1) Such of the elect as are converted at riper years,
having sometime lived in the state of nature, and therein served
divers lusts and pleasures, God in their effectual calling giveth
them repentance unto life.a
(a Titus
3:2-5)
2) Whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth
not,b and the best of men may, through the
power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in them,
with the prevalency of temptation, fall into great sins and
provocations; God hath, in the covenant of grace, mercifully
provided that believers so sinning and falling be renewed through
repentance unto salvation.c
(b Ecclesiastes 7:20;
c Luke
22:31,32)
3) This saving repentance is an evangelical
grace,d whereby a person, being by the Holy
Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, doth, by
faith in Christ, humble himself for it with godly sorrow,
detestation of it, and self-abhorrency,e
praying for pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and
endeavour, by supplies of the Spirit, to walk before God unto all
well-pleasing in all things.f
(d Zechariah
12:10, Acts
11:18; e Ezekiel
36:31, 2
Corinthians 7:11; f Psalms
119:6, Psalms
119:128)
4) As repentance is to be continued through the whole
course of our lives, upon the account of the body of death, and
the motions thereof, so it is every man's duty to repent of his
particular known sins particularly.g
(g Luke
19:8, 1
Timothy 1:13,15)
5) Such is the provision which God hath made through
Christ in the covenant of grace for the preservation of believers
unto salvation; that although there is no sin so small but it
deserves damnation;h yet there is no sin so
great that it shall bring damnation on them that
repent;i which makes the constant preaching of
repentance necessary.
(h Romans
6:23; i Isaiah
1:16-18, Isaiah
55:7)