§4Omnibus 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. Et iterum, Vivo, inquit, dominus, et paenitentiam malo quam mortem.
Therefore, He who has destined punishment through judgment for all sins, whether committed by flesh or spirit, deed or will, has also promised pardon through repentance, saying to the people: 'Repent, and I will make you safe.' And again: 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'I desire repentance rather than death.' Therefore, repentance is life, since it is preferred to death.
Ergo paenitentia vita est, cum 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.
O sinner like me (or rather, less than me, for I acknowledge my own pre-eminence in sins), rush upon it, embrace it as a shipwrecked man clings to the safety of some plank.
Haec te peccatorum fluctibus mersum prolevabit et in portum divinae clementiae protelabit.
This will lift you up when you are submerged in the waves of sins and will carry you forward into the harbor of divine clemency.
Rape occasionem inopinatae felicitatis, ut ille tu nihil quondam penes deum nisi stilla situlae et areae pulvis et vasculum figuli arbor exinde fias illa quae penes aquas seritur et in foliis perennat et tempore suo fructus agit, quae non ignem, non securem videbit.
Snatch the opportunity of unexpected happiness, so that you, who were once nothing in the presence of God but a drop from a bucket, dust of the threshing floor, and a potter's vessel, may henceforth become that tree which is planted by the waters, remains perennial in its leaves, yields its fruit in due season, and will see neither fire nor axe.
Paeniteat errorum reperta veritate, paeniteat amasse quae deus non amat, quando ne nos quidem ipsi servulis nostris ea quibus offendimur non odisse permittimus.
Let there be repentance for errors, now that truth has been found; let there be repentance for having loved what God does not love, since we ourselves do not permit our servants not to hate what offends us.
Obsequii enim ratio in similitudine animorum constituta est.
For the principle of obedience is established on the similarity of minds.
De bono paenitentiae enumerando diffusa et pro hoc magno eloquio committenda materia est Nos vero pro nostris angustiis unum inculcamus, bonum atque optimum esse quod deus praecipit.
The material for enumerating the good of repentance is vast and should be committed to a grander eloquence; but we, in our narrowness, drive home this one point: that what God commands is good and best.
Audaciam existimo de bono divini praecepti disputare.
I consider it audacity to dispute about the good of a divine precept.
Neque enim quia bonum est, idcirco auscultare debemus, sed quia deus praecepit.
For we ought to obey not because it is good, but because God has commanded it.
Ad exhibitionem obsequii prior est maiestas divinae potestatis, prior est auctoritas imperantis quam utilitas servientis.
To the exhibition of obedience, the majesty of divine power and the authority of the commander are prior to the utility of the servant.
Bonum est paenitere, an non? Quid revolvis? deus praecipit.
Is it good to repent, or not? Why do you hesitate? God commands it.
At enim ille non praecipit tantum, sed etiam hortatur.
And yet He does not only command, but also exhorts.
Invitat praemio, salute; iurans etiam, Vivo, dicens, cupit credi sibi.
He invites with reward, with salvation; swearing even, saying 'As I live,' He desires to be believed.
O beatos nos, quorum causa deus iurat! O miserrimos, si nec iuranti domino credimus! Quod igitur deus tantopere commendat, quod etiam humano more sub deieratione testatur, summa utique gravitate et aggredi et custodire debemus, ut in asseveratione divinae gratiae permanentes in fructu quoque eius et emolumento proinde perseverare possimus.
O happy we, for whose sake God swears! O most wretched, if we do not believe even when the Lord swears! What God so greatly commends, which He also testifies under oath after the manner of men, we must certainly enter upon and guard with the utmost gravity, so that remaining in the assertion of divine grace, we may likewise persevere in its fruit and benefit.
§5Hoc enim dico, paenitentiam, quae per dei gratiam ostensa et indicta nobis in gratiam nos domino revocat, semel cognitam atque susceptam nunquam posthac iteratione delicti resignari oportere.
For I say this: that repentance, which is shown and appointed to us through the grace of God and recalls us to the Lord's favor, once known and undertaken, must never thereafter be undone by a repetition of sin.
Iam quidem nullum ignorantiae praetextum tibi patrocinatur, quod domino agnito praeceptisque eius admissis denique paenitentia delictorum functus rursus te in delicta restituis.
No pretext of ignorance now protects you, because after acknowledging the Lord, accepting His precepts, and finally performing repentance for sins, you restore yourself again to sins.
Ita in quantum ignorantia segregaris, in tantum contumaciae adglutinaris.
Thus, as much as you are separated from ignorance, so much you are joined to contumacy.
Nam si idcirco te deliquisse paenituerat, quia dominum coeperas timere, cur, quod metus gratia gessisti, rescindere maluisti, nisi quia metuere desisti? Neque enim timorem alia res quam contumacia subvertit.
For if you had repented of sinning because you had begun to fear the Lord, why did you prefer to rescind what you did for the sake of fear, unless because you ceased to fear? For nothing subverts fear other than contumacy.
Cum etiam ignorantes dominum nulla exceptio tueatur ad poenam, quia deum in aperto constitutum et vel ex ipsis caelestibus bonis comprehensibilem ignorari non licet, quanto cognitum despici periculosum est? Despicit porro qui bonorum ac malorum intellectum ab illo consecutus quod intellegit fugiendum quodque iam fugit resumens intellectui suo, id est dei dono, contumeliam facit: respuit datorem, cum datum deserit, negat beneficum, cum beneficium non honorat.
Since no exception protects even those who are ignorant of the Lord from punishment—because it is not permitted to be ignorant of God, who is set in the open and is comprehensible even from His heavenly benefits—how much more dangerous is it to despise Him when He is known? Furthermore, he despises Him who, having obtained from Him the understanding of good and evil, resumes what he understands must be avoided and what he has already fled, doing insult to his own understanding, which is the gift of God; he rejects the giver when he deserts the gift, and denies the benefactor when he does not honor the benefit.
Quemadmodum ei potest placere cuius munus sibi displicet? Ita in dominum non modo contumax, sed etiam ingratus appare.
How can he please Him whose gift displeases him? Thus he appears not only contumacious but also ungrateful toward the Lord.
Ceterum non leviter in dominum peccat qui, cum aemulo eius diabolo paenitentia renuntiasset et hoc nomine illum domino subiecisset rursus eundem regressu suo erigit et exultationem eius seipsum facit, ut denuo malus recuperata praeda sua adversus dominum gaudeat.
Moreover, he sins not lightly against the Lord who, having renounced His rival, the devil, through repentance and on this account subjected him to the Lord, rouses him again by his return and makes himself the devil's exultation, so that the evil one may rejoice again against the Lord, having recovered his prey.
Nonne, quod dicere quoque periculosum est, sed ad aedificationem proferendum est, diabolum domino praeponit? Comparationem enim videtur egisse qui utrumque cognoverit, et iudicato pronuntiasse eum meliorem cuius se rursus esse maluerit.
Does he not—which is dangerous even to say, but must be brought forth for edification—prefer the devil to the Lord? For he seems to have made a comparison who has known both, and to have declared by judgment that one to be better whose subject he preferred to be again.
Ita qui per delictorum paenitentiam instituerat domino satisfacere, diabolo per aliam paenitentiae paenitentiam satisfaciet, eritque tanto magis perosus deo, quanto aemulo eius acceptus.
Thus, he who had determined to satisfy the Lord through repentance of sins will satisfy the devil through another repentance of repentance, and will be so much more hated by God as he is accepted by His rival.
Sed aiunt quidam satis deum habere, si corde et animo suspiciatur, licet actu minus fiat; itaque se salvo metu et fide peccare, hoc est salva castitate matrimonia violare, salva pietate parenti venenum temperare.
But some say it is sufficient for God if He is worshipped in heart and mind, even if it is not done in deed; and thus they sin while keeping their fear and faith safe, that is, violating marriages while keeping chastity safe, and mixing poison for a parent while keeping filial piety safe.
Sic ergo et ipsi salva venia in gehennam detrudentur, dum salvo metu peccant.
So they too, while keeping pardon safe, will be cast down into Gehenna, since they sin while keeping fear safe.
Primum exemplum perversitatis: quia timent, delinquunt.
A prime example of perversity: they sin because they fear.
Opinor, non delinquerent, si non timerent.
I suppose they would not sin if they did not fear.
Igitur qui deum nolit offensum, nec revereatur omnino, si timor offendendi patrocinium est.
Therefore, let him who does not want God offended not revere Him at all, if the fear of offending is a protection.
Sed ista ingenia de semine hypocritarum pullulare consuerunt, quorum individua cum diabolo amicitia est, quorum paenitentia nunquam fidelis.
But such intellects are accustomed to sprout from the seed of hypocrites, whose friendship with the devil is indivisible, and whose repentance is never faithful.