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
that believes the torments of Purgatory can stick to do any Villany if he may be thus absolved for doing it And it is to be seared that some of your party still heighten their absolutions according to their designs which is little less then to make the power of God subservient to the malice of the Devil and to fill the hearts of men with impiety that they may commit sin and with impenitency when they have committed it 3. This and much more might have been said by way of condemning your Church but I desired only to acquit our own and to shew that if we would our selves we might all be sincere and true Penitents because our Church was not really but only seemingly defective in the practice of Pennance For though she wracked no mans conscience yet she so far instructed all that not the meanest of her Communicants who were not Hypocrites could be under the danger and much less under the guilt of Impenitency And I had reason to satisfie my self and others in this point for it is evident by Saint John Baptists first Sermon Mat. 3. 8 9. Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance and think not to say within your selves we have Abraham to our Father That it is in vain for any man to boast he hath Abraham for his Father or as we Christians use to speak He hath the Church of Christ for his Mother who is not a true Penitent Nay it is in vain for any Church to boast of her being the daughter of Abraham or the Spouse of Christ if she follow not his example who first Preached Christ calling upon all that are of her Baptism and are associated in her Communion To bring forth fruits meet for Repentance And upon this ground did Lactantius determine so positively That the true Church of Christ was to be known only by the practice of Pennance Lib. 4. de vera sap cap. 30. Sed tamen quia singuli quique caetus Haereticorum se potissimum Christianos suam esse Catholicam Ecclesiam putant sciendum est illam esse veram in quâ est Confessio Poenitentia quae peccata vulnera quibus subjecta est imbecillitas carnis salubriter curat But because the several Congregations of Hereticks think themselves the best Christians and each his own Church to be the Catholick Church we must know That is the true Catholick Church in which there is Confession and Penance to take care for the healing of those sins and wounds which the infirmities of the flesh bring upon us He saith the Catholick Church is to be known by an Healing Confession and an Healing Penance the same in effect which Saint John Baptist had said before him I knowing that those words Confession and Penance made more noise in your Church then in ours was willing to examine whether we had not the same vertue of them amongst us to heal us as was amongst you to heal you because we had not the same noise of them And I found we had For besides the greater censure of Excommunication in the power of the Bishops and the lesser censure of abstention in the power of all Parochial Priests enabling and requiring them to deny the Communion to scandalous sinners till they had testified their repentance for their sins I fòund that every one of us was put under a necessity of censuring and condemning himself which was the readiest way to bring us all to an ingenuous confession of our sins and to a serious contrition for them For being bound in our daily publick prayers to hear the Ten Commandements from the mouth of the Priest as from the mouth of God kneeling upon our knees and to say at the end of every Commandement Lord have mercy upon us We could not justly be charged for want of an Healing Confession to let pass that at the beginning of our prayers because no sin but was against some one of Gods Commandements and we asking mercy for our transgression of every one did in effect confess our transgressing it And being also bound to say Encline our hearts to keep this Law we could not justly be charged for want of an healing Penance because that wholly consisted in the contrition and conversion of the Heart That Penance most healing the soul which had most broken the heart A broken and a contrite heart O God shalt thou not despise For this Contrition as it is true Penance so it is sufficient for wiping away of all sin from the soul your own Cardinal not only asserting but also assuring this for true doctrine Bellar. li. 2. de de Poenit. cap. 15. Utrum omnia peccata per veram contritionem sive Poenitentiam deleantur Resp. Illud autem affirmamus non ut probabile sed planè ut certum apud Catholicos exploratum nullam esse peccatorum multitudinem vel gravitatem quae per veram poenitentiam non expietur nam Ezech. 18. 33. Deus saepius clamat Nolo mortem Peccatoris sine ullâ exceptione veniam pollicetur omnium iniquitatum si impium serio paenituerit vitae praeteritae cum emendationis proposito Whether all sins are blotted out by true Contrition or Penance I answer we affirm this not only as probable but also as certain and unquestionable amongst Catholicks That there is no multitude or magnitud of sins which is not expiated by true Penance For God himself Ezech. 18. 33. often saies nay swears I will not the â—…eath of a sinner and promises forgiveness without exception of áll iniquities whatsoever if the wicked earnestly repent of his sinful life past and truly purpose amendment for the time to come Here you see he takes true Contrition and Penance for one and the same and saies That is true Contrition when the wicked earnestly repents of what is past and really purposeth amendment for what is to come We have this earnest Repentance professed and practised in our Church for we say Lord have mercy upon us and encline our hearts to keep this Law And we have also this real purpose of amendment for after our repenting we say And write all these thy Laws in our hearts we beseech thee So that having this true Contrition it cannot be denyed but we have also true Penance amongst us that is such a Penance as doth expiate our sins though never so many and great heal our wounds and save our soul If such an Healing Penance as this may not be had without an Healing Confession it is plain we have also an Healing Confession amongst us because we have this Healing Penance If it may t is as plain we need no other Confession then that we have I desire not to implead your Church concerning the exercise of Penance for I see our own wishes it might be restored But I crave leave to say That our Church which requireth us to lay open our consciences daily before the searcher of hearts doth not permit us to conceal any one
that Redemption by Christ might upon any pretence be called imputative that is imaginary for so he is pleased to make the word signifie which is the whole scope of Gods most holy word and the only support and comfort of mens sinful souls By the first assertion he did overmuch exalt our own righteousnesse and took the ready course to bring us to presumption But by the second he did much more depresse the righteousnesse of Christ and so took the readie course to bring us to despair for if our redemption be imaginary our Salvation must be desperate And betwixt these two rocks of presumption and despair it is hard for any man to sail so warily as not to make shipwrack of his soul it being equally dangerous for him to rely upon his own and not to rely upon his Saviours righteousnesse Without doubt holy David though he had served God with all his might yet prayed to his dying day Enter not into Judgement with thy servant and hath accordingly bequeathed this Prayer as a legacy to all Gods servants ever since not excepting the most diligent and the most dutifull thus to pray for their Justification and then to pray most earnestly for it when they are drawing neerest Judgement That the Justification which they have now in title or sense of the Law they may also then have in the sentence of the Judge for that the one is not compleated without the other and upon what ground can any man pray to God not to enter into Judgement with him who knoweth himself still under the Accusation and Condemnation of the Law for the Judge must proceed according to the Law and how can he be exempted from the accusation and condemnation of the Law who hath broken it himself but by the satisfaction of his surety according to that of the Apostle Who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died Rom. 8. 34. No other satifaction but the death of Christ could consist with the Justice of God for that was indispenâ—…able and required it no other could consist with the Truth of God for that was infallible and had promised it no other could consist with the Office of Christ who took upon him the nature of man that he might expiate the sins of men no other could consist with our salvation who could not be saved unless our sins had been expâ—…ated This was a â—…urthen not to be taken from off our shoulders a yoke not to be taken from off our necks but only by the hand of the Messias in the Judgement of the Jews themselves for so the Chaldee Paraphrase interprets those words Isa. 10 27. The yoke shall be destroyed because of the Anoixting A facie Messiae vel propter Messiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The yoke shall be destroyed because of the Messias or by the power of Christ Our own hands which brought it cannot remove it our own hands which made it cannot destroy it we may struggle till we break our necks nay yet more our hearts but we cannot break our yoke The Spiritual Assyrian that so easily brought us down can more easily keep us under none can break his Army but He that hath bruised his Head none can rescue us from his captivity but he that hath led captivity captive even the Captain of our salvation This is the Justification God promiseth to Israel and I hope you will not say he fails in promise by giving another or rather by giving none for what is merited or purchased by us is not given us saying O â—…srael trust in the Lord for with the Lord there is mercy and with him is 〈◊〉 redemption And he shall redeem Israel from all his sins Psal. 130. 7 8. Say not you he shall redeem Israel from some sins when God saith from All Say not you From sins before regeneration by the first but not from sins after it by the second Justification For as to such sins the plenteous redemption is not with the Lord but with Israel and so you will quite contradict the Text. 1. In its exhortation O Israel trust in the Lord For Israel may trust in the Lord to be redeemed from his sins only till his regeneration but in himself after it 2. In its assertion For with the Lord there is mercy and with him is plenteous redemption whereas t is rather to be said according to this supposition For with your selves there is merit and with him is plenteous renumeration or with your selves is plenteous redemption to redeem you from your greatest sins those committed against the greater light and with the greater unthankfulness for such are the sins after Regeneration But with the Lord is onely a â—…cantie redempâ—…ion to redeem you from sins before your Regeneration when you neither had light to know them nor power to resist them By which means you do in effect bid Israel Trust in himself all his life long and in God only some sew daies or perchance hours sc. no longer then till he is Baptzed or cleansed by the laver of Regeneration since very few sober Christians and no one National Church doth now defer the Baptism of Infants longer then their very first Infancy and most Divines do think That Infants are regenerated when they are baptized 3. You will contradict the text in its promise And he shall redeem Israel from all his sins for you in effect say That Israel shall redeem himself from the greatest part of his own sins Therefore pray let this Redemption continue till the last minute of your lives till it be perfected by Glorification that it may redeem Israel from All his sins And since it is a Redemption from all sin pray let it be called Justification unless you can teach us what else it is that redeemeth us from the guilt of sin I will conclude this point with that prayer wherewith our blessed Saviour concludes his life and hath taught us to conclude Ours Into thy hands Lord I commend my Spirit This is certainly the best the last good work you can do To commend your soul to God Will you do this in your own righteousnesse then say not For thou hast redeemed me but For I have served thee O God thou God of Truth Will you do this in your Saviours righteousnesse then be ashamed of that doctrine which doth undervalue this Redemption But do what you will and say what you can These three Truths are irresistible and should be undeniable 1. He only can absolve guiltinesse whose Justice makes us Guilty 2. He only can pronounce us Just whose will is the rule of Justice 3. He only can acquit in Judgement who only is the supreme Judge And therefore since to be absolved from guiltiness to be pronounced Just and to be acquitted in the Jugement are all three comprised in this one word Justificari To be justified we may not rely upon our selves but upon our God not upon our own works and righteousnesse but upon our Saviours merits and mercies for
judged of him Bellarmine saith It is not intelligible how a man should be judged for an idle word and therefore it must be taken for such a picro such a little sin as cannot come into Judgement An excellent Doctor sure to correct his master as if he had wanted Truth and to corrupt his Scholars as if they did not want Repentance 14. For this Text if rightly urged will rather ptove no sin venial in its own nature but only by Gods mercy For if not an idle word is venial then much less a greater sin but not an idle word is venial for that shall be accounted for at the last day if not repented of before at least virtually in the contrition if not actually in the confession Thus he first makes bold with Gods Justice proving some sins to be venial that he may find or make matter for Purgatory and afterwards he teacheth others to make as bold with Gods Mercy that he may the better follow his proof for he telleth us that a man may die a true penitent for no other hath hopes of Purgatory and yet die with a resolution of abiding in sin Potest quis dùm moritur habere voluntatem per gendi in peccato veniali igitur tale peccatum deleri in morte non potest A man when he dies may have the purpose of continuing in a venial sin therefore such a sin is not to be abolished by death He means a man in the state of grace for no other is capable of the benefit of his purging flames So he cares not to pull down repentance that he may set up Purgatory whereas sure it more suits with conscientious and sound Divinity to pull down venial sins to set up repentance For it is not possible that man should die in the state of true repentance who dyeth with a purpose of retaining any sin in his soul that displeaseth God for by that very purpose he prefers his own will and pleasure above Gods and therefore loves not God with all his heart and consequently is not a true believer because not a true lover and not a true penitent because not a true believer Surely this cannot be a doctrine of Piety which teacheth Impenitency since no man now hath hopes of being righteous by his innocency but only by his repentance Nor had Saint Augustine such a light esteem of venial sins if we may believe Gratian Par. 1. dist 25. cap. 3. For this was his doctrine Nullum peccatum est adeò veniale quod non fiat criminale dum placet No sin is so venial but it may be made mortal if it please the sinner and this it must do if he hath a will and purpose to continue in it And Consequently if he die having such a will and purpose his venial sin is become mortal and by that means is made fewel for Hell not for Purgatory And so venial sin is also in danger of falling which is the other supporter of this your new building Isto enim fundamento posito quod tollitur satisfactio descrimen peccati mortalis à veniali necessario sequitur nullum esse Purgatorium Bell. lib. 1. c. 2. This foundation being laid that there is not satisfaction for sin sc. of our own and that there is no venial sin sc. in it self it must follow there can be no Purgatory And this foundation may very safely be laid by us because it is without if not against the Text that you have laid the other foundation 15. I know your Cardinal alledgeth many more places of the Bible besides those three formerly mentioned to prove this new Article of Faith But there is so much straining of the Scripture in his allegations I will not say wresting because I hope it was not to his destruction that he comes under that condemnation of the wise man There is an exquisite subtiltâ—… and the same is unjust Eccles. 19. 25. Men may by their wit and exquisite subtilty make Gods Word seem to say any thing but it is unjust for them so to do and they must be unrighteous in so doing and had need be very penitent for that unrighteousness For if we shall give an accounâ—… for every idle word of our own much more for endeavouring to make Gods Word partake of our idleness And indeed Gods Word being to be interpreted according to the analogie of Faith Rom. 12. 6. it is fitter for Infidels then for Christians to seek after such interpretations thereof as are not agreeable with that analogie But herein your writers are partly excusable for being over-ruled by the determination of your Church to set up a new Article of Faith which is not reducible to any of those in the Apostles Creed they have been after a sort constrained to interpret the Scriptures according to that new Article lately made by your Church and not according to the Analogie of that Faith which was at first left by the Apostles For sure it will pose an ordinary understanding to shew how your Purgatory is consistent with the Communion of Saints and with the forgiveness of sins which are both in that Creed since they cannot be of the Communion of Saints who are in a separation from God and perchance under the power of the Devil nor have they obtained remission of sins who are still under torments for them Nor can I see how this doctrine doth agree with that which is the very marrow and substance of the whole Gospel to wit That we are reconciled to God by the death of his Son Rom. 5. 10. and That God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses unto them 2 Cor. 5. 19. For if there be a punishment reserved the trespass is imputed But 〈◊〉 there be an actual reconciliation aâ—… doubtless there is for true Penitents anâ—… true Believers then surely no punishment is reserved and no future satisfaction is necessary and so we may fully believe the remission of sins according to ouâ—… Creed And no present separation is possible and so we may as fully believe thâ—… Communion of Saints The woman thaâ—… came behinde our blessed Saviour anâ—… touched but the border of his garment was healed immediately Luke 8. 43. Dâ—… not you say A soul shall come not behiâ—… but before him look him in the face naâ—… go into his bosom to dwell in him and he again dwell in that soul and yet it shaâ—… not be healed unless you will recall thâ—… of the Psalmist Bless the Lord O my soul who forgiveth all thine iniquities who heaâ—…eth all thy diseases Psalm 103. 3. For whâ—… is the disease of the soul but sin or hoâ—… is that healed but by forgiveness Hoâ—… is sin forgiven if it must be satisfied oâ—… how is the soul healed if it must be tormented for sure not healing but wounding cometh from torment He that took upon him our flesh that he might save us did thereby shew He more willed our salvation then our flesh and how
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
of my heart prove me and examine my thoughts look well if there be any way of wickedness in me and lead me this day and ever in the way ever lasting Ps. 139. 'T is an excellent observation of Abulenâ—…is Dicitur quod loquutus est Deus ne tantum beneficium vel tantus actus quantus est dare legem attribueretur Angelo ne crederent se Judaei obligatos Angelis Tost in Exod. 20. q. 1. It is said God spake all these words at the giving of the Law least if such a great blessing had been attributed to an Angel The Jews might think themselves obliged to the Angels The Jews might not think themselves obliged to the Angels for giving the Law and may Christians pray to them for assistance in keeping it If so how will you answer your own Baronius An. 60. n. 19. Quòd praecipuos Episcopos appellet Angelos planè significat instar hominum Angelos hominibus ministrare nec tantae esse excellentiae ut quae divina sunt iisdem tribuantur The Spirit of God in giving the Title of Angels to the chiefest Bishops doth plainly shew that as men so Angels do minister unto men and are not of so great excellency as that we should ascribe to them those things which belong to God All the world cannot say more against your daily prayer to your Guardian Angel He ministers to you no otherwise then your Bishop enlightning you Instrumentally by propounding directing applying heavenly thoughts to your understanding not efficiently by infusing or increasing them And by this reason you may no more invocate him for Illumination then you may your Bishop for he is not of so great excellency that you should ascribe to him those things which belong to God Till you can say of him that he hath opened the eyes of your body to receive the Light of nature how can you say to him Open the eyes of my Soul to rereive the light of Grace Till you can say of him he hath enlightned the darkness of the night how can you say to him Enlighten the darkness of mine understanding The Centurion had many servants under him and they all did come and go as he bade them to do any Acts of favourable assistance to the Jews should therefore the servants have the thanks and honour that was due unto their master I find that when Lazarus died he was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome yet I do not find that Lazarus said to his Guardian Angel who doubtless was one of them that carried him Into thy hands do I commend my spirit nor do I see how you can say so to yours unless you can also say unto him For thou hast redeemed me O Lord thou God of truth and if you cannot commend your Soul to your Guardian Angel when you die how can you commend your Soul to him whiles you live You may say with St. Stephen Lord Jesus receive my Spirit when it is to be carried to him by the Angels for they minister to this Lord But you cannot say Lord Jesus receive my Prayers when they are given or offered to his Angels for they are not fellow-sharers in his Lordship And this instance alone is enough to answer all your objections which you have gathered out of my ejaculations but if not you may take another The Psalmist saith The Angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him and delivereth them yet he saith not O Taste and see how gracious the Angel of the Lord is But O Tast and see how gracious the Lord is blessed is the man that trusteth in him Ps. 34. 7 8. My Guardian Angel is a ministring Spirit for my comfort but my God alone is an al-sufficient Spirit for my content None but he can give the Spiritual gust taste of a blessed immortality to my Soul who hath made it immortal and since my prayers are the chiefest means to procure this spiritual gust or Taste to my Soul how shall I pray to them who cannot give it I desire my Religion may be to me the beginning of my Salvation for so is Grace the inchoation of Glory and therefore cannot delight in such prayers as will not give my Soul the Antipast of eternity that is in such prayers as do not bid me say unto my self O Taste and see how gracious the Lord is because they do not ascend up so high as the Lord For prayer being a spiritual colloquy with him to whom we pray why should I pray to an Angel which probably may not be present to partake of this colloquy and indeed cannot partake of it if it be meerly spiritual that is only in the heart or if he could why should my heart leave conversing with God to converse with his Servant Is not this to undervalue that happiness which I can not deserve should not desert nay is it not to undervalue prayer to make it the depression of the Soul to the Creature which God hath appointed for the elevation of the Soul unto himself What though one Angel destroyed 185000. Assyrans may we therefore say unto him Remember not our iniquities nor the iniquities of our forefathers neither take thou vengeance of our sins And if we may not pray to Angels for the averting of Judgements then sure not for the obtaining of mercies since God useth them as his instruments for the one as well as for the other If we may as you infer humbly pray them to do those good offices for us which God hath appointed them we may also humbly pray God to give us leave to sin against Him in our Prayers for to break his Commandement is to sin against Him and he hath expresly commanded saying Call upon me in the day of trouble Psal. 50. 15. In that he hath said Call upon me he hath also in effect said Call not upon any of my Angels for that is not to call upon me Therefore dare I not pray to Angels for fear of bringing Judas his curse upon my prayers of whom it was said Let his prayer be turned into sin Ps. 109. v. 7. For if my prayer be turned into sin how will my sin be turned into Repentance or my repentance be turned into mercy and forgiveness If my prayer end in sin how will my sin not end in damnation your own Clement the 8. that corrected your Latine Translation which was of much longer standing in your Church then any of your corrupt devotions will rise up against you in Judgement if you will needs continue still in these corruptions For if he reformed your Bibles why should not you reform your Breviaries CHAP. VI. Of Justification 1. THe way of Truth in the Doctrine of Justification by Faith made dangerous by mens debates slippery by mens devices yet the truth it self never to be subverted or suppressed 2. The danger of not walking circumspectly in this way by taking either faction or phansie for faith 3. Gods Seers or Ministers above all are to
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
from one another in the man that is justified for true Faith alwaies worketh obedience and God will not cannot justifie the disobedient yet we must separate them from one another in the doctrine of Justification For 't is only the Imputative righteousness which we have from our Saviour not the Inherent righteousness which we have in our selves which can acquit us at God's Judgement seat or absolve us as righteous and consequently which may be accounted the formal cause of our Justification Lastly the final cause of our Justification is set down first explicitly that it is the declaration of Gods Righteousness vers 25 26. To declare his righteousness not onely that this way of justifying a sinner is according to Gods Promise both in words and Types in all the Old Testament but also that this promise was according to the rule of righteousness because it acquitteth not a sinner without a due satisfaction for his sin nor without a true and serious aversion from himself and conversion to his Saviour Secondly the final cause of our justification is set down implicitly That it is our glorying or boasting in God alone For whereas v. 27. he excludeth all other boasting t is necessary he must include this as himself saith more largely 1 Cor. 1. 30 31. Christ Jesus is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption There is our Justification set forth in it self in its antecedents and in its consequents In it self for Châ—…st Jesus is our righteousness to deliver us from the guilt of sin by acquitting and discharging us In its antecedents for he is our wisdom to free us from the blindness and darkness of sin by enlighting and instructing us In its consequents for he is our Sanctification in this life to free us from the pollution of sin by renewing and cleansing us and our Redemption in the life everlasting to free us from the miseries of sin by receiving and by glorifying us That according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord There is the final cause of our Justification Christ Jesus doth therefore instruct us by his most holy Word justifie us by his allsufficient merit sanctifie us by his most holy Spirit glorifie us by his all saving Mercy that we may not glory in our selves but onely in our Saviour from whom we have both the Knowledg and the Purchase and the Procurement and the Enjoyment of our salvation The Apostle having thus severally proved first his negative conclusion which is against justification by works and after that his affirmative conclusion which is for justification by Faith he at length joyns them both together in one Dogmatical determination Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith wâ—…thout the deeds of the Law v. 28. And this conclusion he again repeateth Gal. 2. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ which he immediately confirms with no less then Ten several arguments in the next Chapter all alledged to confute their foolishness in falling from Christ to the Law from Faith to works in the doctrine of Justification And being alledged by the Apostle to confute their foolishness they will either the more easily prevent or the more acceptably reform and redress Ours The first Argument is this You have received the gift of the Holy Spirit not by the works of the Law but by the hearing of Faith v. 2. but the gift of the Holy Spirit is the best pledge of your Justification or Reconciliation with God for he giveth not his Spirit to his enemies Therefore you are justified not by the Law but by the Gospel or by the Hearing of Faith The second Argument is this The same way that Abraham was justified who is the â—…ather of the faithful and to whom the Promise was made The same way must you be justified But He was justified onely by Faith v. 6 7 8 9. The Third this As many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse ver 10. but none that are under the curse are justified The fourth this The just shall live by Faith but the Law is not of Faith ver 11. 12. that is The just obtaineth life and salvation by the free grace of God apprehended by Faith in Christ but the Law alloweth no such free grace for that promiseth life only upon the now impossible condition of perfect obedience The man that doth them shall live in them The fifth this Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us ver 13. Therefore the Law could not justifie us for it did curse us and if it could in vaine was Christ made a curse for us in vaine did he do and suffer so much for our Redemption The sixth this To whom the Promises were made to him they were performed but the Promises of spiritual blessings and consequently of justification were made to Abrahams seed not seeds that is to Christ and his members not to them that should be under the Law but only to them that should be in Christ. The seventh is this The Promise of spiritual blessednesse was made to Abraham long before the giving of the Law therefore neither to be accomplished from the observation nor to be abolished by the obligation of the Law ver 17. which is further argued ver 18. If the inheritance be of the Law 't is no more of Promise but God gave it to Abraham by Promise therefore 't is not of the Law The eighth this That which was a sign of enmitie cannot be a means of reconciliation but the Law was a sign of enmitie betwixt God and man as appears in that it was ordained by Angels not immediately by God himself who being offended had withdrawn his presence which shews that men were at a distance from and at enmitie with God ver 19 20. Therefore the Law cannot be the means of our accesse to or of our reconciliation with God The ninth is this The Law cannot give life to any man by exempting him from the punishment of sin nor give righteousnesse by exempting him from the guilt of sin ver 21. 22. Therefore both righteousnesse and life are given only by Faith in Christ. The tenth and last argument is this The office of the Law was to be our School-master to bring us unto Christ to shew us the imperfection of our own and to make us desire the imputation of his righteousnesse that we might be justified by Faith ver 24. but the Law cannot go beyond its own office therefore no man can be justified either in whole or in part by the works of the Law 8. Thus have I mustred up S. Pauls Artillery to batter down our own but to keep up our Saviours righteousness in the doctrine of Justification which being a doctrine that came down from Heaven is best maintained by arguments from Heaven For as humane reason could not
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
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