Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n
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A46985
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A reply to the defense of the Exposition of the doctrin of the Church of England being a further vindication of the Bishop of Condom's exposition of the doctrin of the Catholic Church : with a second letter from the Bishop of Meaux.
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Johnston, Joseph, d. 1723.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing J870; ESTC R36202
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208,797
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297
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made so slight of it nor called upon me for some reasonable proof for the Falseness and Impertinence of his Assertion that the Primitive Fathers in praying for the Dead had several other intentions but not that of assisting them or freeing them from Purgatory Tho' the eldest of the Councils I mention was 1400 Years after Christ yet if he consider that it was before Protestancy that both the Eastern and Western Bishops in it consented to that Decree that the Acts of this Council were received by the much Major and Superior part of the whole Christian World as conformable to a Practice delivered to them by their Fore-fathers as of Faith And withal that this Council was seconded by another as Genreal as the circumstances of Time could afford I say This proof comprehends Scripture Fathers Tradiction and universal practice if he reflect upon these Heads he will see that I was not hard put to it for Arguments but that I comprised them all in one and sending him to the Councils I sent him at the same time to Scripture Fathers Tradition and the Universal Practice of Gods Church upon all which their Desintions were manifestly founded They who have been hitherto deceived by the Defender and those of his Coat and made to believe we have nothing to say in defence of our Tenets would do well to peruse our Authors and read the * The Author of Nubes restium has collected some of the many Testimonies where they who read them will see whether they prayed only for the Intentions mentioned by our Author and not rather for their help and assistance they will see also that the Fathers deliver it as an Apostolic Doctrin and therefore lest it not to us to believe or not believe at pleasure Fathers If so they will find that we establish our Doctrin upon the Primitive Practice not only of the Church of Christ but of the Jewish Synagogue and that we have both Scripture and a sufficient number of Fathers on our side Nay they will see also that it was neither false nor foolish which I said That since the Practice of all Nations and the Testimonies of every Age confirm the Custom of Praying for the Dead that they may receive help what can we say to them who make a Breach in the Church and condemn Antiquity Vendic p. 59. upon no other grounds than abare Supposition that it is injurious to the Merits of Jesus Christ a Supposition which yet has no other Proof but their vain Presumption How often have we called upon them to shew us one sole passage of the Antients or one sole Text of Scripture positively assirming there is no Purgatory No Fathers nor Scripture against it or that the Prayers which are offered up for the Faithful departed avail them nothing But if they cannot shew this it is neither foolish nor false to tell them they go upon bare Suppositions and their own Presumption whilst Scripture Fathers and Universal Practice are for us PART II. ART VIII Of the Sacraments in General IF our Defender have a mind to see how we prove all the Seven Sacraments to have Outward Signs of an Inward Grace § 43. and that they were instituted by Christ he may be pleas'd to cast his Eyes a little upon our Divines where he will find it amply proved But to say That not one of our Church has yet been able to do it is so manifest a Falsity as will appear also in the Sequel that it does not need any Endeavors to disprove it But however these things must be said lest People should open their Eyes and see the Truth and they who pretend to be Lovers of Peace and Unity resolve to multiply Accusations to hinder such good effects Where lies the Sincerity ART IX Of Baptism THe Dispute in this Article is a meer Cavil §. 44. proceeding from the want of a right understanding of the Bishop of Meaux and a willingness to shew at least some kind of Opposition to overy thing that is said Roman Catholics Protestants of the Church of England The Church of England and Lutherans hold Baptism absolutely necessary Expos Doâ—t Ch. of Eng. pag. 6. and Lutherans are agreed as to the Absolute Necessity of Baptism and that seeing we are all conceived and born in Sin none can enter into the Kingdom of God except he be regenerate and born anew of Water and the Holy Spirit This the Defender in his Exposition tells us is the Law of Christ which the Eternal Truth has established and whosoever shall presume to oppose it let him be Anathema From this received Principle the Bishop of Meaux deduced That Children dying without Baptism do not partake of the Grace of Redemption but that dying in Adam Therefore Children dying without it have no part in Christ they have not any part in Jesus Christ and the reason he gave for this his Assertion was because Children cannot supply the want of Baptism by Acts of Faith Hope and Charity nor by the Vow or Desire to receive this Sacrment Now because my Opponent argued against this Consequence deduced from the absolute Necessity of Baptism telling us that we our selves acknowledge the Desires c. of Persons come to Years of Understanding to besufficient to supply the wants of their Actual Reception of Baptism and that the Desire of the Church for Children that dye without it may in like manner suffice I answered There is a vast difference betwixt the ardent Desire of those who are by Age capalbe of receiving Baptism and the Desire of the Church or Parents the one proceeding from Faith working by Divine Charity already infused into the Soul of the Vnbaptized Person will no doubt of it produce a good Effect if he extinguish it not by the neglect of a Precept but the other being wholly extrinsecal to the Child cannot affect the Soul of the Child unless by the application of that Sacrament which Jesus Christ has instituted as necessary to wash away our Original Guilt Against this Argument he had nothing to say but that he is not concerned whether it be better than his or no tho he thinks I am very much that is just nothing But however the Bishop of Meaux must be run down §. 45. and exposed as a man talking with great rashness c. But to clear the Bishop I must desire it may be considered that tho' we and the Lutherans are agreed as to the absolute Necessity of Baptism yet the Calvinists accord not with us For they do not only say that they cannot determin whether Children dying without Baptism may not be Saved by the Faith of their Parents but positively affirm they are saved by that Faith The Calvinists oppose this necessity Trâ—â—â—se of Communim under both Species 2d Part. §. 6. Disc c.xi. ri vi Objerv and that Baptism is not necessary insomuch that as the Bishop of Meaux expresses it in another
them and now indeed he seems to grant that this Reason of his was silly and throws it upon the Vindicator as if it had not been his own But notwithstanding all this Yet new Cavils must be raised new Difficulties must be raised by this pretended Son of Peace and being beaten off from the outward Sign which is so apparent in Scripture and Fathers he flies to the Inward Grace and tells us that Cassander affirms that P. Lombard and Durandus denied that Grace was conferred in it But they who diligently view P. Lombard §. 56. Lombard does not deny Grace to be given in this Sacrament l. b. 4. Dist 2. A. will not find this in him They will find indeed that he does not esteem it a Sacrament as Baptism is which is not only a Remedy against Sin but confers Gratiam adjutricem whereas Marriage is only instituted as a Remedy But he does not absolutely say that Marriage does confer no Grace for the very Remedy he mentions implies a Conscience of the Divine Law otherwise 't is using the Woman not the Wife but only not in so large a degree as Baptism as not being primarily instituted for that end This will appear much more clearly Sacramentum est mâ—â—sibilis Graâ—iae v sil ilâ— forma â—â—b 4. dist 1. lit A. Sacramentum proprâ—e dicitur quod ita signum est Gratie Dei invisibilis Gratiae forma ut ipsius Imaginem gerat causa existat ibid. Illa premitâ—ebant tantum signisicavant haec autem dant Salutem ibid. lâ— E. If Durandus did he is often singular when we consider that this Master of Sentences having a little before defin'd a Sacrament to be a Visible Sign of an Invisible Grace and that it must be so a Sign of this Invisible Grace that it must bear the Image and be the Cause of it Having also told us from St. Angustin that the difference betwixt the Sacraments of the old and New Law consisted in this that the Sacraments of the old Law only promised and signified but those of the New give Salvation He tells us often here that Marriage is one of the Sacraments of the New Law as it was also one of the old from whence it manifestly follows in his sense that as it did signify Grace before the Fall of Adam so it does now confer it whil'st it consers a Remedy As for Durandus the only man he can name if the desire he had to be as much esteemed as St. Thomas of Aquin by opposing him has made him singular many times and given to Paradoxes who can help his Infirmity But such as he are the only Authors our Defender can bring against us He tels me I vainly boasted of what I was not able to perform §. 57. The Primitive Fathers during the first Four General Councils acknowledge it to be a Sacrament when I spoke of a Torrent of Fathers on our side For Bellarmin could only bring six or seven and those nothing to the purpose nor very antient neither But had he told his Readers that the Fathers the Cardinal brings are no other than St. Leo St. Chrysostom St. Ambrose St. Augustin St. Cyril and the Holy Popes Syricius and Innocentius all of them living within the time of the first Four General Councils Had he told them also that these Fathers do not only call it a Mystery but a Sacrament and tell us that it (a) Vndecum Societon nuptiarunt ita ab iniâ—â—o constituta sit ut praeter Sexuum conjunctionem haberet inâ—se Christi Ecclesiae Sacramentum dubium non est eam mulierem non pertinere ad Matrimenium in quâ— docetur nuptiale non fuisse mysterium St. Leo Epist. 92. ad Rusticum Narbonensem Episcopum c. 4. Chrysost Hom. 20. in Epist ad Ephes expresses the Vnion betwixt Christ and his Church Had he told them that they call the violation of it not only a sin against God and a breach of his Law (b) Qui sic egerit peceat in Deum cujus legem violat gratiam solvit Et ideo quia in Deum peccat Sacramenti Coelestis amittit consortinum Ambr. Lib. 1. de Abraham c. 7 â—â—t ex Comment in c. 5. ad Ephes but a dissolving of Grace a losing the Consert of a heavenly Sacrament and a (c) Syricius Papa Epist 1. cap. 4. Sacriledge Had he told them that (d) Cyrillus lib. 2. in Joan. c. 22. St. Cyril affirms that Christ did not only sanctify Marriage but prepare Grace for it that our entrance into this Life might be blessed and that (e) In Civitate Domins in monte Sancto ejus hoe est in Ecclesia nuptiarum non solum vinculum sed Sacramentum commendatur Lib. de fide operibus St. Augustin frequently tells us that Marriage amongst Heathens and those that are not of the Church is only a Tye or civil Contract Vinculum but that it is a Sacrament in the Church they would it may be have thought the Authority of those Father 's not to be so contemptible and such plain expressions something to the purpose tho our Defender thinks otherwise of them But let him tell us plainly §. 58. Is Marriage nothing but a civil Contract and that of persons unbaptised of equal perfection and as indissoluble as that of Christians Upon what account is it in the Law of Grace made Inseparable and tyed to one and one if it neither signify the Union betwixt Christ and his Church nor have a Grace annexed to it to enable persons to overcome the innumerable difficulties which attend that state and possess their Vessel as the Apostle speaks in Sanctification and honor and not in passion of Lust and Ignominie to preserve Conjugal Chastity in Sickness and necessary Absence to sweeten cohabitation and to enable them to bring up their Children in the Faith and Fear of God For our parts we acknowledge Gods Mercy in giving a Grace in this Sacrament for those great ends Marriage is grown contemptible in England since it was denied to be a Sacrament But it has been observed by some learned Men that in this little time since Matrimony was disowned for a Sacrament there has been more Brangles Disquietudes Adulteries Suing for Divorces and Alimony and more Petty Treasons that is Murdering of Husbands c. in England than was to be heard of many hundred of Years before and what other do you guess should be the reason of this but the neglect of that Grace which God is ready to confer upon those who prepare themselves aright for this Sacrament and the looking upon it only as a civil Contract There is one thing more the Defender is angry at §. 59. It is proved from St. Paul. Eph. 5.32 that is that I should say we have plain Texts of Scripture for us as interpreted by the Fathers I need not bring any other than that of St. Paul who having exhorted married