SN TILE INSTANCE OF AUGUSTINE. 207 conviction arising from a dread of the terror of the promises, for the most pari, hold only unto the next occasion of sinning, or temptation. An access of the least outward advantage or provocationunto the internal power of sin, sleights all such resolution, and the soul gives up itself unto the power of its old ruler. Such effects of the word are described, Hos. vi. 4. So Aus tin expresseth his own experience, after his great con- victions, and before his full conversion, lib. 8. cap. 5. " Suspirabam ligatus non ferro alieno, sed ferrea mea voluntate. Velle meum tenebat inimicus, et iode " mihi catenam fecerat et constrinxerat me. Quippe " ex voluntate, perversa facts est libido, et dum 't servitor libidini, facts est consuetudo; et dura " consuetudini non resistitur, facto est necessitas. a Quilma quasi ansulis quibusdam sibimit innexis, unde " catenam appellavi, tenebat me obstrictum dura servi- " tus." And he shows how faint and languid his en- deavours were for reformation and amendment. " Sur- " cira secoli velui somno assolet duiciter premebar, et " cogitations quibus meditabar in te, similes Brant " Conatihus expergisci volentium, qui tarnen superati " snporis altitudine rem.erguntur." And he confesseth, that although, through the urgency of his convictions, he could not but pray, that he might be freed from the power of sin, yet, through the prevalency of that power in him, he had asecret reserve and desire not to part with that sin which he prayed against, cap. 7. " Pe- " tieram a te castitatem et dixeram da mihi castitatem "et continentiam, sed noli modo, timebam etiam ne " me cito exaudieres,'et cito sanares a morbo concnpi- b' scentim, quasis malebam expleri, quam extingui." Sect. 27. -2. These endeavours do arise unto great perplexities and distresses; for after a while, the soul of a sinner is * torn and divided between the power of corruption and the terror of conviction. And this falls out upon a double account: (I.) Upon some occasional sharpening of former convictions, when the sense of Vere Abysse, peccatamea saut quia incomprehensibilia prorundi- tate, et inestimabllia Bunt numero et iiamensitate. O Abysms abysse invocanst O peccata mea, torments quibus me servais abysses sont, quirt infinite et incomprehensibilia stmt. Est et terris abysms, et est nimis terribilis, JudiciaDei abysses mutts, quia super omnem ensum tonnes cculta. Hie m abysi terribiles stint mihi nndique, quia tinier su: per timoremet dolor super dolorem. Abysses Judieiorum Dai snprr abysses inferni subtus me, abyssus peccatorum meorum est hark me. Illam quo superme est times ne in me irruat; et mecum abysso mes, in illamqua subtes me latet, obruat. Lib. de Contrition Corals, inter opera August. cap. 9. 25 law, and the judgments of God threatened therein, is apt of itself to wear off' when the soul is a little accustom- ed unto it, and yet sees no evil actually to ensue, Eccl. viii. it. 2 Peter 4. Sect. 25.-0.0 In some the Holy Spirit of God is pleased to carry on this work of conviction toward a further blessed issue, and then two things ensue thereon in the minds of them who are so convinced: First, There will follow great and strange conflicts between their corruptions and their convictions. And this doth especially manifest itself in them who have been accus- tomed unto a course of sinning, or have any particular sin wherein they delight, and by which they have given satisfaction unto their lusts;, for the law coming with power and terror on the conscience, requires a relin- quishment of all sins, at the eternal peril of the soul. Sin hereby is incited and provoked, and the soul be- gins to see its disability to conflict with that, which be- fore it thought absolutely in its own power. For men that indulge themselvesin their sins doubt not but that they can leave them at their pleasure. But when they begin to make beati against them on the command of the law, theyfind themselves to be in the power of that which they imagined to be in theirs. So doth sin take occasion by the commandment to work in men all man- ner of concupiscence;. and those with thought themselves before to be alive, do find that it is sin which lives, and that themselves are dead, ßom. vii. 7, 8, 9. Sin rising up in rebellion against the law, discovers its own power, and the utter impotency of them in whom it is, to con- test with it, or destroy it: but yet men's convictions in this conditionwill discover themselves, and operate two ways, or in a twofold degree. Sect. 26. (1.) They will produce some endeavours and promises of amendment and reformation of life. These men are unavoidably cast upon or wrought unto, topacify the voiceof the law in their consciences, which bids them do so, or perish. But such endeavours, or at Libera me Domine ab his bostibus meisa quibus me Liberare non voleo. Perversum et pes est roemeum, ad deploranda propria peccatamea est lapideomet aridum, ed risistendum insultanübus molle et tntenm, ad inutiliaet noria pertractandavelos et infatigabile, ad cog;. tanda salubria fastidiosumet immobile. Anima mea distorta et depra. veta est ad percipiendum bonum; sed ad Voluptatum vicia nimis facilis et promptu, ad salutem reminiscendam nimis etiam diffcilis et pigra. De Contritione cordis lib.inter opera August. cap. 4. 7F
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