The Means to Repentance - 1830 - Biblical Repertory

Repenting, or turning to God, is a state of mind which a man cannot bring himself into by one mere volition. He cannot repent simply by resolving or saying within himself, I will repent. That resolution may fix his mind on repenting, and be the beginning of a series of mental acts and exercises which will result in his repentance; but his repentance is not its immediate sequent, any more than a man's becoming pleased or pensive, or affected in any way, is the immediate result of a volition to become so affected. If a man
determine that he will be in any frame of mind whatsoever, he does not find himself in that frame as soon as he forms the determination; he finds himself using the means—