Repentance makes us see the evil of sin, not merely as a theory, but
experimentally—as a burnt child dreads fire. ME574

Sincere repentance is continual. Believers repent until their dying day. This dropping
well is not intermittent. ME574

“Only a change of mind”; but what a change! A change of mind with regard to
everything! Instead of saying, “It is only a change of mind,” it seems to me more
truthful to say it is a great and deep change—even a change of the mind itself. SW31

True regeneration implants a hatred of all evil; and where one sin is delighted in, the
evidence is fatal to a sound hope. SW33

It is not so much said, “turn our captivity,” but turn “us.” All will come right if we are
right. TD80:3

True believers repent to their dying day—they are always repenting. Their life is
made up, it is said, of sinning and repenting—I will not say that—believing and
repenting is their life, and sin is the disease which mars it. No time can wear away
the bitterness of repentance. If a man loses his child, time happily softens his grief.
Every other trouble yields to time, but this never does. 575.349

A Christian must never leave off repenting, for I fear he never leaves off sinning. 830.509

Do not fall under the notion that the necessity for repentance is over. I have heard it
said that repentance is “merely a change of mind.” I wish that those who so speak
had undergone that change. 1261.604

He who looks sinward has his back to God—he who looks Godward has his back to
sin. 1282.136

The true penitent repents of sin against God, and he would do so even if there were
no punishment. When he is forgiven, he repents of sin more than ever; for he sees
more clearly than ever the wickedness of offending so gracious a God. 1729.374

God gives repentance, but men must themselves repent. 1774.202

Why, man, your very tears of repentance need washing! When your supplications are
most sincere, what are they but the wailings of a condemned creature who cannot
give a single reason why he should not be executed? 1949.118

The mourning of a penitent is not because of hell: if there were no hell he would
mourn just as much. His grief is not for what sin might cost himself, but for what it
has cost the Substitute. 1983.527

Beloved, true repentance is sorrow for the sin itself: it has not only a dread of the
death which is the wages of sin, but of the sin which earns the wages. 2073.123

O my dear hearers, do ask yourselves whether you have sorrowed for sin because it
is sin against God; for any hypocrite is sorry for sin which injures himself, or which
may damage his reputation among men; but the essential thing is to be sorry
because the evil is a wrong done to God. 2691.428

Repentance is necessary in every case; there must be this radical change which shall
make you loathe what you once loved, and love what you once loathed. 3121.585

Wherever there is a real forgiveness of sin, there will be real sorrow on account of it. 3359.296

If the man does not live differently from what he did before, both at home and
abroad, his repentance needs to be repented of, and his conversion is a fiction. SW32

When men disgorge their sins unwillingly, not giving them up because they dislike
them, but because they cannot retain them; if a favourable time comes, they will
return to swallow once more what they seemed to abandon. 554.91

It is easy to bring a man to the river of regret, but you cannot make him drink the
water of repentance. 555.100

We have heard a good deal about crowds weeping, but we had rather see one
individual believing. 1349.224

Travellers in great storms will tremble, and, trembling, will confess their guilt, and
begin to pray; but when the tempest is over, their trembling, their confession, and
their praying are all over. They shake because of their sins, but they are not shaken
out of their sins. 2054.639

In some there is a repentance of sin which is produced by a sense of shame. The
evil-doers are found out, and indignant words are spoken about them: they are
ashamed, and so far they are repentant, because they have dishonoured themselves.
If they had not been found out, in all probability they would have continued
comfortably in the sin, and even have gone further on in it. They are grieved at
having been discovered; and they are sorry, very sorry, because they are judged and
condemned by their fellows. It is not the evil which troubles them, but the dragging
of it to light. 2073.122

This is regret for consequences, not sorrow for sin. Ah, look at the drunkard, how
penitent he is in the morning! He repents of the headache, and not of the drink. The
dog will return to his vomit. 2073.123

Every murderer regrets his crime when he hears the hammers going that knock the
scaffold together for his hanging. This is not the repentance which the Spirit of God
works in the soul: it is only such a repentance as a dog may have when he has stolen
meat, and is whipped for his pains. 2073.123

The man who only repents of this and that glaring offence, has not repented of sin at
all. 2073.124

There is, in the world, a great deal of sorrow on account of sin which is certainly not
repentance, and never leads to it. 2691.423

When seeing enquirers, I have noticed that, when men weep very much, they are
either men of a tender spirit, who are easily moved to tears, or else they have been so
accustomed to drink that they have got into a maudlin state, and cannot help crying.
I would rather have tears falling inside a penitent than outside. 3049.350

Repentance and faith are distasteful to the unregenerate; they would sooner repeat a
thousand formal prayers than shed a solitary tear of true repentance. 3121.581

The Rabbi’s answer to a foolish question was a wise one. “How many days before he
dies should a man repent?” He replied, “One day before he dies; and, as he may die
to-day, or to-morrow, he had better repent at once.” 2764.54

“The meteor, if it once fall, cannot be rekindled.” When those who once flashed before
the eyes of the religious public with the blaze of a vain profession, fall into open and
scandalous sin, it is impossible to renew their glory. Once break the egg of hypocrisy,
and who can repair the damage? FA114

A good name is better than a girdle of gold, and when that is gone, what has a man
left? PP12

A godly character is the best tombstone. PT170

Carve your name on hearts, and not on marble. PT171

Our enemies cannot hurt us, unless we hurt ourselves. No man’s character was ever
really injured except by himself. 193.228

Bad men die out quickly, for the world feels it is a good thing to be rid of them; they
are not worth remembering. 200.287

If you yield a single point of honesty or true religion, the unconverted will not believe
in you as they would have done if you had been firm throughout; men respect a
thoroughbred Christian, but nobody has a good word for a mongrel. 1188.460

This brings, of course, a loss of influence with the people of God, and with worldlings,
too; for when a man has injured his reputation, it is not soon repaired again. If he has
slipped and fallen, brethren weep over him, and love him, and seek to restore him,
but they do not trust him as they used to do. 2552.31

It is a mercy for us, who are on Christ’s side, and who have been despised in
consequence, that, in the resurrection, there will also be a resurrection of reputations
as well as of bodies. There will be a bestowal of honour that has been denied here and
of credit that has been refused on the earth. 2820.02

There will be a resurrection of reputations in that day. 3531.461

A bushelful of resolutions is of small value; a single grain of practice, is worth the
whole. BA13

You had great conceptions, and if they had but been embodied in action something
good would have come of them; but where are the ideas now? Were they not
smothered in their birth? You resolved to do great things, the plan was thoroughly
arranged, and your whole heart was eager to carry it out, but delay chilled the goodly
purpose till it died of cold, and it lies buried in forgetfulness. You dreamed well, but
there you stopped. As for actual work for the Lord, you had other fish to fry, and
therefore you cast out your net for him. You suffered the season for activity to go by,
and so your excellent ideas and resolutions melted into thin air, and they are gone.
1296.306

What is the good of a mere resolve? A man resolves that he will be industrious, but if
he continues to lie on the bed of the sluggard is he any the more thrifty? A man is sick
and resolves to take medicine, but leaves it untasted—is he benefited by his
intention? A man resolves to go on a journey, but does not take the trouble to get into
the public conveyance, or to use his limbs—what progress does he make? 1375.537

I expect that if you go into the business of mending yourself, you will be like the man
who had an old gun, and took it to the gunsmith, and the gunsmith said, “Well, this
would make a very good gun if it had a new stock, and a new lock, and a new barrel.”
1816.9

Make no resolutions as to what you will do; your resolutions will as certainly be
broken as they are made, and your broken resolutions will but increase the number
of your sins. 2598.571

There was a certain prince of Monaco, who left instructions that this inscription
should be put on his grave, “Here lies So-and-so, prince of Monaco, a man of good
intentions.” That was all he could say about himself. 2944.339

I think that you said that you were going to “turn over a new leaf”: but a new leaf in
a bad book may be worse than the old leaf. 3340.67

You see the links of that chain; each one of them has a certain strain upon it.
Suppose that one of them should say, “I may rust through; it does not matter, for
many other links are strong.” No, my friend, the chain depends upon each link; and
so, for the completeness of church work, and for the perfect edification of the body of
Christ, a great weight of responsibility lies upon you. AM68

It is a vain idea of ours, to suppose that if our circumstances were altered we should
be more at rest. My brother, if you cannot rest in poverty, neither would you in
riches; if you cannot rest in the midst of persecution, neither would you in the midst
of honour. It is the spirit within that gives the rest, that rest has little to do with
anything without. 969.22

Carry Christ’s burden, and your shoulders shall have rest. We do not mean sleep or
idleness when we speak of rest: that is not rest, but rust. 2090.334

It is always a sign of repentance in Christians who have fallen when they leave the
company where they were led astray. 2771.139

“All that are in the graves shall hear his voice.” All the righteous, all the wicked, all
that were engulfed in the sea, all that slumber on the lap of earth; all the great ones,
all the multitudes of the sons of toil; all the wise and all the foolish, all the beloved
and all the despised: there shall not be one single individual omitted. 896.582

Though bodies may be consumed in the fire, or ground to powder, or sucked up by
plants, and fed upon by animals, or made to pass through ten thousand changeful
processes, yet difficulties there are none where there is a God. He that gave us bodies
when we had none, can restore those bodies when they are pulverized and scattered
to the four winds. 2080.214

We believe that, in the resurrection, there shall be a perfect identity of the body. You
may call it unphilosophical if you please, but you cannot show me that it is unbiblical.
Science cannot demonstrate it, you say; but then science cannot disprove it. 3077.51

Oh, when that trumpet peals out, and the righteous arise, shall I arise; or shall I lie
rotting in the tomb another thousand years? 2315.320

But courage, believer! your body shall rise again. Laid in the earth it may be, but
kept in the earth it cannot be. The voice of nature bids you die, but the voice of the
Omnipotent bids you live again. 3125.5

Ah, my brethren, while this teaches us the stolidity of human nature and how
depraved the heart is, it also reminds you who are careless that there is no escape for
you; if you will not hear the voice of Jesus now, you must hear it then. You may
thrust those fingers into your ears to-day, but there will be no doing that in the day
of the last trump, you must hear then; O that you would hear now! 896.583

You cannot get rid of that body of yours; you will have to wear it in another world,
and it will have to smart if you die unsaved. The members of your body, that you
have made members of unrighteousness, and servants of sin, will have to bear the
fury of divine wrath even as the spirit which now inhabits that body will have to bear
it. 2773.160

Men have to be very busy or very faithful, if they are to avoid being sinful. There are
spirits so ardent, so fervent, that unless they have either to do or to bear God’s will
with a high degree of intensity, they are lacking in brightness and cheerfulness.
David was seldom at leisure without falling into mischief. 3164.469

Let us be afraid of having nothing to do, and be thankful for something to suffer, if
we have not something to do actively; for, let us alone and the best of us will corrode. 3164.470

Evil for evil is an edged tool which cuts the man who uses it: a kind of cannon which
is most dangerous to those who fire it, both in its discharge and in its recoil. 1317.559

Followers of Jesus are called upon to do good to those who have done them harm. You
know the old saying, evil for good is devil-like, evil for evil is beast-like, good for good
is man-like, good for evil is God-like. 1584.101

It is impossible that there should be a God at all except the God of revelation. A god
who can be fashioned by our own thoughts is no more a god than the image
manufactured or produced by our own hands. The true God must of necessity be his
own revealer. TD115:4

That which glorifies man cannot have been revealed by God, for he has said that no
flesh shall glory in his presence. 1271.2

We are not living in a period of gradual revelation, as some imagine: Jehovah hath
spoken, and he openeth not his mouth a second time. 1748.603

I am plucked by the sleeve almost every day by crazy persons and pretenders who
have revelations. 1890.155

Brethren, there is no knowing God except through God. 2316.327

This is always an infallible test of the work of the Spirit, that he honours God’s own
Word. I could think no man true who, first of all, professed to write out his own
mind, and then afterwards contradicted it. Then, how can that spirit be true that
contradicts the writing of the Spirit of the living God? 3062.508

Man has no power to get light. He may strike the damp match of reason, but it will
not yield him a clear flame. 3472.386

To raise a revival by suppressing truth, is dealing deceitfully; it is a pious fraud, and
our Lord wants no profit which might be supposed to come by such a transaction. AM270

Perhaps we imagine that if we could only get up a revival, we should easily secure
large additions to the church? Is it worthwhile to get up a revival? Are not all true
revivals to be got down? GF52

Revivals, if they are genuine, do not always come the moment we whistle for them.
Try and whistle for the wind, and see if it will come. SW134

Now one sign of a true revival, and indeed an essential part of it, is the increased
activity of God’s labourers. TN202

“The wind bloweth where it listeth,” is a truth well calculated to hide pride from
man. 511.290

That was a very good remark from Dr. McDonald, the apostle of the North. He said,
in reference to his experience of revivals, that the real success, he always found, was
in inverse proportion to the excitement; that is to say, that the more permanent the
revival was the less of noise there was about it, and the more there was of mere
carnal stir, the less there was of God and his grace. 675.93

“Lord, if this is our work, end it; if it is man’s work, break it down; but if it be thy
work, revive it.” 1474.287

Ah! if there be degrees in glory, they will not be distributed according to our talents,
but according to our faithfulness in using them. WWi116

Our record is on high. If the chronicles of earth be faulty, the registers of heaven are
perfect. 2138.194

God will not let his people work for nothing; and though the reward is not of debt, but
of grace, yet verily there is a reward for the righteous. 2334.544

If we are serving self, not our Master, we shall have a reward, but it will be a poor
commonplace reward, like that of the Pharisees, of whom the Master said, “Verily I
say unto you, they have their reward.” That is the end of it; they have had their
reward, and they cannot expect to be paid twice for what they have done. 2643.488

I fear that some men would sooner be damned than be laughed at. 1648.142

He who is not angry at transgression becomes a partaker in it. ME390

A straight line is the shortest distance between any two places; and the shortest way
to true happiness and prosperity is to do right though the heavens should fall. 1811.647

Because man had perfect righteousness before the fall, he enjoyed perfect
blessedness. If you and I shall, by divine grace, attain to blessedness hereafter, it will
be because God has restored us to righteousness. As it was in the first paradise, so
must it be in the second—righteousness is essential to the blessedness of man. We
cannot be truly happy and live in sin. Holiness is the natural element of blessedness;
and it can no more live out of that element than a fish could live in the fire. The
happiness of man must come through his righteousness: his being right with God,
with man, with himself—indeed, his being right all round. 2103.481

Imputed righteousness by all means; but let us hear of imparted righteousness also;
for both are precious boons of grace. 2210.339

The boundless deservings of the Lord Jesus are set to your account, and your
terrible demerits are thereby neutralized once for all. AP82

He was holy, and written among the holy; we were guilty, and numbered among the
guilty; He transfers His name from yonder list to this black indictment, and our
names are taken from the indictment and written in the roll of acceptance, for there
is a complete transfer made between Jesus and His people. ME180

You took a sheet of paper, and laid it upon the snow, and you were perfectly surprised
to see the clean, white paper turned yellow or brown, in comparison with the snow’s
dazzling whiteness; but David says, “I shall be whiter than snow.” You see, snow is
only earthly whiteness, only created whiteness, but the whiteness which Christ gives
us, when he washes us in his blood, is divine whiteness; the whiteness is the
righteousness of God himself. 3056.440