Our purpose in writing this to you is not just to give you good advice but also to stir our own memory, for we are in the same arena and are faced with the same struggle.  It is for this reason that we must lay aside empty cares and problems and come at once to the glorious and venerable rule of our tradition.  We have to look carefully at what our Maker finds good and pleasing and at those things which are acceptable in his eyes.  Let us fix our gaze on the blood of Christ and be fully aware how precious it is to the Father, because it was poured out to set us free and it brought the grace of repentance to the entire world.

Let us consider all the generations and see for ourselves that in one generation after another the Master has given a place of repentance to any who are willing to return to him.  Noah preached a change of heart, and those who followed him were saved.  Jonah forewarned the Ninevites of the impending disaster, who, when they repented, obtained forgivenss for their sins in answer to their prayer, even though they were strangers to God.

The ministers of God's grace spoke about repentance through the Holy Spirit, and even the Lord of the universe himself spoke of it in the form of an oath:  "For as I live," says the Lord, "I do not desire the death of a sinner so much as his repentance."

-From Promis of Good Things by The Apostolic Fathers