Repentance

“ I will love thee, O Lord my strength—I love the Lord because he hath heard the voice of my supplication—she loved much because much was forgiven, and here repentance flows as divine love is felt—repentance is the tear of love dropping from the eye of faith ”

“ Yea, O Lord my Creator, Who desirest not the death of the sinner, but that he should [80] return to Thee and live: grant repentance to me, wretched and unworthy. Snatch me from the jaws of the consuming serpent, its mouth opened to devour me and take me down to hell alive. Yea, my Lord and my Comfort, Who didst put on corruptible flesh for my wretched sake: deliver me from wretchedness and bring comfort to my wretched soul. Implant in my heart the accomplishment of Thy precepts, the abandonment of evil deeds and the obtainment of Thy blessings. ”

“ Lord! thou hast said, there is joy in heaven upon one sinner's doing penance, more than upon ninety-nine just: Oh! give me now grace to be a true penitent, indeed, that hereby heaven may rejoice at my conversion.
Thou camest, O my dear Redeemer! not to call the just, but sinners, to repentance. Look down upon me, a poor miserable sinner, and draw me now powerfully to Thee by Thy grace.
I know Thou wiliest not the death of a sinner but that he be converted and live. Oh! let me no longer remain dead in my sins! Oh! let me now at least begin to live to Thee! ”

“ For frequent repentance and readiness to change easily from want of training, is the practice of sin again. The frequent asking of forgiveness, then, for those things in which we often transgress, is the semblance of repentance, not repentance itself. ”

“ Repentance subjectively seems a reality when mother and child meet with a burst of passionate tears, and the polluted brow feels purified by their molten downfall; but repentance objectively is seen to be an absurdity by every one who grasps the conception of law. ”

“ Neither is repentance a promise that you will forsake sin in the future. Oh! if it were, there would be many penitents here to-night. There is scarcely a poor drunkard that does not promise, in his own mind, or to his poor wife, or somebody, that he will forsake his cups. There is scarcely any kind of a sinner that does not continually promise that he will give up his sin, and serve God, but he does not do it.
Then what is repentance? Repentance is simply renouncing sin—turning round from darkness to light—from the power of Satan unto God. ”

“ Or, have we a right to conclude that God, who sees through all the prevarication and duplicity of our hearts, must accept such repentance, on our profession of it? Let what virtue there will be in repentance, when seen by the unerring eye of God to be true and unfeigned, how shall man reckon on the efficacy of it, when he may so easily mistake, and cannot certainly know the real worth and character of what he calls repentance? ”

“ And repentance is not a flow of emotion, but a certain direction of mind. I may repent with dry eyes. It is not a matter of feeling, but of willing. It is to lay hold of the aimless, drifting thought, and steer it toward God! ”

“ Modern notions appear to me to confound together repentance for all sin, to level those who, after Baptism, have in the main served God, and those who serve Him not; and to represent repentance for grievous sin, too easy, too little painful, too little connected with the outward course of life, too little influenced by or influencing it, too much a matter of mere feeling, too readily secured and ascertained, too transitory, not—too certain to obtain pardon, if real. ”

“ Wherefore repentance must be something more than mere remorse for sins; it comprehends a change of nature befitting heaven. ”

“ True repentance consists in the heart being broken for sin and broken from sin.
—Thornton. Of all acts is not, for a man, repentance the most divine? The greatest of faults is to be conscious of none. ”

“ Of all acts, is not, for a man, repentance the most divine? ”

“ True repentance involves a change of mind, a change of purpose, a change of will, and implies not only a godly sorrow for sin —­sorrow not only because the sin has resulted in physical or mental or financial or reputational disaster—­but because it has grieved the Spirit of our God ”

“ Your repentance is as yet only a sense of defeat endured,—which is horrible, for it is nothing else than the despair of Satan; such, perhaps, was the repentance of mankind before the coming of Jesus Christ. But our repentance, the repentance of Christians, is the horror of a soul struck down on an evil path, to whom, by this very shock, God has revealed Himself. ”

“ By repentance we must afflict our souls; not only fasting for a time from the delights of the body, but inwardly sorrowing for our sins, and living a life of self-denial and mortification. We must also make a penitent confession of sin, and this with an eye to Christ, whom we have pierced, and mourning because of him; and with a hand of faith upon the atonement, assuring ourselves that, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ”

“ That all their sins should be pardoned to them, and should not be mentioned against them. "Though they be as red as scarlet and crimson, though you lie under the guilt of blood, yet, upon your repentance, even that shall be forgiven you, and you shall appear in the sight of God as white as snow." Note, The greatest sinners, if they truly repent, shall have their sins forgiven them, and so have their consciences pacified and purified. ”

“ Thou, O Lord, according to thy great goodness hast promised repentance and forgiveness to them that have sinned against thee: and of thine infinite mercies hast appointed repentance unto sinners, that they may be saved. ”

“ That is evangelical repentance, that flows from a sight of Christ, from a sense of his love, and the hopes of pardon and forgiveness through him. Kindness is conquering; abused kindness, humbling and melting. What a wretch was I to sin against such grace, against the law and love of such a kingdom! (2.) It is a great encouragement to us to repent; "Repent, for your sins shall be pardoned upon your repentance. Return to God in a way of duty, and he will, through Christ, return to you in a way of mercy." ”

“ Repentance! “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth them shall have mercy.”
When old depravity has been thoroughly broken up by repentance, and the heart washed in the all-cleansing blood, then we have our fruit unto holiness. There will be a blessed realization that this consecration which we so frequently make with our lips, has been made with our hearts, and accepted by the Lord. ”

“ Any soul who does not repent enough to forsake his sin, is not a penitent at all! When you repent enough to forsake your sin, that moment your repentance is sincere, and you may take hold of Jesus with a firm grasp. ”

“ Wherefore repentance, which is the opposite of sin and its destroyer, must likewise have these two conditions - the turning away from sin with horror, detestation, and sorrow for having offended so great a God, and the returning back to God to embrace Him by love, and faithfully to obey His Holy law. ”

“ For if they were truly repenting, they would not think it often to be repeated; for, as there is one Baptism, so also one repentance—one, I say, public repentance—for we ought to repent of our daily sins; but this repentance is for lighter offences, that for heavier. But I have found more readily persons, who retained their innocence, than such as repented, as were fitting. Will any one call that repentance, where men seek for worldly dignity, drink wine to the full, or use the enjoyments of marriage? The world must be renounced. ”

“ The material object or subject-matter of repentance is the acts by which reparation is made to God, namely, grief over sin and its accompaniments, hatred of moral wickedness in the present, regrets for the past, and good resolutions for the future. Thus, repentance differs from religion, for religion looks upon God as Lord and Benefactor and offers Him worship, while repentance considers Him as the Last End who has been offended and offers Him satisfaction. ”

“ Unless they repent and seek pardon for themselves, how can God forgive them? The prayer of Jesus, therefore, meant that time should be granted them for repentance, and that they should be plied with providences and with preaching, to awaken their consciences. ”

“ He looks at you afar off. Be honest. Repentance is not mere sorrow for sin. You may be ever so sorry, and all the way down to death be hugging on to some forbidden possession, as was the young ruler. That is not repentance. ”

“ Not until the spirit is humbled, not until the heart throbs with genuine sorrow for repeated violation of God's holy laws, not until the citadel of sin is surrendered, can man hope for forgiveness, or expect salvation.
But what is repentance? I shall venture as a definition this, Repentance is a deep and heartfelt sorrow for sin, producing a reformation of life. That is the significance of the word to my mind as associated with the Gospel; and I think such a definition arises from the spirit, and, I may say, the letter of the scriptures. ”

“ These, accordingly, have a hope of repentance. And you see that many of them also have repented since I spake to them, and they will still repent. But all who will not repent have lost their lives; and as many of them as repented became good, and their dwelling was appointed within the first walls; and some of them ascended even into the tower. You see, then," he said, "that repentance involves life to sinners, but non-repentance death.
CHAPTER VII. "And as many as gave in the branches half-withered and cracked, hear also about them. ”

“ For the sinners of my flock,, the great sinners, who live wilfully in sin, who harden their hearts against Thee, I have need most earnestly to pray. Move them to repentance, good Lord; melt their impenitent hearts, that they may open their eyes and behold the peril of their souls. Draw them out of the mire, that they sink not; turn Thou them, and they shall be turned; convert them, and they shall live; though they have sinned desperately, forgive their sins; I pray Thee let not these poor souls, so blind, so dead in sin, perish in the everlasting fires. O shew forth Thy great mercy ”

“ So that in a very real sense repentance is a crisis with a changed experience in view. Repentance is not only a heart broken for sin, but from sin also. We must forsake what we would have God remit. In the writings of Paul repentance is more of an experience than a single act. ”

“ Whoever considers what repentance is,—that it is a change of mind toward sin, so that what once was loved is viewed with disgust, and what was pursued with eagerness is shunned with abhorrence,—will perceive at once that it can only be wrought in us by a Divine power. ”

“ But true repentance is an anger or great displeasure with ourselves for sin, and a hatred of sin, and loathing of ourselves for it; and to judge, condemn, and afflict our own souls by a voluntary self-punishing, is but that exercise of {691} justice on ourselves, which is fit for pardoned sinners that are not to be condemned by the Lord, and indeed the just exercise of repentance and displeasure against ourselves. ”

“ We have to tell you, in God's name, that your sins, though many and great, may be forgiven, and how it is come about that they may be so, without any injury to God's honour, and how you may obtain the forgiveness of your sins. We are to preach repentance for the remission of sins, and divine grace giving both repentance and remission of sins. The remission of sins is through this man. ”

“ So much for atonement. And now, as to repentance—who said that I repented? Repentance! Remorse! I will give you another piece of information, also speaking from firsthand knowledge. Repentance and Remorse are unmeaning sounds. There are no realities, no things, to correspond with them. I do not repent. No man or woman, from the beginning of time, has ever yet repented, in your sense of the word. We regret the losses that our crimes entail upon us: yes. We suffer because our crimes find us out, because retribution overtakes us: yes. But repent? We do not repent. Most of us pretend to. ”

“ Repentance, remission of sins, and the reception of the Holy Ghost, thus establishing the order of those principles beyond all cavil or controversy, and for all time, for the benefit of Bible-believers in all their generations throughout the earth.
Repentance, then, is the second principle of the great gospel plan of salvation, as taught by Jesus Christ and His apostles. And what is repentance? Is it merely sorrow for sin? No. Sorrow is a part of it, but it must be the right kind of sorrow. There is a sorrow which leadeth unto death, and a sorrow which produces true repentance. ”

“ The passages that have been quoted, are a convincing proof that God, by his grace, mercy, patience, and clemency, strongly invites us to true repentance. There are chiefly three things in those scriptures, which deserve a more particular observation: namely, the nature of repentance, or what it is to repent; that is, to turn unto the Lord:—the manner in which repentance is to be wrought out; that is, by fasting, weeping, and mourning:—the motive to engage us in so holy an exercise, which is the paternal goodness of God ”

“ Wherefore we have drawn upon ourselves by Thy just sentence, condemnation and death. Nevertheless, O Lord, with heartfelt sorrow we repent and deplore our offences; and we condemn ourselves and our evil ways, with a true repentance beseeching that Thy grace may relieve our distress. ”

“ for the want of repentance, after one has sinned, makes the heart yet harder and harder. ”

“ I say, as repentance is an essential part of the Gospel, that the man who has not put away his sins has deceived himself, because this repentance is one of the first principles of salvation. If I have other sins, and then add the sin of neglecting repentance, my case is still worse than it was before. ”

“ O God, who desirest not the death, but the repentance of sinners, most tenderly regard the weakness of our human condition, and of thy goodness further our endeavours; that, by thy infinite mercy, we may happily obtain pardon of our sins, constancy in thy service, and finally, the rewards promised to those who persevere to the end ”