comparison to Aristotl's demonstration and saying that in Aristotl's way there be insuperablr difficulties which uses to be the saying of those who understand not this Demonstration of Aristotle which is fundamenta to Philosophy and acknowledged by all who deserves the name of Philosophers And so you may see I did well to promise him no demonstrations who know not what they signify but thinks every Anthropomorphitical explication of Scripture to be Demonstrative EIGHTH DIVISION Containing an Answer to his twenty third and twenty fourth Chapters Our Opinion avouch'd by true Philosophy Hiâ— Calumny of our Teâ—ets God's Gâ—… of the Synagogue different from that of the Church The notion of the word Merit The connaturalâ—ess of the pains we put and the needlesness of his The many ill-consequences and absurdities of the Opinion that all Venial affections are blotted out by Contrition in the first Act of Separation The â—illiness of his Opinion that souls in Purgatory cannot help themselves His probable Divinity His non-sâ—… that lyability to be punisht without Fault is 〈◊〉 blem isâ— refuâ—ed 1. I cannot but complain of your Divine that having promised such wonders in the last discussed Chapter he came off so pitifully that where he had the advantage of human apprehension against me he gave me not as much as occasion to explicate my Doctrin unless I should have gone and stray'd from his Text. His oppositions were pure opinions without any sight of Evidence His Authority for the most part of St. Thomas from whom in this point we professedly recede His Scripture such as he himself is bound to solve in respect of Almighty God So that in its words it has no force and all the force must come out of this whether the nature of Angels requires to have the words explicated improperly or no which he may suppose but goes not about to prove otherwise then from uncertain Authority His solutions to admit contradiction or else propose some Argument by halfs The rest of his Chapter high words 2. Howsoever I hope his three and twentieth Chapter will make amends for the question is not so Metaphysical as the other was It begins with an explication of my Doctrin disguis'd in high terms yet true ones for the greatest part In his second Number he accuseth it of being against Philosophy to say that God so order'd all things in the beginning that he need not since put his hand to it By which if he understands that God doth not continue conserving of his creatures it is not my Doctrin If he grants Conservation to God though the truth is that Conservation is but the very Act of first Creation though in name and notion it be divers then I must see how he proves it against Philosophy For saith he no natural cause can produce the soul of a man and therefore God must do some new action when there is an exigence of creating a soul. I grant no creature can create a â—oul but affirm that the first act of Creation creates every soul when time is without farther or greater Influence of God He may reply he understands not this To which my answer is that I beleeve him but cannot help him seeing it is not here place to explicate Mysteries of incident Philosophical points He may help himself if he pleases with my Institutiones both Peripaticae and Sacrâ— He adds two other Philosophical necessities he finds one of the necessity of Gods actual concourse with second causes the other of Gods choosing Individâ—…s for the second causes to produce The former as far as it hath sence in it is done by the Action of Creation or Conservation by which God sets the Angels on work to move celestial Bodies from whose motion actual motion flows into all other causes and this is the true either premotion or concourse of God with creatures plain and visible The other which I fear he means hath no kind of Philosophy nor Divinity in it The choosing of Individâ—… is the rascallest and the ridiculousest Position that ever was affirmed by any scum of Philosophers You see what sound maximes â—e takes to impugn the perfection of God's Wisdom 3. In his fourth Number he begins to employ his Divinity And first he asks what natural cause can raise dead bodies and give them due torments And I must answer with a reply of a question to wit when this is to be done While the Fabrick of Nature holds or when it is ended If when it is ended how comes it to our purpose Or is not he grosly mistaken to put this amongst the workings of Nature Yet that the course of Natural Causes does prepare the World even to this unmaking of Nature you may find in the last book of my Institutiones Sacrâ— For the proportionable pains the Soul of themselves will cause those as you may see in the same book To fill up here a Page with his own opinion of Purgatory was besides the matter for we doubt not but that he puts more Wilfulness then Wisdom in God Almighty's Actions 4. His main Answer begins N. 3. where he tells us that it is Heresie to make natural causes to have vertue sufficient to bring man by themselves alone to his final end of Eterâ—… Bliss And then he tells you that our prime Argument is the same that Pâ—…gius's to wit that every natural Agent ought to have power given it from the Author of Nature to bring it self to its natural perfection But first I would enquire where â—e sound in any Writing of mine the Proposâ—â—on he condemns If I say that God hâ—th ordain'd second causes to do all effects which are not to be seen to be miraculous do I exclude supernatural causes Are not Christ's coming and Preaching the coming of the Holy Ghost the Habits of Faith Hope and Charity the Prayers and Preaching and good Works proceeding from men thorough such Habits the Sacraments the whole â—orm of the Church all Supernatural causes interwoven with natural To what purpose then doth this man talk that natural causes are not sufficient to bring a man to Heaven Is it not plain he knows neither what I say nor what himself See how just our Argument is the same with the Pelagâ—â—n's Out of this you see his Answer is like to be a good one and so it is For Numb 8. he hath so I answer As man's last 〈◊〉 cannot be reâ—ched by Nature so is it out of the reach of natural causes by their natural operation to chastise man's sinning proportionably to his voluntary acting against his supernatural end My Reply is that he must seek out to whom to answer for I never talked of purely natural causes but natural and supernatural together as they compound all second causes But the good man could think of no supernatural causes but God himself working immediately and so strayed to seek out why such actions were not miraculous which we will not follow him to because it is not concerning to our Theme 5.
it self All Prelates of the Church not excluding the Pope himself none of these in their qualities and degrees by which they are Judges of Christian demeanour pretending the extraordinary favours he requires to make them speak like Doctours I wonder he is not acquainted with the Bull of Leo the tenth beginning Supernae Majestatis In which he lays Excommunication upon all Preachers who in their Sermons do lay forth any such Visions or Revelations before they are approved by the Church because ordinarily they are but Illusions of Melancholy Persons who in their prayer have conceited such dreams and imposed them upon their Directours I pray perswade him to consider how much worse it is to preach such things then to point them in a vulgar Language by which they run amongst the unlearned sort and consider how far he and the divulgers of his Book are from deserving Excommunication Again how many of these Visions in particular have passed the examin and approbation of the Church for which they may not be accompted the dreams of waking men 8. To return now to our former course in his third Paragraph he cites the 63 Canon of the Council of Nice the which though it be known to be none of the Council yet because the custom it speaks of is laudable I except not against it For we doubt not but the multiplication of pryers is ever good St. Paul hath taught us that but the question is onely of the end for which the custom was instituted Yet I may note this that peradventure your Divine is mistaken in the number for we find in the first ages that though there were forty Priests in a Church onely one said Mass upon private days But it is a tedious thing to walk in the dark and to handle a question whereof the Roots are not understood Wherefore I shall to my power lay down the grounds of the question out of which Authorities may be the better understood 9. There are therefore two questions to be display'd the one whereon relys the efficacy of Prayer the second to what it is efficacious First therefore we must note that this word prayer hath two significations In the one it is nothing but the praising of God in the other it signifies the begging something of God Prayer in the first signification chiefly consists in the acts of the Theological vertues By Faith and the qualities consequert to Faith we acknowledg and admire the attributes of God and the perfection of his works so break out into those motions which follow such Acts. By Hope and Charity we love à nd desire God as our proper good whether by his Essence or by and his Creatures Out of this follows that we ask him what we apprehend as necessary to us in which consists that prayer which is properly called Petition Now let us consider God as we would consider a wise man and we shall see that if we beg any thing of a wise man he considers two things one is whether the Petition be convenient for it self which if he finds without difficulty he grants it The other is that though it be not convenient in it self yet he considers whether the friendship of the Person who begs it makes it convenient to be done or no And if he find it does he grants the request So then likewise must we esteem of God that he doth what is beg'd of him because of it self it is fitting to do it even if there had been no prayers At other times it is not good unless it had been begged Further in the Beggar we find two Considerations one of the Person the other of the Begging This later consideration is not considerable before God more then as it makes the Person more acceptable For whosoever begs of God addresses himself to God and by that exercises some vertue for which he comes to be more acceptable But then the begging obtains because of the worth of the Person Abstract from this and begging is but the affection to a created thing and so hath more imperfection then perfection in it unless it be the desire of what is commanded us as when it is said Quaerite Reg num Dei and again siquis indiget sapientia postulet a Deo And it is added in fide nihil haesitans which if I be not mistaken signifies that he shall certainly be heard Of other things we hear Pater vester scit quia his omnibus opus habetis and if we will nevertheless ask them we have the form shaped out to us sed tua volunt as fiat non mea 10. That this explication of Gods hearing our prayers is true depends of the Principles long since explicated that God under forfeit of his Wisdome and Goodness is bound to do what is best for his creatures and nothing else Wherefore what he does is either therefore best because begg'd or of it self therefore on one of these motives to be granted Now if it be best because begged since the title of begging is the favour the Beggar has he must by the act of begging be in greater favour then without it for if it had been convenient otherwise it would have been done without begging and so not for the begging for God needs no Monitor to tell him what and when it is best And so you have the first point clear'd that Charity and onely Charity on the Peggars part is the cause of the effect 11. The other point was what God grants in respect of our prayers That is to what our prayers are efficacious In which the first proposition is that God grants nothing upon our prayers but what first he stirs us up to pray for and ordains our prayers to be causes of the effect the which is both evident of it self and formerly declared The next proposition is that God stirs up no body to pray for any thing unless the action of praying be good to him that prays So that whether the effect be granted or not the good of praying never fails him who prays A third proposition is that all things confider'd no extrinsecal good is the good of the man who prays for it but is absolutely indifferent whether it be the spiritual good of Father and Mother or Children or whatsoever it be and therefore by a perfect soul none of those things is to be absolutely pray'd for or desired but onely under the good will and provideoce of God This is clear also to all those who understand the nature of Good to be respective to him who desires it and that it signifies what according to reason is to be desired by him and that every man is a part of the World and cannot with reason desire the World should be conformable to him and therefore may or must desire his own good because he is made for it and hath that charge from the Authour of nature to procure it and be sollicitous of it But as his Beatitude is but the end of him so the Beatitude
alone knows but it seems rational to think that a very private good cannot exact them but onely such which either singly or in multitude concur to a Publick Good Other circumstances which prayers made by Faith may require to be heard may be supply'd by the subtle twisting of causes by the Divine providence unpenetrable by us which fulfill the desires of weak Persons who with great Faith demand the help of God Howsoever this is the main Principle that God never does such actions but when they are to be known and to govern men by perswasion Out of which it follows That whensoever such Actions have not connatural ways to be known and manifested they ought not to be supposed to be done but that God proceeds according to the course of natural second causes Nor must it be omitted that even in these miraculous Actions God proceeds more according to Nature in general then in the others For this being the main point of Nature to bring Man to Bliss conformably to his nature that is by the way of Perswasion what is most conformable to Perswasion is most conformable to the chief part of Nature that is to Mankind in the greatest effect which is in ordering him immediately to Bliss 7. Hitherto my Principles have been somewhat abstracted yet necessary to be known and taken purely either out of faith or out of evident and confessed natural Truths concerning man's nature The following Principles will be more close to our subject 8. The sixth therefore is that a Sin is an action against Reason that is against the Nature of Man and therefore hurtfull to him first in soul the which it most principally corrupts next in Body both according to his internal faculties and many times also in his external and vegetative qualities Thirdly if it be an external act it prejudices Man-kind that is his Neighbours either in their souls by Scandal and evil Example or also in their Bodies or Fortunes and out of these Considerations the Sinner remains subject to Satisfaction towards himself which consisteth in the reparation of the damages done to himself towards the Church and towards the civil Government As for the damages of his Soul if he repairs them not with penance and good works he goeth thorough the violence of his affection sinfull into the next world and there suffers the sorrows and contradictions which follow distracted affections As for the damages of his inward Bodily powers those breed in him or increase in him either more sinfull actions or at lâ—ast greater strife betwixt the rational and the material part and if they be not remedied in this world cause the disposition of the parting soul to be worse and imperfecter then it should be and so subject to ill effects in the next world As for the other damages to himself or his Neighbours unless he hath the will to repair them he doth not quit the sin as is manifest in the case of Restitution But if he do what lyes in his power and truly is not negligent they hurt him not in the next world But all Negligence and Tepidity is carry'd into the next World in quality of a sinfull disposition and so accrues to the punishment due to the sin 9. The seventh Principle is that by Gods order all the evils which follow sin either by its proper nature or by the orders of Ecclesiastical and Civil Government are ordained by God to be punishments of that sin and therefore whosoever by way of penance doth prevent the punishments which other ways would fall upon him by this order of God doth plainly extinguish the dueness of the pains as St. Zacchaeus when he payd four double of all that he had wronged any man quitted the score of what he had offended human nature civilly He that did willingly undergo the Penitential Canons or like a Holy Mary Magdalene or Mary the Aegyptian did retire to a voluntary penance did satisfy the Church And those who have perfect Contrition satisfy for all the defects of the soul and her interiour powers in the body I find it is a clear case that he who leaveth nothing due to any of these parties hath satisfy'd for all the pains they can exact of him 10. The eighth Principle is that Gods Justice may be taken either for the vertue of Justice in himself or for the effect it hath in its creatures If it be taken for this later it consists in this that every creature hath that which is fitting to him in respect of its proportion to the rest of the world and its situation and order in it Therefore it is clear that he who satisfies for his sins as it is explicated in the former Principle doth absolutely satisfy Gods Justice in this sence But if you take Gods Justice as Justice signifies a vertue in him then to satisfy Gods Justice adds to the former explication that the satisfaction the man does is that which God by the vertue of Justicâ— exacts to have done the which because it is that which the repentant sinner has done it is clear that the sinner hath satisfy'd God also in that sence 11. The ninth Principle is that all and every good act done in state of Grace and proceeding from Charity is meritorious that is deserves a reward And the Reward may be the extrinsecal or intrinsecal good of the actour that is either a good to his own Person or to his Friends For who does an act of Charity increases Charity in himself and becometh more Holy then he was before and therefore a greater and better member of Gods Church And because we know that all things as the Apostle teaches be made for the Elect and do cooperate to their good we know that they are more made and do more cooperate to the good of them who are more just and more Saints Hence it comes that God orders by his ordinary Providence for it is not an infallible rule that the friends of the just man fare better because he is Just and and so the just man by being just merits not onely for his own Person hut also for others Again because God doth this in respect of the desire of the just Person whether that desire be actual or onely in preparation of heart this which we call meriting is also obtaining or impetrating And because what is merited or impetrated may be either addition of good or diminution of evils when it is diminution of evils it is called Satisfaction Wherefore the same Action by the same vertue is meritorious impetratory and satisfactory I know some scruple at saying one man can deserve for another taking that to be the property of Christ but I see the Fathers use the word merit freely in this sence and therefore I do not scruple to do the same Wherefore I do not put these three Words to signify three Qualities of the Action but one quality according as it is related to divers Causes or Effects 12. Hitherto you have read
the poor man who gives but a shilling or has but the hearty will to do what were fitting for the Church of God towards the good of his Soul shall find as much relief as the rich man who distributes an hundred pound in all hast for four thousand Masses Yet do I not say the like to rich men For in a Rich man a small thing is no Charity The Charity which dilates not his heart towards his Neighbour is no Charity to give that which he would not stoop to take up is no Charity If what he gives be not sensible to him if it doth not diminish his love to Money if greediness doth not miss it it is no Charity Therefore the Richer man must give more then the less Rich or poorer that it may do him first good in this life and thereby to his Soul in the next 15. He objects that if the Opinion which hath prevailed for five hundred years be true it cannot be but solid prudence to procure the Souls delivery as soon as may be But he mistakes the question which is not nâ—… Whither the Soul be deliverable before the Day of Judgment but by what means she comes to gain the good she may receive Whether by the pure execution of the External action or by the internal Charity which is where it can be the necessary and unfailing cause of the exteriour act And as for the opinion that the external act gains the remission I am afraid it is subject to that curse Pecunia tua sit tecum in perditionem For who can doubt but the remission of sin or pain and the coming to Heaven are Dona Dei and cannot pecunia possideri I abhor to hear that where there is no difference of Charity and internal goodness there should be a difference in remission of sins and purchasing of Heaven Now in this hudling of Masses regularly there is less internal vertue then when they are dispensed with choice and commodity of the Church 16. By what is sayd his second and third Arguments are annulled for the value of the gift and the good of the Soul is the same whether the Masses be sayd a hundred years hence or upon the obit day or even not at all so there be no fault in the Donour And if you object that then the Prayers are not sayd I answer that is an harm to those who should have sayd them and peradventure to the Church if God's Providence doth not supply it other ways but no hurt to the Donour whose work that is the Prudence and Charity by which he ordered it shall follow him and procure by their own sâ—rength what is due to him What then Do the prayers no good or impetrate nothing to him We know that impetration fâ—r others is uncertain depending from God's Providence no ways due to the prayers but as much and how and when they agree to God's Providence and therefore not to be rely'd upon for any effect but every one must look to bear his own burthen and to receive according to his deserts He tells us in the end of his fourth Paragraph that if he had ten thousand pounds at his death to leave for his Souls good he would expresly order that none should be touch'd by them who think it indifferent whether they pray for him this year or next c. I answer that I am of that mind also For who will take Alms must follow the Donour's conditions not his own knowledg But if I had but five shillings to leave for Masses I would rather seek out the Priest on whom I thought it best employ'd though he should say never a Mass for it then another who had a priviledge to say two Masses that very morning but who was not so prudently relieved by my Alms. It was my fortune to have recommended to me by a Gentlewoman upon her Death-bed about 4â— for the good of her Soul She dy'd in poverty in a strange Countrey yet had saved this to be prayed for according to the course of Piety she had been instructed in She had a Child to be put to Nurse without means to pay for the nursing I openly confess I procur'd her not one Mass in vertue of her money but caused it all to be bestow'd on the keeping of the Child out of opinion that in this I did supply the imprudence of the Mother and that to do so was to employ the money best for the Soul of the Mother And such a mind I pray God I may have for my self at my death if I have any thing to leave to make my last Act of the greatest Charity to my Neighbour that I can and I hope I shall do mine own Soul the greatest good that lyes in my power to do by disposing of Temporal Goods 17. In his fifth and sixth Paragraphs he takes that Souls are chiefly to be helped by the Sacrifice of the Mass according to the Council of Trent But if one can help saith he many much more What says he can be here deny'd by any Catholick I answer easily that nothing is to be deny'd but something to be understood And first because that out of the Principle lay'd Charity is the ground of all impetration therefore to understand how it is true that the Mass is the greatest help for souls inPurgatory we ought to understand how the Mass is the greatest act of Charity Which to do we must remember the Mass to have these two relations The one that it is the Christian Sacrifice The other that it is the Commemoration of the Passion of our Saviour The first Consideration stirs up our Intellectual power towards the Admiration and Adoration of his Essence and Thanksgiving for all the benefits which we have received and are to receive from his Almighty hand and to vow all our love and affection to him upon that score The later stirs up the man the Compound of Reason and Passion to the apprehension and esteem of the Mystery of our Redemption of the good received by it and of the penal course Christ took to do us this good Both these considerations are help'd by an awful reverence to the Action we do of handling Christ's own real Body and of presenting to God not our temporall goods as in Alms nor our own bodies as in Penal Exercises but the true and real Body of Jesus Christ accompany'd with his Soul and Divinity If all this raises not Charity to the heighth that Charity can have in this life it is not the fault of the Work but of the Person Wherefore clearly if Souls can be helped by nothing but Prayers and that Alms-deeds and Satisfactions can have no place but as they are Suffrages or impetrations who can require greater evidence that of all exteriour actions the Mass of its nature is the most impetrative and helpful to the deceased faithful But presently you see that Masses are to be weighed not numbred to increase the power of prevailing I might add