1. Sorrow and a melting heart will fit us for every holy duty
Chapter Seven
7. POWERFUL MOTIVES TO
REPENTANCE
To make the exhortation to repentance more lively, I will lay down some powerful motives to excite us to repentance.
1. Sorrow and a melting heart will fit us for every holy duty A piece of lead, while it is in the lump, can be put to no use. But melt it, and you may then pour it into any mold, and it is made useful. So a heart that is hardened into a lump of sin is good for nothing; but when it is dissolved by repentance, it is useful. A melting heart is fit to pray. When Paul's heart was humbled and melted, then "behold, he prays" (Act 9.11). It is fit to hear the word; now the word works kindly. When Josiah's heart was tender, he humbled himself and rent his clothes at hearing the words of the law (2Chr 34.19). His heart, like melting wax, was ready to take any seal of the word. A melting heart is fit to obey. When the heart is like metal in the furnace, it is facile and malleable to anything: "Lord, what will you have me do?" (Act 9.6). A repenting soul subscribes to God's will and answers his call, just as an echo answers the voice.
2. Repentance is highly acceptable When a spiritual river runs to water this garden, then our hearts are a Garden of Eden, delightful to God. I have read that doves delight to be about the waters. And surely God's Spirit, who descended in the likeness of a dove, takes great delight in the waters of repentance.
The Lord does not regard any heart as sound except the broken heart: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit" (Psa 51.17). Mary stood at Jesus' feet weeping (Luk 7.38). She brought two things to Christ, said Augustine, unguentum and lachrymas (ointment and tears). Her tears were better than her ointment. Tears are powerful orators for mercy. They are silent, yet they have a voice: "the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping" (Psa 6.8).
3. Repentance commends all our services to God