theirs, though all the ancient fathers with one entire consent affirm that she was conceived in original sin, esti nullus author contravenerit, says he, though no one ancient author ever denied it, yet, says he, Infirmum est ex omnium patrum consensu argumentum, Though our opinion have no ground in Scriptures (that, says he, I confess) though it be no apostolical tradition, (that, says he, I confess) yet it is but a weak argument, says he, that is concluded out of all the fathers against it, because it was a doctrine manifested to the church but about five hundred years since, and now for two hundred years hath been well followed and embraced as the Jesuit Maldonat says in such another case, whatsoever the ancient fathers have thought, or taught, or said, or writ, that the marriage of priests after orders taken, and chastity professed, was a good marriage, Contrarium nunc verum est, whatsoever was true then, the contrary is true now. If then these men who take to themselves this liberty, will yet say to me, in some other points, Si quo minus, Surely if you were in the right, some of the ancient fathers would have told you so; and then, if I assist myself by the fathers, they will say, Si quo minus, if it were not otherwise, some general council would have told you so; and again, if I support myself by a council, Si quo minus, if that council were to be followed, some pope would have confirmed that council, and if I show that to have been done, yet they will say, that that confirmation reaches not to that session of the council, or not to that canon of that session, or not to that period in that canon, or not to that word in that period; and then, of every father, and council, and session, and canon, and period, and word, Ejus interpretatio est sensus spiritus sancti, His sense and interpretation must be esteemed the interpretation, and the sense of the Holy Ghost, as Bellarmine hath concluded us, why will they not allow me a juster liberty, than that which they take? That when they stop my prayers in their way to God, and bid me turn upon saints, when they stop my faith in the way to Christ, and bid me turn upon mine own, or others' merits, when they stop my hopes of heaven upon my death-bed, and bid me turn upon purgatory, that when as yet it is in debatement and disputation, whether man can perform the law of God or no, they 6 Canus. will multiply their laws, above the proportion of Moses' tables, and when we have primogenitum ecclesia, the eldest son by the primitive church, the Creed of the Apostles, they will superinduce another son, by another venter, by a step-mother, by their sick and crazy church, and (as the way of step-mothers is) will then make the portion of the later, larger than the elder's, make their Trent-Creed larger than the Apostles, that in such a case, they will not allow me, neither in my studies in the way, nor upon my death-bed at mine end, to hearken unto this voice of my Saviour, Si quo minus, If it were not so, I would have told you, this is not only to preclude the liberty, but to exclude the duty of a Christian. But the mystery of their iniquity is easily revealed, their arcana imperii, the secrets of their state easily discovered. All this is not because they absolutely oppose the Scriptures, or stiffly deny them to be the most certain and constant rule that can be presented, (for whatsoever they pretend for their own church, or for the super-sovereign in that church, their transcendant and hyperbolical supreme head, they will pretend to deduce out of the Scripture) but because the Scriptures are constant, and limited, and determined, there can be no more Scriptures, and they should be shrewdly prejudiced, and shrewdly disadvantaged, if all emergent cases arising in the Christian world, must be judged by a law, which others may know before-hand, as well as they; therefore being wise in their own generation, they choose rather to lay up their rule in a cupboard, than upon a shelf, rather in scrinio pectoris, in the breast and bosom of one man, than upon every desk in a study, where every man may lay, or whence every man may take a Bible. Therefore have so many sad and sober men amongst them, repented, that in the council of Trent, they came to a final resolution in so many particulars; because how incommodious soever some of those particulars may prove to them, yet they are bound to some necessity of a defence, or to some aspersion if they forsake such things as have been solemnly resolved in that manner. Therefore it was a prudent, and discreet abstinence in them, to forbear the determination of some things, which have then, and since, fallen into agitation amongst them. Be pleased to take one in the council, and one after for all. Long time it had, and then it did, and still it doth, perplex the consciences of penitents that come to confession, and the understandings of confessors, who are to give absolution, how far the secular laws of temporal princes bind the conscience of the subject, and when, and in what cases, he is bound to confess it as a sin, who hath violated and transgressed any of those laws; and herein, says an author of theirs', who hath written learnedly de legibus, of the band* and obligation of laws, the pope was solicited and supplicated from the council, in which it was debated, that he would be pleased to come to a determination; but because he saw it was more advantage to him, to hold it undetermined, that so he might serve others' turns, and his own especially, it remains undetermined, and no confessor is able to unentangle the conscience of his penitent yet. So also in another point, of as great consequence, (at least for the peace of the church, if not for the profit) which is, those differences, which have arisen between the Jesuits and the Dominicans, about the concurrence of the grace of God, and the freewill of man, though both sides have come to that vehemence, that violence, that virulency, as to call one another's opinion heretical, (which is a word that cuts deep, and should not be passionately used) yet he will not be brought to a decision, to a determination in the point, but only forbids both sides to write at all in that point; and in that inhibition of his, we see how he suffers himself to be deluded, for still they write with protestation, that they write not to advance either opinion, but only to prepare the way against such time, as the pope shall be pleased to take off that inhibition, and restore them to their liberty of writing; for this way hath one of their last authors, Arriba, taken to vent himself. In a word, if they should submit themselves to try all points and cases of conscience by Scripture, that were to govern by a known, and constant law; but as they have imagined a monarchy in their church, so have they a prerogative in their monarchy, a secret judgment in one breast, however, he who gives them all their power, make this protestation, si quo minus, if it were not thus, and thus, I would have told you so. So then this proposition in our text falls first upon them, who Folio Edition, "hand." 7 Carbo. do not believe all things to be contained in the Scriptures; and it falls also upon them, who do not believe all persons to be intended in the Scriptures, who seem to be concerned therein. The first sort dishonour God in his Scriptures, in that kind, that there is not enough in the Scriptures for any man's salvation; and the other in this kind, that that that is, is not intended, as it is pretended, not in that largeness and generality, as it is proposed, but that God hath set a little diamond in a great deal of gold, a narrow purpose in large promises; and thereupon they impute to God (in their manner of expressing themselves) dolos bonos, and fraudes pias, holy deceits, holy falsehood, holy illusions, and circumventions, and over-good husbands of God's large and bountiful grace, contract his general promises. I dispute not, but I am glad to hear the apostle say, that as all were dead, so one died for all"; and to put the force of his argument there, in that, that except we can say, that one died for all, we cannot say, that all were dead. I argue not, but I am glad to hear another apostle say, That Christ is the propitiation for the sins of all the world'; for if any man had been left out, how should I have come in? I am not exercised, nor would I exercise these auditories with curiosities, but I hear the apostle say, Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died1o; and I hear him say, Through thy knowledge may thy weak brother perish, for whom Christ died": and, methinks, he means, that though they might be destroyed, though they might perish, yet Christ died for them. Only to deliver God from all aspersions, and to defend particular consciences from being scandalized with dangerous phrases, and in a pious detestation of those impious doli, and fraudes, holy deceits, holy falsehoods, I only say, God forbid, that when our Saviour Christ called the Pharisee hypocrite, that Pharisee should have been able to recriminate that upon Christ, and to have said, So are you, for you pretend to offer salvation where you mean it not: God forbid, that when Christ had made that the mark of a true Israelite in the person of Nathaniel, In quo non est dolus, In whom there is no deceit12, any man should have been able to have said to Christ, Then Nathaniel is a better Israelite than you, for Rom. v. 14. :0 Rom. xiv. 11. 9 1 John ii. 2. 12 John i. 47. you pretend to offer salvation, where you mean it not. David hath joined those two words together, The words of their mouth, are iniquity and deceit13; if there be deceit, there is iniquity too. Our Saviour hath joined all these together, adulteries, murders, blasphemies, and deceit; where there is deceit, all mischief is justly presumed. The apostle St. Paul discharges nimself of nothing with more earnestness than that, Have I deceived you? Have I circumvented you with fraud 15? Neither doth he charge him, whom he calls, the child of the devil, Elymas the sorcerer, farther than so, O plene omni dolo, That he was full of all deccit. And therefore they that think to gild and enamel deceit, and falsehood, with the additions of good deceit, good falsehood, before they will make deceit good, will make God bad: for, even in the law, an action de dolo, will not lie against a father, nor against a master, and shall we implead God de dolo? In the last foreign synod, which our divines assisted, with what a blessed sobriety they delivered their sentence, that all men are truly, and in earnest called to eternal life, by God's minister; and that whatsoever is promised or offered out of the Gospel by the minister, is to the same men, and in the same manner promised and offered by the author of the Gospel, by God himself. They knew whose breasts they had sucked; and that that church, our church had declared, That we must receive God's promises so, as they be generally set forth to us in the Scriptures; and that for our actions and manners, for our life and conversation, we follow that will of God, which is expressly declared to us in his word: and that is, that conditional salvation is so far offered to every man, as that no man may preclude himself from a possibility of such a performance of those conditions which God requires at his hands, as God will accept at his hands, if either he do sincerely endeavour the performing, or sincerely repent the not performing of them. For all this is fairly implied in this proposition, Si quo minus, If it were not so, I would have told you; that all that is necessary to salvation, is comprehended in the Scriptures, which was our first branch; and then, that all that is in the Scriptures, is intended so as it is proposed, which 13 Psalm xxxv. 3. 14 Mark vii. 22. 15 2 Cor. xii. 16. 18 Art. xvii. |