Before the Sin, and After.
IT is well to repent, but it is better not to sin. The difference is often the odds between instability and principle. The man who can resist temptation, certainly ranks higher than the man who can only repent. He has either more strength or more grace. Of course we do not take into account peculiar instances, or peculiar susceptibilities to temptation, but suppose the cases equal. The man who overcomes temptation has, too, a definite advantage in the matter of self-knowledge. It is difficult, sometimes, to know the quality of penitence. It may be fear, or shame, or dread of punishment, rather than abhorrence of self or sin. It is this uncertainty—to give it the mildest word—that makes deathbed repentances so untrustworthy. And the same uncertainty exists, measurably, in convictions of sin, under any circumstances. If repentance has no tendency to strengthen a man in advance, when the temptation comes again, there is reason to believe that it is not "after a godly sort"—is not "repentance that needeth not to be repented of." The man who is stung by remorse is in a fever. The drunkenness of his indulgence is not yet off, while he already begins to feel the penalty. His head is hot, his brain is unsteady. He cannot see clearly, or reason well, or understand his own motives. He may, indeed, have a spark of true penitence, but it is difficult, at first, to distinguish it from the shame of his conscious degradation. But it is otherwise with "him that overcometh." Confronting the yet untasted temptation, he is cool and firm. He can reason, and he can repel. Fear is not yet present with him, nor dread of punishment, nor shame, except as he may see their dark shadows forecast. He acts upon principle. His is that true Christian prudence which "foreseeth the evil, and hideth itself." He remembers the horror that he had, when he was "overcome of evil" before. He will not incur it again. He can assure himself that it is for God's sake that he will resist. The temptation is before him, and the love of Jesus. If he smites the one, and cleaves to the other, he knows which he loves most, for he has stood the test. Prevention is certain, cure is precarious. "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."—Sol.