that we have no usuall names for these things and if I had framed any by-interpretation I should be lesse apt to be understood and if I should use any circumlocution I should be lesse quick and lesse ready in discoursing this onely I intreat and beseech thee to believe that howsoever I may erre I do it not out of any arrogancy or pride The Scripture is treated according to the history when it is declared therein what is written or what is done and what is not done but written onely as it were done According to the Etiology when it is shewed thereby for what cause any thing is either done or said According to the Analogy when it is demonstrated that the two Testaments the Old and the New are not contrary the one unto the other According to the Allegory when it is read therein that certain things that are written ought not to be understood according to the letter but according to the figure All these manner of wayes of alledging Scripture have been used by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Apostles He cited Scripture according to the History when unto those that objected that his Disciples had plucked the ears of Corn upon the Sabbath day he answered Have ye not read what David did when he was an hungred and they that were with him how he entred into the house of God and did eat the loaves of Proposition or Shew-bread which it was not lawfull for him to eat neither for them that were with him but for Priests onely Mat. 12.1 3 4. 1 Sam. 21.6 Exod. 29.32 He alledged Scripture according to the Etiology when having forbidden the dismissing of wives for any cause but onely fornication unto the Pharisees who told him that Moses had given men leave to dismisse them having first given them a bill of divorce he said This Moses did for the hardnesse of your hearts Deut. 24.1 Mat. 19.8 for here a cause was rendred why that was well permitted by Moses for a time to the end that this which Christ commanded might seem to shew and demonstrate other times but to declare how the divine Providence hath with a certain wonderfull disposition ordered and composed the courses and order of these times it is a long work Now touching the Analogy whereby appears the accord and consent of both the Testaments what shall I say but that all those have used it unto whose authority the Manichees do give place when as they may consider with themselves how many things they are wont to say are thrust into the divine Scripture by I know not what corrupters of the truth which I alwayes thought to be an extream weak speech even when I heard and followed them neither was this my opinion onely but thine also for I well remember it and it was the opinion of us all who endeavoured to be somewhat more carefull and wary in judging then was the common people and multitude of believers And whereas they have expounded and declared unto me many things that did much move and trouble me namely those wherein they boasted and bragged oftentimes and that more abundantly because more securely as not having any adversary to resist and oppose them I think they have spoken nothing more impudently or to speak more mildly with lesse circumspection and more weaknesse then that the divine Scriptures are falsified and corrupted when as it ought but lately to have been done and yet they cannot convince it to be so by any copies that are now extant for if they did say that they did not think that they ought to receive those Scriptures at all because they are written by such Authours as they did not conceive to have written the truth their pretence of rejecting them would in some sort be more hidden and their errour more humane and pardonable for upon this ground they have rejected the book which is called the Acts of the Apostles at which their proceedings when I well weigh it and consider it with my self I cannot sufficiently wonder and admire for they wanted not onely humane wisdome herein but even a reasonable and an indifferent judgement for that book hath so many things which are like unto those which they do receive that it seems to me to be a great folly not to receive this also and if any thing displeaseth them therein presently to say it is salfe and put in now if they judge such a speech to be impudent as indeed it is why should they conceive those things to deserve any credit and esteem in S. Paul's Epistles and the four books of the Gospell wherein I know not whether or no proportionably speaking there be many more things then there could be in that book which they would have men believe to have been thrust in by falsifiers and corrupters But this indeed is my opinion which I request thee to weigh and consider with me with a very clear and peaceable judgement for thou art not ignorant how the Manichees endeavouring to bring in the the person of their authour Manicheus into the number of the Apostles do say that by him we have received the Holy Ghost whom our Lord promised to send to his Disciples if therefore they should receive those Acts of the Apostles wherein the comming of the Holy Ghost is evidently declared and set down Act. 2.2 they could find no ground to say why that was inserted and put in for they pretend I know not what corrupters of the divine books to have been before Manicheus his time and that they were corrupted by those that desired to confound the law of the Jews with the Gospel of Christ but this they cannot say of the Holy Ghost unlesse peradventure they will affirm that the corrupters could foretell things that were to come and thereupon did put into their books that which might be produced against one Manicheus who sometimes was to come and who should say and averre that he had sent the Holy Ghost but of the Holy Ghost we intend to speak more plainly hereafter but now let us return to our former matter for I think that I have sufficiently demonstrated and shewn that the historicall sense is to be found in the Old Testament and the Etiologicall and Analogicall in the New it remains that I shew also the Allegoricall therein Our Redeemer himself alledgeth in the Gospel an Allegory out of the Old Testament saying This generation seeketh after a sign and none shall be given unto it but the sign of the Prophet Jonas for as Jonas was three dayes and three nights in the Whales belly so shall the Sonne of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth Mat. 12.39 40. Jonas 1.17 And what shall I say of the Apostle Paul who also in his 1 Ep. to the Corinthians c. 10. to the 12. v. signifies that the history it self of Exodus was an Allegory of the Christian people that was to come Moreover Brethren I would not saith he that ye
Glory and Dominion through all ages for ever Amen FINIS THE PROFIT OF BELIEVING Very usefull Both for all those that are not yet resolved what Religion they ought to embrace And for them that desire to know whither their Religion be true or no. Written by S. Augustine LONDON Printed by ROGER DANIEL In Lovels Court near Pauls Church-yard 1651. The Preface To the well-disposed READER Learned Reader I Know thou art not ignorant that of all the affairs and businesses in this world there is none of that consequence and importance unto thee as the saving of thy soul and that our Blessed Saviour who knew best of all the mestimable value thereof and vouchsafed to redeem it at so dear a rate as with his own pretious bloud plainly declared the importance thereof when he said in the Gospel Mat. 16.16 What is a man profited if he shall gain the world nnd loose his own soul Or what shall he give in exchange thereof Wherefore let me advise thee to seek out and embrace the true Faith and Religion for that without such a Faith according to the Apostle Heb. 11.6 it is impossible to please God and without pleasing of him it is impossible to be saved If thou thinkest that thou hast found out the truth already and that thou dost embrace it then give me leave to tell thee that the world at this present abounds with an hundred heresies at least the embracers whereof shall not according to S. Pauls doctrine Gal. 5.20 inherit the kingdome of God and yet as the same Apostle doth affirm Ephes 4.5 there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptisme so that it is an hundred to one but that thy Faith and thy Religion are false and thy salvation is in danger thereby Is there not then great reason that thou shouldest well consider whither the Faith and Religion which thou embracest be true or no when upon this resolution depends thy fruition of unspeakable blisse or intolerable suffering of endlesse pains for all eternity How to find out the true Faith Religion it is a matter of very great difficulty not onely by reason that there are many faiths and religions in the world and of all these there is but one true and all the rest be false but also for that the controversies debated now adayes are so many and so intricate that few have leasure to study them and fewer ability to conceive and understand them yet the zeal of learned Writers hath not been wanting to satisfie men herein But what age since the Apostles dayes hath brought forth any man so able to perform so great a task as was that incomparable Doctor S. Augustine lib. 3. de Eccles fol. 170. who as Doctour Field asserteth was the greatest and chiefest of the antient Fathers and the most famous of all the Divines which the Church hath had since the Apostles time and as Doctour Covell affirmeth in his answer to Master Burges pag. 3. hath farre excelled all others that have been or are like to be hereafter those onely excepted that were inspired by the Holy Ghost both in Divine and Humane knowledge What man since the Apostles dayes could ever so well discern true doctrine from false truth from errour and true faith from heresie as could that great S. Augustine who did not onely like another David fight against the Goliah of one heresie but like another Joshua fought the battels of the Lord against all the force and power of heresie in his dayes for fourty years together Wherefore if this great Doctour should have left any advises or instructions behinde him unto any of his dear friends that were then hereticks whereby he taught them how to find out the true faith and religion amongst so many heresies ought not such instructions to be greatly desired and if any such could be found to be highly esteemed and diligently perused Surely thou wilt say that coming from so great a Doctour and being so proper and necessary fot these times without doubt they ought Why then Learned Reader give me leave to present unto thee a learned Treatise of his which he sent unto his dear and learned friend Honoratus to draw him from the Manichean heresie to the true Religion I durst not presume to tender it unto thee in this poor English habit were I not confident that thou seekest more after the true Religion and the saving of thy soul then after vain eloquence the entising words of humane wisdome 1 Cor. 2.4 but I will assure thee under this poore attire thou wilt find a rich and a learned discourse of great S. Augustine not onely very profitable for those that are not yet resolved in point of Religion but also for them that dere to be satisfied whither the faith and Religion which they embrace be true or no. If the stile be displeasing and ungratefull unto thee know that very many of the African Fathers have harsh stiles besides consider how hard a matter it is to teach a native African to speak true English In this work first he shews how the old Testament is to be expounded and defends the Authority of it against the Manichees that rejected it Secondly he overthrowes that Manichean principle That nothing is to be believed in point of Faith which is not first by reason made manifest and evident unto the Believer In the third place he adviseth fervent and frequent prayer peace and tranquility of mind and a sequestration of affections from terrene things as aids necessary for the finding out the truth then declaring that Christ hath raised a very great and a famous Church consisting of all Nations which is to continue very visible and conspicuous even to the worlds end he exhorts Honoratus to addresse himself unto the Pastours and Teachers thereof and to learn of them the true faith and Religion This way of proceeding to find out the truth is far more short and easie then by the examination of all the points of controverted doctrine by their conformity to the holy Scriptures for it consists in two points onely first in seeking out which of all the Churches is the Church of Christ and secondly whither this Church can erre or no. For the finding out of the Church S. Augustine proposed four marks unto Honoratus Unity Universality Sanctity and Apostolicall Succession the which are set down very plainly in Scripture The Unity of the Church is twofold in body and in faith in regard of the first our Saviour saith his Church is one fold and hath one shep-heard Joh. 10.16 and the Apostle calls it one body 1 Cor. 12.13 In respect of the second S. Paul earnestly exhorted the Corinthians 1 Cor. 1.10 to speak the same thing and that there be no division amongst them but that they be perfectly joyned together in the same mind and in the same judgement and he beseeched the Ephesians to endeavour to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Ephes 4.3 4 5. affirming
ecclesiasticall decree doth restraine us but the authoritie also of the Apostles censure deterreth For all men know how gravely how severely how seriously the blessed Apostle S. Paul inveigheth against certaine which with great levitie Gal. 1. Were so soon transferred from him that called theÌ„ into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel which is not another 2 Tim. 4. That had heaped up to them solves masters according to their own desires averting their ears from truth being converted to fables Having damnation because they have made void their first faith 1 Tim. 5. Whom those men had deceaved of whom the same Apostle in his epistle to the Romans thus writeth I beseech you brethren to mark them that make dissentions and scandaâ—ls contrary to the doctrine which you have learned and avoid them for such do not serve Christ our Lord but their own bolly And by sweet speeches and benedictions seduce the hearts of Innocents Rom. 16. That enter into houses and lead captive silly women loaden with sins which are led away with divers desires alwaies learning and never attaining to the knowledge of truth 2 Tim. 3. Vain speakers and seducers who subvert whole houses teaching the things they ought not for filthy lucre Tit. 1. Men corrupt in their minde reprobates concerning the faith 2 Tim. 3. Proud and knowing nothing but languishing about questions and strife of words that are deprived of the truth that esteem gaine to be pietie 1 Tim 6. 1 Tim. 5. And with all idle they learn to go from house to house not only idle but also full of words and curious speaking things which they ought not 1 Tim. 1. Which repelling a good conscience have made shâ—pwrak about the faith Whose prophane speeches do much grow to impietie and their speech spreadeth as a cancre But that is also worth the noting which is written of them But they shall prosper no further for their folly shall be manifest to all as theirs also was 2 Tim. 2. 2 Tim. 3 When therefore such kind of men wandring up and downe through Provinces and Cities to set their errors to sale came also unto the Galathians who after they had heard them and were delighted with the filthie drugs of hereticall Novelty casting up againe the heavenly Manna of the Apostolick and Catholick doctrine The Apolstle used his authoritie decreeing very severely in this sort But although quoth he we or an Angel from heaven evangelize unto you beside that which we have evangelized be he Anathema Gal. 1. What meaneth this that he sayeth But although we why did he not rather say But although I That is to say although Peter although Andrew although John yea finally although the whole company of the Apostles evangelize unto you otherwise then we have evangelized be he accursed A terrible censure for maintaining the possession of the first faith not to have spared himself nor any other of the Apostles But this is a smal matter Although an Angel from heaven quoth he Evangelize unto you beside that which I have Evangelized be he Anathema he was not contented for keeping the faith once planted to make mention of mans weak nature unlesse also he included those excellent creatures the Angells Although we quoth he or an Angel from heaven not because the holy Angells of Heaven can now sinne but this is the meaning of that he saith Although quoth he that might be which cannot be whosoever he be that goeth about to change the faith which was once planted be he accursed But peradventure he uttered those words slightly and cast them forth rather of humane affection then decreed them by any reason grounded in Gods word God forbid For it followeth and that very earnestly urged very often repeated As I have foretold you quoth he and now againe I tell you If any body evangelize unto you beside that which you have receaved be he Anathema He said not if any man preach unto you beside that which you have receaved let him be blessed let him be commended let him be receaved but Anathema that is separated thrust out excommunicated least the câ—uell infection of one sheep with his poisoned company corrupt the sound flock of Christ But peradventure this was given in commandment only to the Galathians then likewise were these precepts following commanded onely to the Galathians to wit If we live in the spirit in the spirit also let us walk let us not be made desirous of vain glory provoking one an other envying one another Gal. 5. such like which if it be absurd to say and no man doubteth but that they were indifferently commanded to all then certaine it is that as these precepts touching manners include all so likewise those concerning faith and doctrine except none And therefore as it is not lawfull for any to provoke one another to envy one another even so it is unlawfull for any to admit or to receave any other faith or religion then that which the Catholick Church every where teacheth or happily shall we be so mad to say that then it was commanded to curse and anathematize him that preached any otherwise then before had been preached and that now it is not commanded then was that likewise which is there said But I say walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the desires of the flesh then onely commanded but now is not which if it be impious dangerous so to beleeve then of necessitie it followeth that as these precepts of life manners are to be kept of all ages so likewise those set down against innovating of religion and changing of faith are commanded to all posteritie wherfore to preach unto Christian Catholick men besides that which they have received never was lawfull no where is lawfull nor ever shall be lawfull And on the contrarie to say Anathema and curse those which teach otherwise then once hath been received was at all times needful is every where convenient ever shall be requisite Which being so is there any man either so bold that dare teach that which in the Church hath not been taught or of such levitie that will receive ought besides that which he hath received of the Church Let that vessel of election that master of the Gentiles that trump of the Apostles that preacher of the world he that was acquainted with heavenly affairs cry out and again cry out in his Epistles to all men to all times to all places that whosoever preacheth a new doctrine is to be accursed And on the contrary part let certain Frogs corruptible Gnats and Flies such as the Pelagians be reclaim and that to Catholicks We being your Authours quoth they we being your Leaders we being your Interpreters condemn that which before you did hold hold that which before you condemned Cast away your old Faith your Forefathers Laws your Elders Constitutions and receive what a Gods name I tremble to speak for they be so proud and presumptuous that as they cannot be
good conjectures he find that he may have obtained the Grace of God Now the best of that sort especially for beginners seem to be these viz. if he find in himself a great and earnest dislike of his sins past and of himself for them a serious intention never to return to them again a firm purpose to live hereafter according to the law of God and the duties of that state wherein he is a delight and taking pleasure in divine matters and in doing of good works a contempt of the world and of all worldly things lastly a longing desire of the life to come with a wearinesse of this present He that by such signs as these shall perceive that by Gods grace he is become a Christian must also know that in the way of God not to go forward is to go backward and that he onely goeth forward who findeth himself to grow daily stronger and more fervent in the grace of God and in all virtue Now this is chiefly procured by continuall Prayers as we have said elsewhere which no man can make rightly but he that studyeth Simplicity that is to say Sincerity or purity of heart integrity of conversation together with neglect or renouncing of whatsoever is superfluous He therefore that desires to live Christianly according to the duty of that State wherein he intendeth to fix and settle himself must be carefull as we say to live Simply that is Innocently Purely and undissemblingly and in a word answerably in all things to what his profession requireth so as he may be alwayes as much as possible intent upon Divine and Good Things I mean upon the Service of God by Prayer Meditation and other Duties of Religion or upon the Service of his Neighbour by works of mercy spirituall corporall at home and abroad But because it is difficult yea almost impossible to give instructions here proper for all persons by reason of the different estates and conditions of men I shall advise every one who hath desire to live indeed this life of a Christian to addresse himself to some good Ghostly-Father who by his learning and experience may be able to direct him and according to his counsell to govern himself in his spirituall affairs But let him take heed that he fall not into the hands of those luke-warm and indifferent Confessours who have indeed some form or shew of piety but renounce the power thereof It may be thought perhaps very hard to escape such persons who have outwardly pretenses of sanctity and God onely is the discerner of hearts Nay whereas it is said by their fruits ye shall know them though they bee indeed but a kind of hypocrites and dissemblers yet have they some apparence of good works How then shall we know them I say still it shall not be difficult to know them for any man that desires to walk uprightly seeing it is written Light is sprung up even in darknesse to the upright in heart And in another place Your anointing shall teach you all things And even in naturall things we see those which have different forms can never absolutely agree especially if those forms be contrary now the form that is to say the spirit and disposition of a true Christian and of a formalist are as contrary as can be the one that is to say the true Christian looking onely at the service of God the other ever to his own interest therefore 't is impossible they should resemble in all things and consequently impossible that the true Christian who is himself zealous for God and of a right intention should not discern him who is but luke-warm and an hypocrite especially after some conversation and that the Anointing of the Holy Ghost as was said Illuminates him As soon therefore as it appears that the Father whom he hath chosen is one of those who are not as they should be let him fly from him as he would fly from a Serpent for as Solomon saith He that walketh with the wise shall be wise but the friend of fools shall become like unto them But having found a good man indeed let him open the very secrets of his heart to him let him often and plainly confesse his sinnes and according to his advise let him frequent the holy Communion for as we have shewen elsewhere amongst all the Ceremonies of Religion the Sacraments of Pennance of the Eucharist are most efficacious both to cause to augment and to preserve Grace And therefore 't is the duty of every good Christian to keep himself diligently in estate to frequent those Sacraments with devotion After that a man is thus become a Christian and labours to live Christianly the Third precept I am to give him is This That he consider well that by many Tribulations we must enter into the king dome of God For we say in Christian Religion that to live well we must do good and suffer evill and so persevere unto death He therefore that desires to live like a Christian must prepare and fit himself for tribulation according to that of the wise man My sonne when thou comest to serve God saith he stand in fear and prepare thine heart for Temptation because adversity foreseen doth lesse trouble us And that he may more easily endure that which comes let him often remember the labours and passions of our Blessed Saviour and of his Saints as well of the New as the Old Testament let him read frequently the histories and lives of the Saints because as the Apostle saith Whatsoever things are written for our learning they are written that we by Patience and Consolation of the Scriptures might have Hope let him often yea continually if it were possible haue before his eyes the shortnesse of this life and the eternity of that which is to come that is to say the eternity of our glory or pains For seeing nothing can hinder but that this short life of ours must quickly passe away that at the end of this we must of necessity arrive at the other which never shall have end whosoever shall seriously and duely think of this will surely lesse regard the troubles of the world nay he will think himself happy if by them he can escape those eternall pains of hell and gain heaven though at last He must also remember that God Almighty hath prepared most excellent rewards for all those who for his Sake suffer temptations and persecutions here as it is written Eye hath not seen nor the ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man what things God hath prepared for them that love him He that thinks of this will not certainly much shrink at any temporary tribulations but rather be ready to cry out confessing with the Apostle that the passions of this present life are not equall to the Glory which is to come which shall be revealed in us by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed
should be ignorant how that all our Pathers were under the cloud Exod. 13.21 Num. 14.14 Deut. 1.33 Psal 78.14 and all passed through the sea Exod. 14.22 Josh 4 23. Psal 78.13 and were all Baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea and did all eat the same spirituall meat and did all drink the same spirituall drink for they drank of the spirituall Rock that followed them and the Rock was Christ but with many of them God was not well pleased Num. 24.28 and 26.65 for they were overthrown in the wildernesse Now these things were our figures or examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted Psalm 106.14 Neither let us worship Idols as some of them did as it is written Exod. 32.6 The people sate down to eat and drink and rose up to play Neither let us commit fornication as some of them did and there fell in one day three and twenty thousand men Num. 25.9 Neither let us tempt Christ as some of them tempted him and were destroyed by serpents Numb 21.6 Neither let us murmure as some of them murmured and they perished by the destroyer Numb 14.37 And all these things happened to them in a figure or for an example but they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come The same Apostle useth also a certain Allegory which is much to our purpose because the Manichees are wont to alledge it in their disputations and boast of it when writing to the Galathians he saith Gal. 4.22 23 24 25 26. For it is written that Abraham had two sonnes the one by a bond-maid Gen. 16.15 the other by a free-woman Gen. 21.2 but he that was by the bond-maid was born according to the flesh but he that was by the free-woman was born according to promise which things are said by an Allegory for these are the two Testaments the one from the mount Sina which gendreth to bondage which is Agar for Sina is a mountain in Arabia adjoyning to Hierusalem that now is and is in bondage with her children But Hierusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all Here therefore those too too wicked men whilest they endeavour to frustrate the Law do enforce us to allow and approve of those Scriptures for they diligently observe that it is said that they are in bondage that are under the Law and they often alledge that last above the rest Galath 5.4 Christ is become of no effect unto you that are justified by the Law ye are falne from Grace We grant all these things to be true neither do we say that that Law is necessary but onely for â—ose unto whom bondage is yet profiâ—able and expedient and therefore thaâ—t it was fitly and commodiously ordained that such men as could not be reclaimd and withdrawn from sinning by reason ought to be constrained by sucha law namely by the threats and terrours of those punishments which even fools themselves can perceive and apprehend from which when the grace of Christ doth free us it doth not condemn that Law but it invites us for the time to come to obey his charity and not to serve and be subject to the terrour of the Law For that is a Grace that is to say a Benefit which they that yet desire to be under the bonds of the Law do not understand that the Divine Majesty hath imparted unto them whom Paul the Apostle doth deservedly reprove as though they were Infidels because they did not believe that they are now freed by our Lord Jesus Christ from that servitude and bondage whereunto they were subject for a certain time by Gods most just order and disposing Hereupon it is that the same Apostle saith Gal. 3.24 The law was our Pedagogue or usher in Christ he therefore gave unto men a Pedagogue whom they should fear who gave them afterwards a master whom they should love and yet neverthelesse in those precepts and Commandments of the Law which it is not lawfull for Christians now to use such as are either the Sabbath or Circumcision or the Sacrifices and whatsoever is of that sort so great mysteries are contained and comprehended that every godly man may understand that there is nothing more pernicious and hurtfull then that whatsoever is comprised therein should be understood according to the letter that is to the native sense of the words and nothing more wholesome and profitable then to have it expounded according to the spirit or spirituall sense and understanding hence it is that the letter killeth but the spirit quickeneth or giveth life 2 Cor. 3.6 hence it is that in the reading of the Old Testament the self same veil remaineth untaken away because in Christ it is made void vers 14. for not the Old Testament but the veile thereof is made void in Christ to the end that may be understood and made manifest by him which without him is hidden and obscure and therefore the same Apostle immediately after saith But when thou shalt turn to Christ the veil shall be taken away vers 16. but he doth not say that the Law or the Old Testament shall be taken away they are not therefore taken away by our Lords grace as though unprofitable things lay hidden and were covered there but rather the veil or cover is taken away wherewith wholesome and profitable things were covered and kept close This is the benefit which they reap and receive who with a studious and a devout mind and not with a troubled and wicked spirit do seek after the sense of those Scriptures and both the order of things and the causes of what is said and done and so great an accord of the Old Testament with the New even to the last tittle and so great mysteries and secrets of figures are clearly and plainly demonstrated and shewn that all the things that are found out by interpreting them may enforce men to confesse and grant that they are miserable and wretched that will condemn these things before they have attained to the knowledge of them Touching those words of the Apostle The letter killeth but the spirit quickneth as they are here expounded by S. Augustine he passeth this judgement that he did more conveniently in his opinion expound them in his book De Spiritu Litera though this sense is not to be rejected Lib. 1. Retract c. 14. CHAP. IV. Of three wayes whereby men fall into errour THat for the present the depth and profoundneste of knowledge and science being set aside I may so treat with thee as I think I ought to treat with my familiar friend that is as well as I can but not so well as I have admired to see very learned men been able to do there be three kinds of errout into which men may fall when they reade any thing I will speak of every one of them The first kind is when that is thought to be true which indeed
that beast his soul should also be plucked away at the same time to the torments of hell No we see the Lyon which killed him became instantly his Guardian and defended his body from the ravening of other beasts yea the very Asse on which he rode remained untouched seeming to assist as it were with an undaunted presence at the Funeralls of his Master which certainly was not without miracle and an evident sign that the man of God in that case was corrected onely unto a temporall death and not at all punished afterward not much unlike to that passage of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.31 where having commemorated the infirmities yea deaths of many of the people for some particular offenses among them he concludes at last thus If we would judge our selves we should not be judged by our Lord but when we are judged we are chastized by our Lord lest we should be condemned with the world And truly he who had deceived this Prophet buryed him afterward in his own monument with sufficient honour yea and took order beside that himself might be afterwards buryed as near as might be unto his corps hoping as we may probably suppose that by this means his own bones might be spared when the time should come according to the prophesie of this very man of God that the good King Josias should cause the bones of many dead people to be dis-interred and those idolatrous altars which had been built unto strange Gods in and about Hierusalem to be defiled therewith For so indeed it came to passe The Monument wherein this Prophet was buryed who foretold those things three hundred years before and the Sepulchre of him who deceived him were spared And so we see out of that naturall affection by which every man loves his own flesh 4 Reg. 23.12 this Prophet was carefull to provide for the temporall security of his body even after death who yet by a lye so much as in him lay cared not to hazzard his soul for ever In this respect therefore that every one naturally loveth his own flesh it was some kind of punishment for the one to know that he should not come to be buried in the Sepulchre of his fathers and in the other if that had been all a providence not unworthy of commendation viz. to lay his bones in a Sepulchre which he was sure none would violate CHAP. VIII THe Martyrs indeed while they fought for the truth vanquished this affection and it was no marvell they should for they who could not be overcome with any torments they suffered alive it had been very strange should they have shrunk at any thing which was to follow after death whereof they should have no sense Doubtlesse God Almighty who suffered not the Lyon so much as to touch the Prophet after he was dead but as it were commanded him to gard that body which he had slain could as easily if he had so pleased have kept off those doggs from the bodies of his servants he could have terrified by a hundred wayes the cruell minds of those people that they should not have dared either to burn their bodies or to throw about their ashes But this was a tryall of those Saints not fit to be wanting to the rest of their sufferings that the fortitude of their Confession which was already well seen in not yielding to any tortures to save their life might yet be consummated as it were and perfected in this that for Christs sake they regarded as little the honour of Sepulture remaining through their Faith in the Resurrection as secure of their bodies as they were of their souls And for this reason also it was fit that such things should be permitted to be done that the Martyrs themselves by such glorious combats should become fervent witnesses of that Truth which from our Saviour they had learned namely That they which thus cruelly tyrannized over their bodies after death had no more to do seeing that whatsoever they should attempt upon the bodies once dead would be nothing nothing I say either in respect of the soul which onely hath sense and was already departed or in respect of God the Creatour whose providence is such as nothing can be lost which he hath made And yet notwithstanding while these Martyrs themselves with infinite courage suffered such things not caring for the love of Christ what became of their bodies dead or alive their fellow-brethren the rest of the Christians had great sorrow at the same time were much afflicted that by reason hereof and of the extream vigilance of their persecutours they could not perform the honours of their funeralls no not so much as to procure privately the least Relick of them Christians in old times used diligence to get any small relicks of Saints as the same history sheweth So as when no evil at all touched them who were killed either that their bodies were torn in pieces or their bones burnt or their ashes cast abroad yet in the living we see there was much sorrow and affliction because they were not able to do that for their friends which this naturall affection seemed to require that is there was in them a great deal of fense for that of which the dead had no sense and much compassion as I may so say where indeed was no Passion at all CHAP. IX According unto which kind of miserable compassion as it may be called we reade those men were highly commended by King David who had buried that is 2 Reg 2.5 shewed such pity unto the dry bones of Saul and Jonathan But can any pity be shewen to them who have no sense of misery Or shall we say that this agreeth with the opinion of Virgil that deceased people cannot passe that river of Hell cannot come at the Elysian fields nor be at rest till their bodies be buried God forbid that Christianity should admit such a Paradox If that were true millions of Martyrs were in a miserable case whose bodies were never buried yea and the Truth it self had much deceived them saying Fear not them who kill the body and afterward have no more to do if they could do them so great mischief yet after death as to hinder their passe unto their desired rest But seeing this is so undoubtedly false and that for certain the want of buryall hurteth faithfull souls no more then it doth advantage an infidell to be buried sumptuously what may the reason then be that the good and religious King David should so highly commend them who buried Saul and his son Certainly it was nothing but this viz. the good affection with which their hearts were touched who buried them and that it seemed to be affliction to them that such calamity should befall the bodies of others as out of that naturall love which all men bear to themselves they would never wish to their own and that they were content yea studious while they lived and knew what they did to
given by the spirit the word of wisdome and to another the word of knowledge according to the same spirit To an other faith in the same spirit to another the grace of doing cures in one spirit to an other working of miracles to an other kinds of tongues to an other prophesie to an other discerning of spirits to an other interpretation of tongues And all these worketh one and the same spirit dividing to every one according as he will Of all which spirituall Gifts reconed up by the Apostle he that hath the discerning of spirits he onely is the man who knoweth the things we speak of as they ought to be known CHAP. XVII ANd such most probably was that Holy Person John the Monk whom the good Emperour Theodosius the Elder was pleased to consult concerning the event of the civill war for this man had also the gift of Prophesie as I doubt not concerning those gifts but as every one might have any one in particular and alone so How S. Aug. reverenced monks as it pleased God some one had many as this John for example of whom it is recounted that a certain woman very devout and religious being as it were passionately desirous to see him and labouring by her husband to procure it some way or other with the Holy man it not being his manner to admit the conversation of women upon any terms he refused but yet Go saith he tell your wife she shall see me at night but it shall be in her sleep and so she did The good man appeared to her and instructed her in all the duties of a faithfull wife as she her self as soon as she did awake told her husband describing the man of God to him in such form and shape as he knew him to have This truly I have heard reported by one who had it from the parties themselves The manner how apparitions are made a grave and honourable personage and worthy I think of all credit But as to the matter if I my self had ever seen that Saintly Monk as report of him that he was a man of most sweet conversation and wont most patiently to hear what men propounded to him and most wisely to give answer I would have enquired of him something pertaining to this question that is Whither himself or which is all one his spirit in the figure of his body did indeed come unto that woman in her sleep in such manner as we men dream of our selves in the shape of our bodies or else that himself being otherwise busied or sleeping yea perhaps dreaming too this vision happened to the woman by an Angel or by some other means and that he by the spirit of prophecy knowing before-hand when such a vision should be vouchsafed unto her was pleased by a kind of promise thereof to gratifie the desires of that good woman For if himself in person were present at the time of that vision certainly it was by speciall nay by wonderfull grace and priviledge that he so was not by nature or any proper faculty of his own And whither the woman saw him personally and really present or no yet surely something of like nature it was to that we reade of in the Acts of the Apostles concerning Saul Act. 9.11 of whom our Lord Jesus speaking to Ananias tells him that Saul had seen Ananias coming to him c. when as Ananias himself as yet knew not Saul nor any thing of the businesse Yea and which way soever of these that man of God should have answered me I would yet have proceeded further with him concerning the Martyrs and asked him in what manner it is that they are present either in mens sleep or otherwise to such persons as have the favour to see them sometimes viz. when and how they please and chiefly how they are present when devils in mens bodies do cry out confessing that they are tormented by them and do beseech the Martyrs to spare them Why God Almighty dispenseth his favours at the memory and intercession of Martyrs or whether such things be done indeed and immediately by Angelicall powers onely yet in the honour and commendation of Martyrs as God is pleased to command for the good of us men the Martyrs themselves in the mean time remaining in perfect rest attending wholly unto an other and much better vision wherein though separated from us yet their charities cease not to pray for us For of a truth at the Martyrs S Devils tormented by the relicks of Martyrs Gervasius and Protasius in Millain the devils did expresly and by name confesse besides sundry persons that were deceased Saint Ambrose Bishop of the place who was then alive Saints living absent torment devils in possessed bodies and entreated that he would spare them yet was he at that time busied elsewhere about other matters and knew nothing of that which passed Now supposing these things to be done sometimes as I have said by the Martyrs themselves present and sometimes by the presence of Angels by what signs they may be discerned or distinguished the one from the other none I suppose can certainly know or determine but he onely who hath the proper gift thereof which gift is distributed unto every one who hath it by the Spirit of God according as himself pleaseth That holy man John A wonderfull humility in S. Aug. mixed with great Christian piety 't is very like would have satisfied me in all these points at least thus far that either by his teaching me I should have learnt and perceived the things I heard to be true or else not being able to perceive them my self I should yet believe them upon his credit who did both know them and affirm them to be so Nay if perchance he should answer me out of holy Scripture and say Enquire not of things too high for thee Ecclus. 3 search not after things that be too hard but what our Lord hath commanded thee think on that alwayes yet even this also I should take in good part For surely there being many things so obscure and intricate that we can hardly expect to attain them perfectly in this life it should be no small advantage but to know clearly and certainly that they are not to be enquired further after as when a man studies hard to learn a thing which he supposeth perhaps will be much for his profit yet I think it doth him no harm when an other man rightly informs him how to do as well without it CHAP. XVIII TO conclude therefore things standing thus as hath been said we are not to imagine that any thing we do for the dead doth profit them save that onely which we beg for them of Almighty God by the sacrifices which we make to him on their behalf Masse Almes and Prayer profitable for the dead accord to S. Austin that is to say by the Holy Sacrifice of the Altar by Almes or by our own prayers yea even these advantage not all for whom they are made but such onely Prayers and Masses for the dead profit onely such who died in Gods Grace whose former life hath deserved that such good offices should profit them after death But because we our selves discern not certainly among the dead who are such and who are not such it is thought more expedient to do these things in generall for all the faithfull departed A pious and prudent discourse to the intent that none be omitted to whom such favours may of right belong For it is much better if it so fall out that some thing superfluous be done in regard of those who receive neither good nor harm by them then that any thing necessary should be wanting to those who have need Howbeit every man performeth these things with more diligence and devotion for his particular friends then otherwise as expecting the same measure of Charity afterwards from his own But as to this matter of Funerall and all that solemnity which we use about interring the body whatsoever is spent or done that way it is no succour or salvation to the soul but an office of pure humanity agreeable unto and issuing from that affection whereby all men naturally love their own flesh The final resolution of the question that it is good carefully to bury the dead and also to bury them in places consecrate to Martyrs and when their reliques are the reason of it yea and think it reasonable that in some cases a man should have care of his neighbours body as well as of his own and in this case especially when the spirit is gone to whom it did belong when time was to uphold and govern it And truely if they who believe not the resurrection of the flesh do yet perform such things to their dead how much more ought we to do so who believe not onely that the dead body shall rise again and live for ever but that the performance of such good offices towards them is it self in some sort a testimony of that Faith But that we bury them at the Memories of the Martyrs as I have said before in this respect onely it seems to me to advantage the dead namely that thereby the affection of his friends praying for him and commending him to the Patronage of these martyrs may be increased Thus have you my answer framed as well as I could unto such points as you thought expedient to enquire of me if it seems overlong I desire you would pardon me and impute it to the delight and affection I have to hold discourse with you As for the book it self I intreat your venerable Charity would let me know by your letters ere long what you think of it I believe it will be much more welcome for the bearer's sake viz. our Brother and fellow-Priest Candidianus whom for the report your letters gave of him I received with all affection and dismissed again as much against my will For verily he much comforted us with his presence in Christs Charity and to speak but the truth I complied with your desires much upon his instance For indeed your letters found me so distracted with other cares that you may attribute not a little to his daily solliciting and minding me thereof if you receive any competent answer to your question Deo Gratias