CHAPTER IV. ON REPENTANCE. "EXCEPT ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Such was the awful and tremendous denunciation of our Lord, to those jews who were at that time listening to his discourse. And except you repent, my reader, you will perish; perish body and soul in the bottomless pit, and perish everlastingly. There is a world of misery in that word, perish; it is deep as hell, broad as infinity, and long as eternity. None can comprehend its meaning but lost souls; and they are ever discovering in it some new mystery of torment. This misery will be yours, unless you repent. Tremble at the thought, and pray to Him who was exalted "to give repentance as well as "remission of sins," that he would confer this grace But what is it to repent? It is more, much more than mere sorrow for sin: this is evident from what the apostle has remarked; "Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of," 2 Cor. vii. 10. True sorrow for sin is a part of repentance, and only a part; for the scripture just quoted, evidently makes a distinction between them. If sorrow comprised the whole of repentance, Cain, Ahab, and Judas repented; and hell itself is full of penitents, for there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth for ever. Many, very many, grieve for their sins, who never repent of them. Men may grieve for the consequences of their sins, without mourning upon you. for the sins themselves. The meaning of the word repent, generally used in the greek scriptures, is a change of mind. Repentance, therefore, signifies an entire change of men's views, disposition, and conduct, with respect to sin. It is equivalent in meaning to regeneration. The new birth means a change of heart, and repentance is that same change viewed in reference to sin. The author of repentance is the Holy Ghost; it is the effect of Divine grace working in the heart of man. The following things are included in true repentance. 1. Conviction of sin. "When he [the Spirit] is come," said Christ, "he shall reprove [that is, convince] the world of sin," John xvi. 8. The true penitent has a clear view of his state before God as a guilty and depraved creature. All men say they are sinners, the penitent knows it; they talk of it, he feels it; they have heard it from others, and taken it up as an opinion; he has learnt it by the teaching of God, who has shown him the purity of the law, and the wickedness of his own conduct and heart, as opposed to the law. He has looked into the bright and faithful mirror, and has seen his exceeding sinfulness. He perceives that he has lived without God, for he has not loved, and served, and glorified him. This in his view is sin, his not loving and serving God. He may not have been profligate, but he has lived without God; and even if he had been openly vicious, this is the parent vice, his want of love to God. He sees that all his worldly-mindedness, folly, and wickedness, has sprung from a depraved heart; a heart alienated from God. He formerly thought he was not quite as he ought to be, but now he perceives that he has been altogether what he ought not to be; formerly he knew matters were not quite right, but he now sees they were all wrong; then he was of opinion he had no very strong claim upon God's justice or even mercy, but now he perceives clearly that he has been so great a sinner, that God would have been just had he cast him into hell. This is now his confession : "Should sudden vengeance seize my breath, I must pronounce Thee just in death; Thy righteous law approves it well." Can you subscribe to this, reader? if not, you are not yet convinced of sin as you must be. No man knows what sin is, and how sinful he is, who does not clearly see that he has deserved to be cast into "the lake that burneth with fire." ance. 2. Self-condemnation is implied in true repentAs long as a person indulges a self-justifying spirit, and is disposed, if not to defend his sins, yet to excuse them, he is not truly penitent, he is not indeed convinced of sin. To frame excuses for sin, and to take refuge from the voice of accusation and the stings of conscience, in circumstances of palliation, is the besetting infirmity of human nature, which first showed itself in our fallen parents, when the man threw the blame upon the woman, and the woman upon the serpent; and it has since continued to show itself in all their descendants. We very commonly hear those who have been recently led to see their sins, mitigating their guilt; one by pleading the peculiarity of his situation; another his constitution; a third the strength of the temptation; a fourth imputes his actual sins to his original sin, and endeavours, on this ground, to lessen his sense of guilt. But there is no true repentance while this frame of mind lasts. No, never till the sinner has cast aside all excuses, rejected all pleas of extenuation, and abandoned all desire of self-justification; never till he is brought to take the whole blame upon himself; never till he pronounces his own sentence of condemnation; never is he truly penitent till his mouth is stopped as to excuse, and he is brought unfeignedly and contritely to exclaim, Guilty, guilty. Some such as this is now his sincere confession :-"O thou injured Sovereign, thou all holy God, and all righteous Judge, I can attempt to excuse myself no longer. I stand before thee a convicted, self-condemned sinner. What has my life been but a course of rebellion against thee? It is not this or that action alone I have to lament. My whole soul has been disordered and depraved. All my thoughts, my affections, my desires, my pursuits, have been alienated from thee. I have not loved thee, thou God of holy love. Oh what a heart have I carried in my bosom, that could love the world, love my friends, love trifles, yea, love sin, Particular sins do not so much oppress me, as this awful, horrid state of my carnal mind at enmity against thee. Oh what patience was it that thou didst not crush the poor feeble creature that had no virtue to love thee, and no power to resist thee! My whole life has been one continued state of sin; what seemed good was done from no good motive; for it was not done out of obedience or love to thee, and with no intention to please or to glorify thee. Once I thought as little of my sin, as I thought of that gracious and righteous God against whom it was committed: and even when the knowledge of sin began to glimmer on the dark horizon of my guilty soul, how perversely did I resist the light, and how deceitfully, and wickedly, and presumptuously, did I attempt to stand up in judgment with thee, and in but could not love thee! proud self-confidence plead my own cause. Oh with what lying excuses, and with what extenuations, did I make my wickedness more wicked, and tempt thy vengeance, and seek to draw thy thunderbolts upon my devoted head! Eternal thanks for thy marvellous long-suffering, and thy matchless grace, in not only bearing with my provocations, but convincing me of my folly. Stripped of all my pleas, silent as to every excuse, I cast myself before thee, uttering only that one confession, Guilty, guilty; and urging only that one plea, Mercy, mercy. 3. Repentance includes sorrow for sin. If a man does not mourn for sin, he cannot repent of it. The apostle speaks of "godly sorrow," and the psalmist exemplifies it in the fifty-first psalm. Awakened and anxious sinner, I commend to thine especial attention that affecting and precious effusion of David's contrition. Read it often; read it upon thy knees in thy closet; read it as thy own prayer; read it till thy heart responds a sigh to every groan with which each verse seems still vocal. With those melting strains of a broken heart sounding in thy ears, review the history of thy life, and the dark and winding course of thy rebellion against God. Pause and ponder as thou tracest back thy steps, in each scene of thy transgression, and God's patience. Dwell upon the length of thy term of sin, and all the aggravations of that sin derived from religious advantages, pious friends, and a reproving conscience. Assail thy hard heart with motives to contrition, fetched from every view of God's mercy and thy own ingratitude; nor cease to smite the rock till the waters of penitence gush forth. Nor let thy sorrow be selfish; mourn more for thy sins as committed against God, than against thyself. Turn again to the fifty-first psalm, |