their Wives even as their own Bodies He that loves his Wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it even as Christ does the Church because we are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones For this cause a Man shall leave his Father and his Mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they Two shall be One flesh This is a great Sacrament but I speak in Christ and in the Church For in that he says This is a great Sacrament no one ought to doubt that it is to be referr'd to Matrimony to wit because the Conjunction of the Man and of the VVoman whereof God is the Author is a Sacrament i. e. a Sacred Sign of the most Holy Bond wherewith Christ our Lord is join'd with his Church And that this is the proper and true sense of these words the antient Holy Fathers Tertul lib. de Monog Aug. de fide oper c. 7. lib. de Nup. concup c. 10. 12. Ambr. in Epist ad Eph. Ephes 3.25 who have interpreted this place have shew'd and the Holy Synod of Trent has explain'd the same thing It is evident therefore that the Husband is compar'd by the Apostle to Christ and the VVife to the Church That the Man is the Head of the Woman as Christ is of the Church and for that reason it is that the Husband ought to love his Wife and the Wife ought again to love and reverence her Husband for Christ lov'd his Church and gave himself for her And again as the same Apostle teaches the Church is subject to Christ But that in this Sacrament also Grace is signifi'd and given XX. The Sacrament of Matrimony giveâ— Grace in which thing especially the Nature of a Sacrament consists these words of the Synod declare But the Grace which perfects that Natural Love and confirms that indissoluble Unity Sess 14. Christ himself the Author and Finisher of the Venerable Sacraments has merited for us by his Passion VVherefore it must be taught XXI The Effects of the Grace of this Sacrament Heb. 13.4 that by the Grace of this Sacrament it is brought to pass that the Husband and VVife being join'd together with the Bond of Mutual Love acquiesce together and rest in each others good will and seek no strange and unlawful Loves and Copulations but in all respects their Marriage is honorable and the Bed undefiled But how far the Sacrament of Matrimony excels all other Matrimonies XXII How much the Sacrament of Matrimony excels all other Matrimony we may know from hence because tho' the Gentiles themselves thought there was something in Matrimony that is Divine and for that reason judg'd that wandring Copulations were strange to the Law of Nature and also that Whoredom Adultery and other kinds of Lusts were to be punish'd yet their Marriages had no Vertue at all of a Sacrament But among the Jews the Laws of Matrimony were much more religiously observ'd XXIII The Matrimony of the Jews tho it were Holy yet it was no Sacrament Gen. 2 nor is it to be doubted but that their Marriages were indu'd with a greater Sanctity For seeing they receiv'd that Promise That all Nations should be bless'd in the seed of Abraham it justly seem'd to be an Office of great Piety among them to beget Children and to propagate the Off-spring of a chosen people of which Christ our Lord and Saviour as to his human Nature was to have his Birth but even those Marriages also wanted the true reason of a Sacrament To this may be added XXIV Matrimony before and under the Law was imperfect Deut. 24.1 Mat. 19.7 that whether we consider the Law of Nature after the corruption of it or the Law of Moses we may easily observe that Matrimony had fallen very much from the Excellency and Gracefulness of its first Original For while the Law of Nature was in force we find that there were many of the antient Fathers who had several Wives together and if occasion were giving them a Bill of Divorce discharged them Both which being taken away by the Evangelical Law Marriage has bin restor'd to its former state For XXV Plurality of Wives contrary to Matrimony that Polygamy or divers VVives was contrary to the Nature of Matrimony altho some of the antient Fathers are not to be accus'd because it was not without Gods indulgence that they married divers VVives Christ our Lord shews in these words Mat. 19.5 For this cause shall a man let go Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they Two shall be in One Flesh And then he adds Therefore now they are not Two but One Flesh By which words he has made it evident XXVI Matrimony is a Conjunction of Two only that Matrimony was so instituted of God that it should be defin'd in a Conjunction of Two only and no more VVhich elsewhere he has taught very plainly for he says Whosoever shall put away his Wife and marries another commits Adultery upon her and if the Wife put away her Husband and he married to another she committs Adultery For if it were lawful for a Man to marry many VVives there would seem no reason he should rather be said to be guilty of Adultery because he married another Wife besides that he had at home than because the former being put away he was join'd with another And for this cause we understand it to be Note that if any Unbeliever according to the manner and custom of his own Country had married many Wives when he was converted to the true Religion the Church commands him to leave the rest and to account the first only as his true and lawful VVife But it is easily prov'd by the same Testimony of Christ our Lord XXVII The Bond of Matrimony dissolv'd by no Divorce that the Bond of Matrimony can be dissolv'd by no Divorce For if after a Bill of Divorce a VVoman were freed from the Law of her Husband it might be lawful for her without any crime of Adultery to marry another Husband Mat. 19.8 But the Lord plainly denounces Every one that puts away his Wife and marries another commits adultery VVherefore it is plain XXVIII Death only dissolves Matrimony 1 Cor. 6.39 that the Bond of VVedlock is broken by nothing else but Death which the Apostle also confirms when he says A woman is bound to the Law for so long-time as her Husband lives but if her Husband die she is freed from that Law she may be marry'd to whom she pleases only in the Lord. And again to those who are join'd together in Matrimony I command yet noâ— I but the Lord that the Wife depart not from her Husband But if she depart let her abide unmarry'd or be reconcil'd to her Husband The Apostle has left this Choice to that VVoman who for a just cause has left her Husband either that she
Dan. 3.49 which we read happen'd to the Three Children that were cast into the burning fiery Furnace Dan. 6.22 Dan. â— and to Daniel whom the Lions hurt not even as the Flame scorch'd not those Children But according to the Sense of the great S. Basil XVI The Dev l call'd Evil. S. Chrysostom and S. Austin the Devil is specially call'd the Evil one because he was the Author of Mans Fault that is of his Sin and VVickedness whom God uses as his Minister in punishing wicked and criminous Men for God appoints to Men all the Evil they suffer for their Sins which the Sacred Scripture means when it says Amos 3.6 Is there any evil in the City which the Lord has not done And Esa 45.7 I am the Lord and there is none other forming the Light and creating Darkness making peace and creating Evil. And the Devil is call'd Evil for this Cause Another Reason because tho we had done him no hurt yet he always makes VVar against us and persecutes us with mortal Hatred But if because we are armed with Faith Note and protected with Innocence he cannot hurt us yet he makes no end of tempting us with outward Evils and vexing us by all the means he is able wherefore we pray God that he would deliver us from the Evil one Chrysost hom 20. in Matth. hom 5. in Job Aug. in Ecclesiast dogmat c. 57. Basil in hom quod Deus non sit auctor malorum non procul à fine Now we say from Evil XVII Why we pray to be deliver'd from Evil and not from Evils not from Evils for this Reason because the Evils which happen to us from our Neighbors we lay upon him as the Author and Perswader that we may not therefore be angry against our Neighbors but turn all our Hatred and Anger against Satan himself by whom Men are driven to do us the Injury If therefore your Neighbor has hurt you in any kind Note when you pray to God our Father beg of him not only to deliver you from Evil i. e. from those Injuries which your Neighbor lays on you but that he would snatch that very Neighbor of yours out of the Power of the Devil by whose impulse Men are led into Deceit We must also know XVIII When we are not heard herein what we must do if by our Prayers and Vows we are not deliver'd from Evils that we ought patiently to endure those things that press us understanding that so it pleases God that we should patiently suffer them VVherefore it is by no means fit for us either to be angry or to grieve because God hears not our Prayers but we must referr all things to his VVill and Pleasure esteeming it to be profitable to us and for our Good which pleases God that it should be so and not that which we would have to be otherwise Lastly XIX Here all inconveniences are patiently to be endur'd 2 Tim. 3.12 the Devout Hearers are to be taught That whilst they are in the Stage of this Life they ought to be ready to bear all kinds of Inconveniences and Calamities not only with a patient but also with a chearful and glad Heart For all says the Apostle that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer Persecution And Act. 14.21 Thro many Tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God Again Luc. 24.26 Ought not Christ to suffer these things and so to enter into his Glory for it is not fit that the servant should be greater than his Lord as it is very unfit according to S. Bernards Sense that the Members should be delicat under a thorny Head Serm. 5. de omnibus Sanctis The Example of Vriah is very excellent for our Imitation An Example who when David exhorted him to stay at home said 2 Reg. 11.11 The Ark of God and Israel and Judah dwell in Tents and shall I go into my house Being furnished with these Reasons and Meditations Other Examples if we come to pray we shall obtain that tho we were on all sides girded and compassed about with Evils yet we shall be kept safe even as those three Children that were untouch'd by the Fire or at least as the Machabees we should constantly and stoutly endure all Adversities In Reproaches and Torments we will imitate the Sacred Apostles Act. 5.41 Who being beaten with Stripes did heartily rejoyce that they were counted worthy to suffer Disgrace for Christ Jesus So we being thus prepar'd will sing with the greatest Pleasure of Mind Psal 118. Princes have persecuted me without a cause but my heart was afraid for thy Word I will rejoyce in thy word as he that has found great Spoils The SEAL of the LORDS PRAYER Amen THis Word Amen I. Prayer must be rightly concluded or so it is S. Hierom in his Commentaries upon Matth 6.6 calls the Seal of the Lords Prayer Wherefore as we before admonish'd the Faithful concerning the Preparation which is to be made before we go about to pray to God so we thought it convenient that they should know the Cause and Reason of the Close and End of this Prayer For it is of no less moment devoutly to end Note than to be careful how to begin our Prayers to God Let the Faithful know therefore that the Fruits II. The fruit of this Particle we obtain by the End of our Lords Prayer are many and that very profitable but the most advantagious and welcome Fruit is the obtaining of those things which we have pray'd for whereof enough has already been spoken For by the former Part of this Prayer we not only obtain to have our Prayers heard but also some greater and more excellent things than can by Words be express'd For since Men in Praying III. The Advantage of Prayer discourse with God as S. Cyprian says the Divine Majesty is after an unutterable manner brought nearer to the Person that prays than to others and besides it adorns them with singular Gifts So that they who devoutly pray to God may be compared to them that come to the Fire who if they are cold begin to grow warm if they were warm begin to grow hot So they that come to God by Prayer according to the Measure of their Devotion and Faith go away more warm'd for their Minds are inflam'd for Gods Glory their Souls inlightned after an admirable manner they are exceedingly enrich'd with Divine Graces for thus it is written in Holy Scripture Psal 20 14. Thou hast prevented him with the blessing of sweetness Moyses in this case is an Example for all An Example Exod 34 35. 2 Cor. 3. â—3 who by reason of his walking and talking with God did shine so with a kind of Divine Brightness that the Israelites could not look on his Eyes or Countenance Verily they that pray with that earnest Study Note do wonderfully enjoy Gods Majesty
cast out far from the sight of God nor can they receive any comfort from any Hope that they shall ever enjoy so great a Good And This by Divines is call'd the Pain of Loss viz. That the Wicked in Hell shall for ever want the Light of the Vision of God But that which is added ye Cursed does wonderfully increase their misery and calamity For if when they are to be driven out from the presence of God they might be thought worthy of some small Blessing this might truly be some considerable comfort to them But for as much as they must expect nothing that can alleviate their misery when they are cast out the Divine Justice will rightly follow them with every Malediction and Curse And then follows Into everlasting-fire which other kind of Pain Divines call the Pain of Sense because it can be felt by the bodily Senses as in Stripes Buffetings and other more grievous kinds of punishments among which there can be no doubt that the torments of Fire do cause the most exquisite sense of Pain to which evil when it is added that all this wilt be For ever it is thereby shew'd that the pains of the Damn'd will be loaded with all kinds of punishments And This those words which are plac'd in the latter part of the Sentence more fully declare Which is prepar'd for the Devil and his Angels For whereas so it is that we can more easily endure all troubles if we have some Companion and Consort of our Calamity by whose prudence and humanity we may in some measure be reliev'd what at last will be the Misery of the Damn'd who tho loaded with so great Torments shall notwithstanding never be deliver'd from the company of the most accursed Devils And this indeed is the Sentence that shall most justly be denounc'd by our Lord and Savior upon the Wicked as being they who neglected all works of true Piety and gave neither Meat nor Drink to the Hungry and Thirsty took not in the Stranger cloath'd not the Naked and visited not the Sick and Imprison'd These are the things which the Curats ought often to inculcate into the ears of the Faithful XI Discourse of the last Judgment should be frequent and why Eccles 40. Aug. Ser. 120. de Temp. Greg. Hom. 3 9. in Eâ—â—â—ng Bernaâ—â— Serm. 1. in sesto omnium sanctorum For the Truth of this Article being rightly believ'd will have great force to bridle the wicked desires of the mind and hold men back from sinning Wherefore in Ecclesiasticus it is said In all thy works remember thy latter end and thou wilt not sin forever And indeed hardly will any one be carri'd head-long into wickedness whom this Consideration cannot recal to the study of Piety That sometime or other he must give an Account before the most just Judge not only of all his Actions and Words but also of his most hidden Thoughts and must suffer Punishment according to his desert But it must needs be that the Just will be more stirr'd up to do Justice and to rejoyce exceedingly tho he here lead his life in Want in Disgrace and Afflictions when he thinks in his mind of that Day when after the combat of this troublesome life he shall in the hearing of all Men be proclaim'd a Conquerer and shall be receiv'd into his heav'nly Country and adorn'd with Divine Honour What remains therefore but that the Faithful be exhorted to take the best manner of life and exercise themselves in the study of all Piety that so they may with the greater Joy and Security of Mind wait for and expect the coming of that great Day of the Lord and so as becomes Children with the greatest Earnestness to desire it ARTICLE VIII I Believ in the Holy Ghost Hitherto those things have bin expounded I. Fith in the Holy Ghost necessary so far as the Reason of the Argument seem'd to require which belong'd to the First and Second Person of the Holy Trinity Now it follows That those things also which in the Creed are deliver'd concerning the Third Person that is the Holy Ghost shou'd be explain'd In treating of which matter the Pastors shou'd use their utmost Endeavor and Diligence Act. 19.2 seeing it is to be suppos'd That a Christian Man may no more be ignorant of This part or not believe rightly concerning it than of the other former Articles Wherefore the Apostle would not suffer certain of the Ephesians to be ignorant of the Person of the Holy Ghost Of whom when he ask'd Whether they had receiv'd the Holy Ghost and when they answer'd That they knew not whether there was an Holy Ghost he presently ask'd them In whom therefore were ye baptiz'd In which words he signify'd That the distinct knowledg of this Article is necessary to the Faithful from which they have this Fruit especially that when they consider attentively That whatsoever they have they have it of the Gift and Bounty of the Holy Ghost then do they begin to think more modestly and humbly of themselves and to place all their Hope in Gods Protection which ought to be the First Step of a Christian to the highest Wisdom and Happiness We must therefore begin the explanation of this Article from the Force and Notion which here is included in that Name of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit for the very same may indifferently and rightly be said both of the Father and of the Son II What the Holy Ghost properly signifies for either of them is a Spirit and Holy for we confess that God is a Spirit and besides that the Angels and the Souls of the Pious are signify'd by this word there must care be taken lest the people by the ambiguity of the Word be led into Eror In this Article therefore it must be taught That the Third Person of the Trinity is understood by the name of the Holy Ghost after which manner in the Holy Scriptures both of the Old Testament sometimes and of the New Testament very frequently he is taken for David prays Ps 50.12 Wisd 9 17. 〈◊〉 1.9 Matt. 1.20 Luc. 1.35 And take not thy Holy Spirit from me In the Book of Wisdom we read Who has known thy counsel except thou give Wisdom and send thy Holy Spirit from above And elsewhere He created it by his Holy Spirit And in the New Testament we are commanded to be baptiz d In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And we read That the most Holy Virgin did conceive by the Holy Ghost and we are also sent by S. John to Christ Joh. 1.15 who baptizes us with the Holy Ghost and in many other places besides in reading we may meet with this Word And no one ought to wonder III. Why the H ly Ghost hâ—s no proper name That a proper name is not giv'n to the Third Person as there is to the First and Second for the Second Person
has therefore a proper name and is call'd Son because his eternal Birth of the Father is properly call'd Generation as has bin explain'd in the former Article As therefore that Birth is signify'd by the name os Generation So that Person which flows we properly call Son and him from whom he flows we properly call Father Now whereas there is no proper name giv'n to the production of the Third Person but is call'd Spiration and Procession it follows That the Person also which is produc'd want his own proper name Now his Emanation has no proper name because we are forc'd to borrow from creat'd things those Names which are giv'n to God Wherein because we know no other way of communicating of Nature and Being but by vertue of Generation for this cause it is that we cannot express by any proper word the way whereby God communicates his whole self by vertue of his Love Wherefore the Third Person is call'd by the common name of Holy Spirit which verily we understand very well to suit with him from hence because he pours spiritual Life into us and without the inspiration of his most Holy Deity we can do nothing worthy of eternal Life And now the signification of the Name being explain'd IV. The Holy Ghost prov'd God equal with the Father and Son the people are first of all to be taught That the Holy Ghost is equally God with the Father and the Son that he is equal with him equally Almighty Eternal and of infinite Perfection the supreme Good and most Wise and of the and same Nature with the Father and the Son Which also the propriety of the word In sufficiently shews First when we say I believe in the Holy Ghost which is fitted to express the force of our Faith in the several persons of the Trinity And this also is confirm'd by plain Testimonies of Holy Scripture Secondly for when S. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles had said Act. 5. Ananias why has Satan tempted thy Heart to lye to the Holy Ghost he presently says Thou hast not ly'd to Men but to God Whom before he call'd Holy Ghost the same he presently after calls God And the Apostle to the Corinthians interprets him to be the Holy Ghost Thirdly 1 Cor. 12.6 whom he had call'd God There are says he divisions of operations but the same God which works all in all and then he subjoyns But all these things works that One and the selfsame Spirit dividing to every one severally as he will Besides in the Acts of the Apostles Fourâ—hly that which the Prophets attribute to God only he ascribes to the Holy Ghost For Esayah had said Isay 6.8 I heard the voice of the Lord saying Whom shall I send and he said to me Go thou and say to this people Harden the heart of this people and make heavy their ears and close up their eyes lest haply they see with their eyes and bear with their ears Which words when the Apostle had cited Act. 28.25 Well says he did the Holy Ghost speak by Esayas the Prophet And then Fifthly when the Scripture joyns the Person of the Holy Ghost with the Father and the Son that when he commands That the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost should be mention'd in Baptism there is no room left us to doubt of the Truth of this Mystery For if the Father be God and the Son God we must be forc'd to confess that the Holy Ghost who is joyn'd with them in the same Degree of Honour is God also And this may be added Sixthly That he who is baptiz'd in the name of any created thing can reap no fruit thereby Were ye 1 Cor. 13. says he baptiz'd in the name of Paul to shew that this cou'd profit them nothing to the attaining Salvation When therefore we are baptiz'd in the name of the Holy Ghost we must needs confess that he is God And we may observe this order of the Three Persons in S. John's Epistle also Seventhly whereby is prov'd the Divinity of the Holy Ghost 1 Joh. 5.7 There are Three which bear record in Heav'n the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these Three are One. And also in that famous Elogy or Hymn or Praise of the Holy Trinity wherewith the Divine Lands and Psalms are concluded Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost Lastly Eighthly And which most of all belongs to the confirmation of this Truth whatsoever we believe to be proper to God the same the Holy Scriptures testifie to agree to the Holy Ghost And therefore they attribute to him the honour of Temples 1 Cor. 6.19 2 Thess 2.13 Joh. 6.63 2 Cor. 3.6 2 Cor. 2.10 As when the Apostle says Know ye not that your Members are the Temple of the Holy Ghost so also Sanctification and Vivification or quick'ning and to search into the Depths of God And to speak by the Prophets and to be every where All which things are to be attributed only to the Divine Deity And this moreover is carefully to be explain'd V. The Holy Ghost a distinct person from the Father and the Son That the Holy Ghost is God so as that we must confess him to be the Third Person in the Divine Nature distinct from the Father and the Son and produc'd by their Will For to omit other Testimonies of Scripture the Form of Baptism which our Savior has taught most plainly shews Matt. 28.19 That the Holy Ghost is the Third Person which in the Divine Nature stands of it self and is distinct from the rest Which also the words of the Apostle declare when he says 1 Cor. 13.15 The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Communication of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen The same thing but much more plainly do those things evidence which the Fathers in the first council of Constantinople have added in this place to confute the impious madness of Macedonius And in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Life who proceeds from the Father and the Son who with the Father and the Son together is worshipp'd and glorified Who spake by the Prophets That therefore they confess the Holy Ghost to be Lord they declare in this how much he excels the Angels which yet are most noble Spirits created of God For S. Paul witnesses That they all are ministring Spirits Heb. 1.14 sent forth to minister for them who receive the Inheritance of Salvation And they call him the Giver of Life VI. Why the Holy Ghost call'd the Giver of life because the Soul being joyn'd with God does more truly live than the Body when it is nourish'd and sustain'd by conjunction with the Soul And because the Holy Scriptures attribute to the Holy Ghost this Conjunction of the Soul with God it appears plainly that he is most
and clearly than S. Austins Definition which all the School Doctors after him have follow'd D. Aug. lib. 10. de Civit. Dei c. 5. Ep. 2. A Sacrament says he is a sign of a Holy Thing Yet in the same sence it is said A Sacrament is a Visible Sing of an Invisible Grace instituted or appointed for our Justification Which Definition that it may be the better understood VI. The Definition of a Sacrament explain'd the Pastors shall explain the several Parts of it And first they must teach that all sensible things are of two kinds some are therefore invented that they may be Signs others are made choice of not to signifie any other thing but meerly for their own sakes Of this number may be reckon'd almost all things which are in nature But of the first sort are to be accounted the Names of things Writings Ensigns Images Trumpets and many other things of the like kind for if you take away from Words the vertue of Signifying then the Cause also why those words were made use of seems to be taken away These therefore are Signs properly so call'd For as S. Austin testifies That is a Sign Aug l. 2 de Doct. Christi c. 1. which besides the thing it offers to the Senses it causes also that by it we come to the knowledge of something else as by a Footstep which we see made upon the ground whereby we easily know that somebody whose Foot-step appears has pass'd there Which being so VII A Sacrament prov'd to be a Sign Aug de doct Christi l. 7. c. 9. Et Epist 23. de Catec rud c. 26. Tertul. de Resâ—â—rect carnis c 8. Greg. in â— Reg. l. 6. c. 8. post i. it it is plain that a Sacrament is of that kind of things which are us'd for signication's sake For by a kind of Resemblance and Likeness it declares to us that thing which God by his Power works in our Souls which Power cannot be perceiv'd by Sense For Baptism that what is taught may be better known by an example when we are outwardly wash'd with water with the Use of Certain and Solemn words signifies this to us That by the Power of the Holy Ghost all Pollution and Filthiness of Sin is wash'd away and our Souls enrich'd and adorn'd with that excellent Heavenly Gift of Righteousness And at the same time that very Washing of the Body as shall be said in its proper place works or causes that thing in the mind which it signifies But it is also clearly gather'd from Scripture that a Sacrament is to be reckon'd among Signs For the Apostle concerning Circumcision a Sacrament of the Old Law Gen. 17.10 which was given to Abraham Gen. 17.10 the Father of the Faithful in his Epistle to the Romans writes thus Rom. 4.11 And he took the Sign of Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith And in another place when he affirms that we all who are baptiz'd in Jesus Christ Rom. 6.3 are baptiz'd in his Death We may know that Baptism has this signification to wit as the same Apostle says Rom. 6.4 That we are bury'd with him by Baptism into Death And this will be no small profit to the Faithful to understand that the Sacraments are Signs for by this means it will come to pass that they will more easily believe those things to be Sacred and Holy which are signifi'd and contain'd in and wrought by them And knowing the Holiness of them they will be the more mov'd to worship and reverence the Divine Bounty towards us It now follows VIII How many kinds of Signs there are l. 1. de doct Christ c. 1. Natural Aug. de doct Christ l. 2. c. 1. seq to explain these words Of a Holy Thing which is the other part of the Definition which to do well must be a little further repeated what S. Austin accurately and subtily has disputed concerning the truth of Signs For some Signs are call'd Natural which beget in our minds the knowledge of some other thing besides it self and this as was before shew'd is common to all Signs as Smoak whereby presently is understood that there is Fire And this Sign for this Cause is call'd Natural because Smoak does not in the Will signifie Fire but the Use of things causes that when any one sees Smoak only he presently in his mind and thought perceives that there is also the nature and vertue of Fire underneath which as yet lies hid Now there are some Signs Appointed by Men. Aug. ibid. c. 3. which are not by Nature made Signs but invented and appointed by men for that purpose as to talk with one another and to tell freely to each other the sense of their minds and to be able to undestand each others Opinions and Counsels But how various and manifold these are may be understood by this that some of them belong to the Sight others to the Hearing and the rest to the other Senses For when we Nod to any one and for example signifie any thing by removing a Flag it is plain that that signification belongs only to the Sight As the Sound of Trumpets Pipes and Viols which is made not only for Delight but sometimes also for a Sign belongs to the judgment of the Hearing by which Sense especially are words conceiv'd which have the greatest vertue to express the inward thoughts of our mind But besides these things which we have hitherto spoken of â—â—ven of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de doct 〈…〉 3. c. 9. and which are appointed by the Will and Consent of Men to be Signs there are others given of God of which yet that there is more than one kind all do agree For there are some Signs which are of God commended to men for this reason only Signiâ—ying onlâ— Exâ—d 12.15 to signifie or to admonish Of which kind were the Purificatoons of the Law the Show-bread and many other things which belong to the Ceremonies of the Mosaical Worship But God appointed others Both signifying and effecting Concil Trid. Sess de Sacr. which had not only the vertue of signifying but of working also and amongst this later kind of Signs it manifestly appears that the Sacraments of the New Law are to be reckon'd for they are Signs given of God not invented by Men which we verily believe to contain in them the efficacy of that Holy Thing which they signifie But as we have shew'd that there is a very great variety of Signs so also the Holy Thing is not to be thought to be of one manner only But as to the aforesaid Definition of a Sacrament IX What the Holy Thing is which a Sacrament signifies Divines shew that by the Name Holy Thing is signifi'd the Grace of God which makes us Holy and adorns us with the Habit of all Divine Vertues for to this Grace they have deservedly thought that the proper Name Holy Thing is
without all doubt we believe that the Fruit of his Passion is truly communicated to us only if on our part each of us will piously and religiously apply that Cure to himself And now follows a Fourth reason why the Institution of the Sacraments may seem necessary The Fouâ— h. to wit That they may be Notes and Characters whereby the Faithful might be kmown to each other Especially since D. Aug. l. â— 9 â—â—tra Faust c. 11. de â—era Reâ—â—g c. 17 Basil in Exhort ad Bapt. as S. Austin observes There can be no Society or Company of Men whether of the true or of a false Religion which can be as it were consolidated into one Body unless they be mutually joyn'd together by some hand of visible signs Both these do the Sacraments of the New Law perform which both distinguish Christians from Infidels and by that very Holy Bond knit the Faithful to one another It may further be shew'd The Fifth That there was an other very just cause of Instituting the Sacraments from these Words of the Apostle Rom. 10.10 With the Heart we believe to Righteousness but with the Mouth confession is made to Salvation For in the Sacraments we seem openly to profess and make declaration of our Faith before Men. Wherefore in coming to Baptism we openly testifie that we believe That by vertue of that Water wherewith we are wash'd in that Sacrament our Souls are Spiritually cleans'd And then the Sacraments have a great power not only to kindle and exercise Faith in our Souls but also to inflame us to that degree of Charity wherewith we ought to love one another when we remember that by communion of those Holy Mysteries we are ty'd together with the strictest Bond and made Members of one Body Lastly The Sixth and which in the exercise of Christian Piety ought to be esteem'd very much the Sacraments do tame and restrain the Pride of Man's Heart and make us become Humble while we are forc'd to submit our selves to sensible Elements that we may become obedient to God from whom we fell wickedly before now to serve the Elements of this World There are the things which seem chiefly necessary to be taught the Faithful concerning the Name Nature and Institution of a Sacrament Which after that the Pastors shall diligently have explain'd it will then be necessary to teach of what things the several Sacraments consist and what are the Parts thereof and lastly what Rites and Ceremonies are to be us'd in them First therefore it must be taught XIV Every Sacrament consists of Matter and Form That the sensible Thing which as was said before in the Definition belongs to a Sacrament is not only One tho we must believe the Sign to be One. For there are Two things of which every Sacrament is made of which the One has the reason of Matter and is cali'd the Element and the other has the vertue of Form and is commonly call'd The Word For thus we are taught by the Fathers Concerning which matter that testimony of S. Austin is sufficiently known and receiv'd of all S. Aug. in Joan. Tract 80. The Word is joyn'd to the Element and so the Sacrament is made By the name Sensible Thing therefore they understand both the Matter or Element as the Water in the Sacrament of Baptism the Chrism in that of Confirmation and the Oyl in that of Extream Vnction all which things fall under the Sense of Seeing and also the Words which are as the Form and belong to the Sense of Hearing Both these the Apostle plainly shews Eph. 5.26 Aug. de duct Chrst l. 2. â—3 when he says Christ lov'd the Church and gave himself for her that he might sanctifie her washing her with the laver of Water in the Word of Life In which place are express'd both the Matter and Form of that Sacrament But the Words were to be added to the Matter that the signification of the thing done might be made more plain and clear For it is plain that of all Signs Words have the greatest vertue and if They are wanting it must needs be very hard to know What is signifi'd and shew'd by the Matter of the Sacraments For as may be seen in Baptism since Water has no less the vertue of Refreshing than of Cleansing and may well be a Sign of both unless the words be added any one may easily conjecture either of these to be signifi'd in Baptism but no body will dare certainly to affirm any thing of it But then when the Words are added we straitway understand that it has the vertue and signification of Cleansing But herein it appears XV. The Sacraments of the New Law excel those of the Old That our Sacraments far excel the Sacraments of the Old Law that in administring those of the Law there was no Form observ'd that we know of whence it came to pass that they were uncertain and obscure But ours have such a certain prescribed Form of Words that if by chance it be not closely observ'd the vertue of the Sacrament is lost and for this reason they are most clear and leave no room to doubt These then are the Parts which belong to the Nature and Substance of a Sacrament and of which every Sacrament necessarily consists To the Sacraments are added certain Ceremonies XVI Every Sacrament is to be administred with certain Ceremonies and why which tho they may not be omitted without sin unless extream necessity force it yet if at any time they should be omitted since they reach not to the Nature of the thing we must believe that the true reason of the Sacrament is not at all lessen'd thereby And it has always very well bin observ'd even from the very infancy of the Church that the Sacraments were administred with certain solemn Ceremonies For First First it was very fit to give that Reverence and Worship to the Holy Mysteries of Religion that we might seem to handle Holy Things in a Holy manner Besides Secondly those Ceremonies do more clearly shew forth and put before our Eyes Thirdly as it were and make a deeper impression in our Hearts of the Holiness of those things which are done in the Sacrament And then they raise up the Minds of them who look upon and diligently observe them to the thought of the more sublime and lofty things and excite their Faith and Love towards them For which reason there should the more care and pains be taken that the Faithful may be made rightly to know and understand the Meaning of the Ceremonies which are us'd in each of the Sacraments Now it follows XVII Why the Number of Sacraments is to be explain'd That we teach the Number of the Sacraments the knowledg whereof brings this profit that the people may with so much the greater devotion bend all the powers of their Soul to praise and magnifie the singular goodness of God
that there is a Symbol of this Mistery And of Prophesies none can doubt but those Waters to which the Prophet Esay so freely invites all that thirst IX The Matter of Baptism foretold by the Prophets Isa 55.1 Ezâ—k 47.20 Zac. 13.1 and which Ezekiel in Spirit saw come forth out of the Temple and that Fountain which was open'd for the house of David and inhabitants of Jerusalem for the washing away of sin and of uncleanness which Zachary propheci'd of have relation to this saving Water of Baptism Now S. Hierom writing to Oceanus X. Why Water the Matter of Baptism D. Hieron Ep. 85. shews by many reasons how suitable it was to the nature of Baptism that Water should be made choice of to be the proper Matter thereof But as to this Point the Pastors may teach first of all that this Sacrament is very necessary to all without exception to the attaining Life Everlasting and therefore that the Matter of Water The Reasons The First The Second which can easily be bad any where and is no where wanting was most proper And then Water very excellently signifies the Effect of Baptism for as Water washes away spots and dirt so also it very well demonstrates the power and efficacy of Baptism The third by which the spots of sin are done away To which may be added That as Water is very fit to refresh the Body so by Baptism the Heat of our Lusts in a great measure is abated Of the Matter of Baptism see Conc. Florent Trid. Sess 7. can 2. de consecrat dist 4. Item D Thom. 3. p. q. 56. art 5. But this is to be noted XI Why Chrism to be us'd in Baptism Amb. l. 1. de Sacr. c. 2 Innocent l. 1. decretal tit 1 c. 3. That tho Simple Water that has no mixture in it be the proper Matter for this Sacrament to wit whensoever there happens a necessity of administring Baptism yet by Tradition from the Apostles it has always bin observ'd in the Catholic Church That Baptism is conferr'd with solemn Ceremonies and Holy Chrism added whereby it is manifest that the Effect of Baptism is the better declar'd And the people are to be taught that tho it may sometimes be doubt'd whether This or That be true Water such as the Perfection of the Sacrament requires yet this must be held as a certainty That the Sacrament of Baptism can never be made of any other Matter than of the liquor of Natural Water upon any account whatsoever Now after that One of the two Parts of which Baptism consists XII The Form of Baptism why diligently and frequently to be explain'd that is the Matter of it has bin expounded The Pastors shall take the same diligence and care to explain the Form of it which is the other part of this Sacrament and is very necessary But in the explanation of this Sacrament they must labor with so much the more care and diligence because the understanding of so Holy a Mystery does of it self not only exceedingly delight the Faithful which delight commonly arises from the understanding of all other Divine Matters but it is much to be sought after because of the daily use and necessity of it For seeing that it often happens as in its proper place will be said more fully that Baptism must be ministred by other people and very often times by Women For this Reason those things that belong to the Substance of this Sacrament ought to be known and well understood promiscuously of all the Faithful And therefore in plain and familiar words which all may easily understand the Pastors shall teach that this is the perfect and absolute Form of Baptism I baptize thee in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost For so our Lord and Savior appointed XIII The Form of Baptism instituted and explain'd when according to S. Matthew he commanded the Apostles Mat. 28.19 Go ye and teach all Nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost By that word Baptizing the Catholic Church which is taught of God rightly understood that in the Form of this Sacrament the Action of the Minister is to be express'd which is done indeed when it is said I baptize thee And because besides the Ministers it is necessary to signifie both the person of him who is baptiz'd and the principal Cause which makes Baptism therefore the Pronoun Thee and the Distinct Names of the Divine Persons are added that so the absolute Form of the Sacrament might be concluded in the words even now mention'd Joh. 1.33 I baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost For it is not the person of the Son only of whom S. John writes This is he that baptizes But all the Persons of the Holy Trinity work together at the Sacrament of Baptism But that it is said in the Name and not in the Names This plainly shews That there is but One Nature and Divinity in the Trinity For in this place the Name is not referr'd to the Persons but signifies that Divine Substance Vertue and Power which is One and the same in all the Three Persons See Aug. cont Donatist lib. 6. c. 25. D. Thom. 3. p. q. 66. Art 5. Now in this Form XIV The more Essential parts of the Form of Baptism which we have shew'd to be full and perfect it is to be observ'd that there are some things exceeding necessary which if they shou'd be omitted there can be no Sacrament and there are other things not so necessary but that if they should be omitted the Sacrament is made notwithstanding of which kind is the word Ego l. the vertue whereof is contain'd in the word Baptizo I Baptize Yea and in the Greek Churches changing the order of words they us'd to omit it because they thought it not fit to make any mention at all of the Minister Hence it is that they us'd this Form in Baptism Let this Servant of Christ be baptiz'd in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And yet it appears by the Sentence and Decree of the Council of Florence That this Sacrament was perfectly administred by them Since by those words is declar'd what belongs to the truth of Baptism to wit Washing or Cleansing which at that time is verily perform'd But if we may say that once there was a time XV. Why antiently the Apostles baptiz'd in Christ's name Act. 2.38 Act. 8.20 when the Apostles baptiz'd only in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ We ought to be assur'd that they did this also by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost that in the Infancy of the Church their preaching in the Name of Jesus Christ might be the more remarkable and that his Divine and immense Power might be the more celebrat'd And then if
contra duas Epist Pelag c. 13. lib 3. c. 5 in Ench. c. 64. lib. 1. de nupt concupisc c. 25. Item Greg. lib. 9. Epist 39. Conc. Vien Florent in Mater de Sacram. It most be confess'd indeed XLIII Concupiscence remaining in those thâ—t are baptiz'd is not sin Augâ—st as in the same place by authority of That Holy Synod has bin decreed that even in those that are baptiz'd there does remain Concupiscence or a kind of scum But that has not truly the Reason or Nature of sin For according to S. Austin In little Children baptiz'd the guilt of Concupiscence is absolv'd tho the Concupiscence it self remain till Death And elswhere he testifies The Guilt of Concupiscence in Baptism is loos'd but the Infirmity remains For Concupiscence which proceeds of sin is nothing else but an Appetite of the mind by its own nature repugnant to Reason Which motion notwithstanding if it have not the Consent of the Will or Negligence joyn'd with it is far from the true nature of sin But when S. Paul says I had not known Concupiscence to be sin Rom. 7.7 if the Law had not said Thou shalt not covet By these words he means not the very Concupiscence it self but the Corruption of the Will The same Doctrine S. Gregory taught writing thus Lib 9 Regist Epist 39. If there be any who say that in Baptism sin is forgiven only superficially or as to the outward commission of it what can be spoken more like an Infidel than this since by the Sacrament of Faith the Soul is absolv'd from sin even to the very Roots thereof And to prove this he uses the testimony of our Savior when in S. John he says Joh. 13.10 He that is wash'd needs not but to wash his Feet but is clean throughout Now if any one would see an express Figure and resemblance of this matter XLIV A Figure of Bapti m. 4 Reg. 9.14 let him contemplate the History of Naaman the Syrian's Leprosie who when he had wash'd himself seven times in the Water of Jordan he was so cleans'd from his Leprosie as the Scripture witnesses That his Flesh became like the Flesh of a little Child Wherefore the proper Effect of Baptism is the Forgiveness of all sins whether contracted by Original Corruption or by our own Fault For which cause it was instituted by our Lord and Savior as to omit other Testimonies the Prince of Apostles shew'd in most clear words Act. 2.38 when he said Repent and let every one of you be baptiz'd in the name of Jesus Christ for the râ—mission of sins Of concupiscence remaining in those that are baptiz'd See Aug. lib. 1. de peccat merit remiss c. 39. Item lib. 1. cont duas Epist Pelag. c. 13. l. 3. c. 3. in medio lib. 1. de nupt concupisc c. 23. 25. Item lib. 6. cont Julian q. 5. de verb. Apost Serm 6. But now in Baptism not only sins are remitted XLV The Second effect of Baptism The remission of the Punishment due to sin Rom. 9.3 but also all the Punishments of sins and wickedness are graciously pardon'd of God For tho it be common to all the Sacraments that by them is communicated the vertue of Christ our Lords Passion yet of Baptism only is it said by the Apostle that through it we dye and are bury'd together with Christ Whence Holy Church always understood that without exceeding great wrong to this Sacrament it could not be that those Offices of Piety or Devotion which by a usuâ—â— name the Fathers call'd works of Satisfaction could be enjoyn'd to him that was to be cleans'd by this Sacrament That the Punishments due to sin are remitted in Baptism See Ambros in cap. 11. ad Rom. Aug. lib. 1. de nupt concupisc c. 33. in Ench. cap. 4. D. Thom. 3. Art p. q. 69. art 2. unde nec nulla est imponenda penitentia Greg. lib. 7 regist Epist 24. habetur de consecrat dist 4. cap. Ne quod absit D. Thom. p. q. 68. ar 5. Nor are the things which we here teach contrary to the practice or custom of the Ancient Church XLVI Works of Penance before Baptism to what purpose which antiently requir'd the Jews when they were to be baptiz d to fast forty days together For that was not ordain'd for satisfaction For those that receiv'd Baptism were by that means admonish'd that for the more reverencing of the Dignity of that Sacrament they should for some time without intermission give themselves to Fasting and Prayer But tho we ought to be assur'd that in Baptism the Punishment of Sin is pardon'd XLVII What Punishments are not remitted in Baptism yet no one is freed from that kind of punishment which is deserv'd of the Civil Judgement for any grievous Crime So as that he that deserves to dye should be freed by baptism from the punishment appointed by the Laws Note Notwithstanding the Religion and Piety of those Princes is highly to be commended who that the Glory of God in his Sacraments might be made the more illustrious do at the Fonts remit and pardon that punishment also Besides Baptism procures us after the stage of this life a freedom and discharge from all those punishments which follow Original Sin for by merit of our Lord's Death it is that we obtain these things But as was said before Rom. 5.6 by Baptism we dye with him For if as the Apostle says we are planted together with him in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection But if any one ask XLVIII Why after Baptism we are not freed from all Misery of Life why immediately after Baptism and even in this mortal life we are not freed from these inconveniences and are not carry'd by vertue of this Sacred Washing into that perfect state of life in which Adam the first Father of Mankind was plac'd before he sinn'd we must answer that this is thus done for Two reasons especially The First of which is The First Reason That we who by Baptism are knit to the Body of Christ and are made his Members might not receive greater dignity than our Head Since therefore Christ our Lord tho from his first birth he had the Fulness of Grace and Truth yet he laid not down the Frailty of Humane Nature which he took before he had endur'd the torments of his Passion and Death it self and then he rose to the Glory of Life Everlasting who can wonder when he sees the Faithful who have already by Baptism got the grace of the righteousness of Heaven to be notwithstanding yet cloath'd with weak decaying Bodies that afterwards having gone through many labors for Christ's sake and last of all even through Death it self they may be called again to life and be found worthy to enjoy an everlasting Age with Christ Another cause why after Baptism
to God Balsom has this other property or vertue that whatsoever is cover'd therewith it keeps it from corruption or rottenness And this seems excellently well suited to signifie the vertue of this Sacrament since it is plainly manifest that the souls of the Faithful being well dispos'd or prepar'd by that heavenly Grace which is given in Confirmation can easily be secur'd from the contagion of Sin Now the Chrism is consecrated by the Bishop with solemn ceremonies For that our Savior so taught at his last Supper VIII Why Chrism consecrated only by Bishops when he left with his Apostles the way or manner of making Chrism Pope Fabian a man very famous for his Sanctity and glory of Martyrdom S. Fab. Papa ubi supra has deliver'd altho why it ought to be so may be shew'd even from Reason it self For in most of the other Sacraments Christ so appointed the Matter of them that he gave Holiness to it For he will'd not only that Water should be the Element of Baptism when he said Joh. 3.5 Except a Man be born again of Water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God But when himself was baptiz'd he caus'd that thenceforth the Water should be endu'd with a power of Sanctisying And therefore S. Chrysostom said Hom. 4. oper imperf habetus de Consecr dist 4. nunquid The Water of Baptism could not purge away the sins of Believers unless it self had bin sanctifi'd by the touch of the Lords Body Because therefore the Lord himself did not hallow this Matter of Confirmation by the very use and handling thereof it is therefore necessary that with Holy and Devout Prayers it be consecrated Nor can this Confection belong to any other but a Bishop who is appointed the ordinary Minister of this Sacrament And now is to be explaln'd the other Part whereof this Sacrament consists IX The Form of the Sacrament of Confirmation to wit the Form and the Words which are to be us'd at the anointing And the Faithful are to be admonish'd That in the receiving of this Sacrament they then especially when they hear them pronounc'd apply their minds to Piety Faith and Devotion that there may be nothing to hinder the Heavenly Grace In these words therefore the Form of Confirmation is perfom'd I sign thee with the sign of the Cross and I confirm thee with the Chrism of Salvation in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost But yet if to the Truth hereof we also add the Reason it is easie to prove the same For the Form of the Sacrament ought to contain all those things which explain the Nature and Substance of the Sacrament But especially these three things ought to be observ'd in Confirmation The Divine Power which as the principal cause works in the Sacrament and then the strength of Soul and Spirit which is given to the Faithful for Salvation And lastly the Sign wherewith he is mark'd that is entring into the Combat of the Christian Camp And first these words In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost which are put in the last place Secondly these I confirm thee with the Chrism of Salvation which are plac'd in the middle Lastly those which are plac'd in the beginning of the Form I sign thee with the sign of the Cross sufficiently declare Altho if it could not by any reason be prov'd that this is the true and perfect Form of this Sacrament the authority of the Catholic Church by whose Rule we are always taught suffers as not to doubt in the least concerning this matter The Pastors ought to teach also to whom the administration of this Sacrament is committed X. The Bishop the ordinary Minister of Confirmation for seeing that there are many as the Prophet complains that run and yet are not sent it is needful to teach who are the true and lawful Ministers thereof that the Faithful may have the very Sacrament and Grace of Confirmation The Holy Scriptures therefore shew that the Bishop only has the ordinary power of making this Sacrament For we read in the Acts of the Apostles Trid. Sess 23. c. 4. can 7. Act. 8.14 When Samaria had receiv'd the word of God That Peter and John were sent to them who pray'd for them That they might receive the Holy Ghost for as yet he had not come upon any one of them but they were baptiz'd only In which place we may see that he who baptiz'd for as much as he was a Deacon only had no power of Confirming but this Office was reserv'd for the more perfect Ministers i. e. the Apostles And besides wheresoever the Holy Scriptures make mention of this Sacrament the same thing may be observ'd nor are there wanting the most clear testimonies of Holy Fathers and Popes Vrban Eusebius Damasus Innocent Leo as may be seen in their Decrees And S. Austin grievously complains of the corrupt custom of those of Egypt and Alexandria where the Priests presum'd to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation That a Bishop is the ordinary Minister of Confirmation these do teach Vrbanus Papae Epist ad omnes Christianos in fine Euseb Papa Epist 3. ad Episcop Tusciae Campaniae Damasus Papa Epist 4. ad Pros caeteros Epis Orthod circa med Innocentius Pap. Epist ad Episc Hispaniae Clemens item Pap. Epist 4. Concil Wormaciens c. 8. Florent de Sacram. Horum summorum Pontificum Epistolae habentur in Tomis Conciliorum ferè omnes in primo juxta cujusque aetatem Vide insuper Aug. in Quaest Novi Testam quaest 42. And that this is well and rightly done XI Why a Bishop the Minister Confirmation to defer this Office to the Bishops the Pastors may shew by this similitude For as in the building a House altho the Workmen who are the inferior Servants prepare the Mortar Lime Timber and the other Materials and make them fit yet the perfecting of the work belongs to the Architect or chief builder So also this Sacrament whereby the Spiritual Building is perfected as it were is fit to be administred by no other person but by the Chief Priest or Bishop There is also to be a God-father XII Why God-fathers added as has bin shew'd to be done at Baptism For if they who are to fence have need of a Fencing-Master by whose skill and counsel they may be taught what stroaks to make to wound the Enemy and yet to save themselves harmless How much more will the Faithful want a Captain and Monitor when cover'd and secur'd with the Sacrament of Confirmation as with the strongest Armor they enter into this Spiritual Fight the reward whereof is eternal Salvation Rightly therefore are God-fathers to be had at the Administration of this Sacrament Trid. Sess 24. c. 2 â—â—esâ—r matrim with whom there is such an Affinity contracted as hinders the contracts of Matrimony
the Substance of the Bread we must confess that it is in the Sacrament just after the same manner as the Substance of Bread before Consecration But to confess whether it be under a Great or under a Little Quantity is nothing at all to the purpose Now follows the Third thing which in this Sacrament seems very great and wonderful XLIV The Accidents remain in the Eucharist without the Subject which after the other two being explain'd must be suppos'd may be handl'd by the Pastors with more Ease to wit that the species of Bread and Wine in this Sacrament remain without any subject Matter For seeing it was shew'd before that the Lords Body and Blood are truly in the Sacrament so that there subsists no more any Substance at all of Bread and Wine because those Accidents cannot be inherent to the Body and Blood of Christ it remains that beyond all the order and course of Nature they uphold themselves without any other thing to suport them This has bin the perpetual and constant Doctrin of the Church which will be easie to confirm by the Authority of those testimonies by which it was before made evident that there remains no Substance of Bread or Wine in the Eucharist Vide de Consecr dist 2. c. Nos autem Decretal lib. 1. tit de celeb Miss c. Cum Matt. D. Thom. 3. p. q. 75 a. 3. q. 77. a. 1. But nothing is more suitable to the Devotion of the Faithful XLV The Duty of the Faithful towards the Eucharist than passing by all more nice and subtil questions that they adore and reverence the Majesty of this admirable Sacrament And then that therein they embrace the supream Providence of God that he has instituted these Holy Mysteries to be administred under the species of Bread and Wine For since it is the most horrid thing in the world to the Nature of Man to be fed with Man's Flesh XLVI Why under the species of Bread and Wine the Eucharist was instituted or to drink his Blood he most wisely order'd it that his most Holy Body and Blood should be administer'd to us under the species of those things of Bread and Wine I say by whose common and daily use and nourishment we are mostly delighted And there are adjoin'd these two Conveniencies whereof the first is that we are freed from the reproach of Infidels which we could not easily have avoided if we should be seen to eat our Lord under his own species The other is that while we thus take the Body and Blood of the Lord in such a manner as notwithstanding what is truly done cannot be perceiv'd by the senses this avails very much to increase Faith in our Souls which verily as Gregories known sentence is Faith has no Merit where Human Reason gives the Experiment Hom. 26. super Evangelia Vide Cyril lib. 4. in Joan. c. 22. Cypr. de Coena Domini Ambr. de Sacram. lib. 4. c. 4. Aug. Tract 27. in Joan. D. Thom. 3. p. q. 74. a. 1. q. 75. a. 1. But these things which have hitherto been expounded are not to be explain'd without great caution us'd according to the Capacity of the Hearers and the Necessity of Times But those things which may be said concerning the Influence and Fruits of this admirable Sacrament XLVII The Vertue and innumerable advantages of the Eucharist we must know that there is no sort of the Faithful to whom the Knowledge of these things belongs not and to whom it ought not to seem very necessary Now that the Faithful may understand the Vtility of the Eucharist for this cause chiefly those things which are with so many words discours'd concerning this Sacrament are to be known But because the immense Advantages and Fruits thereof can never by Words be express'd there may One or Two Points be handl'd by the Pastors to shew what a plenty and abundance of all good things are included in these Mysteries Vide Trid. Sess 13. c. 3. can 5. Iren. lib. 4. c. 14. Cyril lib. 4. in Joan. c. 11. 14. Chrys hom 45. in Joan. D. Thom. 3. p. q. 79. And this in part they will thus perform XLVIII The Eucharist the Fountain of all the Sacraments if the vertue and nature of all the Sacraments being laid open they compare the Eucharist to the Fountain and the other Sacraments to the smaller streams for we must needs call it and that truly the Fountain of all Graces because after an admirable manner it contains in it the very Fountain of Heavenly Gifts and Endowments and the Author of all the Sacraments Christ our Lord from which as from the Fountain is deriv'd or drawn to the other Sacraments whatsoever Goodness or Perfection they have From hence therefore the most ample endowments of Divine Grace which are bestow'd on us in this Sacrament may easily be collected It may seem profitable also to consider well the Nature of Bread and Wine XLIX What Food is to the Body that the Eucharist is to the Spirit which are the Symbols of this Sacrament For see of what Vse Bread and Wine is to the Body of the same but in a far better and more perfect manner is the Sacrament of the Eucharist to the Health and Delight of the Soul For neither is This Sacrament chang'd into our substance as the Bread and Wine is but after a certain sort it changes us into its own Nature So that rightly may that of St. Austin be transferr'd hither Lib. 7. Consess c. 10. I am the Meat of Great ones grow great and thou shalt eat me nor shalt thou change me into thee as thou dost thy Bodily meat but thou shalt be chang'd into me Vide Ambr. lib. 5. de Sacram. c. 4. Chrys hom 45. in Joan. Now if Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ L. Grace flows into the Soul thro the Eucharist Joh. 6.56 57. it must need flow into thy Soul when thou tak'st him purely and holily who said of himself He that eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood dwells in me and I in him for those who being affected with the study of Piety and Religion take this Sacrament no one ought to doubt but that they so take into themselves the Son of God as that they are grafted into his Body as living Members for it is written He that eats me even he shall live by reason of me And Lib. 4. in Joan. c. 12.14 Epist ad Nester 10. The Bread which I will give is my Flesh for the life of the World Which place Cyril interpreting says The Word of God uniting himself to his own Flesh made it quickning It therefore became him after a wonderful manner to be united to our Bodies thro his sacred Flesh and precious Blood which we have receiv'd in the Bread and Wine by his quickning or enlivening Benediction But forasmuch as it is said I.I. When the Eucharist does
the other Powers of the Soul It is also call'd by the Holy Fathers Compunction of Heart Chrysost de Compunct coâ—dis Isidor de summo bono l. 2.12 who were pleas'd to entitle the Books they wrote of Contrition to be of Compunction of the Heart rather For as swelling Ulcers are cut with a Knife that the poisonous Corruption may be let forth So our Hearts are cut as it were with the Pen-knife of Contrition that the deadly Poyson of Sin might run out And therefore it is call'd by the Prophet Joel Joel 2.21 A cutting of the Heart Be ye converted to me says he with all your Heart in Fasting and in Weeping and in Mourning and cut your Hearts But that the greatest and deepest Grief is to be taken for sin committed XXXV Contrition ought to be the greatest Grief so that no greater can be imagin'd will be easie to evidence by these Reasons For whereas perfect Contrition is an Act of Love The First Reason 1 Joh. 3. which proceeds from a filial Fear it is plain that there ought to be the same measure both of Love and Contrition hence it comes That Contrition has joyn'd with it the most vehement Grief of Mind for as God is to be lov'd above all things so those things which estrange us from God are to be hated above all things Wherein this is also observable Note that after the same manner of speaking is signifi'd in Sacred Scripture the Greatness of Love and of Contrition Of Charity it is said Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart And again as to Contrition the Lord cries out by the Prophet Be ye converted with your whole Heart Besides The Second Reason if as God is the supreme Good among all the things that are to be lov'd and so Sin the greatest evil among all the things that Men ought to hate This follows that for what cause we confess that God is above all things to be lov'd for the same cause again we must needs hate Sin above all things But that the Love of God is to be put before all other things so that we may not sin tho it were to save out very Lives those words of our Lord plainly teach us Matt. 10.27 Mar. 16.25 Mar. 8.35 He that loves Father or Mother more than me is not worthy of me And He that will save his Life shall lose it But This also must be observ'd The Third Reason that as there is no End or Measure prescrib'd to Charity as S. Bernard testifies Lib. de diâ—â—gendo Deo circa inod For says he The measure of loving God is to love him without Measure so there is no measure defin'd to the Detestation of Sin Besides XXXVI Contrition ought to be most vehement Deut. 4.27 Hierem. 2â— 13 it ought to be not only the Greatest but also the most Vehement and therefore Perfect and excludes all slothfulness and laziness For in Deuteronomy it is written When thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if notwithstanding thou shalt seek him with thy whole Heart and in the tribulation of thy Soul And in Jeremy Ye shall seek me and shall find me when ye shall seek me with your whole Heart and I wil be found of you says the Lord. Now altho we cannot get to make it perfect XXXVII Contrition tho imperfect yet it may be true yet our contrition may be true and efficacious for it often comes to pass that those things which are subject to sense more affect us than spiritual things Wherefore sometimes some Men are more sorrowful for the Death of their Children than for the Filthiness of their sins The same judgment is to be made XXXVIII Tears tho to be desir'd yet not necessary Serm. 41. de Sanctis if Tears follow not the Bitterness of Grief which yet in Penance are much to be wish'd and commended For S. Austins sentence in this case is very excellent The Bowels of Christian Charity says he are not in thee if thou lamentest the Body from which the Soul is departed but dost not lament the Soul from which God is departed And hither tend those words of our Savior before recited Mat. 11.21 Wo to thee Chorazin wo to thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which have bin done in you had bin done in Tyre and Sydon they had done Penance long ago in Sack-cloth and Ashes Yet for the proof of this those most famous examples of the Ninivits of David of the Harlot of the Prince of Apostles will be sufficient All which sought pardon of their sins imploring the Mercy of God with very many Tears But the Faithful are specially to be exhorted and admonish'd XXXIX All Mortal sins to be detested with Contrition that they study to apply the proper Grief of Contrition to their several Mortal Sins For so Ezechias describes Contrition when he says I will recount to thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul For to recount all his years is severally to examine his sins to be sorry in mind for them And we read in Ezekiel Ezek. 28.21 If the wicked man do Penance for all his sins he shall live And agreeable hereto S Austin says Let the sinner consider the Quality of his sin at that Time in what Place against what Light and against whom Lib. de vera falsa Religione cap. 14. Let not the Faithful notwithstanding in this Case despair of the infinite Goodness and Mercy of God Note For since he is most desirous of our Salvation he will not delay to pardon us but will embrace the sinner with a Fatherly Love as soon as ever he shall have recollected himself and detested all his sins which thencesorth at any time according to his ability he can bring to remembrance and resolves in his mind to hate and converts himself to the Lord Ezek. 33.12 for so by the Prophet he commands us to ho e when he says The wickedness of the wicked shall not hurt him at what day soever he will be converted from his wickedness From hence therefore may be gather'd what ' things are most necessary to true Contrition XL. How many things necessary to True Contrition concerning which the Faithful must be accurately taught that every one may know by what means he may get it and may have a certain Rule whereby he may judge how far he is from the Perfection of this Vertue For first The first it is necessary to hate and to gri ve for all the sins we have done Lest if we blot out some only the Penance we do may seem dissembl'd and counterfeit and not saving For as S. James says He that shall have kept the whole Law but Offends in One thing he is guilty of all The second is The second that This Contrition has a Will to Confess and to Satisfie for Sin join'd with it of which shall
it came so to pass also that Pardon of Sins should be deny'd but to a very few Wherefore it was needful that the most merciful Lord should â—rder the common Salvation of Mankind after an easier way which by his admirable Counsel he has done when he deliver'd to his Church the Keys of the Kindgom of Heaven For by the Doctrin of Catholic Faith XLVII Confession perfects Contrition All must believe and constantly affirm If any one be so affected in mind as to bewail his sins and also to sin no more for the future altho he be not affected with such a kind of sorrow as may be sufficient to get him Pardon Yet when he has rightly confess'd his sins to a Priest by Vertue of the Keys all his wickednesses and sins are remitted and forgiven him That worthily by the most Holy Men our Fathers was it celebrated That an Entrance into Heaven is open'd by the Keys of the Church Whereof it is not fit for any one to doubt since we read it decreed by the Council of Florence That the Effect of Penance is Absolution from Sins Amb. Serm. 1. de Quadrag citatur de Poenit. dist 1. c. ecce nunc August lib. 2. de adult conjug 59. Chrysost de sacerd lib. 3. in Decreto Eugenii IV. And we may further learn from hence XLVIII Confession a most sure way of amending manners how much advantage Confession brings because we find by experience that there is nothing so profitable for the amendment of manners to those whose custom of Life has bin corrupt as if they lay open to some Prudent and Faithful Friend who can help him with his pains and counsel all the secret Thoughts of his Heart his Actions and Words Wherefore according to the same Reason it must be thought very wholsom for those who are conscious of the guilt of Sin to open the Sicknesses and Wounds of their Souls to a Priest as to the Vicar of Christ our Lord who is under the most severe Law of perpetual silence For they presently find Remedies prepar'd for them D. Poenit. dist 6. c. Sacerdot which have such a heavenly Vertue of curing not only the present Sickness but also of disposing the Soul in such a manner that thenceforth it will not be easie for the future to fall into the like kind of Disease and Vice Nor is this advange of Confession to be pretermitted XLIX Confession exercises the Bad. which is very pertinent to the society and conjunction of Life For it is evident that if you take away Sacramental Confession from Christian Discipline all things will be full of hidden and horrid wickedness Which afterwards and many others also much more heinous Men deprav'd by the custom of Sin will not fear to commit openly For the modesty and shame of Confessing calls a Bridle as it were upon the desire and liberty of offending and restrains Dishonesty And now the advantages of Confession being laid open L. The Description of Sacramental Confession the Pastors must teach what the Nature and Vertue thereof is They therefore define it to be an Accusation of sins which belongs to a kind of Sacrament done to this End that by vertue of the Keys we may get Pardon And it is rightly call'd an Accusation LI. With what mind sins are to be declar'd in Confession because sins are not so to be commemorated as tho we boasted of our wickedness as they do who are glad when they have done mischief nor are they altogether to be told as if for divertisement or sport to some idle Hearers we were telling some matter that had bin done but they are so declar'd by a mind accusing it self as that we desire also to revenge them in our selves But we confess our sins to the End that we may get pardon LII We must confess to get Pardon Chrys 20. in Genes because this Judgment is far unlike those Courts which make inquisitions of Capital Causes where the Pain and Punishment of Confession is not made to be a Discharge of the Fault or a Pardon of the Offence In the same sense in a manner altho in other words the most holy Fathers seem'd to have defin'd Confession as when S. Austin says Aug. Serm. 4. de Verbis Domini Greg hom 40. in Evang Confession is that by which the Disease which lay hid is laid open by the Hope of Pardon And S. Gregory Confession is the Detestation of sins either of which because it is contain'd in the definition above mentioned may easily be referr'd to it And now LIII Confession instituted of Christ which is above all the Curats shall teach and without any doubtfulness deliver to Faithful that this Sacrament was instituted by Christ our Lord who did all things well and for the sake of our Salvation For after his Resurrection the Apostles being gather'd together into one place he breath'd upon them saying Joh. 20.22 Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose sins ye remit they are remitted to them and whose sins ye retain they are retained Vide Trid. Sess 14. de poenit c. 5. can 6. Aug. lib. hom 64. citatur de poenit dist 1. c. agite Orig. hom 1. in Ps 37. Chrysost de Sacerd. lib. 3. When therefore the Lord gave power to the Priests of Retaining and Remitting sins LIV. Confession to be made to the Priest it is plain that they were made Judges of the Matter And the Lord seem'd to signifie the same thing when he gave his Apostles that imployment to loose Lazarus Joh. 11. when he was rais'd from the Dead from those Bands wherewith he was bound For S. Austin explains that place thus Aug. de vera falsa poenit â—tia c 16. Serm. 8. de verb. Domini They says he the Priests can now profit more they can spare more those that confess to whom they forgive sin to wit the Lord by the Apostles deliver'd Lazarus whom he had rais'd from the Dead to his Disciples to be loos'd shewing that the Power of Loosing was now granted to his Church Whither also belongs that which he commanded those who on their journey were cleans'd of their Leprosie that they should shew themselves to the Priests and undergo their judgment Since therefore the Lord has given to the Priests a Power of Remitting and Retaining sins it is evident that they are appointed Judges of that Matter and because as the Holy Synod of Trent has wisely admonish'd Sess 14. c. 5. can 7. de Poenit. that a true judgment cannot be made concerning any thing and in appointing punishments of sins there can be no Measure of Justice held unless the Cause be truly known and searched into from hence it follows that by the Confession of Penitents all sins are severally to be laid open to the Priests That the Priests are Judges of sins S. Austin teaches lib. 20. de civit Dei c. 9. Hieron Epist 1.
upon the Name of the Lord. Another kind of Satisfaction is call'd Canonical LXXXVII The Second is Canonical satisfaction which being defin'd is perfected in a certain space of Time Wherefore it has bin receiv'd by the most antient usage of the Church That when Penitents are absolv'd from sins some Punishment is requir'd of them the undergoing of which Punishment is us'd to be call'd Satisfaction By the same Name also is any kind of Punishment signifi'd LXXXVIII The Third is any Punishment freely undertaken which for sins we endure not as appointed by any Priest but of our own free accord undertaken and laid upon our selves by our selves for sins Note But this belongs not to Penance as a Sacrament But that only is to be thought a part of the Sacrament which as we said is to be paid to God for sins by the command of the Priest This being added That we stedfastly purpose and resolve in our Hearts with our utmost labor and care to avoid sin for the Future For so some define it LXXXIX What it is to satisfie To satisfie is to pay due Honor to God But it is sufficiently evident that no one can give due Honor to God but he that resolves to avoid sin by all means And to satisfie is to cut oft the Causes of sins and not to indulge any entrance to their Suggestions According to which Sentence Mark this Definition some have thought that Satisfaction is a Cleansing whereby whatsoever Uncomeliness by reason of Stain remains in the Soul is wash'd away and we are absolv'd from the Temporal Punishments wherewith we were held Which things seeing they are so XC How Satisfaction is prov'd necessary it will be easie to perswade the Faithful how necessary it is for Penitents to exercise themselves in this study of Satisfaction For they are to be taught that there are two things which follow sin to wit Stain and Punishment And altho together with the Fault committed the Punishment of Eternal Death with the Damn'd be forgiven Yet it does not always happen as has bin declar'd by the Council of Trent Sess 14. c. 8. Can. 12. 15. Gen. 3.17 Num. 12.21 2 Reg 12.23 That the Lord remits the Relics of sin and the temporal Punishments which are due to sin Of which thing there are plain Testimonies in Sacred Scripture Genesis ch 3. Numbers 12 and 22. and in many other places But we will see that most clear and illustrious place of David To whom altho Nathan said The Lord also has took away thy sin Thou shalt not dye Nevertheless he freely underwent very grievous punishments Night and Day imploring the Mercy of God in these Words Psal 50.4 Wash me further from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin because I acknowledg my Iniquity and my sin is ever against me In which words is begg'd of God that he would pardon not only the Crime but also the Punishment due to the Crime and that he would restore him being purg'd from the Relics of sin into his former state of Excellency and Integrity And this he begg'd with most earnest Prayers Yet the Lord afflicted him Both with the Death of the Child gotten in Adultery and with the Rebellion and Death of Absalom whom he dearly lov'd and with other Punishments and Calamities which he had before threatned him with In Exodus also Exo. 32.8.9 Altho the Lord were intreated by the Prayers of Moses to spare the people for their Idolatry yet he threatens That he will recompence them with grievous Punishments for so great a Wickedness And Moses himself testifies That so it will be that the Lord would most severely revenge it even to the Third and Fourth Generation Now that these things have bin always deliver'd by the Holy Fathers in the Catholic Church i◠most evidently prov'd by their authority Vide Aug. lib. 2. de peccat merit remiss cap. 34. contra Faust lib. 22. cap. 66. praesertim in Joan. tract 124. paulò ante med Greg. lib. 9. Moral cap. 24. Chrysost hom 8. ad Popul Antioch Iterum Aug. Ench. cap. 30. Amb. de Poenit. lib. 2. c. 5. Vide item Canones Poenitentiales apud Anton. August vel in Actis Eccl. Mediolan But for what cause it is XCI In Penance as in Baptism the Punishment of sin is not remitted that all Punishment is not equally forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance as in the Sacrament of Baptism is excellently explain'd by the Holy Synod of Trent in these words The Nature or Reason of the Divine Justice seem'd to require that they should by him be receiv'd into Grace after one sort who before Baptism sinn'd through Ignorance and those after another sort who being once freed from the slavery of Sin and the Devil and after having receiv'd the Gift of the Holy Ghost do violate the Temple of God and are not afraid to grieve the Holy Ghost And it becomes the Divine Mercy that our sins should not be forgiven us without any Satisfaction That taking that occasion thinking our sins to be more light than they are as those that are injurious and contumelious to the Holy Spirit we fall into greater sins treasuring up to our selves Wrath against the day of Wrath. For without all doubt XCII Canonical Satisfaction profitable these Satisfactory Punishments do greatly restrain Penitents from sin and hold them back as with a Bridle and make more cautious and watchful for the future And besides First Secondly Ezek. 6. they are as it were certain Testifications of the Grief we take for having committed sin By which means we satisfie the Church who by our wickedness is grievosly offended For as S. Austin affirms God despises not a Contrite and humble Heart but because for the most part the Grief of one Man's Heart is hid from another Man nor does it come forth into the knowledg of other Men by Words or any other Sign rightly are the Times of Penance appointed by those who preside in the Church That so the Church might be satisfi'd in which sins are remitted Besides Thirdly The Examples of our Penance teach others how they ought to order their life and to follow Piety For seeing other Men behold the Punishments laid upon us for our sins they will perceive that they are to use the greatest caution through all their Life and that their former Manners are to be corrected and amended Wherefore it is most wisely observ'd by the Church XCIII Public Penance wisely instituted That when a Heynous Wickedness has bin publicly committed by any one he must undergo public Penance also That others being affrighted with Fear might thenceforth more warily avoid sin Which thing also has bin us'd sometimes to be done even in hidden sins which have bin great Vide Aug. lib. 5. de Civit. Dei cap. 26. Epist 54. l. 50. hom hom 49. de vera falsa Poenit. passim Ambr. lib. 2.
thee with the sign of the Cross or is pronounc'd as it were by commanding as when in administring the Sacrament of Orders it is said Receive thou Power But this One Form of Extream Unction is perform'd in a kind of Prayer but this is very properly and rightly done for seeing this Sacrament is therefore us'd that besides the spiritual Grace that it gives it also restores Health to the Sick yet because it does not always follow that the Sick are made whole of their Disease for this cause the Form is made in a Prayer that we may beg that of Gods Bounty which the Power or Vertue of the Sacrament is not us'd to effect in a constant and perpetual course Now there are proper Rites us'd in the administration of this Sacrament also But the greatest part of them contains Prayers XV. Why so many Prayers us'd in administring this Sacrament which the Priest uses to obtain Health for the sick Person For there is no Sacrament which is made with more Prayers and indeed rightly because at that time especially the Faithful are to be assisted with Pious Devotions Wherefore also all the rest who then happen to be present and specially the Curat ought from their heart to beseech God for the sick Person and with all their study and affection to commit his Life and Health to Gods Mercy Now seeing it has bin shew'd that Extream Unction is truly and properly to be reckon'd in the number of the Sacraments XVI The Sacrament of Extream Unction instituted by Christ This also follows that the Institution thereof came from Christ our Lord which afterwards was propos'd and publish'd to the Faithful by the Apostle S. James Altho the same our Savior seem'd to have given the First Draught of this Unction when he sent his Disciples by two and two before his Face for it is thus written of them by the Evangelist Mar. 6.13 They went and preach'd that Men should do Penance and they cast out many Devils and Anointed many that were sick with Oyl and heal'd them Which Unction must indeed be believ'd to have bin not invented by the Apostles Note but commanded of the Lord Not endu'd with any Natural Vertue but was instituted to be Mystic rather to heal their Soul than to cure their Body Which things S. Dennys S. Ambrose S. Chrysostom and S. Gregory the Great assert that it is by no means to be doubted but that with great Religion we ought to receive This as One of the Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church So the Faithful are to be taught XVII To Whom this Scarament is to be administer'd altho this Sacrament belongs to all yet there are some sorts of Men to be excepted to whom it is not to be administer'd And first they are excepted who are of a sound and healthy Body For that Extream Unction is not to be given to them the Apostle teaches when he says Ja. 5.14 Is any one Sick among you And Reason shews For for this cause was it instituted not only to be a Remedy to the Soul but to the Body also Seeing therefore that they only who are Sick want cure therefore ought this Sacrament to be given to them who seem to be so dangerously Sick that it may be fear'd that the last day of their life is at hand In which case notwithstanding they grievously sin XVIII The Sick are to be anointed before they lose their Senses who use to observe that time for the anointing of the Sick when all Hope of Health is gone and the Person begins to grow dead and senseless for it is manifest that to the more profitable receiving of the Sacrament it is very available that the sick be anointed with the Sacred Oyl when his Mind is yet whole in him and his Reason strong and when he can make use of his Faith and a Religious Will or Disposition of Soul Wherefore the Curats are to observe that at such time chiefly they apply that Heavenly Medicin which by its own vertue is always very wholsome but they will understand that it will be more profitable when joyn'd with the pious Devotion of them that are to be heal'd The Sacrament of Unction therefore may not be given to any one that is not grievously sick XIX To whom this Sacrament is not to be administer'd altho he go about any thing that may be dangerous to his Life either because he is a going some dangerous Sea-Voyage or because he is entring into Battle where certain Death hangs over him or even being condemn'd to Death he is carry'd away to suffer it Furthermore all those that want the use of Reason are not fit to take this Sacrament And Children that do not sin the Relics whereof there is no need to heal by the Remedy of this Sacrament Also Mad-men and Phrenetic unless they sometimes have the Use of Reason and at that time especially give some signification of a pious Soul and desire to be anointed with the Sacred Oyl For he who from his Birth never had the Use of Reason and Right-Mind is not to be anointed but not so if the sick person when being in his Right-mind he would be made Partaker of this Sacrament afterwards fell into Madness and Raving Now all the Parts of the Body are not to be anointed XX. What parts of the Body to be anointed but those only which Nature gave to Man to be as it were the Instruments of Sense The Eyes for Sight The Ears for Hearing The Nostrils for Smell The Mouth for Taste or Speech The Hand for Feeling which tho it be equally spread abroad through the whole Body yet it is most vigorous or lively in that Part Now this Rite of Anointing XXI Why these Parts are to be anointed the Universal Church retains and it very well agrees also to the Nature of this Sacrament for it is as a Medicin And because in the Diseases of the Body altho the whole Body be ill affected yet the Cure is apply'd to that Part only from whence as from the Fountain and Original the Disease flows Therefore not the whole Body but those Members are anointed in which chiefly the strength of Sense is most eminent as also the Reins being the seat as it were of Pleasure and Lust and the Feet which move and carry us from place to place And here it must be observ'd XXII This Sacrament may be iterated and when That in one and the same Sickness when the sick Man is in the same danger of Life he is to be anointed once only But if after this Unction receiv'd the Sick Person recover so often as he shall afterwards fall into the same danger of Life so often may the help of this Sacrament be giv'n him Whence it plainly appears That this Sacrament belongs to the number of those that may be iterated But because all diligence ought to be us'd XXIII With what Preparation
Whereby it seemed to be declar'd that they ought to be obedient and subject to their Husbands Of these Names See Aug. lib. 19. cont Faust c. 26. Ambr. l. 1. de Abraham c. 9. in fine item vide 30. q. 5. c. feminae 33. q. 5. c. Mulier Isidor lib. 2. de Eccles Officiis c. 19. And thus it is defin'd according to the common sense of Divines V. The Definition of Matrimony given to be explain'd Matrimony is a Conjugal Conjunction of a Man and a Woman between two lawful persons holding an individual nearness of life The parts of which Definition that they may the better be understood it must be taught that altho all these things are in perfect Matrimony to wit Inward Consent Outward Agreement or Pact express'd by Words Obligation and Bond which is made by vertue of the Pact and the Copulation of Husband and Wife whereby the Matrimony is consummate yet nothing of these has properly the Nature and Vertue of Matrimony unless that Obligation and Knot which is signifi'd by the word Conjunction The word Conjugal is added because other kinds of Compacts whereby Men and Women are oblig'd mutually to help each other Conjugal either for Mony or for any other respect are far from the Nature of Matrimony Then follows Between lawful persons Between lawful persons because they who by the Laws are wholly excluded from the Conjunction of Marriage cannot enter into Matrimony Nor if they should marry is their Marriage valid for Example those who are join'd in kindred within the fourth degree and a Youth before the fourteenth year of his Age or a Girl before her twelfth which is the Age establish'd by Law such persons are not fit to enter into the just Covenants of Matrimony But that which is put in the last place Keeping an individual nearness of life declares the Nature of an indissoluble Bond Indissoluble wherewith the Husband and Wife are ty'd together From these things therefore it is plain VI. Wherein especially the vertue of Matrimony is plac'd that the Nature and Reason of Matrimony consists in that Bond. For that which other Definitions of the most learn'd Men seem herein to attribute to the Consent As when they say That Wedlock is a Consent of a Man and of a Woman In Epist Eugen 4 â—d Armâ—n This is so to be understood that that Consent is the working cause of Matrimony which thing the Fathers in the Council of Florence have taught for Obligation and Tye cannot be without Consent and Compact But it is very necessary VII The Consent of the p esent time to be express'd by words that the Consent be express'd in words which signifie the present Time For neither is Matrimony a simple Donation but a mutual Compact And therefore it is that the Consent of One only is not to join Matrimony but there must be a mutual Consent of Two betwixt themselves And for the declaring of this mutual Consent of mind it is evident that there is need of Words For if Matrimony could consist in the inward Consent only without any outward signification VIII The Inward Consent not enough for Matrimony then this also would seem to follow that when Two who were sever'd far asunder and in different places would consent to marry before the One had declar'd his Will to the other either by Letters or Messengers they would be join'd together in a true and lasting Matrimony which notwithstanding is very far both from Reason and from the Practice and Decrees of Holy Church It is rightly said therefore IX Consent of present in words of future time no sufficienâ— that the Consent must be express'd in words which have the signification of the present time for those words which shew a future time do not conjoin Matrimony but promise only and then it is evident that those things which are future are not yet but those things which are not must be thought to have little or nothing of firmness or stability in them Wherefore as yet no one has a Right of the Marriage Bed with that Woman which he promises that he will marry nor is it presently fulfill'd what he promises he will do altho he ought to perform his promise which if he perform not he is convicted as guilty of breach of Faith But he that is join'd to another in the Covenant of Matrimony altho afterwards he repent yet what is done he cannot alter or make void or ineffectual Since therefore the Obligation of Wedlock is not a bare Promise but such a kind of abalâ—enation or transferring over a Right whereby a man delivers indeed the power of his Body to the Woman and the Woman the power of her's to the Man therefore it is necessary that Matrimony be contracted with words which signifie the present time The Vertue and Force of which words remain even after they are pronounc'd and hold the Man and the Woman bound together with an indissoluble Bond. But yet instead of Words a Nod with the Head X. A Nod or other signs may suffice instead of Words or other signs which plainly shew the inward Consent may be sufficient for Matrimony yea even silence it self when a Maid by reason of Modesty answers not but her Parents speak for her From these things therefore the Curats shall teach the Faithful that the Nature and Force of Matrimony lies in the Bond and Obligation And besides the Consent express'd in that manner as has now bin said that Matrimony might be true the Bed is not necessary Gen 2. For it is plainly manifest that our first Parents before they had sinn'd all which time there had bin no carnal copulation betwixt them as the Fathers testifie were join'd together in true Matrimony Wherefore the Holy Fathers say that Matrimony stands not in the Marriage-Bed but in the Consent which we find repeated also by S. Ambrose in his Book concerning Virgins De Inst Virgin c. 6. Now these things being explain'd XI Matrimony Two â—â—d Natural and Sacramental it must be taught That Matrimony has a double respect for Conjunction is to be consider'd either as it is Natural for Wedlock was not invented by Man but by Nature or as it is a Sacrament the Force whereof excels the Condition of Natural Things and because Grace perfects Nature 1 Cor. 15.46 for neither that which is spiritual is first but that which is Animal and afterwards that which is Spiritual so that the Order of the Matter requires that we first treat of Matrimony as it is Natural and afterwards explain those things which agree to it as a Sacrament First XII Natural Matrimony instituted of God therefore the Faithful are to be taught that Matrimony was instituted of God For it is written in Genesis God created them Male and Female and bless d them and said Increase and multiply Gen. 2. And It is not good that Man be alone let us make
him an help like himself And a little after But there was not found for Adam an help like himself therefore the Lord God sent a deep sleep upon Adam and while he slept he took one of his Ribs and clos'd up the Flesh instead thereof And the Lord God form'd the Rib that he took from Adam into a Woman and brought her to Adam and Adam said This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be call'd Woman because she was taken out of Man Wherefore a Man shall leave his Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Wife and they Two shall be One Flesh Which things Mat. 19.6 even by the Authority of our Lord himself in St. Matthew shew that Matrimony was of Divine Institution Nor did God institute Matrimony only XIII Matrimony made indissoluble but as the Holy Synod of Trent declares he added to it a perpetual and indissoluble Knot for our Savior says What God has join'd none may put asunder For tho it was convenient that Matrimony Sess 24. initio as it is an Office of Nature might not be dissolv'd yet much more so now as it is a Sacrament Mat. 19.6 for which cause it gains the highest perfections even in all things which are proper to it by the Law of Nature and yet that the Bond should be dissoluble would be repugnant to the bringing up of Children and the other benefits of Matrimony But XIV The Law of contracting Matrimony not laid upon all Gen. 1. that it was said of God Increase and multiply This tends hither that he might declare for what cause Matrimony was instituted not to put a necessity upon every man For Mankind being now increas'd the Law of Marriage is so far from compelling any that Virginity is rather highly commended and perswaded to every one and that by Sacred Scripture as being more excellent than the state of Matrimony and containing in it greater Perfection and Holiness For our Lord and Savior thus has taught He that can receive it let him receive it Mat. 19 12. And the Apostle says Concerning Virgins I have no command from the Lord but I give my Counsel as having obtain'd Mercy 1 Cor. 7.23 that I might be Faithful XV. Why Man and Woman ought to be join'd The first cause But now we must explain for what Reasons the Man and Woman ought to be join'd together The first therefore is That this very Society of the divers Sex is desir'd by natural Instinct there being Hope of mutual help that One being assisted by the help of the Other might the more easily bear the inconveniences of life and the weakness of old age Another is the desire of Procreation The second cause not so much for this End that we might leave behind us Heirs to enjoy our Honors and Riches as that they might be brought up in true Faith and Religion which that it was chiefly the Design of the Holy Patriarchs when they married sufficiently appears from Sacred Scripture Wherefore the Angel when he admonish'd Tobias by what means he might repel the force of the Devil Tob. 6. I will shew thee says he who they are that can prevail over the Devil for those who so enter into Wedlock as to exclude God from themselves and their Soul and so give themselves to their lust as the Horse and Mule which have no understanding the Devil has power over them And then he adds Thou shalt take a Virgin with the Fear of the Lord being led thereto rather by the Love of Children than Lust that thou mayst get in thy Children the blessing of the seed of Abraham And this also was One cause why God at first instituted Matrimony Note Wherefore their wickedness is very great who being join'd in Matrimony by Medicins hinder Conception or force out the Birth before time for this is to be look'd upon as design'd Murder The third The third cause and which began to take place after the Fall of our first Parents when thro the loss of Righteousness in which Man was created his Appetite began to oppose his right Reason to wit that being conscious to himself of his own weakness nor being willing to endure the Fight of the Flesh he might use the remedy of Matrimony to avoid the sins of Lust Of the which the Apostle thus 1 Cor. 7. Because of Fornication let every Man have his own Wife and let every Woman have her own Husband And a little after when he had taught that sometimes men ought to abstain from the Debt of Matrimony for the sake of Prayer and subjoins And return again to that very thing leâ—t Satan tempt you by your Incontinence These are the Causes Note whereof some or other every one who will contract Marriage piously and religiously as becomes the Children of the Saints ought to propose to himself But if to these Causes others be also added whereby men are induc'd to enter Marriage and in choosing a Wife they propose such as These to themselves as the desire of leaving an Heir Wealth Beauty Nobility or likeness of conditions These Reasons indeed are not to be condemn'd since they oppose not the Holiness of Matrimony Gen. 29. For neither in Sacred Scripture is the Patriarch Jacob reprehended because having chose Rachel for her Beauty he preferr'd her before Leah Thus far of Matrimony shall be taught as it is a Natural Conjunction XVI Of Matrimony as a Sacrament but as it is a Sacrament we must shew that the Nature of it is much more excellent and is wholly to be referr'd to a higher End For as Matrimony XVII Matrimony as a Sacrament far excels the Natural as it is a Natural Conjunction was instituted at the beginning for the Propagation of Mankind So afterwards that a People might be procreated and brought up to the Worship and Religion of the true God and of our Savior Christ the Dignity of a Sacrament was given to it When Christ our Lord was minded to give a certain sign of that most close Relation which is betwixt him and his Church XVIII The Union of Christ and his Church declar'd by Matrimony and of his immense love towards us he declar'd the Divinity of this Mystery chiefly in the Holy Conjunction of Man and Woman which that it was most fitly done may be understood from hence that among all human relations there is none bind so neerly as the bond of Matrimony and the Husband and VVife are bound together each to other in the greatest Love and Good will And therefore it is that the Holy Scriptures frequently put before our Eyes the Divine Copulation of Christ and the Church by the similitude of Marriage Now that Matrimony is a Sacrament XIX Matrimony prov'd to be a Sacrament the Church confirm'd by the Authority of the Apostle always held certain for thus he writes to the Ephesians Men ought to love
remain unmarry'd or that she be reconcil'd to her Husband Note For neither does Holy Church allow a Husband and a Wife to depart each from other without very weighty cause And that the Law of Matrimony may not seem rigorous XXIX How it comes that Indissolubility is more tollerable because it can never for any reason be dissolv'd it must be taught what the Advantages join'd with it are For first First Men should know that in joining Matrimony Vertue and Likeness of Manners are to be regarded rather than Riches and Beauty In which thing no one can doubt that the common Society is very much concern'd Besides Secondly if Matrimony could be dissolv'd by Divorce Men would scarce ever want causes of strife to be daily laid in their way by the old Enemy of Peace and Modesty But now when the Faithful consider with themselves Thirdly tho they want the bed and board of VVedlock yet that they are held bound with the Bond of Matrimony and that all hope of marrying another Wife is cut off for this cause it is that they are slower to anger and discord But if sometimes they proceed to make Divorce Fourthly and yet cannot long endure the want of a Mate they are easily reconcil'd by Friends and return to each other But here the wholsome Admonition of S. Austin is not to be pass'd over by the Pastors Fifthly Lib. de Adulter Conjug c. 6. 9. For he to shew the Faithful that they should not look upon it as a burdensome thing to receive again into favor their Wives which they had put away for the cause of Adultery if they repented of their sin Why says he should not the Faithful Husband receive his Wife again whom the Church receives Or why should not the Wife pardon her adulterous Husband whom even Christ has pardon'd Prov. 18.12 For that the Scripture calls him a Fool who keeps an Adultress it means of her which when she has offended repents not and refuses to leave off the filthiness she has begun From these things therefore it is plain that the Marriages of the Faithful far excel the Marriages both of the Gentiles and of the Jews in perfection and Nobility The Faithful are further to be taught XXX Three Benefits of Matrimony that there are three Benefits of Matrimony Children Faith Sacrament By recompense of which those inconveniencies are lessen'd which the Apostle shews in these words 1 Cor. 7.28 They that are married shall have Tribulation of the Flesh And thereby it comes to pass that the Conjunction of Bodies which without Matrimony are worthily condemn'd is render'd honest Vide Aug. lib. 5. cont Julian c. 5. The First Good therefore is Children The First which are begotten of a just and lawful Wife for this the Apostle reckons so much of 1 Tim. 2.25 that he said The Woman shall be sav'd by the begetting of Children Nor is this to be understood only of the Begetting of Children but also of the Education and discipline of them whereby Children are instructed in Piety So the Apostle presently adds If they remain in Faith The Scripture also admonishes Eccle. 7.25 Hast thou Children teach them and bend them from their Childhood The same thing the Apostle teaches And of this kind of Teaching Tobias Job and other Holy Fathers in Sacred Scripture afford us very fair Examples But what the Duties of Parents and Children are Note will be explain'd more at large in the Fourth Command Now follows Faith The Second which is another Benefit of Matrimony not that Habit of Vertue wherewith we are tinctur'd when we receive Baptism but a kind of Fidelity wherewith the Husband binds himself to his Wife and the Wife mutually binds her self to her Husband and that in such a manner that each of them deliver the power of their Bodies to each other and promises never to violate the Holy Covenant of Marriage This is easily gather'd from those words utter'd by our first Father Gen. 2.24 when he receiv'd Eve his Wife and which Christ our Lord afterwards approv'd in the Gospel Wherefore a Man shall leave his Father and Mother and cleave to his Wife and they Two shall be One Flesh Also from that place of the Apostle 1 Cor. 9.4 The Woman has not power of her own Body but the Man and in like manner the Man has not power of his own Body but the Woman Wherefore those more grievous Punishments were most justly appointed by the Lord in the Old Law against Adulterers Levit. 20. â—0 because they broke this Material Faith The Faith of Matrimony requires further Note that the Husband and Wife be joyn'd together in a kind of singular holy and pure love nor may they love as Adulterers do among themselves but as Christ lov'd the Church For this Rule the Apostle prescrib'd Ephes 3.25 when he said Men love your Wives as Christ also lov'd the Church which certainly he embrac'd with that immense Charity not for his own profits sake but proposing to himself the advantage only of his Bride The Third Good of Matrimony is call'd the Sacrament The Third to wit the Bond of Marriage from which they can never be dissolv'd 1 Cor. 7.19 For as the Apostle has it The Lord has commanded that the Wife depart not from her own Husband But if she depart that she remain unmarri'd or be reconcil'd to her Husband and that the Husband put not away his Wife For if Matrimony as it is a Sacrament signifie the Conjunction of Christ with his Church it must needs be that as Christ never separates himself from his Church so a Wife as to the Bond of Matrimony can never be separated from her Husband But that this holy Society may be the better preserv'd without Quarrel the Duties of the Husband and of the Wife as they are describ'd by S. Paul and S. Peter the Prince of Apostles are to be taught Vide Aug. lib. 1. de Adulterin conjug c. 21. 22. de bono Conjug c. 7. de Nupt. concupisc lib. 1. c. 10. It is the Part of the Husband therefore liberally and honorably to treat his Wife XXXI The Duty of the Husband towards the Wife First for which purpose it ought to be remembred that Eve was call'd the Companion of Adam when he said The Woman thou gavest me for a Companion For which cause it was as some of the Fathers have taught that she was not formed out of the Feet but out of the Side of the Man Ev'n as also she was not made of the Head that she might understand that she is not the Mistress of her Husband but rather subject to him Besides Secondly it is the Office of the Husband to be always imploy'd in the Study of some honest thing both to provide those things which are necessary for the Sustenance of his Family and also that he grow
and to command the People to obey the Precepts of the Priests Now as to the explaining of this Commandment VII The way of explaining his Commandment pains must be taken to teach the Faithful in what things this Commandment agrees with the rest and in what it differs from them For by this means they shall know the cause and reason why we honor and keep Holy not the Sabbath but the Lord's Day There seems therefore a manifest Difference VIII How this Commandment differs from the other Nine because the other Commandments of the Decalogue are natural and perpetual nor may they be alterd for any Reason Whence it comes to pass that tho Moses's Law be abrogated yet Christians observe all the Commandments contain'd in the Two Tables Wich they do Note not because Moses commanded so but because they are agreeable to Nature by Vertue whereof Men are driven to observe them Now this Commandment of keeping Holy the Sabbath IX This Command as to time is ceremonial if we consider the appointed time it is not fixd and constant but alterable nor does it belong to Manners but to Ceremonies Nor is it Natural because we are not instructed or taught by Nature on that Day rather than on any other to give Worship to God But from that Time when the People of Israel were deliver'd from the Bondage of Pharaob they kept Holy the Sabbath Day But the Time when the Observance of the Sabbath was to be taken away X. Why and when the Sabbath Day ought to be changed into the Lord's Day was the same with that wherein the rest of the Jewish VVorship and antiquated Ceremonies were remov'd to wit at Christ's Death For since those Ceremonies were as it were certain shadows or images of the Light and Truth it was therefore but necessary that at the coming of that Light and Truth which is Jesus Christ they should be remov'd Gal. 4.10 for which cause S. Paul to the Galatians when he reprov'd the Observers of the Mosaical Rites wrote thus Ye observe Days and Months and Times and Years I am afraid of you lest haply I have bestow'd on you labor in vain Col. 2.16 On which score he wrote also to the Colossians And thus much concerning the Difference But this Commandment agrees with the rest XI Wherein this Commandment agrees with the rest not in Rites and Ceremonies but because it has something which belongs to Manners and the Law of Nature For God's Worship and Religion which is express'd in this Commandment has its Being from the Law of Nature since it is natural to spend some Hours about those things which belong to the Worship of God whereof this is an Argument That among all Nations we see there were certain appointed Days and those Public ones too which were consecrated to the performance of Sacred and Divine Matters For it is natural to Man to allow some certain Time to those things that are necessary to the discharge of Business as to the Sleep and Rest of the Body and such like And as to the Body Observe this Similitude so by the same Natural Reason it is that we allow some Time to the Mind that she may refresh her self with Divine Contemplation And therefore since there ought to be some part of Time for performance of Divine Matters and giving due Worship to God this belongs to the Commandments of Manners For which cause the Apostles decreed to consecrate the First day of the Seven XII Why the Sabbath chang'd into the Lords day Apoc. 1.10 1 Cor. 16.2 to Divine Worship which they call'd The Lord's Day For S. John in the Apocalyps makes mention of the Lord's Day and the Apostle on the Moon of the Sabbaths which is the Lord's Day as S. Chrysostom interprets it commands Collections to be made that we may know that even then already the Lord's Day was accounted Holy Chrysost Hom. 13. in Corinth Amb. item Theophylact. Vide etiam Can. Ap. c. 67. Ignat. Epist ad Magnes Just Apol. 2. Tertul. in Apol c. 16. de Coron Milit. c. 3. de Idol c. 14. Cypr. Epist. 33. Clement Alexand. l. 5. Strom. satis ante finem Orig. Hom. 7. in Exod. And now that the Faithful may know what they ought to do on that Day XIII Four Parts in this Commandment and from what Actions they ought to abstain it will not be amiss for the Curat diligently and to a Word to explain this Commandment which may well be divided into Four Parts The First therefore in general proposes what is prescrib'd in these words XIV What the Words teach Remember that thou sanctifie the Sabbath-day Now for this cause in the beginning of the Commandment is that word Remember fitly added because the Sanctification of that Day belongs to Ceremonies Of which thing it seem'd the People are to be admonish'd First since tho the Law of Nature teaches that at some time or other God is religiously to be worship'd yet it has not appointed any certain Day whereon this ought chiefly to be done Moreover Secondly the Faithful are to be taught that from those Words may be gather'd the Way and Manner how it is convenient to do Work all the Week to wit so as always to have regard to the Holy-day on which Day seeing an Account is to be given to God as it were of our Works and Actions it must needs be that we do such Works as will neither be rejected by the Judgment of God and which 1 Reg. 2.5 as it is written shall not wound or offend our own Conscience Lastly Thirdly VVe are taught which we ought carefully to observe to wit That there are not wanting Occasions to make us forgetful of this Commandment either being led by the Example of others that neglect it or out of love to Shews and Plays whereby we are very much led away from the holy and religious Observance of this Day And now come we to the Signification of the Sabbath Sabbath is an Hebrew word XV. What the Sabbath is which in English signifies a Cessation to keep Sabbath is therefore call'd in English Gen. 23. Exod. 20.12 Deut. 5.14 to cease and rest In which Signification the Seventh day was call'd by the name of Sabbath because the whole VVorld being finish'd and perfected God rested from all his VVork which he had done for so the Lord in Exodus calls this Day But afterwards Note not only this Seventh Day but for the Dignity of that Day even the whole VVeek also was call'd by that name in which sense the Pharisee in S. Luke said Luc. 18.12 I fast twice in a Sabbath And thus much of the Signification of Sabbath Now the Sanctification of the Sabbath in Sacred Scripture is a Cessation from all Bodily Labor and Business XVI What it is to sanctifie as plainly appears from these words of the Commandment which
whom he uses as the Ministers of his Power has the Veneration of Men. Vid. Aug. lib. 5. de civit Dei c. 10 11 14 15. Nor do we reverence the Dishonesty or Wickedness of Men XIX When wicked Princes are to be obey'd if the Magistrates are such but the Divine Authority which is in them so that tho it may seem very wonderful perhaps altho they may be Spiteful Cruel and Implacable to us yet there is no cause sufficient why we should not most dutifully observe them For even the great Duties of David towards Saul are recorded when as notwithstanding he was very injurious to him Ps 119.7 which he shews in these Words With them that hated peace I was peaceable But if they command any thing wicked or unjust XX. When they are not to be obey'd since they do it not of Power but by Injustice and Perverseness of Mind they are by be no means to be obey'd When the Curat has explain'd these things severally XXI The Reward of this Commandment propos'd let him then consider what the Reward is and how agreeable it is to those that obey this Divine Commandment For herein is its excellent Fruit that they live long and therefore that they are worthy to enjoy a Benefit as long as may be the memory whereof they always preserve Seeing therefore that those that honor their Parents return them thanks from whom they have the use of Light and Life rightly and deservedly do they continue that Life even to the greatest Age. Then is to be added a clear Explanation of Gods Promise XXII This promis'd Reward to be explain'd 1 Tim. 4.8 For the Use not only of that blessed and eternal Life but even of this too which we live in the World is promis'd which Sentence S. Paul interprets when he says Piety is profitable for all things having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come Nor is this Reward either small or contemptible altho Death was desirable to the most Holy Men XXIII This no small Reward as to Job David Paul and the continuance of Life to miserable and afflicted Men be unpleasant For the addition of those Words Which the Lord thy God will give thee promises not only the length of Time to live in but Rest Quiet and Safety to live well For in Deuteronomy he says not only Deut. 5.16 That thou mayst live a long Time but adds this also Eph. 6.5 That it may be well with thee which was afterwards repeated by the Apostle Now we say that these good things are advantagious to them XXIV Many obedient Children enjoy not this Reward and why to whose Piety God gives Grace For otherwise there will be no assurance and steadiness of the Divine Promise Because sometimes those who are more dutiful to their Parents live not so long a Life as those to whom it happ'ns to live long Either because it is for their good who depart out of this Life before they forsake the Tye Vertue and Duty The First Reason For they are suddenly snatcht away Sap. 4.10 lest malice should alter their understanding or deceit beguil their Soul Or because whilst Destruction and Perturbation of all hings is impending The Second they are call'd out of this VVorld that they may escape the common bitterness of the Times For says the Prophet Isa 57.1 The righteous man is taken away from the face of evil And this is done lest either their Vertue or their Salvation might be endanger'd God takes Vengeance on Mortals for their VVickedness Or that they may not feel the sharpness of Sorrow in the saddest Times The Third for the Calamities of their Kindred and Friends Wherefore Note it is much to be fear'd when untimely Death happ'ns to good Men. Now as the Reward and Advantage of Duty is propos'd by God to those that are grateful to their Parents XXV Ungrateful Children to be punish'd grievously So ungrateful wicked Children are reserv'd for the heaviest Punishments for it is written Exod. 21.26 Levit. 20 29. Prov. 19.26 Prov 20 20. Prov. 30.17 He that curses Father or Mother let him die the Death And He that afflicts his Father and flies from his Mother is shameful and unhappy And He that curses Father or Mother his light shall be put out in the midst of darkness And The eye that mocks at his Father and despiseth the birth of his Mother let the Ravens of the Brook pick it out and let the young Eagles eat it We read of many that wrong'd their Parents against whom Gods anger grew hot For he left not David unreveng'd 2 Reg. 18.4 but paid Absolom the due reward of his Wickedness whom for his wickedness he punish'd being thurst thro with three Spears But of them that obey'd not the Priests XXVI How they are punish'd that obey'd nor the Priests it is written He that grows proud and will not obey the command of the Priest that ministers at that time to the Lord thy God that man shall die by the decree of the judge Vid. Clem. Epist 3. subinit Item Epist 1. etiam subinit Amb. lib. 2. Offic. c. 24. Hier. Epist 1. post med vide item 11. q. 3. c. 11 12 13. And as it is establish'd by the Divine Law XXVII The Duty of Parents toward their Children That Children should give Honor to their Parents obey them and be dutiful to them So the proper Duties of Parents are To train up their Children in most holy Instructions and Manners to give them the best Rules of Life that being instructed and prepar'd for Religion they may worship God holily and unblameably which we read to have bin done by the Parents of Susanna Let the Priest therefore admonish Parents Dan. 13.3 to shew themselves Masters to their Children of Vertue Equity Continence Modesty and Holiness Let them therefore beware of three things especially XXVIII Parents to beware of three things The First Col. 3.21 wherein they often use offend First not to speak or do any thing too severely against their Children which the Apostle in his Epistle to the Colossians commands thus Fathers provoke not your Children to indigation that they he not discouraged for there is danger lest they be of a broken and abject mind while they are afraid of every thing Wherefore let him warn them to avoid overmuch Severity and let them rather amend or correct than to revenge themselves on their Children And then when a Fault is committed The Second when Chastisement and Chiding is necessary not dissolutely thro Indulgence to pardon any thing to their Children For many times Children are utterly spoil'd by the too great Lenity and Indulgence of Parents wherefore let the Curat affright them from their too great Indulgence by the Example of Hell 1 Reg. 4.18 who because he was too indulgent to his Children suffer'd very great
have Peace with all Men For interpreting this Place he says If thou offer thy Gift at the Altar and shalt there remember that thy Brother has any thing against thee leave there thy Gift before the Altar and go first be reconcil'd to thy Brother and what follows VVhich things shall so be explain'd by the Curat XXIII Catholic Charity commanded as that he teach That all without any Exception are to be embrac'd with Love VVhereto in the Explication of this Commandment he shall stir up the Faithful as much as may be because therein the Vertue of Loving our Neighbor shines most clearly For since Hatred is plainly forbidden by this Commandment XXIV Hatred forbidden 1 Joh. 3.5 because he that hates his Brother is a Murderer it certainly follows that here is given a Commandment of Love and Charity And since in this Law there is a Command concerning Love and Charity Offices of Love commanded there are Rules given of all those both Offices and Actions which use to follow that Charity Charity is patient Patience Luc. 21.19 says St. Paul Therefore we are commanded Patience in which we shall possess our Souls as our Saviour teaches Kindness next is the Companion and Associate of Charity XXV Offices of Kindness because Charity is kind But the Vertue of Benignity and Kindness largely extends it self and its Office is chiefly concern'd in these things to relieve the Poor with things necessary to give Meat to the Hungry Drink to the Thirsty to cloath the Naked and wherein any one most wants our Help therein to bestow our greater Liberality upon him These Offices of Kindness and Goodness XXVI Kindness to be shew'd towards our enemies Mat. 5.44 Rom. 18.20 which of themselves are illustrious are made so much the more illustrious if extended to our Enemies For our Saviour says Love your Enemies do good to them which hate you which the Apostle also advises in these words If thy Enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him Drink for in doing thus thou wilt heap Coals of Fire on his Head Be not overcome of Evil but overcome Evil with Good Lastly XXVII Long-suffering and Gentleness if we consider the Law of Charity which is kind we must understand that by that Law we are commanded to do all Offices whatsoever that pertain to Long-suffering Gentleness and other Vertues of the like kind But that Office which is far the most excellent of all XXVIII A chief Office of Charity to forgive and which is most full of Charity wherein most of all we ought to exercise our selves is this With a cheerful Mind to forgive and pardon the Wrong we have receiv'd which to do fully the Scriptures of God as before was said often warn and exhort us since they do not only call them bless'd that really do so See Deuteron 32.35 Also 1 Reg. 25.32 33. Also 26.6 7 8.9 Also 2 Reg. 19.20 Psal 7.5 Eccles 28. throughout Isai 58.6 Matth. 6.14 And in the Gospel in many places See also Tertul. in Apolog. c. 31 37. Aug. in Joan. Tract 81. lib. 50. Hom. hom 6. Item Serm. 61 168. de tempore Note But they affirm that Pardon of their Sins is also given them of God but those who either neglect or utterly refuse so to do lose their own Pardon themselves But because the desire of Revenge is commonly rooted in Mens Minds XXIX Forgetting of Injuries to be inculcated it is necessary that the Curat use very great Diligence herein not only to teach but also earnestly to perswade the Faithful That a Christian ought to forget Injuries and to forgive them and since there is very much mention of this Matter made among Sacred Writers let him consult them for the overcoming of their Stubborness who are of an obstinate and fixt Resolution on the Lust of Revenge Let him have the Arguments in readiness which those Fathers devoutly us'd they being very weighty and very suitable to the Matter Vide quae citantur n. 18. But especially these Three are to be explain'd The First is XXX Three Arguments for this purpose The First That he that thinks he has receiv'd an Injury should be earnestly perswaded that he whom he desires to be aveng'd of was not the principal cause of his loss or Injury So that admirable Man Job did who being grievously assaulted by the Sabeans Chaldeans and by the Devil yet took no Regard of them but as an upright and right pious Man truly and devoutly us'd these Words Job 1.28 The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away By the Words and Example of that most patient Man therefore XXXI Gods goodness in inflicting Punishments let Christians perswade themselves what is most true that all things whatsoever we suffer in this Life come from the Lord who is the Father and Author of all Justice and Mercy Nor does he punish us as Enemies which is his infinite Kindness but corrects and chastises us as Sons Nor indeed XXXII How they are to be accounted that persecute us if we rightly consider it are Men in these cases any other thing at all but the Ministers and Officers as it were of God And tho a Man may wrongfully hate another and wish him very ill yet unless by Gods Permission he can by no means hurt him For this Reason Joseph patiently endur'd the wicked Counsels of his Brethren Gen. 45.8 2 Reg. 16.10 so David did the Injuries done him by Shimei To this Matter also belongs properly that kind of Argument Tom 3 in Hom. Quod nemo laeditur nisi a seipso which S. Chrysostom gravely and excellently handl'd to wit That none is hurt but by himself For those that think themselves to be injuriously dealt with if they consider the matter well with themselves will certainly find that they have received no wrong or damage from others for tho the things are outward wherein they are hurt yet they most of all hurt themselves when they wickedly pollute their Soul with Hatred Lust Envy The Second is The second Argument That it contains two special Advantages which belong to those who being led with a pious Endeavour to please God freely forgive Injuries The First whereof is this Two Advantages The First Matth. 18.33 That God has promis'd that they shall obtain Pardon of their own Sins that forgive others their Offences from which Promise it easily appears how acceptable this Office of Piety and Love is to him The other Advantage is The second Advantage Matth. 5.46 That we get a kind of Nobility and Perfection because by forgiving Wrongs we are made in a manner like God Who causes his Sun to rise on the Good and Bad and rains on the Just and Vnjust Lastly The third Argument the Disadvantages are to be explain'd into which we then fall when we will not forgive the Wrongs that are done us Let the Curat therefore lay before
unlucky XIII To bear false Witness is injurious even to the person that gives it that he is known to him whom by his Oath he did help and assist to be false and perjur'd and which evil succeeds to him of Sentence he daily takes a greater Practice and Custom of Lewdness and Impudence As therefore the Vanities XIV The lies of Lawyers forbidd'n Lies and Perjuries of Witnesses so also of Accusers of the Guilty of Patrons Kinsfolks Proctors and Advocates and even of all that are concern'd in Judgment are forbidd'n Lastly XV. To Witness a Falshood every where forbidd'n Levit. 19.11 God forbids all Testimony not only in Judgment but out of Judgment that may bring any wrong or hurt to another For in Leviticus where these Commandments are repeated we read thus Ye shall not steal ye shall not lye neither shall any one deceive his Neighbor So that no one can doubt but that every Lye is rejected of God and condemn'd in this Commandment VVhich thing David very plainly testifies in this manner Psal 5.7 Thou shalt destroy all them that speak lies Now by this Commandment is forbidd'n XVI The vice of Detraction detestable not only false Testimony but even the hateful Will and practice of speaking ill or another from which Plague it is incredible how many and how grievous Inconveniences and Evils do spring This Vice of Reviling and disparaging another secretly the Holy Scripture in many places reproves I did not so much as eat with such a One Psal 100.5 says David And S. James Jac. 4.11 Speak not evil one of another my Brethren But the Sacred Scriptures do not only afford us Precepts An Example Hester 13. but Examples also whereby the greatness of this Sin is shewn for Aman by forg'd Crimes had so incens'd Assuerus against the Jews that he commanded all that Nation to be kill'd Sacred History is full of Examples of this kind by remembrance whereof the Priests shall endeavour to deter the Faithful from the foulness of this thing But that the greatness of this Sin XVII Who are Detractors whereby anothers Credit is injur'd may evidently appear We must know that Mens Reputation is hurt First not only by Calumny or Slander But by increasing and amplifying their Faults Secondly and if any thing secretly has by any one bin committed which when it comes to be known becomes dangerous and hurtful to a Man's Credit he that publishes that matter where when and to whom there is no need so to do is truly call'd a Reviler and Slanderer But of all Slander there is none more deadly than that of those Thirdly who slander the Catholic Doctrin and the Preachers of it Fourthly They are in the same Fault that commend the Teachers of Errors and false Doctrins Nor are they to be left out of the Number of these Men Fifthly nor are they free from this Fault who lending their Ears to Revilers and Slanderers reprove them not but willingly assent to or belive them For to slander or to hearken to a Slanderer as S. Hierom and S. Bernard write it is not easily manifest whether of the two is more damnable For there would be no Slanderers if there were none to listen to their Slanders S. Hierom. Epist. ad Nepotianum circa finem D. Bernard lib. 2. de Consider ad Eugen. in fine Of the same sort are those Sixthly who by their Artifices cause Men to fall out and quarrel among themselves and are greatly delighted in keeping Differences So that breaking the strictest Friendships and Societies by their feigned words they compel the most friendly Men in the World to immortal Hatred and Quarrels This Plague the Lord exceedingly hates Lev. 19.6 Thou shalt not be a Tale-carrier nor Whisperer among the People Such were many of Sauls Counsellers who strove to estrange his Love from David and to provoke the King against him Lastly meer fair-spoken Men and Flatterers Seventhly Flatterers who by their smoothing and dissembling Praises buzz into those men's Ears and Minds whose Favors Mony and Honor they would purchase calling as the Prophet has it Isa 5.20 Evil good and good Evil offend against this part whom to drive away and rid our doors of them David admonishes us in that Saying Ps 140.5 Let the Just Man reprove me with mercy and let him chide me but let not the Oyl of the wicked anoint my Head For tho they revile not their Neighbor yet they wound him grievously who even by commending his Sins afford him a cause of persevering in his vices as long as he lives And indeed of this kind of Flattery The First kind of Flattery that is worst which is us'd for the Calamity and Hurt of our Neighbors So Saul when he desir'd to expose David to the Fury and Sword of the Philistines he sooth'd him with these words Behold my eldest Daughter Moreb 1. Reg. her will I give thee to wife only be thou valiant and fight the Lords battels So the Jews in that treacherous Speech of theirs thus spake to Christ our Lord Master Marc. 12.14 we know that thou art true and teachest the way of God in Truth But far more hurtful is the Speech of those Friends The worst sort of Flattery Relations and Kinsfolks which they sometimes flatteringly use to those who being sick to Death are now at their last Breath while they tell them that even then they are in no danger of Death and bid them be merry and cheerful and keep them from Confession of their Sins as from a sad melancholy Thought And lastly while they divert their Minds from all Care and Thought of their utmost Dangers in which they are very greatly involv'd Wherefore all kinds of Lyes are to be avoided But especially that whereby any one may be most damnifi'd But most wicked of all is that Lye which is made against Religion Note or about Religion God is also grievously offended with those Slanders and Reproaches which are committed by Libels Eighthly The Author of Libels such as they call Libellous Pamphlets and other Contumelies of the like kind De libel famos Vide Bull. Pij V. 147. datam Ann. 1572. Bull. Greg. XIII 4. datam eodem anno Besides XVIII A merry Lie forbidden either for Sport or for Office sake to deceive by a Lye altho no one thereby have any Gain or Loss yet it is altogether unworthy a Man For so the Apostle admonishes us Ephes 4.25 Putting away lying speak ye the Truth Vide D. Thom. 2.2 q. 110. art 3 4. For thereby comes a great Proneness to frequent and more grievous Lying Note the Reason and from telling of Lyes for Mirth Men take a custom of Lying whence they fall into a Reputation of not speaking Truth at all wherefore to gain Belief they are necessitated to swear at all times Lastly XIX All
dissembling forbidd'n in the former part of this Commandment Dissembling is forbidden and not only those things which are spoken dissemblingly but which are done so are joyn'd with this Sin For as well Words as Actions are Notes and certain Signs of those things which are in the Mind of any one and for this Reason our Lord often chiding the Pharisees calls them Hypocrites And thus much of the former Law of this Commandment which has relation to things forbidden Vide. D. Thom. 2.2 q. 211. per totam Now we will explain what the Lord commands in the other And the force and vertue of this part of this Commandment tends hither XX. The other part of the Commandment That all Judgments of Courts be justly exercis'd and according to Law and that Men do not wrest and usurp Judgment For it would not be fit to judg another Man's Servant XXI A Judg cannot condemn one not subject to him Rom. 14.4 as the Apostle writes lest they give Sentence before the Matter or Cause be known In which respect the Counsel of the Priests and Scribes was fault y who gave Judgment concerning S. Stephen and this was the Fault also of the Philippian Magistrates of whom the Apostle says Act. 7 59. Act. 16.37 They have sent us after having bin publickly beaten into Prison being Romans and uncondemned and now they would thrust us away privily Vide in 6 lib. 5. titul 7. de privilegiis c. 1. ibid. lib. 2. lit 2. de foro competenti Let them not condemn the Innocent XXII What is required of Judges or discharge the Guilty let them not be mov'd with Reward or Favor with Hatred or Love For so Moses admonishes the Elders whom he had made Judges of the People John 7.19 Judg ye what is just whether he be citizen or stranger there shall be no difference of persons so shall ye bear the Little as the Great neither shall ye accept any ones person because the Judgment is Gods Now concerning the Guilty XXIII The Guilty being ask'd by the Judg ought not to lye God will have them confess the Truth when they are ask'd according to the Form of Judgment For that Testimony and Declaring is a kind of Confession of the Praise and Glory of God as appears from Joshuah's Sentence who exhorting Achan to the Confession of the Truth Jos 7.19 says My Son give glory to the Lord the God of Israel Vide. D. Thom. 2.2 q. 96. per totos 4. Articulos But because this Commandment chiefly concerns the Witnesses XXIV The Witnesses chiefly concern'd here the Curat shall diligently treat concerning them also For such is the Force of the Commandment that it not only forbids false Testimony but also commands the Truth to be told For in human Affairs there is very great Use of the Testimony of Truth XXV The chief use of Witness-bearing because there are innumerable things whereof we must needs be ignorant unless we know them by the Credit of Witnesses Wherefore there is nothing so necessary as the Truth of Testimonies in those things which we neither know of our selves and yet ought not to be ignorant of Concerning which the Sentence of S. Austin is memorable He that conceals the Truth and he that utters a Lye are each of them guilty the one because he will do no good the other because he would do hurt Haec Sententia citabatur olim a Gratiano ex August sed apud August non est inventa Similiter legitur apud Isidorrm Lib. 3. c. 59. Yet sometimes it is lawful to conceal the Truth XXVI When we may conceal the Truth but out of Judgment For in Judgment when the Witness is lawfully ask'd by the Judg the Truth is wholly to be laid open Yet here the Witnesses are to take heed XXVII lest trusting too much to their own Memory Note they affirm that for certain which they are not well assur'd of The rest are Counsellors and Advocates Atturneys and Sollicitors XXVIII What is requir'd of Counsellors these therefore ought not to be wanting in their Labor and Defence when Men have need of them and kindly to help those that are needy not to undertake to defend unjust Causes nor by Calumny to prolong Suits nor for gains sake to encourage them And as to the Reward of their Labor and Service Note let them measure it according to Justice and Equity Vide 14. q. 5. c. non sane D. Thom. 2.2 q. 71. Art 5. Sollicitors and Accusers are to be admonish'd not to create danger to any one by unjustly charging them with Crimes XXIX What requir'd of Officers and Sollicitors being led thereto either by Love or Hatred or any other Lust Lastly this Commandment is given of God to all pious Persons that in all their Entertainments and Discourses they always speak the Truth from their Heart to say nothing that may hurt anothers Reputation no not even of those by whom they know themselves to have bin provoked and injur'd since they ought always to remember that there is between them so great a Nearness and Society that they are Members of the same Body But that the Faithful may the more freely take heed of this Vice of Lying XXX Things to be aganst Lying the Curat shall propose to them the exceeding great Misery and Baseness of this Sin For in Sacred Scripture the Devil is call'd Joh. 8.44 The Father of Lyes For because the Devil stood not in Truth he is a Lyar and the Father of Lyes And to overthrow this so great a Sin Secondly he shall add those Mischiefs which follow a Lye and because they are innumerable he shall shew the Fountains and Heads of those Inconveniences and Calamities And First Thirdly so far as it is an Offence to God and how far a vain and lying Person incurrs his Hatred he shall declare from Solomon's Authority in that place Prov. 6. There are Six things which the Lord hates and the Seventh his Soul abhors a proud Look a lying Tongue Hands that shed innocent Blood a Heart devising evil Thoughts Feet that are swift to run to Mischief him that tells Lyes and a deceitful Witness and so forth Who is there therefore that can promise him Safety Fourthly who is so notably hated of God that he shall not be most grievously punish'd And what is there more base or foul Fifthly as S. James says Jac. 3.6 Than with the same Tongue wherewith we bless God and the Father to slander Men that are made after the Image and Likeness of God So that out of the same Fountain does flow sweet and bitter Water For the Tongue Sixthly which before gave Praise and Glory to God afterward as much as in it lies does disgrace and reproch it by Lying Wherefore it comes to pass Seventhly That Lyars are excluded from the Possession of the Bliss of Heaven For when David
fulfil the Desires of the Flesh That natural and well-govern'd Power of Concupiscence therefore XIV Two good sorts of Concupience which transgresses not its Limits is not forbidden and much less that spiritual Desire of an upright Mind whereby we are stirr'd up to desire those things that are against the Flesh For to this kind of Desire the Holy Scriptures exhort us Covet ye my Sayings and Come unto me all ye that desire me Wisd 6.1 Eccles 24.26 In this Interdict therefore XV. What Concupiscence is here forbidden not the very Power it self of Coveting which we use as well for that which is Good as for that which is Evil but the use of corrupt Desire which is call'd the Concupiscence of the Flesh and the Incentive to Sin and if it have the Assent of the Mind join'd with it it is always to be accounted vicious and is utterly forbidden That Lust of Concupiscence therefore only is forbidden XVI The Concupiscence of the Flesh explain'd which the Apostle calls the Concupiscence of the Flesh to wit those Motions of Desire which have no measure of Reason and which are not contain'd within the Limits appointed by God This Covetousness is condemn'd XVII Reasons why Concupiscence is forbidden The First The Second either because it desires that which is evil as Adultery Drunkenness Murder and such like heinous Wickedness of which the Apostle says Let us not covet evil things even as they coveted them 1 Cor. 10.6 Or else because tho the things themselves were not by Nature evil yet there is some other cause why it is evil to desire them Of which sort are those things which God or his Church forbids us to have for we may not so much as desire those things which it is unlawful for us to have Such kind of things in the Old Law were the Gold and Silver whereof Idols had been made which the Lord in Deuteronomy Deut. 7.26 forbad that any one should covet Besides The Third for this Reason this vicious Covetousness is forbidden because those things it desires are anothers as House Servant Maid Field Wife Ox Ass and many other things which being anothers the Law of God forbids to covet them And the very Desire of things of this kind is wicked XVIII This Concupiscence is Sin and when it is committed and to be reckon'd among the worst of Sins when the Mind yields her Assent to the Desire of them For then it becomes Sin when after the Impulse of evil Desires the Mind is delighted with that which is evil or do's not resist it as S. James when he shews the Beginning and Progress of Sin teaches in these Words Jac. 1.14 Every one is tempted being drawn away and enticed by his Concupiscence And then when Concupiscence has conceiv'd it brings forth Sin and Sin when it is finish'd begets Death Vide D. Thom. 1.2 q 4. art 7. 8. item Aug. lib. 12. de Trinit c. 12. item de Serm. Dom. in Monte c. 23. Greg. hom 19. in Evang. l. 4. Moral c. 27. in Respons 11. ad Interrog Aug. Hieron in Amos c. 1. Seeing therefore it is thus by Law provided XIX The Scope of the Ninth and Tenth Commandments Thou shalt not covet the meaning of these Words is that we restrain our Desires from those things which belong to others For the Thirst of Desire of other Mens Things is immense and infinite nor can it ever be satisfied as it is written A covetous Man will not be satisfied with Mony Eccl. 3.5 Of whom it is thus said in Isaiah Esa 5.8 Wo to you that join House to House and Field to Field But by the Explication of the several Words XX. The Words expounded the Foulness and Greatness of this Sin is more easily understood Wherefore the Curat shall teach XXI What House here signifies That by the Word House is signified not only the Place which we dwell in but the whole Inheritance as is observ'd from the Use and Custom of Divine Writers In Exodus it is written Exod. 1.21 That Houses were built of the Lord for the Midwives to signifie that God had better'd and enlarg'd their State and Condition From this Interpretation therefore we observe XXII What is here meant by coveting another's Hou e. That in the Law of this Commandment we are forbidden greedily to covet Riches and to envy other Mens Wealth Power Nobility but to be content with our own State whatsoever it be whether low or high And then we ought to know that the coveting another Man's Glory is forbidden for this also belongs to House Now follows XXIII What by Ox and Ass Nor Ox nor Ass Which shews that we may not covet not only those things that are of greater concern as House Nobility and Glory because they belong to others but also things of small moment whatsoever they are whether Animate or Inanimate And then it follows XXIV What by Servant Nor his Servant Which is to be understood as well of Slaves as of other Servants which as the rest of the Goods of another Person we may not covet And as for Freemen XXV They that serve others are not to be entic'd away who serve at pleasure either for Wages or Love and Observance no one ought to corrupt or persuade them either by Words or Hope or Promises or Rewards to forsake them to whose Service they have freely oblig'd themselves Yea Note and if they depart from their old Masters before their time the sooner to come to the new ones by authority of this Commandment they are to be admonish'd by all means to return till their full time be expir'd Now that in this Commandment there is mention made of our Neighbor XXVI Why here is mention made of Neighbor the meaning is That the Vice of those Men might be shewd that use to covet the Neighboring Fields and the nearest Houses or any such things that border upon them For Neighborhood Note which consists in Friendship is betray'd and turn'd from Love into Hatred by the Vice of Covetousness Yet they do not break this Commandment XXVII He that desires to buy other Mens Goods does not sin that desire to buy of their Neighbor those things they have to sell or give them a just price for them For such Persons not only do not injure their Neighbor but they very much help him seeing he has more need of and benefit by the Mony than of the things he sells Now after this Law of not coveting anothers Goods XXVIII The Law of not coveting another Mans Wife explain'd there follows another which forbids us to covet another Mans Wife By which Law not that Lust of Concupiscence only whereby an Adulterer desires another Mans Wife is forbidd'n but also that wherewith any one being affected desires to marry anothers Man's Wife For at that time when a Bill of Divorce was allow'd it
and Benignity I will stand early to pray says the Prophet and will see because thou art a God that willest not Iniquity By how much the more Men know these things with so much the more hearty Worship and Devotion do they reverence God Psal 5. and with so much the more Delight do they feel how sweet the Lord is and how truly blessed all they are that hope in him And then being compass'd about with that most clear Light IV. A singular effect of Prayer they consider how mean their own Lowliness is and how great the Majesty of God is for S. Austin's rule is If I know thee I may soon know my self Therefore not relying on their own Strength they commit themselves wholly to Gods Goodness not doubting but that he who has embrac'd them with his Fatherly and Admirable Love will abundantly supply them with all things which are necessary both for Life and Salvation for this cauâ—e therefore they apply themselves to the highest Thanksgivings they are able to conceive in their Minds and which in Prayer they can comprehend which we read that David did who when he made this Prayer Psal 7.2 Save me from all them that persecute me concludes thus I will pray to the Lord according to his justice and I will sing to the Name of the Lord most high Of this sort there are innumerable Prayers of the Saints V. Of what kind the Prayers of Saints are the Beginning of which are full of Fear but the End full fraught with good Hope and Joy but it is wonderful how David's Prayers excel in this respect for when being troubled with Fear he began to pray thus Psal 3.3 Many there are that rise up against me and many there are that say to my Soul there is no Salvation for him in his God a little after being somewhat confirm'd he subjoyns tho thousands of the People came about me I will not fear And in another Psalm when he had bewail'd his Miseries and at last having put his Confidence in God he rejoyces incredibly in the Hope of eternal Bliss and he says Psal 4.8 For that very thing I will sleep and rest in peace What think we of this Psal 6.2 Lord rebuke me not in thy Fury neither correct me in thy Anger with how great Trembling and Horror must we believe that the Prophet said this On the contrary with how confident and chearful a Soul did he utter that which presently follows Psal 33.3 Depart from me says he all ye that work Iniquity because the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping But when he was afraid of Sauls Anger and Fury how lowly and humbly did he implore Gods Help Save me O Lord for thy Names sake and judg me in thy Strength and yet in the same Psalm he cheerfully and confidently subjoyns For behold God helps me and the Lord is the upholder of my Soul Wherefore he that betakes himself to Sacred Prayer VI. How to come to pray Let him go to God arm'd with Faith and Hope and that he may obtain that which he has need of let him by no means be distrustful Now in this last word of the Lords Prayer Amen VII The Dignity of the word Amen there are many Seeds as it were of those Rules and Meditations which we before mentioned And indeed this Hebrew Word was so common in our Saviours Mouth VIII What it properly signifies that it pleased the Holy Ghost to have it still kept in the Church of God The meaning of which Word in a manner is this Know thou that thy Prayers are heard for it has the Effect of Gods answering and sending him away with his good Grace after that by Prayer he has obtain'd what he desir'd This Sense the perpetual Practise of the Church of God has approved IX The use of this word in Mass which in the Sacrifice of the Mass when the Lords Prayer is pronounc'd she has not given this Word Amen to the Minister of the Sacred thing whose part it is to say But deliver us from evil but has reserv'd it being fitted to the Priest himself who being Interpreter between God and Men answers the People that God has accepted them Not that this Right is common to all Prayers Note for in the rest it is the Ministers Office to answer Amen but that of the Lords Prayer is particular for in other Prayers it only signifies Consent and Desire but in this it is an Answer that God has consented to the Prayer of the Petitioner Now this Word Amen is indeed variously interpreted by many X. The word Amen variously interpreted The Seventy Interpreters translate it So be it Others translate it Verily Aquila turns it Faithfully but it is but a small matter whether it be rendred one way or the other so that we understand it to have the Vertue before mentioned to wit of the Priest confirming that the thing pray'd for is granted Of which Sense the Apostle witnesses in his Epistle to the Corinthians For says he as many promises as are of God in him are Yea and therefore thro him Amen in God to our Glory This Word therefore wherein is a kind of Confirmation of those Petitions which hitherto we have asked XI It raises Attention is suited to us which also makes them attentive that use Prayer for it often happens that Men are distracted in Prayer and drawn elsewhere by various Thoughts Yea XII It is a Repetition of the whole Prayer and we pray with the utmost Study in this very Word that all things may done i. e. may be granted which before we pray'd for he or rather understanding that we have already obtain'd all those things and perceiving the present Vertue of the Divine help we together with the Prophet sing Psal 53.7 For lo the Lord helps me the Lord takes care of my Soul And there is no cause for any one to doubt but that God is moved both by the Name of his Son and by this word which he used so very often Who as the Apostle says Heb. 5.7 was always heard for his Reverence FINIS THE INDEX A ABbats permitted sometimes to administer the Inferior orders Pa. 310 Abraham's Pilgrimage 339 Abraham's Bosom 58 Absolution the Form of it 245 Who are to be absolv'd 271 The Power of Absolution to whom given 267 The Accidents remain in the Sacrament of the Eucharist without the Subject 218 How great Misery Adam brought upon himself and his Posterity 510 Adam in the State of Innocency wanted Food to refresh his Strength ibid. How great difference there is betwixt Adam's Necessities and ours ibid. Adam had not wanted many things which we want if he had not sinn'd ibid. Adam tho in the Paradise of Pleasure yet was not to be idle ibid. Adam in Paradise had no Grief ibid. Adam's Posterity depriv'd of the Fruit of the Tree of Life and curs'd with
a horrible Sentence Pa. 510 Adam and Christ compar'd 42 Adultery what it is 405 In Adultery what Sins are forbidden 406 The Detestableness of Adultery ibid. In the forbidding of Adultery every kind of Uncleanness and Immodesty whereby the Body is polluted is forbidden ibid. In Adultery is forbidden the inward Lust of the Mind 407 Adultery brands a Person with a notable Mark of Reproach 409 The Inconvenience and Punishment of Adultery ibid. The Necessity of Alms-deeds 421 An Exhortation to Alms-deeds ibid. We are to labor with our Hands to relieve the Needy 422 Alms to be added to Prayer 472 Alms is a Medicin prepar'd to cure the Wounds of the Soul 531 Affestions of the Flesh not in the power of a Man tho regenerate to subdue them so as never to rise again Pag. 505 Affinity of Godfathers with whom contracted 159 Amen what it signifies for the End of the Lord's Prayer 553 The Interpretation of Amen ibid. Why in the Sacrifice of the Mass Amen is reserv'd to be pronounc'd only by the Priest ibid. Angels their Creation 26 Angels from their very first Original endu'd with Grace ibid. Angels were adorn'd with Wisdom and Power ibid. To the Angelical Salutation the Church has added Prayer and Imploring of the Blessed Virgin 463 An Angel taught Tobias many things 474 475 How the Angels are ador'd 344 Why the Angels are pictur'd in the shape of Men. 350 In the Angelical Salutation God is honor'd 463 The Angels Care of Men. 474 Their Obedience to God 505 Anger when it is sinful when not 398 We ought not to be angry when God hears not our Prayers 452 The Appetite of its own proper Good implanted in all things 498 What is got by ill Arts is not ours 514 The Articles of the Creed The First 14 The Second 29 The Third 38 The Fourth 45 The Fifth 56 The Sixth 66 The Seventh 72 The Eighth 79 The Ninth 86 The Tenth 101 The Eleventh 107 The Twelfth 117 The Article of Christ's Ascension declares his Majesty and Glory 68 The Causes of Christ's Ascension into Heaven ibid. Christ as Man ascended up into Heaven with his Soul and Body 67 B OF the Sacrament of Baptism 145 The Knowledg of Baptism very necessary ibid. At what time Baptism to be treated of by the Curats 146 What the word Baptism signifies ibid. The Sacrament of Baptism to what Men signified ibid. The Definition of Baptism as a Sacrament 147 The Sacrament of Baptism of what Matter it is made 148 The Water put into the Sacred Font for the Use of Baptism is not the Sacrament Pag. 149 The Matter of Baptism is the Element of Water ibid. The Figures of Baptism ibid. In Baptism what kind of Chrism is added 150 The Form of Baptism 151 The Form of Baptism disterent among the Greeks ibid. Why the Apostles baptiz'd in the Name of Jesus 152 Baptism may be perform'd three ways 153 In Baptism it is not material whether there be only one or three Ablutions ibid. In Baptism the Words are to be utter'd in the Ablution ibid. In Baptism the Head is to be wash'd ibid. Baptism was instituted by Christ our Lord and when 154 When the Power of Sanctifying was given to the Water ibid. When Men began to be oblig'd by the Law of Baptiâ—m 155 The Ministers of Baptism 156 Why Priests may baptize in presence of the Bishop ibid. Order to be observ'd among the Ministers of Baptism 157 Who may not be Godfathers at Baptism 160 Baptism necessary to Salvation 161 The Sacrament of Baptism to be given to Infants Pag. 161 Infants are baptiz'd in the Faith of their Parents and of the Church 162 Infants to be baptiz'd as soon as may be ibid. In baptizing of the Adult a different way is to be observ'd from that of Infants 163 When Baptism is immediately to be given to the Adult 164 How they that are to be baptiz'd ought to be affected ibid. They that are to be baptiz'd are demanded of their willingness ibid. When Mad-men and they that sleep are to be baptiz'd 165 For the obtaining of the Grace of Baptism Faith is necessary ibid. He that is to be baptiz'd ought to repent of his Sins ibid. In the Sacrament of Baptism every Sin is forgiven 166 In Baptism Sin is wholly taken away and pluck'd up by the Roots 167 Concupiscence remains in them that are baptiz'd but it has not the true nature of Sin ibid. The proper Effect of Baptism is the Forgiveness of all Sins 168 By Baptism both the Sin and Punishment of Sin are forgiven 168 169 By Baptism are not forgiven the Punishments due from civil Magistrates Pag. 169 Why after Baptism we are not restor'd to the State of Uncorrupt Nature 170 The Fruits of Baptism 171 c. Baptism imprints a Character 173 It is Sacriledge to iterate Baptism ibid. Baptism throws open an Entrance to Heaven 175 The Fountain of Baptism consecrated by adding the Oyl of Mystic Unction 176 Certain Days appointed for consecrating the VVater of Baptism ibid. What Names to be given to them that are Baptiz'd 180 The Cermonies of Baptism explain'd 176 c. The Evangelical Acceptation and Possession of this word I believe in a matter of Faith 14. Who it is that believes 15. What we are first to believe 13 He that believes is freed from the Curiosity of searching 15 We must believe in God 14 He that believes ought to produce the inward Acts of Faith in the open Profession of his Faith 15 Gods Benignity many ways delivers us from evil 340 341 A Bishops Office what 308 A Bishop only confers Orders Pag. 310 Blasphemy against the Name of God and of the Saints a detestable Wickedness 368 Gods Blessings take place of our Endeavours 413 Of Bliss See the whole Twelfth Article of the Creed 117 and the Eleventh 107 Essential Bliss wherein plac'd 117 By the Light of Glory we are rais'd up to the Vision of the Divine Essence 122 The Images and Resemblances of Bliss 122 Accidental Bliss wherein it consists 123 By the name Bread many things signified in holy Scripture 512 513 In asking Bread what we pray for of God 513 By asking daily Bread we ask necessaries for Food ibid. Bread is to be pray'd for for necessity not Wantoness ibid. We must get our Bread lawfully not by Fraud or Wrong 514 Why it is call'd daily Bread ibid. Why we are diligently to beg our Bread of God 515 How rich Men ought to beg their daily Bread ibid. We are to beg our Spiritual Bread 516 What Spiritual Bread signifies 517 That Bread which is Christ pours incredible Joy into the Souls of the Pious 517 Christ is our substantial Bread contain'd in the Sacrament of the Eucharist ibid. All the Faithful are Brethren 480 C THE necessity of Catechising 4 The teaching of Catechism fitted to every Capacity 6 7 Caution to be us'd in avoiding the Occasions of Sin 410 The Ceremonies and Prayers made in Baptism reduc'd