it is that God of his great goodness and love to man hath so provided that no man can complain that he wants help to get out if he be not wanting to himself but will stretch out his hand and lay hold of such means as are by God prepared to that end and purpose If we sing Domine de profundis and call upon him out of the deeps of our sin and misery no doubt but he will hear our voyce and take pitty on us for with him there is mercy saith the Royal Psalmist with him is plentious redemption sufficient to deliver Israel from all his sins The pit of sin is deep that of mercy bottomless a kind of Puteus inexhaustus a Well which can never be drawn dry as the Pope said of England when at his devotion Though man sin grievously and unpardonably in the sight of others yet hath God mercie still in store for the greatest sinner Gods goodness being so transcendent as not to be exhausted by mans maliciousness Bonitas invicti non vincitur said Fulgentius rightly Those of the Church of Rome have made a difference of sins accounting some to be venial others mortal which terms we well enough approve of rightly understood but I approve not the distinction of some Protestant Doctors of remissible and irremissible of sins which may be pardoned and of sins that may not First We deny not the distinction of venial and mortal sins rightly understood but do think that some sins are fitly said to be mortal and some venial because some are forgiven some not according to the quality of the sin and the party sinning Not that we think that some are worthy in themselves of eternal punishment and others but of temporal onely whereof the first are counted mortal and the others venial as the Papists think but that some sins either in respect of the matter wherein men offend or ex imperfectione actus in that they are not committed with a full consent are not so inconsistent with the Spirit of Grace but that the Spirit of Grace still remaining in him which doth them and preserves him in the good opinion and esteem of God These we may call Peccata quotidianae incursionis sins of daily incursion vain thoughts and idle words and unseemly motions which the best men are subject to at some time or other And if God were extream in marking what is done amiss in these several waies no flesh were able to abide it He that is faulty in these kinds though he deserve punishment and eternal punishment at the hands of God if God should take advantage of the Law against him yet shall his punishment be lesse and his stripes far fewer than it shall be in those who transgress maliciously and sin with an high hand of presumptuous wickedness We have not so much of the Stoick as to make sins equal or to maintain peccata omnia sunt aequalia in the way of Paradox as once Tully did though the Papists falsly charge it on us For though we use not the distinction in their sense and meaning yet neither do we say that all sins are equal and of like deformity or in the same degree of contrariety with the grace of God or that they have the same effects and shall be punished at the last with the like extremity Onely we take it for a dangerous and presumptuous doctrine to teach that any sin if properly and truly sin is venial in and of it self without true repentance as that which doth include nothing offensive to God or is meritorious of his judgements For Almain one of their great Doctors doth affirm expresly that it is a question amongst the Schoolmen whether there be any such sin or not And himself concludeth out of Gerson that no sin is venial of it self but onely through the mercy of God it being a contradiction that God should forbid an act under a penalty and when he hath done that act should not be mortal in its own nature because being thus forbidden it is against the Law of God and that which is against Gods Law must needs be infinitely evil and by consequence mortal And so it is also in respect of the party sinning For as Cajetan hath well observed That which doth positively make sin venial or not venial is the state of the subject wherein it is found If therefore we respect the nature of sin as it is in it self without grace it will remain eternally in stain or guilt and so subject the sinner to eternal punishment But yet such is the nature of some sins either in regard of the matter wherein they are conversant or their not being done with full consent that they do not necessarily imply an exclusion of Grace out of the subject in which they are found and so do not necessarily put the doers of them into such a state which positively makes them not to be venial by removing grace which is the fountain of remission So that no sin is positively venial as having any thing in it self which may claim remission because it hath not any thing of Grace from whence all remission doth proceed though many sins ex genere or ex imperfectione actus as before was said that is to say in reference to the matter wherein man offendeth or to the manner as not done with a full consent may be said to be venial negative and per non ablationem principii remissionis in that it doth not necessarily imply the exclusion of grace by the exclusion of which grace from the souls of men sins are named mortal For being that Grace onely is the fountain whence remission springs nothing can make sin positively venial but to be in Grace nor nothing make it positively mortal but to be out of the state of Grace And so we see that some sins may be called venial according to the quality of the sin and the party sinning in that they bring not alwaies with them eternal punishment though possibly not repented of particularly and that all sins are venial ex eventu too though otherwise mortal in themselves in that there is no sin so great but by the blood of Christ and sincere repentance may â—e done away and freely pardoned by the merciful goodness of the Lord our God who desireth not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from sin and be saved For that there is no sin so great which is unpardonable or irremissible in respect of God the infinitness of his mercy over all his works his graciousness in pardoning Davids Murther Solomons Idolatries Pauls Persecuting of his Church Peters denying of his Master and thousands of the like examples do most clearly evidence If ever men had reason to despair of pardon none I am certain could have more than those we did so wilfully and maliciously imbrew their hands in the most innocent blood of our Lord and Saviour yet when their hearts were touched at St.
we must despair of no body no not of the wickedest as long as he lives and that we may safely pray for him of whom we do not despair So that for ought we see by these Texts of Scripture there is no sin which properly may be said to be irremissible And therefore I resolve with Maldnonate though he were a Iesuite Tenendam esse regulam fidei quae nullum peccatum esse docet quod à Deo remitti non possit That it is to be imbraced as a rule of Faith that there is no sin so great whatsoever it be which God cannot pardon for which if heartily bewailed and repented of there is no mercy and forgiveness to be found from God I shut up all with that of the Christian Poet Spem capio sore quicquid ago veniabile apud te Quamlibet indignum venia faciamve loquarve In English thus My words O Christ and deeds I hope with thee Though they deserve no pardon venial be CHAP. VI. Of the Remission of sins by the Blood of Christ and of the Abolition of the body of sin by Baptism and Repentance Of confession made unto the Priest and the Authority Sacerdotal THus have we in the former Chapter discoursed at large of the Introduction and Propagation of Sin and of the several species or kindes thereof and also proved by way of ground-work and foundation that albeit sin in its own nature be so odious in the sight of God as to draw upon the sinner everlasting damnation yet that there is no sin so mortal so deserving death which is not capable of pardon or forgiveness by the mercy of God We next descend unto those means whereby the pardon and remission of our sins is conveyed unto us the means by which so great a benefit is estated on us The principal agent in this work is Almighty God of whom the Scripture saith expresly That it is one God which shall justifie the circumcision by Faith and the uncircumcision through Faith that it is God which justifieth the Elect and that the Scriptures did foresee That God would justifie the Heathen In all which Texts to justifie the Elect the Iews the Gentiles doth import no more than freely to forgive them all the sins which they had committed against the Law and to acquit them absolutely from all blame and punishment due by the Law to such offences Which appears plainly by that passage of the same Apostle where speaking of Almighty God as of him that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 he sheweth immediately by way of gloss or exposition in what that justifying doth consist saying out of David Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin And this God doth not out of any superadded or acquired principle which is not naturally in him but out of that authority and supream power which is natural and essential to him In which respect no Creature can be said to forgive sins no not our Saviour Christ himself in his meer humane nature but must refer that work unto God alone For who can so forgive sins but God onely said the Pharisees truly And as God is the onely natural and efficient cause of this justification the principal Agent in this great work of the remission of sins so is the onely moral and internal impulsive cause which inclines him to it to be found onely in himself that is to say his infinite mercy love and graciousness toward his poor creature Man whom he looks on as the miserable object of grace and pitty languishing under the guilt and condemnation of sin Upon which Motives and no other he gave his onely begotten Son to die for our sins to be a ransom and propitiation for the sins of the world That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but through forgiveness in his Blood have life everlasting But for the external impulsive efficient cause of this act of Gods the meritorious cause thereof that indeed is no other than our Lord JESUS CHRIST the death and sufferings of our most blessed Lord and Saviour For God beholding Christ as such and so great a sufferer for the sins of men is thereby moved and induced to deliver those that believe in him both from the burden of their sins and that condemnation which legally and justly is due unto them This testified most clearly by that holy Scripture Be ye kinde saith the Apostle unto one another forgiving one another even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you Where plainly the impulsive cause inclining God to pardon us our sins and trespasses is the respect he hath unto the sufferings of our Saviour Christ. Thus the Apostle tells us in another place That we are freely justified by the grace of God through the Redemption which is in CHRIST IESUS Justified freely by Gods grace as by the internal impulsive cause of our Iustification by which he is first moved to forgive us our sins through the Redemption procured for us by the death and sufferings of CHRIST IESUS as the external moving or impulsive cause of so great a mercy In this respect the pardon and forgiveness of the sins of men is frequently ascribed in Scripture to the Blood of Christ as in the Institution of the Sacrament by the Lord himself This is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins Thus the Apostle to the Romans Whom JESUS CHRIST did God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his Blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God And thus to the Ephesians also In whom we have redemption through his Blood the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace To this effect St. Peter also For ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as with silver and gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot And so St. Iohn The Blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin and he hath washed us from our sins in his own Blood in another place Infinite other places might be here produced in which the forgiveness of our sins is positively and expresly ascribed to the Blood of Christ or to his death and sufferings for us which comes all to one But these will serve sufficiently to confirm this truth that the main end for which Christ suffered such a shameful ignominious death accompanied with so many scorns and torments was thereby to attone or reconcile us to his Heavenly Father to make us capable of the remission of our sins through the mercy of God and to assure us by that means of the favor of God and our adoption to the glories of eternal life By that one offering of himself hath he for ever perfected
expresly by St. Peter to the sorrowful and afflicted Iews Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Iesus Christ for the remission of sins By Ananias unto Saul Arise and be baptised and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord By Paul himself who had experimentally found the efficacy and fruit thereof in his own person That God according to his mercy hath saved us not by works of righteousness which we have done but by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and finally by St. Peter also That Baptism doth now save us not the putting away of the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Iesus Christ This also was the judgment of the Antient Writers and that too long before the starting of the Pelagian Heresies to which much is ascribed by some as to the advancing of the efficacy and fruit of Baptism by succeeding Fathers For thus Tertullian Quotidiè nunc aquae populos conservant deleta morte per ablationem delictorum Exempto scilicet reatu eximitur poena Ita restituetur homo Deo ad similitudinem ejus qui retro ad imaginem Dei conditus fuerat Now saith he do the Waters daily preserve the people of God death being destroyed and overthrown by the washing away of sins for where the guilt is taken away there is the punishment remitted also St. Cyprian thus Remissio peccatorum sive per Baptismum sive per alia Sacramenta donetur propriè Spiritus Sancti est that is to say that the remission of sins whether given in Baptism or by any other of the Sacraments is properly to be ascribed to the Holy Ghost The African Fathers in full Council do affirm the same and so doth Origen also for the Alexandrians of both which we shall speak anon in the point of Paedo-baptism Thus Nyssen for the Eastern Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Baptism saith he is the expiation of our sins the remission of our offences the cause of our new-birth and regeneration Thus do the Fathers in the Constantinopolitan Council profess their Faith in one Baptism or being onely once baptized for the remission of sins And finally That this was the doctrine of the Church in general before Augustines time who is conceived to be first that did advance the power and efficacy of Baptism to so great an height in opposition to the Pelagian Heresies appears by a by-word grown before his time into frequent use the people being used to say when they observed a man to be too much addicted to his lusts and pleasures Sine illum faciat quod vult nondum enim baptizatus est i. e. Let him alone to take his pleasure for as yet the man is not baptised More of this we shall see anon in that which follows Nor is this onely Primitive but good Protestant Doctrine as is most clear and evident by that of Zanchius whom onely I shall instance in of the later Writers Cum Minister Baptizat c. When the Minister baptizeth I believe that Christ with his own hand reached as it were from Heaven Filium meum sanguine suo in remissionem peccatorum aspergere besprinkleth the Infant with his Blood to the remission of sins by the hand of that man whom I see besprinkling him with the Waters of Baptism So that I cannot choose but marvel how it comes to pass that it must now be reckoned for a point of Popery that the Sacraments are instrumental causes of our justification or of the remission of our sins or that it is a point of learning of which neither the Scriptures nor the Reformed Religion have taught us any thing So easie a thing it is to blast that with Popery which any way doth contradict our own private fancies But here before I do proceed further in this present Argument I shall make bold to divert a little upon the antient use of Baptismal-washings before our Saviour Christ ordained it for an holy Sacrament that we may see what hint our Saviour took in this Institution who thought it no impiety to fit the antient usages of the Iews and Gentiles to the advancement of the Gospel though now to hold conformity with the Church of Rome in matters very pertinent to the same effect is reckoned for the greatest Error in our Reformation First for the Iews that they used very frequent washings is most clear in Scripture For not onely the Pharisees particularly who were a superstitious supercilious Sect but the Iews in general have this Character given them by St. Mark That they eat not except they wash their hands oft that they washed as often as they came from market or any publick place of meeting and that they did observe upon old Tradition the washing of Cups and Pots of brazen Vessels and of Tables And this they did not onely in the way of cleanliness or in point of manners to wash away the filth of their bodies when they went to eat or to make clean their Vessels and other Vtensiles which they ate or drank in But rather out of an opinion that by those frequent washings they preserved themselves from the filth and corruption of the world especially in their return from the streets and market places where possibly they might meet with some that were uncircumcised or otherwise obnoxious to an ill report by which they thought themselves defiled And this I take to be an antient custom of the Iews because I finde it much in use amongst the Samaritans who were in many if not most of their common Ceremonies but the Apes onely of the Iews Who on the same opinion of their own dear sanctity which had so perfectly possessed their neighbors of Iudah did use when they had visited any of the Nations to sprinkle themselves with urine upon their return and if by negligence or necessity of business they had touched any not of their own Sect to drench themselves over-head and ears in the next Fountain The reason of which is thus delivered by Epiphanius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Because they held it for an abomination to come near a man that was of a different Religion or perswasion from them But this appears more plainly by that passage of St. Iohns Gospel where there is mention of six water pots of stone at the marriage-feast of Cana in Galilee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of the purifying of the Iews Where by no means I can consent to Maldonâ—tes interpretation who will not have these water-pots to be used at all for any Legal or Mosaical purification Qua qui secundum legem polluti erant mundabantur in which they used to wash themselves who had incurred some legal pollution but onely for those Pharisaical washings which the Pharisees used often in the midst of a feast Which had it been the
the Text as I think we need not yet might it give the Church a justifiable ground of commanding such a duty to all Christian people To the end that by those outward ceremonies and gestures their inward humility Christian resolution and due acknowledgement that the Lord IESVS CHRIST the true and eternal Son of God is the only Saviour of the world in whom alone all the graces mercies and promises of God to mankinde for this life and the life to come are fully and wholly comprehended Which is the end proposed and published by the Church of England as appears plainly by the 18. Canon An. 1603. As IESVS is the name of our Lord and Saviour his personal and proper name by which he was distinguished from the rest of his Fathers kindred â—o CHRIST is added thereunto both in the holy Scriptures and the present Creed to denote his offices Christus non proprium nomen est sed nuncupatiâ— potestatis regni CHRIST saith Lactantius is no proper name but a name of power and principality It signifieth properly an anointed and is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to anoint and was used by the old Grecians for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a word of the same signification but more common use And so the word is used by Homer the Prince of the Greek Poets saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. they washed and then anointed themselves with oyl The Hebrew word Messiah corresponds to this as appears evidently by that passage in St. Iohns Gospel where Andrew telleth his brother Simon this most joyful news viz. We have found the Messias which being interpreted is the CHRIST And ' â—is no wonder if Andrew ran with so much joy to acquaint his brother with the news for by the name of the Messiah the Iews had long expected the performance of the promise which God made to David that of the fruit of his body there should one sit upon his Throne for evermore But the word CHRIST implyes more yet then a name of Soveraignty For though Kings antiently were anointed as is plain by examples of the Saul 1 Sam. 10.1 2 Sam. 2.4 yet not only they The High Priest also was anointed For it is said of Moses that he powred the anointing oyl upon Aarons head and anointed him to sanctifie him And so the Prophet seems to be in the Book of Kings where Elijah is commanded to anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat to be the Prophet in his room Vngebantur Reges Sacerdotes Prophetae saith a learned Writer and each of these respectively in their several places might be called Christus Domini the Lords anointed or the Lords Christ but our Redeemer after a more peculiar manner was Christus Dominus the Lord Christ or the Lord anointed And certainly there was good reason why the Name of CHRIST should be applyed to him in another manner then it had been to any in the times before he being the one and only Person in whom the Offices of King Priest and Prophet had ever met before that time Although those Offices had formerly met double in the self same person Mâ—lchisedech a King and Priest Samuel a Prophet and a Priest David a Prophet and a King Yet never did all three concur but in him alone and so no perfect CHRIST but he A Priest he was after the order of Melchisedech Psal. 110. vers 4. A Prophet to be heard when Moses should hold his peace Deut. 18.18 A King to be raised out of Davids seed who should reign and prosper and execute judgement and justice in the earth Ier. 23 5. By his Priesthood to purge expiate and save us from our sins for which he was to be the Propitiation By his Prophetical Office to illuminate and save us from the by-pathes of errour and to guide our feet in the way of peace By his Kingdom or his Regal power to prescribe us laws protect us from our enemies and make us at the last partakers of his heavenly Kingdome Ieremies King Davids Priest Moses Prophet but in each and all respects the CHRIST Not that he was anointed with material oyl as were the Kings and Priests in the Old Testament but with the Oyl of gladness above his fellows Psal. 45.7 but with the Spirit of the Lord wherewith he was anointed to preach good tidings to the meek Esai 61.1 which he applyed unto himself Luk. 4.18.21 anointed with the holy Ghost and with power as St. Peter telleth us Act. 10.38 Anointed then he was to those several Offices and in that the CHRIST But how he doth perform these Offices and at what times he was inaugurated to the same shall be declared in the course of the following Articles which relate to him save that we shall refer the Execution of the Prophetical function to the Article of the holy Ghost by the effusion of whose gifts on the Pastors and Ministers of the holy Church it is most powerfully discharged The Name of CHRIST as it is commonly added unto that of IESVS to denote his Offices so in a sort it is communicated unto those whom he hath chosen to himselfe for a royal Priesthood a chosen generation a peculiar people and for that reason honoured with the name of Christians And the Disciples were called Christians first at Antioch saith the book of the Acts. Called Christians what by chance I believe not that The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in the Original hath more in it then so We have the same word in the second of St. Matthews Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 speaking of the Wise men that came from the East to worship CHRIST and there we render it that they were warned by God warned by him in a dream not to goe to Herod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then in this place of the Acts must have some reference to God and seems to intimate at least if not fully evidence that they took not this name upon themselves but by Gods direction The Iews had formerly called them Nazarites as the Mahometans do still in the way of reproach And though the Disciples were neither ashamed nor afraid of any ignominy which was put upon them for the sake of their Lord and Master yet they conceived it far more honorable to him into whose heavenly house and family they were adopted to own themselves by that name which might most entitle them to all those priviledges which did acrew uuto them in the right of Adoption A caution to which God more specially might encline their hearts that his dear CHRIST might look upon them as his own to whom he gave the unction or anointing of the holy Spirit The anointing which ye have received of him saith the beloved Disciple abideth in you and ye need not that any men teach you That God had a directing hand in it the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth perswade me which intimates at
the fowles of the Aire Next for the Nomothetical arts of Empire let us look on those and we shall finde that as he came not to destroy the Law of God but to fulfil it so hath he added more weight to it either by way of application or of explication then before it had They who consult our Saviours Sermon on the mount and look upon his Commentaries on the law of Moses which the chief Priests and Pharisees had perverted by adulterate glosses will quickly finde that he discharged us not from the Obligation which the moral law had laid upon us but only did become our surety and bound himself to see it faithfully performed by us in our severall places The burden was not made lesse heavy then it was before I speak still of the Moral Law not the Ceremonial but that he hath given more strength to bear it more grace to regulate our lives by Gods Commandements And somewhat he did adde of his own auhority which tended to a greater measure of perfection then possibly we could attain to by the Law of Moses and that not only in the way of Evangelical Counsels and that there are such Counsels I can easily grant but of positive precept For so far certainly we may joyn issue with the Council of Trent that IESVS CHRIST is to be honoured and observed Non tantum ut Redemptor cui omnâ—s fidant sedut Legislator cui obediant not only as a Saviour unto whom we may trust but as a Law-maker also whom we are to obey The same position is maintained also by the Arminian party but not the more unsound for either Veritas a quocunq est est a Spiritu sancto as St. Ambrose hath it And this is so agreeable to the Word of God that either we must deny the Scripture or else confess that it proceeded from the Spirit of God Nor are his laws indeered only to us and sugred over as it were by the promise of a great reward but enjoyned also under pain of grievous punishments punishment and reward being the square or measure of the heavenly government no otherwise then of the earthly Tribulation and anguish saith St. Paul shall come upon the soul of every man that doth evil but glory and honour and peace to every man that doth good to the Iew first and also to the Gentile for God is no respecter of persons By which two general motives set before our eyes and the co-operation of the holy Spirit working with his Word he doth illuminate our mindes and mollifie our hearts and quench our lusts instruct us in the faith confirm us in our hopes and strengthen us in Christian charity till in the end he bring us to the knowledge of his holy will then to obedience to his Laws and finally to a resemblance of his vertues also If after all this care and teaching either by frailty or infirmity we do break his laws or violate his sacred Statutes as we do too often he doth not presently take the forfeiture which the Law doth give him for then O Lord should no flesh living in thy sight be justified but in the midst of judgement he remembreth mercy We may affirm of him most truly as Lactantius did Vt erga pios indulgentissimus Pater ita adversus impios justissimus Iudex as terrible a Iudge he is to impenitent sinners as an indulgent Father to his towardly children as before was said Such is the nature and condition of our Saviours Kingdome which sitting at the right hand of Almighty God he doth direct and govern as seems best to his heavenly wisdome and so shall do untill his coming again to judge both the quick and the dead Although he hath withdrawn himself and his bodily presence yet is he present with it in his mighty power and by the influences and graces of his holy Spirit And in this sense it was that he said unto them Behold I am with you alwayes to the end of the world And that not only with you my Apostles unto whom he spake but cum vobis successoribus vestris with all you my Disciples and with your successors also in your several places till time be no more Though he be placed above in the heavenly glories and is not joyned unto his Church by any bodily connexion yet he is knit unto it in the bonds of love and out of that affection doth so guide and order it as the Head doth the members of the Body natural Habet ecclesia Caput positum in Coelestibus quod gubernat Corpus suum separatum quidem visione sed annectitur Charitate as St. Austin hath it Vice-roy there needeth none to supply his absence who is always with us Nor we the assistance of a Vicar General to supply his place whose Spirit bloweth where him listeth and who is linked unto us in so strong affections But for all this our Masters in the Church of Rome have determined positively that in regard our Saviour hath withdrawn himself from the Church in his Body secundum visibilem praesentiam for as much as doth concern his visible presence he needs must have some Deputy or Lieutenant General qui visibilem hanc Ecclesiam in unitate contineat to govern and direct the same in peace and unity It seemes they think our Saviour Christ to be reduced unto the same straights as Augustus was of whom it is reported in the Roman stories that he did therefore institute a Provost in the City of Rome because he could not always be there in person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and durst not leave it absolutely without a Governor And sure however others may complain of our Saviours absence and for that reason think it necessary to have some general Deputy to supply his place yet of all others those of Rome have least cause to do it who can command his presence at all times and on all occasions For as Cornelius a Lapide affirms expressely by saying only these words Hoc est Corpus meum the Bread is not only transubstiated into our Saviours Body but Christ anew begotten and born again upon the Altar And not his Body only that 's not half enough but as the Canon of Trent tels us there is totus Christus una cum anima Divinitate whole Christ both body and soul and the Godhead also personally and substantially on the blessed Sacrament That he is present every where in his power and Spirit there is none of us which denyeth If they can have his bodily presence also in so short a warning what use can they pretend for a Vicar General Adeo Argumenta ex falso petita ineptos habent exitus said Lactantius rightly Besides it is a Maxime in Ecclesiastical Polity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that the external Regiment of the Church of Christ is to be fitted to the frame and order of the
Cajetan was a publick Confession and in generals onely sed non confessio Sacramentalis Not such a private and particular one as is now required not such a Sacramental one as is now defended But we might well have saved this particular search it being ingenuously confessed by Michael de Palacios a Spanish Writer That notwithstanding all their pains to found it on some Text of Scripture they are so far from being agreed amongst themselves that it is much to be admired Quanta sit de hac re concertatio What contention there is raised about it and how badly they agree with one another And if they have no better ground for the main foundation how little hopes may we conceive of finding any good in their superstructures And yet upon no better grounds do they exact a most unreasonable particularity of all mens affairs to be delivered to them in confession requiring of all persons being of age a private and distinct confession of all and every known mortal sin open and secret of outward deed and inward consent together with all circumstances thereof though obscene and odrous not fit to be communicated to a modest ear and that too once a year at least if they do not oftner For this we need not go much further than the Council of Trent where we shall finde Oportere à poenitentibus omnia peccata mortalia quorum post diligentem sui discussionem conscientiam habent in confessione recenseri etiamsi occultissima sunt tantum adversus duo ultima Decalogi mandata remember that they divide the last Commandment into two commissa c Which how impossible it is to do should one go about it what an intanglement it may prove unto the conscience of a penitent sinner and what a temptation also to the Priest himself to be acquainted with particulars so unchast and lustful I leave to any sober Christian to determine of who shall finde more hereof in Alvares Pelagius de Planctu Ecclesiae L. 2. Art 2 3 27 73 83. and Agrippa de Vanitate Scientiarum cap. 64. Writers of their own than I think fitting at this time they should hear from me who do not love to rake in such filthy puddles So then the business of Confession doth stand thus between us That we conceive it to be free whereas those of Rome will have it obligatory we that it is Iuris positivi onely but they Iuris divini we that it is a matter of conveniency and they of absolute necessity And then for the performance of it they do exact a punctual enumeration of all sins both of commission and omission together with all the accidents and circumstances thereunto belonging which we conceive in all cases to be impossible in some not expedient and in no case at all required by the Word of God Now as we disagree with those of the Church of Rome about the nature and necessity of private confession so have we no less differences with the Grandees of the Puritan faction about the efficacy and power of Sacerdotal Absolution which they which speak most largely of it make declarative onely others not so much whereas the Church hath taught us that it is authoritative and judicial too Authoritative not by a proper natural and original power for so the absolving of a sinner appertains unto God alone but by a delegated and derived power communicated to the Priest in that clause of their Commission Whose sins soever ye remit they are remitted and whose sins soever ye retain they are retained Iohn 20.23 Which proves the Priest to have a power of remitting sins and that in as express and ample manner as he can receive it But though it be a delegated Ministerial power yet doth not the descent thereof from Almighty God prove it to be the less judicial Then Judges and other Ministers of Justice sitting on the Bench may be said to exercise a judicial power on the lives and fortunes of the Subjects because they do it by vertue of the Kings Commission not out of any Soveraign power which they can chalenge to themselves in their several circuits Now that the Priests or Ministers of the Church of England are vested with as much power in forgiving sins as Christ committed to his Church and the Church to them the formal words Whose sins soever ye remit they are remitted c. which are still used in Ordinations do expresly signifie Which though some of the Grandees of the Puritan faction have pleased to call Papisticum ritum an old Popish ceremony foolishly taken up by them continued with small judgment by our first Reformers minore adhuc in ecclesia nostra retentus and with far less retained by the present Church yet we shall rather play the fools with the Primitive Christians than learn wit of them And for the exercise of this power we have this form thereof laid down in the Publick Liturgy where on the hearing of the sick mans confession the Priest is to absolve him with these formal words viz. Our Lord Iesus Christ who hath left power unto his Church to absolve all sinners which truly repent and believe in him of his great mercy forgive thee thine offences And by his authority committed unto me I absolve thee from all thy sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Amen In which we finde that the Sacerdotal power of forgiving sins is a derived or delegated Ministerial power a power committed to his Ministers by our Lord and Saviour but that it is Iudicial also not Declarative onely It is not said That I do signifie or declare that thou art absolved which any man may do as well as the Priest himself but I do actually absolve thee of all thy sins which no mortal man can but he In this the Priest hath the preheminence of the greatest Potentate And in this sense it is that St. Chrysostome saith Deus ipse subjecit caput Imperatoris manui Sacerdotis i.e. That God himself hath put the head of the Prince under the hand of the Priest For as no man whatsoever although he use the same words which the Minister doth can consecrate the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ because he wants the power of Order which should inable him unto it so no man not in Priestly order can absolve from sin though he may comfort with good words an afflicted Conscience or though he use the same words which are pronounced by the Minister in absolution The reason is because he wants the power of order to which the promise is annexed by our Saviour Christ which makes the sentence of the Priest to be so judicial which when the penitent doth hear from the mouth of the Minister he need not doubt in foro conscientiae but that his sins be as verily forgiven on Earth as if he had heard Christ himself in foro