2._____ Whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth not, 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.
(
Ecclesiastes
7:20; Luke
22:31, 32 )
3._____ This saving repentance is an evangelical grace, 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, 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.
(
Zechariah
12:10; Acts
11:18; Ezekiel
36:31; 2
Corinthians 7:11;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.
(
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; yet there
is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them that repent; which
makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary.
(
Romans
6:23; Isaiah
1:16-18Isaiah
55:7 )