Many suck poison from this sweet flower!There is no rowing to paradise exceptupon the stream of repenting tears. Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet. Some bless themselves that they have astock of knowledge, but what is knowledgegood for, without repentance? Learning anda bad heart, is like a pretty face with a cancerin the breast! Knowledge without repentancewill be but a torch to light the way to hell. Repentant tears may be compared to myrrh,which though it is bitter in taste, has a sweetsmell and refreshes the spirit. So repentance,though it is bitter in itself, yet it is sweet inthe effects. It brings inward peace. We are to find as much bitterness in weeping forsin as ever we found sweetness in committing it.Surely David found more bitterness in repentancethan ever he found comfort in Bathsheba. Tears have four qualities: they aremoist, salt, hot, and bitter. It is true of repenting tears, they arehot to warm a frozen conscience;moist, to soften a hard heart;salt, to season a soul decaying in sin;bitter, to wean us from the love of the world. And I will add a fifth, they are sweet, inthat they make the heart inwardly rejoice.David, who was the great weeper in Israel,was also the sweet singer of Israel. Be as speedy in your repentance as youwould have God be speedy in His mercies. Many are now in hell that intended to repent.Satan does what he can to keep men fromrepentance. When he sees that one beginsto take up serious thoughts of reformation,he bids them wait a little longer. It isdangerous to procrastinate repentance.The longer any go on sinning, the harderthey will find the work of repentance. Delay strengthens sin, hardens the heartand gives the devil fuller possession. A plant at first may be easily plucked up,but when it has spread its roots deep inthe earth, a whole team cannot remove it. It is hard to remove sin whenit comes to be rooted. The longer the ice freezes the harder it is tobe broken. The longer a man freezes in sin,the harder it will be to have his heart broken. Presuming upon God's mercycan be eternally fatal. Many suckpoison from this sweet flower! Oh, one says, "Christ has died; He has done allfor me; therefore I may sit still and do nothing."Thus they suck death from the tree of life! So I may say of God's mercy, it accidentallycauses the ruin of many. Because of Hismercy, some men presume and think theymay go on sinning. The psalmist says, "there is mercy with God,that he may be feared," but not that we may sin. Can men expect mercy by provoking justice?God will hardly show those mercy who sinbecause mercy abounds. Many would rather go sleepingto hell than weeping to heaven.
