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Repentance

The First Fruit of Faith.—The first fruit of faith is repentance. Repentance follows faith as naturally as kindness follows love, as obedience springs from reverence, as a desire to be congenial with, succeeds admiration for, one whose example is deemed worthy of emulation. God commands all men everywhere to repent. A desire to please him and become acceptable in his sight, leads the soul of faith of repentance.

A Gift from God.—No repentance is possible, however, without the Spirit of the Lord, which "giveth light to every man that cometh into the world" (D&C 84:45-47). This is what makes repentance, no less than faith, a gift from God. When his Spirit ceases to strive with men, they no longer desire to repent, and are delivered over to the buffetings of Satan. They deliver themselves over to those buffetings. They make their choice between the spirit of good and the spirit of evil, both of which are in the world, influencing the spirit of man, and they receive their wages from the master whom they list to obey.

The Spirit of God and the Holy Ghost.—A distinction should be drawn between the Spirit "that enlighteneth every man," and the Holy Ghost, whose gifts are given to members of the Church of Christ. The former is an influence, proceeding from the Divine Presence; the latter a personage, one of the Godhead, concerning whom the Prophet Joseph says: "The Father has a body of flesh and bones, as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us" (D&C 130:22).

The Prophet says further upon this subject: "There is a difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. Cornelius received the Holy Ghost before he was baptized, which was the convincing power of God unto him of the truth of the gospel, but he could not receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, until after he was baptized. Had he not taken this sign or ordinance upon him, the Holy Ghost which convinced him of the truth of God would have left him."—("Joseph Smith's Teachings," p.69.)

Real Repentance.—Repentance is not that superficial sorrow felt by a criminal when caught in the act of wrong-doing—a sorrow not for sin, but for sin's detection, for being taken in transgression. Chagrin is not repentance. Mortification and shame, alone, bring no change of heart toward right living or right feeling. Repentance involves remorse; but even remorse is not all there is to repentance. In its highest meaning and fullest measure, repentance is equivalent to reformation—a resolve to "sin no more," backed by conduct consistent with such a determination. "Repentance is a thing that cannot be trifled with every day. Daily transgression and daily repentance is not that which is pleasing in the sight of God" ("Joseph Smith's Teachings," p. 136). "By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins. Behold, he will confess them and forsake them" (D&C 58:43). This is a real, genuine repentance. All who truly repent can be forgiven. These, and these alone, are ready for the cleansing process—baptism for the remission of sins. Without repentance, there is no forgiveness, and consequently no remission of sins.

Damnation No Part of the Gospel.—Damnation is no part of the gospel. Damnation or condemnation is simply the sad alternative, the inevitable consequence of rejecting the means of escape. When men hear the gospel and refuse to obey it, the come under condemnation. This cannot be helped. God would save them, but they will not be saved. They are free agents, and they damn themselves. Says Joseph the prophet: "When God offers knowledge or a gift to a man, and he refuses to receive it, he will be damned." Not because God wishes to damn him, but because damnation is inevitable when one rejects the offer of salvation.

Sin, a Wilful Transgression of Law.—A man sins when he goes contrary to light and knowledge—that is, contrary to the light and knowledge that has come to him. One may blunder in ignorance, and suffer painful consequences; but one does not sin unless one knows better than to do the thing in which the sin consists.

Carlyle on Repentance.—"Of all acts," says Carlyle, "is not, for a man, repentance the most divine? The deadliest sin, I say, were that same supercilious consciousness of no sin;—that is death; the heart so conscious is divorced from sincerity, humility and fact; is dead: it is 'pure' as dead dry sand is pure."—"Heroes and Hero-Worship," Lecture II.

Condemnation Measured by Culpability.—They who refuse to repent will be damned; they damn themselves by that refusal. But damnation is not necessarily permanent, and like salvation or exaltation, it exists in degrees. The degree of condemnation is according to the measure of culpability in those condemned. Even the damned, who repent, can be saved.

Some Souls Incapable of Repentance.—Some sinners cannot repent. Their sins are of such a heinous character as to preclude it. The spirit of repentance cannot lay hold upon them. T heir conduct has so grieved it, that it is completely withdrawn. Consequently they cannot repent, and that is what makes their case hopeless. If they could repent, they could be forgiven; but not being able to repent, the pardoning power cannot reach them. There would be no unpardonable sin if all sinners were capable of repentance. Those who cannot repent, who have committed the sin unpardonable, are called sons of perdition.

A Hint from Shakespeare.—Apropos of the inability to repent, Shakespeare gives a philosophic hint in his tragedy of "Hamlet." Claudius, brother to the king of Denmark, has murdered the king in order to obtain his crown and queen. But remorse gnaws at the murderer's conscience—not a godly remorse, leading to repentance, but the terror that guilty souls feel at the prospect of judgment and retribution. Claudius kneels to pray, but can only pray with his lips, his heart being far from God. It is therefore no prayer at all. "The soul's sincere desire" is lacking.

So says the murderous monarch, as he rises from his knees. Prior to his ineffectual attempt to supplicate the Throne of Grace, he thus soliloquizes:

The unpardonable sin involves utter recreancy to divine light and power previously possessed. It is the sin against the Holy Ghost; but one must first receive the Holy Ghost before he is capable of sinning against it. Such a sin can be committed only by men who have been equipped with every qualification for celestial glory.

The Sons of Perdition.—"Thus saith the Lord, concerning all those who know my power, and have been made partakers there of, and suffered themselves, through the power of the devil, to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power—

"They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born,

"For they are vessels of wrath, doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity;

"Concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come,

"Having denied the Holy Spirit after having received it, and having denied the Only Begotten Son of the Father—having crucified him unto themselves, and put him to an open shame.

"They are they who shall go away into the lake of fire and brimstone, with the devil and his angels,

"And the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power;

"Wherefore, he saves all except them." (D.&C. 76:31-37,44.)

The Saved and Glorified.—But the saved are rewarded according to their works. The glorified differ like the sun, moon, and stars, typifying, respectively, celestial, terrestrial, and telestial conditions. They who cannot abide any of these conditions, "are not meet for a kingdom of glory," and the utterly disobedient, who will to abide in sin, are fated to "remain filthy still" (D&C 88:22-35).

The Celestial Glory.—The inheritors of celestial exaltation, the highest degree of glory, are they who render to the Great Giver the fulness of their obedience, manifesting a willingness to lay all upon the altar at his bidding. In short, "to do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them" (Abr. 3:25).

"They are they who received the testimony of Jesus, and believed on his name and were baptized after the manner of his burial, being buried in the water in his name, and this according to the commandment which he has given,

"That by keeping the commandments they might be washed and cleansed from all their sins, and receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands of him who is ordained and sealed unto this power.

"And who overcome by faith, and are sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, which the Father sheds forth upon all those who are just and true.

"They are they who are the Church of the first born.

"They are they into whose hands the Father has given all things—

"They are they who are Priests and Kings, who have received of his fulness, and of his glory,

"And are Priests of the Most High, after the order to Melchizedek, which was after the order of Enoch, which was after the order of the Only Begotten Son;

"Wherefore, as it is written, they are Gods, even the sons of God—

"Wherefore all things are theirs, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come, all are theirs and they are Christ's and Christ is God's. * * *