Something of the importance of the subject of repentance, as connected with the Gospel, may be learned from the stress laid upon it by those who have been sent of God to instruct the people in the ways of life. The burden of John the Baptist's teaching was, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."^[A] Jesus also told the people of Jerusalem, that except they repented, they should perish.^[B] When upon the Western hemisphere, among the Nephites, he also taught repentance as one of the conditions of salvation, saying to them, "Whosoever will hearken to my words, and repenteth and is baptized, the same shall be saved."^[C] And of course it follows that those who repented not, and were not baptized, could not be saved.

[Footnote A: Matt. iii: 2.]

[Footnote B: Luke xiii: 1-5.]

[Footnote C: III. Nephi xxiii: 5.]

When the apostles, that were chosen in Judea, began the execution of the commission given them, viz., to go and teach all nations, the very first thing they required the people who received their words to do was that they should repent.^[D] Paul bears witness, that though in the days of ignorance God winked at sins, when the Gospel was declared unto the people, he commanded men everywhere to repent. And in this last dispensation, the Lord inspired his servant Joseph Smith to say, "We know that all men must repent, and believe on the name of Jesus Christ, * * * or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God."^[E]

[Footnote D: Luke xiii: 1-5.]

[Footnote E: Doc. and Cov., sec. xx: 29.]

From these scriptures it is evident that repentance is one of the conditions of salvation, and, indeed, reason, no less forcibly than revelation, would teach us that it is one of the conditions on which salvation is predicated. It must forever precede a forgiveness of sins. He who is impenitent is in no condition to receive a forgiveness of sins; he does not desire it; he would not receive it; he refuses to surrender, and however much men and angels may deplore his state of mind, one cannot conceive how God would forgive anyone in open rebellion to him and his laws, and who persists in that rebellion. Not until the spirit is humbled, not until the heart throbs with genuine sorrow for repeated violation of God's holy laws, not until the citadel of sin is surrendered, can man hope for forgiveness, or expect salvation.

But what is repentance? I shall venture as a definition this, Repentance is a deep and heartfelt sorrow for sin, producing a reformation of life. That is the significance of the word to my mind as associated with the Gospel; and I think such a definition arises from the spirit, and, I may say, the letter of the scriptures.

"Repent, and turn yourselves from your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby you have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"^[F]

[Footnote F: Ezek. xviii: 30, 31.]

Such was the word of the Lord to Israel through the prophet Ezekiel. I call the attention of the reader to the fact, that the idea of turning away from transgressions, and making a new heart and a new spirit, or in other word, a reformation of life, is associated with the commandment to repent, and forms part of it.

Paul wrote an epistle to the Corinthian saints, reproving them for their sins, and his sharp reproofs filled them with sorrow. In a subsequent epistle to the same people, and alluding to the effect of his former epistle, he said: "Though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent. * * * I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that you sorrowed unto repentance; for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death."^[G]

[Footnote G: II. Cor. vii: 8-10.]

From this passage it appears that Paul recognized two kinds of sorrow, or repentance, one of which has need to be repented of, because unfruitful of reformation, and therefore not profitable in the way of salvation—the sorrow of the world which worketh death. On the other hand is godly sorrow, or repentance which bringeth salvation, known to both men and angels, aye, and likewise to God, by the fruit it bears— good works—forsaking evil, producing a reformation of life. It leads one who stole to steal no more; one in the habit of getting drunk, to get drunk no more; one who blasphemed the name of God to do so no more; and so on as to all things in which man violates the sacred principles of righteousness. It is written in James: "Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up."^[H]

[Footnote H: James iv: 7-10.]

Because of the stress here laid upon the necessity of humility, and the people being commanded to mourn and weep, to let their laughter be turned to mourning, and their joy to heaviness, some religious teachers (like the Pharisees and scribes of old who tithed mint and anise and cummin, but omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith) give so much attention to weeping, mourning and crying aloud, in order to appear to be afflicted, that they have overlooked the weightier matters—cleansing their hands, purifying their hearts, resisting the devil and drawing nigh unto God. These ought they to do, and not leave the other—the weeping and mourning, inasmuch as it arises from a deep and heartfelt conviction of sinfulness—undone.

But at present there is too much of what Paul would call "worldly sorrow" mixed up with the idea of repentance. Too much mourning over sin, yet running into temptation; an excess of lamentation and not enough of turning away from evil; in a word, the sorrow of the world, which worketh death, is too prevalent. How weary must be the old, old story to God and angels, as well as to men—"we have done those things we ought not to have done, and have left undone those things we ought to have done!"

Then again, the sorrow of the world, the sorrow which worketh death, is too generally accepted for genuine repentance; the latter may be known and distinguished from the former by its being accompanied by a reformation of life, a turning away from that which is evil—the kind of repentance required in the Gospel, the only kind that will be accepted of God, or that savors of salvation. God, whom we esteem as a being in whom all the fullness of perfection dwells, must ever be more pleased with the substance of worship, or religion, or repentance than with the forms pertaining to it, and this is abundantly proven by instances recorded in holy writ.

In the days of Israel's captivity in Babylon, certain messengers from those who were captive, Sherezer and Regem-melech and their men, went up to Jerusalem to inquire of the prophets and priests of the Lord if Israel while in captivity should keep the fast of the fifth month, and weep, separating themselves as they had hitherto done. In answer to these inquiries the word of the Lord came through the prophet Zechariah, and he asks: "When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me? And when ye did eat, and when ye did drink, did not ye eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? Should ye not hear the words which the Lord hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?"

He reminds them that through the former prophets he had commanded Israel to execute true judgment, to show mercy and compassion every man to his brother; to oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor; to let none imagine evil in his heart against his brother. But these things they neglected to do, and the Lord permitted their enemies to scatter them among strange nations.

As a final answer to those messengers, however, the Lord said: "These are the things which ye shall do: speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor, execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: and let none of you imagine evil in your heart against his neighbor: and love no false oath: for all these are things which I hate, saith the Lord." And then the Lord, on condition of their doing this, promised them that "The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace."^[I]

[Footnote I: Zech., chapters vii and viii.]

Surely, after the spirit of this circumstance is carefully considered, it will be admitted that I am right in my statement, that God is more pleased with the substance of repentance, than with the weeping and mourning attendant upon it; more satisfied with the reformation of the sinner, than with his affliction.

Then, how reasonable and righteous is this law of repentance! When one guilty of violating the laws of heaven desires forgiveness, the very least thing that can be expected of him is that he will refrain from doing again those things which constituted his offense, and form an honest resolution to refrain from evil.

Moreover, repentance is chiefly beneficial to the person who practices it. The commandment from God to repent—always given in connection with the declaration of the Gospel—is really nothing more than an invitation to do one's self a kindness. It can only be an abomination to fools to depart from evil. It is written, also, that "Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people."^[J] And as it is with a nation, so it is with individuals.

[Footnote J: Proverbs of Solomon.]

Again, the voice of inspiration says: "As righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursueth evil, pursueth it to his own death." To repent, then, means to turn aside from the path which leads to death, and choose that which leads to life —to life eternal. And while the angels in heaven may rejoice over one who turns from the error of his way; yet, the chief good arising from the reformation of the sinner, is reaped by himself.

Since God, then, in this matter of repentance seeks only the good of those of whom the requirement is made, "Let the wicked forsake his wicked way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him turn unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God for he will abundantly pardon."^[K]

[Footnote K: Isaiah lv: 7.]