Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n
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A35885
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The salvation of Protestants asserted and defended in opposition to the rash and uncharitable sentence of their eternal damnation pronounc'd against them by the Romish Church / by J.H. Dalhusius ... ; newly done into English.
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Dalhusius, Johannes H. (Johannes Hermanus)
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1689
(1689)
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Wing D132; ESTC R1473
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51,117
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84
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them with Clamour and Judicial Sentences and which is more fill every corner of the World with their Thundring Writings to prevent the Voice of Truth from being heard nay which is more then all this like Ahab himself they make it their business to throw the guilt of the Troubles which themselves have rais'd upon the Faithful Preachers of the Truth and which is most horrible to hear make it their glory to condemn them all to the Punishment of Infernal Fires The same ill Fate has befall'n me For when it was my late hap to officiate in the Function of Ecclesiastial Overseer in the County of Weeden upon the Rhine one of the Popish Prelates a certain Neighbour of mine was not asham'd instead of a NEW-YEARS-GIFT to send me word That not only my Self but also all the Protestants in general were eternally Damn'd and to be infallibly Burn'd in the everlasting Fire of Hell. But in regard that by the Testimony of the Apostle We can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth and that it is the chief Duty of a Preacher of the Gospel To hold fast the faithful Word which is according to Doctrin that he may be able both to Exhort in wholsom Doctrin and to Convince them that say against it I thought it my Duty not only to Translate into the German Language the Catechism of Controversies written by Monsieur Moulin and by that means to arm my Auditors against the daily Attacques of the Monks but also to refel such an inconsiderate and unchristianlike Letter and by this my ANSWER to vindicate the Salvation of the Protestants against so horrible a Condemnation Wherein I have chiefly made it my business to encounter my Antagonist with the Sword of his own Brethren as having brought in Aid of our Cause the Testimonies of the most Famous Popish Doctors against him Not that I would have it so to be understood however as if the Suffrages of Men that wander in the Paths of Error were necessary for the support of our Doctrin but only that as vanquish'd Enemies following the Triumphal Chariot of Truth their Necks laden with Chains and compell'd to submit to the Victress they might give all the World an unquestionable Testimony of her Conquest or else that if after the first Rout they should adventure to make a second Attempt upon her being by this Stratagem set together by the Ears one among another and distracted in their Minds or at least in their Sentences they might by mutually wounding each other destroy themselves thereby affording us this pleasing Spectacle as if the Lord had set every Man's Sword upon his Neighbor throughout the Host and had so brought it to pass that they should kill one another with the Weapons which they had made themselves and that the Heads of these new Goliah's should be cut off with the Swords which they had girt upon their own Loyns For thus we see that the Papists in many things are like Samson's Foxes having their Tails in such a manner ty'd together to set on Fire that with their Heads they draw two contrary Ways or else like certain Monsters whose Bodies are not united together till about the Navil or the Belly But as Fawning creates Friends and Truth begets Hatred so neither could I avoid the Hatred and Persecution of the Papists For their Revenge transported them to that degree that they sent several Soldiers to apprehend me and to have punish'd me with eternal Captivity who because they could not overtake me flying away on Horseback discharg'd two Pistols at me to have kill'd me outright but in vain while God in his Mercy protected me Constrain'd therefore by these and other Persecutions and continual way-layings of my life some Weeks ago I threw my self into the Bosom of your Church that under your Protection I might live in more safety and so soon as opportunity should permit that I might be ready to employ the utmost of my Abilities and Sedulity in your Service But in regard that according to the Proverb There is no Desire of that which is to Men Unknown I thought it might be worth my while most devoutly and humbly to offer and dedicate this my Answer to all and singular both Shepherds and Sheep High and Mean Ecclesiastics and Laity Magistrates and Subjects as having no other means to excite and kindle in your Hearts when once made known to your Christian Pity so much of generous Goodness as to receive me into the Arms of your Charity and make me Partaker of your Labors Accept I beseech ye therefore most Honourable Patrons with courteous Mind and Hand this little Treatise of mine and open to me the doors of your Benevolence and what you would should be done to your selves in the same case that do to me Be not weary in well doing for in due season ye shall reap if ye faint not While we have therefore time let us do good unto all Men especially unto them that be of the houshold of Faith. In the mean time our Merciful God who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ that being fill'd with the fruits of righteousness ye may speak the Word of God without fear and continue in one Spirit and one Soul holding together in the defence of the Faith of the Gospel and in nothing fearing your Adversaries which is to them a Token of Perdition but to you of Salvation and that of God. For to you it is given for Christ not only this that ye believe in him but also this that ye suffer for his sake Having the same sight which ye saw in me and now hear in me My Brethren count it all joy when ye fall in diverse temptations For blessed is the Man who endureth temptation because that when he is try'd he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord has promis'd to those that love him May it please the same Almighty God That fighting a good fight ye may hold Faith and a good Conscience which some having put away as concerning Faith have made Shipwrack So shall ye remain faithful unto death and a Crown of Life shall be given unto you So that when the time of your dissolution is at hand you may gladly and truly say We have fought a good Fight We have fulfilled our Course We have kept the Faith. Henceforth there is laid up for us a Crown of Righteousness whicb the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give at that day and not only to us but to them that have lov'd his appearing Now unto the King Everlasting Incorruptible Invisible To God only Wise be Honour and Glory for ever and ever Amen So farewel most Honoured Patrons and benignly favour Your most Humble Servant And Exile J. H. Dalhusius THE SALVATION OF PROTESTANTS Asserted and Defended c. The Salvation of Body and Soul comes from one Fountain of Salvation which is
that Consecrates be no Priest or because he errs in Form or because the due Intention is wanting nor can he that stands by be sure that a Transubstantiation is made no nor the Priest that celebrates because he is not absolutely certain whither he be a Priest or no in regard the Intention of his Ordainer is not positively known to him all which things consider'd how can he that Adores the Sacrament avoid the danger of Idolatry For if he adores an unconsecrated Host which he thinks to be consecrated he commits Idolatry Nor does he propound any other Remedy to escape this danger of Idolatry then a Conditional Adoration which whether it pleases your modern Doctors or no I know not These are his words Litt. R. Resp Secundum Alex. part 3. quaest 30. memb 3. art 1. sect 3. and after him Bishop Thomas and St. Bonaventure in 3. distinst 9. That the Host or Eucharist upon the Altar ought to be ador'd upon condition that all things requisite to the Consecration are so as they ought to be Since then the Adoration of the Sacrament is dubious and dangerous we of the Reformed Church are not to be accounted Enemies of the Sacrament because we do not adore it following that course which is safest and voidof all danger lest we should adore what we know not like the Samaritans of old John 4. Lastly We cannot be traduc'd for being Enemies to any profess'd legal Order whether Political or Ecclesiastical since it is our desire that all things should be done decently and regularly in the Church according to the Apostolic Precept 1 Cor. 4. 40. And for that we press nothing more urgently in the Public Government then due Obedience to the Magistrates ignorant of the dangerous Axioms of your Roman Church which tear up by the Roots the Authority of Princes and subject the Heads and Diadems of Kings and Emperors to the Mitre and Feet of the Pope Nay we are in this Point so rigid in our Duty that Bellarmin complains That we give too much Power to Magistrates c. 17. de Laicis But because we hold That the Laws of Men do not bind the Conscience it is not to be taken in such a sense as if we deny'd That Men were to be obey'd because of our Consciences but only as making this difference between Human and Divine Laws That the latter only bind and subject the Consciences immediately and of themselves And Bellarmin c. 9. de Laicis confesses John Gerson Chancellor of the Academy of Paris de vit Spirit Lect. 4. and Jacobus Almain a Doctor of the Sorbonn de Protestat Ecclesiae quaest 1. cap. 10. both Famous Men and neither of them taxed with any Error in Faith. We do not allow so many Rites and Ceremonies in the Church not out of any hatred of Order and Decency but out of a just abhorrence of Tyranny and Susperstition The more Night comes on the more the Darkness encreases Multitude of Ceremonies are so far from helping that they stifle Piety If the Roman Pontiff press'd no more then only a certain Primacy among the Bishops of the West for Orders sake and that by a positive Human and not Divine Law he might then perhaps have some Pretence to complain of us for refusing to acknowledge such a Primacy as Enemies to Order in the Church and yet there might be a Decency observ'd therein without any such Primacy as is apparent from the Example of our Churches But we are not to be accus'd of Despising Order while we only reject his Authority in regard he arrogates to himself an absolute Primacy in the Universal Church not only of Order but of Power Authority and Jurisdiction by virtue of which he pretends to be Monarch of the whole Church jure Divino contrary to the Saying of St. Cyprian de Simpl. prael A Bishoprick is that of which a part is held by several in particular to make up the whole Thus far we have discuss'd the more weighty and more heavy Calumnies which are cast upon the Protestants by the Romanists on purpose to render them odious to the People and that they may have some Pretence to deliver them up to the Flames of Hell. Now there are some other Motives of this rash Judgment to be examin'd that there may not the least shadow of Reason remain to support it There is no Name by which we are more frequently mark'd out then that of Heretics and under this Title you Mr. Prior Anathematize us tho' not the First For the Pope every year in his Bull entitl'd Caena Domini brandishes his Thunder of Excommuication over our Heads and Interdicts us from all Society with Roman Catholics so that they dare not either read our Books or hear our Sermons Where-ever the Rigor of the Inquisition reigns our People are hurry'd before its cruel Tribunal as to the Altars of Busiris and the Roman Doctors presently Preach to us the Axioms of their School That Heretics and Excommunicated Persons ipso facto lose the Dominion and Property of their Goods and Estates That they are incapable of all lawful Jurisdiction That they do more harm in a Common-wealth then Whores nay then Jews and Turks so that 't is better to tolerate Brothel-houses and Synagogues then their Meetings That for this reason the Pope has Power to deprive Kings of their Dignity to absolve Subjects from their Oaths of Fidelity given to the Magistrates That a Husband may forsake his Wife upon this account if she presume to bring up the Children common to both in Heresie altho' the Husband had condescended and engaged his Promise upon the Contract of Marriage Lastly That Faith given to Heretics may be violated without any remorse of Conscience However I maintain this Crime of Heresie to be unjustly and out of meer Calumny fixed upon Us the word being taken in that Sense wherein the Scripture condemns Heresie as when St. Paul reck'ns it among the Fruits of the Flesh Gal. 5. 20. and commands Titus to reject a Heretic Tit. 3. 10. I say Protestants are no Heretics in that sense wherein Heresie is condemn'd in Scripture Certain it is that the Signification of this word is in general more diffus'd among the Antients and in particular more largely us'd among the Romanists and that among both they are frequently tax'd of Heresie who according to the Scripture are very remote from it First in general among the Antients For Philastrius Bishop of Brescia Contemporary with St. Ambrose reck'ns for Heresie the Opinion of those that attributed the Epistle to the Hebrews to Clement or Barnabas also the Opinion of them that affirm'd the Stars to be fix'd in their Celestial Globes Whether or no were the Quartodecimans justly deem'd Heretics because they would have Easter to be precisely celebrated upon the Fourteenth Moon For this was the Opinion of all the Churches of Asia the less and which Polycrates a holy Man stifly maintains from Apostolical Tradition And when Victor Bishop of