must be done by Christians which Christ hath commanded and that Christ hath commanded all the moral duties that were before commanded by Moses for Be ye perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect Mat. 5. allows not a lesse but rather requires a greater perfection under the Gospel than under the Law yet we dare not take our Personal doing that is our doing by our selves for the condition of the New Covenant as if our Salvation depended upon that but only our Virtual Doing that is our Doing by our blessed Saviour whose obedience is made ours by the power of Faith or our hearty desire of Doing and sorrow for not Doing which is accepted as Obedience by the power of Repentance Bona opera per peccata mortificata reviviscunt per poenitentiam is the general Tenent of the School good works that have been buried by sin are revived by Repentance As our sins have power to bury our good works so our Repentance hath power to raise them up again which clearly shews it is not our Righteousnesse but only our Repentance that is above our sins For our Righteousnesse may be overcome and conquered by our sins but our sins cannot be overcome and conquered by our Righteousness we must go to our blessed Redeemer for that conquest but only by our Repentance 17. Wherefore I will make bold to change your definition and say Christs New Testament is a new conditional Covenant with us by which we are bound to repent for not perfectly doing all those things our selves which God hath commanded us and to believe in him that hath perfectly done them all for us that we may obtain the promised inheritance in which condition if we fail sc. of believing but not of Doing we shall never attain thereto for to put Doing properly so taken and 't is not for a Divine to speak improperly as the Condition of life or Salvation is to set up the Covenant of Works not the Covenant of Grace and that is to puzzle not to Preach true Christianity We find Adam had but one poor Commandement upon the first Covenant viz. Not to eat of the fruit of one single Tree among so many and he kept it not though he was endued with strength to keep it he was to do but one thing whiles he had his perfect strength and he did it not And how can you say that a better Covenant binds us to do many things or else to forfeit our inheritance now we have lost our strength and are not able to do rightly and perfectly so much as one Therefore pray let the Condition of life in the second Covenant not be our Doing but our Believing not our entire Obedience but our entire Repentance And let him alone have the glory of perfect Obedience who came from Heaven to purchase it and the rather because he purchased it not for himself but for us allowing the benefit of it to his Servants though he reserve the glory of it only to himself we must do the best we can to keep off and to east out the great Dragon that old Serpent called the Devil and Satan but pray let it be only the seed of the Woman that shall break this Serpents Head and let not us think we are able to break it Nor have you made the condition of Salvation any whit lighter or easier by saying we are bound to do many things our selves then if you had said we are bounâ—… to do all things For if Doing be the condition of life it must reach to All Things that are to be done else not Doing will be the Condition as well as Doing And without doubt if we can do any one thing so exactly and perfectly as fully to satisfie the Obligation of the Law we may do many and consequently All and then what need we the seed of the Woman to break the Serpents Head since we can break it our selves for if we can take away his sting we may easily break his Head Now the sting of the Serpent is sin and the strength of sin is the Law Therefore if the Law be fully kept sin can have no strength and the Serpent can have no sting I do not think there is in all Christendom so religious a Votarie but will confesse that the old Serpent hath at some time or other by his sophistry beguiled him with his venome defiled him by his power overcome him and that therefore in himself he hath been captivated under Ignorance guiltinesse and infirmity even through his actual sins and should still have been detained under that captivity if God had not mercifully given him such a Redeemer who was pleased to be his Prophet to instruct his Ignorance his Priest to expiate his guiltiness and his King to strengthen his Infirmities If he confesse this he hath great reason to mistrust his own doing If he confesse it not He hath the greater reason to instruct himself For his ignorance keeping him from the knowledge of what he is to do his guiltiness keeping him from the desire and his weaknesse keeping him from the power of doing it he cannot hope to be saved by his Obedience but by his Faith not by his Doing but by his Believing Thus St. Paul preached the Covenant of Grace saying He was an Apostle of Jesus Christ according to the Faith of Gods Elect and the acknowledgement of the Truth which is after Godlinesse there 's the Obligation to righteousness in the Covenant of Grace But this righteousnesse is not the condition of life in that Covenant for it follows In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lye promised before the world began Tit. 1. 1 2. The eternal life is not annexed to mans performance but to Gods promise not to mans duty but to Gds mercy For this promise of eternal life was made before man was created and it was made to Christ the eternal Son of God on mans behalf That all who should believe in him according to the Faith of Gods Elect and the acknowledgement of the Truth which is after Godliness should through that Faith come to eternal life Upon this Promise did God seek us when we were lost restore us when we were dead reconcile us when we were his enemies and upon this same promise will he save us now we are his Servants For though all men are lyars and fail of their Godliness yet God that cannot lye will not fail of his promise Thus again saith the same St. Paul For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5. 10. There was first an Atonement to be made for our reconciliation before there could be a Covenant made for our Salvation And as mans righteousness did not make the Atonement so neither doth mans righteousnesse fulfill the Covenant we are eternally obliged and should be wholy devoted to our blessed Saviour for both alike as That
abominable unrighteousness For even immediately after the first clear preaching of Justification by Faith we find a strange generation of licentious and ungodly men who did boast of Faith in Christ without good works committing all manner of sin with greediness and without remorse This gave occasion to St. Peter St. John St. James and St. Jude who all writ after St. Paul to direct their stiles chiefly against such vain boasters of this empty Faith and their Epistles were afterwatds peculiarly called Catholick for this reason amongst others That they were all written in Vindication of the true Catholick Faith which did teach a man so to believe in Christ as to have his life answerable to his belief This account doth St. Peter give for himself saying I have written briefly exhorting and testifying That this is the true Grace of God wherein ye stand 1 Pet. 5. 12. As if he had said These two things I have chiefly proposed to my self in my writing 1. To testifie the doctrine of the Gospel concerning the Grace of God in Christ to be the onely doctrine to bring you to eternal Salvation 2. To Perswade you to stand fast and persevere in that doctrine by leading your lives answerable to your profession And this account may we give concerning the rest of the Authors of the Catholick Epistles for thus the whole Argument of St. Johns first Epistle consists of those two principal parts of the Christian Religion The Promises and the Precepts of the Gospel For to the Promises we must refer all that he speaks of Communion with God of the expiation of our sins by the blood of Christ and of the hope of eternal life To the Precepts we must refer all that he speaks of true Faith in Christ of living godly and righteously according to that Faith and of loving God sincerely or not loving the world that we may live godly and of loving our Bretheren sincerely not hypocritically That we may live righteously The like may we say for St. James and St. Jude that their Epistles are chiefly against the Solifidean Hereticks and are therefore filled with divers exhortations to several Christian Virtues which they had deserted and with Dehortations from the the contrary vices which they had committed And we may be Catholicks in this doctrine of Justification according to these Catholick Epistles and yet still deny Justification by works For it is only the Faith in Christ that is justified by its works but the man is still justified only by his Faith 7. You are as zealous for Justification by works as St. Paul is against it with what good Conscience I cannot say but sure upon no good ground yet you have appealed to St. Paul himself as the Judge of this controversie to decide on your side and accordingly to St. Paul you shall go who sure will very little befriend you by his decision For I pray what works can any man do which are not comprised under The works of the Law But it is St. Paul's most absolute Determination Therefore by the deeds or works of the Law there shall no flesh be justified Rom. 3. 20. He that looks upon the foregoing words setting forth the abominable sins that were in the best of men then living the Jews and in those times wherein they lived best even the times of David and Hezekiah for all the proofs here concerning their wickedness are taken out of the Psalms and the Prophesie of Isaiah will easily acknowledge that the words though particular in their occasion yet are universal in their Instruction and do set forth the general corruption of all men whatsoever whereby they are most grievous transgressours of the Law and most odious in the sight most obnoxious to the Justice of God for their transgressions This considered He must be led by the spirit of errour who will not see the evidence and by the spirit of contradiction who will gainsay the power of St. Paul's conclusion Therefore by the works of the Law there shal no flesh be justified for it followeth upon these Premises No Transgressour of the Law can be justified by the works of the Law But all men whatsoever are transgressours of the Law Therefore no man whatsoever can be justified by the works of the Law which is as much as to say That no man whatsoever can be justified by works for all works whatsoever are reducible to the works of the Law as being done through obedience to its authority and not rightly done but through compliance with and conformity to its righteousness And to this Argument he adds another v. 27. which may be put into this Syllogism The Law of works doth not wholly exclude mans boasting in his Justification But God will have mans boasting wholly excluded in his Justification Therefore The Law of works doth not justifie The Major is further proved by Rom. 4. 2. For if Abraham were justified by works he hath wherof to glory The Minor by Eph. 2. 8 9. For by Grace ye are saved through Faith not of works lest any man should boast what remains then for the conclusion but that the Law of works doth not justify For if it justified not Abraham who had so good works as to be called the friend of God much less will it justify me who by my wicked deeds am become Gods enemy We have yet a third argument in this very place v. 29 30. which concludes thus If Justification were by the works of the Law then onely the Jews who alone had the Law written in tables could be justified and God should regard the salvation of no other people save of the Jews But these consequents are directly against the goodness of God and the whole scope or Tenor of his Word Therefore so is that Antecedent that Justification is by works of â—…e Law These are St. Paul's three arguments in this place for his Negative conclusion which is against Justification by works And he is not contented with this but he gives us also an affirmative conclusion which is for Justification by Faith v. 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ which he fully explaineth and confirmeth from all the causes of our Justification The principal efficient cause is God of whom it is said v. 30. It is one God that shall justify by Faith and through Faith and this needs no other proof because no other could give us our blessed Jesus for a Saviour nor can give us Faith to be made partakers of his salvation The meritorious cause is Christ the Mediator betwixt God and man v. 25. Whom God hâ—…th set forth to be a propitiation The instrumental cause is Faith v. 22. The 〈◊〉 of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ upon all that beâ—…eve for there is no apprehending of Christ without 〈◊〉 as there is no righteousness and salvation without Christ and again v. 25. through Faith in his blood not excluding any other act of his Mediatorship
die judicii non ista purgatio quam Doctores ponunt ante diem judicii Mark his words He saith the Doctors not the Apostles had been the Teachers of Purgatory Yet this is the Text your Cardinal most magnifies lib. 1. cap. 5. as fittest to prove both this fire and its fewel both Purgatory and Venial sins though a very learned interpreter of his own Church Erasmus had avowed before that it was not sufficient to prove it either and in truth in that himself hath confessed it to be one of the hardest Texts of all the Scripture unum ex difficillimis he hath in effect discredited his own proof For no Divine may laudably take that Text to prove an Article of Faith whose obscurity is fitter to shew men their ignorance then to remedy it For God doth not oblige any man to an impossibility to believe that which he cannot know or to know that which he cannot understand and therefore to say the place is very obscure and yet to ground an Article of Faith upon it is in effect to say There ought to be a belief where there is not an understanding or there ought to be an understanding where the thing is not to be understood For sure God is not defective in necessaries and therefore if this doctrine had been necessary to salvation he would not have delivered it so obscurely as to leave the unlearned under a most irremediable ignorance which is inconsistent with the knowledge of Faith nor the learned under most inextricable doubts and perplexities which are incompetible with the assent of Faith So that this text makes no more for the belief of Purgatory then the former The third and last Text then alledged to prove Purgatory was that of Mat. 12. to which the forenamed Author answers Non sequitur non remittitur hic neque in futuro ergo utrobique est remissio Quia ex negativis nihil sequitur sed tantum dicitur ad majorem gravitatem peccati blasphemiae It followâ—… not because it is said It shall not be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the world to come that forgiveness may be had both here and there for nothing can follow from meer negatives But this is only spoken by way of aggravation against the sin of blasphemy Thus that judicious man answers this Text and I think you can scarce shew any of your writers that have exceqted against his answers But the very same answers in Peter Martyrs mouth much displease your Cardinal lib. 1. cap. 4. For first he excepts against that part of it That the words were spoken by way of aggravation and tells us That by the same reason we may deny Hell it self and say those other words Go ye cursed into everlasting fire were spoken only by way of aggravation Pray let another add after him that we may as well deny heaven too and say that those words in the Creed I believe the life everlasting were spoken only by way of aggravation that so if we will not have a Purgatory we may not have an Heaven as well as not have an Hell in our Creed But if you think this in forme too irreligious pray think the other so too which caused it and you will not approve your Cardinal as the only Master of Gods Israel who is so ready to teach men to turn Atheists if they will not turn Papists For all the Christian Churches many years before us and most Christian Churches at this day with us have no belief of your Purgatory and yet firmly believe both Heaven and Hell For both are alike contained in the same Article to wit the life everlasting which teacheth us to believe this Truth They that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil shall go into everlasting fire But we have no third state of those who have neither done good nor evil but partly good and partly evil Good by avoiding mortal sins or repenting of them but evil by committing venial sins and not repenting of them Or good by repenting but evil by not satisfying And we have no third place for this third state of men to go into a place in which is neither everlasting life by it self nor everlasting fire by it self but a strange kind of medly which is made up partly of life and partly of fire only the life of it is everlasting but the fire of it is temporary not everlasting so yon see we may very well deny Purgatory and yet not so much as doubt of Hell because that very Article which teacheth us to believe everlasting fire teacheth us not to believe temporary fire But your Cardinal hath another exception against this exposition Exaggeratio non debet esse inepta qualis est quum fit partitio uni membro nihil respondet An exaggeration ought not to be improper and unfit as that is which makes a Partition and leaves nothing to answer one member of it Pray Sir who can imagine That Negatives are capable of a Partition any more then meer non entities and therefore an exaggeration grounded upon negatives may not be supposed to make a partition because a non entity cannot be supposed to have any parts or members As if I should say of a confirmed Christian He is not to be made a Papist or a Turk what partition is here of Christians into Papists and Turks 8. Secondly he excepts against that answer Nothing can follow from meer Negatives As Philip King of Spain is not King of Venice therefore some other man is King of Venice it follows not saith Peter Martyr by good Logick because it is grounded upon a negative So here It shall not be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the world to come it follows not There shall be forgiveness in the world to come The Cardinal excepts saying It follows not according to the rules of Logick but it follows according to the Rules of Prudence because otherwise we should suppose our Saviour had spoken most unfitly or improperly nay in plain terms most foelishly Respondeo non sequi secundum regulas Dialecticorum id quod inferimus ex verbis Domini sed tamen sequi secundum regulam Prudentiae quia alioqui faceremus Dominum ineptissimè loquutum An horrid blasphemy to say the eternal Word spake impertinently or Wisdom it self spake foolishly unless we may set up a false consequence to make his words good Is not this contrary to the wise mans advice Ne dixeris quia ipse me implanavit Say not thou He hath caused me err for he hath no need of the sinfull man Eccl. 15. 12. Let an insolent Dogmatist say what he pleaseth but a conscientious Divine must say God needs not my Lye to maintain his Truth no more then he needs mâ—… sin to maintain his righteousness For a consequence without the Rules of Logick is a Lye since it is a conclusion without premises an effect without a cause or a Consequent without
practice have divâ—…rted the principal streams of affiance and love from Him who had the only right unto them and turned them upon those unto whom neither so great honour is due nor so undue honour can be acceptable Sands Survey of Religion cap. 4. Jesu God heal their Tongues that preach such Blaphemy instead of Divinity heal their Hands that write it heal their Ears that hear it and much more heal their Hearts that believe it and their Lifes that practise it that though thy Truth hath been outfaced by their Lyes yet their miracles may be outvied by thy Power and their Souls saved by thy Grace and Mercy For all the miracles they can falsly attribute to thy Saints as if by their own power and holiness they could heal the Body to make us go to thy Servants for help when we should go only to Thy self are nothing in comparison of that great miracle of thy power and greater miracle of thy mercy whereby thou art pleased to heal the Soul I have been the longer upon this Argument as I was upon the former because the false Invocations and Adorations used by you have given others just occasion to depart from you even those who were under your own jurisdiction and much more those who were not For as he that kicks against Heaven stricks up his own Heels so a faction in your Church of late years kicking against Gods authority could not stand so fast as to keep their own nor is it any reason you should expect others to be dutiful to you according to the fift contrary to that duty which they ow to God according to the four first Commandements 16. But though others of your party argue much in this case from Authority yet you think fit to argue from reason saying Now since God puts this great Trust in them with us ought not we to put them in Trust by reverently commending our selves unto them no saith Reason to which you have appealed much more no saith Religion from which you have started First no saith Reason For that teacheth us to invocate none that is not All-present to hear our request All-merciful to receive it All-sufficient to grant it and Almighty to fullfil it and therefore to Invocate no creature which hath none much less all of these Secondly no saith Religion And first the Religion that is in Heaven I heard the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voyce Worthy is the Lamb which was slain to receive power and riches and wisedome and strength and honour and glory and blessing Revel 5. 11 12. This is the Religion you must practise in Heaven and why should you practise any other in Earth since you are taught to pray Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven you may safely take the crowns of the Saints and Angels and cast them before the Throne giving glory and honour and thanks to Him who was dead but now liveth for ever and ever for so they do themselves Revel 4. 9 10. But never was it seen in Heaven That any Saint or Angel did make so bold as to take the Crown off from our Saviours Head to place it upon his own There this is the only dialect Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created v. 11. And the dialect should be here as 't is there so saith the Psalmist O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker as if he had said before no other but only Him to whom we can truly say For thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Therefore secondly no saith the Religion that is in Earth that likewise answers no to your quaere Ought we not to put them in trust by reverently commending our selves into them And surely we ought not For that very Apostle who hath written most concerning the benefit and the assistance which the heirs of Salvation have by the Angels Hebr. 1. 14. forbids them to worship Angels for fear of endangering their inheritance Col. 2. 18 19. Let no man beguil you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puft up by his fleshly mind and not holding the Head c. where the Apostles full intent and scope is to dehort the Colossians from the worshipping of Angels first from the dangerous effect of it no less then the loss of eternal life Let no man beguil you of your reward 2. from the vain pretences for it viz. the obedience or submission we owe to them as to our Patrons and the need we have of their Patronage the first hath a shew of humility but 't is such as God never commended in a voluntary humility The second hath a real guilt of curiosity for 't is such as God never taught intruding into those things which he hath not seen 3. From the wicked and ungodly causes of it and they are two Pride of heart vainly puft up by his fleshly mind and Ignorance of Christ as Head of the Church And not holding the Head from which all the Body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God Angels are a part of this Body as well as men and this Head gives life to them as to us As all is Neighbour that is not God in the Law so all is Body that is not Head in the Gospel The question is as unanswerable if asked of St. Michael or St. Gabriel as of St. Peter or St. Paul Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized in the name of Paul 1 Cor. 1. 13. Is Christ divided from himself that He should not be the Head of Angels as well as of men or is Christ divided from his Body on Earth more then from his Body in Heaven Hath he put that part of his Body to convey life and motion and nourishment to this or doth he not convey life and motion and nourishment to both parts immediately by Himself Was any Angel crucified for us or were we baptized in the name of any Angel Was St. Paul a lover of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrys. in denying this honour to the Apostles and can we be lovers of Christ in giving this honour to the Angels Is it more lawful for us then it was for him to give the honour of the Head to any part of the Body or can we look for a reward of our service if we serve any of the Body instead of the Head Let no men beguil you saith He of your reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man make you so run as not to receive the Prize or so run that you may not obtain you may lose the Prize by running out of the race as well
opinion St. Peter St. John St. James and St. Jude did write their several Epistles That St. Peter speaketh concerning this same opinion of being saved by Faith without works when he saith that some unearned and unstable men did wrest St. Pauls Epistles to their own destruction and therefore exhorteth Christians to all holy conversation and godliness upon this account that such men did at last most miserably perish in their sins Sic itaque Petrus his ergo iâ—…quit hominibus pereuntibus quales oportet vos esse in sanctis conversationibus et pietatibus so saith S. Peter therefore since these men perish for that application St. Aug. makes of his words though not that Lection what manner of persons ought ye to be in all conversation and godliness ye therefore beloved seeing ye know these things before beware least ye also being led away with the errour of the wicked sc. this errour of being saved by Faith without works fall from your own stedfastness but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 11 17. But St. James saith he is yet much more offended with such men Jacobus autem tam vehementer infestus est eis qui sapiunt fidem sine operibus valere ad salutem ut illos etiam Daemonibus comparet c. St. James is so displeased with those men who supposed Faith could save them without works that he down-right compares them to devils saying the devils also believe and tremble and tells them plainly their Faith was dead and that they were strangely besotted who thought that such a faith which had not life in it selfe could be a means of procuring them everlasting life quousquâ—… igitur falluntur qui fide mortuâ sibi vitam aeternam pollicentur And St. Aug. further assures us that S. Paul himself had exactly taught the very same Doctrine before Sicut etiam ipse Paulus non quamlibet fidem quae in Deum credat sed eam salubrem planéque Evangelicam definivit cujus opera ex dilectione procedunt fides inquit quae per dilectionem operatur Unde illam fidem quae sufficere ad salutem quibusdam videtur ita nihil prodesse asseverat ut dicat si habeam omnem fidem ita ut montes transferam charitatem autem non habeam nihil sum Ubi autem haec fidelis charitas operatur sine dubio benè vivitur Aug. lib. de fide et oâ—…er cap. 14. Even as also St. Paul himself speaking of Justificaâ—…ion and Salvation by Faith did not mean every Faith which believed in God but a saving and a â—…rue Evangelical Faith whose works proceeded from love a Faith saith he which worketh by love whence that Faith without works which some thought sufficient to Salvation he so flatly avoweth to be nothing worth that he plainly saith though he had all Faith so as to remove mountains and had not charity he should be nothing But wheresoever is this Faith working by love there without doubt the whole life is fraight with good works All his businesse is to distinguish a true and false Faith by requiring works to the Faith that justifieth not to confound Faith with works in the act of Justification Againe in the fifteenth Chapter Illud quoque non video cur Dominus dixerit Si vis venire ad vitam serva mandata commemoravit ea quae ad bonos more 's pertinent si etiam his non servatis ad vitam veniri potest per solam fidem quae sine operibus mortua est Illud deinde quomodo verum erit quod eis quos ad sinistram positurus est dicat Ite in ignem aeternum qui paratus est Diabolo Angelis ejus nec increpat quia in eum non crediderint sed quia bona opera non fecerint cap. 15. Nor do I see why our Lord said If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandements reckoning up those moral duties whereby they were to be kept if without keeping them more might go to Heaven by a dead Faith nor how he will say to them on his left hand go into everlasting fire condemning them not because they had not believed but because they had not done good works answerable to their belief He tells the false believer he should be condemned for want of works he tells not the true believer he should be acquitted for his works where by the way our Solifidians may take notice that heâ—… is not like to be so full of moral honest men who want Faith for how could their hearts sanctifie their hands if Faith did not first sanctifie their hearts as of believing men who want moral honesty having only such a Faith as to sanctifie their mouths for holy professions but not their hearts by holy affections nor their lives by holy conversation For so the same St. Aug. in the next Chapter Si autem Christus fundamentum proculdubio fides Christi per fidem quippe habitat Christus in cordibus nostris Porro fides Christi illa est utique quam definivit Apostolus quae per dilectionem operatur Non enim fides illa Daemonum quum ipsi credant contremiscant filâ—…um Dei confiteantur Jesum potest 〈◊〉 in fundamentum Quare nisi quia non est fides quae operatur per dilectionem sed quae exprimitur per timorem fides itaque Christi fides gratiae Christianae i. e. ea fides quae per dilectionem operatur posita in fundamento neminem perire permittit cap. 16. If Christ be the foundation of our righteousnesse then without doubt the Faith of Christ is so too for Christ dwelleth in our hearts by Faith but 't is that Faith which the Apostle defineth to be a Faith working by love for it is not possible that the Faith of devils who do beleeve and tremble and confesse Jesus to be the Son of God should be taken into this foundation because it is not a Faith which worketh by love but which is extorted by fear whereas the true Faith of Christ which proceedeth from the grace of Christ that is a Faith which worketh by love being put in the foundation will not let any man perish everlastingly What can be said more of a justifying Faith but that it maketh Christ to dwell in the heart for the foundation of righteousnesse and that it passeth from the heart to the hand for the operation of righteousnesse In that this Faith giveth us Christ it delivereth us from the condemnation of sin for where Christ is there can be no condemnation Rom. 8. II. In that it giveth us good works it delivereth us from the conversation of sinners that we may live as becometh Christians This Faith cannot let us perish because it will not let us depart from Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life the Way that we should walk in the Truth to direct us in our journey and the Life to reward us at our journeys
Rom. in principio what should I add more witnesses here are enough to shew the unanimous consent of Greek and Latine Church in this doctrine of Justification by Faith without works so it is not of our Invention And they are consenting with the Prophets and Apostles in this Doctrine so it may not be of your rejection For you know who hath said If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Luk. 16. 31. That is to say in this present case they will not be perswaded though one that hath passed under the Judgement of God should come from the dead to tell them That he had not been acquitted for his own but for his Saviours righteousness I was the more desirous to insist the longer upon the Fathers because some late Protestants to make their own writings the more acceptable have not stuck to say That the Fathers did write either defectively or obscurely of this point whereas if they had written with a pen of Iron or of a diamond they could not have written more Fully and with a Sun-beam they could not have written more clearly And because some Papists on the other side to make their Tenent the more passible have not stuck to say that the Fathers writ all fully and clearly for Justification by works Let any unprejudicate man judge from these few quotations whether all their fulness and plainness be not to enlarge and explain this very doctrine of St. Paul which you have blamed in me Therefore being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5. 1. Whereby he attributes not only our Justification from the guilt of sin but also our peace for the deliverance from the terrour of that guilt only to Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ But because men of the contrary opinion do pretend to be wholly for the Church it shall not suffice me to have shewed what the Catholick Church did believe and profess in the daies of St. Ambrose St. Augustin and St. Chrysostom but what the present Roman Church doth believe and profess at this very day for that still teaching all her Communicants to pray on this wise Effunde super nos misericordiam tuam ut dimittas quae conscientia metuit adjicias quod oratio non praesumit per dominum nostrum Pour down upon us the abundance of thy mercy forgiveing us those things whereof our Conscience is afraid and giving unto us that that our Prayers dare not presume to ask through Jesus Christ our Lord 12. Sunday after Trinity doth plainly shew and declare That forgiveness of sins and quietation of our Consciences are among those blessings which our prayers dare not presume to ask and much less may hope to attain by any of our own but only by our Saviours righteousness and what is Justification but the forgiveness of sins and what is the immediate effect of it but the quietation of our Consciences God hath made Remission of sins an Article of our Faith not a duty of our life and his Church accounteth them Infidels who do not believe it But if we can purchase it by our own works t is rather to be merited or to be deserved then believed Let us then change the daily Hymne of the Church and say When we had overcome the wickednesse of life we did open the Kingdom of Heaven to our selves that were workers not when Thou hadst overcome the sharpnesse of death Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers The Church owns the opening of Heaven to Christs death not denying true believers to be workers but denying Heaven to be opened by their works And shall we say that Heaven is opened by our Saviours merits but entred by our own 15. But see first if by saying so we do not only forsake Christs Church but also destroy it For none can shut the gates of Hell but He that hath opened the gate of Heaven The same righteousness shuts Them for they are many and wide and opens This for it is but one and very narrow If mans righteousnesse can do so let not Hierusalem be any longer called by this name The Lord our righteousnesse Jer. 23. 16. But if she be no longer so called How will she be Gods Church for withoubt dout the gates of Hell will easily be able to prevail against Her righteousness though not against Her Saviours Therefore the Church that Hell shall not prevail against must be founded on the Rock of Christs righteousnesse not on the Sand of mans righteousness for then God may soon come to have no Church because the Church may soon come to have no righteousness surely it can have no such righteousness as either to vanquish Hell or to challenge Heaven no such righteousnesse as not for ever to say most justly what now she saith si iniquitates observaveris Domine Domine quis sustinebit If thou Lord wilâ—… be exâ—…ream to mark what is done amisse O Lord who may abide it That man would be very desperate who should answer this question and say I may abide it and consequently that Divinity must needs be very dangerous which must put him upon such an answer for his Justification This is for Christians to have a worse opinion of Christ then had the Jews for even Rabbi David upon these words of Jeremy The Lord our Righteousnesse gives us this glosse Israel shall call the Messias by this name The Lord our righteousnesse because in his daies the Justice of God shall be firmly established for ever acknowledging that a Justice which is to be established in us for ever is not to be obtained may not be expected by and from our selves but by and from the Messias by and from him who is here called The Lord our righteousnesse 16. Yet your Bellarmine lib. 2. de Just. useth no less then ten Arguments to prove that the imputation of Christs righteousness in our justification is little other then a fiction or a vain and empty opinion Justificationem non consistere in Imputatione justitiae Christi He saith positively That Justificatoin doth not consist in the imputation of Christs righteousnesse Sure St. Paul taught him not to say so for he plainly rejecteth his own inherent righteousnesse and cleaved only to the imputed righteousnesse of Christ when he desired to be justified Phil. 3. 9. That I may win Christ and be found in him not having mine own righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by Faith He desired not to be found in his Own but in his Saviours righteousnesse when he was to pass under Gods sentence and he could not be found in that unless it might be imputed to Him for being Anothers it could not be inherent in Him Therefore if your Cardinals contradistinctions stand for good in your account Vera mundities non Imputativa arg 9. non verè sed
our Justification CAP. VII Of Christs New Testament or Covenant 1. DIvines are not to make new works much less new Divinity 2. Testament and Covenant though commonly used for the same thing may have their several considerations 3. The Latin Interpreter highly magnified whiles Beza is unworthily taxed yet He also promiscuously useth these two words though both are more delighted with the word Testament then Covenant 4. The Catholick Church prefereth Testament above Covenant in the Title of the holy Bible and the Sept. never use the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Covenant but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Testament as it were by special providence because that word pointeth at the death of Christ and Gods free Grace and mercy towards mankind more then the word Covenant 5. No Christian may oppose or diminish Gods free Grace in Christ. 6. Ill quarreling with words which have Custom Conscience and Truth to justifie the use of them 7. No assertion concerning the new Covenant ought to be Authentical which is ambiguous because that is to put Salvation upon unknown if not upon impossible conditions 8. A definition of the New Covenant ought not to be such as may fit the Old Covenant 9. The Old and New Covenant put far asunder by God and not to be joyned together by man God will judge the world not by the Old but by the New Covenant 10. The Law as a Rule of Righteousnesse reinforced in the Gospel but as a Covenant of Life abolished by it 11. The Jews under the Law expected to be saved by the Gospel and whiles they covenanted obedience did hope for Salvation by Faith and Repentance 12. The Covenant of works pressed upon the Jews to make them more thirst after the Covenant of Grace 13. Christ the Mediator of a better Testament then Moses because the Covenant of Grace hath better promises and better conditions then the Covenant of works How these came to be called Two Covenants and how they differ one from the other not only in the administration but also in the expression 14. St. Paul disputes against the Law not materially in it self as the Rule of righteousnesse for so it is the end of the Gospel but formally in its use to the Jew as a Covenant of life for so it stood in opposition against the Gospel And thus far we may proceed without being Antinomians and must that we confound not the New with the Old Testament 15. The vast difference betwixt the Old and the New Testament as betwixt Agar and Sarah 16. The condition of the New Testament is not to be placed in Doing but in Believing For Doing as a condition of Life belongs to Moses his Covenant not to Christs Testament if it be taken properly that is for our Personal and not for our Virtual doing 17. The true definition of the New Testament admits obedience into its constitution but only Faith into its condition 18. The obligation of the New Testament not lessened by taking Faith for its condition and what Faith is required to fulfil the condition of the New Testament The seventh Exception IBidem sect 5. pag. 244. Having said Christ is called the Mediator of the New Testament Hebr. 9. 15. not the Mediator of the New Covenant as in other places you say also a little after I am afraid of the Covenant and flye to the Testament in the precedent Chapter Verse 6. your Old reads Mediator of a better Testament and in the margent Or Covenant your New reads better Covenant and in the margent or Testament This better is called ver 8 13. by your New The New Covenant by your Old The New Testament In the Original The same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is in all these places which properly signifies Testament yet in all these places Mr. Beza constantly translates faederis Covenant Nay you your self are not afraid of the Covenant but fly to it For in your ejaculation 20. using St. Pauls words Heb. 12. you say I am desirous to come unto Mount Sion and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant yet even there in the margent is or Testament And Mr. Beza contrary to his custome translates Testamenti Hence it appears that your own Translators use these two words indifferently to signifie but one and the same thing as meer synonyma insomuch as Mr. Beza above in the frontispiece writes novum faedus and a little beneath Novum Testamentum I cannot see then what comfort you can have out of those words Heb 9. 15. more then out of the rest For in very deed Christs New Testament is no other then a new conditional Covenant with us by which we are bound cooperating with his Grace to do very many things our selves docentes eos servare omnia quaecunque mandavi vobis Matth. 28. 20. for the obtaining of the promised inheritance wherein if we faile we shal never attain thereto For as your self say excellently well A covenant doth wholly depend upon mutual conditions which if either party fail the Covenant is broken and made of none effect The Answer 1. T Is unwarantable in Divines to make new work but t is unsufferable if not unpardonable in them to make new Divinity They make new work when they raise needless contentions and strifes about words They make new Divinity when they contend for those Things which God hath not taught or against those Things which God hath taught in his most holy Word This last and worst Age of the world hath been guilty of both and this your last exception may justly seem to come under the suspicion of the same Guilt For the first part of it makes new work by raising a needlesse contention about words Testament and Covenant which in common Scripture use are meer Synonyma signifying the same Thing And the latter part of it would faine make new Dâ—…vinity contending for such a new Covenant as is not whiles it labours to set up the Old instead of the New Covenant 2. But what though Testament and Covenant are promiscuously taken in their common use and have one and the same signification yet I hope in some peculiar respects they may have distinct notions and so come under several considerations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pâ—…esbyter and Bishop are promiscuously used in the New Testament will you therefore turn Presbyteâ—…ian and deny the distinct Office and Function of Episcopacy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are promiscuously used in the Monuments of the Church this being in the first Ephesin Council the inscription of Neâ—…orius his Epistle to Cyril Patriarch of Alexandria 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Copie of the Epistle of Nestorius to Pope Cyril for Patriach will you therefore turn Protestant and deny the Supreme Jurisdiction now arrogantly challenged and as insolently exercised in the Papacy I hope though you cannot gainsay the promiscuous and common use yet you will still maintain the distinct and peculiar considerations of
may justly be who seem to make it all one with the Old yet I ought not to be afraid of Jesus the only Author Preserver and Redeemer of my life the only joy and blessing and comfort of my death You say I am not afraid of the Covenant I know I am not afraid of Jesus nor do I say I am desirous to come to Mount Sinai where the Covenant properly so called was repeated but to Mount Sion where the Testament properly so called is really fulfilled and the inheritance conveyed thereby is actually possessed And the words that I quoted import no lesse I am desirous to come to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant For the reason of my desire is because He is the Mediatour of the New Covenant the Covenant of Grace not of the Old Covenant the Covenant of Justice or of works for Moses was the Mediatour of that at least as it was renewed on Mount Sinai but of the New Covenant the Covenant of Grace whereof Jesus was the Maker to put Mercy in it and is the Mediatour to put me into that Mercy Thus you see it is a threefold Cord twisted with Custome Conscience and Truth as with three twists which labours to pull down this your Objection the Custome of speech the Comfort of conscience and the Truth of the Gospel all three concurring together to make me say I am desirous to come to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant and seeing this I suppose you will no longer seek to maintain such an Objection for 't is not ingenuous to stand against Custome not Religious to stand against Conscience not Honest to stand against Truth 7. And thus much in answer to the Verbal part of your exception whereby you have made me some new Work I now come to the real part of it whereby you seem very willing to make some new Divinity for if it be not True it must be called New by that infallible Rule Id verum quod primum That is Trust which is Oldest as coming immediately from the Ancient of dayes or from the first Truth For in very deed say you Christs New Testament is no other than a new conditional Covenant with us by which we are bound cooperating with his Grace to do very many things our selves for the obtaining of the promised inheritance wherein if we fail we shall never attain thereto which seems to me a very strange Assertion for so you have vented it and yet a more strange definition for so you seem to intend it The Assertion is strange because it is Authentical and yet withal Ambiguous such as may be much admired but little approved For he that will speak positively ought not to speak doubtfully as you are positive in denouncing the irrecoverable losse of Heaven but doubtful in declaring by what means we may prevent that losse you speak with authority enough to terrifie us but not with perspicuity enough to instruct us You say plainly We are bound to do very many things for the obtaining of the promised inheritance wherein if we fail we shall never attain thereto But you say not one word concerning any of those things wherein we are bound not to faile So you put our Salvation upon unknown conditions which is the way to fill our souls with perplexity instead of piety and since what is not known cannot be done you may also put our Salvation upon impossible conditions which is the way to turne our perplexity into desperation our desperation into damnation 8. And I think this is enough to prove it a strange Assertion for it doth not explaine but rather obscure the thing defined as agreeing more with the Old than with the New Covenant For put Moses his Old Testament instead of Christs New Testament and you shall not need change any one particle of the whole definition but it will all agree with the one as well as with the other and so it may go after this manner For in very deed Moses his Old Testament is no other than an old conditional Covenant with us by which we are bound cooperating with Gods Grace to do very many things our selves for the obtaining of the promised inheritance wherein if we fail we shall never attain thereto So that you have given us a Definition that will fit the Old Covenant as well as the New and therefore truly fit neither since it cannot fit both which must needs be a very strange definition confounding that Covenant it should explaine for which cause it is Unlogical very strange to reason and making that one Covenant which God hath made two Covenants for which cause it is Untheological very strange to Religion For he which hath said Those things which God hath joyned together let not man put asunder Mat. 19. 6. hath thereby said according to the rule of Contraries Those things which God hath put a sunder let not man joyne together And God hath put the Old and the New Covenant as farre asunder as he hath put Heaven and Hell as he hath put Salvation and Damnation For by the Old Covenant Do this and live all mankind after the Fall must have perished there 's the Damnation But by the new Covenant Believe and thou shalt live none that lay hold on Christ and keep with him and stick to him shall perish there 's the salvation For S. Paul hath told us expressely that God will judge the World not by the Law which will condemn the most innocent and the most righteous since the losse of our first innocen'cy and righteousness but by the Gospel which will condemn only the unrepenting and unbelieving sinner In the day that God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my Gospel Rom. 2. 16. never any yet though he had a most innocent hand had so innocent an heart that he durst say his secret thoughts were innocent wherefore he must needs be condemned in the Judgement if God should Judge him according to the Law and not according to the Gospel Nor yet will the Gospel acquit him if he be not innocent any more than the Law will acquit him because it hath the same precepts of innocency with the Moral Law according to which precepts the last Judgement will be given and pronounced only it will accept of his innocency by Faith and Repentance whereas the Law will accept only of his innocency by perfect Obedience The Judgement is not like to be the lesse righteous for being according to the Gospel but the more merciful because though Jesus Christ in Judging us will proceed according to the Rule of the Law which is the same with the Rule of the Gospel yet he will not proceed according to the Covenant of the Law Do this and live but according to the Covenant of the Gospel Believe and thou shalt be saved 10. For the Moral Law is to be considered as a Rule of Righteousness Do this and as a Covenant of Life Do this and live as
if it said You shall not live unless you do this The Law as a Rule of Righteousness Do this is repeated and reenforced in the Gospel but as a Covenant of Life intimating we shall not live unlesse we do this it is abolished by the Gospel And so much of the Gospel was revealed to the Jews even whiles they were detained under the Law as to let them see they were not saved or delivered because they had performed the Duty but because God would performe the Mercy of his Covenant for this is the only reason that is given of their deliverance out of Egypt God remembred his Covenant with Abraham with Isaac and with Jacob Exod. 2. 24. which is farther explained and confirmed by the Prophet Ezekiel in his story of their rebellions in Egypt in the Wilderness and in the land of Canaan Ezek. 20. where all along the reason of Gods saving and delivering them is only his own undeserved goodness and mercy For when he looked upon their breaking the Conditions then it follows I said I will pour out my fury upon them ver 8 13 21. But when he looks upon his own Promise in the Covenant then it follows But I wrought for my names sake ver 9 14 22. Throughout the whole Chapter there is a kind of dispute betwixt Gods Justice and his Mercy His Justice calling for their destruction but his Mercy interceding for their deliverance And this God would have registred not only by way of doctrine for their instruction but also by way of praise and thanksgiving for their Devotion Hence we find it also recorded in the Psalmes which were the chiefest part of their Liturgy as Psal. 89. If they break my Statutes and keep not my Commandements ver 32. Neverthelesse my Covenant will I not break ver 34. And again Psal. 106. ver 23. He said he would have destroyed them why did he not performe his saying Moses his chosen stood before him in the gap and if we look into Exod. 30. we shall find that Moses stood in the gap and besought God by three arguments 1. By his former benefits which would be lost ver 11. but that prevails not because they had abused them 2. By his own glorious Name which would be dishonoured among the Egyptians vers 12. but niether doth that prevail for better his Name be dishonoured among his Enemies then among his Servants 3. By his Promises made to the Fathers ver 13. and that alone prevailed for after that it presently follows And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people v. 14. The cause of their Salvation is wholly imputed to Gods goodnesse which made him promise them mercy before they were his Servants and shew them mercy after they had revolted from his Service And though Christians are grown so wan'on as to dallie with Christ or so bold as to contest with him about their Salvation yet t is clear the Jews did look to be saved only by their Messias which is the same with our Christ For their Faith passed through the blood of all their own daily Sacrifices to the Blood of Christ to which they had relation and from which they had their virtue as appears from the Title of the 22. Psalm as 't is explained in the Chaldee Paraphrast A Psalm to praise God withall at or for the powerful and perpetual oblation of the morning shewing that this Psalm was given to the Priests and Levites that it should be sung by them every morning to direct all their thoughts unto and fix all their hops upon the death and passion of Christ whereof this Psalm was rather a History then a Prophecy through whom alone all their oblations were powerfull and for whom they were Perpetual through whom they were accepted and for whom they were continued 11. And this the Jews themselves did know very well or else their Priests and their Scribes could not so readily have answered That Christ was to be born in Bethlehem and have cited the Prophecie of Micah to justifie their answer Mat. 2. For thus it is written by the Prophet And thou Bethlehem in the Land of Judah art not the least The Prophet had said Thou art the least sc. in thy self but they said and St. Matthew from them Thou art not the least sc. in relation to Christ who was the Gouernour to come from thence for thus both sayings are true in several respects And since 't is very probable that the Priests and Scribes themselves first made this change and that St. Matthew only related the same as he found they had made it T is evident that even in those times of greatest blindness They had light enough to see Christ though they had not Grace enough to receive Him Thus they looked unto Christ in all their worship which shews they hoped for Salvation more from their Faith then from their Obedience even whiles they were held under the Law as the Covenant of Obedience And therefore by the same reason they could not but also hope for salvation more from their Repentance then from their Righteousnesse because their Faith in Christ being commanded and accepted did shew the relaxation of the Law as it was the Covenant of Obedience and consequently did promise the acceptance of unfained repentance instead of impeâ—…able Righteousnesse Hence that General Rule of one of their greatest Doctors R. David Kimchi upon Jonah 3. 9. Omne verbum quod loquitur Deus malefacere filiis hominum est sub conditione si non refipuerint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Every word which God speaketh threatning to do hurt to the sons of men is to be understood with this condition If they do not repent so that the curses for transgressing the Moral Law which were incurred through default of Obedience were not inflicted but for defect of repentance and that even under the Law whiles it remained in its greatest force as the Covenant of works and of Obedience For even then was it a part of the Jews Faith to believe and of their Religion to give thanks after this manner Praise the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me praise his holy name Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits which forgiveth all thy sin and healeth all thine infirmities which saveth thy life from destruction and crowneth thee with mercy and loving kindness Psal. 103. What better Faith can any Christian have then to believe that God for Christs sake forgiveth all the sins he hath committed healeth all the infirmities he hath contracted saveth his life from the destruction he hath deserved And what better Thanks giving can any Christian use then to say Praise the Lord O my soul and all that is within me praise his holy Name Praise the Lord O my soul and forget not all his benefits 12. So that if Christians will not go to the Gospel they may go to the Law if they will not go to the New they may
Here the primum Praedicatum the first thing Preached is Repent for not doing and Believe in him that hath done it and you shall live There perfect obedience was not only the obligation of the persons Covenanting but also the condition of the Covenant here though it is still the obligation of the persons Covenanting for God hath not lost his right of cluiming nor Gods Law her power of requiring perfect obedience yet is it not the condition of the Covenant for the New Testament promiseth life upon true Faith which the Old Testament promised only upon full and perfect obedience and though it bids us obey as well as the Old yet it annexes not the conveyance of life upon our Obeying but upon our Believing requiring our obedience as a duty of Rightteousness but not making it the condition of life And whereas you say The New Testament is a conditional Covenant binding us to do very many things our selves for obtaining the promised inheritance I challenge you to name that one thing to which you dare annex your Fac vives Do this as you ought to do it and live upon doing of which so exactly and perfectly as Gods Law requires you dare be so hardy as to venture your soul or so easie as to hazard your Salvation I doubt not but you will be glad to admit of a mitigation and pray God to accept of your serious endeavour instead of your exact performance and of your true Repentance instead of your due Obedience and of your Saviours compleat doing it for you instead of your incompleat doing it for your self and then your Fac Vives will be but our Crede Vives your do this and live will be but our Believe in him that hath done it and live and you will become one of those Evangelical brethren whom your proud Justitiaries now so scoffe at or having broken the condition of the Covenant that is perfect Obedience you must be contented to lose the Promise of the Covenant that is eternal Salvation for your self have approved that saying which I think no Divine is able to disprove A Covenant doth wholly depend upon mutual conditions which if either party faâ—…l the Covenant is broken and made of none effect which was the reason assigned by me why I was afraâ—…d of the Covenant and did fly to the Testament because I found better Conditions in the Testament properly so called than in the Covenant and 't is something strange you should at the same time dislike my Doctrine about the Testament and yet approve the reason of it about the Covenant For my part I cannot but think it neerly concernes all Christian Divines as the Trustees of Gods Truth and of their neighbours souls least they should betray them both together not to clog Christs Covenant of Salvation with impossible conditions such as God hath not required and man cannot performe even with the conditions of impeccable righteousness and perfect obedience in and from themselves which have been fulfilled and are to be expected only in and from their Saviour For he that said to his Apostles Docentes eos servare omnia quaecunque mandavi vobis Mat. 28. 20. did likewise say to one of them and in him to all the rest Testificans Judaeis atque gentibus in Deum poenitentiam fidem in Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Act. 20. 21. He that said by St. Matthew Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded to make his people zealous of good works did also say by St. Luke testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks Repentance towards God and Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ to make his people see their works were not so good but that they needed Faith and Repentance to make them better and therefore God though in Justice he required their most perfect obedience perfect in parts according to the Tenour of all his Commandements and perfect in degrees according to the rigour of them yet he was pleased in mercy to accept the will for the deed sincere obedience for perfect obedience the entire endeavour for the full performance and had accordingly in this Covenant of Grace annexed their Salvation not to the condition of their perfect obedience as in the Covenant of works but to the condition of their Faith in Christ who was made obedient to the death even the death of the Crosse to make an atonement for their disobedience Both the Covenants were made with Adam for all mankind the Covenant of Works before his fall the Covenant of Grace soon after it And though they were very neer joyned in time for Adam is generally thought not to have stood one full day in his innocency yet are they very farre separated in nature even as farre as Justice and Mercy in God or innocency and sin in man the one Covenant being to save the Righteous by the Rules of Justice the other being to save the sinner by the pleas of Mercy The Covenant renewed to the Jews by Moses was that of Works to keep them in bondage that they might gaspe and sigh and groan after their Redeemer The Covenant renewed to the Christians by our Saviour Christ is that of Grace to enstate them in libertie that they may see the Mercy and enjoy the Comfort of their Redemption What was of Grace or Mercy in the Covenant by Moses was not from Moses but from Christ Not from the Covenant but from the Testament and therefore that was properly called a Covenant because it gave life only upon the strict Rules of Justice But this is more properly called a Testament because it gives life upon the relaxation of those strict Rules of Justice and admits the condescensions and mitigations of mercy Each Covenant is Conditional promising everlasting life only to those who keep its Conditions Bur the Covenant of Works promiseth life upon the Condition of Doing accepting only of perfect Righteousness and Obedience The Covenant of Grace promiseth life upon the Condition of Believing accepting of Righteousness and Obedience if it be sincere though it be not perfect that is Accepting of Repentance for Obedience and of Faith for Righteousness So that the New Testament by Christ though it be a conditional Covenant as was the Old by Moses yet hath it not the same Condition with that as your words import but a Condition quite different from it sc. the Condition of Believing instead of doing For so it is said God having raised up his Son Jesus sent him to blesse you in turning away every one of you from his iniquities Act. 3. 26. In that our Jesus came to bless us by turning us from our iniquities 't is evident we must turn from our sins or we cannot have his blessing But in that 't is He that blesseth us 't is as evident our blessing depends not upon our Obedience but upon our Faith not upon our Own but upon His Righteousness Wherefore though we allow and affirme that all things
we have been reconciled so also that we shall be saved And therefore we must take that for the condition of Salvation in the Covenant of Grace which sends us immediately to Him to wit Our believing and not that which sends us to our selves though it proceed from him to wit Our Doing Thus hath the common mother of all Christians the Catholick Church taught all her sons to pray That in all our works begun continued and endâ—…d in thee we may glorifie thy Holy Name and finally by thy mercy obtain ever lasting life placing all the hopes of eternal life not in mans Duty but in Gods mercy that is not in Doing but in Believing He that is constantly prevented in all his Doings by Gods most gratious favour and as constantly furthered by his continual Help must needs have the best confidence of his Doings yet may not hope to obtain the promised Inheritance of everlasting life by Doing without being a Schismatick in receding from the Unity and a Heretick in departing from the Verity of the Catholick Church in this excellent Prayer unlesse we will say which were impious once to think That the Catholick Church teacheth such Devotions as are contrary to her own Doctrine 18. Nor doth this assertion any whit lessen the Obligation though it doth very much sweeten the condition of the new Testament It is the same in effect with the old Covenant as to the Matter of its Command though not as to the form of its promise for it requires what we are bound but it accepts what we are able to perform It commends our entire Obedience but it assures Life upon our unfeigned faith and repentance And it is so far from diminishing or lessening any wilful sin either of omission or of commission that it rather augments and aggravates the same For whereas wilful offenders did before trample under foot the Word of God whereby they should have been restrained now they also trample under foot the Blood of God whereby they have been redeemed from their fins Tell me what is wanting in their Obligation who are bound by promise and vow to these three things 1. To fosake the Devil and all his works the pomps and vanities of the wicked world and all the sinful lusts of the flesh 2. To believe all the Articles of the Christian Faith 3. To keep Gods holy will and Commandements and to walk in the same all the daies of their life And every childe that is trained up in our Church knows he was bound to all these when he first received the Seal of the New Covenant and therefore cannot but look upon all these as the material parts of his Obligation by that Covenant and upon himself as a most perfidious wretch if He wilfully fail in any part of his Obligation and as a most miserable wretch if he do not earnestly repent of his failings But will you therefore say That because he hath failed in these he hath forfeited his Salvation Is Doing all these as they ought to be done for else 't is not doing of them the formal part of the Covenant of Grace or the condition of life in that Covenant May we not say That he forsakes the world the flesh and the Devil who doth not follow and is not led by them That he believes all the Articles of the Christian Faith who cries out with tears Lord I believe help thou my unbelief and that he keeps Gods Commandements who prays with hearty sorrow Lord have mercy upon me and with hearty desire Incline my heart to keep thy Law or write all thy Laws in my heart I beseech thee If we may say so then this is that which God requires to our Salvation and by this we perform the condition of that Covenant by which we hope to be saved wherefore though Doing be derived into the Constitution yet it is not derived into the Condition of the New Covenant The Constitution of the New Covenant is as it was of the Old according to Justice exacting the compleat performance of our Duty as it is said This day thou art become the People of the Lord thy God Thou shalt therefore obey his voice and do his Commandements Deut. 27. 9 10. and that is properly called Doing But the condition of the Nâ—…w Covenant is meerly according to mercy accepting our sincere resolution for our compleat performance and that is properly called Believing This is the Condition which we must fulfil or we can have no right to the promised Inheritance And since this is the only Condition we can fulfil we may not put in another instead of this no more then we may put our selves out of the Hope and Right to Gods Promises And we Protestants do conceive we have the greater reason to oppose your merit of works because That hath been a means to make you oppose the grace and mercy of Gods New Covenant yet to shew to you and to all the world That we so stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made 〈◊〉 free as to abandon all manner of Libertinism we acknowledge no other Faith to fulfil the Condition of the Covenant of Grace but such as teacheth us to fulfil all manner of righteousness A Faith that devotes the whole man to God In his understanding by knowing and believing In his will by loving and embracing In his affections by desiring and prosecuting In his Actions by conforming and obeying A Faith that believes in whole Christ even in Jesus Christ our Lord receiving him in all his Offices not only as a Priest to reconcile us by his death there 's Jesus and as a Prophet to instruct us by his word there 's Christ but also a King to rule and govern us by his Laws there 's Lord A Faith that believes not only speculatively to sanctifie the contemplation but also Practically to sanctifie the conversation having a firm resolution of obeying Christ in all things and a serious repentance for its defects and wants of Obedience And such a repentance that devotes the whole life to God by an entire aversion from all sin and by an entire conversion to all righteousness with the whole powers and faculties both of soul and body of soul to detest sin of body to decline it of soul to hunger and thirst after righteousness of body to endeavour and to act it He that is not thus qualified in some degree doth falsly think himself in the state of Grace and he that is not in the state of Grace doth in vain hope to be saved by the Covenant of Grace and concerning such a man the question is now as unanswerable and will be to the worlds end as it was at first making Can Faith save him Jam. 2. 14. For the Faith that fulfils the condition of the New Covenant labours for our full conformity with our blessed Saviour and laments and bewails all our failings and defects in the persuit and desire of that consormity It layeth an absolute necessity upon