Those of the elect who are converted in riper years, having lived some time [i.e., a considerable time] in the state of nature, and in this state served various lusts and pleasures, God gives repentance which leads to life, through an effectual call.
Whereas there is not one person who does good and commits no sin, and because the best of men may fall into great sins and provocations [= temptations] through the power and deceitfulness of their own indwelling corruption and the prevalence of temptation, God has mercifully provided in the covenant of grace that when believers sin and fall they shall be renewed through repentance to salvation.
Saving repentance is an evangelical grace by which a person who is made to feel, by the Holy Spirit, the manifold evils of his sin, and being given faith in Christ, humbles himself over his sin with godly sorrow, detestation of his sin and self-abhorrence. In such repentance the person also prays for pardon and strength of grace, and has a purpose and endeavor, by supplies of the Spirit’s power, to walk before God and totally to please him in all things.
As repentance is to be continued through the whole course of our lives, on account of the body of death, and the motions of it, it is therefore every man’s duty to repent of his particular known sins particularly.
Such is the provision which God has made through Christ in the covenant of grace for the preservation of believers in the way of salvation that although even the smallest sin deserves damnation, yet there is no sin great enough to bring damnation on those who repent. This makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary.