On the difference between the thing repentance and the word repentance, give attention to the words of John A. Broadus, the great American scholar and teacher already quoted: "Great difficulty has been found in translating this Greek word 'metanoein' into languages. The Syriac version, unable to give the precise meaning, falls back upon 'turn,' the same word as the Hebrew. The Latin version gives 'Exercise penitence' (poenitentiam agere). But this Latin penitence, apparently connected by etymology with _pain_, signifies grief or distress, and is rarely extended to a change of purpose, thus corresponding to the Hebrew word which we render 'repent,' but _not_ corresponding to the terms employed in Old Testament and New Testament exhortations. Hence a subtle and pernicious error, pervading the whole sphere of Latin Christianity, by which the exhortation of the New Testament is understood to be an exhortation to _grief_ over sin, as the primary and principal idea of the term. One step farther and penitence was contracted into _penance_, and associated with mediaeval ideas unknown to the New Testament, and the English Version made by Romanists now represents John and Jesus and Peter as saying (poenitentiam agere) do penance. From a late Latin compound (repoenitere) comes our English word 'repent,' which inherits the fault of the Latin; making grief the prominent element, and change of purpose secondary, if expressed at all. Thus our English word corresponds exactly to the second Greek word (metamelesthai), and to the Hebrew word rendered repent, but sadly fails to translate the exhortation of the New Testament." Repentance is not a price that the sinner pays for salvation; neither is the sorrow that leads to repentance a price that he pays for salvation. And repentance does not make the sinner a fit subject for salvation; nor does the sorrow that leads to repentance make him a fit subject for salvation. No one can see that he has violated God's just and holy law and is guilty, justly condemned, helpless, without its producing sorrow and this sorrow will lead to repentance, to an entire change of mind and purpose, to turning from sin, and, as B. H. Carroll expressed it, from all self-help ("repentance from dead works,"--Heb. 6:1) to God. Some are sometimes troubled as to how much sorrow there must be. There are different degrees of sorrow in different people, but there must be enough sorrow to lead to repentance, to an entire change of mind and purpose. "In both the Old Testament and the New Testament exhortation the element of grief for sin is left in the background, neither word directly expressing grief at all, though it must in the nature of things be present."--_Jno. A. Broadus._