they are at a iarre among themselues about the meaning of it It is true that Bellarmine doth presse it to this purpose but the words are so pregnant for a brotherlike and mutuall confession of one man to another for the forgiuing of priuate iniuries that both Cardinall Caietane and Scotus confessed the same Bellarm. de poenit lib. 3. cap. 3. Caiestan in Iam. 5.16 Scotus in 4. sentent dist 17. quaest 1. And for the thing it selfe it was a custome in the Church sometimes but it happened that there was a noble Matron dishonoured by a Deacon in the Church of Constantinople Zozomenus which thing highly displeased the people Whereupon Nectarius Bishop then and there by the consent of the Bishops of that time and the rest did abolish it out of the Church and if it were abolished for that one fact how much more should it be abolished for so many of the like committed in poperie which is the very nurcerie of all vncleannesse And therefore to conclude as Augustine said Quid mibi ergo est cum hominibus vt audiant confessiones meas quasi ipsi sana◠uri sunt omnes languores meos Curiesum genus ad cognoscendā vitam alienam desidiosum ad corrigendam suam Confess lib. 10. cap. 3. What haue I to do with men that I shuld make confession to them as if they could heale all my sores It is a curious kind of people to search into other mens liues but most slothfull to reforme and correct their owne Could euer any man haue prophesied more truely of the Priest of poperie being such a curious kind of people whose labour is to know other mens states and sinnes but are carelesse to know their own and most sluggish and negligent to reforme their owne These things thus explained wee must now come to the vse Vse 1. First it may well be thought that many men are sarre from repentance seeing they are far from this dutie and part of humiliation I meane confession It may be generallie that they are sinners as other men they will not stand with you to confesse but not in particulars which commeth partly out of the loue of themselues and partly out of the loue of their sinnes Therfore Iob saith Iob 31.33 I haue not hid my sinnes as Adam concealing mine iniquitie in my bosome The latter part Tremelius readeth Abdendo ex dilectione mei iniquitatem meam hiding my iniquitie out of my selfe loue As if he should say selfe loue is the principall thing why men smother their sinnes and do not confesse them But in most men there is a more impossibility vnto this dutie because they know good and euill sinne and righteousnes no further then they haue by that light and knowledge which remaineth in them since the creation nay in many of them that is darkened by custome and other corruption but as for the law of God where they should indeed see themselues they are altogether ignorant and will not looke into it neither of themselues take the paines so they will not indure the reproofes of their Ministers nor be shewed their sinnes but are like many prodigall wasters who run so farre in bookes that they cannot abide to haue a bill of accounts brought them and like a timorous and foolish patient which finding his wound to bee very deepe would not endure the Chirurgion whereon what ensueth but a festering of the part and a dangering of the whole bodie So to these damnation ensueth because they cannot repent seeing they cannot confesse If any thinke this is hard and false that a man should be condemned for this seeing Dauid saith Psalm 19.12 Who can vnderstand his faults I answere that for him that doth his best ondeuour to know his sinnes and keepes a day booke for his spirituall estate as for his worldly if he know not many sinnes and neuer confesse them yet hath a particular repentance confession of his knowne sinnes and would no lesse repent and confesse the other if he might come to the knowledge of them from him God will accept a generall confession and repentance for such as bee not knowne As Dauid in the same place Clense me from fecret faults But for others who are wilfully and more then negligently ignorant of their estate and sinnes they shall not be accepted by a generall repentance because they neuer repent truely of knowne sinnes for if they did then would they repent them of that ignorance and seeke to reforme it Vse 2. The second vse doth teach men to practise this dutie to goe to God and to confesse to him and against themselues their owne sinnes this is the way to pardon so that howsoeuer the prouerbe is Confesse and be hauged yet without this there is no repentance and here it is true Confesse and be saued Therefore should they not let shame or any thing else keep them from this dutie but shame themselues seeing they may say of themselues as Augustine of himselfe August Conses lib. 4. cap. 16. Non erubui prositeri hominibus blaspbemias me as latrare aduersus̄te I was not ashamed to professe my blasphemies before men and my barking against thee And so now they should not be ashamed to shame themselues before God by consossing and accusing themselues And in this duty this repentant must know that there is required of him that hee bee an examiner an informer and a Iudge First an examiner he must examine himselfe and search his waies without which there can be no knowledge of himself and his owne wretched estate Thus they holy Ghost by Ieremie saith Lamen 3.40 Let vs search and trie our waies and turne againe to the Lord No returning but after a search which euery one knowes that euer did repent Likewise this is that the Prophet Zephanie hath Zeph. 2.1 Gather your selues euen gather you O nation not worthie to be beloued where a word is vsed which signifies to search narrowly as a man would doe that searcheth for gold in a mine of earth where much earth is and but a very little gold oare noting that it is not enough to find out grosse and palpable sinnes but euen those which are accounted lesse and to espie secret faults and priuie corruptions And in this search he that would doe it as he ought must first find out two things which the world dreames not of The first that the guiltines of Adams sinne is his sin in eating the forbidden fruit and that he stands to answere for it before God because hee was in his loines As Saint Paul saith Rom. 5.12 That as by one man sinne entred into the world and death went ouer all ment forasmuch as all men haue sinned 2 That in euery man by nature are the seeds of all sinne euen in the best natured man for what is else original sinne but a want not of sinne but of all good inclination and want of all goodnes
would were it not some follie for a man to sinne because he hath a remedie But seeing it is not in his owne power but in the hand of God who must needes hate him for his sinne committed against him with a high hand and for his hardnes of heart who will not repent when hee calleth him to it but will goe on in his presumptuous sinning against him what can it bee but a double and treble follie And howsoeuer hee accounteth others fooles who make all their life a continuall practise of repentance yet indeede is there no foole to him and one day hee shall know that he deceiued himselfe with a vaine hope sinning with purpose of repentance hereafter and not indeed repenting or seeking it then when God called him to it but delaying still off thinking that the last day of his life or the last houre of that day would be time enough for his repentance Obiect Some will here say that the Scripture is plaine that at what time soeuer a man repenteth God will accept it Answ But know that a sinner cannot repent when he would If thou hadst the power of repentance in thine own hand it were somewhat but it being not in thy custodie but in Gods to dispose of and to giue when and to whom it pleaseth him in this case for thee still to liue and dwell in sinne it is but a delusion of Satan whereby he would bring thee to damnation so leading thee on in a fooles paradise vntill hee haue brought thee to hell Was it not a folly for the fiue wise virgins to slumber hauing their oyle readie at command knowing not how soone the bridegrome would come But were not the fiue foolish virgins thrice fooles that hauing no oyle fell asleepe and neglected it till the bridegrome came and then they would haue bought and knew not where to get it So if a man had the oyle of repentance to forsake sinne and to turne vnto God in his owne power it were somewhat lesse folly to deferre it but whereas hee hath it not what folly and madnes were it for him to deferre it till Christ come or death come when hee would bee glad to buy it with a thousand worlds if he had them and shall not know where to haue it or how to obtaine it Obiect But thou wilt say God is mercifull and so will giue me repentance when I seeke for it Answ I answere thee with asking thee how thou knowest God is mercifull I know thy answere the Scripture euery where telles vs that God is mercifull And doth it not also tell thee that he is iust Seest thou what makes with thee and not what is against thee Is it the mercie of God to giue repentance to them that seeke it and is it not the iustice of God to denie it them that contemne it Therefore as thou findest God is mercifull so thou shalt find the same God iust who in his iustice will denie thee repentance when thou seekest it because thou regardest it not when he offered it Art thou acquainted with those Scriptures which declare the mercies of God by calling thee to repentance and doest thou not know that place of the iustice of God which saith Prou. 2.14 Because I called ye refused I haue stretched out my hand and none would regard 26. I will also laughut your destruction and mock when your feare commeth 28. Then shall they call vpon me but I will not answer They shall seeke me early but they shall not find mee Then maist thou haue time and space to repent yea and teares to shed for it and yet neuer obtaine it For although Esau liued many a long day after hee had sold his birthright and sought it againe with teares yet he neuer obtained it There is but one acceptable time which being neglected is as a bird escaped out of the hand or a shaft shot out of the bow not to be recalled againe Do not then neglect it It may bee this euen this is the acceptable time this is the day of saluation if thou neglect it and as it were contemne God when he calleth thee now in the time of thy health it shal be iust with him to contemue thee whē thou art sicke and when thou callest to him in thy necessitie to stop his eares against thee Therfore doe not deceiue thy selfe to put off thy repentance as it is the practise of many thousands to their own destruction Augustine saith Sperādo desperando pereunt homines sperando malè in vita desperando peiùs in morte August hom 2. inter 50 By hoping and despairing many men perish by hoping ill in their liues and despairing worse in their deaths promising to themselues health that all shall be wel with them and that there is no feare nor neede as yet to repent or to seeke for it and so they are led on till they come to die when they find nothing but despaire Or if they die quietly in their beds and as it were goe singing to hell what then haue they gained by it To conclude and shut vp this point as I began it the onely worker of this grace in our hearts is the God of grace and not we our selues Cor curare solus potest qui finxit sigillatim corda nostra Chrysost hom 4. de Poenitent He only can cure our hearts which did frame and fashion them one by one Therfore to him must wee looke and suffer him to worke vpon our hearts yea we must pray instantly vnto him that as hee hath giuen vsspace to repent and calleth vs continually to it hee would work it in our harts and make vs able to do that which he requireth that so we may escape that he threatneth and enioy the good he hath promised The instrumentall cause of repentance The next thing to be considered of is the instrumental cause by which God worketh repentance in the hearts of men And that is either outward or inward The outward is the ministerie of the word The word is the instrumentall cause So then the doctrine is that God worketh repentance and conuersion in the harts of men by the preaching of the word ordinarily The preaching of the word the outward instrumentall cause of repentance I say ordinarily for he somtimes when it pleaseth him worketh it by some other meanes or without any meanes at all That this is the ordinary means is proued by Pauls words vnto Timothie 2. Tim. 2.25 who exhorteth him to Instruct them with meeknes that were contrarie minded prouing if at any time God would giue them repentance Noting that the author and giuer of it is God but the meanes by which hee doth worke it is the ministery of the word After this maner Acts 16.14 The Lord opened the heart of Lydia at the preaching of Paul that she attended vnto the things which Paul spake and so she was conuerted by
priuate repentance publike yet as much as may be without any publike note they must abstaine from braue and costly garments because as hath been said they were but giuen them as couers of their shame and cannot looke vpon them sauing that custome hath taken away sense but they must remember their sinne as the prisoner by his fetters and manacles is put in mind of his offence And if that saying be true of a Father Chrysostome that common experience telles vs is true that when women become suters for their husbands to obtaine pardon of their offences then will they not follow princes courts decked in all their brauerie they can but in meane and mourning weeds with much modestie at least if not with great basenesse how should they then be arraied when they secke pardon at Gods hand both men and women and all sorts And the better to humble themselues they must seclude themselues from their pleasant and deliteful companie and take lesse pleasure in their deerest friends whose friendship as it often lesseneth and asswageth the paine of the body so doth it the griefe of the mind and suffers not a man to grieue or not as he ought therefore saith Ieremie of such a man Lament 3.28 He sitteth alone and keepeth silence because he hath borne the yoke vpon him But in these abstinences and among them howsoeuer some of the learned thinke that fasting is not necessarilie ioyned to euerie repentance but is onely for special occasions and times of miserie yet seeing that a full diet doth most affect the soule and disturbe all the affections putting them besides all moderation and due regard of the estate wherein men are and driuing it as a mightie tempest doth a sillie ship hither and thither from one extreame to another it is requisite they bee wary how they fill the belly and pamper the flesh but that they vse all sobrietie in their whole liues which may bee a kind of fast yea often better As Hierom saith Parcus cibus venter semper esuriens triduanis ieinnijs praefertur Hieron ad Furi epist 10. cap. 4. A spare diet and a bellie euer rather hungry then full is better then a fast of three duies continuance So may we say it is a great helpe to humiliation and so to repentance As also wee may not vnfitly applie that of S. Paul who saith 2. Cor. 4.16 That though the outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed daily And so perswade men as Physitians counsell their patients that they would when they intend to take Physicke incoenatos dormire to goe supperlesse to bed or with a light supper that the strength of the medicine may immediatly meete with the hurtfull humors to doe the same in this where these answere one another Vulnus medicina peccatū poenitentia Chrysost The sicknes and the remedie sinne and repentance Now if the sinner haue been iniurious and offensiue true humiliation requires satisfaction and restitution as before But thou wilt say how shall I doe I am not able to make restitution Art thou not able with all that thou hast to make it Then consider this that when the like doubt was made in the law concerning a theefe that had stollen from another man Exod. 22.3 either openly or couertlie in buying or selling or the like what the Lord commanded namely that he must to the vttermost he could make restitution if he could not he must himselfe be sold to be a seruant that he might performe it teaching vs that restitution by some meanes must be made if it can any way be and that a man must leaue himselfe nothing to accomplish this But thou wilt say I haue wife and children to maintaine c. what shall become of them their maintenance and restitution cannot both meete together I feare me thou art farre from humiliation while these doubts preuaile with thee for tell me hast thou not a soule and a bodie to saue and doest thou care more for thy wife and thy children then for them Who would not saith Augustine Quis non vt viueret continuo perdere voluit vnde viueret eligens potius vitam mendicantem quà m celerem mortem August epist 54. ad Macedo willingly lose that by which he liues now that hee may line continually chusing rather a beggerlie life then a swift death Rather then pul downe the peacockes feathers of thy wise and children that goe so gay and so proudly for all that thou pretendest is nothing else but to maintaine them in pride and vanitie I say rather chuse to leaue them to the wide world and make restitution of that thou art able then to cast away thine owne soule wouldest thou not impouerish them to saue this from perishing speciallie seeing if for them and by their meanes thou make no restitution they are partaker of thy sinne I dare say this boldlie saith Augustine August ibid. that hee who doth not compell another to restitution as much as he can he is partaker of the deceit and the sinne How much more he that hinders him from making of it Besides consider and thou shalt see many who liued before thy time who in respect of wife and children haue made no restitution that they might leaue them rich and flourishing in the world and tell me if they haue not come to extreame pouertie at least in the second and third generation God so cursing euill gotten goods Then thou wilt thinke to make thy sonne happie according to the prouerbe by going to the Diuell and yet shall hee be indeede miserable by the curse of God But what if a man haue nothing This is a dispensation and as the prouerbe is Where there is nothing to be had the King must lose his right euen so here and repentance is then sufficient so that thou haue a mind that as God shall make thee able thou wilt restore But it may bee that thou hadst gotten thy goods wickedly before thy calling to Christ now if thou shouldest begin to make restitution thou wilt say it would either dishonour thy calling and profession or giue some enemie aduantage ouer thee for thy hurt I answere thee first it is no more shame for thee in the eies of honest men then it was for Samuel and Zacheus to proffer and performe it to whom it was no blot but an honor The worldings prouerbe indeede is It is a shame to steale but a greater shame to bring home againe Yet account thou that no shame to thee in some honest manner to bring home againe all that which thou hast stollen by deceit or oppression or howsoeuer seeing others are honoured of all ages for it specially in as much as no restitution is damnation and restitution is the way to saluation Againe I do not so vrge this that of necessitie a man must-shame himselfe for it is lawfull for a man to prouide for his credit so he do the thing and be
but that in al wants miseries and troubles their chiefe care studie desire and endeuour bee set vpon this and they chiefly labour for it For being in distresse they haue more need to seeke God and to exercise this And better were it to suffer their bodies to pine for want of food then their soules to continue in the state of sinfulnesse and death For as our Sauiour Christ saith What will it profit a man if hee win the whole world and lose his owne soule So in the case of wife and children let men thinke it is a fearefull condition that the prouerb though it be prophane should be fulfilled in them Happie is the sonne whose father goeth to the diuell So happie wife and happie bodie whose soule goeth to the diuell And as for these who haue these outward things alreadie Luke 10.41 they may more freely seeke the spirituall and are bound more strongly so to doe and they should know more is required of them They may learne by experience that which reason could not teach them before that is the vanitie vncertaintie and lothsomnes of them For as one saith Earthlie things are like to certaine herbes which grow in the fields which a farre off seeme very beautiful but when a man is come nie and hath gathered the leaues they smell rankelie which a man will speedily cast away correcting the error of his eies by the touch of his hand So should they doe with these and labour to haue the seeing of that which is in truth That they are by the word not vnfitlie compared to thornes saith Chrysostome as thornes howsoeuer they are taken hold of they pricke so earthly things are eftsoones through our corruption causes of destruction and of sorrow though not of the true sorrow when as spirituall things are as pretious stones as in other respects so in this that as they delight wheresoeuer they are beholden so these are euer pleasant and continuall comforts Chrysost hom 32. ad popul Antioch They therfore should learne to vse the world as though they vsed it not to touch it as honie but not tumble in it Remember if they enter too farre into it the laylor is couetousnesse as saith Chrysostome I would adde voluptuousnesse and the like if they be thorowlie in the more they assay to goe out the more fetters they will put vpon them And so both by seeking of them and by inioying of them shall they be still kept from this dutie of repentance and so out of the state of saluation Offence a sixt impediment to repentance The sixt impediment is offence that is either such as they feare from wicked men their companions before in their sinne that is their hatreds iniuries and reproches or such as they take from those who professe they haue attained this worke of regeneration and repentance Of the first sort we haue a proofe in Nicodemus Iohn 3.1 whose repentance was deferred for feare of men which appeareth by his comming to Christ by night Also by the example of the Rulers of whom Iohn 12.42.43 many beleeued in Christ but because of the Phâ—risies they did not confesse him test they should be cast out of the Synagogue Because they loued the praise of men more then the praise of God Like vnto Zedekia who refused to goe foorth vnto the King of Babels Princes because as himselfe confessed Ierem. 38.19 he was careful of the â—ewes that were fâ—ed vnto the Caldeans lest they should deliuer him into their hands and they mocke him The second kind of offence appeareth by these exhortations As of Paul vnto the Colossians Coloss 4.5 Walke wisely toward them that are without and redeeme the time As if he should say Giue them no offence as a meanes to keepe them out still Againe by the same Apostle vnto the Thessalonians 1. Thes 4.12 who exhorteth them to behaue themselues honestly towards them that are without and that nothing bee lacking vnto them And vnto the Corinthians 1. Cor. 10.32 Giue none offence neither to the lewes nor to the Grecians nor to the Church of God For if offences from these and corruptions in carriage did not hinder them why should the Apostle thus exhort them to beware of such carriage lest they should lay a stumbling blocke before them Yea and reason tels vs these must needs hinder men Reason 1. 1. Because men are a great deale more sensible of the iniuries and indignities which men can doe them then they are of the iudgements that God can bring vpon them remaining in that course wherein they then walke and naturall men especiallie liue rather by sense then by faith Reason 2. 2. Because if they see the wants and infirmities yea sometimes the vices and sinces that are found in them who haue receiued grace and repentance being but personall they impute them to the profession and not able to distinguish betwixt the person and the profession they are made out of loue with the profession for the personall faults and so neuer endeuour for it but are discouraged from it Vse To remoue these â—…drances men ought first to labour for spirituall courage and to contemne all those iniuries and reproches that sinners will cast vpon them such as they are readie to forsake and come to God For those reproches cannot hurt them vnlesse they be faint-hearted within As I may say of pleasure saith Chysost Homil. 2. ad popul Antioch that it consisteth not in the dressing of the meate but in the affection of the eater So say I of reproches that they are somewhat or nothing not from his opinion that reprocheth but from his affection that suffereth and is reproched For example let a man cast vpon thee very strange and vnheard of infamies and reproches if thou deride them if thou set light by his words thou hast suffered no reproch For as if thou hadst a bodie of Adamant or iron if thou were smitten with innumerable darts on all sides yet thou hadst receiued neuer a wound for wounds come not from the hands of him that cast those darts but from the bodie of him that suffereth So here iniuries and reproches haue not their being from the madnes of him that reprocheth but from the meekenes of him that suffereth Doth any man iniurie thee thou feelest not thou grieuest not thou hast suffered no iniurie thou hast rather smitten him than he thee For hee that reprocheth if he see his wound and stroke goe not to the heart of him that suffereth hee is much more vexed then before and a man meekely suffering his reproches the stroke of those reproches doe returne vpon him that sent them out of their own accord Againe he shall finde that God will take notice of all these as hee said he did of the reproches which fell vpon the Church of the Smyrnians Reuel 2.9 I know the blasphemies of them c. to doe to his as Dauid promised