A Sermon
(No. 44)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, September 23, 1855, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
"Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto
life."–Acts 11:18.
ONE OF THE GREATEST obstacles which the Christian religion ever
overcame, was the inveterate prejudice which possessed the minds of its
earliest followers. The Jewish believers, the twelve apostles, and
those whom Jesus Christ had called from the dispersed of Israel, were
so attached to the idea that salvation was of the Jews, and that none
but the disciples of Abraham, or, at any rate, the circumcised ones,
could be saved, that they could not bring themselves to the thought
that Jesus had come to be the Saviour of all nations, and that in him
should all the people of the earth be blessed. It was with difficulty
they could allow the supposition; it was so opposite to all their
Jewish education, that we find them summoning Peter before a council of
Christians, and saving to him, "thou wentest in to men uncircumcised
and didst eat with them." Nor could Peter exonerate himself until he
had rehearsed the matter fully, and said that God had appeared unto him
in a vision, declaring, "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou
common," and that the Lord had bidden him preach the gospel to
Cornelius and his household, inasmuch as they were believers. After
this the power of grace was so mighty that these Jews could no longer
withstand it: and in the teeth of all their previous education, they at
once assumed the broad principle of Christianity," and glorified God,
saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto
life." Let us bless God that now we are free from the trammels of
Judaism, and that we are not under those of a Gentilism which has in
its turn excluded the Jew, but that we live so near the blessed time
that is coming, when Jew and Gentile, bond and free, shall feel
themselves one in Jesus Christ our Head. I am not now, however, about
to enlarge upon this, but my subject this morning is "Repentance unto
life." May God give me grace so to speak to you that his word may be as
a sharp sword, "piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit, and of the joints and marrow."
By "Repentance unto life," I think we are to understand that repentance
which is accompanied by spiritual life in the soul, and ensures eternal
life to every one who possesses it. "Repentance unto life," I say,
brings with it spiritual life, or rather, is the first consequent
thereof. There are repentances which are not signs of life, except of
natural life, because they are only effected by the power of the
conscience and the voice of nature speaking in men; but the repentance
here spoken of is produced by the Author of life, and when it comes, it
begets such life in the soul, that he who was "dead in trespasses and
sins," is quickened together with Christ; he who had no spiritual
susceptibilities, now "receives with meekness the engrafted word;" he
who slumbered in the very center of corruption, receives power to
become one of the sons of God, and to be near his throne. This I think
is "repentance unto life,"–that which gives life unto a dead spirit. I
have said also, this repentance ensures eternal life; for there are
repentances of which you hear men speaks which do not secure the
salvation of the soul. Some preachers will affirm that men may repent,
and may believe, and yet may fall away and perish. We will not consume
our time by stopping to expose their error this morning; we have often
considered it before, and have refuted all that they could say in
defense of their dogma. Let us think of an infinitely better
repentance. The repentance of our test is not their repentance, but it
is a "repentance unto life;" a repentance which is a true sign of
eternal salvation in Christ; a repentance which preserves us through
this temporary state in Jesus, and which when we are passed into
eternity, gives us a bliss which cannot be destroyed. "Repentance unto
life "is the act of salvation of the soul, the germ which contains all
the essentials of salvation, which secures them to us, and prepares us
for them.
We are this morning to give a very careful and prayerful attention to
the "repentance" which is "unto life." First, I shall devote a few
minutes to the consideration of false repentance; secondly, I shall
consider the signs that mark true repentance; and after that, I shall
extol the divine beneficence, of which it is written, "Then hath God
also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."
I. First, then, we will consider certain FALSE REPENTANCES. I will
begin with this remark–that trembling beneath the sound of the gospel
is not "repentance." There are many men who when they hear a faithful
gospel sermon, are exceedingly stirred and moved by it. By a certain
power which accompanies the Word, God testifies that it is his own
Word, and he causes those who hear it involuntarily to tremble. I have
seen some men, while the truths of Scripture have been sounded from
this pulpit, whose knees have knocked together, whose eyes have flowed
with tears as if they had been fountains of water. I have witnessed the
deep dejection of their spirit, when–as some of them have told
me–they have been shaken until they knew not how to abide the sound of
the voice, for it seemed like the terrible trumpet of Sinai thundering
only their destruction. Well, my hearers, you may be very much
disturbed under the preaching of the gospel, and yet you shall not have
that "repentance unto life." You may know what it is to be very
seriously and very solemnly affected when you go to God's house, and
yet you may be hardened sinners. Let me confirm the remark by an
instance:–Paul stood before Felix with the chains upon his hands, and
as he preached of "righteousness, temperance, and of judgment to come,"
it is written, "Felix trembled," and yet procrastinating Felix is in
perdition, among the rest of those who have said, "Go thy way for this
time; when I have a more convenient season I will call for thee." There
are many of you who cannot attend the house of God without being
alarmed; you know what it is often to stand aghast at the thought that
God will punish you; you may often have been moved to sincere emotion
under God's minister; but, let me tell you, you may be after all a
castaway, because you have not repented of your sins, neither have you
turned to God.
Further still. It is quite possible that you may not only tremble
before God's Word, but you may become a sort of amiable Agrippa, and be
"almost persuaded" to turn to Jesus Christ, and yet have no
"repentance;" you may go further and even desire the gospel; you may
say: "Oh! this gospel is such a goodly thing I would I had it. It
ensures so much happiness here, and so much joy hereafter, I wish I
might call it mine." Oh! it is good, thus to hear this voice of God!
but you may sit, and, while some powerful text is being well handled,
you may say, "I think it is true;" but it must enter the heart before
you can repent. You may even go upon your knees in prayer and you may
ask with a terrified lip that this may be blessed to your soul; and
after all you may be no child of God. You may say as Agrippa said unto
Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian;" yet, like Agrippa,
you may never proceed beyond the "almost." He was "almost persuaded to
be a Christian," but not "altogether." Now, how many of you here have
been; almost persuaded" and yet you are not really in the way of
eternal life. How often has conviction brought you on your knees and
you have "almost" repented, but you have remained there, without
actually repenting. See that corpse? It is lately dead. It has scarcely
acquired the ghastliness of death, the color is still life-like. Its
hand is still warm; you may fancy it is alive, and it seems almost to
breathe. Every thing is there–the worm hath scarcely touched it
dissolution hath scarcely approached; there is no foeted smell–yet
life is gone; life is not there. So it is with you: you are almost
alive; you have almost every external organ of religion which the
Christian has; but you have not life. You may have repentance, but not
sincere repentance. O hypocrite! I warn you this morning, you may not
only tremble but feel a complacency towards the Word of God, and yet
after all not have "repentance unto life." You may sink down into the
pit that is bottomless, and hear it said, "Depart from me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
Yet, again, it is possible for men to progress even further than this,
and positively to humble themselves under the hand of God, and yet they
may be total strangers to repentance. Their goodness is not like the
morning cloud and the early dew that passeth away, but when the sermon
is heard they go home and commence what they conceive to be the work of
repentance, they renounce certain vices and follies, they clothe
themselves in sack-cloth, their tears flow very freely on account of
what they have done; they weep before God; and yet with all that, their
repentance is but a temporary repentance, and they go back to their
sins again. Do you deny that such a penitence can exist? Let me tell
you of a case. A certain man named Ahab coveted the vineyard of his
neighbor Naboth, who would not sell it for a price, nor make an
exchange. He consulted with his wife Jezebel, who contrived to put
Naboth to death, and thus secure the vineyard to the king. After Naboth
was put to death, and Ahab had taken possession of the vineyard, the
servant of the Lord met Ahab, and said to him, "Hast thou killed, and
also taken possession. Thus saith the Lord, in the place where the dogs
licked the blood of Naboth shall the dogs lick thy blood, even thine.
Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy prosperity
"We read that Ahab went awe, and humbled himself; and the Lord said,
"Because Ahab humbleth himself before me I will not bring evil in his
days." He had granted him some kind of mercy; but we read in the very
next chapter that Ahab rebelled, and in a battle in Ramoth-Gilead,
according to the servant of the Lord, he was slain there; so that "the
dogs licked his blood "in the very vineyard of Naboth. You, too, I tell
you, may humble yourselves before God for a time, and yet remain the
slaves of your transgressions. You are afraid of damnation, but you are
not afraid of sinning: you are afraid of hell, but you are not afraid
of your iniquities; you are afraid of being cast into the pit, but not
afraid to harden your hearts against his commands. Is it not true, O
sinner, that you are trembling at hell? It is not the soul's state that
troubles you, but hell. If hell were extinguished, your repentance
would be extinguished; if the terrors awaiting you were withdrawn, you
would sin with a higher hand than before, and your soul would be
hardened, and would rebel against its sovereign. Be not deceived, my
brethren, here; examine yourselves whether you are in the faith; ask
yourselves if you have that which is "repentance unto life;" for you
may humble yourselves for a time, and yet never repent before God.
Beyond this many advance, and yet fall short of grace. It is possible
that you may confess your sins, and yet may not repent. You may
approach God, and tell him you are a wretch indeed; you may enumerate a
long list of your transgressions and of the sins that you have
committed, without a sense of the heniousness of your guilt, without a
spark of real hatred of your deeds. You may confess and acknowledge
your transgressions, and yet have no abhorrence of sin; and if you do
not in the strength of God resist sin, if you do not turn from it, this
fancied repentance shall be but the guilding which displays the paint
which decorates; it is not the grace which transforms into gold, which
will abide the fire. You may even, I say confess your faults, and yet
have not repentance.
Once more, and then I have gone to the farthest thought I have to give
on this point. You may do some work meet for repentance, and yet you
may be impenitent. Let me give you a proof of this in a fact
authenticated by inspiration.
Judas betrayed his Master; and after having done so, an overwhelming
sense of the enormous evil he had committed seized upon him. His guilt
buried all hope of repentance, and in the misery of desperation, not
the grief of true regret, he confessed his sin to the high priests,
crying, "I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood." They
said, "What is that to us, see thou to that." Whereupon he cast down
the pieces of silver in the temple, to show that he could not bear to
carry the price of guilt upon him; and left them there. He went out,
and–was he saved? No. "He went out and hanged himself." And even then
the vengeance of God followed him: for when he had hanged himself he
fell from the height where he was suspended, and was dashed to pieces;
he was lost, and his soul perished. Yet see what this man did. He had
sinned, he confessed his wrong, he returned the gold; still after all
that, he was a castaway. Does not this make us tremble? You see how
possible it is to be the ape of the Christian so nearly, that wisdom
itself, if it be only mortal, may be deceived.
II. Now, having thus warned you that there are many false kinds of
repentance, I propose to occupy a short time by some remarks on TRUE
REPENTANCE, and the signs whereby we may discern whether we have that
"repentance" which is "unto life."
First of all, let me correct one or two mistakes which those who are
coming to Jesus Christ very often make. One is, they frequently think
they must have deep, horrible, and awful manifestations of the terrors
of law and of hell before they can be said to repent. How many have I
conversed with, who have said to me what I can only translate into
English to you this morning something in this way: "I do not repent
enough, I do not feel myself enough of a sinner I have not been so
gross and wicked a transgressor as many–I could almost wish I had; not
because I love sin, but because then I think I should have deeper
convictions of my guilt, and feel more sure that I had truly come to
Jesus Christ." Now it is a great mistake to imagine that these terrible
and horrible thoughts of a coming judgment have anything to do with the
validity of "repentance." They are very often not the gift of God at
all, but the insinuations of the devil; and even where the law worketh
and produceth these thoughts, you must not regard them as being part
and parcel of "repentance." They do not enter into the essence of
repentance. "Repentance" is a hatred of sin; it is a turning from sin
and a determination in the strength of God to forsake it. "Repentance"
is a hatred of sin, and a forsaking it. It is possible for a man to
repent without any terrific display of the terrors of the law; he may
repent without having heard the trumpet sounds of Sinai, without having
heard more than a distant rumble of its thunder. A man may repent
entirely through the power of the voice of mercy. Some hearts God opens
to faith, as in the case of Lydia. Others he assaults with the sledge
hammer of the wrath to come; some he opens with the picklock of grace,
and some with the crowbar of the law. There may be different ways of
getting there, but the question is, has he got there? Is he there? It
often happens that the Lord is not in the tempest or in the earthquake,
but in the "still small voice."
There is another mistake many poor people make when they are thinking
about salvation, and that is–that they cannot repent enough; they
imagine that were they to repent up to a certain degree, they would be
saved. "Oh, sir!" some of you will say, "I have not penitence enough."
Beloved, let me tell you that there is not any eminent degree of
"repentance" which is necessary to salvation. You know there are
degrees of faith, and yet the least faith saves; so there are degrees
of repentance, and the least repentance will save the soul if it is
sincere. The Bible says, "He that believeth shall be saved," and when
it says that, it includes the very smallest degree of faith. So when it
says, "Repent and be saved," it includes the man who has the lowest
degree of real repentance. Repentance, moreover, is never perfect in
any man in this mortal state. We never get perfect faith so as to be
entirely free from doubting; and we never get repentance which is free
from some hardness of heart. The most sincere penitent that you know
will feel himself to be partially impenitent. Repentance is also a
continual life-long act. It will grow continually. I believe a
Christian on his death-bed will more bitterly repent than ever he did
before. It is a thing to be done all your life long. Sinning and
repenting–sinning and repenting, make up a Christian's life. Repenting
and believing in Jesus–repenting and believing in Jesus, make up the
consummation of his happiness. You must not expect that you will be
perfect in "repentance" before you are saved. No Christian can be
perfect. "Repentance" is a grace. Some people preach it as a condition
of salvation. Condition of nonsense! There are no conditions of
salvation. God gives the salvation himself; and he only gives it to
those to whom he will. He says, "I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy "If, then, God has given you the least repentance, if it be
sincere repentance, praise him for it, and expect that repentance will
grow deeper and deeper as you go further on. Then this remark I think,
ought to be applied to all Christians. Christian men and women, you
feel that you have not deep enough repentance. You feel that you have
not faith large enough. What are you to do? Ask for an increase of
faith, and it will grow. So with repentance. Have you ever tried to get
deep repentance? My friends, if you have failed therein, still trust in
Jesus, and try every day to get a penitential spirit, Do not expect, I
say again, to have perfect repentance at first; sincere penitence you
must have, and then under divine grace you will go on from strength to
strength, until at last you shall hate and abhor sin as a serpent or a
viper, and then shall you be near, very near, the perfection of
repentance. These few thoughts, then, in opening the subject. And now
you say, what are the signs of true "repentance" in the sight of God?
First, I tell you, there is always sorrow with it. No man ever repents
of sin without having some kind of sorrow with it. More or less
intense, it may be, according to the way in which God calls him, and
his previous manner of life, but there must be some sorrow. We do not
care when it comes, but at some time or other it must come, or it is
not the repentance of the Christian. I knew a man once who professed
that he had repented, and he certainly was a changed character, so far
as the external was concerned, but I never could see that he had any
real sorrow for sin, neither when he professed to believe in Jesus did
I ever see any marks of penitence in him. I considered in that man it
was a kind of ecstatic jump into grace; and I found afterwards he had
just as ecstatic a jump into guilt again He was not a sheep of God, for
he had not been washed in penitence: for all God's people have to be
washed there when converted from their sins. No man can come to Christ
and know his pardon without feeling that sin is a hateful thing, for it
put Jesus to death. Ye who have tearless eyes, unbended knees, unbroken
hearts, how can ye think ye are saved? The gospel promised salvation
only to those who really repent.
Lest, however, I should hurt some of you, and make you feel what I do
not intend, let me remark that I do not mean to say that you must shed
actual tears. Some men are so hard in constitution that they could not
shed a tear. I have known some who have been able to sigh and to groan,
but tears would not come. Well, I say, that though the tear often
affords evidence of penitence, you may have "repentance unto life"
without it. What I would have you understand is, that there must be
some real sorrow. If the prayer may not be vocal, it must be secret.
There must be a groan if there is no word; there must be a sigh if
there be no tear, to show the repentance, even though it be but small.
There must be in this repentance, I think, not only sorrow, but there
must be practice–practical repentance.
"Tis not enough to say we're sorry, and repent,
And then go on from day to day just as we always went"
Many people are very sorry and very penitent for their past sins Hear
them talk. "Oh!" they say, "I deeply regret that ever I should have
been a drunkard; and I sincerely bemoan that I should have fallen into
that sin; I deeply lament that I should have done so." Then they go
straight home; and when one; o'clock on Sunday comes you will find them
at it again. And yet such people say they have repented Do you believe
them when they say they are sinners, but do not love sin? They may not
love it for the time; but can they be sincerely penitent, and then go
and transgress again immediately, in the same way as they did before?
How can we believe you if you transgress again and again, and do not
forsake your sin? We know a tree by its fruit, and you who are penitent
will bring forth works of repentance. I have often thought it was a
very beautiful instance, showing the power of penitence which a pious
minister once related. He had been preaching on penitence, and had in
the course of his sermon spoke of the sin of stealing. On his way home
a laborer came alongside of him, and the minister observed that he had
something under his smock-frock. He told him he need not accompany him
farther; but the man persisted. At last he said, "I have a spade under
my arm which I stole up at that farm; I heard you preaching about the
sin of stealing, and I must go and put it there again." That was
sincere penitence which caused him to go back and replace the stolen
article. It was like those South Sea Islanders, of whom we read who
stole the missionaries' articles of apparel and furniture, and
everything out of their houses; but when they were savingly converted
they brought them all back. But many of you say you repent, yet nothing
comes of it; it is not worth the snap of the finger. People sincerely
repent, they say, that they should have committed a robbery, or that
they have kept a gambling-house; but they are very careful that all the
proceeds shall be laid out to their hearts' best comfort. True
"repentance" will yield works meet for repentance," it will be
practical repentance.
Yet farther. You may know whether your repentance is practical by this
test. Does it last or does it not? Many of your repentances are like
the hectic flush upon the cheek of the consumptive person which is no
sign of health. Many a time have I seen a young man in a flow of newly
acquired, but unsound godliness, and he has thought he was about to
repent of his sins. For some hours such an one was deeply penitent
before God, and for weeks he relinquishes his follies. He attends the
house of prayer, and converses as a child of God. But back he goes to
his sins as the dog returns to his vomit. The evil spirit has gone
"back to his house, and has taken with him seven others more wicked
than himself; and the last state of that man is worse than the first."
How long has your penitence lasted? Did it continue for months? or did
it come upon you and go away suddenly? You said, "I will join the
church–I will do this, that, and the other, for God's cause." Are your
works lasting? Do you believe your repentance will last six months?
Will it continue for twelve months? Will it last until you are wrapped
in your winding-sheet?
Yet again, I must ask you one question more. Do you think you you'll
repent of your sins if no punishment were placed before you? or do you
repent because you know you shall be punished for ever if you remain in
your sins? Suppose I tell you there is no hell at all; that, if you
choose, you may swear; and, if you will, you may live without God.
Suppose there were no reward for virtue, and no punishment for sin,
which would you choose?. Can you honestly say, this morning, "I think,
I know, by the grace of God, I would choose righteousness if there were
no reward for it, if there were nothing to be gained by righteousness,
and nothing to be lost by sin." Every sinner hates his sin when he
comes near to the mouth of hell; every murderer hates his crime when he
comes to the gallows; I never found a child hate its fault so much as
when it was going to be punished for it. If you had no cause to dread
the pit–if you knew that you might give up your life to sin, and that
you might do so with impunity, would you still feel that you hated sin,
and that you could not, would not, commit sin, except through the
infirmity of the flesh? Would you still desire holiness? Would you
still desire to live like Christ? If so–if you can say this in
sincerity–if you thus turn to God and hate your sin with an
everlasting hatred, you need not fear but that you have a "repentance"
which is "unto life."
III. Now comes the concluding and third point, and that "THE BLESSED
BENEFICENCE OF GOD in granting to men "repentance unto life."
"Repentance," my dear friends, is the gift of God. It is one of those
spiritual favors which ensure eternal life. It is the marvel of divine
mercy that it not only provides the way of salvation, that it not only
invites men to receive grace, but that it positively makes men willing
to be saved. God punished his Son Jesus Christ for our sins, and
therein he provided salvation for all his lost children. He sends his
minister; the minister bids men repent and believe, and he labors to
bring them to God. They will not listen to the call, and they despise
the minister. But then another messenger is sent, a heavenly ambassador
who cannot fail. He summons men to repent and turn to God. Their
thoughts are a little wayward, but after he, the Divine Spirit, pleads
with them, they forget what manner of men they were, and they repent
and turn. Now, what would we do if we had been treated as God was? If
we had made a supper or a feast, and sent out messengers to invite the
guests to come, what would we do? Do you think we should take the
trouble to go round and visit them all, and get them to come? And when
they sat down and said they could not eat would we open their mouths?
If they still declared they could not eat, should we still make them
eat? Ah! beloved, I am inclined to think you would not do so. If you
had signed the letters of invitation, and the invited would not come to
your feast, would you not say, "You shall not have it." But what does
God do? He says, "Now I will make a feast, I will invite the people,
and if they do not come in, my ministers shall go out and fetch them in
bodily. I will say to my servants, go ye out into the highways and
hedges, and compel them to come in, that they may partake of the feast
I have prepared." Is it not a stupendous act of divine mercy that he
actually makes them willing? He does not do it by force, but uses a
sweet spiritual suasion. They are first as unwilling to be saved as
they can be; "but," says God, "that is nothing, I have power to make
you turn to me, and I will." The Holy Ghost then brings home the Word
of God to the consciences of his children in so blessed a manner, that
they can no longer refuse to love Jesus. Mark you, not by any force
against the will, but by a sweet spiritual influence changing the will.
O, ye lost and ruined sinners! stand here and admire my Master's mercy.
He sets not only a feast of good things before men, but he induces them
to come and partake of them, and constrains them to continue feasting
until he carries them to the everlasting eternal mansion. And as he
bears them up, he says to each one, "I have loved thee with an
everlasting love, therefore, by my lovingkindness I have drawn thee.
Now, dost thou love me?" "Oh, Lord," they cry, "thy grace in bringing
us here proves that thou dost love us, for we were unwilling to go.
Thou saidst, you shall go, we said we would not go, but thou hast made
us go. And now, Lord, we bless thee, and love thee for that force. It
was sweet constraint." I was a struggling captive, but I am now made
willing.
Oh! sovereign grace, my heart subdue!
I would be led in triumph too;
A willing captive to my Lord
To sing the honors of his Word."
Well now, what say you? Some of you will say, "Sir, I have been trying
to repent for a long time. In pains and afflictions I have been praying
and trying to believe, and doing all I can." I will tell you another
thing: you will try a long time before you will be able to do it. That
is not the way to get it. I heard of two gentlemen travelling. One of
them said to the other, "I do not know how it is, but you always seem
to recollect your wife and family, and all that is doing at home, and
you seem as if you connected all things around you with them; but I try
to bring mine to my recollection constantly, and yet I never can.";
No," said the other, "that is the very reason–because you try. If you
could connect them with every little circumstance ye meet, you would
easily remember them. I think at such and such a time–now they are
rising; at such and such a time–now they are at prayers; at such and
such a time–now they are having their breakfast. In this way I have
them still before me." I think the same thing happens with regard to
"repentance." If a man says, "I want to believe," and tries by some
mechanical means to work himself into repentance, it is an absurdity,
and he will never accomplish it. But the way for him to repent is by
God's grace to believe, to believe and think on Jesus. If he picture to
himself the wounded bleeding side the crown of thorns, the tears of
anguish–if he takes a vision of all that Christ suffered, I will be
bound for it he will turn to him in repentance. I would stake what
reputation I may have in spiritual things upon this–that a man cannot,
under God's Holy Spirit, contemplate the cross of Christ without a
broken heart. If it is not so, my heart is different from any one's
else. I have never known a man who has thought upon, and taken a view
of the cross, who has not found that it begat "repentance," and begat
faith. We look at Jesus Christ if we would be saved, and we then say.
"Amazing sacrifice! that Jesus thus died to save sinners." If you want
faith, remember he gives it, if you want repentance, he gives it! if
you want everlasting life, he gives it liberally. He can force you to
feel your great sin, and cause you to repent by the sight of Calvary's
cross, and the sound of the greatest, deepest death shriek, "Eloi!
Eloi! lama sabacthani?" "My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?"
That will beget "repentance;" it will make you weep and say, "Alas! and
did my Saviour bleed; and did my Sovereign die for me?" Then beloved,
if you would have "repentance," this is my best advice to you–look to
Jesus. And may the blessed Giver of all "repentance unto salvation"
guard you from the false repentances which I have described, and give
you that "repentance," which existeth unto life.
"Repent! the voice celestial cries,
Nor longer dare delay;
The wretch that scorns the mandate, dies,
And meets a fiery day.
No more the sovereign eye of GOD
O'erlooks the crimes of men;
His heralds are despatch'd abroad
To warn the world of sin.
The summons reach thro' all the earth
Let earth attend and fear;
Listen, ye men of royal birth,
And let your vassals hear!
Together in his presence bow,
And all your guilt confess
Embrace the blessed Saviour now,
Nor trifle with his grace.
Bow, ere the awful trumpet sound,
And call you to his bar:
For mercy knows the appointed bound.
And turns to vengeance there."