INSTRUCTION CONCERNING PENANCE AND HOLY COMMUNION The Second Part OF THE Instruction of YOUTH Containing the Means how we may return to God by Penance and remain in his Grace by the good and frequent use of the Sacraments By CHARLES GOBINET Doctor of Divinity of the House and Society of SORBON Principal of the College of PLESSIS-SORBON The Last Edition in French now render'd into English LONDON Printed by J. B. and are to be Sold by Mathew Turner at the Lamb in High Holborn and John Tootell at Mr. Palmers the Bookbinder in Silverstreet in Bloomsbury Together with the First Part of the Instruction of Youth in Christian Piety 1689. A DEDICATORY PRAYER TO OUR LORD JESVS CHRIST MY Lord and my God permit me also to consecrate this Second Instruction to thee and lay it at the foot of thy Cross to which I invite thy Children and beg the favour of thy Benediction That which thou hast been pleased to bestow upon the First I made gives me hopes that thou hast yet reserv'd a blessing for this Second and that in respect of the things therein contained which are the Sacraments thy own work thou wilt not fail to bless it It s whole design is to instruct thy Children to teach them to frequent and make good use of the Sacraments Sacraments which with so much Charity thou hast instituted that thereby thou mightest conferr thy Grace upon us We see to our great grief that they have not that esteem which is due to them and that for want of the knowledge of their worth and grandure and the advantage which from thence arises to us many either neglect to approach unto them or at least do not always take care to provide themselves with convenient dispositions when they come Thou presentest them with holy Penance that thereby they may be freed from the Slavery of their Sins but it often happens that like the Israelites in the Aegyptian Bondage they choose rather to continue captives as before then to accept thy offer Thou bestowest upon them Celestial food for their nourishment and to strengthen them whom once thou hast received into thy Grace but by reason they are ignorant of the excellence of the gift they either refuse or neglect to take it and permit themselves Spiritually to be starv'd in the Desart of this Mortal Life This Bread of Angels agrees not with their tast so deprav'd it is that they preferr the Onions of Aegypt before this Heavenly Manna Divine Jesus open their eyes who live thus contented in their misery Make them feel the weight of their Chains make them sensible of the danger of that Servitude wherein they are detained by Sin make them ashamed so to affront thee and debase themselves as to serve the Devil that Enemy of thy Glory and their own Salvation Grant them Grace to aspire to that liberty which thy Children the Children of God enjoy that to this end they may embrace Holy Penance and thereby be entirely converted to thee and that their actions may testify the sincerity of their hearts That they may encrease and be strengthen'd in thy Grace by means of this Celestial Bread and that by frequently feeding upon thy pretious Body and Blood they may happily pass through the dangers of this Life to the Land of Promise which is thy Heavenly Kingdom where thou livest and Reignest Eternally AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER I Here present you Dear Reader with this Second Instruction for the use of young People and also of all such as are pleased to make use of it that they may learn how they may rightly employ these two grand means Penance and the Holy Eucharist instituted by Christ for our Salvation I have discoursed already of these two Sacraments in the Second Part of the First Instruction But I did it with that brevity which is necessary to be observed in matters which one treats of only in passant or by the by as accessories to the main point he designs to handle Since that time I have often observed that what I had said of them was not enough to give young People a full view or a perfect understanding of these two Sacraments and to facilitate the use thereof Therefore it seemed to me very convenient that they should have a Book wherein they might be solidly instructed in what concerns these two important Subjects and benefit themselves thereby upon either of these two occasions viz. 1. When they find themselves moved to return to God by a sincere Repentance and to consecrate themselves wholly to his Service by a true change of their former course of life and to this effect have need to make a general Confession of their life past as we have said in the Second Part the Sixth Chapter of the first Instruction 2. When after this general Confession they are willing to continue in the frequent use of these two Sacraments that they may do it as far as it may be needfull to conserve them in the grace of God and to advance in Virtue And this was the motive I had to undertake this Instruction wherein I supply what was defective in the former aend perform the two things I have but even now spoken of For in the four first parts of the Instruction concerning Penance I shew them the proper means whereby they may return to God The first of which is an exhortation to change our life and totally to addict our selves to Virtue In the Second I shew them the way to compass this design by treating at large of Contrition of the enormity of Sin and the practice of this great Virtue In the Third and Fourth I treat of Sacramental Confession and Satisfaction and whatsoever else is necessary for the worthy receiving of that Sacrament Afterwards in the Fifth Part I speak of the means to conserve the Grace which one hath received by the Sacrament and to persever in a truly holy and Christian life And the Instruction which follows concerning Communion may also serve for the same end For it is most certain that this Divine Sacrament is one of the chiefest means which God hath bestowed upon us to conserve us in his Grace Hence it is easy to perceive that this Instruction is not so much a Second Book as a continuation or conclusion of the first I made I have taken an occasion to intermix some necessary points which one is obliged to know as the explication of the Principal Mysteries of our Faith which I have plac'd in the first Part of the Instruction concerning Communion and that of the three Theological Virtues Faith Hope and Charity which you will find in the Second Part of the same Instruction Virtues which are the ground-work of our Salvation and upon which as St. Augustin de Verb. Apost hath it the house of God which is raised up by his Grace is built I have also taken occasion to explain the Commandments of God in the examen of Sins which I have plac'd at
Heaven taking his pleasure in this Life should love his Inn better then his own House 4. This Hope makes the Just Man labour for his Salvation and becoming daily better and better render himself worthy of his heavenly vocation as St. John saith 1 Jo. 3.3 Every one who hath this hope in God doth Sanctify himself as God is holy This hope gives him strength to conquer all difficulties and wings to fly in the way of Gods commandments as the Prophet Isay 40.31 speaks They who hope in God says he shall change their strength that is receive a new force they shall have wings as an Angel they shall run with ease they shall travel without failing by the way 5ly This same Hope encourageth us in temptations it gives us strength to encounter them For what greater encouragement can there be in these occasions then to know that God is with us that he assists us in the fight and gives us strength to overcome and that he hath prepared an eternal reward for those that conquer He whose heart is replenished with Hope doth he not say with David whensoever he is tempted Ps 22.4 O my God I will not be afraid of any harm being thou art with me Ps 26.1 Our Lord is my light and my Salvation whom should I fear v. 3. If war shall be rais'd against me I will hope in him Ps 7.1 O Lord I hope in thee save me and deliver me from all my persecutors For this reason St. Paul 1. Thes 5.8 calls hope the Helmet of Christians Take says he for thy helmet the hope of Salvation For as a head-peice it preserves us from the blows of the enemy and the mortall wounds which he endeavours to give us In fine Hope guards us excellently well and is of infinite use in afflictions of which this mortall life is full Herein it is that we find our refuge our comfort and our strength when we consider with attention that these miseries cannot last always they will have an end and will be followed with an eternall joy if we suffer them with patience as it is but fit and just we should And when we ponder well upon those excellent words of St. Paul 2. Cor 4.17 wherein he assures us That the momentary and light afflictions which we at present endure work exceedingly above measure a weight of unconceivable glory and happiness which shall never end It is then when after the example of this glorious Apostle we shall rejoyce and esteem our selves happy in our afflictions being assured of this truth wherein he affirms Rom. 5.3 that Affliction causeth Patience Patience trys our strength this tryall confirms our Hopes and Hope will never confound us so as to permit our expectations to be frustrate Wherefore the same Apostle says Heb. 6.19 That this holy hope is to Christians that which the anchor is to a Ship which keeps it secure and steady amidst the tempestuous waves and preserves it against the violence of the winds O holy Virtue what blessings by thy means accrue unto us did we but fall into the account and know them Endeavour Theotime to make thy self master in an happy hour of this great virtue and to practise it with advantage to thy Soul and to this effect peruse carefully and with attention this little we shall say upon this Subject ARTICLE V. That the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist is of great use to fortify and augment Hope the Virtue in us GOD endowed us with this Virtue when first he justified us in Baptism where we received Sanctifying Grace with the gifts of Faith Hope and Charity and other Christian Virtues It is encreased I confess together with the other Virtues by the frequent acts which we elicite and by good works which we perform in the State of Grace but it is also certain that it receives much strength and wonderfull growth by the most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist which may easily be evinced from the two things which as is above said are the object of Hope viz. Grace in this Life and in the next the Glory as well of Body as of Soul. As for Glory there is not any thing that confirms us more in the Hope of it then this Divine Sacrament wherein we receive the very Person himself the possession of whom compleats all our glory and our happiness for what greater security can we have that we shall one day enjoy God himself then by this bounty he hath shewed in communicating himself unto us in this life Could he afford us a more secure pledge then he himself is to which he hath also vouchsafed to add the assurance of his word saying Jo. 6.58 that he who eateth this bread shall live for ever And for the glory of the body it is no less confirmed unto us by this Sacrament being the Son of God hath told us Ibid 56. that he who eateth his body and drinketh his blood shall have life Everlasting and that he will raise him again at the last day And in effect the Fathers of the Church have often proved the Resurrection from the holy Eucharist and they have held that the life-giving flesh of Jesus Christ as they have frequently called it hath a particular vertue to raise from death to life those bodies it shall touch and conserve them to immortality much more efficaciously then the bones of Elizeus had vertue by their touch to raise a dead man to life This truth is no less certain in respect of grace For if we consider habituall or Sanctifying grace this divine Sacrament is a powerfull means to conserve it as also to increase it in the Soul in an high degree as often as we shall worthyly receive it And as for actuall graces which are as we said so many helps illuminations good and pious motions which the divine goodness hath bestowed upon us for the conservation of his grace and with which he inspires us that we may avoid evil and employ our selves totally in good so many protections which he affords us in the time when our Salvation is in danger it is questionless to this Sacrament that we owe the greatest part thereof as we clearly made out Part 1. Chap. 3. Art. 3. The reason is evident because this Sacrament containing as it really and truly doth Jesus Christ who is the Author and source of all Blessings it cannot be but that it must needs communicate them in abundance to those who worthily receive it If by the other Sacraments we are enrich'd with so many Graces by the only vertue which the Son of God hath granted to them how many more may we in reason expect from this where the same Son of God is present not only by some communication of his vertue but by himself in Person God once gave Manna to the Israelites and he sustained them therewith for the full space of forty years the time which their Pilgrimage towards the land of Promise endur'd in the Desert This Manna fell
Virgin that thou partake of the thanks which I am obliged to render to thy Son since he hath been pleas'd I should receive him in this Communion It was to thee that this living bread descended from heaven and from thee he took the body and blood which he gives us for our food Luc. 1.42 Blessed be thou amongst women and blessed be the fruit of thy womb Let the Angells praise thee for that thou hast given us this fruit of life and prepared for us this divine food which nourisheth us and brings us to everlasting bliss Help me to preserve this fruit that I may never loose it more And as thou hadst grace after thou hadst happily born him in thy womb to conserve him also more fortunately in thy heart obtain of him for me the like favour without which this Communion would not be usefull to me O Holy mother of God assist me that I may conceive in my Soul thy Son Jesus Christ that he may be born in me that he may dayly increase that he may there live and reign as absolute Lord and Master of my Soul. You may add here any of those prayers which the Church is used to make to her as the hymn Ave Maris Stella her Litanies or the like ARTICLE IX How we ought to spend the day of our Communion IT is an advice of very great consequence to spend all that day in Piety and Devotion wherein you have performed so holy so religious and so august an action and to honour that day by the exercise of good works upon which God hath been pleas'd to Sanctify you by his presence To spend it otherwise is to fail in your respect to Jesus Christ and it happens but too often that by this neglect of our duty we loose the greater part of the fruit which otherwise we might reap from the holy Table of Communion What then you are to do Theotime on that day is frequently in the day time to call to mind and seriously to reflect upon the honour you have received and to acknowledg that it is beyond your capacity sufficiently to esteem it 2ly Not to distract your mind either with vain divertisements or with unprofitable frivolous discourses but to be more serious modest and reserved in all the actions of that day remembring what honour it is how they value themselves who are admitted to the presence of a King and consequently what hath been done to you whilest you were chosen to be the Temple of Jesus Christ 3ly Employ all that day in good works as far as you are able as the rest of the morning in Divine Service or reading some good book After dinner in hearing the word of God assisting at Evensong and the remainder of the day either in discourse with good and virtuous persons or in reading At night in your prayers be not unmindfull to give God thanks for your Communion and for all the favours which he hath bestowed upon you Beseech him most earnestly that he will give you grace to benefit your self there-by the next day and all the remainder of your life and to practise well all the resolutions you have made upon this occasion But for the better complyance with these holy resolutions remember that you renew them every day in your morning prayers even to the day of your following Communion and at night in your examen of conscience see and consider well whether you have faithfully fullfill'd them or whether you have failed therein and broke your promise and in what that so you may rectify your self out of hand and set your self again into the right way of the Service of God and the path of your own Salvation ARTICLE X. Of frequent Communion NOthing remains but that I exhort you to Communicate often dear Theotime and benefit your self of the great advantages which God presents you with in this Divine Sacrament It is in reality a great benefit to have Communicated well in the manner we have but just now declared But if after this one abstain a long time from it he endangers himself to loose the fruit of the foregoing Communion by relapsing into Sin and the disorders of his former Life There is a certain proportion betwixt Spiritual and Corporal nourishment This requires we should take it as often as the necessity of our Body shall require and we need it according as the natural heat consumes our substance and whatsoever else serves for its subsistance The same we must affirm of Spiritual food which serves to repair the forces of the Soul which are continually diminished and weakened by Concupiscence and all the passions with which it is assaulted If these forces are not frequently recruited the Life of Grace is by degrees much weakned and totally lost at length Now that which serves to repair them is the Sacred Eucharist which renews our strength and restores our Soul to her former vigour weakening Concupiscence diminishing the Passions preserving her from Mortal nay even from Venial Sins as we have already said and proved at large After this is there any necessity of other motives to persuade either you or any other Christian to frequent Communion Certainly those who are willing to do what is pleasing in the sight of God and to continue in his grace have need of none And I suppose you are one of that number I exhort you then by the Charity of Jesus Christ and by the excess of love which he shewed us in bestowing himself upon us in this adorable Mystery as the best means for our Salvation that you will frequently approach unto him in this Divine Sacrament to the end he may remain in you and you in him according as he himself hath promised and you surely cannot but desire Consider that your Soul is always sick and that these Distempers if neglected may bring you to Eternal Death Come then to this great Physitian who only is able to cure you and preserve you from death by this Bread which he hath given as himself affirms for the Life of the World. Joan. 6.52 Panis quem ego dabo caro mea est pro mundi vita Ponder O ponder well upon the earnest desire he hath to relieve you in all your wants and the ardent love with which he calls and even compels you to come unto him Mat 11.28 Come to me all you that labour and are burthened and I will refresh you In me you shall find the repose which your Souls desire They who are not won with these so moving and vehement expressions do they not evidently shew that they are altogether insensible of the love which Jesus Christ hath so plainly testified he hath for them and that they are enemies to their own Salvation Is it possible that you should be one of these Look to it for if you be you are not of the number of the Children of God for Children listen and attend to the voice of their Father come to him willingly and
esteem themselves happy in his company and above all they take it for a peculiar honour that they are admitted to eat at his Table What shame is it then for Christians so to neglect so great a treasure and so nigh at hand to be just at the Spring-head of Divine Graces and not esteem them to remain in the death of Sin when the Fountain of Life is at their disposal Ezech. 33.11 quare moriemini domus Israel and why do you deliver your selves to death O house of Israel O Christians amongst whom God hath chose his habitation upon earth why do you suffer your selves thus to dye having the author of Life so near you who invites you to come and threatens you if you do not accept his invitation Crying out to you in a loud voice John 6.54 unless ye eat my Body and drink my Blood you shall have no life in you Adding that he who eateth me shall live for my sake After such threats if we do not come and so great assurance if we do what can we alledge before the divine Tribunall at the day of judgment if still we are at a distance from him from God the Fountain of life and continue still companions to the enemy of mankind in the state of death and Sin and this because we are unwilling so to live that frequently we may partake of this living and life-giving bread Call to mind the feast in the parable Luc. 14. where the Master of the house shewed so much anger and indignation against those who refused to come after they had been so solemnly invited They excused themselves the best they could some with their affairs others with their pleasures one said he was obliged to go to his country house another that he went to try the Oxen he had bought and the third that he was taken up and employed about his marriage but not any of these excuses were admitted they were all rejected as frivolous pleas and therefore themselves for framing them were all judged worthy to be not only then but ever after excluded from that Banquet And this is the method which God shall use towards Christians who refrain from the Sacraments upon the vain pretences which usually they form to themselves for all their excuses shall be rejected and themselves punished as in in the Parable we have seen To those who shall excuse themselves with the affairs and employments of the world it shall be answer'd that there is no concern of such importance as that of their Salvation which therefore they ought to prefer before all other things And they shall be reproached with this that they have prefer'd their temporal concerns before their eternal happiness and made more account of the possessions of this world then of the grace of God. To those who shall excuse themselves with the indispositions of their Soul saying that they have not that virtue which is required for frequent Communion One may reply that their excuse is but too true yet it is a very bad one for that it is their duty so to live that they may Communicate dayly and to use all imaginable industry to render themselves capable thereof Lastly we shall find that there is no other cause why people communicate but seldom besides their sloath their indevotion and fear lest if they should frequent the Sacraments thereby they shou'd be obliged to live holily and in a word a will or a tacit resolution not to amend their lives but to remain in their Sins their Pleasures their Covetuousness Ambition and in all their irregular affections O Theotime avoid this great misfortune this fault so generall and yet so common amongst Christians who slight in this manner their Salvation and the great advantages which by the goodness Mercy of God are presented to them Learn in time to set a great value on them to advantage your self from thence approaching frequently to these divine mysteries instituted by God the means for your Salvation Begin this exercise from your youth and continue it thence-forward all your life that you may perform it dayly better and better and oftener approach to the Holy Table of Communion and receive our Lord. ARTICLE XI When and how often we ought to Communicate THe time which you ought most commonly to observe in your communion is that of every month so that you should not exceed that time without giving your Soul the opportunity to partake of this divine nourishment of the holy Eucharist It is very hard for you to stay so long without having a considerable want of help to resist the temptations of your Ghostly enemy or repress the passions which spring from your age and the heat of blood You have need of strength whereby you may be able to withstand the Devil as also of a good preservative against your self The one and the other you shall find in the holy communion wherefore it is fit you have recourse unto it according to the proportion of the necessity you find that you have thereof Beside it is necessary that you grow up and encrease in the fear of God and in all Christian virtues Faith Hope Charity Humility Temperance Modesty and the rest Which you can never do if you Communicate but seldom Take this then for a general rule that regularly speaking you Communicate once a month and oftener upon either of these occasions 1st When there happens any Solemn feast as of our Lord or of the Blessed Virgin which you should never let pass without receiving the Blessed Sacrament both because you should honour the Feast by this Sacred action as also make your self worthy to partake of the graces which God more liberally distributes in respect of the united prayers of the faithfull on those days The 2d is when you perceive in your self any considerable want thereof as when you are assaulted with more violent or more frequent temptations for then you must have recourse to this remedy to strengthen you least you fall into mortall Sin. And if by misfortune it have so happen'd that you are already faln therein for want of due foresight of the fall which easily happens not only to young people but to many others by reason they are not sensible of the evil before it be faln upon them in this case Theotime take care to confess your self forthwith And as for Communion take the advice of your Ghostly father whether it be to receive that day if he find you suffiently disposed or to defer it some days longer during which time you may prepare your self for it by doing penance for your Sins and deploring in the presence of God the misery which hath befaln you Behold what you are to observe concerning the time of Communion whilst yet you are young When you shall be more advanc'd in age in judgment and in the love of God you may Communicate more frequently still according to the counsell you shall receive in that point supposing you have a good guide
the end of the Instruction concerning Penance And this I have done that one might have in this one Book the explication of the Principal points of Christian Doctrine which every one is obliged to know and that one may be inform'd of these important truths which often through his negligence he is ignorant of either because he conceives them not so necessary or that he thinks he knows them sufficiently well already which happens but too often not only to young People but to many others Thus you see Dear Reader what I have to tell you upon the Subject of this Instruction After which I have no more to do but to exhort you to benefit your self thereby You will not fail herein if you read it with this design and with a desire ot improve your self And as I have composed it with no other intention except that of assisting you in your approach to God and conserving you in his grace I hope that if you also reade it with this intent God will bless both yours and my design This is what I demand with all my heart beseeching him with all possible humility that he will enlighten your Soul rightly to understand the truths which he hath comprised in these great Sacraments and that you may draw in abundance from these two Fountains of our Salvation the Celestial Waters of Divine Grace which will preserve you in this life from the mortal heats of Sin and rendering you fertil in Virtue and good works make you deserving of Everlasting Life the fruit of pious endeavours and our last end Amen The Approbation WE Underwritten Doctors of Divinity of the Faculty of Paris certify that we have read a Book Entitled Instruction concerning Penance and the Holy Communion c. Composed by Charles Gobinet also Doctor Principal of the Colledge of Plessis-Sorbon wherein we have found nothing but what is conformable to the Principles of Faith and Christian Morality which are there treated in a manner very clear for the Instruction of Youth moving for the Conversion of Sinners and extreme usefull for the Edification of the Just if they will follow the light and means which are therein suggested to them that they may advance in Piety by the frequent and worthy use of the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist Given at Paris this Third of December 1667. I. Charmeluc B. Le Blond J. Jollain The Division of the Instruction concerning Penance Pag. 1. PART I. COntaining an Exhortation to a true Conversion and amendment of Life Pag. 2. PART II. Of Contrition the first part of Penance Pag. 21. PART III. Of Confession Pag. 97. PART IV. Of Satisfaction Pag. 151. PART V. Of the preservation of Grace after Confession against relapse into Sin. Pag. 187. An Examen of Conscience Vpon the Commandments of God and the Church and upon the Seven Capital Sins Pag. 229. A Table of the CHAPTERS Of Instruction concerning Penance and the means to return to God by a true Conversion PART I. COntaining an Exhortation to a true Conversion and amendment of life Pag. 2. Chap. 1. An Exhortation which God made to men and particularly to Young People to return to him by Penance Pag. 3. Chap. 2. Reflections upon the said Exhortation and first upon the matter therein contain'd Pag. 5. Chap. 3. The Second Reflection upon the Goodness of God in Exhorting us himself to our Conversion Pag. 6. Chap. 4. The Third Reflection upon the Injury which those do who refuse to be Converted or deferr their Conversion Pag. 8. Chap. 5. The Fourth Reflection upon God's Anger against those who refuse to yield to these Exhortations Pag. 12. Chap. 6. Of the great Punishment which God lays upon those who refuse or deferr their Conversion Pag. 15. Chap. 7. The Conclusion of the Exhortation Pag. 19. PART II. OF Contrition Pag. 21. Chap. 1. What we are obliged to do in Virtue of the precedent Exhortation Ibid. Chap. 2. What Penance is Pag. 23. Chap. 3. What Contrition is Pag. 26. Chap. 4. Of the qualities or Conditions which true Contrition ought to have Pag. 29. Chap. 5. Of Perfect and imperfect Contrition Pag. 34. Chap. 6. Of the means to obtain Contrition Pag. 38. Chap. 7. Of the first means to obtain Contrition which is threefold Avoiding Sin Works of Penance and Prayer Pag. 40. Chap. 8. Of the Motives of Contrition and first of the grievousness of Sin. Pag. 43. Chap. 9. Of the same Subject of the grievousness of Sin. Pag. 46. Chap. 10. A further illustration of the grievousness of Sin. Pag. 49. Chap. 11. Of the deplorable effects of Mortal Sin to discover better the grievousness thereof Pag. 53. Art. 1. Of the death of the Soul or the sad effects which Sin produces in his Soul who commits it Pag. 54. Art. 2. Of the effects of Sin in Heaven and upon Earth Pag. 60. Art. 3. Of the effects of Sin in Hell. Pag. 64. Art. 4. A continuation of the same Subject Pag. 67. The Conclusion of this Article of the pains of Hell. Pag. 75. Art. 5. Of the effects which Sin produces in respect of God himself Pag. 78. Art. 6. Of the effects of Sin in the Person of Jesus Christ Pag. 81. Chap. 12. The practice of Contrition upon the precedent Motives Pag. 87. Chap. 13. Of Examples of Penance taken out of Holy Writ Pag. 89. PART III. OF the Treatise of Penance which is Confession Pag. 97. Chap. 1. Of the Institution and necessity of Confession ibid. Chap. 2. What Sacramental Confession is Pag. 99. Chap. 3. Of the Conditions necessary for a good Confession Pag. 102. Chap. 4. Of the defects in Confession Pag. 104. Chap. 5. Of the Conditions necessary to make the Confession entire Pag. 107. Chap. 6. An observable Advice concerning the Number of Sins Pag. 109. Chap. 7 An observable Advice concerning the Circumstances of Sins Pag. 112. Chap. 8. How great an evil it is to conceal a Mortal Sin in Confession Pag. 115. Chap. 9. Of the Preparation for Confession or the Examen of Conscience Pag. 123. Chap. 10. Of the distinction which must be made betwixt Mortal and Venial Sin. Pag. 126. Chap. 11. Of the Confession of Venial Sins Pag. 128. Chap. 12. Of Interiour and Exteriour Sins or of the Sins of Thought and Action Pag. 132. Chap. 13. Of the Sins of Action and Omission Pag. 134. Chap. 14. Of the Sins of Ignorance Passion and Malice Pag. 136. Art. 1. Of the Sins of Ignorance Pag. 137. Art. 2. Of the Sins of Frailty or of Passion Pag. 139. Art. 3. Of the Sins of Malice Pag. 141. Art. 4. Of the Sins which spring from Vitious Habits Pag. 144. Chap. 15. Of the Sins that are committed by Error or by Doubt Pag. 146. Chap. 16. Of the Sins which we commit in others Pag. 148. PART IV. OF the Treatise of Penance which is of Satisfaction Pag. 151. Chap. 1. What Satisfaction is ibid. Chap. 2. That God pardoning the Sin obliges to a Temporal punishment Pag.
Confession or Confess but in haste without necessary dispositions or having time to Confess defer it to the last extremity of their sickness being more taken up with the grief and apprehension of death then moved with the thought of their Salvation and Conversion Or else also those who confess themselves in due time yet have no true sorrow for their sins but are sorry rather by reason of the Evils that surround them then upon any motive of the Fear or Love of God these also altho' they have all the exteriour marks of true Penitents as having duly performed all the exteriour acts of Penance which makes us believe that they are truly Converted and departed in the grace of God Yet in effect they shall be damned for ever In fine Theotime it cannot be denied but that there are a great number of Christians Damned It is also most certain that this doth not happen but because they have not done true Penance for their Sins before their death and why have they not done it Except it were that death suprized them in the state of sin and did not give them time or means to do Penance or at least perform it as they ought But how happened it that they were so surprized unless it were that by the just judgment of God those menaces were executed against them wherewith he so often threatned to punish their hard and obdurate hearts by suprising them when they thought the least of it and abandoning them at the hour of their death O Theotime they must be extremely deaf and in a deep Lethargy who are not awakened with these Thunder-claps and they must be very infensible not to fear the dreadfull effects of these menaces of Almighty God which happen dayly to many of the World. Be afraid then and apprehend the severity of all misfortunes that may attend you That which happens unto many may perhaps happen unto you and if it should befall you in what condition would you remain for all Eternity CHAP. VII The Conclusion of this Exhortation AS this great Exhortation comes from God himself it is proper also that he himself should give us the Conclusion and that we should learn from him what we ought to conclude and perform after we have heard his voice that calls us to our Salvation We shall learn it from the Apostle St. Paul in his Epistle to the Hebrews 3. Chapter where he exhorts the Christians not to be rebellious to the voice of God and not to imitate the obdurateness and rebellion of the Jews which God punished so rigorously Hearken then to his words and his conclusion Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith to day if you shall hear my Voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation according to the day of the temptation in the Wilderness where your fathers tempted me Heb. 3. He pursues and urges strongly this advice as well in this Chapter as in the following where he shews that the Jews were not rejected of God but for their incredulity and resistance that they made to his words To whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest but unto them that obeyed not so that we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief Heb. 3.18 He adds afterwards how the Christians ought to fear the like Chastisement Let us therefore fear says the Apostle lest at any time by forsaking the promise of entring into his rest any of you should seem to be deprived Let us therefore study to enter into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of incredulity Heb. 4. And about the End of this Epistle in the 12 Chapter he renews again this so important an Advertisement by these words which ought to be engraven in all the hearts of Christians See that you despise not him that speaketh to you for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on Earth much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven Heb. 12. See Theotime the Advertisements which the Apostle gives to all those whom God has favour'd so as to speak to them for their Salvation and call them by his voice to their Conversion Consider them attentively with the reasons he alledgeth and think well upon it what you are to do Assure your self that it is to you that God addresses himself when you have understood the above-mention'd pressing Exhortation which he hath made for your Conversion Be afear'd to fall into the dreadfull chastisements with which God hath punished the obstinacy of the Jews and use all your endeavours to avoid them you cannot by any other means escape them then by seriously complying with the desire which God hath of your Salvation and making now a firm resolution to return unto him by Penance and a perfect change of your former life for effecting whereof I propose the following means PART II. Of Contrition CHAP. I. What we are obliged to do in Vertue of the precedent Exhortation WE read in the Acts of the Apostles that the Jews and other Inhabitants of Hierusalem having understood the first Sermon which St. Peter made them of the Death and Resurrection of the Son of God upon the day of Pentecost were so lively touched that they immediately demanded what they should do to be saved Now when they heard saith the Scripture this they were moved in their hearts and said unto Peter and the other Apostles Men and Brethren what shall we do The St. answered them in these terms Do Penance and be Baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of Sins and you shall receive the Grace of the Holy Ghost Acts. 2. Dear Theotime if the words which you have read above which are Gods own words whereby he Exhorts you to treat of your Salvation have made that impression on your mind which they ought to make your heart will certainly be washed with sorrow and compunction unless you be totally obdurate more obstinate then the Jews Now I cannot believe this of you wherefore methinks I hear you demand of me what must I do that I may obey the Voice of God and become a good and real Convert and a true Penitent To which I answer with the chief of the Apostles do Penance for your Sins and receive the Sacrament not of Baptism since you have once received it and it cannot without Sacrilege be repeated but of Penance to obtain hereby the remission of your Sins and the Grace of the Holy Ghost which will assist you to lead a new Life Let us betake our selves to Holy Penance which is a Second Baptism a Baptism of tears and sorrow to cleanse therewith all our Sins Baptisemus lachrimis conscientiam qui peccatis inquinavimus Vitam St. Ambr. Let us wash our Consciences with tears who have defiled our Lives mith a great number of offences Let us weep before God our Creator and cast our selves into the arms of our Coelestial father
Salvation What good things ought he not to do who considers himself in this danger or rather I will not say what Evil but even what indifferent things ought he not to deny himself that by doing good and avoiding evil he may both prevent the misfortunes which environ him at present and avoid the eternal loss of his Soul which threatens him for the future Without question you see clear enough what he should do first that he should seek all means possible to appease the divine anger regain his favour which cannot be otherwise effected but by ceasing to offend him by performing acts of condign Penance and by pouring forth his Soul in hearty prayer that he may obtain from God the grace of Holy Contrition In the Second place that he should apply himself to consider the sins he hath committed meditate upon the motives which are capable to imprint in his Soul an horror of them then he should propose to himself the examples of true Penitents imitate them in their Penances and conquer Heaven by the force of tears and Contrition as they have done We shall discourse of these two general means in the following Chapters CHAP. VII Of the first means to obtain Contrition which are three avoiding sin works of Penance and Prayer I Put these three means togeher because they are so inseparable that they seem to make but one The first is to forsake sin or cease from offending God for how can you expect to gain the Spirit of Contrition or the Holy Virtue of Penance whilst you persist actually to offend him and resist his grace and how can you have in your heart a true sorrow and detestation of sin when you take pleasure to commit it This is impossible Sin is the destruction of divine grace it roots out of the Soul all pious thoughts it banisheth all holy inspirations and disperses them at their first appearance like a blasting North-wind by its cold and dryness it scatters the Clouds disperses the Rain or dew of Heaven and parches up the Earth This is what theWise man would signify by those mysterious words of the Proverbs Ventus Aquilo dissipat plavias Auster congregat dissipatas Prov. 25. It is sin which locks up the Heavens and hinders the rains of Grace from showring upon men when they need it most whilst they stand obnoxious to his wrath On the contrary the fear of Gods Judgments which seizeth upon Sinners is like the favourable South-wind which gathers the Clouds dissolves them into Rain and pours them upon the Earth this fear is a gentle gale that breaths into the Soul the thoughts of Penance it moves us to conceive true sorrow for our sins and at last brings us to the so much to be desired Port perfect Contrition The Second means is to abridge ones self of pleasures and perform the works of Penance next to sin there is nothing more opposite to Contrition which is the fruit of sorrow then pleasures Contrition is not found but in afflictions and miseries of which the heart is incapable in the time of pleasure Job speaking of Wisdom says it is not found in the houses of pleasures and delights Job 28. Non invenitur in terra suaviter viventium Much less Contrition which is the beginning of Wisdom Contrition is the off-spring of an afflicted heart ruminating on all his sins in the bitterness of his Soul and can this be found amongst divertisements and pleasures No no It is most certain that he who resolves to be Penitent and contrite ought to banish far from his thoughts divertisements and pleasures and betake himself to the works of Penance as Fasting Alms-deeds and the like The Third necessary means is Prayer because Contrition being as is above declared a gift of God a gift which is not due unto us but proceeds from his pure bounty it is certain we have great need to demand pray or beg it of him very earnestly need to acknowledge our own misery and the absolute dependance we have upon his mercy Upon this occasion it is that we ought to re-enter perfectly into our selves and humble our selves in the presence of God in a profound acknowledgment of the misery to which we are reduced by this state of sin It is upon this occasion we ought to employ those excellent Sentences of the Prophet Jeremy Ego vir videns paupertatem meam in virgâ indignationis ejus It is true O my God! I acknowledge the extreme misery whither thy anger hath justly reduced me I am now in the darkness of sin instead of the light of thy grace which I formerly enjoyed Thou hast turned thy hand against me thou hast taken away all my forces and environ'd me with bitterness and pain my Life is fall'n into an abiss out of which I cannot get out Considering my self in this state I said I was lost but I had recourse unto thee O my God I invoked thy Holy Name from the depth of my misery Thou hast graciously hearkned unto me do not turn away thine Ears from the lamentations which flow from my heart from the clamours which I make to obtain thy mercy CHAP. VIII Of the Motives of Contrition and first of the grievousness of sin WHen you demand of God Contrition by Prayer and works of Penance you must not be wanting to your self but endeavour on your part to procure it This endeavour consists in weighing attentively the motives which are capable to raise this sorrow in your heart and in meditating upon the grievousness of sin and the reasons which may move you to an horror and detestation of it This practice is absolutely necessary for him who desires to be truly converted But is not much in use as God himself complains by his Prophet There is none says he that repents himself of his sins saying what have I done Jer. 8. Do it then as you ought dear Theotime and with all the attention of your heart whilst you read what I shall here propose unto you and beg of God that he will make you comprehend and understand this so important a concern for it is impossible without grace to know it exactly right You must then suppose that the grievousness of sin is so great that it is incomprehensible or unconceivable and this truth alone may make you judge of the greatness of it To comprehend this grievousness you should have a full Idea or true definition of sin which might perfectly explain it's nature But this is impossible The sovereign good which is God cannot be defined because it is infinite neither also can sin which is the supreme evil That is infinite in goodness this is infinite in malice That possesses all perfections this is the accomplishment of all mischiefs And as no created Spirit can comprehend the Greatness Bounty and Perfections of God so none but God can understand the grievousness malice miseries of Sin. And the reason is very evident because to understand well the grievousness of sin
will and there is no will where there is no knowledge Thus when Noe by drinking Wine at first was overseen his excess in drink was not a Sin because he knew not then the force of wine nor could know it Secondly when ignorance proceeds from our fault by an express will or grosse and affected ignorance it neither takes away nor diminishes at all the Sin on the contrary it rather augments it The reason is because he that desires the cause desires also the effect If then I desire to be ignorant of the evil that is in an action and it happen by that ignorance that I Sin more freely and without remorse I am the voluntary cause of the Sin whose enormity I would not know Such was the ignorance of the unchast old men in the History of Susanna of whom it is said Dan. 13.9 That they cast down their Eyes that they might not see Heaven nor remember the Judgments of God. Such is the ignorance of those that will not be instructed in what they ought to know nor advertised of the evil they do and who will not understand to do well As the Prophet saith Psal 35.4 This is what frequently happens to young People Thirdly as the total ignorance of any evil in an action taketh away all the Sin when it doth not proceed from our fault so the ignorance of the part of the evil in which is a Sin takes away part that is diminisheth the Sin This is to be understood of that ignorance which doth not proceed from our fault nor is it in our power to be better instructed Such is the ignorance of young People when they begin to fall into Sins of impurity for they know well enough that there is ill in it which appears by the doubts they have in their Conscience and by the shame they have to Confess But they do not understand that the ill is so great as in reality it is untill such time as they are instructed and till then their Sins are not so great altho' they be almost always Mortal Sins ARTICLE II. Of Sins of Frailty or of Passion THe Sins of frailty are those which proceed from the will moved with some passion Passions are actions of the sensitive Appetite which is an inferiour part of the Soul and moves towards things forbidden by the law of God such as are Love Hatred Sadness Fear Anger Some push on the Soul to do that which is forbidden it as Love Hatred Joy Choler others withdraw it from doing the good which is commanded as Fear Sadness Despair Those cause the Sins of Action These the Sins of Omission Passions diminish the liberty of the will because being push'd on or withdrawn by other causes then by her self she doth not act with all the liberty she hath in that action either to do or not do what she will. Besides these Passions diminish also the judgment hindring the understanding which guides the will from judging of things so clearly as otherwise it would They diminish by consequence the Sin which is found in an action or omission and this differently sometimes less sometimes more and sometimes totally and othertimes they diminish them not at all but rather augment them They diminish sometimes but little when they are but light and the will may easily overcome them They diminish the Sin much when they are strong and violent because for that time they notoriously diminish the judgment and liberty however as long as they leave man with the knowledge of the evil which he does the Sin continues still They totally take away the Sin when they are so violent that they totally cloud the reason so that one doth not perceive at all that there is a Sin which never happens but in the first motions of passion which being a little appeas'd the mind returns to it self and knows what it has done and from thenceforward he Sins if he continues in his Passion In fine Passions do not at all diminish the Sin when they are voluntary and this happens when they are willingly excited or when one entertains them and endeavours to augment them as it happens too often and in this case they are not Sins of Passion but of malice ARTICE III. Of Sins of Malice BY Sins of Malice we do not understand here Sins which are maliciously committed whether purely to displease God or for the sole pleasure which one takes in doing ill These Sins are rather Sins of Devils then men and those who are so unfortunate as to Sin thus begin in this world to live the life of Devils which God often punisheth also with the punishment of Devils which is Obstinacy and Impenitence These are the Sins which our Saviour calls Mat. 12.32 Sins against the holy Ghost which are neither forgiven in this world nor the next Sins of Malice whereof I speak in this place are those which are committed without Ignorance and without Passion that is with full knowledg and entire liberty and they are called Sins of Malice because being commited neither out of ignorance nor passion they proceed only from the ill inclination of the will which scruples not to offend God upon condition it may compass the enjoyment of its Pleasures or other sensible content which it seeks by Sin. These Sins are very great and highly displeasing in the sight of God being they have nothing to excuse them as the two former had These must be Confessed very exactly declaring fully this circumstance that they committed them knowing well what they did and on set purpose and it is necessary that they do great pennance for them As these Sins are great so they ought to be rare and unheard of amongst Christians but it happens by a sad misfortune that there is nothing more common And if the lives of men were well examined the greatest part of Sins would be found to be Sins of Malice For as concerning Ignorance tho' much of it is found amongst the ordinary Sins of men and for that reason it is said that every man that Sins is ignorant How often doth it happen that the ignorance with which they Sin is affected and voluntary one searches after it expressly and with design he will be ignorant of that which he is obliged too know he will not be instructed he fears to look too narrowly into his own actions and he obliged to the good by the knowledge which he shall have of it To do thus is it not to desire the Sin upon set purpose and out of malice for this reason they fly all those things that may instruct them as reading of Books Sermons or amongst Preachers they care not for those that reprehend vice or discover the ablest Ghostly Father They seek the less understanding and most indulgent They do not consult at all about the doubts of Conscience or if they do they discover not all they seek after favourable resolutions to indulge themselves in remiss false opinions they frame a Conscience to
Damasus Epi. 57. that he was resolved never to depart from him but inseparably to unite himself unto him as to one who held the Chair of St. Peter upon which says he I know that the Church is built Adding that the Church thus built is the only house where it is lawfull to Eat the Paschal Lamb the Ark of Noah out of which during the Flood none were saved he that doth not gather with the Pope scattereth that is he who is not united to Jesus Christ doth associate himself with Anti-Christ Fifthly we are also obliged to believe that this true Church is Infallible in her judgments in matters of Faith and Doctrine concerning manners whether she be or be not assembled in the persons of her Pastours and Head viz. the Pope and Bishops she holds universally one and the same Doctrine This is also an Article of Faith grounded upon the word of the Son of God who hath promised that the gates of Hell shall never prevail against her his Church from whence it follows that she never either fell or ever shall fall into the least error in points of faith she being as the Apostle affirms the Pillar and ground of truth But we have already prov'd this truth above in the first Article Now from all what we have said both in the first Article and in the present question it follows that we must conclude and hold this for a certain and infallible truth that all saithfull Christians whosoever desire to be assured in points of faith and sound Doctrine concerning Manners and to avoid error in a matter of so great concern must of necessity adhere and stick close solely inseperably to the Holy Catholick Apostolick and Roman Church and hear and follow her Judgment and Doctrine in all things ARTICLE IV. What are we obliged to believe concerning the Sacraments I Believe the Remission of Sins We are obliged to believe what the Church hath always taught concerning the Sacraments viz. First that they are the means instituted by God thereby either to confer his Grace upon us or to augment what we have already received or to restore what we had lost as it is expressed in the Councill of Trent Sess 7. Proaem Secondly that a Sacrament may be rightly defined in this manner a Visible signe of invisible grace instituted by God for our sanctification 3. That this Visible sign consists and is as it were composed of two parts viz. the sensible thing which is applyed in the Sacrament as water in Baptism and the words which are pronounced as in the same Beptism these words I baptize thee c. according to that received doctrine delivered by St. Augustin Accedit verbum ad Elementum fit Sacramentum By the joyning of the words with the Element or Material thing the Sacrament becomes compleat One of these two parts is called the matter the other the form of the Sacrament 4. That the Sacrament being applyed by a lawfull Minister either gives or augments Sanctifying Grace in the Soul of the worthy receiver 5. That there are Seven Sacraments viz. Baptism Confirmation Eucharist Penance Extreme Unction Order Matrimony Baptism makes us the Children of Jesus Christ Washing us from the Stains of Original sin and enlivening our Soul with the Life of Grace whence St. Paul calls Baptism Tit. 3.5 the laver of regeneration and the renovation of the Holy Ghost Confirmation strengthens us and conserves and confirms us in the faith we received in Baptism The Holy Eucharist is the nourishment of the Soul for as by Meat and Drink our decayed Spirits are revived so by the use of the Blessed Sacrament those damages which Charity dayly suffers from humane frailty are repaired Penance restores us to the Grace of God which we had lost by sin Extreme Unction gives us strength at the hour of death that we may be the better able to fight against our Ghostly Enemy in that last Moment upon which Eternily depends it is a remedy against Spirituall weakness contracted by our former Sins Order consecrates the Ministers of Christ and gives them power to conferr the Sacraments Matrimony sanctifies the contract betwixt man and woman and gives them grace to comply with the obligations which they draw upon themselves by that indissoluble Bond instituted by God for the propagation of Mankind and raised to the dignity of a Sacrament by our Saviour Christ Altho' all or every one of the Sacraments do cause sanctifying grace yet they do not every one produce it in the same manner for there are two viz. Baptism and Penance instituted for the remission of Sins which conferr it upon those whom they find void of grace from whence it is that they are called the Sacraments of the dead that is to say of those who are dead in the sight of God in the state of Mortal Sin whom they raise up from that death to the life of grace whereas all the rest are called the Sacraments of the living in as much as they encrease the grace they find precedently in the Soul and to receive any one of these worthily it is necessary that we be in the state of grace The Soul by each Sacrament is not only sanctified by habitual but also endowed with actual grace that is with a vigour and strength towards the compassing of those particular effects for which it was first instituted and ordained Moreover there are three which imprint a character in the Soul Baptism Confirmation and Order this Character is a Spiritual Mark or Seal which God makes in his Soul who receives any of these three Sacraments which impression because it can never be rased out none of these three Sacraments can be reiterated or received the second time by the same Person without a Sacrilege CHAP. III. Of the Holy Eucharist ALL what we have said hitherto whether of Faith in general or in particular of the Divinity it self of the Incarnation of the Son of God of the Holy Church and of the Sacraments serve only as so many steps or dispositions to the belief of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and to render the understanding of this adorable Mystery more easy to us which therefore we shall here endeavour to explain as brief and short as possibly we may I shall reduce all whatsoever we are obliged to know concerning it into four heads 1. The real prefence of the Son of God in the Sacrament 2. The Wonders inseparably annext unto it 3. The effects which it is capable to produce 4. The dispositions necessary to receive it ARTICLE I. Of the real presence of the Son of God in the Holy Eucharist and of what we are to believe concerning this Sacrament WE are obliged to believe that it is a Sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ wherein he gives us really and truly his Body and Blood under the species or exteriour appearance of Bread and Wine for our Spiritual nourishment and refection There is not any one particle of this general
words it follows that the flesh of the Son of God as a Divine nourishment works in the Soul of the worthy receiver the same effects Spiritually which the best Corporal nourishment produceth corporally in the body of those who take it Now the effects of corporal nourishment are four or five 1. It conserves life 2. It makes one grow or encrease 3. It fortifies us 4. It preserves us against distempers Infine it gives us strength to be able to labour and to comply with all our respective duties By these we may judge of the effects of the Holy Eucharist The first is to conserve Grace which is the life of the Soul and therefore it is called the Bread of Life the Bread which gives Life unto the World. The Second is to augment the same grace and encrease the Christian Virtues Faith Hope and Charity This effect however it be common to all the Sacraments yet it is more peculiar to this as being more particularly instituted for the nourishment of the Soul and to make us increase and proceed from Virtue to Virtue till we come to the house of God. The third is to strengthen us against sin and the temptations which incline that way hence the Councill of Trent affirm'd Sess 13. c. 2. that this Sacrament is a preservative against Mortal and a remedy against Venial Sin. The fourth effect is that it heals the distempers that is the passions and disorderly affections of the Soul. It weakens concupiscence or gives new strength to overcome it It diminishes Choler Envy Pride and other Vices as St. Bernard Serm. de Coena Domini excellently well observes If any one says he does not find so frequent or so violent motions of Anger Envy Impurity or of other like passions let him give thanks to the body and blood of our Lord for it is the vertue of the Sacrament which produces in him these effects and let him rejoyce that the worst of Vlcers begin to heal Lastly the Holy Eucharist gives perseverance in the grace of God and in the way of Salvation in the midst of the various imminent dangers which we encounter in this Life and particularly when we draw near death whence it was given sometimes to Martyrs when they were ready to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ and the Church always takes care to Communicate the sick when they are in danger of Death that so they may be Strengthened in that dangerous passage and happily arrive at the haven of Salvation by means of this divine nourishment then called the Viaticum which is as much as to say the Provision for that voiage All these admirable effects evidently prove the greatness and excellence of this divine Sacrament and ought effectually to move us frequently to approach unto it and not neglect so many and so signal favours as God there presents unto us Yet we are to take notice that it doth not produce these Effects except in such persons as are rightly disposed to receive it as it deserves Of these dispositions we will now discourse ARTICLE IV. Of the dispositions required to Communicate well and as we ought WE shall inferr the dispositions from the same principle from which we gathered the effects viz. from the nature of the nourishment and Spiritual food we receive in the Holy Euchrist and as it produces the same effects in the Soul that food doth into the Body so also it requives proportionable dispositions in the Soul that nourishment doth to be beneficial to the Body Now Corporall nourishment we know requires three dispositions Life Health Action for a dead body is uncapable to be nourished an infirm Stomack can never make a good digestion nor is it possible to convert the food into our substance except that health be accompanied with our action which is the reason that the body to be nourished requires to be alive to be sound and well and to have an action of its own Thus the Eucharist that Celestiall food requires three dispositions in the Soul and without them it doth no good but harm The first is Sanctifying Grace which is the life of the Soul as mortall Sin is the death incompatible with it depriving us of this Supernatural life of the Soul Without this life the Soul not only receives no benefit from Communion but suffers also much detriment from this holy Table inofmuch as she becomes guilty of a new mortall Sin a Sacriledge which she commits by inviting the Authour of Life into the habitation of Death the author of Light into the place of Darkness and Jesus Christ into the company of the Devil This made St. Paul 1 Cor. 21.28 advertise all Communicants to examen themselves well when they approach to this holy table because saith the Apostle he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself The Second disposition is the interiour Health of the Soul which requires 1st that she be free from any affection to veniall Sin. 2ly that she be not actually moved either with Passions or Affections which may hinder her in her application and address to Jesus Christ And altho' these defects do not render the Communicant absolutely unworthy or the Communion Sacrilegious yet they cause very ill effects and considerably diminish the fruits which otherwise it would produce They hinder the Soul from digesting this sacred food by good thoughts and holy affections And as nutriment which lies indigested upon the Stomack begets crudities and causes Sickness in the body so this divine sustenance by means of these indispositions becomes prejudicial to the Soul. Thereby we contract tepidity and coldness in devotion Charity and other Virtues are considerably diminish'd our good actions weak and feeble our selves by degrees insensible of all good things which conduce to Piety And thus by degrees at last we are often brought into mortall Sin. The Third disposition is Action that is actual devotion To receive the fruits of this Sacrament it is not sufficient that we be not indisposed or that we do not put any obstacle to its effects it is necessary also that in this so religious an action wherein we receive the Holy of Holys and the Author of Holiness it self we concur with dispositions of our own which consist in the practice of Christian Virtues Of which we shall speak below in the Second Part of this Instruction ARTICLE V. Of an Vnworthy Communion AN ancient Lawgiver being ask'd why he had made no Laws against Paricides made answer because he esteemed that crime impossible that there could not be found Children so degenerate and unnaturall as to attempt the life of their own Parents I would to God we could say the same with truth in the point of Instruction concerning unworthy Communion or that we could truly say that it is not necessary to advertise Christians to avoid that so horrid Sacriledge because it is impossible for a man professing himself a Christian ever to be guilty of so enormous a crime against
our Saviour Jesus Christ But Alas the contrary is too true and this crime tho' a thousand times greater yet is much more common amongst Christians then that of Paricide They have an horror and with good reason to deprive those of breath from whom they receiv'd their life yet they are not apprehensive to Murder and Crucifie again as much as in them lies our Saviour Christ by receiving him into an impure perfidious Breast Nature hath imprinted in them a profound and lasting respect for those from whom they have received only a Mortal and fading life But they easily forget the Reverence they owe to Jesus Christ notwithstanding he nourisheth them with his own substance his pretious Blood and offers them by his presence a Spiritual and immortal and a pledge of everlasting life O God Theotime is it possible then that there should be found Souls capable of so black a deed so horrible a Crime Surely they are only those who either have no Faith or such as have never considered the enormity of the Sin who can commit it for he must surpass the very Devils in malice who falls into such a Sin if he have but the least knowledge how grievous and great it is and what dreadfull consequences do follow from it Two points I therefore design to discourse of in this place I will set forth the enormity of this Sin from three heads 1. From that remarkable saying of our Lord himself Mat. 7.6 Do not give that which is Holy unto Dogs If it be a great Sacrilege to give to Dogs things consecrated to God what Crime must it needs be to give the Holy of Holies unto a Soul an enemy of God more impure and filthy then the very Dogs and what Sin must it be in those to receive the Body of our Lord who being no better then Dogs as it is said in the Apocalypse and under this notion excluded from the Sanctuary Foris canes impudici yet have the impudence to eat the Bread of Children the Bread of the very Angels themselves Ecce panis Angelorum vere panis filioram non mittendus canibus 2. From that so famed Doctrine and signal admonition of St. Paul 1. Cor. 11.27 Whosoever ones the Bread and drinks the Chalice of our Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of our Lord. This Sentence is a Thunder which ought to terrify all those who are so miserably unfortumate as to Communicate in Mortal Sin For he saith they are guilty of the Body and Blood of the Son of God that is they despise and treat in juriously this adorable Body and Blood whilst they receive it in a profane place in the Temple of Satan in a Soul polluted with Mortal Sin. It is particularly verified in this occasion what St. Paul relates elsewhere Heb. 6.6 this is to Crucisy Jesus Christ again to scoff at him to trample him under ones feet and contemn his Blood in that very action by which one ought to sanctify his holy name Can we think of these things without trembling and horror We never call to mind without a certain horror and eversion the inhumane methods the Jews and Soldiets a sed against our Saviour Jesus Christ in the time of his bitter Passion and can we be so insensible in our own case as not to detest those affronts we offer him even worse then the Jews did whilst we unworthily receive him For besides that they Luo. 23.34 knew not what they did we know and confess him to be the Son of God whom we offend St. Chrisostome explaining these words of St. Paul. 1. Cor. 11. Whosoever shall eat the Bread or drink the Cup of our Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of our Lord. Why so suith this Holy Father hom 27. and his answer is because he hath spilt the Blood and by that action he hath not offered a Sacrifice but committed a Murther for he who approaches unworthily to this Divine Table and receives no Fruit from thence resembles them who formerly pierced the Body of our Lord not to drink but to shed his Blood. And hom 60. Consider saith he what just Indignation you conceive against him who betrayed Jesus Christ and against those who Crucified him therefore consider lest you also be equally culpable and guilty of the Body and Blood of the Son of God. It is true they kill'd his most Sacred Body but you after so many and so often repeated benefits bestowed upon you receive him into an unclean and polluted Soul. St. Cyprian before him had said that unworthy Communicants offer Violence to the Body of Jesus Christ and that this sin is a more grievous offence in the sight of God then it is for a Christian to abjure him in the presence of Infidels The Third from hence which you ought never to forget that the sin of an unworthy Communion is the sin of Judas It was he who first committed it and those who fall into it since imitate his Example and become his Disciples They receive him as he did in a Criminall and guilty Soul They betray him not indeed to the Jews but which is worse to the Devil who inhabits in them What punishment ought they not to dread from such an Enormous Crime Ought they not to remember how that perfidious Apostle was immediately possessed by the Devil in the moment that be received Jesus Christ for since they imitate him in his Sin they cannot avoid being partaker of his punishment as we are about to shew you The dammages which follow from an unworthy Communion SUch a mischievous cause cannot but produce most fatal effects The death of the Soul which infallibly it brings with it is the first evil which follows from it Mors est malis vita bonis This death is an encrease or extension of that other wherein the Soul lay buried before by the Sin in which he receiv'd the Sacrament It is a further banishment from the grace of God and a further disheartning and exposing her to the Power of Satan From this Death follow other most dismal lamentable effects as the fall into new Sins the blindness of Spirit the encrease of vices and passions which makes a Soul to groan under the Yoke of her Captivity and hinder her from returning again to God by true Repentance The Prophet hath comprised these effects in few words Psalm 68.23 when speaking against the enemies of Jesus Christ he prays to God that their Table may prove a snare to them and an occasion of scandal That they may become blind so that they may not see their own good That they may always stoop under the Yoke of a miserable Servitude If those who persecuted Jesus Christ without knowing him are punished so severely what ought not Christians to expect when they treat him so ill in his own Person whom they know Histories are full of examples of divers punishments which God hath laid upon this so detestabie a
produce in the Soul. IF you have yet time before Communion acknowledge in the presence of God the admirable effects which it produceth desire earnestly to be partaker of them and say from the bottom of your heart as follows I acknowledge O Saviour of Souls the wonderfull effects which thou workest in those who worthyly receive thee The many and singular tokens of thy love thou bestowest upon them the favours thou communicatest unto them I acknowledge that thou hast made thy self my meat to fill my Soul with so divine repast thou conservest in us the life of thy grace thou makest us encrease more and more therein thou strengthenest us in our weakness thou curest our infirmities thou preservest us from Sin thou givest us strength to persevere in thy grace and to walk so far and so secure amidst the dangers of this mortall till we come to immortall and everlasting life O my God! Blessed be thy holy name for these so many favours thou hast bestowed upon us Make me worthy to partake of all thy mercies in this holy Communion Approach to the Communion with this faith saying with the infirm woman in the Gospell Mat. 9.21 If I shall but touch the hem of his Garment I shall be cured After Communion withdrawing your self from the Holy Table into some convenient place adore profoundly our Lord who hath vouchsafed to come and dwell within you and considering attentively the great favours which he hath bestowed upon you by his divine presence pronounce from your heart those excellent words of S. David Psal 106.8.9 Confiteantur Domino misericordiae ejus mirabilia ejus filiis hominum quia satiavit animam inanem animam esurientem satiavit bonis Let the divine mercy proclaim and praise him every where and let his wonders be made known to the whole world because he hath fully satisfyed a dry and fill'd an empty Soul hath replenished her with blessings of all sorts O my God be thou blessed for so many favours which thou hast now bestowed upon me and for all the blessings with which thou hast enrich'd me after the great want and miseries which I endured when by my pleasures and my passions I had departed from thee Was not I most miserable and blind to seek in these vain pleasures repose and happiness which are not to be found but in thee alone I removed my self a far distance from thee to ruin my self for ever but thy goodness was such that it withdrew me from the precipice whether I was running to throw my self headlong down enlightning me with thy rays and calling me back unto thee by thy grace Thou hast pardoned me all my Sins and for the accomplishment of all these favours thou gavest thy self present with me to the end I may dwell with thee O my God! be thou blessed for all these infinite mercies and let all the Saints supply my defects and praise thee in my stead Confiteantur tibi Domine omnia opera tua Sancti tui benedicant tibi Ps 144.10 Stirr up your Soul that is your self to praise God for all the benefits which he hath at present conferred upon you with those gratefull sentiments of the same Prophet Psal 102. Benedic anima mea Domino Considering them attentively one after another O my Soul bless our Lord and let all that is within me praise and magnify his holy name Bless our Lord and never be unmindfull of the favours which he even now hath done thee Our Lord I say who hath pardoned all thy offences and hath cured all thy Infirmities Who hath preserved thee from death and who hath Crowned thee with the effects of his bounty He hath replenished thee with all the blessings which thou could'st wish considering all these favours now thou shalt mend thy Life and renewing thy forces grow young like an Eagle in the service of thy God. After you have Ponder'd well upon these Sacred words and have raised up in your self all the motions of gratitude and acknowledgment to God for the many and great favours he hath done you you shall conclude with a strong resolution to renew your self that is to say totally to change your life to amend your faults to dedicate your self from henceforth entirely to the Service of God. You shall demand grace at his hands and to this effect you shall beg of him a steady and constant Faith whose acts you have endeavoured to practice in this Communion You shall beseech him that he will vouchsafe to augment it not only in respect of this Holy Mystery but also in regard of all the other Christian Verities and Principles of Eternal Life to the end that by this Faith you may surmount all the difficulties and impediments you shall meet with in your Journey thither for it is most certain that those who have this great Virtue strongly imprinted in their Soul overcome all whatsoever difficulties occurr in the way of Salvation as St. Paul hath clearly shewn in his Epistle to the Hebrews Chap. 11.33 Per fidem vicerunt regna operati sunt justitiam adepti sunt repromissiones By Faith they conquered Kingdoms they have done Justice they have obtained promises But all this is to be understood of an ardent faith enlivened with the flames of Charity as he himself elsewhere declares Gal. 5.6 Faith that worketh by Charity Read I entreat you the advice which hereafter shall be given you in the Seventh Article of the Third Chapter CHAP. II. Of Hope the second disposition for Communion HAving not as yet said any thing of this Virtue farther then what concern'd the Examen upon the First Commandment where I related the Sins which are opposite unto it I shall treat of it in this place so far as may be necessary to make it well known to all those who are not yet sufficiently instructed in it ARTICLE I. What is Hope IT is the Second of the three Theological Virtues so called because they respect God not only as their motive and their end as all other Christian Virtues do but also as their first and principal object To expect from the hand of God the things he hath promised us and which he hath prepar'd for his Servants is the proper effect of this Virtue wherefore it is defined a certain expectation of Eternal bliss and of the means to attain unto it This expectation is the proper act of this Virtue Hope which is a certain judgment which we form that God will be pleased to grant us Everlasting Life if we correspond with his mercies and be Faithfull in the Dispensations he hath commended to us for as St. Bernard observes very well in Psal 90. Serm. 10. Faith tells us that there are great rewards prepared for Gods Faithfull Servants Hope says that these are reserved for me Charity is the third and saith I run that I may reach to them and enjoy them It is of this expectation which the Prophet speaks Thren 3.24 Our Lord is my portion
every day early in the Morning together as the Scripture remarks Numb 11.9 with the Dew from Heaven which bedewed the whole Camp of Israel And with how much more reason may we affirm that none ever received this Celestial Manna the Holy Eucharist of which that is only a Type or Figure in the happy morning before the World hath seized his thoughts but he sinds his Soul replenished with abundance of Graces and Divine Blessings For certainly if this Heavenly bread is showred upon us for the nourishment of our needy and hungry Souls without question it works the same in her which wholsome food doth in a sound or healthy Body Now Corporal nutriment hath these four effects It conserves it increases it strengthens and it repairs the Body It is necessary therefore that this Spiritual food have the same Operations in our Souls if well disposed as we have already made out in the First part of this Treatise Chap. 3. Art. 3. It was a Simbole of this truth that the Prophet Elias 3. Reg. 19. flying the Persecution of Achab received from the hand of an Angel a Loaf of Bread which maintained him through his whole Journey and the Scripture affirms v. 8. that having eaten that bread he received such strength that without any further sustenance he travelled full forty days even to the Mountain Horeb which is interpreted the sight of God. ARTICLE VI. That the practice of Hope is a good and great disposition to the Holy Communion FRom the precedent we inferr this truth For if the Blessed Sacrament augment in us the Virtue of Hope it follows of necessity that to Communicate well we must beforehand exercise the acts of and have our hearts replenished with the Virtue of Hope as in the same manner because heat is natural to Fire and Fire dispenseth not its effects but to the Subject which is already hot it is necessary that the same heat should be introduced into that matter where one would have the Fire to act for it is most certain that the natural qualities of any thing whatsoever serve as dispositions to give both its being and its action Since therefore the Holy Eucharist is a Sacrament which so powerfully revives our Hope as we have already proved it follows of necessity that to receive this Sacrament with that advantage it is capable to afford it is necessarily required that we be full of this Virtue and stirr up our selves the most we can unto it when we approach to this Holy Table And truly if we consider the particular acts of which this Virtue seems as it were to be composed we shall find that they are those which make up the most usual dispositions to Communion we have mark'd them out above in the Third Article An expectation of Eternal Life a desire to obtain it a fear to loose it by any Sin a resolution effectually to labour for it All these are the most usual acts in which we ought to employ our selves before and after Communion the practice whereof we are about to instruct you in ARTICLE VII The practice of the acts of Hope for Communion THese acts are the four of which we have already spoken to which it is but just that we subjoyn sorrow for Sins which have set us at so great a distance from the divine grace from eternall glory and Prayer by which we beg of God both the one and the other of these goods one may reap much fruit from the practice of them before and after Communion either in the following or some better manner The practice of Hope before Communion ADdressing your Thoughts and the whole intention of your heart to our Lord who is present in the Sacred host acknowledg that he is your only hope and that it is from him alone you expect all the goods both of Grace and Glory O Jesus my Saviour and my God I adore thee in this Sacred host where thou are present to the end that thou mayst be to me a Jesus and a Saviour Thou art my only hope it is from thee alone I expect all my happiness whether in this life or the next saying with David â—s 38.8 after he had considered the vanities of the world and what a nothing man himself is without thee And now in what or in whom can I put my trust but in thee O Lord thou art my help and all I can rely on nunc quae est expectatio mea nonne Dominus Substantia mea apud te est or Ps 70.5 O Lord in whom I have placed my confidence from my youth Thou art my refuge in this and my Salvation in the other Life I hope that thou wilt by thy grace conduct me safe in this and replenish me with glory in the next What blessings may not I expect from thy hands in this blessed state since thy bounty hath vouchsafed so liberally to bestow thy self upon me in this unhappy vale of miseries tears thou givest me hopes I shall possess thee one day unveil'd see thee face to face since thou hast been so good as ever now to give thy self unto me tho' veil'd in the blessed Sacrament O inestimable pledge of my future felicity when shall that happy hour arrive that I shall see thee face to face and enjoy thee as thou art in thy self with all the blessings thou hast prepared for those that serve thee O my God how lovely are those Mansions where thou art clearly seen my Soul longs to inhabit there sighs after them and even faints away in those desires My heart and my very flesh leap for joy in the hopes I shall once possess the living God. I am fixed and constant in my hope and I know that there is not any thing except my Sins which can ever frustrate my desires Wherefore I here detest them all from the bottom of my heart Prostrate in thy presence O my God with a contrite and humble heart I beg pardon of them And for the future I am fully resolved to fly Sin and the occasions of it more then from the danger of death or death it self It is in this pious confidence and hope that I approach at present to this holy table of Communion there to receive thee hidden under the Sacramentall species and to tast as by advance of these in finite goods which thou hast prepared for me in everlasting life where I shall be so happy as to see thee not only as now obscurely either in thy wonderfull effects or in the cloud of faith but clearly and distinctly as thou art in thy self O my God exclude me not from this holy table which thou hast prepared for me in this mortall life to the end I may deserve to be admitted to that other which thou hast furnish'd in everlasting life to feast thy faithfull Servants It is true I confess my Sins have made me unworthy of either of them yet I hope in thy Mercy which hath been pleased to pardon them
and which will yet more confirm that pardon confirming me in the resolution I have conceived to be faithfull to thee Come then O Divine Saviour enter and take possession of me speak to my Soul a word of comfort Psa 34.3 Dic animae meae salus tua ego sum tell her that thou art her strength her Salvation and her Sovereign good Tell her as once thou didst Abraham Gen. 15.1 Fear not I am thy Protector amidst the greatest dangers of this Life I will secure thee I am thy exceeding great Reward an infinite and incomprehensible recompence in the next grant I beseech thee that I may rightly understand these high Mysteries these important truths and that this may be the fruit of the Communion which I am about to receive When you have ponder'd well upon these holy thoughts approach to the Sacred Table full with desire to take possession of and enjoy your God and replenished with hope to receive in this Communion an abundant plenty of Graces to conserve him in you and you in him After Communion AS soon as you are retired from the Holy Table prostrate in heart before him adore with all humility our Lord whom you have received return him innumerable thanks for the infinite favour he hath done in coming to you and consequent to this you shall insist upon the practice of these three acts of the Virtue of Hope An earnest desire of Eternal Salvation A strong resolution to labour that you may attain unto it Prayer to demand at the hands of God grace and the means to obtain it Adoration First then addressing your thought to our Lord whom you have received represent to your self how you possess him the very same whose sight causeth all that bliss which maketh the Angels and Saints in Heaven blessed and all the Celestial Spirits desire and esteem themselves happy to behold him 1. Pet. 1.12 In quem desiderant Angeli prospicere in this belief speak to him and let your heart pronounce as followeth I Adore thee O Infinite greatness O Divine Majesty who fillest both Heaven and Earth and art adored in Heaven by all the Blessed Spirits Angells and Saints who incessantly praise and cry out before thee Esai 6.3 Sanctus Sanctus sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth how is it possible O my God that thou shouldst stoop so low as to descend unto me and to enclose thy self within me 2. Par. 6.18 Is it credible O All-mighty God that thou wouldst vouchsafe to dwell amongst men upon the Earth If the Heavens and Heavens of Heavens do not contain thee how much less this habitation which I have prepared for thee But thy goodness O great God knows full well how to humble it self when it pleases thee Thou knowest well how to conceal the amazing splendors of thy glory and by condescending to our weak capacity to communicate thy self more freely to us This thou didst begin to do in thy adorable Incarnation in which thou mad'st thy self like unto us to attract our love And this method thou holdest on in this Mystery where thou bestowest thy self upon us for our food and nourishment that thou may'st more closely unite thy self unto us and make us aspire to that Celestial Banquet which thou hast made for all the Blessed in Heaven who glut themselves without loathing and are perpetually satiated with and yet always desire thy Divine presence O my God grant me grace that I may dayly more and more aspire to and long after this eternal banquet that the desire to enjoy it may make me slight all the goods and pleasures of this mortall life and labour continually to render my self worthy of it and happily at last to arrive unto it This is my resolution which at present I make before thee I resolve to renounce all whatsoever my irregular affections and may too much incline me to the vain and deceitfull goods or possessions of this life I know they are apt to endanger and make me loose everlasting happyness and for this reason I will discharge my heart of them that I may love nothing but thee alone and place my whole trust in thee as David did Ps 72.28 It is good for me to cleave to God and to put my hope in our Lord. I firmly resolve to watch over all my actions and fly from Sin and avoid whatsoever may displease thee And as the same Psalmist expresseth himself Ps 17.24 I will be by his grace immaculate in his sight and will observe to keep my self from all iniquity I will labour to work my Salvation by keeping thy holy commandments And I protest before thee O my God and I hope I shall be faithfull to thee Ps 118.106 I have Sworn and determin'd with my self to keep the Judgments which thou hast form'd and manifested to me of thy justice But I am not able to perform this resolution without the assistance of thy grace wherefore I most humbly demand it of thee O Jesus save me ibid. 35. Conduct me thro' all the ways of thy Commandments which I now enter upon and Embrace with all my heart Incline my heart and make me love thy divine truths which thou hast so abundantly attested and not to covetousness or the immoderate desire of the goods of this world Divert my Eyes that they may not see that is be fixed on Vanity or the promising but indeed vain and empty delights of this present life Enliven and strengthen me in thy way that is in the holy path of Virtue and good works Grant that I may find nothing amiable whereon to fix my affection but thee alone Assist my weakness that I may be able to advance towards thee Cant. 1.4 Draw me to thee O divine Jesus that being so attracted I may run after the odours of thy perfumes that is of thy divine Virtues by an holy imitation of them and following thee by that way even as far as Heaven where thou livest and raignest for all Eternity CHAP. III. Of Charity the third disposition for the worthy receiving the blessed Sacrament ARTICLE I. How necessary Charity is and how much is requir'd to Communicate well and as we ought THis is the third disposition to a good Communion and no less necessary then the former two yea without it those two great Virtues would not at all conduce or dispose the soul better for the worthy receiving of Jesus Christ Altho' your Faith were as great as that of the Apostles and your hope equalled that of the Prophets if you have not Charity you are not in a condition fit to entertain him who is Charity himself and who cannot dwell with him who is without it Altho' I should have so strong a Faith says St. Paul 1. Cor. 13.1 so that I could move Mountains without Charity it avails nothing and proceeding he affirms v. 3. Altho' I should distribute all my goods amongst the poor and deliver my body to be burnt as the Martyrs have done if I am void of Charity all