some crooked or deformed part But of the thing it self I have given such accounts as I could being ingaged on no side and the servant of no interest and have endevour'd to represent the dangers of every sinner the difficulty of obtaining pardon the many parts and progressions of Repentance the severity of the Primitive Church their rigid Doctrines and austere Disciplines the degrees of easiness and complyings that came in by negligence and I desire that the effect should be that all the pious and religious Curates of Souls in the Church of England would endevour to produce so much fear and reverence caution and wariness in all their penitents that they should be willing to undergo more severe methods in their restitution then now they do that men should not dare to approach to the holy Sacrament as soon as ever their foul hands are wet with a drop of holy rain but that they should expect the periods of life and when they have given to their Curate fair testimony of a hearty Repentance and know it to be so within themselves they may with comfort to all parties communicate with holiness and joy For I conceive this to be that event of things which was design'd by S. Paul in that excellent advice Obey them that have the rule over you Heb. 13.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 submit your selves viz. to their ordering and discipline because they watch for your souls as they that must give accounts for them that they may do it with joy I am sure we cannot give accounts of souls of which we have no notice and though we had reason to rescue them from the yoke of bondage which the unjust laws and fetters of annual and private Confession as it was by them ordered did make men to complain of yet I believe we should be all unwilling our Charges should exchange these fetters for worse and by shaking off the laws of Confession accidentally entertain the tyranny of sin It was neither fit that all should be tied to it nor yet that all should throw it off There are some sins and some cases and some persons to whom an actual Ministery and personal provision and conduct by the Priests Office were better then food or physick It were therefore very well if great sinners could be invited to bear the yoke of holy discipline and do their Repentances under the conduct of those who must give an account of them that they would inquire into the state of their souls that they would submit them to be judged by those who are justly and rightly appointed over them or such whom they are permitted to choose and then that we would apply our selves to understand the secrets of Religion the measures of the Spirit the conduct of Souls the advantages and disadvantages of things and persons the wayes of life and death the labyrinths of temptation and all the remedies of sin the publick and private the great and little lines of Conscience and all those wayes by which men may be assisted and promoted in the wayes of godliness for such knowledge as it is most difficult and secret untaught and unregarded so it is most necessary and for want of it the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is oftentimes given to them that are in the gall of bitterness that which is holy is given to Dogs Indeed neither we nor our Forefathers could help it alwayes and the Discipline of the Church could seise but upon few all were invited but none but the willing could receive the benefit but however it were pity that men upon the account of little and trifling objections should be discouraged from doing themselves benefit and from enabling us with greater advantages to do our duty to them It was of old observed of the Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they obey the laws and by the excellency of their own lives excel the perfection of the laws and it is not well if we shall be earnest to tell them that such a thing is not necessary if we know it to be good For in this present dissolution of manners to tell the people concerning any good thing that it is not necessary is to tempt them to let it alone The Presbyterian Ministers who are of the Church of England just as the Irish are English have obtained such power with their Proselytes that they take some account of the Souls of such as they please before they admit them to their communion in Sacraments they doe it to secure them to their party or else make such accounts to be as their Shibboleth to discern their Jews from the men of Ephraim but it were very well we would doe that for Conscience for Charity and for Piety which others doe for Interest or Zeal and that we would be careful to use all those Ministeries and be earnest for all those Doctrines which visibly in the causes of things are apt to produce holiness and severe living It is no matter whether by these arts any Sect or Name be promoted it is certain Christian Religion would and that 's the reall interest of us all that those who are under our Charges should know the force of the Resurrection of Christ and the conduct of the Spirit and live according to the purity of God and the light of the Gospel To this let us cooperate with all wisdome and earnestness and knowledge and spiritual understanding And there is no better way in the world to doe this then by ministring to persons singly in the conduct of their Repentance which as it is the work of every man so there are but few persons who need not the conduct of a spiritual guide in the beginnings and progressions of it To the assistance of this work I have now put my Symbol having by the sad experience of my own miseries and the calamities of others to whose restitution I have been called to minister been taught something of the secret of Souls and I have reason to think that the words of our dearest Lord to S. Peter were also spoken to me Tu autem conversus confirma fratres I hope I have received many of the mercies of a repenting sinner and I have felt the turnings and varieties of spiritual entercourses and I have often observed the advantages in ministring to others and am most confident that the greatest benefits of our office may with best effect be communicated to souls in personal and particular Ministrations In the following book I have given advices and have asserted many truths in order to all this I have endevoured to break in pieces almost all those propositions upon the confidence of which men have been negligent of severe and strict living I have cancell'd some false grounds upon which many answers in Moral Theology us'd to be made to inquiries in Cases of Conscience I have according to my weak ability described all the necessities and great inducements of a holy life and have endevoured to do it so plainly that
shape in which they can take any pleasure But men are infinitely abus'd and by themselves most of all For Repentance is not like the Summer fruits fit to be taken a little and in their own time it is like bread the provisions and support of our life the entertainment of every day but it is the bread of affliction to some and the bread of carefulness to all and he that preaches this with the greatest zeal and the greatest severity it may be he takes the liberty of an enemy but he gives the counsel and the assistance of a friend My Lord I have been so long acquainted with the secrets of your Spirit and Religion that I know I need not make an apology for dedicating this severe Book to you You know according to the prudence which God hath given you that he that flatters you is your enemy and you need not be flattered for he that desires passionately to be a good man and a religious to be the servant of God and be sav'd will not be fond of any vanity and nothing else can need to be flattered but I have presented to your Lordship this Discourse not onely to be a testimony to the world how great a love and how great an honour I have for you but even by ascribing you into this relation to endear you the rather every day more and more to the severest Doctrines and Practises of Holiness I was invited to make something of this by an Honourable Person who is now with God and who desir'd his needs should be serv'd by my Ministery But when I had entred upon it I found it necessary to do it in order to more purposes and in prosecution of the method of my other Studies All which as they are designed to Gods glory and the Ministery of Souls so if by them I can signifie my obligations to your Lordship which by your great Nobleness do still increase I shall not esteem them wholly ineffective even of some of those purposes whither they are intended for truly my Lord in whatsoever I am or can do I desire to appear My Noblest Lord Your Honours most obliged and most affectionate Servant Jer Taylor THE PREFACE To the Right Reverend and Religious FATHERS Brian Lord Bishop of Sarum AND John Lord Bishop of Rochester And to the most Reverend and Religious Clergy of England my dear Brethren Men Brethren and Fathers THE wiser part of Mankinde hath seen so much trifling in the conduct of disputations so much partiality such earnest desires of reputation such resolution to prevail by all means so great mixture of interest in the contention so much mistaking of the main question so frequent excursions into differing matter so many personal quarrels and pety animosities so many wranglings about those things that shall never be helped that is the errors and infirmities of men and after all this which also must needs be consequent to it so little fruit and effect of questions no man being the wiser or changed from error to truth but from error to error most frequently and there are in the very vindication of truth so many incompetent uncertain and untrue things offered that if by chance some truth be gotten we are not very great gainers because when the whole account is cast up we shall finde or else they that are disinterest will observe that there is more error then truth in the whole purchase and still no man is satisfied and every side keeps its own unless where folly or interest makes some few persons to change and still more weakness and more impertinencies crowd into the whole affair upon every reply and more yet upon the rejoynder and when men have wrangled tediously and vainly they are but where they were save onely that they may remember they suffered infirmity and it may be the transport of passions and uncharitable expressions and all this for an unrewarding interest for that which is sometimes uncertain in it self unrevealed unuseful and unsatisfying that in the event of things and after being wearied for little or nothing men have now in a very great proportion left it quite off as unsatisfying waters and have been desirous of more material nourishment and of such notices of things and just assistances as may promote their eternal interest And indeed it was great reason and high time that they should do so for when they were imployed in in rowing up and down uncertain seas to finde something that was not necessary it was certain they would less attend to that which was more worthy their inquiry and the enemy of mankinde knew that to be a time of his advantage and accordingly sowed tares while we so slept and we felt a real mischief while we contended for an imaginary and phantastick good For things were come to that pass that it was the character of a good man to be zealous for a Sect and all of every party respectively if they were earnest and impatient of contradiction were sure to be sav'd by their own Preachers and holiness of life was not so severely demanded but that men believe their Countrey Articles and Heaven gates at no hand might be permitted to stand open to any one else Thence came hatred variance emulation and strifes and the Wars of Christendome which have been kindled by Disputers and the evil lives which were occasion'd and encouraged by those proceedings are the best confutation of the world of all such disputations But now when we come to search into that part of Theology which is most necessary in which the life of Christianity and the interest of Souls the peace of Christendome and the union of Mindes the sweetness of Society and the support of Government the usefulness and comfort of our lives the advancement of Vertue and the just measures of Honour we finde many things disordered the Tables of the Commandements broken in pieces and some parts are lost and some disorder'd and into the very practise of Christians there are crept so many material errors that although God made nothing plainer yet now nothing is more difficult and involv'd uncertain and discompos'd then many of the great lines and propositions in Moral Theology Nothing is more neglected more necessary or more mistaken For although very many run into holy Orders without just abilities and think their Province is well discharged if they can preach upon Sundays and men observing the ordinary preaching to be little better then ordinary talk have been made bold to venture into the Holy Sept and invade the secrets of the Temple as thinking they can talk at the same rate which they observe to be the manner of vulgar Sermons yet they who know to give a just value to the best things know that the sacred Office of a Priest a Minister of Religion does not onely require great holiness that they may acceptably offer the Christian Sacrifices and Oblations of Prayer and Eucharist for the people and become their fairest examples but also
Lib. 7. c. 9. It is not late if it be true and to the thief upon the Cross Christ said This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And afterwards a short prayer easily pierceth heaven so it be darted forth with a vehement force of the spirit Truly the history of the Kings tels that David who was so great a sinner used but three syllables for he is read to have said no more but Peccavi I have sinned For S. Ambrose said The flame of the sacrifice of his heart ascends up to heaven Because we have a merciful and gentle Lord and the correction of our sins needs not much time but great fervor And to the same purpose are the words of Alcuinus the Tutor of Charls the Great It behooves us to come to repentance with all confidence and by faith to beleeve undoubtedly that by repentance our sins may be blotted out Etiamsi in ultimo vitae spiritu commissa poeniteat although we repent of our sins in the last breath of our life Now after all these grounds of hope and confidence to a sinner what can be pretended in defiance of a sinful life and since men will hope upon one ground though it be trifling and inconsiderable when there are so many doctrinal grounds of hopes established propositions parts of Religion and Articles of faith to rely upon for all these particulars before reckoned men are called upon to believe earnestly and are hated and threatned and despised if they do not believe them what is there left to discourage the evil lives of men or to lessen a full iniquity since upon the account of the premises either we may do what we list without sin or sin without punishment or go on without fear or repent without danger and without scruple be confident of Heaven And now if Moral Theology relie upon such notices as these I thought my work was at an end before I had well finished the first steps of my progression The whole summe of affairs was in danger and therefore I need not trouble my self or others with consideration of the particulars I therefore thought it necessary first to undermine these false foundations and since an inquiry into the minutes of conscience is commonly the work of persons that live holily I ought to take care that this be accounted necessary and all false warrants to the contrary be cancell'd that there might be many idonei auditores persons competent to hear and reade and such who ought to be promoted and assisted in their holy intendments And I bless God there are very many such and though iniquity does abound yet Gods grace is conspicuous and remarkable in the lives of very many to whom I shall design all the labours of my life as being dear to God and my dear Brethren in the service of Jesus But I would fain have the Churches as full as I could before I begin and therefore I esteem'd it necessary to publish these Papers before my other as containing the greatest lines of Conscience and the most general cases of our whole life even all the Doctrine of Repentance upon which all the hopes of man depend through Jesus Christ But I have other purposes also in the publication of this Book The Ministers of the Church of Rome who ever love to fish in troubled waters and to oppress the miserable and afflicted if they differ from them in a proposition use all the means they can to perswade our people that the man that is afflicted is not alive that the Church of England now it is a persecuted Church is no Church at all and though blessed be God our Propositions and Doctrines and Liturgy and Communion are sufficiently vindicated in despite of all their petty oppositions and trifling arrests yet they will never leave making noises and outcries which for my part I can easily neglect as finding them to be nothing but noise But yet I am willing to try the Rights and Excellencies of a Church with them upon other accounts by such indications as are the most proper tokens of life I mean propositions of Holiness the necessities of a holy life for certainly that Church is most to be followed who brings us nearest to God and they make our approaches nearest who teach us to be most holy and whose Doctrines command the most excellent and severest lives But if it shall appear that the prevailing Doctrines in the Church of Rome do consequently teach or directly warrant impiety or which is all one are too easie in promising pardon and for it have no defences but distinctions of their own inventing I suppose it will be a greater reproof to their confidence and bold pretensions then a discourse against one of their immaterial propositions that have neither certainty nor usefulness But I had rather that they would preach severity then be reprov'd for their careless propositions and therefore am well pleased that even amongst themselves some are so convinc'd of the weakness of their usual Ministeries of Repentance that as much as they dare they call upon the Priests to be more deliberate in their absolutions and severe in their impositions of satisfactions requiring a longer time of Repentance before the penitents be reconcil'd Mounsieur Arnauld of the Sorbon hath appeared publickly in reproof of a frequent and easie Communion without the just and long preparations of Repentance and its proper exercises and Ministerie Petavius the Jesuit hath oppos'd him the one cries The present Church the other The Ancient Church and as Petavius is too hard for his adversary in the present Authority so Mounsieur Arnauld hath the clearest advantage in the pretensions of Antiquity and the arguments of Truth from which Petavius and his abettor Bagot the Jesuit have no escape or defensative but by distinguishing Repentance into Solemn and Sacramental which is just as if they should say Repentance is twofold one such as was taught and practis'd by the Primitive Church the other that which is in use this day in the Church of Rome for there is not so much as one pregnant testimony in Antiquity for the first four hundred years that there was any Repentance thought of but Repentance toward God and sometimes perform'd in the Church in which after their stations were perform'd they were admitted to the holy Communion excepting onely in the danger or article of death in which they hastened the Communion and enjoyn'd the stations to the afterwards completed in case they did recover and if they did not they left the event to God But this question of theirs can never be ended upon the new principles nor shall be freely argued because of their interest For who ever are obliged to profess some false propositions shall never from thence finde out an intire truth but like caskes in a troubled sea sometimes they will be under water sometimes above For the productions of errour are infinite but most commonly monstrous and in the fairest of them there will be
iniquity and a sincere obedience in the faith of Jesus Christ which is the result of all the foregoing considerations and usages of words and is further manifested in the following appellatives and descriptions by which Repentance is signified and recommended to us in â—cripture 1. It is called Reconciliation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled to God that is to be friends with him no longer to stand in terms of distance for every habitual sinner every one that provokes him to anger by his iniquity is his enemy not that every sinner hates God by a direct hate but as obedience is love so disobedience is enmity or hatred by interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enemies in their minde by wicked works Col. 1.21 So S. Paul expresses it and therefore the reconciling of these is to represent them holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight 23 Pardon of sins is the least part of this reconciliation Our sins and our sinfulness too must be taken away that is our old guilt and the remanent affections must be taken off before we are friends of God And therefore we finde this reconciliation press'd on our parts we are reconciled to God not God to us For although the term be relative and so signifies both parts as conjunction and friendship and society and union do yet it pleased the Spirit of God by this expression to signifie our duty expresly and to leave the other to be supposed because if our parts be done whatsoever is on Gods part can never fail And 2. Although this reconciliation begins on Gods part and he first invites us to peace and gave his Son a Sacrifice yet Gods love is very revocable till we are reconciled by obedience and conformity 2. It is called Renewing and that either with the connotation of the subject renewed or the cause renewing The renewing of the Holy Ghost Tit. 3.5 Rom. 18.2 Eph 4.23 and the renewing of the minde or the spirit of the minde The word is exactly the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a change of minde from worse to better as it is distinguished from the fruits and effects of it So be renewed in your minde that is throw away all your foolish principles and non-sense propositions by which you use to be tempted and perswaded to sin and inform your minde with wise notices and sentences of God That ye put off concerning the old conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitfull lusts and that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness which is an excellent description of Repentance In which it is observable that S. Paul uses two words more to express the greatness and nature of this change and conversion It is 3. A new Creature The new Man Created in Righteousness Eph. 2.10.3.9 John 3.6 for the state of Repentance is so great an alteration that in some sense it is greater then the Creation because the things created had in them no opposition to the power of God but a pure capacity obediential Jam. 1.18 but a sinner hath dispositions opposite to the Spirit of Grace and he must unlearn much before he can learn any thing He must die before he can be born Nam quodcunque suis mutatum finibus exit Continuò hoc mors est illius quod fuit anté Lucret. Our sins the body of sin the spirit of uncleanness the old man must be abolished mortified crucified buried Jude Rev. 7.14 Heb. 10.22 23. Psal 50.9 2 Cor. 7.1 1 Joh. 3.3 our sins must be laid away we must hate the garments spotted with the flesh and our garments must be whitened in the blood of the Lamb our hearts must be purged from an evil conscience purified as God is pure that is as S. Paul expresses it from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit denying or renouncing all ungodliness and worldly lusts And then as the antithesis or consequent of this is when we have laid away our sin and renounced ungodliness We must live godly righteously and soberly in this present world Gal. 2.20 we must not live either to the world or to our selves but to Christ Hic dies aliam vitam adfert alios mores postulat Our manner of life must be wholly differing from our former vanities so that the life which we now live in the flesh we must live by the faith of the Son of God that is according to his Laws and most holy Discipline This is pressed earnestly upon us by those many Precepts of obedience to God to Christ Rom. 6.17 Acts 6.7 1 Pet. 4.3 Eph. 2 3. Jam. 1.22.23 1 Joh. 3.22 Joh. 3.4 1 Joh. 1.6 2 Cor. 8.21 Col. 1.10 1 Cor. 15.58 to the holy Gospel to the Truth to the Doctrine of Faith * of doing good doing righteousness doing the truth * serving in the newness of the Spirit * giving our members up as servants of righteousness unto holiness * being holy in all conversations * following after peace with all men and holiness being followers of good works providing things honest in the sight of God and men abhorring evil and cleaving to that which is good * perfecting holiness in the fear of God to be perfect in every good work * being filled with the fruits of righteousness walking worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitfull in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God * abounding in the work of the Lord. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the words often used fill'd full and perfect To the same purpose is it that we are commanded to live in Christ and unto God that is 2 Tim. 3.12 to live according to their will and by their rule and to their glory and in their fear and love called by S. Paul to live in the faith of the Son of God Gal. 2.20 1 Cor. 2.1 1 Thess 16. Joh. 2.6 Eph. 2.10 to be followers of Christ and of God to dwell in Christ and to abide in him to walk according to the Commandements of God in good works in truth according to the Spirit to walk in light to walk with God which was said of Enoch of whom the Greek LXX reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He pleased God * There are very many more to the same purpose For with great caution and earnestness the holy Scriptures place the duties of mankinde in practice and holiness of living and removes it farre from a confidence of notion and speculation Qui fecerit docuerit He that doth them and teaches them Mat. 5 19. Luke 5.46 shall be great in the Kingdome and Why do you call me Lord Lord and do not the things I say to you Joh. 15.14 and Ye are my friends if ye do what I command you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. ad Magnes We must not onely be
with the dress of active circumstances they grow greater or less respectively because then two or three sins are put together and get a new name 3. There is but one way more by which sins can get or lose degrees and that is the different proportions of our affections This indeed relates to God more immediately and by him alone is judg'd but the former being invested with material circumstances can be judg'd by men But all that God reserves for his own portion of the Sacrifice is the Heart that is our love and choice and therefore the degrees of love or hatred is that measure by which God makes differing judgements of them For by this it is that little sins become great and great sins become little If a Jew had maliciously touch'd a dead body in the dayes of Easter it had been a greater crime then if in the violence of his temptation he had unwillingly will'd to commit an act of fornication He that delights in little thefts because they are breaches of Gods Law or burns a Prayer book because he hates Religion is a greater criminal then he that falls into a material heresie by an invincible or less discerned deception Secure but to God your affections and he will secure your innocence or pardon for men live or die by their own measures If a man spits in the face of a Priest to defie Religion or shaves the beard of an Embassador to disgrace the Prince as it hapned to Davids Messengers his sin is greater then if he kill'd the Priest in his own just defence or shot the Embassador through the heart when he intended to strike a Lion For every negligence every disobedience being against Charity or the love of God by interpretation this superaddition of direct malice is open enmity against him and therefore is more severely condemned by him who sees every thought and degrees of passion and affection For the increase of malice does aggravate the sin just as the complication of material instances Every degree of malice being as distinct and commensurate a sin as any one external instance that hath a name and therefore many degrees of malice combine and grow greater as many sins conjoyn'd in one action they differ onely in Nature not in Morality just as a great number and a great weight So that in effect all sins are differenc'd by complication onely that is either of the external or the internal instances 4. Though the negligence or the malice be naturally equal yet sometimes by accident the sins may be unequal not onely in the account of men but also before God too but it is upon the account of both the former It is when the material effect being different upon men God hath with greater caution secur'd such interests So that by interpretation the negligence is greater because the care was with greater earnestness commanded or else because in such cases the sin is complicated for such sins which do most mischief have besides their proper malignity the evil of uncharitableness or hating our brother In some cases God requires one hand and in others both Now he that puts but one of his fingers to each of them his negligence is in nature the same but not in value because where more is required the defect was greater If a man be equally careless of the life of his Neighbours Son and his Neighbours Cock although the will or attendance to the action be naturally equal that is none at all yet morally and in the divine account they differ because the proportions of duty and obligation were different and therefore more ought to have been put upon the one then upon the other just as he is equally clothed that wears a single garment in Summer and Winter but he is not equally warm unless he that wears a silk Mantle when the Dog-star rages claps on Furres when the cold North-star changes the waters into rocks 5. Single sins done with equal affection or disaffection do not differ in degrees as they relate to God but in themselves are equally prevarications of the Divine Commandement Nihil invenies rectius recto non magis quà m verius vero quà m temperato temperatius omnis in modo est virtus modus certa mensura est Constantia non habet quò proredat non magis quà m fiducia aut veritas aut fides Sen. Ep. 67. As he tells a lie that says the Moon is foursquare as great as he that says there were but three Apostles or that Christ was not the Son of Man and as every lie is an equal sin against truth so every sin is an equal disobedience and recession from the Rule But some lies are more against Charity or Justice or Religion then others are and so are greater by complication but against truth they are all equally oppos'd and so are all sins contrary to the Commandement And in this sense is that saying of S. Basil In regul brevior Primò enim scire illud convenit differentiam minorum majorum nusquam in Novo Testamento reperiri Siquidem una est eadem sententia adversus quaelibet peccata cum Dominus dixerit Qui facit peccatum servus est peccati item Sermo quem loquutus sum vobis ille judicabit eum in Novissimo die Johannes vociferans dicat Qui contumax est in filium non videbit vitam aeternam sed ira Dei manet super eum cum contumacia non in discrimine peccatorum sed in violatione praecepti positam habeat futuri supplicii denunciationem The difference of great and little sins is no where to be found in the New Testament One and the same sentence is against all sins our Lord saying He that doth sin is the servant of sin and the word that I have spoken that shall judge you in the last day and John crieth out saying He that is disobedient to the Son shall not see eternal life but the wrath of God abideth on him for this contumacy or disobedience does not consist in the difference of sins but in the violation of the Divine Law and for that it is threatned with eternal pain But besides these Arguments from Scripture he addes an excellent Reason Prorsus autem si id nobis permittitur ut in peccatis hoc magnum illud exiguum appellemus invicto argumento concluditur magnum unicuique esse illud à quo quisque superatur contráque exiguum quod unusquisque ipse superat Vt in athletis qui vicit fortis est qui autem victus est imbecillior eo unde victus est quisque ille sit If it be permitted that men shall call this sin great and that sin little they will conclude that to be great which was too strong for them and that to be little which they can master As among Champions he is the strongest that gets the victory And then upon this account no sin is Venial that a man commits because that is it which hath
serve in one then in another but all that is needful must be used in all but there is no difference in our choice that can be considerable for we must never choose either and therefore beforehand to compare them together whereof neither is to be preferred before the other is to lay a snare for our selves and make us apt to one by undervaluing it and calling it less then others that affright us more Indeed when the sin is done to measure it may be of use as I shall shew but to do it beforehand hath danger in it of being tempted and more then a danger of being deceived For our hearts deceive us our purposes are complicated and we know not which end is principally intended nor by what argument amongst many we were finally determin'd or which is the prevailing ingredient nor are we competent Judges of our own strengths and we can do more then we think we can and we remember not that the temptation which prevails was sought for by our selves nor can we separate necessity from choice our consent from our being betrayed nor tell whether our fort is given up because we would do so or because we could not help it Who can tell whether he could not stand one assault more and if he had whether or no the temptation would not have left him The wayes of consent are not alwayes direct and if they be crooked we see them not And after all this if we were able yet we are not willing to judge right with truth and with severity something for our selves something for excuse something for pride a little for vanity and a little in hypocrisie but a great deal for peace and quiet that the rest of the minde may not be disturbed that we may live and die in peace and in a good opinion of our selves These indeed are evil measures but such by which we usually make judgement of our actions and are therefore likely to call great sins little and little sins none at all ** 2. That any sins are venial being onely because of the state of grace and Repentance under which they are admitted what condition a man is in even for the smallest sins he can no more know then he can tell that all his other sins are pardon'd that his Repentance is accepted that nothing of Gods anger is reserved that he is pleased for all that there is no Judgement behinde hanging over his head to strike him for that wherein he was most negligent Now although some men have great and just confidences that they are actually in Gods favour yet all good men have not so For there are coverings sometimes put over the spirits of the best men and there are intermedial and doubtful states of men as I shall represent in the Chapter of Actuall sins there are also ebbings and flowings of sin and pardon and therefore none but God onely knows how long this state of veniality and pardon will last and therefore as no man can pronounce concerning any kinde of sins that they are in themselves venial so neither can he know concerning his own or any mans particular state that any such sins are pardon'd or Venial to him He that lives a good life will finde it so in its own case and in the event of things and that 's all which can be said as to his particular and it is well it is so ne studium proficiendi ad omnia peccata cavenda pigrescat as S. Austin well observed If it were otherwise and that sins in their own nature by venial and not venial are distinguished and separate in their natures from each other and that some of them are of so easie remedy and inconsiderable a guilt they would never become earnest to avoid all 3. There are some sins which indeed seem venial and were they not sentenc'd in Scripture with severe words would pass for trifles but in Scripturis demonstrantur opinione graviora as S. Enchirid. 79. Austin notes they are by the word of God declared to be greater then they are thought to be and we have reason to judge so concerning many instances in which men are too easy and cruelly kinde unto themselves S. Paul said I had not known concupiscence to be a sin if the law had not said Thou shalt not lust and we use to call them scrupulous and phantastick persons who make much adoe about a careless word and call themselves to severe account for every thought and are troubled for every morsel they eat when it can be disputed whether it might not better have been spared Who could have guessed that calling my enemy Fool should be so great a matter but because we are told that it is so told by him that shall be our Judge who shall call us to account for every idle word we may well think that the measures which men usually make by their customes and false principles and their own necessities lest they by themselves should be condemned are weak and fallacious and therefore whatsoever can be of truth in the difference of sins may become a danger to them who desire to distinguish them but can bring no advantages to the interests of piety and a holy life 4. We onely account those sins great which are unusual which rush violently against the conscience because men have not been acquainted with them Peccata sola inusitata exhorrescimus August ubi suprà usitata verò diligimus But those which they act every day they suppose them to be small quotidianae incursiones the unavoidable acts of every day and by degrees our spirit is reconciled to them conversing with them as with a tame wolf who by custom hath forgotten the circumstances of his barbarous nature but is a wolf still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Synesius cals them the little customes of sinning men think ought to be dissembled This was so of old Hom. 16. Caesarius Bishop of Arles complain'd of it in his time Verè dico Fratres c. I say truly to you Brethren this thing according to the Law and Commandement of our Lord never was lawful neither is it nor shall it ever be but as if it were worse it a peccata ista in consuetudinem missa sunt tanti sunt qui illa faciunt ut jam quasi ex licito fieri credantur these sins are so usual and common that men now begin to think them lawful And indeed who can doe a sin every day and think it great and highly damnable If he thinks so it will be very uneasy for him to keep it but if he will keep it he will also endevour to get some protection or excuse for it something to warrant or something to undervalue it and at last it shall be accounted venial and by some means or other reconcileable with the hopes of heaven He that is used to oppress the poor every day thinks he is a charitable man if he lets them goe away with any thing he
is against Nature For if it be immortal it can never die in its noblest faculty But if the will be destroyed that is disabled from choosing which is all the work the will hath to do then it is dead For to live and to be able to operate in Philosophy is all one If the will therefore cannot operate how is it immortal And we may as well suppose an understanding that can never understand and passions that can never desire or refuse and a memory that can never remember as a will that cannot choose Indeed all the faculties of the soul that operate by way of nature can be hindred in individuals but in the whole species never But the will is not impedible it cannot be restrain'd at all if there be any acts of life and when all the other faculties are weakest the will is strongest and does not at all depend upon the body Indeed it often follows the inclination and affections of the body but it can choose against them and it can work without them And indeed since sin is the action of a free faculty it can no more take away the freedome of that faculty then vertue can for that also is the action of the same free faculty If sin be considered in its formality as it is an inordination or irregularity so it is contrary to vertue but if you consider it as an effect or action of the will it is not at all contrary to the will and therefore it is impossible it should be destructive of that faculty from whence it comes Now to say that the will is not dead because it can choose sin but not vertue is an escape too slight For besides that it is against an infinite experience it is also contrary to the very being and manner of a man and his whole Oeconomy in this world For men indeed sometimes by evil habits and by choosing vile things for a long time together make it morally impossible to choose and to love that good in particular which is contrary to their evil customes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stob. Custome is the Devil that brings in new natures upon us Senec. ep 94. for nature is innocent in this particular Nulli nos vitio natura conciliat nos illa integros ac liberos genuit Nature does not ingage us upon a vice She made us intire she left us free but we make our selves prisoners and slaves by vicious habits or as S. Cyril expresses it Catech. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We came into the world without sin meaning without sin properly so called but now we sin by choyce and by election bring a kinde of necessity upon us But this is not so in all men and scarcely in any man in all instances and as it is it is but an approach to that state in which men shall work by will without choice or by choice without contrariety of objects In heaven and hell men will doe so The Saints love God so fully that they cannot hate him nor desire to displease him And in hell the accursed spirits so perfectly hate him that they can never love him But in this life which is status viae a middle condition between both and a passage to one of the other it cannot be suppos'd to be so unless here also a man be already sav'd or damn'd But then I consider this also that since it is almost by all men acknowledg'd to be unjust that infants should be eternally tormented in the flames of Hell for Original sin yet we do not say that it is unjust that men of age and reason should so perish if they be vicious and disobedient Which difference can have no ground but this That infants could not choose at all much less that which not they but their Father did long before they were born But men can choose and doe what they are commanded and abstain from what is forbidden For if they could not they ought no more to perish for this then infants for that And this is so necessary a truth that it is one of the great grounds and necessities of obedience and holy living and if after the fall of Adam it be not by God permitted to us to choose or refuse there is nothing left whereby man can serve God or offer him a sacrifice It is no service it is not rewardable if it could not be avoided nor the omission punishable if it could not be done All things else are determin'd and fix'd by the Divine providence even all the actions of men But the inward act of the will is left under the command of laws onely and under the arrest of threatnings and the invitation of promises And that this is left for man can no ways impede any of the Divine decrees because the outward act being overruled by the Divine providence it is strange if the Schools will leave nothing to man whereby he can glorify God I have now said something to all that I know objected and more then is necessary to the Question if the impertinencies of some Schools and their trifling arrests had not so needlesly disturb'd this article There is nothing which from so slight grounds hath got so great and till of late so unquestion'd footing in the perswasions of men Contra Celsum lib. 4. Origen said enough to be mistaken in the Question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Adams curse is common to all And there is not a woman on earth to whom may not be said those things which were spoken to this woman Eve Him S. Ambrose did mistake and followed the error about explicating the nature of Original sin and set it something forward But S. Austin gave it complement and authority by his fierce disputing against the Pelagians whom he would overthrow by all means Indeed their capital error was a great one and such against which all men while there was need ought to have contended earnestly but this might and ought to have been done by truth For error is no good confuter of error as it is no good conversion that reforms one vice with another But his zeal against a certain error made him take in auxiliaries from an uncertain or less discerned one and caused him to say many things which all antiquity before him disavowed and which the following ages took up upon his acount * And if such a weak principle as his saying could make an error spread over so many Churches for so many ages we may easily imagine that so many greater causes as I before reckon'd might infect whole Nations and consequently mankinde without crucifying our Patriarch or first Parent and declaiming against him poor man as the Author of all our evil Truth is we intend by laying load upon him to excuse our selves and which is worse to entertain our sins infallibly and never to part with them upon pretence that they are natural and irresistible §. 6. The practical Question ANd now if it be inquired whether we
The natural evils of mans life 427 4 Luke 15 7. expl 531 5 and 11.41 expl 654 82 Lukewarmness how it comes to be a sin 268 47 M MAlefactors condemn'd by the Customes of Spain are allowed respite till their Confessor supposes them competently prepared 281 56 Mark 12.34 exp 475.26 and 12.32 exp 551 41 Matthew 5.19 exp 115 18 5.22 132 34 Mercy Gods mercy and justice reconciled about his exacting of the law 120 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how they differ 64 65 Morall the difference between the moral regenerate and profane man in committing sin 483 31 579 1 Mortification is a precept not a counsel 265 44 the method of mortifying vicious habits 314 10 11 N NAture what the phrase by nature means 399 18 In a natural estate we cannot hope for heaven 436 10 Novatians their doctrine opposed 533 8 A great objection of theirs proposed 544 24 answered 545 26 O ORiginall sin whether we derive from Adam original and natural ignorance 373 22 Adams sin made us not heirs of damnation 375 22 NOr makes us necessarily vicious 383 37 Adams sin did not corrupt our nature by a physical efficiency 383 39 Nor because we were in the loyns of Adam 384 40 Nor because of the will and decree of God 386 41 Objections out of Scripture against this doctrine answered 392 45. Vide Sin P PArdon severall degrees of pardon of sin 284 63 As repentance is so is our pardon 649 Mistakes about pardon and salvation 499 44 Some sins called unpardonable in a limited sense 542 21 What is our state of pardon in this life 571 66 In what manner and to what purposes the Church pardoneth penitents by the hand of a Priest 625 51 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it signifies 119 21 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what it sign fies 119 22 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what they signifie 551 37 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 171 4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 172 5 Passions their violence excuseth not under the title of sins of Infirmity 508 54 Make it the great business of thy life to subdue thy passions 516 65 Perfection perfection of degrees and perfection of state 27 28 29 How perfection is consistent with repentance Cap. 1. sect 3. per tot Wherein perfection of state consisteth 329 44 Perfection in genere actus 30 45 what it is 44 13 Penances or corporal austerities 680 26 A rule for the measure of them 685 30 Which are best and rather to be chosen 685 29 Fasting prayer and alms are the best penances 685 29 They are not to be accounted simply necessary or a direct service of God 680 26 Philippians 2.12 13. eâ—p 274 55 Psalm 51.5 exp 394 47 Prayer of prayer as a fruit or act of repentance 652 80 It is one of the best penances 684 29 Priest what is the power of Priests in order to pardoning sin 625 51 Of the forms of absolution 627 53 absolution of sins by the Priest can be no more then declarative 634 58 Confession to a Priest is no part of contrition 615 The benefit of confessing to a Priest 616 43 Auricular confession to a Priest whence it descended 615 Of confessing to a Priest or Minister 678 24 Proverb a proverb contrary to truth is a great prejudice to a mans understanding 523 78 avoid all proverbs by which evil life is encouraged ibid. Prophane the difference in committing sin between the prophane moral and regenerate man 483 31 Punishment God punishes not one sin with another 682 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the use of the word 398 48 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what the word signifies 401 51 Questions Whether the practice of the Primitive Fathers denying Ecclesiastical repentance to Idolaters Murderers and Adulterers and them onely be warrantable 540 20 Whether we derive from Adam original and natural ignorance 373 22 Whether attrition with absolution pardoneth sin 638 Whether it be possible to keep the Law 17 Whether perfection be consistent with repentance Cap. 1. Sect. 3. per tot Whether sinful habits require a distinct manner of repentance 256 272 Whether every single deliberate act of sin put the sinner out of Gods favour Cap. 4. Sect. 2. per totum Whether disobedience that is voluntary in the cause but not in the effect is to be punished 388 43 490 489 R REgenerate the state of unregenerate men 472 Between the regenerate and a wicked person there is a middle state 474 26 An unregenerate man may be convinced of and clearly instructed in his duty and approve the Law 476 28 an unregenerate man may with his will delight in goodness and delight in it earnestly 478 29 The contention between the flesh and the conscience no sign of regeneration but onely the contention between the flesh and the spirit 480 29 the difference between the regenerate profane and moral man in their sinning 483 31 whence come so frequent sins in regenerate persons 484 32 How sin can be consistent with the regenerate estate 485 33 Unwillingness to sin no sign of regeneration 486 An unregenerate person may not onely desire to doe moral good things but even spiritual also 488 35. The difference between a regenerate and unregenerate man 490 35 An unregenerate man may leave many sins not onely for temporal interest but of reverence of the Divine Law 492 An unregenerate man may doe many good things for heaven and yet never come there 492 38 An unregenerate man may have received the Spirit of God and yet be in a state of distance from God 493 39 It is not the propriety of the regenerate to feel a contention within him concerning doing good or evil 497 41 The regenerate man hath not onely received the Spirit of God but is wholly led by him 498 42 Repentance the covenant of repentance when it began 4. How repentance and perfection Evangelical are consistent Cap. 1. Sect. 3. per tot That proposition rejected that every sinner must in his repentance pass under the terrors of the Law 41 6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how they differ 64 65 it is a whole change of state and life 66 4 its parts 71 9 the difference between the repentance preach'd to the Jews and the Gentiles 77 5 6 7 It may be called conversion 80 10 Repentance onely makes sins venial 134 34 What repentance single acts of sin require 198 43 A general repentance when sufficient 201 47 Some acts of sin require more then a moral revocation or opposing a contrary act of vertue in repentance 202 50 That proposition proved to be false that no man is ordinarily bound to repent instantly of his sin 215 7 The danger of deferring repentance 218 2 Deferring repentance differs but by accident from final impenitence 226 9 Repentance of sinful habits to be performed in a distinct manner 256 31 Seven objections against that proposition