Lecture II
LECTURE II.
ON THE POWER OF REPENTANCE FOR THE REMISSION OF SIN.
EZEKIEL xviii. 20—23.
The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and heep all
My statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: tn his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord God: and not that he should return from his ways, and live ?
1. Sin is a fearful thing, and unrighteousness i is the sorest ailment of the soul, secretly sapping its sinews, and exposing mie ae it to eternal fire; a self-chosen evil, the offspring of a man's
"eet set purpose of fied For that of our own purpose we sin, seca the Prophet says plainly in one place.
J planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto Me? The planting is good, the fruit evil: and that evil is from our purpose of mind.
The planter is blameless, but the vine shall be burnt with fire: for it was planted for good, yet hath of its own purpose borne fruit to evil.
For God, according to the Preacher, hath made man upright ; but they have sought out many inventions.
And the Apostle says, We are His workmanship, created unto good works.
The Creator then, being good, created for good works: but the creature, of its own set purpose, turned to wickedness.
Sin, then, is a fearful Se 'a, 21.
Eccles.
Eph. 2, 10. evil, as was said, but not an incurable one; fearful to him who clings to it, but quite admitting of a cure when a man through penitence puts it off.
For suppose a man holding fire in his
Sin is from within and from the devil.
hand: while he holds the live coal, he is certainly on fire ; but were he to put it away, he would also rid himself of that which was burning him.
And if any think that while sinning, he is not on fire, to him saith the Scripture, Can a man take Prov. 6,
Sire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? For sin?' burns the sinews of the soul.
2. But some one will say, What can sin be? Is it a living (2.) thing—an angel—an evil spirit? What is this which works in us? It is no foe from without, O man, wrestling against thee: but a shoot of evil taking its increase from thyself.
Let thine eyes look right on, and lust does not exist; keep Prov. 4, thine own, and take not another's, and a stop is put ig robbery ; remember the Judgment, and neither fornication,
' nor adultery, nor murder, nor any unrighteousness shall prevail in thee.
But when thou forgettest God, forthwith thou beginnest to devise wickedness, and to accomplish unrighteousness.
8. However, nature is not the sole cause of this evil; there is another, who miserably prompts to it, the devil.
He prompts all, yet he prevails only over those who listen to him.
Therefore saith the Preacher, [fa spirit of the powerful rise up Eccles. against thee, leave not thy place.
Shut thy door, and keep 10,4: him far from thee, and he shall not hurt thee.
But if thou indulgently admit the thought of lust, through thine imaginations, it will strike its roots into thee, and enthral thy mind, and drag thee down into a pit of evils.
But perhaps thou sayest, I am a Believer; lust does not gain the ascendant over me, even though my mind dwells on the objects of it: knowest thou not that even a rock is cleft at length by a root which for a long while adheres to it? Admit not the seed, for it will break in pieces thy faith: root out the mischief, ere it blossom, lest by being idle at the beginning, thou have the trouble of axes and fire afterwards.
When thine eyes first ail, attend to them in time, lest after thou art blinded thou begin to seek the physician.
4. The devil then is the chief author of sin, and the parent (3.) of evils; and this hath the Lord said, not I: The devil sinneth 1 Jobn rom the beginning; before him sinned no one. But he sinned, *
* not as having received by necessity of nature the principle of sin ; (else the blame of sin returns to Him who thus framed
No extent of sin is beyond the power of repentance. him ;) but having been framed good, he became a devil from his own purpose of mind, and received his name from his conduct.
For being an Archangel, he was called devil, or slanderer, from his slandering; and from a good servant ofGod, he became Satan fitly so named; for Satan means an Adversary.
These doctrines are not mine, but the inspired prophet Ezekiel's.
For he, taking up a lamentation against him, says, Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect tn beauty, thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; and soon after, Thou wast perfect in thy ways, from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
Very rightly hath he said, was found in thee; for it was not brought in from without, but thou thyself didst beget evil.
And the reason heassignsafterwards: thine heart was lifted up, because of thy beauty ; I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, I will cast thee to the ground.
Parallel to this, is what the Lord says in the Gospel, J beheld Satan as lightning fallen from heaven.
Thou seest the harmony of the Old Testament with the New.
He, on his falling, drew many away with him.
He puts lusts into those who listen Lect.
RE = < Ez. 28, 12—17. to him: from him is adultery, fornication, and all evil: through him our forefather Adam was cast out, and exchanged a paradise of wonderful and spontaneous fruits, for this earth with its thorns and thistles.
5. What then? some one will say.
We have been seduced and are lost; is there no chance of salvation? We have fallen; cannot we rise? We have been blinded; cannot we recover our sight? We have been crippled ; cannot our feet become straight again? In a word, we are dead; is there no resurrection? Shall not He, O man, who woke Lazarus, a corpse of four days, which stank, shall not He much more easily raise up thee, a living man? He who shed His precious blood for us, the same shall rescue us from sin.
Let us not give sentence against ourselves, brethren ; let us not abandon our case as hopeless: not to believe there is hope in penitence, is dreadful indeed.
For he who is without expectation of salvation, spares not to increase the evil ; but he who hopes for a cure, is easily induced to spare himself.
Thus the robber who expects no mercy runs into recklessness ; but if he hopes for pardon, often betakes himself
Instances of Adam, Cain, and the Antediluvians.
to repentance.
Nay does the serpent strip himself of old age, and shall not we cast the slough of wickedness?
Does thorny ground by good tillage become fruitful, and is salvation to us irrecoverable?
Nature then admits of salvation; all that is wanting is the purpose of mind.
6. God is loving to man, and that not a little.
For say (5.) not, "I have committed whoredom and adultery: fearful things have been done by me, nor once only but often; will
He forgive, will He forget?"
Hear what the Psalmist says; Be 3t, O how plentiful is Thy goodness, O Lord.
Thy accumulated "° sins surpass not the multitude of the mercies of God; thy wounds baffle not the skill of the chief Physician.
Only give thyself to Him in faith: tell the Physician thine ailment; say thou also as David did; J said, I will confess my Po. 32, sins unto the Lord: and what he says next shall also be" fulfilled in thee ; And so Thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin.
7. Wouldest thou see the loving-kindness of God, O thou that art lately come to the Catechising? wouldest thou see the loving-kindness of God, and the abundance of His longsuffering?
Hear thou concerning Adam.
Adam disobeyed, the first whom God created; might He not at once have visited him with death?
But see what the Lord does, in His great love towards man: though He casts him out of Paradise, his sin making him unfit to continue there, yet He places him opposite to Paradise, that seeing what he bageeren, forfeited, and what a downfall he had suffered, he thenceforth Saeak might be saved by repentance.
Cain, the first born man, event became a fratricide, a deviser of evils, the cause of mur-Septuag, ders, and the first who envied; yet when he had slain his "°"' brother, to what is he doomed? a fugitive and a vagabond 3. 4, shalt thou be in the earth.
How great the sin, how light — the doom!
8. This then in very deed is loving-kindness in God, yet it is small compared with what follows: for consider, I pray, the history of Noe.
The giants sinned, and lawlessness was there lavishly poured out upon the earth; and in consequence the deluge was ordained to come upon it.
In his five hundredth year God puts forth the threat, and in his six hundredth He brought the deluge on the earth.
Seest thou c
18 Instance of Rahab an encouragement to penitent sinners. the breadth of God's loving-kindness, extending over the space of a hundred years? what He did then after the hundred years, could He not have done at once? but on purpose did
He extend it, to give room for repentance.
Seest thou the goodness of God? And had those men repented, they would not 'have come short of His loving-kindness.
Lecr.
9. Let us proceed to others, who have been saved by repentance. Perchance some among the women will say," Ihave committed whoredom and adultery, I have defiled my body with excesses; is there salvation?" Cast thine eyes, O woman, to Rahab, and dp thou also expect salvation; for if she who openly and publicly committed whoredom was saved through repentance, shall not she, who has committed one such act before the gift of grace, be saved through penitence and by (6.) fastings?
For enquire how she was saved: this only said she, The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath.
Your God, for she dared not call Him her own, on account of her unchastity.
And if thou wouldest receive a written witness that she was saved, thou hast it recorded in the Psalms, / will think upon Rahab and Babylon with them that know me*.
Oh the great loving-mercy of God, which makes mention even of harlots in the Scriptures: and not simply J will think upon Rahab and Babylon, but with Josh. 2, 11.
Ps. 87, 4. this added, with them that know me.
On men therefore, and likewise on women, is salvation, viz. that which is secured to us through repentance.
; 10. And though the people sin as one body, it does not surpass God's loving-kindness.
The people made a calf, yet did not God give over His loving-kindness.
Men denied God, but God denied not Himself.
These are thy gods, O Israel, they said; yet again, as was His wont, The God of Israel
Exod.
Vid. Is.
63, 8. became their Saviour.
And not only did the people sin, but Aaron too the high-priest.
For it is Moses who says, And upon Aaron came the wrath of the Lord; and I entreated,
Deut. 9, 20.
* In the Psalm referred to, Rahab stands for Egypt. Vid. Ps.89, 10. Isai.
51,9. 8. Jerome, in Ps.87, 4. considers Rahab a type of the Gentile Church called out of Jericho, the world. Egypt inthe Psalmis a type ofthe sume. Penitent Rahab then may as naturally stand
Ch for a type of penitent Egypt, as the abandoned woman in the Revelations for impenitent Babylon. And as what is said of Hagar in Gen. 21, 10. is meant of Jerusalem, so Rahab may really be named in this Paalm, yet Egypt meant aa its poops; and beyo that the Gentile urch,
Instance of the Israelites and Aaron in making the golden calf. 19 he says, for him, and God forgave him.
What then?
Did Moses, entreating for a high-priest who had sinned, prevail with the Lord, and does not Jesus, the Onlybegotten, when
He entreats for us, prevail with God?
And did He admit Aaron, in spite of his fall, to the high-priesthood, and will He obstruct thy entrance to salvation who art come from the Gentiles?
Repent, O man, henceforth thyself, and the gift shall not be withheld thee.
Present thy conduct unrebukable before Him henceforward: for God is in very truth loving to man, nor can the whole race of man worthily tell out His loving-kindness.
No, not if all the tongues of men were to come together, could they even thus unfold some part of His loving-kindness.
For we declare some part of what is written concerning His loving-kindness to men: but we know not how much He forgave to Angels: for them also did
He forgive', since One only is sinless, Jesus, who purgeth our sins;—but of these enough.
11. If thou wilt, I will set before thee additional precedents respecting our state.
Let us come to the blessed David, and take him for an ensample of repentance.
He fell, that highly gifted man.
Walking in the evening-tide on the house-top (7.) of the Fathers considered, that, besides the devil and his angela, who were beyoud grace, there were orders of angels still on their trial, or who were, or had been, responsible for more or less of sin, or in danger of sin, and within the reach of mercy,or whoon their trial had sinned more or less, and been forgiven, as Cyril seems here to hold. ae Nyss. vol. ii. p. 644. Hieron. in Eph. 4, 16.
Ambrosiast. in Eph. 3,10.
Origen. Tom.
13, 28. in Luc. Hom. 35.
Ignat. ad Smyrn. 6.
Nazianz. Carm. p. 169.) Such, for instance, (as they considered,) were the tutelary angels of countries, > Very little having been aathoritatively delivered to the Apostles on the subject ofthe Angels, what was believed or surmised in the early Church seems to have been gathered from various sources, trastworthy and not; and of the latter especially Platonism. The proof that the sources in question were not apostolic, is the discordance or uncertainty of the opinions themselves. The Fathers indeed bear witness concordantly to the truth, that God alone is singly and absolutely perfect and above all judgment, using it ag an argument for the divinity of the Son and the Holy Ghost, that they too are sinless or beyond judgment.
(vid.
Clem. Pedag.i.2.
Origen. in Cant.Hom.
3.fin. Theodor. in Num.9. Ambros. de Sp. S. iii. 18.n. 132, &c. Hieron. in Pelag.3 .p. 203. col. 1.Athan.Orat,in Arian. laces, or persons.
Origen. in Num. om. 20.3.
Hieron. in Mich. 6, 1.
And such " the Sons of God," wha were seduced in the interval between the creation and the flood. (Justin. Apol. ii. 5. Athenag. Apol. 24. Iren. iv. 16.
Clem. Strom. v. p. 560.
Tertull. de Idolatr.9, Origen. in Cels. Ambros. de Noe, iv. 8.9. Nazianz. Carm. p. 64.) Origen, and even Gregory Nyssen, are accused of admitting the restoration of the author of evil, Vid. Diss. Bened. in Cyril, iii. 5. c2 ij. 6. Ambros. in Fid. v. 11. n. 140, 141.
Cyril Alex. Thesaur. 21. They built this doctrine on such passages of Scripture as Job 4,18. Rev. 2. and 3. (which they considered to imply the trath of the literal sense ia thetruth of the figurative, which was primarily and directlyintended.) Col.
1, 20. Eph. 3,10, Acts 17,31. &c. Some
The power of Confession in the instances of David, Lecr. after his sleep, he looked unguardedly, and was moved by Ul human passion.
His sin was completed; but in it perished not that nobleness of mind which confesses a transgression.
Nathan the prophet came, swiftly, to detect and to heal his 2Sam. wound.
The Lord is wroth, he says, and thou hast sinned.
So spoke the subject to him who had the kingdom; yet the king, though in purple clad, did not take it ill, as regarding not the speaker, but Him that sent him.
He was not blinded by the military circle which stood about him; for his mind discerned the Lord's angelical host, and as seeing the Invisible, he submitted in the anguish, replying to his visitor, or rather through him to Him who sent him, / have sinned against the Lord.
Thou seest how a king could be humbleminded, how he could make confession.
Had it been brought home to him by any one?
Were many privy to the matter ?
The matter was done quickly, and forthwith the Prophet came an accuser, and the sinner acknowledges the crime.
And according to the frankness of his confession was the speed of his cure, for the prophet Nathan who had threatened him, says straightway, And the Lord hath put away thy sin.
Thou seest how very quick was the relenting of the God of loving-kindness. Yet he says, Thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.
For though on account of thy righteousness thou hadst many foes, yet thy' self-command was thy protection; but now that thou hast let go thy best weapon, thy foes, who were standing ready, are risen up against thee. The Prophet then thus comforted him.
12, But holy David, for all he heard it said, The Lord hath put away thy sin, shrunk not from penitence, king though he was: but put on sackcloth for purple, and for his gilded throne sat down, a king, in ashes on the ground; not only
Ps. 102, sat but fed on ashes, (as he saith himself, J have eaten ashes as it were bread,) and wasted with tears his lustful eye.
Ps. 7,7. Every night, he says, wash I my bed and water my couch with my tears.
When his lords urged him to eat bread, he would not: for seven whole days he prolonged his fast.
Ifa king thus made confession, oughtest not thou a private man to make confession?
And after Absalom's rebellion, though he had many roads for escaping, he chose to flee by the Mount of Olives, all but invoking mentally the Redeemer who
Solomon, Ahab, Jeroboam, and Manasseh.
should thence ascend to heaven.
And when Shimei cursed 2 Sam. him bitterly, he said, Zet him alone; for he knew that he who if Ae forgiveth, shall be forgiven.
18. Thou seest how excellent it is to confess; thou seest (8.) that to the penitent there is salvation.
Solomon also fell; but what saith he? Afterwards I repented'.
Though Ahab, Prov. king of Samaria, was a most abandoned idolater, a monster, 5.7 BS: ptuag. the murderer of prophets, a.stranger to godliness, the coveter vere. of other men's fields and vineyards, yet when the prophet
Elias came to him after he had slain Naboth through Jezebel, and only threatened him, he rent his clothes and put on sackcloth; and what says the merciful God to Elias?
Seest thou 1 Kinge how Ahab humbleth himself before Me? as if,almost, He would 2! 29
' persuade the fiery temper of the prophet to condescend to the penitent: for J will not bring, He saith, the evil in his days.
Thus, though Ahab on his pardon was not about to leave his evil courses, the God of pardon pardoned him ;—not as ignorant of the future, but bestowing on the penitence of the moment its corresponding pardon: for a just judge suitably answers each case as it arises.
14. Again, as Jeroboam stvod sacrificing to idols on the (9.) altar, his hand withered, when he bade seize the Prophet who denounced him.
On this experience of his power, he says, Entreat the face of the Lord thy God; and for this1 Kings word his hand was restored.
If the Prophet healed Jero- !% ® boam, has not Christ healing power to deliver thee from thy sins? Manasses, again, was most extravagant in his crimes, who sawed asunder Esaias, and was polluted with idolatries of every kind, and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood: yet, when he was led captive to Babylon, he converted his affiictions into a healing course of penitence: for Scripture says, that Manasses humbled himself greatly before the God of his 2Chron. fathers, and prayed to Him; and He was entreated of him, j3' and heard his supplications, and brought him again into his kingdom.
If he who sawed a Prophet in sunder, was saved through penitence, mayest not thou be saved, who hast not done ought so great.
¢ The following Fathers with init. vid. aleo in Eccles. 1,12. TheopCyril in considering that Solomon reposite opinion is held by others; ©. g. pented; Hilar. in Pe,52.n.12, Ambros. apparently by Aug. in Ps. 126. n. 2.
Apol. David. 3, n. 13, Hieron. Ep. 85
Basil. Ep. 42. n. 2.
In the instances of Hezehiah, 15. Beware lest thou rashly mistrust its power; wouldest thou know how great force it hath? wouldest thou know this strong weapon of salvation, and learn what strength Confession hath? An hundred and eighty-five thousand enemies did Hezekias turn to flight through Confession.
Yet great as this really is, it is but trifing compared with what is still to be told.
Through repentance, the same king recalled a Divine decree which had already gone forth.
For when he was sick, Esaias said to him, Set thy house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
What was there to expect more? what remaining hope of life, when the Prophet said, For thou shalt die?
(10.) 2 Kings 20, 1.
Yet Ezekias did not stop from penitence; for remembering what was written, For turning awuy and sighing thou shalt be saved, he turned away to the wall, and lifting his thoughts from his bed heavenwards, (for no thickness of walls hinder prayers devoutly offered up,) he said, " Lord, remember me: for it is sufficient for my cure that Thou remember me.
Tea. 30, 15.
Thou art not controlled 'by times, but Thou Thyself givest law to life; for not on our nativity, and on stars in conjunction, depends our life, as some idly talk; but of life and its duration Thou Thyself art the Lawgiver, according to Thy will."
And thus he, who through the Prophet's sentence despaired of life, received an addition of fifteen years, the sun, in sign of it, tracing his course back.
Now the sun turned back for Ezekias; for Christ, it was eclipsed; not retracing his steps, but suffering eclipse, and thereby shewing the difference of the two, Ezekias and Jesus.
Ezekias prevailed to the cancelling of a sentence of God; and will not Jesus vouchsafe His free gift, the forgiveness of sins?
Turn away, and bewail thyself, shut to thy door, and pray Him to forgive thee, and remove from around thee the burning fires; for Confession' has strength to quench even fire; has strength to tame even lions.
Dan. 3. and 6.
4 The ecclesiastical word iepersyaess, here translated Confession, means properly a declaration in God's presence of of sin.
Psalms, Hymns, Creeds, are Confessions.
"EBEouereysiods and Confitemini, are the words used respectively in the facts of religion of whatever kind, with relation to God or man; and is thus contrasted with Prayer, which contemplates objects not realized as yet.
Praise, dhentaetviie, profession of our faith, are parts ofit, as well as confession the Septuagint and Vulgate versions of the Palms, for " Praise" and " Give thanks to the Lord."
Hence S. om here calls the Song of the Three Chilaa Wee the meditations of Danie) in the lions' den, Confessions ; whereas, grant-
The Three Children, and Nebuchadnezzar,
16. But if thou disbelieve, consider what befel Hananiah (11.) and the rest.
What fountains did they open? How many Shawaterpots had quenched a flame, which rose to forty-nine tat cubits?
But wherever the flame exceeded ever so little, *bach, there faith gushed out like a river, and there they uttered S balie. spell against their sufferings, saying, Just art Thou, O Lord, ireaee over all things which Thou hast done towards us*: for we Song of have sinned, and broke Thy commandments.
And penitence apres destroyed the flames. If thou disbelieve that it can quench the 4ren, 4. fire of hell, learn it from the history of Hananiah.
But some — quick hearer will say, " Them God rescued justly; because they would not commit idolatry, God gave them this power."
Since this has been suggested, I will proceed to one more ' example of penitence.
17. What thinkest thou of Nebuchadonosor?
Hast thou not heard from the Scriptures that he was bloodthirsty, savage, having a lion's mind? hast thou not heard how he disinterred the bones of the kings? how he led the people into captivity? how he blinded the eyes of the reigning prince, first giving him to see the slaughter of his children?
Hast thou not heard that he broke to pieces the cherubim, not the invisible—no, suppose it not, O man—but the carved cherubim; and that mercy-seat, from which God used to speak audibly? Nebuchadonosor trampled down the veil of holiness: he carried off the censer to a temple of idols; he seized on all the offerings ; and burned down the Temple to its foundations?
What, multiplied punishments did he deserve for slaying kings, setting fire to holy things, leading captive the chosen people, and placing the sacred vessels within idol temples? Was he not worthy of ten thousand deaths ?
18. Such was the greatness of his evil deeds ; now turn to the loving-kindness of God.
He was turned into a wild Dan. 4. beast; he abode in the wilderness, he was scourged that he might be saved.
He had claws like a lion, for he made the saints his prey; he had a lion's mane, for he was a ramping Ps. 22, and a roaring lion.
He ate grass as an ox; for he was as ~ cattle not knowing Him who had given him the kingdom. ing they were confessious of "the sin of 20.) still they were much more. their peoples (Song, 5—10. Dan. 9, © i.e. Towards Thy people Israel.
and of St. Peter.
Lect. His body was bathed with the dew, because he had already _1._ seen the fire quenched by dew, and believed not.
And Song 27.what happened?
After these things, he saith, J Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honoured Him that liveth
Dan. 4, for ever.
When, therefore, he perceived the Most High, and offered up sounds of thanksgiving to God, and came to feel grief for what he had done, and learnt his own weakness, then God restored to him the honour of the kingdom.
(12.) 19. What then? Hath He given Nebuchadonosor, after such acts, pardon and the kingdom, on his confession, and shall He not give to thee on repenting the forgiveness of sins, and the kingdom of heaven, if thy life be in accordance? The Lord is loving to men, and swift to pardon, slow to vengeance ; let no one then despair of his own salvation.
Peter, the chiefest and first of the Apostles, before a little maid thrice denied the Lord; but when remorse touched him he wept bitterly ; and to weep shews a heartfelt penitence.
Wherefore, not only received he forgiveness for the denial, but was spared his Apostolic dignity.
20. Having then, brethren, many ensamples of men who have sinned, and repented, and been saved, do ye also heartily make your confession to the Lord: that ye may both receive the pardon of your past sins, and be counted worthy of the heavenly gift, and inherit the heavenly kingdom with all the Saints in Christ Jesus; to whom is the glory for ever and ever, Amen.