others belonging to Redemption Not all saith Sylvester and many with him (c) Ut quae solemnizantur in ecclesia quantum ad omnes Catholicos v. fides n. 6. but those particularly for which the Church hath publick Solemnities Not all saith Bonaventure (d) Quas cognoscere potest ex ipsis solennitatibus quas ecclesia celebrat actibus sacerdotum 3. dist 25. n. 26. but those which we have notice of by the Church-Solemnities or acts of the Priests and these in him are four that of the Nativity Passion Resurrection and Remission of sins to which he adds another which the sign of the cross teacheth and wherein (e) De Unitate Trinitate quam ex signatione noscere possunt cum dicunt in nomine Patris filij c. item de nativitate passione resurrectione quae festa praedicant remissione peccatorum quam ex actu presbyterorum noscere possunt Sum. v. fides n. 7. Angelus followes him so that the half and more needs not to be known for they reckon fourteen in all Others there are who require not this little nor think it needful to know these Articles more than implicitely that is without understanding them so Gulielmus Parisiensis and Altissiodorensis in (f) If a man were demanded whether Christ were born of the Virgin and whether there were one God and three persons he might suffic ently answer I know not but I believe as the Church holds Bann in 22. q. 2. art 8. Sect. dubitatur Bannez Summa Rosellae after others holds (g) Dicens quod simplicibus forte omnibus laicis discernentibus adultis sufficit credere Deum esse praemiatorem omnium bonorum malorum omnium pâ—nitorem Alios autem articulos sufficit credere implicite credendo scil verum quicquid ecclesia Catholica docet Post dic l. 1. in Sylv. v. fides n. 6. Baptista Trovamala herein followed Peter Casuille and says this is fidei mensura ad quam quilibet tenetur quae sufficit simplicibus forte omnibus laicis Sum. Rosel v. fides n. 1. it enough for the simple and perhaps all discerning people to believe that God is the Rewarder of the good and Punisher of the evil A compendious Creed truly and that which will never trouble the Conscience of a Turk or a Heathen the knowledg and faith of a Barbarous insidel is enough it seems to make a Papal Christian Accordingly others teach that such as are educated amongst Catholicks and are ignorant of the Trinity are excused from the explicite knowledge thereof especially if they want a Teacher so Bartholomew Medina and Immanuel say who gives this reason for it h Quid enim dicemusne perire infinitam Christianorum alioquin bonorum multitudinem qui de mysterio etiam Trinitatis incarnationis vix quidquam norunt recte immo perverse sentiunt si interrogas v. fides n. 1. Ita Ferr. Medina l. 1. c. 14. Sect. 2. We cannot say that an infinite number of Christians otherwise good people do perish that scarce know any thing aright of the mystery of the Trinity and incarnation yea judge perversly of these points if you ask them And yet without the knowledge of the incarnation of Christ there is no knowledge of the Creed or of the Gospel Sancta (i) Deus natura gratia Problem 15. Clara is of the same mind too and quotes others for it So that by this Doctrine a man needs not know the persons in the God-head nor the incarnation of Christ upon which his Birth Life Death Resurrection and Intercession depends which are the sum of the Gospel Yea he may not only be ignorant of these Truths the knowledge of which if of any is necessary to Salvation but he may have false and perverse apprehensions of them and yet be secure from perishing According (k) In 4 sentent Sum. fol. 75. p. 2. quando quis laborat ignorantia invincibili fidei explicitae incarnationis Trinitatis quia cum esset educatus in montibus caruit praedicatore ipsum de ipsa instruente secundum veram sententiam cum sola fide implicita hoc est sine explicita salvabitur si moriatur in gratia ad quam assequendam secundum Doctores nobiles sic ignoranti explicitam satis est cum caeteris requisitis fides implicita Lopez c. 7. p. 45. to Soto and Metina he that is ignorant of the Incarnation and Trinity because he was educated in the Mountains without a Preacher to instruct him will be saved if he dye in grace which they suppose he may have without knowledge for an implicite faith that is without knowledge will then serve his turn Secundum Doctores nobiles as noble Doctors conclude saith Lopez So that they may have eternal life without knowing the true God or Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Ignorance hereof will be invincible that is both inculpable in it self and sufficient to justifie the criminal issues of it if they want a Teacher that is not only if it be not possible but if it be (l) Vid. Sylv. v. ignorantia n. 5 v. impossib Impossibile dicitur 1 quod simplicitur fieri non potest 2 quod fieri potest sed cum difficultat Juridico dicitur 1 quod non potest fieri juste 2 quod non potest fieri commode difficult or inconvenient to have one (m) Addit to provincial Letters p. 100. c. c. 2. n. 17. The Cardinals of the Inquisition at Rome will have such Confessors allowed who hold that persons are capable of absolution and so supposed to be in a state of Salvation how palpable soever their ignorance might be of the mysteries of faith nay though out of pure negligence they know nothing of the mystery of the most blessed Trinity or of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ Medina teacheth that if one when he is dying acknowledge that he hath been very negligent to learn Christian Doctrine and would not hear it and thereby wants the knowledge of the mystery of the incarnation and Trinity and the Articles of faith yet to deny him Absolution would be impious So (n) Instruct c. 7. p. 45. Lopez reports him and himself (o) p. 50. Talis est absolvendus sayes such an one is to be Absolved Here is encouragement more than enough to live and dye in gross ignorance and those who have a mind to continue without the knowledge of God under the name of Men or of Christ under the profession of Christians have a general warranty by their Doctrine to do it For the former sort of their Divines who seem to require a knowledge of some Articles do indeed make no more knowledge necessary than those who require it not For when they explain themselves commonly such a knowing is sufficient as is without understanding a dark conceit that such things there be though they apprehend not at all what they are Such mysterious subtilties
their Doctors are pleased with as they have a sort of faith without knowledge or any thought of what they believe so a knowledge without understanding (p) Qui non possit concipere quid est natura quid person a non est necesse quod habeat actum explicitum de articulo pertinente ad essentiae personarum Trinitatem distincte sicut habent clerici literati sed sufficit talibus credere sicut ecclesia credit vid. Sta. Cla. ibid. Scotus thinks they have sufficient knowledge of the Trinity Three persons and one nature who can neither apprehend what a person or a nature is Accordingly Bonaventure saith (q) Possunt nosse ex ipso actu consignationis consignant enim in nomine patris c. Cognoscere possent ex ipsis solennitatibus ibid. n. 26. the people may know the Trinity by crossing themselves since they do it in the name of the Father c. And by the festivals they may know the rest which is necessary to be understood And when it is argued that there are few but such as are expert in Divinity who know how to distinguish and number the Articles of the Creed and therefore if all were bound to know them distinctly and explicitely id est to know what they mean few or none would be saved which is an extream cruel saying he in his answer grants (r) Ibid. n. 27. it all (s) Et sane ita esse experientia testatur cum maxima pars fidelium vel propter aetatem puerilem vel propter sexum muliebrem vel propter ingenij hebitudinem vel propter impâ—ritiam literarum scientiarum quales sunt pene omnes rustici non solum non intelligant mysteria Trinitatis incarnationis similia neeessaria ad salutem sed vix quidquam animo concipiant praeter sonum verborum tamen inter sideles merito numerantur De justif l. 1. c. 7. p. 705. Bellarmine seems to make some knowledge of the Articles of the Creed necessary but what it is he signifies elsewhere when he tells us that experience witnesseth that the greatest part of the faithful and in a manner all the Countrey people are so far from understanding the mystery of the Trinity and the Incarnation and other such points necessary to Salvation that they scarce apprehend any thing besides the mere sound of the words and yet are deservedly counted believers So Cardinal Tolet requires in those that are to be absolved a kind of acquaintance with some prime Articles of faith but signifies it will be sufficient if hearing them rehearsed (t) Sciat respondere esse mandatum vel articulum quae sunt non autem esse quae non suâ—t Instruct l. 3. c. 17. they can tell us which is an Article and which not and this they may do by the sound though they understand nothing of the sense (*) Decis p. 1. l. 1. c. 24. n. 3. vid. infra De Graffijs is confident that a Confessor may make an ignorant person understand all that is necessary to Salvation by making the sign of the Cross And Angelus who would have 3 or 4 Articles of the Creed to be known yet concludes if one (u) Idem possit dici de a iquo qui nescit Credo parvum tamen si interrogaretur Deus est unus responderet quod sic sic de caeteris responderet quod sic Quod sufficeret siâ—i licet nesciret praefatum Credo Sum. v. scientia can answer of this or that Article decently quod sic it is so it will be sufficient for him though he know not the Creed Sylvester pretends to make more knowledge requisite than Rosella but yet he determins (x) Privatio ipsa scientiae secundum se non sit peccatum v. ignorant n. 8. est peccatum ratione negligentiae ibid. negligentia addiscendi necessaria ad salutem quae aliquando est mortale licet hoc judicare sit difficile v. acedia n. 3. non potest sermone determinari v. praedicat n. 7. Supra Ipsamet ignorantia vincibilis non est formaliter peccatum nec commissionis nec omissionis c. Bonacina de peccat d. 2. q. 8. p. 3. n. 31. After Corduba and many others That mere want of knowledge is no sin that it is not a sin to be ignorant of what he ought to know but upon the account of negligence that negligence to know things necessary to Salvation may be a mortal sin sometimes but when it is hard to tell yea impossible So that here is incouragement enough to continue carelesly in ignorance of things necessary to Salvation and to neglect saving knowledge for when this is a mortal sin no man can tell and a venial fault no man needs avoid In short they not only justifie simple ignorance how gross so-ever but that which has a worse character ignorantia pravae dispositionis and count it no crime not only to want the knowledge of the Articles of Faith but out of Ignorance to entertain opinions contrary thereto He that believes an Heresie saith Navar (a) Idem ibid. n. 9. Si prae simplicitate aut ignorantia id credit quia sibi videtur ecclesia ita tenere est paratus errorem deponere quandocunque veritatem fuerit edoctus nec peccat mortaliter regulariter l. 11. n. 22. p. 141. out of simplicity or ignorance because he thinks the Church holds it and is ready to relinquish it when the Truth shall be discovered regularly he sins not mortally And with Alphonsus a Castro no kind of Heresie is a sin if it be out of ignorance without pertinacy (b) Lib. 1. advers Haeres c. 9. If their Teachers instill such Errours into the People and they through Ignorance receive impressions contrary to points of Faith and follow such Guides blindfold therein they sin not (c) Immo plus dico quod aliquando talis error possit esse meritorius ut puta aliquis audit aliquem praedicatorem famosum vel Episcopum praedicasse aliquim errorem simplex credit animo obediendi fidei paratus tamen corrigi Nam ex intentione opera judicantur cum voluntate de sent excom sum Angel v. fides n. 6. Yea I say more saith Angelus Sometimes such an errour may be meritorious for example One hears a famous Preacher or a Bishop preach some Errour and he simply believes it with a mind to be obedient to the Faith but ready to be reduced for things are to be judged of by the intention But (d) Aliquando cum peccato veniali ut puta vetula credit Trinitatem esse unam faemiram quoniam credit Ecclesiam sic tenere sic credit ib. ibid. sometimes it may be a venial fault as when an old Woman believes the Trinity to be one Woman and because she thinks the Church so holds therefore believes it To recite the names of those who assert that the people through ignorance may
either the old or new Testament I content me with my Portuis and Pontifical Hist of Ch. of Scotl. l. 2. p. 66. The Bishops in other Countreys thought themselves bound in conscience to be as ignorant of the Scriptures when they counted it a sin to read them Yea he that wants a sufficiency of this knowledge though so very little or nothing be sufficient may be dispensed with upon the account of some other quality As for example (b) Magnitudo Charitatis supplet imperfectum scientiae Sylvest sum v. Cleric 2. n. 1. Charity they say will make up want of knowledge in those who have not sufficient to make them capable of any place or dignity amongst them Yea they may be dispensed with though they have no better qualities than in Gerson's time when he tells us (c) Nullibi Episcopos bonos opere doctrina praeditos eligi sed homines carnales spiritualium ignaros Gerson declar defect Eccles there were none any where that were good or approveable for Doctrine or Practice but all chosen were both carnal persons and ignorant of spiritual things So he in the Fifteen age and about the same time Clemangis sayes there were scarce any advanced to the Pontifical dignity who had so much as superficially either read or heard or learnt the Scriptures or who had ever touched any thing of the Bible except the cover Quotusquisque hodie est ad Pontificale culmen evectus qui sacras vel perfunctorie literas legerit audierit dedicerit imo qui sacrum codicem nisi tegumento tenus unquam attigerit De corrupt Eccl. Statu In the age after wheâ—ein the Councel of Trent was held we have in Papyrius Masson de Episc Vrbis The Character of the Roman Praelates by Pasquil begging the next Cardinals Cap as being more capable thereof than the Bishops then created Si imbelle sum atque rude marmor Complures quoque episcopos creari Ipso me mage Saxeos videbis And the same age in the Council of Trent where as they boast was the flower of all the Roman Praelates in Europe (d) The Bishops amongst whom very few had knowledge in Theology Hist Counc Trent lib. 2. p. 179. It is not strange they had no skill therein For the Italian Praelates who carried all in that Council being many more than two to one neither studied nor read the Scriptures lest the word of God should seduce them from Popery nor was Divinity their study but the civil and Canon law as one of them inform'd Espencaeus Mâ—mini Episcopum Italum nobilem nec vero imperitum mihi dicere conterraneos suos a stâ—dio Theologico deterreri quodammodo abhorrere ne sic fiant haeretici quasi vero â—aereses ex scripturarum studio nascantur Quam igitur artem vestrates aio profitentur juris ait utriusque sed in primis Canonici in Tit. cap 1. p. 486. Dudithius an eminent Bishop in that convention calls the Praelats who prevailed there indoctos stolidos sed tamen impudentia audacia utiles Epist ad Max. 2. Yea the whole Sorbon determine that it is not requisite to inquire concerning those who sit in Council utrum sint docti utrum habeant scientiam sacrarum literarum In Juel Epist de Conc. Trid. Sect 22. Duarenus who writ while that Council was sitting lets us understand how ignorant all their Bishops then few only excepted were of the Scriptures not only in Italy but other Countreys Hoc seculo Episcopatus sacerdotia indoctissimis hominebus a religione alienis deferri solent Hodie Episcopi nostri paucis exceptis sacrarum literarum scientia caeteris ex populo longe inferiores sunt De sac Eccles. Minist Benef. lib. 1. cap. 11. in fin Some thought it strange that Five Cardinals and 48 Bishops should so easily define the most principal and important points of Religion never decided before Neither was their amongst these Praelates any one remarkable for learning some of them were Lawyers perhaps learned in that Profession but of little understanding in Religion few Divines but of less than ordinary sufficiency Hist of Council of Trent l. 2. p. 163. very few of the Bishops had knowledge in Theology as Father Paul tells us yet these only had decisive voices in that Council and all was concluded by plurality of their Votes when far the major part understood not the matters concluded so that the Articles of the Roman faith were Voted blindfold And yet all must be damned who believe not these points of faith when those who made them so were ignorant of them and knew not what they did when they decreed them Such is the Romane charity and knowledge so burning and shining are their best lights they will have all burned here and in Hell too for not believing that which the Council for the greater part of it understood not But sure the knowledge of the Pope must be transcendent especially as to the Scripture his place and office requires it being accounted head of the whole Church which ought to have good eyes and teacher of Christians as much or more than Peter was and Judge in all controversies which concern Religion and Interpreter of all difficulties in Scripture and a more lively Oracle of God than the Scripture it self in the things of God Yes say they (e) Papa debet habere longe majorem scientiam alijs cum sit praepositus curiae toti Christianae reipublicae Pro eo tamen sufficit praesumptio juris quod papa praesumitur habere omnia in scrinio pectoris Graff l. 1. c. 15. n. 3. the Pope ought to have farr more knowledge than any other being the President of the whole Christian Common wealth so de Graffijs But then he adds as to him the presumption of the Law is enough for all this and that presumes that all is in the Cabinet of the Popes breast as it may well be presumed that a skill beyond that of all Physitians is in a bold Mountebank (f) Licet de facto quandoque possit contingere contrarium cum memoria hominis sit labilis id ibid. Quum hoc tempore nullus sit Romae qui sacras literas didicerit qua fronte aliquis eorum docere andebit quod non didicerit Arnulph in Concil Rhem. although indeed what is quite contrary may prove true Accordingly the Pope may be all that they style him without the knowledge of a Novice in the Scripture without any such acquaintance with it as to pretend to the name of a Divine though acquaintance with it be expected from none but Divines and many that have the name have little or nothing of the thing The Popes think not themselves concerned at all to trouble their heads with Divinity (*) The study of the Laws the Canon Law especially is the nearest way breve compendium to the highest dignities in their Church even the Popedom it self scarce any thing being left for
account no act of love nor of any other grace will be needful for them that they may be saved Thus in fine here 's a Religion which pretends to be Christian but excuseth and disingageth all that profess it from the love of Christ a Doctrine which bereaves Religion of that which themselves count its life and quite stifles all the spirits of Christianity chops off all Christian vertues all gracious acts and qualities in this one neck and leaves nothing but a gastly Carkase For obliging them to neglect love as needless it makes the rest impossible without it there can be no saving faith no godly sorrow no filial fear no delight in God no desire to enjoy him no genuine gratitude When the life of a true Christian should be made up of these they leave it not possible for him to have one act of true Christian vertue for without love they say themselves there cannot be any one true vertue Here is a way to Heaven for those that never loved God in life or death a path that pretends to Heaven but lies quite Cross to the way of Christ and leads directly to outer darkness A Doctrine that incourageth them to live in hatred of God all their dayes and in the end sends them out of the World under the dreadful sentence of the Apostle 1 Cor. 16 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema Maranatha To conclude this head It is a Doctrine which is damning not only meritoriously but effectually and will certainly ruine eternally all that believe and practise it and hath in it the mortal poyson and malignity of a hundred such speculative Opinions as pass for Heresies And beside the danger and horrible impiety of this Doctrine it is ridiculous to the very highest degree For can any thing be more senseless than to ask how often a man ought to love his best friend and Benefactor whether once in his life be not enough in all Conscience nay whether it be not very fair not to hate him And indeed they state the business all along in such a manner and manage it with such nicety and caution not as if they were afraid lest men should love God too little but as if all the danger lay on the other hand and their great care were that no body should love him too much or love him at all I do not believe that things so palpably impious and ridiculous were ever so solemnly debated by men of any Religion whatsoever CHAP. IV. There is no necessity of saving or justifying faith by the Romish Doctrine Sect. 1. THat no man can be justified or saved without faith is so evident in Scripture that none but an Infidel can question it The Romanists do not express any doubt of it and yet they make no other faith necessary than that which is neither justifying nor saving They have two sorts of faith one for the unlearned and ignorant which they call Implicite The other for the learned and more knowing which they say should be Explicite The former as they describe it is an assent to some general including many particulars with a mind to believe nothing contrary thereunto the general is this That what ever the Roman Church which cannot err believes is true the particulars included are they know not what for they are supposed ignorant Now this we say is no Christian faith and make it apparent that it is no such thing For first it is no belief of any one particular or article of the Christian faith It is only a belief of a general which is no truth at all much less Christian that the Church of Rome cannot err or believe any thing but what is true when the ignorant person neither knows what this Church is nor what she believes nor why he should give her such credit So that the act is a blind conceit unworthy of a Man or a Christian and the object a general error And then as to the particulars which are necessary for Christians to believe this implicite faith doth not actually believe any of them at all if it did it would not be what it is implicite It apprehends them not therefore cannot believe them for as themselves acknowledge (a) Neque enim credi potest quod non cognoscitur Fill. tr 22. n. 39. That cannot be believed which is not known To render this clear to us they thus explain it When (b) Bannes 22. q. 2. art 8. Sect. dubitatur secundo Sum. Rosel verb. fides n. 1. a man is asked whether Christ were born of the Virgin Mary and whether there be one God and three persons and he answers that he knows not but believes touching these things as the Church holds this is to believe implicitely So that a man may have this faith compleatly and yet not believe an article of the Creed and if this be Christian faith a man may have it who believes nothing of Christ They are believers at this rate who have a mind to hold what the Church doth concerning Christ or the Creed though they never know what that is They know not what the Church holds unless the Churches knowing be their knowledge and so believe nothing unless the Churche's believing be their faith and so have no faith to save them unless it be saving faith to believe by an Attorney Secondly as this faith may be without the knowledge and belief of any of the particular Articles which are necessary to be believed by Christians so which is yet more strange it may be with the belief of what is opposite and repugnant to the Christian faith This they acknowledge and clear it to us by instances A man may be disposed to believe what the Church holds and yet may believe that God the Father and God the Son are not equal but one greater and elder than the other or that the persons in the Trinity are locally distant Such is the vertue of implicite faith faith (c) In tantum valet fides implicita quod si quis habens eam falso opinaretur ratione naturali motus Patrem majorem vel priorem Filio vel tres personas localiter distare aâ— simile quid non sit haereticus non peccet dummodo hunc errorem pertinaciter non defendat hoc ipsum credat quia credat ecclesiam sic credere Verb. Credere Sum Rosel v. fides n. 2. After Pope Innocent and Hostiensis Altenstaig that if he who hath it believes these errors or any like them he would be no Heretick he would not sin provided he doth not maintain his error pertinaciously and that he believes because he thinks the Church believes it Or such a Catholick may believe (d) Ut puta vetula credit Trinitatem esse unam Faeminam quoniam credit ecclesiam sic tenere sic credit tamen non est haeretica quia conditionaliter credit si ecclesia sic tenet credit Verb. sides n. 6. that the
impijs tunc enim credere esset actus imprudentiae secundum D. Tho m. 22. q. 1. art 4. ad secundum idem ibid. vid plures in Jo. Sanc. d. 19. n. 3. 4. if the object of faith be not duely proposed if by slight reasons or by impious persons then it would he imprudence to believe or (u) Id. ibid. p. 95. if they do not doubt of their faith or if their Teachers be fallacious or erroneous or if the proposal (x) Aragon in 2. 2. q. 11. art 2. dub ult ibid. p. 01. be not enforced with reasons with holiness of life with the confutation of the contrary and with some wonders In short if they have not had sufficient instruction in this all agree And this alone will excuse a great part of their Church who for want of such instruction are acknowledged by themselves to be Infidells Thus Navarre delivers it (y) In universa Christiana republica circa haec tanta est socordia ut multos passim invenias nihil magis in particulari explicite de hisce rebus credere quam Ethnicum quendam Philosophum sola unius veri Dei naturali cognitione praeditum Cap. 11. n. 22. p. 142. In the whole Christian Commonwealth he means the Roman Church there is so great neglect as to this that ye may find many every where who believe no more of these things i. e. of Christ and the most necessary Articles of the Christian faith in particular and explicitely than some Heathen Philosophers who have only the natural knowledge of the one true God But if the precept could reach any through all these securities which we cannot easily imagine yet there is one way to clear them all of it so that they may live and dye Infidells without danger from any command requiring faith in Christ For he that hath not that express faith which is commanded in the Gospel but only what is requisite necessitate medij is living or dying if he be sorry for his negligence and purpose to amend which may be in their sense without true Repentance capable of absolution without any instruction from his Confessor (a) Imo in rigore non tenetur confessarius etiamsi sanus sit paenitens eum instruere ante absolutionem aummodo enim doleat de preterita negligentia proponat emendationem in futuâ—um capax est absolutionis sola fide explicita circa mysteria necessario credenda ex medio Fill. tr 28. n. 58. vid. Jo. Sanc. d. 9. n. 18. And by vertue of that he may live in a justified state or if he dye he passeth out of the World as a very good Christian though he believe in Christ no more than a Heathen Sect. 2. Pass we to their other sort of faith which they call explicite it is as they define it An actual assent to the particulars which the Church propounds as revealed by God This with them is justifying faith requisite in the learned and more intelligent amongst them As to the object of it if we view it well it looks untowardly for a thing by which a sinner is to be justified For it is prodigiously extended and takes in things uncertain false impossible impertinent and ridiculous as points that must certainly be believed unto justification For their Church propounds as things revealed by God and so objects of justifying faith not only what is delivered in Scripture but â—nwritten Traditions concerning matters of faith and manners and â—hese if they will be justified they must believe though they know â—ot what they are nor where to find them but in the Churches unerâ—ing fancy She propounds also the unanimous consent of the Fathers â—n several points and though this never was or is impossible to be â—nown yet it must be believed by those that mean to be justified She propounds the decrees of Councils to be believed as Divine truths b Omnia concilia post Chalcedonense potissimum instituta fuerunt non ut erueretur veritas sed ut roboraretur defenderetur atque augeretur semper ecclesiae Romanae potestas ecclesiasticorum libertas Aeneas Sylvius l. 2. de gest conc Basil when it is acknowledged that the design in Councils for many hundred years was not to discover truth but to promote the Roman greatness She propounds also the determinations of Popes these must be believed as infallible when ordinarily they were neither persons of common truth or honesty and we must be justified by believing the dictates of Atheists or (c) Canus loc Theol. l. 6. p. 243. 344. Hereticks of (d) Sylvest 2. Platin. Chron. Martini Poloni Hildeband Binno Cardin. Conjurers (e) Faex vitiorum Diabolus incarnatus Constan concil Sess 11. art 5. Benedict 9. vid. Baron an 1034. n 3. or incarnate Devils of vicious Beasts (f) Sunt qui scribunt hunc sceleratissimum hominem seu monstrum potius Platina viâ—a Joh. 13. and wicked Monsters For those who cry up â—is Holiness have adorned him also now and then with these other Sacred Titles I know not whether these things are more ridiculous or more horrid how ever letting them pass as they are let us take their faith at best and make it better than they will have it Suppose it rested in the Scriptures and had no thing for its object but Revelation such as is truly Divine yet even so they give such Report of it as will scarce suffer us to think that they can expect to be justified by it Considered in it self they (c) Dominic a Soto de natur grat lib. â—…◠7. d. 79. 81. count it not worthy the name of a vertue They (d) Concil Trident. Sess 6. c. 7 call it a dead idle thing and though they would have it to be an infused habit and the gift of God because the Scripture so calls that which is justifying faith indeed yet they say a (e) Scotus in 3. dist 23. air fide humana quam ipse appellat acquisitam hominem posse assentiri toti praedicationi Christianae Imo ita inquit credimus authoritate ecclesiae quam ipse putat humanam institutione parentum Cui sententiae adhuc explicatius subscribit Durandus q. 1. in 2. sent d. 28. Dicens fidem infusam non esse necessariam nisi uâ— facilius credamus Soto ibid. l. 2. c. 8. p. 81. mere humane quality acquired without any supernatural assistance may perform its proper act and office by actual assent to the whole Christian Doctrine They confess it is commonly found in the worst of men in perditissimis hominibus such as are neither acted nor possessed by the spirit of God such as live and dye in mortal wickedness (f) Bellarm. de Baptism l. 1. c. 14. and are damned for it Yea some of them confess that it is in the Devils This faith saith Cardinal (g) Fiâ—es haec non est ea tantum qua credimus Deum esse qua credimus vera esse
Reverence if they be not taken notice of will be no fault at all if they be deliberate will but be slight ones Not only Reverence and Devotion are accounted needless at this Sacrament but Sobriety and the use of Reason To communicate out of ostentation and vain glory is but a peccadillo And all holy fervor being excluded by voluntary distraction to imploy their Souls vainly or wickedly during the Celebration is no fault at all in reference to the Sacrament Those that communicate unworthily to such a degree as is counted most horridly impious do fully satisfie the precept of their Church for the Communion Sect. 7. to page 52. Their Doctrine doth not more oblige them to Worship God in private Meditation not necessary no not on the holiest seasons or occasions Reading the word of God scarce tolerated in the people and that not so freely as the Stews Sect. 8. 9. to page 53. Private Prayer rarely a duty with some never a duty with others Not at all by their common Doctrine but by accident in the Article of necessity which many never meet with so that many may never pray while they live and yet be innocent Some say there is no Divine precept for Prayer Others who ackowledg a precept will not have it oblige them at such times and occasions when if ever it would oblige Even in their Article of necessity when it comes they have ways to excuse them easily from the obligation and to make it no special sin to neglect this duty all their life Sect. 10. to page 59. Their Church obliges not any to private prayers not to the least or those of most account among them When ever they use private prayer upon any account as required by precept or injoyned for pennance for Prayer passes commonly with them as a punishment or voluntary as a work of Supererogation there is no need by their principles to worship God therein Seeing they are to Worship him no more any where the World may judge what Religion they have since that Worship is as essential to Religion as a Soul to a man Sect. 11. 12. to page 63. CHAP. II. CHristian knowledge is not necessary for Romanists by their Doctrine They need not know what they are to pray for Many of their Priests yea of their Popes understand not their common prayers Sect. 1. to page 66. They need not know what they are to believe The knowledg of all the Articles of the small Creed nor of the Trinity and incarnation of Christ scarce necessary for all Christians Ignorance and errour in points of faith may not only be innocent but meritorious Sect. 2. to page 72. They need not know what they are to do They may merit Heaven by following their Leaders out of the way That 's the most compleat and perfect obedience which is next to bruitish without knowledg and judgment when they obey their Leaders as a Beast doth his owner Sect. 3. to page 76. The knowledg of the Scriptures to which their Doctrine and Worship is confessed to be repugnant unnecessary in a manner for all sorts not only for the People and Monasticks but their Confessors and Preachers Their Bishops afraid to look into the Bible lest it should make them Hereticks Therefore very few of their Bishops in the Council of Trent who decreed so many new Articles of faith had knowledg in Theology Their Popes commonly no Divines many of them understood not Latine though not only their Church-service and Laws but their authentique Edition of the Scripture be confined to that Language The People the further they are from knowledg the more excusable if they take no care nor pains to get it Sect. 4. to page 87. CHAP. III. THeir Doctrine makes it needless to love God There is no command for habitual love to God The acts of this love are as unnecessary The imperate acts thereof not injoyned neither God nor the Church requires any to observe the commands of God out of love to him Sect. 1. 2. to page 91. How needless the Elicite acts of this love are Some hold there is no command for this actual love any inward act of it that binds them or no special command Others who acknowledg a precept will not have it to bind them upon any occasion when if ever it would oblige Not when they have sinn'd against him Not when he expresses his love Not when he discovers his infinite Excellencies to them Not when they are to worship him Not at any Sacrament no not the Eucharist It is too much to love God once a Week or once a Year or once in Four or Five Years One act of love once in a life may be enough yea and more than needs too for when that time comes if ever it come when they will have any obliged to an act of love yet they then assign something else which will serve instead of it and so render it needless still A love which is the issue of nature unsanctified may suffice Or to love God less than other things only more than mortal crimes may be enough Or to do nothing against this love though there be no acts of it or from it may be sufficient Or external acts may satisfie Or if a man believes that he loves God above all though indeed he daes not it may serve the turn Or Attrition which includes something repugnant to this love with their Sacrament of Confession may excuse him from loving of God at the point of death though he never once loved him in his life before How extremely pernicious and ridiculous this their Doctrine is Sect. 3. 4. to page 109. CHAP. IV. BY their Doctrine no faith is necessary but that which is neither justifying nor saving That which they will have necessary for the ignorant is what they call implicit A faith which they may have without actually believing any one Article of the Christian faith And is consistent with the belief of what is quite opposite to the Christian belief And is but such a faith as Jews Turks and Pagans have This was not thought sufficient for Christians till they were thought something like Asses and so expressed by some of their great Saints and Doctors How many ways they have to exempt the people from the obligation of all precepts for any other than this bruitish faith Sect. 1. to page 114. The faith requisite in the more intelligent to justifiethem they call explicit This as described by them in its object includes things uncertain impertinent false impossible and ridiculous as points that must be certainly believed unto justification This of it self as themselves say deserves not the name of a vertue is an idle dead thing may be found in the worst of men and in the Devils too Yet it is with them the Christian the Catholick faith Sect. 2. to page 116. They see no great necessity of faith The Pope the Head of their Church needs it not And the Body may
in Scotland (*) Hâ—st of Ch. of Scot. l. 2. p. 75. were accounted sufficiently qualified who it is said did think the New Testament to have been composed by Martin Luther The Priests even in Italy (k) Pudeat Italiae sacerdotes quos ne semel quidem legisse constat novam legem apud Thaboritas vix mulierculam invenias quae de novo veteri testamento respondere nescit Comment de dict fact Alsonsi regis liâ— 2. Apophtheg 17. if they had more notice of the Author yet scarce more acquaintance with the Contents of the New Testament they never read it and were much more ignorant thereof than the silly Women amongst the Thaborites as Aeneas Sylvius afterward Pope Pius 2. writes Knowledge of the Scriptures (m) Et non curent nescientes literas literas discere was not counted necessary for their Preachers either Regular or Secular The chief of their Regulars were the Franciscans and Dominicans In the rule of Fryar Francis approved by several Popes the Minorites one sort of Preaching Fryars are amongst other other vices to avoid learning if they were illiterate And those of the Dominicans (n) Illi rudes illiterati praedicabant urspergens in Cent. 13. Magd. Cap. 6. the other of Fryars Praedicant who were rude and illiterate did Preach notwithstanding As for their other Doctors (o) Si vero sacerdos est Doctor tenetur scire saltem rudimenta sidei Graff decis pars 2. l. 1. c. 11. n. 19. or Teachers that which they are bound to know is the rudiments of faith such as our Children who can scarce read will give an account of The Papacy had no Doctors or Divines more eminent than those of the Sorbon (p) Si illud apud Hieronymum aut in decretis legisse quid vero novum Testamentum esset ignorare Rob. Steph. Resp ad Censur Theol. Paris in Praefat. yet they seem little beholding to the Scripture for their Divinity Robert Stevens in the last age conversing with those Doctors would be asking in what part of the New Testament such or such a thing is written but had such answers returned They had read it in Jerom or the Decrees but what the New Testament was they knew not For a Confessor he is sufficiently qualified according to Aquinas Bonaventure and Albertus as Sylvester collects (q) Secundum istos sufficientem credo qui atâ—ente legit intellexit Defecerunt nisi sit aut naturaliter stultus aut praesumptuâ—sus ut non sciat dubitare vel nolit interrogare Sylv. sum v. Confessor 3. n. 2. vid. Tol. ibid. l. 3. c. 15. That which a Confessor is to know is which sins are mortal which venial Now this they cannot learn from Scripture as themselves go near to acknowledge Valent. Tom. 2. disp 6. q. 18. And so no need of Scripture for them vid. Angel sâ—m v. confess 4. n. 3. Sylvest ibid. if he have but read and understand not the Bible but Antoninus his Book entituled Defecerunt unless he be a mere natural or presumptuous fool And neither will doubt of any thing when he knows nothing nor enquire of others So that he may be a compleat Confessor and guide of consciences who knowes nothing of Scripture and little else if he have but the wit to discern his own ignorance and a will to learn of those that are wiser when he can meet with them Thus we see a Roman Priest is furnished for all points of the Office common or special without any acquaintance with the word of God As to Bishops they seem to agree that some knowledge of the Scripture is requisite in them and some venture to say a full and perfect knowledge of the old new Testament signified by their Mitres the two Horns whereof mystically demonstrate that they understand the two Testaments both alike And indeed since their Praelates Secular and Regular have honour power and plenty by the Papal contrivement and hopes of more and greater than other professions can offer their interest tyes them so fast to it that they may trust them if any with the sight of the word of God securely and not fear that any discovery of Popish corruptions through such a Medium will make any impressions on them to their prejudice or move them to believe or act any thing against that which is so much themselves there is no such danger in admitting these to some acquaintance with Scripture as others who have no expectations from Religion but for their Souls and Eternity Nevertheless their Rules which seem to make this knowledge necessary for Bishops are rather Counsels than precepts they are cautious and will not press this too much for conscience enlightned sometimes proves too hard for secular interest And their Praelates may be easily dispensed with if they be ignorant of Scripture or have little notice of it It 's one of Sylvesters and Angelus questions (r) Utrum peccet mortaliter Episcopus ignorans respon lendo in ordinatione sua cum interrogatur utrum sciat novum vetus Testamentum quod scit Resp secundum Rich. quod sic si est ita ignarus quod nesciat in generali mandata Dei articulos fidâ—i virtutes vitia eâ—iam sacramenta quoniam tunc mentitur perniciose Angel sum v. episc n. 26. Sylv. ibid. n. 5. whether an ignorant Bishop sin mortally if in his Ordination being asked whether he understand the whole Bible he should affirm he does this he so resolves after Richardus a Sancto victore If the Bishop be so ignorant that he knowes not in general the Commands of God the Articles of faith what are vertues vices and which the Sacraments then he so sins he lyes pernitiously Leaving us to judge that he doth not thus lye when he solemnly affirms that he hath as much knowledge of the old and new Testament as the Church of Rome requires in a Bishop if he do but know the Creed the Ten Commandements which are vertues and vices and which are Sacraments and have but some general perception of these They will not have the Bishops burthened with too much Scripture-learning since every Child they confirm should have no less than this This may pass for perfect knowledge of the Scripture and of an Episcopal pitch with those who count it no imperfection to be ignorant of that which they say (a) Iâ— indice lib. prohibit Regul 4. Pij 4. doth more hurt than good for so they are wont to blaspheme the Scriptures or the Holy Ghost whose inspiration they are The Bishop of Dunkeld (*) Putant peccatum esse si scripturas legerint in lege Domini meditabundos quasi garru os inutilesque contemnunt Espencaeus in 1. Tim. digress l. 2. c. 2. p. 180. in Tit. c. 1. p. 486. Edit Paris an 1619. thought he had enough of it when he said I thank God I have lived well these many years and never knew