may leave sin for fear as in a storm the Plate and Jewels are cast over-board but the nauseating and loathing of sin argues a detestation of it Christ is never loved till sin be loathed Heaven is never longed for till sin be loathed When the soul sees an issue of blood runing he cries out Lord when shall I be freed from this body of death When shall I put off these filthy garments of sin and have the fair mitre of glory set upon my head Let all our self-love be turned into self-loathing We are never more precious in Gods eyes than when we are lepers in our own 2. There is an hatred of Enmity There is no better way to discover life than by motion The eye moves the pulse beats So to discover Repentance there is no better sign than by an holy antipathy against sin Hatred saith Cicero is anger boiled up to an inveteracy Sound Repentance begins in the love of God and ends in the hatred of sin But how may true hatred of sin be known 1. When a mans spirit is set against sin The tongue doth not only inveigh against sin but the heart abhors it So that let sin be never so curiously painted it is odious As we abhor the picture of one whom we mortally hate though it be exactly drawn Non amo te Sabidi Suppose a dish be finely cooked and the sauce good yet if a man hath an antipathy against the meat he will not taste it So let the Devil cook and dress sin with pleasure and profit yet a true penitent having a secret abhorrency of it doth disgust it and will not meddle with it 2. True hatred of sin is universal and that two waies In respect 1. Of the Faculties 2. Of the Object 1. Hatred is universal in respect of the Faculties That is there is a dislike of sin not only in the judgement but in the will and affections For many an one is convinced that sin is a vile thing and in his judgement hath an aversation from it but yet he tasts sweetness and hath a secret complacency in it Here is a disliking sin in the judgement and an embracing it in the affections Whereas in true Repentance the hatred of sin is in all the faculties not only in the intellectual part but chiefly in the will Rom. 7. 15. What I hate that do I. Paul was not free from sin yet his will was against it 2. Hatred is universal in respect of the Object He that hates one sin hates all Aristotle saith hatred is against the whole kind He that hates a Serpent hates all Serpents Psal. 119. 104. I hate every false way Hypocrites will hate some sins which do ecclipse their credit but a true convert hates all sins gainful sins complexion-sins the very stirrings of corruption Paul hated the motions of sin Rom. 7. 23. 3. True hatred is against sin quatenus sin An holy heart detests sin for its intâ—…nsick pollution Sin leaves aâ—…ain upon the soul. A regenerate person abhors sin not only for the curse but the contagion He hates this Serpent not only for its sâ—…ing but its poison He hates sin not only for Hell but as Hell 4. True hatred is implacable it will never be reconciled to sin any more Anger may be reconciled hatred cannot Sin is that Amalek which is never to be taken into favour again The war between a child of God and sin is like the war between those two Princes 1 King 14. 30. There was war between Rehoboam and Ieroboam all their daies 5. Where there is a real hatred we do not only oppose sin in our selves but in others The Church of Ephesus could not bear with them that were evil Rev. 2. 2. Paul sharply censured Peter for his dissimulation though he were an Apostle Christ in an holy displacency whipt the money-changers out of the Temple Ioh. 2. 15. He would not suffer the Temple to be made an Exchange Nehemiah rebuked the Nobles for their Usury Neh. 5. 7. And their Sabbath-prophanation Neh. 13. 7. A sin-hater will not endure wickedness in his family Psal. 101. 7. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell in my house What a shame is it when Magistrates can shew height of spirit in their passions but no heroick spirit in suppressing vice Such as have no antipathy against sin are strangers to Repentance Sin is in them as poison in a Serpent which being natural is delightful 1. How far are they from Repentance who instead of hating sin love sin To the godly sin is as a thorn in the eye to the wicked it is as a crown on the head Ier. 11. 15. When thou dost evil then thou rejoycest Loving of sin is worse than committing it A good man may run into a sinful action unawares but to love sin is desperate What is it makes a Swine but loving to tumble in the mire What is it makes a Devil but loving that which opposeth God To love sin shews that the will is in sin and the more of the will in a sin the greater the sin Wilfulness makes it a sin not to be purged by sacrifice Heb. 10. 26. O how many are there that love the forbidden fruit They love their oaths and adulteries they love the sin and hate the reproof Solomon speaks of a generation of men Eccles. 9. 3. Madness is in their heart while they live So for men to love sin to hug that which will be their death to sport with damnation Madness is in their heart It perswades us to shew our Repentance by a bitter hatred of sin There is 〈◊〉 deadly antipathy between the Scorpion and the Crocodile such should there â—…e between the heart and sin What is there in sin that may make a peâ—…itent hate it Sin is the cursed thing* the most mis-shapen Monster The Apostle useth a very emphatical word to express it Rom. 7. 13. That sin might become exceeding sinful or as it is in the Greek hyperbolically sinful Now that sin is an hyperbolical mischief and deserves hatred will appear if we look upon sin in a fourfold notion 1. Look upon sin in the original of it whence it comes it fetcheth its pedigree from Hell 1 Ioh. 3. 8. He that commiteth sin is of the Devil for the Devil sinneth from the beginning Sin is the Devils proper work 'T is true God hath a hand in ordering sin but Satan hath an hand in acting it Now how hateful is it to be doing that which is the peculiar work of the Devil nay which makes men Devils Ioh. 6. 7. 2. Look upon sin in its nature and it will appear very hateful See how the Scripture hath pensiled it out 1. Sin is a dishonouring of God Rom. 2. 23. 2. Sin is a despising of God 1 Sam. 2. 30. 3. It is a fretting of God Ezek. 16. 43. 4. It is a wearying of God Isa.
more that we have fetched no more vertue from him and brought no more glory to him It should be our grief on our death-bed that our lives have had so many blanks and blots in them that our duties have been so fly-blown with sin that our obedience hath been so imperfect and we have gone so lame in the waies of God When the soul is going out of the body it should swim to Heaven in a Sea of tears CHAP. XIV The removing the Impediments of Repentance BEfore I lay down the Expedients and Means conducing to Repentance I shall first remove the Impediments In this great City when you want water you search the cause whether the Pipes are broken or stopped that the current of water is hindered So when no water of Repentance comes though we have the Conduit-pipes of Ordinances see what the cause is where is the stop that these penitential waters do not run There are ten Impediments of Repentance 1. Men do not apprehend that they need Repentance they thank God all is well with them and they know nothing they should repent of Rev. 3. 17. Thou sayest I am rich and have need of nothing He who apprehends not any distemper in his body will not take the Physick prescribed This is the mischief sin hath done it hath not only made us sick but senseless When the Lord bade the people return to him they answered stubbornly Wherein should we return Mal. 3. 7. So when God bids men repent they say wherefore should they repent they know nothing they have done amiss Surely no disease worse than that which is Apoplectical 2. People conceit it an easie thing to repent It is but saying a few prayers a sigh or a Lord have mercy and the work is done This conceit of the easiness of Repentance is a great hinderance to it That which makes a person bold and adventrous in sin must needs obstruct Repentance but this opinion doth make a person bold in sin The Angler can let out his line as far as he will and then pull it in again So when a man thinks he can lash out in sin as far as he will and then pull in by Repentance when he list this must needs imbolden him in wickedness But to take away this false conceit of the easiness of Repentance consider 1. A wicked man hath a mountain of guilt upon him and is it easie to rise up under such a weight Is salvation per saltum Can a man jump out of sin into Heaven Can he leap out of the Devils arms into Abrahams bosom 2. If all the power in a sinner be employed against Repentance then it is not easie All the faculties of a natural man joyn issue with sin Ier. 2. 25. I have loved strangers and after them will I go A sinner will rather lose Christ and Heaven than his lusts death which parts man and wife will not part a wicked man and his sins and is it so easie to repent The Angel rolled away the stone from the Sepulchre but no Angel only God himself can roll away the stone from the the heart 3. Presuming thoughts of Gods mercy Many suck poison from this sweet flower Christ who came into the world to save sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. is accidentally the occasion of many a mans perishing Though to the Elect he is the bread of life yet to the wicked he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a stone of stumbling 1 Pet. 2. 7. * To some his blood is sweet wine to others the water of Marah Some are softned by this Sun of Righteousness others are hardned Oh saith one Christ hath died he hath done all for me therefore I may sit still and do nothing Thus they suck death from the Tree of Life and perish by a Saviour So I may say of Gods mercy it is accidentally the cause of many a ones ruine Because of mercy men presume and think they may go on in sin But should a Kings clemency make his subjects rebel The Psalmist saith there is mercy with God that he may be feared Psal. 130. 4. but not that we may sin Can men expect mercy by provoking justice God will hardly shew them mercy who sin because mercy abounds 4. A supine sluggish temper Repentance is looked upon as a tedious thing and such as requires much industry and men are settled upon their lees and care not to stir They had rather go sleeping to Hell than weeping to Heaven Prov. 19. 24. A slothful man hideth his hands in his bosom he will not be at the labour of smiting on his breast Many will rather lose Heaven than ply the oar and row thither upon the waters of Repentance We cannot have the world citra pulverem without labour and diligence and would we have that which is more excellent Sloth is the canker of the soul Prov. 19. 15. Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep It was a witty fiction of the Poets when Mercury had cast Argus into a sleep and with an inchanted Rod closed his eyes then he killed him When Satan hath by his witcheries lull'd men asleep in sloth then he destroyes them Some report while the Crockadil sleeps with his mouth open the Indian Rat gets into his belly and eats up his entrails So while men sleep in security they are devoured 5. Another obstruction of Repentance is the tickling pleasure of sin â—… Thes. 2. 12. Who take pleasure in unrighteousness Sin is a sugred draught but mixed with poison The sinner thinks there is danger in sin but there is delight and the danger doth not so terrifie him as the delight bewitcheth him Plato calls love of sin a great Devil Delighting in sin hardens the heart In true Repentance there must be a grieving for sin but how can one grieve for that which he loves He who delights in sin can hardly pray against it his heart is so inveagled with sin that he is afraid of leaving it too soon Sampson doted on Dalilahs beauty and her lap proved his grave When a man rolls iniquity as a Sugared lump under his tongue it infatuates him and is his death at last Delight in sin is a silken halter 2 Sam. 2. 26. Will it not be bitterness in the latter end 6. An opinion that Repentance will take away our joy but that is a mistake it doth not crucifie but clarifie our joy and take it off from the fulsom lees of sin What is all earthly joy it is but Hilaris insania a pleasant phrensy Falsa inter gaudia noctem 〈◊〉 Worldly mirth is but like a feigned laugh it hath sorrow following at the heels As the Magitians Rod it is instantly turned into a Serpent But divine Repentance like Sampsons Lion hath an hony-comb in it Gods Kingdom consists as well in joy as in righteousness Rom. 4. 17. None are so truly chearful as penitent ones Est quaedam flere
a burden 11. Sin is a debt 'T is compared to a debt of ten thousond talents Mat. 18. 24. Of all the debts we owe our sins are the worst In other debts a sinner may fly into forein parts but here he cannot Psal. 139. 7. Whither shall I fly from thy presence God knows where to find out all his debtors Death frees a man from other debts but it will not free him from this not the death of the debtor but of the creditor dischargeth this debt 10. There is deceitfulness in sin Heb. 3. 13. Prov. 11. 18. The wicked worketh a deceitful work Sin is a meer cheat while it pretends to please us it beguiles us Sin doth as Iaell first she brought the milk and butter to Sisera then she struck the nail thorow his temples that he died Iudg. 5. 26. Sin first courts and then kills 'T is first a Fox and then a Lion Whomsoever sin kisseth it betraies Those Locusts in the Revelations are the perfect Hierogly phicks and emblems of sin On their heads were as it were Crowns like gold and they had hair as women and their teeth were as the teeth of Lions and they had stings in their tails Rev. 9. 7. Sin doth just as the Usurer who feeds a man with money and then makes him morgage his Land So sin feeds the sinner with delightful objects and then makes him morgage his soul. Iudas pleased himself with the thirty pieces of silver but they proved deceitful riches ask him now how he likes his bargain 13. Sin is a spiritual sickness One man is sick of pride another of lust another of malice 'T is with a sinner as it is with a sick Patient his pallat is distempered the sweetest things taste bitter to him So the word of God which is sweeter than the honey-comb tastes bitter to a sinner Isa. 5. 20. They put sweet for bitter and if sin be a disease it is not to be cherished but rather cured by Repentance 14. Sin is a bondage it binds a man Apprentice to the Devil Of all conditions servitude is the worst Every man is held with the cords of his own sin I was held before conversion saith Austin not with an Iron Chain but with the obstinacy of my will Sin is imperious and tyrannical it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Law Rom. 8. 2 because it hath such a binding power over a man The sinner must do as sin will have him He doth not so much enjoy his lusts as serve them and he will have work enough to do to gratifie them all Eccles. 10. 7. I have seen Princes going on foot The soul that princely thing which did once sit in a chair of State and was crowned with knowledge and holiness now is made a lacky to sin and runs on the Devils errand 15. Sin hath a spreading malignity in it it doth not only hurt to a mans self but to others one mans sin may occasion many to sin As one Beacon being lighted may occasion all the Beacons in the Country to be lighted One man may help to defile many A person that hath the plague going into company doth not know how many have gotten the plague of him Thou that art guilty of open sins knowest not how many have been infected by thee There may be divers for ought thou knowest now in Hell crying out that they had never come thither if it had not been for thy bad example 16. Sin is a vexatious thing it brings trouble with it The curse which God laid upon the woman is most truly laid upon every sinner Gen. 3. 6. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth A man vexeth his thoughts in plotting of sin and when sin hath conceived in sorrow he brings forth Like one who takes a great deal of pains in opening a flood-gate and when he hath opened it the flood comes in upon him and drowns him So a man beats his brains to contrive sin and then it vexeth his conscience brings crosses in his estate rots the wall and timber of his house Zach. 5. 4. 16. Sin is an absurd thing What greater indiscretion than to gratifie an enemy Sin gratifies Satan When lust or anger burn in the soul Satan warms himself at this fire Mens sins feast the Devil Sampson was called out to make the Lords of the Philistines sport Iudg. 16. 25. So the sinner makes the Devil sport 'T is meat and drink to him to see men sin How doth he laugh to see them venturing their souls for the world As if one should venture Diamonds for Straws or should fish for Gudgeons with golden hooks Every wicked man shall be indicted at the day of judgement for a fool 18. There is cruelty in every sin Every sin thou committest thou givest a stab to thy soul While thou art kind to sin thou art cruel to thy self like him in the Gospel who did cut himself with stones till the blood came Mark 5. 5. The sinner is like the Jaylor who drew a sword to kill himself Act. 16. 27. The soul may cry out I am murdering Naturalists say the Hawk chuseth to drink blood rather than water So sin drinks the blood of souls 19. Sin is a spiritual death Ephes. 2. 1. Dead in trespasses Austin saith that before his conversion reading the death of Dido he could not refrain weeping but wretch that I was saith he I bewailed the death of Dido forsaken of Aeneas and did not bewail the death of my soul forsaken of God The life of sin is the death of the soul. 1. A dead man hath no sense So a person unregenerate hath no sense of God in him Ephes. 4. 19. Perswade him to mind his salvation to what purpose do you make orations to a dead man go to reprove him for vice to what purpose do you strike a dead man 2. He who is dead hath no taste Set a banquet before him he doth not rellish it So a sinner tastes no sweetness in Christ or a Promise They are but as cordials in a dead mans mouth 3. The dead putrifie and if Martha said of Lazarus Ioh. 11. 39. Lord by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four daies How much more may we say of a wicked man who hath been dead thirty or forty years in sin by this time he stinketh 20. Sin without Repentance tends to final damnation As the Rose perisheth by the canker bred in it self so do men by the corruptions which breed in their souls What was once said to the Graecians of the Trojan horse this Engine is made to be the destruction of your City The same may be said to every impenitent person this Engine of sin will be the destruction of thy soul. Sins last scene is alwaies Tragical Diagoras Florentinus would in a frolick drink poison but it cost him his life Men
drink the poison of sin in a merriment but it costs them their souls Rom. 6. 23. The wages of sin is death What Solomon saith of wine the same I may say of sin at first it shews its colour in the cup at the last it biteth like a Serpent and stingeth like an Adder Prov. 23. 31. Christ tells us of the worm and the fire Mark 9. 48. Sin is like oyl and Gods wrath is like fire So long as the damned continue sinning so long the fire will continue scorching and who can dwell with everlasting burnings Isa. 33. 14. But men question the truth of this and are like that impious Devonax who being threatned with Hell for his villanies made a mock at it and said I will believe there is an Hell when I come there and not before We cannot make Hell enter into men till they enter into Hell Thus we have seen the deadly evil in sin which seriously thought on may make us repent and turn to God If for all this men will persist in sin and are resolved upon a voyage to Hell who can help it They have been told what a soul-damning Rock sin is but if they will voluntarily run upon it and split themselves their blood be upon their own head 2. The second consideration to work Repentance is consider the mercies of God A stone is soonest broken upon a soft pillow and an heart of stone is soonest broken upon the soft pillow of Gods mercies Rom. 2. 4. The goodness of God leadeth thee to Repentance The clemency of a Prince doth soonest cause relenting in a malefactor While God hath been storming others by his judgements he hath been wooing us by his mercies What privative mercies have we had what mischiefs have been prevented what fears blown over When our foot hath been slipping Gods mercy hath held us up Mercy hath been alwaies a screen between us and danger When enemies like Lions have risen up against us to devour us free-grace hath snatched us out of the mouth of these Lions In the deepest waves the arm of mercy hath been under and kept our head above water and will not this privative mercy lead us to Repentance What positive mercies have we had 1. Supplying mercy God hath been a bountiful benefactor Gen. 48. 15. The God which fed me all my life long to this day What man will spread a table for his enemy we have been enemies yet God hath fed us he hath given us the horn of Oyl he hath made the hony-comb of mercy drop upon us God hath been as kind to us as if we had been his best servants and will not this supplying mercy lead us to Repentance 2. Delivering mercy When we have been at the gates of the grave God hath miraculously spun out our lives he hath turned the shadow of death into the morning and hath put a song of deliverance into our mouth and will not delivering mercy lead us to Repentance The Lord hath laboured to break our hearts with his mercies We read Iudg. 2. When the Angel which was a Prophet had preached a Sermon of mercy the people lifted up their voices and wept vers 4. If any thing will move tears it should be the mercy of God He is an obstinate sinner indeed whom these great Cable-Ropes of Gods mercy will not draw to Repentance 3. Consider Gods afflictive providences and see if our limbeck will not drop when the fire is put under God hath sent us of late years to the school of the cross he hath twisted his judgements together he hath made good upon us those two threatnings Hos. 5. 12. I will be to Ephraim as a moth Hath not God been so to England in decay of trading And ver 14. I will be to Ephraim as a Lion Hath he not been to England in the devouring Plague Well all this while God waited for our Repentance but we went on in sin Ier. 8. 6. I hearkned and heard but no man repented him of his wickedness saying what have I done And of late God hath been whipping us with a fiery Rod in those tremendous flames in this City which did hierogly phically resemble the great Conflagration at the last day when the Elements shall melt with fervent heat When Ioabs corn was on fire then he went running to Absalom 2 Sam. 14. 31. God hath set our houses on fire that we may run to him by Repentance Micah 6. 9. The Lords voice cries unto the City Hear ye the Rod and who hath appointed it This is the language of the Rod that we should humble our selves under Gods mighty hand and break off our iniquities by righteousness Dan. 4. 27. Manassehs affliction ushered in Repentance 2 Chron. 33. 12. This God useth as the proper medicine for security Hos. 2. 5. Her Mother hath played the Harlot that is by idolatry What course now will God take with her vers 6. Therefore I will hedge up thy way with thorns This is Gods method to set a thorn-hedge of affliction in the way Thus to a proud man contempt is a thorn to a lustful man sickness is a thorn both to stop him in his sin and to prick him for ward in Repentance The Lord teacheth his people as Gideon did the men of Succoth Iudg. 8. 16. He took the Elders of the City and thorns of the wilderness and briars and with them he taught the men of Succoth Here was tearing Rhetorick So God hath of late been teaching us humiliation by thorny providences he hath torn our golden fleece from us he hath brought our houses low that he might bring our hearts low When shall we dissolve into tears if not now Gods judgements are so proper a means to work Repentance that the Lord wonders at it and makes it his complaint that his severity did not break men off from their sins Amos 4. 7. I have with-holden the Rain from you vers 9. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew vers 10. I have sent among you the Pestilence but still this is the burden of the complaint Yet ye have not returned to me The Lord proceeds gradually in his judgements First he sends a lesser cross and if that will not do then a greater He sends upon one first a gentle fit of an Ague and afterwards a burning Feaver He sends upon another first a loss at Sea then the loss of a child then an husband Thus by degrees he would try to bring men to Repentance Sometimes God makes his judgements go in circuit from family to family The cup of affliction hath gone round in the Nation all have tasted it and if we repent not now we stand in a contempt of God and do interpretatively bid God do his worst and such a climax of wickedness will hardly be pardoned Isa. 22. 12 13. In that day did the Lord of Hosts call to weeping and mourning and behold joy and