REPENTANCE.
In saying that the first result of belief in God, and in the
revelations which he has given is _repentance_, I shall raise no
controversy, for it is a truth generally accepted; indeed it follows
faith in logical sequence. No sooner does conviction of God's
existence, and of the truth of the revelations which he has given
of himself, and of his laws, dawn upon the mind, than man becomes
conscious of his being a violator of the holy and just laws of heaven.
In the days of his unbelief and spiritual darkness he sinned recklessly
and wantonly, without regard to God and often in defiance of him;
but when belief takes hold of the mind, and when mere belief begins
to ripen into intelligent faith through becoming acquainted with the
character of the Deity--when it becomes clear to the understanding
that he is the creative and sustaining power of all things; when it is
understood that from him man derives his existence and that in him he
lives, and moves and has his being; and when it is further known that
his laws are beneficent and good, shaped for the purpose of ennobling
man and exalting him; when some revelation of the great love of God and
his Son Jesus Christ rushes in upon the mind like a flood of heavenly
light into darkness--how the haughty, rebellious spirit is humbled, the
heart softened, and the whole demeanor changed! With what contrition
does the man, truly convinced of all these things we have enumerated
respecting the Deity, seek the throne of grace and cry aloud: "O God!
Have mercy upon me a sinner!" For almost at the same moment that faith
took hold of him, he began to understand how great his sins were before
God. And that realization growls upon him as conviction, becomes more
certain, until the spirit is bowed down with sorrow because of his
many violations of the laws of righteousness. Nor do these remarks
apply only to those who have been enormously wicked. Take those of a
naturally good disposition, and who have followed the light of reason,
and even they, in taking a retrospective view of their lives, will find
that they have fallen far short of coming up to what they conceived
to be their duty. Even the light they possessed--I mean aside from
the revelations of God--revealed to them a higher moral excellence
than they have attained. They have not done as well as they could
have done. This fact is evident--one of which all may give witness.
This being true, that is, man seeing that he has come short of doing
his whole duty according to his natural conceptions of what that duty
is, how much more distant from the goal of desired excellence will he
esteem himself when the light of revelation breaks in upon his life,
bringing into bolder relief his mistakes, and revealing to him a purer
moral and spiritual life than it was possible for his mind, unaided by
revelation, to conceive? I venture the assertion that even the best
men--by that I mean those who have best conformed their lives to the
rules of conduct dictated by reason--will be ready to say with the
apostle, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
Hence they, as well as those guilty of more flagrant sins, will, as
faith takes possession of their minds, be brought to repentance through
its influence, and be led to seek forgiveness of their sins, and
reconciliation with God.
That repentance is the first result growing out of faith in God and the
Gospel, is abundantly proven from the scriptures. The multitude that
assembled on the day of Pentecost, and listened to the remarks of the
apostles, and even heard them speak in tongues, by the power of the
Holy Ghost, were ready to scoff at those things, and even went so far
as to say that these men were drunken with new wine; but when Peter
arose and reasoned with them from the scriptures, proving from the law
and the prophets that Jesus, whom the Jews had slain, was both Lord
and Christ, his words and testimony were accompanied by so much of the
power of God, that conviction took hold of the people, and, as with
one voice, they cried, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" In this
instance, then, the first fruits of that faith which had been created
in the minds of this people, was a desire to know what they were to
do; and the first words that the inspired apostle said in reply were,
"Repent, every one of you."[A]
[Footnote A: Acts ii.]
Paul, of Tarsus, afterwards the great apostle to the Gentiles, at first
persecuted the disciples of Jesus, casting both men and women into
prison for what he considered their blasphemous faith. And when Stephen
was martyred, Paul stood by and held the clothes of those who did the
ghastly, cruel deed. He appears to have been proud of and zealous in
the prosecution of this work of opposition; but when the Lord appeared
to him on the way to Damascus, and announced himself as Jesus whom he
persecuted, the ambitious, arrogant Paul was immediately humbled to the
dust, and in tremulous accents he inquired, "Lord, what wouldst thou
have me to do?"[B] How deep the sorrow, how sincere the repentance was
which began in the very moment of his learning the fact that Jesus was
the Lord, is witnessed by his life of zealous labors and his suffering
in the interest of the kingdom of Messiah.
[Footnote B: Acts ix.]
The Book of Mormon also furnishes a number of examples of like
character. When a church was established among the Nephites, in
the reign of good King Mosiah, about 100 B. C, the work of God was
bitterly opposed, derided and persecuted by the sons of King Mosiah,
and especially by Alma, one of the sons of the first Alma, and a man
of great influence and consummate eloquence. Paul-like, these men went
about doing all the mischief to the people of God within their power;
but at last an angel of the Lord appeared to them, to bring them to
a knowledge of the truth, and this occurred in answer to the fervent
prayers of their parents. The glory of God shone about the angel, and
his voice shook the earth. Alma was smitten dumb for a season, and
had to be carried to the presence of his father; and when his speech
returned to him, the eloquent scoffer of a few days before, was as
humble as a child, and as penitent and submissive as it is possible
for man to be. He repented of all his former sins, and throughout the
remainder of his eventful life, was a zealous missionary and a faithful
witness for God.[C]
[Footnote C: The history of this case is in the Book of Mosiah, Book of
Mormon, ch. xxvii.]
Similar in point, too, is the case of Zeezrom, the lawyer, who
withstood, for a time, the teachings of Alma and Amulek, but was
brought to faith and repentance through the manifestation of the power
of God.[D] Enough, however, has been said in relation to a fact that
in the very nature of things is largely self-evident; and surely after
the illustration it has received, will not now be questioned; that is,
that repentance is the first result growing out of faith in God and
in revelation; and therefore it is the subject that, according to the
natural order of things, must now receive our attention.
[Footnote D: See Book of Alma, xi-xvi.]