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| Of Those Who Fancy that the Sins Which are Intermingled with Alms-Deeds Shall Not Be Charged at the Day of Judgment. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter 22.—Of Those Who Fancy
that the Sins Which are Intermingled with Alms-Deeds Shall Not Be
Charged at the Day of Judgment.
I have also met with some who are
of opinion that such only as neglect to cover their sins with
alms-deeds shall be punished in everlasting fire; and they cite the
words of the Apostle James, “He shall have judgment without mercy
who hath shown no mercy.”1537 Therefore, say they, he who has
not amended his ways, but yet has intermingled his profligate and
wicked actions with works of mercy, shall receive mercy in the
judgment, so that he shall either quite escape condemnation, or
shall be liberated from his doom after some time shorter or
longer. They suppose that this was the reason why the Judge
Himself of quick and dead declined to mention anything else than
works of mercy done or omitted, when awarding to those on His right
hand life eternal, and to those on His left everlasting
punishment.1538 To the
same purpose, they say, is the daily petition we make in the
Lord’s prayer, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our
debtors.”1539 For, no
doubt, whoever pardons the person who has wronged him does a
charitable action. And this has been so highly commended by the
Lord Himself, that He says, “For if ye forgive men their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses.”1540 And so it is to this kind of
alms-deeds that the saying of the Apostle James refers, “He shall
have judgment without mercy that hath shown no mercy.” And our
Lord, they say, made no distinction of great and small sins, but
“Your Father will forgive your sins, if ye forgive men
theirs.” Consequently they conclude that, though a man has led
an abandoned life up to the last day of it, yet whatsoever his sins
have been, they are all remitted by virtue of this daily prayer, if
only he has been mindful to attend to this one thing, that when
they who have done him any injury ask his pardon, he forgive them
from his heart.
When, by God’s help, I have
replied to all these errors, I shall conclude this (twenty-first)
book. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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