1 D. L. Moody.
38o THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
feeling or remorse. Judas had that, plenty of it, so that he
put an end to his existence ; and a man may be filled with
remorse and not repent.
r H The confession " I have sinned " is made by hardened
/ Pharaoh (Ex. ix. 27), double-minded Balaam (Num. xxii. 34),
I remorseful Achan (Josh. vii. 20), insincere King Saul (1 Sam.
\ xv.^24), despairing Judas (Matt, xxvii. 4) ; but in none of these
cSses was there true repentance.^
(3) Nor is it conviction. A man may be deeply convicted when he is going out of the house of God ; he may know that his whole life is wrong, his conscience may lash him and smite him, and he may say, " My whole life is dark and black." He may be deeply convicted and yet not repent. Conviction is not repentance ; making a few resolutions is not repentance ; turning over a new leaf, as some men say they are going to do, that is not repentance ; nor is it found in good feehngs or good thoughts.
A fit of sorrow is no great thing. Who has not had that ? There are persons upon whom a penitential mood comes and comes and comes again ; and nothing results from it. But this forsaking of the thoughts goes deep into the soul, and means a turning of the whole being towards God. It is quite true that the Bible does not lay stress on mere effervescence of feeling, as if it were needful to pour out floods of tears, or utter cries of agony, or go mourning and grieving for any special number of hours or days, and with any special intensity. Yet it is not conceivable that you should have a person convinced on the matter of his salvation, and changing his thoughts about God and sin, without strong feelings of abasement and shame. Take the type of a penitent, as Jesus gives it. See the publican standing afar off, not lifting so much as his eyes to heaven, smiting upon his breast. There is nothing extravagant in that.
Behold us, how we feebly float, Through many a changing mood;
How oft one flash of thought annuls Our firmest choice of good.
We sin, repent, and fondly think
Our will is now made strong; Our state of grace, restored, abides —
Thou knowest, Lord, how long.^ » A. H. Strong, Syst, Theology, ii, p. 832. « "W. Bright.
ISAIAH 381
(4) What is it ? Repentance is turning from. That is what repentance is. " Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die, 0 house of Israel ? " It is an afterthought, it is a change of mind. You ask how long a person is to feel sorry for his sins. Long enough to give them up — that is all. A man may have deep sorrow or he may not have much, but he has made up his mind that he is going to turn from his sins to God.^
Because I knew not when my life was good, And when there was a light upon my path. But turned my soul perversely to the dark —
Because I held upon my selfish road, And left my brother wounded by the way. And called ambition duty, and pressed on —
Because I spent the strength Thou gavest me In struggle which Thou never didst ordain, And have but dregs of life to offer Thee — O Lord, 1 do repent.*
IL
What God promises to do.
The two things which God promises to do are (1) have mercy, and (2) abundantly pardon.
1. The Lord, it is said, will have " mercy " on the returning sinner. It is not out of consideration of the wicked man's turning from his sin, or in reward for his heart- turning to the Most High, that his guilt shall be cancelled, and he shall be reinstated in the Divine favour. There is no idea of right connected with this penitential return. What he will get, he will get in mercy — in simple mercy. He is stiU liable to righteous punishment. But mercy will be his. God will not exact His dues. God, for the sake of His own glory, and in His beloved Son, in Him who died the Just for the unjust, will freely and graciously stay the sentence which sin has merited. -^
We do not like the word mercy. It is humbling ; it lays pride and self-righteousness in the dust, Mercy, all of mercy. It is very humbling. Nor, perhaps, do we best reconcile men to
1 D. L. Moody 2 S. WilUams.
382 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
it by dilating on their helpless, hopeless state. The soul will be sometimes stout against any measure of that. " Crush me, to atoms if you will, but I will not yield." Eather should the , sinner get quit of a delusion. It is a noble thing, is it not, in } an earthly sovereign to be merciful ? The earthly king is never more glorious in our eyes than when he does some great deed of mercy. And is it not felt, too, to be a noble thing when the criminal or offender, in loving penitence, gracefully and thank- fully accepts the mercy ? In such an acceptance he is not degraded, but exalted. And so let the sinner quit his sins, return to God, accept His mercy, not merely as though he cannot help it, as a heartrending necessity, but with loving and adoring gratitude ; for what it is so glorious and blessed in God to give, it is blessed in him to receive. And look if there be any semblance of exultation over him in his abasement in the gracious Father's countenance. Nay, the very opposite. Can He have any thoughts of degrading him whom He would clasp in His arms and call His son ?