HeadTheology

I’ve read four Puritan Paperbacks in my life and intend to read them all before my life is done Lord willing since they are such inspirations to holiness and having an abiding joy in God. So far The Doctrine of Repentance, by Thomas Watson, has to be my favorite, or maybe it convictingly spoke to me when I needed it at a time in my life. Nevertheless, whenever someone wants me to recommend a book to them this is usually one of the first ones I mention. Not only is it an easy read (at least much easier than reading John Owen) but the content is pure gold. I can’t see why Christians would want to feed their life with all of the fluff that overflows most Christian bookstores when they can have something so nourishing as The Doctrine of Repentance. This book goes well with Owen’s The Mortification of Sin since there can be no mortification of sin without repentance. Here are my favorite quotes from The Doctrine of Repentance.

“It is better to go with difficulty to heaven than with ease to hell” (8)

“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; and he that can repent without sorrowing, suspect his repentance.” (19)

“We are to find as much bitterness in weeping for sin as ever we found sweetness in committing it.” (24)

“The Christian has arrived as a sufficient measure of sorrow when the love of sin is purged out.” (24)

“The more bitterness we taste in sin, the more sweetness we shall taste in Christ.” (27)

Ingredients of Proper Confession:

1. “Confession must be voluntary”

“true confession drops from the lips as myrrh from the tree or honey form the comb, freely.” (29)

2. “Confession must be with compunction”

“It is one thing to confess sin and another to feel sin.” (29)

3. “Confession must be sincere”

4. “In true confession a man particularizes sin”

“In the same way a wicked man says, ‘Lord, I have sinned’, but does not know what the sin is; as least he does not remember, whereas a true convert acknowledges his particular sin.” (30)

5. “A true penitent confesses sin in the fountain”

“We are ready to charge many of our first sins to Satan’s temptations, but this sin of our nature is wholly from ourselves; we cannot shift it off to Satan.” (30)

“Our nature is an abyss and seminary of all evil, from whence come those scandals that infest the world.” (31)

6. “Sin is to be confessed with all its circumstances and aggravations”

7. “In confession we must so charge ourselves as to clear God”

8. “We must confess our sins with a resolution not to act them over again”

“many seem to kill their sins in their confessions and afterwards let them grow as fast as ever.” (31)

“Origen calls confession the vomit of the soul whereby the conscience is eased of that burden.” (32)

“What king will pardon that man who, after he has confessed his treason, practices new treason?” (32)

The Results of Proper Confession: (34-35)

1. “Holy confession gives glory to God”

“A humble confession exalts God” (34)

2. “Confession is a means to humble the soul”

3. “Confession gives vent to a troubled heart”

4. “Confession purges out sin”

“Confession is like the dung-gate, through which all the filth of the city was carried forth.” (35)

5. “Confession of sin endears Christ to the soul”

6. “Confession of sin makes way for pardon”

“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.” (39)

“Our sins are worse than the sins of the devils: the lapsed angels never sinned against Christ’s blood. Christ died not for them. The medicine of his merit was never intended to heal them. But we have affronted and disparaged his blood by unbelief.” (42)

“A true penitent is a sin-loather.” (45)

“Christ is never loved till sin be loathed. Heaven is never longed for till sin be loathed.” (45)

“We are never more precious in God’s eyes than when we are lepers in our own.” (45)

“Sound repentance begins in the love of God and ends in the hatred of sin.” (45)

“So 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.” (46)

“He who hates one sin hates them all.” (46)

“Where there is a real hatred, we not only oppose sin in ourselves but in others too” (47)

“To the godly sin is as a thorn in the eye; to the wicked it is as a crown on the head.” (47)

“Affliction is but corrective; sin is destructive. Affliction can but take away the life; sin takes away the soul (Luke 12:20).” (49)

“In the torments of hell there is something that is good, namely, the execution of divine justice. There is justice to be found in hell, but sin is a piece of the highest injustice. It would rob God of his glory, Christ of his purchase, the soul of its happiness.” (51)

“a true convert seeks the destruction of every lust. He knows how dangerous it is to entertain any one sin. He that hides one rebel in his house is a traitor to the Crown, and he that indulges one sin is a traitorous hypocrite.” (54)

“He that returns to sin by implication charges God with some evil. If a man puts away his wife, it implies he knows some fault by her. To leave God and to return to sin is tacitly to asperse the Deity.” (55)

“A true turning from sin is a divorcing it, so as never to come near it any more.” (56)

“Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” (63)

“Repentance is necessary for civil persons. … Indeed these are often in the worst condition: these are they who need no repentance (Luke 15:7). Their civility undoes them. They make a Christ of it, and so on this shelf they suffer shipwreck. Morality shoots short of heaven. … Civility is insufficient for salvation. Though the life be moralized, the lust may be unmortified. The heart may be full of pride and atheism. I am not saying, repent that you are civil, but repent that you are no more than civil.” (67)

“Indeed, if prayer does not make a man leave sin, sin will make him leave prayer.” (68)

“Repentance is a continuous act. The issue of godly sorrow must not be quite stopped till death.” (69)

“Let it grieve you that so much of your age has not been time lived but time lost; that you have filled up your golden hours more with froth than with spirits.” (71)

“Sin hangs weights on us so that we move but slowly to heaven.” (73)

“No prayer touches God’s ear but what comes from a heart touched with the sense of sin.” (77)

“Knowledge without repentance will be but a torch to light men to hell.” (77)

“Let a man, said Augustine, grieve for his sin and rejoice for his grief.” (78)

“It is not so much the sins we have committed that so provoke and grieve Christ as that we refuse the physic of repentance which he prescribes.” (84)

“Be as speedy in your repentance as you would have God speedy in his mercies: ‘the king’s business required haste’ (I Sam 21:8).” (86)

“Many are now in hell that proposed to repent.” (86)

“By late repentance, though we do not lose our crown, yet we make it lighter.” (88)

“God who pardons him that repents has not promised to give him tomorrow to repent in.” (90)

“God is never pleased with us than when we fall out with ourselves for sin.” (93)

“We please God by repentance but we do not satisfy him by it.” (97)

“Though repentance helps to purge out the filth of sin, yet it is Christ’s blood that washes away the guilt of sin.” (97)

“This is the mischief sin has done; it has not only made us sick, but senseless.” (99)

“This conceit of the easiness of repentance is a great hindrance to it.” (100)

“A sinner will rather lose Christ and heaven than his lusts.” (100)

“Because of mercy men presume and think they may go on in sin, but should a king’s clemency make his subjects rebel.” (101)

“God will hardly show those mercy who sin because mercy abounds.” (101)

“It [repentance] does not crucify but clarify our joy, and takes it off from the fulsome lees of sin.” (102)

“Repentance does not take away a Christian’s music, but raises it a note higher and makes it sweeter.” (103)

“A creditor may forbear his debtor, but forbearance does not excuse payment.” (104)

“If you cannot bear a reproach for religion, never call yourself Christian.” (105)

“The farm and shop so take up people’s time that they have no leisure for their souls. Their golden weights hinder their silver tears.” (105)

“So, being conscious of our own inability to leave sin, let us get Christ to be bound with us and engage his strength for the mortifying of corruption.” (120)

“Beg of Christ to give to us such a look of love as he did to Peter, which made him go out and weep bitterly. Implore the help of God’s Spirit.” (121)

“We can harden our hearts, but cannot soften them. This crown of free-will is fallen from our head. Nay, there is in us not only impotency, but obstinacy (Acts 7:51). Therefore beg of God a repentant spirit. He can make the stony heart bleed. His is a word of creative power.” (121)