stronger than their Supporter Now then in order to the proving the Doctrine of Purgatory to be an Innovation 1. We consider That the Doctrines upon which it is pretended reasonable are all dubious and disputable at the very best Such are 1. THEIR distinction of sins Mortal and Venial in their own nature 2. THAT the taking away the guilt of sins does not suppose the taking away the obligation to punishment that is That when a mans sin is pardoned he may be punished without the guilt of that sin as justly as with it as if the guilt could be any thing else but an obligation to punishment for having sinned which is a Proposition of which no wise man can make sense but it is certain that it is expresly against the Word of God who promises upon our repentance so to take away our sins that he will remember them no more And so did Christ to all those to whom he gave pardon for he did not take our faults and guilt on him any other way but by curing our evil hearts and taking away the punishment And this was so perfectly believ'd by the Primitive Church that they always made the penances and satisfaction to be undergone before they gave absolution and after absolution they never impos'd or oblig'd to punishment unless it were to sick persons of whose recovery they despaired not of them indeed in case they had not finished their Canonical punishments they expected they should perform what was enjoyn'd them formerly But because all sin is a blot to a mans soul and a foul stain to his reputation we demand in what does this stain consist In the guilt or in the punishment If it be said that it consists in the punishment then what does the guilt signifie when the removing of it does neither remove the stain nor the punishment which both remain and abide together But if the stain and the guilt be all one or always together then when the guilt is taken away there can no stain remain and if so what need is there any more of Purgatory For since this is pretended to be necessary only lest any stain'd or unclean thing should enter into Heaven if the guilt and the pain be removed what uncleanness can there be left behind Indeed Simon Magus as 〈◊〉 reports Haeres 20. did teach That after the death of the body there remained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a purgation of souls But whether the Church of Rome will own him for an Authentick Doctor themselves can best tell 3. IT relies upon this also That God requires of us a full exchange of penances and satisfactions which must regularly be paid here or hereafter even by them who are pardon'd here which if it were true we were all undone 4. THAT the Death of Christ his Merits and Satisfaction do not procure for us a full remission before we dye nor as it may happen of a long time after All which being Propositions new and uncertain invented by the School Divines and brought ex 〈◊〉 to dress this opinion and make it to seem reasonable and being the products of ignorance concerning remission of sins by Grace of the righteousness of Faith and the infinite value of Christs Death must needs lay a great prejudice of novelty upon the Doctrine it self which but by these cannot be supported But to put it past suspition and conjectures Roffensis and Polydore Virgil affirm That who so searcheth the Writings of the Greek Fathers shall find that none or very rarely any one of them ever makes mention of Purgatory and that the Latin Fathers did not all believe it but by degrees came to entertain opinions of it But for the Catholick Church it was but lately known to her BUT before we say any more in this Question we are to premonish That there are Two great causes of their mistaken pretensions in this Article from Antiquity THE first is That the Antient Churches in their Offices and the Fathers in 〈◊〉 Writings did teach and practise respectively prayer for the dead Now because the Church of Rome does so too and more than so relates her prayers to the Doctrine of Purgatory and for the souls there detain'd her Doctors vainly suppose that when ever the Holy Fathers speak of prayer for the dead that they conclude for Purgatory which vain conjecture is as false as it is unreasonable For it is true the Fathers did pray for the dead but how That God would shew them mercy and hasten the resurrection and give a blessed sentence in the great day But then it is also to be remembred that they made prayers and offered for those who by the confession of all sides never were in Purgatory even for the Patriarchs and Prophets for the Apostles and Evangelists for Martyrs and Confessors and especially for the blessed Virgin Mary So we find it in Epiphanius S. Cyril and in the Canon of the Greeks and so it is acknowledged by their own Durantus and in their Mass-book antiently they prayed for the soul of S. Leo Of which because by their latter doctrines they grew asham'd they have chang'd the prayer for him into a prayer to God by the intercession of S. Leo in behalf of themselves so by their new doctrine making him an Intercessor for us who by their old doctrine was suppos'd to need our prayers to intercede for him of which Pope Innocent being ask'd a reason makes a most pitiful excuse UPON what accounts the Fathers did pray for the Saints departed and indeed generally for all it is not now seasonable to discourse but to say this only that such general prayers for the dead as those above reckoned the Church of England never did condemn by any express Article but left it in the middle and by her practice declares her Faith of the Resurrection of the dead and her interest in the Communion of Saints and that the Saints departed are a portion of the Catholick Church parts and members of the Body of Christ but expresly condemns the Doctrine of Purgatory and consequently all prayers for the dead relating to it And how vainly the Church of Rome from prayer for the dead infers the belief of 〈◊〉 every man may satisfie himself by seeing the Writings of the Fathers where they cannot meet with one Collect or Clause for praying for the delivery of souls 〈◊〉 of that imaginary place Which thing is so certain that in the very Roman Offices we mean the Vigils said for the dead which are Psalms and Lessons taken from the Scripture speaking of the miseries of this World Repentance and Reconciliation with God the bliss after this life of them that die in Christ and the Resurrection of the Dead and in the Anthems Versicles and Responses there are prayers made recommending to God the Soul of the newly defunct praying he may be freed from hell and eternal death that in the day of Judgment he be not judged
us to intercede and we shall prevail for others but that a wicked person who is under actual guilt and oblig'd himself to suffer all punishment can ease and take off the punishment due to others by any externally good work done ungratiously is a piece of new Divinity without colour of reason or religion Others in this are something less scandalous and affirm that though it be not necessary that when the Indulgence is granted the man should be in the state of grace yet it is necessary that at some time or other he should be at any time it seems it will serve For thus they turn Divinity and the care of souls into Mathematicks and Clock-work and dispute minutes and periods with God and are careful to tell their people how much liberty they may take and how far they may venture lest they should lose any thing of their sins pleasure which they can possibly enjoy and yet have hopes of being sav'd at last 3. BUT there is worse yet If a man willingly commits a sin in hope and expectation of a Jubilee and of the Indulgences afterwards to be granted he does not lose the Indulgence but shall receive it which is expresly affirm'd by Navar and Antonius Cordubensis and Bellarmine though he asks the question denies it not By which it is evident that the Roman Doctrines and Divinity teach contrary to God's way who is most of all angry with them that turn his grace into wantonness and sin that grace may abound 4. IF any man by reason of poverty cannot give the prescrib'd Alms he cannot receive the Indulgence Now since it is sufficiently known that in all or most of the Indulgences a clause is sure to be included that something be offered to the Church to the Altar to a Religious House c. The consequent of this will be soon seen that Indulgences are made for the rich and the Treasures of the Church are to be dispensed to them that have Treasures of their own for Habenti dabitur But then God help the poor for them Purgatory is prepar'd and they must burn For the rich it is pretended but the smell of fire will not pass upon them FROM these premises we suppose it but too evident that the Roman Doctors prevaricate in the whole Doctrine of Repentance which indeed in Christ Jesus is the whole Oeconomy of Justification and Salvation it is the hopes and staff of all the world the remedy of all evils past present and to come And if our physick be poison'd if our staff be broken if our hopes make us asham'd how shall we appear before Christ at his coming But we say that in all the parts of it their Doctrine is insinitely dangerous 1. Contrition is sufficient if it be but one little act and that in the very Article of Death and before that time it is not necessary by the Law of God nay it is indeed sufficient but it is also insufficient for without Confession in act or desire it suffices not And though it be thus insufficiently sufficient yet it is not necessary For Attrition is also sufficient if a Priest can be had and then any little grief proceeding out of the fear of Hell will do it if the Priest do but absolve 2. Confession might be made of excellent use and is so among the pious Children of the Church of England but by the Doctrines and Practices in the Church of Rome it is made not the remedy of sins by proper energy but the excuse the alleviation the considence the ritual external and sacramental remedy and serves instead of the labours of a holy and a regular life and yet is so intangled with innumerable and inextricable cases of conscience orders humane prescripts and great and little artifices that scruples are more increased than sins are lessened 3. FOR Satisfactions and Penances which if they were rightly order'd and made instrumental to kill the desires of sin or to punish the Criminal or were properly the fruits of repentance that is parts of a holy life good works done in charity and the habitual permanent grace of God were so prevailing as they do the work of God yet when they are taken away not only by the declension of primitive Discipline but by new Doctrines and Indulgences regular and offer'd Commutations for money and superstitious practices which are sins themselves and increase the numbers and weights of the account there is a great way made for the destruction of souls and the discountenancing the necessity of holy life but nothing for the advantage of holiness or the becoming like to God AND now at last for a Cover to this Dish we have thought fit to mind the World and to give caution to all that mean to live godly in Christ Jesus to what an insinite scandal and impiety this affair hath risen in the Church of Rome we mean in the instance of their Taxa Camerae seu Cancellariae Apostolicae the Tax of the Apostolical Chamber or Chancery a book publickly printed and expos'd to common sale of which their own Espencaeus gives this account That it is a book in which a man may learn more wickedness than in all the Summaries of vices published in the World And yet to them that will pay for it there is to many given a Licence to all an Absolution for the greatest and most horrid sins There is a price set down for his Absolution that hath kill'd his Father or his Mother Brother Sister or Wife or that hath lien with his Sister or his Mother We desire all good Christians to excuse us for naming such horrid things Nomina sunt ipso penè timenda sono But the Licences are printed at Paris in the year 1500. by Tossan Denis Pope Innocent the VIII either was Author or Inlarger of these Rules of this Chancery-tax and there are Glosses upon them in which the Scholiast himself who made them affirms that he must for that time conceal some things to avoid scandal But how far this impiety proceeded and how little regard there is in it to piety or the good of souls is visible by that which Augustinus de Ancona teaches That the Pope ought not to give Indulgences to them who have a desire of giving money but cannot as to them who actually give And whereas it may be objected that then poor mens souls are in a worse condition than the rich he answers That as to the remission of the punishment acquir'd by the Indulgence in such a case it is not inconvenient that the rich should be in a better condition than the poor For in that manner do they imitate God who is no respecter of persons SECT VI. Other Instances of dangerous Doctrines as That one man may satisfie for another That a habit of sin is not a sin distinct from those actions by which it was contracted Mischief of this doctrine shewed The distinction of Mortal and venial sins In what senso to be understood and admitted With them one whole sort of sins is venial in its own nature and a whole heap of them cannot make a mortal sin nor
put us out of God's favour But when the Casuists differ so much in determining whether this or that be a venial or mortal sin if the Confessor says it is venial and it proves to be a mortal one a man's soul is betrayed THESE Observations we conceive to be sufficient to deter every well meaning person from running into or abiding in such temptations Every false Proposition that leads to impiety is a stock and fountain of temptations and these which we have reckon'd in the matter of Repentance having influence upon the whole life are yet much greater by corrupting the whole mass of Wisdom and Spiritual Propositions THERE are indeed many others We shall name some of them but shall not need much to insist on them Such as are 1. THAT one Man may satisfie for another It is the general Doctrine of their Church The Divines and Lawyers consent in it and publickly own it The effect of which is this that some are made rich by it and some are careless But qui non solvit in aere luat in corpore is a Canonical rule and though it was spoken in the matter of publick penances and so relates to the exterior Court yet it is also practis'd and avowed in satisfactions or penances relating to the inward Court of Conscience and penance Sacramental and the rich man is made negligent in his duty and is whip'd upon another man's back and his purse only is the Penitent and which is worst of all here is a pretence of doing that which is too near blasphemy but to say For by this Doctrine it is not to be said of Christ alone that he was wounded for our transgressions that he only satisfied for our sins for in the Church of Rome it is done frequently and pretended daily that by another man's stripes we are healed 2. THEY teach That a habit of sin is not a sin distinct from those former actions by which the habit was contracted The secret intention of which Proposition and the malignity of it consists in this that it is not necessary for a man to repent speedily and a man is not bound by repentance to interrupt the procedure of his impiety or to repent of his habit but of the single acts that went before it For as for those that come after they are excus'd if they be produc'd by a strong habit and the greater the habit the less is the sin But then as the repentance need not for that reason be hasty and presently so because it is only to be of single acts the repentance it self need not be habitual but it may be done in an instant whereas to mortifie a habit of sin which is the true and proper repentance there is requir'd a longer time and a procedure in the methods of a holy life By this and such like Propositions and careless Sentences they have brought it to that pass that they reckon a single act of Contrition at any time to be sufficient to take away the wickedness of a long life Now that this is the avowed Doctrine of the Roman Guides of souls will sufficiently appear in the Writings of their chiefest of which no learned man can be ignorant The thing was of late openly and professedly disputed against us and will not be denied And that this Doctrine is infinitely destructive of the necessity of a good life cannot be doubted of when themselves do own the proper consequents of it even the unnecessariness of present repentance or before the danger of death of which we have already given accounts But the reason why we remark it here is that which we now mentioned because that by the Doctrine of vitious habits having in them no malignity or sin but what is in the single preceding acts there is an excuse made for millions of sins For if by an evil habit the sinner is not made worse and more hated by God and his sinful acts made not only more but more criminal it will follow that the sins are very much lessened For they being not so voluntary in their exercise and distinct emanation are not in present so malicious and therefore he that hath gotten a habit of drunkenness or swearing sins less in every act of drunkenness or profane oath than hethat acts them seldom because by his habit he is more inclin'd and his sins are almost natural and less considered less chosen and not disputed against but pass by inadvertency and an untroubled consent easily and promptly and almost naturally from that principle So that by this means and in such cases when things are come to this pass they have gotten an imperfect warrant to sin a great deal and a great while without any new great inconvenience Which evil state of things ought to be infinitely avoided by all Christians that would be sav'd by all means and therefore all such Teachers and all such Doctrines are carefully to be declin'd who give so much easiness not only to the remedies but to the sins themselves But of this we hope it may be sufficient to have given this short warning 3. THE distinction of Mortal and Venial sins as it is taught in the Church of Rome is a great cause of wickedness and careless conversation For although we do with all the antient Doctors admit of the distinction of sins Mortal and Venial yet we also teach That in their own nature and in the rigor of the Divine Justice every sin is damnable and deserves God's anger and that in the unregenerate they are so accounted and that in Hell the damned suffer for small and great in a common mass of torment yet by the Divine mercy and compassion the smaller sins which come by surprize or by invincible ignorance or inadvertency or unavoidable infirmity shall not be imputed to those who love God and delight not in the smallest sin but use caution and prayers watchfulness and remedies against them But if any man delights in small sins and heaps them into numbers and by deliberation or licentiousness they grow numerous or are in any sense chosen or taken in by contempt of the Divine Law they do put us from the favour of God and will pass into severe accounts And though sins are greater or less by comparison to each other yet the smallest is a burthen too great for us without the allowances of the Divine mercy BUT the Church of Rome teaches that there is a whole kind of sins which are venial in their own nature such which if they were all together all in the world conjoyn'd could not equal one mortal sin nor destroy charity nor put us from the favour of God such for which no man can perish etiamsi nullum pactum esset de remissione though God's merciful Covenant of Pardon did not
intervene And whereas Christ said Of every idle word a man shall speak he shall give account at the day of judgment and By your words ye shall be justified and By your words ye shall be condemned Bellarmine expresly affirms It is not intelligible how an idle word should in its own nature be worthy of the Eternal wrath of God and Eternal flames Many other desperate words are spoken by the Roman Doctors in this Question which we love not to aggravate because the main thing is acknowledged by them all BUT now we appeal to the reason and Consciences of all men Whether this Doctrine of sins Venial in their own nature be not greatly destructive to a holy life When it is plain that they give rest to mens Consciences for one whole kind of sins for such which because they occur every day in a very short time if they be not interrupted by the grace of Repentance will swell to a prodigious heap But concerning these we are bidden to be quiet for we are told that all the heaps of these in the world cannot put us out of Gods favour Add to this that it being in thousands of cases impossible to tell which are and which are not Venial in their own nature and in their appendent circumstances either the people are cozen'd by this Doctrine into an useless confidence and for all this talking in their Schools they must nevertheless do to Venial sins as they do to Mortal that is mortifie them fight against them repent speedily of them keep them from running into mischief and then all their kind Doctrines in this Article signifie no comfort or ease but all danger and difficulty and useless dispute or else if really they mean that this easiness of opinion be made use of then the danger is imminent and carelessness is introduc'd and licentiousness in all little things is easily indulg'd and mens souls are daily lessen'd without repair and kept from growing towards Christian perfection and from destroying the whole body of sin and in short despising little things they perish by little and little THIS Doctrine also is worse yet in the handling For it hath infinite influence to the disparagement of holy life not only by the uncertain but as it must frequently happen by the false determination of innumerable cases of conscience For it is a great matter both in the doing and the thing done both in the caution and the repentance whether such an action be a venial or a mortal sin If it chance to be mortal and your Confessor says it is venial your soul is betrayed And it is but a chance what they say in most cases for they call what they please venial and they have no certain rule to answer by which appears too sadly in their innumerable differences which is amongst all their Casuists in saying what is and what is not mortal and of this there needs no greater proof than the reading the little Summaries made by their most leading guides of Consciences Navar Cajetane Tolet Emanuel Sà and others where one says such a thing is mortal and two say it is venial AND lest any man should say or think this is no great matter we desire that it be considered that in venial sins there may be very much phantastick pleasure and they that retain them do believe so for they suppose the pleasure is great enough to outweigh the intolerable pains of Purgatory and that it is more eligible to be in Hell a while than to cross their appetites in such small things And however it happen in this particular yet because the Doctors differ so infinitely and irreconcileably in saying what is and what is not Venial whoever shall trust to their Doctrine saying that such a sin is Venial and to their Doctrine that says it does not exclude from God's favour may be these two Propositions be damned before he is aware WE omit to insist upon their express contradicting the words of our Blessed Saviour who taught his Church expresly That we must work in the day time for the night cometh and no man worketh Let this be as true as it can in the matter of Repentance and Mortification and working out our pardon for mortal sins yet it is not true in Venial sins if we may believe their great S. Thomas whom also Bellarmine follows in it for he affirms That by the acts of Love and Patience in Purgatory Venial sins are remitted and that the acceptation of those 〈◊〉 proceeding out of Charity is a virtual kind of penance But in this particular we follow not S. Thomas nor Bellarmine in the Church of England and Ireland for we believe in Jesus Christ and follow him If men give themselves liberty as long as they are alive to commit one whole kind of sins and hope to work it out after death by acts of Charity and Repentance which they would not do in their life time either they must take a course to sentence the words of Christ as savouring of Heresie or else they will find themselves to have been at first deceived in their Proposition and at last in their expectation Their faith hath fail'd them here and hereafter they will be asham'd of their hope SECT VII Their new doctrine of Probability That a probable opinion may be safely followed in practice The opinion of one grave Doctor or the example of good men makes a matter probable and either side may be chosen Though this is not an Article of their Faith yet it is a Rule of manners Sad instances of wickedness this gives warranty to A strange Instance of obtaining an Indulgence granted upon condition of Visiting an Altar of a distant Church by those that cannot go to it as Nuns and Prisoners if they address to an Altar of their own with that Intention secured by the practice of the Church THERE is a Proposition which indeed is new but is now the general Doctrine of the Leading Men in the Church of Rome and it is the foundation on which their Doctors of Conscience relie in their decision of all cases in which there is a doubt or question made by themselves and that is That if an Opinion or Speculation be probable it may in practice be safely followed And if it be enquir'd What is sufficient to make an opinion probable the Answer is easie Sufficit opinio alicujus gravis Doctoris aut Bonorum exemplum The opinion of any one grave Doctor is sufficient to make a matter probable nay the example and practice of good men that is men who are so reputed if they have done it you may do so too and be safe This is the great Rule of their Cases of Conscience AND now we ought not to be press'd with any ones saying that such an opinion is but the private opinion of one or more of their Doctors For although in matters of Faith this be not sufficient to impute a Doctrine to a whole
certainly it gives confidence to many men to sin and to most men to neglect the greater and more effective parts of 〈◊〉 repentance WE shall not need to observe how Confession is made a Minister of State a Pick-lock of secrets a Spy upon families a Searcher of inclinations a Betraying to temptations for this is wholly by the sault of the Men and not of the Doctrine but even the Doctrine it self as it is handled in the Church of Rome is so far from bringing peace to the troubled Consciences that it intromits more scruples and cases than it can resolve FOR besides that it self is a question and they have made it dangerous by pretending that it is by Divine Right and Institution for so some of the Schoolmen teach and the Canonists say the contrary and that it is only of humane and positive Constitution and by this difference in so great a point have made the whole Oeconomy of their repentance which relies upon the supposed necessity of Confession to fail or to shake vehemently and at the best to be a foundation too uncertain to build the hopes of salvation on it besides all this we say Their Rules and Doctrines of Confession enjoyn some things that are of themselves dangerous and lead into temptation An instance of this is in that which is decreed in the Canons of Trent that the Penitent must not only confess every mortal sin which after diligent inquiry he remembers but even his very sinful thoughts in particular and his 〈◊〉 desires and every circumstance which changes the kind of the sin or as some add does notably increase it and how this can be safely done and who is sufficient for these things and who can tell his circumstances without tempting his Confessor or betraying and defaming another person which is forbidden and in what cases it may be done or in what cases omitted and whether the confession be 〈◊〉 upon infinite other considerations and whether it be to be repeated in whole or in part and how often and how much these things are so uncertain casual and contingent and so many cases are multiplied upon every one of these and these so disputed and argued by their greatest Doctors by Thomas and Scotus and all the Schoolmen and by the Casuists that as Beat us Rhenanus complains it was truly observed by the famous John Geilerius that according to their cases enquiries and conclusions it is impossible for any man to make a right Confession So that although the shame of private Confession be very tolerable and easie yet the cases and scruples which they have introduc'd are neither easie nor tolerable and though as it is now used there be but little in it to restrain sin yet there is very much danger of increasing it and of receiving no benefit by it SECT III. Penances in the Roman Church very ineffectual how they differ from the antient Canonical ones Indulgences will relieve him that thinks his enjoyned penances too severe What vast stores of Pardons that Church boasts of and upon what easie terms granted They serve themselves by them but do not serve God An account why so many thousand years of pardon need be granted A holy life seems only necessary for him that has neither friends nor money BUT then for Penances and Satisfactions of which they boast so much as being so great restraints to sin these as they are publickly handled are nothing but words and ineffective sounds For first if we consider what the Penances themselves are which are enjoyned they are reduced from the antient Canonical Penances to private and arbitrary from years to hours from great severity to gentleness and slattery from fasting and publick shame to the saying over their Beads from Cordial to ritual from smart to money from heartiness and earnest to pageantry and theatrical Images of Penance and if some Confessors happen to be severe there are ways enough to be eased For the Penitent may have leave to go to a gentler or he may get Commutations or he may get somebody else to do them for him and if his Penances be never so great or never so little yet it may be all supplied by Indulgences of which there are such store in the Lateran at Rome that as Pope Boniface said No man is able to number them yet he confirm'd them all IN the Church of Sancta Maria de Popolo there are for every day in the year two thousand and eight hundred years of pardon besides fourteen thousand and fourteen Carentanes which in one year amount to more than a Million all which are confirm'd by the Pope Paschal I. Boniface VIII and Gregory IX In the Church of S. Vitus and Modestus there are for every day in the year seven thousand years and seven thousand Carentanes of pardon and a pardon of a third part of all our sins besides and the price of all this is but praying before an Altar in that Church At the Sepulchre of Christ in Venice there is hung up a prayer of S. Augustine with an Indulgence of fourscore and two thousand years granted by Boniface the VIII who was of all the Popes the most bountiful of the Churches treasure and Benedict the XI to him that shall say it and that for every day toties quoties The Divine pardon of Sica gave a plenary Indulgence to every one that being confessed and communicated should pray there in the Franciscan Church of Sancta Maria de gli Angeli and this pardon is ab omni poena culpa The English of that we easily understand but the meaning of it we do not because they will not own that these Indulgences do profit any one whose guilt is not taken away by the Sacrament of Penance But this is not the only snare in which they have inextricably entangled themselves but be it as they please for this whatever it was it was since inlarged by Sixtus IV. and Sixtus V. to all that shall wear S. Francis's Cord. The saying a few Pater nosters and Ave's before a privileg'd Altar can in innumerable places procure vast portions of this Treasure and to deliver a soul out of Purgatory whom they list is promised to many upon easie terms even to the saying of their Beads over with an appendent Medal of the Pope's benediction Every Priest at his third or fourth Mass is as sure as may be to deliver the souls of his Parents And a thousand more such stories as these are to be seen every where and every day ONCE for all There was a book printed at Paris by Francis Regnault A. D. 1536. May 25. called The hours of the most blessed Virgin Mary according to the use of Sarum in which for the saying three short prayers written in Rome in a place called The Chapel of the holy Cross of seven Romans are promised fourscore and ten thousand years of pardon of deadly sin Now the meaning of these things is very plain By these
or will the first which stood for nothing keep cold and without any sensible errour serve when you shall indeed die 9. You must also enquire and be rightly inform'd whether an Indulgence granted upon a certain Festival will be valid if the day be chang'd as they were all at once by the Gregorian Calendar or if you go into another Countrey where the Feast is not kept the same day as it happens in moveable Feasts and on S. Bartholomew's-day and some others 10. WHEN your Lawyers have told you their opinion of all these Questions and given it under their hands it will concern you to inquire yet further whether a succeeding Pope have not or cannot revoke an Indulgence granted by his Predecessor for this is often done in matters of favour and privileges and the German Princes complain'd sadly of it and it was complain'd in the Council of Lions that Martin the Legate of Pope Innocent the VIII revok'd and dissipated all former Grants and it is an old Rule Papa nunquam sibi lig at manus The Pope never binds his own hands But here some caution would do well 11. IT is worthy inquiry whether in the year of Jubilee all other Indulgences be suspended for though some think they are not yet Navar and Emanuel Sà affirm that they are and if they chance to say true for no man knows whether they do or no you may be at a loss that way And when all this is done yet 12. YOUR Indulgences will be of no avail to you in reserved cases which are very many A great many more very fine scruples might be mov'd and are so and therefore when you have gotten all the security you can by these you are not safe at all But therefore be sure still to get Masses to be said So that now the great Objection is answered you need not fear that saying Masses will ever be made unnecessary by the multitude of Indulgences The Priest must still be imployed and entertained in subsidium since there are so many ways of making the Indulgence good for nothing And as for the fear of emptying Purgatory by the free and liberal use of the Keys it is very needless because the Pope cannot evacuate Purgatory or give so many Indulgences as to take out all souls from thence And therefore if the Popes and the Bishops and the Legates have been already too free it may be there is so much in arrear that the Treasure of the Church is spent or the Church is in debt for souls or else though the Treasure be inexhaustible yet so much of her Treasure ought not to be made use of and therefore it may be that your souls shall be polt-pon'd and must stay and take its turn God knows when And therefore we cannot but commend the prudence of Cardinal Albernotius who by his last Will took order for fifty thousand Masses to be said for his soul for he was a wise man and lov'd to make all as sure as he could SECT V. Ensie to conclude that all is an Art to get money and deceive mens souls to tempt a man to negloct himself when he hopes to be relieved by many others How good Life is undermined by their Doctrines relating to Indulgences in 3 or 4 remarkable instances Their Doctrine dangerous in all the parts of Repontance Contrition Confession Satisfactions and Penances all spoiled as they teach them The 〈◊〉 scandal of the Tax of the Apostolical chamber where a Licence is given to many sins and for such 〈◊〉 summ an Absolution from the greatest BUT then to apply this to the Consciences of the poor people of the Roman Communion Here is a great deal of Treasure of the Church pretended and a great many favours granted and much ease promised and the wealth of the Church boasted of and the peoples mony gotten and that this may be a perpetual spring it is clear amongst their own Writers that you are not sure of any good by all that is past but you must get more security or this may be nothing But how easie were it for you now to conclude that all this is but a meer cozenage an art to get mony but that 's but the least of the evil it is a certain way to deceive souls For since there are so many thousands that trust to these things and yet in the confession of your own Writers there are so many sallibilities in the whole and in every part why will you suffer your selves so weakly and vainly to be cozen'd out of your souls with promises that signifie nothing and words without vertue and treasures that make no man rich and Indulgences that give confidence to sin but no ease to the pains which follow BESIDES all this it is very considerable that this whole affair is a state of temptation for they that have so many ways to escape will not be so careful of the main stake as the interest of it requires He that hopes to be reliev'd by many others will be tempted to neglect himself There is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Unum necessarium even that we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling A little wisdom and an easie observation were enough to make allmen that love themselves wisely to abstain from such diet which does not nourish but fills the stomach with wind and imagination But to return to the main inquiry WE desire that it be considered how dangerously good life is undermined by the Propositions collaterally taught by their Great Doctors in this matter of Indulgences besides the main and direct danger and deception 1. Venial sins preceeding or following the work enjoyned for getting Indulgences hinder not their fruit but if they intervene in the time of doing them than they hinder By this Proposition there is infinite uncertainty concerning the value of any Indulgence for if venial sins be daily incursions who can say that he is one day clean from them And if he be not he hath paid his price for that which profits not and he is made to relie upon that which will not support him But though this being taught doth evacuate the Indulgence yet it is not taught to prevent the sin for before and after if you commit venial sins there is no great matter in it The inconvenience is not great and the remedy is easie you are told of your security as to this point before-hand 2. POPE Adrian taught a worse matter He that will obtain indulgence for another if he does perform the work enjoyned though himself be in deadly sin yet for the other he prevails as if a man could do more for another than he can do for himself or as if God would regard the prayers of a vile and a wicked person when he intercedes for another and at the same time if he prays for himself his prayer is an abomination God first is intreated for our selves and when we are more excellent persons admits
Church which is but the private opinion of one or more yet because we are now speaking of the infinite danger of souls in that communion and the horrid Propositions by which their Disciples are conducted to the disparagement of good life it is sufficient to allege the publick and allowed sayings of their Doctors because these sayings are their Rule of living and because the particular Rules of Conscience use not to be decreed in Councils we must derive them from the places where they grow and where they are to be found BUT besides you will say That this is but the private opinion of some Doctors and what then Therefore it is not to be called the Doctrine of the Roman Church True we do not say It is an Article of their Faith but a rule of manners This is not indeed in any publick Decree but we say that although it be not yet neither is the contrary And if it be but a private opinion yet is it safe to follow it or is it not safe For that 's the question and therein is the danger If it be safe then this is their rule A private opinion of any one grave Doctor may be safely followed in the questions of Vertue and Vice But if it be not safe to follow it and that this does not make an opinion probable or the practice safe Who says so Does the Church No Does Dr. Cajus or Dr. Sempronius say so Yes But these are not safe to follow for they are but private Doctors Or if it be safe to follow them though they be no more and the opinion no more but probable then I may take the other side and choose which I will and do what I list in most cases and yet be safe by the Doctrine of the Roman Casuists which is the great line and general measure of most mens lives and that is it which we complain of And we have reason for they suffer their Casuists to determine all cases severely and gently strictly and loosly that so they may entertain all spirits and please all dispositions and govern them by their own inclinations and as they list to be governed by what may please them not by that which profits them that none may go away scandaliz'd or 〈◊〉 from their penitential chairs BUT upon this account it is a sad reckoning which can be made concerning souls in the Church of Rome Suppose one great Doctor amongst them as many of them do shall say it is lawful to kill a King whom the Pope declares Heretick By the Doctrine of probability here is his warranty And though the Church do not declare that Doctrine that is the Church doth not make it certain in Speculation yet it may be safely done in practice Here is enough to give peace of conscience to him that does it Nay if the contrary be more safe yet if the other be but probable by reason or Authority you may do the less safe and refuse what is more For that also is the opinion of some grave Doctors If one Doctor says it is safe to swear a thing as of our knowledge which we do not know but believe it is so it is therefore probable that it is lawful to swear it because a grave Doctor says it and then it is safe enough to do so AND upon this account who could find fault with Pope Constantine the IV. who when he was accus'd in the Lateran Council for holding the See Apostolick when he was not in Orders justified himself by the example of Sergius Bishop of Ravenna and Stephen Bishop of Naples Here was exemplum bonorum honest men had done so before him and therefore he was innocent When it is observ'd by Cardinal Campegius and Albertus Pighius did teach That a Priest lives more holily and chastely that keeps a Concubine than he that hath a married Wife and then shall find in the Pope's Law That a Priest is not to be removed for fornication who will not or may not practically conclude that since by the Law of God marriage is holy and yet to some men fornication is more lawful and does not make a Priest irregular that therefore to keep a Concubine is very lawful especially since abstracting from the consideration of a man's being in Orders or not fornication it self is probably no sin at all For so says Durandus Simple fornication of it self is not a deadly sin according to the Natural Law and excluding all positive Law and Martinus de Magistris says to believe simple fornication to be no deadly sin is not heretical because the testimonies of Scripture are not express These are grave Doctors and therefore the opinion is probable and the practice safe When the good people of the Church of Rome hear it read That P. Clement 8. in the Index of Prohibited books says That the Bible publish'd in vulgar Tongues ought not to be read and retain'd no not so much as a compend of the History of the Bible and Bellarmine says that it is not necessary to salvation to believe that there are any Scriptures at all written and that Cardinal Hosius saith Perhaps it had been better for the Church if no Scriptures had been written They cannot but say that this Doctrine is probable and think themselves safe when they walk without the light of Gods Word and rely wholly upon the Pope or their Priest in what he is pleas'd to tell them and that they are no way oblig'd to keep that Commandment of Christ Search the Scriptures Cardinal Tolet says That if a Nobleman be set upon and may escape by going away he is not tied to it but may kill him that intends to strike him with a stick That if a man be in a great passion and so transported that he considers not what be says if in that case he does blaspheme he does not always sin That if a man be beastly drunk and then commit fornication that fornication is no sin That if a man desires carnal pollution that he may be eas'd of his carnal temptations or for his health it were no sin That it is lawful for a man to expose his bastards to the Hospital to conceal his own shame He says it out of Soto and he from Thomas Aquinas That if the times be hard or the Judge unequal a man that cannot sell his wine at a due price may lawfully make his Measures less than is appointed or mingle water with his wine and sell it for pure so he do not lie and yet if he does it is no mortal sin nor obliges him to restitution Emanuel Sà affirms That if a man lie with his intended wife before Marriage it is no sin or a light one nay quinetiam expedit si multum illa differatur it is good to do so if the benediction or publication of Marriage be much deferr'd That Infants in their cradles may be made Priests is the
any grace of God but wish it were more modestly pretended unless it could be more evidently prov'd Origen condemned this whole procedure of conjuring Devils long since Quaeret aliquis si convenit vel Daemones adjurare Qui aspicit Jesum imperantem Daemonibus sed 〈◊〉 potestatem dantem Discipulis super omnia daemonia ut infirmitates sanarent dicet quoniam non est secundùm Potestatem datam à salvatore adjurare Daemonia Judaicum enim est If any one asks Whether it be fit to adjure Devils He that beholds Jesus commanding over Devils and also giving power to his Disciples over all unclean spirits and to heal diseases will say that to adjure Devils is not according to the power given by our Blessed Saviour For it is a Jewish trick and S. Chrysostom spake soberly and truly We poor Wretches cannot drive away the flies much less Devils BUT then as to the manner of their Conjurations and Exorcisms this we say If these things come from God let them shew their warranty and their books of Precedents If they come not from God they are so like the Inchantments of Balaam the old Heathens and the modern Magicians that their Original is soon discovered BUT yet from what principle it comes that they have made Exorcists an Ecclesiastical Order with special words and instruments of collation and that the words of Ordination giving them power only over possessed Christians Catechumens or Baptized should by them be extended and exercis'd upon all Infants as if they were all possessed by the Devil and not only so but to bewitched Cattel to Mice and Locusts to Milk and Lettice to Houses and Tempests as if their Charms were Prophylactick as well as Therapeutick and could keep as well as drive the Devil out and prevent storms like the old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of whom Seneca makes mention Of these things we cannot guess at any probable principle except they have deriv'd them from the Jewish Cabala or the Exorcisms which it is said Solomon us'd when he had consented to Idolatry BUT these things are so unlike the wisdom and simplicity the purity and spirituality of Christian devotion are so perfectly of their own devising and wild imaginations are so full of dirty superstitions and ignorant fancies that there are not in the world many things whose sufferance and practice can more destroy the Beauty of Holiness or reproach a Church or Society of Christians SECT XI The Church of Rome invents Sacramentals of her own without a Divine Warrant Such as Holy water Paschal wax Oil Palm-boughs c. Concerning which their Doctrine is that by these the Blood of Christ is applied to us and they not only signifie but produce Spiritual and supernatural effects How the people are abused with Legendary stories of miraculous cures wrought by them And are taught in the Sacraements themselves to rely so much upon their inherent virtue as to take less care of moral and virtuous dispositions TO put our trust and confidence in God only and to use Ministeries of his own appointment and sanctification is so essential a duty owing by us to God that whoever trusts in any thing but God is a breaker of the first Commandment and he that invents instrumental supports of his own head and puts a subordinate ministerial confidence in them usurps the rights of God and does not pursue the interests of true Religion whose very essence and formality is to glorifie God in all his attributes and to do good to man and to advance the honour and Kingdom of Christ. Now how greatly the Church of Rome prevaricates in this great Soul of Religion appears by too evident and notorious demonstration For she hath invented Sacramentals of her own without a Divine warrant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 said S. Cyril Concerning the holy and Divine mysteries of Faith or Religion we ought to do nothing by chance or of our own heads nothing without the Authority of the Divine Scriptures But the Church of Rome does otherwise invents things of her own and imputes spiritual effects to these Sacramentals and promises not only temporal blessings and immunities and benedictions but the collation or increment of Spiritual graces and remission of venial sins and alleviation of pains due to mortal sins to them who shall use these Sacramentals Which because God did not institute and did not sanctisie they use them without Faith and rely upon them without a promise and make themselves the fountains of these graces and produce confidences whose last resort is not upon God who neither was the Author nor is an Approver of them OF this nature are Holy Water the Paschal Wax Oyl Palm-boughs Holy Bread not Eucharistical Hats Agnus Dei's Meddals Swords Bells and Roses hallowed upon the Sunday called Laetare Jerusalem such as Pope Pius the second to James the II. of Scotland and Sixtus Quintus to the Prince of Parma Concerning which their Doctrine is this That the blood of Christ is by these applied unto us that they do not only signifie but produce spiritual effects that they blot out venial sins that they drive away Devils that they cure diseases and that though these things do not operate infallibly as do the Sacraments and that God hath made no express Covenant concerning them yet by the devotion of them that use them and the prayers of the Church they do prevail NOW though it be easie to say and it is notoriously true in Theology that the prayers of the Church can never prevail but according to the grace which God hath promis'd and either can only procure a blessing upon natural things in order to their natural effects or else an extraordinary supernatural effect by vertue of a Divine promise and that these things are pretended to work beyond their natural force and yet God hath not promis'd to them a supernatural blessing as themselves confess yet besides the falseness of the Doctrine on which these superstitions do rely it is also as evident that these instrumentalities produce an affiance and confidence in the Creature and estrange mens hearts from the true Religion and trust in God while they think themselves blessed in their own inventions and in digging to themselves Cisterns of their own and leaving the Fountain of Blessing and Eternal Life To this purpose the Roman Priesta abuse the People with Romantick stories out of the Dialogues of S. Gregory and venerable Bede making them believe that S. Fortunatus cur'd a Man's broken thigh with Holy Water and that S. Malachias the Bishop of Down and Connor cur'd a mad-man with the same medicine and that Saint Hilarion cur'd many sick persons with Holy Bread and Oyl which indeed is the most likely of them all as being good food and good medicine and although not so much as a Chicken is now a-days cur'd of the Pip by Holy Water yet upon all occasions they use it and the common people throw it upon Childrens