Page:Sermons on the Lord's Prayer.djvu/86

 he shall not die: all his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done, he shall live." Thus the Lord, so far as tenderness, and love, and feelings, and Divine rejoicings of spirit go,—entirely forgives, and, as it were, takes the repentant sinner to his arms.

Nor is this state of Divine forgiveness without its effect on the repentant person himself. He feels, for the time, an interior peace and joy. And why? Because he has, so far as intention goes, returned to the Lord: he has, in purpose and resolve, turned from his evil courses; and thus, so far as ends and resolutions are effective, he is a new man, and is now looking towards the Lord and heaven, while, before, his back was turned upon them. So far, then, he is a changed man, and consequently, so far, he has the reward of turning again to the Lord, by coming for the time into a state of peace.

But are the man's evils removed? Are those habits of sin, confirmed by long indulgence, so easily broken? Are those evil passions, which have been so long his masters, to be subdued and brought under by a repentant sigh and tear? No! when he becomes cool again,—when the first agonies of remorse are over,—when another day's sun shall rise upon him, or another week has passed away,—he will find the serpent creeping up his limbs again: he will find his old evil passions and inclinations returning upon him; and it will require all his resolution, together with constant