three full weeks I eat no pleasent bread neither came flesh nor wine into my mouth neither did I anoint my filf at all c. Then said the Lord unto Daniel fear not ver 12. for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand and to chasten thy self before thy God thy words were heard c. heer you see how the Prophet Daniel did abstain from meat and wine and God reproved and loved him for it In the like maner I shall prove fasting to be a holy institution for the maceration of the body the explusion of the evil Spirit the imploring of divine grace and the imitation of Jesus Christ by express scripture in S. Math. Gospell thus First our Saviour saith Mat. 9.15 can the Children of the Bride-chamber mourn so long as the Bridegroom is with them but the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them Luke 5.35 36. and then they shall fast and in S. Lukes Gospell he says can ye make the Children of the Bride-chamber fast whilst the Bridegroome is with them but the days shall come c. and then shall they fast in those days And these words of our Saviours were abundantly fullfiled by the Apostles as you may see in the Acts. Acts 13.2.3 first as they ministred unto the Lord and fasted the holy Ghost said c. And again when they had fasted and prayed c. Acts. 14.23 And in the next chapter it is said and when they had Ordained them olders in every Church and had prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord c. S. Paul declareth to the Corinthians how he and others that were ingaged in the service of the Church should behave themselves thus 2 Coâ— 6.4.5 In all things approving our selves as the ministers of God c. in watchings and in fastings And that this duty of fasting was acceptable to God even before Christianity Jonah 3.5 6 7 8 9 10. we may see in the example of Ninniveh So the people of Ninniveh beleived God that is the word which was preacht to them by the Prophet Jonah and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them and it followes it was decreed by the King and all his Nobles saying let neither man beast heard nor flock tast any thing let them not feed nor drink water but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth c. And God saw their works and that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and be did it not Thus you may see how acceptable to God this solemne fast of the Ninnivits was and yet you will question that duty But to summe up all this in a few words Mat. 6.16 17 18. I pray you observe what our Saviour says in S. Mathews Gospell Moreover when ye fast be not as the Hypoerites of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast verily I say unto you they have their reward but thou when thou fastest annoint thy bead and wash thy face that thou appear not unto men to fast but unto thy father which is in secret and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly Heer our Saviour does not onely implicitely commend this duty of fasting to us but prescribes us the manner of it and assures us it is meritorious for he saith that God shall reward it openly I think this should be enough to satisfy any reasonable Christians Why then should our lenten fast so much offend you when it is so ancient in the Church as I have been informed ever since the Apostles times and ordained in humble imitation of our Saviour who as the scripture tells us when he had fasted forty days and forty nights Mat. 4.2 he was afterwards an bungred can we performe think you a more Christian duty Deut. 9. than to follow so great an example so far as we can Again we finde that Moses fasted fourty days and fourty nights And that the Prophet Elijah did the same 1 Kings 16. Nay how much this duty of fasting is pleasing to the Lord we may finde in the Prophet Joel who crys out Joel 2.15 16 18. blow the Trumpit in Sion fanctify a fast call a solemn assembly gather the people sanctify the congregation assemble the elders gather the Children and those that suck the breast let the Bridegroom goe forth of his chamber and the Bride out of her closet c. Then will the Lord pitty his people c. The Prophet David frequently acknowledgeth that he did humble his soul with fasting Psalms and the Scripture throughout is full of nothing more then that God did accept of that humiliation still when it was hearty 1 Kings 21. Tob. 12. Luke 2. as Abab Hezekiah Tobiah Judith Hester Daniel the Niunivites Ann the widdow and agreat many more that would be infinite to recount So for a close of all I shall onely put you in minde that there were a sort of Devills of whom our Saviour himself says Mark 9.29 that that kinde is not to be east out but by prayer and fasting who then shall cast out Devils from them that are enemies Profest against that great and holy duty of fasting To what you alledge against our Vows especially those of Chastity and single-life though in one Priests themselve To the First I answer that I grant indeed that Vows do reduce us into Bondage but it is only to Christ and such a slavery is the nighest libercy It is such a servitude as the Apostle speaks of being freed from sin ye are made the servants of Righteousnesse and to God and to serve God is to Raign with him from whence it is plain that our obligation to pay our Vows does in nothing repugne or Streighten our Christian liberty no more then our obligation to keep the Commandements does and just so as the Transgression of the Commandements throws us into the servitude of sin so does the breach or not observance of our Vows It is true the Evangelicall Counfells are at first free but after a promise is once made they become Obligatory shall we make a conscience to observe our Contracts with men and violate our Covenants with God God forbid The Lord commands us not to make Vows but to pay and render them when they are made as Matrimony before a Contract is free but when the Contract is once made it is then firm and indissolveable and therefore impossible unlesse in our Saviours case to procure a Divorce At first every man hath in his Free-Will to vow or not to vow but to pay the vow being once made is so necessary that a man cannot recede from it without hazard of his salvation Our Saviour says That no man setting his hand to the Plow and looking
it cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life Thornes also and Thistles shall it bring forth to thee c. Gen. 3.16 in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground for out af it wast thou taken c. Then he said unto the woman I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee c. Rom. 5. and as in Adam all sinned so all in him are to die as the Apostle tells us Therefore it is plain that though the guilt of original sin be taken away by repentance and baptisme it self there remains still a punishment of death and divers other penalties inflicted Mariam the sister of Moses Num. 12 after the sin o murmuring against Moses was committed was struck with a Leprosie but she was not presently cured no not by Moses his prayer to the Lord for her recovery but she was cast out of the Tents by the Lords command for seven days for the punishment of her sin though the guilt was forgiven her and she remained all that while in her Leprosie God forbid Moses and Aaron Num. 20 the going in and leading of their people with them into the land of Promise for their sin of unbelief at the water of Strife though without doubt God Almighty had forgiven the sin to those holy men So the sons of Jacob Gen. 41.21 for their offence committed against their brother Joseph conceived what they suffered to be very due to them and David after he had confest his sin of adultery and murder 2 Sam. 12.13 14 15. and was pardoned by the Prophet Nathan in these words the Lord also hath put away thy sin thou shalt not dye yet addes howbeit because by this deed thou hast given great oncasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the childe also that is born unto thee shall surely dye and the Lord strake the childe that Vriahs wife bare c. See the punishment of Eli and his house after the sin was pardoned 1 Sam. 3 12 13 14. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house when I begin I will also make an end for I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth because his sons made themselves vile and he resprained them not and therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli 1 Sam. 4.14 c. that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever All this must undoubtedly be understood of a temporal punishment onely accordingly Hophni and Phinehas were slain Eli falling backward brake his neck and Phinehas's wife dyed in travell David we know had his great sin pardoned him for numbring of the people 2 Sam. 24.18 c. yet he was punished with a most grievous pestilence to the destruction of so many thousands and yet at last was commanded by the Prophet Gad to make a further satisfaction to reare an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Araunah c. and his offering cost him fifty shekels of filver We finde that the Ninivites at their grand repentance fasted and put on sackcloth Jonah 3.1 Kings 21.27 Ahabrent his clothes and put sackloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackeloth and went softly by which humbling of himself he did in part satisfie and pacifie the divine wrath conceived against him Jerem. 18.8 This the Prophet Jeremy most cleerly expresseth saying in the person of God if that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evill I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them and according to the measure of the fault so ought the measure of the punishment to be as we read in the book of Deuteronomy Deut. 25 All this is clearly confirmed by S. John in his Apocalypse saying how much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously Revel 18 7. John 5.14 so much torment and sorrow shall be given her but above all we finde it cleer in the Gospel where our Saviour after he had cured the man that was sick of the Palsie eight and thirty years he said unto him behold thou art whole sin no more least a worse thing come unto thee plainly intimating that this great and long infirmity was inflicted upon him for his sins and though those sins were probably pardoned before by the great mercy of God and patience of the person suffering yet the punishment lasted still upon him Now that prayer fasting and alms which are injoyned to penitents are necessary to the Sacrament of Penance appears plainly by these Scriptures We finde in Leviticus how God commands several sorts of Sacrifices to be offered for the sins of the Priests Levit. 4.5.6 Prince and People I pray you then observe how the Prophets call upon us for these duties therefore also now saith the Lord turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning So the Prophet Joel Then the Prophet Daniel says more cleerly yet to Nebuchadnexzar wherefore O King let my counsell be acceptable unto thee and break off thy sins by righteousness and thine iniquities by shewing of mercy to the poor it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity c. We sinde again how the Ninivites repenting at the preaching of Jonas proclaimed a fast and put on Sack-cloth from the greatest even to the lest of them The King himselfe arose from his throne layed by his Robe and covered himself with sack-cloth and sat in ashes crying all mightyly unto God and turning from their evill ways and the violence in their hands And God saw their works that they turned from their evill way and God repented of the evill c. is not here a plain fatisfaction performed by the Ninnivites and so accepted by God and as cleerly exprest by the Prophet and is not this repentance and satisfaction of the Ninivites highly commended by our blessed Saviour saying the men of Ninnive shall rise up in the judgement with the men of this generation that is obstenate impenitent siners Luke 11.32 such as refuse to satisfie for their sins and shall condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonas c. That great preacher of repentance Mat. 3. Lxke 3. the holy Baptist crys out to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance does not our Saviour plainly pronounce a woe unto Chorazin and Bethsaida for their impenitence Mat. 11.21 22. assuring them that if those mighty works he did there had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long agoe in sackcloth and ashes and therefore concludes that it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgement
World And just as each single Sheep so long as it remains in the society and Communion with the Flock and under the aare and custody of the Shepherd is safe and secure from the mouths of wolves so is each single Christian so long as he remains joyned and tyed up in the unity of the Church that is submits to the sence and doctrine of the whole Church is never err'd yet in matter of faith nor ever can now I presume you may require to know of me whether all and every one of this Church hath this great assistance and direction of the Holy Spirit that he cannot erre in matter of Faith I do readily answer that every one of the faithfull has it but by way of dependance upon the Church and from it So long therefore as any man remains in conjunction with the Church he cannot erre if he separates or dissents from it he must needs of necessity fall into an errour which I 'le thus explain to you by two Examples or similitudes The one may be taken from the proportion of a humane body in which we see that all the members do jointly and severally paticipate of the vitall and sensitive spirits by which life is preserved in them all but yet they have these spirits derivatively from and by way of dependency upon the head and heart for it is from them as from a double Fountain those spirits are derived into the other members so that when the Channells and passages by which that derivation and distribution is made are stopt or intercepted it must follow necessarily that the other Members must be left destitute of spirits and be rendred incapable of performing their Office but being open all will be well So likewise in the Church all the faithfull which are as it were Members of it have a certain assistancy and direction from the holy Ghost but by way of dependency upon the Pope who is as the head of the Church and from Councils which are safe and secure from all danger of errour and infidelity In the last place as sheep that go astray from the flock are out of the protection of the Shepherd and by consequence must fall into the danger of Wolves so Christians which depart from the common sence and doctrine of the Church must of necessity fall into millions of errours for want of the assistance of the holy spirit which is the Judge and Guardian of that I pray you good Mistriss N. have a care how you expose your self to this terrible danger To the Fifth I utterly deny that generall Councells have er'd in matters of faith it is possible that some particular Councells might or some false Councells more truely call'd conventicles Then that some councills have determined variously as to discipline and Ecclesiasticall government I grant for variety of times requires diversity of Laws and God himself gives the president of that who changed many things in the new Testament that were commanded in the Old And as for Lay-men to be present in Councels we do not at all deny so they be as witnesses defenders Counsellors Suggestors or Executioners of their decrees but never as to have a Voyc in any Councill or Church businesse and this is plain by those Gouncils that we find in the Acts celebrated by the Apostles and so clearly in every Age since and why should Lay-men have to do more now Now give me leave to reply something to you and I 'le be short in my proof having been so long in my answers That the Pope with a generall Council may detrmine what is of Fath and what is not I pove by expresse Scripture thus We find in Scripture some Councils celebrated by the Apostles that have actually made such determinations As first for the taking off the burthen of Circumcision and other Indaicall obligations we find the result thus For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Act. 15.28 29. to lay upon you no greater burthen than these necessary things that they abstein from meats offered to Idols and from blood and from things strangled and from Fornication from which if ye keep your selves ye shalde well See here the form of an Apostolical Councell First the Text tells us that the Apostles and Elders came together and that St. Peter was President and Prolocutor then they issued out their decrees with this authoritative preface It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us Now do you find that any faithfull Christians then did question their authority ver 6.7 as you do now that of other Conncells assembled in like manner and assisted by the same spirit Thus you see that Councell did decree somethings to be necessary for a time which were not simply and of themselves matters of faith and to take off from the Jews many things that were to them before matters Faith as circumcision and other mosaicall Statutes Why should not I say the Church now have the same power when the same necessity shall require we have I 'm sure the same Christ the fame holy spirit the same faith the same Church why not the fame power in Councills We read again of another Council celebrated by the Apostles when they wer to part one from another Apostles Creed and to go preach the Gospel as the Lord had commanded them over the whole World when they met together and upon a large debate delivered to us the Creed which you your selves and I 'm sure the whole Church of Christ submits to as as points of faith and is to this day called the Apostles Creed and for some of those Articles we have no Scripture at all nor any other authority but this that they were so delivered by the Apostles and I conceive it a duty incumbent upon all good Christians what the wise Man adviseth Prov. 22.28 not to remove the antient Land-marks which our Fathers have set In what respect a Councill or Convocation of Elders was with God and ever taken for the representative body of the Church is plain in many places of Exodus Exod 19.3 7 8. especially that where God commands Moses to say to the House of Jacob and tell the Children of Israell c. And yet afterwards it is said of Moses that he came and call'd for the Flders onely of the people and laid before their faces all these Words which the Lord commanded him c. And though it is plain that the Elders of the people onely answered with whom Moses was talking Deut. 32.7 yet the Text tell us That all the people answered together and said c. Which could dot be â—nless onely so representatively by their convocation of Elders How well therefore does the same Moses express this in his fong when he saith Remember the days of old confider the years of many generations Ask thy Father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee c. I should be infinite to run through all the