a naturall man wee understand one that is without Christ and destitute of his renewing grace by free-will that which the Philosophers call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing that is in our owne power to doe and by good a Theologicall not a Philosophicall good bonuÌ„ veré spirituale salutare a spirituall good and tending to salvation This then is the difference which Gods word teacheth us to put betwixt a regenerate an unregenerate man The one is alive unto God through Iesus Christ our Lord and so inabled to yeelde himselfe unto God as one that is alive from the dead and his members as instruments of righteousnesse unto God having his fruite unto holinesse and the end everlasting life The other is a meere stranger from the life of God dead in trespasses and sinnes and so no more able to lead a holy life acceptable unto God then a dead man is to performe the actions of him which is alive He may live indeed the life of a naturall and a morall man and so exercise the freedome of his Will not onely in naturall and civill but also in morall actions so farre as concerneth externall conformitie unto those notions of good and evill that remaine in his minde in respect whereof the verie Gentiles themselves which have not the Law are said to doe by nature the things contayned in the Law he may have such fruite as not onely common honestie and civilitie but common giftes of Gods spirit likewise will yeelde and in regard thereof hee may obtaine of God temporall rewards appertayning to this transitorie life and a lesser measure of punishment in the world to come yet untill he be quickened with the life of grace married to him who is raysed from the dead he cannot bring forth fruite unto God nor be accepted for one of his servants This is the doctrine of our Saviour himselfe Iohn 15.4 5. As the branch cannot beare fruite of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can yee except yee abide in me I am the Vine yee are the branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruite for without me yee can doe NOTHING that is nothing truely good and acceptable unto God This is the lesson that S. Paul doth everie where inculcate I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing The naturall man perceiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishnesse unto him neyther can he understand them because they are spiritually discerned Without faith it is impossible to please God Vnto them that are defiled and unbeleeving is nothing pure but even their minde conscience is defiled Now seeing the end of the commandement is charitie out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfained seeing the first beginning from whence every good action should proceed is a sanctified heart the last end the seeking of Gods glorie and faith working by love must intercurre betwixt both the morall workes of the unregenerate fayling so fowly both in the beginning middle and end are to be accounted breaches rather of the Commandement then observances depravations of good workes rather then performances For howsoever these actions be in their owne kinde good and commanded of God yet are they marred in the carriage that which is bonum being not done bene and so though in regard of their matter they may be accounted good yet for the maner they must be esteemed vitious The Pelagian heretickes were wont here to object unto our forefathers as the Romanistes doe now a daies unto us both the examples of the Heathen vvho being strangers from the faith did notwithstanding as they said abound with vertues and S. Pauls testimonie also concerning them Rom. 2.14 15. by which they laboured to prove that even such as were strangers from the faith of Christ might yet have true righteousnesse because that these as the Apostle witnessed naturally did the things of the Law But will you heare how S. Augustine tooke up Iulian the Pelagian for making this obâ—ection Herein hast thou expressed more evidently that doctrine of yours wherein you are enemies unto the grace of God which is given by Iesus Christ our Lord who taketh away the sinne of the world bringing in a kinde of men which may please God without the faith of Christ by the law of nature This is it for which the ChristiaÌ„ Church doth most of all detest you again Be it farre from us to thinke that true vertue should be in any one unlesse he were righteous And as farre that one should be truly righteous unlesse he did live by faith for the just doth live by faith Now which of them that would have themselves accounted Christians but the Pelagians alone or even among them perhaps thou thy selfe alone would say that an infidell were righteous would say that an ungodly man were righteous would say that a man mancipated to the Devill were righteous although he were Fabricius although hee were Fabius although hee were Scipio although he were Regulus And whereas Iulian had further demanded If a Heathen man doe cloath the naked because it is not of faith is it therefore sinne Saint Augustine answereth absolutely in as much as it is not of faith it is sinne not because the fact considered in it selfe which is to cloath the naked is a sinne but of such a worke not to glory in the Lord none but an impious man will deny to be a sinne For howsoever in it selfe this naturall compassion be a good worke yet hee useth this good worke amisse that useth it unbeleevingly and doth this good work amisse that doth it unbeleevingly but who so doth any thing amisse sinneth surely From whence it is to be gathered that even those good workes which unbeleevers doe are not theirs but his who maketh good use of evill men but that the sinnes are theirs whereby they doe good things amisse because they doe them not with a faithfull but with an unfaithfull that is with a foolish and naughtie will Which kinde of will no Christian doubteth to be an evill tree which cannot bring forth but evill fruits that is to say sinnes only For all that is not of faith whether thou wilt or no is sinne This and much more to the same purpose doth Saint Augustine urge against the Heretike Iulian prosecuting at large that conclusion which hee layeth downe in his booke of the Acts of the Palestine Councell against Pelagius How much soever the works of unbeleevers be magnified we know the sentence of the Apostle to be true and invincible Whatsoever is not of faith is sinne Which maketh him also in his Retractations to correct himselfe for saying in one place That the Philosophers shined with the light of vertue who were not endued with true pietie The like sentence doth Saint
calumniators and lyars or a Parrat likewise if hee be taught the words may aswel absolve as the Priest as if the speech were all the thing that here were to be considered and not the power where we are taught that the kingdome of God is not in word but in power Indeed if the Priests by their office brought nothing with them but the ministerie of the bare letter a Parrat peradventure might be taught to sound that letter as well as they but we beleeve that God hath made them able ministers of the New Testament not of the letter but of the spirit and that the Gospell ministred by them commeth unto us not in word onely but also in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance For God hath added a speciall beautie to the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace that howsoever others may bring glad tydings of good things to the penitent sinner as truely as they doe yet neyther can they doe it with the same authoritie neyther is it to be expected that they should doe it with such power such assurance and such full satisfaction to the afflicted conscience The speech of everie Christian we know should be employed to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and a private brother in his place may deliver found doctrine reprehend vice exhort to righteousnesse verie commendably yet hath the Lord notwithstanding all this for the necessarie use of his Church appointed publicke officers to doe the same things and hath given unto them a peculiar power for edification wherein they may boast above others and in the due execution whereof God is pleased to make them instruments of ministring a more plentifull measure of grace unto their hearers then may be ordinarily looked for from others These men are appointed to bee of Gods high commission and therefore they may speake and exhort and rebuke with all authoritie· they are Gods Angels and Ambassadors for Christ and therefore in delivering their message are to be received as an Angel of God yea as Christ Iesus that looke how the Prophet Esay was comforted when the Angel said unto him Thine iniquitie is taken away and thy sinne purged and the poore woman in the Gospell when Iesus said unto her Thy sinnes are forgiven the like consolation doth the distressed sinner receive from the mouth of the Minister when hee hath compared the truth of Gods word faithfully delivered by him with the worke of Gods grace in his owne heart according to that of Elihu If there be an Angel or a messenger with him an Interpreter one of a thousand to declare unto man his righteousnesse then will God have mercy upon him and say Deliver him from going downe to the pit I have received a reconciliation For as it is the office of this messenger and interpreter to pray us in Christs stead that we would be reconciled to God so when wee have listened unto this motion and submitted our selves to the Gospell of peace it is a part of his office likewise to declare unto us in Christs stead that we are reconciled to God and in him Christ himselfe must bee acknowledged to speake who to us ward by this meanes is not weake but is mightie in us But our new Masters will not content themselves with such a ministeriall power of forgiving sinnes as hath beene spoken of unlesse we yeeld that they have authoritie so to doe properly directly and absolutely that is unlesse wee acknowledge that their high Priest sitteth in the Temple of God as God and all his creatures as so manie demi-gods under him For we must say if we will be drunke with the drunken that in this high Priest there is the fulnesse of all graces because hee alone giveth a full indulgence of all sinnes that this may agree unto him which we say of the chiefe prince our Lord that of his fulnesse all we have received Nay wee must acknowledge that the meanest in the whole armie of Priests that followeth this king of pride hath such fulnesse of power derived unto him for the opening and shutting of heaven before men that forgivenesse is denyed to them whom the Priest will not forgive and his Absolution on the other side is a sacramentall act which conferreth grace by the worke wrought that is as they expound it actively and immediately and instrumentally effecteth the grace of justification in such as receive it that as the winde doth extinguish the fire and dispell the clowdes so doth the Priests absolution scatter sinnes and make them to vanish away the sinner being thereby immediately acquitted before God howsoever that sound conversion of heart be wanting in him which otherwise would be requisite for a conditionall Absolution upon such termes as these If thou doest beleeve and repent as thou oughtest to doe is in these mens judgement to no purpose and can give no securitie to the penitent seeing it dependeth upon an uncertaine condition Have wee not then just cause to say unto them as Optatus did unto the Donatistes Nolite vobis Majestatis dominium vendicare Intrude not upon the royall prerogative of our Lord and Master No man may challenge this absolute power of the keyes but he that hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth hee to whom the Father hath given power over all flesh yea all power in heaven and in earth even the eternall Sonne of God who hath in his hands the keyes of death and is able to quicken whom he will The Ministers of the Gospell may not meddle with the matter of soveraignetie and thinke that they have power to proclaime warre or conclude peace betwixt God and man according to their owne discretion they must remember that they are Ambassadors for Christ and therefore in this treatie are to proceed according to the instructions which they have received from their soveraigne which if they doe transgresse they goe beyond their commission therein they doe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and their authoritie for so much is plainly voyde The Bishop saith S. Gregory and the Fathers in the Councell of Aquisgran following him in loosing and binding those that are under his charge doth follow oftentimes the motions of his owne will and not the merit of the causes Whence it commeth to passe that he depriveth himselfe of this power of binding and loosing who doth exercise the same according to his owne will and not according to the manners of them which be subject unto him that is to say he maketh himselfe worthy to be deprived of that power which he hath thus abused as the Master of the Sentences and Semeca in his Glosse upon Gratian would have S. Gregories meaning to be expounded and pro tanto as hath
Peter of binding and loosing upon earth just as Theodoret reporteth the Audians were wont to doe who presently after confession graunted remission not prescribing a time for repentance as the lawes of the Church did require but giving pardon by authoritie The lawes of the Church prescribed a certaine time unto Penitents wherein they should give proofe of the soundnesse of their repentance and gave order that afterwards they should be forgiven and comforted lest they should be swallowed up with overmuch heavinesse So that first their penance was injoyned unto them and thereby they were held to be bound after performance whereof they received their absolution by which they were loosed againe But the Audian hereticks without anie such triall taken of their repentance did of their owne heads give them absolution presently upon their confession as the Popish Priests use to doe now a dayes Onely the Audians had one ridiculous ceremonie more then the Papists that having placed the Canonicall bookes of Scripture upon one side and certaine Apocryphall writings on the other they caused their followers to passe betwixt them and in their passing to make confession of their sinnes as the Papists another idle practise more then they that after they have given absolution they injoyne penance to the partie absolved that is to say as they of old would have interpreted it they first loose him and presently after binde him which howsoever they hold to be done in respect of the temporall punishment remayning due after the remission of the fault yet it appeareth plainly that the penitentiall workes required in the ancient Church had reference to the fault it selfe and that no absolution was to be expected from the Minister for the one before all reckonings were ended for the other Onely where the danger of death was imminent the case admitted some exception reconciâ—iation being not denied indeed unto them that desired it at such a time yet so granted that it was left verie doubtfull whether it would stand the parties in anie great stead or no. If any one being in the last extremitie of his sicknesse saith S. Augustin is willing to receive penance and â—oth receive it and is presently reconciled and departeth hence I confesse unto you wee doe not denie him that which hee asketh but wee doe not presume that he goeth well from hence I doe not presume I deceive you not I doe not presume Hee who putteth off his penance to the last and is reconciled whether hee goeth secure from hence I am not secure Penance I can give him securitie I cannot give him Doe I say hee shall be damned I say not so But doe I say also he shall be freed No. What doest thou then say unto mee I know not I presume not I promise not I know not Wilt thou free thy selfe of the doubt wilt thou escape that which is uncertaine Doe thy penance while thou art in health The penance which is asked for by the infirme man is infirme The penance which is asked for onely by him that is a dying I feare lest it also dye But with the matter of penance we have not here to deale those formal absolutions and pardons of course immediately granted upon the hearing of mens confessions is that which wee charge the Romish Priests to have learned from the Audian hereticks Some require penance to this end that they might presently have the communion restored unto them these men desire not so much to loose themselves as to binde the Priest saith S. Ambrose If this be true that the Priest doth binde himselfe by his hastie and unadvised loosing of others the case is like to go hard with our Popish Priests who ordinarily in bestowing their absolutions use to make more hast then good speed Wherein with how little judgement they proceed who thus take upon them the place of Iudges in mens consciences may sufficiently appeare by this that whereas the maine ground whereupon they would build the necessitie of Auricular confession and the particular enumeration of all knowne sinnes is pretended to be this that the ghostly Father having taken notice of the cause may judge righteous judgement and discerne who should be bound and who should be loosed the matter yet is so carried in this court of theirs that everie man commonly goeth away with his absolution and all sorts of people usually receive one and the selfe same iudgement If thou seperate the pretious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth saith the Lord. Whose mouth then may we hold them to be who seldome put anie difference betweene these and make it their ordinarie practise to pronounce the same sentence of absolution aswell upon the one as upon the other If we would know how late it was before this trade of pardoning mens sinnes after this maner was established in the Church of Rome wee cannot discover this better then by tracing out the doctrine publickly taught in that Church touching this matter from the time of Satans loosing untill his binding againe by the restoring of the puritie of the Gospell in our dayes And here Radulphus Ardens doth in the first place offer himselfe who toward the beginning of that time preached this for sound divinitie The power of releasing sinnes belongeth to God alone But the ministery which improperly also is called a power hee hath granted unto his substitutes who after their maner doe binde and absolve that is to say doe declare that men are bound or absolved For God doth first inwardly absolve the sinner by compunction and then the Priest outwardly by giving the sentence doth declare that he is absolved Which is well signified by that of Lazarus who first in the grave was raysed up by the Lord and afterward by the ministery of the disciples was loosed from the bands wherewith he was tyed Then follow both the Anselmes ours of Canterbury and the other of Laon in France who in their expositions upon the ninth of S. Matthew cleerely teach that none but God alone can forgive sinnes Ivo Bishop of Chartres writeth that by inward contrition the inward judge is satisfied and therefore without delay forgivenesse of the sinne is granted by him unto whom the inward conversion is manifest but the Church because it knoweth not the hidden things of the heart doth not loose him that is bound although he be raysed up untill hee be brought out of the tombe that is to say purged by publick satisfaction and if presently upon the inward conversion God be pleased to forgive the sinne the absolution of the Priest which followeth cannot in anie sort properly be accounted a remission of that sinne but a further manifestation onely of the remission formerly granted by God himselfe The Master of the Sentences after him having propounded the diverse opinions of the Doctors touching this point demandeth at last In this so great varietie what is to be held and returneth for