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Testimonies for the Church Volume 5
everything offensive to God must be put away. This will be the result
of genuine sorrow for sin. Says Paul, speaking of the work of repen-
tance: “Ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in
you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what
fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In
all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”
In the days of Samuel the Israelites wandered from God. They
were suffering the consequences of sin, for they had lost their faith
in God, lost their discernment of His power and wisdom to rule the
nation, lost their confidence in His ability to defend and vindicate His
cause. They turned from the great Ruler of the universe and desired
to be governed as were the nations around them. Before they found
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peace they made this definite confession: “We have added unto all
our sins this evil, to ask us a king.” The very sin of which they were
convicted had to be confessed. Their ingratitude oppressed their souls
and severed them from God.
When sin has deadened the moral perceptions, the wrong-doer
does not discern the defects of his character nor realize the enormity
of the evil he has committed; and unless he yields to the convicting
power of the Holy Spirit he remains in partial blindness to his sin. His
confessions are not sincere and in earnest. To every acknowledgment
of his guilt he adds an apology in excuse of his course, declaring that
if it had not been for certain circumstances, he would not have done
this or that for which he is reproved. But the examples in God’s word
of genuine repentance and humiliation reveal a spirit of confession in
which there is no excuse for sin or attempt at self-justification.
Paul did not seek to shield himself; he paints his sin in its darkest
hue, not attempting to lessen his guilt. He says: “Many of the saints
did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests;
and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I
punished them off in every synagogue, and compelled them to blas-
pheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them
even unto strange cities.” He does not hesitate to declare that “Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”
The humble and broken heart, subdued by genuine repentance, will
appreciate something of the love of God and the cost of Calvary; and
as a son confesses to a loving father, so will the truly penitent bring
all his sins before God. And it is written: “If we confess our sins, He