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On Repentance

Tertullian

Chapter 1

About this work

Author: Tertullian

I.

On Repentance.

[Translated by the Rev. S. Thelwall.]

Chapter I.—Of Heathen Repentance.

Repentance, men understand, so far as nature is able

,

to

be

an

emotion

of

the

mind

arising

from

disgust

at

some

previously

cherished

worse

sentiment

:

that

kind

of

men

I

mean

which

even

we

ourselves

were

in

days

gone

by

—

blind

,

without

the

Lord’s

light

.

From

the

reason

of

repentance

,

however

,

they

are

just

as

far

as

they

are

from

the

Author

of

reason

Himself

.

Reason

,

in

fact

,

is

a

thing

of

God

,

inasmuch

as

there

is

nothing

which

God

the

Maker

of

all

has

not

provided

,

disposed

,

ordained

by

reason

—

nothing

which

He

has

not

willed

should

be

handled

and

understood

by

reason

.

All

,

therefore

,

who

are

ignorant

of

God

,

must

necessarily

be

ignorant

also

of

a

thing

which

is

His

,

because

no

treasure

-

house

at

all

is

accessible

to

strangers

.

And

thus

,

voyaging

all

the

universal

course

of

life

without

the

rudder

of

reason

,

they

know

not

how

to

shun

the

hurricane

which

is

impending

over

the

world

.

Moreover

,

how

irrationally

they

behave

in

the

practice

of

repentance

,

it

will

be

enough

briefly

to

show

just

by

this

one

fact

,

that

they

exercise

it

even

in

the

case

of

their

good

deeds

.

They

repent

of

good

faith

,

of

love

,

of

simple

-

heartedness

,

of

patience

,

of

mercy

,

just

in

proportion

as

any

deed

prompted

by

these

feelings

has

fallen

on

thankless

soil

.

They

execrate

their

own

selves

for

having

done

good

;

and

that

species

chiefly

of

repentance

which

is

applied

to

the

best

works

they

fix

in

their

heart

,

making

it

their

care

to

remember

never

again

to

do

a

good

turn

.

On

repentance

for

evil

deeds

,

on

the

contrary

,

they

lay

lighter

stress

.

In

short

,

they

make

this

same

(

virtue

)

a

means

of

sinning

more

readily

than

a

means

of

right

-

doing

.

Notes

2
“Offensa sententiæ pejoris;” or possibly, “the miscarriage of some,” etc.
3
Thesaurus.
4
Sæculo. [Erasmus doubted the genuineness of this treatise, partly because of the comparative purity of its style. See Kaye, p. 42.]