judging, to put a difference between the just and the unjust, to separate the good from the bad." And it appears by divers of his sermons, that all the people were admonished to repent then, as well as those who were censured for their crimes. And that this pious usage was continued long after, we may perceive by an ancient council, wherein we find it is decreed, "That from and after Ash Wednesday, there should be no suits at law nor pleas holden, because on that Wednesday, called the head of the fast, all the penitents have hands laid upon them, to enjoin them wholly to spend this time in repentance and the service of God!." About which time also, came out that homily concerning the pastoral care, written by Leo bishop of Rome; wherein among many good rules this is one, "That the priest on Ash Wednesday shall invite the people to confess 228 their sins, and according to the nature of their offences prescribe them suitable penancesm;" and how publicly and solemnly this was done of old, as well in our own as in foreign churches, two eminent testimonies may shew us: first, that in king Edgar's canons, which appoints, "that on Ash Wednesday, in the beginning of Lent, every bishop sitting in his episcopal chair, all the notorious offenders of his diocese shall come before him, and having confessed their faults shall receive such injunctions of penance as their sin requires after this, on the Thursday before Easter, they shall all be gathered together in the same place, and the bishop, singing some hymns over them, shall give them absolution, and grant them leave to return home with his blessing"." And the order of the Gallican church was k Aug. de Temp. ser. 69. ser. 4. post. 1. Dom. Quad. Concil. Melnense, can. 76. an. 845. ap. Binium, tom. 3. p. 1. §. 2. m Leo 4. an. Dom. 847. ap. Binium, tom. 3. p. 1. §. 2. p. 371. n Canones R. Edgar. an. 967. ap. Spelm. tom. 1. p. 460. the very same, viz. "That the parish priests shall make all their solemn penitents to come to the cathedral church on Ash Wednesday, where by the bishop they shall be solemnly cast out of the church, and on the Thursday before Easter they shall come and be received into it again";" which solemn reception, on that very day, is as old in the western church as the time of St. Augustine, whose contemporary, Innocent the First, mentions it; and it is like the expulsion which preceded it, is at least of the same standing. I confess in latter ages, during the corruption of the Roman church, this godly discipline degenerated into a formal and customary confession upon Ash Wednesday used by all persons; to which, when the substance of true repentance was gone, at last they added the empty ceremony of sprinkling ashes on the heads of all that were present, whether penitents or no, which our church hath wholly laid aside as a mere shadow, and laments that the long continuance of the Roman maladministration among us in this nation, their formal confessions, their sale of indulgences and absolutions, and their commuting all sorts of penance for money, &c. had let the people loose from all the primitive bands of discipline which tended to their amendment, and made them so headstrong, as they would never since endure that burdensome but salutary yoke; and truly, till men be so humble as to be willing to suffer shame, and undergo severities in this world, that their souls may be saved in the next, we may advise them to private and particular acts of mortification and strict repentance, but it will be in vain to impose it on this untractable • Additam. ad Constit. Galonis Episc. Paris. ap. Binium, tom. 3. p. 2. p. 441. P Epistol. Innocent. I. an. 410. Bin. tom. 1. par. 1. p. 609. q Capitul. incert. edit. Spelm. tom. I. p. 610. Constit. Ricard. Episc. Sarum, tom. 2. p. 144. Synod. Exon. cap. 5. an. 1287. p. 355, &c. generation; yet still we will admire those blessed ages which we cannot exactly imitate, and wish for the restoring of so profitable an institution. §. II. INSTEAD WHEREOF, (UNTIL THE SAID DISCIPLINE MAY BE RESTORED AGAIN, WHICH IS MUCH TO BE WISHED,) IT IS THOUGHT GOOD, &c.] When complaint was made to the emperor Tiberius of the decay of the ancient strictness of the Roman discipline, and motions made to revive the old sumptuary laws, he writ to the senate in commendation of the first composers of those statutes, but withal advised not to impose them too fiercely on an age long unaccustomed to such severity, telling them, "That perhaps it were better to let potent and overgrown evils pass unpunished, than by striving against the stream to get nothing but this discovery, that the laws were too weak for some offences"." Even so the church commends the primitive discipline, and wishes these times would understand their own advantage so well as to submit to it; but will not positively enjoin it, while sinners are so numerous and so incorrigible by long connivance, and while the discipline is so far impaired in favour to dissenters, that for fear it should correct schismatics, it is scarce allowed to reform grosser sinners; because, by imposing it in these circumstances, she would make this holy means of reformation rather despised than obeyed: yet that she may do all she can, though she cannot do all she would, she setteth up a judicatory in every one's conscience, and useth means to make each man judge himself, which St. Chrysostom notes was the same method which St. Paul used in the Corinthian church, when its discipline (like ours) was weakened by schisms, r Tacitus, Annal. lib. 3. p. 372. s Debeone omittere quod pos sum, quoniam quod debeo minime possum? Bern. Ep. 175. This even to enjoin every one to judge himselft. being therefore the occasion of this office, secondly, the course we take to bring men to this self-judging, is to hold the glass of God's law before the face of every sinner, for by the law is the knowledge of sin", and of the curses due unto it; the serious prospect whereof will convince us of our guilt, and discover unto us the desperate 229 danger of continuing impenitent, enabling us to judge ourselves before we be judged of the Lord: and though these thunderings of mount Sinai be no ways pleasant, yet are they very profitable to awaken secure sinners, who usually flatter themselves, either that they are innocent, or however that they are safe, and who otherwise would inevitably fall into the wrath of God before they saw or feared it. And that the ends of the church in this way of proceeding is the salvation of these poor souls, doth here appear, thirdly, by this declaration, that her intent in this admonition is, 1st, that they may be moved to repent truly and sincerely for what sins they have committed; 2dly, that they may be warned to walk more warily for the future. And if the very threatening these curses doth work this happy effect, if the bare shewing of the rod bring us to lament our faults and to amend them, our souls may be saved by this gentle method, and we shall never feel the dreadful strokes of God's vengeance; "for why," saith Seneca, "should he be set upon with force and arms, whom an easy commination will reformy?" Since therefore the occasions of this office are very great, even the multitude of offenders, the t I Cor. xi. 28. vid. Chrysost. u James i. 23. Rom. iii. 20. tos esse credamus. Salv. de Gub. lib. 3. y Qui levi comminatione pellitur, quid opus est ut fortitudine et armis invadatur? Seneca. remissness of discipline, and the danger of security; since the means are so very proper, viz. the terrors of the law; and the end so very pious, the amendment and salvation of sinners; let the priests use it duly and devoutly, and the people hear it humbly and penitently; let all be present at it, and make that use of it the church intends, and it shall procure their souls' health, and bring them to everlasting salvation. SECTION II. Of the Homily or Discourse. 1. OF THE SENTENCES. §. I. Deut. xxvii. 15. CURSED IS THE MAN THAT MAKETH ANY CARVED OR MOLTEN IMAGE, TO WORSHIP IT. AND THE PEOPLE SHALL ANSWER AND SAY, AMEN] The original of repeating these sentences in the manner we now use them was a positive Divine institution, which twice enjoined is by Moses; and in obedience thereto Joshua did most religiously observe ita; and Josephus reckons it among those things which the Jews did always perform b. And though the dividing the twelve tribes upon two particular mountains, and some other circumstances in the Jewish manner of reciting these curses were purely ceremonial, yet doubtless the main of the duty, and the end for which it was prescribed, was truly moral, tending to the honour of God and of his laws, and the promoting of real holiness; for to publish the equity and truth of God, and to z Deut. xi. 29. chap. xxvii. a Josh. viii. 33. b Josephus, Antiq. lib. 4. cap. ult. 230 |