XVII. adultery, idolatry. 3rdly, these most grievous sins she not STRIC. only perpetrated herself, but she was the author of others' doing them; and that too by defending them as lawful, and as not prohibited by any command of Christ; which was the height of impiety. 4thly, yet to this Jezebel with her associates was time given by her most merciful Lord to repent of these sins; consequently there is no doubt He would not have denied them the pardon of their crimes, if they had repented. 5thly, after they had long abused the long-suffering of God, and had strengthened themselves in their sins against the warnings of Christ through His servants, (O the mercy of our Saviour, never to be enough magnified!) the Lord denounces destruction on them, not by a peremptory edict, but with this exception, "except they repent from their works." Perhaps no passage from the Scriptures could be brought forward more apposite than this against the Novatian heresy: see however 2 Cor. xii. 21. and Gal. vi. 1. &c.com § 24. 4thly. This is confirmed by the examples of David, 1 Cor. 5. 1, Peter, and the incestuous Christian. Lastly, this truth pared with which our Lord has taught us by promises and examples, 2 Cor. 2. 6. He has also sealed by a Sacrament. For Christ hath instituted two Sacraments in His Church, Baptism, and His Holy Supper, and both to seal the forgiveness of our sins. Of Baptism, that it is instituted for the forgiveness of sins, no one doubts: of the cup also in the Lord's Supper, the Lord Himself hath said that it is His "blood of the New Mat. 26. Testament, shed for the remission of sins." Hence the 27, 28. Catholic Church in her prayers at the altar, prays for the forgiveness of sins on account of the merit of the sacrifice of Christ commemorated in the Eucharist. Thus the most ancient Liturgy, "and send Thy Holy Spirit upon this in Constitut. Apost. sacrifice, the Witness of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus; make this bread the Body of Thy Christ, and this cup the Blood of Thy Christ, that they who partake of it may be strengthened unto godliness, obtain forgiveness of sins," &c. In the same way all the Liturgies. To what purpose, you will say, is all this? Forsooth, that as by Baptism all sins, committed before the grace of the Gospel has been received, are washed away, so in the Lord's Supper is sealed to those 8. 12. STRIC. who truly repent the forgiveness of all sins which are committed after baptism and regeneration. XVII. § 25. Against this plain truth, the Novatians of old brought forward two passages, Heb. vi. 4, 5, 6; x. 26, 27, &c., but these passages prove nothing for them. For 1st, they plainly speak not of any sins committed after baptism, albeit the most grievous; but of total apostacy or defection from Christianity. Hence in the former passage these apostates are said to "crucify the Lord afresh, and put Him to an open shame," &c., i. e. they declare Him as an impostor, and deserving of the cross, and consequently they count all His religion as a mere imposture: and in the latter passage they are said "to trample under foot the Son of God; to count the blood of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified, an unholy thing, and to do despite to the Spirit of grace.” 2ndly, as regards these dreadful apostates, it is certain, if they repent, that they will obtain pardon of their sins; to which end, in a former passage, the author of the Epistle says that it is impossible to 'renew' these deserters of Christianity again to repentance:' plainly intimating, that if they could repent again they might return into God's favour. 3rdly. Lastly, the most learned interpreters think that it is by no means an absolute impossibility for such apostates to repent, of whom the inspired writer is here speaking. For often in Scripture a thing which is very difficult is called 'impossible,' as Matt. xix. 23-26; Gal. iv. 15, and elsewhere. The truth is, that the more grievously men sin, the more difficult is it to do well and where so great grace has been despised, so that it has no power to bridle and restrain a man's will, there a recovery is most difficult, nay, almost impossible. For it can only be effected by inducement; but the greatest inducements have already been despised by such an apostate. For what inducement can there be in this life, more noble, or more excellent than illumination, the tasting of the good word &c.? Meanwhile all this is no obstacle against the recovery even of such an apostate by the extraordinary grace of God. But all these things, though they are a comfort to those who have fallen grievously, and are in earnest in returning to God, yet by no means lend support to the impiety of those Christians who, turning the great grace XVII. of God into lasciviousness, give the rein to grievous sins, STRIC. relying on the presumption that they will hereafter repent of the same, and obtain pardon of them. The madness of such men is extreme; for although pardon in the Gospel is promised to the fallen on repentance, yet no where is either grace or time promised them for performing a meet repentance. To those especially our Lord usually denies this grace who presume most in expecting it. 75; Lu. 7. 7. 11. 13. § 26. The third proposition remains to be set forth by us briefly. Repentance, which is required in the Gospel for mortal sins, carries this condition with it, that it be exact, and perfectly worked out. In the first place, as mortal sins are of themselves grievous, and in the course of a Christian life are more rare and extraordinary: so the repentance, Ps. 51; which is necessarily required for their expurgation, ought to be Mat. 26. especial, more exact, and extraordinary. Next, the repent- 38; 2 Cor. ance necessary for the remission of mortal sins, and for the salvation of those who commit them, ought to be perfectly worked out, i. e. it ought to go out into a real and actual cessation from all sins of this kind; forsooth, that would not be a Prov. 28. mortal sin, in which a man might persist without the loss of salvation. But repentance required for the forgiveness of venial sins, need not necessarily be carried out in every action. For even the best men can live, and die too, with such kind of sins. I add, that this cessation ought to be not only from act, but also from affection of every mortal sin; and that the very habit of sin must be shaken and cast out. Would that they who trust in what is called a death-bed repentance, would consider this seriously before it is too late, who are persuaded that they can, on their dying bed, and almost at the very point of death, perform a repentance meet for mortal sins! These men would not be charged with such folly, if (as the generality of them dream) the exclamation, "Have mercy on me, O God," a thousand times repeated, or the dropping of a few tears forced out by terror of approaching death, or lastly the absolution sought by way of custom from a priest too indulgent and too flattering to the wretched soul, sufficed for repentance from mortal sin, and even for the forgiveness of the same. But saving repentance is a far different thing. The sacred oracles cry 182 Quotation from the pseudo-St. Ambrose STRIC. out that the old man must be put off, mortified; that the this the work;' a work indeed, which, within the space of that we think betimes on what is of so great moment to our STRICTURE XVIII. ON II. DISS. viii. § 14. p. 94. Here I say that the words 'in the sight of God' in the Apostle's conclusion Rom. iii. 20, are added as significant and emphatic; "because the law had a certain justification peculiar to itself before men, which was effectual in procuring earthly happiness, but not the kingdom of heaven." Then to confirm this observation, I quote the words of the author of the Commentaries which are attributed to St. Ambrose, as an excellent explanation. "It is true that no man is justified by the law, but this is in the sight of God; for he is justified in the sight of the world so as to be safe in this life. But if he would be justified before God, he must follow the faith of God; otherwise though he be safe here, he will be guilty hereafter." You underline these words with the remark "This excellent explanation is nonsense." supported by St. Ambrose and St. Augustine. ANSWER TO STRICTURE XVIII. 183 XVIII. octon. 12. Every where you are consistent, and every where you betray STRIC. the same arrogance. Every thing that has been said by any author, ever so ancient, and in other respects of great authority in the Church, is nonsense and trifling, if it does not exactly correspond with your own trifling. Yet, most egregious trifler, this saying of our ancient writer, which I have judged most excellent, you nonsense, is supported by the voice of nearly all the ancients. Thus writes the real St. Ambrose1. "The law, according to the Apostle, is the in Ps. 118. schoolmaster of children, till we come to the riper age of perfect faith. Now in the law there are commands, judgments, testimonies, precepts of righteousness. Whence the Apostle says, 'the law is not of faith, but the man who doeth it shall live in it.' But as he says above, that' no one is justified by the law,' you see that the justification of the law is a type, and an image, not the truth. In truth, then, no one is justified by the law unto perfection; in type he is justified." Nay, St. Austin himself (who seems to be the only one of [vol. iii. p. 953.] the Fathers you value) teaches expressly the same as our author. "The law is not of faith, but the man that doeth tom. iv. Expos. them shall live in them.' He says not, 'The man that doeth it' shall live in it: that you may understand that the law Gal. 3. stands here for the works themselves. Now they who lived in these works, feared, if they did them not, that they should be stoned or crucified, or otherwise put to death. Therefore he says, 'The man that doeth them shall live in them:' i. e. he shall have his reward, in not being punished with death.” And a little after, "He who is not justified at all, neither keeps those things which have a temporal reward annexed, nor those which have an eternal reward annexed. He who is justified by the works of the law, is not justified in the sight of God, because he expects thence a visible and temporal reward. Yet there is in this, as I said, a certain (so to speak) earthly and carnal righteousness. For the Apostle elsewhere calls it righteousness, when he says, 'Touching the righteousness of the law, I lived blameless."" But more of this presently. 1 Tom. ii. p. 464. Colon. Agrip. 1616. [vol. i. p. 1124—5.] Epist. ad |