God is created in righteousness and true holiness Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience Be not ye therefore partakers with them * For ye were sometimes darkness but now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of light * For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth * Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord * And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them * See then that ye walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise * Redeeming the time because the days are evil * Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is If ye then be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ fitteth on the right hand of God Set your affection on things above not on things on the earth * For ye are dead and your life is hidden with Christ in God * Mortifie therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry * But now you also pâ—t off all these anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy communication out of your mouth * Lie not one to another seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds * And have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world * Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ * Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God * Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord * Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the ingraffed word which is able to save your souls * But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own selves Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust And besides this giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge * And to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness * And to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity * For if these things be in you and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. * But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see far off and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children not fashioning your selves according to the former lusts in your ignorance * But as he which hath called you is holy so be ye holy in all manner of conversation * Because it is written Be ye holy for I am holy Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed The indispensable necessity of a good life represented in the following Scriptures WHosoever breaketh one of these least Commandments and shall teach men so he shall be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven And why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service And be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good that acceptable and perfect will of God Who will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life * But unto them that are contentious and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness indignation and wrath * Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile * But glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the keeping of the Commandments of God Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them And this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment That ye may approve things that are excellent that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ * Being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Furthermore then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God so ye would abound more and more * For ye know what Commandments we gave by the Lord Jesus * For this is the will of God even your sanctification As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a Father doth
do in their Verses and sing it to a new tune with perfect and true musick and all this ex tempore For all this the Holy Ghost can do if he pleases But if it be said that the Corinthian Christians composed their Songs and Hymns according to art and rules of Musick by study and industry and that to this they were assisted by the Spirit and that this together with the devotion of their spirit was singing with the Spirit then say I so composing set forms of Liturgie by skill and prudence and humane industry may be as much praying with the Spirit as the other is singing with the Spirit plainly enough In all the sences of praying with the Spirit and in all its acceptations in Scripture to pray or sing with the Spirit neither of them of necessity implies ex tempore Sect. 47. THE sum or Collecta of the premises is this Praying with the Spirit is either First when the Spirit stirs up our desires to pray per motionem actualis auxilii or secondly when the Spirit teaches us what or how to pray telling us the matter and manner of our prayers Thirdly or lastly dictating the very words of our prayers There is no other way in the world to pray with the Spirit or in the Holy Ghost that is pertinent to this Question And of this last manner the Scripture determines nothing nor speaks any thing expresly of it and yet suppose it had we are certain the Holy Ghost hath supplied us with all these and yet in set forms of Prayer best of all I mean there where a difference can be For 1 as for the desires and actual motions or incitements to pray they are indifferent to one or the other to set forms or to ex tempore Sect. 48. SECONDLY But as to the matter or manner of prayer it is clearly contained in the expresses and set forms of Scriptures and there it is supplied to us by the Spirit for he is the great Dictatour of it Sect. 49. 3. NOW then for the very words No man can assure me that the words of his ex tempore prayer are the words of the holy Spirit it is neither reason nor modesty to expect such immediate assistances to so little purpose he having supplied us with abilities more than enough to express our desires aliundè otherwise than by immediate dictate But if we will take David's Psalter or the other Hymns of holy Scripture or any of the Prayers which are respersed over the Bible we are sure enough that they are the words of Gods Spirit mediately or immediately by way of infusion or extasie by vision or at least by ordinary assistance And now then what greater confidence can any man have for the excellency of his prayers and the probability of their being accepted than when he prayes his Psalter or the Lords Prayer or any other office which he finds consigned in Scripture When Gods Spirit stirs us up to an actual devotion and then we use the matter he hath described and taught and the very words which Christ and Christs Spirit and the Apostles and other persons full of the Holy Ghost did use If in the world there be any praying with the Spirit I mean in vocal prayer this is it Sect. 50. AND thus I have examined the intire and full scope of this first Question and rifled their Objection which was the only colour to hide the appearance of its natural deformity at the first sight The result is this Scribendum ergo quoties licebit Si id non dabitur cogitandum ab utroque exclusi debent tamen adniti ut neque deprehensus orator neque destitutus esse videatur In making our Orations and publick Advocations we must write what we mean to speak as often as we can when we cannot yet we must deliberate and study and when the suddenness of the accident prevents both these we must use all the powers of art and care that we have a present mind and call in all our first provisions that we be not destitute of matter and words apt for the imployment This was Quintilian's rule for the matter of prudence and in secular occasions but when the instance is in Religion and especially in our prayers it will concern us nearer to be curious and deliberate what we speak in the audience of the eternal God when our lives and our souls and the honour of God and the reputation of Religion are concern'd and whatsoever is greatest in it self or dearest to us Sect. 51. THE second Question hath in it something more of difficulty for the Men that own it will give leave that set forms may be used so you give question 2 leave to them to make them but if authority shall interpose and prescribe a Liturgie every word shall breed a quarrel and if the matter be innocent yet the very injunction is tyranny a restraining of the gifts of the Holy Ghost it leaves the spirit of a Man sterile and unprofitable it is not for edification of the Church and is as destitute of comfort as it is of profit For God hath not restrained his Spirit to those few that rule the Church in prelation above others but if he hath given to them the spirit of Government he hath given to others the spirit of Prayer and the spirit of Prophecy Now the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall for to one is given by the Spirit the word of Wisdom to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit And these and many other gifts are given to several members that they may supply one another and all joyn to the edification of the body And therefore that must needs be an imprudent sanction that so determines the offices of the Church that she cannot be edified by that variety of gifts which the holy Spirit hath given to several men to that purpose just as if there should be a Canon that but one Sermon should be preached in all Churches for ever Besides it must needs be that the devotion of the Suppliants must be much retarded by the perpetuity and unalterable reiteration of the same form For since our affections will certainly vary and suffer great alteration of degrees and inclinations it is easier to frame words apt to comply with our affections than to conform our affections in all varieties to the same words When the forms are daily changed it is more probable that every man shall find something proportionable to his fancy which is the great instrument of Devotion than to suppose that any one form should be like Manna fitted to every taste and therefore in prayers as the affections must be natural sweet and proper so also should the words expressing the affections issue forth by way of natural emanation Sed extemporalis audaciae atque ipsius temeritatis vel praecipua jucunditas est Nam in ingenio sicut in agro quanquam alia diu serantur atque
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
Chrysostom In that moment says he he wipes away all the sins of his life And S. Austin upon that of David before quoted My confession came not so far as my mouth and God heard the voice of my heart 58. To this I answer first concerning the words of David Then concerning the examples 1. Concerning contrition that it is a good beginning of repentance is certain and in its measure acceptable to God and effective of all its proper purposes But contrition can have but the reward of contrition but not of other graces which are not parts but effects of it God will not despise the broken and contrite heart no for he will receive it graciously and bind up the wounds of it and lead it on in the paths of righteousness and by the waters of comfort 59. II. But a man is not of a contrite heart as soon as he hath exercised one act of contrition He that goes to break a rock does something towards it by every blow but every blow does not break it A mans heart is not so easily broken I mean broken from the love of sin and its adherence to it Every act of temperance does not make a man temperate and so I fear will it be judg'd concerning contrition 60. III. But suppose the heart be broken and that the man is contrite there is more to be done than so God indeed does not despise this but he requires more God did not despise Ahabs repentance but it did not do all his work for him He does not despise patience nor meekness nor resignation nor hope nor confession nor any thing that himself commands But he that commands all will not be content with one alone every grace shall have its reward but it shall not be crown'd alone Faith alone shall not justifie and repentance alone taken in its specifical distinctive sence shall not suffice but faith and repentance and charity and patience and the whole circle and rosary of graces and duties must adorn our heads 61. IV. Those graces and duties which are commanded us and to which God hath promised glorious rewards must not be single or transient acts but continual and permanent graces He that drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst again He that eats of this bread shall live for ever He that believes in me rivers of living waters shall flow from his belly He that confesseth his sins and forsaketh them shall have mercy Repent and believe and wash away your sins Now these words of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are of extended and produced signification as Divines observe and signifie a state of duty such as includes patience and perseverance Such also are these He that doth the will of my Father abideth for ever If we confess our sins he is just and faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity and they that do such things shall possess the kingdom of Heaven And I will deliver him because he hath put his trust in me And If ye love him he also will love us And Forgive and ye shall be forgiven These and many more do not intend that any one grace alone is sufficient much less any one act of one grace proceeding from the Spirit of God can be sufficient to wipe off our leprosies But these signifie states of duty and integrity not transient actions or separate graces And besides the infinite reasonableness of the thing this truth is consign'd to us plainly in Scripture God will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality eternal life And if men had pleased they might as well have fallen upon this proposition that an act of humility would have procur'd our pardon as well as that an act of contrition will do it because of the words of David The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart and will save such as be of an humble spirit Salvation is as much promised to humility alone as to contrition alone that is to neither separately but in the conjunction with other parts of duty 62. V. Contrition is either taken in its proper specifick signification and so it is but a part of repentance and then who can say that it shall be sufficient to a full and final pardon Repentance alone is not sufficient There must be faith and hope and charity therefore much less shall a part be sufficient when the whole is not But if contrition be taken in a sence comprehending more than it self then I demand how much shall it involve That it does include in it an act of the Divine love and a purpose to confess and a resolution to amend is affirmed So far is well But why thus far and no farther Why shall not contrition when it is taken for a sufficient disposition to pardon and salvation signifie as much as repentance does and repentance signifie the whole duty of a converted sinner Unless it does repentance it self that is as it is one single grace cannot suffice as I proved but now And therefore how shall contrition alone much less an act of contrition alone do it For my part I should be very glad it were so if God so pleased for I have as much need of mercy as any man and have as little reason to be confident of the perfection of my repentance as any returning sinner in the world But I would not willingly deceive my self nor others and therefore I must take the surest course and follow his measures who hath describ'd the lines and limits of his own mercy * But it is remarkable that the manner of the Scripture is to include the consequents in the antecedents He that is of God heareth Gods word That is not only hears but keeps it For not the hearer but the doer is blessed So S. John in the Revelation Blessed are they that are called to the marriage of the Lamb. They which are called are blessed that is They which being called come and come worthily having on the wedding garment For without this the meaning of the Spirit is not full For many are called but few are chosen And thus also it is in the present instance God will not despise the contrite heart that is the heart which being bruised with sorrow returns to duty and lives in holiness for in order to holiness contrition was accepted But one thing I shall remark before I leave this In the definition of Contrition all the Schools of Theologie in the world that I know of put the love of God Contrition is not only sorrow but a love of God too Now this doctrine if they themselves would give men leave rightly to understand it is not only an excellent doctrine but will also do the whole business of this great Question Without Contrition our sins cannot be pardon'd It is not Contrition unless the love
may be acceptable in Jesus Christ. If I perish I perish I have deserved it but I will hope for mercy till thy mercy hath a limit till thy goodness can be numbred O my God let me not perish thou hast no pleasure in my death and it is impossible for man to suffer thy extremest wrath Who can dwell with the everlasting burning O my God let me dwell safely in the embraces of thy sweetest mercy Amen Amen Amen CHAP. IV. Of Concupiscence and Original Sin and whether or no or how far we are bound to repent of it SECT I. 1. ORIGINAL sin is so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or figuratively meaning the sin of Adam which was committed in the Original of mankind by our first Parent and which hath influence upon all his posterity Nascuntur non propriè sed originalitèr peccatores So S. Austin and therefore S. Ignatius calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the old impiety that which was in the original or first Parent of mankind 2. This sin brought upon Adam all that God threatned but no more A certainty of dying together with the proper effects and affections of mortality was inflicted on him and he was reduced to the condition of his own nature and then begat sons and daughters in his own likeness that is in the proper temper and constitution of mortal men For as God was not bound to give what he never promised viz. an immortal duration and abode in this life so neither does it appear in that angry entercourse that God had with Adam that he took from him or us any of our natural perfections but his graces only 3. Man being left in this state of pure Naturals could not by his own strength arrive to a supernatural end which was typified in his being cast out of Paradise and the guarding it with the flaming sword of a Cherub For eternal life being an end above our natural proportion cannot be acquir'd by any natural means Neither Adam nor any of his posterity could by any actions or holiness obtain Heaven by desert or by any natural efficiency for it is a gift still and it is neque currentis neque operantis neither of him that runneth nor of him that worketh but of God who freely gives it to such persons whom he also by other gifts and graces hath dispos'd toward the reception of it 4. What gifts and graces or supernatural endowments God gave to Adam in his state of Innocence we know not God hath no where told us and of things unrevealed we commonly make wild conjectures But after his fall we find no sign of any thing but of a common man And therefore as it was with him so it is with us our nature cannot go to Heaven without the helps of the Divine grace so neither could his and whether he had them or no it is certain we have receiving more by the second Adam than we did lose by the first and the sons of God are now spiritual which he never was that we can find 5. But concerning the sin of Adam tragical things are spoken it destroyed his original righteousness and lost it to us for ever it corrupted his nature and corrupted ours and brought upon him and not him only but on us also who thought of no such thing an inevitable necessity of sinning making it as natural to us to sin as to be hungry or to be sick and die and the conâ—equent of these things is saddest of all we are born enemies of God sons of wrath and heirs of eternal damnation 6. In the meditation of these sad stories I shall separate the certain from the uncertain that which is reveal'd from that which is presum'd that which is reasonable from that which makes too bold reflexions upon Godâ— honour and the reputation of his justice and his goodness I shall do it in the words of the Apostle from whence men commonly dispute in this Question right or wrong according as it happens 7. By one man sin came into the world That sin entred into the world by Adam is therefore certain because he was the first man and unless he had never sinn'd it must needs enter by him for it comes in first by the first and Death by sin that is Death which at first was the condition of nature became a punishment upon that account just as it was to the Serpent to creep upon his belly and to the Woman to be subject to her Husband These things were so before and would have been so for the Apostle pressing the duty of subjection gives two reasons why the woman was to obey One of them only was derived from this sin the other was the prerogative of creation for Adam was first formed then Eve so that before her fall she was to have been subject to her husband because she was later in being she was a minor and therefore under subjection she was also the weaker vessel But it had not been a curse and if any of them had been hindred by grace and favour by Gods anger they were now left to fall back to the condition of their nature 8. Death passed upon all men That is upon all the old world who were drowned in the floud of the Divine vengeance and who did sin after the similitude of Adam And therefore S. Paul adds that for the reason In as much as all men have sinned If all men have sinned upon their own account as it is certain they have then these words can very well mean that Adam first sinned and all his sons and daughters sinned after him and so died in their own sin by a death which at first and in the whole constitution of affairs is natural and a death which their own sins deserved but yet which was hastned or ascertained upon them the rather for the sin of their progenitor Sin propagated upon that root and vicious example or rather from that beginning not from that cause but dum ita peccant similiter moriuntur If they sin so then so shall they die so S. Hierome 9. But this is not thought sufficient and men do usually affirm that we are formally and properly made sinners by Adam and in him we all by interpretation sinned and therefore think these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 forasmuch as all men have sinned ought to be expounded thus Death passed upon all men In whom all men have sinned meaning that in Adam we really sinn'd and God does truly and justly impute his sin to us to make us as guilty as he that did it and as much punish'd and liable to eternal damnation And all the great force of this fancy relies upon this exposition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie in him 10. Concerning which there will be the less need of a laborious inquiry if it be observed that the words being read Forasmuch as all men have sinned beat a fair and clear discourse and very intelligible if it be
a life of piety and holiness SECT VIII 100. XIV IN the making Confession of our sins let us be most careful to do it so as may most glorifie God and advance the reputation of his wisdom his justice and his mercy For if we consider it in all Judicatories of the world and in all the arts and violences of men which have been used to extort confessions their purposes have been that justice should be done that the publick wisdom and authority should not be dishonoured that publick criminals should not be defended or assisted by publick pity or the voice of the people sharpned against the publick rods and axes by supposing they have smitten the innocent Confession of the crime prevents all these evils and does well serve all these good ends Gnossius haec Rhadamanthus habet durissima regna Castigátque audÃtque dolos subigÃtque fateri So the Heathens did suppose was done in the lower regions The Judge did examine and hear their crimes and crafts and even there compell'd them to confess that the eternal Justice may be publickly acknowledg'd for all the honour that we can do to the Divine attributes is publickly to confess them and make others so to do for so God is pleased to receive honour from us Therefore repentance being a return to God a ceasing to dishonour him any more and a restoring him so far as we can to the honour we depriv'd him of it ought to be done with as much humility and sorrow with as clear glorifications of God and condemnations of our selves as we can To which purpose 101. XV. He that confesseth his sins must do it with all sincerity and simplicity of spirit not to serve ends or to make Religion the minister of design but to destroy our sin to shame and punish our selves to obtain pardon and institution always telling our sad story just as it was in its acting excepting where the manner of it and its nature or circumstances require a veil and then the sin must not be concealed nor yet so represented as to keep the first immodesty alive in him that acted it or to become a new temptation in him that hears it But this last caution is only of use in our confessions to the Minister of holy things for our confession to God as it is to other purposes so must be in other manners but I have already given accounts of this I only add that 102. XVI All our confessions must be accusations of our selves and not of others For if we confess to God then to accuse another may spoil our own duty but it can serve no end for God already knows all that we can say to lessen or to aggravate the sin if we confess to men then to name another or by any way to signifie or reveal him is a direct defamation and unless the naming of the sin do of it self declare the assisting party it is at no hand to be done or to be inquired into But if a man hath committed incest and there is but one person in the world with whom he could commit it in this case the confessing his sin does accuse another but then such a Guide of souls is to be chosen to whom that person is not known but if by this or some other expedient the fame of others be not secured it is best to confess that thing to God only and so much of the sin as may aggravate it to an equal height with its own kind in special may be communicated to him of whom we ask comfort and counsel and institution If to confess to a Priest were a Divine Commandment this caution would have in it some difficulty and much variety but since the practice is recommended to us wholly upon the stock of prudence and great charity the doing it ought not in any sence to be uncharitable to others 103. XVII He that hath injur'd his neighbour must confess to him and he that hath sinn'd against the Church must make amends and confess to the Church when she declares her self to be offended For when a fact is done which cannot naturally be undone the only duty that can remain is to rescind it morally and make it not to be any longer or any more For as our conservation is a continual creation so is the perpetuating of a sin a continuation of its being and actings and therefore to cease from it is the death of the sin for the present and sor the future but to confess it â—o hate it to wish it had never been done is all the possibility that is left to annihilate the act which naturally can never be undone and therefore to all persons that are injur'd to confess the sin must needs be a duty because it is the first part of amends and sometimes all that is left but it is that which God and man requires before they are willing to pardon the offender For until the erring man confesses it does not appear who is innocent and who is guilty or whether the offended person have any thing to forgive And this is the meaning of these preceptive words of S. James Confess your sins one to another that is to the Church who are scandalized and who can forgive and pray for the repenting sinner and confess to him that is injur'd that you may do him right that so you may cease to do wrong that you may make your way for pardon and offer amends This only and all of this is the meaning of the precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Greek Commentaries upon Acts 19.18 Every faithful man must declare or confess his sins and must stand in separation that he may be reproved and that he may promise he will not do the same again according to that which is said Do thou first declare thy sins that thou mayest be justified nad again A just man in the beginning of his speech is an accuser of himself No man is a true penitent if he refuses or neglects to confess his sins to God in all cases or to his brother if he have injur'd him or to the Church if she be offended or where she requires it for wheresoever a man is bound to repent there he is bound to Confession which is an acknowledgement of the injury and the first instance and publication of repentance In other cases Confession may be of great advantage in these it is a duty 104. XVIII Let no man think it a shame to confess his sin or if he does yet let not that shame deterr him from it There is indeed a shame in confession because nakedness is discovered but there is also a glory in it because there is a cure too there is repentance and amendment This advice is like that which is given to persons giving their lives in a good cause requiring thâ—â— not to be afraid that is not to suffer such a fear as to be hindred from dying For if they suffer a great natural fear and yet in
any Synod General National or Provincial be receded from by the Church of the later Age as there have been very many then so many Fathers as were then assembled and united in opinion are esteemed no Authority to determine our perswasions Now suppose 200 Fathers assembled in such a Council if all they had writ Books and 200 Authorities had been alledged in confirmation of an opinion it would have made a mighty noise and loaded any man with an insupportable prejudice that should dissent And yet every opinion maintained against the Authority of any one Council though but Provincial is in its proportion such a violent recession and neglect of the Authority and Doctrine of so many Fathers as were then assembled who did as much declare their opinion in those Assemblies by their Suffrages as if they had writ it in so many books and their opinion is more considerable in the Assembly then in their writings because it was more deliberate assisted united and more dogmaticall In pursuance of this observation it is to be noted by way of instance that Saint Austin and two hundred and seventeen Bishops and all their Successors for a whole Age together did consent in denying Appeals to Rome and yet the Authority of so many Fathers all true Catholicks is of no force now at Rome in this Question but if it be in a matter they like one of these Fathers alone is sufficient The Doctrine of Saint Austin alone brought in the Festival and veneration of the Assumption of the blessed Virgin and the hard sentence passed at Rome upon unbaptized Infants and the Dominican opinion concerning Predetermination derived from him alone as from their Original So that if a Father speaks for them it is wonderfull to see what Tragedies are stirred up against them that dissent as is to be seen in that excellent nothing of Campian's Ten reasons But if the Fathers be against them then Patres in quibusdam non leviter lapsi sunt says Bellarmine and Constat quosdam ex praecipuis it is certain the chiefest of them have foully erred Nay Posa Salmeron and Wadding in the Question of the immaculate Conception make no scruple to dissent from Antiquity to prefer new Doctors before the old and to justifie themselves bring instances in which the Church of Rome had determined against the Fathers And it is not excuse enough to say that singly the Fathers may erre but if they concur they are certain Testimony For there is no question this day disputed by persons that are willing to be tried by the Fathers so generally attested on either side as some points are which both sides dislike severally or conjunctly And therefore 't is not honest for either side to press the Authority of the Fathers as a concluding Argument in matter of dispute unless themselves will be content to submit in all things to the Testimony of an equal number of them which I am certain neither side will do 3. If I should reckon all the particular reasons against the certainty of this Topick it would be more then needs as to this Question and therefore I will abstain from all disparagement of those worthy personages who were excellent lights to their several Dioceses and Cures And therefore I will not instance that Clemens Alexandrinus taught that Christ felt no hunger or thirst but eat onely to make demonstration of the verity of his Humane nature nor that Saint Hilary taught that Christ in his sufferings had no sorrow nor that Origen taught the pains of Hell not to have an eternall duration nor that S. Cyprian taught Rebaptization nor that Athenagoras condemned second Marriages nor that Saint John Damascen said Christ onely prayed in appearance not really and in truth I will let them all rest in peace and their memories in honour for if I should inquire into the particular probations of this Article I must doe to them as I should be forced to doe now if any man should say that the Writings of the School-men were excellent argument and Authority to determine mens perswasions I must consider their writings and observe their defaillances their contradictions the weakness of their Arguments the mis-allegations of Scripture their inconsequent deductions their false opinions and all the weaknesses of humanity and the failings of their persons which no good man is willing to doe unless he be compelled to it by a pretence that they are infallible or that they are followed by men even into errours or impiety And therefore since there is enough in the former instances to cure any such misperswasion and prejudice I will not instance in the innumerable particularities that might perswade us to keep our Liberty intire or to use it discreetly For it is not to be denied but that great advantages are to be made by theiâ— writings probabile est quod omnibus quod pluribus quod sapientibus videtur If one wise man says a thing it is an argument to me to believe it in its degree of probation that is proportionable to such an assent as the Authority of a wise man can produce and when there is nothing against it that is greater and so in proportion higher and higher as more wise men such as the old Doctors were do affirm it But that which I complain of is that we look upon wise men that lived long agoe with so much veneration and mistake that we reverence them not for having been wise men but that they lived long since But when the Question is concerning Authority there must be something to build it on a Divine Commandment humane Sanction excellency of spirit and greatness of understanding on which things all humane Authority is regularly built But now if we had lived in their times for so we must look upon them now as they did who without prejudice beheld them I suppose we should then have beheld them as we in England look on those Prelates who are of great reputation for learning and sanctity here onely is the difference when persons are living their Authority is depressed by their personal defaillances and the contrary interests of their contemporaries which disband when they are dead and leave their credit intire upon the reputation of those excellent books and monuments of learning and piety which are left behind But beyond this why the Bishop of Hippo shall have greater Authority then the Bishop of the Canaries caeteris paribus I understand not For did they that lived to instance in Saint Austin's time beâ—ieve all that he wrote If they did they were much to blame or else himself was to blame for retracting much of it a little before his death And if while he lived his affirmative was no more Authority then derives from the credit of one very wise man against whom also very wise men were opposed I know not why his Authority should prevail farther now for there is nothing added to the strength of his reason since that time but onely