DISPUTATION XVII,

ON REPENTANCE.

Respondent, HENRY NIELLIUS.

As in succeeding Disputations are discussed Faith, and Justification through Faith, the order which has hitherto been observed requires us now to treat on Repentance without which we can neither have fellowship with Christ, nor be made partakers of his righteousness.

I. THE matter on which we are at present treating, is usually enunciated in the three Latin words, resipiscentia, pænitentia, and conversio, repentance, penitence and conversion. The Greek word, Meravala, "change of mind after reflection," answers to the first of these terms; Meraushsia, "regret on account of misdeeds," to the second; and E5 popn," a turning about, a return," to the third. On this subject the Hebrews frequently employ the word "a returning," as corresponding with the third of the preceding terms; and the word

which expresses the sense of the second. But כחמה or כחם

though these words are, according to the essence and nature of the thing, synonymous, yet each of them signifies a particular formal conception. The FIRST, repentance, is a conception of the understanding; the SECOND, penitence, a conception of the affections or passions; and the THIRD, conversion, is a conception of an action resulting from both the others. The general term, therefore, comprises the understanding, the affections, and an ulterior act resulting from both the preceding. The FIRST signifies a change of mind after any thing has been done; and, after the commission of evil, a change of mind to a better state. The SECOND expresses grief or sorrow of mind after a deed; and, after an evil deed, "sorrow after a godly sort," and not "the sorrow of the world," although the word is sometimes thus used even in the Scriptures. The THIRD denotes conversion to some thing, from which aversion had been previously formed. And, in this discussion, it is that conversion which is from evil to good; from sin, Satan and the

world, to God. The FIRST comprehends a disapproval of evil and an approval of the opposite good. The SECOND comprises grief for a past evil, and an affection of desire towards a contrary good. The THIRD shews an aversion from the evil to which it adhered, and a conversion to the good from which it had been alienated. But these three conceptions, according to the nature of things and the command of God, are so intimately connected with each other, that there cannot be either true and right repentance, penitence, or conversion, unless each of these has the other two united with it, either as preceding it, or as succeeding.

II. According to this distinction of the various conceptions, have been invented different definitions of one and the same thing as to its essence. For instance, " repentance is a change of mind and heart from evil to good, proceeding from godly sorrow." It is also "sorrow after the commission of sin on account of God being offended, and through this sorrow a change of the whole heart from evil to good." And " It is a true conversion of our life to God, proceeding from a sincere and serious fear of God, which consists in the mortification of our flesh and of the old man, and in the quickening of the Spirit." We disapprove of none of these three definitions, because in substance and essence they agree among themselves, and, sufficiently for [the purposes of] true piety, declare the nature of the thing. But a more copious definition may be given, such as the following: "Repentance, penitence, or conversion is an act of the entire man, by which in his undr standing he disapproves of sin universally considered, in his affections he hates it, and as perpetrated by himself is sorry for it and in the whole of his life avoids it. By which he also in his understanding approves of righteousness, in his affections loves it, and in the whole of his life follows after it. And thus [avertit] he turns himself away from Satan and the world, and [convertit] returns unto God and adheres to Him, that God may abide in him, and that he may abide in God."

III. We call repentance "the act of man," that we may distinguish it from REGENERATION, which is "the act of God." These two have some things in common, are on certain points

in affinity; yet, in reality, according to the peculiar nature which each of them possesses, they are distinct; though, according to their subjects, they are not separated. We add that it is "the act of the entire man :" for it is his act with regard to the entire mind or soul, and all its faculties; and with regard to the body as it is united to the soul, and is an organ or instrument subjected to the pleasure and command of the soul. (1 Kings xviii, 37; Rom. xii, 1, 2.) It is an act which concerns the whole life of man as it is rational, and as it was born [apta] with an aptitude to tend towards sin and towards God, and to turn aside from either of them. It consists of the understanding, the affections, the senses, and motion, and concurs with all these conjointly, though subordinately, to [the production of ] repentance, penitence or conversion. (1.) In this act, the UNDERSTANDING performs its office both by a general [æstimatione] appreciation of its value and by its particular approbation and disapprobation. (2.) The AFFECTIONS or pas sions perform theirs, as they are sw1duμntxos, concupiscible, by loving, hating, mourning and rejoicing; and as they are Suposons, irascible, by being angry, zealous, indignant, fearful, and hopeful. (Ephes. iii & iv.) (3.) The SENSES, both internal and external, perform their office by their aversion from unbecoming objects, and by their conversion to those which are suitable and proper. (Rom. vi, 13, 19.) (4.) Lastly, the MoTIONS of the tongue, hands, feet, and of the other members of the body, perform their office by removal from things unlawful and inexpedient, and by their application to those which are lawful and expedient.

IV. The object of repentance is the evil of unrighteousness or of sin, (considered both universally, and as committed by the penitent himself,) and the good of righteousness. (Psalm xxxiv, 15; Ezek. xviii, 28.) The evil of unrighteousness is first in order, the good of righteousness is first in dignity. From the former, repentance has its commencement; in the latter, it terminates and rests. The object may be considered in a manner somewhat different; for, since we are commanded [converti] to return to God, from whom we had turned away, God is also the object of conversion and repentance, as

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he is the hater of sin and of evil men, the lover of righteousness and of righteous men, good to those who repent, and their chief good, and, on the contrary, the severe avenger and the certain destruction of those who persevere in sin. (Mal. v,, 7; Zech. i, 3; Deut. vi, 5.) To this object, may be directly opposed another personal object, the devil, from whom by repentance we must take our departure. (Ephes. iv, 27; James iv, 7.) To the devil may be added an object which is an aeeessary to him, and that is, the world, of which he is called "the prince," (John xii, 31; xiv, 30,) both as it contains within it arguments suitable for Satan to employ in seduction, such as riches, honors and pleasures, (Luke iv, 5, 6; 1 John ii, 15, 16,) and as it renders to the devil something that resembles personal service. (Rom. vi, 9, 7.) In both these methods, the world attracts men to itself, and detains them after they are united to it. From it, also, we are commanded to turn away. Nay, man himself may obtain the province of an object opposed to God; and he is commanded to separate himself from himself, that he may live not according to man, but according to God. (Ephes. iv, 22; Col. iii, 9-17; Rom. vi, 10-23.)

V. The primary efficient cause of repentance is God, and Christ as he is through the Spirit mediator between God and man. (Jer. xxxi, 18; Ezek. xxxvi, 25, 26; Acts v, 31; xvii, 30.) The inly moving cause is the goodness, grace, and philanthropy of God our creator and redeemer, who loves the salvation of his creature, and desires [declarare] to manifest the riches of his mercy in the salvation of his miserable creature. (Rom. xi, 5.) The outwardly moving cause, through the mode of merit, is the obedience, the death and the intercession of Christ; (Isai. liii, 5; 1 Cor. i, 30, 31; 2 Cor. v, 21;) and, through the mode of moving to mercy, it is the unhappy condition of sinners, whom the devil holds captive in the snares of iniquity, and who will perish by their own demerits according to the condition of the law, and necessarily according to the will of God manifested in the gospel, unless they repent. (John iii, 16; Ezek. xvi, 3-63; Luke xiii, 3, 5; Isai. xxxi,

6; Jer. iii, 14; Psalm cxix, 71; in the prophets passim; Rom. vii, 6, 7.)

VI. The proximate, yet less principal cause, is man himself, converted and converting himself by the power and efficacy of the grace of God and the Spirit of Christ. The external cause inciting to repent is the miserable state of the sinners who do not repent, and the felicitous and blessed state of those who repent-whether such state be known from the law of Moses or from that of nature, from the gospel or from personal experience, or from the examples of other persons who [inciderunt in] have been visited with the most grievous plagues through impenitence, or who, through repentance, have been made partakers of many blessings. (Rom. ii, 5; Acts ii, 37.) The internal and inly moving cause is, not only a consciousness of sin and a sense of misery through fear of the Deity, who has been offended, with a desire to be delivered from both, but it is likewise [an incipient] faith and hope of the gracious mercy and pardon of God.

VII. The instrumental causes which God ordinarily uses for our conversion, and by which we are solicited and led to repentance, are the law and the gospel. Yet the office of each in this matter is quite distinct, so that the more excellent province in it is assigned to the gospel, and the law acts the part of its servant or attendant. For, in the first place, the very command to repent is evangelical; and the promise of pardon, and the peremptory threat of eternal destruction, unless the man repents, which are added to it, belong peculiarly to the gospel. (Matt. iii, 1; Mark i, 4; Luke xxiv, 47.) But the law proves the necessity of repentance, by convincing man of sin and of the anger of the offended Deity, from which conviction arise a certain sorrow and a fear of punishment, which, in its commencement is servile or slavish solely through a regard to the law, but which, in its progress, becomes a filial fear through a view of the gospel. (Rom. iii, 13, 20; vii. 7.) From these, also, proceed, by the direction [loco motiva] of an inducement to remove, or repent, a certain external abstinence from evil works, and such a performance