^ True hatred ia ili vk yinfi, to the whole kind. — Aristotle. And God has engaged him- self to cleanse the hearts of his people from all, and to set their souls against all, Jer. xxxiii. 8 ; Ezek, xxxvi 25, 29, 33 ; 1 John i. 9. Repentance for sin is nothing worth with- out repentance from sin. * Thus did Herod and Judas, to their eternal ruin, James ii. 20.
' One stab at the heart kills, one hole in the ship sinks her, one act of treason makes a traitor ; so one sin not forsaken, not turned from, will undo a soul for ever. Sin ever ends tragically, and this puts the penitent in battle array against every sin.
Rom. VIII. 32-34.] heaven on earth. 463
Christ. A true penitent looks upon every sin as poison, as the vomit of a dog, as the mire of the street, as the menstruous cloth, which of all things in the law was most unclean, defiling, and polluting. Pliny saith that the very trees, with touching of it, would become barren.^ And his looking thus upon every sin, turns his heart against every sin, and makes him not only to refrain from sin, but to forsake it, and to loathe it more than hell.
(3.) The third property. Thirdly, That repentance that accompanies salvation is not only a turning from all sin, but it is also a turning unto Ood.^ It is not only a ceasing from doing evil, but it is also a learning to do well ; it is not only a turning from darkness, but it is also a turning to light; as the apostle speaks, Acts xxvi. 18, ' To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.' So in Isa. Iv. 7, * Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord,' &c. It is not enough for the man of iniquity to forsake his evil way, but he must also return unto the Lord ; he must subject his heart to the power of divine grace, and his life to the will and word of God. As negative goodness can never satisfy a gracious soul, so negative goodness can never save a sinful soul. It is not enough that thou art thus and thus bad, but thou must be thus and thus good, or thou art undone for ever: Ezek. xviii. 21, 'But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.' Nega- tive righteousness and holiness is no righteousness, no holiness, in the account of God. It was not the pharisee's negative righteousness, nor his comparative goodness, that could prevent his being rejected of God, his being shut out of heaven, his burning in hell, Luke xviii. 5, Mat. XX. 13, 14. It is not enough that the tree bears no ill fruit, but it must bring forth good fruit, else it must be cut down and cast into the fire. That tree that is not for fruit is for the fire. 'Every tree that brings not forth good fruit,' says Christ, 'is hewn down, and cast into the fire,' Mat. vii. 19. Men that content themselves with negative righteousness, shall find at last heaven-gates bolted upon them with a double bolt. All that negative righteousness and holiness can do, is to help a man to * one of the best chambers and easiest beds in hell. That repentance that accompanies salvation brings the heart and life not only off from sin, but on to God; it makes a man not only cease from walking in the ways of death, but it makes him walk in the ways of life : ' They do no iniquity, they walk in his ways,' Ps. cxix. 3.^
(4.) The fourth property. Fourthly, That repentance that accom- panies salvation, strikes most effectually and particularly against that sin or sins, that the sinner was most apt and prone to before his con- version. The hand of repentance is most dgainst that sin, it is most
* Tsa. XXX. 22. Nihil in lege menstruosd immundius Jerome. [Pliny, Nat. Hist,, lib.
xxviii. cap. 23 — G.]
« The Hebrew word for repentance is from 31^, ahoh, which signifies to return, implying a going back from what a man had done. It notes a returning or converting from one thing to anotlier, as from sin to God, from evil to good, from hell to heaven.
3 rie that holds not wholly with Christ, doth very shamefully neglect Christ, Aut totum mecum tene, aut tolum omitte. — Gregory Nazianzen. And therefore if Christ trample upon them at last, it is just.
464) HEAVEN ON EAETH. [ROM. VIII. 32-34.
upon that sin that the soul hath looked most with a leering eye upon.' The chief and principal sius that Israel was guilty of, was idolatry and sinful compliance. Now, when God works kindly upon them, they put the hand of repentance upon those particular sins, as you may see : Isa, xxvii. 9, ' By this, therefore, shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin : when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalk stones, that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.'* Here you see, when God appears and acts graciously for and towards his people, they put the hand of repent- ance upon their groves and images ; these must down, these must no longer stand. The groves and the images shall not stand up, they shall be utterly abandoned and destroyed, demolished, and abolished. So in Isa. XXX. 22, ' Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold : thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth ; thou shalt say unto it. Get thee hence.' Here you see the hand of repentance is against their idols of silver and gold ; and not only against their idols, b\it also against what- soever had any relation to them. Now they shew nothing but a detestation of their idols, and a holy indignation against them : ' Get you hence.'^ The hand of repentance makes a divorce between them and their idols, between their souls and their especial sins. Now they are as much in hating, abhorring, abominating, and contemning their idols and images, as they were formerly in adoring, worshipping, and honouring of them. So Mary Magdalene, Luke vii., walks quite cross and contrary to her former self, her sinful self, she crosses the flesh in those very things wherein formerly she did gratify the flesh. So the penitent jailor. Acts xvi., washes those very wounds that his own bloody hands had made. He acts in ways of mercy, quite contrary to his former cruelty. At first there was none so fierce, so furious, so cruel, so bloody, so inhuman in his carriage to the apostles ; at last, none so gentle, so soft, so sweet, so courteous, so affectionate to them. The same you may see in Zaccheus, Luke xix. 8, &c. In Paul, Acts ix., and in Manasseh, in 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6,
(5.) The fifth property. Fifthly, That repentance that accompanies salvation, is very large and coTnprehensive. It comprehends and takes in these following particulars, besides those already named. •