God doth forgivâ— us our sins and give us everlasting Life Lastly we believe that we ought to be so far from making the goodness and mercy of God a motive of sin or of neglecting good works that we ought on the contrary to make it a motive of Love of Fear of Thankfulness and of an humble obedience unto all his commandments This is the summe of our Doctrine wholly conformable to the Spirit of the Gospel worthy of the infinite goodness of God and of the honour that we have of being his children and which also leaveth unto him all the glory of our Salvation and thereby puts us by its very own nature under an indispensable obligation of being an holy people and of doing his Will There are other Doctrines which do proceed from hence or relate hereto whereof it is true that many times the dispute is only of words and it seemeth that a man may be in an errour as to some of these Doctrines without derogation from the Glory of God or prejudicing the rule of our conduct as touching the assurance which Believers may have of their Election and touching the sense wherein it is said that God doth recompense our good works but as to what concerns those due sentiments which we laid down touching the onely cause of our Justification namely the Bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ which blotteth out our sins without our bringing any thing on our parts but that grace wherewith he himself makes us to imbrace the merits of his Death as it is the Foundation of the love and regard which we owe unto him so also of the quiet of our own consciences and not to think of God on this respect as highly as may be and as we are thereby bound or to diminish directly or indirectly by our thoughts or expressions the least point of this glory which he hath to be the onely Authour of our Salvation or of the obligation which we have towards him is to offend his Divine Majesty in the most tender part as we may so say of that love which he himself hath for us We have this advantage on this point as on many others that the Gentlemen of the Roman Church do agree almost to all that we believe the dispute is for the most part onely touching what they add unto that which we believe They confess as we that God is the onely Authour of our Salvation and it would be said at first sight that all which the Bishop of Condom hath set forth as to his Belief touching Justification doth intirely agree with our Doctrine for he saith as we do That our sins are freely forgiven unto us through the Divine mercy for his Son Jesus Christ's sake who blotted them out by his own Bloud He saith also that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed unto us which is an expression we ordinarily keep our selves to according to the stile of Scripture for the better understanding the very Word the nature and means of Justification The Gentlemen of the Roman Church and the Council of Trent in particular do commonly decline this expression because it intimates openly enough that it is not by any righteousness that is in us that we are justified but by that righteousness of Jesus Christ which is out of us and which is made ours by imputation as the Money which is paid by the surety is made the Debtors or reputed to be his because the Creditor is accountable for it and dischargeth him of his debt Those of the Church of Rome do not at all accommodate themselves unto this manner of thinking or speaking because they joyn unto this Righteousness of Jesus Christ that is imputed unto us a righteousness that is proper and inherent in us as they say which doth concur with the former This it is which is properly the ground of the Question betwixt them and us and the source of several other Doctrines which we do reject as shall be spoken in the following Discourse However it is true that the Bishop of Condom here seems to advance a step towards us at least it is certain that he hath done much good to Religion in general in discharging it in some sort from all the vain speculations not onely of the Schoolmen but also of the Council it self which is evidently as much or more Scholastical on this point of Justification as the most thorny School-Doctors The Decree contains no less than sixteen great Chapters and thirty two Canons to which the Chapters of the Decree are reduced The Decree is full of distinctions of the final cause the efficient cause the meritorious cause the formal cause the instrumental cause and the like the Canons full of Anathema's against a great many opinions if not good or innocent being yet in dispute at least doubtful and indifferent and which are visibly of the opinions of those particular Doctours which the Bishop of Condom would with good reason have laid aside the Council thereby making Articles of Faith of all those subtilties in Canonising them and by this means putting an invincible obstacle unto a reunion by the great number of Anathema's which it thunders generally against all those who will not admit all these opinions and distinctions of the Schools Our Confession of Faith reduces all this matter of Justification unto a few Articles in Apostolical stile very simple and very clear And the Bishop of Condom doth also reduce the very Chapters of the Decree and all the Canons unto a few words so far we seem to go as it were hand in hand But it must needs be that the kindness which the Bishop of Condom doth us is not sincere what he gives us with one hand he taketh away at the same time with the other and it may be said that this is still one of those Articles of Faith which the Roman Church receives as we do well nigh as fundamental but from whence at the same time she derogates by contrary Doctrines The Bishop of Condom saith here That God doth freely forgive us our sins and that he blots them out by the bloud of his Son In the following Sections it will appear that these sins are not so forgiven nor so blotted out but that we are bound necessarily to satisfie our selves by temporal pains in this life by the torments of Purgatory in the other or by the Pardons and Indulgences of the Holy Chair and from hence without going farther having said that our sins are blotted out by the bloud of Jesus Christ he immediately adds and by the Grace which regenerates us Now here we must observe that it is the constant Doctrine of the Church of Rome that it is in our power to reject this grace or accept it when it is offered unto us and that then when it falls out that we do not reject it but receive it and afterward act of our selves with the assistance of this grace we have a proper merit of our own and some part in
and that by consequence they acknowledge thereby in some sort that a Reformation is useful and necessary VI. Of justfication THE THIRD PART The method which the Bishop of Condom hath observed requires that after the Worship of Saints c. we examine his Doctrine concerning Justification the merit of Works of Satisfactions Purgatory and of Indulgences It is true as the Bishop of Condom saith that the Article of Justification is one of the chief things which gave occasion of reformation to our Fathers Very few are Ignorant what was the state of the Latin church at that time On one hand presented it selfe the Doctrin of the merit of works the necessity of satisfying Gods Justice in this life or endureing the fire of Purgatory after death to compleat what was wanting of this satisfaction on the other hand was to be seen an extraordinary irregulatity in the life and manners as well of the Clergy as of the people and by consequence no likelihood of salvation neither by works nor by those satisfactions and in fine there appeared no other Object before the eyes of men but Purgatory or Hell In this state of the Church the Pope opens the Treasures of his Indulgencies distributes his Agnus's his Beads and Reliques and prescribes certain numbers of Pater nosters and Ave Mary's of Stations of Visits of Churches of Pilgrimages Fasts Pennances of macerations and mortifications with which and with the help of Pardons Dispensations and Indulgences which were purchased at a dear rate those who had them were not onely justified themselves but helped to justifie others delivering souls out of Purgatory and acquiring for them a greater degree of blessednesse or an augmentation of glory as the Councill speaks Our Fathers did believe that there was an abuse in all these things and that this Doctrine which possessed the minds of the people and that made up the greatest part of their piety did overthrow the Foundation of Religion which doth essentially consist in placing our chiefest confidence in the Death of our Lord Jesus Christ and farther in serving God according to his will and not according to the commandments of men It is also true that since the Reformation the Church of Rome it self doth seem to be a little more reserved than she was before as well as to expressions in regard of her Doctrines as in regard of the practice and the very use of Indulgences and they are beholding to us for it which doth very much serve for the justification of our first Reformers but the abuses are yet too great in one and the other for the corrupting of piety and scandalizing of true Christians Those who onely consider the controversie of Justification at a distance or transiently without searching into the grounds and consequences will not it may be at first think it so important as it is but it is of so great moment what herein is the judgment of those who are well informed amongst us that as to the contrary we should not stick here to maintain that the difference of Belief which doth separate us from the Church of Rome as to this point is of so great consequence unto Religion that there is scarce any greater Let us therefore be permitted according to the liberty that Dispute doth require to deny here formally what the Bishop of Condom doth aver in something an uncertain manner That there are but few learned men of our side as he speaks but do confess that we ought not to separate from the Church of Rome about this point and that this difficulty is not any longer considered as much material by the most intelligent persons amongst us The Bishop of Condom doth not cite one of those learned men nor one of those intelligent persons unto whom he imputes these sorts of Sentiments as the importance of the business doth require The Confession of Faith of our Churches which contains the General Belief of those of our Communion explains it self to the contrary upon this point as throughly as may be it confirms the very Doctrine which the first Reformers taught declaring in express terms That how little soever we swerve from this Foundation we can never finde any ease but that we shall be continually tossed with inquietude The Council of Trent it self acknowledged the importance of this Controversie First in that it takes notice of it from the first as one of the principal causes of the Schism and which did most deserve the care of the said Council And in the second place by the prodigious length of its Decree and by the vast number of its Canons and Anathema's much greater upon this point than upon any other In summe it may be said that it is not onely a principal point but it is one of them which are most such The others for the most part do onely regard some part of Religion Errour doth corrupt but that part and doth not influence the others if we may so speak The worshipping the Host for example is without doubt one of the most essential points in which it is impossible to finde any mean because the question is whether it ought to be worshiped or not worshipped which is the first and greatest Act of Religion Nevertheless this is but a particular point a capital errour indeed for them who are deceived in it but which doth nothing or changeth nothing in all the other Fundamental Points But who speaks of Justification speaks of the means of our Salvation that is to say the Mystery of our Redemption there is nothing more important than not to be deceived in the choice of such a matter because if a man fails to take the right way he falls from errour to errour and the very true essence of Religion is changed and altered This truth will plainly appear by the bare comparing of our Doctrine with that of the Church of Rome We do believe that our Justification doth alone consist herein that having deserved death Jesus Christ dyed for us and satisfied the Justice of God the Father for us who for the love of his Son pardoneth all our sins in general uniting us unto him by a true and lively faith and imputing his righteousness and obedience unto us that is to say the merit of his Death it self as though we had suffered it in our own persons We believe that it is God himself that doth beget and strengthen this Faith in our hearts by the inward operation of his Holy Spirit and by the outward Ministry of his Word and Sacraments as shall be explained in what follows upon the subject of the Sacraments that this Faith is not a dead or idle Faith but a living Faith and working by love and by all sorts of good works and that these works are very acceptable to God and necessary to Salvation as an inseparable consequent of that Faith which justifies us but that it is onely of pure Grace and by the alone merit of the death of Jâ—sus Christ that
Hu. Menard in Conc. regular pa. 564. Cardinal Cajetan in his commentary upon the Epistle of Saint James Doctours of the Roman Church do agree They exhort us unto reconciliation they in effect reconcile us They exhort us generally to restore the Goods we do unjustly retain and those who are honest and sufficient do thereupon really restore them 6. Even in health it self we are invited to have recourse to the wholesome advice and consolations of our Pastours and Guides and those under their charge who are afflicted with any considerable perplexity whether as to Faith or as to any great sinnes whereunto they find themselves inclined are to have recourse unto them and so really have 7. To conclude upon occasion of any publick sins which moved us to enter upon this subject when any one hath committed any crime or notorious sin whether it be for that he was born according to us in a bad Religion or that he has been so weak as to forsake the true Religion or that he is convinced to have sinned against the Commandments of the First or second Table or to have given scandal to his Neighbour he is summoned or he comes first of his own accord before the Assembly of Ministers and Elders where he makes a particular confession of his sins he is then severely censured according to the quality of his sin and at the same time prayers are made with him and for him to obtain of God forgiveness of his sin If his sin be great he is interdicted the communion of the Holy Sacraments to humble him if he hath scandalized the whole Church he is then enjoined to make a publick confession before the whole congregation and when all this is done and that he hath given evidences of his Repentance the Ministers of the Church announce also unto him the remission of his sins but always under the condition of Faith Repentance and a true amendment of life In this manner is it that the power which Jesus Christ hath given unto his Ministers is exercised amongst us which is what we call the Discipline of our Churches thus far is it tht we extend it in this regard and not any farther to set up a Tribunal for our Guides wherein they should exercise an absolute dominion over the consciences of men Those who are but the least versed in Ecclesiastical History may easily see if this be not as meerly as can be the ancient usage of the Church whether for ordinary Sinners or publick Offenders except it be that the corruption of the times hath caused but too great a relaxation of the rigour of this Discipline which thing is the cause that the censures and punishments are nothing near so grievous and so long as they were and as there was a necessity they should be at the first establishing of Christianity for the better perswading the people of the Holiness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ In which behalf the Gentlemen of the Roman Church are so far from having any thing to reproach us of that they very well know they have not any resemblance of this publick pennance of the Ancients as hath been shewed we have for they have changed all into this other kind of Pennance or into this private confession to the Priest even of sins which are most notorious and which give most scandal But this private confession adds the Bishop of Condom is so necessary a curb of licentiousness so fruitful a spring of wise Counsels so sensible a consolation of troubled souls when Absolution is not onely declared unto them in general terms as the Ministers practice but that they are effectually absolved by the authority of Jesus Christ after a particular examination and with cognisance of the cause that we cannot believe that our Adversaries can behold the so great benefits hereof without regret for the loss of them and without some shame of a Reformation that hath taken away a practice so wholesome and holy This is the second conceipt in which it was said that the Bishop of Condom had wrapt up himâ—elf In the first place it was just now shewed that it is not true that we have taken away this practice nor lost the benefits and fruites of the Counsels and comforts which may be thence expected we have taken away the Evil which is almost alwayes in the abuse and excess of the best things wherefore God be praised we have no cause of regret nor shame in this regard If the Priest or the Minister were our absolute Judge if it were so with him that he had truly the right or power to condemn or to absolve us it were to be acknowledged in this case we ought to render him an exact account of all the circumstances of our lives but it is God alone who is the true Judge who knowes our hearts and our most secret thoughts even when we say nothing unto him of them And as to what concerns the benefits and fruits of Confession which the Bishop of Condom thought fit onely to touch in general terms as we are sincere as there are but few Doctrines so bad that have not some good in them in some regard we ingenuously acknowledge that private confession of sins may sometimes produce some good effects either to cause restitutions to be made of what is unjustly detained or to beget a greater shame in sinners for their miscarriages and sins therefore also it hath been shewed that we are very far from condemning or rejecting all sorts of Confessions We onely say that we cannot sustain with good conscience this Tribunal or rather this Yoke which is imposed upon conscience it self this Article of Faith and this absolute necessity to tell all a mans sins by particulars without which the Roman Church is so bold as to teach that the Faithful cannot obtain pardon of their sins whatever bitter sorrow they feel for them and whatever firm belief they have in the death of our Saviour for even this also the Council of Trent teacheth Sess 14 de Sacram Paeniâ— cap. 6. can 4. In summe in exchange of what benefits may accrue by the Sacramental Confession of the Roman Church we call to witness the sincere persons of her communion if it be not true that this Confession is also the original of infinite Evils If any shall not be pleased to agree hereunto we have the experience of all times on this matter and the testimony of their * Cassand Art 11. of his Consult Beatus Rhen. in his Preface upon Tertullian's Book of Repentance own Authours some of whom doe openly enough acknowledge that things are come to that pass that auricular Confession such as is practised in the Church of Rame cannot any longer be of any good use In plain truth instead of being only a curb unto licentiousness men accustome themselves to sin upon the confidence they have that their sins shall be blotted out by this ordinary and easie way of Confession or by
of Condom doth use and in what he comes near us But we will throughout perforâ— the two other principal things whicâ— the Bishop of Condom proposes whicâ— are to shew that in reality his exposition doth Leave all objections 〈◊〉 their force and all important dispute intire and that his Doctrine whaâ—ever Art he uses or whatsoever mâ—tigation he seemeth to use therein doth all along equally overthrow thâ— foundations of true Christianity We will perform both the one anâ— the other of these two things in plain manner according to the Bâ—shop of Condoms desire without it gageing very far in a new dispute anâ— it shall be done not onely with thâ— moderation which he himself give us a commendable example of bâ— with all the respect which we oughâ— to have for a person of so great meâ— as his We will onely reserve the Liberty which the interest of the cause anâ— the right of defence do necessarily require so as to say of a thing that iâ— is not true when it is not or of aâ— argument it is not right or that it iâ— captious when it is such indeed because otherwise it would not be possible to make known the truth without weakening of it We will then here examin with the greatest clearness and brevity that may be and in the same order which the Bishop of Condom would have observed the several Articles of his Treatise whereof he maketh so many Sections and to the end that those who give themselves the trouble of Reading this answer may find where to stop it shall be divided into Six parts though unequal according as matters have more or less extent The First shall treat concerning the design of the Bishop of Condom's Treatise and touching two general propositions and as it were preliminaries which the Bishop of Condom Lays down Page 5 the one that we are agreed that the Church of Rome doth believe Page 12 and imbrace all the fundamental points of the Christian Religion the other that all the Religious Worship which she gives unto Saints Images or Relicks doth terminate in God onely The Second part shall treat of the worship of Saints Images and Relicks The Third of the matter of Justification with all its consequences the merit of works Satisfactions purgatory and Indulgences The Fourth of the Sacraments in general and particularly of the Sacraments of Baptism of Confirmation of Pennance of Sacramental Confession of extream unction of Marriage and of Order The Fifth of the Sacrament of the Eucharist in particular The Sixth and Last of Tradition of the authority of the Church of the authority of the Pope and of Episcopacy The First Part 1. The design of the Bishop of Condom's Treatise Page 1 2 4. and 4. As for the Bishop of Condom's design he declares it himself in the beginning he did believe he saith that the matters which we made the Subject of our breach being now sufficiently cleared he could do nothing better nor more useful for us than to propose plainly unto us the opinions of the Church of Rome by explaining to us what she hath defined in the Council of Trent hoping that alone would cause sundry contests wholly to vanish and that those which remained would not appear according to our own principles of such weight as we would it should be believed they are and that according to our own principles they contain nothing that doth wound the foundations of Faith We have in the very entrance this advantage that the Bishop of Condom going about to make a plain draught as he speaks of the Catholick Doctrine in opposition unto ours lays hold on for a foundation a Council which is well known not to be acknowledged Catholick or Oecumenical a Council which above all other Councils is such wherein according to their own Catholick Authors there apeared visibly most of intrigue and of human interests a Council of which our France it self doth not receive all the decisions in matters of discipline and Government a Council to conclude whose decrees do to this day want explication In sum if the Bishop of Condom doth desire that men should speak what they think nothing is more frivolous than his design unless it be for those Doctrines and practises that are not very necessary Whereof he seems to desire to discharge his Religion for as to the other Which he calls the principal causes of our breach he saith himself that the matters of controversie are now cleared and it is certain that there is nothing but prejudice the weakness and the variety of the mind of man that doth hinder that all the World doth not so Judge Wherefore then is it that at this time they propose plainly the same things as if men heeded not at all instead of bringing of new Lights to overcome if it might be those human infirmities which do occasion diversity of opinions It is true that the Doctors and Preachers of the one side and the other do sometimes aggravate the things which they treat of Whether it be the things themselves or the consequences they draw from thence yet this doth not hinder but that it is very well known on both sides what is the substance of the belief of the one and the other in the principal points It is properly nothing but these Doctrines and these practises which the Bishop of Condom would have laid aside which are not so well known by all the World For example we do very well know what the Church of Rome doth commonly teach concerning the Sacrament of the Eucharist touching the worshipping of Saints of the Cross of Images and of Relicks the Soveraignty of the Pope and all the other principal points which separate us from her communion we are sufficiently informed of what she doth profess to teach of what She receiveth and practiseth in all places upon these points it is onely the excess and abuse that are greater haply in some parts than in others wherein all the world doth not equally agree We believe we have solidly refuted all these principal Doctrines and all these Worships Universally received it behoved him therefore properly either to submit unto our reasons or to shew better and not put us of onely with a simple exposition It is not here put in question what power the Bishop of Condom hath to explain What the Church of Rome hath defined in the Council of Trent or to reduce the Doctrine unto the point to which he seems to have reduced it For our parts we do not in the least make any doubt but that Pastours may make probable expositions according to the motions of their conscience whether it be for instructing their Flocks or to bring back unto the truth such as have forsaken it for why should they not explain such Writings seeing they do every day explain that which is less clear in the Holy Scripture But as for the Gentlemen of the Church of Rome what will become of the Authentical Bull of
Pius the Fourth which doth contain the confirmation of the Council of Trent and gives it all its authority That Bull expresly forbids all sorts of persons of what order or dignity soever they are in the Church the Pope onely excepted to explain the decrees of the Council in whatsoever manner or under whatsoever pretext it may be and doth before hand make void all such explications After this let any one tell us what foundation may be had for what the Bishop of Condom hath explained of these decrees how to be assured that some person of his Communion will not stand up and think he may say of him what he hath said of others that herein he is but a particular Doctor that we ought onely to rest upon the proper terms of the Council or at farthest of the Pope who hath reserved unto himself the explication and that in the mean time they will abate nothing of the decrees of the same Council nor of the opinions received in the Chairs and Universities nor of the general practice what abuse soever be pretended in it However it be We may observe as we pass that the Bishop of Condom doth here silently acknowledge that the Doctrine of the Church of Rome all cleared and all decided 〈◊〉 it was by the Council of Trent is noâ— for all so clear but that it hath yâ—â— need of farther explication which 〈◊〉 most true as to the very ground 〈◊〉 it and they have for this same reasoâ— designedly put their several decrees iâ— general and ambiguous terms to givâ— in appearance the greater satisfaction to people It will now be seen by thâ— sequel if the Bishop of Condom himselâ— will speak plainer on these doubtfâ—â—â— points if he will not contain himself still in general terms or if he will not wholy pass over those points here in silence In the mean time what will become of us The Holy Scripture say they is obscure it appertains unto the Church to explain it according to the unanimous sense of the Fathers the Fathers have their obscurities everyone draws them to their side it will require many years to examin them and it will not be easie to form an unanimous sense They add it belongs to the Council to determin that by their decrees but in these very decrees there are things very ambiguous and that may receive a double and a triple sense the Bishop of Condom doth present us an exposition which he saith is faithful In good time but another Prelate or a Doctor of Sorbon will say that the Bishop of Condom is not sufficiently authorised for that or that he hath need himself to be explained and in the mean while those who are afraid of offending God by a Religious observance of anything which is not God and who desire nothing but to Worship the true God purely according to his Word shall abide as it were suspended betwixt all these uncertainties and shall not be able to yield any acquiescency unto these Lively beams where with this Divine Word hath replenished their Souls This is what the design of the Bishop of Condom's Treatise would Lead us unto But let us proceed unto the Treatise it self and let us see if this exposition such as it is will produce the two effects it promises which are to cause all disputes to vanish or to reduce them unâ—â—â— such terms as according to our owâ— principles have nothing in them whicâ— Wound the foundations of Faith II. The general proposition of the Bishop of Condom that they of the P. R. R. do confess that the Catholick Church do believe all the fundamental Articles of Chri stian Reli gion The Bishop of Condom begins witâ— this general proposition that those 〈◊〉 the Pretended reformed Religion 〈◊〉 avow that the Catholick Church dâ—â— receive all the fundamental Articles of 〈◊〉 Christian Religion here at first it maâ— be seen as also in the Title of thâ— Treatise that by the Catholick Churâ— the Bishop of Condom intends the Râ—mish Church It is an usage whicâ— the Gentlemen of the Romish Churcâ— very much more affect of Late thâ—â— they have been accustomed namely it seems to cover themselves with more authentick Title and to takâ— a kind of advantage in words aboâ—â— all other Christians that is to say thaâ— the name of the Roman Church anâ— the name of the Catholick Churcâ— doth not sufficiently to their mind mean the same thing the one dotâ— seem much more auspicious than thâ— other And moreover this same thinâ— makes evident that the Titles whicâ— Parties or Communions assume unto themselves according as they have more Lustre and Power are not always a certain proof that they do possess in reality what these Titles ascribe to them because it doth appear that in the midst of the dispute and in the very place where this Title of Catholick is in question one party doth claim it for himself in prejudice of all others These Gentlemen do herein like Princes who alway retain the Title of Countreys which they once possessed although they have Lost those Countreys several Ages past It is true that we our selves do some time give them the name of Roman Catholicks or this simply of Catholicks as well therein to accommodate our selves to the stream of the general use as for the advantage of peace being to Live amongst them according as also for these very considerations we give them the name of Fathers of Bishops of Prelates and others the Titles which they give unto themselves although the right by which they pretend to take them be yet in question and it may be the Word Catholick would not have been so urged here above all other if it did not in the beginning cause an ambiguity in the Bishop of Condom proposition which is that we do allow that the Catholick Church doth believe all the fundamental Articles of the Christian Religion for who is it that ever doubted a proposition conceived in those terms We allow in earnest that the Church truely Catholick and universal which we profess in the Apostles Creed which is the body 〈◊〉 the Elect of all Ages not onely always hath held and shall always hold all the fundamental points but that she never did nor ever shall hold any Capital Error which doth intirel 〈◊〉 destroy the foundations and this i 〈◊〉 what we cannot say of the Church o 〈◊〉 Rome We own that she doth receive the fundamental Articles as the Bishop of Condom doth alledge but we do say at the same time as he himself doth instance that she destroys the foundations by contrary Articles and we prove it not onely by the consequences which we draw from the Doctrine of the Church of Rome as the Bishop of Condom avers onely because it pleaseth him so to do P. 8 but directly by the Doctrine it self which she teacheth and openly practices It is true that the Church of Rome doth teach that we ought to Worship one onely God Father Son and
some corporal or pecuniary pennances imposed upon them Therefore also it hath often been observed in our Churches that the least regular persons are most subject to forsake our Communion because that whilest they continue in their sin amongst us they find nothing that may assure them of the pardon and absolution which they hope for of a Confessor And if it be true that the Confessors or Directors of conscience as they are termed often give wise counsels it is but too true also that the Counsellors themselves very often take occasion thereby to corrupt themselves or to insinuate themselves in all publick affairs of State or in the particular affairs of private Families and History is but too full of the Evils which have hapned unto the publick and to particular persons The very consolation also which they give Sinners in pronouncing their absolution doth turn into security and to conclude as hath already been openly declared upon another subject it cannot be made appear that they who live in the practice of auricular Confession are better people than those who confess themselves chiefly unto God The Council here joines Extreme Unction unto Repentance Extreme Vnction There is this difference betwixt the precedent Article and this that this latter is nothing near of so great consequence This is nothing in a manner but an useless ceremony and an evil custom whereof the errour may be tolerable in it self if it were not of dangerous influence in introducing into Religion lesser matters which might by little and little turn away the soul and heart from solid piety We might upon better grounds call this ceremony a Sacrament than Pennance Marriage or Orders which follow this because at least the Oyl may there hold the place of a visible Sign as the Council and the Bishop of Condom doe not fail to give to understand But after all this pretended Sacrament hath this common with pennance and the others which we admit not as Sacraments that the Institution made by the Church of Rome herein is onely founded upon some custom practised on particular occasions which are now ceased St. James speaking of the virtue of Prayer saith and that onely once in concluding his Epistle Is any sick amongst you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him anointing him with Oyl in the name of the Lord And the Prayer of Faith shall save the Sick and the Lord shall raise him up and if he hath committed sins they shall be forgiven him The Roman Catechism cannot deny but that these words have allusion unto what was said before of the Apostles who being departed from our Saviour preached that men should repent S. Mark cap. 6.12 13. that they cast out many Devils anointing with Oyl many that were sick healed them because indeed the Apostles and their Disciples who had the gift of Miracles did then heal many either by anointing them or onely by laying their hands upon them which caused also that one of the greatest men of the Church of Rome speaking more fully than the Catechism doth openly acknowledge that these words of St. James are to be understood of an anointing exercised by the Disciples of Jesus Christ upon the Sick Cardinal Cajetan upon S. Jam. 5. such as is related in the Gospel and not of the Extreme Unction which is practised in the Roman Church In the mean time this is all the Foundation or all the pretext which the Council and the Bishop of Condom have for the instituting of such a Sacrament What is worst of all is that the Church of Rome doth not doe the thing it self according to the words and the intention of St. James St. James testifies that it was to heal the Sick and which is very remarkable the other words of the Evangelist unto which these of St. James allude as the Roman Catechisme doth agree speak onely indeed of healing the Sick unto which it is true that St. James adds that if the Sick hath committed sins they shall be forgiven him which is principally to be understood of those sins that may have drawn the chastisement of sickness upon the sick person The Roman Church doth on the contrary make Extreme Unction to be a Sacrament of Remission of sins as Baptism and regards little or nothing the health of the body acknowledging that it hath not now the miraculous gift of healing the sick Therefore also it is that whereas St. James speaks of the sick in general in what estate soever they be the Church of Rome doth for the most part understand that they must be at the extremity before this Unction be carried unto them and she never gives it unto little children This is as much as to say that in all things even of the least moment she must invent or add something of her own if it were but onely to shew her authority The Bishop of Condom speaks onely one word here of Marriage and he saith nothing but what we would very easily consent unto We acknowledge as he doth that Marriage is one of the most sacred Bands of civil Society but we do not agree with the Church of Rome that Marriage is a true Sacrament nor that it should not be permitted unto them that are in Orders as they speak to marry as if there ought to be a kind of incompatibility betwixt two divers Sacraments of the Gospel neither Lastly do we agree unto many other maxime of the Church of Rome touching Marriage whereof we do not find any track in Scripture nor in the practice of the ancient Church But seeing the Bishop of Condom enters not upon these Questions we will forbear speaking of them here We will onely observe that the Council could not better set forth the reasons that it had to make so many Decrees and so many Canons touching Marriage which is nevertheless naturally a civil contract than by the first and the last of these same Canons which comprehend all the rest The first doth pronounce Anathema against all those who do not believe that Marriage is a true Sacrament and the last against all those who will not believe that all causes concerning Marriage do belong to the Church that is to say that these two Canons were made the one for the other Every one at the first sight may see the great consequences of this Doctrine and the great advantages which do arise unto the Court of Rome whether it be for the authority in examination of Matrimonial causes or for the income of Dispensations It was necessary that the Church of Rome might take cognisance of causes Matrimonial for the great advantages which accrue unto her thereby and to bring it to pass that she might have cognizance of them it was necessary to make Marriage a Sacrament as also she would have had cognizance of all other civil affairs under pretext of the Oath which was inserted in contracts if the just jealousie of the Parliaments of
of his love and the price of our Redemption The Bishop of Condom very far from acknowledging that to call to remembrance as our Lord requires supposes his absence turns the thing to the clear contrary so as to infer that this very remembrance should be grounded upon the real presence To this purpose he here brings in again the comparison of the sacrifices As saith he the Jewes in eating the Peace-offerings did call to remembrance that they were offered for them so in eating the flesh of Jesus Christ our sacrifice we ought to call to remembrance that he dyed for us and from thence he passeth unto a kind of Rhetorical rapture upon the tender remembrance which the Tombs of the Fathers excite in the childrens hearts First as to what concerns the comparison we have already said that it is not a proof and that upon the whole case the relation there is of the Law to the Gospel is no reason that we should take all according to the letter in the Gospel as we do for the most part matters in the Law that on the contrary it is sufficient that our spiritual eating of the body of Jesus Christ answers unto the Oral eating of the sacrifices which were the Figure of his sacrifice But there is yet more in it the Bishop of Condom onely speaks of Peace-offerings and remembers not himself of what he himself had said of the sacrifice offered for sins which is the true Figure of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the Cross May not his argument be returned back against himself that as the Jewes did not eat of this expiatory sacrifice and yet for all that failed not to remember that it was offered for their sins in like manner it is not necessary that we should eat the proper flesh of Jesus Christ our sacrifice to put us in remembrance of his death We have this advantage of the Jewes that they ate nothing instead of this sacrifice whereas we eat the holy Symbols which livelily represent unto us the body and bloud of Jesus Christ his body broken for us and his bloud poured out for the expiation of our sins Further what are our manners and our education that to put us in a tender remembrance of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ we must needs eat his proper flesh with our bodily mouth Or rather if it be true that the remembrance which is the thing in question be nothing else but an apprehension excited by the objects which affect the sense has the manner in which it is believed they eat this flesh in the Church of Rome any thing which doth more affect the senses than ours seeing that we eat it both one and the other under the same kindes or forms of bread and wine We will not here enquire whether it excite a real tenderness to conceive that we effectively eat the flesh which we love and adore or if on the contrary it be not by degrees that the Church of Rome it self is become accustomed unto this conceipt which of it self doth stir up contrary affections It will be onely needful to compare the manner how they administer the Sacraments in the Church of Rome with that wherein they administer them in our Churches to judge which of the two is most capable to entertain a true remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ The Church of Rome believes she holds the proper flesh of Jesus Christ under the sacred coverts of bread and wine as it were under a mystical Tomb or under dead signs but a living and vivifying flesh c. These be the terms of the Bishop of Condom which form a notion or Idea very perplext and contradictory as if we should say a dead body full of life and the fountain of life under the coverts of death Which is the very cause that this Idea being so confused is not without much difficulty received into the mind and that it there makes the less impression or at least doth not make so lively an impression onely of the death of Jesus Christ of which the main question here is whereas amongst us where we onely regard the bread broken and the wine poured out but as an image and representation of the body of Jesus Christ broken for us and his bloud shed for us This image doth give unto us a clear and distinct Idea of the death which Jesus Christ hath suffered for us which is properly the effect which our Lord would produce in the Sacrament In the Church of Rome the Priest that saith Mass or that consecrates often saith it alone most commonly very low and alwayes in Latine which is not at all the Language of the people The Consecration being done if he gives the Host for every one knows that there are infinite Masses without communicants he saith not unto them who do receive it that the body of Jesus Christ was broken for them which is properly what he ought to say unto them according to the words of our Saviour to imprint well in their minds the Idea of his death and to excite in their hearts a pure sense and such which becomes hearts engaged in love and acknowledgment of this Divine Saviour but it is onely said unto them by form of a Petition which is made for them the body of Jesus Christ keep or preserve their souls unto eternal life and though we do not here repeat this form of Petition to condemn it because it is good and of ancient use yet it may be said that it is a more self-interessed consideration which makes them not to reflect but onely upon their own profit and advantage and which is more the Priest sayes this it self in the same Latine Tongue which the greatest part doe not understand In very truth what sound remembrance or what true sense of love and thankfulness can this kind of setting forth the death of the Lord all in a low mumbling tone in general terms in a Language ill understood excite We speak of a sound remembrance of a love with understanding for as for an outward devotion or confused resentments of Holiness it is not denied but that the way of the Roman Church being full of pomp may excite as much as or more than ours which is more simple Amongst us to the end there may be no mistake in this matter behold in a few words what is our practice In the first place some dayes before the time appointed for administring the Sacrament there is an exhortation made to us to prepare our selves by acts of Repentance of Faith and of charity and by an holy life the day beâ—ing come after the usual exercises of devotion which consist in Prayers singing of Psalms and reading portions of the holy Scriptures most proper unto the subject there is ordinarily a Sermon made to us expresly upon the death of our Lord Jesus Christ or upon the Sacraments themselves The Sermon is followed with an excellent Prayer also upon the same subject