repentance
    n 1: remorse for your past conduct [syn: repentance,
         penitence, penance]

Repentance \Re*pent"ance\ (r[-e]*p[e^]nt"ans), n. [F.
   repentance.]
   The act of repenting, or the state of being penitent; sorrow
   for what one has done or omitted to do; especially,
   contrition for sin. --Chaucer.
   [1913 Webster]

         Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. --2. Cor.
                                                  vii. 20.
   [1913 Webster]

         Repentance is a change of mind, or a conversion from
         sin to God.                              --Hammond.
   [1913 Webster]

         Repentance is the relinquishment of any practice from
         the conviction that it has offended God. Sorrow, fear,
         and anxiety are properly not parts, but adjuncts, of
         repentance; yet they are too closely connected with it
         to be easily separated.                  --Rambler.
   [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Contrition; regret; penitence; contriteness;
        compunction. See Contrition.
        [1913 Webster]

Repentance
   There are three Greek words used in the New Testament to denote
   repentance. (1.) The verb _metamelomai_ is used of a change of
   mind, such as to produce regret or even remorse on account of
   sin, but not necessarily a change of heart. This word is used
   with reference to the repentance of Judas (Matt. 27:3).
   
     (2.) Metanoeo, meaning to change one's mind and purpose, as
   the result of after knowledge. This verb, with (3) the cognate
   noun _metanoia_, is used of true repentance, a change of mind
   and purpose and life, to which remission of sin is promised.
   
     Evangelical repentance consists of (1) a true sense of one's
   own guilt and sinfulness; (2) an apprehension of God's mercy in
   Christ; (3) an actual hatred of sin (Ps. 119:128; Job 42:5, 6; 2
   Cor. 7:10) and turning from it to God; and (4) a persistent
   endeavour after a holy life in a walking with God in the way of
   his commandments.
   
     The true penitent is conscious of guilt (Ps. 51:4, 9), of
   pollution (51:5, 7, 10), and of helplessness (51:11; 109:21,
   22). Thus he apprehends himself to be just what God has always
   seen him to be and declares him to be. But repentance
   comprehends not only such a sense of sin, but also an
   apprehension of mercy, without which there can be no true
   repentance (Ps. 51:1; 130:4).
   

REPENTANCE, n.  The faithful attendant and follower of Punishment.  It
is usually manifest in a degree of reformation that is not
inconsistent with continuity of sin.

    Desirous to avoid the pains of Hell,
    You will repent and join the Church, Parnell?
    How needless! -- Nick will keep you off the coals
    And add you to the woes of other souls.
                                                         Jomater Abemy