[3.] Thirdly, True repentance is a turning, not from some sin, hut from every sin : Ezek. xviii. 30, ' Kepent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions ; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.' Every sin strikes at the law of God, the honour of God, the being of God, and the glory of God ; and therefore the penitent must strike at all. Every sin fetcheth blood from the heart of Christ, and every sin is a grief and vexation to the Spirit of Christ ; and therefore the penitent must set upon crucifying of all.l Every sin is an enemy to a man's peace, and to a man's comfort, and to a man's confidence, and to a man's assurance, and to a man's communion with God ; and therefore he must set upon forsaking of all. If ever thou art saved, 0 man, thou must repent as well of thy Achans as thy Absaloms, of thy Kimmons as of thy Mammons, of thy Davids as of thy Goliaths, of thy secret as well as thy open sins, of thy loved as well as of thy loathed lusts, of thy babe-transgressions as well as of thy giant-like provocations. If thy repentance be not universal, it wUl never be effectual. If a ship spring three leaks, and only two be stopped, the third will certainly sink the shij) ; or if a man hath two dangerous wounds in his body, and takes only order for the cure of one, the other will undoubtedly kill him ; or if a man hath two grievous diseases upon him, and will only deal with the physician for remedies against the one, he will without all peradventure perish by the prevalency of the other. Herod turned from many sins, but not from his Delilah, his Herodias, which was his ruin. Judas, you know, was a devil in an angel's habit ; he seemed to be turned from every sin, but he was not ; he was a secret thief, he loved the bag ; and that golden devil, covetousness, choked him, and hanged him at last. Saul for a time turned from several evils, but his sparing one, Agag, cost him his soul and ,his kingdom at a clap. I have read a story of a devout man, who amongst other gifts had the gift of healing, and many persons resorted
^ Ezek. xviii. 21, 31, and xx. 43. He that had the spot of leprosy in anj' one part of his body was accounted a leper, although all the rest of his body were sound and whole. Lev. xiii. ; so he that hath but one spot, one sin which he doth not endeavour to wash out in the blood of Christ, and in the tears of true repentance, he is a leper in the account of God. It was an excellent saying of Luther, Optima et aptissima poeni- tentia est nova vita.
194 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
to him for cure. Among the rest, one Chromatins, who being sick, «ent for him, and told him of his sickness, and desired that he might have the benefit of cure, as others had before him. The devout man replied, I cannot do it till thou hast beaten all the images in thy house to pieces. Oh, that shall be done, said Chromatius. Here, take my keys, and where you find any images, break them in pieces ; which accordingly was done. Upon this the devout man went to prayer, but no cure was wrought ; whereupon the sick man cried out. Oh, I am as sick as ever ! oh, I am very weak and sick still ! It cannot be other- wise, replied the devout person, neither can I help it, for there is doubtless one idol yet in your house undiscovered, and that must be defaced too. True, saith Chromatius, it is so indeed, it is all of beaten gold, it cost £200. I would fain have saved it, but here take my keys again, you shall find it fast locked up in my chest, break it also in pieces ; which being done, the devout man prayed,^ and Chro- matius was healed. The moral of it is good ; the sin-sick soul must break, not some, but all its idols in pieces, before a cure will follow. It must deface its golden idols, its most costly idols, its most darling idols ; the returning sinner must make head against all his sins, and trample upon all his lusts, or else he will die and be undone for ever ; and though this be as difficult as it is noble, yet it is no more than what God hath engaged to do, and to see done, as you may see by comparing Ezek, xxxvi. 25-27 with Isa. xxx. 21, 22. Now is this an easy thing, to turn from every sin, to loathe every sin, and to abandon every sin, with a ' Get you hence,' for what have I more to do with you ? Hosea xiv. 8. Surely no. As Nehemiah cast out Tobiah and all his household stuff, in Neh, xiii. 6-8 ; so true repentance, it casts out Satan and all his retinue. As Moses would not leave so much as a hoof behind him, Exod. x. 26 ; so true repentance will not leave so much as a lust behind. A dispensatory conscience is always an evil conscience; he that can dispense with one sin, will, when opportunity presents, commit any sin. And as the flood made clean work, it swept away all Noah's friends, and drowned all his servants ; so the flood of penitent tears makes clean work, it sweeps away every lust, it drowns every corruption in respect of love and dominion. And as some conquerors would not give so much as one of their enemies quarter, so true repentance will not give one lust quarter; it falls heavily upon the bones of every sin, and nothing but the blood and death of sin will satisfy the penitent soul. The true penitent is for the mortifying of every lust that hath had a hand in crucifying of his dearest Saviour. It was worthily and wittily said by one, that true repentance strips us stark naked of all the garments of the old Adam, and leaves not so much as the shirt behind. Well, sirs, remember this, to repent of sin, and yet to live in sin, is a contradiction ; and if thou repentest with a contradiction, saith TertuUian, God will pardon thee with a contradiction. Thou repentest and yet continuest in thy sin, God will pardon thee, and yet send thee to heU ; there is a pardon with a contradiction. Again,
[4.] Fourthly, If repentance be such an easy work as you suppose, I beseech you tell me, why do many men lie under such horrors and terrors of conscience as they do, for not repenting, whenas repentance
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 195