In regard to Repentance, I would remark, that the term is scarcely used
at all in the Old Testament. Other terms and phrases are there employed
to express the same thing; as for example, "Turn ye;" "Let the wicked
forsake his way;" "Let him turn unto the Lord;" "He that confesseth and
forsaketh his sins shall find mercy," &c. In all such passages
repentance is most clearly presented as consisting exclusively of
voluntary acts or intentions. The commands requiring it are, therefore,
fully met in such acts. In the New Testament this virtue is
distinguished from Godly Sorrow, the state of the Sensibility which
accompanies its exercise. As distinguished from the action of the
Sensibility, what can it be, but a voluntary state, as presented in the
Old Testament? When the mind places itself in voluntary harmony with
those convictions and feelings which attend a consciousness of sin as
committed against God and man, this is the repentance recognized and
required as such in the Bible. It does not consist in the mere
_conviction_ of sin; for then the worst of men, and even devils, would
be truly repentant. Nor does it consist in the states of the Sensibility
which attend such convictions; else Repentance would be Godly Sorrow,
from which the Bible, as stated above, definitely distinguishes it. It
must consist in a voluntary act, in which, in accordance with those
convictions and feelings, the mind turns from sin to holiness, from
selfishness to benevolence, from the paths of disobedience to the
service of God.
LOVE.
A single passage will distinctly set before us the nature of _Love_ as
required in the Bible--that love which comprehends all other virtues,
and the exercise of which is the "fulfilling of the law." "Hereby," says
the sacred writer, "we perceive the love of God." The phrase "_of God_"
is not found in the original. The passage, as it there stands, reads
thus: "By this we know _love;_" that is, we know the nature of the love
which the Scriptures require, when they affirm, that "love is the
fulfilling of the law." What is that in which, according to the express
teaching of inspiration, we learn the nature of this love? "Because he
laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren." In the act of "laying down his life for us," we are here
told, that the love required of us is embodied and revealed. What is the
nature of this love? I answer,
1. It is not a conviction of the Intelligence, nor any excited state of
the Sensibility. No such thing is here referred to.
2. It does and must consist exclusively in a voluntary act, or
intention. "He laid down his life for us." What is this but a voluntary
act? Yet this is love, the "love which is the fulfilling of the law."
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