men as Noah, Daniel, and Job, cannot by their righteousnesses save their children, with what confidence shall we approach to the Palace of God, if we keep not Baptism pure and undefiled? He who dealeth corruptly in the fight of incorruption, what shall be done to him? For of such as have not kept the seal, He saith, 'their worm dieth not.' Let us, then, while we are on earth, repent."
The same truth was expressed by the Fathers, in that oft-misinterpreted metaphor, that they who had fallen into grievous sin after Baptism, should cling to repentance, as to a plank from a shipwreck: not (as Romanist writers[1] insist) as if the plank were different from the ship, and so designated a Sacrament of Repentance, a means of grace distinct from that of Baptism; or, again, with some Protestant writers[2], as if the ship yet remained whole, and the plank were to bring them back to their former security in Baptism: the Fathers thought of no such refinements; they would by this metaphor express only the great peril, in which such persons were placed, and would exhort them to cling, for their eternal life, to the only hope yet remaining to them in the shipwreck wherein their souls had well-nigh perished,—an earnest and persevering repentance. Thus St. Ambrose concludes[3] the exhortation to the penitent, before quoted; "If sinners could see what judgment God will send forth, and man's understanding was not distracted by the vanity of the world, or weighed down by unbelief, they would gladly bear any degree or kind of torment for the present, yea, though life were longer than it is, so they might escape the punishment of eternal fire. But thou unhappy one, who hast now entered upon the trial of repentance, hold on, abide fast, as to a plank in shipwreck, hoping thereby to be freed from the depth of sin. Hold
- ↑ Bellarmine, de Controv. t. ii. pp. 1487, 8.
- ↑ Luther de captiv. Babylon. de Baptismo. Gerhard, Loci, de Pœnit. § 13.
- ↑ De lapsu Virginis, c. 8. § 38. The passage of Tertullian, de Pœnit c. 4, does not belong here; for he is there addressing Catechumens, and the repentance there spoken of is that which is necessary previous to Baptism, and the shipwreck that which is common to the whole human race: nor does he say 'fracto navigio,' as St. Jerome always does, referring to Baptism.
