Selected quad for the lemma: opinion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
opinion_n	mortal_a	sin_n	venial_a	597	5	12.4318	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59251	A vindication of the doctrine contained in Pope Benedict XII, his bull and in the General Council of Florence, under Eugenius the III concerning the state of departed souls : in answer to a certain letter, printed and published against it, by an unknown author, under this title, A letter in answer to the late dispensers of Pope Benedict XII, his bull, &c., wherein the progress of Master Whites lately minted Purgatory is laid open and its grounds examined ... / by S.W.	Sergeant, John, 1622-1707.	1659 (1659)	Wing S2599; ESTC R12974	85,834	208

hath given us on several occasions And the rather because the authority of our supream Pastor hath already taken notice of and interposed his sharp but justly deserved censures against divers of them and doubtless will proceed against the rest according to their demerits I shall then as to the present concern my self only with this one controversie of the state of those souls which leave this life in the state of Grace but so that they are not as yet fully purged and with those positions and grounds on which this new molded Fabrick of Purgatory stands unless some one Doctrine or other of the Author of it having a neer alliance with the business in hand so offer it self that our discourse and the Subject would be illustrated by it Sect. 4. And first as to the opinion it self he thus delivers it of the middle State acc. 1. I acknowledg sayes he in humane failings a difference betwixt mortal and venial nor do I deny an imperfect remission of mortal impurities but I place not this imperfection in that the sin is totally cancelled the pain only remaining but in the change of an absolute into a conditional affection as it were instead of I will substituting I will not but Oh that I lawfully might c. the affection or inclination he had to temporal good is restrained not extinguished of mortal become venial changed not destroyed Being therefore by the operation of death as it were new molded and minted into a purely spiritual substance he carries inseparably with him the matter of his torment in like manner as he also doth who takes leave of his body with his affections only venially disordered we do not then anywhere imagine a place filled with hellish dishes by which the soul as from an external tormentor suffers a butchery but we are in horrour of the strife and fury of innate affections which is therefore proportioned to the s●ns because springing from them nor ever otherwise possible to be defaced unless the soul by a new conjunction to the body become passive or susceptible of contrary affections c. These are his new apprehensions of the State of Souls in their separation perfectly squared to those Phylosophical grounds he had long before layed in his Peripatetick Institutions Sect. 5. Now as to the order in which this new fabrick of Purgatory and indeed a whole new system of Philosophy and Divinity was made publick it was as I take it this after the Book of the immortality of of the soul fathered on Sir Kenelm Digby Master White appeared himself on the Stage under the name of Thomas the Englishman of the Albi● of the East Saxons where in a moderate volume intituled Peripatetick Institutions to the mind of that most eminent man and most excellent Philosopher Sir Kenelm Digby c. He discovers the great mine of this Phylosophy here the suttleties of Logick the secrets of nature the hidden properties of bodies both heaven and earth are layed open and not only that but we are further led on by an undisolvable chain of unavoidable consequences as is pretended to the abstract notions of metaphysicks to the clear understanding of separated souls intelligences even the existence and attributes of God himself And All this if the Reader hath faith enough to believe for otherwise I am confident he will find but slender satisfaction by most clear and evident demonstrations by a long chain of consequences or a series of Patets Fits sequiturs clarum ests consequens ests confectum ests and the like The Foundations thus laid conformable to this incomparable and I think incomprehensible Peece for never Daughter was liker her Mother issued out some time after his Divinity under this Title Institutiones Sacrae built as he professes in or on Inaedificatae his former Peripatetick Institutions This now containing a perfect Sum or Model of his Divinity as that had formerly done of his Phylosophy And certainly happy it was the Author divided them to our hands and gave us them in several Volumes and under several titles for else it hd been impossible to know where the first ended or the second began this being so perfectly squared to that that in the very entry to his Divinity he banisheth the a Notion of Supernaturality though not the word out of his School the whole design of his new Theology being now in the third age of the Church to evacuate Christian Faith and out of his Phylosophical grounds to mould us up a new demonstrative Religion for nothing is upon any other grounds admitted into this new Theological School of which I give my Reader a full Account Sect. 23 24. c. Sect. 6. In his Peripatetick Institutions then or Philosophy 5 book lesson 1. he lays the foundations of his future Purgatory or the state of Souls in separation and having in the first place laboured to evince That Rational Souls such as those of men are may exist or be without their Bodies He delivers that notion which he desires to imprint in us of a separated Soul in these words nu 9 10 11. Now he who desires to frame to himself in some sort a notion of a separated Soul let him ponder with himself that Object which corresponds to the word Man or Animal as such which when he shall see Abstracts from Place and Time and is a substance by the only necessity of the terms let him conceive the like of a separated soul Then let him attentively consider some self evident and most Natural Proposition in which when he shall have Contemplated That the Object is in the Soul with its proper existence and as it were by it let him think a separated Soul is a Substance that is all other things by the very Connexion of Existencies Lastly When in bodies he shall observe that motion proceeds from the quality of the mover and a certain impulse and that this impulse is derived again from another impulse and so even up to that which is first moved and beyond Let him imagine the soul is a kind of Principle of such impulse whatsoever thing that must be And so he holds on nu 12. What is said of the substance of the soul undoubtedly must be understood too of its proper accidents for since they depend onely on the soul being something of it nay even the very soul it self and it would be more imperfect without them they must run the same fortune with it unless some special reason interpose Out of which he deduces immediately num 13. Whatsoever things then were in the man according to his soul at the instant of his death remain inseparably in the state of separation Wherefore all his resolutions or judgments whether speculative or practical shall remain in it Out of which he deduces in the same Book less 4. num 1. And because the affections in the soul are nothing else but judgements upon which operation does or is apt to follow c. it comes to pass

hear what Pegna writes of him Eymericus sayes he A famous learned and holy man who was appointed the general Inquisitor of the Kingdome of Aragon in the year 1358. which is only 22. years after the Promulgation of this Bull from whence he was called to Avignon by Pope Gregory 11. and there being his Chaplain composed his excellent Directory gathers ten Heresies condemned by this Extravagant and most truly admonishes that so many Catholick verities contrary to those Heresies are thereby prooved and established The place at length out of this so Authentick a Writer I give my Reader at the end of my discourse Letter B. not to interrupt the continued threed of it for by it my Reader will easily observe with what strong confidence the youthful Scholars of this modern School appear in print And if you had been pleased to peruse the continuation of Baronius his Ecclesiastical Annals by Spondanus you would have rested satisfied in this our point for at the year 1333. he thus delivers the opinion of Pope Iohn the 22. then disputed which occasioned this Bull of Benedict his successour For sayes he in that year 1333. as Villanius Rebdorfius the continuator of Nangius and others witness Iohn the 22. then Pope began publickly to treat of what before he had conceived concerning the beatifical vision of Souls what not a few of the ancient both Greek and Latine Fathers Iustinus Ireneus c. did seem to hold That souls now severed from their bodies and duely purged from all stain of sin either in this present mortal life or in the next in Purgatory do not enjoy perfectly the beatifical vision of the divine essence before the last day of Iudgment but do expect the Resurrection of their bodies that together with them they may attain perfect beatitude and to this opinion not as yet altogether reproved or condemned by the holy Church this Pope John himself seemed to incline c. For which reason he gained himself very many Adversaries both among the Cardinals and Prelates and also of other Doctors of Divinity every where and Religious men of all orders And at the year 1334 the same Sp●ndanus delivers that this Pope John the day before he died published a constitution in which he condemned that opinion of which he stood suspected Now Sir when you have perused and weighed these things which I am confident you never dreamt of before for in truth you rested satisfied with what your Solid and cleer-sighted friends had told you of their new devised question of Charity as then disputed you will perhaps observe your error you will see it is not a little heat of youth which presses men of your years to appear in print or a little tickling vein which eggs young men forward to catch their Adversary with an O or an A and pass a witty jest upon him till age and experience hath ripened their discretion which can warrant a Book in the publick view of discreet persons You will be convinced that you were mistaken by your great good affection and esteem of your solid cleer-sighted friends and that in truth you have ingaged your credit a little too farr upon their authority Sect. 14. But this is not all I have to say to you The first fault of negligence and boldness even in this kind is perhaps pardonable in young men But I beseech you Sir how could those solid cleer-sighted persons give you the confidence to impose so grosly upon us to state us here a question of which the Bull delivers not one word of which Cherubinus to whom you appeal makes not the least mention and yet you confidently add All Learned Writers agree pag. 14. Where if you had not named Writers I should have judged you appeal'd to your solid clear-sighted Friends for in truth I cannot find any one Learned Writer who states this your new question as then disputed or defined And I cannot pardon this your so confident imposing on your Reader You tell us our present controversie concerning the delivery of souls out of Purgatory stands not here defined because the Word Purgatory is not in the Bull however it is sufficiently in the Council and the Pope decrees of soul● now purged And you require pag. 26. the Popes or Councils positive is or is not and unless I can shew this Position in terms Souls are purged before the day of judgment I run a hazard to contradict both the Pope and Council Which how to excuse from nonsence if compared with what you are pleased ou● of your kindness to allow p. 27. that the Pope was of the opinion that Purgatory might be finished before the last day which could not be contradictory to his faith is past my skill You know what it is to bring rods to whip himself And can you have the confidence Sir to tell us pag. 29. and elsewhere the onely and sole controversie was Whether perfect Charity brings an immediate heaven and all that the Pope intended to secure● by this present Bull Whilst the Word Charity is not in the Bull whilst there is not the least mention of it in the question even now related in Spondanus which occasioned this definition whilst neither in the Preface to the Decree nor in the Decree it self nor any thing that follows it the Pope pronounces of Charity I or no much less doth he declare either the affirmative or negative of this your new Question to secure it nor is there the least hint in Cherurbinus of it I gave my Reader his whole Compendium that he might see how far you were transported with the high esteem of your solid clear-sighted Friends when you appeal to him who thus agreeing with the Pope pronounces against you All Nor do your Arguments drawn from holy desires pag. 15. 16. or the future rewards and punishments which the Pope so earnestly inculcates in his Preface to this definition at all avail you Alas Sir the whole systeme of Christian Religion every part and parcell of it is directed to plant to kindle holy desires in our Souls and yet I think you will not easily avow there is nothing else defined or recommended to us in this whole fabrick but purely and precisely that perfect Charity brings an immediate heaven nor will it be any plea for you that this was then the question because the Pope ushers his Definition with this Exhortation to holy desires which might very well and properly introduce any Position of Christian Religion whatsoever and peculiarly this because by progress in vertue and holy desires our endeavours are rendred more effectual for souls in that distressed condition as very neer allyed to his Decrees concerning the state of departed souls For how neer a tye soever the one hath to the other though it were by an immediate necessary evident consequence yet it is highly unlawful to change the state of the present question and impose upon us that not it but some other thus allyed to it stands

our preaching is vain the cases being so far different for here St. Paul out of one absurdity which his adversary admitted deduces an other absurdity and presses it against him And I pray you when you write again tell us Whether the Councill and Pope Dispute here only and Define nothing or whether they argue only as St. Paul did If Souls be purged uncloathed of their Bodies they presently are received into Heaven before Iudgment both which according to you are impossible And yet Sir I applaud your conceit as pretty to possess your Reader that the Pope and Councill does not only not Define against you but indeed Define nothing at all and only dispute against your Adversary pressing out of one impossibility which he admits an other which follows it But you tell us p. 28. and that very truly that among the Divines in the Schools many times such impossible suppositions are sta●ed to clear a point in question And yet you are somewhat unfortunate in your examples for in this example you bring If Iudas had repented heartily God had been merciful to him This is so far from being a Question that no Christian can hold the negative And for your other If there had been no Trinity there had been no Incarnation The supposition indeed is impossible but I would willingly know what Divine Disputes it Since it is impossible we can have any light that in case there should be but one Person in God he would not have taken Humane Nature upon him But though your questions be indisputable others upon impossible suppo●itions are where the question cleers a formality which depends not on the impossibility of the supposition fo● so it would be nothing but might be proposed in possible terms though not so justly home to our understandings As for example the Divines dispute Whether if the holy Ghost did not proceed from the Son he would be distinguisht from the Son which question is no way impertinent it bearing this sense in other words Whether the procession of the holy Ghost from the Son be the precise reasen of the distinction between those two Persons And so for our better comprehension of this nicity is stated in that impossible supposition But though this and the like nice subtilities may be●it Metaphysicall Schoolmen yet with reasou you were shye and therefore tell us p. 28. However it may suit with the gravity of the Supreme Pastors Decrees to proceed on such Metaphysicall nicityes whilst in truth without these mealy mouth'd excuses you should have plainly told us That both the Pope and Councill proceeded on such quiddities however it beseemed or misbeseemed their Gravities or else you tell us nothing as to your purpose of building these Definitions upon impossible suppositions much less will it be to our purpose to tell us That perfect Charity brings an immediate Heaven which is not ours nor the Popes Question ●in which he was as you would perswade us to ennmerate all possible and imaginary Cases And yet you would possess your Reader as if those sacred Assemblies who are to deliver the World that Faith which is to regulate the practice of all and every Christian should proceed onely on these niceties and formalities of School-men For you insinuate p. 29. that the Pope spake onely to them as if we were bound to beleeve in our Metaphysical Disputes in the Schools whatsoever our practise be out of them And yet all our practise of Devotions for the Dead stands on the firmness of this Doctrine which if built on an impossible supposition these formalities can regulate just nothing So that the Objection you made to your self still remains in full force That this is but an evasion which gratis and without any ground you make use of to evade an otherwise unavoidable Authority I can not then but lament the misfortune of that Age that this School was not then opened or hearkened unto that you your self were not called to counsel in this business it would have saved both the Pope and Councils credit you had quickly taught them what Suppositions to make what decisions to build on them and much more effectually one Thomas the Englishman appearing from the East of the Trinobants had put a stop to this Torrent My Reader himself will easily observe what a wide gate is laid open by this Sphistry to evacuate the rest of that Bull nay the most of our holy Faith and Doctrine of manners Wha● if another Trinobant should rise and assert That it is not possible any souls of just men can pass out of this life without need to be purged in the next What could this Bull avail against him though he should accept it What can this definition That such souls passe immediately to Heaven be of force against him whom my Adversary hath furnisht with this ready Answer It depends on a false supposition● the Opinion not the Faith of the Pope What if an other should sustain That it is not possible any soul should leave this life in mortal sin what could he be concerned in this Decree That such descend immediately to Hell whilest to him this Doctrine is built on a false supposition the Opinion not the Faith of the Pope And in our other Beleef what if a new Imp of Hell should arise and admit onely a metaphorical and not a real Son in divinis How could this Blasphemy be repressed by Consubstantialem Patri in the sacred Nicene Creed whilest he is ready furnisht with his Answer This depends on this false supposition That ●here is a real Son which I deny And in our Doctrine of Manners what if the same miscreant should say That a moderate affection to a Concubine is a less crime then ●n immoderate love to a Wife as less intangling our souls and hindring their pursuit of the Divine Love what could the contrary Faith of all the Christian world or the Doctrine of Christ saying If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments avail against him who hath his Answer ready That this Faith and Doctrine depends on this supposition That God hath forbidden the one and not the other whilst in truth God hath neither commanded nor forbidden any thing at all Sect. 22. And now having answered this I know not any thing else thar carries any appearance of strength in your Book So that I might fairly take leave of this Subject But I will not be a Niggard to my Reader I design to give him a cleerer view of your School this will serve as an Introduction to those further discoveries I design for the future And as to our present business of Purgatory My Reader may perhaps have met this new Model sustained in English he hath perhaps heard that the Faith we here fight for is but a late device brought into the Church by St. Gregory the Great the glorious Apostle of our now unhappy Nation pursued by Venerable Bede Odilo and a long Catalogue of eminent Saints and Doctors since that