Sins And Forgiveness

Plerique criminum suorum absolutione laetantur. Si emendaturi sunt, recte: si perseveraturi in eis, stulte; quia longe illis plus damnatio profuisset, ne incrementa facerent peccatorum. De quo sublimis est sententia Apostoli dicentis, quod non solum ii qui flagitiosa agunt, sed etiam qui ea approbant, digni morte sunt: sed et illos qui talia condemnant in aliis qualia ipsi agunt, inexcusabiles haberi, ut et sua damnatos sententia. Cum enim alios condemnant, se ipsos condemnant. Nec sibi eos blandiri oportere, quia poenarum ad tempus immunes videntur, et exsortes reatus; cum graviores poenas intra se luant, et sibi rei sint, qui aliis non videntur; atque in se intorqueant graviorem conscientiae sententiam, cum de aliorum peccatis judicant. Sed noli, inquit, o homo, divinae bonitatis et patientiae thesauros contemnere; bonitas enim Dei ad poenitentiam te provocat, ad correctionem invitat: duritia autem tua, qua in erroris pertinacia perseveras, futuri judicii auget severitatem, ut dignam retributionem tuorum accipias delictorum. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, De Bono Mortis, Cap VII Source: Migne PL 14.554b-c

Most rejoice in the forgiveness of their sins. If we are improved by it, rightly, if we persevere in them, stupidly, because the longer one is in them the greater the damnation. Concerning which is the meaning of the Apostle when he admirably says: Not only those who do vile things, but even those who approve them, are worthy of death. But even those who condemn such things in others, which same things they do, have no excuse, and by what they do they are damned. For when they condemn others, they condemn themselves. 1 Nor should a man be beguiled by them because he sees them untouched by punishment for a time and the guilty exempt, for they will suffer heavier punishments, and guilty in themselves, something which does not appear to others, they are now corrupted by a burdened conscience when they judge the sins of others. Do not, he says, O man, despise the treasury of Divine kindness and patience, for the kindness of God calls you to penance and bids you to come to correction. 2 Your hardness, when you persevere in the stubbornness of your sin, increases the severity of the future judgement, when you shall receive a worthy reward for your evils. Saint Ambrose, On The Good of Death, Chap 7 1 Rom 1.32-2.1 2 Rom 2.4