Chill penury weighs down the heart itself; and though it sometimes be endured with calmness, it is but the calmness of despair.
Where penury is felt the thought is chain'd,
And sweet colloquial pleasures are but few.
<Regret, compunction, remorse, contrition, penitence, repentance>.
Regrets over the past should chasten the future.
He acknowledged his disloyalty to the king with expressions of great compunction.
Through no disturbance of my soul,
Or strong compunction in me wrought,
I supplicate for thy control.
God speaks to our hearts through the voice of remorse.
To err is human; but contrition felt for the crime distinguishes the virtuous from the wicked.
Christian penitence is something more than a thought or an emotion or a tear; it is action.
Repentance must be something more than mere remorse for sins; it comprehends a change of nature befitting heaven.