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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59650	A discourse of superstition with respect to the present times wherein the Church of England is vindicated from the imputation, and the the charge retorted not only on the papists, but also on men of other perswasions / by William Shelton ...	Shelton, William, d. 1699.	1678 (1678)	Wing S3097; ESTC R10846	60,551	205

Christ gave his Apostles power over unclean Matth. 10. Luke 10. Spirits and power to tread on Serpents and Scorpions c. which power he supposes still to reside in the Church As Elisha cur'd the waters with salt as Christ cur'd blind Eyes with clay and spittle in like manner potestas exorcizandi Daemones à Christo Apostolis tradita usque in hodiernum diem in Ecclesiâ permansit The power of casting out Devils committed by Christ to his Apostles remains in the Church to this day If we will take Forgeries and cheats for real miracles the thing is proved But if we should be a little scrupulous and require better proof of matter of fact and till that be given should doubt whether the Apostles power of working Miracles be transmitted to this age we are then at a great loss to solve the Phaenomenon and to clear the use of the Cross and holy water c. from superstition Whereas it is confessed that the natural virtue of these Ceremonies can't produce such effects it is also as plain so far as the Word of God is our guide that we have no sufficient warrant to expect these preternatural and extraordinary Events because there is no divine promise annex'd to the use of these things Of the same nature is that Doctrine that the Sacraments confer Grace Ex opere Operato The Council of Trent Histor Conc. Trid. Sess 7. anathematizes them who say per Sacramenta non conferri gratiam virtute ministrationis eorum sive ex opere operato That the Sacraments do not confer grace by virtue of the very administration of them or by the deed done So Bellarmine begins his second Book De effectu Sacramentorum with this enquiry An sacramenta novae legis sint verae Causae justificationis ex opere operato Whether the Sacraments of the Gospel be true causes of Justification by virtue of the deed done That they are so and that they are thereby distinguished from the Sacraments of the old Law he offers to prove in the process of that Book In which though it be true that he speaks of Faith and Repentance as dispositions in the subject to mollify the Opinion yet there is no doubt but their Opinion is that the Sacraments confer grace however indispos'd the subject be Which appears by the absolutions that are given upon Confession even there where no Contrition shows it self According to the Jesuit's Doctrine Myst Jesuitis Letter 10. p. 145. 150. T. Bauny Ibid. they ought not to be deny'd or delay'd absolution who continue in habitual sias against the laws of God and nature and the Church though they discover not the least hope of amendment And Valentia determins that Contrition is not requisite at all in order to obtain the principal effect of the Sacrament nay on the contrary it is rather obstructive Yea Bellarmine himself Bellarm. de Imagin Sanctorum lib. 2. Cap. 30. elsewhere distinguishes between opus operatum and opus operantis When men pray for help against Diseases the effect does not infallibly follow for this reason quia tunc effectus non producitur ex opere operato more Sacramentorum sed ex opere operantis Because it is not produc'd by the deed done as in the Sacraments but supposes the disposition of the doer What they thus attribute to the Sacraments Azorius extends to sacramentals though he consesses Institut Moral Part. 1. lib. 4. Cap. 11. some Romanists are against him he affirms that the very sprinkling with Holy-Water without consideration of the act of Repentance does away venial sins How much our Church ascribes to Sacraments is plain They are sure Artic. 25. witnesses and effectual signs of Gods Grace and good will towards us by which he does work invisibly in us But in the same Article it is declar'd against the Opus Operatum for in such only as worthily receive the same they have a wholesome effect or operation The dangerous Consequences of this their Doctrine especially as their late Casuists have improv'd it I now exaggerate not All that I would conclude hence is that their worship of God in the Sacraments because it is built upon this opinion is superstitious God alone is the fountain of Grace he conveys it into the hearts of men as he pleases But no man hath reason to expect it by any other means than what God hath promised to bless The Sacraments are of excellent use But there is no promise extant that the bare receiveing the Eucharist whatever the disposition or indisposition of the Receiver be shall produce this effect and it is conferring grace in Adultis that is now to be consider'd Nay we are assur'd that he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself Wherefore he who promises to himself that which God hath not promis'd he who expects grace upon these terms who receives the Sacrament upon an Opinion that the deed done however it be done will bring him into a state of grace is superstitious in so thinking and so doing The Doctrine of Merit is another Sect. 21. Bellarm. de Justificat lib. 9. Cap. 17. superstitious Opinion If Bellarmine understood it this it is Opera bona Justorum meritoria sunt vitae aeternae ex condigno non solum ratione pacti acceptationis sed etiam ratione operis The good works of just men do merit life eternal of condignity not only because of the Covenant of grace but also from the nature of the works themselves Moreover beyond the bare merit of good works he affirms that as a man may merit a reward to himself so he may make satisfaction for the release and discharge of another And this is the foundation of their doctrine of Indulgences Extat Thesaurus aliquis in Ecclesiâ qui sit Indulgentiarum Fundamentum For the making good of which he thus argues and proceeds Prima Propositio In bonis actionibus Bellarm. de Indulgent lib. 1. Cap. 2. hominum Justorum duplex valor sive pretium assignari potest meriti viz. satisfactionis Secunda Propos Opus bonum quâ parte meritorium est non potest alii applicari potest tamen quâ satisfactorium Tertia Propos Extat in Ecclesiâ Thesaurus satisfactionum ex Christi passionibus infinitus qui nunquam exhauriri poterit Quarta Propos Ad hunc Thesaurum superfluentium satisfactionum pertinent etiam passiones B. Mariae Virginis omnium aliorum sanctorum qui plus passi sunt quam eorum peccata requirerent That is in short Together with the infinite value of the satisfactory sufferings of our Saviour The sufferings of the B. Virgin Mary and all other Saints who have suffer'd more than their sins requir'd are to be join'd by which as they have merited to themselves so have they satisfied for others How much this dishonours the Undertakings of our B. Saviour and for what other reasons we explode the Doctrine of Merit and the

appendage of satisfaction and Indulgences I have not now to say The superstition of these Opinions is now to be consider'd Bellarmin's Controversies would not have deserv'd the Character given them by Albertus Hungerus in his approbation prefix'd to the First Tome viz. Integerrimum pulcherrimum absolutissimumque Controversiarum omnium corpus A most Entire and Compleat body of Controversies if he had balk't any of the Doctrines currant at Rome So he must write when he pleads for a party but I think it no very difficult task to find some acknowledgments even in those same Books of Controversies which would greatly weaken most of the things in difference between us Bellarm. de Justificat lib. 5. Cap. 7. which he would establish In this of Merit who hath not heard of that famous resolution of his Propter incertitudinem propriae Justitiae periculum inanis gloriae Tutissimum est fiduciam totam in solâ Dei misericordiâ benignitate reponere Because of the Uncertainty of our own righteousness and the danger of vain glory It is most safe to put our whole confidence only in the mercy and goodness of God Sisic Omnia dixisset How well does this agree with what we say in our Office of the H. Communion We do not presume to come to this thy Table O Merciful Lord trusting in our own righteousness but in thy manifold and great Mercies c. And with our 12 Article Good works which are the fruits of Faith and follow after Justification cannot put away our sins and endure the severity of Gods Judgment We will join against the Antinomians and with great zeal assert the necessity of good works if the merit of them may be excluded but that we can't but charge with superstition He who gives Alms c. does a good work acceptable to God by Jesus Christ but he who opines he thereby merits the favour of God any otherwise than because God has promis'd to accept such services He who apprehends such a worthiness in what he does as that for its own sake he may expect to receive some reward because there is some proportion and equality in it ad praemium vitae aeternae as Bellarmine speaks He who designs to oblige Almighty God by his good works hath a proud conceit of himself who when he hath done all he can is but an Unprofitable servant and he has a false and undue Opinion of God to think a man may be profitable to God as men may be one to another Therefore are these services superstitious because they are perform'd upon false and undue Opinions and he who thus worships God does that which is not requir'd at his hands If these things wanted evidence I might add their works of supererogation their Austerities and penances so far as they apprehend a Merit in Opere Operato Also other things might have a place in this Argument and might range by themselves if they be not reducible to any of Bishop Mortons general heads Such as are Their publick Prayers in the Church in a Tongue not understood of the people Their requiring and using such a vast number of Ceremonies which by their great excess and multitude become a burden intolerable as the Preface to our Liturgy acknowledges These and such like things can't be excus'd from superstition Together with these I might add a number of observations which are neither proper to Popery nor indeed to the Christian Religion but are scatter'd all over the World Such as St. Austin means when he complains of Millia inanissimarum observationum c. and such as Aquinas comprehends when he makes divers kinds of superstition Divinationes varia observationum genera Of which Customs Mahometanism and Gentilism are very full But having given account of these before I pass them with this general acknowledgment Whatever we do upon a Religious account where Religion properly so called ought not to be concern'd When any undue Opinion of God excites us to any action when we exercise our selves in that which may be deservedly called Indebitus Dei Cultus when we think God is pleas'd with such a manner of performance which does not please him as it does well agree with the Import of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an over-timorous and servile apprehension of the Deity so may it properly be called superstition But in as much as it is very evident that the superstitious Opinions of the Church of Rome are rejected by the Church of England in as much as it can't be prov'd that any of our service is enjoin'd upon any other Opinion equally superstitious we conclude there is wrong done us when superstition is laid to our charge Yea if peradventure some of our Church should have private Opinions of their own that might render their particular practices superstitious yet this is enough to deliver our service from the Imputation and in this we persist as our just Vindication There is no Canon nor Rubrick no Article nor Injunction that obliges any within our Communion to any superstitious Opinion 4. Proposition Sect. 22. There are superstitious Omissions of which men may be guilty and that then when they seem to have a great zeal against Burges Answer Rejoin'd Preface p. 64. superstition It was laid to the N. C ts charge in King James his time that they were guilty of negative superstition A phrase cavil'd at by those who reply upon Bishop Morton but Dr Burges has sufficiently vindicated it and commends them to their friend Ames who comprehends it in his definition of superstition For when he had defin'd it to be an excess of Religion He adds cujusmodi Medul Theolog. lib. 2. Cap. 13. excessus non tantum est in exercitiis positivis sed etiam in Abstinentiâ à quarundam rerum usu ut àcibis This excess of Religion is not only in what we positively do but may be also in what we abstain from as Meats True it is that superstition is an excess as it hath been defin'd yet the defect in the practice may be superstitious because it may proceed from excess in the Opinion For if a superstitious Opinion be the reason why men abstain from the use of a Ceremony that abstinence is as properly superstitious as the use of it upon a superstitious Opinion can be My Lord Bacon says well and wisely There is Bacon Essay of Superstition a superstition in avoiding superstition when men think to do best if they go farthest from the superstition formerly received There is a superstitious fearfulness in some men of which St. Austin complains August Januario Ep. 118. thus Sensi saepe dolens gemens multas infirmorum perturbationes fieri per quorundam fratrum contentiosam obstinationem superstitiosam timiditatem qui in rebus hujusmodi quae neque sacrae scripturae Authoritate neque Universalis Ecclesiae traditione neque vitae corrigendae utilitate ad certum possunt terminum pervenire tantum quia subest