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De Paenitentia

IV.

[1] Omnibus ergo delictis seu carne seu spiritu, seu facto seu voluntate commissis qui poenam per iudicium destinavit, idem et veniam per paenitentiam spopondit dicens ad populum: paenitere et salvum faciam te. [2] Et rursus: vivo, inquit, dicit dominus et paenitentiam malo quam mortem. Ergo paenitentia vita est, quae praeponitur morti. Eam tu peccator, mei similis — immo me minor: ego enim praestantiam in delictis meam agnosco — ita invade, ita amplexare ut naufragus alicuius tabulae fidem. [3] Haec te peccatorum fluctibus mersum prolevabit et in portum divinae clementiae protelabit. Rape occasionem inopinatae felicitatis, ut ille tu nihil quondam penes dominum nisi stilla situlae et areae pulvis et vasculum figuli arbor exinde fias, illa arbor quae penes aquas seritur et in foliis perennat et tempore suo fructus agit, quae non ignem, non securem videbit. [4] Paeniteat errorum reperta veritate, paeniteat amasse quae deus non amat, quando ne nos quidem ipsi servulis nostris ea, quibus offendimur, nosse permittimus: obsequi enim ratio in similitudine animorum constituta est.

[5] De bono paenitentiae enumerando diffusa et per hoc magno eloquio committenda materia est: nos vero pro nostris angustiis unum inculcamus, bonum atque optimum esse quod deus praecipit. [6] Audaciam existimo de bono divini praecepti disputare; neque enim quia bonum est, idcirco auscultare debemus, sed quia deus praecepit: ad exhibitionem obsequi prior est maiestas divinae potestatis, prior est auctoritas imperantis quam utilitas servientis. [7] 'Bonum est paenitere an non? Quid revolvis? deus praecepit! Atenim ille non praecipit tantum, sed etiam hortatur; invitat praemio: salute; iurans etiam, vivo dicens cupit credi sibi. [8] O beatos nos quorum causa deus iurat; o miserrimos si nec iuranti domino credimus! Quod iterum deus tantopere conmendat, quod etiam humano more sub deieratione testatur, summa utique gravitate et adgredi et custodire debemus, ut in adseveratione divinae gratiae permanentes in fructu quoque eius et emolumento proinde perseverare possimus.

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On Repentance

Chapter IV.--Repentance Applicable to All the Kinds of Sin. To Be Practised Not Only, Nor Chiefly, for the Good It Brings, But Because God Commands It.

To all sins, then, committed whether by flesh or spirit, whether by deed or will, the same God who has destined penalty by means of judgment, has withal engaged to grant pardon by means of repentance, saying to the people, "Repent thee, and I will save thee;" ¹ and again, "I live, saith the Lord, and I will (have) repentance rather than death." ² Repentance, then, is "life," since it is preferred to "death." That repentance, O sinner, like myself (nay, rather, less than myself, for pre-eminence in sins I acknowledge to be mine ³

), do you so hasten to, so embrace, as a shipwrecked man the protection ⁴ of some plank. This will draw you forth when sunk in the waves of sins, and will bear you forward into the port of the divine clemency. Seize the opportunity of unexpected felicity: that you, who sometime were in God's sight nothing but "a drop of a bucket," ⁵ and "dust of the threshing-floor," ⁶ and "a potter's vessel," ⁷ may thenceforward become that "tree which is sown beside ⁸ the waters, is perennial in leaves, bears fruit at its own time," ⁹ and shall not see "fire," ¹⁰ nor "axe." ¹¹ Having found "the truth," ¹² repent of errors; repent of having loved what God loves not: even we ourselves do not permit our slave-lads not to hate the things which are offensive to us; for the principle of voluntary obedience ¹³ consists in similarity of minds.

To reckon up the good, of repentance, the subject-matter is copious, and therefore should be committed to great eloquence. Let us, however, in proportion to our narrow abilities, inculcate one point,--that what God enjoins is good and best. I hold it audacity to dispute about the "good" of a divine precept; for, indeed, it is not the fact that it is good which binds us to obey, but the fact that God has enjoined it. To exact the rendering of obedience the majesty of divine power has the prior ¹⁴ right; the authority of Him who commands is prior to the utility of him who serves. "Is it good to repent, or no?" Why do you ponder? God enjoins; nay, He not merely enjoins, but likewise exhorts. He invites by (offering) reward--salvation, to wit; even by an oath, saying "I live," ¹⁵ He desires that credence may be given Him. Oh blessed we, for whose sake God swears! Oh most miserable, if we believe not the Lord even when He swears! What, therefore, God so highly commends, what He even (after human fashion) attests on oath, we are bound of course to approach, and to guard with the utmost seriousness; that, abiding permanently in (the faith of) the solemn pledge ¹⁶ of divine grace, we may be able also to persevere in like manner in its fruit ¹⁷ and its benefit.