I Shall next come to shew, what Gospel-Repentance is: Repentance is a grace of Gods Spirit, whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled, and visibly reformed. For a further amplification of Repentance, know, that Repentance is a spiritual medicine, made up of six special Ingredients; if any one be left out, it loseth its vertue.
- Sight of Sin.
- Sorrow for Sin.
- Confession of Sin.
- Shame for Sin.
- Hatred for Sin.
- Turning from Sin.
The First Ingredient — Sight of Sin
- THE first Ingredient in Repentance,1 is, Sight of Sin2. The first part of Christs Physick is Eye-salve, Act. 26. 18. ‘Tis the great thing noted in the Prodigals Repentance, Luk. 15. 17. He came to himself3: He saw himself a sinner, and nothing but a sinner. Before a man can come to Christ, he must come to himself. Solomon in his description of Repentance, puts this in as the first Ingredient, 1 King. 8. 47. If they shall bethink themselves4. A man must first recognize and consider what his sin is, and know the plague of his heart, ere he can be duly humbled for it. The first creature God made was Light: So the first thing in a penitent is illumination, Ephes. 5. 8. Now ye are light in the Lord. The eye is made both for seeing and weeping. Sin must first be seen, before it can be wept for.
Use. Hence I infer, where there is no sight of sin, there can be no Repentance. Many who can spy faults in others, see none in themselves: They cry, they have good hearts. Were it not strange that two should live together, and eat and drink together, yet not know one another? Such is the case of a sinner, his body and soul live together, walk together, yet he is unacquainted with himself: He knows not his own heart, nor what an Hell he carries about him. Under a vail a deformed face is hid. Persons are vailed over with ignorance, and self-love, therefore see not what deformed souls they have. The Devil doth with them as the Faulkner with the Hawk, blinds them, and carries them hooded to Hell, Zach. 11. 17. The sword shall be upon his right eye. Men have insight enough into worldly matters, but the eye of their mind is smitten; they see not any evil in sin5. The sword is upon their right eye.
The Second Ingredient — Sorrow for Sin
- THE second Ingredient into Repentance,1 is, Sorrow for Sin2. Psal. 38. 18. I will be sorry for my sin. Ambrose calls sorrow the imbittering of the soul. The Hebrew word to be sorrowful, signifies to have the soul as it were crucified*. This must be in true Repentance,3 Zach. 12. 10. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and mourn. As if they did feel the nails of the Cross sticking in their sides. A woman may as well expect to have a child without pangs, as one can have Repentance without sorrow. He that can believe without doubting, suspect his faith; and he that can repent without sorrowing, suspect his Repentance.
Martyrs shed blood for Christ4, and penitents shed tears for sin, Luk. 7. 38. She stood at Iesus feet weeping5. See how this limbeck dropped; the sorrow of her heart ran out at her eye6. The brazen lavor for the Priests to wash in, Exod. 30. 18. did tipifie a double lavor: The lavor of Christs blood we must wash in by Faith; and the lavor of tears we must wash in by Repentance. A true Penitentiary labours to work his heart into a sorrowing frame; he blesseth God when he can weep; he is glad of a rainy-day: He knows ‘tis a Repentance he shall have no cause to repent of (2 Cor. 7. 10). Though the bread of sorrow be bitter to the taste, yet, it strengthens the heart (Psalm 104. 15).