BOOK VII. CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 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.) 2. REGENERATION. Regeneration--a new birth. It is that work of the Holy Spirit by which we experience a change of heart. It is designated in the Scriptures as being _born again_, _born from above_, being quickened, by Christ being formed in the heart, by our partaking of the Divine nature, by being risen with Christ. The efficient cause of regeneration is the Holy Ghost. The change in regeneration consists in the recovery of the moral image of God upon the human heart, whereby man is enabled to love God supremely, and serve him as our highest end, to delight in him as our chief good. The sum of the moral law, as expounded by our Savior, is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. This is the duty of every rational creature, and in order to obey it perfectly no part of our inward affection or actual service ought to be at any time or in the least degree misapplied. Regeneration consists in the principle of holiness being implanted in the heart, obtaining the ascendency, and habitually prevailing over its opposite. Although various phrases are used in the Scriptures by which to express this change, such as _putting off the old man_ and _putting on the new man_, as _walking after the Spirit_, yet it is all effected by the Word of God or the Gospel of salvation gaining an entrance into the mind through divine teaching, so as to possess the understanding, subdue the will, and control the affections. Regeneration should be distinguished from justification, although connected with it. Justification places us in a new relation to God. Regeneration places us in a new moral state. CHAPTER I. CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 1. CONVICTION FOR SIN. LUKE XV, 17. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!