our Saviour Jesus Christ But Alas the contrary is too true and this crime tho' a thousand times greater yet is much more common amongst Christians then that of Paricide They have an horror and with good reason to deprive those of breath from whom they receiv'd their life yet they are not apprehensive to Murder and Crucifie again as much as in them lies our Saviour Christ by receiving him into an impure perfidious Breast Nature hath imprinted in them a profound and lasting respect for those from whom they have received only a Mortal and fading life But they easily forget the Reverence they owe to Jesus Christ notwithstanding he nourisheth them with his own substance his pretious Blood and offers them by his presence a Spiritual and immortal and a pledge of everlasting life O God Theotime is it possible then that there should be found Souls capable of so black a deed so horrible a Crime Surely they are only those who either have no Faith or such as have never considered the enormity of the Sin who can commit it for he must surpass the very Devils in malice who falls into such a Sin if he have but the least knowledge how grievous and great it is and what dreadfull consequences do follow from it Two points I therefore design to discourse of in this place I will set forth the enormity of this Sin from three heads 1. From that remarkable saying of our Lord himself Mat. 7.6 Do not give that which is Holy unto Dogs If it be a great Sacrilege to give to Dogs things consecrated to God what Crime must it needs be to give the Holy of Holies unto a Soul an enemy of God more impure and filthy then the very Dogs and what Sin must it be in those to receive the Body of our Lord who being no better then Dogs as it is said in the Apocalypse and under this notion excluded from the Sanctuary Foris canes impudici yet have the impudence to eat the Bread of Children the Bread of the very Angels themselves Ecce panis Angelorum vere panis filioram non mittendus canibus 2. From that so famed Doctrine and signal admonition of St. Paul 1. Cor. 11.27 Whosoever ones the Bread and drinks the Chalice of our Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of our Lord. This Sentence is a Thunder which ought to terrify all those who are so miserably unfortumate as to Communicate in Mortal Sin For he saith they are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Son of God that is they despise and treat in juriously this adorable Body and Blood whilst they receive it in a profane place in the Temple of Satan in a Soul polluted with Mortal Sin. It is particularly verified in this occasion what St. Paul relates elsewhere Heb. 6.6 this is to Crucisy Jesus Christ again to scoff at him to trample him under ones feet and contemn his Blood in that very action by which one ought to sanctify his holy name Can we think of these things without trembling and horror We never call to mind without a certain horror and eversion the inhumane methods the Jews and Soldiets a sed against our Saviour Jesus Christ in the time of his bitter Passion and can we be so insensible in our own case as not to detest those affronts we offer him even worse then the Jews did whilst we unworthily receive him For besides that they Luo. 23.34 knew not what they did we know and confess him to be the Son of God whom we offend St. Chrisostome explaining these words of St. Paul. 1. Cor. 11. Whosoever shall eat the Bread or drink the Cup of our Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of our Lord. Why so suith this Holy Father hom 27. and his answer is because he hath spilt the Blood and by that action he hath not offered a Sacrifice but committed a Murther for he who approaches unworthily to this Divine Table and receives no Fruit from thence resembles them who formerly pierced the Body of our Lord not to drink but to shed his Blood. And hom 60. Consider saith he what just Indignation you conceive against him who betrayed Jesus Christ and against those who Crucified him therefore consider lest you also be equally culpable and guilty of the Body and Blood of the Son of God. It is true they kill'd his most Sacred Body but you after so many and so often repeated benefits bestowed upon you receive him into an unclean and polluted Soul. St. Cyprian before him had said that unworthy Communicants offer Violence to the Body of Jesus Christ and that this sin is a more grievous offence in the sight of God then it is for a Christian to abjure him in the presence of Infidels The Third from hence which you ought never to forget that the sin of an unworthy Communion is the sin of Judas It was he who first committed it and those who fall into it since imitate his Example and become his Disciples They receive him as he did in a Criminall and guilty Soul They betray him not indeed to the Jews but which is worse to the Devil who inhabits in them What punishment ought they not to dread from such an Enormous Crime Ought they not to remember how that perfidious Apostle was immediately possessed by the Devil in the moment that be received Jesus Christ for since they imitate him in his Sin they cannot avoid being partaker of his punishment as we are about to shew you The dammages which follow from an unworthy Communion SUch a mischievous cause cannot but produce most fatal effects The death of the Soul which infallibly it brings with it is the first evil which follows from it Mors est malis vita bonis This death is an encrease or extension of that other wherein the Soul lay buried before by the Sin in which he receiv'd the Sacrament It is a further banishment from the grace of God and a further disheartning and exposing her to the Power of Satan From this Death follow other most dismal lamentable effects as the fall into new Sins the blindness of Spirit the encrease of vices and passions which makes a Soul to groan under the Yoke of her Captivity and hinder her from returning again to God by true Repentance The Prophet hath comprised these effects in few words Psalm 68.23 when speaking against the enemies of Jesus Christ he prays to God that their Table may prove a snare to them and an occasion of scandal That they may become blind so that they may not see their own good That they may always stoop under the Yoke of a miserable Servitude If those who persecuted Jesus Christ without knowing him are punished so severely what ought not Christians to expect when they treat him so ill in his own Person whom they know Histories are full of examples of divers punishments which God hath laid upon this so detestabie a
Confession or Confess but in haste without necessary dispositions or having time to Confess defer it to the last extremity of their sickness being more taken up with the grief and apprehension of death then moved with the thought of their Salvation and Conversion Or else also those who confess themselves in due time yet have no true sorrow for their sins but are sorry rather by reason of the Evils that surround them then upon any motive of the Fear or Love of God these also altho' they have all the exteriour marks of true Penitents as having duly performed all the exteriour acts of Penance which makes us believe that they are truly Converted and departed in the grace of God Yet in effect they shall be damned for ever In fine Theotime it cannot be denied but that there are a great number of Christians Damned It is also most certain that this doth not happen but because they have not done true Penance for their Sins before their death and why have they not done it Except it were that death suprized them in the state of sin and did not give them time or means to do Penance or at least perform it as they ought But how happened it that they were so surprized unless it were that by the just judgment of God those menaces were executed against them wherewith he so often threatned to punish their hard and obdurate hearts by suprising them when they thought the least of it and abandoning them at the hour of their death O Theotime they must be extremely deaf and in a deep Lethargy who are not awakened with these Thunder-claps and they must be very infensible not to fear the dreadfull effects of these menaces of Almighty God which happen dayly to many of the World. Be afraid then and apprehend the severity of all misfortunes that may attend you That which happens unto many may perhaps happen unto you and if it should befall you in what condition would you remain for all Eternity CHAP. VII The Conclusion of this Exhortation AS this great Exhortation comes from God himself it is proper also that he himself should give us the Conclusion and that we should learn from him what we ought to conclude and perform after we have heard his voice that calls us to our Salvation We shall learn it from the Apostle St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews 3. Chapter where he exhorts the Christians not to be rebellious to the voice of God and not to imitate the obdurateness and rebellion of the Jews which God punished so rigorously Hearken then to his words and his conclusion Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith to day if you shall hear my Voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation according to the day of the temptation in the Wilderness where your fathers tempted me Heb. 3. He pursues and urges strongly this advice as well in this Chapter as in the following where he shews that the Jews were not rejected of God but for their incredulity and resistance that they made to his words To whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest but unto them that obeyed not so that we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief Heb. 3.18 He adds afterwards how the Christians ought to fear the like Chastisement Let us therefore fear says the Apostle lest at any time by forsaking the promise of entring into his rest any of you should seem to be deprived Let us therefore study to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of incredulity Heb. 4. And about the End of this Epistle in the 12 Chapter he renews again this so important an Advertisement by these words which ought to be engraven in all the hearts of Christians See that you despise not him that speaketh to you for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Heb. 12. See Theotime the Advertisements which the Apostle gives to all those whom God has favour'd so as to speak to them for their Salvation and call them by his voice to their Conversion Consider them attentively with the reasons he alledgeth and think well upon it what you are to do Assure your self that it is to you that God addresses himself when you have understood the above-mention'd pressing Exhortation which he hath made for your Conversion Be afear'd to fall into the dreadfull chastisements with which God hath punished the obstinacy of the Jews and use all your endeavours to avoid them you cannot by any other means escape them then by seriously complying with the desire which God hath of your Salvation and making now a firm resolution to return unto him by Penance and a perfect change of your former life for effecting whereof I propose the following means PART II. Of Contrition CHAP. I. What we are obliged to do in Vertue of the precedent Exhortation WE read in the Acts of the Apostles that the Jews and other Inhabitants of Hierusalem having understood the first Sermon which St. Peter made them of the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God upon the day of Pentecost were so lively touched that they immediately demanded what they should do to be saved Now when they heard saith the Scripture this they were moved in their hearts and said unto Peter and the other Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do The St. answered them in these terms Do Penance and be Baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of Sins and you shall receive the Grace of the Holy Ghost Acts. 2. Dear Theotime if the words which you have read above which are Gods own words whereby he Exhorts you to treat of your Salvation have made that impression on your mind which they ought to make your heart will certainly be washed with sorrow and compunction unless you be totally obdurate more obstinate then the Jews Now I cannot believe this of you wherefore methinks I hear you demand of me what must I do that I may obey the Voice of God and become a good and real Convert and a true Penitent To which I answer with the chief of the Apostles do Penance for your Sins and receive the Sacrament not of Baptism since you have once received it and it cannot without Sacrilege be repeated but of Penance to obtain hereby the remission of your Sins and the Grace of the Holy Ghost which will assist you to lead a new Life Let us betake our selves to Holy Penance which is a Second Baptism a Baptism of tears and sorrow to cleanse therewith all our Sins Baptisemus lachrimis conscientiam qui peccatis inquinavimus Vitam St. Ambr. Let us wash our Consciences with tears who have defiled our Lives mith a great number of offences Let us weep before God our Creator and cast our selves into the arms of our Coelestial father
Confession of Venial Sins AS for Venial Sins the Council of Trent hath given us two rules to follow The first is that to obtain the remission of them it is not absolutely necessary to Confess them and they may be forgiven by only Contrition and a sorrow for having committed them The reason which the Council of Trent gives is because Venial Sins do not at all destroy Sanctifying grace and so it is not necessary they should come under the Jurisdiction of the Sacrament of Pennance which is Instituted to restore that Grace to those who have lost it The Second rule is that although there be no necessity yet it is very profitable and wholsome to Confess the Venial Sins for many reasons 1. Because by the Sacrament of Penance they are pardon'd both with more certainty and more Grace 2ly By confessing them one learns better to know and correct them 3ly It is a very profitable means to avoid Mortal Sin as well by reason of the Grace which one receives by the Sacrament as also because he that hath a care to cleanse his Soul from lesser Sins will be more solicitous and apprehensive how he falls into greater according to that sentence of our Lord in modico fidelis in majore fidelis erit Luc. 16.10 Now there are two things which are to be observed in the Confession of Venial Sins The first is therein to avoid Scruples and disquiet or anxiety of mind an errour which many commit who examen themselves of their veniall Sins with the same trouble or concern as if they were Mortal and spend so much time in that examination that they think little or nothing of the means how to amend them The Second thing to be observed is that when they confess veniall Sins they always conceive a sorrow for having committed them and make a Resolution to amend them Without these two acts it is to no purpose to confess them they are not forgiven although they receive Absolution of their other Sins whereof they had Contrition Nay and I tell you more that if it happen that one have no other but Veniall Sins to Confess and have not sorrow or remorse for any of them the Absolution would be null and such a person would commit a Sacrilege by reason the Sacrament would want one of its essential parts which is Contrition This is a thing we must have a great care of for it may happen very easily But when I say we must resolve or have a will to amend our Venial Sins I speak of a real and sincere will which may be effectuall and not of a perpetual relapse as it frequently falls out You will say that this is very hard and that it is impossible to be without Venial Sins To this I Answer and it imports you to observe it well viz. That there are three sorts of venial Sins some which proceed from weakness others that are committed by inadvertency and surprize others which we call Sins of Malice that is which spring from our sole will with a perfect knowledge Such are those which are committed on set purpose or by an affected negligence which one will not at all amend or which happen by some tye or irregular affection which he hath to any thing As to the Sins of weakness or surprize it is true we can never be totally exempt from them and for these it sufficeth to have a good will to amend as well as one can But as for Sins which proceed from our will it is in our power to amend and we are strictly obliged to it because they very much displease God and the consequences are extreamly dangerous These Sins Theotime although they seem light produce very ill effects They are light if they be considered each one by themselves but being neglected and multiplyed they become very dangerous They do not destroy Sanctifying Grace but they dispose us very much to lose it All together they do not make a Mortal Sin but they dispose the Soul to fall into it They do not directly cause Death but they cause weakness and maladies which bring Death along with them that is which make us fall into Mortal Sin. In a word although these Sins do not break the league and amity betwixt God and the Soul which is in Grace yet by little and little they diminish it and by this diminution Charity is weakened in us and God also by degrees withdraws the graces and assistances which he vouchsafes us in all our Spiritual necessities And thus having less strength we more easily fall into Mortal Sin when Temptation comes Alas Theotime how many are there who have and dayly do lamentably fall the first source whereof was their neglect in correcting venial Sins Take great care of this resolution to amend them whether it be that you are in the State of Grace that you may conserve it by avoiding these sorts of Sin or you are not lest you make your self more unworthy by your neglect of them CHAP. XII Of Interiour and Exteriour Sins or of the Sins of Thought and Action IT is also very necessary and to be observed in Confession examination of Sins to know that there are Sins that may be committed interiourly or by a voluntary or willing thought only and others which proceed even to the exteriour action Thus to take Pleasure in a thought of revenge or to desire it is an interiour Sin or a Sin of thought actually to put in execution the same revenge is an exteriour Sin or a Sin of action It happens frequently that Penitents who are not well instructed confess exteriour Sins when they have committed them but say nothing of interiour Sins and those of thought when they have not proceeded unto action or effect However it is most certain that interiour Sins are the first Sins and very Criminal in the sight of God and even exteriour Sins are not Sins but because they proceed from the heart that is from the will which is the source of the Good and Evil which we do It is that which causeth all the Evil which is in our Actions and they are not wicked but in as much as they are order'd and consented to by the will. This was the reason why our Saviour said that the heart is the Fountain of all our Sins Mat. 15.18 From the Heart says he come Adultery Fornications Evil Thoughts And the wise man saith Prov. 6.18 that God hath in Abomination the Heart that contrives evil thoughts And in another place Wisd 1.3 that Wicked thoughts seperate us from God. You must have a care then Theotime when you Confess to accuse your self of the Sins of Thought when you have committed them altho' you have not put them in execution nay even when afterward you have retracted them in your heart for this retractation does not hinder the evil from having been consented to in thought and altho' it would have been far greater if you had actually put it in Execution yet however to
the end of the Instruction concerning Penance And this I have done that one might have in this one Book the explication of the Principal points of Christian Doctrine which every one is obliged to know and that one may be inform'd of these important truths which often through his negligence he is ignorant of either because he conceives them not so necessary or that he thinks he knows them sufficiently well already which happens but too often not only to young People but to many others Thus you see Dear Reader what I have to tell you upon the Subject of this Instruction After which I have no more to do but to exhort you to benefit your self thereby You will not fail herein if you read it with this design and with a desire ot improve your self And as I have composed it with no other intention except that of assisting you in your approach to God and conserving you in his grace I hope that if you also reade it with this intent God will bless both yours and my design This is what I demand with all my heart beseeching him with all possible humility that he will enlighten your Soul rightly to understand the truths which he hath comprised in these great Sacraments and that you may draw in abundance from these two Fountains of our Salvation the Celestial Waters of Divine Grace which will preserve you in this life from the mortal heats of Sin and rendering you fertil in Virtue and good works make you deserving of Everlasting Life the fruit of pious endeavours and our last end Amen The Approbation WE Underwritten Doctors of Divinity of the Faculty of Paris certify that we have read a Book Entitled Instruction concerning Penance and the Holy Communion c. Composed by Charles Gobinet also Doctor Principal of the Colledge of Plessis-Sorbon wherein we have found nothing but what is conformable to the Principles of Faith and Christian Morality which are there treated in a manner very clear for the Instruction of Youth moving for the Conversion of Sinners and extreme usefull for the Edification of the Just if they will follow the light and means which are therein suggested to them that they may advance in Piety by the frequent and worthy use of the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist Given at Paris this Third of December 1667. I. Charmeluc B. Le Blond J. Jollain The Division of the Instruction concerning Penance Pag. 1. PART I. COntaining an Exhortation to a true Conversion and amendment of Life Pag. 2. PART II. Of Contrition the first part of Penance Pag. 21. PART III. Of Confession Pag. 97. PART IV. Of Satisfaction Pag. 151. PART V. Of the preservation of Grace after Confession against relapse into Sin. Pag. 187. An Examen of Conscience Vpon the Commandments of God and the Church and upon the Seven Capital Sins Pag. 229. A Table of the CHAPTERS Of Instruction concerning Penance and the means to return to God by a true Conversion PART I. COntaining an Exhortation to a true Conversion and amendment of life Pag. 2. Chap. 1. An Exhortation which God made to men and particularly to Young People to return to him by Penance Pag. 3. Chap. 2. Reflections upon the said Exhortation and first upon the matter therein contain'd Pag. 5. Chap. 3. The Second Reflection upon the Goodness of God in Exhorting us himself to our Conversion Pag. 6. Chap. 4. The Third Reflection upon the Injury which those do who refuse to be Converted or deferr their Conversion Pag. 8. Chap. 5. The Fourth Reflection upon God's Anger against those who refuse to yield to these Exhortations Pag. 12. Chap. 6. Of the great Punishment which God lays upon those who refuse or deferr their Conversion Pag. 15. Chap. 7. The Conclusion of the Exhortation Pag. 19. PART II. OF Contrition Pag. 21. Chap. 1. What we are obliged to do in Virtue of the precedent Exhortation Ibid. Chap. 2. What Penance is Pag. 23. Chap. 3. What Contrition is Pag. 26. Chap. 4. Of the qualities or Conditions which true Contrition ought to have Pag. 29. Chap. 5. Of Perfect and imperfect Contrition Pag. 34. Chap. 6. Of the means to obtain Contrition Pag. 38. Chap. 7. Of the first means to obtain Contrition which is threefold Avoiding Sin Works of Penance and Prayer Pag. 40. Chap. 8. Of the Motives of Contrition and first of the grievousness of Sin. Pag. 43. Chap. 9. Of the same Subject of the grievousness of Sin. Pag. 46. Chap. 10. A further illustration of the grievousness of Sin. Pag. 49. Chap. 11. Of the deplorable effects of Mortal Sin to discover better the grievousness thereof Pag. 53. Art. 1. Of the death of the Soul or the sad effects which Sin produces in his Soul who commits it Pag. 54. Art. 2. Of the effects of Sin in Heaven and upon Earth Pag. 60. Art. 3. Of the effects of Sin in Hell. Pag. 64. Art. 4. A continuation of the same Subject Pag. 67. The Conclusion of this Article of the pains of Hell. Pag. 75. Art. 5. Of the effects which Sin produces in respect of God himself Pag. 78. Art. 6. Of the effects of Sin in the Person of Jesus Christ Pag. 81. Chap. 12. The practice of Contrition upon the precedent Motives Pag. 87. Chap. 13. Of Examples of Penance taken out of Holy Writ Pag. 89. PART III. OF the Treatise of Penance which is Confession Pag. 97. Chap. 1. Of the Institution and necessity of Confession ibid. Chap. 2. What Sacramental Confession is Pag. 99. Chap. 3. Of the Conditions necessary for a good Confession Pag. 102. Chap. 4. Of the defects in Confession Pag. 104. Chap. 5. Of the Conditions necessary to make the Confession entire Pag. 107. Chap. 6. An observable Advice concerning the Number of Sins Pag. 109. Chap. 7 An observable Advice concerning the Circumstances of Sins Pag. 112. Chap. 8. How great an evil it is to conceal a Mortal Sin in Confession Pag. 115. Chap. 9. Of the Preparation for Confession or the Examen of Conscience Pag. 123. Chap. 10. Of the distinction which must be made betwixt Mortal and Venial Sin. Pag. 126. Chap. 11. Of the Confession of Venial Sins Pag. 128. Chap. 12. Of Interiour and Exteriour Sins or of the Sins of Thought and Action Pag. 132. Chap. 13. Of the Sins of Action and Omission Pag. 134. Chap. 14. Of the Sins of Ignorance Passion and Malice Pag. 136. Art. 1. Of the Sins of Ignorance Pag. 137. Art. 2. Of the Sins of Frailty or of Passion Pag. 139. Art. 3. Of the Sins of Malice Pag. 141. Art. 4. Of the Sins which spring from Vitious Habits Pag. 144. Chap. 15. Of the Sins that are committed by Error or by Doubt Pag. 146. Chap. 16. Of the Sins which we commit in others Pag. 148. PART IV. OF the Treatise of Penance which is of Satisfaction Pag. 151. Chap. 1. What Satisfaction is ibid. Chap. 2. That God pardoning the Sin obliges to a Temporal punishment Pag.
He speaks more effectually in the 7th Chapter of the Prophet Jeremy And now because you have done all these works and I have spoken to you early rising and speaking you have not heard and I have called and you have not answered I will do to this house wherein my name is invocated and wherein you have confidence and to the place which I have given to you and your Fathers as I did to Silo and I will cast you away from my face as I have cast away all your Brethren the whole seed of Ephraim Jer. 7. And to shew how great his Indignation was against that people for contemning his sayings and the exhortations which he had so often made them for their Conversion he forbids his Prophet to pray for them and to oppose himself by his prayers to the Design he had to punish them and revenge himself of them Tu ergo noli Orare pro populo hoc nec assumas pro eis laudem Orationem neque obsistas mihi quia non exaudiam te Thou therefore pray not for this People neither take unto thee Praise and prayer for them and resist me not because I will not hear thee Could God give a greater mark of his indignation against them who refuse to be converted then is express'd in those Words since he refuses that others should appease him by their prayers by which they would endeavour to hinder the execution of his justice But if his anger were so high against the Jews for this reason how can we expect it should be less against Christians against us our selves Theotime who contemn no less his divine grace and who continue in our disordered lives and in our Sins after so many exhortations and admonitions to leave them This is the reflection which St. Hierome made upon this place which we ought to consider and keep well in minde Viz. that all that which God there spoke to the People of the Jews ought to be understood of us if we commit the same faults that the Jews did Quidquid illi populo dicitur intelligamus de nobis si similia fecerimus St. Hier. in c. 7. Jerem. CHAP. VI. Of the Great Punishment which God lays upon those who refuse or defer their Conversion ALL the Passages which I have brought do sufficiently shew the heavy Chastisement which God sends to those that contemn him in that manner The Scripture contains a vast number of others But we need not seek farther then in this Exhortation of God which we have spoken of above Learn from God himself what you ought to fear and the misfortunes that will befall you if you resist any longer the desire he hath of your Salvation The punishments are contained in these words Ego vero in interitu tuo ridebo subsannabo vos I will laugh at your Destruction and mock at you words full of terrour which ought to make all those tremble who are in mortal Sin. Dicat nunc qualiter feriat quos ad se nullatenus revertentes tanta longanimitate sustentat St. Greg. lib 18. moralium c. 7. It is for those according to the advice of St. Gregory to learn hence from the mouth of God himself in what manner he will punish those whose conversion he hath expected a long time without any effect on their part By these words God threatens to revenge himself of those at the hour of their death who continue in their sins to punish their wicked life with an unfortunate end and treat them at that last hour as they have dealt with him during their life Is not this most just and reasonable They abandon'd God during their Life and God abandons them at the hour of their death They refuse to hearken when he speaks and moves them to their Salvation they contemn his admonitions and will give ear to nothing but their own Passions and follow nothing but their pleasures They perform all their actions as if they Mocked God and God by a just but dreadfull punishment will act in respect of them as a provok'd Enemy who Scoff 's at his Conquer'd Foes and Insults over their utmost miseries with which he sees them overwhelmed He will behold them Surprized with some dreadfull accident or a mortal Agony which in a small time will carry them away He will see them Searching all means to Escape Overwhelmed with griefs troubled with fear and trembling tormented with the Remorse of their guilty Consciences calling to him for their Succour and Deliverance but he will not hearken at all He will become Deaf to their Prayers as they would not give ear to his admonitions He will not hearken to their desires for their deliverance as they would not hearken to his advices for their Salvation He will not give them time for repentance being they refused it when it was in their power and when they were exhorted by God himself Thus will they dye Miserably seeing themselves constrained to abandon a mortal Life with all the Pleasures which they lov'd more then either God or their Salvation to go and begin an Eternal Death where for fleeting Pleasures they shall find immortal torments and an infinity of evils which shall never end It is thus Theotime that God shall treat those who contemn his Favours and refuse to hearken to his Voice when he invites them to their Salvation and thus will he punish them always and that you may better comprehend this Chastizement of God take notice of three great evils which compose it The First is an unprovided death which he will send to those that are impenitent when they shall least expect it Cum irruerit repentina calamitas interitus quasi tempestas ingruerit The Second is an oppression of grief and anguishes in that dreadfull surprise pains of Body and Senses anguishes of Soul and Conscience this is that which is signified by those words of God Cum irruerit super vos tribulatio angustia The Third which is the most dreadfull is God's forsaking them in that last and deplorable extremity a forsaking so great that he will never more hearken to their prayers and crys as he himself saith in the following words tunc invocabunt me non exaudiam c. And all these miseries will befall them in punishment of their obstinacy in their Sins and refusal to be converted Eo quod exosam habuerint disciplinam sermonem Domini non receperint c. I would to God Theotime this chastisement were as rare as it is frightfull and terrible But it happens too often by a deplorable misfortune and is but a just effect of the divine justice which frequently puts in Execution his threats against those who so often contemn his holy inspirations All the Christians who are either dead or dayly dye in Mortal Sin of whom the multitude is innumerable are witnesses of this truth All those to wit who are surprized by unexpected accidents either of sickness wherein they dye without
better the grievousness thereof SInce it is most certain that the best way to know a cause is to consider its effects doubtless the best means to discover the grievousness of Mortal Sin is to reflect on the Sad effects which followed from it We have said before that we could not perfectly know Sin in it self because it is the Supreme evil which is infinite no more then we can understand in it self the Supreme and Sovereign good which is God. But as by the effects which we see of his Power of his Wisdom of his Goodness we arrive at some knowledge of God So on the Contrary we may find out in some sort the heinousness of Sin if we do but consider attentively the Dreadful effects it causes and the horrible misfortunes which it carries with it And all these effects are as so many Powerfull motives of Contrition to make us detest and abhor Sin. To discover it the better we shall observe some order and search for it in several places viz. in our selves in Heaven in Hell in God himself and in his Son Jesus Christ ARTICLE I. Of the death of the Soul or the sad effects which Sin produceth in his Soul who commits it I Begin with the Death of the Soul because this is the first effect which Sin produceth as soon as ever is is committed Peccatum cum consummatum fuerit generat mortem Jac. 1. And I would to God it were as sensible as it is real and that those who are so unfortunate as to fall into Mortal Sin might exactly know the greatness of the evil which thereby they draw upon themselves as really in it self it is and resent it as it deserves It is for this reason that I desire to explicate it unto you and make you understand it Sin then saith the Scripture is no sooner finished but immediately it causeth Death It 's certain that it is not the death of the Body for a man doth not dye in the moment he hath committed it It is then the death of the Soul a thousand times more dreadfull then that of the Body for this doth but separate the Soul from the Body but the Death which is caused by Sin is a Separation of the Soul from God who is a Supernatural Life as St. Aug. saith vita corporis anima est vita animae Deus est And as this life which God gives the Soul is infinitely more estimable then that which the Soul confers upon the Body which it animates so the Death which causeth the loss of that Divine Life is infinitely more dreadfull and Lamentable then naturall Death To understand this well you must know what God hath reveal'd and we believe concerning a Soul which hath the Blessing to be in the State of the Grace of God And it is this when God receives a Soul into his Friendship he Cloathes her with the Robe of Sanctifying Grace a supernatural and Divine quality which cleanseth the Soul from all the spots of Sin and renders her agreeable to the eyes of God. And at the same moment he replenisheth her with Divine gifts as Faith Hope Charity and other Christian Virtues Then by the means of that Grace God dwells in that Soul after a particular manner he makes her his Temple and Habitation where he is pleased to be adored and loved by the Souls that possess him Lastly he interchangeably communicates himself unto her filling her with his holy Spirit and Divine Inspirations All these truths are drawn from the express words of the Sacred Scripture As from that where God promises That he will pour upon us a clean water which will cleanse us from all our stains Ezek. 36. This water is Sanctifying Grace From that where he saith That the Charity of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us Rom. 5. That we are the Temples of the Living God and that the Spirit of God doth dwell in us 1. Cor. 3. from those words where our Saviour saith If any one love me he will keep my word and my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our Dwelling with him Joh. 14. From those words of St. John. God is Charity and he who remains in Charity remains with God and God with him 1. Joh. 4. There are a great number of the like passages which clearly represent unto us the state of a Soul Sanctifyed by Grace and the great happiness she enjoys in that condition wherein she possesses God himself and is possessed by him Now all this felicity is constant and permanent as to what relates to God whose gifts are without repentance as the Scripture saith only the Soul can deprive her self of and destroy in her self this happiness This misfortune befalls us when forgetfull of the infinite blessing we possess and permitting our selves to be surprized by the allurements of Sin we break that happy League and Alliance which God had made with us And this we do by a criminal disobedience whereby we incur the displeasure of God and lose in a moment all those inestimable goods which before we happyly enjoyed O God Theotime who can worthily express the dreadfull misfortune which happens to a Soul by one mortal sin and paint to the life the deplorable state to which it is reduced in the moment she offends in which the Soul in that very instant is deprived of the grace of God and of one beautifull and as an Angel in his sight becomes as hideous and hatefull as a Devil Quomodo obscuratum est aurum mutatus est color optimus Thren 4. Is there any subject where we may more sitly apply those dolefull words of Jeremy how comes it to pass that this Soul should be so defaced what is become of that grace which made her more bright then gold how is that divine beauty changed into so hideous a form It is an effect of the divine Anger which hath justly fill'd that Soul with cloudy darkness which before had unjustly banisht the light of Grace But that which is most to be lamented is that that Soul which formerly had the honour to be employ'd as the Temple of God now sees her self rejected by him with horrour and detestation and the Holy Ghost retired from her having abandoned her to be the dwelling-place of the Devil according to that sentence of the same Prophet repulit Dominus Altare suum maledixit sanctificationi suae God hath rejected his Altar and laid a curse upon the place where he was adored and sanctified Thren 2. Is it possible Theotime that you can read these words without trembling if you are in the state of Mortal Sin It is this forsaking of God and this loss of his grace which properly causes the death of the Soul infinitely more to be feared then that of the Body forasmuch as by the death of the body we are only deprived of the presence of the Soul death being only a separation of the Soul from
change sin alone it was sin alone that God could not endure in his most perfect Creatures The Heavens as Job saith are not pure in his presence and he hath found disorder even in the Angells Job 15. He found sin in Heaven and in the Angells themselves and he hath not pardoned them as St. Peter saith but hath chained them in Hell to be there Tormented and thereby to manifest unto all creatures the hatred he bears to Sin. 2 Pet. 2. If Sin was so dreadfull to the Angels in Heaven it hath not been less Terrible to men upon earth if it was able to banish them so quickly there it hath not been less effectual or less speedy in Shutting the Gates of Heaven against us here It was when the first man who being created in the grace of God after he had received all possible assurance of his Friendship both as to this world and to the next forgetfull of his duty and of himself treacherously conspired with his Capital Enemy and broke the Commandments of God in eating the forbidden fruit He had no sooner fall'n into this offence but the Anger God appeared against him and banished him with scorn out of the Earthly Paradise that Garden of delight where but a while before he had been placed with so much love Both he and all his posterity were condemned to labour death and all the miseries we even now groan under for that first transgression of the Law of God. But that which is yet more terrible is that the Gates of Heaven which till then were open were immediately shut as well against himself as against all his posterity without the least hopes of his ever being able to re-enter those happy mansions by any means he either of himself or any of his off-spring of themselves could use O sin how dreadfull art thou and what a train of misfortues dost thou bring after thee This misery and desolation continued four thousand years and more during which time no man ever entred into heaven not even the just themselves and those who dyed in the Grace of God untill the coming of the Son of God into the world who by his Death opened the Gates of Heaven so long shut During that time how many millions of souls were excluded for ever and without recovery from that celestiall inheritance This happened to all those who in that compass of time died in their Sins and without doing penance for them But after the way was open to heaven by the Merits of Jesus Christ how many are there still that enter not at all Hell is filled dayly with millions and Paradice continues in comparison like a desert Why so It is an effect of sin alone and impenitence O how well did the Wise man say it is sin which makes men miserable Miseros facit populos peccatum Prov. 14. Is it possible Theotime that you should run so slightly over these fatal and horrible effects of sin that they should not move you in the least I might here recount the innumerable miseries the continual and dayly effects of Sin Death which it hath introduced from the beginning barrenness of the Earth Rebellion of living creatures the deluge which drowned the world near two thousand years after the Creation Plagues and Pestilence war and famine and all the Miseries as well publick as private which we see and dayly feel are so many unfortunate effects of Sin whether of that of our first parent or of those which men continually commit For as the wise man saith Fire hail famine are made to revenge Sin. Eccl. 39. But I shall pass by all these evils altho' most dreadfull and horrible to come to others infinitely greater and more terrible whereof those are but the fore runners according to that infallible Testimony of the Son of God. Haec omnia initia sunt dolorum Mar. 13. all these miseries says he are but the beginnings of others far greater ARTICLE III. Of the effects of Sin in Hell. LEt us sink down into the Pit of Hell that so we may conceive a more lively apprehension of the enormity of Mortal Sin we shall there see the frightfull evills which this Monster hath produced and by the vastness of so many dreadfull effects frame a judgment of the malice of that cause which hath brought them forth and we shall there learn two things the first to detest Sin the author of so many evils The Second to conceive a wholesome fear of falling into that abiss of misery into which man is thrown by Sin. That which St Bernard said being most certain It is necessary we descend into Hell alive that is think seriously and often on it That we may escape falling into it at the hour of death Consider then Theotime attentively what Faith teacheth us concerning Hell that it is an Eternal fire which God hath prepared for the Devil and his Apostate Angels and with which he hath also decreed to punish the Sins of men who follow the rebellious example of those Ambitious Spirits This we learn from that terrible Sentence which the Son of God shall pronounce at the day of judgment against the wicked Go ye accursed into Everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Mat. 25. A dreadfull sentence which contains no more then four words but in those four words it comprehends Hell intirely and all the evils which compose it First it teacheth us that the fame punishment which is prepared for the Devils is also appointed for men and that they shall be Companions of those wicked and damned Spirits as they were their followers in their rebellion against God and by this we may see what Mortall sin is which renders us obnoxious to the same punishment and damnation with the Devils Ponder this well Theotime and behold what it is to be damned together with the Devils and as the Devils are damned and how great that offence must necessarily be which deserves a punishment equal to that with which the Devils are tormented But what will that punishment be I confess we are not able to comprehend but the Son of God by his infinite wisdom hath summ'd it up in four words that we may more easily conceive it Words which contain all the horror of Hell Go says he ye accursed into Everlasting fire Mat. 25. By these words are denoted the Separation from God the curse of God Fire and Eternity Behold in four words what Hell is behold the punishment of Mortal Sin To be separated from God to be accursed of God to be condemned to fire and that for ever Who can think of these things and not tremble with fear and horror Stay some time here Theotime this is not a subject to be read in hast revive these thoughts often and pause a while upon each of these frightfull punishments To be separated from God the Author and Fountain of all good whose only aspect gives a blessing to all Creatures and who no sooner turns away his face
observe well in this place that these different affections which the Scripture attributes to God in respect of Sin are not to be found in God in the same manner as in men for they cause in men a discomposure of the mind from whence they are call'd Passions or the sufferings of the Soul but they make no such change in God who being unchangeable cannot be moved or suffer by different affections When therefore in Scripture it is said that God for example is touched with Grief Hatred Anger and the like this is to be understood as Divines express it no further then as to what concerns the exteriour effects which appear to us and are such as are amongst us the usual effects of a sorrowfull angry mind and not as to any change of affection which in God is none Quantum ad effectum non quantum ad affectum But this is no hindrance but that we may draw from these passages of Scripture infallible consequences to prove the enormity of Mortal Sin. For it is reasonable to judge of the malice of a cause by the evil effects which of its own nature it is capable to produce although it happen that the effect may not follow by reason of some extrinsecal impediment Sin therefore of it self being capable to produce in God all those Passions we have spoken of tho' his Sovereign perfection renders him uncapable to receive them this doth not diminish in the least the malice of it which is always such that in as much as in it lies it produceth in God all those passions and excites in him Grief Sadness Hatred Anger Fury and Indignation O Sin how wicked and cruel art thou since thou hast no regard to God himself but endeavourest to attaque that Sovereign Majesty even in his Throne of Glory A Prophet once said let Samaria be destroy'd because it hath raised bitterness and sadness to his God. Pereat Samaria quia ad amaritudinem concitavit Deum suum Osea 14. But with how much greater reason ought we to say that Sin should for ever perish seeing it attaques even God himself and in as much as in it lies fills that infinite Ocean of Sweetness and Bounty with Gall and Bitterness Behold Theotime the reasons we have to detest and abhor Sin from whence we may form to our selves a motive of true Contrition Behold how we are to detest Sin not only by reason of the evils which it heaps upon us whereof we have spoken above but for the evils with which it affects even God himself for once it is capable to cause all those effects in God altho' it doth not effectually produce them for the reason above mentioned it follows of necessity that the injury which it offers to God is dreadfully beyond measure great Conclude then with a strong resolution to hate this enemy of God this if possible disturber of the Deity ARTICLE VI. Of the Effects of Sin in the Person of Jesus Christ THat which Sin could not effect in God it hath brought about in his only Son our Lord Jesus Christ and if the Divinity by reason of it's infinite perfections be raised above the attempts of the malice of this Infernal Monster the most sacred humanity of the Son of God hath suffer'd for all beyond all that which we can either speak or think Consider this well Theotime and observe once more the enormity of Mortal Sin by the number and greatness of those evils which it made him to suffer who undertook to satisfy for it and destroy it Consider first that it was Sin which made the Son of God descend from Heaven that is which obliged him to take our humanity upon him and stoop to that wonderfull abasement of his Person which St. Paul called annihilation or becoming nothing Phil. 2.6.9 as to make himself Man for us and our Salvation to take the habit and form of a Servant to put himself in a capacity to satisfy the Divine Justice for the infinite injury done him by Mortal Sin An injury never to be repaired but by one who should be God and Man. Secondly this adorable Mystery of the Incarnation was no sooner accomplished but the first thought of the Son of God made Man was to offer himself to his Eternal Father a Sacrifice to the Divine Justice in satisfaction for all the Sins of Men as he himself said by the Prophet Psal 39.7 The Sacrifices and all Holocausts which hitherto have been offered to appease thy wrath against sin were not able to give thee satisfaction wherefore I am come and knowing that it was thy will that I should satisfy I am content O my God! and embrace with all my heart this thy good pleasure and decree From that first moment even untill the time of the Passion of the Son of God his life was a continual Sacrifice which he offered to his Father the divine love always burning never permitting him any repose untill he had accomplished the work he came for untill by his death he had conquer'd and destroy'd that cruel Enemy he came to fight with which was sin This is that which he himself testified when he said I have a Baptism wherewith I am to be Baptized and how am I streightned interiourly untill it be dispatcht Luk. 12.5 He who could recount the pains and travels of the life of the Son of God his fast his preaching his watchings his prayers and all that which he hath done and suffered as well in Soul as body during the 33 years of his mortal Life would easily perceive how all that tended to the destruction of sin for which he principally came into the world The time at length approaching wherein he was to enter into that last Combat of that so great and signal War which he was come to wage to free us all from sin and the captivity of the Devil its first Author what was he not obliged to do and suffer that he might conquer so potent an enemy it is true that he gained a glorious victory but it was with the loss of his precious life and at the price of his own death But what death Theotime A death full both of sorrows and reproaches the death of the Cross A death accompanied with all imaginable affronts and executed by those that he had in the highest degree obliged betrayed and delivered by one of his Disciples to his mortal enemies abandoned also and denied by his own Disciples arrained before a Judge accused as a Criminal Sentenced and condemned as a Malefactor exposed to the scoffs and derisions of the Multitude Before his execution he was Scourged with no less cruelty then shame and disgrace delivered over to the insolence of Soldiers who Crowned him with Thorns as a mock-King in derision and scorn In fine led to execution nailed to the Cross exposed to the view of all the world between two Thieves as if he had been an Impostor a Cheat and the worst of men Amidst these excessive pains
of his Body and yet far greater anguishes of his Soul overwhelmed with sorrow and confusion he expires upon the Cross and commends his Spirit into his hands who sent him O Theotime have you ever seriously thought of these sufferings of the Son of God your Saviour But perhaps you have not reflected upon that which caused them wonder at his goodness but be not surprised if I tell you that it is nothing else but Sin It was Sin alone that Crucified the Son of God. It is true they were the Jews who persecuted him to death it was Pilate who condemned him and the Executioners who nailed him on the Cross It is also most true that he offer'd himself unto death and underwent all these hardships because he was so pleased Oblatus est quia ipse voluit Isa 53. It is moreover most certain that his Eternal Father desired that of him and obliged him to drink that bitter Chalice But it is also without question that Sin was the first cause of the suffering of the Son of God it was that which first prosecuted him this also was his most cruel Executioner If he offer'd himself to death it was because he had willingly charged himself with our Sins If the Eternal Father would also have him suffer it was to receive from him the satisfaction which was due to his Divine Justice upon account of Sin. God saith Isaias c. 53. had laid on him all our Iniquities And the Eternal Father himself said that he had strucken him for the Sins of his people Propter scelus populi percussi eum Hearken here to the description which the same Prophet makes speaking of the torments of the Son of God which he saw as clearly in Spirit as if he had beheld them in effect There was no Beauty in him nor comeliness and we have seen him despised and most abject of Men a man of sorrows and knowing infirmities and his look as it were hid and despised whereupon neither have we esteemed him He surely hath born our infirmities and our sorrows he hath carryed and we have thought him as it were a leper and Stricken of God and humbled And he was wounded for our iniquities he was broken for our sins The discipline of our peace upon him and with his Stripes we are healed Behold dear Theotime how much our sins have made Jesus Christ to suffer Behold to what condition that cruel enemy hath reduced the Son of God Is not this sufficient to make us judge of the Greatness and enormity of Mortall Sin seeing it hath made him to suffer so great torments who had undertaken to destroy it seeing also the fault could not be expiated nor the damage repaired but by the death of God made man whose sole life is infinitely more estimable and precious then those of all Men Angels and other possible creatures put together Ought we not then to say that the wounds we have received by Sin are truly dreadfull since they could not be cured by any thing less then the blood of the Son of God Agnosce homo quam gravia sint nulnera pro quibus necesse fuit unigenitum Dei filium vulnerari Si non essent haec ad mortem ad mortem sempiternam nunquam prohis filius Dei moreretur Bern. Serm. 3. de Nat. Dom. O man saith St Bernard acknowledge how great those gashes were that obliged the only Son of God to be wounded to cure them If those Sores had not been mortall and the causes of an eternal death the Son of God had never dyed for their recovery Can there be a more considerable motive to lament and abhorr our sins then when we reflect that they were the cause why the Son of God our Saviour Suffered so much and also why he died upon the Cross The Jews once wept over and bewail'd the destruction of the Royal City of Jerusalem because of the loss of their King Cecidit corona capitis nostri vae nobis quia peccanimus Thren 5. How much more reason have we to lament our misfortune who by our sins are the only cause of the death of Jesus Christ our King our Redeemer and our Glory Weigh well Theotime and meditate upon this motive of sorrow and contrition it will pierce your heart except it be harder and more obdurate then the very Stones and say with St Bernard ubi supra Pudet itaque dilectissimi propriam negligenter dissimulare passionem cui tantam a majestate tantâ video exhiberi compassionem Compatitur filius Dei plorat homo patitur ridebit It is a shamefull thing for Christians not to acknowledge the evils which sin hath brought upon them when they consider what so supreme a Majesty as that of the Son of God hath been obliged to suffer for them The Son of God takes compassion on the miseries of man and weeps for sorrow whilst insensible man who is overwhelmed with his own Sins is not concern'd at all O Theotime have a care I will not say only that you never become so blind and insensible as to flight the grievousness and enormity of mortall Sin but that you never permit a day to pass in which with all the vigour of your heart you do not conceive new hatred against that infernall Monster which could not be destroyed but by the passion and death of the Son of God our Saviour CHAP. XII The practice of Contrition upon the Precedent Motives LEt us now resume all that which we have said concerning the Motives of Contrition since the Eighth Chapter that we may come to the practice of this great Virtue without which it is impossible to be justifyed in the sight of God. We have said that to have Contrition we must know the enormity or grievousness of Mortall Sin and we have made that Enormity appear from several heads First because it is incomprehensible in it self as we shewed in the Eighth Chapter 2dly From the knowledge we have of it from the Sacred Scripture which discovers unto us the several Signal and most enormous indignities of Sin whilst it treats of it as a Rebellion against God a detestable ingratitude a contempt of his Holy will a postponing the Creator to the Creature and a preferring of our own before the will of God which we spoke of in the 9th Chapter 3dly From the horrid offence or injury which by Sin is done to God an injury really infinite and so great that no pure Creature either Man or Angel is capable by himself to make satisfaction for it As we have seen in the 10th Chapter 4ly From the dreadfull effects which by sin are caused in all places and in all sorts of Subjects in Heaven in Earth in Hell in the Angels in Man in God himself and in his Son Jesus Christ as we have shewed in the several Articles of the 11th Chapter After all these Motives thus treated to give you an insight into the nature of that sorrow which is called Contrition
of your Sins you must read over these same Motives with much attention again and again not once or twice but many times you must begg continually of God that he will vouchsafe to grant you his Grace to understand them well and that your Soul may be moved with them in reading them you must pause some time upon those which touch you most you must weigh them well and imprint them in your heart and having understood them cast your self upon your knees and deplore your Sins in the presence of God upon those motives which you conceived best and which affected you most demand of him pardon and beseech him to shew his mercy toward you making use of this or the like prayer O my God! have pitty on me and let me partake of the effects of thy great mercy I acknowledge now the evil which I have done and apprehend the grievousness of my Sins Thou art he O my God whom I have offended whom I have attacqued rebellious ungratefull and perfidious Creature as I am Thee have I abandoned to follow my pleasures and passions I have lost thy grace and I who have been created to thy Image and likeness by my Sins have made my foul like unto those monsters of ingratitude the Devils I have lost Heaven my blessed Country I have merited Hell and Eternal Damnation which I shall never be able to avoid without the assistance of thy great mercy But above all I have infinitely offended thy bounty The injury which I have offered it is so great that it caused thy Son Jesus Christ my Saviour to suffer death O my God! how can I worthily deplore so great an evil who will give water to my head and a fountain of Tears unto my eyes to deplore night and day my misery and malice and to do Penance for my sins Make this or the like prayer but make it from the bottom of your soul make it with an humble and contrite heart in the presence of God in acknowledgment of your sins and misery Run it not over briefly take time to make it make it long and for many days Put your self in the State of a true Penitent in the sight of God and that you may perform it better make use of this means which I shall give you CHAP. XIII Of Examples of Penance taken out of Holy Writ ALltho ' what we have said may be very effectual to excite Contrition and a true sorrow for our Sins yet we will add in this place another means which without question must needs be more efficacious They are some Examples of true Penitents which we find in the Holy Scripture as well in the Old as New Testament These are the true models by which we may frame ours and learn what is true Penance and how to practice it Reade then Theotime and attend Consider David after his Sin how full of interiour trouble and concern he was for the evil he had done bedewing as he saith his bed with his tears and having always his Sins before his eyes demanding mercy of God and beseeching him to turn away his eyes from his Iniquities not to take away from him his Holy Spirit not to contemn the Sacrifice which he offer'd him of an afflicted mind of an humble and contrite heart Behold a true Penitent behold what true Contrition is Vade fac similiter Imitate this Example and you are a true Penitent You will find these excellent dispositions of a penitent mind in the seven Penitential Psalms if you reade them wth attention Behold King Ezechias weeping and lamenting in the presence of God and promising him to pass again over in his heart and in the bitterness of his Soul all his mis-spent years to bewail his Sins and obtain remission of them Reade his Canticle which begins Ego dixi in dimidio Esai 38. Cast your eyes upon the good Israelites who were sent Captives into Babilon after the taking of Jerusalem doing Penance for their Sins which had thrown them into that miserable state crying out to God from the bottom of their hearts Baruch 2. We have sinned against the Lord our God in not obeying his word To the Lord our God belongs justice and uprightness but to us nothing but shame and confusion which our iniquities have deserved We have sinned we have done evil we have dealt unjustly O Lord our God in all thy Commandments Turn from us thy anger hear O Lord our Prayers and our Petitions open thy eyes and consider that the dead praise thee not but the Soul which is sensible and afflicted with the greatness of the evils she hath done and performs due Penance for them Consider Manasses also in his Conversion groaning under the weight of his Sins and lamenting his Iniquities with such a sorrow that he acknowledged himself unworthy even to lift up his eyes towards Heaven so great he confest were his offences You will perceive these words to proceed from a truly penitent Soul overwhelmed with sorrow for his Sins Oratio Manasses 'T is true O Lord I have infinitely offended thee and my Sins are more in number then the Sand of the Sea I am unworthy to lift up my eyes towards Heaven to demand thy mercy having provoked thy anger as I have done by my Iniquities But now O my God I prostrate my self from my heart before thee to beg thy mercy I have sinned O my God I have sinned I acknowledge all the evil I have done pardon O Lord pardon I beg of thee and earnestly beseech thee do not destroy me with my Iniquities do not reserve me to the utmost rigour of thy Justice do not condemn me for ever unto the fire of Hell Remember that thou art my God the God of Penitents and thy immense bounty will best appear in me whilst it makes thee to save a miserable Sinner unworthy of thy grace and gives me occasion to praise thee eternally for thy infinite goodness Go to the Gospel and there you will find more pressing examples of Penance and Contrition There you may see a holy Penitent moved to that degree with sorrow for her Sins that she seeks the Son of God and having found him casts her self at his feet washes them with her tears such was the compunction of her heart and so abundantly did they flow wipes them with her hair and annoints them with precious Ointment thus consecrating these Riches that Hair those Tears to pious uses which till then she had employ'd in vanity And thus that sorrow she had so happily conceived broke forth into all the Signs of the love of God and spared nothing to serve him from whom she expected the remission of her Sins So that She deserved to hear from the mouth of our Saviour Luc. 7.47 that her Sins were forgiven her because she loved much There you shall find the head of the Apostles unfortunately fall'n denying his divine Master three several times But he had scarce ended his last denial when
must read them attentively Consider exactly all and every one of their actions so to conform your self to them as near as you can And as you have imitated those Penitents in their Sins and extravagances so also imitate them in their Penance As St. Ambrose said to a great Emperour Qui secutus es errantem sequere poenitentem The Third Part of this Treatise of Penance which is Confession HAving spoken of Contrition and the preparations necessary to obtain that Eminent Virtue we now come to the Confession of Sins which is the Second part of Pennance as we have said above in the Second Chapter which you would do well to read once more in this place for it serves as a foundation to all that we are about to say of Confession which we shall treat with all possible brevity yet not without giving you all the knowledge which is necessary to make it well But I beseech you Theotime read with attention and Application of mind what we shall say CHAP. I. Of the Institution and Necessity of Confession THE first thing which is necessary to be known in this place is who it was that instituted Confession and of what necessity it is for the Salvation of Souls We cannot better learn these two truths then from the Holy Church which hath clearly explain'd them by the Council of Trent Sess 14. Chap. 1. The Council saith that Pennance was always necessary before the law of Grace for all those who had sinned Mortally and that they could never receive the remission of their Sins but by detestation and hatred of Sin and a holy sorrow of mind for the enormous offence they had commited against God Yet that this Virtue was not raised to the dignity of a Sacrament before the coming of the Son of God who instituted it on the day of his Resurrection when being in the midst of the Apostles he breathed on them as the Scripture saith and said these words Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins you remit they are remitted and whose sins you retain they are retained Jo. 20.23 By this so remarkable an action saith the Council and by those so distinct words the Fathers with a common consent have always understood that the power to remit or retain Sins was given to the Apostles and their Lawfull Successors to reconcile those unto God who had fall'n into Sin after Baptism Con. Tred Sess 14. c. 1. And in the fifth Chapter treating of the institution and necessity of the Confession of Sins which is the Second part of this Sacrament it speaks in these terms Concerning the Institution of the Sacrament of Penance already explicated The Vniversall Church hath always understood that our Lord instituted the Entire Confession of Sins and that it is necessary by divine right for all those who have fall'n into Mortall Sin after Baptism Because our Lord Jesus Christ being ready to Ascend into Heaven hath left Priests in his place in Quality of Presidents and Judges to whom all the Sins which the Faithfull had committed after Baptism ought to be discovered that they might give their Judgment either of Absolution or Retention by Vertue of that power which was given them From all this Doctrine of the Holy Church we learn two truths The first is that Confession is is instituted by Jesus Christ The second that it is necessary by Divine right for the remission of Mortal Sins committed after Baptism as Baptism is necessary for the remission of Original Sin. We must notwithstanding take notice that in case of necessity and where Confession is impossible it may be supplied by Contrition as Baptism is also supplied by the same action in those who are capable to make it supposing that in this Contrition be included a will to receive Baptism or make a Confession But in this case it is necessary that the Contrition be perfect and proceed from the pure love of God. CHAP. II. What is Sacramental Confession THis word Confession is understood two ways in Scripture for sometimes it signifies the praise of God sometimes the accusation of Sins and the reason is because that word signifies an avouching and an acknowledgment and to Confess signifies to avouch or acknowledge any thing When we acknowledge the greatness of God or his benefits this is called Confession which signifies as much as praise or benediction which we give to God When we acknowledge the Sins we have committed it is a Confession by which we accuse our selyes This made St. Augustin say that Confession belongs not only to Sinners who accuse themselves but also to him that praises God. Confiteri non solius peccatoris sed etiam laudatoris Aug. Serm. 8. de verb. Dom. And St. Bernard adds that these two Confessions are necessary the one for Sinners the other for the Just Cum mala tua confiteris Sacrificium Deo Spiritus contribulatus cum Dei beneficia immolas Deo Sacrificium laudis absque confessione justus judicatur ingratus peccator mortuus reputatur Confessio igitur est peccatoris vita justi gloria Bern. Serm. 40. de diversis Each one of these says he offers a Sacrifice to God the one of Contrition the other of praise Without the first Sinners continue in Death and the Just without the second are accounted ungratefull to God and thus Confession gives life to Sinners and glory to the Just We speak here in this place only of the Confession of Sins and of that only as it is a part of the Sacrament of Penance which we define thus An accusation of all the Sins one has committed which is made to the Priest as Vicar of Jesus Christ to receive Absolution thereof In this definition we must particularly take notice of the word Accusation which signifies much but ordinarily is but little understood for it doth not signify a simple recital of their Sins as it happens to the greatest part of Penitents who Confess their Sins as if they were recounting a Story This word then betokens quite another thing and means a declaration which the Penitent makes of his Sins to the Priest as a Criminal to his Judge that is to denounce them to acknowledge ones self guilty and to blame ones self to demand pardon for them professing a regret or trouble of mind for having committed them protesting not to offend any more and submitting ones self to the Conditions and Punishments the Judge shall please to impose Behold what properly speaking Sacramental Confession is which is much different from that which is frequently practised by Penitents It is rightly called saith the learned Catechism of the Council of Trent de Penitent n. 51. an Accusation because Sins are not to be so recounted as tho' we boasted of our wickedness nor are they to be so told as if for divertisement to some idle hearers we were telling a Story But they are so to be declared by a mind accusing it self as that we desire also to revenge them in our selves That
those that commit it But it happens by a strange misfortune that it is but too common amongst Penitents and particularly amongst simple and young people by reason they know not how grievous a sin it is and the dreadfull consequences it draws after it This is the reason why I treat of it in this place First then Theotime you must know and hold as most certain that to conceal willingly in Confession any Mortal Sin or what you believe is a Mortal Sin is also a Mortal Sin The reason is taken from the Command of our Saviour who as the Council of Trent above-cited says giving to the Apostles and their Successors the power to remit or retain sins hath also obliged the Faithfull to Confess all the sins which after a sufficient Examen they remember Thus to conceal a Mortal Sin in Confession is a formal disobedience to the Law of Jesus Christ in a matter of the highest concern Secondly this Sin is a formal and positive untruth in a matter of the highest consequence viz. The justification and eternal Salvation of the Soul an untruth not told to Man but to God whose place the Priest holds in Confession Now to tell a lye to God is a strange Crime Remember the rigorous punishment which God by S. Peter laid upon Ananias and Saphira his wife for having told an untruth in a thing of less importance where they denied only part of the price of some goods they sold which they concealed You have not said the Apostle lyed to men but to God. Act. 5.4 And at these words they fell down dead at his feet Thirdly this Sin is not only a disobedience to the Law of God and a base lye but also a sin of Sacrilege and that one of the greatest magnitude Sacrilege is one of the heinousest sins one can commit for it is an abuse and a prophanation of a consecrated and holy thing that is to say of a thing dedicated to God and which partakes of his sanctity And as amongst holy things there are some more holy then others so amongst Sacrileges there are some greater and more enormous then others according to the proportion of the thing that is prophan'd Now the abuse and prophanation of the Sacrament of Penance by him who conceals a Mortal Sin is not only an abuse of a holy thing but of a thing most holy Because the Sacraments are not only exteriourly holy like Churches Altars and holy Vessels which are holy because they are Consecrated to holy uses but they contain holiness in themselves because they cause and bestow it upon men If then it be a horrible Sacrilege to prophane a Church overthrow an Altar abuse a Chalice judge what we ought to say of the abuse and prophanation of a Sacrament and what a horrour we ought to have of such a Sacrilege Fourthly consider the evil you do in abusing this Sacrament in particular for this Sacrament is instituted to appease and pacify our Lord and to reconcile us unto him Now in making a false Confession you provoke God to anger by those very means which he hath appointed to appease him you make him your enemy at the same time that you go to make your atonement with him and you change the Sacrament which is a Judgment or Sentence of Absolution into a Judgment or Sentence of Condemnation O how miserable are you are you not in dread of that Curse of the Prophet Woe be to you saith he that turn judgement into wormwood Amos. 5.7 Fifthly consider the great injury you do to the adorable Blood of the Son of God for by this Sacrament the merits of that blood are applied to us for the remission of our Sins and when the Priest pronounces the Sacred words of Absolution he pours upon us that pretious blood which washes us as St. John saith 1. Jo. 1.7 from the spots and stains which we had contracted by all our sins But when you are so void of grace as to make a false Confession and having made it to permit the Priest to give you Absolution you frustrate the effect of the blood of the Son of God which falling upon a Criminal and unworthy Subject as you then are is more prophaned contemned and violated then when the Jews shed it upon the Earth and unworthily trampled it under their feet Be afraid here of that menace of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews 10.28 where he saith He that despiseth Moyses his Law dieth without mercy of how much more severe punishment think ye shall he deserve who treadeth under foot the Son of God and esteemeth the blood of the Testament wherewith he was sanctified as an unholy thing and doth affront the Spirit of grace Ponder well upon these three injuries for all these you do by a false Confession Sixthly consider how little reason you have to commit so great evils in thus concealing your sins in Confession this cannot proceed but either out of fear or shame which are the two inseparable Companions of Sin as Tertullian saith in Apologet. Omne malum aut timore aut pudore natura suffudit As for fear what is it that you can apprehend in this occasion If you fear to be defamed consider that you discover your sins but to one man alone and so this cannot defame you but besides he is obliged to secrecy by all both Divine and Humane Laws and he cannot violate that secret but he makes himself worthy of death both before God and Man. So that there is no danger of your honour Are you afraid to be reprehended by your Ghostly Father this is what sometimes hinders simple people who yet in reality are not simple but blind and stupid to commit so dreadfull a sin for fear of so small an evil and to be more apprehensive of the reprehension of a Ghostly Father who doth not do it but meerly out of Charity and for your good then you are afraid of the offence of God and to be reprehended and condemned by him to be scoffed at by the Divels and lost for evermore Has not he lost his wit who makes such a choice The same is to be said of those who conceal their sins for fear of a great Penance which is yet a more unsupportable stupidity and blindness yet this happens sometimes and chiefly amongst young and ignorant people Let us now come to speak of shame which is the second reason why the Penitent conceals his sins in Confession as vain as the former And first I agree and acknowledge that Sin deserves we should be ashamed of it and that he is not truly penitent that hath not this shame and that he justly merits that reproch which God gave to a Sinner Hierem. 33. Thou hast the forehead of a dishonest woman thou wilt not blush for thy crimes But I maintain that shame ought not to hinder any one from discovering all their sins in Confession that which with-holds us from such a declaration is not shame
have only desired it ceaseth not to be very heinous Now I would have you observe that there are three degrees in these Sins of thought The first is Complacence the second Desire and the Third the Resolution Complacence in an evil thought is a Mortall Sin if it be voluntary or or with a willing mind and if the thing one thinks on be in it self a Mortall Sin as an impure Action a Notorious Revenge or the like The Desire which frequently follows the Complacence is also a Mortal Sin in the two Circumstances above-mention'd when it is carried away voluntarily to an evil thing and we see it is forbidden by the two last Commandments of the law of God. Now if you would know what is meant by a desire Desire is a Conditional will or a will to do the evil if it lay in our power and if we had an occasion The Resolution to do the evil is also a Mortall Sin and greater then the other two and must be confessed altho' it were not put in Execution and even altho' he have retracted and changed his resolution as we said before CHAP. XIII Of the Sin of Action and of Omission THis difference of Sins is also very necessary to be known as well for Confession as for the Conduct of a Christian Life Sins that consist in Action are easily known confess'd and avoided but Sins of Omission are hardly understood seldom Confessed and scarcely avoided being it is hard to know when one is wanting to this obligation Yet this Sin is often as great as that of action and a man shall be Damned for not doing that which he is obliged to do as soon as he that commits the evil which is forbidden him For the Law of God Theotime whereof Sin is a transgression doth not only forbid evil but also commands good There are some of these precepts which are negative and forbid evil as those Thou shalt not Kill Thou shalt not Steal and others are conceived in positive terms and command some good as those Thou shalt love the Lord thy God Keep holy the Sabboth day Each Commandment in reality is both positive and negative for those which command a good forbid the opposit evil and those that prohibit an evil command the contrary good For example the precept which commands us to love God forbids us to do any thing that displeases him And the Commandment that prohibits us from robbing obligeth us to make restitution of the goods to him whom we had robbed and thus of others And there is never a Commandment against which one may not Sin both by Commission and Omission This being so it is of great concern when one is to go to Confession that he examen himself of the Sins of Omission as well as those of Action and that he accuse himself not only of evil actions which he hath done but also of the good works he has not done when he was obliged In the examen which we shall give you hereafter we shall put the Sins of Omission together with the others upon every one of the Commandments of God. But chiefly we must examen carefully these Sins of Omission when we search into the Sins which belong particularly to our state For each state and condition hath peculiar obligations against which one Sins very frequently by notorious Omissions which are very great Sins and which are not always observed as they should be by those who often fall into them From hence it is that we do not amend them and that at the hour of Death we find our selves far more charged with Sins then ever we imagined during our life CHAP. XIV Of the Sins of Ignorance Passion and Malice I add here also this distinction or these several branches of Sins because they conduce very much toward the making us understand the quality of them and how to form a better judgment of their enormity This distinction springs from the Nature of Sin which is a voluntary and free action As it is voluntary it must be perform'd knowingly as it is free it must be done in such a manner that the will might not have done it Knowledge is hindred by Ignorance the power not to do it is hindred by Passions which carry the will on to do evil or withdraw it from good I say hindred that is either diminished or totally taken away When Knowledge is wanting it is a Sin of Ignorance when the power not to do it is hindred by Passion it is a Sin of Passion but when we are free both from the one and the other Passion as well as Ignorance then it is a Sin which proceeds from the will alone and is called a Sin of Malice that is of the will acting with full knowledge and of her own accord without being push'd on or retained by any Passion It imports you much that you should be well instructed in this Point Theotime because the greatest part of the world excuse their Sins either upon account of their ignorance or weakness which is but too ordinary amongst young people It is true there is sometimes ignorance or passion found in their Sins but they must not excuse themselves for that for I shall make it out that neither Ignorance nor Passion do allways diminish them and that the greatest part of their Sins are Sins of Malice And for the greater facility we shall divide this Chapter into Articles ARTICLE I. Of the Sins of Ignorance IT is call'd a Sin of ignorance which one hath committed for want of sufficient knowledge either of the action that he hath done or of the evil which there is in such an action Ignorance of the action is called ignorance of the Fact. Ignorance of the evil which is in the action is called ignorance of the Law of which we may be ignorant two ways either totally or in part Totally when we believe there is no ill in the action in part when we believe indeed there is some but not so much evil in it as in effect there is Either of these ignorances may happen two ways either by our fault and our will or without any fault or will on our side It happens by our fault when we are willing to be ignorant of a thing whether expressly and on set purpose or implicitly by a certain affected negligence willfully neglecting to learn what we do not know It happens without any fault of ours when there is neither an express will nor any notorious negligence on our part and it doth not belong to us to know it or to be instructed in it This being supposed it is easy to tell when it is that ignorance diminisheth the Sin when that it takes it away totally and when not at all First when ignorance doth not proceed at all from our fault neither directly nor indirectly it is certain it takes away the Sin totally and that the action which we do is not a Sin the reason is because there is no Sin without a
in effect it be not it follows that I shall not sin at all in committing it I answer that this is sometimes true when this erroneous judgment proceeds from an innocent ignorance or where there was no sault at all of ours or that it was not in our power to be instructed in the contrary But if this errour arise from a culpable ignorance and because we would not be better informed as it often happens in this case it doth not at all excuse the sin as 't is above said As concerning doubt this also is very often the cause of sin and it concerns us to know it We call that a doubt when one is uncertain whether an action or omission be a sin or no. This doubt is either very great or small or betwixt both it is very great when it inclines the judgment to determine that it is a Sin light when it rather resolves that it is not mean or betwixt both when it hangs in suspence and we know not on which side to incline the ballance Hence it is easy to tell when a doubt causes a Sin and when not A very strong doubt makes an action or omission a sin because it is esteemed as much as a judgment A light doubt doth not make a thing to be a sin in as much as it doth not at all destroy the contrary credence by which one believes there is no sin in it As for the doubt which is in the middle betwixt these two and which leaves the judgment in a totall uncertainty neither being able to affirm nor deny it is so far from excusing from sin that he who in this doubt resolves to do an action or omission which he doubts whether it be a Mortall sin or no sins Mortally The reason is because acting in that formall doubt he is supposed to desire it such as it might be in it self and as it might be evill he was resolved to do it in case it were so This deserves to be carefully remembered CHAP. XVI Of the Sins which we Commit in others WE are not only guilty of those sins which we commit by our selves but also of those which we commit by others that is of sins which others commit through our fault These Sins are often very heinous and of great consequence These are those of which David speaks when he says Psal 18.13 Cleanse me O Lord from my hidden Sins and pardon thy Servant from those which I commit in others Yet there is nothing more common amongst men nor of which they take less care for want of sufficient knowledge or understanding of the different ways by which one may concur to anothers Sin. Wherefore I shall here treat of them breifly To sin by another is to be the voluntary and culpable cause of the Sin which another commits I say voluntary and culpable because if we are the cause of the sin of another without our fault we do not Sin Now we may be the cause of the sin of another two ways positively and negatively by action or by omission By action when we do or say something which induceth our neighbour to sin By omission when we are wanting to say or do something that might hinder our neighbour from offending God. I said when we do or say to denote two ways whereby we may cause sin in another positively viz. by our actions and by our words By our actions which give ill example to our neighbour or an occasion to offend God. By words which induce others to evil The first way is called the sin of scandall the second inducement to evil The first happens as often as we do any action which is either wicked or esteemed so which we know or ought to know that it will be the cause that our neighbour will offend God. The second happens different ways viz. by Teaching Commanding Concealing and Soliciting to Sin by Entreaties Threats c. The One and the Other of these ways are very common amongst men and probably are the cause of the greatest part of those sins which are dayly committed The Son of God saith Mat. 18.7 Vae mundo a Scandalis necesse est enim ut veniant Scandale Veruntamen vae homini illi per quem Scandalum venit c. That it is a great misfortune that the world should be so filled with scandalls as it is and that this cannot otherwise be then a most lamentable case for him who causeth the scandall and that it were better for a man to have a Millstone tyed to his neck and cast into the bottom of the Sea then to give Scandall unto his neighbour that is then to make him fall into sin Besides this way of positively contributing to the sin of another by actions or words there is another which we may call negative which happens when any one refrains from doing or saying something which might hinder our neighbour from offending God. For not to hinder one from sinning when we may is to be the cause of the Sin of another This happens in many cases of which we shall discourse hereafter at the end of the examen of Sins The Fourth Part of the Treatise of Penance which is Satisfaction CHAP. I. What Satisfaction is IT is the third part of Penance which consists in doing or suffering something to repair in some manner the offence or injury which is done to God by Sin. I say to repair in some manner because the great reparation for Sin was performed by the Son of God who by his Precious Blood and Death hath exactly repaired the injury which Sin did to God and merited a generall Pardon of all the punishment which the Divine Justice could require This reparation hath opened and facilitated a way to a reconciliation with God after Sin. For as much as the merits of our Saviour being applyed to us as they are by the Sacraments of Baptism and Penance restore us again to the Grace of God which we had lost and make us receive the remission of the eternall Punishment due to our Sins All this through the merits of Jesus Christ and by the vertue of the Satisfaction which he hath given to God the Father for the same Sins A satisfaction without which we should always have remained uncapable of satisfying God and by consequence of ever returning again into his Grace and Favour But as it is in his power who receives him again into his favour by whom he hath been offended to admit him on such conditions as himself shall think sit and either to remit him all the punishment or to oblige him to undergo only part of it it hath pleased the Divine wisdom in respect of us to make use of both the one and the other of these two ways of reconciliation tho' more ordinarily of the second For in Baptism he receives us into his Grace and remits us all the Punishment due to our Sins But in Penance he remits us indeed the Eternall punishment but still reserves some
Temporall pains to be imposed upon the Penitent to the end he the Penitent may satisfy on his part according to his power and for other reasons which we shall speak of In the undertaking of this Temporall punishment consists the satisfaction whereof we speak in this place which is the third part of Penance CHAP. II. That God pardoning the Sin obliges to a temporal Punishment THis is a fundamental truth in the matter of satisfaction and it is very necessary to understand it well that we may know what satisfaction or a Penance is and how much it imports us to comply with it I said above that God ordinarily makes use of the second sort of reconciliation which imposeth an obligation at least to suffer some punishment for sin which is easy to be proved He hath always practiced this in the Old Testament Nay even from the beginning of the World. When he pardoned the first man his sin it was upon condition to do Penance by labour to which he condemned him and in effect it was a very severe Penance which continued all his Life When he pardoned David his sins of Adultery and Murther he told him by his Prophet that he should be chastised by the death of his Child and he remitted him nothing of all the menaces with which he threatned him by the same Prophet That he himself should see the dishonour of his house the dissention amongst his Children and other misfortunes which were foretold him and all which came to pass For this reason the Penitents of the Old Testament when they begged of God pardon of their sins they never as much as ask'd to be exempt from all punishment but only not to be chastised according to the rigour of the divine justice they desired to avoid his fury and the more fignal effects of his wrath but they submitted themselves to the fatherly correction he should be pleased to impose upon them Reprehend me not O Lord said David Psal 27. in thy Fury nor punish me in thy Wrath. And a little after he declares that he is ready to do Penance and to suffer for his Sins ibid. v. 18. Ecce ego in flagella paratus Sum I am prepared saith he for Scourges Another begs of God that he will Chastise him but not in his Fury Corripe me Domine veruntamen in judicio non in furore Hierem 10.24 There are a vast number of the like examples in the old Testament which shew evidently that God doth not pardon Sins but with an obligation to do Penance and that the Penitents of that time never pretended nor required to be exempt from suffering for their Sins Yea even there have been some of the most illuminated amongst them who have sounded into the depth of the punishment which God hath reserved to himself in the other Life and who knew that God punished after death the Sins of the just which had not been sufficiently expiated during Life So Judas Machabeus not only a great Captain but also high Priest of the Law after a signal Victory sent orders to Jerusalem to offer Sacrifice for the sins of the faithfull who had been slain in that fight And the Scripture 2. Mach. 12.46 approves that action as an holy and wholsome thought assuring us that by prayers and Sacrifices the dead are released from their Sins But this cannot be understood of Sin as to the fault or the eternall punishment which cannot be remitted after Death no more then the fault from whence it springs It must then be understood of the Temporall punishment which the dead ought to satisfy for in the other Life and from which they may be released by the Prayers and Sacrifices of the Living As to the new Law here also God hath still continued the same manner of receiving Christians into his Grace in obliging them to satisfaction by temporal punishment and that with so much more reason as the Law they profess is more holy and more perfect This is the Reason why our Saviour hath said Mat. 12.35 that at the day of Judgment we must give account of the least Sins as idle words This sentence shall be given after death There we shall give an account of our sins there to receive the punishment This shall not at all be an eternall punishment for they will not at all deserve it it must then be a temporall punishment which must be undergone and by which we must satisfy in the other Life if we have not satisfyed during this Hence also it is that the same Son of God by giving to his Apostles power to remit and retain sins hath also given that of binding and loosing Sinners This power of binding reacheth to many things but amongst others it contains the Power of obliging Penitents to make satisfaction for their sins and in releasing them from the bonds of the guilt and eternall punishment it imposes upon them a temporall pain for the satisfaction of the Divine Justice Thus the Church hath always urderstood that power of binding as the Council of Trent hath declared Ses 14. c. 8. adding Can. 15. an Anathema to those that hold the contrary This is the cause why the same Church which is infallible in the interpretation of the sentiments of her Spouse hath always made use of this power from the Apostles even unto this present time having always received Sinners unto the Sacrament of Penance by imposing upon them wholsome penances for their sins For which she her self hath made rules and Canons prescribing different penances for different sorts of Sins CHAP. III. Excellent reasons out of the Council of Trent to shew why God remitting the Sin by Penance obligeth the Penitent Sinner to a Temporal Punishment THe holy Council of Trent treating of Penance brings so efficacious and moving reasons to evince this truth that to omit them here Theotime would be to deprive you of a signal satisfaction It draws the first from the great equity of the Divine Justice which treats those in a different manner who are differently or unequally guilty as those are who have sinned before Baptisme and those who have offended after they have received it For as concerning the former as they have sinned with more ignorance and without having received so many graces as Christians have God remits them by Baptisme not only all their Sins but also all the punishment which he might justly exact in satisfaction for them granting them an absolute and entire pardon or an act of oblivion and indemnity of all that is passed in favour of their entrance into Christian Religion But he treats otherwise with them who relapse into sin after Baptisme whose faults are infinitly greater because then they have a clearer knowlege of the sin and offend after they have been delivered from the Slavery of Sin and the Devil After they have received the grace of the Holy Ghost by which there Soul became the dwelling place of God so that by sinning they violate the Temple of
to the performance of the Penance it ought to be exact and faithfully complied with there is an obligation to discharge ones self of this Duty First because it is a part and belongs to the perfection of the Sacrament 2ly because it is enjoyn'd by an authority which hath power to oblige since God hath declared that to be bound in Heaven which the Priest binds upon Earth 3ly because it is in vertue of that acceptance one receives absolution There is then an obligation of complying with that penance which one hath accepted and he who on set purpose or by willfull negligence fails to perform it commits a Sin and an offence against God and this more or less greivously according as the omission is more or less considerable for if it be but a slight omission it is but a venial Sin but if it be a notorious omission as of the whole penance or the greatest part of it it may be a mortal Sin which is to be understood if the Penance was enjoyn'd in satisfaction for a Mortal Sin. Acquit your self then faithfully Theotime of your Penance as obeying God in the person of your Confessour discharge your self of the promise you have made him and compleat the Sacrament But remember to perform it willingly devoutly and secretly Willingly to avoid the fault which those commit who never perform it but with pain and trouble whereby they loose the greatest part of the merit they might otherwise have It is a strange thing that men should run after Sin with so much earnestness and pleasure and should have such an Aversion and Horrour against Penance which is a remedy against it And this is the complaint which Tertullian makes of his time Nauseabit ad antidotum qui hiavit ad venenum We nauseate the Remedy and love the Poyson Perform it also devoutly but especially with a true Spirit of repentance and an acknowledgment that it is a certain satisfaction you make to God for the injury you have done him by your Sins Place them always before your eyes deplore them as David did iniquicatem meam ego cognosco peccatum meum contra me est semper Psal 50.4 In fine perform your Penance secretly if it be great and if it be given you for great Sins but which are altogether unknown to those amongst whom you live that you may neither scandalise any one nor defame your self It was for these two reasons we said in the precedent Chapter that the Preist ought to enjoyn such a penance that may be secretly comply'd with when the Sins are wholly secret and the Penitent also must keep his Penance secret that he may avoid the same inconveniences And yet this is a thing wherein Penitents and particularly young people are frequently faulty declaring indiscreetly their penances to others which cannot but be of very ill consequence when their penances are signall and notorious If the penance be enjoyn'd you for Sins that are known to others as you ought not to affect to publish it so neither ought you to avoid the making of it known being it may serve for the edification of others and satisfy for the scandal which your Sins have caused CHAP. VII Of the Works which may be enjoyn'd for Penance THe most ordinary works of Penance are prayer fasting almsdeeds and whatsoever may have a relation to any of these three such as in respect of Prayer are reading pious books Meditation Confession hearing Mass In respect of fasting all the Mortifications of the body Labour retrenching our selves even of lawfull Pleasures Abstinence from things either Hurtfull or Dangerous In regard of Alms all the Helps and Assistances one can give to their Neighbour These three sorts of works are very proper for Penance and agree with it admirably well For first by these three works we submit to God all the goods which we possess the goods of the Mind those of the Body and of Fortune The goods of the mind by Prayer which subjects the Spirit to God those of the Body by Fasting and other Mortifications and those of Fortune by Almsdeeds Secondly because almost all our Sins consist in the abuse of some of these three things Pride proceeds from the abuse of the goods or advantages of the mind Luxury from those of the goods of the Body and from the abuse of our Riches proceeds Covetousness We repair that abuse by the three above-mentioned works Prayer humbles the mind Fasting tames the body and Alms makes good use of Riches These three works are highly praised and commended in the Scripture as having a wonderfull force to appease Gods anger after Sin and obtain of him all manner of favours It is said of prayers Judith 9.16 That the Prayers of the humble and good have always been pleasing to God. Eccle. 35.21 That the Prayer of him that humbles himself penetrates the Clouds Peircing as I may say the Heavens to mount to the Divine Throne and make it self be understood and graciously heard This made St. Augustine say that it is the same for Prayer to ascend unto Heaven as for Mercy to descend from thence Ascendit Oratio descendit miseratio And he adds elsewhere thâ—t to make Prayer mount more easily up to Heaven it is good to give it two wings viz. Fasting and Alms. As for Fasting it is said Tob. 12.8 That Prayer is good with Fasting That the Fasting and Penance of the Ninevites appeased Gods wrath against them When God exhorts his People to penance he assignes fasting as one of the most efficacious means Convert your selves to me in Fasting Tears and Lamentations Joel 2.13 And as for Alms it is said Tob. 4.11 That it delivers from Sin and Death And that it will not permit that the Soul which gives it should be lost That Dan. 4.24 by it we must redeem our Sins That Eccl. 29.15 we must hide our almes in the bosome of the poor and it will Pray and obtain of God an exemption from all evil for him that does it There is a great number of other passages in the Holy Scripture to shew how powerfull these three works are to obtain the mercy of God and remission of Sins These three works have each of them three singular qualities which render them more amiable and commend them to our more frequent practise For they are Satisfactory Meritorious and impetratorious They are Satisfactorious in respect of the temporal punishment by reason of the trouble which they give of Sins past either to the Body or Mind and by these pains or trouble willingly undergone one Satisfies for the punishments which are due to the Sins he hath committed They are meritorious in respect of grace and glory which is common to all good works performed in the state of Sanctifying grace They are impetratorious that is they have a particular vertue whereby to obtain of God the favours which we demand and that according to the intention of those who do them and by how much better that
count not many from the time they return'd unto his favour before they return to the offences by which they lost it Thus they pass all their Life Confessing from time to time and continually returning to Mortal Sin after Confession So that their whole life seems to be but one as it were continued Series or Succession of Confession and Relapses into Mortal Sin Now and then to Confess to give their Conscience a little ease and free it from some heinous Crime by this way of proceeding seems to be only a disposition to enslave it in some other yet more enormous Sin As if the Sacrament were instituted only for the remission of past Sins and not at all to give us strength to avoid them for the future Good God Theotime Is it possible that Christians believing Christians should be guilty of this disorder That men endued with the light of Faith should treat God after this unreasonable and unworthy manner Is this to understand the nature of the Sacrament of Penance what it is Is this to believe that it is a Sacrament of reconciliation with God not only by way of truce or for a time but after the manner of a perpetual or eternal peace is this to form a right judgment of his unlimited power not to value his favour and Friendship or do they as indeed their repeated and customary offences speak it believe him only infinite in his attribute of Mercy but not of Justice so easily to withdraw themselves from that Grace to which by his only Mercy they have been admitted Did God only seldom and with much difficulty receive us again into his favour after we had offended him every one would stand upon his guard one would be afraid to fall again into his dis-favour and to hazzard his Eternal Salvation by an unfortunate relapse But being we think we shall be re-admitted into his favour when we please and that there is no more to be done than to present our selves to him in the Sacrament of Penance to receive remission of our Sins we take the freedom to offend him on all occasions Thus we treat our God and thus we take a motive from his goodness to continue to offend him and to neglect that Sacred tye of his Friendship to that degree as every moment to break its bonds An affront one would not offer to the most contemptible Person living See then Theotime and consider well of what great consequence this Subject is and how it deserves to be solidly treated and requires also your serious reflection CHAP. II. How the relapse into Sin is a very great evil ALL what I have said doth sufficiently evince the greatness and enormity of this evil yet that you may be the more fully persuaded of it it is necessary that you learn it from the Holy Ghost himself and by those lights he hath vouchsafed to shew us in Holy Writ First the Wise Man in the 26th Chapter verse 25 of Ecclesiasticus considering the greatness of this evil declares that he cannot behold it without a just indignation He saith then that there are two things which when they happen grieve him very much the one to see a great Warriour after he hath served a long time in the Campagne reduc't to Poverty the other to see a Wise Man despised instead of being esteemed according to his merit But he adds that the third he is not able to endure and that it causes in him a transport of the highest wrath that is to see a man who falls from the State of Justice and Sanctity to that of Sin and who abandons Virtue to follow Vice and he assures us that God will make that Person feel one day the effects of his Justice In another place he exclaims against those who forsake the path of Virtue and give themselves over to Vice. Eccle. 2.16 Woe be to you who have forsaken the right and have declined into perverse ways what will you do when God shall examine your ways and all the actions of your Life The Apostle St Peter 2. Ep. 2.20 inveighs with much zeal against those who return to sin after they have renounc't it by the Profession of Christianity and declares that they fall back into a far worse State or Condition than the former from whence they were deliver'd by their Conversion which was a State of darkness and Sin. That it had been better for them they had never known the Truth than to have forsaken it after they had known it That their relapse into Sin makes them resemble the Dog which returns to his vomit and the Hog which after he hath been wash'd wallows in the mire What could be more emphatically said against the relapse into Sin yet it is the Holy Ghost himself who speaks it Add also that which he hath spoken upon this Subject by the Council of Trent in those excellent words which we cited above in the Fourth Part the third Chapter in which he describes with much energy the enormity of their fault who relapse into Sin after Baptism He remarks four notorious circumstances which aggravate their first relapse The first is that they sin after that they have been once delivered from the Slavery of Sin and the Devil Mark this word Once 2. That they sin after they have received the Grace of the Holy Ghost 3. That they sin with knowledge or knowingly 4. That in sinning they violate the Temple of God and contristate his Holy Spirit CHAP. III. Of three great indignities which are found in the Sin of relapse The Ingratitude The Perfidiousness and the Contempt of God. THis is to shew you yet more clearly the grievousness of the Sin of relapse from three circumstances which it includes and which render it most enormous The first is a prodigious Ingratitude which it discovers towards God in offending him over and over after innumerable benefits received from his hand and above the rest after he hath been by God's pure Mercy deliver'd not only once or twice but many times from Sin and eternal death Ponder well upon this ingratitude Theotime judge what it is for a Slave to be ungratefull to his Lord his Redeemer to him to whom he owes all he hath in fine to God himself If the Councill of Trent exaggerate with such vigour the first sin which one commits after Baptism upon this only account that it offends God after one hath been once deliver'd from the captivity of Sin and the Devil Semel a peccati Daemonis Servitute liberate What would they say of those who fall back into sin after they have been delivered from it not once but many times only by the Sacrament of Penance Was there ever an ingratitude parallel to this Deut. 32.6 Haeccine reddis Domino Popule stulte insipiens O Christian Souls is it thus that you treat your God Must you not have lost all your judgment and understanding to be thus forgetfull of the infinite favours of your Creator and
Confession and by consequence it is very hard for them not to make frequently invalid and null Confessions whereby they receive no Absolution of their Sins For first it is certain that those who live in this manner do not ordinarily confess but by course and custom upon occasion of some great Solemnity or for some other reason of decency and apparent piety They seldom or never do it with a true Spirit of repentance and a real desire to amend and break themselves of their vicious habit And by this means how many invalid Confessions do they make Secondly how can it be thought that those who relapse ordinarily into the same Sins after their Confessions should have true Contrition when they make their Confessions For true Contrition requires a great and that sorrowfull sense of what is past with a firm and constant resolution for the time to come Now who can believe that they detest those Sins from the bottom of their hearts which they resume again so easily and so soon how can it be thought that they have a firm resolution to do what they wellnigh never go about to do that is to amend their Lives How can it be that in all their Confessions they have a firm resolution to leave the Sin which yet they never forsake or never leaving it at all can it be believ'd that they have always a true resolution to forsake it This is what cannot be conceiv'd and which never happens in Temporal concerns where a firm resolution never scarcely but takes effect and is follow'd with performance Certainly there is not any more infallible sign of false Repentance For as St. Augustin saith se poenitens es poeniteat te si poenitet te noli facere se adhuc facis poenitens non es If you are Penitent you ought to repent your self of your Sin if you be sorry for it do not commit it if yet you commit it you are not penitent at all And St. Ambrose saith excellently well that he who is asham'd of the evil he hath done will take great care to avoid what may make him blush anew Some are wont to answer that this relapse into Sin doth not proceed from any want of resolution and repentance but from humane frailty which inclines to evil This excuse is as false and ill grounded as it is common amongst men who flatter themselves in their Sins which they will not leave For first can it be said that this is an effect of Frailty when one willfully returns to Sin knowing full well the evil he doth and when he hath all the means necessary to preserve himself from it Is not this what we call the Sin of Malice and not of Frailty as we have shewn above in the Third Part Chap. 14. And yet this is the case of the greatest part of all those who relapse ordinarily into Sin after Confession Secondly Can it be call'd an effect of Frailty when one returns to Sin because he will not take pains or do any thing which may withdraw him from it he will not avoid the occasions nor remove the causes of it nor take counsel nor use any means to that effect Is not this clearly to deceive ones self to treat in this manner and yet to attribute his frequent relapse to Humane Frailty Thirdly However were not this frailty assisted by divine grace the excuse might pass But being strengthened as it is abundantly by the helps which God bestows upon us in our necessities we cannot lay the fault of our relapses into Sin upon our own frailty but we shall accuse our selves either of not demanding the grace of God in our prayert or of not being faithfull in cooperating with his grace Wherefore to speak the truth we ought not here to accuse humane frailty but the weakness of our repentance contrition the faint regret or sorrow for Sins past and the weak and very imperfect resolution we have to avoid them for the time to come I do not say that the relapse into Sin is always an effect of a false repentance for that is not true and it is certain it may happen and happens dayly that one falls back into those Sins of which he was truly penitent But I speak of a frequent and ordinary relapse and I affirm that morally speaking it is impossible that those who live in this manner do not make very frequently invalid and null Confessions for want of contrition and that they often believe themselves to be when they are not truly Penetent for the reasons above-mention'd which evinces the truth of that excellent saying of St. Clement of Alexandria to demand frequently pardon for faults which one frequently commits this is not to be a Penitent but only to have a shadow and appearance of Penance Ponder well these words CHAP. VI. An excellent Advertisement of St. Gregory upon the false repentance of those who return to their Sins I Cannot omit in this place an advertisement of main concern which St. Gregory the great in his Pastoral 3. p. c. 3. gives to those who after they have performed their Penances do not amend their lives which is that they ought to take heed lest their repentance be not very often false and only in outward shew Of which he gives a considerable reason in these words We must admonish those who do Penance for their past Sins and who nevertheless relapse into them that they carefully consider one thing which is that many times it happens to Sinners that they find within themselves motions which carry them on to Virtue but unprofitably and without fruit as it happens many times to the Just to be tempted and sollicited to Sin but without effect He adds that as the Temptations to which the Just do not at all consent serve to confirm them more in Virtue so these imperfect motions towards Virtue serve to detain the Sinners in their Sins and to give them a presumptuous considence of their Salvation in the midst of their Sins which they commit so freely without remorse And he observes that this presumption is a punishment of their reitersted and repeated Sins He produces consequent to this discourse two opposit examples of Balaam and St. Paul. Balaam saith St. Gregory seeing from the top of a Mountain the people of God encamp'd in the Desart conceived some pious and strong desires of his conversion languishing away in wishes to dye the death of the Just and to resemble that holy People in his death But immediately after he gave pernicious Counsel to destroy those very People whom he had so much wished to resemble in his death St. Paul on the contrary feels within himself the motions which sollicite him to Sin and these Tomptations confirm him more in Virtue Whence comes this St. Gregory asks the question Balaam is touched with motions of repentance and is not justified St. Paul is incited to Sin and the temptation doth not defile his Soul But to convince us that good works begun
and not perfected do not conduce at all to the Salvation of the wicked no more then the first motions to evil do render good and Virtuous Souls culpable in the sight of God. This Animadversion deserves to be well considered and so much the more for that it remarks a very particular reason of the false repentance which is customary to those who do not at all amend then Lives viz. that it often happens they have only a beginning of repentance by some good motions they seel in their heart without proceeding further They conceive indeed some disple sure against their Sins but not a perfect hatred and detestation of them they feel some faint desires but they have not at all an entire and true resolution to forsake them There is yet one thing more very remarkable in this Advertisement upon the example of Balaam and his false repentance For this wicked Prophet in the motion he had of repentance desired indeed to dye the death of the Just but he saith not one word of living as they did he demands the blessing to resemble them in his death but not to be like unto them in his life Let my Soul saith he Num. 23.10 dye the death of the Just and let my end be like unto theirs Thus his repentance was not true but false because he did not desire to forsake his Sins and amend his life but only to be sav'd at the hour of death Which is properly to desire to live ill and yet dye well and so not be punish'd for it Now this kind of repentance is found but too often amongst Christians and peculiarly amongst those who live in this customary relapse of which we speak For there is not one single man of them who desire not to dye in the grace of God and save their Souls And for this reason they go to Confession now and then to discharge themselves of their past Sins that they may not be troubled with remorse of Conscience at the hour of death But they seldom or never desire to live holily or at least they have not an effectual and efficacious will to do it as by their frequent relapses it doth but too evidently appear CHAP. VII That by returning back to Sin we lose great part of the fruit of our precedent good Confessions THis is another efficacious reason to demonstrate the danger to which one exposeth his Salvation by returning back to Sin. That it doth not only render abundance of Confessions invalid and nall but it also makes us lose the fruit of those good Confessions we have made Two fruits there are of the Sacrament of Penance The first is the Remission of Sins The second the Recovery of the friendship of Almighty God and many other Graces and Assistances which he grants by vertue of the Sacrament to those who perform the Penance their Sins deserve Tho' these two effects be produced at the same time and inseparably the one from the other yet one may be lost without the other For by relapse into Mortal Sin one doth not at all lose the Remission which he hath receiv'd of precedent Sins by good Confessions it being most certain that a Sin once pardon'd doth never revive again Forasmuch as the Apostle hath it Rom. 11.29 The gifts of God are without repentance But as to the Friendship of God and the special assistances of his Grace which one merits by means of the Sacrament it is certain they are entirely lost when one relapses into Mortal Sin and this mischievous fall causeth a deplorable ruine in his Soul who yields himself over to it God himself threatens this by his Prophet Ezech. 3.20 If the Just Man saith he withdraws himself from his Justice to return to his former iniquity I will forget all the good he hath done And the Wise Man saith upon this Subject Eccl. 34.30 What doth it avail a man who hath touched a dead body to have washed himself if again he defile himself and touch it This is the reason why God saith to Sinners by his Prophet wash and be cleansed he doth not only say that they wash themselves from their iniquities but that they be also cleansed forasmuch as Saint Gregory observes it is to no purpose to be washed if one do not conserve himself clean Without this one doth no more then those unclean Animals which wash themselves and presently return to wallow in the dirt This obliged St. Peter and others when they spoke of Penance to advertise Penitents that Penance avails them nothing who after they have performed it return to Sin except it be for their greater ruine 2. Pet. 2. Those saith St. Gregory above-cited who do Penance and do not amend their Lives are to be admonished that it is to no purpose to cleanse themselves from their Sins by tears if afterwards by their evil actions they defile their Souls And that they seem only to cleanse themselves to the end that after they are washed they may return to their former filth CHAP. VIII That by frequent relapse into Sin one allways falls into a worse condition then before THis truth our Saviour himself hath taught us upon occasion of a possessed person whom he had delivered from that miserable condition It happens saith he that the wicked Spirit being cast out of a man useth all his endeavours to return to his former dwelling and calling others to his assistance at last he re-enters there this second possession is much more prejudicial then the former Mat. 12.45 and the last of that man be made worse then the first By this example of a person whose body is possessed we are instructed in what passes in the Soul when one unfortunatly relapses into Sin as the Apostle St. Peter hath explained it in these words 2. Epistle cited in the second Chapter If after they are retired from the disorders of the world they suffer themselves yet to be intangled and overcome thereby they fall back into a worse condition then before Now if this be true of the first relpse what will it be of the Second of the Tenth of the Twentieth and of all those which befall them who do nothing else all their life time but rise and fall repent and then as often return to the Sins they had repented of It is evident that they fall at last into a most deplorable State even almost into an impossibility ever to save their Souls This is certain and if you doubt it answer if you can this proof and demonstration By this ordinary relapse three things which put his Salvation in the utmost danger befall the Sinner First ill habits encrease and grow stronger and stronger 2ly The light and graces of God diminish in an high degree 3ly The Devil comes with more strength and power to destroy him whom he sees so deeply engaged in wickedness Behold three things which without doubt when they happen endanger Salvation in an high degree Now it is certain they befall all
those who frequently return to Sin. For first as to vicious habits it cannot be doubted but they are so fortifi'd by frequent relapse that they become at length invincible The reason is clear and the experience but too certain as was evidently shewn in the Instruction of Youth in the first part Chap. 10. As to the Graces or special favours of God there is not any thing more apt to diminish them then customary relapses accompanied with such and so many Ingratitudes perfidious Infidelities and contempts as have been above declar'd But that which most of all impairs them is the abuse of the Sacraments which one is guilty of during these frequent relapses For of two the one either the Confessions which they make and the Communions they frequent are good or bad if had then they are so many Sacriledges which provoke Gods wrath against us which banish his grace from our Souls and render us infinitely unworthy in his sight If good then they are so many benefits and divine favours which by relapse into Sin are render'd useless nay most miserably trampled under our feet What are so many divine favours so many illuminations good thoughts and pious motions which one had received in the Sacrament slighted and lost by one relapse No question but they are How can it then be but that those cast away and neglected favours should be the cause of the loss of many others according to that Sentence of our Saviour Mat. 13.12 He that hath to him shall be given and he shall abound but he that hath not from him shall be taken away that also which he hath Now if the divine graces and favours be lost and diminished by these ordinary relapses the third effect which is the encrease of the strength of our Ghostly enemy must follow of necessity For as God is no sooner departed from the Soul but the Devil presently takes possession of it so also according to the measure of his removal the Devil becomes more powerfull to destroy us This is a necessary and infallible consequence and this is the reason why God pronounced this Dreadfull Sentence Osea 9.12 Wo be to them when I shall depart from them Well knowing that nothing but miseries and misfortunes could attend them whom he had forsaken And the greatest of these misfortuues is that the Devil becomes master of the Soul and reduces her to such a slavery as to oblige her to do his will as St. Paul hath it 2. Tim. 2.26 by whom they are kept captives at his will or beck CHAP. IX That frequent relapse into Sin leads to final Impenitence and an evil death or to dye in Mortal Sin. THis Proposition is the result of all the former and more immediately follows from the three last for if this customary return to Sin be the cause of a great number of ill confessions and deprive us of the fruit of those we had made well if in the way of Salvation it make a man always fall from bad to worse it evidently follows that it leads to the broad way of Impenitence and that it may often come to pass that those who live in this ordinary relapse end their lives in mortal Sin. And I would to God this Proposition were not so absolutely true as indeed it is but besides the former reasons behold yet others which put it out of doubt First because those who live in these customary relapses intermingled with Confessions believe themselves to be in a good way whereas in reality they are far from it They rely much upon the confessions which they make from time to time and never consider how faulty and deficient their relapses make them in the sight of God. Hence it befalls them what S. Gregory above-cited cap. 31. speaks of That performing lamely some good works which they begin but do not perfect they live in a proud presumption that they shall be saved in the midst of the evils which they commit and accomplish to the full hence it is that not at all mistrusting their wicked state they dye without repentance of their Sins Secondly because being often subject to make false Confessions they are in great danger lest the last they make be like the former and that in this last important occasion they should suppose themselves to have true Contrition when they have but a false one what is apparent only as they had in many precedent Confessions This happens very easily especially if at that last time they confess themselves to their accustomed Ghostly father who hath entertain'd them in their ordinary relapses and cherished them in their perpetuall impenitences Thirdly by reason that those who live in these relapses intermixed with admittance to the Sacraments become obdurate to all things which might move them hardened against all the motives which one can offer them of Fear of Hope of the love of God. They are accustomed to hear all these things in their Confessions and elswhere This makes them that they are not moved at all when such motives are offer'd to them in the most pressing occasions Because whatsoever is familiar to us makes no impression upon us Ab assuetis non fit passio In fine the last reason is that those who live in this manner have great grounds to fear that God will forsake them at that last hour in punishment of their repeated Infidelities of the Abuses which they have offered to the Sacraments and divine graces which they have therein received and also in chastisement of a tacit presumption they have had of themselves that they were able to raise themselves from sin whensoe're they pleased A presumption however common yet highly offensive in the sight of God and so much the more for that it is the cause of all the relapses one falls into after confession Because they believe they shall always rise again well as hitherto they have done therefore they are so far from being affraid to offend again that hence they take occasion to sin more freely but it frequently falls out that they find themselves deceived and that God by a just judgment punisheth them at the hour of their death by forsaking them and leaving them then to themselves in their greatest need who before had continually abused his graces and yet were so rash and confident as to account themselves secure the History of Sampson is very remarkable upon this Subject God had endowed him with an extraordinary and miraculous strength of body he employ'd it many times against the Philistines his Enemies whom he had often overthrown and put to flight and particularly upon some occasions wherein his Wife who was of that Nation supposing she had got out of him the secret of his strength had attempted to deliver him into their hands He had dicomfited them with much ease and upon this confidence he comes to tell her that the secret of his Strength lay in his Hair not believing perhaps that what he said was true She called his Enemies
he tells you that he is truly sorry that he hath offended God and promises to amend He often indeed speaks these words but they come not from his heart Or if they proceed from a sense of his Sins it is but lightly and by way of habit without having seriously thought of his amendment He believes he hath contrition but hath it not This is what happens frequently and then the Confessor cannot give absolution without putting himself in danger to commit a Secrilege He ought to defer it and give time to his Penitent to think as he ought of his amendment and render himself a subject worthy of Absolution This procedure surprises the Penitents when they find the Confessors treat them as they are obliged to do but these are in name only and not Penitents in effect who believe that Confession consists only in a declaration of their Sins and that when once they have declared them they have a right to receive Absolution and to oblige the Confessor to it They will be believed upon their single word when they say they are truly sorry for their Sins and that they will not commit them any more for the future although in their former Confessions they have always said the same and without effect These Penitents most grossly deceive themselves For they will judge their judges and teach their Physitians It belongs to the Confessor to judg of the state of the Penitent and see whether he be sufficiently disposed to receive absolution and whether or no he can securely give it This care is his duty as being oliged to give an account of this his function in the presence of Almighty God. It is the Bloud of the Son of God which he applys in the Sacrament and God will require an exact and rigourous account of him if he did distribute it to those that are unworthy of it Now judge Theotime whether the Penitent be not very unreasonable who would oblige his Confessor to give him Absolution when he the Confessor either doth not find him at all duly disposed or hath good grounds to doubt whether he be worthy of it Is not this to go about to damn himself and his Confessor too But if the Penitent be blamable in this occasion the Confessor is much more in fault when he yields so easily to the importunities of his Penitent as to give him a doubtfull absolution and which may be rather hurtfull then profitable to him He ought to remember that there are some cruel mercies hurtfull both to those to whom they are shewn and to those who shew them and that the good Physitian doth not desist from applying his remedies when he judges them necessary notwithstanding all the opposition his Patient makes He lets him cry out and complain being assured that what he does is necessary for the Patient who when he shall have recovered his health will not only be well contented to have suffered but also acknowledge the kindness his Physitian did him Saint Augustin says excellently well upon this Subject Epist ad Vincent He is not always a Friend who spares or is favourable to us nor he always an Enemy who chastizeth the Physitian who commands a Lunatick to be bound and awakes one in a Lethargy is troublesome to them both but it is because he loves them and by tormenting them he cures them The one and the other as long as they are sick are angry with him but as soon as they are cured they hold themselves much obliged to him for that he did not spare them Ambobus molestus ambos amat ambos sanat Ambo quamdiu aegri sunt indignantur sed ambo sani gratulantur It is true that a Confessor ought so to employ his Resolution as not to forget his sweet and obliging mildness but that he ought as much as possible to make the Penitent approve of what he ordains sweetening all things by the testimony of his affection and convincing him that what he advises is to acquit himself of his obligation and for the Salvation of his Soul. This is the Oyle of the Gospel Luc. 34. which he must employ with the Wine when he dresses the wounds of others Consciences endeavouring by Charity to sweeten the sharpest remedies which he is obliged to use therein Behold here the first good which the Confessor ought to have in view viz. to secure the Sacrament and to restore the Penitent to the grace of God. But yet there is a second which he is obliged also as far as he is able to procure viz. the amendment of the Penitent The Cure is good for nothing which is followed by a Relapse and the Physitian who is not concerned to prevent it complies but with half his duty and becomes himself guilty of the harm into which the sick man falls again and even of death it self if it befall him This is the reason why the Confessor is obliged not only to advertise the Penitent not to return to his Sins but also to shew him the means how to avoid them and to engage him to put them in execution These means are Penance Prayer satisfactory Works as Fasting Alms-deeds Mortification and others which we have handled above in the Fourth Part and whereof we shall yet speak in the following Chapter To which may be added certain conditional Penances that is some painfull things to be performed or suffered by the Penitent in case he return again unto his Sins and as often as he shall relapse therein as to Fast to give Alms or some other painfull work for each relapse The apprehensions of these sort of Punishments serve frequently as a Bridle to with-hold the Penitents when they are tempted to offend God. And lastly the deferring of Absolution when the Penitent doth not at all correct himself is frequently a very good remedy to make him amend his Life This makes the Penitent think seriously of amendment and labour to reform his Vices which make him unworthy of so great a good and punctually to comply with all that he the Confessor shall ordain him to the end he may be worthy This means ought to be applied with much Prudence and especially it behoveth the Confessor to make a vast distinction between Penitents who relapse into their Sins through frailty and those who return through malice that is to say either on set purpose or through an affected negligence He will know the former when he shall find that they are extreamly troubled to see themselves subject to those relapses that they use all their endeavours to abstain from Sin that they practice what means their Confessor appoints them And towards these he must use a far greater sweetness support their weakness Absolve them more easily seeing they continue to labour on their part to amend their Lives The latter are those who not only continue in their wickedness but do either nothing at all or very little to refrain from their Sins And towards these one must use more severity And as
doing nothing then employ himself in any lawfull and commendable exercise which is a Sin that never comes alone but carries after it a large train of many others And in this point it is necessary to examen ones self seriously and distinctly The 2d is to be more carefull and Solicitous to labour in the concerns of our bodies or temporall advantages then for the Salvation of our Souls It is a very Common Sin of which however one seldome or never examens himself Consider then whether you have not often totally neglected and abandoned the care of your Soul being so far from taking any care to labour in this great concern as that you have not admitted even of a thought thereof How long time have you past in this negligence The 3d. is to slight in his heart piety and good works having a distast or an aversion for them as it happens but too often to those who continue in the negligence we have just now spoke of The 4th is to defer from day to day and from time to time the amendment of ones life or immediately to desist after one has begun it The 5th is to forsake those means which God hath vouchsaf't us for our amendment Such as are the Sacraments Penance Prayer good works Or else to perform indeed these duties but so ill and with so little devotion that they do one no good Thus you must here examen your self whether when you were conscious to your self that you were in danger to commit some mortall Sin you have employed these means to the end you might avoid it The 6th is when either despairing ever to be able to amend or presuming that God will pardon us at the last hour we give our selves over totally to vice without ever concerning our selves at all to amend our lives Which is properly what St. Paul calls Rom. 2.5 to heap up a treasure of the Wrath of God against our selves All these Sins deserve to be well examined The EXAMEN upon the Second Commandment Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain THere are four sorts of Sins which are forbidden in this Commandment or which may have relation to it viz. an unlawfull Oath Blasphemy Cursing the Sins against Vows which the following verses will explain Terribile sanctum nomen violare secunda Lex prohibet tantoque reum se crimine reddit I. In vanum jurans falsi testem vel iniqui Qui vocat ore Deum nulla aut ratione coactus II. In caelum erectus numen blasphemat eique Nomina sancta adimens male sanus veraque falsis Commutans Sanctum scelerata voce lacessit III. Tum furiis ipsum se devovet atque precatur Dira sibi horrendum dictu sociisque Deoque IV. Stultaque vota vovens 1. quae vel praestare nequibit 2. Aut non sunt placitura Deo. 3. Qui vota fidemque Rite datam revocat levis 4. aut dissolvere differt To form a right judgment of this Commandment You must observe that we do not here take this word Oath as it is vulgarly understood for so Blasphemy as well as Cursing is called an Oath but we take it precisely and properly for the use which is made of the name of God to affirm or deny a thing such an use of its own nature is not bad but on the contrary it is an act of Religion when it is accompanied with the three circumstances which holy writ Heirem 4.2 requires an Oath should have Truth Justice and Necessity Hence the Commandment doth not at all forbid to Swear but to Swear in vain that is without these three conditions Wherefore the first Sin against this Commandment is the taking a wicked Oath that is 1. When one Swears an untruth which one knows to be so 2. When one Swears an unjust thing to the prejudice of our neighbour 3. When one Swears without any necessity altho ' the thing be both true and just Now there is no necessity of an oath except the thing for which one swears be of great importance One Sins moreover by an evil Oath when one either Swears to do what he never designs to do or when one swears to do an evill thing in which case the Oath doth not at all oblige but it was a mortall Sin to Swear and it would be another to fulfill his Oath These kind of Oaths are Sworn when one says that he takes God to witness of a thing or that he Swears upon his Salvation upon the damnation of his Soul by the oath he owes to God that he may perish in that instant or such like Wherein it is necessary that they examen themselves particularly well who are accustomed to Swear and declare the number of these sins as near as they can The 2. Sin is that of Blasphemy that is to revile and villify Almighty God whether it be by denying him some perfection which is proper to him as in saying that he is not Just Good Wise c. or in attributing to him something unworthy of him as to say that he is the author of evill or the like Renouncing him either by word or thought Cursing him which never happens but to such Souls as are transported with rage and fury as in losses in Gaming or upon occasion of such other Crosses It is also a kind of Blasphemy to swear by the name of God by his Death by his Blood as often as all or any of these things shall be spoken in anger or thro' contempt and reproach and always in abusing Gods holy name and the adorable Misteries of our Redemption Those who are subject to these Sins ought strictly to examen themselves in all these points The 3. Sin is Cursing that is when to affirm a thing either mov'd by anger against any one or thro' impatience of his crosses and contradictions one flyes out into a passion so far as to wish harm to himself or others as death or some misfortune to wish at the Devil or the like Which choler but too often suggests to those who do not curb their passions The 4. concerns the abuse of Vows which are promises one makes to God. This abuse is offered many ways 1. In making a vow to do that which is impossible for him to fulfill 2. In vowing to do that which is evill and displeasing to Almighty God. 3. In breaking vows which one has made 4. In deferring too long to fulfill them without any lawfull cause of that delay The EXAMEN upon the Third Commandment Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day THat we may rightly understand the obligations of this Commandment it is necessary that we know the intention with which it was given which was that we might Honour God upon that day which for this end he hath reserved to himself Wherefore he forbids us servile works which might divert or hinder us from applying our selves unto him Whence it follows that this Commandment does not only oblige us
to abstain from these sort of actions but also to honour God by good and profitable works We shall set them forth in the following verses Sanctificare diem post sex qui septimus orbes Volvitur sanctam menti indulgere quietem Auctorem ut proprium agnoscat veneretur ametque Tertia lex jubet a primis jam lata diebus 1. Hinc procul esse jubet manuum quo vita paratur Omne opus 2. humanis animumque avertere curis 3. Vt sancto vacet obsequio propriaeque saluti 4. Abstergatque dolens incauto quas sibi sordes Aspersit vesanus amor mundique suique Inde sacri quaerens caelestia pabula verbi Mentem avidam pascat sanctoque incendat amore 5. Quam male proh dolor haec servat mandata diebus Qui sacris ludos epulas vana secutus Gaudia criminibus foedat pia tempora festum Non mentis sed carnis agens male sanus Averno Consecrat omnipotens sibi quos sacravit honores 1. The first Sin against this Commandment is to do on the Sunday any servile works that is to say handy-works which have some temporall gain for their end Consider whether you have done any or whether you were the cause that others did either by making them labour in your service or for your divertisement without a considerable necessity 2. It is also a sin against this Commandment to be employed any considerable time upon holy-days in labouring about temporall affairs as Merchants Advocates Solicitors and other Officers of Justice do who spend one part of the Sunday in business and the other in recreation 3. Is the Sin of omission as not to employ ones selfon these holy-days in pious exercises and especially not to hear Mass as the Church expressly Commands under pain of Mortall sin or not to hear it well but without attention or reverence For altho' in this case one complys with the precepts of the Church yet he doth not satisfy that of God who commands us to perform well and piously all holy duties 4. Those cannot easily be exempt from Sin who on these holy-days neither think at all of God nor their Salvation who are neither present at divine service nor at Sermons but especially those who make a custome and an habit of it for this is to neglect the Sanctification of the Sunday and the end for which it was ordained which cannot be done without a great Sin. 5. The greatest and most greivous profanation of the Sunday and festivall-days is committed by those who spend these holy-days in idleness in gaming in dances in feasting and other recreations which instead of sanctifying the feasts are a dishonour to them and by this means God who ought on those days to be more particularly honoured is much offended These profanations of Sundays and holy-days are very common and yet great Sins And therefore every one is to examin himself strictly in this point The EXAMEN upon the Fourth Commandment Honour thy Father and thy Mother THis Commandment regulates the duty of Children towards their Father and Mother and by consequence or according to a necessary proportion that of other inferiours towards their Superiours viz. Of Schollars towards those that teach them Of Servants towards their Masters Of Subjects towards their Princes and Magistrates Of all the Faithfull towards their Ecclesiastical Prelates And reciprocally of all sorts of Superiours towards those who are Subject to them as you may see in the following Verses Quod Nati patribus debent quod jure magistris Discipuli servi Dominis quod subditus omnis His quibus aut populis dare jura aut pascere verbò Coelesti dedit omnipotens coeloque parare I. Lex quarta edicit statuitque reciproca cunctis Officia Hinc natos 1. venerari 2. amare parentes 3. Jussa sequi docet ac monitis parere 5. vereri Et dum corripiunt poenisque salubribus instant 6. Placare offensos verbis mollibus iras Mulcere aversis actu meliore placere II. 7. Confectos annis aegros inopesque levare Qua licet auxilio Patres eademque magistris III. Reddere discipulos servos parere fidemque IV. Praestare illaesam Reges ut subditi honorent V. Pastoresque suae quibus est data cura salutis Auscultent venerentur ament dicta sequantur VI. At patribus contra atque aliis lex aequa vicissim Praecipit 1. ut recto chara amplectantur amore Pignora 2. provideant naturae commoda primum 3. Praecipuam tamen aeternae veraeque salutis Curam habeant nec nata sibi sed debita coelo Dona Dei natos reputent 4. quos nosce supremum Auctorem rerum doceant pariterque vereri Coelestem redamare patrem 5. tum mente sagaci Explorent puerorum animos mollia fingant Ingenia sanctum verae pietatis amorem Alta mente bibant seros quae crescat in annos 6. Emendent peccata ruat ne labilis aetas In vitium nullis posthac cohibenda catenis 7. Corripiant juste stulta indulgentia natos Ne perimat paenasque timens adhibere salubres Aeternae addicat paenae puerosque patresque Ista docet lex sancta patres eademque magistris Praescribit dominisque quos neglecta suorum Reddere cura potest alieno crimine sontes The Sins which Children commit against their Fathers and Mothers are 1. To deny them their due respect as when they despise them interiourly in their heart or exteriourly by words scornfull gestures or actions 2. To be deficient in the love they owe them as when they hate them or wish their death or any other misfortune or forsake them in their necessity 3. To fail in their obedience if it be in a matter of Consequence it is a mortall Sin or else to obey them but not readily as with repugnance impatience or despight Or what is worse to obey them in things unlawfull 4. To slight to scoff at their reprehensions to take no notice of them or not to benefit themselves by them 5. To resist their corrections and wish them harm 6. To put them into passion and take no care to pacify them again by submissive words by obeying and complying with their desires 7. Not to assist them in their old age in their sickness and in what other necessities To these Sins may be added the not executing their last Will and Testament after their death or not to procure Prayers for them II. Disciples and Schollars owe to their masters and to all those who instruct them a great part of the same dutys as respect obedience and the like in which they should examen themselves III. Servants ought to examen themselves concerning the obedience they owe to their Masters whether they have fail'd either in their trust or in the dilligence which is required at their hands whether through their fault they have displeased them whether they have neglected their reasonable and just interest whether they have obey'd them in things unlawfull
ill or command them the good which they were obliged to do Whether you have failed to reprehend their evil actions and to chastise them when necessity required Whether you have not neglected to concurr towards the amendment of their lives by permitting them to live as they pleased 2. In regard of others who are not subject to you whether you have neglected fraternal correction that is whether seeing them offend God you have yet been careless to give them charitable admonitions when you might have done it to hinder them as much as in you lay from falling back into the same faults Or else whether when your could not or durst not reprehend your Neighbours fault foreseeing that he would yet fall therein you neglected either to give notice or cause notice to be given to those under whose charge he was and who ought to have a care of his Salvation according to the command of the Son of God who requires that one should declare to the Church that is to the Superiours the Sins of others when one cannot restrain him ones self We have given you an express Chapter of this Subject in the Instruction of Youth Part 4. Chap. 18. Moreover it is to be observed that every one ought to examen himself particularly concerning the Sins of his own State and condition which we shall not put here because we write now particularly for young people one may find them in other Books The EXAMEN Of the Sins of Students I Shall inform you only that Students ought to examen themselves concerning the Sins which they commit in their Studies by Idleness and loss of time which ordinarily is a very great Sin in the sight of God tho' they usually reflect not on it They must therefore examen themselves whether they have neglected to Employ their time in their Studies Whether they have spent Days Weeks Months Years without Studying or Studying but little wherein there may be a Mortall Sin. Whether they have Studyed remisly and loosely without application and desire to learn. Whether they have omitted frequently the duty of their Classe or have gotten it made by others Whether they have hindred others from Studying whether they dissuaded them whether they mocked at those who apply'd themselves to Study and were willing to learn. Whether they have neglected to attend and hearken to that which was taught them and to make their advantage of it Whether they gave themselves too much to Play and Recreation spent much time therein Whether upon that Account they have lost their School time and other Hours appointed for Study Whether they have played away a great deal of Money or spent in play in good cheer and in foolish Recreations the Monies which their Parents allowed them for their Maintenance or for other uses Whether they have sold their Books Stol'n or Cheated at Play. Whether they have contemned their Masters Scoffed at them or rendered them contemptible to their Companions Whether they have given them any disgust either in Private or Publick resisted them rebelled against them or stirred up others to disobedience or Rebellion Whether they have loved Courted the Company of naughty Knavish or Vicious Schollars Whether they have diverted others from Piety or Scoffed at those who are good and Virtuous or caused them to be laughed at by others which is a very great Sin whether they have debauched others or Sollicited them to Sin or instructed them in wickedness Whether they have read bad Authors or bad places in those that are permitted but are not corrected Whether in their Studies they have proposed to themselves any other end then the will of God and to make themselves capable to serve him in the State he shall call them to Whether in Studying they have endeavoured rather to advance themselves in Science then in Virtue and the true knowledge of their Salvation which is a sin very ordinary amongst Students and which carries a large train of evils after it INSTRUCTION Concerning the Holy Communion The Preface Of the Necessity of this Instruction and the Order to be observed therein THis Instruction is no less necessary then that of of Penance by reason that the Holy Communion is the Complement and perfection of what Penance had begun that is to say it is a perfect restauration and a certain confirmation of the Soul in the grace of God. It conserves it augments it fortifies the Soul dayly more and more in his holy grace and contributes very much towards finall Perseverance supposing it be frequently made use of and that the receiver approach unto it with those dispositions which so holy and so adorable a Sacrament requires Whereas on the contrary it heaps upon the head of the unworthy receiver dreadfull and almost irreparable ruins changing the fountain of life into the cause of death and that which of it self and by its first institution was a pledge of Salvation a Sacrament of Love and Mercy into a Sentence of Condemnation or Everlasting death If one Communicate tho' not absolutely unworthy that is in the State of Mortal sin but however with some irreverence or considerable defect in Devotion he is deprived of the better part of that fruit which otherwise he might gather from this Tree of Life And not only that he doth not only lose the many favours he might by means of the Sacrament be partaker of but also he thereby contracts a great number of infirmities as tepidity or coldness in Charity indevotion insensibility in the concerns of our Soul the diminution of our Spiritual strength and Divine Graces frequent relapses into Venial and sometimes into Mortal sin Thus you see Theotime of what importance it is to perform this great action well No less then your Salvation depends upon the right performance of it Now to do this worthily as the thing deserves it is necessary we be well informed whence it is easy to perceive 1. How usefull Instruction is upon this Subject 2. The Obligation you have to apply your serious attention in the reading of it so to advantage your self the more thereby The Division I Shall divide this Treatise into two Parts whereof the First shall treat of the Doctrin The Second of the Practice of Holy Communion In the First I shall declare what it imports us to know concerning this sublime Mystery and in the Second what we are to do to receive it worthily and with fruit In the First Part I shall give some Generall Expositions of Faith it self and of the Principal Mysteries of our Faith for the greater Convenience of those who are not already so fully instructed in these so necessary concerns and Especially of young People who very seldom have sufficient knowledge of them I hope that those who shall peruse them with Care and a Desire to Learn will find therein such and so solid Instructions in all the Fundamentall Points of our Holy Religion as by that means their Hearts will become more ample and Capacious
I believe the Gospel I must also necessarily believe the Acts of the Apostles because the same Authority of the Catholick Church obliges to believe them both We may say the same of all the other truths which are proposed by the Church for if we believe one we ought also to believe the others because it is the same Authority and the same Church which proposes and gives us assurance of them both And the same St. Augustin l. 16. cont Faust c. 3. speaking of Hereticks and those who would give credit to nothing but their own will. You says he who in the Gospell believe what you please and what you like not reject You rather give credit to your selves then to the Gospell because when led by your private Spirit you approve what pleaseth and disapprove what displeases you in Scripture you do not at all submit your selves to the authority of holy writ there to find out your faith but rather you subject the Scripture to your selves to judge of it according to your will. In fine Faith ought to be firm that is fixed steddy and free from any at least voluntary doubt And this also for the same reason the infallible authority of the Church which proposes unto us the divine truths the objects of our Faith and cannot be deceived in what she proposes to us So that there is no more reason to doubt of any one truth then of all the rest And there is not a better way to dispell with ease the doubts which arise against any one article of our faith then to reflect upon the others which one believes with all the certainty imaginable which yet are no otherwise grounded then upon the same authority of the Church for if we do not doubt of those neither ought we to question these In all the doubts which may occur concerning any point or points of faith whether they arise from our own imaginations or spring from occasion of Heresy new doctrins or scandall given in the Church we ought to have recourse to this authority as to a secure refuge A refuge where we shall find the divine Protection against the contradiction of evill tongues as the Psalmist hath it and after him St. Augustin in those excellent words which he delivers upon that passage of Psa 30. exposi 2. Serm. 3. Preteges eos in tabernaculo tuo a condictione linguarum If you find tongues which contratradict you heresies raised up against you and divisions which oppose you have recourse to the Tabernacle of God adhere and stick fast to the Catholick Church do not depart from this rule of Truth and you shall be protected and guarded from the contradiction of tongues in the Tabernacle of God. Behold not only a wholsome but also a necessary advice which ought to be practised upon occasion of any doubts in faith and especially in the beginning of any heresy And had the hereticks of our time follow'd this good councell they would never so unfortunately have continued obstinate in their errour or drawn others into the same ruin as they have done CHAP. II. Of the things we are obliged to believe WE shall reduce them to four heads 1. The Divinity or what we are obliged to believe of God. 2. The Incarnation or the Humanity of the Son of God which shall comprehend what we are to be believe of Jesus Christ 3. The Church 4. The Sacraments These four things are all contained in the Apostles Creed ARTICLE I. What are we oblig'd to believe of God FOur things The First I believe in God that God is that is that there is one only true God who is an uncreated Being Eternall Independent Infinite in perfections in Knowledge in Power in Wisdom in Goodness in Justice and in all other things Secondly The Father Almighty and in his only Son I believe in the Holy Ghost that in God there are three Persons The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost That all these three are but one true God having the self same divine Essence the self same Wisdom the self same Goodness the self same Power and so of the other divine perfections That the Son the Eternal Word proceeds from the understanding of the Father by a perfect Knowledge which the Father conceives of himself by which he expresses his Image in the Son. And the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son by a Mutuall love which they bear one another That these Processions do not cause any inequality or dependence or priority amongst the Divine Persons who are all Equall and Eternall as being all but one only true God One in Nature and three in Persons Thirdly Creator of Heaven and Earth That God is the authour and creator of all things that he hath made both Heaven and Earth and all the creatures therein whether visible or invisible of nothing by his only word That he conserves them by his power and governs them by his wisdom Fourthly Life Everlasting That as he is the beginning and first cause so also he is the end of all things and particularly of Men and Angels whom he created to adore and serve him and for whom he hath prepared eternall happiness which will consist in this that the blessed shall see him perfectly and enjoy him as he is in himself and this enjoyment shall endure for all eternity it shall never no never end ARTICLE II. What are we obliged to believe of Jesus Christ FOR the greater facility and distinctions sake we shall divide this Article into Questions Quest I. What is Jesus Christ And in Jesus Christ his only Son. HE is the Son of God the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity who was Incarnate that is made Man for us men and for our Salvation But Quest II. Why was he made Man TO redeem man from the Sentence of everlasting death which we had all incurred by disobedience of the first man and to give full satisfaction to the Divine Justice as well for that first or Original Sin as for all the rest which have been committed ever since by other men Quest III. This Incarnation in what doth it consist Who was conceived of the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary IT consists in the strict and personal union of the Eternall word with human nature that is with a mortall body and an immortall Soul such as we have from which union there results a compound whom we call Jesus Christ true God and at the same time true man. Whence it plainly follows that in Jesus Christ there are two Natures and one only Person viz. the one divine the other humane nature both united in one the same Person of the Son of God or the eternal word whereas on the contrary in the divinity there is but one Nature three Persons By this Union the Divinity was neither changed into the Humanity nor the Humanity into the Divinity of our Lord for that is impossible But both natures enjoying either of them their own perfections
were strictly united in the person of the Son of God. So that continuing what he was that is God he became what he was not viz. Man as St. Leo Sermone de Nativ Dom. expresses himself Manens quod erat assumpserat quod non erat Quest IV. How was this Divine Vnion accomplished WHen the fulness of time was come that God had decreed to send his Son for the redemption of Mankind he dismis'd from Heaven an Angell Messenger to the Blessed Virgin whom above all others he had chosen and in whom he had ordain'd this adorable mystery should be perform'd to declare unto her it was his will that she should be the temporall Mother of the Son of God. She had no sooner yielded and concurr'd with her consent to the accomplishing of the will of God thus manifested unto her but the Almighty power frames in her Virginal womb an humane body out of her purest blood creating in the same instant a rationall Soul to animate and inform it and in that same moment the Word who from all eternity terminates the Divinity began in time to terminate the Humanity of our Lord Uniting in his Person the two divine humane Natures And thus was fulfill'd that divine truth recorded by St. John Verbum caro factum est The word was made Flesh The Blessed Virgin having thus conceived the Son of God by the speciall work of the Holy Ghost at the end of nine months she brings him forth into the world nourishes maintains and breeds him up as other mothers use to do their Children and the Son of God lived with her thus unknown to the world untill the age of thirty years thenceforward only he began to manifest himself and to commence the work of our redemption for which he came Quest V. What is it that the Son of God hath done for our Redemption HE did four principall things first he preached publickly his Gospell during the space of three years and some months confirming the truth of his Doctrine his Mission and his Divinity by an infinite number of miracles Secondly he Suffer'd under Pontius Pilate a most bitter Passion and death upon the Cross upon which he offer'd himself a Sacrifice in satisfaction to the divine Justice for the Sins of all mankind and recompensation for the infinite injury which thereby was done to the divine Majesty Goodness and by this means to open the gates of Everlasting life for man to enter which till that time were shut against both Adam and all his Posterity Having performed this duty the third day he rose again from the dead and after that by frequent apparitions he had proved the truth of his Resurrection for the space of forty days he Ascended glorious and triumphant into Heaven from whence at the end of the World he shall come to judge both the quick and the dead all men according to their merits who for that end shall be raised from death to life and appear before him never more to die but receive either an Eternal Reward for their good or everlasting Punishment for their evil works Thirdly he establish'd and confirm'd his Church consisting of almost innumerable men Pastors and their Flock who should believe in him and continue in an uninterrupted Succession to the end of the world which Church Act. 20.28 he purchased with his blood Fourthly he instituted the Sacraments as the means to convey unto us the merits of his Passion and as so many pretious Vessels wherein is preserved the price of that adorable blood which he hath so abundantly shed for us to the end it might be applied unto us according as the necessity of our Salvation should require And for as much as these two last heads require a larger Explication we shall treat of them here in two distinct Articles ARTICLE III. What are we oblig'd to believe concerning the Church I Believe the Holy Catholique Church the Communion of Saints We must first believe that it is the Mysticall Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head or a Congregation of the Faithfull holding the same Doctrin or Faith which he taught using the same Sacraments which he instituted living under the conduct of the Apostles and succeeding Pastours and acknowledging the same visible Head the Vicar of Jesus Christ the Chief Bishop and true Successor of St. Peter Secondly that there is but one Church as there is but one God one Faith one Baptism as St. Paul Ephes 4.4 saith unum corpus unus Spiritus unus Dominus una Fides unum Baptisma unus Deus Pater omnium He that doth not conserve this Vnion saith St. Cyprian de unitat Eccles how can he believe that he hath Faith he who opposes and resists the Church who abandons the Chair of St. Peter upon which the Church is built how can he hope that he is in the Church since the blessed Apostle teacheth this same thing and shewing the sacred tye of Vnity affirming that there is but one body that is the Church as there is but one Spirit who governs it Thirdly that this is that only Church which acknowledgeth the Pope for her visible head whom Jesus Christ hath appointed to govern her and to be the source and Center of her Unity here on Earth which made St. Cyprian say ibid. that Heresies and Schisms spring from hence that some will not acknowledge in the Church one whom Jesus Christ constituted head over the rest in those words which he spoke to St. Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church and I will give to thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and in another place feed my Sheep Vpon one man continues St. Cyprian Ibid. he builds his Church and gives him charge to feed his Flock And although he bestow'd an equal authority upon the Apostles as far as concerns the remission of Sins Yet that the Vnity of the Church might more clearly appear he hath ordain'd one Chair and it was his will that the Vnity take its Original and beginning from one man and a little after he saith that the Primacy was given to St. Peter to shew that the Church of Christ and the Chair was one St. Hierome L. 1. in Jovinian says the same thing viz. That St. Peter was preferred before the other Apostles to be the head of the Church to the end that the head being one all occasion of division in the Church might be removed Fourthly we are obliged to believe that there is no Salvation for any one out of this one true Church It is an Article of Faith which hath been held constantly in the Church this having always been an unquestion'd and current Maxim that he who will not have the Church for his Mother shall not have God for his Father Which was the reason why St. Hierome finding himself in the East where there was some division upon this Subject the names of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity writ to Pope
Damasus Epi. 57. that he was resolved never to depart from him but inseparably to unite himself unto him as to one who held the Chair of St. Peter upon which says he I know that the Church is built Adding that the Church thus built is the only house where it is lawfull to Eat the Paschal Lamb the Ark of Noah out of which during the Flood none were saved he that doth not gather with the Pope scattereth that is he who is not united to Jesus Christ doth associate himself with Anti-Christ Fifthly we are also obliged to believe that this true Church is Infallible in her judgments in matters of Faith and Doctrine concerning manners whether she be or be not assembled in the persons of her Pastours and Head viz. the Pope and Bishops she holds universally one and the same Doctrine This is also an Article of Faith grounded upon the word of the Son of God who hath promised that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against her his Church from whence it follows that she never either fell or ever shall fall into the least error in points of faith she being as the Apostle affirms the Pillar and ground of truth But we have already prov'd this truth above in the first Article Now from all what we have said both in the first Article and in the present question it follows that we must conclude and hold this for a certain and infallible truth that all saithfull Christians whosoever desire to be assured in points of faith and sound Doctrine concerning Manners and to avoid error in a matter of so great concern must of necessity adhere and stick close solely inseperably to the Holy Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church and hear and follow her Judgment and Doctrine in all things ARTICLE IV. What are we obliged to believe concerning the Sacraments I Believe the Remission of Sins We are obliged to believe what the Church hath always taught concerning the Sacraments viz. First that they are the means instituted by God thereby either to confer his Grace upon us or to augment what we have already received or to restore what we had lost as it is expressed in the Councill of Trent Sess 7. Proaem Secondly that a Sacrament may be rightly defined in this manner a Visible signe of invisible grace instituted by God for our sanctification 3. That this Visible sign consists and is as it were composed of two parts viz. the sensible thing which is applyed in the Sacrament as water in Baptism and the words which are pronounced as in the same Beptism these words I baptize thee c. according to that received doctrine delivered by St. Augustin Accedit verbum ad Elementum fit Sacramentum By the joyning of the words with the Element or Material thing the Sacrament becomes compleat One of these two parts is called the matter the other the form of the Sacrament 4. That the Sacrament being applyed by a lawfull Minister either gives or augments Sanctifying Grace in the Soul of the worthy receiver 5. That there are Seven Sacraments viz. Baptism Confirmation Eucharist Penance Extreme Unction Order Matrimony Baptism makes us the Children of Jesus Christ Washing us from the Stains of Original sin and enlivening our Soul with the Life of Grace whence St. Paul calls Baptism Tit. 3.5 the laver of regeneration and the renovation of the Holy Ghost Confirmation strengthens us and conserves and confirms us in the faith we received in Baptism The Holy Eucharist is the nourishment of the Soul for as by Meat and Drink our decayed Spirits are revived so by the use of the Blessed Sacrament those damages which Charity dayly suffers from humane frailty are repaired Penance restores us to the Grace of God which we had lost by sin Extreme Unction gives us strength at the hour of death that we may be the better able to fight against our Ghostly Enemy in that last Moment upon which Eternily depends it is a remedy against Spirituall weakness contracted by our former Sins Order consecrates the Ministers of Christ and gives them power to conferr the Sacraments Matrimony sanctifies the contract betwixt man and woman and gives them grace to comply with the obligations which they draw upon themselves by that indissoluble Bond instituted by God for the propagation of Mankind and raised to the dignity of a Sacrament by our Saviour Christ Altho' all or every one of the Sacraments do cause sanctifying grace yet they do not every one produce it in the same manner for there are two viz. Baptism and Penance instituted for the remission of Sins which conferr it upon those whom they find void of grace from whence it is that they are called the Sacraments of the dead that is to say of those who are dead in the sight of God in the state of Mortal Sin whom they raise up from that death to the life of grace whereas all the rest are called the Sacraments of the living in as much as they encrease the grace they find precedently in the Soul and to receive any one of these worthily it is necessary that we be in the state of grace The Soul by each Sacrament is not only sanctified by habitual but also endowed with actual grace that is with a vigour and strength towards the compassing of those particular effects for which it was first instituted and ordained Moreover there are three which imprint a character in the Soul Baptism Confirmation and Order this Character is a Spiritual Mark or Seal which God makes in his Soul who receives any of these three Sacraments which impression because it can never be rased out none of these three Sacraments can be reiterated or received the second time by the same Person without a Sacrilege CHAP. III. Of the Holy Eucharist ALL what we have said hitherto whether of Faith in general or in particular of the Divinity it self of the Incarnation of the Son of God of the Holy Church and of the Sacraments serve only as so many steps or dispositions to the belief of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and to render the understanding of this adorable Mystery more easy to us which therefore we shall here endeavour to explain as brief and short as possibly we may I shall reduce all whatsoever we are obliged to know concerning it into four heads 1. The real prefence of the Son of God in the Sacrament 2. The Wonders inseparably annext unto it 3. The effects which it is capable to produce 4. The dispositions necessary to receive it ARTICLE I. Of the real presence of the Son of God in the Holy Eucharist and of what we are to believe concerning this Sacrament WE are obliged to believe that it is a Sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ wherein he gives us really and truly his Body and Blood under the species or exteriour appearance of Bread and Wine for our Spiritual nourishment and refection There is not any one particle of this general
words it follows that the flesh of the Son of God as a Divine nourishment works in the Soul of the worthy receiver the same effects Spiritually which the best Corporal nourishment produceth corporally in the body of those who take it Now the effects of corporal nourishment are four or five 1. It conserves life 2. It makes one grow or encrease 3. It fortifies us 4. It preserves us against distempers Infine it gives us strength to be able to labour and to comply with all our respective duties By these we may judge of the effects of the Holy Eucharist The first is to conserve Grace which is the life of the Soul and therefore it is called the Bread of Life the Bread which gives Life unto the World. The Second is to augment the same grace and encrease the Christian Virtues Faith Hope and Charity This effect however it be common to all the Sacraments yet it is more peculiar to this as being more particularly instituted for the nourishment of the Soul and to make us increase and proceed from Virtue to Virtue till we come to the house of God. The third is to strengthen us against sin and the temptations which incline that way hence the Councill of Trent affirm'd Sess 13. c. 2. that this Sacrament is a preservative against Mortal and a remedy against Venial Sin. The fourth effect is that it heals the distempers that is the passions and disorderly affections of the Soul. It weakens concupiscence or gives new strength to overcome it It diminishes Choler Envy Pride and other Vices as St. Bernard Serm. de Coena Domini excellently well observes If any one says he does not find so frequent or so violent motions of Anger Envy Impurity or of other like passions let him give thanks to the body and blood of our Lord for it is the vertue of the Sacrament which produces in him these effects and let him rejoyce that the worst of Vlcers begin to heal Lastly the Holy Eucharist gives perseverance in the grace of God and in the way of Salvation in the midst of the various imminent dangers which we encounter in this Life and particularly when we draw near death whence it was given sometimes to Martyrs when they were ready to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ and the Church always takes care to Communicate the sick when they are in danger of Death that so they may be Strengthened in that dangerous passage and happily arrive at the haven of Salvation by means of this divine nourishment then called the Viaticum which is as much as to say the Provision for that voiage All these admirable effects evidently prove the greatness and excellence of this divine Sacrament and ought effectually to move us frequently to approach unto it and not neglect so many and so signal favours as God there presents unto us Yet we are to take notice that it doth not produce these Effects except in such persons as are rightly disposed to receive it as it deserves Of these dispositions we will now discourse ARTICLE IV. Of the dispositions required to Communicate well and as we ought WE shall inferr the dispositions from the same principle from which we gathered the effects viz. from the nature of the nourishment and Spiritual food we receive in the Holy Euchrist and as it produces the same effects in the Soul that food doth into the Body so also it requives proportionable dispositions in the Soul that nourishment doth to be beneficial to the Body Now Corporall nourishment we know requires three dispositions Life Health Action for a dead body is uncapable to be nourished an infirm Stomack can never make a good digestion nor is it possible to convert the food into our substance except that health be accompanied with our action which is the reason that the body to be nourished requires to be alive to be sound and well and to have an action of its own Thus the Eucharist that Celestiall food requires three dispositions in the Soul and without them it doth no good but harm The first is Sanctifying Grace which is the life of the Soul as mortall Sin is the death incompatible with it depriving us of this Supernatural life of the Soul Without this life the Soul not only receives no benefit from Communion but suffers also much detriment from this holy Table inofmuch as she becomes guilty of a new mortall Sin a Sacriledge which she commits by inviting the Authour of Life into the habitation of Death the author of Light into the place of Darkness and Jesus Christ into the company of the Devil This made St. Paul 1 Cor. 21.28 advertise all Communicants to examen themselves well when they approach to this holy table because saith the Apostle he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself The Second disposition is the interiour Health of the Soul which requires 1st that she be free from any affection to veniall Sin. 2ly that she be not actually moved either with Passions or Affections which may hinder her in her application and address to Jesus Christ And altho' these defects do not render the Communicant absolutely unworthy or the Communion Sacrilegious yet they cause very ill effects and considerably diminish the fruits which otherwise it would produce They hinder the Soul from digesting this sacred food by good thoughts and holy affections And as nutriment which lies indigested upon the Stomack begets crudities and causes Sickness in the body so this divine sustenance by means of these indispositions becomes prejudicial to the Soul. Thereby we contract tepidity and coldness in devotion Charity and other Virtues are considerably diminish'd our good actions weak and feeble our selves by degrees insensible of all good things which conduce to Piety And thus by degrees at last we are often brought into mortall Sin. The Third disposition is Action that is actual devotion To receive the fruits of this Sacrament it is not sufficient that we be not indisposed or that we do not put any obstacle to its effects it is necessary also that in this so religious an action wherein we receive the Holy of Holys and the Author of Holiness it self we concur with dispositions of our own which consist in the practice of Christian Virtues Of which we shall speak below in the Second Part of this Instruction ARTICLE V. Of an Vnworthy Communion AN ancient Lawgiver being ask'd why he had made no Laws against Paricides made answer because he esteemed that crime impossible that there could not be found Children so degenerate and unnaturall as to attempt the life of their own Parents I would to God we could say the same with truth in the point of Instruction concerning unworthy Communion or that we could truly say that it is not necessary to advertise Christians to avoid that so horrid Sacriledge because it is impossible for a man professing himself a Christian ever to be guilty of so enormous a crime against
esteem themselves happy in his company and above all they take it for a peculiar honour that they are admitted to eat at his Table What shame is it then for Christians so to neglect so great a treasure and so nigh at hand to be just at the Spring-head of Divine Graces and not esteem them to remain in the death of Sin when the Fountain of Life is at their disposal Ezech. 33.11 quare moriemini domus Israel and why do you deliver your selves to death O house of Israel O Christians amongst whom God hath chose his habitation upon earth why do you suffer your selves thus to dye having the author of Life so near you who invites you to come and threatens you if you do not accept his invitation Crying out to you in a loud voice John 6.54 unless ye eat my Body and drink my Blood you shall have no life in you Adding that he who eateth me shall live for my sake After such threats if we do not come and so great assurance if we do what can we alledge before the divine Tribunall at the day of judgment if still we are at a distance from him from God the Fountain of life and continue still companions to the enemy of mankind in the state of death and Sin and this because we are unwilling so to live that frequently we may partake of this living and life-giving bread Call to mind the feast in the parable Luc. 14. where the Master of the house shewed so much anger and indignation against those who refused to come after they had been so solemnly invited They excused themselves the best they could some with their affairs others with their pleasures one said he was obliged to go to his country house another that he went to try the Oxen he had bought and the third that he was taken up and employed about his marriage but not any of these excuses were admitted they were all rejected as frivolous pleas and therefore themselves for framing them were all judged worthy to be not only then but ever after excluded from that Banquet And this is the method which God shall use towards Christians who refrain from the Sacraments upon the vain pretences which usually they form to themselves for all their excuses shall be rejected and themselves punished as in in the Parable we have seen To those who shall excuse themselves with the affairs and employments of the world it shall be answer'd that there is no concern of such importance as that of their Salvation which therefore they ought to prefer before all other things And they shall be reproached with this that they have prefer'd their temporal concerns before their eternal happiness and made more account of the possessions of this world then of the grace of God. To those who shall excuse themselves with the indispositions of their Soul saying that they have not that virtue which is required for frequent Communion One may reply that their excuse is but too true yet it is a very bad one for that it is their duty so to live that they may Communicate dayly and to use all imaginable industry to render themselves capable thereof Lastly we shall find that there is no other cause why people communicate but seldom besides their sloath their indevotion and fear lest if they should frequent the Sacraments thereby they shou'd be obliged to live holily and in a word a will or a tacit resolution not to amend their lives but to remain in their Sins their Pleasures their Covetuousness Ambition and in all their irregular affections O Theotime avoid this great misfortune this fault so generall and yet so common amongst Christians who slight in this manner their Salvation and the great advantages which by the goodness Mercy of God are presented to them Learn in time to set a great value on them to advantage your self from thence approaching frequently to these divine mysteries instituted by God the means for your Salvation Begin this exercise from your youth and continue it thence-forward all your life that you may perform it dayly better and better and oftener approach to the Holy Table of Communion and receive our Lord. ARTICLE XI When and how often we ought to Communicate THe time which you ought most commonly to observe in your communion is that of every month so that you should not exceed that time without giving your Soul the opportunity to partake of this divine nourishment of the holy Eucharist It is very hard for you to stay so long without having a considerable want of help to resist the temptations of your Ghostly enemy or repress the passions which spring from your age and the heat of blood You have need of strength whereby you may be able to withstand the Devil as also of a good preservative against your self The one and the other you shall find in the holy communion wherefore it is fit you have recourse unto it according to the proportion of the necessity you find that you have thereof Beside it is necessary that you grow up and encrease in the fear of God and in all Christian virtues Faith Hope Charity Humility Temperance Modesty and the rest Which you can never do if you Communicate but seldom Take this then for a general rule that regularly speaking you Communicate once a month and oftener upon either of these occasions 1st When there happens any Solemn feast as of our Lord or of the Blessed Virgin which you should never let pass without receiving the Blessed Sacrament both because you should honour the Feast by this Sacred action as also make your self worthy to partake of the graces which God more liberally distributes in respect of the united prayers of the faithfull on those days The 2d is when you perceive in your self any considerable want thereof as when you are assaulted with more violent or more frequent temptations for then you must have recourse to this remedy to strengthen you least you fall into mortall Sin. And if by misfortune it have so happen'd that you are already faln therein for want of due foresight of the fall which easily happens not only to young people but to many others by reason they are not sensible of the evil before it be faln upon them in this case Theotime take care to confess your self forthwith And as for Communion take the advice of your Ghostly father whether it be to receive that day if he find you suffiently disposed or to defer it some days longer during which time you may prepare your self for it by doing penance for your Sins and deploring in the presence of God the misery which hath befaln you Behold what you are to observe concerning the time of Communion whilst yet you are young When you shall be more advanc'd in age in judgment and in the love of God you may Communicate more frequently still according to the counsell you shall receive in that point supposing you have a good guide