though instancing onely in the shedding of his blood which was the chiefest act of his passive obedience whereby he merited for us the remission of sins The formal cause for Justification being an action and therefore an accident cannot properly have a material cause though you by your inherent righteousness do a little intrench upon this Rule of Logick I say the formal cause of Justification is expressed v. 25. to wit The remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God not excluding sins present and to come as if they were not also remitted but onely nameing sins past that we might not think Justification doth give us a liberty of future sininng The formal cause then of Justification is the remission of sins For God doth so far justify us or accept and account us for just and righteous as far as he doth pardon our sins and absolve and acquit us from condemnation for Christs righteousness Thus it was God be merciful to me a sinner which made the Publican go away justified St. Luke 18. 13 14. not his own merit but Gods mercy And this is that doctrine which St. Paul preacheth with a Notum sit omnibus et singulis Bâ—… it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unâ—…o you the forgiveness of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13. 38 39. If forgiveness of sins and justification be not one and the same how is this a good consequence Through Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that beleeve are justified For this cannot follow if to be forgiven and to be justified be not one and the same for then one thing is preached another performed one thing promised and another granted But if they be the same then we are sure this is good Divinity that the formal justice or righteousness for which God absolves us sinners in the judgement is not in and from our selves but in and from our Saviour as it is said By him all that beleeve are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses whereas if our Justification were for any inherent righteousness whether Habitual or Actual it were not by him but by our selves nor to be gotten by believing but by doing nor could we be justified from all things at once and together but from one thing after another not in an instant but successively for so we get our inherent righteousness not by the grace and mercy of God casting all our sins upon our Saviour that he may forgive them all at once and together for active Justification which respects God absolving the sinners is a forgiveing of all sins at once and together for Christs sake though passive Justification which respects the sinner to be absolved is a forgiveing of sins so often as the sinner earnestly repenting doth by a lively Faith flee unto God the Son for his merit and to God the Father for his mercy In a word if our Justification were for any inherent righteousness whether habitual or actual we could not be justified by the grace and mercy of God casting all our sins upon our Saviour that he may forgive them all but by the Law of Moses casting us into a mould of righteousness that we may not commit any sin norstand in need of forgiveness And if this be so we may bid farewel iâ—… not 〈◊〉 to the whole Gospel of Christ which is thus briefly but fully summed up by St. Paul That God was in Christ reâ—…nciling the world unto himself so by a Potential though only true believers by an actual reconciliation not imputing their trespasses unto them 2 Cor. 5 19. No man can be reconciled to God who is not justified before God for all sinners are odious to God as his enâ—…mies not reconciled unto him as his frienâ—…s therefore God looks upon a maâ—… as no 〈◊〉 wâ—…ch canâ—…ot be as he is iâ—… himself but as he is in his Saviour when he is reconciled unto him and accordingly to be reconciled is to be justified that is to be accounted righteous for as the formal cause of our reconciliation consisteth in the remssion or not imputation of our sins not imputing their trespasseâ—… unto them so doth also the formal cause of our Justification for that is no other but an absolution from the guilt of sin For Justification is not a Physiâ—…al but a Moral action of God absolving the sinner for the merit of Christ even as Sanctification is not a Moral but a Physical Action of God cleansing and purging the sinner by the Spirit of Christ The one makes the sinner righteous but the other only accounts him righteous And therefore Justification and Sanctification are as improperly confounded as Moral and Physical or real Actions For Moral actions work a change only in regard of the mans relation as He that is adopted or acquitted is changed only in his relation that instead of being guilty he is made not guilty instead of beâ—…g a stranger he is made a Son But real or Physical actions do work a change also in regard of a mans person as He that is instructed or converted hath a real change wrought upon his understanding and his will and consequently is really changed in his person So that if to justifie be not meerly a moral action that is To account as just by acquitting from the condemnation of the Law as we say but be also a real action that is to make just by a conformity to the Law as you affirm then it must needs work a real change in the Patient making him righteous from unrighteous and from righteous more righteous and by consequent Justification will be one and the same thing with Sanctification and so it will follow that the whole Tenor of the Text hath hitherto misinformed us and doth still misguide us for therein these two are reckoned up as two several and distinct mercies of Almighty God towards our sinful souls and these wrought by several means God justifying us by the righteousness of his Son and sanctifying us by the power of his Holy Spirit And from this ill consequence will yet follow a much worse That Sanctification will be supposed to be nothing for it will have nothing left to do Justification having done its work before and if it have nothing to do it cannot be an Action and if it be not an action it must be nothing These Logical absurdities besides others that are Theological cannot well be avoided by those who make inherent righteousness the formal cause of our Justification And therefore though we separate not inherent and imputative righteousness which your insolent Dogmatist blasphemously calls Putative as if it were meerly fictâ—…tious when as in truth all our righteousness is so in respect of it I say though we separate not inherent and imputative righteousness
but me doth likewise say Thou shall invocate no other but me because invocation is the most proper and the most publick acknowledgement and worship of God For Invocation is required by the first though it is regulated by the third commandement That enjoyns the object and internal affection this only enjoyns the manner and the external expression Therefore Call upon me in the day of trouble Psal. 50. 15. belonging to the affirmative Call not upon any besides me doth belong to the negative precept in the first Commandement since these two are contraries and contraria sunt sub eodem genere posita contraries must be ranked or reckoned under one and the same Head For in vain doth your Cardinal seek to excuse bad words in prayers from the good sense or meaning of him that prays non agitur de verbis sed de sensu verborum Bell. l. 1. de sanct Beat. c. 17. because as a right intention in our prayers is required by the first so also a right expression in our prayers is required by the third Commandement God requirlng us no less to honour his Name by right words and professions in the One then to honour his Nature by right intentions and affections in the other For as we may not honour God with our lips whiles our hearts are far from him So neither may we dishonour him with our lips whiles our hearts are near him For as the one makes us Hypocritical so the other makes us blasphemous worshippers As the one is directly against the internal so the other is directly against the external Act of Religion as the one is against the morality of the first so the other is against the morality of the third Commandement But of this I have spoken elsewhere of purpose to justifie the Religion established and professed amongst us for which so many Orthodox Divines have lately lost their livelyhoods by Protestants and pray they may not come to lose their lives by Papists because I was there bound to shew the irreligion that I found not only in Faction which hath no Liturgie but also in superstition which hath corrupt Liturgie Justif. of the Church of England cap. 3. sec. 3. there you might have seen more work made for you upon the grounds of conscience then you have here made for me only upon the grounds of contention Thither if you please you may go for more of this argument but before you go take this Question along with you not Where was this your Religion of praying to Saints before Luther but where is it now For it is not in any of Gods Commandements concerning Religion nay 't is plainly against them all 'T is against the first in having a false Object and false internal acts of Religion against the second in having a false external act or manner of Religion by way of adoration against the third in having a false external act or manner of Religion by way of invocation or of Praise and Profession As it is not according to Gods Commandements so it cannot be Piety or Religion as 't is against Gods Commandements so 't is moreover impiety and irreligion Therefore boast not any longer of the general profession and practice of this or any other corrupt part of your Religion which you cannot justifie in its substance For 't is a miserable Religion which is to be found only in its exercise according to the purport of the fourth and not also in its substance according to the purport of the three first Commandements A Religion in its Name not in its Nature in its solemnity not in its purity in its followers not in it self That is in one word A Religion not of Gods but of mans making 12. To such a Religion belongs â—…hat Prayer Maria mater gratiae mater misericordiae Tu nos ab hoste protege horâ mortis suscipe which yet your Cardinal boldly imputeth to the universal Church sic loquitur ecclesia universa lib. 1. de Sanct. Beat. cap. 19. though its language speak only the Church of Rome and its rythme speaks only the late and corrupt ages of that Church and its irreligion doth in truth speak no Church For that is no Church whereof Christ is not the Head And he is not the Head of that Church which prayeth to such as he did not pray And he did never pray to his Mother but only to his Father teaching us o say Our Father not Our Mother whâ—…ch art in Heaven We cannot say the words of this Prayer in his Communion we cannot obtain the blessing oâ—… it by his intercession therefore if we wâ—…l â—…e his Church we must put this prayer oâ—… of our meutâ—…es because we dare not put it into His We have no pattern 〈◊〉 sâ—…ch prayers in all the Book of God and 〈◊〉 we can find better Patterns then God hath given we are bound to â—…ollow those of his giving or we shall leave his 〈◊〉 â—…oly Communion and lose his Soâ—…s blessed â—…ntercession in our prayers â—…or as we are sure the eternal Son of God hath â—…ot taught us thus to pray so we may be assured he will not he cannot 〈◊〉 us in this Prayer Esto mihi in Deum Protectorem Psal. 31. 4. will not agree with this Tu nos ab hoste protegeâ—… In maÌ„us tuas coÌ„mendo spirituÌ„ meuÌ„ will not agree with this Et horâ mortis suscipe why should I leave the Communion of Gods eternal Son either in not saying the one or in saying the other For I may no more now venter to have Religion then I may hereafter hope to have a salvation out of his Communion And though it be more like a Heathen then a Christian to say If it be a question of words and of names and of your Law Acts 18. 15. for words are to be regulated in the exercise of Religion according to Gods Law by vertue of the third Commandement no less then thoughts by vertue of the first Gestures by vertue of the second and Deeds by vertue of the fourth yet is that saying very unfitly applyed in the defence of this Prayer For this is as formal an Invocation of the Blessed Virgin as if she were God Calling her the Mother of Grace and Mercy and praying her to protect us in our life and to receâ—…ve us at our death And who can say more then this to God putting but Father instead of Mother who can ask more then this of God This is in effect to say Mater de coels Dea instead of Pater de coelis Deus miserere nobis miseris peccatoribus O blessed Mother of God instead of O God the Father of Heaven have mercy upon us miserable sinners And we ought to say Libera nos Domine Good Lord deliver us not so much in regard of any other evil and mischief as in regard of such Letanies Therefore this Invocation of the Mother of God is faulty in Objecto cultus in modo colendi both in the object
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
and must be the cause of eternal Dissention and Division in Christs Church 14. Religion orders a man only to God and that superstition which takes in Saints and Angels is for Babel not for Hierusalem because it confounds both the work and the Rule of Religion and is accordingly threatned and punished with confusion 15. Religious worshipping the Pictures of Saints and Angels is so gross Idolatry that you dare not let the people know the Commandement which forbids it 16. Images long kept out of the Churches of Christians Epiphanius his pulling down a veil with an Image at Anablatha unjustly if not unadvisedly rejected by Bellarmine as a false story 17. Images kept out of the Religion of Christians after they were admitted into their Churches The second Council of Nice opposed and confuted by the Latines not acknowledged for a General Council by the Greeks but most of all opposed and confuted by its own egregious falsities and falsifications discovered from its own Acts and affirmed by the testimony of Baronius 18. Interrogatories concerning Image-worship to be put into the Confessionals of the Romish Priests rather then of the people for that of the two they are the greater idolators The fourth Exception PAr 2. chap. 3. sect 2. pag. 193. speaking of us Catholicks you say The second Commandement is not of so great repute with them as to have any Interrogatory concerning it By the second Commandement nothing possible can be forbidden but only external Idolatry as internal is forbidden in the first Which moved Saint Augustine quest 71. in Exodum and all Catholick Divines after to reckon these two but as one Now in those negative words of the first Thou shalt not have strange gods before me is necessarily and positively included this affirmative Thou shalt have me only for thy true God Hence it follows that it is impossible for Christians whatever the Jews did well instructed in the first to offend through ignorance against the second What Interrogatories then are needful concerning it But I know you hint at our Pictures and Images of our blessed Saviour and his holy Saints But it must first be proved that Jesus Christ is a false God before the application of our Divine Worship through his Pictures unto him can be convinced of Idolatry And the same I say proportionably though in an infinitely inferiour degree of our Religious worship through the Pictures of his glorious Servants Saints and Angels The Answer 1. I Spake not of you Catholicks but if I spake of you it was of you Papists who by your own Cassander are not to be called Catholicks but false Catholicks Sunt quidam qui Pontificem Romanum tantum non Deum faciunt ejusque autoritatem non modò supra totam Ecclesiam sed supra ipsam Scripturam divinam efferunt Hos non video quò minus Pseudocatholicos Papistas appellare possis Cassander de officio pii viri There are some who make the Pope almost a God and extoll his authority not only above the whole Church but also above the holy Scripture These are to be called Papists and Pseudocatholicks that is to say false Catholicks Wherefore in the judgement of your own Cassander if you will needs be Papists you cannot be Catholicks 2. But in truth my intent was not so much to speak in condemnation of you Papists as in justification of us Protestants not so much in condemnation of your Church as in justification of our own But since you have taken it for a condemnation of your Church pray consider whether you may not take these particulars for the parts of that condemnation First that in your General confession Confitior Deo omnipotenti B. Mariae semper Virgini c. You suppose the blessed Virgin and the holy Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul and all the Saints departed equally present at your Confession with God to hear you if not equally powerful or merciful with him to forgive you whereas we who are taught only to say Omnipotens clementissime Pater Almighty and most merciful Father in our general Confession cannot be under the suspition much less under the danger of communicating to the creature either the presence or power or mercy of the Creator Secondly That in your particular and private confession you clog mens consciences with an absolute necessity of confessing every mortal sin though it be but only in thought For so saith your Laterane Council under Innocent the third cap. 21. Omnia sua peccata fideliter confiteatur Let him faithfully confess all his sins And though that of Trent afterwards seem to mitigate the matter sess 14. c. 5. saying Nihil aliud exigit Ecclesia à Poenitentibus quà m ut confiteantur omnia peccata mortalia quae post diligentem sui excussionem memoriae occurrent Yet Cardinal Bellarmine whom his fellow Jesuites will certainly follow and they are now your chiefest confessors saith plainly after a full debate of the cause Colligimus hinc necessarium esse confiteri omnia peccata mortalia etiamsi solâ cogitatione commissa sint lib. 3. de Poenit. cap. 7. § ex his so that t is to little purpose for your Council to say that t is necessary for the Penitent to confess all the mortal sins he can remember whiles your Champion and after him your Confessors say t is necessary for him to confess all the mortal sins he hath committed and spare him not so much as a thought which may easily be a mortal sin and yet is as easily forgotten as committed whence it was that your own Cassander called your auricular confession Carnifieinam conscientiarum in consult Art 11. the wrack of consciences to torment not to ease them For who can tell how oft he offendeth O cleanse thou me from my secret faults said the maâ—… after Gods own heart Psalm 19. If none can tell how oft he offendeth in word or deed much less in thought who is able to confess all his offences yet you say He must confess all or he can receive pardon of none And therefore as you leave the horrour of that question upon the conscience Who can tell how oft he offendeth So you take away the comfort of that prayer from it O cleanse thou me from my secret faults Thirdly That in your absolutions you remit the punishments of Purgatory for all the sins committed against God and man Remitto tibi omnes poenas Purgatorii propter culpas offensiones quas contra Deum proximum tuum commisisti This was the form of that Absolution which Dr. Harding brought over from Rome to bestow amongst those of his party in this Nation who would joyn with him in his dis-allegiance against Queen Elizabeth I meddle not with its vanity in absolving from Punishments which are not in being or if they were cannot come under the Churches absolution I meddle only with its Impiety that it turneth the gift of God into the instrument of Ungodliness For no credulous Papist
St. Peter For to Him they do really offer it who do say Sancte Petre miserere mei aperi mihi aditum caeli O St. Peter have mercy upon me open to me the Gate of Heaven and not in words to Him but in sense to God Nay Bellarmine himself would have them offer this spiritual Sacrifice of Prayer to St. Peter not only in words but also in sense or else why doth he say Potest erigi basilica Sancto Petro ut qui ingrediuntur ipso templi nomine recordentur Sancti Petri eumque in eo loco tanquam Patronum Colant deprecentur lib. 3. de Sanct. câ—…lt cap. 4. 9. Respondeo It is lawful to build a Church to St. Peter That they who enter therein from the very name of the Church was remember St. Peter and in that very place worship him as their Patron and deprecate his displeasure So it seems God hath said My House shall be called the House of Prayer in regard of St. Peter not in regard of himself that we should pray to the Saints not to him Baronius is as stiffe as Bellarmine for the worship and Invocation of St. Peter For he saith concerning the payment of the Peter-pence heretofore by Ina King of this Nation Quem sc. Petrum scientes omnes Dominum esse suum propensiore studio colerent in opportunitatibus invocarent Bar. An. 740. nu 14. Whom they all knowing to be their Lord should worship with the greater earnestness and invocate him in their necessities Who can but stand amazed at the conscience of such Divines that dare obtend to the People such Divinity teaching them plain Idolatry instead of Religion and consequently gross Infidelity instead of Faith For he that is an Idolater must also be an Infidel he that is faulty in the proper act of worship must also be faulty in the proper act of faith for worship proceeds from Faith according to that of St. Paul Rom. 10. 14. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed And as the formal nature of Idolatry consisteth in disowing the true God either for God or for our God or for our only God so the formal nature of infidelity consisteth in disowning Christ either for Lord or for our Lord or for our only Lord and Saviour can any Saint be religiously worshipped or invocated without a suspition if not a spice of this Idolatry in disowning God for God for our God for our only God or be acknowledged as our Lord and Patron without a suspition if not a spice of this infidelity in disowning Christ as Lord as our Lord as our only Lord And in this case in which God hath declared himself to be a jealous God the very least suspition is to be carefully avoided because that alone may be a ground of jealousie Yet this hath been the Jesuites Doctrine and practice ever since I will alledge but one Sanchez for the proof of both He in his opus morale de Praecep decalogi lib. 2. c. 43. saith plainly that the first Commandement is concerning the worship of God and the Saints In hoc primo praecepto quod de Dei Sanctorum cultu est making the first Commandement require the worship of Saints no less then the worship of God as if Thou shall have no other Gods but me were all one with its contradictory Thou shall have other Gods but me This was his Doctrine And agreeable to this Doctrine was his practice for when by reason of his stammering he could not be admitted into the Jesuites Colledge at Granada He fell a praying to the blessed Virgin to take away from him that impediment professing that he would never return home again unless she granted him his request Neque irritae sûere preces Annuit adolescentuli votis misericordiae mater suumque alumnum balbutie liberavit saith his own Colledge in their praeface to his works Nor were his prayers in vain For the Mother of mercy hearkend to the desire of the young man and freed this her pupill or petitioner from his stammering These men have now left others nothing to do but to correct the Prayers of the Holy Ghost and of the Catholick Church and to perswade the World not to say hereafter Domine but Domina labia mea aperies os meum annunciabit laudem tuam Not O Lord but O Lady open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy Praise Nay this is not all But they farther tell us out of Binius That Damascens Hand which had writ for the worship of Images being cut off by a Saracene Prince was again restored through his Prayers to the Image of the blessed Virgin Sic dextra Damasceni quae pro religio so Imaginum cultu scripserat à Saraceno Principe praecisa quam Divinitus restituit clementissima Dei mater ad cujus ille Imaginem velut ad sacram anchoram piis fletibus supplice fide confugerat And shall we yet doubt whether they do make their Prayers to Saints as to the Authors of those blessings which they pray for when they plainly tell us that the blessed Virgin alone did as much for Sanchez as God the Father had done for Moses by curing his stammering Tongue and more for Damascence then God the Son had done for Malchus by curing not his maimed ear but his maimed hand And that she did both by her own power because they both had made their Prayers unto Her what remains then but that she be Invocated immediatly as God according to these mens Divinity for having Gods Power why should she not also have Gods glory Thus is Biels Spiritual Dalliance for I am willing to call it no more turned by you into a meer Carnal Dotage for he saith The Father of Heaven hath given half his Kingdome to the blessed Virgin which was prefigured before in Esther to whom King Ahasuerus promised the like for whereas there are two principal goods of the Kingdome of Heaven to wit Justice and Mercy God hath reserved the Justice to himself but the Mercy He hath passed by Grant or by Deed of Gift to the blessed Virgin Sibi reservavit Justitiam Virgini Mariae concessit misericordiam Bielin Can. Missae lect 8. What he fondly teacheth that you more fondly believe and most impiously practise putting more confidence in and making more addresses to the blessed Virgin for mercy then to the Eternal Son of God Hence our Lady with you is above our Lord in the number of her Devotes in the statiliness of her Churches in the multitude of her endowments nay in the very power of exorcisme Her day is above His Her Salutation above his Prayer you teach that nothing passeth in Heaven without her express consent That the stile of that Court is Placet Dominae It pleaseth our Lady That matters of Justice come more properly from Christ but expeditions of Grace from Her So that 't is no marvail saith an unquestionable Author if this Doctrinâ—… and
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