More Fruits of Solitude by William Penn (1718) Part 12 173-180 (Of the Mean Notion we Have of God)
Bonus:
Summary: You can't do enough good to make up for your bad.
Commentary:
177. Of what Benefit is it to say our Prayers regularly, go to Church, receive the Sacraments, and may be go to Confessions too; ay, Feast the Priest, and give Alms to the Poor, and yet Lye, Swear, Curse, be Drunk, Covetous, Unclean, Proud, Revengeful, Vain and Idle at the same Time?
178. Can one excuse or ballance the other? Or will God think himself well served, where his Law is Violated? Or well used, where there is so much more Shew than Substance?
179. ’T is a most dangerous Error for a Man to think to excuse himself in the Breach of a Moral Duty, by a Formal Performance of Positive Worship; and less when of Human Invention.
I think the answer to this is honestly yes. You can't never make a mistake, but you can try to do good things as much as possible. We all forgive a "good" person who does something bad occasionally. We tend to have less patience for someone who is a continual asshole.
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