Repentance, as the word is used in the service for Ash Wednesday, and generally in the Bible and the Prayer-book, means turning "from" sin, and "to" God. It has another meaning in some places—that of sorrow or regret, as in Gen. vi. 6. "And it repented the Lord that He had made man." But in general, it means such sorrow for sin as leads to the forsaking of it. A man may be sorry for some transgression because it has led him into trouble; as when a drunkard has destroyed his health, or a thief has brought himself into the grasp of the law; but such sorrow cannot properly be called repentance. The sinner does not hate the sin. On the contrary, he loves it, and is only sorry that he has put it out of his power to commit it again. But true repentance means sorrow for sin, because that sin has broken God's law, and grieved and offended Him. It means a steadfast determination to give up everything which our own conscience or the law of God shows us to be wrong. "Repent, and turn yourselves from 'all' your transgressions." (Ezek. xviii. 30.) Observe the word ALL. It will not do to keep anything back, to have any little secret shrine, in which is hidden an idol. God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Rom. vi. 12.) The darkness of its most secret inner chamber is no darkness to Him, and He will endure no willful deceit in this matter. I say "willful" deceit, because we may unconsciously deceive ourselves, especially in the beginning of our religious lives. As we advance in holiness, we shall no doubt see many things to be wrong which did not seem so at first. But true repentance does require that we give up everything that we know, or even suspect, to be wrong. Nor can this work of repentance be finished up in one day, or one Lenten season. It will have to be renewed again and again, so long as we inhabit these mortal bodies; as often as we are made conscious that we have offended by thought, word, or deed against the Divine Majesty. We must remember that our Heavenly Father's precious promises of remission and forgiveness are made only to penitent sinners. "Repent, and be baptized," said St. Peter to the inquirers on the day of Pentecost, and again, in his second sermon, "Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." (Acts ii. 38, and iii. 19.)