Repentance

“It is better that men should reproach you for repenting than that God should damn you for not repenting.”

“Either sin must drown in the tears of repentance, or the soul must burn in hell.”

“Christ is never loved, until sin is loathed.”

“Morality shoots short of heaven. It is only nature refined.”

“Repentance is of such importance, that there is no being saved without it.”

“There is no repentance where a man can talk lightly of sin, much less where he can speak tenderly and lovingly of it.”

“Remember that the man who truly repents is never satisfied with his own repentance.”

“There is a wide distinction between confessing sin as a culprit, and confessing sin as a child.”

“Nothing is more deadly than self-righteousness, or more hopeful than contrition.”

“A heart crushed is a fragrant heart.”

“He is the best preacher, not that tickles the ear, but that breaks the heart.”

“The first step toward heaven, is to see ourselves near hell.”

“To repent of sin is as great a mark of grace as not to sin.”

“Repentance is the vomit of the soul.”

“That sorrow for sin that keeps the soul from looking towards the mercy seat is a sinful sorrow.”

“Though true repentance is never too late, yet late repentance is seldom true.”

“True penitential confession is joined with reformation. He that does not forsake his sin, as well as confess it, forsakes the benefit of his confession.”

“To forsake sin, is to leave it without any thought reserved of returning to it again.”

“When a man is truly humbled and grieved for sin, the object of his grief is sin, as a dishonour done unto God: when a man is discouraged and not humbled, then his trouble is all about his condition, and what will become of him.”

“Lord, especially forgive my sins of omission.”

“Unless we are thoroughly convinced that without Christ we are under the eternal curse of God, as the worst of His enemies, we shall never flee to Him for refuge.”

“There is no true gospel fruit without faith and repentance.”

“No repentance is acceptable with God but what is built on the faith of forgiveness.”

“Cursed is the person who encourages you to come to Christ and allows you to think that you can still indulge one sin in your life.”

“Wherefore this was the counsel of Zophar to Job: "If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands towards him; If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.”

“God forgive me my unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great glory.”

“He that delays his conversion doth, as it were, pawn his soul into the devil's hands, and saith, If he do not fetch it again at such a day, it is his for ever.”

“Repentance may be considered as it doth not only follow pardon, but also the intimation thereof; so it is a melting of heart, and a self-loathing that floweth from felt love.”

“You know wounds will stink: but [there is] no stink like that of sin to the broken-hearted man.”

“Sinner, hast thou obtained a broken heart? has God bestowed a contrite spirit upon thee?”

“Does not God command thee to come to Christ? and is not thy delay a greater act of disobedience than the complaint of thy sinfulness can be of humility?”

“Austin repented, and so have many thousands since, that he began so late, and knew God no sooner.”

“We usually weep for the loss of some great good; by sin we have lost the favour of God.”

“Even if sin did not bear such bitter fruit, if death did not grow on this tree, a gracious soul would forsake it out of love to God.”

“Though true repentance is never too late—yet late repentance is seldom true.”

“Lastly, would you not have your portion in this world, be willing to cast away whatever of your portion you have got sinfully.”

“Therefore, despair not, O aged sinner! but return unto the Lord, and you shall be happy forever.”

“Will you not be made clean?" "As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”

“And may repentance and faith, faith and repentance—be ever uppermost, foremost, the chief and principal articles, in the creed of our souls!”

“They give Satan an advantage; they make the work of repentance more difficult; they make a man's life a burden, and they render death to be very terrible unto the soul.”

“A man must first recognize and consider what his sin is, and know the plague of his heart before he can be duly humbled for it.”

“A regenerate person abhors sin not only for the curse but for the contagion.”

“When a spark of God's wrath flies into their conscience, or they are in fear of death, then they will fall to their confessions.”

“Likewise I say unto you (saith Christ) there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more then over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance.”

“The sight and knowledge of the great God is to the sinful man the most dreadful thing in the world; and is that which makes confession of sin so rare and wonderful a thing.”

“Well, to this fearful end, before it be long, must every one that hath a hard heart come, unless they repent.”

“Tertullian says that he was born for no other purpose but to repent.”

“Holy sorrow is the rhubarb to purge out the ill humours of the soul.”

“David acknowledges his birth-sin: Ì was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me' (Ps. 51.5).”

“They turn from swearing to slandering, from profuseness to covetousness, like a sick man that turns from a tertian ague13 to a quartan.”

“He who does not mourn, has surely lost the use of his reason.”

“And the wormwood that grows in and about the banks of that infernal lake (the wrath of God), was not so bitter to Solomon’s taste as was his sin that grew out of his own heart.”

“Manasseh's affliction brought him to humiliation, but Judas' sin brought him to desperation.”

“They do not confess all; they confess the pence but not the pounds.”

“Christ is a Prince and Saviour, but not to save men in an absolute way, whether or not they repent.”

“God loveth to do things in justice and righteousness, when he goeth out against men, though it be but such a going out against them as only tendeth to their conviction and conversions.”

“It is in vain to expect it of any man, let his profession be never so stately and great, if he is a stranger to sound repentance.”

“Pardon of sin and love of sin are like oil and water—they will never go together.”

“Surely, says Satan, if you should seek repentance and grace with tears, as Esau, you shall not find it!”

“We should mourn more for sin than for the loss of friends or estate.”

“You may think when you have sinned, it may quickly be made up again: Every Fool can sin, can be drunk, be unclean, and wicked; but when you have sinned, how will you get it away?”

“This sorrow, humility, and shame are not merely for a wicked life—but for a sinful nature; not only for actual sin—but also for original sin.”

“It is no shame to acknowledge your mistake, but to persist in it, after conviction, is shameful madness.”

“If we could go home, and take our brethren with us, weeping with our face towards Zion, asking the way thitherward, He would bring back our captivity.”

“If thou callest to mind the errors of the day, sleep not without a confession to God, and a hope of pardon.”

“Who will be earnest for a physician, who thinks it is but a trivial disease?”

“If you welcome repentance, knocking at your door from God, it shall knock at God's door of mercy for you.”

“Paul, after he had seen the heavenly vision, was so turned that all men wondered at the change (Acts 9.21).”

“Therefore it is not a slight humiliation that will serve the turn, but our hearts must be wrought unto a perfect hatred and leaving of all sins; for if this be not, we are not sufficiently humbled as yet.”

“He that mourns not now, while the door of mercy is open, must mourn for sin when the door of mercy is shut.”

“It is as if a physician prescribed a good remedy—but the patient would not take it.”

“Shall a man run away with the forgiveness, and pass it over thus, so as not to concern himself about the sin forgiven any more?”

“It reproves those whose turning is as good as no turning, who expel one devil and welcome another.”

“We must rend our hearts and not our clothes, when we come into the presence of God.”

“The hard heart is a gathered boil; when it is broken, it is discussed.”

“There are only two ways to walk in, the narrow way and the broad way.”

“May we, while we repent, believe; and while we believe, repent!”

“Both preaching and reading instruct, motivate, lead to repentance, and comfort every believer; hence, reading and hearing have identical results.”

“The daily language of the penitent soul is this, "Lord, when will you heal the maladies of my soul?”

“They who will not confess their sin as David did, that they may be pardoned, shall confess their sin as Achan did, that they may be stoned.”

“We would not yield to all the passages of salvation; but when he was beforehand with us, and offered many sweet motions, yet we loved our sins better than our souls, and so repelled all.”

“Hast thou not load enough already? but wilt thou add unbelief, which is as black as all thy other sins put together?”

“Many people think to wash away their sins with their sorrow; But they must know, there is something beyond sorrow, it is onely the blood of Jesus Christ, can cleanse and take away this stain.”

“Happy are we if we have the pardon of sin sealed, though at the very last hour; but why do men think pardon of sin so easy to be obtained?”

“Other slaves are brought to correction, but sin’s slaves are without repentance, and are brought to condemnation.”

“When guilt lies boiling in the conscience, confession gives ease.”

“So the first thing in a penitent is illumination: `Now ye are light in the Lord' (Eph. 5.8).”

“Other judgments often issue in men's seeking of the Lord, and in men's returning to the Lord.”

“You will say, you are not able to come away; but if you were willing, you would not be allowed to remain in your captive state.”

“We ought therefore to bewail our unbelief, and labour for this grace, which is so active and useful, so much the rather, because it is most miserable to be in a storm without a shelter.”

“But some will say, If I should now set myself to turn, I fear my case is desperate, and there is no hope, I am so hardened in evil.”

“There remains one case of conscience: are we bound to confess our sins to men?”

“You say "Tomorrow, tomorrow I will repent," when you know not what a tomorrow will bring forth.”

“But every mourning for sin is not sufficient to entitle a man to blessedness.”

“The minister's work is to preach against men's sins, which are as dear to them as their right eye—and they cannot endure this.”

“In fact, Christ is exalted a Prince and a Savior to this very end, that he may grant repentance and remission of sins.”

“Pharaoh was more troubled for the frogs and river of blood than for his sin.”

“Admire at this you that have not been guilty of one sin but of millions .”

“This aggravating of our sins will make them more vile unto us, and us more humble in the sight of them.”

“Let us therefore, with the prodigal, return unto him, and we shall find ease and rest.”

“Let us count every man a saved soul in whom we see something of Christ, — some evidence of true repentance, — some evidence of saving faith in Jesus, — some evidence of real evangelical holiness.”

“But the Saints when they sin, they are put upon the seeking after Christ, and praising of him so much the more.”

“The stubborn son must be stoned till he dies; and the prodigal must be famished out of all; nothing else, I say, will do.”

“His own sins stink, and so doth the sins of all the world to him.”

“It is to the point of departure and of variance that God brings the sinner back.”

“I felt that if God were to forgive me all my past sins, I should again destroy my soul, and that in less than a day’s time.”

“Paul, the prince of the apostles, who was to be God's ensignbearer to carry his name before the Gentiles and kings, was to have his heart more deeply lanced by repentance.”

“And when we find ourselves to hate and leave sin in some measure, then fasten our souls by faith, as much as may be, upon the mercy of God in Jesus Christ.”

“To be truly sensible of sin is to sorrow for displeasing of God; to be afflicted that he is displeased by us more than that he is displeased with us.”

“To be sorry for that thy nature is with sin depraved, and that through this depravity thou art deprived of ability to do what the Word and thy holy mind doth prompt thee to, is to be sorry after a godly sort.”

“How desperate is that thief who robs in the very place where his fellow hangs in chains.”

“When a man comes to a king to put up a petition unto him, and comes with a dagger in his hand to stab him, will the king accept of this man's petition?”

“Say not with thyself, To-morrow I will repent; for it is thy duty to do it daily.”

“But I never would have you ignorant that if you went there with an impenitent heart, heaven would be no heaven to your soul.”

“The time of pardoning great sins is the time of great self-loathing; such prove the holiest persons, because they have had more experience of the evil of sin.”

“Thus though sin may be pardoned, yet the more we sin, the more hardly we shall repent, the longer we shall want joy; or, it may be, go all our lifetime mourning without comfort in such a case.”

“His heart was melted in him like wax, that ours might be melted in penitence.”

“Be assured, the more we are ashamed of sin now, the less we shall be ashamed at Christ's coming.”

“When things are frozen and congealed, the best way to separate them is by fire.”

“A tender heart is always a sensible heart. It hath life and therefore sense.”

“A melting and tender heart is sensible, yielding, and fit for any service both to God and man.”

“It is a supernatural disposition of a true child of God to have a tender, soft, and a melting heart.”

“A hammer will do no good to a stone. It may break it in pieces, but not draw it to any form.”

“Sin is the dare of God's justice, the rape of his mercy, the jeer of his patience, the slight of his power, the contempt of his love.”

“Sin aims not only that man should not be well, but that man should not be at all.”

“A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise; but rather accept; for not to despise is with God to esteem and set a high price upon.”

“A broken heart is a pliable and flexible heart, and prepared to receive whatsoever impressions God shall make upon it.”

“Never think you can convert yourself. If ever you would be savingly converted, you must despair of doing it in your own strength.”

“Here I will throw myself; if You slay me, I will not go from Your door.”

“It is better to go with difficulty to heaven, than with ease to hell.”

“Faith and repentance preserve the spiritual life, as heat and water preserve the physical life.”