REPENTANCE

THE great subjects of the gospel proclamation are said to be, “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ,” Acts 20:21; both have been counterfeited by the deceiver of souls, which renders it important that you should know how to detect the false, and discover the true, in the early stages of your experience.

Having written to your brother Betah on the subject of faith, I shall now offer a few thoughts on repentance, and as you are in the habit of walking together in the heavenly road, you can mutually peruse what I have written to each.

Genuine repentance is the effect of divine calling; hence our beloved Lord assures us, “he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance;” and I trust you will find while perusing this epistle, an evidence of divine calling in the nature of your repentance, then the very tears you have shed, and the godly sorrow you have felt, will be but the preludes to joy and peace in believing.

Repentance is of two kinds, according to the statements of the sacred volume; the first legal, and is common to the carnal mind; the other is spiritual, and exists only in renewed minds; the first, deprecates the consequence of sin, but leaves the sinner in love with it; it exists only in the apprehension, or suffering of punishment, and is accurately described by the apostles, as “the sorrow of the world, that worketh death.” 2 Cor. 7:10. Esau and Judas were awful instances of this legal repentance, but both were strangers to that godly sorrow, of which, I trust, my dear Myra is the subject.

To satisfy your mind of this, I will here present a scriptural view of that repentance which is unto life, and surely I cannot adopt a better plan, than to direct your attention to its genuine properties, and the text I have just cited, in which the apostle calls it godly sorrow is, I think, as full to the point as any portion of the word of God; for repentance is sorrow which comes from God, and leads to God; it is produced by the influence of the Holy Spirit, opening the eyes of the sinner to his guilt and danger, showing him the odious nature of sin, and creating in his soul a holy hatred of it; then, he cannot but grieve that such a monster should have a dwelling in his heart, and still more, that he should so long have cherished it there. Now this godly sorrow, coming from God, must of necessity lead to God, according to the prophetic declaration, “they shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them.” Jer. 31:9.

Wherever genuine repentance is bestowed, there will be a coming to God for pardoning, mercy, cleansing grace, and quickening influence; for the repenting sinner will not be satisfied with having the guilt of sin removed, (could that be effected alone,) he has such a fixed aversion to it in his new nature, that nothing short of its subjugation, crucifixion, and total destruction will satisfy him; and knowing that omnipotence only can accomplish all this, he cries to God to perform all things for him: this the apostle calls “repentance towards God,” because it comes from him, and leads the soul to him.

Godly sorrow, or genuine repentance, comes not from Sinai, but from Calvary: for when the sufferings of Christ are presented to the mind of the sinner by the Holy Spirit, with a strong conviction that his individual sins were the cause of them, contrition, shame, and deep humility will be produced; and these are the properties of genuine repentance; nor can I conclude, that he is a repenting sinner, who is a stranger to these feelings. This godly sorrow is perfectly distinct, both from legal dread, and that cold speculative system, which views sin with indifference, and the sufferings of Christ with callous presumption.

Repentance is indeed a change of mind, but not a mere sentimental change; it is such a change of mind as produces a change of conduct; the current of the affections is reversed, and the things that were before the very element of the soul, are become disgusting; hence, as long as sin exists in the heart, (which will be as long as we are on earth,) there will be daily cause for repentance; not under the apprehension that sin can finally ruin the child of God, but on account of its very nature being offensive to him; and all its workings, annoying his spiritual exercises and insulting his Father, must produce godly sorrow.

Look into your own experience, my dear Myra, and say whether one day passes over your head, without repeated cause for grief, that you live so little like a heir of glory. Was your repentance one solitary act which took place at the commencement of your experience, and died in its performance? Or is it a grace of the Holy Spirit which first melted you into contrition, then turned you unto God, and now produces compunction daily, on account of your heart-back-slidings from God? this godly sorrow is not obliterated, but increased, by a sense of forgiving love; and that man is most grieved and annoyed by sin, who has the sweetest and best evidence of divine pardon in his soul.

So that repentance does not give place to faith, but dwells with it; yea, they are like twin graces, and the very grief you feel on account of sin, puts energy into faith’s appropriation of Christ, and is emphatically the expression of your need of Christ. In a word it is a holy melting of soul to receive the image of Christ—it is spiritual regret, arising from the want of likeness to Christ —it is the profusion of love, produced by acquaintance with Christ, yea, it is the overwhelming sense of our insignificance, brought to our views by the glories of Christ, dissolving the heart in genuine humility at his footstool.

Genuine repentance is not the mere fever of the passions, excited by human power, but the sacred emotions of the soul, which prove its spiritual health. Tears are not essential to it, but spiritual feeling is; and many of the household of faith are living under the influence of this grace, who are incapable of venting their godly sorrow, otherwise than as “groanings which cannot be uttered;” these, my dear Myra, are some of the best evidences of godly sorrow, which are the preludes and companions of holy joy. I trust you will never be destitute of them, until you are destitute of sin, nor ever be betrayed into that benumbed, stupid hardihood in sin, which boasts of faith, to the exclusion of repentance.

Godly sorrow is “not to be repented of,” not to be relinquished or abandoned; but modern stoics tell us, they have done with repentance, and in such a declaration, they leave me room to suspect whether they ever began; for though I give place to no man on the ground of confidence in the justifying righteousness of Christ, and sweet assurance of eternal and irrevocable pardon, yet, I know not the day in which I am not grieved and annoyed by sin, nor can I conceive how sin can exist within the soul without causing grief, except where it is loved.

Paul indeed exclaims under a sweet sense of interest in the righteousness of Christ, and participation of the divine nature, “It is no more I that do evil, but sin that dwelleth in me:” but, hear him immediately after cry out, “O wretched man that I am;” and say, did not his believing confidence and godly sorrow, go hand in hand?

We are repeatedly assured in scripture, that gospel repentance is unto life, that is, the dawning of spiritual life, and the pledge of eternal life; if therefore, my dear young friend be the subject of godly sorrow, it is certain that spiriit-ual life is communicated, and eternal life shall be bestowed. Angels have already rejoiced over you —God the Father looks with complacency upon you—Jesus intercedes for you—and the Holy Spirit dwells in you; yea, the very sorrow which you feel on account of sin, is a daily testimony of the Holy Spirit’s work, which none possess but the children of God.

Moreover, genuine repentance is the gift of Christ, which he is exalted as a Prince, and a Saviour to bestow,—a divine grant, in which his eternal power and Godhead are proclaimed, and his everlasting love to you is testified; for he never gives repentance without giving remission of sins also; and while it is certain that, without repentance all must perish, it is equally so, that every sinner who is brought to the footstool of divine mercy in deep contrition, and taught to hate the evils which exist in his heart, is the subject of repentance unto salvation; his remission of sin is past, his acceptance with God in the person of Christ is ratified, and his eternal bliss is infallibly secure.

In closing this letter, I will just mark the difference between legal and spiritual repentance. The one comes from Sinai, the other from Calvary—the one moves the passions, but leaves the heart hardened; the other melts it before God— the one drives to moral observances instead of believing, the other is accompanied with believing, which naturally and infallibly produces good works—the one originates in self, and never leads us out of self; the other comes from and leads to God—in fact, legal repentance is a compound of ignorance, pride, and rebellion, while spiritual repentance is the union of humility, wisdom, and love, descending from above to qualify the soul to enjoy God and heaven.

Go, my dear Myra, visit Calvary frequently in devout meditation, and there I trust you will obtain those holy meltings of soul, which are earnestly coveted by

Your affectionate friend, J. I.

At Jesus’ feet, where Mary sat and wept,
I would be always found; and there, like her,
Pour out the affection of a melted soul
In godly sorrow, mixed with holy joy.
Or, if from thence I move to Calvary,
Oh! may his wounded side and precious blood
Engage my thoughts—dissolve my stony heart—
And bid repentance flow in tears of love.
Believing views of Jesus crucified,
And pardon sealed with his atoning blood,
Must banish legal dread, but while the host
Of murdrous crimes exist within the heart,
Their constant rage is cause of constant grief.
O Holy Spirit, lead my soul to Christ,—
Reveal his glories, and apply his blood
To work in me repentance unto life.

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