Confess Them and Forsake Them

In an interesting passage in the novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Jane had a discussion with Mr. Rochester who alluded to things he had done in his past which he regretted. He said to her, “I have a past existence, a series of deeds, a colour of life to contemplate within my own breast, which might well call my sneers and censures from my neighbours to myself. I started, or rather (for like other defaulters, I like to lay half the blame on ill fortune and adverse circumstances) was thrust on to a wrong tack at the age of one-and-twenty, and have never recovered the right course since: but I might have been very different; I might have been as good as you—wiser—almost as stainless. I envy you your peace of mind, your clean conscience, your unpolluted memory. Little girl, a memory without blot or contamination must be an exquisite treasure—an inexhaustible source of pure refreshment: is it not?... Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre; remorse is the poison of life.” She replied wisely to him, “Repentance is said to be its cure, sir.” But he answered, “It is not its cure. Reformation may be its cure; and I could reform—I have strength yet for that.” As I listened to that I thought, “But reformation is repentance!” Or at least, reformation is a key part of repentance. Repentance is more than simply expressing remorse. The Lord said this in the most succinct definition of repentance that we have: “By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them.” To truly repent we not only need to confess our sins before God (and perhaps others), but we need to forsake those sins and continue them no more. Then the peace that Mr. Rochester sought can be had, for the Lord said as well, “He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more” (Doctrine and Covenants 58:42-43). We can be forgiven, and that forgiveness stemming from repentance brings the “peace of mind” and “clean conscience” to remorse that Mr. Rochester sought.

                That peace of mind comes, though, only through the Savior, and He is the most important part of repentance. Only through Him does a clean conscience come after we have sinned. Alma (the Elder), his son Alma (the Younger), and his son Corianton—three generations—are powerful examples in the Book of Mormon of repentance and the effect of the Savior’s redeeming grace on the sinner. Alma (the Elder) had been a part of the wicked court of king Noah and likely committed all sorts of sins in violation of the law of Moses. He was the only one to believe in Abinadi’s message, and he fled from Noah. Mormon recorded simply that he “repented of his sins and iniquities” and from that time forth he went “privately among the people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi.” Though we do not get a firsthand account of his repentance like we do his son, he subsequently taught the people about “the redemption of the people, which was to be brought to pass through the power, and sufferings, and death of Christ, and his resurrection and ascension into heaven” (Mosiah 18:1-2). He spent the rest of his life serving the Lord, evidence of his full repentance. His son Alma described in detail how He reached out to the Savior in his anguish and remorse: “And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death. And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more.” Through the Savior He was cleansed of his sins and his repentance became full as he forsook those sins and sought after that to serve the Lord: “Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste” (Alma 36:17-19). We do not have any direct words from Corianton, but we know that he was guilty of serious sin and his father taught him about repentance: “Now my son, I would that ye should repent and forsake your sins, and go no more after the lusts of your eyes, but cross yourself in all these things” (Alma 39:9). To repent meant to forsake those things, and Alma continued by teaching him the plan of salvation and the role of the Savior: “And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also” (Alma 42:15). Corianton learned that he could obtain mercy through his repentance because of the atonement of Christ. Alma invited him to repent and he did, for we read later: “And [Shiblon] was a just man, and he did walk uprightly before God; and he did observe to do good continually, to keep the commandments of the Lord his God; and also did his brother [Corianton]” (Alma 63:2). These three Book of Mormon figures give us hope that there is relief from remorse when we sin, and the answer is repentance through the Redeemer and a reformation of our lives.