Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| On Repentance and Remission of Sins, and Concerning the Adversary.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Lecture
II.
On Repentance and Remission of Sins,
and Concerning the Adversary.
Ezekiel xviii. 20–23
The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him,
and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. But if the
wicked will turn from all his sins, &c.
1. A fearful thing
is sin, and the sorest disease of the soul is transgression, secretly
cutting its sinews, and becoming also the cause of eternal fire; an
evil of a man’s own choosing, an offspring of the will.492
| 492 For references to
Cyril’s doctrine of Free-will, see Index, “Soul.” | For that we sin of our own free will
the Prophet says plainly in a certain place: Yet I planted
thee a fruitful vine, wholly true: how art thou turned to
bitterness, (and become) the strange vine493
? The planting was good, the fruit
coming from the will is evil; and therefore the planter is blameless,
but the vine shall be burnt with fire since it was planted for good,
and bore fruit unto evil of its own will. For God,
according to the Preacher, made man upright, and they have
themselves sought out many inventions494
. For we are His workmanship,
says the Apostle, created unto good works, which God afore prepared,
that we should walk in them495
. So then the
Creator, being good, created for good works; but the creature turned of
its own free will to wickedness. Sin then is, as we have said, a
fearful evil, but not incurable; fearful for him who clings to it, but
easy of cure for him who by repentance puts it from him. For
suppose that a man is holding fire in his hand; as long as he holds
fast the live coal he is sure to be burned, but should he put away the
coal, he would have cast away the flame also with it. If however
any one thinks that he is not being burned when sinning, to him the
Scripture saith, Shall a man wrap up fire in his bosom, and not burn
his clothes496
? For sin burns
the sinews of the soul, [and breaks the spiritual bones of the mind,
and darkens the light of the heart497
| 497 Milles and the
Benedictine Editor omit these clauses, but the more recent editions of
Reischl and Alexandrides insert them on the authority of Munich,
Jerusalem, and other good mss. | ].
2. But some one will say, What can sin
be? Is it a living thing? Is it an angel? Is it a
demon? What is this which works within us? It is not an
enemy, O man, that assails thee from without, but an evil shoot growing
up out of thyself. Look right on with thine eyes498
, and there is no lust. [Keep thine own,
and499
| 499 Omitted by recent
editors with the best mss. | ] seize not the things of others, and robbery
has ceased500
| 500 Gr. κεκοίμηται
“has fallen asleep.” | . Remember the
Judgment, and neither fornication, nor adultery, nor murder, nor any
transgression of the law shall prevail with thee. But whenever
thou forgettest God, forthwith thou beginnest to devise wickedness and
to commit iniquity.
3. Yet thou art not the sole author of the
evil, but there is also another most wicked prompter, the devil.
He indeed suggests, but does not get the mastery by force over those
who do not consent. Therefore saith the Preacher, If the
spirit of him that hath power rise up against thee, quit not thy
place501
. Shut thy door,
and put him far from thee, and he shall not hurt thee. But if
thou indifferently admit the thought of lust, it strikes root in thee
by its suggestions, and enthrals thy mind, and drags thee down into a
pit of evils.
But perhaps thou sayest, I am a believer, and lust does
not gain the ascendant over me, even if I think upon it
frequently. Knowest thou not that a root breaks even a rock by
long persistence? Admit not the seed, since it will rend thy
faith asunder: tear out the evil by the root before it blossom,
lest from being careless at the beginning thou have afterwards to seek
for axes and fire. When thine eyes begin to be diseased, get them
cured in good time, lest thou become blind, and then have to seek the
physician.
4. The devil then is the first author of
sin, and the father of the wicked: and this is the Lord’s
saying, not mine, that the devil sinneth from the beginning502
: none sinned before him.
But he sinned, not as having received necessarily from nature the
propensity to sin, since then the cause of sin is traced back again to
Him that made him so; but having been created good, he has of his own
free will become a devil, and received that name from his action.
For being an Archangel503
he was afterwards
called a devil from his slandering: from being a good servant of
God he has become rightly named Satan; for “Satan” is
interpreted the adversary504
. And this
is not my teaching, but that of the inspired prophet Ezekiel: for
he takes up a lamentation over him and says, Thou wast a seal of
likeness, and a crown of beauty; in the Paradise of God wast thou
born505
| 505 Ezek. xxviii. 12–17, an obscure passage, addressed to the
Prince of Tyre, and meaning that he was “the perfect
pattern” of earthly glory, set in a condition like that of Adam
in Paradise, and, seemingly, blameless as Adam before his fall.
Cyril seems to regard the Prince of Tyre as an embodiment of Satan,
because he was deified as the object of national worship:
v. 1,
“Thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God.” | : and soon
after, Thou wast born blameless in thy days, from the day in which
thou wast created, until thine iniquities were found in thee.
Very rightly hath he said, were found in thee; for they were not
brought in from without, but thou didst thyself beget the evil.
The cause also he mentions forthwith: Thine heart was lifted
up because of thy beauty: for the multitude of thy sins wast thou
wounded, and I did cast thee to the ground. In agreement with
this the Lord says again in the Gospels: I beheld Satan as
lightning fall from heaven506
. Thou seest the
harmony of the Old Testament with the New. He when cast out drew
many away with him. It is he that puts lusts into them that
listen to him: from him come adultery, fornication, and every
kind of evil. Through him our forefather Adam was cast out for
disobedience, and exchanged a Paradise bringing forth wondrous fruits
of its own accord for the ground which bringeth forth
thorns.
5. What then? some one will say. We
have been beguiled and are lost. Is there then no salvation
left? We have fallen: Is it not possible to rise
again? We have been blinded: May we not recover our
sight? We have become crippled: Can we never walk
upright? In a word, we are dead: May we not rise
again? He that woke Lazarus who was four days dead and already
stank, shall He not, O man, much more easily raise thee who art
alive? He who shed His precious blood for us, shall Himself
deliver us from sin. Let us not despair of ourselves, brethren;
let us not abandon ourselves to a hopeless condition. For it is a
fearful thing not to believe in a hope of repentance. For he that
looks not for salvation spares not to add evil to evil: but to
him that hopes for cure, it is henceforth easy to be careful over
himself. The robber who looks not for pardon grows desperate;
but, if he hopes for forgiveness, often comes to repentance. What
then, does the serpent cast its slough507
| 507 Literally, “its
old age” (τὸ
γῆρας). Compare iii. 7, and
Dict. Chr. Biogr., Macarius, p. 770 a. | , and
shall not we cast off our sin? Thorny ground also, if cultivated
well, is turned into fruitful; and is salvation to us
irrecoverable? Nay rather, our nature admits of salvation, but
the will also is required.
6. God is loving to man, and loving in no
small measure. For say not, I have committed fornication and
adultery: I have done dreadful things, and not once only, but
often: will He forgive? Will He grant pardon? Hear
what the Psalmist says: How great is the multitude of Thy
goodness, O Lord508
! Thine
accumulated offences surpass not the multitude of God’s
mercies: thy wounds surpass not the great Physician’s
skill. Only give thyself up in faith: tell the Physician
thine ailment: say thou also, like David: I said, I will
confess me my sin unto the Lord: and the same shall be done
in thy case, which he says forthwith: And thou forgavest the
wickedness of my heart509
.
7. Wouldest thou see the loving-kindness of
God, O thou that art lately come to the catechising? Wouldest
thou see the loving-kindness of God, and the abundance of His
long-suffering? Hear about Adam. Adam, God’s
first-formed man, transgressed: could He not at once have brought
death upon him? But see what the Lord does, in His great love
towards man. He casts him out from Paradise, for because of sin
he was unworthy to live there; but He puts him to dwell over against
Paradise510
| 510 This is the reading of
the Septuagint instead of—“He placed at the east of the
garden of Eden.” | : that seeing
whence he had fallen, and from what and into what a state he was
brought down, he might afterwards be saved by repentance. Cain
the first-born man became his brother’s murderer, the inventor of
evils, the first author of murders, and the first envious man.
Yet after slaying his brother to what is he condemned?
Groaning and trembling shalt thou be upon the earth511
. How great the offence, the sentence
how light!
8. Even this then was truly loving-kindness in
God, but little as yet in comparison with what follows. For
consider what happened in the days of Noe. The giants sinned, and
much wickedness was then spread
over the earth, and because of this the flood was to come upon
them: and in the five hundredth year God utters His threatening;
but in the six hundredth He brought the flood upon the earth.
Seest thou the breadth of God’s loving-kindness extending to a
hundred years? Could He not have done immediately what He did
then after the hundred years? But He extended (the time) on
purpose, granting a respite for repentance. Seest thou
God’s goodness? And if the men of that time had repented,
they would not have missed the loving-kindness of God.
9. Come with me now to the other class,
those who were saved by repentance. But perhaps even among women
some one will say, I have committed fornication, and adultery, I have
defiled my body by excesses of all kinds: is there salvation for
me? Turn thine eyes, O woman, upon Rahab, and look thou also for
salvation; for if she who had been openly and publicly a harlot was
saved by repentance, is not she who on some one occasion before
receiving grace committed fornication to be saved by repentance and
fasting? For inquire how she was saved: this only she
said: For your God is God in heaven and upon
earth512
. Your
God; for her own she did not dare to say, because of her wanton
life. And if you wish to receive Scriptural testimony of her
having been saved, you have it written in the Psalms: I will
make mention of Rahab and Babylon among them that know me513
| 513 Ps. lxxxvii. 4. “Rahab” is there a
poetical name of Egypt, and the passage has nothing to do with Rahab
the harlot. The Benedictine Editor rightly disregards S.
Jerome’s suggestion, that Rahab is, like Egypt, a type of the
Gentile Church. | . O the
greatness of God’s loving-kindness, making mention even of
harlots in the Scriptures: nay, not simply I will make mention
of Rahab and Babylon, but with the addition, among them that
know me. There is then in the case both of men and of women
alike the salvation which is ushered in by repentance.
10. Nay more, if a whole people sin, this
surpasses not the loving-kindness of God. The people made a calf,
yet God ceased not from His loving-kindness. Men denied God, but
God denied not Himself514
. These be
thy gods, O Israel515
, they said: yet
again, as He was wont, the God of Israel became their Saviour.
And not only the people sinned, but also Aaron the High Priest.
For it is Moses that says: And the anger of the Lord came upon
Aaron: and I prayed for him, saith he, and God forgave
him516
. What then, did Moses praying for a
High Priest that sinned prevail with God, and shall not Jesus, His
Only-begotten, prevail with God when He prays for us? And if He
did not hinder Aaron, because of his offence, from entering upon the
High Priesthood, will He hinder thee, who art come out from the
Gentiles, from entering into salvation? Only, O man, repent thou
also in like manner, and grace is not forbidden thee. Render thy
way of life henceforth unblameable; for God is truly loving unto man,
nor can all time517
| 517 For “all
time,” the reading of the best mss., the
Benedictine text has “all mankind.” | worthily tell out His
loving kindness; nay, not if all the tongues of men unite together will
they be able even so to declare any considerable part of His
loving-kindness. For we tell some part of what is written
concerning His loving-kindness to men, but how much He forgave the
Angels we know not: for them also He forgives, since One alone is
without sin, even Jesus who purgeth our sins. And of them we have
said enough.
11. But if concerning us men thou wilt have
other examples also set before thee518
| 518 The Benedictine has,
“But if thou wilt I will set before thee other examples also of
our state? Come on to the blessed David.” | , come on to the
blessed David, and take him for an example of repentance. Great
as he was, he fell: after his sleep, walking in the eventide on
the housetop, he cast a careless look, and felt a human passion.
His sin was completed, but there died not with it his candour
concerning the confession of his fault. Nathan the Prophet came,
a swift accuser, and a healer of the wound. The Lord is
wroth, he says, and thou hast sinned519
. So spake the subject to the reigning
king. But David the king520
| 520 Bened. “The king,
the wearer of the purple.” | was not indignant,
for he regarded not the speaker, but God who had sent him. He was
not puffed up521
by the array of
soldiers standing round: for he had seen in thought the
angel-host of the Lord, and he trembled as seeing Him who is
invisible522
; and to the
messenger, or rather by him in answer to God who sent him, he said,
I have sinned against the Lord523
. Seest
thou the humility of the king? Seest thou his confession?
For had he been convicted by any one? Were many privy to the
matter? The deed was quickly done, and straightway the Prophet
appeared as accuser, and the offender confesses the fault. And
because he candidly confessed, he received a most speedy cure.
For Nathan the Prophet who had uttered the threat, said immediately,
The Lord also hath put away thy sin. Thou seest the swift
relenting of a merciful God. He says, however, Thou hast
greatly provoked the enemies of the Lord. Though thou hadst many
enemies because of thy righteousness, thy self-control protected thee;
but now that thou hast surrendered thy strongest armour, thine enemies
are risen up, and stand ready against thee.
12. Thus then did the Prophet comfort him,
but the blessed David, for all he heard it said, The Lord hath put away thy sin, did not cease from
repentance, king though he was, but put on sackcloth instead of purple,
and instead of a golden throne, he sat, a king, in ashes on the ground;
nay, not only sat in ashes, but also had ashes for his food, even as he
saith himself, I have eaten ashes as it were bread524
. His lustful eye he wasted away with
tears saying, Every night will I wash my couch, and water my bed
with my tears525
. When his
officers besought him to eat bread he would not listen. He
prolonged his fast unto seven whole days. If a king thus made
confession oughtest not thou, a private person, to confess?
Again, after Absalom’s insurrection, though there were many roads
for him to escape, he chose to flee by the Mount of Olives, in thought,
as it were, invoking the Redeemer who was to go up thence into the
heavens526
. And when Shimei cursed him bitterly,
he said, Let him alone, for he knew that “to him that
forgiveth it shall be forgiven527
| 527 Resch. (Agrapha,
p. 137) quotes various forms of this saying from early writers, and
regards it as a fragment of an extracanonical Gospel. But see
Lightfoot, Clem. Rom. c. xiii. | .”
13. Thou seest that it is good to make
confession. Thou seest that there is salvation for them that
repent. Solomon also fell but what saith he? Afterwards
I repented528
| 528 Prov. xxiv. 32, Sept. Heb. “Set my
heart.” The passage has no reference to repentance:
it means, “I considered the field of the slothful.”
Hilary, Ps. lii.; Ambrose, Apolog. 1, Prophetæ
David, c. iii. and other Fathers affirm the repentance of
Solomon. Augustine (c. Faustum, Lib. xxii. c. 88)
maintains that Scripture says nothing of his repentance or
forgiveness. See Dante, Paradiso, Canto x. 109. | . Ahab, too, the
King of Samaria, became a most wicked idolater, an outrageous man, the
murderer of the Prophets529
, a stranger to
godliness, a coveter of other men’s fields and vineyards.
Yet when by Jezebel’s means he had slain Naboth, and the Prophet
Elias came and merely threatened him, he rent his garments, and put on
sackcloth. And what saith the merciful God to Elias?
Hast than seen how Ahab is pricked in the heart before
Me530
? as if almost He would persuade the fiery
zeal of the Prophet to condescend to the penitent. For He saith,
I will not bring the evil in his days. And though after
this forgiveness he was sure not to depart from his wickedness,
nevertheless the forgiving God forgave him, not as being ignorant of
the future, but as granting a forgiveness corresponding to his present
season of repentance. For it is the part of a righteous judge to
give sentence according to each case that has occurred.
14. Again, Jeroboam was standing at the
altar sacrificing to the idols: his hand became withered, because
he commanded the Prophet who reproved him to be seized: but
having by experience learned the power of the man before him, he says,
Entreat the face of the Lord thy God531
; and
because of this saying his hand was restored again. If the
Prophet healed Jeroboam, is Christ not able to heal and deliver thee
from thy sins? Manasses also was utterly wicked, who sawed Isaiah
asunder532
| 532 Justin Martyr,
Dialogue with Trypho, § 120 charges the Jews with having
cut out a passage referring to the death of Isaiah. Theophylact
commenting on Heb. xi. 37, says: “They were sawn asunder,
as Isaiah by Manasses: and they say that he was sawn with a
wooden saw, that his punishment might be the more painful to him from
being prolonged.” Jerome on Is. i. 10, says that he was
slain because of his calling the Jews “princes of Sodom and
people of Gomorra,” and because he said, “I saw the Lord
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.” | , and was defiled with all kinds of
idolatries, and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood533
; but having been led captive to Babylon he
used his experience of misfortune for a healing course of
repentance: for the Scripture saith that Manasses humbled
himself before the Lord, and prayed, and the Lord heard him, and
brought him back to his kingdom. If He who sawed the Prophet
asunder was saved by repentance, shall not thou then, having done no
such great wickedness, be saved?
15. Take heed lest without reason thou
mistrust the power of repentance. Wouldst thou know what power
repentance has? Wouldst thou know the strong weapon of salvation,
and learn what the force of confession is? Hezekiah by means of
confession routed a hundred and fourscore and five thousand of his
enemies. A great thing verily was this, but still small in
comparison with what remains to be told: the same king by
repentance obtained the recall of a divine sentence which had already
gone forth. For when he had fallen sick, Esaias said to him,
Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not
live534
. What
expectation remained, what hope of recovery, when the Prophet said,
for thou shalt die? Yet Hezekiah did not desist from
repentance; but remembering what is written, When thou shalt turn
and lament, then shalt thou be saved535
, he
turned to the wall, and from his bed lifting his mind to heaven (for
thickness of walls is no hindrance to prayers sent up with devotion),
he said, “Remember me, O Lord, for it is sufficient for my
healing that Thou remember me. Thou art not subject to times, but
art Thyself the giver of the law of life. For our life depends
not on a nativity, nor
on a conjunction of stars, as some idly talk; but both of life and its
duration. Then art Thyself the Lawgiver according to Thy
Will.” And he, who could not hope to live because of the
prophetic sentence, had fifteen years added to his life, and for the
sign the sun ran backward in his course. Well then, for
Ezekias’ sake the sun turned back but for Christ the sun was
eclipsed, not retracing his steps, but suffering eclipse536
, and therefore shewing the difference between
them, I mean between Ezekias and Jesus. The former prevailed to
the cancelling of God’s decree, and cannot Jesus grant remission
of sins? Turn and bewail thyself, shut thy door, and pray to be
forgiven, pray that He may remove from thee the burning flames.
For confession has power to quench even fire, power to tame even
lions537
| 537 From this point
the mss. differ so widely that the Benedictine
Editor gives two complete recensions of the whole Lecture. The
Codd. Coislin, Ottob. 2, and Grodec, with the editions of Prevot and
Milles, forming as it were one family of mss.,
constitute the received text. On the other hand the older Munich
Codex, with Codd. Roe and Casaubon, exhibit a recension of the Lecture
differing from the editions. Reischl wishing to retain the
received text unaltered, though preferring the other in particular
passages, intended to append the other recension complete, but having
left his work half finished, failed to do so. The chief
variations are given in the following notes. | .
16. But if thou disbelieve, consider what
befel Ananias and his companions. What streams did they pour
out538
| 538 Roe and Casaubon (R.C.)
add: “into the furnace of fire.” | ? How many vessels539
of water could quench the flame that rose up forty-nine cubits
high540
? Nay, but where the flame mounted up a
little541
too high, faith was there poured out as a
river, and there spake they the spell against all ills542
| 542 R.C. “A great
stream of repentance was poured forth, when they said, For Thou art
righteous,” &c. | : Righteous art Thou, O Lord, in all
the things that Thou hast done to us: for we have sinned, and
transgressed Thy law543
. And their
repentance quelled the flames544
| 544 R.C. “Did then
repentance quench the flames of the furnace, and dost thou disbelieve
that it is able also to quench the fire of hell?” | . If thou
believest not that repentance is able to quench the fire of hell, learn
it from what happened in regard to Ananias545
. But some keen hearer will say, Those
men God rescued justly in that case: because they refused to
commit idolatry, God gave them that power. And since this thought
has occurred, I come next to a different example of penitence546
| 546 R.C. “That the
narrative is not appropriate to those who are here present. For
it was because Ananias and his companions refused to worship the idol,
that God gave them that marvellous power. Adapting myself,
therefore, to such a hearer, and looking to the profusion of instances,
I come next to a different example of repentance.” | .
17. What thinkest thou of
Nabuchodonosor? Hast thou not heard out of the Scriptures that he
was bloodthirsty, fierce547
| 547 R.C. “most
impious, and most fierce in temper.” | , lion-like in
disposition? Hast thou not heard that he brought out the bones of
the kings from their graves into the light548
? Hast thou not heard549
that he carried the people away captive? Hast thou not heard that
he put out the eyes of the king, after he had already seen his children
slain550
? Hast thou not heard that he brake in
pieces551
the Cherubim? I do not mean the
invisible552
| 552 νοητά. R.C. add “and
heavenly.” | beings;—away
with such a thought, O man553
,—but the
sculptured images, and the mercy-seat, in the midst of which God spake
with His voice554
| 554 R.C. “But those
which had been constructed in the Temple, which were over the
mercy-seat of the Ark.” Besides the two Cherubim of solid
gold which Moses placed on the two ends of the Mercy-seat (Ex. xxxvii. 7 ff.), Solomon set “within the
oracle” two Cherubim of olive wood overlaid with gold, ten feet
high with outstretched wings overshadowing the Ark (1 Kings vi. 23–26; viii. 6,
7). All these were
either carried off or destroyed, when Nebuchadnezzar took away
“all the treasures of the house of the Lord” and “cut
in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon, King of Israel, had
made in the Temple of the Lord” (2 Kings xxiv. 13; 1 Esdras i. 54; 2 Esdras x. 22). The Benedictine editor is
concerned because Cyril has paid no attention to the strange fiction in
2 Maccabees ii. 4 that Jeremy the Prophet “commanded
the Tabernacle and the Ark to go with him” to Mount Horeb, and
there hid them, with the Altar of Incense, in a hollow cave, to remain
“unknown until the time that God gathers His people again
together.” | . The veil of
the Sanctuary555
he trampled under
foot: the altar of incense he took and carried away to an
idol-temple556
: all the
offerings he took away: the Temple he burned from the
foundations557
. How great
punishments did he deserve, for slaying kings, for setting fire to the
Sanctuary, for taking the people captive, for setting the sacred
vessels in the house of idols? Did he not deserve ten thousand
deaths?
18. Thou hast seen the greatness of his evil
deeds: come now to God’s loving-kindness. He was
turned into a wild beast558
| 558 R.C. Afterwards he was
turned into a wild beast: “he who was like a wild beast and
most cruel in disposition; but he was turned into a wild beast, not
that he might perish, but that by repentance he might be
saved.” | , he abode in the
wilderness, he was scourged, that he might be saved. He had claws
as a lion559
; for he was a ravager
of the Sanctuary. He had a lion’s mane: for he was a
ravening and a roaring lion. He ate grass like an ox: for a
brute beast he was, not knowing Him who had given him the
kingdom. His body was wet from the dew; because after seeing the
fire quenched by the dew he believed not560
| 560 R.C. “after the
midst of the furnace had become to Ananias and his companions as the
tinkling breath of rain, he saw and believed not.” | . And what happened561
| 561 R.C. “But
afterwards he came to his senses and repented, as he says
himself.” | ? After this, saith he, I,
Nabuchodonosor, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and I blessed the
Most High, and to Him that liveth for ever I gave praise and
glory562
. When,
therefore, he recognised the Most High563
, and
sent up these words of thankfulness to God, and repented himself for
what he had done, and recognised his own weakness, then God gave back
to him the honour of the kingdom.
19. What then564
| 564 R.C. “If then
there is present among you any from among the Heathen who has ever
spoken evil against Christians, or in times of persecution plotted
against the Holy Churches, let him take Nabuchodonsor as an example of
salvation: let him confess in like manner, that he may also find
the like forgiveness. If any has been defiled by lust and
passions, let him take up the repentance of the blessed David: if
any has denied like Peter, let him die like him for the sake of the
Lord Jesus. For He who to his tears begrudged not the
Apostleship, will not refuse thee the gospel mysteries. And for
women let Rahab be a pattern unto salvation, and for men the manifold
examples mentioned of the men of old times. | ? When Nabuchodonosor, after having done
such deeds, had made confession, did God give him pardon and the
kingdom, and when thou repentest shall He not give thee the remission
of sins, and the kingdom of heaven, if thou live a worthy life?
The Lord is loving unto man, and swift to
pardon, but slow to punish. Let no man therefore despair of his
own salvation. Peter, the chiefest and foremost of the Apostles,
denied the Lord thrice before a little maid: but he repented
himself, and wept bitterly. Now weeping shews the repentance of
the heart: and therefore he not only received forgiveness for his
denial, but also held his Apostolic dignity unforfeited.
20. Having therefore, brethren, many
examples of those who have sinned and repented and been saved, do ye
also heartily make confession unto the Lord, that ye may both receive
the forgiveness of your former sins, and be counted worthy of the
heavenly gift, and inherit the heavenly kingdom with all the saints in
Christ Jesus; to Whom is the glory for ever and ever.
Amen565
| 565 R.C. “And be ye
all of good hope, having regard to the lovingkindness of God; not that
we may fall back into the same sins, but that having had the benefit of
redemption, and lived in a manner worthy of His grace, we may be able
to blot out the handwriting that is against us by good works; in the
power of the Only-begotten, the Son of God, and our Lord Jesus Christ,
with whom be glory to the Father, with the Holy Ghost, both now and
ever, and unto all the ages of eternity. Amen.” | .E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
