word of the love of God which is the main design of it you speak of Purity Ingenuity Patience Generosity and something of the love of our Neighbour but why are you silent of the Love of God which gives Vertue to all the rest which without it avail us nothing (a) 1 Cor. 13. how perfect soever they be in their kind Do you intend to make that fall under the Notion of Antichristianism as being with you no part of the Designs of Christianity I shall expect a satisfactory Answer to these Doubts and proceed to CHAP. IV. G. B. His Explication of the Designs of Christianity G. B. Pag. 4. THe first Design of Christian Religion is to give us right apprehensions of the Nature and Attributes of God. Pag. The second branch is to hold forth the method of Mans Reconciliation with his Maker You mean that the intent of Christian Religion is to teach us that there is One God and One Mediator which are Objects of our Faith. Pag. 7. The third is to teach the perfectest clearest and most Divine Rules for advancing of the Souls of Men to the highest perfections of their Natures it giving clearer Rules and fuller Directions than either moral Philosophers or the Old Testament The Lessons of Purity Chastity Ingenuity Humility Meekness Patience and Generosity Not one word of Charity but Generosity I know not whence comes in to take its place Pag. 8. The fourth to unite Mankind in the closest Bonds of Peace Friendship and Charity which it doth tempering our Passions forgiving Injuries loving our Enemies teaching Obedience to those in Authority over us and by associating us into one Body call'd the Church Answer This is indeed a Design worthy of Christian Religion but imperfectly explicated by you seeing you omit the love of God the God (a) 2 Cor. 1.24 of Peace who alone can give us perfect Peace Humane Wills are naturally opposite to one another they cannot meet but in their natural center God. And the Love of our Neighbor is never sincere and lasting but when it is grounded on the Love of God. The first effect of Self-love is to separate us from God. The second to divide us among our selves Both are the effects of Sin and nothing can prevent them and link us together in the Bonds of Charity but he who can remit Sins That Peace then which Christian Religion teaches which the Church recommends to her Children which in her Prayers she demands of God is not an effect of humane industry but of Grace It proceeds from the Mercy of God it is a sequel of Purity of Conscience and the Crown of real and true Justice In fine it is the work of the unspotted Lamb (a) 1 Pet. 1.19 at whose Birth (b) Luk. 2.14 Peace was announced in his Name to the World by the Angels who left Peace (c) Jo. 14.27 as a Legacy to his Disciples before his Death and who was sacrificed on the Altar of the Cross to reconcile us to his Heavenly Father and restore Peace betwixt Heaven and Earth which the Sin and Rebellion of Men had banisht You see Sir how insufficient your Explication of Peace is for the end you propose You leave out the chief and most necessary Ingredient for purging our Dissentions and to use a Prophets Comparison (d) Ezech. c. 13.10 you build with untempered Mortar You (e) Jerem. 6.14 heal the hurt of the people slightly saying Peace Peace when there is no Peace You hint indeed at a good humane means to Peace Obedience to those in Authority It was to prevent Schism (f) Inter Apostolos unus eligitur ut capite constituto schismatis tolleretur occasio Hieron l. 1. adversus Vigilantium c. 14. that God establish'd one Apostle over the rest But your endless Divisions and Subdivisions amongst your selves shew how inefficacious this means is in your Reformation And how can it be otherwise when all your People have before their Eyes the Example of your first Patriarkes who began your Reformation by rejecting all Authority over them and breaking the Rules of Divine Worship setled all over the World and till that time acknowledged by themselves Cur non licebit Valentiniano quod licuit Valentino de arbitrio suo fidem innovare Tert. l. de praescript c. 40. p. 338. Why may not not a Lutheran do what was lawful to Luther Your first Reformers rejected some Articles of Faith then universally believed because they seemed not to be contain'd in Scripture why may not the same motive authorise their Followers to reject some others which you would retain altho they are as little to be found in Scriptures Why may not a modern Protestant retrench some unnecessary Ceremony used by you at present seeing you have cut off so many others Let others live by that law which you publish think not so highly of your own Authority as to make your Dictamens not only the Rule of Actions but of the Laws themselves It shall be lawful to dissent from this Article of Faith but not from that other to quit this Ceremony and not that when the same rule is applicable to both Is not this properly (a) 2 Cor. 1.24 To lord it over the Faith of the People What wonder you find your Laity refractory to your Ordinances They are in this directed by your Rule and encouraged by your Example Wherefore look no where abroad for the root of these tares Your Reformers planted them they laid the Egg out of which this Cockatrice is hatched They eat the sower Grapes which set all your Teeth an Edge Neither appears there any possibility of a Remedy while your Reformation subsists this Principle of Discord and Schism being laid in its very Foundation and consequently it cannot be removed without the ruine of the whole Structure nor retained without perpetual Danger of renting it in pieces I wish these troublesome Schisms and endless Discords amongst your selves may make you seek a proper Remedy by a Reunion to the Center of Union God and his Church CHAP. V. Of the Characters of Christian Doctrin G. B. P. 8. I Shall add to this the main distinguishing Characters of our Religion which are Four. Pag. 8. First its Verity Pag. 10. The Second its genuine Simplicity and Perspicuity The Third its Reasonableness and the Fourth its easiness Thus you Answer Are these the only or even the chief Characters of Divine Truths whether you take them as they are delivered in holy Writ or as taught in the Church Can you find no other quality peculiar to them not common to others Then human Learning may equal if not surpass Divine Take for Example some Principles naturally known as Two and two make four or The whole Body is greater than any part of it These are true it is impossible they should be false they are perspicuous and easie no Man can doubt of them who understands the terms They are reasonable For what more reasonable than
Opinion hath so much ground in Scripture that I do not apprehend all Mr. G. B. can say to disprove it Josue 5.15 an Angel is said to be the Captain of the Lords host He seems the same who Dan. 12.1 is called Michael And Dan. 10.20 there are others mentioned viz. the Princes of Persia and Greece And why may not these be the Angels who presided over those Countries we are sure that all Angels are ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation Heb. 1.14 and The little ones have Angels who in Heaven always see the face of God. Matt. 18.10 And that several Angels ascended and descended on Jacobs ladder Gen. 28.12 was to shew they mediated betwixt God who was at the top and man who lay at the bottom of the Ladder Now if particular Angels have a care or charge of particular persons why may not some others have a larger district and a more extended Charge This you will say is taken from Paganism And I will answer the Pagans took it from the Israelites not these from them And it seems very probable that when the Arch-divel who took the Name of Jupiter had so far prevailed with Men as to be by them advanced to the Throne of God his next Attempt was to get his wicked Spirits acknowledged for Governours of the World under him in lieu of those Blessed Spirits who were the lawful Governours appointed by God himself That Order of God was not to be abrogated with the Old Law of which it was no part it being an Establishment for the more connatural Government of the World from the beginning to the end of it I know God can govern all things by himself immediately without the Assistance of Men or Angels that neither the greatness of Business can mate him nor its number confound him nor its variety distract him nor its intricacy deceive him nor its obscurity hide it from his all seeing Eye That having created the whole World with a word he can govern it so too yet he uses Men (a) Rom. 13.1 and he can call all to believe in him as he did Saul (b) Act. 9. yet he employed an Angel to convert the Centurion (c) Act. 10. and vouchsafes to be Fellow Labourer (d) Mar. 16.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Men whom he honors with that Employment and he can justifie those whom he calls without the concourse of any creature yet he will have us use water And as to the work of the first day the Creation of all things visible and invisible God required the Asistance of no Creature so the whole work of the last day might be performed by him alone yet he will use the voice of an Archangel to proclaim it (e) 1 Thessal 4.16 the Angels shall gather together those who are raised again to life (f) Mat. 24.31 they shall sever the wicked from the just and cast them into the furnace of fire (g) Matt. 13.49.50 Thus the Law and Prophets Christ and his Apostles the Old and New Testament attest this Truth that Angels concur to carrying on the work of our Salvation and have a Commission from God to direct us Now for believing this Truth Papists are accused of Superstition and agreeing with Idolaters and why we more than Jacob or Daniel Josue or Jesus who taught the same Blame them if you dare or absolve us for their sakes whom we follow G. B. pag. 24. This kind of Idolatry was first begun at Babilon where Ninus made a statue of Belus from him all these lesser gods were called Belim or Baalim Answer It is not true that Baal was held to be a lesser God he was adored as the supreme God as you may see 3 Reg. 18.21 G. B. Ibid. From this hint we may guess why the Apostacy of Rome is shadowed forth under the name of Babilon Answer This is to enlighten one night with another and wash a spot of dirt out of linnen with Ink. You dwell and converse much in obscure places which is proper to those who hate the light (a) Joan. 3.20 because it disco vers their deform features or more deformed actions We have already shewed you that Baal or Bel was held to be the living God which you may see also Dan. 14.5 now we never held any man Saint to be God except the fountain of Sanctity Christ Jesus CHAP. X. Of the Intercession of Saints G. B. p. 25. IF we compare with this Idolatry the worship of Angels and Saints in the Roman Church we shall find the parity just and exact Answer It is neither just nor exact it differs in many things For 1. the Pagans held those men they honored to be true gods we believe the greatest Saints to be our fellow-servants 2. Even those who owned a Deity above them believed it to do nothing in human Affairs Job 22.14 we believe his Providence reaching all things 3. They stopt in those Spirits we with them make our Addresses to God. And 4. They offered Sacrifices to them we offer none but to God. This Objection is not new it was made against the Catholic Church above 1300 years ago to which S. Austin answered l. 20. cont Faust cap. 21. and l. 8. de Civit. Dei. c. 27. in the latter place he hath these words Quis audivit Sacerdotem stantem ad altare etiam super sanctum corpus Martyris dicere in precibus Offero tibi Sacrificium O Petre vel Paule vel Cypriane cùm apud eorum memorias offeratur Deo Ista non esse Sacrificia Martyrum novit qui novit unum quod Deo offertur Sacrificum Christianorum Nos itaque Martyres nostros divinis honoribus non colimus nec Sacrificia illis offerimus Who ever heard a Priest at the Altar say I offer Sacrifice to thee O Peter Paul or Cyprian when upon their Sepulchers it is offered to God Those are not Sacrifices of Martyrs as all know who know that one Sacrifice of Christians which is there offered to God. Wherefore we do not worship Martyrs with divine Adorations nor offer Sacrifice unto them Out of which words you may learn 1. that Martyrs were worship'd in the primitive Church 2. Their Tombs were turned into Altars 3. That the Sacrifice of Christians was offered upon those tombs And 4. That that Sacrifice was offered only to the living God and not to the Martyrs All which things to this day the Roman Catholic Church doth very religiously observe By which appears the conformity of the ancient and modern Church in doctrin and practice As also the deformity betwixt the ancient Church and the Protestant Reformation in which there are neither Martyrs worship'd nor their tombs regarded nor Altars nor Sacrifice You still roul stones which fall on your own head G. B. pag. 25. There was a Saint appointed for every Nation S. Andrew for Scotland S. George for England S. Denis for France and many more
your Doctrin and made use of the same pretext as you do to defend their Doctrin The Church for which S. Ambrose pleads was Catholic so must we be in this seeing our Doctrin is the same with theirs The Novatians in this were Heretics what are you Indeed the words with which our Blessed Saviour (a) Mat. 16.18 first promis'd secondly (b) Joan. 20.22 23. actually communicated that power to forgive or retain sins are so express that it is the greatest disrespect imaginable so to wrest them as they must to draw them from their natural sense I desire you to shew your Art and invent some Speech which in so few words shall more clearly express this sense the Catholic Church understands them in And as for Fathers see S. Cyprian in many places S. Basil qq brev q. 288. S. Leo Epist 91. ad Theodorum Greg. Hom 26. in Evang. Cyril Alex. lib. 12. in Joan. But above all S. Chrysost lib. 3. de Sacerd. c. 5. Tom. 3. Edit Savell p. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those who dwell on Earth says he are enabled to dispense the things in Heaven To them a Power is given which neither Angels nor Archangels enjoy for to these it was never said What you shall bind Earthly Princes have power to cast into Prison but their Power is restrained to Bodies only Whereas the Bond we speak of reaches the Soul and Heaven it self insomuch as what Priests do below God ratifies above and the Lord confirms the Sentence of the Servant And what is this but to have put into their hands all Power to dispose of Heaven whose sins you forgive are forgiven and whose sins you retain are retained What Power can be greater than this God the Father hath given all Power to Judge to the Son and the Son hath communicated all that same Power to Priests Thus the glorious Saint You see Sir the Grounds of our Belief in this Point the clear words of our Lord (a) Joan. 20.23 Whose soever sins you remit they are remitted unto them You see the Fathers and the Primitive Church Explicating those words as we do You see Novatians were held for Heretics for understanding those words otherwise What ground have you to deny a Truth delivered by Christ to the Apostles and from them handed down to us G. B. pag. 62. It was counted a Blasphemy in Christ when he said Thy sins are forgiven thee which shews it to be Blasphemy in all others it being an invasion of his Prerogative Answ Here we have a blasphemous Accusation of the Scribes against Jesus Christ opposed against the clear words of Christ and the meaning of the whole Church Nay their words althô full of malice and convinced of Falshood by a Miracle are preferred before those of Christ as being made a Rule by which his must be interpreted Thus under pretence of asserting the Authority of Christ you overthrow it as your Brethren ruined their Sovereign under pretence of making him a glorious King. But say you Christ cleared himself from the Power was committed to the Son of Man to forgive sins Answ That same Power given by the Son of Man to the Apostles and their Successors doth clear us G. B. pag. 61. After a Sinner hath gone over his Sins without any sign of remorse and told them to a Priest he enjoyns a Penance and without waiting that they obey it he says I absolve thee and after this they judge them selves fully cleansed from Sins Answ Were there Benefices or Preferments established for such as invent Stories without any ground I know none in a fairer way to them than your self You cannot but know that we hold Contrition to be an essential part of the Sacrament and that he who Confesses without Sorrow is so far from obtaining Pardon for the sins past that we judge him guilty of a new Sacrilege Consider a little what you say if not for Conscience and the Fear of God which you seem not to regard at least for your Credit G. B. pag. 61 62. What can take off more from the value of the Death of Christ than to believe it in the power of a Priest to absolve from sin Answ That cannot take from the value of that Sacred Passion upon which it is built By Baptism sins are remitted without derogating from the value of the Death of Christ The same of Absolution Because in both these Sacraments the Merits of the Passion are applied to cleanse our Souls in such a manner as Christ hath ordained and by Authority derived from him In Civil Matters as no Man can lawfully take upon himself the Authority and exercise the Function of a Judge without a Commission from the King So it is no less unlawful to refuse due Obedience to Judges lawfully Commissionated We have a lawful Commission in the Gospel and we stick to that till we see better Grounds to vacate it than such frivolous Reasons as you bring CHAP. XVIII Of Penances Fasting Prayer and Pilgrimages G. B. p. 62. ADD the Scorn put on Religion by the Penances enjoyned for sin abstaining from Flesh pattering over Prayers repeating the Penitential Psalms going to such Churches and Altars with other ridiculous Observances like these which cannot but kill the Vitals of true Religion And who can have any sad apprehensions of sin who is taught such an easie way of punishment Answ Experience shews us whether Practice preserves more the Vitals of Religion yours or ours And I am persaaded I shall have occasion before we part to give you a Prospect not very pleasing of the Piety of your Proselytes who as S. Paul said 2 Tim. 3.13 Proficiunt in pejus have waxed worse and worse ever since your Brethren have had the Direction of them But what are these Observances which move you to Laughter Fastings Prayers and Pilgrimages so much recommended and even commanded in both old and new Law sometimes in Scripture often in Councils and Fathers and confirmed by the Practice of the Church thrô all Ages These things seem ridiculous to this Democritus a new Man as much a Stranger to true Piety as his Education hath been to Prayers Fasting and Pilgrimages as far as appears by his Works That he should thus deride all Penitential Works designed either to punish our past offences or prevent those to come to reconcile us to our Creator or to rivet us to him when St. Paul the chosen Vessel the Temple of the Holy Ghost the Doctor of the Gentiles separated from his mothers womb and called unto Grace (a) Gal. 1.15 when he I say chastized his Body and brought it under subjection (b) 1 Cor. 9.27 lest Preaching to others he became himself a Reprobate What means did he use for his security to mortifie his Body but those this good Man counts Ridiculous Observances viz. Fasting and Prayer and the like We are sure he was animated with the Spirit of God what Spirit animates you SECTION I. Fasting AS
ignes Out of which Verses E. S. may learn first the Form of our Exorcisms which to this day are made after that manner trampling the proud Spirit under our feet with disdainful language E. S. may learn secondly the force of them which by invisible stripes did scourge those pretended Gods till they forced them out of their possession Nec fulmina verbi ferre potest agitant miserum tot verbera linguae quod laudata Dei miracula resonant He may learn thirdly that not only the lesser Gods but even Jupiter himself was subject to the whips and torments inflicted by our Exorcists My Sixth Proof is draw from the Opinion of the Pagans See Natalis Comes l. 2. mythol c. 1. and sequent Where you find many cited Lucian in Jove Tragaedo says that Damis an Atheist having objected to one who defended the Divinity of the Gods that Jupiter the chief of them was dead as also his sepulcher which was extant and a Pillar near it testifying the truth of that death Jupiter he says grew pale and dismayed hearing it being conscious of the Truth and that Truth tended to root up the Opinion of his Divinity My Seventh Proof is grounded on what the Fathers write of him viz. 1st That he was not a God. 2ly But that he was a Man. 3ly That he was a wicked man subject to such vices as would make any civil man blush Justinus M. Paraen pag. 2. shews him to have bewayled like a woman the death of Sarpedon His insatiable lust both after women and boys is known to all so is his Ambition which shewed it self by his Rebellion against his own Father Now how can the Fathers be excused from horrible Blasphemy in accusing the Pagan Jupiter of these crimes if he be the true God I conclude this Proof with an invincible Reason taken out of S. Austin l. 1. de consensu Evangelistarum c. 26. None of all the Gods adored by Pagans opposed the Adoration of any other Diana and Minerva never express'd any dislike of men adoring of Venus and Priapus Saturn was willing his rebellious Son Jupiter should be adored Vulcan very quietly endured the company of Venus his wanton Wife and of Mars whom he had found in flagranti with her And Jupiter never checked his daughter Venus for those filthy faults which would have made her unfit company for civil Men or Women Whence the Saint concludes them all and Jupiter too to have been Devils who aimed only at the corruption of manners This he confirms from the Law of the true and living God who forbad them all to be adored commanded all their Statues to be pulled down all their Rites and Ceremonies and Sacrifices to be abolished By which Satis ostendit illos falsos atque fallaces se esse verum ac veracem Deum he convinces sufficiently that false Opinion newly broach'd by E. S. My last Proof is taken from the Testimony of learned Protestants who all acknowledged this Truth till the desire of accusing Popery engaged E. S. in the contrary Opinion We have seen W. L. naming Jupiter himself Godwin l. 4. Antiquitat c. 2. says that Jupiter and Baal semen which signifies the Lord of Heaven is one and the same thing viz. The Sun as the Queen or Lady of Heaven is the Moon Vossius is of the same Opinion with us that Jupiter was a Man. We have seen above that E. S. in his Origines Sacrae says in general that all Heathen Gods had been Men and approved of Philo Biblius his Judgment who blamed the subtiller Greeks turning all to Mythologies Let us now see what he says of the several Gods and of Jupiter himself in particular E. S. l. 3. Origin Sacrar c. 5. pag. 587. Jupiter who was the same with Cham was call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as C ham from Chamum servere incalescere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Herodotus him whom the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Aegyptians called Cham or Ammun rather So Japhet whose memory was preserved under Neptune to whose portion the Islands in the Sea fell And pag. 589. Vossius hath taken a great deal of pains to digest in an hystorical manner the Stories of the several Jupiters whereof he reckons two Argives a third the Father of Hercules a fourth a King of Phrygia and two more of Creete to one of which without any distinction the Actions of all the rest were ascribed and WHO WAS WORSHIPPED UNDER THE NAME OF JUPITER And p. 594 As the Story of Saturn and Noah do much agree so the three Sons of Noah and those of Saturn Jupiter Neptune and Pluto have their peculiar resemblances to each other Of which Vossius and Bochartus have largely spoken and we have touched on already Besides which this latter Author hath carry'd the parallel lower and finds Canaan the Son of Cham the same with Mercury the Son of Jupiter As tt was the curse of Canaan to be a Servant of Servants so Mercury is always described under servile Employments his wings seem to be ships of the Phenicians who were derived from Canaan his being the God of Trade notes the great Merchandise of the Phenicians and Mercuries thievery notes their piracies or at least their subtilty and craft He was the Father of Eloquence and Astronomy as Letters and Astronomy came from the Phenicians into Greece This and much more to the same purpose may be found in that Chapter in E. S. By what strange Apotheosis did this change happen that that same Person who till the year of our Lord 1663 when the Origines Sacrae were printed was a gross body should by the Year 1676 become a pure Spirit that the Son of Noah should be the Creator of Heaven and Earth and cursed Cham be changed into God blessed for evermore This Metamorphosis deserves a place in Ovids Poem as well as any in the Pack By what Art Magic was it made By what Revelation was it made known to E. S. Here we have Dr. Stilling fleet against Dr. Stilling fleet He now destroying what he then built building what he then destroyed making himself evidently a Transgressor Gal. 2.18 He took it unkindly of I. W. that accused him of contradicting himself it may be he will be offended with W. E. for the like fault if it be one But who can hinder Truth from offending when it sets before a Man's eyes his own faults Veritas odium parit says the Comical Poet viz. when it reprehends us otherwise it is beloved Veritatem lucentem diligunt arguentem oderunt says S. Aug. But let us consider some of his grounds and those the chief ones for Deifying the cursed Cham or the more accursed Divel who took on him that name Jupiter E. S. pag. 34.35 and 36. Numa believed one supreme God and he thought and adored Jupiter as such seeing he appointed a Flamen Dialis as the chief of all the rest and erected a Capitol to Jove He tells us it was vowed by
Tarquinius Priscus in the Sabin War carried on by Servius Tullius that Tarquinius Superbus was at vast charge about it That it stood upon 800 foot of ground was not finish'd till after the Expulsion of Tarquin and was then dedicated with great Solemnity by Horatius Pulvillus being both Consul and Pontifex And from that time this was accounnted the great Seat of God and Religion amongst them it was Sedes Jovis in Livy Jovis summi Arx in Ovid Terrestre domicilium Jovis in Cicero Sedes Jovis O. M. in Tacitus and if any thing more says he can be added it is only what Pliny saith in his Panegyrick that God was as present there as he was in Heaven Thus he Where had he told us the names of the Architect and subordinate Officers and Workmen the wages each of them received in what money it was paid and when and where and by whose hands How many dogs accompanied their Masters to the Dedication and what order was taken to prevent their playing or quarelling one with another lest they should disturb the Devotion and spoil the Feast he had shew'd more reading and added very much to the force of this Argument which for want of such fine erudite Observations will be found weak and insignificant For as to the Flamen Dialis I grant that Flamines were their Chief or High-Priests designed for the Service of particular Gods yet so as the Pontifex Maximus was above them which E. S. ought not to be ignorant of as also that Jupiter was the chief God the Pagans adored but the Authorities of Fathers force us to think them all no better than Men. S. Austin expresly says l. 2. de Civit. Dei. c. 15. there were three Flamens Dialis Martialis and Quirinalis Vives upon that place will teach us that there were others afterwards instituted as Pomonalis to Pomona and another to Caesar and to other lesser Deities which later were of an inferior Order to the Three first Now whence will E. S. draw his Assertion of Jupiter's being the true God from the Officer Flamen he must then say in a like manner that Romulus Pomona and Caesar were the true God and not Men seeing they had their Flamines too Or was it because he was Dialis this is a begging the thing in question and which is worst of all for E. S. S. Austin teacheth us l. 2. de Civit. Dei c. 15. that that very Jupiter to whose Service the Flamen Dâ—â—lis was ordained was the Son of Saturn and brother to Pluto and Neptune From the Officer of the Capitol we will accompany E. S. to the Capitol it self and learn what Stories that so costly Building will tell of the God adored in it We will take S. Austin in our Company for a Guide We shall find in it Jupiters Breast-Plate Jovis Aegyda says the Saint l. 1 de Cons Evang. c. 23. we shall find the Goat Amalthea who had suckled and nurst him in his Infancy says S. Austin l. 6. de Civ Dei. c. 7. Whence as well as St. Austin I propose a Question Quid de Jove senserunt qui ejus nutricem in Capitolio posuerunt What Opinion had they of Jupiter who placed his Nurse in the Capitol We shall find Juno and Minerva Wife and Daughter to Jupiter Lastly but that we come too late we should have seen in their sacred Rites a Representation of the Life and Death of the God Jupiter S. Austin l. 1. de Cons Evang. c. 23. Varo dicit Deorum sacra ex cujusque eo rum vitâ vel morte quâ inter homines vixerunt vel obierunt esse composita Had E. S. been wise he should rather have diverted us from the Capitol for it was to that great Building that S. Austin appealed being to confute some Philosophers who just as E. S. said Jupiter was the true God. Numquid Capitolia Romanorum opera sunt Poëtarum says he loc cit Quid sibi vult ista non Poëtica sed planè Mimica varietas Deos secundùm Philosophos in libris quaerere secundùm Poëtas in templis adorare Was the Capitol built by Poets in which there are so many signs of Jupiter's having been a Man What Changlings are you Pagans who seek your Gods with the Philosophers and adore them with the Poets Now to the Titles and Attributes of this God Optimus Maximus Coeli Rex Deûm Pater atque hominum Rex Jovis omnia plena Which E. S. alledgeth pag. 36. and p. 44. he addeth the Authority of S. Austin l. 4. de Civ Dei cap. 9. that to represent his Authority they placed a Scepter in his hand and built his Temple on a high hill Answer If E. S. had read on the following Chapter in S. Austin l. 4. de Civ Dei c. 10. he would have seen Proofs that Jovis omnia plena was spoken by Virgil of the Son of Saturn and that according to their own Dogms that Saying was false He will find the like l. de Consensu Evangel c. 23. Arnobius l. 1. p. 9. Answers the Pagans who alledged the Argument in this Nature Dissimilia copulare atque in unam speciem cogere inducta confusione conamini You endeavour to joyn things as distant as Heaven and Earth Eternity and Time for God had no beginning nor cause Your Jupiter had a Father and Mother Grand-fathers and Grand-mothers and Brothers Nunc nuper in utero matris formatus he was but lately conceived in his mothers womb And Lactantius Firmianus l. c. 11. p. 33 Regnare in Coelo Jovem Vulgus existimat id doctis pariter indoctis persuasum est quod Religio ipsa Precationes Hymni Delubra Simulachra demonstrant cundem tamen Satarno Rheâ genitum confitentur Quomodo potest Deus videri aut ut ait Poëta hominum rerumque repertor ante cujus ortum infinita hominum millia fuerunt All Pagans both learned and unlearned are persuaded that Jupiter reigns in Heaven Their Religion and Service and Temples testifie this yet the same persons profess that be was the Son of Saturn and Rhea Which two Points of their Faith are inconsistent for how could Jupiter be the Founder of all men seeing many thousands of men had been before he was born or conceived When E. S. shall have considered this he will think his calling T. G. S. Opinion wild and absurd very rash ungrounded and impertinent Objection How could such contradictions be admitted by wise men for such were the Romans and Greeks especially considering as E. S. says p. 39. The Romans had an ancient law which forbad the Poetical Fables Answer This is to rely on Reason in matter of fact against clear Testimonies of Antiquity If there was such a Law it was very ill kept as many others are No Authors more exactly observant of Decorum than Cicero and Virgil to which we may add it may be Terence as exceeding all Latins in Dramatical Poems Cicero cited by S. Austin l.
1. de cons Evang. c. 23. in Tuscul qq l. 1. says Si scrutari vetera ex iis quae Scriptores Graeciae prodiderunt eruere coner ipsi illi Majorum Gentium Dii qui habentur hinc à nobis profecti in coelum reperiuntur Quaere quorum demonstrantur sepulchra in Graecia reminiscere quoniam es initiatus quae traduntur Mysteriis tum denique quà m hoc latè pateat intelliges If we look over our ancient Records if we consult what Greek Authors deliver we shall find that even the Prime Gods from Earth past to Heaven Examin whose Sepulchres are shewn in Greece Call to mind seeing you are initiated what our Rites express and you will find how far this Principle goes Again Qui hanc Vrbem condidit Romulum ad Deos immortales benevolentiâ famâque sustulimus The Founder of this city Romulus owes his being a God to our good wills As if it were in weak Men's power to raise Men to Heaven change them into stars and place them amongst the Gods And Virgil l. 4. Georgicor speaks as followeth Naturas apibus quas Jupiter ipse Addidit expediam pro quâ mercede canoros Curetum sonitus crepitantiaque aera seeatae Dictaeo coeli Regem pavere sub antro Which are thus Englished by Ogilby Now I le declare those gifts which were conferr'd On Bees by Jove himself for what Reward They followed tinkling Brass and Curets sound And fed the King of Heaven under ground As if that Jupiter had bestowed their Nature on the Bees to whom he was beholding for his Food during his Infancy and who was many Ages younger than they And Terence in Eunucho charges the Rape of Danae on the true God of Heaven At quem Deum qui templa caeli summa sonitu concutit That God which shakes the starry vault of the Heavens with Thunder Those who desire more Examples of those Extravagances may read Athenagoras pag. 20. Justinus M. or any of the other Fathers who have written against the Pagans They will find many causes to dread the Judgment of God executed on those Men so wise in all other things but struck with blindness in this main Point very deservedly for their ingratitude to God whom they knew but did not glorifie him as God neither were thankful but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish heart was darkned SECTION V. Whether all or the greatest part of the Pagans believed the one true God OUR Dispute is not of the first beginners and planters of Idolatry but of those who lived at and since the time of Christ till Christianity prevailed I do not doubt at all but God when he created Man endowed him with all Knowledge necessary for the end for which he created him and certainly that of his Creator was as necessary as any seeing upon it was grounded his Obligation to serve God by fulfilling his Will and obeying his Commands It is I think no less certain that all and every Soul at its Creation receives an Idea of God and that so deeply imprinted in it that no ignorance no want of Education no bad Instruction can wear it out or entirely deface it Hence it is that altho several barbarous Nations adore as Gods things which are not God as hath been seen of the Pagans yet there never were any without some Object of Adoration which they thought to be God. Yet Reason left to it self and taking the freedom of Discourse about it will cover it with Errors which may darken its lineaments without destroying it as Rubbish thrown upon an excellent Statue will hide its Beauty from the Spectators eye altho it never alters the situation of its parts nor destroys their proportion One great Advantage we have by Faith is that it fixeth in our Souls a right Idea of God and excludes those Imaginations which are inconsistent with it The whole created World is left to the Disputations of Men's hearts Eccles 3.11 for the Exercise of their Intellectuals in which they are often mistaken for they shall not find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end yet their Errors are without prejudice to the main chance their Salvation as long as they contain themselves within their Bounds nor endeavour to know more of God then they should or have learnt of him nor labour to measure Immensity with a Span. Otherwise by lamentable Experience they will find the Truth of those words Scrutator Majestatis opprimetur à gloria Of which we have as many Examples as Philosophers who attempted it The wisest of them all in this was Simonides who said ingenuously to Hero that the more he studied it the less he understood of it Hence S. Austin l. 8. de Trinit c. 2. having said that God is Truth gives us warning to stick in the thought of that Term Noli quaerere quid sit veritas statim enim se opponent caligines imaginum corporalium nubila phantasmatum perturbabunt serenitatem quae primo ictu illuxit tibi cùm dicerem Veritas Ecce in primo ictu quo velut coruscatione perstringeris cum dicitur veritas mane si potes sed non potes Relaberis in ista solita atque terrena When I say Truth examin not what it is I mean otherwise mists of Phancies and clouds of corporeal Images will interpose and bereave you of the light that appeared at first stop if possible in the first glimpse of the light but you cannot do it for you always slide into other thoughts And the following Chapter he discourses in a like manner of the Thought of Good. Bonum hoc bonum illud Tolle hoc illud vide ipsum bonum si potes ita Deum videbis non alio bono bonum sed bonum omnis boni Speak not of this good or that good take away this and that and see if possible goodness it self and you will see God not good by any other goodness distinct from him but the goodness of all good things Thus whither we conceive God as the prime Truth or as the sovereign good our first Thoughts are Orthodox as coming from God the Author of Nature and our misery proceeds from our not stopping in them This was the reason why Tertullian l. de Testim animae c. 1. being desirous to shew for the Satisfaction of the Pagans that natural Image of one God which all Souls ever had examins only such a Soul as retains its native simplicity without any adscitious knowledge Non eam te advoco saith he quae scholis formata bibliothecis exercitata Academicis Porticibus partam sapientiam ructas Te simplicem rudem impolitam idioticam compello qualem habent qui te solam habent illam ipsam de compito trivio de textrino totam Imperitiâ tuâ mihi opus est quoniam aliquantulae peritiae tuae nemo credit Ea expostulo quae tecum in hominem infers quae aut ex
that the Souls of deceased Men could be mediating Spirits which you ascribe to all Pagans The second is that deceased Men even when deified were by all held to be mediating Powers I have shewed at large above that the prime gods had been men and that the Jupiter had been one I desire you to consider the grounds I have laid for this Assertion for which see also Julius Firmicus pag. 4. Romulus was a Man the Founder and first King of Rome I hope you do not expect I should prove this yet he had a Flamen consecrated to his Service which was an officer peculiar to the supreme God says E. S. p. 34. and consequently was thought to be him or was ranked with him Indeed Divinity in the Opinion of the credulous deluded Antiquity was very easily purchased to disappear unexpectedly was enough Thus Romulus whose History is known to all Thus Amilcar a General of the Carthaginians in Sicily seeing his Army defeated whilst he was sacrificing threw himself into the fire where he was consumed thus he appeared not and for that reason was held to be a god by his Country-men Cleomedes of Astipala a Wrastler having knocked down his Antagonist with his fist tore open his side and pulled out his heart but in lieu of the Reward he expected finding his Cruelty had displeased the Judges with indignation he departed and finding a School-master with his Disciples under a vault he pulled away the pillar which upheld it and buried them all with its ruins Thence he fled into a cave or den to avoid those who pursued him to bring him to condign Punishment But that being digged open and he not found in it by command of the Oracle he was adored as a god As you may see in Theodoret lib. 8. de Cur. Graec. affect p. 597. and lib. 10. p. 631. and in Plut. and Suidas Out of this Perswasion it was that Empedocles threw himself into mount Aetna that nothing of him being found they might think him translated to Heaven and he probably might have obtained it had not his brass slippers or soles cast out by the force of the fire discovered that he had mistaken his way thither By slight a man otherwise obscure got to be adored in Libia as God for having taught many Birds to say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Great God Psaphon which was his name and letting them go they in the Woods repeated this Lesson and the People hearing them adored him with Altars Sacrifices and Temples He owed his Apotheosis to the Birds Anno a Carthaginian attempted the same but lost his labor the Birds forgetting their Lesson and resuming their wild notes assoon as they recovered their Liberty A third Error is That all the Pagans believed any Mediators betwixt their gods and them In those remnants of their Rituals which are extant there is not one word of Mediation or Intercession demanded of the inferior Deities called Dii minorum Gentium S. Austin speaking of that doctrin l. 8. and 9. de Civ Dei seems to attribute it to Plato's School as not being an Article of Faith of the heathens Creed but a private Opinion of one School of Philosophers He seems I say to insinuate this I desire you Sir to shew out of Plato or Apuleius or any of those writers these words or any others equivalent Hercules pray to thy father Jupiter for me or us Romulus intercede for us So that the greatest part of the Heathens did not dream of this Mediation and those who did assert it treated nevertheless with those Mediators as with true gods Wherefore should I grant that all Pagans held the Souls of Men to mediate yet there would be a vast difference betwixt their Sentiments and those of the Roman Catholic Church concerning our Saints More Errors will appear out of the following Discourse I think it impossible to give one Idea of what the Pagans taught of Spirits or incorporeal Substances as this Name doth comprehend the Supreme of all and the subordinate or coordinate immaterial Beings and Souls separated from their Bodies Thales (a) In Athenagor leg pro Chr. p. 25. said there were of three sorts Gods Demons and Heroes and that God was the Soul of the World Demons Spiritual Beings and Heroes the Souls of Men who were good or bad according to the Life they led in this World. Hesiodus (b) In Thedor l. 8. de Cur. Graec. affect p. 602. thought that the Souls of golden Men who lived well were turned into Demons after this Life and received a charge of humane affairs Julian the Apostat (c) In. Cyril Alex. l. 4. p. 115. taught that they were true gods to whom the Supreme God committed the care of the several parts of this World that the God (a) Ibidem p. 141. of the Jews and Christians whom Moses preached was one of the inferior gods Nay he says (b) Ibidem l. 5. p. 155. that Moses his God was the worst of all the rest as being jealous envious vindicative c. For which Blasphemy alone he might have deserved his reproachful Sirname Plato (c) In S. Aug. l. 8. de Civit. Dei. c. 14. seems to agree in Substance with Thales for he distinguishes three sorts of Spiritual Substances Gods Men and Demons The Gods he places in the Heavens Demons in the Air Men on Earth Apuleius (d) S. Aug. l. 9. cap. 11. holds all Souls of Men to be Demons but assigns three sorts of them Lares are those which are certainly good Lemures or Larvae which are certainly known to be bad and when t is doubted whether they be good or bad they are called Dii Manes When you have considered these things you will see 1. How imperfectly nay how falsly you have represented the Sentiments of the Pagans 2. How hard a thing you undertake when you design a Parallel betwixt Pagan Idolatry and our Worshipping of Saints for seeing all depends on their holding Mens Souls to be mediating Spirits which can never be proved or that those who were good were used only to present Mens Requests to the Supreme God which is the Tenet of the Catholic Church concerning Saints which is also evidently untrue we may rank this Paralel with Squaring Circles and the Philosophers stone and expect to see the World made happy with these three Rarities together As to the Mediation of Angels Athenagoras (a) Legat. pro Christ pag. 11. says indeed that the Christian Opinion was that God created several Orders of Angels and had committed to their care the Government of the Elements Heavens and the whole World not that any one Angel is governour of the World which the Scripture seems to deny Job 34 14. and Heb. 1.14 but that several Angels have the Administration of the several parts of it I know no Decree of the Catholic Church obliging us to believe this and therefore I should not dare to censure any Man who should say the contrary Yet that
and immoveable in good (a) 1 Cor. 15.58 abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that our labor is not in vain CHAP. XVI Of Purgatory G.B. pag. 55. begins to treat of Purgatory and doth it so lightly as if he feared to burn his Fingers Yet if he shews less Reading he shews more Cunning than his Brethren E. S. or W. L. who give great advantages to an Adversary by fixing a time for the kindling of that purging Fire which was lighted long before any determinate time they can fix upon Mr. Stillingfl pag. 654. Not one of the Fathers affirmed your Doctrin of Purgatory before Gregory the First Yet W. L. allows it a much greater Antiquity pag. 353. We can find says he a beginning of this Doctrin and a Beginner too namely Origen Thus they differ among themselves and as little agree each with himself for pag. 348. W. L. had said Scarce any Father within the first Three hundred years ever thought of it Which Assertion is contradictory to what he says of Origen's being the Beginner of it and it is moreover very rash for doth he think that all the Fathers of the first three Ages writ down all their thoughts or that all they writ is preserved till our days or that he hath seen all that is so preserved or remembers all that he hath ever seen But let us leave these Men to reconcile together their own thoughts which will be no small nor short labor and examin the thing it self And to come to it I pass over several slips of our Adversaries v.g. W. Laud pag. 348. says that The first Definition of Purgatory to be believed as a Divine Truth was made by the Council of Florence In which he is mistaken for Benedict XII long before that had Defined the same I prove that the Primitive Church believed a Purgatory in the most pure Times out of the Testimony of three Fathers S. Hilary S. Gregory Nyssen and S. Austin S. Hilary (a) Hil. in Ps 118.20 Ille indefessus ignis obeundus est subeunda sunt illa expiandâ à peccatis animae supplicia That restress Fire is to be endured and those Punishments to be born which may purge our Souls from Sins S. Gregory Nyssen (b) Greg. orat de mortuis as cited by W. L. pag. 351. Men must be purged either by Prayers or by the Furnace of Purgatory Fire after this Life Again A Man cannot be partaker of the Divine Nature unless the Purging Fire doth take away the Stains that are in his Soul. Again After this Life a Purgatory Fire takes away the Blots and Propensity to Evil. W. L. considering these words ingenuously confesseth they seem plain Yet he holds out one Buckler against these two Arrows drawn out of the Quivers of those Fathers That they speak of a Purgation of sins and in the Roman Church we are taught to believe only a Purgation of the pain due to sins already forgiven Now this avails little 1. Because the Debt of pain may be and often is taken for sin on which it is grounded metonimicè 2. He seems not to understand our Doctrin for there is no Definition of our Church obliging us to believe that there remain no venial sins in Purgatory Hence Dr. Kellison (c) Kellis in 3 p. tom 2. p. 611. late President of the English Colledge of Doway proves Purgatory to be prepared First for those who die with only venial sins Secondly for those who die without any sin but only without having fully satisfied for the pains due to sins forgiven The same reasons are alledged by Dr. Sylvius (d) Sylvius in 3. p. Suppl q. 100. p. 356. where he treats the same Question And before these Benedictus XII in his Decree Benedictus Deus hath these words Decernimus animas decedentes cum veniali aliquo peccato purgari post mortem post purgationem ante resumptionem suorum corporum judicium generale post Ascensionem Christi Domini fuisse esse futur as esse in coelo We do declare that Souls dying in venial Sin being purged after their Death before the general Resurrection are translated to Heaven Which Decree you may find in Magno Bullario and in Alphons de Castro verbo Beatitudo You see Sir that there is nothing in the Purgatory described by those Saints incosistent with what we are taught to believe of ours So W. L. or his Squire E. S. must study for another Evasion W. L. cites indeed the Council of Florence to confirm his Answer But that place helps only to convince the World how perfunctoriously he read and inconsiderately framed his Judgment upon reading for in the place cited by him the Council speaks of Souls dying in the state of Grace or Charity Si in Charitate decesserint But of their not having any venial sins not one word unless he thinks that all Souls in Grace are free from venial sins which will be another proof of his Abilities in Divinity My next Proof is taken from St. Angustin in Enchir. cap. 110. Neque negandum est defunctorum â—â—imas pietate suorum viventium relevari cùm pro illis sacrificium mediatoris offertur vel Eleemosynae in Ecclesiâ fiunt sed iis haec prosunt qui cùm viverent ut haec sibi postea prodesse possent meruerunt Est enim quidam vivendi modus nec tam bonus ut non requirat ista post mortem nec tam malus ut ei non prosint ista post mortem Est verò talis in bono ut ista non requirat est rursus talis in malo ut nec his valeat cùm ex hac vitâ transierit adjuvari Similia habentur l. 21. de Civ Dei c. 24. It ought not to be denied that Souls departed are cased by the Piety of their surviving Friends when the Sacrifice of our Mediator is offered for them or Alms given in the Church But those are relieved by these helps who lived so as to deserve the benefit of them after their death for there is a kind of Life neither so good as not to need them nor so bad as not to receive ease by them There is another so good as not to want them and a third so bad as to be incapable of help even from them Thus S. Austin Where you see he distinguishes three Places for the Souls departed as clearly as Bellarmin or the Council of Trent One of those so good as not to need help by the Suffrages of the Church such are the Blessed Souls in Heaven Another so bad as to be incapable or unworthy of relief by the Suffrages such are the wretched Souls in Hell. A third needing them and capable of ease from them such are Souls in Purgatory You see Secondly clear mention of the Sacrifice of our Mediator offered by the Church in his days What is this but our Mass which you may find again Lib. 10. de Civitat Dei. cap. 20. You
for Fasting our Blessed Saviour Fasted (c) Mat. 4.2 forty days and forty nights He foretells his Disciples (d) Mar. 2 20. fasting when the Bridegroom should be taken from them that is after his Ascension He directs us how to Fast and promises a Reward (e) Mat. 6.17 to our Fastings when duly performed He teaches that Fasting (f) Mat. 17.20 Mar. 9.29 gives us a power over the Devils When any Work of great moment was to be done Fasting was used (g) Acts 13.2 As the Disciples or Apostles ministred to the Lord and Fasted the Holy Ghost said With Fasting (h) Acts 14.23 and Prayer S. Paul and S. Barnabas were Consecrated A postles These with Fasting and Prayers (i) 2 Cor. 6.5 ordained Bishops in every Church And S. Paul several times speaks of his Fastings (k) 2 Cor. 11.27 In watchings in fastings Again In hunger and thirst in fastings often What was the Practice of the Christians of the Second Age Tertllian will teach us Apolog. pag. 40. cap. 71 where having reproached the Pagans with their Feastings in Times of Public Calamities he represents the contrary Life of Christians Nos verò jejuniis aridi omni continentiâ expressi ab omni vitae fruge delati in sacco cinere volutantes invidiâ coelum tundimus Deum tangimus cùm misericordiam extorserimus Jupiter honoratur You Feast says he but we dried up with Fasting living in perfect Continency abstaining from all Contents of this Life prostrate in Sackcloth and Ashes charge Heaven with the Odium of afflicting Persons so much afflicted and when we have by these Penitential Works forced God to take pity of the World Jupiter is honored by you For the third Age see what Moses Maximus and other Confessors required of Penitents Jejunio extenuari that they should grow lean with Fasting All the subsequent Ages give as many Testimonies to the Duty and Advantages of Fasting as there are are of any Work of Piety This the Fathers teach in their Sermons the Bishops commanded in their Canons the faithful Practise in their Lives and all recommend by their Example Nay Protestants themselves own this Truth The Author of the Duty of Man Sunday 5. n. 34. To this Duty of Repentance says he Fasting is very proper to be annexed the Scripture usually joyns them together If you desire to know the Fruits of Fasting S. Thom. 2.2 q. 147. a. 1. names three 1. To mortifie and curb our Bodies 2. To raise our Mind to Heavenly things 3. To punish in our selves the ill use of some Creatures by depriving our selves of the use of others A fourth Reason is to increase Merit Grace and Glory Virtutem largiris praemia says the Church in Praef. Quad. SECTION II. Prayer PRayer being a raising of our Souls to God it exposes our Understanding to the Divine Light and places our Will in the warmth of Divine Love Wherefore nothing can be more efficacious to clear our Mind from its Ignorance and Darkness nor to purge our Will from its depraved Affections and Passions It is a Key which opens the Treasure of God's Mercy and opens our Heart to receive its Effects It is a River of Benediction whose Waters cleanse our Soul from its Imperfections moisten our Heart make our good Purposes bud forth and flourish and fill our Will with the Fruits of Vertue It is often recommended in Scripture See (a) Mar. 13.33 watch and pray Pray (b) Mat. 26.41 that you enter not into tentation (c) Luc. 16.8 You must always pray and never faint All Places and all Times are fit for Prayer God limits neither but promises to hear us always Ask and you shall receive Whatsoever you shall ask my Father in my name he will grant it you Particularly Remission of Sins is annexed to it Hear S. Austin Enchir. c. 71. De quotidianis brevibus levibusque peccatis sine quibus haec vita non ducitur quotidiana oratio fidelium satisfacit Eorum est enim dicere Pater noster qui es in coelis qui jam Patri tali regenerati sunt ex aquâ Spiritu sancto Delet omninò haec Oratio minima quotidiana peccata Delet illa à quibus vita fidelium sceleratè etiam gesta sed poenitentiâ in melius mutatâ discedit si quemadmodum veraciter dicitur Dimitte nobis debita nostra Ita veraciter dicatur sicut nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris Id est si fiat quod dicitur The daily Prayers of the Faithful satisfie for those daily light and small sins which are incident to all in this Life these we call Venial Sins for it belongs properly to those to say Our Father which art in Heaven who are regenerated by Water and the Holy Ghost to such a Father This Prayer blots out little sins It hath a vertue also to carry away the guilt of greater sins in those who are repentant of them provided they as truly forgive as they ask to be forgiven that is they do what they say Sir how different was S. Austin's Judgment from yours He thought those Prayers efficacious to blot out venial and even mortal sins and you think the prescribing them Ridiculous Saying the Penitential Psalms is an Object of Laughter to you Were there any Church Discipline among you or had your Prelates any true Zeal for any part of Devotion you would be forced to change your note the saying the Psalms being the only part of Devotion which you retain But it seems Writing against Popery hath a Vertue to sanctifie all Impiety as acting against it did excuse all Sacrilege I never heard any Man moved to Laughter with reading the Psalms and I have known many moved by them to Compunction to a new Life and to the Love of God. Let S. Austin who experienced it himself speak lib. 9. Confess cap. 4. Dulce mihi sit ô Domine confiteri tibi quibus internis me stimulis perdomueris quemadmodum me complanaveris humiliatis montibus collibus cogitationum mearum tortuosa mea direxeris aspera lenieris quas tibi Deus meus voces dedi cùm legerem Psalmos David cantica fidelia sonos pietatis excludentes turgidum spiritum Quas tibi voces dabam in Psalmis illis quomodo in te inflammabar ex eis accendebar eos recitare si possem toto orbe terrarum adversus typhum generis humani I take a delight O my Lord to confess to thee with what inward Goads thou didst subdue me and by what Means thou didst bring me down levelling the greater and lesser Mountains of my Thoughts How thou didst streighten my crookedness and smooth my roughness Into what Exclamations did I break out O my God when I read the Psalms of David those faithful Canticles those pious Sounds which banish all proud Spirits How I cried out in reading them How I was inflamed in the love of thee how I