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
mortally and it is in this preference or esteem which we make of the creature before God himself wherein Mortal Sin and its greivousness doth consist For as the love of God above all things consists in preferring him before all that is before ones proper will passions pleasures honour interest So Mortal Sin which is directly opposite to Charity consists in preferring all things or any thing before God and choosing rather to lose the Friendship of God then deprive ones self of those apparent goods which in reality are true Miseries And he who resolves to commit a Mortal Sin performs this in effect as if he should place on one side the greatness of God all his favours all his promises and all his menaces and on the other side his own Passion his Pleasure his Honour or his Riches and having compared these two so opposite objects together says within himself I make more account of these miserable things then of the greatness of God of his friendship of his promises and of his threats and I renounce all that so I may content my Passions my Pleasure my Ambition my Avarice c. Consider this well Theotime and you may Comprehend something of the grievousness of Sin and the evil you have done to your self when you have been so blind as to fall into it CHAP. X. A Further illustration of the grievousness of sin ALL that which we have said is more then enough to give a judgment of the heinousness of Mortal Sin but because the more we sink into the matter the more copious is the Subject behold yet one more consideration to discover its enormity Sin is a resistance to the Divine will or as St. Ambrose hath very well defin'd it is a Swerving from the Law of God and a disobedience to his Divine Commandements Proevaricatio divinae legis coelestium inobedientia mandatorum This disobedience offends God and injures him so as to violate the right which God hath to be obey'd and loved by his Creatures It 's also necessarily accompanied with all those indignities which we have said above are found in Sin viz. Rebellion against God Ingratitude Contempt of him Violence committed in his Adorable Presence and Esteem and preference of the Creature before God a Renouncing of his Friendship and many other Indignities And this it is which makes the injury done to God by this Disobedience most Heinous and far surpass all that one can imagine And being that this vile and base injury is offered to a Person the most Eminent and of highest Dignity whose Authority is Boundless and infinitely raised above all that is great Hence it is that this affront is so immence that it infinitly surpasses all the abuses and wrongs that can be offered unto man it being a certain Rule that an offence takes its heinousness from the greatness of the Person that is offended And thus an affront offered to a Prince doth far Surmount that done to one of base condition Now being that God is infinite in Greatness and Majesty it follows that an injury offered to him is also infinite Add all these things together an Infinite offence committed against the Infinite Greatness of God accompanied with all those Indignities we have spoken of with Rebellion with Ingratitude with Contempt of God with Preference of a creature before his Friendship with Infidelity and judge what we ought to say of the greatness of the Injury which Sin offers to God. But above all consider the Sin as committed by a Wretched creature by a Miserable servant by a worm of the Earth which before God is less then nothing Judge then I say if you can but you can never arrive at a perfect Judgment although all the knowledge of both Men and Angels were united in your understanding An affront so great that it made St. Augustine and other Divines after him to say that it were far better the whole frame of the world should perish that is Heaven and Earth and all contain'd therein then that a man should commit any one mortal sin against God. Peccatum est inhonorare Deum quod non debet facere homo etiamsi totum pereat quod non est Deus Sin saith that Holy Doctor is to dishonour God which a man ought not to do altho' all things except God be destroyed An injury so horrible that it made St. Anselm say That if he should see on one side Hell open with all its flames and on the other side one sole Mortal Sin to be Committed and that he were forced to make choice of the one he would rather choose to cast himself into hell then sin mortally S. Anselm de similitudinibus c. 190. And he adds the reason Because said he I should rather desire being innocent and without sin to enter into Hell then enjoy Paradise being defiled with sin for it is most certain that only the wicked are tormented in Hell and only the just are blessed in Heaven Altho' this necessity of choice can never happen yet the supposition which this great Saint makes doth manifestly shew the grievousness of Mortal sin the injury which by it is done to God and it is grounded upon this manifest truth in Divinity that the evil of the fault is infinitely greater and more to be feared then the evil of the punishment A wrong so heinous that Divines with one accord agree that if all the men in the world and all the Angels in Heaven should unite their forces to deplore the injury offered to God by any one mortal sin to do Penance and give Satisfaction to God for it they could not all together in the least perform that which it deserves A damage so great an abuse so detestable that only God himself was able to repair it only God himself could satisfy for it to the full and to perform this it was necessary that God should put himself in a state to satisfy that he should humble himself so as to become man to offer himself in Sacrifice to the Divine justice a Sacrifice which equalled the price and also far surpass'd the grievousness of Sin and in which two things were admirably conjoyned the Divinity and Humanity this to be offer'd and that to give infinite value and merit to the offering as a Father of the Church said excellently well De nostro obtulit Sacrificium de suo contulit pretium Euseb Emis hom 6. de Pascha In fine an injury so offensive and enormous that the Flames of Hell which it hath kindled can neither purge it for all Eternity nor appease the Divine wrath which it hath incens'd against those who neglective whilst they lived to apply to themselves the Satisfaction made by the Sacrifice offered by the Son of God upon the Cross are dead in Mortal Sin. Weigh well all these Considerations Theotime read them often and endeavour by frequent Meditation to imprint them in your mind CHAP. XI Of the deplorable effects of Mortal Sin to discover
effect which infallibly follows it As to the sorrow for Sins there are many cases wherein the Penitent may want it to that degree that the Sacrament is null thereby First when one has made no act neither before nor during Confession nor before he receives Absolution In this case the Confession is invalid altho' it may proceed from a pure forgetfulness that they did not perform that action because it is essential and absolutely necessary for the Sacrament and which cannot be supplied by any other action Secondly when one makes those acts but without due conditions as without supernatural motives or with a reserve or exception of some Mortal Sin for which one hath a complaisance or affection in a word without the Conditions we have spoken of before in the second Part fourth Chapter which you must reade over again in this place Thirdly when one hath not a sincere resolution of amendment altho' he believes he hath this is judged to happen when the Penitent will not leave the occasion of Sin practice the necessary remedies obey his Confessour in reasonable things CHAP. V. Of the Conditions necessary to make the Confession entire ACcording to the Doctrine of the Church there are three To declare the Species or Nature of the Sin the Number and the Circumstances that change the Species or Nature of it First we must confess the Species Sort or Nature of the Sin It is not sufficient to say in general terms I have sinned I have very much offended God but we must tell particularly in what I have for example committed Theft or Blasphemy or Detraction The reason of this rule is given by the Holy Council of Trent because says it the Priests are constituted Judges in this Sacrament to give a judgement of the sins of men Now it is manifest they cannot exercise that judgment without the knowledge of the Cause nor observe the necessary equity in the enjoining of the Penance except the Penitents declare their Sins in particular and not only in general Secondly they must discover the number that is how often they have fall'n into each sort of Sin. This is also absolutely necessary that the Confessor may judge aright because he who hath committed a Sin often is much more Culpable then he who hath done it but seldom Thirdly we must explain the circumstances which change the Species or Nature of Sin as the same Council hath declared in express terms and this is to be done for the same reason that obligeth us to confess the Sins of different Species or sorts Thus in Theft one must express the circumstance of a Sacred place in which he robbed or a Sacred thing which he hath taken because this circumstance changes the Species and makes it a Sacriledge In the sin of impurity one must discover the quality of the person with whom he hath sinned whether it be a Single or Married Person or relation for these circumstances make different sins of Fornication Adultery or Incest In fine Penitents and particularly young people are often defective in these three rules For first as to the Species or nature of the Sin it happens frequently that they do not declare it at all For example concerning the sin of Impurity they say no more then that they have willingly entertain'd evil thoughts without mentioning in the least whether they were accompanyed with any immodest touches of themselves or other effects which follow which are sins of another Species and more grievous then the thoughts They will confess they have touched others uncivilly without discovering how or what sort of persons They will accuse themselves of Detraction of their Neighbour but not offer to declare the thing they have said Secondly as to the number it happens often that telling the Species they are afraid to discover the number intirely and therefore conceal some part the number sometimes causing as much shame as the Species it self and quality of the sin In which case the Confession is no less invalid and Sacrilegious then if they had concealed the very Species of the sin Thirdly they frequently commit the same fault by the notable circumstances which they are afraid to discover For example if they have robbed or done some notable injury to their Neighbours Goods or cheated him at play they are afraid to tell the quantity lest they should be obliged to restitution In all these occurrences when one willingly and wittingly conceals these notable circumstances the Confession is null Have a care Theotime to avoid these considerable faults which often happen in Confession for want of discovering the Species or kind of the sin the number or notable circumstances CHAP VI. An observable Advice concerning the number of Sins I Have here an advice of great concern to impart unto you dear Theotime about the number of sins That is to avoid in Confession two extremes equally Vitious the one is a Supine negligence the other is too much exactness and scrupulosity There are some who that they may not trouble themselves with a just examen discover nothing of the number of Mortall Sins or if they do that which is very uncertain I have done it for example twenty times more or less or else in declaring a greater number then they are guilty of to comprehend therein the number they might have committed this doth not satisfy the exactness which is necessary in Confession Others on the contrary are so much troubled in the search of their Sins and the number of them that they are never quiet but vex themselves with continual doubts and anxiety of mind never believing they have sufficiently examined their Sins This makes them that they think of nothing but this examen and little or nothing of the principal concern which is Contrition These two faults must necessarily be avoided For the first may render the Confession invalid for want of integrity the other for want of Contrition Those who sind themselves guilty of negligence ought to remember what diligence is necessary to dispose themselves for a thing of such high concern as is the obtaining the remission of their Sins and since without confessing them all as far as they are able to remember that cannot be acquired it is necessary they should before-hand apply as much as possible their mind and attention thereunto to the end they may remember This is the rule which the Council of Trent gives in this matter Ses 14. in the fifth Chapter of Confession Ex his colligitur oportere a panitentibus omnia peccata Mortalia quorum post diligentem sui discussionem conscientiam habent in confessione recenseri etiam si occultissima illa sint It is necessary saith the Council that the Penitents must declare all their Sins they remember after a diligent examen even those that are most hidden And as to the others who trouble and disquiet themselves with the Examen of their Sins they are to be fully persuaded of this truth that God requires no more of
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
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
will and there is no will where there is no knowledge Thus when Noe by drinking Wine at first was overseen his excess in drink was not a Sin because he knew not then the force of wine nor could know it Secondly when ignorance proceeds from our fault by an express will or grosse and affected ignorance it neither takes away nor diminishes at all the Sin on the contrary it rather augments it The reason is because he that desires the cause desires also the effect If then I desire to be ignorant of the evil that is in an action and it happen by that ignorance that I Sin more freely and without remorse I am the voluntary cause of the Sin whose enormity I would not know Such was the ignorance of the unchast old men in the History of Susanna of whom it is said Dan. 13.9 That they cast down their Eyes that they might not see Heaven nor remember the Judgments of God. Such is the ignorance of those that will not be instructed in what they ought to know nor advertised of the evil they do and who will not understand to do well As the Prophet saith Psal 35.4 This is what frequently happens to young People Thirdly as the total ignorance of any evil in an action taketh away all the Sin when it doth not proceed from our fault so the ignorance of the part of the evil in which is a Sin takes away part that is diminisheth the Sin This is to be understood of that ignorance which doth not proceed from our fault nor is it in our power to be better instructed Such is the ignorance of young People when they begin to fall into Sins of impurity for they know well enough that there is ill in it which appears by the doubts they have in their Conscience and by the shame they have to Confess But they do not understand that the ill is so great as in reality it is untill such time as they are instructed and till then their Sins are not so great altho' they be almost always Mortal Sins ARTICLE II. Of Sins of Frailty or of Passion THe Sins of frailty are those which proceed from the will moved with some passion Passions are actions of the sensitive Appetite which is an inferiour part of the Soul and moves towards things forbidden by the law of God such as are Love Hatred Sadness Fear Anger Some push on the Soul to do that which is forbidden it as Love Hatred Joy Choler others withdraw it from doing the good which is commanded as Fear Sadness Despair Those cause the Sins of Action These the Sins of Omission Passions diminish the liberty of the will because being push'd on or withdrawn by other causes then by her self she doth not act with all the liberty she hath in that action either to do or not do what she will. Besides these Passions diminish also the judgment hindring the understanding which guides the will from judging of things so clearly as otherwise it would They diminish by consequence the Sin which is found in an action or omission and this differently sometimes less sometimes more and sometimes totally and othertimes they diminish them not at all but rather augment them They diminish sometimes but little when they are but light and the will may easily overcome them They diminish the Sin much when they are strong and violent because for that time they notoriously diminish the judgment and liberty however as long as they leave man with the knowledge of the evil which he does the Sin continues still They totally take away the Sin when they are so violent that they totally cloud the reason so that one doth not perceive at all that there is a Sin which never happens but in the first motions of passion which being a little appeas'd the mind returns to it self and knows what it has done and from thenceforward he Sins if he continues in his Passion In fine Passions do not at all diminish the Sin when they are voluntary and this happens when they are willingly excited or when one entertains them and endeavours to augment them as it happens too often and in this case they are not Sins of Passion but of malice ARTICE III. Of Sins of Malice BY Sins of Malice we do not understand here Sins which are maliciously committed whether purely to displease God or for the sole pleasure which one takes in doing ill These Sins are rather Sins of Devils then men and those who are so unfortunate as to Sin thus begin in this world to live the life of Devils which God often punisheth also with the punishment of Devils which is Obstinacy and Impenitence These are the Sins which our Saviour calls Mat. 12.32 Sins against the holy Ghost which are neither forgiven in this world nor the next Sins of Malice whereof I speak in this place are those which are committed without Ignorance and without Passion that is with full knowledg and entire liberty and they are called Sins of Malice because being commited neither out of ignorance nor passion they proceed only from the ill inclination of the will which scruples not to offend God upon condition it may compass the enjoyment of its Pleasures or other sensible content which it seeks by Sin. These Sins are very great and highly displeasing in the sight of God being they have nothing to excuse them as the two former had These must be Confessed very exactly declaring fully this circumstance that they committed them knowing well what they did and on set purpose and it is necessary that they do great pennance for them As these Sins are great so they ought to be rare and unheard of amongst Christians but it happens by a sad misfortune that there is nothing more common And if the lives of men were well examined the greatest part of Sins would be found to be Sins of Malice For as concerning Ignorance tho' much of it is found amongst the ordinary Sins of men and for that reason it is said that every man that Sins is ignorant How often doth it happen that the ignorance with which they Sin is affected and voluntary one searches after it expressly and with design he will be ignorant of that which he is obliged too know he will not be instructed he fears to look too narrowly into his own actions and he obliged to the good by the knowledge which he shall have of it To do thus is it not to desire the Sin upon set purpose and out of malice for this reason they fly all those things that may instruct them as reading of Books Sermons or amongst Preachers they care not for those that reprehend vice or discover the ablest Ghostly Father They seek the less understanding and most indulgent They do not consult at all about the doubts of Conscience or if they do they discover not all they seek after favourable resolutions to indulge themselves in remiss false opinions they frame a Conscience to
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
effects in the moment that it is pronounced And in that happy moment is wrought this wonderfull change of a Soul which is translated from the state of Sin to that of Grace and from the slavery of the Devil to the Blessed liberty of the Children of God. O Blessed moment Theotime O Fortunate change If we knew how to conceive it right how should we bless God qui dedit talem potestatem hominibus who hath given such power to men and what high esteem should we have of this Divine Sacrament CHAP X. Of the dispositions necessary to receive Absolution and of the cases where it ought to be denied or deferred THis is a point in which it is truly necessary that Penitents be well instructed For the greatest part of them imagin that when they have confessed their Sins there remains nothing more then to receive absolution and that the Confessor without further difficulty is obliged to give it them which is a very great errour because the Confessor ought to know the dispositions of the Penitent and judge whether or no he be in a fit state to receive it without which he would commit a Sacrilege absolving one unworthy in stead of conferring a Sacrament of which he ought to be very carefull He must then know judge whether the Penitent be sufficiently disposed to receive the absolution And being these dispositions consist in two things to be well Confess'd and to be truly Contrite for his Sins he must judg of them both and if he know him to be deficient in either of these two or justly doubt that he is he ought to deny the Absolution or defer it till another time First as to the Confession He must judg whether it be entire and true and made with requisite preparation If he perceive that the Penitent hath not examined his Conscience he must oblige him to take more time to call to mind his sins If he judg that he doth not declare all his sins and conceals any one he ought discreetly to dismiss him provided he have a just ground to form that judgment For example if he see that the Penitent confesses himself with trouble and that he is very much ashamed to confess his Sins If he know by some other way that he hath committed some Sin whereof he doth not accuse himself provided that he know it not by anothers Confession which is a knowledg whereof he can make no use As to Contrition The Confessour ought to understand whether the Penitent have that which is sufficient and if he judge that he hath not he cannot absolve him This judgment may be made one of these two ways certainly or under a doubt only but that well grounded In the first case he ought to deny absolution in the second it is his duty to defer it The Confessour judgeth with certainty that Contrition is wanting in these three following cases First when the Penitent gives not the least exteriour sign of it but is dull and insensible to all that the Confessor tells him In that case saith the Catechism of the Councill the Confessour seeing that the Penitent is not at all moved with compunction of his Sins must mildly and with sweetness dismiss him Secondly when either the Penitent doth not seriously promise amendment or when he doth promise it but will not perform what is necessary to effect it such as are to quit the immediate occasion of Sin the company of one who makes him offend God naughty depraved or mischevious books play or games that make him swear Thirdly when he will not perform these things to which he is obliged as to restore ill-gotten goods pardon his enemies and be reconciled to them In these three cases the Confessour ought to deny absolution because the Penitent is not at all in a state fit to receive it He must also deny it when the Penitent is guilty of any sin reserved to a Superiour because in this case he hath not power to absolve him There are other cases where he cannot so certainly judge of the want of true Contrition but where however he may reasonably doubt it And this frequently is the cause of much trouble to the Confessour who considers on the one side that he is obliged in conscience to deny absolution to him that is unworthy of it as he hath reason to judge that such a Penitent is on the other side findes himself press'd by the Penitent to give it who judges always in his own favour and ordinarily believes himself better disposed then in reality he is This difficulty and this doubt happens upon several occasions which it would be hard and too long to recount here in particular but one above the rest is very ordinary that is when the Penitent after his Confessions relapses frequently into his mortal Sins without any amendment of his Life For altho' every time he confesses he testifies his sorrowfull sense for his sins and promises to amend yet nevertheless having already failed so often in his promise one may reasonably doubt whether this last resolution of amendment be reall and sincere or no. CHAP XI Of the choice of a Confessor COuld I but see Penitents with the same care and Sollicitude endeavouring to cure the present and obviate the future diseases of their Soul that divine particle as I see them curious in repairing and occurring to the infirmities of the Body that frail peice of Mortality how unexcusable O God should I think any advice upon the Subject of the election of a Confessour But alas when the body is concern'd there is not any one who is satisfyed with the Physitian who is next at hand much less doth rely upon him whom he thinks unskillfull None was ever heard to say in a greivous sickness any one so he be a Physitian is good enough for me It is not then the sole Character can satisfy the curiosity of the Patient it is not the bare profession with let his arrogance be punished if he know no better which puts a stop to his inquisitive concern in point of health No no Theotime in the urgent necessity of a dangerous sickness the Illiterate Unskilfull or unexperienc't Physitian is not sought for neither would he be thought less then mad who should prefer the judgment of the unlearned when his malady required the most knowing artist Whereas this is the preposterous method Penitents ordinarily take in choosing a Confessour the Physitian of their Souls when they ly languishing in that fatal disease of Mortal Sin when upon the recovery depends eternal health or misery that Doctor is thought to have skill enough who dares profess his function for if say they he did not know his duty he would not expose himself And then it is that the first may be perhaps most wellcome And thus it is with many who seem fond to delude themselves with such specious pretentions and appear even to be convinc't with a gloss of reason in things of the greatest moment
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
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