it if they please in the Article of necessity when ever the precept makes it their duty And what should hinder them upon such encouragement to defer it even to the point of death they need not fear that they shall perish nor need they fear they shall sin by thus putting it off Some of their Doctors make it no sin at all others as good as none (e) Neque enim praeceptum de paenitentia agenda quovis tempore obligat cum sit affirmativum sed solum certis temporibus ut cum versamur in periculo mortis cum ad confessioneâ— est accedendum but for this he says attrition will suffice l. 2. c. 18. p. 974. câ—… Deus peculiari inspiratione ad paenitentiam nos invitat At extra ejusmodi tempora impaenitentia non tam peccatum novum quam peccati patrati circumstantia est De paeniâ— l. 2. c. 9. p. 938. Bellarmine determines That it is not a sin but only a circumstance of sin when the command doth not oblige and that it doth not presently but only at a certain season (f) Non est dubium quin id licitum sit de panit tr 1. q. 6. p 18. Medina affirms That without all doubt it is lawful (g) In 4. dist 17. q. 2. art 6. Relect. de paenit pars 4. p. 866. Soto saith it is but a Venial sin Canus takes a course to reconcile them he concludes it is no sin at all not to Repent presently and that it is but (h) Ibid p. 863. supra a Venial sin to Will or resolve not to Repent Now if it be no sin at all there is no danger at all if it be but a Venial sin there is very little or none to be regarded no necessity upon any account to Repent of it and he saith the people never confess this in order to Repentance the Priests never require it nor regard it by the consent of all we are not obliged to it Now that which a man is not bound to Repent of he may still continue in and so he may still continue resolved to put off Repentance yes so he may safely say they till the Article of necessity Sect. 5. But when is that Let us next enquire after it and in the pursuit thereof we shall discover the second point I charge them with That a man by their doctrine needs not Repent all his days till he be in danger of death This is their common doctrine since the command to Repent is Affirmative (i) Quantum autem ad vitandum novum pâ—ccatum transgressionis praecepti de contritione tempus est determinatum ad articulum necessitatis sicut in aliis affirmativis praeceptis contingit Cajetan Sum. v. contrit p. 104. Canus ibid. p. 863. it doth not oblige but in time of necessity even as other affirmative precepts do All the question will be When is this time of necessity when it will be necessary to Repent without longer delay Now their Doctors are agreed in no other Article of time except it be the point of death or when a mans life is apparently in danger There is no other time in a mans whole life wherein it is likely that Repentance should be requisite but they deny it to be then necessary and offer arguments to prove that it is not needful in any other however probable seasons Let me shew this in some instances Is it necessary to Repent at solemn times of worship when we address our selves in a more particular manner to a Holy God No say they (k) Aquinas 2. 2. q. 122. art 4. Cajetan ibid. p. 105 Soto de just jur l. 2. q. 4. art 4. supra Bellarm. de cult Storum l. 3. c. 10. supra Sylvest sum v. Domin n. 8. Graff lib. 1. cap. 5. n. 14. Navar cap. 13. n. 17. Sum. Rosellae v. feriae n. 2. Lopez cap. 12. p. 85. generally and Canus (l) In diebus festis non obligari homines ad ageudam paenitentiam aut divino praeceptâ—â—ut humano praeceptum emim de colendo Deo quo festis diebus astringimur opera religionâ—… praescribit at paenitentia religionis opus non est sed vindicationis Canus ibid. p. 864. Ita Cajetan Soto Navar Armilla Rosell alij communiter Suar. l. 2. de fest c. 16. n. 14. giveth this reason for it Though acts of Religion be then required yet Repentance is not an act of Religion but of Revenge Is it needful on days of Fasting It may seem so because the main and proper end of Fasts is the exercises of Repentance and Humiliation No say they It is not needful then for if this were the intention of God or the Church in injoyning Fasts yet the intention of the Law-giver doth not bind us (m) Ex D. Thomae graviorum autorum sententia ad finem legislatoris minime teneamur Canus ibid. p. 871. No exercise of Repentance is with them requisite on their Fasts but what they may perform in a Dream for if they sleep the whole Fasting day yet they fulfil the Precept for Fasting (*) Si aliquis dormiret pro totum diem qua observari praecipitur jejunium praeceptum jejunij impleret Jo. Sanc. disp 5â— n. 2. To their Fasts they require nothing but abstinence from some sort of meat not any Religious act at all and if with them the Precept for the Mass or Prayer could not be fully accomplished without some penitent sense of sin as it may yet neither the Mass nor Prayer publick or private is requisite to their Fasts Yea in extraordinary times for Prayer upon occasion of some great calamity befalne them for their sins they think not contrition for sin needful the peopls (n) Vid Bonacin de Sacram. d. 5. q. 5. p. 2. n. 6. Quia non constat privatis hominibus tempore uâ—gentis necessitatis oraturis pro populi necessitate quod contritio de suis peccatis sit remedium solitum ab ipsis adhiberi quiâ— ignorant id remedij esse necessarium neque de hoc tanquam de re necessaria solent admontri a confessoribus vel praedicatoribus ideo peccatorem privatum tempore calamitatis magna qua premitur respublica orantem Deum pro reipublicae liberatione sine praevia contrition ad peccatum mortale non ideo damnarem c. Lopez cap. 16. p. 97. know not there is then any necessity thereof their Confessors and Preachers are never wont to mind them of this as a thing necessary and therefore Lopez saith He would not condemne any private person that neglects it in these circumstances and so concludes he after others As for their common Fasts these no more than their Festivals require not abstinence from acts of wickedness much less Repentance for them Is it necessary when sins are brought to our remembrance and when our minds dictate to us that they are to be hated and Repented of It seems then needful if ever seeing a practical
sana fieri tradit Danata daries dardaries astararies c. Polyd. Virgil. de prodigijs lib. 1 were used in a charm for curing members out of joynt or the name Abraham which though the Conjurers in other Countreys used yet they knew not what it meant (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. lib. 1. p. 17. sayes Origen They are tyed to the same syllables as Conjurers are in their charms and that they may not vary must as the Persian Magician (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pausan ibid. vid. Soto de Justit lib. 10. q. 5. art 3. read all out of a Book yea though they have it by heart It is not requisite by their Doctrine as we saw before to mind the God of Heaven in their prayers more than the Prince of darkness The meer muttering of the words they count effectual as in charms and inchauntments yet have they no promise from God that the bare recital of their forms without any inward Devotion or Attention shall prevail more than a Magician has that such a pronouncing of the words he uses in Conjuring will be prevalent or more than that the words of a prayer which one carries in his pocket (e) Vid. Horae B. Virg. Paris edit an 1526. p. 63. another charm in use amongst the Papists will be effectual So that Salmeron had more reason than he expressed to say that their prayers were like the words of a charmer They had need first excuse their prayers from this crime before this will serve to excuse their Sacramentals Sect. 7. There is another crime no less hainous than the former and yet in their account it is a necessary duty and a most excellent service and that is the destroying of Christ which by their doctrine and Laws of their Church they are to do daily in the Mass To clear this take notice of these severals They teach that Christ is really in the Mass not only as he is God and so every where but as he is Man Soul and Body Flesh and Blood and there not only mystically in signes and representations or spiritually in vertue and efficacy but as to the very substance of his body some say Corporally others after tâ—e manner of a Spirit but all say the true substance of his Flesh and Blood is as really on the Altar as his Body was on the Cross when nailed to it yea that it is there visibly and may be though it be not ordinarily seen 2. They hold that Christ is truly and properly Sacrificed in the Mass and his Body and Blood there offered as much as any Bullock or Lamb was Sacrificed under the Law The Council of Treat (f) Sess 6. cap. 2. declares that the Sacrifice in the Mass and that offered on the Cross is the very same for substance and differs only in the manner of Offering and denounces a Curse against any that shall say (g) Can. 1. 2. that it is not a true and proper Sacrifice or that Christ in these words do this did not command the Disciples and Priests after them to Sacrifice the Body and Blood of Christ 3. They maintain that in every true and proper Sacrifice that which is Sacrificed is really destroyed So Bellarmine to a true Sacrifice it is required (h) Et omnia omnino quae in Scriptura dicuntur sacrificia necessario destruenda erâ—… si viventia per occisi nem c. De Miss lib. 1. c. 2. p. 685. ad verum sacrificium requiritur ut id quod offertur Deo in sacrificium plane destruatur ibid. p. 688. vid. lib. 1. cap. 27. p. 760. that what is offered to God in Sacrifice should be plainly destroyed And if it be a live thing that is offered that it may be a true and real Sacrifice it must of necessity be slain and deprived of Life A true and real Sacrifice says he requires the true and real killing of it since in the killing of it the essence of the Sacrifice consists Hence it clearly follows and it is their own inference that Christ being truly and properly Sacrificed in the Mâ—se he is there really consumed killed or destroyed he is as really consumed in the Mass as Incense when it was burnt for an Oblation (k) Christi corpus ad Dei honorem super mensam ponitur ut consumetur The Body of Christ says the Cardinal for the honour of God is laid upon the Table that it may he consumed He is as really destroyed as the whole burnt offering was destroyed when it was totally burnt The consumption of the Sacrament says the same Author as it is done by a Sacrificing Priest is an essential part of the Sacrifice for it is a real destruction of the Sacrifice (l) Consumptio quae fit a sacerdote sacrificante proprie combustioni holocausti respondere censetur ibid. p. 759. and is counted correspondent to the burning of the Holocaust He is as really killed in the Mass by their doctrine as a Bullock that was slain for a Sacrifice If in the Mass says he (m) Vel in missa fit vera realis Christi mactatio occisio vel non Si non sit non est verum reale sacrisicium Sacrificium enim verum reale veram realem occesionem exigit quando in occisione ponitur essentia sacrificij ibid. p. 760. Sect. denique there be not a true and real killing and slaying of Christ it is not a true and real Sacrifice adding this reason because the essence of a Sacrifice consists in the killing of it So also Doctor Allen (n) De Euchar. Sacrific c. 10 11 12. says Christ is killed there indeed and sacrificed to God And Vegad (o) De miss Thes 22 23. Christis as truly slain and offered in the Sacrament of the Eucharist as he is truly in the Sacrament and they think him to be as truly there as they believe him to be in Heaven (p) In Suarez Tom. 3. in 3. Thom. disp 75 Sect. 5. ratio praecipâ—a hujus sententiae est quia de essentia sacrificij est praesertim holocausti at tota victima consumâ—tur nam hoc sacrificium est holocaustum in quo victima debet perfecte consumi c. Aquinas favours this Opinion and Gabriel insinuates it Soto Ledesma Canus and the modern Thomists do plainly deliver it besides Bellarmine and other Jesuits Canus says (q) Loc. Theol lib. 12. p. 675 676. they believe that to the perfect sacrificing of an Animal it ought to be destroyed and slain if it be truly Sacrificed He says also that the Body of Christ in the Mass is a living and breathing Body even the very same that is in Heaven and that it is truly Sacrificed What then can follow from hence but that the living and breathing Body of Christ in the Mass is truly killed This is not denyed only they say it is an unbloody death And this indeed is their doctrine Christ is put
you may perceive the Jesuits are not the prime Masters of these Arts I shall instance in other Authors who were either before them or not addicted to the Society For aequivocations or other slight of words in swearing they are justified by (*) Licet jurare cum aequivocatione D. Tho. Scotus Paludanus Richard Major Adrian Navar. Covarruvias Sylvest Gloss Ibid. l. 3. cap. 9. multitudes of their Writers viz. Sairus after Aquinas and their Glosse Paludanus Gabriel Johannes Major Adrian Hen. Gandavensis Angelus Sylvester Soto c. The instances which Soto gives may serve for a tast as for example (p) Si injurius ille nequam sic rogaret juras mihi tantam numerare pecuniam alter responderet sic uro absque j. non esset peccatum mortale sed simplex mendacium quia forte tunc nihil ureret Soto ibid. p. 263. when one instead of saying I swear uses a word which signifies another thing but so pronounces it as the difference is not discerned Or if the (q) Item si Dei nomen lingua illa qua sit juratio diversum quoque aliud habuisset significatum liceret illud intelligendo dicere testis mihi est Deus quamvis alter Deum coeli intelligeret ibid. word GOD in the language wherein the Oath is taken may signifie some other thing he that swears may mean something else by it when he that gives the Oath understands the God of Heaven (r) Aut si altero interrogante juras mihi numerare pecuniam alter responderet tibi juro numerare non esset sensus numerare tibi hoc est solvere aut tradere sed tibi juro apud me pecuniam recensere quandoquidem numerare utrumque significat Or if the Oath be formed in this order I swear to you to pay so much Mony he that swears may mean not to pay him but some other when he to whom the Oath is made understands it intended for himself Such an (s) Quare tale juramentum esset verum justum prudens quoniam tunc simulatio quoniam absque falsitate fieret utilis esset Oath sayes Soto is true just prudent because then simulation is profitable having said before (t) Quando vero vi illata petitur licitum est eafraude petentem deludere Ibid. Similis est aequivocatio quam in verbo est ponit Glossa in cap. neque 2. 2. q. 2. quam in nomine sororis notavit Glossa in c. ult 2. 2. q. 2. that it is lawful with such fraud to deceive one who forces him to swear since he who puts him to swear hath no right to do it and these forementioned are the very same instances which Sanchez (u) Opp. Mar. l. 3. c. 2. n. 37. uses by which we see the Jesuit was not the inventor hereof but learn'd them of a Dominican Of mental-reservations justified by their chief (*) Navar Sylvest Angelus Lud. Lopez Tabien Armilla c. And among those who seem to dislike it Soto fatetur licitum esse alicui jurare se nescire quod revelare non potest aut non tenetur subintelligendo nescio ut tibi dicam quando judex non potest legitime interrogare de occultis recte illi responderi non feci subintelligendo publice c. Et ita etiam concessit aperte Cajetan Adrian in Suar. ibid. cap. 10. n. art 3. Authors who were no Jesuits instances might be given in abundance for example if (a) Sylvest sum v. jurament 3. n. 2. Navar. cap. 12. n. 18. quia id injuste agit potest illa jurare quod secundum suam intentionem verum est falsum autem juxta mariti mentem Angelus v. juram 4. n. 1. Nam cum talis inique a tali confessionem exigat poterit jurare secundum suam intentionem quod verum est licet secundum intellectum audientis sic falsum secundum Rodo. quem sequitur Astensis a man will have his Wife swear that she is not an Adulteress though she be guilty she may deny it with an Oath and swear what is false in his sense if it be true in her own by the addition of some secret reserve (b) Si maligno sensu intendebat facere quod jurabat licet non in sensu ejus cui jurabat ut quia juravit dare centum subaudiendo in animo suo si debuero tunc non peccat quia non tenetur jurare secundum intentionem ejus cum non sit suus judex sed utitur simulatione licita quae licet ut in c. utilem 2. 2. q. 2. Sylvest ibid. 4. n. 7. Navar. c. 12. n. 14. Neque peccaret jurando neque etiam non implendo amplius quam ipse intellexit quoniam non tenetur aliquis jurare secundum intentionem illius qui perperam ipsum ad jurandum cogit If a man swear to give another a Hundred Crowns with this inward reserve If he owe it him he sins not though he swears false in the sense of him who is to have the money (c) Aquinas Jo Major in Navar. c 12. n. 9. Sylvest ibid. 3. n. 2. Angelus Sum. v. juram 4. n. 1. Quum quis ex juramento exigit ab aliquo quod ipse non potest sine peccato implere potest habere intentionem cum jurat illud facere scil Quantum poterit sine peccato Sic Sylvester Sic secundum Rich. de St. Victore obstetrices non peccassent licet non respondissent ad intentionem Pharaonis quia non fuit ei data Authoritas ad aliquid agendum contra Deum Secundum Innocent in c. veniens de curia in juramento determinato super aliquo singulari sic interpretatur in foro animae secundum intentionem jurantis Angel ibid. A Woman who because of some secret impediment will not live with her Husband and is Excommunicated for it she at the point of death that she may be absolved being put to swear that if she recover she will live with him may swear it absolutely in shew with this conditional reserve If she may do it without sin yet if she do it not she is not forsworn So Sylvester and Navar according to the determination of Aquinas and Jo. Major He (d) Sylvest v. juram 3. n. 2. Navar. c. 12. n. 19. Bonacin ubi supra that in the time of Pestilence comes to a Town where the Officers before they admit him will have him swear that he came from no infected place though it be not true he may swear it if he think himself have got no infection If (e) An qui jurat se non habere rem aliquam ab alio petitam ut ab ea danda vel accommodanda se excuset peccet responderi enim debet piccare si mens ejus verbis consonat sed non si non tenetur ad dandam vel accommodandam neque respondendum juxta mentem petentis ea mente juret quod
make a shift without it if any one among all the Members have it but. And one act of it in a whole life may serve The ruder sort may be help'd to this act which will serve once for all by making the sign of the Cross as their grave Divines direct them Sect. 3. to page 119. CHAP. V. NO necessity of true Repentance for any sort of sins by their Doctrine Of original sin or the corruption of our natures no man can be obliged to Repent Sect. 1. to page 121. It is as needless for those many and divers of them horrid sins which they count venial What pretty expedients they have to expiate these without Repentance Sect. 2. to page 123. For mortal sins some teach there is no Divine command to Repent And so to live and dye impenitently will be no Transgression No need of it any way either as a duty injoyn'd or as a Medium Sect. 3. to page 125. Others who confess there is a command for it will not have it oblige any sinner presently No sin nor danger to defer Repentance Nor will they have it needful at such times and occasions which if any would be the necessary seasons for it Not at solemn times of Worship Not on days of fasting Not when visited with great calamities Not when sins are brought to their Remembrance Not when they address themselves to their Sacraments no not that of Penance Sect 4. 5. to page 131. No need to Repent till one be at the point of death Nor is it so needful then or any time before but something else may serve without it A Repentance without any sensible sorrow for or actual resolution against sin is sufficient Or a penitence merely natural may suffice Or a slight remorse in the lowest degree possible one act of it dispatch'd in an instant and never repeated will be enough Or if a man conceive that he truly repents though really he does not this may serve the turn Or if he know that he does not repent sufficiently yet if he signifie that he would grieve more and is sorry that he does not this will be effectual Or attrition with the Sacrament will unquestionably justifie him Attrition with them far distant from true Repentance Several sorts of it Any of them seem sufficient by the Council of Trent The general concurrence of their Divines for the sufficiency of Attrition yet the best sort of it confessed to be morally evil Sect. 6. 7. to page 144. When they have excluded true Repentance by Attrition they reduce Attrition to nothing yet will have it still sufficient The least servile dislike of sin in the lowest degree though it be gone in a moment though it be merely natural is enough Or if there be but a dislike that this dislike is wanting Or a willingness to have it in those who have it not Or a mans thinking probably that he hath it when he hath it not Or a willingness without it to receive the Sacrament will serve the turn Yea even without their Sacrament of Penance Attrition with the Eucharist or extreme unction or the Mass or without any Sacrament at all may procure pardon What ways Attrition may secure them when they cannot have a Priest or the Rites proper to Priests while they live or after they are dead without them Sect. 8. to page 148. This Doctrine which makes saving saith love to God and true Repentance needless is established by the Council of Trent Their Sacrament of Penance hath no ground in the Word of God And being taught to depend on it for pardon and to neglect the things of most necessary importance to salvation it proves a most damning Imposture Their Doctrine thus making Repentance needless plainly destroyes Christianity debauches the Lives and ruines the Souls of sinners And is one of the most pernicious Heresies that ever was broached Sect. 9. 10. 11. to page 152. CHAP VI. THeir Doctrine leaves no necessity of Holiness of life It is enough to denominate their universal Church holy if there be but one holy man in it One act of charity the least of all may make one a holy man Other Maxims of this tendency How they destroy the necessity of holy life by making it needless to exercise vertue and avoid sin Sect. 1. to page 154. How they make the exercise of Christian vertues unnecessary in general more particularly hope one of the three Divine vertues fares no better than faith and love They leave themselves no good ground of hope Their hope a Conjecture founded upon a delusion The precept for hope obliges not but in the more grievous assaults of despair So that not one of a Thousand in Popery need have any hope in God No not any since the command for it may be satisfied by other acts Sct. 2. 3. page 157. Their Doctrine leaves no room for no ground of Humility no sense of sinfulness weakness unworthiness 'T is pregnant with Pride and Arrogance Sect. 4. to page 159. Brotherly love unnecessary by their Doctrine No need of love to any unless in necessity Nor then though the necessity be extreme if we help them though not out of Christian love This extended not only to external but spiritual necessities If the acts whereby we should relieve their Souls be neglected it may pass for a small fault Those who have no Christian love if they believe they have it may be excused from sin No precept requires any special act of love to our Brethren No affirmative command for such love 'T is enough that we do nothing against them Sect. 5. to page 162. In destroying the necessity of those radical Graces instanced in before they root out the rest Particularly those that depend upon love to God viz. Delight in God desires to injoy him hatred of sin sorrow for it as an offence to God and filial fear By their common Doctrine there 's no special command for any fear of God So that the want of all fear of God filial or servile is no special sin Since they need not act out of love they exempt themselves from all acts truly Christian and any other Christianity than honest Heathenism All exercise of vertues opposite to acts accounted but venially evil is with them needless The monstrous consequences of this Sect. 6. 7. 8. to page 164. A special expedient whereby they make the exercise of Christian vertues unnecessary is their turning the commands of God into Counsels such as need not be observed Such they count many of those excellent rules in Christ's Sermon on the Mount These and many others specified More instances in vertues which concern our selves God and others in acts of temperance and contentment in acts of Religion and in acts of Righteousness and Mercy Also Mortification crucifying the World self-denyal taking up the Cross and all growth in grace is but matter of Counsel So is every degree of grace above the lowest of all Yea all commands for
good acts are no more than Counsels but only in the article of necessity And all acts that have more than moral goodness And all actings in a vertuous manner and from a good principle Exercise of vertue not necessary either in Worship or common conversation Not in those cases where if in any at all it would be needful A way they have for any man to turn whatever precept pinches him into a Counsel There is no danger nor any sin at all in rejecting the counsel of God No not when Conscience dictates that it is good to follow them No nor when God further calls thereto by inspirations or motions of his Spirit They may be neglected out of Contempt And with some abhorrence of them They may boast and glory in such neglects They may bind themselves by Oaths not to observe Gods Counsels Sect. 9. to page 181. No exercise of vertue necessary but only during the Pope's pleasure for if be should forbid vertue as he hath done already in diverse instances the Church would be bound to believe those vertues to be evils and so to avoid them Further their Doctrine incourages the continual practice of such wickedness as is inconsistent with all holiness of life reduced to three heads Sect. 10. to page 183. CHAP. VII MAny hainous crimes are vertues or necessary duties with them Their Blasphemies waved because insisted on by others Also a great part of their Idolatry Their Plea in excuse of this Crime from the distinction of terminative and transient worship removed by their own Doctrine formerly opened Sect. 1. to page 185. Their Idolatry as to Relicks These are to be Religiously worshipped though many of them be ridiculous and loathsome though many Thousands be confessed to be counterfeit and great and detestable impostures be therein acknowledged To worship false Relicks or the Devil upon a mistaken belief is meritorious What worshipful things miscarriages in the Mass furnish them with Sect. 2. to page 188. They give Divine worship to Relicks though they give it not the name They give both name and thing expresly to vast multitudes All which they count Relicks of Christare to have Christs honour Among these they reckon all thidgs that were near him or touched him on earth even the earth water stones c. Not only the things but persons that touched him thereby become his Relicks and are to have his worship The Virgin Mary expresly and Thousands more may have it by the same reason they will not absolutely except the Ass on which he rode Yea all the Relicks of such persons may have it For they commonly teach that the Relicks may have the same worship with the person whose they are The best of their Relicks impostures that which passes for the foreskin of Christ his Shirt Coat Blood the Crown of Thorns Launce Nails Cross and its Liquor Their Relicks numerous beyond account How they came to be so their own Authors tell us The Devil furnished their Church with some of them and crafty knaves with others Yet their whole Religion in a manner consists in worshipping such things as these as some of themselves tell us Sect. 3. to page 203. Perjury necessary by their Doctrine If a Prince swear solemnly not to prosecute his supposed heretical subjects unless he break his Oath he is in danger to be damned No faith to be kept with Hereticks Their Doctrine ruines all securities that Popish Princes or Subjects can give to Protestants These can with prudence trust to nothing but what will keep them out of the Papal reach Sect. 4. to page 205. Robhery and Murder as necessary a Duty To deprive Hereticks of Estate or life a meritorious act All Papists Princes or others are bound in Conscience by that which is most obliging in their Religion utterly to root out all they account Hereticks and to seize on all they have A decree of a general Council for it which incourages the execution with promises of the greatest rewards and enforces it with threatnings of most dreadful import They must not be counted Catholicks unless they do it It hath been effected or attempted in all Countreys where the Papists had power to do it or but thought that they had it The reason why they do it not in England and some other places is as themselves declare because they have not yet power enough Sect. 5. to page 210. Sorcery and Conjuration part of their Religion This manifested in their Sacramentals where by their own rules there is a tacit invocation of the Devil Their excuses here insufficient Even their mode of praying too like conjuring Sect. 6. to page 215. The chief act of their Religion is to destroy Christ by Sacrificing him daily in the Mass which they maintain they do truly and really Sect. 7. to page 220. CHAP. VIII THeir Doctrine tends to destroy holiness of life by incouraging the continual practice of all sort of wickedness under the notion of venials What hatred of God What acts of Infidelity and Idolatry What distrustful cares What irreligiousness in all Religious exercises What use of Witches Or dealing with the Devil VVhat irreverence towards God in adjuration Sect. 1. to page 213. What impious Swearing almost at every word In horrid terms Without offering to break off this ungodly custome Binding themselves by Oaths and threatning God that they will sin against him And never comply with his will in things which he commends to them as most excellent What fraudulent Oaths What Perjuries of all sorts both as to assertory and promissory Oaths not worse for being most frequent and customary Sect. 2. to page 221. What Blasphemies Out of levity passion or inconsiderateness Or from wicked custome and contempt of a mans own Salvation The more habitual and customary Blaspheming is the better Sect. 3. to page 223. What Prophaning of holy time Where it is manifest that little or nothing at all of Religion need be made Conscience of amongst them even at the only time set apart for the acts and exercises of it Sect. 4. to page 228. What irreverence in Children to Parents They may be ashamed of them And curse them as Parents may curse them again VVhat unaffectionateness They may desire the death of their Parents for some outward advantage Or by accusations procure their death VVhat disobedience in all things out of negligence or sensuality And in matters of greatest importance as to this life Or in matters which concern their Salvation Parents have no right to oblige their Daughters not to be VVhores Sect. 5. to page 231. VVhat Murder of Soul or Body As to acts inward and outward VVhat hatred VVhat outragious anger VVhat revenge Desires of the death not only of Enemies but nearest Relations because they are poor or not handsome may be innocent Actual killing them without deliberation is no fault when not fully deliberate when ordinarily many things may hinder it from being so is but little worse Sect. 6. to page 233. VVhat
alterius qui ejus conscientia cognita possit auxilium praestare committendum est Neque aliquam regulam certiorem aut magis particularem assignare possum tam in hoc praecepto quam in aliis affirmativis praesertim circa actus qui ad Deum ordinantur sola aâ—…uda ratione naturali perspectis Suarez tom 4. disp 15. Sect. 6. n. 20. to love God when he thinks fit let him but doe it before he dye and he may take his own time so some leave it But Vasquez would not leave it at such uncertainty so he fixeth the period and that is the period of a mans life he determins (*) Merito ergo diximus esse praeceptum dilectionis solum extrema necessitate obligare sicut praeceptum contritionis sed non quemcunque sed tantum existentem in mortali non suppleâ—tem suam justificationem per Sacramentum in 3. Th. tom 3. q. 90. art 1. dub 4 n. 40. So that the Command to Love God does not oblige any but at the point of death nor any then who are justified nor any other in the state of sin unless they cannot have the Sacrament the time for loving God is when a man is at the point of death Nor is this the doctrine of a Jesuite only for before his time and before the Society was founded it was the common opinion of the Romish Doctors so Dominicus Soto informs us (f) Plerique aiunt tempus hujus praecepti illud maxime esse quod est articulus mortis ibid. quando jam nullum superest tempus bene merendi de Deo ibid. Bâ—sides these many in Soto others determine with Vasquez that Love to God is never a duty but at the point of death So Jo. Sancius haec videtur verior sententia disp 1. n. 21. â—n Antonin Dian. alij velint solum obligare in articulo mortis Verb. Charitas And before them others in Bonacina alij dicunt obligare solum tempore mortis 1 praecept d. 3. q. 4. p. 2. n. 1. And we must take it to be the Opinion of all who hold that this Precept obliges not but when we are bound to an act of Contrition and they commonly maintain that none are obliged to this before the approach of death nor any that are in the state of grace then no nor any that are in mortal sin if they will use those other expedients which their general Council or other Doctors have devised to discharge them from the obligation of a duty to which not only the Gospel but the law of nature binds all rational Creatures eternally very many hold that the time for the observing of this Command is at the point of death that is as he explains it when there is not any time left for deserving ought of God Now every act of Love being meritorious with them either they contradict themselves or by this opinion they are not bound to love God actually till there be no time left for any acts of Love We are not by this doctrine obliged to love God till we can live no longer and are past acting at all But are we then bound to love him is it then necessary may not a man be saved who hath continued without Love to God all his life if he love him not actually neither when he is a dying For this observe what Aquinas tells us (g) Qui in via hoc praeceptum non implet viz. pefecte Nihil contra divinam dilectionem agens 22. q. 44. art 6. ad 2dum non peccat mortaliter That we do not break this Command but fulfil it so as to be free from all mortal guilt if we do nothing against the Love of God that is if we run not into mortal sin and so hate him as a Souldier satisfies his Captains command who though he get not the Victory yet doth nothing against Military discipline or as Bonaventure explains it (h) In 3. dist 27. n. 58. Per exclusionem affectus contrarij by the exclusion of the contrary affection as if it were sufficient that he do not hate him (*) Marsilius vir profecto inter theologos egregie doctus l. 2. q. 18. tenet lege hac dilectionis obligari homines servare gratiam amicitiam Dei perditam recuperare Soto De nat Grat. l. 1. c. 22. p. 57. Marsilius of great renown for learning amongst their Divines will have that which the command for love enjoyns to be the keeping of Grace and Friendship with God and the recovering of it when lost So that it doth not oblige to actual love but only to the avoiding of habitual enmity and hatred of God But what if he hate God and persist therein is it not absolutely necessary that he should beware of that it seems not for saith one of their Doctors There is no Precept that a Sinner should not persevere in enmity against God there is no negative Command which forbids him to persist in such hatred It may be you do not read this no more than I could without some horrour and trembling and I confess when I found Reginaldus quoted for this I was ready to think it was but the extravagancy of some singularly bold Jesuite but upon further enquiry I find it asserted by such whose writings have the greatest approbation of the Romish Church Melchior Canus a Dominican a Bishop cryed up as a most elegant Judicious and cautious Writer too and inferior to none of that Order their Angelical Doctor only excepted clearly delivers this doctrine (i) At ne simus inimici Dei secundum reatum nullo negativo praecepto simus astricti Sicut enim de amicitia habituali nullum praeceptum affirmativum est sic de inimicitia quae secundum reatum est quasi habitualis nullum est negativum pars 4. relect de paenit p. 870. We are not bound by any negative Precept that we should not be Enemies of God in respect of guilt He adds for as there is no affirmative Precept requiring habitual friendship with God so for habitual enmity against God in respect of guilt there is no negative Precept that forbids it So that to persist in Enmity and Hatred against God by their approved doctrine is no sin it is against no Command We need not alledge the words of any other since this is the plain and necessary consequent of their common doctrine and we must take it to be the judgment of all who hold that it is no sin to delay contrition i. e. Repentance and turning to God in which both their Antienter School Doctors and modern Divines agree For while it is no duty to turn to God habitual enmity and hatred of him will be no sin Now contrition and so conversion to God they say may be deferred till death Indeed by their doctrine it will never be a duty for even at death the last Attrition with their Sacrament of confession is all that is needful Sect. 4. However they make
44. art Yet as we saw before it is their common doctrine that the Eucharist may be worthily received without any act of love or other grace or any actual disposition that is gracious Maldonate and others Now if the precept of Love may be fulfilled by external acts or by endeavours to observe the other commands of God then it requires not the exercise of the inward act of love to him and so there will be no command for that at all nor will it be a duty and all these other commands may be satisfied without any act of love to God in the heart and we shall love him enough though we never conceive any actual love for him in our souls Fifthly It will satisfie the precept if a man believe that he loves God above all though indeed he do not So Lopez (d) Satis est ad evitandum peccatum omissionis hujus praecepti probabiliter quis credat se illud implere tempore quo occurrit ejus obligatio cap. 40. p. 217. It is enough to avoyd the sin of neglecting this Precept for one to believe probably that be fulfils it at the time when its Obligation occurrs Navar had concluded this before him (e) â—…de eum qui diligit Deum probabiliter cred ns se esse in statu gratiae subindeque suum amorem esse amorem Dei super omne aliud quamvis in rei veâ—itate non sit hujusmodi nâ—qâ—e sit in codem statu nihilominus tamen adimplere hoc praeceptum quoad effectum evitandi noâ—um peccalum quod admitteretur ob omissionem implementi ejus quoniam sine speciali revelatione scire non potest quis quando est in statu gratiae ut definit Conc. Trident. Et â—…a nisi hoc teneamus nequiremus scire quando hoc praeceptum impleremus Cap. 11. n. 10. He that believes God probably believing that he is in the state of Grace and that his Love is a love of God above all although in Truth it is no such thing nor he in such a state nevertheless the Precept is fulfilled by him so far that he is not then guilty of no sin for omitting the observance of it he adds this reason for it Because without special revelation no man can know when he is in the state of Grace as the Councel of Trent determines and so unless we maintain this we cannot know when we fulfil the Precept Thus though his determination seem strange and desperate yet the ground he proceeds on is a principle of their Faith and obligeth all to be of his perswasion who submit to that Council He declares himself further to this purpose (f) Peccat mortaliter qui eo tempore Deum amare negligit quo sub peccati mortalis reatu tâ—netur veluti quando mórtis periculum vel necessitas recipiendi vel administrandi aliquod Sacramentum se obtulit nisi probabiliter crederet se gratiam vel charitatem habere idem ibid. n. 20. He sins mortally who loves not God at that time when he is bound to do it under the pain of mortal sin that is when there is danger of death or necessity of receiving or administring a Sacrament unless he probably believe that he hath Grace or Charity For then he would have us believe it is not sin as his limitation shews Here we have the times specified wherein the Precept of loving God obligeth and these are but two and the latter of them himself expungeth concluding it false that we are bound to love God at a Sacrament (g) Ibid. n. 8. 9. supra So that a man is never bound to love God but when he apprehends death approaching no nor at the point of death neither if then he probably believe that he hath Grace and Charity though he have it not for such a presemption will excuse him from sin if he love not God as all his life before so even when he is dying Thus is the case resolved according to their common principles by the most learned and the most pious of their Casuists as (h) Martinus Aspilcaeta Navarrus vir doctissimus Pijssimus De script Eccles p. 313. Bellarmine honours him though he was none of the Society Sixthly attrition with the Sacrament of Pennance will excuse any from loving God actually living or dying and will secure him from perishing eternally though he never entertain an Act of love for God in life or death The Doctrine of their Church obligeth them all to believe this and if any of their Doctors seem to say otherwise they contradict either that or themselves For their Church requires nothing precisely to put a man into the state of Grace and Salvation living or dying how long so ever he hath persisted in enmity against God how highly so ever he hath expressed his hatred of him but only a due partaking of the Sacrament of Pennance and he is sufficiently qualified for such a participation if he be but attrite that is as they explain it if he have but some remorse for sin out of servile fear not out of love to God For (i) In quantum servilis est contrariatur charitati So Aquinas 2. 2. q. 19. art 4. that fear as servile is contrary to the love of God so that for this which they count sufficient to secure his eternal state even at last gasp he needs not any act of love to God and this is not only the opinion of particular Doctors but as I shall shew hereafter the Doctrine of the (*) Sess 14. c. 4. Council of Trent and so not only probable with them but certain If a man at the point of death who never had an act of love for God in all his life do thou ask his Confessor whether such an act be needful for him before he dye if the Priest tell him it is not necessary he may safely give up the Ghost and dye as he lived without any actual affection for God for though he be deluded by his Confessor yet consulting him he has done his endeavour and so his (*) Sum. Rosel v. ignorunt n. 1. Bonacin de peccat disp 2. q. 8. punct 3. p. 16. Sta. Clara. Problem 15. p. 87. Doctores communiter ignorance they say is invincible and will excuse him And the Priest must tell him that it is more than needs if he believe the Council of Trent since there it is declared that the Sacrament with attrition though this include something repugnant to such love is enough to justifie and pass any into a state of grace and consequently is sufficient for Salvation And thus they argue (*) Dicendum quod gratia est sufficiens causa gloriae unde omne illud sine quo obtineri poâ—est â—ratia non est de necessitate saluâ—is Aquinas in 4. dist 9. art 1. Grace is a sufficient cause of glory hence whatever it is without which grace may be obtained that is not necessary to Salvation By which
paenitentiam non esse in praecepto ullo idque ex D. Thom. videbantur probare meo judicio satis effiâ—aciter Vasq in 3. â—hom tom 3. q. 86. art 2. dub 2. n. 1. themselves tell us Though all that is commanded be not necessary to Salvation yet all that is necessary to Salvation is commanded That there is no special precept which requires Repentance was the opinion of their famous Franciscus de Victoria in his time the great Master of Divinity in Spain and of other Divines both before and after him as Melchior Canus sometimes his Scholler tells us And when that of Christ Luk. 13. Except ye Repent ye shall all likewise perish is objected they Answer the meaning is They shall perish for preceding sins not for impenitence By their doctrine there is no danger that any should perish for that though persisted in unto death and they had some reason to alledge Aquinas the Angel of their Schools as of their judgment herein for he saith plainly (u) Permanere in peccato usque ad mortem non est speciale peccatum sed quaedam peccati circumstantia 22. q. 14 art 2. Corp. tamen si esset de paenitentia speciale praeceptum omissio illius specialis culpa sine dubio esset as they argue in Canus ibid. That impenitency continued in till death is no special sin but a circumstance of sin By this doctrine it is no sin no transgression of any divine precept to be impenitent or to persevere therein to the end Those who will be concluded by the Council of Trent must believe that there is no divine precept which requires Contrition or true Repentance precisely but only disjunctively either that or what is there declared to be sufficient without it And they must take it for certain that it is not a medium necessary to Salvation since that Council has determined that something else will suffice for pardon without it and so they declare it expresly (*) Contritio proprie accepta in lege nova non est necessaria simpliciter necessitate medij ad justificationem salutem Bonacin de Sacram. disp 5. q. 5. p. 2. n. 1. ibid. Petigianus alij Sect. 4. But let us take notice of those who seem more severe Many there be who think that Repentance is under a Divine command yet these in the issue make it no more necessary then the other who find no precept for it For they determine that we are not obliged to Repent presently that it may be deferred till the approach or danger of death and in fine that it is needless even when a man is dying For the first They teach that a Sinner is not bound to Repent presently it is lawful to defer it So their Doctors of all sorts so all the faithful say they so the whole Church (a) Non illico ut homo se reum sentit culpae paenitentiae lege paenitere constringitur Haec profecto conclusio more usu ecclesiae satis videtur constabilita Soto in 4. dist 1â— q. 2. art 6. That a man is not bound to Repent presently is a conclusion saith Soto established by the practice and the usage of the Church Canus (b) Ut mea fert communis opinio non protinus tenetur homo paenitentiam agere Atque haec assertio non alia ratione potiore ostendi possit quam quod sidelium omnium consensus facile admittit c. nec aut paenitentes in consessione hujus criminis se accusant aut sacerdotes id curant Cum nulla idonea ratio sit nullave authoritas qua praeceptum adeo durum asseratur c. Melch. Canus pars 4. relect de paenit p. 862. 863. Licet toto tempor qeuo quis agnoscit se lethali peccato mortuum de bono consilio debeat curare ut a tam gravi morbo resurgat periculumque mortis jubitae atque aeternae effugiat juxta illud Ne tardes converti ad Dominum ne differas de die in diem Eccl. 5. non tamen ad id tenetur praecepto ad novum peccatum mortiferum obligante nisi ea temporis parte qua memoriae occurrit quoad usum secundum communem opinionem Imo neque tunc ob ea per quae id affirmavit Adrianus ob ea quae nos addimus Navar. cap. 1. n. 27. n. 29. Alensis Bonaventura Durandus Aquinas Adrianus Angelus Medina Viguerius c. vid. in Suarez 4. 4. disp 15. Sect. 5. n. 2. Praeceptum non obligat ad agendam paenitentiam statim etiamsi opportunitas occurrat seu licet facile fiere possit Vid. Vasq in 3. Th. ibid. dub 5. n. 9. Est Verissima opinio praeceptum contritionis non obligare statim Alexand. S. Thom. Angelus Jo Medina Sotus Durand Canus Navar Paludan Adrian Viguerius merito ergo omnes in hoc conveniunt tells us it is his own and the common opinion That a man is not obliged to Repent forth-with and this he saith is confirmed by best Reason viz. The consent of all the faithful both Priests and People and adds That to make the precept so rigid as to require present Repentance hath no probable reason no nor any Authority Now this Doctrine concerning Repentance in this first step of it where it appears more modest and innocent than in its further advance is yet very horrid and desperate For it is all one as if they had said That they may notwithstanding any command of God continue for some time at least in their hatred of God and state of enmity against him since that is confessed the temper and state of the impenitent Besides it emboldens Sinners and giveth them confidence to leave their souls at a desperate venture presuming they may Repent time enough hereafter when they can have no assurance of any time at all for the future And it is the more dangerous because their doctrine takes away all apprehension of danger leaving them no fear either of penalty or sin in putting off Repentance No danger of suffering by present neglects or delays for they are told that they may Repent when they please The Lord saith one (c) Vega in Conc. Trid. lib. 13. cap. 11. Molina concord grat lib. arb q. 14. art 13. disp 10. Valent. tom 2. disp 8. q. 3. Semper quoad se habet oportunitatem quia semper est in suo arbitrio positum conteri Filliuc tr 6. c. 8. n. 202. Cum qâ—ilibet possit ope divina quae nunquam facient quod in se est suorum peccatorum paenitere corum veniam consequi Nav. cap. 24. n. 14. part of their Divines is every moment ready to help them to Repentance or say (d) Cum non potest sine conversione vitare peccatum Bellarm. de grat l. 2. c. 5. c. 8. Becan de auxil grat cap. 6. Alvarez de auxil grat l. 11. disp 112. n. 5. concl 2 the rest He will help them to
he be in danger to dye or run mad he should be so wise as to repent first but how he shall know when he is like to run mad or that his madness will be perpetual is a hard question and till he can resolve it they will go near to excuse him And if he can have a Confessor though he be at the point of death and distraction too he need not trouble himself with repenting that proviso they still add saltem quando non adest copia confessarij cui fiat confessio cum attritione this indeed is it that their Confessors serve for to save sinners the labour of going to Heaven by turning them out of the only way to it However by this it appears that any Papist hath warranty by their Doctrine to live impenitently till he be in danger to live no longer He need not grieve for offending God till he be dying nor resolve upon that account to forsake any sin till there be reason to think that he can live no longer to commit it What a Temptation is here for all wicked persons to turn Papists if they could but prevail with themselves to believe in this particular as the Church believes against all that God hath declared concerning repentance And since men easily believe what they desire should be true though against the word of truth how strange would it be if the World did not wonder after the Beast Sect. 7. But though they excuse a sinner from repenting all his lâ—…e before yet when he comes to dye do they not then make it needful they make some shew of it indeed but it is a mere delusive shew they are therein as false to their own pretensions as they are to the Souls of sinners For at the approach of death as at any period before wherein some of them seem to make Repentance necessary yet even then they abuse them with conceits that something else will serve without it The expedients which they have provided thus to delude perishing Souls all their lives and even when they are passing into eternity are many and various that those who do not like to be ruined one way may be taken with another and so that repenting which alone can secure them may be declined by all First Repentance without any sensible sorrow for sin will serve the turn This is the way of Scotus and Vega and others A will not to have sinned though it be without any (c) In Nâ—var cap. 1. n 3 grief for sin or without any actual consideration that he hath sinned is sufficient for pardon Such an act of the Will is the essence of that contrition which procures forgiveness (d) Ex mente Navarri Soti Paludani Scoti est quod contritio quoad suam essentiam est iste actus nollem peccasse Lopez cap. 10. p. 68. cap. 6. p. 38. vid. D. Thom. Paludan Soto Navar Ledesma Cajetan Concil Trident and others in Jo. Sanc. disp 1. n. 8. as not only Scotus but Paludanus Cajetane Soto Victoria and Navarre in Lopez (e) Per supradicta constet contritionem non esse dolorem essentialiter sed causam ex qua alijs ad id necessarijs nascitur dolor si aliunde non impediatur Nav. ibid. n. 14. Sorrow is not essential to Repentance but an effect and such a one as is contingent and separable and doth not necessarily follow it Correspondent to this is their Doctrine who teach that a vertual Repentance is sufficient (f) Sufficit actus qui licet non sit paenitentia talis formaliter est tamen virtualiter secundum Scotum communiter receptum ibid. n. 5. any act whatever which may be counted penitence vertually though it be no such thing actually or formally is enough by their common Doctrine any (g) n 30. love to God above all is such a vertual Repentance though without (h) Imo quilibet amor Dei quo plus quam omnia alia diligitur vid tur virtualis peccatorum paenitentia secundum communem quam sequitur Jo. Medina ibid. n. 5. any remembrance of sin this is not only the opinion of Medina but that which is commonly received Any kind of love will serve for this though it be but natural and such as may be had without the grace of God as (i) Cap. 11. n. 7. â— 13â— Supra Navarr expresseth it And the limitation which he would seem to add that such a vertual Repentance is but sufficient when there is no time for a formal Repenting is excluded by their common Doctrine For he and others with him generally teach that there is no space of time requisite for this but it may be sufficiently dispatched in a (k) Cap. 1. n. 38. Paenitudo momentanea ad remissionem peccaâ—i juxta comnunem susficiat moment And some of their chief Divines hold that a sinner being pardoned upon this vertual paenitence if he remember his sins afterwards is not bound to repent of them So Corduha Sotus Vega Bonacin ibid d. 5. q. 5. p. 2. n. 1. Thus we have Repentance sufficient to Salvation in the Roman Church without any sorrow without any sense or remembrance of sin And how can they count any more sorrow for sin necessary who hold (l) Nullus est adeo imprudens qui tempore confessionis peccata sua non detestatur formaliter vel virtualiter Major Victoria in Lopez c. 17. p. 100. That no prudent person doth confess his sins to a Priest but he detests them formally or vertually and so some way sufficiently when it is known to be their common practice to confess sins without any sorrow or detestation thereof Yea even in the hour of death asking God forgiveness without any remembrance of sin or actual Repentance is enough for pardon So Joseph the Minorite teacheth favouring their conceit as Lopez observes who think it repentance (m) Sufficere ad contritionem tunsionem pectoris aut prolationem Miserere mei Cap. 13 p. 90. Instante mortis prae angustia tollente recordationem peccatorum si quis toto corde petat veniam sine actuali paenitentia pâ—r orationem justificabitur enough to beat their breasts and say Lord have mercy Nor doth such pernicious presumption find encouragement only in the Minorites Divinity Pope Clement the 8th contributes more to it when in his indulgences sent to Poland he promiseth pardon to any one whoever that is dying if he have but the name Jesus once in his thoughts though he cannot express it As there can be no true Repentance without sorrow fot sin so neither without Resolution to forsake it and yet they teach Repentance may be as well without this as the other (n) Non est necessarium ad remissionem peccatorum formale propositum vitandi peccatum Vega. Concil Trident. l. 13. cap. 21. a vertual resolution may serve i. e. such a purpose to abandon sin as he may have who never thought of leaving it (o) Cap.
1. n. 6. Sicut actus qui est paenitentia virtualis sufficit ita eadem ratione sufficere videtur quod eam comitetur id quod est propositum virtuale confitendi satisfaciendi amplius non peccandi n. 11. Navarre tells us that the sufficiency of such a purpose is learnedly and magnificently asserted by Vega. He (p) n. 12. vid. Suarez tom 4. disp 20. Sect. 4. himself explains it and defends it without any limitation but that the vanity whereof appears before and (q) Graves Doctores existimant sufficere virtuale propositum ita Major Almain Vega Medina Petrus Soto Navar. Adrian idem ibid. disp 4. p. 3. n. 2. tells us the Council of Trent requires not a formal purpose but thinks that sufficient which is only virtual And their Divines whom they call Nominals deny that any purpose to forsake sin is necessary to Repentance as Soto (r) Ex nominalibus quidam addubitant nam in ratione contritionis necessarium sit propositum cavendi a vitijs in futurum Atque id negant Soto De natur gr l. 2. c. 14. p. 99. vid. Canum Cordubam qui refert Durandum Paludanum Capreolum Antoninum pro tali sententia in Suarez tom 4. disp 20. Sect. 2. n. 6. Non esse necessariam detestationem efficacem cum absoluto dolore proposito non peccandi sed displicentiam quamcunque cum velleitate non peccandi sufficere ad valorem Sacramenti tenet Cajetan Victoria Canus Ledesma Sicut Paludanus Sylvester ibid. Sect. 4. Aquinas Capreolus Thom. Hurtado Tom. 2. tr ult n. 501. Neque oportet ut confessor sibi persuadeat judicet etiam probabiliter ita esse futurum ut paenitens a peccando abstineat sed satis est ut existimet tunc habere tale propositum quamvis post breve tempus illud sit mutaturus Ita docent omnes auctores Idem disp 32. Sect. 2. n. 2. p. 426. Scotus in 4. dist 14. q. ult art 3. and Sylvester after him sum v. confessio n. 24. hold that neither sorrow for sin nor resolution against it no not so little as they ascribe to attrition is needful but that a willingness to partake of their Sacrament is sufficient for justification by it informs us So that by the Doctrine of all sorts of Divines amongst them a repenting which wants the essentials of true Repentance will suffice in life or death Secondly A Repentance or sorrow for sin which is merely natural is counted sufficient The Apostle to true Repentance requires Godly sorrow 2 Cor. 7. 9 10. but they many of them think it not requisite that it should be Godly no not in respect of its original That will serve which is not from God but from nature Scotus a leader of one mighty Squadron of their School-Doctors determines (s) Expresse ipse Scotus in 4. dist 14. q. 2. ait quod ex puris naturalibus cum communi influentia potest esse attritio quae sit meritum de congruo ad deletionem peccati mortalis adeo pro constanti ubique habet quod naturaliter possumus disponi de congruo ad justificationem quam solam dispositionem ipse docet Atqui Adrianus Durandus ferme Nominales ita illum sentire indubie putant sentiunt ipsi Soto ibid. l. 2. c. 4. p. 68. That such a sorrow may be had by the power of nature as will in congruity merit pardon of sin And Adrian Durandus with all the Nominals in a manner take that to be his judgment and are of the same perswasion themselves The Franciscans maintained it (t) That a man by natural power only may feel a sorrow for sin which is a disposition and merit of congruity to abolish it Hist of Counc of Trent l. 2. p. 198. in the Council of Trent Aquinas (u) Ibid. Soto ibid. l. 1. c. 2. Aquinas opinionem communâ—m insequutus affiâ—masset tum quod homo ex naturalibus posset se disponere ad gratiam tum quod dispositio illa esset meritum de congruo p. 66. whom the rest of their School Divines generally follow was of that opinion too And the chief of the Dominicans his modern followers even those of them who are loth their Angelical Doctor should appear to be so much a Pelagian do hold that such a sorrow as is merely from nature without either habitual grace or special assistance is enough to justifie him who through ignorance thinks it enough So Canus and Soto in (x) Quaestio oritur an cum attritione orta solum ex viribus naturae simâ—l cum Sacramento in re possit paenitens justificari Et quidem quaestio est quae nobis Thomistis facit negotium propterea quod Scotus Canus Clarissimi Thomistae videntur hic affirmativam tenere Cap. 8. p. 53. Lopez from whence Lopez inferrs (y) p. 55. That in their account such remorse for sin as requires special assistance is not necessary to the justification of a sinner but that may suffice which is had from the power of nature though the ground of it be but outward disgrace Thus if we will believe the Romane Doctors Thomists or Scotists the Jesuites who serve themselves of both as they see occasion I need not mention since of their concurrence herein there is no question a sinner may be saved by such a sort of Repentance as is not the gift of God but the pure issue of corrupt nature Thirdly a slight and inconsiderable sorrow such as falls short of what the Scripture calls for will suffice instead of true Repentance One act of grief they tell us is enough for the sins of a whole life one only there needs not two So (a) S. Thom. Nugnus Navar Victoria Sotus Pitigianus Zerola Cajet Palatius Canus in Bonacinâ— ibid. l. d. 5. q. 5. p. 5. n. 1. Satis est si paenitens peccatis omnibus memoratis unam detestationem applicet in Lopez c. 6. p. 39. Soto (b) Neque illud exigitur ut tot sint actus contritionis quot sint peccata est concedenduâ— hominem unica actione peccata omnia quae memoriae forte occurrunt detestari atque obâ—… commissa dolere alioquin enim falsum esset quod paulo ante demonstravimus in momento posse hominem converti justificari De paenit l. 2. c. 11. p. 944. Bellarmine c. One act will serve for all sins in general and together remembred or not remembred in which sense they say a (c) Cajetan sum v. contrit p. 103 104. Soto dist 17. q. 2. art 3. Tol. l. 3. c. 15. p. 516. general Repentance will suffice Their sense de Graffiis thus Reports (d) Non requiri singularem sed quod sufficiat una generalis quae saltem virtualiter se extendat ad omnia peccata mortalia c. l. 1 c. 5. n. 5. Satis est ut concipiat generalem ejusmodi paenitudinem quae virtute se extendat ad omnia
a Priest so Aquinas in 4. dist 17. q. 3. art 3. or he may have the Eucharist administred to him without a Priest and it is their common doctrine that the Eucharist justifies one that is in mortal sin if he be attrite and thinks but himself contrite yea he may administer it to himself with the same effect in case of necessity divers of all sorts amongst them are of this opinion The Authority of Aquinas is alledged for it 3. q. 82. art 3. and Cajetan in Matth. 26. The example of the Queen of Scots commonly produced who having the Sacrament by her administred it to her self is highly approved by all Thus far Satan has prevailed with them to promote the Damnation of Sinners by hardning them in impenitence even when the interest of their Priests seems a little concerned But what if a Catholick Sinner relying upon such Impostors still neglect true Repentance and death surprize him so suddenly as to render these other devices unpracticable is not his case then desperate No he may have as good hopes of Salvation as other Catholicks have a probable ground for his hope and none must have any certainty Such a ground is the judgement of their Angelical Doctor who declares that if one sick desires pennance and before the Priest comes he dyes or is speechless the Priest may look on him as if he had confessed and may absolve him being dead Opusc 63. de offic Sacerd. Accordingly Clemens 8. Absolved one whom he saw falling from St. Peters Church in Rome Molfes t. 1. tr 7. c. 5. n. 48. So that any may be Absolved i. e. Pardoned and Sanctified for the sense of the Priests Absolvo is I give thee grace which pardons thy sins Impendo tibi gratiam remissivam peccatorum ut communiter Doctores in Jo. Sanc. disp 27. n. 18. even after they are dead if they did but desire confession before Now those amongst themselves who do not desire confession while they live are such only as will not have Salvation if they might upon the most trivial terms and so none need fear Damnation how impenitent soever otherwise they live and dye but such as are worse than any Devil now in Hell And who can accuse them as too rigid if they make true Repentance unavoidably necessary for such as these since this doctrine makes it needful for none besides All these ways any man may be saved without true Repentance if he will believe the Roman Doctors though if we believe Christ he shall certainly perish that repents not what-ever course he takes besides Any of these are probable and may be by their principles having grave Doctors more than enough to authorize them safely followed but that of the Councils prescribing is infallible and will not fail to secure those who practise it if any thing in their Church may have credit nor can fail to ruine those who follow it if the word of God may be trusted Thus while they would increase their party by having it thought that in their way scarce any Roman Catholick will be Damned they take the course in this as in other particulars that none who wâ—ll follow them can be saved unless salvation be for the impenitent Sect. 9. By this it is also manifest that the charge brought against them in the three last Articles for making Saving Faith Love to God and true Repentance needless in life or death is not founded only upon the opinion of their private Doctors or the greatest part of them but hath that which they count the surest ground of all the determination of a general Council confirmed by the Pope For if Attrition be sufficient as that Council declares then true Repentance is not necessary If grief for sin out of slavish fear or shame only without any love to God be enough then Love to God is needless and if Love be not needful then Faith which works by Love and is the only saving Faith is needless till there be no time for it to work But is it credible that they who sometimes seem to lay so great stress upon these graces as necessary to salvation should contradict not only the Scriptures but themselves and make them needless not only all a mans life before but even when he is dying sure they must have some device to supply in pretence at least the want of these if not before yet at the point of death and will substitute something in their stead of supposed equivalence to them Indeed they are fruitful in inventions tending to ruine souls and subvert the doctrine of salvation and one particularly they have in this case and that is what we before mentioned their Sacrament of Pennance When a man is near death if he be Attrite and confess his mortal sins to a Priest and be absolved by vertue thereof he hath remission of sins and together therewith infusion of grace particularly of Faith Hope and Charity Thus they come to have grace in a moment who lived graceless all their days before and had dyed so if such a Rite had not been provided for their relief By vertue of this Sacrament Love is planted in their heart and their Faith in God and sorrow for sin is formed by Love and becomes saving so that if they dye presently in that state their salvation is secured But what if they live must not these habits be afterwards exercised must not there be some act of contrition in those who never had any before No by their doctrine there is no necessity for it though there be no true actual Repentance without it The question is in one of their greatest Divines Whether (u) An etiam in lege gratiae post obtentam justificationem per Sacramentum paenitentiae cum sola attritione maneat haec obligatio habendi contritionem Dicendum est per se loquendo non manere in lege nova obligationem hanc post praedictam justificationem Ita sentiunt omnes qui putant Sacrameneum paenitentiae justificare cum sola attritione cognita Suarez tom 4. disp 15. Sect. 4. n. 12. 13. in the Law of Grace after justification obtained by the Sacrament of Pennance with Attrition alone there remain any obligation to have Contrition and it is resolved that there is no such obligation and that this is the judgment of all those who hold that the Sacrament of pennance doth justifie with Attrition alone known to be so and (x) Aquinas Scotus Paludanus Capreolus Durandus Adrian Antoninus Sylvester Cano ibid. disp 20. Sect. 1. n. 9. Corduba Vega Soto in Vasquoz Corduba docet quod qui justificatus est Sacramento paenitentiae cum contritione tantum existimata non tenetur eorundem peccatuoâ—m contriâ—ionem veram habere eam aperte colligere licet ex Soto ita Vega. in 3. Thom. q. 86. a 2. d. 2. n. 11. these are the most for number and the most considerable for authority in their Church and Schools Aquinas and Scotus both
whom the rest most commonly follow concurring in it besides their great Council Sect. 10. This then is the doctrine of their Church introduced there instead of that of the Gospel the Habits must serve to save them without their Acts and the Sacrament of Pennance will help those that are attrite to those Habits Here 's all the hopes they have for sinners whom they have encouraged to continue all their days without Repentance saving Faith or Love to God even to the very Article of death If this Sacrament do not perform all this for them they will not deny but they are certainly damned But what ground have they for this upon which their everlasting estate depends None at all but their own opinion and the opinion of such men as themselves without any support from the word of God If their own word will secure them for Eternity they are safe enough otherwise trusting to this they are lost for ever the whole weight of their salvation hangs upon a Spiders Web spun out of their own conceits For this Sacrament of Pennance upon which all depends is a mere invention of their own there is no divine institution for it it was never authorized by God he never promised any thing to it or any part of it upon their terms much less any such thing as they expect And who but they who are under the power of strong delusions would trust to any thing for Salvation without a word from him who is the absolute Disposer of grace and the Soveraign Lord of life and death Some of themselves acknowledge that their Sacrament of pennance (x) Glossa quam nonnulli Canonistae secuti sunt Erasmus B. Rhenanus Bonaventure Alexander Alensis Hugo Victor Jansenius in Suarez tom 4. disp 17. Sect. 1. n. 9. was never instituted by Christ And many (y) The essentials of this pretended Sacrament are with them it 's matter and form The matter of it consists in contrition confession and satisfaction each of these are acknowledged by their own Authours to be either unnecessary any way or at least by Christ's institution Contrition and therewith true Repentance is dismissed as unnecessary to this Rite not only by their other Doctors but by the Council of Trent and another thing assumed instead of it as we saw before Satisfaction is as unnecessary in their account There 's no need either that the Priest should injoyn it D. Thomas Petrus Paludanus Petrus Soto Victoria Ledesma Cajetau Navar ibid. disp 38. Sect. 3. n. 2. 4. or that the confitent should submit to it Scotus Gabriel Medina Sylvester Armilla Navar Hostiensis Panormitan Cajetan ibid. disp 38 Sect. 7. n. 1. Thus all material in it is reduced to Confession and so the Rite has almost lost its name being now commonly styled the Sacrament of Confession Yet confession is acknowledged not to be of Divine institution by all their Canonists Sunt inter Catholicos qui putant nullum esse Divinum praeceptum de confessione ut omnes decretorum interpretes inter Scholasticos Scotus Maldonat Sum q. 18. art 4. And their best Divines deny the necessity of it as to this Rite Hunc modum Secretae confessionis non esse de necessitate hujus Sacramenti Ita docent frequentius Scholastici Alensis D. Thomas Major Richardus de Sancto Victore Paludanus Soto Adrian Richardus Medina Pet. Soto Vega Castro Cajetan Christum non instituisse auricularem confessionem Canus Et nunc censeo hanc doctrinam certam ex concilio Tridentino viz. quod neque in institutione posuit Christus Dominus modum Secretae confessionis Suar. ibid. disp 21. Sect. 2. n. 9. p. 290. Yea the form of it their mode of Absolution is denyed by their Divines who hold that the Priests cannot forgive sins properly as to the fault and eternal punishment Qui negant potestatem clavium extendi ad remissionem culpae mortalis So Magistersentent Hugo Richardus de Sancto Victore Alensis Bonavenâ—ura Gabriel Major Supplementum Gabr. Medina Adrian Petr. Soto Altisiodorensis Abulensis ibid. disp 20. Sect. 1. n 3. of them hold that the material parts of it have no such institution Now to trust to any device of man for spiritual effects of so high a nature is impious folly but to lay their Salvation on it is prodigious madness They may with as much reason expect the infusion of grace from the sprinkling of holy-water or the cleansing of a Soul at death from the guilt and stain of sin by a Priests spittle the Lord hath given them no more ground to expect any more from the one than from the other But I need not insist upon any thing which they may have the confidence to deny It will be plain enough by what they cannot but acknowledge that neither pardon nor grace can be expected from their Sacrament of Pennance as ordered by them For they assert (z) Unde in ipsa justificatione cum remissione peccatorum haec omnia simul infusa accepit homo per Jesum Christum cui inseritur fidem spem charitatem Concil Trident. Sess 6. c. 7. Gratia non praecedit sed simul infunditur cum remissione peccatorum Bellarm. de paenitent l. c. p. 954. Sperare a Deo remissionem peccatorum sine paeniteâ—tia modus praesamâ—pionis conjunctis cum haeresi Pet. S. Joseph De 1. praecept art 4. Aâ—uâ—nas Arragon Bannes Malderus alji in cum Bonacin in 1 praecâ—pt q. 3. p. 1. n. 4. that pardon and grace are alwayes inseparably conferred together So that he hath no infused grace that hath not pardon And it cannot be denyed but that pardon can never be had without true Repentance in Scripture nothing is more evident He therefore that comes to the Sacrament of Pennance with Attrition only and so without true Repentance he gets thereby nothing at all neither pardon which cannot be had without Repentance nor infused grace which is never had without pardon neither Love nor Faith working by love nor Godly sorrow nothing that is saving unless he can have it without God or against what he hath expresly declared So that if he comes to this their Sacrament in a damnable condition he certainly dyes so for any relief that Rite will afford him And therefore their Doctrine which incourageth sinners to live all their life without saving Faith or Love or Repentance in confidence that this rite will help them to these graces when they are dying is a damning imposture and their Sacrament of Pennance a most pernicious trap to draw sinners as they set and bait it out of the way of Salvation whilest they live and to plunge them into Hell when they dye without any apprehension of their danger till there be no way to escape it Sect. 11. Hereby they manifestly declare themselves to be enemies to Christianity and the Souls of men For what more effectual course could they take to destroy these and root out that than by concluding it certain
time under Peter's Successors when their Church should have Caput sine cerebro (p) Ibid. p. 515. Setting that aside we may be sure they have miss'd nothing that belonged to St. Peter since they could catch his shadow and hold it as fast as they do his Keys And why might not this be done as well as the Monk could bring with him from Palestine (q) Vid. Vergerium ubi supra the sound of the Bells that hung in Solomon's Temple I have not yet in their Sacred lists discerned the lips of Judas but they have his Lanthorn which shew'd him the way to apprehend his Master and thereby perhaps in time they may discover the other They want nothing for this but some of the Oyl of the Candle of the Sepulcher which can light it self and this the Monks at Cassino (r) Chronic. Cassinon lib. 3. cap. 38. in Cent. Magd. 11. p. 305. can help them too If they have not the Ass upon which Christ rode to Jerusalem they miss'd it narrowly when they caught the Palm (s) Ibid. lib. 4. cap. 24. he then had in his hand whether he had any or no and a worshipful Relique of the Ass some shew 't is said (t) Vid. D. Hall No peace Sect. 21. his tail is inshrined in Liguria And who can think but that may be as proper an object of adoration as the Hay wherewith Fryar Francis his Ass was sadled And every hair in that tail may make a compleat Relique as worshipful as the whole for by their Divinity (*) Eandem virtutem in exigna parte reliquiarum quae in toto sit corpore experimento probatum Baronius an 55. the vertue of the whole is in every part If it were but well distributed this one might serve to furnish a hundred shrines and entertain the Devotion of as many votaries and Pilgrims as come to worship at Loretto But I need not insist on such Reliques as are to have Divine worship by consequence those which they say expresly should be so worshipped are enow and as many as they please to imagine For though they have no good ground to believe that they have any one true Relique of Christ or the least part of one yet imagination is enough with them both to give them being and to multiply them in infinitum and to warrant their worship of each of them as of Christ himself even such imaginations as interfere and confute one another and are each of them confuted by such miracles as are the ground of the whole imposture The fore-skin of Christ is more Religiously worshipped among them than Christ himself as (u) Alibi Christi praeputium cum sit res incerta religiosius adorant quam totum Christum Annot. in Math. 23. Erasmus observed It is kept and exposed in at least (x) Vid. Rivet ibid. l. 1. c. 17. p. 132 c. four several Countreys and miracles brought to confirm the truth of its being there and yet while it is seen and adored in so many places on Earth some of their chief Writers say it is no where on Earth but in Heaven and must be so otherwise the glorified body of Christ would be imperfect and not intire His Shirt and besides that though he had no other Shirt his Coat which the Souldiers disposed of at his death was not found till the year 593 (y) Baronius an 593. yet they had it elsewhere and greatly worshipped it long before in a City of Galatia sayes (z) Vid. Spondan an 593. n. 11. Gregory of Tours 'T is much that they should have it before it was found and something strange too that as it was without seam so it should be without Rent though afterwards they they found it in several places at once many hundred miles distant They have it in Germany and they have it in France and they may have it in all parts of the World at once as certainly as they have it there but whether they have it or no that which they take to be it must have the same worship and honour with Christ And we must not think it strange that it should be in so many places since they say (a) Lud olphus de vita Jesu part 2. cap. 63. p. 221. it grew on his back and so not unlikely might multiply it self since About the blood of Christ there is no less imposture and as great Idolatry They pretend to have much of it in parcels that which Nicodemus saved in his Glove that which Longinus brought in a Vessel to Mantua that which Joseph of Arimathea brought into England in two Silver Vessels that which is kept at Venice with the Earth it fell on that which is shew'd at the Holy Chappel in Paris that which is adored at Rome on Easter-day that which may be seen in every Countrey where Popery hath left people no eyes yet the Angel of their Schools whose Doctrine they say was approved by a miracle and which they must not question if they believe their portess is (b) Sanguis autem ille qui in quibusdam ecclesijs pro reliquijs conservatur non fluxit de latere Christi sed miraculose dicitur effluxisse de quadam imagine Christi percussa 3. q. 54. art 2. ad 3. An autem extet aliqua portio sanguinis dissentio est inter Doctores aliqui enim negant Bonacin ubi supra punct 3. n. 6. positive that all the blood of Christ that was shed before was in his body at his Resurrection and so ascended with him into Heaven and that the blood which is shewed in Churches for Reliques did not flow from Christs side but miraculously from a certain wounded image of Christ So that the blood which they worship as God is no better than that which an Image can bleed and this will scarce prove so good in England as the blood of Hales which how much soever worshipped was discovered to be but the blood of a Drake They have the Reed the Spunge the Crown of Thorns in so many places as gives them reason enough to believe they have it in none and yet they worship these in all We must imagine to have such things go down smoothly that they grow more than any Thorn hedge does not only in length but in number And something towards this Gregory of Tours (c) Vid. Spondan an 34. n. 27. writes of those Thorns they are green still and though the leaves wither sometimes yet they revive again and flourish But the old Bishop had not the good hap to see this he had it only by rumour and such rumours their Annalist is wont to make much of for it is not amiss to abuse others into a belief of that which they cannot believe themselves The Lance which pierced Christ's side was got into the West before it had left the East its proper place Otto the great presented Athelstane King of England with it and other rarities in the tenth age
to death in the Mass as he was upon the Cross it is the same death for the substance that he dyes by the Priest as he dyed by the Jews and Romans only with some difference in the manner of it It was a bloody death on the Cross it is an unbloody death in the Mass but he is put to death in both and why should they say it is an unbloody death that he suffers by the Priest since they profess that his blood is there shed and poured forth (r) The blood is shed in the Mass but it is shed unbloodily Hart in Rainold Confer p. 618. the very same blood that was shed on the Cross This may seem strange and they cross themselves here sometimes but nothing must seem strange in the Mass for it is such a heap of absurdities and contradictions as never entred into the fancy of any men waking and in their wits nor could have entred into theirs if the spirit of delusion and the dream of infallibility had not distracted them However this they do and must hold whatever come of it that Christ is killed or destroyed in the Mass they are as much concerned to do it as all their Religion comes to for if Christ be not really destroyed in their Mass they have no true and proper Sacrifice and they tell us to prove us altogether irreligious (s) Nulla unquam fuit religio sine externo sacrificio Where there is no proper Sacrifice there can be no Religion Hereby it is very manifest that the Office of their Sacrificing Priest is daily to offer deadly violence to Christ That Christ in their Mass is every day slain or consumed and that the highest devotion of the Romish Church is the destruction of Christ 'T is true Christ is above their reach whatever they fancy they cannot offer him this violence or destroy him as they do his Members but they really design to destroy him when they would make a Sacrifice of him and they verily believe they do it and they do all which they count requisite in order to it and therefore they are destroyers of Christ by their own Rule (t) Voluntas faciendi ipsum factum sunt ejusdem malitiae to will to do it is tâ—e same wickedness with the doing of it The horridness of this will be more apparent if we take notice wherefore they will thus use Christ Their Church does it for the honour of the Saints and of his Mother In that part of the Mass which is called the Offertory they say we offer thee this Oblation in honour of the blessed Mary for ever a Virgin and of all the Apostles and of all the Saints that it may be for their honour (u) Ut illis praefieiat ad honorem So that they Sacrifice the Son to honour the Mother and destroy the Lord in honour of his Servants If one under the Law had but offered a Pigeon or the meanest Sacrifice in honour of Abraham or Moses it would have been counted a Crime worthy of the worst of deaths for this had been an advancing them into the place of God and yet to Sacrifice the Son of God that is to destroy him in honour of a Saint of the Popes making is a meritorious act Further the Priest will not venture on such a fact for nothing he has no reason to destroy Christ more than Judas had to betray him without some valuable consideration He is to Sacrifice Christ for the living and the dead For those that are dead if they have bequeathed any thing to the Church for this purpose or if their Friends hire him to do it For the living those that are frugal may be secretly mentioned in the momento of a common Mass for a piece of money but if any will go to the price of a particular Mass the Priest is ready to Sacrifice and destroy Christ on purpose for them in particular x pro incolumitate says the Missal pro bonis temporalibus says Innocent 3. In fine they do not offer this to Christ for spiritual respects only but for temporal and worldly advantages and such often as are of no great moment (*) pro qualibet necessitate says Lindanus Christ is to be destroyed for the health and safety of any body that is Catholick yea for the curing of a diseased Horse or the recovery of a sick Pigg or the preserving of their Fruit from frost or a blast They think it not amiss for such matters as these to make a Sacrifice of Christ and to destroy him it is done amongst them many thousand times daily And though the Apostle seems to make it a horrid crime for one to Crucifie again the Son of God yet for them to do that daily which for the substance of the thing is as destructive to Christ as the first Crucifying was is the principal part and office and the most eminent and meritorious act of their Religion These and such like are the prime Vertues of the Romanists most needful to be observed and practised And if things of such a quality be so far from being relinquished where shall we find any thing which God hath made a sin that can be thought worthy to be forsaken But I have stayed long enough here let me proceed to the next head propounded to satisfie us that they count it needless to forsake sin CHAP. VIII Crimes exceeding great and many are but slight and Venial faults by the Popish Doctrine SECT I. THere are innumerable Evils which they call Sins yet they count it not necessary in point of Salvation for any to forsake them but give all incouragement to live and die therein as sins for which they can never be condemned Such are those which they count Venial Let me shew you what sins they are which they reckon to be of such a quality and thereby it will be discerned how far their Doctrine gives warranty to sins of all sorts and to continue in the violation of all the Commands of God And this I shall do out of their own Authors such as are unexceptionable declining the Jesuits and thereby it will be more manifest how little reason there is to excuse the practical Doctrine received in their Church by charging their impious and licentious Principles upon the Society To hate God (y) Navar. Manual cap. 11. n. 18. if it be out of inadvertency and not with deliberation is no mortal sin and this they say of actual hatred for habitual enmity against God is with them no sin at all Acts of insidelity when they are led thereto by fear (z) Angel sum verb. sides n. 9. or worshipping an Idol such as not only we but themselves count Idols are no worse than Venial (*) Idem verb. solicitud Unbelief and perplexing distrustfulness of God about the things of this life is as innocent To present the body only before God in all religious Exercises in Prayer the Sacraments yea
if Religion be starv'd to death among them the life of it cannot be sustained no more than God can be honoured by man-kind without some acts of Worship and religious Exercises in ordinary practice their Teachers assure them that they are not ordinarily obliged to any of these on common days and to none of them all but the Mass on their days for Worship nor to any religious attendance on God or their Souls in that nor to any attendance on it at all but what they may decline without mortal sin If the life of Religion be preserved amongst any without its necessary supports and proper nourishment it must be by a Miracle but they seem so far from regarding the life or the power of it on which the honour of God and the salvation of Souls depends that they are not concerned for the carcass of it in exterior acts no not that of the Mass when they have reduced all to that further than the fear of a Venial sin will oblige ten millions of which cannot as they teach damn a man As for servile works abstaining from which they make the negative part of this Precept the avoiding of these is but that we may with more leasure attend on divine Worship it cannot be expected they will much insist on the means when they have overturned the end In short they determine that (g) Sive id quod committitur sit opus servile sive ab Ecclesia prohibitum si vero nec intentio suit violandi festum non incurritur peccatum mortale Cajetan ibid. p. 310. they who do any servile or forbidden works on the Lords day if they do it not with a design to prophane it offend but Venially Thus if they never all their life perform one religious act which God has commanded on his own day or others they scarce sin Venially or if they neglect that which themselves have made the religious Duty of these days they may do it without greater fault or danger And for the negative part if they consume these days in servile works without an intention needlesly perverse or which is worse in prophane divertisements yea or in acting the most enormous wickedness as we shall see in its place yet by their Doctrine they do nothing against this Precept or nothing which any of them need regard Thus their Doctrine of Venial sins is improved to possess them with a conceit that they may make what breaches they will upon the Commandments of God without doing any thing at all or any thing dangerously against them and so to render all sorts of ungodliness practicable with safety We have seen it in instances against precepts of the first Table let us see if those who make so bold with God in the Duties which more immediately concern himself will be more tender as to those which respect man SECT V. THE Duties which Children owe their Parents to instance for briefness onely in those which the Lord hath made the exemplar of the other and by which we may pass a judgment on the rest they reduce to those three Reverence Love and Obedience In reference to the first They conclude that those who have no more respect for their Parents (h) Filius qui sibi dedecori contumeliae futurum esse existimaret se pro silio illorum haberi si absque contemptu id facit ad vitandum aliquod incommodum sinistrae opinionis vel ob aliam hujusmodi causam non peccaret mortaliter maxime si parentes tacite vel expresse in eo consentirent Navar. c. 14. n. 12. Graff l. 2. c. 51. n. 12. Lopez c. 54. p. 279. thou to count it a disgrace and a shame to be counted their Children if it be for the inconveniences of a sinister opinion or such-like cause sin not mortally and the fault may be less still if the Parents consent to it expresly or tacitely to avoid some inconvenience It seems the Command calls for no such Reverence from Children but they may be ashamed of their Parents if they be poor and low in the World (i) Filius qui ex animo maledicit sive vivis sive jam saeculo defunctis â—… taâ—en ore tenus tantum maledicit non amplius quam venialiter offendit Navar. ibid. Children may curse their Parents if they do it but with their lips and this whether they be alive or dead the offence is but Venial And indeed they alâ—ow Parents to give their Children occasion enough to curse them when they will not have them obliged under mortal sin to teach them any more (k) Sylvest Sum. v. Scientia Graff l. 2. c. 58. n. 14. Ea quae parentes tenentur facere sub peccato mortali ut filii addiscant est signum crucis ut Credo parvum et Paâ—er-noster than the sign of the Cross the small Creed and Pater-noster nor teach them these in a language (l) Navar. Cap. 11. n. 22. they understand However Parents may come even with their Children and if they love and reverence their Father and Mother so much as to curse them their Parents may (m) Idem Cap. 23. n. 117. curse them again upon as easie terms only they should not desire mischief to them in their heart though their words express that desire When Parents curse their children having no inward desire of their mischief it is never a mortal sin says Soto (n) Cum parentes fillis maledicunt nullum intus habentes mali desiderium nunquam est peccatum mortale quamvis consuetudo profecto pessima est de just et Jur. l. 5. q. 12. art 1. Graff l. 2. c. 58. n. 20. and it may seem strange considering the account of it immediately added Although it be indeed a wicked custome and not at all for correction besides that the heat of cursing often raises anger into hatred and so alters the mind that they often desire that all the mischief imprecated may befall them besides the appellation of the Devil can scarce be excused from a mortal Evil for it is a kind of blasphemy and scandal to wish eternal death to any Yet all this it seems may be excused from deadly sin though not very easily For Love they may rejoyce at the death of their Father (o) Navar. C. 15. N. 10. because of some outward advantage they gain thereby They (p) Si filius scit patrem esse haereticum non solum sibi ipsi sed aliis prava sua doctrina nocere potest debet eum accusare Alexand. Alensis fecundum eum Graff l. 2. cap. 55. n. 8. quamvis tenetur filius ad denuntiandam haeresim patris ad testificandum de illa Nov. c. 25. n. 50. may accuse their Parents of Heresie though the effect of that will be a cruel death to those who gave them life As to Obedience in things that pertain not to (q) Idem ibid. C. 14. N. 12. paternal government it is no mortal sin to disobey
it it is but Venial Yet the reason why they count the stealing of a small thing to be but a little fault is (o) Si minimi erit pretii-nemo mortalem esse culpam affirmabit ex D. Thom. et ratio est quia praesumitur non esse omnino contra voluntatem ejus qui hoc patitur Graff l. 1. c. 14 n. 5. Nav. ibid. n. 5. because the owner is presumed not unwilling the stealer should have it it being no considerable loss or trouble to him but this cannot be presumed in the now mentioned cases And if theft whether of small or great consequence whether with or without that which makes little theft to be Venial be still no worse than Venial than will no theft be mortal They also teach that (p) Tradunt Medina Angelus Pet. Navar Malderus Plures alii in Dian. p. 2. l. 3. mis. res 29. Quamvis non sit in necessitate extrema excusari tamen potest a toto furtive subripiendo Sylvest sum v. futum n. 10. Navar. ibid. vid. Angelum One in extream necessity may kill the owner if he would hinder him from stealing si a domino impediatur potest se tueri et occidere impedientem Bonacin de restit disp 1. q. 8. punct 3. n. 4. those who are in need though it be not extream but such only as would be counted great may steal from others for their relief (q) Communis est opinio quam reâ—ert Sylvest quod non teneatur ad restitutionem si ad pinguiorem fortunam pervenerit is qui in magna necessitate surripit Graff l. 2. c. 93. n. 11. nor are they bound to make restitution when they have got a good estate Thus theft will be made as common as moderate indigence and the practice being continued as long as there is need it may amount in a while to a considerable sum yea when the necessitous are grown rich those whose estates are impaired by such thefts shall have no reparation Thus a wide door is opened for common thievery in considerable quantities without any restraint either from respect to sin or to satisfaction Further (r) Corduba Navar. Lopez pars 2 Cap. 93. p. 414. when so many persons in no necessity take each of them a little fruit from a Vineyard or an Orchard or a little corn from a field that there is nothing at all left for the owner yet if they did not conspire together to do this it is a small fault And thus any men of estates since it holds in other cases no less than those specified may be utterly impoverished and yet those that ruine them be guilty of nothing that they need regard Moreover when any one without any need continues so long in the stealing matters of less worth from one person or many that in time they rise to a great value and the thief thrives into a good estate thereby without designing it this altogether is no more then a Venial fault nor will it be worse though he never make restitution if there was any considerable interval betwixt the acts of theft (s) Navar. c. 17. n. 139. Graff l. 2. c. 92. n. 18. say some no nor if there were no such intervals say (t) Angestus in Lopez ibid. p. 416. others The consequences of which is as Lopez observes (u) Tabernarius seu quilibet negotiator posset ditescere sine mortall et statum decentem fundare et singulos emptores in modico mensuras curtando defraudare totam civitatem sic depilando ibid. p. 14. that any Inn-keeper or Tradesman may grow rich and raise a fair estate without mortal sin by defrauding all that buy of them a little in false measures and so fleecing a whole Town And why might not they as well conclude that he who beats another so it be but with little blows though he beat him to death offends but Venially these of old were thought (x) Nihil resert an paulatim an simul aliquem interimas vel spolies Jerom. ibid. alike They conclude also that such a quantity may be stoln as is sufficient to make it a mortal sin without sinning mortally if it be for a good end These are some of the instances they give 1. A (y) Communis sententia ampliatur ut non tantum pro se sed etiam pro alio existente in extrema necessitate quis occulte subtrahere possit Graff c. 93. n. 12. Navar. c. 17. n. 118. If a man be in mortal sin his Wife may take of his goods privily and give them away in Alms for his conversion Bonacin de restit disp 2. q. 10. punct 2. n. 9. man may steal to give Alms We need not wonder at this since they think not much to rob Christ of his honour in all their good works and so commit the worst kind of robbery the highest Sacriledg in their best acts arrogating that to them which is Christs peculiar satisfaction and merit And then that the Charitable thief if he become rich is not bound to restore what is stoln is the (z) in Navar. ibid. common opinion Also one may steal (a) Antoninus quem sequitur Nav. ibid. n. 5. p. 282. money from another rather then he shall venture it in gaming for it it is good divinity with them whatsoever it was with the Apostle that one evil may be done to hinder another (b) Licet inducere ad minus malum paratum jam ad majus malum ut si quis proponit interficere aut adulterari quis licet ei persuadere percutere aut fornicari contra fratrem Josephum qui limitat hanc sententiam ad peccata quae non sunt intrinseca mala sed censeâ— sententiam hanc generaliter esse tenendam prout eam tenet Navarrus et Cajetanus Lopez pars 1. cap. 58. p. 297. Adrianus Cajetan Sotus quos sequitur Navar. cap. 14. n. 40. Luxurioso sancte consulitur ut non adulteretur sed fornicetur Cajetan sum v. Tyrannis Medina Sotus Adrian existimant non tantum licere suadere minus furtum latroni sed etiam ipsum comitari imo etiam adjuvare in Vasq opusc Moral p. 24. dub 2. Bonacin de rest disp 1. q. 2. punct 7. n. 9. and that not only in other sins as Fryer Joseph would limit it but such as are intrinsecally evil for example If one be about to commit adultery it will be a lawful a holy act to beseech and perswade him to commit fornication Or nearer the matter in hand if one be ready to steal an hundred pounds I may advise him to steal fifty and so perswade to a mortal sin with some moderation They think it not only lawful to perswade a thief to a smaller robbery but also to accompany and assist him therein Further a (c) Sylvest v. furtum n. 15. Navar. cap. 17. n. 154. Graff l. 2. c. 92. n. 26 woman if her Husband be profuse may against his command take away his goods
dangerous amongst probable opinions and not to regard though he cannot answer the arguments against it it is enough that he believe what another says Or this (o) Bonacin de peccat disp 2. q. 4. punct 8. n. 3. ubi Sayrus alij n. 4. the Confessor may tell him that he should count no sin mortal but what is manifest to be such and so manifest sometimes that he cannot swear it is not or any else though they have store of like nature the former are sufficient to leave no Conscience of sin amongst them in ordinary practice and to incourage sinners commonly to venture upon any violation of the Divine Rule with warrant from their Doctrine that it will be no sin to them Thus they take a course to ease mens Consciences by leaving them none And what clearer way can there be to remove scruples than to perswade them who would retain some Conscience if they would suffer them that there is little or no sin to be scrupled at Sect. 18. This is abundantly sufficient to make it apparent that the Popish Doctrine is destructive to holiness of life since they have warranty thereby not only to neglect the proper acts and exercises of holiness but to give up themselves to practices of all sorts which are directly opposite thereto 'T is true they do not acknowledge those practices to be sins or dangerous but they may with as good reason justifie such acts which they cannot but condemn for crimes as they go about to excuse these from being criminal A son of Belial that has liv'd in the neglect of holiness and in the practice of ungodliness and unrighteousness all his time will scarce pass at the day of Judgment for one that is holy or innocent because he has had the confidence to think so or has found out some shift to support his presumption or because others like himself were of the same mind nor is he like to escape because he had wit enough to cozen his Conscience or boldness to stifle it or wariness to keep out the light which would have inform'd it or self-love to believe those who flatter'd him in what his corrupt inclination led him to or facilness to follow those blindfold who had no mind to see Those devices which they have found out to justifie innumerable Transgressions of the Divine Law and may serve as well to justifie them all have no countenance from Scripture nor from Antiquity faithfully following it This is not only acknowledged but charged home by some of the French Romanists upon a supposition that these pernicious Artifices are peculiarly the Jesuits but since it is apparent that the Divines and Casuists of all Orders and those of Universal repute are no more excusable the charge is justly fixed upon their Church and practical Doctrine in general Nor is their acknowledgment needful it is plain in the Writings of those who have the conduct of their Consciences that they consult not with Scripture in these determinations no more than with ancient Writers you shall find them very rarely meddle with either An allegation out of their Canon Law is an authentick Authority that passes for the Text a Schoolman or Casuist of note that went before them is a sufficient conduct if there be a concurrence of Five or Six it is then the common opinion and they are as secure in it as if they marched with a Caravan but if they have a mind to be singular and have but somthing like a reason for it they Supererogate though the reason be such that the next who examines it puffs it away as a trifle Such are the foundations of their practical Divinity the Masters of it the Casuists are follow'd by the Priests and Confessors and the Priests are follow'd by the people and so the blind follow the blind and those that see not those that will not see But it may be there was less need to be so long and particular in shewing how unnecessary it is with them to forsake sin It is manifest enough by their Doctrine of Repentance before insisted on that there 's no necessity they should break off their sins till they be obliged to be contrite and their Doctors cannot agree upon any time for this though some of them specifie the point of death though then indeed they do not account it indispensably necessary the people may think themselves excused if they do not resolve to leave their sins till their Teachers agree that they must do so and so live in them till they can live no longer If any particular Doctor fix a more early period and bring some reason for it though they may if they please yet they are not obliged to believe him for no reason is brought by any of them for a more timely turning from sin but is confuted and rejected by some or other among them as slight and insufficient and 't is no sin not to believe him who proposes to them upon frivolous reasons yea it would be an act of imprudence to do it as (p) Quando articuli fidei non modo debito proponuntur ut rationibus frivolis tunc enim credere esset actus imprudentiae secundum D. Tho. 2. 2. q. 1. art 4. Deus Nat. Gr. Probl. 15. p. 87. Sancta Clara assures us out of Aquinas and Victoria so they may hereupon go on in their sins till the approach of death and he whom they worship as a Saint and Reverence as the Angel of their Schools may incourage them herein since he declares (q) Permanentiam in peccato usque ad mortem non esse speciale peccatum sed quandam peccati circumstantiam Aquinas 2. 2. q. 14 a. 2. that continuance in sin unto death is not a special sin but only a circumstance of sin Nor need they be affraid of this circumstance as though it would make their case worse for by their Doctrine to sin and so to continue in sin upon confidence that they shall have pardon by Confession is so far from aggravating sin that it extenuates it So Cajetan and Navar (r) Peccans ob fiduciam quod postea pro confessionem veniam obtinebit non tenetur dâ— necessitate id confiteri quia non est circumstantia adeo peccatum aggravans imo potius minuit ut inquit Cajetanus in 2. 2. q. 21. art 2. Nav. cap. 6. n. 3. p. 98. after him And that nothing may discourage them from continuing in wickedness the Council of Trent declares without excepting the sinners perseverance in sin unto death that if he be attrite the Sacrament of Confession will secure him though attrition is confessed not to import so much as any pious or ingenuous purpose to forsake sin CHAP. X. The Roman Doctrine makes good works to be unnecessary SECT 1. BUt their good works possibly may satisfie for their other defects and extravagancies and in these they glory above all and have the confidence to condemn us upon a pretence though utterly
Pope money and this done through his Indulgence there may be no need to do any more The Conclusion BY the Premises it is manifest that Popery by its practical principles is destructive to Christanity and the souls of men As to Christianity whether we consider it in general as Religion or in its specialties as the best Religion it is both ways by the Popish-doctrine ruined This plucks up the Fundamentals of it and dissolves the whole structure and burys and confounds both the necessary materials and the peculiar excellencies thereof in its rubbish There can be no Religion in reality without real worship this being essential to it yet their doctrine declares it needless either for Clergy or People to be real worshippers of God being so far from ingaging them to be reverent or devout or sincere or affectionate towards God in Religious addresses that it will not have them obliged so much as actually to mind God when they pretend to worship him There needs not so much as one act of true and real worship to make them as Religious and as much Christians as is necessary by their Divinity So that Christianity as they form it is a Religion regardless of God even when if ever he should be most observed and honoured and thereby sunk lower then Heathenism and the notions of natural Religion retained by Infidels Further it discharges those acts and dutys of Christianity which are necessary and essential to it and allowes and incourages all that it forbids and condemns even what is most repugnant to and inconsistent with it It makes all Christian acts and dutys needless and all wickedness opposite thereto safe and practicable without fear of condemnation and there needs no more to ruine the Religion of Christ A great part of those dutys are by this doctrine mere matter of Counsel and thereby they are made no dutys all obligation to perform them being in that notion quite dissolved The remnant all conscience of which is not swallowed up in Counsels which they cannot but acknowledge to be dutys yet they will have them to be so but sometimes and that very rarely and when that is they cannot tell it is not certainly known when and the observance thereof must be correspondent no body knows certainly when Or if they guess at the time and point some out as probable yet when the time comes the acts though the life of Christianity consists therein and the salvation of the persons depends thereon need not to be done something else will serve instead thereof some natural act or faint wish or false conceit something or other though neither truly Christian nor Virtuous with the Sacrament at least will excuse them from all other Christian acts It is not the Accessaries of Religion only that they make thus bold with but thus they handle the very vitals of Christianity and make them unnecessary for Christians The very acts of Faith and Hope and Love yea Repentance it self and all the rest with these are thus made needless and they may be true Christians at their rate and saved in their conceit without ever exerting in a whole life so little as one act of grace or Christian vertue The world never saw Christianity into what hands soever it fell more clearly stript not only of its lustre and ornament but of its life and being If this suffice not to make an end of all Religion truly Christian they not only dismiss as more than needs what the doctrine of the Gospel makes most necessary but advance and incourage what is most opposite to it not only ignorance unbelief disaffection to Christ impenitency but therewith all disobedience unto the Gospel Instead of the holy rules thereof they have formed a doctrine of licentious Maxims which give security to the practice of any wickedness and take away when they had left no other restraint the fears of Hell from those who live and dye in damning sins Whatever it is that Christ forbids it is with them either no sin or not dangerous or the worst of all by vertue of some devices of their own not damning So that they may venture upon any wickedness freely and persist therein securely till death and yet by some evasions which they tell them of escape the wrath to come whatever Christ say to the contrary without either the fruits or acts of Repentance There are many sins and amongst them horrid and enormous crimes condemned by the Law of God and natural light and such as the practice of them is reproachful to the Christian name which yet with them pass for no sins and they are furnished with expedients to make any other so too when they see occasion and in these they will discern no shadow of danger There is a world of wickedness which by their doctrine is Venial abundance more than enough utterly to deface Christianity and to make any who takes but part of the liberty given by their Divines to look more like an Athiest or a Bruit a person of no Religion Conscience or Honesty than a true Christian They can gratifie any vicious disposition which way soever it leads with impiety and debauches enow to fill up a whole life and yet if he will be satisfied with any thing but the highest degrees of wickedness promise him security If he could swallow ten millions of their Venials every minute at a gulp they would not by their divinity indanger him though one that will follow the rules of Christ must choose death rather than venture upon some one of them There is with them no danger in thus sinning though the Christian doctrine never discovered any thing else in sin Or if their Catholicks will be outragiously wicked and cannot be satisfied with less than the practice of the most mortal crimes they will not disoblige them the party must be kept up though their souls sink they shall have their liberty upon easie terms deadly sins shall be as free for them and in a manner as safe as their harmless Venials That which makes Venial faults seem less dangerous than mortal is because they will not damne a man though he never repent of them but even herein they have made venial and mortal alike safe for by their doctrine he may he live in all sorts of deadly wickedness die therein without any act of true Repentance and yet escape damnation They commend to them several evasions to secure impenitent Sinners how damnable soever their neglects or practices have been to the last But that of the Trent Council must not be doubted of attrition which they confess alone to be no sufficient no saving Repentance with the Sacrament of confession will pass any Sinner into a saving state This one device of their own will serve instead of all that Christ hath prescribed if this be observed though they live and die in the neglect of all Christian vertues and in the practice of all wickedness which Christ condemns they need not fear this