10. Chapter Ten
Chapter Ten 10. REMOVING THE IMPEDIMENTS TO REPENTANCE
Before I lay down the expedients and means that are conducive to repentance, I will first remove the impediments to it. In this great city, when you lack water, you search for the cause, whether the pipes are broken or stopped, or that the current of water is hindered. Likewise, when no water of repentance comes (even though we have the conduit pipes of the ordinances), we search to see what the cause is. What is the obstruction so that these penitential waters do not run?
There are ten impediments to repentance:
1. Men do not apprehend that they need repentance
They thank God that all is well with them, and they know nothing that they should repent of: “you say, ‘I am rich, and need nothing’” (Revelation 3.I7). Someone who does not apprehend any sickness in his body will not take the medicine prescribed for it. This is the mischief that sin has done; it has not only made us sick, but senseless. When the Lord asked the people to return to him, they answered stubbornly, “In what shall we return?” (Malachi 3:7). So when God asks men to repent, they say, “Why should we repent?” They know nothing that they have done amiss. There is surely no disease worse than apoplexy.63 2. People conceive it an easy thing to repent
It is only saying a few prayers: a sigh, or a “Lord have mercy,” and the work is done. This conceit of the easiness of repentance is a great hindrance to it. If it makes a person bold and adventurous in sin then it must obstruct repentance. This opinion that repentance is easy, makes a person bold in sin. The angler can let out his line as far as he will and then pull it in again. Likewise, when a man thinks he can lash out in sin as far as he wants, and then pull in by repentance whenever he pleases, this must embolden him in his wickedness. But to take away this false conceit of the easiness of repentance, consider these:
(1) A wicked man has a mountain of guilt upon him; is it easy to stand up under such a weight? Is salvation per saltum (obtained with a leap)? Can a man jump out of sin into heaven? Can he leap out of the devil’s arms into Abraham’s embrace?
(2) If all the power in a sinner is employed against repentance, then repentance is not easy. All the faculties of a natural man are joined with sin: “I have loved foreigners, and I will go after them” (Jeremiah 2:25). A sinner would rather lose Christ and heaven than his lusts. Death, which parts man and wife, will not part a wicked man and his sins. Is it so easy to repent? The angel rolled away the stone from the sepulcher; but only God himself can roll the stone away from the heart.
3. Presumptuous thoughts of God’s mercy
Many suck poison from this sweet flower. Christ came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15); yet accidentally this is the occasion for many a man’s perishing. Though to the elect Christ is the bread of life, to the wicked he is “a stumbling stone” (1 Peter 2:8). To some his blood is sweet wine; to others it is the water of Marah.64 Some are softened by this Sun of righteousness (Malachi 4:2); others are hardened by it. “Oh,” says one, “Christ has died; he has done it all for me; therefore I may sit still and do nothing.” Thus he sucks death from the tree of life, and he perishes by a Savior. I may say the same of God’s mercy. It is accidentally the cause of many a man’s ruin. Because of mercy, men presume and think that they may continue in sin; but should a king’s clemency make his subjects rebel? The psalmist says there is mercy with God so that he may be feared (Psalms 130:4), not so that we may sin. Can men expect mercy by provoking justice? God will hardly show those mercy who sin because mercy abounds.65 4. A lazy sluggish attitude
Repentance is looked upon as a tedious thing, requiring great effort; but men are content with their dregs and do not care to stir. They would rather go sleeping to hell than weeping to heaven. “A slothful man hides his hand in his vest” (Proverbs 19:24); he will not strike his breast.66 Many would rather lose heaven than ply the oar and row on the waters of repentance. We cannot have the world citra pulverem (without labor and diligence); would we not rather have what is more excellent? Sloth is the cancer of the soul: “Slothfulness tosses into a deep sleep” (Proverbs 19:15).
It was a witty fiction of the poets that when Mercury put Argus to sleep and closed his eyes with an enchanted flute, he then killed him. It is no fiction that when Satan has lulled men to sleep in sloth by his witcheries, he then destroys them. Some report that while the crocodile sleeps with its mouth open, the Indian rat gets into its belly and eats up its entrails. So too while men sleep in false security, they are devoured.
5. The tickling pleasure of sin: ‘who had pleasure in unrighteousness’ (2 Thessalonians 2:12)
Sin is a sugared draft mixed with poison. The sinner thinks there is danger in sin, but there is also delight – and the danger does not terrify him as much as the delight bewitches him. Plato calls love of sin a great devil. Delighting in sin hardens the heart. In true repentance, there must be grieving for sin; but how can one grieve for what he loves? The one who delights in sin can hardly pray against it. His heart is so urged by sin that he is afraid to leave it too soon. Samson doted on Delilah’s beauty, but her lap proved to be his grave. When a man rolls iniquity like a sugared lump under his tongue,67 it infatuates him, and it will be his death in the end. Delight in sin is a silken halter.68 Will it not be bitter in the end? (2 Samuel 2:26) 6. An opinion that repentance will take away our joy But that is a mistake. It does not crucify our joy but clarifies it, and removes it from the attractive dregs of sin. What is all earthly joy? It is but hilaris insania (a pleasant insanity). Falsa inter gaudia noctem egerimus (Virgil).69 Worldly mirth is like a feigned laugh: sorrow follows at its heels. Like the magician’s rod, it is instantly turned into a serpent. But divine repentance, like Samson’s lion, has honeycomb in it.70 God’s kingdom consists as much in joy as in righteousness (Romans 14:17). None are so truly cheerful as penitent ones. Est quaedam flere voluptas (Ovid).71 The oil of joy is poured chiefly into a broken heart: “the oil of joy for mourning” (Isaiah 61:3). In the fields near Palermo grow a great many reeds in which there is sweet juice; sugar is made from it. Likewise in a penitent heart (which is the bruised reed), grow the sugared joys of God’s Spirit. God turns the water of tears into the juice of the grape, which exhilarates and makes the heart glad. Who should rejoice if not the repenting soul? He is heir to all the promises, and is not that a matter for joy? God dwells in a contrite heart, and must there not be joy there? “I dwell with the one who has a contrite spirit, to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15). Repentance does not take away a Christian’s music, but it does sound a higher note, and makes it sweeter.
7. Another obstacle to repentance is despondency of mind
It is a futile thing for me, says the sinner, to begin to repent; my sins are so great that there is no hope for me. “Return now every one from his evil way ... And they said, There is no hope” (Jeremiah 18:11-12). Our sins are mountains; how will these ever be thrown into the sea? Where unbelief represents sin to our soul in its bloody colors, and God in his judge’s robes, the soul would sooner fly from God than to him. This is dangerous. Other sins need mercy, but despair rejects mercy. It throws the cordial72 of Christ’s blood on the ground. Judas was not only damned for his treason and murder, but it was his distrust of God’s mercy that destroyed him. Why should we entertain such hard thoughts of God? He has a deep love for repenting sinners (Joel 2:13). Mercy rejoices over justice. God’s anger is not so hot that mercy cannot cool it; nor is it so sharp that mercy cannot sweeten it. God considers his mercy to be his glory (Exodus 33:18-19). We have some drops of mercy ourselves, but God is “the Father of mercies” (2 Corinthians 1:3); He is the one who reproduces all the mercies that are in us. He is the God of tenderness and compassion. No sooner do we mourn than God’s heart melts. No sooner do our tears fall, than God’s compassions kindle (Hosea 11:8). Do not say then that there is no hope. Disband the army of your sins, and God will sound a retreat to his judgments. Remember, great sins have been swallowed up in the sea of God’s infinite compassions. Manasseh made the streets run with blood, yet when his head was a fountain of tears, God grew favorable.
8. Hope of impunity
Men flatter themselves in sin and think that God, having spared them all this while, never intends to punish them. Because the judgments are put off, surely there will be no judgments at all. “He has said in his heart, ‘God has forgotten: he hides his face;’ he will never see it” (Psalms 10:11). The Lord is indeed longsuffering towards sinners, and by his patience he would bribe them to repentance – but here is their wretchedness: because he forbears to punish, they forbear to repent. Know that the lease of patience will soon run out. There is a time when God will say, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man” (Genesis 6:3). A creditor may forbear his debtor, but forbearance does not excuse the payment. God takes notice how long the glass of his patience has been running: “I gave her space to repent; and she did not repent” (Revelation 2:21). Jezebel added impenitence to her incontinency, and what followed? “Behold, I will throw her into a bed” (Revelation 2:22), not a bed of pleasure, but a bed of languishing where she will be consumed in her iniquity. The longer God’s arrow is drawn, the deeper it will wound. Sins against patience will make a man’s hell so much the hotter.
9. The next impediment of repentance is fear of reproach
“If I repent I will expose myself to scorn.” The heathen would say, “When you apply yourself to the study of wisdom, be prepared for sarcasm and reproach.” But consider well who they are that reproach you. They are ignorant of God and spiritually mad. Are you bothered by the reproach of those who are not in their right wits? Who minds a madman laughing at him?
What do the wicked reproach you for? Is it because you repent? You are doing your duty. Bind their reproaches like a crown around your head. It is better to have men reproach you for repenting, than to have God damn you for not repenting.
If you cannot bear a reproach for religion, then never call yourself Christian. Luther said, “Christianus quasi crucianus” (a Christian is as if crucified). Suffering is a saint’s livery.73 And what are reproaches? They are but chips off the cross, which should be despised rather than laid to heart.
10. The last impediment of repentance is immoderate love of the world No wonder Ezekiel’s hearers were hardened into rebellion when their hearts went after covetousness (Ezekiel 33:31). The world so engrosses men’s time and bewitches their affections that they cannot repent. They would rather put gold in their bag than tears in God’s bottle. I have read of the Turks that they pay no heed to churches or altars, but they are diligent in looking after their crops. Likewise, many rarely give heed to repentance – they care more about breaking up clods of dirt with their plow, than breaking up the fallow ground of their hearts. The thorns choke the word. We read of those who were invited to Christ’s supper, and who put him off with worldly excuses. The first said, “I bought a piece of ground, and I must go see it: I ask that you excuse me. Another said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen ...’” (Luke 14:18-19). The farm and the shop take up so much of people’s time that they have no free time for their souls. Their golden weights74 hinder their silver tears. There is an herb in the country of Sardinia, like balm, which makes them die laughing if they eat too much of it. The world is such an herb (or rather, weed), if men eat immoderately of it. Instead of dying repenting, they will die laughing.
These are the obstructions to repentance which must be removed so that the current of water may flow clearer.