so far also it is a change of mind. But it goes no farther than so far to change the mind, that it brings trouble and sorrow, and such things which are the natural events of it. Merauita málos dv pórov, saith Suidas. It is an affection incident to man,' not to God, who cannot repent: where although by áoç he means an accident or property' of man, that is, a quality in the general sense; yet that it is properly a passion in the special sense, was the sense of all men, as Tertullian' observes; saying, that the heathens know repentance to be 'passionem animi quandam' (the same with πálos áν0ρúπivov in Suidas), a passion,' 'quæ veniat de offensa sententiæ prioris,' 'coming from our being offended, or troubled at our former course.'-But Tertullian uses the Latin word, of which I shall give account in the following periods. 2. But when there was a difference made, μɛrávoι was the better word; which does not properly signify the sorrow for having done amiss, but something that is nobler than it, but brought in at the gate of sorrow. For ἡ κατὰ Θεὸν λύπη, 'a godly sorrow,' that is μeraueλea, or the first beginning of repentance, μerάVOLAV KATEρYŰZETal, worketh' this better repentance, μετάνοιαν ἀμεταμέλητον, and εἰς σωτηρίαν, ' a repentance not to be repented of,' not to be sorrowed for, a repentance that is unto salvation.' Sorrow may go before this, but dwells not with it, according to that of St. Chrysostom; "Medicinæ hic locus, non judicii; non pœnas sed peccatorum remissionem pœnitentia tribuit'." Merávou is the word. Repentance brings not pains, but pardon with it; for this is the place of medicine and remedy, not of judgment or condemnation :" meaning, that this repentance is wholly saIutary, as tending to reformation and amendment. But Tertullian made the observation more express: "In Græco sono, pœnitentiæ nomen non ex delicti confessione, sed ex animi demutatione compositum est ;"" To repent, among the Greeks, signifies, not a confession of our fault, but the change of mind." He speaks of the grammatical sense of the word; for in the whole use of it, it is otherwise. m 3. For however the grammarians may distinguish them, yet the words are used promiscuously; for μerávola is some i Lib. de Pœnit. k2 Cor. vii. 11. m Lib. 2. adv. Marcion. cap. 20. times used in the bad sense, and μerautλeta signifies the better repentance; not often, but sometimes it does. The son" that told his father, he would not work in his vineyard, afterward was sorry for refusing, and he went to work, μeraμeλnθεὶς ἀπῆλθε; and in the same chapter, ὑμεῖς ἰδόντες οὐ μετ TεμεληTE;'ye seeing were not troubled, and sorrowful, that ye might believe, that is, amend your fault.' Meraμeλetoαι Μεταμελεῖσθαι is in both places used for a salutary repentance.' And on the other side, μɛTávola is used to signify, in the evil sense, 'a state of misery, without remedy.' Ilavoupyos Exeraι Eis μɛTávolav, so the Septuagint read that of Solomon"; "The wicked man cometh to repentance," that is, to misery and sorrow. So that there is nothing of usefulness which can be drawn from the grammatical sense of these words; they both signify a change of mind, and they both signify a sorrow; and they both are used for the same thing: and indeed that will be the best use of them: no man can be truly said to repent, but he who, being sorrowful for doing evil, betakes himself to wiser courses. So Phavorinus: Μετάνοιά ἐστι συναίσθησις ψυχῆς ἐφ ̓ οἷς ἔπραξεν ατόπως “ Repentance is a sense and compunction of the soul for those things, which were done foolishly." Sum Dea, quæ facti, non factique exigo pœnas, Repentance does exact punishment for evils done, and good undone ; but besides this, it is ἡ πρὸς κρεῖσσον ἐπιστροφὴ, α conversion to that which is better.'-So Aretas defines it: Μετάνοιά ἐστι μετάθεσις ἀπὸ χειρόνων, καὶ μεταβολὴ ἐπὶ βέλTOV, the same with the former; 'an eschewing evil, and doing good.' 4. And thus the Holy Scriptures understand this word and this duty. It is a whole change of state and life; άroστροφὴ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν, ἀπόστασις ἀπ ̓ ἀδικίας, ‘a turning from sin;' and it is emphatically called by the Apostle μɛráνοια ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων, ‘a repentance from dead works, that is, a forsaking them with sorrow that ever we committed P Auson. Epigr. 12. Delph. p. 12. Malè Metanca usus est : verbum purum Græcum est, nec tamen eo sensu et definitione à Græcis usurpatum. Rectè igitur et facetè fassus est idem Ausonius in epigrammate de abusu hujus verbi parum Latini, Sum Dea, cui nomen nec Cicero ipse dedit. ¶ Heb. vi. 1. 1 Kings, viii. 35. Isa. lix. 20. 2 Chron. vii. 14. Jer. xviii. 7—9. and xxxi. 19. 2 Tim. ii. 19. them: and it is also ἐπιστροφὴ πρὸς Θεὸν, a conversion to God';' from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God: avavýpev, a returning to sobriety,' the same with μεταβάλλειν, μεταθέσθαι, μεταγινώσκειν, in Justin Martyr, all signifying a departing from our follies, and a changing to a better life. And though sometimes 'to repent' is in Scripture, taken for sorrow only, or a being troubled that the fact is done; yet it is called repentance, no otherwise than as alms is called charity; that is, it is an effect of it, a part, or action, or adjunct, of the duty and state of repentance: which ought to be observed, lest (as it is too commonly) one act be mistaken for the whole state, and we account ourselves perfect penitents if we have only wept a penitential shower; which is also to be observed in the definitions which the doctors give of it. 5. Tertullian calls it "a passion of the mind, or grief for the offence of our former acts:" St. Austin calls it', "a revenge always punishing in itself that which it grieves to have committed." These do only describe that part of repentance which is sometimes signified by uɛraμéλɛa, and is nothing else but a godly sorrow, the porch, or beginnings of repentance. On the other side Lactantius" describing repentance, gives only the grammatical sense of μerávoia. "Agere autem pœnitentiam nihil aliud est quam profiteri et affirmare se ulterius non peccaturum :" "To repent is nothing else but a profession and affirmation, that he will sin no more;" which descriptions of repentance are just as if we should say,-A man is a creature that speaks, or laughs, or that can learn to read. These are effects of his nature, but not the ingredients of a proper definition. Sorrow, and revenge, and holy purposes and protestations, are but single acts of a returning and penitent man: whereas repentance is a whole state of a new life, an entire change of the sinner, with all its appendages and instruments of ministry. 6. As the Greeks have, so have the Latins also, two words to signify this duty, 'pœnitentia' and 'resipiscentia,' and these have almost the same fate and the same usages with the other. Pœnitentia' is used by the old Latin translation; 2 Sam. xii. 5. 13. Deut. xxx. 2. Jer. iii.7. Acts, xxvi. 18. Eph. v. 14. Ezek. xxxiii. 12. Luke, xix. 8-10. Lib. de ver. et fals. Pænit. c. 8. De Poenit. in princip. "Lib. 6. Divin. instit. c. 13. and is most tenaciously retained by all them, who make the very life of repentance to run into corporal austerities (like the juice of luxuriant trees into irregular suckers and excrescences), which therefore, by way of eminency, they call 'penances;' for they suppose the word, in its very nature and institution, to signify something that is punitive, and afflictive. So Hugo: "Poenitentia quasi punientia, quòd per eam homo in se puniat, quòd malè admisit"." Much like that of Scotus: "Pœnitentia quasi pœnæ tenentia ;" which they both learned from St. Austin; " Pœnitere est idem quod rei commissæ aliquem pudere ac pigere, ita ut pœnitet sit idem quod pœna tenet." This sense of the word prevailed long, and therefore some that would speak exactly, observing that the duty of repentance did principally consist in the amendment of our lives, were forced to use the word 'resipiscentia,' which better renders the Greek μerάvola. So Lactantius expressly: "Græci melius et significantiùs perávorav dicunt: quam Latinè possumus 'resipiscentiam' dicere. Resipiscit enim, ac mentem suam quasi ab insania recipit, quem errare piget, castigatque seipsum dementia, et confirmat animum suum ad rectiùs vivendum :" "He truly repents who recovers his mind from folly, and chastising his error, and grieving for his madness, strengthens his purposes to better living".' 7. Either of the words will serve the turn. 'Pœnitentia,' or 'penance,' is the old Latin word; 'resipiscentia' is the new one, but very expressive and significant : and it is indifferent which be used, if men had not a design upon one, which cannot prudently be effected by it. But such is the force of words, especially when men choose and affect one particularly, and studiously reject another, which is apt to signify the same thing,-that, in the Greek church, because their words for 'repentance' did imply only or principally a change of life,' they usually describe 'repentance' in that formality; but the later Latins practise and discourse to other purposes; and the college of Rheims render μeraVOETE, word for word after their vulgar Latin; 'agite pœnitentiam,' 'do penance;' which is so absurd a reddition, that their interest and design are more apparent than their skill in grammar, or their ingenuity. It is much, very much better, which we learn from a wise heathen, who gives such * Lib. 3. de Myste. Eccles. y Solil. cap. 19. * Lib. 6. c. 24. an account both of the words and thing, as might not misbe come the best instructed Christian, so far as concerns the nature and morality of the duty: his words are excellent words, and therefore I shall transcribe them. ALO TELOãoα δεῖ μάλιστα μὲν μὴ ἁμαρτάνειν ἁμαρτόντας δὲ σπεύδειν, ως ἐπὶ ἰατρικὴν τῆς πονηρίας τὴν δίκην, ἐπανορθουμένους τὴν ἀβουλίαν τῇ κρείττονι βοηθείᾳ· ἐπεὶ γὰρ τοῦ εἶναι ἀγαθοὶ ἐκπεπτώκαμεν, τοῦ γίνεσθαι γοῦν ἀντιλαμβανόμεθα μεταμελεία εὐγνώμονι, τὴν θείαν ἐπανόρθωσιν εἰσδεχόμενοι. Ἡ δὲ μετάνοια αὕτη φιλοσοφίας ἀρχὴ γίνεται, καὶ τῶν ἀνοήτων ἔργων τε καὶ λόγων φυγὴ, καὶ τῆς ἀμεταμελήτου ζωῆς ἡ πρώτη παραστ KEUN. "We ought principally to take care that we do not κευή. sin; but if we be overtaken, then to make diligent haste to return to justice or righteousness as the cure of our wickedness; that we may amend our evil counsels or wills, by the help of a better. For when we are fallen from goodness, we receive or recover it again μεταμελείᾳ εὐγνώμονι, by a wise or well-principled penitential sorrow, admitting a divine correction. 'H de μɛTávola aurn, but repentance itself is the beginning of wisdom, a flying from foolish words and deeds, and the first institution of a life not to be repented of." Where, besides the definition of repentance and a most perfect deseription of its nature and intention, he with some curiosity differences the two Greek words; making ueraueλea to be but the beginning of μerávota: sorrow' from the beginning of 'repentance;' and both together the reformation of the old, and the institution of a new life. 8. But to quit the words from being the subject-matter of a quarrel, it is observable that the Latin word 'pœnitentia,' does really signify (by use I mean and custom) as much as the Greek μɛrávou, and is expressive of the whole duty of repentance; and although it implies that sorrow and grief, which are the natural inlet of reformation of our lives, and the consequent of our shame and sin, yet it also does signify correction and amendment, which are the formality and essence of repentance; and therefore Erasmus more warily, and in imitation of the old Latins, says, that 'pœnitere' is from 'pone tenere,' 'quod est posterius consilium capere;' to be wiser the next time; to choose again, and choose better; and Hierocl. in Pythag. Aur. Carm. Needham. p. 124 |