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
that Musick in Gods service though it may please the ears of men yet it is unpleasing in the ears of God And that the best Musick that will please God is the sighs and groans of a bleeding heart for sinne This we all know and therefore God will not wink at our Superstition The times of ignorance God winked at but now under the Gospel he cals you all to repent For we know that Repentance is as necessary as heaven And that it is one of the first principles of the Doctrines of Christ Heb. 6. 1 2. And that it is one of the vitall parts of a Christian without which a Christian is but a carkasse of a Christian As the soul is necessary to the life of the body so repentance is necessary to the life of a Christian it is as the very soul of a Christian a Christian is no true Christian without it We know this And therefore God will not wink at an impenitent sinner in these daies We know that there are but two waies to heaven either by innoceney or by Penitency And he that will look to go to heaven by innocency must finde a ladder by himself to climbe to heaven by There is no way to heaven since the fall of Adam but by repentance And therefore Tertullian saith he was nulli rei natus nisi paenitentiae born for nothing else but to repent This we all know and therefore not to repent now is a sinne that God will never suffer Besides this 2. We have the help of Gods Spirit for the Ministery of the Gospel is the Ministery of the Spirit and God hath promised to pour out his Spirit upon all flesh in the times of the Gospel And therefore God looks we should be more spirituall in his worship then the Iews were And not to repent under the Gospel is not only to sinne against the Minister but it is to sinne against the Spirit of God Now the summe of all the first Argument is this That he that lives under the Gospel and lives impenitently sins against the Birth Death Resurrection and Exaltation of Iesus Christ sins against the greatest arguments that God can use to perswade him to repent sins against the greatest helps that God can afford him to repent He is a sinner left without all excuse He is a Monster in Christianity And the hottest place in hell is too cold for him All this is Pauls reason and it is common to us with the Athenians But now give me leave to set before you Englands reason why God would have us now especially to repent A reason proper to England in regard of the sad condition that England is now in And the reason is this Because these are times of warre and bloudshed this is the day of Iacobs trouble And therefore God doth especially call for repentance in these daies This appears Ioel 2. 12. Therefore also now saith the Lord turn unto me speaking of times of famine as some think or times of war as others think therefore now turn unto me with all your hearts with fasting weeping and with mourning And there are four Reasons that England doth present before you why that these miserable times should perswade you to repentance more then ever before The first is Because God doth now use such an Argument to perswade us to Repentance the like to which he never yet did use since England was England Gods Argument is this Repont O ye Lords and Commons or else I 'le give you over to Beggery Repent or else I will give you over to Popery I 'le give you over to slavery Repent or else I 'le plunder your houses I 'le give up your wives and daughters to be defloured Repent or else I 'le burn your Cities Repent or else I 'le remove the Gospel from you And not to repent when God uses such Arguments is a sin that God will hardly pardon as you shall reade in the 22. of Isaiah 12 13 14. In that day the Lord called for weeping and mourning speaking of a time of warre and baldnesse and sackcloth c. But behold joy and slaying of Oxen c. and it was revealed in mine ears c. Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die that is it shall hardly ever be pardoned And then secondly Because God hath now taken away all those Hinderances and Impediments that did heretofore lie in your way to hinder you from repentance and therefore now God especially cals you to repentance There are five Obstructions that hinder many from repentance The hope of long life Inconsideration the Patience and long suffering of God the abundance of flattering Preachers and the abundance of wealth prosperity jollity and feasting c. Now God hath taken away all these Impediments The first Impediment is the hope of Long life This is a mighty Giant to hinder most people from speedy repentance every man thinks he may live one day longer and therefore every man deferres his repentance one day longer But now God hath removed this stumbling-block There is no man can hope for long life now These are killing dayes These are dying dayes These are dayes wherein every man should carry his life in his hand and the grace of repentance in his heart It is a sign of an Atheist not to repent now A second Impediment is Inconsideration And therefore it is said expresly Ier. 8. 6. I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright no man repented him of his wickednesse saying What have I done For did a sinner seriously consider the unexpressible woe and misery he brings upon himself by not repenting what a sad condition it is to be eternal fuel to everlasting fire and to be deprived of the beatificall vision Did he further consider the goodnesse and kindenesse of God towards him every day notwithstanding his daily provocations and what an unkindenesse it is to sin against such a God Did he consider the affronts and indignities that are offered to God by sinners And also the ineffable love of Jesus Christ towards him in dying a cursed death to free him from hell and damnation And did he seriously and conscientiously dwell upon these thoughts this would through Gods assistance quickly winde up his soul to a right Repentance But these truths lye like a sealed Letter like a Treasure lockt up like fire under the embers without any use or benefit for want of Consideration And therefore David saith Psa. 119. So I considered my waies and turned my feet unto thy testimonies And Peter when he remembred Christs speech and had weighed it as the word signifieth he went out and wept bitterly Mark 11. 72. But our God hath taken away this impediment in a great measure Now people have time and leasure to search and try their waies And this is the proper businesse of such times Ecclis 7. 14. In the day of adversity consider When the Prodigall Childe was in
you this day And you therein say That Repentance is the only remedy to turn away Gods judgements And that it is an excellent remedy a successefull remedy and an unfailing remedy These are your own expressions I shall therefore take the point for granted and having spent so much time in the explication I shall now proceed to the application If Repentance be the unum necessarium for England if it be the great Commandement Here is a black Bill of indictment against all those that live impenitently even in these daies That swear and will swear even in these daies That are drunkards and adulterers and will be so even in these daies That love their old superstitious practices as much as ever That willingly neglect holy duties or perform them negligent even in these bloudy daies In a word that live in any one known sin without Repentance I beseech all such as a Minister of God to hearken to the evill of their condition Not to repent at any time is a damnable sinne And indeed there is no sinne properly damns any man but the want of faith and repentance The sinne against the holy Ghost is therefore only unpardonable because God hath threatned never to give repentance to the man that commits it Heb. 6. 4. It is not the falling into the water drowns any man but the lying in the water So it is not the falling into sin that damns any man but the lying in sin without repentance Not to repent at any time is so damnable a sin that Austin thinks that the sin against the holy Ghost is nothing else but finalis impoenitentia Which though I conceive to be an errour yet I know this to be a truth That no sin damns any man to which finalis impoenitentia is not an adjunct But not to repent in such times as these are is a sin that hath a double aggravation upon it to make it exceeding sinfull For first these times are times of the Gospel times of knowledge times of the Spirit And though God winks at the times of ignorance yet he will not wink now To sinne against the Gospel is a greater sinne then to sinne against the Law Heb. 10. 28 29. For he that sins against the Gospel sins against more mercy then he that sins against the Law And Gospel sins will bring Gospel curses which are greater then Legall curses If any man sin against the Law he hath the Gospel to fly unto but if he sin against the Gospel what shall he then fly unto The Curse of the Gospel is Anathema Maranatha Not to repent now is to sin against the priviledge of the Covrnant of grace against the purchase and donation of Christ against the Incarnation death resurrection and exaltation of Jesus Christ as I shewed before And secondly These times are times of affliction and not only so but times wherein God afflicteth us with the sorest of his judgements And therefore not to repent in these daies is not only a Soul-destroying but a Land-destroying sin It is a sign thou lovest neither wife non childe nor houses nor lands nor soul nor body For there is no way to preserve all these from ruine but by repentance Not to repent in such times as these are is to harden our hearts above the hardnesse of a Iew We have a Proverb As hard-hearted as a Iew A sinner impenitent under affliction is more hard-hearted For the Jews sought God diligently and early and with great weeping and mourning in their affliction Hos. 5. 15. Psal. 78. 34. 1 Sam. 7. 6. Not to repent in such daies as these is to be worser then the very Heathen for not only the Heathen Ninevites but the Heathen Mariners in a storm every man cried to their God Now Mariners ordinarily are the worst of men Not to repent in these sad daies is to harden our hearts above the hardnesse of rocks as you shall see in the fifth of Ieremy and the third verse I have corrected them and they have not amended c. they have hardned their faces above the hardnesse of rocks as if he should have said If their hearts were not harder then rocks in times of affliction they would have repented Not to repent in these daies is the brand of a Reprobate 2 Chron. 28. 22. It is most emphatically expressed And in the time of this distresse he did trespasse yet more against the Lord This is that King Ahaez It is a brand for ever upon him And yet notwithstanding all this where shall we finde a penitent sinner It is an easie matter to finde a sinner but where shall we finde a penitent sinner even in these daies I beseech you tell me what sin have you left since these wars began Are you not as proud as ever Are you not as covetous Are you not as vain in your fashions as vild in your courses as ever What sinne have you left since you took your Covenant and swore to reform your lives This is a day wherein you must search your hearts I beseech you now in the presence of God return me an answer May not God say as it is in the eighth of Ieremiah and the sixth I have hearkned and heard c. and no man repented him of his wickednesse saying What have I done No man repents Do you Noble-men you Gentlemen you Common people do you repent Can the Lord hear you repent He hearkens he stands at your doors to listen whether you repent May not Iesus Christ upbraid the Parliament of England and the people of England as he doth the people of the Iews in the 11. of Matthew and the 20. Then Iesus began to upbraid the Cities wherein he had wrought many miracles because they repented not I do not come here to upbraid any man but my Lord and Master Jesus Christ doth upbraid you whosoever you are for whom God hath wrought such mighty wonders as he saith done for this Parliament if you do not repent The truth is And oh that I could speak it and you hear it with grief of heart we are now come to that passe that many men begin to scorn to hear a Sermon of Repentance It is a sign say some the Minister hath been idle that week or that his stock is spent when he comes to preach of such a common Theam as Repentance Men begin now to have itching ears to hearken after new and unknown truths which for the most part doe prove to be old errours And that which is yet more sad many godly people in City and Countrey that were wont in their private meetings to discourse about Repentance and how they should do to get a broken heart for sinne and how they should do to get power over their evill lives Now all their discourse is of this opinion or that opinion insomuch that unlesse God be mercifull to us we are come to that passe that we shall quickly dispute away all our repentance and all our faith
and we shall quickly dispute our selves out of our godlinesse and out of our Religion And that which is yet more sad Are there not some that preach against humiliation and that tell us that humiliation is but a back-door to heaven and a back-door to Christ Are there not some that tell us that Repentance is a legall Grace whereas I proved unto you even now that it is the very proper grace of the Gospel and the proper purchase of Christs bloud Are there not some that teach that God sees no sin in his elect children and that the very being of their sins is abolished out of Gods sight And that God is never displeased with his people though they fall into adultery or any other sin no not with a Fatherly displeasure And that God never chastiseth his people for any sinne no not with a Fatherly chastisement And that an unbeleeving and an impenitent sinner is as actually pardoned in Gods sight of all his sinnes as he is if he beleeves and repents And do not some of these now begin to grieve that they have grieved so much for their sinnes And that which is saddest of all are there not multitudes of people even in the City of London a City so well instructed carried away with these grace-destroying and Land-destroying Opinions Truly these are black signs that God intendeth to bring the Cloud of Bloud London-ward And that God intends that London should drink of the Cup of Bloud because London is so ready to he infected with the Cup of Errors and the cup of grace-destroying Opinions And for my part I am more afraid of this Cup then of the other more afraid of these divisions then of the Power and strength of the enemy for he grows strong by these divisions The Lord give us hearts to lay these things to heart and the Lord give us hearts to repent of these sins If this be the great Commandement of God to England that England should now repent now rather then ever now more then ever I beseech you let us all subscribe to the obedience of this Text and let this Commandement be written this day in every one of our hearts Oh that the Word of God and the Sword of God might preach this doctrine again and again and oh that the Lord would make it to take deep impression in every one of our souls Remember the Motives These are the times of the Gospel wherein God holds forth such arguments to move us to repentance which no other Religion can hold forth arguments drawn from the incarnation of Christ from the resurrection of the dead and the day of judgement These are times of Knowledge these are times of the Spirit These are times of bloud now God thunders from heaven now God presents you with a terrible Argument to move you to repentance Now God hath taken away all your Hindrances that did hinder you from repentance And there is no way to remove the man-devouring sword but by repentance and repentance is an infallible way These are the Motives and Motives sufficient to make the very stones in the Church to repent if they had a capacity to do it sufficient to make the Devils in hell to repent if they had had the happinesse to have been put into a possibility of salvation upon their repentance But the devils are not so happy For the truth is repentance is not only a duty but a happinesse It is a happiness that there is such a gate as repentance to get into heaven by Christ Jesus shed his bloud as I told you to make this door The devils have no such door And it is a happinesse also that God will for Christs sake accept of a sinner upon his repentance It is vain in mans Court for a murderer or a thief to pleade his repentance But it is not so in Gods Court Blessed be God that after our shipwrack by Adam there is such a plank as repentance for a poor sinner to swim to heaven upon And this is another mighty Argument to perswade you to repent He that refuseth to repent refuseth to be happy But now give me leave to draw down this Doctrine to all sorts of people according to the words of my Text But now God commandeth all men every where to repent First All men And then Every where All men 1. Repentance it is not only a garment for poor men to put on but God cals the rich men of the world to repent God cals the great men of the world to repentance Say unto the King and Queen Humble your selves And Oh that God would speak that word to the King and Queen this day that the Lord would command them to repent Great Manasseh he was a great sinner and did greatly humble himself 2 Chron. 33. 12. And the great King of Nineveh put on sackcloth and humbled himself he and his Nobles David King of Israel made his very bed to swim with tears for his sins Great men sin against a God that is greater then they and Great men must appear before the Great God at the Great Day of Judgement There is a great day of judgement a terrible day of Judgement wherein the great men of the world and the Kings of the earth and the rich men and the mighty men shall desire for the mountains to cover them and to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6. 15 16 17. Great men doe more hurt by their sins then others and therefore God will punish them more then others and therefore they are to repent more then others ' Potentes potentèr torquebuntur The truth is Hell is provided on purpose for great men I mean such as are greater in sinne then in greatnesse otherwise Greatnesse is an ornament when it is joyned with goodnesse but for those that are wickedly great and greatly wicked great men Tophet is ordained of old yea for the King it is provided Isa. 30. 33. And therefore God cals Great men Princes Noblemen and Gentlemen to repent 2. Repentance is not only an Antidote for Drunkards Whoremongers and Oppressors c. But God cals them that live Civilly and that are morally good to repent You must repent because you pretend to make conscience of doing that which is just to man but you make no conscience to doe that which is just to God to give him his due in the duties of the first Table You must repent because either you constantly neglect holy duties or you are constantly negligent in holy duties which both are great iniquities You must repent because at the best you are but Negatively good There is no positive goodnesse in you Though you abstain from evill yet you do not do good though you do not swear great Oaths yet you do not speak holily And every tree that brings not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and cast into the fire You must repent because you do all good duties either from naturall
the Nation if it repents If the Repentance of England be nationall and sincere there is no doubt of it For we have three Texts that speak thus much in plain terms Ier. 18. 7 8. 2 Chron 7. 14. Lev. 26. 40 41 42. c. These Texts are the Charter of heaven to prove that Repentance if it be sincere and nationall is an infallible way to save a Nation from ruine What answer you to that Text 2 King 23. 26. where it is said That notwithstanding the Reformation in Josiah's dayes the Lord turned not from the fiercenesse of his great wrath c. because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withall I briefly answer three things First That the repentance that was in Iosiah's time was the Repentance of Iosiah and some few other but it was not nationall And therefore you may observe that it is punctually said almost in every verse of the 2 Kin. 23. That Iosiah put down the Idolatrous Priests and Iosiah defiled Tophet and read the law c. There is no mention made of the voluntary concurrence of his Princes and people as is expresly mentioned in the Reformation of Hezekiah 2 Chron. 30. 14 15 16 23 27. c. 2 Chron. 31. 1. And it is worth the noting that whereas Iosiah began to reign when he was eight years old 2 Chron. 34. 1. it is said that in the eight year of his reign he began to seek after the God of David his father 2 Chron. 34. 3. But yet it was four years after before he began to set upon the work of Reformation 2 Chron 34. 3. and it was ten years after before the book of the law was found as appears 2 Chron. 34. 8. which was a sign that in his first eighteen years there was but little reformation and therefore no doubt he met with great opposition from his people which is an argument that the repentance was not nationall Secondly But suppose it was nationall yet it is certain it was not sincere as appears plainly Ier. 3. 10. for Ieremy prophecied in Iosiah's daies and also 2 Chron. 34. 32. where it is said That Iosias caused the people to stand to the Covenant they had made which implyeth a kinde of forcing them to it But Thirdly I answer That this Repentance of what nature soever it was it did turn away the judgements of God for the present from Iudah and it did keep them from ruine As long as Iosiah lived and as long as the people continued in his Reformation so long they were preserved But after Iosiah's death wicked Kings arose and the people forsook the Lord and therefore God was forced to destroy them For this see 2 Chron. 34. 33. 2 Chron. 36. 14 17. c. So that it is plain notwithstanding this objection that Repentance is an infallible way to remove Englands misery if it be nationall c. But suppose the nation should not repent what good will my personall repentance do to the nation or to my self Much good every manner of way For first Personall repentance if right will alwaies save thy soul from hell Ezek. 18. 30 31 32. Secondly It will for the most part save thy body also from ruine even then when God is destroying the nation wherein thou art Ezek. 14. 14. Especially if there be four qualifications found in thee first If thou beest one of those that mourn for the abominations that are committed in the land Ezek. 9. 4. secondly If thou beest one of those that are vexed with the unrighteous conversation of those with whom thou livest 2 Pet. 2. 7 8 Thirdly If thou beest one of those that keepest thy self pure from those sinnes for which God destroyeth the nation in which thou livest Gen. 6. 9. Fourthly If thou beest one of those that appear for God in sinfull times then God will appear for thy deliverance in destroying times Jer. 39. 17 18. And for this very reason did God deliver Ieremy himself and gave him his life for a prey But because Gods people many times are ashamed of Gods cause in evil dayes and because they do not keep themselves unspotted from the sinnes of the times and because they are not vexed and do not mourn for the abominations of the land wherein they live hence it is that they are many times involved in the outward calamity that fals upon the nation Thirdly Personall repentance will sometime save a whole nation as we may reade in the example of Moses Who often stood in the gap to turn away the wrath of God from the people of Israel Psal. 106. 23. And the Prophet Ieremy bids us Run ye to and fro c. and if ye can finde a man if there be any that executeth justice that seeketh the truth and I will pardon it Jer. 5. 1. This also we reade Eze. 22. 30. Ec 9. 14 15. If there had been ten wheatears in Sodom God would have spared all the chaff for their sakes Gen. 18. 32. Fourthly Personall repentance though it doth not alwaies preserve thee from a temporall judgement yet it alwaies sanctifieth a temporall judgement and turneth it into a blessing It takes away the curse and the poison of a judgement And though the affliction be not bonum in it self yet it shall turn to thee in bonum As the same flail falls upon the corn and chaff but for different ends the one to be burnt the other to be laid up in the barn So the same judgement that is an utter ruine to an impenitent sinner shall be for the benefit and happines of a repenting sinner as is excellently set out by the parable of the good and bad figs Ier. 24 5 6 7 8 9 10. In a word There are four kinde of Arks that God provides for his children in times of publike calamities and one of these four Arks God will provide for thee if thou repentest First Either he will provide an Ark of prevention by death before the calamity comes Isa. 57. 1. Thou shalt rest in the grave as in thy Ark and shalt not see the evill that is coming upon the Nation And thy very dust will be precious in Gods sight For Christ cannot be perfect without it Eph. 1. 23. Or secondly he will provide an Ark of deliverance and preservation from the judgement when it comes as he did to Noah Lot Ieremy and will do to thee also if thou hast the four qualifications forementioned Or thirdly an Ark of supportation under the judgement and sanctification of the judgement Or fourthly an Ark of salvation by the judgement It is but winking as the Martyr said and thou shalt be in heaven presently This is all I shall say for the explication Only I shall make bold to put you in minde of an Ordinance of Parliament made by you Feb. 15. 1642. In which pious and religious Ordinance you call upon the whole Kingdom to practise that which I preach before
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
a hearty-abhorrency and detestation of these sins Now the Lord cals upon you this day to do thus And to do thus more then others you that are Gentlemen because these sins in you are more scandalous and do more hurt both by Imitation and by Imputation They doe more hurt by Imitation because great men are like unto Looking-glasses according to which all the Countrey dress themselves whatever they do other men follow And your sinnes do more hurt by Imputation for God doth many times impute the sins of the Rulers upon the People as he did impute the sin of David upon the people of Israel And therefore God requires you this day to repent in dust and ashes And to be humbled before the Lord as you are Gentlemen that is the first But then secondly God commands you to repent as you are Parliament men As you are men with a personall repentance as you are Parliament men with a Parliament repentance And here give me leave to speak to you first divisim and then conjunctim First To speak to you singly and severally I beseech you search and try your wayes And if there should be found any amongst you that drive the designs of Oxford and that are present at Westminster only to betray their Countrey the Lord unmask such and the Lord give them repenting hearts This is to build your houses upon the bloud of three Kingdoms this is to sell your souls for preferment And it is just with God that such men should not only lose their souls but lose their very preferment also as Judas that sold his Master and hung himself And then again If there be any amongst you that drive your own designs and seek your own ends and not the publike good and seek your own ends more then the publike good and seek your own ends to the detriment of the publike good these are crying abominations and the Lord cals for a Parliament Repentance this day It was the Complaint of the Apostle of his time Omnes quae sua sunt quaerunt c. Phil. 2 21. All men seek their own and no man seeks the things of Iesus Christ If the Apostle Paul had been alive in our daies I wonder what he would have said of our times For truly if God should unrip us here before the Congregation I am afraid he should finde many of our hearts to be made up of nothing but of self-love and creature-love and yet notwithstanding this is a sin and not only against the light of the Word but against the very light of nature for the light of nature teaches us that all private good should be swallowed up in the publike And the very Decii and Curtii and Aristides and many other Heathens will rise up in judgement against many Christians in this particular There is a famous Text in Ier. 45. 3 4. Behold saith the Lord I do now begin to pull down what I have built and to destroy what I have planted and seekest thou great things for thy self seek them not Is this a time to seek your own ends this is just as if a man should have his house on fire and in stead of seeking to quench his house should go and trim up his chamber what will become of his Chamber when the house is burnt It is just as if a man when the Ship he is in is sinking should go and enrich his own Cabine The Lord give you hearts to repent of this Or if there be any amongst you that favour Malignants because they are your friends though enemies to God and his Cause this is a great sin to be repented on greatly And I say to such as the Prophet to Iehosaphat 2 Chro. 19. 2. Because you help the ungodly and love those whom the Lord hateth therefore wrath is gone out from the Lord against you Now let me consider you conjunctim as you are united into one body And here give me leave to put you in minde of a praier of Austins very necessary to be made by you this day Lord deliver me from other mens sins For this is a certain rule That all the sins of the Kingdom which are committed by your connivance or allowance are the Parliament sins and they call for a Parliament Repentance And therefore I beseech you search and try your hearts and consider how far you are accessary to the sins of the Kingdom that so you may be wrought up not only to a personall but to a Parliament humiliation And if it doth appear that you have taken more care in setling your own Liberties then in setling of Religion If you have taken more care to build your own houses then Gods house this is a crying sin and this makes you accessary to a thousand sins that are committed in the Kingdom Again If you do not labour according to your duty and according to your power to suppresse the Errors and Heresies that are spread in the Kingdom all these errours are you errours and these heresies are your heresies and they are your sins and God cals for a Parliamentary repentance from you for chem this day You are the Anabaptists and you are the Antinomians and it is you that hold That all Religions are to be tolerated even Iudaism and Turkism That the Soul is mortall and dies with the body c. These are your errors if they spread by your connivance For the sinnes of the sons of old Ely are imputed to old Ely himself And when the people of Israel had profaned the Sabbath Nehemiah contended with the Nobles of Iudah for suffering them and tels them that it was they that did prophane it because they suffered the people to prophane it Neh. 13. 17. Thus also all the guilty bloud that God requires you in justice to shed and you spare God will require the bloud at your hands And all the Bribery all the cousenage and all the robberies which are committed in the Kingdom which you can punish and do not these are all your sins Oh that the Lord would work up your hearts to the meditation of these things and that the Lord would make your hearts like wax and this word like the Sun to melt them Thus God cals you to repentance as you are men and to a Parliament repentance as you are Parliament men And God cals you to do all this now God now commands you now to repent The commandement is now and the practice must be now There must be two nows the nunc of the Commandement and of that you have heard abundantly but now there must be also the nunc of Obedience God now commands you now to practise this Text for otherwise for ought you know you may be in hell the next hour peradventure you may and peradventure you may not But howsoever you put your everlasting estate upon two peradventures peradventure God will deny thee space to repent next hour or if he give thee space peradventure God will deny thee grace
unto life 2. What repentance is that repentance which is unto life What repentance is not that repentance which is unto life There are six sorts of Repentance which are not the right repentance The first is Pharaohs repentance After he had obeyed God in letting the people of Israel go he repents of this his good action as Exod. 14. 5. This was a repentance unto damnation not unto salvation Some such I have known that in their young daies have been zealous and forward for private fasts and for all other religious exercises and afterward have Apostatized from these ways and persecuted them in others and repented that ever they had been so strict and zealous This is a wicked repentance Thus many in our daies through the errour of their judgement repent that ever they have been troubled so much for their sins and that they have fasted so much and wept so much This is a repentance to be repented on The second is Sauls repentance 1 Sam. 15. 24. This repentance was as fair and as full in outward repentance as Davids to Nathan 2 Sam. 12. 13. But yet Sauls repentance was not unto life It failed in four things First His confession was without sorrow he acknowledged his sin but we reade not that his heart smote him for his sin or that his heart was broken for his sin as Davids was Secondly Sauls confession was not free but forced from him by Samuel with dint of argument But Davids heart smote him for numbring the people and he confessed the sin before God smote his people with the plague 2 Sam. 24. 10. Thirdly Sauls confession was by way of diminution he labours to lessen his sin and to put the fault upon the people 1 Sam. 15. 21 24. But true confession of sin is with aggravation of the sins we confesse Thus did David 2 Sam. 24 10 17. Thus doth Daniel and Ezra Dan 9. Ezra 9. Fourthly Sauls confession was mingled with pride 1 Sam. 15. 30. he desired honour with the people though he had no respect from God nor from Samuel True confession is an humble confession Ezra 9. 6. The third is Ahabs repentance His repentance was so great and so remarkable that God bids Elijah take notice of it 1 Kin. 21. 27 29. His repentance is expressed in four particulars He rent his clothes he put on sackcloth he fasted he lay in sackcloth and went softly But yet it was not a repentance unto life It failed in three particulars It was but an outward repentance All the forenamed expressions were outward he rent his garments but his heart was not rent And therefore God rewarded him only with an outward reward 1 Ki. 21. 29. Ahah was like a ripe plum that is soft without but hath a hard stone within 2. It was a worldly and carnall repentance for fear of the losse of his kingdom and for fear of the dogs that Elijah threatned should lick up his bloud 3. It was a repentance for sin but not from sin You shall reade in Scripture not only of a repentance for sin 2 Cor. 12. 21. Rev. 9. 20. but also of a repentance from sinne Act. 8. 22. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} so it is in the Greek So also Heb. 6. 1. Repentance from dead works Now Ahab did not repent from his sin For in the next Chapter he is as bad as ever he was The fourth is The Israelites repentance you shall reade often of their repentance 1 Sam. 7. 6. Iud. 2. 1 2 3. Iud. 10. 10. But their repentance was not unto life It failed especially in two particulars 1. It was only and meerly for fear of the Lord it was only when they were in distress as appears often and often in the book of the Iudges and also Psa. 78. 34. 2. It lasted only as long as the rod lasted when the affliction was past they returned to their sins again Psal. 78. 36 37. Iud. 4. 1. Iud. 6. 1. c. They were just like iron which while it is in the fire is soft and malleable to any thing but when it is taken out of the fire groweth presently hard again or like unto water that while it is upon the fire is very hot but when taken off presently groweth cold And this I fear is all the Repentance that many have in these daies Some so bad as not to repent at all even in these killing daies but they that do repent I fear it is only for fear of the rod and it will last no longer then the rod lasteth The Lord give us hearts to search our hearts whether it be not so The fifth is The repentance of Iudas The Text saith he repented and confessed his sinne and made satisfaction Mat. 27. 3 4. And he justified also Christs innocency and he took shame to himself in going to the high Priests to confesse his sinnes But yet his repentance was not unto life though there be many in the world that pretend to a right repentance that cannot pleade so much to justifie their repentance as Iudas can But it failed in divers particulars First his repentance was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} not {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} The Greek word is not the same with the Greek word in my Text for repentance Paenituit sed non resipuit he sorrowed for what he had done but he was not reformed from what he had done for he that murdered Christ before murdered himself presently after It was no life-reforming sorrow Secondly Iudas repented not out of hatred of the sin that he had committed but only to quiet his conscience he felt a hell in his conscience and to quiet that he repented Thirdly This repentance was wholly legall only for fear of hell and it was wholly without hope of mercy It was a desperate repentance and it drew him not to Christ but to the gallows True repentance is out of love to God and it is alwaies mixt with hope Ezra 10. 2. The sixth is The Heathen mans repentance There is in a Heathen man a natural conscience and when he sins against the light of nature this natural conscience will accuse and condemn him and this oftentimes worketh a naturall and morall repentance Thus when Alexander in his drunken sit had killed his dear friend Clitus when he was sober he was troubled in conscience for it and sent to all the severall kindes of Philosophers as it were to so many Ministers to know what he might do to appease his conscience and to satisfie for that sinne Thus Polemo when in his drunken fit he came to the School of Xenocrates and heard him reading of sobriety repented of his drunkennesse and became sober ever after This I relate to the shame of thousands of Christians But yet this was not a repentance unto life For here nature reforms nature Refined nature reforms nature abominably profaned Sober Alexander reforms drunken Alexander Here is no turning
bring thy brother to repentance also If thou hast perswaded a woman to lewdnesse a man to drunkennesse it is thy duty to make them soul-restitution a Doctrine little preached and lesse practised but of absolute necessity in regard of thy endeavour at least to do it For want of this soul-satisfaction many souls miscarry Fourthly He will make satisfaction to himself If he hath injured his body by intemperate eating and drinking and his soul by taking too much liberty in things indifferent he will take a holy revenge upon himself of which you shall reade 2 Cor. 7. 11. Holy revenge is a necessary companion of true repentance This holy revenge consisteth in fasting and in abstaining from lawful delights when they prove soul-snares If thou hast sinned by frequenting such and such company thou must be revenged of thy self by wholly abstaining from their company If thou hast sinned by the abuse of lawfull games c. thou must wholly renounce them If by immoderate love of the world thou must be revenged of thy self by a greater measure of charity to the poor Thus Saint Paul did beat down his body and brought it into subjection c. 1 Cor. 9. 27. When Hilarion felt his lusts boyling and his body prone to filthinesse he said Ego faciam aselle ut non calcitres I will keep this Asse from kicking by abstinence This part of repentance is little regarded now adaies though there cannot be true repentance without it A true penitent will be revenged of his sins as Cranmer was of his right hand which he first burnt in the fire when he was at the stake because with that he had subscribed to Popery Thus the Ephesian converts Act. 19. 19. burnt their Books before all men and the women that had prided themselves in their looking-glasses brought them to the building of the Tabernacle Exo. 38. 8. Thus ought every true penitent to do Thus much for the fourth link of the golden chain of repentance The fifth and last link of the golden of repentance is Turning unto God by newnesse of life Man by sinne turneth his back upon God and wandreth from God as the Prodigall childe from his father Now repentance is a returning back unto God And therefore in the Old Testament it is expressed under this name It is called a Turning unto God It is not enough to cease from evil but we must also do good As a man cannot go with one leg nor a bird fly with one wing no more can any man mount up to heaven by forsaking of sin if he doth not also labour to turn to God And this is the consummation of repentance and the happinesse of it Whereas disobedience estrangeth us from God who is our light and life in whose presence is fulnesse of joy c. Repentance brings us back again into the love favour and friendship of God And therefore Luther saith well That optima optissima poenitentia est nova vita which saying though condemned by Pope Leo the tenth yet certainly it is a most excellent saying Repentance without Reformation is a deformation it is a foundation without a building All sorrow confession and forsaking of sinne without this turning unto God by holinesse of life is fruitlesse and unprofitable And thus you have the Golden Chain with all the five links Now what remains but First That all you that pretend to a right Repentance be perswaded to examine your selves whether you have this medicine with the five ingredients this golden chain with the five links There are some that will confesse their sinnes but it is with dry eyes and hard hearts Others that will mourn for their sinnes but not forsake them Others will forsake some sinnes but not all Some forsake sinne outwardly but not inwardly some forsake sinne but do not turn to God some forsake sinne but do not make restitution If a childe be born without his legges or arms or eyes we say it is a monster a deformed childe Such a monstrous kinde of repentance most people have Some have a leg of repentance some have an arm of repentance but few have the whole childe of repentance Herod had a leg of repentance he reformed in many things but his repentance was but a lame repentance Balaam had a kinde of repentance and so had Iehu but it was but a monster not the perfect childe of repentance Examine seriously and let conscience speak Hast thou the childe of repentance formed in thee with every limb in truth though not in perfection Say not thou repentest aright unlesse thou hast all the links of this golden chain Secondly Labour to put on this golden chain this day It will be an excellent ornament to Lords Ladies and Gentlemen The Lord give you hearts to do it Repentance is Christs gift he is at Gods right hand to give it Sue to him for it and he will bestow it upon you And be sure to remember this truth of God If any one link of this chain be wanting thou canst not be saved For I am not now preaching of points in difference between us and the Papists or between Protestant and Protestant but of those things which all will confesse to be true If any one of these ingredients be out of the medicine this medicine of repentance will do thee no good And therefore labour to thy utmost endeavour by prayer and all other means to obtain all five this day I say this day for this day God cals and you call God cals for repentance and for present repentance and for a compleat repentance and you call for mercy for your Armies for present mercy and for a compleat mercy Would you have God hear you and will not you hear God Consider whether this be equal Would you have God give you a good return of your prayers and will not you give God a good return of his Word The occasion of our meeting this day is to pray to God that God would be pleased to own our Forces for we know not how soon they may be engaged and that God would be pleased to fight our battels and not to suffer us to miscarry as we have done lately Now do you think God will regard your prayers this day if you do not repent this day It is not praying but it is the penitent prayer that prevails with God It is in vain to recruit your Armies if you recruit your sins God looks for penitent prayers humble prayers Let the Parliament of England never forget the 7. of Ioshua 10 11 12. c. Get thee up saith God to Ioshua why lyest thou on the ground there is a sin committed and I will not hear thy prayers till the sin be removed Let the Parliament of England remember the Battels of the Children of Israel against the Benjamites though their cause were never so good yet notwithstanding because they were Idolaters and because they did not manage their cause well therefore God suffered