Disciples But he told it to the Jews and yet it does not follow that they should all be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire but it is meant onely that that glorious effect should be to them a sign of Christ's eminency above him they should see from him a Baptism greater then that of John And that it must be meant of that miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost and not of any secret gift or private immission appears because the Baptist offered it as a sign and testimony of the prelation and greatness of Christ above him which could not be proved to them by any secret operation which cometh not by observation but by a great and miraculous mission such as was that in Pentecost So that hence to argue that we may as well conclude that Infants must also pass through the fire as through the water is a false conclusion inferred from no premisses because this being onely a Prophecy and inferring no duty could neither concern men or children to any of the purposes of their Argument For Christ never said Vnless ye be baptized with fire and the Spirit ye shall not enter into the Kingdome of heaven but of water and the Spirit he did say it therefore though they must pass through the water yet no smell of fire must pass upon them But there are yet two things by which they offer to escape The one is that in these words Baptism by water is not meant at all but Baptism by the Spirit onely because S. Peter having said that Baptism saves us he addes by way of explication not the washing of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God plainly saying that it is not water but the Spirit To this I reply that when water is taken exclusively to the Spirit it is very true that it is not water that cleanses the Soul and the cleansing of the body cannot save us but who-ever urges the necessity of Baptism urges it but as a necessary Sacrament or Instrument to convey or consign the Spirit and this they might with a little observation have learned there being nothing more usual in discourse then to deny the effect to the instrument when it is compared with the principle and yet not intend to deny to it an instrumental efficiency It is not the pen that writes well but the hand and S. Paul said It is not I but the grace of God and yet it was gratia Dei mecum that is the principal and the less principal together So S. Peter It is not water but the Spirit or which may come to one and the same not the washing the filth of the flesh but purifying the conscience that saves us and yet neither one nor the other are absolutely excluded but the effect which is denied to the instrument is attributed to the principal cause But however this does no more concern Infants then men of age for they are not saved by the washing the body but by the answer of a good conscience by the Spirit of holiness and sanctification that is water alone does not doe it unless the Spirit move upon the water But that water also is in the ministery and is not to be excluded from its portion of the work appears by the words of the Apostle The like figure whereunto even Baptism saves us c. that is Baptism even as it is a figure saves us in some sense of other by way of ministery and instrumental efficiency by conjunction and consolidation with the other but the ceremony the figure the Rite and external ministery must be in or else his words will in no sense be true and could be made true by no interpretation because the Spirit may be the thing figured but can never be a figure The other little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that these words were spoken before Baptism was ordained and therefore could not concern Baptism much less prove the necessity of baptizing Infants I answer that so are the sayings of the Prophets long before the coming of Christ and yet concerned his coming most certainly Secondly They were not spoken before the institution of Baptism for the Disciples of Christ did baptize more then the Baptist ever in his life-time they were indeed spoken before the commission was of baptizing all nations or taking the Gentiles into the Church but not before Christ made Disciples and his Apostles baptized them among the Jews And it was so known a thing that great Prophets and the Fathers of an Institution did baptize Disciples that our Blessed Saviour upbraided Nicodemus for his ignorance of that particular and his not understanding words spoken in the proportion and imitation of custome so known among them But then that this Argument which presses so much may be attempted in all the parts of it like Souldiers fighting against Curiassiers that try all the joynts of their armour so doe these to this For they object in the same number that the exclusive negative of Nisi quis does not include Infants but onely persons capable for say they this no more infers a necessity of Infants Baptism then the parallel words of Christ Nisi comâ—deritis unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud ye have no life in you infer a necessity to give them the holy Communion c. With this Argument men use to make a great noise in many Questions but in this it will signifie but little First Indeed to one of the Roman Communion it will cause some disorder in this Question both because they think it unlawfull to give the holy Communion to Infants and yet that these words are meant of the holy Communion and if we thought so too I do not doubt but we should communicate them with the same opinion of necessity as did the Primitive Church But to the thing itself I grant that the expression is equal and infers an equal necessity in their respective cases and therefore it is as necessary to eat the flesh of the Son of man and to drink his bloud as to be baptized but then it is to be added that eating and drinking are metaphors and allusions us'd onely upon occasion of Manna which was then spoken of and which occasioned the whole discourse but the thing itself is nothing but that Christ should be received for the life of our Souls as bread and drink is for the life of our bodies Now because there are many ways of receiving Christ there are so many ways of obeying this precept but that some way or other it be obeyed is as necessary as that we be baptized Here onely it is declared to be necessary that Christ be received that we derive our life and our spiritual and eternall being from him now this can concern Infants and does infer an ordinary necessity of their Baptism for in Baptism they are united to Christ and Christ to them in Baptism they receive the beginnings of a new life
expects our duty And if the spirit of prayer be of greater consequence than all the works God hath wrought in us besides and hath the promise of a special prerogative let the first be proved and the second be shown in any good Record and then I will confess the difference Sect. 20. THE Parallel of this Argument I the rather urge because I find praying in the Holy Ghost joyned with graces which are as much Gods gifts and productions of the spirit as any thing in the world and yet which the Apostle presses upon us as duties and things put into our power to be improved by our industry and those are faith in which I before instanced and charity But ye beloved building up your selves on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep your selves in the love of God All of the same consideration Faith and Prayer and Charity all gifts of the Spirit and yet build up your selves in faith and keep your selves in love and therefore by a parity of reason improve your selves in the spirit of Prayer that is God by his Spirit having supplied us with matter let our industry and co-operations per modum naturae improve these gifts and build upon this foundation Sect. 21. THUS the Spirit of God is called the Spirit of adoption the Spirit of counsel the Spirit of grace the Spirit of meekness the Spirit of wisdom And without doubt he is the fountain of all these to us all and that for ever and yet it cannot reasonably be supposed but that we must stir up the graces of God in us co-operate with his assistances study in order to counsel labour and consider in order to wisdom give all diligence to make our calling and election sure in order to our adoption in which we are sealed by the Spirit Now these instances are of gifts as well as graces and since the days of wonder and need of miracles is expired there is no more reason to expect inspiration of gifts than of graces without our endeavours It concerns the Church rather to have these secured than those and yet the Spirit of God puts it upon the condition of our co-operation for according to the Proverb of the old Moralists Deus habet sinum facilem non perforâ—tum Gods bosom is apt and easie to the emission of graces and assistances but it is not loose and ungirt something must be done on our part we must improve the talents and swell the bank for if either we lay them up in a napkin or spend them suppress the Spirit or extinguish it we shall dearly account for it Sect. 22. IN the mean time if we may lose the gifts by our own fault we may purchase them by our diligence if we may lessen them by our incuriousness we may increase them by study if we may quench the spirit then also we may re-enkindle it all which are evident probation that the Holy Ghost gives us assistances to improve our natural powers and to promote our acquisite and his aids are not inspirations of the habit or infusions of a perfect gift but a subliming of what God gave us in the stock of nature and art to make it in a sufficient order to an end supernatural and divine Sect. 23. THE same doctrine we are taught by S. Pauls exhortation to Timothy Neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecie with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery And again stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the laying on of my hâ—nds If there be any gifts of the Holy Ghost and spiritual influences dispensed without our co-operation and by inspiration of the intire power it is in ordination and the persons so ordained are most likely to receive the gift of prayer if any such thing be for the edification of the Church they being the men appointed to intercede and to stand between God and the people and yet this gift of God even in those times when they were dispensed with miracle and assistances extraordinary were given as all things now are given by the means also of our endeavour and was capable of improvement by industry and of defailance by neglect and therefore much rather is it so now in the days of ordinary ministration and common assistances Sect. 24. AND indeed this argument beside the efficacy of its perswasion must needs conclude against the Men to whom these adversaria are addressed because themselves call upon their Disciples to exercise the gift of prayer and offer it to consideration that such exercising it is the way to better it and if natural endowments and artificial endeavours are the way to purchase new degrees of it it were not amiss they did consider a little before they begin and did improve their first and smallest capacities before they ventured any thing in publick by way of address to Almighty God For the first beginnings are certainly as improvable as the next degrees and it is certain they have more need of it as being more imperfect and rude Therefore when ever Gods Spirit hath given us any capacities or assistances any documents motions desires or any aids whatsoever they are therefore given us with a purpose we should by our industry skill and labour improve them because without such co-operation the intention is made void and the work imperfect Sect. 25. AND this is exactly the doctrine I plainly gather from the objected words of S. Paul The Spirit helpeth our infirmities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is in the Greek collaborantem adjuvat It is an ingeminate expression of our labours And that supposes us to have faculties capable of improvement and an obligation to labour and that the effect of having the gift of prayer depends upon the mutual course that is upon God blessing our powers and our endeavours And if this way the Spirit performs his promise sufficiently and does all that we need and all that he ties himself to he that will multiply his hopes farther than what is sufficient or what is promised may possibly deceive himself but never deceive God and make him multiply and continue miracles to justifie his fancy Sect. 26. BETTER it is to follow the Scriptures for our guide as in all things else so in this particular Ephes. 6.17 18. Take the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit The word of God is the sword of the spirit praying in the Spirit is one way of using it indeed the only way that he here specifies Praying in the Spirit then being the using of this Sword and this Sword being the word of God it follows evidently that praying in the spirit is praying in or according to the word of God that is in the directions rules and expresses of the Word of God that is of the holy Scriptures For we have many infirmities and we need the spirit to
weak and the devotion imperfect and the affections dry though in respect of the precise duty on our part and the acceptation on Gods part no advantage is got by a liberty of an indifferent unlimited and chosen form and therefore in all cases the whole duty of prayer is secured by publick forms yet other circumstantial and accidental advantages may be obtained by it and therefore let such persons feast themselves in private with sweet-meats and less nourishing delicacies weak stomachs must be cared for yet they must be confessed to have stronger stomachs and better health that can feed upon the wholesome food prepared in the common Refectories Sect. 60. SO that publick forms it is true cannot be fitted to every mans fancy and affections especially in an Age wherein all publick constitutions are protested against but yet they may be fitted to all necessities and to every mans duty and for the pleasing the affections and fancies of men that may be sometimes convenient but it is never necessary and God that suffers driness of affections many times in his dearest servants and in their greatest troubles and most excellent Devotions hath by that sufferance of his given demonstration that it is not necessary such affections should be complyed withal for then he would never suffer those sterilities but himself by a cup of sensible Devotion would water and refresh those drinesses and if God himself does not it is not to be expected the Church should Sect. 61. AND this also is the case of Scripture for the many discourses of excellent Orators and Preachers have all those advantages of meeting with the various affections and dispositions of the hearers and may cause a tear when all Saint Paul's Epistles would not and yet certainly there is no comparison between them but one Chapter of Saint Paul is more excellent and of better use to the substantial part of Religion than all the Sermons of Saint Chrysostome and yet there are some circumstances of advantage which humane eloquence may have which are not observed to be in those other more excellent emanations of the holy Spirit And therefore if the Objection should be true and that conceived forms of Prayer in their great variety might do some accidental advantages to weaker persons and stronger fancies and more imperfect judgments yet this instance of Scripture is a demonstration that set and composed devotions may be better and this reason does not prove the contrary because the Sermons in Scripture are infinitely to be preferred before those discourses and orations which do more comply with the fancies of the people Nay we see by experience that the change of our prayers or our books or our company is so delightful to most persons that though the change be for the worse it more complies with their affections than the peremptory and unaltered retaining of the better but yet this is no good argument to prove that change to be for the better Sect. 62. BUT yet if such compliance with fancies and affections were necessary what are we the nearer if every Minister were permitted to pray his own forms How can his form comply with the great variety of affections which are amongst his Auditors any more than the publick forms described by Authority It may hit casually and by accident be commensurate to the present fancy of some of his Congregation with which at that time possibly the publick form would not This may be thus and it may be otherwise and at the same time in which some feel a gust and relish in his prayer others might feel a greater sweetness in recitation of the publick forms This thing is so by chance so irregular and uncertain that no wise man nor no Providence less than Divine can make any provisions for it Sect. 63. AND after all it is nothing but the fantastick and imaginative part that is pleased which for ought appears may be disturbed with curiosity peevishness pride spirit of novelty lightness and impertinency and that to satisfie such spirits and fantastick persons may be as dangerous and useless to them as it is troublesome in it self But then for the matter of edification that is considerable upon another stock for now adayes men are never edified unless they be pleased and if they mislike the Person or have taken up a quarrel against any form or institution presently they cry out They are not edified that is they are displeased and the ground of their displeasure is nothing from the thing it self but from themselves only they are wanton with their meat and long for variety and then they cry out that Manna will not nourish them but prefer the onions of Egypt before the food of Angels the way to cure this inconvenience is to alter the men not to change the institution for it is very certain that wholsome meat is of it self nutritive if the body be disposed to its reception and entertainment But it is not certain that what a sick man fancies out of the weakness of his spirit the distemper of his appetite and wildness of his fancy that it will become to him either good or good physick Now in the entertainments of Religion and spiritual repasts that is wholsome nutritive and apt to edifie which is pious in it self of advantage to the honour of God whatsoever is good Doctrine or good Prayers especially when it is prepared by a publick hand and designed for publick use by all the wisdom of those men who in all reason are to be supposed to have received from God all those assistances which are effects of the spirit of Government and therefore it is but weakness of spirit or strength of passion impotency in some sence or other certainly that first dislikes the publick provisions and then say they are not wholsome Sect. 64. FOR I demand concerning the publick Liturgies of a Church whose constitution is principally of the parts and choicest extracts of Scripture Lessons and the Psalms and some few Hymns and Symbols made by the most excellent persons in the Primitive Church and all this in nothing disagreeing from the rules of Liturgie given in Scripture but that the same things are desired and the same persons prayed for and to the same end and by the same great instrument of address and acceptation by Jesus Christ and which gives all the glory that is due to God and gives nothing of this to a Creature and hath in it many admirable documents whether there be any thing wanting in such a Lyturgie towards edification What is there in prayers that can edifie that is not in such a Lyturgie so constituted or what can there be more in the private forms of any Minister than is in such a publick composition Sect. 65. BY this time I suppose the Objection with all its parts is disbanded so far as it relates to edification profit and compliance with the auditors As for the matter of liberty and restraint of the spirit I shall consider that
provision at all is made in the Directorie and the very administration of the Sacraments left so loosely that if there be any thing essential in the Forms of Sacraments the Sacrament may become ineffectual for want of due Words and due Administration I say he that considers all these things and many more he may consider will find that particular men are not fit to be intrusted to offer in Publick with their private Spirit to God for the people in such Solemnities in matters of so great concernment where the Honour of God the benefit of the People the interest of Kingdoms the being of a Church the unity of Minds the conformity of Practice the truth of Perswasion and the salvation of Souls are so much concerned as they are in the publick Prayers of a whole National Church An unlearned man is not to be trusted and a Wise man dare not trust himself he that is ignorant cannot he that is knowing will not THE END OF THE SACRED ORDER AND OFFICES OF EPISCOPACY BY Divine Institution Apostolical Tradition and Catholick Practice TOGETHER WITH Their Titles of Honour Secular Imployment Manner of Election Delegation of their Power and other Appendant Questions Asserted against the Aërians and Acephali New and Old By JER TAYLOR D. D. and Chaplain in Ordinary to King CHARLES the First Published by His MAJESTIES Command ROM 13.1 There is no Power but of God The Powers that be are ordained of God CONCIL CHALCED 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the King 's most Excellent MAJESTY M DC LXXIII TO THE Truly Worthy and Most Accomplisht Sir CHRISTOPHER HATTON Knight of the Honourable Order of the BATH SIR I AM ingag'd in the defence of a Great Truth and I would willingly find a shroud to cover my self from danger and calumny and although the cause both is and ought to be defended by Kings yet my person must not go thither to Sanctuary unless it be to pay my devotion and I have now no other left for my defence I am robb'd of that which once did bless me and indeed still does but in another manner and I hope will do more but those distillations of celestial dews are conveyed in Channels not pervious to an eye of sense and now adays we seldom look with other be the object never so beauteous or alluring You may then think Sir I am forc'd upon You may that beg my pardon and excuse but I should do an injury to Your Nobleness if I should only make You a refuge for my need pardon this truth you are also of the fairest choice not only for Your love of Learning for although that be eminent in You yet it is not your eminence but for your duty to H. Church for Your loyalty to his sacred Majesty These did prompt me with the greatest confidence to hope for Your fair incouragement and assistance in my pleadings for Episcopacy in which cause Religion and Majesty the King and the Church are interested as parties of mutual concernment There was an odde observation made long ago and registred in the Law to make it authentick Laici sunt infensi Clericis Now the Clergie pray but fight not and therefore if not specially protected by the King contra Ecclesiam Malignantium they are made obnoxious to all the contumelies and injuries which an envious multitude will inflict upon them It was observ'd enough in King Edgars time Quamvis decreta Pontificum verba Sacerdotum inconvulsis ligaminibus velut fundamenta montiurn fixa sunt tamen plerumque tempestatibus turbinibus saecularium rerum Religio S. Matris Ecclesiae maculis reproborum dissipatur ac rumpitur Idcirco Decrevimus Nos c. There was a sad example of it in K. John's time For when he threw the Clergie from his Protection it is incredible what injuries what affronts what robberies yea what murders were committed upon the Bishops and Priests of H. Church whom neither the Sacredness of their persons nor the Laws of God nor the terrors of Conscience nor fears of Hell nor Church-censures nor the laws of Hospitality could protect from Scorn from blows from slaughter Now there being so near a tye as the necessity of their own preservation in the midst of so apparent danger it will tye the Bishops hearts and hands to the King faster than all the tyes of Lay-Allegiance all the Political tyes I mean all that are not precisely religious and obligations in the Court of Conscience 2. But the interest of the Bishops is conjunct with the prosperity of the King besides the interest of their own security by the obligation of secular advantages For they who have their livelihood from the King and are in expectance of their fortune from him are more likely to pay a tribute of exacter duty than others whose fortunes are not in such immediate dependency on his Majesty Aeneas Sylvius once gave a merry reason why Clerks advanced the Pope above a Council viz. because the Pope gave spiritual promotions but the Councils gave none It is but the common expectation of gratitude that a Patron Paramount shall be more assisted by his Beneficiaries in cases of necessity than by those who receive nothing from him but the common influences of Government 3. But the Bishops duty to the King derives it self from a higher fountain For it is one of the main excellencies in Christianity that it advances the State and well-being of Monarchies and bodies Politick Now then the Fathers of Religion are the Reverend Bishops whose peculiar office it is to promote the interests of Christianity are by the nature and essential requisites of their office bound to promote the Honour and Dignity of Kings whom Christianity would have so much honour'd as to establish the just subordination of people to their Prince upon better principles than ever no less than their precise duty to God and the hopes of a blissful immortality Here then is utile honestum and necessarium to tye Bishops in duty to Kings and a threefold Cord is not easily broken In pursuance of these obligations Episcopacy pays three returns of tribute to Monarchy 1. The first is the Duty of their people For they being by God himself set over souls judges of the most secret recesses of our Consciences and the venerable Priests under them have more power to keep men in their dutious subordination to the Prince than there is in any secular power by how much more forcible the impressions of the Conscience are than all the external violence in the world And this power they have fairly put into act for there was never any Protestant Bishop yet in Rebellion unless he turned recreant to his Order and it is the honour of the Church of England that all her Children and obedient people are full of indignation against Rebels be they of any interest or party whatsoever For here and for it we thank God and good Princes Episcopacy hath been preserved
been honoured as a holy Catholick by all posterity certainly these testimonies must needs be of great pressure being Sententiae repetiti dogmatis not casually slipt from him and by incogitancy but resolutely and frequently But this is attested by the general expressions of after ages Fungaris circa eum Potestate honoris tui saith S. Cyprian to Bishop Rogatianus Execute the Power of thy dignity upon the refractory Deacon And Vigor Episcopalis and Authoritas Cathedrae are the words expressive of that power whatsoever it be which S. Cyprian calls upon him to assert in the same Epistle This is high enough So is that which he presently subjoyns calling the Bishops power Ecclesiae gubernandae sublimem ac divinam potestatem A high and a divine power and authority in regiment of the Church * Locus Magisterii traditus ab Apostolis so S. Irenaeus calls Episcopacy A place of mastership or authority delivered by the Apostles to the Bishops their successors Eusebius speaking of Dionysius who succeeded Heraclas he received saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bishoprick of the Precedency over the Churches of Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Council of Sardis to the top or height of Episcopacy Apices Principes omnium so Optatus calls Bishops the Chief and Head of all and S. Denys of Alexandria Scribit ad Fabianum Vrbis Romae Episcopum ad alios quam plurimos Ecclesiarum Principes de fide Catholicâ suâ saith Eusebius And Origen calls the Bishop eum qui totius Ecclesiae arcem obtinet He that hath obtained the Tower or height of the Church The Fathers of the Council of Constantinople in Trullo ordained that the Bishops dispossessed of their Churches by incroachments of Barbarous people upon the Churches pale so as the Bishop had in effect no Diocess yet they should enjoy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the authority of their Presidency according to their proper state their appropriate presidency And the same Council calls the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Prelate or Prefect of the Church I know not how to expound it better But it is something more full in the Greeks Council of Carthage commanding that the convert Donatists should be received according to the will and pleasure of the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Governs the Church in that place * And in the Council of Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bishop hath Power over the affairs of the Church Hoc quidem tempore Romanae Ecclesiae Sylvester retinacula gubernabat Saint Sylvester the Bishop held the Reines or the stern of the Roman Church saith Theodoret But the instances of this kind are infinite two may be as good as twenty and these they are The first is of S. Ambrose Honor Sublimitas Episcopalis nullis poterit comparationibus adaequari The honour and sublimity of Episcopal Order is beyond all comparison great And their commission he specifies to be in Pasce oves meas Vnde regendae Sacerdotibus contraduntur meritò rectoribus suis subdi dicuntur c. The sheep are delivered to Bishops as to Rulers and are made their Subjects and in the next Chapter Haec verò cuncta Fratres ideò nos praemisisse cognoscere debetis ut ostenderemus nihil esse in hoc saeculo excellentius Sacerdotibus nihil sublimius Episcopis reperiri ut cum dignitatem Episcopatûs Episcoporum oraculis demonstramus dignè noscamus quid sumus actione potius quà m Nomine demonstremus These things I have said that you may know nothing is higher nothing more excellent than the dignity and Eminence of a Bishop c. * The other is of S. Hierom Cura totius Ecclesiae ad Episcopum pertinet The care of the whole Church appertains to the Bishop But more confidently spoken is that in his dialogue adversus Luciferianos Ecclesiae salus in summi Sacerdotis Dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus Eminens detur potestas tot in Ecclesiis efficientur schismata quot Sacerdotes The safety of the Church consists in the dignity of a Bishop to whom unless an Eminent and Vnparallel'd power be given by all there will be as many Schisms as Priests Here is dignity and authority and power enough expressed and if words be expressive of things and there is no other use of them then the Bishop is Superiour in a Peerless and Incomparable Authority and all the whole Diocess are his subjects viz. in regimine Spirituali SECT XXXV Requiring Vniversal Obedience to be given to Bishops by Clergie and Laity BUT from words let us pass to things For the Faith and practice of Christendom require obedience Universal obedience to be given to Bishops I will begin again with Ignatius that these men who call for reduction of Episcopacy to Primitive consistence may see what they gain by it for the more Primitive the testimonies are the greater exaction of obedience to Bishops for it happened in this as in all other things at first Christians were more devout more pursuing of their duties more zealous in attestation of every particle of their faith and that Episcopacy is now come to so low an ebbe it is nothing but that it being a great part of Christianity to honour and obey them it hath the fate of all other parts of our Religion and particularly of Charity come to so low a declension as it can scarce stand alone and faith which shall scarce be found upon earth at the coming of the Son of Man But to our business S. Ignatius in his Epistle to the Church of Trallis Necesse itaque est saith he quicquid facitis ut sine Episcopo nihil Tentetis So the Latin of Vedelius which I the rather chuse because I am willing to give all the advantage I can It is necessary saith the good Martyr that whatsoever ye do you should attempt nothing without your Bishop And to the Magnesians Decet itaque vos obedire Episcopo in nullo illi refragari It is fitting that ye should obey your Bishop and in nothing to be refractory to him Here is both a Decet and a Necesse est already It is very fitting it is necessary But if it be possible we have a fuller expression yet in the same Epistle Quemadmodum enim Dominus sine Patre nihil facit nec enim possumfacere à me ipso quicquam sic vos sine Episcopo nec Diaconus nec Laiconus nec Laicus Nec quicquam videatur vobis Consentaneum quod sit praeter illius Judicium quod enim tale est Deo inimicum Here is obedience universal both in respect of things and persons and all this no less than absolutely necessary For as Christ obeyed his Father in all things saying of my self I can do nothing so nor you without your Bishop whoever you be whether Priest or Deacon or Layman Let nothing please you which the Bishop
and wine as ever and rob God of his honour For if the Priest erres in reciting the words of consecration by addition or diminution or alteration or longer interruption if he do but say Hoc est corpus meum for corpus meum or meum corpus for corpus meum or if he do but as the Priest that Agrippa tells of that said Haec sunt corpora mea lest consecrating many hosts he should speak false Latin if either the Priest be timorous surprized or intemperate in all these cases the Priest and the People too worship nothing but bread And some of these are the more considerable I mean those defectibilities in pronunciation because the Priest always speaking the words of consecration in a secret voice not to be heard None of the people can have any notice whether he speaks the words so sufficiently as to secure them from worshipping a piece of bread If none of all these happen yet if he do not intend to consecrate all but some and yet know not which to omit * if he do intend but to mock * if he be a secret Atheist * a Moor * or a Jew * if he be an impious person and laugh at the Sacrament * if he do not intend to do as the Church does * that is if his intention be neither actual nor real then in all these cases the people give Divine worship to that which is nothing but bread * But if none of all this happen yet if he be not a Priest quod saepe accidit saith Pope Adrianus VI. in quaest quodlib q. 3. it often happens that the Priest feigns himself to celebrate and does not celebrate or feigns himself to celebrate and is no Priest * if he be not baptized rightly * if there was in his person as by being Simoniack or irregular a bastard or bigamus or any other impediment which he can or cannot know of if there was any defect in his Baptism or Ordinations or in the Baptism and Ordination of him that ordained him or in all the succession from the head of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the Apostles that first began the Series in all these cases it cannot but be acknowledged by their own doctrine that the consecration is invalid and ineffective the product is nothing but a piece of bread is made the object of the Divine worship Well! suppose that none of all this happens yet there are many defects in respect of the matter also as if the bread be corrupted * or the wine be vinegar * if it be mingled with any other substance but water * or if the water be the prevailing ingredient or if the bread be not wheat or the wine be of soure or be of unripe grapes in all these cases nothing is changed but bread remains still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meer bread and meer wine and yet they are worshipped by Divine adoration 3. Thirdly When certain of the Society of Jesuits were to die by the Laws of England in the beginning of King James his reign it was ask'd them whether if they might have leave to say Masse they would to the people standing by for the confirmation of their doubt and to convert them say these words unless this whole Species you see in the Chalice be the same blood which did flow out of the side of the Crucifix or of Christ hanging on the Cross let there be no part for me in the blood of Christ or in Christ himself to eternal ages and so with these words in their mouthes yield to death They all denied it none of them would take such a Sacrament upon them And when Garnet that unhappy man was tempted to the same sence he answered that a man might well doubt of the particular No man was bound to believe that any one Priest in particular now or at any one certain time does consecrate effectively But that the bread is transubstantiated some where or other at some time or other by some Priest or other This I receive from the relation of a wise Prelate a great and a good man whose memory is precious and is had in honour But the effect of this is that Transubstantiation supposing the doctrine true as it is most false yet in practice is uncertain but the giving it Divine worship is certain the change is believed only in general but it is worshipped in particular concerning which whether it be any thing more than bread it is impossible without a revelation they should know These then are very ill and deeply to be considered for certain it is God is a jealous God and therefore will be impatient of every incroachment upon his peculiar And then for us as we must pray with faith and without doubting so it is fit we should worship and yet in this case and upon these premises no man can chuse but doubt and therefore he cannot he ought not to worship Quod dubitas ne feceris 4. I will not censure concerning the men that do it or consider concerning the action whether it be formal idolatry or no. God is their Judge and mine and I beg he would be pleased to have mercy upon us all but yet they that are interested for their own particulars ought to fear and consider these things 1. That no man without his own fault can mistake a creature so far as to suppose him to be a God 2. That when the Heathens worshipped the Sun and Moon they did it upon their confidence that they were gods and would not have given to them Divine honours if they had thought otherwise 3. That the distinction of material and formal idolatry though it have a place in Philosophy because the understanding can consider an act with his error and yet separate the parts of the consideration yet hath no place in Divinity because in things of so great concernment it cannot but be supposed highly agreeable to the goodness and justice of God that every man be sufficiently instructed in his duty and convenient notices 4. That no man in the world upon these grounds except he that is malicious and spightful can be an Idolater for if he have an ignorance great enough to excuse him he can be no Idolater if he have not he is spightful and malicious and then all the Heathens are also excused as well as they 5. That if good intent and ignorance in such cases can take off the crime then the persecuters that killed the Apostles thinking they did God good service and Saul in blaspheming the religion and persecuting the servants of Jesus and the Jews themselves in crucifying the Lord of life who did it ignorantly as did also their Rulers have met with their excuse upon the same account And therefore it is not safe for the men of the Roman communion to take anodyne medicines and Narcoticks to make them insensible of the pain for it will not cure their disease Their doing it upon the stock of
the nature of the imployment for I love not to be as S. Paul calls it one of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Disputers of this world For I suppose skill in Controversies as they are now us'd to be the worst part of learning and time is the worst spent in them and men the least benefited by them that is when the Questions are curious and impertinent intricate and unexplicable not to make men better but to make a Sect. But when the Propositions disputed are of the foundation of Faith or lead to good life or naturally do good to single persons or publick Societies then they are part of the depositum of Christianity of the Analogy of faith and for this we are by the Apostle commanded to contend earnestly and therefore Controversies may become necessary but because they are not often so but oftentimes useless and always troublesome and as an ill diet makes an ill habit of body so does the frequent use of controversies baffle the understanding and makes it crafty to deceive others it self remaining instructed in nothing but useless notions and words of contingent signification and distinctions without difference which minister to pride and contention and teach men to be pertinacious troublesome and uncharitable therefore I love them not But because by the Apostolical Rule I am tyed to do all things without murmurings as well as without disputings I consider'd it over again and found my self reliev'd by the subject matter and the grand consequent of the present Questions For in the present affair the case is not so as in the others here the Questions are such that the Church of Rome declares them to reach a◠far as eternity and damn all that are not of their opinions and the Protestants have much more reason to fear concerning the Papists such who are not excus'd by ignorance that their condition is very sad and deplorable and that it is charity to snatch them as a brand from the fire and indeed the Church of Rome maintains Propositions which if the Ancient Doctors of the Church may be believ'd are apt to separate from God I instance in their superaddition of Articles and Propositions derived only from a pretended tradition and not contain'd in Scripture Now the doing of this is a great sin and a great danger Adoro Scripturae plenitudinem Si non est scriptum timeat vae illud adjicientibus detrahentibus destinatum said Tertullian I adore the fulness of Scripture and if it be not written let Hermogenus fear the woe that is destin'd to them that detract from or add to it S. Basil says Without doubt it is a most manifest argument of infidelity and a most certain sign of pride to introduce any thing that is not written in the Scriptures our blessed Saviour having said My sheep hear my voice and the voice of strangers they will not hear and to detract from Scriptures or add any thing to the Faith that is not there is most vehemently forbidden by the Apostle saying If it be but a mans Testament nemo superordinat no man adds to it And says also This was the Will of the Testator And Theophilus Alexandrinus says plainly It is the part of a Devillish spirit to think any thing to be Divine that is not in the authority of the holy Scriptures and therefore S. Athanasius affirms that the Catholicks will neither speak nor endure to hear any thing in Religion that is a stranger to Scripture it being immodestiae vaecordia an evil heart of immodesty to speak those things which are not written Now let any man judge whether it be not our duty and a necessary work of charity and the proper office of our Ministery to perswade our charges from the immodesty of an evil heart from having a Devillish spirit from doing that which is vehemently forbidden by the Apostle from infidelity and pride and lastly from that eternal Woe which is denounc'd against them that add other words and doctrines than what is contain'd in the Scriptures and say Dominus dixit The Lord hath said it and he hath not said it If we had put these severe censures upon the Popish doctrine of Tradition we should have been thought uncharitable but because the holy Fathers do so we ought to be charitable and snatch our Charges from the ambient flame And thus it is in the question of Images Dubium non est quin Religio nulla sit ubicunque simulacrum est said Lactantius Without all peradventure where ever an Image is meaning for worship there is no Religion and that we ought rather to die than pollute our Faith with such impieties said Origen It is against the Law of Nature it being expresly forbidden by the second Commandment as Irenaeus affirms Tertullian Cyprian and S. Augustine and therefore is it not great reason we should contend for that Faith which forbids all worship of Images and oppose the superstition of such Guides who do teach their people to give them veneration to prevaricate the Moral Law and the very Law of Nature and do that which whosoever does has no Religion We know Idolatry is a damnable sin and we also know that the Roman Church with all the artifices she could use never can justifie her self or acquit the common practices from Idolatry and yet if it were but suspicious that it is Idolatry it were enough to awaken us for God is a jealous God and will not endure any such causes of suspicion and motives of jealousie I instance but once more The Primitive Church did excommunicate them that did not receive the holy Sacrament in both kinds and S. Ambrose says that he who receives the Mystery other ways than Christ appointed that is but in one kind when he hath appointed it in two is unworthy of the Lord and he cannot have Devotion Now this thing we ought not to suffer that our people by so doing should remain unworthy of the Lord and for ever be indevout or cozen'd with a false shew of devotion or fall by following evil Guides into the sentence of Excommunication These matters are not trifling and when we see these errors frequently taught and own'd as the only true Religion and yet are such evils which the Fathers say are the way of damnation we have reason to hope that all wise and good men lovers of souls will confess that we are within the circles of our duty when we teach our people to decline the crooked ways and to walk in the ways of Scripture and Christianity But we have observed amongst the generality of the Irish such a declension of Christianity so great credulity to believe every superstitious story such confidence in vanity such groundless pertinacy such vicious lives so little sense of true Religion and the fear of God so much care to obey the Priests and so little to obey God such intolerable ignorance such fond Oaths and manners of swearing thinking
in the first book of the Greek and Latin Bibliotheca Patrum out of which I shall only transcribe these words Non esse faciendum imagines Dei imo si quis quid simile attentaverit hunc exâ—remis suppliciis veluti Ethnicis communicantem dogmatis subjici Let them translate it that please only I remember that Aventinus tells a story that Pope John XXII caused to be burnt for Hereticks those persons who had painted the Holy Trinity which I urge for no other reason but to shew how late an innovation of religion this is in the Church of Rome The worship of Images came in by degrees and it was long resisted but until of late it never came to the height of impiety as to picture God and to worship him by Images But this was the state and last perfection of this sin and hath spoiled a great part of Christianity and turn'd it back to Ethnicism But that I may summ up all I desire the Roman Doctors to weigh well the words of one of their own Popes Gregory II. to the Question Cur tamen Patrem Domini nostri Jesu Christi non oculis subjicimus Why do we not subject the Father of our Lord Jesus to the eyes He answers Quoniam Dei natura spectanda proponi non potest ac fingi The nature of God cannot be expos'd to be beheld nor yet feign'd He did not conclude that therefore we cannot make the Image of his essence but none at all nothing of him to be expos'd to the sight And that this is his direct and full meaning besides his own words we may conclude from the note which Baronius makes upon it Postea in usu venisse ut pingatur in Ecclesia Pater Spiritus Sanctus Afterwards it became an use in the Church viz. the Roman to paint the Father and the Holy Ghost And therefore besides the impiety of it the Church of Rome is guilty of innovation in this particular also which was the thing I intended to prove THE END VNVM NECESSARIVM OR The Doctrine and Practice OF REPENTANCE DESCRIBING The Necessities and Measures of a Strict a Holy and a Christian Life AND Rescued from Popular Errors By JER TAYLOR Chaplain in Ordinary to King CHARLES the First and late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor Poenitentiae compensatione redimendam proponit impunitatem Deus Praeveniamus faciem ejus in confessione Tertul. de Poenit. Cor contritum S PETER MARY MAGDALENE LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the King 's most Excellent Majesty 1673. TO The Right Honourable and Noblest Lord RICHARD Earl of Carbery c. MY LORD THE duty of Repentance is of so great and universal concernment a Catholicon to the evils of the Soul of every man that if there be any particular in which it is worthy the labours of the whole Ecclesiastical Calling to be instant in season and out of season it is in this duty and therefore I hope I shall be excused if my Discourses of Repentance like the duty it self be perpetually increasing and I may like the Widow in the Gospel to the unjust Judge at least hope to prevail with some men by my importunity Men have found out so many devices and arts to cousen themselves that they will rather admit any weak discourses and images of Reason than think it necessary to repent speedily severely and effectively We find that sinners are prosperous and God is long before he strikes and it is always another mans case when we see a judgment happen upon a sinner we feel it not our selves for when we do it is commonly past remedy Indeed it was to be pitied in the Heathen that many of them were tempted to take the thriving side when Religion it self was unprosperous When Jupiter suffered his golden Scepter to be stole and the Image never frown'd and a bold fellow would scrape the Ivory thigh of Hercules and go away without a broken pate for all the Club that was in his hand they thought they had reason to think there was no more sacredness in the Images of their gods than in the statues of Vigellus and because the event of all regular actions was not regular and equal but Catiline was hewn down by the Consuls sword for his Rebellion and for the same thing Caesar became a Prince they believed that the Powers that govern'd these extraregular events must it self be various and changeable and they call'd it Fortune But My Lord that Christians should thus dote upon temporal events and the little baits of fishes and the meat of dogs adoring every thing that is prosperous and hating that condition of things that brings trouble is not to be pardon'd to them who profess themselves Servants and Disciples of a Crucified Lord and Master But it is upon the same account that men are so hardly brought to repent or to believe that Repentance hath in it so many parts and requires so much labour and exacts such caution and cannot be performed without the best assistances or the greatest skill in spiritual notices They find sin pleasant and prosperous gay and in the fashion And though wise men know it is better to be pleas'd than to be merry to have rest and satisfaction in wisdom and perfective notices of things than to laugh loud and fright sobriety away with noises and dissolution and forgetfulness yet this severer pleasure seems dull and flat and men generally betake themselves to the wildnesses of sin and hate to have it interrupted by the intervening of the sullen grace of Repentance It was a sprightly saying of him in the Comedy Ego vitam Deorum proptereà sempiternam esse arbitror Quòd voluptates eorum propriae sunt Nam mihi immortalitas Parta est si huic nulla aegritudo gaudio intercesserit Our immortality is to be reckoned by the continuance of our pleasure My life is then perpetual when my delights are not interrupted And this is the immortality that too many men look after by incompetent means But to be called upon to Repentance and when men inquire what that is to be told it is all the duty of a returning man the extermination of sin the mortification of all our irregular appetites and all that perfection of righteousness which can consist with our state of imperfection and that in order to these purposes we must not refuse the sharpest instruments that they may be even cut off which trouble us but that we suffer all the severity of voluntary or imposed discipline according as it shall be judged necessary this is it which will trouble men such I mean who love a beggerly ease before a laborious thriving trade a foul stable to some beasts is better than a fair way and therefore it is that since all Christians are convinced of the necessity the indispensable necessity of Repentance they have resolved to admit it but they also resolve they will not understand what it is Vna herclè falsa lachrymula one
this also we exercise a holy fear and work out our salvation with fear and trembling It enlarges our care and endears our watchfulness and caution It cures or prevents our pride and bold challenges of God for rewards which we never can deserve It convinces us of the necessity of the Divine aid and makes us to relie upon Gods goodness in helping us and his mercy in pardoning us and truly without this we could neither be so sensible of our infirmities nor of the excellent gifts and mercies of God for although God does not make necessities on purpose that he may serve them or introduce sin that he might pardon it yet he loves we should depend upon him and by these rare arts of the Divine Oeconomy make us to strive to be like him and in the midst of our finite abilities have infinite desires that even so we may be disposed towards the holiness and glories of eternity 38. IV. Although God exacts not an impossible law under eternal and insufferable pains yet he imposes great holiness in unlimited and indefinite measures with a design to give excellent proportions of reward answerable to the greatness of our endeavour Hell is not the end of them that fail in the greatest measures of perfection but great degrees of Heaven shall be their portion who do all that they can always and offend in the fewest instances For as our duty is not limited so neither are the degrees of glory and if there were not this latitude of duty neither could there be any difference in glory neither could it be possible for all men to hope for Heaven but now all may The meanest of Gods servants shall go thither and yet there are greater measures for the best and most excellent services 39. Thus we may understand that the imposing of the Divine Laws in all the periods of the world was highly consistent with the Divine Justice and an excellent infinite wisdome and yet in the exacting them Mercy prevail'd because the Covenant of Works or of exact obedience was never the rule of life and death since the Saviour of the world was promised that is since the fall of Adam but all Mankind was admitted to repentance and wash'd clean in the blood of the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world and was slain from the beginning of it Repentance was the measure of our duty and the remedy for our evils and the Commandments were not impossible to him that might amend what was done amiss SECT III. How Repentance and the Precept of Perfection Evangelical can stand together 40. THAT the Gospel is a Covenant of Repentance is evident in the whole design and nature of the thing in the preparatory Sermons made by the Baptist by the Apostles of our Lord by the seventy two Disciples and the Exhortations made by S. Peter at the first opening the Commission and the secret of the Religion Which Doctrine of Repentance lest it should be thought to be a permission to sin a leave to need the remedy is charged with an addition of a strict and severe holiness the Precept of Perfection It therefore must be such a repentance as includes in it perfection and yet the perfection is such as needs repentance How these two are to stand together is the subject of the present inquiry Be ye therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect that 's the charge To be perfect as God and yet to repent as a Man seem contrary to each other They seem so only For 41. I. It does not signifie perfection of degrees in the natural sence of the word For as Philo said well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perfections and the heights of excellencies are only proper to one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Clemens of Alexandria God alone is wise he alone is perfect All that we do is but little and that little is imperfect and that imperfection is such as could be condemned if God did not use gentleness and mercy towards us But II. Although perfection of degrees cannot be understood to be our duty in the periods and spaces of this life because we are here in the state of labour and contention of pilgrimage and progression yet even in this life we are to labour towards it and Be ye perfect viz. with the highest degrees of holiness is to be understood in a current and transient sence For this Precept thus understood hath its obligation upon our endeavour only and not upon the event When a General commands his Army to destroy the Enemy he binds them only to a prudent a possible and vigorous endeavour to do it and cannot intend the effect but by several parts answerable to the steps of the progression So is that in the Psalms Be learned ye that are Princes of the world that is learn and so by industry and attention arrive at knowledge For although though every man be a sinner yet he that does not endeavour to avoid all sin is not only guilty of the sin he commits but the negligence also which is the parent of the sin is another sin and directly criminal So it is in the degrees of perfection what we cannot attain to we must at least desire In this world we cannot arrive thither but in this life we must always be going thither It is status â—iae grace is the way to glory And as he that commands us to enter into a City from which we are hugely distant means we should pass through all the ways that lead thither so it is here The Precept must be given here and begun and set forward and it will be finished hereafter But as a man may be an adulterer or a thief with his heart and his eye as well as with his hand so it is also in good things A mans heart and eye may be in Heaven that is in the state of perfection long before he sets his feet upon the golden threshold His desires are first crown'd and fainted and then the work shall be made perfect 43. III. There is another sort of perfection which may not be improperly meant in this charge of duty and that is a perfection of state Be ye perfect that is Be ye holy for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is sanctifico and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is festum or a holy day a day that hath the perfection added to it of which a day is capable a day sanctified to the Lord. For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to sanctifie is to make perfect Nihil enim sanctificavit lex so the Latin reads the words of S. Paul but in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The law made that perfect which it did sanctifie So that Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect is Be ye holy like him or in imitation of him And thus the word is expounded in Plato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 's the perfection of
call upon us to wait at supper and for all this we are to expect only impunity and our daily provisions And upon this account if we should have performed the Covenant of Works we could not have been justified But then there is a sort of working and there are some such servants which our Lord uses magis ex aequo bono quà m ex Imperio with the usages of sons not of slaves or servants He will gird himself and serve them he will call them friends and not servants these are such as serve animo liberali such which Seneca calls humiles amicos humble friends serving as S. Paul expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the simplicity of their heart not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with eye-service but honestly heartily zealously and affectionately 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Peter freely readily not grudgingly or of necessity 16. XII The proper effect of this is that all the perfect do their services so that their work should fail rather than their minds that they do more than is commanded Exiguum est ad legem bonum esse To be good according to the rigour of the law to do what we are forcâ—d to to do all that is lawful to do and to go toward evil or danger as far as we can these are no good signs of a filial spirit this is not Christian perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That slaves consider This is commanded and must be done under horrible pains and such are the negative precepts of the Law and the proper duties of every mans calling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is an act of piety of mine own choosing a righteousness that I delight in that is the voice of sons and good servants and that 's rewardable with a mighty grace And of this nature are the affirmative precepts of the Gospel which being propounded in general terms and with indefinite proportions for the measures are left under our liberty and choice to signifie our great love to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said S. Chrysostome Whatsoever is over and above the Commandments that shall have a great reward God forbids unmercifulness he that is not unmerciful keeps the Commandment but he that besides his abstinence from unmercifulness according to the commandment shall open his hand and his heart and give plentifully to the poor this man shall have a reward he is amongst those servants whom his Lord will make to sit down and himself will serve him When God in the Commandment forbids uncleanness and fornication he that is not unchast and does not pollute himself keeps the Commandment But if to preserve his chastity he uses fasting and prayer if he mortifies his body if he denies himself the pleasures of the world if he uses the easiest or the harder remedies according to the proportion of his love and industry especially if it be prudent so shall his greater reward be If a man out of fear of falling into uncleanness shall use austerities and find that they will not secure him and therefore to ascertain his duty the rather shall enter into a state of marriage according as the prudence and the passion of his desires were for God and for purity so also shall his reward be To follow Christ is all our duty but if that we may follow Christ with greater advantages we quit all the possessions of the world this is more acceptable because it is a doing the Commandment with greater love We must so order things that the Commandment be not broken but the difference is in finding out the better ways and doing the duty with the more affections 17. Now in this case they are highly mistaken that think any thing of this nature is a work of supererogation For all this is nothing but a pursuance of the commandment For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Commandment is taken in a general sence for the prescription of whatsoever is pleasing and acceptable to God whatsoever he will reward with mighty glories So loving God with all our heart with all our soul and all our mind and all our strength is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first and the great Commandment that is nothing is more pleasing nothing more acceptable to God because it proceeds out of an excellent love But some Commandments are propounded as to friends some as to servants some under the threatning of horrible pains others not so but with the proposition and under the invitation of glorious rewards It was commanded to S. Paul to preach the Gospel if he had not obeyed he should have perished Wo is me saith he if I preach not the Gospel he was bound to do it But he had another Commandment also to love God as much as was possible and to love his neighbour which precepts were infinite and of an unlimited signification and therefore were lest to every servants choice to do them with his several measures of affection and zeal He that did most did the Commandment best and therefore cannot be said to do more than was commanded but he that does less if he preaches the Gospel though with a less diligence and fewer advantages he obeys the Commandment but not so nobly as the other For example God Commands us to pray He obeys this that constantly and devoutly keeps his morning and evening Sacrifice offering devoutly twice a day He that prays thrice a day does better and he that prays seven times a day hath done no work of supererogation but does what he does in pursuance of the Commandment All the difference is in the manner of Doing what is commanded for no man can do more than he is commanded But some do it better some less perfectly but all is comprehended under this Commandment of loving God with all our hearts When a father commands his children to come to him he that comes slowly obeys the commandment but he that runs does obey more willingly and readily now though to come running was left to the choice of the childs affection yet it was but a brisk pursuance of the commandment Thus when he that is bound to pay Tithes gives the best portion or does it cheerfully without contention in all questions taking the worse of the thing and the better of the duty does what he is commanded and he does it with the affection of a son and of a friend he loves his duty Be angry but sin not so it is in the Commandment but he that to avoid the sin will endeavour not to be angry at all is the greater friend of God by how much the further he stands off from sin Thus in all doubts to take the surest side to determine always for Religion when without sin we might have determin'd for interest to deny our selves in lawful things to do all our duty by the measures of Love and of the Spirit are instances of this filial obedience and are rewarded by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perswasion and confidence
of Gods love to us enabling us to call him Father as well as Lord. Thus this Parable or one like it is told in the book of Hermas The Lord commanded his servant to put pales about his vineyard He did so and digg'd a ditch besides and rooted out all the weeds which when his Lord observ'd he made him coheir with his son When S. Paul exhorted the Corinthians to give a free contribution to the poor Saints at Jerusalem he invites to do it nobly and cheerfully not as of constraint for Gods Commandment nam'd not the summ neither can the degree of affection be nam'd but yet God demands all our affection Now in all the affirmative Precepts the duty in the lowest degree is that which is now made necessary under the loss of all our hopes of Eternity but all the further degrees of the same duty are imposed upon the condition of greater rewards and other collateral advantages of duty When Hystaspes ask'd Cyrus the Persian why he preferr'd Chrysantas before him since he did obey all his Commands The Prince answered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysantas does not stay till he is called and he does not only what is commanded but what is best what he knows is most pleasing to me So does every perfect man according to the degrees of his love and his perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The righteousness of a perfect man consists not in legal innocence but in love and voluntary obedience This is that charity which is the glory of Christianity the crown of all other graces that which makes all the external works of obedience to be acceptable and every act of the most excellent piety and devotion is a particular of that grace and therefore though it is highly acceptable yet it is also commanded in the general and in the sence before explicated and he that does no more than he is particularly commanded obeys God as a Lion obeys his keeper meat and stripes are all the endearments of his peace and services Qui manet ut moneatur semper servos homo officium suum Non voluntate id facere meminit servos is habitu haud probus est The servant that must be called upon at every step is but an unprofitable and unworthy person To do only what we are commanded will never bring us to the portion and inheritance of Sons We must do this chearfully and we must do more even contend to please God with doing that which is the righteousness of God striving for perfection till perfection it self becomes perfect still obeying that law of Sons Love the Lord with all thy heart till our charity it self is crown'd Therefore 19. XIII Let no man propound to himself a limit of duty saying he will go so far and go no further For the Commandment is infinite and though every good man obeys it all the way of his holy conversation yet it shall not be finish'd till his life is done But he that stints himself to a certain measure of love hath no love at all for this grace grows for ever and when the object is infinite true love is not at rest till it hath possess'd what is infinite and therefore towards that there must be an infinite progression never stopp'd never ceasing till we can work no more 20. XIV Let every man be humbled in the sense of his failings and infirmities Multum in hâc vitâ ille profecit qui quà m longè sit à perfectione justitiae proficiendo cognovit said S. Austin It is a good degree of perfection to have proceeded so far as well to know and observe our own imperfections The Scripture concludes all under sin not only because all have fail'd of the Covenant of Works of the exactness of obedience but by reason of their prevarication of that law which they can obey And indeed no man could be a sinner but he that breaks that law which he could have kept We were all sinners by the Covenant of works but that was in those instances where it might have been otherwise For the Covenant of Works was not impossible because it consisted of impossible Commandments for every Commandment was kept by some or other and all at some times but therefore it was impossible to be kept because at some time or other men would be impotent or ignorant or surpris'd and for this no abatement was made in that Covenant But then since in what every man could help he is found to be a sinner he ought to account it a mighty grace that his other services are accepted In pursuance of this 21. XV. Let no man boast himself in the most glorious services and performances of Religion Qui in Ecclesiâ semper gloriosè granditer operati sunt opus suum Domino nunquam imputaverunt as S. Cyprian's expression is They who have greatly serv'd God in the Church and have not been forward to exact and challenge their reward of God they are such whom God will most certainly reward For humility without other external works is more pleasing to God than pride though standing upon heaps of excellent actions It is the saying of S. Chrysostome * For if it be as natural to us to live according to the measures of reason as for beasts to live by their nature and instinct what thanks is due to us for that more than to them for this And therefore one said well Ne te jactes si benè servisti Obsequitur Sol obtemperat Luna Boast not if thou hast well obeyed The Sun and the Moon do so and shall never be rewarded * But when our selves and all our faculties are from God he hath power to demand all our services without reward and therefore if he will reward us it must wholly be a gift to us that he will so crown our services * But he does not only give us all our being and all our faculties but makes them also irriguous with the dew of his Divine Grace sending his holy Son to call us to repentance and to die to obtain for us pardon and resurrection and eternal life sending his holy Spirit by rare arguments and aids external and internal to help us in our spiritual contentions and difficulties So that we have nothing of our own and therefore can challenge nothing to our selves * But besides these considerations many sins are forgiven to us and the service of a whole life cannot make recompence for the infinite favour of receiving pardon * Especially since after our amendment and repentance there are remaining such weaknesses and footsteps of our old impieties that we who have daily need of the Divine Mercy and Pity cannot challenge a reward for that which in many degrees needs a pardon for if every act we do should not need some degrees of pardon yet our persons do in the periods of our imperfect workings * But after all this all that we can do is no advantage to God he is not
Christ and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation * Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God * For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off and to as many as the Lord our God shall call And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doth those things shall live by them But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. My yoke is easie and my burthen is light For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh hath for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit His Commandments are not grievous If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the attonement I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness Ask and you shall have seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The PRAYER I. O Eternal God Lord of Heaven and Earth Father of Men and Angels we do adore thy infinite Goodness we revere thy Justice and delight in thy Mercies by which thou hast dealt with us not with the utmost right and dominion of a Lord but with the gentleness of a Father treating us like friends who were indeed thy enemies Thou O God didst see our follies and observe our weaknesses thou knowest the aversness of our nature to good and our proneness to commit vanity and because our imperfect obedience could not bring us to perfect felicity whither thou didst design us the great God of all the world was pleased to make a new Covenant with Man and to become a debtor to his servants Blessed be God and blessed be that Mercy which hath done so great things for us O be pleased to work that in us which thou expectest from us Let us not lose our title in the Covenant of Faith and Repentance by deferring the one or dishonouring the other but let us walk worthy of our vocation according to the Law of Faith and the Mercies of God and the Covenant of our Lord Jesus II. O Blessed Jesus never suffer us to abuse thy mercies or to turn thy Grace into wantonness Let the remembrance and sense of thy glorious favours endear our services and let thy goodness lead us to Repentance and our Repentance bring forth the fruits of godliness in our whole life Imprint deeply upon our hearts the fear and terror of thy Majesty and perpetually entertain our spirits with highest apprehensions of thy loving kindness that we may fear more and love more every day more and more hating sin crucifying all its affections and desires passionately loving holy things zealously following after them prudently conducting them and indefatigably persevering in them to the end of our lives III. O Blessed and Eternal God with thy spirit inlighten our understandings in the rare mysterious Secrets of thy Law Make me to understand all the most advantageous ways of duty and kindle a flame in my Soul that no difficulty or contradiction no temptation within or persecution without may ever extinguish Give me a mighty grace that I may design to please thee with my best and all my services to follow the best examples to do the noblest Charities to pursue all Perfection ever pressing forward to the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus Let us rather choose to die than to sin against our Consciences Let us also watch that we may omit nothing of our duty nor pretermit any opportunity by which thou canst be glorified or any Christian instructed comforted or assisted not resting in the strictest measures of Command but passing forward to great and prudent significations of love doing heroick actions some things by which thou mayest be greatly pleased that thou mayest take delight to pardon to sanctifie and to preserve thy servants for ever Amen CHAP. II. Of the Nature and Definition of Repentance And what parts of duty are signified by it in Holy Scriptures SECT I. THE Greeks use two words to express this duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post factum angi cruciari to be afflicted in mind to be troubled for our former folly it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Phavorinus a being displeased for what we have done and it is generally used for all sorts of Repentance but more properly to signifie either the beginnings of a good or the whole state of an effective Repentance In the first sence we find it in S. Mathew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ye seeing did not repent that ye might believe him Of the second sence we have example in Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he repented too but the end of it was he died with anguish and despair and of Esau it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he found no place for an effective repentance but yet he repented too for he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fain would have had it otherwise and he sought it with tears which two do fully express all the meaning of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when it is distinguished from the better and effective Repentance There is in this Repentance a sorrow for what is done a
fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God * abounding in the work of the Lord. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the words often used fill'd full and perfect 16. To the same purpose is it that we are commanded to live in Christ and unto God that is to live according to their will and by their rule and to their glory and in their fear and love called by S. Paul to live in the faith of the Son of God to be followers of Christ and of God to dwell in Christ and to abide in him to walk according to the Commandments of God in good works in truth according to the Spirit to walk in light to walk with God which was said of Enoch of whom the Greek LXX read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He pleased God * There are very many more to the same purpose For with great caution and earnestness the holy Scriptures place the duties of mankind in practice and holiness of living and removes it far from a confidence of notion and speculation Qui fecerit docuerit He that doth them and teaches them shall be great in the Kingdom and Why do you call me Lord Lord and do not the things I say to you and Ye are my friends if ye do what I command you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must not only be called Christians but be so for not to be called but to be so brings us to felicity that is since the life of a Christian is the life of Repentance whose work it is for ever to contend against sin for ever to strive to please God a dying to sin a living to Christ he that thinks his Repentance can have another definition or is compleated in any other or in fewer parts must be of another Religion than is taught by Christ and his holy Apostles This is the Faith of the Son of God this is that state of excellent things which he purchased with his blood and as there is no other Name under Heaven so there is no other Faith no other Repentance whereby we can be saved Upon this Article it is usual to discourse of Sorrow and Contrition of Confession of sins of making amends of self-affliction and some other particulars but because they are not parts but actions fruits and significations of Repentance I have reserved them for their proper place Now I am to apply this general Doctrine to particular states of sin and sinners in the following Chapters SECT III. Descriptions of Repentance taken from the Holy Scriptures ¶ WHEN Heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee if they pray towards this place and confess thy name and turn from their sin when thou afflictest them Then hear thou in Heaven and forgive the sin of thy servants and of thy people Israel that thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk and give rain upon thy land which thou hast given to thy people for an Inheritance ¶ And the Redeemer shall come to Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob saith the Lord. As for me this is my Covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed saith the Lord from henceforth and for ever Again when I say unto the wicked Thou shalt surely die If he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right If the wicked restore the pledge give again that he had robbed walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity he shall even live he shall not die * None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him he hath done that which is lawful and right he shall surely live Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed that hence forth we should not serve sin Likewise reckon ye also your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. * Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof * Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God * Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness * I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness Wherefore my brethren ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God For when we were in the flesh the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death * But now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letter And that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed The night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light * Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strife and envying * But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof Having therefore these promises dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God For godly sorrow worketh Repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death * For behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what fear yea what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge in all thing ye have approved your selves to be clear in this matter For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away behold all things are become new That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts And be renewed in the spirit of your mind * And that ye put on that new man which after
of us from Heaven they that say that not every solution or breaking of them is exclusive from Heaven which are the words of Bellarmine and the doctrine of the Roman Church must even by the consequence of this very gloss of his fall under the danger of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the false teachers or the breakers of them by false interpretation However fearful is the malediction even to the breakers of the least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that I may use the words of Theophylact he shall be last in the resurrection and shall be thrown into Hell for that is the meaning of least in the Kingdom of Heaven fortasse ideò non erit in regno coelorum ubi nisi magni esse non possunt said S. Austin least is none at all for into Heaven none can enter but they which are great in Gods account 19. VII Lastly God hath given us the perpetual assistances of his Spirit the presence of his grace the ministery of his word the fear of judgments the endearment of his mercies the admonition of friends the severity of Preachers the aid of Books the apprehension of death the sense of our daily dangers our continual necessities and the recollection of our prayers and above all he hath promised Heaven to the obedient which is a state of blessings so great and infinite as upon the account of them it is infinitely reasonable and just if he shall exact of us every sin that is every thing which we can avoid 20. Upon this account it is that although wise and prudent men do not despise the continual endearments of an old friend yet in many cases God may and doth and from the rules and proper measures of humane friendship to argue up to a presumption of Gods easiness in not exacting our duty is a fallacious proceeding but it will deceive no body but our selves 21. II. Every sin is directly against Gods law and therefore is damnable and deadly in the accounts of the Divine justice one as well though not so grievously as another For though sins be differenc'd by greater and less yet their proportion to punishment is not differenc'd by Temporal and Eternal but by greater and less in that kind which God hath threatned So Origen Vnusquisque pro qualitate quantitate peccati diversam mulctae sententiam expendit Si parum est quod peccas ferieris damnâ— minuti ut Lucas scripsit ut verò Matthaeus quadrantis Veruntamen necesse est hoc ipsum quod eâ—estitisti debitor solvere Non enim inde exibis nisi minima quaeque persolveris Every one according to the quantity and quality of his sin must pay his fine but till he hath paid he shall not be loosed from those fearful prisons that is he shall never be loosed if he agree not before he comes thither The smallest offence is a sin and therefore it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a transgression of the Law a violation of that band by which our obedience unites us unto God And this the holy Scripture signifies unto us in various expressions For though the several words are variously used in sacred and profane writers yet all of them signifie that even the smallest sin is a prevarication of the Holy laws 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Damascen calls sin which we render well by Transgression and even those words which in distinction signifie a small offence yet they also signifie the same with the greater words to shew that they all have the same formality and do the same displeasure or at least that by the difference of the words no difference of their natures can be regularly observed Sins against God only are by Phavorinus called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the same word is also used for sin against our neighbours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If thy brother sin against thee that is do thee injury and this is properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 injustice But Demosthenes distinguishes injustice from sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by voluntary and involuntary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that does wrong willingly is unjust he that does it unwillingly is a sinner 22. The same indistinction is observable in the other words of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by S. Hierome used for the beginnings of sin Cum cogitatio tacita subrepit ex aliquâ— parte conniventibus nobis nec dum tamen nos impulit ad ruinam when a sudden thought invades us without our advertency and observation and hath not brought forth death as yet and yet that death is appendent to whatsoever it be that can be signified by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we may observe because the sin of Adam that called death upon all the world is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the Ephesian Gentiles S. Paul said they had been dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in trespasses and sins and therefore it cannot hence be inferred that such little obliquities or beginnings of greater sins are only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 besides the law not against it for it is at least the word hinders not but it may be of the same kind of malignity as was the sin of Adam And therefore S. Austin renders the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delictum or offence and so do our Bibles And the same also is the case of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is attributed even to concupiscence or the beginnings of mischief by S. Paul and by S. Hierome but the same is used for the consummation of concupiscence in the matter of uncleanness by S. James Lust when it hath conceived 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peccatum is the Latin word which when it is used in a distinct and pressed sence it is taken for the lesser sins and is distinguished from crimen Paulus Orosius uses it to signifie only the concupiscence or sinful thoughts of the heart and when it breaks forth to action he calls it a crime peccatum cogitatio concipit crimen verò non nisi actus ostendit and it was so used by the ancient Latins Peccatus it was called by them quasi pellicatus that inticing which is proper to uncleanness So Cicero in A. Gellius Nemo ita manifesto peccatu tenebatur ut cum impudens fuisset in facto tum impudentior videretur si negaret Thus the indistinction of words mingles all their significations in the same common notion and formality They were not sins at all if they were not against a Law and if they be they cannot be of their own nature venial but must be liable to that punishment which was threatned in the Law whereof that action is a transgression 23. II. The Law of God never threatens the justice of God never inflicts punishment but upon transgressors of his Laws the smallest offences are not only threatned but may be punished with death therefore
repent timely and effectually dies for none The wages of sin is death of sin indefinitely and therefore of all sin and all death for there is no more distinction of sin than death only when death is threatned indefinitely that death is to be understood which is properly and specifically threatned in that Covenant where the death is named as death temporal in the Law death eternal under the Gospel 34. And thus it appears in a very material instance relating to this question for when our blessed Saviour had threatned the degrees of anger he did it by apportioning several pains hereafter of one sort to the several degrees of the same sin here which he expresses by the several inflictions passed upon Criminals by the Houses of Judgment among the Jews Now it is observable that to the least of these sins Christ assigns a punishment just proportionable to that which the gloss of the Pharisees and the Law it self did to them that committed Murther which was capital He shall be guilty of judgment so we read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in the Greek He shall be guilty in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in the Court of Judgment the Assembly of the twenty three Elders and there his punishment was death but the gentlest manner of it the decapitation or smiting him through with the sword and therefore the least punishment hereafter answering to death here can mean no less than death hereafter * And so also was the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that calls Racha shall be guilty that is shall be used as one that stands guilty in the Sanhedrim or Council meaning that he is to die too but with a severer execution by stoning to death this was the greatest punishment by the houses of judgment for Crucifixion was the Roman manner These two already signifie Hell in a less degree but as certainly and evidently as the third For though we read Hell-fire in the third sentence only yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no otherwise signifies Hell than the other two by analogy and proportionable representment The cause of the mistake is this When Christ was pleased to add yet a further degree of punishment in hell to a further degree of anger and reproach the Jews having no greater than that of stoning by the judgment of the Sanhedrim or Council he would borrow his expression from that which they and their Fathers too well understood a barbarous custome of the Phoenicians of burning children alive in the valley of Hinnom which in succession of time the Hellenists called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not much unlike the Hebrew word and because by our blessed Lord it was used to signifie or represent the greatest pains of hell that were spoken of in that gradation the Christians took the word and made it to be its appellative and to signifie the state or place of the damned just as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the garden of Eden is called Paradise But it was no more intended that this should signifie Hell than that any of the other two should The word it self never did so before but that and the other two were taken as being the most fearful things amongst them here to represent the degrees of the most intolerable state hereafter just as damnation is called death the second death that because we fear the first as the worst of present evils we may be affrighted with the apprehensions of the latter From this authority it follows that as in the Law no sins were venial but by repentance and sacrifice so neither in the Gospel are they not in their own nature not by the more holy Covenant of the Gospel but by repentance and mortification For the Gospel hath with greater severity laid restraint upon these minutes and little particles of action and passion and therefore if in the law every transgression was exacted we cannot reasonably think that the least parts of duty which the Gospel superadded with a new and severer caution as great and greater than that by which the law exacted the greatest Commandments can be broken with indemnity or without the highest danger The law exacted all its smallest minutes and therefore so does the Gospel as being a Covenant of greater holiness But as in the law for the smaller transgressions there was an assignment of expiatory rites so is there in the Gospel of a ready repentance and a prepared mercy 37. VII Lastly those sins which men in health are bound to avoid those sins for which Christ did shed his most precious blood those sins which a dying man is bound to ask pardon for though he hopes not or desires not to escape temporal death certain it is that those sins are in their nature and in the Oeconomy or dispensation of the Divine threatnings damnable For what can the dying man fear but death eternal and if he be bound to repent and ask pardon even for the smallest sins which he can remember in order to what pardon can that repentance be but of the eternal pain to which every sin by its own demerit naturally descends If he must repent and ask pardon when he hopes not or desires not the temporal it is certain he must repent only that he may obtain the eternal And they that will think otherwise will also find themselves deceiv'd in this * For if the damned souls in hell are punish'd for all their sins then the unpardon'd venial sins are there also smarted for But so it is and so we are taught in the doctrine of our great Master If we agreee not while we are in the way we shall be cast into the eternal prison and shall not depart thence till we have paid the uttermost farthing that is ever for our smallest sins if they be unremitted men shall pay in hell their horrible Symbol of damnation And this is confessed on all hands that they who fall into hell pay their sorrows there even for all But it is pretended that this is only by accident not by the first intention of the Divine justice because it happens that they are subjected in such persons who for other sins not for these go to hell Well! yet let it be considered whether or no do not the smallest unremitted sins increase the torments of hell in their proportion If they do not then they are not at all punished in hell for if without them the perishing soul is equally punished then for them there is no punishment at all But if they do increase the pains as it is certain they do then to them properly and for their own malignity and demerit a portion of eternal pains is assigned Now if God punishes them in hell then they deserv'd hell if they be damnable in their event then they were so in their merit for God never punishes any sin more than it deserves though he often does less But to say that this is
advices with the saying of Josephus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is as damnable to indulge leave to our selves to sin little sins as great ones A man may be choaked with a raisin as well as with great morsels of flesh and a small leak in a ship if it be neglected will as certainly sink her as if she sprung a plank Death is the wages of all and damnation is the portion of the impenitent whatever was the instance of their sin Though there are degrees of punishment yet there is no difference of state as to this particular and therefore we are tied to repent of all and to dash the little Babylonians against the stones against the Rock that was smitten for us For by the blood of Jesus and the tears of Repentance and the watchfulness of a diligent careful person many of them shall be prevented and all shall be pardoned A Psalm to be frequently used in our Repentance for our daily Sins BOW down thine ear O Lord hear me for I am poor and needy Rejoyce the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul. For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy Name Shall mortal man be more just than God shall a man be more pure than his Maker Behold he put no trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly How much less on them that dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust which are crushed before the moth Doth not their excellency which is in them go away They die even without wisdom The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple Moreover by them is thy servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward Who can understand his errors Cleanse thou me from my secret faults keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression O ye sons of men how long will ye turn my glory into shame how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself The Lord will hear when I call unto him Out of the deep have I called unto thee O Lord Lord hear my voice O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint If thou Lord wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it But there is mercy with thee therefore shalt thou be feared Set a watch O Lord before my mouth and keep the door of my lips Take from me the way of lying and cause thou me to make much of thy law The Lord is full of compassion and mercy long-suffering and of great goodness He will not alway be chiding neither keepeth he his anger for ever Yea like as a Father pitieth his own children even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him For he knoweth whereof we are made he remembreth that we are but dust Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities Glory be to the Father c. The PRAYER O Eternal God whose perfections are infinite whose mercies are glorious whose justice is severe whose eyes are pure whose judgments are wise be pleased to look upon the infirmities of thy servant and consider my weakness My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak I desire to please thee but in my endeavours I fail so often so foolishly so unreasonably that I extreamly displease my self and I have too great reason to fear that thou also art displeased with thy servant O my God I know my duty I resolve to do it I know my dangers I stand upon my guard against them but when they come near I begin to be pleased and delighted in the little images of death and am seised upon by folly even when with greatest severity I decree against it Blessed Jesus pity me and have mercy upon my infirmities II. O Dear God I humbly beg to be relieved by a mighty grace for I bear a body of sin and death about me sin creeps upon me in every thing that I do or suffer When I do well I am apt to be proud when I do amiss I am sometimes too confident sometimes affrighted If I see others do amiss I either neglect them or grow too angry and in the very mortification of my anger I grow angry and peevish My duties are imperfect my repentances little my passions great my fancy trifling The sins of my tongue are infinite and my omissions are infinite and my evil thoughts cannot be numbred and I cannot give an account concerning innumerable portions of my time which were once in my power but were let slip and were partly spent in sin partly thrown away upon trifles and vanity and even of the hasest sins of which in accounts of men I am most innocent I am guilty before thee entertaining those sins in little instances thoughts desires and imaginations which I durst not produce into action and open significations Blessed Jesus pity me and have mercy upon my infirmities III. TEACH me O Lord to walk before thee in righteousness perfecting holiness in the fear of God Give me an obedient will a loving spirit a humble understanding watchfulness over my thoughts deliberation in all my words and actions well tempered passions and a great prudence and a great zeal and a great charity that I may do my duty wisely diligently holily O let me be humbled in my infirmities but let me be also safe from my enemies let me never fall by their violence nor by my own weakness let me never be overcome by them nor yet give my self up to folly and weak principles to idleness and secure careless walking but give me the strengths of thy Spirit that I may grow strong upon the ruines of the flesh growing from grace to grace till I become a perfect man in Christ Jesus O let thy strength be seen in my weakness and let thy mercy triumph over my infirmities pitying the condition of my nature the infancy of grace the imperfection of my knowledge the transportations of my passion Let me never consent to sin but for ever strive against it and every day prevail till it be quite dead in me that thy servant living the life of grace may at last be admitted to that state of glory where all my infirmities shall be done away and all tears be dried up and sin and death shall be no more Grant this O most gracious God and Father for Jesus Christ his sake Amen Our Father c. CHAP. IV. Of Actual single Sins and what Repentance is proper to them SECT I. 1. THE
in the Court of Conscience So Pacianus Haec est novi Testamenti tota conclusio despectus in multis Spiritus sanctus haec nobis capitalis periculi conditione legavit Reliqua peccata meliorum operum compensatione curantur Haec verò tria crimina ut basilisci alicujus afflatus ut veneni calix ut lethalis arundo meâ—uenda sunt non enim vitiare animam sed intercipere noverunt Some sins do pollute and some do kill the soul that is are very near approaches to death next to the unpardonable state and they are to be repented of just as habits are even by a long and a laborious repentance and by the piety and holiness of our whole ensuing life De peccato remisso noli esse securus said the son of Sirach Be not secure though your sin be pardoned when therefore you are working out and suing your pardon be not too confident 53. XI Those acts of sin which can once be done and no more as Parricide and such which destroy the subject or person against whom the sin is committed are to be cured by Prayer and Sorrow and entercourses with God immediately the effect of which because it can never be told and because the mischief can never be rescinded so much as by fiction of Law nor any supply be made to the injur'd person the guilty man must never think himself safe but in the daily and nightly actions of a holy Repentance 54. XII He that will repent well and truly of his single actual sins must be infinitely careful that he do not sin after his Repentance and think he may venture upon another single sin supposing that an act of contrition will take it off and so interchange his days by sin and sorrow doing to morrow what he was ashamed of yesterday For he that sins upon the confidence of Repentance does not repent at all because he repents that he may sin and these single acts so periodically returning do unite and become a habit He that resolves against a sin and yet falls when he is tempted is under the power of sin in some proportion and his estate is very suspicious though he always resolved against that sin which he always commits It is upon no other account that a single sin does not destroy a man but because it self is speedily destroyed if therefore it goes on upon its own strength and returns in its proper period it is not destroyed but lives and indangers the man 55. XIII Be careful that you do not commit a single act of sin toward the latter end of your life for it being uncertain what degrees of anger God will put on and in what periods of time he will return to mercy the nearer to our death such sins interâ—â—ne the more degrees of danger they have For although the former discourse is agreeable to the analogy of the Gospel and the Oeconomy of the Divine Mercy yet there are sad words spoken against every single sin Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offends in one instance he shall be guilty of all saith S. James plainly affirming that the admitting one sin much more the abiding in any one sin destroys all our present possession of Gods favour Concerning which although it may seem strange that one prevarication in one instance should make an universal guilt yet it will be certain and intelligible if we consider that it relates not to the formality but to the event of things He that commits an act of Murther is not therefore an Adulterer but yet for being a Murtherer he shall die He is as if he were guilty of all that is his innocence in the other shall not procure him impunity in this One crime is inconsistent with Gods love and favour 56. But there is something more in it than this For every one that breaks a Commandment let the instance be what it will is a transgressor of the same bond by which he was bound to all Non quòd omnia legis praecepta violârit sed quòd legis Authoreâ—â— contempserit eóque praemio meritò careat quod legis cultoribus propositum est saith Venerable Bede He did not violate all the Commandments but he offended him who is the giver of all the Commandments It is like letting one Bead fall from a Rosary or Corone of Bugles This or that or a third makes no difference the string iâ— as much broken if he lets one to slide as if he dropp'd twenty It was not an ill conceit of Meâ—edemus the Eretrian that there was but one vertue which had divers names Aristo Chius express'd the same conceit with a little difference affirming all vertues to be the same in reality and nature but to have a certain diversification or rational difference by relation to their objects As if one should call the sight when it looks upon a Crow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if upon a Swan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so is vertue When it moderates the affections it is Temperance when it balances contracts it is Justice when it considers what is and what is not to be done it is Prudence That which they call Vertue if we call it the grace of God or Obedience it is very true which they say For the same spirit the same grace of obedience is Chastity or Temperance or Justice according as is the subject matter The love of God if it be in us is productive of all worthiness and this is it which S. John said This is love that we keep his Commandments The love of God constraineth us It worketh all the works of God in us It is the fulfilling of the Commandments For this is a Catholicon an Universal Grace Charity gives being to all vertues it is the life and spirit of all holy actions Abstinence from feasts and inordination mingled with Charity is Temperance And Justice is Charity and Chastity is Charity and Humility is still but an instance of Charity This is that Transcendent that gives life and vertue to Alms to Preaching to Faith to Miracles it does all obedience to God all good offices to our Neighbours which in effect is nothing but the sentence of Menedemus and Aristo that there is an Universal Vertue that is there is one soul and essence of all vertue They call it Vertue S. Paul calls it Charity and this is that one thing which is necessary that one thing which every man that sins does violate He that is guilty of all is but guilty of that one and therefore he that is guilty of that one of the breach of Charity is guilty of all And upon this account it is that no one sin can stand with the state of grace because he that sins in once instance sins against all goodness not against all instances of duty but against that which is the life of all against Charity and Obedience A Prayer to be said in the days of Repentance for the commission of any great Crime O
is done in the same degree the repentance is perfect more or less For there is a latitude in this duty as there are degrees of perfection SECT II. 1. Every man is bound to repent of his sin as soon as he hath committed it 1. THAT this doctrine is of great usefulness and advantage to the necessity and perswasions of holy life is a good probable inducement to believe it true especially since God is so essential an enemy to sin since he hath used such rare arts of the Spirit for the extermination of it since he sent his holy Son to destroy it and he is perpetually destroying it and will at last make that it shall be no more at all but in the house of cursing the horrible regions of damnation But I will use this only as an argument to all pious and prudent persons to take off all prejudices against the severity of this doctrine For it is nothing so much against it if we say it is severe as it makes for it that we understand it to be necessary For this doctrine which I am now reproving although it be the doctrine properly of the Roman Schools yet it is their and our practice too We sin with greediness and repent at leisure Pars magna Italiae est si verum admittimus in quâ Nemo togam sumit nisi mortuus No man puts on his mourning garment till he be dead This day we seldom think it fit to repent but the day appointed for repentance is always To morrow Against which dangerous folly I offer these considerations 2. I. If the duty of repentance be indispensably requir'd in the danger of death and he that does not repent when he is arrested with the probability of so sad a change is felo de se uncharitable to himself and a murderer of his own soul then so is he in his proportion who puts it off one day because every day of delay is a day of danger and the same law of charity obliges him to repent to day if he sinn'd yesterday lest he be dead before to morrow The necessity indeed is not so great and the duty is not so urgent and the refusal is not so great a sin in health as in sickness and dangers imminent and visible But there are degrees of necessity as there are degrees of danger And he that considers how many persons die suddenly and how many more may and no man knows that he shall not cannot but confess that because there is danger there is also an obligation of duty and charity to repent speedily and that positively or carelesly to put it off is a new fault and increases Gods enmity against him He that is well may die to morrow He that is very sick may recover and live many years If therefore a periculum ne fiat a danger lest repentance be never done is a sufficient determination of the Divine Commandment to do it then it is certain that it is in every instant determinately necessary because in every instant there is danger In all great sicknesses there is not an equal danger yet in all great sicknesses it is a particular sin not to repent even by the confession of all sides it is so therefore in all the periods of an uncertain life a sin but in differing degrees And therefore this is not an argument of caution only but of duty For therefore it is of duty because it is of caution It could not be a caution unless there were a danger and if there be a danger then it is a duty For he that is very sick must do it But how if he escapes was he obliged for all that He was because he knew not that he should escape By the same reason is every one obliged because whether he shall or shall not escape the next minute he knows not And certainly it was none of the least reasons of Gods concealing the day of our death that we might ever stand ready And this is plainly enough taught us by our blessed Saviour laboriously perswading and commanding us not to defer our repentance by his parable of the rich man who promised to himself the pleasures of many years he reprov'd that folly with a Stulte hac nocte and it may be any mans case for Nemo tam felix Crastinum ut possit sibi polliceri But he adds a Precept Let your loyns be girded about and your lights shining and ye your selves like men that wait for their Lord. And blessed are those servants whom their Lord when he cometh shall find watching And much more to the same purpose Nay that it was the reason why God concealed the time of his coming to us that we might always expect him he intimated in the following Parable This know that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come he would have watched Be ye therefore ready also for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not Nothing could better have improved this argument than these words of our blessed Saviour we must stand in procinctu ready girded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ready for the service always watching as uncertain of the time but in perpetual expectation of the day of our Lord. I think nothing can be said fuller to this purpose But I add the words of S. Austin Verum quidem dicis quòd Deus poenitentiae tuae indulgentiam promisit sed huic dilationi tuae crastinum non promisit To him that repents God hath promised pardon but to him that defers repentance he hath not promised the respite of one day It is certain therefore he intended thou shouldest speedily repent and since he hath by words and deeds declar'd this to be his purpose he that obeys not is in this very delay properly and specifically a Transgressor 3. II. I consider that although the precept of repentance be affirmative yet it is also limited and the time sufficiently declared even the present and none else As soon as ever you need it so soon you are obliged To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts That is defer not to hear him this day for every putting it off is a hardening your hearts For he that speaks to day is not pleased if you promise to hear him to morrow It was Felix his case to S. Paul Go away I will hear thee some other time He that calls every day means every day that we should repent For although to most men God gives time and leisure and expects and perseveres to call yet this is not because he gives them leave to defer it but because he still forbears to strike though their sin grows greater Now I demand when God calls us to repentance is it indifferent to him whether we repent to day or no Why does he call so earnestly if he desires it so coldly Or if he be not indifferent is he displeas'd if we repent speedily This no man thinks
supernatural contentions and designs of grace it calls back nature from its remedy and purifications of Baptism and makes such new aptnesses that the punishment remains even after the beginning of the sins pardon and that which is a natural punishment of the sinful actions is or may be morally a sin as the lust which is producâ—d by gluttony And when a man hath entertain'd a holy sorrow for his sins and made holy vows of obedience and a new life he must be forc'd to contend for every act of duty and he is daily tempted and the temptation is strong and his progression is slow he marches upon sharp-pointed stones where he was not us'd to go and where he hath no pleasure He is forc'd to do his duty as he takes Physick where reason and the grace of God make him consent against his inclination and to be willing against his will He is brought to that state of sorrow that either he shall perish for ever or he must do more for heaven than is needful to be done by a good man whose body is chast and his spirit serene whose will is obedient and his understanding well inform'd whose temptations are ineffective and his strengths great who loves God and is reconciled to duty who delights in Religion and is at rest when he is doing God service But an habitual sinner even when he begins to return and in some measure loves God hath yet too great fondnesses for his enemy his repentances are imperfect his hatred and his love mixt nothing is pure nothing is whole nothing is easie So that the bands of holiness are like a yoke shaken upon the neck they fret the labouring Ox and make his work turn to a disease and as Isaac he marches up the hill with the wood upon his shoulders and yet for ought he knows himself may become the Sacrifice S. Austin complains that it was his own case He was so accustomed to the apertures and free emissions of his lust so pleas'd with the entertainments so frequent in the imployment so satisfied in his mind so hardned in his spirit so ready in his choice so peremptory in his soul determinations that when he began to consider that death stood at the end of that life he was amaz'd to see himself as he thought without remedy and was not to be recover'd but by a long time and a mighty grace the perpetual the daily the nightly prayers and violent importunities of his Mother the admirable precepts and wise deportments of S. Ambrose the efficacy of truth the horrible fears of damnation hourly beating upon his spirit with the wings of horrour and affrightment and after all with a mighty uneasiness and a discomposed spirit he was by the good hand of God dragg'd from his fatal ruine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus one folly added to another hath great labour and vexation unquietness and difficulty for its reward But as when our Blessed Saviour dispossess'd the little Demoniack in the Gospel when the Devil went forth he roar'd and foam'd he rent him with horrid Spasmes and Convulsions and left him half dead So is every man that recovers from a vicious habit he suffers violence like a bird shut up in a cage or a sick person not to be restored but by Causticks and Scarifications and all the torments of Art from the dangers of his Nature 15. IV. A vicious habit makes a great sin to be swallowed up as easily as a little one An dubitat solitus totum conâ—â—are Tonantem Radet inaurati femur Herculis faciem ipsam Neptuni qui bracteolam de Castore ducet He that is us'd to it makes nothing of Sacriledge who before started at the defrauding his Neighbour of an uncertain right but when he hath digested the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by step and step he ventures so far till he dares to steal the Thunderbolts from Jupiter when sin is grown up to its height and station by all its firmest measures a great sin is not felt and let the sin be what it will many of the instances pass so easily that they are not observed as the hands and feet sometimes obey the fancy without the notice of the superiour faculties and as we say some parts of our prayers which we are us'd to though we attend not and as Musicians strike many single strokes upon which they do not at all consider which indeed is the perfection of a habit So we see many men swear when they know not that they do so they lie and know they lie and yet believe themselves They are drunk often and at last believe it innocent and themselves the wiser and the action necessary and the excess not intemperance Peccata quamvis magna horrenda cùm in consuetudinem venerint aut parva aut nulla esse creduntur usque adeò ut non solùm non occultanda verùm etiam jam praedicanda ac diffamanda videantur said S. Austin At first we are asham'd of sin but custome makes us bold and confident apt to proclaim not to conceal our shame For though at first it seemed great yet every day of use makes it less and at last all is well it is a very nothing 16. This is a sad state of sin but directly the case of a vicious habit and of use in the illustration of this Question For if we look upon the actions and little or great instances of folly and consider that they consider not every such Oath will pass for an indeliberate folly and an issue of infirmity But then if we remember that it is voluntary in its principle that this easiness of sinning comes from an intolerable cause from a custome of prophaneness and impiety that it was nourish'd by a base and a careless spirit it grew up with a cursed inadvertency and a caitiff disposition that it could not be at all but that the man is infinitely distant from God it is to be reckoned like the pangs of death which although they are not always felt yet they are violent and extreme they are fatal in themselves and full of horror to the standers by 17. But from hence besides that it serves perfectly to reprove the folly of habitual swearing it also proves the main Question viz. that in a vicious habit there is a venome and a malice beyond the guilt and besides the sinfulness of the single actions that produce and nourish it the quality it self is criminal For unless it can be supposed that to swear frequently can at last bring its excuse with it and that such a custome is only to be estimated according to the present notice and deliberation by which it is attended to and that to swear often can be but a little thing but to swear seldom shall be horrid and inexcusable it must be certain that the very habit it self is a state of sin and enmity against God besides the
that it is therefore seasonable to hope because it is a duty and the very hope it self God delights to reward for so said the Apostle Cast not away your confidence which hath great recompence of reward And the Church of God imitating the mercies of our gracious God and Father hath denied to give the Sacrament of peace and mercy to none that seek it Viaticum omnibus in morte positis non est negandum And in the saddest consideration of things that can be suppose it be with him as with Simon Magus suppose that he is in the gall of bitterness in the state of damnation in the guilt of a sin which we know not whether God will pardon or not yet still it is wise and pious counsell that he should pray if peradventure he may be forgiven He I say that considers these things will have cause to be very earnest and very busie to lose no time to remit no labour to quit no hope but humbly passionately diligently set upon that duty of repentance which should have long ago come to some perfection Now because I have as I suppose said enough to make men afraid to put off their repentance to their death-bed yet in behalf of those who have been unfortunately lost in their lives or less instructed or violently tempted or unhappily betrayed and are upon their death-beds because though nothing can be ascertain'd to them yet it is not to be suffered that they should utterly despair I have thought fit to transcribe out of the writings of the ancient Doctors such exhortations as may both instruct and comfort promote duty and give some little door of hope but not add boldness in defiance of all the laws of holiness 30. In an epistle of Celestine Bishop of Rome in S. Austins time we find these words Vera ad Deum conversio in ultimis positorum mente potiùs aestimanda est quà m tempore Quum ergo Dominus sit cordis inspector quovis tempore non est deneganda poenitentia postulanti quum ille se obliget Judici cui occulta omnia noverit revelari True conversion is to be accounted of by the mind rather than by time Therefore repentance is not to be denied to him who at any time asks it And he despairs of the clemency of God who thinks it not sufficient or that it cannot relieve the sinner in an instant Donec sumus in hâc vitâ quantacunque nobis acciderint peccata possibile est omnia ablui per poenitentiam said S. Austin As long as we are alive so long it is possible that the vilest sins that are may be wash'd off by repentance Si vulneratus es adhibe tibi curam dum vivis dum spiras etiam in ipso lecto positus etiam si dici potest animam efflans ut jam de hoc mundo exeas Non impeditur temporis angustiâ misericordia Dei. Quid enim est peccatum ad Dei misericordiam tela araneae quae vento flante nusquam comparet So S. Chrysostom If thou art wounded in thy soul take care of it while thou livest even so long as thou canst breath though thou beest now breathing thy last yet take care still The mercy of God cannot be hindred by time For what is thy sin to Gods mercy even as a spiders web when the wind blows it is gone in an instant Many more there are to the same purpose who all speaking of the mightiness of the Divine mercy do insinuate their meaning to be concerning a miraculous or extraordinary mercy And therefore I shall oppose nothing against this only say that it is very sad when men put their hopes of being sav'd upon a miracle and that without a miracle they must perish But yet then to despair is entring into hell before their time and even a course of the greatest imprudence in the world next to that they are already guilty of that is a putting things to that extremity Dandum interstitium paenitentia said Tacitus And Inter vitae negotia diem mortis oportere aliquid spatium intercedere said Charles the Emperour For Nemo mortem venientem hilaris excepit nisi qui se ad eam diu composuerat said Seneca Repentance must have a space of time and from the affairs of the world to rush into the arms of death is too quick a change for him that would fain be saved If he can in the midst of all these disadvantages it is well but he cannot with chearfulness and joy receive his death unless he bestowed much time and care in preparations against that sad solemnity Now concerning these instruments of hope I am yet to give another account lest this either seem to be an easiness and flattery of souls and not warrantable from any revelation from God or if it be that it is also a perfect destruction of all the former doctrine For if it be inquired thus Hath God declared that death-bed penitents shall not be saved or that they may be saved or hath he said nothing at all of it If he hath said they cannot be saved why then do I bid them hope and so abuse them with a false perswasion If he hath said that they may be saved why do I dispute against it and make them fear where God by a just promise hath given them reason to be confident and hath obliged them to believe they shall be saved If he hath said nothing of it why are not they to be comprehended within the general rules of all returning penitents especially since there was one case specially made for their interest the example of the Thief upon the Cross To this I shall give a clear and plain answer That God hath required such conditions of pardon and that the duty of repentance is of such extent and burden that it cannot be finish'd and perform'd by dying persons after a vicious life is evident from all the former arguments and therefore if we make dying mens accounts upon the stock of Gods usual dealing and open revelation their case is desperate for the preceding reasons But why then do I bid them hope if their case be desperate Either God threatning death to all impenitent persons means not to exact death of all but of some only or else when his holy Spirit describes Repentance in severe characters he secretly means to take less than he says For if it be such a work that cannot possibly be done on a death-bed how then can dying persons be called upon to repent for it is vain to repent if it be impossible to hope but if it be possible to do the work of Repentance on our death-bed but only that it is very difficult there is in this affirmative no great matter Every one confesses that and all evil men put it to the venture For the first part of the dilemma I affirm nothing of it God threatning death to all the impenitent excepts none Except ye repent ye
shall all likewise perish Neither does God exacting or describing Repentance in several lines use any respect of persons but with the same measures he will deal with all For when there is a difference in the Divine mercy it is in giving time and grace to repent not in sparing one and condemning another who die equally criminal and impenitent Those little lines of hopes are not upon either of these foundations For whatsoever is known or revealed is against these persons and does certainly condemn them Why then are they bidden to hope and repent I answer once for all It is upon something that we know not And if they be not sav'd we know not how they cannot expect to be saved by any thing that is revealed in their particular When S. Peter had declar'd to Simon Magus that he was in the gall of bitterness and yet made him pray if peradventure the thought of his heart might be forgiven him he did not by any thing that was reveal'd know that he should be pardoned but by something that he did not know there might be hope It is at no hand to be dissembled out of tenderness and pity to such persons but to be affirmed openly there is not revealed any thing to them that may bid them be in any degree confident But he that hath a deadly wound whom the Chirurgeons affirm to be hopeless yet is willing to receive Cordials and to be dress'd 2. If in the measures of life and death which are described in large characters there be any lines so indefinite and comprehensive that they who preach and declare the doctrines do not fully take in all that God intends upon the account of our weakness and ignorance there may be some little rushes and twiggs to support their sinking hopes For although the matters of duty and the conditions of life and death are so plain and legible that we can all understand our obligation yet things are seldome so described that we can give the final sentence concerning others There is a secret in these things which nothing shall open but the day of Judgment No man may judge his brother that is no man can or ought to say This man is damn'd and yet we know that he that dies an impenitent Traytor or Rebel or adulterer is damn'd But yet that Adulterous Natta or the Rebel Cinna or the Traytor sâ—â—ti line is actually damn'd that we know not The reason is because our duty is described for us to guide and walk our selves by not to judge and sentence others And even the judgment of the Church who hath authority to judge and sentence yet it is only for amendment it is universal it is declarative it is conditional not personal final decretory and eternal For otherwise does man judge otherwise does God II. There is some variety in the case and in the person and in the degrees of Repentance There is a period beyond which God will not admit a man to pardon but when it is we know not There is a minimum Religionis the least measure of Religion the lowest degree of acceptability but what it is we cannot tell There is also a proper measure for every one but no man can fathom it And the duties and parts of Repentance consist in the terms of a great distance and latitude and we cannot tell when a man first begins to be safe and when he is newly escaped from the regions of sin and when he begins his state of grace Now as God abates great measures of his wrath and forgives all that is past if we return betimes and live twenty years in piety and repentance so he does if the man do so nineteen years and eighteen and still shortning till you come to a year or any the least time that can do the work of Repentance and exterminate his vicious habit Now because Abraham begg'd for the pardon of Sodom if there should be found fifty righteous there and then abated five and then five more and then ten more till he came to ten alone and it is supposed that Abraham first gave out and that God would have pardon'd the City for one righteous mans sake if Abraham had still persevered to ask if any man will suppose that it may be done so in the abatements of time to be made to a returning sinner though I say it is a strange diminution to come from years to one day yet I will say nothing against it but that length or shortness of time makes nothing to the mercies of God but it makes very much to the duty of man because every action requires some time and every habit much more Now we have reason to say that the condition of a dying penitent after a whole wicked life is desperate because so far as we understand things habits are not to be extinguish'd and the contraries acquir'd but with long time and study But if there be any secret way by which the Spirit of God does work faster and produce undiscerned miracles we ought to adore that goodness by which it is so and they that can believe this may hope the other In the mean time neither the one nor the other is revealed and so it stands as it did in the whole Question IV. We find in the instance of Abrahams faith that against hope he believed in hope that is that he had great arguments on both sides and therefore that in defiance of one he would hope in the other because this could not fail him but the other could If it can be brought to pass that a dying man can hope after a wicked life it is a hope against hope and of this all that I can say is that it is no contradiction in the thing to affirm that a dying penitent who hath contracted vicious habits hath not time left him to perform that repentance which God requires of habitual sinners under the pains of eternal death and yet to bid such a person do what he can do and pray if peradventure God will be intreated Because that little hopes which he is bid to have are not warranted or relying upon pretence of any particular revelation contrary to the so many expressions of severe duty and stricter conditions but are plac'd upon the foundation of the Divine Power and such little proportions and similitudes of things and guesses and conjectures of kind persons as can only be sufficient to make the dying man try what can be done V. The first ages of the Church did exactly use this method of Doctrine and Discipline In some cases whereof I shall afterwards give account they refus'd to declare them pardon'd to minister Gods pardon to dying penitents but yet would not bid them despair but refer them to the Divine judgment which if it be reduc'd to the causes of things if we believe they proceeded reasonably must mean this that they knew of no revelation concerning the pardon of such persons but whether God would or no pardon
from the severities of Religion let me live by the measures of thy law not by the evil example and disguises of the world Renew a right spirit within me and cast me not away from thy presence lest I should retire to the works of darkness and enter into those horrible regions where the light of thy countenance never shineth II. I AM ashamed O Lord I am ashamed that I have dishonoured so excellent a Creation Thou didst make us upright and create us in innocence And when thou didst see us unable to stand in thy sight and that we could never endure to be judged by the Covenant of works thou didst renew thy mercies to us in the new Covenant of Jesus Christ and now we have no excuse nothing to plead for our selves much less against thee but thou art holy and pure and just and merciful Make me to be like thee holy as thou art holy merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful obedient as our holy Saviour Jesus meek and charitable temperate and chaste humble and patient according to that holy example that my sins may be pardoned by his death and my spirit renewed by his Spirit that passing from sin to grace from ignorance to the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ I may pass from death to life from sorrow to joy from Earth to Heaven from the present state of misery and imperfection to the glorious inheritance prepar'd for the Saints and Sons of light the children of the new birth the brethren of our Lord and Brother our Judge and our Advocate our Blessed Saviour and Redeemer JESVS Amen A Prayer to be said by a Matron in behalf of her Husband and Family that a blessing may descend upon their posterity I. O Eternal God our most merciful Lord and gracious Father thou art my guide the light of mine eyes the joy of my heart the author of my hope and the object of my love and worshippings thou relievest all my needs and determin'st all my doubts and art an eternal fountain of blessing open and running over to all thirsty and weary souls that come and cry to thee for mercy and refreshment Have mercy upon thy servant and relieve my fears and sorrows and the great necessities of my family for thou alone O Lord canst do it II. FIT and adorn every one of us with a holy and a religious spirit and give a double portion to thy servant my dear Husband Give him a wise heart a prudent severe and indulgent care over the children which thou hast given us His heart is in thy hand and the events of all things are in thy disposition Make it a great part of his care to promote the spiritual and eternal interest of his children and not to neglect their temporal relations and necessities but to provide states of life for them in which with fair advantages they may live chearfully serve thee diligently promote the interest of the Christian family in all their capacities that they may be always blessed and always innocent devout and pious and may be graciously accepted by thee to pardon and grace and glory through Jesus Christ. Amen III. BLESS O Lord my Sons with excellent understandings love of holy and noble things sweet dispositions innocent deportment diligent souls chaste healthful and temperate bodies holy and religious spirits that they may live to thy glory and be useful in their capacities to the servants of God and all their neighbours and the Relatives of their conversation Bless my Daughters with a humble and a modest carriage and excellent meekness a great love of holy things a severe chastity a constant holy and passionate Religion O my God never suffer them to fall into folly and the sad effects of a wanton loose and indiscreet spirit possess their fancies with holy affections be thou the covering of their eyes and the great object of their hopes and all their desires Blessed Lord thou disposest all things sweetly by thy providence thou guidest them excellently by thy wisdom thou unitest all circumstances and changes wonderfully by thy power and by thy power makest all things work for the good of thy servants Be pleased so to dispose my Daughters that if thou shouldest call them to the state of a married life they may not dishonour their Family nor grieve their Parents nor displease thee but that thou wilt so dispose of their persons and the accidents and circumstances of that state that it may be a state of holiness to the Lord and blessing to thy servants And until thy wisdom shall know it fit to bring things so to pass let them live with all purity spending their time religiously and usefully O most blessed Lord enable their dear father with proportionable abilities and opportunities of doing his duty and charities towards them and them with great obedience and duty toward him and all of us with a love toward thee above all things in the world that our portion may be in love and in thy blessings through Jesus Christ our dearest Lord and most gracious Redeemer IV. O MY God pardon thy servant pity my infirmities hear the passionate desires of thy humble servant in thee alone is my trust my heart and all my wishes are towards thee Thou hast commanded me to pray to thee in all needs thou hast made gracious promises to hear and accept me and I will never leave importuning thy glorious Majesty humbly passionately confidently till thou hast heard and accepted the prayer of thy servant Amen dearest Lord for thy mercy sake hear thy servant Amen TO The Right Reverend Father in God JOHN WARNER D.D. and late Lord Bishop of Rochester MY LORD I NOW see cause to wish that I had given to your Lordship the trouble of reading my papers of Original Sin before their publication for though I have said all that which I found material in the Question yet I perceive that it had been fitting I had spoken some things less material so to prevent the apprehensions that some have of this doctrine that it is of a sence differing from the usual expressions of the Church of England However my Lord since your Lordship is pleased to be careful not only of truth and Gods glory but desirous also that even all of us should speak the same thing and understand each other without Jealousies or severer censures I have now obeyed your Counsel and done all my part towards the asserting the truth and securing charity and unity Professing with all truth and ingenuity that I would rather die than either willingly give occasion or countenance to a Schism in the Church of England and I would suffer much evil before I would displease my dear Brethren in the service of Jesus and in the ministeries of the Church But as I have not given just cause of offence to any so I pray that they may not be offended unjustly lest the fault lie on them whose persons I so much love
philosoph c. 2. Concupiscere 〈◊〉 concupiscere mentiri non mentiri quaecunque talia in quibus consistunt virtutis vitii opera haec sunt in nostro libero arbitrio B. Macarius Aegyptius hom 15. Caeterúmve semel omninò resonet permanea◠delectus arbitrii libertas quam primitus homini dedit Deus ea propter dispensatione suâ res administrantur corporum solutio sit ut in voluntate hominis situm sit ad bonum vel malum converti Marcus Heremita lib. de Baptismo ultra medium speaks more home to the particular question Haec similia cum sciat scriptura in nostrâ potestate positum esse ut haec agamus nec ne propterea non Satanam neque peccatum Adae sed nos increpat infra Primam conceptionem habemus ex dispensatione quemadmodum ille perinde ac ille pro arbitrio possumus obtemperare vel non obtemperare Julius Firmicus de erroribus profanarum religionum cap. 29. Liberum te Deus fecit in tuâ manu est ut aut vivas aut pereas quia te per abrupta praecipitas S. Ambros. in exposit Psalm 40. Homini dedit eligendi arbitrium quod sequatur ante hominem vita mors si deliqueris non natura in culpa est sed eligentis affectus Gaudentius Brixianus tertio tractat super Exod. Horum concessa semel voluntatis libertas non aufertur ne nihil de eo judicare possit qui liber non fuerit in agendo Boetius libro de consolatione philosophiae Quae cum ita sint manet intemerata mortalibus libertas arbitrii Though it were easie to bring very many more testimonies to this purpose yet I have omitted them because the matter is known to all learned Persons and have chosen these because they testifie that our liberty of choice remains after the fall that if we sin the fault is not in our Nature but in our Persons and Election that still it is in our powers to do good or evil that this is the sentence of the Church that he who denies this is not a Catholick believer 15. And this is so agreeable to nature to experience to the sentence of all wise men to the nature of laws to the effect of reward and punishments that I am perswaded no man would deny it if it were not upon this mistake For many wise and learned men dispute against it because they find it affirmed in H. Scripture every where that grace is necessary that we are servants of sin that we cannot come to God unless we be drawn and very many more excellent things to the same purpose Upon the account of which they conclude that therefore our free will is impaired by Adam's fall since without the grace of God we cannot convert our selves to Godliness and being converted without it we cannot stand and if we stand without it we cannot go on and going on without it we cannot persevere Now though all this be very true yet there is a mistake in the whole Question For when it is affirmed that Adam's sin did not could not impair our liberty but all that freedom of election which was concreated with his reason and is essential to an understanding creature did remain inviolate there is no more said but that after Adam's fall all that which was natural remained and that what Adam could naturally do all that he and we can do afterwards But yet this contradicts not all those excellent discourses which the Church makes of the necessity of Grace of the necessity and effect of which I am more earnestly perswaded and do believe more things than are ordinarily taught in the Schools of Learning But when I say that our will can do all that it ever could I mean all that it could ever do naturally but not all that is to be done supernaturally But then this I add that the things of the Spirit that is all that belongs to spiritual life are not naturally known not naturally discerned but are made known to us by the Spirit and when they are known they are not naturally amiable as being in great degrees and many regards contradictory to natural desires but they are made amiable by the proposition of spiritual rewards and our will is moved by God in wayes not natural and the active and passive are brought together by secret powers and after all this our will being put into a supernatural order does upon these presuppositions choose freely and work in the manner of Nature Our will is after Adam naturally as free as ever it was and in spiritual things it 's free when it is made so by the Spirit for Nature could never do that according to that saying of Celestine Nemo nisi per Christum libero arbitrio benè utitur Omnis sancta cogitatio motus bonae voluntatis ex Deo est A man before he is in Christ hath free-will but cannot use it well He hath motions and operations of will but without God's grace they do not delight in holy things But then in the next place there is another mistake also when it is affirmed in the writings of some Doctors that the will of man is depraved men presently suppose that Depravation is a Natural or Physical effect and means a diminution of powers whereas it signifies nothing but a being in love with or having chosen an evil object and not an impossibility or weakness to do the contrary but only because it will not For the powers of the will cannot be lessened by any act of the same faculty for the act is not contrary to the faculty and therefore can do nothing towards its destruction III. As a consequent of this I infer that there is no natural necessity of sinning that is there is no sinful action to which naturally we are determined but it is our own choice that we sin This depending upon the former stands or falls with it But because God hath super-induced so many Laws and the Devil super-induces temptations upon our weak nature and we are to enter into a supernatural state of things therefore it is that we need the Helps of supernatural grace to enable us to do a supernatural duty in order to a divine end so that the necessity of sinning which we all complain of though it be greater in us than it was in Adam before his fall yet is not absolute in either nor meerly natural but accidental and super-induced and in remedy to it God also hath superinduced and promised his Holy Spirit to them that ask Him SECT IV. Adam's Sin is not imputed to us to our Damnation 16. BUT the main of all is this that this sin of Adam is not imputed unto us to Eternal Damnation For Eternal Death was not threatned to Adam for his sin and therefore could not from him come upon us for that which was none of ours Indeed the Socinians affirm that the death which entered into the
themselves and think all is well with them that they are regenerate and in the state of the Divine favour and if they die so their accounts are ballanc'd and they doubt not but they shall reign as Kings for ever To reprove this state of folly and danger we are to observe that there are a great many steps of this progression which are to be passed through and the end is not yet the man is not yet arrived at the state of regeneration 30. I. An unregenerate man may be convinc'd and clearly instructed in his duty and approve the law and confess the obligation and consent that it ought to be done which S. Paul calls a consenting to the law that it is good and a being delighted in it according to the inward man even the Gentiles which have not the law yet shew the work of the law written in their hearts their thoughts in the mean time accusing or excusing one another The Jews did more they did rest in the law and glory in God knowing his will and approving the things that are more excellent And there are too many who being called Christians know their Masters will and do it not and this consenting to the law and approving it is so far from being a sign of regeneration that the vilest and the basest of men are those who sin most against their knowledge and against their consciences In this world a man may have faith great enough to remove mountains and yet be without charity and in the world to come some shall be rejected from the presence of God though they shall alledge for themselves that they have prophesied in the name of Christ. * This delight in the law which is in the unregenerate is only in the understanding The man considers what an excellent thing it is to be vertuous the just proportions of duty the fitness of being subordinate to God the rectitude of the soul the acquiescence and appendent peace and this delight is just like that which is in finding out proportions in Arithmetick and Geometry or the rest in discovering the secrets of a mysterious proposition a man hath great pleasure in satisfactory notices and the end of his disquisition So also it is in moral things a good man is belov'd by every one and there is a secret excellency and measure a musick and proportion between a mans mind and wise counsels which impious and profane persons cannot perceive because they are so full of false measures and weak discourses and vile appetites and a rude inconsideration of the reasonableness and wisdom of sobriety and severe courses But virtus laudatur alget this is all that some men do and there is in them nothing but a preparation of the understanding to the things of God a faith seated in the rational part a conviction of the mind which as it was intended to lead on the will to action and the other faculties to obedience so now that the effect is not acquired it serves only to upbraid the man for a knowing and discerning Criminal he hath not now the excuse of ignorance He that complies with an Usurper out of fear and interest in actions prejudicial to the lawful Prince and tells the honest party that he is right in his heart though he be forc'd to comply helps the other with an argument to convince him that he is a false man He that does it heartily and according to a present conscience hath some excuse but he that confesses that he is right in his perswasion and wrong in his practice is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemn'd by himself and professes himself a guilty person a man whom interest and not conscience governs Better is it not to know at all than not to pursue the good we know They that know not God are infinitely far from him but they who know him and yet do not obey him are sometimes the nearer for their knowledge sometimes the further off but as yet they are not arrived whither it is intended they should go 31. II. An unregenerate man may with his will delight in goodness and desire it earnestly For in an unregenerate man there is a double appetite and there may be the apprehension of two amabilities The things of the Spirit please his mind and his will may consequently desire that this good were done because it seems beauteous to the rational part to his Mind but because he hath also relishes and gusts in the flesh and they also seem sapid and delightful he desires them also So that this man fain would and he would not and he does sin willingly and unwillingly at the same time We see by a sad experience some men all their life time stand at gaze and dare not enter upon that course of life which themselves by a constant sentence judge to be the best and of the most considerable advantage But as the boy in the Apologue listned to the disputes of Labour and Idleness the one perswading him to rise the other to lie in bed but while he considered what to do he still lay in bed and considered so these men dispute and argue for vertue and the service of God and stand beholding and admiring it but they stand on the other side while they behold it There is a strife between the law of the mind and the law of the members But this prevails over that For the case is thus There are in men three laws 1. The law of the members 2. The law of the mind 3. The law of the spirit 1. The law of the members that is the habit and proneness to sin the dominion of sin giving a law to the lower man and reigning there as in its proper seat This law is also called by S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mind of the flesh the wisdom the relish the gust and savour of the flesh that is that deliciousness and comport that inticing and correspondencies to the appetite by which it tempts and prevails all its own principles and propositions which minister to sin and folly This subjects the man to the law of sin or is that principle of evil by which sin does give us laws 2. To this law of the flesh the law of the mind is opposed and is in the regenerate and unregenerate indifferently and it is nothing else but the conscience of good and evil subject to the law of God which the other cannot be This accuses and convinces the unregenerate it calls upon him to do his duty it makes him unquiet when he does not but this alone is so invalidated by the infirmity of the flesh by the Oeconomy of the law by the disadvantages of the world that it cannot prevail or free him from the captivity of sin But 3. The law of the Spirit is the grace of Jesus Christ and this frees the man from the law of the members from the captivity of sin from
to their own deception that by quitting one or two lusts they may have some kind of peace in all the rest and think all is well These men sometimes would fain obey the law but they will not crucifie the flesh any thing that does not smart Their temper and constitution will allow them easily to quit such superinduc'd follies which out of a gay or an impertinent spirit they have contracted or which came to them by company or by chance or confidence or violence but if they must mortifie the flesh to quit a lust that 's too hard and beyond their powers which are in captivity to the law of sin * Some men will commute a duty and if you will allow them covetousness they will quit their lust or their intemperance according as it happens Herod did many things at the preaching of John the Baptist and heard him gladly Balaam did some things handsomely though he was covetous and ambitious yet he had a limit he would obey the voice of the Angel and could not be tempted to speak a curse when God spake a blessing Ahab was an imperfect penitent he did some things but not enough And if there be any root of bitterness there is no regeneration Colloquintida and Death is in the pot 39. V. An unregenerate man may leave some sins not only for temporal interest but out of reverence of the Divine law out of fear and reverence Under the law there were many such and there is no peradventure but that many men who like Felix have trembled at a Sermon have with such a shaking fit left off something that was fit to be laid aside To leave a sin out of fear of the Divine judgment is not sinful or totally unacceptable All that left sin in obedience and reverence to the law did it in fear of punishment because fear was the sanction of the law and even under the Gospel to obey out of fear of punishment though it be less perfect yet it is not criminal nay rather on the other side The worse that men are so much the less they are afraid of the Divine anger and judgments To abstain out of fear is to abstain out of a very proper motive and God when he sends a judgment with a design of emendation or threatens a criminal or denounces woes and cursings intends that fear should be the beginning of wisdom Knowing therefore the terrors of the Lord we perswade men saith S. Paul And the whole design of delivering criminals over to Satan was but a pursuance of this argument of fear that by feeling something they might fear a worse and for the present be affrighted from their sin And this was no other than the argument which our blessed Saviour used to the poor Paralytick Go and sin no more lest a worse thing happen to thee But besides that this good fear may work much in an unregenerate person or a man under the law such a person may do some things in obedience to God or thankfulness and perfect mere choice So Jehu obeyed God a great way but there was a turning and a high stile beyond which he would not go and his principles could not carry him through Few women can accuse themselves of adultery in the great lines of chastity they chuse to obey God and the voice of honour but can they say that their eye is not wanton that they do not spend great portions of their time in vanity that they are not idle and useless or busie-bodies that they do not make it much of their imployment to talk of fashions and trifles or that they do make it their business to practise religion to hear and attend to severe and sober counsels If they be under the conduct of the Spirit he hath certainly carried them into all the regions of duty But to go a great way and not to finish the journey is the imperfection of the unregenerate For in some persons fear or love of God is not of it self strong enough to weigh down the scales but there must be thrown in something from without some generosity of spirit or revenge or gloriousness and bravery or natural pity or interest and so far as these or any of them go along with the better principle this will prevail but when it must go alone it is not strong enough But this is a great way off from the state of sanctification or a new birth 40. VI. An unregenerate man besides the abstinence from much evil may also do many good things for Heaven and yet never come thither He may be sensible of his danger and sad condition and pray to be delivered from it and his prayers shall not be heard because he does not reduce his prayers to action and endeavour to be what he desires to be Almost every man desires to be sav'd but this desire is not with every one of that perswasion and effect as to make them willing to want the pleasures of the world for it or to perform the labours of charity and repentance A man may strive and contend in or towards the ways of godliness and yet fall short Many men pray often and fast much and pay tithes and do justice and keep the Commandments of the second Table with great integrity and so are good moral men as the word is used in opposition to or rather in destitution of religion Some are religious and not just some want sincerity in both and of this the Pharisees were a great example But the words of our blessed Saviour are the greatest testimony in this article Many shall strive to enter in and shall not be able Either they shall contend too late like the five foolish Virgins and as they whom S. Paul by way of caution likens to Esau or else they contend with incompetent and insufficient strengths they strive but put not force enough to the work An unregenerate man hath not strength enough that is he wants the spirit and activity and perfectness of resolution Not that he wants such aids as are necessary and sufficient but that himself hath not purposes pertinacious and resolutions strong enough All that is necessary to his assistance from without all that he hath or may have but that which is necessary on his own part he hath not but that 's his own fault that he might also have and it is in his duty and therefore certainly in his power to have it For a man is not capable of a law which he hath not powers sufficient to obey he must be free and quit from all its contraries from the power and dominion of them or at least must be so free that he may be quit of them if he please For there can be no liberty but where all the impediments are remov'd or may be if the man will 41. VII An unregenerate man may have received the Spirit of God and yet be in a state of distance from God For to have received the holy Ghost is not
supposes a state of excellency beyond our power but not beyond our aims Thus we must endeavour to avoid all sin and to master all our infirmities because to do so is the nobleness of a Christian courage and that design which is the proper effect of Charity which is the best of Christian graces But we cannot resolve to do it because it is beyond all our powers but may endeavour it and resolve to endeavour it but that 's all we can do But if to resolve be a duty then to perform it is a greater and if a man cannot be the child of God without resolving against all the habits of sin then neither can he be his child unless he actually quit them all 58. But then if from acting our resolution we be hindred by passion and violent desires we are plainly in the state of immortification Passion is the Ruler and as the first step of victory is to keep those passions and appetites from doing any Criminal action abroad so the worst they can do is to engage and force the man to sin and that against his will even whether he list or no. But concerning this Article we are intirely determin'd by the words of S. Paul He that is in Christ hath crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts that is the passions and desires of the flesh are mortified in all the regenerate and therefore a state of passion is a state of death But whatever the principle be yet we must be infinitely careful we do not mistake a broken resolution for an intire piety He that perpetually resolves and yet perpetually breaks his resolution does all the way sin against his conscience and against his reason against his experience and against his observation and it will be a strange offer at an excuse for a man to hope for or to pretend to pardon because be sinned against his Conscience 59. There is in this Article some little difference in the case of young persons the violence of whose passions as it transports them infallibly to evil so it helps to excuse some of it but this is upon a double account 1. Because part of it is natural naturale vitium aetatis the defect and inherent inclination of their age 2. And because their passions being ever strongest when their reason is weakest the actions of young men are imperfect and incomplete For deliberation being nothing else but an alternate succession of appetites it is an unequal entercourse that a possessing natural promoted passion should contest against a weak over-born beginning unexperienc'd uninstructed reason this alternation of appetites is like the dust of a ballance weighing against a rock the deliberation it self must needs be imperfect because there is no equality And therefore the Roman Lawyers did not easily upon a man under twenty five years of age inflict punishment at least not extreme They are the words of Tryphonius In delictis autem minor annis xxv non meretur in integrâ—â— restitutionem utique atrocioribus nisi quatenus interdum miseratio aetatis ad mediocrem poenam judicem produxerit This I say is only a lessening of their fault not imputing it God is ready to pity every thing that is pitiable and therefore is apt to instruct them more and to forbear them longer and to expect and to assist their return and strikes them not so soon nor so severely but what other degrees of pardon God will allow to their infirmities he hath no where told us For as to the whole it is true in all laws Divine and Humane In criminibus quidem aetatis suffragio minores non juvantur etenim malorum mores infirmitas animi non excusat Infirmity of mind does not excuse evil manners and therefore in criminal actions young persons are not excus'd by their age In delictis aetate neminem excusari constat said Diocletian and Maximianus The age excuses not well may it lessen but it does not quite extinguish the guilt 60. VIII The greatness or violence of a temptation does not excuse our sin or reconcile it to the state of grace and an actual consistence with Gods favour The man that is highly tempted and so falls cannot say it was by an unavoidable infirmity For God never suffers any man to be tempted above his strength and therefore when he suffers him to fall into a great trial he hath before-hand prepared him with great aids and a temptation is not such a formidable thing to a considering Christian. All that it can say is nothing but that sin is pleasant and suppose that true yet so is drink to an hydropick person and salt meats to a phantastick stomach and yet they that are concerned do easily abstain from these temptations and remember that it is a greater pleasure to be in health than with a little cold water or a broil'd fish to please their palate and therefore a temptation which can be overcome by an argument from so small an interest cannot stand the shock of a Noble and a Christian resolution and discourse But every temptation puts on its strength as the man is Sometimes a full meal will not prejudice our health and at another time half so much would be a surfeit and some men take cold with leaving off a half-shirt who at another time might leave off half their clothes The indisposition is within and if men did not love to be tempted it would not prevail at all Wine is no temptation to an abstemious man nor all the beauties of Potiphars wife to Joseph the Devil could not prevail with such trifles but half such an offer would overthrow all the trifling purposes of the effeminate To say that such a temptation is great is to say that you love the sin too well to which you are tempted For temptations prevail only by our passions and our appetites leave to love the sin and the temptation is answered but if you love it then complain of nothing but thy self for thou makest the temptation great by being in love with life and sin by preferring vanity before eternal pleasures In the Apophthegms of the Egyptian Anachorets I read of one who had an apparition in the likeness of Christ. A vain and a proud person would have hugg'd himself and entertain'd the illusion But he shutting his eyes said I shall see Christ in Heaven it is enough for me to hope and to believe while I am on earth This or the like did and did not prevail by our weaknesses not by their own strength and to pretend the strength of a temptation is to say we are to be excused because we love sin too well and are too much delighted with baser objects and we cannot help it because we love to die 61. IX The smallest instance if it be observed ceases to be a sin of infirmity because by being observ'd it loses its pretence and excuse for then it is done upon the account of the will For here the
could not absolve such persons in plain speaking seems to mean that since the Church ministers nothing of her own but is the Minister of the Divine mercy she had no commission to promise pardon to such persons If God had promised pardon to such Criminals it is certain the Church was bound to preach it but if she could not declare preach or exhibite any such promise then there was no such promise and therefore their sending them to God was but a put off or a civil answer saying that God might do it if he please but he had not signified his pleasure concerning them and whether they who sinn'd so foully after Baptism were pardonable was no where revealed and therefore all the Ministers of Religion were bound to say they were unpardonable that is God never said he would pardon them which is the full sence of the word Vnpardonable For he that says any sin is unpardonable does not mean that God cannot pardon it but that he will not or that he hath not said he will 25. And upon the same account it seem'd unreasonable to S. Ambrose that the Church should impose penances and not release the penitents He complain'd of the Novatians for so doing Cùm utique veniam negando incentivum auferant poenitentiae The penitents could have little encouragement to perform the injunctions of their Confessors when after they had done them they should not be admitted to the Churches communion And indeed the case was hard when it should be remembred that whatsoever the Church did bind on Earth was bound in Heaven and if they retain'd them below God would do so above and therefore we find in Scripture that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give repentance being the purpose of Christ's coming and the grace of the Gospel does mean to give the effect of Repentance that is pardon And since Gods method is such by giving the grace and admitting us to do the duty he consequently brings to that mercy which is the end of that duty it is fit that should also be the method of the Church 26. For the ballancing of this Consideration we are further to consider that though the Church had power to pardon in all things where God had declar'd he would yet because in some sins the malice was so great the scandal so intolerable the effect so mischievous the nature of them so contradictory to the excellent laws of Christianity the Church many times could not give a competent judgment whether any man that had committed great sins had made his amends and done a sufficient penance and the Church not knowing whether their Repentance was worthy and acceptable to God she could not pronounce their pardon that is she could not tell them whether upon those terms God had or would pardon them in the present disposition 27. For after great crimes the state of a sinner is very deplorable by reason of his uncertain pardon not that it is uncertain whether God will pardon the truly penitent but that it is uncertain who is so and all the ingredients into the judgment that is to be made are such things which men cannot well discern they cannot tell in what measures God will exact the Repentance what sorrow is sufficient what fruits acceptable what is expiatory and what rejected according to the saying of Solomon Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin they cannot tell how long God will forbear at what time his anger is final and when he will refuse to hear or what aggravations of the crime God looks on nor can they make an estimate which is greater the example of the sin or the example of the punishment And therefore in such great cases the Church had reason to refuse to give pardon which she could minister neither certainly nor prudently nor as the case then stood safely or piously 28. But yet she enjoyn'd Penances that is all the solemnities of Repentance and to them the sinners stood bound in Earth and consequently in Heaven according to the words of our blessed Saviour but she bound them no further She intended charity and relief to them not ruine and death eternal On this she had no direct power and if the penitent were obedient to her Discipline then neither could they be prejudic'd by her indirect power she sent them to God for pardon and made them to prepare themselves accordingly Her injunction of Penances was medicinal and her refusing to admit them to the Communion was an act of caution fitted to the present necessities of the Church Nonnullae ideò poscunt poenitentiam ut statim sibi reddi communionem velint Hae non tam se solvere cupiunt quà m sacerdotem ligare Some demand penances that they may have speedy communion These do not so much desire themselves to be loosed as to have the Priest bound that is such hasty proceedings do not any good to the penitent but much hurt to him that ministers This the Primitive Church avoided and this was the whole effect which that Discipline had upon the souls of the penitents But for their Doctrine S. Austin is a sufficient witness Sed neque de ipsis â—riminibus quamlibet magnis remittendis in Sanctâ Ecclesiâ Dei desperanda est misericordia agentibus poenitentiam secundum modum sui cujusque peccati They ought not to despair of Gods mercy even to the greatest sinners if they be the greatest penitents that is if they repent according to the measure of their sins Only in the making their judgments concerning the measures of Repentance they differ'd from our practices Ecclesiastical Repentance and Absolution was not only an exercise of the duty and an assisting of the penitent in his return but it was also a warranting or ensuring the pardon which because in many cases the Church could not so well do she did better in not undertaking it that is in not pronouncing Absolution 29. For the pardon of sins committed after Baptism not being described in full measures and though it be sufficiently signifi'd that any sin may be pardon'd yet it not being told upon what conditions this or that great one shall the Church did well and warily not to be too forward for as S. Paul said I am conscious to my self in nothing yet I am not hereby justified so we may say in Repentance I have repented and do so but I am not hereby justified because that is a secret which until the day of Judgment we shall not understand for every repenting is not sufficient He that repents worthily let his sin be what it will shall certainly be pardon'd but after great crimes who does repent worthily is a matter of harder judgment than the manners of the present age will allow us to make and so secret that they thought it not amiss very often to be backward in pronouncing the Criminal absolved 30. But then all this whole affair must needs be a mighty arrest to
mercies give us pardon and thy holy Spirit give us perseverance and thy infinite favour bring us to glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. X. Of Ecclesiastical Penance or The fruits of Repentance SECT I. 1. THE fruits of Repentance are the actions of spiritual life and signifie properly all that piety and obedience which we pay to God in the days of our return after we have begun to follow sober counsels For since all the duty of a Christian is a state of Repentance that is of contention against sin and the parts and proper periods of victory and Repentance which includes the faith of a Christian is but another word to express the same grace or mercies of the Evangelical Covenant it follows that whatsoever is the duty of a Christian and a means to possess that grace is in some sence or other a Repentance or the fruits of Gods mercy and our endeavours And in this sence S. John the Baptist means it saying Bring forth therefore fruits meet for Repentance that is since now the great expectation of the world is to be satisfied and the Lord 's Christ will open the gates of mercy and give Repentance to the world see that ye live accordingly in the faith and obedience of God through Jesus Christ. That did in the event of things prove to be the effect of that Sermon 2. But although all the parts of holy life are fruits of Repentance when it is taken for the state of favour published by the Gospel yet when Repentance is a particular duty or vertue the integral parts of holy life are also constituent parts of Repentance and then by the fruits of Repentance must be meant the less necessary but very useful effects and ministeries of Repentance which are significations and exercises of the main duty And these are sorrow for sins commonly called Contrition Confession of them and Satisfactions by which ought to be meant an opposing a contrary act of vertue to the precedent act of sin and a punishing of our selves out of sorrow and indignation for our folly And this is best done by all those acts of Religion by which God is properly appeased and sin is destroyed that is by those acts which signifie our love to God and our hatred to sin such as are Prayer and Alms and forgiving injuries and punishing our selves that is a forgiving every one but our selves 3. Many of these I say are not essential parts of Repentance without the actual exercise of which no man in any case can be said to be truly penitent for the constituent parts of Repentance are nothing but the essential parts of obedience to the Commandments of God that is direct abstinence from evil and doing what is in the Precept But they are fruits and significations exercises and blessed productions of Repentance useful to excellent purposes of it and such from which a man cannot be excused but by great accidents and rare contingencies To visit prisoners and to redeem captives and to instruct the ignorant are acts of charity but he that does not act these special instances is not always to be condemn'd for want of charity because by other acts of grace he may signifie and exercise his duty He only that refuses any instances because the grace is not operative he only is the Vncharitable but to the particulars he can be determin'd only by something from without but it is sufficient to the grace it self that it works where it can or where it is prudently chosen So it is in these fruits of Repentance He that out of hatred to sin abstains from it and out of love to God endeavours to keep his Commandments he is a true penitent though he never lie upon the ground or spend whole nights in prayer or make himself sick with fasting but he that in all circumstances refuses any or all of these and hath not hatred enough against his sin to punish it in himself when to do so may accidentally be necessary or enjoyned he hath cause to suspect himself not to be a true penitent 4. No one of these is necessary in the special instance except those which are distinctly and upon their own accounts under another precept as Prayer and forgiving injuries and self-affliction in general and Confession But those which are only apt ministeries to the grace which can be ministred unto equally by other instances those are left to the choice of every one or to be determin'd or bound upon us by accidents and by the Church But every one of the particulars hath in it something of special consideration SECT II. Of Contrition or godly Sorrow 5. IN all repentances it is necessary that we understand some sorrow ingredient or appendant or beginning To repent is to leave a sin which because it must have a cause to effect it can begin no where but where the sin is for some reason or other disliked that is because it does a mischief It is enough to leave it that we know it will ruine us if we abide in it but that is not enough to make us grieve for it when it is past and quitted For if we believe that as soon as ever we repent of it we shall be accepted to pardon and that infallibly and that being once forsaken it does not and shall not prejudice us he that considers this and remembers it was pleasant to him will scarce find cause enough to be sorrowful for it Neither is it enough to say he must grieve for it or else it will do him mischief For this is not true for how can sorrow prevent the mischief when the sorrow of it self is not an essential duty or if it were so in it self yet by accident it becomes not to be so for by being unreasonable and impossible it becomes also not necessary not a duty To be sorrowful is not always in our power any more than to be merry and both of them are the natural products of their own objects and of nothing else and then if sin does us pleasure at first and at last no mischief to the penitent to bid them be sorrowful lest it should do mischief is as improper a remedy as if we were commanded to be hungry to prevent being beaten He that felt nothing but the pleasure of sin and is now told he shall feel none of its evils and that it can no more hurt him when it is forsaken than a Bee when the sting is out if he be commanded to grieve may justly return in answer that as yet he perceives no cause 6. If it be told him it is cause enough to grieve that he hath offended God who can punish him with sad unsufferable and eternal torments This is very true But if God be not angry with him and he be told that God will not punish him for the sin he repents of then to grieve for having offended God is so Metaphysical and abstracted a speculation that there must be something else in
to sin and a pursuance of that resolution by abstaining from the occasions by praying for the Divine aid by using the proper remedies for its mortification This is essential to repentance and must be in every man in the highest kind For he that does not hate sin so as rather to chuse to suffer any evil than to do any loves himself more than he loves God because he fears to displease himself rather than to displease him and therefore is not a true penitent 13. But although this be not grief or sorrow properly but hatred yet in hatred there is ever a sorrow if we have done or suffered what we hate and whether it be sorrow or no is but a speculation of Philosophy but no ingredient of duty It is that which will destroy sin and bring us to God and that is the purpose of repentance 14. For it is remarkable that sorrow is indeed an excellent instrument of repentance apt to set forward many of its ministeries and without which men ordinarily will not leave their sins but if the thing be done though wholly upon the discourses of reason upon intuition of the danger upon contemplation of the unworthiness of sin or only upon the principle of hope or fear it matters not which is the beginning of repentance For we find fear reckoned to be the beginning of wisdom that is of repentance of wise and sober counsels by Solomon We find sorrow to be reckoned as the beginning of repentance by S. Paul Godly sorrow worketh repentance not to be repented of So many ways as there are by which God works repentance in those whom he will bring unto salvation to all the kinds of these there are proper apportion'd passions and as in all good things there is pleasure so in all evil there is pain some way or other and therefore to love and hatred or which is all one to â—leasure and displeasure all passions are reducible as all colours are to black and white So that though in all repentances there is not in every person felt that sharpness of sensitive compunction and sorrow that is usual in sad accidents of the world yet if the sorrow be upon the intellectual account though it be not much perceived by inward sharpnesses but chiefly by dereliction and leaving of the sin it is that sorrow which is possible and in our power and that which is necessary to repentance 15. For in all inquiries concerning penitential sorrow if we will avoid scruple and vexatious fancies we must be careful not to account of our sorrow by the measures of sense but of religion David grieved more for the sickness of his child and the rebellion of his son so far as appears in the story and the Prophet Jeremy in behalf of the Jews for the death of their glorious Prince Josiah and S. Paula Romana at the death of her children were more passionate and sensibly afflicted than for their sins against God that is they felt more sensitive trouble in that than this and yet their repentances were not to be reproved because our penitential sorrow is from another cause and seated in other faculties and fixed upon differing objects and works in other manners and hath a divers signification and is fitted to other purposes and therefore is wholly of another nature It is a displeasure against sin which must be expressed by praying against it and fighting against it but all other expressions are extrinsecal to it and accidental and are no parts of it because they cannot be under a command as all the parts and necessary actions of repentance are most certainly 16. Indeed some persons can command their tears so Gellia in the Epigram Si quis adest jussae prosiliunt lachrymae She could cry when company was there to observe her weeping for her Father and so can some Orators and many Hypocrites and there are some that can suppress their tears by art and resolution so Vlysses did when he saw his wife weep he pitied her but Intra palpebras ceu cornu immota tenebat Lumina vel ferrum lachrymas astúque premebat he kept his tears within his eye-lids as if they had been in a phial which he could pour forth or keep shut at his pleasure But although some can do this at pleasure yet all cannot And therefore S. John Climacus speaks of certain penitents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who because they could not weep expressed their Repentance by beating their breasts and yet if all men could weep when they list yet they may weep and not be sorrowful and though they can command tears yet sorrow is no more to be commanded than hunger and therefore is not a part or necessary duty of Repentance when sorrow is taken for a sensitive trouble 17. But yet there is something of this also to be added to our duty If our constitution be such as to be apt to weep and sensitively troubled upon other intellectual apprehensions of differing objects unless also they find the same effect in their Repentances there will be some cause to suspect that their hatred of sin and value of obedience and its rewards are not so great as they ought to be The Masters of spiritual life give this rule Sciat se culpabiliter durum qui deflet damna temporis vel mortem amici dolorem verò pro peccatis lachrymis non ostendit He that weeps for temporal losses and does not in the same manner express his sorrow for his sins is culpably obdurate which proposition though piously intended is not true For tears are emanations of a sensitive trouble or motion of the heart and not properly subject to the understanding and therefore a man may innocently weep for the death of his friend and yet shed no tears when he hath told a lie and still be in that state of sorrow and displeasure that he had rather die himself than chuse to tell another lie Therefore the rule only hath some proportions of probability in the effect of several intellectual apprehensions As he that is apt to weep when he hath done an unhansome action to his friend who yet will never punish him and is not apt to express his sorrow in the same manner when he hath offended God I say he may suspect his sorrow not to be so great or so real but yet abstractedly from this circumstance to weep or not to weep is nothing to the duty of Repentance save only that it is that ordinary sign by which some men express some sort of sorrow And therefore I understand not the meaning of that prayer of S. Austin Domine dagratiam lachrymarum Lord give me the grace of tears for tears are no duty and the greatest sorrow oftentimes is the driest and excepting that there is some sweetness and ease in shedding tears and that they accompany a soft and a contemplative person an easie and a good nature and such as is apt for religious impressions I know no use of them but
not the injur'd person and therefore cannot have the power of giving pardon properly and sufficiently and effectively and confession is not an amends to him and the duty it self of Confession is not an enumeration of particulars but a condemnation of the sin which is an humiliation before the offended party yet confession to a Priest the minister of pardon and reconciliation the Curate of souls and the Guide of Consciences is of so great use and benefit to all that are heavy laden with their sins that they who carelesly and causlesly neglect it are neither lovers of the peace of consciences nor are careful for the advantages of their souls 43. For the publication of our sins to the minister of holy things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Basil Is just like the manifestation of the diseases of our body to the Physician for God hath appointed them as spiritual Physicians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to heal sinners by the antidote of repentance said the Fathers in the first Roman Council under Simplicius Their office is to comfort the comfortless to instruct the ignorant to reduce the wanderers to restore them that are overtaken in a fault to reconcile the penitent to strengthen the weak and to incourage their labours to advise remedies against sins and to separate the vile from the precious to drive scandals far from the Church and as much as may be to secure the innocent lambs from the pollutions of the infected Now in all these regards the penitent may have advantages from the Ecclesiastical ministrations There are many cases of conscience which the penitent cannot determine many necessities which he does not perceive many duties which he omits many abatements of duty which he ignorantly or presumptuously does make much partiality in the determination of his own interests and to build up a soul requires so much wisdom so much severity so many arts such caution and observance such variety of notices great learning great prudence great piety that as all Ministers are not worthy of that charge and secret imployment and conduct of others in the more mysterious and difficult parts of Religion so it is certain there are not many of the people that can worthily and sufficiently do it themselves and therefore although we are not to tell a lie for a good end and that it cannot be said that God hath by an express law required it or that it is necessary in the nature of things yet to some persons it hath put on so many degrees of charity and prudence and is so apt to minister to their superinduc'd needs that although to do it is not a necessary obedience yet it is a necessary charity it is not necessary in respect of a positive express Commandment yet it is in order to certain ends which cannot be so well provided for by any other instrument it hath not in it an absolute but it may have a relative and a superinduc'd necessity Coelestique viro quis te deceperit error Dicito pro culpâ ne scelus esse putet Now here a particular enumeration is the confession that is proper to this ministery because the minister must be instructed first in the particulars which also points out to us the manner of his assistances and of our obligation it is that we may receive helps by his office and abilities which can be better applied by how much more minute and particular the enumeration or confession is and of this circumstance there can be no other consideration excepting that the enumeration of shames and follies before a holy man is a very great restraint to the gayeties of a confident or of a tempted person For though a man dares sin in the presence of God yet he dares not let his friend or his enemy see him do a foul act Tam facile pronum est superos contemnere testes Si mortalis idem nemo sciat And therefore that a reverend man shall see his shame and with a severe and a broad eye look and stare upon his dishonour must needs be a great part of Gods restraining grace and of great use to the mortification and prevention of sin 44. One thing more there is which is highly considerable in this part or ministery of repentance It is a great part of that preparation which is necessary for him who needs and for him who desires absolution Ecclesiastical Some do need and some do desire it and it is of advantage to both They that need it and are bound to seek it are such who being publickly noted by the Church are bound by her Censures and Discipline that is such who because they have given evil example to all and encouragement in evil to some to them that are easie and apt to take are tied by the publication of their repentance their open return and publick amends to restore the Church so far as they can to that state of good things from whence their sin did or was apt to draw her This indeed is necessary and can in no regard be excused if particular persons do not submit themselves to it unless the Church her self will not demand it or advise it and then if there be an error or a possibility to have it otherwise the Governours of the Church are only answerable And in this sence are those decretory sayings and earnest advices of the ancient Doctors to be understood Laicus si peccet ipse suum non potest auferre peccatum sed indiget Sacerdote ut possit remissionem peccatorum accipere said Origen If any of the people sin himself cannot take away his own sin but must shew himself to the Priest that he may obtain pardon For they who are spotted with sins unless they be cured with the Priestly authority cannot be in the bosome of the Church said Fabianus Martyr And as express are those words of S. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It behoveth every one that is under authority to keep â—o motion of their hearts secret but to lay the secrets of their heart naked before them who are intrusted to take care of them that are weak or sick That is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the publick penitents who are placed in the station of the mourners must not do their business imperfectly but make a perfect narrative of their whole case to the penitentiary Minister and such persons who are under discipline or under notorious sins must make their Exomologesis that is do Ecclesiastical repentance before them who are the Trustees and Stewards of the mysteries of God Quâ sine nullus remissione potietur said a Father to S. John de Gradibus without which Exomologesis or publick Ecclesiastical confession or amends no man shall obtain pardon meaning the peace of the Church For to this sence we are to understand the doctrine of the holy Fathers and we learn it from S. Austin Rectè constituuntur ab iis qui Ecclesiae
that we do not compare it with secular sorrow and the passions effected by natural or sad accidents For he that measures the passions of the mind by disproportionate objects may as well compare Musick and a Rose and measure weights by the bushel and think that every great man must have a great understanding or that an Ox hath a great courage because he hath a great heart He that finds fault with his repentance because his sorrow is not so great in it as in the saddest accidents of the world should do well to make them equal if he can if he can or if he cannot his work is done If he can let it be done and then the inquiry and the scruple is at an end If he cannot let him not trouble himself for what cannot be done God never requires of us to do 91. VI. Let no man overvalue a single act of sorrow and call it Repentance or be at rest as soon as he hath wip'd his eyes For to be sorrowful which is in the Commandment is something more than an act of sorrow it is a permanent effect and must abide as long as its cause is in being not always actual and pungent but habitual and ready apt to pass into its symbolical expressions upon all just occasions and it must always have this signification viz. 92. VII No man can be said ever truly to have griev'd for his sins if he at any time after does remember them with pleasure Such a man might indeed have had an act of sorrow but he was not sorrowful except only for that time but there was no permanent effect by which he became an enemy to sin and when the act is past the love to sin returns at least in that degree that the memory of it is pleasant No man tells it as a merry story that he once broke his leg or laughs when he recounts the sad groans and intolerable sharpnesses of the stone If there be pleasure in the telling it there is still remaining too much kindness towards it and then the sinner cannot justly pretend that ever he was a hearty enemy to it for the great effect of that is to hate itâ— to leave it and to hate it Indeed when the penitent inquires concerning himself and looks after a sign that he may discern whether he be as he thinks he is really a haâ—er of sin the greatest and most infallible mark which we have to judge by is the leaving it utterly But yet in this thing there is some difference For 93. Some do leave sin but do not hate it They will not do it but they wish it were lawful to do it and this although it hath in it a great imperfection yet it is not always directly criminal for it only supposes a love to the natural part of the action and a hatred of the irregularity The thing they love but they hate the sin of it But others are not so innocent in their leaving of sin They leave it because they dare not do it or are restrain'd by some over-ruling accident but like the heifers that drew the Ark they went lowing after their Calves left in their sâ—â—lls so do these leave their heart behind and if they still love the sin their leaving it is but an imperfect and unacceptable service a Sacrifice without a heart Therefore sin must be hated too that is it must be left out of hatred to it and consequently must be used as naturally we do what we do really hate that is do evil to it and always speak evil of it and secretly have no kindness for it 94. VIII Let every penitent be careful that his sorrow be a cure to his soul but no disease to his body an enemy to his sin but not to his health Exigit autem Interdum ille dolor plus quà m lex ulla dolori Concessit For although no sorrow is greater than our sin yet some greatness of sorrow may destroy those powers of serving God which ought to be preserved to all the purposes of charity and religion This caution was not to be omitted although very few will have use of it because if any should be transported into a pertinacious sorrow by great considerations of their sin and that sorrow meet with an ill temper of body apt to sorrow and afflictive thoughts it would make Religion to be a burden and all passions turn into sorrow and the service of God to consist but of one duty and would naturally tend to very evil consequents For whoever upon the conditions of the Gospel can hope for pardon he cannot maintain a too great actual sorrow long upon the stock of his sins It will be allayed with hope and change into new shapes and be a sorrow in other faculties than where it first began and to other purposes than those to which it did then minister But if his sorrow be too great it is because the man hath little or no hope 95. IX But if it happens that any man falls into an excessive sorrow his cure must be attempted not directly but collaterally not by lessening the consideration of his sins nor yet by comparing them with the greater sins of others like the grave man in the Satyr Si nullum in terris tam detestabile factum Ostendis taceo nec pugnis caedere pectus Te veto nec planâ faciem contundore palmâ Quandoquidem accepto claudenda est janua damno For this is but an instance of the other this lessens the sin indirectly but let it be done by heightning the consideration of the Divine mercy and clemency for even yet this will far exceed and this is highly to be taken heed of For besides that there is no need of taking off his opinion from the greatness of the sin it is dangerous to teach a man to despise a sin at any hand For if after his great sorrow he can be brought to think his sin little he will be the sooner brought to commit it again and think it none at all and when he shall think his sorrow to have been unreasonable he will not so soon be brought to an excellent repentance another time But the Prophets great comfort may safely be applied Misericordia Dei praevalitura est super omnem malitiam hominis Gods mercy is greater than all the malice of men and will prevail over it But this is to be applied so as to cure only the wounds of a conscience that ought to be healed that is so as to advance the reputation and glories of the Divine mercy but at no hand to create confidences in persons incompetent If the man be worthy and capable and yet tempted to a prevailing and excessive sorrow to him in this case and so far the application is to be made In other cases there is no need but some danger 96. X. Although sorrow for sin must be constant and habitual yet to particular acts of sin when a special sorrow is apportion'd it
despite of that fear die constantly and patiently that fear as it increases their suffering may also accidentally increase their glory provided that the fear be not criminal it its cause nor effective of any unworthy comportment So is the shame in confession a great mortification of the man and highly punitive of the sin and such that unless it hinders the duty is not to be directly reproved but it must be taken care of that it be a shame only for the sin which by how much greater it is by so much the more earnestly the man ought to fly to all the means of remedy and instruments of expiation and then the greater the shame is which the sinneâ— suffers the more excellent is the repentance which suffers so much for the extinction of his sin But at no hand let the shame affright the duty but let it be remembred that this confession is but the memory of the shame which began when the sin was acted and abode but as a handmaid of the guilt and goes away with it Confession of sins opens them to man but draws a veil before them that God will the less behold them And it is a material consideration that if a man be impatient of the shame here when it is revealed but to one man who is also by all the ties of Religion and by common Honesty oblig'd to conceal them or if he account it intolerable that a sin publick in the scandal and the infamy should be made publick by solemnity to punish and to extinguish it the man will be no gainer by refusing to confess when he shall remember that sins unconfessed are most commonly unpardon'd and unpardon'd sins will be made publick before all Angels and all the wise and good men of the world when their shame shall have nothing to make it tolerable 105. XIX When a penitent confesses his sin the holy man that ministers to his Repentance and hears his Confession must not without great cause lessen the shame of the repenting man he must directly encourage the duty but not add confidence to the sinner For whatsoever directly lessens the shame lessens also the hatred of sin and his future caution and the reward of his repentance and takes off that which was an excellent defensative against the sin But with the shame the Minister of Religion is to do as he is to do with the mans sorrow so long as it is a good instrument of repentance so long it is to be permitted and assisted but when it becomes irregular or dispos'd to evil events it is to be taken off And so must the shame of the penitent man when there is danger lest the man be swallowed up by too much sorrow and shame or when it is perceiv'd that the shame alone is a hinderance to the duty In these cases if the penitent man can be perswaded directly and by choice for ends of piety and religion to suffer the shame then let his spirit be supported by other means but if he cannot let there be such a confidence wrought in him which is deriv'd from the circumstances of the person or the universal calamity and iniquity of man or the example of great sinners like himself that have willingly undergone the yoke of the Lord or from consideration of the Divine mercies or from the easiness and advantages of the duty but let nothing be offer'd to lessen the hatred or the greatness of the sin lest a temptation to sin hereafter be sowed in the furrows of the present Repentance 106. XX. He that confesseth his sins to the Minister of Religion must be sure to express all the great lines of his folly and calamity that is all that by which he may make a competent judgment of the state of his soul. Now if the man be of a good life and yet in his tendency to perfection is willing to pass under the method and discipline of greater sinners there is no advice to be given to him but that he do not curiously tell those lesser irregularities which vex his peace rather than discompose his conscience but what is most remarkable in his infirmities or the whole state and the greatest marks and instances and returns of them he ought to signifie for else he can serve no prudent end in his confession 107. But secondly if the man have committed a great sin it is a high prudence and an excellent instance of his repentance that he confess it declaring the kind of it if it be of that nature that the spiritual man may conceal it But if upon any other account he be bound to reveal every notice of the fact let him transact that affair wholly between God and his own soul. And this of declaring a single action as it is of great use in the repentance of every man so it puts on some degrees of necessity if the man be of a sad amazed and an afflicted conscience For there are some unfortunate persons who have committed some secret facts of shame and horror at the remembrance of which they are amazed of the pardon of which they have no sign for the expiation of which they use no instrument and they walk up and down like distracted persons to whom reason is useless and company is unpleasant and their sorrow is not holy but very great and they know not what to do because they will not ask I have observed some such and the only remedy that was fit to be prescribed to such persons was to reveal their sin to a spiritual man and by him to be put into such a state of remedy and comfort as is proper for their condition It is certain that many persons have perished for want of counsel and comfort which were ready for them if they would have confessed their sin for he that concealeth his sin non dirigetur saith Solomon he shall not be counselled or directed 108. And it is a very great fault amongst a very great part of Christians that in their inquiries of Religion even the best of them ordinarily ask but these two questions Is it lawful Is it necessary If they find it lawful they will do it without scruple or restraint and then they suffer imperfection or receive the reward of folly For it may be lawful and yet not fit to be done It may be it is not expedient And he that will do all that he can do lawfully would if he durst do something that is not lawful And as great an error is on the other hand in the other question He that too strictly inquires of an action whether it be necessary or no would do well to ask also whether it be good whether it be of advantage to the interest of his soul For if a Christian man or woman that is a redeemed blessed obliged person a great beneficiary endeared to God beyond all the comprehensions of a mans imagination one that is less than the least of all Gods mercies and yet hath received many
supersint quos peccasse poeniteat For all such fierce proceedings are either superstitious or desperate or indiscreet or the effect of a false perswasion concerning them that they are a direct service of God that they are simply necessary and severely enjoyn'd All which are to be rescinded or else the penances will be of more hurt than usefulness Those actions are to minister to repentance and therefore if they contradict any duty they destroy what they pretend to serve For penances as they relate to the sin that is committed is just to be measured as penitential sorrow is of which it is a signification and expression When the sorrow is natural sensitive pungent and material the penances will be so too A great sorrow refuses to eat to sleep to be chearful to be in company according as the degree is and as the circumstances of the persons are But sometimes sorrow is to be chosen and invited by arts and ministred to by external instruments and arguments of invitation and just so are the penances they are then to be chosen so as may make the person a sorrowful mourner to make him take no delight in sin but to conceive and to feel a just displeasure For if men feel no smart no real sorrow or pain for their sins they will be too much in love with it impunity is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the occasion and opportunity of sin as the Apostle intimates and they use to proceed in finishing the methods of sin and death who Non unquam reputant quantum sibi gaudia constant reckon their pleasures but never put any smart or danger or fears or sorrows into the balance But the injunction or susception of penances is a good instrument of repentance because a little evil takes off the pleasure of the biggest sin in many instances and we are too apprehensive of the present that this also becomes a great advantage to this ministery we refuse great and infinite pleasures hereafter so we may enjoy litâ—le and few and inconsiderable ones at present and we fear not the horrible pains of Hell so we may avoid a little trouble in our persons or our interest Therefore it is to be supposed that this way of undertaking a present punishment and smart for our sins unless every thing when it becomes religious is despoil'd of all its powers which it had in nature and what is reason here is not reason there will be of great effect and power against sin and be an excellent instrument of repentance But it must be so much and it must be no more for penances are like fire and water good so long as they are made to serve our needs but when they go beyond that they are not to be endured For since God in the severest of his anger does not punish one sin with another let not us do worse to our selves than the greatest wrath of God in this world will inflict upon us A sin cannot be a punishment from God For then it would be that God should be the Author of sin for he is of punishment If then any punishment be a sin that sin was unavoidable deriv'd from God and indeed it would be a contradiction to the nature of things to say that the same thing can in the same formality be a punishment and a sin that is an action and a passion voluntary as every sin is and involuntary as every punishment is that it should be done by us and yet against us by us and by another and by both intirely and since punishment is the compensation or the expiation of sin not the aggravation of the Divine anger it wâ—re very strange if God by punishing us should more provoke himself and instead of satisfying his justice or curing the man make his own anger infinite and the patiâ—nt much the worse Indeed it may happen that one sin may cause oâ— procure another not by the efficiency of God or any direct action of his but 1. Withdrawing those assistances which would have restrain'd a sinful progression 2. By suffering him to fall into evil temptation which is too hard for him consisting in his present voluntary indisposition 3. By the nature of sin it self which may either 1 effect a sin by accident as a great anger may by the withdrawing Gods restraining grace be permitted to pass to an act of murder or 2 it may dispose to others of like nature as one degree of lust brings in another or 3 it may minister matter of fuel to another sin as intemperance to uncleanness or 4 one sin may be the end of another aâ— covetousness may be the servant of luxury In all these ways one sin may be effected by another but in all these God is only conniving or at most takes off some of those helps which the man hath forfeited and God was not obliged to continue Thus God hardned Pharaohs heart even by way of object and occasion God hardned him by shewing him a mercy by taking off his fears when he remov'd the judgment and God ministred to him some hope that it be so still But God does not inflict the sin The mans own impious hands do that not because he cannot help it but because he chuses and delights in it * Now if God in justice to us will not punish one sin directly by another let not us in our penitential inflictions commit a sin in indignation against our sin for that is just as if a man out of impatience of pain in his side should dash his head against a wall 113. III. But if God pleases to inflict a punishment let us be careful to exchange iâ— into a penance by kissing the rod and entertaining the issues of the Divine justice by approbation of Gods proceeding and confession of our demerit and justification of God It was a pretty accident and mixture of providence and penance that hapned to the three accusers of Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem They accused him falsly of some horrid crimes but in verification of their indictment bound themselves by a curse The first that if his accusation were false he might be burn'd to death The second that he might die of the Kings Evil The third that he might be blind God in his anger found out the two first and their curse hapned to them that delighted in 〈◊〉 and lâ—es The first was burnt alive in his own house and the second perished by the loathsome disease Which when the third espied and found Gods anger so hasty and so heavy so pressing and so certain he ran out to meet the rod of God and repented of his sin so deeply and wept so bitterly so continually that he became blind with weeping and the anger of God became an instance of repentance the judgment was sanctified and so passed into mercy and a pardon he did indeed meet with his curse but by the arts of repentance the curse became a blessing And so it may be to us Praeveniamus
are once thought an enemy to God it is our duty to persecute you even to death we do God good service in it when if we should examine the matter rightly the Question is either in materiâ non revelata or minus evidenti or non necessariâ either it is not revealed or not so clearly but that wise and honest men may be of different mindes or else it is not of the foundation of faith but a remote super-structure or else of mere speculation or perhaps when all comes to all it is a false Opinion or a matter of humane interest that we have so zealously contended for for to one of these heads most of the Disputes of Christendome may be reduced so that I believe the present fractions or the most are from the same cause which S. Paul observed in the Corinthian Schism when there are divisions among you are ye not carnal It is not the differing Opinions that is the cause of the present ruptures but want of charity it is not the variety of understandings but the disunion of wills and affections it is not the several principles but the several ends that cause our miseries our Opinions commence and are upheld according as our turns are served and our interests are preserved and there is no cure for us but Piety and Charity A holy life will make our belief holy if we consult not humanity and its imperfections in the choice of our Religion but search for truth without designes save onely of acquiring heaven and then be as careful to preserve Charity as we were to get a point of Faith I am much perswaded we shall find out more truths by this means or however which is the main of all we shall be secured though we miss them and then we are well enough For if it be evinced that one heaven shall hold men of several Opinions if the unity of Faith be not destroyed by that which men call differing Religions and if an unity of Charity be the duty of us all even towards persons that are not perswaded of every proposition we believe then I would fain know to what purpose are all those stirrs and great noises in Christendome those names of Faction the several Names of Churches not distinguished by the division of Kingdomes ut Ecclesia sequatur Imperium which was the Primitive Rule and Canon but distinguished by Names of Sects and men these are all become instruments of hatred thence come Schisms and parting of Communions and then persecutions and then warrs and Rebellion and then the dissolutions of all Friendships and Societies All these mischiefs proceed not from this that all men are not of one mind for that is neither necessary nor possible but that every Opinion is made an Article of Faith every Article is a ground of a quarrel every quarrel makes a faction every faction is zealous and all zeal pretends for God and whatsoever is for God cannot be too much we by this time are come to that pass we think we love not God except we hate our Brother and we have not the vertue of Religion unless we persecute all Religions but our own for lukewarmness is so odious to God and Man that we proceeding furiously upon these mistakes by supposing we preserve the body we destroy the soul of Religion or by being zealous for faith or which is all one for that which we mistake for faith we are cold in charity and so lose the reward of both All these errours and mischiefs must be discovered and cured and that 's the purpose of this Discourse SECT I. Of the nature of Faith and that its duty is compleated in believing the Articles of the Apostles Creed 1. FIrst then it is of great concernment to know the nature and integrity of Faith For there begins our first and great mistake for Faith although it be of great excellency yet when it is taken for a habit intellectual it hath so little room and so narrow a capacity that it cannot lodge thousands of those Opinions which pretend to be of her Family 2. For although it be necessary for us to believe whatsoever we know to be revealed of God and so every man does that believes there is a God yet it is not necessary concerning many things to know that God hath revealed them that is we may be ignorant of or doubt concerning the propositions and indifferently maintain either part when the Question is not concerning Gods veracity but whether God hath said so or no That which is of the foundation of Faith that only is necessary and the knowing or not knowing of that the believing or dis-believing it is that only which in genere credendorum is in immediate and necessary order to salvation or damnation 3. Now all the reason and demonstration of the World convinces us that this foundation of Faith or the great adequate object of the Faith that saves us is that great mysteriousness of Christianity which Christ taught with so much diligence for the credibility of which he wrought so many miracles for the testimony of which the Apostles endured persecutions that which was a folly to the Gentiles and a scandal to the Jews this is that which is the object of a Christians Faith All other things are implicitely in the belief of the Articles of Gods veracity and are not necessary in respect of the Constitution of faith to be drawn out but may there lie in the bowels of the great Articles without danger to any thing or any person unless some other accident or circumstance makes them necessary Now the great object which I speak of is Jesus Christ crucified Constitui enim apud vos nihil scire praeter Jesum Christum hunc crucifixum so said St. Paul to the Church of Corinth This is the Article upon the Confession of which Christ built his Church viz. only upon St. Peters Creed which was no more but this simple enunciation We believe and are sure that thou art Christ the Son of the living God And to this salvation particularly is promised as in the case of Martha's Creed John 11.27 To this the Scripture gives the greatest Testimony and to all them that confess it For every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God And whoever confesseth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God The believing this Article is the end of writing the four Gospels For all these things are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and then that this is sufficient follows and that believing viz. this Article for this was only instanced in ye might have life through his name This is that great Article which in genere credendorum is sufficient disposition to prepare a Catechumen to Baptism as appears in the case of the Ethiopian Eunuch whose Creed was only this I believe that Jesus Christ is the
decreed it pro edicto So it is in the case of a Heretick The understanding which is judge condemns him not by an express sentence for he erres with as much simplicity in the result as he had malice in the principle But there is sententia lata à jure his will which is his law that hath condemned him And this is gathered from that saying of S. Paul 2 Tim. 3.13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived First they are evil men malice and peevishness is in their wills then they turn Hereticks and seduce others and while they grow worse and worse the errour is master of their understanding they are deceived themselves given over to believe a lie saith the Apostle They first play the knave and then play the fool they first sell themselves to the purchase of vain-glory or ill ends and then they become possessed with a lying spirit and believe those things heartily which if they were honest they should with Gods grace discover and disclaim So that now we see that bona fides in falso articulo a hearty perswasion in a false article does not alwaies make the errour to be esteemed involuntary but then only when it is as innocent in the principle as it is confident in the present perswasion And such persons who by their ill lives and vitious actions or manifest designs for by their fruits ye shall know them give testimony of such criminal indispositions so as competent judges by humane and prudent estimate may so judge them then they are to be declared Hereticks and avoided And if this were not true it were vain that the Apostle commands us to avoid an Heretick For no external act can pass upon a man for a crime that is not cognoscible 12. Now every man that erres though in a matter of consequence so long as the foundation is intire cannot be suspected justly guilty of a crime to give his errour a formality of heresie for we see many a good man miserably deceived as we shall make it appear afterwards and he that is the best amongst men certainly hath so much humility to think he may be easily deceived and twenty to one but he is in some thing or other yet if his errour be not voluntary and part of an ill life then because he lives a good life he is a good man and therefore no Heretick No man is a Heretick against his will And if it be pretended that every man that is deceived is therefore proud because he does not submit his understanding to the authority of God or Man respectively and so his errour becomes a heresie To this I answer That there is no Christian man but will submit his understanding to God and believes whatsoever he hath said but always provided he knows that God hath said so else he must do his duty by a readiness to obey when he shall know it But for obedience or humility of the understanding towards men that is a thing of another consideration and it must first be made evident that his understanding must be submitted to men and who those men are must also be certain before it will be adjudged a sin not to submit But if I mistake not Christs saying call no man master upon earth is so great a prejudice against this pretence as I doubt it will go near wholly to make it invalid So that as the worshipping of Angels is an humility indeed but it is voluntary and a will-worship to an ill sence not to be excused by the excellency of humility nor the vertue of Religion so is the relying upon the judgement of man an humility too but such as comes not under that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that obedience of Faith which is the duty of every Christian but intrenches upon that duty which we owe to Christ as an acknowledgement that he is our great Master and the Prince of the Catholick Church But whether it be or be not if that be the Question whether the disagreeing person be to be determined by the dictates of men I am sure the dictates of men must not determine him in that Question but it must be settled by some higher principle So that if of that Question the disagreeing person does opine or believe or err bonâ fide he is not therefore to be judged a Heretick because he submits not his understanding because till it be sufficiently made certain to him that he is bound to submit he may innocently and piously disagree and this not submitting is therefore not a crime and so cannot make a heresy because without a crime he may lawfully doubt whether he be bound to submit or no for that 's the Question And if in such Questions which have influence upon a whole systeme of Theology a man may doubt lawfully if he doubts heartily because the authority of men being the thing in Question cannot be the judge of this Question and therefore being rejected or which is all one being questioned that is not believed cannot render the doubting person guilty of pride and by consequence not of heresy much more may particular questions be doubted of and the authority of men examined and yet the doubting person be humble enough and therefore no Heretick for all this pretence And it would be considered that humility is a duty in great ones as well as in Idiots And as inferiours must not disagree without reason so neither must superiours subscribe to others without sufficient authority evidence and necessity too And if rebellion be pride so is tyranny and it being in materiâ intellectuali both may be guilty of pride of understanding sometimes the one in imposing sometimes the other in a causless disagreeing but in the inferiours it is then only the want of humility when the guides impose or prescribe what God hath also taught and then it is the disobeying Gods dictates not mans that makes the sin But then this consideration will also intervene that as no dictate of God obliges men to believe it unless I know it to be such So neither will any of the dictates of my superiours engage my faith unless I also know or have no reason to dis-believe but that they are warranted to teach them to me therefore because God hath taught the same to them which if I once know or have no reason to think the contrary if I disagree my sin is not in resisting humane authority but divine And therefore the whole business of submitting our understanding to humane authority comes to nothing for either it resolves into the direct duty of submitting to God or if it be spoken of abstractly it is no duty at all 13. But this pretence of a necessity of humbling the understanding is none of the meanest arts whereby some persons have invaded and usurpt a power over mens faith and consciences and therefore we shall examine the pretence afterwards and try if God hath invested any Man or company
that while the good man lived were never thought of for his daughters were Virgins and his Sons lived in holy coelibate all their lives and himself lived in chast Wedlock and yet his memory had rotted in perpetual infamy had not God in whose sight the memory of the Saints is precious preserved it by the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus and from him of Eusebius and Nicephorus But in the Catalogue of Hereticks made by Philastrius he stands mark'd with a black character as guilty of many heresies By which one testimony we may guess what trust is to be given to those Catalogues Well This good man had ill luck to fall into unskilful hands at first but Irenaeus Justin Martyr Lactantius to name no more had better fortune for it being still extant in their writings that they were of the Millenary opinion Papius before and Nepos after were censured hardly and the opinion put into the catalogue of heresies and yet these men never suspected as guilty but like the children of the Captivity walkt in the midst of the flame and not so much as the smell of fire passed on them But the uncertainty of these things is very memorable in the story of Eustathius Bishop of Antioch contesting with Eusebius Pamphilus Eustathius accused Eusebius for going about to corrupt the Nicene Creed of which slander he then acquitted himself saith Socrates and yet he is not cleared by posterity for still he is suspected and his fame not clear However Eusebius then scaped well but to be quit with his Adversary he recriminates and accuses him to be a favourer of Sabellius rather than of the Nicene Canons an imperfect accusation God knows when the crime was a suspicion proveable only by actions capable of divers constructions and at the most made but some degrees of probability and the fact it self did not consist in indivisibili and therefore was to stand or fall to be improved or lessened according to the will of the Judges whom in this cause Eustathius by his ill fortune and a potent Adversary found harsh towards him in so much that he was for heresy deposed in the Synod of Antioch and though this was laid open in the eye of the world as being most ready at hand with the greatest ease charged upon every man and with greatest difficulty acquitted by any man yet there were other suspicions raised upon him privately or at least talkt of ex post facto and pretended as causes of his deprivation lest the sentence should seem too hard for the first offence And yet what they were no man could tell saith the story But it is observable what Socrates saith as in excuse of such proceedings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is the manner among the Bishops when they accuse them that are deposed they call them wicked but they publish not the actions of their impiety It might possibly be that the Bishops did it in tenderness of their reputation but yet hardly for to punish a person publickly and highly is a certain declaring the person punished guilty of a high crime and then to conceal the fault upon pretence to preserve his reputation leaves every man at liberty to conjecture what he pleaseth who possibly will believe it worse than it is in as much as they think his judges so charitable as therefore to conceal the fault lest the publishing of it should be his greatest punishment and the scandal greater than his deprivation However this course if it were just in any was unsafe in all for it might undoe more than it could preserve and therefore is of more danger than it can be of charity It is therefore too probable that the matter was not very fair for in publick sentences the acts ought to be publick but that they rather pretend heresy to bring their ends about shews how easie it is to impute that crime and how forward they were to doe it And that they might and did then as easily call Heretick as afterward when Vigilius was condemned of heresie for saying there were Antipodes or as the Fryars of late did who suspected Greek and Hebrew of heresie and called their Professors Hereticks and had like to have put Terence and Demosthenes into the Index Expurgatorius sure enough they rail'd at them pro concione therefore because they understood them not and had reason to believe they would accidentally be enemies to their reputation among the people 18. By this instance which was a while after the Nicene Council where the acts of the Church were regular judicial and orderly we may guess at the sentences passed upon heresy at such times and in such cases when their process was more private and their acts more tumultuary their information less certain and therefore their mistakes more easie and frequent And it is remarkable in the case of the heresy of Montanus the scene of whose heresie lay within the first three hundred years though it was represented in the Catalogues afterwards and possibly the mistake concerning it is to be put upon the score of Epiphanius by whom Montanus and his Followers were put into the Catalogue of Hereticks for commanding abstinence from meats as if they were unclean and of themselves unlawful Now the truth was Montanus said no such thing but commanded frequent abstinence enjoyned dry diet and an ascetick Table not for conscience sake but for Discipline and yet because he did this with too much rigour and strictness of mandate the Primitive Church misliked it in him as being too near their errour who by a Judaical superstition abstained from meats as from uncleanness This by the way will much concern them who place too much sanctity in such Rites and Acts of Discipline for it is an eternal Rule and of never failing truth that such abstinencies if they be obtruded as Acts of original immediate duty and sanctity are unlawfull and superstitious if they be for Discipline they may be good but of no very great profit it is that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which S. Paul says profiteth but little and just in the same degree the Primitive Church esteemed them for they therefore reprehended Montanus for urging such abstinences with too much earnestness though but in the way of Discipline for that it was no more Tertullian who was himself a Montanist and knew best the opinions of his own Sect testifies and yet Epiphanius reporting the errours of Montanus commends that which Montanus truly and really taught and which the Primitive Church condemned in him and therefore represents that heresie to another sence and affixes that to Montanus which Epiphanius believed a heresie and yet which Montanus did not teach And this also among many other things lessens my opinion very much of the integrity or discretion of the old Catalogues of Hereticks and much abates my confidence towards them 19. And now that I have mentioned them casually in passing by I shall give a short account of them for
particular authority of these men whose Commentaries they are and therefore must be considered with them 12. The summe is this Since the Fathers who are the best witnesses of Traditions yet were infinitely deceived in their account since sometimes they guest at them and conjectured by way of Rule and Discourse and not of their knowledge not by evidence of the thing since many are called Traditions which were not so many are uncertain whether they were or no yet confidently pretended and this uncertainty which at first was great enough is increased by infinite causes and accidents in the succession of 1600 years since the Church hath been either so careless or so abused that she could not or would not preserve Traditions with carefulness and truth since it was ordinary for the old Writers to set out their own fancies and the Rites of their Church which had been Ancient under the specious Title of Apostolical Traditions since some Traditions rely but upon single Testimony at first and yet descending upon others come to be attested by many whose Testimony though conjunct yet in value is but single because it relies upon the first single Relator and so can have no greater authority or certainty than they derive from the single person since the first Ages who were most competent to consign Tradition yet did consign such Traditions as be of a nature wholly discrepant from the present Questions and speak nothing at all or very imperfectly to our purposes and the following ages are no fit witnesses of that which was not transmitted to them because they could not know it at all but by such transmission and prior consignation since what at first was a Tradition came afterwards to be written and so ceased its being a Tradition yet the credit of Traditions commenced upon the certainty and reputation of those truths first delivered by word afterward consigned by writing since what was certainly Tradition Apostolical as many Rituals were are rejected by the Church in several ages and are gone out into a desuetude and lastly since beside the no necessity of Traditions there being abundantly enough in Scripture there are many things called Traditions by the Fathers which they themselves either proved by no Authors or by Apocryphal and spurious and Heretical the matter of Tradition will in very much be so uncertain so false so suspicious so contradictory so improbable so unproved that if a Question be contested and be offered to be proved only by Tradition it will be very hard to impose such a proposition to the belief of all men with an imperiousness or resolved determination but it will be necessary men should preserve the liberty of believing and prophecying and not part with it upon a worse merchandise and exchange than Esau made for his birthright SECT VI. Of the uncertainty and insufficiency of Councils Ecclesiastical to the same purpose 1. BUT since we are all this while in uncertainty it is necessary that we should address our selves somewhere where we may rest the soal of our foot And Nature Scripture and Experience teach the World in matters of Question to submit to some final sentence For it is not reason that controversies should continue till the erring person shall be willing to condemn himself and the Spirit of God hath directed us by that great precedent at Jerusalem to address our selves to the Church that in a plenary Council and Assembly she may Synodically determine Controversies So that if a General Council have determined a Question or expounded Scripture we may no more disbelieve the Decree than the Spirit of God himself who speaks in them And indeed if all Assemblies of Bishops were like that first and all Bishops were of the same spirit of which the Apostles were I should obey their Decree with the same Religion as I do them whose Preface was Visum est Spiritui Sancto nobis and I doubt not but our blessed Saviour intended that the Assemblies of the Church should be Judges of the Controversies and guides of our perswasions in matters of difficulty But he also intended they should proceed according to his will which he had revealed and those precedents which he had made authentick by the immediate assistance of his holy Spirit He hath done his part but we do not do ours And if any private person in the simplicity and purity of his soul desires to find out a truth of which he is in search and inquisition if he prays for wisdom we have a promise he shall be heard and answered liberally and therefore much more when the representatives of the Catholick Church do meet because every person there hath in individuo a title to the promise and another title as he is a governour and a guide of souls and all of them together have another title in their united capacity especially if in that union they pray and proceed with simplicity and purity so that there is no disputing against the pretence and promises and authority of General Councils For if any one man can hope to be guided by Gods Spirit in the search the pious and impartial and unprejudicate search of truth then much more may a General Council If no private man can hope for it then truth is not necessary to be found nor we are not obliged to search for it or else we are saved by chance But if private men can by vertue of a promise upon certain conditions be assured of finding out sufficient truth much more shall a General Council So that I consider thus There are many promises pretended to belong to General Assemblies in the Church but I know not any ground nor any pretence that they shall be absolutely assisted without any condition on their own parts and whether they will or no Faith is a vertue as well as Charity and therefore consists in liberty and choice and hath nothing in it of necessity There is no Question but that they are obliged to proceed according to some rule for they expect no assistance by way of Enthusiasme if they should I know no warrant for that neither did any General Council ever offer a Decree which they did not think sufficiently proved by Scripture Reason or Tradition as appears in the Acts of the Councils now then if they be tied to conditions it is their duty to observe them but whether it be certain that they will observe them that they will do all their duty that they will not sin even in this particular in the neglect of their duty that 's the consideration So that if any man questions the Title and Authority of General Councils and whether or no great promises appertain to them I suppose him to be much mistaken but he also that thinks all of them have proceeded according to rule and reason and that none of them were deceived because possibly they might have been truly directed is a stranger to the History of the Church and to the perpetual instances and experiments of
plain and unless the Authority of a Council be so great a prejudice as to make us to do violence to our understanding so as not to disbelieve the Decree because it seems contrary to Scripture but to believe it agrees with Scripture though we know not how therefore because the Council hath decreed it unless I say we be bound in duty to be so obediently blind and sottish we are sure that there are some Councils which are pretended General that have retired from the publick notorious words and sence of Scripture For what wit of man can reconcile the Decree of the thirteenth Session of the Council of Constance with Scripture in which Session the half Communion was decreed in defiance of Scripture and with a non obstante to Christs institution For in the Preface of the Decree Christs institution and the practice of the Primitive Church is expressed and then with a non obstante Communion in one kind is established Now then suppose the non obstante in the form of words relates to the Primitive practice yet since Christs institution was taken notice of in the first words of the Decree and the Decree made quite contrary to it let the non obstante relate whither it will the Decree not to call it a defiance is a plain recession from the institution of Christ and therefore the non obstante will refer to that without any sensible errour and indeed for all the excuses to the contrary the Decree was not so discreetly framed but that in the very form of words the defiance and the non obstante is too plainly relative to the first words For what sence can there be in the first licet else licet Christus in utraque specie and licet Ecclesia Primitiva c. tamen hoc non obstante c. the first licet being a relative term as well as the second licet must be bounded with some correspondent But it matters not much let them whom it concerns enjoy the benefit of all excuses they can imagine it is certain Christs institution and the Councils sanction are as contrary as light and darkness Is it possible for any man to contrive a way to make the Decree of the Council of Trent commanding the publick Offices of the Church to be in Latine friends with the fourteenth Chapter of the Corinthians It is not amiss to observe how the Hyperaspists of that Council sweat to answer the Allegations of St. Paul and the wisest of them do it so extreamly poor that it proclaims to all the world that the strongest man that is cannot eat Iron or swallow a Rock Now then would it not be an unspeakable Tyranny to all wise persons who as much hate to have their souls enslaved as their bodies imprisoned to command them to believe that these Decrees are agreeable to the word of God Upon whose understanding soever these are imposed they may at the next Session reconcile them to a crime and make any sin sacred or perswade him to believe propositions contradictory to a Mathematical demonstration All the Arguments in the World that can be brought to prove the infallibility of Councils cannot make it so certain that they are infallible as these two instances do prove infallibly that these were deceived and if ever we may safely make use of our reason and consider whether Councils have erred or no we cannot by any reason be more assured that they have or have not than we have in these particulars so that either our reason is of no manner of use in the discussion of this Question and the thing it self is not at all to be disputed or if it be we are certain that these actually were deceived and we must never hope for a clearer evidence in any dispute And if these be others might have been if they did as these did that is depart from their Rule And it was wisely said of Cusanus Notandum est experimento rerum universale Concilium posse deficere The experience of it is notorious that Councils have erred And all the Arguments against experience are but plain sophistry 3. And therefore I make no scruple to slight the Decrees of such Councils wherein the proceedings were as prejudicate and unreasonable as in the Council wherein Abailardus was condemned where the presidents having pronounced Damnamus they at the lower end being awaked at the noise heard the latter part of it and concurred as far as Mnamus went and that was as good as Damnamus for if they had been awake at the pronouncing the whole word they would have given sentence accordingly But by this means Saint Bernard numbred the major part of voices against his Adversary Abailardus And as far as these men did do their duty the duty of Priests and Judges and wise men so we may presume them to be assisted But no further But I am content this because but a private Assembly shall pass for no instance But what shall we say of all the Arrian Councils celebrated with so great fancy and such numerous Assemblies we all say that they erred And it will not be sufficient to say they were not lawful Councils For they were conven'd by that Authority which all the World knows did at that time convocate Councils and by which as it is confessed and is notorious the first eight Generals did meet that is by the Authority of the Emperour all were called and as many and more did come to them than came to the most famous Council of Nice So that the Councils were lawful and if they did not proceed lawfully and therefore did err this is to say that Councils are then not deceived when they doe their duty when they judge impartially when they decline interest when they follow their Rule but this says also that it is not infallibly certain that they will doe so for these did not and therefore the others may be deceived as well as these were But another thing is in the wind for Councils not confirmed by the Pope have no warrant that they shall not err and they not being confirmed therefore fail'd But whether is the Popes confirmation after the Decree or before It cannot be supposed before for there is nothing to be confirmed till the Decree be made and the Article composed But if it be after then possibly the Popes Decree may be requisite in solemnity of Law and to make the Authority popular publick and humane but the Decree is true or false before the Popes confirmation and is not at all altered by the supervening Decree which being postnate to the Decree alters not what went before Nunquam enim crescit ex postfacto praeteriti aestimatio is the voice both of Law and reason So that it cannot make it divine and necessary to be heartily believed It may make it lawful not make it true that is it may possibly by such means become a Law but not a truth I speak now upon supposition the Popes
a napkin I am not so well assured I am certain the other is not And since another man's answering for me will not hinder but that I also shall answer for myself as it concerns him to see he does not wilfully misguide me so it concerns me to see that he shall not if I can help it if I cannot it will not be required at my hands whether it be his fault or his invincible errour I shall be charged with neither 4. This is no other then what is enjoyned as a duty For since God will be justified with a free obedience and there is an obedience of understanding as well as of will and affection it is of great concernment as to be willing to believe whatever God says so also to enquire diligently whether the will of God be so as is pretended Even our acts of understanding are acts of choice and therefore it is commanded as a duty to search the Scriptures to try the spirits whether they be of God or no of our selves to be able to judge what is right to try all things and to retain that which is best For he that resolves not to consider resolves not to be carefull whether he have truth or no and therefore hath an affection indifferent to truth or falshood which is all one as if he did chuse amiss and since when things are truly propounded and made reasonable and intelligible we cannot but assent and then it is no thanks to us we have no way to give our wills to God in matters of belief but by our industry in searching it and examining the grounds upon which the propounders build their dictates And the not doing it is oftentimes a cause that God gives a man over 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into a reprobate and undiscerning mind and understanding 5. And this very thing though men will not understand it is the perpetuall practice of all men in the world that can give a reasonable account of their Faith The very Catholick Church itself is rationabilis ubique diffusa saith Optatus reasonable as well as diffused every-where For take the Proselytes of the Church of Rome even in their greatest submission of understanding they seem to themselves to follow their Reason most of all For if you tell them Scripture and Tradition are their Rules to follow they will believe you when they know a reason for it and if they take you upon your word they have a reason for that too either they believe you a learned man or a good man or that you can have no ends upon them or something that is of an equal height to fit their understandings If you tell them they must believe the Church you must tell them why they are bound to it and if you quote Scripture to prove it you must give them leave to judge whether the words alledged speak your sense or no and therefore to dissent if they say no such thing And although all men are not wise and proceed discreetly yet all make their choice some way or other He that chuses to please his fancy takes his choice as much as he that chuses prudently And no man speaks more unreasonably then he that denies to men the use of their Reason in choice of their Religion For that I may by the way remove the common prejudice Reason and Authority are not things incompetent or repugnant especially when the Authority is infallible and supreme for there is no greater Reason in the world then to believe such an Authority But then we must consider whether every Authority that pretends to be such is so indeed And therefore Deus dixit ergò hoc verum est is the greatest Demonstration in the world for things of this nature But it is not so in humane Dictates and yet Reason and humane Authority are not enemies For it is a good argument for us to follow such an Opinion because it is made sacred by the Authority of Councils and Ecclesiasticall Tradition and sometimes it is the best reason we have in a Question and then it is to be strictly followed but there may also be at other times a reason greater then it that speaks against it and then the Authority must not carry it But then the difference is not between Reason and Authority but between this Reason and that which is greater for Authority is a very good reason and is to prevail unless a stronger comes and disarms it but then it must give place So that in this Question by Reason I do not mean a distinct Topick but a transcendent that runs through all Topicks for Reason like Logick is instrument of all things else and when Revelation and Philosophie and publick Experience and all other grounds of probability or demonstration have supplied us with matter then Reason does but make use of them that is in plain terms there being so many ways of arguing so many Sects such differing interests such variety of Authority so many pretences and so many false beliefs it concerns every wise man to consider which is the best Argument which Proposition relies upon the truest grounds And if this were not his onely way why do men dispute and urge Arguments why do they cite Councils and Fathers why do they alledge Scripture and Tradition and all this on all sides and to contrary purposes If we must judge then we must use our Reason if we must not judge why do they produce evidence Let them leave disputing and decree Propositions magisterially but then we may chuse whether we will believe them or no or if they say we must believe them they must prove it and tell us why And all these disputes concerning Tradition Councils Fathers c. are not Arguments against or besides Reason but contestations and pretences to the best Arguments and the most certain satisfaction of our Reason But then all these coming into question submit themselves to Reason that is to be judged by humane understanding upon the best grounds and information it can receive So that Scripture Tradition Councils and Fathers are the evidence in a question but Reason is the Judge that is we being the persons that are to be perswaded we must see that we be perswaded reasonably and it is unreasonable to assent to a lesser evidence when a greater and clearer is propounded But of that every man for himself is to take cognizance if he be able to judge if he be not he is not bound under the tie of necessity to know any thing of it that that is necessary shall be certainly conveyed to him God that best can will certainly take care for that for if he does not it becomes to be not necessary or if it should still remain necessary and he damned for not knowing it and yet to know it be not in his power then who can help it there can be no farther care in this business In other things there being no absolute and prime necessity we are
sent away without cause and because the negative is in this case later then the affirmative it must enter as the affirmatives doe when they happen to be later then the negative Adde to this that for the introduction of a negative against the possession of a prevailing affirmative it is not enough to invalidate the arguments of the affirmative by making it appear they are not demonstrative for although that might have been sufficient to hinder its first entry yet it is not enough to throw it out because it hath gotten strength and reasonableness by long custome and dwelling upon the minds of men and hath some forces beyond what it derives from the first causes of its introduction And therefore whoever will perswade men to quit their long perswasions and their consonant practices must not tell them that such perswasions are not certain and that they cannot prove such practices to be necessary but that the Doctrine is false against some other revealed Truth which they admit and the practice evil not onely useless but dangerous or criminal So that the Anabaptists cannot acquit themselves and promote their cause by going about to invalidate our Arguments unless they do not onely weaken our affirmative by taking away not one or two but all the confidences of its strength but also make their own negative to include a duty or its enemy to be guilty of a crime And therefore if it were granted that we cannot prove the Baptism of infants to be necessary and that they could speak probably against all the Arguments of the right Believers yet it were intolerable that they should be attended to unless they pretend and make their pretence good that they teach piety and duty and necessity for nothing less then these can make recompence for so violent so great an inroad and rape upon the perswasions of men Whether the Anabaptists do so or no will be considered in the sequel Thirdly These Arguments which are in this Section urged in behalf of the Anabaptists their persons I mean finally not their cause at all but in order to their persons can doe the less hurt because they rely upon our grounds not upon theirs that is they are intended to perswade us to a charitable comport towards the men but not at all to perswade their Doctrine For it is remarkable that none of them have made use of this way of arguing since the publication of these Adversaria and of some things they can never make use As in that exposition of the words of S. Peter Be baptized and ye shall receive the holy Ghost which is expounded to be meant not in Baptism but in Confirmation which is a Rite the Anabaptists allow not and therefore they cannot make use of any such Exposition which supposes a Divine institution of that which they at no hand admit And so it is in divers other particulars as any wary person that is cautious he be not deluded by any weak and plausible pretence of theirs may easily observe But after all the Arguments for the Baptism of children are firm and valid and though shaken by the adverse plea yet as trees that stand in the face of storms take the surer root so will the right Reasons of the right Believers if they be represented with their proper advantages Ad 3. 13. The first Argument is the Circumcising of children which we say does rightly infer the Baptizing them The Anabaptist says no because admit that Circumcision were the type of Baptism yet it follows not that the circumstances of one must infer the same circumstances in the other which he proves by many instances and so far he sayes true And therefore if there were no more in the Argument then can be inferred from the type to the antitype both the supposition the superstructure would be infirm because it is uncertain whether Circumcision be a type of Baptism and if it were granted it cannot infer equal circumstances But then this Argument goes farther and to other and more material purposes even to the overthrow of their chief pretension For Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of faith And if Infants who have no Faith yet can by a Ceremony be admitted into the Covenant of Faith as S. Paul conâ—ends that all the circumcised were and it is certain of Infants that they were reckoned amongst the Lord's people as soon as they were circumcised then it follows that the great pretence of the Anabaptists that for want of Faith Infants are incapable of the Sacrament comes to nothing For if Infants were admitted into the Covenant of Faith by a Ceremony before they could enter by choice and reason by Faith and Obedience then so they may now their great and onely pretence notwithstanding Now whereas the Anabaptist says that in the admission of the Jewish Infants to Circumcision and of Christian Infants to Baptism there is this difference that Circumcision imprints a character on the flesh but Baptism does not Circumcision had no word added but Baptism hath and therefore Infants were capable of the former but not of the latter for they might be cut with the Circumcising-stone but they cannot be instructed with the word of Baptism in that there was a character left by which they might be instructed when they come to age but in Baptism there is no character and the word they understand not therefore that was to purpose but this is not I answer that this is something to the circumstance of the Sacraments but nothing to the substance of the Argument For if the Covenant of Faith can belong to Infants then it is certain they can have the benefit of Faith before they have the grace that is God will doe them benefit before they can do him service and that is no new thing in Religion that God should love us first But then that God is not as much before-hand with Christian as with Jewish Infants is a thing which can never be believed by them who understand that in the Gospel God opened all his treasures of mercies and unsealed the fountain itself whereas before he poured forth only rivulets of mercy and comfort That Circumcision is a seal of the righteousness of faith Saint Paul affirms that so also is Baptism if it be any thing at all the Anabaptists must needs confess because they refuse to give Baptism to them who have not Faith and make it useless to them as being a Seal without a Deed. But then the Argument is good upon its first grounds But then for the title Reparties but now mentioned that Circumcision imprints a character but Baptism does not that Baptism hath a word but Circumcision had none they are just nothing to the purpose For as that character imprinted on the Infants flesh would have been nothing of instruction to them unless there had been a word added that is unless they had been told the meaning of it when they came to be men so neither will the word
of whom we reade nothing in Scripture that either they were actually baptized or had a commandment so to be To which may be added that as the taking of Priestly Orders disobliges the suscipient from receiving Chrism or Confirmation in case he had it not before so for ought appears in Scripture to the contrary it may excuse from Baptism But if it does not then the same way of arguing which obliges women or the Clergy to be baptized will be sufficient warrant to us to require in the case of Infants no more signal precept then in the other and to be content with the measures of wise men who give themselves to understand the meaning of Doctrines and Laws and not to exact the tittles and unavoidable commands by which fools and unwilling persons are to be governed lest they die certainly if they be not called upon with univocal express open and direct commandments But besides all this and the effect of all the other Arguments there is as much command for Infants to be baptized as for men there being in the words of Christ no nomination or specification of persons but onely in such words as can as well involve children as old men as Nisi quis and omnes gentes and the like Ad 16. But they have a device to save all harmless yet for though it should be granted that infants are press'd with all the evils of original sin ye there will be no necessity of Baptism to Infants because it may very well be supposed that as Infants contracted the relative guilt of Adam's sin that is the evils descending by an evil inheritance from him to us without any solemnity so may Infants be acquitted by Christ without solemnity or the act of any other man This is the summe of the 16 th Number To which the Answer is easie First that at the most it is but a dream of proportions and can infer onely that if it were so there were some correspondency between the effects descending upon us from the two great Representatives of the world but it can never infer that it ought to be so For these things are not wrought by the ways of Nature in which the proportions are regular and constant but they are wholly arbitrary and mysterious depending upon extrinsick causes which are conducted by other measures which we onely know by events and can never understand the reasons For because the sin of Adam had effect upon us without a Sacrament must it therefore be wholly unnecessary that the death of Christ be applied to us by Sacramental ministrations If so the Argument will as well conclude against the Baptism of men as of Infants for since they die in Adam and had no solemnity to convey that death therefore we by Christ shall all be made alive and to convey this life there needs no Sacrament This way of arguing therefore is a very trifle but yet this is not As Infants were not infected with the stain and injured by the evils of Adam's sin but by the means of natural generation so neither shall they partake of the benefits of Christ's death but by spiritual regeneration that is by being baptized into his death For it is easier to destroy then to make alive a single crime of one man was enough to ruine him and his posterity but to restore us it became necessary that the Son of God should be incarnate and die and be buried and rise again and intercede for us and become our Law-giver and we be his subjects and keep his Commandments There was no such order of things in our condemnation to death must it therefore follow that there is no such in the justification of us unto life To the first there needs no Sacrament for evil comes fast enough but to the latter there must goe so much as God please and the way which he hath appointed us externally is Baptism to which if he hath tied us it is no matter to us whether he hath tied himself to it or no for although he can goe which way he please yet he himself loves to goe in the ways of his ordinary appointing as it appears in the extreme paucity of Miracles which are in the world and he will not endure that we should leave them So that although there are many thousand ways by which God can bring any reasonable soul to himself yet he will bring no soul to himself by ways extraordinary when he hath appointed ordinary and therefore although it be unreasonable of our own heads to carry Infants to God by Baptism without any direction from him yet it is not unreasonable to understand Infants to be comprehended in the duty and to be intended in the general precept when the words do not exclude them nor any thing in the nature of the Sacrament and when they have a great necessity for the relief of which this way is commanded and no other way signified all the world will say there is reason we should bring them also the same way to Christ. And therefore though we no ways doubt but if we doe not our duty to them God will yet perform his mercifull intention yet that 's nothing to us though God can save by miracle yet we must not neglect our charitable ministeries Let him doe what he please to or for Infants we must not neglect them Ad 6. The Argument which is here described is a very reasonable inducement to the belief of the certain effect to be consequent to the Baptism of Infants Because Infants can do nothing towards Heaven and yet they are designed thither therefore God will supply it But he supplies it not by any internall assistances and yet will supply it therefore by an externall But there is no other externall but Baptism which is of his own institution and designed to effect those blessings which Infants need therefore we have reason to believe that by this way God would have them brought Ad 17. To this it is answered after the old rate that God will doe it by his own immediate act Well I grant it that is he will give them Salvation of his own goodness without any condition on the Infants part personally performed without Faith and Obedience if the Infant dies before the use of Reason but then whereas it is added that to say God will doe it by an externall act and ministery and that by this Rite of Baptism and no other is no good Argument unless God could not doe it without such means or said he would not The Reply is easie that we say God will effect this grace upon Infants by this externall ministery not because God cannot use another nor yet because he hath said he will not but because he hath given us this and hath given us no other For he that hath a mind to make an experiment may upon the same argument proceed thus God hath given bread to strengthen man's heart and hath said that in the sweat of our
First-fruits and in these things was the Fountain of the Sacraments and Spiritual Grace and the great Exemplar of the Oeconomy of the Church For Christ was nullius poenitentiae debitor Baptism of Repentance was not necessary to him who never sinn'd but so it became him to fulfil all righteousness and to be a pattern to us all But we have need of these things though he had not and in the same way in which Salvation was wrought by him for himself and for us all in the same way he intended we should walk He was Baptized because his Father appointed it so we must be baptized because Christ hath appointed it and we have need of it too He was Consecrated to be the great Prophet and the great Priest because no man takes on him this honour but he that was called of God as was Aaron and all they who are to minister in his Prophetical office under him must be consecrated and solemnly set apart for that ministration and after his glorious example He was Anointed with a Spiritual Unction from above after his Baptism for after Jesus was baptized he ascended up from the waters and then the Holy Ghost descended upon him It is true he receiv'd the Fulness of the Spirit but we receive him by measure but of his fulness we all receive grace for grace that is all that he receiv'd in order to his great work all that in kind one for another Grace for Grace we are to receive according to our measures and our necessities And as all these he receiv'd by external ministrations so must we God the Father appointed his way and he by his Example first hath appointed the same to us that we also may follow him in the regeneration and work out our Salvation by the same Graces in the like solemnities For if he needed them for himself then we need them much more If he did not need them for himself he needed them for us and for our Example that we might follow his steps who by receiving these exterior solemnities and inward Graces became the Author and finisher of our Salvation and the great Example of his Church I shall not need to make use of the fancy of the Murcosians and Colabarsians who turning all Mysteries into Numbers reckoned the numeral letters of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and made them coincident to the α and ω· but they intended to say that Christ receiving the Holy Dove after his Baptism became all in all to us the beginning and the perfection of our Salvation here he was confirm'd and receiv'd the ω to his α the Consummation to his Initiation the completion of his Baptism and of his Headship in the Gospel But that which I shall rather add is what S. Cyril from hence argues When he truly was baptized in the River of Jordan he ascended out of the waters and the Holy Ghost substantially descended upon him like resting upon like And to you also in like manner after ye have ascended from the waters of Baptism the Vnction is given which bears the image or similitude of him by whom Christ was anointed that as Christ after Baptism and the coming of the Holy Spirit upon him went forth to battel in the Wilderness and overcame the adversary so ye also after Holy Baptism and the mystical Vnction or Confirmation being vested with the Armour of the Holy Spirit are enabled to stand against the opposite Powers Here then is the first great ground of our solemn receiving the Holy Spirit or the Unction from above after Baptism which we understand and represent by the word Confirmation denoting the principal effect of this Unction Spiritual Strength Christ who is the Head of the Church entred this way upon his duty and work and he who was the first of all the Church the Head and great Example is the measure of all the rest for we can go to Heaven no way but in that way in which he went before us There are some who from this Story would infer the descent of the Holy Ghost after Christ's Baptism not to signifie that Confirmation was to be a distinct Rite from Baptism but a part of it yet such a part as gives fulness and Consummation to it S. Hierom Chrysostom Euthymius and Theophylact go not so far but would have us by this to understand that the Holy Ghost is given to them that are baptized But Reason and the Context are both against it 1. Because the Holy Ghost was not given by John's Baptism that was reserv'd to be one of Christ's glories who also when by his Disciples he baptiz'd many did not give them the Holy Ghost and when he commanded his Apostles to baptize all Nations did not at that time so much as promise the Holy Ghost he was promis'd distinctly and given by another Ministration 2. The descent of the Holy Spirit was a distinct ministery from the Baptism it was not only after Jesus ascended from the waters of Baptism but there was something intervening and by a new office or ministration For there was Prayer joyn'd in the ministery So S. Luke observes while Jesus was praying the Heavens were open'd and the Holy Spirit descended for so Jesus was pleas'd to consign the whole Office and Ritual of Confirmation Prayer for invocating the Holy Spirit and giving him by personal application which as the Father did immediately so the Bishops do by Imposition of hands 3. S. Austin observes that the apparition of the Holy Spirit like a Dove was the visible or ritual part and the voice of God was the word to make it to be Sacramental accedit verbum ad elementum â—it Sacramentum for so the ministration was not only perform'd on Christ but consignâ—d to the Church by similitude and exemplar institution I shall only add that the force of this Argument is established to us by more of the Fathers S. Hilary upon this place hath these words The Fathers voice was heard that from those things which were consummated in Christ we might know that after the Baptism of water the Holy Spirit from the gates of Heaven flies unto us and that we are to be anointed with the Vnction of a celestial glory and be made the Sons of God by the adoption of the voice of God the Truth by the very effects of things prefigur'd unto us the similitude of a Sacrament So S. Chrysostom In the beginnings always appears the sensible visions of Spiritual things for their sakes who cannot receive the understanding of an incorporeal nature that if afterwards they be not so done that is after the same visible manner they may be believ'd by those things which were already done But more plain is that of Theophylact The Lord had not need of the descent of the Holy Spirit but he did all things for our sakes and himself is become the First-fruits of all things which we afterwards were to receive that he might become the
diligence and labour to what sufferings or journeyings he is oblig'd for the procuring of this ministery there must be debita sollicitudo a real providential zealous care to be where it is to be had is the duty of every Christian according to his own circumstances but they who will not receive it unless it be brought to their doors may live in such places and in such times where they shall be sure to miss it and pay the price of their neglect of so great a ministery of Salvation Turpissima est jactura quae per negligentiam sit He is a Fool that loses his good by carelesness But no man is zealous for his Soul but he who not only omits no opportunity of doing it advantage when it is ready for him but makes and seeks and contrives opportunities Si non necessitate sed incuriâ voluntate remanserit as S. Clement's expression is If a man wants it by necessity it may by the overflowings of the Divine Grace be supplied but not so if negligence or choice causes the omission 3. Our way being made plain we may proceed to other places of Scripture to prove the Divine Original of Confirmation It was a Plant of our Heavenly Father's planting it was a Branch of the Vine and how it springs from the Root Christ Jesus we have seen it is yet more visible as it was dressed and cultivated by the Apostles Now as soon as the Apostles had received the Holy Spirit they preached and baptized and the inferior Ministers did the same and S. Philip particularly did so at Samaria the Converts of which place received all the Fruits of Baptism but Christians though they were they wanted a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something to make them perfect The other part of the Narrative I shall set down in the words of S. Luke Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God they sent unto them Peter and John Who when they were come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost For as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were Baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost If it had not been necessary to have added a new solemnity and ministration it is not to be supposed the Apostles Peter and John would have gone from Jerusalem to impose hands on the Baptized at Samaria Id quod deerat à Petro Joanne factum est ut Oratione pro eis habitâ manu impositâ invocaretur infunderetur super eos Spiritus Sanctus said S. Cyprian It was not necessary that they should be Baptized again only that which was wanting was performed by Peter and John that by prayer and imposition of hands the Holy Ghost should be invocated and poured upon them The same also is from this place affirmed by P. Innocentius the First S. Hierom and many others and in the Acts of the Apostles we find another instance of the celebration of this Ritual and Mystery for it is signally expressed of the Baptized Christians at Ephesus that S. Paul first Baptized them and then laid his hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost And these Testimonies are the great warranty for this Holy Rite Quod nunc in confirmandis Neophytis manûs Impositio tribuit singulis hoc tunc Spiritûs Sancti descensio in credentium populo donavit universis said Eucherius Lugdunensis in his Homily of Pentecost The same thing that is done now in Imposition of hands on single persons is no other than that which was done upon all Believers in the descent of the Holy Ghost it is the same Ministery and all deriving from the same Authority Confirmation or Imposition of hands for the collation of the Holy Spirit we see was actually practised by the Apostles and that even before and after they preached the Gospel to the Gentiles and therefore Amalarius who entred not much into the secret of it reckons this Ritual as derived from the Apostles per consuetudinem by Catholick custom which although it is not perfectly spoken as to the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Authority of it yet he places it in the Apostles and is a witness of the Catholick succeeding custom and practice of the Church of God Which thing also Zanchius observing though he followed the sentiment of Amalarius and seemed to understand no more of it yet says well Interim says he exempla Apostolorum veteris Ecclesiae vellem pluris aestimari I wish that the Example of the Apostles and the Primitive Church were of more value amongst Christians It were very well indeed they were so but there is more in it than mere Example These examples of such solemnities productive of such spiritual effects are as S. Cyprian calls them Apostolica Magisteria the Apostles are our Masters in them and have given Rules and Precedents for the Church to follow This is a Christian Law and written as all Scriptures are for our instruction But this I shall expresly prove in the next Paragraph 4. We have seen the Original from Christ the Practice and exercise of it in the Apostles and the first Converts in Christianity that which I shall now remark is that this is established and passed into a Christian Doctrine The warranty for what I say is the words of S. Paul where the Holy Rite of Confirmation so called from the effect of this ministration and expressed by the Ritual part of it Imposition of Hands is reckoned a Fundamental point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not laying again the foundation of Repentance from dead works and of Faith towards God of the Doctrine of Baptisms and of laying on of Hands of Resurrection from the Dead and Eternal Judgment Here are six Fundamental points of S. Paul's Catechism which he laid as the Foundation or the beginning of the institution of the Christian Church and amongst these Imposition of hands is reckoned as a part of the Foundation and therefore they who deny it dig up Foundations Now that this Imposition of hands is that which the Apostles used in confirming the Baptized and invocating the Holy Ghost upon them remains to be proved For it is true that Imposition of hands signifies all Christian Rites except Baptism and the Lord's Supper not the Sacraments but all the Sacramentals of the Church it signifies Confirmation Ordination Absolution Visitation of the Sick Blessing single persons as Christ did the Children brought to him and blessing Marriages all these were usually ministred by Imposition of hands Now the three last are not pretended to be any part of this Foundation neither Reason Authority nor the Nature of the thing suffer any such pretension The Question then is between the first three First Absolution of Penitents cannot be meant here not only because we never read that the Apostles did use that Ceremony in their Absolutions
only the internal so that there needs no more strength to this Argument But that there may be wanting no moments to this truth which the Holy Scripture affords I shall add more weight to it And 1. The Perpetuity of this Holy Rite appears because this great Gift of the Holy Ghost was promised to abide with the Church for ever And when the Jews heard the Apostles speak with Tongues at the first and miraculous descent of the Spirit in Pentecost to take off the strangeness of the wonder and the envy of the power S. Peter at that very time tells them plainly Repent and be Baptized every one of you and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the meanest person amongst you all but shall receive this great thing which ye observe us to have received and not only you but your Children too not your Children of this Generation only sed Natinatorum qui nascentur ab illis but your Children for ever For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are afar off even to as many as the Lord our God shall call Now then let it be considered 1. This gift is by Promise by a promise not made to the Apostles alone but to all to all for ever 2. Consider here at the very first as there is a verbum a word of promise so there is sacramentum too I use the word as I have already premonished in a large fence only and according to the style of the Primitive Church It is a Rite partly Moral partly Ceremonial the first is Prayer and the other is Laying on of the hands and to an effect that is but transient and extraordinary and of a little abode it is not easie to be supposed that such a Solemnity should be appointed I say such a Solemnity that is it is not imaginable that a solemn Rite annexed to a perpetual Promise should be transient and temporary for by the nature of Relatives they must be of equal abode The Promise is of a thing for ever the Ceremony or Rite was annexed to the Promise and therefore this also must be for ever 3. This is attested by S. Paul who reduces this Argument to this Mystery saying In whom after that ye believed signati estis Spiritu Sancto promissionis ye were sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise He spake it to the Ephesians who well understood his meaning by remembring what was done to themselves by the Apostles but a while before who after they had Baptized them did lay their hands upon them and so they were sealed and so they received the Holy Spirit of promise for here the very matter of Fact is the clearest Commentary on S. Paul's words The Spirit which was promised to all Christians they then received when they were consigned or had the Ritual seal of Confirmation by Imposition of hands One thing I shall remark here and that is that this and some other words of Scripture relating to the Sacraments or other Rituals of Religion do principally mean the Internal Grace and our consignation is by a secret power and the work is within but it does not therefore follow that the External Rite is not also intended for the Rite is so wholly for the Mystery and the Outward for the Inward and yet by the Outward God so usually and regularly gives the Inward that as no man is to rely upon the External Ministery as if the opus operatum would do the whole Duty so no man is to neglect the External because the Internal is the more principal The mistake in his particular hath caused great contempt of the Sacraments and Rituals of the Church and is the ground of the Socinian Errors in these Questions But 4. What hinders any man from a quick consent at the first representation of these plain reasonings and authorities Is it because there were extraordinary effects accompanying this Ministration and because now there are not that we will suppose the whole Oeconomy must cease If this be it and indeed this is all that can be supposed in opposition to it it is infinitely vain 1. Because these extraordinary effects did continue even after the death of all the Apostles S. Irenaeus says they did continue even to his time even the greatest instance of Miraculous power Et in fraternitate saepissime propter aliquid necessarium eâ quae est in quoquo loco Vniversâ Ecclesiâ postulante per jejunium supplicationem multam reversus est spiritus c. When God saw it necessary and the Church prayed and fasted much they did miraculous things even of reducing the spirit to a dead man 2. In the days of the Apostles the Holy Spirit did produce miraculous effects but neither always nor at all in all men Are all workers of Miracles do all speak with Tongues do all interpret can all heal No the Spirit bloweth where he listeth and as he listeth he gives Gifts to all but to some after this manner and to some after that 3. These Gifts were not necessary at all times any more than to all persons but the Promise did belong to all and was made to all and was performed to all In the days of the Apostles there was an Effusion of the Spirit of God it ran over it was for themselves and others it wet the very ground they trode upon and made it fruitful but it was not to all in like manner but there was also then and since then a Diffusion of the Spirit tanquam in pleno S. Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost he was full of faith and power The Holy Ghost was given to him to fulfil his Faith principally the working Miracles was but collateral and incident But there is also an Infusion of the Holy Ghost and that is to all and that is for ever The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall saith the Apostle And therefore if the Grace be given to all there is no reason that the Ritual ministration of that Grace should cease upon pretence that the Spirit is not given extraordinarily 4. These extraordinary Gifts were indeed at first necessary In the beginnings always appear the sensible visions of spiritual things for their sakes who cannot receive the understanding of an incorporeal Nature that if afterward they be not so done they may be believed by those things which were already done said S. Chrysostom in the place before quoted that is these visible appearances were given at first by reason of the imperfection of the state of the Church but the greater Gifts were to abide for ever and therefore it is observable that S. Paul says that the gift of Tongues is one of the least and most useless things a mere Sign and not so much as a Sign to Believers but to Infidels and Unbelievers and before this he greatly prefers the gift of
precepts given of any duty and comport which Brothers that is the descendents of the same Parents are to have one towards another in that capacity and it is not because their nearness is such that they need none For Parents and children are nearer and yet need tables of duty to be described and for Brothers certainly they need it infinitely if there be any peculiar duty Cain and Abel are the great probation of that and you know who said Fratrum quoque gratia rara est It is not often you shall see Two Brothers live in amity But the Scripture which often describes the duty of Parents and Children never describes the duty of Brothers except where by Brethren are meant all that part of mankind who are tied to us by any vicinity and indearment of religion or country of profession and family of contract or society of love and the noblest friendships the meaning is that though Fraternity alone be the endearment of some degrees of friendship without choice and without excellency yet the relation it self is not friendship and does not naturally infer it and that which is procured by it is but limited and little and though it may pass into it as other conversations may yet the friendship is accidental to it and enters upon other accounts as it does between strangers with this only difference that Brotherhood does oftentimes assist the valuation of those excellencies for which we entertain our friendships Fraternity is the opportunity and preliminary disposition to friendship and no more For if my Brother be a fool or a vicious person the love to which nature and our first conversation disposes me does not end in friendship but in pity and fair provisions and assistances which is a demonstration that Brotherhood is but the inclination and address to friendship And though I will love a worthy Brother more than a worthy stranger if the worthiness be equal because the relation is something and being put into the scales against an equal worthiness must needs turn the balance as every grain will do in an even weight yet when the relation is all the worthiness that is pretended it cannot stand in competition with a friend for though a friend-Brother is better than a friend-stranger where the friend is equal but the Brother is not yet a Brother is not better than a friend but as Solomon's expression is There is a Friend that is better than a Brother and to be born of the same Parents is so accidental and extrinsick to a mans pleasure or worthiness or spiritual advantages that though it be very pleasing and useful that a Brother should be a friend yet it is no great addition to a friend that he also is a Brother there is something in it but not much But in short the case is thus The first beginnings of friendship serve the necessities but choice and worthiness are the excellencies of its endearment and its bravery and between a Brother that is no friend and a friend that is no Brother there is the same difference as between the disposition and the act or habit a Brother if he be worthy is the readiest and the nearest to be a friend but till he be so he is but the twi-light of the day and but the blossom to the fairest fruit of Paradise A Brother does not always make a friend but a friend ever makes a Brother and more And although nature sometimes finds the tree yet friendship engraves the Image the first relation places him in the garden but friendship sets it in the Temple and then only it is venerable and sacred and so is Brotherhood when it hath the soul of friendship So that if it be asked which are most to be valued Brothers or Friends the answer is very easie Brotherhood is or may be one of the kinds of friendship and from thence only hath its value and therefore if it be compared with a greater friendship must give place But then it is not to be asked which is to be preferred a Brother or a Friend but which is the better friend Memnon or my Brother For if my Brother says I ought to love him best then he ought to love me best if he does then there is a great friendship and he possibly is to be preferred if he can be that friend which he pretends to be that is if he be equally worthy But if he says I must love him only because he is my Brother whether he loves me or no he is ridiculous and it will be a strange relation which hath no correspondent but suppose it and add this also that I am equally his Brother as he is mine and then he also must love me whether I love him or no and if he does not he says I must love him though he be my Enemy and so I must but I must not love my Enemy though he be my Brother more than I love my Friend and at last if he does love me for being his Brother I confess that this love deserves love again but then I consider that he loves me upon an incompetent reason for he that loves me only because I am his Brother loves me for that which is no worthiness and I must love him as much as that comes to and for as little reason unless this be added that he loves me first But whether choice and union of souls and worthiness of manners and greatness of understanding and usefulness of conversation and the benefits of Counsel and all those endearments which make our lives pleasant and our persons Dear are not better and greater reasons of love and Dearness than to be born of the same flesh I think amongst wise persons needs no great inquiry For Fraternity is but a Cognation of Bodies but Friendship is an Union of Souls which are confederated by more noble ligatures My Brother if he be no more shall have my hand to help him but unless he be my friend too he cannot challenge my heart and if his being my friend be the greater nearness then Friend is more than Brother and I suppose no man doubts but that David lov'd Jonathan far more than he lov'd his Brother Eliab One inquiry more there may be in this affair and that is Whether a Friend may be more than a Husband or Wife To which I answer that it can never be reasonable or just prudent or lawful but the reason is because Marriage is the Queen of friendships in which there is a communication of all that can be communicated by friendship and it being made sacred by vows and love by bodies and souls by interest and custom by religion and by laws by common Counsels and common fortunes it is the principal in the kind of friendship and the measure of all the rest And there is no abatement to this consideration but that there may be some allay in this as in other lesser friendships by the incapacity of the persons if I have not
hate each other is not so rare as to see them love at this rate The dead and the absent have but few friends say the Spaniards but they who are the same to their friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he is in another Country or in another World these are they who are fit to preserve the sacred fire for eternal sacrifices and to perpetuate the memory of those exemplar friendships of the best men which have filled the world with history and wonder for in no other sence but this can it be true that friendships are pure loves regarding to do good more than to receive it He that is a friend after death hopes not for a recompense from his friend and makes no bargain either for fame or love but is rewarded with the conscience and satisfaction of doing bravely but then this is demonstration that they chuse Friends best who take persons so worthy that can and will do so This is the profit and usefulness of friendship and he that contracts such a noble Union must take care that his friend be such who can and will but hopes that himself shall be first used and put to act it I will not have such a friendship that is good for nothing but I hope that I shall be on the giving and assisting part and yet if both the friends be so noble and hope and strive to do the benefit I cannot well say which ought to yield and whether that friendship were braver that could be content to be unprosperous so his friend might have the glory of assisting him or that which desires to give assistances in the greatest measures of friendship but he that chuses a worthy friend that himself in the days of sorrow and need might receive the advantage hath no excuse no pardon unless himself be as certain to do assistances when evil fortune shall require them The summ of this answer to this enquiry I give you in a pair of Greek verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Friends are to friends as lesser Gods while they Honour and service to each other pay But when a dark cloud comes grudge not to lend Thy head thy heart thy fortune to thy friend 3. The last inquiry is How friendships are to be conducted that is What are the duties in presence and in absence whether the friend may not desire to enjoy his friend as well as his friendship The answer to which in a great measure depends upon what I have said already and if friendship be a charity in society and is not for contemplation and noise but for material comforts and noble treatments and usages this is no peradventure but that if I buy land I may eat the fruits and if I take a house I may dwell in it and if I love a worthy person I may please my self in his society and in this there is no exception unless the friendship be between persons of a different sex for then not only the interest of their religion and the care of their honour but the worthiness of their friendship requires that their entercourse be prudent and free from suspicion and reproach And if a friend is obliged to bear a calamity so he secure the honour of his friend it will concern him to conduct his entercourse in the lines of a vertuous prudence so that he shall rather lose much of his own comfort than she any thing of her honour and in this case the noises of people are so to be regarded that next to innocence they are the principal But when by caution and prudence and severe conduct a friend hath done all that he or she can to secure fame and honourable reports after this their noises are to be despised they must not fright us from our friendships nor from her fairest entercourses I may lawfully pluck the clusters from my own Vine though he that walks by calls me thief But by the way Madam you may see how much I differ from the morosity of those Cynicks who would not admit your sex into the communities of a noble friendship I believe some Wives have been the best friends in the world and few stories can out-do the nobleness and piety of that Lady that suck'd the poysonous purulent matter from the wound of our brave Prince in the holy Land when an Assasine had pierc'd him with a venom'd arrow And if it be told that women cannot retain counsel and therefore can be no brave friends I can best confute them by the story of Porcâ—a who being fearful of the weakness of her sex stabb'd her self into the thigh to try how she could bear pain and finding her self constant enough to that sufferance gently chid her Brutus for not daring to trust her since now she perceived that no torment could wrest that secret from her which she hoped might be intrusted to her If there were not more things to be said for your satisfaction I could have made it disputable whether have been more illustrious in their friendships men or women I cannot say that Women are capable of all those excellencies by which men can oblige the world and therefore a female friend in some cases is not so good a counsellor as a wise man and cannot so well defend my honour nor dispose of reliefs and assistances if she be under the power of another but a woman can love as passionately and converse as pleasantly and retain a secret as faithfully and be useful in her proper ministeries and she can die for her friend as well as the bravest Roman Knight and we find that some persons have engag'd themselves as far as death upon a less interest than all this amounts to such were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeks call them the Devoti of a Prince or General the Assasines amongst the Saracens the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst the old Galatians they did as much as a friend could do And if the greatest services of a friend can be paid for by an ignoble price we cannot grudge to vertuous and brave women that they be partners in a noble friendship since their conversation and returns can add so many moments to the felicity of our lives and therefore though a Knife cannot enter as far as a Sword yet a Knife may be more useful to some purposes and in every thing except it be against an enemy A man is the best friend in trouble but a woman may be equal to him in the days of joy a woman can as well increase our comforts but cannot so well lessen our sorrows and therefore we do not carry women with us when we go to fight but in peaceful Cities and times vertuous women are the beauties of society and the prettinesses of friendship And when we consider that few persons in the world have all those excellencies by which friendship can be useful and illustrious we may as well allow women as men to be friends since they can have all that
Confirmation 8. b. That the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews speaking of laying on of hands meaneth Confirmation and not Absolution nor Ordination 10 11. b. It was to continue down to all ages of the Church 13 14. b. Confirmation proved by the Testimony of the Fathers and the practice of the Primitive Church 15. b. Of the authority of S. Ambrose and Pope Sylvester alledged to prove that Confirmation may be administred by Presbyters 19 20 ss 4. b. The difference between the Chrism of Confirmation and Baptism 20. b. Friers Regulars and Jesuites did in England challenge by Commission from the Pope a power of administring Confirmation though they were but Presbyters 21. b. The difference as to the use between Confirmation and Baptism 26. b. The blessings and graces usually conveyed by Episcopal Confirmation 25 26. b. The Ceremonies of it 24 25. b. Of the change made in us by it 28. b. Confirmation was usually administred at the same time with Baptism 29. b. The reason was because few were then baptized but adult persons ibid. The Apostles were not confirmed till after they had received the Sacrament of our Lord's Supper 30. b. Whether Confirmation be administred more opportunely in infancy or in our riper years 29 30. b. Whether it can be administred more then once 32. b. On what account the Primitive Christians did confirm hereticks reduced and reconciled 32. b. Conscience That authority is most effectual which is seated there 160 § 49. The Church of Rome arrogates to her self an Empire over Consciences 461. The niceties that every Ideot must trouble his Conscience with that worships Images in the way of the Romanists 548. How the religious man's Conscience is intangled by some modern errours that are allowed Pref. to Discourse of Repentance The contention between the flesh and conscience no sign of Regeneration 781 n. 31. How to know which prevails in this contention ibid. Consequent The manner of the Scripture is to include the consequent in the antecedent 679 n. 62. Consignare Of the sense of that word in the ancient Church 20. b. Contrition A description of Contrition 829 n. 28 29. The efficacy of it in repentance 670 n. 61. What it is 821 n. 5. The difference between it and Attrition 828. It must not be mistaken for a single act 829 n. 31. 1 Corinth Chap. 11. v. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 explained 58 § 9. and 11.29 Eateth and drinketh unworthily explained 218 § 8. and 898. and 6.12 expl 619 n. 23. and 10.23 ibid. and 2.14 expl 723 n. 53. and 785 n. 44. and 11.27 expl 814 n. 59. 2 Corinth Chap. 15.21 expl 712 n. 15. and 12.21 expl 803 n. 12. and 1.21 22. Now he which confirmeth us and hath anointed and sealed expl 28. b. Corporal Austerities Or penances 858 n. 111. They are not simply necessary ibid. Corporal Afflictions are not of repentance 846 n. 75. How they are to be used 846 847 n. 76 77. The Primitive Christians did not believe them simply necessary 847 n. 78 79. Covenant Reasons why with a Covenant of works God began this intercourse with man 575. The opposition between the new and old Covenant is not in respect of faith and works 588 n. 7. Councils Presbyters had not the power of voting in them 136 § 41. That of Basil was the first in which Presbyters in their own right were admitted to vote 136 § 41. Presbyters as such did not vote in that first Oecumenical Council Act. 15. p. 137 § 41. The people had de facto no vote in that Council ibid. The sixth Canon of the Council of Sevil objected and explained 147 § 44. Aërius was never condemned by any general Council 150 § 48. In the first council of Constantinople he is declared an heretick that believes right but separates from his Bishop 151 § 48. The Ephesine Council did decree against enlarging Creeds 290 c. 1. § 2. The Council of Trent decreed a Proposition in matter of fact that was past 290. c. 1. § 2. The Council of Trent binds all its subjects to give to the Sacrament of the Altar the same worship which they give to God himself 267 § 13. The Council of Constance decreed the half Communion with a non obstante to our Lord's institution 302 c. 1. § 6. The authority of a general Council against publick prayers in an unknown tongue 304. The Council of Eliberis and the Synod of Francford were against the worship of Images 306. The Council of Chalcedon did by decree give to the Bishop of Constantinople equal privileges with Rome 310. A Pope accused in the Lateran Council for not being in Orders 325 c. 2. § 7. Even among the Romanists the authority of general Councils is but precarious 391. Hard to tell which are General Councils 392 393. The last Lateran Council is at Rome esteemed a general Council but in France and Germany none at all 392. General Councils not infallible 392. Instances of General Councils that have been condemned by the succeeding 393. How to know which are General Councils 393. It cannot be known who have voices in Councils who not 394. The Laiety were sometime admitted to vote in Councils 394 395. What if two parties call each their Council 395. How shall the decision be in a Council if the Bishops be divided in their opinions 395. Who hath power to call a general Council 395. Of a general Council confirmed by the Pope 395. A general Council in many cases cannot have the Pope's confirmation 396. Whether the Pope be above a Council 396. The Divinity of the H. Ghost was not decreed in the Council of Nice 424. The questions that arose in the Council of Nice were not determined by Tradition but Scripture 425. How many of the Orthodox did begin to comply with the Arians about the Council of Ariminum 441. The definitions of general Councils were not so binding in the Primitive Church 441. The Councils of Nice and Chalcedon did decree against enlarging Creeds ibid. Lindwood in the Council of Basil made an appeal in the behalf of the King of England against the Pope 511. What passed in the Lateran Council concerning Transubstantiation 519. Neither Transubstantiation nor any thing else was in the Lateran Council decreed 519. The same Council that decreed Transubstantiation made Rebellion the duty of subjects 520. Of the second Council of Nice and that of Francford and the Capitular of Charles the Great 540 541. Of the testimony of the Eliberitane Council against Images 538. Of the Council of the Apostles held at Jerusalem mentioned Act. 15. p. 948 n. 3. Of Councils Ecclesiastical 948 § 6. per tot Concilium Sinuessanum a forged one 991 n. 9. Reasons why decrees of Councils in defining controversies lay no obligation 986 987 988 989 ad fin sect Saint Augustine teacheth that the decrees of general Councils are as much subject to amendment as the letters of private Bishops 991 n. 8. The Roman Council under
Christ is the blood of Christ so the Sacrament of faith is Now suppose a stranger to the tricks of the Roman Doctors a wise and a discerning man should read these words in S. Austin and weigh them diligently and compare them with all the adjacent words and circumstances of the place I would desire reasonably to be answered on which side he would conclude S. Austin to be if in any other place he speaks words contrary that is his fault or forgetfulness but if the contrary had been the doctrine of the Church he could never have so forgotten his Religion and Communion as so openly to have declared a contrary sence to the same Article Non hoc corpus quod videtis manducaturi estis c. You are not to eat this body which you see so he brings in Christ speaking to his disciples or to drink that blood which my crucifiers shall pour forth I have commended to you a Sacrament which being spiritually understood shall quicken you and Christ brought them to a banquet in which he commended to his disciples the figure of his body and blood * For he did not doubt to say This is my body when he gave the sign of his body * Quod ab omnibus sacrificium appellatur c. That which by all men is called a sacrifice is the sign of the true sacrifice in which the flesh of Christ after his assumption is celebrated by the Sacrament of remembrances But concerning S. Austins doctrine I shall refer him that desires to be further satisfied to no other record than their own Canon Law Which not only from S. Austin but from divers others produces testimonies so many so pertinent so full for our doctrine and against the dream of Transubstantiation that it is to me a wonder why it is not clapped into the Indices expurgatorii for it speaks very many truths beyond the cure of their Glosses which they have changed and altered several times But that this matter concerning S. Austin may be yet clearer his own third book de doctrinâ Christianâ is so plain for us in this question that when Frudegardus in the time of Charles the Bald had upon occasion of the dispute which then began to be hot and interested in this question read this book of S. Austin he was changed to the opinion of a Spiritual and mysterious presence and upon occasion of that his being perswaded by S. Austin Paschasius Ratberdus wrote to him as of a question then doubted of by many persons as is to be seen in his Epistle to Frudegardus I end this of S. Austin with those words of his which he intends by way of rule for expounding these and the like words of Scripture taken out of this book of Christian doctrine Locutio praeceptiva c. A preceptive speech forbidding a crime or commanding something good or profitable is not figurative but if it seems to command a crime or forbid a good then it is figurative Vnless ye eat the flesh of the son of man c. seems to command a wickedness it is therefore a figure commanding us to communicate with the passion of our Lord and sweetly and profitably to lay it up in our memory that his flesh was crucified and wounded for us I shall not need to urge that this holy Sacrament is called Eucharistia carnis sanguinis The Eucharist of the body and blood by Irenaeus Corpus symbolicum typicum by Origen In typo sanguis by S. Jerome similitudo figura typus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 images enigmaes representations expressions exemplars of the Passion by divers others that which I shall note here is this that in the Council of Constantinople it was publickly professed that the Sacrament is not the body of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not by nature but by representment for so it is expounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the holy image of it and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Eucharistical bread is the true image of the natural flesh and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A figure or image delivered by God of his flesh and a true image of the incarnate dispensation of Christ. These things are found in the third Tome of the Sixth Action of the second Nicene Council where a pert Deacon ignorant and confident had boldly said that none of the Apostles or Fathers had ever called the Sacrament the image of Christs body that they were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 antitypes before consecration he grants but after consecration they are called and are and are believed to be the body and blood of Christ properly which I suppose he might have learned of Damascene who in opposition to the Iconoclasts would not endure the word Type or Image to be used concerning the holy Sacrament for they would admit no other image but that he in defiance of them who had excommunicated him for a worshipper of Images and a half Sarazin would admit any Image but that but denied that to be an Image or Type of Christ de fide l. 4. c. 14. For Christ said not This is the Type of my body but it is it But however this new question began to branle the words of Type and Antitype and the manner of speaking began to be changed yet the Article as yet was not changed For the Fathers used the words of Type and Antitype and Image c. to exclude the natural sence of the Sacramental body and Damascene and Anastasius Sinaita and some others of that Age began to refuse those words lest the Sacrament be thought to be nothing of reality nothing but an Image And that this really was the sence of Damascene appears by his words recited in the Acts of the second Council of Nice affirming that the Divine bread is made Christs body by assumption and inhabitation of the Spirit of Christ in the same manner as water is made the laver of regeneration But however they were pleased to speak in the Nicene assembly yet in the Roman Edition of the Councils the Publishers and Collectors were wiser and put on this marginal note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The holy gifts are oftentimes called types and figures even after consecration particularly by Gregory Nazianzen and S. Cyril of Hierusalem I remember only one thing objected to this testimony of so many Bishops that they were Iconoclasts or breakers of images and therefore not to be trusted in any other Article So Bellarmine as I remember But this is just as if I should say that I ought to refuse the Lateran Council because they were worshippers of Images or defenders of Purgatory Surely if I should I had much more reason to refuse their sentence than there is that the Greeks should be rejected upon so slight a pretence nay for doing that which for ought appears was in all their circumstances their duty in a high
measure so that in effect they are refused for being good Christians But after this it happened again that the words of type and image were disliked in the question of the holy Sacrament by the Emperor Charles the great his Tutor Alcuinus and the Assembly at Frankfort but it was in opposition to the Council of Constantinople that called it the true image of Christs body and of the Nicene Council who decreed the worship of Images for if the Sacrament were an Image as they of CP said then it might be lawful to give reverence and worship to some Images for although these two Synods were enemies to each other yet the proposition of one might serve the design of the other but therefore the Western Doctors of that age speaking against the decree of this did also mislike the expression of that meaning that the Sacrament is not a type or image as a type is taken for a prefiguration a shadow of things to come like the legal ceremonies but in opposition to that is a body and a truth yet still it is a Sacrament of the body a mystery which is the same in effect with that which the Fathers taught in their so frequent using these words of Type c. for 750. years together And concerning this I only note the words of Charles the Emperor Ep. ad Alcuinum after the Synod Our Lord hath given the Bread and the Chalice in figurâ corporis sui sui sanguinis in the figure of his body and blood But setting the authority aside for if these men of CP be not allowed yet the others are and it is notorious that the Greek Fathers did frequently call the bread and wine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Latin Fathers call them signs similitudes figures types images therefore there must be something pretended to stop this great out-cry and insupportable prejudice of so great so clear authority After many trials as that by antitypes they mean exemplars that it is only before consecration not after and such other little devices of which they themselves quickly grew weary at last the craftiest of them came to this that the body of Christ under the Species might well be said to be the sign of the same body and blood as it was on the Cross so Bellarmine That 's the answer and that they are hard put to it you may guess by the meanness of the answer For besides that nothing can be like it self Idem non est simile the body as it is under the Species is glorified immortal invisible impassible indivisible insensible and this is it which he affirms to be the sign that is which is appointed to signifie and represent a body that was humbled tormented visible mortal sensible torn bleeding and dying So that here is a sign nothing like the thing signified and an invisible sign of a visible body which is the greatest absurdity in nature and in the use of things which is imaginable but besides this this answer if it were a proper and sensible account of any thing yet it is besides the mark for that the Fathers in these allegations affirm that the Species are the signs that is that bread and wine or the whole Sacrament is a sign of that body which is exhibited in effect and Spiritual power they dreamt not this dream it was long before themselves did dream it They that were but the day before them having as I noted before other fancies I deny not but the Sacramental body is the sign of the true body crucified but that the body glorified should be but a sign of the true body crucified is a device fit for themselves to fancy To this sence are those words cited by Lombard and Gratian out of S. Austin in the sentences of Prosper Caro ejus est quam formâ panis opertam in Sacramento accipimus sanguis quem sub specie vini potamus Caro viz. Carnis sanguis sacramentum est sanguinis carne sanguine utroque invisibili intelligibili spirituali significatur corpus Christi visibile plenum gratiae divinae majestatis That is It is his flesh which under the form of bread we receive in the Sacrament and under the form of wine we drink his blood Now that you may understand his meaning he tells you this is true in the Sacramental or Spiritual sence only for he adds flesh is the Sacrament of flesh and blood of blood by both flesh and blood which are invisible intelligible and Spiritual is signified the visible body of Christ full of grace and Divine majesty In which words here is a plain confutation of their main Article and of this whimsie of theirs For as to the particular whereas Bellarmine says that Christs body real and natural is the type of the body as it was crucified S. Austin says that the natural body is a type of that body which is glorified not the glorified body of the crucified 2. That which is a type is flesh in a spiritual sence not in a natural and therefore it can mean nothing but this That the Sacramental body is a figure and type of the real 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this thing is noted by the Gloss of Gratian. Caro i. e. species carnis sub qua latet corpus Christi c. The flesh that is the Species of it under which it lies are the Sacrament of the flesh so that the being of a Sacrament of Christs body is wholly relative to the Symbols not to the body as if the body were his own sign and his own Sacrament 30. Next to this heap of testimonies I must repeat the words of Theodoret and Gelasius which though known in this whole question yet being plain certain and unanswerable relying upon a great Article of the religion even the union of the two natures of Christ into one person without the change of substances must be as sacred and untouched by any trifling answer as the Article it self ought to be preserved The case was this The Eutychian Hereticks denied the natures of Christ to be united in one person that is they denied him to be both God and Man saying his humanity was taken into his divinity after his ascension The Fathers disputing against them say the substances remain intire though joyned in the person The Eutychians said this was impossible But as in the Sacrament the bread was changed into Christs body so in the ascension was the humanity turned into the divinity To this Theodoret answers in a Dialogue between the Eutychians under the name of Eranistes and himself the Orthodox Christ honoured the symbols and signs which are seen with the title of his body and blood not changing the nature but to nature adding grace The words are not capable of an answer if we observe that he says there is no change made but only grace superadded in all things else the things are the same And again For neither do