p. 125 | TRUE REPENTANCE by J. O. Corliss

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 20, 1876

FromThe Review and Herald, Review and Herald, Vol. 47, No. 16.

TRUE REPENTANCE.

By J. O. Corliss

“TRUE repentance is never too late, but late repentance is seldom true.”

Upon reading the foregoing remark, which appeared in a late religious journal, my mind was forcibly impressed with the truthfulness of the sentiment expressed in the latter clause; and although we may safely say that true repentance is never too late, yet in some cases repentance may fail to be true on account of being too late.

True repentance, as brought to view in the Bible, involves, 1. Godly sorrow for sin; 2. Confession of sin; 3. Reparation for wrong acts when in our power to make it; and, 4. Change of conduct, so that we cease to transgress and ever after obey. 2 Cor. 7:10, 11.

These four distinct steps in the work of repentance are prompted by the operation of the Spirit of God upon the heart. In speaking of the advent of the Spirit after his departure, our Saviour said, “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness.” John 16:8. Though the Spirit first comes to us as a reprover, yet it is the medium through which God conveys to us a true sense of our condition as indicated by his holy law, and is, therefore, but an exhibition of divine goodness and mercy on the part of God, that we may cease to transgress his commands and receive pardon through Christ.

But if we do not heed the promptings of the Spirit, it is grieved and driven away, until, under a counter influence, we become hardened, and our hearts lose that susceptibility to virtue they once had, and we are left to pursue a course of our own to the brink of destruction. Solomon says, “He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” Prov. 29:1. The apostle would warn us against this end when he says, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”

Again, in writing to the Hebrews, he said: “He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses.” Heb. 10:28. The law of ten commandments pointed out sin then as it does now, the result of which was death; but the sinner could resort to the law of Moses, and that pointed out the sacrifice required of him as a sin-offering, which would stay the judgment in his case. If he despised the provisions made in that law, and would not bring an offering, he died without mercy. Now says the apostle, Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who counts the blood of Christ of no effect, and does despite unto the Spirit of grace? That is, Of how much greater punishment shall we be worthy, if we by our stubbornness resist the Holy Spirit, and grieve it away, until we are left to follow our own inclinations?

Many find an excuse for putting off the service of God because of the parable of the man who went out to hire laborers into his vineyard, and in the final settlement gave those who went in at the eleventh hour the same wages as those who went in early in the day, and they are heard to say: “Oh, I can repent at the eleventh hour and be saved.” But, hold, my friend! If you can truly say at the eleventh hour, as did those in the parable, that you have not been bidden to go to work, I have no doubt but you, too, will receive the reward. But if we have slighted the offers of mercy all our lives by grieving away the Spirit of God, and when we must bid farewell to the world and its pleasures—the hour of probation nearly closed, and the Judgment staring us in the face—then to try to throw ourselves upon the mercy of God would almost seem like an insult to high Heaven.

It is dangerous to delay the service of God, to say the least; for how many have been deceived about their standing in his sight, when on a sick bed they have solemnly vowed to serve him if their lives could be spared. Afterward, when health has been restored, they have relapsed into their former condition, and confessed that through fright alone they had been induced to call upon God. How much better in health and strength to move out in his service, and by a consistent and godly life, show the power of true repentance.

J. O. CORLISS.