appearance; for let us examine the matter closely. The words, “I will pardon the sinner on what day soever he will be converted,” are the same as saying, “I will give the sinner the grace to be truly converted.” The second point is, the day on which this favor will be granted. Thus we have two things to consider that are quite different from each other. The first God has promised to all men; for He is indeed ready to receive the sinner, and to forget his sins, were they a thousand million in number, even on his death-bed, nay, in the very last moment, as long as the soul is in the body, provided the sinner is then truly converted. So wonderfully great is the divine mercy, which, as long as a man lives, never shuts the door against him, so that no one need despair. But the other point, namely, the granting the sinner grace to do true penance, and that at any hour or moment when it may please the sinner to ask for it—that God has never promised to any one, much less to one who has misused His mercy to the last moment.
He has rather said the contrary. Not only has God given yon no sign of His will to this effect, but He has rather signified that His design and intention are quite contrary to what you suppose. Consider those terrible words in the Old Testament (it is wonderful how often we hear them, and what little impression they make on us): “Turn ye at my reproof,” says the Lord; be converted and at once! Delay no longer! Otherwise, “Behold I will utter My spirit to you, and will show you My words. Because I called, and you refused. I stretched out My hand, and there was none that regarded.”[1] I have often spoken to you by the voice of My servants, who warned you against evil; I have called to you by the example of so many good Christians, which should have encouraged you to do good; I have urged you by the inward voice of your own conscience, which was troubled by remorse on account of your wickedness; “and you refused.” I have caused you to be exhorted in sermons to restore ill-gotten goods, but you have kept them; to renounce that impure intimacy and dangerous occasion, but you remained in it; to pardon your enemy from your heart, but you have wilfully nourished the old hatred and ill-will towards him; to amend your sinful life once for all, to make a good confession, to avoid the sins to which you have grown accustomed,
- ↑ Convertimini ad correptionem meam. En proferam vobis spiritum meum, et ostendam vobis verba mea. Quia vocavi, et renuistis; extendi manum meam, et non fuit qui aspiceret.—Prov. i. 23, 24.
