and their sight is good enough in that their Teachers have eyes so one of their Authours a Laicos ad dogmata fidei quod attinet non proprijs sed praelatorum suorum oculis videre oportet In matters of faith the people ought not to see with their own eyes but the eyes of their Superiors They need not know what they pray for nor what they are to believe nor what they are to do 1. They need not know what they are to pray for or to whom or whether they pray or not all is muffled up in an unknown Language and they are to venture at they know not what nor how nor whither * Vid. Navar. de Orat. c. 10. n. 36. c. 18. n. 32. Spotsw Hist l. 2. p. 92. Molanus Theol. pract tr 3 c. 9. n. 6. No wonder if they direct the Lords prayer to Saints Male or Female and say our Father to the Virgin Mother and in like manner direct Ave-Marie's to Christ as if they took him to be a Woman or to be with Child and with himself too to be the fruit of his own Womh or to be his own Mother which the words so applyed signifie This ignorance is the dam of such Devotion such as is both horrid and blasphemous to the highest degree of horror And yet their great Clerks will countenance it The wisdom of their Church hath thought it fit that they should not be so wise as to understand what they do when they are serving God The Counsel of Trent â—ulminates a Curse against those who hold that the Masse ought to be celebrated in a known Tongue that is they curse those who approve not that mode of service which the Apostle condemns as (b) Omnis Sermo qui non intelligitur barbarus judicatur Jerom. in 1 Cor. 14. In Navar de horis Canon cap. 13. n. 4. They are directed to address themselves to God or the Virgin Mary thâ—… Grant O Lord or Lady what I ask though I know not what Barbarous 1 Cor. 14. such as is not fit for God or man they curse those who will not offer a blind Sacrifice or blindfold As if one under the Law ought not to have seen whether that which he offered were a Hogg or a Sheep whether he Sacrificed a Lamb or cut of a Doggs neck whether he presented an Oblation or offered Swines blood They think not only the people but even the Clergy unconcerned to know what they say when they speak unto God (c) Clerici aut laici qui Divinis intersuet si non intelligunt quae dicunt non peccant l. 2. c. 51. n. 12. p. 291. The Clergy saith Jacobus de Graffiis or the Laity when they are at Divine service if they understand not what they say they sin not It is so far from being their duty to serve God as Christians that they need not act as Men in his service If the words be but said though with no (d) Quid hoc sit intelligere debemus uti humana ratione non quasi avium voce cantemus Nam mâ—rulâ— psiâ—aci corvi picae hujusmodi voluâ—res saepe ab hominibus docentur sâ—narâ— quod nesciunt scienter auterâ— cantare non avi sed homini divina voluntate concessum est Augustin in ps 18. exposit secunda p. 103. t. 8. more understanding than Mag-pyes are taught to sound them it 's as reasonable service as their Church requires what God requires with them is no matter They expect not that any should understand their service but expert Divines as (a) Supra l. 10 q 5. art 5. Soto tells us Now it is a very small part of their Clergy that pretends to be Divines and a small part of those few that are expert therein it is an attainment which most of their Bishops fall short of their common Priests are sufficiently qualified with the art of reading nor need they be masters of that neither the Masse-book is almost taught to read it self For in the Missals established by Pius the 5th and recognized by Clement the Eighth every syllable is diversely marked whether it is to be sounded long or short What do we speak of Clergy or Priests it is not necessary for their Popes to be able to understand or to read their common prayers themselves spare not to divulge this It is manifest saith Alphonsus a Castro (*) Cum constet plures Papas adeo illiteratos esse ut Grammaticam penitus ignorent l. 1. adevrs Haeres cap. 4. Edit Paris 1534. That many Popes are so illiterate that they are utterly ignorant of the Grammar It seems he may be universal Pastour and the Teacher of the whole World who hath not learned his Grammar and the infallible Guide of all mortals who understands not his own language wherein the Articles of faith their Lawes Ceremonies and Church-service is delivered And is it not very much that two things so different as ignorance and infallibility should have the good hap to meet together in the same person Sect. 2. Secondly They need not know what they are to believe they tell us they are obliged under pain of Damnation to believe whatâ—oever the visible Church of Christ proposeth as revealed by Almighty God Now their Church proposeth for points of faith so revealed not only what they have in Scripture but what they have by Tradition or by the custome of the Church in former ages or by the consent of the Fathers or by the decrees of Councils or by the determination of Popes è Cathedra whereby points of faith become infinitely numerous beyond all account which the learned amongst them can give either to satisfie themselves or others Yet all must be believed and that under pain of damnation when as it is but a very small part of them that can be commonly known The Articles of the Creed called the Apostles are not the hundred part of those points that must be believed by all that will not be damned and yet they generally conclude that it is not necessary for the people to know all of those few Articles How to believe the rest and it may be five hundred times more which they know nothing of nor ever once came into their thoughts they must make what shift they can However they need not know all the Articles of the small Creed as the chief of them teach Not all saith Aquinas (a) Nec tamen necesse est cuilibet explicite credere omnes articulos fidei sed quantum sufficit ad dirigendum in ultimum finem dist 25. q. 2. art 1. vid. Sylvest v. fides but what is sufficient to direct to the last end Not all saith (b) Maxime ad illa quae sunt grossa ad capiendum sicut quod Christus natus est passus alia quae pertinent ad redemptionem vid. Sta. Clara probl 15. p. 94. Scotus but the grosse things as that Christ was born and suffered and
impijs tunc enim credere esset actus imprudentiae secundum D. Tho m. 22. q. 1. art 4. ad secundum idem ibid. vid plures in Jo. Sanc. d. 19. n. 3. 4. if the object of faith be not duely proposed if by slight reasons or by impious persons then it would he imprudence to believe or (u) Id. ibid. p. 95. if they do not doubt of their faith or if their Teachers be fallacious or erroneous or if the proposal (x) Aragon in 2. 2. q. 11. art 2. dub ult ibid. p. 01. be not enforced with reasons with holiness of life with the confutation of the contrary and with some wonders In short if they have not had sufficient instruction in this all agree And this alone will excuse a great part of their Church who for want of such instruction are acknowledged by themselves to be Infidells Thus Navarre delivers it (y) In universa Christiana republica circa haec tanta est socordia ut multos passim invenias nihil magis in particulari explicite de hisce rebus credere quam Ethnicum quendam Philosophum sola unius veri Dei naturali cognitione praeditum Cap. 11. n. 22. p. 142. In the whole Christian Commonwealth he means the Roman Church there is so great neglect as to this that ye may find many every where who believe no more of these things i. e. of Christ and the most necessary Articles of the Christian faith in particular and explicitely than some Heathen Philosophers who have only the natural knowledge of the one true God But if the precept could reach any through all these securities which we cannot easily imagine yet there is one way to clear them all of it so that they may live and dye Infidells without danger from any command requiring faith in Christ For he that hath not that express faith which is commanded in the Gospel but only what is requisite necessitate medij is living or dying if he be sorry for his negligence and purpose to amend which may be in their sense without true Repentance capable of absolution without any instruction from his Confessor (a) Imo in rigore non tenetur confessarius etiamsi sanus sit paenitens eum instruere ante absolutionem aummodo enim doleat de preterita negligentia proponat emendationem in futuâ—um capax est absolutionis sola fide explicita circa mysteria necessario credenda ex medio Fill. tr 28. n. 58. vid. Jo. Sanc. d. 9. n. 18. And by vertue of that he may live in a justified state or if he dye he passeth out of the World as a very good Christian though he believe in Christ no more than a Heathen Sect. 2. Pass we to their other sort of faith which they call explicite it is as they define it An actual assent to the particulars which the Church propounds as revealed by God This with them is justifying faith requisite in the learned and more intelligent amongst them As to the object of it if we view it well it looks untowardly for a thing by which a sinner is to be justified For it is prodigiously extended and takes in things uncertain false impossible impertinent and ridiculous as points that must certainly be believed unto justification For their Church propounds as things revealed by God and so objects of justifying faith not only what is delivered in Scripture but â—nwritten Traditions concerning matters of faith and manners and â—hese if they will be justified they must believe though they know â—ot what they are nor where to find them but in the Churches unerâ—ing fancy She propounds also the unanimous consent of the Fathers â—n several points and though this never was or is impossible to be â—nown yet it must be believed by those that mean to be justified She propounds the decrees of Councils to be believed as Divine truths b Omnia concilia post Chalcedonense potissimum instituta fuerunt non ut erueretur veritas sed ut roboraretur defenderetur atque augeretur semper ecclesiae Romanae potestas ecclesiasticorum libertas Aeneas Sylvius l. 2. de gest conc Basil when it is acknowledged that the design in Councils for many hundred years was not to discover truth but to promote the Roman greatness She propounds also the determinations of Popes these must be believed as infallible when ordinarily they were neither persons of common truth or honesty and we must be justified by believing the dictates of Atheists or (c) Canus loc Theol. l. 6. p. 243. 344. Hereticks of (d) Sylvest 2. Platin. Chron. Martini Poloni Hildeband Binno Cardin. Conjurers (e) Faex vitiorum Diabolus incarnatus Constan concil Sess 11. art 5. Benedict 9. vid. Baron an 1034. n 3. or incarnate Devils of vicious Beasts (f) Sunt qui scribunt hunc sceleratissimum hominem seu monstrum potius Platina viâ—a Joh. 13. and wicked Monsters For those who cry up â—is Holiness have adorned him also now and then with these other Sacred Titles I know not whether these things are more ridiculous or more horrid how ever letting them pass as they are let us take their faith at best and make it better than they will have it Suppose it rested in the Scriptures and had no thing for its object but Revelation such as is truly Divine yet even so they give such Report of it as will scarce suffer us to think that they can expect to be justified by it Considered in it self they (c) Dominic a Soto de natur grat lib. â—…◠7. d. 79. 81. count it not worthy the name of a vertue They (d) Concil Trident. Sess 6. c. 7 call it a dead idle thing and though they would have it to be an infused habit and the gift of God because the Scripture so calls that which is justifying faith indeed yet they say a (e) Scotus in 3. dist 23. air fide humana quam ipse appellat acquisitam hominem posse assentiri toti praedicationi Christianae Imo ita inquit credimus authoritate ecclesiae quam ipse putat humanam institutione parentum Cui sententiae adhuc explicatius subscribit Durandus q. 1. in 2. sent d. 28. Dicens fidem infusam non esse necessariam nisi uâ— facilius credamus Soto ibid. l. 2. c. 8. p. 81. mere humane quality acquired without any supernatural assistance may perform its proper act and office by actual assent to the whole Christian Doctrine They confess it is commonly found in the worst of men in perditissimis hominibus such as are neither acted nor possessed by the spirit of God such as live and dye in mortal wickedness (f) Bellarm. de Baptism l. 1. c. 14. and are damned for it Yea some of them confess that it is in the Devils This faith saith Cardinal (g) Fiâ—es haec non est ea tantum qua credimus Deum esse qua credimus vera esse
Reverence if they be not taken notice of will be no fault at all if they be deliberate will but be slight ones Not only Reverence and Devotion are accounted needless at this Sacrament but Sobriety and the use of Reason To communicate out of ostentation and vain glory is but a peccadillo And all holy fervor being excluded by voluntary distraction to imploy their Souls vainly or wickedly during the Celebration is no fault at all in reference to the Sacrament Those that communicate unworthily to such a degree as is counted most horridly impious do fully satisfie the precept of their Church for the Communion Sect. 7. to page 52. Their Doctrine doth not more oblige them to Worship God in private Meditation not necessary no not on the holiest seasons or occasions Reading the word of God scarce tolerated in the people and that not so freely as the Stews Sect. 8. 9. to page 53. Private Prayer rarely a duty with some never a duty with others Not at all by their common Doctrine but by accident in the Article of necessity which many never meet with so that many may never pray while they live and yet be innocent Some say there is no Divine precept for Prayer Others who ackowledg a precept will not have it oblige them at such times and occasions when if ever it would oblige Even in their Article of necessity when it comes they have ways to excuse them easily from the obligation and to make it no special sin to neglect this duty all their life Sect. 10. to page 59. Their Church obliges not any to private prayers not to the least or those of most account among them When ever they use private prayer upon any account as required by precept or injoyned for pennance for Prayer passes commonly with them as a punishment or voluntary as a work of Supererogation there is no need by their principles to worship God therein Seeing they are to Worship him no more any where the World may judge what Religion they have since that Worship is as essential to Religion as a Soul to a man Sect. 11. 12. to page 63. CHAP. II. CHristian knowledge is not necessary for Romanists by their Doctrine They need not know what they are to pray for Many of their Priests yea of their Popes understand not their common prayers Sect. 1. to page 66. They need not know what they are to believe The knowledg of all the Articles of the small Creed nor of the Trinity and incarnation of Christ scarce necessary for all Christians Ignorance and errour in points of faith may not only be innocent but meritorious Sect. 2. to page 72. They need not know what they are to do They may merit Heaven by following their Leaders out of the way That 's the most compleat and perfect obedience which is next to bruitish without knowledg and judgment when they obey their Leaders as a Beast doth his owner Sect. 3. to page 76. The knowledg of the Scriptures to which their Doctrine and Worship is confessed to be repugnant unnecessary in a manner for all sorts not only for the People and Monasticks but their Confessors and Preachers Their Bishops afraid to look into the Bible lest it should make them Hereticks Therefore very few of their Bishops in the Council of Trent who decreed so many new Articles of faith had knowledg in Theology Their Popes commonly no Divines many of them understood not Latine though not only their Church-service and Laws but their authentique Edition of the Scripture be confined to that Language The People the further they are from knowledg the more excusable if they take no care nor pains to get it Sect. 4. to page 87. CHAP. III. THeir Doctrine makes it needless to love God There is no command for habitual love to God The acts of this love are as unnecessary The imperate acts thereof not injoyned neither God nor the Church requires any to observe the commands of God out of love to him Sect. 1. 2. to page 91. How needless the Elicite acts of this love are Some hold there is no command for this actual love any inward act of it that binds them or no special command Others who acknowledg a precept will not have it to bind them upon any occasion when if ever it would oblige Not when they have sinn'd against him Not when he expresses his love Not when he discovers his infinite Excellencies to them Not when they are to worship him Not at any Sacrament no not the Eucharist It is too much to love God once a Week or once a Year or once in Four or Five Years One act of love once in a life may be enough yea and more than needs too for when that time comes if ever it come when they will have any obliged to an act of love yet they then assign something else which will serve instead of it and so render it needless still A love which is the issue of nature unsanctified may suffice Or to love God less than other things only more than mortal crimes may be enough Or to do nothing against this love though there be no acts of it or from it may be sufficient Or external acts may satisfie Or if a man believes that he loves God above all though indeed he daes not it may serve the turn Or Attrition which includes something repugnant to this love with their Sacrament of Confession may excuse him from loving of God at the point of death though he never once loved him in his life before How extremely pernicious and ridiculous this their Doctrine is Sect. 3. 4. to page 109. CHAP. IV. BY their Doctrine no faith is necessary but that which is neither justifying nor saving That which they will have necessary for the ignorant is what they call implicit A faith which they may have without actually believing any one Article of the Christian faith And is consistent with the belief of what is quite opposite to the Christian belief And is but such a faith as Jews Turks and Pagans have This was not thought sufficient for Christians till they were thought something like Asses and so expressed by some of their great Saints and Doctors How many ways they have to exempt the people from the obligation of all precepts for any other than this bruitish faith Sect. 1. to page 114. The faith requisite in the more intelligent to justifiethem they call explicit This as described by them in its object includes things uncertain impertinent false impossible and ridiculous as points that must be certainly believed unto justification This of it self as themselves say deserves not the name of a vertue is an idle dead thing may be found in the worst of men and in the Devils too Yet it is with them the Christian the Catholick faith Sect. 2. to page 116. They see no great necessity of faith The Pope the Head of their Church needs it not And the Body may
account no act of love nor of any other grace will be needful for them that they may be saved Thus in fine here 's a Religion which pretends to be Christian but excuseth and disingageth all that profess it from the love of Christ a Doctrine which bereaves Religion of that which themselves count its life and quite stifles all the spirits of Christianity chops off all Christian vertues all gracious acts and qualities in this one neck and leaves nothing but a gastly Carkase For obliging them to neglect love as needless it makes the rest impossible without it there can be no saving faith no godly sorrow no filial fear no delight in God no desire to enjoy him no genuine gratitude When the life of a true Christian should be made up of these they leave it not possible for him to have one act of true Christian vertue for without love they say themselves there cannot be any one true vertue Here is a way to Heaven for those that never loved God in life or death a path that pretends to Heaven but lies quite Cross to the way of Christ and leads directly to outer darkness A Doctrine that incourageth them to live in hatred of God all their dayes and in the end sends them out of the World under the dreadful sentence of the Apostle 1 Cor. 16 22. If any man love not the Lord Jesus let him be Anathema Maranatha To conclude this head It is a Doctrine which is damning not only meritoriously but effectually and will certainly ruine eternally all that believe and practise it and hath in it the mortal poyson and malignity of a hundred such speculative Opinions as pass for Heresies And beside the danger and horrible impiety of this Doctrine it is ridiculous to the very highest degree For can any thing be more senseless than to ask how often a man ought to love his best friend and Benefactor whether once in his life be not enough in all Conscience nay whether it be not very fair not to hate him And indeed they state the business all along in such a manner and manage it with such nicety and caution not as if they were afraid lest men should love God too little but as if all the danger lay on the other hand and their great care were that no body should love him too much or love him at all I do not believe that things so palpably impious and ridiculous were ever so solemnly debated by men of any Religion whatsoever CHAP. IV. There is no necessity of saving or justifying faith by the Romish Doctrine Sect. 1. THat no man can be justified or saved without faith is so evident in Scripture that none but an Infidel can question it The Romanists do not express any doubt of it and yet they make no other faith necessary than that which is neither justifying nor saving They have two sorts of faith one for the unlearned and ignorant which they call Implicite The other for the learned and more knowing which they say should be Explicite The former as they describe it is an assent to some general including many particulars with a mind to believe nothing contrary thereunto the general is this That what ever the Roman Church which cannot err believes is true the particulars included are they know not what for they are supposed ignorant Now this we say is no Christian faith and make it apparent that it is no such thing For first it is no belief of any one particular or article of the Christian faith It is only a belief of a general which is no truth at all much less Christian that the Church of Rome cannot err or believe any thing but what is true when the ignorant person neither knows what this Church is nor what she believes nor why he should give her such credit So that the act is a blind conceit unworthy of a Man or a Christian and the object a general error And then as to the particulars which are necessary for Christians to believe this implicite faith doth not actually believe any of them at all if it did it would not be what it is implicite It apprehends them not therefore cannot believe them for as themselves acknowledge (a) Neque enim credi potest quod non cognoscitur Fill. tr 22. n. 39. That cannot be believed which is not known To render this clear to us they thus explain it When (b) Bannes 22. q. 2. art 8. Sect. dubitatur secundo Sum. Rosel verb. fides n. 1. a man is asked whether Christ were born of the Virgin Mary and whether there be one God and three persons and he answers that he knows not but believes touching these things as the Church holds this is to believe implicitely So that a man may have this faith compleatly and yet not believe an article of the Creed and if this be Christian faith a man may have it who believes nothing of Christ They are believers at this rate who have a mind to hold what the Church doth concerning Christ or the Creed though they never know what that is They know not what the Church holds unless the Churches knowing be their knowledge and so believe nothing unless the Churche's believing be their faith and so have no faith to save them unless it be saving faith to believe by an Attorney Secondly as this faith may be without the knowledge and belief of any of the particular Articles which are necessary to be believed by Christians so which is yet more strange it may be with the belief of what is opposite and repugnant to the Christian faith This they acknowledge and clear it to us by instances A man may be disposed to believe what the Church holds and yet may believe that God the Father and God the Son are not equal but one greater and elder than the other or that the persons in the Trinity are locally distant Such is the vertue of implicite faith faith (c) In tantum valet fides implicita quod si quis habens eam falso opinaretur ratione naturali motus Patrem majorem vel priorem Filio vel tres personas localiter distare aâ— simile quid non sit haereticus non peccet dummodo hunc errorem pertinaciter non defendat hoc ipsum credat quia credat ecclesiam sic credere Verb. Credere Sum Rosel v. fides n. 2. After Pope Innocent and Hostiensis Altenstaig that if he who hath it believes these errors or any like them he would be no Heretick he would not sin provided he doth not maintain his error pertinaciously and that he believes because he thinks the Church believes it Or such a Catholick may believe (d) Ut puta vetula credit Trinitatem esse unam Faeminam quoniam credit ecclesiam sic tenere sic credit tamen non est haeretica quia conditionaliter credit si ecclesia sic tenet credit Verb. sides n. 6. that the
quae dicit Deus haec etenim est etiam in Daemonibus perditissimis hominibus Confut. artic Lutheri art 1. Contarenus is not it by which we believe that there is a God or by which we believe that the things are true which God speaks For this also is in the Devils and the most wicked men Yet at other times this is with them THE CHRISTIAN THE CATHOLICK FAITH as if it were enough to make them true (*) Concil Trident. Sess 6. c. 28. Christians and Catholicks but sure they will not seek for their Christianity and Catholickness in a Room lower than Purgatory However instead of a faith which the Scripture calls for as saving and justifying they commend to Christians a faith which hath no connexion at all necessary or probable with Salvation or Justification All they have to say is That it must necessarily be joyned with love but when they have said this they undo it and all by making love it self unnecessary as we saw before Sect. 3. In fine they seem little concerned for faith who hath it or hath it not or how little it be or how seldome acted It is not (h) Non enim fides interior Romani Pontificis ecclesiae est necessaria Canus loc Theol. lib. 6. c. ult p. 344. necessary that the Pope himself should have this faith though the Devils want it not yea or any other vertue for all his Holiness the Body may do well enough though the Head of it be an Infidel They are obliged to maintain this because their Popes often have been no better And the body may shift pretty well without it too This may be the true Catholick Church made up of the whole company of believers when not one amongst them all hath faith for time was say they (i) Abbas in Sylvest sum v. Concil n. 3. when none at all had faith but only one Woman and it may be so again As for the exercise of it Hurtado thinks an act of faith may be requisite once in a year (*) Existimant aliqui precepeum eliciendae fidei obligare singulis annis veâ—uâ— hoc communiter negatur Petr. a S. Joseph sum de 1. praecep art 1. p. 6. but the Jesuite may seem to deal unmercifully with them putting them to believe some of their Creed once in Twelve moneths those of other Orders would not have them so much oppressed once in 12 years will be enough Bonacina (k) Tom. 2. in 1. praecept disp 3. q. 2. punct 2. saith 4 or 5 moments in a whole life may suffice for this and specifies them but because this may seem too hard he signifieth withall how they may he eased in a manner of them all For once though that be at the point of death an (l) n. 12. implicite act may serve At an other time or two the precept for faith doth not of it self oblige to the act only (m) n. 9. 11. it is requisite by accident and so the neglect of it then will be no special sin nor need be confessed At another time or more if there were occasion ignorance or want of consideration may (n) n 8. excuse them for these two though they ruine the greatest part of the World eternally yet are the greatest security of Roman-Catholicks and not only exempt them from that which is most the duty of Christians but will not suffer them to sin at least mortally do what they can So that after all one act of their faith once in a life time will be enough (o) Existimo tamen sufficere ut isti rudes semel assensum explicite praebuerint articulis ad salutâ—m necessarijs dum sibi proponebantur a confessario vel ab alio Ibid. n. 14. ibi Malderus alij Peter a S. Joseph reduces all the moments and occasions where an act of faith may be thought requisite to six heads and then declares upon each severally either that the precept doth not of it self oblige or that they may be excused from sin in neglecting it at any of them Sum in 1. precept art 1. p. 3. 4 5 6. I think it sufficient saith he after many others for those that are rude to give an explicite assent once to the Articles necessary to Salvation while they are propounded by their Confessor or some other But how must the Confessor propound these Articles to them so as they may pass this one act of faith upon them once for all Why the best way (p) Bonacin ibid. n. 16. he tells us is by a mode of forming the sign of the Cross as it is described for this purpose by Graffius Bellarmine and other great Divines I had the curiosity to see how a Confessor can make the most ignorant persons true believers by the sign of the Cross and so effectually as they never need more believe than once while they live and found it lying thus (q) Graff decis part 1. l. 1. c. 24. n. 3. let the Confessor teach him to form the sign of the Cross with three singers to signifie the mystery of the most Sacred Trinity But first it must be drawn from the top of the head or front to the Navel to shew that the Son of God descended from the highest Heavens into the bowels of his Mother then draw the cross line from the left Arm to the right so the cause of the Incarnation is expressed He came from Heaven to Earth that we who were to be placed amongst the Goats at his left might be removed to his right hand amongst the Sheep This is the admirable expedient the grave Benedictine reflecting on it was put into a transport for he adds (r) Ecce quanta nobis fidei nostrae mysteria unica formandae crucis ratione Mater Ecclesia docuit ut si nihil praeterea sciret rudis homo vel hoc solum ad salutem illi sufficere queat ibid. behold what great mysteries of faith Mother-Church hath taught us by one mode of forming a Cross so that a rude person needs know nothing besides this even this alone may be sufficient for his Salvation Here is a compendious way indeed to Salvation and all the knowledge and faith needful for it he that can be satisfied with it and give himself up to absurd and ridiculous delusions against all the evidence of Gods word may in few minutes with once making the sign of the Cross get all the faith requisite for a Roman-Catholick and when by such admirable conduct of the Cross he hath but once believed he need never more trouble himself with faith while he lives (s) Praeceptum fidei non obligat perse nisi semel forte in vita vid. Jo. Sanc. disp 41. n. 32. Advertant praeceptum fidei non obligare per se nisi tempore usus rationis advenientis vel postea si tunc non est impletum taliter quod post semel elicitum actum fidei raro vel fortasse nunquam
a Priest so Aquinas in 4. dist 17. q. 3. art 3. or he may have the Eucharist administred to him without a Priest and it is their common doctrine that the Eucharist justifies one that is in mortal sin if he be attrite and thinks but himself contrite yea he may administer it to himself with the same effect in case of necessity divers of all sorts amongst them are of this opinion The Authority of Aquinas is alledged for it 3. q. 82. art 3. and Cajetan in Matth. 26. The example of the Queen of Scots commonly produced who having the Sacrament by her administred it to her self is highly approved by all Thus far Satan has prevailed with them to promote the Damnation of Sinners by hardning them in impenitence even when the interest of their Priests seems a little concerned But what if a Catholick Sinner relying upon such Impostors still neglect true Repentance and death surprize him so suddenly as to render these other devices unpracticable is not his case then desperate No he may have as good hopes of Salvation as other Catholicks have a probable ground for his hope and none must have any certainty Such a ground is the judgement of their Angelical Doctor who declares that if one sick desires pennance and before the Priest comes he dyes or is speechless the Priest may look on him as if he had confessed and may absolve him being dead Opusc 63. de offic Sacerd. Accordingly Clemens 8. Absolved one whom he saw falling from St. Peters Church in Rome Molfes t. 1. tr 7. c. 5. n. 48. So that any may be Absolved i. e. Pardoned and Sanctified for the sense of the Priests Absolvo is I give thee grace which pardons thy sins Impendo tibi gratiam remissivam peccatorum ut communiter Doctores in Jo. Sanc. disp 27. n. 18. even after they are dead if they did but desire confession before Now those amongst themselves who do not desire confession while they live are such only as will not have Salvation if they might upon the most trivial terms and so none need fear Damnation how impenitent soever otherwise they live and dye but such as are worse than any Devil now in Hell And who can accuse them as too rigid if they make true Repentance unavoidably necessary for such as these since this doctrine makes it needful for none besides All these ways any man may be saved without true Repentance if he will believe the Roman Doctors though if we believe Christ he shall certainly perish that repents not what-ever course he takes besides Any of these are probable and may be by their principles having grave Doctors more than enough to authorize them safely followed but that of the Councils prescribing is infallible and will not fail to secure those who practise it if any thing in their Church may have credit nor can fail to ruine those who follow it if the word of God may be trusted Thus while they would increase their party by having it thought that in their way scarce any Roman Catholick will be Damned they take the course in this as in other particulars that none who wâ—ll follow them can be saved unless salvation be for the impenitent Sect. 9. By this it is also manifest that the charge brought against them in the three last Articles for making Saving Faith Love to God and true Repentance needless in life or death is not founded only upon the opinion of their private Doctors or the greatest part of them but hath that which they count the surest ground of all the determination of a general Council confirmed by the Pope For if Attrition be sufficient as that Council declares then true Repentance is not necessary If grief for sin out of slavish fear or shame only without any love to God be enough then Love to God is needless and if Love be not needful then Faith which works by Love and is the only saving Faith is needless till there be no time for it to work But is it credible that they who sometimes seem to lay so great stress upon these graces as necessary to salvation should contradict not only the Scriptures but themselves and make them needless not only all a mans life before but even when he is dying sure they must have some device to supply in pretence at least the want of these if not before yet at the point of death and will substitute something in their stead of supposed equivalence to them Indeed they are fruitful in inventions tending to ruine souls and subvert the doctrine of salvation and one particularly they have in this case and that is what we before mentioned their Sacrament of Pennance When a man is near death if he be Attrite and confess his mortal sins to a Priest and be absolved by vertue thereof he hath remission of sins and together therewith infusion of grace particularly of Faith Hope and Charity Thus they come to have grace in a moment who lived graceless all their days before and had dyed so if such a Rite had not been provided for their relief By vertue of this Sacrament Love is planted in their heart and their Faith in God and sorrow for sin is formed by Love and becomes saving so that if they dye presently in that state their salvation is secured But what if they live must not these habits be afterwards exercised must not there be some act of contrition in those who never had any before No by their doctrine there is no necessity for it though there be no true actual Repentance without it The question is in one of their greatest Divines Whether (u) An etiam in lege gratiae post obtentam justificationem per Sacramentum paenitentiae cum sola attritione maneat haec obligatio habendi contritionem Dicendum est per se loquendo non manere in lege nova obligationem hanc post praedictam justificationem Ita sentiunt omnes qui putant Sacrameneum paenitentiae justificare cum sola attritione cognita Suarez tom 4. disp 15. Sect. 4. n. 12. 13. in the Law of Grace after justification obtained by the Sacrament of Pennance with Attrition alone there remain any obligation to have Contrition and it is resolved that there is no such obligation and that this is the judgment of all those who hold that the Sacrament of pennance doth justifie with Attrition alone known to be so and (x) Aquinas Scotus Paludanus Capreolus Durandus Adrian Antoninus Sylvester Cano ibid. disp 20. Sect. 1. n. 9. Corduba Vega Soto in Vasquoz Corduba docet quod qui justificatus est Sacramento paenitentiae cum contritione tantum existimata non tenetur eorundem peccatuoâ—m contriâ—ionem veram habere eam aperte colligere licet ex Soto ita Vega. in 3. Thom. q. 86. a 2. d. 2. n. 11. these are the most for number and the most considerable for authority in their Church and Schools Aquinas and Scotus both