Delaware inquirer. (Wilmington, Del.) 1859-18??, 1860-03-24


because the great idea that generally pervades
the human mind on the subject is, that, by
being sorry for our actual transgressions, and
repenting Of them, God pardons the penalty.
Now, this idea must be got out of the mind
before the Bible doctrine of repentance for the
remission of sins can enter. We cannot see
what repentance for the remission of sins is, so
long as we suppose it is the pardon of the pen
atty for repcnting of the act. SIM an evil in
tcntion of the will the penalty is the trouble
and misery that must inevitably follow
that evil intention, rs its effect. The pen
atty of sin, therefore, must, in all cases,
be borne by the sinner. And this pen
atty is, in reality, a blessing; because it may
be the means, through the Spirit of truth, of
bringing him to repentance of the sin; if not, it
will have tendency to keep him from greater
evils The selfish depravity of the soul is the
sin; that sin must bring its punishment. The
punishment is not the sin; the punishment cam
not be RENTED, while the selfish deprayity re-
mains It is the removal only of the selfish
depravity that can suspend the punishment
The difficulty is, men are much more troubled
| about the punishment than about the depravi-
ty; and they would like to believe there is
some way to avoid the punishment without
taking up the full cross against the operation
of the deprayity. But this will never do. The
sin of Il murder is the malice of the heart; that
malice is the thing to be repented of, and put
away. The doctrine of the remission of the
penalty is mans doctrine not one word about
il in the Bible. The remission of the sin is
Gods doctrine the Bible is full of it, Man
wants to get rid of the penalty of his sins: God
wants him to get rid of the sins themselves.
| Man wants to remove the consequences of
transgression: God wants TO remove the cause.
Now, there are two kinds of repentance--a
false kind, and true. One is founded on the
love of self and the world; the other, on the
love of God and the neighbor. One repcnts of
his acts of cheating, stealing, &C, and still
keeps the stolen property; the other repents of
the disposition to cheat, steal, &c, and restores
back the stolen property. The one who re-
penis of the act, but keeps the property still
continues to cheat and repent but the one who
repents of the disposition to cheat, and gives
back the property, cheats no more, because
the cause is removed he does not want his
brothers property, Now, those who repent of
the acts only, and keep the property, maybe
lust as anxious and Jealous in their religious
exercises as the others, and perhaps more bois-
ferrous for the passion of self-love is quite as
strong as that of love to the neighbor; and it
is much more prevalent at the present day
among professors of religion, as well as others
| Now il is only where the love of the neighbor
is equal to the love Of self, that the full work
| of repentance has been done, and all the sins
pardoned.
How rarely do we see that evidence of re-
pentance, which repairs the injury man h IS
| done to his neighbor,--which restores back
the unlawful gain, and, it he has injured his
reputation by Islander or otherwise, acknowl-
edges it to the world, that the man may have
his fair standing again in society Or, if he
has done worse than this, if he has led his
neighbor into dishonesty and vice, or has in
any way furnished the fair virtue off mmor-
| tai soul by his own wickedness when do we
see him go TO the injured party, and with llli-
mity and tears, confess the great injury ne
has done him, and there labor and strive to re-
pair his injury by leading him back to purity
and peace? These are among the iirst-frlits
of true repentance. A person under true re-
pentance will feel much deeper sorrow for the
| injury he has done to PERSONS soul, than 10
| his property.
| Another reason why true repentance is so
| hard to be seen and practised, is because the
prominent position that has been given TO ialth
| has ecipsed repentance, and thrown u iar
| hack into the shade. In most of the commen-
taries of the day repentance is made the mere
fruits of faith Faith is the great general that
gets all the honors; while repentance, and
charity, and the love of God, and good life,
and all the heavenly graces, are mere feathers
and epatlets to decorate his body,-mere tro-
miles of victory, won after the sinner had been
| justified and pardoned by faith alone. But the
Bible doctrine is very different thing Tor II
teaches that charity is greater than faith, ana
repentance before it: for it says, snow abdeth
faith hope and charity; but the greatest OF
these is charity and our text commands us
TO erepent and believe The very fact that
John the BAPTIST came before the Lord, preach
ing repentance for the remission OF sins,
shows plainly that we must repent, in order TO
have faith; for the Lord was the Word, which
was coming as the divine truth into the mind,
which gives faith. John came to prepare the
way for the reception Of that truth; and that
preparation was repentance. The very llrst
words of John were, "Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is Mt hand I; and the very first words
of orr Lord when he commenced his pubic
nreaching, were, HRepent, for the Kingdom OF
heaven is at hand.n OF course, man must
first have truth enough in his understanding
to show him evils to repent of but that truth
is not faith till it comes into the heart, or Is
loved 1t cannot be loved, till we cease to love
the things it condemns. We can cease to love
those things only by repentance
Now, true faith brings into the mind ano
heart a true knowledge of the true God, in the
love OF him, which is eternal lite This car
come in no other way than by repentance; fol
the Lord and his kingdom can come in only ~
our evils 20 out. Our evils can go out only ~
they are repented of to the degree that they arr
9 loatbed and hated. When they are nateui lne,
are no longer ours. Hatred separates then
. from our hearts, and they are gone. This i
, The true remission of sins. God, in his mere,
and love, is all the while giving faith as w
progress, and is working with u.s. so that, whei
all our eyis-every unkind, impure, and als
! honest affection-are hated and put away, AM
the kingdom of righteousness and peace IS es
, tablished in their place, we need give ourselye
I no trouble about the penalty. The cause nav
ing been stopped the effect must cease also
Z But it must be understood that this process ca
f 90 on only as we carry it out in our lives, Q
4 Hdoing unto others as we wonld that the
= shonld do unto u.s. But this we are tangh
# by the latter part of our text.
s aThen said Jesus to those Jews who belieV
j. ed ON him, If We continue in my word, then M
i, We my disciples indeed; and ye shall Know IN
y truth, and the truth shall make you free
Il This portion of our text is addressed to bellcN
IL ers; and vet they are represented as not just
h fed. nor pardoned. Their faith had not save
4, them; nor had they full acknowledge of'the trutl
n They had truth enough to point them IN u u
A. way: and they believed in the Lord. And I'll
q Lord said to them; off We continue in my wor
q then are We my disciples indeed" They wei
ID his disciples already by faith; but they WEE
az not his disciples indeed nor were they re,
is from their sins: for the Lord tells them, tl
= 10 he freed from their sins, they must be IL
" disciples indeed. But if they were his disc
as ples in faith, why were they not his disclpl
n. indeed? Because they were not his disclpl
n in acts or ultimates; they had not yet done u
rs deeds of faith their faith had not yet work.
10 thy love and purified the heart" they had n