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A20605 A sermon preached in Italian, by the most Reuerend father, Marc' Antony de Dominis, Archb. of Spalato, the first Sunday in Aduent, anno 1617. In the Mercers Chappel in London, to the Italians in that city, and many other honorable auditors then assembled. Vpon the 12. verse of the 13. chapter to the Romanes, being part of the Epistle for that day. First published in Italian by the author, and thereout translated into English; Predica fatta da Monsr. Marc' Antonio de Dominis, Arcivo. di Spalato. English De Dominis, Marco Antonio, 1560-1624. 1617 (1617) STC 7004; ESTC S109795 31,116 84

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c. Man goeth forth to his worke and to his labour till the Euening It is the propertie of beasts and those the most harmefull to make the day their time of sleepe and the night their time of labour so of men those that employ themselues about euill Iohn 3.19 shun the light Men loued darkenesse more then the light For their workes were euill Euerie man that doeth euill hateth the light and commeth not to the light least his deeds should be reproued But those men that take not after such wild beasts employ themselues in good works as much as they can whilest they haue the oportunitie of the light and spend not the day in sleepe but make their aduantage of the time Iohn 3.21 He that doeth the trueth commeth to the light that his deeds might be made manifest that they are wrought in God Christ our instructor and ensample said of himselfe I must worke the workes of him that sent mee whilest it is day The night commeth when no man can worke How much more ought wee euerie of vs to say the same of our selues to whom S. Paule sayeth Hora est iam nos de somno surgere Now it is time for vs to arise from sleepe Whilest the day of this life lasteth we are to busie our selues in good workes and to shew that we haue a liuely faith Venit nox The night commeth wherein no man can worke It is a meere folly to expect as the Romanists doe that others should worke for vs and apply their works to vs when wee are dead and gone that others should fast for vs purchase S. Gregories Masses and seeke out priuiledged altars and procure Indulgences for vs Per modum intercession they seeke out priuiledged altars But the night ouertakes them wherein no man can worke surely neyther himselfe in person nor others to his vse Our journey is ended we by death arriue at our long home either of eternall Saluation or of endlesse damnation there is no meane estate betweene these two Eccles 11.3 If the tree fall toward the South or toward the North in the place where the treefalleth there it shall be Therefore whilest the day holdes doe that which thou hast to doe Psal 115.17 18. The dead prayse not the Lord neither any that goe downe into the place of silence that is into the graue But we that liue let vs prayse the Lord. Isa 38.18 19. The graue cannot praise thee death cannot celebrate thee they that goe downe into the pit cannot hope for thy trueth The liuing the liuing he shall praise thee The fourth kind of day is the day of pure meere trueth The night is passed of so many errors which with the Papacy haue crept into the Papall Churches and to vs by the grace of the Almighty the day is arriued He that liued vnder the Papacy might and ought then to say in his prayers to God Emitte lucem tuam veritatem tuam Send foorth thy light and thy trueth Psal 43.3 But he that is freed thence must insist vpon that which followeth Ipsa me deduxerunt adduxerunt in montem sanctū tuum in tabernaculatua They haue led me and brought me vnto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles Here beloued brethren heere in this Kingdome wee haue the hill of God which is raysed vp towards heauen and standeth discoasted farre enough from the sinke and myre of the Papall corruptions Here are the tabernacles and tents of the armies of the Lord of hosts pitcht in goodly aray and furnished for the confronting all opposite forces Heere the light of the trueth is freely and openly let in Heere the holy Scriptures are most exactly studied Here are great multitudes of learned men and aboue all the most learned the Anoynted of the Lord a King who is the wonder of the Kings of the earth a matchlesse paterne to all the Kings and Princes of Christendome of great zeale in purging aduancing and mainteining Christs holy Religion Heere the sincere word of God is taught plentifully Here the Bishops are very learned religious and vigilant ouer their flocks Here the Priests are euery way sufficient and very skilfull in the cure of soules Heere the people are very zealous and feruently addicted to holy and spirituall dueties Thanks therefore be to God who after the night of so many errors hath sent foorth his light and trueth which haue led me and brought me into his holy hill and to his tabernacles And so reioycing in the Lord I say againe to my selfe and to you my brethren The night is passed and the day is at hand Heere perhaps some man may demaund of mee why S. Paul saith that the day is at hand and not rather that it is already come which doubt seemeth the greater vpon the words which goe before Nunc propior est nostrasalus quàm cum credidimus Now is our saluation neerer then when wee beleeued Heere therefore the approach of the day is the approach of saluation and the day and saluation are to bee taken to signifie one and the same and by consequence besides that day and saluation which is Christ and his Gospel besides that day and saluation which signifieth grace and the remission of sinnes S. Paul vnderstandeth yet another day and another saluation which he declareth to bee come neerer at the time of his writing this Epistle to them then it was when they first receiued the Faith and holy Baptisme with remission of sinnes By this saluation which is said to haue come neerer Lyra vnderstandeth the Saluation brought in by the comming of Christ as being neerer then it was before his comming But neither S. Paul nor these Christians to whom hee wrote it were beleeuers before the comming of Christ And yet S. Paul saith plainely quàm cum credidimus that is then when we began to beleeue in Christ Saint Chysostome by this Saluation vnderstandeth the generall resurrection which shall be at the second comming of Christ at Doomesday wherewith S. Paul awaketh the faithfull to make them watchfull and ready for that generall Iudgement which in the very Apostles times was by many deemed to be very nigh at hand But it is better for vs to interprete this admonition of the Apostle concerning Death and the particular iudgement of euery man and euery of vs to say to our selues and to one another Noster dies appropinquauit propior est Salus nostra Our day is at hand and our Saluation is neerer because the day of our death comes on euery moment neerer neerer Let vs therfore my brethren prouide that at the comming of that last day Christ may finde vs prepared Matth. 24. For yee know not at what houre your Master will come Matth. 25. Be readie as the fiue wise Virgins were ready and entred in with the Spouse to the wedding And let vs take heede that befalles vs not which the fiue foolish virgins found who were
faith he barreth vp the way to the people so that they cannot come to descry his inuentions as long as they make it a scruple of conscience to examine or consider what trueth may bee in such determinations which are made by him for his owne aduantage onely and not for their soules health In this meane while the poore vulgar think that they haue as much faith as will serue for their saluation and yet in fine they will bee found to haue none at all I beleeue that which the Church beleeues If I come not to particular articles I yet beleeue nothing but onely am in a disposition to beleeue that which the Church of Rome shall prescribe mee whether true or false Verely for any man to say I beleeue that which another man beleeueth is as much as if he said I see that which another man seeth though my owne eyes be shut And as no man can be said to see but only when the faculty of his owne sight exerciseth its operation vpon a particular obiect so there is no actuall beleeuing but when the vnderstanding and will doe actually apprehend and embrace the obiect of faith There are vnder the Papacy there are among the people many men endued by God with sufficient iudgement and capacity to receiue good instruction in many mysteries of our faith if they had conuenient meanes and opportunity to learne them but by reason of this implied faith they are not only kept from learning those things which they ought to know but also a great number of them and they not of the dullards when they vnder a confused notion apprehend such articles frame to themselues false and erroneous conceipts of them How many being enwrapped in this implicite faith and being otherwise able distinctly to vnderstand that there are in Christ two distinct natures and but one onely person and that diuine yet thinke that Christ is man by an humane person and so are Nestorians How many are there that beleeue Christ to be a meere man and so are Arians How many beleeue that in Christ the diuine and humane natures are confounded into one nature Innumerable such monsters of all heresies may bee found vnder this Chimaera of inuolued faith Besides this the more to cherish these monstrous errors the Popes barre Christian people from all means of learning the verities of the Christian faith forbidding them the vse of the holy Scriptures in such language as they may vnderstand For they are well assured that the very vulgar would by reading the Scriptures discouer the manifold deuises and trickes wherwith the Popes the Bishops the Preachers the Priests and Friars delude the simple people to draw money out of their purses and to make themselues be thought so many Gods If the people might bee suffered to read the Scriptures in the mother tongue they would finde that all the twelue Apostles had the same charge in all respects equall with S. Peter of planting gouerning the Church They would see that in all the Bible there is nothing to bee found for S. Peters being at Rome nor that hee hath left any speciall charge with the Bishop of Rome They would be aduertised that all Bishops succeed the Apostles in equall power among themselues without subiection of one to another And that the vnion of holy Church consisteth in the vnity of faith and in charity whereby all Churches are combined and embrace one the other and not in being vnder any one visible head but vnder Christ the true and only head of the Church They would well know that the Masse hath no other vse nor bringeth any other spirituall benefite then to consecrate the holy Sacrament for Communion and that only when there are some more or lesse to communicate that the pronouncing of some part aloud and whispering the rest so that the people heares it not is but a mockery Likewise that those mimicall gestures with the hands leggs and eyes serue for nothing but to set the people on gazing in a wonderment They would learne that in the bread of the Eucharist there is the true body of Christ Sacramentally and after a wonderful maner which to vs is inexplicable but not in flesh and bones with eyes hands and feet Neither should they euer finde that that consecrated bread is to bee adored for God euen as wee adore not the water which represents the blood of Christ in baptisme although by the power of Gods grace this water and that bread in him that receiueth it worthily worke maruelous spirituall effects in the soule They would vnderstand that Purgatory being not once named nor implied in the Scriptures is an inuention of the Priests and Friars to make men call for Masses and to draw on paiments and oblations for the rescuing of soules out of Purgatory Which deuice rayseth an income whereby such a swarme of idlesbies not only vnprofitable to the Church but also scandalous are maintained liuing in iollity and wallowing in all vncleannesse These and many other like trueths would the people descrie if they might read the holy Scriptures nor would they suffer themselues to be any longer deceiued and fuddled vp in that darke cloud and night of infolded faith Much the easier also would they vnderstand these things if together with the Scriptures diuers godly and holy Bookes might bee suffered to come to their view which discouer the impostures of the Papacie and sincerely lay down the true way to saluatiō yet these Bookes are most falsly by the Pope for his owne behoofe declared to be hereticall and prohibited as pestilēt in that kind without euer shewing particularly wherin these pretended heresies consist Which are notwithstanding taught by the holy Fathers of the Church But this is his refuge for security lest his errours should bee discouered And as for so many soules running this way headlong into hell that troubleth him not may he the while hold vp his wordly pomp And so much of the first generall error Another generall error wherewith the captiuated Churches in Italy and many other elsewhere are seduced is the perswading of the simple people that they obtaine infallible remission of all their sinnes committed after baptisme by vertue of certaine externall sensible and materiall actions which are called Sacraments and Sacramentals Indeed the common people being by nature prone and hasty to superstition and more willing and ready to vndergoe externall easie performances then inward duties difficult and distastful to flesh and blood put too much confidence in these outward superstitions being in the meane time destitute of the true inward effect of desired remission of their sinnes and so the blinde being led by the blinde both fall into the pit The true Sacraments instituted by our Sauiour for remission of sinnes are holy Baptisme and the sacred Communion And the only true and reall remedy whereby remission of sinnes done after Baptisme is obteined is Repentance which consisteth in true sorrowing for sinne together with resolution to
leaue sinne by the assistance of Gods grace But see how extrauagant the Papall doctrine is in this point Namely that it is necessary to confesse to a Priest all and euery of our sinnes one by one together with the circumstances of them and that thereupon presently comes absolution which ex opere operato by vertue of the deed done that is infalliblie by a Sacramentall operation releaseth the sinne quantum ad culpam as much as concernes the guiltinesse of it and as for an after-reckoning quantum ad poenam concerning the punishment that is remitted by satisfaction enioined or by Indulgences This so mighty efficacy they attribute to Priestly absolution by vertue whereof they will that a sinner presently becommeth ex attrito contritus that is to say though he doe not truly and soundly repent him of his sinnes but conceiue a certaine sleight and light sorrow out of feare onely of Gods punishments and not out of hatred of sinne yet vpon the act of absolution hee enioyeth the benefit of remission as fully as if he had true and entire repentance together with hatred of sinne In this maner they breed vp a sinner and make him in his affection to cleaue fast to his sinnes whilest he flattereth himselfe that Confession turneth his attrition into contrition And thus poore soules being beguiled with this blinding and benighting Doctrine trust so farre vpon this their externall Confession and externall Absolution that they neglect inward repentance and so sticke fast in their sinnes thinking that they haue done their part when they haue gone ouer the beadroule of their sinnes and so receiued Absolution But those good soules that put not this superstitious cōfidence in any such power of Absolution which in trueth cannot deriue from the Gospel any Sacramentall operation and certainely perswade themselues that they haue no other meanes of remedy then true hearty repentante they relie vpon that onely and make request to God for it by humble and feruent prayers vsing also other helpes whereto the Scriptures direct vs fastings giuing of almes and other workes of charitie Not that these doe satisfie for the punishment as the Romanists vainly teach For God when hee pardoneth the sinne remitteth also the punishmēt as is most cleare in Scripture but because these are fruits of inward Repentance and parts of outward and so make way for remission of sinnes But the Romish preposterous course mistaking and mis-doing in the darke night of this error worketh cleane contrary and setteth the cart before the horse first granting remission and afterward imposing workes of repentance which indeede should goe before repentance and much more before remission And by this reckoning the vnhappy soules when they thinke themselues most free then remaine most bound and vnpardoned before the throne of God This deuise therfore of Sacramentall Confession and Sacramentall Absolution as they terme it as it is pernicious so it hath the brand of nouelty being first imposed by Pope Innocent the third After the entrance whereof the forme of true repentance is very hardly to bee found in the Churches subiect to the Papacy O how much better were it for a sinner not to goe to Confession but onely when he findeth himselfe in his owne conscience rightly disposed to be in the state of true repentance For the often frequenting of Confession as it is vsed and receiuing of Absolution such as it is makes a sinfull wretch feede himselfe with shadowes and seeme to himselfe to giue his conscience sufficient satisfaction Whereupon he not seeing the miserable estate wherin he remains neuer thinketh seriously of true repentance Whereas if hee had not that vaine imployment which serueth him but to cloake his sinnes he would finde himselfe to bee yet in the estate of sinne and would earnestly bethinke himselfe of the true remedy namely inward sincere repentance which without any other confession or absolution cancelleth our sinnes as fully appeareth out of the holy Scriptures and Fathers It is therefore an errour very grieuous and hurtful to the soule to beleeue that these externall performances conferre remission of sinnes and that they are necessary therunto What shall we say of so many other meere externall trifles whereto the people is most superstitiously inclined as holy water beades crosses consecrated Images Papall and Episcopall benedictions Stations Pardons the new found hoode of the Carmelites called the Habitell the whipcoards of Saint Francis the girdles of the Cordeliers the visiting of such a Church in such dayes or of these and these altars and reliques nay the very hearing of Masses and anealing him that lies a dying These and such like other outward shewes doe fill and puffe vp the soule with a very surfet of an imaginary and false deuotion Wherupon men thinke not of purging their consciences of consummating their faith of inflaming their charity towards God and toward their neighbor they busie not themselues about repenting of their sinnes and performing those internall actions wherein the essentiall part of our reconciliation with God and eternall saluation doth consist And when a man hath once in a day signed himselfe with the signe of the Crosse and sayd ouer his Pater Noster which he vnderstands neuer a whit together with his Aue Maria and hath heard Masse why then forsooth he is a Saint and hath learned enough in religion and so fastning vpon these outsides he sets vp his rest on them for his saluation And if at any time they can ensnare an vngrounded Protestant and winne him ouer to their partie they thinke him very well furnished if he can beleeue in the Pope and will heare Masse vpon this presently without any more adoe they declare him to bea most perfect Catholique Let them not heere tell me that the inwards of the soule are stirred vp and whetted by these outward actions For experience sheweth the contrary that the people when they haue tired themselues with visiting so many altars with hearing so many Masses with chewing ouer so many halfe-scores of Aue Maries in running ouer al the Rosary when they haue so and so many times kissed the Crosse and haue bin in Processions they looke no further but deeme themselues to bee all holy and that they need nothing else and yet they goe on in their sinnes nay such as these for the most part become in their inward worse euery day then other and for all this mend not their liues nor settle themselues to true repentance Lament 4.4 Of these poore starued soules we may say Paruuli petierunt panem non est qui frangat eis The children called for bread and there is none to breake it to them And if they affoord them any scraps of bread it must not be the true bread of life but in stead of wholesome and nourishing bread made of wheat they giue them bread made of bran or acornes and to keepe them from sence of hunger they stuffe them vp with swines meat the huskes and
shales of these superfluous and superstitious deuotions What now adayes carrieth away the noise in their pulpits what but the Papacie Purgatory and Indulgences and other the like superstitions Here one extolls a certaine Image of the blessed Virgin to bee seene in his Church which makes miracles Gods plenty but these feates are either imagined or dreamed of or else contriued by imposture There another stands vpon the commendation of a certaine wodden wonder-working Crucifixe making a moster of it with a troope of lighted Torches about it and the more to endeare it hee withdraweth the Curtaines but seldome and openeth the Shrine at a few set times in the yeere Otherwhere others doe the like and all for the same end namely to allure the simple people to flocke to them and so to worke vpon their purses O misery of corruption O night of darkenesse I passe now to the third generall error and it is this That the thunderbolt of excommunication darted out by the Pope is euermore very terrible and that it strikes deepe wounding the soule and tumbling it downe-right into hell if the Popes commands be not obeyed True it is that euery Bishop within his owne Bishopricke no lesse then the Pope within the Bishopricke of Rome hath power to excommunicate grieuous and scandalous offenders either debarring them of Ecclesiasticall communion with other Christian people vntill they amend or if the case bee desperate casting them out of the Church and cutting them off from the body of Christ as dead and rotten members But whensoeuer such Excommunications are sent out without iust yea and most weighty cause they more hurt him that thundereth them out then them against whom they are bent It must needes therefore be a great folly to stand in feare of the Popes Excommunication whensoeuer hee threatens in this sort Either beleeue whatsoeuer I say or I will excommunicate you Either admit me to be supreme Lord of all the world both in spirituall and temporall matters or you shall be excommunicated Either acknowledge and worship mee for a god vpon earth or you shall bee held for Excommunicate To bring his owne ends to passe he worketh in this sort hee compelleth men both to beleeue and also to performe whatsoeuer he please hee forelayeth meanes to keepe simple ouerfearefull men in awe so that they shall not dare to stand out in their owne defence against his Tyrannie By these vaine terrors he taketh away the vse of many excellent bookes therefore prohibited because they lay open his collusions Neuerthelesse this rule is certaine and infallible whosouer walking vprightly in the sight of God with sincerity of heart and honest intention readeth bookes not out of carnall curiosity but out of desire to learne and to discerne betweene truth and falsehood and to the end that hee may not alwaies remaine blind let him not feare a whit nor make any account of such Excommunication which can neuer separate any man from God vnlesse hee hath in his owne heart first separated himselfe from him Without doubt the Pope maketh great vse of this scarcrow feare of his Excommunications as a fit engine to enforce many a falsehood and to hide out of the way many truths for the vpholding of his owne most vndue and vsurped greatnesse This indeede hath bene his weapon wherewith hee long since hath layde about him but it hath beene retorted backe vpon him by many holy men who haue not spared to laugh at his false thunderclaps bolted out by great abuse without necessity or iust cause at all and haue made him to giue ouer with shame enough Let vs now therefore render our thankes to God who hath rescued vs de ore Leonis out of the mouth of the Lion and de nube erroris out of the cloud of error so that the enemy cannot leade vs into such deepe darkenesse as he yet doth many soules miserably captiuated to him And therefore to vs Nox praecessit The night is past Dies autem appropinquauit But the day hath approached To these foure nights there are as many daies correspondent The first is of the knowledge of God and of the holy Christian faith the shadowes being discharged and the veiles taken away by the comming of Christ when that which lay hidde vnder types and darke resemblances was manifested by the light of the Gospel Neither was it without mysterious signification that at the very passion of Christ the veile of the Temple was rent from the toppe downe to the bottome For the sacred mysteries of God were not now to remaine any longer curtayned vp inasmuch as at the appearing of the Sunne of righteousnes all those cloudes and darkenes vanished away cleere reuelation beeing then made to vs of the vnity in Nature and trinity in Persons in God and of the Redeemer the true and naturall Sonne of God in whom are two Natures the one diuine the other humane subsisting in the diuine Person of the Word He is in substance and cleere signification the foreshadowed spotlesse Lambe of God He is the true Sacrifice which was hidden and veyled in the sacrifices of the old Law the most precious sacrifice offered vp vpon the altar of the Crosse for our sinnes whereto no other sacrifice is now to succeed Rom. 12. besides the reasonable seruice of our soules and bodies and perpetuall thankesgiuing and adoration of his most holy name The second day is the day of Grace with full remission of all our sinnes in holy Baptisme the Church beeing sanctified and cleansed by the Lauer of water in the Word Of those that receiued Christ by the preaching of the Apostles Saint Paul said Ephes 5. Yee were sometimes darkenesse but now yee are light in the Lord who commanded light to shine out of darkenesse To the Gentiles the light of Nature and to the Iewes the Law did point at what ought to be done but neither the one nor the other gaue grace and strength to worke well Rom. 8. as Saint Paul prooueth Hebr. 10. For that Nature beeing corrupted was ouer nimble to runne headlong into sinne But the grace of Christ helpeth our naturall weakenesse and helpeth vs to bee set free and preserued from sinne and therefore Hic dies appropinquauit The day hath approached The third day is the day of watchfulnesse diligence and care The wild and sauage beasts watch most of all in the night time forraging then for their prey On the contrarie man r●●oseth himselfe in the night and goeth about his businesse in the day time Psal 104.20 Posuisti tenebras facta est nox in ipsa pertransibunt omnes bestiae Syluae c. Thou madest darkenesse and it is night wherein all the beasts of the Forest creepe forth The young Lions roare after their prey and seek their meat of God When the Sunne riseth they retire and couch in their dennes It is not so with man For when the Sunne is vp then Exibit homo ad opus suum