which hath made her free hath made me a bondman for I am not free to go from the Church whiles she is free by coming to and abiding in the Truth I must be contented to lose my Liberty that I may keep my Piety wherein though I have a seeming loss yet I have a real gain even the gain of godliness which is great gain in this world by sanctifying the soul but greater in the next by saving it And this is according to our blessed Saviours Prayer Sanctifie them through thy Truth thy word is Truth John 17. 17. The same is the Holy Religion to sanctifie us which is the True Religion to save us The sanctification it hath from Gods Truth the Truth it hath from Gods Word and consequently a Religion that is not built upon Gods Word can neither have Sanctification nor Truth This is the only certain and infallible foundation of the Catholick Faith according to that of Saint Paul Ye are of the houshold of God and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone Eph. 2. 19 20. Vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets that is upon the Old and New Testament Supra novum vetus Testamentum as saith Saint Ambrose And Epiphanius doth in effect give the same gloss in saying That our blessed Saviour is called the chief corner-stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because he did bind as it were in one knot both the People and the Truths of the Old and New Testament so that we must have the holy Scriptures for our foundation or we cannot have our Saviour Christ for the chief corner-stone of our building The same Epiphanius tels us that our blessed Saviour was therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magni consilii Angelus for so the Seventy have rendred that Text Isa 9. 6. The Angel of the great Counsel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. in Hâ—r Arian because he declared the will of his Father unto men And sure we must go to the Holy Scriptures if we desire to find that declaration Nay indeed Aquinas also wâ—tnesseth the same in saying that t is most proper for Divinity to argue from authority and not from reason because she hath all her principles from Revelation Argumentari ex authoritate est maximè proprium hujus Doctrine eo quod principia hujus Doctrinae per revelationem habentur in 1. par qu. 1. ar 8. ad 2. And least we should doubt where to look for that Revelation and consequently for that authority from which we ought to argue he tels us presently after we must look for it from the Apostles and Prophets in the Canonical Scriptures and from no body else Innititur fides nostra revelationi Apostolis Prophetis factae qui Canonicos libros scripserunt non autem revelationi siqua fuit aliis doctoribus facta Our faith relyeth upon the revelation that was made to the Apostles and Prophets who writ the Canonical Scriptures and not upon any Revelation made before or since to any other Doctor whatsoever And he proves his assertion from Saint Augustine in an Epistle to Saint Hierom wherein he saith thus Solis enim scripturarum libris qui Canonici appellantur didici hunc honorem deferre ut nullum auctorem eorum in scribendo errasse aliquid firmissime credam Alios autem ita lego ut quantalibet sanctitate doctrinaque praepolleant non ideo verum putem quod ipsi ita senserunt vel scripserunt I have learned to give this honour only to the Canonical Books of the Holy Scriptures that I firmly believe the Authors of those books to have erred in nothing But as for other Authours though of never so great learning and piety yet I do not think the Doctrine true because they have writ it I will add but one more Testimony and that shall be from Gratian himself the Father of the Canonists who in the second part of the Decree cause 8. quest 1. cap ult citeth these words out of reverend Bede Quibus in sacris literis una est credendi pariter Vivendi regula praescripta To whom in the Holy Scripture there is prescribed one rule both of believing and of living Quibus to whom he means to Clergy-men and to Lay-men though the gloss is pleased to add Laicis tamen sufficit Pictura pro Doctrina Pictures may suffice for Lay-mens Books T is to no purpose to cite moreover the authority of Councils for sure School-men Fathers and Canonists are enough to out-weigh a few later Jesuites who would sain have us go to man rather then to God for the foundation of our Faith In controversiis Religionis ultimum judicium est summi Pontificis saith Bellarmine lib. 4. de Pontif. cap. 1. § Sed nec In controversies of Religion the last Judgement belongs to the Pope And again Solum Petrum Christus vocavit Petram fundamentum non Petrum cum Concilio ex quo apparet totam firmitatem Conciliorum esse à Pontifice non partim à Pontifice partim à Concilio ib. c 3. § Contra. Our blessed Saviour called Peter alone a Rock and a foundation not Peter with a Council From whence it is evident that the whole validity of Councils and by conâ—equent of the Catholick Church is wholly from the Pope not partly from the Pope and partly from a Council If the Council of Constance and of Basil had been of this belief the contrary would never have been defined for a Catholick verity Veritas de potestate Concilii generalis universalem Ecclesiam repraesentantis supra Papam quemlibet alterum declarata per Constantiense hoc Basiliense generalia Concilia est veritas fidei Catholicae Consil Basil sess 33. This truth declared by the general Councils of Constance and Basil of the power of a general Council representing the universal Church above the Pope or any other is a truth belonging to the Catholick Faith To which they add this for a second That the Pope cannot dissolve or remove a General Council without their own consents and after that bring in this for a third verity of the Catholick faith Veritatibus duabus praedictis pertinaciter repuâ—nans est censendus Haereticus He that pertinaciously opposeth the two former verities is to be accounted an Heretick Which their three Catholick verities are again repeated in the thirty eighth Session and in the fortieth Session Pope Foelix upon his knees takes a solemn Oath to maintain the decrees of these two as well as of the other general Councils and after he hath so done subscribes the same Oath with his own hand offereth it upon the Holy Altar and promiseth to take it again in the first publick Consistory that he should hold sc at Rome with the Cardinals Hanc autem professionem mea manu subscripsi tibi omnipotenâ—i Deo cui in die tremendi judicii redditurus sum de hoc aliis meis operibus rationem pura
utriusque Tabulae that the Prince is entrusted with the keeping of both the Tables of the Decalogue is easily to be proved concerning each Table by it self For the words forecited out of the fourth commandment prove it sufficiently concerning the first table as that takes care for the external worship And as for the Duties of Religion that belong to the Second Table all the world agrees that the Prince is immediately and directly entrusted with them by vertue of the Fift Commandment And since the old Testament as far as it concerns Moral duties is no other then a various Paraphrase or Exposition upon the Decalogue we may not unfitly apply all those Texts that enjoyn or approve the supream Magistrates care of Gods publick worship as so many glosses upon this Text of the fourth commandment Particularly that signal Injunction of God to Joshuah This book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou maist observe to do according to all that is written therein For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success Josh 1. 8. In that he saith This book of the Law we may not any more leave out the first Table of the Decalogue out of Joshuahs commission then out of Gods book in that he saith Thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou maist observe to do according to all that is written therein we must infer unless we will say that God spake to Joshua as to a private man at that very time when he made him a publick person and governour of his people in Moses his stead That this is a full precept both for his knowledge and for his practice concerning Religion as it was established for Prince and Priest and People Lastly in that he saith For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and ther thou shalt have good success We have a Promise answerable to that precept And what can be brought more for the proof of any duty then Gods precept and Gods promise His Precept commanding it his promise rewarding it the one to direct the other to encourage our obedience We need not doubt of our work if we have a Precept we cannot doubt of his acceptance if we have a promise Quae faciunt divisa beatos in te mista fluunt Those two things either of which severally and by it self were enough to authorize the Civil Magistrate to have a special care of and regard to Religion are here joyntly and both together in Joshuahs Commission to wit Precept and Promise So that to deny him the Precept concerning the Piety is in effect to deny him the Promise concerning the Prosperity And by the same reason If we will not have Christian Princes Religious we must have them improsperous If they will not take care of Religion God will not take care of them unless we dare say that our Saviour Christ came to defalcate from the power and trust which God had given to Princes by Legacy in the Old Testament because that being made Christian either they would deserve it less or abuse it more But in all the New Testament we find not the least hint of any such defalcation either by Christ or by his Apostles 1. Not by Christ he never diminished but altogether established the right of Princes for he withdrew himself when the Jews would have made him King John 6. 15. and professed openly before Pilate saying My Kingdom is not of this world John 18. 36. And acknowledged Pilates power over him John 19. 11. So far was he either from leaving a Vice-Roy behind him as an universal Monarch of the whole world to give some Princes a faculty to act and take away from others their power of acting or from leaving his Kingly office among a company of inferiour Presbyters with power to controul and subvert the government of Churches and States under pretence of setting up his Kingdom 2. Not by Christs Apostles they never diminished or debased the rights of Princes but rather advanced and extolled them So Saint Paul calleth them Gods Ministers and writeeth to the Clergy of Rome in the first place and to the people of Rome by and after them saying Ye must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake Rom. 13. 4 5. What ye even Omnis Anima every soul ver 1. Nec animam Papae excipit He excepteth not the soul of the Pope said Aeneas Silvius whilst he was the Popes Scribe in the Council of Basil though when himself was afterwards Pope under the name of Pius the second he was of another mind whence that scoff was put upon him Quod Aeneas probavit Pius damnavit what Aeneas did piously approve that Pius did impiously condemn And t is possible that in the first place he condemned himself t is probable he thought some others might justly condemn him imputing the change of this opinion rather to his preferment then to his Judgement for so himself doth say in his Bulla Retractationum as t is recorded by Binius Dicent fortasse aliqui cum Pontificatu hanc nobis opinionem advenisse cum dignitate mutatam esse sententiam But t is certain there was reason enough for this condemnation because he shewed the greater Truth while he had the lesser Trust was a truer interpreter of the Text as a private man then as a Pope was more faithful whilst he was yet less powerful for surely Saint Paul that saith Every soul excepteth none Even Christs Vicar is by this precept Let every soul be subject himself made a subject to Gods Minister So likewise Saint Peter willeth those whom he calleth a chosen generation a royal Priesthood to submit themselves to Kings and Governours for the Lords sake saying For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men 1 Pet. 2. 13 15. If they are a chosen generation that do submit then are they a reprobate generation that do rebell and if they submit for the Lords sake they who will not submit regard not the Lord If the one be well doing the other surely is ill doing and if the one silence the ignorance of foolish men then the other may be ashamed not to silence it self and all its presumptuous advocates In this strain of alleageance and obedience writ all the antient Divines whilst yet their interest had not corrupted their Divinity So Saint Augustine Reges quum in errore sunt pro ipso errore leges contra veritatem ferunt quum in veritate sunt similiter contra errorem pro ipsa veritate decernunt Ita legibus malis probantur boni legibus bonis emendantur mali Rex Nebuchodonosor perversus legem saevam dedit ut simulachrum adoraretur idem correctus severam ne Deus verus blasphemaretur In hoc enim Reges sicut divinitus eis praecipitur Deo serviunt in
be compelled unto his great supper Quâ—propter si potestate quam per Religionem ac fidem Regum tempore quo debuit divino munere accepit Ecclesia Hi qui inveniuntur in viis in sepibus i. e. in haeresibus Schismatibus coguntur intrare non quod coguntur reprehendant sed quo coguntur attendant Wherefore if those who are found in the High-ways and in the Hedges that is either amongst Hereticks or Schismaticks be constrained to enter into the Lords Vineyard by that power which the Church hath received by the goodness of God ever since Kings have received the Christian Faith Let them not find fault that they are as it were driven by force but let them consider whither it is they are driven even into those pastures where they may find true food and rest for their souls These are the chiefest of Saint Augustines arguments why Kings and Princes should interpose their power and authority in behalf of Religion to which may be added the inhumane barbarism of the Donatists who invaded Maximian an Orthodox Bishop of Africa and set upon him at the Altar and brake down the Altar that with the pieces of its wood for Altars were not then made of stone they might knock down the Bishop and after that they stabbed him with a punyard then dragged him on the ground and left him for dead But the dust having stopped the bleeding of his wounds there was still life in him and therefore they again took him away from those good Christians who were carrying him to a religious house for help and threw him down from a Turret so not doubting but they had at lest beat his breath quite out of his body if not his brains out of his head This was their cruelty against a pious and an Orthodox Bishop because he would not be of their party yet even this man thus in effect by them thrice killed was by the singular providence of God preserved and by the singular power of God again revived being stollen away in the night and carried to a religious house and so well recovered afterwards that he was able in his own person to make his complaint unto the Emperour and from him obtained the suppression of the Donatists which in time begat their conformity Hinc ergo factum est ut Imperator Religiosus ac pius perlatis in notitiam suam talibus causis mallet piissimis legibus istius impietatis errorem omnino corrigere eos qui contra Christum Christi signa portarent ad unitatem Catholicam torrendo coercendo redigere quà m saeviendi tantummodo auferre licentiam errandi ac pereundi relinquere Hence it came to pass that the Religious Emperour being informed of the whole matter did not only make Laws to suppress their violence that they should not mischief the Churches peace but also to command their obedience that they should submit to her commands and embrace her Communion as thinking it unworthy of his authority to deny his subjects power of destroying others but to leave them power of destroying themselves Thus did Saint Augustine plead for the power of Princes in maintaining the outward order of Religion and whereas he had once thought that only the spiritual power of the Word and not also the temporal power of the sword was to be used against Schismaticks He plainly recanted that opinion and left under his own hand a testimony of his recantation For so he hath written 2 Retract c. 5. Dixi in libro primo contra partem Donati Non mihi placere ullius saecularis potestatis impetu Schismaticos ad communionem violenter arctare verè mihi tunc non placebat quia nondum expertus eram vel quantum mali eorum auderet impunitas vel quantum eis in melius mutandis conferre posset diligentia disciplinae I said in my first book against the Donatists that I approved not their practice who did violently force Schismaticks to the Communion of the Church and truly when I writ that book I did not approve it for I had not then learned by experience neither how much the hope of impunity would make them the worse nor how much the fear of punishment would make them the better He had done what he could as a Divine to reclaim them for he had made an Alphabetical Psalm wherein he laid open their follies and impieties to all the people the Hypo-Psalm or burden of which Psalm to be repeated at the end of every new Period was this Omnes qui gaudetis de pace modo verum judicate All ye that love the peace now judge the truth u. Tom. 7. In this Psalm he complains much of their turbulency and violence whereby they dishonored Christ grieved his Spirit wounded his Church but they continued still like the deaf adder stopping their ears against the voice of the charmer though he charmed never so wisely wherefore when he saw they would not be reclaimed he desired they might be suppressed and began to be of a perswasion that it was the duty of the Civil Magistrate to suppress them And truly t is not imaginable that God hath given the power of the sword to Princes that they should use it against their own and not much rather against his enemies that they should punish those who dishonour their persons or disobey their commands and not much more those who dishonour and disobey the great God their Maker and Preserver from whom alone it is that either honour is due unto their persons or obedience is due unto their commands For God himself hath said Them that honour me I will honour and they that dispise me shall be lightly esteemed 1 Sam. 2. 30. The words werr spoken to Eli for not restraining the wickedness of his sons He had made a grave Sermon to them as a Priest but he had not inflicted severe punishments upon them as a Judge And because he had not punished them God resolves to punish him Nay to punish Religion for his sake thinking it more agreeable with his honour that his Ark should be captivated by Philistines then prophaned and defiled by Israelites We who have seen the same sins may justly fear we shall see the same confusion However we must pray that we may no more see the same sins or that we may see them severely punished That neither we may depart from our glory nor our glory may depart from us For surely there is a very great blessing in the meer outward face and practice of Religion and much more in the inward zeal and love of it This made King David so zealous to fetch the Ark of God from Kiriathjearim as himself professeth 1 Chron. 13. 3. Let us bring again the Ark of our God to us for we enquired not at it in the dayes of Saul He had been so long without the publick exercise of Religion because of the troubles which had befallen him and the whole Nation in the days of Saul that
nor be Judged by him Where we may safely enough admit of Baronius his own gloss An. 258. nu 42. out of Saint Augustine and yet not enervate the Validity of the Text Opinor inquit utique in his questionibus quae nondum eliquantissima perspectione discussa sunt id sc concessum esse I suppose they had such power and liberty only in those questions as were not yet fully discussed or determined And again Liberum faciebat quaerendi arbitrium ut examinata veritas penderetur Saint Cyprian therefore allowed them this liberty and power in common That the Truth might be the better discovered amongst them Take either or both Glosses t is evident that neither Saint Cyprian nor Saint Augustine did think That God had shut up all Truth in one Bishops breast or put all power into one Bishops hand But that the several Bishops of several Churches had by the blessing of God both ability to discern the Truth and Authority to publish and to establish it And this was the deliberate determination of the whole Council of Carthage in the year four hundred eighty five to which not only two hundered and thirty Affrican Bishops subscribed but also three Legates from the Bishop of Rome Faustinus Philippus and Asellus in these numerical words Prudentissime justissimeque Niceni Patres providerunt quaecunque negotia in suis locis ubi â—rta essent finienda nec unicuique Provinciae gratiam spiritus sancti defuturam quâ aequitas à Christi Sacerdotibus prudenter videatur constantissime teneatur The Nicene fathers did most judiciously and most justly provide that all controversies should be ended where they were begun For that the Grace of the Holy Ghost would be wanting to no Christian province whereby the Ministers of Christ belonging to that same Province should be enabled beth wisely to see what was just and equall and constantly to hold and to maintain it This Canon saith Goldastus was subscribed by three of the Popes own Legates but sure we are it was subscribed by all the Africane Bishops then present and sent in a letter to Pope Celestine which letter is inserted by Binius as the 105. Chapter of the Africane Council under Boniface and Celestine Tom. 1. Concil par 1. p. 757. edit Colon. Accordingly the same Council in 92. Canon constituteth and ordaineth That a Presbyter or Deacon being aggrieved by his own Bshop should appeal to the neighbouring Bishops or to the Primate or to an Africane Council but by no means to any Bishop out of their own Territories Ad transmarina autem qui putaverit appellandum à nullo intra Africam in communionem suscipiatur But if any shall appeal to countries abroad or beyond the Seas for his redress let no Bishop in Africa admit him to his communion The most reasonable Canon that could be made if particular Churches had their authority immediately from God to appoint those who were aggrieved their remedy at home But if not the most unreasonable to deny them to seek for remedy abroad Surely if we examine the Text we shall find very much spoken in the behalf of particular Churches For even our Saviour Christ himself appointed each particular Church to be judge of every person that lived within its Jurisdiction If thy brother shall trespass against thee tell it unto the Church Mat. 18. 15 17. What Church but that wherein thy brother liveth with thee not another Church wherein he liveth not for then our Saviour would certainly have named that other Church which since he hath not done we must understand this injured man 's own Church or else leave the peace of Christians under very great difficulties and greater uncertainties to this proof taken out of the first let us add another out of the last book of the new Testament Our blessed Saviour sends to the seven Churches which are in Asia Rev. 1. 11 and blames the Angels of them all severally for the several misdemeanors which he had seen in them which plainly shews that those several Angels had their several Trusts and as plainly proves that the doctrine concerning the Trust of particular Churches doth in no wise canton or dismember or disunite the Catholick Church for it is of Christs own teaching who is the head and may not be thought to canton or dismember or disunite his own body Saint Paul likewise sent seven several Epistles to seven several particular Christian Churches as to the Church of Rome Corinth Galatia Ephesus Philippi Colosse and Thessalonica allowing and confirming the particular authority and Trust of those several particular Churches and yet by no means dividing or disjointing the Catholick Church Whence we may justly infer that what Trust God at first gave to the particular Church of Rome Corinth Galatia and the rest the same he still giveth to other particular Churches and yet without the least division or disunion of this Catholick Church They were all several particular Churches in regard of their trust and jurisdiction they were all but one Catholick Church in regard of their Faith communion neither of them was opposed against the other in that they were accounted as so many several Churches neither of them was advanced above the other that they should all be united into one Church As it was said of the Church of Rome That your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world Rom. 1. 8. so it was likewise said of the Church of Thessalonica In every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad 1 Thes 1. 8. So that this argument can give no more Supremacy to the one Church then to the other and since there cannot possibly be two supreams this Text is very ill urged to prove the Church of Romes supremacy For ought then that can be gathered from these Epistles all the seven Churches were equally Gods Trustees and by consequent all others as well as they not one of them entruâ—ed above the rest and much less with the rest Each to give an account both to God and men for it self not one for All Nay Saint Paul hath taught us a reproof which may justly be used against any particular Church that will needs make it self too authentical above other Churches in that he saith to the Corinthians What came the word of God out from you or came it unto you only 1 Cor. 14. 36. Were you the first founders of the Christian Religion or are you the only Partakers of it was all Religion from you or is there no Religion but with you unless you can make good either one or both of these you may not take upon you to be the only Masters in Gods Israel but must allow others also to be taught of God to have their Religion from him and to have their Communion with him and what is that else but to be a true Christian Church to be called out of the world to Christ the Son of God by Religion to abide and dwell with him by
Bishops and Presbyters in Italy shall give an account for souls in England and as much against reason to say or think that souls in England shall not give an account for their disobedience And as this Position concerning the Authority of our own particular Church is reasonable so is it also religious For this is Saint Pauls own argument to the Corinthians Though you have ten thousand instructers in Christ yet have ye not many Fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel Wherefore I beseech you be ye followers of me 1 Cor. 4. 15 16. Whence we cannot but collect this dogmatical conclusion That this Church which hath begotten us in Christ claimeth our obedience in Christ and to renounce that obedience is in effect to renounce our being made Christians And as no other Church can truly say to us I have begotten you through the Gospel so no other Church can justly say unto us Wherefore I beseech you be ye followers of me To sum up all in one word This Doctrine concerning the acknowledging and obeying the authority of mine own Church being both rational and religious I dare not wilfully oppose it for fear of sinning against the God within me that is to say mine own conscience which will certainly by a most terrible and just remorse vindicate the violated dictates of Reason And much more for fear of sinning against the God without me Father Son and Holy Ghost which will certainly by a more terrible and just vengeance at the last day vindicate the violated dictates of Religion CAP. II. That the Church of England hath most carefully discharged her Trust concerning Religion as a most Christian or most Catholick Church SECT I. Gods intent in trusting his Church with Religion was her honour and happiness which should cause our thankfulness to God and our reverend esteem of his Church IT is a great honour to be trusted and as great a happiness to discharge a Trust Accordingly God entrusting his Church with Religion did intend her both honour and happiness Honour with men happiness with himself Honour in earth and happiness in heaven wherein we cannot but admire the goodness and Justice and liberality and mercy of God His Goodness in that he communicateth to his Church his own most excellent property even a will and desire that all men should be saved and come unto the knowledge of the Truth 1. Tim. 2. 4. His Justice in that he giveth abilities proportionable to that desire enabling his Church to promote the salvation of men and to bring them unto that heavenly knowledge his Liberality in that he giveth this desire and those abilities meerly of his free grace to enrich our souls not himself And lastly his Mercy in that by giving this desire these abilities and these riches he expelleth our natural defects arising from errour and ignorance whereby we do walk in the false and cannot find out the true way and prepareth us for that bliss and glory which is above nature who can think of this goodness of this Justice of this liberality of this mercy and not say with the Psalmist Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is withâ—n me praise his holy Name Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities which saveth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindness Psalm 103. 1 2 3 4. For it is his goodness that he forgiveth sin and healeth infirmities his Justice that he forgiveth only the penitent sinners and healeth only those who are broken in heart His mercy that he saveth our life from destruction and his liberality that he crowneth us with mercy and loving-kindness Accordingly he hath commanded his Church to teach especially the Doctrine of Faith to set forth his goodness by which he is reconciled The Doctrine of Repentance to set forth his Justice which hath been satisfied The Doctrine of Free Grace to set forth his mercy in saving us from destruction The Doctrine of eternal glory to set forth his liberality in crowning us with loving kindness O my soul consider the immortal comfort of these heavenly Truths and look upon thy Church which teacheth them as the daughter of immortality as the mother of comfort and as the Bride of the King of Heaven Then wilt thou no more be contentedly without thy Church then thou canst be comfortably without these Doctrines Then wilt thou say with the Psalmist I am fearfully and wonderfully made but with thy self I am more fearfully and wonderfully saved Marvellous are thy works and that my soul knoweth right well Psalm 139. 13. I am much amazed at thy great care and providence over my body but much more at thy great care and providence over my soul Thou madest use of my carnal Parents to make me communicating to them as far as they were capable the honour of my Creation Thou makest use of my spiritual Parents to save me communicating to them as far as they are capable the honour of my salvation should I be a monster of nature if I dishonoured the one and shall I not be a monster of grace if I dishonour the other Didst thou confer on them the Dignity of Causality by thy goodness that I should cast upon them the indignity of contumacy by my undutifulness Can I indeed truly honour thee the Principal and dishonour thy Church the instrumental cause of my salvation Thou laid'st thine hand upon me to make me but thou laid'st thine heart upon me to save me O make me wholly to fix my heart upon thee my Saviour and upon thy salvation Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect and in thy book were all my members written wstilst thou madest my Body But thine eyes would not see my sinfulness nor my imperfections and thou didst blot all my transgressions out of thy Book that thou mightst save my soul Therefore I cannot but say How dear are thy counsels unto me O God Psalm 139. 17. Dear are thy counsels about my Creation much dearer are thy counsels about my Redemption Counsels they were till thou wert pleased to reveal them by thy Church Since therefore I cannot but say How dear are thy counsels I beseech thee suffer me not to say How cheap is thy Counsellor SECT II. The Churches Trust concerning Religion is to see there be right Preaching Praying and Administring the holy Sacraments That preaching belongs rather to the knowledge then to the worship of God and ought not to thrust out Praying which is the chiefest act of Gods worship and most regarded by him especially when many pray in one communion CHristian Religion teacheth us to know and worship God as is agreeable to his Glory and profitable for our salvation So that the Churches trust concerning the Christian Religion is reducible to these two heads the knowledge and the worship of God And because the Church is trusted with the
they believe in his Almighty power and in his all-saving mercy therefore it is that they make their prayers unto him And since they cannot believe in the Saints as such Almighty and All-saving Lords they may not call upon them or pray unto them suo modo credere will not serve the turn it must be omni modo For why not as well say I may have a Saint or Angel after some sort for my God though God himself hath said Thou shalt have no other Gods but me as say I may after some sort believe in a Saint or Angel since the Text saith plainly have faith in God Mar. 11. 22. and again Abraham believed God it was counted to him for righteousness Rom. 4. 3. and again To him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Rom. 4. 5. Can any Saint or Angel justifie a sinner and why should I have faith in him if I cannot have Justistcation from him and again Abraham was strong in faith giving glory to God Rom. 4. 20. Ought any Saint or Angel to have that glory which is proper only to God And what glory is proper only to God but for a man to believe in him as the first Truth and to put his whole trust in him as the chiefest good We must degrade faith and suffer it no longer to be a Theological Vertue if it may have any other but only God for its object And the like also may be said of Prayer We must deny that to be an elicite act of the understanding apprehending Gods infinity and make it only a little lip-labour before we can bring it down so low as to befit a Saint or Angel For mental prayer which is only in the heart without which the Verbal is no more then an empty sound is in vain offered up to any but only to him that is the searcher of Hearts And he that saith Give me thy Heart hath not said Give another thy Tongue when it expresseth the elevation or lifting up of thy heart Sancte Petre miserere mei salva me aperi mihi aditum coeli and that Prayer to the blessed Virgin Tu nos ab hoste protege hora mortis suscipe and the like if spoken only in the heart are spoken surely in vain for they know not our hearts and are moreover spoken in sin because they know them not So the very sense of the prayer is wicked because it supposeth a man a God And how then can any Divine excuse the words from wickedness whereby alone we are able to judge of the sense Yet Bellarmine hath found out an excuse for them saying Non agitur de verbis sed de sensu verborum nam quantum ad verba licet dicere Sancte Petre miserere mei salva me Item Da mihi sanitatem corporis da patientiam c. Dummodo intelligamus Salva me miserere mei orando pro me Da mihi hoc illud tuis precibus meritis lib. 1. de beatitudine sanctorum cap. 17. 'T is no matter for the words of the Prayers so as the sense be right For in words we may say O Saint Peter have mercy upon me and save me as long as our meaning is save me and have mercy upon me by praying for me or O Saint Peter give me health or patience c. as long as our meaning is give it me by thy prayers and merits If this Interpretation may be allowed to add new words that we may make a new sense farewell to Aristotles Book De Interpretatione for only he that is the prolocutor can be the Interpreter we must overthrow the ground of all reason to make good sense out of bad words Conceptus sunt signa verum verba conceptuum is the first ground in Logick Conceits or apprehensions are the expresses of things as words are of conceits or apprehensions Take away this ground and take away the use of all Logick and consequently the exercise of Reason for if a mans speech be other then his meaning how shall another understand him If his meaning be other then the thing how shall he understand himself Nay we must overthrow the ground of all Religion as far as 't is expressed in words to make hese and the like good Prayers For Religion as far as 't is expressed in words is regulated by the third Commandment that bids us not take the name of the Lord our God in vain in the manner of our speaking meddles not with our thinking or with our meaning so that if the manner of our speaking be faulty when we pray we do take the name of God in vain or there is no obligation there can be no violation of the third Commandment Who can meet with such elusions as these in matters of Religion and not be moved out of the zeal of godliness to exclaim with the Prophet Hear ye now O House not of David but of Goliah Is it a small thing for you to weary men but will you weary my God also Isa 7. 13. Is it not enough and too much that ye teach us to equivocate with men but will ye also teach us to equivocate with our God Will ye at the same time maintain a Liturgie and set up a Directory a Liturgie in words but a Directory in sense Your Liturgie is O Saint Mary O Saint Peter give me health and salvation But your Directory is O Lord help me O Lord save me or is this Catholick in you to have your Directory better then your Liturgie your meaning better then your words your intention better then your expression or is it fitting if it were possible for men to say in words and unsay in sense the same things especially in their prayers and not palpably collude with God and men And what have we done else but reformed that in words which you your selves do reform in sense and why then do you so uncessantly revile so unconscionably oppose our Reformation Is it not affected Atheism not to reform what is really superstitious as it is abominable blasphemie to call that superstition which is indeed true Religion May any Christian abjure and renounce such Prayers as the Spirit of God hath taught and the Son of God doth assist without abjuring and renouncing God himself Is not this indeed the most dreadful and most formidable kind of abjuration that ever was to abjure the intercession of God the Son and the Communion of God the Holy Ghost or is it lawful to deal with a true Christian form of Prayer as the Jews did with Christ who when Pilate said Why what evil hath he done cryed out so much the more exceedingly Crucifie him Mar. 15. 14. We dare not think of wishing an Interdict upon Religion for that is to crucifie Christ but we are bound to wish an Interdict upon Idolatry and Blasphemy for that is to crucifie the two thieves which rob God of his honour and Gods