foregoing cases CAN the Ethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye learn to do good that are accustomed to do evil This is thy lot the portion of thy measures from me saith the Lord because thou hast forgotten me Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains lest while you look for light he turn it into the shadow of death and make it gross darkness What wilt thou say when he shall punish shall not sorrow take thee as a woman in travel And if thou say in thine heart Wherefore came these things upon me for the goodness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered and thy heels made bare I have seen thine adulteries and thy neighings the lewdness of thy whoredoms and thine abominations Wo unto thee wilt thou not be made clean when shall it once be saith the Lord God Thus saith the Lord unto this people Thus have they loved to wander they have not refrained their feet therefore the Lord doth not accept them he will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins Then saith the Lord Pray not for this people for their good When they fast I will not hear their cry and when they offer an oblation I will not accept them but I will consume them by the sword and by famine and by the pestilence Therefore thus saith the Lord if thou return then will I bring thee again and thou shalt stand before me and if thou take forth the precious from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee saith the Lord. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible Learn before thou speak and use Physick or ever thou be sick Before judgment examine thy self and in the day of visitation thou shalt find mercy Humble thy self before thou be sick and in the time of sins shew repentance Let nothing hinder thee to pay thy vows in due time and defer not until death to be justified I made hast and prolonged not the time to keep thy Commandments Thus saith the Lord of Hosts the God of Israel Amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place Trust not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord. For if you throughly amend your ways and your doings if you throughly execute judgment If ye oppress not the stranger and the widow then shall ye dwell in the land Thus saith the Lord God I will give you the land and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an heart of flesh That they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances and do them and they shall be my people and I will be their God But as for them whose heart walketh after their detestable things and their abominations I will recompence their way upon their own heads saith the Lord God They have seduced my people saying Peace and there was no peace and one built up a wall and others dawb'd it with untemper'd morter Will ye pollute me among my people for handfulls of barley and pieces of bread to slay the souls that should not die and to save the souls alive that should not live by your lying unto my people that hear your lies Therefore I will judge you ô house of Israel every one according to your ways saith the Lord God repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your ruine Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby you have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die ô house of Israel For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth saith the Lord God wherefore turn your selves and live ye Ye shall remember your ways and all your doings wherein ye have been defil'd and ye shall loath your selves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed Wo unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cart-rope Wo unto them that justifie the wicked for a reward and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you yea when you make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood Wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doing from before mine eyes cease to do evil Learn to do well seek judgment relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless plead for the widow Come now and let us reason together saith the Lord Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red as crimson they shall be as wooll If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat the fruit of the land But if ye refuse and rebel ye shall be devoured with the sword for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it She hath wearied her self with lies therefore have I caused my fury to light upon her Sow to your selves in righteousness and reap in mercy break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you Turn thou unto thy God keep mercy and judgment and wait on thy God continually O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help Return to the Lord thy God for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity Take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips For in thee the fatherless findeth mercy I will heal their backsliding I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away Seek ye the Lord while he may be found call ye upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity whose name is Holy I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the Spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones For I will not contend for ever neither will I be always wroth for the spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made For the iniquity of his
Lunatick child and at the same time cured him but such things as these are extra-regular and contingent This which we speak of is a regular Ministery and must have a regular effect S. Austin said that the holy Spirit in Confirmation was given ad dilatanda Ecclesiae primordia for the propagating Christianity in the beginnings of the Church S. Hierom says it was propter honorem sacerdotii for the honour of the Priesthood S. Ambrose says it was ad Confirmationem Vnitatis in Ecclesia Christi for the confirmation of Unity in the Church of Christ. And they all say true But the first was by the miraculous Consignations which did accompany this Ministery and the other two were by reason that the Mysteries were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were appropriated to the ministery of the Bishop who is caput unitatis the Head the last resort the Firmament of Unity in the Church These effects were regular indeed but they were incident and accidental There are effects yet more proper and of greater excellency Now if we will understand in general what excellent fruits are consequent to this Dispensation we may best receive the notice of them from the Fountain it self our Blessed Saviour He that believes out of his belly as the Scripture saith shall flow Rivers of Living waters But this he spake of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive This is evidently spoken of the Spirit which came down in Pentecost which was promised to all that should believe in Christ and which the Apostles ministred by Imposition of hands the Holy Ghost himself being the expositor and it can signifie no less but that a Spring of life should be put into the heart of the Confirmed to water the Plants of God that they should become Trees not only planted by the waterside for so it was in David's time and in all the Ministery of the Old TeTestament but having a River of living water within them to make them fruitful of goods works and bringing their fruit in due season fruits worthy of amendment of life 1. But the principal thing is this Confirmation is the consummation and perfection the corroboration and strength of Baptism and Baptismal Grace for in Baptism we undertake to do our duty but in Confirmation we receive strength to do it in Baptism others promise for us in Confirmation we undertake for our selves we ease our God-fathers and God-mothers of their burthen and take it upon our own shoulders together with the advantage of the Prayers of the Bishop and all the Church made then on our behalf in Baptism we give up our names to Christ but in Confirmation we put our Seal to the Profession and God puts his Seal to the Promise It is very remarkable what S. Paul says of the beginnings of our being Christians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word of the beginning of Christ Christ begins with us he gives us his word and admits us and we by others hands are brought in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is the form of Doctrine unto which ye were delivered Cajetan observes right That this is a new and emphatical way of speaking we are wholly immerged in our Fundamentals other things are delivered to us but we are delivered up unto these This is done in Baptism and Catechism and what was the event of it Being then made free from sin ye became the Servants of Righteousness Your Baptism was for the Remission of sins there and then ye were made free from that bondage and what then why then in the next place when ye came to consummate this procedure when the Baptized was Confirmed then he became a servant of righteousness that is then the Holy Ghost descended upon you and enabled you to walk in the Spirit then the seed of God was first thrown into your hearts by a celestial influence Spiritus Sanctus in Baptisterio plenitudinem tribuit ad innocentiam sed in Confirmatione augmentum praestat ad gratiam said Eusebius Emissenus In Baptism we are made innocent in Confirmation we receive the increase of the Spirit of Grace in that we are regenerated unto life in this we are strengthned unto battel Dono sapientiae illuminamur aedificamur erudimur instruimur confirmamur ut illam Sancti Spiritûs vocem audire possimus Intellectum tibi dabo instruam te in hac vitâ quâ gradieris said P. Melchiades We are inlightned by the gift of wisdom we are built up taught instructed and confirmed so that we may hear that voice of the Holy Spirit I will give unto thee an understanding heart and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt walk For so Signari populos effuso pignore sancto Mirandae virtutis opus It is a work of great and wonderful power when the holy Pledge of God is poured forth upon the people This is that Power from on high which first descended in Pentecost and afterward was ministred by Prayer and Imposition of the Apostolical and Episcopal hands and comes after the other gift of Remission of sins Vides quòd non simpliciter hoc fit sed multâ opus est virtute ut detur Spiritus Sanctus Non enim idem est assequi remissionem peccatorum accipere virtutem illam said S. Chrysostom You see that this is not easily done but there is need of much power from on high to give the Holy Spirit for it is not all one to obtain Remission of sins and to have received this vertue or power from above Quamvis enim continuò transituris sufficiant Regenerationis beneficia victuris tamen necessaria sunt Confirmationis auxilia said Melchiades Although to them that die presently the benefits of Regeneration Baptismal are sufficient yet to them that live the Auxiliaries of Confirmation are necessary For according to the saying of S. Leo in his Epistle to Nicetas the Bishop of Aquileia commanding that Hereticks returning to the Church should be Confirmed with invocation of the Holy Spirit and Imposition of hands they have only received the form of Baptism sine sanctificationis virtute without the vertue of Sanctification meaning that this is the proper effect of Confirmation For in short Although the newly-lifted Souldiers in humane warfare are inrolled in the number of them that are to fight yet they are not brought to battel till they be more trained and exercised So although by Baptism every one is ascribed into the catalogue of Believers yet he receives more strength and grace for the sustaining and overcoming the temptations of the Flesh the World and the Devil only by Imposition of the Bishops hands They are words which I borrowed from a late Synod at Rhemes That 's the first remark of blessing In Confirmation we receive strength to do all that which was for us undertaken in Baptism For the Apostles themselves as the H. Fathers observe were timorous in the Faith until they were Confirmed in Pentecost but after
in the first three hundred years did theirs we can serve God in our houses and sometimes in Churches and our faith which was not built upon temporal foundations cannot be shaken by the convulsions of war and the changes of State But they who make our afflictions an objection against us unless they have a promise that they shall never be afflicted might do well to remember that if they ever fall into trouble they have nothing left to represent or make their condition tolerable for by pretending Religion is destroyed when it is persecuted they take away all that which can support their own Spirits and sweeten persecution However let our Church be where it pleases God it shall it is certain that Transubstantiation is an evil Doctrine false and dangerous and I know not any Church in Christendom which hath any Article more impossible or apt to render the Communion dangerous than this in the Church of Rome and since they command us to believe all or will accept none I hope the just reproof of this one will establish the minds of those who can be tempted to communicate with them in others I have now given an account of the reasons of my present engagement and though it may be enquired also why I presented it to You I fear I shall not give so perfect an account of it because those excellent reasons which invited me to this signification of my gratitude are such which although they ought to be made publick yet I know not whether your humility will permit it for you had rather oblige others than be noted by them Your Predecessor in the See of Rochester who was almost a Cardinal when he was almost dead did publickly in those evil times appear against the truth defended in this Book and yet he was more moderate and better tempered than the rest but because God hath put the truth into the hearts and mouths of his successors it is not improper that to you should be offered the opportunities of owning that which is the belief and honour of that See since the Religion was reformed But lest it be thought that this is an excuse rather than a reason of my address to you I must crave pardon of your humility and serve the end of glorification of God in it by acknowledging publickly that you have assisted my condition by the emanations of that grace which is the Crown of Martyrdom expending the remains of your lessened fortunes and increasing charity upon your Brethren who are dear to you not only by the band of the same Ministery but the fellowship of the same sufferings But indeed the cause in which these papers are ingaged is such that it ought to be owned by them that can best defend it and since the defence is not with secular arts and aids but by Spiritual the diminution of your outward circumstances cannot render you a person unfit to patronize this Book because where I fail your wisdom learning and experience can supply and therefore if you will pardon my drawing your name from the privacy of your retirement into a publick view you will singularly oblige and increase those favours by which you have already endeared the thankfulness and service of R. R. Your most affectionate and endeared Servant in the Lord Jesus JER TAYLOR A DISCOURSE OF THE REAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST In the Holy Sacrament SECT I. State of the Question 1. THE Tree of Knowledge became the Tree of Death to us and the Tree of Life is now become an Apple of Contention The holy Symbols of the Eucharist were intended to be a contesseration and an union of Christian societies to God and with one another and the evil taking it disunites us from God and the evil understanding it divides us from each other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And yet if men would but do reason there were in all Religion no article which might more easily excuse us from medling with questions about it than this of the holy Sacrament For as the man in Phaedrus that being asked what he carried hidden under his Cloak answered it was hidden under his Cloak meaning that he would not have hidden it but that he intended it should be secret so we may say in this mystery to them that curiously ask what or how it is Mysterium est it is a Sacrament and a Mystery by sensible instruments it consigns spiritual graces by the creatures it brings us to God by the body it ministers to the Spirit And that things of this nature are undiscernable secrets we may learn by the experience of those men who have in cases not unlike vainly laboured to tell us how the material fire of Hell should torment an immaterial soul and how baptismal water should cleanse the spirit and how a Sacrament should nourish a body and make it sure of the resurrection 2. It was happy with Christendom when she in this article retained the same simplicity which she always was bound to do in her manners and entercourse that is to believe the thing heartily and not to enquire curiously and there was peace in this Article for almost a thousand years together and yet that Transubstantiation was not determined I hope to make very evident In synaxi transubstantiationem serò definivit Ecclesia diù satis erat credere sive sub pane consecrato sive quocunque modo adesse verum corpus Christi so said the great Erasmus It was late before the Church defined Transubstantiation for a long time together it did suffice to believe that the true body of Christ was present whether under the consecrated bread or any other way so the thing was believed the manner was not stood upon And it is a famous saying of Durandus Verbum audimus motum sentimus modum nescimus praesentiam credimus We hear the Word we perceive the Motion we know not the Manner but we believe the presence and Ferus of whom Sixtus Senensis affirms that he was vir nobiliter doctus pius eruditus hath these words Cum certum sit ibi esse corpus Christi quid opus est disputare num panis substantia maneat vel non When it is certain that Christs body is there what need we dispute whether the substance of bread remain or no and therefore Cutbert Tonstal Bishop of Duresme would have every one left to his conjecture concerning the manner De modo quo id fieret satius erat curiosum quemque relinquere suae conjecturae sicut liberum fuit ante Concilium Lateranum Before the Lateran Council it was free for every one to opine as they please and it were better it were so now But S. Cyril would not allow so much liberty not that he would have the manner determined but not so much as thought upon Firmam fidem mysteriis adhibentes nunquam in tam sublimibus rebus illud Quomodo aut cogitemus aut proferamus For if we go about to think it
profited or obliged by our services no moments do thence accrew to his felicities and to challenge a reward of God or to think our best services can merit heaven is as if Galileo when he had found out a Star which he had never observed before and pleased himself in his own fancy should demand of the Grand Signior to make him king of Tunis for what is he the better that the studious man hath pleased himself in his own Art and the Turkish Empire gets no advantages by his new Argument * And this is so much the more material if we consider that the littleness of our services if other things were away could not countervail the least moment of Eternity and the poor Countrey man might as well have demanded of Cyrus to give him a Province for his handful of river water as we can expect of God to give us Heaven as a reward of our good works 22. XVI But although this rule relying upon such great and convincing grounds can abolish all proud expectations of reward from God as a debtor for our good works yet they ought not to destroy our modest confidence and our rejoycings in God who by his gracious promises hath not only obliged himself to help us if we pray to him but to reward us if we work For our God is merciful he rewardeth every man according to his work so said David according to the nature and graciousness of the work not according to their value and proper worthiness not that they deserve it but because God for the communication of his goodness was pleased to promise it Promissum quidem ex misericordiâ sed ex justitiâ persolvendum said S. Bernard Mercy first made the promise but justice pays the debt Which words were true if we did exactly do all that duty to which the reward was so graciously promised but where much is to be abated even of that little which was bound upon us by so glorious promises of reward there we can in no sence challenge Gods justice but so as it signifies equity and is mingled with the mercies of the chancery Gratis promisit gratis reddit So Ferus God promised freely and pays freely If therefore thou wilt obtain grace and favour make no mention of thy deservings And yet let not this slacken thy work but reinforce it and enlarge thy industry since thou hast so gracious a Lord who of his own meer goodness will so plentifully reward it 23. XVII If we fail in the outward work let it be so ordered that it be as little imputable to us as we can that is let our default not be at all voluntary but wholly upon the accounts of a pityable infirmity For the Law was a Covenant of Works such as they were but the mind could not make amends within for the defect without But in the Gospel it is otherwise for here the will is accepted for the fact in all things where the fact is not in our power But where it is there to pretend a will is hypocrisie Nequam illud verbum est benè vult nisi qui benè facit said the Comedian This rule is our measure in the great lines of duty in all negative Precepts and in the periods of the law of Christ which cannot pass by us without being observed But in the material and external instances of duty we may without our fault be disabled and therefore can only be supplied with our endeavours and desires But that is our advantage we thus can perform all Gods will acceptably For if we endeavour all that we can and desire more and pursue more it is accepted as if we had done all for we are accepted according to what a man hath and not according to what he hath not Unless we can neither endeavour nor desire we ought not to complain of the burthen of the Divine Commandments For to endeavour truly and passionately to desire and contend for more is obedience and charity and that is the fulfilling of the Commandments Matter for Meditation out of Scripture according to the former Doctrine The Old Covenant or the Covenant of Works IN that day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Cursed in every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the law to do them And thou shalt write upon stones all the words of this law very plainly Thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day to the right hand or to the left But it shall come to pass if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes then shall all these curses come upon thee and overtake thee And if you will not be reformed by these things but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses The New Covenant or the Covenant of Grace WE are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God * To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus * Where is boasting then it is excluded by what law of works Nay but by the law of faith * Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit For as many as are led by the Spirit they are the sons of God * Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God * And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall not he with him also freely give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifieth This is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws in their mind and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people all shall know me from the least to the greatest * For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are past away all things are become new And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus
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
it is certain there is a great difference in the admitting penitents On some have compassion others save with fear pulling them out of the fire Now since for all our sins we are bound to ask pardon every day if we do so who dares say it is too much that it is more than needs But if to repent every day be not too much who can be sure that if he puts it off one day it shall be sufficient To some men and at some times God is implacably angry some men and at some times God hath in his fury and sudden anger seis'd upon with the apprehensions of death and saddest judgments and broken them all in pieces and as there is a reign and kingdome of Mercy so there are sudden irruptions of a fierce Justice of which God hath therefore given us examples that we may not defer Repentance one day But this mischief goes further For 8. VI. So long as we lie in the guilt of one sin unrepented of though we do not add heaps upon heaps and multiply instances of the same or equal crimes yet we are in so unthriving a condition and so evil a state that all that while we lose all the benefit of any good thing that we can do upon the interest of any principle whatsoever For so long as we are out of Gods favour under the seisure and arrest of eternal guilt so long we are in a state of enmity with God and all our actions are like the performances of Heathens nothing to eternal life but mispendings of our powers and prodigalities of reason and wise discourses they are not perfective of our being neither do they set us forward to heaven until our state be changing Either then we are not by a certain Law and Commandment bound every day to serve God and please him or else we are positively and strictly bound instantly to repent of all our sins because so long as a known sin is unrepented of we cannot serve God we cannot do any thing that shall be acceptable to him in Jesus Christ. 9. VII Every delaying of Repentance is one step of progression towards final Impenitence which is not only then esteem'd a sin against the holy Ghost when a man resolves never to repent but if by carelesness he neglects or out of tediousness and an irreligious spirit quite puts off or for ever pass by it is unpardonable it shall never be forgiven in this world nor in the world to come Now since final impenitence is the consummation and perfection of all sin we are to remember that it is nothing but a perseverance of neglecting or refusing to repent A man is always dying and that which we call death is but the finishing of death the last act of it So is final impenitence nothing but the same sin told over so many days it is a persevering carelesness or resolution and therefore it cannot be the sin of one day unless it be by accident it is a state of sin begun as soon as ever the sin is acted and grows in every day of thy negligence or forgetfulness But if it should happen that a sinner that sinn'd yesterday should die to day his deferring his Repentance that one day would be esteem'd so and indeed really be a final impenitence It follows therefore that to put off our Repentance one day differs only accidentally and by chance from the worst of evils from final impenitence it is the beginning of it it differs from it as an infant from a man it is materially the same sin and may also have the same formality 10. VIII The putting off our Repentance from day to day must needs be a sin distinct from the guilt of the action whereof we are to repent because the principle of it cannot be innocent it must needs be distinctly Criminal It is a rebellion against God or hardness of heart or the spirit of Apostasie Presumption or Despair or at least such a carelesness as being in the question of our souls and in relation to God is infinitely far from being excusable or innocent 11. These considerations seem to me of very great moment and to conclude the main proposition and at least they ought to effect this perswasion upon us that whoever hath committed a sin cannot honestly nor prudently nor safely defer his Repentance one hour He that repents instantly breaks his habit when it is in ovo in the shell and prevents Gods anger and his own debauchment and disimprovement Qui parvis obvius ibit Is nunquam praeceps scelera in graviora feretur And let us consider that if we defer our Repentance one hour we do to our souls worse than to our bodies Quae laedunt oculos festinas demere si quid Est animum differs curandi tempus in annum If dirt fall into our eyes we do not say unto the Chirurgeon Stay Sir and let the grit or little stone abide there till next week but get it out presently This similitude if it proves nothing yet will serve to upbraid our folly to instruct and exhort us in the duty of this Question Remember this that as in Gods account 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to remit to retain a sin are opposite so it ought to be in ours Our retaining and keeping of a sin though but for a day is contrary to the designs of mercy and holiness it is against God and against the interest of our souls SECT III. A sinful habit hath in it proper evils and a proper guiltiness of its own besides all that which came directly by the single actions 1. BY a sinful habit I mean the facility and easiness the delight and custome of sinning contracted by the repetition of the acts of the same sin as a habit of drunkenness a habit of swearing and the like that is a quality inherent in the soul whereby we work with pleasure for that Aristotle calls the infallible and proper indication of habits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And so long as any man sins willingly readily frequently and upon every temptation or most commonly so long he is an habitual sinner when he does his actions of Religion with pain and of his sin with pleasure he is in the state of death and enmity against God And as by frequent playing upon an instrument a man gets a habit of playing so he does in renewing the actions of the same sin there is an evil quality produced which affects and corrupts his soul. * But concerning the nature of a vicious habit this also is to be added 2. That a vicious habit is not only contracted by the repetition of acts in the same kind but by frequency of sinning in any variety of instances whatsoever For there are many vicious persons who have an Ambulatory impiety and sin in all or most of their opportunities but their occasions are not uniform and therefore their irregularities are irregular and by chance for the
it before a sinner can be tied to it For to have displeased God is a great evil but what is it to me if it will bring no evil to me It is a Metaphysical and a Moral evil but unless it be also naturally and sensibly so it is not the object of a natural and proper grief It follows therefore that the state of a repenting person must have in it some more causes of sorrow than are usually taught or else in vain can they be called upon to weep and mourn for their sins Well may they wring their faces and their hands and put on black those disguises of passion and curtains of joy those ceremonies and shadows of rich widows and richer heirs by which they decently hide their secret smiles well may they rend their garments but upon this account they can never rend their hearts 7. For the stating of this Article it is considerable that there are several parts or periods of sorrow which are effected by several principles In the beginning of our repentance sometimes we feel cause enough to grieve For God smites many into repentance either a sharp sickness does awaken us or a calamity upon our house or the death of our dearest relative and they that find sin so heavily incumbent and to press their persons or fortunes with feet of lead will feel cause enough and need not to be disputed into a penitential sorrow They feel Gods anger and the evil effects of sin and that it brings sorrow and then the sorrow is justly great because we have done that evil which brings so sad a judgment 8. And in the same proportion there is always a natural cause of sorrow where there is a real cause of fear and so it is ever in the beginning of repentance and for ought we know it is for ever so and albeit the causes of fear lessen as the repentance does proceed yet it will never go quite off till hope it self be gone and passed into charity or at least into a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into that fulness of confidence which is given to few as the reward of a lasting and conspicuous holiness And the reason is plain For though it be certain in religion that whoever repents shall be pardoned yet it is a long time before any man hath repented worthily and it is as uncertain in what manner and in what measures and in what time God will give us pardon It is as easie to tell the very day in which a man first comes to the use of reason as to tell the very time in which we are accepted to final pardon The progressions of one being as divisible as the other and less discernible For reason gives many fair indications of it self whereas God keeps the secrets of this mercy in his sanctuary and draws not the curtain till the day of death or judgment 9. Add to this that our very repentances have many allays and imperfections and so hath our pardon And every one that sins hath so displeased God that he is become the subject of the Divine anger Death is the wages what death God please and therefore what evil soever God will inflict or his mortality can suffer and he that knows this hath cause to fear and he that fears hath cause to be grieved that he is fallen from that state of divine favour in which he stood secured with the guards of Angels and covered with Heaven it self as with a shield in which he was beloved of God and heir of all his glories 10. But they that describe repentance in short and obscure characters and make repentance and pardon to be the children of a minute and born and grown up quickly as a fly or a mushrome with the dew of a night or the tears of a morning making the labours of the one and the want of the other to expire sooner than the pleasures of a transient sin are so insensible of the sting of sin that indeed upon their grounds it will be impossible to have a real godly sorrow For though they have done evil yet by this doctrine they feel none and there is nothing remains as a cause of grief unless they will be sorrowful for that they have been pleased formerly and are now secured nothing remains before them or behind but the pleasure that they had and the present confidence and impunity and that 's no good instrument of sorrow Securitas delicti etiam libido est ejus Sin takes occasion by the law it self if there be no penalty annexed 11. But the first in-let of a godly sorrow which is the beginning of repentance is upon the stock of their present danger and state of evil into which by their sin they are fallen viz. when their guilt is manifest they see that they are become sons of death expos'd to the wrath of a provoked Deity whose anger will express it self when and how it please and for ought the man knows it may be the greatest and it may be intolerable and though his danger is imminent and certain yet his pardon is a great way off it may be Yea it may be No it must be hop'd for but it may be missed for it is upon conditions and they are or will seem very hard Sed ut valeas multa dolenda feres So that in the summ of affairs however that the greatest sinner and the smallest penitent are very apt and are taught by strange doctrines to flatter themselves into confidence and presumption yet he will have reason to mourn and weep when he shall consider that he is in so sad a condition that because his life is uncertain it is also uncertain whether or no he shall not be condemned to an eternal prison of flames so that every sinner hath the same reason to be sorrowful as he hath who from a great state of blessings and confidence is fallen into great fears and great dangers and a certain guilt and liableness of losing all he hath and suffering all that is insufferable They who state repentance otherwise cannot make it reasonable that a penitent should shed a tear And therefore it is no wonder that we so easily observe a great dulness and indifferency so many dry eyes and merry hearts in persons that pretend repentance it cannot more reasonably be attributed to any cause than to those trifling and easie propositions of men that destroy the causes of sorrow by lessening and taking off the opinion of danger But now that they are observed and reproved I hope the evil will be lessened But to proceed 12. II. Having now stated the reasonableness and causes of penitential sorrow the next inquity is into the nature and constitution of that sorrow For it is to be observed that penitential sorrow is not seated in the affections directly but in the understanding and is rather Odium than Dolor it is hatred of sin and detestation of it a nolition a renouncing and disclaiming it whose expression is a resolution never
fears Hell but does not love God If it be said that absolution changes fear into love attrition into contrition a Saul into a David a Judas into a John a Simon Magus into Simon Peter then the greatest conversions and miracles of change may be wrought in an instant by an ordinary ministery and when Simon Magus was affrighted by S. Peter about the horror of his sin and told that he was in the gall of bitterness and thereupon desired the Apostle to pray for him if S. Peter had but absolved him which he certainly might upon that affright he put the Sorcerer in he had made him a Saint presently and needed not to have spoken so uncertainly concerning him Pray if peradventure the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee For without peradventure he might have made a quicker dispatch and a surer work by giving him absolution upon his present submission and the desire of his prayers and his visible apparent fear of being in the gall of bitterness all which must needs be as much or more than the Roman Schools define Attrition to be But 65. II. The Priest pardons upon no other terms than those upon which God pardons for if he does then he is not the minister of God but the supreme lord and must do it by his own measures if he does it not by the measures of God For God does never pardon him that is only attrite and this is confessed in that they require the man to go to the Priest that he may be made contrite which is all one as if he were bidden to go to the Priest to be made chast or liberal temperate or humble in an instant 66. III. And if it be said that although God does not pardon him that is attrite unless it be together with the Keys that is unless the Priest absolves him but then it being all that God requires in that case the Priest does no more than God warrants it is done by Gods measures the attrition or imperfect repentance of the penitent and the Keys of the Church being all which God requires this indeed if it could be proved were something but there is no tittle of it in Scripture or Antiquity it being no where said that attrition and absolution alone are sufficient and is an unreasonable dream but of yesterday 67. IV. For if attrition be good of it self and a sufficient disposition to receive pardon from the Church then it is also sufficient to obtain pardon of God without the Church in case of necessity For unless it be for him in case of necessity sufficient to desire absolution then the outward act does more than the inward and the ceremony were more than the grace and the Priest could do more than God would for the Priest would and could pardon him whom God would not pardon without the Priest and the will could not be accepted for the deed when the deed were impossible to be done and God would require of us more than we have more than he hath given us and a man should live or die not by himself but should be judged by the actions of others All which contain in them impossible affirmatives and therefore proceed from a false principle 68. V. But then if Attrition in some cases without the Sacrament were good it is as good to all intents and purposes of pardon as Contrition for Contrition say the Roman Schools is not sufficient of it self without the Keys that is unless it contain in it a resolution to confess and beg absolution Now this resolution is no resolution unless it be reduced to act when it can it is a mockery if it does not and it is to be excused in no case but in that of necessity And just so it is in attrition as I have proved In vain therefore it is for any good man to perswade his penitent to heighten his repentance and to be contrite for he may at a cheaper rate be assured of his pardon if he makes the Priest his friend but as for Contrition by this doctrine it is more than needs 69. VI. But then it is strange that Attrition which of it self is insufficient shall yet do the work of pardon with the Priests absolution and yet that that which is sufficient as Contrition is affirmed to be in the Council of Trent shall not do it without absolution in act or desire that is in act always unless it be impossible This incourages the imperfect and discourages the perfect tying them both to equal laws whether they need it or need it not 70. VII But I demand Can the Priest hearing of a penitent mans confession whom he justly and without error perceives only to be attrite can he I say refuse to absolve him can he retain his sins till he perceives him to be contrite certainly in the Primitive Church when they deferr'd to give him the peace of the Church for three for seven for ten for thirteen years together their purpose then was to work in him contrition or the most excellent Repentance But however if he can refuse to absolve such a man then it is because absolution will not work for him what is defective in him it will not change it into contrition for if it could then to refuse to absolve him were highly uncharitable and unreasonable But if he cannot refuse to absolve such a person it is because he is sufficiently disposed he hath done all that God requires of him to dispose himself to it and if so then the Sacrament as they call it that is the Priests absolution does nothing to the increasing his disposition it is sufficient already Add to this if in the case of attrition the Priest may not deny to absolve the imperfect penitent then it is certain God will absolve him in case the Priest does not for if the Priest be bound and refuses to do it this ought not it cannot prejudice the penitent but himself only He therefore shall not perish for want of the Priests absolution and if it could be otherwise then the Parishioner might be damned for the Curates fault which to affirm were certain blasphemy and heresie What the Priest is bound to do God will do if the Priest will not The result is this That if this imperfect repentance which they call attrition be a sufficient disposition to absolution then the Priests ministery is not operative for the making it sufficient and indeed it were strange it should that absolution should make contrition and yet contrition be necessary in order to absolution that the form should make the matter that one essential or integral part should make another that what is to be before must be made by that which comes after But if this attrition be not a sufficient disposition to absolution then the Priest may not absolve such imperfect penitents So that the Priest cannot make it sufficient if of it self it be insufficient and if it be of it self sufficient then his absolution
the honesty of his heart caused God so to pardon him as to bring him to the knowledge of Christ which God therefore did because it was necessary necessitate medii no salvation was consistent with the actual remanency of that error but in the Question of Circumcision although they by consequence did overthrow the end of Christ's coming yet because it was such a consequence which they being hindred by a prejudice non impious did not perceive God tolerated them in their error till time and a continual dropping of the lessons and dictates Apostolical did wear it out and then the doctrine put on its apparel and became clothed with necessity they in the mean time so kept to the foundation that is Jesus Christ crucified and risen again that although this did make a violent concussion of it yet they held fast with their heart what they ignorantly destroyed with their tongue which Saul before his conversion did not that God upon other Titles than an actual dereliction of their error did bring them to salvation 5. And in the descent of so many years I find not any one Anathema past by the Apostles or their Successors upon any of the Bishops of Jerusalem or the Believers of the Circumcision and yet it was a point as clearly determined and of as great necessity as any of those Questions that at this day vex and crucifie Christendom 6. Besides this Question and that of the Resurrection commenced in the Church of Corinth and promoted with some variety of sence by Hymenaeus and Philetus in Asâ—a who said that the Resurrection was past already I do not remember any other heresie named in Scripture but such as were errors of impiety seductiones in materiâ practicâ such as was particularly forbidding to marry and the heresie of the Nicolaitans a doctrine that taught the necessity of lust and frequent fornication 7. But in all the Animadversions against errors made by the Apostles in the New Testament no pious person was condemned no man that did invincibly erre or bonâ mente but something that was amiss in genere morum was that which the Apostles did redargue And it is very considerable that even they of the Circumcision who in so great numbers did heartily believe in Christ and yet most violently retain Circumcision and without Question went to heaven in great numbers yet of the number of these very men they came deeply under censure when to their error they added impiety So long as it stood with charity and without humane ends and secular interests so long it was either innocent or connived at but when they grew covetous and for filthy lucres sake taught the same doctrine which others did in the simplicity of their hearts then they turned Hereticks then they were termed Seducers and Titus was commanded to look to them and to silence them For there are many that are intractable and vain bablers Seducers of minds especially they of the Circumcision who seduce whole houses teaching things that they ought not for filthy lucres sake These indeed were not to be induced but to be silenced by the conviction of sound doctrine and to be rebuked sharply and avoided 8. For heresie is not an error of the understanding but an error of the will And this is clearly insinuated in Scripture in the stile whereof Faith and a good life are made one duty and vice is called opposite to Faith and heresie opposed to holiness and sanctity So in S. Paul For saith he the end of the Commandment is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned à quibus quòd aberrarunt quidam from which charity and purity and goodness and sincerity because some have wandred deflexerunt ad vaniloquium And immediately after he reckons the oppositions to faith and sound doctrine and instances only in vices that stain the lives of Christians the unjust the unclean the uncharitable the lyer the perjur'd person si quis alius qui sanae doctrinae adversatur these are the enemies of the true doctrine And therefore S. Peter having given in charge to adde to our vertue patience temperance charity and the like gives this for a reason for if these things be in you and abound ye shall be fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that knowledge and faith is inter praecepta morum is part of a good life And Saint Paul calls Faith or the form of sound words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the doctrine that is according to godliness 1 Tim. 6.3 And veritati credere and in injustitiâ sibi complacere are by the same Apostle opposed and intimate that piety and faith is all one thing faith must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intire and holy too or it is not right It was the heresie of the Gnosticks that it was no matter how men lived so they did but believe aright Which wicked doctrine Tatianus a learned Christian did so detest that he fell into a quite contrary Non est curandum quid quisque credat id tantum curandum est quod quisque faciat And thence came the Sect Encratites Both these heresies sprang from the too nice distinguishing the faith from the piety and good life of a Christian They are both but one duty However they may be distinguished if we speak like Philosophers they cannot be distinguished when we speak like Christians For to believe what God hath commanded is in order to a good life and to live well is the product of that believing and as proper emanation from it as from its proper principle and as heat is from the fire And therefore in Scripture they are used promiscuously in sence and in expression as not only being subjected in the same person but also in the same faculty faith is as truly seated in the will as in the understanding and a good life as meerly derives from the understanding â—s the will Both of them are matters of choice and of election neither of them an effect natural and invincible or necessary antecedently necessaria ut fiant non necessariò facta And indeed if we remember that S. Paul reckons heresie amongst the works of the flesh and ranks it with all manner of practical impieties we shall easily perceive that if a man mingles not a vice with his opinion if he be innocent iâ— his life though deceived in his doctrine his errour is his misery not his crime it makes him an argument of weakness and an object of pity but not a person sealed up to ruine and reprobation 9. For as the nature of faith is so is the nature of heresie contraries having the same proportion and commensuration Now faith if it be taken for an act of the understanding meerly is so far from being that excellent grace that justifies us that it is not good at all in any kind but in genere naturae and makes the understanding better in it self or pleasing to God just
tres hypostases dicere si jubetis and again Obtestor beatitudinem tuam per Crucifixum mundi salutem per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trinitatem ut mihi Epistolis tuis sive tacendarum sive dicendarum hypostaseôn detur authoritas 30. But without all Question the Fathers determined the Question with much truth though I cannot say the Arguments upon which they built their Decrees were so good as the conclusion it self was certain But that which in this case is considerable is whether or no they did well in putting a curse to the foot of their Decree and the Decree it self into the Symbol as if it had been of the same necessity For the curse Eusebius Pamphilus could hardly find in his heart to subscribe at last he did but with this clause that he subscribed it because the former curse did only forbid men to acquaint themselves with forraign speeches and unwritten languages whereby confusion and discord is brought into the Church So that it was not so much a magisterial high assertion of the Article as an endeavour to secure the peace of the Church And to the same purpose for ought I know the Fathers composed a form of Confession not as a prescript Rule of Faith to build the hopes of our salvation on but as a tessera of that Communion which by publick Authority was therefore established upon those Articles because the Articles were true though not of prime necessity and because that unity of confession was judged as things then stood the best preserver of the unity of minds 31. But I shall observe this that although the Nicene Fathers in that case at that time and in that conjuncture of circumstances did well and yet their approbation is made by after Ages ex post facto yet if this precedent had been followed by all Councils and certainly they had equal power if they had thought it equally reasonable and that they had put all their Decrees into the Creed as some have done since to what a volume had the Creed by this time swelled and all the house had run into foundation nothing left for super-structures But that they did not it appears 1. That since they thought all their Decrees true yet they did not think them all necessary at least not in that degree and that they published such Decrees they did it Declarando not imperando as Doctors in their Chairs not masters of other mens faith and consciences 2. And yet there is some more modesty or wariness or necessity what shall I call it than this comes too for why are not all controversies determined but even when General assemblies of Prelates have been some controversies that have been very vexatious have been pretermitted and others of less consequence have been determined Why did never any General Council condemn in express sentence the Pelagian heresie that great pest that subtle infection of Christendome and yet divers General Councils did assemble while the heresie was in the World Both these cases in several degrees leave men in their liberty of believing and prophesying The latter proclaims that all controversies cannot de determined to sufficient purposes and the first declares that those that are are not all of them matters of Faith and themselves are not so secure but they may be deceived and therefore possibly it were better it were let alone for if the latter leaves them divided in their opinions yet their Communions and therefore probably their charities are not divided but the former divides their Communions and hinders their interest and yet for ought is certain the accused person is the better Catholick And yet after all this it is not safety enough to say let the Council or Prelates determine Articles warily seldom with great caution and with much sweetness and modesty For though this be better than to do it rashly frequently and furiously yet if we once transgress the bounds set us by the Apostles in their Creed and not only preach other truths but determine them pro tribunali as well as pro cathedra although there be no errour in the subject matter as in Nice there was none yet if the next Ages say they will determine another Article with as much care and caution and pretend as great a necessity there is no hindring them but by giving reasons against it and so like enough they might have done against the decreeing the Article at Nice yet that this is not sufficient for since the Authority of the Nicene Council hath grown to the height of a mountainous prejudice against him that should say it was ill done the same reason and the same necessity may be pretended by any Age and in any Council and they think themselves warranted by the great precedent at Nice to proceed as peremptorily as they did but then if any other Assembly of learned men may possibly be deceived were it not better they should spare the labour than that they should with so great pomp and solemnities engage mens perswasions and determine an Article which after Ages must rescind for therefore most certainly in their own Age the point with safety of faith and salvation might have been disputed and disbelieved And that many mens faiths have been tyed up by Acts and Decrees of Councils for those Articles in which the next age did see a liberty had better been preserved because an errour was determined we shall afterward receive a more certain account 32. And therefore the Council of Nice did well and Constantinople did well so did Ephesus and Chalcedon but it is because the Articles were truly determined for that is part of my belief but who is sure it should be so before-hand and whether the points there determined were necessary or no to be believed or to be determined if peace had been concerned in it through the faction and division of the parties I suppose the judgment of Constantine the Emperour and the famous Hosius of Corduba is sufficient to instruct us whose authority I rather urge than reasons because it is a prejudice and not a reason I am to contend against it 33. So that such determinations and publishing of Confessions with Authority of Prince and Bishop are sometimes of very good use for the peace of the Church and they are good also to determine the judgment of indifferent persons whose reasons of either side are not too great to weigh down the probability of that Authority But for persons of confident and imperious understandings they on whose side the determination is are armed with a prejudice against the other and with a weapon to affront them but with no more to convince them and they against whom the decision is do the more readily betake themselves to the defensive and are engaged upon contestation and publick enmities for such Articles which either might safely have been unknown or with much charity disputed Therefore the Nicene Council although it have the advantage of an acquired and prescribing Authority yet it must