Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686)
SIX INGREDIENTS OF REPENTANCE
Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686) R EPENTANCE is a grace of God's Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed. For a further amplification, know that repentance is a spiritual medicine made up of six special ingredients…If any one is left out, it loses its virtue.
INGREDIENT 1: SIGHT OF SIN. The first part of Christ's physic1 is eye-salve (Act 26:18). It is the great thing noted in the prodigal's repentance: "He came to himself " (Luk 15:17). He saw himself a sinner and nothing but a sinner. Before a man can come to Christ, he must first come to himself. Solomon, in his description of repentance, considers this as the first ingredient: "If they shall bethink themselves" (1Ki 8:47). A man must first recognize and consider what his sin is and know the plague of his heart before he can be duly humbled for it. The first creature2 God made was light.
So the first thing in a penitent is illumination: "Now ye are light in the Lord" (Eph 5:8). The eye is made both for seeing and weeping.
Sin must first be seen before it can be wept for. Hence, I infer that where there is no sight of sin, there can be no repentance. Many who can spy faults in others see none in themselves…Persons are veiled over with ignorance and self-love. Therefore they see not what deformed souls they have. The devil does with them as the falconer with the hawk: he blinds them and carries them hooded to hell… INGREDIENT 2: SORROW FOR SIN. "I will be sorry for my sin"
(Psa 38:18). Ambrose3 calls sorrow the embittering of the soul. The Hebrew word to be sorrowful signifies "to have the soul, as it were, crucified." This must be in true repentance: "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn" (Zec 12:10), as if they did feel the nails of the cross sticking in their sides. A woman may as well expect to have a child without pangs as one can have repentance without sorrow. He that can believe without doubting, suspect his faith; he that can repent without sorrowing, suspect his repentance…This sorrow for sin is not superficial: it is
1 physic – spiritual remedy or medicine.
2 creature – creation.
3 Ambrose (339?-397) – 4th century bishop of Milan, Trinitarian theologian, hymn writer.
Six Ingredients of Repentance
a holy agony. It is called in Scripture a breaking of the heart: "The sacrifices of God are a broken and a contrite heart" (Psa 51:17); and a rending of the heart: "Rend your heart" (Joe 2:13). The expressions of smiting on the thigh (Jer 31:19), beating on the breast
(Luk 18:13), putting on of sackcloth (Isa 22:12), plucking off the hair (Ezr 9:3)—all these are but outward signs of inward sorrow.
This sorrow is (1) To make Christ precious. O how desirable is a Savior to a troubled soul! Now Christ is Christ indeed, and mercy is mercy indeed. Until the heart is full of compunction,4 it is not fit for Christ. How welcome is a surgeon to a man who is bleeding from his wounds! (2) To drive out sin. Sin breeds sorrow, and sorrow kills sin…The salt water of tears kills the worm of conscience.
(3) To make way for solid comfort. "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psa 126:5). The penitent has a wet seedtime, but a delicious harvest. Repentance breaks the abscess of sin, and then the soul is at ease…God's troubling of the soul for sin is like the angel's troubling of the pool (Joh 5:4), which made way for healing.
But not all sorrow evidences true repentance…What is this godly sorrowing? There are six qualifications of it:
1. True godly sorrow is inward. It is inward in two ways: (1) It is a sorrow of the heart. The sorrow of hypocrites lies in their faces:
"They disfigure their faces" (Mat 6:16). They make a sour face, but their sorrow goes no further, like the dew that wets the leaf but does not soak to the root. Ahab's repentance was in outward show.
His garments were rent but not his spirit (1Ki 21:27). Godly sorrow goes deep, like a vein that bleeds inwardly. The heart bleeds for sin: "They were pricked in their heart" (Act 2:37). As the heart bears a chief part in sinning, so it must in sorrowing. (2) It is a sorrow for heart sins, the first outbreaks and risings of sin. Paul grieved for the law in his members (Rom 7:23). The true mourner weeps for the stirrings of pride and concupiscence.5 He grieves for the "root of bitterness" even though it never blossoms into act
(Heb 12:15). A wicked man may be troubled for scandalous sins; a real convert laments heart-sins.
2. Godly sorrow is ingenuous.6 It is sorrow for the offense rather than for the punishment. God's Law has been infringed, His love abused. This melts the soul in tears. A man may be sorry, yet not repent. A thief is sorry when he is taken, not because he stole, but because he has to pay the penalty…Godly sorrow, however, is
4 compunction – stinging of the conscience following sin.
5 concupiscence – a strong desire, especially sexual lust.
6 ingenuous – honest; honorably straightforward.
Six Ingredients of Repentance
chiefly for the trespass against God, so that even if there were no conscience to smite, no devil to accuse, no hell to punish, yet the soul would still be grieved because of the prejudice done to God…O that I should offend so good a God, that I should grieve my Comforter! This breaks my heart!...
3. Godly sorrow is fiducial.7 It is intermixed with faith…Spiritual sorrow will sink the heart, if the pulley of faith does not raise it. As our sin is ever before us, so God's promise must be ever before us… 4. Godly sorrow is a great sorrow. "In that day shall there be a great mourning, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon" (Zec 12:11).
Two suns did set that day when Josiah died,8 and there was great funeral mourning. To such a height must sorrow for sin be boiled up… 5. Godly sorrow in some cases is joined with restitution.9 Whoever has wronged others in their estate by unjust, fraudulent dealing ought in conscience to make them recompense. There is an express law for this: "He shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed" (Num 5:7). Thus, Zacchæus made restitution: "If I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold" (Luk 19:8).
6. Godly sorrow is abiding. It is not a few tears shed in a passion that will serve the turn. Some will fall a-weeping at a sermon, but it is like an April shower: soon over or like a vein opened and presently stopped again. True sorrow must be habitual. O Christian, the disease of your soul is chronic and frequently returns upon you. Therefore, you must be continually physicking yourself10 by repentance. This is that sorrow which is "after a godly manner."
INGREDIENT 3: CONFESSION OF SIN. Sorrow is such a vehement passion that it will have vent. It vents itself at the eyes by weeping and at the tongue by confession: "The children of Israel stood and confessed their sins" (Neh 9:2)…Gregory Nazianzen11 calls confession "a salve for a wounded soul."
Confession is self-accusing: "Lo, I have sinned" (2Sa 24:17)…And the truth is that by this self-accusing, we prevent Satan's accusing. In our confessions, we tax ourselves with pride,
7 fiducial – believing; trustful.
8 two…died – referring to the natural sunset and the loss of a great king.
9 restitution – making good or compensating for loss, damage, or injury.
10 physicking yourself – treating yourself with remedies.
11 Gregory Nazianzen (329-389) – 4th century Archbishop of Constantinople.
Six Ingredients of Repentance
infidelity, passion, so that when Satan, who is called the accuser of the brethren, shall lay these things to our charge, God will say,
"They have accused themselves already. Therefore, Satan, thou art nonsuited;12 thy accusations come too late"…And hear what the Apostle Paul says: "If we would judge ourselves we should not be judged" (1Co 11:31).
But have not wicked men, like Judas and Saul, confessed sin?
Yes, but theirs was not a true confession. That confession of sin may be right and genuine, these…qualifications are requisite:
1. Confession must be voluntary. It must come as water out of a spring, freely. The confession of the wicked is extorted, like the confession of a man upon a rack. When a spark of God's wrath flies into their conscience or they are in fear of death, then they will fall to their confessions…But true confession drops from the lips as myrrh from the tree or honey from the comb, freely…
2. Confession must be with compunction. The heart must deeply resent13 it. A natural man's confessions run through him as water through a pipe. They do not at all affect him. But true confession leaves heart-wounding impressions on a man. David's soul was burdened in the confession of his sins: "As an heavy burden they are too heavy for me" (Psa 38:4). It is one thing to confess sin and another thing to feel sin.
3. Confession must be sincere. Our hearts must go along with our confessions. The hypocrite confesses sin but loves it, like a thief who confesses to stolen goods, yet loves stealing. How many confess pride and covetousness with their lips, but roll them as honey under their tongue…A good Christian is more honest. His heart keeps pace with his tongue. He is convinced14 of the sins he confesses and abhors the sins he is convinced of.
4. In true confession, a man particularizes15 sin. A wicked man acknowledges he is a sinner in general. He confesses sin by wholesale…A true convert acknowledges his particular sins. As it is with a wounded man who comes to the surgeon and shows him all his wounds: "Here I was cut in the head; there I was shot in the arm."
So a mournful sinner confesses the several distempers16 of his soul…By a diligent inspection into our hearts, we may find some particular sin indulged; point to that sin with a tear.
12 nonsuited – a lawsuit stopped by the judge when the plaintiff has not made his case.
13 resent – to feel something as a cause of sorrow; to feel deeply and sharply.
14 convinced – awakened in conscience to a state of sin.
15 particularizes – focuses on specific sins.
16 distempers – deranged or disordered conditions; diseases.
Six Ingredients of Repentance
5. A true penitent confesses sin in [its] fountain. He acknowledges the pollution of his nature. The sin of our nature is not only a privation17 of good, but an infusion of evil…Our nature is an abyss and seminary of all evil, from whence come those scandals that infest the world. It is this depravity of nature that poisons our holy things. It is this that brings on God's judgments and makes our mercies stick in the birth. Oh, confess sin in the fountain!...
INGREDIENT 4: SHAME FOR SIN. The fourth ingredient in repentance is shame: "That they may be ashamed of their iniquities"
(Eze 43:10). Blushing is the color of virtue. When the heart has been made black with sin, grace makes the face red with blushing:
"I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face" (Ezr 9:6). The repenting prodigal was so ashamed of his excess that he thought himself not worthy to be called a son any more (Luk 15:21). Repentance causes a holy bashfulness. If Christ's blood were not at the sinner's heart, there would not so much blood come in the face. There are…considerations about sin that may cause shame:
(1) Every sin makes us guilty, and guilt usually breeds shame.
(2) In every sin, there is much unthankfulness; and that is a matter of shame. To abuse the kindness of so good a God, how may this make us ashamed!...Unthankfulness is a sin so great that God
Himself stands amazed at it (Isa 1:2).
(3) Sin has made us naked, and that may breed shame. Sin has stripped us of our white linen of holiness. It has made us naked and deformed in God's eye, which may cause blushing…
(4) Our sins have put Christ to shame and should not we be ashamed? Did He wear the purple, and shall not our cheeks wear crimson?...
(5) That which may make us blush is that the sins we commit are far worse than the sins of the heathen. We act against more light.
(6) Our sins are worse than the sins of the devils. The lapsed angels never sinned against Christ's blood. Christ died not for them…Surely if we have out-sinned the devils, it may well put us to the blush.
INGREDIENT 5: HATRED OF SIN. The fifth ingredient in repentance is hatred of sin. The Schoolmen18 distinguished a two-fold hatred: hatred of abominations and hatred of enmity.
17 privation – lack.
18 Schoolmen – a succession of theologians and writers of the Middle Ages, who taught logic, metaphysics, and theology, such as Thomas Aquinas.
Six Ingredients of Repentance
Firstly, there is a hatred or loathing of abominations: "Ye shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities" (Eze 36:31). A true penitent is a sin-loather. If a man loathe that which makes his stomach sick, much more will he loathe that which makes his conscience sick. It is more to loathe sin than to leave it…Christ is never loved until sin be loathed. Heaven is never longed for until sin be loathed…Secondly, there is a hatred of enmity. There is no better way to discover life than by motion. The eye moves, the pulse beats. So to discover repentance there is no better sign than by a holy antipathy19 against sin…Sound repentance begins in the love of God and ends in the hatred of sin.
How may true hatred of sin be known?
1. When a man's spirit is set against sin. The tongue does not only inveigh20 against sin, but the heart abhors it, so that however curiously painted sin appears, we find it odious, as we abhor the picture of one whom we mortally hate, even though it may be well drawn…Let the devil cook and dress sin with pleasure and profit, yet a true penitent with a secret abhorrence of it is disgusted by it and will not meddle with it.
2. True hatred of sin is universal. True hatred of sin is universal in two ways: in respect of the faculties and of the object. (1) Hatred is universal in respect of the faculties, that is, there is a dislike of sin not only in the judgment, but also in the will and affections. Many a one is convinced that sin is a vile thing and in his judgment has an aversion to it. Yet he tastes sweetness and has a secret complacency in it. Here is a disliking of sin in the judgment and an embracing of 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: "What I hate, that do I" (Rom 7:15). Paul was not free from sin, yet his will was against it. (2) Hatred is universal in respect of the object. He who hates one sin hates all…Hypocrites will hate some sins that mar their credit; but a true convert hates all sins: gainful sins, complexion-sins,21 the very stirrings of corruption. Paul hated the motions of sin (Rom 7:23).
3. True hatred against sin is against sin in all forms. A holy heart detests sin for its intrinsic pollution.22 Sin leaves a stain upon the soul. A regenerate person abhors sin not only for the curse, but for
19 antipathy – feeling of intense dislike.
20 inveigh – complain bitterly.
21 complexion-sins – sins of one's natural temperament or constitution; the weaknesses to which one is naturally inclined.
22 intrinsic pollution – natural defilement = sin by its nature contaminates.
Six Ingredients of Repentance
the contagion. He hates this serpent not only for its sting, but also for its poison. He hates sin not only for hell, but as hell.
4. True hatred is implacable. It will never be reconciled to sin any more. Anger may be reconciled, but hatred cannot…
5. Where there is a real hatred, we not only oppose sin in ourselves but in others too. The church at Ephesus could not bear with those who were evil (Rev 2:2). Paul sharply censured23 Peter for his dissimulation24 although he was an Apostle. Christ in a holy displeasure whipped the moneychangers out of the temple (Joh 2:15). He would not suffer the temple to be made an exchange. Nehemiah rebuked the nobles for their usury (Neh 5:7) and their Sabbath profanation (Neh 13:17). A sin-hater will not endure wickedness in his family: "He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house" (Psa 101:7). What a shame it is when magistrates can show height of spirit in their passions, but no heroic spirit in suppressing vice! Those who have no antipathy against sin are strangers to repentance. Sin is in them as poison in a serpent, which, being natural to it, affords delight.
How far are they from repentance who, instead of hating sin, love sin! To the godly, sin is as a thorn in the eye; to the wicked, it is as a crown on the head: "When thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest" (Jer 11:15). Loving of sin is worse than committing it. A good man may run into a sinful action unawares, but to love sin is desperate. What is it that makes a swine but loving to tumble in the mire? What is it that makes a devil but loving that which opposes
God? To love sin shows that the will is in sin; and the more of the will there is in a sin, the greater the sin…O how many there are that love the forbidden fruit! They love their oaths and adulteries; they love the sin and hate the reproof…So for men to love sin, to hug that which will be their death, to sport with damnation,
"madness is in their heart" (Ecc 9:3). It persuades us to show our repentance by a bitter hatred of sin… INGREDIENT 6: TURNING FROM SIN. The sixth ingredient in repentance is a turning from sin…This turning from sin is called forsaking sin (Isa 55:7), as a man forsakes the company of a thief or sorcerer. It is called putting of sin far away (Job 11:14), as Paul put away the viper and shook it into the fire (Act 28:5). Dying to sin is the life of repentance. The very day a Christian turns from sin, he must enjoin himself a perpetual fast. The eye must fast from impure glances. The ear must fast from hearing slanders. The tongue
23 censured – rebuked; expressed strong disapproval.
24 dissimulation – hypocrisy.
Six Ingredients of Repentance
must fast from oaths. The hands must fast from bribes. The feet must fast from the path of the harlot. And the soul must fast from the love of wickedness. This turning from sin implies a notable change…Turning from sin is so visible that others may discern it.
Therefore, it is called a change from darkness to light (Eph 5:8).
Paul, after he had seen the heavenly vision, was so turned that all men wondered at the change (Act 9:21). Repentance turned the jailer into a nurse and physician (Act 16:33). He took the Apostles, washed their wounds, and set meat before them. A ship is going eastward; there comes a wind that turns it westward. Likewise, a man was turning hellward before the contrary wind of the Spirit blew, turned his course and caused him to sail heavenward…Such a visible change does repentance make in a person, as if another soul did lodge in the same body.
That the turning from sin be rightly qualified, these few things are requisite:
1. It must be a turning from sin with the heart. The heart is the primum vivens, the first thing that lives; and it must be the primum vertens, the first thing that turns. The heart is that which the devil strives hardest for…In religion the heart is all. If the heart be not turned from sin, it is no better than a lie…God will have the whole heart turned from sin. True repentance must have no reserves or inmates.
2. It must be a turning from all sin. "Let the wicked forsake his way" (Isa 55:7). A real penitent turns out of the road of sin. Every sin is abandoned…He that hides one rebel in his house is a traitor to the Crown, and he that indulges one sin is a traitorous hypocrite.
3. It must be a turning from sin upon a spiritual ground. A man may restrain the acts of sin, yet not turn from sin in a right manner.
Acts of sin may be restrained out of fear or design, but a true penitent turns from sin out of a religious principle, namely, love to God…Three men asking one another what made them leave sin: one says, I think of the joys of heaven; another, I think of the torments of hell; but the third, I think of the love of God, and that makes me forsake it. How shall I offend the God of love?
From The Doctrine of Repentance, available from CHAPEL LIBRARY.