all those that have been baptised as they have said in express termes of the Sacraments of Baptism and of the Supper Goe and Baptise c. and Doe this in remembrance of me And the gift of miracles by the imposition of hands being ceased so many Ages past This is the Opinion of some French Protestants at present but as to the perpetual expediency of such imposition of hands as our English Church uses in Confirmation while not made a Sacrament See the first Reformers whom the Reformed French most follow Calvin on Hebr. 6. And in his Institut lib. 4. c. 19. Sect. 4 and 13. And Theod. Bez. on Hebr. 6. Diodat on the same it cannot be seen why nor how at this time they should make an institution of that which was onely an extraordinary practice and a practice in a word which depended upon a gift that is ceased The Church of Rome following the natural inclination of men which carries them not onely unto an imitation or emulation but a desire to surpass one another hath miscarried almost every where in this regard that of the least occasions she hath made pretexts to establish Worships or Ceremonies as if she had nothing to doe but to frame a Religion of all the usages or of all the actions ordinary or extraordinary of our Lord and of his Apostles Our Lord being tempted of the Devil did fast Fourty dayes in the Wilderness to convince the World that he was truly God-man It must be from hence that the Church of Rome also by degrees is come to make particular Fasts not onely from time to time as was practised at the beginning of Christianity but even a Lent entire of Fourty days We find that once or twice the Apostles healed the sick using a kind of anointing from hence there must be made a Sacrament of Extreme Unction of which we shall speak hereafter And here because there are found some examples of an imposition of hands which wrought miracles they have also by degrees made a grand Establishment of Ceremonies called Confirmation and when once this Establishment was atchieved the Council made a true Sacrament and a Law of this Ceremony charging perpetually Religion and mens consciences with a yoke that neither we nor our Fathers were able to bear The same is also to be said against the Sacrament of Pennance Pennance and Sacramental Confession and of Sacramental Confession On the one hand the Prophets and Apostles seeing men in Idolatry in Errour or in Sin said unto them Repent ye or doe pennance for it is the same thing Amend and be converted unto the Lord which is an-ordinary exhortation in the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testament And on the other our Lord Jesus Christ sending his Disciples after the Resurrection to preach the Gospel breathing upon them said Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose sins soever ye remit Joh. 2â— 22 they are remitted and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained This Interpretaâ—â—on is â—tely the opinion Calvin and his followers This imports evidently no more but the Power and Commission which Jesus Christ gave them in general before he left them to announce pardon of sins unto those who believed the Gospel and on the contrary to announce the Judgments of God against those who rejected their Doctrine For it sufficiently appears that these words of Jesus Christs did not exclude the Apostles inspection into the manners of men but on the contrary charged them with the conduct of the Churches and it is evident by the occasions on which our Saviour spake them and by all other circumstances of time and place that on those occasions our Lord had regard principally unto the preaching of the Gospel In the mean while behold here the use which the Church of Rome hath made of this Doctrine or the consequence that she hath drawn from it We do believe saith the Bishop of Condom that it hath pleased Jesus Christ that those who have submitted themselves unto the authority of the Church by Bapptism and who have since violated the Laws of the Gospel should come to undergo the judgment of the same Church at the Tribunal of Pennance where she exercises the power which is given unto her of remitting or retaining of sins We believe that it hath pleased Jesus Christ c. but upon what ground Every one sees what resemblance there is of the repentance whereto the Prophets and Apostles exhorted the people and of the power the Apostles had to announce Remission of sins in preaching the Gospel unto this Tribunal of Pennance which is not imploid formally in preaching to the people or in bringing men to receive the Doctrine of the Gospel or to repent and be converted to God I say not formally but in subjecting every Believer in particular to go to declare all his mortal sins by name one after another with all their aggravating circumstances to crave for them pardon or absolution of the Priest and to undergo all those satisfactory pains of Prayers by number of Fasts of Pilgrimages and the like of which we have spoken before and all this under pain of cursing and eternal damnation against those who being able to make this confession Dall de Paen. Satisfact c. shall fail to make it Our Bookes are full of very solid reasons which plainly prove two things the one that this Doctrine very far from being grounded upon those words of the Scripture which have been alledged is directly contrary to the Word of God and that it is injurious to his Wisedome to his Goodness and to the merits of the Death which Jesus Christ hath suffered for us as hath been already made appear upon the matter of Justification and of Satisfactions whereof the pennance confession of the Church of Rome is only a dependent Dall de Confess Morin in his Comment Hist of Penn. 4. The other that this pretended Sacrament of Repentance of auricular Confession and Absolution are things unknown in the First ages of Christianity as the Roman Catholick Doctors accord and besides very different from the Pennance and Satisfactions spoken of in the Fathers It will be needless here to report all the reasons Beatus Rhenanus upon Tertullians Book of Repentance because they may be seen in the places where this matter is treated of expresly neither will it agree with the design we proposed to be brief and attemperate as much as might be to the desire and manner of the Bishop of Condom There shall onely be here made a short reflexion as well upon the First Canons of the Council as upon what the Bishop of Condom hath set forth whereby it may be easily judged of all the rest In the first place is it not a strange thing that the Council doth oblige all to believe as an article of Faith under pain of Excommunication and Damnation that Confession Absolution and Satisfaction as they speak are not onely a necessary
and Practices that aggrieve us are at best but private opinions that may be laid aside This is it they ordinarily discourse to us to make us inclinable to themselves and this is in particular the sense and Soul of the Bishop of Condoms Treatise more openly indeed and more expresly in the Manuscript Copy and what hath been cited of the first Edition but yet clearly enough in the second On the other side the profession of Faith declares in so many words that we must believe and receive all the traditions all the institutions all the customs of the Roman Church which doth comprise generally all that is known and that is not known It saith yet more expresly that we ought to pray unto Saints to Worship their relicks have Images of Jesus Christ of the Virgin and of all the Saints and render them the honour and the Worship due unto them admit of Seven true Sacraments and embrace all the Council of Trent hath said and decided touching justification and by consequence the merit of Works satisfactions Purgatory and all the Doctrine of Indulgences believe the conversion of all the substance of the Bread into the body of Jesus Christ and the conversion of all the substance of the Wine into his bloud which is called Transubstantiation and that all Jesus Christ is intirely received and the true Sacrament under the one and the other of the two species Lastly that we are to believe that the Church of Rome is the Mistress of all other Churches to swear intire obedience unto the Pope of Rome and generally to receive all other things whatsoever that are taught by the Councillâ— and particularly by the Council of Treâ—â— which doth comprise generally whâ—â— a man will all that is in dispute Tâ—â—â— is what is formally required of thâ—â—â— that present themselves before the Câ—rate the Bishop or the great peâ—tentiary now let all these Articles 〈◊〉 Faith be compared with the stile 〈◊〉 the Bishop of Condoms Treatise and afterwards Let it be maturely judged if this be one and the same Doctrine For our parts being very far from aggravating the difference there is betwixt the one and the other or from having a mind to make a greater distance betwixt us and the Church of Rome than there is indeed We believe that there is nothing more to be desired for the good of Christian Religion and by little and little to bring mens Spirits mutually nearer that that all those of the Roman Church generally would at least accommodate themselves freely openly unto these sort of sweetnings that the Bishop of Condom doth and that instead of heightning the differences that there may be between his exposition and the Doctrine which they commonly profess they would Write on the contrary in the same sense that he doth and clearer and fuller yet than he hath Written that Lastly they would all say at least as he doth that this is alone the true Doctrine of the Roman Church Religion at least would find it self discharged and freed of a great many Doctrines and practises which do nothing but burthen consciences this would be in sundry points as one of those insensible changes which have come into the Church but a change for the better and an happy beginning of Reformation that might have much more happy consequences The BULL of our moâ—… Holy Lord Lord PIUâ— by Divine Providencâ— Pope the IV. of thaâ— Name Touching thâ— Form of the Oath 〈◊〉 Profession of Faith Translated out of Latine PIUS Bishop Servant of the Seâ—vants of God ad perpetuam 〈◊〉 memoriam for a perpetual record THE duty of our Apostoliâ— Charge which lies upon 〈◊〉 requires that those things which the Lord Almighty for the prudent guidance of his Church has vouchsafed from Heaven to inspire in the Holy Fathers assembled in his Name we make hast to put in execution without delay for his praise and glory Whereâ— therefore according to the Order of the Council of Trent all whom it shall henceforth happen to be set over Cathedral or Superiour Churches or to be provided for by any dignities or Canonries of the same or any other whatsoever Ecclesiastical benefices having cure of Souls are bound to make publick profession of the Orthodox Faith and to engage and swear that they will continue in obedience to the Roman Church We willing also that the same be observed by all whosoever shall be disposed of in Monasteries Convents Religious houses or other places whatsoever of whatsoever Regular Orders even of the Military ones by whatsoever name or Title and to this purpose that what concerns our care may not be the least wanting to any that a profession of one and the same faith may be uniformly exibited by all and that one certain form of it may be known unto all do by power Apostolick strictly injoyn and command by the tenour of these presents that this very form annexed to these presents be published and that it be received and observed all the World over by those by whom according to the decrees of the said Council it does belong and by all other persons aforesaid and that under the penalties by the said Council enacted against offenders in this case the aforesaid Profession be Solemnly made according to this and no other form in this tenor IN. Do with firm Faith believe and profess all and every things and thing which are contained in the Symbol of Faith which the Holy Roman Church useth viz. Articles of Faith taken out of the Symbols of Nice and Con stantinople I believe in one God the Father Almighty maker of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible and in one Lord Jesus Christ the onely begotten Son of God and brought forth of his Father before all Ages God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made of the same substance with the Father by whom all things were made who for us men and our Salvation came down from Heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and made man was also crucified for us under Pontius Pilat suffered and was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures and ascended into Heaven sitteth at the right hand of the Father and shall come again with Glory to judge both the quick and the dead of whose Kingdom there shall be no end And in the Holy Ghost the Lord and giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father and the Son who together with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified who spake by the Prophets And one Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins and I look for the Resurrection of the dead and the Life of the World to come Amen The Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions and the other observations Articles of Faith touching the matters in Cotroversie which the Romish Church hath added to the Antient and constitutions of the same
these Gentlemen do in some sort salve the former of these inconveniences in declaring as they do that they do not attribute any merit unto Works but by virtue of the free promise which God hath made to reward them producing them himself in us by his grace and besides the moderate persons amongst them do not dissent but that these sorts of expressions of merit may very well be waved and that ours are more humble and more safe as also on our part we do not deny but that those of the Roman Church may be suffered in the sense wherein they now explain them And it may be this is it which the Bishop of Condom doth here understand when he saith that the Learned of our Communion do not believe some of our Disputes upon this point to be very material What is here most mysterious is that upon this expression that good Works do merit eternal life there are â—ounded two other Doctrines which are very evil The first is that they are not contented to command works that are truly good and commanded as to worship God onely to serve none but him to obey our Superiours and lastly to love God with all our hearts and our Neighbour as our selves which is the summe of the Law and of Christian Religion but they have brought in the practice of Vows of Abstinences of Pilgrimages Macerations and all those other Works which the Bishop of Condom doth call Pennances because in very deed God hath not required any of that nature The other evil Doctrine which proceeds from the merit of Works is that of Satisfaction of Purgatory and Indulgences for those who do these Works of Pennance believe they satisfie at least in some part the justice of God and therefore it is that they call them Satisfactions and those who do none of them believe themselves destin'd to the pains of Purgatory and have recourse unto Indulgences to deliver them VIII Satisfactions Purgatory and Indulgences The Doctrine of Satisfactions is in reality so evil according to us that it doth intirely vitiate all that is good in that of Justification and of good Works One would say that it were another Gospel a Discourse meerly humane the several parts whereof do so ill agree together Very far is the whole Article from being conform unto the Analogy of Faith Es 1.18 Psal 32.12 Ps 103.12 The Scripture reiterates unto us throughout that God doth pardon us our sins for his Son's sake that if our sins were redder than scarlet he makes them white as snow that he imputes them not unto us that he covers them that he blotteth them out that he separateth them from us as far as the East is from the West The Bishop of Condom saith on the contrary that God doth pardon our sins but upon such condition under such Law and with such reservation as he pleaseth that he confers an intire abolition of all sins committed for Baptism but as for those that are committed after Baptism God forced by our ingratitude changes the eternal pain into a temporal This is what the Council of Trent calls remitting the sin and retaining the punishment This is to say that God doth pardon and he doth not pardon or at least that he doth not fully pardon Our sins all blotted out as they are do nevertheless cry for vengeance It is not enough that Jesus Christ hath atoned for them nor that we repent and endeavour to amend and to keep the Commandments of God if together herewith we do not Works which the Bishop of Condom calls painful and laborious or if we suffer not temporal pains either in this life or after death This is what hath been already touched the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is not onely injurious unto the mercy of God and unto the merit of the death of Jesus Christ by the conditions and restrictions which she presumes to bring thereunto but she contradicts her very self pulling down with one hand what she builds up with another On the one hand Jesus Christ hath fully payed the price of our ransome there is nothing wanting of this payment his justice is imputed unto us our sins are blotted out by his bloud In a word Jesus Christ hath fully satisfied for us And on the other hand Pag. 60 61. the justice of God and a certain way which he hath appointed will have us not to suffer our selves for our sins The Bishop of Condom would salve this contradiction by saying as he doth that these pains which God reserves are onely to keep us in our duty within the hands of Justice as he speaks and not to satisfie for our sins therefore it is that he makes a kind of protestation that if after the explication which he gives in that sense We shall object unto those of his Communion that they do prejudice unto the satisfactions of Jesus Christ that we must forget what he hath already told us that Jesus Christ has paid the full price of our ransom c. and that if we yet object to them that they believe they shall be able to satisfie of themselves as to some part of the pain which is due to their sins he may boldly say that the contrary doth appear by the Maxims which he hath established Unto which he adds for a conclusion That what they call satisfaction with the ancient Church is nothing AFTER ALL but an application of the infinite satisfaction of Jesus Christ It may plainly be seen by these last expressions of the Bishop of Condom's that he seemes to doe like the Dove which returned unto the Ark not knowing where to rest her foot AFTER ALL what they call satisfaction is nothing but the application of the satisfaction of Jesus Christ This expression hath something in it improper and incumbred because it cannot be any thing but Faith onely which is the hand of the Soul that can apply unto us the satisfaction of Jesus Christ by acts of love and reliance It cannot properly be said that any Workes done by us or that any pain that we suffer can be the application of the obedience which Jesus Christ rendred unto his Father and of the paines which he suffered for us The truth is that the Bishop of Condom after having defended as much as he could the opinions and the expressions of the Church of Rome will give to understand that AFTER ALL what they call satisfactions are not properly satisfactions that they themselves do not believe they can satisfie as they just now said more expresly and that in conclusion there is nothing really but the satisfaction of Jesus Christ which ought to be called by this name This Doctrine is sound and it is certain that it is in some sort to come unto us or rather to the truth of the Gospel but this is nothing in the main if the Doctrine of the Council of Trent be still allowed to stand that is to say if that be the Supreme