Exhortation to Repentance.
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That all sins may be forgiven him who has turned to God
with his whole heart.
In the eighty-eighth Psalm: “If his
children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments, and keep not my
commandments, I will visit their iniquities with a rod, and their sins
with stripes; nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not scatter away
from them.”
Also in Isaiah: “Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, When thou shalt turn and mourn, then thou shalt be saved, and shalt know where thou wast.”
Also in the same place: “Woe unto you, children of desertion, saith the Lord! ye have made counsel not by me, and my covenant not by my Spirit, to add sin to sin.”
Also in Jeremiah: “Withdraw thy foot
from a rough way, and thy face from thirst. But she said, I will
be comforted, I am willing; for she loved strangers, and went after
them.”
Also in Isaiah: “Be ye converted, because ye devise a deep and wicked counsel.”
Also in the same place: “I am He, I am
He that blotteth out thy iniquities, and will not remember them; but do
thou remember them, and let us be judged together; do thou first tell
thine unrighteousnesses.”
Also in the same: “Seek the Lord; and
when ye shall have found Him, call upon Him. But when He has
drawn near to you, let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous
man his thoughts; and let him be converted to the Lord, and mercy shall
be prepared for him, because He does not much forgive your sins.”
Also in the same: “Remember these
things, O Jacob and Israel, because thou art my servant. I have
called thee my servant; and thou, Israel, forget me not. Lo, I
have washed away thy unrighteousness as,…and thy sins as a
raincloud. Be converted to me, and I will redeem
thee.”
Also in the same: “Have these things
in mind, and groan. Repent, ye that have been seduced; be
converted in heart unto me, and have in mind the former ages, because I
am God.”
Also in the same: “For a very little
season I have forsaken thee, and with great mercy I will pity
thee. In a very little wrath I turned away my face from thee; in
everlasting mercy I will pity thee.”
Also in the same: “Thus said the Most
High, who dwelleth on high, for ever Holy in the holies, His name is
the Lord, the Most High, resting in the holy places, and giving
calmness of mind to the faint-hearted, and giving life to those that
are broken-hearted: I am not angry with you for ever, neither
will I be avenged in all things on you: for my Spirit shall go
forth from me, and I have made all inspiration; and on account of a
very little sin I have grieved him, and have turned away my face from
him; and he has suffered the vile man, and has gone away sadly in his
ways. I have seen his ways, and have healed him, and I have
comforted him, and I have given to him the true consolation, and peace
upon peace to those who are afar off, and to those that are near. And the Lord said, I have healed them; but the unrighteous, as a troubled sea, are thus tossed about and cannot rest. There is no joy to the wicked, saith the Lord.”
Also in Jeremiah: “Shall a bride
forget her adornment, or a virgin the girdle of her
breast? But my people has forgotten my days, whereof there is no
number.”
Also in the same: “For a decree, I will
speak upon the nation or upon the kingdom, or I will take them away and
destroy them. And if the nation should be converted from its
evils, I will repent of the
ills which I have thought
to do unto them. And I will speak the decree upon the nation or
the people, that I should rebuild it and plant it; and they will do
evil before me, that they should not hearken to my voice, and I will
repent of the good things which I spoke of doing to
them.”
Also in the same: “Return to me, O
dwelling of Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not harden my face upon
you; because I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not be angry
against you for ever.”
Also in the same: “Be converted, ye
children that have departed, saith the Lord; because I will rule over
you, and will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will
bring you into Sion: and I will give you shepherds after my
heart, and they shall feed you, feeding you with
discipline.”