On this she had no direct power; and if the penitents were obedient to her discipline, then neither could they be prejudiced by her indirect power, she sent them to God for pardon, and made them to prepare themselves accordingly. Her injunction of penances was medicinal, and her refusing to admit them to the communion, was an act of caution fitted to the present necessities of the church. "Nonnulli ideò poscunt pœnitentiam, ut statim sibi reddi communionem velint. Hi non tam se solvere cupiunt, quàm sacerdotem ligare:" "Some demand penances, that they may have speedy communion. These do not so much desire themselves to be loosed, as to have the priest bound";" that is, such hasty proceedings do not any good to the penitent, but much hurt to him that ministers. This the primitive church avoided; and this was the whole effect, which that discipline had upon the souls of the penitents. But for their doctrine St. Austin is a sufficient witness: "Sed neque de ipsis criminibus quamlibet magnis remittendis, in sanctâ ecclesiâ Dei desperanda est misericordia agentibus pœnitentiam secundum modum sui cujusque peccati:" "They ought not to despair of God's mercy, even to the greatest sinners, if they be the greatest penitents, that is, if they repent according to the measure of their sins b." Only in the making their judgments concerning the measures of repentance, they differed from our practices. Ecclesiastical repentance and absolution, were not only an exercise of the duty, and an assisting of the penitent in his return, but it was also a warranting or ensuring the pardon; which because in many cases, the church could not so well do, she did better in not undertaking it; that is, in not pronouncing absolution. 29. For the pardon of sins committed after baptism, not being described in full measures; and though it be sufficiently signified, that any sin may be pardoned, yet not being told upon what conditions this or that great one shall, -the church did well and warily not to be too forward: for as St. Paul said, "I am conscious to myself in nothing, yet I am not hereby justified;" so we may say in repentance, "I have repented, and do so, but I am not hereby justified;" because that is a secret, which until the day of judgment, we shall not understand: for every repenting is not sufficient. a St. Ambros. lib. 2. de Pœnit. c. 9. b Enchir. 6. He that repents worthily, let his sin be what it will, shall certainly be pardoned; but after great crimes who does repent worthily, is a matter of harder judgment than the manners of the present age will allow us to make; and so secret, that they thought it not amiss very often to be backward in pronouncing the criminal absolved. 30. But then, all this whole affair must needs be a mighty arrest to the gaieties of this sinful age. For although Christ's blood can expiate all sins, and his Spirit can sanctify all sinners, and his church can restore all that are capable; yet, if we consider that the particulars of every naughty man's case are infinitely uncertain; that there are no minute-measures of repentance set down after baptism, that there are some states of sinners which God does reject; that the arrival to this state is by parts, and undetermined steps of progression; that no man can tell, when any sin begins to be unpardonable to such a person; and that if we be careless of ourselves, and easy in our judgments, and comply with the false measures of any age, we may be in before we are aware, and cannot come out so soon as we expect; and lastly, if we consider that the primitive and apostolical churches,-who best knew how to estimate the mercies of the Gospel, and the requisites of repentance, and the malignity and dangers of sin,-did not promise pardon so easily, so readily, so quickly, as we do, we may think it fit to be more afraid and more contrite, more watchful and more severe. 31. I end this with the words of St. Jerome"; "Cum beatus Daniel, præscius futurorum, de sententia Dei dubitet, rem temerariam faciunt, qui audacter peccatoribus indulgentiam pollicentur ;" "Though Daniel could foretell future things, yet he durst not pronounce concerning the king, whether God would pardon him or no; it is therefore a great rashness, boldly to promise pardon to them that have sinned." That is, it is not to be done suddenly; according to the caution which St. Paul gave to the bishop of Ephesus: "Lay hands suddenly on no man ;"-that is, absolve him not without great trial, and just dispositions. 32. For though this be not at all to be wrested to a suspicion, that the sins in their kind are not pardonable, yet thus far I shall make use of it; that God who only hath the power, he only can make the judgment, whether the sinner be a worthy penitent or not. For there being no express stipulation made concerning the degrees of repentance, no 'taxa pœnitentiaria,' 'penitential tables' and canons consigned by God, it cannot be told by man, when, after great sins and a long iniquity, the unhappy man shall be restored, because it wholly depends upon the divine acceptance. 33. In smaller offences, and the seldom returns of sin intervening in a good or a probable life, the curates of souls may make safe and prudent judgments. But when the case is high, and the sin is clamorous, or scandalous, or habitual, they ought not to be too easy in speaking peace to such persons, to whom God hath so fiercely threatened death eternal. But to hold their hands, may possibly increase the sorrow, and contrition, and fear, of the penitent and return→ ing man, and by that means make him the surer of it. But it is too great a confidence and presumption to dispense God's pardon, or the king's, upon easy terms, and without their commission. 34. For since all the rule and measures of dispensing it, is by analogies and proportions, by some reason, and much conjecture; it were better, by being restrained in the ministries of favour, to produce fears and watchfulness, carefulness and godly sorrow, than by an open hand to make sinners bold and many, confident and easy. Those holy and wise men, who were our fathers in Christ, did well weigh the dangers, into which a sinning man had entered, and did dreadfully fear the issues of the divine anger; and therefore, although they openly taught, that God hath set open the gates of mercy to all worthy penitents, yet concerning repentance they had other thoughts than we have; and that, in the pardon of sinners there are many more things to be considered, besides the possibility of having the sin pardoned. SECTION IV. Of the Sin against the Holy Ghost; and in what Sense it is or may be unpardonable. 35. UPON what account the primitive ohurch did refuse to admit certain criminals to repentance, I have already discoursed; but because there are some places of Scripture, which seem to have encouraged such severity by denying repentance also to some sinners, it is necessary that they be considered also, lest by being misunderstood, some persons, in the days of their sorrow, be tempted to despair. 36. The Novatians denying repentance to lapsed Christians, pretended for their warrant those words of St. Paule;" "It is impossible for those, who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, -to renew them again unto repentance, seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame;" and parallel to this are those other words. "For if we sin wilfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking-for of judgment, and a fiery indignation, which shall consume the adversaries f." The sense of which words will be clear upon the explicating what is meant by παραπεσόντες, what by ἀνακαινίζειν, and what by ἀδύνατον. 37. "If they shall fall away," viz. from that state of excellent things in which they had received all the present endearments of the Gospel, a full conviction, pardon of sins, the earnest of the Spirit, the comfort of the promises, an antepast of heaven itself; if these men shall fall away from all this, it cannot be by infirmity, by ignorance, by surprise; this is that which St. Paul calls Kovoίws ȧμaρrávelv, “to sin wilfully' after they have received the knowledge of the truth:" malicious sinners these are, who sin against the Holy Spirit, whose influences they throw away, whose counsels they despise, whose comforts they refuse, whose doctrine they scorn, and from thence fall, not only into one single wasting * Παραπεσόντας. Heb. vi. 4—6. Heb. x. 26, 27. sin, but raρаníτovo, they' fall away' into a contrary state; into heathenism, or the heresy of the Gnostics, or to any state of despising and hating Christ; expressed here by "crucifying the Son of God afresh, and putting him to an open shame;" these are they here meant; such who after they had worshipped Jesus, and given up their names to him, and had been blessed by him, and felt it, and acknowledged it, and rejoiced in it, these men afterward, without cause or excuse, without error or infirmity, choosingly, willingly, knowingly, called Christ an impostor, and would have crucified him again if he had been alive, that is, they consented to his death, by believing that he suffered justly. This is the case here described, and cannot be drawn to any thing else but its parallel, that is, a malicious renouncing charity, or holy life, as these men did the faith, to both which they had made their solemn vows in baptism; but this can no way be drawn to the condemnation and final excision of such persons, who, after baptism, fall into any great sin, of which they are willing to repent. 38. There is also something peculiar in ȧvakaιvičev, “renewing such men to repentance:" that is, these men are not to be redintegrate, and put into the former condition; they cannot be restored to any other gracious covenant of repentance, since they have despised this. Other persons who 'hold fast their profession,' and 'forget not that they were cleansed in baptism,' they, in case they do fall into sin, may proceed in the same method, in their first renovation to repentance, that is, in their being solemnly admitted to the method and state of repentance for all sins known and unknown. But when this renovation is renounced, when they despise the whole economy; when they reject this grace, and throw away the covenant, there is nothing left' for such but a fearful looking-for of judgment:' for these persons are incapable of the mercies of the Gospel, they are out of the way. For there being but one way of salvation, viz. by Jesus Christ, whom they renounce,-neither Moses, nor nature, nor any other name, can restore them. And, 2. Their case is so bad, and they so impious and malicious, that no man hath power to persuade such men to accept of pardon by those means, which they so disown. For there is no means of salvation but this one, and this one they hate, and |
