TRUE REPENTANCE FREETH US FROM GUILT REMORSE IS 1. What will be the punishment? Perhaps nothing else than not having done thy duty; thou wilt lose the character of fidelity, modesty, propriety. Do not look for greater penalties than these. PUNISH MENT 2. The anguish of the lost ones of this world is not fear of punishment. It was and is the misery of having quenched a light brighter than the sun; the intolerable sense of being sunk; the remorse of knowing that they were not what they might have been. 3. Not less but more than Dante, we know for certain that there is a heaven and a hell-a heaven, when a good deed has been done; a hell, in the dark heart able no longer to live openly. 4. O Conscience, into what an abyss of fears And horrors hast thou driven me; out of which 5. To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is, Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss. 6. Thoughts, my tormentors, armed with deadly stings, raise 7. Dire inflammation which no cooling herb or med'cinal liquor can assuage, Nor breath of vernal air from snowy Alp. 8. Whither fly I? To what place can I safely fly? To what mountain? To what den? To what strong house? What castle shall I hold? What walls shall hold me? Whithersoever I go, my Self followeth me. 9. Long is the way And hard, that out of hell leads up to light. 10. First of all, be not ashamed when it concerneth thy soul. For there is a shame that bringeth MAKE NO COMPROMISE WITH SIN sin; and there is a shame which is glory and grace. 11. Condemn what thou art doing; and when thou hast condemned it, do not despair of thyself. 12. No evil dooms us hopelessly except the evil we love and desire to continue in, and make no effort to escape from. 13. Stop not short of that point of entire faithfulness. wherein conscience can reward thee. 14. Let no reservations lie latent in the mind concerning some unhallowed sentiment or habit in the present, some possibly impending temptation in the future. 15. He that repenteth truly is greatly sorrowful for his past sins: not with a superficial sigh or tear, but a pungent, afflictive sorrow; such a sorrow as hates the sin so much, that the man would choose to die rather than act it any more. 16. A proud heart doth so much overvalue all that is within itself, that every little sorrow for their sin, or wish that they had done better, when they have had all the sweetness of it, doth go with them for true repentance. 17. If they forbear but such sins as their flesh can spare, as unnecessary to its ease, provision, or content; yea, or such sins as the flesh commandeth them to forbear, as tending to their dishonour in the world; they take this for true obedience. 18. What art thou afraid of? Of becoming too humble, too detached, too pure, too true, too reasonable? Be afraid of nothing so much as of this false fear, this foolish worldly wisdom, which hesitates between vice and virtue, between life and death. 19. Look to thy repentance that it be deep and absolute, and free from hypocritical exceptions and reserves. 20. For half and hollow repentance will not carry thee through hard and costly duties, but that which is sincere will break over all. 21. It will make thee so angry with thyself and thy sins, that thou wilt be as inclined to take shame to thyself in an honest revenge, as an angry man is to bring shame upon his adversary. 22. Be sure that thy repentance contain in it a desire to be perfectly holy, and a resolution against all known and wilful sinning, and particularly that thou wouldst not commit the same sins if thou hadst again the same temptations. 23. To do it no more is the truest repentance. 24. In vain is that washing where the next sin defileth. He hath ill repented whose sins are repeated. OUT OF COMPUNC TION SPRINGS NEW STRENGTH 25. Desire not that consolation that taketh away compunction. The beginning of compunction is the beginning of a new life. 26. Repentance clothes in grass and flowers The grave in which the past is laid. 27. There is nothing to be done save to atone for the past by unremitting fidelity. 28. The fountain in which sins are indeed to be washed away is that of love, not of agony. 29. It is the dark idolatry of Self Which, when our thoughts and actions once are done, Demands that man should weep, and bleed, and groan. 30. O vacant expiation! Be at rest! The Past is Death's, the Future is thine own! her nest. REPENTANCE DEMANDETH CONFESSION AND RESTITUTION 1. Set all right between thee and thy neighbours by confessing thine injuries against them, and making them restitution and satisfaction; for this also is included in thy repentance. THE YEARNING TO BE TRUE 2. There is something strengthening, something soothing, and at the same time humbling, in acknowledging that we have done wrong. Who has a secret of guilt lying like lead upon his heart? As he values serenity of soul, let that secret be made known. 3. It is not the desire to sin again that makes men long to unburden their consciences; but it is the yearning to be true, which lies at the bottom even of the most depraved hearts; to appear what they are, and to lead a false life no longer. 4. The purifying influence of public confession springs from the fact that by it the hope in lies is forever swept away, and the soul recovers the noble attitude of simplicity. 5. When a well-informed conscience telleth thee that confession is thy duty, let not pride detain thee from it, but do it whatever it may cost thee. |