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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
law_n	good_a	sin_n	transgression_n	4,384	5	10.5404	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42885	Instruction concerning penance and holy communion the second part fo the instruction of youth, containing the means how we may return to God by penance, and remain in his grace by the good and frequent use of the sacraments. By Charles Gobinet, Doctor of Divinity, of the house and Society of Sorbon, principal of the college of Plessis-Sorbon.; Instruction de la jeunesse en la piété chrétienne. Part 2. English	Gobinet, Charles, 1614-1690.; Gobinet, Charles, 1614-1690. Instruction sur la pénitence et sur la sainte communion. English.	1689 (1689)	Wing G904C; ESTC R223681	215,475	423

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

whilst yet he hath them open to receive us and so lovingly calls us to him Let us not delay lest he may shut them in punishment of our incredulity Let us prevent his anger by having recourse unto his Mercy and let us perform that which the Apostle St. Peter exhorts us to do in Conclusion of the above-mention'd admonition Let us therefore saith that Divine Apostle go boldly to the Throne of Grace that we may receive Mercy and find Grace to help in the time of need Heb. 4. CHAP. II. What Penance is SInce we cannot return to God after Sin by any other way but that of Penance it imports us very much to know what it is and to understand well this means which is of such importance as that without it we can never be saved according to that weighty sentnece of our Saviour If you do not do Penance you will all perish Nisi paenitentiam habueritis omnes simul peribitis This Penance so necessary may be considered two ways As it is a Virtue and as it is a Sacrament for it includes both these excellent qualities First it is one of the Christian Virtues which hath for its object and end the destruction of Sin in him that hath committed it and the satisfaction of the divine justice by sorrow and good works Secondly it is also one of the Seaven Sacraments of the New Law being raised to that dignity by Jesus Christ when he gave to his Apostles and their Successors power to remit Sins As a Virtue Divines define it thus A Virtue or gift of God which makes us deplore and hate the sins which we have committed with a purpose to amend and not offend any more for the future It s principal acts are Confession Contrition and Satisfaction Confession that is a declaration or acknowledgment that they have sinned before God by which they owe themselves before him guilty and worthy of punishment it being certain that the first degree necessary to obtain pardon for a fault is to acknowledge it and declare our selves culpable It was for this reason that David said that he had confessed his sins before God and had obtained pardon Psal 31. Contrition that is to say a regret or sorrow for having offended God because the declaration of the crime is not sufficient to obtain pardon except we also testify and declare a regret and displeasure from our heart without which it is impossible to obtain it Satisfaction is a punishment which one lays on himself to repair the injury he hath done to God by Sin that he may more easily obtain pardon and bear the punishment which his justice should impose It being certain that it is in the liberty of him that pardons an injury to pardon it on what condition he pleases and reserve what punishment he shall think convenient for it Hence it is that St. Ambrose in Psal 37. said that he who does Penance ought to offer himself to endure and be chastised by God in this life that he may avoid eternal punishment and St. Augustin begged of God with so much earnestness that he would be pleased to chastise him in this world so that he would pardon him in the next Hic ure hic seca modo in aeternum parcas As these three acts compose the Virtue of Penance they also make the parts of the Sacrament which Jesus Christ hath instituted upon this same Virtue The words of this institution are these which he spoke to his Apostles on the day of his Resurrection Receive the Holy Ghost whose sins you remit are remitted and whose sins you retain are retained John. 20. By these words he hath given to the Apostles and their Successours the Power to remit and retain the Sins of the faithfull and by a necessary consequence he obliged the faithfull that should fall into Sin to put themselves in a state fit to receive that remission and to have the dispositions without which a Sin cannot be pardon'd neither by God nor men which are Confession Contrition and Satisfaction Confession by which the delinquents declare their Sins to him who hath Power to judge to wit the Priest because a judge cannot give Sentence of a Crime if he know it not or it be not brought before him to judge Contrition because a Sin cannot be remitted to him who doth not declare some sorrow before the Judge and Satisfaction because to receive a remission one must be disposed to receive it upon the Conditions that shall please him who gives it and with that reasonable Chastizement that he shall think proper to impose as is already said So these three acts serving as dispositions for the remission of Sin serve also for the matter of the judgment which the Preist makes of the same Sin and of absolution which he pronounces in virtue of the power which Jesus Christ hath given him And these two things joyn'd together to wit the acts of the Penitent and the absolution of the Priest compose the Sacrament which we call Pennance whereof these acts are the matter and the Absolution is the form which are two parts necessary for a Sacrament Behold Theotime what Penance is and it is necessary that you should conserve in your mind this Idea and the distinction which we now made as the ground-work of all that which we shall say on this Subject Because to make a true conversion of which we speak here Penance is requisite in both those two manners both as a Virtue and as a Sacrament The Sacrament is necessary because it is by its virtue that one receives the remission of Sin and the acts of this same virtue are likewise necessary both before and after the Sacrament Before the Sacrament to dispose one to receive it and after having receiv'd it to Satisfy God and conserve ones self in Grace as we have said above CHAP. III. What Contrition is I Begin to explain the acts or parts of Penance with Contrition because it is the most necessary of all for without it the others are of no value and it may supply the want of the other in case of necessity on condition that it include the will to confess and satisfy when we are able Wherefore read attentively what follows The Council of Trent gives us a perfect Idea of this great action when it defines it in these terms to be A grief of mind and a detestation of Sin committed accompanied with a resolution not to commit it any more Counc Tre. Sess 14. c. 4. It says that it is a grief of mind that is a regret and interiour displeasure which is conceiv'd in the heart for having offended God. And a detestation by which word is meant a Hatred and an Aversion which one hath to Sin in looking on it as a wicked thing and mortal Enemy to our Salvation and the Glory of God. With a resolution not to Sin any more This is a necessary consequence of the grief and hatred of Sin. For he who hath a

in affairs of greatest importance wherefore as in those occasions every one applies himself seriously and with all his power and useth all imaginable diligence and endeavours that nothing may be wanting which is necessary to compass his design we must do the same in this of Confession where we do not treat of any temporal concern but of the securing our Eternal Salvation by gaining the remission of our Sins a remission which cannot be otherwise obtained but by means of a good Confession To practice well this general rule we must perform these three things First we must pray to Almighty God and beg of him he will vouchsafe his Divine Light whereby we may see our sins this is a means which we must never forget and which we may say is absolutely necessary The heart of man is so secret that he himself oftentimes doth not know himself and none but God can search it to the bottom Our Conscience is sometimes so darkened and so obscured that we are not able to see into it either by means of our memory or knowledge only God by his grace and inward light which he communicates to the Soul is able to dissipate and disperse that darkness which when he doth we easily discover many spots which before we did not see as we see in the rays of the Sun many things which when we had only a lesser light were hidden from our eyes Wherefore Theotime in this preparation you must never desist but continually pray to God for this heavenly light Psal 17.29 Deus meus illumina tenebras meas O my God clear the darkness of my Soul that I may discover my sins Come O Holy Ghost dart me from heaven a ray of thy divine light Secondly you must observe some method in searching out your sins that so you may not forget any the best is to run over in order the Commandments of God and of the Church with the seven Deadly Sins For being every sin is a transgression of the Law of God we cannot more easily fall into the account of the sins we have committed then by running over his Commandments and examining upon every one by it self whether we have transgressed against it in what and how and being one may offend against them not only one but many ways it is necessary that we know the divers Sins which may be committed against each either to learn them by books which treat thereof or by the instruction of some understanding Person We shall set down hereafter an exact Examen Thirdly to make yet better this examen of your Conscience you must retire into your self there to take cognizance of your inclinations your chief passions the Sins which you most ordinarily fall into the occasions you have to offend God the persons you converse with the places you have frequented the affairs you have been concern'd in the particular obligations of your state the omissions you are guilty of and many other such like things If you practise well these three means Theotime you comply with the diligence which God requires at your hands in this preparation but practice them with serenity and quietness of mind without racking or torturing your Soul for disquietness and anxiety of mind are so far from being an help that they are an hindrance to Confession Remember that God requires nothing from you but what you can perform perform it then orderly and faithfully and when you have done concern not your self any more about your examen but beg pardon of God for your Sins CHAP. X. Of the distinction which must be made between Mortal and Venial Sin. IN this examen of Conscience we must not only employ the memory to remember the Sin but also the judgment to discern the quality and grievousness of them it being certain that all Sins are not equal or alike The first and the most signal difference which ought to be observed is that of Mortal and Venial the knowledge of this distinction is absolutely necessary in this place because Mortal Sin depriving us of the grace of God cannot be remitted but by a penitential sorrow it requires an entire Confession a far greater sorrow and another kind of satisfaction then Venial which doth not destroy the grace of God in a Soul may be forgiven without the Sacrament and doth not require necessarily to be Confessed altho' it be always very good to do it That you may understand this difference right you must know That every Sin is a trangression of the Law of God but with this difference that it is sometimes heavy or heinous and sometimes light It is heavy when it is acted in a matter of concern with knowledge and consent It is light when it wants either all or any of these three conditions That is either when the thing it self is light or being heavy is without sufficient consent or with consent but without knowledge of the evil so that it be not an affected wilfull or voluntary ignorance The first is called Mortal taking it's name from it's effect by reason of the death it causeth in the Soul by depriving her of the grace of God which is its Life The second is call'd Venial because offending God but lightly it is more pardonable The heavy Trangression offends God grievously it makes one incurr his displeasure robs the soul of Grace makes it lose the right it had to Heaven which is the inheritance of the Children of God and renders it subject to Eternal Damnation The light Transgression offending God but slightly doth not make the Soul incurr his absolute displeasure but only it causes some small diminution of the love which God hath for her All that which the Scripture says of the ill effects of Sin is to be understood of the first transgression as Jac. 1.15 That it causeth death Isa 59.2 That it sets God and man at a distauce And in a word all that which we have said above in the Second part Chap. 10. And that which the Scripture says that Prov. 24.16 The Just Man falls seven times a day that Jac. 3.2 All of us offend God many ways that 1. Jo. 18. If we say we have no Sin we deceive our selves Is all to be understood of the Second As these two sorts of sins are much different as well in their weight or enormity as effect so also are they very unlike in their remission for Mortall sin cannot be pardoned but by the Sacrament of Penance or perfect Contrition out of the Sacrament but always with relation to the Sacrament and an obligation to receive it whereas veniall sin may be remitted by the only remorse for having committed it accompanied with a resolution of amendment For this reason in Confession we must take great notice of the Sins which are Mortal or which we believe to be so that we may Confess them exactly and entirely without concealing any deplore them in the sight of God and do the Penance they shall deserve CHAP. XI Of the

end reade that which hereafter we shall say of it The reading also of good Books is a most powerfull means to conserve and keep us in the straight path of virtue We treated of this in the Instruction of Youth 2d Part. Chap. 16. which I exhort you to read once more upon this occasion All these are general remedies and common to all sort of Sins There are others more particular against each Sin considered in its kind which it would be too long to declare in this place as also it would be useless since we have treated of them elsewhere as for example the remedies against idleness in the 3d. Part. Chap. 7 and against impurity in the 8th and 9th Chap. and in all the 4th Part. Where we have treated of Christian virtues and the means to resist contrary vices A Table of SINS Or An Examen of Conscience upon the Commandments of God's Law and of the Church and upon the Seven Deadly Sins Sin being a transgression against the law of God it follows that to understand well in what one hath sinn'd he must know first what it is that God Commands what that he forbids and to examin his Conscience rightly it is necessary he run over the Commandments of God as they stand in order and see whether and how many ways he hath transgress'd them for we offend God diverse ways This is the reason why I shall digest here the ten Commandments of Gods Law with all the sins that may be committed against each one of them that thence you may take what may concern you And for the greater facility I have for my diversion drawn up into Latin verse the several obligations which each Commandment imports with the transgressions opposed against them I offer them to those who understand and like them others may benefit themselves by the following explication The EXAMEN upon the First Commandment I am the Lord thy God thou shalt have no other Gods before me Exod. 20. THis Commandment includes the obligations of many virtues viz. of Faith of Hope of Charity of Religion and of the care of our Salvation It obligeth us to believe in God to hope in him to love him above all things give him the worship and honour due to him and to seek after the Salvation of our Soul which he hath created to his own image and likeness to enjoy him for all eternity All these things are comprized in these three verses Credere prima homines sperare amare Deumque Condigno cultu venerari orare Animaeque Aeternam curare jubent mandata salutem Opposite to these are first the Sins against Faith whereof some totally destroy it others offend against it in a high degree I st a fidem sanctam laedunt perimuntque nefanda 1. Ignorare fidem 2. dubiis aperire vagantem Incertumque animum 3. graviter qui his fixus adhaeret Ille fidem violat 4. gravius qui mente superba Eligit ipse sibi quod credat vel neget 5. inde Omnia blasphemo qui pernegat impius ore Sancta nil credens nisi quod tangitque videtque 6. Qui favet his vel facta probat 7. consortia quaerit 8. Dicta librosque legens avido bibit ore venena 9. Alta Dei nimio scrutans temerarius ausu Quae penetrare nefas homini mysteria 10. ridens Sacratos ritus 11. divinaque verba retorquens Ad pravos sensus miscens sacra profanis 12. Quique futurorum vult nosce recondita servat Quae Deus ipse sibi vel facta obscura requirit Artibus illicitis observans somnia vel quae Caeca superstitio Cacodaemonis arte maligna Reperit ut noceat prosit ve aut clausa recludat 1. The first sin against Faith is that of Ignorance when one is ignorant of what he is obliged to know To be ignorant of the four principall Mysteries without the express belief whereof we cannot be saved viz. the Unity of one God the Trinity of Persons the Incarnation of the Second Person for the Redemption of mankind and life everlasting To be ignorant of the Apostles Creed or not to know the sense and meaning of it as far as ones capacity and the means he hath to be instructed will permit To be ignorant of the Sacraments and particularly of those which one either hath or ought to receive Not to know the Comandments of God and the Church All these ignorances ordinarily speaking are mortal Sins wherefore one ought carefully to examin himself and reflect well whether he hath sought the means to be instructed as Catechisms Sermons reading and the like 2. The Second Sin against Faith is a doubt of the truth of any of the points of Faith. It happens sometimes against our will and then it is either none or at least not a Mortall Sin but perhaps some venial negligence But if it be voluntary it is a Mortall Sin and this in two cases 1st When one either seeks it or willingly gives some occasion of it as by reading ill Books by discoursing too freely concerning matters of faith by examining them with too much curiosity by giving himself too much liberty to judg of them according to humane reason 2ly This doubt is voluntary when one willingly detains himself in it and gives his consent unto it 3. The Third is the Sin of Error that is when from a doubt one proceeds to affirm and positively believe something contrary to the receiv'd Doctrine of the Church altho' it be but in one single article and such a belief is always a mortal Sin and if one maintain it obstinately without submitting himself to the Church it is Heresy whereof we are going about to speak 4. The Fourth Sin is Heresy That is an error in any point of faith maintain'd with obstinacy wherein one follows his own judgment in opposition to that of the Church and chooseth in points of Religion the things which he is willing to believe or to deny whence it is called Heresy that is to say a choice 5. The Fifth is Impiety which is different from heresy in this that Heresy will believe some truths but not all But Impiety denys all and believes nothing You ought Theotime to examin your self very strictly whether you have fallen into any of these Sins and if you have perform yet some more strict and severer Penance But above all communicate your thoughts with some learned and Pious person who may restore you to your self and put you in the right way 6. The sixth Sin against Faith is to favour Hereticks or Impious men as in supporting and approving what they do 7. The Seventh is to be pleased with their Company and discourse to continue therein with danger of embracing their opinions 8. The Eighth is to read their Books whether with pleasure or danger 9. The Ninth is the Sin of Curiosity to examin the Misteries of Faith or the Secrets of divine Providence by pure humane reason which leads ordinarily