Divine condescension

“ And what though it be all stained and spotted with mortal sin; is there no such thing as true repentance? Are there no fountains of living waters in the sacraments in which it may be washed whiter than snow? Are there no gems of divine grace with which it may be decked out as a bride waiting for the bridegroom?
Prayer for the conversion of sinners should be far more practised than it is. Why, brethren, look around you in this great city, and if you can count the stars of heaven or the sands of the sea-shore you can count the men and women in mortal sin ”

“ On the other hand, we have a picture of an angry Deity, manifesting purely human emotion and temper, bent on revenging himself upon the race which he had created, and demanding its eternal punishment in hell-fire; then the same Deity creating a Son whom he sent into the world, that this Son might be the victim of a blood-atonement and death upon the cross, that the Deity's wrath might be appeased and the blood of this Divine Lamb be accepted to wash out the sins of the world. ”

“ She says, that "the soul that completely abandons itself to the divine will, retains no fear or hope respecting any thing either temporal or eternal,"—a doctrine subversive of the Christian principle of repentance. ”

“ Not only has the guilt of sin to be removed, but sinful man, who is steeped in evil, must be completely cured. What would the satisfaction made for us by our Divine Lord avail us, if we still loved and cherished sin in our hearts, and persisted in sinning more and more till we died in our sins? Nothing! Thus the bitter chalice did not pass, and our Blessed Lord suffered indescribable agony in Soul and Body, in the first place, to put before our eyes in a startling manner the evil and horror of sin. ”

“ I have felt my deadness, I have seen my blindness, I have felt my bondage, and saw, with horror, my distance and want of conformity to God. I have been brought into such circumstances as to feel my rebellion against a holy and a just God, his law, his gospel, his people and his sovereign dispensations: the Lord has shown me my pride of heart, and I have felt shut up in unbelief; I have seen my weakness, and been led captive by sin, satan and the world; and to this day feel the tyranny of sin; though, blessed be God, sin is not my sovereign, it rages, but it does not reign. ”

“ But you are to take the words of our Saviour in their true sense and meaning; it is all manner of sin and blasphemy committed within the compass of a man's life, that shall be forgiven, except the sin against the Holy Ghost; for the sin of final impenitence, and final unbelief, is not completed until the very moment of a man's death; and then you know that there is no repentance, and consequently no pardon after death; for Christ said, "He that sins against the Holy Ghost, hath no forgiveness, neither in this world nor in the world to come." ”

“ Endeavour to conceive a lively horror of mortal sin — a sincere conviction that it is the greatest of all evils, the most dreadful of all misfortunes. If your heart be deeply impressed with these sentiments, they will prove your greatest security against incurring the guilt of sacrilege. Divine Jesus! penetrate my heart with so great a horror of sin, that I may dread nothing so much as becoming thy enemy by any mortal offence, and that I may tremble at the very idea 6f profaning thy most sacred body and blood. ”

“ I make no apology for this abrupt address, but assure you, that if you die in these awful sentiments of denying the Godhead, divinity and distinct personality of the Holy Spirit, your end will be awful indeed; to treat his sacred person with such awful contempt is shocking, and to teach others so to do adds to your crime.
That there is a Holy Spirit you pretend not to deny—but “What is it?” say you and your deluded followers; “O nothing but a mere breath, a point, a mere emanation, that’s all!” ”

“ Since sin entered through the beguiling of our mother, Eve, by the serpent, inbred sin has existed as a unit of evil in every child of Adam and Eve. The only exception is the man, Christ Jesus, the God man, the Divine man, the promised seed that should bruise the serpent’s head. But as He, the Lord Jesus Christ, was manifested to destroy the works of the devil, and as inbred sin is one of the works of the devil, therefore its destruction is provided for in the atonement, and, therefore, still again, entire sanctification is obtainable. ”

“ Let no one, Mary, name thy name, While, aping God, upon his heart Pride sits, a demon robed in flame. Proud Vices, die! Where Sin has place Be Sin's familiar self-disgust. Proud Virtues, doubly die; that Grace At last may burgeon from your dust. ”

“ Of this nature must the sin against the Holy Ghost surely be. "This is the condemnation," (not the sins that men have committed, but the condition of mind in which they choose to remain,) "that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." ”

“ Again, our sins are aggravated when they are committed against the person of the Holy Ghost; when we deny him to be a divine Person, or the author of the work of regeneration, as supposing that grace takes its rise from ourselves, rather than 69him; or when we do not desire to be led by the Spirit, or seek his divine influence in order thereunto. ”

“ Such a person commits the unpardonable sin—he sheds innocent blood after having the light of the Holy Ghost, knowing that in so doing he is not only sinning against God the Father and against his Son, but against the convictions of the Holy Ghost. ”

“ For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.—Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of grace? ”

“ Would I resign what the sin has brought me,
⁠Which I hold glory, and thou—thy shame.
I talk of sin in the usual fashion,
⁠But God knows what is a sin to me—
We love more fiercely or love more faintly—
⁠But I doubt if it matters how these things be. ”

“ But those vile temptations and sins, which would have filled her with horror and regret before her entire surrender into the hands of the foe, beget very different sentiments now that she is no more her own self-possessor and guide, under the eyes of God. The conviction of her sins is no more connected with the thought of a God, infinitely holy and just, whom she must serve and fear. The conviction of her sins is now immediately connected with the thought of the man with whom she will have to speak, and who will easily make everything right and pure in her soul by his absolution. ”

“ But for Jesu's merits, and by thy prayers, I hope God pardoned me my sins. Yet it is not enough, my Mother, to be forgiven, whilst the thought appals me that I may still lose the grace of God. Danger is ever nigh; the devil sleeps not; temptations fresh assail me. Protect me, then, my Sovereign Mistress; help me in the assaults of hell. O never, never let me sin again, or offend Jesus thy Son. No never, never more suffer me to lose my soul, heaven, and my God, by sin. For this one grace I ask thee, Mary; this I desire; this may thy prayers obtain me. ”

“ I have sinned and done evil, all my life long. Specially I have sinned against this man, who has left me to die here in this horrible place. Now therefore, O my God, I beseech Thee, let the sufferings of Thy servant be accepted before Thee as an atonement for his sin, and let this one good deed, that I have preferred death rather than break Thy law, rise before Thee as the incense with the evening sacrifice! ”

“ But while we contemplate this sorrowful picture, let us not forget that sin alone is responsible for the torments of Jesus, and the sorrow of His Mother. Let us awaken within us a deep sense of contrition, and a heartfelt horror of our own sins; and let us make a firm resolution never again to commit a wilful sin! ”

“ The evil of mortal sin. God punishes us according to our deserts: He never punishes us too severely. If, therefore, He condemned the fallen angels to the eternal torments of hell, we can see what a terrible evil sin is in His sight. One single mortal sin deserves everlasting punishment.
The consequences of sin. Just think what befell the angels through sin! Before their fall they were the friends and beloved of God, most beautiful, most holy, full of the love of what is good, and rich in their happiness and glory. ”

“ It is condescension in him to behold the things in heaven, to support the beings, direct the motions, and accept the praises and services, of the angels themselves; for he needs them not, nor is benefited by them. [2.] Much more is it condescension in him to behold the things that are in the earth, to visit the sons of men, and regard them, to order and overrule their affairs, and to take notice of what they say and do, that he may fill the earth with his goodness, and so set us an example of stooping to do good, of taking notice of, and concerning ourselves about, our inferiors. ”

“ Thus the holy books every where represent the state of sin under the idea of a shocking death; and it seems as if the Spirit of God had found that melancholy image the most calculated to give us, at least, a glimpse of all the deformity of a soul in which sin dwells. ”

“ Men and women sometimes escaped the wages of sin by the aid of a saint, but more often through the incarnate pity of the Virgin Mary. The Virgin and the saints were ready to take up any cause, however desperate, against the devil; which means that they were ready to intervene between the sinner and the impending punishment. People took kindly to these thoughts of irregular intervention, since everlasting torment for transient sin was so extreme ”

“ Thus our soul also must come to Christ, the true High-priest, and be slain by Him, and die to its own mode of thought, and to the evil life of sin which it lived before. The life must go out of it—that life of bad passions. ”

“ By this faith we perceive the love of God, and break off our sins by righteousness. But while in the flesh, we feel a thorn—a hell of conscious guilt for the sins we have committed, and though the penitent may beseech God, that this messenger of satan, buffeting him, may depart from him, yet the answer will be, "my grace is sufficient for thee." ”

“ If, therefore, that Spirit's teachings be disregarded or disobeyed, or His inward movings be hindered, in just such measure will prayer become formal or be altogether abandoned. Sin, consciously indulged, or duty, knowingly neglected, makes supplication an offence to God. ”

“ Sin must be combated not only in the region of the spirit: if we are to perfect holiness, we must cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit. ‘If through the Spirit ye do make dead the deeds of the body, ye shall live.’ If we are indeed to be cleansed from sin and made holy unto God, the body, as the [p205] outworks, must very specially be secured from the power of Satan and of sin. ”

“ This means that, when a man continually resists the grace of the Holy Ghost, he falls by degrees into a condition of soul not far removed from that of the fallen angels or devils. The devils are hardened in sin, in resistance to, and hatred of God: their perverted will is incapable of conversion, so that for them redemption is impossible. ”

“ The same thing will be true of each and every succeeding repetition of the offence; until the habit of sinning may be so completely wrought into the soul, and so firmly fixed there, that nothing can check it in its career of guilt. Neither the glories of heaven, nor the terrors of hell, may be sufficient to change its course. No amount of influence brought to bear upon its feelings, may be sufficient to transform its will. ”

“ I am deeply sorry for all my sins, for those I committed to-day, and for those of my whole life, because thereby I offended Thy supreme and most loving goodness. Pardon me for the sake of Jesus, Thy Son, who shed His most precious blood on the cross for our sins. With the help of Thy grace, I firmly resolve to amend my life, and rather to die than again offend Thee by a mortal sin. ”

“ Those who come under the influence of that sin are those who shed innocent blood, or consent to it; also those who deny the Holy Ghost, after having received it; they are sons of perdition, and will be damned. All the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, except those, will inherit a kingdom of glory, and will receive glory, power and greatness according to their capacities, knowledge, desires and works. Can they dwell in the presence of God? None can enjoy his celestial presence, except those who keep a celestial law. ”

“ For, it is a good thing to confess unto Thee, and to say, Have mercy upon me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee; and not to abuse Thy mercy for a licence to sin, but to remember the Lord's words, Behold, thou art made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. All which wholesome advice they labour to destroy, saying, "The cause of thy sin is inevitably determined in heaven"; and "This did Venus, or Saturn, or Mars": that man, forsooth, flesh and blood, and proud corruption, might be blameless; while the Creator and Ordainer of heaven and the stars is to bear the blame. ”

“ But what is the truth most appropriate for producing the conviction of sin in the human breast? "Preach the Ten Commandments in all their stern and uncompromising 'shalts' and 'shalt-nots,'" cries one. "Read out the descriptions given in Scripture of the evil things that lurk in the heart of man as filthy things in darksome caves," says another. "Show men the results of sin, take them to the edge of the bottomless pit," insists a third. But not one of these is the chosen weapon of the Holy Spirit. ”