A SERMON OF S T. PETER Preach'd before HER MAJESTY THE Queen-Dowager In Her Chappel at Somerset-House on the Twenty ninth of June 1686. BEING St. PETER and St. PAVL's Day By THOMAS GODDEN D. D. Preacher in Ordinary to Her Majesty Published by Her Majesties Command LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the King 's Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel 1686. A SERMON OF S T. PETER Preach'd before Her Majesty the Queen Dowager On St. Peter and St. Paul's Day 1686. Et Ego dico tibi quia Tu es Petrus super hanc Petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam Matth. 16. 18. And I say unto thee that Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church TWO Years were now elaps'd from the time of their first Vocation that Peter and the rest of the Disciples had been constant Auditors in the School of the Word made Flesh conversing daily with him hearing the Sacred Oracles which distill'd from his Gracious Lips and beholding the great Miracles he wrought for the Benefit of Mankind And now it was high time they should give some Account of what they had learn'd under so Divine a Master In order to this our Lord designs a solemn Examination and having led them into the Coasts of Caesarea Philippi proposes two Questions to them The First Preliminary only to open the way and lead them as it were by the Hand into the Knowledge and Confession of the Truth Quem dicunt homines esse Filium hominis Whom do Men say that the Son of Man is The Second the Substantial Point and which was to be the Test of their Proficiency Vos autem quem me esse dicitis But you Whom do you say that I am To the First of these Questions the Answer was easie because the Judgments of the World are every where to be met with and so without any demurring upon the matter they readily answer'd Some said that He was John the Baptist some that He was Elias others Jeremias or some one of the Prophets These were the Judgments the World made of him But why not one Word of the Messias among the rest since they knew the term of Years was now expir'd and his Coming daily expected No sooner did the Baptist appear out of his Solitude but presently a solemn Embassy of Priests Levites was sent from Jerusalem to ask him if he were not the Christ who was to come But when the Messias himself appears the best Title they can afford him is of a John the Baptist or an Elias or a Jeremias or some one of the Prophets but no mention at all of the Messias O false and deceitful World how Erroneous art thou in thy Weights and Unequal in thy Measures giving to one what is due to another and always deviating from Truth either by Excess or Defect That these Judgments the World made of his Person were such that is Erroneous our Lord sufficiently intimated by leaving them and addressing himself to his Disciples with the Second Question Vos autem quem me esse dicitis But you My Disciples who now for two Years together have been daily Witnesses of my Life and Conversation and seen the great Works I have done Whom do you say that I am Here the rest of the Apostles not knowing what to answer for this Doctrine as St. Cyril says was above their reach remain'd silent Only Peter whom the same Holy Father calls there the Prince of the Apostles and Sovereign Herald of the Church not of his own Invention or induced by Humane Reason but illuminated in his Soul by God the Father answered and said Thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God that is not by Adoption as others but by Nature of one and the same Substance with thy Eternal Father And now what was the Reward as St. Hilary calls it of this so Noble and Generous a Confession First He declar'd him Blessed in having been so highly favour'd by God And then as it follows in the Words of my Text and the Sequel of the Gospel He said unto him Et ego dico tibi quia Tu es Petrus And I say also to thee that Thou art Peter which is by Interpretation a Rock and upon this Rock I will build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it And I will give to thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Had these been the Words of a Chrysostom or some other fam'd Orator in a Panegyrick of St. Peter they might have been look'd upon as Hyperboles or Exaggerations of Rhetorick For if they be understood to mean as they sound never was such Honour and Dignity as this conferr'd upon any of the Sons of Adam from the Creation of the World But now that the Eternal Word who is Truth it self has been pleas'd to be the Encomiast of our Saint and to pronounce them with His own Blessed Mouth in so solemn a Manner our Faith is exempt from all suspicion of Hyperboles and the Honours given to St. Peter must be his very True and Proper Elogium And because this is what God willing I shall endeavour to make out in my following Discourse I shall divide my Text and it into Two Parts In the First I shall let you see the great Honour conferr'd upon our glorious Saint by our Lord 's confirming to him on this occasion the Name of Peter that is of a Rock Et ego dico tibi quia Tu es Petrus And I say to thee that Thou art Peter In the Second That this Name was not only a Title of Honour but suppos'd or carried with it a real Communication of the Dignity and Authority imported by it which was to be the Rock or Foundation-stone upon which the Church should be built super hanc Petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam And upon this Rock I will build my Church That I may treat worthily of them Let us implore the Assistance of the Divine Spirit by the Intercession of that Sacred Virgin who was chosen before all to be the Mother of him whom St. Peter confessed to be the Son of the Living God Ave Maria. The First Part. Et ego dico tibi And I say unto thee that Thou art Peter IN the First Book of Kings or as some call it of Samuel chap. 2. vers 30. God was pleas'd to make a gracious Declaration in favour of his Servants or rather to enter into a Solemn League or Covenant with them That if they should Honour him he would Honour them Quicunque glorificaverit me glorificabo eum Whosoever shall Honour me I will Honour him Now among all the Honours with which he has been pleas'd to Honour them who Honour him that of foretelling the Name by which they should be call'd or changing the Name given
depart in their unbelief is a convincing Argument that both he spake and they understood him to speak of the giving his true Flesh to be eaten by them This being so our dearest Lord solicitous now for the Twelve whom he had chosen to be constantly with him and to send them forth as occasion serv'd to Preach to others Addresses himself to them with those words full of Tenderness and Love Numquid vos vultis abire And will you also you not only my Disciples but my Apostles and Domesticks will you also go and leave me upon the same Accounts as these others have done When Peter stepping forth with his wonted fervour cries out Domine ad quem ibimus Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of Eternal Life As if he should have said Thou hast promis'd Everlasting Life to those who believe in thee and if that be not to be obtain'd but by eating thy Flesh and drinking thy Blood tho' we understand not how or in what manner it can be done since thou hast said it be it to us according to thy word For we have believ'd and are sure that thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God and therefore canst make good whatever thou hast said as well in this as in all other things how hard and absurd soever they may appear to Sense and Reason Thus did St. Peter give Honour and Glory to Christ by his stedfast belief and Confession of the Truth of what he had said of the necessity of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood in very deed for the obtaining of Everlasting Life In like manner as Martha afterwards did when being ask'd by our Saviour if she believ'd him to be the Resurrection and the Life she answered with the words of St. Peter Vtique Domine Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God and consequently as being true God canst by thy Power raise Lazarus again to Life But why was not St. Peter then presently Honoured by our Saviour with a Beatus es Simon Barjona Blessed art thou Simon the Son of Jonas To this Theophylact answers That our Lord suspended praising him then tho' he deserv'd it least being at a time when others deserted him it might seem done out of design and a piece of Artifice to retain him with him but Euthymius more probably thinks it was because he answer'd not for himself only but in the name of all among whom there was one so far from being worthy of praise that our Saviour presently after Emendans Petrum says a learned Expositor to rectifie Peter's mistake told them He was a Devil The Second Confession he made was that of my Text when our Saviour demanding of the Twelve Whom they said that he was He alone answer'd not in the name of the rest or as delivering the Faith of them all as he had done before and found he had been mistaken but as delivering his own proper Sentiment a Sentiment Inspir'd by a particular Revelation from God the Father to him alone but to serve as a Formulary of Confession to the rest Tu es Filius Dei vivi Thou art Christ the Son of the living God Begotten from all Eternity by the Father coequal coeternal and consubstantial with him And This is that full and generous Confession which justifies the Wicked Confirms the Just triumphs over the World confounds the Devil rejoyces the Angels and opens the Kingdom of Heaven to all Believers This is that Confession which encourag'd the Martyrs to undergo their Torments the Confessors to have their Conversation in Heaven even whilst they liv'd upon Earth And the Virgins to run after the Odours of the Perfumes of all sorts of Vertues which this Divine Bridegroom of Souls left behind him in this World whilst he Conversed in it In a word This Faith and Confession of S. Peter that Christ was the Son of God begotten of his Father from all Eternity and born in time of his Virgin-Mother is in the Language of S. Ambrose no less than a General Definition or Prae-condemnation of all the Heresies that should ever arise in the Church Adversus omnes Haereses Generalis est ista Fides Thus it was that St. Peter vindicated the Honour of his Master by confessing him to be the very true and Natural Son of God And what did our Lord do or rather what did he not do to recompense him for it and to comply with the Condition of the Covenant on his Part that is of Honouring those who honour him First He proclaim'd him Blessed whilst yet upon Earth Beatus es Simon Barjona Blessed art thou Simon the Son of Jonas Then confirm'd to him the Name of Peter which is as much as to say a Rock or solid Foundation-Stone such an one as on it he would not doubt to build his Church and that so firm that the Gates of Hell should not prevail against it Lastly He promis'd to deliver the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven into his hands with so full and ample a Commission that Whatsoever he should bind upon Earth should be bound in Heaven and whatsoever he should loose upon Earth should be loosed in Heaven And had not St. Hilary then great reason to exclaim upon this Passage as he do's with these words O in nuncupatione novi Nominis felix Ecclesiae Fundamentum O happy Foundation of the Church in having this new Name of PETER imposed on thee and worthy Rock for Christ to build his Church upon which should destroy the Laws of Hell and break in sunder the Gates of the Abyss and the Prisons of Death O BEATVS COELI JANITOR O Blessed Door-keeper of Heaven into whose hands the Keys of the Entrance into Eternity are committed and whose Judgment upon Earth shall have the Authority of a Rule or prejudging Sentence in the Court of Heaven Thus St. Hilary with whom the rest of the Fathers both Greek and Latin agree as to the substance of the thing For tho' some of them especially after the Council of Nice chose rather to affirm the Church to be built upon St. Peter's Faith or Confession than upon his Person yet their meaning was to assign the Reason why our Saviour made choice of him above the rest to build his Church upon and not to exclude him from being the Rock on which the Church is built any more than it was the meaning of St. Peter himself to deny that God had made him the Instrument of curing the lame Man at the Gate of the Temple when he said that not he and John by their own Power or Holiness had made him to walk but the Faith which is by Jesus Christ Or than it was the meaning of St. Jerom to deny that the same St. Peter really walk'd upon the Sea when he said Super aquas non corpus ambulasse sed Fidem that his Body walk'd not upon the Waters but his
Faith And thus much I hope may suffice to have spoken of the First Part of my Text the great Honour conferr'd upon our Saint by our Lord 's confirming to him the Name of Peter Et ego dico tibi quia Tues Petrus And I say also to thee that Thou art Peter I shall now proceed to the Second and let you see that this Name was not only a Title of Honour but carried with it a real Communication of the Dignity and Authority imported by it which was that of being a Rock or Foundation-stone upon which the Church should be built Et super hanc Petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam The Second Part. Et super hanc Petram c. And upon this Rock I will build my Church 'T Is no very unusual thing among Men to meet with Titles of Honour without any thing correspondent in the Subject to support them And the Reason is Because it is in the Power of Princes to give Titles but not to give fit qualifications for them nor yet always to discern whether the Person be really endow'd with them or no. But when God who is Truth it self gives a Title or imposes a Name it must be the heighth of Extravagance to call in question the real existence of the Dignity and Authority imported by it in the Person to whom it is given We read in the second Chapter of Genesis that after that God had formed every Beast of the Field and every Fowl of the Air he brought them to Adam to see what he would call them And the Scripture says that what Adam called every living Creature that was its Name that is its true and proper Name as expressing the Nature and Properties of that Creature as distinct from all others And if Adam by the Wisdom infus'd in him by God at his Creation was so exact that he gave no Name to any thing which was not its proper name shall we think that He who is the Wisdom of the Father by whom all things were made and who gives them their very Natures would give the Name of Peter and that in so solemn a manner as Ego dico tibi quia Tu es Petrus I say unto thee that Thou art Peter that is a Rock and upon this Rock I will build my Church to one only of his Apostles but that he intended by it to signifie some singular Privilege communicated to him by which he should be distinguish'd and exalted above the rest Hear I beseech you the Paraphrase St. Hierom makes upon the Words of my Text. Peter answering said to Christ Thou art the Son of the Living God Christ answering said to Peter And I say also to thee That thou art Peter And what was this says St. Hierom but as if he should have said Quia Tu dixisti Because thou hast said to me That I am the Christ the Son of the Living God Et ego dico tibi I say also to thee That thou art Peter non sermone casso nullum habente opus not with an empty Word which has no force or efficacy in it sed dico tibi But this I say to thee quia meum dixisse fecisse est because my saying is doing or for me to say a thing is the same as to do it From whence it follows That at the same time that our Saviour said to him Thou art Peter that is a Rock he made him to be so by communicating to him those correspondent spiritual Qualities for the support of his Church which are found in a material Rock to sustain the Building which is laid upon it And this St. Hierom shews to have been our Saviour's meaning by the Example he immediately subjoyns That as our Lord communicated Light to his Apostles that they might be called the Light of the World and the like in other Names or Titles they received from him as of the Salt of the Earth c. In like manner also to Simon who believ'd in Christ the Rock he gave the Name of Peter And then concludes that according to the Metaphor of a Rock Recte dicitur ei It is rightly and properly said to him that is to Peter Aedificabo Ecclesiam meam super Te I will build my Church upon thee This is the Discourse of that great and famous Doctor St. Hierom by which it appears that our Saviour when he gave to Simon the Name of Peter that is a Rock made him the Rock on which he would build his Church and that in a more Eminent manner than any other of the Apostles as is every where affirm'd by the same holy Doctor giving him the Titles of Prince Chief Head and Greatest of the Apostles And this very agreeably to the Reasoning of S. Paul in a Point of much higher Concern in his first Chapter to the Hebrews There this great Apostle being to prove that Christ our Lord transcended all the Quires of Angels in the Excellency of his Nature thought it a convincing Argument to alledge that he had obtain'd a more Excellent name than they forasmuch as our Lord had said to him and to none of them in the second Psalm Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And those must think this Argument of St. Paul to be of no force who when they hear our Saviour say to Simon the Son of Jonas and to none other of his Apostles Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church can think that some singular Prerogative was not meant by it to be communicated to him in which he should Excell the rest of his Brethren That the Apostles themselves understood it to be so at least after the coming of the Holy Ghost the Four Registers left us of their Names are so many Authentic Testimonies to inform us The First by St. Matthew c. 10. v. 2. The Second by St. Mark c. 3. v. 16. The Third by St. Luke c. 6. v. 14. And the Fourth by the same St. Luke in the 1. c. of the Acts of the Apostles v. 13. For altho' St. Andrew were before St. Peter in divers respects as in Age being according to St. Epiphanius his Elder Brother and also in following of Christ for St. John says of him that he went and found out Peter and brought him to Christ yet Peter by all the aforesaid Evangelists is evermore set before Andrew and all the rest of the Apostles And St. Matthew himself one of the Twelve not only puts him in the first Place but expresly gives him the Title of Primus The Names of the twelve Apostles says he are these Primus The First Simon who is called Peter And why was this to observe only the order of numbring No For then after he had said Primus The First Simon who is called Peter he would have gone forward with The Second Andrew the Third James the Fourth John and so of the rest to the end But whereas he do's not do this but sets
speaking of some Religious Women in his Time who had oblig'd themselves to that holy State but out of the Church says they are Virgins indeed Sed quid proderit eis nisi adducantur in Templum Regis But what will it avail them to be so unless they be brought into the Temple of the King that is into the Communion of the Catholic Church And then again for the Sacraments those Conduits or Channels which our Lord has instituted as the ordinary means to derive his Grace into our Souls tho' they may be administred and received out of the Church yet the Vertue and Benefit of them cannot be had but in the Church As the Water says he which took its rise in Paradise staid not there but went forth from thence into the adjoyning Countries so also Baptism and it is the same of other Sacraments may be administred not only in the Church but out of it But as the Happiness of Paradise went not forth with the Water but could be enjoy'd only by those who remain'd in it so also the Vertue of the Sacraments which is the Gift of Eternal Life is not found but within the Church In a word the same Holy Father tells us Extra Ecclesiam Catholicam totum habere potest praeter salutem A Man may have all things out of the Catholick Church besides Salvation He may have Faith Baptism and the rest of the Sacraments He may have the Word of God He may believe and preach in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost He may distribute his Substance to the Poor and give his Life for the Name of Christ But when all is done Nusquam nisi in Ecclesia Catholica salutem poterit invenire He can find Salvation no where but in the Catholick Church no other in his Judgment than that in Communion with the Chair of Peter of which you heard him before affirm Ipsa est Petra This is the Rock which the proud Gates of Hell do not overcome Had I advanc'd these things of my self I might perhaps have been condemn'd of Vncharitableness by some But the Respect and Veneration which All have for the Great Saint whose Words they are will I hope protect both him and me from undergoing and also prevent them from pronouncing so uncharitable a Censure But if any will be yet so severe I only desire them to consider whether it be want of Charity when we see a Person sailing securely as he thinks in a new-trimm'd Vessel but leaky at the bottom to warn him of the danger he is in of never coming to his Port. This was the Case of St. Austin with those who were out of the Church He saw the danger they were in tho' they saw it not themselves in venturing to Sea in any other Vessel than that of St. Peter and his Charity mov'd him to warn them of it He saw the certain Ruin they were expos'd to for want of true Charity which if they had had they would neither have rent the Vnity of the Church themselves nor been Followers or Adherents of those that did And now dear Catholic Brethren what remains for us but that giving Thanks to Almighty God for having brought us by his Light and Truth into his Holy Mountain and humbly begging for the like Grace and Mercy upon those who are yet out of it we Contend earnestly for the Faith which was once deliver'd to the Saints labouring diligently as the Chief and Head of the Apostles St. Peter himself exhorts to make our Vocation and Election sure by good Works For as none can be sav'd out of the Church so such only shall be sav'd in it who shew their Faith by their Works As it was not enough for the Jews to vaunt that they had Abraham for their Father when they did not the Works of Abraham So neither will it avail us to glory that we have St. Peter for our Father unless we do the Works of St. Peter Our Faith must be accompanied with our Works Both together in the Communion of the Church that Church which our Saviour promis'd to build upon Peter will give us an assured Title to that Everlasting Glory in the Kingdom of Heaven Which I beseech him graciously to bestow upon your Sacred Majesty and all here present c. FINIS ERRATA PAge 12. line 21. for how easie read Otherwise how easie p. 13. l. 24. for Accounts r. Account Jo. 1. 19. S. Cyril Catech. II. S. Hilar. in Matth. c. 16. 1 Reg. 2. 30. Gen. 17. 19 21. 6. 3 Reg. 13. 2. Luk. 1. 13. 15. Gen. 17. 5. Gen. 17. 15. Gen. 32. 28. Jo. 1. 42. Marc. 3. 14 16. Esther 6. 9. Lib. 2. in Luc. c. 1. Hom. 45. in Jo. Jo. 6. 26. John 6. 64 Marc. 3. 14. Jo. 11. 27. S. Ambr. lib. de Incarnat cap. 5. S. Hilar. in Matt. c. 16. Acts 3. 12 16. Ep. 61. ad Pammach Gen. 2. 14. S. Hierom. in Mat. 16. Heb. 1. 4. Haer. 51. Jo. 1. 41. Matt. 10. 2. Matt. 10. 2. Mark 3. 17. Acts 1. 13. Luke 6. 14. Luke 6. 14 15. In Ep. ad Gal. c. 1. v. 18. Hom. 86. in Jo. Tract 124. in Jo. 1 Tim. 1. 15. In Ps 70. Mat. 16. 19. Matt. 18. 18. Matt. 16. 19. In Ep. ad Rom. c. 6. l. 5. Matt. 12. 25. Lib. 1. adv Jovinian In Psal cont part Donati Ep. 56. ad Damas Id. Ep. 58. Tract 27. in Jo. In Ps 42. Matt. 7. 8. In Ps 103. 1 Cor. 12. Ps 118. In Enchirid. c. 109. In Ps 42. In Ps 44. S. Aug. in Ps 36. In Ps contr part Donat. Ipsam formam habet Sarmentum quod praecisum est de vite Sed quid illi prodest forma si non vivit de radice In Ps 44. Ecclesia Paradiso comparata S. Aug. l. 4. de Bapt. contr Donat c. 1. Ser. super Gesta cum Emerito Lib. 1. de Baptis c. 49. Ep. 48. ad Vincentium alibi passim S. Jude Cath Ep. v. 3. 2 Pet. 1. 10. Jo. 8. 39.
it be true as most certainly it is what our Saviour said that Every Kingdom divided against it self shall be brought to ruin and on the other side that The Gates of Hell shall never prevail against his Church which is his Kingdom it manifestly follows That as the Church is to continue for ever so also the Authority given to Peter was not to die with him but to descend to his Successors and to remain for ever in the Chair of Peter Of which Chair St. Austin speaking says Ipsa est Petra quam superbae non vincunt Inferorum Portae This is the Rock which the Proud Gates of Hell do not overcome And therefore S. Hierom when three unhappy Factions brake out at the same time and each endeavour'd to gain him to their Party cries out to them Si quis Cathedrae Petri jungitur meus est Let me know which of you holds Communion with the Chair of Peter and him I shall acknowledge for mine Super illam Petram aedificatam Ecclesiam scio I know the Church to be built upon that Rock I know that whosoever eateth the Lamb out of that House is Prophane and whosoever shall not be in the Ark of Noe when the Deluge comes peribit regnante diluvio shall perish in the Waters Some perhaps may think this to be a dreadful Saying and so indeed it is for as St. Austin says Nihil sic debet formidare Christianus quam separari a corpore Christi A Christian ought to dread nothing so much as to be separated from the Body of Christ which is his Church For if he be separated from the Body of Christ he is no Member of Christ And if he be no Member of Christ he is not quickned by the Spirit of Christ The Spirit quickens only the Members which are united to the Body How much then are They bound to give thanks to Almighty God whose good Lot it has been either to have been brought up from their Infancy in the Communion of this Chair upon which the Church is built or after having been bred otherwise to have been powerfully and yet sweetly drawn and incorporated into it Who can recount all the Graces and Blessings which those enjoy who are in this happy Communion and of which those remain destitute and depriv'd who are out of it I shall give a brief Account of some of them in the words of the Great S. Austin and so conclude First then by being Members of this Holy Communion it is as the same Father says that we are Inhabitants in that Holy Mountain of which David foretells in his 42. Psalm that when God has brought us into it by his Light and Truth he graciously hears the Prayers and Supplications we offer up to him in order to our own Eternal Salvation Mons Sanctus ejus Ecclesia ejus est This Holy Mountain is his Church There it is that as himself has promis'd Every one that asks shall receive Every one that seeks shall find and that knocks at the Gate of Heaven shall have it open'd to him Happy Condition to be thus assur'd of being heard when we pray for our selves And then again of being Partakers also of the Prayers and good Works of others For the Soul of all true Believers as the same S. Austin says being One Soul per unam Fidem by the Vnity of the same Faith and all the Faithful One Man by reason of the unity of the Body of Christ As the Functions of the several Parts in the Natural Body so also the Prayers and good Works of each Member of this Mystical Body redound to the benefit of the Whole Every one has a share in the Prayers and good Works of all and may say with holy David Particeps ego sum omnium timentium te I am a partaker of all those that fear thee and keep thy Commandments And this not only whilst they were labouring in this Life to gain Heaven for themselves but after that they are reigning in it with Christ Their Charity by change of State is not diminish'd but increas'd Securi says St. Cyprian de sua salute de nostra sunt soliciti Being now secure of their own Salvation they are solicitous for ours And the Prayers they offer up for us are so much more efficacious and available by how much the Saints in Glory are in greater union and favour with God Nor do we reap this benefit of partaking the Prayers and good Works of others only whilst we are in this Life but also after we are departed out of it for as the same St. Austin speaking of the Custom of the Catholic Church in his Time as in ours of Praying for those who were departed in the Communion of it says Neque negandum est It is not to be deny'd but that the Souls of the Faithful deceased are reliev'd by the Piety of their living Friends when the Sacrifice of the Mediatour that is of the Body and Blood of Christ is offer'd or Alms given for them in the Church These dear Catholic Brethren with many others too long to be insisted on at present are great Advantages which those only can be partakers of whom the Grace and Goodness of God has plac'd in this Holy Mountain his Church Quisquis praeter hunc montem erat non credat se exaudiri ad salutem aeternam Whoever Prays out of this Mountain says St. Austin let him not flatter himself with a vain belief that he shall be heard to Eternal Salvation Many who Pray out of the Church have their Petitions granted in many things as for Health Wealth Children and the like But he that will obtain Eternal Salvation for himself must Pray in this Holy Mountain if he will be heard There says he let him Worship who will be accepted there let him Pray who will be heard and there let him Confess who will obtain remission of his Sins And as those only Prayers which are offer'd in the Communion of the Church are by vertue of this Communion efficacious to Eternal Life so also those good Works only which are done in it and those Sacraments which are received in it Multi says he quasi exercent bona Opera Many exercise themselves in Works seemingly good but they belong not to that Husbandman whom our Lord calls Father because they dwell not in the Land which he Cultivates and Waters Ipsam formam habet Sarmentum c. A Branch cut off from the Vine has the same Form it had whilst it was in it But what will it avail it to have the same Form of Godliness if it live not from the Root What more glorious State of Life than that of perpetual Continency a State so high and sublime that our Saviour do's not enjoyn it to any but only exhorts to it with a Qui potest capere capiat Let him that can take it take it And yet the same holy Father