of Opinions opposite to the Power and Life of Christianity I know none who hath a better Title to it than your Reformation For the Life of Christianity is Faith and Charity and you have destroy'd the first by Heresie and the second by Schism as shall be proved hereafter Children delight in edged Tools which serve only to cut their fingers and you and your Brethren use weapons against us which wound your selves Fatal Experience might have taught you more Discretion than to be still moving that stone which hath once crush'd both your Church and State to pieces And truly the Reproach of Antichristian will fall on your Church if prov'd against ours For say what you please of the ancient Britans the first Apostles of the English who brought us the light of Faith and planted the Gospel amongst us came from Rome The Hierarchy you pretend to came from thence By Authority from the Pope my Lord of Canterbury is Primate and my Lord of London is his Suffragan By the same Authority the Country is divided into Dioceses your Deans and Chapters setl'd your Universities founded and several Degrees instituted in them If the Pope be the Antichrist both Universities and Hierarchy amongst you is Antichristian Moreover the Livings you enjoy were for the most part if not altogether given by the pious Liberality of Persons who profest that Faith we profess and lived and died in the Communion of our Church Gratitude to such Benefactors may teach you to judge less severely to suspend your Judgment till you have more convincing Arguments to ground it on than your own bare and bold Assertion CHAP. III. The true Designs of Christian Religion THe Design of God in establishing Religion was that Men should serve him in this World and enjoy him in the next that they (a) Psal 126.5 here sow with tears there reap with joy now run (b) 2 Tim. 4.7 8. their race and fight their battel then receive their crown Rivers (c) Eccles 1.7 receive their waters from the Sea and return to it again And Religion receives its beginning from God runs through all Ages to return to God again Each Man before his Creation is Creatrix essentia says S. Anselm From which by Creation he is separated and by Regeneration and the good Works which follow it he returns to him again never more to be separated from him The first Action is of God alone the rest are of God and Man For God (d) Aug. Qui te creavit sine te non te salvabit sine te will not compleat the Work of our Salvation with out the Cooperation of Man. God (e) Subest tibi cum volueris posse can do all without Man but will not Man (f) Sine me nihil potestis facere Jo. 15.5 can do nothing without God from whom he must expect prevenient concomitant and subsequent Graces for all and every meritorious Action That Bliss which God prepares for us in the next Life contains God himself and when enjoy'd renders the thrice happy Soul like (a) Similes ei erimus 1 Jo. 3.2 unto God and we must attain to it by means proportionable which partake of the resemblance Wherefore our Understanding must be like that of God believing him and our Will loving him The first is Faith the second Charity to which add Hope to keep our Soul steady amidst the Difficulties of this Life as an Anchor (b) Heb. 6.19 fixes a Ship And you have the three Vertues call'd Theological because they rely immediately on Almighty God Faith on his Veracity or Truth in affirming Hope on his Fidelity in promising and Goodness as he is our Chief Good And Charity on his Goodness in its self Which Three Vertues contain what is required of us in this Life Whatsoever is required to a good life is known as we know what to believe to hope and to love Says (c) Aug. Ench. c. 4. Omnia quae requiris proculdubio scies diligenter sciendo quid credi quid sperari debeat quid amari Haec enim maximè imò verò sola in Religione sequenda sunt S. Austin Which are the only things Religion regards as being designed only for these three Vertues But are we not oblig'd to keep the Commandments Or do not they advance towards Heaven who run (a) Psal 119.32 in the paths which God hath traced out And how come these to be omitted Answer They are not ommitted but are contained in Charity (b) Rom. 13.8 9. He that loveth another hath fulfilled the Law our whole Duty to our Neighbour and the Commandments relating to him being briefly comprehended in this Saying Love thy Neighbor as thy self As our whole Duty to God is contained in that other Saying Love God above all things (c) Matt. 22.40 On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets These are the two Rootes (d) Matt. 7.17 of the good tree which brings forth good fruit As love of our selves is the root of the bad tree which brings forth bad fruit The (e) Aug. Serm. 44. de Temp. Radix omnium bonorum est Charitas sicut radix omnium malorum est Cupiditas root of all good is Charity as the root of all evil is Concupiscence Again (f) Aug. l. de moribus Eccl. c. 25. Nihil aliud est bene vivere quam toto corde totâ animâ totâ mente Deum deligere To live well is to love God with all our Heart with all our Soul with all our Mind I should as easily write out the whole new Testament as endeavour to cite all the passages which directly or indirectly commend Charity Seeing all tend to extinguish in us self-Love and to kindle Divine Love. In it Divine Love sometimes is preferr'd before (a) 1 Cor. 13. the Tongues of Men and Angels before Faith working Miracles before knowledge of the greatest Mysteries Almsgiving c. It is call'd (b) Col. 3.14 The bond of perfection the end (c) 1 Tim. 5. or intent of the Commandments c. I end with the Words of the beloved and loving Disciple (d) Jo. 4.16 God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Wherefore with Reason S. Austin (e) Aug l. de laudibus Charitatis said Ille tenet quicquid latet quicquid patet in divinis sermonibus qui servat Charitatem in moribus I should not have been so long upon a Point of which I thought none could be ignorant who reads the Scriptures or knows the Rudiments of Christianity did not I perceive that you either never knew it or have forgotten it And When (f) Heb. 5.12 for the time and your Vocation you should be a teacher you have need that one should teach you which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God. For how happens it that in relating the Designs of Christian Religion there is not one clear
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
temetipsa aut ex quocumque Authore tuo didicisti I would not have thee O Soul framed in Schools conversant in Libraries filled with the Learning of the Platonicks or Stoicks I desire thee rude simple impolish'd and an idiot such as thou art in the poorest and meanest Artisan I have need of thy Ignorance for thy learning is suspected I would know what sentiments thou broughtest with thee into thy body whether thou hadst them of thy self or receivedst them of thy Creator He says the same in substance in his Apologetick cap. 17. p. 43. and 48. only he extends this Testimony of the unlearned to the learned Soul in sudden occurrences when acquired Learning is useless and nature alone worketh And he gives another reason why our Understanding retains not as it should do the first Idea of God the greatness of the object surpassing its capacity Deum vis magnitudinis notum hominibus objecit ignotum Which you may likewise find in S. Cyp. de Idol van p. 206. Out of what I have said you may see that our question is not whether we have all a natural Opinion of one God But whither the Religion of the Pagans did teach that there was but one God or whether the Unity of God was a principle of their Religion and an Article of their Faith Our Answer to this Question is negative So that we say Polytheism was an essential Point of Paganism and one main Question debated betwixt Christians and Pagans was whither there was only one God This I gather first out of Scripture Psal 75. or 76. Notus in Judea Deus in Israel magnum nomen ejus In Judah God is known and his name is great in Israel As if out of the people of Israel he had not been known S. Hierom says that is to be understood before the Cross of Christ had lightned the world Antequam illuminaret Crux mundum antequam videretur Dominus in terra quando autem venit Salvator in omnem terram exivit sonus eorum But when our B. Savior came the name of God was spread to the extremities of the Earth amongst the Believers or Christians And S. Austin Solent inimici Domini Jesu Christi omnibus noti Judaei gloriari in isto Psalmo quem cantavimus dicentes Notus in Judea Deus insultare gentibus quibus non est notus Deus dicere quia sibi solis notus est Deus alibi ergo ignotus Notus est autem revera in Judaea Deus si intelligant quid sit Judea Nam verè non est notus Deus nisi in Judaea Ecce hoc nos dicimus The known Enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ glory in this Psalm and insult over the Gentiles saying that God is known to them the Jews wherefore he must be unknown to the Nations Now we grant that God is known only to Jews or in Jewry And then he shews that the Christians Circumcision of the Heart and Spirit of which Rom. 2.29 doth entitle them to the Knowledge of God restrained in that Psalm to Juda. Secondly out of Testimony of the Pagan Gods taken out S. Cyril of Alexan. lib. 5. contra Julianum pag. 108. where he says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Doctrin of the Hebrews is confirmed by the Testimony of Julian's Gods Apollo being consulted what Nations were the wisest The Oracle answered The Chaldaeans for Philosophy or natural Learning but the Jews who adore only one God and King for Divinity As the Poliglot paraphrases the Oracles sense Prolog 12. pag. 82. This Oracle is also cited by Justinus M. Paraen p. 23. and Theodoret l. 1. de curan Graec. Affect pag. 472. where he brings Porphyrius owning the Oracle Thirdly out of Fathers We cannot desire a better witness of the Sentiments of the Pagans and the Point disputed betwixt them and Christians than Tertullian who very probably had been one himself at least had convers'd with their Persons and Writings what I cite here out of him is the more to be valued because S. Cyprian uses the same Argument lib. de Idol vanit pag. 207. Now Tertullian lib. de testimonio animae c. 2. Non placemus Dominum praedicantes hoc nomine unico unicum à quo omnia sub quo universa Dic testimonium si ita scis Nam te quoque palam totâ libertate quâ non licet nobis domi ac foris audimus ita pronunciare quod Deus dederit si Deue voluerit eâ voce aliquem esse significas omnem illi confiteris potestatem ad cujus spectas voluntatem simul caeteros negas Deos esse dum suis vocabulis nuncupas Saturnum Jovem Nam solum Deum confirmas quem tantùm Deum nominas ut cùm illos interdum Deos appellas alieno quasi pro mutuo usa videaris The Pagans are displeased with us when we preach one Lord from whom are all things to whom are all subject Speak O Soul what thou knowest of this speak boldy with that freedom which is granted to thee tho denied to us Thou sayest God grant it if it please God by which words thou expressest some one and acknowledgest that he hath all power and denies those to be Gods whom thou designest by their Names Saturn Jupiter Mars c. For thou professest to believe one whom thou callest God of thy self and when thou givest that name to others thou usest borrowed notions Again Apolog. 17. pag. 47. Quod colimus Deus unus est This is the Christian Position against Pagans We adore only one God. And p. 48. Vultis ex operibus ipsius vultis ex animae ipsius testimonio comprobemus quae licet carcere corporis pressa licet institutionibus pravis circumscripta licet libidinibus concupiscentiis evigorata licet Diis falsis exancillata cum tamen resipiscit ut ex crapula ut ex somno ut ex aliqua valetudine sanitatem suam patitur Deum nominat hoc solo quia propriè verus hic unus Deus bonus magnus Et quod Deus dederit Judicem quoque illum contestatur Deus videt Deo commendo Deus mihi reddet Shall I prove this one God out of his works or out of the testimony of man's Soul which altho it be shut up in the prison of the Body spoiled by bad Instructions weakned by concupiscence and enslaved to false Gods yet if she come to her self she professes one God great and good she calls him to witness saying God knows I leave it to God. Then Tertullian concludes with this Exclamation O testimonium animae naturaliter Christianae O testimony of a Soul which is Christian by nature Now I desire to know of E. S. how he could inferr the Soul naturally to be Christian because naturally it owned one only God if this were not the main point controverted will he say I am a Protestant because I
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
but his heavy Body keeps him on the Ground and his dull Spirits serve only for a slow Motion there For let a Man read your Book observe your disesteem of others and your insulting over them and he shall think you Eagle-like to be towring above the Clouds whence you with disdain look down on us poor Ignoramus's Yet your heighth is discernible without the help of a Telescope For after all your striving and straining Endeavors we still find you on the Ground equal nay inferior to many whom you insult over without any thing extraordinary but your boldness to Print in so Learned an Age as this is of things you understand not If what I have written already and what I shall write doth not make this clear I will give you leave to apply that Comparison to me I have already spoken Chap. 3. 4. of the Designs of God in delivering Christian Religion that it was to teach Men to serve God in this Life and enjoy him in the next That this Service consisted chiefly in Faith Hope and Charity yet so as Charity gives a value to the other In fine that the End of the Gospel was to unite us to God by Charity in this World and by Glory which is the last perfection of Charity in the other Love is the root of all our Actions As Weight (a) Aug. l. 13. Confes c. 9. Amor meus pondus meum eò feror quocumque feror Aug. l. 11. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Sicut corpus pondere ita animus amore fertur quocumque fertur in Bodies gives them their Motion towards their Center so Love in Men but with this difference that Weight is restrained to local Motion an Action of one species but Love as partaking of the nature of the Soul whose it is reaches to several and those of an opposit nature for all we do proceeds from some Love. All our Passions are only Love in a several disguise (b) Aug. l. 14. de Civ Dei cap. 7. Is the thing we love absent the love of it is called Desire is it in danger to be lost it is Fear are we in a probability of attaining it it is Hope is it looked on as irrevocable it is Despair are we stirred up to overcome the Difficulties opposing us it is Anger do we possess it it is Joy do we lose it Love is changed into Grief or Sadness c. The same Love putting on several Dresses and transforming it self Proteus like conformable to the nature and condition of its Object So that it would be impossible to reckon all its Species which are reduced to some Heads both by Philosophers and Divines Philosophers draw it to three Species according to three sorts of Good Honor Profit and Pleasure But much more to our purpose is the Distinction of Love used by Divines which in order to a Mortal Life in this World and Eternal Life in the next divides all Mankind viz. The love of God and the love of our selves commonly called Self-love We received the love of our selves from Adam the love of God from Christ that is an effect of corrupt Nature this of repairing Grace from that spring out the works of the Flesh from this grow those of the Spirit that ends in Death this is the Seed of Life By these two Loves two Cities are built (a) Aug. l. 14. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Fecerunt Civitates duas amores duo terrenam scilicet amor sui usque ad contemptum Dei coelestem verò amor Dei usque adcontemptum sui Jerusalem and Babylon Heaven and Hell. In the next World these Loves are pure for in Heaven reigns the Love of God without any Self-love in Hell Self-love rages without any curb from the Love of God. In this Life they are commonly mingled neither so absolutely possessing the Heart of Man as to suppress all motion of its Corrival For even the greatest Sinners feel some motions to Good and the greatest Saints must say Dimitte nobis Forgive us our Sins as we forgive And as betwixt the two Brothers in Rebecca's Womb so betwixt these two Loves there is a combat within our Breast For the spirit covets (a) Gal. 1.17 against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit and these are contrary to one another And this is that perpetual combat which we undergo by reason of which this Life is termed (b) Job 7.1 Militia est vita hominis super terram a warfare And (c) Aug. l. 11. de Civit. Dei c. 28. Bonum est homini ut illo proficiente quo benè vivimus ille deficiat quo malè vivimus donec ad perfectum sanetur in bonum commutetur omne quod vivimus we are conquered when Self-love prevails over the Love of God but we conquer wuen the Love of God gets the better Wherein then doth consist the perfection of a Christian In a Heart pure from bad Love not yielding consent to the Motions of Self-love but resisting them and a Heart filled with the Love of God following in all things the motions of Divine Grace and the guidance of the Holy Spirit And (d) Aug. in Psal 64. Interroget si quisque quid amet inveniet undè sit civis could we certainly discover which of the two Loves rules in our Heart we should certainly know the state of our Soul. Supposing these Principles let us attend to Mr. G. B. G. B. pag. 76. Religion elevates the Souls of Men to a participation of Divine Nature whereby they being inwardly purified and the outward Conversations regulated the World may be restored to its primitive Innocence and Men admitted to an inward intimate fellowship with their Maker Answ What you say of participation of Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.4 is out of Scripture likewise our souls being inwardly purified and our inward fellowship with God. All which is true althô you neither tell what they mean nor understand it your self But that by Christianity the outward Conversation should be regulated or primitive Innocence restored is alien or untrue That by Christianity outward Conversation is regulated is alien orderly Conversation being a meer external Quality many times as excellent in Infidels as Christians Certainly the perfection of Christianity may be found in Anchorets and preserved in a Desert Whence a good Conversation appears not to be a very material Ingredient of Perfection And that Christianity should aim at restoring the World to its primitive Innocence is absolutely false for that Innocence cannot be attained unto neither in this Life nor the next not in this in which the greatest Saints have their (a) Rom. 7. Combats from which Man in the State of primitive Innocence was free not in the next the State of Glory being above that of Innocency So neither of these is the End of Christianity G. B. pag. 76. What Devices are found out to enervate Repentance Sins must be divided into mortal and venial
his Superior Christ Jesus I never heard S. Ambrose suspected of Pride for refusing to admit Theodosius the Great into the Church before his Penance for the Slaughter at Thessalonica or for excluding him the Cancels after it It was a Zeal of the Glory of God and the good of the Church which moved him the Emperor himself understood it so As for precious Ornaments of the Church I will own ours to be too costly when you shall have proved that any thing is too good for God's Service not till then The infinit Majesty of God is ground sufficient to oblige us to bear him the greatest Respect interiorly and express our Duty to our Creator and our Gratitude to so great a Benefactor by returning to him in the best manner we can an Acknowledgment of his most bountiful Gifts This serves also to stir up in the Auditory Submission Respect and Adoration which otherwise would fail CHAP. XXVII Vnity of the Church in Faith and Sacraments G. B. owns that Protestants are Schismatics Of Severity against Dissenters And of Hugo Grotius G. B. p. 100. A Fourth Design of Christian Religion was to unite Mankind under one Head into one Body not by Love and pardoning Injuries only but also by associating the Faithful into one Body the Church which was to be united by Bonds of Love governed by Pastors and Teachers and cemented with the Ligaments of the Sacraments Answ You say something thô disorderly but not all For 1. You omit Faith by which we are inserted into the Body of Christ 2. You put Charity which doth not make us parts but living parts of that Body whose parts we are by Faith. 3. You add Sacraments which are only exterior Signs of interior Communication 4. You confound Charity and Sacraments as equally concurring to the Vnity of the Church yet there is a vast difference betwixt them the one formally quickning the Members of the Church interiorly the other only effecting it interiorly and testifying it exteriorly 5. Betwixt the Sacraments there is a vast difference as to this and you confound them for Baptism being our Regeneration in Christ is an esficient Cause of our Union with him and makes us his Members the others are designed only to nourish those who are already united to and in him When you speak of being Governed by Pastors I hope the Pope may find place amongst them he being the prime Pastor G. B. pag. 101. The Gospel pronounceth us free and no more Servants of Men but of God. Answ Free from the Ceremonial Law of Moses not from that of the Gospel and Obedience to the Governors of the Church How changeable are your Sentiments In the foregoing Page 100 the Church was to be Governed by Pastors and Teachers now she is to obey none but God and if any Man pretend to Command he changeth the Authority of the Church into a tyranical Yoke So we must have Governors without Authority to Command and Subjects without any Duty to Obey A new Model of Government G. B. ibid. Those things for which we withdrew from the Church are Additions to our Faith. She added to Scriptures Tradition to God Images to Christ Saints to Heaven and Hell Purgatory to two Sacraments five more to the Spiritual Presence of Christ his Corporal Presence Ans Never Man spake more and proved less than you who offer not one word in proof of these disputed Points which we declare to be evident untruths Is not this a poor begging of the thing in question But they are say you Additions to your Faith. Did we add to your Faith or you cut off from ours and that of the whole Christian World before your Deformation How could we add those things to your Faith when they were in peaceable possession all over the Christian World as you own your selves many Ages before Protestancy was thought on You have here only one Truth viz. That you withdrew from the Church Which convincingly proves the Guilt of Schism to lie at your Door G. B. pag. 105. If a Society of Christians visibly swerve from Christ so that Communion cannot be retained with it without departing from Christ then the departing from the Corruptions brought in can be no departing from the Church If then it appear that the Roman Church hath departed from the Truth of the Gospel those who separated from her cannot be said to separate from the true Church Answ Here we have a Paralogism which might better become a Junior Sophister than a Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty You will see it in these Instances The Communion of that Church ought to be renounced which obligeth her Children to Mahometism If then the English Protestant Church oblige hers to that her Communion ought to be renounced Another That Man deserves the greatest Contempt who writes Controversie and hath nothing to write but Calumnies and Sophisms If then Mr. G. B. hath nothing else but such stuff to fill his Books with he knows his Deserts What think you Sir of such Arguments which serve only to delude an unwary Reader into an assent of what you would but cannot prove There is no Logician but knows that Conditional Propositions signifie only the Connexion betwixt two things under such a Condition but they assert nothing absolutely unless the Condition be proved For Example If a Man flies he hath Wings If the Heavens fall we shall catch Larks These I say are granted to be true althô the Condition be impossible Yet those who grant them do not expect those Wings to go a Journey nor rely on those Larks for a Supper In like manner suppose we should grant your Conditional Illation yet the Guilt of Schism would lie on your Consciences because you neither do nor can prove the Condition upon which your Excuse relies G. B. pag. 106. The Cruelty of Papists extendeth to as much bloudy and barbarous Rage as ever sprung from Hell. Answ You mean the Laws made against Heretics which being made by the Secular Power and not by Churchmen I think my self not obliged to vindicate them Yet seeing the most severe of them all the Faggot was till of late as I am informed in force in England and hath been actually executed upon some since the Reformation I leave you to answer to our Honorable Judges for your pragmatical Boldness in censuring them so severely Another would take notice of the Laws in force against Papists but I let that pass it is enough to vindicate our Churchmen that they never made those Laws they never condemned any Man by them all they do is to judge of the matter of Fact whether a Person be guilty of Heresie and if they find him so to leave him to the Secular Power This is the most that ever the Inquisition did as far as ever I heard G. B. pag. 108. Grotius says that in Charles the Fifth's time more than One hundred thousand were butchered on the accout of Religion And in his Son Philip 's time the
quicquid daemonum colitis victi dolore quod sunt eloquuntur Nec utique in turpitudinem sui nonnullis praesertim vestrum assistentibus mentiuntur Ipsis testibus esse eos daemones de se verum confitentibus credite adjurati enim per Deum verum solum inviti miseri c. Most Men and even many of your own know they are no better then Divels whom you adore Your Gods Saturn and Serapis and Jupiter have been adjur'd by the name of the true and only God and have been forced out of the bodies they possest and confessed themselves to be foul and seducing Devils And their Confession was to be supposed true in point of Reason For they that were adored as Gods would never belie themselves into Devils to their own reproach especially in presence of them that worshipped them were they not forced Thus is that place Englished by W. L. Julius Firmicus pag. 20. Ecce daemon est quem colis cùm Dei Christi ejus nomen audierit contremiscit It is the Devil whom you adore he trembles when he hears the Name of God and of his Christ In my next Section I will cite Prudentius who says the same in his Apotheosi You may find in S. Austin and other Fathers several Reasons proving those Gods to be Divels chiefly for their promoting Vice by encouraging Poets Fables concerning those filthy Acts related to have been committed by them My Fifth Pooof is taken from the Testimony of Protestants themselves The Author of the Whole Duty of Man pag. 138. I need speak little of the Second Commandment as it is a forbidding of that grosser sort of Heathenish Idolatry the worshipping of Idols which though it were once common in the World yet it is now so rare that it is not likely any that shall read this shall be concerned in it Could he have said this had he not known the Practice of Papists to be far different from those of Heathen Idolaters Vossius l. 1. de Idol cap. 18. pag. 139. Omnes Gentium Dii fuerunt homines All the Gods of the Pagans were Men. Godwin l. 4. Antiquit. c. 1. well deserving Men were reputed Gods. Mr. Thomas Prat in his Epistile Dedicatory of the History of the Royal Society having said that Generals of Armies and great Conquerors were by the Pagans esteemed Heroes he adds The Gods Antiquity worship'd with Temples and Altars were those who instructed the World to plow to sow to plant to spin to build houses and to find out new Countrys M. G. B. in this very Book p. 17. The herd the comonalty of the Idolaters did formally worship the Image And p. 23. The Souls of deceased men were honored with divine honor I hope E. S. will not refuse the Testimony of his great Patriarch W. L. who in his Relation p. 77. cites with great esteem of them the words of Minutius Felix and very judiciously observes that it is not credible the true God should be forced out of his Possession much less that he be constrained to utter a lie and own himself to be a foul and seducing Devil Can any man think that God can denie himself to such a degree Credat Judaeus Appella non ego I scarce wonder at the extravagant Opinions of the Pagans seeing E. S. and G. B. can believe that Were there not some other more powerful tye then only imaginary or pretended Incredibility I should hope to see both believe Transubstantiation seeing they can believe that God can deny himself tell a lie and profess himself a Divel O Blasphemy But altho in a bad humor E. S. should refuse to subscribe to his quondam Primate yet I can have recourse to a person very near unto him even his own dear self for he Origines Sacrae l. 1. c. 2. p. 32. speaking of Sanconiathon says That which of all seems clearest in this Theology is the open owning the Original of Idolatry to have been from the Consecration of some eminent Persons after their Death who had found out some useful things for the world whilst they were living which the subtiller Greeks would not admit of viz. That the Persons they worshipped were once men which made them turn all into Allegories and mystical Senses to blind that Idolatry they were guilty of the better amongst the Ignorant And l. 3. c. 5. he says that Saturn Jupiter Mercury Neptune Vulcan Juno Minerva Ceres Bacchus and others had been Men and Women He could not have given a clearer and fuller testimony of the Truth of what we say and the Falshood of what he delivers than is contained in those two places To what can we attribute this Change in E. S. that what was before the certain Position of Idolatry should now be false but to a desire to charge that hainous sin upon the Roman Catholic Church which of it self falls to the ground if Pagan Idolatry be rightly represented Tantae molis erat to make Rome seem Idolater in the eyes of his ignorant Admirers Philo Biblius had reason to blame those Allegories to which the subtiller Greeks had recourse which made a clear new Religion by changing the Object adored as God from some man eminent for Power or Vertue to Elements much inferior to the least of men or any living Creatures for this yielded the cause and condemned the whole Idolatrous World. So Minutius Felix in Octavio pag. 16. Zenon interpretando Junonem Aëra Jovem Coelum Neptunum mare ignem esse Vulcanum caeteros similiter vulgi Deos Elementa esse monstrando publicum arguit graviter revincit errorem SECTION IV. That the Jupiter O. M. of the Greeks and Romans was not the True God. MY first and chief Proof is taken from what is already said out of Holy Scripture Fathers Protestants and Pagans For those universal Propositions contain all and every God of Paganism V. C. What are the Propositions of Scripture All the Gods of the Gentiles are Divels And The Pagans sacrificed to Divels not to God. What are the Propositions of E. S. One God of the Pagans was the true God and no Devil Item The sacrifices of the Pagans were offered to the true God and not to the Divel If the Logic of E. S. can reconcile with Truth two Contradictions it is a rare one Till he teach us how they can stand together we will stick to the common received Axiom of Sophists that both cannot be true So one of those Propositions must be false either that of Scripture or that of E. S. now I desire him to declare whether he takes to be true and whether the lyar God or himself Again Gal. 4.8 the Galatians knowing not God served those who by nature were not Gods. Which are the words of the Apostle and E. S. says The Galatians knew Jupiter and served him who was the true God Wherein he directly contradicts the Scripture The like Arguments might be brought from the Authority cited out of Fathers Protestants and
but only on such Occasions for as for such who do absent themselves either for Ambition or Envy or Pleasure or Friendship or any other unlawful Design or for some good but so little as not to countervail that of their Duty to their Flock we no less blame them than you our Canons for Residence are as severs as can be and those often executed with the utmost rigor What do you more Commendams offend you that is the recommending the Means of Abbeys to those who are not Monks Yet we give them only to Clergy you to meer Laymen Secondly we give them only for their Lives you give them to their Heirs Executors Administrators and Assigns Thirdly we leave the Abby and its legal Superiors a competent Subsistence for the Monks you turn them a begging out of God's Blessing into the warm Sun. When you have proved that it is more lawful for your Church to steal a Goose than for ours to pluck a Quill I shall believe your Procedure legal and ours illegal G. B. ibid. They strugled hard against the honest Attempt of those who labored to have had Residence declared to be of Divine Right in the Council of Trent Answ What might the Catholic Church do to please you Had she pass'd that Declaration you would have clamored at your ordinary rate against new Definitions of Faith now she rejected that Definition she opposed the honest Attempt to promote it and she must be in the wrong and those who oppose her in the right whatever she or they do because she is the Church and they a discontented Party in her In fine as the Jews proceeded with our Saviour the Bridegroom so do you with the Bride the Catholic Church her Actions whatever they are are blamed To what are the men of this genertion like They are like unto children sitting in the market-place and saying We have piped unto you and ye have not danced we have mourned unto you and you have not wept Luc. 7.32 For doth the Church make a Decree you blame her for it doth she not make it you blame her for that too But Wisdom is justified by all her children A Conclusion of the First and Beginning of the Second Part. G. B. p. 116. I Have run around the great Circle I proposed to my self and have examined the Designs of Christian Religion and have found great contradiction given to them by the Doctrins of that Church Answ You have indeed run a Round and that so long that you are giddy with it as appears by your frequent and great Falls so evidently against common Sense as I have all along observed and yet I have not observed all for that would have been too tedious to the Reader and have taken up more time than I can bestow upon Trifles You have shewn no Contradiction betwixt the Doctrin of the Catholic Church and the Designs of Christianity I have shewn their Conformity But your Book discovers a Design against Charity which is the Heart of Religion it being a heap of rash Judgments evident Calumnies or uncharitable Surmises I say nothing of your Faults against Reason your incoherent Notions groundless Judgments and perpetual Sophisms because althô these are great Faults in themselves yet not considerable in presence of those others against Charity And these Faults are the greater for being brought to uphold a Schism a Design contrary to Christianity it being a most certain Truth that No Man can have the Love of God who withstands the Vnion of all Men in one Church Non habet Dei Charitatem qui Ecclesiae non diligit unitatem Aug. l. 3. de Baptis cont Donat. c. 16. And all your Pretences of Causes given of your Separation are but frivolous this tearing in pieces the my stical Body of Christ is so great a Sacrilege that no Pretext can excuse it Apparet saith S. Austin l. 2. contra Epist Parmen c. 11. non esse quicquam gravius sacrilegio schismatis quia praecidendae unitatis nulla est justa necessitas When I saw you reflect on your running so long round in a Circle I hoped you would come out of it and was in hopes that either I might have been a Spectator of your following Course or else that you would have led me a more pleasing Walk The Design of S. Austin Lib. 1. Retract cap. 7. came to my Mind who represented the Piety of Catholics and the vicious Lives of the Manichees in his two Books De moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae and De moribus Manichaeorum and I imagined you might design the like in the two Parts of this Book I expected you would have given us a Panegyric of your own Church after you had spent your Satyrical Vein in your Invective against ours I thought we should have seen described the Beauty of the Protestant Church the Advantages of Communion with it the Perfection of its Faith the Decency of its Ceremonies the Majesty of its Hierarchy the Reasonableness of its Canons the Fulness of its Conducency to Piety in this Life and Bliss in the next and all these confirmed with Examples of the vertuous Lives of its Devotes But how much have I been mistaken for casting an Eye a little farther after some few words in commendation of your Faith I find you throwing Dirt again as fast as before or rather faster as if in the First Part you had only essayed what in the Second you act in earnest Doth your Garden the Church Cant. 4.12 is compared to one afford only that one Flower Is the Soil so barren or so ill cultivated as none else should be found in it Or if there be any other do they thrive so ill as not to be worth being pointed to Or doth it come from a morosity of Nature which inclines you to blame and reprehend Or from a propensity to entertain thoughts only of Faults and Imperfections as Flies pitch upon Ulcers and some other Creatures wallow in Mire Or from another Quality worse than that which turns all to bad as a foul Stomach turns all Food into peccant Humors and a Spider draws Poyson from that Flower whence a Bee draws Hony Something of this must be for I will neither say there is nothing reprehensible in the Lives of Catholics it is a Propriety of the Triumphant Church to be free from any Spot or Wrinkle nor that all is bad in Protestants besides their Faith that being the Condition of the Damned Spirits in Hell. But I supersede these Personal Reflections and follow thô with little comfort you in the new Maze you lead me into CHAP. XXX Catholic Faith delivered by Men Divinely Inspired Rules to know true Tradition Faith never changed G. B. p. 116. THE first Character of our Faith is that it was delivered to the World by Men sent of God and Divinely Inspired who proved their Mission by Miracles Answ All Divine Faith is built on the Veracity of God the Men who delivered it at first were but the
any thing hath been taken as some English in France have experienced In fine a newness of Life Of all this what is in use among Protestants Nothing Are they judged fit to approach the Divine Table they do it with a lively Faith believing it is the true real and substantial Body of Christ with his Blood and Divinity per concomitantiam Concil Trid. Sess 13. cap. 13. by reason of the inseparable Vnion betwixt them With a profound Humility professing with the Centurion Luc. 7.6 their unworthiness to receive their Lord and desiring him to make them worthy And with a Love proportionable to that Christ shewed by instituting this Sacrament What do Protestants Sometimes something for their Ministers distribute a Morsel of Bread and a Sup of Wine and they may expect to meet only with Dispositions proportionable to those Beggerly Elements Amongst us Is any sick He calls for the the Priests of the Church they pray over him anointing him with oyl in the Name of the Lord that the Prayer of Faith may save the Sick and God may raise him up in case it be for the Glory of God and the good of the Patient and if he have committed Sins they may be forgiven him Jac. 5.14 15. Thus in an Apostles words I have delivered our Practice in Administring the Sacrament of Extreme Vnction Of which Protestants nothing Besides Mass which all hear every Day commonly three times a day a Bell rings to mind us of the Incarnation of the Son of God and move all with an Act of Faith to acknowledge it and return God thanks for it Of which amongst Protestants nothing I may conclude this Comparison betwixt you and us as to the Practice of Piety with S. Austin's words Lib. de moribus Eccles c. 34. very pat to our purpose Istis Manichaei Protestantes si potestis obsistite istos intuemini isto's sine mendacio si audetis cum contumeliâ nominate Istorum jejuniis vestra jejunia castitati castitatem vestitum vestitui epulas epulis modestiam modestiae charitatem charitati quod res maximè postulat praeceptis praecepta conferte Jam videbitis quid inter ostentationem sinceritatem inter viam rectam errorem intersit Nunc vos illud admoneo ut aliquando Ecclesiae Catholicae maledicere desinatis vituperando mores hominum quos ipsa condemnat quos quotidie tanquam malos filios corrigere studet Sed quisquis illorum bonâ voluntate Deique auxilio corriguntur quod amiserunt peccando poenitendo recuperant Qui autem voluntate mala in pristinis vitiis perseverant aut addunt graviora prioribus in agro quidem Domini sinuntur esse cum bonis seminibus crescere sed veniet tempus quo zizania separentur Considering them well see whether without offending against Truth you can reproach any thing Compare your Fasts with ours your Chastity your Modesty and chiefly your Doctrin with ours you will presently perceive what difference there is betwixt vain boasting and sincerity going the straight way and wandring At present I advise you to cease from detracting from the Catholic Church blaming the Lives of Men whom she condemns and whom she daily endeavors to correct as naughty Children If any of them with the help of God's Grace are converted they recover in the Catholic Church by Repentance what they lost by Sin. If any notwithstanding all these helps to Piety continue obstinate in their Wickedness or add more grievous Sins to those they have committed they are indeed tolerated in the Field of God the Church until the time come designed for the separation of the Cockle from the good Corn. Thus S. Austin Glory then as much as you please with the lukewarm Laodicean Angel That you are rich and encreased in Goods and want nothing yet assure your self that as he so you are poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked Your boasting of the Advantages of your Instructions and Discipline amongst your deluded Admirers is like those Nurses who wanting Milk entertain their Children with Rattles and Bibs and some insignificant Nourriture In reality there seems to be as much difference betwixt the Spiritual Food Souls receive in the Catholic Church and that of Protestants as there is betwixt the Nourriture a Child receives sucking a Breast stretched with Milk. and that he gets by sucking a moistned Finger Which shall be further shewn in the CHAP. XXXVII No Houses of Devotion nor Spiritual Books amongst Protestants G. B. p. 145. A Temptation to become Papists is the solitary and retired Houses among them for leading a devout and strict Life and the many excellent Books of Devotion have been published by many of that Communion And pag. 147. I deny not that is the greatest defect of the Reformation that there are not in it such Encouragements to a devout Life And pag. 148. It is not to be denied to be a great Defect that we want Recluse Houses But it fixeth no Imputation on our Church her Doctrin or Worship that she is so poor as not to be able to maintain such Seminaries Answ This is as pretty a Sophism of non causa pro causâ as I have seen As if the small number of English Catholics were richer than the whole Body of Protestants for we have founded many great Families of Religious and you with all your Industry could never settle one There are Reasons for your Church's being so unsuccessful in these Attempts without doubt as real and true as that which you give is false and it shall be my work to lay them out before you The First and chiefest Reason is a Judgment of God Almighty upon you for breaking up and dispersing so many Houses of Piety God was served in those Houses he was offended with that Sacrilege and therefore denies you that Blessing of which you are unworthy A Second Each one had rather keep his Means to himself than see them pass against his will to another Lay-Family for whom he hath no kindness If any give it to God and Religion they design it should continue there which cannot be expected in England as long as the Memory is fresh of Henry VIII and Elizabeth A Third The Foundation of your Reformation is inconsistent with a Superstructure of Religion or living in Community together Men cannot live together without a setled Rule or Order established peculiar to that manner of Life and proper for it Your Reformation is inconsistent with this it teaching to reject all Human Injunctions as contrary to Christian Liberty When out of that Principle you have taught Men to despise all Decrees even of General Councils received by the whole Church and confirmed by the Practice of many Ages how can you hope they should esteem Rules given by modern new Men A Fourth Your Doctrin denying all Merits or Reward due to our Actions Hopes of Advantage encourages us to Labor our Industry is dull'd as soon as those vanish S. Ambr. thinks
Acts 20.28 Before those Pastors and Doctors whom Christ gave to consummate the Saints that we might not be like children carried hither and thither with every blast of Doctrin Ephes 4.11 14. Before those to whom Christ said He that hears you hears me and he that despises you despises me Luk. 10.16 Before those in fine whom Christ sent to instruct all People promising he would be with them to the end of the world Mat. 28.19 What Pride what Presumption bating that of Lucifer greater than this What room for Humility in a Soul so full of it self so puffed up with vain Conceits of its own Capacity And what hopes of any real Vertue without it seeing it is the surest and only foundation of a pious Life This last Reason shews that in your Souls there is no Foundation for a Structure of Piety and the others shew you can hope for no Structure upon any Foundation Another Doctrin of yours as pernicious as any of the rest is That the best of our Actions are Sins even our Endeavors to serve God keep his Commandments and give to every one his due viz. paying a Debt or relieving the Poor Nay it seems a greater Sin to do it than not to do it Sins of Commission being more grievous and offensive than those of Omission G. B. pag. 154. We cannot be charged for having taught our People to break any one Commandment Answ You seem charged for teaching them indirectly to break them all saying the keeping them is impossible in it self fruitless if they should be kept aad their breach not prejudicial G. B. pag. 260. Bad Practices may furnish matter for Regret but not for Separation Answ It is true when and where Principles of Religion are contrary to such Practices But when these bad Customs are natural Sequels of the Doctin and necessarily flow from it not only the Practices are to be detested but likewise the Doctrin whence they flow is to be abhorred as pernicious to Souls and the Church which teaches them as Doctrins either necessary to be believed or even probable in practice whatsoever Church it be is to be forsaken as the Chair of Pestilence Si quid de Tuo Deus meus dictum est agnoscant Tui Si quid de Meo tu ignosce tui Aug. POSTSCRIPT TO Mr. CUDWORTH D. D. I Had ended the whole Answer to Dr. Burnet before I had the sight of your Learned great Book against Atheism which gives me occasion to clear and confirm some Points which I thought then and think still clear and strong enough notwithstanding all the Mist you and others have raised to hide them and their Endeavors to shake them But as the Apostle was so I am a debtor not only to the wise but to the unwise too Which Debt I hope to discharge in few Lines You own that some few Philosophers as Epicurus Strato c. thought God to be Corporeal but that the major part believed him to be a pure Spirit and adored the Only true God under the Names of Jupiter Minerva Osyrie Neith or Venus I said with the ancient Fathers and Primitive Christians that althô Pagans and indeed all Men had a natural knowledge of One God yet those the Pagans adored had been Men. The Proofs then produced I reduce to four Heads The First taken from the Diversity of their Sexes The Second from their Generation The Third from their Death The Fourth from their Sacred Rites 1. The different Sexes of the Pagan Gods is a convincing Proof that they were not Spirits but Men and Women at least Males and Females and by consequence Corporeal This Reason takes up a great part of Arnobius's Third Book from pag. 46. which he begins with these words Adduci primùm hoc ut credamus non possumus immortalem illam praestantissimamque Naturam divisam esse per sexus He acquaints us there that Cicero having ingenuously professed his dislike of this the Pagans endeavored to get his Works abolished by the Senate because they implied a dislike of Ancient Paganism and an approbation of Christian Doctrin Oportere statui per Senatum aboleantur ut haec scripta quibus Christiana Religlo comprobetur vetustatis opprimatur Auctoritas So essential were these Sexes to the Pagan Deities Which being designed only for carnal Propagation brings on my 2. Reason Those Gods received their Beings from Parents as Men do This is sufficiently evidenced out of Ovid. l. 4. Fast Illa Venus Deos omnes longum est numerare creavit You pag. 488. distinguish Venus Aphrodite from the Vulgar and pag. 489. you say that That Venus to whom all the Gods owed their Being was the One Supreme Deity Our Question is which Venus Ovid speaks of in that Verse You say it is the Divine or the true God I say it is the Vulgar and thus I prove it That Venus who makes Males Fight with one another and sport with the Females of their Kind for whom young Men break their Sleeps to give Serenades to their Misses who by Adultery with Anchises brought forth Aeneas who contended with Pallas and Juno for a Golden Apple and submitted to the Judgment of Paris who Fought in defence of Troy and was wounded She I say was the Vulgar Venus and not the True God which I suppose needs no Proof But of this Venus Ovid speaks for he says Quid genus omne creat volucrum nisi blanda voluptas Conveniunt pecudes si levis adsit amor Cùm Mare trux Aries cornu decertat idem Frontem dilectae laedere parcit ovis Primus amans carmen vigilatum nocte negatâ Dicitur ad clausas concinuisse fores Pro Trojâ Romane tuâ Venus arma ferebat Cùm gemuit teneram cuspide laesa manum Coelestesque duas Trojano Judice vicit Ah nolim victas hoc meminisse Deas Assaracique Nurus dicta est ut scilicet olin Magnus Julaeos Caesar haberet Avos Thus Ovid. Against all this for your Interpretation you bring Euripides in Stobaeus and Boetius who speak of the Celestial Love. What then The Divines the Fathers the Scripture speak of it too for they speak of the Holy Ghost But what is that to Ovid's Verse which they do not mention and of which alone is our Dispute Whence 't is evident that all Pagan Deities were born as others As also that 3. They died as other Men. This is also urged by Fathers against Pagans To those cited elsewhere add S. August l. 1. de Cons Evang. cap. 23. who having proved out of Cicero that all Pagan Gods had been Men and alledged that later Fiction of Caesar's being changed into a Star of which Virgil Ecce Dionaei procedit Cesaris Astrum He says Videatur ne fortè hystorica Veritas sepulchra falsorum Deorum ostendat in terra vanit as autem Poetica stellas eorum non figat sed fingat in coelo Neque enim revera stella illa Jovis est aut illa