» As it is dangerous to make false definitions of sin, so it is dangerous to make false definitions of grace. » But a babe cannot improve bis interest, as be that is of grown years, 2 Peter i. 1.
Rom. VIIL 32-34.] heaven on earth. 461
strangled in its infancy. He that hath begun a good work will perfect it, Philip, i. 6, 1 Peter i. 5. Christ is as well bound to look after our graces as he is to look after our souls. Grace is Christ's work, therefore it must prosper in his hand ; he is the great builder and repairer of our graces ; he will turn thy spark into a flame, thy drop into an ocean, thy penny into a pound, thy mite into a million. Mat. xii. 20, and xiii. 32. There- fore do not sit down discouraged because thy faith is weak. That which is sowed in weakness, shall rise in power. Thy weak faith shall have a glorious resurrection. Christ will not suffer such a pearl of price to be buried under a clod of earth.
(4.) The fourth hint. A little faith is faith, as a spark of fire is fire, a drop of water is water, a little star is a star, a little pearl is a pearl. Verily, thy little faith is a jewel that God doth highly prize and value; and thy little faith will make thee put a higher price upon Christ and grace than upon all the world. Mat. xviii. 10, 1 Peter ii. 7. Well ! re- member this, that the least measure of true faith will bring thee to sal- vation, and possess thee of salvation, as well as the greatest measure. A little faith accompanies salvation as well as a great faith, a weak faith as well as a strong. Therefore do not say, 0 precious soul, that thou hast not that faith that accompanies salvation, because thou hast not such a strong faith, or such and such degrees of faith. A great faith will yield a man a heaven here, a little faith will peld him a heaven hereafter.
The third thing that I am to shew you is, what repentance that is that accompanies salvation. That repentance doth accompany salva- tion I have formerly shewed. Now, I shall manifest in the following particulars what repentance that is that doth accompany salvation, that comprehends salvation, that borders upon salvation.
(1.) The first property. First, That repentance that accompanies salvation, is a general, a universal change of the whole man; a change in every part, though it be hut in part. That repentance that accom- panies salvation changes both heart and life, word and work ; it makes an Ethiopian an Israelite, a leper an angel. ' Wash ye, make you clean ;' there is the change of your hearts. ' Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well,' Isa. i. 16-18 ; there is the change of their practices.
So the prophet Ezekiel, ' Cast away all your transgressions,' saith he, 'whereby you have transgressed ;' there is the change of life: 'And make you a new heart, and a new spirit,' Ezek. xviii. 30-32 ; there is the change of the heart.^ That repentance that accompanies salvation works a change in the whole man ; in all the qualities of the inward man, and in all the actions of the outward man. The understanding is turned from darkness to light ; the will from a sinful servility to a holy liberty ; the affections from disorder into order ; the heart from hard- ness into softness. So in the outward man, the wanton eye is turned into an eye of chastity ; the uncircumcised ear is turned into an obedient ear ; the hands of bribery are turned into hands of liberality ; and the
' True repentance is a thorough change both of the mind and manners. Optima et optissima poenitentia est nova vita, saith Luther. It is said, that upon one's preaching, Kepent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, there followed almost everywhere, Delictorum pcenitentia, morum reformatio, omnium contritio, cessabant blaspkemice, alece ludi.
462 HEAVEN ON EARTH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34.
wandering feet of vanity are turned into ways of purity. And verily, that repentance that changes a man in some part, but not in every part, that only makes a man a Herod, or an Agrippa, a half Christian, an almost Christian, that repentance will never bring down heaven into a man's bosom here, nor never bring a man up to heaven hereafter. That repentance that accompanies salvation makes a man all glorious within, and his raiment to be of embroidered gold, Ps. xlv. 13 ; it stamps the image of God both upon the inward and the outward man ; it makes the heart like the ark, all gold within ; and it makes the life like the sun, all glorious without.
(2.) The second property. Secondly, That repentance that accom- panies salvation is a total turning as well as an universal turning ; a turning from all sin, without any reservation or exception. ' I hate and abhor every false way, but thy law do I love,' Ps. cxix. 163. So in Ezek. xviii. 30, ' Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn your- selves from all your transgressions ; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.' So in Ezek. xxxiii. 11. As Noah's flood drowned his nearest and his dearest friends, so the flood of penitent tears drowns men's nearest and their dearest lusts. Be they Isaacs or Benjamins, be they right eyes or right hands, repentance that accompanies salvation puts all to the sword ; it spares neither father nor mother, neither Agag nor Achan ; it casts off all the rags of old Adam ; it leaves not a horn nor a hoof behind ; it throws down every stone of the old building ; it scrapes off all leviathan's scales ; it washeth away all leprous spots.* Ezek. xiv. 6, ' Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, Re- pent, and turn yourselves from your idols ; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.' Sin is a turning the back upon God, and the face towards hell ; but repentance is a turning the back upon sin, and a setting the face towards God. He that looks upon Jerusalem and upon Babylon with a leering eye at the same time ; he that looks upon God, and at the same time looks upon any sin with a leering eye,^ hath not yet reached unto this repentance that accompanies salvation ; his repentance and profession cannot secure him from double damnation. He that serves God in some things, and his lusts in other things, says to God as David said to Mephibosheth concerning his lands, ' Thou and Ziba divide the lands,' 1 Sam. xix. 2.9 ; so thou and Satan divide my soul, my heart between you. Ah ! doth not such a soul deserve a double hell ? Christ takes every sin at a penitent man's hands, as Ctesar did his wounds from him of whom he merited better usage, with, xa; gu fiou rv/.vov, ' And thou, my son.' What, thou wound me ! what, thou stab me ! that shouldst venture thy own blood to save mine V
There are no wounds that are so grievous and terrible to Christ, as those that he receives in the house of his friends, and this sets the peni- tent man's heart and hand against^ everything that makes against