Chapter IV.—Repentance Applicable to All the Kinds of Sin. To Be Practised Not Only, Nor Chiefly, for the Good It Brings, But Because God Commands It.

To all sins, then, committed whether by flesh or spirit, whether by deed or will, the same God who has destined penalty by means of judgment, has withal engaged to grant pardon by means of repentance, saying to the people, “Repent thee, and I will save thee;”20    Comp. Ezek. xviii. 30, 32. and again, “I live, saith the Lord, and I will (have) repentance rather than death.”21    The substance of this is found in Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Repentance, then, is “life,” since it is preferred to “death.” That repentance, O sinner, like myself (nay, rather, less than myself, for pre-eminence in sins I acknowledge to be mine22    Compare 1 Tim. i. 16.), do you so hasten to, so embrace, as a shipwrecked man the protection23    Comp. c. xii. sub fin.  [Ut naufragus alicuius tabulæ fidem; this expression soon passed into Theological technology, and as “the plank after shipwreck” is universally known.] of some plank. This will draw you forth when sunk in the waves of sins, and will bear you forward into the port of the divine clemency. Seize the opportunity of unexpected felicity: that you, who sometime were in God’s sight nothing but “a drop of a bucket,”24    Isa. xl. 15. and “dust of the threshing-floor,”25    Dan. ii. 35; Matt. iii. 12. and “a potter’s vessel,”26    Ps. ii. 9; Rev. ii. 27. may thenceforward become that “tree which is sown beside27    Penes. the waters, is perennial in leaves, bears fruit at its own time,”28    Ps. i. 3; Jer. xvii. 8. Compare Luke xxiii. 31. and shall not see “fire,”29    Jer. xvii. 8; Matt. iii. 10. nor “axe.”30    Matt. iii. 10. Having found “the truth,”31    John xiv. 6. repent of errors; repent of having loved what God loves not: even we ourselves do not permit our slave-lads not to hate the things which are offensive to us; for the principle of voluntary obedience32    Obsequii. consists in similarity of minds.

To reckon up the good, of repentance, the subject-matter is copious, and therefore should be committed to great eloquence. Let us, however, in proportion to our narrow abilities, inculcate one point,—that what God enjoins is good and best. I hold it audacity to dispute about the “good” of a divine precept; for, indeed, it is not the fact that it is good which binds us to obey, but the fact that God has enjoined it. To exact the rendering of obedience the majesty of divine power has the prior33    Or, “paramount.” right; the authority of Him who commands is prior to the utility of him who serves. “Is it good to repent, or no?” Why do you ponder? God enjoins; nay, He not merely enjoins, but likewise exhorts. He invites by (offering) reward—salvation, to wit; even by an oath, saying “I live,”34    See ref. 1 on the preceding page. The phrase is “as I live” in the English version. He desires that credence may be given Him.  Oh blessed we, for whose sake God swears! Oh most miserable, if we believe not the Lord even when He swears! What, therefore, God so highly commends, what He even (after human fashion) attests on oath, we are bound of course to approach, and to guard with the utmost seriousness; that, abiding permanently in (the faith of) the solemn pledge35    “Asseveratione:” apparently a play on the word, as compared with “perseverare,” which follows. of divine grace, we may be able also to persevere in like manner in its fruit36    Or, “enjoyment.” and its benefit.

CAPUT IV.

Omnibus ergo delictis seu carne, seu spiritu, seu facto, seu voluntate commissis, qui poenam per judicium destinavit, idem et veniam per poenitentiam spopondit, dicens ad populum: Poenitere , et 1233B salvum faciam te (Ezech. XVIII, 21, 23). Et iterum, Vivo, inquit Dominus, et poenitentiam malo quam mortem. Ergo poenitentia vita est , cum praeponitur morti. Eam tu peccator, mei similis (imo me minor , ego enim praestantiam in delictis meam agnosco), ita invade, ita amplexare, ut naufragus alicujus tabulae fidem . Haec te peccatorum fluctibus mersum, prolevabit et in portum divinae clementiae protelabit. Rape occasionem inopinatae felicitatis, ut ille tu nihil quondam penes Deum, nisi (Is. XL, 15; LXIV, 8; Dan. II; Ps. I, 3; Jer. XIX, 11; Matth. III) stilla situlae, et areae pulvis et vasculum figuli, arbor exinde fias illa, quae penes aquas seritur, et in foliis perennat, et tempore suo fructus agit, quae non ignem, non securim videbit. Poeniteat errorum, 1233C reperta veritate; poeniteat amasse quae Deus non amat, quando ne nos quidem ipsi servulis nostris ea 1234A quibus offendimur non odisse permittimus. Obsequii enim ratio in similitudine animorum constituta est. De bono poenitentiae enumerando, diffusa et per hoc magno eloquio committenda materia est. Nos vero pro nostris angustiis unum inculcamus: bonum atque optimum esse, quod Deus praecepit . Audaciam existimo, de bono divini praecepti disputare. Neque enim quia bonum est, idcirco auscultare debemus; sed quia Deus praecepit. Ad exhibitionem obsequii, prior est majestas divinae potestatis: prior est auctoritas imperantis, quam utilitas servientis. Bonum est poenitere, annon? Quid revolvis? Deus praecipit. At enim ille non praecipit tantum; sed etiam hortatur. Invitat (Ezech. XXXIII, 11) praemio salutem , jurans, etiam vivo dicens, cupit credi 1234B sibi. O beatos nos quorum caussa Deus jurat! O miserrimos, si nec juranti Domino credimus! Quod igitur Deus tantopere commendat, quod etiam humano more sub dejeratione testatur, summa utique gravitate et aggredi et custodire debemus, ut in asseveratione divinae gratiae permanentes, in fructu quoque ejus et emolumento proinde perseverare possimus.