2. MezafxkXeia, an after-caie, when the soul cometh to grief, and shame, and sorrow, and hatred of sin : 2 Cor. vii. 10, 'For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of ; but the sorrow of the world worketh death.' Godly sorrow is of great use in repent- ance, to alienate and turn away the soul from sin. Our evil estate con- sisteth not so much in this, that we liaye sin, as that we love sin. Here lieth the root of all our mischief, that we are ^iXrjhovoc fiaXkov rj (pikoOeoi, ' tliat we are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God,' 2 Tim. iii. 4. Therefore, to dig at the root of sin, this breaking and rending the heart with godly sorrow is necessary, that the bitterness of grief may make it loathsome to us : Job ii. 13, ' His grief was great.' Therefore we must exercise ourselves with grief, and shame, and sorrow, because of our doings, and be touched with a deep sense of our folly and unkind- ness to God, that we have wronged God, and abused his grace.
3. There is yu.eTao-Tpei|rt9, a change of life. This ensueth upon the change of heart. By the change of heart we put off the old man, with his deceitful lusts ; and then there must needs be a change in our con-
VeR. 38.] SERMONS UPON ACTS 11. 37, 38. 2G;')
versations : Mat. ii. 2, 'Bring forth fruits worthy of repentance;' sncli as will evidence a thorough change wrought in us, and give us a cei- tain proof of it : Isa. Iv. 7, ' Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man liis thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.' This is always a-doing, wherein there is something privative and positive : in the privative part, the internal work is the cliief, when a man maketli conscience of his thoughts ; the positive part is when a man maketh it the great business and trade of his life : Acts xxiv. 16, ' And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men.'
Keasons to prove that this is one special means which God hatli instituted for the cure of a wounded soul.
1. Because it is God's prescribed course. The Lord himself must state the terms upon which his grace shall be dispensed ; now he hath appointed this way : Acts iii. 19, 'Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshment shall come from the presence of the Lord.' Eepentance is a means or con- dition, or moral qualification on our parts ; it is conditio sine qua non, without which we are not capable of the benefit. The first moving cause is the mercy and grace of God : Isa. xliii. 25, ' I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.' The meritorious and procuring cause is the blood of Christ : Eph. i. 7, ' In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin.' That is the satisfaction given to God for our offences, to repair him in point of honour. But the causes do not exclude our duty ; there must be something done on our part by way of application to make our right and title clear, and that is faith and repentance : these two sister graces, the one respects God, and the other the Mediator Jesus Christ : ' Eepentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,' Acts xx. 21. The offence is done to God, and he is the party to whom we return by Christ. These two graces go hand in hand, and we must not put asunder what God liath joined together. If you ask which goes first ? that is hard to say ; there is not such a distinction of time in the work of conversion that we can tell which is first or which is last ; the work is inter- mingled. The case in the new birth is somewhat like as it was in the travail of Tamar, Zarali putteth out the hand, but Piiarez breaketh out first. We feel repentance, it is first in our sense ; but faith is the first-born, the elder sister. When a candle is brought into a room, the light showeth itself before the candle. Faith is first in order of nature, for without it no act is pleasing to God, Heb. xi. 6. Well then, repentance is God's prescribed course to get our sins blotted out ; that is, either out of the book of his remembrance, or out of the book of conscience. Out of the book of his remembrance : Col. ii. 14, ' Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, which was against us, which was contrary to us, nailing it to his cross ; ' that is, crossed out by the blood of Christ. But out of the book of conscience it is blotted by the Spirit of Christ: Heb. x. 22, 'Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water ; ' when he giveth us gospel peace and comfort.