SUch as have solemnly repented of their sins, let me speak to them,
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By way of Caution. Though Repentance1 be so necessary and excellent as you have heard, yet take heed that you do not ascribe too much to Repentance. The Papists are guilty of a double errour; 1. They make Repentance a Sacrament2. Christ never made it so; and who may institute Sacraments, but he who can give vertue to them? Repentance can be no Sacrament, because it wants an outward sign. A Sacrament cannot properly be without a sign.
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The Papists make Repentance meritorious: they say it doth ex congruo merit pardon3; this is a gross errour. Indeed Repentance fits us for mercy. As the Plough when it breaks up the ground, fits it for the seed: So when the heart is broken up by Repentance, it is fitted for remission, but it doth not merit it (Chrysost). God will not save us without Repentance, nor yet for it. Repentance is a qualification, not a cause. I grant repenting tears are precious; they are, as Gregory saith, the fat of the sacrifice. And as Basil saith, the medicine of the soul. And as Bernard, the wine of Angels4; but yet tears are not satisfactory for sin. We drop sin with our tears, therefore they cannot satisfie. Austin saith well, I have read of Peters tears, but no man ever read of Peters satisfaction. Christs blood only can merit pardon5. We please God by Repentance, but we do not satisfie him by it. To trust to our Repentance, is to make it a Saviour. Though Repentance helps to purge out the filth of sin, yet it is Christs blood washeth away the guilt of sin6; therefore do not idolize Repentance: Do not rest upon this, that your heart hath been wounded for sin, but rather, that your Saviour hath been wounded for sin. When you have wept, say as he, Lord Iesus, wash my tears in thy blood7.
Footnotes
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Scotus qu. 4. dist. 14. Occam qu. 2. Gerson. ↩
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Andreas Vega. ↩
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Lac[…]ymae poenitentium sunt vinum Angelo rum. Bern. Serm. 30. in Cant. ↩
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Remissio quam resipiscentes adipiscuntur, causam habet in satisfactione pro ipsis praestitâ. Masius cont. Crellium. ↩
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Lavat nos lachrymarum imber, magis autem lavat aqua illa preciosa quae de Fonte P[…]atis, i. e. latere Christi emanavit. Bern. in dedicat. Eccles. ↩
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Lava· Domine lachrymas meas. ↩