Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/82

 But what shall be said of the phrase, "He repenteth him of the evil?" This requires a few words of explanation. Has God committed evil? None but the materialist will contend for this. God is good, and doeth good—God is love, and in Infinite Love there is no evil. Repentance implies a consciousness of having done something wrong, but God has done well—all that he did was very good! Repentance implies a change, but God is immutable and changes not; yea, the Scriptures expressly state that "God is not a man that he should repent." (1 Sam. xv. 29.) When the wicked man views the Lord, it is from his own state of internal wickedness; and in accordance with this state, the Lord appears to him as the avenger of his guilt, and the punisher of his iniquities. But when he turns to the Lord and rends his heart, he views the Lord from his altered condition. He has repented. His spiritually improved state becomes a mirror in which he beholds the Lord, who no longer appears to him as the avenger of his guilt; but in agreement with his own penitent and renewed condition, the Lord appears in his changeless character as his tender Father, merciful, and gracious, and of great kindness. Thus the apparent change of repentance in the Lord, is the real change, the actual repentance, in man.

If you desire the peace that is everlasting, you must shew your zeal for the life of heaven—"rend your heart and not your garments"—then will celestial blessings thicken around you, and the kingdom of Jesus Christ your God, be your residence for ever.