1. Repentance.
Repentance is sometimes used generally, for a change of mind, and an earnest wishing that something were undone that has been done. Taken in a religious sense, it signifies contrition of sin, and sorrow for it. But there is, 1. A partial, or worldly repentance, wherein one is grieved for and turns from his sin merely on account of the hurt it has done or is likely to do him. So a malefactor, who still loves his sin, repents of doing it because it brings him to punishment. 2. An evangelical repentance, which is a godly sorrow wrought in the heart of a sinful person by the Word and Spirit of God, whereby, from a sense of sin as offensive to God, and defiling and endangering to his own soul, and from an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, he, with grief and hatred of all known sins, turns from them to God as his Savior and Lord. This is called "repentance toward God," as therein we turn from sin to him, and "repentance unto life;" as it "leads to spiritual life, and is the first step to eternal life." (Watson's Dictionary, page 816.)