A Body of Practical Divinity

4. There's much Sweetness in Repenting Tears. The Soul is never more enlarged and inwardly delighted, than when it can melt kindly for Sin. Weeping Days are Festival Days. The Hebrew Word to Repent, Nicham, signifies Consolari, to tak• Comfort. John 16.21. Your Sorrow shall be turned into Joy. Christ turns the Water of Tears into Wine. David, who was the great Mourner in Israel, was the Sweet Singer: And the Joy a true Penitent finds, is a Prelibation and Foretaste of the Joy of Paradise. The Wicked Man's Joy turns to Sadness; the Penitents Sadness turns to Joy. Tho Repentance seems at first to be thorny and bitter, yet of this Thorn a Christian gathers Grapes. All which Considerations may open a Vein of Godly Sorrow in our Souls, that we may both weep for Sin, and turn from Sin. If ever God restores Comfort, 'tis to his Mourners, Isa. 57.18. And when we have wept, let us look up to Christ's Blood for Pardon: Say as that holy Man, Lavae Domine lachrimas meas—Lord, wash my Tears in thy Blood. We drop sin with our Tears, and need Christ's Blood to wash them: And this Repentance must not only be for a few days, like the Mourning for a Friend, which is soon over; but it must be the Work of our Lives. The Issue of Godly Sorrow must not be stopped till Death. After Sin is pardoned, we must repent. We run afresh upon the Score, we sin daily, therefore must repent daily. Some shed a few Tears for Sin, and when their Tears, like the Widows Oil, have run awhile, they cease. Many, if the Plaster of Repentance begin to smart a little, pluck it off; whereas this Plaster of Repentance must still lie on, and not be plucked off till Death, when as all other Tears, so these of Godly Sorrow, shall be wiped away.

4. There's much Sweetness in Repenting Tears. The Soul is never more enlarged and inwardly delighted, than when it can melt kindly for Sin. Weeping Days are Festival Days. The Hebrew Word to Repent, Nicham, signifies Consolari, to tak• Comfort. Iohn 16.21. Your Sorrow shall be turned into Ioy. Christ turns the Water of Tears into Wine. David, who was the great Mourner in Israel, was the Sweet Singer: And the Joy a true Penitent finds, is a Prelibation and Foretaste of the Joy of Paradise. The Wicked Man's Joy turns to Sadness; the Penitents Sadness turns to Joy. Tho Repentance seems at first to be thorny and bitter, yet of this Thorn a Christian gathers Grapes. All which Considerations may open a Vein of Godly Sorrow in our Souls, that we may both weep for Sin, and turn from Sin. If ever God restores Comfort, 'tis to his Mourners,