of a Priest nor was it exacted or required as a Matter of necessary Obligation And as for what St. James says Chap. 5. 16. Confess your Faults one to another and pray one for another that ye may be healed Note that he directs to this only in case of bodily Sickness accompanied with an afflicted or distressed Conscience in order to the obtaining the more fervent Prayers of those who are made privy to their Case for their relief and help from God but he does not appoint it for an universal standing Rule for all Men and of absolute obligation upon them in all Cases for the obtaining of Remission of Sin by a Priestly Absolution And note that when our Saviour says John 20. 23. Whose soever Sins ye remit they are remitted and whose soever Sins ye retain they are retained It can only be meant of such Sins as might happen to come to their knowledg and in such Cases wherein they might be able to make a right and sure Judgment of Mens Repentance of or pertinacy in Sin which the Apostles were sometimes enabled to do by special Revelation and then they had an extraordinary Power given them by the Holy Ghost to inflict extraordinary Punishments upon Men and to take them off again as they saw cause upon Mens Repentance Acts 5. 3 4. 13. 11. 1 Cor. 5. 5. 2 Cor. 2. 6 7. But the most that any Priest now can do who is not invested with those extraordinary Gifts is to pronounce Men absolved from the Guilt of their Sin upon condition of their Repentance or condemned for their not coming up to it And here is no Institution of Confession to be necessarily made to a Priest nor the least intimation given that the Sins of Men cannot be otherwise remitted if so be they perform the condition of a sincere Repentance in themselves There is no trace or track of it in our Saviour's dealing with Sinners though he had to do with very great ones Nor yet in the Apostles And St. Peter himself when he sinned we hear of him only that he went out and wept bitterly by that Sign expressing the real Contrition and sincere Repentance of his Heart but we read not a word of his going to a Priest to make Confession In case of publick Scandal indeed given to the Church a publick Confession is very needful and was always the Discipline of the Ancient Church And in case of perplexity of Conscience for the disburdening of that and as an help to Repentance a private Confession of the Sinner and opening his Case to some Spiritual Guide is also very useful But that a particular private Confession of all Mortal Sin with all its Circumstances to a Priest is of perpetual and necessary obligation to all in order to the obtaining pardon of Sin can no where be proved And therefore is an horrid Imposition and intolerable Tyranny upon Mens Consciences and is to change the Terms of Salvation from what God himself has appointed and to make that both easier and harder than he has made it either as it is said that Confession is enough with bare Attrition or that it must be added over and above to true Repentance it self And note that the priestly Absolution when it is given is not Authoritative and Judicial For so to absolve Sinners and forgive Sins belongs only to God Mark 2. 7. Isa 43. 25. who is the only Lawgiver Jam. 2. 12. or to Jesus Christ who hath the Key of David who openeth and none shutteth Rev. 3 7. who alone hath the supreme independent and absolute Power and Authority to do all things in the Church And whereas he hath likewise given unto the Pastors of the Church the Key of the Kingdom of Heaven they then open Heaven when they declare the Grace of God to repenting Sinners they shut Heaven when they declare the Judgment of God to impenitent Sinners But if they be ignorant or wicked let them pardon the Impenitent and excommunicate the Good that which they do on Earth is not ratified in Heaven The Authority they have to pardon Sin or to absolve the Sinner being only ministerial declarative and conditional upon the profession and supposition of the Sinner's Faith and Repentance Of the Merits of Good Works and Works of Supererrogation CHAP. XXII That the Good Works of Justified Persons are truly and properly Meritorious and fully worthy of Eternal Life Council of Trent Sess 6. chap. 16. Can. 32. THese Good Works are said by them indeed to be done by the Grace of God and Merit of Christ But then it is the good Works themselves that are truly meritorious of Eternal Life And the Grace of God and Merit of Christ have only a remote or mediate Influence towards the procuring Eternal Life viz. by giving us Grace to enable us to act And that being done the Acts or Works themselves which justified Persons perform do truly and properly deserve Eternal Life Contrary to Rom. 6. 23. The Gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. He said The Wages of Sin is Death Sin deserves Death But he doth not say by way of opposition the Wages of Righteousness is Eternal Life but the Gift of God is eternal Life To teach us that Eternal Life is a free Gift to us and not merited by the Righteousness and good Works of any For free Gift and Merit cannot stand together So Luke 12. 32. Fear not little Flock it is your Father's good Pleasure to give you a Kingdom The Kingdom of Heaven is represented as a Gift and that as flowing from the Father's good Pleasure and therefore not from their merit So again John 10. 28. My Sheep hear my Voice and follow me and I give unto them Eternal Life This is given to Men upon their hearing and following of Christ It is not their following of him doth deserve it Ephes 2. 8 9. By Grace are ye saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God. Both Faith and Salvation it self which is the End of Faith is all of Grace and Gift not of Works lest any Man should boast So Tit. 3. 4 5. After that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward Man appeared not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us by the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost that being justified by his Grace we should be made Heirs according to the Hope of Eternal Life Regeneration is of Grace and Justification is of Grace and free and we have the hope of Eternal Life as Heirs partaking of the Adoption which is free and not as Mercenaries by Work and Merit And the whole of our Salvation from first to last is of meer Mercy Thus Exod. 20. 6. Shewing Mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my Commandments Those that love God and render the most obedience to the Commands of God have yet need of his Mercy
the dispensing out of these superabounding Merits and Satisfactions to others is a vain thing For this is to pretend to give that that is not than which what can be more vain And consequently to sell about these Indulgences for Mony and thereby to give People hope of Pardon of their Sins is both to cheat and deceive their Souls and pick their Pockets by pretending to sell to them that that is not But suppose there were such a Treasury why must the Pope be the Dispenser Why should it not be supposed that that is left in the hands of Christ Jesus alone who is only able to discern who are fit to have benefit thereby and who hath the Key of David who openeth and no Man shutteth and who shutteth and no Man openeth Rev. 3. 7. But whatsoever Satisfactious or Merits even of Christ himself any Person hath share in Surely these are not to be sold by Mony nor hath any one an application thereof made to him by such a Traffick but upon his Faith and Repentance alone which Christ alone and not Man can judg of the sincerity of and accordingly apply the Benefits of his Redemption Indulgences of Canonical Penance in the Church upon the humiliation and submission of the Penitents are allowed But Indulgences to dispense an imaginary Treasury of imaginary Satisfactions and there to be bought by Mony or some very slight Performances are a bold and unaccountable rashness and presumption CHAP. XIX That there is a Purgatory or place of Torment after this Life for the expiation of the Sins of good Men that are not sufficiently purged here And that the Souls there detained are help'd by the Masses Prayers Alms and other good Works of the Living Council of Trent Sess 6. Can. 30. Sess 25. Decret de Purgat THE Foundation upon which this Doctrine of Purgatory is built is That there is a Debt of Temporal Punishment remaining to be paid even by those that are absolved and in a state of Grace tho the Eternal Punishment be forgiven And that every Man therefore must undergo these Temporal Pains in proportion to his Sins Christ having not at all satisfied for them And if this be not done in this Life that then it must be done in the next in Purgatory before a Man can have entrance into Heaven Now this having been refuted before and it having been proved that Christ hath satisfied fully for all our Sins and that we have compleat and perfect Remission of Sin through the free Grace of God upon the account alone of Christ's meritorious Satisfaction and so that there is no proper Satisfaction to be made by us for Sin at all the Foundation upon which Purgatory is built is taken away And all those Texts serve to the refuting of it which are before produc'd to prove the compleatness of our Saviour's Satisfaction and of the free Remission of our Sins upon it But yet if it were admitted that there were a reserve of some proper Satisfactory Punishments which God may think fit to inflict upon some Men in some Cases here yet unless it could be proved that this were a perpetual Ordinance and perpetually observed by God it would not signify any thing to the purpose of what is intended And yet if this were admitted likewise that it were perpetually so here yet what is this to prove a Purgatory hereafter For who can tell but for such Punishments as are to be undergone it may be all done here unless God reveals to us to the contrary But there being neither one nor other of these things proved but the contrary rather appearing we cannot otherwise think of Purgatory but that 't is a fond Thing vainly invented Moreover 't is directly contrary to all those Texts of Scripture that assert the Happiness and Rest of the Saints after this Life As Isa 57. 1 2. The Righteous is taken away from the Evil to come He shall enter into Peace they shall rest in their Beds Is this to be taken away from the Evil to come to be put into a condition where they must undergo heavier Is that to enter into Peace and to be at Rest to be burning in Fire seven times hotter than ours and which differs from that in Hell in nothing but in respect of duration Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord from henceforth that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them that is their good Works in the gracious Reward that is given them not their Sins and Punishments Now all the Faithful that die die in the Lord Rom. 14. 5. So that they all rest from their Labours But to be tormented in burning Fire sure that is not to rest from their Labours but to be put to worse In the Book of Wisdom which the Church of Rome holds for Canonical and therefore cannot deny its Testimony Chap. 3. 1. it is said The Souls of the Righteous are in the Hand of God and there shall no torment touch them What can be more express John 5. 24. Our saviour says Verily verily I say unto you That he who heareth my Word and believeth on him that sent me hath eternal Life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from Death to Life Note that it is not said That he who believeth in Jesus Christ shall pass from Death unto Torment but he that shall pass from Death to Life that is a blessed Life for the other would be to pass from Death to Death at least for a while Therefore 2 Cor. 5. 1. We know saith the Apostle that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens It is not Purgatory then or a Place of Torment that the Saints remove into when they remove from their Bodies And therefore saith he vers 2. In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven But if Death were followed with Torment so horrible as those are represented to be which are in Purgatory there would be reason rather for one to be affrighted at it and to fly from it than to desire it with so much ardour and earnestness and to wish to continue in this present state of Life still for fear of the worst Yet again vers 6 7 8. Whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord and are willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. Implying that that would be presently upon the leaving the Body Now our Lord sure is in Heaven and not in Purgatory Therefore so shall the Saints be also when they die Hence saith the Apostle Phil. 1. 21. To me to live is Christ and to die is Gain But according to the Romish Church to die is a damage to us The fear of Purgatory may make the best Men fearful of dying But vers 23. I am in a
are we cleansed from these if we are not cleansed from the temporal Punishment due to them when they say there is no other Punishment due to these but Temporal So Vers 9. If we confess our Sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our Sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness Where the same universal Terms are used all Vnrighteousness without exception 1 John 2. 1 2. Iâ— any Man sin we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Righteous and he is the Propitiation for our Sins and not for ours only but also for the Sins of the whole World. The Propitiation for Sin for all Sin is wholly ascribed to Christ But how is he a Propitiation if Vindictive Justice still makes its Demands and we must still satisfy in part our selves John 1. 29. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World. If it is he that doth it all then no part of Satisfaction will be demanded of us So Heb. 1. 3. He by himself purged our Sins Not we at all by our own Sufferings So Heb. 9. 26. Once hath be appeared in the end of the World to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself And Heb. 10. 14. By one Offering he hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified Where Sin is put away and compleatly expiated and Sinners perfectly reconciled what is there more to be done to satisfy This is done by the one Offering and Sacrifice of Christ there is no Sacrifice or Offering then â—or us to make Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Are the Punishments of Purgatory or those temporal Ones here spoken of threatned by the Law or no If not then they are not due If they were Christ hath taken them off as they are a Curse that is as they are vindictive or satisfactory Punishments for he hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law. Rev. 1. 5. Who hath loved us and washed us from our Sins in his own Blood to him be Glory for ever and ever If is not the Blood of Martyrdom or the Sufferings of any of the Saints that washeth them from their Sins but the Blood of Christ all the Glory of it belongs to him But the Romish Doctrine implies that 't is but part of our Sins and part of the Punishments that he delivereth us from This certainly lessens the Love of Christ and the Glory due to him For they must needs grant that he had loved us more and had been a more perfect Saviour if he had delivered us from all But we find also that full Remission and Pardon is granted unto us now through Christ And what is Remission of Sin but Remission of the Punishment due to Sin so that none is to be undergone by the Sinner by way of Satisfaction and consequently Remission of all Sin of all such Punishment Now this is the Covenant of which Christ is the Mediator Heb. 8. 12. I will be merciful to their Vnrighteousnesses and their Sins and their Iniquities will I remember no more But how can it be said that God remembers their Sins no more when he still exacts Satisfaction The Apostle says Heb. 10. vers 17 18. That where remission of these is there is no more Offering for Sin. All being done sufficiently by the once Offering of Christ Thus Col. 2. 13. He hath quickned you together with him having forgiven you all Trespasses Not some only or only in some part or respect But how are all Trespasses forgiven if still there is some Satisfaction to be made Isa 44. 22. I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy Transgressions and as a Cloud thy Sins But it seems by the Romish Doctrine they are not quite blotted out Rom. 8. 1. There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit But is not that a sort of Condemnation to be adjudged to make Satisfaction for Sin by undergoing so many Punishments either here or in Purgatory What is Purgatory but a Temporary Hell But Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing any thing at all to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth Who shall condemn It is Christ that died The Death of Christ answers all and God will not demand any thing of the Sinner Ephes 4. 32. Be ye kind one to another forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you God's forgiving us our Trespasses is made a Rule to us to forgive our Brethren Now we are to forgive our Brethren all Trespasses and so doth God then forgive us Mat. 18. 32. I forgave thee all that Debt because thou desiredst me And this forgiveness of God is all free to us for Christ's sake Psal 32. 5. I said I will confess my Transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the Iniquity of my Sin. He doth not pretend he had satisfied for his Sin by his Sufferings mentioned Vers 4. but speaks of it as meer and free forgiveness only upon his Confession and Repentance Free Forgiveness and Satisfaction are inconsistent 1 John 1. 7. God is so there indeed to be faithful and just to forgive us our Sins but that is not upon our satisfying for them but only upon our confessing and forsaking them And none will say that to confess and forsake them is to give a Recompence and Satisfaction And therefore the Faithfulness and Justice of God there must be understood with respect to his own Promise and not to the Sinner's own Satisfaction Besides to teach that Men may satisfy for some Sins themselves as all Venial Sins is to require that which is impossible to be done there being no Sins truly Venial or not deserving Eternal Death and seclusion from the Presence of God in their own Nature though all Sins are Venial upon Repentance and in respect of the Event only through Christ's Mediation So that to encourage Men to look for the doing away of such Sins by their own Satisfactions is to bolster them up in Pride and Self-confidence and at last to deceive them For we can never by our Satisfactions exhaust the demerit of any of our Sins For Rom. 6. 23. The Wages of Sin is Death the Apostle speaks it without exception So Ezek. 18. 20. The Soul that sins shall die That 's the desert of Sin. So again Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them He who commits the least Sin meriteth the Curse For Jam. 2. 10. Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and yet offendeth in one Point is guilty of all by Interpretation the Authority of the Law-giver being violated in that one as well as in all Mat. 12. 36. I say unto you That every idle Wâ—rd that Men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment For by thy Words thou shalt