principles or which is worse from sinfull principles and for naturall ends or which is worse for wicked ends You must repent because of your immoderate love of the world and because you would fain serve God and Mammon and because you are afraid to be too good as you are afraid to be very bad so you are afraid to be very good you are afraid to venture too much for God afraid to be too forward in his Cause which are all horrible iniquities You must repent of your inward iniquities your inward adulteries and your inward murders and you must repent of your little oaths and your little sins as the world cals them though properly there is no sin little because no little God to sin against And you must repent of your secret iniquities For he that is but civilly and morally good makes no conscience of inward sins he is never troubled for his originall sin and for the body of sin that is within him He makes no conscience of little sins and for the most part he hath some back-door or other to some secret iniquity which the world knoweth not of You see then there is great reason that they that live civilly should repent also 3. Repentance is not only necessary for those that live civilly but God cals his own children that live religiously and he cals upon them in a more especiall manner to repent And therefore Christ sent Iohn Baptist a holy just man to go before him to preach repentance to shew that holy and just men need repentance When the people of God sinne they sinne against more light then others and against more means of grace then others against more mercies then others they sin against better principles then others God takes it more unkindely at their hands and they dishonour God more by their sins then others And therefore the people of God ought especially to repent They have an ability within them to repent they have the grace of repentance and therefore God especially commands them to repent when they sinne God will chastise them sooner then others surer then others more then others in this life and therefore they ought to repent sooner then others and more then others and surer then others God will chastise them sooner then others 1 Pet. 4. 17. The time is come that judgement must begin at the house of God And in the second of the Romans and the ninth Tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doth evill but first on the Iew and then on the Gentile God will punish the Iew before the Gentile and the Christian before the Iew God punisheth them sooner and therefore they must repent sooner and God chastiseth them surer then others Amos 3. 2. You only have I known of all the families of the world therefore I 'le be sure to punish you And God chastiseth them more then others in this life Lam. 4 6. The punishment of the daughter of Zion is above the punishments of Sodom Dan. 9. 12. Under the whole heaven hath not been done as upon Ierusalem And therefore God cals on his own people to be sure to repent more then others And I doubt not but you that fear the Lord will hearken to my counsell this day When Gods people fall into any grosse sin such as adultery and murder though they do not loose jus haereditarium ad coelum their right and title to heaven For David was a childe of God though a childe under wrath in the midst of his sins he was not a childe of wrath but a childe only under wrath yet they lose jus aptitudinale ad coeium they lose their fitnesse to enter into that holy place of heaven And this fitnesse is not recovered till they actually repent And therefore Repentance is very necessary for the children of God And thus you see that God cals upon the worst of men and upon the best of men upon the least of men and the greatest of men to repent God cals upon all men saith the Text But most especially upon you that are Parliament men You are to repent as you stand in a double capacity First As Gentlemen Secondly As Parliament men First As you are men For as the Prophet Oded said to the Princes of Iudah so do I say to you this day Are there not with you even with you sins against the Lord your God And therefore God cals upon you even upon you to repent There is an Ordinance of Parliament which I named even now that cals on all the Kingdom of England to repent and in that Ordinance you set down fourteen Sword procuring sins you command that that Ordinance be read in our private Families and in our Churches you reckon there fourteen sinnes which are like unto fourteen Iron whips with which God is now whipping England to the very bloud Now it is not enough for you to command England to repent of these sins but God requires that you your selves should repent of them also As it is not enough for a Minister to call upon his people to repent but the Minister himself must repent also So it is not enough for you to desire the subjects of England to repent but you must repent even this day of these sins I will name the sins over For they be your own I mean such which you have commended to the Kingdom that they should repent of God requires that if upon examination you finde your selves guilty you should repent of your Contempt of the holy worship of God and your Contempt of the holy Ordinances of God and your Contempt of Holiness and of Gods holy Ministers God requires and commands that you should repent of grosse and affected ignorance under the light of the Gospel of Unfruitfulness under the means of grace of Unthankfulness for the many mercies you have received from him of Incorrigiblenesse under the judgements that are upon the land God requires you should repent of your Oaths and Blasphemies of your Fornications and Adulteries of Drunkenness and Gluttony of your Contentions and unnaturall Divisions of your Pride Vanity and Prodigality in apparell of your Oppression Fraud and Bribery One Sin I had like to have forgotten and that is the sin of the Profanation of Gods Sabbaths But I would desire you likewise to remember that there is an Ordinance of Parliament lately printed wherein you require the Kingdom of England to apply their hearts to the sanctification of the Lords Day both in publike and private This you command us Now I beseech you tell me Do you do so your selves that which you command the Kingdom as a Minister of Jesus Christ I command you to put in practice and to repent of those sinnes which you command us to repent of so farre as you are concerned in them And to remember further that your Ordinance tels us that we ought not to repent slightly but we ought to be deeply humbled we ought to mourn with a godly mourning and with
to repent And if any of these two peradventures should happen thou art undone to all eternity Who can tell but they may happen for God hath threatned Luk. 12. 46. That if that servant say in his heart My Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men-servantt c the Lord of that servant will come in a day that he looketh not for him and at an hour when he is not aware and will cut him asunder c. And therefore as the Apostle saith Iam. 4. 13 19. Say not To morrow I will go to such a city c. for what is your life is it not even a vapour So say I say not I 'le repent to morrow for it may be God will deny thee space to morrow and deny thee grace to repent to morrow put not your eternall souls on a peradventure God cals upon you to repent now even now Give me leave to adde three Motives more and to call them Englands Motives to the Parliament of England to perswade them to present repentance First The only reason why God doth not repent of the evil of punishment is because you do not repent of the evill of sinne the only reason why God delays to turn away his wrath is because you delay to turn unto him We cry out How long Lord how long When wilt thou have mercy upon England When wilt thou sheath up the Sword And God he cals How long O England Oh Parliament of England when will you turn unto me with all your heart when will you repent of all those sinnes you command the Kingdom to repent of how long will it be before you be washed from your Uncleannesses when will you turn to me when will it once be Jer. 13. 27. I appeal to your consciences Is it fit that God should cease fighting against us by the Sword before we cease fighting against him by our sins But if you would turn unto God let me assure you The very same day that you turn God will turn You have a Text for it in the second of Haggai and the eighteen verse Mark the very day wherein you begin to build my house from that very day I 'le prosper you Nay let me tell you the very minute that you begin to repent God will repent you have a Text for it Ier. 18. 7 8. At what instant I shall say concerning a Nation to destroy it c. If that nation turn I 'le repent of the evil I thought to do unto them As a personall repentance is a means to obtain a personall salvation so a nationall repentance is a means to obtain a nationall salvation At that very instant that thou turnest from thy sins God will save thy soul so on that very day that a Nation turns from sinne God will turn from his anger A Parliament is the representative Nation and therefore I call a Parliament repentance a Nationall repentance This is one of Englands motives and it is a powerful one God will keep touch to a very day to a very minute Secondly The reason saith England why God begins to repent of the good that he hath begun to do for you is because you do not repent of the evill you have done against him If you look into the Word you shall finde that God is said as well to repent of his good works and of his mercies as of his judgements in Ier. 18. 10. If you do evill in my sight c. I 'le repent of the good I intended to do unto you and in Iosh. 24. 20. If you do evill I 'le consume you after I have done you good And we see by sad experience that God hath begun to leade us of late back into the wildernesse again and hath given us a great defeat in the West God begins to repent of the good which he hath done for us and why doth God do this Because we repent not of our evils against him God begins to carry us back because we turn our backs to God but if we did repent of our evils against him God would do us good and never repent But England hath a third Motive and Oh that God would give you ears to hearken unto it Thirdly The reason why all our fasting doth prevail no more with God is because we do not joyn repentance with our fasting because our fasting daies are not repenting dayes We have now almost been three years a fasting and we have had many extraordinary fasts and yet we are not delivered We are as farre from the end as we were in the beginning and what is the reason Not because the way of fasting is not Gods way to heal a Nation but the reason is because we do not fast aright Suppose not I but England speaking unto you in her own behalf and bewailing the manner how fasting daies are kept in this place For first You bring not your Fasting apparell with you here are many of you appear in this place rather in a triumphing way then in a penitent way whereas the great King of Nineveh he laid aside his robes and so did his Nobles And though God regards not the out-side so much nay God scorns the out-side without the in-side yet God looks to have the out-side as well as the in-side And then again Secondly Here is a great deal of Fasting but where is your weeping where is your mourning Look into the Word of God and you shall alwaies see fasting and weeping goe together God scorns your fasting if there be not weeping joyned Turn unto me with all your hearts with fasting what next with weeping and with mourning Nay fasting and mourning are all one in Christs sense in Matth. 9. 15. Can the children of the Bridegroom mourn when the Bridegroom is with them but when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them then shall they Fast Here fasting and mourning are put for one and the same thing Now because there is a great deal of fasting and so little weeping that is the reason why our Fastings do no more good We keep dayes of humiliation without any humiliation and therefore God scorns our dayes of humiliation It is a very sad thing to see that in stead of weeping on a fasting day there are many that turn a great part of it into sleeping we turn our weeping into sleeping we weary God and weary our selves and in stead of soul-afflicting we afflict God by our negligent addresses to God on that day Were it not strange to see a condemned Malefactor while he is pleading for his life at the Bar to fall asleep would you not say this man cares not much for his life You come hither like so many condemned Malefactors and you come to pleade for your own lives and for the lives of three Kingdoms and for you to fall asleep while you are pleading for your lives God scorns such fastings and that is the reason saith England why I am not healed by
your fastings And then again Thirdly there is a great deal of Fasting but there is no Reformation a great deal of talk of reformation but there is no practice of reformation we have a great many Covenants of Reformation but there is no performance of our Covenants We swear to reform but we do not reform we fast one day and feast the devil all the moneth after many times Do we do as the King of Nineveh did and as his Nobles and people did they cried unto the Lord and turned every man from his evill way but because there is no such turning from sin amongst us because there is no reformation that is the reason why our fasting doth no more good Beloved in the Lord suffer me to speak my minde plainly Could I see the Parliament of England do as the King of Nineveh did and all the Nobles of Nineveh did could I see them all appear here and lying down in dust and ashes weeping and mourning and lamenting before the Lord and humbling their souls in good earnest and every man turning from his iniquity and from the violence in his hand such a fasting day would save the lives of three Kingdoms such tears would prevent the effusion of the bloud of thousands such a day would be loud musick in the ears of God The Lord make this day to be such a day Thus much I thought good to say in reference to the generall expression in the Text But now God commands All men Secondly But then it is added in the Text God commands all men every where that is another expression to repent If we must repent anywhere we must repent every where for First Because God fils every where If thou canst commit a sin where God is not there I 'le give thee leave not to repent but if God be every where we must repent every where because God is every where And then again Secondly Because some devil or other is every where I do not say that the devil is every where but some devil or other is every where and therefore we must repent every where because our Accuser is every where and our Judge is every where And then again Thirdly Because death will meet us every where If there be any place wherein thou art exempted from death I 'le give thee leave not to repent there but death will meet with thee every where and therefore God commands all men every where to repent And then again Fourthly Because we must give an account for all the Actions that we do every where God at the day of judgement will ask thee an account of that that thou hast done anywhere and therefore we must repent every where And then Fifthly Because we sin every where we sin in our Churches and therefore God cals for a Church-repentance We sin in our Parliament therefore God cals for a Parliament-repentance We sin in our Sacraments therefore God cals for a Sacrament-repentance We sin in our beds in our shops and therefore God cals for repentance in our shops and in our beds God cals to the Assembly of Ministers to repent of their sinnes God cals not only to the people at Oxford to repent but to the people at Westminster to repent God not only cals to the pretended Parliament at Oxford but the true Parliament at Westminster to repent God cals all men every where to repent And then again Sixthly Because Gods judgements are every where Gods judgements fill every Town every City every Countrey the Sword devours every where and therefore God commands us to repent every where Thus much for the second exhortation There is one Question yet behinde which must have an answer before I can conclude Some will say What is that Repentance which is the unum necessarium for England and which is The great Commandment of God for England Is there any man that doth not repent There is much talk indeed in the world and much dispute about Repentance and much profession of repentance And every man saith he repenteth But I fear that most people mistake the nature of true repentance and so are cheated of their salvation by a rotten and false repentance There is a threefold mistake of repentance First Some think it an ominous thing to repent and judge of repentance as some ridiculously judge of making their Wils who refuse to make their Wils in their health as thinking it an omen and presage of their death So many refuse to repent in health because they think it a work of sicknesse and if they should do it in health it would hasten their death This opinion is not worth confuting Secondly Some think it an easie thing to repent and therefore deal with repentance as one saith as countrey-people do with Physicians who never send for them till they be breathing out their last breath So many never think of Repentance till they be upon their death-bed and then they conceive that these five words Lord have mercy upon me are as efficacious to send them to heaven as the Papists conceit that their five words of consecration are able to transubstantiate the bread in the Sacrament into the body of Christ Most people think it very easie to repent It is but repenting saith the sinner But this But is a hard But It requires the omnipotent power of God to work repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. Therefore it is called a rending of the heart Joel 2. 13. which is a hard work And it is likewise called a ploughing up of the fallow ground of our hearts It is a Transmutation a change of the whole man from sin to God which is no easie work Thirdly and especially Most people think they repent when they do not And I beleeve that the reason why so many goe to hell is not so much for want of repentance as for want of a right repentance We reade Act. 11. 18. of a repentance unto life and 2 Cor. 7. 10. of a repentance never to be repented on where note there is a repentance which is not unto life and a repentance to be repented on Repentance is a rare jewell But as there is no jewel but it may be counterfeit so there is no grace but it may be counterfeited As there is a counterfeit faith a dead carcasse of faith so there is a bastardly repentance poenitentia spuria non genuina or as Austin cals it Poenitentia infructuosa And as a counterfeit jewell is nothing worth no more is a counterfeit repentance And as many are undone by the buying of a counterfeit jewel so there are many in hell through the mistake of this jewel that yet thought it may be they had repented aright and so might all their friends possibly think likewise Now therefore the great question will be What is that repentance unto life that repentance never to be repented on which if I have I may assure my self that I am in the state of salvation For the answer to this I will briefly shew 1. What is not that repentance which is
great distresse then he came to himself and repented Luk. 15. 17. And Solomon prayeth That if the people of Israel in their captivity should be think themselves and repent c. 1 King 8. 47. These are times wherein God doth in an especiall manner call upon us to consider seriously of the anger of God against England and what those sinnes are which have provoked him to anger and to repent of those sinnes And we have time and leasure thus to doe The third Impediment is the Patience and long-sufferance of God As the Sunne hardens the Clay so doth the goodnesse of God harden a wicked man in his sins Eccl. 8. 11. but now God hath taken away this impediment For now the patience of God is at an end Now the heavy wrath of God lies upon England Now the Axe is laid at the very root of the tree God hath been holding up his Axe many years against England but now God is hewing down the Tree of England at the very roots It is high time now we should begin to repent A fourth Impediment is the abundance of flattering Preachers to which you have been accustomed I fear in this place too much heretofore that have preached Peace Peace and have strengthned the hands of wicked men in their sinne by promising them life Ezek. 13 12. But now by the help of you Right Honourable for which we blesse God God hath in a great part removed all these flattering Teachers And now the doctrine of Repentance is preached with power and in the demonstration of Gods Spirit And therefore now especially God cals you to repent A fifth Impediment is the abundance of wealth case joviality and prosperity These are mighty Goliahs to hinder men from repentance Prosperity is apt to make a man secure proud forgetfull of God impatient of reproof Ier. 22. 21. I spake unto thee in thy prosperity but thou saidst I will not hear c. When Iesurun waxed fat he kicked c. Deut. 32. 13. The Oxen that go in the fattest pasture soonest come to the slaughter-house But now God hath taken away your prosperity your wealth and your joviality These are times of affliction these are fit times for humiliation and repentance and weeping and mourning And therefore now you have no excuse if you do not repent The third Reason why England should repent now more then at other times is Because that repentance is the only way to remove the man-devouring and Land-devouring judgement that is now upon us I say it is the Only way for so saith Christ Luk. 13. 5. Except ye repent ye shall all perish And so saith Christ also Revel. 2. 5 16 21 22 So also saith Moses Lev. 26. 14 17. Deut. 28. 15 25. Which Texts have a morall equity and doe set out the unchangeable will of God to the end of the world So also saith David Psal. 7. 12. Doth not God many times remove the judgement of the Sword or of the Plague c. from a Nation when that Nation doth not repent Hath not God many times removed the Plague from the City of London when London hath not repented of her iniquities To this Objection I answer three waies First It is one thing far God to remove his Anger from a Nation another thing for God to remove his judgements from a Nation God never removes his anger till a nation repenteth but God doth sometimes remove a judgement when the sins that caused it are not removed But when God doth so This very removing his judgements is a great judgement For as it is a great punishment for God not to punish a sinner in this life but to reserve him for hell as you may reade Hos. 4. 14. So it is also a great punishment for God sometimes to remove a punishment as is plain Isa. 1. 5. Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more c That is Why should I be so mercifull unto you as to punish you As it is a great mercy for God to punish a sinner in this life according to that saying Misericordiae est aliquando subtrahere misericordiam So it is a great affliction for God to take away the Sword Famine or the plague and reserve men for hell and damnation As God sometimes gives mercies in anger as he did Quails to the Israelites Nam multa concedit Deus iratus quae negat placatus So he sometimes takes away judgements in anger Secondly I answer That God may upon the prayers of his people and upon the outward humiliation of the wicked remove a judgement but then this is but a temporary removall It is rather a proroguing then a removing of the judgement For if the sins that brought the judgement be not truly repented on ruine and destruction will come at last Ahab was at last destroyed and so were the Sodomites and so was the old world though reprieved for a while For except ye repent ye shall all like wise perish saith Christ They shall perish sooner or later And so the Iews did fourty years after to whom Christ then spake A sinner of a hundred years old shall be accursed Isa. 65. 20. And so also Eccl. 8. 12 23. Isa. 3. 11 Thirdly I answer When a judgement is removed and the sins that procured it not removed it is rather changed then removed If God love thee he will change it into another corporall affliction But if he intends to destroy thee he will take it off thy body and inflict it upon thy soul He will give thee up to hardnesse of heart as he did Pharaoh He will take the plague off thy body and suffer the plague of sinne to encrease in thy soul which is not to cure but to change the judgement for thy everlasting ruine This God doth as a just Judge But that which this third Reason holds forth is this That there is no way to obtain a totall and blessed removall of this Land-devouring judgement but by repentance The fourth Reason why England should repent now more then at another time and rather then at another time is Fourthly Because Repentance is a most certain and an infallible way to remove the great plague of Civill War that is now upon the Kingdom Mistake me not I do not say God will remove the bloudy Sword for our Repentance But this I say God will not remove it without Repentance and upon our repentance he will remove it Though Repentance be not causa propter quod yet it is causa sine qua non It is not the cause for which but the cause without which God will not do it And not only so but repentance is also causa removens prohibens Repentance removes those sins that do hinder a Nation from deliverance and in this sense is a cause of our deliverance Repentance is the qualification of that Nation which God intends to preserve Will you secure us that God will heal