is either I have prayed for that grace or I have seen that I have that desire not by a direct observation but by some other signification But it is certain no man can be sorrowful for not being sorrowful if he means the same kinde and manner of sorrow as there cannot be two where there is not one and there cannot be a reflex ray where there was not a direct But if there be such difficulty in the questions of our own sorrow it were very well that even this part of repentance should be conducted as all the other ought by the ministery of a spiritual man that it may be better instructed and prudently managed and better discerned and led on to its proper effects But when it is so help'd forward it is more then Contrition it is Confession also of which I am yet to give in special accounts §. 3. Of the natures and difference of Attrition and Contrition ALL the passions of the irascible faculty are that sorrow in some sense or other which will produce repentance Repentance cannot kill sin but by withdrawing the will from it and the will is not to be withdrawn but by complying with the contrary affection to that which before did accompany it in evil Now whatever that affection was pleasure was the product it was that which nurs'd or begot the sin Now as this pleasure might proceed from hope from possession from sense from fancy from desire and all the passions of the concupiscible appetite so when there is a displeasure conceived it will help to destroy sin from what passion soever of what faculty soever that displeasure can be produced If the displeasure at sin proceeds from any passion of the irascible faculty it is that which those Divines who understand the meaning of their own words of art commonly call Attrition that is A resolving against sin the resolution proceeding from any principle that is troublesome and dolorous and in what degree of good that is appears in the stating of this Question it is acceptable to God not an acceptable repentance for it is not so much but it is a good beginning of it an acceptable introduction to it and must in its very nature suppose a sorrow or displeasure in which although according to the quality of the motives of attrition or the disposition of the penitent there is more or less sensitive trouble respectively yet in all there must be so much sorrow or displeasure as to cause a dereliction of the sin or a resolution at least to leave it But there are some natures so ingenuous and there are some periods of repentance so perfect and some penitents have so farre proceeded in the methods of holiness and pardon that they are fallen out with sin upon the stock of some principles proceeding from the concupiscible appetite such are Love and Hope and if these have for their object God or the Divine promises it is that noblest principle of repentance or holy life which Divines call Contrition For hope cannot be without love of that which is hoped for if therefore this hope have for its object temporal purchases it is or may be a sufficient cause of leaving sin according as the power and efficacy of the hope shall be but it will not be sufficient towards pardon unless in its progression it joyn with some better principle of a spiritual grace Temporal Hope and temporal Fear may begin Gods work upon our spirits but till it be gone farther we are not in the first step of an actual state of grace But as attrition proceeds from the motives of those displeasing objects which are threatned by God to be the evil consequents of sin relating to eternity so Contrition proceeds from objects and motives of desire which are promises and benefits received already or to be received hereafter But these must also be more then temporal good things for hopes and fear relating to things though promised or threatned in holy Scripture are not sufficient incentives of a holy and acceptable repentance which because it is not a transient act but a state of holiness cannot be supported by a transitory and deficient cause but must wholly rely upon expectation and love of things that are eternal and cannot pass away Attrition begins with fear Contrition hath hope and love in it The first is a good beginning but it is no more before a man can say he is pardoned he must be gone beyond the first and arrived at this The reason is plain because although in the beginnings of Repentance there is a great fear yet the causes of this fear wear away and lessen according as the repentance goes on and are quite extinguished when the penitent hath mortified his sin and hath received the spirit of adoption the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the confidence of the sons of God but because repentance must be perfect and must be perpetual during this life it must also be maintained and supported by something that is lasting and will not wear off and that is hope and love Serm. 7. de tempor according to that of S. Austin Poenitentiam certam non facit nisi odium peccati amor Dei. Hatred of sin and the love of God make repentance firm and sure nothing else can do it but this is a work of time but such a work that without it be done our pardon is not perfect Now of this Contrition relying upon motives of pleasure and objects of amability being the noblest principle of action and made up of the love of God and holy things and holy expectations the product is quite differing from that of attrition or the imperfect repentance for that commencing upon fear or displeasure is onely apt to produce a dereliction or quitting of our sin and all the servile affections of frighted or displeased persons But this would not effect an universal obedience which onely can be effected by love and the affection of sons which is also the product of those objects which are the incentives of the divine love and is called Contrition that is a hatred against sin as being an enemy to God and all our hopes of enjoying God whom because this repenting man loves and delights in he also hates whatsoever God hates and is really griev'd for ever having offended so good a God and for having endangered his hopes of dwelling with him whom he so loves and therefore now does the quite contrary Now this is not usually the beginning of repentance but is a great progression in it and it contains in it obedience He that is attrite leaves his sin but he that is contrite obeys God and pursues the interests and acquists of vertue so that Contrition is not onely a sorrow for having offended God whom the penitent loves that is but one act or effect of Contrition but Contrition loves God and hates sin it leaves this and adheres to him abstains from evil and does good dies to sin and lives to righteousness
be the immediate natural disposition to pardon All this is the gift of God a grace obtain'd by our holy Redeemer the price of his bloud but in this the case is all one as it is in the greatest innocence of the best of men which if it be not allowed by incorporation into Christ and sanctified by faith wants its proper title to heaven and so it is with Repentance For nature cannot teach us this lesson much less make it acceptable For it depending wholly upon Gods graciousness and free forgiveness can be taught onely by him by whom it is effectual and this is conveyed to us by our blessed Lord according to that saying Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ 2. Although a habit cannot be the meritorious cause of pardoning the contrary habit yet to him that hath contracted a vicious habit it is necessary in order to his pardon that he root out that habit and obtain the contrary in some degrees of prevalency so that the scales be turned on that side where is the interest of vertue and this depends upon the evidence of the former proposition If to be an habitual sinner be more then to be guilty of those actual sins by which the habit was contracted then as it is necessary to rescind the act of sin by an act of contrition and repentance so also it is as necessary that the habit be retracted by a habit that every wound may have its balsam and every broken bone be bound up and redintegrate 3. But in the case of habitual sins the argument is more pressing For if the act which is past and remains not yet must be reversed by its contrary much rather must that be taken off which does remain which actually tempts us by which we are in a state exactly contrary to the state of grace For some seldome acts of sin and in trifling instances may stand with the state of holiness and be incident to a good man but no vicious habit can neither in a small matter nor in a great this is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a destroyer and therefore as it hath a particular obliquity so it must have a special repentance a repentance proper to it that is as an act rescinds an act so must a habit be oppos'd to a habit a single act of contrition to a single sin and therefore it must be more no less then a lasting and an habitual contrition to obtain pardon for the habit And although a habit can meritoriously remit a habit no more then an act can do an act they being both equal as to that particular yet they are also dispositions equally at least on this hand necessary for the obtaining pardon of their respective contraries 4. It is confessed on all sides that every single sin which we remember must be repented of by an act of repentance that must particularly touch that sin if we distinctly remember it it must distinctly be revok'd by a nolition a sorrow and moral revocation of it Since therefore every habit is contracted by many single actions every one of which if they were sinful must some way or other be rescinded by its contrary the rescission of those will also introduce a contrary habit and so the question will be evinc'd upon that account For if we shall think one act of sorrow can abolish many foul acts of sin we but deceive our selves we must have many for one as I have already made to appear a multitude of sighs and prayers against every foul action that we remember and then the consequent is plain that upon this reckoning when a habit is contracted the actions which were its principle cannot be rescinded but by such Repentances which will extinguish not onely the formality but the material and natural effect of that cursed production at least in very many degrees 5. A habit oppos'd to a habit hath greater effect then an act oppos'd to an act and therefore is not onely equally requisite but the more proper remedy and instance of repentance For an act of it self cannot naturally extinguish the guilt nor meritoriously obtain its pardon but neither can it destroy its natural being which was not permanent and therefore not to be wrought upon by an after act But to oppose a habit to a habit can equally in the merits of Christ be the disposition to a pardon as an act can for an act and is certainly much better then any one act can be because it includes many single acts of the same nature and it is all of them and their permanent effect and change wrought by them besides So that it is certainly the better and the surer way But now the Question is not whether it be the better way but whether it be necessary and will not the lesser way suffice To this therefore I answer that since no man can be acceptable to God as long as sin reigns in his mortal body and since either sin must reign or the Spirit of Christ must reign for a man cannot be a Neuter in this war it is necessary that sins kingdome be destroyed and broken and that Christ rule in our hearts that is it is necessary that the first and the old habits be taken off and new ones introduc'd For although the moral revocation of a single act may be a sufficient disposition to its pardon because the act was transient and unless there be a habit or something of it nothing remains yet the moral revocation of a sinful habit cannot be sufficient because there is impressed upon the soul a viciousness and contrariety to God which must be taken off or there can be no reconciliation For let it be but considered that a vicious habit is a remanent aversation from God an evil heart the evil treasure of the heart a carnall mindedness an union and principle of sins and then let it be answered whether a man who is in this state can be a friend of God or reconcil'd to him in his Son who lives in a state so contrary to his holy Spirit of Grace The guilt cannot be taken off without destroying its nature since the nature it self is a viciousness and corruption 6. Either it is necessary to extirpate and break the habit or else a man may be pardon'd while he is in love with sin For every vicious habit being radicated in the will and being a strong love inclination and adhesion to sin unless the natural being of this habit be taken off the enmity against God remains For it being a quality permanent and inherent and its nature being an aptness and easiness a desire to sin and longing after it to retract this by a moral retractation and not by a natural also is but hypocrisie for no man can say truly I hate the sin I have committed so long as the love to sin is inherent in his will and then if God should pardon such a person it would be to justifie a sinner remaining such which God equally
that there is no ground for it in Scripture nor in Antiquity nor in right Reason but it is infinitely destructive of all that wise conduct of Souls by which God would glorifie himself by the means of a free obedience and it is infinitely confuted by all those Scriptures which require our cooperation with the assistance of Gods holy Spirit For all the helps that the Spirit of Grace ministers to us is farre from doing our work for us that it onely enables us to do it for our selves and makes it reasonable that God should therefore exact it of us because we have no excuse and cannot plead disability To which purpose that discourse of S. Paul is highly convincing and demonstrative Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Phil. 2.12 13. for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to our desire so it is better read that is fear not at all but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 throughly do your duty †Magis operamini Syrus Augescite in opere Arabs for according as you desire and pray God will be present to you with his grace to bear you through all your labours and temptations And therefore our conversion and the working our salvation is sometimes ascribed to God sometimes to men * 1 Cor. 5. 7 8. 2 Tim. 2.21 Jam. 4.8 Epâ—â— 4.22 23 24. Col. 3 9 10. to God as the prime and indeficient cause to man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as to the fellow-worker with God it is the expression of S. Paul The Scripture mentions no other effect of Gods grace but such as I have now described But that Grace should do all our work alone and in an instant that which costs the Saints so much labour and fierce contentions so much sorrow and trouble so many prayers and tears so much watchfulness and caution so much fear and trembling so much patience and long-suffering so much toleration and contradiction and all this under the conduct of the Spirit in the midst of all the greatest helps of grace and the inhabitation of the holy Spirit of God that all this labour and danger should be spar'd to a vile person who hath griev'd and extinguish'd Gods holy Spirit and a way contriv'd for him that he should enjoy the pleasures of this world and the glories of the next is such a device as if it had any ground or colourable pretence for it would without the miracles of another grace destroy all piety from the face of the earth And in earnest it seems to me a strange thing that the Doctors of the Church of Rome should be so loose and remiss in this Article when they are so sierce in another that takes from such persons all manner of excuse It is I say very strange that it should be so possible and yet withall so unncessary to keep the Commandements Obj. 2. But if a single act of contrition cannot procure pardon of sins that are habitual then a wicked man that returns not till it be too late to root out vicious habits must despair of salvation I answer That such a man should doe well to ask his Physician whether it be possible for him to escape that sickness If his Physician say it is then the man need not despair for if he return to life and health it will not be too late for him by the grace of God to recover in his soul But if his Physician say he cannot recover first let the Physician be reproved for making his patient to despair I am sure he hath less reason to say he cannot live then there is to say such a person hath no promise that he shall be saved without performing the condition But the Physician if he be a wise man will say So farre as he understands by the rules of his art this man cannot recover but some secret causes of things there are or may be by which the event may be better then the most reasonable predictions of his art The same answer I desire may be taken in the Question of his soul Concerning which the Curate is to preach the rules and measures of God but not to give a resolution concerning the secret and final sentence 2. The case of the five foolish Virgins if we may construe it as it is expressed gives a sad account to such persons and unless that part of the Parable be insignificant which expresses their sorrow their diligence their desire their begging of oyle their going out to buy oyle before the Bridegroom came but after it was noised that he was coming and the insufficiency of all this we may too certainly conclude that much more then a single act of contrition and a moral revocation that is a sorrow and a nolition of the past sins may be done upon our death-bed without effect without a being accepted to pardon and salvation 3. When things are come to that sad state let the man hope as much as he can God forbid that I should be Author to him to despair The purpose of this discourse is that men in health should not put things to that desperate condition or make their hopes so little and afflicted that it may be disputed whether they be alive or no. 4. But this objection is nothing but a temptation and a snare a device to make me confess that the former arguments for fear men should despair ought to be answered and are not perfectly convincing I intended them onely for institution and instruction not to confute any person or any thing but to condemne sin and to resoue men from danger But truly I doe think they are rightly concluding as moral propositions are capable and if the consequent of them be that dying persons after a vicious life cannot hope ordinarily for pardon I am truly sorrowful that any man should fall into that sad state of things as I am really afflicted and sorrowful that any man should live vilely or perish miserably but then it ought not to be imputed to this doctrine that it makes men despair for the purpose and proper consequent of it is that men are warned to live so that they may be secur'd in their hopes that is that men give diligence to make their calling and election sure that they may take no desperate courses and fall into no desperate condition And certainly if any man preach the necessity of a good life and of actual obedience he may as well be charged to drive men to despair for the summe of the foregoing doctrine is nothing else but that it is necessary we should walk before God in all holy conversation and godliness But of this I shall give a large account in the fifth § Obj. 3. But if things be thus it is not good or safe to be a criminal Judge and all the Discipline of Warre will be unlawful and highly displeasing to God For if any one be taken in an act
Sect. 1. Of sins of Infirmity p. 449 Sect. 2 455 Sect. 3 463 Sect. 4 468 Sect. 5 How far an Unregenerate man may goe in the ways of piety and Religion 474 Sect. 6 The Character of the Regenerate estate or person 495 Sect. 7 What are properly and truly sins of Infirmity and how far they can consist with the regenerate estate 499 Sect. 8 Practical advices to be added to the foregoing considerations 515 CHAP. VIII Sect. 1. Of the effect of Repentance viz. Remission of sins p. 527 Sect. 2 Of pardon of sins committed after Baptism 532 Sect. 3 Of the difficulty of obtaining pardon The doctrine and practice of the Primitive Church in this article p. 536 Sect. 4 Of the sin against the Holy Ghost and in what sense it is or may be Unpardonable 550 Sect. 5 555 Sect. 6 The former Doctrines reduc'd to Practice 568 CHAP. IX Sect. 1. Of Ecclesiastical Penance or The fruits of Repentance p. 579 Sect. 2 Of Contrition or godly Sorrow 582 Sect. 3 Of the natures and difference of Attrition and Contrition 599 Sect. 4 Of Confession 605 Sect. 5 Attrition or the imperfect repentance though with absolution is not sufficient 638 Sect. 6 Of Penances or Satisfactions 644 Sect. 7 The former doctrine reduc'd to practise 658 Sect. 8 669 Sect. 9. 680 place this before page 1. Cor contritum et humiliatum Deus non despiciet CHAP. I. The foundation and necessity of Repentance §. 1. Of the indispensable necessity of Repentance in remedy to the unavoidable transgressing the Covenant of Works IN the first entercourse with Man God made such a Covenant as he might justly make out of his absolute dominion and such as was agreeable with those powers which he gave us and the instances in which obedience was demanded For 1. Man was made perfect in his kinde and God demanded of him perfect obedience 2. The first Covenant was the Covenant of Works that is there was nothing in it but Man was to obey or die but God laid but one command upon him that we finde the Covenant was instanced but in one precept In that he fail'd and therefore he was lost There was here no remedy no second thoughts no amends to be made But because much was not required of him and the Commandement was very easie and he had strengths more then enough to keep it therefore he had no cause to complain God might and did exact at first the Covenant of Works because it was at first infinitely tolerable But From this time forward this Covenant began to be hard and by degrees became impossible not onely because mans fortune was broken and his spirit troubled and his passions disordered and vext by his calamity and his sin but because man upon the birth of children and the increase of the world contracted new relations and consequently had new duties and obligations and men hindred one another and their faculties by many means became disorder'd and lessen'd in their abilities and their will becoming perverse they first were unwilling and then unable by superinducing dispositions and habits contrary to their duty However because there was a necessity that man should be tied to more duty God did in the several periods of the world multiply Commandements first to Noah then to Abraham and then to his posterity and by this time they were very many And still God held over mans head the Covenant of Works Upon the pressure of this Covenant all the world did complain Tanta mandata sunt ut impossbile sit servari ea In cap. 3. Gal. said S. Ambrose the Commandements were so many and great that it was impossible they should be kept For at first there were no promises at all of any good nothing but a threatning of evil to the transgressors and after a long time they were entertain'd but with the promise of temporal good things which to some men were perform'd by the pleasures and rewards of sin and then there being a great imperfection in the nature of man it could not be that man should remain innocent and for repentance in this Covenant there was no regard or provisions made But I said The Covenant of Works was still kept on foot How justly will appear in the sequel but the reasonableness of it was in this that men living in a state of awfulness might be under a pedagogy or severe institution restraining their loosenesses recollecting their inadvertencies uniting their distractions For the world was not then prepar'd by spirituall usages and dispositions to be governed by love and an easie yoke but by threatnings and severities And this is the account S. Paul gives of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Law was a Schoolmaster Gal. 3.24 that is had a temporary authority serving to other ends with no finall concluding power It could chastise and threaten but it could not condemn it had not power of eternall life and death that was given by other measures But because the world was wilde and barbarous good men were few the bad potent and innumerable and sin was conducted and help'd forward by pleasure and impunity it was necessary that God should superinduce a law and shew them the rod and affright and check their confidences lest the world it self should perish by dissolution The law of Moses was still a part of the Covenant of Works Some little it had of repentance Sacrifice and expiations were appointed for small sins but nothing at all for greater Every great sin brought death infallibly And as it had a little image of Repentance so it had something of Promises to be as a grace and auxiliary to set forward obedience But this would not do it The promises were temporall and that could not secure obedience in great instances and there being for them no remedy appointed by repentance the law could not justifie it did not promise life Eternall nor give sufficient security against the Temporall onely it was brought in as a pedagogy for the present necessity But this pedagogy or institution was also a manuduction to the Gospel For they were used to severe laws that they might the more readily entertain the holy precepts of the Gospel to which eternally they would have shut their ears unless they had had some preparatory institution of severity and fear And therefore S. Paul also calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pedagogy or institution leading unto Christ For it was this which made the world of the Godly long for Christ as having commission to open the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the hidden mystery of Justification by Faith and Repentance For the law called for exact obedience but ministred no grace but that of fear which was not enough to the performance or the engagement of exact obedience All therefore were here convinced of sin but by this Covenant they had no hopes and therefore were to expect relief from another and a better Gal. 3.22 according to that saying of S. Paul The
what comes between And as many men of the Roman perswasion will rather choose Purgatory then suffer here an inconsiderable penance or do those little services which themselves think will prevent it so they choose venial sins and hug the pleasures of trifles warming themselves at phantastick fires and dancing in the light of the glo-worms and they love them so well that rather then quit those little things they will suffer the intolerable pains of a temporary Hell for so they believe which is the testimony of a great evil and a mighty danger for it gives testimony that little sins can be beloved passionately and therefore can minister such a delight as is thought a price great enough to pay for the sufferance of temporal evils and Purgatory it self But the evil is worse yet when it is reduc'd to practise For in the decision of very many questions the answer is It is a venial sin that is though it be a sin yet there is in it no danger of losing the favour of God by that but you may do it and you may do it again a thousand thousand times and all the venial sins of the world put together can never do what one mortal sin can that is make God to be your enemy Lib. 1. de amiss gratiae cap. 13. §. alterum est So Bellarmine expresly affirms But because there are many Doctors who write Cases of Conscience and there is no measure to limit the parts of this distinction for that which is not at all cannot be measured the Doctors differ infinitely in their sentences some calling that Mortal which others call Venial as you may see in the little Summaries of Navar and Emanuel Sà the poor souls of the Laity and the vulgar Clergy who believe what is told them by the Authors or Confessors they choose to follow must needs be in infinite danger and the whole body of Practical Divinity in which the life of Religion and of all our hopes depends shall be rendred dangerous and uncertain and their confidence shall betray them unto death To bring relief to this state of evil and to establish aright the proper grounds and measures of Repentance I shall first account concerning the difference of sins and by what measures they are so differenc'd 2. That all sins are of their own nature punishable as God please even with the highest expressions of his anger 3. By what Repentance they are cur'd and pardon'd respectively §. 2. Of the difference of sins and their measures 1. SIns are not equal but greater or less in their principle as well as in their event It was one of the errours of Jovinian which he learned from the Schools of the Stoicks that all sins are alike grievous Nam dicunt esse pares res Horat. Serm. l. 1. Sat. 3. Furta latrociniis magnis parva minantur Falce recisuros simili se si sibi regnum Permittant homines For they supposed an absolute irresistible Fate to be the cause of all things and therefore what was equally necessary was equally culpable that is not at all and where men have no power of choice or which is all one that it be necessary that they choose what they do there can be no such thing as Laws or sins against them To which they adding that all evils are indifferent and the event of things be it good or bad had no influence upon the felicity or infelicity of man they could neither be differenc'd by their cause nor by their effect the first being necessary and the latter indifferent * Against this I shall not need to oppose many Arguments for though this follows most certainly from their doctrine who teach an irresistible Decree of God to be the cause of all things actions yet they that own the doctrine disavow the consequent and in that are good Christians but ill Logicians But the Article is sufficiently cleared by the words of our B. Lord in the case of Judas whose sin as Christ told to Pilate was the greater because he had not power over him but by special concession Mat. 23.24 Luk. 6.41 in the case of the servant that knows his Masters will and does it not in the several condemnations of the degrees and expressions of anger in the instances of Racha and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Ira festuca est odium verò trabs Aug. Thou vain man or Thou fool by this comparing some sins to gnats and some to Camels and in proportion to these there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Luke many stripes a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. James a greater condemnation * Ira festuca est odium verò trabs Aug. Thus to rob a Church is a greater sin then to rob a Thief To strike a Father is a higher impiety then to resist a Tutor To oppress a Widow is clamorous and calls aloud for vengeance when a less repentance wil vote down the whispering murmurs of a trifling injury done to a fortune that is not sensible of smaller diminutions Nec vincit ratio tantundem ut peccet idémque Qui teneros caules alieni fregerit horti Vt qui nocturnus Divûm sacra legerit He is a greater criminal that steals the Chalice from a Church then he that takes a few Coleworts or robs a garden of Cucumers But this distinction and difference is by something that is extrinsecal to the action the greatness of the mischief or the dignity of the person according to that Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se Crimen habet quanto major qui peccat habetur 2. But this when it is reduc'd to its proper cause is because such greater sins are complicated they are commonly two or three sins wrapt together as the unchastity of a Priest is uncleanness and scandal too Adultery is worse then Fornication because it is unchastity and injustice and by the fearful consequents of it is mischievous and uncharitable Et quas Euphrates quas mihi misit Orontes Me capiant Nolo furta pudica thori So Sacrilege is theft and impiety And Apicius killing himself when he suppos'd his estate would not maintain his luxury was not onely a self-murtherer but a gluttonous person in his death Nil est Apici tibi gulosius factum Lib. 3.22 Epign Mart. So that the greatness of sins is in most instances by extension and accumulation that as he is a greater sinner who sins often in the same instance then he that sins seldome so is he who sins such sins as are complicated and intangled like the twinings of combining Serpents And this appears to be so because if we take single sins as uncleanness and theft no man can tell which is the greater sin neither can they be differenc'd but by something that is besides the nature of the action it self A thought of theft and an unclean thought have nothing by which they can excel each other but when you clothe them
pleasure and displeasure all passions are reducible as all colours are to black and white So that though in all repentances there is not in every person felt that sharpness of sensitive compunction and sorrow that is usuall in sad accidents of the world yet if the sorrow be upon the intellectual account though it be not much perceived by inward sharpnesses but chiefly by dereliction and leaving of the sin it is that sorrow which is possible and in our power and that which is necessary to repentance For in all inquiries concerning penitential sorrow if we will avoid scruple and vexatious fancies we must be careful not to account of our sorrow by the measures of sense but of religion David grieved more for the sickness of his child and the rebellion of his son so far as appears in the story and the Prophet Jeremy in behalf of the Jews for the death of their glorious Prince Josiah and S. Paula Romana at the death of her children were more passionate and sensibly afflicted then for their sins against God that is they felt more sensitive trouble in that then this and yet their repentances were not to be reproved because our penitential sorrow is from another cause and seated in other faculties and fixed upon differing objects and works in other manners and hath a divers signification and is fitted to other purposes and therefore is wholly of another nature It is a displeasure against sin which must be expressed by praying against it and fighting against it but all other expressions are extrinsecal to it and accidental and are no parts of it because they cannot be under a command as all the parts and necessary actions of repentance are most certainly Indeed some persons can command their tears so Gellia in the Epigram Si quis adest jussae prosiliunt lachrymae she could cry when company was there to observe her weeping for her Father and so can some Orators and many Hypocrites and there are some that can suppress their tears by art and resolution so Vlysses did when he saw his wife weep he pitied her but Intra palpebras ceu cornu immota tenebat Lumina vel ferrum lachrymas astúque premebat he kept his tears within his eye-lids as if they had been in a phial which he could pour forth or keep shut at his pleasure But although some can doe this at pleasure yet all cannot And therefore S. John Climacus speaks of certain penitents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who because they could not weep expressed their Repentance by beating their breasts and yet if all men could weep when they list yet they may weep and not be sorrowful and though they can command tears yet sorrow is no more to be commanded then hunger and therefore is not a part or necessary duty of Repentance when sorrow is taken for a sensitive trouble But yet there is something of this also to be added to our duty If our constitution be such as to be apt to weep and sensitively troubled upon other intellectuall apprehensions of differing objects unlesse also they finde the same effect in their Repentances there will be some cause to suspect that their hatred of sin and value of obedience and its rewards are not so great as they ought to be The Masters of spiritual life give this rule Sciat se culpabiliter durum qui deflet damna temporis vel mortem amici dolorem verò pro peccatis lachrymis non ostendit He that weeps for temporall losses and does not in the same manner express his sorrow for his sins is culpably obdurate which proposition though piously intended is not true For tears are emanations of a sensitive trouble or motion of the heart and not properly subject to the understanding and therefore a man may innocently weep for the death of his friend and yet shed no tears when he hath told a lie and still be in that state of sorrow and displeasure that he had rather die himself then choose to tell another lie Therefore the rule onely hath some proportions of probability in the effect of several intellectual apprehensions As he that is apt to weep when he hath done an unhandsome action to his friend who yet will never punish him and is not apt to express his sorrow in the same manner when he hath offended God I say he may suspect his sorrow not to be so great or so real but yet abstractedly from this circumstance to weep or not to weep is nothing to the duty of Repentance save onely that it is that ordinary signe by which some men express some sort of sorrow And therefore I understand not the meaning of that prayer of S. Austin Domine da gratiam lachrymarum Lord give me the grace of tears for tears are no duty and the greatest sorrow oftentimes is the driest and excepting that there is some sweetness and ease in shedding tears and that they accompany a soft and a contemplative person an easie and a good nature and such as is apt for religious impressions I know no use of them but to signifie in an apt and a disposed nature what kinde of apprehensions and trouble there is within For weeping upon the presence of secular troubles is more ready and easie because it is an effect symbolical and of the same nature with its proper cause But when there is a spiritual cause although its proper effect may be greater and more effective of better purposes yet unless by the intermixture of some material and natural cause it be more apportion'd to a material and natural product it is not to be charged with it or expected from it Sin is a spiritual evil and tears is the signe of a natural or physical sorrow Smart and sickness and labour are natural or physical evils and hatred and nolition is a spiritual or intellectual effect Now as every labour and every smart is not to be hated or rejected but sometimes chosen by the understanding when it is mingled with a good that pleases the understanding and is eligible upon the accounts of reason So neither can every sin which is the intellectual evil be productive of tears or sensitive sorrow unless it be mingled with something which the sense and affections that is which the lower man hates and which will properly afflict him such as are fear or pain or danger or disgrace or loss The sensitive sorrow therefore which is usually seen in new penitents is upon the account of those horrible apprehensions which are declared in holy Scriptures to be the consequent of sins but if we shall so preach Repentance as to warrant a freedome and a perfect escape instantly from all significations of the wrath of God and all dangers for the future upon the past and present account I know not upon what reckoning he that truly leaves his sin can be commanded to be sorrowful and if he were commanded how he can possibly obey But when Repentance hath had its growth and
tied to a publick Exomologesis or Repentance in the Church who by confession of their sins acknowledged their error and entred into the state of repentance and by their being separate from the participation and communion of the mysteries were declared unworthy of a communion with Christ and a participation of his promises till by repentance and the fruits worthy of it they were adjudged capable of Gods pardon At the first this was as the nature of the thing exacted it in case of publick and notorious crimes such which had done injury and wrought publick scandal and so far was necessary that the Church should be repaired if she have been injured if publick satisfaction be demanded it must be done if private be required onely then that is sufficient though in case of notorious crimes it were very well if the penitent would make his repentance as exemplary as Modesty and his own and the publick circumstances can permit In pursuance of this in the Primitive Church the Bishop and whom he deputed did minister to these publick satisfactions and amends which custome of theirs admitted of variety and change according as new scandals or new necessities did arise For though by the nature of the thing they onely could be necessarily and essentially obliged who had done publick and notorious offences yet some observing the advantages of that way of repentance the prayers of the Church the tears of the Bishop the compassion of the faithful the joy of absolution and reconciliation did come in voluntarily and to doe that by choice which the notorious criminals were to do of necessity Then the Priests which the penitents had chosen did publish or enjoyn them to publish their sins in the face of the Church but this grew into lerable and was left off because it grew to be a matter of accusation before the criminal Judge and of upbraiding in private conversation and of confidence to them that sought for occasion and hardness of heart and face and therefore they appointed one onely Priest to hear the cases and receive the addresses of the penitents and he did publish the sins of them that came onely in general and by the publication of their penances and their separation from the mysteries and this also changed into the more private and by several steps of progression dwindled away into private repentance towards men that is confession to a Priest in private and private satisfactions or amends and fruits of repentance and now Auricular Confession is nothing else but the publick Exomologesis or Repentance Ecclesiastical reduced to ashes it is the relicks of that excellent Discipline which was in some cases necessary as I have declared and in very many cases useful until by the dissolution of manners and the extinction of charity it became unsufferable and a bigger scandal then those which it did intend to remedy The result is this That to enumerate our sins before the Holy man that ministers in holy things that is Confession to a Priest is not virtually included in the duty of Contrition for it not being necessary by the nature of the thing nor the Divine Commandement is not necessary absolutely and properly in order to pardon and therefore is no part of Contrition which without this may be a sufficient disposition towards pardon unless by accident as in the case of scandal the criminal come to be obliged Onely this one advantage is to be made of their doctrine who speak otherwise in this article The Divines in the Councel of Trent * Sess 14. c. 4. affirm that they that are contrite are reconciled to God before they receive the Sacrament of penance as they use to speak that is before Priestly absolution If then a man can be contrite before the Priest absolves him as their saying supposes and as it is certain they may and if the desire of absolution be as they say included in Contrition and consequently that nothing is wanting to obtain pardon to the penitent even before the Priest absolves him it follows that the Priests absolution following this perfect disposition and this actual pardon can effect nothing really the man is pardon'd before-hand and therefore his absolution is onely declarative God pardons the man and the Priest by his office is to tell him so when he sees cause for it and observes the conditions completed Indeed if absolution by the Minister of the Church were necessary then to desire it also would be necessary and an act of duty and obedience but then if the desire in case it were necessary to desire it would make Contrition to be complete and perfect and if perfect contrition does actually procure a pardon then the Priestly absolution is onely a solemn and legal publication of Gods pardon already actually past in the Court of heaven For an effect cannot proceed from causes which are not yet in being and therefore the pardon of the sins for which the penitent is contrite cannot come from the Priests ministration which is not in some cases to be obtain'd but desir'd only and afterwards when it can be obtain'd comes when the work is done God it may be accepts the desire but the Priests ministery afterwards is not cannot be the cause why God did accept of that desire because the desire is accepted before the absolution is in being But now although this cannot be a necessary duty for the reasons before reckon'd because the Priest is not the injur'd person and therefore cannot have the power of giving pardon properly and sufficiently and effectively and confession is not an amends to him and the duty it self of Confession is not an enumeration of particulars but a condemnation of the sin which is an humiliation before the offended party yet confession to a Priest the minister of pardon and reconciliation the Curate of souls and the Guide of Consciences is of so great use and benefit to all that are heavy laden with their sins that they who carelesly and causlesly neglect it are neither lovers of the peace of consciences nor are careful for the advantages of their souls For the publication of our sins to the minister of holy things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Basil Regul brev 229. is just like the manifestation of the diseases of our body to the Physitian for God hath appointed them as spiritual Physicians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to heal sinners by the antidote of repentance said the Fathers in the first Roman Councel under Simplicius Their office is to comfort the comfortless to instruct the ignorant to reduce the wanderers to restore them that are overtaken in a fault to reconcile the penitent to strengthen the weak and to incourage their labours to advise remedies against sins and to separate the vile from the precious to drive scandals far from the Church and as much as may be to secure the innocent lambs from the pollutions of the infected Now in all these regards the penitent may have advantages from
to the necessity of holy life it is a device onely to advance the Priests office and to depress the necessity of holy dispositions it is a trick to make the graces of Gods holy Spirit to be bought and sold and that a man may at a price become holy in an instant just as if a Teacher of Musick should undertake to convey skill to his Scholar and sell the art and transmit it in an hour it is a device to make dispositions by art and in effect requires little or nothing of duty to God so they pay regard to the Priest But I shall need to oppose no more against it but those excellent words and pious meditation of Salvian Non levi agendum est contritione ut debita illa redimantur quibus mors aeterna debetur nec transitoriâ opus est satisfactione pro malis illis propter quae paratus est ignis aeternus It is not a light contrition by which those debts can be redeem'd to which eternal death is due neither can a transitory satisfaction serve for those evils for which God hath prepared the vengeance of eternal fire §. 6. Of Penances or Satisfactions IN the Primitive Church the word Satisfaction was the whole word for all the parts and exercises of repentance according to those words of Lactantius Poenitentiam proposuit ut si peccata nostra confessi Deo satisfecerimus veniam consequamur He propounded repentance that if we confessing our sins to God make amends or satisfaction we may obtain pardon Where it is evident that Satisfaction does not signify in the modern sense of the word a full payment to the Divine Justice but by the exercises of repentance a deprecation of our fault and a begging pardon Satisfaction and pardon are not consistent if satisfaction signify rigorously When the whole debt is paid there is nothing to be forgiven The Bishops and Priests in the Primitive Church would never give pardon till their satisfactions were performed To confess their sins to be sorrowful for them to express their sorrow to punish the guilty person to doe actions contrary to their former sins this was their amends or Satisfaction and this ought to be ours So we sinde the word used in best Classick Authors So Plautus brings in Alomena angry with Amphitruo Quin ego illum aut deseram Aut satisfaciat mihi atque adjuret insuper Nolle esse dicta quae in me insontem protulit i.e. I will leave him unless he give me satisfaction and swear that he wishes that to be unsaid which he spake against my innocence for that was the form of giving satisfaction to wish it undone or unspoken and to adde an oath that they beleeve the person did not deserve that wrong as we finde it in Terence Adelph Ego vestra haec novi nollem factum jusjurandum dabitur esse te indignum injuriâ hâc Concerning which who please to see more testimonies of the true sense and use of the word Satisfactions may please to look upon Lambinus in Plauti Amphiâ—r and Laevinus Torrentius upon Suetonius in Julio Exomologesis or Confession was the word which as I noted formerly was of most frequent use in the Church Si de exomologesi retractas gehennam in corde considera quam tibi exomologesis extinguet He that retracts his sins by confessing and condemning them extinguishes the flames of hell De poenit c. 12. So Tertullian The same with that of S. Cyprian Deo patri misericordi precibus operibus suis satisfacere possunt They may satisfy God our Father and merciful by prayers and good works that is they may by these deprecate their fault and obtain mercy and pardon for their sins Peccatum suum satisfactione humili simplici confitentes De lapsis So Cyprian confessing their sins with humble and simple satisfaction plainly intimating that Confession or Exomologesis was the same with that which they called Satisfaction And both of them were nothing but the publick exercise of repentance according to the present usages of their Churches as appears evidently in those words of Gennadius L. de dogm Eccles Poenitentiae satisfactionem esse causas peccatorum exscindere nec eorum suggestionibus aditum indulgere To cut off the causes of sins and no more to entertain their whispers and temptations is the satisfaction of repentance and like this is that of Lactantius Potest reduci liberari si eum poeniteat actorum ad meliora conversus satisfaciat Deo The sinner may be brought back and freed if he repents of what is done and satisfies or makes amends to God by being turned to better courses And the whole process of this is well described by Tertullian De poenit c. 9. Exomologesis est qua delictum Demino nostrum confitemur non quidem ut ignaro sed quatenus satisfactio confessione disponitur confessione poenitentia nascitur poenitentiâ Deus mitigatur we must confess our sins to God not as if he did not know them already but because our satisfaction is dispos'd and order'd by confession by confession our repentance hath birth and production and by repentance God is appeased Things being thus we need not immerge our selves in the trifling controversies of our later Schools about the just value of every work and how much every penance weighs and whether God is so satisfied with our penal works that in justice he must take off so much as we put on and is tied also to take our accounts Certain it is if God should weigh our sins with the same value as we weigh our own good works all our actions and sufferings would be found infinitely too light in the ballance Therefore it were better that we should doe what we can and humbly begge of God to weigh them both with vast allowances of mercy All that we can doe is to be sorrowful for our sins and to leave them Tertul. de poenit and to endevour to obey God in the time to follow and to take care ut aliquo actu administretur poenitentia that our repentance be exercised with certain acts proper to it Of which these are usually reckoned as the principle 74. Sorrow and mourning So S. Cyprian Serm. de lapsis Satisfactionibus lamentationibus justis peccata redimuntur Our sins are redeem'd or wash'd off by the satisfactions of just sorrow or mourning And Pacianus gives the same advice Paraen ad Poenit. Behold I promise that if you return to your Father by a true satisfaction wandring no more adding nothing to your former sins and saying something humble and mournful We have sinn'd in thy sight O Father we are not worthy of the name of sons presently the unclean beast shall depart from thee and thou shalt no longer be fed with the filthy nourishment of husks And S. Hom. in die Ciner Maximus cals this mourning and weeping for our sins moestam poenitentiae satisfactionem the sorrowful
answered 272 51 Objections against the repentance of Clinicks 281 57. 277 56. 284 64 Heathens newly baptised if they die immediately need not repentance 284 64 The objection concerning the thief on the Cross answered 288 289 Testimonies of the Ancients against death bed repentance 292 66 The manner of repentance in habitual sinners who begin repentance betimes 305 1 The manner of repentance which habitual sins must be cured by in them who return not till old age 317 12 The usage of sinners who repent not till their death-bed 325 25 Considerations shewing how dangerous it is to delay repentance 325 25 Considerations to be opposed against the despair of penitent Clinicks 329 29 What hopes penitent Clinicks have taken out of the writings of the Fathers of the Church 330 30 The manner how the ancient Church treated penitent Clinicks 3â—7 5 The particular acts and parts of repentance that are fittest for a dying man 339 32 The penitent in the opinion of the Jewish Doctors preferred above the just and innocent 530 5 The practice of the Primitive Fathers about penitent Clinicks 539 the practice of the ancient Fathers excluding from repentance murderers adulterers and idolaters 540 Penitential sorrow is rather in the understanding then the affections 586 12 penitential sorrow is not to be estimated by the measures of sense 588 15 590 17 a double solemne imposition of hands in repentance 633 as our repentance is so is our pardon 649 a man must not judge of his repentance by his tears nor by any one manner of expression 658 1 He that suspects his repentance should use that suspicion as a means to improve his repentance 660 Meditations that will dispose the heart to repentance ibid. No man can be said truly to have grieved for sins which at any time after he remembers with pleasure 662 7 the repentance of Clinicks 667 13 sorrow for sin is but a sign or instrument of repentance 668 14 Restitution considered as a part of repentance 656 84 Romans 7.14 exp 261 40 6.7 exp 266 44 7.7 exp 311 5 5.12 exp 363 7 5.13 14. exp 365 11 7.23 exp 400 50 455 8 7.15 19. exp 454 6 456 9 S. Aug. restrained the words of the Apostle R m 7.15 to the matter of desires and concupiscence and excluded all evil actions from the meaning of that text 463 17 reasons against the interpretation of that Father 465 18 7.9 exp 468 23 8.7 exp 478 29 7.22 23. exp 480 29 5.10 exp 576 77 Revelation 19.9 exp 284 62 Religion if it be seated onely in the understanding not accepted to salvation 476 28 S SAcrament Church of God used to deny the Sacrament to no dying penitent that desired it 330 29 Of confeshon to a Minister in preparation to the Sacrament 678 25 1 Sam 2.25 exp 561 51 Satisfaction what it signified in the sense of the Ancients 644 72 606 34 645 the Ancients did not beleeve satisfactions simply necessary to the procuring of pardon from God 651 78 Sins are not equal 104 5 How they are made greater or less ibid. No sin is ven al 110 9 the smallest sins are destructive of our friendship with God 111 12 the Doctors of the Roman Church doe not rightly define venial sins ibid. the smallest is against charity 123 24 and is turning from God 125 26 the smaller the sin the less excusable if done with observation 127 27 Venial sins distinguished into such as are venial by the imperfection of the agent by the smalness of the matter or venial in the whole kinde 128 28 that no sins are venial in their nature or whole kinde 129 31 sins differ in degree but not in their essential order to punishment 132 33 No sins are venial but by repentance 134 34 The absurdity of the Romane doctrines concerning venial sins 138 39 the inconveniences following from the doctrine of venial sins 137 35 c. Among the ancients the distinction of sins into mortal and venial means not a distinction of kinde but degree 142 44 some sins destroy not holiness 144 45 the distinction of sins into mortal and venial cannot have influence on us to any good purposes 145 46 What sins are venial cannot be known to us 147 47 we should have judged some sins venial if it had not been otherwise revealed in Scripture 148 48 sins that we account in their nature venial may by their multitude become damnable 152 52 the means of expiating venial sins appointed by some Romane Doctors 157 57 Whether every single deliberate act of sin put the sinner out of Gods favour 182 22 single acts of sin without a habit give a denomination 185 25 sins are damnable that cannot be habitual 184 24 single acts of mortal sin displease God and are forbidden but are not a state of death 188 29 what repentance single acts of sin require 198 43 how a single act of sin sometimes is habitual 202 49 sin often in Scripture used for the punishment of sin 368 15 leaving of fin the best sign of hatred of it 603 7 How sin can be consistent with the regenerate estate 485 33 he that leaves a sin out of fear may be accepted 491 the violence of a temptation doth not in the whole excuse sin 511 58 Of the pardon of sins after Baptism 532 7 some sins styled unpardonable but in a limited sense 542 21 God punishes not one sin with another 682 One sin may cause or procure another ibid. Sin Original cap 6 362 whether we from Adam derive Original ignorance 373 22 Adams sin made us not heirs of damnation 375 22 nor makes us necessarily vicious 383 37 Adams sin did not corrupt our nature by a physical efficiency 383 39 nor because we were in the loyns of Adam 384 40 nor because of the will and decree of God 386 41 the principles by which sin pollutes the manners of men 413 66 Sins of Infirmity cap. 7 per tot That which some men call a state of infirmity is a state of sin and death 473 25 Sinner how every sinner is Gods enemy 81.11 God is ready to forgive all and the greatest sinners 530. Sorrow as a fruit of repentance 647 Rules concerning sorrow that is a part of repentance 663 A caution to those that minister comfort to such as are afflicted with immoderate sorrow for their sins 665 10 sorrow for sin is but a sign or instrument of repentance 668 14 cautions concerning the measures of this sorrow 686 30 penitential sorrow is rather in the understanding then the affections 586 12 Scripture the manner of it is to include the consequents in the antecedents 284 62 Spirit the rule of the spirit in us 481 to have received the spirit is not an inseparable propriety of the regenerate 493 39 what the spirit of God doth in us 494 the regenerate man hath not onely received the spirit of God but is wholly led by him 498 42 Supererogation what it is 49 17 T TEars A man by them must not judge of his repentance nor by any other one way of expression 658 1 Temptation every temptation to sin if overcome increases not the reward 234 7 No man is tempted of God 437 10 the violence of a temptation doth not in the whole excuse sin 511 58 Thief on the Cross why his repentance was accepted 289 65 1 Timoth. 5.22 exp 548 31 Titus 3.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exp 477 28 V VErtue The difference of vertue is in relation to their objects 206 56 Theology findeth a medium between vertue and vice 268 47 Vnderstanding Religion if it be seated onely in the understanding not accepted to salvation 476 28 Voluntary whether disobedience that is voluntary in the cause but not in the effect is to be punished 388 43 389 390 unwilingness unto sin no sign of regeneration 486 W WIll Of Freewill 418 a mans will hath no infirmity 512 60 the will is not moved necessarily by the understanding ibid. Works covenant of works when it began 1. reasons shewing the justice of that dispensation of Gods beginning his entercourse with man by the covenant of works 6. the Law of works imposed on Adam only 39 1 Y YOung Sins of infirmity not accounted to young men as to others 510 57 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 178 14 The End