anguish  upon  the  finally  impenitent ;  let  us  en-
deavour to  ascertain  nhat  is  the  duty  of  repen-
tance, and  be  excited,  under  the  influence  of  the
Holy  Spirit,  to  a  constant  practice  of  it,  by  consid-
ering,

First,  Its  nature ;

Secondly,  Its  necessity  ; — and,

Thirdly,  The  motives  that  should  lead  to  it.
I.  We  are  to  consider  the  nature  of  repentance.
— To  do  this  it  is  necessary  to  observe,  that  there
are  two  words  in  the  original  Greek  of  the  New
Testament,  both  of  which  our  translators  have  ren-
dered by  the  term  "  repentance,"  although  they
have  meanings,  in  some  important  resj^ects,  very
different  from  each  other.  One  signifies  a  mere
wish  that  some  part  of  our  past  conduct  had  been
otherwise,  without  any  regard  to  its  moral  nature  or
consequences.  The  other  denotes  such  a  cordial,
sincere,  and  permanent  sorrow  for  all  that  we  discov-
er to  be  wrong  in  our  past  life,  as  will  lead  to  a  radi-
cal reformation  of  our  whole  moral  character.  It  is
the  last  which  is  used  in  our  text,  and,  indeed,  in  all
other  passages  which  speak  of  genuine  evangelical
repentance.  So  that  no  notion  can  be  more  un-
scriptural  or  absurd  than  that  held  by  some  Papists,
that  repentance  is  a  grace  to  be  exercised  at  stated
intervals,  as  a  sort  of  penance  ;  a  duty  which  is  to
cancel,  at  one  stroke,  all  past  transgressions,  and
which,  indeed,  may  be  deferred  till  the  last  moment
of  dissolution.
DISCOURSE   XIII.  181

Very  different  from  this  is  that  repentance  which
is  enjoined  by  the  Gospel.
