A BRIEFE CONSIDERATION Of Mans Iniquitie and Gods Iustice Wherein the distinction of 1. Sinnes into Veniall Mortall 2. Sinnes and Punishments into Aequall Vnequall Is Scholasticallie Examined Miserere mei Domine indigna facientis digna patientis S. Aug. Imprinted at London for Roger Iackson and are to be sold at his shop in Fleetstreet neere the Conduit 1608. ¶ The Authour to the Pretended Catholiques THE CHVRCH in the principall signification of the word is a Body vnited togither in all the partes ioyned with the Head by a mysticall vnion And the Old Enemie hath diuerslie assaulted both Head and Bodie with vnplacable malice but limited power Yet still hee attempteth something and as he is a spirituall Enemie so are his weapons spirituall Sometimes he prouoketh vs to sinne in Morall things as in sins of action Contra bonum Sometimes in things Intellectuall as in sins of Opinion Contra verum The latter is of two sorts either haereticall against the Head Or schismaticall against the Body The Heresies against the Head are eyther against his Natures or Persons or Offices The two former were olde heresies and long since condemned The latter are diuers heresies sprung vp as tares amongst good wheat in succeding ages Such are diuers of your opinions namely against the Priesthood of Christ consisting in Satisfaction and Intercession The former you haue sundry waies violated and not a little by your misapplyed distinction of Veniall and Mortall sinnes which I haue a little rectified in this briefe Declaration and also remooued that imputation of the Aequality of sinne and punishment which you say must necessarily ensue if your conceipt should vanish If you make no answere hereunto you either want Charitie to free me from errour or ability to discharge your selues from suspition thereof And if you make any aunswer let your lynes be more full of substance to satisfie the point then of malice to disgrace the Author who entirely wishing your saluation in Christs Iustice commendeth you to Gods mercy in him Fare ye well 14. Octo. 1607. A Briefe Consideration c. VENIALL sins are rather praeter legem The Papists opinion briefly recited then Contra legem Veniall mortall are so to bee esteemed from their owne nature For veniall condignely deserue onely temporall punishmentes and mortall deserue a ternall punishments and both these in diuine iustice And hence is the inaequality of sinne most properly and principally conceiued In which respect there are certaine temporary punishments also in Purgatorie remaining for those whose sinnes in this life are not sufficiently purged and for which they haue not worthily satisfied The Protestants opinion recited and declared ALL sins ex natura sua merito are mortall deseruing condignly in diuine Iustice eternall death These sinnes are also veniall not propriè but impropriè ex euentu onely They are veniall by grace according to the quality and manner of our Repentance by which we are capable of pardon Quod verum est in adultis c. But to say Peccatum and yet Veniale simply and not Mortale properlie it is a virtuall Contradiction For they are in that sense termini incompossibiles and can consist together no more then fire and cold water and dry or the like the accident being such as is repugnant to the proper or perpetuall quality of the subiect For there is no composition of merely opposites nor construction of mutually destructiues And if any man aske 1. how peccatum can be a subiect it selfe being in nature nothing or 2. being but an accident how can it be the subiect of an accident We answere To the first that though nothing hath Being which is not from God and so sinne is nothing because it is not from God yet the forme of it being an obliquity in the substance or quality or action of a reasonable creature taking integrity from the same so farre as it proceedeth Sinne hath esse priuatinum in that which hath esse positinum from God And therefore Subiectum mali est bonum quia malum subsistit in ente quod in sebonum est To the second that though mortale in peccato haue not so proper an inherency as ordinary Accidents haue in their subiects yet it is so naturally in it that it is in nature inseparable from it but vltimum et independens subiectum est homo peccans vel Angelus peccans Wherefore the distinction of sinnes into Veniall and Mortall ariseth not ex ipsis Rebus but Personis and hence it followeth â—â—â—t all sinnes are damnable in all meâ— not to all men all deseruing 〈◊〉 not all receyuing damnation 〈◊〉 to the Reprobate no sinne is finally veniall and to the Elect no sinne is finally mortall Notwithstanding it must bee obserued that one sinne simpliciter vniuersaliter est mortale because it is not onely punishable but euermore punished with eternall death in all that commit the same this is Peccatum contra Spiritum Sanctum For though it be not fully cleered at leaste in the iudgement of many men what this Sinne is and wherein the formality of the same consisteth yet wee obserue this difference betwixt this and other mortall sinnes I call sinnes Mortall two wayes first by way of Explication and so to say a mortall sin Mortale est generaliter nota explicatiua specialiter est nota distinctiua it is to shew the nature of all sins secondly by way of distinction and so to say a mortall sinne it is to designe this sinne whereof I now speake That Impenitencie maketh other remissible sinnes not to be remitted but doth not perpetually and necessarily attend those sinnes Whereas this sinne is simply irremissible the party so sinning beeing euermore obdurate by his owne vniust action and the iust subtraction of Gods grace so that Impenitency followeth it necessitate ineuitabili and therefore it is called mortall in an eminent degree and is neuer veniall not because God in his absolute power cannot forgiue it but because in his iust will he hath decreed neuer to forgiue it This is it which our Lord speaketh of Mathew 12.31 and which his beloued Disciple vnderstandeth saying There is a sinne vnto death and there is a sinne not vnto death distinguishing not betwixt some sinnes mortall in nature and others veniall in nature but betwixt one sinne simply mortall in nature and in necessary effect vnto all and all other sinnes simplie mortall in nature but not in necessary effect vnto all and therefore possibly veniall And if any Papist say that Veniall Sinnes must bee repented of I aunswer that this Repentance being omitted maketh not a Veniall Sinne to be a mortall sinne in their iudgement For then they shoulde agree with vs who say that a mortall sinne is veniall by repentance and that a veniall sinne as all sins except one are propter possiâ—ilitatem Poenitentiae for want of Repentance is finally mortall But the Papists say that sinnes veniall not repented of are not mortall nor meritoriously punishable by eternall death If they say not thus there is no controuersy betwixt vs and if they say thus there is no reconciliation as far as I can conceiue The Ancients speaking of mortall sinnes vnderstand great sins Peccata vastantia conscientiam such as vsually exclude grace by which our sinnes become veniall vnto
vs. To returne a little back againe that wee may proceede forward more orderly we note that Impaenitency is not the Sinne against the Holy Ghost because it is in Paganes also who neuer knewe his Diuine Person nor felt his liuelie motion It is not formale huius peccati but consequens In all other sins it is rather contingent then consequent For as no sinne can bee forgiuen without repentance so this sinne excludeth possibility of repentance and therefore cannot be forgiuen Heb. 6.4 NOW as Death is the wages of all sinnes so Christ onely is the propitiation of all sins and both by merite He taketh away Originall sinne yet Baptisme is required ordinarily as the instrument Hee taketh away Actuall sinne yet Repentance is required euermore in those that are of Capacity Neither doth hee take away some sort of Sins onely and not al sorts For hee taketh away all Kinds of sins Actuall aswell as Originall all degrees of Actuall the lesser as well as the greater leauing nothing vnsatisfied either in the guilt or punishment For if hee tooke away some kinds of sinne Originall and not Actuall or some degree of actuall great and not little Or if hee tooke away the guilt and not the punishment or part of the punishment as beeing satisfactory and not all hee were not an whole but an halfe Redeemer which is an impious doctrin and wee not wholly but halfe saued which is an vncomfortable doctrine He alone trode the winepresse c. But he hath done all these things alone helping vs not by meriting grace for vs to helpe our selues withall and sauing vs not by giuing vs power to saue our selues withall but performing euerie part and parcell of satisfaction by actiue obedience in fulfilling the law and passiue obedience in suffering for our transgressing of the law that euery part and parcell of meryt being entirely in his own person he might haue all the glory in such an excellent benefyt of his redeemed brethren Thou art worthy O Lord c. Apo. 5.9 Therefore as it is true which S. Augustine saith He that made thee without thy selfe doth not saue thee without the selfe because in Creation God required nothing of vs but in Saluation hee requireth somewhat of vs a sanctified heart But these also are his gifts Da quod iubes iubo quod uis a reformed will which must be obedient to his diuine will so it is true Hee that made vs without our selues saueth vs without our selues also because as man did not concurre operatiuely with God in Creation so he doth not concur meritoriously with him in Saluation Wherefore though Man must do somthing toward his saluation in the Court of new obedience after his acquittall in the Court of Iustification yet he can doe nothing by way of merit in either because he hath not power in the state of sinne or grace actiuely or passiuely to satisfie Gods Iustice For though God afflicteth his Children and though his children must liue conformably to his Lawe yet the first being a fatherly and gentle correction it looseth the property of Punishment and the second being a filial but vnperfect obedience Poena it cannot haue the estimation of Righteousnesse Iustitia so that neither is satisfactorie in the Court of the supreme Iudge For sinne is the transgression of the law without the law there being no sinne and no ignoraunce herein can totally excuse the offender though inuincible ignorance may mitigate the degree of his offence Therefore euery sinne is committed mediatly at leaste against an infinite Obiect God the Author of the law who consequently requireth an infinite punishment Wherefore as it was necessarie that our Redeemer should haue our true humane nature that sinne in it might be punished Iustly So this humane nature was to subsist in an infinite Person that sinne by it might be conquered fully And hence was the incarnation of our blessed Lord By powerfull assumption not by naturall generation who tooke our nature sanctified by the holy Ghost into the vnity of his person Such a Redemer we were to haue considering the quality of our sinne and Gods Iustice that hee might make proportionable satisfaction But when God is to punish a sinner according to the proper merit of his vnpardoned sinne hauing not meanes to satisfie his iustice vpon any infinitenesse of mans person which he is to punish he chooseth the infinitenesse of time wherein he will punish him thereby to make some manner of proportion betwixt the sinne of man and his owne Iustice But because the person sinning and punished is in no manner matchable with the person or rather nature offended and punishing therefore this punishment may be truely called Passion but is not Satisfaction whereas the infinitenesse of our Redeemers person made his passion to bee a true satisfaction sufficient for the sinne of ten thousand worlds Hence it followeth that all our sufferings in this life whatsoeuer are but expurgations of the matter of sinne not satisfaction for the guilte thereof nor may stand in place of condigne punishment which are both taken away sufficiently by Christ the first beeing imputed to him the second inflicted on him in his death that we might haue the reall benefit thereof effectually by the working power of the Spirit And therefore no sinne is so veniall in its nature as that any man may worthily satisfie for the same in this life or in the life to come Secunda Quaestio YET notwithstanding we say that there is inequality in Culpa and consequently in poena also For if the punishment were equall wee must suppose that all sins are equall which is false or that God is not iust which is impious or that he doth not punish a greater sinne more then a lesser because he is mercifull which is a senselesse opinion obscuring the cleare distinction of his Iustice Only to make his Iustice and mercy consist together in punishing the very Diuells other damned miscreants we say that he punisheth them not so much as their sins haue deserued Which if it seeme an hard saying it is to those that know not how to value the sin of man and the Iustice of God 1. First concerning the Inaequality of sinne wee say that it may be considered principally in three things Diuersitas Obiecti in quod peccamus 1. In respect of the Obiect against which we sinne so a sinne against God is greater then a sin against man a sinne against the first Table then the second But this must be truely conceiued For if wee compare a sinne in the least part of a commandement
Fire primarily inflicted on the body doth worke effectually to afflict the soule so the inward payne of the worme arising and dwelling within the soule worketh effectually to vex the body That as they had mutuall offices in the transitory delight of their sinnes so they may haue mutuall offices in the horror of their excessiue pangs In this outward paine two things are to be noted as before Tempus Gradui In time this payne is equall to all men And this is common in all the payns of hell all being equalled in eternity because in respect of duration there is neither more nor lesse in that with in Infinite Hence is that wofull sentence Go ye cursed into euerlasting fire Euerlasting not temporarie as Origen falsly cōceiued preiudicing Gods Iustice in extolling his mercy both which are one in him but differ in their effects towards vs. In degree this payne is vnequall according to the inequality of sin God in his distributiue Iustice allotting seuerall portions of paine according to the seuerall proportions of sinne For though there be a proper designed place of Hell and in it some common instrument of payne yet God most prouidently ordereth the execution of his Iustice And though we are not directly led by expresse Scripture to affirm it confidently yet we may suppose it very probably that God eyther cohibiteth the actiue power of the instrument or strengtheneth the ability of the Patient or both to make a difference of payne Howsoeuer this is vnquestionable that for this purpose hee vseth such wise meanes as seeme best to his will which being perpetually accompanied with singular equity can purpose nothing vniustly and being assisted with illimited might can enterprise nothing vneffectually Concerning all the paines of what kind number or quality soeuer they are we must know God grant we neuer feele that there is neither case in them nor release from them The pitifull vnpitied wretches suffer vnsufferably in measure of time vnmeasurable THVS then we acknowledge that sinnes are veniall by grace but mortall in their proper desert and that sinnes are vnaequall many wayes and that the punishment of all sinnes is aequall in time but vnaequall in degree Now to obtayne absolution à Culpa Poena we must haue recourse to Gods mercy because his Iustice doth punish vs considering vs as we are of our selues And to find this mercy we must haue recourse to God in Iesus Christ our Lord because we are not worthy of it for any thing in our selues This is both pietie and safety Neither must we doe thus in profession only Concil Trid. Sess 6. cap 9 as sometimes the Papists doe but in action also as sometimes they doe not as it appeareth by their opinion before deliuered and farther shall appeare in their doctrine ensuing But first we obserue that as Christ only is via meriti for which we are meritoriously pardoned so there is required also via medij by which we may actually receiue this pardon because the salue of his merits must be applied to the soares of our soules For nothing can produce an effect in that which it doth not Contingere vel substantia vel virtute saltem As the Sun being in his substance placed so farre aboue cannot produce any effect by working vpon inferiour bodyes but by a virtuall contact Our Lord hath a double operation Extraordinary Immediate or Ordinary and Mediate The first we are to beholde and admire but we cannot safely rely on it For we must herein remember an old rule applyable to other purposes Notandum si semel vtendum vt saepè The second therefore is that whereunto wee now bend our eyes To this end there are certayne Euangelicall meanes with which Christ doth concur They are such as are assigned by him They are assigned by him which expressely or consequently are contained in his word For wee must estimate the things of God according to a rule deliuered by him either speaking with his mouth or dictating by his spirit Hereupon we deseruedly reiect that position of the Church of Rome Rhem. Test annot in Iob. 13.10 Veniall sinnes may be remitted by holy water and other sacred Ceremonies which sentence hath in it a double impiety and falshood The first in diminishing the nature of our sinnes which are in their proper merit condignly punishable by eternall death The second in extolling the value of their ceremonies which cānot haue in them so gratious a power Neither is it enough to say that these ceremonies as holy water the like worke not this effect vi sua but virtute Christi For as the power of remission of sinnes is only in God a ministeriall office being in the Church by commission from him so the meanes which we must vse to receiue the remission by must be such as hee appointeth by his reuealed will For as to diuide the first to any person from him so to communicate the second to any meanes not decreed by him it is to euacuate the high price of our Redemption and to trample vnder feet the blessed couenant of happy peace Neyther is it enough to say that the Church deuiseth not these things simply of her selfe but that it is Christs promise to concurre with the Church by his infallible Spirit For they must remember that it is the duety of the Church to concur with him according to infallible directions deliuered in his word As for immediate reuelations none but Enthusiasts rely thereon But we know that the Spirit doth rather aspirare then inspirare in these dayes Wherefore leauing vnwarrantable aspersions to such Aquarij as a nouell conceipte proued onely by an ingenious delusion We acknowledge that Naturall bloud and water issuing out of our Lords sides doe per viam meriti purchase the remission of all our sinnes and that the sacramentall bloud water in the holy mysteries figured therin doe per viam medij apply seale and confirme the same vnto vs instrumentally by the effectuall operation of the Holy Ghost He that diminisheth the merit of Christs death destroieth the hope of his owne life I liue in him who died for me AMEN The Author to the Reader COurteous Reader If any faults haue escaped me in penning this little discourse which I may be occasioned hereafter to call Principium doloris mei I cannot expect that thou shouldest esteeme them venial because I haue left that plea and gained a losse vnto my selfe If I should craue pardon for diuulging it thou mightest iust he answer VVhile it remained appertained it not vnto thee And after it was printed was it not in thine owne power Though I coulde fullie remooue such likelie imputations yet the reason being priuate which caused me to make this publike and Secreta mea mihi I must depend vpon thy gentle interpretation Onelie thus much I giue thee to vnderstand that I rather sought profit hereby to learne from others then credit to teache anie But if my successe proue answerable to my honest desire thou shalt find in time that my Tongue and Pen are consecrated to thy good Farewell Thine in our Lord IESVS Theophilus Pyggons Pag. 3. lin 18. Whereas it is sayd that the forme of sinne is an obliquity in the substance dum breuis esse laboro Obscurus fio or quality or action of a reasonable Creature it is to be vnderstood that Malum subiectatur as the Schoolemen speake the euill of sinne and the deformity which is the form of it hath its subsistence finally in a Substance as being the last and independent subiect therof But it is immediately in the action and corrupt quality of the Agent Pag. 20. this should haue bin added as a Marginall note ouer against the fift line If the last commandement as wee esteeme it should be diuided into two propter diuersitatem Obiectorum by the same reason it should be no commandement at all because the same things are forbidden in the seuenth eighth commandements before The difference therefore of the manner of forbidding these things distinguisheth the tenth commandement from the seuenth and eighth But the difference of the matter in it doth not make it distinguished into two seuerall precepts as Papists affirme But as our Lord epitomizeth and reduceth ten commandements vnto two so here all the particulars make but one And as to make the first and second commandements one it is to ioyne things separate so to make this one commandement two it is to separate things conioyned To do the first it is to match together in seuerall Tribes and to doe the latter it is to make a diuorce of parties lawfully married The Author that made this confusion and diuision is greater then his reason for though S. Augustine beganne it yet his reason to make three commandements in the first Table propter Trinitatem is a witty Analogy onely and his reason to make seauen in the second Table by diuiding the last is of no solidity Zanchius his seuere but true censure touching this particular is worthy to be considered Zanch. de Red. in Tractat. de Decalogo Thesi tertia Some principall errors in the impression correct thus Pag. 2. Lin. 12 For Persons as it is printed in some Copies and is plaine Nestorianisme read Person in the Epistle to the Papists Pag. 20. line 5. For these words and the matter coueted be diuers reade though the matter coueted be diuers Pag. 24. In the margent these words S. August are superfluous Pag. 24. lin 15. For immediatelie in the second place reade mediatelie Pag. 25. lin 14. For within reade which is FINIS
of the first Table with a sinne in the greatest part of a commandement of the second Table the latter sinne is more haynous then the former For though Charitas primò ordinatur in Deum and euery breach of the law be a breache of charity Peccamus in Deum immediatè in quibusdam peccatu mediatè in alijs yet some comparison is to bee obserued as well in the degree of the act as in the order of the act Though in the order of the act charity bee more broken in the least sinne against God then in the greatest against man yet in the degree and quality of the act it is more broken in the greatest sinne against man immediately thē in the least sinne against God immediatly Which is manifest because the Sabbath was made dispensable propter opera necessitatis charitatis as it appeareth by Christ the interpreter of the law who was the giuer thereof Yet if the same lawgiuer did not forbid the greatest sinne against man who forbiddeth the least sin against himselfe this rule could not hold But if we compare a sinne against the first Table with a sin against the second in aquall parallell acts the first is simply the greater sin Likewise as generally a sinne against God is greater then a sinne against mā for the essentiall diuersity of the Obiect so a sinne against one man may bee greater then a sinne against an other for the accidentall diuersitie of the obiect As in the eminency of place against a King in the propinquity of bloud against a Parent c. For though all men naturallie considered are the same yet ciuilly and morally they are not And therfore the degree of sinne is much varied for these respects 2. In respect of the matter wherein we sinne Diuersitas materiae circa quā peccamus vel quantitatis eiusdem materiae so murder is a greater sin then theft because life is more pretious then goods Likewise if we compare sinnes in the same kind or matter one may be greater then another according to the extent or quantitatiue measure As to kill three men it is a greater sin then to kill two to steale 100 pound then 10 if nothing els be interuenient For great diuersity of sinne ariseth out of the variety of circumstances 3. In respect of the manner how we offend so a sinne of malice Diuersitas modi quo peccamus is greater then a sinne of infirmitie a sinne of ignorance then a sin of negligence Th. Aquin. in quae de ordine praecept Decalogi obserueth that the last commandements are well distinguished Propter peccatum operis in the commandement Non furtum facies Propter peccatum Oris in the commandement Non loquêris falsum c. Propter peccatum Cordis in the commandement Non concupisces But he distinguisheth the last into two without good congruity For to couet an other mans wise and to couet another mans Oxe is the same manner of coueting but the matter is not the same which maketh not this to be two commandements For the manner of coueting which is concupiscentia sine consensu being but one and the matter coveted be diuers the commandement is one and not diuers But the same things being forbidden in the seauenth eighth commandements to be coueted cum consensu there the commandements are diuers because they are broken principally in Opere not in Corde only Wheras this last is broken not in Opere but only in Corde without full consent to the tentation And whereas some sins consist onely in immanent action being finished in the mind either properly or fully as pride or vnproperly and casually as murther for pride is absolutely complete in the mind but murther is not some in transient action beeing accomplished by the body the last is greater then the first because there is a farther addition in it thē in the first The lusting after a woman is mentall adultery though it proceed no farther which is for want of meanes only For Adulter animo non nisi inuito castus est corpore A sinne in mynd is more easily committed then a sin in the body because it findeth lesse impediment and a sinne in the order of it is committed first in the minde and secondly by the body as it appeareth in the first sin of our first Parents Euery farther additiō maketh the sinne more intense in degree Now since there is such inaquality in Culpa there is also inequality in Poena because the goodnesse of Gods Iustice whence it proceedeth hath a relatiue respect to our sin which in what kind soeuer it be is meritoriously punishable by eternall death The punishment is double Priuatiue and Positiue 1. The Priuatiue payne called Poena Damni is the want of desirable good Such is the exclusion out of heauen and the consequēt priuation of vnspeakable ioyes the most excellent whereof is the fruition of the sacred Trinitie in blissefull vision This paine is equall to all Tempore et Gradu In time because it is an eternall depriuation In degree because it is a totall depriuation ioyned with infallible despayre 2. The positiue payne called Poena Sensus is partly inward from an inward cause and partly outward from an outward cause Poena autem vehement c. Inuenal The inward payne is the sting of conscience the gnawing of that worme which hath her life perpetuated in our death This payne is equall to all in duration but not in degree because it is varied according to the guilt whence it doth proceed The outward payn is affliction in the whole man Body Soule by such exquisite instrumentall meanes as God decreeth in his wisedome executeth by his power to demonstrate his Iustice And if any man doubt how that can be called an outward punishment which is inflicted on the Soule beeing an inward substance in her coniunction with the Body I answer The Fathers generally are of opiniō that there is Fire properly taken in hell S. Aug. l. 21 de Ciuit. Dei ca 10 S. Hieron ad Auitum S. Aug. vide Zanch. de Ope. parte 1. lib. 4. cap 19. without all doubt there is outward meanes of sensible punishment That the sensible punishment of Fire is called outward because it is originally extra animam as the other sensible punishment of the worme is called inward because it springeth within the soule it selfe Likewise the sensible punishment by Fire is outward as it worketh on the body being an outward substance and inward as it worketh on the soule which is an inward substance by her vnion with the body And as the soule hath one state in her selfe independēt vpon her separation from the body and an other in the body vpon her reunion with it so in the first she suffereth outward payne immediately and in the second shee suffereth outward paine immediatly participating eternall tormēt with the old companion of her momentany pleasure And as the outward payne of