Twenty-Five Sermons, Sermon 1

Twenty-Five Sermons · Sermon 1

p. 153A ABSERMON ON

JOEL ii. 13.

Rent your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the CLord your God; for, He is gracious, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

THis Chapter (if we cast back our eyes to the former verses) it is a fearful Prophesie from Almighty God, of Judgement, and Destruction. And yet, not so much a peremptory DPrediction, what he absolutely intends, as a Commination onelyonly, what conditionally he threatneth. And this Commination denounced against them, not in Ionas's spirit, with purpose, and desire to have it fulfilled; but in much compassion, and commiseration; with offers of peace, and reconcilement, that it might be revers'd. Minantur homines ut feriant; Deus, ne feriat. Man, in his anger, threatens, when he means to strike; God threatens, that he might not strike; but that we may be forewarn'd, and ward off his blow.

It is S. Augustins observation of Christs foretelling the last Judgement; and it is true in this, and his other menaces; Ideò multò ante praedicitur, ut à nobis totis viribus caveatur. And again; Invitus vindicat, qui, quo modo evadere possinius, multò ante p. 154demonstrat; non te vult percutere qui tibi clamat. Observe, God Aforewarns us, that he might fore-arm us, to avoyd his threatnings. The condition he offers, it is Repentance. Lex Innocentiam, Evangelium poenitentiam; The Gospel, that offers all Mercy, and Love; it strictly exacts, and requires Repentance.

The Text then, it is a vehement Exhortation to Sorrow, and Repentance. And not an Exhortation onelyonly what we should do; but a Direction also, how, and in what manner. Tertullian complain'd of the Heathen in his time, Per poenitentiam faciliùs delinquunt, quàm per eandem rectè faciunt: And it is as true of the Jews; They did so misplace the acts of Repentance, in outward BSuperstition, that their Repentance was no less sinful, then the very sins for which they repented.

For the words themselves, they naturally fall asunder into these two parts;

1. Here is Praeceptum Poenitentiae:

2. Motivum Poenitentiae.

1. The Precept of Repentance, in these words; Rent your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord, your God.

2. The Motive to Repentance, in the words following; For, CHe is gracious, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repeuteth him of the evil.

The Precept of Repentance divides it self into a double Exhortation, answerable to the two parts of Repentance:

The first is an Exhortation to Contrition, Rent your heart, and not your garments:

The second is an Exhortation to Conversion; And return to the Lord your God.

1. In the former duty of Contrition, observe two things;

1. Actum:

2. Objectum.

1. The Act, expressed in this word, Rent:

2. The Object; that is specified,

1. Affirmative, what we must rent; that's the heart.

2. Negative, what we must not rent, Not your garments.

And this latter object may be resolved into a double sense:

1. If we conceive it as Objectum solitarium; as divided, and sever'd from the renting of the heart; So, it is Sensus purè negativus, a flat negative; Rent not your Egarments: Or,

2. As Objectum conjunctum; Joyn renting of the heart, and garments together; So, it is Sensus comparativus; Rent your hearts, rather then your garments. That's p. 155the first, the Exhortation to Contrition.

2. The Exhortation to Conversion, that follows; Return to the Lord your God. Return; and that implies a Motion. And therein observe three things:

1. Motum ipsum, the kind of Motion; it is a Returning.

2. Terminum Motus, that whereunto we must return; that is, the Lord.

3. Habitudinem, mobilis ad terminum; that habitude, and relation which guides, and byasses us unto the term, in the words following, Your God. And it is twofold; For,

1. As in all natural Motion, so in this; there is an attraction Bin the term and place to which the Motion tends, that which draws the Mobile towards it; as the heaven doth the fire; that's in the last word, God.

2. An Impulsive in the Mobile, that which carries and disposes the thing moved, towards it, as levity in the fire; that's exprest in this word, Your: He is Your God. That's the first main Precept, the Precept of Repentance;

The second follows, the Motive to Repentance, in these words, For he is gracious, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. And in it consider three Cthings as most observable;

1. Speciem Motivi;

2. Partes Motivi;

3. Gradus Motivi.

1. The kind and nature of the Motive; It is a Motive and Perswasion drawn from one, who is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, and repents of the ill. All of them invitations of love and favour.

1. Contents not himself to put us in mind of our duty, We must Return unto the Lord our God; So, requiring Repentance, DSub ratione officii, as performance of duty.

2. Uses no threatnings, intermingles no curses; So enforcing Repentance Sub ratione periculi, for avoydance of danger; But,

3. Urges mercy and favour. Strange, saith Tertullian, proemio invitat ad salutem; So perswading to Repentance, Sub ratione spei. Thus we see, a loving Father receives his returning Prodigal; neither strikes him, nor threatens him, no, nor expostulates, Where hast thou rioted and wasted thy time, and my goods? Uses not an harsh word to him, but Emeets him, and kisses him, and embraces him, and receives him with all loving affection. That's the first thing observable, the kind of the Motive.

2. Take a view of the several parts of this affectionate Motive; p. 156contents not himself to open some glimpse of hope, and Apossibility of pardon; makes not an offer of some one of his gracious, and forgiving Attributes: but opens the riches, and treasures of his mercies; conceals not any hint, or hold of comfort, thinks all little enough; Either

1. To make a full expression of love in Him; Or

2. A deep impression of hope in Us; enlarges the bowels of his compassion, sets out the heighth, and breadth, and length of his Mercy to us, summons up all his Attributes of grace and favour; Gracious, merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness, he repenteth of the evil. That's the second thing observable; The Bnumber and parts of the Motive.

3. Observe the Degrees of the Motive; See how they are all set and purposed to prevent, and remove, all the fears and discouragements, that a timorous guilty Conscience can forecast to it self.

1. We are here called upon to present our selves unto the Lord, to hope for, and expect his love, and favour. Whose heart will not object, that he is not worthy of so great a blessing, not having the least desert of the least favour? True: but he is a gracious God, shewing his goodness and Ccompassion freely, without desert. That's the first degree; He is gracious, sine merito. But,

2. We are not only destitute of any good deservings, but our lives have been demeritorious, sinful, offensive, deserving the contrary. True: but he is merciful, and compassionate, even against desert. That's the second degree; He is merciful, contra meritum. But,

3. We daily provoke him by our rebellions, grieving his Spirit, increasing his wrath by our offences. Yet let not this discourage us, he is a patient God, forbearing his people; DHe is longanimis, a God slow to anger. That's the third degree of the Motive. But,

4. The cry of our sins hath ascended up to Heaven, and called loud in the ears of God; he is already offended, his wrath is kindled, his anger incensed: yet, despair not, he is easie to be entreated, he is of great kindness. That's the fourth ascent of the Motive. But,

5. His wrath hath smoak'd out against us; his Prophets have threatned and denouneed his judgments; the Decree is come out, we are all senteneed to destruction; Yet, let not Ethis deject us; yet there is hope of mercy and forgiveness: he will reverse his sentence, He repenteth of the evil. These are the degrees. Then,

1. Do thy sins discourage thee? Let the offer and invitation of his mercy assure thee.

p. 1572. Doth the number, and variety of thy transgressions Adishearten thee? Consider in the second place the multitudes of his mercies, and let them perswade thee. But,

3. Doth the measure and heinousness of thy rebellions affright thee? Let the degrees, and plenty of his Compassions comfort thee. These are the Motives.

First, Let us begin with the first part of the Text, the duty of Contrition, unto which we are exhorted; And in it,

1. The Act of Contrition is to be observed, in this word, Soindite, Rent. And the Observation is shortly thus much; That Bthe act, and practice of Repentance, is no less then a Renting. A renting; and that naturally implies, and in…erts three things,

1. Duritiem in objecto; Stiffness and obduration in the Object to be wrought upon. A sinful heart is stiff and obdurate, it needs a rending.

2. Difficultatem in actu; Hardness and difficulty in the act to be exercised, Repentance, 'tis no slight, gentle, easie performance; No, 'tis grievous and painful, 'tis no less then a Renting.

3. Vim in agente; It requires all the strength and might of Chim that undertakes it. Repentance, 'tis a renting.

1. Durities in objecto; That's the first Inference. A sinner, not mollified and wrought upon by repentance, he is naturally hardned, he needs a renting. S. Paul puts them both together, Rom. ii. 5. foreign, hardness and impenitency; they are never asunder. Observe those measures, and degrees of obduration, that the Scripture discerns and describes in the nature of man, Deut. ix. 6. They are a people, durae cervicis, of a stiff neck, not yielding to the yoke of due obedience. And how hard, and stiff, the DProphet Isaiah tells us, Nervus ferreus, cervix tua, Isai. xlviii. 4. Not onelyonly a s…ew, though that be naturally strong enough to resist; but nerv… ferreus, hardned with iron, for stronger resistance. Nay, the heart of man, Ezekiel tells us, chap. xi. 19. is … lapide…, an heart of stone; represented, and resembled (as some conceit it) by those Tables of stone, where the Law was written. And yet, all stones are not of the like hardness; some more yielding and easily broken: ours is the nether milstone; and it seems, that's the harder of the two. Let the seed of Gods word be cast upon it, it rejects it presently. Nay, harder then EMilstones, Zech. vii. 12. Posuerunt cor, ut Adamantem, as hard as an Adamant, no strength can soften it. Nay our hearts are harde… then the hardest stones; which occasioned that witty, and devout inversion of Ezekiel's Prophecy, I will take away their p. 158hearts of stone, and give them hearts of flesh: Nay Lord, take Aaway our hearts of flesh, and give us hearts of stone. The stones rent asunder at the cry of thy Son, at the suffering of our Saviour; our hearts are never touch'd, nor affected with it. That's the first collection, our hearts are hardned. And that implies two things;

1. Durum non sentit. An hard heart is heavie, and sensless. The softest tempers are of quickest apprehension. Our brawny hearts are dull'd and stupefied.

2. Durum non cedit. An hard heart, it is not yielding, and penetrable of its own disposition not admitting, nay, repelling; Band (if not over-ruled and mollified by an higher power) of it self rejecting any offer of grace. That's the first inference, that the act of Renting affords; durities in objecto; the hardness of our hearts, it needs a renting. And that brings in the second Observation.

2. Difficultatem in actu; Hardness, and difficulty in the act to be performed. Repentance, 'tis no easie, light touch of sorrow, or weak impression of grief, a sudden qualm of melancholy, soon dispelled; no, 'tis deep, and piercing, 'tis a convulsion of the soul, a racking and torture of the heart and conscience; 'tis no less Cthen a renting. See with what terms of extremity the Scripture describes it; 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. 'tis a smiting of the heart; Acts. ii. 37. 'tis a pricking of the Conscience; nay, a wounding of the Spirit, Prov. xviii. 14. an hewing, and cutting off, Matth. v. 30. no less then mortifying, Coloss. iii. 5. and that the most violent, and painfull that can be; Gal. v. 24. 'tis a crucifying torment. Zecharie foretells it, Chap. xii. 10. They shall mourn as for their onelyonly Son, and shall be in bitterness, as for their first-born; Primo-genitus, & Uni-genitus. The loss of the first-born, and onelyonly begotten, the sorrow of it (but in those that feel it) it is inconceiveable. Yet Dthe sense of this, or any worldly sorrow, must be farr exceeded in our penitential sorrow, and grief for Sin; If not affectivè, by stirring up, and enforcing our sensual affection, yet appretiativè, in a judicious disallowance, and abomination; if not respectu corporalis perturbationis (as Aquine expresses it); yet ratione spiritualis displicentiae: if not in outward bodily vexation, yet in thy intellectual, and spiritual detestation, this grief must be the greatest. Indeed so great, 'tis call'd Contrition, Psal. li. 17. A broken, and a contrite heart (saith David) O God, thou wilt not despise. Not only broken, but even to contrition. Aliud frangi, aliud comminui, E& conteri, saith Aristotle in the fourth of his Meteors; a thing may be broken, or cut in sunder, and soon set together, and joyned again; Contrition breaks all in pieces, as Hezekiah the brazen Serpent, to dust and powder. Had Hezekiah but broken that p. 159brazen Serpent into some pieces, superstition would have reserv'd Aa relique, or have sodder'd it up, and made all whole. As they report of some living Serpents; cut them only into some few parcels, they will grow together again, and heal up presently; and so, do we but slightly divide, and cut this Serpent of Sin, and not hack and hew it all asunder, it will easily re-collect, and revive it self. Repentance proceeds unto contrition; Not a weak attritien onelyonly (as some Scholemen and Jesuits would moderate the matter) a faint wishing that he had not sinned, a slight fit of grieving, or some sudden pang; No, it enters to the dividing of the soul and spirit; 'tis a renting of the heart-strings. My heart B(saith David, Psal. xxii. 14.) is like melted wax; not warm'd, or heat onelyonly, but burnt, and melted in the sense of his sins. That's the second Observation, Difficultas in actu; Repentance, 'tis a painfull renting of the heart and soul. And that inferrs,

3. Vim in agente; It requires a strong, violent renting. Conceive the strength of it to consist in these particular degrees: Repentance requires,

1. Vehementiam action is; A man, that will set upon this main work of repentance, he must be all spirit, and life; Not like S…ul, sparing the life of any of his sins; but as zealous Samuel, Cwounding, and hewing his sins in pieces. The half-mortified civil Moralist will suppress and abate, but in no case root out, and extinguish sin. It may be, he will keep under his sins, when of delightfull Passions, they become turbulent, and violent perturbations. When his darling Absalom becomes a rebel, then he can be content to subdue him; but yet, Spare the young man for my sake; in no case kill him: Whereas every valiant Ioab strikes and stabs him to the heart without compassion. In this case S. Augustin advises us to handle our sins as Iob did his soars, violently, and vehemently; Non molli linteo, sed durissima testa. He wiped them Dnot gently with a soft cloth, but scrap'd, and vext them with an hard potsheard. See the strength and violence of this penitential sorrow, in repenting David; I roared for the disquietness of my soul; I have washed my bed with my tears; His bed, the place of his rest, and quiet repose, even that's overflown with flouds of tears. Mine eyes pour out rivers of waters, because men keep not thy Law: If tears of compassion for other mens sins were thus plentifull, how did he set ope the floud-gates to his tears of compunction for his own transgressions? That's the first step of this violent repenting; it requires Vehementiam actus.

2. Frequentia actionis; That's a second degree. This renting and breaking of an hard heart, requires many, and frequent violent impressions, all little enough to mollifie the heart. In this case, it is otherwise with our natural heart, then with our sinfull; p. 160Unico vulnere, cor hominis; the least prick of a wound kills the Aheart of man; Deep, and often stabbings are scarce able to enter into the heart of Sin. That's the second degree, Frequentia actionis. Nay,

3. Omnipotentia actionis; No less then an omnipotency is necessary to contrition. So great an agency required to the mollifying of an hard heart, that our own strength is too weak. Consider, how our hearts are not onelyonly dead in trespasses, and sins, but are buried in a Sepulchre hewn out of a rock, and the gravestone of habitual hardness sealed upon them; and we may well cry out, Who shall remove this grave-stone from us? Who shall Bmollifie, and intenerate this hard rock? The Word of the Lord must be that hammer that can break this stone. The Spirit of the Lord must enable Bezaleel to work upon this brass. Moses, that had faith enough for performance of all other miracles, yet had scarce faith enough to melt the rock. And the Devil required no greater argument of Christ's Divinity, then softning of stones. And the barbarous Centurion, observing the stones to cleave in sunder, concluded certainly, that Christ was no less then the Son of God. No, 'tis Digitus Dei, and Spiritus Dei; no less then the stroke of the powerfull Spirit can soften thy heart. CThat's the third particular. Repentance, 'tis a vehement, frequent, omnipotent action. That's the first observation I gather from my Text, the nature of repentance, it is violent renting.

And from it, Let us briefly deduce a double Use; Is repentance so vehement, so laborious, so tormenting an action?

1. Then consider; Si talis medicina, qualis morbus? If the medicine and cure of Repentance be so bitter, Oh! what a dangerous disease is the sickness of Sin? Wilt thou swallow down that for a little pleasure, and delight of thy palat, which, if it prove not thy bane, thou must vomit it up again with the re…ting Dof thy bowels? Would David have adventured upon the pleasure of adultery, if he had foreseen those pangs and tortures of his after-repentance? Would he ever have suffered himself to fall, had he ever considered, that that one slip would cost him no less then the breaking of his bones? That the bones thou hast broken may rejoyce. It is strange; most men make that a temptation to sin, which truly considered, would be a powerfull disswasion from the least offence, The hope of repentance.

1. Presumption in the wicked, that objects, I may repent, Eand therefore I will sin. So, it is possible thou mayest be healed, wilt thou therefore stab thy self? Nay, rather argue thus; Thou must repent, thou must be lanced, racked, and tortured with repentance, therefore do not dare to sin; Nay,

p. 1612. Infirmity in Gods children, may sometimes conceit, I shall Arepent, I may sin; True, thou shalt repent. Bonum consilium sed non nunc, said Hushai the Archite: 'Tis true doctrine, but not seasonably applied. Cordials before Purges increase the peccant humour. Hope of repentance before thou sinnest, makes thee more sinfull. Thou shalt repent; so did David, and Peter, and Saul, who went through those anguishes, those pangs, and tortures of repenting sorrow, which they would not endure again for a world of pleasure. That's the first Use, Si talis medicina, qualis morbus?

2. Si talis medicina, qualis mors? If the physick of repentance be so sowre? Oh! how bitter is the death of despair? If Peter wept bitterly, what an hell, do you think, was in Iudas his conscience? If the soveraign medicine be so unpleasant, how shall we relish that gall, that wormwood, that deadly poison? If God, when he takes out the fire, and burning, out of thy flesh with the cool tears of repentance, and oyl of mercy, if that breeds such anguish, Oh! how intolerable will it be, to be plunged into the flames of fire and brimstone? If when he heals us, Cand binds up our wounds, he puts us to such smart and torture, what torments shal we feel, when his arrows stick fast in our flesh, and the venom of them shall drink up our bloud? Repentance, it is a gift, Acts xi. 18. If the gift and blessing of Repentance be so heavie, how insupportable is the curse of Despair? To avoid that Hell, who would not undergo this Purgatory? Whose heart would not crave, and beg of God, with that devout Father, Hic ure, hic seca, Domine, ut in aeternum parcas? Lord, burn me, and lance, and wound me in this life, so that despair may not torment me in the world to come. That's the second Use; Si talis medicina, qualis mors.

I pass on,

2. To the Object, that upon which repentance must work, and exercise it self, specified unto us; First, in the affirmative sense; it must be the Heart; Rent your heart. The Observation from whence, is thus much; that contrition and penitential sorrow, and grief for sin, must be deep, settled, and grounded in the heart. Repentance, it must be inward, and hearty; and that especially for these Reasons:

1. Ratione veritatis poenitentiae; If thy heart be not contrite, and sorrowfull, it is not true repentance.

2. Ratione usus; Except thy sorrow work upon thy heart, there is no use, or profit in thy repentance.

3. Ratione acceptationis; Except thy heart be humbled, and cast down for sin, it is no pleasing, or acceptable repentance.

p. 1621. Ratione veritatis; If it be not inward, and hearty, 'tis Ano true repentance. Non est converti in toto, & integro corde, nisi in scisso, saith St. Bernard, Thine heart is not whole, and sound, except by sorrow it be rent and broken. Non est integrum, nisi sit scissum. How then shall we discern, and know this truth and integrity of a broken heart? By what signs shall it appear, that our repentance is hearty and true?

1. True and hearty repentance, is Voluntaria poenitentia; 'tis a willing, voluntary sorrow, and repentance. This is a main difference 'twixt that ingenuous Christian sorrow in a true Penitent, and those hellish torments in the afflicted conscience Bof a despairing Reprobate. The Christian Penitent, he is activus in poenitentia, provokes, and stirs up himself to sorrow; a damned Reprobate, he is passivus in poenitentia; sorrow eats, and gnaws upon him against his will. Christians in their sorrow, imitate Christ, Iohn xi. T…bavit …, he fretted, and vex'd within himself, as Lot in Sodo…; they vex their own spirits for their abominations; they need no Devils, (as the Penitents in Purgatory) to affright and torture them. With Ieremie, they wish for a fountain of tears; and if they grow drie, they provoke, and enforce themselves Cby all means possible. As … often read over the Lamentations of Ieremie, that by conceiving of other mens sorrows, he might sorrow himself; As Polus on the contrary, bearing in his hands his own Son, conceited more deeply another mans sorrow, by representing his own; As Aug. on his death-bed, painting on the wall the p…itential Psalms, and by them enflaming his own repentance; always praying that they might sorrow, grieving, that they cannot grieve, never repenting that they have repented. That's the first note of true, hearty repentance; 'tis Voluntaria.

2. Vera poenitentia, 'tis Solitaria. True sorrow for sin, it will be secret, in privacie, and solitude; and then it works strongest. Ille dolet verè, qui sine teste. Players on the Stage may howl, and mourn, and wring tears from their eyes, and yet be mad merry fellows among themselves. Ahab can put on Sackeloth, and go softly, when he spies Elias. And, if they chance to miss spectators to see, and applaud them, their labour & sorrow it is all lost. Why have we fasted, and thou seest not? Isai. lviii. 3. Whereas a true Penitent, with St. Peter, goes out, seeks a corner to shed tears; runs not Eamong his fellow-Disciples to take notice of him. As Ioseph shed his tears of commiseration, so a true Penitent his tears of contrition, in his privatest closet. Thus David, saith Saint Chrysostom speaking of the privacie of his repentance, was p. 163in solio regali, velut vinctus in car…ere; aula regalis erat, tanquam Aeremi vastissi…a solitudo; his walks, chamber, closet, bed, they were witnesses of his true repentance. That's a second evidence of true, hearty contrition; 'tis Solitaria.

3. V…ra p…nitentia, 'tis Perpetua; 'Tis a continued, constant, lasting repentance. A wicked man reckons the shortest fit of spiritual sorrow to be insupportable, he cannot endure it. Felix, at the first offer, and touch of it, rejects it instantly. Like little children, or mad men, if the physick be bitter, or untoothsome, they fling it from them, or spill it presently. A true Penitent drinks deep of it, and sucks up the Bdregs. 'Tis tempered by God himself, he knows it is soveraign. Thus David acknowledging the frequency, and constancy of his repentance, professes he made his tears his food, day and night, Psal. xlii. 3. To which St. Bernard alluding in his second Sermon, De Iejunio, tells us, There is one kind of bread a Christian always feeds on, never fails from, the bread of tears; which, he saith, David made his ordinary standing die…. Lachrym… factae sunt mihi panes, die ac …. He used them not as physick, onelyonly for some extraordinary recovery, as most men think of repentance, applying Cit, as Papists their Extrem… Unction, never but in case of death; no, David fed upon them, and lived upon them, they were his appointed food, day and night. Ieremie calls it a fountain of tears, not a cistern that spends it self presently; or a Winter-torrent in some great affliction, which the Summer of prosperity will soon drie up; but a fountain of tears, implying constancy, and perennity. Thus, saith Chrysostom, St. Paul not having any present enormities, as fuel to maintain the flame of his repentance, rather Dthen he would abate his sorrowing, re-calls his ancient sins, past, and forgiven; Deleta revocat, I was a persecut…r, I was a blasphemer, thereby to stir up and maintain his sorrow. A wicked Reprobate, the least nibbling of the worm of conscience, is intolerable to him for the least moment; he either destroys it presently, or it destroys him. Christians delight to continue in it; Even in the midst of this fiery furnace of an afflicted conscience, they walk, and talk, sing, and rejoyce, like the three Children; whereas Iudas, Saul, and other Reprobates, are presently consumed with the Eleast flashes of it. A true Penitent makes this the purpose of his life, would not live, but to repent; with Tertullian, accounting himself, Nulli rei, nisi poenitentiae natus, Born to repent, and never give it over before he dies. Nay, were p. 164it possible, he would mourn in heaven. Then, at the day Aof Judgement, shall these penitential tears be wiped from his eyes. He enters into heaven with tears in his eyes, and God must wipe them away; of themselves they would not stay, or dry up. That's the third property of true Repentance, 'tis perpetua. That's the first reason why our hearts must be wrought upon, Ratione Veritatis; otherwise 'tis no true Repentance.

2. Ratioue usus; Except thy heart be contrite and penitent, 'tis no useful and profitable Repentance. Outward abstinence and reformation, without the heart, is to no purpose. BThou mayst prune the twigs, or hew off the boughs, but the root keeps life in it, and will spring out naturally; till that be deaded, hacking the bark is lost labour. We may truly say of such heartless repentance, as the Messalians falsly taught of Christian Baptism; it doth, Radere peccata, non eradicare; shave, or pare off sin, not kill it at the root. Sin, 'tis as deeply fastned in the heart, as Ivy that grows and springs out of a wall; we may shed off the leaves, but if we would throughly destroy it, and root it out, we must dig down the wall, and break it in pieces: So, if thou wouldst work out those fibrae peccati, that are fretted, Cand incorporated into thy soul, thou must bruise and break thy heart by Repentance. As in curing of a sore, so here, 'tis not sufficient to wipe away the filth and corruption that issues from thy soul, except the core of sin, which lyes in thy heart, be consumed, and perish'd. That's the second enforcement for hearty Repentance, Ratione usus; otherwise it is unprofitable Repentance. Contrition must work upon the heart,

3. Ratione acceptationis; Otherwise, 'tis no pleasing, or acceptable Repentance. In this case, were it possible to divide the man, God chuseth, like the King of Sodom, Tantummodo mihi Danimas; God expects, and accepts the heart: If the heart be absent, he accepts not either hand, or head, or the whole outward man; but even without these, the heart contents him. Thus David, Sacrificia Dei, Cor contritum: The choyse Sacrifice that is best accepted, is a contrite heart: Nay, Sacrificia, 'tis all the Sacrifices, represented by all, and including them all, and, in Gods account, more precious then all. The Sacrifices of God, are a broken heart; without which, other Sacrifices find no more acceptance then Cain's oblation. We find that in Suetonius, Excors Sacrificium, the Emperours Sacrifice that had no Eheart, was prodigious and abominable. Sure, with God, an outward carkass of Repentance, without the heart and spirit, 'tis no less execrable. That's the third reason for our hearts Contrition, Ratione acceptationis; otherwise, no Repentance acceptable.

p. 165Thus having seen the Act of Renting, applied to its proper Aobject in the affirmative part; Come we, Secondly, To the object negatively set down, Rent not your garments. In the former, Rent your hearts, was discovered their inbred obduration. In the latter, Rent not your garments, the Lord checks and reproves their outward Superstition. And that I resolv'd into a double sense:

1. In disjunction from the renting of the heart; so it is Sensus purè negativus; a plain Prohibition: Or else,

2. In conjunction together with the renting of the heart; so 'tis Sensus comparativus, Your heart, rather then Your garment.

First, Conceive it negative, Rent not your garments. Renting of garments, an usual, and allowed Ceremony; nay, often exacted, and required among the Jews. Ier. xx…vi. 24. At the burning of the Book, Iehoiakim, and his Princes, are charged, That they rent not their garments. Frequently it was practis'd, in sign either of horror and detestation, in case of Blasphemy; of submission and humiliation, upon any Calamity; or as an evidence Cof sorrow and contrition, and practice of Repentance.

And, in this respect, in the exercise and practice of Repentance, we may conceive it, either,

1. As a real protestation and acknowledgment of our unworthiness, by sin, of the benefit and comfort of Apparel; as fasting is a significant confession, that our sins have made us unworthy of the least repast of a morsel of bread: Or,

2. (As others will apprehend it) As it is a voluntary stripping, and laying our selves open to the stroaks and lashes of Gods wrath and vengeance. As it was usual with the DLictores, to rent off the clothes of notorious malefactours; and we see it practis'd upon Paul and Silas, Acts xvi. 22.

However, let the intent and purpose be never so significant, yet the Observation out of this negative prohibition is thus much; That all outward ceremonious practice of Piety, if divided and sever'd from inward Devotion, 'tis rejected of God, without acceptance. With the Superstitious Jew, rent thy clothes, the garments of thy body; nay, with the frantick Papist, rent thy body, the garment of thy soul, they are both alike to my purpose; yet if thy heart be free from compunction, these Eoutward Ceremonies, though seemingly religious, are to God abominable.

An hypocrite (would these outsides of Piety and Devotion serve the turn) would be a compleat Christian, without exception. p. 166In Repentance, he can command his tongue by prayer, Aand confession; his face and countenance, in heaviness and d… jection; his back, with Ahab, in wearing sackcloth; his belly shall be afflicted with often fastings; nay, his eyes shall afford plenty of tears: but his heart mean-while is as fat as brawn, he is an utter stranger to a wounded spirit,

What is this, but to deal with God, as Michal with Saul? When Saul requires David, she sends him a Puppet stufft up with clothes: As the Gibeonites with Ioshuah, deluding him with worn shoes, and ragged apparel, in the habit of some travelling Pilgrims, when they were borderers hard at hand; hoping, Blike Iaco…, to lurch away the blessing under the vizar of counterfeit garments: At most, if, with the Patriarchs, they can bring a garment rent in pieces, and dipp'd in bloud, their body lash'd, and torn in penance, Oh then Ioseph is dead, the man surely is mortified. Sub istis pietatis …, la…et … animus valde …; under these outsides and appearances of piety, and mortification there harbours too often unsanctified, worldly, and carnal affections.

Not that outward Ceremonies and Appearances of our inward devotion are either superfluous, or superstitious; nay, they are Chelpful, and useful rather;

1. By way of Expression; As solemn Protestations in the face of the Church, of that inward Disposition of our inner man.

2. By way of Impression; These outward signs of sorrow and remorse, being duly considered, reflect and work upon the heart and conscience; as Anthony, bringing out the bloudy garment of C…sar, inraged himself and his company against his Murderers.

Ceremonies (if accompanied with the heart) are useful and Dacceptable; if divided from it, sinful and abominable. Outsides and Ceremonies, they are not fructus, but …, as leaves to the tree; In infrugifera, …; in frugifer…, maturitatem. Leaves without fruit, they bring a Curse, Matth. xxi. Leaves with fruit, they ripen and help forward a seasonable maturity.

Ceremonies are Garments; As Garments to a Body, so … Ceremonies to Religion. Garments on a living body, they … and preserve the natural warmth; put them on a dead body, they never setch life; And Ceremonies, they help to cherish and Eincrease devotion, in a profane dead heart they cannot breed it. These garments of religion upon an holy man, they are like Christ's garments on his own holy Body, they have a … in them; joyned with a profane heart, they are Christ's garments on his crucifying Murderers.

p. 167Ceremonies, are to Religion, as the Body to the Soul; A ABody quickned and enlivened with the Soul, tis comely and amiable: and so are Ceremonies with inward Devotion, most beautiful: But if the soul be departed from the body, it becomes presently ghastly, and abominable. The Lord loaths and rejects a dead carkass of outward Ceremonies, without the soul and life of inward Sanctity. Those cures prove healthy which are inward, and remove the malady from the vital parts; that's dangerous and deadly, which being outwardly applied onelyonly, smites it in again to the heart and spirits. Contrition of the heart, that heals inwardly; outward Ceremonies, Penance, &c. without Bthe other, it strikes and drives the disease inward. Non sanat, sed tegit, doth not cure, but heal and skin over our corruption.

That's the first sense, I observed; As Garments are here Objectum solitarium, as divided from heart, and spirit, so it is an absolute Prohibition; Rent not your garments. But

Secondly, Take them both together, so 'tis sensus comparativus; rather your hearts then your garments, by way of comparison. And from this Exposition, I deduce this Conclusion, That the contrition and sorrow of the heart is more necessary and useful, Cthen any outward bodily affliction▪ Repentance must rather work upon the heart, then upon the body and outward man. And that upon a double ground.

1. Ratione majoris indigentiae, The Heart needs it more.

2. Ratione facilioriis consequentiae, Outward Humiliation naturally follows upon inward Contrition.

1. I say, the Heart needs it more. Deepest wounds must have speediest curing, & the wound of sin is deepest in the heart. The body is but the weapon that gives this wound. Membra sunt arma, saith the Apostle; and to inflict penance on the body Dfor the sin of the soul, 'tis like those Mountebanks that lay the salve to the Weapon, not to the Wound. Membra sunt arma; outward Members, they are but the Weapons of Sin; the Heart, that is the chief Rebel, and Plotter of Rebellion. Rather stab thine Enemy, then hack his Weapon. Membra sunt arma; the Members are but Weapons, the Heart, that is the chief Castle, and Fortress of Sin, 2 Cor. x. 4. Imaginations are called strong Holds. The Victory is not ours, till the Castle be taken. The Body,

1. Minùs peccat; The Body, even when it sins, yet is not so Esinful, as the Heart and Spirit. The Heart is the Fountain and Spring of Sin; outward Transgressions are but Streams and Rivulets drained from that Head. Every thing is more full and compleat in his Principle and Original; Light in p. 168the Sun, Heat in the fire, is more intense and vehement Athen scattered abroad. Cast the beam out of thine eye, saith our Saviour, Matth. vii. 5. Oh! si trabs in o…ulo, strues in corde; if sin be as a beam in thine eye, there is an huge stack piled up in thy heart; nay, sylva caedua, a grown wood, whence this beam first grew and sprouted. The Body,

2. Rariùs peccat; It is not so often sinful. It may be innocent from outward enormities, when thy heart is guilty of inward rebellions. The heart acts more in one instant, then the outward man can in a long time perform; as Basil in Bhis Homilie, on Attende tibi ipsi, pag. 342. foreign. All men have not outwardly committed all sins; but every mans heart hath in it the seed and conception, and so is guilty of all Transgressions. Whence S. Paul, Rom. iii. charges every man with every kind of sin; because the original and spawn of all, lay bred in the heart. And for these, the Heart must sue for, and obtain pardon; as Saint CAug. saith excellently of his own soul, Tot sunt ei remissa, quot non sunt commissa: Or else for these (though abortive conceptions) 'tis liable to judgment. As we kill a Serpent for the venom within it, though haply it never hurt any by poyson. That's the first reason why the Heart is Principal in this Contrition; Ratione majoris indigentiae.

2. Ratione facilioris consequentiae. Humiliation of the Body, naturally follows the Contrition of the Soul; but not so on the contrary. Thou mayest torture and macerate thy body Dlong enough, e're thou mortify thy soul. Remove Objects, break off Instruments, avoid Occasions; yet, thy Heart hath a self-sufficiency within it self to commit sin. As a Mill ('tis Saint Bernard's Similitude) if you pour not in Grain and Corn to be grinded; yet, the Mill stands not still nor stayes, but moves and grindes, and works upon it self: so the Heart of Man, hath that restless motion to commit sin; that, deny it help from without, it conceives and practises sin in it self. Voluntas ipsa sibi imputatur, saith Tertullian, nec excusari poterit per illam perficiendi infelicitatem, operata quod suum fuerat.

Outward Reformation, neither mortifies, nor yet excuses the Heart. To which purpose S. Chrysostom sweetly alluding to those words of S. Paul, Gal. vi. 14. The world is crucified to me, and I unto the world, observes; It is not sufficient to have the p. 169world, and outward temptations mortified, and crucified to us, Aexcept our hearts be crucified to them. If outward instruments and occasions of sin be dead to thee, but thy sinful heart alive to them, thou wilt long, and love, and desire, and mourn for the World even after it is dead, as the surviving Friend did for his dead Acquaintance; Sed mortuus mortuum non luget. Lay two dead friends together, and there is no love, or lamentation. Thy heart must die unto the World, as well as the World be crucified to thee: Outward bodily Reformation affects not the soul.

In this Case, it fares with the body of sin, as with the natural Bbody; if any outward member be dead, or cut off, the life and strength runs to another: As the Athenian Souldier first grappled with his right hand; when he lost that, laid hold with his left; after that was cut off, fastned with his teeth; his heart was not wounded: So the body of Sin, 'till the heart be crucified, stop the issue of it in thine hand, it breaks out in thine eye; if thou pluck that out, it will find vent in thy tongue: A stab at the heart destroyes all presently.

Outward Humiliation naturally follows inward Contrition. Physicians observe, that Passions of the mind oft-times Cwork more strongly on the body, then corporal Diseases; and so in Divinity, Famula in culpa, will be Socia in poenitentia. The body, that attended thee in sin, will follow thee in sorrow: If the Master mourn…, the Servant that attends him, follows him in black; and if thy Soul, the principal Mourner in true Repentance, if that be sad; thy Body, the Servant of thy Soul, is dejected and heavy. Otherwise, to injoyn penance to thy Body, serv…m, nay, jumentum animae, thy bestial, and brute part; and to solace thy soul, is, as if the Ninevites should have enjoyned Fasting and Sackcloth to their Beasts and Cattel; and Themselves ruffled it in mirth and jollity.

Repentance observes the same Order in our Regeneration, that the Life of Nature doth in our Generation; Cor primum vivens; When the Heart is formed and enlivened, the Hands, and Feet, and outward man, 'tis shaped out presently: Repentance observes the same Order in our Regeneration, that the Life of Glory doth in our Glorification; It is radicaliter in corde, saith the Scholeman, redundanter in corpore; It rises in the heart, then by a natural flux, and redundation, shews it self in the body. 'Tis so in the first motions, and quicknings of repentance. That's the second ground, why our hearts should rather Ebe affected by Repentance, Ratione consequentiae; outward Contrition will naturally follow.

Thus having with Elias observed the former part of repentance, Contrition, like a mighty strong Wind renting the Rocks; p. 170listen with patience to that gentle voice, wherein the Lord is in Athe next part of my Text, which is,

Secondly, The duty of Conversion, Return; Without this latter, Contrition 'tis to no purpose. As Luther said well of it, It is fuga Dei, and fremitus adversus Deum, drives us further from God. 'Tis not every renting that God accepts. The contrite heart must be a Sacrifice; not any kind of wounding and killing, but a religious devout tendring, and offering it up unto the Lord. Cain, and Iudas, and Saul, they rent their hearts, but did not sacrifice them; except to Devils. This must be a sacrificing of them to God by a sorrowful conversion, not a cruel murdering Bof them by horror and desperation.

But the time forbids any further enlargement.

Here, we observe three things,

1. Motum.

2. Terminum.

3. Habitudinem ad terminum.

First, The kind of Motion. Repentance, 'tis a Returning. And that implies, and inferrs these Observations,

1. Return; Ergo recessimus à Deo. Sin, it is a forsaking, and fleeing, and departing from the Lord. In every sin, Cthere is,

1. Aversio, A man turns his back upon God; And then

2. Conversio, sets his face towards the prosecution of sin. With Cain, we go out of the presence of Ged, set out selves out of his view, and observation. As the Prodigal, must into a far Country, could not swagger and revel in his Father's company. A Sinner must either securely put out his own eyes, that he see not God; or prophanely conceit, he can put out God's eyes that He cannot see him: (Like him, who drew the Curtain Dover his Father's Picture, when he sat down to Carding); or, it is almost impossible to commit sin. With Abraham, walk before God; With Enoch, walk with God, and keep close to him; not take a turn, or two, and then part with him: but, walk constantly, and converse with him, and sin if thou canst. In this respect, there is a proportion 'twixt our walking by faith here, and our walking by sight and beatifical vision in heaven hereafter. Ask the Scholemen, what's that makes the Saints impeccabiles in Heaven, that Ethey cannot sin? They tell us, It is Visio beatifica; they always look upon the face of God, that they cannot have the least glance, or cast of their thought to sin. Sin, it is a Departure and Forsaking of God. p. 171That's the first Observation. Return; Ergo recessimus Aà Deo.

2. Return; Ergo non progrediendum. To sin, and then sorrow; to sorrow, and then to sin again, is like desperate Debtors, wipe off the old Score, to begin a new; like unsatiable Drunkards, cast, and vomit, that they may drink the larger; or, like Popish Penitents, satisfy for the old Forfeit of Sin, and renew the Patent, and get further Licence. What Sorrow, and Contrition is this, but that which Devils and the Damned undergo? They have torture and anguish, and yet immobilitati in peccato; Bthe burden of their sorrow sinks them deeper into Sin: they blaspheme for the smart of their wounds. That's a second. Return; Ergo non progrediendum; we must not go forward.

3. Return; Ergo non cessandum. 'Tis not sufficient to break off sinning, and sit still, not putting a foot forward in this duty of Conversion. Doth Paul onelyonly give over his journey to persecute the Saints, and lie still grovelling on the ground? No, Domine, quid faciam? He turned his course, repaired to Ananias. Repentance, 'tis the Cphysick of the soul; it must not onelyonly cure the pain, but raise up the patient, and enable him to walk and stir about. Civil, and restrained men, may exceedingly resemble the effect of Contrition; they may outwardly break off the course of Sinning, but they express not the nature and virtue of Conversion; there is no life or motion: as loggs, they must be stirred with leavers; or, as dead men, carried upon other mens shoulders. That's a third Collection; Ergo non cessandum.

4. Return; Ergo properandum. Travellers out of the way, Dwhen they are set right, they make all speed to come into the Road. They that set out early, and hold straight on, may go fair and softly. We have lost time, and way; How should we hasten and quicken our Return? Observe this in S. Paul, I was a persecutor, I was a blasphemer; there is his straying, and aberration: but since, I laboured more then they all; there is his haste and speed in Conversion. That's the reason, saith Gregory, why Angels joy more for the Conversion of one Penitent, then for the Perseverance of ninety nine Innocent, Quia Poenitentes, Ecautiores, humiliores, ferventiores resurgunt; they double their pace, and add wings to their speed in their Conversion. That's the fourth Conclusion. Return; Ergo properandum.

p. 172Pass we now,

Secondly, To the term specified, and prefix'd, in this word, The Lord. And of it, we will take a double view.

1. As it hath Sin standing against him in opposition; Domino, non peccato.

2. God sends upon them the Assyrians; so take a view of it, as it hath the Assyrians under him, in subordination; Domino, non Assyrio; submit to the Lord, not to the Assyrians.

1. Domino, non peccato. Most men, otherwise; In their seeming Repentance, not forsaking, but exchanging Sin. Doth their Conscience touch them for their Prodigality? They betake Bthemselves to their thrifty Avarice. Are they weary of their over-nice, scrupulous Superstition? They run into an excessive Profanation. As those Heathen Atheists, to avoid foreign, they maintained foreign, to exclude many Gods, they admitted none. This S. Aug. observed in Heathenish Moralists. The Romans ambition suppress'd their luxury; Aliis peccatis alia vicenunt; they forsook some sins, to return to others. Are their Consciences troubled for one sin? They think it a Remedy to fall into another. In this, they deal with their Souls, as the Philistins with the Ark of God; being plagued at CGath, they carried it to Ekron, from thence they hurry it to Askelon; never remembring to return it again to the God of Israel. Qui sic alia peccata deplorat, ut alia committat, poenitentiam agere, ant dissimulat, aut ignorat, saith Gregory; 'Tis either fancy, or hypocrisy; he either mistakes himself, or would be mistaken: See this well-practised in the returning Prodigal; being pinch'd in one service, he doth not cast about to get a better, joyns not himself to another Citizen; No, I will home to my Father, that's his resolution, he returns to the Lord. That's the first Consideration of it; Domino, non peccato.

2. Domino, non Assyrio. Their Conversion, and Submission must not be made to the King of Assyria; he stands in Subordination, he is God's inferior. He is,

1. Minor Deo, respectu Essentiae; God is the more powerful; Rather make peace with the King with twenty thousand, then with a weak Prince, that heads but ten thousand. He is,

2. Subditus Deo, respectu Potestatis; That's a greater Inferiority: Supplicate to the King, …ather then to the chiefest of his Subjects. 'Tis high Treason against thy Prince, Eto offer thy loyalty to his Subject as thy Soveraign, as well as to revolt away to his utter Enemy. Nay, He is,

3. Servus Dei, respectu Administrationis; That's a lower pitch of Inferiority; he is Gods Servant, and Instrument, p. 173his Staff, and Rod of Correction. With the Shunamite Awoman, fall down at the knees of Elisha; His Servant and Staff will never recover thee. No suing to Blastus to procure thy peace, or submitting to the Captain, while the King is offended. Not onelyonly, no returning to sin, God's opposite; but not to the Assyrian, his Means and Instrument. It cost Asa his life for seeking to the Physician, though Gods Instrument; as well as Amaziah, that sought to an Idol, his utter Opposite. Thus Iob never seeks to Chaldeans, or Sabeans; Dominus dedit, & Dominus abstulit; he sues to the Lord: That's the second Bpoint observable; Domino, non Assyrio.

One Word,

Thirdly, Of the last thing observable; Habitudo mobilis ad terminum; That that orders, and byasses this motion unto the term, He is your God. And therein,

1. The Impulsive, Yours.

2. The Attractive, God.

For brevities sake, put them both together; and then conceive the use and purpose of them in a double Expression.

1. By way of Direction. Return; To whom? To the Lord. CWho is he? He is your God; so 'tis a Rule of Direction.

2. By way of Obligation; Return to the Lord. Why to the Lord? because he is your God, so 'tis a Bond and Obligation.

1. 'Tis a Direction, and that we need; we are now subject to mistake. Originally we bore that Image of his, as a touch of the Load-stone, to guide us towards him; now we are utterly ignorant, and so mistake him: our Notions of God are dark, and obscure, as Nebuchadnezzar's Dream; he knew he Ddreamt, but what it was, or what it meant, he could not remember: As Bastards, or Castaway, exposed-Children, they know they had a Father, but who he is, or where to find him, they cannot tell; so, and no more, do we remember, or acknowledg God: Nay, when he offers himself, and calls us to him, yet with the child Samuel, we run thrice to Ely for once to the Lord. We need Direction.

2. It imports unto us a Duty, and Obligation; We must Return, because he is our God; Fecisti nos propter te, & irrequietum est cor nostrum, donec redeat ad te; As the Needle, Ethat is touch'd with the Load-stone, hovers, and trembles till it looks towards that, and rests it self in it. I do but name it; the time forbids any further inlargement.

Let us humbly beseech him, that is the God of the spirits p. 174of all flesh; in whose hands are the hearts of the children of men, Athat as his Word hath outwardly called us to return unto him, so that his Spirit would enter into us, and draw us after him, and joyn us with him, and cause us to cleave unto him without Separation. This he grant unto us, and work in us, for his Sons sake.