CHAP. XVIII.

The Seven Deadly Sins Expounded.

Q. HOW call you the seven deadly, or capital sins?

A. Pride, covetousness, lechery, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth.

Q. What is pride?

A. It is an inordinate desire of our own excellency or

esteem.

Q. Why is pride called a capital sin?

A. Because it is the head or fountain of many other sins. Q. What for example?

A. Vain glory, boasting, hypocrisy, ambition, arrogance, presumption, and contempt of others.

Q. What is vain glory?

A. An inordinate desire of human praise.

Q. What is boasting?

A. A foolish bragging of ourselves.

Q. What is hypocrisy ?

A. Counterfeiting of more piety and virtue than we have. Q. What is ambition?

A. An inordinate desire of honour.

Q. What is arrogance?

A. A high contempt of others, joined with insolence and rashness.

Q. What is presumption?

A. An attempting of things above our strength.

Q. What is contempt of others?

A. A disdainful preferring ourselves before others.

Q. What other daughters hath pride?

A. Pertinacity, discord, disobedience, and ingratitude.

Q. What is pertinacity?

A. A wilful sticking to our own opinions, contrary to the judgment of our betters.

Q. What is discord?

A. A wrangling in words, with such as we ought to assent and yield unto.

Q. What is disobedience?

A. An opposition to the will or commands of parents and superiors.

Q. What is ingratitude?

A. A forgetting or neglecting of benefits. Q. How prove you pride to be a mortal sin? A. Because we read, that God resists the gives his grace to the humble. 1 St. Peter v. 5. is odious before God and men. Eccl. x. 7. Q. What are the remedies of pride?

proud, and

And pride

"Learn of

A. To remember that holy lesson of Christ, me. because I am meek and humble of heart." Matt. i. 29. And to consider that we are sinful dust, and shall return again to dust; and that whatsoever good we have or do, is the free gift of God.

Q. What is the virtue opposite to pride?

A. Humility, which teaches us a lowly opinion of ourselves. "He that humbleth himself shall be exalted." St. Matl. xxiii. 12.

Covetousness Expounded.

Q. WHAT is covetousness?

A. An inordinate desire of riches.

Q. When is covetousness a mortal sin?

A. When either we desire to get unjustly that which is another man's, of considerable value, or else refuse to give of that which is our own, to such as are in any extreme or great necessity.

Q. How prove you the first part?

A. Out of 1 Tim. vi. 9. Unprofitable and hurtful desires drown men into destruction and perdition, for the root of all

evil is covetousness.

Q. How prove you the latter part?

A. Out of St. John iii. 27. He that hath the substance of this world, and shall see his brother in necessity, and shal shut his bowels from him, how doth the charity of God abide in him?

Q. What other proof have you for alms?

A. Out of St. Luke xi. 41. But yet that which remains, give alms, and behold all things are clean unto you. And out of Dan. iv. 24. Redeem thy sins with alms, and thy iniquity with the mercies of (that is to) the poor.

Q. What are the daughters of covetousness?

A. Hardness of heart, unmercifulness to the poor, unquiet solicitude, neglect of heavenly things, and confidence in things of this world.

Q. What else?

A. Usury, fraud, rapine, theft, &c.

Q. What are the remedies of covetousness?

A. To consider, that it is a kind of idolatry, according to Col. iii. 5. And that it is harder for a rich man to enter into heaven, than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. St. Matt. xix. 24.

Q What are the virtues opposite to covetousness?

A. Liberality, which makes a man give freely to the poor; and justice, which renders to all men that which is theirs. It is more blessed to give, saith our Lord, than to receive, Acts xxvi. 35. And in 2 Cor. ix. 6, St. Paul saith, He that soweth sparingly, sparingly also shall he reap; but he that soweth in blessings, of blessings also shall be reap; for God loves the cheerful giver.

Lechery Expounded.

Q. WHAT is lechery, or lust?

A. An inordinate desire of carnal sin, or delights of the flesh.

Q. How prove you the malice of this sin?

A. Because the whole world was once drowned, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were burnt with fire from Heaven for it. Gen. vii. 21, and xix. 24.

Q. What other proof have you?

A. Out of Rom. viii. 13. For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live.

Q. What are the degrees of lust?

A. Thought, delight, consent, and act.

Q. What are the daughters of lust?

A. They are those of which we treated under the sixth and ninth commandments.

Q. Why are lustful kisses and touches mortal sins? A. Because they strongly dispose to greater sins. Q. Is kissing by way of civility, when we meet a friend, any sin ?

A. No, if done only through civility, and not for pleasure. Q. What are the remedies of lust?

A. To consider on death, judgment, hell, and heaven, and that by it we make our bodies, which are members of Chris to be members of an harlot. 1 Cor. vi, 15.

Q. What else?

A. To consider that God and his angels are witnesses of it, how private soever it may seem, also prayer and mortification. Q. What is the virtue opposite to lechery?

A. Chastity, which makes us abstain from carnal pleasures. Let us behave ourselves, saith St. Paul, as the ministers of God, in much patience, in watching, in fasting, in chastity. 2 Cor. vi. 4, 6.

Q. How prove you the greatness of this virtue?

A. Out of Apoc. xiv. 4. These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; these follow the Lamb whithersoever he shall go.

Envy Expounded

Q. WHAT is envy?

A. It is a sadness or repining at another's good, in as much as it seems to lessen our own excellency.

Q. How prove you envy to be a mortal sin?

A. Because, by the Devil's envy death entered into the world, and envy was the cause of all sin. Wis. iii.

Q. What are the daughters of envy?

A. Hatred, detraction, rash judgment, strife, reproach, contempt, and rejoicing at another's evil.

Q. What are the remedies of envy?

A. To consider that it robs us of charity, and deforms us to the likeness of the Devil.

Q. What is the virtue opposite to envy?

A Brotherly love, which is the chiefest badge of christianity. In this all men shall know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John xiii, 35.

Gluttony Expounded.

Q. WHAT is gluttony?

A. An inordinate excess, or desire of excess in meat or drink.

Q. How prove you that to be a mortal sin?

A. Out of Cor. vi. 10. Drunkards shall not possess the kingdom of God. And St. Luke xxi. 34. Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness.

Q. What are the daughters of glattony.?

A. Babbling, scurrility, sickness, and dulness of soul and body.

Q. What are the remedies of it?

A. To consider the abstinence of Christ and his saints, and that gluttons are enemies to the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction. Phil. iii. 12.

Anger Expounded.

Q. WHAT is anger?

A. An inordinate desire of revenge.

Q. How prove you anger to be mortal?

A. Out of St. Matt. v. 22. Whosoever shall be angry with

his brother, shall be guilty of judgment, &c.

shall say, Thou fool, shall be guilty of hell fire. Q. What are the daughters of anger?

And whosoever

A. Hatred, passion, fury, clamour, threats, contumely, cursing, blasphemy, and murder.

Q. What are the remedies of anger?

A. To remember the holy lesson of Christ, Luke xxi. 1. In your patience you shall possess your souls.

And that of

St. Paul, Be gentle one to another, pardoning one another, as also God in Christ hath pardoned you. Ephes. v. 32.

Q. What is the virtue opposite to anger?

A. Patience, which suppresseth in us all passion, and desire of revenge.

Q. How prove you the necessity and force of patience? A. Out of Heb. x. 36. Patience is necessary for you, doing the will of God, you may partake of the promise.

Sloth Expounded.

Q. WHAT is sloth?

that

A. Laziness of mind, neglecting to begin, or prosecute good things.

Q. How prove you sloth to be a deadly sin?

A. Out of Apoc. iii. 15.. Because thou art neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, I will begin to cast thee out of my

mouth.

Q. What other proof have you?

A. Out of St. Matt. xxv. 30. And the unprofitable servant cast ye forth into exterior darkness.

Q. When is sloth mortal?

A. As often as by it we break any commandment of God or his church.