Seventh Rule. be said to one because he is not sufficiently sorry he should tell him, that God knows how infirm he is by nature, and that He does not expect from him in this life that perfection which the blessed attain to in heaven; that it sufficeth if the weightier offences are carefully shunned, and the smaller avoided with all the strength the weakness of his nature can accomplish; for then God will pardon all his sins. I have known a person of most unblameable What should life exceedingly tormented, because he could who grieves not sufficiently grieve for his sins; and should the Curate happen to visit such a person, it for his sins. will be proper for him to be told, that although regret of this description is praiseworthy and conducive to penitence, yet that it is not absolutely necessary that he who truly repents should have an ever-present detestation of sin; that it is sufficient that grief thus sensitive follow the temperament of the body; that it is not in the power of every one to be moved in an extraordinary degree by small offences, but that if he had not deeply grieved, his not having done so ought to be numbered amongst his sins; that grief was by no means deficient in his case, since he is greatly grieved on account of his hard-heartedness. The Curate care that the entertain respecting attributes. The anguish with which some sick persons Eighth Rule. are troubled, frequently derives its origin from should take some false notions respecting God, and there- sick person fore it will be the part of the Curate, when right notions he visits any sick person with the design of God and His abating his anguish, to trace out, as far as is possible, whether he entertain right notions or not of God and His attributes; and if, by reason of any natural defect in intellect, or from bad education, or from the incautious reading of books abounding in misconceived opinions, he shall perceive him to have fallen. into any error, great in itself and destructive to his peace of mind, then he may instruct him after what manner he ought to form his notions, and for further information refer him to approved writings; for so long as he shall retain his erroneous views, the sick person will not easily lessen that disquietude of mind which takes from thence its source. The Curate should cautiously distinguish Ninth Rule. and discern between that despair which really The Curate should dis despair effect of sin, and that which arises edness. cern between is to be accounted sinful, and that abandonwhich is the ment of hope which may more correctly be termed wretchedness; the one which confines from wretch- the infinite mercy of God within bounds, and thinks that there are some offences which He cannot pardon, does not less impiously than erroneously limit it, and, therefore, it is not surprising that it should be accounted by any one, cherishing it in extreme sickness, among those sins which will never be forgiven: but the other, since it consists in a real and willing acknowledgment of the infinite mercy of God, they who labour under it do not suppose that God cannot, but that He will not pardon their weightier sins; and when they persuade themselves of this, not because they imagine the mercy of God insufficient for pardoning any offences of men, but because they believe that they have rendered themselves, through their wickedness which they have committed, incapable of obtaining that pardon,-their condition is rather to be pitied than to be blamed: What should and as the infinite mercy of God should be be said to the largely set forth to those who are afflicted in either case sick. with the former description of despair, so to those who labour under the latter kind should be declared that love which God entertains for men, by which He persuades them to repent of their sins, and heartily desires their eternal salvation: the Curate should, moreover, remind them of those great backslidings of the saints, as related in the Scriptures, and should urge them not to doubt, but that if they vigorously perform their work of repentance, they will hereafter attain to that salvation of which they now appear so greatly to despair. With regard to those special cases of conscience which are wont to disturb the minds of sick people, they must necessarily be left to the skilful direction of the Curate; for since they are innumerable, no sensible person will presume to recite them, nor yet to teach what may be convenient to be said in every case: concerning two cases, however, Curates may, A general with very good reason, be advised, namely, with referwhat method they ought to follow in doubtful of rarer cases, as safest and to be urged with least disadvantage; and what books, approved after direction ence to cases Occurrence. First Rule. Those who are recover ing from their sick scrupulous and accurate examination, or what persons having a skilful knowledge of casual theology, they ought to consult, before they venture to resolve any knotty point of conscience; nor should they be ashamed to defer for a short time the solution of difficulties of the above description; for if a Curate should err in deciding the point, the judgment he arrives at tends to the hurt of the person who consults him, as well as to his own discredit. Rules to be included in the Sixth Division. The Curate should not lay aside all care for ness should the sick person, as soon as he begins to recover, but since the vows he entered upon still be visited. What it behoves the Curate to while dangerously ill may be more firmly imsay to them. pressed upon his mind, it will be the duty of the faithful Curate to refresh his memory with respect to these, and sedulously to instruct him how unbecoming and how full of danger to himself it will be to violate his plighted vows to God, and how ungrateful it |