1 Such of the elect as are converted at riper years, having sometime lived in the state of nature, and therein served divers lusts and pleasures, God in their effectual calling giveth them repentance unto life.¹

¹Titus 3:2–5

2 Whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth not,² 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.³

²Ecclesiastes 7:20 ³Luke 22:31, 32

3 This saving repentance is an evangelical grace,⁴ 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,⁵ 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.⁶

⁴Zechariah 12:10; Acts 11:18 ⁵Ezekiel 36:31; 2 Corinthians 7:11 ⁶Psalms 119:6, 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.⁷

⁷Luke 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,⁸ yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them that repent,⁹ which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary.

⁸Romans 6:23 ⁹Isaiah 1:16–18; 55:7