Chapter VII — Repentance
Clearly, the Scriptures teach that whoever believes shall be saved; they teach no less clearly that unless we repent, we shall all perish.
Luk 13.3 These graces are not only alike indispensable, but they cannot exist separately. Repentance is turning from sin to God, through Jesus Christ; and faith is the acceptance of Christ in order to return to God. Repentance is the act of a believer; and faith is the act of a penitent. So that whoever believes repents; and whoever repents believes.
The primary and simple meaning of the word commonly used in the New Testament to express the idea of repentance, is a change of mind as the result of reflection. In this sense, it is said, There is no repentance with God. He is not a man that he should repent. Num 23.19
In the same sense, it is said that Esau found no place for repentance when he was unable to effect a change in the determination of his father. In the ordinary religious sense of the term, it is turning from sin to God. This is the account commonly given of it in the word of God. I thought upon my ways, said the Psalmist, and turned my feet to your testimonies. Psa 119.59 When the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does what is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive. Eze 18.27 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Isa 55.7 And in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, Solomon said, If the people think to themselves in the land to which they were carried away captives, and will repent and make supplication to you, saying, We have sinned and done perversely, we have committed wickedness, and so they return to you with all their heart and with all their soul; then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven, your dwelling place, and maintain their cause. 1Kng 8.47, 49 To repent, then, is to turn from sin to God. But as there is a repentance which has no connection with salvation, it becomes us to search the Scriptures, so that we may learn the characteristics of that repentance which is unto life.
As conviction of sin is an essential part of repentance, and as that point has already been considered, it won't be necessary to dwell long on this general subject. The prominence given to it in the Scriptures, however, and the large share which it occupies in the experience of Christians, demand that the nature of this turning from sin, which is so often enjoined, should be carefully studied.
There is one general truth in relation to this point which is clearly taught in the Bible; and it is that all true repentance springs from right views of God. The language of Job may with more or less confidence be adopted by every Christian: I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes. Job 42.5-6
The discovery of the justice of God serves to awaken conscience, and it often produces a fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation. Heb 10.27 This is the natural and reasonable effect of a clear apprehension of the rectitude of the divine character, as of a judge who renders to everyone his due. Accordingly, there are many illustrations of the effects of this apprehension recorded in the Scriptures. Fearfulness and trembling, said the Psalmist, have fallen upon me; and horror has overwhelmed me. Psa 55.5 While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. Your fierce wrath goes over me. Your terrors have cut me off. Psa 88.15 There is no rest in my bones because of my sins. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. Psa 38.4 These fearful forebodings are so common in the experience of the people of God, that the earlier writers make terror of conscience a prominent part of repentance. There are, however, two remarks on this subject, which should be borne in mind. The first is that these exercises vary in degree from the intolerable anguish of despair, to the calm conviction of our judgment that we are justly exposed to the displeasure of God. And secondly, that there is nothing discriminating in these terrors of conscience. They are experienced by the righteous and the unrighteous. If they occurred in the repentance of David, they also did in that of Judas. Sinners in Zion are often afraid; and fearfulness often surprises the hypocrite. These fearful apprehensions, therefore, are not to be desired for their own sake, since there is nothing good in fear. It is reasonable that those who refuse to repent, and to accept the offers of mercy, should fear.
But there is nothing reasonable in those fears which arise from unbelief, or distrust of the promises of God. It so often happens in the experience of the people of God, however, that they are made sensible of their guilt and danger, before they have any clear apprehensions of the plan of redemption — in fact, fear of the wrath of God enters largely into the feelings which characterize their conversion. The apprehension of the holiness of God produces awe.
The angels in heaven are represented as veiling their faces, and bowing with reverence before the Holy One. Something of the same feeling must be excited in the minds of men by the discovery of His infinite purity. It cannot fail to excite awe, no matter what the state of his mind may be. This, however, may be mingled with love, and express itself in adoration; or it may co-exist with hatred, and express itself in blasphemy. Very often, the effect is simply awe (or at least this is the prominent emotion), and the soul is led to prostrate itself in the dust. The moral character of this emotion can only be determined by observing whether it is attended with satisfaction in the contemplation of infinite purity, and with a desire for larger and more constant discoveries of it — or whether it produces uneasiness, and a desire that the vision may be withdrawn, and we be allowed to remain at ease in our darkness.
In the next place, this discovery of the holiness of God cannot fail to produce a sense of our own unworthiness. It is in His light that we see light. It is by the apprehension of his excellence that we learn our own vileness. And as no man can be aware that he appears vile in the sight of others, without a sense of shame, we find that this emotion is described as being one of the most uniform attendants upon repentance. Thus Ezra, in his penitential prayer, says, O my God! I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you my God; for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass has grown up to the heavens. Ezr 9.6 Daniel expresses the same feeling when he says, O Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us shame of face, as at this day. Dan 9.7 And when He describes the restoration of his people, even when assuring them of pardon, God says, You shall know that I am the Lord, that you may be confounded and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I am pacified towards you for all that you have done, says the Lord God.
Eze 16.63
Just as the consciousness of unworthiness produces shame, when we think of others, so when we think of ourselves, it produces selfabhorrence. This latter feeling, therefore, also enters into the nature of true repentance. In the strong language of the suffering patriarch already quoted, the sinner abhors himself, and repents in dust and ashes. In another passage, Job 40.4, the same distinguished servant of God says, Behold I am vile; what will I answer you? I will lay my hand on my mouth. And the prophet describing the repentance of the people says, You shall remember your ways and all your doings in which you have been defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight, for all the evil that you have committed. Eze 20.43 It is not the strength, but the nature of these feelings, which determines the character of our repentance. Their nature is the same in all true penitents; but their strength varies in every particular case. In all, however, the sense of sin destroys that self-complacency with which sinners soothe themselves, thanking God they are not as other men.
Luk 18.11 It humbles them before God, and places them in the position which he would have them occupy. To this man I will look, says the Lord, even to the one who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word. Isa 66.2 With such a soul God condescends to take up his abode. For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
Isa 57.15
This humbling sense of our unworthiness, which produces true contrition and self-abasement, is essential to repentance. Most men are willing to acknowledge they are sinners; but they are at the same time disposed to extenuate their guilt; to think they are as good as could reasonably be expected; that the law of God demands too much of beings so frail as man; and that it would be unjust to visit their deficiencies with any severe punishment. The change which constitutes repentance destroys this disposition to self-justification.
The soul bows down before God under the consciousness of inexcusable guilt. It stands self-condemned; and instead of regarding
God as a hard master, it acknowledges that He is righteous in all his demands, and in all his judgments. Such were the feelings of David when he said, I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight, that you might be justified when you speak, and clear when you judge. Psa 51.4 The same feeling is expressed by Ezra: O
Lord God of Israel you are righteous .... behold, we are before you in our trespasses, for we cannot stand before you because of this. Ezr 9.15
And Nehemiah uses language to the same effect: You are just in all that is brought upon us; for you have done right, but we have done wickedly. Neh 9.33 There can be no true repentance, therefore, without this contrite spirit of self-condemnation and abasement.
The confession of sin, on which the Scriptures lay so much stress, is the outward expression of this inward sense of ill-desert. It is not enough that we secretly condemn ourselves. God requires a full and ingenuous confession of our sins. And this our own hearts will prompt us to make. As there is no desire in the penitent to extenuate his guilt, so there is no disposition to conceal it. On the contrary, the soul is anxious to acknowledge everything; to take shame to itself, and to justify God. We accordingly find that a large part of the penitential portions of the Scriptures is taken up in recording the confessions of the people of God. When I kept silence, said the Psalmist, my bones waxed old through my roaring all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I have not hidden my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord; and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Psa
32.5 So long as he attempted to conceal his guilt, he found no relief; the hand of God continued to press heavily upon him; but when he acknowledged his transgressions he obtained forgiveness. The wise man therefore says, He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them, shall find mercy. Pro 28.13 The New Testament is equally explicit as to this part of our duty. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1Joh 1.8-9
This confession must be made to the person against whom we have sinned. If we have sinned against our fellow men, we must confess to them. If we have sinned against the church, we must confess to the church; and if we have sinned against God, our confession must be made to God. The Old Testament, in commanding restitution in case of injury done to our neighbor, thereby commanded acknowledgement to be made to the injured party. And in the New
Testament we are required to confess our faults one to another. Jas
5.16 However, as the great majority of our sins are committed against
God, it is to him that our confessions are to be principally made. And even in those cases in which we sin against men, in a still higher sense, we sin against God. Our sense of guilt in his sight, therefore, will prevail over the sense of our injustice to those whom we have offended. Thus David, though he had in the most grievous manner sinned against his neighbor, he was so affected with the enormity of his sin as committed against God, that he said, Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight. Psa 51.4
In the inspired records of penitential sorrow, we accordingly find that confession is constantly made to God. Let your ear now be attentive, said Nehemiah, and your eyes open, that you may hear the prayer of your servant, which I pray before you now, day and night, for the children of Israel your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against you. Both I and my father's house have sinned, and have dealt very corruptly against you; we have not kept the commandments, or the statutes, nor the judgments which You commanded your servant Moses. Neh 1.6
Indeed, the greater portion of the remarkable prayers of Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah which form the most authentic record of the exercises of genuine repentance, is taken up with confessions of sin.
This shows how essential such confession is to the proper discharge of this duty. No man, therefore, whose heart does not lead him freely, fully, and humbly to acknowledge his sin before God, can have any satisfactory evidence that he truly repents.
There is indeed a confession which remorse extorts from the lips of those whose hearts know nothing of that godly sorrow which is unto life. Thus Judas went to his accomplices in treachery and said, I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood; then he went and hanged himself. This, however, is very different from that ingenuous acknowledgment of sin which flows from a broken spirit, and which is fuller and freer, the stronger the assurance of forgiveness.
Though the Scriptures plainly teach that in all true repentance there is a sense of sin, self-loathing, self-condemnation, sorrow, and confession, yet such is the poverty of human language, that these very terms may be — no, must be employed to express the exercises of those who do not truly repent. It is said of Judas that he repented; Mat 27.3 and we cannot doubt that his repentance included a conviction of guilt, sorrow, self-abhorrence and confession. Yet all this was nothing more than the operation of that impenitent remorse which often drives men to despair, and which serves to feed the fire that will never be quenched. Although we are forced to describe the exercises which attend the sorrow of the world, by the same terms as those which accompany the sorrow which is of God, they are nevertheless essentially different in their nature. There is a gleam of hope and a glow of love pervading the exercises of the true penitent, which impart to all his exercises a peculiarity of character, and cause them to produce effects specifically different from those which flow from despairing remorse, or the agitations of an awakened conscience. His views of the justice and holiness of God produce not only a conviction of sin and sorrow for having committed it, but also an earnest desire to be delivered from it as the greatest of all evils, and an anxious longing after conformity to the image of God, as the greatest of all blessings. The repentance of the ungodly consists in the operations of conscience combined with fear; the repentance of the godly, consists of the operations of conscience combined with love. The one is the sorrow of the malefactor; the other the sorrow of a child. The one tends to despair and opposition to God; the other to hope and a desire for His favor. Both may lead to obedience; but the obedience in the one case is slavish; in the other, it is filial. In the one case it is mere penance; in the other it is repentance.
The circumstance which perhaps most perceptibly distinguishes true repentance from mere conviction and remorse, is that the former flows from the apprehension of the mercy of God. There is no hope in the repentance of the ungodly. They may see by the light of conscience and of the divine law, that their sins are exceedingly great. They may be filled with terror from the apprehension of divine justice, and even humbled and confounded under a view of the infinite holiness of God and of their own vileness; but there is no sense of forgiving mercy, no apprehension of the divine favor.
Instead of turning towards God, they therefore turn from him.
Following the example of Adam, they would gladly hide themselves from His presence. And so terrible is that presence at times, that they madly seek a refuge from it in the darkness of the grave, or call upon the rocks and mountains to cover them. This is the sorrow that works death. But in every case of real turning to God, there is more or less distinct apprehension of His mercy. This may be so feeble as only to enable the soul to say, Though he slay me, yet I will trust Him; Job
13.15 or, Who knows if He will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him? Joe 2.14 or, to adopt the language of David, If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back. But if he says, 'I have no pleasure in him,' here I am; let him do to me as seems good to him. 2Sam 15.25-26 This, however, is sufficient to turn fear into hope, and rebellion into submission.
It may be that the hope which saves the soul from sinking into despair and which prevents it from turning from God in aggravated opposition, is at times nothing more than a conviction that He is merciful, without any distinct apprehension of the way in which his mercy can be exercised, or any confident persuasion of our own acceptance. Still, the soul believes that He is the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth. Exo 34.6 It has courage to adopt the language of the Psalmist: For you, God, are good and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy to all those who call upon you. Psa 86.5 In all the records of penitence contained in the Scriptures, we therefore find that recognition of the divine goodness is the great operative principle in turning the soul to God. Thus Nehemiah says, You are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. Neh 9.17 And the prophet presents this consideration as the great motive to those whom he calls to repentance; Rend your hearts and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God; for he is gracious and relents from harm. Joe 2.13
But inasmuch as there can be no confidence of forgiving mercy if it is not founded on the revelation of the purpose of God; and as there is no revelation of a purpose to pardon, except through the mediation of Jesus Christ — however indistinct the view may be, at times, which the soul takes of the plan of salvation — there must still be a reference to the Savior in all authorized expectations of mercy. The penitent may not know how God can be just and yet be the justifier of sinners, but he can be persuaded not only that He is merciful, but that He has found a ransom, and can without inconsistency save us from going down into the pit. Doubtless, however, under the light of the Gospel, it is far more common that the soul sees all that it reveals of the mercy of God, and of the possibility of pardon in the face of Jesus Christ. It is in Christ that God has revealed himself as reconciled to the world, not imputing to men their trespasses. It is because Christ was made sin for us, that we can be made the righteousness of God in him.
All evangelical hope rests on the assurance that though we have sinned, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation for our sins. This is the hope which is effectual in winning the soul back to God. It is the discovery of the love of God in giving his own Son, that whoever believes in him, should not perish but have eternal life. It is this that breaks the hard heart, revealing to it the exceeding turpitude of its sins, and at the same time disclosing the readiness of God to freely forgive those who come to Him through Christ. It is therefore not so much the threatenings of the law, as the apprehension of the love of God, which turns the sinner from his rebellion, and draws him back to submission and obedience. All repentance without this, is legal and slavish. It is the repentance of Pharaoh, or Judas, or the thousands whom an awakened conscience and fear of wrath drive from their former sins, and force to walk in clanking chains along a mistaken road in search of heaven. This is the only repentance which conscience and the apprehension of divine justice can produce. A soul cannot approach an unreconciled God, any more than it can embrace a consuming fire. A sense of the favor of God, or a hope in His mercy, is essential to our returning to him with confidence and love.
There is indeed a belief in the mercy of God, which instead of leading men to repentance, encourages them to continue in sin. This is a belief which arises out of ignorance. It is founded on a misapprehension of the character of God. It is easy for those who know nothing of the divine holiness and justice, and who look upon sin as a misfortune or a trifle, to believe that God will not be so severe as to mark iniquity. To such persons, the mercy of God seems a matter of course; restricting its offers to no class of men, but covering with its mantle, the sins of the penitent and of reprobate alike. As they see no reason why God should not forgive, they easily hope in his mercy. But when their eyes are opened to his immaculate purity which forbids his looking on sin with allowance; opened to his justice which forbids him to spare the guilty; to the strictness of his law and to the fearfulness of its penalty — when conscience is aroused and adds its sanction to the judgment of God, in a voice whose authority and power can neither be questioned nor evaded — then these hopes of mercy are seen to be like a spider's web. They are swept away in a moment; and the difficulty now is to believe that pardon, once thought so certain, is even possible. Hence the assurances that God is plenteous in mercy and ready to forgive are so numerous and earnest in the Scriptures. Hence the way in which mercy can be exercised, consistently with those attributes which are seen to enter into the essential excellence of God, is so clearly set forth. Hence the invitations, the promises, yes, even the oath of God, are given to beget hope in the mind of the convinced and humbled sinner. It is not the whole, but the sick, who need the physician; and it is not for the careless, who feel no need of pardon, but for the anxious, who fear that there is scarcely room for mercy, that these assurances are given.
Therefore, it is not that hope of mercy which springs from ignorance and indifference, which is operative in the work of repentance, but that which is founded upon the promises of God embraced by faith.
It is an enlightened hope. The soul in entertaining it, knows something of the difficulties in the way of pardon, and something of the method in which mercy can be consistently exercised. Such a hope is not a matter of course; nor is it an easy attainment. The sense of sin, the testimony of conscience, the holiness of God, the honor of his law, are all apparently opposed to any reasonable expectation of forgiveness. And therefore, although the declarations of Scripture are so explicit on the subject, it often happens that the awakened sinner feels that though these declarations may be true in reference to others, they cannot be true as it regards himself. And when the goodness of God is revealed to him; when he sees the divine love surmounting all difficulties — no shipwrecked mariner surrounded by darkness and tossed by tempests, hails with greater joy the break of day, than such a soul hails the revelation of divine mercy. It is not merely joy; it is wonder, gratitude, and love that take possession of his soul, and fill him with the purpose of living devoted to God his Redeemer. It is this hope which gives new life to the soul, and accomplishes its return from the service of sin, to the service of God.
Hope in the mercy of God being thus important, it is the great design of the Bible to reveal the love of God to sinners, in order to bring them back from their apostasy. The sacred volume is full of instruction on this important subject. Every command to repent, implies a readiness on the part of God to forgive. Every institution of divine worship implies that God is willing to receive those who return to him. Every instance of pardon mentioned in the Bible is left on record to show that there is forgiveness with God, that He may be feared. With the same view, He has given those declarations of his mercy, long-suffering, and love with which the Scriptures abound.
And above all, for this purpose has he set forth his Son as a propitiation for our sins, that we may see not only that He is merciful, but how He can be merciful and yet just. These offers of mercy are made to all who hear the gospel, even to those whose sins are as scarlet, or red like crimson. And none lose the benefit of them who do not voluntarily and wickedly reject them — either carelessly supposing that they need no forgiveness, or unbelievingly refusing to accept pardon on the only terms on which it can be granted.
That repentance, therefore, which is unto life, is a turning; it is not being driven away from sin by fear and stress of conscience, but forsaking it as evil and hateful, with sincere sorrow, humility, and confession. It is returning to God because He is good and willing to forgive, and doing so with a determination to live in obedience to His commandments.
There are but two ways in which we can judge the genuineness of this change. The one is the comparison of our inward experience with the word of God; the other is the observation of its effects. Every man is conscious of his own feelings; attention and comparison will generally enable him to ascertain their character. He may tell whether he has had such views of the justice and holiness of God as to produce a conviction of his own sinfulness and ill-desert; whether he has been forced to give up his self-complacency, and to feel that disapproval of his character and conduct which leads the soul to confess with shame and sorrow, its guilt and pollution in the sight of God. He may tell whether he has had such apprehensions of the mercy of God in Jesus Christ as to induce him to return to his heavenly Father, with a strong desire after his favor, and with a firm determination to live to His glory. These are the exercises which constitute repentance; and whoever is conscious of them, may know that he is turned from death unto life.
However, as true self-knowledge is the most difficult of all attainments; and as feelings are hard to detect in their true nature (unless they are unusually strong); the surest test of the character of any supposed change of heart is to be found in its permanent effects.
By their fruits you shall know them, is a declaration as applicable to the right method of judging of ourselves, as of others. Therefore, whatever may have been our inward experience, and whatever joy or sorrow we may have felt — unless we bring forth fruits worthy of repentance, Mat 3.8 our experience will profit us nothing. Our repentance needs to be repented of, unless it leads us to confession and restitution in cases of private injury; unless it causes us to forsake not merely our outward sins, which attract the notice of others, but those which lie concealed in the heart; unless it makes us choose the service of God, as that which is right and congenial, and causes us to live not for ourselves, but for Him who loved us and gave himself for us. Gal 2.20
There is no duty of which the necessity is either more obvious in itself, or more frequently asserted in the word of God, than that of repentance. Nature itself teaches us that when we have done wrong, we should be sorry for it, and turn away from the evil. Every man feels that this is a reasonable expectation in regard to those who have offended him. Every parent especially looks with anxiety for the repentance of a disobedient child; and he considers nothing worthy of the name, except sincere sorrow and a return to affectionate obedience. No man need wonder, therefore, that God — who requires nothing but what is right, and who can require nothing less — commands all men everywhere to repent. Act 17.30 The salvation offered in the gospel, even though it is a salvation of sinners, is also a salvation from sin. The heaven which it promises, is a heaven of holiness. The rivers of pleasure which flow from the right hand of God, are filled with the pure waters of life. No man can therefore be saved, who does not by repentance, forsake his sins. This is itself a great part of salvation. The inward change of heart from the love and service of sin, to the love and service of God, is the great end of the death of Christ. He gave himself for his church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water, by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Eph 5.26-27 Therefore, a salvation for sinners, without repentance, is a contradiction.
Hence it is that repentance is the burden of evangelical preaching.
Our Savior himself when he began to preach, said, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Mat 4.17 And when he came into Galilee preaching the gospel, he said, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. Mar 1.15 The commission which he gave his apostles was that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.
Luk 24.47 In the execution of this commission, his disciples went forth and preached, Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord. Act 3.19 In the account of his preaching which Paul gave
Agrippa, he said that he showed first to those in Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works fit for repentance. Act 26.20 And he called upon the elders at Ephesus to bear witness that he had taught publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and to the Greeks, repentance towards
God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Act 20.21
Repentance, then, is the great, immediate, and pressing duty of all who hear the gospel. They are called upon to forsake their sins and to return to God through Jesus Christ. The neglect of this duty is the rejection of salvation. For, as we have seen, unless we repent, we must perish. It is because repentance is thus indispensably necessary, that God reveals so clearly not only the evil of sin, and the terrors of his law, but his infinite compassion and love; that He calls upon us to turn to Him and live, assuring us that he is the Lord, the Lord God merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. This call to repentance commonly follows men from cradle to grave. It is one of the first sounds which wakes the infant's ear; it is one of the last which falls on the failing senses of the dying sinner. Everything in this world is vocal with the voice of mercy. All joy and all sorrow are calls to return to God with whom are the issues of life. Every opening grave, every church, every page of the Bible, is an admonition or an invitation.
Every serious thought or anxious foreboding is the voice of God, saying, Turn, for why will you die? Eze 33.11 It is through all these admonitions, that men force their way to death. They perish, because they deliberately reject salvation.
It is one of the mysteries of redemption, that under the economy of mercy, all duties are graces. Though repentance is our duty, it is no less the gift of God. Those who twist the Scriptures to their own destruction, gladly seize on such truths, either as an excuse for delay under the pretense of awaiting God's time, or as a palliation of the guilt of a hard and impenitent heart. But those who feel the greatness of the work required of them, rejoice in the truth, and rouse themselves with new energy to their duty, which is no longer a hopeless task. And with all earnestness, they work out their own salvation, because it is God who works in them to will and to do, according to his own pleasure.