Ep. 7. Si manifestissimae certaeque rationi velut Scripturarum Sanctarum objicitur authoritas non intelligit qui hoc facit non Scripturarum illarum sensum ad quem penetrare non potuit sed suum potiùs objicit veritati nec quod in eis sed quod in seipso velut pro eis invenit opponit He that opposes the authority of the holy Scriptures against manifest and certain reason does neither understand himself nor the Scripture Indeed when God hath plainly declared the particular the more it seems against my reasons the greater is my obedience in submitting but that is because my reasons are but Sophismes since truth it self hath declared plainly against them but if God hath not plainly declared against that which I call reason my reason must not be contested by a pretence of Faith but upon some other account Ratio cum ratione concertet 3. Secondly But this is such a fine device that it can if it be admitted warrant any literal interpretation against all the pretences of the world For when Christ said If thy right eye offend thee pluck it out Here are the plain words of Christ And Some make themselves Eunuches for the kingdom of Heaven Nothing plainer in the Grammatical sence and why do we not do it because it is an unnatural thing to mangle our body for a Spiritual cause which may be supplied by other more gentle instruments Yea but reason is not to be heard against the plain words of Christ and the greater our reason is against it the greater excellency in our obedience that as Abraham against hope believed in hope so we against reason may believe in the greatest reason the Divine revelation and what can be spoken against this 4. Thirdly Stapleton confuting Luthers opinion of Consubstantiation pretends against it many absurdities drawn from reason and yet it would have been ill taken if it should have been answered that the doctrine ought the rather to be believed because it is so unreasonable which answer is something like our new Preachers who pretend that therefore they are Spiritual men because they have no learning they are to confound the wise because they are the weak things of the world and that they are to be heard the rather because there is the less reason they should so crying stinking fish that men may buy it the more greedily But I will proceed to the particulars of reason in this Article being contented with this that if the adverse party shall refuse this way of arguing they may be reproved by saying they refuse to hear reason and it will not be easie for them in despite of reason to pretend faith for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unreasonable men and they that have not faith are equivalent in S. Pauls expression 5. First I shall lay this prejudice in the Article as relating to the discourses of reason that in the words of institution there is nothing that can be pretended to prove the conversion of the substance of bread into the body of Christ but the same will infer the conversion of the whole into the whole and therefore of the accidents of the bread into the accidents of the body And in those little pretences of Philosophy which these men sometimes make to cousen fools into a belief of the possibility they pretend to no instance but to such conversions in which if the substance is changed so also are the accidents sometimes the accident is chang'd in the same remaining substance but if the substance be changed the accidents never remain the same individually or in kind unless they be symbolical that is are common to both as in the change of elements of air into fire of water into earth Thus when Christ changed water into wine the substances being chang'd the accidents also were alter'd and the wine did not retain the colour and taste of water for then though it had been the stranger miracle that wine should be wine and yet look and taste like water yet it would have obtained but little advantage to his doctrine and person if he should have offer'd to prove his mission by such a miracle For if Christ had said to the guests To prove that I am come from God I will change this water into wine well might this prove his mission but if while the guests were wondring at this he should proceed and say wonder ye not at this for I will do a stranger thing than it for this water shall be changed into wine and yet I will so order it that it shall look like water and taste like it so that you shall not know one from the other Certainly this would have made the whole matter very ridiculous and indeed it is a strange device of these men to suppose God to work so many prodigious miracles as must be in Transubstantiation if it were at all and yet that none of these should be seen for to what purpose is a miracle that cannot be perceived It can prove nothing nor do any thing when it self is not known whether it be or no. When bread is turned into flesh and wine into blood in the nourishment of our bodies which I have seen urg'd for the credibility of Transubstantiation The bread as it changes his nature changes his accidents too and is flesh in colour and shape and dimensions and weight and operation as well as it is in substance Now let them rub their foreheads hard and tell us it is so in the holy Sacrament For if it be not so then no instance of the change of Natural substances from one form to another can be pertinent For 1. Though it be no more than is done in every operation of a body yet it is always with change of their proper accidents and then 2. It can with no force of the words of the institution be pretended that one ought to be or can be without the other For he that says this is the body of a man says that it hath the substance of a humane body and all his consequents that is the accidents and he that says this is the body of Alexander says besides the substance that it hath all the individuating conditions which are the particular accidents and therefore Christ affirming this to be his body did as much affirm the change of accidents as the change of substance because that change is naturally and essentially consequent to this Now if they say they therefore do not believe the accidents of bread to be changed because they see them remain I might reply Why will they believe their sense against faith since there may be evidence but here is certainty and it cannot be deceived though our eyes can and it is certain that Christ affirmed it without distinction of one part from another of substance from his usual accidents This is my body Hoc Hîc Nunc and Sic. Now if they think their eyes may be credited for
be said he was deceived when he said I saw Satan like lightning fall from Heaven or when he heard the voice of his Father testifying concerning him or lest he should be deceived when he touched Peters wives mother by the hand or that he smelt another breath of ointment and not what was offered to his burial Alium postea vini saporem quod in sanguinis sui memoriam consecravit or tasted another taste of wine which he consecrated to the memory of his blood And if the Catholick Christians had believed the substantial natural presence of Christs body in the Sacrament and consequently disbelieved the testimony of four senses as the Church of Rome at this day does seeing smelling tasting feeling it had been impudence in them to have reproved Marcion by the testimony of two senses concerning the verity of Christs body And supposing that our eyes could be deceived and our taste and our smelling yet our touch cannot for supposing the organs equally disposed yet touch is the guardian of truth and his nearest natural instrument all sensation is by touch but the other senses are more capable of being deceived because though they finally operate by touch variously affected yet their objects are further removed from the Organ and therefore many intermedial things may intervene and possibly hinder the operation of the sense that is bring more diseases and disturbances to the action but in touch the object and the instrument joyn close together and therefore there can be no impediment if the instrument be sound and the object proper And yet no sense can be deceived in that which it always perceives alike The touch can never be deceived and therefore a testimony from it and three senses more cannot possibly be refused and therefore it were strange if all the Christians for above 1600 years together should be deceived as if the Eucharist were a perpetual illusion and a riddle to the senses for so many ages together and indeed the fault in this case could not be in the senses and therefore Tertullian and S. Austin dispute wittily and substantially that the senses could never be deceived but the understanding ought to assent to what they relate to it or represent For if any man thinks the staff is crooked that is set half way in the water it is the fault of his judgment not of his sense for the air and the water being several mediums the eye ought to see otherwise in air otherwise in water but the understanding must not conclude falsly from these true premises which the eye ministers For the thicker medium makes a fraction of the species by incrassation and a shadow and when a man in the yellow Jaundies thinks every thing yellow it is not the fault of his eye but of his understanding for the eye does his office right for it perceives just as is represented to it the species are brought yellow but the fault is in the understanding not perceiving that the species are stained near the eye not further off When a man in a fever thinks every thing bitter his taste is not deceived but judges rightly for as a man that chews bread and aloes together tastes not false if he tastes bitterness so it is in the sick mans case the juice of his meat is mingled with choler and the taste is acute and exact by perceiving it such as it is so mingled The purpose of which discourse is this that no notices are more evident and more certain than the notices of sense but if we conclude contrary to the true dictate of senses the fault is in the understanding collecting false conclusions from right premises It follows therefore that in the matter of the Eucharist we ought to judge that which our senses tell us For whatsoever they say is true for no deceit can come by them but the deceit is when we believe something besides or against what they tell us especially when the organ is perfect and the object proper and the medium regular and all things perfect and the same always and to all men For it is observable that in this case the senses are competent judges of the natural being of what they see and taste and smell and feel and according to that all the men in the world can swear that what they see is bread and wine but it is not their office to tell us what they become by the institution of our Saviour for that we are to learn by faith that what is bread and wine in nature is by Gods ordinance the Sacrament of the body and blood of the Saviour of the world but one cannot contradict another and therefore they must be reconciled both say true that which Faith teaches is certain and that which the senses of all men teach always that also is certain and evident for as the rule of the School says excellently Grace never destroys nature but perfects it and so it is in the consecration of bread and wine in which although we are more to regard their signification than their matter their holy imployment than their natural usage what they are by grace rather than what they are by nature that they are Sacramental rather than that they are nutritive that they are consecrated and exalted by religion rather than that they are mean and low in their natural beings what they are to the spirit and understanding rather than what they are to the sense yet this also is as true and as evident as the other and therefore though not so apt for our meditation yet as certain as that which is 7. Thirdly Though it be a hard thing to be put to prove that bread is bread and that wine is wine yet if the arguments and notices of sense may not pass for sufficient an impudent person may without possibility of being confuted out-face any man that an Oyster is a Rat and that a Candle is a pig of Lead and so might the Egyptian Soothsayers have been too hard for Moses for when they changed rods into Serpents they had some colour to tell Pharaoh they were Serpents as well as the rod of Moses But if they had failed to turn the water into blood they needed not to have been troubled if they could have born down Pharaoh that though it looked like water and tasted like water yet by their inchantment they had made it verily to be blood And upon this ground of having different substances unproper and disproportioned accidents what hinders them but they might have said so and if they had how should they have been confuted But this manner of proceeding would be sufficient to evacuate all reason and all science and all notices of things and we may as well conclude snow to be black and fire cold and two and two to make five and twenty 8. But it is said although the body of Christ be invested with unproper accidents yet sometimes Christ hath appeared in his own shape and blood
is guilty of murder and cannot pretend infirmity for his excuse because in an action of so great consequence and effect it is supposed he had time to deliberate all the foregoing parts of his life whether such an action ought to be done or not or the very horror of the action was enough to arrest his spirit as a great danger or falling into a river will make a drunken man sober and by all the laws of God and Man he was immur'd from the probability of all transports into such violences and the man must needs be a slave of passion who could by it be brought to go so far from reason and to do so great evil * If a man in the careless time of the day when his spirit is loose with a less severe imployment or his heart made more open with an innocent refreshment spies a sudden beauty that unluckily strikes his fancy it is possible that he may be too ready to entertain a wanton thought and to suffer it to stand at the doors of his first consent but if the sin passes no further the man enters not into the regions of death because the Devil entred on a sudden and is as suddenly cast forth But if from the first arrest of concupiscence he pass on to an imperfect consent from an imperfect consent to a perfect and deliberate and from thence to an act and so to a habit he ends in death because long before it is come thus far The salt water is taken in The first concupiscence is but like rain water it discolours the pure springs but makes them not deadly But when in the progression the will mingles with it it is like the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or waters of brimstone and the current for ever after is unwholsome and carries you forth into the dead Sea the lake of Sodom which is to suffer the vengeance of Eternal fire But then the matter may be supposed little till the will comes For though a man may be surprised with a wanton eye yet he cannot sight a duel against his knowledge or commit adultery against his will A man cannot against his will contrive the death of a man but he may speak a rash word or be suddenly angry or triflingly peevish and yet all this notwithstanding be a good man still These may be sins of Infirmity because they are imperfect actions in the whole and such in which as the man is for the present surpris'd so they are such against which no watchfulness was a sufficient guard as it ought to have been in any great matter and might have been in sudden murders A wise and a good man may easily be mistaken in a nice question but can never suspect an article of his Creed to be false a good man may have many fears and doubtings in matters of smaller moment but he never doubts of Gods goodness of his truth of his mercy or of any of his communicated perfections he may fall into melancholy and may suffer indefinite fears of he knows not what himself yet he can never explicitely doubt of any thing which God hath clearly revealed and in which he is sufficiently instructed A weak eye may at a distance mistake a man for a tree but he who sailing in a storm takes the Sea for dry land or a mushrome for an oak is stark blind And so is he who can think adultery to be excusable or that Treason can be duty or that by persecuting Gods Prophets he does God good service or that he propagates Religion by making the Ministers of the Altar poor and robbing the Churches A good man so remaining cannot suffer infirmity in the plain and legible lines of duty where he can see and reason and consider I have now told which are sins of infirmity and I have told all their measures For as for those other false opinions by which men flatter themselves into Hell by a pretence of sins of infirmity they are as unreasonable as they are dangerous and they are easily reproved upon the stock of the former truths Therefore 55. VI. Although our mere natural inclination to things forbidden be of it self a natural and unavoidable infirmity and such which cannot be cured by all the precepts and endeavours of perfection yet this very inclination if it be heightned by carelesness or evil customs is not a sin of infirmity Tiberius the Emperor being troubled with a fellow that wittily and boldly pretended himself to be a Prince at last when he could not by questions he discovered him to be a mean person by the rusticity and hardness of his body not by a callousness of his feet or a wart upon a finger but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His whole body was hard and servile and so he was discovered The natural superfluities and excrescencies that inevitably adhere to our natures are not sufficient indications of a servile person or a slave to sin but when our natures are abused by choice and custom when the callousness is spread by evil and hard usages when the arms are brawny by the services of Egypt then it is no longer infirmity but a superinduc'd viciousness and a direct hostility When nature rules grace does not When the flesh is in power the spirit is not Therefore it matters not from what corner the blasting wind does come from whence soever it is it is deadly Most of our sins are from natural inclinations and the negative precepts of God are for the most part restraints upon them Therefore to pretend nature when our selves have spoil'd it is no excuse but that state of evil from whence the Spirit of God is to rescue and redeem us 56. VII Yea but although it be thus in nature yet it is hop'd by too many that it shall be allowed to be infirmity when the violence of our passions or desires overcomes our resolutions Against this I oppose this proposition When violence of desire or passion engages us in a sin whither we see and observe our selves entring that violence or transportation is not our excuse but our disease and that resolution is not accepted for innocence or repentance but the not performing what we did resolve is our sin and the violence of passion was the accursed principle 57. For to resolve is a relative and imperfect duty in order to something else It had not been necessary to resolve if it had not been necessary to do do it and if it be necessary to do it it is not sufficient to resolve it And for the understanding of this the better we must observe that to resolve and to endeavour are several things To resolve is to purpose to do what we may if we will some way or other the thing is in our power either we are able of our selves or we are help'd No man resolves to carry an Elephant or to be as wise as Solomon or to destroy a vast Army with his own hands He may endeavour this for To endeavour sometimes
66. For we must observe carefully that there is a pardon of sins proper to this life and another proper to the world to come Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted and what ye bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven That is there are two remissions One here the other hereafter That here is wrought by the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments by faith and obedience by moral instruments and the Divine grace all which are divisible and gradual and grow or diminish ebbe or flow change or persist and consequently grow on to effect or else fail of the grace of God that final Grace which alone is effective of that benefit which we here contend for Here in proper speaking our pardon is but a disposition towards the great and final pardon a possibility and ability to pursue that interest to contend for that absolution and accordingly it is wrought by parts and is signified and promoted by every act of grace that puts us in order to Heaven or the state of final pardon God gives us one degree of pardon when he forbears to kill us in the act of sin when he admits when he calls when he smites us into repentance when he invites us by mercies and promises when he abates or defers his anger when he sweetly engages us in the ways of holiness these are several parts and steps of pardon For if God were extremely angry with us as we deserve nothing of all this would be done unto us and still Gods favours increase and the degrees of pardon multiply as our endeavours are prosperous as we apply our selves to religion and holiness make use of the benefits of the Church the ministery of the Word and Sacraments and as our resolutions pass into acts and habits of vertue But then in this world we are to expect no other pardon but a fluctuating alterable uncertain pardon as our duty is uncertain Hereafter it shall be finished if here we persevere in the parts and progressions of our repentance But as yet it is an Embryo in a state of conduct and imperfection here we always pray for it always hope it always labour for it but we are not fully and finally absolved till the day of sentence and judgment until that day we hope and labour * The purpose of this discourse is to represent in what state of things our pardon stands here and that it is not only conditional but of it self a mutable effect a disposition towards the great pardon and therefore if it be not nurs'd and maintain'd by the proper instruments of its progression it dies like an abortive conception and shall not have that immortality whither it was designed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it was not ill said of old he that remits of his severity and interrupts his course does also break it and then he breaks his hopes and dissolves the golden chain which reached up to the foot of the throne of grace 67. II. Here therefore the advice is reasonable and necessary he that would ensure his pardon must persevere in duty and to that purpose must make a full and perfect work in his mortifications and fights against sin he must not suffer any thing to remain behind which may ever spring up and bear the apples of Sodom It is the advice of Dion Prusaeensis He that goes to cleanse his soul from lusts like a wild desert from beasts of prey unless he do it thoroughly in a short time will be destroyed by the remaining portions of his concupiscence For as a Fever whose violence is abated and the malignity lessened and the man returns to temper and reason to quiet nights and chearful days if yet there remains any of the unconquered humour it is apt to be set on work again by every cold or little violence of chance and the same disease returns with a bigger violence and danger So it is in the eradication of our sins that which remains behind is of too great power to effect all the purposes of our death and to make us to have fought in vain and lose all our labours and all our hopes and the intermedial piety being lost will exasperate us the more and kill us more certainly than our former vices as cold water taken to cool the body inflames it more and makes cold to be the kindler of a greater fire 68. III. Let no man be too forward in saying his sin is pardoned for our present perswasions are too gay and confident and that which is not repentance sufficient for a lustful thought or one single act of uncleanness or intemperance we usually reckon to be the very porch of Heaven and expiatory of the vilest and most habitual crimes It were well if the Spiritual and the Curates of Souls were not the authors or incouragers of this looseness of confidence and credulity To confess and to absolve is all the method of our modern repentance even when it is the most severe Indeed in the Church of England I cannot so easily blame that proceeding because there are so few that use the proper and secret ministery of a spiritual guide that it is to be supposed he that does so hath long repented and done some violence to himself and more to his sins before he can master himself so much as to bring himself to submit to that ministery But there where the practice is common and the shame is taken off and the duty returns at certain festivals and is frequently performed to absolve as soon as the sinner confesses and leave him to amend afterwards if he please is to give him confidence and carelesness but not absolution 69. IV. Do not judge of the pardon of thy sins by light and trifling significations but by long lasting and material events If God continues to call thee to repentance there is hopes that he is ready to pardon thee and if thou dost obey the Heavenly calling and dost not defer to begin nor stop in thy course nor retire to thy vain conversation thou art in the sure way of pardon and mayest also finish it But if thou dost believe that thy sins are pardon'd remember the words of our Lord concerning Mary Magdalen much is forgiven her and she loved much If thou fearest thy sins are not pardon'd pray the more earnestly and mortifie thy sin with the more severity and be no more troubled concerning the event of it but let thy whole care and applications be concerning thy duty I have read of one that was much afflicted with fear concerning his final state and not knowing whether he should persevere in grace and obtain a glorious pardon at last cried out O si scirem c. Would to God I might but know whether I should persevere or no! He was answered What wouldest thou do if thou wert sure Wouldest thou be careless or more curious of thy duty If that knowledge would make thee careless desire it not but if
is within the dew of thine own tears Do not thou therefore look neither for John nor Jordan be thou thy own baptist viz. in the baptism of repentance Thou art defiled after thou art washed thy bowels are defiled thy soul is polluted plunge thy self in the waters of repentance cleanse thy self by abundance of tears let compunction be plentifully in thy bowels and the Lord himself shall baptize thee with the Holy Ghost and with fire and shall heap the fruits of repentance and lay them up like wheat but the chaff of thy sins he shall burn with unquenchable fire Many testimonies out of Antiquity to the same purpose are to be seen ready collected by Gratian under the title De poenitentiâ 36. Now if any one shall inquire to what purpose it is that we should confess our sins to God who already knows them all especially since to do so can be no part of mortification to the mans spirit For if I steal in the presence of my brother afterwards to tell him who saw me that I did that which he saw me do is no confusion of face That which will be an answer to this and make it appear necessary to confess to God will also make it appear not to be necessary to confess to men in respect I say of any absolute necessity of the thing or essential obligation of the person I answer that Confession of sins as it is simply taken for enumeration of the actions and kinds of sin can signifie nothing as to God for the reasons now mention'd in the inquiry But when we are commanded to confess our sins it is nothing else but another expression or word for the Commandment of Repentance For Confess your sins means acknowledge that you have done amiss that you were in the wrong way that you were a miserable person wandring out of the paths of God and the methods of Heaven and happiness that you ought not to have done so that you have sinn'd against God and broken his holy laws and therefore are liable and expos'd to all that wrath of God which he will inflict upon you or which he threatned Confession of sins is a justification of God and a sentencing of our selves This is not only certain in the nature of the thing it self but apparent also in the words of David Against thee only have I done this evil ut tu justificeris that thou mightest be justified in thy saying and clear when thou art judged That is if I be a sinner then art thou righteous and just in all the evils thou inflictest So that Confession of sins is like Confession of faith nothing but a signification of our conviction it is a publication of our dislike of sin and a submission to the law of God and a deprecation of the consequent evils Confessio erroris professio est desinendi said S. Hilary A confession of our sin is a profession that we will leave it and again Confessio peccati ea est ut id quod à te gestum est per confessionem peccati confitearis esse peccatum That is confession of sins not that we enumerate the particulars and tell the matter of fact to him that remembers them better than we can but it is a condemning of the sin it self an acknowledging that we have done foolishly a bringing it forth to be crucified and killed This is apparent also in the case of Achan who was sufficiently convict of the matter of fact by the Divine disposing of lots which was one of the ways by which God answered the secret inquiries of the Jews but when he was brought forth to punishment Joshua said unto him My son give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him that is acknowledge the answer of God to be true and his judgment upon us not to be causless To this answers that part of Achans reply Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel There God was justified and the glory was given to him that is the glory of his Truth and his Justice but then Joshua adds and tell me now what thou hast done hide it not from me Here it was fit he should make a particular enumeration of the fact and so he did to Joshua saying Thus and thus have I done For to confess to man is another thing than to confess to God Men need to be informed God needs it not but God is to be justified and glorified in the sentence and condemnation of the sin or the sinner and in order to it we must confess our sin that is condemn it confess it to be a sin and our selves guilty and standing at Gods mercy S. Chrysostom upon those words of S. Paul If we would judge our selves we should not be judged hath these words He saith not if we would chastise our selves if we would punish our selves but only if we would acknowledge our sins if we would condemn our selves if we would give sentence against our sins we should be freed from that punishment which is due both here and there For he that hath condemned himself appeases God upon a double account both because he hath acknowledged the sins past and is more careful for the future To this confession of sins is opposed the denying our sin our hiding it from God as Adam did that is either by proceeding in it or by not considering it or by excusing it or by justifying it or by glorying in it all these are high provocations of Gods anger but this anger is taken off by confession Praeveniamus faciem ejus in confessione said the Psalmist Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving so we read it Let us prevent his anger or Let us go before his face with confession so the old Latin Bibles which is a doing as the Prodigal did I will go unto my Father and say unto him Father I have sinned against Heaven and against thee and this is the first act of exterior repentance but it is of that repentance that is indispensably necessary to salvation this is Repentance towards God which the Apostles preach'd in the first publication of Christianity 38. But then besides this there is a Repentance towards men and a Confession in order to it If I have sinn'd against my brother I must ask his pardon and confess my error that is I must repent or confess to him for he that is the injur'd person hath a right over me I am his debtor and oblig'd and he can forgive me if he please and he may chuse that is I must pay him the debt I owe him unless he will be pleased to remit it For God in his infinite wisdom and goodness and justice hath taken care to secure every mans interest and he that takes any thing from me is bound by Gods law to restore it and to restore me to that state of good things from whence he forc'd me Now because for
unreasonableness I will not say but the same liberty in expounding Scripture or if it be not licence taken but that the Scripture it self is so full and redundant in sences quite contrary what man soever or what company of men soever shall use this principle will certainly find such rare productions from several places that either the unreasonableness of the thing will discover the errour of the proceeding or else there will be a necessity of permitting a great liberty of judgment where is so infinite variety without limit or mark of necessary determination If the first then because an errour is so obvious and ready to our selves it will be great imprudence or tyranny to be hasty in judging others but if the latter it is it that I contend for for it is most unreasonable when either the thing it self ministers variety or that we take licence to our selves in variety of interpretations or proclaim to all the world our great weakness by our actually being deceived that we should either prescribe to others magisterially when we are in errour or limit their understandings when the thing it self affords liberty and variety SECT IV. Of the difficulty of expounding Scripture 1. THese considerations are taken from the nature of Scripture it self but then if we consider that we have no certain ways of determining places of difficulty and question infallibly and certainly but that we must hope to be saved in the belief of things plain necessary and fundamental and our pious endeavour to find out Gods meaning in such places which he hath left under a cloud for other great ends reserved to his own knowledge we shall see a very great necessity in allowing a liberty in Prophesying without prescribing authoritatively to other mens consciences and becoming Lords and Masters of their Faith Now the means of expounding Scripture are either external or internal For the external as Church Authority Tradition Fathers Councils and Decrees of Bishops they are of a distinct consideration and follow after in their order But here we will first consider the invalidity and uncertainty of all those means of expounding Scripture which are more proper and internal to the nature of the thing The great Masters of Commentaries some whereof have undertaken to know all mysteries have propounded many ways to expound Scripture which indeed are excellent helps but not infallible assistances both because themselves are but moral instruments which force not truth ex abscondito as also because they are not infallibly used and applyed 1. Sometime the sence is drawn forth by the context and connexion of parts It is well when it can be so But when there is two or three antecedents and subjects spoken of what man or what rule shall ascertain me that I make my reference true by drawing the relation to such an antecedent to which I have a mind to apply it another hath not For in a contexture where one part does not always depend upon another where things of differing natures intervene and interrupt the first intentions there it is not always very probable to expound Scripture and take its meaning by its proportion to the neighbouring words But who desires satisfaction in this may read the observation verified in S. Gregory's Morals upon Job lib. 5. c. 22. and the instances he there brings are excellent proof that this way of Interpretation does not warrant any man to impose his Expositions upon the belief and understanding of other men too confidently and magisterially 2. Secondly Another great pretence or medium is the conference of places which Illyricus calls ingens remedium foelicissimam expositionem sanctae scripturae and indeed so it is if well and temperately used but then we are beholding to them that do so for there is no rule that can constrain them to it for comparing of places is of so indefinite capacity that if there be ambiguity of words variety of sence alteration of circumstances or difference of stile amongst Divine Writers then there is nothing that may be more abused by wilful people or may more easily deceive the unwary or that may more amuse the most intelligent Observer The Anabaptists take advantage enough in this proceeding and indeed so may any one that list and when we pretend against them the necessity of baptizing all by authority of nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aquâ spiritu they have a parallel for it and tell us that Christ will baptize us with the holy Ghost and with fire and that one place expounds the other and because by fire is not meant an Element or any thing that is natural but an Allegory and figurative expression of the same thing so also by water may be meant the figure signifying the effect or manner of operation of the holy Spirit Fire in one place and water in the other do but represent to us that Christs baptism is nothing else but the cleansing and purifying us by the holy Ghost But that which I here note as of greatest concernment and which in all reason ought to be an utter overthrow to this topick 〈◊〉 an universal abuse of it among those that use it most and when two places seem to have the same expression or if a word have a double signification because in this place it may have such a sence therefore it must because in one of the places the sence is to their purpose they conclude that therefore it must be so in the other too An instance I give in the great Question between the Socinians and the Catholicks If any place be urged in which our blessed Saviour is called God they shew you two or three where the word â—od is taken in a depressed sence for a quasi Deus as when God said to Moses Constitui te Deum Pharaonis and hence they argue because I can shew the word is used for a Deus factus therefore no argument is sufficient to prove Christ to be Deus verus from the appellative of Deus And might not another argue to the exact contrary and as well urge that Moses is Deus verus because in some places the word Deus is used pro Deo aeterno Both ways the Argument concludes impiously and unreasonably It is a fallacy à posse ad esse affirmativè because breaking of bread is sometimes used for an Eucharistical manducation in Scripture therefore I shall not from any testimony of Scripture affirming the first Christians to have broken bread together conclude that they lived hospitably and in common society Because it may possibly be eluded therefore it does not signifie any thing And this is the great way of answering all the Arguments that can be brought against any thing that any man hath a mind to defend and any man that reads any controversies of any side shall find as many instances of this vanity almost as he finds arguments from Scripture this fault was of old noted by S. Austin for then they had got the trick and
where he hath intended them but so say that therefore he will doe it by an external act and ministery and that confin'd to a particular viz. this Rite and no other is no good Argument unless God could not doe it without such means or that he had said he would not And why cannot God as well doe his mercies to Infants now immediately as he did before the institution either of Circumcision or Baptism 18. However there is no danger that Infants should perish for want of this external Ministery much less for prevaricating Christ's precept of Nisi quis renatus fuerit c. For first the Water and the Spirit in this place signifie the same thing and by Water is meant the effect of the Spirit cleansing and purifying the Soul as appears in its parallel place of Christ baptizing with the Spirit and with Fire For although this was literally fulfilled in Pentecost yet morally there is more in it for it is the sign of the effect of the Holy Ghost and his productions upon the soul and it was an excellency of our Blessed Saviour's office that he baptizes all that come to him with the Holy Ghost and with Fire for so S. John preferring Christ's mission and office before his own tells the Jews not Christ's Disciples that Christ shall baptize them with Fire and the Holy Spirit that is all that come to him as John the Baptist did with water for so lies the Antithesis And you may as well conclude that Infants must also pass through the fire as through the water And that we may not think this a trick to elude the pressure of this place Peter says the same thing for when he had said that Baptism saves us he adds by way of explication not the washing of the flesh but the confidence of a good Conscience towards God plainly saying that it is not water or the purifying of the body but the cleansing of the Spirit that does that which is supposed to be the effect of Baptism And if our Saviour's exclusive negative be expounded by analogie to this of Peter as certainly the other parallel instance must and this may then it will be so far from proving the necessity of Infants Baptism that it can conclude for no man that he is obliged to the Rite and the Doctrine of the Baptism is onely to derive from the very words of Institution and not to be forced from words which were spoken before it was ordained But to let pass this advantage and to suppose it meant of external Baptism yet this no more infers a necessity of Infants Baptism then the other words of Christ infer a necessity to give them the holy Communion Nisi comederitis carnem Filii hominis biberitis sanguinem non introibitis in regnum coelorum and yet we do not think these words sufficient Argument to communicate them If men therefore will doe us justice either let them give both Sacraments to Infants as some Ages of the Church did or neither For the wit of man is not able to shew a disparity in the Sanction or in the energie of its expression And Simeon Thessalonicensis derides inertem Latinorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we express it the lazie trifling of the Latines who dream of a difference 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O the unreasonableness and absurdity For why do you baptize them Meaning that because they are equally ignorant in Baptism as in the Eucharist that which hinders them in one is the same impediment in both And therefore they were honest that understood the obligation to be parallel and performed it accordingly and yet because we say they were deceived in one distance and yet the obligation all the world cannot reasonably say but is the same they are as honest and as reasonable that doe neither And since the ancient Church did with an equal opinion of necessity give them the Communion and yet men now adays do not why shall men be burthened with a prejudice and a name of obloquy for not giving the Infants one Sacrament more then they are disliked for not affording them the other If Anabaptist shall be a name of disgrace why shall not some other name be invented for them that deny to communicate Infants which shall be equally disgracefull or else both the Opinions signified by such names be accounted no disparagement but receive their estimate according to their truth 19. Of which truth since we are now taking account from pretences of Scripture it is considerable that the discourse of S. Peter which is pretended for the intitling Infants to the Promise of the Holy Ghost and by consequence to Baptism which is supposed to be its Instrument and conveiance is wholly a fancy and hath in it nothing of certainty or demonstration and not much probability For besides that the thing it self is unreasonable and the Holy Ghost works by the heightning and improving our natural faculties and therefore it is a Promise that so concerns them as they are reasonable creatures and may have a title to it in proportion to their nature but no possession or reception of it till their faculties come into act besides this I say the words mentioned in S. Peter's Sermon which are the onely record of the Promise are interpreted upon a weak mistake The promise belongs to you and to your children therefore Infants are actually receptive of it in that capacity That is the Argument But the reason of it is not yet discovered nor ever will for to you and your children is to you and your posterity to you and your children when they are of the same capacity in which you are effectually receptive of the promise and therefore Tertullian calls Infants designatos sanctitatis ac per hoc etiam salutis the candidates of holiness and salvation those that are designed to it But he that when-ever the word children is used in Scripture shall by children understand Infants must needs believe that in all Israel there were no men but all were Infants and if that had been true it had been the greater wonder they should overcome the Anakims and beat the King of Moab and march so far and discourse so well for they were all called the children of Israel 20. And for the Allegation of S. Paul that Infants are holy if their Parents be faithfull it signifies nothing but that they are holy by designation just as Jeremy and John Baptist were sanctified in their Mothers womb that is they were appointed and designed for holy Ministeries but had not received the Promise of the Father the gift of the Holy Ghost for all that sanctification and just so the children of Christian parents are sanctified that is designed to the service of Jesus Christ and the future participation of the Promises 21. And as the Promise appertains not for ought appears to Infants in that capacity and consistence but onely by the title of their being reasonable creatures and when they come to that
brows we shall eat bread and 't is commanded that if they do not work they shall not eat there being certain laws and conditions of eating I will give to my labourers and hirelings but therefore my child shall have none for be you sure if I give to my child no man's-meat yet God will take as great â—are of Infants as of others and God will by his own immediate mercy keep them alive as long as he hath intended them to live but to say that therefore he will doe it by externall food is no good argument unless God could not doe it without such means or that he had said he would not To this I suppose any reasonable person would say I have given sufficient answer if I tell him that the argument is good that the Infants must eat man's food although God can keep them alive without it and although he hath not said that he will not keep them alive without it I say the argument is good because he hath given them this way and though he could give them another and did never say he would not give them another yet because he never did give them another it is but reasonable that they should have this To the last clause of this number viz. why cannot God as well doe his mercies to infants now immediately as he did before the institution either of Circumcision or Baptism I answer that I know no man that says he cannot but yet this was not sufficient to hinder babes from Circumcision and why then shall it hinder them from Baptism For though God could save Infants always without Circumcision as well as he did sometime yet he required this of them and therefore it may be so in Baptism this pretence notwithstanding Ad 7. This number speaks to the main inquiry and shews the commandement Vnless a man be born of water and of the spirit he shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven This precept was in all Ages expounded to signifie the ordinary necessity of Baptism to all persons and nisi quis can mean Infants as well as men of age and because it commands a new birth and a regeneration and implies that a natural birth cannot intitle us to Heaven but the second birth must Infants who have as much need and as much right to heaven as men of years and yet cannot have it by natural or first-birth must have it by the second and spiritual and therefore all are upon the same main account and when they are accidentally differenced by age they are also differenced by correspondent accidental and proportionable duties but all must be born again This birth is expressed here by water and the Spirit that is by the Spirit in baptismal water for that is in Scripture called the Laver of a new birth or regeneration Ad 18. But here the Anab. gives us his warrant Though Christ said None but those who are born again by Water and the Spirit shall enter into Heaven he answers fear it not I will warrant you To this purpose it was once said before Yea but hath God said In the day ye shall eat thereof ye shall die I say ye shall not die but ye shall be like Gods But let us hear the answer First It is said that Baptism and the Spirit signifie the same thing for by water is meant the effect of the Spirit I reply that therefore they do not signifie the same thing because by water is meant the effect of the Spirit unless the effect and the cause be the same thing so that here is a contradiction in the parts of the Allegation But if they signifie two things as certainly they do then they may as well signifie the sign and the thing signified as the cause and the effect or they may mean the Sacrament and the grace of the Sacrament as it is most agreeable to the whole analogie of the Gospel For we are sure that Christ ordained Baptism and it is also certain that in Baptism he did give the Spirit and therefore to confound these two is to no purpose when severally they have their certain meaning and the Laws of Christ and the sense of the whole Church the institution and the practice of Baptism make them two terms of a relation a sign and a thing signified the Sacrament and the grace of the Sacrament For I offer it to the consideration of any man that believes Christ to have ordained the Sacrament of Baptism which is most agreeable to the institution of Christ that by water and the spirit should be meant the outward element and inward grace or that by water and spirit should be meant onely the Spirit cleansing us like water But suppose it did mean so what would be effected or perswaded by it more then by the other If it be said that then Infants by this place were not obliged to Baptism I reply that yet they were obliged to new birth nevertheless they must be born again of the Spirit if not of water and the Spirit and if they are bound to be regenerate by the Spirit why they shall not be baptized with water which is the symbol and Sacrament the vehiculum and channel of its ordinary conveyance I profess I cannot understand how to make a reasonable conjecture But it may be they mean that if by water and the Spirit be onely meant Spiritus purificans the cleansing purifying Spirit then this place cannot concern Infants at all But this loop-hole I have already obstructed by placing a bar that can never be removed For it is certain and evident that regeneration or new birth is here enjoyned to all as of absolute and indispensable necessity and if Infants be not obliged to it then by their natural birth they goe to Heaven or not at all but if Infants must be born again then either let these adversaries shew any other way of new birth but this of water and the Spirit or let them acknowledge this to belong to infants and then the former discourse returns upon them in its full strength So that now I shall not need to consider their parallel instance of being baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire For although there are differences enough to be observed the one being onely a Prophecy and the other a Precept the one concerning some onely and the other concerning all the one being verified with degrees and variety the other equally and to all yet this place which in the main expression I confess to have similitude was verified in the letter and first signification of it and so did relate to the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost in the likeness of tongues of fire but this concerns not all for all were not so baptized And whereas it is said in the Objection that the Baptist told not Christ's Disciples but the Jews and that therefore it was intended to relate to all it was well observed but to no purpose for Christ at that time had no
Disciples But he told it to the Jews and yet it does not follow that they should all be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire but it is meant onely that that glorious effect should be to them a sign of Christ's eminency above him they should see from him a Baptism greater then that of John And that it must be meant of that miraculous descent of the Holy Spirit in Pentecost and not of any secret gift or private immission appears because the Baptist offered it as a sign and testimony of the prelation and greatness of Christ above him which could not be proved to them by any secret operation which cometh not by observation but by a great and miraculous mission such as was that in Pentecost So that hence to argue that we may as well conclude that Infants must also pass through the fire as through the water is a false conclusion inferred from no premisses because this being onely a Prophecy and inferring no duty could neither concern men or children to any of the purposes of their Argument For Christ never said Vnless ye be baptized with fire and the Spirit ye shall not enter into the Kingdome of heaven but of water and the Spirit he did say it therefore though they must pass through the water yet no smell of fire must pass upon them But there are yet two things by which they offer to escape The one is that in these words Baptism by water is not meant at all but Baptism by the Spirit onely because S. Peter having said that Baptism saves us he addes by way of explication not the washing of the flesh but the answer of a good conscience towards God plainly saying that it is not water but the Spirit To this I reply that when water is taken exclusively to the Spirit it is very true that it is not water that cleanses the Soul and the cleansing of the body cannot save us but who-ever urges the necessity of Baptism urges it but as a necessary Sacrament or Instrument to convey or consign the Spirit and this they might with a little observation have learned there being nothing more usual in discourse then to deny the effect to the instrument when it is compared with the principle and yet not intend to deny to it an instrumental efficiency It is not the pen that writes well but the hand and S. Paul said It is not I but the grace of God and yet it was gratia Dei mecum that is the principal and the less principal together So S. Peter It is not water but the Spirit or which may come to one and the same not the washing the filth of the flesh but purifying the conscience that saves us and yet neither one nor the other are absolutely excluded but the effect which is denied to the instrument is attributed to the principal cause But however this does no more concern Infants then men of age for they are not saved by the washing the body but by the answer of a good conscience by the Spirit of holiness and sanctification that is water alone does not doe it unless the Spirit move upon the water But that water also is in the ministery and is not to be excluded from its portion of the work appears by the words of the Apostle The like figure whereunto even Baptism saves us c. that is Baptism even as it is a figure saves us in some sense of other by way of ministery and instrumental efficiency by conjunction and consolidation with the other but the ceremony the figure the Rite and external ministery must be in or else his words will in no sense be true and could be made true by no interpretation because the Spirit may be the thing figured but can never be a figure The other little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that these words were spoken before Baptism was ordained and therefore could not concern Baptism much less prove the necessity of baptizing Infants I answer that so are the sayings of the Prophets long before the coming of Christ and yet concerned his coming most certainly Secondly They were not spoken before the institution of Baptism for the Disciples of Christ did baptize more then the Baptist ever in his life-time they were indeed spoken before the commission was of baptizing all nations or taking the Gentiles into the Church but not before Christ made Disciples and his Apostles baptized them among the Jews And it was so known a thing that great Prophets and the Fathers of an Institution did baptize Disciples that our Blessed Saviour upbraided Nicodemus for his ignorance of that particular and his not understanding words spoken in the proportion and imitation of custome so known among them But then that this Argument which presses so much may be attempted in all the parts of it like Souldiers fighting against Curiassiers that try all the joynts of their armour so doe these to this For they object in the same number that the exclusive negative of Nisi quis does not include Infants but onely persons capable for say they this no more infers a necessity of Infants Baptism then the parallel words of Christ Nisi comâ—deritis unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his bloud ye have no life in you infer a necessity to give them the holy Communion c. With this Argument men use to make a great noise in many Questions but in this it will signifie but little First Indeed to one of the Roman Communion it will cause some disorder in this Question both because they think it unlawfull to give the holy Communion to Infants and yet that these words are meant of the holy Communion and if we thought so too I do not doubt but we should communicate them with the same opinion of necessity as did the Primitive Church But to the thing itself I grant that the expression is equal and infers an equal necessity in their respective cases and therefore it is as necessary to eat the flesh of the Son of man and to drink his bloud as to be baptized but then it is to be added that eating and drinking are metaphors and allusions us'd onely upon occasion of Manna which was then spoken of and which occasioned the whole discourse but the thing itself is nothing but that Christ should be received for the life of our Souls as bread and drink is for the life of our bodies Now because there are many ways of receiving Christ there are so many ways of obeying this precept but that some way or other it be obeyed is as necessary as that we be baptized Here onely it is declared to be necessary that Christ be received that we derive our life and our spiritual and eternall being from him now this can concern Infants and does infer an ordinary necessity of their Baptism for in Baptism they are united to Christ and Christ to them in Baptism they receive the beginnings of a new life
first-fruits among many Brethren The consequent is this which I express in the words of S. Austin affirming Christi in Baptismo columbam unctionem nostram praefigurâsse The Dove in Christ's Baptism did represent and prefigure our Unction from above that is the descent of the Holy Ghost upon us in the rite of Confirmation Christ was baptized and so must we But after Baptism he had a new ministration for the reception of the Holy Ghost and because this was done for our sakes we also must follow that example And this being done immediately before his entrance into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil it plainly describes to us the Order of this ministery and the Blessing design'd to us After we are baptiz'd we need to be strengthned and confirm'd propter pugnam spiritualem we are to fight against the Flesh the World and the Devil and therefore must receive the ministration of the Holy Spirit of God which is the design and proper work of Confirmation For they are the words of the Excellent Author of the imperfect work upon S. Matthew imputed to S. Chrysostom The Baptism of Water profits us because it washes away the sins we have formerly committed if we repent of them But it does not sanctifie the Soul nor precedes the Concupiscences of the Heart and our evil thoughts nor drives them back nor represses our carnal desires But he therefore who is only so baptized that he does not also receive the Holy Spirit is baptized in his Body and his sins are pardon'd but in his Mind he is yet but a Catechumen for so it is written He that hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his and therefore afterward out of his flesh will germinate worse sins because he hath not receiv'd the Holy Spirit conserving him in his Baptismal Grace but the house of his Body is empty wherefore that wicked spirit finding it swept with the Doctrines of Faith as with besoms enters in and in a sevenfold manner dwells there Which words besides that they well explicate this mystery do also declare the necessity of Confirmation or receiving the Holy Ghost after Baptism in imitation of the Divine precedent of our Blessed Saviour 2. After the Example of Christ my next Argument is from his Words spoken to Nicodemus in explication of the prime mysteries Evangelical Vnless a man be born of Water and of the Holy Spirit he shall not enter into the Kingdom of God These words are the great Argument which the Church uses for the indispensable necessity of Baptism and having in them so great effort and not being rightly understood they have suffered many Convulsions shall I call them or Interpretations Some serve their own Hypothesis by saying that Water is the Symbol and the Spirit is the Baptismal Grace Others that it is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one is only meant though here be two Signatures But others conclude that Water is only necessary but the Spirit is super-added as being afterwards to supervene and move upon these Waters And others yet affirm that by Water is only meant a Spiritual Ablution or the effect produced by the Spirit and still they have intangled the words so that they have been made useless to the Christian Church and the meaning too many things makes nothing to be understood But Truth is easie intelligible and clear and without objection and is plainly this Unless a man be Baptized into Christ and Confirmed by the Spirit of Christ he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Christ that is he is not perfectly adopted into the Christian Religion or fitted for the Christian Warfare And if this plain and natural sence be admitted the place is not only easie and intelligible but consonant to the whole Design of Christ and Analogy of the New Testament For first Our blessed Saviour was Catechizing of Nicodemus and teaching him the first Rudiments of the Gospel and like a wise Master-builder first lays the foundation The Doctrine of Baptism and laying on of Hands which afterwards S. Paul put into the Christian Catechism as I shall shew in the sequel Now these also are the first Principles of the Christian Religion taught by Christ himself and things which at least to the Doctors might have been so well known that our Blessed Saviour upbraids the not knowing them as a shame to Nicodemus S. Chrysostom and Theophylact Euthymius and Rupertus affirm that this Generation by Water and the Holy Spirit might have been understood by the Old Testament in which Nicodemus was so well skilled Certain it is the Doctrine of Baptisms was well enough known to the Jews and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the illumination and irradiations of the Spirit of God was not new to them who believed the Visions and Dreams the Daughter of a Voice and the influences from Heaven upon the Sons of the Prophets and therefore although Christ intended to teach him more than what he had distinct notice of yet the things themselves had foundation in the Law and the Prophets but although they were high Mysteries and scarce discerned by them who either were ignorant or incurious of such things yet to the Christians they were the very Rudiments of their Religion and are best expounded by observation of what S. Paul placed in the very foundation But 2. Baptism is the first Mystery that is certain but that this of being born of the Spirit is also the next is plain in the very order of the words and that it does mean a Mystery distinct from Baptism will be easily assented to by them who consider that although Christ Baptized and made many Disciples by the Ministery of his Apostles yet they who were so baptized into Christ's Religion did not receive this Baptism of the Spirit till after Christ's Ascension 3. The Baptism of Water was not peculiar to John the Baptist for it was also of Christ and ministred by his command it was common to both and therefore the Baptism of Water is the less principal here Something distinct from it is here intended Now if we add to these words That S. John tells of another Baptism which was Christ's peculiar He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with Fire That these words were literally verified upon the Apostles in Pentecost and afterwards upon all the Baptized in Spiritual effect who besides the Baptism of Water distinctly had the Baptism of the Spirit in Confirmation it will follow that of necessity this must be the meaning and the verification of these words of our Blessed Saviour to Nicodemus which must mean a double Baptism Transibimus per aquam ignem antequam veniemus in refrigerium We must pass through Water and Fire before we enter into Rest that is We must first be Baptized with Water and then with the Holy Ghost who first descended in Fire that is the only way to enter into Christ's Kingdom is by these two Doors of the Tabernacle which God hath pitched
at a solemnity of joy so are all the sad accents and circumstances and effects and instruments of sorrow proper in a day of mourning All Nations weep not in the same manner and have not the same interjections of sorrow but as every one of us use to mourn in our greatest losses and in the death of our dearest relatives so it is fit we should mourn in the dangers and death of our souls that they may being refreshed by such salutary and medicinal showers spring up to life eternal 77. In the several Ages of the Church they had several methods of these satisfactions and they requiring a longer proof of their repentance than we usually do did also by consequent injoyn and expect greater and longer penitential severities Concerning which these two things are certain 78. The one is that they did not believe them simply necessary to the procuring of pardon from God which appears in this that they did absolve persons in the Article of death though they had not done their satisfactions They would absolve none that did not express his repentance some way or other but they did absolve them that could do no exterior penances by which it is plain that they made a separation of that which was useful and profitable only from that which is necessary 79. The other thing which I was to say is this That though these corporal severities were not esteemed by them simply necessary but such which might in any and in every instance be omitted in ordinary cases and commuted for others more fit and useful yet they chose these austerities as the best signification of their repentance towards men such in which there is the greatest likelihood of sincerity a hearty sorrow such which have in them the least objection such in which a man hath the clearest power and the most frequent opportunity such which every man can do which have in them the least inlet to temptation and the least powers to abuse a man and they are such which do not only signifie but effect and promote repentance But yet they are acts of repentance just as beating the breasts or smiting the thigh or sighing or tears or tearing the hair or refusing our meat are acts of sorrow if God should command us to be sorrowful this might be done when it could be done at all though none of these were in the expression and signification The Jews did in all great sorrows or trouble of mind rent their garments As we may be as much troubled as they though we do not tear our clothes so we may be as true penitents as were the holy Primitives though we do not use that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that hardship which was then the manner of their penitential solemnities But then the repentance must be exercised by some other acts proper to the grace Prayers 80. Preces undique undecunque lucrum says one Prayers are useful upon all occasions but especially in repentances and afflictive duties or accidents Is any man afflicted let him pray saith S. James and since nothing can deserve pardon all the good works in the world done by Gods enemy cannot reconcile him to God but pardon of sins is as much a gift as eternal life is there is no way more proper to obtain pardon than a devout humble persevering prayer And this also is a part of repentance poenaeque genus vidisse precantem When we confess our sins and when we pray for pardon we concentre many acts of vertue together There is the hatred of sin and the shame for having committed it there is the justification of God and the humiliation of our selves there is confession of sins and hope of pardon there is fear and love sense of our infirmity and confidence of the Divine goodness sorrow for the past and holy purposes and desires and vows of living better in time to come Unless all this be in it the prayers are not worthy fruits of a holy repentance But such prayers are a part of amends it is a satisfaction to God in the true and modest sence of the word So S. Cyprian affirms speaking of the three children in the fiery Furnace Domino satisfacere nec inter ipsa gloriosa virtutum suarum martyria destiterunt They did not cease to satisfie the Lord in the very midst of their glorious martyrdoms For so saith the Scripture Stans Azarias precatus est Azarias standing in the flames did pray and made his exomologesis or penitential confession to God with his two partners Thus also Tertullian describes the manner of the Primitive repentance Animum moeroribus dejicere illa quae peccavit tristi tractatione mutare caeterum pastum potum pura nosse non ventris scil sed animae causâ plerumque verò jejuntis preces alere ingemiscere lachrymari mugire dies noctésque ad Dominum Deum suum presbyteris advolvi caris Dei adgeniculari omnibus fratribus legationes deprecationis suae injungere To have our minds cast down with sorrow to change our sins into severity to take meat and drink without art simple and pure viz. bread and water not for the bellies sake but for the soul to nourish our prayers most commonly with fasting to sigh and cry and roar to God 〈◊〉 Lord day and night to be prostrate before the Ministers and Priests to kneel before all the servants of God and to desire all the brethren to pray to God for them Oportet orare impensiùs rogare so S. Cyprian we must pray and beg more earnestly and as Pacianus adds according to the words of Tertullian before cited multorum precibus adjuvare we must help our prayers with the assistance of others Pray to God said Simon Peter to Simon Magus if peradventure the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee Pray for me said Simon Magus to S. Peter that the things which thou hast spoken may not happen to me And in this case the prayers of the Church and of the holy men that minister to the Church as they are of great avail in themselves so they were highly valued and earnestly desir'd and obtainâ—d by the penitents in the first Ages of the Church Alms. 81. Alms and Fasting are the wings of prayer and make it pierce the clouds That is humility and charity are the best advantages and sanctification of our desires to God This was the counsel of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar Eleemosynis peccata tua redime redeem thy sins by Alms so the Vulgar Latin reads it Not that money can be the price of a soul for we are not redeemed with silver and gold but that the charity of Alms is that which God delights in and accepts as done to himself and procures his pardon according to the words of Solomon In veritate misericordia expiatur iniquitas In truth and mercy iniquity is pardoned that is in the confession and Alms of a penitent there is pardon for water
will quench a flaming fire and Alms maketh an attonement for sin This is that love which as S. Peter expresses it hideth a multitude of sins Alms deliver from death and shall purge away every sin Those that exercise Alms and righteousness shall be filled with life said old Tobias which truly explicates the method of this repentance To give Alms for what is past and to sin no more but to work righteousness is an excellent state and exercise of repentance For he that sins and gives Alms spends his money upon sin not upon God and like a man in a Calenture drinks deep of the Vintage even when he bleeds for cure 82. But this command and the affirmation of this effect of Alms we have best from our blessed Saviour Give Alms and all things are clean unto you Repentance does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it cleanses that which is within for to that purpose did our blessed Saviour speak that parable to the Pharisees of cleansing cups and platters The parallel to it is here in S. Luke Alms do also cleanse the inside of a man for it is an excellent act and exercise of repentance Magna est misericordiae merces cui Deus pollicetur se omnia peccata remissurum Great is the reward of mercy to which God hath promised that he will forgive all sins To this of Alms is reduced all actions of piety and a zealous kindness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the labour of love all studious endearing of others and obliging them by kindness a going about seeking to do good such which are called in Scripture opera justitiae the works of righteousness that is such works in which a righteous and good man loves to be exercised and imployed But there is another instance of mercy besides Alms which is exceeding proper to the exercise of Repentance and that is Forgiving Injuries 83. Vt absolvaâ—iâ— ignosce Pardon thy brother that God may pardon thee Forgive and thou shalt be forgiven so says the Gospel and this Christ did press with many words and arguments because there is a great mercy and a great effect consequent to it he put a great emphasis and earnestness of commandment upon it And there is in it a greaâ— necessity for we all have need of pardon and it is impudence to ask pardon if we refuse to give pardon to them that ask it of us and therefore the Apostles to whom Christ gave so large powers of forgiving or retaining sinners were also qualified for such powers by having given them a deep sense and a lasting sorrow and a perpetual repentance for and detestation of their sins their repentance lasting even after their sin was dead Therefore S. Paul calls himself the chiefest or first of sinners and in the Epistle of S. Barnabas the Apostle affirms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Jesus chose for his own Apostles men more wicked than any wickedness and by such humility and apprehensions of their own needs of mercy they were made sensible of the needs of others and fitted to a merciful and prudent dispensation of pardon Restitution 84. This is an act of repentance indispensably necessary integral part of it if it be taken for a restitution of the simple or orginal theft or debt for it is an abstinence from evil or a leaving off to commit a sin The crime of theft being injurious by a continual efflux and emanation and therefore not repented of till the progression of it be stopped But then there is a restitution also which is to be reckoned amongst the fruits of repentance or penances and satisfactions Such as was that of Zacheus If I have wronged any man by false accusation I restore him fourfold In the law of Moses thieves convicted by law were tied to it but if a thief or an injurious person did repent before his conviction and made restitution of the wrong he was tied only to the payment of one fifth part above the principal by way of amends for the injury and to do this is an excellent fruit of repentance and a part of self judicature a judging our selves that we be not judged of the Lord and if the injured person be satisfied with the simple restitution then this fruit of repentance is to be gathered for the poor 85. These are the fruits of repentance which grow in Paradise and will bring health to the Nations for these are a just deletery to the state of sin they oppose a good against an evil against every evil they make amends to our Brother exactly and to the Church competently and to God acceptably through his mercy in Jesus Christ. These are all we can do in relation to what is past some of them are parts of direct obedience and consequently of return to God and the others are parts and exercises and acts of turning from the sin Now although so we turn from sin it matters not by what instruments so excellent a conversion is effected yet there must care be taken that in our return there be 1 hatred of sin and 2 love of God and 3 love of our brother The first is served by all or any penal duty internal or external but sin must be confessed and it must be left The second is served by future obedience by prayer and by hope of pardon and the last by alms and forgiveness and we have no liberty or choice but in the exercise of the penal or punitive part of repentance but in that every man is left to himself and hath no necessity upon him unless where he hath first submitted to a spiritual guide or is noted publickly by the Church But if our sorrow be so trifling or our sins so slightly hated or our flesh so tender or our sensuality so unmortified that we will endure nothing of exterior severity to mortifie our sin or to punish it to prevent Gods anger or to allay it we may chance to feel the load of our sins in temporal judgments and have cause to suspect the sincerity of our repentance and consequently to fear the eternal We feel the bitter smart of this rod and scourge of God because there is in us neither care to please him with our good deeds nor to satisfie him or make amends for our evil that is we neither live innocently nor penitently Let the delicate and the effeminate do their penances in scarlet and Tyrian Purple and fine Linen and faring deliciously every day but he that passionately desires pardon and with sad apprehensions fears the event of his sins and Gods displeasure will not refuse to suffer any thing that may procure a mercy and endear Gods favour to him no man is a true penitent but he that upon any terms is willing to accept his pardon I end this with the words of S. Austin It suffices not to change our life from worse to better unless we make amends and do our satisfactions for what is past That is no man shall be pardon'd