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
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
152. Chap. 3. Excellent Reasons out of the Council of Trent to shew why God remitting the Sin by Penance obliges the penitent Sinner to a Temporal punishment Pag. 156. Chap. 4. Wherein Satisfaction consists and whether it be essential to the Sacrament of Penance Pag. 159. Chap. 5. Of the Conditions which Satisfaction ought to have on behalf of the Ghostly Father Pag. 161. Chap. 6. Of the Conditions of Satisfaction in respect of the Penitent Pag. 167. Chap. 7. Of the Works which may be enjoined for Penance Pag. 172. Chap. 8. That the Penitent who truly desires to work his Salvation ought not to content himself with the Penance enjoined him in the Sacrament but he ought to perform others and how Pag. 175. Chap. 9. Of Sacramental Absolution what it is wherein it consists and what are its effects Pag. 178. Chap. 10. Of the dispositions necessary to receive Absolution and of the cases wherein it ought to be denied or deferr'd Pag. 179. Chap. 11. Of the Choice of a Confessor Pag. 182. PART V. OF the Preservation of Grace after Confession against relapse into Sin. Pag. 187. Chap. 1. Of the importance of this Subject Ibid. Chap. 2. How the relapse into Sin is a very great Evil. Pag. 190. Chap. 3. Of three great indignities which occur in the Sin of relapse the Ingratitude the Perfidiousness and the Contempt of God. Pag. 192. Chap. 4. That those who relapse frequently into their Sins have reason to dread their Salvation Pag. 196. Chap. 5. A further Confirmation of this truth from other proofs and first from the uncertainty of their Confessions who relapse frequently into their Sins Pag. 201. Chap. 6. An excellent Advertisement of St Gregory concerning the false Repentance of those who relapse into their former Sins Pag. 205. Chap. 7. That by relapsing into Sin we lose great part of the fruit of our precedent good Confessions Pag. 207. Chap. 8. That by frequent relapse into Sin one always falls into a worse condition then before Pag. 209. Chap. 9. That frequent relapse into Sin leads to final Impenitence and to an Evil death or to dye in mortal Sin. Pag. 212. Chap. 10. Of the remedies against relapse into Sin. Pag. 216. Chap. 11. Of the means which Penitents ought to observe to avoid any relapse into Sin. Pag. 224. A Table of Sins or an Examen of Conscience upon the Commandments of Gods Law and of the Church and upon the Seven Deadly Sins Pag. 229. The Examen upon the first Commandment Pag. 230. The Sins against Faith. Ibid. The Sins against Hope Pag. 234. The Sins against Charity Pag. 236. The Sins against the Virtue of Religion Pag. 238. The Sins against the care we ought to have of our Salvation Pag. 241. The Examen upon the Second Commandment Pag. 244. The Examen upon the Third Commandment Pag. 247. The Examen upon the Fourth Commandment Pag. 249. The Examen upon the Fifth Commandment Pag. 254. The Examen upon the Sixth Commandment Pag. 255. The Examen upon the Seventh Commandment Pag. 259. The Examen upon the Eighth Commandment Pag. 261. The Examen upon the 9. 10. Commandment Pag. 264. The Examen upon the precepts of the Church Pag. 265. The Examen concerning the Seven Deadly Sins Pag. 266. Of the Sin of Pride Ibid. Of Covetousness Luxury and Sloth Pag. 270. Of Gluttony Ibid. Of Envy Pag. 271. Of the Sin of Anger Pag. 272. The Examen of the Sins which one commits by another Pag. 274. The Examen of the Sins of Students Pag. 279. A TABLE of the Parts and Chapters contained in the Instruction concerning the Holy Communion THe Preface Pag. 281. Of the necessity of this Instruction and the order observed therein ibid. The Division of the Treatise Pag. 282. The First Part. Pag. 283. Of the Doctrine that is to say of the Truths it imports us to know concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist ibid. Chap. 1. Of Faith. Pag. 284. Quest 1. What is it that we are obliged to know concerning Faith in general Pag. 285. Qu. 2. What is Faith ibid. Qu. 3. Who is the Author of Faith ibid. Qu. 4. What is the Action Object and Motive of Faith Pag. 286. Qu. 5. By what ways it hath pleas'd God to convey these Truths unto us ibid. Qu. 6. What is the Rule of Faith Pag. 287. Qu. 7. What Qualities or Conditions ought our Faith to have Pag. 291. Chap. 2. Of the things we are obliged to believe Pag. 294. Art. 1. What are we obliged to believe of God Pag. 295. Art. 2. What are we obliged to believe of Jesus Christ Pag. 296. Qu. 1. What is Jesus Christ ibid. Qu. 2. Why was he made man Pag. 297. Qu. 3. In what doth the Incarnation consist ibid. Qu. 4. How was this Divine Vnion accomplish'd Pag. 298. Qu. 5. What is it that the Son of God hath done for our Redemption Pag. 299. Art. 3. What are we obliged to believe concerning the Church Pag. 300. Art. 4. What are we obliged to believe concerning the Sacraments Pag. 303. Chap. 3. Of the Holy Eucharist Pag. 306. Art. 1. Of the real prefence of the Son of God in the Eucharist and of what we are to believe concerning this Sacrament Pag. 307. Art. 2. Of the Wonders which occur in this Saerament Pag. 309. Art. 3. Of the Effects of the Holy Eucharist Pag. 311. Art. 4. Of the Dispositions required to Communicate well and as we ought Pag. 314. Art. 5. Of an unworthy Communion Pag. 316. Of the Damages which follow from an unworthy Communion Pag. 320. Art. 6. Of the end we ought to propose to our selves in the Holy Communion Pag. 322. PART II. OF the Practice of Communion or what we must do to Communicate well and as we ought Pag. 325. Chap. 1. Of Faith in as much as it serves for Communion Pag. 326. Art. 1. How necessary it is and in what manner Ib. Art. 2. That to Communicate well it is not sufficient to have Faith but we must practice the acts thereof and how profitable they are in Communion Pag. 327. Art. 3. The Practice of the acts of Faith for Communion Pag. 331. An Act of Faith upon the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament Pag. 332. Vpon the wonders which occur in the Blessed Sacrament Pag. 333. Vpon the effects which the Holy Eucharist is capable to produce in the Soul. Pag. 335. Chap. 2. Of Hope the second disposition for Communion Pag. 339. Art. 1. What is Hope ibid. Art. 2. Of the good which we expect by Hope Pag. 341. Art. 3. That it is necessary to distinguish well betwixt True and False Good and Bad Hope Pag. 344. Art. 4. Of the great Blessings which Hope derives upon us Pag. 347. Art. 5. That the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist is of great use to fortify and augment Hope the Virtue in us Pag. 351. Art. 6. That the Practice of Hope is a good and great disposition to the Holy Communion
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
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
those that commit it But it happens by a strange misfortune that it is but too common amongst Penitents and particularly amongst simple and young people by reason they know not how grievous a sin it is and the dreadfull consequences it draws after it This is the reason why I treat of it in this place First then Theotime you must know and hold as most certain that to conceal willingly in Confession any Mortal Sin or what you believe is a Mortal Sin is also a Mortal Sin The reason is taken from the Command of our Saviour who as the Council of Trent above-cited says giving to the Apostles and their Successors the power to remit or retain sins hath also obliged the Faithfull to Confess all the sins which after a sufficient Examen they remember Thus to conceal a Mortal Sin in Confession is a formal disobedience to the Law of Jesus Christ in a matter of the highest concern Secondly this Sin is a formal and positive untruth in a matter of the highest consequence viz. The justification and eternal Salvation of the Soul an untruth not told to Man but to God whose place the Priest holds in Confession Now to tell a lye to God is a strange Crime Remember the rigorous punishment which God by S. Peter laid upon Ananias and Saphira his wife for having told an untruth in a thing of less importance where they denied only part of the price of some goods they sold which they concealed You have not said the Apostle lyed to men but to God. Act. 5.4 And at these words they fell down dead at his feet Thirdly this Sin is not only a disobedience to the Law of God and a base lye but also a sin of Sacrilege and that one of the greatest magnitude Sacrilege is one of the heinousest sins one can commit for it is an abuse and a prophanation of a consecrated and holy thing that is to say of a thing dedicated to God and which partakes of his sanctity And as amongst holy things there are some more holy then others so amongst Sacrileges there are some greater and more enormous then others according to the proportion of the thing that is prophan'd Now the abuse and prophanation of the Sacrament of Penance by him who conceals a Mortal Sin is not only an abuse of a holy thing but of a thing most holy Because the Sacraments are not only exteriourly holy like Churches Altars and holy Vessels which are holy because they are Consecrated to holy uses but they contain holiness in themselves because they cause and bestow it upon men If then it be a horrible Sacrilege to prophane a Church overthrow an Altar abuse a Chalice judge what we ought to say of the abuse and prophanation of a Sacrament and what a horrour we ought to have of such a Sacrilege Fourthly consider the evil you do in abusing this Sacrament in particular for this Sacrament is instituted to appease and pacify our Lord and to reconcile us unto him Now in making a false Confession you provoke God to anger by those very means which he hath appointed to appease him you make him your enemy at the same time that you go to make your atonement with him and you change the Sacrament which is a Judgment or Sentence of Absolution into a Judgment or Sentence of Condemnation O how miserable are you are you not in dread of that Curse of the Prophet Woe be to you saith he that turn judgement into wormwood Amos. 5.7 Fifthly consider the great injury you do to the adorable Blood of the Son of God for by this Sacrament the merits of that blood are applied to us for the remission of our Sins and when the Priest pronounces the Sacred words of Absolution he pours upon us that pretious blood which washes us as St. John saith 1. Jo. 1.7 from the spots and stains which we had contracted by all our sins But when you are so void of grace as to make a false Confession and having made it to permit the Priest to give you Absolution you frustrate the effect of the blood of the Son of God which falling upon a Criminal and unworthy Subject as you then are is more prophaned contemned and violated then when the Jews shed it upon the Earth and unworthily trampled it under their feet Be afraid here of that menace of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews 10.28 where he saith He that despiseth Moyses his Law dieth without mercy of how much more severe punishment think ye shall he deserve who treadeth under foot the Son of God and esteemeth the blood of the Testament wherewith he was sanctified as an unholy thing and doth affront the Spirit of grace Ponder well upon these three injuries for all these you do by a false Confession Sixthly consider how little reason you have to commit so great evils in thus concealing your sins in Confession this cannot proceed but either out of fear or shame which are the two inseparable Companions of Sin as Tertullian saith in Apologet. Omne malum aut timore aut pudore natura suffudit As for fear what is it that you can apprehend in this occasion If you fear to be defamed consider that you discover your sins but to one man alone and so this cannot defame you but besides he is obliged to secrecy by all both Divine and Humane Laws and he cannot violate that secret but he makes himself worthy of death both before God and Man. So that there is no danger of your honour Are you afraid to be reprehended by your Ghostly Father this is what sometimes hinders simple people who yet in reality are not simple but blind and stupid to commit so dreadfull a sin for fear of so small an evil and to be more apprehensive of the reprehension of a Ghostly Father who doth not do it but meerly out of Charity and for your good then you are afraid of the offence of God and to be reprehended and condemned by him to be scoffed at by the Divels and lost for evermore Has not he lost his wit who makes such a choice The same is to be said of those who conceal their sins for fear of a great Penance which is yet a more unsupportable stupidity and blindness yet this happens sometimes and chiefly amongst young and ignorant people Let us now come to speak of shame which is the second reason why the Penitent conceals his sins in Confession as vain as the former And first I agree and acknowledge that Sin deserves we should be ashamed of it and that he is not truly penitent that hath not this shame and that he justly merits that reproch which God gave to a Sinner Hierem. 33. Thou hast the forehead of a dishonest woman thou wilt not blush for thy crimes But I maintain that shame ought not to hinder any one from discovering all their sins in Confession that which with-holds us from such a declaration is not shame
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
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
taken pleasure in entertaining his mind in impure thoughts or imaginations altho' one had not a desire to put them in execution For these thoughts when one willingly continues in them are Mortal sins 2. When one has a desire to Commit the sins he thinks on 3. When one not only desires it but resolves with himself to commit it when he hath an occasion and for that end seeks the means to compass his design III. The third degree of this same sin comprehends the different kinds of immodest actions Whereof the first is when one provokes himself to Lust corrupting himself either by his touch or other means which is a sin concerning which Penitents and especially young people ought to examen themselves well because they easily fall into it and sometimes either do not confess it or else declare but one half having a shame to discover what they were not asham'd to commit 2. When one sollicites others to that sin When one makes them fall into it or when one teaches it to thoâ—â— that do not know it 3. When one commits the sin of dishonesty with persons of divers Sexes and Unmarried in which case he must first tell whether she were a Maid or Virgin for that is a remarkable circumstance which aggravates the sin 2. Whether he sollicited her and how long 3. Whether he seduced her by promises Much more whether he forced her he ought also to declare here whether he hath been in evil houses whether he hath led or been willing to lead others thither 4. Whether one hath committed this sin with a Married woman which is Adultery or with a relation which is Incest for these are different species or kinds of Sin. And lastly whether one has been so unfortunate as to fall into the Sins against nature which God hath sometimes visibly punished with fire from Heaven and with St. Paul calls ignominious passions all which nevertheless one must not be ashamed to confess The EXAMEN upon the Seventh Commandment Thou shalt not Steal THis Commandment forbids us to wrong our neighbour in his Goods which may happen many ways 1. Septima lex furtum prohibet redditque nocentem Qui raepit alterius bona 2. cum crimine servat Quae forsan male non rapuit 3. Qui debita justa Denegat aut sero solvit 4. Qui foenore duro Cogit opes 5. pactisque aurum coacervat iniquis 6. Qui damno illato nocuit vel causa nocendi Extitit propriis non sarcit damna periclis 7. Fraternis inhians opibus 8. propriasque recondens Omnibus immitis nec se nec pascit egentes 9. Debita qui sacris non solvit jura ministris 10. Aut simoniacae affectans exempla rapinae Terrenis redimit coelestia munera donis Haec lex aequa vetat quaecumque crimina suadet Nullius non causa mali vesana cupido One must examen himself in this place First whether he hath taken anothers goods with a design to keep them and declare the quantity of the goods and how often he did so 2ly Whether notwithstanding that he hath not taken them himself yet he hath retained what he found in his hands howsoever he came by them which is call'd an unjust detaining of anothers goods for one is oblig'd in Conscience to restore them 3ly Whether one hath denyed his debts with intention never to pay them or else delayed too long the payment of them that his neighbour suffered from thence some considerable dammage 4ly Whether one hath lent out money or other goods to use That is drawing profit from the sole lending without suffering any reall loss or damage from it 5ly Whether one hath made any unjust bargains or contracts whereby his neighbour hath been considerably prejudiced 6ly Whether either himself he hath done or by others caused to be done any dammage to his neighbours goods In which case he is obliged to repair the loss if he have wherewith And except supposing he is able he make satisfaction his Sins cannot be forgiven 7. Whether one hath a desire to get anothers goods and seeks unjust ways to procure them 8. Whether the affection one has to his own goods hinders him from giving alms when occasion of necessity requires it 9. Whether he hath not pay'd the Tithes due to the Church 10. Whether one hath committed Simony by buying some benefice or benefices The EXAMEN upon the Eighth Commandment Thou shalt not bear False Witness against thy Neighbour THis Commandment under the prohibition of false witness comprehends generally all lyes and also whatsoever may prejudice our neighbour in his reputation Alterius famam levare reddere raptam Lex octava jubet prohiberque offendere verbis Factis-ve Et simili reddit se crimine sontem I. 1. Qui falso accusat 2. test atur 3. protegit 4. qui Insontem damnat Judex solvitque nocentem II. Alterius qui vitam animo scrutatus iniquo 1. Quod male conjectat 2. temere asserit 3. ambiguumque Rumorem in vulgus spargens subvertit honorem Crimina mentitus falsa aut occulta revelans III. Inde vetat falsis mendacia promere verbis Lex veri rectique tenax fallere dictis Sit licet innocuum quidquid mentiris at ullum Si tibi vel socio sint allatura periclum Corporis aut animi vel famae honoris opumve Ipse reus graviter laesae damnabere legis IV. Nec melius proprium velabit hypocrita crimen Qui sanctum falsa mentitus imagine multo Decipit atque lupum sub ovina pelle recondit These Verses contain four sorts of Sin forbidden by this Commandment I. Whereof the first is false witness and all that relates unto it 1. To accuse one falsly whether in judgment or elsewhere 2. To bear false witness against him and the heinousness of this Sin is proportionable to the Crime which is laid to his charge and to the danger his neighbour incurs whether in point of Estate Honour or Life If the Testimony be confirmed with an oath the Sin becomes yet much more heinous 3. To take upon him the defence of a false accusation Whether in law which happens to Lawyers and Sollicitors or elsewhere in what manner soever it be 4. To condemn the innocent or absolve the guilty A Sin incident to judges and other Superiours II. The Second Species or kind is detraction wherein one Sins by these degrees 1. By ill suspitions of his neighbour upon small grounds sometimes out of lightness sometimes by reason of an aversion one hath conceiv'd against him 2. By rash judgments where one believes or affirms some evil which one hath suspected of him 3. By detraction spreading reports prejudicial to his honour which is done two ways either by laying crimes to his charge which he hath not committed which is called Calumny or by revealing the evil which he hath done when it was yet secret and few or none knew of it which is properly called