for Fasting our Blessed Saviour Fasted (c) Mat. 4.2 forty days and forty nights He foretells his Disciples (d) Mar. 2 20. fasting when the Bridegroom should be taken from them that is after his Ascension He directs us how to Fast and promises a Reward (e) Mat. 6.17 to our Fastings when duly performed He teaches that Fasting (f) Mat. 17.20 Mar. 9.29 gives us a power over the Devils When any Work of great moment was to be done Fasting was used (g) Acts 13.2 As the Disciples or Apostles ministred to the Lord and Fasted the Holy Ghost said With Fasting (h) Acts 14.23 and Prayer S. Paul and S. Barnabas were Consecrated A postles These with Fasting and Prayers (i) 2 Cor. 6.5 ordained Bishops in every Church And S. Paul several times speaks of his Fastings (k) 2 Cor. 11.27 In watchings in fastings Again In hunger and thirst in fastings often What was the Practice of the Christians of the Second Age Tertllian will teach us Apolog. pag. 40. cap. 71 where having reproached the Pagans with their Feastings in Times of Public Calamities he represents the contrary Life of Christians Nos verò jejuniis aridi omni continentiâ expressi ab omni vitae fruge delati in sacco cinere volutantes invidiâ coelum tundimus Deum tangimus cùm misericordiam extorserimus Jupiter honoratur You Feast says he but we dried up with Fasting living in perfect Continency abstaining from all Contents of this Life prostrate in Sackcloth and Ashes charge Heaven with the Odium of afflicting Persons so much afflicted and when we have by these Penitential Works forced God to take pity of the World Jupiter is honored by you For the third Age see what Moses Maximus and other Confessors required of Penitents Jejunio extenuari that they should grow lean with Fasting All the subsequent Ages give as many Testimonies to the Duty and Advantages of Fasting as there are are of any Work of Piety This the Fathers teach in their Sermons the Bishops commanded in their Canons the faithful Practise in their Lives and all recommend by their Example Nay Protestants themselves own this Truth The Author of the Duty of Man Sunday 5. n. 34. To this Duty of Repentance says he Fasting is very proper to be annexed the Scripture usually joyns them together If you desire to know the Fruits of Fasting S. Thom. 2.2 q. 147. a. 1. names three 1. To mortifie and curb our Bodies 2. To raise our Mind to Heavenly things 3. To punish in our selves the ill use of some Creatures by depriving our selves of the use of others A fourth Reason is to increase Merit Grace and Glory Virtutem largiris praemia says the Church in Praef. Quad. SECTION II. Prayer PRayer being a raising of our Souls to God it exposes our Understanding to the Divine Light and places our Will in the warmth of Divine Love Wherefore nothing can be more efficacious to clear our Mind from its Ignorance and Darkness nor to purge our Will from its depraved Affections and Passions It is a Key which opens the Treasure of God's Mercy and opens our Heart to receive its Effects It is a River of Benediction whose Waters cleanse our Soul from its Imperfections moisten our Heart make our good Purposes bud forth and flourish and fill our Will with the Fruits of Vertue It is often recommended in Scripture See (a) Mar. 13.33 watch and pray Pray (b) Mat. 26.41 that you enter not into tentation (c) Luc. 16.8 You must always pray and never faint All Places and all Times are fit for Prayer God limits neither but promises to hear us always Ask and you shall receive Whatsoever you shall ask my Father in my name he will grant it you Particularly Remission of Sins is annexed to it Hear S. Austin Enchir. c. 71. De quotidianis brevibus levibusque peccatis sine quibus haec vita non ducitur quotidiana oratio fidelium satisfacit Eorum est enim dicere Pater noster qui es in coelis qui jam Patri tali regenerati sunt ex aquâ Spiritu sancto Delet omninò haec Oratio minima quotidiana peccata Delet illa à quibus vita fidelium sceleratè etiam gesta sed poenitentiâ in melius mutatâ discedit si quemadmodum veraciter dicitur Dimitte nobis debita nostra Ita veraciter dicatur sicut nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris Id est si fiat quod dicitur The daily Prayers of the Faithful satisfie for those daily light and small sins which are incident to all in this Life these we call Venial Sins for it belongs properly to those to say Our Father which art in Heaven who are regenerated by Water and the Holy Ghost to such a Father This Prayer blots out little sins It hath a vertue also to carry away the guilt of greater sins in those who are repentant of them provided they as truly forgive as they ask to be forgiven that is they do what they say Sir how different was S. Austin's Judgment from yours He thought those Prayers efficacious to blot out venial and even mortal sins and you think the prescribing them Ridiculous Saying the Penitential Psalms is an Object of Laughter to you Were there any Church Discipline among you or had your Prelates any true Zeal for any part of Devotion you would be forced to change your note the saying the Psalms being the only part of Devotion which you retain But it seems Writing against Popery hath a Vertue to sanctifie all Impiety as acting against it did excuse all Sacrilege I never heard any Man moved to Laughter with reading the Psalms and I have known many moved by them to Compunction to a new Life and to the Love of God. Let S. Austin who experienced it himself speak lib. 9. Confess cap. 4. Dulce mihi sit ô Domine confiteri tibi quibus internis me stimulis perdomueris quemadmodum me complanaveris humiliatis montibus collibus cogitationum mearum tortuosa mea direxeris aspera lenieris quas tibi Deus meus voces dedi cùm legerem Psalmos David cantica fidelia sonos pietatis excludentes turgidum spiritum Quas tibi voces dabam in Psalmis illis quomodo in te inflammabar ex eis accendebar eos recitare si possem toto orbe terrarum adversus typhum generis humani I take a delight O my Lord to confess to thee with what inward Goads thou didst subdue me and by what Means thou didst bring me down levelling the greater and lesser Mountains of my Thoughts How thou didst streighten my crookedness and smooth my roughness Into what Exclamations did I break out O my God when I read the Psalms of David those faithful Canticles those pious Sounds which banish all proud Spirits How I cried out in reading them How I was inflamed in the love of thee how I
but his heavy Body keeps him on the Ground and his dull Spirits serve only for a slow Motion there For let a Man read your Book observe your disesteem of others and your insulting over them and he shall think you Eagle-like to be towring above the Clouds whence you with disdain look down on us poor Ignoramus's Yet your heighth is discernible without the help of a Telescope For after all your striving and straining Endeavors we still find you on the Ground equal nay inferior to many whom you insult over without any thing extraordinary but your boldness to Print in so Learned an Age as this is of things you understand not If what I have written already and what I shall write doth not make this clear I will give you leave to apply that Comparison to me I have already spoken Chap. 3. 4. of the Designs of God in delivering Christian Religion that it was to teach Men to serve God in this Life and enjoy him in the next That this Service consisted chiefly in Faith Hope and Charity yet so as Charity gives a value to the other In fine that the End of the Gospel was to unite us to God by Charity in this World and by Glory which is the last perfection of Charity in the other Love is the root of all our Actions As Weight (a) Aug. l. 13. Confes c. 9. Amor meus pondus meum eò feror quocumque feror Aug. l. 11. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Sicut corpus pondere ita animus amore fertur quocumque fertur in Bodies gives them their Motion towards their Center so Love in Men but with this difference that Weight is restrained to local Motion an Action of one species but Love as partaking of the nature of the Soul whose it is reaches to several and those of an opposit nature for all we do proceeds from some Love. All our Passions are only Love in a several disguise (b) Aug. l. 14. de Civ Dei cap. 7. Is the thing we love absent the love of it is called Desire is it in danger to be lost it is Fear are we in a probability of attaining it it is Hope is it looked on as irrevocable it is Despair are we stirred up to overcome the Difficulties opposing us it is Anger do we possess it it is Joy do we lose it Love is changed into Grief or Sadness c. The same Love putting on several Dresses and transforming it self Proteus like conformable to the nature and condition of its Object So that it would be impossible to reckon all its Species which are reduced to some Heads both by Philosophers and Divines Philosophers draw it to three Species according to three sorts of Good Honor Profit and Pleasure But much more to our purpose is the Distinction of Love used by Divines which in order to a Mortal Life in this World and Eternal Life in the next divides all Mankind viz. The love of God and the love of our selves commonly called Self-love We received the love of our selves from Adam the love of God from Christ that is an effect of corrupt Nature this of repairing Grace from that spring out the works of the Flesh from this grow those of the Spirit that ends in Death this is the Seed of Life By these two Loves two Cities are built (a) Aug. l. 14. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Fecerunt Civitates duas amores duo terrenam scilicet amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei coelestem verò amor Dei usque adcontemptum sui Jerusalem and Babylon Heaven and Hell. In the next World these Loves are pure for in Heaven reigns the Love of God without any Self-love in Hell Self-love rages without any curb from the Love of God. In this Life they are commonly mingled neither so absolutely possessing the Heart of Man as to suppress all motion of its Corrival For even the greatest Sinners feel some motions to Good and the greatest Saints must say Dimitte nobis Forgive us our Sins as we forgive And as betwixt the two Brothers in Rebecca's Womb so betwixt these two Loves there is a combat within our Breast For the spirit covets (a) Gal. 1.17 against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit and these are contrary to one another And this is that perpetual combat which we undergo by reason of which this Life is termed (b) Job 7.1 Militia est vita hominis super terram a warfare And (c) Aug. l. 11. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Bonum est homini ut illo proficiente quo benè vivimus ille deficiat quo malè vivimus donec ad perfectum sanetur in bonum commutetur omne quod vivimus we are conquered when Self-love prevails over the Love of God but we conquer wuen the Love of God gets the better Wherein then doth consist the perfection of a Christian In a Heart pure from bad Love not yielding consent to the Motions of Self-love but resisting them and a Heart filled with the Love of God following in all things the motions of Divine Grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit And (d) Aug. in Psal 64. Interroget si quisque quid amet inveniet undè sit civis could we certainly discover which of the two Loves rules in our Heart we should certainly know the state of our Soul. Supposing these Principles let us attend to Mr. G. B. G. B. pag. 76. Religion elevates the Souls of Men to a participation of Divine Nature whereby they being inwardly purified and the outward Conversations regulated the World may be restored to its primitive Innocence and Men admitted to an inward intimate fellowship with their Maker Answ What you say of participation of Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 is out of Scripture likewise our souls being inwardly purified and our inward fellowship with God. All which is true althô you neither tell what they mean nor understand it your self But that by Christianity the outward Conversation should be regulated or primitive Innocence restored is alien or untrue That by Christianity outward Conversation is regulated is alien orderly Conversation being a meer external Quality many times as excellent in Infidels as Christians Certainly the perfection of Christianity may be found in Anchorets and preserved in a Desert Whence a good Conversation appears not to be a very material Ingredient of Perfection And that Christianity should aim at restoring the World to its primitive Innocence is absolutely false for that Innocence cannot be attained unto neither in this Life nor the next not in this in which the greatest Saints have their (a) Rom. 7. Combats from which Man in the State of primitive Innocence was free not in the next the State of Glory being above that of Innocency So neither of these is the End of Christianity G. B. pag. 76. What Devices are found out to enervate Repentance Sins must be divided into mortal and venial
Gods let them know how much better the Lord of them is But if they were astonish'd at their power and vertue let them understand by them how much mightier he is who made them There is yet another Species of Idolatry of such who Deified and Adored all Creatures which was grounded on that Opinion of the Stoicks that God was the Soul of the World which is exprest by Virgil Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet But nothing about this occurring in Scripture and not much in Fathers I let it pass These are the several Species of Idolatry which occur and are most conspicuous amongst Pagans All were absolutely inexcusable for leaving the Creator for the Creature Yet amongst all methinks the cause of those who adored the Sun was somewhat more excusable than the rest for altho Reason teaches it evidently not to be a God yet Experience shews it to have one Property of God for the Sun gives Light and Life to all that have Eyes and Heart it gives without Interest it never appears but as a common good and besides its visible effects produces many other by hidden Influences These Considerations do not excuse but they somewhat diminish the guilt of those who adored that wonderful Instrument the work of the most High. Ecclesiastici 43.2 To sum up what we have said we find that even the wisest Men have been guilty of the greatest Folly that can enter into man's head how weak soever to take for a God a thing so much inferiour to them in nature that they expected help of a thing helpless and direction from what is senseless To this they were disposed by the humane Shape striking their fancy they were moved to it by love of a dead Master Fear of a living Tyrant Flattery to one on whom their fortune depended and these altogether heightened by the Illusion of the Divel Sometimes Gratitude to beneficial Creatures enclined Men to renounce the great Benefactor Yet these motives how powerful soever could never have made Men so prodigiously to renounce the use of Reason had they not by former sins so far left God as to deserve to be left by him not that they received no Grace at all from him but that they had not such Graces as would keep them in what was good and prevent their fall into those sensless Errors SECTION III. What were the Gods of the Pagans Or What things were represented by their Idols where it is proved that Pagan Gods had been Men. THE Occasion I have to treat of this Quaestion is given by G. B. and E. Still who pretend that Chiefly one and he the true God was adored by the Idolaters who used several Statues and Names only to represent his several Atributes And that by Jupiter they understood the true God. What I have cited out of Scripture and Fathers is sufficient to convince the contrary seeing that it appears that dead Men Stars c. were adored Vossius l. 1. de Idol cap. 5. p. 30. says Idolatry began with the Adoration of Angels thence past to the Souls of Men. Lactantius l. 2. c. 14. says the Aegyptians first adored the Stars afterward their Kings S. Cyril of Alex. l. 1. contra Jul. p. 17. saith the same of the Chaldaeans But the Aegyptians whilst the Israelites lived amongst them adored either Apis or Joseph under the shape of an Ox or Calf And in imitation of them the Israelites in the Desert Exod. 32. and the ten Tribes at their Schism from the Temple of Hierusalem the third of Kings 12.28 which continued amongst them till they were removed quite out of the Country Altho that was not the only Idolatry they were guilty of for they had Baal 3. Reg. 18. and the host of Heaven toward the end of their Kingdom as appears 4 Reg. 17.16 which they learnt probably of the Assyrians After the Transmigration of the Tribe of Juda we find those who remained in their Country much addicted to the Star-worship Hieremy 44. as to a Superstition ancient amongst them which I guess they learnt of their King Achaz and that he receiv'd it from Damascus 4 Reg. 16. where a Copy of an Altar was sent to the High-Priest to have another made like it and placed in the Temple But this being a matter of no moment I do not trouble my self with further examining it Our only Dispute is about the Romans and Greeks whose Idolatry was banish'd the World by Christian Religion which our modern Adversaries pretend that we have renewed again You say then that they by Jupiter adored the true God Creator of Heaven and Earth we say that all the Gods of the Pagans were Men and that Jupiter himself was such and that they were Divels who took upon themselves those persons Names to delude the World I will prove this 1st out of Scripture 2ly out of such Fathers as lived with Pagans and consequently had more occasion to know their Theology than we who must gather it only out of their Writings 3ly out of the Confession of Pagans 4ly out of the Acknowledgment of the Gods themselves who were adored and lastly by the Confession of Protestants My First Proof is taken out of Scripture Psal 95. 96. 5. All the Gods of the nations are divels Omnes Dii Gentium Daemonia So it is in the vulgat Edition and was so from the beginning while Paganism slourish'd and yet Pagans never accused the Christians for imposing upon them Opinions which they did not hold See S. Augustin upon that place The English Translation is somewhat different viz. All the Gods of the Nations are Idols Which notwithstanding confutes sufficiently the contrary Error for if this be true All Gods of Nations are Idols as it must being in Scripture E. S. his Proposition being contradictory to it must be false Jupiter the chief God of Nations is no Idol nor Devil Moreover if the Sacrifice the Idolaters offered which was always held to be the Prime Act of Religion was offered by them to the Devils and not to God then it follows they did not worship the true God but only Divels But they sacrificed to Divels and not to God Ergo they did not adore the true God but Divels I prove the Minor. Denter 32.17 They sacrificed to Divels not to God to gods whom they knew not to new gods who came newly up whom your fathers feared not Psal 105. 106 37. They sacrificed their sons and their Daughters unto Devils And 1 Cor. 10.20 The things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to Devils and not to God. Hence Aug. l. 20. contra Faust c. 18. ait Nihil in sacrificiis Paganorum Deo displicuisse nisi quod fierent daemoniis Nothing in Sacrifices of the Pagans was displeasing to God but those to whom they were offered viz. the Devils My Second Proof is taken out of those Fathers who living with the Pagans and conversing familiarly
and immoveable in good (a) 1 Cor. 15.58 abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that our labor is not in vain CHAP. XVI Of Purgatory G.B. pag. 55. begins to treat of Purgatory and doth it so lightly as if he feared to burn his Fingers Yet if he shews less Reading he shews more Cunning than his Brethren E. S. or W. L. who give great advantages to an Adversary by fixing a time for the kindling of that purging Fire which was lighted long before any determinate time they can fix upon Mr. Stillingfl pag. 654. Not one of the Fathers affirmed your Doctrin of Purgatory before Gregory the First Yet W. L. allows it a much greater Antiquity pag. 353. We can find says he a beginning of this Doctrin and a Beginner too namely Origen Thus they differ among themselves and as little agree each with himself for pag. 348. W. L. had said Scarce any Father within the first Three hundred years ever thought of it Which Assertion is contradictory to what he says of Origen's being the Beginner of it and it is moreover very rash for doth he think that all the Fathers of the first three Ages writ down all their thoughts or that all they writ is preserved till our days or that he hath seen all that is so preserved or remembers all that he hath ever seen But let us leave these Men to reconcile together their own thoughts which will be no small nor short labor and examin the thing it self And to come to it I pass over several slips of our Adversaries v.g. W. Laud pag. 348. says that The first Definition of Purgatory to be believed as a Divine Truth was made by the Council of Florence In which he is mistaken for Benedict XII long before that had Defined the same I prove that the Primitive Church believed a Purgatory in the most pure Times out of the Testimony of three Fathers S. Hilary S. Gregory Nyssen and S. Austin S. Hilary (a) Hil. in Ps 118.20 Ille indefessus ignis obeundus est subeunda sunt illa expiandâ à peccatis animae supplicia That restress Fire is to be endured and those Punishments to be born which may purge our Souls from Sins S. Gregory Nyssen (b) Greg. orat de mortuis as cited by W. L. pag. 351. Men must be purged either by Prayers or by the Furnace of Purgatory Fire after this Life Again A Man cannot be partaker of the Divine Nature unless the Purging Fire doth take away the Stains that are in his Soul. Again After this Life a Purgatory Fire takes away the Blots and Propensity to Evil. W. L. considering these words ingenuously confesseth they seem plain Yet he holds out one Buckler against these two Arrows drawn out of the Quivers of those Fathers That they speak of a Purgation of sins and in the Roman Church we are taught to believe only a Purgation of the pain due to sins already forgiven Now this avails little 1. Because the Debt of pain may be and often is taken for sin on which it is grounded metonimicè 2. He seems not to understand our Doctrin for there is no Definition of our Church obliging us to believe that there remain no venial sins in Purgatory Hence Dr. Kellison (c) Kellis in 3 p. tom 2. p. 611. late President of the English Colledge of Doway proves Purgatory to be prepared First for those who die with only venial sins Secondly for those who die without any sin but only without having fully satisfied for the pains due to sins forgiven The same reasons are alledged by Dr. Sylvius (d) Sylvius in 3. p. Suppl q. 100. p. 356. where he treats the same Question And before these Benedictus XII in his Decree Benedictus Deus hath these words Decernimus animas decedentes cum veniali aliquo peccato purgari post mortem post purgationem ante resumptionem suorum corporum judicium generale post Ascensionem Christi Domini fuisse esse futur as esse in coelo We do declare that Souls dying in venial Sin being purged after their Death before the general Resurrection are translated to Heaven Which Decree you may find in Magno Bullario and in Alphons de Castro verbo Beatitudo You see Sir that there is nothing in the Purgatory described by those Saints incosistent with what we are taught to believe of ours So W. L. or his Squire E. S. must study for another Evasion W. L. cites indeed the Council of Florence to confirm his Answer But that place helps only to convince the World how perfunctoriously he read and inconsiderately framed his Judgment upon reading for in the place cited by him the Council speaks of Souls dying in the state of Grace or Charity Si in Charitate decesserint But of their not having any venial sins not one word unless he thinks that all Souls in Grace are free from venial sins which will be another proof of his Abilities in Divinity My next Proof is taken from St. Angustin in Enchir. cap. 110. Neque negandum est defunctorum â—â—imas pietate suorum viventium relevari cùm pro illis sacrificium mediatoris offertur vel Eleemosynae in Ecclesiâ fiunt sed iis haec prosunt qui cùm viverent ut haec sibi postea prodesse possent meruerunt Est enim quidam vivendi modus nec tam bonus ut non requirat ista post mortem nec tam malus ut ei non prosint ista post mortem Est verò talis in bono ut ista non requirat est rursus talis in malo ut nec his valeat cùm ex hac vitâ transierit adjuvari Similia habentur l. 21. de Civ Dei c. 24. It ought not to be denied that Souls departed are cased by the Piety of their surviving Friends when the Sacrifice of our Mediator is offered for them or Alms given in the Church But those are relieved by these helps who lived so as to deserve the benefit of them after their death for there is a kind of Life neither so good as not to need them nor so bad as not to receive ease by them There is another so good as not to want them and a third so bad as to be incapable of help even from them Thus S. Austin Where you see he distinguishes three Places for the Souls departed as clearly as Bellarmin or the Council of Trent One of those so good as not to need help by the Suffrages of the Church such are the Blessed Souls in Heaven Another so bad as to be incapable or unworthy of relief by the Suffrages such are the wretched Souls in Hell. A third needing them and capable of ease from them such are Souls in Purgatory You see Secondly clear mention of the Sacrifice of our Mediator offered by the Church in his days What is this but our Mass which you may find again Lib. 10. de Civitat Dei. cap. 20. You
was stirred up to read them if possible to the whole World as a sovereign Antidote against the Pride of Mankind Thus S. Austin See what a difference there is betwixt the Sentiments of this great Saint and yours Reading the Psalms moved the Saint to Compunction it moves you to Laughter It stirred up in the Saint the Love of God you are not moved to any good by it The Saint would read them to all the World you are displeased they are recommended to any He thought reading them a great Antidote against the Pride of Mankind which is the root of all Evil and you say it is Ridiculous You have reason to suspect your spirit which is found so often contrary to the Spirit of God. SECTION III. Pilgrimages THIS is a third Instance of our ridiculous Penances going to such Churches say you Which discovers your Ignorance or Impiety For if you know not on what ground Pilgrimages are founded you are very Ignorant If you know it and yet blame them you are very Impious The two first great sins committed after the Creation of the World by Adam in eating the forbidden Fruit and Cain in killing his Brother were Judged by their Creator and a great part of their Penance prescribed by that Great Penitentier was a Pilgrimage or Banishment from the Place where the sin was committed Of Adam it is said (a) Gen. 3.23 He sent Adam out of the Garden of Eden And to Cain (b) Gen. 4.12 A fugitive and vagabond shalt thou be on the Earth Now Rhabanus Maurus (c) Poenitentialis cap. 11. assures that this is the ground why such a Penance was enjoyned And methinks the Example of God himself may be a sufficient Warrant for his Delegates Priests in following such a Precedent and secure them against your Censure especially seeing in the most ancient Collections of Penitential Canons made by Bede Theodorus Burchardus Ivo and Gratian we find Pilgrimages prescribed amongst other Penances Which shews the unanimous Consent of Antiquity And you may much easilier discover your own Weakness or lack of Vertue than convince the Makers or Collectors of those Canons of Folly. The Reasons for this Penance are chiefly three First It is a kind of Banishment which separates a Man for a time from Friends Acquaintance Home and Country which cannot but be painful laying aside the Incommodities of Travelling And it seems just that he who abused those things should be deprived of the comfort of them and having scandalized his Neighbors by bad Example might edifie them by undergoing this public Penance The Second It is a connatural Remedy for such sins to which two or more concur and which proceed many times from the Person we converse with or present Occasion to remove the Sinner from such Occasions and Conversations as all know who deal with Consciences Now this is done by Pilgrimages The third Reason is That althô God be in all Places and sees and hears us wheresoever we are yet he doth not alike in all Places disclose his Power by Miracles nor his Justice by discovering secret Sins nor his Goodness by Conversion of Sinners as S. Austin observed long since and daily experience confirms S. Austin notes such to have been in his time the Tomb of S. Felix at Nola in Campania and that of the glorious Martyrs at Milan He refers this to the secret Judgment of God humbly acknowledging his own Ignorance Aug. Epist 137. Vbique quidem Deus est nullo continetur vel includitur loco qui omnia condidit Verum tamen ad ista quae hominibus nota sunt quis potest ejus consilium perscrutari quare in aliis locis haec miracula fiant in aliis non fiant And I am content to acknowledge my ignorance in imitation of him when nothing appears in the place it self as sometimes there doth For if any Man who hath any lively Faith within him should enter Hierusalem and see the Place where the Lamb of God was Sacrificed and the Price of our Redemption paid Innocency condemned the Divine Wisdom derided for Folly the King of Glory crowned with Thorns the Creator scoffed scorned by his Creatures God dying and dying that painful and ignominious Death of the Cross When he should think Here his Flesh was torn with Stripes Here his Head was crowned with Thorns Here those Hands which wrought so many Miracles were pierced with Nails here those Feet so often wearied in seeking the lost Sheep were fixed to the Cross Here that Tongue which had command over the Elements and Death and Hell was imbued with Vineger and Gall Here his Side was opened the last drop of Blood spilt the Life of the World died to raise to Life the World. When he considers this and withal that his own sins had so great a share in requiring this most abundant Redemption will not the very Place suggesting these and more thoughts fix his Imagination quicken his Fancy detain his Understanding and stir up his Will to a hatred of Sin the cause of all this severe Judgment upon the unspotted Lamb to confusion for having contributed so much to it by his own Offences and to love God above all things who hath loved us so much Hereafter before yot throw such hard Stones at our Heads consider whether there be not with us mingled by a communion of Sentiments some Persons to whom you must own great Respect to be due I have brought you here into an Assembly of the chiefest Preachers and Prelates of all Ages all teaching commanding or practising these Works which you deride The Apostles take up the first rank and over all Jesus Christ God blessed for evermore Presiding and giving Example Suppose in the name of all these S. Basil S. Austin or S. Paul the Apostle should thus speak unto you How comes it to pass that you presume to censure in those of your Days that which they practise only in Imitation of us How dare you say that our Exercises should kill the Vitals of Religion and dull the Apprehensions of Sin That what Christ did himself and what is done by others following his footsteps should lead from Christ and hinder the earnest Application to him What Answer can you make to these true Reproaches Think a little sadly on this and it will bring you to a Temper more beseeming your Coat than when you writ what I have here Answered SECTION IV. Two Objections Answered G. B. p. 63. THIS is an easie way of escaping Punishment Answer Can you never settle your Judgment will you let it ever be moved round with every blast of Wind Here our way to expiate Sins is too easie Pag. 144. it is a heavy yoke to Souls When you have experienced them fasting with Bread and Water for many Days a Week said devoutly every Day some Prayers gone long Pilgrimages on foot taken Disciplines worn Hair-Shirts and Chains served the Sick in Hospitals and the Prisoners in Goals given Alms to the
in the Protestant no Fear and consequently no Hope which is accompanied always by Fear but in lieu of Hope that Vice which is called Presumption which is a sin against the H. Ghost Timor fundamentum salutis est says Tertul. lib. de cultu foeminarum c. 2. p. 265. Sperando enim timebimus timendo cavebimus cavendo salvi erimus contra si praesumamus neque timendo neque cavendo difficile salvi erimus Fear is the ground-work and foundation of our Salvation Our Hope is mingled with Fear this makes us take heed whence proceeds our security of Salvation On the contrary when we presume we grow careless and run great hazard of being lost for ever SECTION III. Of Charity or Love. CHarity or the Love of God above all things is much more esteemed and honored amongst us than amongst you You rank it contrary to the Apostle even with Faith or seat it on a lower Bench whereas we with the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.13 believe it to be the Commandment of Christ Joh. 15.12 The fulness of the Law Rom. 13.10 The bond of perfection Col. 3.14 which divides betwixt the Children of the Kingdom and those of Perdition S. Aug. The nuptial Garment with which we must enter into the Wedding Mat. 22.11 12. That is the form of Vertues Concil Trid. That without it all other Vertues gift of tongues power of working miracles knowledge of mysteries nay even Faith and Hope are nothing avail nothing are no more to be regarded than sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal c. 1 Cor. 13. In fine althô with Divines we are persuaded that these two great Vertues may be separated yet we hold their separation to be their ruin that as Charity is but superficial and not real without the light of Faith so Faith is cold without the warmth of Charity He who knows God without loving him is impious and he who loves him without knowing him aright is blind A Believer without Love is ungrateful a Lover without Knowledge is fensless so these two Vertues must assist one another We must aim to have a living Faith which works by Love Gal. 5.6 and Love is the proper work of Faith. Opus fidei dilectio Aug. tr 10. in Epist Jo. Love both gives to and receives strength from Faith. Charitas robur Fidei Fides fortitudo Charitatis S. I eo Serm. 7. in Quadrag In Heaven there is Love without Faith 1 Cor. 13.8.10 In Hell Faith without Love Jac. 2.19 Christians in this Life must have both for Love without Faith is the Love of Pagans and Faith without Love is the Faith of Devils but Faith with Charity is the Faith of the Children of God in this Life Fides quae per dilectionem operatur ipsa est Fides quae fideles Dei separat ab immundis daemonibus Aug. de gratiâ lib. Artib cap. 7. Thus we joyn together those two great Vertues this we believe this we teach of Charity whilst you out of an ill-grounded opinion of your Fac-totum-Faith relying on it for Remission of Sins Justification Perseverance and Salvation exhaust your Rhetorick so much in commendation of that your Darling that you have no room to commend Charity or Good-works Our Practice as much surpasses yours as to nourishing Charity as our Doctrin doth For seeing the Love of God and Love of our selves are opposit and the one withers as the other thrives their practice must be most proper to nourish Charity which aims most at mortifying Self-love and on the contrary those who foster Self-love must annihilate Charity Now what Practice can you shew for the mortification of the Body the quelling our Passions the renouncing of our Will What Documents do you give for these What Examples can you shew since your reformation of them You have never been able to find in the three Kingdoms a dozen Persons of either Sex who for so many years would sequester themselves from the Enjoyments of the World to serve God in voluntary Poverty Chastity and Obedience Whence comes this but from Self-love which abounds in them and the lack of the Love of God which might cement their Hearts together Whence comes that insupportable Pride which makes your Proselytes so refractory to God and his Vicars their Spiritual and Temporal Superiors That they are so tenacious of their extravagant Fancies so stubborn in their uncouth Resolutions so intractable in their Manners so humorsom in all their Actions and Conversations but a latent Pride the proper Offspring of Self-love and the Bane of Charity Look into 1 Cor. 13. you shall there find a description of Charity and its Qualities Charity suffereth long and is kind Charity envieth not Charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things Should I now examin the Life of generally all who deliver themselves to your Direction upon these Heads and shew how little of this appears in your Manners and how much there is quite contrary to it the Picture if sincere would fright you or confound you how great soever your Confidence be In fine the words of our Saviour to the Angel of Laodicea Apoc. 3.17 may be very well applied to you Thou sayest I am rich and encreased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked God open the eyes of your Heart to see this that so you may be moved to seek for Gold tried Spiritual Riches where it is to be found in the true Church SECTION IV. An Answer to what G. B. objects G. B. p. 78. ARE Papists not taught to confide more in the Virgin or their Tutelar Saints than in the Holiest of all Answ No we are taught no such thing G. B. ibid. Doth not the fear of Purgatory damp the hopes of future Blessedness Answ It doth not G. B. pag. 79. What impious Doctrin hath been Printed in that Church of the Degree of Love we owe to God Answ I know of no such Doctrin of the Degrees of Love due to God. I know that all Catholics applaud the Saying of S. Bernard Modus amandi Deum est amare sine modo I know that Divines require as well as S. Thomas a mediocrity in all Vertues except Charity That all Vertues are betwixt two Vices whereof one offends by exceeding the other by not reaching its due measure And this they assure even of Hope which is betwixt Presumption and Despair and of Faith which is betwixt a lightness of Heart believing all things and a hardness to believe any thing Love cannot be too great and so hath only one Vice contrary to it by defect loving too little Is this Doctrin Impious Hence what you say Some mincing it so as if they were afraid of his being too much beloved This
Acts 20.28 Before those Pastors and Doctors whom Christ gave to consummate the Saints that we might not be like children carried hither and thither with every blast of Doctrin Ephes 4.11 14. Before those to whom Christ said He that hears you hears me and he that despises you despises me Luk. 10.16 Before those in fine whom Christ sent to instruct all People promising he would be with them to the end of the world Mat. 28.19 What Pride what Presumption bating that of Lucifer greater than this What room for Humility in a Soul so full of it self so puffed up with vain Conceits of its own Capacity And what hopes of any real Vertue without it seeing it is the surest and only foundation of a pious Life This last Reason shews that in your Souls there is no Foundation for a Structure of Piety and the others shew you can hope for no Structure upon any Foundation Another Doctrin of yours as pernicious as any of the rest is That the best of our Actions are Sins even our Endeavors to serve God keep his Commandments and give to every one his due viz. paying a Debt or relieving the Poor Nay it seems a greater Sin to do it than not to do it Sins of Commission being more grievous and offensive than those of Omission G. B. pag. 154. We cannot be charged for having taught our People to break any one Commandment Answ You seem charged for teaching them indirectly to break them all saying the keeping them is impossible in it self fruitless if they should be kept aad their breach not prejudicial G. B. pag. 260. Bad Practices may furnish matter for Regret but not for Separation Answ It is true when and where Principles of Religion are contrary to such Practices But when these bad Customs are natural Sequels of the Doctin and necessarily flow from it not only the Practices are to be detested but likewise the Doctrin whence they flow is to be abhorred as pernicious to Souls and the Church which teaches them as Doctrins either necessary to be believed or even probable in practice whatsoever Church it be is to be forsaken as the Chair of Pestilence Si quid de Tuo Deus meus dictum est agnoscant Tui Si quid de Meo tu ignosce tui Aug. POSTSCRIPT TO Mr. CUDWORTH D. D. I Had ended the whole Answer to Dr. Burnet before I had the sight of your Learned great Book against Atheism which gives me occasion to clear and confirm some Points which I thought then and think still clear and strong enough notwithstanding all the Mist you and others have raised to hide them and their Endeavors to shake them But as the Apostle was so I am a debtor not only to the wise but to the unwise too Which Debt I hope to discharge in few Lines You own that some few Philosophers as Epicurus Strato c. thought God to be Corporeal but that the major part believed him to be a pure Spirit and adored the Only true God under the Names of Jupiter Minerva Osyrie Neith or Venus I said with the ancient Fathers and Primitive Christians that althô Pagans and indeed all Men had a natural knowledge of One God yet those the Pagans adored had been Men. The Proofs then produced I reduce to four Heads The First taken from the Diversity of their Sexes The Second from their Generation The Third from their Death The Fourth from their Sacred Rites 1. The different Sexes of the Pagan Gods is a convincing Proof that they were not Spirits but Men and Women at least Males and Females and by consequence Corporeal This Reason takes up a great part of Arnobius's Third Book from pag. 46. which he begins with these words Adduci primùm hoc ut credamus non possumus immortalem illam praestantissimamque Naturam divisam esse per sexus He acquaints us there that Cicero having ingenuously professed his dislike of this the Pagans endeavored to get his Works abolished by the Senate because they implied a dislike of Ancient Paganism and an approbation of Christian Doctrin Oportere statui per Senatum aboleantur ut haec scripta quibus Christiana Religlo comprobetur vetustatis opprimatur Auctoritas So essential were these Sexes to the Pagan Deities Which being designed only for carnal Propagation brings on my 2. Reason Those Gods received their Beings from Parents as Men do This is sufficiently evidenced out of Ovid. l. 4. Fast Illa Venus Deos omnes longum est numerare creavit You pag. 488. distinguish Venus Aphrodite from the Vulgar and pag. 489. you say that That Venus to whom all the Gods owed their Being was the One Supreme Deity Our Question is which Venus Ovid speaks of in that Verse You say it is the Divine or the true God I say it is the Vulgar and thus I prove it That Venus who makes Males Fight with one another and sport with the Females of their Kind for whom young Men break their Sleeps to give Serenades to their Misses who by Adultery with Anchises brought forth Aeneas who contended with Pallas and Juno for a Golden Apple and submitted to the Judgment of Paris who Fought in defence of Troy and was wounded She I say was the Vulgar Venus and not the True God which I suppose needs no Proof But of this Venus Ovid speaks for he says Quid genus omne creat volucrum nisi blanda voluptas Conveniunt pecudes si levis adsit amor Cùm Mare trux Aries cornu decertat idem Frontem dilectae laedere parcit ovis Primus amans carmen vigilatum nocte negatâ Dicitur ad clausas concinuisse fores Pro Trojâ Romane tuâ Venus arma ferebat Cùm gemuit teneram cuspide laesa manum Coelestesque duas Trojano Judice vicit Ah nolim victas hoc meminisse Deas Assaracique Nurus dicta est ut scilicet olin Magnus Julaeos Caesar haberet Avos Thus Ovid. Against all this for your Interpretation you bring Euripides in Stobaeus and Boetius who speak of the Celestial Love. What then The Divines the Fathers the Scripture speak of it too for they speak of the Holy Ghost But what is that to Ovid's Verse which they do not mention and of which alone is our Dispute Whence 't is evident that all Pagan Deities were born as others As also that 3. They died as other Men. This is also urged by Fathers against Pagans To those cited elsewhere add S. August l. 1. de Cons Evang. cap. 23. who having proved out of Cicero that all Pagan Gods had been Men and alledged that later Fiction of Caesar's being changed into a Star of which Virgil Ecce Dionaei procedit Cesaris Astrum He says Videatur ne fortè hystorica Veritas sepulchra falsorum Deorum ostendat in terra vanit as autem Poetica stellas eorum non figat sed fingat in coelo Neque enim revera stella illa Jovis est aut illa