Chapter IX

. treats of Repentance. It is shown, in the first place, that

repentance is the first constituent of the Church in man, and that in proportion as a man practices it, his sins are removed; and as they are removed, they are forgiven or remitted. Contrition, in the sense of a mere lip-confession of being a sinner, and of being involved in the guilt of Adam, without self-examination, is not repentance. Every man is born with a propensity to evils of all kinds, and unless he remove them, in part, by repentance, he remains in them; and whoever remains in them can not be saved. The knowledge of sin, and the discovery of some particular sin in one’s self, is the beginning of repentance. Actual repentance consists in a man’s examining himself, knowing and acknowledging his sins, supplicating the Lord, and beginning a new life. True repentance consists in a man’s examining not only the actions of his life, but also the intentions of his will. Those also do the work of repentance, who, though they do not examine themselves, abstain from evils because they are sins; and this kind of repentance is done by those who perform works of charity from a religious motive. In repentance, confession ought to be made before the Lord God the Saviour, and at the same time supplication for help, and power to resist evils. Actual repentance is an easy duty to those who occasionally practice it, but it meets with violent opposition from those who never practiced it. He that never did the work of repentance, and never looked into, and examined, himself, comes at last not to know the nature either of damnatory evil or saving good.

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