REPENTANCE, Pœnitentia; in Greek, Metanoia. This Word is generally taken for that Contrition, Compunction, Regret, or Reluctance that arise in us, after having done something that we ought not to have done; join’d to a sincere Resolution of imposing a suitable Punishment upon ourselves for it. Rom. xi. 22. For the Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance: And especially for the Sorrow of having offended God. It is also taken for the Works of Penitence or Penance, Fasting, Weeping, Alms, and Works of Satisfaction; and for the Sacrament of Penance, by means of which we obtain Forgiveness of the Sins we commit after Baptism. There is a false Repen-
tance, as that of Antiochus Epiphanes, of Judas Iscariot, of Pharaoh, of Saul, of Ahab. Judas wanted Confidence in the Mercy of God, and therefore fell into Despair. Antiochus had no sincere Contrition. Pharaoh and Saul were terrified, but not moved by a true Repentance; they continued hardned, and changed neither their Minds nor their Manners. Ahab was indeed touched, but he wanted Perseverance in doing good.
In Leviticus it is said, That he that Levit. v. 5. Vulg.shall acknowledge his Sin, shall repent of it, and shall offer the Sacrifices appointed for this Occasion. Agat pœnitentiam pro peccato, & offerat, &c. But the original Text says only, That he that shall have sinned, that shall have acknowledged his Fault, and confess’d it, shall offer the Victims prescribed by the Law. It does not expresly mention Repentance; but enjoins to acknowledge and confess the Fault, and then to offer the Sacrifices of Expiation. This is certainly to repent of it; for if the Offender was not touch’d with Repentance, nothing of this could be done.
Judg. xxi. 6, 15.In the Book of Judges, the Children of Israel repent, and are touch’d with Remorse concerning the Loss of a Tribe of their Brethren: That is to say, they repent at having push’d the War too far against one of their own Tribes. Conversus Israel valde doluit, & egit pœnitentiam super interfectione unius tribus ex Israel. They afterwards consider of means to repair this Loss.
1 Sam. xv. 29.Samuel says to Saul; The Victorious of Israel will not pardon. The Hebrew is, The Strength of Israel will not lye, nor repent, for he is not a Man that he should repent. God has rejected you irrevocably; he will not change his Resolution, as Men that make Resolutions, and then repent of them, and perform them not. He has pass’d his Sentence of Reprobation against you, and will not depart from it.
Wisd. v. 3.St. Paul says in the same Sense,1 Sine pœnitentia enim sunt dona & vocatio Dei. The Gifts and Calling of God are without Repentance. God does not revoke his Favours, he never forsakes us first. Non deserit, nisi deseratur.
The Author of the Book of Wisdom represents the Wicked to us in another Life, as repenting and bewailing. That is, they are seized with Compunction and Despair, at seeing good Men in Honour, while they themselves are abject and in Trouble. We know that in another Life, Repentance and Remorse are useless. The same Author says, that when God shew’d his Judgments against the Canaanites, and chastised them by degrees, he gave them Time for Repentance. Partibus judicans dabat locum pœnitentia. He says the same thing when he speaks of the Hebrews and the Children of God, to shew us that the Rigour which God exerts against the Elect, as well as against the Reprobate, has no other End but to reform them, and to oblige them to repent of their Faults.
The Word Pœnitentia is sometimes taken for Vengeance or Retribution: For Example, Ecclesiasticus says,2 That Elijah gave Unction to Kings for Repentance. Qui unguis Reges ad pœnitentiam. The Greek reads, Who anointest Kings to exercise Vengeance. Elijah received Orders from the Lord, to give the Royal Unction to Jehu and Hazael, to inflict the Vengeance of the Lord upon the House of 1 Kings xix. 15,26.Ahab. But we do not read that Elijah himself performed this Command, but gave Commission to his Disciple Elisha.
The sacred Writers often represent God as a Prince, who is moved with Regret, or Repentance, or Relenting, for having suffer’d or resolved upon certain Things: Gen. vi. 6, 7.For Example, Moses says, that God repented that he had made Man, seeing that the Wickedness of his Actions had proceeded 1 Sam. xv. 11.to such Extremity. ‘Tis elsewhere said, that he repented of having made Saul King over his People. This is not to be understood, as if God had conceived any Regret at any thing that he had done wrong, or that he repents of a false Step that he had made, as a Man does when he perceives he has committed an Error. God is not capable of Repentance in this Sense. But sometimes he changes his Conduct towards those that are unfaithful to him, and after having treated them with Mercy, he corrects them with Severity, as if he had repented of what he had before done in their Favour.
Psal. cv. 43. Jerem. xviii. 8.Also God is said to repent of the Evil he was about to inflict, when moved with Compassion towards the Miserable, or intreated by their Prayers, or disarm’d by their Repentance, he remits the Punishment of their Sins, or does not execute the Threatnings he had made against them. Thus it is said in the Psalms, That he repented according to the Multitude of his Mercies, and that he caused his People to find Favour in the Eyes of those, to whom he had given them up into Bondage. Et pœnituit eum secundum multitudinem misericordia suæ. And in Jeremiah, the Lord declares, that if his People repent of the Evil for which he reproves them, he will also repent of the Evil which he had intended to make them suffer. This is to say, he would shew Indulgence to his People, if his People would return to him, and repent of their Iniquities. But on the contrary, if his People would not hear his Voice, nor obey his Commands, he would repent of the Good he had intended to do them. Pœnitentiam agam super bono quod locutus fueram ut facerem ei.
Mark i. 4. Luk. iii. 3. Matth. iii. 11. Matt. iii. 8. Luk. iii. 8.The Baptism of Repentance, is that which John the Baptist preached to the Jews, when he baptized them in Jordan, and exhorted them to bring forth Fruits worthy of Repentance. His Baptism did not remit Sins, but it prevailed with Sinners to receive the Pardon of them from the Baptism of our Saviour.
Penitence of the modern Jews. See the Articles EXPIATION and CONFESSION.
The Sacrament of Penance a instituted by Jesus Christ, to abolish Sins that are committed after Baptism, consists in Contrition, or a sincere Grief for our Sins, in the Confession of our Sins, and in the Satisfaction, or in the Exercise of satisfactory Works, and chiefly in the Amendment of our Faults, or in a Change of our Life and Conversation. Our Saviour established this Sacrament, by giving to his Apostles, and by the same Means to the Bishops and Priests their Successors, the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, to open and Matt. xvi. 19.shut it, to bind and loose. He has appointed them Judges of his Church, in his Name to exercise their Jurisdiction over the Souls of the Faithful. He has also at the same time invested them with the Office of Physicians, to administer Remedies to the inward Diseases of Christians, such as their Charity and Wisdom may inspire them with, in order to effect a Cure. See the Conduct of St. Paul towards the incestuous Person of Corinth.
Jonah iii. 5, 6, 7, &c. Matth. xii. 41. Luke xi. 32.The Repentance of the Ninevites is celebrated even in the Gospel. Jesus Christ tells the Jews, that the Ninevites would rise up in Judgment against them, because they repented at the Preaching of Jonah, and the Jews would not be converted at the Preaching of Jesus Christ, who was so far above Jonah. This Prophet speaks of the Ninevites after this manner. The People of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a Fast, and put on Sack-cloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For Word came unto the King of Nineveh, and he arose from his Throne, and he laid his Robe from him, and covered him with Sackcloth, and sat in Ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed, and published through Nineveh by the Decree of the King and his Nobles, saying, Let neither Man nor Beast, Herd or Flock, taste any thing; let them not feed nor drink Water: But let Man and Beast be covered with Sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one from his evil Way, and from the Violence that is in his Hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce Anger, that we perish not. And God saw their Works, that they turned from their evil Way, and God repented of the Evil, that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not.
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