A cabinet of choice jewels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain…A cabinet of choice jevvels, or, A box of precious ointment being a plain…

First Answer.

Ans. 1 First, That turning from sin, which brings a man within the compass of the promise of forgiveness of sin, is a cordial turning from sin, Joel 2.12. Turn ye, even to me, with all your heart. 2 Chron. 6.38. If they return to thee with all their heart, and with all their soul. Ver. 39. Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication, and forgive their sins. Deut. 30.10. If thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, &c. Jer. 3.10. And yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord. Chap. 24.7. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. Wicked men are serious and cordial in their sinning, and they must be as serious and cordial in their returning, or they are lost and undone for ever. The true ⟨p. 257⟩penitent turns from sin with his heart, with all his heart, and with all his soul; he is turned in good earnest from his sins, whose heart is turned from his sins; if the heart turns not, all is naught, all is stark naught; he that turns from sin, but not with his heart, turns but feignedly, partially, hypocritically, deceitfully. God is a just and a jealous God, and he will never endure corrivals or copartners in the throne, the heart of man; a holy God will never divide with an unholy Devil. The true God is a righteous God, and he will never share his glory with another; the true God must be served truly, heartily, he loves neither halting nor halving. Such as divide the rooms of their souls betwixt God and sin, God and Satan, God and the world, that swear by God and Malcham, that sometimes pray devoutly, and at other times curse most hideously; that halt betwixt God and Baal, are mere Heteroclites in Religion, and such whom God abhors. When a man's heart gives a bill of divorce to his sins, when his heart breaks the league with sin, when his heart casts it off, and casts it out as an abominable thing, then the heart is turned from sin really, effectually, &c. If notwithstanding all the professions that a man makes against his sins, his heart still loves them, and delights in them, and he will still retain them, and welcome them, and cleave to them, and make provision for them, &c.