Joel 2:12–2:13

Joel 2:12-13 12. Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 12. Atque etiam nunc dicet Jehova, convertimini ad me in toto corde vestro, et in jejunio, et in fletu, et in planctu. 13. And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 13. Et scindite cor vestrum, et non vestimenta vestra, et convertimini ad Jehovam Deum vestrum, quia ipse propitius et misericors, longus ad iram, et multus clementia, et poenitebit eum super malo. The Prophet, having proclaimed the dreadful judgment which we have noticed, now shows that he did not intend to terrify the people without reason, but, on the contrary, to encourage them to repentance; which he could not do without offering to them the hope of pardon; for as we have said before, and as it may be collected from the whole of Scripture, men cannot be restored to the right ways except they entertain a hope of God's mercy inasmuch as he who has been ungodly, when he despairs, wholly disregards himself, observing no restraint. Hence the Prophet now represents God as propitious and merciful, that he might thus kindly allure the people to repentance. He says first, [3]And even now the Lord says, Turn ye to me. The Prophet exhorts the people, not in his own name, but speaks in the person of God himself. He might indeed have borne witness to the favor which he proclaimed; but the discourse becomes more striking by introducing God as the speaker. And there is a great importance in the words, even now; for when one considers what we have noticed in the beginning of the chapter, a prospect of relief could hardly have been deemed possible. God had, indeed, in various ways, tried to restore the people to the right way; but, as we have seen, the greater part had become so void of feeling, that the scourges of God were wholly ineffectual; there remained, then, nothing but the utter destruction which the Prophet threatened them with at the beginning of the second chapter. Yet, in this state of despair, he still sets forth some hope of mercy, provided they turned to him; even now, he says. The particles vgm ugam are full of emphasis, "even now" that is, "Though ye have too long abused God's forbearance, and with regard to you, the opportunity is past, for ye have closed the door against yourselves; yet even now, -- which no one could have expected, and indeed what ought to be thought incredible by yourselves, -- even now God waits for you, and invites you to entertain hope of salvation." But it was necessary that these two particles, even now, should be added; for it is not in the power of men to fix for themselves, as they please, the season for mercy. God here shows the acceptable time, as Isaiah says ( Isaiah 49:8 ) to be, when he has not yet rejected men, but when he offers to be propitious. We must then remember that the Prophet gives not here liberty to men to delay the time, as the profane and scorners are wont to do, who trifle with God from day to day; but the Prophet here shows that we must obey the voice of God, when he invites us, as also Isaiah says, Behold now the time accepted, behold the day of salvation: seek God now, for he is near; call on him while he may be found.' So then, as I have reminded you, these two particles, even now, are added, that men may be made attentive to the voice of God when he invites them, that they may not delay till tomorrow, for the Lord may then close the door, and repentance may be too late. We at the same time see how indulgently God bears with men, since he left a hope of pardon to a people so obstinate and almost past recovery. Even now, he says, turn ye to me with your whole heart. The Prophet here reminds us that we must not act feignedly with God; for men are ever disposed to trifle with him. We indeed see what almost the whole world is wont to do. God graciously meets us and is ready to receive us unto favor, though we have a hundred times alienated ourselves from him; but we bring nothing but hypocrisy and disguise: hence the Prophet declares here distinctly, that this dissimulation does not please God, and that they can hide nothing, who only pretend some sort of repentance by external signs, and that what is required is the serious and sincere feeling of the heart. This is what he means by the whole heart; not that perfect repentance can be formed in men, but the whole or complete heart is opposed to a divided heart: for men well understand that God is not ignorant; yet they divide their heart, and when they bestow some portion on God, they think that he is satisfied; and in the meantime there remains an interior and some hidden perverseness, which separates them far from God. This vice the Prophet now condemns, when he says, Turn with the whole heart. He then shows that it is an hypocrisy abominable to God, when men keep the greater part of their heart, as it were, closed up, and think it enough, if only they bring, so to speak, some volatile feeling. He afterwards adds, fasting, and weeping, and mourning; and by these words he shows how grievously they had sinned; as though he said, that they deserved not only one kind of destruction, but were worthy of hundred deaths; that God therefore would not now be content with any common repentance, and except they came suppliantly and deeply felt their own guilt. It is indeed true, that we ought daily and even constantly to sigh, because we continue almost every hour to provoke God's wrath against us; but the Prophet here speaks of solemn fasting, because the people had so grievously offended God that there was required some extraordinary confession, such as he here describes. Come then to me with fasting, and weeping, and wailing" that is "Show at length that you are guilty and submissively deprecate the vengeance which ye have through your wickedness deserved." He speaks like a judge, when he tells the criminal, not to act dissemblingly, but simply to confess his fault. The guilty are indeed wont to weave many excuses to avoid punishment; but when the judge deems a man guilty, and he is abundantly proved to be so, he says, "What good can you do? for these your shuffling and subterfuges make your case worse: for now I hold you bound, and you cannot escape by these shifts, and will only the more provoke my displeasure. If then you wish me to show you favor, own how grievously you have offended, and without any coloring; confess now that you are worthy of death, and that nothing else remains for you, except I mercifully pardon you: for if you try to extenuate your crime, if you attempt by some excuse to seek reprief, you will gain nothing." So now does the Lord deal with this people: Turn to me, he says; first, sincerely; then with fasting, with weeping, and with wailing; that is, "Let it appear that you suppliantly deprecate the destruction which ye have deserved, for moderate repentance will not do, inasmuch as ye are guilty before me of so many crimes." We now apprehend the Prophet's meaning. He then subjoins, Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Jehovah your God. The Prophet again repeats that we ought to deal sincerely with God; for all those ceremonies, by which men imagine that they discharge their duties, are mere mockeries, when they are not preceded by a pure and sincere heart. But as they were wont under mournful circumstances to rend their garments, he therefore says, "God has become now insensible to these customs; for with regard to men, ye are ceremonious enough, and more than enough: ye indeed rend your garments, and thus draw pity from men, and yet your heart remains whole, there is no rending, no opening; Rend then your heart," that is, "Leave off thus to mock God, as ye have been wont to do, and begin with your heart." It is indeed certain that the orientals were given to many ceremonies; but the vice the Prophet here condemns in the Jews is natural as it were to all men; so that every one of us is inclined to hypocrisy, and has need of having his attention drawn to the sincerity of the heart. We must then remember that this truth is to be set forth at all times and to all nations. Let any one search himself and he will find that he labors under this evil, -- that he would rather reed his garment than his heart. And since the Jews usually observed this custom, the Prophet does not without reason deride it, and say, that it was of no account with God except they rent their hearts. But when he bids them to rend their hearts and not their garments, though he seems to repudiate that external practice, he does not yet distinctly condemn it, but intimates that it was a lawful thing, provided the heart was rent. Now this expression, Rend the heart, ought not to be deemed harsh, for it is to be referred to the external practice: when they rent the garments, they made themselves naked before God and put off all ornaments; but he wished them to be displeased with themselves, and rather to make bare the heart itself. The heart of hypocrites, we know, is wrapped up, and they ever have recourse to hiding places, that they may avoid the presence of God. Then the similitude is most suitable, when the Prophet bids them to rend the heart. Besides, the passage is clear enough, and needs not many remarks; it means, that God regards the real feeling of the heart, as it is said in Jeremiah [4:14]; he is not content with ocular obedience, such as men exhibit, but he would have us to deal with him in sincerity and truth. Hence he repeats again, Turn to Jehovah your God. Here the Prophet shows, from what God is, that men foolishly and grossly deceive themselves when they would please God with their ceremonies: "What!" he says, "have you to do with a child?" For the import of the words is this, -- "When an offense against man is to be removed, ye anxiously come to him: now when ye perceive that God is angry with you, ye think that he will be propitious to you, if ye only trifle with him; can God bear such a reproach?" We hence see what the Prophet means when he says, Turn to Jehovah your God; that is, "Remember that you have not to do with a block of wood or with a stone, but with your God, who searches hearts, and whom mortals can by no crafts deceive " The same is said by Jeremiah, Israel, if thou turnest, turn to me,' ( Jeremiah 4:1 ;) that is, "Pretend not to turn by circuitous courses and windings, but come in a direct way, and with a real feeling of heart, for I am he who calls thee " So also now the Prophet says, Turn to Jehovah your God Then follows the promise of pardon, [4]For he is propitious and merciful. We have already said that repentance is preached in vain, except men entertain a hope of salvation; for they can never be brought to fear God truly, unless they trust in him as their Father, as it is stated in Psalm 130:4 With thee is propitiation that thou mayest be feared.' Hence, whenever the Prophets were anxious to effect anything by their doctrine, while exhorting the people to repentance, they joined to the invitation "Come," the second part, "Ye shall not come in vain." This "Come," comprehends all exhortations to repentance; "Ye shall not come in vain," includes this testimony respecting God's grace, that He will never reject miserable sinners, provided they return to him with the heart. The Prophet then now engaged on this second head; God, he says, is propitious and merciful. And this connection is to be observed by us; for as Satan fills us with insensibility when God invites us, so also he draws us away into despair when God denounces judgment, when he shows that it is not time for sleep. "What good will you gain?" Thus Satan by his craft disheartens us, that we may labor in vain, when we seek to be reconciled to God. Hence, whenever Scripture exhorts us to repentance, let us learn to join this second part, "God invites us not in vain." If then we return to him, he will be instantly inclined to grant forgiveness; for he wills not that miserable men should labor in vain or be tormented. This is the benefit of which the Prophet speaks when he says that God is propitious and merciful. He afterwards adds, that he is slow to wraths and abundant in goodness. These testimonies respecting God occur often in other places; and all the Prophets, as well as David, have borrowed these declarations from Exodus 34:6 ; where the nature of God is described; and He is said there to be propitious and merciful, slow to wrath, and abundant in goodness. Though there is no need of dwelling longer on these words, as we perceive the Prophet's design; yet more extended remarks will not be superfluous since the Prophet so much at large recommends the mercy of God. Though men too much indulge themselves in security, yet when God calls them to himself, they are not able to receive his favor; though he may testify twice or thrice that he will be propitious to them, yet he cannot persuade them but with great difficulty. This is the reason why the Prophet, after having said that God is propitious and merciful, adds, that he is slow to wrath, and abundant in goodness; it was, that the Jews might overcome their distrust, and that however much despair might keep them back, they might not yet hesitate to come to God, seeing that he declares himself to be so merciful. He at last adds, He will repent of the evil. The Prophet here not only describes the nature of God, but goes further and says, that God, who is by nature placable, will not remain fixed in his purpose, when he sees people returning to him in sincerity; but that he suffers himself to be turned to show favor, so as to remit the punishment which he had previously denounced. And it is a mode of speaking which often occurs in Scripture, that God repents of evil; not that he really changes his purpose, but this is said according to the apprehensions of men: for God is in himself immutable, and is said to turn from his, purpose, when he remits to man the punishment he has previously threatened. Whatever proceeds from God's mouth ought to be regarded as an inviolable decree; and yet God often threatens us conditionally, and though the condition be not expressed it is nevertheless to be understood: but when he is pacified to us and relaxes the punishment, which was in a manner already decreed according to the external word, he is then said to repent. And we know, that as we do not apprehend God such as he is, he is therefore described to us in such a way as we can comprehend, according to the measure of our infirmity. Hence God often puts on the character of men, as though he were like them; and as this mode of speaking is common, and we have spoken of it elsewhere, I now pass it by more briefly. It follows --

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye [even] to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: Therefore also now, saith the Lord — Now, though it be late first, and, as you may think, too late, Nunquam sero si serio. Now, though the dreadful day of the Lord be very near at hand; yea, though the locusts be already come, as Kimchi senseth it. Oh that ye would know at the last in this your day of grace, the things that belong to your peace, before the gate be shut, the drawbridge taken up, the taper burnt out, … "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation," 2 Corinthians 6:2 . The apostle (after the prophet Isaiah) purposely beateth upon the το νυν , as if he should say, Now, or never; since thou mayest, the very next minute, be cut off by the stroke of death from all further time of repentance and acceptation. Up, therefore, and be doing. It is the Lord himself that thus saith, Turn ye even to me — Usque ad me, altogether as far as to me; give not the half turn only; begin not to repent, and then give over the work. Some are ever about to repent, but they can never find time and hearts to set seriously about it, to do it in good earnest, stultitia semper incipit vivere folly always begins to live (Sen.). Some wamblings they have, as I may say, and some short-winded wishes, some kind of willingness and velleity, but it doth not boil up to the full height of resolution to return. The prodigal changed many places ere he came home. Many came out of Egypt that yet never came into Canaan. With all your heart — With the heart, Jeremiah 4:14 Proverbs 23:26 , and with the whole heart, in opposition to a divided heart, Hosea 10:2 , a double heart, James 4:8 , a heart and a heart, Psalms 12:2 . This whole heart is elsewhere called a true heart, Hebrews 10:22 , a perfect heart, 2 Chronicles 16:10 , truth in the inwards, Psalms 51:6 , where there is an unfeigned faith, 1 Timothy 1:5 , laborious love, 1 Thessalonians 1:3 , sound and cordial repentance, as here, undissembled wisdom, James 3:17 , such holiness as rendereth a man like to a crystal glass with a light in the midst of it, doing the truth, John 3:21 , and having his works full, Revelation 3:1-2 , being a true worshipper, John 4:24 , an Israelite indeed, John 1:47 . God he knows to be just and jealous: he will not endure co-rivals or co-partners in the kingdom. His jurisdiction is without peculiar: he will not divide with the devil. Be the gods of heathen good fellows? saith one; the true God is a jealous God, and will not share his glory with another. He must be served truly, that there be no halting; and totally, that there be no halving. And with fasting, weeping, and with mourning — With deep and downright humiliation, suitable to your sins, as Ezra 9:6 . Ye have inveterate stains; such as will not be gotten out till the cloth be almost rubbed to pieces. Satan hath intrenched himself in your hearts, and will not be gotten out but by fasting and prayer. Fasting is of itself but a bodily exercise, and meriteth nothing; for religion consisteth not in meat and drink; in the belly, full or empty, Romans 14:17 Colossians 2:23 ; but fasting is a singular furtherance to the practice of repentance and the enforcing of our prayers. See Ezra 8:21 . As full feeding increaseth corruption, Jeremiah 5:7-8 , so religious abstinence macerateth, tameth, and subdueth the rebel flesh, 1 Corinthians 9:27 , giving it the blue eye, υπωτιαζω , as there and 2 Corinthians 7:11 , so that not the body so much as the soul is made more active by emptiness. Fasting days are soul fatting days, they fit men for conversion, as here, and make much to the humbling of the spirit; hence they are called days of humiliation and of self-affliction, Leviticus 16:31 ; Leviticus 23:37 . And with weeping — Drown your sins in a deluge of tears; cleanse your wounds by washing in this precious water; quench hell fire with it, kill the worm, fetch out sin’s venom: there is a healing property in these troubled waters. Tears of vine branches are said to cure the leprosy, and the olive is reported to be most fruitful when it most distilleth. These April showers bring on May flowers, and make the heart as a watered garden; or as some faces appear most oriently beautiful when most bedewed with tears. Peter never looked so sweetly as when he wept bitterly; David never sung more pathetically than when his heart was broken most penitentially, Psalms 6:1-10 Psalms 51:1-19 . when tears instead of gems were the ornament of his bed, as Chrysostom speaketh. Mary Magdalene (that great weeper), as she made her eyes a fountain to wash Christ’s feet in, so she had his wounds as a fountain to bathe her soul in; yea, she had afterwards the first sight of the revived Phoenix, whom she held fast by those feet that had lately trod upon the lion and the adder. And with mourning — This is added, as a degree beyond the former. Men may fast, and yet find their pleasures, Isaiah 58:13 , weep out of stomach, as Esau, or compliment, as Phryne the harlot, who was surnamed κλαυσιγελως , weep-laugh, because she could easily do either: and as among the Brasilians tears are for a present salutation, and as soon gone as if they had said, How do ye? Ut flerent oculos erudiere suos (Ovid). What is a humbling day without a humbled heart? not only a religious incongruity, but a high provocation; like Zimri’s act, when all the congregation were weeping before the door of the tabernacle. Here, therefore, the Lord calleth to mourning, funeral mourning, as the word signifieth: with tabering upon the breast, Nahum 2:7 , smiting on the thigh, Jeremiah 31:19 , beating on the head, face, and other parts, sicut mulierculae in puerperio facere solent, saith Luther there. Nudaque marmoreis percussit pectora palmis (Ovid). See Isaiah 32:11 ; Isaiah 22:12 . Sorrow for sin must not be slight and sudden, but sad and soaking: the heart must be turned into a Hadadrimmon, Zechariah 12:10-11 , where the prophet seems, in a sort, to be at a stand for comparisons fit enough and full enough to set forth their sorrow, who, looking upon Christ, whom they had pierced, felt the very nails sticking in their own hearts as so many sharp daggers, or stings of scorpions. The good soul (say the school-men) seeth more cause of grief for sinning than for the death of Christ: because therein was aliquid placens, something that pleaseth: but sin is simpliciter displicens, simply displeasing. So that God’s mourners need not send for mourning women to teach them to mourn, as Jeremiah 9:17 , but rather have need to be comforted, lest they should be swallowed up with overmuch grief, 2 Corinthians 2:7 , and lest Satan get an advantage against them, 2 Corinthians 2:11 , by mixing the detestable darnel of desperation with the godly sorrow of a pure penitent heart, as Mr Philpot, martyr, speaketh.

Therefore, since so great displeasure is conceived against you for your sins, and so terrible execution is shortly to be made upon you, and there is no way of resistance or escape left, turn ye even to me; repent of your sins whereby you have departed from me; all this preparation made against you is made not to destroy you utterly, but to awaken you to repentance; whilst you may find mercy upon repentance, be advised to it, and prevent your final desolation. With all your heart; not hypocritically, with divided heart, but sincerely and with full purpose of amendment: let your heart, your whole heart, first be turned to me your God and Sovereign. With fasting; public fasting as well as private, such fasting as is required, Joel 1:14 , With weeping; make it appear that you are sensible of, and deeply affected with, your former sins in the jollity of your sensual life, now weep for it. And with mourning; tears do well become a fast, but they must not be tears only, but a mournful frame of heart within, a fountain of these tears, is expected, and indeed required.

Therefore also now, saith the Lord,.... Before this terrible and intolerable day, which is near at hand, comes; before these judgments and calamities threatened take place, though just at hand; serious repentance is never too late, now is the accepted time; see Luke 19:42 ; turn ye even to me with all your heart; against whom they had sinned, and who had prepared his army against them, and was at the head of it, just ready to give the orders, and play his artillery upon them; and yet suggests, that even now, that if they turned to the Lord by true repentance, not, feignedly and hypocritically, but cordially and sincerely, with true hearts, and with their whole hearts, he was ready to receive and forgive them. The Targum is, "turn ye to my worship with all your heart:'' and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; external signs of inward grief and sorrow, testifying their hearty return to the Lord; which, though, without the heart, signify nothing, yet should be shown where hearty repentance is, for the honour and glory of God.

The priests were to alarm the people with the near approach of the Divine judgments. It is the work of ministers to warn of the fatal consequences of sin, and to reveal the wrath from heaven against the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. The striking description which follows, shows what would attend the devastations of locusts, but may also describe the effects from the ravaging of the land by the Chaldeans. If the alarm of temporal judgments is given to offending nations, how much more should sinners be warned to seek deliverance from the wrath to come! Our business therefore on earth must especially be, to secure an interest in our Lord Jesus Christ; and we should seek to be weaned from objects which will soon be torn from all who now make idols of them. There must be outward expressions of sorrow and shame, fasting, weeping, and mourning; tears for trouble must be turned into tears for the sin that caused it. But rending the garments would be vain, except their hearts were rent by abasement and self-abhorrence; by sorrow for their sins, and separation from them. There is no question but that if we truly repent of our sins, God will forgive them; but whether he will remove affliction is not promised, yet the probability of it should encourage us to repent.

12. With such judgments impending over the Jews, Jehovah Himself urges them to repentance. also now—Even now, what none could have hoped or believed possible, God still invites you to the hope of salvation. fasting … weeping … mourning—Their sin being most heinous needs extraordinary humiliation. The outward marks of repentance are to signify the depth of their sorrow for sin.

Therefore - (And) now also All this being so, one way of escape there is, true repentance. As if God said , "All this I have therefore spoken, in order to terrify you by My threats. Wherefore "turn unto Me with all your hearts," and show the penitence of your minds "by fasting and weeping and mourning," that, fasting now, ye may "be filled" hereafter "weeping now," ye may laugh hereafter; mourning now, ye may hereafter "be comforted" Luke 6:21 ; Matthew 5:4 . And since it is your custom "to rend your garments" in sorrow, I command you to rend, not them but your hearts which are full of sin, which, like bladders, unless they be opened, will burst of themselves. And when ye have done this, return unto the Lord your God, whom your former sins aleinated from you; and despair not of pardon for the greatness of your guilt, for mighty mercy will blot out mighty sins." : "The strict Judge cannot be overcome, for He is Omnipotent; cannot be deceived, for He is Wisdom; cannot be corrupted, for He is justice; cannot be sustained, for He is Eternal; cannot be avoided, for He is everywhere. Yet He can be entreated, because He is mercy; He can be appeased, because He is Goodness; He can cleanse, because He is the Fountain of grace; He can satisfy, because He is the Bread of life; He can soothe, because He is the Unction from above; He can beautify, because He is Fullness; He can beatify because He is Bliss. Turned from Him, then, and fearing His justice, turn ye to Him, and flee to His mercy. Flee from Himself to Himself, from the rigor of justice to the Bosom of mercy. The Lord who is to be feared saith it. He who is Truth enjoins what is just, profitable, good, "turn ye to Me," etc." Turn ye - even "to Me," i. e., so as to return "quite to" (see the note at Hosea 14:2 ) God, not halting, not turning half way, not in some things only, but from all the lusts and pleasures to which they had turned from God. : "Turn quite to Me," He saith, "with all your heart," with your whole mind, whole soul, whole spirit, whole affections. For I am the Creator and Lord of the heart and mind, and therefore will, that that whole should be given, yea, given back, to Me, and endure not that any part of it be secretly stolen from Me to be given to idols, lusts or appetites." "It often happens with some people," says Gregory , "that they stoutly gird themselves up to encounter mine vices, but neglect to overcome others, and while they never rouse themselves up against these, they are re-establishing against themselves, even those which they had subdued." Others, "in resolve, aim at right courses, but are ever doubling back to their wonted evil ones, and being, as it were, drawn out without themselves, they return back to themselves in a round, desiring good ways, but never forsaking evil ways." In contrast to these half conversions, he bids us turn to God with our whole inmost soul, so that all our affections should be fixed on God, and all within us, by a strong union, cleave to Him, for "in whatever degree our affections are scattered among created things, so far is the conversion of the heart to God impaired." "Look diligently," says Bernard , "what thou lovest, what thou fearest, wherein thou rejoicest or art saddened, and under the rags of conversion thou wilt find a heart pervered. The whole heart is in these four affections; and of these I think we must understand that saying, "turn to" the Lord "with all thy heart." Let then thy love be converted to Him, so that thou love nothing whatever save Himself, or at least for Him. Let thy fear also be converted unto Him, for all fear is perverted, whereby thou fearest anything besides Him or not for Him. So too let thy joy and sorrow equally be converted unto Him. This will be, if thou only grieve or joy according to Him." : "There is a conversion with the whole heart, and another with a part. The conversion with the whole heart God seeketh, for it suffices to salvation. That which is partial he rejecteth, for it is feigned and far from salvation. In the heart, there are three powers, reason, will, memory; reason, of things future; will, of things present; memory, of things past. For reason seeks things to come; the will loves things present; memory retains things past. Reason illumines; will loves; memory retains. When then the reason seeks that Highest Good and finds, the will receives and loves, the memory anxiously keeps and closely embraces, then the soul turns with the whole heart to God. But when the reason slumbers and neglects to seek heavenly things, or the will is tepid and cares not to love them, or the memory is torpid and is careless to retain them, then the soul acts false, falling first into the vice of ignorance, secondly into the guilt of negligence, thirdly into the sin of malice. In each, the soul acts false; else ignorance would be expelled by the light of reason, and negligence be excluded by zeal of will, and malice be quenched by diligence of memory (of divine things). Reason then seeking begetteth knowledge; will embracing produceth love; memory holding fast, edification. The first produceth the light of knowledge, the second, the love of righteousness; the third preserveth the treasure of grace. This is that conversion of heart, which God requireth; this is that, which sufficeth to salvation." And with fasting - o: "In their returning to Him, it is required in the first place, that it be with the heart in the inward man, yet so that the outward man is not left unconcerned, but hath his part also, in performance of such things whereby he may express, how the inward man is really affected; and so by the concurrence of both is true conversion made up. "With fasting," which shall make for the humbling of the heart, which pampering of the flesh is apt to puff up and make insensible of its own condition, and forgetful of God and His service, as Jeshurun who, being "waxed fat, kicked, and forsook the God which made him and lightly esteemed the God of his salvation Deuteronomy 32:15 . To waiting then on God's service and prayer, it is usually joined in Scripture, as almost a necessary accompaniment, called for by God, and by holy men practiced." And with weeping and with mourning - that is, by "beating" on the breast, (as the word originally denoted,) "as the publican smote upon his breast" Luke 18:13 , and "all the people that came together to that sight" (of Jesus on the Cross), "beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts" Luke 23:48 . : "These also, in themselves signs of grief, stir up in the heart more grief, and so have their effects on the person himself, for the increase of his repentance, as well as for shewing it." It also stirs up in others like passions, and provokes them also to repentance." : "These things, done purely and holily, are not conversion itself, but are excellent signs of conversion." : "We ought "to turn in fasting," whereby vices are repressed, and the mind is raised. We ought to "turn in weeping," out of longing for our home, out of displeasure at our faults, out of love to the sufferings of Christ, and for the manifold transgressions and errors of the world." "What avails it," says Gregory , "to confess iniquities, if the affliction of penitence follow not the confession of the lips? For three things are to be considered in every true penitent, conversion of the mind, confession of the mouth, and revenge for the sin. This third sort is as a necessary medicine, that so the imposthume of guilt, pricked by confession, be purified by conversion, and healed by the medicine of affliction. The sign of true conversion is not in the confession of the mouth, but in the affliction of penitence. For then do we see that a sinner is well converted, when by a worthy austerity of affliction he strives to efface what in speech he confesses. Wherefore John Baptist, rebuking the ill-converted Jews who flock to him says, "O generation of vipers - bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance."