8392. Repentance has value if carried out in a state of freedom, but no value if carried out in a state of compulsion. A state of compulsion is a state in which a person is sick, is depressed as a result of misfortune, or is about to die, in short any state of fear which takes away the use of sound reason. A bad person who promises during a state of compulsion to repent, and also does what is good then, lapses into his former life of evil once he comes into a state of freedom. It is different with a good person; for him such states are states of temptation in which he is victorious.
