1. de cons Evang. c. 23. in Tuscul qq l. 1. says Si scrutari vetera ex iis quae Scriptores Graeciae prodiderunt eruere coner ipsi illi Majorum Gentium Dii qui habentur hinc à nobis profecti in coelum reperiuntur Quaere quorum demonstrantur sepulchra in Graecia reminiscere quoniam es initiatus quae traduntur Mysteriis tum denique quà m hoc latè pateat intelliges If we look over our ancient Records if we consult what Greek Authors deliver we shall find that even the Prime Gods from Earth past to Heaven Examin whose Sepulchres are shewn in Greece Call to mind seeing you are initiated what our Rites express and you will find how far this Principle goes Again Qui hanc Vrbem condidit Romulum ad Deos immortales benevolentiâ famâque sustulimus The Founder of this city Romulus owes his being a God to our good wills As if it were in weak Men's power to raise Men to Heaven change them into stars and place them amongst the Gods And Virgil l. 4. Georgicor speaks as followeth Naturas apibus quas Jupiter ipse Addidit expediam pro quâ mercede canoros Curetum sonitus crepitantiaque aera seeatae Dictaeo coeli Regem pavere sub antro Which are thus Englished by Ogilby Now I le declare those gifts which were conferr'd On Bees by Jove himself for what Reward They followed tinkling Brass and Curets sound And fed the King of Heaven under ground As if that Jupiter had bestowed their Nature on the Bees to whom he was beholding for his Food during his Infancy and who was many Ages younger than they And Terence in Eunucho charges the Rape of Danae on the true God of Heaven At quem Deum qui templa caeli summa sonitu concutit That God which shakes the starry vault of the Heavens with Thunder Those who desire more Examples of those Extravagances may read Athenagoras pag. 20. Justinus M. or any of the other Fathers who have written against the Pagans They will find many causes to dread the Judgment of God executed on those Men so wise in all other things but struck with blindness in this main Point very deservedly for their ingratitude to God whom they knew but did not glorifie him as God neither were thankful but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned SECTION V. Whether all or the greatest part of the Pagans believed the one true God OUR Dispute is not of the first beginners and planters of Idolatry but of those who lived at and since the time of Christ till Christianity prevailed I do not doubt at all but God when he created Man endowed him with all Knowledge necessary for the end for which he created him and certainly that of his Creator was as necessary as any seeing upon it was grounded his Obligation to serve God by fulfilling his Will and obeying his Commands It is I think no less certain that all and every Soul at its Creation receives an Idea of God and that so deeply imprinted in it that no ignorance no want of Education no bad Instruction can wear it out or entirely deface it Hence it is that altho several barbarous Nations adore as Gods things which are not God as hath been seen of the Pagans yet there never were any without some Object of Adoration which they thought to be God. Yet Reason left to it self and taking the freedom of Discourse about it will cover it with Errors which may darken its lineaments without destroying it as Rubbish thrown upon an excellent Statue will hide its Beauty from the Spectators eye altho it never alters the situation of its parts nor destroys their proportion One great Advantage we have by Faith is that it fixeth in our Souls a right Idea of God and excludes those Imaginations which are inconsistent with it The whole created World is left to the Disputations of Men's hearts Eccles 3.11 for the Exercise of their Intellectuals in which they are often mistaken for they shall not find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end yet their Errors are without prejudice to the main chance their Salvation as long as they contain themselves within their Bounds nor endeavour to know more of God then they should or have learnt of him nor labour to measure Immensity with a Span. Otherwise by lamentable Experience they will find the Truth of those words Scrutator Majestatis opprimetur à gloria Of which we have as many Examples as Philosophers who attempted it The wisest of them all in this was Simonides who said ingenuously to Hero that the more he studied it the less he understood of it Hence S. Austin l. 8. de Trinit c. 2. having said that God is Truth gives us warning to stick in the thought of that Term Noli quaerere quid sit veritas statim enim se opponent caligines imaginum corporalium nubila phantasmatum perturbabunt serenitatem quae primo ictu illuxit tibi cùm dicerem Veritas Ecce in primo ictu quo velut coruscatione perstringeris cum dicitur veritas mane si potes sed non potes Relaberis in ista solita atque terrena When I say Truth examin not what it is I mean otherwise mists of Phancies and clouds of corporeal Images will interpose and bereave you of the light that appeared at first stop if possible in the first glimpse of the light but you cannot do it for you always slide into other thoughts And the following Chapter he discourses in a like manner of the Thought of Good. Bonum hoc bonum illud Tolle hoc illud vide ipsum bonum si potes ita Deum videbis non alio bono bonum sed bonum omnis boni Speak not of this good or that good take away this and that and see if possible goodness it self and you will see God not good by any other goodness distinct from him but the goodness of all good things Thus whither we conceive God as the prime Truth or as the sovereign good our first Thoughts are Orthodox as coming from God the Author of Nature and our misery proceeds from our not stopping in them This was the reason why Tertullian l. de Testim animae c. 1. being desirous to shew for the Satisfaction of the Pagans that natural Image of one God which all Souls ever had examins only such a Soul as retains its native simplicity without any adscitious knowledge Non eam te advoco saith he quae scholis formata bibliothecis exercitata Academicis Porticibus partam sapientiam ructas Te simplicem rudem impolitam idioticam compello qualem habent qui te solam habent illam ipsam de compito trivio de textrino totam Imperitiâ tuâ mihi opus est quoniam aliquantulae peritiae tuae nemo credit Ea expostulo quae tecum in hominem infers quae aut ex
your Doctrin and made use of the same pretext as you do to defend their Doctrin The Church for which S. Ambrose pleads was Catholic so must we be in this seeing our Doctrin is the same with theirs The Novatians in this were Heretics what are you Indeed the words with which our Blessed Saviour (a) Mat. 16.18 first promis'd secondly (b) Joan. 20.22 23. actually communicated that power to forgive or retain sins are so express that it is the greatest disrespect imaginable so to wrest them as they must to draw them from their natural sense I desire you to shew your Art and invent some Speech which in so few words shall more clearly express this sense the Catholic Church understands them in And as for Fathers see S. Cyprian in many places S. Basil qq brev q. 288. S. Leo Epist 91. ad Theodorum Greg. Hom 26. in Evang. Cyril Alex. lib. 12. in Joan. But above all S. Chrysost lib. 3. de Sacerd. c. 5. Tom. 3. Edit Savell p. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those who dwell on Earth says he are enabled to dispense the things in Heaven To them a Power is given which neither Angels nor Archangels enjoy for to these it was never said What you shall bind Earthly Princes have power to cast into Prison but their Power is restrained to Bodies only Whereas the Bond we speak of reaches the Soul and Heaven it self insomuch as what Priests do below God ratifies above and the Lord confirms the Sentence of the Servant And what is this but to have put into their hands all Power to dispose of Heaven whose sins you forgive are forgiven and whose sins you retain are retained What Power can be greater than this God the Father hath given all Power to Judge to the Son and the Son hath communicated all that same Power to Priests Thus the glorious Saint You see Sir the Grounds of our Belief in this Point the clear words of our Lord (a) Joan. 20.23 Whose soever sins you remit they are remitted unto them You see the Fathers and the Primitive Church Explicating those words as we do You see Novatians were held for Heretics for understanding those words otherwise What ground have you to deny a Truth delivered by Christ to the Apostles and from them handed down to us G. B. pag. 62. It was counted a Blasphemy in Christ when he said Thy sins are forgiven thee which shews it to be Blasphemy in all others it being an invasion of his Prerogative Answ Here we have a blasphemous Accusation of the Scribes against Jesus Christ opposed against the clear words of Christ and the meaning of the whole Church Nay their words althô full of malice and convinced of Falshood by a Miracle are preferred before those of Christ as being made a Rule by which his must be interpreted Thus under pretence of asserting the Authority of Christ you overthrow it as your Brethren ruined their Sovereign under pretence of making him a glorious King. But say you Christ cleared himself from the Power was committed to the Son of Man to forgive sins Answ That same Power given by the Son of Man to the Apostles and their Successors doth clear us G. B. pag. 61. After a Sinner hath gone over his Sins without any sign of remorse and told them to a Priest he enjoyns a Penance and without waiting that they obey it he says I absolve thee and after this they judge them selves fully cleansed from Sins Answ Were there Benefices or Preferments established for such as invent Stories without any ground I know none in a fairer way to them than your self You cannot but know that we hold Contrition to be an essential part of the Sacrament and that he who Confesses without Sorrow is so far from obtaining Pardon for the sins past that we judge him guilty of a new Sacrilege Consider a little what you say if not for Conscience and the Fear of God which you seem not to regard at least for your Credit G. B. pag. 61 62. What can take off more from the value of the Death of Christ than to believe it in the power of a Priest to absolve from sin Answ That cannot take from the value of that Sacred Passion upon which it is built By Baptism sins are remitted without derogating from the value of the Death of Christ The same of Absolution Because in both these Sacraments the Merits of the Passion are applied to cleanse our Souls in such a manner as Christ hath ordained and by Authority derived from him In Civil Matters as no Man can lawfully take upon himself the Authority and exercise the Function of a Judge without a Commission from the King So it is no less unlawful to refuse due Obedience to Judges lawfully Commissionated We have a lawful Commission in the Gospel and we stick to that till we see better Grounds to vacate it than such frivolous Reasons as you bring CHAP. XVIII Of Penances Fasting Prayer and Pilgrimages G. B. p. 62. ADD the Scorn put on Religion by the Penances enjoyned for sin abstaining from Flesh pattering over Prayers repeating the Penitential Psalms going to such Churches and Altars with other ridiculous Observances like these which cannot but kill the Vitals of true Religion And who can have any sad apprehensions of sin who is taught such an easie way of punishment Answ Experience shews us whether Practice preserves more the Vitals of Religion yours or ours And I am persaaded I shall have occasion before we part to give you a Prospect not very pleasing of the Piety of your Proselytes who as S. Paul said 2 Tim. 3.13 Proficiunt in pejus have waxed worse and worse ever since your Brethren have had the Direction of them But what are these Observances which move you to Laughter Fastings Prayers and Pilgrimages so much recommended and even commanded in both old and new Law sometimes in Scripture often in Councils and Fathers and confirmed by the Practice of the Church thrô all Ages These things seem ridiculous to this Democritus a new Man as much a Stranger to true Piety as his Education hath been to Prayers Fasting and Pilgrimages as far as appears by his Works That he should thus deride all Penitential Works designed either to punish our past offences or prevent those to come to reconcile us to our Creator or to rivet us to him when St. Paul the chosen Vessel the Temple of the Holy Ghost the Doctor of the Gentiles separated from his mothers womb and called unto Grace (a) Gal. 1.15 when he I say chastized his Body and brought it under subjection (b) 1 Cor. 9.27 lest Preaching to others he became himself a Reprobate What means did he use for his security to mortifie his Body but those this good Man counts Ridiculous Observances viz. Fasting and Prayer and the like We are sure he was animated with the Spirit of God what Spirit animates you SECTION I. Fasting AS
see Thirdly this Sacrifice offered for the Dead And Lastly you see Alms given in the Church for the relief and ease of deceased Friends How many Points of our Reformers Catechism doth this one place confute Truly one may think either that they invented these Doctrins to spite S. Austin or that this great Saint writ that Chapter with a Prophetic Spirit to convince the World that your Sentiments are no less opposit to the ancient than to the modern Church which both agree in holding out the same Tenets in Faith. E. Still pag. 642. S. Austin delivers his Judgment with such fear and hesitancy that any one may easily see that he was far from making it an Article of Faith. He may as well say that the Council of Trent spoke with hesitancy He adds That in S Austin 's time many favored Origen 's Opinion of the final Salvation of all at least who died in the Communion of the Church But what is this to S. Austin who condemns that Heretical Opinion as he says and may be seen lib. 21. de Civ Dei cap. 24. and in the whole Book De fide operibus But says E.S. St. Austin speaks doubtfully lib. de fide operibus cap. 16. Enchir. cap. 69. But he should have taken notice that he speaks in those places not of Purgatory in it self but of a particular pain which we no less than he doubt of The matter he treats Enchir. c. 68. is the Grief which Men feel for the loss of such things which they loved inordinately and by that means offended God althô their love to Creatures were not so great as to withdraw them from the Foundation Christ Vrit eum rerum dolor quas dilexerat amissarum sed non subvertit fundamenti stabilitate munitum Such a Man is burnt and tormented with the loss of those things which he loved yet he is not quite consumed because the Foundation stands fast viz. his Love to Christ whom he would stick to althó with loss of other things Then follows cap. 69. where he doubts whether such a purging Fire or Pain as this is shall accompany them in the next World that is whether Souls departed retain any disorderly affection to their Possessions in this World by reason of which the want of them may be a torment to them and as it were burn them In a like manner lib. de fide operibus cap. 16. Sivè ergò in hac vita tantum homines ista patiuntur says he sivè post hanc vitam talia quaedam judicia subsequuntur Whether Men suffer such things only in this Life or the same Torments accompany them into the next World. Which is a thing modern Catholics as much doubt of as S. Austin yet he as well as we might believe most certainly what he so positively affirmed in his Manual Chap. CX In vain therefore doth E. S. alledge p. 653. the blotting out of those words Constat animas post hanc vitam purgari It is evident that Souls are purged after this Life There is enough left in S. Austin's undoubted works to confute his Error So the success of that Reformer was like that of Marcion with his Sponge who blotted out some parts of Scripture yet what remained confuted his Heresie As for Holy Scripture I think the Argument which S. Austin uses lib. 21. de Civ Dei cap. 23. very convincing for Purgatory It is taken out of the words of our Saviour Matt. 12.32 It shall be forgiven neither in this world nor in the next Whence it follows that some sins are forgiven in the next world Neque enim de quibusdam veraciter diceretur quod non eis remittatur neque in hoc saeculo neque in futuro saeculo nisi essent quibus etsi non in isto tamen remittetur in futuro Aug. l. 21. de Civit. Dei cap. 24. Now to Mr. G. B. G. B. pag. 55. For Purgatory the Proof from Scripture was only drawn from one wrested place of the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 3.12 13 14 15. Answ How can you say this when amongst the Ancients S. Austin uses another Text as we have just now seen And Bellarmin hath Nineteen Texts of Scripture as your Patriarch W. L. will tell you pag. 353. G. B. The Apostles words contain only a Proverbial form of Speech to express the risque they run Ans The Apostle speaks not only of a risque or hazard but of an effectual loss He shall suffer loss says he Vers 15. G. B. pap 55. Many Visions and Apparitions were vouched for the proof of Purgatory Answ I never saw any vouched for that intent I am sure neither the Council of Trent nor that of Florence nor Benedict XII vouched any such thing for that intent I think not our Divine Faith much concerned in asserting the truth of any purely Human History and I think most Apparitions to be such Yet because several Protestants as well as all Atheists utterly reject all such Relations I desire them to read S. Austin lib. de Curâ pro mortuis cap. 10. where he says it would be an Impudence to deny them all Impudenter venire videbimur si haec falsa esse rensponderimus And in his 16. Chap. he says he had learnt Non incertis rumoribus sed testibus certis Not from uncertain Rumors but from undoubted Witnesses that S. Felix had appeared both to Citizens and Strangers during the Siege of Nola. Had you the same Faith which was then in the Church you would believe these things your denying them which the Primitive Church and S. Austin believed shews you to be animated with a different Faith. CHAP. XVII Priestly Absolution G. B. p. 60. ANother Art for detracting from the value of Christ's Death is the Priestly Absolution Answ This Objection is no Product of your own Wit you may find it and the Authors of it together with an Answer to it in S. Ambrose lib. 1. de Poen cap. 2. Aiunt Novatiani se Domino deferre reverentiam cui soli remittendorum criminum potestatem reservant Imò nulli majorem injuriam faciunt quà m qui volunt ejus mandata rescindere Nam cùm ipse in Evangelio dixerit quaecunque ligaveritis quis est qui eum magis honorat utrum qui mandatis ejus obtemperat an qui resistit Ecclesia in utroque servat obedientiam ut peccatum alliget relaxet The Novatians says this Saint pretend to honor God by reserving to him alone the power of forgiving sins But really none are more injurious to him or wrong him more than those who break his Orders For whereas he in the Gospel said Whose sins soever you bind who honors God more he who obeys his Commands by using that Power or he who resists them Now the Church obeys both the Commands to bind and loose sins effectually binding and loosing them Thus S. Ambrose You see Sir that our Doctrin now was that of the Church in S. Ambrose's time That the Novatians held