But now the repentance of hypocrites is not constant, but inconstant; it is not stedfast, but unstedfast ; it is not permanent, but transient ; it is quickly on, as quickly off. 'Come,' say they, in that Hosea vi. 1, •' and let us return unto the Lord.' But ver, 4, ' O Ephraim ! what shall I do unto thee ? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee ? for your o-ood- ness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.' The hypocrite's repentance is like Jonah's gourd, which came up in a nio-ht, and perished in a night, Jonah iv. 10. An hypocrite's repentance springs from mutable grounds, causes, considerations and circumstances; and therefore it is compared to a deceitful bow, Hosea vii. 16 ; it is as variable as the wind. An hypocrite is only constant in inconstancy, Ps. Ixxviii. 8, ' whose spirit was not stedfast with God.' Ver. 37, ' Neither were they stedfast in his covenant,' &c. An hypocrite puts off his sins in the day of adversity, as he doth his garments when he o^oes to bed, with an intent to put them on again in the morning of pros- perity. Ver. 34-36, ' When he slew them, then they sought him ; and
430 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. III.
they returned and inquired early after God : and they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their Redeemer. Nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tonoues.' In the language of the blessed Scripture, he is a dog that returns to his vomit again, and such a dog was Judas ; and he is a swine that returns to the wallowing in the mire again, and such a swine was Demas ; and such dogs and swine are all hypocrites, 2 Peter ii. 20-22. It is an extraordinary vanity in some men to lay aside ^heir sins for a time, but with a purpose to return to them again ; as they fable it of the serpent that layeth aside his poison when he goeth to drink, and when he hath drunk he returns to it again. It is a sad and sore evil, when men say to their lusts, as Abraham said to his servants, ' Abide you here, and I will go and worship, and return again unto vou,' Gen. xxii. 5. Doubtless such souls are as far otf from sound re- ipentance as light is from darkness, or as hell is from heaven, &c.
Quest. Bid in what respects is a true penitential turiving from sin such a turning from &in as never to return to sin any more ? In what respects is the penitent's turning from sin a continued and stedfast tui'ning from sin ? &c.
Ans. This is a very sober, serious, weighty question, and bespeaks a very sober, serious, and satisfactory answer, and therefore I would answer the question, (1.) negatively ; (2.) affirmatively, &c.
[1.] Negatively, It is not such a turning from sin as never to sin more. 1 Kings viii. 46, ' For there is no man that sinneth not.' Prov. XX. 9, ' Who can say, I have made my heart clean ? I am pure from my sin ? ' Prov. xxiv. 1 6, ' A just man falleth seven times, and riseth again.' Eccles. vii. 20, ' For there is not a ju.st man upon the earth that doth good, and sinneth not.' Luke xvii. 4, ' If he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again unto thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him.' Mat. xviii. 21, 22. ' Then came Peter to him, and said. Lord, how oft shall my brother sin ao-ainstme, and I forgive him; till seven times'? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven,* James iii. 2, * For in many things we offend all ; ' or we stumble all, as the Greek has it. 1 John i. 8, ' If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' Ver. 10, ' If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. And what did the continual burnt-offering which was to be made day by day import, but a daily sinning, and expiating of it? &c.. Num. xxviii. 3. Such is the universal corruption of human nature, that the souls of the best, of the purest, and of the holiest men in the world, do from day to day, yea, from moment to moment, contract some filth and uncleanness. The choicest saints can never acquit themselves from sins of infirmity, .such as do inevitably and inseparably cleave unto the best of men, especially considering the state and condition wherein they are, carrying still about them corrupt flesh and blood. Methodius' compares the in- bred corruptions of man's heart to a wild fig-tree, growing upon the wall of some goodly temple or stately palace, whereof although the main trunk of the stem be broke off, and stump of the root be plucked up, yet the fibrous strings of it piercing into the joints of the stone-work, 1 The Martyr of Chalcis, a.d, 302-303.— G.
Chap. III.] a cabinet of jewels. 431
will not be utterly extracted, but will be ever and anon shooting and sprouting out, until the whole frame of the building be dissolved, and the stone work thereof be disjointed and pulled in pieces.