{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/003/0030716.htm","path":"chr/ecf/003/0030716.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/003/0030716.htm","text":"Chapter VIII.\u2014Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord\u2019s Willingness to Pardon.\nThis if you doubt, unravel 8489 the meaning of \u201cwhat the Spirit saith to the churches.\u201d 8490 He imputes to the Ephesians \u201cforsaken love;\u201d 8491 reproaches the Thyatirenes with \u201cfornication,\u201d and \u201ceating of things sacrificed to idols;\u201d 8492 accuses the Sardians of \u201cworks not full;\u201d 8493 censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; 8494 upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; 8495 and yet gives them all general monitions to repentance\u2014under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one unrepentant if He did not forgive the repentant. The matter were doubtful if He had not withal elsewhere demonstrated this profusion of His clemency. Saith He not, 8496 \u201cHe who hath fallen shall rise again, and he who hath been averted shall be converted?\u201d He it is, indeed, who \u201cwould have mercy rather than sacrifices.\u201d 8497 The heavens, and the angels who are there, are glad at a man\u2019s repentance. 8498 Ho! you sinner, be of good cheer! you see where it is that there is joy at your return. What meaning for us have those themes of the Lord\u2019s parables? Is not the fact that a woman has lost a drachma, and seeks it and finds it, and invites her female friends to share her joy, an example of a restored sinner? 8499 There strays, withal, one little ewe of the shepherd\u2019s; but the flock was not more dear than the one: that one is earnestly sought; the one is longed for instead of all; and at length she is found, and is borne back on the shoulders of the shepherd himself; for much had she toiled 8500 in straying. 8501 That most gentle father, likewise, I will not pass over in silence, who calls his prodigal son home, and willingly receives him repentant after his indigence, slays his best fatted calf, and graces his joy with a banquet. 8502 Why not? He had found the son whom he had lost; he had felt him to be all the dearer of whom he had made a gain. Who is that father to be understood by us to be? God, surely: no one is so truly a Father; 8503 no one so rich in paternal love. He, then, will receive you, His own son, 8504 back, even if you have squandered what you had received from Him, even if you return naked\u2014just because you have returned; and will joy more over your return than over the sobriety of the other; 8505 but only if you heartily repent\u2014if you compare your own hunger with the plenty of your Father\u2019s \u201chired servants\u201d\u2014if you leave behind you the swine, that unclean herd\u2014if you again seek your Father, offended though He be, saying, \u201cI have sinned, nor am worthy any longer to be called Thine.\u201d Confession of sins lightens, as much as dissimulation aggravates them; for confession is counselled by p. 664 (a desire to make) satisfaction, dissimulation by contumacy.\nEvolve: perhaps simply =\"read.\u201d\n663:8490\nRev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29, Rev. 3:6, 13, 21.\n663:8491 663:8492 663:8493 663:8494 663:8495 663:8496\nJer. viii. 4 (in LXX.) appears to be the passage meant. The Eng. Ver. is very different.\n663:8497\nHos. 6:6, Matt. 9:13. The words in Hosea in the LXX. are, \u03b4\u03b9\u03cc\u03c4\u03b9 \u1f15\u03bb\u03b5\u03bf\u03c2 \u03b8\u03ad\u03bb\u03c9 \u1f24 \u03b8\u03c5\u03c3\u03af\u03b1\u03bd (al. \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bf\u1f50 \u03b8\u03c5\u03c3\u03af\u03b1\u03bd).\n663:8498 663:8499 663:8500 663:8501 663:8502 663:8503\nCf. Matt. 23:9, Eph. 3:14, in the Greek.\n663:8504\nPublicly enrolled as such in baptism; for Tertullian here is speaking solely of the \u201csecond repentance.\u201d\n663:8505\nSee Luke xv. 29-32.","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol III: Tertullian: Part III: Examp...","type":"page"}