The XXIII ENTERTAINMENT.

Of the Aggravations that attend Relapfes into mortal Sin.

The laft State of that Man is worse than the firft. Luke xi. 26.

TH

HE Parable whereof thefe Words are the Close, is thus set forth by St. Luke. When the unclean Spirit is gone out of a Man, he walketh through dry Places, feeking Reft; and finding none, he faith, I will return unto my Houfe whence I came out; and when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnish'd. Then goeth, he and taketh to him Seven other Spirits, more wicked than himfelf, and they enter in, and dwell there, and the laft State of that Man is worse than the first.

The main Drift of this Parable is to represent two important Truths: First, that when a Perfon is deliver'd from the Bondage of Sin by Baptifm, or the Sacrament of Penance, the Devil is indefatigable in feeking to replunge him into his former State; and the fecond, that the Condition of a Perfon thus relapfing

is worse than it was before his former Deliverance from Sin.

There is, however, a large Difference between accidental Falls, and a conftant Custom of Relapfing. The former may justly be attributed to human Weakness, but the latter deferves a much harfher Cenfure; for it betrays an habitual Bent of the Heart, and is ufually the Fruit of a large Degree of Infenfibility, attended with a fupine Neglect of the Means neceffary to fubdue or weaken that Inclination, which is the principal Root of the Relapfes I speak of.

Now 'tis of Perfons under thefe Circumstances we must chiefly understand the Words of Chrift, faying, that their laft State is worse than the first. Which may be fully made out, first, from the Aggravations infeparable from fuch Relapfes, and, fecondly, from the Mischiefs a Sinner draws upon himself by a Custom of Relapfing. I fhall only speak of the firft in this Entertainment.

The principal Defign of this Difcourfe is to fhew that an habitual Sinner becomes more criminal, and by Confequence, more injurious to God, every Time he multiplies his Relapfes, than he was when he received laft the Benefit of Abfolution. I mean, however, if all other Circumstances

be

be equal. For it is not to be question'd, but the Sin or Sins that were the Subject of his preceeding Confeffion may be clog'd with fuch Circumftances, as far outweigh the Aggravations of a Relapfe. Neither can it be doubted, but there may be Grains of Allowance for extraordinary and unforeseen Occafions, or Temptations more lafting and violent than ufually. Thefe being Circumftances, which leffen the Grievoufness of any Sin, and may ferve as a Counterpoife to fuch Aggravations, as would otherwife weigh down the Ballance, and charge it with a heavier Guilt.

I therefore speak of Persons, who, without any notable Change of Circumstances, make a Custom of returning to their Vomit, and are in a kind of a regular Tract of Confeffing and Relapfing, as if they only meant to wash themselves to appear clean upon extraordinary Days, and when those are over, to wallow again in the Mire, and defile themfelves as much as ever. Now of thefe, I fay, what Chrift pronounced of the Man, into whom the evil Spirit re-enter'd after he had been once chafed out, viz. that their latter State is worse than their former, and that by every Relapfe they contract a new Addition of Guilt to what they stood charged with before the laft Pardon of their

Sins. The Reafon hereof is, first, becaufe every Relapse implies a greater Contempt of God; fecondly, because it gives a fresh Aggravation to their former Treachery, and thirdly, because it renders them guilty of a blacker Ingratitude. I fhall fpeak briefly of each. First then as to the Aggravation of Contempt. To make myfelf rightly underftood, I must first fhew how every mortal Sin implies a Contempt of God, as a general Circumstance infeparable from it. You must therefore know, that there is a Speculative Contempt, and a practical one. The former is in the Understanding or Judgment; the other in the Heart or Will: And tho' the latter be ufually the Ef fect of the former, they are not so infeparably connected, but the one may be without the other. Speculative Contempt is nothing else but a mean Idea conceived of any Thing or Perfon, and is always grounded upon fome real or fuppofed Defect. But practical Contempt is an abfolute and pofitive Determination of the Will, poftponing or rejecting any thing for the Love of fomething elfe, which it prefers before it. And I call it a practical Contempt, because it is the immediate Refult of our practical Judgment, which, deli-. berating and comparing, determines the Will to that Choice.

Now

Now 'tis manifeft, no Chriftian, tho' never fo completely wicked in his Practice, can ever be guilty of a fpeculative Contempt of God; becaufe, whoever but believes there is a God, muft of Neceffity believe him to be infinitely perfect; and 'tis impoffible to have a mean Idea of what we believe to be infinite in all Perfections; or contemn him in our fpeculative Judgments, in whom we cannot fo much as apprehend the leaft Defect. Hence it comes to pafs, that Libertines themselves will fometimes fpeak with as much Refpect of Almighty God, as the most pious Christians; and they fpeak but what they really think; because their Belief is found, and their fpeculative Judgment free from Error. But their Guilt confifts in renouncing in Fat, what they believe in Speculation, and profefs in Words. Their Faith is dead, and has no Influence upon their Actions. For tho' they have the Knowledge of God, yet, as St Paul fays, they glorify him not, but vanish away in their Thoughts. So that notwithstanding the high and noble Ideas they have of God's infinite Perfections, which we may properly call a fpeculative Efteem, they are guilty of a practical Contempt of him in every Sin they commit; becaufe in every deliberate Sin, they effectually poftpone and reject his Tom. II. Friend.

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