(Admonition 31.) In one way are those to be admonished who bewail their misdeeds yet forsake them not; and in another those who forsake them yet bewail them not. For those who bewail their misdeeds yet forsake them not must be admonished to know carefully that they cleanse themselves vainly with weeping who defile themselves wickedly with living, since they wash themselves with tears for this end—to return, when clean, to their filth. For hence it is written: 'The dog returned to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire' (Prov. 26:11; 2 Pet. 2:22). For the dog, when he vomits, casts forth the food which weighed down his breast; but when he returns to the vomit, he is again burdened with that whereof he had been relieved.
And they who bewail their misdeeds do indeed, by confessing, cast forth the wickedness whereby they had been evilly sated, and which weighed down the inmost parts of the mind; yet, while they repeat it after confession, they take it up again. But the sow, when it is washed in the wallowing of mud, is rendered more filthy. And he who bewails his misdeeds yet forsakes them not, subjects himself to the penalty of a graver fault; because he both despises the very pardon which by weeping he was able to obtain, and rolls himself as it were in muddy water, since, while by his weepings he withdraws cleanness from his life, he makes before the eyes of God even those very tears filthy. Hence again it is written: 'Repeat not a word in thy prayer' (Sir. 7:15).
For to repeat a word in prayer is to commit, after weeping, that which must again be wept. Hence through Isaiah it is said: 'Wash you, be clean' (Isa. 1:16). For after the washing, whosoever guards not the innocence of life after his tears neglects to be clean. And so they are washed and yet are by no means clean, who cease not from things committed, but again commit things to be wept for. Hence through a certain wise man it is said: 'He that is baptized from a dead body, and toucheth it again, what doth his washing profit?' (Sir. 34:30). For he is baptized from a dead body who is cleansed from sin by weepings; but after his baptism he touches the dead body, who repeats his fault after his tears.
Those who bewail their misdeeds yet forsake them not must be admonished to recognize that before the eyes of the strict Judge they are like those who, coming into the presence of certain men, flatter them with great submission, but on withdrawing inflict as atrociously as they can whatever enmities and losses they are able. For what is it to weep for a fault, save to show God the humility of one's devotion? And what is it to do wicked things after weeping, save to exercise proud enmities against Him whom one had entreated? Wherein James bears witness, who says: 'Whosoever will be a friend of this world is constituted an enemy of God' (Jas. 4:4).
Those who bewail their misdeeds yet forsake them not must be admonished carefully to consider that very often the evil are uselessly pricked to compunction toward justice, just as very often the good are harmlessly tempted toward fault. For, as their deserts require, a wondrous measure of the inner disposition comes to pass, so that both the former, while they do something of good which yet they do not complete, proudly trust amid the very evils which they most fully perpetrate; and the latter, while they are tempted by an evil to which they by no means consent, whereby they totter through infirmity, are thereby the more truly made to advance the steps of the heart toward justice through humility. For Balaam, beholding the tabernacles of the just, said: 'Let my soul die the death of the just, and let my last end be like theirs' (Num. 23:10).
But when the time of compunction had passed, he gave counsel against the life of those to whom he had begged to be made like even in dying; and when he found occasion from avarice, he straightway forgot whatever he had wished for himself concerning innocence (Ibid. 24:14). But hence the teacher and preacher of the Gentiles, Paul, says: 'I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and leading me captive in the law of sin, which is in my members' (Rom. 7:23). Who is assuredly tempted for this end, that in the good he may be more sturdily made solid by the very knowledge of his infirmity. What is it then that the one is pricked with compunction, and yet approaches not justice;
the other is tempted, and yet the fault defiles him not—save that which is openly shown, namely that imperfect goods do not aid the evil, nor unconsummated evils condemn the good? On the other hand, those who forsake their misdeeds yet bewail them not must be admonished not to esteem those faults already relaxed which, though by doing they multiply them not, yet by no weepings do they cleanse. For neither has a writer, if he has ceased from writing, blotted out also what he had written, because he added no more; nor has he who inflicts insults made satisfaction if he has only been silent, since assuredly it is necessary that he assail the words of foregone pride with words of subjected humility; nor is a debtor absolved because he multiplies no more, unless he also pay what he had bound himself to.
Even so, when we transgress against God, we by no means make satisfaction if we cease from iniquity, unless we also pursue with laments set on the contrary side the very pleasures which we loved. For if no fault of works had stained us in this life, our very innocence would by no means suffice for the security of us who still dwell here, since many unlawful things would beat upon the mind. With what mind then is he secure, who, having perpetrated iniquities, is himself a witness to himself that he is not innocent? For God is not fed by our torments, but heals the diseases of our transgressions with contrary medicines, so that we who departed delighting in pleasures may return embittered with tears;
and we who fell by flowing away through unlawful things may rise up by restraining ourselves even from lawful ones; and let a wholesome sadness burn out the heart which insane joy had flooded; and let the abjection of a humble life heal what the elation of pride had wounded. For hence it is written: 'I said to the wicked, Do not act wickedly; and to the transgressors, Lift not up the horn' (Ps. 74:5). For transgressors lift up the horn, if they in no way humble themselves to penitence from the knowledge of their iniquity. Hence again it is said: 'A contrite and humbled heart God does not despise' (Ps. 50:19). For whosoever bewails his sins yet forsakes them not, does indeed bruise his heart, but disdains to humble it.
But he who already forsakes his sins, yet bewails them not, does indeed already humble himself, yet refuses to bruise his heart. Hence Paul says: 'And such indeed were you; but you are washed, but you are sanctified' (1 Cor. 6:11). For assuredly an amended life sanctifies those whom the affliction of weepings, washing them through penitence, cleanses. Hence Peter, when he beheld certain men terrified by the consideration of their evils, admonished them, saying: 'Do penance, and let every one of you be baptized' (Acts 2:38). For being about to speak of baptism, he set before it the laments of penitence, that they might first pour over themselves the water of their affliction, and afterward wash in the sacrament of baptism.
With what mind then do those who neglect to weep for past faults live secure of pardon, when the supreme Shepherd of the Church Himself believed that penitence must be added even to this Sacrament, which principally extinguishes sins?