of the land which was Sampsons stratagem with foxes firebrandes to burne the Philistimes corne Or wheÌ„ they cut off the convoies block vp a beleaguered towne so that it cannot take in new prouisions which is the new militarie discipline of these times when by breaking the staff of bread and causing cleannes of teeth the enemies prevaile more then by their owne courage and force of armes Or else when in times of peace aud plentie our great Corne-masters will make a dearth by hoording vp their graine that they may the better enhance the price of it Suffering the bowells of the poore to be emptie while their store-houses are full and with a pittiles eye beholding their needy brethren whil'st they cannot but knowe that mise and ratts and other vermine revell in their garners There are other waies in which the hand of man may concurre to a famine Therefore David refusing those two vnder that phrase submits himselfe here to the Pestilence by submitting himselfe to the hand of the Lord. And of the Lord alone that he would visit immediatly without deputing or substituting any vnmercifull creatures to that worke of vengeance For he is facile and exorable slow to conceiue a wrath and loath to execute it when it is conceiued in rigor and strictnes For his mercies are great Which is the strong Inducement and Reason of Dauids choice to cast himselfe vpon the Lord. And obserue his emphaticall expressions He doth not say mercie but mercies in the plurall more then one Not few mercies but many mercies nor many litle but many and great mercies nor there a stoppe but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very many in their number very great in their dimensions Nay they are not onely many and great but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very many great and tender mercies as the Septuagint well render the Originall Not by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The very bowells of motherly compassion for which the Evangelist's oftimes use 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His mercies are extended according to the extension of all our miseries and elevated according to the elevation of our sinnes Be they neuer so many neuer so weightie yet the mercies of the Lord are ouer all his workes and ouer all those which we may most properly call our workes It is a high degree of mercie that although I haue offended in many things yet I might haue fallen into more and more foule transgressions had not his mercie restrain'd me It is an addition of mercie that the Lord who spared not the Angels which kept not their first estate but presently cast them downe from Heauen is long suffering towards me and expects my returne to him almost at mine owne leasure Non continebam à sceleribus tu á verberibus abstinebas He farther enlargeth his mercy when this long expectation and forbearance brings mee to repentance and that hee toucheth my heart with compunction and remorse Againe when his mercie leaues me not in an vnfruitfull repentance in the bitternesse of my soule buâ— accepts of it and seales vnto me the comfort of the remission of my sinnes Yet he followes this with another giuing me the power to amend my life and hereafter to walke more cautelously Nether are his mercies yet shortened but new euery morning nay euery moment minute in that he giues me constancie and perseuerance that I fall not into a recidiuation a relapse Lastly there is the height of mercy when he giues me a miserable sinner who am not worthy so much as to lift vp mine eyes to heauen an assured hope of obtaining heauen Here are seauen degrees of mercy like those seauen loauâ—s wherewith thousands were refreshed And I might with St Bernard gather vp many baskets full of the fragments of each of them But what heart can comprehend what discourse can containe those many very great and tender mercies that know no other bounds but aeternitie The mercie of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting ab aeterno per praedestinationem in aeternum per glorificationem Great are the mercies of the Lord euen in his executions of Iustice 1 That he will at all shew vs so great a testimonie of his loue as to correct vs. Quos amo arguo That Ezech. 16. 42. I will be no more angry is an euident token of the Lords greatest anger Tunc magis irascitur cum noâ— irascitur Let fauour be shewed to the wicked hee will not learne righteousnes sayth the Prophet Isa. 26. 10. The presumptioÌ„ of impunity will breed impudence in sinning and that not stay till it haue brought in most fearefull impenitency Super omnem irammiseratio ista as St. Bernard exclames such forbearance such conniuence is beyond all vengeance Let then this mercy of the Lord first shew it selfe that he will be pleased to disciplinate and correct vs and not leave vs to our owne corrupt imaginations not giue vs ouer to the inuentions of our owne hearts and in the second place he will not forget to be a Father of mercies towards vs in the measure of his corrections It is a fearefull thing indeede to fall into the hand of the Lord but it is then onely when his left hand of Clemencie doth not know what his right hand of iustice and seuerity purposeth to inflict But such iustice without mercy onely attendes those that haue reiected and conteâ—ned both Otherwise there is euer a hand of mercie either ready to stay the hand of the Lords seuerity towards the paenitent as the Angell held Abrahams hand when he was striking or at the least to breake the force of the blowes to moderate and temper them according to our patience As the Prophet Habbakuk makes it his petition In wrath remember mercy so our last translation hath it but the vulgar makes it a confident perswasion Cum iratus fueris misericordiae recordaberis Indeede wee haue Gods owne word nay his oath for it as Dauid had Once haue I sworne by my holinesse that I will not lye vnto Dauid If his children forsake my law I will visit their iniquity with the rod with stripes but it shall be In Plagâ—s filiorum hominum with no more cruell stripes then humane infirmitie can beare as we read the same promise repeated Misericordiam autem non auferam Neuerthelesse my mercy louing kindnesse shall not depart from them Behold then what consolations Dauid had in the many mercies of the Lord the same are still stretched out ouer vs if as he was a maÌ„ after Gods heart we be after Dauids What euer calamitie or pressure be vpon vs we must keepe holy Iobs aequanimitie and good temper to receiue evill as well as good from the hand of the Lord. But when the visitation is particularly discerned to be the Plague as Dauid here desired when we see that the hand of the Lord is vpon those houses
'T is the heauiest calamity man can suffer vnder Iniquitates meae grauatae sunt super me cryes the Psalmist Mine iniquities ouer-burden me Our blessed Sauiour was so sensible of this weight that in his fearefull conflict in the garden he profest His soule was heauy vnto death They were our sinnes which so deprest his invincible patience that he sweats and that vnnaturally in the bearing of them And in his complaint where he puts the sorrowes of the whole world in ballance against his owne See all ye that passe by if euer sorrow were like my sorrow the reason of that Non sicut which turned the ballance on his side was because the sinne of Mankinde lay in his scale which like a Mine of Lead or as Zachary stiles it Talentum plumbi out-weighed all the rest Now as sometimes a sad story lightens the heart of him that told it and sorrowes finde ease by the relation so doe sinnes Est aliquid fatale malum per verba levare He that hath opportunity to vnfold his griefe hath made the first approach to comfort and he that hath the Grace to acknowledge his fault is in a ready way to pardon There is no affliction so great as his that wants a tongue to vtter it and there is no sinne of such a desperate malignity as the silent sinne when the Offender is dumbe and speechlesse A misery lodg'd in the heart is like an Exhalation inclosed within the Earth which shakes the foundation of Reason and Patience or like a dampe it ouerlayes the Spirits Strangulat inclusus dolor but when it hath found an issue by the Eye to weepe out at or a vent by the tongue streight it growes tamer When once a window is opened to giue it Aire that fume which would haue stifled vs breathes out cleares the roome Such a Meteore such a boysterous Exhalation is sinne What strange convulsions doth it cause within the soule How doth it contract our hopes of Mercy and like an East-winde dry vp and wither our comforts what stormes what guilty conflicts what blacke cloudes of despaire doth it raise in the Conscience but so soone as a sinner recollects himselfe is brought to a remorse how calmely is the storme allayed by a religious contrition how sweetly doth this cloud discharge it selfe when it relents into a showre of penitent teares For 't is the most naturall way for sinne to evaporate by the eye as Elias Cretensis sayes Ex peccati fumo ortae sunt la chrymae Lastly how gently doth this dangerous vapour breathe out by a devout confession I said I will confesse Our Lawes so farre prejudicate silence in a malefactour that waues the ordinary and open way of tryall that they account him a Fellon against himselfe a conspiratour against his owne life and guilty of his owne bloud holding him worthy of no death but such an one as like a monument of shame serues to object his silent contumacy As if it meant to crush out and by weighty expressions force the confession of that fact from the dead body which no perâ—wasion could winne from the conscience whilst the party yet liued Dauid himselfe professes that whilst the remained speechlesse he found a great abatement in his comforts a generall consumption wasting both his body and minde too when I held my tongue my bones consumed Quoniam non protuli ore confessionem ad salutem omnis â—â—rmit as mea in infirmitate consenuit so Saint Augustine paraphrases him Thus you see his silence corrodes and inacerates him euen to the bone but so soone as he opens his mouth and disguises not his sinne straight he findes a spatious enlargement in the forgiuenesse of all his sinnes One sayes righly that sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the disease of the soule an Epedemicall sickenesse whereof the whole world labours Magnus per totum mundun iacebat aegrotus There is nothing so pernicious to this Malady saith another Father as silence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Silence soments and cherishes the infirmitie Therefore by the rules of cure nothing can be more medicinable then Confession Which in Origens phrase is vomitus sordium a clearing the Conscience of those vitious obstructions which nourish the soules diseases distempering the Complexion of our Faith so as we grow cold in Religion and either want appetite to serue God or capacity to learne his Law or heate of zeale to concoct what we haue learned or palate to taste the comforts which wee should find in applying Gods mercy vnto vs. So that there is not such a speedy redresse of Sinne as a penitent confession Yet not such a Confession as the Church of Rome would submit vs to which is to vse Cassanders words Conscientiae Carnificina quam nemo moderatus approbat a racking or torturing the Conscience which no wise man would endure no reasonable man approue Indeed those on that side haue made this which Christ intended the happy instrument of our peace with God as the Master-key to open into all the secrets of Christendome as a Picklock to possesse them of those mysteries of State whose knowledge hath troubled nay endangered all parts of the World where the Romish colours haue bin advanced A tyrannicall way of knowledge to make the Practitioners feared and hated at once 'T is justly theirs Scire volunt secreta domus atque inde timeri A curious Engine wherewith they wring out any small designe that may make against them vnder paine of Damnation if it be not declared but take a libertie to seale vp in secrecy any Deed though neuer so horrid be it Murther or Treason so advantagious to their cause And this though the Confessor knowes being put to his Oathe he may lawfully sweare he doth not since he knowes it only as a secret but not to reueale Intelligitur se nescire ad revelandum aut taliter quod possit dicere They are the very words of Franciscus à Victoria I doe not here derogate from the vse of Confession for by the Churches appointment we practise a forme of publique Confession in our Liturgie Nay in this place we finde a Priuate Confession made by Dauid vnto the Lord which is no lesse necessary for vs then him 'T is against that Auricular Confession of Rome I here speake which so clogges our Christian Liberty that it layes a necessity vpon vs to confesse vnto the Preist or else denies vs our saluation And besides the necessity layed vpon vs it tyes vs â—o an impossibility exacting the particular enumeratioÌ„ of all the Sinnes seueral sorts of Offences whereof we are guiltie A taske which the Prophet Dauid vtterlie declines appealing from this vnjust imposition in the words of the Psalme Who knowes how oft he offends Lord cleanse me from my secret sinnes Let the otherside then for the countenance of their way of Confession vrge that Embassie addrest to Charles the Fift from the
Gouernours of Norimberg touching the reviving and re-establishing of Auricular Confession amongst them vpon a pretence that since that custome was left off their Common-wealth swarm'd with sinne much more then formerly Which proposition of theirs the Emperour in effect did but scoffe at and deride euen by the Confession of Lorinus the Iesuite who reports it Intimating vnto them that they would neuer haue sought so much at his hands but that it seem'd they wanted a sufficient engine to examine Malefactors supposing that the Ecclesiasticall Rack when the Preist should vndertake them in an Auricular Confession would make them discouer more theÌ„ the politicke Rack or all the tortures the publicke Executioner could giue them Let them object to vs as Eugenius the Fourth in the Councell at Florence did to the Greekes ur vestri sacerdotes Pontifices non confitentur Why doe not your Preists exact this Confession As we refuse not priuate Confession made to God nay sometimes a priuate Confession to our ghostly Father the Minister who hath authoritie to divest vs of any scruples which may arise in our Consciences and to pronounce an Absolution vpon our hearty Repentance Yet we will not loose or betray our Freedome so much as to do that Act by Constraint which ought to be as free and voluntary as Davids resolution in this place I said I will confesse We haue no reason to stand to the courtesie of Rome for that Pardon which Christ hath freely giuen vs nor yet to suffer her MerchaÌ„ts to erect a new Staple or put an Impost vpon our saluation which is exempt from all Custome from any acknowledgment saue onely to Christ whose worke it was We haue no cause but to be very well assured that we may be saued without Auricular Coufession since in that sacred Booke which we beleeue containes all that may conduce to our saluation we finde no tracke or mention of it Bonaventure grants that howeuer the Formall part of Confession i. the power of Absolution were instituted by Christ yet the Materiall part which is the Detection of the sinne and the necessity of disclosing it was not so For at the most it was onely insinuated by Christ but promulgated by St Iames. Confesse your sinnes one to another In which place as Bullinger well inferres they that vnderstand aright will finde a reciprocall obligation layed vpon the Preist to confesse to the People as well as the People to the Preist And for any better Evidence then this to confirme their opinion out of the Gospell I am confident they haue none We finde when our Sauiour cleansed the Leper hee bad him goe and shew himselfe to the Priest and offer the gift which Moses commanded but he bad him not confesse to the Priest And to the adulterous woman he giues a Vade Goe but not to any Confessor Nay we finde no Confession taken from her by himselfe the whole Condition of her Absolution in that place is Vade noli ampliùs peccare Goe and sinne no more But Eckius and others answere that the power of Absolution was not as yet assign'd ouer by Christ vnto his Church and therefore our Sauiour neither practised it himselfe nor sent them vnto any Priest which had it been 't is likely he would haue done Well then graunt him as much as he alleadgeth that the Commission to Absolue was not as yet giuen to the Apostles and it shall appeare that in those very words wherein Christ conveyes this Authority to them Auricular Confession receiues it's deathes wound In the Gospell of St. Iohn when he tels them As my Father sent me so send I you Hee there giues them authority to remit or to retaine sinnes but not to exact any Auricular Confession Hee doth not there erect any Tribunall for the Priests where they should sit as Iudges ouer mens Consciences to acquite or condemne at their pleasure This is not the meaning of to Remit and to Retaine They do not import a Iudiciary power as the Church of Rome vnwarrantably assumes but a Ministeriall power to publish the mercies of God to repentant Sinners and to denounce his vengeance against the obstinate and impenitent This is St. Ieromes Interpretation vpon those words Quicquid ligaveris in terris c. whatsoeuer thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heauen and whatsoeuer thou shalt loose c. Where he sayes that as the Leviticall Priest is said to make the Leper cleane or vncleane because he pronounced him so euen thus the Evangelicall Priests in the Gospell Remit or Retaine sinnes because in their preachings they declare which sinnes are remitted and which retained by God Pro offcio suo cúm peccatorum audierit varietates scit qui ligandus quique solvendus Euen thus Peter Lombard distinguishing Gods way of Binding and Loosing from the Churches sayes that God by himselfe remits sinnes who cleanseth the Soule from all spots and looseth it from the Debt of eternall Damnation but he hath not granted this to his Priests to whom notwithstanding hee hath giuen power of Binding and loosing that is of shewing men to be bound or loosed Thus you may see by how vniust a Title the Church of Rome would vsurpe a Dominion over mens Consciences as she pretends a Soueraignty ouer the world ayming at Supremacy in all Either wilfully or ignorantly mistaking our Sauiours Commission for Binding and Loosing as Hierome complaines Istum locum Episcopi Presbyteri non intelligentes aliquid siâ—i de Pharisaeoorum assumunt supercilio c. Let me but mention to you likewise vpon what slight pretences they ground their necessity of Auricular Confession cosening the ignorant people with that smooth and plausible imposture wherein they say the Priest cannot remit sinnes vnlesse he know them and he cannot know them vnlesse men wâ—ll confesse them vnto him Then which Proposition nothing can be more false For the Priest may Preach and Publish Remission or Retention of sinnes to those whose faults he knowes not And those men by a faithfull application of what they heare may receiue the Remission of their sinnes who neuer reuealed them to the Minister but confessed them vnto God alone Sola enim cordis confessio poenitenti ad salutem animae sufficit veraciter which way of Confession is truely and onely necessary vnto Saluation I said I will confesse my sinnes vnto the Lord. But I vrge this point no farther Cassanders temperate conclusion shall bring me off I am of opinion saith he There had beene no Controversie about this point of Confession had not some ignorant and importunate Physitians corrupted this wholesome Medicine with their drugges of Tradition Est enim multis invtilibus traditiunculis infecta c. quibus conscientijs quas extricare levare debebant laqueos iniecerunt tanquam tormentis quibusdam excarnificârunt By which meanes they haue made it onely a snare to entangle and involue the simple
thee in the teeth with them and in the very next words he â—â—atly prohibits the necessity of such priuate confession leauing 〈…〉 vpon the scope of this text Thou art not to confesse to thy fellow seruant least he may divulge it but to him that is thy Lord that careth for thy soule to him that is most mild and curteous to him that is thy Physitian I said I will confesse my sinnes vnto the Lord. But doth God need an informer Did he not know Dauid's sinne before his confession or cannot he know mine vnlesse I tell him Yes surely he knew them before But he knew them as my Iudge not as my Confessor He knew them but not that way which most delighteth him and is best for me in a repentance In a word he knew them before but he knew them to my Condemnation He knew them not to my Comfort so as to forgiue them till he receiued them from mine owne mouth I said I will confesse my sinnes and thou forgauest Like the tidings of release vnto a Captiue or a repriue vnto a coÌ„demned man so is the sound of this word Tu remisisti thou forgauest It is the savour of life vnto life a reuiuing or recouery from the death of the soule Sinne and an earnest of a new-life both in the Body and the Soule in the new Ierusalem 'T is the voice of the Turtle the true language of the Gospell deriued from his lippes that left the blessing of his peace vpon all that loue the Peace of his Church that legend of mercy which Christ commanded his Apostles to divulge in all parts of the world for the remission of sinnes This was the end of Christs comming into the world to saue sinners his owne peculiar worke who alone as he hath the property to haue mercy so hath he the sole power to forgiue Quis potest peecaâ—ae dimittere nisi solus Deus That the Church hath a power to remit sinnes also is true in a subordinate sense that is a Ministeriall a Declaratory power as our Liturgie fully expresses it and hath giuen power and commandement to his Ministers to Declare and Pronounce to his people being penitent the Absolution and remission of their sinnes c. But he hath giuen them no Iudiciary or Authoritatiue power to pardon absolutely of themselues This is Gods prerogatiue he alone doth that act the Church but reports it he signes the deed the Church as a witnes testifies it he hath the originall power to absolue the Church hath power not to dispence but to pronounce his absolution he grantes and seales the pardon the Church conveyes and publishes it he hath the possession the true inheritance as of the Throne so of the keyes of Dauid the Church hath but the vse and custody of those keyes by which she opens and shuts yet not at her owne pleasure as if she could hang new locks where she listed or make new dores for sinners to goe out at but with a limitation Shee must not presume to goe farther then those Keyes lead her So many roomes as Christ hath opened by those keyes she may opeÌ„ or she may shut The Ministers who are his Dorekeepers should take too much vpoÌ„ them if they should presume beyond this Mistake me not I doe not in any sense of diminution call the Ministers Dorekeepers as if I would inferre their office determined at the Church-doore No their keyes open farther then so and by vertue of them they may goe as high as Gods Presence Chamber the Church there to receiue and to deliuer his messages to his people to signifie his pleasure to them either for the Remission or Reteining of their sinnes but beyond this their keyes will not lead them They cannot open Gods Priuy Chamber where all his secret Counsellâ— â—his Acts of mercy or of iudgement of Pardon or Condemnation are concluded this is accessible to none but God himselfe They are not able with any key in their bunche to open that doore And if by violeÌ„ce they shall attempt to breake it open as the Successors of Peter haue done for many yeares sitting there as Counsellours 〈◊〉 in Commission with God nay sitting 〈◊〉 Godâ—â—aith â—aith St. Paul to condemne or to absolue 〈◊〉 him let them know in this they haue committed a Riot not lesse then Lucifers and their aspiring insolence muâ—t expect a Praecipitation as violent and deepe as his I haue almost lost my selfe in this Labyrinth of Pâ—pâ—ll vsurpation I retrait to my teâ—t in S. Ambrose his words who hath briefly stated and limited the Power of Preists Absolution In the forgiuenesse of sinnes saith he men vse their Ministery but exercise no right of any Authoritie men aske an men pronounce but the Deity graunts Tu remisisti Thou forgauest Which speech doth not onely intimate his Power but his readines to forgiue See in what a forward terme Dauid expresses Gods alacriâ—â— and propension to mercy setting it downe in the Prâ—terperfect tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 thou hast forgiuen as a thing past in graunt before the suit was commenced Seneca spake it of the Court 〈…〉 praecipâ—â—s beneficia lenta sunt They were prone and speedy to doe injuries but their benefitâ— came slowlie from them and with difficulty ' â—is otherwise with God he is of no 〈◊〉 Power nor doth he for slow his faucâ—â—s 〈…〉 price vpon them by delay God is not slow or 〈◊〉 concerning his promise saith S. Peter Or if he be slow he is slow to nothing but to wrath only In that Act which was the swifâ—est exclusion of his vengeance the Floud howsoeuer theâ— that suddaine Inundation surprised the World came vpon it vnawares whilst they were eating and drinking as our Sauiour saith yet when it was done He is sorrie Though he repented he had made man and from that repentance put on a resolution to destroy him Yet after his destruction he relents into mercy he is sorry he had demolished and annihilated his creature by water though most deservedly and then makes a Promise and Couenant neuer to destroy him so againe Did he not giue Abraham leaue to dispute and argue Sodom's reprieue to plead a Pardon for it after his sentence was past and the Executioner ready to giue fire Yet for all that he heard him cut till haâ—â— said all he could say till he had made all his Abatements from Fiftie euen to the last Ten. And when he sate downe before Niniveh and had beleaguered it with his Iudgements yet you see he giues them faire Quarter Fourty Dayes to parley and to make their Composition with Him Nay he allowed Rebellious Israel Fourty yeares Fourty yeares long was I grieued with this generation so slow is he to wrath so loath to execute his vengeance And yet He is not so slow to punish but he is by many degrees swifter to shew mercy and to forgiue Nescit tarda molimiâ—a spiritus
sancti gratia saith S. Ambrose He that knowes all things is ignorant only of wayes to delay his Mercies which are as instant as his worke was in the first Creation Said and Done at once How doe his winged blessings out-flie our suites chiding our sluggishnes in that no diligence we can vse is able to keepe pace with him nor our earliest importunity speedy enough to ouertake his bounty who giues oftner then we can aske and more then we haue capacity to apprehend 'T is not enough that he tarry till we come vnto him vnlesse he preuent vs by comming vnto vs ere we set out that he suspends his blessings till we seeke him vnlesse he first seeke and call vpon vs as he did vpon Eliah What doest thou here Eliah that he stay till our petitions wooe him vnles his favours first sollicite vs and giue vs cause to thanke him not to aske He thinkes his goodnes hath no aduantage no victory ouer our necessities if he should onely heare vs when we call vnles as he prophesses by his Prophet Esay Antequam clametis ego exaudio he begin to vs and make our answeare before we speake He thinkes his mercy would proue tardy if it expected our suit vnles he granted it before our motion Therefore in the 2 Sam 12. when Nathan admonishes Dauid of two great sinnes he no sooner in a religious humiliation deiects himselfe crying He had offended but the Prophet speedily raises him with the comfortable tidings of his Absolution and in such a Phrase as if God had antedated the pardon before the sinne was committed For he tells him the Lord hath also put away thy sinne Not he will or does but already he hath put away thy sinne You may perceiue a gratious hast too in the remission of his sinne in this place he but confesses and God forgiues him nay saith S. Austin he makes no confession but a promise onely Non iam pronunciat sed promittit se pronunciaturum ille iam dimittit He sayes he will confesse and vpon that promise God immediatly grants him a large pardon Turemisisti Thou forgauest the iniquity of my sinne The extent of his grace is as large as vnlimitted as his mercy is sudden God as he is no slow dilatory God so neither is he a sparing close-handed God as he doth not suspend his fauours or hang long in the deliberation of his pardon to sinners so neither doth he giue them in a lame imperfect fashion but large and full and ample as is himselfe In quo omnis plenitâ—do who is the spring of all bounty He doth not veniam dimiâ—iare distribute his mercy by halfes keepe men betwixt life and death panting betwixt hopes and feares as if he should send a pardon when the prisoner is halfe hanged no Non de dimidiâ sed perfectâ remissione hîc disserit Propheta God doth not lease his pardons for life onely adiourning the short punishment in this world with a purpose to inflict it aeternally in the next His hand is not so scant non arctatur non clauditur fine nullas habet metâ—s Diuina clementia saith Bernard And Hierome in his translation dates this remission with a semper to signifie the duration the continuance of it which is as long and lasting as his goodnes that hath none end Nor yet doth he remit the Eternall punishment and retaine a Temporall to be paid in this world in an imposed pilgrimage or a purgatory hereafter Non solum excluditur satisfactio sed Purgatoriâ—m boldly saith a writer Therefore one of our English Translations reads Thou forgauest the punishment of my sinne Let those then that list to be abused commute or sine for their release at Rome suffer the Pope to pare their saluation and take fees out of Gods Pardons which he bestowes freely we will receiue our Absolution neerer hand and lesse wasted in the carriage Let our Israel trust in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercie and with him is plenteous Redemption Copiosa Redemptio a bounteous remission for he shall wipe out all our sins neither take vengeance on vs in this life nor in the life to come If he do lay a crosse a calamity vpon vs in this life as he did vpon Dauid for the scandall he brought vpon Israel by Vriahs death and the adulterating of his wife afflict vs as he did him in the losse of a child or send a Pestilence to scoure the land as he did his In which sense Euthymius sayes of him Mors remissa est sed noxa vel damnum exigebatur per subsecutas calamitates Yet for all this God doth not inflict this Sub ratione poenae as a vengeance but a chastisement not as a punishment but a fatherly Correction not as a Minister of his wrath but an euidence of his loue For he chasteneth the Children whom he best loues And so you see he corrects the bitternes of his Iudgements with intermingling mercy amongst them Pellit pestem à peste saith one he takes out all malignity from his iudgements as S Paul saith he pluckt out the sting of death O mors vbi aculeus tuus Last of all he doth not onely remit the punishment of the sinne and reteine the Guilt treasuring vp that in diem irae to presse against vs in the last day but he forgiues that too he doth not quench the flame and leaue a sparke behind to kindle his wrath or to incense him hereafter no Tu remisisti iniquitatem peccati mei Thou forgauest the very iniquity of my sinne the enormity the Obliquity as Aquinas calls it So that Intempestiuâ— est hîc Poenae Culpae distinctio that distinction of the punishment and of the guilt is friuolous and out of season here God forgiues the sinne at the very roote And as Elisha when he cured the waters cast salt into the springs so God to make a perfect cure by his Absolution heales vs at the heart because that is the roote of sinne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Septuagint thou forgauest the iniquity the impurity of my heart Thus you may perceiue there are no Arrerages left in Gods Audit he forgiues both the Guilt of the sin the punishment both the suit the damages for he requires nothing but a true confession If we confesse he is faithfull and iust to forgiue vs. This makes a full expiation and attonement for all our sinnes Therefore he that confesses and repents as it were Levies a fine with God to cut off all punishment in the present or in the world to come For this Remisisti is â— remisisti in aeternum our euerlasting quietus est a generall acquittancc for the breadth and extent of it like his mercy which is exceeding broad exceding large and againe like vnto his mercie for the duration and date of it which endureth for euer I am at my farthest euen lost and