XXIV. A LETTER TO A MINISTER from one of his Pupils, concerning S. Austin's Workes.
Sir,
Since I saw you last, though many a hil,
Plaines, woods, & groues our bodies doe diuide,
Your best part hath been present with me stil,
Distance of place that from me nere could hide.
The ghostly good derections, which by you
It pleas'd the Spirit to me then impart
Streight in my soule to such perfection grew
As they nere shal, nor can from thence depart;
You taught me then to know Rom's scarlet-whore
And other points, which then I held amisse:
Wherewith emboldned, now in one thing more
Your graue aduice I craue, & this it is.
I doubt not but you know in what esteeme
With our best Authours Austin's writings are.
To some so free from errour he doth seeme
As
After the sacred Scriptures there is no Doctour in
the Church who is to be compared to Austin. Luth.
loc. com. class. 4 p. 45.
none but Scripture may with him compare.
Others doe stile him the poofund'st Diuine
And great'st of Fathers, since th'Apostles were.
Others affirme he did in learning shine
Farre
D. Couel in his answer to Io. Burges.
aboue al that did or wil appeare.
Others
M. Iewel in his so wel knowne publick challenge at
Paules Crosse, appealed to S. Austin as a true and
Orthodoxal Doctour.
appeale vnto him, some him cal
The Fathers
M. Forrester Non. Tessagraph. &c. in proœm. p. 3
Monarch, one more
Austin of al the Fathers is holden most pure in the opinion of al. Gomar. spec. veræ Eccles. p. 96.
free from taint
Of errour then the purest of them al,
And say, he doubtlesse was a
M. Whitak answer to F. Camp.
Protestant.
Yet I, perusing of his Workes, can see
(Thus much the Spirit hath giu'n me to descerne)
Nothing but rules of wicked Popery
Nor ought by him but superstition learne.
To instance some; he holds the
I would not belieue the Ghospel, vnlesse the authority
of the Catholike Church moued me thereto
&c. The authority of Catholikes weakned, I cannot
then belieue the Ghospel. S. Austin tom. 6. cont.
Ep. fundam. c. 5.
Church-decrees,
Which are the bookes we ought true Scripture cal.
Toby,
The whole Canon of the Scriptures, sayth S. Austin,
is contained in these bookes following: and then
amōg the rest he names these bookes. Tom. [illeg.] de Doctr.
Christ. l. 2. c. 8. vide Conc. Carth. 3. c. 47. to which S. Austin
being present subscribed.
with Iudith, Hester, Machabees,
He, Papist-like, doth hold canonical.
General
These things which we obserue, not written but
deliuered, which are kept al ouer the world, are to
be vnderstood to be obserued, as decreed either by
the Apostles themselues, or general Councels. Tom.
2. ep. 118. ad Ianuar. c. 1. See heerafter at .40.
Traditions are to be obseru'd,
Christ's true Church
We must hold the communion of that Church,
which is named Catholike, not only of her owne, but
also of her enemies; for wil they, nil they, heretikes
& schismatikes, when they speak not with their
owne fellowes but with strāgers, cal the Catholike
Church nothing else but Catholike Chruch; for
they could not be vnderstood vnlesse they discerne
it by this name wherewith she is called by the
whole world. tom. 1. de vera relig. c. 7.
only called Catholike,
None must
It is a point of most insolent madnes to dispute
against that which the vniuersal Church thinketh.
tom. 2. ep. 118. c. 5.
gain-say her; she is stil preseru'd
From
S. Austin answering the Donatists, who affirmed with
our Reformers that the Church was perished, saith:
This they say who are not in the Church, ô impudent
speach! &c. why dost thou say that the Church
hath perished out of al countries? tom. 8. in Ps. 102 con. 2.
fal; Rom's Church is
To which Church of Rome not to giue the primacie
is truely either the greatest impietie or headlong
arrogancie. tom. 6. de vtil. cred. c. 17.
chiefest, & the like?
The holy Sacraments doe grace conferre
From whēce is that so great vertue of the water,
that touching the body it washeth the hart, but the
Word working it? tom. 9. in Ioan. tract. 118.
And with the
Vnlesse the signe of the crosse be applyed either
to the forehead of the belieuers, or to the water
wherewith they are regenerated, or to the oyle
wherewith they are annoynted, or to the Sacrifice
wherewith they are nourished, none of these are
rightly administred. tom. 9. in loan. tract. 118.
Crosse's signe applyed be:
He doth moreouer seriously auerre,
That such are
It may truely be said that children dying without
baptisme are to be in the easyest state of damnatiō:
Yet he deceiueth & is deceiued who teacheth that
they are not to be damned. To. 7. de pecc. mer. & remiss.
l. 1. c. 10. & tom. 7. de anima & eius orig. l. 3. c. 9. & tom. 10. de
verb. Apost. serm. 14, & tom. 2. ep. 28. ad Hieron.
damn'd as vnbaptized dye.
He holds the real
S. Austin writing vpon these words of the Psalmist,
He was carried in his owne hands, sayth: Christ was carried
in his owne hāds, when commending his owne
body, he said: This is my body; for then that his body
was carried in his hands. Tom. 8. in Psal. 33. Conc. 1. and
see Conc. 2. & ante exposit. Psalmi.
presence, which the
It was the body and bloud of our Lord, euen
vnto them to whom the Apostle said, He that eateth
vnworthily, eateth iudgement to himself. Tom. 7. de
Bapt. cont. Don. l. 5. c. 8. & againe: The traitour Iudas
receiued the good body of Christ. tom. 7. cont. Fulgent.
Donat. c 6.
bad
As wel as good receiue, and doth it cal
A
Of his body and bloud he ordained a Sacrifice
according to the order of Melchisedech. To. 8. in Ps.
33. Conc. 2. ante exposit. Psal. See tom. 5. de Ciuit. Dei lib.
17. cap. 20. and that he held this to be also a propitiatory
Sacrifice, it is confessed by Crastouius lib.
1. de opif. missæ pag. 167. & Hutterus de Sacrificio missal. pag.
525.
sacrifice, whereof he euer had
A care no
With what great care doe we obserue when the
body of Christ is ministred vnto vs, that nothing
thereof doe fal out of our hands vpon the ground.
Tom. 10. l. 50. hom. 26. See serm, ad infantes.
peece vpon the ground should fal.
It ought by al to be
Because he walked heer in that flesh, and gaue vs
that flesh to eate for our saluation, now none eateth
that flesh, but first adoreth it. &c. we may not onely
not sinne by adoring, but sinne by not adoring, &c. Tom, 1. in Ps 98. and see in Ps. 21. conc. 1.
ador'd (saith he:)
And holds the Papists
Let man make knowne his life to God by the
Priest, let him preuent the iudgement of God by
confession. Tom. 4. de vera & falsa pœnitentia. c. 10. and
more fully tom. 9. l. 2. de visit. infir. c. 4.
now Confession;
Orders
Both Baptisme and Order are Sacraments &c.
Tom. 7. cont. epist. parmen. l. 2. c. 13. & de baptismo contra Donat.
l. 1. c. 1. & tom. 6. de bono coniug. c. 24.
besides, a Sacrament to be
He shewes, and teaches Extream-vnction.
His sentence stil against our Fayth proceedes
In al these so much controuerted Heads,
Iustification,
The grace of God &c. bringeth to the life of the
second man, not only blotting out sinnes, but
also by helping not to sinne. Tom. 2. ep. 106. 105. tom. 7.
de nat. & gratia. c. 26.
Free-wil,
It is in our wil to consent to God calling, or to
dissent from it. Tom. 3. de spir. & lit. c. 34. & tom. 2. ep. 47.
tom. 6. in act. cum Fæl. Manich. l. 2. c. 4. & passim.
Merit
Are there no merits of the iust? there are truely,
because they are iust &c. as to the demerits of sinne
death is giuen as wage, so to the merits of iustice, as
wage, life eternal. Tom. 2. ep. 105. & 46. 47. 52. & tom. 3.
Enchir. c. 106. 107. & tom. 7. de nat. & gratia, &c.
of deeds;
Which fayth perhaps through him now so farre spreads.
In Prayr
Let him (S. Cyprian he meanes) help vs with his
prayers &c. that our Lord granting, we may imitate
his goodnesse as much as we are able. Tom. 7. de
bapt. c. Donat. l. 7. c. 1. See l. 5. c. 17.
to Saints, their
We honour their memories as of holy men of
God Tom. 5. de ciuit. Dei. l. 8. c. 27.
Worship,
I thinke it was because they had seen in many
places them (SS. Peter and Paul) pictured together
with Christ. Tom. 4. de consens. Euang. l. 1. c. 10.
Images,
Prayer
It is not be doubted but that the dead are holpen
by the prayers of the holy Church, &c. Tom. 10. de
verb. Apost. ser. 32. c. 2. & tom. 4. de cura pro mort. c. 18.
for dead, material
Incorporal spirits may, by strange yet true meanes,
be tormented with the punishment of corporal
fire. de ciuit. Dei. l. 21. c. 10.
fire in hel,
And
Some suffer temporal punishments only in this
life, others after death, some in both. Tom. 5. de ciuit.
Dei. l. 21. c. 13. and after the English translation. l. 21. c. 16. p. 857. & c. 21. p. 860. &c. 24. p. 863. & l. 20. c. 25.
Purgatory-paines; he n'ere doth cease
Our now-held Doctrine to his power t'refel.
With our blind Papists
There are certaine venial sinnes which are loosed
dayly by our Lord's prayer &c. but others which
are to death, are not so loosed, but by the fruits of
pennance. Tom. 4. de vera & falsa pœnitentia. c. 4.
a mayne difference.
'Twixt Mortal sinnes and Venial vnfolds:
A
If he shal marry after the vow, which he hath
promised to God, he shal be condemned &c. If a
Nunne shal marry, she shal be reputed to haue committed
adultery against Christ. Tom. 8. in Ps. 83.
vowed Chastity, Fastes,
Not to keep (the fast of Lent) at al, is sacriledge,
& in part to break it, is sinne. Tom. 10. de temp. serm. 77.
ser. 62. and tom. 2. ep. 6. ad Casui.
Abstinence
Catholikes doe abstaine not only from flesh, but
also from certaine fruits of the earth, not that they
thinke them vncleane &c. and almost al in Lent obserue
this abstinence. Tom. 6. cont. Manich. l. 30. c. 5. See
tom 1. de morth. eccles. c. 31.
From certaine meates on certaine days he holds.
In brief what holds
For the other Catholike points which he holdes,
see the treatise of S. Austins religion throughout;
where you shal find both them & this which I haue
already set downe al for the most part acknowledged
to haue been S. Austins doctrine by the learned
Protestants themselues.
he not? scarce doe I know
One part of him from superstition free;
His doctrine to approue, his rules t'allow
Were
M. Cartwright answering to S. Austins opiniō about
traditions, saith: To allow S. Austins saying, is to
bring in Popery againe. M. Whitg def. p. 103.
to reduce expulsed Popery.
Which makes me wonder, why we say, that he
The
Caluin granteth that Austin only is sufficient to
shew the iudgement of the ancient Church. l. 3. Inst.
c. 3. sect. 10.
iudgement of the ancient Church doth shew;
For grant but that, and since we disagree
From him, our Doctrine must of force be new.
Faine would I know, how best I might defend
Our faith, if any Papist should obiect
And aske: why since his writings we commend,
Vse their authority as weake reiect.
So hoping to receiue ere long your best
And soundest counsel in this case, I rest.
M. Field of the Church lib. 3. f. 170. See Luth. tom. 7. fol. 405.
Let him (the sick) aske of the Church holy oyle,
wherewith his body may be anointed, according
to the Apostle, Iames. 5. Tom. 9. de rect. cath. conuers. &
tom. 10 serm. de temp. 215. & tom. 9. de visit. infir. l. 2. c. 4.
