A65293:144
The doctrine of repentance, useful for these times by Tho. Watson ...
London: printed by R.W. for Thomas Parkhurst, 1668
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1. There is an hatred of Abomination, 1or loathing, Ezek. 36. 31. Ye shall loath your selves for your iniquities. A true penitent is a sin-loather. If a man loath that which makes his stomach sick, much more that which makes his conscience sick: 'Tis more to loath sin, than to leave it. One may leave sin for fear, as in a storm the Plate and Jewels are cast overboard: but the nauseating and loathing of sin, argues a detestation of it. Christ is never loved, till sin be loathed. Heaven is never longed for, till sin be loathed. When the soul sees an issue of blood runing, he cries out, Lord, when shall I be freed from this body of death? When shall I put off these filthy garments of sin, and have the fair mitre of glory set upon my head*? Let all our self-love be turned into self-loathing. We are never more precious in Gods eyes, than when we are lepers in our own.
2. There is an hatred of Enmity. There1 is no better way to discover life than by motion: The eye moves, the pulse beats. ⟨p. 53⟩So to discover Repentance, there is no better sign, than by an holy antipathy against sin. Hatred (saith Cicero) is anger boiled up to an inveteracy*. Sound Repentance begins in the love of God, and ends in the hatred of sin.
1. When a mans spirit is set against1 sin. The tongue doth not only inveigh against sin, but the heart abhors it*. So that let sin be never so curiously painted, it is odious. As we abhor the picture of one whom we mortally hate, though it be exactly drawn.
—Non amo te Sabidi—
Suppose a dish be finely cooked, and the sauce good, yet if a man hath an antipathy against the meat, he will not taste it. So let the Devil cook and dress sin with pleasure and profit, yet a true penitent having a secret abhorrency of it, doth disgust it, and will not meddle with it.
1. Of the Faculties. 2. Of the Object.
1. Hatred is universal in respect of the Faculties: That is, there is a dislike of sin, not only in the judgement, but in the will and affections: For many an one is convinced that sin is a vile thing, and in his judgement hath an aversation from it, but yet he tastes sweetness, and hath a secret complacency in it. Here is a disliking sin in the judgement, and an embracing it in the affections*: Whereas in true Repentance, the hatred of sin is in all the faculties; not only in the intellectual part, but chiefly in the will, Rom. 7. 15. What I hate, that do I. Paul was not free from sin, yet his will was against it.
1. Hatred is universal in respect of the Faculties: That is, there is a dislike of sin, not only in the judgement, but in the will and affections: For many an one is convinced that sin is a vile thing, and in his judgement hath an aversation from it, but yet he tasts sweetness, and hath a secret complacency in it. Here is a disliking sin in the judgement, and an embracing it in the affections*: Whereas in true Repentance, the hatred of sin is in all the faculties; not only in the intellectual part, but chiefly in the will, Rom. 7. 15. What I hate, that do I. Paul was not free from sin, yet his will was against it.
2. Hatred is universal in respect of the Object. He that hates one sin, hates all. Aristotle saith, hatred is against the whole kind*. He that hates a Serpent, hates all Serpents, Psal. 119. 104. I hate every false way. Hypocrites will hate some sins which do eclipse their credit, but a true convert hates all sins; gainful sins, complexion-sins, the very stirrings of corruption. Paul hated the motions of sin, Rom. 7. 23.
2. Hatred is universal in respect of the Object. He that hates one sin, hates all. Aristotle saith, hatred is against the whole kind*. He that hates a Serpent, hates all Serpents, Psal. 119. 104. I hate every false way. Hypocrites will hate some sins which do ecclipse their credit, but a true convert hates all sins; gainful sins, complexion-sins, the very stirrings of corruption. Paul hated the motions of sin, Rom. 7. 23.
