"Repent and _turn_ yourselves from _all_ your transgressions; so
iniquity shall not be your ruin." (_Ezek. xviii_. 30). "Let the wicked
forsake his way" (_Isa. lv_. 7). "_Repent_ * * * every one of you"
(_Acts ii_. 38). "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish"
(_Luke xiii_. 3).
We understand that repentance does not consist in mourning over sins
committed, and then repeating the same sin or one equally heinous, but
that Ezekiel meant for the people to cease from doing wrong, to quit
their evil practices, and walk in the path of rectitude, virtue and
true holiness. "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to
be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death." (_II. Cor.
vii_. 10). We believe that the "sorrow of the world" here alluded to,
is the too-prevalent practice of crying, groaning and moaning over our
wrong-doings, and then continuing the same practices.
The third step for man to take in this life to secure salvation in the
eternal world, is to be