There is only one way of getting rid of remorse, and that is to confess sin--to confess its reality, to confess it to God, and if need be to man. No man ever yet succeeded in justifying himself by laying the blame of his sins on God. But he may do so by laying the sins themselves upon "the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world," and by washing his stained robes, "and making them white in the blood of the Lamb." That done, remorse will have no power over him; and instead of fruitlessly accusing God, and seeking vain substitutes for the service of God, he will humbly "give Him glory," and "serve Him day and night in His temple" (Joshua vii. 19; Rev. vii. 15). NOTE.--The difficult expression (τροπῆς ἀποσκίασμα) rendered in the Authorized Version "shadow of turning," and in the Revised "shadow that is cast by turning," has received a great variety of translations and explanations. The Old Latin, _modicum obumbrationis_, like the Greek commentators, makes ἀποσκίασμα = σκιά = "shade, trace, small amount." It is doubtful whether the rare compound ἀποσκίασμα ever acquired this meaning; but the opinion of Greeks on this point is of great weight, and certainly this meaning makes good sense. The Vulgate, _vicissitudinis obumbratio_, is as difficult as the Greek; and Augustine's _momenti obumbratio_ comes from the false reading ῥοπῆς. "Shadow cast by turning" does not seem to be very helpful, whether we interpret "turning" to mean the revolutions of the sun or of the earth, or the changes of nature generally. Perhaps the genitive is the genitive of quality, "shadow of change" for "changing shadow;" so Stier and Theil, _wechselnde Beschattung_, and Stolz _abwechselnde Verdunkelung_. Comp. ἀκροατὴς ἐπιλησμονῆς (i. 25), and, see the _Expositor_, Sept. 1889, pp. 228-30. [45] In the _Acta Philippi, Apocal. Apocr._, ed. Tischendorf, p. 147, we have, "Blessed is he who hath his raiment white; for he it is who receiveth the crown of joy." See A. Resch, _Agrapha; Aussercanonische Evangelienfragmente_ (Leipzig, 1889), p. 254. [46] The punctuation and order of words in both A.V. and R.V. seem to be faulty: "enticed," quite as much as "drawn away," belongs to "by his own lust." Moreover, the metaphor is not seduction from the right road, but alluring out of security into danger. [47] See R. H. Hutton on _The Service of Man_, in the _Contemporary Review_, April, 1887, p. 492. [48] Or, "led astray" (πλανᾶσθε). The word implies fundamental departure from the truth (v. 19; John vii. 47; 1 John i. 8; ii. 26; iii. 7; Rev. xviii. 23). [49] The words form an hexameter in the original, which may be either accidental or a quotation: πᾶσα δόσις ἀγαθὴ καὶ πᾶν δώρημα τελειον ("Every gift that is good, and every boon that is perfect"). [50] See F. D. Maurice, _Unity of the N.T._ (Parker, 1854), pp. 320-23. CHAPTER IX. _THE DELUSION OF HEARING WITHOUT DOING. THE MIRROR OF GOD'S WORD._