in the same Church and I pray then where will your Errours remain but in your own bosoms But see further the truth of this our Saviour parting out of this world tells his Apostles That he would be with them even to the end of the world so that we have two Persons of the Blessed Trinity promised to assist the Church of God for ever Matth. 28. v. 20. besides God the Fathers Divine aid and if this Church Erre with their guiding then there can be no truth at all for us to be guided by for this is as clear as the Sun that if the Church of God be guided by an Infallible Spirit it cannot Erre And the Church of God is guided by an Infallible Spirit therefore the Church of God cannot Erre And though I have made this good already yet I will make it more plainly appear from Christs own words where he exhorting Brethren to be reconciled one to another which if they will not do by reasonable perswasions they should tell the Church Matth. 18. v. 17. and if they will not hear the Church let them be as Heathens and Publicans by which it is plain that if the Church were not Infallible Just and free from Errour our Saviour would never have tyed us to her Judgement in our Faith and Manners under so sad a penalty as being a Heathen if we do not hear and submit to her and therefore it is very necessary for every one to submit to Gods Church which is infallibly true lest they be Heathens in the esteem of God and Man and consequently out-lawes to the Kingdom of Heaven Again see what our Saviour saith to this purpose in the same Gospel And I say unto thee Matth. 16. v. 18. that thou art Peter and upon this rock will I build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it now if the Church could be erroneous then you must deny this Gospel to be true for no Errours can be in the Church but by the prevailing power of the Devil which is meant by Hell-Gates and which our Saviour saith shall never prevail against it so by this we are certain the Church cannot Erre and we may confidently confide in her in all matters of our Salvation But for your further assurance if our Saviour be not enough I will show you what St. Paul saith concerning this truth where he confirms all that hath been said of it speaking to holy Timothy 1 Tim. 3. v. 15. But if I tarry long that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave they self in the house of God which is the Church of the living God the pillar and ground of the truth Now here I might stop and say no more for Saint Paul hath said enough for if it be the piller or support of truth and the ground from whence truth is derived is it not monstrous to think of Errour and I would fain know in what place Christians should ever be free from errour in their Faith if not in the Church of God and for to say that there is no way to be free from it would be very strange for then all men would grope in dark uncertainties which is quite contrary to the Qualities and Excellencies of Gods Church as was foretold by the Prophet Isaiah speaking of the Church of Christ Chap. 35. v. 8. And an high way shall be there and it shall be called the way of holiness and fools shall not erre therein now if there be no possibility for fools to erre in it certainly wise men cannot But this is no small subtilty of our Adversaries to hold this opinion well knowing that their Church hath been and is full of errours and that the gates of Hell hath prevailed against it hath manifestly appeared and doth now appear when all that they can do cannot allay the furious spirits of one Kingdom nor reduce them to any Obedience to their Church so that if they did not hold this Opinion as an Article of their Church all the world would see theirs was not the Church of God because it hath errours by which they are forced to maintain it as well as they can though it be against both Scripture and Reason too Now that this Church of God is onely the Roman Catholick is plainly shown already by her conformity to and practice of Gods holy word in all her points of Faith which she teacheth Christians to believe and therefore all her enemies wrong her and themselves too in saying the contrary for wheres they cry out the Roman Church was once the true Church of God but she is fallen from it now as they never could prove the time when nor the occasion how so is it impossible it ever should because as I have already shown Gods Holy Spirit guides and directs it that the Gates of Hell can never prevail to overthrow it nor bring it to errour And now having sufficiently proved the Infallibility of Gods Church I cannot but advise every one that hath any care of their eternal welfare to imbrace and believe what she preacheth concerning the same and so conclude with that of St. Augustine Many things saith he with much reason kept me in obedience to the Catholick Church the consent of people and Nations holds me the Authority of the same Church which is risen up by Miracle nourished with Hope augmented by Charity established by its Antiquity the succession of Bishops holds me therein whâ—ch beginning in the See and Authority of Saint Peter to whom God recommended the care of his Flock is maintained to this present time lastly the name of Catholick holds me in it and addeth he would not believe the Gospel it self if he were not assured of it by the Catholick Church Chap. 12. Proving the Doctrine of Remission of Sins as commanded by Christ and practised by his Apostles contrary to the Opinion of Protestants WEre not the mindes of many men corrupted with imperious principles they could not be so evil as to question yea deny the gifts both of Grace and Nature that God hath given both to Angels and Men when we have much reason to adore and praise him that he hath so much esteem of any of our Nature as to bestow such prerogatives upon them amongst which this is not the least that I am to treat of concerning remission of Sins by a Priest which though there be a grand mistake in this Point amongst Protestants and we are abused in it yet I shall by Gods assistance and by his holy word clear the mistake which may easily remedy the abuse for in all Mysteries of Christian Religion we are to consult with Gods word which if rightly understood cannot deceive us and not with our own shallow understandings which easily may neither are we to be led away with aiery fancies of our own nor with a giddy multitude nor ought the slanderous tongues of men to be trusted in but if you finde it plainly declared
in Scripture then are we bound to believe it for this is a general crime in this Age that men think nothing can be true if their narrow capacities cannot comprehend it as if all the mysteries of our Faith were so open for every ones understanding to enter the knowledge of them which if they were so then there were no need of Faith because Faith is onely required in those things our natures cannot comprehend and so might every Turk and Pagan be as good a Believer as a Christian therefore for the redress of this evil we are to understand whether Christ gave this power to his Apostles or no for if they had the power to pardon sins as being the Heads of his Church the same power must remain to their Successours in that Church because otherwise all succeeding Ages would receive no benefit by that gift which our Saviour gave for the good of us all that lay hold of it And to prove that they had this power is plain and easie enough first from Saint Matthews Gospel where our Saviour telling Saint Peter he would build his Church on him he saith Mat. 16. v. 18 19. And I will give thee the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven by which it is clear that he had a great power given him to pardon or not to pardon and that those which he did not pardon on earth should not be pardoned in heaven which is the same in Gods Church to this day and therefore let every one consider what reason they have to be members of it by which consists our eternal salvation Again our Saviour tells his Disciples in general saying Whatsoever ye shall binde on earth shall be bound in heaven Mat. 18. v. 18. and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven by which it is plain that they had this power of remission of sins and to deny the same power to their Successours in Gods Church would in my esteem be very unreasonable And as in all other points of Faith the contempt of them proceeds from a want of a right understanding of them as I have shown elsewhere so is it the same in this for it is buzzed in poor peoples ears Can man pardon sins or can Priests forgive us or the Pope absolve us without any consideration of the nature of it at all for if we rightly understood our selves or did but consult with reason we should soon be undeceived in this mystery For in the first place know that it is the gift of Christ himself and therefore not to be questioned by any man Secondly Priests cannot pardon sins by any natural power they have more then other men but by a supernatural grace from God we know and confess that it appertains to God onely by nature to pardon sins and so doth many other things as working of Miracles and casting out of Devils and healing the sick and the like which power we know God hath given unto men as well as the other proved by Christ himself where he speaking of all that truly believed in him saith he These signes shall follow Mark 16. v. 17 18. in my name shall they cast out Devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up Serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover now it is certain all these excellencies appertains to God by nature but if he is pleased to give this power to men what reason have we to question or be offended with it which power is equal to that of remission of sins and we see are both given to men by God Thirdly we are to consider that Priests do not pardon our sinnes immediately from themselves but Ministerially as when they apply the words of Absolution on us God hath promised to pardon us otherwayes he will not John 20. v. 23. as Christ saith Whose sins ye remit they are remitted and whose sins ye retain they are retained so that you see this is plainly true if you dare believe Christ himself Now that this may not seem strange to you do but consider that great vertue that is in Baptisme where by the application of water and a few words by the Priest or Minister the childe is pardoned of all its original sin now it is not the Minister nor Water nor words that pardons the Childe but God himself who is pleased by them and that means to do it and yet it is so far from dishonouring God that he is honoured by it because it is his holy will it should be so and this all Protestants believe which is as great a gift of God to mankinde as is the other and by all people thus plainly understood will not appear so strange and monstrous as they are made believe it is now we may plainly see how far those kinde of men are from being in Gods Church that do not onely not practise this truth but rail against and contemn it though it be published by our Blessed Saviour himself for the good of the whole world Again consider if God had not ordained this in his Church how should we know that our sins are pardoned by God at all or when they are so pardoned but that he hath promised when they do it on earth he will do it in heaven and this is our onely assurance and as it were a mark by which we know our sins are pardoned that we may thank his Divine Name for it which otherwise we should be very uncertain when to do I shall conclude this Chapter with that wholesome Counsel of St. Augustine who desireth That none make doubt of the Priests right in Remission of Sins Aug. No. Test q. 53 seeing the Holy Ghost is purposely given them to do the same in which case if any be yet contentious he must deny the Holy Ghost to be God and not to have power to pardon sins And onely adde that of St. Ambrose who saith St. Amb. lib. 1. c 7. de peuitent Why should it be more dishonour to God or more impossible or inconvenient for men to forgive sins by Pennance then by Baptisme seeing that it is the Holy Ghost that doth it by the Priests Office and Ministery in both Chap. 13. Proving the Churches Vniversality and that no Church is or can be Catholick but the Roman against the Opinion of Protestants OF all the great actions that God hath openly done for mankinde there is none that he hath declared more apparently then that his Church should be spread in all parts and corners of the whole world to the intent that all Nations hearing the sound of the Gospel there could be none that might plead any ignorance in the not hearing of it Now as this shall be proved by the words of Christ himself
great Sacrament and no more question the works of God but conclude with that holy man Thomas de Kempes That if the wonderful works of God were to be understood by our reason they could not be said to be wonderful and unspeakable Thus have I shewed the truth of this Sacrament by the Protestants own Bible which though it work not my desired effects in the belief of it yet I hope it will reduce them to a more charitable opinion of us who think our selves bound to believe it because it is inserted in Holy Scripture according to that of our Saviour Search the Scriptures for therein you shall finde eternal life Chap. 2. Proving Sacramental Confession both by Holy Scripture and Reason against the Opinion of Protestants HAd we the prudence of our Predecessors in submitting our Judgements to Gods Church both as concerning this verity and all others we should not have so much peevish wrangling continually as we have in points of Faith but contrariwise we should joyn hand in hand in one uniform Doctrine of Christian Religion but being far from that happiness in this age we are possest with quite contrary for every one will be his own Judge and pass sentence though it be against Scripture and Reasont too and this will plainly appear when we consider that Confession hath been the practice of all Ages since Christ to this day I shall not need to produce the Authority of every Age which might easily be done it being out of my design because it is so plainly commanded in Holy Writ which ought not by any that professeth himself a Christian to be denied and if not so of necessity to be put in practice The first place I shall prove it from is out of the Gospel of Saint Matthew who speaking of Saint Johns Baptism Mat. 3. v. 5.6 saith They came from Jerusalem and Judea and were Baptized of him confessing their Sins Now to evade this Text the Protestants say That the people confessed themselves in general to be sinners But how poor this shift is let every one judge that hath a minde to know the truth for St. John knew and we all know that every man in general is a sinner without their saying so but the Text saith They confessed their sins which plainly argueth every ones particular sins Again you shall see what another Evangelist saith to the same purpose Mark 1. v. 5. And there went out to him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan confessing their sins It may justly bring an asTonishment on the souls of true Christians to consider that those people which say they will believe nothing but the Bible yet when they come to the touchstone of it will believe never a word more then what their own fancies please But now as I have shown you how this was practised amongst the Jews in our Saviours time so now you shall be shown how Christs Apostle from him doth command the same Saint James saith James 5. v. 16. Confess your sins one to another and in all reason and duty since it is thus commanded we are bound under the penalty of damnation to do all the commands of the New Testament at least to believe them to be lawful Many examples of this practice have we in the Old Testament commanded by God himself as in Numbers he saith Numb 5. v. 6.7 That if any man or woman had committed any sins that then they shall confess their sin and he shall recompence his trespass committed So David used Confession to Nathan the Prophet 2 Sam. 12. v. 13. and if there were no Scripture at all Reason might tell us that it is a Divine Institution First in regard of the goodness that is in it self for we finde nothing more repugnant to our corrupt natures then to confess our sins to a Priest from which we may gather that the more it is against our frail natures the more it hath conformity to Gods will in regard by sad experience we all finde how difficult it is for us to comply with Gods will in those things that concerns our salvation Secondly The thought of confessing our sins to a Priest oftentimes hinders our design in committing sins Thirdly by confessing our sins to a Priest to whom God hath given our souls in charge Heb. 13. v. 17. and must give an account for them he knows what sins we are infected with and knows the better what Doctrine to preach to us for the remedy of our spiritual distempers And can any reasonable man think that if it were not a Divine Law that so many Emperours and Kings and Princes as are and have been would stoop on their knees to a poor Priest in a gray course Gown to make their Confession No we may well imagine they would not being men that commonly follow the dictates of their own will did not their consciences tell them it was from God and not of mans invention Now by this you may plainly see what reason the Catholick Church hath to propose Confession to her Children and likewise what madness 't is for Protestants and others to impugne so naked a Truth and so good a principle of Faith as Confession is My advice therefore is to all that enjoy not this benefit That they would beseech the giver of all goodness to unite them in communion with his holy Catholick Church and make them obedient Members thereof if they expect salvation from his hands according to that of Saint Augustine That he that will not acknowledge the Church for his Mother cannot lawfully call God his Father and that out of the Catholic Church there is no salvation Chap. 3. Proving Purgatory or a temporal satisfaction to Gods Justice for our sins committed here against the Belief of Protestants DId we not by the irregular passions of our mindes throw down Reason the Queen of our souls and set up an Idol in her place called Opinion we should with much facility imbrace this verity so long practised by Gods Church though it were for no other reason but because it is practised there but since nothing but Scripture will serve the turns of many in the world I shall plainly set it forth by that rule that they may have no excuse to deceive themselves But first it is necessary to let you know that as God hath these two Attributes to wit Mercy and Justice so he is to have them both satisfied As to the first he satisfies himself in pouring down his Spiritual and Temporal Blessings into our Souls and Bodies for the good of both And the second must be satisfied either in our doing or suffering according as our sins deserve Agreeable to this truth is that satisfaction which God hath required in Scripture so often for example Gen. 3. that of our first Parents for so soon as they had abused the mercy of God which placed them there presently his
third place wherein the Fathers of the New Testament were which could not obtain Heaven till Christ had shed his Blood for them according to that of Saint Paul speaking of the Faith of those holy men yet he saith Heb. 11. v. 39.40 All these having obtained a good report by faith received not the promise which was Heaven God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect But the common objection and deceit against this which takes so much is that Christ hath satisfied Gods Justice for our sins what need we do any thing at all and this is the usuall juggle of those that teach against this point of satisfaction but we are to consider how far Christs satisfaction extends to us that is he dyed for the pardon of our original sins and not for our actual transgressions though they be the easier pardoned by the merits of his Death too for if all our actual sins were pardoned and satisfied for by the Death of Christ why then all Heathens and Turks and Whoremongers and Murderers and Blasphemers should be saved which Saint Paul saith Shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven so that this is but a trick of our Adversaries making the people believe that they attribute all to Christ when indeed if justly considered they load his shoulders with their actual sins that hath suffered enough already for our original ones and so they would fain free themselves from all kinde of sufferings here and hereafter when our Saviour saith We cannot enter into life eternal without much tribulation but as I said God is merciful to save so he is just to punish and it is not good for us to presume too much upon hhis mercy lest we fall into a provocation of his Justice and so perish everlastingly And since it is so plain both by holy Scripture and Reason that there is a purging place or temporal punishments in the life to come proportionable to every ones sins let every man consider what obligation he hath first to believe it to be so secondly to live so holily in this life that God may be pleased to spare us by extenuating our sufferings in those purifying flames agreeable to that of B. St. Bernard Serm. 6. tribulat in fine Oh would to God some man would now before-hand provide for my head abundance of water and to mine eyes a fountain of tears for so haply the burning fire should take no hold where running tears had cleansed before Chap. 4. Proving that none of the Holy Fathers of the Old Law enjoyed Heaven till Christ came and that there was a distinct place where they waited for their Redemption by his coming REason doth tell us and experience will justifie the same that all the glorious and splendid things of this world are obtained with much difficulty and travel so that scarce the tythepart of men have the fruition of them and is it not to be lamented that we have so poor and beggerly apprehensions of heavenly glory as to think it requires no difficulty no patience nor no suffering to obtain that Kingdom the contrary will plainly appear when I shall prove by Scripture that no soul from Adam till Christ dyed enjoyed heavenly Glory but suffered with long patience and expectation till they were redeemed by the precious Blood of our Saviour and so freed from their long captivity conformable to Saint Paul who writing of our Saviour Christ Ephes 4. v. 8.9 saith When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men And again Now that he ascended what is it but that he descended first into the lower parts of the earth Now I would from these words have every Protestant consider these two things First to what place Christ descended after his Death and secondly who they were that he led with him captive at his ascension from that place It is clear to all Christians that Christ did not descend to the Hell of the damned to release them from any captivity for as I said before there is no redemption for them what other thing can be concluded but that he went to release them which could not be saved till then for is it not madness to think that any people went to Heaven before Christ had redeemed them with his precious blood next you shall see what St. Peter saith concerning this point 1 Pet. 3. Ver. 18. Ver. 19. For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the Flesh but quickned by the Spirit by which also he went and preacht unto the spirits in prison Now what can be desired more plain then this showing so plainly that when Christs flesh lay dead his spirit preacht to those that were long in expecting of him in a prison to them that sighed so long for his coming the same did the Prophet Zachariah foretel where speaking to Sion Behold Zach. 9. ver 9. saith he thy King cometh he is just and having salvation lowly and riding upon an Ass and upon a Colt the foal of an Ass here he speaks of Christs coming and in the other verse Ver. 11. As for thee also by the blood of thy Covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein was no water Now what pit can this be imagined to be but this place where these holy men were in which he prophesies that Christ at his coming to Sion would deliver them out and if we consider this point as we ought to do we shall finde it to be an Article of our Creed Article 4. of our Creed which saith He descended into Hell the third day he rose again Now some object by this Hell is meant the grave but how absurdly let every one judge that considers how ridiculous it is to think Christs soul should remain in the Grave his Body we grant did so but his glorious Spirit went to perform what before had been said of him according to his own most blessed words when he said That as Jonas was three dayes and three nights in the belly of the whale so shall the Son of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth so his body as I said was in the Grave and his Soul in the other place which is commonly called Hell because it is believed to be under the earth as the Hell of the damned is Now this place may suffice to any reasonable Christian yet I shall propose one or two things more to your considerations as first concerning Lazarus John 11. v. 42 43. who was dead and buried four dayes and was raised to life by our Saviour I hope none will say he was in Hell with the damned and had he been in Heaven you may be sure his Sisters had a better sense of that Glory then to wish him upon earth again and if he had been