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Bible Encyclopedias
Penance
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Lat. pcnitentia) is the outward profession of sorrow, as repentance (q.v.) is the principle and inward feeling of sorrow for sin. The word is used in a negative and a positive sense. In a negative sense penance is manifested in the neglect of ordinary attention to dress, to the care of the person, to the use of food. In a positive sense the word is used to designate the performance of some acts of ecclesiastical discipline, enjoined or authoritatively imposed either as a punishment for offenses by which the party has exposed himself to the censures of that ecclesiastical body called the Church, or as an expression of his penitence. For the sake of affording a historical treatment of the subject, we shall first consider the views and practices of the early Christian Church. (A pretty full account is given by Bingham. Origines Ecclesiae, and a more concise one by Coleman, Ancient Christianity Exemplified, and upon these we shall mainly depend in the first part of this article.)
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Penance'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/p/penance.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
