Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-10-18
ItIriginal.i
REPENTANCE.

The first command, so far as the record
shows, which John the Baptist issued, was
"Repent ye." Our Saviour, Immediately
after beginning his public ministry, COM
manded those to whom he announced that
the kingdom of God is at hand, to repent
and believe the gospel. No one who has
read the Bible is ignorant Of the fact that all
men everywhere are commanded to repent.
1t is universally admitted fact that it is
the duty of all men to repent. No one will
deny this. Such being the case, it is proper
to inquire what is the Scriptural import of
the word repent; or what is it that we are
required to do when we are commanded to
repent? This is important for several rea
sons. One reason why we should know eX
actly what God requires us to do when he
commands us to repent is, that unless we
repent we cannot be saved. A mistake in
this matter will terminate in our certain
ruin. Another reason why we should eX-
anime this subject carefully is, that much
which, at the present time, bears the name
Of theology is in n'harmony with neither the
Scriptures nor common sense. 1t is mlSera-
BILE stuff which neither fits man for serving
God in this world, nor enjoying him in the
next.
More than two hundred yearsago, repent
ance was, after prayerful deliberatiOn, de-
q
wrought in the heart of a sinner by the
spirit and word of God, whereby out of the
sight and sense, not only of the danger, but
also of the filthinesS and odiOuSneSS Of his
sins, and upon the apprehension of Gods
mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, he
so grieves for and hates his sins, as that he
turns from them all to God, purposing and
endeavoring constantly to walk with him in
all the ways of new obedience"
The beauty of the above quotation is not
that it is such English as Macaulay, ADDISON
or Prescott wrote; but that it is the Bible
doctrine of repentance stated in plain Eng
liSh.
1t would be Scriptural to say that repent
ance is turning from sin unto God. TO say
that repentance is only turning from sin
would not be correct. Such turning from
sin would be more correctly defined to be
reformation. There may be, and often is,
reformation when there is no repentance,
but repentance is always accompanied with
reformation. Repentance is double turn
ing. 1t is turning from sin and turning
to God at the same time. The Bible con-
stantly represents man in his natural state
as going in the wrong direction. every
one of them is gone back" '"rhe wicked
Gall mankindD are estranged from the womb;
they 60 astray as soon as they are born
speaking lies"
Only sinner can repent. Such being the
case, repentance is always preceded by
true sense Of sin. There is, however, some
thing more than sense of sin necessary be-
fore the sinner will turn from his sins unto
God. Under sense of the danger of sin he
may cease to commit some sins. The love
of life, or health, may prompt him to such
course of conduct. Cases Of this kind are
not very rare. In all this turning from sin
there is no repentance. In every case of
true repentance there is a sight and sense of
the filthiness and of the odiousness of sin,
as we'll as Of it's danger, and in addition to
all this, there is also an apprehension of
Gods mercy in Christ to such as are Peni-
tent. A proper sight and sense of the filth
ness, odiousness and danger of sin turns the
sinner from his sins, but it is the apprehen-
sion of Gods mercy in Christ which incites
him to turn to God.
From this we infer that repentance is "a
saving grace wrought in the heart of SIN
ner by the spirit and word Of God"
Repentance is often confounded with con-
version. Repentance and conversion agree
in that they are both turning from sin unto
God, but conversion includes far more than