Catholics when they commend the Gospel but you do not well in believing them when they blame Manioheus do you think me such a Fool as without any reason I should believe what pleases you and not believe what you dislike Certainly it is much more reasonable seeing I must believe the Catholics that I abandon your Communion unless you can give me an evident Demonstration for the contrary Wherefore if you will alledge Reason lay by the Gospel If you retain the Gospel I will stick to those upon whose word I have admitted the Gospel and their Authority forces me to renounce you Now if perchance you can shew out of the Gospel any evident proof of Manichaeus his Apostleship you will indeed weaken in me the Authority of Catholics who forbid me to believe you But that Authority being weakned I shall no more be able to believe the Gospel which I received by it and so whatsoever you prove thence will fall to the ground Therefore if no clear proof of Manichaeus his Mission is extant in the Gospel I will rather believe the Catholics than you If a clear proof be found there I will neither believe the Catholics nor you Not them because they were false in the Opinion they delivered of you Not you because you rely on that Scripture which I received on the testimony of those who have deceived me Yet God forbid I should reject the Gospel and believing it I see no possibility of believing you Thus the great Saint which I have cited at large because the whole Discourse holds against all Heresies changing only the Name of Manichaeus or Manichean into that which signifies the Heresie as for Example into that of Protestant or Luther Morcover it contains a clear Confutation of what hath hitherto by the Learnedst of our Adversaries been said in Answer to it The first Interpretation of this Place is delivered by W. L. in his Relation of a Conference pag. 81. Some of your own says he will not endure it should be understood save of the Church in the time of the Apostles only and then cites Ockam Dial. p. 1. l. 1. c. 4. Where he hath not one word of that But says Mr. Still in his Rational Account p. 198. the words are in Durandus l. 3. Insent d. 24. q. 1. n. 9. where he says Intelligitur solùm de Ecclesiâ quae fuit tempore Apostolorum It is understood only of the Church which was in the time of the Apostles The same Author borrows another Explication of Biel Lect. 2. in Can. Missae That the words are to be understood of the Church in general as it contains the first and later Ages A tempore Christi Apostolorum c. And to this he sticks for he adds And so doth S. Augustin take Eccles contra Fund And Dr. Still p. 198 199 approves the same and confirms it out of Gerson and Driedo Neither of these two Explications can stand with the Text as appears out of those words Quibus obtemperavi dicentibus Credite Evangelio cur eis non obtemperem dicentibus mihi noli credere Manichaeo Whom I obeyed in saying Believe the Gospel should I not obey in saying Do not believe Manichaeus Hence I frame this Argument St. Augustin professeth he received the Gospel upon the credit of that Church which condemned Manichaeus But that Church which condemned Manichaeus was that of his time and not that of the Apostles who never mentioned Manichaeus Ergo the Church on whose word he received the Gospel was that of his time and not that of the Apostles When therefore E. S. p. 220. says It is plain St. Austin means not the Judgment of the present Church but of the Catholic Church as taking in all Ages and Places he evidently contradicts the very Text of St. Austin whence I conclude that either he speaks against his Conscience which I am unwilling to believe or else which is more excusable that he had not read the Text which he undertakes to Explicate A Third and yet more improbable Explication is delivered by W. L. p. 82. He speaks it either of Novices or Doubters in the Faith or else of such as were in part Infidels Mr. Fisher the Jesuit at the Conference would needs have it that St. Austin spake it even of the Faithful which I cannot yet think for he speaks to the Manichees and they had a great part of the Infidel in them And the words immediately before these are If thou shouldst find one qui Evangelio non credit which did not believe the Gospel what wouldst thou do to make him believe Thus W. L. This is likewise plainly false for S. Austin was neither a Novice nor a Doubter in the Faith nor in part an Infidel when he writ that Book for he writ it after he was made Bishop as you may see Lib. 2. Retract c. 2. But he speaks of himself and describes the ground of his own Faith Ergo he doth not speak of Novices Doubters or half Infidels nor describes the ground of their Faith but of those who are firm Believers I prove that S. Austin speaks of his own Faith and shews the ground on which it relied For first he says I would not believe the Gospels without the Authority of Catholics commending them Secondly he says If you weaken the Authority of Catholics I will reject the Gospel This I believe Mr. Stillingst saw and therefore said pag. 20. If you extend this beyond Novices and Weaklings I shall not oppose you in it And I cannot think that W. L. had read that place at least with attention when he writ He could not think S. Austin spoke of the Faithful Stilling pag. 220. Neither you nor any Catholic Author is able to prove that S. Austin by these words ever dreamt of any infallible Authority in the present Church Ans Seeing S. Austin expresly says He would renounce the Gospel if the Authority of Catholics were weakned in him by discovering they had delivered any one Lye he must either think them exempt from all possibility of Lying or else he adhered very loosly to the Gospel I hope E. S. will not assert the later part wherefore he must grant that S. Austin thought the Church free from all possibility of Error Let us return to Mr. G. B. G. B. pag. 43. Christ's Prophetic Office is invaded by the pretence of the Churches Infallibility in Expounding Scriptures And why good Sir should the Infallibility in Expounding Scriptures be an Invasion of the Prophetic Office of Christ seeing Infallibility in writing them was no such thing Certainly it is more to compose a Writing than to understand it as many can understand Cicero's Speech pro Milone who cannot compose such an one And your old Women pretend to understand several parts of Scripture which yet I think will scarce undertake to Pen the like By this say you the whole Authority is devolved on the Church No more than it was on S. John when he writ his Gospel
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
Of Judge of Scripture In her Councils she places in the middle of the Assembly a high Throne as for Christ and in it sets the holy Ghospels as his word according to which she judges of the Doctrin tontroverted Conc. Calced Act. 1. So she judges by Scriptures of the Doctrin of men but doth not judg of the Scriptures themselves At the first Admission of a Writing into the Canon of Scriptures the Church proceding is of another nature A Writing is brought to her as written by a Man Divinely assisted of S. Paul for example to the Romans by Phebe or to Philemon by a fugitive Servant Onesimus neither as a Witness give any great credit to the Writing they brought The Pastors of the flock of Christ consider the Writings examin the Messengers recurr to God by Prayer to demand the Assistance of his Holy Spirit to know whether he were truly the Author of the Writing exhibited If after all these means used to discover the Truth they remain convinced the thing was written by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost they obey it themselves command Obedience to it as to the Word of God and use it as a Rule of Faith and Manners So when an unknown Person brings into a Corporation a new Patent as of the King's Majesty and presents it to the Mayor He before he allows the Patentee to act in vertue of it with his Brethren considers the Writing the Signet the Seal the Stile c. to know whether it be counterfeit or sincere with a Resolution to obey it himself and make others do the same in case it appear to be truly the King 's The Mayor cannot be said to judge of the Kings Patents to which as a Subject he owes Obedience but only to discern whether an unknown Writing be the King's Patent or no. You say this makes the Authority of the Scriptures depend on the Church Which is as rational as if you should say the Authority of the King's Patent depends on the Mayor of a petty Corporation because the Patent is exhibited to him before it be executed If any Man hath so little common Sense as not to discern the difference betwixt these two Propositions To judge of the Kings Patent and to judge whether an unknown Writing be the Kings Patent I am to seek how to help him This Authority of the Church to recommend the Scriptures as an undeniable Witness occasioned that Saying of S. Augustin l. contra Epist Fundam c. 5. Ego Evangelio non crederem nisi me Ecclesiae Catholicae commoveret authoritas I would not believe the Gospel did not the Authority of the Catholie Church move me to it Which words are cited by all Catholic Controvertists as containing an implicit Decision of all our Controversies they shewing evidently S. Augustins Discourse against the Manichees to be just the same which we use against the modern Protestants that as we are heirs of that Faith which S. Augustin and the Church of his time defended against its Opposers the ancient Heretics so are we of the Titles by which they enjoyed it and the Arms with which they defended it I will put down the whole Discourse of S. Augustin at large that so we may the better understand his meaning and more convincingly shew how much the most understanding of our Adversaries are out of the way in explicating it The thing sought for in that Discourse was whether Manichaeus was an Apostle of Jesus Christ or no The Manichaeans said he was the Catholics denied it for whose cause S. Austin disputes thus in that place Quaero quis sit iste Manichaeus says he Respondebitis Apostolus Christi Non Credo Evangelium sortè mihi lecturus es indè Manichai personam tentabis asserere Si ergò invenires aliquem qui Evangelio nondum credit quid faceres dicenti tibi non credo Ego verò Evangelio non crederem nisi me Catholicae Ecclesiae commoveret authoritas Quibus ergo obtemperavi dicentibus credite Evangelio cur eis non obtemperem dicentibus mihi Noli credere Manichaeo Elige quid velis Si dixeris crede Catholicis ipsi me monent ut nullam fidem accommodem vobis quapropter non possim illis credens nisi tibi non credere Si dixeris noli Catholicis credere non rectè facis per Evangelium me cogere ad Manichaei fidem quia ipsi Evangelio Catholicis praedicantibus credidi Si autem dixeris benè credidisti Catholicis laudantibus Evangelium sed non rectè credidisti illis vituper antibus Manichaeum usque adeò me stultum putas ut nullâ redditâ ratione quod vis credam quod non vis non credam quippè multò justius cautius facio si Catholicis quoniam semel credidi ad te non transeo nisi me non credere jusseris sed manifestissime apertissimè scire aliquid feceris Quocirca si mihi rationem redditurus es dimitte Evangelium Si ad Evangelium te tenes ego ad eos me teneam quibus praecipientibus Evangelio credidi his jubentibus tibi omninò non credam Quod si fortè in Evangelio aliquid manifestissimum de Manichaei Apostolatu invenire potueris infirmabis mihi Catholicorum auctoritatem qui jubent ut tibi non credam Quâ infirmat â nec Evangelio credere potero quia per eos illi credideram ita nihil apud me valebit quicquid inde protuleris Quapropter si nihil manifestum de Manichaei Apostolatu in Evangelio reperitur Catholicis potiùs credam quà m tibi Si autem inde aliquid manifestum pro Manichaeo legeris nec illis nec tibi illis quia de te mihi mentiti sunt tibi quia eam scripturam mihi profers cui per illos credideram qui mihi mentiti sunt Sed absit ut ego Evangelio non credam Illi autem credens non invenio quomodò possim etiam tihi credere Haec Aug. ibid. I demand says this Saint Who is this Manichaeus You answer He is the Apostle of Christ I will not take your word for it What will you say what means will you use to persuade me Perchance you will take the Gospel and thence endeavor to prove unto me the Mission of Manichaus But what if you meet with one who doth not believe the Gospel how would you deal with him For my part I would not believe the Gospel did not the Authority of the Catholic Church move me Whom therefore I obey in saying Believe the Gospel should I not obey in saying Believe not Manichaeus Take your choice whether you will have me rely on the Catholics or no If you say Believe the Catholics they marn me not to believe you wherefore believing them I must reject you If you say Do not believe Catholics you do not well endeavoring to bring me to the Belief in Manichaeus by the Gospel which I received only upon the word of Catholics If you say you do well to believe the
indeed commanded to write to himself a copy of the Law out of that which was before the Priests the Levits By which it appears that even Copies of the Law were not so ordinary Which may be gathered also out of 4 Kings c. 22. there was such Astonishment at the finding and reading of the Book of the Law newly found in the Temple The Ten Commandments were common the Pharisees Phylacteries prove it As for the rest it was divided into Parashots Sections and read unto the People when they met on the Sabbath as you may see Acts 15.21 And in the Second of Esdras cap. 8. And the same Custome is still in the Catholic Church which in her Service doth dayly read some of the New and Old Testament G. B. Pag. 14. What pains are taken by Papists to detract from the Authority of Scriptures how they quarrel its Darkness its Ambiguousness the Genuineness of its Originals Answer This is a Calumny We all unanimously own Scripture to be the Word of God that no Untruth can be found in it Out of its Darkness and Ambiguity we shew the necessity of receiving its Sense from Tradition and not sticking to the bare Letter of the Scripture without the Sense which is to the Letter what a Soul is to the Body G. B. Pag. 15. We complain of Scripture being two much perused Answer Another Calumny In all our Universities we have Masters of Scriptures who in those I know take place of those even of Divinity Which shews the esteem we make of that study G. B. Pag. 15. Let as little of it be in Vulgar Tongues as can be Answer A Third Calumny It is all in English translated by the Rhemish and Doway Colleges and in French by the Doctors of Lovain And as for the New Testament it is publish'd in French by Rene Benoit Brulot Villeloin and Amelot Besides other Editions less noted And if there hath been no new Translation in English it is not for any Decrees forbidding it but because that first Translation is liked in gross and if any thing be defective as is unavoidable in all Works of Men it is not considerable and the like or worse may be fear'd in another G. B. Pag. 19. We read it publickly in an unknown Tongue in Latin. Answer If this proves our Dislike of the Scriptures it will likewise prove our Dislike of Councils and Popes Bulls which you say we prefer before Scriptures seeing these were never extant in any Vulgar Language Latin cannot truly absolutely be call'd An unknown Tongue in the Latin Church seeing it is the Language of her Schools of her Public Service of her Laws of her Tribunals of her Councils and in many places as in Polony and higher and lower Germany of almost every particular person where very ordinarily even Carters and Watermen speak it And as for Spaniards and Italians with little application they understand it by reason of the Affinity betwixt their own and the Latin Tongue So English cannot absolutely be said to be an unknown Tongue in Wales and Ireland tho' in both there are several who understand it not If this be not a sufficient Vindication of our Church how will you excuse your own from the same Fault which never translated the Scripture into Irish but uses English in Ireland even where there are many thousands who understand it as little as Latin is understood by any Catholic G. B. Pag. 15. We permit no private person the use of it without Allowance from his Confessor Answer A Fourth Calumny In Latin Greek or Hebrew it is universally permitted to all In France no Body scruples at the reading of it in French provided the Editions be approved Your Brethren there could have informed you better seeing they have had the Confusion to see their Ministers mouths stopt by Cutlers and Shoemakers out of their own Bible which could not be had they not read it If the Opinion of a Confessor be demanded it is to know the Disposition of the person who desires it whether it be such as good may be hoped from that reading All Food is designed by Almighty God for the use of Man yet without any Injury to the Patient a Physitian may forbid him the use of some which would nourish peccant Humors So Scriptures are designed for our Instruction unto Piety to God and Peace to our Neighbors If any mans mind be possest with Opinions contrary to both and these Opinions controul all Instruction given him so as all serve only to confirm him in his impiety and turbulent Humor would you not advise him a Diet from such strong Food as Scripture For Example lately a great part of the Commonalty of our Nation was so posest with a Spirit of Rebellion against Ecclesiastical and Civil Government that altho there be scarce any thing more recommended in holy Writ than Obedience to Prelate and Prince yet they thought the whole Drift of Scripture abetted their Treason not that any such thing was to be found in Scripture but that they fancied it there as Men fancy that the Bells speak articulate Words In that conjuncture what Advice would you give to an Ignorant Man to be satisfied with Books of Devotion and Instructions drawn from Scripture which might keep him humble and peaceable or to continue reading the Scriptures which he thought preached Sedition and from which through his bad Disposition he was confirmed in his Rebellions and Antichristan Courses Another motive why the Confessors Advice is demanded is that he might instruct Men how to Read and reap Benefit from the Reading To Read with the Humility of a Scholer not the Presumption of a Master to make rather a Prayer than a Study of it To resolve to practise what they understand and adore God for what they understand not So that whether they do or do not comprehend what they read they glorifie God in all and grow in Vertue After such Instructions apply'd to the Condition of every one the Benefit will be much greater and the danger of ill using it much diminished CHAP. VII A Digression touching the Idolatry of the Pagans ill represented by E. S. D. D. THis matter is as clear in it self as any antiquated Rights can be all Men are possest with an Opinion that as the word imports the deluded Nations did Adore Idols as their Gods. S. Austin l. 20. contra Faust c. 20. having said that Latria was the Worship given to God alone as he is distinguished from all his Creatures how holy soever he says Ad hunc cultum pertinet oblatio Sacrificii unde Idololatria dicitur eorum qui hoc Sacrificium etiam Idolis offerunt That to offer Sacrifice is an Act of Latria whence those are called Idolaters who offer it to Idols This seems clear yet our modern Protestants to make good the Charge of Idolatry against the present Cath. Church raise a great Mist before their Readers Eyes and misrepresent Idolatry in such colours as may afterwards
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
him to hear the Prayers which doubtless the Saints make for us or else when we pray to Saints we desire them to joyn with ours their Prayers to God and when we have obtained our Request we desire them to joyn with us in Thanksgiving to the Divine Goodness (c) 2. Cor. 1.10.11 Our trust is in God that he will deliver us from temporal and eternal Misery The Saints also helping by Prayer for us and for the gift bestowed on us by means of many interceding persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf But were Truth sought for an end would easily be made of this contentious Dispute betwixt Faith and Calumny by only stating aright the Controversie we do all unanimously profess that God alone doth deserve all the Adoration and worship any Creature is capable of for his own intrinsick and essential perfection Yet we think it is his Pleasure that we should honor not only those Perfections in himself but that we should for his sake reverence those Creatures whom he makes partakers of his infinit fulness of Perfection according to the manner of their elevations to partake of those Perfections So that God is honored in them all and all they in him We honor Kings and Prelates lawfully established as being partakers of his Authority to govern us the word of God as being an explication of his Will The Sacraments as Channels to convey his Grace into our Souls Churches as places designed for Prayer to him Saints on Earth as living Temples of the Holy Ghost Saints in Heaven as Partakers of his glory So that we may be said to honor God in all and by consequence the worship given to them cannot be said to draw from God. We likewise profess that as God is the sole Crearor of all things so is he the Fountain of all Good and that every good perfect Gift comes from him the Father of Lights Jac. 1.13 That nothing in order to eternal Life can be obtained but of him through our Lord Jesus Christ That his Providence reaches to every thing that not a hair can either fall of its self or be pulled out of our head by Men or by bad or good Angels without the permission of God that all we suffer and all we enjoy all good and all bad flow from his omnipotent hand as effects either of his mercy or of his justice or of both So that we fear nothing but from him nor hope for any thing but from him To him all our Prayers are directed even those made to Saints which stop not in them but in their and our God and Father This we believe this we practise this we teach this we defend speak what you can against this and you will speak to the purpose but if you pass this unregarded you beat the air Another thing I desire of you is not to build upon every little fancy altho contrary to reason which is childish always but deserves a more severe censure in matters of consequence Now what can be more phantastical than what Mr. Brevint writes in his Saul and Samuel that it is Idolatry to pray to Saints unless they be within compass to hear us And who can determin how far they can hear Or what Mr. Whitby says in his Discourse concerning Idolatry pag. 154. Prayer offered to an invisible being and not corporeally present is due only to God. So that a blind Man may not desire his Neighbor to pray for him because all are invisible to him And Prayers offered to the Dragon Dan. 14.23 or any Idols would be no Idolatry seeing they could see or be seen and were corporeally present And certainly S. Paul was an Idolater when at a distance he desired the Roman to pray for his good Journey who were neither visible to him nor corporeally present He follows the custom of our Reformers he throws stones without ever regarding where they fall But what Proof doth he bring for his Novelty The Authority of Dio and Martial both Pagans and one of them the most filthy or beastly Author of all Poets And can Mr. Whitby judge their Authority competent to decide a Controversy betwixt Christians and condemn the public practise of the Catholic Church Have we not reason to except against their being Vmpiers in this dispute Yet to do Mr. Whitby a pleasure we will admit them as Judges Arbitrators What say they Dio says Caligula was a God when prayed to And Martial says those who pray to Idols make them Gods. Suppose all this true what is it to Visibility or Corporeal presence of which they make no mention and yet were brought to prove them How wretchedly doth he pleade against us who first appeals to incompetent Judges and secondly to such as pronounce nothing in his favour In malacausa non possunt aliter Aug. CHAP. XI Pretended Charms where of Holy-Water Wax-candles Agnus Dei's c. G B. p. 32. ALl the Enchantments used in Heathenism are nothing if compared to those of the Roman Church Answer Were your Proofs as strong as your Assertions are bold you would be the most formidable enemy that ever we had But that strength of Proofs is wanting Those Creatures which bark loud seldom bite hard In bold affirmations none more positive than women and children and the Ignorantest of Scholers Wise and Learned Men are more wary and reserved who never are very positive altho they seem sometimes to have reason on their side because they are conscious of the uncertainty of their Discourses whose fallacies they discover in others and in themselves too In this place you would easily have discovered your error had you looked over your Proofs For what more weak than those G. B. p. 32. Can any thing look liker a charm than the worshipping of God in an unknown Tongue Answer What say you to reading your English service to such Irish as understand it not Is that a Charm For whatever you say in vindication of your Common-Prayer will serve to answer you in this Reproach To whom can I compare the men of this generation (a) Luke 7.31 to whom are they like They are like unto children pettish children whom neither laughing nor weeping will please So you are resolved never to be content with what Papists do Is their Service kept in Latin It resembles a Charm. Doth it appear in English as it lately did at London And Hanibal ad portas of such a fearful nature are your Brethren that whatever dress our Service appears in it frightens them as the sign of the Cross and the name of Jesus did the Devils in Julian's time But are you so much a stranger to the World as not to know that no living language continues long the same That Mens phancies of words change as well as those of fashions That sometimes they lay aside some words and take in others and sometimes retain the word but alter its sence by use If all this be true suppose a change be made in
the Cross Do this in memory of me As for the joint Communion it can only be a secondary Intention of the Institution the first and chief being our union with Christ out of which flows the second our union amongst our selves As Lines in a Circle meet in the Center and so knit together CHAP. XX. Regal Office of Christ where of Transubstantiation Dispensing in Vows e. G. B. p. 66. I Advance to the opposition made to the Regal Office of Christ And first How far is it from his Glory in Heaven to believe that five words muttered by a Priest should put him under the Elements This is a new kind of Humiliation Answ You are very much mistaken if you think Humiliations inconsistent with the Regal Office of Christ (a) Heb. 1.7 When God brought his first-begotten into the world he said And let all the Angels of God worship him Yet he was then humbled to the condition of a Man a private obscure Man and even below it Psal 21.7 Opprobrium hominum abjectio plebis Certainly there is more shew of Majesty as he is placed on our Altars enrironed with Lights adored by the People Prelates and Princes the greatest Monarchs laying their Crowns and the greatest Bishops their Crosiers and Miters at his Feet than as he was in the little Cottage of his reputed Father a Carpenter picking Chips at his Mothers command or following his Father's Trade to get a Subsistence known to none regarded by none slighted by all as is ordinary to Men of that humble Calling And what shall I say of the Death of the Cross when his very Disciples disowned him G. B. pag. 67. What low thoughts of his Person must it breed in such Minds as are capable of believing this Contrivance Answ You speak like a Pagan to whom the Cross of Christ is folly 1 Cor. 1.23 rather than like a Christian to whom Christ crucified that is under the greatest Humiliation is the vertue and wisdom of God. We who have learnt to look on him as God blessed for evermore even when on the Cross and dying we can take out of all his Humiliations occasion to admire his Love and adore his Goodness to us but not to disesteem his Person or diminish our thoughts of his Majesty And let me tell you you are the first Christian I know of who ever made such Unchristian Reflections on the Humiliations of the Son of God. G. B. pag. 67 68 69 70. In these you charge us with three Crimes 1. With adding to the Laws of Christ 2. Dispensing with the Laws of God. And 3. Commanding things indifferent contrary to Christian Liberty I answer to the First and Third the Apostles did the same Acts 15.29 forbidding strangled Meat and Blood which were things indifferent and not forbidden by the Law of Christ And as to your Objection that this intrenches upon Christian Liberty I Answer out of a Person very dear to you even your self in your Vindication Confer 2. p. 172. Christian Liberty is stated in an Exemption from the Laws of Moses Shew that we impose the Law of Moses and you will say something to the purpose to our entrenching upon Christian Liberty As for Dispensing in Divine Laws when you prove what you object I will consider what to answer Your Instances are not sufficient For first as for Dispensing of Vows there is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in them as in Laws which is an Interpretation of some Circumstances in which they do not oblige For Example a Man vows to fast next Lent with Bread and Water and before that time falls sick and continues so why may not the Church declare his Vow not to oblige or change it into something else Item he vows a Pilgrimage and his Wife Family and Affairs require his presence at home If this doth not satisfie you call to mind the Proceedings of your first Reformers who opened all Cloisters and dispensed with so many Vows at one time Is it not strange that you should charge us with Dispensing with some Vows when you annul all Secondly Dissolving Wedlock Bond. I know none who practise dissolving consummated Marriages If you do accuse them if you do not ask pardon for this false Accusation Thirdly Allowing Marriages in forbidden Degrees The Degrees hindring Marriage were contained in the Ceremonial Law which expired with Christ the end of that Law. Those which now bind are established by Canon Law which was made and doth depend on the Church Fourthly The Communion under one Kind or The Chalice taken from the People contrary to the Command of Christ You can never prove that Command to all to drink of the Cup. G. B. pag. 71. Another Invasion of the Regal Power is the Pope's pretence to be universal Bishop which is termed by S. Gregory the Great to be Antichristian Answ I know no Pope who pretends to it I know none who give it them If there be any such let them answer for themselves The Popes are so far from pretending to that Title that to this day in our Canon Law it is expresly condemned C. Nullus C. Ecce D. 99. And I challenge you or any Man else to shew me any one Pope who ever required it of others or took it to himself Du-Val a Learned Doctor of Sorbon censures that Title as severely as any Protestant can do who yet is esteemed as great a Favorer of the Papal Grandeur as any of the Faculty of Paris Now I desire you to make good Sense of something you say First pag. 67. Christ hath delivered us from the bondage of corruption How is this done already when the Apostle whose words those are Rom. 8.21 promises it only after the Resurrection Secondly pag. 68. Anathema is the mildest of the Spiritual Censures we thunder against such as comply not with our tyranny What Spiritual Censure is more severe I think that the severest of all as we believe after Tertul. Apolog. cap. 39. pag. 68. Thirdly p. 69. No Authority besides Christ can reach the Conscience S. Paul was of a different opinion when he enjoins Obedience to the Commands of Princes not only for wrath but for Conscience CHAP. XXI Of Love and its two Species Repentance Mortal and Venial Sins Attrition and Contrition G. B. p. 75. I Proceed to the Third Part of my Enquiry which is the opposition made to the great Design of Christian Religion for elevating the Souls of Men into a participation of the Divine Nature Answ I never knew a Man promise more and perform less than you Your Words and Phrases are great and high your Reason and Sense low and little yet that delivered with so much Confidence as may persuade your ignorant and credulous Reader you have Reason on your side when you are to seek in the first Principles of the Matter you Discourse on You may with a homely yet a very proper Metaphor be compared to a Flying Ox whose Wings stretcht out promise a Flight
depuis deux ans il s'en etoit retiré parce qu'il avoit remarqué qu'ils alloyent trop avant dans les matieres de la Grace qu'ils paroissoyent avoir moins de soumission qu'ils ne devoyent par N. S. P. le Pape Et que depuis deux ans il s'étoit tout à fait attaché aux affaires de son salut a un dessein qu'il avoit contre les Athées les Politiques de ce temps en matiere de Religion F. P. BEVRRIER You see here in his Declaration Signed by the Curate who assisted the Author of the Provincial Letters at his Death that he had been engaged or entangled in the Party of the Jansenists that he found their Sentiments were not tolerable or Orthodox in those two capital Points of Grace and Submission to the See Apostolick That upon that score he had withdrawn from them and abandoned them yet you will have us go to him Well I will comply with you and from him I learn two things One that he blames some Cases of private Men Another that those cannot be charged on the Roman Catholick Church Thus if I stand to his Verdict your Accusation will be cast out of the Court as lying against the whole not against a part only If you say Believe him when he accuses some but not when he absolves others do you think us so weak as to give credit to him when you please and when you please to recall it What is this but to give and a◠the same time take away his Judicial Authority to name him Judge Arbiter and tie him to speak only what you please But I will leave him and speak to the thing That you may conceive what are probable Opinions you are to take notice that Moral Actions may be reduced to four Classes To such as are evidently good evidently bad uncertain and indifferent according as they are related to the Law whether Divine Ecclefiastical or Civil which is their proper Rule Those are evidently good which are conformable to the Law As to Love God or Deal with others as we would be dealt by Those are evidently bad which are contrary to the Law As to Blaspheme God or to Wrong our Neighbor Those are indifferent which are neither commanded nor forbidden As to wash our Hands before Eating used by the Pharisees Matt. 15. Those are uncertain when a Law is known but it is unknown whether it obliges in some Circumstances For Example The resisting an Enemy that attacks you on the Sabbath-day and repairing the Breaches which he makes 1 Macch. 2.38 As to the first Class Actions evidently good Probability doth not look on them as its Object The same for those which are evidently bad They can never be committed without offending God. If any hold the contrary stone him the Stones will not hit me nor any Jesuit unless by such an Accident as befel Jupiter in Lucian when directing his Thunderbolt at a Blasphemer he mist him and hit and fired Pallas her Temple And what you say of committing any Sin with directing Intention is so great a Calumny that no good Intention of opposing Popery will excuse it The third Class of Actions uncertain in themselves are properly the Object of probable Opinions whilst it is not certain whether the Law oblige hic nunc or no in these Circumstances which are not specified in the Law yet alter very much the nature of the Action There being no evident Principle to shew it to be lawful or unlawful the Judgment we frame of it must be an Opinion only and if the Reason be strong it is called a probable Opinion For Example the Jews 1 Macch. 2.40 41. hearing that their Brethren had been assaulted on a Sabbath and not resisting for fear of breaking the Sabbath by working on it were all killed resolved notwithstanding that Command to make what resistance they could on that Day Which Resolution was grounded on a probable Opinion for on the one side was the Letter of the Law prohibiting all Labor on that Day then they might think God would protect them whilst they kept his Law as he conserved their Goods whilst they went thrice a year to the Temple Exod. 34.24 and if he did not please to defend them miraculously they might think it was his will that they should glorifie him by giving their Lives rather than break his Commandment which Persuasion possessed the greatest part of Christians near the Apostles Times as may be seen in Tertull. Apologetick On the other side they considered the Law of Nature obliging to seek Self-preservation and that to expect a Miracle was to tempt God c. Hence they concluded that it was lawful to labor for Self-defence even on the Sabboth To make an Opinion probable Suarez Dis 12. de bonit malit requires that it be neither contrary to the Sense of the Church nor to any Opinions commonly received and that it be grounded on Authority and Reason great above exception All Divines even the largest require a weighty Motive a strong Reason and that even comparing it with the contrary Motives otherwise they agree that the Opinion will not be probable but dangerous rash and improbable See two large Treatises composed by R. F. Antony Teril a great Ornament of the Society and an Honor to our Nation in defence of this Rule of Conscience You will find in him a solid Discourse well grounded and gravely handled as Truth should be delivered without any of that Buffoonry which accompanies some Authors of these Times which may be tolerable in a Comedy but not in a Treatise of Divinity This I think cannot be doubted of in Thesi or in general I will not deny but in Hypothesi in particular Doubts or Questions some Men have not stuck so close to the Letter of the Law as they should as Fr. Teril doth deplore But those Mens Assertions do not take away what we have said for their private Sentiments not well grounded deserve not the name of probable Opinions The last Class of Actions are those called indifferent as not being mentioned in any Law. These must draw all the Morality they have Ex intentione sive voluntate operantis In those a good intention of the Man who produces them or his will to do them for the love of God gives them a good Morality which of themselves they have not as on the contrary a bad Intention gives them the nature of Sin. Hence what you say that our Doctrin is Any Sin may be committed innocently by directing our Intention is a great Vntruth and as great a Calumny No Intention can justifie a bad Action but a bad Intention may vitiate the best Action As to give an Alms for vanity Mat. 6.2 Bonum ex integrâ causâ malum ex quocunque defectu is a Maxim never more true than in Moral Actions We are taught in the Catholic Church not only to do good things but to do them well not
Organs by which God spake and their Words were his Words When you received the word of God says S. Paul 1 Thes 2.15 which when you received of us you received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God. Hence those Men frequently use that Phrase Haec dicit Dominus Thus says the Lord. And Faith is no farther a Theological Vertue than it relies solely and only on the Truth Veracity of God as on its Formal Object as with our Divines and out of them Dr. Pearson in his Learned Explication on the Creed teaches And in this even those Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divinely Inspired proceeded as we do resolving their Faith into the Veracity of God as well as we for their Faith was univoca of the same nature with ours with this only difference that the Formal Object was applied to them clearly and to us only obscurely The assent to such a Mystery in Christ was Science or Vision not so in any others He might say Quod scimus loquimur quod vidimus testamur Jo. 3.11 We know what we speak and we testifie what we have seen The rest must say Credimus propter quod loquimur 2 Cor. 4.13 We believe and therefore we speak In this manner Faith was first spread in the World. I say the Catholic Faith not your Protestant Faith which as it contains your positive and negative Articles otherwise it is not Protestant was never delivered by any Man Divinely Inspired but invented by your first Reformers who as I have said Chap. 22. Sect. 1. taking the whole Sum of Faith revealed topt and lopt off it as much as they pleased and from them you have not the Christian but the Protestant Faith Fides temporum non Evangeliorum A Faith of the Times not of the Gospels says Tertul. Were these the Men of God Divinely Inspired and assisted by Miracles G. B. ibid. The Doctrins about which we differ can pretend to no such Divine Original Answ You know we hold this not to be true we received all by the same Authority from the same Hand G. B. pag. 117. What Man sent of God was the first Author of the Belief of the Corporeal Presence of the Sacrifice of the Mass of the Pope's Supremacy of Purgatory of Indulgences and of all those innumerable Superstitions of which Scripture is absolutely silent Answ Christ was a Man sent of God and he was the first Author of them G. B. ibid. If these Doctrins were not the Off-spring of Revelations we cannot be obliged to believe them as such Answ Your former Legerdemain comes again another conviction of your disingenuous Proceeding This appears by these Propositions If the Bible were not the Offspring of Revelation we should not be bound to believe it If Christ were not true God we should not be bound to adore him as such Could you with patience hear a Pagan with such a Sleight undermine the Authority of the Bible or the Honor due to Christ Prove what you odiously suggest that the things you wrongfully call Superstitions are not revealed and you will do something to the purpose But you are too cunning to attempt any such Proof which you know surpasses your Strength And therefore you had rather suppose than prove it that being more proportioned to your Capacity and Religion G. B. ibid. They vouch Scriptures for Proof to some of these but these are so far stretched that their sure Retreat is in the Sanctuary of Traditions Answ You speak as Dogmatically as if it were ex Tripode Here is an Assertion without any Proof and so is a convincing Proof that you have none Tradition is indeed our Sanctuary to which you have no Claim By it we received 1. Scriptures 2. The Sense of Scriptures which is their Soul. Now when Scriptures are doubtful in any Point or as you phrase it seem not to reach home without Stretching can we have better assurance of their true meaning than by the Authority of the Church which is clearly commended to us in Scriptures themselves And in following her Sense we are certain we follow Scriptures which is the Discourse of S. Aug. lib. 1. contra Crescon cap. penult Quamvis hujus rei de Scripturis Canonicis non proferatur exemplum Scripturarum etiam in hac re à nobis tenetur veritas cum hoc facimus quod universa jam placuit Ecclesiae quam ipsarum Scripturarum commendat auctoritas ut quoniam Sacra Scriptura fallere non potest quisquis falli metuit hujus obscuritate quaestionis Ecclesiam de illâ consulat quam sine ullâ ambiguitate Sancta Scriptura demonstrat G. B. ibid. Till it be proved that an Error could not creep into the World that way we must be excused from Believing Answ Unless you prove that Errors have crept in that way you are inexcusable You actually rejected those things as Errors which were in possession all over the World unless you prove them to be such your Fact is criminal G. B. ibid. It is not possible to know what Traditions came from the Apostles Answ Habemus hic confitentem reum For if it be impossible to know what Traditions were Apostolical your Reformers Act in rejecting so many was rash and inconsiderate They had been better advised to retain all as they found them in the Church than to cut them off But your Procedure is as different in this as in the rest from S. Austin For was any thing doubted of this Saint's Method was to consult the Church and adhere to what she believed or practised as you see in his Discourse above you consult the Church too but it is only to reject her Practice and condemn her Sentiments The weight of the Authority of the Church may be sufficient to convince which are Apostolical Traditions as it convinces which are Apostolical Writings Yet we have other Signs I will instance in two one taken from S. Aug. l. 4. de Bapt. cont Donat. c. 24. Quod universa tenet Ecclesia neec à Conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi Apostolicâ traditum auctoritate rectissimè creditur We ought to believe those things to have come from the Apostles which the whole Church holds and were not introduced by Councils but were always in use To prove this it is enough that the first Persons who mention them speak of them not as of things newly begun but which were of ancient Practice The second Rule is taken out of Tertullian l. de Praescript c. 28. Age nunc omnes erraverint deceptus sit Apostolus de testimonio reddendo quibusdam nullam respexerit Spiritus Sanctus uti eam in veritatem induceret ad hoc missus est à Christo ad hoc postulatus de Patre ut esset Doctor veritatis neglexerit officium Dei villicus Christi vicarius sinens Ecclesias aliter in terris intelligere aliter credere quà m ipse per Apostolos praedicabat Ecquid
Gospel who withheld nothing of the Counsel of God from the People Answ Those words are taken out of that Speech of S. Paul to the Elders of the Church of lesser Asia Act. 20.27 which you by a gross Mistake say were the People as if the Holy Ghost had made the People Bishops to Govern the Church of God. Now if the People Govern who are Governed You are hard put to it to find Reasons against us when you are forced to such wretched Shifts Know then which I wonder any one who reads with attention that place can be ignorant of that those to whom S. Paul spake there were Bishops to whom by reason of their Office a larger measure of Faith was due to them the whole counsel of God was made known to be communicated to others not promiscuously to all but to faithful men who might be able to teach others 2 Tim. 2.2 Now thô according to the Practice of the Apostles the People amongst us are not made Teachers Pastors Prophets and Apostles yet all even to the meanest Artisan have Instructions necessary to Salvation What they are bound to believe what they are to hope for and what to doe And what need of more If any amongst us will undergo the labor of Studies the greatest Mysteries of our Faith are obvious to him Our Scriptures our Councils our Decretals our Fathers our Ecclesiastical and Prophane Histories our Divines and our Philosophers are extant in our Stationers Shops as well for the use of the meanest Christian as of the Pope Cardinals or Bishops What is then concealed from them which may ground your Accusation Our Procedure in this is so connatural that I am persuaded it cannot but be your own Practice The English Church hath drawn to some few Heads those Points of Faith which she thinks necessary to Salvation and delivers them to all in her Catechism As for the others contained either in the Bible or in the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds or in the four first General Councils she leaves it to her Children to seek them out themselves if they have will and convenience or to receive them from their Ministers and I do not see how any Governors of a Church can proceed otherwise Dare you blame this in your Mother Church Why then should you condemn us for it G. B. pag. 133. Matters of Interest are the constant Subject of their Studies and Sermons whereas others of the greatest Laws of God are seldom minded Answ If you could write this Untruth without blushing you have no Blood in your Body To confute you it will be enough to open any one Book of Devotion and hear or read a Sermon In malâ causâ non possunt aliter August Your Cause must be very bad which requires such Untruths to uphold it and ours very good seeing you have no Truth to alledge against it CHAP. XXXIII Faith not dependant on Senses G. B. p. 133. GOD hath fitted Faith and framed our Souls so harmoniously that they are congenial one to another Answ I find you in this Point very much to seek how to own a great Truth and yet to establish a contrary Falshood which is very dear to your whole Party That Faith is above Natural Reason and much more above Sense is unquestionable This you own and so place Faith on a Throne Yet something must be had against Transubstantiation and nothing occurs but from Sense Then you pull down Faith and set up Sense in her place Tantae molis erat sanctum subvertere dogma The Mysteries about God and Christ say you are exalted above the reach of our Faculties But Reason it self teacheth that it must be so Here Faith is above Reason But afterwards pag. 134. Our Faith rests on the Evidences our Senses give Here Faith does Homage to Sense Faith is an argument of things which appear not Heb. 11.1 So that it relies not on Senses for its Object doth not appear nor on Reason otherwise it would be Science if the Reason be evident or Opinion if it be uncertain So it relies only on God's Veracity which consists of two Qualities One that He cannot be deceived being Omniscient The other that he cannot deceive being Good. Neither is possible to God for to be deceived is an Error in the Understanding and to deceive argues Malice in the Will. So the Assurance we have by Faith is greater than that of our Senses which may be baffled greater than that of Reason which sometimes is mistaken in its Principles oftner deceived in its Deductions from them Thus God is true Rom. 3.4 and every man a lyar which later part imports a possibility of Error in our clearest Operations whether of Sense or of Reason To say that Faith rests on the Evidence of Senses as you do p. 134. is so contrary to the nature of Faith that both Divines and Philosophers doubt whether the same Object can * S. Thom. 2.2 q. 1. art 4. 5. be seen and believed and generally speaking deny the possibility of it And to what our Blessed Saviour said Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed Joh. 20.29 They answer with S. Gregory Aliud vidit aliud credidit He saw a Man and believed him to be God. To what purpose then are Miracles if Faith doth not rely on them Ans To dispose our Understanding to receive with attention and submission the Word of God by shewing it was God who spoke And when Christ appeals to his Works If I do not the Works of my Father do not believe me but if I do them if you will not believe me believe the Works Joh. 10.38 he assigns only the outward Motive of Belief by which his Hearers were either drawn to Believe or made inexcusable if they persisted in their Incredulity Now it is the grossest Error imaginable to think that Faith rests on all those things which dispose to it otherwise it would rest on the skill in Tongues which is necessary to understand the original Scriptures Item on the Masters who Teach them on the Stationer who Prints them c. But what if the Man who confirms his Mission by evident Miracles teach things contrary to Sense or Reason Ans Our Duty is to silence both these and hearken to him The Arms of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought 2 Cor. 10. Who says every thought comprehended both those grounded on Sense and others more Speculative But to say as you do that Reason must be subject to Faith but not Senses is very preposterously to put Reason the Mistress under Faith and Sense the Servant above it You declaim against Catholics for acknowledging in the whole Church an Authority in order to the Word of God much less than that which you give to the Senses of every particular Man. What an occasion
or S. Paul composing his Epistles nor so much neither seeing these were so assisted as to Compose Holy Scripture when the Church only pretends to Expound the Word of God. How doth such an Assistance of the Divine Spirit derogate from the Infallibility of God from which it is derived But Her Exposition must be admitted say you though contrary to the Sense As if Infallibility did not exclude all possibility of such a wrested Exposition The Infallibility of the Church may slight your Attempts whilst you are armed only with such Straws We have seen your Arguments let us see your Answers to ours G. B. pag. 44. The Gates of Hell not prevailing against the Church Mat. 16.18 proves not the pretence of Infallibility Why not Learned Sir Not a word of that but as if you had forgotten what you were about you fall upon the English Translation of that Text which you say deserves amendment and I will leave you to be taught better Manners by your Fellow Ministers or your Mother the Kirk of Scotland G. B. pag. 45. The Spirit leading into all truth Joan. 16.13 advances not the Cause a whit since that Promise relates to all Believers Here is another Assertion without Proof as if we were bound to take your word Those words are part of the Sermon after the last Supper at which only the Apostles were present and which was directed immediately to them You should then give some Reason why they relate to all Believers althô spoken only to the Apostles G. B. The Church's being built on the Rock Peter proves nothing for a Series of Bishops of Rome seeing the other Apostles were also Foundations Answ If it prove all Bishops together Infallible firm in Faith as a Rock it confounds your Reformation which is condemned by them all G. B. The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 16.19 import no more than that Peter was to open the Gospel When you shall give in a Proof we will consider it till then I will believe not you but Christ who 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adds the Office of the Keys to open and shut not the Gospel but Heaven by loosing and binding Sins G. B. pag. 46. It is certain that Vice as well as Error is destructive of Religion If then there be no Authority for suppressing of Vice but that same of the Discipline of the Church it is not incongruous there be no other Authority for suppressing of Error but that same of the Discipline of the Church Answ It is certain that both in the old and new Law several Persons have been secured against Error who were subject to Sin. S. Peter was truly reprehensible (a) Gal. 2.11 for a thing he did not for any thing he writ or preached The same of David of Salomon c. For this reason our Blessed Saviour commanded (b) Mat. 23.23 all to follow the Doctrin of the Scribes and Pharisees because they sat on the Chair of Moyses but not their Example So your Question why God should provide more against Error in Faith than against Vice in Manners can find no place amongst Catholics who are taught to adore God's holy Will even when they understand it not and to (c) 2 Cor. 10.5 Bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ To you who think it absurd to deny a Man the use of his Reason in Judging and Diseerning all things and submit even Divinely revealed Truths to its Tribunal to you I say we leave the search of those Depths and discovery of those Mysteries G. B. pag. 48. I could prove from History that General Councils have erred that Popes have been Heretics Answ By what you have done we may guess what you can do Your Learning appears by your Writings as also your Judgment in using it We have seen many Proofs of it and shall see more in this small Tract I will add to them one Instance out of another Work of yours Observations on the First Canon of the Apostles pag. 66. You prove that anciently Priests could Administer the Sacrament of Confirmation out of the First Canon of the First Council of Orange When it is evident that That Canon doth not give Priests power to Administer the Sacrament of Confirmation but commands them to use Chrism in Baptism since when every Divine of the First Year knows that Vertical Chrismation hath been a Ceremony of that First and mysterious Sacrament Such Mistakes as these are incident to such as are bred in a Congregation where Ceremonies are abrogated G. B. pag. 49. We are not the Servants of Men nor bound to their Authority for none can be a Judge but where he hath Power to Try and to Coerce Now none but God can search our Hearts so none but he can be Judge Answ The Independent and Quaker and all who endure with regret Prince and Prelate Canon and Civil Law under pretence of Evangelical Liberty will thank you for this CHAP. XIV Of Merits G. B. p. 50. IF any have derogated from the value of the Satisfaction of that Lamb of God they have offered the utmost Indignity to the highest Love and committed the Crime of the greatest Ingratitude imaginable Answ Transeat totum what then G. B. Who would requite the most unconceivable Love with such a sacrilegious Attempt Answ None that I know of But say you how guilty are they of this who would set the Merits and Works of Men in an equality with the Blood of God Answ I know none such if you do point them out for Punishment no Catholic is concerned in them G. B. pag. 51. It is true this Doctrin of Merit is so explained by some of that Church that there remains no ground of quarrelling it except for the Terms sake which is indeed odious and improper thô early used by the Ancients in an innocent Sense But many of that Church acknowledge there can be no Obligation on God by our Works but that which his own Promise binds upon him Answ Here is one of the malicious Sleights of you and your Brethren when you cannot with any colour accuse the Doctrin of our Church to pretend it is only the Doctrin of some few Persons that you may persuade your Disciples the generality of Catholics hold the contrary The Council of Trent contains what all Catholics Subscribe to and this is the Doctrin of that Council in this Point Concil Trid. Sess 6. cap. 16. Benè operantibus usque in finem in Deo sperantibus proponenda est vita aeterna tanquam gratia filiis Dei per Christum Jesum misericorditer promissa tanquem merces ex ipsius Dei promissione bonis ipsorum operibus meritis fideliter reddenda To those who persevere in good Works even to the end of this Life and who hope in God Life everlasting is proposed both as Grace mercifully promised to the adopted Children of God through Jesus Christ our Lord as also as a Reward due in vertue