this phrase of Speech At the first appearance it is plain the form of words is not Proper but Metaphorical Now some Truth there is in that which you learnt in the Books of your Minority from your Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and indeed could we but once agree what it is which that Metaphor doth intimate the greatest part of the Dispute were at an end The Natural way to discover this is to see what the Use of Keys properly taken is and after that what means they are which in our endeavours to attain to the Kingdom of Heaven have something proportionable to the Use of Keys and this being once discovered there can remain no Question What are the Keys Now nothing is more known than that the only Use of Keys is to open and Shut to admit us Unto or exclude us from the possession of what we seek Now since the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a House from which all the Sons of Adam by Nature are excluded whatsoever then it is that gives us way that removes all Obstacles which hinder us from entrance of that House that certainly must be understood by the Name of Keys Now all these means or whatsoever else it is which doth further us towards the possessing our selves of Eternal Life they were all laid down in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ committed by him fully and first of all to the dispensation of the blessed Apostles to be reported by them or their means all the World over So that I think I may safely lay thus much for the first ground of the Question betwixt your self and me Clavis Regni Caelorum sunt Doctrina Evangelii Now since Keys are nothing without some Hand to manage them we must in the second place discover into whose Hands they are committed And for this purpose first of all It must not be denied that principally and properly I might well enough add only if I listed but that I spare you the Hand of God it is that manages and applies these Keys For of God and Christ it is written He hath the Keys he opens and no Man shuts he shuts and no Man opens Yet since it hath pleased God to use the Ministery of Men to the saving of Men and bringing them into the Kingdom of Heaven In a secondary sense the Keys of that Kingdom are said to be put into the hands of Men. In as much as it hath pleased the Wisdom of God not to use these Keys at least as far as concerns the beneficial and opening part some act of Man not first premised for since that Faith in Jesus Christ is the sum of the Doctrine of the Gospel and Faith cometh not but by hearing and hearing cometh not but by preaching and preaching is the act of Men alone for God employs not Angels in that behalf It appears that this Preaching or manifestation of the Doctrine of the Gospel not performed the Keys must needs be unprofitable By the manifestation of the Gospel of God I mean not only the labour of the lip in expounding praying reproving or the like but the administration of Sacraments the acting if any thing beyond this is to be acted whatsoever the manifestation of the Gospel requireth So that I think I may set down for a second Ground towards the settling of the Point in question thus much That the managing or application of the Keys so far forth as Men are intrusted with them is The Manifestation of the Doctrine of the Gospel Thus far have we opened in general the Substance of the Keys and the Use of them I come now to your Queries First You ask of the quality of the Apostles receiving this Power Whether they had it as Judges Authoritativè or as Messengers Declarativè only to propound or denounce You manifest your self for the former and Reasons you bring such as they be Your Reasons I shall consider in their place but I must first tell you that you ask amiss for your question is concerning the whole Power of the Keys but you answer only of a part that is of Sacramental Absolution only as if all the Power of the Keys resided there So that here you use the Fallacy plurium Interrogationum and I might well grant you That indeed that part were Judicativè but yet contend that all the rest were only Declarativè To reduce you therefore I must do with you as Physicians in some cases deal with their Patients ere I can come to purge the humour you are sick of I must a little prepare you The power of the Keys is express'd by the Learned in three yokes or pairs of Words 1. To remit and to retain 2. To loose and to bind 3. To open and to shut On the one side to remit to loose to open which is the one half of the power agree in one and signify the same thing so do the other three to retain to bind to shut which contain the other half To your Question then Whether the power of the Keys be declarative only I answer first For this latter part or half it is meerly declarative neither can it be otherwise which that you may see with your eyes I must request you to observe That all shutting of the Kingdom of Heaven is either common to all or casual befalling only some The common Exclusion is that state of Nature wherein we all are involved as we spring from the first Adam The second Exclusion is that which befals Christians relapsing into sin The first shutting was at the fall and was then Prefigured unto us by the barring up of the way unto the Tree of Life What active what Judiciary part can any Minister of the Gospel have here all that the Apostles could do here was but to open to Men this their misery a thing before the death of our Saviour either very sparingly or not at all revealed Of this therefore you must needs quit your hands and so you must of the other I mean exclusion upon casualty and relapse For when a Man converted to Christianity falleth eftsoon into some mortal sin doth the Gate of Heaven stand open to him till he fall upon some curst Priest that used his Key to shut it There are in the World a kind of deceitful Locks with sliding Bolts I have seen my self and others much deceived by them when the doors have fallen at our heels and lockt us out when we intended no such thing Sir Heaven-door hath a sliding-Lock upon occasion of mortal sin it will shut without any use of a Key Perchance I do nor well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet the sober meaning of what I have spoken merrily is but this That either you must make the Ministery of the Gospel only Declarative or else it will follow that every impenitent Relapser that hath the good fortune to escape the Priests being privy to his Sin is like to find Heaven open at the last So then it is apparent That notwithstanding
your heaping up of Interrogatories and your pressing of Ligaveritis vos and telling me what I never knew that Solvere and Ligare be Actives yet in this part of our Power all your Activity is lost and there remains nothing for you but to report upon good evidence what you find done by your betters to your hand Half your Jurisdiction then is fallen and if I had no other Medium but this I might with good probability conclude against you for the other part For if the one half made in the same Form in the like phrase and garb of speech yet enforceth no more but Declaration and Denouncing then why should you think the other half which in likelyhood is homogeneal to the former to be more Nay there is far more natural Equity that you should be here only Declarative than in the other Politicians tell us That it is Wisdom for Princes who desire to gain the love of their Subjects to administer themselves all Favours and Graces but to leave action of Justice and Harshness to be performed by others Sir No Prince can be so ambitious of the Love of his Subjects as God is of the Love of Mankind why then should I think him so ill a Politician as to make himself the administrator of the Rough Unpleasing Love-killing Offices of Binding Shutting Retaining and then pass over to the Priest the dispensation of the Fair Well-spoken Ingratiating Offices of Remitting Loosing and Opening But I will leave this kind of Topick and Dialectical arguing because you are a pretender to convincing Reasons I will directly enter even upon that part of your power of Opening and Remitting being the other part of your Territory and by main strength take all activity from you there too Give me leave to ask you one Question you may very well favour me so far for you have asked me very many The Conversion of a Sinner is it an act of the Keys yea or no By your Principles it is not for you make the power of the Keys to be judiciary and therefore the Conversion of an Infidel pertains not to them The Church of Rome will help you with a Medium to make this Argument good Do we not judge those that are within for those that are without God shall judge saith Paul Whence she infers That a converted Infidel not yet admitted to the Church is a Stranger to the Judiciary Power of the Keys but being once admitted into the Church he is now become the Church's Subject and so fit matter for the Priest to work on upon his next Relapse What think you of this Reason Do you take it to be good Take heed or else it will give you a deadly stripe For the Conversion of an Infidel out of question is a most proper act of the Keys For since the opening of the Kingdom of Heaven is confess'd to belong unto the Keys and Heaven which was shut against the Infidel in time of his Infidelity upon his Conversion is acknowledged to be opened unto him certainly whoever converted him used the Keys or else he must pretend to have either a Pick-lock or the Herb Lunaria which they say makes Locks fall off from Doors and the Fetters from Horses heels If then the Conversion of a Sinner be an act of the Keys and by the Argument of the Church of Rome it be not judiciary it follows then That all Acts of the Keys are not Judiciary and if not Judiciary then Declarative only For betwixt these two I know no mean But because to dispute against a Man out of his own Principles which perchance are false for this oft we know falls out that by the power of Syllogisms Men may and do draw True Conclusions from False Premises because I say thus to do in the judgment of Aristotle leaves a Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and I am willing not only to perswade you but to better you I will draw the little which remains to be said in this Point from other Places First In all the Apostles practice in Converting Jews and Gentiles find you any thing like unto the act of any Judiciary Power They neither did nor could use any such thing That they did not appears by Philip who having Catechized the Eunuch and finding him desirous of Baptism immediately upon profession of his Faith admitted him into the Church That they neither did nor could appears by Peter and the rest of the Apostles in the Acts who could never in the space of an afternoon being none but themselves have converted three thousand Souls had they taken any such way as you seem to misfancy Again imagine with your self all circumstances you can which are of force to make a power judiciary apply them all to the practice of the Apostles in the Conversion of Infidels and if you find any one of them agree to that action let me be challenged upon it and be thought to have abused you with a Fallacy To conclude then since your Ligaveritis which is the one half of your pretended Jurisdiction pretends to nothing above Declarative And since your Solveritis in so great an act as is the Conversion of Infidels lays claim to no more what act of the power of the Keys is it wherein we may conceive hope of finding any thing active or judiciary I see what you will say There yet remains a part you think wherein you have hope to speed and that is the reconciling of relapsing Christians As you fancy that in every sinning Christian there is a duty binding him to repair and lay his sin open to the Minister of the Gospel and him a power to consider of the sins of such as repair unto him to weigh particulars to consider circumstances and occasions and according to true Judgment either upon penance imposed to absolve sin which you call remitting of the sin or to with-hold him for a time from participation of holy duties with Catholick Christians which you call retaining of sins supposing that God doth the like in Heaven as it is written What you bind in Earth is bound in Heaven and what you loose in Earth is loosed in Heaven Now the Rock on which you labour to found so extravagant a Conceit is no other than the Words which I have quoted out of Scripture you press earnestly the Ligaveritis vos all which can yield you small relief for if they help you not at all in those weighty parts of the Power of the Keys which but now were laid before you by what Analogy can you expect they should afford you any assistance here As is Ligare so is Solvere as is the Conversion of an Infidel so is the reconciling of a relapsing Christian for any thing you can make appear Either all is Declarative which is very possible and in many cases necessary or all Judicative which in some cases is impossible and in none necessary so that to fit the Scripture to your Fancy you are constrained to
distract and rend it without any Warrant at all But you have found out in the Text a stronger Argument against the declarative Power I contend for You espie an Insufflavit a great a solemn and unwonted Ceremony undoubtedly concluding some greater matter than a poor power declarative What did our serious Master thus spend his breath to no purpose and like a Hocus Pocus with so much shew act us a solemn nothing I pray whose words are these I should have thought them to have been Porphyry's or Julian's but that I know your hand for you subscribed not your name to your letters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are the Words of your Pindarus upon an occasion not much unlike unto this Sir you have no Skill to judge or set a price upon so divine an act He lost not his breath when he spent his Insuflavit he opened their wits that they might understand the Scripture he revealed to them the Mysteries of Jesus Christ dying and rising again for the World's salvation the greatest news that ever was reported in the World and till then concealed He commanded them to be the first bringers of this good News and that they might the more undauntedly perform their Charge he endowed them with Infallibility with infinite Constancy and Fortitude with Power of working such Wonders as none could do unless God were with them Appello Conscientiam tuam Were those things such nothings that they deserve to be thus jeered But that befalls you which befalls the Stares that dwell in the Steeple who fear not the Bells because they hear them every day These wonderful Benefits of God have every day founded in your ears and frequency of them hath taught you to forget your Reverence to them Yet all this Insufflavit this Ceremony was for no other end but to further a Declarative power Their undaunted Fortitude their power of Miracling their Infallibility did but add countenance and strength to their Declarative Power by which they went up and down the World to manifest the good tidings of Salvation So that even these which served thus to set off the Gospel were nothing else but means of the better manifestation of it therefore may they very well pass if not amongst the Keys yet amongst the necessary Wards Whereas your Fancy of an active or judicative Power in the Priest concurring with God in reconciling relapsing Christians is neither one nor other but is indeed like unto the work of some deceitful Smith who the better to countenance and grace his works adds to his Key superfluous and idle Wards which in the opening of the Lock are of no use at all To your second Query Whether the Keys were confined to the Apostles only The Answer is in no case hard to give it may perchance in some case be dangerous for there is a Generation of Men in the World the Clergy they call them who impropriate the Keys unto themselves and would be very angry to understand that others from themselves should claim a right unto them To your Question then no doubt but originally none received the Keys from the Mouth of our Saviour but the Apostles only none did nor ever could manage them with that authority and splendour as the Apostles did who were above all most amply furnis hed with all things fitting so great a work For whereas you seem to intimate that the preaching Mission was communicated to others as the seventy two Disciples as well as the Apostles you do but mistake your self if you conceive that the Keys of the Gospel were any way committed to them for concerning the Mysteries of Jesus Christ and him crucified for the sins of the World wherein indeed the opening of the Kingdom of Heaven did consist they received it not they knew it not To be the prime Reporters of this was an honour imparted only to the Apostles Yet were they not so imparted as that they should be confined to them Every one that heard and received the Light of the saving Doctrine from them so far forth as he had understanding in the ways of Life had now the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven committed to his power both for his own and others use Every own of what state or condition soever that hath any occasion offered him to serve another in the ways of Life Clergy or Lay male or female whatever he be hath these Keys not only for himself but for the benefit of others For if natural Goodness teach every Man Lumen de Lumine Erranti comiter monstrare viam c. Then how much more doth Christian Goodness require of every one to his ability to be a Light to those who sit in darkness and direct their steps who most dangerously mistake their way To Save a Soul every Man is a Priest To whom I pray you is that said in Leviticus Thou shalt not see thy Brother sin but thou shalt reprove and save thy Brother And if the Law binds a Man when he saw his enemies Cattel to stray to put them into their way How much more doth it oblige him to do the like for the Man himself See you not how the whole World conspires with me in the same opinion Doth not every Father teach his Son every Master his Servant every Man his Friend How many of the Laity in this age and from time to time in all ages have by writing for the publick good propagated the Gospel of Christ as if some secret instinct of nature had put into Mens minds thus to do I shame to dwell so long upon so plain a Theme yet because I feel your pulse and perceive what it is that troubles you I must say something to an Objection which I know you make You conceive that forthwith upon this which I have said must needs follow some great Confusion of estates and degrees the Laity will straitway get up into our Pulpits we shall lose our credit and the adoration which the simple sort do yield us is in danger to be lost Sir Fear you not the sufficient and able of the Clergy will reap no discountenance but honour by this For he that knows how to do well himself will most willingly approve what is well done by another It is extreme poverty of mind to ground your Reputation upon another Man's Ignorance and to secure your self you do well because you perceive perchance that none can judge how ill you do Be not angry then to see others joyn with you in part of your Charge I would all the Lord's People did Preach and that every Man did think himself bound to discharge a part of the Common Good and make account that the Care of other Mens Souls concerned him as well as of his own When the Apostles took order to ordain some upon whom the publick burden of Preaching the Gospel should lie it was not their purpose to impropriate the thing to those Persons alone but knowing that what was left to the care of