Princes and Prelates do the same every day And as oftentimes they are never the better so they are not at all asham'd but men look upon it as a certain cure like pulling off a mans clothes to go and wash in a river and make it by use and habit by confidence and custom to be no certain pain and the women blush or smile weep or are unmov'd as it happens under their veil and the men under the boldness of their Sex When we see that men and women confess to day and sin to morrow and are not affrighted from their sin the more for it because they know the worst of it and have felt it often and believe to be eas'd by it certain it is that a little reason and a little observation will suffice to conclude that this practise of Confession hath in it no affrightment not so much as the horrour of the sin it self hath to the Conscience For they who commit sins confidently will with less regret it may be confess it in this manner where it is the fashion for every one to do it And when all the world observes how loosly the Italians Spaniards and French do live in their Carnivals giving to themselves all liberty and license to do the vilest things at that time not onely because they are for a whileâ— to take their leave of them but because they are as they suppose to be so soon eas'd of their crimes by Confession and the circular and never-failing hand of the Priest they will have no reason to admire the severity of Confession which as it was most certainly intended as a deletory of sin and might do its first intention if it were equally manag'd so now certainly it gives confidence to many men to sin and to most men to neglect the greater and more effective parts of essential repentance We shall not need to observe how Confession is made a Minister of State a Pick-lock of secrets a Spy upon families a Searcher of inclinations a Betraying to temptations for this is wholly by the fault of the Men and not of the Doctrine but even the Doctrine it self as it is handled in the Church of Rome is so far from bringing peace to the troubled Consciences that it intromits more scruples and cases than 〈◊〉 can resolve For beâ—ides that it self is a question and they have made it dangerous by pretending that it is by Divine Right and Institution for so some of the Schoolmen teach and the Canonists say the contrary and that it is onely of humane and positive Constitution and by this difference in so great a point have made the whole Oâ—conomy of their repentance which relies upon the supposed necessity of Confession to fail or to shake vehemently and at the best to be a foundation too uncertain to build the hopes of salvation on it besides all this we say Their Rules and Doctrines of Confession enjoyn some things that are of themselves dangerous and lead into temptation An instance of this is in that which is decreed in the Canons of Trent That the Penitent must not onely confess every mortal sin which after diligent inquiry he remembers but even his very sinfâ—l thoughts in particular and his secret desires and every circumstance which changes the kind of the sin or as some add does notably increase it and how this can be safely done and who is sufficient for these things and who can tell his circumstances without tempting his Confessor or betraying and defaming another person which is forbidden and in what cases it may be done or in what cases omitted and whether the confession be valid upon infinite other considerations and whether it be to be repeated in whole or in part and how often and how much these things are so uncertain casual and contingent and so many cases are multiplied upon every one of these and these so disputed and argued by their greatest Doctors by Thomas and Scotus and all the Schoolmen and by the Casuists that as Beatus Rhenanus complains it was truly observed by the famous Iohn Geilerius that according to their cases inquiries and conclusions it is impossible for any man to make a right Confession So that although the shame of private Confession be very tolerable and easie yet the cases and scruples which they have introduc'd are neither easie nor tolerable and though as it is now used there be but little in it to restrain sin yet there is very much danger of increasing it and of receiving no benefit by it Sect. III. BUt then for Penances and Satisfactions of which they boast so much as being so great restraints to sin these as they are publickly handled are nothing but words and ineffective sounds For first if we consider what the Penances themselves are which are enjoyn'd they are reduced from the ancient Canonical Penances to private and arbitrary from years to hours from great severity to gentleness and flattery from fasting and publick shame to the saying over their Beads from cordial to ritual from smart to money from heartiness and earnest to pageantry and theatrical images of Penance and if some Confessours happen to be severe there are ways enough to be eased For the Penitent may have leave to go to a gentler or he may get Commutations or he may get somebody else to do them for him and if his Penances be never so great or never so little yet it may be all supplied by Indulgencies of which there are such store in the Lateran at Rome that as Pope Boniface said No man is able to number them yet he confirm'd them all In the Church of Sancta Maria de Popolo there are for every day in the year two thousand and eight hundred years of pardon besides fourteen thousand and fourteen Carentanes which in one year amount to more than a Million all which are confirm'd by the Pope Paschal I. Boniface VIII and Gregory IX In the Church of S. Vituâ— and Modestus there are for every day in the year seven thousand years and seven thousand Carentanes of pardon and a pardon of a third part of all our sins besides and the price of all this is but praying before an Altar in that Church At the Sepulcre of Christ in Venice there is hung up a prayer oâ— S. Augustine with an Indulgence oâ— fourscore and two thousand years granted by Boniface the VIII who was of all the Popes the most bountiful of the Churches treasure and Benedict the XI to him that shall say it and that for every day totiesâ— quoties The Divine pardon of Sica gave a plenary Indulgence to every one that being confessed and communicated should pray there in the Franciscan Church oâ— Sancta Maria de gli Angeli and this pardon is abomni poena culpa Thâ— English of that we easily understand but the meaning of it we do not because they will not own that these Indulgences do profit any one whose guilt is
The Church of Rome teaches Doctrinesâ— which in many things are destructive of Christian Society in general and oâ— Monarchy in special Both which the Religion of the Church of England and Ireland does by her Doctrines greatly and Christianly support 260 A DISSUASIVE FROM POPERY To the People of IRELAND The Introduction THe Questions of difference between Our Churches and the Church of Rome have been so often disputed and the evidences both sides so often produc'd that those who are strangers to the present constitution of affairs it may seem very unnecessary to say them over again and yet it will seem almost imâ—impossible to produce any new matter or if we could it will not be probable that what can be newly alleged can prevail more than all that which already hath been so often urged in these Questions But we are not deterr'd from doing our duty by any such considerations as knowing that the same medicaments are with successe applyed to a returning or an abiding Ulcer and the Preachers of Gods word must for ever be ready to put the People in mind of such things which they already have heard and by the same Scriptures and the same reasons endeavour to destroy their sin oâ— prevent their danger and by the same word of God to extirpate those errors which have had opportunity in the time of our late disorders to spring up and grow stronger not when the Keepers of the field slept but when they were wounded and their hands cut ofâ—â— and their mouths stopp'd lest they should continue or proceed to do the work of God thoroughly A little warm Sun and some indulgent showers of a softer rain have made many weeds of erroneous Doctrine to take root greatly and to spread themselves widely and the Bigots of the Roman Church by their late importune boldness and indiscreet frowardness in making Proselytes have but too manifestly declar'd to all the World that if they were rerum potiti â— Masters of our affairs they would suffer nothing to grow but their own Colocynths and Gourds And although the Natural remedy for this were to take away that impunity upon the account of which alone they do encrease yet because we shall never be Authors of such Counsels but confidently rely upon God the Holy Scriptures right reason and the most venerable and prime Antiquity which are the proper defensatives of truth for its support and maintenance yet we must not conceal from the People committed to our charges the great evils to which they are tempted by the Roman Emissaries that while the King and the Parliament take care to secure all the publick interests by instruments of their own we also may by the word of our proper Ministery endeavour to stop the progression of such errors which we know to be destructive of Christian Religion and consequently dangerous to the interest of souls In this procedure although we shall say some things which have not been alwayes plac'd before their eyes and others we shall represent with a fittingness to their present necessities and all with Charity too and zeal for their souls yet if we were to say nothing but what hath been often said already we are still doing the work of God and repeating his voice and by the same remedies curing the same diseases and we only wait for the blessing of God prospering that importunity which is our duty according to the avice of Solomon In the Morning sow thy seed and in the Evening withhold not thy hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that or whether they both shall be alike good CHAP. I. The Doctrine of the Roman Church in the Controverted Articles is neither Catholick Apostolick nor Primitive Sect. I. IT was the challenge of St. Augustine to the Donatists who as the Church of Rome does at this day inclos'd the Catholick Church within their own circuits Ye say that Christ is Heir of no Lands but where Donatus is Co-heir Read this to us out of the Law and the Prophets out of the Psalms out of the Gospel it self or out of the Letters of the Apostles Read it thence and we believe it Plainly directing us to the Fountains of our Faith the Old and New Testament the words of Christ and the words of the Apostles For nothing else can be the Foundation of our Faith whatsoever came in after these for is est it belongs not unto Christ. To these we also add not as Authors or Finishers but as helpers of our Faith and Heirs of the Doctrine Apostolical the Senâ—iments and Catholick Doctrine of the Church of God in the Ages next after the Apostles Not that we think them or our selves bound to every private opinion even of a Primitive Bishop and Martyr but that we all acknowledge that the whole Church of God kept the Faith entire and transmitted faithfully to the after-Ages the whole Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the form of Doctrine and sound words which was at first delivered to the Saints and was defective in nothing that belong'd unto salvation and we believe that those Ages sent millions of Saints to the bosom of Christ and seal'd the true faith with their lives and with their deaths and by both gave testimony unto Jesus and had from him the testimony of his Spirit And this method of procedure we now choose not only because to them that know well how to use it to the Sober and the Moderate the Peaceable and the Wise it is the best the most certain visible and tangible most humble and satisfactory but also because the Church of Rome does with greatest noises pretend her Conformity to Antiquity Indeed the present Roman Doctrines which are in difference were invisible and unheard-of in the first and best antiquity and with how ill success their quotations are out of the Fathers of the first three Ages every inquiring Man may easily discern But the noises therefore which they make are from the Writings of the succeeding Ages where secular interest did more prevail and the writings of the Fathers were vast and voluminous full of controversie and ambiguous senses fitted to their own times and questions full of proper opinions and such variety of sayings that both sides eternally and inconfutably shall bring sayings for themselves respectively Now although things being thus it will be impossible for them to conclude from the sayings of a number of Fathers that their doctrine which they would prove thence was the Catholick Doctrine of the Church because any number that is less than all does not prove a Catholick consent yet the clear sayings of one or two of these Fathers truly alleged by us to the contrary will certainly prove that what many of them suppose it do affirm and which but two or three as good Catholicks as the other do deny was not then matter of faith or a Doctrine of the Church for if it had these had been Hereticks accounted and not have remain'd
this opinion to say that it is true or false probable or improbable for these Fathers intended it not as a matter of faith or necessary belief so far as we find But we observe from hence that if their opinion be true then the Doctrine of Purgatory is false If it be not true yet the Roman Doctrine of Purgatory which is inconsistent with this so generally receiv'd opinion of the Fathers is at least new no Catholick Doctrine not believ'd in the Primitive Church and therefore the Roman Writers are much troubled to excuse the Fathers in this Article and to reconcile them to some seeming concorâ— with their new Doctrine But besides these things it is certain that the Doctrine of Purgatory before the day of Judgment in S. Augustins time was not the Doctrine of the Church it was not the Catholick Doctrine for himself did doubt of it Whether it be so or not it may be inquir'd and possibly it may be found so and possibly it may never so S. Augustine In his time therefore it was no Doctrine of the Church and it continued much longer in uncertainty for in the time of Otho Frisingensis who liv'd in the year 1146. it was gotten no further than to a Quidam asserunt some do affirm that there is a place of Purgatory after death And although it is not to be denied but that many of the ancient Doctors had strange opinions concerning Purgations and Fires and Intermedial states and common receptacles liberations of Souls and Spirits after this life yet we can truly affirm it and can never be convinc'd to err in this affirmation that there is not any one of the Ancients within five hundred years whose opinion in this Article throughout the Church of Rome at this day follows But the people of the Roman Communion have been principally led into a belief of Purgatory by their fear and by their credulity they have been softned enâ—ic'd into this belief by perpetual tales and legends by which they love to be abus'd To this purporse their Priests and Friers have made great use of the apparition of S. Hierom after death to Eusebius commanding him to lay his sack upon the corps of three dead men that they arising from death might confess Purgatory which formerly they had denied The story is written in an Epistle impuâ—ed to S. Cyril but the ill-luck of it was that S. Hierom out-lived S. Cyril anâ— wrote his life and so confuted thaâ— story but all is one for that they believe it never the less But theâ—â— are enough to help it out and if theâ— be not firmly true yet if they bâ— firmly believ'd all is well enough 〈◊〉 the Speculum exemplorum it is said That a certain Priest in an extasie saw the soul of Constantinus Turritanus in the eves of his house tormented with frosts and cold rains and afterwards climbing up to heaven upon a shining pillar And a certain Monk saw some souls roasted upon spits like Pigs and some Devils basting them with scalding lard but a while after they were carried to a cool place and so prov'd Purgatory But Bishop Theobald standing upon a piece of ice to cool his feet was nearer Purgatory than he was aware and was convinc'd of it when he heard a poor soul telling him that under that ice he was tormented and that he should be delivered if for thirty days continual he would say for him thirty Masses and some such thing was seen by Conrade and Udalric in a Pool of water For the place of Purgatory was not yet resolv'd on till S. Patrick had the key of it delivered to him which when one Nicholas borrowed of him he saw as strange and true things there as ever Virgil dreamed of in his Purgatory or Cicero in his dream of Scipio or Plato in his Gorgias or Phaedo who indeed are the surest Authors to prove Purgatory But because to preach false stories was forbidden by the Council of Trent there are yet remaining more certain arguments even revelations made by Angels and the testimony of S. Odilio himself who heard the Devil complain and he had great reason surely that the souls of dead men were daily snatch'd out of his hands by the Alms and Prayers of the living and the sister of S. Damianus being too much pleas'd with hearing of a Piper told her brother that she was to be tormented for fifteen days in Purgatory We do not think that the wise men in the Church of Rome believe these Narratives for if they did they were not wise But this we know that by such stories the people were brought into a belief of it and having served their turn of them the Master-builders used them as false arches and centries taking them away when the parts of the building were made firm and stable by Authority But even the better sort of them do believe or else they do worse for they urge and cite the Dialogues of S. Gregory the Oration of S. Iohn Damascen de Defunctis the Sermons of Saint Augustine upon the Feast of the Commemoration of All-souls which nevertheless was instituted after S. Augustins death and divers other citations which the Greeks in their Apology call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— The Holds and the Castles the corruptions and insinuations of Heretical persons But in this they are the less to be blamed because better arguments than they have no men are tied to make use of But against this way of proceeding we think fit to admonish the people of our charges that besides that the Scriptures expresly forbid us to enquire of the dead for truth the Holy Doctors of the Church particularly Tertul. S. Athanasius S. Chrysost. Isido and Theophylact deny that the souls of the dead ever do appear and bring many reasons to prove that it is unfitting they should saying if they did it would be the cause of many errors and the Devils under that pretence might easily abuse the world with notices and revelations of their own And because Christ would have us content with Moses and the Prophets and especially to hear that Prophet whom the Lord our God hath raised up amongst us our Blessed Jesus who never taught any such Doctrine to his Church But because we are now representing the Novâ—lty of this Doctrine and proving that anciently it was not the Doctrine of the Church nor at all esteemed a matter of faith whether there was or was not any such place or state we add this That the Greek Church did always dissent from the Latines in this particular since they had forg'd this new Doctrine in the laboratories of Rome and in the Council of Basil publish'd an Apology directly disapproving the Roman Doctrine of Purgatory How afterwards they were press'd in the Council of Florence by Pope Eugenius and by their necessity how unwillingly they consented how ambiguously they answered how they protested against having that half consent put into the
Scotus says it was not ancient insomuch that Bellarmine accuses him of ignorance saying he talk'd at that rate because he had not read the Roman Council under Pope Gregory the VII nor that consent of Fathers which to so little purpose he had heap'd together Rem transubstantiation is Patres ne attigisse quidem said some of the English Jesuits in Prison The Fathers have not so much as touch'd or medled with the matter of Transubstantiation and in Peter Lombard's time it was so far from being an Article of Faith or a Catholick Doctrine that they did not know whether it were true or no And after he had collected the sentences of the Fathers in that Article he confess'd He could not tell whether there was any substantial change or no. His words are these If it be inquir'd what kind of conversion it is whether it be formal or substantial or of another kind I am not able to define it Onely I know that it is not formal because the same accidents remain the same colour and taste To some it seems to be substantial saying that so the substance is chang'd into the substance that it is done essentially To which the former authorities seem to consent But to this sentence others oppose these things If the substance of bread and wine be substantially converted into the body and blood of Christ then every day some substance is made the body or blood of Christ which before was not the body and to day something is Christs body which yesterday was not and every day Christs body is increased and is made of such matter of which it was not made in the conception These are his words which we have remark'd not onely for the arguments sake though it be unanswerable but to give a plain demonstration that in his time this Doctrine was new not the Doctrine of the Church And this was written but about fifty years before it was said to be decreed in the Lateran Council and therefore it made hast in so short time to passe from a disputable opinion to an Article of faith But even after the Council Durandus as good a Catholick and as famous a Doctor as any was in the Church of Rome publickly maintain'd that even after consecration the very matter of bread remain'd and although he says that by reason of the Authority of the Church it is not to be held yet it is not onely possible it should be so but it implies no contradiction that it should be Christs body and yet the matter of bread remain and if this might be admitted it would salve many difficulties which arise from saying that the substance of bread does not remain But here his reason was overcome by authority and he durst not affirm that of which alone he was able to give as he thought a reasonable account But by this it appears that the opinion was but then in the forge and by all their understanding they could never accord it but still the questions were uncertain according to that old Distich Corpore de Christilis est de sanguine lis est Déque modo lis est non habitura modum And the opinion was not determin'd in the Lateran as it is now held at Rome buâ— it is also plain that it is a stranger to antiquity De Transubstantiatione panis in corpus Christi rara est in antiquis scriptoribus mentio said Alphonsus à Castro There is seldome mention made in the ancient writers of transubstantiating the bread into Christs body We know the modesty and interest of the man he would not have said it had been seldome if he could have found it in any reasonable degree warranted he might have said and justified it There was no mention at all of this Article in the primitive Church and that it was a mere stranger to Antiquity will not be denyd by any sober person who considers That it was with so much uneasiness entertained even in the corruptest and most degenerous times and argued and unsettled almost 1300 years after Christ. And that it was so will but too evidently appear by that stating and resolution of this question which we find in the Canon law For Berengarius was by P. Nicolaus commanded to recant his error in these words and to affirm Verum corpus sanguinem Domini nostri Iesu Christi sensualiter non solùm in sacramento sed in veritate manibus sacerdotum tractari frangi fidelium dentibus atteri That the true body and bloud of our Lord Jesus Christ sensually not onely in sacrament but in truth is handled by the priests hands and broken and grinded by the teeth of the faithful Now although this was publickly read at Rome before an hundred and fourteen Bishops and by the Pope sent up and down the Churches of Italy France and Germany yet at this day it is renounc'd by the Church of Rome and unless it be well expounded says the Gloss will lead into a heresie greater than what Berengarias was commanded to renounce and no interpretation can make it tolerable but such an one as is in another place of the Canon law statuimus i. e. abrogamus nothing but a plain denying it in the sense of Pope Nicolas But however this may be it is plain they understood it not as iâ— is now decreed But as it happened to the Pelagians in the beginning of their heresie they spake rudely ignorantly and easily to be reprov'd but being asham'd and disputed into a more sober understanding of their hypothesis spake more warily but yet differently from what they said at first so it was and is in this question at first they understood it not it was too unreasonable in any tolerable sense to make any thing of it but experience and necessity hath brought it to what it is But that this Doctrine was not the doctrine of the first and best ages of the Church these following testimonies do make evident The words of Tertullian are these The bread being taken and distributed to his Disciples Christ made it his body saying This is my body that is the figure of my body The same is affirmed by Iustin Martyr The bread of the Eucharist wâ—s a figure which Christ the Lord commanded to do in remembrance of his passion Origen calls the bread and the chalice the images of the body and bloud of Christ and again That bread which is sanctified by the word of God so far as belongs to the matter or substance of it goes into the belly and is cast away in the secession or separation which to affirm of the natural or glorified body of Christ were greatly blasphemous and therefore the body of Christ which the Communicants receive is not the body in a natural sense but in a spiritual which is not capable of any such accident as the elements are Eusebius says that Christ gave to his Disciples the Symbols of Divine
of the mysteries So Aquin as also affirms According to the ancient custom of the Church all men as they communicated in the body so they communicated in the bloud which also to this day is kept in some Churches And therefore Paschasius Ratbertus resolves it dogmatically That neither the flesh without the bloud nor the bloud without the flesh is rightly communicated because the Apostles all of them did drink of the chalice And Salmeron being forc'd by the evidence of the thing ingenuously and openly confesses That it was a general custom to communicate the Laity under both kinds It was so and it was more There was anciently a Law for it Aut integra Sacramenta percipiant aut ab integris arceantur said Pope Gelasius Either all nor none let them receive in both kinds or in neither and he gives this reason Quia divisio unius ejusdem mysterii sine grandi sacrilegio non potest pervenire The mystery is but one and the same and therefore it cannot be divided without great sacrilege The reason concludes as much of the Receiver as the Consecrator and speaks of all indefinitely Thus it is acknowledged to have been in the Latine Church and thus we see it ought to have been And for the Greek Church there is no question for even to this day they communicate the people in the chalice But this case is so plain and there are such clear testimonies out of the Fathers recorded in their own Canon Law that nothing can obscure it but to use too many words about it We therefore do exhort our people to take care that they suffer not themselves to be robb'd of their portion of Christ as he is pleas'd sacramentally and graciously to communicate himself unto us Sect. VII AS the Church of Rome does great injury to Christendom in taking from the people what Christ gave them in the matter of the Sacrament so she also deprives them of very much of the benefit which they might receive by their holy prayers if they were suffered to pray in publick in a Language they understand But that 's denied to the common people to their very great prejudice and injury Concerning which although it is as possible to reconcile Adultery with the seventh Commandment as Service in a Language not understood to the fourteenth Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians and that therefore if we can suppose that the Apostolical age did follow the Apostolical rule it must be conclude that the practise of the Church of Rome is contrary to the practise of the Primitive Church Yet besides this we have thought fit to declare the plain sense and practise of the succeeding Ages in a few testimonies but so pregnant as not to be avoided Origen affirms that the Grecians in their prayers use Greek and the Romans the Roman language and so every one according to his Tongue prayeth unto God and praiseth him as he is able S. Chrysostom urging the precept of the Apostle for prayers in a Language understood by the hearer affirms that which is but reasonable saying If a man speaks in the Persian Tongue and understands not what himself says to himself he is a Barbarian and therefore so he is to him that understands no more than he does And what profit can he receive who hears a sound and discerns it not It were as good he were absent as present For if he be the better to be there because he sees what is done and guesses at something in general and consents to him that ministers It is true this may be but this therefore is so because he understands something but he is onely so far benefited as he understands and therefore all that which is not understood does him no more benefit that is present than to him that is absent and consents to the prayers in general and to what is done for all faithful people But If indeed ye meet for the edification of the Church those things ought to be spoken which the hearers understand said S. Ambrose And so it was in the primitive Church blessings and all other things in the Church were done in the Vulgar tongue saith Lyra Nay not onely the publick Prayers but the whole Bible was anciently by many Translations made fit for the peoples use S. Hierom affirms that himself translated the Bible into the Dalmatian Tongue and Ulphilas a Bishop among the Goths translated it into the Gothick Tongue and that it was translated into all Languages we are told by S. Chrysostome S. Austin and Theodoret. But although what twenty Fathers say can make a thing no more certain than if S. Paul had alone said it yet both S. Paul and the Fathers are frequent to tell us That a Service or Prayers in an unknown Tongue do not edifie So S. Basil S. Chrysostom S. Ambrose and S. Austin and this is consented to by Aquinas Lyra and Cassander And besides that these Doctors affirm that in the primitive Church the Priest and People joyn'd in their Prayers and understood each other and prayed in their Mother-tongue We find a story how true it is let them look to it but it is told by AEneas Sylvius who was afterwards Pope Pius the II. that when Cyrillus Bishop of the Moravians and Methodius had converted the Slavonians Cyril being at Rome desir'd leave to use the language of that Nation in their Divine Offices Concerning which when they were disputing a voice was heard as if from Heaven Let every spirit praise the Lord and every tongue confess unto him Upon which it was granted according to the Bishops desire But now they are not so kind at Rome and although the Fathers at Treâ—t confess'd in their Decree that the Mass contains in it great matter of erudition and edification of the people yet they did not think it fit that it should be said in the vulgar Tongue So that it is very good food but it must be lock'd up it is an excellent candle but it must be put under a bushel And now the Question is Whether it be fit that the people pray so as to be edified by it or is it better that they be at the prayers when they shall not be edified Whether it be not as good to have a dumb Priest to do Mass as one that hath a tongue to say it For he that hath no tongue and he that hath none to be understood is alike insignificant to me Quid prodest locutionum integritas quam non sequitur intellectus audientis cum loquendi nulla fit causa si quod loquimur non intelligunt propter quos ut intelligant loquimur said S. Austin What does it avail that man speaks all if the hearers understand none and there is no cause why â— man should speak at all if they for whose understanding you do speak understand it not God
no remedy could be had but the very intended remedy made things much worse then it was that divers Christian Kingdoms and particularly the Church of England Tum primùm senio docilis tua saecula Roma Erubuit pudet exacti jam temporis odit Praeteritos foedis cum relligionibus annos Being asham'd of the errors superstitious herâ—â—â—es and impieties which had deturpated the face of the Church look'd into the glass of Scripture and pure Antiquity and wash'd away those stains with which time and inadvertency and tyranny had besmear'd her and being thus cleans'd and wash'd is accus'd by the Roman parties of Novelty and condemnâ—d because she refuses to run into the same excess of riot and deordination But we cannot deserve blame who return to our ancient and first health by preferring a New cure before an Old sore CHAP. II. The Church of Rome as it is at this day disordered teaches Doctrines and uses Practises which are in themselves or in their true and immediate Consequences direct Impieties and give warranty to a wicked Life Sect. I. OUr First instance is in their doctrines of Repentance For the Roman Doctors teach that unless it be by accident or in respect of some other obligation a sinner is not bound presently to repent of his sin as soon as he hath committed it Some time or other he must do it and if he take care so to order his affairs that it be not wholly omitted but so that it be donâ— one time or other he is not by the precept or grace of Repentance bound to do more Scotus and his Scholars say that a sinner is bound viz. by the precept of the Church to repent on Holy days especially the great ones But this is thought too severe by Soto and Medina who teach that a sinner is bound to repent but once a year that is against Easter These Doctors indeed do differ concerning the Churches sense which according to the best of them is bad enough full as bad as it is stated in the charge but they agree in the worst part of it viz. that though the Church calls upon sinners to repent on Holy days or at Easter yet that by the Law of God they are not tied to so muâ—â— but onely to repent in the danger or article of death This is the express Doctrine taught in the Church of Rome by their famous Navar and for this he quotes Pope Adrian and Cardinal Cajetan and finally affirms it to be the sense of all men The same also is taught by Reginaldus saying It is true and the opinion of all men that the time in which a sinner is bound by the commandment of God to be contrite for his sins is the imminent article of natural or violent death We shall not need to aggravate this sad story by the addition of other words to the same purpose in a worse degree such as those words are of the same Reginaldus There is no precept that a sinner should not persevere in enmity against God There is no negative precept forbidding such a perseverance These are the words of this man but the proper and necessary consequent of that which they all teach and to which they must consent For since it is certain that he who hath sinn'd against God and his Conscience is in a state of enmity we say he therefore oâ—ght to repent presently because untill he hath repented he is an enemy to Godâ— This they confess but they suppoâ—e it concludes nothing for though they consider and confess this yet they still saying a man is not bound by Gods Law to repent till the article of death do consequently say the same thing that Reginaldus does and that a man is not bound to come outâ— of that state of enmity till he be in those circumstances that it is very probable if he does not then come out he must stay in it for ever It is something worse than this yet that Soâ—â—â— says even to resolve to dâ—fer our repentance and iâ— refuse to repent for a certain time is but a venial sin But Medina says it is none at all If it be replied to this that though God hath left it to a sinners liberty to repent when he please yet the Church hath been more severe than God hath been and ties a sinner to repent by collateâ—â—l positive laws for having bound every one to confess at Easterâ— consequently she hath tied every one to repent at Easter and so by her laws can lie in the sin without interruption but twelve moneths or thereabouts yet there is a secret in this which nevertheless themselves have been pleased to discover for the ease of tender consciences viz. that the Church ordains but the means the exteriour solemnity of it and is satisfied if you obey her laws by a Ritual repentance but the holiness and the inward repentance which in charity we should have supposed to have been design'd by the law of Festivals Non est id quod per praeceptum de observatione Festorum injungitur is not that which is enjoyned by the Church in her law of Holy-days So that still sinners are left to the liberty which they say God gave even to satisfie our selves with all the remaining pleasures of that sin for a little while even during our short mortal life onely we must be sure to repent at last We shall not trouble our selves or our charges with conâ—uting this impious Doctrine For it is evident that this gives countenance and too much warranty to a wicked life and that of it self is confutation enough and is that which we intended to represent If it be answered that this is not the doctrine of their Church but of some private Doctors we must tell you that if by the Doctrine of their Church they mean such things only as are decreed in their Councils it is to be considered that but few things are determin'd in their Councils nothing but articles of belief and the practise of Sacraments relating to publick orderâ— and if they will not be reprov'd for any thing but what we prove to be false iâ— the articles of their simple belief theâ— take a liberty to say and to do whaâ— they list and to corrupt all the Worlâ— by their rules of conscience But thaâ— this is also the Doctrine of their Churcâ— their own men tell us Communis oâ—â—nium It is the Doctrine of all the men so they affirm as we have citeâ— their own words above who also unâ—dertake to tell us in what sense their Church intends to tye sinners to actual repentance not as soon as the sin is committed but at certain seasons and then also to no more of it than the external and ritual part So that if their Church be injuriously charg'd themselves have done it not we And besides all this it is hard to suppose or expect that the innumerable cases of conscience which a whole Trade of Lawyers and Divines
usurps the rights of God and does not pursue the interests of true Religion whose very essence and formality is to glorifie God in all his attributes and to do good to man and to advance the honour and Kingdom of Christ. Now how greatly the Church of Rome prevaricates in this great Soul of Religion appears by too evident and notorious demonstration For she hath invented Sacramentals of her own without a Divine warrant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said S. Cyril Concerning the holy and Divine mysteries of Faith or Religion we ought to do nothing by chance or of our own heads nothing without the Authority of the Divine Scriptures But the Church of Rome does otherwise invents things of her own and imputes spiritual effects to these Sacramentals and promises not onely temporal blessings and immunities and benedictions but the collation or increment of Spiritual graces and remission of venial sins and alleviation of pains due to mortal sins to them who shall use these Sacramentals Which because God did not institute and did not sanctifie they use them without faith and rely upon them without a promise and make themselves the fountains of these graces and produce confidences whose last resort is not upon God who neither was the Author nor is an Approver of them Of this nature are Holy Water the Paschal Wax Oyl Palm-boughs Holy Bread not Eucharistical Hats Agnus Dei's Meddals Swords Bells and Roses hallowed upon the Sunday called Laetare Ierusalem such as P. Pius the second sent to Iames the II. of Scotland and Sixtus Quintus to the Prince of Parma Concerning which their Doctrine is this That the blood of Christ is by these applied unto us that they do not onely signifie but produce spiritual effects that they blot out venial sins that they drive away Devils that they cure diseases and that though these things do not operate infallibly as do the Sacraments and that God hath made no express Covenant concerning them yet by the devotion of them that use them and the prayers of the Church they do prevail Now though it be easie to say and it is notoriously true in Theology that the prayers of the Church can never prevail but according to the grace which God hath promis'd and either can onely procure a blessing upon natural things in order to their natural effects or else an extraordinary supernatural effect by vertue of a Divine promise and that these things are pretended to work beyond their natural force and yet God hath not promis'd to them a supernatural blessing as themselves confess yet besides the falseness of the Doctrine on which these superstitions do rely it is lso as evident that these instrumentalities produce an affiance and confidence in the Creature and estrange mens hearts from the true Religion and trust in God while they think themselves blessed in their own inventions and in digging to themselves Cisterns of their own and leaving the Fountain of Blessing and Eternal Life To this porpose the Roman Priests abuse the people with Romantick stories out of the Dialogues of S. Gregory and venerable Bede making them believe that S. Fortunatus cur'd a mans broken thigh with Holy Water and that S. Malachias the Bishop of Down and Conor cur'd a mad-man with the same medicine and that Saint Hilarion cur'd many sick persons with Holy Bread and Oyl which indeed is the most likely of them all as being good food and good medicine and although not so much as a Chicken is now a days cur'd of the Pip by Holy Water yet upon all occasions they use it and the common people throw it upon Childrens Cradles and sick Cows Horns and upon them that are blasted and if they recover by any means it is imputed to the Holy Water And so the Simplicity of Christian Religion the Glory of our Dependence on God the Wise Order and Oeconomy of Blessings in the Gospel the Sacredness and Mysteriousness of Sacraments and Divine Institutions are disorder'd and dishonour'd The Bishops and Priests inventing both the Word and the Element institute a kind of Sacrament in great derogation to the Supreme Prerogative of Christ and men are taught to go in ways which Superstition hath invented and Interest does support But there is yet one great instance more of this irreligion Upon the Sacraments themselves they are taught to rely with so little of Moral and Vertuous Dispositions that the efficacy of one is made to lessen the necessity of the other and the Sacraments are taught to be so effectual by an inherent vertue that they are not so much made the instruments of Vertue as the Suppletory not so much to increase as to make amends for the want of Grace On which we shall not now insist because it is sufficiently remark'd in our reproof of the Roman Doctrines in the matter of Repentance Sect. XII AFter all this if their Doctrines as they are explicated by their practice and the Commentaries of their greatest Doctors do make their Disciples guilty of Idolatry there is not any thing greater to deter men from them than that danger to their Souls which is imminent over them upon that account Their worshipping of Images we have already reprov'd upon the account of its novelty and innovation in Christian Religion But that it is against good life a direct breach of the second Commandment an Act of Idolatry as much as the Heathens themselves were guilty of in relation to the second Commandment is but too evident by the Doctrines of their own Leaders For if to give Divine honour to a Creature be Idolatry then the Doctors of the Church of Rome teach their people to commit Idolatry For they affirm That the same worship which is given to the Prototyp or Principal the same is to be given to the Image of it As we worship the Holy â—rinity and Christ so we may worship the Images of the Trinity of Christ that is with Latria or Divine honour This is the constant sentence of the Divines The Image is to be worshipped with the same honour and worship with which we worship those whose image it is said Azorius their great Master of Casuistical Theology And this is the Doctrine of their great St. Thomas of Alexander of Ales Bonaventure Albertus Richardus Capreolus Cajetan Coster Valentia Vasquez the Jesuists of Colein Triers and Mentz approving Coster's opinion Neither can this be eluded by saying that though the same worship be given to the Image of Christ as to Christ himself yet it is not done in the same way for it is terminatively to Christ or God but relatively to the image that is to the image for God's or Christs sake For this is that we complain of that they give the â—ame worship to an image which is due to God for what cause soever it be done it matters not save onely that the excuse makes it in some sense the worse for the Apology For to do a thing which
their prayers and abstain from Eggs and flesh in Lent and visit S. Patricks Well and leave Pins and Ribbons Yarn or Thred in their holy Wells and pray to God S. Mary and S. Patrick S. Columbanus and S. Bridget and desire to be buried with S. Francis's Cord about them and to fast on Saturdays in honour of our Lady These and so many other things of like nature we see daily that we being conscious of the infinite distance which these things have from the spirit of Christianity know that no charity can be greater than to persuade the people to come to our Churches where they shall be taught all the ways of godly wisdom of peace and safety to their souls whereas now there are many of them that know not how to say their prayers but mutter like Pies and Parrots words which they are taught but they do not pretend to understand But I shall give one particular instance of their miserable superstition and blindness I was lately within a few moneths very much troubled with Petitions and earnest Requests for the restoring a Bell which a Person of Quality had in his hands in the time of and ever since the late Rebellion I could not guess at the reasons of their so great and violent importunity but told the Petitioners If they could prove that Bell to be theirs the Gentleman was willing to pay the full value of it though he had no obligation to do so that I know of but charity but this was so far from satisfying them that still the importunity increased which made me diligently to inquire into the secret of it The first cause I found was that a dying person in the Parish desired to have it rung before him to Church and pretended he could not die in peace if it were deny'd him and that the keeping of that Bell did anciently belong to that family from father to son but because this seem'd nothing but a fond and an unreasonable superstition I enquired further and at last found that they believ'd this Bell came from Heaven and that it used to be carried from place to place and to end Controversies by Oath which the worst men durst not violate if they swore upon that Bell and the best men amongst them durst not but believe him that if this Bell was rung before the Corps to the grave it would help him out of Purgatory and that therefore when any one died the friends of the deceased did whilest the Bell was in their possession hire it for the behoof of their dead and that by this means that Family was in part maintain'd I was troubled to see under what spirit of delusion those poor souls do lie how infinitely their credulity is abused how certainly they believe in trifles and perfectly rely on vanity and how little they regard the truths of God and how not at all they drink of the waters of Salvation For the numerous companies of Priests and Friars amongst them take care they shall know nothing of Religion but what they design for them they use all means to keep them to the use of the Irish Tongue lest if they learn English they might be supplied with persons fitter to instruct them the people are taught to make that also their excuse for not coming to our Churches to hear our advices or converse with us in religious intercourses because they understand us not and they will not understand us neither will they learn that they may understand and live And this and many other evils are made greater and more irremediable by the affrightment which their Priests put upon them by the issues of Ecclesiastical Iurisdiction by which they now exercising it too publickly they give them Laws not onely for Religion but even for Temporal things and turn their Proselytes from the Mass if they become Farmers of the Tithes from the Minister or Proprietary without their leave I speak that which I know to be true by their own confession and unconstrain'd and uninvited Narratives so that as it is certain that the Roman Religion as it stands in distinction and separation from us is a body of strange Propositions having but little relish of true primitive and pure Christianity as will be made manifest if the importunity of our Adversaries extort it so it is here amongst us a Faâ—tion and a State-party and design to recover their old Laws and barbarous manner of living a device to enable them to dwell alone and to be Populus unius labii a people of one language and unmingled with others And if this be Religion it is such a one as ought to be reproved by all the severities of Reason and Religion lest the people perish and their souls be cheaply given away to them that make merchandize of souls who were the purchace and price of Christs bloud Having given this sad account why it was necessary â—hat my Lords the Bishops should take care to do what they have done in this affair and why I did consent to be engaged in this Controversie otherwise than I love to be and since it is not a love of trouble and contention but charity to the souls of the poor deluded Irish there is nothing remaining but that we humbly desire of God to accept and to bless this well-meant Labour of Love and that by some admirable ways of his Providence he will be pleas'd to convey to them the notices of their danger and their sin and toâ—de-obstruct the passages of necessary truth to them for we know the arts of their Guides and that it will be very hard that the notice of these things shall ever be suffer'd to arrive to the common people but that whiâ—â— hinders will hinder untill it be taken away however we believe and hope in God for remedy For although Edom would not let his brother Israel pass into his Countrey and the Philistims would stop the Patriarchs Wells and the wicked Shepherds of Midian would drive their neighbours flocks from the watering troughs and the Emissaries of Rome use all arts to keep the people from the use of Scriptures the Wells of salvation and from entertaining the notices of such things which from the Scriptuâ—es we teach yet as God found out a remedy for those of old so he will also for the poor misled people of Ireland and will take away the evil minds or the opportunities of the Adversaries hindring the people from Instruction and make way that the Truths we have here taught may approch to their ears and sink into their hearts and make them wise unto salvation Amen The Contents The Introduction pag. 1 CHAP. I. The Doctrine of the Roman Church in the Controverted Articles is neither Catholick Apostolick nor Primitive 5 CHAP. II. The Church of Rome as it is at this day disordered teaches Doctrines and uses Practices which are in themselves or in their true and immediate Consequences direct Impieties and give warranty to a wicked life 127 CHAP. III.