sins Where there is 1. preaching 2. next compunction 3. then Repentance 4 afterwards Baptisme 5 and lastly remission of sins atchieved by Peâ—ers Ministery And for the second condition that faith is engendered this way is more than evident for who hath not heard of that of the Apostle Acts 4.4 Fide ex auditu And many of them which heard the word belâ—eved the increase and addition made daily to the Church was by the Apostles planting and watering 't is true the efficacy is from God for neither is he that plâ—nteth any thing nor he that watereth but God that giveth the increase His the seed is the Minister is but the sower or rather the hopper where it is deposited and as the seed is his so is the blessing and increase the Priest concurring as a servant in this Spiritual husbandry it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching as the world accounted it to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1.21 Conclude we with Pacianus Nunquam Deus non poenitenti comminaretur nisi ignosceret poenitenti solus hoc inquit Deus poterit verum est sâ—d quod per Sacerdotes suos facit illius poâ—â—stas est Pacian ad Sympron Epist 1. God would never threaten the impenitent except he were minded to pardon the Penitent But it will be said God onely can do this very true but that which he doâ—h by his Priests is his power And to these two heads of disposition and application the more ancient Schoolmen limited the power of absolution preaching forgiveness not directly Sacerdotes dâ—mittunt ostendendo manifestando habent se ad modum demonstrantis non directè sed dispositivè ea adhibentes per quae Dâ—us dimittit peccata dat gratiam and from themselves but as disposing thereunto exhibiting those means by which God conferreth grace and forgâ—veth sin By the Word and Sacraments doth the Priest dispose and prepare sinners for repentance thereby to make them capable of forgiveness and doth actually apply unto such as are so disposed absolution and forgiveness first chafing and preparing the wax to receive the seal and when their hearts are l ke wax mâ—lted in the midst of their bowels Psal 22.14 as saith the Psalmist then as Officers they put a seal to the diploma of their pardon and absolution in the name of Christ actually absolving them so far as their Ministerial power can extend them I say qui non ponuâ—t obicem that hinder not by unbelief or impenitency So the Minister in the first place disposeth to repentance and then applieth pardon to them that repent and as it appeared in Davids câ—se upon whom the reproofs discharged by Nathan fell liâ—e claps of thunder 2 Sam. 12.13 the King thereupon truly humbled to repentance breaks forth into tears and confession which Nathan apprehending comforts him with the sweet news of pardon and absolution And this is all we can safely afford unto the Priest whose care must be not to exceed his instructions and to take that which is his own and to go his way Thou wilt say the words of his Commission give him further and more ample authority wherein the Priest hath power not to apply meerly but to absolve not to bear witness but to bind and so farr that Heaven shall not onely ratifie and confirm but second and answer his definitive resolves upon which surmise Hilary thus addressâ—th himself to Saint Peter O blessed Porter of heaven O Beate Coeli janitor cuâ—us arbitrio claves aeterni aditûs traduntur cujus terrestre judicium praejudicata authoritas sit in coelo ut quae in terris aut ligatâ— sunt aut soluta statuti ejusdem conditionem obtineant in coelo Hilarâ— Can. 16. in Matth. to whose disposing the keys of that eternal entrance are delivered whose judgment upon earth doth prejudicate that authority which is in heaven that whatsoever is bound or loosed upon earth the same stâ—tute should be of force in heaven also And Chrâ—sostome affirmeth the Priests throne to be founded in heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom 5. p. 152. and he that averreth the same is the very king of heaven himself saying whatsoever ye shall bind on earth c. what can compare or be equal with this honour heaven takes the principality or beginning of judgment from earth The Lord followeth his servant and look what the servant judgeth below the Lord confirmeth above For the clearing of these evidences there are three points to be debated 1. If the Priest can be said to be an author or doer of absolution 2. How and when his sentence is ratified in heaven 3. And then how and in what sense these Fathers can rightly affirme and which the words of Christ seem to import The Priests censure on earth to have the precedency and to take place of heaven and to these the resolutions succinctly follow 1. To the first we affirme that the Priest doth discharge his function Priests absolve Operativè not onely declaratively as a Messenger but operatively as a causer and procurer of absolution but a Causer after his kind because he laboureth in the work of the Ministery such as take pains in planting and watering the Lords husbandry are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 3.9 labourers together with God And as the Apostle styles himself a Father to the Corinthians 1 Cor. 4.15 and that he begat them in Christ Jesus through the Gospel though in the adoption of sons the seed be immortal and the quickner thereof the holy Spirit 1 Tim. 4.16 and as Timothy by his doctrine is said to save himself and them that hear him whereas salvation is from the Lord So are the Priests said to absolve as instruments ordained by God to work faith and repentance for the procurement thereof Revel 16.1 for as in the binding part of their Ministery they are like the Angels in the Apocalypse which pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon earth (a) 2 Cor. 10.6 having vengeance ready agaiâ—st all disobedience and a charge from God to deliver up unto Satan yet are they not the Avengers for to God vengeance belongeth but the inflicters thereof for unto the Priests the execution apperâ—aineth And in the Levitical Law which concerneth the Leprosie by so many of the Ancient made a type of the pollution of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXXII Levit. 13.6 vers 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXXII we read the Priest shall cleanse him and the Priest shall polluâ—â— hâ—m and the Priest polluting shall pollute him where we translate the Priest shall pronounce him clean and the Priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean for the Priest was not the author of that pollution Haud dubium quin Sacerdos non quò contaminationis author sit sed quò ostendat eum contaminatum qui priùs mundus plurimis
his Lords name and applied by his special direction The place wherein they serve is a Stewards place and the Apostle telleth them 1 Cor. 4.2 that it is required in stewards that they be faithful They may not therefore behave themselves like the unjust Steward Luke 17.7 8. presuming to strike out their Masters debt and put less in the place without his direction and contrary to his liking 2 Cor. 5.20 Ambassadors they are for Christ and must be careful to follow their Masters instructions and not to intrench upon soveraign points as to imagine the power of proclaiming war or concluding peace lay at their devotion this indeed were not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to exceed their Commission and upon the matter to subject themselves to the danger of the law and their proceedings to be vacated and made of none effect The Master of the Sentences resolveth this power to consist not in binding or in loosing Sacerdotibus tantùm tribuit potestatem solvendi ligandi i. e. ostendendi homines ligatos vel solutos In Levitico se ostendere Sacerdotibus jubentur Leprosi quos illi non faciunt leprosos vel mundos sed discernunt qui mundi vel immundi sunt hi ergo peccata remittunt vel retinent dum dimissa à Deo vel retenta indicant ostendunt Lomb. l. 4. dist 18. Sect. non autem but in shewing forth onely who are bound and who are loosed and produceth the authority of Saint Hierome to maintain his resolution that as in the Levitical law the Lepers were commanded to present themselves unto the Priests whom they made neither clean nor unclean but discerned who were so and concludeth that Evangelical Priests remit and retain sins when they discover and shew forth what sins by God are retained or remitted Lombard is followed by Occam The Priests bind or loose in shewing men to be bound or loosed Sacerdotes ligant solvunt quia ostendum homines ligatos solutos Occ. l. 4. Q. 8 9. Non quòd homo propriè remittat peccatum sed quòd ostendat certificet à Deo remissum neque enim aliud est absolutio quam ab homine accipis quà m si dicat En sili certifico te tibi remissa esse peccata annuntio tibi te habere propitium Deum quaecunque Christus in baptismo Evangelio promisit tibi nunc per me annunciat promittit Ferus in Matth. 9. edit Mogunt 1559. And they both by Ferus Not that any man properly remitteth sin but that he sheweth and certifieth from God that it is remitted for the absolution thou receivest from man is nothing else then as if he should say Behold my son I certifie unto thee thy sins to be forgiven I declare unto thee that thou hast a merciful God and look whatsoever Christ in baptisme or in the Gospel hath promised unto us he now by me declareth and promiseth unto thee And with this pregnant testimony we conclude this property The last property to be inquired Whether Ministerial and Judicial If the act of this absolution be Ministerial or Judicial and my answer is both ministerial and judicial per partes to be demonstrated For the first It cannot be otherwise no effect exceeding the virtue of its cause and no property transcending the nature of its subject If therefore our calling be ministerial so is every office and act thereof And let none of that order distaste the name for Jesus Christ was a minister of Circumcision Rom. 13.8 and the Apostle styles himself a Minister of the Gospel Colos 1.23 1 Tim. 4.6 and Timothy a consecrated Bishop a good Minister of Jesus Christ Away then with all contemptuous thoughts 2 Cor. 3.6 Heb. 1.7 for God hath made his Ministers a flame of fire able Ministers and of the Spirit Ministers of the Spirit and graces thereof amongst whom remission of sin is not the meanest and not Lords Therefore before they were habilitated for remission of sins our Lord is said to breathe upon them and say Receive the Holy Ghost for this is not the gift of man saith Ambrose neither is he given by man Non humanum hoc opus neque ab homine datur sed invocatus à Sacerdote à Deo traditur in quo Dei munus Ministerium Sacerdotis est Paulus Apostolus in tantum se huic officio imparem credidit ut à Deo nos spiritu optaret impleri Quis tantus est qui hujus traditionem muneris sibi audeat arrogare itaque Apostolus votum precatione detulit non jus authoritate aliqua vendicavit impetrare optavit non imperare praesumpsit Ambr. l. 1. de Spiâ—itu S. cap. 7. but being called upon by the Priest is given by God wherein the gift of God is the Ministery of the Priest Paul the Apostle held himself so far unmeet for this office that he rather prayed we should be filled with the Spirit of God what man hath so highly coâ—ceited of himself as to arrogate the collation of this gift The Apostle therefore made his request by prayer and challenged no right by authority choosing rather to intreat and not presuming to command Ministers then we are and suppliants on the peoples behalf that they may receive power from above and not Lords or commanders of the Spirit of Grace The same Father also informeth us saying Behold how sins are forgiven by the Holy Ghost Ecce quia per Spiritum peccata donantur homines autem in remissione peccatorum ministerium suum exhibent non jus alicujus potestatis exercent neque enim in suo sed in Patris Filii Spiritûs Sancti nomine peccata dimittuntur isti rogant Divinitas donat humanum enim obsequium sed munificentia supernae est potestatis Ambr. l. 3. de Spirit S. cap. 19. but men exhibit their Ministery in the remission exercising no right or faculty of any power for sinnes are not forgiven in their name but in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost They intreat but the Deity bestoweth the obsequiousness is from man the bounty from an higher power and thus much for the Ministerial part Whether judicial For the second I have cast my self into divers cogitations why this office of absolution should be denied to be a judicial act Is it because declarative The like exception lieth against all civil judgments Judicium est definitio ejus quod est justum which are declarations what Law is in particular cases or is it because the Priest may erro in his declaratory sentence and that laies hold of a Civil Judge likewise who hath lawful authority to judge right yet no assured infallibility that his judgments shall alwayes be right Is it because Ministerial Then exclude all Judges from the Bench that sit there by virtue of an higher power we determine then that
God and in that respect may all other sins be venial too as capable of Divine mercy So venial sin hath no prerogative that way nor may for that cause be justly exempted from auricular Confession For reserved cases wherin sins of the greater magnitude are made over to the Pope and whereby they shut up the kingdom of heaven before men without being opened by a golden key we have little to say save considering the great expences tedious journies continual delaies whereby much treasure was exhausted forth of this Land and many of the better sort of the Inhabitants made slaves we are to bless our God that this Antichristian yoke is cast off the tyrannie overthrown and our selves delivered from a more than Egypâ—ian servitude And while the matter was proposed and scan'd at Trent Rom non esse perspicuae veritatis à nullo Patrum mentionem ejus factam immò Durandum Gersoneni Cajetanum magni nominis viros affirmare non peccata sed censuras modò Pontificis judicio reservatas Colonienses Theologi affirmantes neminâ—m ex antiquis Scriptoribus reservationis mâ—minisse nisi in casu publicorum peccatorum certè haereticos eos accusare tanquâ—m pecuniarum aucupes Hist Concil Trid. l. 4. p. 283. the Divines of Lovain objected that it was not a point of evident verity mentioned not by one of the Fathers that Duâ—and Gerson and Cajâ—tan affirmed not sins but censures to be resâ—rved for Papal Judicature The Divines of Colen added how none of the ancient Writers mentioned Reservation but in case of publick sins and that the Hereticks would for certaine accuse them for contriving how to squeeze and empty mens purses and coffers So then if those men that stand so much for detection of all sins unto the Priest have made so bold as to cut off the two extremes vâ—z the greatâ—st and the least offences I see no reason but that we may use the like liberty Auricular's Câ—nsâ—ssiâ— prout in Ecclâ—sia Rom. usurpatur niâ—â—l sâ—rè â—st â—l uâ— qâ—â—m â—â—â—â—culâ—m ad hominâ—m sâ—creta arcana â—xâ—isâ—â—nda artificiosè contextam Quod quidâ—m non sit ut aegrès Mâ—dâ—cina vulâ— ratis câ—nsciâ—ntiis opobâ—lsâ—â—â—â— contritis solâ—tium solidum adhiberi possâ—t 〈◊〉 ut auâ—um argâ—ntum in lè conflâ—nâ—uâ— omâ—iaâ— ad ipsoâ—um lucâ—um convertantur Mason de Minister Anglic. lib. 5. c. 12. but upon far more likely and better reasons I shall conclude these exceptions with the saying of an able Divine at home Auricular Confession as it is used in the Church of Rome is almost nothing else but a Net artificially woven to fish after and comprehend the secret and hidden things of men nor is it so used as to afford Physick to the diseased or pretious balme for wounded consciâ—nces or sure comfort for broken and contrite hearts but thereby to compass Gold and Silver and to convert all into their own purses There are some Stories or rather superstitious Lies as Sir Tho Mâ—ore calls them devised to uphold this doctrine The one is of a Woman who having committed adultery could never in eleven years space be brought to utter the same in any Confession Two Priests whereof one was the Popes Penitentiary and another as holy as he Ad quamlibet expressionem unius pâ—â—cati Buho exibat de ore ejus Illi Bubones cum uno alio majoris enoâ—mioris formae turmâ—tâ—m ingrâ—ssâ— sunt in os mâ—licris ventrem coming into those parts and both being in the Church about their Priestly affaires the woman approached to the Penitentiary to be shriven at every sin she confessed the other Priest standing within view but not within hearing saw an Owle flutter out of her mouth and after the flight of many Owles she stopped it seemeth at her concealed sin and was no sooner absolved of the rest confessed by her and risen up then the same Priest saw all those Owles reenter into her mouth with another more ugly than any of the former The Priests proceeding onwards in their journey the one told unto the other what he saw The Penitentiâ—ry guessed that the woman had kept back some sin in Confession Spec. exâ—mplor d. 9. Sect. 31. Quo libro miraculorum monstra saepiùs quà m vera miracula legas Can. loc Theol l. 11. c. 6. pag. 540. Dist 3. Sect. 46. De omnibus pâ—ccatis quae modò protuli et quae non protuli culpabilem mâ— fateor coâ—am Deo vobis he returned therefore but at his return found her suffocated and dead to whom her soul appear'd tortured in a fearful manner and all for burying of that sin in silence and being questioned by the Penitentiary for what sins those of her sex were usually damned For Fornication said she wanton dressing and Painting and for shame in not confessing Hereby it is intimated that Confession en partie is of no validity and one sin concealed hinders all the rest from pardon But another Woman though faulty in the same kind yet had better success of whom the relation passeth thus She was otherwise very religious but in her younger dayes had fallen into a sin of that nature as she could not for shame utter the same unto the Priest but used to conclude Of all the sins which I have opened or not I confess my self to be guilty before God and you and could never be brought to specifie the same after her death and before her burial she revived and spake to this effect that she had committed one sin which for shame she could not confess but with many tears was wont to utter the same before the Altar and image of the blessed Virgin Coram ipsius altari vel imagine and desire her intercessions that she might not be damned for this concealed sin and told withall that after her death she was seised on by evill spirits Constituit in S. ecclesia nominem sine confessione salvari posse but rescued by the blessed Virgin and by her means to her Son restored from death to life to confess and be assoyled of that sin which was no sooner performed but she again yielded up the ghost Here three Popish tenets are confirmed at one blow 1. necessity to confess every sin 2. worshiping of Saints and 3. before Images and their Altars As this woman made her confession at the blessed Virgins altar so Gregory Turonensis relateth that Clotharius King of France confessed his sins at Saint Martins shrine Clotharius ad Sepulcrum Sancti Martini cunctas actiones quas fortassè negligenter egerat replicans orans cum grandi gemitu ut pro suis culpis B. Confessor Domini misericordiam exoraret Hist lib. 4. Sect. 21. and became an earnest suiter to that Confessor to become a mean for mercy for him but whether Saint Martin took that course with that Prince as the blessed Virgin did with her penitent to send him back after death to be shriven by a Priest or tendred