Christ. Thirdly That Gods promise is annexed indeed to the workes of just men yet it belongeth no way to the reason of the merit but commeth rather to the workes which are alreadie not worthy only but also meritorious Unto all which hee addeth afterwards this Corollary Seeing the works of a just man doe condignely merit eternall life as an equall recompence and reward there is no need that any other condigne merit such as is the merit of Christ should come betweene that eternall life might be rendred unto them Yea the merit of every just man hath somewhat peculiar in respect of the just man himselfe which the merit of Christ hath not namely to make the man himselfe just and worthie of eternall life that hee may worthily obtaine the same But the merit of Christ although it be most worthie to obtaine glory of God for us yet it hath not this efficacy and vertue to make us formally just and worthy of eternall life but men by vertue derived from him attaine this effect in themselves And so we never request of God by the merits of Christ that the reward of eternall life may be given to our worthy and meritorious workes but that by Christ grace may be given unto us whereby we may be enabled worthily to merit this reward In a word Our merits saith hee have this force in us that they make us formally worthy of eternall life the merits of Christ doe not make us worthy formally but Christ is worthy in regard of them to impetrate unto us whatsoever he requesteth for us Thus doth Vasquez the Iesuite discover unto us to the full the mysterie of this iniquitie with whom for the better information of the English Reader wee joine our Rhemists who deliver this as their Catholike doctrine that all good workes done by Gods grace after the first justification be truly and properly meritorious and fully worthy of everlasting life and that thereupon heaven is the due and just stipend crowne or recompence which God by his justice oweth to the person so working by his grace For he rendreth or repayeth heaven say they as a just Iudge and not only as a mercifull giver and the crowne which he payeth is not only of mercy or favour or grace but also of justice And againe that mans workes done by Christs grace doe condignely or worthily deserve eternall joy so as works can be none other but the value desert price worth and merit of the same Whereupon they put us in minde that the word Reward which in our English tongue may signifie a voluntarie or bountifull gift doth not here so well expresse the nature of the Latine word Merces or the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are rather the very stipend that the hired work-man or journey-man covenanteth to have of him whose worke he-doth and is a thing equally and justly answering to the time and weight of his travels and workes rather than a free gift This is that doctrine of merits which from our very hearts we detest and abhorre as utterly repugnant to the truth of God and the common sense of all true-hearted Christians The lesson which our Saviour taught his disciples is farre different from this Luk. 17.10 When ye have done all those things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our dutie to doe And if he be unprofitable saith S. Hierome who hath done all what is to be said of him who could not fulfill them So likewise the Romanes themselves might remember that they were taught by S. Paul at the beginning that there is no proportion of condignitie to be found betwixt not the actions only but the passions also of the Saints and the reward that is reserved for us in the world to come For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us saith he Rom. 8.18 and Bernard thereupon Concerning the life eternall we know that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory no not if one man did sustaine them all For the merits of men are not such that for them eternall life should be due of right or God should doe any iniurie if he did not give it For to let passe that all merits are Gods gifts and in that respect a man is for them made a debter to God more than God to man what are all merits in comparison of so great a glory and S. Ambrose long before him All those things which we suffer are too little and unworthy fot the paines whereof there should be rendred unto us so great reward of good things to come as shall be revealed in us when being reformed according to the image of God we shall merit or obtaine to see his glory face to face Where for the better understanding of the meaning of the Fathers in this point we may further observe that merits in their writings doe ordinarily signifie nothing but workes as in the alleaged place of Bernard and to merit simply to procure or to attaine without any relation at all to the dignitie either of the person or the worke as in the last words of Ambrose is plainly to be seene And therefore as Tacitus writes of Agricola that by his vertues he merited that is to say incurred the anger of Caius Caesar so S. Augustine saith that he and his fellowes for their good doings at the hands of the Donatists in stead of thanks merited that is incurred the flames of hatred On the other side the same Father affirmeth that S. Paul for his persecutions and blasphemies merited that is found the grace to be named a vessell of election having reference to that in 1 Timoth. 1.13 Who was before a blasphemer and a persecuter and injurious but I obtained mercy where in stead of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the vulgar Latine translateth Misericordiam consecutus sum S. Cyprian readeth Misericordiam merui I merited mercy Whereunto we may adde that saying which is found also among the workes of S. Augustine that no sinner should despaire of himselfe seeing Paul hath merited pardon and that of Gregory Paul when he went about to extinguish the name of our Redeemer upon earth merited to heare his words from heaven as also that other straine of his concerning the sin of Adam which is sung in the Church of Rome at the blessing of the Taper O happy sinne that merited that is found the favour to have such and so great a Redeemer Howsoever therefore the ancient Doctors may seeme unto those that are not well acquainted with their language to speake of merits as the Romanists doe yet have they nothing common with them but the bare word in the thing it selfe they differ as much from them every way as our Church doth
I can hardly be perswaded saith Origen that there can be any worke which may require the reward of God by way of debt seeing this very thing it selfe that we can doe or thinke or speake any thing we doe it by his gift and largesse Wages indeed saith Saint Hilary there is none of gift because it is due by worke but God hath given the same free to all men by the justification of faith Whence should I have so great merit seeing mercy is my Crowne saith S. Ambrose and againe Which of us can subsist without the mercy of God What can we doe worthy of the heavenly rewards Which of us doth so rise up in this bodie that he doth elevate his minde in such sort as he may continually adhere unto Christ By what merit of man is it granted that this corruptible flesh should put on incorruption and this mortall should put on immortality By what labours or by what enduring of injuries can we abate our sinnes The sufferings of this time are unworthy for the glory that is to come Therefore the forme of heavenly decrees doth proceed with men not according to our merits but according to Gods mercy S. Basil expounding those words of the Psalmist Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that feare him upon them that hope in his mercy Psalm 33.18 saith that he doth hope in his mercy who not trusting in his owne good deeds nor looking to be iustified by workes hath the hope of his salvation only in the mercies of God and in his explication of those other words Psalm 116.7 Returne unto thy rest O my soule for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Everlasting rest saith he is laid up for them that strive lawfully in this life not to be rendred according to the debt of workes but exhibited by the grace of the bountifull God to them that trust in him If we consider our owne merits we must despaire saith S. Hierome and When the day of judgement or death shall come all hands will faile because no worke shall be found worthy of the justice of God Macarius the Aegyptian Eremite in his 15. homily writeth thus Touching the gift which Christians shall inherit this a man may rightly say that if any one from the time wherein Adam was created unto the very end of the world did fight against Satan and undergoe afflictions he should doe no great matter in respect of the glory that he shall inherit for he shall reigne together with Christ world without end His 37. homily is in the Paris edition of the workes of Marcus the Eremite set out as the Prooeme of his booke of Paradise and the spirituall law There Macarius exhorteth us that beleeving in almighty God we should with a simple heart and void of scrupulositie come unto him who bestoweth the communion of the spirit according to faith and not according to the proportion of the workes of faith Where Ioannes Picus the Popish interpreter of Marcus giveth us warning in his margent that this clause is to be understood of a lively faith but concealeth his owne faithlesnesse in corrupting of the text by turning the workes of faith into the workes of nature for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by his Latine translation which is to be seene in Bibliothecâ Patrum as much to say as Non ex proportione operum naturae There is a treatise extant of the said Marcus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 touching those who thinke to be justified by their workes where he maketh two sorts of men that misse both of them the kingdome of heaven the one such as doe not keepe the commandements and yet imagine that they beleeve aright the other such as keeping the commandements doe expect the kingdome as a wages due â—nto them For the Lord saith he willing to shew that all the commâ—ndements are of dutie to be performed and that the adoption of children is freely given to men by his bloud saith When you have done aâ—l things that are commanded you then say We are unprofitable servants and we have done that which was our dutie to doe Therefore the kingdome of heaven is not the hire of works but the grace of the Lord prepared for his faithfull servants This sentence is repeated in the very selfe same words by Hesychius in his booke of Sentences written to Thalassius The like sayings also hath S. Chrysostome No man sheweth such a conversation of life that he may be worthy of the kingdome but this is wholly of the gift of God Therefore he saith When yee have done all say We are unprofitable servants for what we ought to doe we have done Although we did die a thousand deaths although we did performe all vertuous actions yet should we come short by farre of rendring any thing worthy of those honours which are conferred upon us by God Although we should doe innumerable good deeds it is of Gods pitie and benignitie that we are heard although we should come unto the very top of vertue it is of mercy that we are saved for although we did innumerable workes of mercy yet would it be of the benignitie of grace that for such small and meane matters should be given so great a heaven and a kingdome and such an honour whereunto nothing we doe can have equall correspondence Let the merit of men be excellent let him observe the rights of nature let him be obedient to the commandements of the Lawes let him fulfill his faith keepe justice exercise vertues condemne vice repell sinnes shew himselfe an example for others to imitate if he have performed any thing it is little whatsoever he hath done is small for all merit is short Number Gods benefits if thou canst and then consider what thou dost merit Weigh thine owne deeds with the heavenly benefits ponder thine owne acts with the divine gifts and thou wilt not judge thy selfe worthy of that which thou art if thou understandest what thou dost merit Whereunto we may adde the exhortation made by S. Antony to his Monkes in Aegypt The life of man is most short being measured with the world to come so that all our time is even nothing in comparison of everlasting life And every thing in this world is sold for that which it is worth and one giveth equall in exchange of equall but the promise of everlasting life is bought for a very little matter Wherefore my sonnes let us not wax weary nor thinke that we stay long or performe some great thing for the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed on us Neither when we looke upon the world let us thinke that we have forsaken any great matters For all this earth is but a very little thing in comparison of the whole heaven Therefore although we had beene lords of the whole
and that God effecteth this grace in us not by way of counsell and perswasion only but by an inward change and reformation of the minde making up a new vessell of a broken one by a creating vertue Non hoc consilio tantùm hortatuque benigno Suadens atque docens quasi normam legis haberet Gratia sed mutans intus mentem atque reformans Vasque novum ex fracto fingens virtute creandi The Writers of principal esteeme on the other side were Iohannes Cassianus and Faustus Regiensis or Reiensis the former of which was encountred by Prosper in his booke Contra Collatorem the latter by Fulgentius Ioh. Maxentius Facundus Caesarius Iohannes Antiochenus as also by Gelasius and his Romane Synod of LXX Bishops the writings of them both were rejected amongst the bookes Apocryphall And lastly by the joint authoritie both of the See of Rome and of the French Bishops assembled in the second Councell of Orange in the yeare of our Lord DXXIX sentence was giuen against the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians in generall that their opinions touching Grace and Free-will were not agreeable to the rule of the Catholike faith and these conclusions following among sundrie others determined in particular If any doth say that by mans prayer the grace of God may be conferred and that it is not grace it selfe which maketh that God is prayed unto by us he contradicteth the Prophet Esay or the Apostle saying the same thing I was found of them that sought me not and have beene made manifest to them that asked not after me Esai 65.1 Rom. 10.20 If any man defend that God doth expect our will that we may be purged from sinne and doth not confesse that this will of ours to be purged is wrought in us by the infusion and operation of the holy Ghost he resisteth the holy Ghost saying by Salomon The will is prepared by the Lord Prov. 8.35 according to the LXX and the Apostle preaching wholesomely It is God which worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Phil. 2.13 If any man say that to us without grace beleeving willing desiring endevouring labouring watching studying asking seeking knocking mercie is conferred by God and doth not confesse that it is wrought in us by the infusion and inspiration of the holy Ghost that we may beleeve will or doe all these things as we ought and doth make the helpe of grace to follow after mans either humilitie or obedience neither doth yeeld that it is the gift of grace it selfe that we are obedient and humble he resisteth the Apostle saying What hast thou that thou hast not received 1 Cor. 4.7 and By the grace of God I am that I am 1 Cor. 15.10 It is of Gods gift both when we doe thinke aright and when we hold our feet from falshood and unrighteousnesse For as oft as we doe good things God worketh in us and with us that we may worke There are many good things done in man which man doth not But man doth no good things which God doth not make man to doe This also doe we wholesomely professe and beleeve that in every good worke we doe not beginne and are holpen afterwards by the mercie of God but hee first of all no good merits of ours going before inspireth into us both faith and the love of him that we may both faithfully seeke the Sacrament of Baptisme and after Baptisme with his helpe we way fulfill the things that are pleasing unto him Touching which last Canon we may note First for the reading that in the Tomes of the Councels set out by Binius it is most notoriously corrupted For where the Councell hath Nullis praecedentibus bonis meritis No good merits going before there wee reade Multis praecedentibus bonis meritis Many good merits going before Secondly for the meaning that the Fathers understand grace to be given according to merits when any thing is done by our owne strength in respect whereof grace is given although it be no merit of condignitie as both Bellarmine him selfe doth acknowledge in the explication of the determination of the Palaestine Synod against Pelagius and in the case of the Semi-Pelagians as it is delivered by Cassianus is most evident For the grace of God saith he doth alwaies so cooperate to the good part with our Free-will and in all things helpe protect and defend it that sometime it either requireth or expecteth from it some endevours of a good will that it may not seeme to conferre its gifts upon one that is altogether sleeping and given to sluggish idlenesse seeking occasions after a sort whereby the dulnesse of humane slothfulnesse being shaken off the bargenesse of its bountie may not seeme to be unreasonable while it imparteth the same under the colour of a kinde of desire and labour Yet so notwithstanding that grace may alwaies continue to be gratious and free while to such kinde of small and little endevours with an inestimable largesse it giveth so great glory of immortalitie so great gifts of everlasting blisse Let humane frailtie therefore endevour as much as it will it cannot be equall to the retribution that is to come neither by the labours thereof doth it so diminish Gods grace that it doth not alwaies continue to be given freely Where you may observe from what fountaine the Schoole-men did derive their doctrine of workes preparatorie meriting grace by way of congruitie though not of condignitie For Cassianus whom Prosper chargeth notwithstâ—nding all this qualifying of the matter to be a maintainer in very deed of that damned point of Pelagianisme that the grace of God was given according to our merits Cassianus I say was a man that bare great sway in our Monasteries where his writings were accounted as the Monkes generall Rules and untill the other day Faustus him selfe who of all others most cunningly opposed the doctrine of S. Augustine touching grace and free-will was accepted in the Popish Schooles for a reverend Doctor and a Catholike Bishop Yea the workes of Pelagius himselfe were had in such account that some of them as his Epistle ad Demetriadem for example and his Exposition upon S. Pauls Epistles which are fraught with his hereticall opinionâ— haue passed from hand to hand as if they had beene written by S. Hierome and as such have beene alledged against us by some of our Adversaries in this very question of Free-will The lesse is it to be wondered that three hundred yeares agoe in the mid-night of Popery the profound Doctor Thomas Bradwardin then Chancellor of London and afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury should beginne his Disputations Of the cause of God against Pelagius with this lamentable complaint Behold I speake it with griefe of heart touched inwardly as in old time against one Prophet of God there were found eight hundred and fiftie Prophets of Baal unto whom an innumerable company of people did
adhere sâ— at this day in this cause how many O Lord doe now fight with Pelagius for Free-will against thy free grace and against Paul the spirituall Champion of grace For the whole world almost is gone after Pelagius into error Arise therefore O Lord judge thine owne cause and him that defendeth thee defend protect strengthen comfort To whose judgement I also now leave these Vaine defenders or as S. Augustine rightly censureth them deceivers and puffers up and presumptuous extollers of Free-will OF MERITS IN the last place we are told that the Fathers of the unspotted Church of Rome did â—each Thaâ— man for his meritorious workes receiveth through the assistance of Gods grace the blisse of everlasting happinesse But our Challenger I suppose will hardly finde one Father either of the spotted or unspotted Church of Rome that ever spake so babishly herein as he maketh them all to doe That man by the assistance of Gods grace may doe meritorious workes we have read in divers Authors and in divers meanings But after these workes done that a man should receive through the assistance of Gods grace the blisse of everlasting happinesse is such a peece of gibbrish as I doe not remember that before now I have ever met withall even in Babel it selfe For with them that understand what they speake assistance hath reference to the doing of the worke not to the receiving of the reward and simply to say that a man for his meritorious workes taking merit here as the Romanists in this question would have it taken receiveth through Gods grace the blisse of everlasting happinesse is to speake flat contrarieties and to conjoine those things that cannot possibly be coupled together For that conclusion of Bernard is most certaine There is no place for grace to enter where merit hath taken possession because it is grounded upon the Apostles determination Rom. 11.6 If it be of grace it is no more of workes or else were grace no more grace Neither doe we therefore take away the reward because we deny the merit of good workes Wee know that in the keeping of Gods Commandements there is great reward Psal. 19.11 and that unto him who soweth righteousnesse there shall be a sure reward Prov. 11.18 But the question is whence he that soweth in this manner must expect to reape so great and so sure a harvest Whether from Gods justice which he must doe if hee stand as the Iesuites would have him doe upon merit or from his mercie as a recompence freely bestowed out of Gods gracious bountie and not in justice due for the worth of the worke performed Which question we thinke the Prophet Hosea hath sufficiently resolved when he biddeth us sow to our selves in righteousnesse and reape in MERCIE Hose 10.12 Neither doe we hereby any whit detract from the truth of that axiome That God will give every man acccording to his works for still the question remaineth the very same whether God may not judge a man according to his workes when he sitteth upon the throne of grace as well as when he sitteth upon the throne of justice and wee thinke here that the Prophet David hath fully cleared the case in that one sentence Psal. 62.12 With thee O Lord is MERCY for thou rewardest every one according to his worke Originally therefore and in it selfe we hold that this reward proceedeth meerely from Gods free bountie and mercie but accidentally in regard that God hath tied himselfe by his word and promise to conferre such a reward we grant that it now proveth in a sort to be an act of justice even as in forgiving of our sins which in it selfe all men know to be an act of mercie he is said to be faithfull and just 1 Ioh. 1.9 namely in regard of the faithfull performance of his promise For promise we see amongst honest men is counted a due debt but the thing promised being free and on our part altogether undeserved if the promiser did not performe and proved not to be so good as his word he could not properly be said to doe me wrong but rather to wrong himself by impairing his own credit And therfore Aquinas himselfe confesseth that God is not hereby simply made a debter to us but to himselfe in as much as it is requisite that his owne ordinance should be fulfilled Thus was Moses carefull to put the children of Israel in minde touching the Land of Canaan which was a type of our eternall habitation in Heaven that it was a Land of promise and not of merit which God did give them to possesse not for their righteousnesse or for their upright bea rt but that he might performe the word which he sware unto their Fathers Abraham Izhak and Iacob Deut. 9.5 Whereupon the Levites say in their praier unto God Nehem. 9.8 Thou madest a covenant with Abraham to give unto his seed the Land of the Canaanites and hast performed thy word because thou art IUST Now because the Lord had made a like promise of the Crowne of life to them that love him Iam. 1.12 therefore S. Paul doth not sticke in like manner to attribute this also to Gods justice Henceforth saith he 2 Tim. 4.8 is laid up for me the crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing Upon which place Bernard in his booke of Grace and Free-will saith most sweetly That therefore which Paul expecteth is a crowne of righteousnesse but of Gods righteousnesse not his owne For it is just that he should give what he oweth and he oweth what he hath promised and this is the rightâ—â—usnesse of God of which the Apostle presumeth the promise of God But this will not content our Iesuites unlesse wee yeeld unto them that wee doe as properly and truly merit rewards when with the grace of God we doe well as we doe merit punishments when without grace we do evill So saith Maldonat that is to say unlesse we maintaine that the good workes of just persons doe merit eternall life condignely not only by reason of Gods covenant and acceptation but also by reason of the worke it selfe so that in a good worke proceeding from grace there may be a certaine proportion and equalitie unto the reward of eternall life So saith Cardinall Bellarmine For the further opening whereof Vasquez taketh upon him to prove in order these three distinct Propositions First that the good workes of just persons are of themselves without any covenant and acceptation worthy of the reward of eternall life and have an equall value of condignitie to the obtaining of eternall glorie Secondly That no accession of dignitie doth come to the workes of the just by the merits or person of Christ which the same should not have otherwise if they had beene done by the same grace bestowed liberally by God alone without
knocke therefore dearely beloved as much as we can because we cannot as much as we ought the future blisse may be acquired but estimated it cannot be Albeit thou hadst good deeds equall in number to the starres saith Agapetus the Deacon to the Emperour Iustinian yet shalt thou never goe beyond the goodnesse of God For whatsoever any man shall bring unto God he doth but offer unto him his owne things out of his owne store and as one cannot outstrip his own shadow in the Sunne which preventeth him alwaies although he make never so much speed so neither can men by their good doings outstrip the unmatchable bountie of God All the righteousnesse of man saith Gregory is convicted to bee unrighteousnesse if it be strictly judged It needeth therefore prayer after righteousnesse that that which being sifted might faile by the meere pitie of the Iudge might stand for good Let him therefore say Although I had any righteous thing I would not answer but I would make supplication to my Iudge Iob 9.15 as if he should more plainly confesse and say Albeit I did grow up unto the worke of vertue I should be enabled unto life not by merits but by pardon But you will say If this blisse of the Saints be mercie and is not obtained by merits how shall that stand which is written And thou shalt render unto every one according to his workes If it be rendred according to workes how shall it be accounted mercie But it is one thing to render according to workes and another thing to render for the works themselves For when it is said According to works the qualitie it selfe of the worke is understood that whose workes appeare good his reward way be glorious For unto that blessed life wherein wee are to live with God and by God no labour can be equalled no workes compared seeing the Apostle saith The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us By the righteousnesse of works no man shall be saved but only by the righteousnesse of faith saith Bede and therefore no man should beleeve that either his freedome of will or his merits are sufficient to bring him unto blisse but understand that he can be saved by the grace of God only The same Author writing upon those words of David Psalm 24.5 He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousnesse from the God of his salvation expoundeth the blessing to be this that for the present time he shall merit or worke well and for the future shall be rewarded well and that not by merits but by grace only To the same purpose Elias Cretensis the interpreter of Gregory Nazianzen writeth thus By mercy we ought to understand that reward which God doth repay unto us For wee as servants doe owe vertue that the best things and such as are gratefull wee should pay and offer unto God as a certaine debt considering that wee haue nothing which we have not received from him and God on the other side as our Lord and Master hath pitie on us and doth bestow rather than repay unto us This therefore is true humilitie saith Anastasius Sinaita or Nicaenus to doe good workes but to account ones selfe uncleane and unworthy of Gods favour thinking to be saved by his goodnesse alone For whatsoever good things we doe wee answer not God for the very aire alone which we doe breathe And when we have offered unto him all the things that we have he doth not owe us any reward for all things are his and none receiving the things that are his owne is bound to give a reward unto them that bring the same unto him In the booke set out by the authoritie of Charles the Great against Images the Arke of the Covenant is said to signifie our Lord and Saviour in whom alone we have the Covenant of peace with the Father Over which the Propitiatory is said to be placed because aboue the Commandements either of the Law or of the Gospell which are founded in him the mercy of the said Mediator taketh place by which not by the workes of the Law which we have done neither willing nor running but by his having mercy upon us we are saved So Ambrosius Ansbertus expounding that place Rev. 19.7 Let us be glad and rejoyce and give glory to him for the mariage of the Lambe is come and his wife hath made her selfe readie In this saith he doe we give glory to him when we doe confesse that by no precedent merits of our good deeds but by his mercie only we have attained unto so great a dignitie And Rabanus in his Commentaries upon the Lament of Ieremie Lest they should say Our Fathers were accepted for their merit and therefore they obtained such great things at the hand of the Lord he adjoyneth that this was not given to their merits but because it so pleased God whose free gift is whatsoever he bestoweth Haymo writing upon those words Psalm 132.10 For thy servant Davids sake refuse not the face of thine Anointed saith that For thy servant Davids sake is as much to say as For the merit of Christ himselfe and froâ— thence collecteth this doctrine that none ought to presume of his owne merits but expect all his salvation from the merits of Christ. So in another place When we performe our repentance saith he let us know that we can give nothing that is worthy for the aâ—peasing of God but that only in the bloud of that immaculate and singular Lambe we can be saved And againe Eternall life is rendred to none by debt but given by free mercie It is of necessitie that beleevers should be saved only by the faith of Christ saith Smaragdus the Abbot By grace not by merits are we saved of God saith the Author of the Commentaries upon S. Marke falsely attributed to S. Hierome That this doctrine was by Gods great mercie preserved in the Church the next 500. yeares also as well as in those middle times appeareth most evidently by those Instructions and Consolations which were prescribed to be used unto such as were readie to depart out of this life This forme of preparing men for their death was commonly to be had in all Libraries and particularly was found inserted among the Epistles of Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury who was commonly accounted to bee the Author of it The substance thereof may be seene for the copies varie some being shorter and some larger than others in a Tractate written by a Cistercian Monke of the Art of dying well which I have in written hand and have seene also printed in the yeere 1483. and 1504. in the booke called Hortulus animae in Cassanders Appendix to the booke of Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester de fiduciâ misericordiâ Dei edit Colon. An. 1556. Caspar Vlenbergius his Motives caus 14. pag.
hath done marveilous things O give thankes unto the Lord for he is good give thankes unto his mother for her mercie endureth for ever Lady despise not my prayse and vouchsafe to accept this Psalter vvhich is dedicated unto thee The Lord sayd unto our Lady sit thou my mother at my right hand They that trust in thee O mother of God shall not feare from the face of the enemie Except our Lady build the house of our heart the building thereof will not continue Blessed are all they who feare our Ladie and blessed are all they who know to doe thy will and thy good pleasure Out of the deepe have I cried unto thee O Ladie Ladie heare my voice Ladie remember David and all that call upon thy name O give thankes unto the Lord because he is good because by his most sweete mother the virgin Mary is his mercie given Blessed be thou O Ladie which teachest thy servants to warre and strengthenest them against the enemie and so the last Psalme is begun with Prayse our Ladie in her Saints prayse her in her vertues and miracles and ended accordingly with Omnis spiritus laudet Dominam nostram Let everie spirit or everie thing that hath breath prayse our Ladie To this we may adioyne the Psalter of the salutations of the Virgin framed by Iohn Peckham archbishop of Canterburie which is not yet printed His preface he beginneth thus Mente concipio laudes perscribere Sanctae Virginis quae nos à carcere Solvit per filium genus in genere Miri vivificans effectus opere and endeth with a prayer to the blessed Virgin that shee would release the sinnes of all those for whom hee prayed and cause both his owne name and theirs to be written in the booke of life Nec non omnibus relaxes crimina Pro quibus supplicans fundo precamina Nostrumque pariter horum nomina Conscribi facias in vitae paginâ Then followeth his first Psalme wherein he prayeth that she would make us to meditate often Gods Law and afterwards to be made blessed in the glorie of Gods kingdome Ave Virgo virginum parens absque pari Sine viri semine digna foecundari Fac nos legem Domini crebró meditari Et in regni gloriâ beatificari His other 149. Psalmes which are fraught with the same kinde of stuffe I passe over But Bernardinus de Senis his boldnesse may not be forgotten who thinketh that God will give him leave to maintaine that the Virgin Marie did more unto him or at least as much as he himselfe did unto all mankinde and that wee may say for our comfort forsooth that in respect of the blessed Virgin whom God himselfe did make notwithstanding God after a sort is more bound unto us than wee are unto him With which absurd and wretched speculation Bernardinus de Busti after him was so well pleased that hee dareth to revive againe this most odious comparison and propose it a fresh in this saucy maner But O most gratefull Virgin didst not thou something to God Didst not thou make him any recompence Truely if it be Lawfull to speake it thou in some respect didst greater things to God than God himselfe did to thee and to all mankinde I will therefore speake that which thou out of thy humilitie hast past in silence For thou onely didst sing He that is mightie hath done to me great things but I doe sing and say that thou hast done greater things to him that is mightie Neyther is that vision much better which the same author reciteth as shewed to S. Francis or as others would have it to his companion Fryar Lion touching the two ladders that reached from earth unto heaven the one redd upon which Christ leaned from whence many fell backward could not ascend the other white upon which the holy Virgin leaned the helpe whereof such as used were by her received with a cheerefull countenance and so with facilitie ascended into heaven Neyther yet that sentence which came first from Anselme and was after him used by Ludolphus Saxo the Carthusian and Chrysostomus à Visitatione the Cistercian Monke that more present reliefe is sometimes found by commemorating the name of Mary then by calling upon the name of our Lord Iesus her onely Sonne which one of our Iesuites is so farre from being ashamed to defend that he dareth to extend it further to the mediation of other Saints also telling us very peremptorily that as our Lord Iesus worketh greater miracles by his Saints then by himself Iohn 14.12 so often he sheweth the force of their intercession more then of his owne All which I doe lay downe thus largely not because I take any delight in rehearsing those things which deserve rather to be buried in everlasting oblivion but first that the world may take notice what kinde of monster is nourished in the Papacie under that strange name of Hyperdulia the bare discoverie whereof I am perswaded will prevaile as much with a minde that is touched with anie zeale of Gods honour as all other arguments and authorities whatsoever secondly that such unstable soules as looke backe unto Sodome and have a lust to returne unto Egypt againe may be advised to looke a little into this sinke and consider with themselves whether the steame that ariseth from thence be not so noysome that it is not to be indured by one that hath any sense left in him of pierie and thirdly that such as be established in the present truth may be thankefull to God for this great mercie vouchsafed unto them and mak◠this still one part of their prayers From all Romish Dulîa and Hyperdulîa good Lord deliver us OF IMAGES WIth prayer to Saints our Challenger joyneth the use of holy Images which what it hath beene and still is in the Church of Rome seeing hee hath not beene pleased to declare unto us in particular I hope he will give us leave to learne from others It is the doctrine then of the Romane Church that the Images of Christ and the Saints should with pious Religion be worshipped by Christians saith Zacharias Boverius the Spanish fryar in his late Consultation directed to our most noble Prince Charles the Hope of the Church of England and the future felicitie of the World as even this Balaam himself doth style him The representations of God and of Christ and of Angels and of Saints are not onely painted that they may be shewed as the Cherubims were of old in the Temple but that they may be adored as the frequent use of the Church doth testifie saith Cardinall Cajetan So Thomas Arundell archbishop of Canterbury in his Provinciall Councell helde at Oxford in the yeare 1408. established this Constitution following * From henceforth let it be taught commonly and preached by all that the Crosse and the Image of the Crucifixe and
462.463 edit Colon. An. 1589. in the Romane Sacerdotall part 1. tract 5. cap. 13. fol. 116. edit Venet. An. 1585. in the booke intituled Sacra institutio Baptizandi juxta ritum Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae ex decreto Concilij Tridentini restituta c. printed at Paris in the yeere 1575. and in a like booke intituled Ordo Baptizandi cum Modo visitandi printed at Venice the same yeere out of which the Spanish Inquisitors as well in their New as in their Old Expurgatory Index the one set out by Cardinall Quiroga in the yeere 1584. the other by the Cardinall of Sandoval and Roxas in the yeere 1612. command these interrogatories to be blotted out Dost thou beleeve to come to glory not by thine owne merits but by the vertue and merit of the passion of our Lord Iesus Christ and Dost thou beleeve that our Lord Iesus Christ did die for our salvation and that none can be saved by his owne merits or by any other meanes but by the merit of his passion Whereby we may observe how late it is since our Romanists in this maine and most substantiall point which is the very foundation of all our comfort have most shamefully departed from the faith of their fore-fathers In other copies of this same Instruction which are followed by Cassander Vlenbergius and Cardinall Hosius himselfe the last question propounded to the sicke man is this Dost thou beleeve that thou canst not be saved but by the death of Christ Whereunto when he hath made answer affirmatively he is presently directed to make use thereof in this manner Goe too therefore as long as thy soule remaineth in thee place thy whole confidence in this death only have confidence in no other thing commit thy selfe wholly to this death with this alone cover thy selfe wholly intermingle thy selfe wholly in this death fasten thy selfe wholly wrap thy whole selfe in this death And if the Lord God will judge thee say Lord I oppose the death of our Lord Iesus Christ betwixt mee and thy judgement no otherwise doe I contend with thee And if he say unto thee that thou art a sinner say Lord I put the death of the Lord Iesus Christ betwixt thee and my sinnes If he say unto thee that thou hast deserved damnation say Lord I set the death of our Lord Iesus Christ betwixt me and my bad merits and I offer his merit in stead of the merit which I ought to have but yet have not If he say that he is angrie with thee say Lord I interpose the death of our Lord Iesus Christ betwixt me and thine anger Adde hereunto the following sentences of the Doctors of these latter ages We cannot suffer or bring in any thing worthy of the reward that shall be saith Oecumenius So Petrus Blesensis Archdeacon of Bathe No trouble can be endured in this vitall death which is able equally to answer the joyes of heaven and Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury more fully before him If a man should serve God a thousand yeeres and that most fervently he should not deserve of condignitie to be halfe a day in the Kingdome of heaven Radulphus Ardens expounding those words of the Parable Matth. 20.13 Didst not thou agree with me for a peny Let no man out of these words saith he thinke that God is as it were tied by agreement to pay that which he hath promised For as God is free to promise so is he free to pay especially seeing as well merits as rewards are his grace For God doth crowne nothing else in us but his owne grace who if hee would deale strictly with us no man living should be justified in his sight Whereupon the Apostle who laboured more than all saith I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us Therefore this agreement is nothing else but Gods voluntary promise And doe not wonder saith he in another Sermon if I call the merits of the just graces for as the Apostle witnesseth we have nothing which we have not received from God and that freely But because by one grace we come unto another they are called merits but improperly For as Augustine witnesseth God crowneth only his owne grace in us So Rupertus Tuitiensis The greatnesse or the eternitie of the heavenly glorie is not a matter of merit but of grace The same doth Bernardus Morlanensis expresse in these rhythmicall verses of his Vrbs Sion inclyta patria condita littore tuto Te peto te colo te flagro te volo canto saluto Nec meritis peto nam meritis meto morte perire Nec reticens tego quòd meritis ego filius irae Vita quidem mea vita nimis rea mortua vita Quippe reatibus exitialibus obruta trita Spe tamen ambulo praemia postulo speque fideque Illa perennia postulo praemia nocte dieque But Bernard of Claraevalle aboue others delivereth this doctrine most sweetly It is necessary saith hee that first of all thou shouldest beleeve that thou canst not have remission of sinnes but by the mercie of God then that thou canst not at all have any whit of a good worke unlesse he likewise give it thee lastly that by no workes thou canst merit eternall life unlesse that also be freely given unto thee Otherwise if wee will properly name those which wee call our merits they be certaine seminaries of hope incitements of love signes of secret predestination foretokens of future happinesse the way to the kingdome not the cause of reigning Dangerous is the dwelling of them that trust in their merits dangerous because ruinous For this is the whole merit of man if hee put all his trust in him who saveth the whole man Therefore my merit is the mercy of the Lord. I am not poore in merit so long as he is not poore in mercie and if the mercies of the Lord be many my merits also are many With which that passage of the Manuall falsly fathered upon S. Augustine doth accord so justly that the one appeareth to be plainly borrowed from the other All my hope is in the death of my Lord. His death is my merit my refuge my salvation life and resurrection My merit is the mercy of the Lord. I am not poore in merit so long as that Lord of mercies shall not faile and as long as his mercies are much much am I in merits Neither are the testimonies of the Schoolemen wanting in this cause For where God is affirmed to give the kingdome of heaven for good merits or good works some made here a difference betwixt pro bonis meritis and propter bona merita The former they said did note a signe or a way or some occasion and in that sense they admitted the proposition But according to the latter expression they would not receive it because