and in her prayers more and more instantly recommends her Sonne it is not the place of the dead body but the Mothers lively affection perhaps excited and quickened by the memory of the place which succours the soul of the deceased For doubtless it doth not unprofitably concern the religious mind of one that prayeth to consider at once both who is recommended and to whom he is recommended Even as we see men that pray do commonly so dispose the members of their body as usually is most proper and effectuall for suppliants to do as when they bend their knees when they spread their hands when they prostrate their bodies on the ground or do any other visible action of that nature although I say their invisible will and hearts intention be known well enough unto God who needs none of these signs to make him see what is in the heart of man yet certainly the man who prayeth doth move himself to pray to lament to grieve by such motions and postures as those much more humbly much more fervently and devoutly then otherwise he would Yea and how it comes to pass I know not seeing these motions of the body are not made but by some precedent motion of the mind yet certain it is that by these externall actions visibly done that other invisible motion which caused them is reciprocally increased and by this means that affection of mind which preceded those Actions as the cause of them is it self also increased because they are done and yet notwithstanding when it happens that a man is held in such sort or perhaps tyed by constraint that he cannot so dispose his corporall members as willingly he would his interiour man ceaseth not therefore to pray nor yet to prostrate himself before Almighty God in the more secret Cabinet of a contrite heart In like manner truly it much imports where a man can place the dead body of him for whose soul he intends to supplicate almighty God Observe this that it much imports even wherthe body is interred because both his precedent affection did chuse an holy place and also having put the body there the remembrance of the same place revives and increases that affection which preceded it But neverthelesse a religious friend being determined to give buriall to him whom he loveth although he cannot perhaps obtain to bury him where he would yet let him not by any means forbear necessary prayers in his recommendation for whatsoever becometh of the dead body Rest of the souls to bee procured even after death the Rest of his soul must be procured which soul of his when it left the body carried its sense along with it by which is distinguished in what condition every one is after death whither good or euil Nor doth the spirit of man after departure expect that its life should be any way relieved now by that flesh to which it self when time was afforded life which life at the hour of death it carried away with it self and shall restore again when it returnes For this is certain the flesh procures not the merit of Resurrection to the spirit but the spirit to the flesh whither it revives unto pain or glory CHAP. VI. VVE read in the Chronicles of the Church which Eusebius wrote in Greek and after him Ruffinus translated into Latine that the bodies of some Martyrs in France were thrown unto dogs and that what the dogs left of them together with their very bones was afterwards consumed with fire and the ashes cast into the river Rhosne so that not the least part of them could remain for memory Which we cannot imagine was permitted by the Divine Providence for any other reason then to teach Christians that by them who for the honour and Confession of Christ do despise their own lives the want of buriall after death is least of all to be regarded For out of all doubt this thing which was executed with so great cruelty upon the Martyrs bodies would never have been suffered by God if the victorious Souls themselves could thereby have been hindered of their Crowns and rest Hence therefore it is clearly manifest that our Lord saying Fear not those who kill the body and have no more to do meant not that men should act nothing upon the bodies of his servants deceased as well as living but that whatsoever they should be suffered to do nothing should be done that might disturb their happinesse nothing that should affect them with any sense of grief nothing that should hinder the perfect resurrection and restauration of their bodies in due time CHAP. VII ALL which notwithstanding by reason of that naturall and inbred affection which is in men in respect whereof it is said that no man ever hated his own flesh if they perceive that any thing be likely after their death to be wanting unto their bodies which the solemnity of funerall would require at least according to the custome of the countrey and place where they live we see they cannot forbear to be sad like men and sollicitous for that provision touching their bodies before death of which when they are once dead they shall not be sensible at all Yea so far doth this extend that in the book of Kings we read how God Almighty himself by one Prophet threatneth another who had transgressed his command that his body should not be buried in the Sepulchre of his Fathers The words of Scripture are these Thus saith our Lord 3 Reg. 13.21 Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of our Lord and hast not kept the Commandment which our Lord thy God commanded thee but camest back and hast eaten bread and drank water in the place in which our Lord commanded thee not to eat bread nor drink water thy carcase shall not be brought into the sepulchre of thy Fathers Which punishment if we consider it according to the Gospel where as hath been often said we are taught not to fear after our departure any thing that may be done to our dead members it will scarce seem to be any punishment at all but if we reflect upon that humane affection which all men naturally bear to their own flesh a man can hardly choose but be contristated even while he liveth for that which when he is dead he shall not feel In this respect therefore it was a punishment unto the Prophet that he could not forbear to grieve at present for that which should afterward befall his body though when it should indeed befall he were sure enough to have no sense of it For the will of our Lord doubtlesse was to chastise his servant thus far onely who had transgressed his command not so much by any particular pravity of his own will as through the fallacy of another who deceived him and made him think he had obeyed the command of God when he did not And it were very hard to think otherwise as that his body being killed by the tearings of
happy But yet because this knowledge or contemplation of the Divine Majesty is inseparably accompanied with a certain infinite and ineffable joy or pleasure conceived upon that sight and by which the sight or contemplation it self seems to be perfected therfore we say that in regard of operation or the exercise of Beatitude that it is compleated in the will which with an infinite delight doth embrace that good sight and consent to be absorpt and drowned in the glorious Abyss thereof to all Eternity As in like manner we say of man that he consists essentially in the union of a rationall Soul with the body but yet that he is perfected in regard of operations by such accidents as do either necessarily or contingently follow that union to which sense the Philosopher also saith Delight hath the same relation to Felicity which Beauty hath to youth The XI Conclusion That perfect Blessednesse cannot be attained in this life First because in this life we have no immediate knowledge of God we see him not but by and through the creatures and as it were in such a glasse as the Phantasie or some inferiour faculty of our soul is able to present unto us which manner of knowledge being so imperfect the soul of man finds no satisfaction therein that is to say no Beatitude no full content Secondly because as Boetius saith Blessednesse is a state consummate or perfected with a concurrence of all good but in this mortall life there never was seen nor ever shall be such a generall confluence of All Good Things upon any one man as that nothing should be wanting either to his body or to his soul especially seing that Immortality the Crown of the Bodies perfections cannot possibly be attained here no more then the certain hour of a mans death can be foreseen and that knowledge which is the prerogative royall of the soul is found but by very few and that never absolutely clear in this life never but darkened and eclipsed with a multitude of errours Not to speak of those inferiour and lesse valuable goods of fortune and the body health wealth c. the least of which yet being wanting doth infinitely disturb our union with God and dayly yea hourly deject us from that state wherein True Felicity consists The XII Conclusion Yet notwithstanding a certain Inchoate Felicity or as 't were the First Fruits of happinesse may be had in this life In the heart of man we may conceive a double rest viz. either of the appetite it self or of the motions and stirrings of the appetite The former which is indeed a beginning of happinesse a man may perhaps perfectly obtain in this life for it is nothing else but the determining or settling of our desire upon that object which is in Truth our last end 'T is true in a generall notion all men do naturally desire to be happy because 't is naturall for every thing to desire at least that perfection which is proper to his kind yet in particular or in regard to their indeavours or motions to attain happinesse they do as generally mistake few of them knowing where to find it or in what Thing it consists and therefore we see their desires thereof are commonly unequall irregular and restlesse But when once a man hath found that his happinesse consisteth in the Contemplation or knowledge of God and is resolved to make it his chief business study and care to advance himself therein his appetite becomes in that respect satisfied and quiet But yet again because this knowledge of God is not perfect in this life but rather in continuall advancement towards perfection therefore we say in that second sense that the appetite is not satisfied that is to say not the motions and stirrings thereof which indeed never cease but are continually labouring and endeavouring after greater perfection in that Contemplation and this so much the more incessantly and strongly by how much a man comes nearer to perfect Beatitude and receives as it were beforehand some glimpses and Irradiations thereof And this is that we call Felicity Inchoate or in its First-fruits The XIII Conclusion That Christians have this Felicity Inchoate in a greater measure then the best of Philosophers The reason is because the Contemplation and Fruition of God which good Christians have are in themselves greater and more perfect then those which the most excellent Philosophers could ever arrive unto By what I have elsewhere said it is manifest that a Christians life is not founded upon any naturall principle either within or without man but in something supernaturall that is to say in the Grace of God by which also he is elevated unto a participation of the Divine nature Seeing therefore that the operation of every thing followeth its Essence for every thing worketh so far as it can agreeably to its own nature by how much the nature or essence of any thing is more perfect by so much perfecter also is it in its operation or working But Grace is a thing of a much nobler and more perfect essence then nature and therefore the operations or effects which proceed from thence must needs excell those of nature And seeing again that by how much the operation or Action of any Thing is more perfect by so much a greater and more perfect delight is conceived thereupon it must needs follow that those spirituall Contentments and Gusts which good Christians have with God and in God do infinitely excel those of philosophers which at best are but naturall and such as the principle is from whence they proceed Besides seeing that happinesse consisterh in the Contemplation of God the greater knowledge a man hath of God the greater that is the more perfect is his Contemplation and Fruition of him But this is certain that Christians have greater knowledge of God then philosophers as well in regard of the light of Grace which perfects that of nature and reveals unto Christians many excellent mysteries altogether unknown to philosophers as also in regard of that Purity of heart which as we have shewed elswhere true Christians do injoy in a more excellent measure then others The delights therefore which Christians injoy in their Contemplation of God are much greater in themselves and more perfect then those which the best of philosophers could have And seeing that this happinesse Inchoate which we speak of doth consist in that Contemplation and Fruition of God which is attainable in this life it follows that it is more perfectly attained by Christians then philosophers Lastly this happinesse Inchoate is so much greater and more perfect by how much it cometh nearer to Felicity consummate or that of the next life But the Felicity of Christians which is here begun cometh much nearer to Felicity Consummate then that of philosophers for as much as no man shall ever actually attain heaven but by Grace which the philosophers neither had nor knew it is manifest therefore that true Christians are more
comprehend yea afford all those goods which Secular men do so much desire though not in such manner as they commonly affect and hunt after them but in a better that is in a due and congruous subordination of them unto superiour goods For the Christian life being as it is a life of wisdome a life of most perfect prudence and discretion when we see that the things which the world so much admireth riches honours pleasures c. are by them viz. good Christians in a manner neglected we cannot but conclude that they find themselves satisfied otherwise that is possessed of riches honours pleasures c. of a more noble and more excellent nature then those be which they seem to despise For having the grace of God and our Saviour Christ himself dwelling in them by Faith they conceive themselves thereby in possession of so great a good that in comparison thereof there is little else worthy of their desires They have also hereby an assured hope to recover in the Resurrection whatsoever Beauty or other ornaments of the body here they might seem to want yea in that degree of excellency and glory which the heart of man cannot now conceive and to injoy with Christ for ever that life and endlesse felicity of which the Apostle speaketh Eye hath not seen nor the ear heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive what Things God hath prepared for them that love him And hence we observe that good Christians be generally of a chearfull and pleasing Conversation not seeming either to desire or to fear any thing overmuch in this world and to be as it were out of the Gun-shot of inordinate sorrow according as it is written Nothing shall grieve the Just man of whatsoever happeneth unto him and as it was said of the Apostles of our Saviour They went from the Councell rejoycing that they were held worthy to suffer reproch for the name of Christ The XIX Conclusion THat it is no hard matter to attain Christian life and therein by Gods holp to persevere unto the end The principall thing required thereto is the grace of God that grace I mean which is not onely a meer gift of God or freely given but that which maketh a man formally gracious with God or just This indeed is onely to be had from God but he through his Infinite and Immense Goodnesse being so ready and inclined to give it unto them that ask in that respect there is no difficulty to attain Christian life For if he spared not his own sonne as the Apostle argueth but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him give us and that easily all Things There is also required some disposition on our part to receive the grace of God which yet renders not the attaining of Christian life nor perseverance therein through Grace difficult or hard For can it be hard for a man to do that which is in his own power Can it be hard for a man to do that which naturall reason tells him is best is for his own good and in his own election Let a man therefore but obserue three precepts and he shall find the attaining and perseverance in Christian life by Gods grace easie The first is That he have continuall Thoughts and reflexions upon the misertes of Humane life and especially upon the hour and issues of his death For seeing that man dyeth as all other creatures do he ought often thus to think and reason with himself To what purpose do I thus labour What good do all these Riches and Honours do me I am sure to dye and leave them all I am sure to dye yet the hour and time of my death is most uncertain What if I dye to day as 't is possible enough what good would it then do me to have had the whole world at command Or thus If the condition of man and beast be alike as in death we seem truly we men are a great deal more unhappy then they for unto bruit beasts Nature it self provideth a convenient food convenient cloathing houses and other necessaries for their life which we men have not but with a great deal of labour and pains Beasts are satisfied with that onely which is present never taking care for the future as man doth who is never contented with what he hath but still desiring insatiably more and vexed with a Million of cares for that which is to come Beasts are not subject to half those in firmities of body which man is sicknesse weaknesse wearinesse c. and for those of the mind tribulations anxieties distresses which we suffer in infinite variety every day they know them not Beasts are content with a little their desire is presently fatisfied with but a small provision but the desires of man are without end his heart is restlesse inscrutably perverse and miserable with all Lastly beasts have no Thoughts of any future life nor of the Immortality of Soul about which men are extreamly perplexed almost in continuall dread and apprehensions of going after all the troubles and toylings of this life unto pains eternall If therefore our soul be not indeed Immortall there is no creature so miserable as man But if it be Immortall then certainly our finall rest is not here but must be sought in some other life And seeing that it were an absurd thing to imaegine that man whom both God and nature have made the most noble and most excellent of all other Creatures should yet be found to be of them all the most miserable we must confesse some other happiness reserved for him or else deny the providence of God over his works For seeing that in the world many Things daily appear new which were not before and that nothing can possibly make it self or give Being to it self it cannot be doubted but that every Thing in the world is made to be by something else which was before it unlesse we will be such fools as to say All things come to passe by chance that is by nothing for chance is nothing but our ignorance or non-praeâ—â—sion of the true cause a paradox sufficiently cenfuted by the very order of the universe and that wonderfull regularity which is observed yea sensible in all the proceedings of nature And seeing again that in causes subordinate we may not run from one to an other in infinitum we must pitch at last upon some one which shall be the first and generall cause of all and This is confessed to be God whence also we see that without any discourse of Argument but by meer instinct or nature men generally acknowledge God and also worship him in some way or other nor was there ever man found that could settle in the opinion that There was no God And that God hath providence over the world the course of nature as we said even now sufficiently sheweth and the Philosophers themselves confesse saying that the work of nature is the
between his folly and the most sincere truth of the Divine Majesty For a wise man according to the ability which he hath received doth imitate God and a fool hath nothing nearer unto him which he may profitably imitate and follow then a wise man when because as I said it is not easie to understand by reason it was necessary that certain miracles should be proposed and set before mens eyes which fools do use much more commodiously then their understandings to the end that the life and manners of men moved with authority might first be purged and made clean and so they might be enabled to understand reason And therefore when as man was to be imitated and yet no confidence to be placed in him how could the Divine Majesty shew greater signs of his favour and liberality then that the sincere eternall and unchangeable wisdome of God unto whom it behoves us to cleave and adhere should vouchsafe to take humane nature upon him who did not onely do those things which might serve to invite us to follow God but did also endure and suffer those things whereby we were discouraged from following of him For whereas no man can obtain the most certain and chiefest good unlesse he doth fully and perfectly love it which by no means will be brought to passe so long as men fear the miseries of the body and the things that are subject to fortune and chance he by his wonderfull birth and admirable works hath purchased for us love and charity and hath excluded terrour and fear by his death and resurrection And finally he hath shewed himself to be such an one in all other things too long to be here expressed and set down that we may know and perceive hereby how farre the divine clemency can reach and be extended and how farre mans infirmity can be elevated and extolled CHAP. XVI That Miracles do procure Belief THis believe it is a most wholesome authority this at the first is a withdrawing of our minds from an earthly habitation this is a conversion from the love of this world to the true God It is onely authority which moveth fools to make haste unto wisdome So long as we cannot understand sincere things it is indeed a miserable thing to be deceived by authority but truly it is more miserable not to be moved thereby For if the Divine Providence doth not rule and govern humane affairs we ought not to busie and trouble our selves about Religion but if even the frame and species of all things which we must believe proceeds and flows from some fountain of the truest beauty doth as it were publickly and privately exhort all the more noble and braver spirits both to seek God in I know not what inward conscience and to serve him we ought not to despair but that the same God hath constituted and ordained some authority upon which if we lean and rely as upon a sure step we may be elevated and lifted up unto him This authority reason being set aside which to understand to be true and sincere it is a very hard matter for fools to do as I have often said doth move and excite us two manner of wayes partly by miracles and partly by the great number and multitude of followers It is certain that a wise man needs none of these things but now we are discoursing how we may become wise men that is how we may cleave and adhere unto the truth which is a thing that doubtlesse cannot be done with a foul and impure mind the uncleannesse whereof is to expound it briefly the love of all things whatsoever besides it self and God from which filth by how much any one is more purged and cleansed by so much the more easily doth he behold the truth And therefore to desire to see the truth that thou mayst cleanse the mind when therefore it ought to be cleansed that thou mayest see the truth is certainly a perverse and a preposterous thing Wherefore to a man that is not able to behold the truth that he may be made fit to see it and may suffer himself to be purged and cleansed authority is at hand which without doubt receives her strength and vigour partly by miracles and partly by the number and multitude of followers as I said a little before A miracle I call any hard or unwonted thing whatsoever which appears above the expectation and power of the wonderer In which kind nothing is more fit for the common people and for men that are absolutely sottish and foolish then that which is applyed and proposed to the senses But these again are divided into two sorts for some there be that onely move men to wonder and admiration and others which besides do winne and purchase great favour and good will For if any one should see a man fly he would onely wonder at it because it is a thing which besides the beholding of it yields to the spectatour no commodity nor profit But if any one being afflicted with a grievous and desperate sicknesse shall so soon as the disease is commanded to depart recover his health he shall overcome the wonder of the cure by the charity of the curer Such things were done as many as were sufficient when God appeared to men in the shape of a true man The sick were cured Mat. 9.6 13 15 16. Mat. 9.7 22. Mar. 3.5 10. Joh. 4.53 the leaprous were cleansed Mat. 8.3 Mar. 4 2. Luke 5.3 7.22 going was restored to the lame Mat. 11.5 sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf Luke 18.42 Joh 9.7 The men of that time saw water turned into wine Joh. 2.9 five thousand people filled with five loaves of bread Mat. 14.20 21. men walking upon the sea Mat. 14.25 Joh. 6.19 21.7 and the dead rising from death to life Luke 7.15 8.55 So some miracles were done for the cure of the body by a more manifest benefit and some for the cure of the soul by a more hidden sign but they were all for the help of mankind by the testimony of the Divine Majesty thus did the Divine Majesty then draw unto it the straying souls of mortall men Why sayst thou are not these things done now Because they would not move unlesse they were wonderfull and if they were common and usuall they were not wonderfull For bring unto me a man when he first sees the courses of day and night and the most constant order of celestiall things the 4. changes of the yeare the falling and returning of the leeves unto the trees the infinite vertue of seeds the beauty of light the varieties of colours sounds smels and tasts and if wee can but speak with him we shall find him wholly astonished and quite overcome with the sight of these miracles and yet we despise and we make and account of al these things not because they are easily known for what is more obscure then the causes of them but for that we are accustomed
Very necessary it is being thus fore-warned of God that before all things we take great heed not to be perverted and seduced by erroneous teacheâ—s or false Prophets but on the contrary do diligently preserve our faith the light of our souls the root foundation of al goodness with our which it is impossible to please God as S. Paul saith Wherin we can take no better course no way more sure then to repair to the time of the primitive Church when the bloud of Christ was yet fresh bleeding in mens hearts when the Gospel was instantly preached firmly beleeved sincerely practised confirmed by miracles established by the death of so many Martyrs especially being exhorted hereunto by the holy scriptures for as by them we are admonished of the dangers and troubles of the later dayes so are we for a preservative against them sent to ancient times to conduct us to Gods true religion Stand saith the Prophet leremy Chap. 6. upon the way and inquire of the ancient paths which is a good way walk in that and you shal find rest for your selves Solomon likewise in his Proverbs admonisheth us in this sort Do not passe the ancient bounds which thy Fathers have set down Chap. 22. And in Ecclesiasticus Ch. 8. Do not set light by the report of thy elders for they have learned of their forefathers because of them shalt thou learn understanding and in the time of necessity shalt thou give answer To the end therefore gentle Reader that thou be not carried away with the sweet benedictions of those licentious masters with which the later times according to the predictions of the Apostles should be much pestered nor seduced with the erroneous doctrine of those false Prophets and false Christs of which the son of God the true Prophet and true Christ hath forewarned us and that thou mayest find out a good way to walk in and keep thee within the ancient bounds set down by our forefathers and by their report learn wisdome and understanding I am to request thee to vouchsafe the reading of this old Father newly translated and I nothing doubt but thou wilt give that censure which the Queen of Sheba gave of the wisdome of Solomon 3. Reg 10. The second reason which set me forward was for that I find this book not written against some one or a few particular false teachers as St. Augustine and divers ancient learned Doctours did against the Arians Pelagians and such like but against all heresie or erroneous doctrine whatsoever which is a thing of so great importance as I know not what can be devised more What gold were too much or what treasures too dear for that medicine which had virtue to cure all diseases False doctrine and heresie is a great sore a canker more pestilent then any corporall infirmity whatsoever seeing this worketh onely the temporall destruction of our body but that causeth death both of body and soul everlasting In other books we find the confutation of some speciall point of false doctrine in many the overthrow of divers but to destroy all at one blow and those each so contrary to themselves so distinct for time so divers for place so many for number is a property peculiar onely to this most excellent treatise and therefore it may fitly be compared to that miraculous pond whereof we read in the Gospell John 5. which cured all diseases for as that water moved by the Angell cured whatsoever infirmity of him that first entred in so this book written no doubt by the motion of the holy Ghost hath force to cure any such as is corrupted with erroneous doctrine or to preserve him from all infection if he vouchsafe to enter in that is to read it to consider and weigh diligently what is said and discoursed of The reason why this book hath this rare quality in my opinion is because it sheweth the right way of expounding Gods divine Scripture in which so many to the great danger of mens souls do so greatly go a stray and therefore as David overthrowing Golias the chief Champion of the camp put all the Philistins to flight 1 Reg. 17. so no marvell though this ancient Authour discovering the false expositions and glosses of sacred Scripture the principall pillar of all poisoned doctrine overthroweth also all wicked heresie The third and last motive which incouraged me to this labour and ought partly to move thee to the reading is the brevity of the work the finenesse of the method the eloquence of the stile and therefore if long and large volumes do little please this is short which cannot cause dislike if confusion be ingrate full a methodicall order can not but like thee if a stile harsh and course fitteth not thy taste then I trust that which is fine pleasant and delicate will content thy humour Onely I am to crave pardon that my rough and rude English nothing answereth his smooth and curious Latin And therefore I could wish thee if skill serveth rather to consult with the authour himself then to use the help of his rude interpreter otherwise for such as be not of so deep reading for whom especially I have taken this pain I am to desire that they nothing dislike the sovereign medicine for the wooden box nor the exquisite and rare gemme for the course casket These be the reasons Gentle Reader which especially moved me to the translating of this antient and learned Father I beseech thee as thou tenderest the salvation of thy soul that thou wouldest vouchsafe to reade him attentively in whom thou shalt see clearly as in a glasse the faith of our fore-fathers the religion of the primitive Church and in whom thou shalt find by Gods word and authority of sacred Scripture the madnesse of all Hereticks crushed in pieces and that in a short methodicall and eloquent Treatise The Holy Ghost which moved no doubt this antient learned Father to the writing of this Work incline and move thy heart to the diligent reading and sincere following of the same * ⎠* An Advertisement in the reading of the XIII Chapter of the Verity of Christian Faith THe Reader is desired to take notice that wheresoever in this treatise the term Adoration is applied unto the Mother of God or to any other person or thing beside God himself it imports only Dulia that is such an inferiour degree of reverence and veneration as creatures may be capable of according to the severall degrees of excellency which is in them and according at the Word is frequently understood in Holy Scripture viz. Gen 23 7. 12. †18 2. †19 1. †50 18. Acts. 10 25. Dan. 2 46. Matth. 2 2.8.1 Chron. 29 20. Exod. 3 15. †33. 10. Jos 5 14. 15. Apoc. 19 10. †22 9. and not to signifie that supream Honour and estimation which is incommunicable and proper onely to God Almighty and commonly called from S. Austin Latria Errata's in the Profit of Believing In
comprehendeth all things that be truely universall and that shall we do if we follow vniuersalitie antiquitie consent Uniuersalitie shall we follow thus if we professe that one faith to be true which the Church throughout the world acknowledgeth and confesseth Antiquity shall we follow if we disagree not any whit in opinion from them whom all know that our holy Elders and Fathers reverenced and had in great estimation Consent shall we likewise follow if amongst our forefathers we hold the definitions and opinions of all or almost of all the Priests and Doctours together CHAP. II. WHat then shall a Christian Catholick do if some small part of the Church cut it self off from the communion of the Universall Faith What else but prefetre the health of the whole body before the pestiferous and corrupt member What if some new infection goeth about to corrupt not onely a little part but the whole Church Then likewise shall he regard and be sure to cleave unto antiquity which cannot possibly be seduced by any crafty noveltie What if in Antiquity it self and amongst the Antient Fathers be found some errour of two or three men or haply of some one City or Province Then shall he diligently take heed that he preferre the decrees and determinations of the Universall Antient Church before the temerity or folly of a few What if some such case happen where no such thing can be found Then shall he labour by conferring and laying together amongst them selves the antient Fathers opinions not of all but of those onely which living at diverse times and sundry places yet remaining in the communion and faith of one Catholick Church were approved masters and guides to be followed and whatsoever he perceiveth not one or two but all joyntly with one consent plainly usually constantly to have holden written and taught let him know that without all scruple or doubt he ought to beleeve hold and professe that faith that doctrine that religion But for more perspicuity and light of that which hath been said each part is to be made clear with severall examples and somewhat more at large to be amplified least too much brevity breed obscurity and overmuch hast in speech take away the substance and weight of the matter When in the time of Donatus of whom came the Donatists a great part of Africk fell headlong into his furious errour and unmindfull of her name religion and profession preferred the sacrilegious terrietity of one man before the Church of Christ then all those of Afriek which detested that profane Schisme and united themselves to the universall Churches of the world they onely amongst them all remaining with in the bosome of the Catholick Church could be saved leaving certainly a notable example to their posteritie how ever after by good custome the sound doctrine of all men ought to be preferred before the madnesse of one or a few Likewise when the heresie of the Arians had neer corrupted not a little part but well nigh the whole world in such sort that almost all the Bishops of the latine Church deceived partly by force partly by fraud mens minds were covered as it were with a mist what especially in so great a confusion was to be followed then whosoever was a lover and a follower of Christ and preferred ancient faith before new errour was not touched with any spot of that infection The danger of which time doth abundantly shew what calamity entreth in when a new doctrine is admitted For at that time not onely small matters but things of great importance were overthrown for not onely alliance kindred friends families but also cities commonwealths countries Provinces yea at length the whol Romane Empire was snaken and overturned For when the profane novelty of the Arians like some Bellona or sury had first taken captive the Emperour afterward subduing all pallaces to her new laws never ceased after that to trouble and confound all things private and publicke holy and not holy putting no difference betwixt good and truth but as it were from an high place did strike all at her pleasure Then married women were defiled widows spoiled virgins violated Abbeys suppressed Clergie-men vexed Deacons beaten Priests banished Dungeons Prisons Mines filled with holy men of which the greater part banished the Citie like exiles pined and consumed away amongst deserts dens and wilde beasts with nakednesse thirst and hunger And all this misery had it any other beginning but because humane superstition was admitted for heavenly doctrine well grounded antiquity subverted by wicked novelty whilest our Superiours decrees were violated our Fathers ordinances broken the Canons of our auncestours abrogated and whilest the licentious libertie of prophane and new curiofitie kept not it self within the chaste limites of sacred and sound antiquitie But perhaps we devise all this of hatred to Noveltie and affection to Antiquitie Who so thinketh at least let him give credit to blessed Ambrose who in his second book to Gratian the Emperour bewailing the sharp persecution of that time saith thus But now O God quoth he we have sufficiently washed and purged with our ruine and blood the death of the Confessours the banishment of Priestes and the wickednes of so great impiety it hath manifestly appeared that they cannot be safe which have violated and forsaken their faith Likewise in his third book of the same work Let us therfore quoth he keep the precepts of our elders not with temerity of rude presumption violate those seales descending to us by inheritance None durst open that propheticall book close sealed not the elders not the powers not the Angells not the Archangells to explicate and interpret that book was a prerogative only reserved to Christ The Preistlike book sealed by the Confessours and consecrated with the death of many Martirs which of us dare presume to open which book such as were compelled to unseale notwithstanding afterward when the fraud was condemned they sealed again they which durst not violate or touch it became Martirs how can we deny their faith whose victorie we so praise commend We commend them I say O venerable Ambrose we surely commend them and with praises admire them For who is so senselesse that although he cannot arrive to their perfection desireth not yet to imitate whom no force could them remove from defending their aunceâ—ours faith not threatnings not flatterings not life not death not the King not the Emperor not men not Devills those I say whom for maintenance of religious antiquitie our Lord vouchsased of so high and so great a grace that by them he would repaire the overthrowen Churches give life to the dead spiritualtie restore the overthrown glory of Priests blot out wash away with a fountaine of heavenly teares which God put into the harts of the Bishops those wicked not books but blottes and blurres of new impiety finally to restore almost the whole world shaken with the cruell tempest of upstart heresie to the antient faith
reason to believe and embrace unheard of millions of fables and tales CHAP. VII That we ought not to judge rashly of the holy Scriptures and how and with what care and diligence the true Religion is to be sought for BUt now if I can I will accomplish that which I have begun and I will treat with thee after such a sort that in the mean time I will not expound the Catholick Faith but I will shew unto them that have a care of their souls some hope of divine fruit and of finding out the Truth to the end they may search out the great mysteries and secrets of Faith He that seeks after the true Religion doth without doubt either believe already that the Soul is immortall unto whom that Religion may be commodious and profitable or he desires to find her to be so in the same Religion and therefore all Religion is for the souls sake for the nature of the body howsoever it doth put him to no care and solicitude especially after death whose soul hath taken a course by which it may become blessed Wherefore true Religion if there be any was either onely one chiefly instituted for the souls sake and this soul erres and is foolish as we see untill she gets and possesses wisdome and that perhaps is the true Religion if I seek out and enquire the cause of her erring I find it to be a thing which is extremely hidden and obscure But do I send thee to fables or do I enforce thee to believe any thing rashly I say our soul being entangled and drowned in errour and folly seeks after the way of venty and truth if there be any such to be found if thou findest not thy self thus inclined and disposed pardon me and make me I pray thee partaker of thy wisdome but if thou doest let us I beseech thee both together seek out the truth Imagine with thy self that no not ce had as yet been given unto us nor no insinuation made unto us of any Religion what soever Behold we undertake a new work and a new businesse Professours of Religion are I believe to be sought for if there be no such thing Suppose then that we have found men of divers opinions and in that diversity seeking to draw every one unto them but that in the mean time some amongst these do surpasse the rest in renown of fame and in the possession of almost all people Whether they embrace the truth or no it is a great question but are they not first to be examined and tried that so long as we erre for as men we are subject to errour we may seem to erre with mankind it self but thou wilt say Truth is to be found but amongst a few certain men if thou knowest amongst whom it is why then thou knowest already what it is Did not I say a little before that we would seek after the truth as though we were yet ignorant thereof but if by the force of truth thou doest conjecture that there be but few that embrace it and yet thou knowest not who they be what if those few do lead and rule the multitude by their authority and can dive into the secrets and mysteries of faith and can make them in a manner plain and manifest do we not see how few attain to the height of eloquence and yet the schools of Rhetoricians do make a great noise throughout the whole world with companies of young men Do all those that desire to become good oratours being terrified with the multitude of unskilfull men think that they ought to addict themselves rather to the studie of the orations of Coccilius and Erucius then to those of Tullius Cicero all men affect the things that are strengthened and confirmed by the authority of their ancestours The simple sort of people endeavours to learn those things which a few learned men have delivered unto them to be learned but very few there be that attain unto great eloquence fewer there be that practise it but fewest of all that grow eminent and are famous What if true Religion be some such thing what if a multitude of ignorant people frequents the Churches it is no proof nor argument that therefore none are made perfect by those mysteries and yet if so few should studie eloquence as there are few that become eloquent our parents would never think it fit to have us recommended unto such masters When as therefore the multitude which abounds with a number of unskilfull people invites us to these studies and makes us earnestly to affect that which few do obtain why will we not admit that we have the like cause in Religion the which peradventure we contemne and despise to the great perill and hazard of our souls for if the most true and most sincere worship of God though it be but amongst a few yet it is amongst those with whom the multitude though wholly addicted to their appetites and desires and farre from the purity of knowledge and understanding doth consent and agree which without all doubt may come to passe I ask what answer are we able to give if any one should reprove our rashnes folly for that having a great care to find out the true Religion we do not diligently search it out amongst the masters and teachers thereof if I should say the multitude hath discouraged me Why then hath it not disheartened men from the study of the liberall sciences which hardly yields any profit to this present life why not from seeking after money and getting wealth why not from obtaining dignities and honours moreover why not from recovering and preserving health finally why not from the desire of a blessed an happy life in all which affairs though many men be imployed yet few there be that are eminent and excell You will say that the books of the Old Testament seemed to contain absurd things Who are they that affirm it namely enemies for what cause or reason they did it is not now the question but yet they were enemies you will say when you read them you understood so much by your own reading Is it so indeed if thou hadst no skill in Poetrie at all thou durst not take in hand Terentianus Maurus without a master Asper Cornutus Donatus and a multitude of other Authours are thought requisite for the understanding of any Poet whose verses deserve no greater esteem then the approbation and applause of a stage and thou without a guide doest undertake to reade those books and without a master darest passe thy judgement upon them which howsoever they be are notwithstanding by the confession of almost all mankind published to be holy and replenished with divine matters nor if thou findest some things therein which seem unto thee absurd dost thou rather accuse the dulnesse of thy wit and thy mind corrupted with the infection of this world as the minds of all fools are then those books which peradventure by such kind of men cannot
that beast his soul should also be plucked away at the same time to the torments of hell No we see the Lyon which killed him became instantly his Guardian and defended his body from the ravening of other beasts yea the very Asse on which he rode remained untouched seeming to assist as it were with an undaunted presence at the Funeralls of his Master which certainly was not without miracle and an evident sign that the man of God in that case was corrected onely unto a temporall death and not at all punished afterward not much unlike to that passage of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.31 where having commemorated the infirmities yea deaths of many of the people for some particular offenses among them he concludes at last thus If we would judge our selves we should not be judged by our Lord but when we are judged we are chastized by our Lord lest we should be condemned with the world And truly he who had deceived this Prophet buryed him afterward in his own monument with sufficient honour yea and took order beside that himself might be afterwards buryed as near as might be unto his corps hoping as we may probably suppose that by this means his own bones might be spared when the time should come according to the prophesie of this very man of God that the good King Josias should cause the bones of many dead people to be dis-interred and those idolatrous altars which had been built unto strange Gods in and about Hierusalem to be defiled therewith For so indeed it came to passe The Monument wherein this Prophet was buryed who foretold those things three hundred years before and the Sepulchre of him who deceived him were spared And so we see out of that naturall affection by which every man loves his own flesh 4 Reg. 23.12 this Prophet was carefull to provide for the temporall security of his body even after death who yet by a lye so much as in him lay cared not to hazzard his soul for ever In this respect therefore that every one naturally loveth his own flesh it was some kind of punishment for the one to know that he should not come to be buried in the Sepulchre of his fathers and in the other if that had been all a providence not unworthy of commendation viz. to lay his bones in a Sepulchre which he was sure none would violate CHAP. VIII THe Martyrs indeed while they fought for the truth vanquished this affection and it was no marvell they should for they who could not be overcome with any torments they suffered alive it had been very strange should they have shrunk at any thing which was to follow after death whereof they should have no sense Doubtlesse God Almighty who suffered not the Lyon so much as to touch the Prophet after he was dead but as it were commanded him to gard that body which he had slain could as easily if he had so pleased have kept off those doggs from the bodies of his servants he could have terrified by a hundred wayes the cruell minds of those people that they should not have dared either to burn their bodies or to throw about their ashes But this was a tryall of those Saints not fit to be wanting to the rest of their sufferings that the fortitude of their Confession which was already well seen in not yielding to any tortures to save their life might yet be consummated as it were and perfected in this that for Christs sake they regarded as little the honour of Sepulture remaining through their Faith in the Resurrection as secure of their bodies as they were of their souls And for this reason also it was fit that such things should be permitted to be done that the Martyrs themselves by such glorious combats should become fervent witnesses of that Truth which from our Saviour they had learned namely That they which thus cruelly tyrannized over their bodies after death had no more to do seeing that whatsoever they should attempt upon the bodies once dead would be nothing nothing I say either in respect of the soul which onely hath sense and was already departed or in respect of God the Creatour whose providence is such as nothing can be lost which he hath made And yet notwithstanding while these Martyrs themselves with infinite courage suffered such things not caring for the love of Christ what became of their bodies dead or alive their fellow-brethren the rest of the Christians had great sorrow at the same time were much afflicted that by reason hereof and of the extream vigilance of their persecutours they could not perform the honours of their funeralls no not so much as to procure privately the least Relick of them Christians in old times used diligence to get any small relicks of Saints as the same history sheweth So as when no evil at all touched them who were killed either that their bodies were torn in pieces or their bones burnt or their ashes cast abroad yet in the living we see there was much sorrow and affliction because they were not able to do that for their friends which this naturall affection seemed to require that is there was in them a great deal of fense for that of which the dead had no sense and much compassion as I may so say where indeed was no Passion at all CHAP. IX According unto which kind of miserable compassion as it may be called we reade those men were highly commended by King David who had buried that is 2 Reg 2.5 shewed such pity unto the dry bones of Saul and Jonathan But can any pity be shewen to them who have no sense of misery Or shall we say that this agreeth with the opinion of Virgil that deceased people cannot passe that river of Hell cannot come at the Elysian fields nor be at rest till their bodies be buried God forbid that Christianity should admit such a Paradox If that were true millions of Martyrs were in a miserable case whose bodies were never buried yea and the Truth it self had much deceived them saying Fear not them who kill the body and afterward have no more to do if they could do them so great mischief yet after death as to hinder their passe unto their desired rest But seeing this is so undoubtedly false and that for certain the want of buryall hurteth faithfull souls no more then it doth advantage an infidell to be buried sumptuously what may the reason then be that the good and religious King David should so highly commend them who buried Saul and his son Certainly it was nothing but this viz. the good affection with which their hearts were touched who buried them and that it seemed to be affliction to them that such calamity should befall the bodies of others as out of that naturall love which all men bear to themselves they would never wish to their own and that they were content yea studious while they lived and knew what they did to