Δύναται γὰρ ἴσον τῷ δρᾷν τὸ νοεῖν". But where there is no knowledge, there is no power, and no choice, and no sin. They increase and decrease by each other's measures. St. James's rule is the full measure of this discourse: "To him that knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin *." The same with that of Philo. Τῷ μὲν γὰρ ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ κρείτο τονος διαμαρτάνοντι συγγνώμη δίδοται· ὁ δ ̓ ἐξ ἐπιστήμης ἀδικῶν ἀπολογίαν οὐκ ἔχει, προεαλωκὼς ἐν τῷ τοῦ συνειδότος δικαστηρίῳ. To him that sins ignorantly, pardon is given, that is, easily: but he who sins knowingly, hath no excuse. And therefore the Hebrews use to oppose yo ́sin,' to 'ignorance;' that is, the issues of a wicked from the issues of a weak mind: according to that saying of our blessed Saviour; 'If ye were blind, ye should have no sin';" that is, no great or very unpardonable sin. Ignorance, where of itself it is no sin, keeps the action innocent; but as the principle is polluted, so also is the emanation. SECTION VIII. Practical Advices to be added to the foregoing Considerations. 65. I. SINCE our weak nature is the original of our imperfections and sinful infirmities, it is of great concernment that we treat our natures so, as to make them aptly to minister to religion but not to vice. Nature must be preserved as a servant, but not indulged to as a mistress; for she is apt to be petulant, and after the manner of women, quæ faciunt graviora coactæ Imperio sexus She will insult impotently, and rule tyrannically. Nature's provisions of meat and drink are to be retrenched and moderate, that she may not be luxuriant and irregular; but she ought to be refreshed so as to be useful, and healthful, and cheerful, even in the days of expiation and sorrow. For he that fasts to kill his lust, and by fasting grows peevish, which to very many men is a natural effect of fasting, and was "Comæd. vet. Gr. * James, iv. 17. sadly experimented in St. Jerome, hath only altered the signification of his evil: and it is not easily known, whether the beast that is wanton, or the beast that is cursed, be aptest to gore; and if in such cases the first evil should be cured, yet the man is not. 66. But there are in nature some things, which are the instruments of virtue and vice too: some things, which, of themselves indeed, are culpable, but yet such which do minister to glorious events, and such, which as they are not easily corrigible, so they are not safe to be done away. "Dabo maximæ famæ viros, et inter admiranda propositos, quos si quis corrigit delet. Sic enim vitia virtutibus immixta of sunt, ut illas secum tractura sint "." If the natural anger some men be taken off, you will also extinguish their courage, or make them unfit for government. Vice and virtue sometimes go together: in these cases, that which we call vicious, is, in many degrees of it, a natural infirmity, and must be tempered as well as it can: but it neither can, nor indeed ought to be, extinguished: and therefore, as we must take care, that nature run not into extravagances; so, for the unalterable portions of infirmity, they ought to be the matter of humility and watchfulness, but not of scruple and vexation. However, we must be careful, that nature be not God's enemy; for if a vice be incorporated into our nature, that is, if our natural imperfections be changed into evil customs; it is a threefold cord, that is not easily broken; it is a legion of devils, and not to be cast out without a mighty labour, and all the arts and contentions of the Spirit of God. 67. II. In prosecution of this, propound to thyself, as the great business of thy life, to fight against thy passions. We see that sin is almost unavoidable to young men, because passion seizes upon their first years. The days of our youth is the reign of passion; and sin rides in triumph upon the wheels of desire, which run infinitely, when the boy drives the chariot. But the religion of a Christian is an open war against passion; and by the grace of meekness, if we list to study and to acquire that, hath placed us in the regions of safety. 68. III. Be not uncertain in thy resolutions, or in choos a A. Gellias 19. 12. et 17. 15. ing thy state of life: because all uncertainties of mind, and vagabond resolutions, leave a man in the tyranny of all his follies and infirmities: every thing can transport him, and he can be forced by every temptation; and every fancy, or new accident, can ruin him. He that is not resolved and constant, is yet in a state of deliberation; and that supposes contrary appetites to be yet in the balance, and sin to be as strong as grace. But besides this, there are, in every state of life, many little things to be overcome, and objections to be mastered, and proper infirmities adherent, which are to be cured in the progression and growth of a man, and after experiment had of that state of life in which we are engaged; but therefore it is necessary that we begin speedily, lest we have no time to begin that work, which ought, in some measure, to be finished before we die. Dam, quid sis, dubitas, jam potes esse nihil". He that is uncertain what to do, shall never do any thing well; and there is no infirmity greater, than that a man shall not be able to determine himself what he ought to do. 69. IV. In contentions against sin and infirmities, let your force and your care be applied to that part of the wall that is weakest, and where it is most likely the enemy will assault thee, and if he does, that he will prevail. If a lustful person should bend all his prayers and his observations against envy, he hath cured nothing of his nature and infirmity. Some lusts our temper or our interest will part withal; but our infirmities are in those desires, which are hardest to be mastered that is, when after a long dispute, and perpetual contention, still there will abide some pertinacious string of an evil root; when the lust will be apt upon all occasions to revert, when every thing can give fire to it, and every heat can make it stir; that is the scene of our danger, and ought to be of greatest warfare and observation. 70. V. He that fights against that lust, which is the evil spring of his proper infirmities, must not do it by single instances, but by a constant and universal, mortal fight. He that does single spites to a lust; as he that opposes now and then a fasting day against carnality, or some few alms against oppression or covetousness, will find that these sin b Martial. 2. 64. gle acts, if nothing else be done, can do nothing but cosen him they are apt to persuade easy people, that they have done what is in them to cure their infirmity, and that their condition is good; but it will not do any thing of that work, whither they are designed. We must remember that infirmities are but the relics and remains of an old lust, and are not cured but at the end of a lasting war. They abide even after the conquest, after their main body is broken, and therefore cannot at all be cured by those light velitations and pickerings of single actions of hostility. 71. VI. When a violent temptation assaults thee, remember that this violence is not without, but within. Thou art weak, and that makes the burden great. Therefore whatever advices thou art pleased to follow in opposition to the temptation without, be sure that thou place the strongest guards within, and take care of thyself. And if thou dost die, or fall foully, seek not an excuse from the greatness of the temptation; for that accuses thee most of all: the bigger the temptation is, it is true that oftentinres thou art the more to blame; but at the best, it is a reproof of thy imperfect piety. He whose religion is greater than the temptation of a hundred pounds, and yet falls in the temptation of a thousand, sets a price upon God and upon heaven; and though he will not sell heaven for a hundred pounds,-yet a thousand, he thinks, is a worthy purchase. 72. VII. Never think that a temptation is too strong for thee, if thou givest over fighting against it: for as long as thou didst continue thy contention, so long it prevailed not but when thou yieldedst basely, or threwest away thy arms, then it foraged, and did mischief, and slew thee, or wounded thee dangerously. No man knows, but if he had stood one assault more, the temptation would have left him. Be not therefore pusillanimous in a great trial: it is certain thou canst do all that which God requires of thee, if thou wilt but do all that thou canst do. 73. VIII. Contend every day against that, which troubles thee every day. For there is no peace in this war; and there are not many infirmities, or principles of failing, greater than weariness of well-doing; for besides that it proclaims the weakness of thy resolution, and the infancy of thy piety, and thy undervaluing religion, and thy want of love, it is also a direct yielding to the enemy: for since the greatest scene of infirmities lies in the manner of our piety, he that is religious only by uncertain periods, and is weary of his duty, is not arrived so far as to plead the infirmities of willing people; for he is in the state of death and enmity. 74. IX. He that would master his infirmities, must do it at God's rate, and not at his own: he must not start back when the burden pinches him; not refuse his repentances because they smart, nor omit his alms because they are expensive for it is vain to propound to ourselves any end, and yet to decline the use of those means, and instruments, without which it is not to be obtained. He that will buy, must take it at the seller's price; and if God will not give thee safety or immunity, but upon the exchange of labour, and contradictions, fierce contentions, and mortification of our appetites; we must go to the cost, or quit the purchase. 75. X. He that will be strong in grace, and triumph in good measures over his infirmities, must attempt his remedy by an active prayer. For prayer without labour is like faith without charity, dead and ineffective. A working faith, and a working prayer, are the great instruments, and the great exercise, and the great demonstration, of holiness and Christian perfection. Children can sit down in a storm, or in a danger, and weep and die: but men can labour against it, and struggle with the danger, and labour for that blessing which they beg. Thou dost not desire it, unless thou wilt labour for it. He that sits still and wishes, had rather have that thing than be without it; but if he will not use the means, he had rather lose his desire than lose his ease. That is scarce worth having, that is not worth labouring, 76. XI. In all contentions against sin and infirmity, remember that what was done yesterday, may be done to-day; and by the same instruments by which then you were conqueror, you may also be so in every day of temptation. The Italian general that quitted his vanity and his employment, upon the sight of one that died suddenly, might, upon the same consideration, actually applied and fitted to the fancy, at any time resist his lust. And therefore Epictetus gives it in rule; Θάνατος πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔστω σοι καθ ̓ ἡμέραν καὶ οὐ δὲν οὐδέποτε ταπεινὸν ἐνθυμηθήσῃ, οὔτε ἄγαν ἐπιθυμήσεις τινός. |
