if he had not been rescued by the Civil Power But men have too much neglected all the ministeries of Grace and this most especially and have not given themselves to a right understanding of it and so neglected it yet more But because the prejudice which these parts of the Christian Church have suffered for want of it is very great as will appear by enumeration of the many and great Blessings consequent to it I am not without hope that it may be a service acceptable to God and an useful ministery to the Souls of my Charges if by instructing them that know not and exhorting them that know I set forward the practice of this Holy Rite and give reasons why the people ought to love it and to desire it and how they are to understand and practise it and consequently with what dutious affections they are to relate to those persons whom God hath in so special and signal manner made to be for their good and eternal benefit the Ministers of the Spirit and Salvation S. Bernard in the Life of S. Malachias my Predecessor in the See of Down and Connor reports that it was the care of that good Prelate to renew the rite of Confirmation in his Diocese where it had been long neglected and gone into desuetude It being too much our case in Ireland I find the same necessity and am oblig'd to the same procedure for the same reason and in pursuance of so excellent an example Hoc enim est Evangelizare Christum said S. Austin non tantùm docere quae sunt dicenda de Christo sed etiam quae observanda ei qui accedit ad compagem corporis Christi For this is to preach the Gospel not only to teach those things which are to be said of Christ but those also which are to be observed by every one who desires to be confederated into the Society of the Body of Christ which is his Church that is not only the doctrines of good Life but the Mysteries of Godliness and the Rituals of Religion which issue from a Divine fountain are to be declar'd by him who would fully preach the Gospel In order to which performance I shall declare 1. The Divine Original Warranty and Institution of the Holy Rite of Confirmation 2. That this Rite was to be a perpetual and never-ceasing Ministration 3. That it was actually continued and practised by all the succeeding Ages of the purest and Primitive Churches 4. That this Rite was appropriate to the Ministery of Bishops 5. That Prayer and Imposition of the Bishop's hands did make the whole Ritual and though other things were added yet they were not necessary or any thing of the Institution 6. That many great Graces and Blessings were consequent to the worthy reception and due ministration of it 7. I shall add something of the manner of Preparation to it and Reception of it SECT I. Of the Divine Original Warranty and Institution of the Holy Rite of Confirmation IN the Church of Rome they have determin'd Confirmation to be a Sacrament proprii nominis properly and really and yet their Doctors have some of them at least been paulò iniquiores a little unequal and unjust to their proposition insomuch that from themselves we have had the greatest opposition in this Article Bonacina and Henriquez allow the proposition but make the Sacrament to be so unnecessary that a little excuse may justifie the omission and almost neglect of it And Loemelius and Daniel à Jesu and generally the English Jesuits have to serve some ends of their own Family and Order disputed it almost into contempt that by representing it as unnecessary they might do all the ministeries Ecclesiastical in England without the assistance of Bishops their Superiors whom they therefore love not because they are so But the Theological Faculty of Paris have condemn'd their Doctrine as temerarious and savouring of Heresie and in the later Schools have approv'd rather the Doctrine of Gamachaeus Estius Kellison and Bellarmine who indeed do follow the Doctrine of the most Eminent persons in the Ancient School Richard of Armagh Scotus Hugo Cavalli and Gerson the Learned Chancellor of Paris who following the Old Roman order Amalarius and Albinus do all teach Confirmation to be of great and pious Use of Divine Original and to many purposes necessary according to the Doctrine of the Scriptures and the Primitive Church Whether Confirmation be a Sacrament of no is of no use to dispute and if it be disputed it can never be prov'd to be so as Baptism and the Lord's Supper that is as generally necessary to Salvation but though it be no Sacrament it cannot follow that it is not of very great Use and holiness and as a Man is never the less tied to Repentance though it be no Sacrament so neither is he ever the less oblig'd to receive Confirmation though it be as it ought acknowledg'd to be of an Use and Nature inferior to the two Sacraments of Divine direct and immediate institution It is certain that the Fathers in a large Symbolical and general sence call it a Sacrament but mean not the same thing by that word when they apply it to Confirmation as they do when they apply it to Baptism and the Lord's Supper That it is an excellent and Divine Ordinance to purposes Spiritual that it comes from God and ministers in our way to God that is all we are concern'd to inquire after and this I shall endeavour to prove not only against the Jesuits but against all Opponents of what side soever My First Argument from Scripture is what I learn from Optatus and S. Cyril Optatus writing against the Donatists hath these words Christ descended into the water not that in him who is God was any thing that could be made cleaner but that the water was to precede the future Vnction for the initiating and ordaining and fulfilling the mysteries of Baptism He was wash'd when he was in the hands of John then followed the order of the mystery and the Father finish'd what the Son did ask and what the Holy Ghost declar'd The Heavens were open'd God the Father anointed him the Spiritual Vnction presently descended in the likeness of a Dove and sate upon his head and was spred all over him and he was called the Christ when he was the anointed of the Father To whom also lest Imposition of hands should seem to be wanting the voice of God was heard from the cloud saying This is my Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him That which Optatus says is this that upon and in Christ's person Baptism Confirmation and Ordination were consecrated and first appointed He was Baptized by S. John he was Confirm'd by the Holy Spirit and anointed with Spiritual Unction in order to that great work of obedience to his Father's will and he was Consecrated by the voice of God from Heaven In all things Christ is the Head and the
all that are deposited in the primitive records of our Religion Are not those Prayers and Hymns in holy Scripture excellent compositions admirable instruments of devotion full of piety rare and incomparable addresses to God Dare any man with his gift of Prayer pretend that he can ex tempore or by study make better Who dares pretend that he hath a better spirit than David had or than the Apostles and Prophets and other holy persons in Scripture whose Prayers and Psalms are by Gods Spirit consigned to the use of the Church for ever Or will it be denied but that they also are excellent Directories and Patterns for prayer And if Patterns the nearer we draw to our example are not the imitations and representments the better And what then if we took the Samplers themselves Is there any imperfection in them and can we mend them and correct the Magnificat The very matter of these and the Author no less than Divine cannot but justifie the Forms though set determin'd and prescribed Sect. 85. IN a just proportion and commensuration I argue so concerning the primitive and ancient forms of Church-service which are composed according to those so excellent Patterns which if they had remained pure as in the first institution or had always been as they had been reformed by the Church of England they would against all defiance put in for the next place to those forms of Liturgy which mutatis mutandis are nothing but the words of Scripture But I am resolved at this present not to enter into Question concerning the matter of Prayers Sect. 86. NEXT we must enquire what the Apostles did in obedience to the precept of Christ and what the Church did in imitation of the Apostles That the Apostles did use the Prayer their Lord taught them I think need not much be questioned they could have no other end of their desire and it had been a strange boldness to ask for a form which they intended not to use or a strange levity not to do what they intended But I consider they had a double capacity they were of the Jewish Religion by education and now Christians by a new institution in the first capacity they used those Set forms of Prayer which their Nation used in their devotions Christ and his Apostles sang a Hymn part of the great Allelujah which was usually sung at the end of the Paschal Supper After the Supper they sang a Hymn sayes the Evangelist The Jews also used every Sabbath to sing the XCII Psalm which is therefore intitled A Song or Psalm for the Sabbath and they who observed the hours of Prayer and Vows according to the rites of the Temple need not be suspected to have omitted the Jewish forms of prayer And as they complied with the religious customes of the Nation worshipping according to the Jewish manner it is also in reason to be presumed they were Worshippers according to the new Christian institution and used that form their Lord taught them Sect. 87. NOW that they tyed themselves to recitation of the very words of Christs Prayer pro loco tempore I am therefore easie to believe because I find they were strict to a scruple in retaining the Sacramental words which Christ spake when he instituted the blessed Sacrament insomuch that not only three Evangelists but Saint Paul also not only making a narrative of the institution but teaching the Corinthians the manner of its celebration to a tittle he recites the words of Christ. Now the action of the Consecrator is not a theatrical representment of the action of Christ but a sacred solemn and Sacramental prayer in which since the Apostles at first and the Church ever after did with reverence and fear retain the very words it is not only a probation of the Question in general in behalf of set forms but also a high probability that they retained the Lords Prayer and used it to an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the very form of words Sect. 88. AND I the rather make this inference from the preceding argument because of the cognation one hath with the other for the Apostles did also in the consecration of the Eucharist use the Lords Prayer and that together with the words of institution was the only form of consecration saith Saint Gregory and Saint Hierome affirms that the Apostles by the command of their Lord used this prayer in the benediction of the Elements Sect. 89. BUT besides this when the Apostles had received great measures of the Spirit and by their gift of Prayer composed more Forms for the help and comfort of the Church and contrary to the order in the first Creation the light which was in the body of the Sun was now diffused over the face of the new heavens and the new Earth it became a precept Evangelical that we should praise God in Hymns and Psalms and Spiritual Songs which is so certain that they were compositions of industry and deliberation and yet were sung in the Spirit that he who denies the last speaks against Scriptures he who denies the first speaks against Reason and would best confute himself if in the highest of his pretence of the Spirit he would venture at some ex tempore Hymns And of this we have the express testimony of St. Austin de Hymnis Psalmis canendis haberi Domini Apostolorum documenta utilia praecepta And the Church obeyed them for as an Ancient Author under the name of Diâ—nysius Areopagita relates the chief of the Clerical and Ministring Order offer bread upon the altar Cum Ecclesiastici omnes laudem hymnumque generalem Deo tribuerunt cum quibus Pontifex sacras preces ritè perficit c. They all sing one Hymn to God and the Bishop prays ritè according to the ritual or constitution which in no sence of the Church or of Grammar can be understood without a solemn and determined form 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Casaubon is cantare idem saepiùs dicere apud Graecos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were forms of praising God used constantly periodically and in the daily Offices And the Fathers of the Councel of Antioch complain against Paulus Samosatenus Quod Psalmos cantus qui ad domini nostri Jesu Christi honorem decantari solent tanquam recentiores à viris recentioris memoriae editos exploserit The quarrel was that he said the Church had used to say Hymns which were made by new men and not deriv'd from the Ancients which if we consider that the Councel of Antioch was in the twelfth year of Galienus the Emperour 133 years after Christs Ascension will fairly prove that the use of prescribed Forms of prayer Hymns and forms of Worshipping were very early in the Church and it is unimaginable it should be otherwise when we remember the Apostolical precept before mentioned And if we fancy a higher precedent than what was manifested upon earth we
Denis means that death is the end of all the agonies of this life A goodly note and never revealed till then and now as if this were a good argument to encourage men to contend bravely and not to fear death because when they are once dead they shall no more be troubled with the troubles of this life indeed you may go to worse and death may let you into a state of being as bad as hell and of greater torments than all the pains of this world put together amount to But to let alone such ridiculous subterfuges see the words of S. Dionys They that live a holy life looking to the true promises of God as if they were to behold the truth it self in that resurrection which is according to it with firm and true hope and in a Divine joy come to the sleep of death as to an end of all holy contentions now certainly if the doctrine of Purgatory were true and that they who had contended here and for all their troubles in this world were yet in a tolerable condition should be told that now they shall go to worse he that should tell them so would be but one of Jobs comforters No the servant of God coming to the end of his own troubles viz. by death is filled with holy gladness and with much rejoycing ascends to the way of Divine regeneration viz. to immortality which word can hardly mean that they shall be tormented a great while in hell fire The words of Justin Martyr or whoever is the Author of those Questions and Answers imputed to him affirms that presently after the departure of the soul from the body a distinction is made between the just and the unjust for they are brought by Angels to places worthy of them the souls of the just to Paradise where they have the conversation and sight of Angels and Archangels but the souls of the unrighteous to the places in Hades the invisible region or Hell Against these words because they pinch severely E. W. thinks himself bound to say something and therefore 1. whereas Justin Martyr says after our departure presently there is a separation made he answers that Justin Matyr means here to speak of the two final states after the day of judgment for so it seems he understands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or presently after death to mean the day of judgment of the time of which neither men nor Angels know any thing And whereas Justin Martyr says that presently the souls of the righteous go to Paradise E. W. answers 2. That Justin does not say that all just souls are carried presently into Heaven no Justin says into Paradise true but let it be remembred that it is so a part of Heaven as limbus infantum is by themselves call'd a part of hell that is a place of bliss the region of the blessed But 3. Justin says that presently there is a separation made but he says not that the souls of the righteous are carried to Paradise That 's the next answer which the very words of Justin do contradict There is presently a separation made of the just and unjust for they are by the Angels carried to the places they have deserved This is the separation which is made one is carried to Paradise the other to a place in hell But these being such pitiful offers at answering the Gentleman tries another way and says 4. That this affirmative of Justin contradicts another saying of Justin which I cited out of Sixtus Senensis that Justin Martyr and many other of the Fathers affirm'd that the souls of men are kept in secret receptacles reserved unto the sentence of the great day and that before then no man receives according to his works done in this life To this I answer that one opinion does not contradict another for though the Fathers believ'd that they who die in the Lord rest from their labours and are in blessed places and have antepasts of joy and comforts yet in those places they are reserv'd unto the judgment of the great day The intermedial joy or sorrow respectively of the just and unjust does but antedate the final sentence and as the comforts of Gods spirit in this life are indeed graces of God and rewards of Piety as the torments of an evil conscience are the wages of impiety yet as these do not hinder but that the great reward is given at dooms-day and not before so neither do the joys which the righteous have in the interval They can both consist together and are generally affirm'd by very many of the Greek and Latin Fathers And methinks this Gentleman might have learn'd from Sixtus Senensis how to have reconcil'd these two opinions for he quotes him saying there is a double beatitude the one imperfect of soul only the other consummate and perfect of soul and body The first the Fathers call'd by several names of Sinus Abrahae Atrium Dei sub Altare c. The other perfect joy the glory of the resurrection c. But it matters not what is said or how it be contradicted so it seem but to serve a present turn But at last if nothing of this will do these words are not the words of Justin for he is not the Author of the Questions and Answers ad orthodoxos To which I answer it matters not whether they be Justins or no But they are put together in the collection of his works and they are generally called his and cited under his name and made use of by Bellarmine when he supposes them to be to his purpose However the Author is Ancient and Orthodox and so esteem'd in the Church and in this particular speaks according to the doctrine of the more Ancient Doctors well but how is this against Purgatory says E. W. for they may be in secret receptacles after they have been in Purgatory To this I answer that he dares not teach that for doctrine in the Church of Rome who believes that the souls deliver'd out of Purgatory go immediately to the heaven of the Blessed and therefore if his book had been worth the perusing by the Censors of books he might have been questioned and followed Mr. Whites fortune And he adds it might be afterwards according to Origens opinion that is Purgatory might be after the day of judgment for so Origen held that all the fires are Purgatory and the Devils themselves should be sav'd Thus this poor Gentleman thinking it necessary to answer one argument against Purgatory brought in the Dissuasive cares not to answer by a condemned heresie rather than reason shall be taught by any son of the Church of England But however the very words of the Fathers cross his slippery answers so that they thrust him into a corner for in these receptacles the godly have joy and they enter into them as soon as they die and abide there till the day of judgment S. Ambrose is so full pertinent and material to
wisdom and spiritual understanding to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing to be fruitful in every good work increasing in the knowledge of God Strengthen me O God with all might according to thy glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering and joyfulness So shall I give thanks unto the Father who hath made me meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the Saints in light through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen III. NOW God himself and our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ perfect what is lacking in my faith direct my way unto him make me to increase and abound in love towards all men and establish my heart unblameable in holiness before God even our Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints IV. THE God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant make me perfect in every good work to do his will working in me what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen A Penitential Prayer I. O ETERNAL God most merciful Father who hast revealed thy self to Mankind in Christ Jesus full of pity and compassion merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin be pleased to effect these thy admirable mercies upon thy servant whom thou hast made to put his trust in thee I know O God that I am vile and polluted in thy sight but I must come into thy presence or I die Thou canst not behold any unclean thing and yet unless thou lookest upon me who am nothing but uncleanness I shall perish miserably and eternally O look upon me with a gracious eye cleanse my Soul with the blood of the holy Lamb that being purified in that holy stream my sins may lose their own foulness and become white as snow Then shall the leprous man be admitted to thy Sanctuary and stand before the Throne of Grace humble and full of sorrow for my fault and full of hope of thy mercy and pardon through Jesus Christ. II. O MY God thou wert reconciled to Mankind by thy own graciousness and glorious goodness even when thou didst find out so mysterious ways of Redemption for us by sending Jesus Christ then thou didst love us and that holy Lamb did from the beginning of the world lie before thee as sacrific'd and bleeding and in the fulness of time he came to actuate and exhibite what thy goodness had design'd and wrought in the Counsels of Eternity But now O gracious Father let me also be reconciled to thee for we continued enemies to thee though thou lovedst us let me no longer stand at distance from thee but run unto thee bowing my will and submitting my understanding and mortifying my affections and resigning all my powers and faculties to thy holy Laws that thou mayest take delight to pardon and to sanctifie to assist thy servant with thy grace till by so excellent conduct and so unspeakable mercy I shall arrive to the state of glory III. O Blessed Saviour Jesus thou hast made thy self a blessed Peace-offering for sins thou hast procured and revealed to us this Covenant of Repentance and remission of sins and by the infinite mercies of the Father and the death and intercession of the Son we stand fair and hopeful in the eye of the Divine Compassion and we have hopes of being saved O be pleased to work thy own work in us The grace and admission to Repentance is thy own glorious production thou hast obtained it for us with a mighty purchase but then be pleas'd also to take me in to partake actually of this glorious mercy Give to thy servant a perfect hatred of sin a great displeasure at my own folly for ever having provoked thee to anger a perpetual watchfulness against it an effective resolution against all its tempting instances a prevailing strife and a glorious victory that the body of sin being destroyed I may never any more serve any of its baser interests but that by a diligent labour and a constant care I may approve my self to thee my God mindful of thy Covenant a servant of thy Will a lover of thy Glory that being thy Minister in a holy service I may be thy Son by adoption and participation of the glories of the Lord Jesus O let me never lie down in sin nor rise in shame but be partaker both of the Death and the Resurrection of our Lord that my imperfect and unworthy services may by passing into the holiness of thy Kingdom be such as thy servant desires they should and fit to be presented unto thee in the perfect holiness of Eternity through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen CHAP. III. Of the distinction of Sins MORTAL and VENIAL in what sence to be admitted and how the smallest Sins are to be repented of and expiated SECT I. MEN have not been satisfied with devising infinite retirements and disguises of their follies to hide them from the world but finding themselves open and discerned by God have endeavoured to discover means of escaping from that Eye from which nothing can escape but innocence and from which nothing can be hid but under the cover of mercy For besides that we expound the Divine Laws to our own purposes of ease and ambition we give to our sins gentle censures and adorn them with good words and refuse to load them with their proper characters and punishments and at last are come to that state of things that since we cannot allow to our selves a liberty of doing every sin we have distinguished the Question of sins into several orders and have taken one half to our selves For we have found rest to our fancies in the permissions of one whole kind having distinguished sins into Mortal and Venial in their own nature that is sins which may and sins which may not be done without danger so that all the difference is that some sins must be taken heed of but others there are and they the most in number and the most frequent in their instances and returns which we have leave to commit without being affrighted with the fearful noises of damnation by which doctrine iniquity and confidence have much increased and grown upon the ruines and declension of the Spirit 2. And this one Article hath almost an infinite influence to the disparagement of Religion in the determination of Cases of Conscience For supposing the distinction to be believed experience and certain reason will evince that it is impossible to prescribe proper limits and measures to the several kinds and between the least Mortal and the greatest Venial sin no man is able with certainty to distinguish and therefore as we see it daily happen and in every page written by the Casuists men call what they please Venial take what measures of them they like appoint what
therefore the Writers of the New Testament do frequently joyn these to be dead unto sin and to live unto righteousness This is that which was opposed to the righteousness of the law and is called the righteousness of God And a mistake in this affair was the ruine of the Jews For being ignorant of the righteousness of God they thought to be justified by their own righteousness which is of the law That is they thought it enough to leave off to sin without doing the contrary good and so hop'd for the promises This was the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees to be no adulterers no defrauders of the rights of the Temple no Publicans or exacters of Tribute But our blessed Saviour assur'd us that there is no hopes of Heaven for us unless our righteousness exceed this of theirs 46. Now then to apply this to the present argument Suppose a vicious person who hath liv'd an impious life plac'd upon his death-bed exhorted to repentance made sensible of his danger invited by the Sermons of his Priest to dress his soul with duty and sorrow if he obeys and is sorry for his sin supposing that this sorrow does really begin that part of his duty which consists in not sinning nay suppose he will never sin again which is the righteousness of the law yet how can he in that case do that good which is required by the Gospel Seek the kingdom of Heaven and the righteousness thereof The Gospel hath a peculiar righteousness of its own proper to it self without which there is no entrance into Heaven But the righteousness of the law is called our own righteousness that is such a righteousness which men by nature know for we all by the innate law of nature know that we ought to abstain from doing injury to Man from impiety to God But we only know by revelation the righteousness of the Kingdom which consists in holiness and purity chastity and patience humility and self-denial He that rests in the first and thinks he may be sav'd by it as S. Paul's expression is he establisheth his own righteousness that is the righteousness of the law and this he does whosoever thinks that his evil habits are pardon'd without doing that good and acquiring those graces which constitute the righteousness of the Gospel that is faith and holiness which are the significations and the vital parts of the new creature 47. X. But because this doctrine is highly necessary and the very soul of Christianity I consider further that without the superinducing a contrary state of good to the former state of evil we cannot return or go off from that evil condition that God hates I mean the middle state or the state of lukewarmness For though all the old Philosophy consented that vertue and vice had no medium between them but whatsoever was not evil was good and he that did not do evil was a good man said the old Jews yet this they therefore did unreprovably teach because they knew not this secret of the righteousness of God For in the Evangelical justice between the natural or legal good or evil there is a medium or a third which of it self and by the accounts of the Law was not evil but in the accounts of the Evangelical righteousness is a very great one that is lukewarmness or a cold tame indifferent unactive Religion Not that lukewarmness is by name forbidden by any of the laws of the Gospel but that it is against the analogy and design of it A lukewarm person does not do evil but he is hated by God because he does not vigorously proceed in godliness No law condemns him but the Gospel approves him not because he does not from the heart obey this form of doctrine which commands a course a habit a state and life of holiness It is not enough that we abstain from evil we shall not be crowned unless we be partakers of a Divine nature For to this S. Peter enjoyns us carefully Now then we partake of a Divine nature when the Spirit dwells in us and rules all our faculties when we are united unto God when we imitate the Lord Jesus when we are perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect Now whether this can be done by an act of contrition needs no further inquiry but to observe the nature of Evangelical Righteousness the hatred God bears to lukewarmness the perfection he requires of a Christian the design and great example of our blessed Lord the glories of that inheritance whither we are design'd and of the obtaining of which obedience to God in the faith of Jesus Christ is made the only indispensable necessary condition 48. For let it be considered Suppose a man that is righteous according to the letter of the Law of the Ten Commandments all of which two excepted were Negative this man hath liv'd innocently and harmlesly all his days but yet uselesly unprofitably in rest and unactive circumstances is not this person an unprofitable servant The servant in the Parable was just such he spent not his Masters talent with riotous living like the Prodigal but laid it up in a Napkin he did neither good nor harm but because he did no good he receiv'd none but was thrown into outer darkness Nec furtum feci nec fugi si mihi dicat Servus habes pretium loris non ureris ajo Non hominem occidi non pasces in cruce corvos An innocent servant amongst the Romans might scape the Furca or the Mill or the Wheel but unless he was useful he was not much made of So it is in Christianity For that which according to Moses was called righteousness according to Christ is poverty and nakedness misery and blindness as appears in the reproof which the Spirit of God sent to the Bishop and Church of Laodicea He thought himself rich when he was nothing that is he was harmless but not profitable innocent according to the measures of the law but not rich in good works So the Pharisees also thought themselves just by the justice of the Law that is by their abstinence from condemned evils and therefore they refus'd to buy of Christ the Lord gold purified in the fire whereby they might become rich that is they would not accept of the righteousness of God the justice Evangelical and therefore they were rejected And thus to this very day do we Even many that have the fairest reputation for good persons and honest men reckon their hopes upon their innocence and legal freedoms and outward compliances that they are no liars nor swearers no drunkards nor gluttons no extortioners or injurious no thieves nor murtherers but in the mean time they are unprofitable servants not instructed not throughly prepared to every good work not abounding in the work of the Lord but blind and poor and naked just but as the Pharisees innocent but as Heathens In the mean time they are only in that state to which Christ never
first cut his hair in token of service to Christ and in confirming him he should be his Spiritual Father And something like this we find concerning William Earl of Warren and Surrey who when he had Dedicated the Church of S. Pancratius and the Priory of Lewes receiv'd Confirmation and gave seizure per capillos capitis mei says he in the Charter fratris mei Radulphi de Warrena quos abscidit cum cultello de capitibus nostris Henricus Episcopus Wintoniensis by the hairs of my head and of my Brother's which Henry Bishop of Winchester cut off before the Altar meaning according to the ancient Custom in Confirmation when they by that Solemnity addicted themselves to the free Servitude of the Lord Jesus The Ceremony is obsolete and chang'd but the Mystery can never And indeed that is one of the advantages in which we can rejoyce concerning the ministration of this Rite in the Church of England and Ireland That whereas it was sometimes clouded sometimes hindred and sometimes hurt by the appendage of needless and useless Ceremonies it is now reduc'd to the Primitive and first Simplicity amongst us and the excrescencies us'd in the Church of Rome are wholly par'd away and by holy Prayers and the Apostolical Ceremony of Imposition of the Bishops hands it is worthily and zealously administred The Latins us'd to send Chrism to the Greeks when they had usurped some jurisdiction over them and the Pope's Chaplains went with a quantity of it to CP where the Russians usually met them for it for that was then the Ceremony of this Ministration But when the Latins demanded fourscore pounds of Gold besides other gifts they went away and chang'd their Custom rather than pay an unlawful and ungodly Tribute Non quaerimus vestra sed vos We require nothing but leave to impart God's blessings with pure Intentions and a Spiritual Ministery And as the Bishops of our Churches receive nothing from the People for the Ministration of this Rite so they desire nothing but Love and just Obedience in Spiritual and Ecclesiastical duties and we offer our Flocks Spiritual things without mixture of Temporal advantages from them we minister the Rituals of the Gospel without the Inventions of Men Religion without Superstition and only desire to be believ'd in such things which we prove from Scripture expounded by the Catholick Practice of the Church of God Concerning the Subject of this Discourse the Rite of Confirmation it were easie to recount many great and glorious expressions which we find in the Sermons of the Holy Fathers of the Primitive Ages so certain it is that in this thing we ought to be zealous as being desirous to perswade our People to give us leave to do them great good But the following Pages will do it I hope competently only we shall remark that when they had gotten a custom anciently that in cases of necessity they did permit Deacons and Lay-men sometimes to Baptize yet they never did confide in it much but with much caution and curiosity commanded that such persons should when that Necessity was over be carried to the Bishop to be Confirm'd so to supply all precedent defects relating to the past imperfect ministery and future necessity and danger as appears in the Council of Eliberis And the Ancients had so great estimate and veneration to this Holy Rite that as in Heraldry they distinguish the same thing by several names when they relate to Persons of greater Eminency and they blazon the Arms of the Gentry by Metals of the Nobility by precious Stones but of Kings and Princes by Planets so when they would signifie the Vnction which was us'd in Confirmation they gave it a special word and of more distinction and remark and therefore the Oil us'd in Baptism they call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but that of Confirmation was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they who spake properly kept this difference of words until by incaution and ignorant carelesness the names fell into confusion and the thing into disuse and dis-respect But it is no small addition to the Honour of this Ministration that some wise and good men have piously believed that when Baptiz'd Christians are Confirm'd and solemnly bless'd by the Bishop that then it is that a special Angel-Guardian is appointed to keep their Souls from the assaults of the Spirits of darkness Concerning which though I shall not interpose mine own opinion yet this I say that the Piety of that supposition is not disagreeable to the intention of this Rite for since by this the Holy Spirit of God the Father of Spirits is given it is not unreasonably thought by them that the other good Spirits of God the Angels who are ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to the good of them that shall be Heirs of Salvation should pay their kind offices in subordination to their Prince and Fountain that the first in every kind might be the measure of all the rest But there are greater and stranger things than this that God does for the Souls of his Servants and for the honour of the Ministeries which himself hath appointed We shall only add that this was ancient and long before Popery entred into the World and that this Rite hath been more abus'd by Popery than by any thing and to this day the Bigots of the Roman Church are the greatest Enemies to it and from them the Presbyterians But besides that the Church of England and Ireland does religiously retain it and hath appointed a solemn Officer for the Ministery the Lutheran and Bohemian Churches do observe it carefully and it is recommended and establish'd in the Harmony of the Protestant Confessions And now may it please Your Grace to give me leave to implore Your Aid and Countenance for the propagating this so religious and useful a Ministery which as it is a peculiar of the Bishop's Office is also a great enlarger of God's Gifts to the People It is a great instrument of Vnion of hearts and will prove an effective Deletery to Schism and an endearment to the other parts of Religion it is the consummation of Baptism and a preparation to the Lord's Supper it is the Vertue from on high and the solemnity of our Spiritual Adoption But there will be no need to use many arguments to enflame your Zeal in this affair when Your Grace shall find that to promote it will be a great Service to God for this alone will conclude Your Grace who are so ready by Laws and Executions by word and by Example to promote the Religion of Christ as it is taught in these Churches I am not confident enough to desire Your Grace for the reading this Discourse to lay aside any one hour of Your greater Employments which consume so much of Your Days and Nights But I say that the Subject is greatly worthy of consideration Nihil enim inter manus habui cui majorem sollicitudinem praestare deberem And for the Book
ΣΥΜΒΟΛΟΠΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΠOR A COLLECTION OF Polemicall Discourses Wherein the CHURCH of ENGLAND IN ITS WORST As well as more Flourishing Condition is defended in many material Points against the Attempts of the PAPISTS on one hand and the FANATICKS on the other TOGETHER WITH Some Additional Pieces addressed to the Promotion of Practical Religion and Daily Devotion By JER TAYLOR Chaplain in Ordinary to King CHARLES the First and late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor The Third Edition Enlarged LONDON Printed by R. Norton for R. Royston Bookseller to the King 's most Excellent Majesty at the Angel in Amen-Corner M. DC LXXIV NON MAGNA LOQVIMVR SED VIVIMVS NIHIL OPINIONIS GRATIA OMNIA CONSCENTIAE FACIAM ECCLESIA ANGLICANA ΣΥΜΒΟΛΟΠΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΚΟΠDUX MEA IN TENEBRAS ET GAUDIUM IN MAEROREM VT PELLICANA IN DESERTO Proprio vos sanguine pasco PROTEGE PASCE Nunquam CHRISTO Charior quam sub Cruce gemen◠Ecclesia To the Right Honourable and truly Noble CHRISTOPHER Lord HATTON Baron HATTON of KIRBY Privy Councellor and Comptroller of the Houshold to his late Majesty and Knight of the Honourable Order of the Bath MY LORD WHEN we make Books and publish them and by Dedications implore the Patronage of some worthy person I find by experience that we cannot acquire that end which is pretended to by such addresses For neither friendship nor power interest or favour can give those defences to a Book which it needs Because the evil fortune of Books comes from causes discernible indeed but irremediable and the breath of the people is like the voice of an exterminating Angel not so killing but so secret but that 's not all it is also as contingent as the smiles of an Infant or the fall of a Die which is determined by every part of motion which can be in any part of the hand or arm For when I consider that the infinite variety of understandings is greater than that of faces not only because the lines that make our faces are finite but the things that integrate and actuate the Vnderstanding are not but also because every man hath a face but every man hath not Vnderstanding and men with their understandings or with their no understandings give their sentence upon Books not only before they understand all not only before they read all but before they read three Pages receiving their information from humour or interest from chance or mistake from him that reads in malice or from him that reads after dinner I find it necessary that he that writes should secure himself and his own reputation by all the ways of prudence and religion that God who takes care of fame as certainly as of lives may do that which is best in this instance for no other Patron can defend him that writes from him that reads and understands either too much or too little And therefore my Lord I could not chuse you to be the Patron of my Book upon hopes you can by greatness or interest secure it against the stings of insects and imperfect creatures nothing but Domitian's style can make them harmless but I can from your wisdom and your learning the great reputation you have abroad and the honour you have at home hope that for the relation-sake some will be civil to it at least until they read it and then I give them leave to do what they please for I am secure enough in all this because my writings are not intended as a stratagem for noises I intend to do not only what is good but what is best and therefore I am not troubled at any event so I may but justly hope that God is glorified in the ministration But he that seeks any thing but Gods service shall have such a reward as will do him no good But finding nothing reasonable in the expectation that the Dedication should defend the Book and that the gate should be a fortification to the house I have sometimes believed that most men intend it to other purposes than this and that because they design or hope to themselves at least at second hand an artificial immortality they would also adopt their Patron or their friend into a participation of it doing as the Caesars did who taking a partner to the Empire did not divide the honour or the power but the ministration But in this also I find that this address to your Lordship must be destitute of any material event not only because you have secur'd to your self a great name in all the registers of Honour by your skill and love to all things that are excellent but because of all men in the world I am the unfittest to speak those great things of your Lordship which your worthiness must challenge of all that know you For though I was wooed to love and honour you by the beauties of your vertue and the sweetness of your disposition by your worthy imployments at Court and your being so beloved in your Country by the value your friends put upon you and the regard that strangers paid to you by your zeal for the Church and your busie care in the promoting all worthy learnings by your Religion and your Nobleness yet when I once came into a conversation with these excellencies I found from your Lordship not only the example of so many vertues but the expressions of so many favours and kindnesses to my person that I became too much interested to look upon you with indifferency and too much convinced of your worthiness to speak of it temperately and therefore I resolve to keep where I am and to love and enjoy what I am so unfit to publish and express But My Lord give me leave to account to you concerning the present Collection and I shall no otherwise trouble your Lordship than I do almost every day when my good fortune allows me the comfort and advantages of your Conversation The former Impressions of these Books being spent and the world being willing enough to receive more of them it was thought fit to draw into one Volume all these lesser Books which at several times were made publick and which by some collateral improvements they were to receive now from me might do some more advantages to one another and better struggle with such prejudices with which any of them hath been at any time troubled For though I have great reason to adore the goodness of GOD in giving that success to my labours that I am also obliged to the kindness of men for their friendly acceptance of them yet when a persecution did arise against the Church of England and that I intended to make a defensative for my Brethren and my self by pleading for a liberty to our Consciences to persevere in that profession which was warranted by all the laws of GOD and our Superiours some men were angry and would not be safe that way because I had made the roof of the Sanctuary so wide that more might be sheltered under it
give very great assistances to Episcopal Government and yet be no warranty for Tyrannical and although even the Sayings of the Fathers is greater warranty for Episcopacy and weighs more than all that can be said against it Yet from thence nothing can be drawn to warrant to any man an Empire over Consciences and therefore as the probability of it can be used to one effect so the fallibility of it is also of use to another but yet even of this no man is to make any use in general but when he hath a necessity and a greater reason in the particular and I therefore have joyn'd these two Books in one Volume because they differ not at all in the design nor in the real purposes to which by their variety they minister I will not pretend to any special reason of the inserting any of the other Books into this Volume it is the design of my Bookseller to bring all that he can into a like Volume excepting only some Books of devotion which in a lesser Volume are more fit for use As for the Doctrine and Practice of Repentance which because I suppose it may so much contribute to the interest of a good life and is of so great and so necessary consideration to every person that desires to be instructed in the way of godliness and would assure his salvation by all means I was willing to publish it first in the lesser Volume that men might not by the encreasing price of a larger be hindred from doing themselves the greatest good to which I can minister which I humbly suppose to be done I am sure I intended to have done in that Book And now my Lord I humbly desire that although the presenting this Volume to your Lordship can neither promote that honour which is and ought to be the greatest and is by the advantages of your worthiness already made publick nor obtain to it self any security or defence from any injury to which without remedy it must be exposed yet if you please to expound it as a testimony of that great value I have for you though this signification is too little for it yet I shall be at ease a while till I can converse with your Lordship by something more proportionable to those greatest regards which you have merited of mankind but more especially of My Lord Your Lordships most affectionate Servant JER TAYLOR THE CONTENTS and ORDER of the whole Volume The Apologie for Liturgie THE Authors PREFACE to the Apology for Authorized and Set Forms of Liturgy Quest. 1. Whether all Set Forms are unlawful Page 2 2. Whether are better in publick Set Forms injoyned by Authority or Set Forms composed by private Preachers Sect. 51. pag. 13 Episcopacy Asserted Sect. 1. CHrist did institute a government in his Church pag. 45 2. This Government was first committed to the Apostles by Christ. 46 3. With a power of joyning others and appointing Successors 47 4. This Succession is made by Bishops 48 § For the Apostle and Bishop are all one in Name and Person ibid. 5. and Office 49 6. Which Christ himself hath made distinct from Presbyters 50 7. Giving to Apostles a power to do some offices perpetually necessary which to others he gave not 51 § as of Ordination ibid. 8. and Confirmation 52 9. and Superiority of Jurisdiction 55 10. So that Bishops are Successors in the office of Apostleship according to Antiquity 11. and particularly of S. Peter 61 12. And the institution of Episcopacy expressed to be jure divino by Primitive Authority 63 13. In pursuance of the Divine Institution the Apostles did ordain Bishops in several Churches as S. James and S. Simeon at Jerusalem 65 14. S. Timothy at Ephesus 67 15. S. Titus at Crete 70 16. S. Mark at Alexandria 73 17. S. Linus and S. Clement at Rome 74 18. S. Polycarp at Smyrna and divers others 75 19. So that Episcopacy is at least an Apostolical ordinance of the same authority with many other points generally believed 76 20. And was an office of Power and great Authority 77 21. Not lessened by the counsel and assistance of Presbyters ibid. 22. And all this hath been the Faith and practice of Christendom 84 23. Who first distinguished names used before in common 85 24. Appropriating the word Episcopus to the supreme Church-officer 89 25. Calling the Bishop and him only the Pastor of the Church 91 26. and Doctor 92 27. and Pontifex ibid. 28. And these were a distinct order from the rest 94 29. To which the Presbyterate was but a degree 96 30. There being a peculiar manner of Ordination to a Bishoprick 31. To which Presbyters never did assist by imposing hands 97 32. For a Bishop had a power distinct and superior to that of Presbyters As of Ordination 101 33. and Confirmation 108 34. and Jurisdiction Which they expressed in attributes of authority and great power 111 35. Requiring universal obedience to be given to Bishops by Clergie and Laity 113 36. Appointing them to be Judges of the Clergie and Laity in spiritual causes 115 37. Forbidding Presbyters to officiate without Episcopal license 125 38. Reserving Church Goods to Episcopal dispensation 129 39. Forbidding Presbyters to leave their own Dioecese or to travel without leave of the Bishop 129 40. And the Bishop had power to prefer which of his Clerks he pleased 130 41. Bishops only did vote in Council and neither Presbyters nor People 133 42. The Bishops had a propriety in the persons of their Clerks 138 43. Their Jurisdiction was over many Congregations or Parishes 139 44. And was aided by Presbyters but not impaired 144 45. So that the Government of the Church by Bishops was believed necessary 148 46. For they are Schismaticks that separate from their Bishop 149 47. And Hereticks 150 48. And Bishops were always in the Church men of great honour 152 49. And trusted with affairs of Secular interest 157 50. And therefore were forced to delegate their power and put others in substitution 163 51. But they were ever Clergie-men for there never was any Lay-Elders in any Church-office heard of in the Church 164 A Discourse of the Real Presence Sect. 1. THE state of the Question 181 2. Transubstantiation not warrantable by Scripture 186 3. Of the Sixth Chapter of S. John's Gospel 188 4. Of the words of Institution 198 5. Of the Particle Hoc in the words of Institution 201 6. Of these words Hoc est corpus meum 208 7. Considerations of the manner circumstances and annexes of the Institution 213 8. Of the Arguments of the Romanists from Scripture 217 9. Arguments from other Texts of Scripture proving Christ's Real Presence in the Sacrament to be only Spiritual not Natural 219 10. The doctrine of Transubstantiation is against Sense 223 11. The doctrine of Transubstantiation is wholly without and against reason 230 12. Transubstantiation was not the doctrine of the Primitive Church 249 13. Of Adoration of the Sacrament 267 The
of question holy and true As for the form none ever misliked it but they that will admit no form for all admit this that admit any But that these should be parts of Liturgy needs not to be a question when we remember that Hezekiah and the Princes made it a Law to their Church to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the Seer and that Christ himself did so and his Apostles after the manner of the Jews in the Feast of Passeover sung their Hymns and portions of the great Allelujah in the words of David and Asaph the Seer too and that there was a song in Heaven made up of the words of Moses and David and Jeremy the Seer and that the Apostles and the Church of God always chose to do so according to the commandment of the Apostle that we sing Psalms and Hymns to God I know not where we can have better than the Psalms of David and Asaph and these were ready at hand for the use of the Church insomuch that in the Christian Synaxes particularly in the Churches of Corinth S. Paul observed that every man had a Psalm it was then the common devotion and Liturgy of all the faithful and so for ever and the Fathers of the fourth Council of Toledo justifie the practice of the Church in recitation of the Psalms and Hymns by the example of Christ and his Apostles who after Supper sung a Psalm and the Church did also make Hymns of her own in the honour of Christ and sung them Such as was the Te Deum made by S. Ambrose and S. Augustine and they stood her in great stead not only as acts of direct worship to Christ but as Conservators of the Articles of Christs Divinity of which the Fathers made use against the Heretick Artemon as appears in Eusebius lib. 5. cap. 28. Eccles. Hist. 21. That reading the Scripture was part of the Liturgy of the Apostolical ages we find it in the tenth Canon of the Apostles in Albinus Flaccus Rabanus Maurus and in the Liturgy attributed to S. James Deinde leguntur fusissime oracula sacra veteris Testamenti Prophetarum Filii Dei Incarnatio demonstratur Passio Resurrectio ex mortuis ascensus in Coelum secundus item adventus ejus cum gloria Atque id fit singulis diebus c. 22. So that since thus far the matter of our devotions is warranted by Gods Spirit and the form by the precedents of Scripture too and the ages Apostolical above half of the English Liturgy is as Divine as Scripture it self and the choice of it for practice is no less than Apostolical 23. Of the same consideration is the Lords Prayer commanded by our blessed Saviour in two Evangelists the Introit is the Psal. 95. and the Responsories of Morning and Evening Prayer ejaculations taken from the words of David and Hezekiah the Decalogue recited in the Communion is the ten words of Moses and without peradventure was not taken into the Office in imitation of the Roman for although it was done upon great reason and considering the great ignorance of the people they were to inform yet I think it was never in any Church Office before but in Manuals and Catechisms only yet they are made Liturgick by the suffrages at the end of every Commandment and need no other warrant from antiquity but the 20. Chapter of Exodus There are not many parts beside and they which are derive themselves from an elder house than the Roman Offices The Gloria Patri was composed by the Nicene Council the latter Versicle by S. Jerome though some eminently learned and in particular Baronius is of an opinion that it was much more ancient It was at first a confession of Faith and used by a newly baptized Convert and the standers by and then it came to be a Hymn and very early annexed to the Antiphones and afterwards to the Psalms and Hymns all except that of S. Ambrose beginning with Te Deum because that of it self is a great Doxology It is seven times used in the Greek Office of Baptism and in the recitation of it the Priest and People stood all up and turned to the East and this custom ever continued in the Church and is still retained in the Church of England in conformity to the ancient and Primitive custom save only that in the Litany we kneel which is a more humble posture but not so ancient the Litanies having usually been said walking not kneeling or standing But in this the variety is an ornament to the Churches garment S. Gregory added this Doxology to the Responsory at the beginning of Prayer after O Lord make hast to help us That was the last and yet above a thousand years old and much elder than the body of Popery And as for the latter part of the Doxology I am clearly of opinion that though it might by S. Hierome be brought into the Latin Church yet it was in the Greek Church before him witness that most ancient Hymn or Doxology 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 However as to the matter of the Doxology it is no other than the Confession of the three most blessed persons of the Trinity which Christ commanded and which with greatest solemnity we declare in Baptism and certainly we can no ways better or more solemnly and ritually give glory to the Holy Trinity than by being baptized into the profession and service of it The Trisagion was taught to the Greek Church by Angels but certain it is it sprang not from a Roman fountain and that the Canon of our Communion is the same with the old Canon of the Church many hundred years before Popery had invaded the simplicity of Christian Religion is evident if we compare the particulars recited by S. Basil Innocentius his Epistle to John Archbishop of Lyons Honorius the Priest Alcuinus and Walafridus Strabo and if we will we may add the Liturgy said to be S. James's and the Constitution of S. Clement for whoever was the author of these certainly they were ancient Radulphus Tongrensis and the later Ritualists Cassander Pamelius Hittorpius Jacobus Goar and the rest 24. And that we may be yet more particular the very Prayer for Christs Catholick Church in the Office of Communion beside that it is nothing but a plain execution of an Apostolical precept set down in the Preface of the Prayer it was also used in all times and in all Liturgies of the ancient Church And we find this attested by S. Cyril of Jerusalem Deinde postquam confectum est illud spirituale sacrificium obsecramus Deum pro communi Ecclesiarum pace pro tranquillitate mundi pro Regibus c. To the same purpose also there is a testimony in S. Chrysostome which because it serves not only here but also to other uses it will not be amiss here to note it Quid autem sibi vult primum
Confessor are the great demonstration to all the world that Truth is as Dear to your MAJESTY as the Jewels of your Diadem and that your Conscience is tender as a pricked eye I shall pretend this only to alleviate the inconvenience of an unseasonable address that I present your MAJESTY with a humble persecuted truth of the same constitution with that condition whereby you are become most Dear to God as having upon you the characterism of the Sons of God bearing in your Sacred Person the marks of the Lord Jesus who is your Elder Brother the King of Sufferings and the Prince of the Catholick Church But I consider that Kings and their Great Councils and Rulers Ecclesiastical have a special obligation for the defence of Liturgies because they having the greatest Offices have the greatest needs of auxiliaries from Heaven which are best procured by the publick Spirit the Spirit of Government and Supplication And since the first the best and most solemn Liturgies and Set forms of Prayer were made by the best and greatest Princes by Moses by David and the Son of David Your MAJESTY may be pleased to observe such a proportion of circumstances in my laying this Apology for Liturgy at Your feet that possibly I may the easier obtain a pardon for my great boldness which if I shall hope for in all other contingencies I shall represent my self a person indifferent whether I live or die so I may by either serve God and Gods Church and Gods Vicegerent in the capacity of Great Sir Your Majesties most humble and most obedient Subject and Servant JER TAYLOR Hierocl in Pythag. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An APOLOGY for Authorized and Set Forms of LITVRGY I Have read over this Book which the Assembly of Divines is pleased to call The Directory for Prayer I confess I came to it with much expectation and was in some measure confident I should have found it an exact and unblameable model of Devotion free from all those Objections which men of their own perswasion had obtruded against the Publick Liturgie of the Church of England or at least it should have been composed with so much artifice and fineness that it might have been to all the world an argument of their learning and excellency of spirit if not of the goodness and integrity of their Religion and purposes I shall give no other character of the whole but that the publick disrelish which I find amongst Persons of great piety of all qualities not only of great but even of ordinary understandings is to me some argument that it lies so open to the objections even of common spirits that the Compilers of it did intend more to prevail by the success of their Armies than the strength of reason and the proper grounds of perswasion which yet most wise and good Men believe to be the more Christian way of the two But because the judgment I made of it from an argument so extrinsecal to the nature of the thing could not reasonably enable me to satisfie those many Persons who in their behalf desired me to consider it I resolv'd to look upon it nearer and to take its account from something that was ingredient to its Constitution that I might be able both to exhort and convince the Gainsayers who refuse to hold fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that faithful word which they had been taught by their Mother the Church of England Sect. 2. I SHALL decline to speak of the efficient cause of this Directory and not quarrel at it that it was composed against the Laws both of England and all Christendom If the thing were good and pious and did not directly or accidentally invade the rights of a just Superiour I would learn to submit to the imposition and never quarrel at the incompetency of his authority that ingaged me to do pious and holy things And it may be when I am a little more used to it I shall not wonder at a Synod in which not one Bishop sits in the capacity of a Bishop though I am most certain this is the first example in England since it was first Christened But for the present it seems something hard to digest it because I know so well that all Assemblies of the Church have admitted Priests to consultation and dispute but never to authority and decision till the Pope enlarging the phylacteries of the Archimandrites and Abbots did sometime by way of priviledge and dispensation give to some of them decisive voices in publick Councils but this was one of the things in which he did innovate and invade against the publick resolutions of Christendom though he durst not do it often and yet when he did it it was in very small and inconsiderable numbers Sect. 3. I SAID I would not meddle with the Efficient and I cannot meddle with the Final cause nor guess at any other ends and purposes of theirs than at what they publickly profess which is the abolition and destruction of the Book of Common Prayer which great change because they are pleased to call Reformation I am content in charity to believe they think it so and that they have Zelum Dei but whether secundum scientiam according to knowledge or no must be judg'd by them who consider the matter and the form Sect. 4. BUT because the matter is of so great variety and minute Consideration every part whereof would require as much scrutiny as I purpose to bestow upon the whole I have for the present chosen to consider only the form of it concerning which I shall give my judgment without any sharpness or bitterness of spirit for I am resolved not to be angry with any men of another perswasion as knowing that I differ just as much from them as they do from me Sect. 5. THE Directory takes away that Form of Prayer which by the aâ—â—hority and consent of all the obliging power of the Kingdom hath been used and enjoyned ever since the Reformation But this was done by men of differing spirits and of disagreeing interests Some of them consented to it that they might take away all set forms of prayer and give way to every mans spirit the other that they might take away this Form and give way and countenance to their own The first is an enemy to all deliberation The Second to all authority They will have no man to deliberate These would have none but themselves The former are unwise and rash the latter are pleased with themselves and are full of opinion They must be considered apart for they have rent the Question in pieces and with the fragment in his hand every man hath run his own way question 1 Sect. 6. FIRST of them that deny all set forms though in the subject matter they were confessed innocent and blameless Sect. 7. AND here I consider that the true state of the Question is only this Whether it is better to pray to God with Consideration or without Whether is the wiser
Man of the two he who thinks and deliberates what to say or he that utters his mind as fast as it comes whether is the better man he who out of reverence to God is most careful and curious that he offend not in his tongue and therefore he himself deliberates and takes the best guides he can or he who out of the confidence of his own abilities or other exterior assistances 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaks what ever comes uppermost Sect. 8. AND here I wave the advice and counsel of a very wise man no less than Solomon Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God for God is in Heaven and thou upon Earth therefore let thy words be few The consideration of the vast distance between God and us Heaven and Earth should create such apprehensions in us that the very best and choicest of our offertories are not acceptable but by Gods gracious vouchsafing and condescension and therefore since we are so much indebted to God for accepting our best it is not safe ventured to present him with a dough-baked sacrifice and put him off with that which in nature and humane consideration is absolutely the worst for such is all the crude and imperfect utterance of our more imperfect conceptions Hoc non probo in philosopho cujus oratio sicut vita debet esse composita said Seneca A wise mans speech should be like his life and actions composed studied and considered And if ever inconsideration be the cause of sin and vanity it is in our words and therefore is with greatest care to be avoided in our prayers we being most of all concerned that God may have no quarrel against them for folly or impiety Sect. 9. BUT abstracting from the reason let us consider who keeps the precept best He that deliberates or he that considers not when he speaks What man in the world is hasty to offer any thing unto God if he be not who prays ex tempore And then add to it but the weight of Solomons reason and let any man answer me if he thinks it can well stand with that reverence we owe to the immense the infinite and to the eternal God the God of wisdom to offer him a sacrifice which we durst not present to a Prince or a prudent Governour in re â—eriâ such as our prayers ought to be Sect. 10. AND that this may not be dasht with a pretence it is carnal reasoning I desire it may be remembred that it is the argument God himself uses against lame maimed and imperfect sacrifices Go and offer this to thy Prince see if he will accept it implying that the best person is to have the best present and what the Prince will slight as truly unworthy of him much more is it unfit for God For God accepts not of any thing we give or do as if he were bettered by it for therefore its estimate is not taken by its relation or natural complacency to him for in it self it is to him as nothing but God accepts it by its proportion and commensuration to us That which we call our best and is truly so in humane estimate that pleases God for it declares that if we had better we would give it him But to reserve the best says too plainly that we think any thing is good enough for him As therefore God in the Law would not be served by that which was imperfect in genere naturae so neither now nor ever will that please him which is imperfect in genere morum or materiâ intellectuali when we can give a better Sect. 11. AND therefore the wisest Nations and the most sober Persons prepared their Verses and Prayers in set forms with as much religion as they dressed their sacrifices and observ'd the rites of Festivals and Burials Amongst the Romans it belong'd to the care of the Priests to worship in prescrib'd and determin'd words In omni precatione qui vota effundit Sacerdos Vestam Janum aliosque Deos praescriptis verbis composito carmine advocare solet The Greeks did so too receiving their prayers by dictate word for word Itaque sua carmina suaeque praecationes singulis diis institutae sunt quas plerunque nequid praeposterè dicatur aliquis ex praescripto praeire ad verbum referre solebat Their hymns and prayers were ordained peculiar to every God which lest any thing should be said preposterously were usually pronounced word for word after the Priest and out of written Copies and the Magi among the Persians were as considerate in their devotions Magos Persas primo semper diluculo canere Diis hymnos laudes meditato solenni precationis carmine The Persians sang hymns to their Gods by the morning twilight in a premeditate solemn and metrical form of prayer saith the same Author For since in all the actions and discourses of men that which is the least considered is likely to be the worst and is certainly of the greatest disreputation it were a strange cheapness of opinion towards God and Religion to be the most incurious of what we say to him and in our religious offices It is strange that every thing should be considered but our Prayers It is spoken by Eâ—â—apius to the honour of Proaeresâ—us's Scholars that when the Proconsul asked their judgments in a question of Philosophy they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they with much consideration and care gave in answer those words of Aristides that they were not of the number of those that used to vomit out answers but of those that considered every word they were to speak Nihil enim ordinatum est quod praecipitatur properat said Seneca Nothing can be regular and orderly that is hasty and precipitate and therefore unless Religion be the most imprudent trifling and inconsiderable thing and that the Work of the Lord is done well enough when it is done negligently or that the sanctuary hath the greatest beauty when it hath the least order it will concern us highly to think our prayers and religious offices are actions fit for wise men and therefore to be done as the actions of wise men use to be that is deliberately prudently and with greatest consideration Sect. 12. WELL then in the nature of the thing ex tempore forms have much the worse of it But it is pretended that there is such a thing as the gift of prayer a praying with the spirit Et nescit tardâ— molimina Spiritus sancti gratia Gods Spirit if he pleases can do his work as well in an instant as in long premeditation And to this purpose are pretended those places of Scripture which speak of assistance of Gods spirit in our prayers Zech. 12.10 And I will pour upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Hierusalem the spirit of grace and supplication But especially Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth
part In the mean time I shall set down those grounds of Religion and reason upon which publick Liturgie relies and by the strength of which it is to be justified against all opposition and pretences Sect. 66. 1. THE Church hath a power given to her by the Spirit of God and a command to describe publick forms of Liturgie For I consider that the Church is a Family Jesus Christ is the Master of the Family the holy Spirit is the great Dispensator of all such graces the family needs and are in order to the performance of their Duty the Apostles and their Successors the Rulers of the Church are Stewards of the manifold graces of God whose office is to provide every mans portion and to dispence the graces and issues Evangelical by way of Ministry Who is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord shall make ruler of his Houshold It was our blessed Saviour's Question and Saint Paul answered it Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God Now the greatest Ministery of the Gospel is by way of prayer most of the graces of the Spirit being obtained by prayer and such offices which operate by way of impetration and benediction and consecration which are but the several instances of prayer Prayer certainly is the most effectual and mysterious ministery and therefore since the Holy Ghost hath made the Rulers of the Church Stewards of the mysteries they are by vertue of their Stewardship Presidents of Prayer and publick Offices Sect. 67. 2. WHICH also is certain because the Priest is to stand between God and the People and to represent all their needs to the throne of grace He is a Prophet and shall pray for thee said God concerning Abraham to Abimelech And therefore the Apostles appointed inferiour Officers in the Church that they might not be hindred in their great work but we will give our selves to the word of God and to prayer And therefore in our greatest need in our sickness and last scene of our lives we are directed to send for the Elders of the Church that they may pray over us and God hath promised to hear them and if prayer be of any concernment towards the final condition of our souls certainly it is to be ordered guided and disposed by them who watch for our souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they that must give account to God for them Sect. 68. 3. NOW if the Rulers of the Church are Presidents of the rites of Religion and by consequence of Prayer either they are to order publick prayers or private For private I suppose most men will be so desirous of their liberty as to preserve that in private where they have no concernments but their own for matter of order or scandal But for publick if there be any such thing as Government and that prayers may be spoiled by disorder or made ineffectual by confusion or by any accident may become occasion of a scandal it is certain that they must be ordered as all other things are in which the publick is certainly concerned that is by the Rulers of the Church who are answerable if there be any miscarriage in the publick Thus far I suppose there will not be much question with those who allow set forms but would have themselves be the Composers They would have the Ministers pray for the people but the Ministers shall not be prescribed to the Rulers of the Church shall be the Presidents of religious rites but then they will be the Rulers therefore we must proceed farther and because I will not now enter into the Question who are left by Christ to govern his Church I will proceed upon such grounds which I hope may be sufficient to determine this Question and yet decline the other Therefore Sect. 69. SINCE the Spirit of God is the Spirit of supplication they to whom the greatest portion of the Spirit is promised are most competent persons to pray for the people and to prescribe forms of prayer But the promise of the Spirit is made to the Church in general to her in her united capacity to the whole Church first then to particular Churches then in the lowest seat of the Category to single persons And we have title to the Promises by being Members of the Church and in the Communion of Saints which beside the stylus curiae the form of all the great Promises being in general and comprehensive terms appears in this that when any single person is out of this communion he hath also no title to the promises which yet he might if he had any upon his own stock not derivative from the Church Now then I infer if any single persons will have us to believe without possibility of proof for so it must be that they pray with the Spirit for how shall they be able to prove the Spirit actually to abide in those single persons then much rather must we believe it of the Church which by how much the more general it is so much the more of the Spirit she is likely to have and then if there be no errors in the matter the Church hath the advantage and probability on her side and if there be an error in matter in either of them neither of them have the Spirit or they make not the true use of it But the publick spirit in all reason is to be trusted before the private when there is a contestation the Church being prior potior in promissis she hath a greater and prior title to the Spirit And why the Church hath not the spirit of prayer in her compositions as well as any of her children I desire once for all to be satisfied upon true grounds either of reason or revelation And if she have whether she have not as much as any single person If she have but as much then there is as much reason in respect of the divine assistance that the Church should make the forms as that any single Minister should and more reason in respect of order and publick influence and care and charge of souls but if she have a greater portion of the Spirit than a single person that is if the whole be greater than the part or the publick better than the private then it is evident that the Spirit of the Church in respect of the divine assistance is chiefly and in respect of order is only to be relied upon for publick provisions and forms of prayer Sect. 70. BUT now if the Church in her united capacity makes prayers for the people they cannot be supposed to be other than limited and determined forms for it is not practicable or indeed imaginable that a Synod of Church Governours be they who they will so they be of Christs appointment should meet in every Church and pray as every man list their Counsels are united and their results are conclusions and final determinations which like general propositions are
defiance of a new-sprung Heresie The Fathers of Nice fram'd the Gloria Patri against the Arians Saint Austin compos'd a Hymn against the Donatists Saint Hierome added the sicut erat in principio against the Macedonians Saint Ambrose fram'd the Te Deum upon occasion of St. Austins Baptism but took care to make the Hymn to be of most solemn adoration and yet of prudent institution and publick Confession that according to the advice of St. Paul we might sing with grace in our hearts to the Lord and at the same time teach and admonish one another too Now this cannot be done but in set forms of prayer for in new devotions and uncertain forms we may also have an ambulatory faith and new Articles may be offered before every Sermon and at every convention the Church can have no security to the contrary nor the Article any stable foundation or advantageous insinuation either into judgment or memory of the persons to be informed or perswaded but like Abrahams sacrifice as soon as his back is turn'd the birds shall eat it up Quid quod haec oratio quae sanandis mentibus adhibetur descendere in nos debet Remedia non prosunt nisi immorentur A cursory Prayer shall have a transient effect when the hand is off the impression also is gone Sect. 109. EIGHTHLY Without the description of publick forms of prayer there can be no security given in the matter of our prayers but we may burn assa foetida for incense and the Marrow of a mans bones instead of the fat of Rams and of all things in the world we should be most curious that our prayers be not turned into sin and yet if they be not prescribed and pre-considered nothing can secure them antecedently the people shall go to Church but without confidence that they shall return with a blessing for they know not whether God shall have a present made of a holy oblation or else whether the minister will stand in the gap or make the gap wider But this I touch'd upon before Sect. 110. NINTHLY They preserve the authority and sacredness of Government and possibly they are therefore decried that the reputation of authority may decline together For as God hath made it the great Cancel between the Clergy and the People that they are deputed to speak to God for them so is it the great distinction of the persons in that order that the Rulers shall judge between the Ministers and the People in relation to God with what addresses they shall come before God and intercede for the people for so St. Paul enjoyns that the spirits of the Prophets should be submitted to the Prophets viz. to be discern'd and judg'd by them which thing is not practicable in permissions of every Minister to pray what forms he pleases every day Sect. 111. TENTHLY Publick forms of Liturgy are also the great securities and basis to the religion and piety of the people for circumstances govern them most and the very determination of a publick office and the appointment of that office at certain times engages their spirits the first to an habitual the latter to an actual devotion It is all that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 many men know of their Religion and they cannot any way know it better than by those Forms of prayer which publish their faith and their devotion to God and all the world and which by an admirable expedient reduces their faith into practice and places their Religion in their understanding and affections And therefore St. Paul when he was to give an account of his Religion he did it not by a mere recitation of the Articles but by giving account of his Liturgy and the manner of his worship After that way which they call haeresie so worship I the God of my Fathers And the best worship is the best religion and therefore I am not to trust any man to make my manner of worshipping unless I durst trust him to be the Dictator of my Religion and a Form of Prayer made by a private man is also my Religion made by a private man So that we must say after the manner that G. the Minister of B. shall conceive and speak so worship I the God of my Fathers and if that be reasonable or pious let all the world judge Sect. 112. ELEVENTHLY But when authority shall consider and determine upon a form of Liturgy and this be used and practised in a Church there is an admirable conjunction in the Religion and great co-operation towards the glory of God The authority of the injunction adds great reputation to the devotion and takes off the contempt which from the no-authority of single and private persons must be consequent to their conceived prayers and the publick practice of it and union of spirits in the devotion satisfies the world in the nature of it and the Religion of the Church Sect. 113. TWELFTHLY But nothing can answer for the great scandal which all wise persons and all good persons in the world must needs receive when there is no publick testimony consigned that such a whole Nation or a Church hath any thing that can be called Religion and those little umbrages that are are casual as chance it self alterable as time and shall be good when those infinite numbers of men that are trusted with it shall please to be honest or shall have the good luck not to be mistaken Sect. 114. THIRTEENTHLY I will not now instance in the vain-glory that is appendent to these new made every-days forms of prayer and that some have been so vain like the Orators Quintilian speaks of ut verbum petant quo incipiant that they have published their ex tempore faculty upon experiment and scenical bravery you shall name the instance and they shall compose the form Amongst whom also the gift of the man is more than the devotion of the man nor will I consider that then this gift is esteemed best when his prayer is longest and if he takes a complacency in his gift as who is not apt to do it he will be sure to extend his prayer till a suspicious and scrupulous man would be apt to say his Prayer pressed hard upon that which our blessed Saviour reprehended in the Pharisees who thought to be heard for their much babling I know it was observed by a very wise man that the vanity of spirit and popular opinion that grows great and talks loudly of his abilities that can speak ex tempore may not only be the incentive but a helper of the faculty and make a man not only to love it but to be the more able to do it Addit ad dicendum etiam pudor stimulos addit dicendorum expectata laus mirumque videri potest quod cum stylus secreto gaudeat atque omnes arbitros reformidet extemporalis actio auditorum frequentiâ ut miles congestu signorum excitatur Namque difficiliorem concitationem exprimit
Antioch for a time was governed for all these were Presbyters in the sence that S. Peter and S. John were and the Elders of the Church of Jerusalem * 4. Suppose this had been true in the sence that any body please to imagine yet this not being by any divine Ordinance that Presbyters should by their counsel assist in external regiment of the Church neither by any imitation of Scripture nor by affirmation of S. Hierom it is sufficient to stifle this by that saying of S. Ambrose Postquà m omnibus locis Ecclesiae sunt constitutae officia ordinata aliter composita res est quam coeperat It might be so at first de facto and yet no need to be so neither then nor after For at first Ephesus had no Bishop of its own nor Crete and there was no need for S. Paul had the supra-vision of them and S. John and other of the Apostles but yet afterwards S. Paul did send Bishops thither for when themselves were to go away the power must be concredited to another And if they in their absence before the constituting of a Bishop had intrusted the care of the Church with Presbyters yet it was but in dependance on the Apostles and by substitution not by any ordinary power and it ceased at the presence or command of the Apostle or the sending of a Bishop to reside 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So S. Ignatius being absent from his Church upon a business of being persecuted he writ to his Presbyters Do you feed the Flock amongst you till God shall shew you who shall be your Ruler viz. My Successor No longer Your Commission expires when a Bishop comes * 5. To the conclusion of S. Hierom's discourse viz. That Bishops are not greater than Presbyters by the truth of Divine disposition I answer that this is true in this sence Bishops are not by Divine disposition greater than all those which in Scripture are called Presbyters such as were the Elders in the Councel at Jerusalem such as were they of Antioch such as S. Peter and S. John 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all and yet all of them were not Bishops in the present sence that is of a fixt and particular Diocess and Jurisdiction * Secondly S. Hierom's meaning is also true in this sence Bishops by the truth of the Lords disposition are not greater than Presbyters viz. quoad exercitium actûs that is they are not tyed to exercise jurisdiction solely in their own persons but may asciscere sibi Presbyteros in commune consilium they may delegate jurisdiction to the Presbyters and that they did not so but kept the exercise of it only in their own hands in S. Hierome's time this is it which he saith is rather by custom than by Divine dispensation for it was otherwise at first viz. de facto and might be so still there being no Law of God against the delegation of power Episcopal * As for the last words in the Objection Et in communi debere Ecclesiam regere it is an assumentum of S. Hierom's own for all his former discourse was of the identity of Names and common Regiment de facto not de jure and from a fact to conclude with a Deberet is a Non sequitur unless this Debere be understood according to the exigence of the former Arguments that is they ought not by God's Law but in imitation of the practice Apostolical to wit when things are as they were then when the Presbyters are such as then they were they ought for many considerations and in great cases not by the necessity of a precept * And indeed to do him right he so explains himself Et in communi debere Ecclesiam regere imitantes Moysen qui cum haberet in potestate solus praeesse populo Israel septuaginta elegit cum quibus populum judicaret The Presbyters ought to judge in common with the Bishop for the Bishops ought to imitate Moses who might have ruled alone yet was content to take others to him and himself only to rule in chief Thus S. Hierome would have the Bishops do but then he acknowledges the right of sole jurisdiction to be in them and therefore though his counsel perhaps might be good then yet it is necessary at no time and was not followed then and to be sure is needless now For the Arguments which S. Hierome uses to prove this intention what ever it is I have and shall elsewhere produce for they yield many other considerations than this collection of S. Hierome and prove nothing less than the equality of the Offices of Episcopacy and Presbyterate The same thing is per omnia respondent to the parallel place of S. Chrysostom It is needless to repeat either the Objection or Answer * But however this saying of S. Hierome and the parallel of S. Chrysostom is but like an argument against an evident truth which comes forth upon a desperate service and they are sure to be killed by the adverse party or to run upon their own Swords For either they are to be understood in the sences above explicated and then they are impertinent or else they contradict evidence of Scripture and Catholick antiquity and so are false and die within their own trenches I end this argument of tradition Apostolical with that saying of Saint Hierome in the same place Postquam Vnusquisque eos quos baptizabat suos putabat esse non Christi diceretur in populis Ego sum Pauli Ego Apollo Ego autem Cephae in toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris ut schismatum semina tollerentur That is a publick decree issued out in the Apostles times that in all Churches one should be chosen out of the Clergy and set over them viz. to rule and govern the Flock committed to his charge This I say was in the Apostles times even upon the occasion of the Corinthian schism for then they said I am of Paul and I of Apollo and then it was that he that baptized any Catechumens took them for his own not as Christ's Disciples So that it was tempore Apostolorum that this decree was made for in the time of the Apostles S. James and S. Mark and S. Timothy and S. Titus were made Bishops by S. Hieroms express attestation It was also toto orbe decretum so that if it had not been proved to have been an immediate Divine institution yet it could not have gone much less it being as I have proved and as S. Hierom acknowledges Catholick and Apostolick * SECT XXII And all this hath been the Faith and practice of Christendom BE ye followers of me as I am of Christ is an Apostolical precept We have seen how the Apostles have followed Christ how their tradition is consequent of Divine institution Next let us see how the Church hath followed the Apostles as the Apostles have followed Christ. Catholick practice is the next Basis of the
titles of honour be either unfit in themselves to be given to Bishops or what the guise of Christendome hath been in her spiritual heraldry 1. S. Ignatius in his Epistle to the Church of Smyrna gives them this command Honora Episcopum ut Principem Sacerdotum imaginem Dei referentem Honour the Bishop as the image of God as the Prince of Priests Now since honour and excellency are terms of mutual relation and all excellency that is in men and things is but a ray of divine excellency so far as they participate of God so far they are honourable Since then the Bishop carries the impress of God upon his forehead and bears Gods image certainly this participation of such perfection makes him very honourable And since honor est in honorante it is not enough that the Bishop is honourable in himself but it tells us our duty we must honour him we must do him honour and of all the honours in the world that of words is the cheapest and the least S. Paul speaking of the honour due to the Prelates of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them be accounted worthy of double honour And one of the honours that he there means is a costly one an honour of Maintenance the other must certainly be an honour of estimate and that 's cheapest The Council of Sardis speaking of the several steps and capacities of promotion to the height of Episcopacy uses this expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that shall be found worthy of so Divine a Priesthood let him be advanced to the highest honour Ego procidens ad pedes ejus rogabam excusans me declinans honorem cathedrae potestatem saith S. Clement when S. Peter would have advanced him to the Honour and power of the Bishops chair But in the third epistle speaking of the dignity of Aaron the High-Priest and then by analogy of the Bishop who although he be a Minister in the Order of Melchisedech yet he hath also the Honour of Aaron Omnis enim Pontisex sacro crismate perunctus in civitate constitutus in Scripturis sacris conditus charus preciosus hominibus oppidò esse debet Every High-Priest ordained in the City viz. a Bishop ought forthwith to be dear and precious in the eyes of men Quem quasi Christi locum tenentem honorare omnes debent eique servire obedientes ad salutem suam fideliter existere scientes quòd sive honor sive injuria quae ei defertur in Christum redundat à Christo in Deum The Bishop is Christs Vicegerent and therefore he is to be obeyed knowing that whether it be honour or injury that is done to the Bishop it is done to Christ and so to God * And indeed what is the saying of our blessed Saviour himself He that despiseth you despiseth me If Bishops be Gods Ministers and in higher order than the rest then although all discountenance and disgrace done to the Clergy reflect upon Christ yet what is done to the Bishop is far more and then there is the same reason of the honour And if so then the Question will prove but an odd one even this Whether Christ be to be honoured or no or depressed to the common estimate of Vulgar people for if the Bishops be then he is This is the condition of the Question 2. Consider we that all Religions and particularly all Christianity did give Titles of honour to their High-Priests and Bishops respectively * I shall not need to instance in the great honour of the Priestly tribe among the Jews and how highly honourable Aaron was in proportion Prophets were called Lords in holy Scripture Art not thou my Lord Elijah said Obadiah to the Prophet Knowest thou not that God will take thy Lord from thy head this day said the children in the Prophets Schools So it was then And in the new Testament we find a Prophet Honoured every where but in his own Country And to the Apostles and Presidents of Churches greater titles of honour given than was ever given to man by secular complacence and insinuation Angels and Governours and Fathers of our Faith and Stars Lights of the World the Crown of the Church Apostles of Jesus Christ nay Gods viz. to whom the Word of God came and of the compellation of Apostles particularly Saint Hierom saith that when Saint Paul called himself the Apostle of Jesus Christ it was as Magnifically spoken as if he had said Praefectus praetorio Augusts Caesaris Magister exercitus Tiberii Imperatoris And yet Bishops are Apostles and so called in Scripture I have proved that already Indeed our blessed Saviour in the case of the two sons of Zebedee forbad them to expect by vertue of their Apostolate any Princely titles in order to a Kingdom and an earthly Principality For that was it which the ambitious woman sought for her sons viz. fair honour and dignity in an earthly Kingdom for such a Kingdom they expected with their Messias To this their expectation our Saviours answer is a direct antithesis And that made the Apostles to be angry at the two Petitioners as if they had meant to supplant the rest and get the best preferment from them to wit in a temporal Kingdom No saith our blessed Saviour ye are all deceived The Kings of the Nations indeed do exercise authority and are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Benefactors so the word signifies Gracious Lords so we read it But it shall not be so with you What shall not be so with them shall not they exercise authority Who then is that faithful and wise Steward whom his Lord made Ruler over his Houshould Surely the Apostles or no body Had Christ authority Most certainly Then so had the Apostles for Christ gave them his with a sicut misit me pater c. Well! the Apostles might and we know they did exercise authority What then shall not be so with them Shall not they be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Indeed if Saint Mark had taken that title upon him in Alexandria the Ptolomies whose Honorary appellative that was would have questioned him highly for it But if we go to the sence of the word the Apostles might be Benefactors and therefore might be called so But what then Might they not be called Gratious Lords The word would have done no hurt if it had not been an Ensign of a secular Principality For as for the word Lord I know no more prohibition for that than for being called Rabbi or Master or Doctor or Father What shall we think now May we not be called Doctors God hath constituted in his Church Pastors and Doctors saith Saint Paul Therefore we may be called so But what of the other the prohibition runs alike for all as is evident in the several places of the Gospels and may no man be called Master or Father Let an answer be thought on for these and the same will serve
Christ said Non designando officium but Sortem not their duty but their lot intimating that their future condition should not be honorary but full of trouble not advanc'd but persecuted But I had rather insist on the first answer in which I desire it be remembred that I said seeking temporal Principality to be forbidden the Apostles as an Appendix to the office of an Apostle For in other capacities Bishops are as receptive of honour and temporal principalities as other men Bishops ut sic are not secular Princes must not seek for it But some secular Princes may be Bishops as in Germany and in other places to this day they are For it is as unlawful for a Bishop to have any Land as to have a Country and a single Acre is no more due to the Order than a Province but both these may be conjunct in the same person though still by vertue of Christ's precept the functions and capacities must be distinguished according to the saying of Synesius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To confound and intermix the Kingdom and the Priesthood is to joyn things incompossible and inconsistent Inconsistent I say not in person but absolutely discrepant in function 3. Consider we that Saint Peter when he speaks of the dutious subordination of Sarah to her Husband Abraham he propounds her as an example to all married women in these words She obeyed Abraham and called him Lord why was this spoken to Christian women but that they should do so too And is it imaginable that such an honourable compellation as Christ allows every woman to give to her Husband a Mechanick a hard-handed Artisan he would forbid to those eminent Pillars of his Church those Lights of Christendom whom he really indued with a plenitude of power for the Regiment of the Catholick Church Credat Apella 4. Pastor and Father are as honourable titles as any They are honourable in Scripture Honour thy Father c. Thy Father in all sences They are also made sacred by being the appellatives of Kings and Bishops and that not only in secular addresses but even in holy Scripture as is known Add to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are used in Scripture for the Prelates of the Church and I am certain that Duke and Captain Rulers and Commanders are but just the same in English that the other are in Greek and the least of these is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Lord. And then if we consider that since Christ erected a spiritual Regiment and us'd words of secular honour to express it as in the instances above although Christ did interdict a secular principality yet he forbad not a secular title He us'd many himself 5. The voice of the Spouse the holy Church hath alwayes expressed their honourable estimate in reverential Compellations and Epithets of honour to their Bishops and have taught us so to do * Bishops were called Principes Ecclesiarum Princes of the Churches I had occasion to instance it in the question of jurisdiction Indeed the third Councel of Carthage forbad the Bishop of Carthage to be called Princeps Sacerdotum or summus sacerdos or aliquid hujusmodi but only primae sedis Episcopus I know not what their meaning was unless they would dictate a lesson of humility to their Primate that he might remember the principality not to be so much in his person as in the See for he might be called Bishop of the prime See But whatsoever fancy they had at Carthage I am sure it was a guise of Christendom not to speak of Bishops sine praefatione honoris but with honourable mention 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To our most blessed Lord. So the Letters were superscribed to Julius Bishop of Rome from some of his Brethren in Sozomen Let no man speak Untruths of me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor of my Lords the Bishops said Saint Gregory Nazianzen The Synodical book of the Councel of Constantinople is inscribed Dominis Reverendissimis ac piissimis Fratribus ac Collegis Damaso Ambrosio c. To our most Reverend Lords and holy Brethren c. And the Councel of Illyricum sending their Synodal letters to the Bishops of Asia by Bishop Elpidius Haec pluribus say they persequi non est visum quòd miserimus unum ex omnibus Dominum Collegam nostrum Elpidium qui cognosceret esset ne sicut dictum fuerat à Domino Collegâ nostro Eustathio Our Lord and Brother Elpidius Our Lord and Brother Eustathius * The Oration in the Councel of Epaunum begins thus Quod praecipientibus tantis Dominis meis ministerium proferendi sermonis assumo c. The Prolocutor took that office on him at the command of so many Great Lords the Bishops * When the Church of Spain became Catholick and abjured the Arian heresie King Recaredus in the third Councel of Toledo made a speech to the Bishops Non incognitum reor esse vobis Reverendissimi Sacerdotes c. Non credimus vestram latere Sanctitatem c. Vestra Cognovit Beatitudo c. Venerandi Patres c. And these often Your Holiness your Blessedness Most Reverend Venerable Fathers Those were the Addresses the King made to the Fathers of the Synod Thus it was when Spain grew Catholick but not such a Speech to be found in all the Arian Records They amongst them used but little Reverence to their Bishops But the instances of this kind are innumerable Nothing more ordinary in Antiquity than to speak of Bishops with the titles of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Domine verè Sancte suscipiende Papa So Saint Hierom a Presbyter to Saint Austin a Bishop Secundùm enim honorum vocabula quae jam Ecclesiae usus obtinuit Episcopatus Presbyteria major est saith Saint Austin Episcopacy is greater than the office and dignity of a Presbyter according to the Titles of Honour which the custom of the Church hath introduced But I shall sum up these particulars in a total which is thus expressed by Saint Chrysostom Haeretici à Diabolo Honorum vocabula Episcopis non dare didicerunt Hereticks have learned of the Devil not to give due titles of honour to Bishops The good Patriarch was angry surely when he said so * For my own particular I am confident that my Lords the Bishops do so undervalue any fastuous or pompous title that were not the duty of their people in it they would as easily reject them as it is our duty piously to use them But if they still desire appellatives of honour we must give them they are their due if they desire them not they deserve them much more So that either for their humility or however for their works sake we must highly honour them that have the rule over us It is the precept of S. Paul and S. Cyprian observing how curious our blessed Saviour was that he might give honour to the Priests of the Jews even then
on Embassies sicut hactenus factum est 2. The Canon forbids the indiscreet or promiscuous doing of it not that men of great ability and choice be not imployed but that there be discretion or discerning in the choice of the men viz. that such men be chosen whose particular worth did by advancing the legation make compensation for absence from their Churches and then I am sure there was no indiscretion in the Embassy quoad hoc at least for the ordinary Offices of the Church might be dispensed by men of even abilities but the extraordinary affairs of both states require men of an heightned apprehension 3. The Canon only took care that the cure of the souls of a Parish be not relinquished for so is the title of the Canon Ne Presbyteri causâ legationis per diversa mittantur loca curâ animarum relictâ But then if the cure be supplied by delegation the fears of the Canon are prevented * In pursuance of this consideration the Church forbad Clergy-men to receive honour or secular preferment and so it is expressed where the prohibition is made It is in the Councel of Chalcedon Qui semel in clero deputati sunt aut Monachorum vitam expetiverunt statuimus neque ad militiam neque ad dignitatem aliquam venire mundanam That 's the inhibition But the Canon subjoyns a temper Aut hoc tentantes non agentes poenitentiam quo minùs redeant ad hoc quod propter deum primitùs elegerunt anathematizari they must not turn Souldiers or enter upon any worldly dignity to make them leave their function which for the honour of God they have first chosen for then it seems he that took on him military honours or secular prefectures or consular dignity could not officiate in holy Orders but must renounce them to assume the other It was in obstruction of this abuse that the Canon directed its prohibition viz. in this sence clearly that a Clerk must not so take on him secular Offices as to make him redire in saeculum having put his hand to the plow to look back to change his profession or to relinquish the Church and make her become a Widow The case of S. Matthew and S. Peter distinguish and clear this business Ecce reliquimus omnia was the profession of their Clerical office S. Matthew could not return to his trade of Publican at all for that would have taken him from his Apostolate But S. Peter might and did return to his nets for all his reliqui omnia Plainly telling us that a secular calling a continued fix'd attendance on a business of the world is an impediment to the Clerical office and ministration but not a temporary imployment or secession 5. The Canons of the Church do as much forbid the cares of houshold as the cares of publick imployment to Bishops So the fourth Councel of Carthage decrees Vt Episcopus nullam rei familiaris curam ad se revocet sed lectioni orationi verbi Dei praedicationi tantummodò vacet Now if this Canon be confronted with that saying of Saint Paul He that provides not for them of his own houshold is worse than an Infidel it will easily inform us of the Churches intention For they must provide saith Saint Paul but yet so provide as not to hinder their imployment or else they transgress the Canon of the Councel but this caveat may be as well entred and observed in things Political as Oeconomical Thus far we have seen what the Church hath done in pursuance of her own interest and that was that she might with sanctity and without distraction tend her Grand imployment but yet many cases did occurr in which she did canonically permit an alienation of imployment and revocation of some persons from an assiduity of Ecclesiastical attendance as in the case of the seven set over the Widows and of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and all the Apostles and the Canon of Chalcedon Now let us see how the Commonwealth also pursued her interest and because she found Bishops men of Religion and great trust and confident abilities there was no reason that the Commonwealth should be disserv'd in the promotion of able men to a Bishops throne * Who would have made recompence to the Emperour for depriving him of Ambrose his Prefect if Episcopal promotion had made him incapable of serving his Prince in any great Negotiation It was a remarkable passage in Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As our Lord is to be observ'd so also must we observe the Bishop because he assists and serves the Lord. And wisemen and of great understanding must serve Kings for he must not be served with men of small parts Here either Ignatius commends Bishops to the service of Kings or else propounds them as the fittest men in the world to do them service For if only men of great abilities are fit to serve Kings surely as great abilities are required to inable a man for the service of God in so peculiar manner of approximation He then that is fit to be a Bishop is most certainly fit for the service of his King This is the sence of Ignatius his diâ—course For consider Christianity might be suspected for a design and if the Church should chuse the best and most pregnant Understandings for her imployment and then these men become incapable of aiding the Republick the promotion of these men would be an injury to those Princes whose affairs would need support * The interest of the Subjects also is considerable For we find by experience that no Authority is so full of regiment and will so finely force obedience as that which is seated in the Conscience And therefore Numa Pompilius made his Laws and imposed them with a face of religious solemnity For the people are stronger than any one Governour and were they not awed by Religion would quickly miscere Sacra prophanis jumble Heaven and Earth into a miscellany and therefore not only in the Sanction of Laws but in the execution of them the Antistites Religionis are the most competent instruments and this was not only in all Religions that ever were and in ours ever till now but even now we should quickly find it were but our Bishops in that veneration and esteem that by the Law of God they ought and that actually they were in the Calenture of primitive devotion and that the Doctors of Religion were ever even amongst the most barbarous and untaught Pagans Upon the confidence of these advantages both the Emperours themselves when they first became Christian allowed appeals from secular Tribunals to the Bishops Consistory even in causes of secular interest and the people would chuse to have their difficulties there ended whence they expected the issues of Justice and Religion * I say this was done as soon as ever the Emperours were Christian. Before this time Bishops and Priests to be sure could not be imployed in state affairs they were
these 4. Origen says that the Christian people drinketh the blood of Christ and the flesh of the word of God is true food What then so say we too but it is Spiritual food and we drink the blood Spiritually He says nothing against that but very much for it as I have in several places remarked already 5. But how can this expound the other words Christian people eat Christs flesh and drink his blood therefore when Origen says the material part the Symbolical body of Christ is eaten naturally and cast into the draught he means not the body of Christ in his material part but the accidents of bread the colour the taste the quantity these are cast out by the belly Verily a goodly argument if a man could guess in what mood and figure it could conclude 6. When a man speaks distinctly and particularly it is certain he is easier to be understood in his particular and minute meaning than when he speaks generally But here he distinguishes a part from a part one sence from another the body in one sence from the body in another therefore these words are to expound the more general and not they to expound these unless the general be more particular than that that is distinguished into kinds that is unless the general be a particular and the particular be a general 7. Amalarius was so amus'd with these words and discourse of Origen that his understanding grew giddy and he did not know whether the body of Christ were invisibly taken up into Heaven or kept till our death in the body or expired at letting of blood or exhal'd in air or spit out or breath'd forth our Lord saying That which enters into the mouth descends into the belly and so goes forth into the draught The man was willing to be of the new opinion of the Real Presence because it began to be the mode of the Age. But his folly was soberly reproved by a Synod at Carisiacum about the time of Pope Gregory the Fourth where the difficulty of Origens argument was better answered and the Article determined that the bread and wine are spiritually made the body of Christ which being a meat of the mind and not of the belly is not corrupted but remaineth unto everlasting life 8. To expound these words of the accidents of bread only and say that they enter into the belly and go forth in the draught is a device of them that care not what they say for 1. It makes that the ejectamentum or excrement of the body should consist of colour and quantity without any substance 2. It makes a man to be nourished by accidents and so not only one substance to be changed into another but that accidents are changed into substances which must be if they nourish the body and pass in latrinam and then beyond the device of Transubstantiation we have another production from Africa a transaccidentisubstantiation a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. It makes accidents to have all the affections of substances as motion substantial corruption alteration that is not to be accidents but substances For matter and form are substances and those that integrate all physical and compound substances but till yesterday it was never heard that accidents could Yea but magnitude is a material quality and ground or subject of the accidents So it is said but it is nonsence For besides that magnitude is not a quality but a quantity neither can it be properly or truly said to be material but imperfectly because it is an affection of matter and however it is a contradiction to say that it is the ground of qualities for an accident cannot be the fundamentum the ground or subject of an accident that is the formality and definition of a substance as every young scholar hath read in Aristotles Categories so that to say that it is the ground of accidents is to say that accidents are subjected in magnitude that is that magnitude is neither a quantity nor quality but a substance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 An accident always subsists in a subject says Porphyrie 9. This answer cannot be fitted to the words of Origen for that which he calls the quid materiale or the material part in the Sacrament he calls it the Symbolical body which cannot be affirmed of accidents because there is no likeness between the accidents the colour the shape the figure the roundness the weight the magnitude of the host or wafer and Christs body and therefore to call the accidents a Symbolical body is to call it an unsymbolical Symbol an unlike similitude a representment without analogy But if he means the consecrated bread the whole action of consecration distribution sumption manducation this is the Symbolical body according to the words of S. Paul He that drinks this cup and eats this bread represents the Lords death it is the figure of Christs crucified body of his passion and our redemption 10. It is a strange expression to call accidents a body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Aristotle a body may be called white but the definition or reason of the accident can never be affirmed of a body I conclude that this argument out of the words of our blessed Saviour urged also and affirmed by Origen do prove that Christs body is in the Sacrament only to be eaten in a Spiritual sence not at all in a Natural lest that consequent be the event of it which to affirm of Christs glorified body in the natural and proper sence were very blasphemy 2. The next argument from Scripture is taken from Christs departing from this world his going from us the ascension of his body and soul into Heaven his not being with us his being contained in the Heavens So said our blessed Saviour Vnless I go hence the Comforter cannot come and I go to prepare a place for you The poor ye have always but me ye have not always S. Peter affirms of him that the Heavens must receive him till the time of restitution of all things Now how these things can be true of Christ according to his humane nature that is a circumscribed body and a definite soul is the question And to this the answer is the same in effect which is given by the Roman Doctors and by the Vbiquitaries whom they call Hereticks These men say Christs humane nature is every where actually by reason of his hypostatical union with the Deity which is every where the Romanists say no it is not actually every where but it may be where and is in as many places as he please for although he be in Heaven yet so is God too and yet God is upon earth eodem modo says Bellarmine in the same manner the Man Christ although he be in Heaven yet also he can be out of Heaven where he please he can be in Heaven and out of Heaven Now these two opinions are concentred in the main impossibility that is that Christs body can
or lump neque id fide solùm sed reipsâ and in very deed makes us to be his body So Pope Leo. In mysticâ distributione Spiritualis alimoniae hoc impertitur sumitur ut accipientes virtutem coelestis cibi in carnem ipsius qui caro nostra factus est transeamus And in his 24 Sermon of the Passion Non alia igitur participatio corporis quà m ut in id quod sumimus transeamus There is no other participation of the body than that we should pass into that which we receive In the mystical distribution of the Spiritual nourishment this is given and taken that we receiving the vertue of the heavenly food may pass into his flesh who became our flesh And Rabanus makes the analogie fit to this question Sicut illud in nos convertitur dum id manducamus bibimus sic nos in corpus Christi convertimur dum obedienter piè vivimus As that Christs body is converted into us while we eat it and drink it so are we converted into the body of Christ while we live obediently and piously So Gregory Nyssen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The immortal body being in the receiver changes him wholly into his own nature and Theophylact useth the same word He that eateth me liveth by me whilst he is in a certain manner mingled with me is transelementated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or changed into me Now let men of all sides do reason and let one expound the other and it will easily be granted that as we are turned into Christ body so is that into us and so is the bread into that 12. Twelfthly Whatsoever the Fathers speak of this they affirm the same also of the other Sacrament and of the Sacramentals or rituals of the Church It is a known similitude used by S. Cyril of Alexandria As the bread of the Eucharist after the invocation of the holy Ghost is no longer common bread but it is the body of Christ so this holy unguent is no longer meer and common oyntment but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the grace of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it uses to be mistaken the Chrisme for the Grace or gift of Christ and yet this is not spoken properly as is apparent but it is in this as in the Eucharist so says the comparison Thus S. Chrysostome says that the Table or Altar is as the manger in which Christ was laid that the Priest is a Seraphim and his hands are the tongs taking the coal from the Altar But that which I instance in is that 1. They say that they that hear the word of Christ eat the flesh of Christ of which I have already given account in Sect. 3. num 10. c. As hearing is eating as the word is his flesh so is the bread after consecration in a Spiritual sence 2. That which comes most fully home to this is their affirmative concerning Baptism to the same purposes and in many of the same expressions which they use in this other Sacrament S. Ambrose speaking of the baptismal waters affirms naturam mutari per benedictionem the nature of them is changed by blessing and S. Cyril of Alexandria saith By the operation of the holy Spirit the waters are reformed to a divine nature by which the baptized cleanse their body For in these the ground of all their great expressions is that which S. Ambrose expressed in these words Non agnosco usum naturae nullus est hic naturae ordo ubi est excellentia gratiae Where grace is the chief ingredient there the use and the order of nature is not at all considered But this whole mystery is most clear in S. Austin affirming That we are made partakers of the body and blood of Christ when in Baptism we are made members of Christ and are not estranged from the fellowship of that bread and chalice although we die before we eat that bread and drink that cup. Tingimur in passione Domini We are baptized into the passion of our Lord says Tertullian into the death of Christ saith S. Paul for by both Sacraments we shew the Lords death 13. Thirteenthly Upon the account of these premises we may be secur'd against all the objections or the greatest part of those testimonies from antiquity which are pretended for Transubstantiation for either they speak that which we acknowledg or that it is Christs body that it is not common bread that it is a divine thing that we eat Christs flesh that we drink his blood and the like all which we acknowledge and explicate as we do the words of institution or else they speak more than both sides allow to be literally true or speak as great things of other mysteries which must not cannot be expounded literally that is they speak more or less or diverse from them or the same with us and I think there is hardly one testimony in Bellarmine in Coccius and Perron that is pertinent to this question but may be made invalid by one or more of the former considerations But of those if there be any of which there may be a material doubt beyond the cure of these observations I shall give particular account in the sequel 14. But then for the testimonies which I shall alledge against the Roman doctrine in this article they will not be so easily avoided 1. Because many of them are not only affirmative in the Spiritual sence but exclusive of the natural and proper 2. Because it is easie to suppose they may speak hyperboles but never that which would undervalue the blessed Sacrament for an hyperbole is usual not a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the lessening a mystery that may be true this never that may be capable of fair interpretations this can admit of none that may breed reverence this contempt To which I add this that the heathens slandering the Christians to be worshippers of Ceres or Liber because of the holy bread and chalice as appears in S. Austins 20 book and 13 chapter against Faustus the Manichee had reason to advance the reputation of Sacramental signs to be above common bread and wine not only so to explicate the truth of the mystery but to stop the mouth of their calumny and therefore for higher expressions there might be cause but not such cause for any lower than the severest truth and yet let me observe this by the way S. Austin answered only thus We are far from doing so Quamvis panis calicis Sacramentum ritu nostro amplectamur S. Austin might have further removed the calumny if he had been of the Roman perswasion who adore not the bread no◠eat it at all in their Synaxes until it be no bread but changed into the body of our Lord. But he knew nothing of that Neither was there ever any scandal of Christians upon any mistake that could be a probable excuse for them to lessen their expressions in the matter Eucharistical
thanks for them or praying to them but a direct praying for them even for holy Bishops Confessors Martyrs that God meaning in much mercy would remember them that is make them to rest in the bosom of Abraham in the Region of the living as Saint James expresses it And in the Liturgies of the Churches of Egypt attributed to Saint Basil Gregory Nazianzen and Saint Cyril the Churches pray Be mindful O Lord of thy Saints vouchsafe to receive all thy Saints which have pleas'd thee from the beginning our Holy Fathers the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Martyrs Confessors Preachers Evangelists and all the Souls of the Just which have died in the faith but chiefly of the holy glorious and perpetual Virgin Mary the Mother of God of Saint John Baptist the Forerunner and Martyr Saint Stephen the first Deacon and first Martyr Saint Mark Apostle Evangelist and Martyr Of the same spirit were all the Ancient Liturgies or Missals and particularly that under the name of Saint Chrysostom is most full to this purpose Let us pray to the Lord for all that before time have laboured and performed the holy Offices of Priesthood For the memory and remission of sins of them that built this holy House and of all them that have slept in hope of the resurrection and eternal life in thy society of the Orthodox Fathers and our Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O thou lover of men pardon them And again Moreover we offer unto thee this reasonable service for all that rest in Faith our Ancestors Fathers Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles Preachers Evangelists Martyrs c. especially the most holy and unspotted Virgin Mary and after concludes with this prayer Remember them all who have slept in hope of Resurrection to Eternal life and make them to rest where the light of thy countenance looks over them Add to these if you please the Greek Mass of Saint Peter To them O Lord and to all that rest in Christ we pray that thou indulge a place of refreshing light and peace So that nothing is clearer than that in the Greek Canon they prayed for the souls of the best of all the Saints whom yet because no man believes they ever were in Purgatory it follows that prayer for the dead us'd by the Ancients does not prove the Roman Purgatory To these add the Doctrine and Practice of the Greek Fathers Dionysius speaking of a person deceased whom the Ministers of the Church had publickly pronounced to be a happy man and verily admitted into the society of the Saints that have been from the beginning of the world yet the Bishop prayed for him That God would forgive him all the sins which he had committed through humane infirmity and bring him into the light and region of the living into the bosoms of Abraham Isaac and Jacob where pain and sorrow and sighing have no place To the same purpose is that of Saint Gregory Nazianzen in his Funeral Oration upon his Brother Caesarius of whom he had expresly declar'd his belief that he was rewarded with those honours which did befit a new created soul yet he presently prayes for his soul Now O Lord receive Caesarius I hope I have said enough concerning the Greek Church their Doctrine and practice in this particular and I desire it may be observed that there is no greater testimony of the Doctrine of a Church than their Liturgy Their Doctors may have private Opinions which are not against the Doctrine of the Church but what is put into their publick devotions and consign'd in their Liturgies no man scruples it but it is the Confession and Religion of the Church But now that I may make my Reader some amends for his trouble in reading the trifling Objections of these Roman Adversaries and my Defences I shall also for the greater conviction of my Adversaries shew that they would not have oppos'd my Affirmation in this particular if they had understood their own Mass-book for it was not only thus from the beginning until now in the Greek Church but it is so to this very day in the Latin Church In the old Latin Missal we have this prayer Suscipe sancta Trinitas hanc oblationem quam tibi offerimus pro omnibus in tui nominis confessione defunctis ut te dextram auxilii tui porrigente vitae perennis requiem habeant à poenis impiorum segregati semper in tuae laudis laetitia perseverent And in the very Canon of the Mass which these Gentlemen I suppose if they be Priests cannot be ignorant in any part of they pray Memento Domine famulorum famularumque tuarum qui nos praecesserunt cum signo fidei dormiunt in somno pacis Ipsis Domine omnibus in Christo quiescentibus locum refrigerii lucis pacis ut indulgeas deprecamur Unless all that are at rest in Christ go to Purgatory it is plain that the Church of Rome prayes for Saints who by the confession of all sides never were in Purgatory I could bring many more testimonies if they were needful but I summ up this particular with the words of Saint Austin Non sunt praetermittendae supplicationes pro spiritibus mortuorum quas faciendas pro omnibus in Christiana Catholica societate defunctis etiam tacitis nominibus quorumque sub generali commemoratione suscepit Ecclesia The Church prayes for all persons that died in the Christian and Catholick Faith And therefore I wonder how it should drop from Saint Austin's Pen Injuriam facit Martyri qui orat pro Martyre But I suppose he meant it only in case the prayer was made for them as if they were in an uncertain state and so it is probable enough but else his words were not only against himself in other places but against the whole practice of the Ancient Catholick Church I remember that when it was ask'd of Pope Innocent by the Archbishop of Lyons why the Prayer that was in the old Missal for the soul of Pope Leo Annue nobis Domine animae famuli tui Leonis haec prosit oblatio it came to be chang'd into Annue nobis Domine ut intercessione famuli tui Leonis haec prosit oblatio Pope Innocent answered him that who chang'd it or when he knew not but he knew how that is he knew the reason of it because the Authority of the Holy Scripture said he does injury to a Martyr that prayes for a Martyr the same thing is to be done for the like reason concerning all other Saints The good man had heard the saying somewhere but being little us'd to the Bible he thought it might be there because it was a pretty saying However though this change was made in the Mass-books and prayer for the soul of Saint Leo was chang'd into a prayer to Saint Leo and the Doctors went about to defend it as well as they could yet because they did it so pitifully they had reason to
then I quoted Otho according to my own sence and his but if he means it to be after the day of judgment then the limbus infantum of the Roman Church is vanish'd for the scruple was mov'd about Infants Quid de parvulis qui solo Originali delicto tenentur fiet And there is none such till after dooms day so that let it be as it will the Roman Church is a loser and therefore let them take their choice on which side they will fall But now after Saint Austin's time especially in the time of Saint Gregory and since there were many strange stories told of souls appearing after death and telling strange things of their torments below many of which being gather'd together by the speculum exemplorum the Legend of Lombardy and others some of them were noted by the Dissuasive to this purpose to shew that in the time when these stories were told the fire of Purgatory did not burn clear but they found Purgatory in Baths in Eves of Houses in Frosts and cold Rains upon Spits rosting like Pigs or Geese upon pieces of Ice Now to this there is nothing said but that in the place quoted in the speculum there is no such thing which saying as it was spoken invidiously so it was to no purpose for if the Objector ever hath read the distinction which is quoted throughout he should have found the whole story at large It is the 31 example page 205. Col. 1. printed at Doway 1603. And the same words are exactly in an ancienter Edition printed at the Imperial Town of Hagenaw 1519. Impensis Johannis Rynman But these Gentlemen care not for the force of any Argument if they can any way put it off from being believ'd upon any foolish pretence But then as to the thing it self though learned men deny the Dialogues of Saint Gregory from whence many of the like stories are deriv'd to be his as Possevine confesses and Melchior Canus though a little timorously affirms yet I am willing to admit them for his but yet I cannot but note that those Dialogues have in them many foolish ridiculous and improbable stories but yet they and their like are made a great ground of Purgatory but then the right also may be done to Saint Gregory his Doctrine of Purgatory cannot consist with the present Article of the Church of Rome so fond they are in the alledging of Authorities that they destroy their own hypothesis by their undiscerning quotations For 1. Saint Gregory Pope affirms that which is perfectly inconsistent with the whole Doctrine of Purgatory For he sayes That it is a fruit of our redemption by the grace of Christ our Author that when we are drawn from our dwelling in the body Mox forthwith we are lead to câ—lestial rewards and a little after speaking of those words of Job In profundissimum infernum descendunt omnia mea he sayes thus Since it is certain that in the lower region the just are not in penal places but are held in the superior bosom of rest a great question arises what is the meaning of Blessed Job If Purgatory can stand with this hypothesis of Saint Gregory then fire and water can be reconcil'd This is the Doctrine of Saint Gregory in his own works for whether the Dialogues under his name be his or no I shall not dispute but if I were studying to do honour to his memory I should never admit them to be his and so much the rather because the Doctrine of the Dialogues contradicts the Doctrine of his Commentaries and yet even the Purgatory which is in the Dialogues is unlike that which was declar'd at Basil for the Gregorian Purgatory supposed only an expiation of small and light faults as immoderate laughter impertinent talking which nevertheless he himself sayes are expiable by fear of death and Victoria and Jacobus de Graffis say are to be taken away by beating the breast holy water the Bishops blessing and Saint Austin sayes they are to be taken off by daily saying the Lords prayer and therefore being so easily so readily so many wayes to be purg'd here it will not be worth establishing a Purgatory for such alone but he admits not of any remaining punishment due to greater sins forgiven by the blood of Christ. But concerning Saint Gregory I shall say no more but refer the Reader to the Apology of the Greeks who affirm that Saint Gregory admitted a kind of Purgatory but whether allegorically or no or thinking so really they know not but what he said was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by way of dispensation and as it were constrained to it by the Arguments of those who would have all sins expiable after death against whom he could not so likely prevail if he had said that none was and therefore he thought himself forc'd to go a middle way and admit a Purgatory only for little or venial sins which yet will do no advantage to the Church of Rome And besides all this Saint Gregory or whoever is the Author of these Dialogues hath nothing definite or determin'd concerning the time manner measure or place so wholly new was this Doctrine then that it had not gotten any shape or feature Next I am to account concerning the Greeks whom I affirm alwayes to have differed from the Latins since they had forg'd this new Doctrine of Purgatory in the Roman Laboratories and to prove something of this I affirm'd that in the Council of Basil they publish'd an Apology directly disapproving the Doctrine of Purgatory Against this up starts a man fierce and angry and sayes there was no such Apology publish'd in the Council of Basil for he had examined it all over and can find no such Apology I am sorry for the Gentlemans loss of his labour but if he had taken me along with him I could have help'd the learned man This Apology was written by Marcus Metropolitan of Ephesus as Sixtus Senensis confesses and that he offered it to the Council of Basil. That it was given and read to the Deputies of the Council June 14. 1438. is attested by Cusanus and Martinus Crusius in his Turco-Graecia But it is no wonder if this over-learned Author of the Letter miss'd this Apology in his search of the Council of Basil for this is not the only material thing that is missing in the Editions of the Council of Basil for Linwood that great and excellent English Canonist made an Appeal in that Council and prosecuted it with effect in behalf of King Henry of England Cum in temporalibus non recognoscat superiorem in terris c. But nothing of this now appears though it was then registred but it is no new thing to forge or to suppress Acts of Councils But besides this I did not suppose he would have been so indiscreet as to have look'd for that Apology in the Editions of the Council of Basil but it was deliver'd to the
but therefore this is bread still here the Consequence is good and is so still when the subject of the proposition is something real and not in appearance only Because whatsoever is but in appearance and pretence is a Non-Ens in respect of that real thing which it counterfeits And therefore it follows not This is not a common dove therefore it is a Dove because if this be model'd into a right proposition nihil supponit there is no subject in it for it cannot in this case be said This Dove is no common Dove but this which is like a Dove is not a common Dove and these persons which look like men are not common men And the rule for this and the reason too is Non entis nulla sunt praedicata To which also this may be added that in the proposition as C. Perron expresses it the negation is not the Adjective but the substantive part of the predicate It is no common Dove where the negative term relates to the Dove not to common It is no Dove and the words not common are also equivocal and as it can signifie extraordinary so it can signifie Natural But if the subject of the proposition be something real then the consequent is good as if you bring a Pigeon from Japan all red you may say This is no common Pigeon and your argument is still good therefore it is a Pigeon So if you take sugred bread or bread made of Indian wheat you saying this is no common bread do mean it is extraordinary or unusual but it is bread still and so if it be said this bread is Eucharistical it will follow rightly therefore this is bread For in this case the predicate is only an infinite or Negative term but the subject is suppos'd and affirm'd And this is also more apparent if the proposition be affirmative and the terms be not infinite as it is in the present case This bread is Eucharistical I have now I suppose clear'd the words of Justin M. and expounded them to his own sence and the truth but his sence will further appear in other words which I principally rely upon in this quotation For speaking that of the Prophet Isai. Panis dabitur ei aqua ejus fidelis he hath these words It appears sufficiently That in this prophecie he speaks of bread which our Lord Christ hath deliver'd to us to do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a memorial that he is made a body for them that believe in him for whose sake he was made passible and of the Cup which for the recordation of his blood he delivered to them to do that is give thanks or celebrate the Eucharist These are the words of Justin Where 1. According to the first simplicity of the primitive Church he treats of this mystery according to the style of the evangelists and S. Paul and indeed of our Blessed Lord himself commanding all this whole mystery to be done in memory of him 2. If S. Justin had meant any thing of the new fabrick of this mystery he must have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bread made his body though this also would not have done their work for them but when he says he gave the bread only for the remembrance of his being made a body the bread must needs be the sign figure and representation of that body 3. Still he calls it bread even then when Christ gave it still it is wine when the Eucharist is made when the faithful have given thanks and if it be bread still we also grant it to be Christs body and then there is a figure and the things figured the one visible and the other invisible and this is it which I affirmed to be the sence of Justin Martyr And it is more perfectly explicated by Saint Greg. Naz. calling the Pascal Lamb a figure of a figure of which I shall yet give an account in this Section But to make this yet more clear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. We do not receive these as common bread or common drink but as by the word of God Jesus Christ our Lord was made flesh and for our salvation had flesh and blood so are we taught that that very nourishment on which by the prayers of his word thanks are given by which our flesh and blood are nourished by change is the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus Here S. Justin compares the consecration of the Eucharist by prayer to the incarnation of Christ the thing with the thing to shew it is not common bread but bread made Christs body he compares not the manner of one with the manner of the other as Cardinal Perron would fain have it believed for if it were so it would not only destroy an Article of Christian faith but even of the Roman too for if the changes were in the same manner then either the man is Transubstantiated into God or else the bread is not Transubstantiated into Christs body but the first cannot be because it would destroy the hypostatical Union and make Christ to be one nature as well as one person but for the latter part of the Dilemma viz. that the bread is not Transubstantiated whether it be true or false it cannot be affirmed from hence and therefore the Cardinal labours to no purpose and without consideration of what may follow But now these words make very much against the Roman hypothesis and directly prove the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the consecrated bread that is after it is consecrated to be natural nourishment of the body and therefore to be Christs body only spiritually and Sacramentally unless it can be two substances at the same time Christs body and bread in the Natural sence which the Church of Rome at this day will not allow and if it were allowed it would follow that Christ body should be Transubstantiated into our body and suffer the very worst changes which in our eating and digestion and separation happen to common bread This argument relies upon the concurrent Testimony of many of the ancient Fathers besides Justin Martyr especially S. Irenaeus and certainly destroys the whole Roman Article of Transubstantiation for if the Eucharistical bread nourishes the body then it is still the substance of bread for accidents do not nourish and quantity or quality is not the subject or term of Nutrition but reparation of substance by a substantial change of one into another But of this enough Eusebius is next alledged in the Dissuasive but his words though pregnant and full of proof against the Roman hypothesis are by all the Contra-scribers let alone only one of them says that the place of the quotation is not rightly mark'd for the first three chapters are not extant well but the words are and the last chapter is which is there quoted and to the 10. chapter the Printer should have more carefully attended and not omit the Cypher which I suppose he would
in two parts of the body which is one and whole and so is but in one place and consequently is but one soul. But if the feet were parted from the body by other bodies intermedial then indeed if there were but one soul in feet and head the Gentleman had spoken to the purpose But here these wafers are two intire wafers separate the one from the other bodies intermedial put between and that which is here is not there and yet of each of them it is affirm'd that it is Christs body that is of two wafers and of two thousand wafers it is at the same time affirm'd of every one that it is Christs body Now if these wafers are substantially not the same not one but many and yet every one of these many is substantially and properly Christs body then these bodies are many for they are many of whom it is said every one distinctly and separately and in it self is Christs body 2. For his comparing the presence of Christ in the wafer with the presence of God in Heaven it is spoken without common wit or sence for does any man say that God is in two places and yet be the same one God Can God be in two places that cannot be in one Can he be determin'd and number'd by places that sills all places by his presence or is Christs body in the Sacrament as God is in the world that is repletivè filling all things alike spaces void and spaces full and there where there is no place where the measures are neither time nor place but only the power and will of God This answer besides that it is weak and dangerous is also to no purpose unless the Church of Rome will pass over to the Lutherans and maintain the Ubiquity of Christs body Yea but S. Austin says of Christ Ferebatur in manibus suis c. he bore himself in his own hands and what then Then though every wafer be Christs body yet the multiplication of wafers does not multiply bodies for then there would be two bodies of Christ when he carried his own body in his hands To this I answer that concerning S. Austins mind we are already satisfied but that which he says here is true as he spake and intended it for by his own rule the similitudes and figures of things are oftentimes called by the name of those things whereof they are similitudes Christ bore his own body in his own hands when he bore the Sacrament of his body for of that also it is true that it is truly his body in a Sacramental spiritual and real manner that is to all intents and purposes of the holy Spirit of God According to the words of S. Austin cited by P. Lombard We call that the body of Christ which being taken from the fruits of the Earth and consecrated by mystick prayer we receive in memory of the Lords Passion which when by the hands of men it is brought on to that visible shape it is not sanctified to become so worthy a Sacrament but by the spirit of God working invisibly If this be good Catholick doctrine and if this confession of this article be right the Church of England is right but then when the Church of Rome will not let us alone in this truth and modesty of confession but impose what is unknown in Antiquity and Scripture and against common sence and the reason of all the world she must needs be greatly in the wrong But as to this question I was here only to justifie the Disswasive I suppose these Gentleman may be fully satisfied in the whole inquiry if they please to read a book I have written on this subject intirely of which hitherto they are pleas'd to take no great notice SECT IV. Of the Half-Communion WHEN the French Embassador in the Council of Trent A. D. 1561. made instance for restitution of the Chalice to the Laity among other oppositions the Cardinal S. Angelo answered that he would never give a cup full of such deadly poison to the people of France instead of a medicine and that it was better to let them die than to cure them with such remedies The Embassador being greatly offended replied that it was not fit to give the name of poison to the blood of Christ and to call the holy Apostles poisoners and the Fathers of the Primitive Church and of that which followed for many hundred years who with much spiritual profit have ministred the cup of that blood to all the people this was a great and a publick yet but a single person that gave so great offence One of the greatest scandals that ever were given to Christendom was given by the Council of Constance which having acknowledged that Christ administred this venerable Sacrament under both kinds of bread and wine and that in the Primitive Church this Sacrament was receiv'd of the faithful under both kinds yet the Council not only condemns them as hereticks and to be punished accordingly who say it is unlawful to observe the custom and law of giving it in one kind only but under pain of excommunication forbids all Priests to communicate the people under both kinds This last thing is so shameful and so impious that A. L. directly denies that there is any such thing which if it be not an argument of the self-conviction of the man and a resolution to abide in his error and to deceive the people even against his knowledge let all the world judge for the words of the Councils decree as they are set down by Carranza at the end of the decree are these Item praecipimus sub pâ—â—na excommunicationis quod nullus presbyter communicet populum sub utraque specie panis vini I need say no more in this affair To affirm it necessary to do in the Sacraments what Christ did is called heresie and to do so is punished with excommunication But we who follow Christ hope we shall communicate with him and then we are well enough especially since the very institution of the Sacrament in both kinds is a sufficient Commandment to minister and receive it in both kinds For if the Church of Rome upon their supposition only that Christ did barely institute confession do therefore urge it as necessary it will be a strange partiality that the confessed institution by Christ of the two Sacramental species shall not conclude them as necessary as the other upon an Unprov'd supposition And if the institution of the Sacrament in both kinds be not equal to a command then there is no command to receive the bread or indeed to receive the Sacrament at all but it is a mere act of supererogation that the Priests do it at all and an act of favour and grace that they give even the bread it self to the Laity But besides this it is not to be endur'd that the Church of Rome only binds her subjects to observe the decree of abstaining from the cup
Adversaries put me often to sight with His words are these He viz. the Apostle S. Paul saith that he is unworthy of the Lord who otherwise celebrates the mystery than it was deliver'd by him For he cannot be devout that presumes otherwise than it was given by the Author Therefore he before admonishes that according to the order delivered the mind of him that comes to the Eucharist of our Lord be devout for there is a judgment to come that as every one comes so he may render an account in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ because they who come without the discipline of the delivery or tradition and of conversation are guilty of the body and blood of our Lord. One of my Adversaries says these words of S. Ambrose are to be understood only of the Priest and it appears so by the word celebrat not recipit he that celebrates otherwise than is delivered by Christ. To this I answer that first it is plain and S. Ambrose so expresses his meaning to be of all that receive it for so he says that the mind of him that cometh to the Eucharist of our Lord ought to be devout 2. It is an ignorant conceit that S. Ambrose by celebrat means the Priest only because he only can celebrate For however the Church of Rome does now almost impropriate that word to the Priest yet in the Primitive Church it was no more than recipit or accedit ad Eucharistiam which appears not only by S. Ambrose his expounding it so here but in S. Cyprian speaking to a rich Matron Locuples dives Dominicum celebrare te credis corban omnino non respicis Dost thou who art rich and opulent suppose that you celebrate the Lords Supper or sacrifice who regardest not the poor mans basket Celebrat is the word and receive must needs be the signification and so it is in S. Ambrose and therefore I did as I ought translate it so 3. It is yet objected that I translate aliter quam ab eo traditum est otherwise than he appointed whereas it should be otherwise than it was given by him And this surely is a great matter and the Gentleman is very subtle But if he be ask'd whether or no Christ appointed it to be done as he did to be given as he gave it I suppose this deep and wise note of his will just come to nothing But ab eo traditum est of it self signifies appointed for this he deliver'd not only by his hands but by his commandment of Hoc facite that was his appointment Now that all this relates to the whole institution and doctrine of Christ in this matter and therefore to the duplication of the Elements the reception of the chalice as well as the consecrated bread appears first by the general terms qui aliter mysterium celebrat he that celebrates otherwise than Christ delivered 2. These words are a Commentary upon that of S. Paul He that eats this bread and drinks the Cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Now hence S. Ambrose arguing that all must be done as our Lord delivered says also that the bread must be eaten and the cup drunk as our Lord delivered and he that does not do both does not do what our Lord delivered 3. The conclusion of S. Ambrose is full to this particular They are guilty of the body and blood of Christ who came without the discipline of the delivery and of conversation that is they who receive without due preparation and not after the manner it was delivered that is under the differing symbols of bread and wine To which we may add that observation of Cassander and of Vossius that the Apostles represented the persons of all the faithful and Christ saying to them Take and eat he also said Drink ye all of this he said not Eat ye all of this and therefore if by vertue of these words Drink ye all of this the Laity be not commanded to drink it can never be proved that the Laity are commanded to eat Omnes is added to bibite but it is not expresly added to Accipite Comedite and therefore Paschasius Radbertus who lived about eight hundred and twenty years after Christs incarnation so expounds the precept without any hesitation Bibite ex hoc omnes i. e. tam Ministri quam reliqui credentes Drink ye all of this as well they that minister as the rest of the believers And no wonder since for their so doing they have the example and institution of Christ by which as by an irrefragable and undeniable argument the Ancient Fathers us'd to reprove and condemn all usages which were not according to it For saith S. Cyprian If men ought not to break the least of Christs commandments how much less those great ones which belong to the Sacrament of our Lords passion and redemption or to change it into any thing but that which was appointed by him Now this was spoken against those who refus'd the hallowed wine but took water instead of it and it is of equal force against them that give to the Laity no cup at all but whatever the instance was or could be S. Cyprian reproves it upon the only account of prevaricating Christs institution The whole Epistle is worth reading for a full satisfaction to all wise and sober Christians Abeo quod Christus Magister praecepit gessit humana novella institutione decedere by a new and humane institution to depart from what Christ our Master commanded and did that the Bishops would not do tamen quoniam quidam c. because there are some who simply and ignorantly In calice Dominico sanctificando plebi ministrando non hoc faciunt quod Jesus Christus Dominus Deus noster sacrificii hujus author Doctor fecit docuit c. In sanctifying the cup of the Lord and giving it to the people do not do what Jesus Christ did and taught viz. they did not give the cup of wine to the people therefore S. Cyprian calls them to return ad radicem originem traditionis Dominicae to the root and original of the Lords delivery Now besides that S. Cyprian plainly says that when the chalice was sanctified it was also ministred to the people I desire it be considered whether or no these words do not plainly reprove the Roman doctrine and practice in not giving the consecrated chalice to the people Do they not recede from the root and original of Christs institution Do they do what Christ did Do they teach what Christ taught Is not their practice quite another thing than it was at first Did not the Ancient Church do otherwise than these men do and thought themselves oblig'd to do otherwise They urg'd the doctrine and example of our Lord and the whole Oeconomy of the Mystery was their warrant and their reason for they always believed that a
in the first book of the Greek and Latin Bibliotheca Patrum out of which I shall only transcribe these words Non esse faciendum imagines Dei imo si quis quid simile attentaverit hunc exâ—remis suppliciis veluti Ethnicis communicantem dogmatis subjici Let them translate it that please only I remember that Aventinus tells a story that Pope John XXII caused to be burnt for Hereticks those persons who had painted the Holy Trinity which I urge for no other reason but to shew how late an innovation of religion this is in the Church of Rome The worship of Images came in by degrees and it was long resisted but until of late it never came to the height of impiety as to picture God and to worship him by Images But this was the state and last perfection of this sin and hath spoiled a great part of Christianity and turn'd it back to Ethnicism But that I may summ up all I desire the Roman Doctors to weigh well the words of one of their own Popes Gregory II. to the Question Cur tamen Patrem Domini nostri Jesu Christi non oculis subjicimus Why do we not subject the Father of our Lord Jesus to the eyes He answers Quoniam Dei natura spectanda proponi non potest ac fingi The nature of God cannot be expos'd to be beheld nor yet feign'd He did not conclude that therefore we cannot make the Image of his essence but none at all nothing of him to be expos'd to the sight And that this is his direct and full meaning besides his own words we may conclude from the note which Baronius makes upon it Postea in usu venisse ut pingatur in Ecclesia Pater Spiritus Sanctus Afterwards it became an use in the Church viz. the Roman to paint the Father and the Holy Ghost And therefore besides the impiety of it the Church of Rome is guilty of innovation in this particular also which was the thing I intended to prove THE END VNVM NECESSARIVM OR The Doctrine and Practice OF REPENTANCE DESCRIBING The Necessities and Measures of a Strict a Holy and a Christian Life AND Rescued from Popular Errors By JER TAYLOR Chaplain in Ordinary to King CHARLES the First and late Lord Bishop of Down and Connor Poenitentiae compensatione redimendam proponit impunitatem Deus Praeveniamus faciem ejus in confessione Tertul. de Poenit. Cor contritum S PETER MARY MAGDALENE LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to the King 's most Excellent Majesty 1673. TO The Right Honourable and Noblest Lord RICHARD Earl of Carbery c. MY LORD THE duty of Repentance is of so great and universal concernment a Catholicon to the evils of the Soul of every man that if there be any particular in which it is worthy the labours of the whole Ecclesiastical Calling to be instant in season and out of season it is in this duty and therefore I hope I shall be excused if my Discourses of Repentance like the duty it self be perpetually increasing and I may like the Widow in the Gospel to the unjust Judge at least hope to prevail with some men by my importunity Men have found out so many devices and arts to cousen themselves that they will rather admit any weak discourses and images of Reason than think it necessary to repent speedily severely and effectively We find that sinners are prosperous and God is long before he strikes and it is always another mans case when we see a judgment happen upon a sinner we feel it not our selves for when we do it is commonly past remedy Indeed it was to be pitied in the Heathen that many of them were tempted to take the thriving side when Religion it self was unprosperous When Jupiter suffered his golden Scepter to be stole and the Image never frown'd and a bold fellow would scrape the Ivory thigh of Hercules and go away without a broken pate for all the Club that was in his hand they thought they had reason to think there was no more sacredness in the Images of their gods than in the statues of Vigellus and because the event of all regular actions was not regular and equal but Catiline was hewn down by the Consuls sword for his Rebellion and for the same thing Caesar became a Prince they believed that the Powers that govern'd these extraregular events must it self be various and changeable and they call'd it Fortune But My Lord that Christians should thus dote upon temporal events and the little baits of fishes and the meat of dogs adoring every thing that is prosperous and hating that condition of things that brings trouble is not to be pardon'd to them who profess themselves Servants and Disciples of a Crucified Lord and Master But it is upon the same account that men are so hardly brought to repent or to believe that Repentance hath in it so many parts and requires so much labour and exacts such caution and cannot be performed without the best assistances or the greatest skill in spiritual notices They find sin pleasant and prosperous gay and in the fashion And though wise men know it is better to be pleas'd than to be merry to have rest and satisfaction in wisdom and perfective notices of things than to laugh loud and fright sobriety away with noises and dissolution and forgetfulness yet this severer pleasure seems dull and flat and men generally betake themselves to the wildnesses of sin and hate to have it interrupted by the intervening of the sullen grace of Repentance It was a sprightly saying of him in the Comedy Ego vitam Deorum proptereà sempiternam esse arbitror Quòd voluptates eorum propriae sunt Nam mihi immortalitas Parta est si huic nulla aegritudo gaudio intercesserit Our immortality is to be reckoned by the continuance of our pleasure My life is then perpetual when my delights are not interrupted And this is the immortality that too many men look after by incompetent means But to be called upon to Repentance and when men inquire what that is to be told it is all the duty of a returning man the extermination of sin the mortification of all our irregular appetites and all that perfection of righteousness which can consist with our state of imperfection and that in order to these purposes we must not refuse the sharpest instruments that they may be even cut off which trouble us but that we suffer all the severity of voluntary or imposed discipline according as it shall be judged necessary this is it which will trouble men such I mean who love a beggerly ease before a laborious thriving trade a foul stable to some beasts is better than a fair way and therefore it is that since all Christians are convinced of the necessity the indispensable necessity of Repentance they have resolved to admit it but they also resolve they will not understand what it is Vna herclè falsa lachrymula one
or two forc'd tears against a good time and believe it that 's a great matter too that is not ordinary But if men lose an estate Nemo dolorem Fingit in hoc casu vestem diducere summam Contentus vexare oculos humore coacto Men need not to dissemble tears or sorrow in that case but as if men were in no danger when they are enemies to God and as if to lose Heaven were no great matter and to be cast into Hell were a very tolerable condition and such as a man might very well undergo and laugh heartily for all that they seem so unconcerned in the actions of Religion and in their obedience to the severe laws of Repentance that it looks as if men had no design in the world but to be suffered to die quietly to perish tamely without being troubled with the angry arguments of Church-men who by all means desire they should live and recover and dwell with God for ever Or if they can be forc'd to the further entertainments of Repentance it is nothing but a calling for mercy an ineffective prayer a moist cloud a resolution for to day and a solemn shower at the most Mens immota manet lachrymae volvuntur inanes The mind is not chang'd though the face be for Repentance is thought to be just as other Graces fit for their proper season like fruits in their own month but then every thing else must have its day too we shall sin and we must repent but sin will come again and so may repentance For there is a time for every thing under the Sun and the time for Repentance is when we can sin no more when every objection is answered when we can have no more excuse and they who go upon that principle will never do it till it be too late For every age hath temptations of its own and they that have been us'd to the yoke all their life time will obey their sin when it comes in any shape in which they can take any pleasure But men are infinitely abus'd and by themselves most of all For Repentance is not like the Summer fruits fit to be taken a little and in their own time it is like bread the provisions and support of our life the entertainment of every day but it is the bread of affliction to some and the bread of carefulness to all and he that preaches this with the greatest zeal and the greatest severity it may be he takes the liberty of an enemy but he gives the counsel and the assistance of a friend My Lord I have been so long acquainted with the secrets of your Spirit and Religion that I know I need not make an apology for dedicating this severe Book to you You know according to the prudence which God hath given you that he that flatters you is your enemy and you need not be flattered for he that desires passionately to be a good man and a religious to be the servant of God and be sav'd will not be fond of any vanity and nothing else can need to be flattered but I have presented to your Lordship this Discourse not only to be a testimony to the world how great a love and how great an honour I have for you but even by ascribing you into this relation to endear you the rather every day more and more to the severest Doctrines and practices of Holiness I was invited to make something of this by an Honourable Person who is now with God and who desir'd his needs should be serv'd by my Ministery But when I had entred upon it I found it necessary to do it in order to more purposes and in prosecution of the method of my other Studies All which as they are designed to Gods glory and the Ministery of Souls so if by them I can signifie my obligations to your Lordship which by your great Nobleness do still increase I shall not esteem them wholly ineffective even of some of those purposes whither they are intended for truly my Lord in whatsoever I am or can do I desire to appear My Noblest Lord Your Honours most obliged and most affectionate Servant JER TAYLOR THE PREFACE To the Right Reverend and Religious FATHERS BRIAN Lord Bishop of SARVM AND JOHN Lord Bishop of ROCHESTER And to the most Reverend and Religious Clergy of ENGLAND my dear Brethren Men Brethren and Fathers THE wiser part of Mankind hath seen so much trifling in the conduct of disputations so much partiality such earnest desires of reputation such resolution to prevail by all means so great mixture of interest in the contention so much mistaking of the main question so frequent excursions into differing matter so many personal quarrels and petty animosities so many wranglings about those things that shall never be helped that is the errors and infirmities of men and after all this which also must needs be consequent to it so little fruit and effect of questions no man being the wiser or changed from error to truth but from error to error most frequently and there are in the very vindication of truth so many incompetent uncertain and untrue things offered that if by chance some truth be gotten we are not very great gainers because when the whole account is cast up we shall find or else they that are disinterest will observe that there is more error than truth in the whole purchase and still no man is satisfied and every side keeps its own unless where folly or interest makes some few persons to change and still more weakness and more impertinencies crowd into the whole affair upon every reply and more yet upon the rejoynder and when men have wrangled tediously and vainly they are but where they were save only that they may remember they suffered infirmity and iâ— may be the transport of passions and uncharitable expressions and all this for an unrewarding interest for that which is sometimes uncertain it self unrevealed unuseful and unsatisfying that in the event of things and after being wearied for little or nothing men have now in a very great proportion left it quite off as unsatisfying waters and have been desirous of more material nourishment and of such notices of things and just assistances as may promote their eternal interest And indeed it was great reason and high time that they should do so for when they were imployed in rowing up and down in uncertain seas to find something that was not necessary it was certain they would less attend to that which was more worthy their inquiry and the enemy of mankind knew that to be a time of his advantage and accordingly sowed tares while we so slept and we felt a real mischief while we contended for an imaginary and phantastick good For things were come to that pass that it was the character of a good man to be zealous for a Sect and all of every party respectively if they were earnest and impatient of contradiction were sure to be sav'd by
of Valentinian hath these words Blessed is he truly who even in his old age hath amended his error Blessed is he who even just before the stroke of death turns his mind from vice Blessed are they whose sins are covered for it is written Cease from evil and do good and dwell for evermore Whoever therefore shall leave off from sin and shall in any age be turned to better things he hath the pardon of his former sins which either he hath confessed with the affections of a penitent or turned from them with the desires of amends But this Prince hath company enough in the way of his obtaining pardon For there are very many who could in their old age recal themselves from the slipperiness and sins of their youth but seldom is any one to be found who in his youth with a serious sobriety will bear the heavy yoke And I remember that when Faustus Bishop of Rhegium being asked by Paulinus Bishop of Nola from Marinus the Hermit whether a man who was involved in carnal sins and exercised all that a criminous person could do might obtain a full pardon if he did suddenly repent in the day of his death did answer peevishly and severely and gave no hopes nor would allow pardon to any such Avitus the Archbishop of Vienna reproved his pride and his morosity and gave express sentence for the validity of such a repentance and that Gentleness hath been the continual Doctrine of the Church for many Ages insomuch that in the year 1584. Henry Kyspenning a Canon of Xant published a Book intituled The Evangelical Doctrine of the meditation of death with solid exhortations and comforts to the sick from the currents of Scripture and the Commentaries of the Fathers where teaching the sick man how to answer the objections of Satan he makes this to be the fifteenth I repent too late of my sins He bids him answer It is not late if it be true and to the Thief upon the Cross Christ said This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise And afterwards a short prayer easily pierceth Heaven so it be darted forth with a vehement force of the spirit Truly the history of the Kings tells that David who was so great a sinner used but three syllables for he is read to have said no more but Peccavi I have sinned For S. Ambrose said The flame of the sacrifice of his heart ascends up to Heaven Because we have a merciful and gentle Lord and the correction of our sins needs not much time but great fervour And to the same purpose are the words of Alcuinus the Tutor of Charles the Great It behoves us to come to repentance with all confidence and by faith to believe undoubtedly that by repentance our sins may be blotted out Etiamsi in ultimo vitae spiritu commissa poeniteat although we repent of our sins in the last breath of our life Now after all these grounds of hope and confidence to a sinner what can be pretended in defiance of a sinful life and since men will hope upon one ground though it be trifling and inconsiderable when there are so many doctrinal grounds of hopes established propositions parts of Religion and Articles of faith to rely upon for all these particulars before reckoned men are called upon to believe earnestly and are hated and threatned and despised if they do not believe them what is there left to discourage the evil lives of men or to lessen a full iniquity since upon the account of the premises either we may do what we list without sin or sin without punishment or go on without fear or repent without danger and without scruple be confident of Heaven And now if Moral Theologie relie upon such notices as these I thought my work was at an end before I had well finished the first steps of my progression The whole summ of affairs was in danger and therefore I need not trouble my self or others with consideration of the particulars I therefore thought it necessary first to undermine these false foundations and since an inquiry into the minutes of conscience is commonly the work of persons that live holily I ought to take care that this be accounted necessary and all false warrants to the contrary be cancell'd that there might be many idonei auditores persons competent to hear and read and such who ought to be promoted and assisted in their holy intendments And I bless God there are very many such and though iniquity does abound yet Gods grace is conspicuous and remarkable in the lives of very many to whom I shall design all the labours of my life as being dear to God and my dear Brethren in the service of Jesus But I would fain have the Churches as full as I could before I begin and therefore I esteem'd it necessary to publish these Papers before my other as containing the greatest lines of Conscience and the most general cases of our whole life even all the doctrine of Repentance upon which all the hopes of man depend through Jesus Christ. But I have other purposes also in the publication of this Book The Ministers of the Church of Rome who ever love to fish in troubled waters and to oppress the miserable and afflicted if they differ from them in a proposition use all the means they can to perswade our people that the man that is afflicted is not alive that the Church of England now it is a persecuted Church is no Church at all and though blessed be God our Propositions and Doctrines and Liturgie and Communion are sufficiently vindicated in despite of all their petty oppositions and trifling arrests yet they will never leave making noises and outcries which for my part I can easily neglect as finding them to be nothing but noise But yet I am willing to try the Rights and Excellencies of a Church with them upon other accounts by such indications as are the most proper tokens of life I mean propositions of Holiness the necessities of a holy life for certainly that Church is most to be followed who brings us nearest to God and they make our approaches nearest who teach us to be most holy and whose Doctrines command the most excellent and severest lives But if it shall appear that the prevailing Doctrines in the Church of Rome do consequently teach or directly warrant impiety or which is all one are too easie in promising pardon and for it have no defences but distinctions of their own inventing I suppose it will be a greater reproof to their confidence and bold pretensions than a discourse against one of their immaterial propositions that have neither certainty nor usefulness But I had rather that they would preach severity than be reprov'd for their careless propositions and therefore am well pleased that even amongst themselves some are so convinc'd of the weakness of their usual Ministeries of Repentance that as much as they dare they call upon the Priests to be
he did otherwise he did it after the man had been highly warned of the particular and could have obeyed easily which was the case of the man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath and was like the case of Adam who was upon the same account judged by the Covenant of works 10. This then was an emanation both of Gods justice and his mercy Until man had sinned he was not the subject of mercy and if he had not then receiv'd mercy the infliction had been too severe and unjust since the Covenant was beyond the measures of man after it began to multiply into particular laws and man by accident was lessen'd in his strengths 11. From hence the corollaries are plain 1. God was not unjust for beginning his entercourse with mankind by the Covenant of works for these reasons I. Because Man had strengths enough to do it until he lessen'd his own abilities II. The Covenant of works was at first instanc'd but in a small Commandment in abstaining from the fruit of one tree when he had by him very many others for his use and pleasure III. It was necessary that the Covenant of works should begin for the Covenant of faith and repentance could not be at first there was no need of it no opportunity for it it must suppose a defailance or an infirmity as physick supposes sickness and mortality IV. God never exacted the obedience of Man by strict measures by the severity of the first Covenant after Adams fall but men were sav'd then as now they were admitted to repentance and justified by faith and the works of faith And therefore the Jews say that three things were before the world The Law the name of the Messias and Repentance that is as S. Paul better expresses it This Repentance through faith in the Messias is the hidden wisdom of God ordained before the world unto our glory So that at first it was not impossible and when it was it was not exacted in the impossible measure but it was kept in pretence and overture for ends of piety wisdom and mercy of which I have given account it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a wise dispensation but it was hidden 12. For since it is essential to a law that it be in a matter that is possible it cannot be suppos'd that God would judge man by an impossible Commandment A good man would not do it much less the righteous and merciful Judge of Men and Angels But God by holding over the world the Covenant of works non fecit praevaricatores sed humiles did not make us sinners by not observing the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the minutes and tittles of the law but made us humble needing mercy begging grace longing for a Saviour relying upon a better Covenant waiting for better promises praying for the Spirit of grace repenting of our sins deploring our infirmities and justified by faith in the promises of God 13. II. This then is the great introduction and necessity of repentance We neither could have liv'd without it nor have understood the way of the Divine Justice nor have felt any thing of his most glorious attribute But the admission of us to repentance is the great verification of his justice and the most excellent expression of his mercy This is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ springing from the fountains of grace purchas'd by the blood of the Holy Lamb the Eternal sacrifice promised from the beginning always ministred to mans need in the secret Oeconomy of God but proclaim'd to all the world at the revelation of God incarnate the first day of our Lord Jesus 14. But what are we eased now under the Gospel which is a Law of greater holiness and more Commandments and a sublimer purity in which we are tied to more severity than ever man was bound to under any institution and Covenant If the Law was an impossible Commandment who can say he hath strictly and punctually perform'd the injunctions of the Gospel Is not the little finger of the Son heavier than the Fathers loyns Here therefore it is to be inquired Whether the Commandments of Jesus Christ be as impossible to be kept as the Law of Moses If we by Christ be tied to more holiness than the sons of Israel were by Moses Law then because that could not be kept then neither can this But if we be not tied to more than they how is the law of Christ a more perfect institution and how can we now be justified by a law no better than that by which we could not be justified But then if this should be as impossible as ever why is it a-new imposed why is it held over us when the ends for which it was held over us now are served And at last how can it be agreeable to Gods wisdom and justice to exact of us a law which we cannot perform or to impose a law which cannot justly be exacted The answering and explicating this difficulty will serve many propositions in the doctrine of Repentance SECT II. Of the possibility or impossibility of keeping the Precepts of the Gospel 15. IT were strange that it should be possible for all men to keep the Commandments and requir'd and exacted of all men with the intermination or threatning of horrid pains and yet that no man should ever do it S. Hierome brings its Atticus thus arguing Da exemplum aut confitere imbecillitatem tuam and the same also was the argument of Orosius and the reasonableness of it is a great prejudice against the contrary affirmation of S. Austin Alipius Evodius Aurelius Possidius who because it is no good consequence to argue à non esse ad non posse and though it is not done yet possibly it might conclude that it is possible to keep the Commandments though as yet no man ever did but he that did it for us all But as Marcellinus said well It is hard to say that by a Man a thing can be done of which although there was a great necessity and a severe Commandment yet there never was any example Because in men there is such infinite variety of tempers dispositions apprehensions designs fears and hopes purposes and interests that it were next to a miracle that not one of all mankind should do what he can and what so highly concerns him But because this although it be a high probability yet is no certain demonstration that which S. Paul taught is certainly to be relied upon That the Law could not do it for â—s that is could not bring us justification in that it was weak through the flesh meaning that because we were so weak we could not fulfil the righteousness of the Law therefore we could not be justified by that Covenant Mosâ— manns graves facies cornata impedita lingua lapideae tabulae Moses's hands were heavy his face bright his tongue stammering and the tables were of stone by which is meant that the imposition and
good to be like God but to be like him is to be just and holy and prudent That 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as we can that is with a hearty righteous sincere endeavour for so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or holy is used It signifies sincere true without error 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Damascius in Suidas It is not likely or true that he that is not wise in little things should be wise in great things But to live holily in the Christian sence is to live in faith and good works that 's Christian perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He is good and holy who by faith and good works is like unto God For this perfection or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holiness is nothing else but a pursuance of that which is just and good for so said Moses concerning the man that forsook God and denied that he had made a Covenant with him Do not say in thine heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it be lawful or holy or permitted to me to depart from the Lord. To this sence was that of Justin Martyr who expounds this phrase of Be ye perfect by Christianum fieri Be perfect that is Be Christians be Christs Disciples for he who came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to fulfil to consummate obedience to perfect the law to obey him and be Disciples of his institution is our perfection and consummation 44. IV. This perfection of state although it does not suppose a perfection of degrees yet it can be no less than 1. A perfection of parts It must be a Religion that is not mingled with interest piety to God that is not spoiled with cruelty to our neighbours a zeal that hath in it no uncharitableness or spite that is our Religion must be intire and not defective in any constituent part So S. James uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect and intire wanting nothing 2. To which add this also That to this perfection of state perseverance is of necessity to be added For so we are taught by the same Apostle Let patience have her perfect work that is let it bear you through all your trials lasting till all your sufferings are over For he that endures to the end shall be crowned because he only is perfect Our holiness must persevere to the end But 3. it must also be growing all the way For this word perfect is sometimes in Scripture used for degrees and as a distinction between Christians in the measures of duty S. Paul uses it to signifie well grown Christians or men in Christianity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stand perfectly and full or confidently fulfilling all the will of God for therefore we preach Christ and exhort every man and teach every man in all wisdom that we may present every man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect in Christ Jesus that is that they should not always be as babes for whom milk and weak nutriment is to be provided nor like those silly women always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth but it is commanded us to be wise and perfect to be men in Christ so S. Paul makes the antithesis Be ye babes in malice but in your minds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be perfect that is be men wise and confident and strong and well grown Perfectly instructed that is readily prepared to every good work not always imployed in the elements and infant propositions and practices of Religion but doing noble actions well skill'd in the deepest mysteries of faith and holiness This is agreeable to that expression of S. Paul who having laid the foundation of Christianity by describing the fundamentals intending to speak of the more mysterious points of the Religion calls it a going on to perfection So that by this Precept of perfection it is intended we should do more than the lowest measure of our duties and there is no limit but even the utmost of our power all that we can is the measure of our duty I do not say all that we can naturally or possibly but all that we can morally and probably according to the measures of a man and the rate of our hindrances and infirmities 45. V. But the last sort and sence of perfection is that which our blessed Saviour intended particularly in the instance and subject matter of this Precept and that is a perfection in the kind of action that is a choice and prosecution of the most noble and excellent things in the whole Religion Three are especially instanc'd in the holy Gospel I. The first is a being ready or a making our selves ready to suffer persecution prescrib'd by our blessed Saviour to the rich young man If thou wilt be perfect sell all and give to the poor that is if thou wilt be my disciple make thy self ready and come and follow me For it was at that time necessary to all that would follow Christs person and fortune to quit all they had above their needs For they that followed him were sure of a Cross and therefore to invite them to be disciples was to engage them to the suffering persecution and this was that which our blessed Saviour calls perfection Dulce periculum est O Lenaee sequi Deum Cingentem viridi tempora pampino It is an easie thing to follow God in festivals and days of Eucharist but to serve him in hard battels to die for him is the perfection of love of faith and obedience Obedient unto death was the Character of his own perfection for Greater love than this hath no man than to lay down his life Scis quem dicam bonum perfectum absolutum Quem malum facere nulla vis nulla necessitas potest He is good absolute and perfect whom no force no necessity can make evil II. The second instance is being merciful for S. Luke recording this Precept expounds it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye perfect that is Be ye merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful for by mercy only we can be like him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that bears his neighbours burthen and is willing to do benefit to his inferiors and to minister to the needy of the good things which God hath given him he is as God to them that receive he is an imitator of God himself And Justin Martyr reciting this Precept of our blessed Saviour instead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uses the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Be ye good and bountiful us your heavenly Father is And to this purpose the story of Jesus and the young man before mentioned is interpolated in the Gospel according to the Hebrews or the Nazarens The Lord said unto him How sayest thou I have kept the Law and the Prophets when it is written in the Law Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and behold many of thy brethren the sons of Abraham are covered in filth and
call upon us to wait at supper and for all this we are to expect only impunity and our daily provisions And upon this account if we should have performed the Covenant of Works we could not have been justified But then there is a sort of working and there are some such servants which our Lord uses magis ex aequo bono quà m ex Imperio with the usages of sons not of slaves or servants He will gird himself and serve them he will call them friends and not servants these are such as serve animo liberali such which Seneca calls humiles amicos humble friends serving as S. Paul expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the simplicity of their heart not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with eye-service but honestly heartily zealously and affectionately 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so S. Peter freely readily not grudgingly or of necessity 16. XII The proper effect of this is that all the perfect do their services so that their work should fail rather than their minds that they do more than is commanded Exiguum est ad legem bonum esse To be good according to the rigour of the law to do what we are forcâ—d to to do all that is lawful to do and to go toward evil or danger as far as we can these are no good signs of a filial spirit this is not Christian perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That slaves consider This is commanded and must be done under horrible pains and such are the negative precepts of the Law and the proper duties of every mans calling 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is an act of piety of mine own choosing a righteousness that I delight in that is the voice of sons and good servants and that 's rewardable with a mighty grace And of this nature are the affirmative precepts of the Gospel which being propounded in general terms and with indefinite proportions for the measures are left under our liberty and choice to signifie our great love to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said S. Chrysostome Whatsoever is over and above the Commandments that shall have a great reward God forbids unmercifulness he that is not unmerciful keeps the Commandment but he that besides his abstinence from unmercifulness according to the commandment shall open his hand and his heart and give plentifully to the poor this man shall have a reward he is amongst those servants whom his Lord will make to sit down and himself will serve him When God in the Commandment forbids uncleanness and fornication he that is not unchast and does not pollute himself keeps the Commandment But if to preserve his chastity he uses fasting and prayer if he mortifies his body if he denies himself the pleasures of the world if he uses the easiest or the harder remedies according to the proportion of his love and industry especially if it be prudent so shall his greater reward be If a man out of fear of falling into uncleanness shall use austerities and find that they will not secure him and therefore to ascertain his duty the rather shall enter into a state of marriage according as the prudence and the passion of his desires were for God and for purity so also shall his reward be To follow Christ is all our duty but if that we may follow Christ with greater advantages we quit all the possessions of the world this is more acceptable because it is a doing the Commandment with greater love We must so order things that the Commandment be not broken but the difference is in finding out the better ways and doing the duty with the more affections 17. Now in this case they are highly mistaken that think any thing of this nature is a work of supererogation For all this is nothing but a pursuance of the commandment For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Commandment is taken in a general sence for the prescription of whatsoever is pleasing and acceptable to God whatsoever he will reward with mighty glories So loving God with all our heart with all our soul and all our mind and all our strength is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first and the great Commandment that is nothing is more pleasing nothing more acceptable to God because it proceeds out of an excellent love But some Commandments are propounded as to friends some as to servants some under the threatning of horrible pains others not so but with the proposition and under the invitation of glorious rewards It was commanded to S. Paul to preach the Gospel if he had not obeyed he should have perished Wo is me saith he if I preach not the Gospel he was bound to do it But he had another Commandment also to love God as much as was possible and to love his neighbour which precepts were infinite and of an unlimited signification and therefore were lest to every servants choice to do them with his several measures of affection and zeal He that did most did the Commandment best and therefore cannot be said to do more than was commanded but he that does less if he preaches the Gospel though with a less diligence and fewer advantages he obeys the Commandment but not so nobly as the other For example God Commands us to pray He obeys this that constantly and devoutly keeps his morning and evening Sacrifice offering devoutly twice a day He that prays thrice a day does better and he that prays seven times a day hath done no work of supererogation but does what he does in pursuance of the Commandment All the difference is in the manner of Doing what is commanded for no man can do more than he is commanded But some do it better some less perfectly but all is comprehended under this Commandment of loving God with all our hearts When a father commands his children to come to him he that comes slowly obeys the commandment but he that runs does obey more willingly and readily now though to come running was left to the choice of the childs affection yet it was but a brisk pursuance of the commandment Thus when he that is bound to pay Tithes gives the best portion or does it cheerfully without contention in all questions taking the worse of the thing and the better of the duty does what he is commanded and he does it with the affection of a son and of a friend he loves his duty Be angry but sin not so it is in the Commandment but he that to avoid the sin will endeavour not to be angry at all is the greater friend of God by how much the further he stands off from sin Thus in all doubts to take the surest side to determine always for Religion when without sin we might have determin'd for interest to deny our selves in lawful things to do all our duty by the measures of Love and of the Spirit are instances of this filial obedience and are rewarded by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a perswasion and confidence
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
Christ and hath given to us the ministery of reconciliation * Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God * For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off and to as many as the Lord our God shall call And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law that the man which doth those things shall live by them But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise The word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Death is swallowed up in victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. My yoke is easie and my burthen is light For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh hath for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit His Commandments are not grievous If while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life And not only so but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the attonement I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness Ask and you shall have seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you To him that hath shall be given and he shall have more abundantly Having therefore these promises let us cleanse our selves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The PRAYER I. O Eternal God Lord of Heaven and Earth Father of Men and Angels we do adore thy infinite Goodness we revere thy Justice and delight in thy Mercies by which thou hast dealt with us not with the utmost right and dominion of a Lord but with the gentleness of a Father treating us like friends who were indeed thy enemies Thou O God didst see our follies and observe our weaknesses thou knowest the aversness of our nature to good and our proneness to commit vanity and because our imperfect obedience could not bring us to perfect felicity whither thou didst design us the great God of all the world was pleased to make a new Covenant with Man and to become a debtor to his servants Blessed be God and blessed be that Mercy which hath done so great things for us O be pleased to work that in us which thou expectest from us Let us not lose our title in the Covenant of Faith and Repentance by deferring the one or dishonouring the other but let us walk worthy of our vocation according to the Law of Faith and the Mercies of God and the Covenant of our Lord Jesus II. O Blessed Jesus never suffer us to abuse thy mercies or to turn thy Grace into wantonness Let the remembrance and sense of thy glorious favours endear our services and let thy goodness lead us to Repentance and our Repentance bring forth the fruits of godliness in our whole life Imprint deeply upon our hearts the fear and terror of thy Majesty and perpetually entertain our spirits with highest apprehensions of thy loving kindness that we may fear more and love more every day more and more hating sin crucifying all its affections and desires passionately loving holy things zealously following after them prudently conducting them and indefatigably persevering in them to the end of our lives III. O Blessed and Eternal God with thy spirit inlighten our understandings in the rare mysterious Secrets of thy Law Make me to understand all the most advantageous ways of duty and kindle a flame in my Soul that no difficulty or contradiction no temptation within or persecution without may ever extinguish Give me a mighty grace that I may design to please thee with my best and all my services to follow the best examples to do the noblest Charities to pursue all Perfection ever pressing forward to the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus Let us rather choose to die than to sin against our Consciences Let us also watch that we may omit nothing of our duty nor pretermit any opportunity by which thou canst be glorified or any Christian instructed comforted or assisted not resting in the strictest measures of Command but passing forward to great and prudent significations of love doing heroick actions some things by which thou mayest be greatly pleased that thou mayest take delight to pardon to sanctifie and to preserve thy servants for ever Amen CHAP. II. Of the Nature and Definition of Repentance And what parts of duty are signified by it in Holy Scriptures SECT I. THE Greeks use two words to express this duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 post factum angi cruciari to be afflicted in mind to be troubled for our former folly it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Phavorinus a being displeased for what we have done and it is generally used for all sorts of Repentance but more properly to signifie either the beginnings of a good or the whole state of an effective Repentance In the first sence we find it in S. Mathew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and ye seeing did not repent that ye might believe him Of the second sence we have example in Judas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he repented too but the end of it was he died with anguish and despair and of Esau it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he found no place for an effective repentance but yet he repented too for he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fain would have had it otherwise and he sought it with tears which two do fully express all the meaning of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when it is distinguished from the better and effective Repentance There is in this Repentance a sorrow for what is done a
his children That ye should walk worthy of God who hath called you unto his Kingdom and glory * For this cause also thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe How much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God And having an High Priest over the house of God Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water * Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering for he is faithful that promised * And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works * Not forsaking the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins * but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries * He that despised Moses's law died without mercy under two or three witnesses * Of how much sorer punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of Grace For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure And whatsoever we ask we receive of him because we keep his Commandments and do those things which are pleasing in his sight And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end to him will I give power over the Nations A Penitential Psalm collected out of the Psalms and Prophets HAVE mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions For our transgressions are multiplied before thee and our sins testifie against us our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities we know them In transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God speaking oppression and revolt conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falshood Our feet have run to evil our thoughts are thoughts of iniquity The way of peace we have not known we have made us crooked paths whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace Therefore do we wait for light but behold obscurity for brightness but we walk in darkness Look down from Heaven and behold from the habitation of thy Holiness and of thy Glory where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me are they restrained We are indeed as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away But now O Lord thou art our Father we are the clay and thou our potter and we all are the work of thy hand Be not wroth very sore O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever behold see we beseech thee we are thy people Thou O Lord art our Redeemer thy Name is from everlasting O Lord Father and Governour of my whole life leave me not to the sinful counsels of my own heart and let me not any more fall by them Set scourges over my thoughts and the discipline of wisdom over my heart lest my ignorances encrease and my sins abound to my destruction O Lord Father and God of my life give me not a proud look but turn away from thy servant always a haughty mind Turn away from me vain hopes and concupiscence and thou shalt hold him up that is always desirous to serve thee Let not the greediness of the belly nor the lust of the flesh take hold of me and give not thy servant over to an impudent mind There is a word that is clothed about with death God grant it be not found in the portion of thy servant For all such things shall be far from the godly and they shall not wallow in their sins Though my sins be as scarlet yet make them white as snow though they be red like crimson let them be as wooll For I am ashamed of the sins I have desired and am confounded for the pleasures that I have chosen Lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my days what it is that I may know how frail I am and that I may apply my heart unto wisdom Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me O Lord let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me For innumerable evils have compassed me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up for they are more than the hairs of my head therefore my heart faileth me But thou O Lord though mine iniquities testifie against me save me for thy Name sake for our backslidings are many we have sinned grievously against thee But the Lord God will help me therefore shall I not be confounded therefore have I set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed He is near that justifieth me who will contend with me The Lord God will help me who is he that shall condemn me I will trust in the Lord and stay upon my God O let me have this of thine hand that I may not lie down in sorrow S. Paul's Prayers for a holy life I. I BOW my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in Heaven and Earth is named that he would grant unto me according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith that being rooted and grounded in love I may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge and may be filled with all the fulness of God through the same our most blessed Saviour Jesus Amen The Doxologie Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us Vnto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages world without end Amen II. O MOST gracious God grant to thy servant to be filled with the knowledge of thy Will in all
expiation of them they fancy and consequently give what allowance they list to those whom they please to mislead For in innumerable Cases of Conscience it is oftner inquired whether a thing be Venial or Mortal than whether it be lawful or not lawful and as Purgatory is to Hell so Venial is to Sin a thing which men fear not because the main stake they think to be secured for if they may have Heaven at last they care not what comes between And as many men of the Roman perswasion will rather chuse Purgatory than suffer here an inconsiderable penance or do those little services which themselves think will prevent it so they chuse venial sins and hug the pleasures of trifles warming themselves at phantastick fires and dancing in the light of the Glo-worms and they love them so well that rather than quit those little things they will suffer the intolerable pains of a temporary Hell for so they believe which is the testimony of a great evil and a mighty danger for it gives testimony that little sins can be beloved passionately and therefore can minister such a delight as is thought a price great enough to pay for the sufferance of temporal evils and Purgatory it self 3. But the evil is worse yet when it is reduc'd to practice For in the decision of very many questions the answer is It is a venial sin that is though it be a sin yet there is in it no danger of losing the favour of God by that but you may do it and you may do it again a thousand thousand times and all the venial sins of the world put together can never do what one mortal sin can that is make God to be your enemy So Bellarmine expresly affirms But because there are many Doctors who write Cases of Conscience and there is no measure to limit the parts of this distinction for that which is not at all cannot be measured the Doctors differ infinitely in their sentences some calling that Mortal which others call Venial as you may see in the little Summaries of Navar and Emanuel Sà the poor souls of the Laity and the vulgar Clergy who believe what is told them by the Authors or Confessors they chuse to follow must needs be in infinite danger and the whole body of Practical Divinity in which the life of Religion and of all our hopes depends shall be rendred dangerous and uncertain and their confidence shall betray them unto death 4. To bring relief to this state of evil and to establish aright the proper grounds and measures of Repentance I shall first account concerning the difference of sins and by what measures they are so differenc'd 2. That all sins are of their own nature punishable as God please even with the highest expressions of his anger 3. By what Repentance they are cur'd and pardon'd respectively SECT II. Of the difference of sins and their measures 5. I. SINS are not equal but greater or less in their principle as well as in their event It was one of the errors of Jovinian which he learned from the Schools of the Stoicks that all sins are alike grievous Nam dicunt esse pares res Furta latrociniis magnis parva minantur Falce recisuros simili se si sibi regnum Permittant homines For they supposed an absolute irresistible Fate to be the cause of all things and therefore what was equally necessary was equally culpable that is not at all and where men have no power of choice or which is all one that it be necessary that they chuse what they do there can be no such thing as Laws or sins against them To which they adding that all evils are indifferent and the event of things be it good or bad had no influence upon the felicity or infelicity of man they could neither be differenc'd by their cause nor by their effect the first being necessary and the latter indifferent * Against this I shall not need to oppose many Arguments for though this follows most certainly from their doctrine who teach an irresistible Decree of God to be the cause of all things and actions yet they that own the doctrine disavow the consequent and in that are good Christians but ill Logicians But the Article is sufficiently cleared by the words of our B. Lord in the case of Judas whose sin as Christ told to Pilate was the greater because he had not power over him but by special concession in the case of the servant that knows his Masters will and does it not in the several condemnations of the degrees and expressions of anger in the instances of Racha and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou vain man or Thou fool by this comparing some sins to gnats and some to Camels and in proportion to these there are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Luke many stripes a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. James a greater condemnation * Thus to rob a Church is a greater sin than to rob a Thief To strike a Father is a higher impiety than to resist a Tutor To oppress a Widow is clamorous and calls aloud for vengeance when a less repentance will vote down the whispering murmurs of a trifling injury done to a fortune that is not sensible of smaller diminutions Nec vincit ratio tantundem ut peccet idémque Qui teneros caules alieni fregerit horti Vt qui nocturnus Divûm sacra legerit He is a greater criminal that steals the Chalice from a Church than he that takes a few Coleworts or robs a garden of Cucumers But this distinction and difference is by something that is extrinsecal to the action the greatness of the mischief or the dignity of the person according to that Omne animi vitium tanto conspectius in se Crimen habet quanto major qui peccat habetur 6. II. But this when it is reduc'd to its proper cause is because such greater sins are complicated they are commonly two or three sins wrapt together as the unchastity of a Priest is uncleanness and scandal too Adultery is worse than Fornication because it is unchastity and injustice and by the fearful consequents of it is mischievous and uncharitable Et quas Euphrates quas mihi misit Orontes Me capiant Nolo furta pudica thori So Sacriledge is theft and impiety And Apicius killing himself when he suppos'd his estate would not maintain his luxury was not only a self-murtherer but a gluttonous person in his death Nil est Apici tibi gulosius factum So that the greatness of sins is in most instances by extension and accumulation that as he is a greater sinner who sins often in the same instance than he that sins seldom so is he who sins such sins as are complicated and intangled like the twinings of combining Serpents And this appears to be so because if we take single sins as uncleanness and theft no man can tell which is the greater sin neither
repent timely and effectually dies for none The wages of sin is death of sin indefinitely and therefore of all sin and all death for there is no more distinction of sin than death only when death is threatned indefinitely that death is to be understood which is properly and specifically threatned in that Covenant where the death is named as death temporal in the Law death eternal under the Gospel 34. And thus it appears in a very material instance relating to this question for when our blessed Saviour had threatned the degrees of anger he did it by apportioning several pains hereafter of one sort to the several degrees of the same sin here which he expresses by the several inflictions passed upon Criminals by the Houses of Judgment among the Jews Now it is observable that to the least of these sins Christ assigns a punishment just proportionable to that which the gloss of the Pharisees and the Law it self did to them that committed Murther which was capital He shall be guilty of judgment so we read it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so it is in the Greek He shall be guilty in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in the Court of Judgment the Assembly of the twenty three Elders and there his punishment was death but the gentlest manner of it the decapitation or smiting him through with the sword and therefore the least punishment hereafter answering to death here can mean no less than death hereafter * And so also was the second 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that calls Racha shall be guilty that is shall be used as one that stands guilty in the Sanhedrim or Council meaning that he is to die too but with a severer execution by stoning to death this was the greatest punishment by the houses of judgment for Crucifixion was the Roman manner These two already signifie Hell in a less degree but as certainly and evidently as the third For though we read Hell-fire in the third sentence only yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no otherwise signifies Hell than the other two by analogy and proportionable representment The cause of the mistake is this When Christ was pleased to add yet a further degree of punishment in hell to a further degree of anger and reproach the Jews having no greater than that of stoning by the judgment of the Sanhedrim or Council he would borrow his expression from that which they and their Fathers too well understood a barbarous custome of the Phoenicians of burning children alive in the valley of Hinnom which in succession of time the Hellenists called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not much unlike the Hebrew word and because by our blessed Lord it was used to signifie or represent the greatest pains of hell that were spoken of in that gradation the Christians took the word and made it to be its appellative and to signifie the state or place of the damned just as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the garden of Eden is called Paradise But it was no more intended that this should signifie Hell than that any of the other two should The word it self never did so before but that and the other two were taken as being the most fearful things amongst them here to represent the degrees of the most intolerable state hereafter just as damnation is called death the second death that because we fear the first as the worst of present evils we may be affrighted with the apprehensions of the latter From this authority it follows that as in the Law no sins were venial but by repentance and sacrifice so neither in the Gospel are they not in their own nature not by the more holy Covenant of the Gospel but by repentance and mortification For the Gospel hath with greater severity laid restraint upon these minutes and little particles of action and passion and therefore if in the law every transgression was exacted we cannot reasonably think that the least parts of duty which the Gospel superadded with a new and severer caution as great and greater than that by which the law exacted the greatest Commandments can be broken with indemnity or without the highest danger The law exacted all its smallest minutes and therefore so does the Gospel as being a Covenant of greater holiness But as in the law for the smaller transgressions there was an assignment of expiatory rites so is there in the Gospel of a ready repentance and a prepared mercy 37. VII Lastly those sins which men in health are bound to avoid those sins for which Christ did shed his most precious blood those sins which a dying man is bound to ask pardon for though he hopes not or desires not to escape temporal death certain it is that those sins are in their nature and in the Oeconomy or dispensation of the Divine threatnings damnable For what can the dying man fear but death eternal and if he be bound to repent and ask pardon even for the smallest sins which he can remember in order to what pardon can that repentance be but of the eternal pain to which every sin by its own demerit naturally descends If he must repent and ask pardon when he hopes not or desires not the temporal it is certain he must repent only that he may obtain the eternal And they that will think otherwise will also find themselves deceiv'd in this * For if the damned souls in hell are punish'd for all their sins then the unpardon'd venial sins are there also smarted for But so it is and so we are taught in the doctrine of our great Master If we agreee not while we are in the way we shall be cast into the eternal prison and shall not depart thence till we have paid the uttermost farthing that is ever for our smallest sins if they be unremitted men shall pay in hell their horrible Symbol of damnation And this is confessed on all hands that they who fall into hell pay their sorrows there even for all But it is pretended that this is only by accident not by the first intention of the Divine justice because it happens that they are subjected in such persons who for other sins not for these go to hell Well! yet let it be considered whether or no do not the smallest unremitted sins increase the torments of hell in their proportion If they do not then they are not at all punished in hell for if without them the perishing soul is equally punished then for them there is no punishment at all But if they do increase the pains as it is certain they do then to them properly and for their own malignity and demerit a portion of eternal pains is assigned Now if God punishes them in hell then they deserv'd hell if they be damnable in their event then they were so in their merit for God never punishes any sin more than it deserves though he often does less But to say that this is
little for vanity and a little in hypocrisie but a great deal for peace and quiet that the rest of the mind may not be disturbed that we may live and die in peace and in a good opinion of our selves These indeed are evil measures but such by which we usually make judgment of our actions and are therefore likely to call great sins little and little sins none at all ** 47. II. That any sins are venial being only because of the state of grace and Repentance under which they are admitted what condition a man is in even for the smallest sins he can no more know than he can tell that all his other sins are pardon'd that his Repentance is accepted that nothing of Gods anger is reserved that he is pleased for all that there is no Judgment behind hanging over his head to strike him for that wherein he was most negligent Now although some men have great and just confidences that they are actually in Gods favour yet all good men have not so For there are coverings sometimes put over the spirits of the best men and there are intermedial and doubtful states of men as I shall represent in the Chapter of Actual sins there are also ebbings and flowings of sin and pardon and therefore none but God only knows how long this state of veniality and pardon will last and therefore as no man can pronounce concerning any kind of sins that they are in themselves venial so neither can he know concerning his own or any mans particular state that any such sins are pardon'd or Venial to him He that lives a good life will find it so in its own case and in the event of things and that 's all which can be said as to this particular and it is well it is so ne studium proficiendi ad omnia peccata cavenda pigresâ—at as S. Austin well observed If it were otherwise and that sins in their own nature by venial and not venial are distinguished and separate in their natures from each other and that some of them are of so easie remedy and inconsiderable a guilt they would never become earnest to avoid all 48. III. There are some sins which indeed seem venial and were they not sentenc'd in Scripture with severe words would pass for trifles but in Scripturis demonstrantur opinione graviora as S. Austin notes they are by the word of God declared to be greater than they are thought to be and we have reason to judge so concerning many instances in which men are too easie and cruelly kind unto themselves S. Paul said I had not known concupiscence to be a sin if the law had not said Thou shalt not lust and we use to call them scrupulous and phantastick persons who make much adoe about a careless word and call themselves to severe account for every thought and are troubled for every morsel they eat when it can be disputed whether it might not better have been spared Who could have guessed that calling my enemy Fool should be so great a matter but because we are told that it is so told by him that shall be our Judge who shall call us to account for every idle word we may well think that the measures which men usually make by their customes and false principles and their own necessities lest they by themselves should be condemned are weak and fallacious and therefore whatsoever can be of truth in the difference of sins may become a danger to them who desire to distinguish them but can bring no advantages to the interests of piety and a holy life 49. IV. We only account those sins great which are unusual which rush violently against the conscience because men have not been acquainted with them Peccata sola inusitata exhorrescimus usitata verò diligimus But those which they act every day they suppose them to be small quotidianae incursiones the unavoidable acts of every day and by degrees our spirit is reconciled to them conversing with them as with a tame wolf who by custome hath forgotten the circumstances of his barbarous nature but is a wolf still 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Synesius calls them the little customes of sinning men think ought to be dissembled This was so of old Caesarius Bishop of Arles complain'd of it in his time Verè dico Fratres c. I say truly to you Brethren this thing according to the Law and Commandment of our Lord never was lawful neither is it nor shall it ever be but as if it were worse ita peccata ista in consuetudinem missa sunt tanti sunt qui illa faciunt ut jam quasi ex licito fieri credantur these sins are so usual and common that men now begin to think them lawful And indeed who can do a sin every day and think it great and highly damnable If he think so it will be very uneasie for him to keep it but if he will keep it he will also endeavour to get some protection or excuse for it something to warrant or something to undervalue it and at last it shall be accounted venial and by some means or other reconcileable with the hopes of heaven He that is used to oppress the poor every day thinks he is a charitable man if he lets them go away with any thing he could have taken from them But he is not troubled in conscience for detayning the wages of the hireling with deferring to do justice with little arts of exaction and lessening their provisions For since nothing is great or little but in comparison with something else he accounts his sin small because he commits greater and he that can suffer the greatest burthen shrinks not under a lighter weight and upon this account it is impossible but such men must be deceiv'd and die 50. VII Let no man think that his venial or smaller sins shall be pardoned for the smalness of their matter and in a distinct account for a man is not quit of the smallest but by being also quit of the greatest for God does not pardon any sin to him that remains his enemy and therefore unless the man be a good man and in the state of grace he cannot hope that his venial sins can be in any sence indulg'd they increase the burden of the other and are like little stones laid upon a shoulder already crushed with an unequal load Either God pardons the greatest or the least stand uncancell'd 51. VIII Although God never pardons the smallest without the greatest yet he sometimes retains the smallest of them whos 's greatest he hath pardon'd The reason is because although a man be in the state of grace and of the Divine favour and God will not destroy his servants for every calamity of theirs yet he will not suffer any thing that is amiss in them A Father never pardons the small offences of his son who is in rebellion against him those little offences cannot pretend to
advices with the saying of Josephus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is as damnable to indulge leave to our selves to sin little sins as great ones A man may be choaked with a raisin as well as with great morsels of flesh and a small leak in a ship if it be neglected will as certainly sink her as if she sprung a plank Death is the wages of all and damnation is the portion of the impenitent whatever was the instance of their sin Though there are degrees of punishment yet there is no difference of state as to this particular and therefore we are tied to repent of all and to dash the little Babylonians against the stones against the Rock that was smitten for us For by the blood of Jesus and the tears of Repentance and the watchfulness of a diligent careful person many of them shall be prevented and all shall be pardoned A Psalm to be frequently used in our Repentance for our daily Sins BOW down thine ear O Lord hear me for I am poor and needy Rejoyce the soul of thy servant for unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul. For thou Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee Teach me thy way O Lord I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy Name Shall mortal man be more just than God shall a man be more pure than his Maker Behold he put no trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with folly How much less on them that dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust which are crushed before the moth Doth not their excellency which is in them go away They die even without wisdom The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple Moreover by them is thy servant warned and in keeping of them there is great reward Who can understand his errors Cleanse thou me from my secret faults keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression O ye sons of men how long will ye turn my glory into shame how long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself The Lord will hear when I call unto him Out of the deep have I called unto thee O Lord Lord hear my voice O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint If thou Lord wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss O Lord who may abide it But there is mercy with thee therefore shalt thou be feared Set a watch O Lord before my mouth and keep the door of my lips Take from me the way of lying and cause thou me to make much of thy law The Lord is full of compassion and mercy long-suffering and of great goodness He will not alway be chiding neither keepeth he his anger for ever Yea like as a Father pitieth his own children even so is the Lord merciful unto them that fear him For he knoweth whereof we are made he remembreth that we are but dust Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities Glory be to the Father c. The PRAYER O Eternal God whose perfections are infinite whose mercies are glorious whose justice is severe whose eyes are pure whose judgments are wise be pleased to look upon the infirmities of thy servant and consider my weakness My spirit is willing but my flesh is weak I desire to please thee but in my endeavours I fail so often so foolishly so unreasonably that I extreamly displease my self and I have too great reason to fear that thou also art displeased with thy servant O my God I know my duty I resolve to do it I know my dangers I stand upon my guard against them but when they come near I begin to be pleased and delighted in the little images of death and am seised upon by folly even when with greatest severity I decree against it Blessed Jesus pity me and have mercy upon my infirmities II. O Dear God I humbly beg to be relieved by a mighty grace for I bear a body of sin and death about me sin creeps upon me in every thing that I do or suffer When I do well I am apt to be proud when I do amiss I am sometimes too confident sometimes affrighted If I see others do amiss I either neglect them or grow too angry and in the very mortification of my anger I grow angry and peevish My duties are imperfect my repentances little my passions great my fancy trifling The sins of my tongue are infinite and my omissions are infinite and my evil thoughts cannot be numbred and I cannot give an account concerning innumerable portions of my time which were once in my power but were let slip and were partly spent in sin partly thrown away upon trifles and vanity and even of the hasest sins of which in accounts of men I am most innocent I am guilty before thee entertaining those sins in little instances thoughts desires and imaginations which I durst not produce into action and open significations Blessed Jesus pity me and have mercy upon my infirmities III. TEACH me O Lord to walk before thee in righteousness perfecting holiness in the fear of God Give me an obedient will a loving spirit a humble understanding watchfulness over my thoughts deliberation in all my words and actions well tempered passions and a great prudence and a great zeal and a great charity that I may do my duty wisely diligently holily O let me be humbled in my infirmities but let me be also safe from my enemies let me never fall by their violence nor by my own weakness let me never be overcome by them nor yet give my self up to folly and weak principles to idleness and secure careless walking but give me the strengths of thy Spirit that I may grow strong upon the ruines of the flesh growing from grace to grace till I become a perfect man in Christ Jesus O let thy strength be seen in my weakness and let thy mercy triumph over my infirmities pitying the condition of my nature the infancy of grace the imperfection of my knowledge the transportations of my passion Let me never consent to sin but for ever strive against it and every day prevail till it be quite dead in me that thy servant living the life of grace may at last be admitted to that state of glory where all my infirmities shall be done away and all tears be dried up and sin and death shall be no more Grant this O most gracious God and Father for Jesus Christ his sake Amen Our Father c. CHAP. IV. Of Actual single Sins and what Repentance is proper to them SECT I. 1. THE
endeavour it but a studying how to circumvent him and an habitual design of getting advantage upon his weakness a watching him where he is most easie and apt for impression and then striking him upon the unarm'd part But this is brought to effect by DECEIT 7. Cùm aliud simulatur aliud agitur alterius decipiendi causâ said Vlpian and Aquilius that is all dissembling to the prejudice of thy Neighbour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any thing designed to thy Neighbours disadvantage by simulation or dissimulation VNCLEANNESS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 8. Stinking So the Syriack Interpreter renders it and it means obscene actions But it signifies all manner of excess or immoderation and so may signifie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prodigal or lavish expences and immoderate use of permitted pleasures even the excess of liberty in the use of the Marriage-bed For the Ancients use the word not only for unchaste but for great and excessive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are exceeding fat and a Goat with great horns is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is luxuria or the excess of desire in the matter of pleasures Every excess is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is intemperance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a special kind of crime under this It means all voluntary pollutions of the body or WANTONNESS 9. That is all tempting foolish gestures such which Juvenal reproves Cheironomon Ledam molli seltante Bathyllo which being presented in the Theatre would make the Vestal wanton Every thing by which a man or woman is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abominable in their lusts to which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the lusts not to be named are reducible amongst which S. Paul reckons the effeminate and abusers of themselves with mankind that is they that do and they that suffer such things Philoctetes and Paris Caesar and the King of Pontus Mollities or softness is the name by which this vice is known and the persons guilty of it are also called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The abominable HATRED 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great but transient angers The cause and the degree and the abode makes the anger Criminal By these two words are forbidden all violent passion fury revengefulness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The enemy and the avenger says David But not this only but the misliking and hating of a man though without actual designs of hurting him is here noted that is when men retain the displeasure and refuse to converse or have any thing to do with the man though there be from him no danger of damage the former experiment being warning enough The forbearing to salute him to be kind or civil to him and every degree of anger that is kept is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a part of Enmity or Hatred To this are reduc'd the Vnmerciful that is such as use their right in extream severity towards Servants and Malefactors Criminal or obnoxious persons and the Implacable that is a degree beyond such who being once offended will take no satisfaction but the utmost and extremest forfeiture DEBATE CONTENTIONS 11. That is all striving in words or actions scolding and quarrels in which as commonly both parties are faulty when they enter so it is certain they cannot go forth from them without having contracted the guilt of more than one sin whither is reduced clamour or loud expressions of anger Clamour is the horse of anger said S. Chrysostom anger rides upon it throw the horse down and the rider will fall to the ground Blasphemy backbiting we read it but the Greek signifies all words that are injurious to God or Man WHISPERERS 12. That is such who are apt to do shrewd turns in private a speaking evil of our Neighbour in a mans ear Hic nigrae succus loliginis haec est Aerugo mera this is an arrow that flieth in the dark it wounds secretly and no man can be warned of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 backbiters it is the same mischief but it speaks out a little more than the other and it denotes such who pretend friendship and society but yet traduce their friend or accuse him secretly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Polybius calls it a new way of accusation to undermine a man by praising him that you seeming his friend a lover of his vertue and his person by praising him may be the more easily believed in reporting his faults like him in Horace who was glad to hear any good of his old friend Capitolinus whom he knew so well who had so kindly obliged him Sed tamen admiror quo pacto Judicium illud Fugerit but yet I wonder that he escaped the Judges Sentence in his Criminal cause There is a louder kind of this evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Railers that 's when the smoke is turned into a flame and breaks out it is the same iniquity with another circumstance it is the vice of women and boys and rich imperious fools and hard rude Masters to their Servants and it does too often infect the spirit and language of a Governour Our Bibles read this word by Despiteful that notes an aptness to speak spiteful words cross and untoward such which we know will do mischief or displease FOOLISHNESS 13. Which we understand by the words of S. Paul Be not foolish but understanding what the will of the Lord is It means a neglect of enquiring into holy things a wilful or careless ignorance of the best things a not studying our Religion which indeed is the greatest folly and sottishness it being a neglecting of our greatest interests and of the most excellent notices and it is the fountain of many impure emanations A Christian must not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he must not call fool nor be a fool Heady is reduc'd to this and signifies rash and indiscreet in assenting and dissenting people that speak and do foolishly because they speak and do without deliberation PRIDE 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a despising of others if compared with our selves so Theophrastus calls it Concerning which we are to judge our selves by the voices of others and by the consequent actions observable in our selves any thing whereby we overvalue our selves or despise others preferring our selves or depressing them in unequal places or usages is the signification of this vice which no man does heartily think himself guilty of but he that is not that is the humble man A particular of this sin is that which is in particular noted by the Apostle under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arrogance or bragging which includes pride and hypocrisie together for so Plato defines it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a pretending to excellencies which we have not a desiring to seem good but a carelesness of being so reputation and fame not goodness being the design To this may be referred Emulations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so the Apostle calls them zeals it signifies immoderate love to a lawful
MOST glorious God I tremble to come into thy presence so polluted and dishonoured as I am by my soul stain of sin which I have contracted but I must come or I perish O my God I cannot help it now Miserable man that I am to reduce my self to so sad a state of things that I neither am worthy to come unto thee nor dare I stay from thee Miserable man that I am who lost that portion of innocence which if I should pay my life in price I cannot now recover O dear God I have offended thee my gracious Father my Lord my Patron my Judge my Advocate and my Redeemer Shame and sorrow is upon me for so offending thee my gracious Saviour But glory be to thee O Lord who art such to me who have offended thee It aggravates my sin that I have sinned against thee who art so excellent in thy self who art so good to me But if thou wert not so good to me though my sin would be less yet my misery would be greater The greatness of my Crime brings me to my Remedy and now I humbly pray thee to be merciful to my sin for it is very great II. O MY God pity me and relieve my sad condition which is so extremely evil that I have no comfort but from that which is indeed my misery My baseness is increased by my hopes for it is thy grace and thy goodness which I have so provoked Thou O God didst give me thy grace and assist me by thy holy Spirit and call by thy Word and instruct me by thy Wisdom and didst work in me to will and to do according to thy good pleasure I knew my sin and I saw my danger and I was not ignorant and I was not surpris'd but wilfully knowingly basely and sensually I gave thee away for the pleasure of a minute for the purchase of vanity nay I exchanged thee for shame and sorrow and having justly forfeited thy love am plac'd I know not where nor in what degree of thy anger nor in what neighbourhood of damnation III. O GOD my God what have I done whither am I fallen I was well and blessed circled with thy Graces conducted by thy Spirit sealed up to the day of Redemption in a hopeful way towards thee and now I have listned to the whispers of a tempting Spirit and for that which hath in it no good no reason no satisfaction for that which is not I have forfeited those excellencies for the recovery of which my life is too cheap a price I am ashamed O God I am ashamed I put my mouth in the dust and my face in darkness and hate my self for my sin which I am sure thou hatest But give thy servant leave to hope that I shall feel the gracious effluxes of thy love I know thou art angry with me I have deserved it But if thou hadst not lov'd me and pitied me thou mightest have stricken me in the act of my shame I know the design of thy mercy and loving kindness is to bring me to repentance and pardon to life and grace I obey thee O God I humbly obey thy gracious purposes Receive O Lord a returning sinner a poor wounded person smitten by my enemies broken by my sin weary and heavy laden ease me of my burthen and strengthen me by a mighty grace that hereafter I may watch more carefully resist more pertinaciously walk more circumspectly and serve thee without the interruptions of duty by the intervening of a sin O let me rather die than chuse to sin against thee any more Only try me this once and bear me in thy arms and fortifie my holy purposes and conduct me with thy grace that thou mayest delight to pardon me and to save me through Jesus Christ my Lord and dearest Saviour Amen I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost O seek thy servant for I do not forget thy Commandments CHAP. V. Of Habitual Sins and their manner of Eradication or Cure and their proper Instruments of Pardon SECT I. The State of the Question 1. BOETHVS the Epicurean being ask'd upon occasion of the fame of Strato's Comedy Why it being troublesome to us to see a man furious angry timorous or sad we do yet with so great pleasure behold all these passions acted with the highest nearest and most natural significations In answer to the question discours'd wittily concerning the powers of Art and Reason and how much our selves can add to our own Natures by Art and Study Children chuse bread efform'd in the image of a Bird or Man rather than a Loaf pluck'd rudely from the Bakers lump and a golden Fish rather than an artless Ingot because Reason and Art being mingled with it it entertains more faculties and pleases on more sides 2. Thus we are delighted when upon a Table we see Cleopatra dying with her Aspicks or Lucretia piercing her chaste breast We give great prices for a Picture of S. Sebastian shot through with a shower of arrows or S. Laurence rosting upon his Gridiron when the things themselves would have pierc'd our eyes with horror and rent our very hearts with pity and compassion and the Country fellows were so taken with Parmeno's imitating the noise of Swine that they preferr'd it before that of the Arcadian Boar being so deceiv'd with fancy and prejudice that they thought it more natural than that which indeed was so 3. For first we are naturally pleas'd with imitation and have secret desires to transcribe the copy of the Creation and then having weakly imitated the work of God in making some kind of production from our own perfections such as it is and such as they are we are delighted in the imagery as God is in the contemplation of the world For we see a nature brought in upon us by art and imitation But what in natural things we can but weakly imitate in moral things we can really effect We can efform our nature over anew and create our selves again and make our selves bad when God had made us good and what was innocent in nature we make to be vicious by custom and evil habit or on the contrary what was crooked in nature we can make straight by Philosophy and wise notices and severe customs and there is nothing in nature so imperfect or vicious but it can be made useful and regular by reason and custom and the grace of God and even our brute parts are obedient to these Homer observes it of the wise Vlysses that though he was troubled to see his wife weep for him yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He held the corners of his eyes as firmly as the horn of his Bow or the iron of his Spear and by his wit he kept his eyes from running over Reason can make every member of the body obey but Vse can make it obey willingly That can command nature but this can change it That can make it do what it pleases
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
or successors of the injur'd person for in those sins very often the curse descends with the wrong So long as the effect remains and the injury is complained of and the title is still kept on foot so long the son is tied to restitution But even after the possession is setled yet the curse and evil may descend longer than the sin as the smart and the aking remains after the blow is past And therefore even after the successors come to be lawful possessors it may yet be very fit for them to quit the purchase of their fathers sin or else they must resolve to pay the sad and severe rent-charge of a curse 98. VI. In such cases in which there cannot be a real let there be a verbal and publick disavowing their fathers sin which was publick scandalous and notorious We find this thing done by Andronicus Palaeologus the Greek Emperor who was the son of a bad Father and it is to be done when the effect was transient or irremediable 99. VII Sometimes no piety of the children shall quite take off the anger of God from a family or nation as it hapned to Josiah who above all the Princes that were before or after him turned to the Lord. Notwithstanding the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal In such a case as this we are to submit to Gods will and let him exercise his power his dominion and his kingdom as he pleases and expect the returns of our piety in the day of recompences and it may be our posterity shall reap a blessing for our sakes who feel a sorrow and an evil for our fathers sake 100. VIII Let all that have children endeavour to be the beginners and the stock of a new blessing to their family by blessing their children by praying much for them by holy education and a severe piety by rare example and an excellent religion And if there be in the family a great curse and an extraordinary anger gone out against it there must be something extraordinary done in the matter of religion or of charity that the remedy be no less than the evil 101. IX Let not the consideration of the universal sinfulness and corruption of mankind add confidence to thy person and hardness to thy conscience and authority to thy sin but let it awaken thy spirit and stir up thy diligence and endear all the watchfulness in the world for the service of God for there is in it some difficulty and an infinite necessity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Electra in the Tragedy Our nature is very bad in it self but very good to them that use it well Prayers and Meditations THE first Adam bearing a wicked heart transgressed and was overcome and so be all they that are born of him Thus infirmity was made permanent And the law also in the heart of the people with the malignity and root so that the good departed away and the evil abode still Lo this only have I found that God hath made man upright but they have sought many inventions For there is not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Purge me with hysop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me The fool hath said in his heart There is no God they are corrupt they have done abominable works there is none that doth good The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek after God They are all gone aside they are all become filthy There is not one that doth good no not one O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people Jacob shall rejoyce and Israel shall be glad Man dieth and wasteth away yea man giveth up the ghost and where is he For now thou numbrest my steps Dost thou not watch over my sin my transgression is seal'd up in a bag and thou sewest up iniquity Thou destroyest the hope of man Thou prevailest against him for ever and he passeth thou changest his countenance and sendest him away But his flesh upon him shall have pain and his soul within him shall mourn What is man that he should be clean and he that is born of a woman that he should be righteous Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints yea the Heavens are not clean in his sight How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid They shall prevail against him as a King ready to battel For he stretcheth out his hand against God and strengthneth himself against the Almighty Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompence Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean thing no not one I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin and defiled my horn in the dust My face is foul with weeping and on my eye-lids is the shadow of death Not for any injustice in my hand also my prayer is pure Wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God I am delivered through Jesus Christ our Lord. But now being made free from sin and become servants of God ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life For the wages of sin is death But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law but under grace The PRAYER O Almighty God great Father of Men and Angels thou art the preserver of men and the great lover of souls thou didst make every thing perfect in its kind and all that thou didst make was very good only we miserable creatures sons of Adam have suffered the falling Angels to infect us with their leprosie of pride and so we entred into their evil portion having corrupted our way before thee and are covered with thy rod and dwell in a cloud of thy displeasure behold me the meanest of thy servants humbled before thee sensible of my sad condition weak and miserable sinful and ignorant full of need wanting thee in all things and neither able to escape death without a Saviour nor to live a life of holiness without thy Spirit O be pleas'd to give me a portion in the new birth break off the bands and fetters of my sin cure my evil inclinations correct my indispositions and natural averseness
from the severities of Religion let me live by the measures of thy law not by the evil example and disguises of the world Renew a right spirit within me and cast me not away from thy presence lest I should retire to the works of darkness and enter into those horrible regions where the light of thy countenance never shineth II. I AM ashamed O Lord I am ashamed that I have dishonoured so excellent a Creation Thou didst make us upright and create us in innocence And when thou didst see us unable to stand in thy sight and that we could never endure to be judged by the Covenant of works thou didst renew thy mercies to us in the new Covenant of Jesus Christ and now we have no excuse nothing to plead for our selves much less against thee but thou art holy and pure and just and merciful Make me to be like thee holy as thou art holy merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful obedient as our holy Saviour Jesus meek and charitable temperate and chaste humble and patient according to that holy example that my sins may be pardoned by his death and my spirit renewed by his Spirit that passing from sin to grace from ignorance to the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ I may pass from death to life from sorrow to joy from Earth to Heaven from the present state of misery and imperfection to the glorious inheritance prepar'd for the Saints and Sons of light the children of the new birth the brethren of our Lord and Brother our Judge and our Advocate our Blessed Saviour and Redeemer JESVS Amen A Prayer to be said by a Matron in behalf of her Husband and Family that a blessing may descend upon their posterity I. O Eternal God our most merciful Lord and gracious Father thou art my guide the light of mine eyes the joy of my heart the author of my hope and the object of my love and worshippings thou relievest all my needs and determin'st all my doubts and art an eternal fountain of blessing open and running over to all thirsty and weary souls that come and cry to thee for mercy and refreshment Have mercy upon thy servant and relieve my fears and sorrows and the great necessities of my family for thou alone O Lord canst do it II. FIT and adorn every one of us with a holy and a religious spirit and give a double portion to thy servant my dear Husband Give him a wise heart a prudent severe and indulgent care over the children which thou hast given us His heart is in thy hand and the events of all things are in thy disposition Make it a great part of his care to promote the spiritual and eternal interest of his children and not to neglect their temporal relations and necessities but to provide states of life for them in which with fair advantages they may live chearfully serve thee diligently promote the interest of the Christian family in all their capacities that they may be always blessed and always innocent devout and pious and may be graciously accepted by thee to pardon and grace and glory through Jesus Christ. Amen III. BLESS O Lord my Sons with excellent understandings love of holy and noble things sweet dispositions innocent deportment diligent souls chaste healthful and temperate bodies holy and religious spirits that they may live to thy glory and be useful in their capacities to the servants of God and all their neighbours and the Relatives of their conversation Bless my Daughters with a humble and a modest carriage and excellent meekness a great love of holy things a severe chastity a constant holy and passionate Religion O my God never suffer them to fall into folly and the sad effects of a wanton loose and indiscreet spirit possess their fancies with holy affections be thou the covering of their eyes and the great object of their hopes and all their desires Blessed Lord thou disposest all things sweetly by thy providence thou guidest them excellently by thy wisdom thou unitest all circumstances and changes wonderfully by thy power and by thy power makest all things work for the good of thy servants Be pleased so to dispose my Daughters that if thou shouldest call them to the state of a married life they may not dishonour their Family nor grieve their Parents nor displease thee but that thou wilt so dispose of their persons and the accidents and circumstances of that state that it may be a state of holiness to the Lord and blessing to thy servants And until thy wisdom shall know it fit to bring things so to pass let them live with all purity spending their time religiously and usefully O most blessed Lord enable their dear father with proportionable abilities and opportunities of doing his duty and charities towards them and them with great obedience and duty toward him and all of us with a love toward thee above all things in the world that our portion may be in love and in thy blessings through Jesus Christ our dearest Lord and most gracious Redeemer IV. O MY God pardon thy servant pity my infirmities hear the passionate desires of thy humble servant in thee alone is my trust my heart and all my wishes are towards thee Thou hast commanded me to pray to thee in all needs thou hast made gracious promises to hear and accept me and I will never leave importuning thy glorious Majesty humbly passionately confidently till thou hast heard and accepted the prayer of thy servant Amen dearest Lord for thy mercy sake hear thy servant Amen TO The Right Reverend Father in God JOHN WARNER D.D. and late Lord Bishop of Rochester MY LORD I NOW see cause to wish that I had given to your Lordship the trouble of reading my papers of Original Sin before their publication for though I have said all that which I found material in the Question yet I perceive that it had been fitting I had spoken some things less material so to prevent the apprehensions that some have of this doctrine that it is of a sence differing from the usual expressions of the Church of England However my Lord since your Lordship is pleased to be careful not only of truth and Gods glory but desirous also that even all of us should speak the same thing and understand each other without Jealousies or severer censures I have now obeyed your Counsel and done all my part towards the asserting the truth and securing charity and unity Professing with all truth and ingenuity that I would rather die than either willingly give occasion or countenance to a Schism in the Church of England and I would suffer much evil before I would displease my dear Brethren in the service of Jesus and in the ministeries of the Church But as I have not given just cause of offence to any so I pray that they may not be offended unjustly lest the fault lie on them whose persons I so much love
and whose eternal interest I do so much desire may be secured and advanced Now my Lord I had thought I had been secured in the Article not only for the truth of the Doctrine but for the advantages and comforts it brings I was confident they would not because there was no cause any men should be angry at it For it is strange to me that any man should desire to believe God to be more severe and less gentle That men should be greedy to find out inevitable ways of being damned that they should be unwilling to have the vail drawn away from the face of Gods goodness and that they should desire to see an angry countenance and be displeased at the glad tidings of the Gospel of peace It is strange to me that men should desire to believe that their pretty Babes which are strangled at the gates of the womb or die before Baptism should for ought they know die eternally and be damned and that themselves should consent to it and to them that invent Reasons to make it seem just They might have had not only pretences but reasons to be troubled if I had represented God to be so great a hater of Mankind as to damn millions of millions for that which they could not help or if I had taught that their infants might by chance have gone to Hell and as soon as ever they came for life descend to an eternal death If I had told them evil things of God and hard measures and evil portions to their children they might have complained but to complain because I say God is just to all and merciful and just to infants to fret and be peevish because I tell them that nothing but good things are to be expected from our good God is a thing that may well be wondred at My Lord I take a great comfort in this that my doctrine stands on that side where Gods justice and goodness and mercy stand apparently and they that speak otherwise in this Article are forced by convulsions and violences to draw their doctrine to comply with Gods justice and the reputation of his most glorious Attributes And after great and laborious devices they must needs do it pitifully and jejunely but I will prejudice no mans opinion I only will defend my own because in so doing I have the honour to be an advocate for God who will defend and accept me in the simplicity and innocency of my purposes and the profession of his truth Now my Lord I find that some believe this doctrine ought not now to have been published Others think it not true The first are the wise and few the others are the many who have been taught otherwise and either have not leisure or abilities to make right judgments in the question Concerning the first I have given what accounts I could to that excellent man the Lord Bishop of Sarum who out of his great piety and prudence and his great kindness to me was pleased to call for accounts of me Concerning the other your Lordship in great humility and in great tenderness to those who are not perswaded of the truth of this doctrine hath called upon me to give all those just measures of satisfaction which I could be obliged to by the interest of any Christian vertue In obedience to this pious care and prudent counsel of your Lordship I have published these ensuing Papers hoping that God will bless them to the purposes whither they are designed however I have done all that I could and all that I am commanded and all that I was counselled to And as I submit all to Gods blessing and the events of his providence and Oeconomy so my doctrine I humbly submit to my holy Mother the Church of England and rejoyce in any circumstances by which I can testifie my duty to her and my obedience to your Lordship CHAP. VII A further EXPLICATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF Original Sin SECT I. Of the Fall of Adam and the Effects of it upon Him and Vs. IT was well said of S. Augustine in this thing though he said many others in it less certain Nihil est peccato Originali ad praedicandum noâ—ius nihil ad intelligendum secretius The article we all confess but the manner of explicating it is not an apple of knowledge but of contention Having therefore turned to all the ways of Reason and Scripture I at last apply my self to examine how it was affirmed by the first and best Antiquity For the Doctrine of Original sin as I have explicated it is taxed of Singularity and Novelty and though these words are very freely bestowed upon any thing we have not learned or consented to and that we take false measures of these Appellatives reckoning that new that is but renewed and that singular that is not taught vulgarly or in our own Societies Yet I shall easily quit the proposition from these charges and though I do confess and complain of it that the usual affirmations of Original sin are a popular error yet I will make it appear that it is no Catholick doctrine that it prevailed by prejudice and accidental authorities but after such prevailing it was accused and reproved by the Greatest and most Judicious persons of Christendom And first that judgment may the better be given of the Allegations I shall bring from authority I shall explicate and state the Question that there may be no impertinent allegations of Antiquity for both sides nor clamours against the persons interested in either perswasion nor any offence taken by error and misprision It is not therefore intended nor affirmed that there is no such thing as Original sin for it is certain and affirmed by all Antiquity upon many grounds of Scripture That Adam sinned and his sin was Personally his but Derivatively ours that is it did great hurt to us to our bodies directly to our souls indirectly and accidentally 2. For Adam was made a living soul the great representative of Mankind and the beginner of a temporal happy life and to that purpose he was put in a place of temporal happiness where he was to have lived as long as he obeyed God so far as he knew nothing else being promised to him or implied but when he sinned he was thrown from thence and spoiled of all those advantages by which he was enabled to live and be happy This we find in the story the reasonableness of the parts of which teaches us all this doctrine To which if we add the words of S. Paul the case is clear The first Adam was made a living soul The last Adam was made a quickning Spirit Howbeit that is not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterwards that which is spiritual The first man is of the earth earthly the second man is the Lord from Heaven As is the earthly such are they that are earthly and as is the Heavenly such are they also that are Heavenly and as we have born
all the Sermons which were made by those whom God sent with his word in their mouths that they should live innocently or when they had sinned they should repent and be sav'd from their calamity 4. But when Christ came into the world he open'd the fountains of mercy and broke down all the banks of restraint he preach'd Repentance offer'd health gave life call'd all wearied and burthen'd persons to come to him for ease and remedy he glorified his Fathers mercies and himself became the great instrument and channel of its emanation He preach'd and commanded mercy by the example of God he made his Religion that he taught to be wholly made up of doing and receiving good this by Faith that by Charity He commanded an indefinite and unlimited forgiveness of our brother repenting after injuries done to us seventy times seven times and though there could be little question of that yet he was pleased to signifie to us that as we needed more so we should have and find more mercy at the hands of God And therefore he hath appointed a whole order of men whom he maintains at his own charges and furnishes with especial commissions and endues with a lasting power and imploys on his own errand and instructs with his own Spirit whose business is to remit and retain to exhort and to restore sinners by the means of Repentance and the word of their proper Ministery Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted that 's their Authority and their Office is to pray all men in Christs stead to be reconciled to God And after all this Christ himself labours to bring it to effect not only assisting his Ministers with the gifts of an excellent Spirit and exacting of them the account of Souls but that it may be prosperous and effectual himself intercedes in Heaven before the Throne of Grace doing for sinners the office of an Advocate and a Reconciler If any man sins we have an Advocate with the Father and he is the propitiation for all our sins and for the sins of the whole world and therefore it is not only the matter of our hopes but an Article of our Creed that we may have forgiveness of our sins by the blood of Jesus Qui nullum excepit in Christo donavit omnia God hath excepted none and therefore in Christ pardons all 5. For there is not in Scripture any Catalogue of sins set down for which Christ died and others excluded from that state of mercy All that believe and repent shall be pardon'd if they go and sin no more Deus distinctionem non facit qui misericordiam suam promisit omnibus relaxandi licentiam sacerdotibus suis sine ullâ exceptione concessit said S. Ambrose God excepts none but hath given power to his Ministers to release all absolutely all And S. Bernard argues this Article upon the account of those excellent examples which the Spirit of God hath consign'd to us in holy Scripture If Peter after so great a fall did arrive to such an eminence of sanctity hereafter who shall despair provided that he will depart from his sins For that God is ready to forgive the greatest Criminals if they repent appears in the instances of Ahab and Manasses of Mary Magdalen and S. Paul of the Thief on the Cross and the deprehended Adulteress and of the Jews themselves who after they had crucified the Lord of life were by messengers of his own invited passionately invited to repent and be purified with that blood which they had sacrilegiously and impiously spilt But concerning this who please may read S. Austin discoursing upon those words Mittet Crystallum suum sicut buccellas which saith he mystically represent the readiness of God to break and make contrite even the hearts of them that have been hardened in impiety Quo loco consistent poenitentiam agentes ibi justi non poterunt stare said the Doctors of the Jews The just and innocent persons shall not be able to stand in the same place where the penitent shall be Pacem pacem remoto propinquo ait Dominus ut sanem eum Peace to him that is afar off and to him that is near saith the Lord that I may heal him Praeponit remotum That 's their observations He that is afar off is set before the other that is he that is at great distance from God as if God did use the greater earnestness to reduce him Upon which place their gloss adds Magna est virtus eorum qui poenitentiam agunt ita ut nulla Creatura in septo illorum consistere queat So great is the vertue of them that are true penitents that no creature can stand within their inclosure And all this is far better expressed by those excellen◠words of our blessed Saviour There is joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety nine just persons that need no repentance 6. I have been the longer in establishing and declaring the proper foundation of this Article upon which every one can declaim but every one cannot believe it in the day of temptation because I guess what an intolerable evil it is to despair of pardon by having felt the trouble of some very great fears And this were the less necessary but that it is too commonly true that they who repent least are most confident of their pardon or rather least consider any reasons against their security but when a man truly apprehends the vileness of his sin he ought also to consider the state of his danger which is wholly upon the stock of what is past that is his danger is this that he knows not when or whether or upon what terms God will pardon him in particular But of this I shall have a more apt occasion to speak in the following periods For the present the Article in general is established upon the testimonies of the greatest certainty SECT II. Of Pardon of Sins committed after Baptism 7. BUT it may be our easiness of life and want of discipline and our desires to reconcile our pleasures and temporal satisfactions with the hopes of Heaven hath made us apt to swallow all that seems to favour our hopes But it is certain that some Christian Doctors have taught the Doctrine of Repentance with greater severity than is intimated in the premises For all the examples of pardon consign'd to us in the Old Testament are nothing to us who live under the New and are to be judged by other measures And as for those instances which are recorded in the New Testament and all the promises and affirmations of pardon they are sufficiently verified in that pardon of sins which is first given to us in Baptism and at our first Conversion to Christianity Thus when S. Stephen prayed for his persecutors and our blessed Lord himself on his uneasie death-bed of the Cross prayed for them that Crucified him it can only prove that these great sins are pardonable
gone that they would not return and God did not and at last would not pardon them For this appellative is not properly subjected nor attributed to the sin it self but it is according as the man is The sin may be and is at some time unpardonable yet not in all its measures and parts of progression as appears in the case of Pharaoh who all the way from the first miracle to the tenth sinn'd against the Holy Ghost but at last he was so bad that God would not pardon him Some men are come to the greatness of the sin or to that state and grandeur of impiety that their estate is desperate that is though the nature of their sins is such as God is extremely angry with them and would destroy them utterly were he not restrain'd by an infinite mercy yet it shall not be thus for ever for in some state of circumstances and degrees God is finally angry with the man and will never return to him 49. Until things be come to this height whatsoever the sin be it is pardonable For if there were any one sin distinguishable in its whole nature and instance from others which in every of its periods were unpardonable it is most certain it would have been described in Scripture with clear characters and cautions that a man might know when he is in and when he is out Speaking a word against the Holy Spirit is by our blessed Saviour called this great sin but it is certain that every word spoken against him is not unpardonable Simon Magus spoke a foul word against him but S. Peter did not say it was unpardonable but when he bid him pray he consequently bid him hope but because he would not warrant him that is durst not absolve him he sufficiently declared that this sin is of an indefinite nature and by growth would arrive at the unpardonable state the state and fulness of it is unpardonable that is God will to some men and in some times and stages of their evil life be so angry that he will give them over and leave them in their reprobate mind But no man knows when that time is God only knows and the event must declare it 50. But for the thing it self that it is pardonable is very certain because it may be pardoned in baptism The Novatians denied not to baptism a power of pardoning any sin and in this sence it is without doubt true what Zosimus by way of reproach objected to Christian Religion it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a deletery and purgative for every sin whatsoever And since the unconverted Pharisees were guilty of this sin and it was a sin forbidden and punished capitally in the law of Moses either to these Christ could not have been preached and for them Christ did not die or else it is certain that the sin against the holy Spirit of God is pardonable 51. Now whereas our Blessed Lord affirmed of this sin it shall not be pardoned in this world nor in the world to come we may best understand the meaning of it by the parallel words of old Heli to his sons If a man sin against another the Judge shall judge him placari ei potest Deus so the Vulgar Latin reads it God may be appeased that is it shall be forgiven him that is a word spoken against the Son of man which relates to Christ only upon the account of his humane nature that may be forgiven him it shall that is upon easier terms as upon a temporal judgment called in this place a being judged by the Judge But if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreat for him that is if he sin with a high hand presumptuously against the Lord against his power and his Spirit who shall intreat for him it shall never be pardoned never so as the other never upon a temporal judgment that cannot expiate this great sin as it could take off a sin against a man or the Son of man for though it be punished here it shall be punished hereafter But 52. II. It shall not be pardoned in this world nor in the world to come that is neither to the Jews nor to the Gentiles For Saeculum hoc this World in Scripture is the period of the Jews Synagogue and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the world to come is taken for the Gospel or the age of the Messias frequently among the Jews and it is not unlikely Christ might mean it in that sence which was used amongst them by whom he would be understood But because the word was also as commonly used in that sence in which it is understood at this day viz. for the world after this life I shall therefore propound another exposition which seems to me more probable Though remission of sins is more plentiful in the Gospel than under the Law yet because the sin is bigger under the Gospel there is not here any ordinary way of pardoning it no Ministery established to warrant or absolve such sinners but it must be referred to God himself and yet that 's not all For if a man perseveres in this sin he shall neither be forgiven here nor hereafter that is neither can he be absolved in this world by the ministery of the Church nor in the world to come by the sentence of Christ and this I take to be the full meaning of this so difficult place 53. For in this world properly so speaking there is no forgiveness of sins but what is by the ministery of the Church For then a sin is forgiven when it is pardon'd in the day of sentence or execution that is when those evils are removed which are usually inflicted or which are proper to that day Now then for the final punishment that is not till the day of judgment and if God then gives us a mercy in that day then is the day of our pardon from him In the mean time if he be gracious to us here he either forbears to smite us or smites us to bring us to repentance and all the way continues to us the use of the Word and Sacraments that is if he does in any sence pardon us here if he does not give us over to a reprobate mind he continues us under the means of salvation which is the ministery of the Church for that 's the way of pardon in this World as the blessed sentence of the right hand is the way of pardon in the World to come So that when our great Lord and Master threatens to this sin it shall not be pardon'd in this World nor in the World to come he means that neither shall the Ministers of the Church pronounce his pardon or comfort his sorrows or restore him after his fall or warrant his condition or pray for him publickly or give him the peace and communion of the Church neither will God pardon him in the day of Judgment 54. But all this fearful denunciation of the Divine judgment is only upon
reason is not because their sin is in all its periods of an unpardonable nature but because they have persisted in it too long and God in the secret Oeconomy of his mercies hath shut the everlasting doors the olive doors of mercy shall not be open'd to them And this is the case of too many miserable persons They who repent timely and holily are not in this number whatsoever sins they be which they have committed But this is the case of them whom God hath given over to a reprobate mind and of them who sin against Gods holy Spirit when their sin is grown to its full measure So we find it express'd in the Proverbs Turn ye at my reproof I will pour out my Spirit unto you and then it follows Because I have called and ye refused I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh But this is not in all the periods of our refusing to hear God calling by his Spirit but when the sin of the Amalekites is full then it is unpardonable not in the thing but to that man at that time And besides all the promises this is highly verified in the words of our blessed Saviour taken out of the Prophet Isaiah where it is affirmed that when people are so obstinate and wilfully blind that God then leaves to give them clearer testimony and a mighty grace lest they should hear and see and understand it follows and should be converted and I should heal them plainly telling us that if even then they should repent God could not but forgive them and therefore because he hath now no love left to them by reason of their former obstinacy yet where ever you can suppose Repentance there you may more than suppose a pardon But if a man cannot or will not repent then it is another consideration In the mean time nothing hinders but that every sin is pardonable to him that repents 60. But thus we find that the style of Scripture and the expressions of holy persons is otherwise in the threatning and the edict otherwise in the accidents of persons and practice It is necessary that it be severe when duty is demanded but of lapsed persons it uses not to be exacted in the same dialect It is as all laws are In the general they are decretory in the use and application they are easier In the Sanction they are absolute and infinite but yet capable of interpretations of dispensations and relaxation in particular cases And so it is in the present Article Impossible and Vnpardonable and Damnation and shall be cut off and nothing remains but fearful expectation of judgment are exterminating words and phrases in the law but they do not effect all that they there signifie to any but the impenitent according to the saying of Mark the Hermite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No man is ever justified but he that carefully repents and no man is condemned but he that despises repentance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said S. Basil. The eye of God who is so great a lover of souls cannot deny the intercessions and Litanies of Repentance SECT VI. The former Doctrines reduc'd to Practice 61. I. ALthough the doors of Repentance open to them that sin after Baptism and to them that sin after Repentance yet every relapse does increase the danger and make the sin to be less pardonable than before For 62. I. A good man falling into sin does it without all necessity he hath assistances great enough to make him conqueror he hath reason enough to disswade him he hath sharp senses of the filthiness of sin his spirit is tender and is crush'd with the uneasi◠load he sighs and wakes and is troubled and distracted and if he sins he sins with pain and shame and smart and the less of mistake there is in his case the more of malice is ingredient and a greater anger is like to be his portion 63. II. It is a particular unthankfulness when a man that was once pardon'd shall relapse And when obliged persons prove enemies they are ever the most malicious as having nothing to protect or cover their shame but impudence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So did the Greeks treat Agamemnon ill because he used them but too well Such persons are like Travellers who in a storm running to a fig-tree when the storm is over they beat the branches and pluck the fruit and having run to an Altar for sanctuary they steal the Chalice from the holy place and rob the Temple that secur'd them And God does more resent it that the Lambs which he feeds at his own table which are as so many sons and daughters to him that daily suck plenty from his two breasts of Mercy and Providence that they should in his own house make a mutiny and put on the fierceness of Wolves and rise up against their Lord and Shepherd 64. III. Every relapse after repentance is directly and in its proper principle a greater sin Our first faults are pitiable and we do pati humanum we do after the manner of men but when we are recovered and then die again we do facere Diabolicum we do after the manner of Devils For from ignorance to sin from passion and youthful appetites to sin from violent temptations and little strengths to fall into sin is no very great change it is from a corrupted nature to corrupted manners But from grace to return to sin from knowledge and experience and delight in goodness and wise notices from God and his Christ to return to sin to foolish actions and non-sence principles is a change great as was the fall of the morning stars when they descended cheaply and foolishly into darkness Well therefore may it be pitied in a child to chuse a bright dagger before a warm coat but when he hath been refreshed by this and smarted by that if he chuses again he will chuse better But men that have tried both states that have rejoyced for their deliverance from temptation men that have given thanks to God for their safety and innocence men that have been wearied and ashamed of the follies of sin that have weighed both sides and have given wise sentence for God and for religion if they shall chuse again and chuse amiss it must be by something by which Lucifer did in the face of God chuse to defie him and desire to turn Devil and be miserable and wicked for ever and ever 65. IV. If a man repents of his repentances and returns to his sins all his intermedial repentance shall stand for nothing the sins which were marked for pardon shall break out in guilt and be exacted of him in fearful punishments as if he never had repented For if good works crucified by sins are made alive by repentance by the same reason those sins also will live again if the repentance dies it being equally just that if the man repents of his repentance God also should repent of his pardon
it would improve thy diligence then what thou wouldest do in case thou didst know do that now thou dost not know and whatever thy notice or perswasion be the thing in it self will be more secure and thou shalt find it in the end But if any mad is curious of the event and would fain know of the event of his soul let him reveal the state of his soul to a godly and a prudent Spiritual Guide and he when he hath search'd diligently and observ'd him curiously can tell him all that is to be told and give him all the assurance that is to be given and warrant him as much as himself hath receiv'd a warrant to do it Unless God be pleased to draw the Curtains of his Sanctuary and open the secrets of his eternal Counsel there is no other certainty of an actual pardon but what the Church does minister and what can be prudently derived from our selves For to every such curious person this only is to be said Do you believe the promises That if we confess our sins and forsake them if we believe and obey we shall be pardoned and saved If so then enquire whether or no thou dost perform the conditions of thy pardon How shall I know Examine thy self try thy own spirit and use the help of a holy and a wise guide He will teach thee to know thy self If after all this thou answerest that thou canst not tell whether thy heart be right and thy duty acceptable then sit down and hope the best and work in as much light and hope as thou hast but never enquire after the secret of God when thou dost not so much as know thy self and how canst thou hope to espy the most private Counsels of Heaven when thou canst not certainly perceive what is in thy own hand and heart But if thou canst know thy self you need not enquire any further If thy duty be performed you may be secure of all that is on Gods part 70. V. When ever repentance begins know that from thence-forward the sinner begins to live but then never let that repentance die Do not at any time say I have repented of such a sin and am at peace for that for a man ought never to be at peace with sin nor think that any thing we can do is too much Our repentance for sin is never to be at an end till faith it self shall be no more for Faith and Repentance are but the same Covenant and so long as the just does live by faith in the Son of God so long he lives by repentance for by that faith in him our sins are pardoned that is by becoming his Disciples we enter into the Covenant of Repentance And he undervalues his sin and overvalues his sorrow who at any time fears he shall do too much or make his pardon too secure and therefore sets him down and says Now I have repented 71. VI. Let no man ever say he hath committed the sin against the Holy Ghost or the unpardonable sin for there are but few that do that and he can best confute himself if he can but tell that he is sorrowful for it and begs for pardon and hopes for it and desires to make amends this man hath already obtained some degrees of pardon and S. Paul's argument in this case also is a demonstration If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life That is if God to enemies gives the first grace much more will he give the second if they make use of the first For from none to a little is an infinite distance but from a little to a great deal is not so much And therefore since God hath given us means of pardon and the grace of Repentance we may certainly expect the fruit of pardon for it is a greater thing to give repentance to a sinner than to give pardon to the penitent Whoever repents hath not committed the great sin the Unpardonable For it is long of the man not of the sin that any sin is unpardonable 72. VII Let every man be careful of entring into any great states of sin lest he be unawares guilty of the great offence Every resisting of a holy motion calling us from sin every act against a clear reason or revelation every confident progression in sin every resolution to commit a sin in despite of conscience is an access towards the great sin or state of evil Therefore concerning such a man let others fear since he will not and save him with fear plucking him out of the fire but when he begins to return that great fear is over in many degrees for even in Moses's law there were expiations appointed not only for error but for presumptuous sins The PRAYER I. O Eternal God gracious and merciful I adore the immensity and deepest abysse of thy Mercy and Wisdom that thou dost pity our infirmities instruct our ignorances pass by thousands of our follies invitest us to repentance and dost offer pardon because we are miserable and because we need it and because thou art good and delightest in shewing mercy Blessed be thy holy Name and blessed be that infinite Mercy which issues forth from the fountains of our Saviour to refresh our weariness and to water our stony hearts and to cleanse our polluted souls O cause that these thy mercies may not run in vain but may redeem my lost soul and recover thy own inheritance and sanctifie thy portion the heart of thy servant and all my faculties II. BLessed Jesus thou becamest a little lower than the Angels but thou didst make us greater doing that for us which thou didst not do for them Thou didst not pay for them one drop of blood nor endure one stripe to recover the fallen stars nor give one groan to snatch the accursed spirits from their fearful prisons but thou didst empty all thy veins for me and gavest thy heart to redeem me from innumerable sins and an intolerable calamity O my God let all this heap of excellencies and glorious mercies be effective upon thy servant and work in me a sorrow for my sins and a perfect hatred of them a watchfulness against temptations severe and holy resolutions active and effective of my duty O let me never fall from sin to sin nor persevere in any nor love any thing which thou hatest but give me thy holy Spirit to conduct and rule me for ever and make me obedient to thy good Spirit never to grieve him never to resist him never to quench him Keep me O Lord with thy mighty power from falling into presumptuous sins lest they get the dominion over me so shall I be innocent from the great offence Let me never despair of thy mercies by reason of my sins nor neglect my repentance by reason of thy infinite loving kindness but let thy goodness bring me and all sinners to repentance and thy
to sin and a pursuance of that resolution by abstaining from the occasions by praying for the Divine aid by using the proper remedies for its mortification This is essential to repentance and must be in every man in the highest kind For he that does not hate sin so as rather to chuse to suffer any evil than to do any loves himself more than he loves God because he fears to displease himself rather than to displease him and therefore is not a true penitent 13. But although this be not grief or sorrow properly but hatred yet in hatred there is ever a sorrow if we have done or suffered what we hate and whether it be sorrow or no is but a speculation of Philosophy but no ingredient of duty It is that which will destroy sin and bring us to God and that is the purpose of repentance 14. For it is remarkable that sorrow is indeed an excellent instrument of repentance apt to set forward many of its ministeries and without which men ordinarily will not leave their sins but if the thing be done though wholly upon the discourses of reason upon intuition of the danger upon contemplation of the unworthiness of sin or only upon the principle of hope or fear it matters not which is the beginning of repentance For we find fear reckoned to be the beginning of wisdom that is of repentance of wise and sober counsels by Solomon We find sorrow to be reckoned as the beginning of repentance by S. Paul Godly sorrow worketh repentance not to be repented of So many ways as there are by which God works repentance in those whom he will bring unto salvation to all the kinds of these there are proper apportion'd passions and as in all good things there is pleasure so in all evil there is pain some way or other and therefore to love and hatred or which is all one to â—leasure and displeasure all passions are reducible as all colours are to black and white So that though in all repentances there is not in every person felt that sharpness of sensitive compunction and sorrow that is usual in sad accidents of the world yet if the sorrow be upon the intellectual account though it be not much perceived by inward sharpnesses but chiefly by dereliction and leaving of the sin it is that sorrow which is possible and in our power and that which is necessary to repentance 15. For in all inquiries concerning penitential sorrow if we will avoid scruple and vexatious fancies we must be careful not to account of our sorrow by the measures of sense but of religion David grieved more for the sickness of his child and the rebellion of his son so far as appears in the story and the Prophet Jeremy in behalf of the Jews for the death of their glorious Prince Josiah and S. Paula Romana at the death of her children were more passionate and sensibly afflicted than for their sins against God that is they felt more sensitive trouble in that than this and yet their repentances were not to be reproved because our penitential sorrow is from another cause and seated in other faculties and fixed upon differing objects and works in other manners and hath a divers signification and is fitted to other purposes and therefore is wholly of another nature It is a displeasure against sin which must be expressed by praying against it and fighting against it but all other expressions are extrinsecal to it and accidental and are no parts of it because they cannot be under a command as all the parts and necessary actions of repentance are most certainly 16. Indeed some persons can command their tears so Gellia in the Epigram Si quis adest jussae prosiliunt lachrymae She could cry when company was there to observe her weeping for her Father and so can some Orators and many Hypocrites and there are some that can suppress their tears by art and resolution so Vlysses did when he saw his wife weep he pitied her but Intra palpebras ceu cornu immota tenebat Lumina vel ferrum lachrymas astúque premebat he kept his tears within his eye-lids as if they had been in a phial which he could pour forth or keep shut at his pleasure But although some can do this at pleasure yet all cannot And therefore S. John Climacus speaks of certain penitents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who because they could not weep expressed their Repentance by beating their breasts and yet if all men could weep when they list yet they may weep and not be sorrowful and though they can command tears yet sorrow is no more to be commanded than hunger and therefore is not a part or necessary duty of Repentance when sorrow is taken for a sensitive trouble 17. But yet there is something of this also to be added to our duty If our constitution be such as to be apt to weep and sensitively troubled upon other intellectual apprehensions of differing objects unless also they find the same effect in their Repentances there will be some cause to suspect that their hatred of sin and value of obedience and its rewards are not so great as they ought to be The Masters of spiritual life give this rule Sciat se culpabiliter durum qui deflet damna temporis vel mortem amici dolorem verò pro peccatis lachrymis non ostendit He that weeps for temporal losses and does not in the same manner express his sorrow for his sins is culpably obdurate which proposition though piously intended is not true For tears are emanations of a sensitive trouble or motion of the heart and not properly subject to the understanding and therefore a man may innocently weep for the death of his friend and yet shed no tears when he hath told a lie and still be in that state of sorrow and displeasure that he had rather die himself than chuse to tell another lie Therefore the rule only hath some proportions of probability in the effect of several intellectual apprehensions As he that is apt to weep when he hath done an unhansome action to his friend who yet will never punish him and is not apt to express his sorrow in the same manner when he hath offended God I say he may suspect his sorrow not to be so great or so real but yet abstractedly from this circumstance to weep or not to weep is nothing to the duty of Repentance save only that it is that ordinary sign by which some men express some sort of sorrow And therefore I understand not the meaning of that prayer of S. Austin Domine dagratiam lachrymarum Lord give me the grace of tears for tears are no duty and the greatest sorrow oftentimes is the driest and excepting that there is some sweetness and ease in shedding tears and that they accompany a soft and a contemplative person an easie and a good nature and such as is apt for religious impressions I know no use of them but
to signifie in an apt and a disposed nature what kind of apprehensions and trouble there is within For weeping upon the presence of secular troubles is more ready and easie because it is an effect symbolical and of the same nature with its proper cause But when there is a spiritual cause although its proper effect may be greater and more effective of better purposes yet unless by the intermixture of some material and natural cause it be more apportion'd to a material and natural product it is not to be charged with it or expected from it Sin is a spiritual evil and tears is the sign of a natural or physical sorrow Smart and sickness and labour are natural or physical evils and hatred and nolition is a spiritual or intellectual effect Now as every labour and every smart is not to be hated or rejected but sometimes chosen by the understanding when it is mingled with a good that pleases the understanding and is eligible upon the accounts of reason So neither can every sin which is the intellectual evil be productive of tears or sensitive sorrow unless it be mingled with something which the sense and affections that is which the lower man hates and which will properly afflict him such as are fear or pain or danger or disgrace or loss The sensitive sorrow therefore which is usually seen in new penitents is upon the account of those horrible apprehensions which are declared in holy Scriptures to be the consequent of sins but if we shall so preach Repentance as to warrant a freedom and a perfect escape instantly from all significations of the wrath of God and all dangers for the future upon the past and present account I know not upon what reckoning he that truly leaves his sin can be commanded to be sorrowful and if he were commanded how he can possibly obey 18. But when repentance hath had its growth and progression and is increased into a habit of piety sorrow and sensitive trouble may come in upon another account for great and permanent changes of the mind make great impressions upon the lower man When we love an object intensely our very body receives comfort in the presence of it and there are friendly Spirits which have a natural kindness and cognation to each other and refresh one another passing from eye to eye from friend to friend and the Prophet David felt it in the matter of Religion My flesh and my heart rejoyce in the living Lord. For if a grief of mind is a consumption of the flesh and a chearful spirit is a conservatory of health it is certain that every great impression that is made upon the mind and dwells there hath its effect upon the body and the lower affections And therefore all those excellent penitents who consider the baseness of sin * their own danger though now past in some degrees * the offence of God * the secret counsels of his Mercy * his various manners of dispensing them * the fearful judgments which God unexpectedly sends upon some men * the dangers of our own confidence * the weakness of our Repentance * the remains of our sin * the aptnesses and combustible nature of our Concupiscence * the presence of temptation and the perils of relapsing * the evil state of things which our former sins leave us in * our difficulty in obeying and our longings to return to Egypt * and the fearful anger of God which will with greater fierceness descend if we chance to fall back Those penitents I say who consider these things frequently and prudently will find their whole man so wrought upon that every faculty shall have an enmity against sin and therefore even the affections of the lower man must in their way contribute to its mortification and that is by a real and effective sorrow 19. But in this whole affair the whole matter of question will be in the manner of operation or signification of the dislike For the duty is done if the sin be accounted an enemy that is whether the dislike be only in the intellectual and rational appetite or also in the sensitive For although men use so to speak and distinguish superior from inferior appetites yet it will be hard in nature to find any real distinct faculties in which those passions are subjected and from which they have emanation The intellectual desire and the sensual desire are both founded in the same faculty they are not distinguished by their subjects but by their objects only they are but several motions of the will to or from several objects When a man desires that which is most reasonable and perfective or consonant to the understanding that we call an intellectual or rational appetite but if he desires a thing that will do him hurt in his soul or to his best interest and yet he desires it because it pleases him this is fit to be called a sensitive appetite because the object is sensitive and it is chosen for a sensual reason But it is rather appetitio than appetitus that is an act rather than a principle of action The case is plainer if we take two objects of several interests both of which are proportion'd to the understanding S. Anthony in the desart and S. Bernard in the Pulpit were tempted by the spirit of pride they resisted and overcame it because pride was unreasonable and foolish as to themselves and displeasing to God If they had listned to the whispers of that spirit it had been upon the accounts of pleasure because pride is that deliciousness of spirit which entertains a vain man making him to delight in his own images and reflexions and therefore is a work of the flesh but yet plainly founded in the understanding And therefore here it is plain that when the flesh and the spirit fight it is not a fight between two faculties of the soul but a contest in the soul concerning the election of two objects It is no otherwise in this than in every deliberation when arguments from several interests contest each other Every passion of the man is nothing else but a proper manner of being affected with an object and consequently a tendency to or an aversion from it that is a willing or a nilling of it which willing and nilling when they produce several permanent impressions upon the mind and body receive the names of divers passions The object it self first striking the fancy or lower apprehensions by its proper energy makes the first passion or tendency to the will that is the inclination or first concupiscence but when the will upon that impression is set on work and chuses the sensual object that makes the abiding passion the quality As if the object be displeasing and yet not present it effects fear or hatred if good and not present it is called desire but all these diversifications are meerly natural effects as to be warm is before the fire and cannot be in our choice directly and immediately That
my life confuting him and though I will not contend with him yet I will die with him in behalf of the Church if God shall call me but for other little things and trifling arrests and little murmurs I value none of it Quid verum atque decent curo rogo omnis in hoc sum Condo compono quod mox depromere possim Nullius addictus jurare in verba Magistri Quo me cunque rapit tempestas deferor I could translate these also into bad English verse as I do the others but that now I am earnest for my liberty I will not so much as confine my self to the measures of feet But in plain English I mean by rehearsing these Latin Verses that although I love every man and value worthy persons in proportion to their labours and abilities whereby they can and do serve God and Gods Church yet I inquire for what is fitting not what is pleasing I search after ways to advantage souls not to comply with humors and Sects and interests and I am tied to no mans private opinion any more than he is to mine if he will bring Scripture and right reason from any topick he may govern me and perswade me else I am free as he is but I hope I am before-hand with him in this question But one thing more I am willing to add By the confession of all the Schools of learning it is taught that Baptism hath infallibly all that effect upon Infants which God design'd and the Church intends to them in the ministery of that Sacrament because Infants cannot ponere obicem they cannot impede the gift of God and they hinder not the effect of Gods Spirit Now all hinderances of the operation of the Sacrament is sin and if sin before the ministration be not morally rescinded it remains and remaining is a disposition contrary to the effect of the Sacrament Every inherent sin is the obex bars the gates that the grace of the Sacrament shall not enter Since therefore Infants do not bar the gates do not hinder the effect of the Sacrament it follows they have no sin inherent in them but imputed only If it be replied that Original sin though it be properly a sin and really inherent yet it does not hinder the effect of the Sacrament I answer then it follows that Original sin is of less malignity than the least actual sin in the world and if so then either by it no man is hated by God to eternal damnation no man is by it an enemy of God a son of wrath an heir of perdition or if he be then at the same time he may be actually hated by God and yet worthily disposed for receiving the grace and Sacrament of Baptism and that sin which of all the sins of the world is supposed to be the greatest and of most universal and parmanent mischief shall do the least harm and is less opposed to Gods grace and indisposes a man less than a single wanton thought or the first consent to a forbidden action which he that can believe is very much in love with his own proposition and is content to believe it upon any terms I end with the words of Lucretius Desine quapropter novitate exterritus ipsâ Expuere ex animo rationem sed magis acri Judicio perpende si tibi vera videtur Dede manus aut si falsa est accingere contrá Fear not to own what 's said because 't is new Weigh well and wisely if the thing be true Truth and not conquest is the best reward 'Gainst falshood only stand upon thy guard Madam I Humbly beg you will be pleased to entertain these Papers not only as a Testimony of my Zeal for Truth and Peace below and for the Honour of God above but also of my readiness to seize upon every occasion whereby I may express my self to be Your most obliged and most Humble Servant in the Religion of the H. Jesus JER TAYLOR An ANSWER to a LETTER Written by the R. R. The Lord Bishop of ROCHESTER Concerning the Chapter of ORIGINAL SIN IN THE VNVM NECESSARIVM R. R. Father and my good Lord YOUR Lordships Letter Dated July 28. I received not till Septemb. 11. it seems R. Royston detained it in his hands supposing it could not come safely to me while I remain a prisoner now in Chepstow-Castle But I now have that liberty that I can receive any Letters and send any for the Gentlemen under whose custody I am as they are careful of their charges so they are civil to my person It was necessary I should tell this to your Lordship that I may not be under a suspicion of neglecting to give accounts in those particulars which with so much prudence and charity you were pleased to represent in your Letter concerning my discourse of Original Sin My Lord In all your Exceptions I cannot but observe your candor and your paternal care concerning me For when there was nothing in the Doctrine but your greater reason did easily see the justice and the truth of it and I am perswaded could have taught me to have said many more material things in confirmation of what I have taught yet so careful is your charity of me that you would not omit to represent to my consideration what might be said by captious and weaker persons or by the more wise and pious who are of a different judgment But my Lord First you are pleased to note that this discourse runs not in the ordinary channel True for if it did it must nurse the popular error but when the disease is Epidemical as it is so much the worse so the extraordinary remedy must be acknowledg'd to be the better And if there be in it some things hard to be understood as it was the fate of S. Paul's Epistles as your Lordship notes out of S. Peter yet this difficulty of understanding proceeds not from the thing it self nor from the manner of handling it but from the indisposition and prepossession of mens minds to the contrary who are angry when they are told that they have been deceived for it is usual with men to be more displeased when they are told they were in error than to be pleased with them who offer to lead them out of it But your Lordship doth with great advantages represent an objection of some captious persons which relates not to the material part of the Question but to the rules of art If there be no such thing as Original Sin transmitted from Adam to his posterity then all that Sixth Chapter is a strife about a shadow a Non ens Ans. It is true my Lord the Question as it is usually handled is so For when the Franciscan and Dominican do eternally dispute about the conception of the Blessed Virgin whether it was with or without Original Sin meaning by way of grace and special exemption this is de non ente for there was no need of any such
it and in opposition to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is to be rendred that is guilty criminal persons really and properly This is all which the wit of man can say from this place of S. Paul and if I make it appear that this is invalid I hope I am secure To this then I answer That the Antithesis in these words here urg'd for there is another in the Chapter and this whole argument of S. Paul is full and intire without descending to minutes Death came in by one man much more shall life come by one man if that by Adam then much more this by Christ by him to condemnation by this man to justification This is enough to verifie the argument of S. Paul though life and death did not come in the same manner to the several relatives as indeed they did not of which afterwards But for the present it runs thus By Adam we were made sinners by Christ we are made righteous As certainly one as the other though not in the same manner of dispensation By Adam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 death reigned by this man the reign of death shall be destroyed and life set up in stead of it by him we were us'd as sinners for in him we died but by Christ we are justified that is us'd as just persons for by him we live This is sufficient for the Apostles argument and yet no necessity to affirm that we are sinners in Adam any more than by imputation for we are by Christ made just no otherwise than by imputation In the proof or perswasion I will use no indirect arguments as to say that to deny us to be just by imputation is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome and of the Socinian Conventicles but expresly dislik'd by all the Lutheran Calvinist and Zuinglian Churches and particularly by the Church of England and indeed by the whole Harmony of Confessions This I say I will not make use of not only because I my self do not love to be press'd by such prejudices rather than arguments but because the question of the imputation of righteousness is very much mistaken and misunderstood on all hands They that say that Christs righteousness is imputed to us for justification do it upon this account because they know all that we do is imperfect therefore they think themselves constrain'd to flie to Christ's righteousness and think it must be imputed to us or we perish The other side considering that this way would destroy the necessity of holy living and that in order to our justification there were conditions requir'd on our parts think it necessary to say that we are justified by inherent righteousness Between these the truth is plain enough to be read Thus Christ's righteousness is not imputed to us for justification directly and immediately neither can we be justified by our own righteousness but our Faith and sincere endeavours are through Christ accepted in stead of legal righteousness that is we are justified through Christ by imputation not of Christs nor our own righteousness but of our faith and endeavours of righteousness as if they were perfect and we are justified by a Non-imputation viz. of our past sins and present unavoidable imperfections that is we are handled as if we were just persons and no sinners So faith was imputed to Abraham for righteousness not that it made him so legally but Evangelically that is by grace and imputation And indeed My Lord that I may speak freely in this great question when one man hath sinn'd his descendants and relatives cannot possibly by him or for him or in him be made sinners properly and really For in sin there are but two things imaginable the irregular action and the guilt or obligation to punishment Now we cannot in any sence be said to have done the action which another did and not we the action is as individual as the person and Titius may as well be Cajus and the Son be his own Father as he can be said to have done the Fathers action and therefore we cannot possibly be guilty of it for guilt is an obligation to punishment for having done it the action and the guilt are relatives one cannot be without the other something must be done inwardly or outwardly or there can be no guilt * But then for the evil of punishment that may pass further than the action If it passes upon the innocent it is not a punishment to them but an evil inflicted by right of Dominion but yet by reason of the relation of the afflicted to him that sinn'd to him it is a punishment But if it passes upon others that are not innocent then it is a punishment to both to the first principally to the Descendents or Relatives for the others sake his sin being imputed so far How far that is in the present case and what it is the Apostle expresses thus It was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 18. or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 16. a curse unto condemnation or a judgment unto condemnation that is a curse inherited from the principal deserv'd by him and yet also actually descending upon us after we had sinn'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the judgment passed upon Adam the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was on him but it prov'd to be a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a through condemnation when from him it passed upon all men that sinn'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sometimes differ in degrees so the words are used by S. Paul otherwhere 1 Cor. 11.32 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a judgment to prevent a punishment or a less to fore-stall a greater in the same kind so here the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pass'd further the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was fulfilled in his posterity passing on further viz. that all who sinn'd should pass under the power of death as well as he but this became formally and actually a punishment to them only who did sin personally to them it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vers 17. the reign of death this is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verse 21. the reign of sin in death that is the effect which Adams sin had was only to bring in the reign of death which is already broken by Jesus Christ and at last shall be quite destroyed But to say that sin here is properly transmitted to us from Adam formally and so as to be inherent in us is to say that we were made to do his action which is a perfect contradiction Now then your Lordship sees that what you note of the meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I admit and is indeed true enough and agreeable to the discourse of the Apostle and very much in justification of what I taught 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a punishment for sin and
be defended against captious objectors It is hard when men will not be patient of truth because another man offers it to them and they did not first take it in or if they did were not pleas'd to own it But from your Lordship I expect and am sure to find the effects of your piety wisdom and learning and that an error for being popular shall not prevail against so necessary though unobserved truth A necessary truth I call it because without this I do not understand how we can declare Gods righteousness and justifie him with whom unrighteousness cannot dwell But if men of a contrary opinion can reconcile their usual doctrines of Original Sin with Gods justice and goodness and truth I shall be well pleased with it and think better of their doctrine than now I can But until that be done it were well My Lord if men would not trouble themselves or the Church with impertinent contradictions but patiently give leave to have truth advanced and God justified in his sayings and in his judgments and the Church improved and all errors confuted that what did so prosperously begin the Reformation may be admitted to bring it to perfection that men may no longer go quà itur but quà eundum est THE Bishop of ROCHESTER'S Letter TO D r. TAYLOR WITH AN Account of the particulars there given in Charge Worthy Sir LET me request you to weigh that of S. Paul Ephes. 2.5 which are urged by some Ancients and to remember how often he calls Concupiscence Sin whereby it is urg'd that although Baptism take away the guilt as concretively redounding to the person yet the simple abstracted guilt as to the Nature remains for Sacraments are administred to Persons not to Natures I confess I find not the Fathers so fully and plainly speaking of Original Sin till Pelagius had pudled the stream but after this you may find S. Jerome in Hos. saying In Paradiso omnes praevaricati sunt in Adamo And S. Ambrose in Rom. 1.5 Manifestum est omnes peccasse in Adam quasi in massâ ex eo igitur cuncti peccatores quia ex eo sumus omnes and as Greg. 39. Hom. in Ezek. Sine culpâ in mundo esse non potest qui in nundum cum culpâ venit But S. Austin is so frequent so full and clear in his assertions that his words and reasons will require your most judicious examinations and more strict weighing of them He saith Epist. 107. Scimus secundùm Adam nos primâ nativitate contagium mortis contrahere nec liberamur à supplicio mortis aeternae nisi per gratiam renascamur in Christo Id. de verb. Apost Ser. 4. Peccatum à primo homine in omnes homines pertranstit etenim illud peccatum non in fonte mansit sed pertransiit and Rom. 5. ubi â—e invenit venundatum sub peccato trahentem peccatum primi hominis habentem peccatum antequam possis habere arbitrium Id. de praedestin grat c. 2. Si infans unius diei non sit sine peccato qui proprium habere non potuit conficitur ut illud traxerit alienum de quo Apost Per unum hominem peccatum intravit in mundum quod qui negat negat profectò nos esse mortales quoniam mors est poenae peccati Sequitur necesse est poena peccatum Id. enchir c. 9.29 Sola gratia redemptos discernit à perditis quos in unam perditionis massam concreverat ab origine ducta communis contagio Id. de peccator mer. remiss l. 1. c. 3. Concupiscentia carnis peccatum est quia inest illi inobedientia contra dominatum mentis Quid potest aut potuit nasci ex servo nisi servus ideo sicut omnis homo ab Adamo est ita omnis homo per Adamum servus est peccati Rom. 5. Falluntur ergo omnino qui dicunt mortem solam non peccatum transiisse in genus humanum Prosper resp ad articulum Augustino falsò impositum Omnes homines praevaricationis reos damnationi obnoxiâ—s nasci periturosque nisi in Christo renascamur asserimus Tho. 12. q. 8. Secundum fidem Catholicam tenendum est quod primum peccatum primi hominis originaliter transit in posteros propter quod etiam pueri mox nati deferuntur ad baptismum ab interiore culpâ abluendi Contrarium est haeresis Pelag. unde peccatum quod sic à primo parente derivatur dicitur Originale sicut peccatum quod ab animâ derivatur ad membra corporis dicitur actuale Bonavent in 2. sent dist 31. Sicut peccatum actuale tribuitur alicui ratione singularis personae ita peccatum originale tribuitur ratione Naturae corpus infectum traducitur quia persona Adae infecit naturam natura infecit personam Animae enim inficitur à carne per colligantiam quum unita carni traxit ad se alterius proprietates Lombar 2. Sent. dist 31. Peccatum originale per corruptionem carnis in animâ fit in vase enim dignoscitur vitium esse quod vinum accescit If you take into consideration the Covenant made between Almighty God and Adam as relating to his posterity it may conduce to the satisfaction of those who urge it for a proof of Original Sin Now that the work may prosper under your hands to the manifestation of Gods glory the edification of the Church and the satisfaction of all good Christians is the hearty prayer of Your fellow servant in our most Blessed Lord Christ Jesu JO. ROFFENS My Lord I Perceive that you have a great Charity to every one of the sons of the Church that your Lordship refuses not to solicite their objections and to take care that every man be answered that can make objections against my Doctrine but as your charity makes you refuse no work or labour of love so shall my duty and obedience make me ready to perform any commandment that can be relative to so excellent a principle I am indeed sorry your Lordship is thus haunted with objections about the Question of Original Sin but because you are pleas'd to hand them to me I cannot think them so inconsiderable as in themselves they seem for what your Lordship thinks worthy the reporting from others I must think are fit to be answered and returned by me In your Lordships of November 10. these things I am to reply to Let me request you to weigh that of S. Paul Ephes. 2.5 The words are these Even when we were dead in sins God hath quickned us together with Christ which words I do not at all suppose relate to the matter of Original Sin but to the state of Heathen sins habitual Idolatries and impurities in which the world was dead before the great Reformation by Christ. And I do not know any Expositor of note that suspects any other sence of it and the second Verse of that Chapter makes it so certain and plain that it is too visible to insist upon it
punishments and they may come upon more accounts by Gods Dominion by natural consequence by infection by destitution and dereliction for the glory of God by right of authority for the institution or exercise of the sufferers or for their more immediate good But that directly and properly one should be punish'd for the sins of others was indeed practised by some Common-wealths Vtilitatis specie saepissimè in repub peccari said Cicero they do it sometimes for terror and because their ways of preventing evil is very imperfect and when Pedianus secundus the Pretor was kill'd by a slave all the family of them was kill'd in punishment this was secundum veterem morem said Tacit. Annal. 14. for in the slaughter of Marcellus the slaves fled for fear of such usage it was thus I say among the Romans but habuit aliquid iniqui and God forbid we should say such things of the fountain of Justice and mercy But I have done and will move no more stones but hereafter carry them as long as I can rather than make a noise by throwing them down I shall only add this one thing I was troubled with an objection lately for it being propounded to me why it is to be believed that the sin of Adam could spoil the nature of man and yet the nature of Devils could not be spoiled by their sin which was worse I could not well tell what to say and therefore I held my peace THE END ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑ ΕΚΛΕΚΤΙΚΗ Or A DISCOURSE OF The Liberty of Prophesying With its just Limits and Temper SHEWING The Vnreasonableness of prescribing to other mens Faith and the Iniquity of persecuting differing Opinions By JEREM. TAYLOR D. D. The Third Edition Corrected and Enlarged DANIEL S. IOHN 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 14.31 LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to his most Sacred MAJESTY To the Right Honourable Christopher Lord Hatton Baron HATTON of Kirby Comptroller of His Majestie 's Houshold and one of His Majestie 's most Honourable Privie Council MY LORD IN this great Storm which hath dasht the Vessel of the Church all in pieces I have been cast upon the Coast of Wales and in a little Boat thought to have enjoyed that rest and quietness which in England in a greater I could not hope for Here I cast Anchor and thinking to ride safely the Storm followed me with so impetuous violence that it broke a Cable and I lost my Anchor And here again I was exposed to the mercy of the Sea and the gentleness of an Element that could neither distinguish things nor persons And but that he who stilleth the raging of the Sea and the noise of his Waves and the madness of his people had provided a Plank for me I had been lost to all the opportunities of content or study But I know not whether I have been more preserved by the courtesies of my friends or the gentleness and mercies of a noble Enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And now since I have come ashore I have been gathering a few sticks to warm me a few books to entertain my thoughts and divert them from the perpetuall Meditation of my private Troubles and the publick Dyscrasy but those which I could obtain were so few and so impertinent and unusefull to any great purposes that I began to be sad upon a new stock and full of apprehension that I should live unprofitably and die obscurely and be forgotten and my bones thrown into some common charnell-house without any name or note to distinguish me from those who onely served their Generation by filling the number of Citizens and who could pretend to no thanks or reward from the Publick beyond jus trium liberorum While I was troubled with these thoughts and busie to find an opportunity of doing some good in my small proportion still the cares of the publick did so intervene that it was as impossible to separate my design from relating to the present as to exempt myself from the participation of the common calamity still half my thoughts was in despite of all my diversions and arts of avocation fixt upon and mingled with the present concernments so that besides them I could not go Now because the great Question is concerning Religion and in that also my Scene lies I resolved here to fix my considerations especially when I observed the ways of promoting the several Opinions which now are busie to be such as besides that they were most troublesome to me and such as I could by no means be friends withall they were also such as to my understanding did the most apparently disserve their ends whose design in advancing their own Opinions was pretended for Religion For as contrary as cruelty is to mercy as tyranny to charity so is war and bloudshed to the meekness and gentleness of Christian Religion And however that there are some exterminating spirits who think God to delight in humane sacrifices as if that Oracle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had come from the Father of Spirits yet if they were capable of cool and tame Homilies or would hear men of other opinions give a quiet account without invincible resolutions never to alter their perswasions I am very much perswaded it would not be very hard to dispute such men into mercies and compliances and Tolerations mutuall such I say who are zealous for Jesus Christ then whose Doctrine never was any thing more mercifull and humane whose lessons were softer then Nard or the juice of the Candian Olive Vpon the first apprehension I design'd a Discourse to this purpose with as much greediness as if I had thought it possible with my Arguments to have perswaded the rough and hard-handed Souldiers to have disbanded presently For I had often thought of the Prophecy that in the Gospell our Swords should be turned into plow-shares and our Spears into pruning-hooks I knew that no tittle spoken by God's Spirit could return unperform'd and ineffectual and I was certain that such was the excellency of Christ's Doctrine that if men could obey it Christians should never war one against another In the mean time I considered not that it was praedictio consilii non eventûs till I saw what men were now doing and ever had done since the heats and primitive fervours did cool and the love of interests swell'd higher then the love of Christianity but then on the other side I began to fear that whatever I could say would be as ineffectual as it could be reasonable For if those excellent words which our Blessed Master spake could not charm the tumult of our spirits I had little reason to hope that one of the meanest and most ignorant of his servants could advance the end of that which he calls his great and his old and his new Commandment so well as the excellency of his own Spirit and discourses could And yet since he who knew every event of things and the success and efficacy of every Doctrine and that very much of it
Lordship knows your own for out of your Mines I have digg'd the Mineral onely I have stampt it with my own image as you may perceive by the deformities which are in it But your great Name in letters will adde so much value to it as to make it obtain its pardon amongst all them that know how to value you and all your relatives and dependants by the proportion of relation For others I shall be incurious because the number of them that honour you is the same with them that honour Learning and Piety and they are the best Theatre and the best Judges amongst which the world must needs take notice of my ambition to be ascribed by my publick pretence to be what I am in all heartiness of devotion and for all the reason of the world My Honoured Lord Your Lordship 's most faithfull and most affectionate Servant JER TAYLOR ΘΕΟΛΟΓΙΑ ΕΚΛΕΚΤΙΚΗ Or A DISCOURSE OF THE Liberty of Prophesying With its just Limits and Temper THe infinite variety of Opinions in matters of Religion as they have troubled Christendome with Interests Factions and partialities so have they caused great divisions of the heart and variety of thoughts and designs amongst pious and prudent men For they all seeing the inconveniences which the Disunion of Perswasions and Opinions have produced directly or accidentally have thought themselves obliged to stop this inundation of mischiefs and have made attempts accordingly But it hath hapned to most of them as to a mistaken Physician who gives excellent physick but mis-applies it and so misses of his cure so have these men their attempts have therefore been ineffectual for they put their help to a wrong part or they have endeavoured to cure the symptoms and have let the disease alone till it seem'd incurable Some have endeavoured to re-unite these fractions by propounding such a Guide which they were all bound to follow hoping that the Unity of a Guide would have perswaded Unity of mindes but who this Guide should be at last became such a Question that it was made part of the fire that was to be quenched so far was it from extinguishing any part of the flame Others thought of a Rule and this must be the means of Union or nothing could doe it But supposing all the World had been agreed of this Rule yet the interpretation of it was so full of variety that this also became part of the disease for which the cure was pretended All men resolv'd upon this that though they yet had not hit upon the right yet some way must be thought upon to reconcile differences in Opinion thinking so long as this variety should last Christ's Kingdom was not advanced and the work of the Gospell went on but slowly Few men in the mean time considered that so long as men had such variety of principles such several constitutions educations tempers and distempers hopes interests and weaknesses degrees of light and degrees of understanding it was impossible all should be of one mind And what is impossible to be done is not necessary it should be done And therefore although variety of Opinions was impossible to be cured and they who attempted it did like him who claps his shoulder to the ground to stop an earth-quake yet the inconveniences arising from it might possibly be cured not by uniting their beliefs that was to be despair'd of but by curing that which caus'd these mischiefs and accidental inconveniences of their disagreeings For although these inconveniences which every man sees and feels were consequent to this diversity of Perswasions yet it was but accidentally and by chance inasmuch as we see that in many things and they of great concernment men allow to themselves and to each other a liberty of disagreeing and no hurt neither And certainly if diversity of Opinions were of itself the cause of mischiefs it would be so ever that is regularly and universally but that we see it is not For there are disputes in Christendome concerning matters of greater concernment then most of those Opinions that distinguish Sects and make Factions and yet because men are permitted to differ in those great matters such evils are not consequent to such differences as are to the uncharitable managing of smaller and more inconsiderable Questions It is of greater consequence to believe right in the Question of the validity or invalidity of a death-bed repentance then to believe aright in the Question of Purgatory and the consequences of the Doctrine of Predetermination are of deeper and more material consideration then the products of the belief of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of private Masses and yet these great concernments where a liberty of Prophesying in these Questions hath been permitted have made no distinct Communion no Sects of Christians and the others have and so have these too in those places where they have peremptorily been determined on either side Since then if men are quiet and charitable in some dis-agreeings that then and there the inconvenience ceases if they were so in all others where lawfully they might and they may in most Christendome should be no longer rent in pieces but would be redintegrated in a new Pentecost And although the Spirit of God did rest upon us in divided tongues yet so long as those tongues were of fire not to kindle strife but to warm our affections and inflame our charities we should find that this variety of Opinions in several persons would be lookt upon as an argument onely of diversity of Operations while the Spirit is the same and that another man believes not so well as I is onely an argument that I have a better and a clearer illumination then he that I have a better gift then he received a special grace and favour and excell him in this and am perhaps excelled by him in many more And if we all impartially endeavour to find a truth since this indeavour and search onely is in our power that we shall find it being ab extra a gift and an assistance extrinsecal I can see no reason why this pious endeavour to find out truth shall not be of more force to unite us in the bonds of charity then the misery in missing it shall be to dis-unite us So that since a union of perswasion is impossible to be attained if we would attempt the cure by such remedies as are apt to enkindle and encrease charity I am confident we might see a blessed peace would bee the reward and crown of such endeavours But men are now adays and indeed always have been since the expiration of the first blessed Ages of Christianity so in love with their own Fancies and Opinions as to think Faith and all Christendome is concern'd in their support and maintenance and whoever is not so fond and does not dandle them like themselves it grows up to a quarrel which because it is in materiâ theologiae is made a quarrel in Religion and God is entitled to it and then if you
Son of God and upon this confession saith the story they both went into the water and the Ethiop was washed and became as white as snow 4. In these particular instances there is no variety of Articles save only that in the annexes of the several expressions such things are expressed as besides that Christ is come they tell from whence and to what purpose And whatsoever is expressed or is to these purposes implyed is made articulate and explicate in the short and admirable mysterious Creed of St. Paul Rom. 10.1 This is the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved This is the great and entire complexion of a Christian's faith and since salvation is promised to the belief of this Creed either a snare is laid for us with a purpose to deceive us or else nothing is of prime and original necessity to be believed but this Jesus Christ our Redeemer and all that which is the necessary parts means or main actions of working this redemption for us and the honour for him is in the bowels and fold of the great Article and claims an explicite belief by the same reason that binds us to the belief of its first complexion without which neither the thing could be acted nor the proposition understood 5. For the act of believing propositions is not for it self but in order to certain ends as Sermons are to good life and obedience for excepting that it acknowledges Gods veracity and so is a direct act of Religion believing a revealed proposition hath no excellency in its self but in order to that end for which we are instructed in such revelations Now Gods great purpose being to bring us to him by Jesus Christ Christ is our medium to God obedience is the medium to Christ and Faith the medium to obedience and therefore is to have its estimate in proportion to its proper end and those things are necessary which necessarily promote the end without which obedience cannot be encouraged or prudently enjoyned So that those articles are necessary that is those are fundamental points upon which we build our obedience and as the influence of the Article is to the perswasion or engagement of obedience so they have their degrees of necessity Now all that Christ when he preached taught us to believe and all that the Apostles in their Sermons propound all aim at this that we should acknowledge Christ for our Law-giver and our Saviour so that nothing can be necessary by a prime necessity to be believed explicitely but such things which are therefore parts of the great Article because they either encourage our services or oblige them such as declare Christs greatness in himself or his goodness to us So that although we must neither deny nor doubt of any thing which we know our great Master hath taught us yet salvation is in special and by name annexed to the belief of those Articles only which have in them the endearments of our services or the support of our confidence or the satisfaction of our hopes such as are Jesus Christ the Son of the living God the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus forgiveness of sins by his bloud Resurrection of the dead and life eternal because these propositions qualifie Christ for our Saviour and our Law-Giver the one to engage our services the other to endear them for so much is necessary as will make us to be his servants and his Disciples and what can be required more This only Salvation is promised to the explicite belief of those Articles and therefore those only are necessary and those are sufficient but thus to us in the formality of Christians which is a formality superadded to a former capacity we before we are Christians are reasonable creatures and capable of a blessed eternity and there is a Creed which is the Gentiles Creed which is so supposed in the Christians Creed as it is supposed in a Christian to be a man and that is oportet accedentem ad Deum credere Deum esse esse remuneratorem quaerentium eum If any man will urge farther that whatsoever is deducible from these Articles by necessary consequence is necessary to be believed explicitely I answer It is true if he sees the deduction and coherence of the parts but it is not certain that every man shall be able to deduce whatsoever is either immediately or certainly deducible from these premises and then since salvation is promised to the explicite belief of these I see not how any man can justifie the making the way to heaven narrower than Jesus Christ hath made it it being already so narrow that there are few that find it 7. In the pursuance of this great truth the Apostles or the holy men their Contemporaries and Disciples composed a Creed to be a Rule of Faith to all Christians as appears in Irenaeus Tertullian St. Cyprian St. Austin Ruffinus and divers others which Creed unless it had contained all the intire object of Faith and the foundation of Religion it cannot be imagined to what purpose it should serve and that it was so esteemed by the whole Church of God in all Ages appears in this that since Faith is a necessary pre-disposition to Baptism in all persons capable of the use of reason all Catechumens in the Latine Church coming to Baptism were interrogated concerning their faith and gave satisfaction in the recitation of this Creed And in the East they professed exactly the same faith something differing in words but of the same matter reason design and consequence and so they did at Hierusalem so at Aquileia This was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These articles were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. 5. Cod. de S. Trinit ad fid Cath. Cùm recta Now since the Apostles and Apostolical men and Churches in these their Symbols did recite particular Articles to a considerable number and were so minute in their recitation as to descend to circumstances it is more than probable that they omitted nothing of necessity and that these Articles are not general principles in the bosom of which many more Articles equally necessary to be believed explicitely and more particular are infolded but that it is as minute an explication of those prima credibilia I before reckoned as is necessary to salvation And therefore Tertullian calls the Creed Regulam fidei quâ salvâ formâ ejus manente in suo ordine possit in Scriptura tractari inquiri si quid videtur vel ambiguitate pendere vel obscuritate obumbrari Cordis signaculum nostrae militiae Sacramentum S. Ambrose calls it lib. 3. de velandis virgin Comprehensio fidei nostrae atque perfectio by S. Austin Serm. 115. Confessio expositio regula fidei generally by the Ancients The profession of this Creed was the exposition of that
sent away without cause and because the negative is in this case later then the affirmative it must enter as the affirmatives doe when they happen to be later then the negative Adde to this that for the introduction of a negative against the possession of a prevailing affirmative it is not enough to invalidate the arguments of the affirmative by making it appear they are not demonstrative for although that might have been sufficient to hinder its first entry yet it is not enough to throw it out because it hath gotten strength and reasonableness by long custome and dwelling upon the minds of men and hath some forces beyond what it derives from the first causes of its introduction And therefore whoever will perswade men to quit their long perswasions and their consonant practices must not tell them that such perswasions are not certain and that they cannot prove such practices to be necessary but that the Doctrine is false against some other revealed Truth which they admit and the practice evil not onely useless but dangerous or criminal So that the Anabaptists cannot acquit themselves and promote their cause by going about to invalidate our Arguments unless they do not onely weaken our affirmative by taking away not one or two but all the confidences of its strength but also make their own negative to include a duty or its enemy to be guilty of a crime And therefore if it were granted that we cannot prove the Baptism of infants to be necessary and that they could speak probably against all the Arguments of the right Believers yet it were intolerable that they should be attended to unless they pretend and make their pretence good that they teach piety and duty and necessity for nothing less then these can make recompence for so violent so great an inroad and rape upon the perswasions of men Whether the Anabaptists do so or no will be considered in the sequel Thirdly These Arguments which are in this Section urged in behalf of the Anabaptists their persons I mean finally not their cause at all but in order to their persons can doe the less hurt because they rely upon our grounds not upon theirs that is they are intended to perswade us to a charitable comport towards the men but not at all to perswade their Doctrine For it is remarkable that none of them have made use of this way of arguing since the publication of these Adversaria and of some things they can never make use As in that exposition of the words of S. Peter Be baptized and ye shall receive the holy Ghost which is expounded to be meant not in Baptism but in Confirmation which is a Rite the Anabaptists allow not and therefore they cannot make use of any such Exposition which supposes a Divine institution of that which they at no hand admit And so it is in divers other particulars as any wary person that is cautious he be not deluded by any weak and plausible pretence of theirs may easily observe But after all the Arguments for the Baptism of children are firm and valid and though shaken by the adverse plea yet as trees that stand in the face of storms take the surer root so will the right Reasons of the right Believers if they be represented with their proper advantages Ad 3. 13. The first Argument is the Circumcising of children which we say does rightly infer the Baptizing them The Anabaptist says no because admit that Circumcision were the type of Baptism yet it follows not that the circumstances of one must infer the same circumstances in the other which he proves by many instances and so far he sayes true And therefore if there were no more in the Argument then can be inferred from the type to the antitype both the supposition the superstructure would be infirm because it is uncertain whether Circumcision be a type of Baptism and if it were granted it cannot infer equal circumstances But then this Argument goes farther and to other and more material purposes even to the overthrow of their chief pretension For Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of faith And if Infants who have no Faith yet can by a Ceremony be admitted into the Covenant of Faith as S. Paul conâ—ends that all the circumcised were and it is certain of Infants that they were reckoned amongst the Lord's people as soon as they were circumcised then it follows that the great pretence of the Anabaptists that for want of Faith Infants are incapable of the Sacrament comes to nothing For if Infants were admitted into the Covenant of Faith by a Ceremony before they could enter by choice and reason by Faith and Obedience then so they may now their great and onely pretence notwithstanding Now whereas the Anabaptist says that in the admission of the Jewish Infants to Circumcision and of Christian Infants to Baptism there is this difference that Circumcision imprints a character on the flesh but Baptism does not Circumcision had no word added but Baptism hath and therefore Infants were capable of the former but not of the latter for they might be cut with the Circumcising-stone but they cannot be instructed with the word of Baptism in that there was a character left by which they might be instructed when they come to age but in Baptism there is no character and the word they understand not therefore that was to purpose but this is not I answer that this is something to the circumstance of the Sacraments but nothing to the substance of the Argument For if the Covenant of Faith can belong to Infants then it is certain they can have the benefit of Faith before they have the grace that is God will doe them benefit before they can do him service and that is no new thing in Religion that God should love us first But then that God is not as much before-hand with Christian as with Jewish Infants is a thing which can never be believed by them who understand that in the Gospel God opened all his treasures of mercies and unsealed the fountain itself whereas before he poured forth only rivulets of mercy and comfort That Circumcision is a seal of the righteousness of faith Saint Paul affirms that so also is Baptism if it be any thing at all the Anabaptists must needs confess because they refuse to give Baptism to them who have not Faith and make it useless to them as being a Seal without a Deed. But then the Argument is good upon its first grounds But then for the title Reparties but now mentioned that Circumcision imprints a character but Baptism does not that Baptism hath a word but Circumcision had none they are just nothing to the purpose For as that character imprinted on the Infants flesh would have been nothing of instruction to them unless there had been a word added that is unless they had been told the meaning of it when they came to be men so neither will the word
from Christ it is a receiving Christ which is the duty here enjoyned this is one way of doing it and all the ways that they are capable of And that this precept can be performed this way S. Augustine affirms expresly in his third book de peccatorum meritis remissione In this thing there is nothing hard but the metaphors of eating and drinking Now that this is to be spiritually understood our Blessed Lord himself affirms in answer to the prejudice of the offended Capernaites that it is to be understood of Faith and that Faith is the spiritual manducation is the sense of the ancient Church and therefore in what sense soever any one is obliged to believe in the same sense he is obliged to the duty of spiritual manducation and no otherwise But because Infants cannot be obliged to the act or habit of Faith and yet can receive the Sacrament of Faith they receive Christ as they can and as they can are intitled to life But however by this means the difficulty of the expression is taken off for if by eating and drinking Christ is meant receiving Christ by Faith then this phrase can be no objection but that S. Austin's affirmative may be true and that this commandment is performed by Infants in Baptism which is the Sacrament of Faith To eat and drink does with as great impropriety signifie Faith as Baptism but this is it which I said at first that the metaphoricall expression was no part of the precept but the vehiculum of the Commandment occasioned by the preceding discourse of our Blessed Saviour and nothing is necessary but that Christ should be received by all that would have life eternall of which because Infants are capable and without receiving Christ they by virtue of these words are not capable and but in Baptism they cannot receive Christ it follows that these words are no argument to infer an equal necessity of communicating Infants but they are a good argument to prove a necessity of baptizing them Secondly But farther yet I demand can Infants receive Christ in the Eucharist Can they in that Sacrament eat the flesh of Christ and drink his bloud If they cannot then neither these words nor any other can infer an equal necessity of being communicated for they can infer none at all and whether those other words of Nisi quis renatus fuerit c. do infer a necessity of Baptism will be sufficiently cleared upon their own account But if Infants can receive Christ in the Eucharist to which they can no more dispose themselves by Repentance then they can to Baptism by Faith then it were indeed very well if they were communicated but yet not necessary because if they can receive Christ in the Eucharist they can receive Christ in Baptism and if they can receive him any way this precept is performed by that way and then whether they must also be communicated must be enquired by other arguments for whatsoever is in these words intended is performed by any way of receiving Christ and therefore cannot infer more in all circumstances and to all persons Thirdly Suppose these words were to be expounded of Sacramentall manducation of the flesh of Christ in the Lord's Supper yet it does not follow that Infants are as much bound to receive the Communion as to receive the Baptism It is too crude a fancy to think that all universal Propositions whether affirmative or negative equally expressed do signifie an equal universality It is said in the Law of Moses Whosoever is not circumcised that soul shall be cut off from his people this indeed signifies universally and included Infants binding them to that Sacrament But when it was said Whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death whether small or great although these words be expressed with as great a latitude as the other yet it is certain it did not include Infants who could not seek the Lord. The same is the case of the two Sacraments the obligation to which we do not understand onely by the preceptive words or form of the commandments but by other appendages and the words of duty that are relative to the suscipients of the several Sacraments and the analogy of the whole Institution Baptism is the Sacrament of beginners the Eucharist of proficients that is the birth this is the nourishment of a Christian. There are many more things of difference to be observ'd But as the Church in several Ages hath practised severally in this Article so in the particular there is no such certainty but that the Church may without sin doe it or not doe it as she sees cause but that there is not the same necessity in both to all persons and that no necessity of communicating Infants can be inferr'd from the parallel words appears in the former answers and therefore I stand to them Ad 9. The summe of the sixth Argument is this The promise of the Holy Ghost is made to all to us and to our children and if the Holy Ghost belong to them then Baptism belongs to them also because Baptism is the means of conveying the Holy Ghost as appears in the words of S. Peter Be baptized and ye shall receive the holy Ghost as also because from this very argument S. Peter resolved to baptize Cornelius and his family because they had received the gift of the Holy Ghost for they that are capable of the same grace are receptive of the same sign Now that Infants also can receive the effects of the Holy Spirit is evident because besides that the promise of the Holy Ghost is made to all to us and our posterity S. Paul affirms that the children of believing parents are holy but all holiness is an emanation from the Holy Spirit of God Ad 19. To the words of S. Peter they answer that the promise does appertain to our children that is to our posterity but not till they are capable they have the same right which we have but enter not into possession of their right till they have the same capacity for by children are not meant Infants but as the children of Israel signifies the descendents onely so it is here And indeed this is true enough but not pertinent enough to answer the intention and efficiency of these words For I do not suppose that the word children means Infants but you and your children must mean all generations of Christendom all the descendents of Christian parents and if they belong to their posterity because they are theirs then the Promises belong to all that are so and then children cannot be excluded But I demand have not the children of believing parents a title to the Promises of the Gospel If they have none then the Kingdom of Heaven belongs not to such and if they die we can doe nothing but despair of their Salvation which is a proposition whose barbarity and unreasonable cruelty confutes itself But if they
said of Theodosius Certaminum Magister orationum Judex constitutus You are appointed the great Master of our arguings and are most fit to be the Judge of our Discourses especially when they do relate and pretend to publick Influence and Advantages to the Church We all are witnesses of Your Zeal to promote true Religion and every day find You to be a great Patron to this very poor Church which groans under the Calamities and permanent Effects of a War acted by Intervals for above Four Hundred years such which the intermedial Sun-shines of Peace could but very weakly repair Our Churches are still demolished much of the Revenues irrecoverably swallowed by Sacriledge and digested by an unavoidable impunity Religion infinitely divided and parted into formidable Sects the People extremely Ignorant and Wilful by inheritance superstitiously Irreligious and uncapable of Reproof And amidst these and very many more inconveniences it was greatly necessary that God should send us such a KING and he send us such a Vice-Roy who weds the Interests of Religion and joyns them to his heart For we do not look upon Your Grace only as a Favourer of the Churche's Temporal Interest though even for that the Souls of the relieved Clergie do daily bless You neither are You our Patron only as the Cretans were to Homer or the Alenadae to Simonides Philip to Theopompus or Severus to Oppianus but as Constantine and Theodosius were to Christians that is desirous that true Religion should be promoted that the Interest of Souls should be advanced that Truth should flourish and wise Principles should be entertain'd as the best Cure against those Evils which this Nation hath too often brought upon themselves In order to which excellent purposes it is hoped that the reduction of the Holy Rite of Confirmation into use and Holy practice may contribute some very great moments For besides that the great Vsefulness of this Ministery will greatly endear the Episcopal Order to which that I may use S. Hierom's words if there be not attributed a more than common Power and Authority there will be as many Schisms as Priests it will also be a means of endearing the Persons of the Prelates to their Flocks when the People shall be convinced that there is or may be if they please a perpetual entercourse of Blessings and Love between them when God by their Holy hands refuses not to give to the People the earnest of an eternal inheritance when by them he blesses and that the grace of our Lord Jesus and the Love of God and the Communication of his Spirit is conveyed to all persons capable of the Grace by the Conduct and on the hands and Prayers of their Bishops And indeed not only very many single Persons but even the whole Church of Ireland hath need of Confirmation We have most of us contended for false Religions and un-Christian Propositions and now that by God's Mercy and the Prosperity and Piety of his Sacred Majesty the Church is broken from her Cloud and many are reduc'd to the true Religion and righteous worship of God we cannot but call to mind how the Holy Fathers of the Primitive Church often have declar'd themselves in Councils and by a perpetual Discipline that such persons who are return'd from Sects and Heresies into the Bosom of the Church should not be re-baptiz'd but that the Bishops should Impose hands on them in Confirmation It is true that this was design'd to supply the defect of those Schismatical Conventicles who did not use this Holy Rite For this Rite of Confirmation hath had the fate to be oppos'd only by the Schismatical and Puritan Parties of old the Novatians or Cathari and the Donatists and of late by the Jesuits and new Cathari the Puritans and Presbyterians the same evil Spirit of Contradiction keeping its course in the same chanel and descending regularly amongst men of the same Principles But therefore in the restitution of a man or company of men or a Church the Holy Primitives in the Council of C P. Laodicea and Orange thought that to Confirm such persons was the most agreeable Discipline not only because such persons did not in their little and dark Assemblies use this Rite but because they always greatly wanted it For it is a sure Rule in our Religion and is of an eternal truth that they who keep not the Unity of the Church have not the Spirit of God and therefore it is most fit should receive the ministery of the Spirit when they return to the bosom of the Church that so indeed they may keep the Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace And therefore Asterius Bishop of Amasia compares Confirmation to the Ring with which the Father of the Prodigal adorn'd his returning Son Datur nempe prodigo post stolam annulus nempe Symbolum intelligibilis signaculi Spiritûs And as the Spirit of God the Holy Dove extended his mighty wings over the Creation and hatch'd the new-born World from its seminal powers to Light and Operation and Life and Motion so in the Regeneration of the Souls of Men he gives a new Being and Heat and Life Procedure and Perfection Wisdom and Strength and because that this was ministred by the Bishops hands in Confirmation was so firmly believ'd by all the Primitive Church therefore it became a Law and an Vniversal practice in all those Ages in which men desir'd to be sav'd by all means The Latin Church and the Greek always did use it and the Blessings of it which they believ'd consequent to it they expressed in a holy Prayer which in the Greek Euchologion they have very anciently and constantly used Thou O Lord the most compassionate and great King of all graciously impart to this person the seal of the gift of thy Holy Almighty and adorable Spirit For as an ancient Greek said truly and wisely The Father is reconcil'd and the Son is the Reconciler but to them who are by Baptism and Repentance made friends of God the Holy Spirit is collated as a gift They well knew what they received in this Ministration and therefore wisely laid hold of it and would not let it go This was anciently ministred by Apostles and ever after by the Bishops and religiously receiv'd by Kings and greatest Princes and I have read that S. Sylvester confirm'd Constantine the Emperor and when they made their children servants of the Holy Jesus and Souldiers under his banner and Bonds-men of his Institution then they sent them to the Bishop to be Confirm'd who did it sometimes by such Ceremonies that the solemnity of the Ministery might with greatest Religion addict them to the service of their Great Lord. We read in Adrovaldus that Charles Martel entring into a League with Bishop Luitprandus sent his Son Pepin to him ut more Christianorum fidelium capillum ejus primus attonderet ac Pater illi Spiritualis existeret that he might after the manner of Christians
Prophesying or Preaching which yet all Christians know does abide with the Church for ever 5. To every ordinary and perpetual Ministery at first there were extraordinary effects and miraculous consignations We find great parts of Nations converted at one Sermon Three thousand Converts came in at once Preaching of S. Peter and five thousand at another Sermon and persons were miraculously cured by the Prayer of the Bishop in his visitation of a sick Christian and Devils cast out in the conversion of a sinner and Blindness cur'd at the Baptism of S. Paul and Aeneas was healed of a Palsie at the same time he was cur'd of his Infidelity and Eutychus was restor'd to life at the Preaching of S. Paul And yet that now we see no such Extraordinaries it follows not that the Visitation of the sick and Preaching Sermons and Absolving Penitents are not ordinary and perpetual ministrations and therefore to fansy that invocation of the Holy Spirit and Imposition of hands is to cease when the extraordinary and temporary contingencies of it are gone is too trifling a fancy to be put in balance against so Sacred an Institution relying upon so many Scriptures 6. With this Objection some vain persons would have troubled the Church in S. Austin's time but he considered it with much indignation writing against the Donatists His words are these At the first times the Holy Spirit fell upon the Believers and they spake with Tongues which they had not learned according as the Spirit gave them utterance They were Signs fitted for the season for so the Holy Ghost ought to have signified in all Tongues because the Gospel of God was to run through all the Nations and Languages of the World so it was signified and so it pass'd through But is it therefore expected that they upon whom there is Imposition of hands that they might receive the Holy Ghost that they should speak with Tongues Or when we lay hands on Infants does every one of you attend to hear them speak with Tongues And when he sees that they do not speak with Tongues is any of you of so perverse a heart as to say They have not received the Holy Ghost for if they had received him they would speak with Tongues as it was done at first But if by these Miracles there is not now given any testimony of the presence of the Holy Spirit how doth any one know that he hath received the Holy Ghost Interroget cor suum Si diligit fratrem manet Spiritus Dei in illo It is true the Gift of Tongues doth not remain but all the greater Gifts of the Holy Spirit remain with the Church for ever Sanctification and Power Fortitude and Hope Faith and Love Let every man search his Heart and see if he belongs to God whether the love of God be not spread in his heart by the Spirit of God Let him see if he be not patient in Troubles comforted in his Afflictions bold to confess the Faith of Christ crucified zealous of Good works These are the miracles of Grace and the mighty powers of the Spirit according to that saying of Christ These signs shall follow them that believe In my Name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new Tongues they shall tread on Serpents they shall drink poison and it shall not hurt them and they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover That which we call the Miraculous part is the less power but to cast out the Devil of Lust to throw down the Pride of Lucifer to tread on the great Dragon and to triumph over our Spiritual enemies to cure a diseased Soul to be unharmed by the poison of Temptation of evil Examples and evil Company these are the true signs that shall follow them that truly and rightly believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus this is to live in the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit this is more than to receive the Spirit to a power of Miracles and supernatural products in a natural matter For this is from a supernatural principle to receive supernatural aids to a supernatural end in the Diviner spirit of a man and this being more miraculous than the other it ought not to be pretended that the discontinuance of extraordinary Miracles should cause the discontinuance of an ordinary Ministration and this is that which I was to prove 7. To which it is not amiss to add this Observation that Simon Magus offered to buy this power of the Apostles that he also by laying on of hands might thus minister the Spirit Now he began this sin in the Christian Church and it is too frequent at this day but if all this power be gone then nothing of that sin can remain if the subject matter be removed then the appendant crime cannot abide and there can be no Simony so much as by participation and whatever is or can be done in this kind is no more of this Crime than Drunkenness is of Adultery it relates to it or may be introductive of it or be something like it But certainly since the Church is not so happy as to be intirely free from the Crime of Simony it will be hard to say that the power the buying of which was the principle of this sin and therefore the Rule of all the rest should be removed and the house stand without a foundation the relative without the correspondent the accessary without the principal and the accident without the subject This is impossible and therefore it remains that still there abides in the Church this power that by Imposition of the Hands of fit persons the Holy Ghost is ministred But this will be further cleared in the next Section SECT III. The Holy Rite of Imposition of Hands for the giving the Holy Spirit or Confirmation was actually continued and practised by all the succeeding Ages of the purest and Primitive Church NExt to the plain words of Scripture the traditive Interpretation and Practice of the Church of God is the best Argument in the World for Rituals and Mystical ministrations for the Tradition is universal and all the way acknowledged to be derived from Scripture And although in Rituals the Tradition it self if it be universal and primitive as this is were alone sufficient and is so esteemed in the Baptism of Infants in the Priests consecrating the Holy Eucharist in publick Liturgies in Absolution of Penitents the Lord's Day Communicating of Women and the like yet this Rite of Confirmation being all that and evidently derived from the practice Apostolical and so often recorded in the New Testament both in the Ritual and Mysterious part both in the Ceremony and Spiritual effect is a point of as great Certainty as it is of Usefulness and holy designation Theophilus Antiochenus lived not long after the death of S. John and he derives the name of Christian which was first given to the Disciples in his City from this Chrism or
they minister shadows instead of substances SECT V. The whole Procedure or Ritual of Confirmation is by Prayer and Imposition of Hands THE Heart and the Eye are lift up to God to bring Blessings from him and so is the Hand too but this also falls upon the People and rests there to apply the descending Blessing to the proper and prepared suscipient God governed the People of Israel by the hand of Moses and Aaron calidae fecêre silentia turbae Majestate manûs And both under Moses and under Christ when-ever the President of Religion did bless the People he lifted up his Hand over the Congregation and when he blessed a single Person he laid his Hand upon him This was the Rite used by Jacob and the Patriarchs by Kings and Prophets by all the eminently Religious in the Synagogue and by Christ himself when he blessed the Children which were brought to him and by the Apostles when they blessed and confirmed the baptized Converts and whom else can the Church follow The Apostles did so to the Christians of Samaria to them of Ephesus and S. Paul describes this whole mystery by the Ritual part of it calling it the Foundation of the Imposition of hands It is the solemnity of Blessing and the solemnity and application of Paternal prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said Clement of Alexandria Upon whom shall he lay his hands whom shall he bless Quidenim aliud est Impositio manuum nisi Oratio super hominem said S. Austin The Bishop's laying his hands on the People what is it but the solemnity of Prayer for them that is a prayer made by those Sacred persons who by Christ are appointed to pray for them and to bless in his Name and so indeed are all the Ministeries of the Church Baptism Consecration of the B. Eucharist Absolution Ordination Visitation of the Sick they are all in genere Orationis they are nothing but solemn and appointed Prayer by an intrusted and a gracious Person specificated by a proper order to the end of the blessing then designed And therefore when S. James commanded that the sick Persons should send for the Elders of the Church he adds and let them pray over them that is lay their hands on the sick and pray for them that is praying over them It is adumbratio dextrae as Tertullian calls it the right hand of him that ministers over-shadows the person for whom the solemn Prayer is to be made This is the Office of the Rulers of the Church for they in the Divine Eutaxy are made your Superiors they are indeed your servants for Jesus sake but they are over you in the Lord and therefore are from the Lord appointed to bless the People for without contradiction saith the Apostle the less is blessed of the greater that is God hath appointed the Superiors in Religion to be the great Ministers of Prayer he hath made them the gracious Persons them he will hear those he hath commanded to convey your needs to God and God's blessings to you and to ask a blessing is to desire them to pray for you them I say whom God most respecteth for their piety and zeal that way or else regardeth for that their place and calling bindeth them above others to do this duty such as are Natural and Spiritual Fathers It is easie for prophane persons to deride these things as they do all Religion which is not conveyed to them by sense or natural demonstrations but the Oeconomy of the Spirit and the things of God are spiritually discerned The Spirit bloweth where it listeth and no man knows whence it comes and whither it goes and the Operations are discerned by Faith and received by Love and by Obedience Date mihi Christianum intelligit quod dico None but true Christians understand and feel these things But of this we are sure that in all the times of Mose's Law while the Synagogue was standing and in all the days of Christianity so long as men loved Religion and walked in the Spirit and minded the affairs of their Souls to have the Prayers and the Blessing of the Fathers of the Synagogue and the Fathers of the Church was esteemed no small part of their Religion and so they went to Heaven But that which I intend to say is this That Prayer and Imposition of Hands was the whole procedure in the Christian Rites and because this Ministery was most signally performed by this Ceremony and was also by S. Paul called and noted by the name of the Ceremony Imposition of hands this name was retained in the Christian Church and this manner of ministring Confirmation was all that was in the commandment or institution But because in Confirmation we receive the Unction from above that is then we are most signally made Kings and Priests unto God to offer up spiritual sacrifices and to enable us to seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness of it and that the giving of the Holy Spirit is in Scripture called the Vnction from above the Church of God in early Ages made use of this Allegory and passed it into an External Ceremony and Representation of the Mystery to signifie the Inward Grace Post inscripta oleo frontis signacula per quae Vnguentum Regale datum est Chrisma perenne We are consigned on the Fore-head with Oil and a Royal Unction and an Eternal Chrism is given to us so Prudentius gives testimony of the ministery of Confirmation in his time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said S. Cyril Preserve this Unction pure and spotless for it teaches you all things as you have heard the blessed S. John speaking and philosophizing many things of this holy Chrism Upon this account the H. Fathers used to bless and consecrate Oil and Balsam that by an External Signature they might signifie the Inward Unction effected in Confirmation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Chrism is not simple or common when it is blessed but the gift of Christ and the presence of his H. Spirit as it were effecting the Divinity it self the body is indeed anointed with visible Ointment but is also sanctified by the holy and quickning Spirit so S. Cyril I find in him and in some late Synods other pretty significations and allusions made by this Ceremony of Chrisms Nos autem pro igne visibili qui die Pentecostes super Apostolos apparuit oleum sanctum materiam nempe ignis ex Apostolorum traditione ad confirmandum adhibemus This using of Oil was instead of the Baptism with Fire which Christ baptized his Apostles with in Pentecost and Oil being the most proper matter of Fire is therefore used in Confirmation That this was the ancient Ceremony is without doubt and that the Church had power to do so hath no question and I add it was not unreasonable for if ever the Scripture expresses the mysteriousness of a Grace conferred by an Exterior ministery as this is by
lawful or not but which were better To Confirm Infants or to stay to their Childhood or to their riper years Aquinas Bonaventure and some others say it is best that they be Confirmed in their Infancy quia dolus non est nec obicem ponunt they are then without craft and cannot hinder the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them And indeed it is most agreeable with the Primitive practice that if they were Baptized in Infancy they should then also be Confirmed according to that of the famous Epistle of Melchiades to the Bishops of Spain Ità conjuncta sunt haec duo Sacramenta ut ab invicem nisi morte praeveniente non possint separari unum altero ritè persici non potest Where although he expresly affirms the Rites to be two yet unless it be in cases of necessity they are not to be severed and one without the other is not perfect which in the sence formerly mentioned is true and so to be understood That to him who is Baptized and is not Confirmed something very considerable is wanting and therefore they ought to be joyned though not immediately yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to reasonable occasions and accidental causes But in this there must needs be a liberty in the Church not only for the former reasons but also because the Apostles themselves were not Confirmed till after they had received the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Others therefore say That to Confirm them of Riper years is with more edification The confession of Faith is more voluntary the election is wiser the submission to Christ's discipline is more acceptable and they have more need and can make better use of their strengths than derived by the Holy Spirit of God upon them and to this purpose it is commanded in the Canon Law that they who are confirmed should be perfectae aetatis of full age upon which the Gloss says Perfectam vocat fortè duodecim annorum Twelve years old was a full age because at those years they might then be admitted to the lower services in the Church But the reason intimated and implied by the Canon is because of the Preparation to it They must come Fasting and they must make publick Confession of their Faith And indeed that they should do so is matter of great edification as also are the advantages of choice and other preparatory abilities and dispositions above-mentioned They are matter of edification I say when they are done but then the delaying of them so long before they be done and the wanting the aids of the Holy Ghost conveyed in that Ministery are very prejudicial and are not matter of edification But therefore there is a third way which the Church of England and Ireland follows and that is that after Infancy but yet before they understand too much of Sin and when they can competently understand the Fundamentals of Religion then it is good to bring them to be Confirmed that the Spirit of God may prevent their youthful sins and Christ by his Word and by his Spirit may enter and take possession at the same time And thus it was in the Church of England long since provided and commanded by the Laws of King Edgar cap. 15. Vt nullus ab Episcopo confirmari diu nimiùm detrectârit That none should too long put off his being Confirmed by the Bishop that is as is best expounded by the perpetual practice almost ever since as soon as ever by Catechism and competent instruction they were prepared it should not be deferred If it have been omitted as of late years it hath been too much as we do in Baptism so in this also it may be taken at any age even after they have received the Lord's Supper as I observed before in the Practice and Example of the Apostles themselves which in this is an abundant warrant But still the sooner the better I mean after that Reason begins to dawn but ever it must be taken care of that the Parents and God-fathers the Ministers and Masters see that the Children be catechised and well instructed in the Fundamentals of their Religion For this is the necessary preparation to the most advantageous reception of this Holy Ministery In Ecclesâ—is potissimùm Latinis non nisi adultiore aetate pueros admitti videmus vel hanc certè ob causam ut Parentibus Susceptoribus Ecclesiarum Praesectis occasio detur pueros de Fide quam in Baptismo professi sunt diligentiùs instituendi admonendi said the excellent Cassander In the Latin Churches they admit children of some ripeness of age that they may be more diligently taught and instructed in the Faith And to this sence agree S. Austin Walafridus Strabo Ruardus Lovaniensis and Mr. Calvin For this was ever the practice of the Primitive Church to be infinitely careful of Catechizing those who came and desired to be admitted to this holy Rite they used Exorcisms or Catechisms to prepare them to Baptism and Confirmation I said Exorcisms or Catechisms for they were the same thing if the notion be new yet I the more willingly declare it not only to free the Primitive Church from the suspicion of Superstition in using Charms or Exorcisms according to the modern sence of the word or casting of the Devil out of innocent Children but also to remonstrate the perpetual practice of Catechizing Children in the eldest and best times of the Church Thus the Greek Scholiast upon Harmenopulus renders the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Primitive Exorcist was the Catechist And Balsamon upon the 26. Canon of the Council of Laodicea says that to Exorcize is nothing but to Catechize the unbelievers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some undertook to Exorcize that is says he to Catechize the unbelievers And S. Cyril in his Preface to his Catechisms speaking to the Illuminati Festinent says he pedes tui ad Catecheses audiendas Exorcismos studiosè suscipe c. Let your feet run hastily to hear the Catechisms studiously receive the Exorcisms although thou beest already inspired and exorcized that is although you have been already instructed in the Mysteries yet still proceed For without Exorcisms or Catechisms the Soul cannot go forward since they are Divine and gathered out of the Scriptures And the reason why these were called Exorcisms he adds Because when the Exorcists or Catechists by the Spirit of God produce fear in your hearts and do inkindle the Spirit as in a furnace the Devil flies away and Salvation and hope of Life Eternal does succeed according to that of the Evangelist concerning Christ They were astonished at his Doctrine for his word was with power and that of S. Luke concerning Paul and Barnabas The Deputy when he saw what was done was astonished at the Doctrine of the Lord. It is the Lord's Doctrine that hath the power to cast out Devils and work Miracles Catechisms are the best Exorcisms
hope well of you have a fulness of assurance of the truth and certainty of our own way and however you can please your selves with Images of things as having no firm footing for your trifling confidence yet you can never with your tricks out-face us of just and firm adherencies and if you were not empty of supports and greedy of bulrushes snatching at any thing to support your sinking cause you would with fear and trembling consider the direct dangers which we demonstrate to you to be in your Religion rather than flatter your selves with collateral weak and deceitful hopes of accidental possibilities that some of you may escape 4. If we be more charitable to you than you are to us acknowledge in us the beauty and essential form of Christian Religion be sure you love as well as make use of our charity But if you make our charity an argument against us remember that you render us evil in exchange for good and let it be no brag to you that you have not that charity to us For therefore the Donatists were condemned for Hereticks and Schismaticks because they damn'd all the world and afforded no charity to any that was not of their Communion 5. But that our charity may be such indeed that is that it may do you a real benefit and not turn into Wormwood and Coloquintids I pray take notice in what sence it is that we allow Salvation may possibly be had in your Church We warrant it not to any we only hope it for some we allow it to them as to the Sadduces in the Law and to the Corinthians in the Gospel who denied the Resurrection that is till they were sufficiently instructed and competently convinced and had time and powers to out-wear their prejudices and the impresses of their education and long perswasion But to them amongst you who can and do consider and yet determine for error and interest we have a greater charity even so much as to labour and pray for their conversion but not so much fondness as to flatter them into boldness and pertinacious adherencies to matters of so great danger 6. But in all this affair though your men are very bold with God and leap into his Judgment-seat before him and give wild sentences concerning the Salvation of your own party and the Damnation of all that disagree yet that which is our charity to you is indeed the fear of God and the reverence of his judgments We do not say that all Papists are certainly damn'd we wish and desire vehemently that none of you may perish But then this charity of judgment relates not to you nor is derived from any probability which we see in your doctrines that differ from ours But because we know not what rate and value God puts upon the Article It concerns neither you nor us to say this or that man shall be damn'd for his opinion For besides that this is a bold intrusion into that secret of God which shall not be opened till the day of Judgment and besides that we know not what allays and abatements are to be made by the good meaning and the ignorance of the man all that can concern us is to tell you that you are in error that you depart from Scripture that you exercise tyranny over souls that you leave the Divine institution and prevaricate God's Commandment that you divide the Church without truth and without necessity that you tie men to believe things under pain of damnation which cannot be made very probable much less certain and therefore that you sin against God and are in danger of his eternal displeasure But in giving the final sentence as we have no more to do than your men have yet so we refuse to follow your evil example and we follow the glorious precedent of our Blessed Lord who decreed and declared against the crime but not against the Criminal before the day He that does this or that is in danger of the Council or in danger of judgment or liable and obnoxious to the danger of Hell fire So we say of your greatest Errors they put you in the danger of perishing but that you shall or shall not perish we leave it to your Judge and if you call this Charity it is well I am sure it is Piety and the fear of God 7. Whether you may be saved or whether you shall be damned for your errors does neither depend upon our affirmative not your negative but according to the rate and value which God sets upon things Whatever we talk things are as they are not as we dispute or grant or hope and therefore it were well if your men would leave abusing you and themselves with these little arts of indirect support For many men that are warranted yet do eternally perish and you in your Church damn millions who I doubt not shall reign with Jesus eternally in the Heavens 8. I wish you would consider that if any of our men say Salvation may be had in your Church it is not for the goodness of your new Propositions but only because you do keep so much of that which is our Religion that upon the confidence of that we hope well concerning you And we do not hope any thing at all that is good of you or your Religion as it distinguishes from us and ours We hope that the good which you have common with us may obtain pardon directly or indirectly or may be an Antidote of the venome and an Amulet against the danger of your very great Errors So that if you can derive any confidence from our concession you must remember where it takes root not upon any thing of yours but wholly upon the excellency of ours You are not at all safe or warranted for being Papists but we hope well of some of you for having so much of the Protestant and if that will do you any good proceed in it and follow it whithersoever it leads you 9. The safety that you dream of which we say to be on your side is nothing of allowance or warranty but a hope that is collateral indirect and relative We do not say any thing whereby you can conclude yours to be safer than ours for it is not safe at all but extremely dangerous We affirm those errors in themselves to be damnable some to contain in them Impiety some to have Sacriledge some Idolatry some Superstition some practices to be conjuring and charming and very like to Witchcraft as in your hallowing of Water and baptizing Bells and exorcising Demoniacks and what safety there can be in these or what you can fancy we should allow to you I suppose you need not boast of Now because we hope some are saved amongst you you must not conclude yours to be safe for our hope relies upon this There are many of your Propositions in which we differ from you that thousands amongst you understand and know nothing of it is to them as if they were
Scripture both for the confirmation of good things and also for the reproof of the evil S. Cyril of Jerusalem Catech. 12. Illuminat saith Attend not to my inventions for you may possibly be deceiv'd but trust no word unless thou dost learn it from the Divine Scriptures and in Catech. 4. Illum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For it behoves us not to deliver so much as the least thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Divine and holy mysteries of Faith without the Divine Scriptures nor to be moved with probable discourses Neither give credit to me speaking unless what is spoken be demonstrated by the Holy Scriptures For that is the security of our Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is derived not from witty inventions but from the demonstration of Divine Scriptures Omne quod loquimur debemus affirmare de Scripturis Sanctis so S. Hierom in Psal. 89. And again Hoc quia de Scripturis authoritatem non habet eâdem facilitate contemnitur quâ probatur in Matth. 23. Si quid dicitur absque Scripturâ auditorum cogitatio claudicat So S. Chrysostom in Psal. 95. Homil. Theodoret Dial. 1. cap. 6. brings in the Orthodox Christian saying to Eranistes Bring not to me your Logismes and Syllogismes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I rely only upon Scriptures I could reckon very very many more both elder and later and if there be any Universal Tradition consigned to us by the Universal Testimony of Antiquity it is this that the Scriptures are a perfect repository of all the Will of God of all the Faith of Christ and this I will engage my self to make very apparent to you and certain against any opposer Upon the supposition of which it follows that whatever the Church of Rome obtrudes as necessary to Salvation and an Article of Faith that is not in Scripture is an Innovation in matter of Faith and a Tyranny over Consciences which whosoever submits to prevaricates the rule of the Apostle commanding us that we stand fast in the liberty with which Christ hath set us free To the other Question Whether an Ecclesiastical Tradition be of equal authority with Divine I answer Negatively And I believe I shall have no adversary in it except peradventure some of the Jesuited Bigots An Ecclesiastical Tradition viz. a positive constitution of the Church delivered from hand to hand is in the power of the Church to alter but a Divine is not Ecclesiastical Traditions in matters of Faith there are none but what are also Divine as for Rituals Ecclesiastical descending by Tradition they are confessedly alterable but till they be altered by abrogation or desuetude or contrary custom or a contrary reason or the like they do oblige by vertue of that Authority whatsoever it is that hath power over you I know not what Mr. G. did say but I am confident they who reported it of him were mistaken He could not say or mean what is charged upon him I have but two things more to speak to One is you desire me to recite what else might impede your compliance with the Roman Church I answer Truth and Piety hinder you For you must profess the belief of many false propositions and certainly believe many Uncertain things and be uncharitable to all the world but your own party and make Christianity a faction and you must yield your reason a servant to man and you must plainly prevaricate an institution of Christ and you must make an apparent departure from the Church in which you received your Baptism and the Spirit of God if you go over to Rome But Sir I refer you to the two Letters I have lately published at the end of my Discourse of Friendship and I desire you to read my Treatise of the Real Presence and if you can believe the doctrine of Transubstantiation you can put off your reason and your sense and your religion and all the instruments of Credibility when you please and these are not little things In these you may perish an error in these things is practical but our way is safe as being upon the defence and intirely resting upon Scripture and the Apostolical Churches The other thing I am to speak to is the report you have heard of my inclinations to go over to Rome Sir that party which needs such lying stories for the support of their Cause proclaim their Cause to be very weak or themselves to be very evil Advocates Sir be confident they dare not tempt me to do so and it is not the first time they have endeavoured to serve their ends by saying such things of me But I bless God for it it is perfectly a Slander and it shall I hope for ever prove so Sir if I may speak with you I shall say very many things more for your confirmation Pray to God to guide you and make no change suddenly For if their way be true to day it will be so to morrow and you need not make haste to undo your self Sir I wish you a setled mind and a holy Conscience and that I could serve you in the capacity of Your very Loving Friend and Servant in our Blessed Lord JER TAYLOR Munday Jan. 11. 1657. THE SECOND LETTER SIR I Perceive that you are very much troubled and I see also that you are in great danger but that also troubles me because I see they are little things and very weak and fallacious that move you You propound many things in your Letter in the same disorder as they are in your Conscience to all which I can best give answers when I speak with you to which because you desire I invite you and promise you a hearty endeavour to give you satisfaction in all your material inquiries Sir I desire you to make no haste to change in case you be so miserable as to have it in your thoughts for to go over to the Church of Rome is like death there is no recovery from thence without a Miracle because Unwary souls such are they who change from us to them are with all the arts of wit and violence strangely entangled and ensur'd when they once get the prey Sir I thank you for the Paper you inclosed The men are at a loss they would fain say something against that Book but know not what Sir I will endeavour if you come to me to restore you to peace and quiet and if I cannot effect it yet I will pray for it and I am sure God can To his Mercy I commend you and rest Your very affectionate Friend in our Blessed Lord JER TAYLOR Febr. 1. 1657 8. THE THIRD LETTER SIR THE first Letter which you mention in this latter of the 10 th of March I received not I had not else failed to give you an answer I was so wholly unknowing of it that I did not understand your Servant's meaning when he came to require an answer But to your Question which you now propound I answer