Instruction concerning penance and holy communion the second part fo 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.

CHAP. XIII. Of Examples of Penance taken out of Holy Writ.

ALltho' what we have said may be very effe∣ctual to excite Contrition, and a true sorrow for our Sins; yet we will add in this place another means, which without question must needs be more efficacious. They are some Examples of true Peni∣tents, which we find in the Holy Scripture, as well in the Old, as New Testament. These are the true models, by which we may frame ours, and learn what is true Penance, and how to pra∣ctice it. Reade then, Theotime, and attend.

Consider David after his Sin, how full of interi∣our trouble and concern he was for the evil he had done; bedewing, as he saith, his bed with his tears, and having always his Sins before his eyes, demanding mercy of God, and beseeching him to turn away his eyes from his Iniquities, not to take away from him his Holy Spirit; not to contemn the Sacrifice, which he offer'd him, of an afflicted mind, of an humble and con∣trite heart. Behold a true Penitent, behold what true Contrition is. Vade & fac similiter. Imitate this Example, and you are a true Penitent. You will find these excellent dispositions of a penitent mind in the seven Penitential Psalms, if you reade them wth attention. Behold King Ezechias weeping and lamenting in the presence of God, and promising him to pass again over in his heart, and in the bitterness of his Soul all his mis∣spent years, to bewail his Sins, and obtain re∣mission of them. Reade his Canticle which begins Ego dixi in dimidio. Esai. 38. Cast your eyes upon the good Israelites, who were sent Captives into Babilon after the taking of Jerusalem, doing Pe∣nance for their Sins, which had thrown them in∣to that miserable state; crying out to God from the bottom of their hearts, Baruch. 2. We have sinned against the Lord our God in not obeying his word. To the Lord our God belongs justice and up∣rightness; but to us nothing but shame and confusion, which our iniquities have deserved: We have sinned, we have done evil, we have dealt unjustly, O Lord our God, in all thy Commandments. Turn from us thy anger; hear, O Lord, our Prayers, and our Pe∣titions; open thy eyes and consider that the dead praise thee not, but the Soul which is sensible and afflicted

with the greatness of the evils she hath done, and per∣forms due Penance for them.

Consider Manasses also in his Conversion groaning under the weight of his Sins, and la∣menting his Iniquities with such a sorrow, that he acknowledged himself unworthy even to lift up his eyes towards Heaven; so great, he confest, were his offences! You will perceive these words to proceed from a truly penitent Soul, over∣whelmed with sorrow for his Sins. Oratio Manasses. 'Tis true, O Lord, I have infinitely offended thee, and my Sins are more in number then the Sand of the Sea; I am unworthy to lift up my eyes towards Heaven to demand thy mer∣cy, having provoked thy anger, as I have done, by my Iniquities: But now, O my God, I pro∣strate my self from my heart before thee to beg thy mercy. I have sinned, O my God, I have sinned: I acknowledge all the evil I have done, pardon, O Lord, pardon. I beg of thee, and ear∣nestly beseech thee, do not destroy me with my Iniquities; do not reserve me to the utmost ri∣gour of thy Justice; do not condemn me for e∣ver unto the fire of Hell: Remember that thou art my God; the God of Penitents, and thy im∣mense bounty will best appear in me, whilst it makes thee to save a miserable Sinner unworthy of thy grace, and gives me occasion to praise thee eternally for thy infinite goodness.

Go to the Gospel, and there you will find more pressing examples of Penance and Con∣trition.

There you may see a holy Penitent, moved to that degree with sorrow for her Sins, that she seeks the Son of God, and having found him,

casts her self at his feet, washes them with her tears, (such was the compunction of her heart, and so abundantly did they flow) wipes them with her hair, and annoints them with precious Ointment: thus consecrating these Riches, that Hair, those Tears to pious uses, which till then she had employ'd in vanity. And thus that sorrow, she had so happily conceived, broke forth into all the Signs of the love of God, and spared nothing to serve him, from whom she expected the remission of her Sins. So that She deserved to hear from the mouth of our Saviour. Luc. 7.47. that her Sins were forgiven her, because she loved much.

There you shall find the head of the Apostles unfortunately fall'n, denying his divine Master three several times. But he had scarce ended his last denial, when our Saviour by a glance of his eye which penetrated Peters heart, makes him to remember himself, acknowledge his fault, and conceive so great a grief, that going out he wept bitterly for the Sin. Egressus foras flevit amare. Mat. 26.75. And the grief continued all his life.

You will find in the Gospel two other exam∣ples of true penance, which the Son of God him∣self proposed in two parables, which he set forth for that intent.

The first is in the person of the Prodigal Son, under which figure he sets before our eyes a per∣fect pattern of a Sinner returning again to God by means of Penance. Luk. 15. This poor strayed young man after he had spent all his Estate, is forced by the sense of his miseries to reflect, or return to himself, and say; O how many hired Servants are there in my Fathers house, who abound with bread, and live at case, and I miserable wretch am ready to starve

with hunger. I will arise, and go to my Father, and say, Father I have sinned against Heaven and a∣gainst you, I am not now worthy to be called your Son, permit me only to be like one of your hired Servants. He had no sooner spoke these words, but pre∣sently without delay he puts them in execution; Leaves the place of his misery, comes and casts himself at his Fathers feet, to beg pardon and mer∣cy at his hands; and such and so great was this his repentance; that whereas he only demanded a place amongst his Servants, he was admitted unto that of his Son which he had lost.

Consider well this pattern, Theotime, imitate it in your Repentance, and return to God.

First, Practice well that, which is signified by these words, in se reversus; returning into himself; for one must return into ones self to return to God; that is to say, one must acknowledge the miserable condition, to which he is reduced by Sin; the distance from God, the loss of his grace, the lack of Spiritual favours, and parti∣cularly of Divine Inspirations; and above all, the continual danger of Damnation, wherein one is.

Secondly, in this view of your misery, con∣ceive a horrour of it, and form in your heart a prompt and firm resolution to return unto your Heavenly Father, in those words of the Prodigal Son, Surgam & ibo ad Patrem: I will rise from my misery, and I will go towards my Eternal Fa∣ther; I will declare my fault, and ask him par∣don, submitting my self in all things to his will.

Thirdly, do not deferr, no more then the Prodigal Son, the performance of your resoluti∣on; begin immediately and in earnest to do Pe∣nance for your Sins: Prostrate your self in the

presence of God, and beg his pardon, prepare your self for a good Confession, using all the necessary means to make it well: and in this Confession, or even before, make use often of those words of the Prodigal. Pater! peccavi in Coelum & coram te, jam non sum dignus vocari filius tuns: fac me sicut unum de mercenariis tuis. But ponder well what they signify; for by those words you profess to God that you have grie∣vously offended his Fatherly bounty; that, as a degenerate Child, you have abused all his graces; that you have not been ashamed to affront him even in his prefence, and in the sight of the whole Court of Heaven; that you acknowledge your self unworthy to appear before him, or from thence forward to be treated by him, as his Child; that you only implore his mercy and the pardon of your Sins, protesting to serve him faithfully from henceforward, to do Penance and accomplish all his Commands, as a good and faithfull Servant. O what an excellent pattern is this, Theotime, if you did but know how to imi∣tate it well.

The other example is that of the Publican; in whose person the Son of God hath again repre∣sented to the life, the dispositions, which he re∣quires in a true Penitent: And that he might set it forth to the best advantage, behold over against him a false or feigned Penitent, who had nothing in him, besides an appearance or a de∣ceitfull shew of Penance.

Two men (saith he, Luke 18.) went up into the Temple to pray, the one was a Pharisee, the other a Publican; the Pharisee standing prayed thus with himself: O God, I give thee thanks, that I am not

like other men, Thieves, Adulterers, Ʋnjust, as also this Publican; I fast twice a week, I pay exactly the tenths of all my goods. Behold an example of a feign'd Penitent, who hath no sorrow for his own sins, but who looks more into the sins of others, then his own; who justifies himself by the sins he hath not committed, instead of con∣demning himself for those he is guilty of: who esteems himself just before God, when he is ex∣empt from some certain sins, altho' he commit others, and sometimes greater. Who thinks he sufficiently satisfies for his sins by some exterior good works, as fasting, and the like, neglecting in the mean time, Penance of heart, and amend∣ment of life. Behold the Idea of a false Penitent, which is but too frequently found amongst Chri∣stians. Look now upon the Picture of a true one.

On the contrary, saith our Saviour, the Publican standing afar off would not so much as lift up his Eyes to Heaven; but knockt his breast, saying, God have mercy upon me Miserable Sinner. In this Ex∣ample are set forth all the dispositions of a true Penitent.

First, a profound humility, which made him stay below in the Temple at a distance, and se∣parated from others, as if he apprehended him∣self by reason of his sins unworthy to approach to God, or intermix himself amongst the just. But by how much he retired farther off in himself, by so much, saith St. Augustine, he approached nearer to God. Publicanus autem, de longinquo stabat, & Deo tamen ipse propinquabat; cordis conscientia re∣movebat, pietas applicabat. Serm. 36. de vers. Dom.

Secondly, the shame and confusion he had to appear before God with a Conscience loaden

with sins: a confusion so great, that it hindred him from raising his Eyes towards Heaven.

Thirdly, the sorrow he had in his heart for having grievously offended God, in token where∣of he knocks his breast, denoting by that action, (saith St. Ciprian) the sins concealed within. Sed percutiebat pectus suum, ut peccata intus inclusa testaretur. De Orat. Dominica.

Fourthly, the pardon he emplored of God, as a true Penitent, having no other motive but his own unworthiness on the one side, and on the other the pure mercy of God, by which alone he hoped for pardon, and not by his own Merits.

Behold, Theotime, Examples and patterns of true Penance, by which we ought to form and model ours. They are proposed to us by the Holy Ghost for that end: and the two last were drawn, and formed by the Son of God, to teach us how to behave our selves in that great action. For this reason if you resolve upon Penance, and a serious Conversion; you must read them attentively; Consider exactly all and every one of their actions, so to conform your self to them, as near as you can. And as you have imitated those Penitents in their Sins and extra∣vagances; so also imitate them in their Penance. As St. Ambrose said to a great Emperour: Qui secutus es errantem, sequere poenitentem.