On Repentance 1

Repentance is known by this class of men, which we too once were, blind, without the Lord's light, only so far as nature teaches: as a certain emotion of the mind that comes from displeasure at a worse opinion. But they are as far from its reason as they are from the author of reason himself. For reason is a thing of God; since God, the maker of all things, has provided, arranged, and ordered nothing without reason, and has willed nothing to be handled and understood without reason. So all who are ignorant of God must be ignorant of what is his, since no treasure at all lies open to strangers. And so, crossing the whole sea of life's conduct without the helm of reason, they do not know how to avoid the storm that hangs over the world. How irrationally they go astray in the practice of repentance it will be enough to show by this one point: that they apply it even to their good deeds. They repent of faith, love, simplicity, patience, mercy, whenever something has met with ingratitude. They curse themselves for having done good, and that kind of repentance above all which is applied to the best works they fix in their hearts, taking care to remember not to do any good again; while they lie more lightly under repentance for evil deeds. In short, by that same repentance they sin more easily than they do right.