Behold, then, already one path of salvation shut to the generality of
men. All have erred. Be ye whom ye may, listen to me now, the time
has been when sin reigned over you. Age may perhaps have calmed your
passions, but what was your youth? Long and habitual infirmities
may perhaps have disgusted you with the world; but what use did you
formerly make of the vigor of health? A sudden inspiration of grace
may have turned your heart, but do you not most fervently entreat
that every moment prior to that inspiration may be effaced from the
remembrance of the Lord?

But with what am I taking up time? We are all sinners, O my God! and
Thou knowest our hearts! What we know of our errors is, perhaps, in
Thy sight, the most pardonable; and we all allow that by innocence
we have no claim to salvation. There remains, therefore, only one
resource, which is penitence. After our shipwreck, say the saints, it
is the timely plank which alone can conduct us into port; there is no
other means of salvation for us. Be ye whom ye may, prince or subject,
high or low, penitence alone can save you. Now permit me to ask where
are the penitent? You will find more, says a holy father, who have
never fallen, than who, after their fall, have raised themselves by
true repentance. This is a terrible saying; but do not let us carry
things too far: the truth is sufficiently dreadful without adding new
terrors to it by vain declamation.

Let us alone examine as to whether the majority of us have a right,
through penitence, to salvation. What is a penitent? According to
Tertullian, a penitent is a believer who feels every moment his former
unhappiness in forsaking and losing his God; one who has his guilt
incessantly before his eyes; who finds everywhere the traces and
remembrance of it.