinne It is a speciall worke of the spirit thus to discouer vnto them their misery and in the sight thereof to touch their heart Yee haue not againe receiued Rom. 8. 15. the spirit of bondage vnto feare saith Paul The word Receiued implieth that the trouble of conscience is to be accounted of as a gift and the word Spirit shewes the author of the gift Heere is comfort then thou art in the way to saluation thou hast receiued the first gift which the spirit bestoweth vpon all those whom it bringeth to Repentance in that thou seest thy bondage and tremblest Yea but poore comfort thou wilt say to behold and feele God as an enemy with his sword wounding me then with his naile continually raking in the wounds with his axe continually hewing and hacking mee yea and quite cutting me downe and laying me flat on the ground Silly man who seest not the depth of Gods wisedome Gods
wounds are not mortall but medicinable the wounds not of a Swash-buckler that giues a gash and runnes away but of a Surgeon that wounds and then heales God sees the Diuell hath giuen thee many a secret wound which will fester vnlesse he heale them with these wounds of his Gods axe hewes thee down not for the fire but for the building that thou mayest be a piller in his house The Reuel 3. Mason pluckes downe an house but not with an intent to destroy it but to re-edifie it and raise it vp againe in better forme and fashion God brings thee downe to the belly of hell but it is but to bring the vp into the bosome of Abraham Hee sends his Sergeant to arrest thee for thy debt commands thee and all thou hast to bee sold But hee doth but dissemble and hide his fatherly affections as once Ioseph did his brotherly His meaning is in conclusion to forgiue thee euery farthing He scorches thee with the heate of his wrath and afflicts thee with a maruellous thirst like that of Diues But in the middest of thy extremity hee releeues thee as once Hagar opening thine eyes to see that Zach. 13. 1. blessed Fountaine issuing out of the pierced side of Christ He troubles thy heart and stirres vp the mud of thy guilty conscience but it is no otherwise then the Angel troubled the poole of Bethesda Gen. 9. now mayest thou expect health and helpe The raine-bow though it threaten raine yet it is a signe the world shall no more bee drowned with raine So the wounds and terrors of conscience though they threaten damnation to the Elect yet are they a signe that they shall not be ouerwhelmed with it Nay as the sottish security of the wicked is a signe of vndoubted destruction as in the olde worlds prophane worldlinesse and Baltashars sacrilegious carousings so contrarily heere terror and trouble are fore-runners of assured peace As when they cry peace peace heauen heauen hell and perdition are at hand so when these in their distresse cry Hell Hell damnation damnation Heauen and saluation are at hand And surely much better is this hell which leades vnto and ends in an eternall Heauen then that transitory heauen of secure worldlings which ends in an euerlasting hell Happy then are wee if wee haue so our hell in this life that we may haue our Heauen for euer in the life to come Be not afrayd of this hell which will deliuer thee vp safely into Heauen fear not that fal into Gods dungeon which shal rebound thee back into his palace Feare not that hand which in killing quickens in oppressing eases nay euen in the valley of death mayest thou boldly say Thy rod euen thy smiting rod comforts mee In the middest of these sore trauels and troubles looking with the Psal 23. trauailing woman to the ioyfull issue the happy birth of sauing Repentance Remembring that the short paine of this Surgeons cutting of thee shall ease thee of that continuall and farre heauier paine of the stone in thy heart Surely as when Christ called the blinde man the Disciples sayd Be of good comfort he calleth thee so may I boldly say to all burthened in consciencc Be of good comfort Christ Iesus calleth you saying Come vnto mee all yee that are heauy loaden that I may ease you If thou feelest the weight of this burthen now there is Matth. 11. one that will translate it from thy shoulders to his owne If not thou shalt certainely feele it in the life to come when thou alone must beare it for euer Is it not then a happy turne that since thou must be thus burthened here or hereafter thou art laden heere where Christ may ease thee so that thou mayst auoyd that clog in hell easelesse and eternall CHAP. III. Of the properties of Humiliation HAuing seene the order how Humiliation is 2. The properties wrought in the next place we must consider of the properties thereof which though they bee many yet may be comprized all vnder that one of Pauls 2. Cor. 7. 10. Godly sorrow For this sorrow or humiliation may bee called It is godly in foure respects Godly in diuers respects 1. Because it makes vs grieue for the offence of 1. It grieues for the offence God by our sinne and not so much for the offence of our flesh by the punishment For Paul opposeth it to worldly sorrow which is for crosses and punishments The repenting Israelites sorrow is thus described by Ezechiel They shall remember mee because Ezech. 6. 9. I am grieued for their whorish hearts c. and they shal be displeased in themselues for all their abominations The ground of their griefe was that they had grieued God with sinning and not that God had grieued them with punishing By this we may iudge of our sorrow For godly sorrow laments after the Lord as it is noted in those Israelites 1. Sam. 7. 1. not after our own ease and freedome from paine Godly sorrow sayes with Dauid Take away the trespasse not with Pharaoh 2. Sam. 24. the plague Nay it submits it selfe to any punishment so the sinne may be pardoned Let thy hand be vpon me and my fathers house And though there were no punishment yet it would grieue in kindnesse towards so mercifull and forgiuing a father that is offended The humiliation of the wicked is not so If there were no sparkes of fire in hell there would bee no drops of water in their eyes Their humiliation is wrung from them onely by the sting and guilt of conscience which may enforce them to let goe their hold of sinne and wish for the time to bee rid of it The distemper and paine of the dogges stomacke not the dislike of the meat in it makes him cast vp his gorge For afterward he returnes to his vomit And so doth the humbled hypocrite to his sinne Which shewes he fell not out with his sinne but with his affliction whereas godly humiliation in true Penitentiaries proceedes from the loue of God their good father and so from the hatred of that sinne that hath displeased him As it was the sent of the mirrhe Christ had dropped vpon the barre that wakened Cant. 5. 4. 5. the drousie spouse and made her bowels to fret within her in godly indignation And the sweeter that mirrhe did smell the more filthy was the sent of her sinne in her nostrils 2. Because where the least seede of it is it driues 2. It driues to God vs to God in our greatest extremities to seeke ease and remedy of him The Reprobate in their sorrow runne away from God euen as a dogge from him that whippeth him Iudas in his terrors ranne to the high Priests the enemies of Christ and to the halter Cain to building of cities Saul to musicke to a witch and at last to his sword But the godly they euen out of the deepes with Dauid and Psal 130.
there are that doe ioy to make long and large accounts of their leaudnesse feeding their delights with their liues past as the dogge returneth to smell of his cast gorge and the horse to his doung yea when by Confession they haue disgorged their sinne they presently with the dogge licke vp their vomit againe Others there are that are fully set vpon sinne in confessing As those Israelites that said we haue sinned we will goe vp As much as to say wee haue Deut. 1 41. sinned we will sinne for God forbad them flatly to goe vp Others there are that as the Papists presume to sinne because of confession thinking by it to bee eased as the drunkard by vomiting And though some in their good moodes may seeme in confession verily to purpose amendment yet these are no sound no settled no sincere and honest purposes but sudden flashings conceiued by their deceitfull hearts rather to auoyd the iudgements felt or feared then truely to please God But wee in our confession must imitate that good Shecaniah who in confessing sinne entred into Couenant Ezra 10. 2. 3. with the Lord against the sinne confessed We haue sinned now therefore let vs enter into couenant with the Lord. Otherwise confession the remedy against sin is turned into sin The remedy encreaseth the disease Some of the Heathen in the daies of sacrifice to their Idols for health did riotously banquet to the preiudice of their health So to too many of vs in the very selfe same dayes we confesse our sins wee runne afresh to our sinnes And God in his iust iudgement punishes hypocriticall confession with a further greedinesse of sinning When the heart is not rent with the garments the rending of the garments sowes the sinne faster together when the heart and conscience is not knocked together with the brest that knocking will neuer batter sin but consolidate and compact it more firmely together Tundens pertus non corrigens vitia ea consolidat Aug. it will be as the knocking of a naile which driues it further in In the next place to Confession wee must ioyne 2. In Deprecation Deprecation with strong cries crauing pardon euen as the poore hunger-bitten begger does an almes or as the cast malefactour pleads for his life at the barre before the Iudge Thus did Dauid Haue mercy vpon me ô Lord according to the multitude of thy compassions Psal 51. c. And Daniel O Lord heare ô Lord Dan. 9. forgiue againe and againe repeating his cries In these penitentiall prayers we may note these two things First that they be deepely serious the guilty theefe pleading for his life goes not about to entertaine the Iudges eares with quaint phrases and fine words but he studies to shew the passion and affection of his heart There are some lusty beggars that in begging will keepe a flourishing in their Rhetoricke such as it is A wise man will neuer be moued to compassionate them Hee will thinke they are not throughly hungerbitten they would vse another kind of dialect then and leaue their fooleries and fall to humble and pittiful complaints and groanes As Salomon saies The poore man speaketh supplications so the repenting sinner Prou. 18. beeing poore in spirit speakes supplications The best flowers he can garnish his prayers with are his sighes his sobbes his groanes his cries This is the Rhetoricke of repentance in prayer The affectation of carnall eloquence in prayer shewes there is little repentance in such praiers 2 That oftentimes affection in them is so strong that wordes faile Rom. 8. 26. Dauid when Nathan had wounded him cryed out I haue sinned Why will some say did he not go on and craue pardon his inward griefe was such that hee could not in wordes in desire of heart hee did his heart was full and the seedes of the 51. Psalme were then in his breast So the Publicane said no more but Lord be mercifull to me a sinner yet there was affection Luke 18. meditation enough to haue spent a whole day in prayer and not onely to furnish that one short sentence Lord be mercifull Some haue more words then matter in their prayers but humbled repentants haue more matter then wordes and so are streighted as great throngs of people pressing out at some narrow passage sticke fast and cannot goe forward but very slowly Some are very short in praier for want of matter and affection but repenting sinners are short because of the aboundance of matter and affection being as full vessells that doe not runne presently at the first piercing or as the flesh that in deeper wounds bleeds not presently Thus was it with the repenting prodigall he purposed to speake thus and thus to his Father Luc. 15. Namely Father I haue sinned c. make mee but as one of thy hired seruants Now this last clause he leaues out when he comes to his Father by reason his heart was so surcharged with griefe his passions drunke vp his speech as wee see how Christs teares made his speech broken and imperfect Luk. 19 41. And fit it is indeede there should bee this sweete harmony betwixt the repenting sinners heart and tongue his broken heart and his broken prayers The vse Seeing the practise of true humiliation consisteth in these exercises of Confession and deprecation let vs in Gods feare buckle to the serious practise of them Hast thou sinned Suffer not sinne to lye vpon thy conscience Cast vp thy confession suffer not the impostumation any longer to paine thee with the swelling but giue a vent to the humor and so get ease Dauid professeth that neither in silence nor in roaring hee could finde any ease till he came to confession But I thought I would confesse and then thou forgauest Among men indeede Psal 32 Deo peccatum dicere sufficit et solicitur In hominibus vero contrarium peniâ—us cum peccatores confessi fuerint tunc magis puniuÌ„tur Chrysost ad pop Ant. hom 3. 1. Iohn 1. 2. Sam. 24. in their Courts confession brings no such priuilege there confesse and bee hanged after confession followes condemnation but here confession and iustification goe together If we confesse God is faithfull to forgiue it must needs be some special seruice which God promiseth so great a reward vnto Dauid after his sinne of numbring the people proueth himselfe to be Gods seruant because he confessed it Take away the trespasse of thy seruant yea but how darest thou call thy selfe Gods seruant who hast so lately and so grieuously sinned He answers for I haue done foolishly Though I am not his seruant in playing the foole yet in confessing my folly I am his seruant Iob among many fruits of obedience as Iustice Mercy Chastity whereby hee would proue himselfe Gods seruant reckons also this of Iob 31. confession If I haue hid my sinne as did Adam equalling the confession of his sinnes with the best of his vertues For as hee onely can
tell his dreame that is awakened out of his dreame so he only can confesse his sinne that is truely and throughly awakened out of his sinne by the spirit of God farre are they from repentance who in stead of a free and childlike confession after their sinne are ready to vse shifts excuses extenuations minsings mittigations daubings with vntempered mortar nay that do sow cushions vnder their elbowes and lay pillowes vnder their heads that thy may sleepe securely in their sinnes A pittifull thing it is that whereas God hath giuen shame to sinne boldnesse to confession the matter should bee so inuerted Pudorem et vere undiam Deus dedit peccatâ— Confessioni fidutiam Inuertit rem Diabolus et peccato fiduciam praebet confessioni pudorem Non pudet peccare poeuitere pudet Chrys Iosh 7. 19. Dan 9. that men should be impudently bold in sinning and yet ashamed to confesse when they haue sinned Well in concealing thy sinne thou doest but keepe the Diuells counsell his secretary thou art whose pollicie it is thus to ouerthrow thee Hee knowes right well the next way for vs to get glory from God is to glorifie God And then doe wee glorifie him when by confession wee shame our selues According to that of Ioshua to Achan My sonne giue glory vnto God and of Daniel Glory to thee O Lord shame to vs. When man will not glorifie God by shaming himselfe God will glorifie himselfe by shaming man When man will not open his mouth to pleade against himselfe and his sinnes God will stop his mouth when hee would faine plead for himselfe before his iudgement seat and strike him dumbe that hee shall not haue one word to say in his own defence It is deceit enough that the Diuell should bring vs to sinne t is double deceit to make vs hide and excuse our sinnes and so to preuent vs of that mercy which is promised to simple and ingenious confession Hauing sinned therefore lay not in the way of Gods mercy the Noli opponere obicem defensionis sed aperi sinum confessionis Aug. Psal 51. 1. 2. 3. stumbling blocke of thine owne iustification but open the lap of thy confession to receiue it as Dauid doth Haue mercy vpon mee c. but why for I know or acknowledge my iniquity Well may hee open his lap to receiue Gods mercy that opens his mouth to confesse his owne misery Open thy mouth Psal 81. wide in hearty prayer and confession and I will fill it with the sense of fauour and mercy CHAP. VIII Of reall Humiliation THe expressing of our Humiliation in Deede 2. In deed followes And it consists in three sorts of actions 1. Such as respect our selues 2. Such as respect God 3. Such as respect our brethren 1. For our selues And that is the restraint of 1. In regard of our selues our selues in the vse of the comforts and pleasures of this life as meats mirth marriage musicke apparell company c. This restraint must be somtimes Ioel 2 15 16. 17. Exod. 33 4. in action when in more speciall sort we humble our selues in fasting but alwayes in affection so that we bee not deuoured and eaten vp of any earthly pleasure but may reioyce as though we reioyced 1. Corinth 7. not In wearing of sumptuous apparell bee no more puffed vp nor make any more reckoning of it then if it were sack-cloath in faring more dantily be no more prouoked to excesse in gluttony or to satisfying of our appetite then if we sate at a poore leane table Repentance is the sobriety of minde but wordly pleasures make the minde drunken This is the heauinesse spoken of Luc. 21. 34. Take heede lest your hearts bee oppressed with surfetting and drunkennesse It is a drunken heauinesse not the heauinesse of godly sorrow And indeed this is the reason that many are so eager in the pursuits of their pleasures because they would make Gods Sergeant their owne conscience that pursues them drunken with these pleasures iust as many men vse to doe getting the Sergeant that comes to arrest them into the Tauerne and there making him drunke that so they may escape This excesse that is in pleasures shewes how little men haue tasted of true humiliation If they did bathe themselues in salt teares could they bathe themselues in this sweet milke If they did consider what Christ suffred for their sinnes his want of all these outward comforts euen of an house to hide his head in his hunger thirst nakednesse his vineger on the crosse Could they so fill and glut themselues euen to satiety and surfet with the pleasures of this life and spend their whole precious time in them would they not rather steepe their owne dainties in this vineger of godly sorrow and delay this strong wine with this water and eate their meats as the Iewes their Passeouer with sowre hearbs If Exod. 12. their spirituall ioy in that Sacrament where Christ was giuen to the Beleeuer was to be seasoned with this sorrow how much more should this outward temporall ioy Thus did Dauid notably expresse his humiliation I cause my bed euery night to swimme Psal 6. 6. and water my couch with my teares His bedde is the place of his ease Now look how he qualefied that one ease and comfort so by proportion did he all the rest Not our beds onely but our boords our gardens our fine buildings all our delights must be washed with this water as good Bradford vsually at his dinner vsed to shed teares on his trencher So the woman Luc. 7. sate weeping and wiping while they were eating at table Ioseph of Arimathea makes his garden or place of pleasure to be a place of Humiliation by building a sepulcher therein Thus also doth Ieremie bring in the repenting sinner testifying his humiliation He sits Lam. 3. 28. alone retyring himselfe into his closet from his vain and delightfull company he shuts him vp himselfe close and layes his mouth in the dust what then shall we say to our Epicures to our good fellowes and the rest of that crue but that of Amos 6. Woe bee to them that are at ease in Zion not sitting alone not washing their beds with their teares but with their quaffings and carowsings They lie stretching themselues on iuory beds eating the lambs of the flocke and the calues out of the stall and sing to the sound of th violl c. For as they forget Iosephs affliction so they forget their owne sinnes were they remembred they would be sowre sawce to their sweete meate and would be as gall and wormewood to imbitter vnto them all their vaine delights 2. Such as respect God And those actions are 2. Such as respect God are twofold twofold 1. Feare trembling silence at his rebukes and 1. Feare threatnings Is 66. 2. I looke to him that is of an humble and contrite heart but who that is he shewes by the words following
neuer yet truely humbled for their sinnes 3 In not daring Masterly and Iudge-like to censure 3. In not censuring for the humbled sinner finds so much matter at home within himselfe that he hath no leysure to looke so much into others And therfore though seuere to himselfe yet more milde to others in meekenesse of minde esteeming euery man better then Phil 2. 3. himselfe And those faults he sees in others he takes notice of happily in himselfe or else of others as bad at least of the seedes and inclinations to those sinnes Therefore Iames after he had commanded vs to humble our selues hee addes speake not euill Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod hic est Iam. 4. 10 11. one of another For how doth hee humble and cast downe himselfe that goes about to cast downe others and trample them vnder his feete 4 In abasing and submitting our selues to the lowest and meanest offices of loue to our brethren 4. In submitting to lowest offices Thus the humbled sinner will make himselfe a seruant vnto all and according to the Apostles commandement will serue others by loue and bearing other 1. Cor 9. 19. Gal. 5. 13. Gal. 6 2. mens burdens so fulfills the law of Christ CHAP. IX Of the contraries to Humiliation Despaire and a seared Conscience HItherto of the grace of Humiliation it selfe Now to adde a worde or two of the contraries to it Contrary to godly humiliation or contrition are these two 1. Desperation 2. The blockish the seared and sencelesse Conscience that is past feeling Both these indeed must be auoyded but Ephes 4. yet the latter of the two is more vsuall and more dangerous more vsuall because it is more pleasing to our nature whereas Desperation is more distastefull in regard of the bitternesse And therfore Sathan wants that bait to bring men to despaire which he hath to bring men to senslesse security Therefore heere we may say as they sang of Saul and Dauid Desperation slayes thousands Security Sam. ten thousands euen as more die of intemperancy of diet then are killed by the Sword so though Despaire be more fearefull yet Security is more frequent More dangerous also because Desparation may be turned sooner to good for that the despairing person is touched with the sight of his sins feeles his owne misery But the senslesse conscience is nothing so it hath neither sight of sin nor sense of misery Both these extreames of Desperation and of Senslesnesse come from one cause and that is the neglect of the prickes and wounds of conscience It is a great mercy of God to giue vs so faire warning from a monitour within our owne bosomes The warnings others giue vs wee are ready to except against Wee cannot except against the warnings of our owne hearts But as when milder correction preuailes not with our children wee proceed to seuerer discipline so when Conscience her gentler prickings are neglected shee falles to deeper wounding and cutting when rods will do no good God puts Scorpions into her hands to scourge vs to death Euery little prick of an accusation fetches as it were some blood from thy soule Now if presently with a repenting heart thou wouldest craue the bloud of Christ to be applyed to thy soule the bleeding would be stayed But because thou neglectest the bleeding and thinkest to stay it by base medicines of thine owne therefore the wound bleedes still and thou shalt dye of it And thus we see how desperation comes from the neglect of the pricks of Conscience But againe and that more commonly the Conscience growes seared and past feeling so that a man may now sinne freely and that without controule of Conscience after that hee hath once begunne to despise the admonitions and accusations thereof So we see the Father giues ouer correcting his vnhappy child when hee growes worse for all his correcting of him Thus many mens consciences deale with them speaking in a manner vnto them as God speakes to the Iewes Why should we smite you any more since ye fall away more and more you set light by our warning we will euen giue ouer Isay 1. 5. Conscience is Gods officer and it is set by God to doe the best office that can bee to vs. But when God sees his officer not regarded hee will discharge him of his office When a wound is not taken in time the flesh festers and growes dead and rotten so also it fares with the wounds of Conscience A wounding Conscience neglected will grow a dead Conscience O then howsoeuer thou mayst set light by the checkes and rebukes of men and mayst shake off them yet neuer reiect or con-contemne the checks of Conscience In any case take heed of that for either it will continually ring such a loud peale in thine eares as shall make them to tingle and thine heart to tremble or else that which is worse it shall for euer after hold its peace Doe wee then feele the priuy nippes and secret snibs and pulls of our consciences Let vs giue ear to so wholsome a rebuker Let vs seeke presently to the Lord for mercy and forgiuenesse Let vs humble our soules before him in confession Let vs put Conscience out of office no otherwise then thus that as Conscience hath accused vs to our selues so now we will goe and accuse our selues to our God For if Consciences roddes and checks cannot driue thee to Repentance whose should Many there are that in regard of their places are free from the rods and the cheekes of men as Kings and great ones Who dare checke them None may smite them yet God in mercy towards them will 2. Sam. 24. 10. haue their Conscience to smite them as Dauids heart smote him though a King Conscience takes no notice of Kingship Therefore all euen great States and they of all others must most listen to and heede the voice of Conscience lest otherwise it fare with vs as with those whom great and violent noises continually herd at length make deafe as in those that dwell by the fall of the riuer Nilus Or as it doth with vnlucky boyes who beeing vsed to the rodde at length harden themselues and regard it not CHAP. X. Of the names whereby the second part of Repentance viz. change of heart is set out in Scripture HItherto of the former part of Repentance 2. The second part of Repentance Conuersion where Mourning Humiliation or Contrition The second followeth Turning Reformation or Conuersion where consider wee 1. The Names 2. The Nature 3. The Practise of it 1. For the names they are more especially two 1. The names of it 1. An Hebrew name signifying Turning or Conuersion 2. A Greeke name signifying After-wit or wisdome The first name is a metaphor drawen from trauellers who hauing gone out of their way must come backe againe and returne into the right way if euer they meane to arriue vnto the intended period
that thy impenitent heart refuses his physicke This is Ioh. 3. 19. the condemnation that light being come into the world men loued darknesse rather then light Not darknesse simply that condemnes but obslinate continuance in darknesse with loue of it and delight in it after that light is sent to helpe vs out of darknesse On the contrary then if thou repent not though thy sinnes were neuer so small they haue waight enough to presse thee downe to hell Impenitencie makes small sinnes great and heauy But Repentance makes great sinnes no sinnes in regard of diuine imputation The greatest sinnes are pardonable to the penitent as the smallest vnpardonable to the impenitent And further although our sinnes were pardoned and forgiuen yet can we haue no assurance that they are so the promises of remission belong to vs It is presumption to snatch at the promise before wee haue the condition And though thou hadst pardon yet canst thou haue no peace till thou hast come to God by Repentance For God holds the same rule with vs in forgiuing vs which hee prescribes to vs in the forgiuenes of our brethren For though our brother come not to vs and humble himselfe vnto vs yet are we bound to forgiue him but yet wee are not bound to goe to him to tell him that wee forgiue him but hee is to come and say It repenteth mee Euen so deales God with vs he may happily haue forgiuen vs yet vnlesse wee turne and come againe vnto him and say It repenteth vs hee will not tell vs neither shall his spirit Luc. 17. 4. assure and witnesse it to our hearts that he hath pardoned vs. Now if there bee assurance as well as pardon thou shalt bee perplexed and turmoiled as much in the want of assurance as of pardon God often deales with his children as Ioseph did with his brethren hee would not at first make himselfe knowen vnto them but spake roughly vnto them and threatned them the prison and afterward hee telles them I am Ioseph your brother So till wee are prepared by Repentance neither Gen. 45. will God make himselfe nor our pardon knowen vnto vs but will rather speake roughly and threten the prison of hell but if once we come with broken 1. Pet. 3. 19. and with bleeding hearts vnto him then can he no more refraine himselfe then Ioseph could but will say to our consciences I am your father Bee of good comfort your sinnes are pardoned And when we haue by repentance filled Gods bottle with tears then will hee fill our hearts with this soueraigne balme and will annoynt our hearts with the oyle of gladnesse and the vnspeakable ioy of the holy Ghost Then shall the former feares stings and horrors of the accusing conscience be banished all shall be peace and ioy Repentance charmes the windes and the blustring stormes of the accusing conscience and makes the hauen of thine heart to bee calme and cleere So that we may say of Repentance as they of our Sauiour What kinde of grace is this that the Psal 32. windes and sea obey it euen the sea of a hellish and a raging conscience For the experience of all Gods children that haue had any experience of Repentance in themselues can witnesse thus much that they haue no sooner set themselues to prayer confession and renewing of their couenants with God but though at first they brought an hell in their conscience yet they haue presently felt hell turned into heauen and in steed of the pricke of conscience the vnconceiueble peace of God cheering and comforting them It is Dauids owne experiment I sayd I would confesse and thou forgauest mee that is thou tookest hell out of my conscience and shedst the sense of thy forgiuenes into mine heart Hence it is that in diuerse of the Psalmes specially the penitentiall ones the Prophet beginning in Psal 6. 13. much heauinesse and anguish of spirit ends in much ioy and assurance This is the first euill which Repentance remooues 2. Repentance remooues the euill of sinne in regard 2. Of the staine of the staine the blurre and ignominy For euen this also it takes away It so heals the wound that not so much as the skarre remaines When Onesimus had once repented the staine and ignominy of his theft was taken away Once vnprofitable but now profitable to bee receiued not as a theefe Philem. 11. but as a brother But as long as a man remaines impenitent so long the staine stickes in the soule in such sort as if hee were still in the act of sinning euen as dirt doth in the face till it bee washed out All saith our Sauiour before me are theeues and Ioh. 10. 8. robbers Why sayd he not They were theeues in asmuch as they were dead and gone The reason may bee because they died impenitently in that their sinnes and impenitency seems to continue the sinne though the act bee past Hence it is that a man may say of Cain still that hee is a murtherer but not of Dauid that hee is an adulterer the staine being washed out by repentance and hee beeing made cleere and cleane as the picked glasse Because you say saies Christ to the Pharisies you see Ioh. 9. that is remaine obstinate in your blindnesse therfore your sinne remaines that is the blot and staine of it Sinne casts dirt in our faces and besmeares and befoules vs but after Repentance may a man say as Nebuchadnezzer did of himselfe after his Dan. 4. 33. restoring At the same time was my glory and my beauty restored vnto me so at the time of our Repentance the shame and the deformity which sinne brought vpon vs is takenaway and our glory and our beauty is restored vnto vs which wee had before wee sinned The same thing God promises to the Gentiles in their conuersion Then will I change in the people Zeph. 3. 9. 11. their lips that it may be pure so Iunius reads it with the which all may call vpon the name of the Lord that is I will call them to repentance and then followes a promise of taking away the staine In that day shalt thou not be ashamed for all thy works c. Thus doth repentance take away the shame and the staine of sinne But impenitency sets a very brand-marke of shame vpon the fore-head of the sinner and makes him as foule after as in his sinne A man turning from the sunne remaines so till hee turne him towards it again so in sin turning away from God he remaines so till by a fresh act of Repentance he turne himselfe to God againe The wicked sinner may not thinke that his sinne passed away with the acte which presently vanished No but as the workes of the Repentant follow them to Apoc. 14. the graue so also of the wicked That as the one being dead may be still called iust and holy so the other still wicked and impure A lesson for