The Doctrine and Use of Repentance, Title page – Dedication
THE DOCTRINE AND VSE OF REPENTANCE: NECESSARIE TO BE PRACTISED AND VSED of all who looke to ſing the ſong of Moſes, and the ſong of the Lambe beyond the glaſſie Sea: Reuel. 15.23.
PREACHED IN SVNDRIE Sermons in the Pariſh Church of Alhallowes Bredſtreete in London: By RICH. STOCK.
LVK. 13.3.
I tell you: Except you amend your liues you ſhall all likewiſe periſh.
AT LONDON Imprinted by Felix Kyngston, for Edmund Weauer and William Welby, 1610.
TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE WILLIAM, Lord Knolles, Baron of Greyes, Treaſurer of his Maieſties houſhold, and one of the Lords of his Maieſties most Honorable priuie Counſell.
RIght Honorable, the former Treatiſe, which within theſe two yeeres I preſented vntounto your Honour, I compiled out of two worthie works, written in Latine, by that worthie ſeruant of Ieſus Chriſt, and famous light of the Church of Chriſt, Doctor Whitakers, againſt two ſworne ſlaues of Antichriſt, Campian and Dureus, and I brought them by your Honours appointment, into one volume, and tranſlated them into our owne tongue. The ſubiect of it was faith, the defence of the true Catholike faith, as it is held in our Church, and all the Churches of God, againſt thoſe Catholike deprauers of it. And now I offer vntounto your Honour (a free will offering) a Treatiſe of practiſe, and obedience, containing the doctrine of repentance, Iſai. 22.12.Calling to weeping, and mourning, to baldnes, and girding with ſackcloath. A point of that neceſſitie, that Chriſt maketh mans ſaluation, or damnation to depend on it: Luke 13.3.Except you amend your liues, yee ſhall all likewiſe periſh: and of which Chryſoſtom ſpeaketh thus: Non cecidiſſe graue eſt, ſed poſt lapſum non reſurrexiſſe, ſatanicum & pernitioſum est. Chryſost. hom. 22. ad pop. An…och.It is no great thing to fall into ſinne, but it is diuelliſh, and deadlie, after the fall not to riſe again: whereupon the Lord ſaith, Ierem. 8.22.Is there no balme in Gilead? is there no Phyſitian there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recouered? Yet happily may it ſeeme to moſt men, to bee an vntimelie birth, to be brought foorth now in the daies, & time of our Iſai. 22.13.ioy and gladneſſe, ſlaying of oxen, and killing of ſheepe, eating of fleſh, and drinking of wine: and if that was wiſdome in Abigail, 1. Sam. 25.36.not vponupon Nabals feaſt day, not when his heart was merrie within him, to acquaint him with heauie newes, and mourneful tidings of Dauids wrath and reſolution, but to ſtay till the feaſt was ended; it may happilie in me be iudged a point of follie, while our feaſts laſts, yea in the middeſt of our reioycing, to offer to your Lordſhip, and the view of others, this tractate of ſadnes and ſorrow, mourning and humiliation. My apologie is at hand, my defence not farre to ſeeke.
The caſe is not alike, and ſo our courſe may well differ; for with them the danger was well ouer, Dauids wrath was well appeaſed, ſo that ſhee might with ſafetie watch a fitter opportunitie, to communicate thoſe things vntounto him. But with vsus, and our times, the danger is imminent, our Dauid is not appeaſed; Iſai. 9.12.For his hād is ſtretched out ſtill; ſo that delay were now very dangerous, and not to haſten to the practiſe of it, verie pernicious to mens both preſent and future ſtate.
Skilfull Phyſitians hauehave their time of the yeere, of the Moone, and of the ſigne, which they hold beſt and fitteſt for letting of blood, cutting, ſearing, and adminiſtring of purging potions; yet if they ſee the ſtate of the ſicke patient cannot well abide ſo long vndealt with, but in ſome diſeaſes it be dangerous to delay a day, nay but a few houres, (as in a plureſie) they wil open a veine, though the ſigne be in the vitall parts, which in their generall practiſe they hold vnfit, and often ioyned with great danger: neither doe men vſuallie reprooue them for it, vnleſſe it be out of their ignorance. Can I then of any man be iuſtly blamed, if I offer this ſpirituall Phyſicke to all, and be S. Pauls preacher 2. Tim. 4.2.Out of ſeaſon, euen now as it were to let the ſicke blood, when the ſigne is verie nie the heart? Seeing if wee had no particular occaſion, by Gods iudgements, yet the generall condition of all, who are mortall, and the generall infection of all, who are ſinfull, and the abſolute neceſſitie of this dutie, which being not taken in hand in time, but deferred a day, nay an houre or two, may as much danger the ſpirituall eſtate of the ſoule, as omitting of bleeding in a plureſie, may the health of the bodie. Seeing the Scripture ſpeaketh but of one time or day, of turning vntounto God, which time and tide being not taken, there is no turning of the tide againe, no reuolution of the time, but that though a man may liue with Eſau many a yeere after he hath loſt ye opportunitie of the bleſſing, and of repentance, to ſeeke it, and that with a fountaine of teares, Heb. 12.17.Yet hee may not find place to repentance. It cannot then vponupon the point bee vnſeaſonable, for me to cal for this in eueryevery ſeaſon; which at no time can come too ſoone, nor yet too late, ſo it be ſerious, and true: but the occaſion being let ſlip, cannot be recouered againe, if a man would giuegive a world for it. Beſides, I am not without preſident of the like. For the holy man Iob, Iob 1.5.called, and commanded his ſonnes to ſacrifice, and ſo to repent (for thitherto the burnt offerings hee made, led them) not at the end of their feaſts, when their ſeuen daies were ouer, but eueryevery day, leſt that ſhould fall out which hee feared, that they ſhould ſinne againſt God, though it were but in their hearts, (ſo carefull was he) a thing eaſily ſeaſing vponupon the hart, hands, and tongue, when the rebell fleſh is pampered with full diet, and many diſhes, and the mind with pleaſures and delites tranſported out of it ſelfe; yea and fearing alſo, that which after fell out, leſt if they deferred their repentance, and ſeeking of reconciliation, they might be ouertaken with death in the very act of their feaſting, Verſ. 18.19.as they afterward were, when they began their courſes of feaſting, euen in the firſt day. Hath not that alſo ſome reſemblance with this, Iohn 19.41.that Ioſeph built his ſepulchre in the place of his pleaſure, his garden, as knowing how eaſie it was for him in his pleaſures to forget himſelfe, and his end? And if we be men of the ſame matter, and caſt in the ſame mould, yet their holines exceeding ours, this doctrine of humiliation, may not be vnfit for vsus, not onelyonly to be known but practiſed, leſt if wee deferre it, it ſhould fall out with ſome of vsus (as it may wel with all) for any Writ of priuiledge wee can ſue out, that wee may with Iobs ſonnes, bee taken before our feaſts be ouer, and ere euer the time of feaſting come.
If this ſeaſon be vnfit, becauſe the time is our feaſt, yet being the doctrine of mortification and renouation, of putting off the old man, and putting on the new, of making 2. Cor. 1.17.men new creatures in Christ Ieſus, when old things are paſſed away, and all things are become new; I ſuppoſe it to hauehave a ſpeciall fitnes for the time.
Now this I offer to your Honor, to continue the ſignification of my dutie, begun in the former, as by a freewill offering, when the other was enioined by your Honour, and ſo could not ſo effectually intimate my dutie. Yet in this I reſpect not dutie only, but deſire of your Lordſhips ſpirituall, and eternall honor, which muſt be obtained by walking this way, or els there is no way to compaſſe it.
I vndertooke to handle this point publikely, at the requeſt of diuers of my auditorie, who had often heard me preſſe the neceſſitie of it, and yet not ſo diſtinctlie conceiuing the nature of the thing, deſired I would diuert my ordinary courſe of preaching, and handle this point at the full, and in all the particulars.
I now hauehave written it by others importunitie, who deſired it for a more publike good, and offer it firſt vntounto your Honour, which I deſire might hauehave not the leaſt, but the beſt part, and profit in it, and by it.
May it pleaſe your Honour to heare thus much from mee, that this dutie belongs to honourable Perſonages, men of your place, as well as to the pooreſt peſants, as the precepts of the ſcriptures, and the practiſe of King Dauid; Salomon, Manaſſes, and others doe proue. The reaſon of which is, becauſe now though there be difference of men, as there is of counters, while the Merchants account laſteth, ſome ſtanding for pence, ſome for pounds, ſome for hundreds and thouſands: and as of plaiers while they are vponupon the ſtage, ſome going for rich, ſome for poore, ſome for knights, ſome for kings while the play continueth; and as of trees in the forreſt, ſome are oakes, ſome elmes, ſome poplers, ſome thornes, ſome briers and brambles, while they ſtand growing: yet when the account is ended, when the play is finiſhed, when the trees are cut downe, ſpecially burnt to aſhes, there will bee no difference at all. So, and more it wil be after death, when men ſhall al appeare before Gods iudgement ſeate, that there will be no difference, ſpecially in reſpect of God; for then ſhall the poore appeare without their rags, and the rich without their bags, Kings without their crownes, Nobles without their enſignes of honours, Biſhops without their rochets, Iudges without their commiſſion, Sergeants without their coifes, Lawyers, Miniſters, and other ſcholars without degrees, and ſignes of order, yea eueryevery man as naked as he came into the world, and more naked then he went out of it, by as much as his winding ſheete, coffin or tombe commeth to. But euerie man ſhall hauehave the workes of his perſon, place, age and condition with him; hee that hath eſchewed euill, and done good, hee that hath mortified the fleſh with the luſts thereof, and been renued in the inward man, (the verie pith and marrow of his repentance) Rom. 2.7.He that by continuing in well doing, hath ſought glory, and honour, and immortalitie, ſhall hauehave eternall life; whereas hee that hath but pampered the fleſh, and tooke all care to fulfill the luſts of it, renuing nothing, but retaining old Adam Verſ. 8.9.Diſobeying the truth, and obeying vnrighteouſneſſe, ſhall hauehave indignation, and wrath, tribulation and anguiſh, &c. whether hee bee Iew or Grecian, one or other, whatſoeuer he be, Verſ. 11.for there is no reſpect of perſons with God.
If I bee blamed for bringing this doctrine to the Court, and commending it to your Honor, as well as preaching it to the cōmon people, this will bee my defence.
And thus hoping of your Honours good acceptance of this ſmall new yeeres gift: praying the Almightie to renue you by his ſpirit and grace, through faith and true repentance, that you may not onelyonly continue honourable vponupon earth, in the Kings Court, but your Honour may be multiplied in heauen, in the Court of the King of Kings: I humblie take my leaue.
Your Honors Chaplaine in all humble dutie, RICHARD STOCKE.