Tertullian, On Repentance 7
Thus far, Christ our Lord, let your servants speak or hear of the discipline of repentance only while even the hearers must not sin — or else let them now know nothing of repentance and ask nothing of it. It pains me to add mention of the second hope, already the last, lest by talking of the remaining help of repenting we seem to mark out still a space for sinning. God forbid anyone should read it as if the door still stands open to sin because it stands open to repent, and turn heaven's overflow of mercy into fuel for human boldness. Let no one grow worse because the Lord is better, sinning as often as he is forgiven. There will be an end of escaping for the one who has no end of offending. We escaped once: let us not thrust ourselves into danger again even if we seem likely to escape a second time.
Many freed from shipwreck thereafter divorce ship and sea, and honor God's gift — their own salvation — by remembering the danger. I praise that fear; I love that modesty. They refuse to burden divine mercy again; they dread seeming to trample what they have gained. The measure of rashness is a witness of fear, and a man's fear is God's honor. But that most stubborn enemy never gives his malice rest; he rages most when he feels a man fully freed. He grieves that so many works of death in the man have been torn down by the pardon of sins, and that the sinner-servant will judge him and his angels with Christ. So he watches, assaults, besieges — by lust of the flesh, worldly lures, fear of earthly power, or twisted traditions.
God, foreseeing these poisons, though he had shut the door of pardon and barred it with baptism's lock, still left something open: he set in the vestibule a second repentance to open for those who knock — but once only, because it is already a second time, and never again, for next time it is in vain. Is even this not enough once? You have what you no longer deserved, for you had lost what you received. If the Lord's indulgence lends you a way to restore what you lost, be grateful for the repeated gift — all the more for the enlarged one. To restore is greater than to give, because it is more wretched to have lost than never to have received. Yet the soul must not at once be cut down by despair if it becomes a debtor to second repentance. Let it pain you to sin again, but not to repent again; let it shame you to risk again, but shame no one to be freed again: repeated sickness needs repeated medicine. You will stand grateful toward the Lord if you do not refuse what he offers you anew. You have offended, but you can still be reconciled: you have One to whom you may make satisfaction — and he is willing!
Latin
VII. [1] Hucusque, Christe domine, de paenitentiae disciplina servis tuis dicere vel audire contingat, quousque etiam delinquere non oportet et audientibus: vel nihil iam de paenitentia noverint, nihil eius requirant. [2] Piget secundae, immo iam ultimae spei subtexere mentionem, ne retractantes de residuo auxilio paenitendi spatium adhuc delinquendi demonstrare videamur. [3] Absit ut aliquis ita interpretetur, quasi eo sibi etiamnunc pateat ad delinquendum, quia patet ad paenitendum, et redundantiam clementiae caelestis libidinem faciat humanae temeritatis! [4] Nemo idcirco deterior sit, quia dominus melior est, totiens delinquendo quotiens et ignoscitur: ceterum finem utique evadendi habebit, qui offendendi non habebit. Evasimus semel: hactenus periculosis nosmetipsos inferamus etsi iterum evasuri videmur. [5] Plerique naufragio liberati exinde repudium et navi et mari dicunt et dei beneficium, salutem suam scilicet, memoria periculi honorant. Laudo timorem, diligo verecundiam: nolunt iterum divinae misericordiae oneri esse, formidant videri inculcare quod consecuti sunt; bona certe sollicitudine iterum experiri devitant quod semel didicerunt timere. [6] Ita modus temeritatis testatio est timoris; timor autem hominis dei honor est. [7] Sed enim pervicacissimus hostis ille numquam malitiae suae otium facit, atquin tunc maxime saevit cum hominem plene sentit liberatum, tunc plurimum accenditur cum extinguitur. [8] Doleat et ingemiscat necesse est venia peccatorum permissa tot in homine mortis opera diruta, tot titulos dominationis retro suae erasos. Dolet quod ipsum et angelos eius Christo servus ille peccator iudicaturus est. [9] Itaque observat obpugnat obsidet, si qua possit aut oculos concupiscentia carnali ferire aut animum inlecebris saecularibus inretire aut fidem terrenae potestatis formidine evertere aut a via certa perversis traditionibus detorquere; non scandalis, non temptationibus deficit.
[10] Haec igitur venena eius providens deus clausana licet ignoscentiae ianuam et intinctionis sera obstructam aliquid adhuc permisit patere: conlocavit in vestibulo paenitentiam secundam, quae pulsantibus patefaciat, sed iam semel quia iam secundo, sed amplius numquam quia proxime frustra. [11] Non enim et hoc semel satis est? Habes quod iam non merebaris: amisisti enim quod acceperas. Si tibi indulgentia domini adcommodat, unde restituas quod amiseras, iterato beneficio gratus esto, nedum ampliato. [12] Maius [est] enim restituere quam dare, quoniam miserius est perdidisse quam omnino non accepisse. Verum non statim succidendus ac subruendus est animus desperatione, si secundae quis paenitentiae debitor fuerit. [13] Pigeat sane peccare rursus, sed rursus paenitere non pigeat; pudeat iterum periclitari, sed [non] iterum liberari neminem pudeat: iterandae valitudinis iteranda medicina est. [14] Gratus in dominum extiteris, si quod tibi denuo offert, non recusaveris. Offendisti sed reconciliari adhuc potes: habes cui satisfacias et quidem volentem!