Chapter 7: Of Legal Motives to Repentance
Motives to repentance are either legal or evangelical. Legal are such as are borrowed from the law, and they are 3 especially.
The first is the misery and cursed estate of every impenitent sinner in this life by reason of his sins.
His misery (that I may express it to the understanding of the simplest) is sevenfold: 1, within him; 2, before him; 3, behind him; 4, on his right hand; 5, on his left hand; 6, over his head; 7, under his feet.
His misery within him is twofold. The first is a guilty conscience, which is a very hell to the ungodly man. For he is like a simple prisoner, and the conscience like a jailer which follows him at the heels and dogs him wherever he goes, to the end he may see and observe all his sayings and doings. It is like a register that sits always with the pen in his hand to record and enroll all his wickedness for everlasting memory. It is a little judge that sits in the middle of a man even in his very heart, to arraign him in this life for his sins as he shall be arraigned at the last judgment. Therefore the pangs, terrors, and fears of all impenitent persons are as it were certain flashings of the flames of hell fire. The guilty conscience makes a man like him who lies on a bed that is too narrow and the covering too short, who would with all his heart sleep but cannot. Belshazzar, when he was in the midst of his mirth, seeing the handwriting on the wall, was struck with great fear, so that his countenance changed and his knees struck together (Isaiah 28:20; Daniel 5:6).
The second evil within man is the fearful slavery and bondage under the power of Satan the prince of darkness, in that his mind, will, and affections are so knit and glued to the will of the devil that he can do nothing but obey him and rebel against God. And hence Satan is called the prince of this world, who keeps the hold of the heart as an armed captain keeps a fort or a castle with watch and ward (2 Corinthians 4).
The misery before man is a dangerous snare which the devil lays for the destruction of the soul. I say it is dangerous, because he is in setting of it twenty or forty years before he strikes, when (God knows) men think little of it. It is made of three cords. With the first he brings men into his snare, and that he does by covering the misery and the poison of sin and by painting out to the eye of the mind the deceitful profits and pleasures thereof. With the second he ensnares them, for after a man is drawn into this or that sin, the devil has so sugared it over with fine delights that he cannot but must live and lie in it. By the third he draws the snare and endeavors with all his might to break the neck of the soul. For when he sees a fit opportunity, especially in grievous calamities and in the hour of death, he takes away the mask of sin and shows the face of it in the true form, as ugly as himself; then withal he begins (as we say) to show his horns; then he rages in terrifying and accusing, that the soul of man may be swallowed up in the gulf of final despair (2 Timothy 2:25).
The misery behind him is the sins past. The Lord says to Cain: if you do not well, sin lies at the door. Where sin is compared to a wild beast which follows a man wherever he goes and lies lurking at his heels. And though for a time it may seem to be harmless because it lies asleep, yet at length, unless men repent, it will rise up, seize on them, and rend out the very throats of their souls. Job in his affliction says: you write bitter things against me and make me possess the sins of my youth. And David prays: forgive me the sins of my youth. If the memory of sins past is a trouble to the godly man, oh what a rack, what a gibbet will it be to the heart of him who lacks grace (Genesis 4:7; Job 13:26; Psalm 25:7)?
The misery on the right hand is prosperity and ease, which by reason of man's sin is an occasion of many judgments. In it men practiced the horrible sins of Sodom. It puffs up the heart with devilish pride, so that men shall think themselves to be as God himself, as Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, Alexander, Herod, and Domitian did. It steals away man's heart from God and quenches the sparks of grace. As the Lord complains of the Israelites: I spoke to you when you were in prosperity, but you said I will not hear; this has been your manner from your youth. It is like the ivy that embraces the tree and winds round about it, but yet draws out the juice and life of it. Hence it is that many turn it to an occasion of their destruction. Solomon says: the prosperity of fools destroys them. When the spleen swells, the rest of the body pines away; and when the heart is puffed with pride, the whole man is in danger of destruction. The sheep that goes in the best pasture soonest comes to the slaughterhouse; and the ungodly man fattens himself with continual prosperity, that he may the sooner come to his own damnation (Ezekiel 16:49; Jeremiah 22:21; Proverbs 1:32; Romans 9:22).
The misery on the left hand is adversity, which stands in all manner of losses and calamities in goods, friends, good name, and such like. Of this read at large in Deuteronomy 28.
The misery over his head is the wrath of God, which he testifies in all manner of judgments from heaven, in danger of which every impenitent sinner is every hour. And the danger is very great. The scripture says: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He has storehouses full of all manner of judgments, and they watch for secure sinners so that they cannot escape. God's wrath is as a fire making havoc and bringing to nothing whatever it lights on. Indeed, because he is slow to anger, therefore more terrible — as a man therefore stays his hand for a time, that he may lift it higher and fetch a deeper blow. When the dumb creatures melt as wax and vanish away at his presence when he is angry, as the huge mountains and rocks do, frail man must never look to stand. If the roaring of a lion makes men afraid and the voice of thunder is terrible, oh, how exceedingly should all be astonished at the threatenings of God (Hebrews 10:31; Deuteronomy 32:34; Ezekiel 7:6; Nahum 1:4-6; Psalm 97).
The misery under his feet is hell fire, for every man till he repents is in as great danger of damnation as the traitor apprehended, of hanging, drawing, and quartering. A man walking in his way falls into a deep dungeon that is full of ugly serpents and noisome beasts. In his fall he catches hold of a twig of a tree that grows at the mouth of the dungeon and hangs by it. Afterward there comes a beast both lean and hunger-bitten, which having cropped the whole tree is ever and anon gnawing at the twig on which he hangs. Now, what is the danger of this man? Surely he is like to fall into the pit over which he hangs. Well, this man is every impenitent sinner; the pit is hell, prepared for the devil and his angels; the twig is the brittle and frail life of man; the hunger-bitten beast is death, that is ready every hour to cut our life asunder. The danger is fearful, for man hanging as it were over the mouth of hell, when life is ended, unless he use good means before he die, he then falls to the very bottom of it.
If this be the misery with which the careless man is besieged and compassed about every way, and that for his sins, why do men lie in the dead sleep of security? Oh, it stands them in hand to take up the voice of bitter lamentation, and for their offenses to howl after the manner of dragons. If men could weep nothing but tears of blood for their sins, if they could die a thousand times in one day for very grief, they could never be grieved enough for their sins.
The second motive to draw men to repentance is the consideration of the wretched estate of an impenitent sinner in his death, which is nothing but the wages and allowance that he receives for his sin, and it is the very suburbs, or rather the gates of hell. Saint Paul compares death to a scorpion, who carries a sting in his tail, which is sin. Now then when impenitent and profane persons die, then comes this scorpion and grips them with her legs and stabs them at the heart with her sting. Therefore the best thing is, before death comes, to use means to pull out the sting of death. And nothing will do it but the blood of Christ. Let men therefore break off their sins by repentance. Let them come to the throne of grace and cry; indeed, let them fill heaven and earth with cries for mercy. Oh, pray, pray, pray for the pardon of your sins. If you obtain but one drop of God's special mercy in Christ, all danger is past. For death has lost his sting, and then a man without danger may put an ugly serpent in his bosom (Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:55-56).
The third motive is the consideration of his estate after death. When the day of the last judgment shall come, he must be brought and set before the tribunal seat of Christ. He shall not be able to escape or hide himself. Then the books shall be brought out and all his sins shall be discovered before God's saints and angels. The devil and his own conscience shall accuse him. None shall be advocate to plead his cause. He himself shall be speechless. He shall at length hear the dreadful sentence of damnation: go, you cursed, into hell prepared for the devil and his angels. This thing might move the vilest atheist in the world to leave his wicked ways and come to amendment of life. We see the strongest thief that is, when he is led in the way from the prison to the bar, leaves his thieving and behaves himself orderly. And indeed if he would then cut a purse, it were high time that he were hanged. All men by nature are traitors and malefactors against God. While we live in this world we are in the way going to the bar of God's judgment. The wheel of the heavens turns one revolution every day and winds up somewhat of the thread of our life. Whether we sleep or wake we are always coming nearer our end. Therefore let all men daily humble themselves for their sins and pray to God that he would be reconciled to them in Christ, and let them endeavor themselves in obedience to all God's commandments both in their lives and callings.
Again, after the last judgment there remains eternal death appointed for him, which stands in these three things. 1, a separation from all joy and comfort of the presence of God. 2, eternal fellowship with the devil and all his angels. 3, the feeling of the horrible wrath of God, which shall seize upon body, soul, and conscience and shall feed on them as fire does on pitch and brimstone, and torment them as a worm crawling in the body and gnawing on the heart. They shall always be dying and never dead, always in woe and never in ease. And this death is the more grievous because it is everlasting. Suppose the whole world to be a mountain of sand, and that a bird must carry from it a mouthful of sand every thousand years; many innumerable thousands of years will be expired before she will have carried away the whole mountain. Well, if a man should stay in torment so long and then have an end of his woe, it were some comfort. But when the bird shall have carried away the mountain a thousand times, alas, alas, a man shall be as far from the end of his anguish and torment as ever he was. This consideration may serve as an iron scourge to drive men from their wicked lives. Chrysostom would have men in their meetings in taverns and feasts to talk of hell, that by often thinking on it they might avoid it. A grave and chaste matron, being moved to commit folly with a lewd ruffian; after long discourse, she called for a pan of burning coals, requesting him for her sake to hold his finger in them but one hour. He answered that it was an unkind request. To whom she replied that seeing he would not hold so much as one finger in a few coals for one small hour, she could not yield to do the thing for which she should be tormented body and soul in hell fire forever. And so should all men reason against themselves. None will be brought to do a thing that may make so much as their finger or tooth to ache; therefore we ought to have great care to leave our sins, by which we bring endless torment to body and soul in hell.
Motives to repentance are either legal or evangelical. Legal motives are drawn from the law, and there are three main ones.
The first is the misery and cursed condition of every unrepentant sinner in this life, on account of his sins.
That misery — to put it in terms anyone can understand — is sevenfold: first, within him; second, before him; third, behind him; fourth, on his right hand; fifth, on his left hand; sixth, over his head; seventh, under his feet.
The misery within him is twofold. The first is a guilty conscience, which is a kind of hell for the ungodly person. He is like a helpless prisoner, with the conscience acting as a jailer who follows him everywhere, watching and recording all his words and deeds. Conscience is like a record-keeper who sits always with pen in hand, writing down every act of wickedness for permanent memory. It is a small judge who sits in the very center of a person's heart, putting him on trial in this life for his sins, just as he will be tried at the last judgment. The pangs, terrors, and fears of all unrepentant persons are like flashes from the flames of hell fire. A guilty conscience makes a person like someone lying on a bed too narrow, with a blanket too short — who desperately wants to sleep but cannot. When Belshazzar was in the middle of his feast and saw the handwriting on the wall, he was struck with great fear, so that his face changed and his knees knocked together (Isaiah 28:20; Daniel 5:6).
The second evil within a person is the terrible slavery and bondage under the power of Satan, the prince of darkness. His mind, will, and affections are so bound to the devil's will that he can do nothing but obey him and rebel against God. This is why Satan is called the prince of this world — he holds the heart as an armed captain holds a fort or a castle under guard (2 Corinthians 4).
The misery before the sinner is a dangerous trap that the devil sets for the destruction of the soul. It is dangerous because he may set it twenty or forty years in advance and spring it when — God knows — people least expect it. This trap is made of three cords. With the first, the devil draws people in by concealing the misery and poison of sin and painting before the mind's eye its deceitful profits and pleasures. With the second, he ensnares them — for once a person is drawn into a particular sin, the devil has so sweetened it that he cannot help but stay in it. With the third, he pulls the trap shut and works with all his might to break the neck of the soul. When he sees a fitting opportunity — especially in times of great calamity or at the hour of death — he tears away the mask from sin and shows its true face, as ugly as himself. Then he begins to show his true nature, raging in terror and accusation, so that the soul of the person may be swallowed up in final despair (2 Timothy 2:25).
The misery behind the sinner is his past sins. The Lord said to Cain: 'If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.' Here sin is compared to a wild beast that follows a person wherever he goes and lurks at his heels. Though it may seem harmless for a time because it lies dormant, it will eventually — unless the person repents — rise up, seize him, and rip out the very throat of his soul. Job in his affliction said: 'You write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.' And David prays: 'Do not remember the sins of my youth.' If the memory of past sins is a trouble to a godly person, what a rack, what a torment will it be to the heart of one who lacks grace (Genesis 4:7; Job 13:26; Psalm 25:7)?
The misery on the right hand is prosperity and ease, which — because of human sinfulness — becomes an occasion for many judgments. In prosperity, people practiced the horrible sins of Sodom. It puffs up the heart with devilish pride, so that people begin to think themselves as great as God — as Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, Alexander, Herod, and Domitian did. Prosperity steals the heart away from God and quenches the sparks of grace. As the Lord complains about the Israelites: 'I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, I will not listen. This has been your way from your youth.' Prosperity is like the ivy that embraces a tree and winds all around it, yet draws out its sap and life. This is why many turn prosperity into the occasion of their own destruction. Solomon says: 'The prosperity of fools destroys them.' When the spleen swells, the rest of the body wastes away; and when the heart is puffed up with pride, the whole person is in danger of ruin. The sheep that grazes in the best pasture is the first to reach the slaughterhouse. And the ungodly person fattens himself with continual prosperity only to arrive more quickly at his own damnation (Ezekiel 16:49; Jeremiah 22:21; Proverbs 1:32; Romans 9:22).
The misery on the left hand is adversity, which includes all kinds of losses and calamities in goods, relationships, reputation, and more. Read about this at length in Deuteronomy 28.
The misery over his head is the wrath of God, expressed in all manner of judgments from heaven — and every unrepentant sinner stands in danger of this every hour. The danger is very great. Scripture says: 'It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' He has storehouses full of every kind of judgment, and they lie in wait for careless sinners so that they cannot escape. God's wrath is like a fire that destroys and consumes everything it touches. And because He is slow to anger, He is all the more terrible — like a person who holds back his hand for a time so that he can raise it higher and strike a deeper blow. When even the dumb creation melts like wax and vanishes at His presence in anger — as the great mountains and rocks do — frail human beings can never expect to stand. If the roar of a lion makes people afraid and the voice of thunder is terrifying, how much more should all be shaken by the threatenings of God (Hebrews 10:31; Deuteronomy 32:34; Ezekiel 7:6; Nahum 1:4-6; Psalm 97).
The misery under his feet is hell fire — for every person until he repents is in as much danger of damnation as a convicted traitor is of execution. Picture a man walking along a path who falls into a deep pit full of horrible serpents and foul creatures. In his fall, he grabs hold of a small branch of a tree growing at the edge of the pit and hangs there by it. Then a gaunt and starving beast comes along, and having already eaten the whole tree, gnaws constantly at the branch he is hanging from. What is the danger of this man? He is about to fall into the pit below him. This man is every unrepentant sinner; the pit is hell, prepared for the devil and his angels; the branch is the fragile and fleeting life of man; the starving beast is death, which is ready at any moment to cut our life away. The danger is fearful — for the person hanging over the mouth of hell, when life ends, will fall to its very bottom unless he uses the right means before he dies.
If this is the misery that surrounds and besieges the careless person on every side — and all because of his sins — why do people remain in the dead sleep of carelessness? They must take up bitter lamentation and howl for their offenses like those in great distress. If people could weep nothing but tears of blood for their sins, if they could die a thousand times a day from sheer grief, they could still never grieve enough for what they have done.
The second motive to draw people to repentance is the consideration of the wretched condition of the unrepentant sinner at the moment of death. Death is nothing but the wages and payment he receives for his sin, and it is the very gateway — or rather the entrance — into hell. Paul compares death to a scorpion that carries a sting in its tail, which is sin. When unrepentant and godless people die, this scorpion grips them in its claws and stabs them at the heart with its sting. The best course of action, therefore, is to use the right means to remove the sting of death before it strikes. And nothing will remove it but the blood of Christ. Let people therefore break off their sins through repentance. Let them come to the throne of grace and cry out — let them fill heaven and earth with their cries for mercy. Pray, pray, pray for the forgiveness of your sins. If you receive even one drop of God's special mercy in Christ, all danger is past. For death has lost its sting, and then a person can hold even a poisonous serpent without danger (Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:55-56).
The third motive is the consideration of what lies beyond death. When the day of the last judgment comes, every person must be brought and stand before the judgment seat of Christ. There will be no escaping or hiding. Then the books will be opened and all sins will be exposed before God's saints and angels. The devil and the person's own conscience will accuse him. No one will serve as an advocate to plead his case. He himself will be speechless. At last he will hear the dreadful sentence of condemnation: 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' This alone should move the vilest atheist in the world to leave his wicked ways and come to amendment of life. We see that even the hardest thief, when he is being led from the prison to stand trial, stops his thieving and behaves himself properly. And indeed, if he were to pick a pocket on the way to the gallows, it would only prove he deserves to hang. By nature, all people are traitors and lawbreakers against God. While we live in this world, we are on the road to God's judgment. The wheel of the heavens turns one revolution every day and winds up a portion of the thread of our life. Whether we sleep or wake, we are always drawing nearer to our end. Therefore let all people daily humble themselves for their sins, pray that God would be reconciled to them in Christ, and earnestly seek to obey all God's commandments in both their private lives and their public responsibilities.
After the last judgment, there remains eternal death for the unrepentant — and it consists of three things. First, separation from all joy and comfort in God's presence. Second, eternal companionship with the devil and all his angels. Third, the felt experience of the terrible wrath of God, which will seize upon body, soul, and conscience, feeding on them as fire feeds on pitch and brimstone, and tormenting them as a worm crawling through the body and gnawing on the heart. They will always be dying and never dead, always in anguish and never at rest. This death is all the more grievous because it is everlasting. Imagine the whole world as a mountain of sand, and that a bird carries away one mouthful of sand every thousand years. Many countless thousands of years would pass before it had carried away the whole mountain. If a person's torment were to last that long and then end, there would be some comfort in that. But when the bird had carried away the mountain a thousand times over — still, the person would be no closer to the end of his anguish than when he first began. This truth should serve as a sharp spur to drive people from their wicked lives. Chrysostom wanted people at their gatherings in taverns and feasts to talk about hell, so that by thinking of it often they might avoid it. A virtuous and chaste woman, when urged to commit immorality by a wicked man, listened to his long speeches and then called for a pan of burning coals. She asked him to hold his finger in them for just one hour, for her sake. He said that was an unreasonable request. She replied that since he would not hold even one finger in a few coals for a single small hour, she would not do the thing he asked — for which she would be tormented in both body and soul in hell fire forever. All people should reason the same way. No one is willing to do something that would cause even a finger or a tooth to ache. So we ought to take great care to leave our sins, by which we bring endless torment to body and soul in hell.
