Advice to an Only Child, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. Of Repentance.
EXerciſe daily Repentance from dead works. I add this to the former Advice, becauſe it is by Repentance unto life (as the Apoſtle calls it, Acts 11.18.) that ſin is mortified and made to die: Now this Repentance is a mourning after a godly manner, for ſins paſt, and revolving fiducially in the ſtrength of Chriſt to forſake all ſin hereafter. I ſay, it is a mourning after a godly manner; which hath theſe following properties in it.
1. It is a great and bitter mourning; it's not an eaſie grief or a mourning of the Eye only, but it's a mourning of the heart, which is the heart of mourning. It's not ſuperficial tears, but the deep ſorrow of the heart, that will waſh away ſin. I have read a Story, that one of the Queſtions which the Queen of Sheba propounded to King Solomon was this; She having brought before him a company of Children, both Males and Females, all alike apparelled, demanded of him which were the Boys, and which were the Girls, which he thus decided; he cauſed them all to waſh in a Baſon of Water, and obſerv'd which rubb'd more hard, and thoſe he ſet aſide for the Boys; and thoſe that waſht more tenderly and ſoftly, he determined to be the Girls. Thoſe that would waſh away the filth of ſin, muſt not, like thoſe of that ſofter Sex, do it eaſily and tenderly, but muſt exerciſe a maſculine ſpirit, and rub hard (like thoſe of the harder and rougher Sex) to ſcour the Soul. It's not to be done by a ſlight Repentance; there muſt be a great deal of pains taken to cleanſe the heart from ſin. And therefore Repentance is generally miſtaken, while it is thought to be nothing elſe, but a being ſorry for ſins committed, and a wiſhing they had not been done. Such ſlight Penitents can be ſorry to day, and ſin again to morrow, and yet think they have truly repented.
2. Mourning after a godly manner is a grief ſpringing from the bowels of love to God: the ſtronger the ſtream is, the more there is of the fountain; and the ſtronger the ſorrow for ſin is, the more there is of God. A true Penitent finds a principle within him, that carries him out to a mourning for ſin: But an unregenerate man is rather forced upon it, by ſome extrinſick motives, as fear of Hell, than carried to it out of the proper and peculiar inclination of his own heart.
3. It's ſuch a ſorrow as changes the heart and life; there's a ſanctification of the inward man, and a reformation of the outward converſation going along with it. This ſorrow for ſin conſumes the ſin that bred it, as the Worm doth the Wood that bred it.
4. It's accompanied with an univerſal hatred of ſin, an utter abhorrency of every iniquity. The Dove (as they ſay) which hates the Hawk, hates every Feather of it. A true Penitent ſo abhors ſin, that he hates every plume and feather, every branch of it, he would have the very memory of Amalek, blotted out; he hath a deadly hatred to the whole tribe of ſin, the whole ſtock and kind, to every member of that curſed family of ſin; he hates the very occaſions of ſin, which are only the harbingers and ſpokes-men of it, and will give them no entertainment, but thruſts them out of doors: He ſo hates ſin, that he longs to be rid of it. The Apoſtle cries out as one tied to a dead carcaſs, or tired with the Chains of a grievous bondage; O wretched man that I am, who ſhall deliver me from the body of this death! Rom. 7.14. He here cries out againſt the ſinfulneſs of Nature, and hates, and would be rid of that, as well as ſinfulneſs of Life. If you mourn only for actual ſins, you only cleanſe the ſtreams, and let the ſpring continue muddy and noiſome, which will ſoon ſend forth new ſtreams of the ſame nature.
But further; Repentance is not only a mourning for ſins paſt, but a fiducial Reſolution to forſake all for the future. I call it a fiducial Reſolution, i. e. a Reſolution of Faith; for it is not an ordinary Reſolution that will prove one to be a true Penitent; we have very revolting, ſlippery hearts, apt to return to ſin, and therefore had need to take up ſtrong and fiducial Reſolutions in the ſtrength of Chriſt, to fortifie our hearts againſt ſin. Crazy Timber in a Building muſt be well Crampt with Iron Bars to keep it from yielding: And broken Bones had need of ſtrong filleting to bind them together.
Take heed that you do not defer your Repentance, or adjourn it to another day: It's very dangerous ſo to do: Therefore I deſire you with all poſſible earneſtneſs, for the Love of God, and of your precious Souls, ſet upon this duty preſently. Do not ſay within your ſelf, I am young, and it's time enough to do it hereafter. Remember Death comes riding Poſt, and though ſometimes he change Horſes, firſt come on one Diſeaſe, and leaving that, after come on another; yet oftentimes he doth not change, but comes on one ſingle Horſe, and takes away at the firſt Sickneſs; and then, as you will but have little time to repent, ſo little aptneſs or diſpoſition thereunto, when Sickneſs hath once arreſted you. Oh how unfit will you then be to turn to God, when you can ſcarce turn your ſelf in your Bed! Let me therefore give you the Counſel that a Rabbin gave one of his Scholars, Repent a day before you die; and the Scholar thereupon thinking, that he ſhould have time enough, then he bade him repent to day, for thou knoweſt not but thou mayeſt be dead to morrow.
But is not this (it may be ſaid) a hard painful Life to be every day repenting? No, when it is done every day, it ſoon grows an eaſie work. The good Huſwife that ſcours her Plate often, hath an eaſier task of it every day than other.
But is not this a ſad and melancholy Life for to be always mourning and repenting? No, Tears of Repentance, ſaith holy Bernard, are ſweeter than all worldly Joy. Repentance is a moſt ſweet Grace, and hath much comfort in it. The day of Expiation in the Old Law was a day of mourning, yet the Jubilee was always to be proclaimed on that day. The day of mourning for ſin is a day of Expiation of ſin, and God then proclaims a Jubilee to the Soul in the pardon of it. But further to take off this Objection, and to give a fuller Anſwer thereunto, I ſhall add the next following Advice.