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
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.
out of a bag and weigh silver in the balance and hire a Goldsmith and he maketh it a God. And Jeremy (c) Jerem. 16.20 Shall a man make Gods unto himself and they are no Gods The same in substance is said Jer. 20.3.4.14 altho more obscurely If Mr. Still be not satisfied with these Testimonies of holy Writ than which nothing can be more clear let him shew his Art in explicating these verses of a Pagan owning the same Olim truncus eram ficulnus inutile lignum Cum faber incertus scamnum facerernè Priapum Maluit esse Deum Deus inde ego Hor. l. 1. Sat. 8. St. Aug. l. de consensu Evang. c. 27. Quaerunt Pagani ubi Deos suos intrudant ne a Christianis inveniantur confringantur The Pagans seek out secret places where to hide their Gods lest the Christians should find and break them And more fully Theodoret. Ser. 10. de cur Graecor affect p. 634. Si fateri ipsi non vultis If you O Pagans will not own it yet it is known to many who have seen brought to light your Gods which you had hidden under ground which some out of Devotion to them for their security had buried others discovered where they were hidden that being expos'd to publick view Women and Children might scorn your Gods. They were the likenesses of Serpents and Four-footed Beasts Bats and Mice which you adored and altho you killed the Beasts themselves Serpents Scorpions Mice and Batts yet you adored their Statues as Gods. A fourth Reason is taken from the Prayers which were made to the Statues or Idols In the Book (a) Sap. 13.17 of Wisdom He the Idolater maketh Prayer for his Good for his Wife and Children and is not ashamed to speak to that which hath no life For Health he calleth upon that which is weak for Life he prayeth to that which is Dead for Aid he humbly beseecheth that which hath least means to help and for a good Journey he asketh that of that which cannot set a foot forward And for gaining and getting and good Success of his hands asketh ability to do of him that hath least ability to do any thing Again one preparing to sail and about to pass through the raging waves calls upon a piece of wood more rotten than the wood which carrieth him And in the Epistle of Hieremy (b) Bar. 6.41 If they see one dumb they bring him and intreat Bell that he may speak as tho he were able to understand These two Books are held to be Apocryphal by Protestants of which I will not treat at present yet why they should denie them credit in a matter of fact I know no Reason But because they regard not what is reasonable in their Controversies but what serves their turn I will shew the substance of all this in Books of unquestionable Authority (a) Isaias 44.17 The residue of the Ash he maketh a God he falleth down unto it and adores it and prays unto it and saith deliver me for thou art my God. The sayings of the other Books are only Ampliations of this So they cannot be denied without rejecting this nor this admitted without retaining of those A fifth Reason is that the Idolaters were really perswaded that their Idols did help them Hieremy (b) Hier. 2.27 Saying to a stock thou art my Father and to a stone thou hast begotten me Certainly those who could believe that they ought their Being the greatest of all Gifts to their Statues or Idols of Stone or Wood would much easier believe they owed to them other goods of an inferior nature Certainly the Jews (c) Hier. 44.8 ascribed their past Felicity in Hierusalem to their Sacrifices offer'd to the Queen of Heaven and their then present miseries to their ceasing from those Sacrifices But the most publick owning of singular Benefits from Idols is that of the Israelites (d) Exod. 32.4 These are thy Gods O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt Which words S. Cyril of Alexand. l. 9. contra Julianum p. 308. B. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 understands to be said to that very Calf which Aaron had cast If Mr. Still think not this Reason cleared enough out of Scripture I shall desire him to read what is written by the Greeks of the Palladium of Troy and what the Romans thought of it and of their Ancilia what Macrobius writes of some Nations who chained the Gods Protectors of their Cities fearing they should forsake them Let him at least read S. Austin l. 1. de Civit. c. 3. And if he cannot be convinced that the Pagans had Confidence in their Statues or Idols I say he shuts the Eyes of his understanding so close as to exclude all light but what pleases him and serves his turn Add to this S. Cyprian l. ad Demetrianum Pudeat te eos colere quos ipse defendis pudeat tutelam de iis sperare quos tu ipse tueris Be ashamed to worship those whom you defend and to expect Protection from those who themselves need yours I have two Authorities more to confirm this Reason Jeremy (a) Hier. 10.5 affords the first They must be carried because they cannot go Wherefore fear them not for they can neither do hurt nor good To what intent could this Reason be alleag'd unless it were to confound that Opinion that the Statues themselves could help or hinder The Pagans then were possess'd with that Opinion My other is out of David (b) Psal 113.8 or Ps 115.8 who having said that the Idols of the Gentiles were Silver and Gold the work of Mens hands that they had Eyes and could not see Ears and could not hear c. He concludes his elegant Induction with these Words May every one who makes them be like unto them and also all who trust in them There was then a Trust a Considence a Reliance upon those Idols which could not be grounded but on an Opinion that they did good Add to this what R. Majmonides says as he is rendred by Dionysius Vossius p. 8. Ab his simulacris bona mala omnia provenire indicabant universis proinde summo jure coli metui And Athenagoras in his Embassy for Christians p. 25. owns the same but atributes the effects to Spirits dwelling in them My last Reason is taken from the several Arguments produced in Scripture against Idolatry that Idols were made by Men that care must be taken they did not fall (a) supra That they have no motion (b) Sap. 13.15 Bar. 6.26 Cannot defend themselves from worms or birds fire or thieves or even from the sacrileges of their own Adorers as S. Ambrose (c) Bar. 6. Psal 115.5 Jer. 16.5 observes out of the Example of Dionysius (d) l. 2. de Virg. ante finem the Tyrant You will say Pagans were wise men how could they then be capable of so gross an Error Answer This is that