Answ From the beginning there hath always been observed an inequality of Sins I will omit modern Divines which you do not understand and Councils which you regard not Bede in cap. 5. Jac. distinguishes them and the manner to expiate them which in the Greek Church is still in use That same is observed by S. Austin Enchir. cap. 71. cited above Chap. 18. Sect. 2. The beloved Disciple 1 Joh. 5.16 17. speaks of sin unto death and others not such S. Paul 1 Cor. 6.9 10. gives a Catalogue of several Sins which exclude from Heaven Did all these concur to devise a way to enervate Repentance and that none till (a) Lib. 2. Inst c. 8. n. 59. John Calvin should discover the Plot What was Christ concerned in this Device who distinguishes Sins against the Holy Ghost from others Whither will these Men lead us or go themselves or what can be secure from those Tongues which spare no more the Doctrin delivered by Christ by the Apostles or the Primitive Fathers than that of Modern Divines I know all Sins are Offences against God yet I do not with the Stoicks think all Sins equal or him as great a Sinner who speaks an idle Word as him who kills his own Father The contrary Paradoxes may find place and be admired in Calvin by his deluded Followers but certainly no sober Man can approve them G. B. pag. 77. Their asserting that simple Attrition qualifies Men for the Sacrament Answ You do more for you think Attrition sufficient to Justifie without the Sacrament Pag. 76. having said that Repentance and Remission were always united you explicate Repentance to be a horror of sin upon the sense of its native deformity and contrariety to the Law of God which makes the Soul apprehend the hazard it hath incurred by it so as to study by all means possible to avoid it in all time coming This is all you say which any Divine knows to be only Attrition as not expressing clearly the only Motive of true Contrition Love of God above all things for his only Goodness Give glory to God Is it not true that you had heard of a Dispute beyond Seas between the Jansenists and their Enemies about the sufficiency of Attrition to Justifie with out the Sacrament And you never would take the pains to examine the Sentiments of either part or their Motives but relied upon the first apprehension which occurred to you Your Writings give a probable ground for this Conjecture G. B. pag. 76. All the Severities enjoyned by Papists for Penances do but tend to nourish the Life of Sin. Answ You may as well say the severity of the Laws against Robbers and Murtherers the Ax and Halter tend only to nourish Inclinatinations to rob and kill Sure your common Sense is far different from that of others else you would never advance these Paradoxes Neither will it serve your turn if you recur to the pecuniary Mulcts enjoyned to some For first you cannot blame those without blaming Scripture which recommends Alms-giving Dan. 4.24 as a means to redeem Sins Secondly Because worldly Men are not so willing to part with their Mony and how generous soever you are were you to give a Crown for every Vntruth you Print you would by that pecuniary Mulct not be encouraged to write as you do CHAP. XXII Theological Vertues G. B. p. 78. THAT which is next pressed in the Gospel for uniting the Souls of Mankind to God is that noble Ternary of Graces Faith Hope and Love. Answ You can never speak so much in commendation of the Theological Vertues as they deserve for their Merits surpass all we can say And if you compare the least of them with those called Moral Vertues it will out-shine Velut inter stellas Luna minores Yet Faith and Hope must do Homage to Charity or Love as to their Sovereign as to the End to which they are designed to the Fountain of their Life and Cause of their Value This I have said above yet I again repeat it for their sakes who so set up the Merits of Faith as to neglect Good-works without which Faith is dead Jac. 2.17 and place it before Charity without which Faith avails nothing 1 Cor. 13. I could wish our Adversaries would vouchsafe to read with attention that Chapter last cited in it they would see the Seat due to Charity the Queen of Vertues which seems at present hidden from the Eyes of those wise and prudent Men yet is revealed to little ones It is with great difficulty that I undertake a Comparison betwixt the Practice of these Vertues amongst Catholics and amongst Protestants because all Comparisons seem to be grounded at least on an appearance of equality in the Objects which in this Matter cannot be yet something must be said to make these presumptuous Men know their wants and weakness that they may seek to have them supplied and that I may proceed more clearly I will begin with the Definition of Faith and Heresie SECTION I. Of Faith. DIvine Faith is a firm assent to an obscure Truth revealed by Almighty God because it is revealed by him I say an obscure Truth because S. Paul Heb. 11.1 says the same Argumentum non apparentium A declaration of things not seen or known by natural Reason This is the Material Object as Divines speak the only Formal Object is the Veracity of God quia Deus est verax that is can neither be deceived or mistaken as being Omniscient nor deceive us as being all Good. To this the Testimony of the Church concurs as a Witness assuring that God delivered such a System of Truths So that is a Condition necessary to apply the Revelation to us who have not heard God speak or reveal S. Athanasius in his Symbol delivers as a Condition of Faith that it be retained Entire and Vndefiled Integra Inviolataque For seeing all is delivered by the same Authority those who believe not all (a) S. Thom. 2.2 q. 5. art 3. oppose that Authority delivering it and by consequence even what they believe they receive not purely upon their submission to that Authority speaking but for their own Caprichio or Reason or Pleasure That is properly called Heresie which word is deduced from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to choose And it signifies a choice of any thing whatsoever but by common use it is appropriated to that Choice * Tertul. l. de Praescript c. 6. Haereses dictae Graec◠voce ex Electionis interpretatione quâ quis sivè ad instituendas sivè ad suscipiendas eas utitur Hier. in Tit. 3. Haeresis Graecè ab Electione dicitur quod scilicet unusquisque id sibi eligat quod ei melius esse videatur Vide c. Haeresis 24. q. 4. Vide etiam August Epist 162. which is made of Points delivered as of Faith. We Catholics have Faith because we believe firmly those Truths that God hath revealed because he revealed them to the Church which as
a faithful Witness gives hitherto and will give to the end of the World Testimony to that Revelation And we cannot be Hereticks because (b) Tertul. supra Nobis nihil ex arbitrio nostro inducere licet sed nec eligere quod aliquis ex arbitrio suo induxerit we never take the liberty to choose our selves or to admit what others choose but we take bona fide what is delivered as revealed by the greatest Authority imaginable on Earth which is that of the Catholic Church Let an Angel teach us any thing contrary to what is delivered and we will pronounce Anathema to him in imitation of the Apostle Gal. 1.18 Here is then the Tenure of our Faith. The Father sent his only begotten Son consubstantial to himself into the World And what he heard of his Father that he made known to us Joan. 15.15 The Father and Son sent the Holy Ghost And he did not speak of himself but what he heard that he spoke Joan. 16.13 The Holy Ghost sent the Apostles And they declared unto us what they had seen and heard 1 Joan. 1.3 The Apostles sent the Highest and lower Prelates in the Church and the Rule by which they framed their Decrees was Let nothing be altered in the Depositum let no Innovation be admitted in what is delivered Quod traditum est non innovetur Steph. PP apud Cypr. Epist 74. ad Pompeium By this we are assured that our Faith is that which the Councils received from the Apostles the Apostles from the Holy Ghost and so by the Son to God the Father where it rests Now to Protestants Their Proceeding is far different they hear the whole System of Faith commended by the Church as revealed by God and take it into Examination And some things displeasing them in it they fall to reforming it and cut off at one Blow all things not expressy contained in Scripture Here is one Choice Then Scripture is called to the Bar and near a third part of it condemned and lopt off which is a second Choice Thirdly there being still several things in the remnant which displease them as understood by the Church they reject that Interpretation and fix on it such a one as pleases them most So that even what Sense they retain they do it upon this their Haeresis or Choice What Evidence can convince a Man to be a Chooser in Faith that is a Heretic if these Men be not by this Proceeding sufficiently proved such For a farther confirmation of this consider the several ways of Catholics and Protestants in entertaining Propositions of Faith. A Catholic hearing from the Church our Saviour's Words with the Sense that is the compleat Scripture for the bare Word without the Sense is no more Scripture than a Body without a Soul or Life is a Man presently believes them and what Reason soever may appear to the contrary he silences it and submits his Vnderstanding to Faith and let the Words seem harsh and the Sense unconceivable yet the Truth of God triumphs over all those petty Oppositions A Protestant hears the same and presently consults his Reason and till he hath its Verdict suspends his Judgment If that say with the Pharisce Joh. 3.9 How can these things be or with the Capharnaits Joh. 4. This is a hard saying who can hear it the Protestant immediately renounces it So we submit our Reason to Faith you set yours above it We frame our Reason according to the Dictamens of Revelation you shape Revelation by your Reason In fine you set your Reason on a Throne to Judge of that Word by which one day you are to be Judged You may as easily prove the Pharisees and Capharnaits to be better Christians than the Apostles as that your Procedure in receiving Faith is better than that of the Catholic Church SECTION II. Of Hope HOPE is an expectation of future Bliss promised by our Blessed Saviour to those who love him and keep his Commandments It is built on a Promise of God which cannot fail And had that Promise been absolute we might have been more assuredly certain of our future Happiness than we can be of the truth of any Mathematical Demonstration but it is only Conditional requiring on our parts a concurrence with his Divine Grace and this is always uncertain by reason of the mutability of our Will to Evil notwithstanding our strongest Resolutions to Good. Hence our Hope is mixt with Fear Sperando timemus Tertul. l. de cultu faeminarum c. 2. p. 265. We have a full assurance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on God's side Who to shew unto the Heirs of promise the immatability of his Counsel confirmed it by an Oath that by two things immutable in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the Hope set before us which Hope we have as an Anchor of the Souls both sure and stedfast Heb. 6.17 18 19. On our side we have always reason to apprehend the mutability of our own Will notwithstanding all present Grace from God and the strength of his Counsel Hence the Apostle admonishes us 2 Cor. 6.1 not to receive in vain the Grace of God. He sets before our Eyes his own Example 1 Cor. 9.27 keeping under his Body chastising it and bringing it into subjection lest having preached to others he might become himself a reprobate a cast-away And consequently warns us Phil. 2.12 to work out our salvation with fear and trembling When this Apostle fears who can presume We may resolve well pray hard and act well to day but what assurance have we that to morrow will find us so well disposed or even not doing the quite contrary and that being so ill prepared Death will not surprize us S. Paul the Vessel of Election who had been taken up to the Third Heaven feared lest he should become a reprobate and S. Peter bred up in our Blessed Saviour's School resolved to die with him yet shortly after denied him If these great Pillars of the Church shake and bend and fear breaking or actually break what may not such Reeds as G. B. and I. W. fear You see what Grounds we have to fear from Reason from the Example of the Apostles and from their Doctrin This is comfortless Doctrin to G. B. p. 54. and therefore he had rather throw all on Christ and persuade himself that Christ's Prayer was sufficient his Satisfaction sufficient his Merits sufficient We need neither Pray nor Suffer nor Merit Believe in him and he will do all Crede firmiter pecca fortiter Compare now this Disposition of modern Catholics which is the same with that of the Apostles with that of a Protestant their Fear with his Confidence their Trembling with his Assurance their Apprehensions with his Boldness and you shall find in Catholics true Hope mingled with Fear as you may see in Divines and I have shewed out of the Apostles and
be apply'd to make good their Charge against it I will endeavour to clear the Mist and represent things in their own shape to the end the difference betwixt Catholicks and Idolaters may the better appear Something hath been already said to the same intent in the Preface which I desire may be here remembred SECTION I. That Pagans thought their Idols to be Gods. MY first Reason is taken from several places of Scripture Fathers and Pagans where they are expresly called Gods. Exod. 32.4 These are thy Gods O Israel Speaking of the Calf And Micah having newly made an Idol prepared a place to put it in (a) Judg. 17.5 He set apart a little house to the God. Or as the English Translation hath it Micah had a house of Gods. And the Danits having robbed him of his Idol he bemoans his loss with these Words (a) Judg. 18.24 My Gods which I made me you have taken away Dan. 14.15 Doth not Bell seem to thee a living God And the Psalmist (b) Psal 96. 95. 5. All the gods of the Nations are Idols the Latin hath it otherwise Omnes dii Gentium daemonia but the English Protestants cannot except against their own Edition Lastly the same is expresly tho' more obscurely delivered in the Book of Wisdom (c) Sap. 14.21 Where he says The Pagans had given the Incommunicable name to Stocks and Stones And what was that Incommunicable name but that of the True God All other Names are communicable as signifying things common to many even that of Gods by Participation Gods by resemblance (d) Psal 81. 82. 6. I have said you are Gods and children of the most high And (e) 1 Car. 8.5 There are many Gods and many Lords Wherefore the true meaning of that place is that the Pagans affixt the Proper Name of God to their Idols This may be gather'd from the Profession of Pagans themselves (f) Jupiter Tragoedus Lucian relating an Assembly of their Gods called by the great Jupiter on occasion of Atheism which then bare faced walked amongst the Philosophers to deliberate how to oppose it he makes Jupiter give a Commission to Mercury to entertain them and place them orderly according to their several Dignities by reason of their Matter or Art. On the first Rank he should place those of Gold on the second those of Silver on the third those of Ivory on the fourth those of Brass or Stone And amongst these he should give the Precedency to those which were the Master-pieces of famous Workmen such as Phidias Alcumenes Myron Euphranor c. There Neptune sees with disdain and Indignation Anubis with his dogs face take place of him because he was compos'd of more rich matter Then there is a Dispute what place to assign to the Colossus of Rhodes which although it was only of Brass yet for the bulk of it surpast the price of most of the golden Gods. In fine the whole Discourse evidently demonstrates that the material Status or Idols were believed to be Gods by the Pagans whom Lucian there derides As for Fathers and Primitive Christians out of their Works whole Volumes might be composed in Confirmation of this Truth See Justinus M. Epist ad Diognetum pag. 492. Consider the matter and form of those things which you call Gods and judge them to be such Are not some of them Stones like to those we tread on Are not others of Brass like to that which is apply'd to ordinary uses Others of Wood and that worm eaten Others of Silver which must be watched least they be stolen Other of Clay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these you call Gods you serve you adore these and at last become entirely like them Tertul. Apolog. cap. 40. Si quid adversi accidit urbibus eaedem clades templorum quae moenium fuerunt ut jam hoc revincam non a Deis evenire quia ipsis evenit If any Calamity befalls your Towns their Temples and their Walls perish alike whence I prove that your Gods do not inflict it seeing they suffer as much as the Walls S. Cyprian l. ad Fortunatum de Exhortat Martyrii cap. 1. Proves against the Pagans Quod Idola Dii non sunt That Idols are not Gods. A very superfluous Task if what E. S. says be true that no Body thought them so More Fathers shall be cited in my following Reasons So that E. S. will have no occasion to make himself merry with a Covy of three Fathers as he did with that of one Partridge See also S. Ambrose l. 2. de Virgin. ante finem Another Reason is taken from the Reproach ordinarily made in Scripture to Idolaters David (a) Psal 105. 106 .20 says they changed their glory into the likeness of a calf or ox eating grass because they abandoned God to adore a Statue shaped like an Ox that is they left God not for an Ox nor for the likeness of God but for the likeness or resemblance of a Calf What the Royal Prophet reproaches to his Ancestors in the Wilderness the blessed S. Paul (b) Rom. 1.13 charges upon all Idolaters They changed says he the glory of the incorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and fourfooted beasts and creeping things S. Hierom objects the same l. 2. Comment in c. 15. Matt. Ignorantes Creaetorem adorantes lapidem Being ignorant of the Creator and adoring a stone A third Reason is taken from those places of Scripture or Fathers where Gods are said to be made by Men. We are first forbid to make them (a) Exod. 20.2 Ye shall not make Gods of silver neither shall you make unto you Gods of gold And the Israelites were threatned (b) Deut. 4.28 in case of Disobedience to Gods Commandments that for a Punishment they should serve Gods the work of mens hands wood and stone which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell And in the Book of Wisdom (c) Sap. 13.10 Their hope is amongst the dead who call Gods the work of mens hands In fine S. Paul (d) Actor 19.26 was accused by Demetrius the Silver-smith for teaching that they be no Gods which are made with hands Wherefore it was his and the common opinion that they were Gods which were made with hands Justinus Mar. Apol. 2. O stupidity you adore those as Gods which are made by wicked men And in St. Austin (e) l. 8. de Civ Dei c. 23. 24. Mercurius Trismegistus avows some Gods to be made by men to wit those in Temples altho he owned that this proceeded from the Ignorance of the true Worship of God. This receives a great light from Isaias (a) Isay 44. d v. 9. ad 20. A carpenter says he in your English Translation plants an Ash and the rain doth nourish it He burneth part thereof in the fire with part thereof be makes a God. Again (b) Isa 46.6 7. They lavish gold
weakness of the Understanding incident to some who in matters of fact require Demonstrations So a Philosopher denied local Motion because he could not answer the Reasons against it and deserved no other Confutation But by this question Fool what do I now proposed by a Man who walked It is clear out of what I have said that the Pagans de facto did believe their Idols to be Gods why should we give ear to a speculative Reason against an evident historical Truth As if Man left to himself did nothing but rationally or did not many times so far darken his Understanding as to shew little use of it in his greatest Concerns It was the greatest folly imaginable I grant it yet that is incident to Man when he is abandoned of God. And this the Ingratitude of Philosophers deserved For when (a) Rom. 1.21 they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened professing themselves to be wise they became fools and changed the glory of an incorruptible God into an Image Thus S. Paul. If you reply you see who you will dispute against viz. the Fathers S. Paul Hieremy Isaias and the Holy Ghost If you still think the Paralel just betwixt the Idolatry of Pagans and the worship given in the Catholic Church to Images skew your Art in Sophistry and prove that we hold our Images to be Gods that we put our Confidence in them expect Good or fear Evil from a Stock How pitiful would your Discourse be should you dispute against us in this manner A Cross is made by a Man ergo it is not a Representation of our Saviors Death The Statue of our B. Lady cannot move without the help of Man Ergo we are not to hope for any thing from God through her Intercession In fine either what Fathers and what Scripture contains against the Idols of the Gentiles is to no purpose and all their Reasons are frivolous or our Doctrin of Images differs from theirs of Idols the First is Blasphemy therefore you must subscribe to the Second SECTION II. The Beginning and Occasions of Idolatry CAlvin lib. Instit c. 11. l. 8. says Idolatry began almost with the World omnibus ferè à mundo condito saeculis But he neither gives any Reason for this Assertion nor determins its Author nor time R. Maimonides says it began by Enos the Son of Seth and Grandson to Adam and he grounds this Assertion on ◠Gen. 4.26 Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. The Latin hath it Iste coepit invocare nomen Domini He began to call upon God. And the other Translations found rather a good than a bad Sense only the Targum Onkèlos expresses an abandoning of Gods Service yet so as he charges that Fault rather on Men living in Enos his time than on Enos himself Wherefore I cannot subscribe to that Rabby especially seeing Enos was of the vertuous Branch and surely such a heinous Sin as Idolatry could not come but from cursed Cain or his Posterity if there was any before they were destroyed I rather incline to what S. Cyril of Alex. says lib. 1. contra Julianum That there was no Idolatry before the Deluge because no Author mentions any nor after the Deluge till after building the Tower of Babel and Confusion of Tongues for the same Reason But shortly after those Seeds were sown which in process of time brought forth that bad Fruit. Suidas says that Seruch began Politheism and Idolatry Constantinus Manasses lays the Fault on his Descendants tho he gave the occasion Our Bodies do not in a moment shoot up to their full Growth but leasurely and in a manner imperceptibly and our Souls do neither on a sudden raise themselves to the height of Perfection nor fall into the Depth of hainous Sin according to the ordinary course of Grace and Nature Nemo repente fit summus S. Bernard See S. Chrysost bom 87. in Matthaeum For that one of a Persecutor should in a moment become an Apostle and a chosen Vessel another of an Apostle become a Divel is very extraordinary The First may be esteemed a Miracle in the Order of Grace which is all miraculous the Second a Monster in the Order of Sins which is all monstrous Now Idolatry being the very height of Wickedness Men by certain degrees descended into it First they made Statues Secondly gave them Civil Worship then Religious Worship and lastly that Cult or Worship which is due to none but God. The first Occasion of making them was for the Solace of Parents afflicted with the immature Death of their dearly beloved child (a) Sap. 14.15 A Father afflicted with untimely mourning when he had made an Image of his child taken away now honored him as a God which was then a dead Man and deliver'd to those that were under him ceremonies and sacrifices S. Cyril of Alexand. l. 1. contra Julianum delivers the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some falling into the greatest ignorance imaginable were so shamefully deceived as to make Temples and altars to Men and to adore as Gods those whom they had mourned for as dead Men. Sacra facta sunt quae fuerant assumpta solatia Minutius Felix Hieron l. 1. Commen in c. 2. Osee Omnia idola ex mortuorum errore creverunt The Second was the Homage due to Kings by their Subjects Those who were within a certain distance from the Court did it to the King in Person But those who dwelt in remote Provinces performed that Duty to the Kings in their Statues as now they do it to them in their Commissioners or Deputies which Homage was at first only a Civil Worship but soon degenerated into Divine Adoration (a) Sap. 14.17 When men could not honor their Kings in presence because they dwelt far off they took the counterfeit of his Visage from far and made an express image of a King whom they honored to the end that by this forwardness they might flatter him that was absent as if he were present Sometimes princes were not content to be adored absent or expect it till after their Death their own Ambition seconded by the flattery of their Courtiers would assist in person at their own Rites and Cult Non solùm mortuis Regibus aut absentibus sed praesentibus sacra facta Vide apud Vossium pag. 800. Nihil est quod credere de se Non possit cùm laudatur Diis aequa potestas Thus Nabuchodonosor thus the Roman Caesars thus several others came to be adored Alexander could not obtain it of his Macedonians yet of his new Persian Subjects he obtained it Likewise Saturn Janus and Quirinus or Romulus in Italy Belus in Babilon Osiris and Isis Serapis and Apis in Aegypt Jupiter Neptune Pluto Apollo in Greece and in particular places several others As in Troy Hector in Chio Aristaeus in Samos Lysander in Cicilia Niobe and in
and ordinary men thence you may learn their fathers mothers country quality gests c. S. Chrysost hom 1. ad populum Antioch The whole multitude of the Pagan Gods is made up of such men S. Hierom. l. 1. Comment in O see cap. 2. Omnia idola ex mortuorum errore creverunt All Idols were made out of dead men S. Austin spends a great part of his first Books De Civ Dei. to confound the Pagan error who adored either dead Men or living Devils l. 8. c. 26. The Title of the Chapter is Omnis Religio Paganorum circa homines mortuos fuit impleta The whole Religion of the Pagans was taken up with the cult of dead men S. Cyril lib. 6. contra Julianum pag. 205. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which are the words of Sanconiathon they may be thus Englished The ancientest of the Grecians and particularly the Phaenicians and the Aegyptians from whom the rest received it thought those to be not Heroes not Secundary and Underlings but THE GREATEST GODS who had been beneficial to Mankind and invented some useful things Which words are the more to be noted because they are of one of the most ancient of Pagan Writers and consequently nearer to the time of the pretended Gods. But chiefly because they are cited and approved by S. Cyril l. 6. contra Jul. and by E. S. Orig. Sacrae p. 32. So that in one Authority I give three Witnesses Julius Firmicus pag. 20. Ecce daemon est quem colis It is the Devil whom you adore I conclude this proof with the words of Justin M. Apolog. 2. p. 56. where having said that Socrates was persecuted by the Devils whom the Athenians adored for denying them to be Gods as an Atheist and that on that same score the Devils practised the like on the Christians in his time giving them the same odious name He adds If Atheist signifies a man who denies the Gods of the Pagans I own we are Atheists But we do believe says he in the true God Father of Justice c. Would he have said this if he had been of E. S. his Opinion that the Gods of the Pagans were the true God My Third Proof is taken from the Confession of Pagans for Sanconiathon the ancientest of their writers whose words you may find in S. Cyril l. 1. contra Julianum pag. 205. And Mr. Stillingst in his Origines Sacrae p. 32. He I say taught that even the greatest Gods had been Men. Add to this the Verse of Ovid Fastorum 4. speaking of Venus Illa Deos omnes longum est enumerare creavit As saying all were born as commonly men are Alexander in a particular book sent to his Mother acquaints her that he by threats had forced out of an Aegyptian Priest this secret that all the Gods which he with the rest of the Pagans adored had been men This is cited by Athenagoras pag. 31. S. Cyp. l. de Idol vanit and S. Augustin l. 8. de Civ Dei c. 27. who names the Priest revealer of this Secret Leo. This is confirmed by all those who name the several Countrys of their Gods Jupiter of Crete Mars of Thracia Juno of Argos or Samia Diana of Taurica Chersonesus Dercetus or Atergate a cruel and lascivious woman Mother to Semiramis of Syria Apollo Venus c. of other Countries What doth all this import but that they were in the Opinion of the Pagans Men born and buried as the rest which Argument the Fathers commonly use More shall be cited when we come to speak of Jupiter in particular My Fourth Proof is taken from the Confessions of the Gods themselves whom the Pagans adored Tertul. Apolog. cap. 23. p. 26. Aedatur hic aliquis sub Tribunalibus vestris quem a daemone agi constet jussus a quolibet Christiano loqui spiritus ille tam se daemonem confitebitur de vero quà m alibi deum de falso Aequê producatur aliquis ex iis qui de Deo pati existimabantur nisi se daemones confessi fuerint Christiano mentiri non audentes ibidem illius Christiani procacissimi sanguinem fundite Bring out before your Tribunals any Person evidently and certainly possessed by some Spirit either habitually and permanently such are called Energumens or transiently as those who as they offer'd Sacrifice and did their Devotions to the Gods were by them for a time possest let a Christian command that Spirit to speak the Truth what he is and if he doth not truly own himself to be a Divel not being able to tell an untruth to such an Exorcist altho in our absence he boasts of his being God knock out that impudent Christian's brains Cyp. l. ad Demetrianum pag. 201. O si audire eos velles videre quando a nobis adjurantur torquentur spiritualibus flagris verborum tormentis de obsessis corporibus ejiciuntur quando ejulantes gementes voce humanâ potestate divinâ flagella verbera sentientes venturum judicium confitentur Veni cognosce vera esse quae dicimus Et quia sic Deos colere te dicis vel ipsis quos colis crede aut si volueris tibi credere de te ipso loquetur audiente te qui nunc pectus tuum obsedit qui nunc mentem tuam ignorantiae nocte coecavit Videbis nos rogari ab iis quos tu rogas timeri ab iis quos tu adoras Videbis sub manu nostrastare vinctos tremere captivos quos tu suspicis ac veneraris ut Dominos Certè vol sic confundi in istis erroribus tuis poteris quando conspexeris audieris Deos tuos quid sint interrogatione nostrâ statim prodere praesentibus licet vobis praestigias illas fallacias suaes non posse celare O that thou wouldest but hear and see thy Gods when by the spiritual torments of our Exorcisms they are cast out of the Bodies they possest when they are forced to acknowledge the judgment to come at the last day Come to us and experience the Truth of what we say And seeing thou adorest thy Gods at least believe those thou adorest or if thou wilt believe thy self we will force that same Spirit which obsesses thy body and blinds thy Soul with Ignorance of Gods Truth to speak the Truth to thee thou shalt see those pray to us to whom thou offerest thy Devotions those to fear us whom thou adorest Thou shalt see those tremble as captives chained by us whom thou honorest as Lords Certainly thou wilt be ashamed of thy Error when thou hearest thy Gods themselves when questioned by us own what they are even in your presence as not able to conceal their cunning wiles and illusions And Minutius Felix in Octavio pag. 23. Haec omnia sciunt plerique pars vestrum ipsos daemones de semetipsis confiteri quoties à nobis tormentis verborum orationis incendiis de corporibus exiguntur Ipse Saturnus Serapis Jupiter
profess to believe one God as Protestants do or shall I ever think E. S. a Papist for saying he believes in Christ No certainly those being Points in which both parties agree Tertullian's great wit would never be so easily surpriz'd with hopes of a Proselyte if what E. S. says be true that both contending Parties agreed in professing one God. The same Reason might be brought out of Minutius Felix who says pag. 14. Audio vulgus cùm ad coelum manus tendunt nihil aliud quam Deum dicunt Deus magnus est Vulgi iste naturalis sermo est an Christiani confitentis oratio I hear the People call upon God. naming only one Are these words the speech of Pagan or the Confession of Faith of a Christian Here methinks I see E. S. triumphing as finding what destroys my Conclusion in the foregoing words which shew that all the people believed one God. But I answer that all exprest that belief in their indeliberat Actions and deliberately acted contrary and for that reason were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned by their own judgment Let us hear Tertullian l. de testim animae c. 6. p. 126. Meritò igitur omnis anima rea testis est in tantùm rea erroris in quantùm testis veritatis stabit ante aulas Dei in die judicii nihil habens dicere Deum praedicabas non requirebas damonia abominabaris illa adorabas Judicium Dei appellabas nec esse credebas Inferna supplicia praesumebas non praecavebas Christianum nomen sapiebas Christianum persequebaris Wherefore every Soul is deservedly guilty and witness against herself the more guilty of her error because she is witness of the Truth she will in the day of Judgment stand before the Tribunal of God and have not one word to say for her self when it shall be reproach'd to her Thou didst speak of God and didst not seek him Thou hatedst the Devil and didst adore him Thou didst appeal to Gods judgment without believing it Thou didst speak of the pains of Hell without endeavouring to avoid it Thou hadst in thy hear that great Christian Truth That there is but one God yet thou didst persecute Christians for professing it Commonly the Fathers labor to prove the Unity of a God against the Pagans so doth Justinus M. Athenagoras Minutius Felix S Cyril and others To what purpose that if all believed it Origen l. 1. contra Cels p. 5. reduces the Disputes against Pagans to two heads Idols and Politheism I end with Lactantius Firmianus l. 1. divin instit c. 1. pag. 8. says to Constantin the Great Tu primus Romanorum Principum repudiatis erroribus majestatem Dei singularis ac veri cognovisti honorasti Thou art the first of all the Roman Emperors who adored the only true God. How could Constantin have been the first if all other Emperors had adored the only true God before him Yet I desire E. S. to answer one or two Questions If all the Understanding Men amongst the Pagans believed One God how came Socrates to be condemned for that Opinion by the Areopagites Why did Plato fear the same Fate and for that Reason deliver his Sentiments so obscurely about that One God There occurrs to me one only tolerable Objection against what I here assert viz. That Faustus the Manichaean reproaches to Christians That they received the Opinion of Monarchy that is the Belief of one God from the Pagans whence it follows that the Pagans believed but one God. To which I answer 1. It is certain we received that Dogme not from Pagans but from God So Faustus is most certainly mistaken in that And why may not we suspect his Testimony as to the other part of the Opinion of Pagans concerning one God I answer 2. with S. Austin l. 20. contra Faust c. 19. That the Pagans were not to such a degree blinded with their false Gods and true Devils Arts as to have entirely lost the Image of one true God received at their Creation tho for their Ingratitude to their Creator they were permitted to fall to the Adoration of the Creatures Idols and Devils Thus S. Austin Certainly their Wise Men through the mist of pompous Ceremonies could see the Fondness of Men that invented them and the wickedness of Devils who promoted them Nay I willingly grant that all learned Pagans blamed the Poetical Fables of their Gods. I acknowledge with Tertullian Apolog. c. 46. pag. 75. That the Philosophers impugned them and were for this applauded and honored by the rest Yet after all this what those same Philosophers taught concerning the God is pitiful and worse as you may see in Tertul. Justinus M. and Athenagoras The Epicureans fancied him fondly as if they designed to make him ridiculous Deos jocandi causâ induxit Epicurus pellucidos atque perflatiles Cicero Tuscul qq 5. See Seneca l. 4. de Beneficiis c. 19 The Stoicks promise to make their wise Man as happy as the Gods Philosophia mihi promittit ut me parem Deo faciat Seneca Epist 49. does not so much raise him as abase them Yet in reality that Similitude which they promis'd was no great perfection or advantage seeing they thought the whole World to be God. Quid est Deus said Seneca l. 1. natur qq quod vides totum quod non vides All things visible and invisible are God. And Origines l. 5. contra Celsum p. 235. says the Stoicks thought the World to be the first God The Platonists allowed it to be the second God and some others pulled it it down to the third rank The Platonicians are thought to have written the most divinely of the Divinity yet if we credit Tertullian (a) Apolog. c. 47. they gave it a Body Aristotle the most exact in other things of all Philosophers nails God to the highest Heaven l. 8. Physic c. 10. t. 84. And altho he had the disposal of Superlunary Bodies yet all Sublunary things were out of his reach and jurisdiction being subject to Fate as Theodoret. l. 5. de cur Graec. Affection p. 551. and elsewhere assures Nay Aristotle seems to own no knowledge in God For l. 2. Magnor moral 15. p. 193. he says God knows nothing distinct from himself otherwise that thing would be better than God Neither doth he know himself for we think those rave or are mad who entertain their thoughts about themselves What shall I say of his Intelligences which whilest he makes necessary Beings self-existent endowed with infinite power c. he seems to Deifie Which I do not relate with any intention to insult over those great Men for their Errors (a) Hieron l. de erroribus Orig. Absit eorum insultare erroribus quorum miror ingenia whose Wits I admire and whose Labors have been very beneficial even to me but only to shew E. S. and the learned person whose works pag. 6. he promises or threatens us with
Opinion hath so much ground in Scripture that I do not apprehend all Mr. G. B. can say to disprove it Josue 5.15 an Angel is said to be the Captain of the Lords host He seems the same who Dan. 12.1 is called Michael And Dan. 10.20 there are others mentioned viz. the Princes of Persia and Greece And why may not these be the Angels who presided over those Countries we are sure that all Angels are ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation Heb. 1.14 and The little ones have Angels who in Heaven always see the face of God. Matt. 18.10 And that several Angels ascended and descended on Jacobs ladder Gen. 28.12 was to shew they mediated betwixt God who was at the top and man who lay at the bottom of the Ladder Now if particular Angels have a care or charge of particular persons why may not some others have a larger district and a more extended Charge This you will say is taken from Paganism And I will answer the Pagans took it from the Israelites not these from them And it seems very probable that when the Arch-divel who took the Name of Jupiter had so far prevailed with Men as to be by them advanced to the Throne of God his next Attempt was to get his wicked Spirits acknowledged for Governours of the World under him in lieu of those Blessed Spirits who were the lawful Governours appointed by God himself That Order of God was not to be abrogated with the Old Law of which it was no part it being an Establishment for the more connatural Government of the World from the beginning to the end of it I know God can govern all things by himself immediately without the Assistance of Men or Angels that neither the greatness of Business can mate him nor its number confound him nor its variety distract him nor its intricacy deceive him nor its obscurity hide it from his all seeing Eye That having created the whole World with a word he can govern it so too yet he uses Men (a) Rom. 13.1 and he can call all to believe in him as he did Saul (b) Act. 9. yet he employed an Angel to convert the Centurion (c) Act. 10. and vouchsafes to be Fellow Labourer (d) Mar. 16.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Men whom he honors with that Employment and he can justifie those whom he calls without the concourse of any creature yet he will have us use water And as to the work of the first day the Creation of all things visible and invisible God required the Asistance of no Creature so the whole work of the last day might be performed by him alone yet he will use the voice of an Archangel to proclaim it (e) 1 Thessal 4.16 the Angels shall gather together those who are raised again to life (f) Mat. 24.31 they shall sever the wicked from the just and cast them into the furnace of fire (g) Matt. 13.49.50 Thus the Law and Prophets Christ and his Apostles the Old and New Testament attest this Truth that Angels concur to carrying on the work of our Salvation and have a Commission from God to direct us Now for believing this Truth Papists are accused of Superstition and agreeing with Idolaters and why we more than Jacob or Daniel Josue or Jesus who taught the same Blame them if you dare or absolve us for their sakes whom we follow G. B. pag. 24. This kind of Idolatry was first begun at Babilon where Ninus made a statue of Belus from him all these lesser gods were called Belim or Baalim Answer It is not true that Baal was held to be a lesser God he was adored as the supreme God as you may see 3 Reg. 18.21 G. B. Ibid. From this hint we may guess why the Apostacy of Rome is shadowed forth under the name of Babilon Answer This is to enlighten one night with another and wash a spot of dirt out of linnen with Ink. You dwell and converse much in obscure places which is proper to those who hate the light (a) Joan. 3.20 because it disco vers their deform features or more deformed actions We have already shewed you that Baal or Bel was held to be the living God which you may see also Dan. 14.5 now we never held any man Saint to be God except the fountain of Sanctity Christ Jesus CHAP. X. Of the Intercession of Saints G. B. p. 25. IF we compare with this Idolatry the worship of Angels and Saints in the Roman Church we shall find the parity just and exact Answer It is neither just nor exact it differs in many things For 1. the Pagans held those men they honored to be true gods we believe the greatest Saints to be our fellow-servants 2. Even those who owned a Deity above them believed it to do nothing in human Affairs Job 22.14 we believe his Providence reaching all things 3. They stopt in those Spirits we with them make our Addresses to God. And 4. They offered Sacrifices to them we offer none but to God. This Objection is not new it was made against the Catholic Church above 1300 years ago to which S. Austin answered l. 20. cont Faust cap. 21. and l. 8. de Civit. Dei. c. 27. in the latter place he hath these words Quis audivit Sacerdotem stantem ad altare etiam super sanctum corpus Martyris dicere in precibus Offero tibi Sacrificium O Petre vel Paule vel Cypriane cùm apud eorum memorias offeratur Deo Ista non esse Sacrificia Martyrum novit qui novit unum quod Deo offertur Sacrificum Christianorum Nos itaque Martyres nostros divinis honoribus non colimus nec Sacrificia illis offerimus Who ever heard a Priest at the Altar say I offer Sacrifice to thee O Peter Paul or Cyprian when upon their Sepulchers it is offered to God Those are not Sacrifices of Martyrs as all know who know that one Sacrifice of Christians which is there offered to God. Wherefore we do not worship Martyrs with divine Adorations nor offer Sacrifice unto them Out of which words you may learn 1. that Martyrs were worship'd in the primitive Church 2. Their Tombs were turned into Altars 3. That the Sacrifice of Christians was offered upon those tombs And 4. That that Sacrifice was offered only to the living God and not to the Martyrs All which things to this day the Roman Catholic Church doth very religiously observe By which appears the conformity of the ancient and modern Church in doctrin and practice As also the deformity betwixt the ancient Church and the Protestant Reformation in which there are neither Martyrs worship'd nor their tombs regarded nor Altars nor Sacrifice You still roul stones which fall on your own head G. B. pag. 25. There was a Saint appointed for every Nation S. Andrew for Scotland S. George for England S. Denis for France and many more
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
of Revelations there was given 1 Cor. 12.7 He had then REVELATIONS nay abundance of Revelations See how carelesly you read how ill you understand and how negligently you write out of Scriptures for you are certainly convinced that when S. Paul spoke of that one he did it not because he had been favored with no other but because that was a singular favor and as such esteemed But I dispute seriously against a Man who regards not what he writes G. B. pag. 124. Are they not credible Stories of Christ's appearing to some of their She Saints and kissing them being married to them c. Answ I doubt not but you and your Brethren think this Folly. S. Paul says as much of such as you 1 Cor. 2.14 Animalis homo non percipit ea quae sunt spiritus Dei stultitia est enim illi non potest intelligere quia spiritualiter examinatur The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Of such as the English Ministers S. Paul speaks who are by him declared incapable to judge yet will be still judging of the secret workings of the Holy Ghost in those Souls which he makes his Temples in whom he lives and they in him which things seem folly to you because you have no experience of them and probably never made an hour of Mental Prayer in all your Life nor know how to make it Hence you speak evil of things you know not Jude v. 10. It would be more to your Credit to omit those things than by speaking of them discover so shameful an Ignorance The best Advice I can give you is that of Job to his Friends To be silent that you may seem wise Job 13.5 But Christ kissed them and married them This scandalizes your chast Brethren who cannot hear of Marriage and Mr. Brevint surmised God knows what unclean Spirits I cannot appeal to the Conscience and Experience of any of the whole Ministry for the reality of what you deride for I think there never was granted to any of you such Favors Yet to free you from fear of Illusions in those Visits from bad Spirits know and I wonder any one who reads the Scripture can be ignorant of it that there is a Spiritual Contract betwixt Christ and the Church Item betwixt him and every pious Soul That this Contract is called a Marriage That on this score the Sins of such Souls against their Spouse are called Adulteries and themselves Adulteresses If you have any Remembrance these Hints will bring to mind a number of Texts of Scripture which deliver what you scoff at The whole Book of Canticles or Solomons Song celebrates that adorable Nuptial Solemnity The very first words of it are Osculetur me osculo oris sui Cant. 1.1 Let him or may he kiss me with a kiss of his mouth The Church and every pious Soul demanding as a singular Favor of her Spouse that Blessing which when granted to some scandalizes you modest Man so different are your Sentiments in Spiritual things from those of the Holy Ghost who says Cant. 1.3 that the Soul should receive that favor she at first demanded and yet not be despised You despise them all as Forgeries Dreams Effects of Melancholy or Hysterical Distempers What is Blasphemy if this be not Our Lord for give you for you know not what you say G. B pag. 124. The Inspirations of Holy Writers on whom we found our Faith was proved by Miracles Ans We build not our Faith on any of these Revelations you speak of so this Hint is nothing to the purpose If we did Miracles are not here wanting viz. The change of Mens Lives either from good to better or at least from bad to good which sufficiently proves the goodness of the Spirit appearing above all your frivolous Exceptions And if other Miracles are necessary those are many times granted too G. B. pag. 126. Was it not a worthy piece of the Angelical Ministration for Angels to go trotting over Sea and Land with a Load of Timber and Stone of the Virginal House to Loretto Answ Whether they trotted or ambled I doubt not but that piece of Ministration was more pleasing to those Blessed Spirits than to attend the protection of Men who spend their Strength of Body and Mind in offending God by impugning known Truth Sin I know they abhor other things are indifferent to them and all are welcom when commanded G. B. pag. 128. The Miracles of Rome are not heard of till some Ages at least Years be past Answ This is not true They are all very strictly immediately examined by Authority from the Ordinary and then published See that done at Gant upon D. Mary Minshall approved by the Bishop shortly after it past G. B. ibid. It is the Interest of Rome to have them all believed without once questioning them Answ Rome has no Interest but that Truth find place and God be glorified If you consider how strictly those of the Portuguese Nun were examined and how sincerely the Cheat was published you will acknowledge that our Church doth not countenance any Deceit in this nor think it her Interest that all should be believed G. B. ibid. How comes it that in Heretical Countries where there is more need of those Miracles and where they might be more irrefragably proved if true none of those mighty Works do shew themselves forth Answ How comes it that when the Scribes and Pharisees demanded a Sign from Heaven our Saviour refused it An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given to it Mat. 12.39 It is presumptuous for you or any other to prescribe Rules to God Almighty's Providence which is never wanting in what is necessary and we ought not to expect things unnecessary to pleasure our Curiosity either in Nature or Grace which he grants when he pleases but not always Now Miracles are very efficacious Means but not the only Motives to bring us to Faith and by consequence not absolutely necessary The Apostle had a Power to work Miracles and had a great proportion of Learning yet he used neither for Conversion of the World when worldly Men demanded it Judaei signa petunt Graeci sapientiam quaerunt Nos autem praedicamus Christum Crucifixum Judaeis quidem scandalum Gentibus autem stultitiam 1 Cor. 1.22 The Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom And did he work Miracles to satisfie the one or use Human Wisdom to work on the other No But we preach Christ crucified a scandal to the Jews and folly to the Greeks Both tempted God as the Scribes did and you do and neither obtained what they demanded Indeed those that will shut their Eyes to all other Motives would easily baffle the conviction of Miracles either saying they are natural Works or attributing them to Magick You see how the Cure
Saturni sed post eorum MORTEM syderibus ab initio mundi conditis haec nomina imposuerunt bomines qui illos quasi DEOS habere voluerunt You see Sir S. Austin's Opinion of the Pagan Gods that even Jupiter himself had been a Man was dead and buried and that althô Poets feigned them Stars in Heaven yet real True History shewed their Sepulchres on Earth 4. Their Rites confirm the same Baruch 6. they are thus described Sacerdotes sedent habentes tunicas scissas capita barbam rasam quorum capita nuda sunt Rugiunt clamantes contra Deos suos tanquam in coenâ mortui Which probably may be the reason wherefore some of these things were forbidden to Priests of the old Law Levit. 10.6 and to all Israelites Deut. 4.1 Hence the Poet very judiciously inferred that Osyris had been a Man Quem tu plangens hominem testaris Osyrim And your self applaud the common Check of Pagans used by Christians but taken out of Yenophanes the Colophonian If they are Gods why do you lament them If they are Men why do you adore them Osyris is by you taken for the True God yet Histories say he was a Man Brother to Isis killed by her Husband Typho for Incest with her his Body cut in pieces and scattered about That she with the help of Anubis either the Captain of her Guards or chief Huntsman found them all again excepting one part which Modesty should have hindred her from seeking as it does me from naming Yet she grieved so much for that loss that to comfort her in her Sacred Rites her Priests shewed her a Resemblance of it as if they had found it Osyris then was a Man so was Jupiter and Venus as well as Quirinus and Flora. You make Neith another Name of the True God Arnobius lib. 4. pag. 60. will teach you another Lesson that she was a Woman born at Sais Ex coeno gurgitibus coagulata proditaque limosis composed of the filthy Mud of Nylus on whose Banks Sais her native Town stood You may see there with what Disdain and Indignation the other Minerva's for several bore that Name explode the Pretentions of this Dirty Saitick Slut to be the Daughter of Jupiter But if you will have Jupiter to be the True God tell us which of them Arnobius tells us there have been several Vossius and Stilling fleet reckon six Varro counts up 300 as Tertullian assures us Apolog. cap. 14. pag. 44. It would be a pleasant Subject for Dr. Stilling fl to handle a Dispute betwixt all these which is the true Jupiter as it is to read that betwixt the Minerva's about which is his true Daughter in Arnobius lib. 4. pag. 59 60. who reckons also three Diana's and Aesculapiu's four Vulcan's and Venus's five Bacchus's six Hercules's c. You say pag. 256. that some Christians called God Jupiter and that Origen expresseth great Zeal against them for it lib. 5. contra Celsum Which is an unexcusable Vntruth for Origen expresly says Christians would rather endure any Torments than call God by that Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Name Jupiter you will not have to come from Juvans Pater but Jovis Pater pag. 451. Which Jovis is the very Hebrew Tetragrammaton only altered viz. from Jova by a Latin Termination And for not knowing this you send to School to learn it the two best Latinists the Pagans and Christians ever had Cicero and Lactantius I cannot subscribe to you 1. Because it is warranted by no Latin Author 2. The Tetragrammaton is not known as the Polyglot says Prolog 8. n. 19. Josephus lib. 6. de Bello Jud. c. 15. pag. 919. says it contained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Four Vowels so says Eusebius lib. 11. de Praep. Evang. cap. 4. 8. but what they were or how pronounced neither he nor any other say By what Revelation came you to so certain a knowledge of this Name But 3. Had it been Jova it had been more Latin than Jovis Not one Latin Name occurs to me ending in Is for Thais is of Greek descent but in A there are very many viz. Numa Scaevola Nassica Seneca Galba Caligula c. judge a little more favorably of Cicero as to the Latin Tongue Yet as you think him and Lactantius Ignoramus's in Latin so you do Plato in Greek for not knowing the Etymology of Athena Minerva from Neith Much in the same manner Mr Hooper brought his own Name from King Pippin and Manetho brought Moyses from Asarsyph Joseph lib. 1. contra Appionem pag. 1056. Besides these I find none can equal your Talent of finding Etymologies I wish you to practise it more To prove Jupiter to be the True God you have two Reasons which I have not Answered First pag. 452. that Jupiter is called Omnipotent Answ It is true the Pagans took him for the Aether which by the Poet is called Omnipotent Tum Pater Omnipotens foecundis imbribus Aether Conjugis in gremium loetae descendit The Second pag. 453. When Christians had obtained by their Prayers Rain Populus acclamans Jovi in Jovis nomine Deo nostro testimonium reddidit Tertul. lib. ad Scapulam c. 4. p. 131. Answ You might as well fay that Man was Virgil who owned his Verses and was rewarded for them But let Tertullian explicate himself Apol. cap. 40. pag. 71. Cum misericordiam extorserimus Jupiter honoratur We Christians obtain by our Prayers and Penitential Works of the true God Mercy and you Pagans ascribe it to Jupiter's Goodness and your Sacrifices to Idols In which you are mistaken for you draw nothing but Miseries on your Countries by despising God and adoring Statues Vos malorum ilices semper apud quos Deus spernitur statuae adorantur In your whole Book you seem to suppose that the Vnity of God was a prime Article of the Pagans Creed which cap. 7 Sect. 5. I have shewed to be false To what I said there I add out of Origen these following Proofs Lib. 1. cont Cels pag. 5. he speaks of Laws for Idols and Polytheism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And p. 28. he says Prophets were given to the Jews to hinder their falling into Pagans Polytheism And l. 3. p. 155. he says that the Wise Men or Philosophers fell from the Cult of One God into Impious or Atheistical Polytheism He told us in his First Book pag. 51. that Aristotle fled from Athens to Chalcis to avoid the Fate of Socrates who had been condemned for teaching there was but One God. And it is as evident out of Athenagoras and others that Christans were deemed Impious and Atheists for denying Polytheism When you intend to pleasure the Learned part of the World with any more Learned Works I advise you in the first place to consider whether a thing be true and then how that Truth may be useful to some farther discovery of a new or confirmation of an old Truth Veritas fulciri non quaerit auxilio
Falsitatis Greg. lib. 11. Moral cap. 15. which is no where more certain than in Revealed Truths Non indiget Deus nostro mendacio ut pro illo loquamur dolos Job 13.7 You thought doubtless that to represent that all Religions and all publick Laws had owned One God would be a Choak-Pear to Atheism and confound the Atheists whereas this being not true it hath a contrary effect The other part is much more cogent drawn from Fathers that all Men have a natural Knowledge of One God and that so deeply imprinted in their Soul that maugre all the pleasant Fables of the Poets the Pomp of Ceremonies and Religious Rites the Force of bad Education the Sophisms of Philosophers the Blasphemies of wicked Men the Strength of Laws the Rigor of Torments the Terror of Death and the Wiles of the Devil it persevered and so possessed the Heart as in some Occasions to force its Profession out of the Mouth Certainly this Voice of Nature triumphing over all the Force and Art of Men and Devils is a clearer Testimony of One God preserving his Possession in and over his Rational Creatures and controlling all adjectitious Notions than any Demonstration Man's Wit can invent Especially some Atheists laboring to weaken this Argument from the Notion of a Deity by saying that Idea is not of Nature but raised by Education and Human Laws Which Plea is evidently defeated by that Truth that Laws Religion and Custom were once against it and all concurring to promote the Opinion of Many Gods thô all in vain Secondly I advise you not so easily to draw from a resemblance in Name or Number Pagan Errors to the Mysteries of Christian Faith. With what little ground you drew from Jupiter the Name of God hath been seen pag. 451. You say the Roman Capitol was Dedicated to the Blessed Trinity because a Poet said Trina in Torpaeo fulgent consortia Templo viz. Jupiter Minerva and Juno And pag. 454. so it should be thô it be marked 414. you find the Trinity in Agypt viz. Eicton Memphta and Osyris You might as well find the same Mystery in the Three Graces Three Parks Three Gorgons Three Furies Three Judges Three Rivers Three-headed Cerberus Three-bodied Geryon if that number be sufficient for it I doubt not but the Mystery was revealed in the Old Testament nor that some Platonicks knew it S. Austin assures they did thô he doth not acquaint us in what Age these lived so they may have learnt it from the Christians Yet I think it most certain that there never was any Temple Dedicated or Sacrifice Offered by Pagans to the Three Divine Persons for out of the Scripture I have learned that What they sacrificed they sacrificed to Devils and not to God. I am Yours as much as I can be Salvâ Veritate J. W. An INDEX of the Chapters CHAP. 1. Mr. G. B. his Design and Disposition when he writ this Book Of the Wickedness of the World. Page 1. Chap. 2. Of Antichrist Page 6. Chap. 3. The true Designs of Christian Religion Page 10. Chap. 4. G. B. his Explication of the Designs of Christianity Page 15. Chap. 5. Of the Characters of Christian Doctrin Page 19. Chap. 6. Scriptures supprest Page 22. Chap. 7. A Digression touching the Idolatry of the Pagans ill represented by E. S. D. D. Page 29. Section 1. That Pagans thought their Idols to be Gods. Page 30. Section 2. The Beginning and Occasions of Idolatry Page 41. Section 3. 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. Page 51. Section 4. That the Jupiter O. M. of the Greeks and Romans was not the True God. Page 67. Section 5. Whether all or the greatest part of the Pagans believed the one True God Page 83. Section 6. Of the unknown God at Athens Page 96. A Conclusion of this Treatise Page 98. Chap. 8. What G. B. says to prove Catholics Idolaters Page 102. Chap. 9. Of Mediating Spirits Page 105. Chap. 10. Of the Intercession of Saints Page 113. Chap. 11. Pretended Charms Where of Holy-Water Wax-Candles Agnus Dei's c. Page 124. Chap. 12. Of Ceremonies Page 128. Chap. 13. Scripture and the Church Where of the Resolution of Faith. Page 134. Chap. 14. Of Merits Page 148. Chap. 15. Of Temporal Punishment due to Sin forgiven Page 150. Chap. 16. Of Purgatory Page 154. Chap. 17. Priestly Absolution Page 162. Chap. 18. Of Penances Fasting Prayer and Pilgrimages Page 167 Section 1. Fasting Page 169. Section 2. Prayer Page 171. Section 3. Pilgrimages Page 174. Section 4. Two Objections Answered Page 179. Chap. 19. Sacrifice of the Mass Page 180. Chap. 20. Regal Office of Christ Where of Transubstantiation Dispensing in Vows c. Page 184. Chap. 21. Of Love and its two Species Repentance Mortal and Venial Sins Attrition and Contrition Page 188. Chap. 22. Theological Vertues Page 196. Section 1. Of Faith. Page 197. Section 2. Of Hope Page 201. Section 3. Of Charity or Love. Page 204. Section 4. An Answer to what G. B. objects Page 207. Chap. 23. Efficacy of Sacraments Page 210. Chap. 24. Probable Opinions and Good Intentions Page 212. Chap. 25. Whether Papists allow to break the Commandments Page 219. Chap. 26. Riches and Pride of Churchmen Page 225. Chap. 27. Vnity of the Church in Faith and Sacraments G. B. owns that Protestants are Schismatics Of Severity against Dissenters And of Hugo Grotius Page 229. Chap. 28. Zeal of Souls in our Bishops And concerning Reformers Where of S. Cyran Arnaud and Jansenius Page 235. Chap. 29. Other small Objections Page 247. A Conclusion of the First and Beginning of the Second Part. Page 250. Chap. 30. Catholic Faith delivered by Men Divinely Inspired Rules to know true Tradition Faith never changed Page 353. Chap. 31. Revelations and Miracles Page 262. Chap. 32. Whether all Mysteries of Faith ought to be common Page 268. Chap. 33. Faith not dependant on Senses Page 275. Chap. 34. Mr. G. B. his Intention in his Books and his Meekness to Catholics Page 281. Chap. 35. Reasons why Catholics do not embrace the Communion of the Protestant Church Page 287. Chap. 36. Greater Exercise of Piety amongst Catholics than Protestants Page 295. Chap. 37. No Houses of Devotion nor Spiritual Books amongst Protestants Page 301. Chap. 38. Protestant Doctrins contrary to Piety Page 308. Postscript to Mr. Cudworth D. D. Page 315. FINIS