Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A46700
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A treatise concerning the indifference of humane actions
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Jeanes, Henry, 1611-1662.
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1669
(1669)
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Wing J509A; ESTC R34477
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148,823
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174
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delivering it in a rash unpeaceable and unseasonable manner neither in fit place nor due time no necessity urging thereunto for seeing in determining of his opinion the glory of God and weale of the Church lye not at the stake he plainly shewes that he hath troubled the Church lead with desire of not Christ's glory but his own Credit I confesse indeed that a controverted and suspected truth even of this low quality may be peaceably and modesty professed and debated too in private but a publick promulgation thereof is at any hand to be forborne non sub intuitu mali sed minoris bâ—ni not under the apprehension of any evill in the truth but only as a lesser good which will not consist with a greater the tranquility of the Church or if you will the publick promulgation of such a truth is to be forborne sub intuitu mali etsi non simpliciter tamen per accidens talis under the apprehension of evill not in the controverted truth but in the promulgation thereof which though it be not simply evill yet becomes accidentally so to wit by comparison in respect of a greater good then required preservation of the generall quiet with which for the present it cannot stand unto the care of which it is opposed though not primo per se yet ex consequenti connexione virtutum as Suarez upon another occasion phraseth it But I digresse To goe on to that appearance of evill in doctrines which is in the expressions used in their proposall a thing I could wish it were not to rife amongst many who like no truth unlesse delivered in hereticall terms men wonderfully taken with the language of Ashdod the Romish dialect But let it be our care to refraine all words and phrases which carry an appearance of either heresie or schisme for though they may and are by us meant in an orthodox sense yet carry they a shrewd shew of evill make others jealous and suspicious of our soundnesse and therefore (x) In rebus fidei verba debent esse casta exacta quae rem ipsam propriè exprimant haereticis non praestent occasionem calumniandi Pet. Martinez lib. 12. de locis cap. 9. ad tertium Canus although he will by no meanes assent absolutely to that usuall saying ex verbis inordinatè prelatis fit haeresis yet he is content to approve of it if it be moderated with this caution secundum praesumptionem audientium judicum qui per exteriora signa debent judicare de haeresi if it be understood according to the supposall of hearers and judges who ought and indeed can judge of heresie onely by outward signes Between a minister and Popery let there be a great Chasma a distance as wide as between heaven and earth nay heaven and hell yet if his phrase do but smell of Popery if his words though not his meaning trench neer upon it men will presently exclaime that he hath a Pope in his belly at least that he sounds for a Parley and thinks upon conditions of peace with the Romish harlot And besides as this suspicious complying in phrase and language with the known errours of Popelings or other novellers and corrupt teachers grieves the setled and judicious so farther it staggers weaklings confirmes and hardens aliens and Apostates rather opens than stops the mouthes of gain-saying carpers and sooner disadvantageth the truth than converts an adversary So farre is it from effecting the usually pretended end reconciliation as that to use the similitude of our Saviour Mat. ch 9. v. 16. like the putting of a new peece of cloth unto an old garment it maketh the rent worse and wider There goeth a manuscript from hand to hand said to be penned by a learned (y) Dr Sanderson Doctor of this Church wherein that amidst notwithstanding all the variety of opinions there may be yet preserved in the Church the unity both of faith and charity private men are advised in their own writings to observe formam sanorum verborum and to abstaine not onely from suspected opinions but as much as may be also from phrases and speeches obnoxious to misconstruction and exception For first it is not enough much lesse a thing to be gloried in for a man to be able by subtilty of wit to find loop-holes how to evade and by colourable pretences to make that which through heat of passion or violence of opposition hath falne from him unadvisedly to seeme bowsoever defensible But he should have a care to suffer nothing to passe from him whereat an ingenious and dispassionate adversary though dissenting from him in opinion might yet have cause to take distast or exception And besides it were a thing of dangerous consequence in the Church if every man should be suffered to publish freely whatsoever might by some straine of wit be made capable of a good construction if of it selfe it sounded ill or suspiciously For so many erroneous unhappy notions implicitly and virtually serving to the patronage and protection of Schisme or heresie might be cunningly conveighed into the minds of men and impressions thereof insensibly wrought in their hearts to the great damage and distraction of the Church This last reason for the substance you may meet with in Aquinas 2. 2 dae q. 11. a. 2. where having told us out of Hierome ex verbis inordinatè prolatis fit haeresis that by unwary irregular expressions by words disorderly spoken the most dangerous heresies have often taken their first rise and originall he afterwards gives us the reason hereof Similiter enim per verba quae quis loquitur suam fidem profitetur est enim confessio actus fidei ideo si sit inordinata locutio circaea quae sunt fidâ—i sequi potest ex hoc corruptiâ— fidei Vnde Leo Papa quâdam Epistolâ ad Proterium Episcopum Alexandrinum dicit quod inimici crucis Christi omnibus verbis nostris insidiantur syllabis si ullam illis vel tenuem occasionem demus quâ Nestoriano sensui nos congruere mentiantur Likewise a man professeth his faith by words which he speaketh for confession is an outward act of faith and therefore if there be but an inordinate speech about matters of faith the corruption of faith may hereupon ensue Whence Leo the Pope in a certaine Epistle unto Proterius Bishop of Alexandria saith that the enemies of Christ's Crosse lye in waite for all our words and syllables if in them we give any the least occasion upon which they may faine that we comply with Nestorianisme Hence is it that Aquinas himselfe having proposed this question whether or no this proposition be true Christ is a creature in his answer thereunto tells us first in generall cum haereticis nec nomina debemus habere communia ne corum errori favere videamur then more particularly unto the question that the Arrian hereticks have said that Christ is a creature and lesse than the Father
gave him Not paiment constant denyall of paiment had not been you see morally evill in our Saviour and yet because it would have borne appearance of an evill of disloyaltie and disobedience and so have drawn prejudices against and scandall upon his unspotted person holy and heavenly office and doctrine because seemingly it would have crossed a doctrine he afterwards delivered Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesars therefore he stands not to pleade his priviledge but voluntarily parted with his right payed the tribute and to pay it wrought a miracle notwithstanding Peter lest we should offend them goe thou to the sea and cast an hook and take up the fish that first cometh up and when thou hast opened his mouth thou shalt find a peice of money that take and give unto them for me and thee vers 27. Or if secondly with the learned Cameron you rather conceive to be here meant the halfe shekell which by prescript of the Ceremoniall Law Exod. 30. was by the Jewes to be paid for the use of the Sanctuary Why yet so also sinfull it had not been in our Saviour to have refused paying of it for first it was a Ceremonie and the Ceremoniall Law Christ was above Lord he was of the Sabbath Matth. c. 12. ver 8. Mar. c. 2. v. 28. where it is manifest thinks Cameron the Sabbath should synâ—cdochically signify the whole Ceremoniall Law Then secondly this Ceremony together with Sacrifices and all other Legall typicall Ceremonies presupposed sin in the party to whom they were commanded and were a note or badge contracted by sinne and therefore reach not unto Christ a man without sin Thirdly as our Saviour well argues even as Kings of the earth take not tribute of their owne Children so neither the King of Heaven of his Sonne therefore seing this halfe shekel is a tribute to be paid to the King of Heaven for the Tabernacle of witnesse 2 Chro 24.6 Christ was certainely free and so might lawfully have refused to pay it Yet because the Iewes would have taken offence and umbrages at such his refusall and charg'd it with appearance of a profane contempt of the Law of Moses and the Sanctuary therefore he voluntarily paid it and so became a Jew to the Jewes as under the Law to them that were under the Law Notwithstanding lest we should offend c. And if this be the sense of the place what is said of this one Ceremonie may be applyed unto all for one of the reasons and ends why Christ observed the whole Ceremoniall Law was to prevent scandall to abstaine from all appearance of evill In nature saith Cameron there is appetitus quidem unionit which causeth things to be moved and to rest often besides the proper condition of their particular nature whence sometimes light things are moved downewards heavie things upwards Unto this appetite of union in nature there is answerable in grace the desire to promote Gods glory which often inclineth and carrieth the Godly beyond and besides the ordinary obligations arising out of their particular and personall condition and relationâ— And unto the measure of grace is proportionable the degree of the desire of Gods glory so that the holier any one is the more vehemently he desireth the promotion thereof and if it require any thing to be done of him why he will do it although otherwise by vertue of his particular and personall condition he be not bound thereunto Therefore although Christ secundum specialem rationem personae suae if we eye the speciall consideration and dignity of his person was not tyed to keepe the Ceremoniall Law yet he kept it in as much as the Glory of God required him so to doe If you demand how the glory of God exacted this at Christs hands why Christ himselfe tells us Nè simus illis scandalo lest we should offend them for if Christ had not observed the Ceremoniall law he had doubtlesse wonderfully estranged the Jewes from him In observing it then he did but as Kings often doe in stooping to many things unto which they are no waies obliged for to win the hearts and affections of their humorous subjects This example of our Saviour was followed by the Apâ—stles and elders in the first genâ—rall Councill at Jerusalem where they impâ—sed upon the Gentiles abstinence from meat offered to Idols from things strangled and from blood Acts 15.29 Not for that these meats were in themselves uncleane and abominable but because they appeared to be so to the froward and peevish Jewes who were kept off from Christ because these meats in which they supposed to be such abomination and uncleanesse were usually eaten by the Christians But this was but a temporary injunction they gave to others Let us view their own practice Maintenance for preaching was due unto Paul from both the Corinthians and Thessalonians and yet he did forbeare exacting it 1 Cor. 9. 1 Thes 2. that so he might take away all colour for suspicion of any mercenary or greedy appetite after gaine to be in his preaching and quite cut off all scandalls thereby which in that dawning of Christianity upon them would haue put a rub to the progresse of the Gospell and have made his ministry to be evill spoken off And of St Paul the Saints in succeeding ages were followers as he of Christ Those Libâ—llatici so often and sharply censured by St Cyprian Epist 15.31.52 lib. de lapsis lib. de exhortatione Martyrum * Scriptit etiaâ— Secundus ad scipsum misâ—os à Curarâ—re ordine Centutionem Beneficiarium qui peterent divinos codices exurendos eisque respondisâ—e Christianus sum Episcopus non traditor Et cum ab eo vellent aliqua ecvola per ecvola intelligit res ejectas nempe quatum nullus est usus ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est ejectio seu expulsio aâ—t quodcunque accipere neque hoc eis dedisse exemplo Eleazaâ—i Macchabaei qui nec fingere voluit suillam carâ—nem se manducare ne aâ—is praeberet praevaricationis exemplum Vid. Aug. in Brevic. Collat. die 3. cap. 13. Damasc Hist pag 578. Though they did not sacrifice or directly deny Christ were yet by the Church put to their penance for seeming to deny him because they either by themselves or others at least accepted from the Magistrate bills or scroules testimoniall of their abnegation Secundus as Parker relates out of Baronius was commanded to deliver his bibles he maketh answer Christianus sum non Traditor Hereupon he is commanded to deliver aliqua Ecvola that is certaine stuffe which was cast aside for that it had no use Will he not deliver this to save his life no not this It was lawfull but it had a shew of their sin whome the Church called Traditores for their delivering the holy bookes to be burnt by the officers of the Tyrant Dioclesian (h) Baronius out of Soidas Auxentius being commanded by Licinius to