have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin He that hath made the best use thereof is most concerned in it and comprehended under it therefore he cannot say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sins but he must lye to the Holy Ghost and be so far from cleansing his heart as immediatly to let in many unclean spirits the more to defile it For those two which God hath joyned together all the wit and power of man cannot put asunder even Satans filling the heart and lying to the Holy Ghost why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost Acts 5. 3. And if Satan filleth the heart of those who make this lye then sure he also filleth the mouth of those who tell it And therefore the Church of God which is the pillar and ground of the Truth very much abhorreth this lye making this confession of her natural corruptions But we are all as an unclean thing Facti sumus ut Immundus omnes nos so the Hebrew and Chaldee in the singular number we are all but as one unclean man to shew the Uncleanness was from nature which was as equally derived to All as if all had been but one and making this confession of her personal corruptions which proceeded from the natural and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Isa. 64. 6. Wherefore since Protestants and Papists both agree together in the former part of this confession as a Principle of Divinity 't is irrational in the Papists to disagree from Protestants in the latter part of it which is but a conclusion proceeding from this Principle For the natural corruption is the cause of the personal and therefore all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags because we are all as an unclean thing This being the full argumentation All who are unclean have an unclean righteousnesse but we all are unclean therefore we all have an unclean righteousnesse Quia opus justitiae immundatur inquinamento as saith Aquinas because our righteousnesse is defiled by our unrighteousnesse and by this we may fully understand that other text If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1. 8. For we are clearly guilty of a double lye one against our own souls we deceive our selves another against the Holy Ghost the Spirit of truth and the truth is not in us Both are such pernicious lyes as to bring upon us inevitable destruction for he that willingly deceives his own soul cares not for knowing the truth he that strives to deceive the Holy Ghost cannot come to know it For as he hath not the truth in him in that he deceiveth himself so he keepeth the Spirit of truth away from him that he may deceive himself for ever Nor can we possibly use any evasion upon this text as if some men might say they have no sin though others cannot for he must think himselfe better than the best of Saints the Disciple whom Jesus loved and questionlesse he had a very good reason of his love who will needs say he hath no sin though by saying so he is sure to prove himself worse than the worst of sinners for he maketh him a lyar who hath promised forgiveness of sins and he maketh his Word a lye which hath shewed our need or want of that forgiveness for in many things we offend all Jam. 3. 2. and he putteth himself out of their communion who alone obtain forgiveness even the communion of true penitents of whom it is said If we confesse our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 1 Joh. 1. 9. he that denyes himself to be one of this number denyes himself to be one of the communion of Saints unless St. John and St. James were no Saints and consequently makes himself uncapable of the forgiveness of sins Thus doth the second Milevitane Council gloss the words of St. John that they were not spoken out of humility but out of necessity and that the greatest the necessity of Truth Satis apparet hoc non tantum humiliter sed etiam veraciter dici Poterat enim Apostolus dicere Si dixerimus quia non habemus peccatum nos ipsos extollimus humilitas in nobis non est sed quùm ait nos ipsos decipimus veritas in nobis non est satis ostendit eum qui se dixerit non habere peccatum non verum loqui sed falsum It is evident that this was spoken not only out of modesty but also out of truth for the Apostle might have said If we say that we have no sin we extol our selves and there is no humility in us But when he saith we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us he sufficiently sheweth that whosoever saith there is no sin in him doth not speak truly but falsly And thus also doth the same Council gloss the words of St. James saying The Apostle was holy and just when he said in many things we offend All for why did he add this particle All but to shew that he agreed with the Psalmist who had said Enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal. 142. 2. and with Solomon who had said There is no man that sinneth not 1 King 8. 46. And with Daniel who had said We have sinned and have committed iniquity Dan. 9. 5. and afterwards added ver 20. whiles I was confessing my sins and the sins of my people he would not say Our sins but My sins and the sins of my people because he did foresee by the Spirit of Prophecy that some in after ages would be ready to put him and such as he nay indeed much worse transgressours out of the catalogue or number of sinners Quia futuros istos qui tam malè intelligerent tanquam Propheta praevidit And at last upon these and the like proofes the same Council denounceth a terrible curse against those who should dare affirme that forgive us our trespasses was said by the Saints rather humbly than truly quis enim ferat orantem non hominibus sed ipsi Domino mentientem qui labiis sibi dicit dimitti velle corde dicit quae sibi dimittantur se debita non habere For say those Fathers who can endure that a man in his prayers should tell a lye not to man but to God saying with his mouth Forgive us our trespasses and saying in his heart he had no trespasses to be forgiven him Thus we have the authority of the Scripture and the authority of the Church both agreeing together in this doctrine That all men are sinners And though this was but a particular National Council in it self yet was it Universal and Oecumenical in its authority as consisting of Catholick Bishops amongst the rest Alipius and St. Augustine as appeares by the Synodical Epistle to Innocent the first and having been approved by the Catholick
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
Doctrines of corruption in themselves of contestation in their Champions who contest more about these weeds for they are not so good as Mint or Comin that they might be called Herbs then about the best and choicest Flowers of Paradise As the zeal of Truth hath enlarged my answer to these Exceptions so the Power of Truth I hope will defend it How ever I have certainly done my best concerning these particular controversies between our Church and that of Rome to let the world know That those men are swayed by little Truth and less Conscience who seek to turn the unworthy suppression of the true to the more unworthy advancement of the false Religion And I have been the more Zealous and the more copious for their sakes who may be tottering to the Popish Religion because they have lately been discountenanced and discouraged if not persecuted and opposed in their own And in all these my poor endeavours I have had an eye to my last account That setting aside my infirmities and imperfections I might be able to say with the man which had the Inkhorn by his side Ezech. 9. 11. I have done as thou hast commanded me For I have not wittingly nor willingly deviated either from Gods Word or from Gods Church But have as near as I could followed in my doctrine that rule of the Holy Spirit Prov. 9. 10. Principium sapientiae timor Domini scientia sanctorum Prudentia The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom And the knowledge of the Saints is understanding which I look on as a short but a full summe of all the instructions that belong to a Christian Divine requiring him to Teach nothing else but true Religion towards God and true Communion with his Saints or with his Church And what I have laboured to follow in my doctrine I cannot but follow in my Devotion Beseeching Almighty God to keep me and all good Christians especially his Ministers in the Religion of his Word and in the Communion of his Church And with this prayer I conclude my self Your Brother and Servant in our common Saviour E. H. Errata PAge 5. line 20. r. viventes p. 10. l. 25. r. Her p. 14. l. 6. r. seasons p. 23. l. 20. r. Exemplo p. 25. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 26. l. 2. r. distinction p. 28. l. penult r. 858. p. 52. l. 1. r. Asserit p. 52. l. 25. r. Punishments p. 60. l. 25. r. Philetus p. 62. l. 14. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 66. l. 25. r. censu p. 72. l 8. r. man p. 73. l. antepenult r. Animam p 85. l. 18. r. Assert Purgatory p. 96. l. 6. r. benefit p. 100. l. 20 21. r. what we have not heard p. 102. l. 24. r. To prove either p. 104. l. ult r. inference p. 111. l. 14. r. Contradictions p. 116. l. 14. r. Bachon p. 117. l. 10. r. usually do p. 132. in 4. Exc. l. 6. r. Possibly p. 142. l. 18. r. Souls p. 149. l. ult add perfect p. 178. l. 2â—… r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 183. l. 26. r. But I answer p. 202. l. 5. r. Commoretur p. 218. l. 2. r. Anablatha p. 219 l. 1. r. Knot p. 223 l. 17. r. Tharasius p. 234. l. 17. r. greatest p. 239. l. 19. r. Three p. 242. l. 26 r. Fable p. 250 l. 3. r. Offices p. 234. l. 19. r. praise p. 265. l. 26. r. Subjects p 280. l 24. r. severe p. 283. l. 16. r. himself p. 289. l. 5. 6. dele to him p. 289. l. 18. r. commanded p. 300. l. ult r. that p. 311. l. 3. r. then p. 316. l. 19. r. Being p. 319. l. 25. r. may p. 328. l. ult r. commanded p. 331. l. 23. r. done p. 338. l. antepenult r. Baronii p. 340. l. 10. r. true p. 344. l. 24. 25. r. self p. 351. l. 14. r. At. p. 360. l. antep after shall be justified add concerns rather our condemnation then justification p. 369. l. 6. r. man p. 372. l. 6 r. this p. 372. l. ult r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 373. l. 13. r. greater p. 375. l. 23. r. that p. 386. l. 20. r. sc. by p. 399. l. 3. dele or else p. 404. l. 2. r. or a faith worâ—…ing p. 413. l. 12. r. infinitely p 414. l. 19. r. man p. 421. l. antepen r. men p 437. l. 16. r. Abrahae p. 445. l. 17. r. men p. 454. l. 8. r. or p 467. l. 18. r. Arme. p. 470. l. 11. r. absolve from p. 471. l. 1 r. work p 522. l. antepen r. mistrust p. 525. l ult r. commands CAP. I. Of Sinners Prayers SInning and Praying are not consistent together God heareth not Sinners rejected by Saint Augustine as no true Proposition yet admitted by Aquinas The one taking Sinners for those under the Infection the other for those under the Dominion of sin But it is known to be true by the Principles of Reason much more of Religion and is more fully explained in the Old then in the New Testament 2. God heareth not sinners as sinners but as Penitents is rather an Exception then an Exposition of this Generall Rule for sinners as sinners do not Pray and God heareth the Sin not the Prayer when he heareth in Anger 3. God heareth not the Prayers of naturall men as such for so they are sinners and though they may have good Desires yet not good Prayers 4. That Christians only can Pray and that their prayers are heard only through Christs intercession are Two Doctrines taught by Christ and by his Catholick Church The first Exception PArt 1. chap. 2. sect 1. p. 35. You alledge the saying of the born blind man God heareth not sinners John 9. 31. To which you say Saint Augustine makes rather an Exception then an Exposition He indeed takes exception to the man for the reason you there alledge yet me thinks he gives a full satisfactory exposition of his words I have not his works but I find in Maldonat upon this place these words cited out of his Tract 44. Si Deus peccatores â—…on audiret frustraille Publicanus oculos in terram dimittens pectus suum percutiens diceret Deus propitius esto mihi peccatori I find also in Valentia commenting upon that 16. Article of S. Tho. Aquinas which you approve of Tom. 3. disp 6. qu. 6. punct 6. these words cited out of his Tract 73. Metuendum est ne multa Deus quae possâ—…t non dare propitius detiratus Out of these very words of Saint Augustine Saint Thomas in that Art 16. resolves this question Utrum pâ—…ccatores orando impetrant aliquid à Deo In two concâ—…usions I have only his Compendium by Ludovicus Carbo Concl. 1. Orationem peccatoris ex bono naturae desiderio procedentem Deus audit ex misericordia Ita Aug. docet Publicanus alias frustra orasset Concl. 2. Quando Peccator orando petit aliquid ut peccator
the whole But take heed whiles you say so that they who are against you and deny Purgatory tax you not of blasphemy for saying that which is not in being is a part of Christs Kingdom for to make Christ a King in Utopia in a place which is not is to make him no King And that they who are with you and affect purgatory tax you not of infidelity for believing that Christ hath taken possession of his whole Kingdom upon no better grounds then upon a meer uncertainty 6. For even your own Bellarmine though in his first Book de Purgatorio he writ so confidently as if all men were bound to believe Purgatory that will be saved yet in his second Book de circumstantiis Purgatorii He writes so ambiguously as to enfeeble any unprejudicate mans belief I will give you some few instances and then leave you to judge what small reason he had for his so great confidence Cap. 6. de loco Purgatorii He saith The Church hath not defined in what place Purgatory is for that the purgation of souls may be in many places and some are purged where they sinned but after several other opinions he seems to like that best which placeth Purgatory in the bowels of the earth because of several eruptions of fire out of the earth in several parts of the world Be it so if we must needs have a Purgatory that they may have the greatest share in it and terrour from it who were once the first inventers and now are the chiefest maintainers of it even the Italian Monks and Fryers for the most notorious eruptions of fire in these parts of the world are either in Italy as at Mount Vesuvius or not far from it as at Mount Aetna in Sicily Cap. 9. De tempore quo durat Purgatorium Of the time that Purgatory lasteth which is as uncertain as the place Quando ab hoc loco in coelum avolant res est incertissima How long the souls must stay in Purgatory before they can get to heaven is a matter of the greatest uncertainty Cap. 10. 11. Qualis sit purgatorii poena The quality of the Torment in Purgatory is as uncertain as either the time or place De poenâ Purgatorii quaedam sunt certa quaedam dubia As concerning the punishment of Purgatory some things are certain some are doubtfull Certa sunt Carentia visionis poena sensus poena ignis T is certain saith he the souls in Purgatory are under the punishment of loss for want of the beatifical vision and are under the punishment of sense by torment of fire Do they want the beatificall vision say then God hath thus sentenced them at their particular Judgement Depart from me ye cursed and let them hereafter be accounted not blessed but cursed souls not in a Communion with God but in a separation from him yet in saying so remember you bid your best Champion recall even the very subject of this whole Controversie which indeed is the best if not the only way to end it De Ecclesiâ quae est in Purgatorio of the Church which is in Purgatory for that cannot be a part of Gods Church which is in a separation from God And sure I am your Cardinal is beholding to the latter part of this same sentence to prove that souls in Purgatory are under the punishment of sense by fire for he proveth it by these words Ite in ignem aeternum Go into everlasting fire Mat. 25. And why not also prove their punishment of loss in the want of the beatifical vision from the first part of the same sentence Depart from me ye cursed For the same sentence denounceth the judgement of loss and of sense of loss in Depart from me ye cursed and of sense in Go into everlasting fire And we may fancy the one to be Temporarie as well as the other and to belong to righteous souls as much as the other but surely the Text saith both are eternal and belong only to the cursed And indeed t is a strange proof which brings Hell to prove Purgatory yet this is the best he can find in all the Scripture For here he proves that material fire can punish immaterial souls because it was provided to punish the Devil and his Angels which are immaterial spirits But still the proof concerneth only Hell fire so that in plain truth He alledgeth hell to prove Purgatory All the doubt is how he can make it so This proof is yet further enlarged in the next Chapter where he answers some chief doubts concerning Purgatory as whether it be a true real fire and how it can act upon separated souls and both are answered from these words Go ye cursed into everlasting fire Ignem Purgatorii esse corporeum quia in Scripturis passim poena impiorum vocatur Ignis Et regula Theologorum est ut verba Scripturarum accipiantur propriè quando nihil absurdi sequitur The fire of Purgatory is corporeal for commonly in the Scripture the punishment of the wicked is called fire what is the punishment of the wicked to the righteous or must men turn wicked that they may go to Purgatory and it is a rule of Divines That the words of Scripture are to be taken properly if there follow no absurdity and a little after Corpora damnatorum puniuntur igne Mat. 25. Ite in ignem aeternum est autem idem ignis corporum damnatorum spirituum corpore vacantium nam ibidem dicitur qui paratus est diabolo Angelis ejus The bodies of the damned are punished with fire Go into everlasting fire Mat. 25. but it is the same fire which punisheth their bodies and other souls or spirits without bodies as it is said Which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels Pray Sir why should any Christian be taught to desire to go to that fire which was prepared for the Devil and his Angels and if he do once go thither how shall he ever return from thence And yet your Cardinal would have us believe Purgatory that we may have the happiness to go thither and saith if we do not we shall burn for ever in Hell-fire A new Apostle sure he speaks not only so resolutely but likewise so authentically yet not dropt down as the rest from Mount Sion bùt from Mount Sina as we may guess by his Thunder and Lightning Seriously it is a sad thought for all good Christians that any Divine should after Nadab and Abihu dare offer strange fire for God is not well pleased with such an offering But it is a joyful thought for us poor Protestants that this fire of Purgatory is not only a strange but also a false fire for so we are sure it cannot burn us Else it seems after it hath been your Purgatory it should be our Hell However it is palpable That your Cardinals talk only is of Purgatory but his proof is of Hell Thus himself hath brought his certainties concerning
in doing or in suffering because there is no proportion betwixt an infinite Justice and a finite satisfaction This considered may I not be as gross an Ebionite or Cherinthian by saying there is a necessity of penal satisfaction as if I say there is a necessity of legal observations for the expiation of sin do not both alike diminish and disparage the efficacy of Christs death Or may I think that the Church of Christ by using the power of the Keyes in retaining sins intends to retain where Christ remits to wiâ—… in the true Penitent to the undervaluing of Christs merit in purchasing remission of sins and Gods free grace and mercy in granting it and Gods holy Spirit in testifying it Therefore I must let the satisfaction enjoyned by the Church die with the Penitent and not be required of him after death unless I will suppose the Church both able and willing to bind where Christ hath loosed For if Christ loose not the sinner here I do not find upon what grounds to believe That he will loose him hereafter So that we see if satisfaction is to be made by the sinner All must go to Purgatory and for ought we can prove tarry there eternally And so Purgatory will in truth be Hell If satisfaction hath been made by Christ then none at all can justly go thither And so Purgatory will in truth be Nothing certain it is no other satisfaction was given for all the offences of the good Thief though he were not a Penitent till the hour of his death and with what colour of Truth can any Divine teach that God will not take this satisfaction and this alone for all other Penitents And yet this in Bellarmines acount is one of the two supporters of Purgatory the other is Venial sins which may also be shaken in good time In a word The Place the Time the Quality of Torment the manner of tormenting the Tormentor and the cause or end for which souls are said to be tormented in Purgatory are all uncertain and how can the torment it self be taken for a certainty For it is not any mans confidence can make that certain which is invested with so many intrinsecal doubts and ambiguities nor any mans arguments can make that credible which is not certain But besides the uncertainty wâ—… meet with in this temporary Tormentâ—… which will not suffer us to believe it wâ—… find it casts an uncertainty upon that eternal Torment which we confess our selveâ—… bound to believe For as you rightly sayâ—… Nothing is more certain amongst Christiaâ—… then what is de fide of Divine Faith So crave leave to inferr from that sayinâ—… Nothing is to be affirmed de fide of diviâ—… faith among Christians which is not ceâ—…tain unless we will labour to overthroâ—… the Certainty of the Christian faith Fâ—… to require men to believe an uncertaiâ—… equally with a certainty is to invite theâ—… to disbelieve a certainty since it is not possible they should have one and the same Divine Faith for uncertainties and for certainties And therefore to teach men to believe Purgatory which is uncertain is the ready way to make them not believe Hell which is most certain Nor is it to be wondered That Bellarmines certainties concerning this doctrine should be so much enfeebled by his own uncertainties concerning the same no more then it is to be wondered that the certainty of our Christian saith should depend not upon the wit of man but upon the word of God 7. For this doctrine of Purgatory is so far from being taught in the Word of God that if you should ask those Disciples who have been most and best instructed in the Word Have ye received the doctrine of Purgatory since ye believed They must answer you We have not so much as heard whether there be any Purgatory and yet the same men will plainly tell you They have heard there is an holy Ghost and have received him though your over-bold Peltanus would perswade the world That Purgatory is as expresly taught in the holy Scriptures as the Unity of God and yet that is a little more expresly taught then the Deity of the Holy Ghost though blessed be God the Scripture is very express in both these Doctrines But in the whole Book of God there is neither in words nor in sense neither explicitly nor implicitly any such thing as your Purgatory which we cannot say concerning any Article of the Christian Faith That the thing we are bound to believe is not so much as really or virtually named in all the Holy Bible For an sit is as truly a precognition in the object of faith as in the subject of any question by that Rule of the Apostle if reason will not serve How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher Rom. 10. 14. We cannot believe what we have heard we cannot hear any supernatural truth unless God preach it and if he hath been the Preacher we may find the doctrine in his written Word which the most zealous defenders of this your doctrine durst not assert in former times For a very eminent Schoolman of our own Couâ—…rey Iohannis Bachâ—…nus lib. 4. dist 45. quâ—…unica answers all the Texts that were in his daies commonly alledged out of the Bible to prove Purgatory which were then but three though since they have swelled into a far greater number The first Text was that of 2 Mac. 12. To which his answer is Libri Macchabaeorum non sunt de Canone Bibliae ut dicit Hieronymus The Books of the Macchabees are not of the Canon of the Bible as saith Saint Hierom Nor doth your Cardinals new subtilty invalidate this answer Dico librum Maccha non esse Canonicum apud Judaeos sed apud Christianos esse I say the Books of the Macchabees were not Canonical among the Jews but they are among the Christians For the Christian Church had the Canon of the Old Testament from the Church of the Jews who not daring to make themselves a Canon took that which God gave them and therefore left out the Macchabees because they were not in the Ark that is to say not in that Canon which God had given them Nor hath God given the Christian Church power and authority to make that or any other Book Canonical which himself hath not made so for the Text is plain which saith To them were committed the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. Which words only shew a Trust of keeping not a power of making the Oracles of God either in Jew or Christian. The second Text then alledged to prove Purgatory was that of 1 Cor. 3. To which his answer is That the Apostle there speaketh of that fire which shall burn the world at the day of Judgement therefore that place will not prove such a a purging by fire as the Doctors suppose before the day of Judgement Benè probatur Purgatio ista conflagrationis in
shall we say He more willeth our punishment then our salvation 16. But if any will hereafter thus abuse the Word of God let him know he must likewise abuse the Prayers of his Church that so the sight of the one may bring him to the greater detestation of the other Wherefore let him say Domine non secundum peccata nostra facias nobis 1. non secundum mortalia sed facias nobis secundum venialia peccata O Lord deal not with us after our sins that is deal not with us after our mortal sins but deal with us after our venial sins Neque secundum iniquitates nostras retribuas nobis 1. non in inferno sed in Purgatorio Neither reward us after our iniquites That is reward us not after our iniquities in Hell by eternal torments but reward as after our iniquities in Purgatory by temporal punishment And if he think these too direful deprecations for his Hope let him think those other too direful interpretations for his Faith which would make repentance so take away his mortal as to leave behind his venial sins or would so take out Hell as to leâ—… in Purgatory for his bounden satisfaction For our parts we will do Gods Woâ—… and Gods Church more right then to fiâ—… such Doctrines upon his Word or such Prayers upon his Church And since thâ—… thoughts of our hearts are reputeâ—… among our venial sins we will say Thaâ—… both God and his Church have taught uâ—… how to get those thoughts purged froâ—… our souls whiles we live and not expectâ—… their purgation after our death even by heartily praying in this manner Cleansâ—… the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiratioâ—… of thy holy Spirit not by the operation of an imaginary or unholy fire which if it come not from Hell is but imaginary if it come from Hell is but unholy that wâ—… may perfectly love thee and worthily magnâ—…fie thy holy name This we can pray in faith for our heavenly Father will give his holy Spirit to them that ask him Luk. 11. 13. And that holy Spirit will purifie our heart by faith Acts 15. 8 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fide purgans corda eorum Purging their hearts by Faith This is aâ—… the Purging of sin mentioned in the Scriptures even a Purgatory by Faith not by Fire And this is all the soul needs for if we may by vertue of this Purging Spirit or Purifying Faith either in our life or at our death perfectly love God we may doubtless after our death presently enjoy him since then as our faith is to be turned into Vision and our hope into Comprehension so our Charity is to be turned into Fruition our love of Christ into the enjoyment of him we cannot enjoy him where he is not but where he is that is not in a place far from Heaven if at least it be a place at all but in Heaven sitting at the right hand of God making intercession for us 17. And we had rather trust to his intercession to keep us from Purgatory then to others intercessions to deliver us from it For we are sure their intercessions are nothing worth but by vertue of his intercession and we are not sure that he doth intercede for souls in Purgatory for we cannot believe that he doth pray to God that a fire we know not whence should purge those souls which himself that came down from heaven could not purge For whatsoever fond Christians may fancy yet sure Christ himself will not so undervalue his own most precious blood and his own most holy Spirit as to pray that fire may cleanse those souls which his Spirit and blood have not cleansed And were it possible that such prayers could be made for souls in Purgatory as Christ would please to intercede withal yet since it cannot be known how long it is fit for souls to be in Purgatory no living man can use such prayers in faith of Christs intercession to go along with him to the throne of Grace But as he may pray for them without Christs intercession if they be there so he must pray for them without it when they shall be gone from thence For God hath not let us men on earth know the time of their deliverance no more then he hath taught us the belief of their captivity And now by this time I hope you understand what is my aim in making this answer though you say you did not in making that objection and will not perswade men hereafter to go to Purgatory that you may pray for them when it is so undenyable a Truth that if they be there they can have no benefit by your Prayers CAP. IV. Of the second Commandment and against Images 1. PApists not to be called Catholicks but false Catholicks saith their own Cassander 2. Confession and Absolution in the Church of Rome both faulty 3. The Church of England not defective in the practice of Penance neither for Confession nor for Contrition 4. The Church of Rome defective in her Confessional Interrogatories and consequently in her Penance for the sins against the second Commandement 5. No Catholick Divinity either in making the second no Commandment or in making no sin of Ignorance against it for All the Decalogue is as necessary to salvation as all the Creed 6. An errour in fact against a Commandement in the Decalogue infers an errour in faith against its corresponding Article in the Creed 7. Saint Augustine made bold with the place and order but not with the power or substance of the second Commandement He writ much against Images especially those of the blessed Trinity which you now maintain and worship to the great danger of making the scoffers of this age Antitrinitarians as by denying or concealing the second Commandement you have made them Antinomians 8. All Catholick Divines after Saint Augustine have not reckoned the first and second Commandements but as One indeed very few or none at all till Peter Lombard and might not so reckon them because it is against essential and accidential Catholicism 9. Good Church-men did neither joyn the first and second Commandements together as did the School nor divide the Tenth into two Commandements the absurdities of that division 10. T is easie for Christians well instructed in the first to sin out of ignorance against the second Commandement 11. Christ is not to be worshipped by A Picture because he is the true God 12. The Religious worshipping of Saints and Angels gross Idolatry For all the elicite Acts of Religion belong only to God who alone is the object of the first as Neighbour is the object of the second Table And t is against the order of Justice to confound the offices of God and Neighbour and consequentlâ—… the greatest breach of Christian Communion which is founded upon Justice 13. The Honour of Religion due by the first Table is unproportionable to any creature and cannot be given to any but against true Faith Hope and Charity
Gods but me the last Thou shalt not covet Primum est Non habebis Deos alienos coram me Ultimum Non concupisces whereas if his Church had then followed Saint Augustines division or account he must have said not ultimum but duo ultima Non concupises not the last but the two last are Thou shalt not covet For Saint Augustine takes Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours house for one and Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours wife for another Commandement But in the first words of the following Chapter he speaks yet more plainly whereby he that runs may read he that reads must understand That in the age wherein he lived neither was the second Commandement confounded with the first nor the second Table augmented in the number of its Commandements His words at large are these speaking of the Commandements in the very beginning of his 32. Chapter Quorum primum Non habebis Deos alienos coram me Non facies tibi sculptile sequens sed ultimum est Non concupisces Quatuor ex his dilectioni Dei sex dilectioni subserviunt proximi Non habebis Deos alienos coram me Non facies tibi sculptile neque omnem similitudinem Non assumes nomen Domini Dei tui in vanum Memento ut diem sabbatorum sanctifices Quatuor ista Dei dilectioni repugnantia prohibendo locum eidem dilectioni Dei sermo Dei parare intendit The first of the Commandements is this Thou shalt have no other Gods but me The next to that is Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image and the last of all is Thou shalt not covet Four of these set forth our love towards our God and six our love towards our neighbour Thou shalt have no other Gods Thou shalt not make an image Thou shalt not take the name of God in vain and Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day by forbidding those four things which are repugnant to the love of God do intend to prepare amongst us a place for his love See here he allows four Commandements to treat of the love of God and the second to be one of those four So he admits not of Saint Augustines conjunction of the first and second into one and he allows six Commandements to treat of the love of our neighbour so he admits not of Saint Augustines division of the Tenth Commandement into two And he was of so great a repute for a true Catholick Divine that Tritenhemius saith of him in his life Vir in divinis Scripturis spiritu sancto per visionem illustrante doctissimus He was a man instructed in the knowledge of the holy Scriptures by immediate Visions and Revelations from the Holy Ghost Thus I have surveyed the chiefest Catholick Divines till full seven hundred years together after Saint Augustine not only of the Greek and Latine Church but also of Great Britane France Germany Africa and Hierusaâ—…em and not one of them follows Saint Augustines division of the Decalogue and though the master of the Sentences about the year 1145. brought the same in request and the Schoolmen after him yet Aquinas himself who is most zealous for it durst not say it was the division of the Decalogue generally received in the Church from Saint Augustines daies for it is his positive determination Quod praecepta Decalogi diversimodè à diversis distinguuntur 12 4 qu. 100. art 4. in c. The Commandements of the Decalogue have been severally distinguished by several men and he instanceth in Hesychius whom I named before Now Sir if you consider That the whole Catholick Church did speak by the mouthes of these fore-named Divines for so many Centuries after Saint Augustine I hope you will say This was an Assertion much sooner to be vented then to be verified for indeed never to be verified That All Catholick Divines after Saint Augustine did reckon the first and second but as one Commandement Having done my poor endeavour to prove de facto That all Catholick Divines after Saint Augustine have not reckoned the first and second Commandements but as one I now come to prove it de jure That they may not because indeed it is very Uncatholick so to do as being against essential Catholicism that is to say The substance of a Divine Truth taught by God himself and against Accidental Catholicism that is to say the Profession of A Divine Truth alwaies taught in the Church of God And if I prove both these I hope you will hereafter allow the Commandement an Interrogatory in your Confessions if not a distinct place in your Catechisms First I say it is against essential Catholicism that is against the substance of a divine truth taught by God himself For the Commandements are called by Gods holy Spirit Ten words Exod. 34. 28. Scripsit decem verba 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the 70. He writ the ten words whence hath been derived the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which hath ever been the usual appellation in all Christian Churches to say The Decalogue or Ten words for the Ten Commandements And Deut. 4. 13. tis expresly said that God writ these Ten Commandements upon two Tables of stone As many words as he writ with his finger we must read with our eyes hear with our ears and obey with our hearts and as many words as he writ in each Table so many must we read hear and obey in it neither more nor less if we will have our Divinity come from God or in vain shall we talk of being Catholicks with his Church whiles we are Schismaticks from himself for the reason why we may not separate from his Church is because his Church doth not separate from him Considering then That God writ these Ten distinct words in Two distinct Tables it must needs be uncatholick either to make no distinct word of Gods second word in the first Table or to make two distinct words of Gods last word in the second Table For most Catholick is that saying of our blessed Saviour Mat. 19. 6. What God hath joyned together let not man put asunder From whence by the Rule of Conversion emergeth this other What God hath put asunder let not man joyn together The first Proposition will not allow us to divide the Tenth Commandement into two because God hath made it but one so we must have but six Commandements in the second Table The second Proposition will not allow us to make the first and second Commandements into one because God hath made them two and so we must have full four Commandements in the first Table For neither fewer words then four were written by Gods own hand in the first nor more then six in the second Table And the Church of God may not be said to have power may not be thought to have will to correct Gods own Hand-writing For the same God who hath given us Ten words in both Tables hath also given us four in the one and six in the other And doubtless
procidamus ploremus ante Dominum qui fecit nos O come let us worship and fall down and weep before the Lord our maker because we have worshipped and falen down and kneeled before those who have not made us do not convert or call us cannot save us 14. For it is the part of Religion to order a man rightly in regard of his God as of Temperance and of Justice to order him rightly in regard of himself and of his neighbour so saith Saint Augustine Tract 23. in Johan Haec est religio Christiana ut colatur unus Deus quia non facit animam beatam nisi unus Deus This is the true Christian Religion that we worship one God because none can make the soul blessed but one God None can make the soul saith holy David None can make the soul blessed saith holy Augustine but one God therefore we may worship none but him Idem principium creationis beatificationis The same God is the author of our Being and of our well-being and claims our worship as his homage for both The same is our maker and our Saviour The same Lord which giveth nature giveth also Grace and Glory and therefore to ascribe unto others the honour which is due only to him is to put others in his place as if they were Lords with him and were the givers of Nature of Grace of Glory Yet this is the Divinity you teach your people this is the Duty you bind them to do by the first Commandement Sacrosanctam Eucharistiam adoratione latriae venerari jubemur Virginem autem Mariam honore hyperduâ—…iae Cruâ—…em etiam adorare venerari Angelos vero maxime Angelum nostrae custodiae designatum sanctos sanctas eorum reliquias Templa honore duliae honorare jubemur methodus Confessionis in expositione primi praecepti We are here commanded to worship the holy Eucharist the blessed Virgin the holy Cross the Angelâ—… especially him that is our Guardian The Saints their reliques and Temples And it is to small purpose that you would be thought to give a lesser kind of worship to these then to God for all kinds of Religious worship are alike forbidden to any creature by this Commandement as all kinds of uncleanness by the seventh of slander by the ninth So that in truth you have taught your people to worship many Gods instead of worshipping one God for you cannot multiply acts specifically distinct without multiplying the objects therefore you must make many Gods by making many several distinct acts of Religious worship This is such a Babel as reacheth up to heaven a very great and horrid confusion which confounds the Creator with the creature and staies not there but cometh down again and also confoundeth the Communion of Saints and the Commandements of God and consequently not only the work but also the whole rule of Religion For seeing our blessed Saviour hath said On theâ—…e two hang all the Law and the Prophets Mat. 22. 40. by confounding the two Tables of the Commandements you must also confound the whole Book of God So then this false worship may only belong to Babel not to Jerusalem For in confounding the Creator with the creature it strikes at God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth In confounding the Communion of Saints it strikes at God the Son who is the Head of that Communion In confounding the Commandements and the whole Book of God it strikes at God the Holy Ghost the Pen-man of those Commandements and of that Book And we ought not to think that Jerusalem the City of God will either teach or practice a worship against God the Father Son and Holy Ghost For such a worship is not a Religion but a Confusion and is accordingly punished with confusion Psalm 97. 7. Confounded be all they that worship carved Images and that delight in vain Gods worship him all ye Gods A Text that exactly follows the method of the second Commandement proceeding by Command and by Commination only here the commination is put in the first place because the command had hitherto been so much transgressed and so little regarded God thereby intimating That if his Command doth not restrain us his commination shall ruine us which in this sin is more terrible then in any other for here he threatens to visit the sins of the Fathers upon their Children which in the language of this Text is To confound both them and theirs Confundantur omnes qui adorant sculptilia saith your own Latine for that 's to delight in vain gods who are all commanded to worship the true God as well as we for so it follows Worship him all ye Gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Seventy worship him all ye his Angels Here 's yet another confusion This Idolatry makes them Idols whom God made Angels it makes them vain Gods whom he made Gods It unmakes Angels and what is that but to make Devils I mean in regard of those that worship them For though the holy Angels in themselves are blessed Spirits yet by those that Religiously worship them they are after some sort made wicked Spirits because to them they are the occasion of sin and wickedness So far is man from righting Angels by wronging God from honouring the servants by dishonouring their Lord and yet the best pretence that is usually made in this kind is least the Angels for sooth should lose their right whereas by doing them this right we do them the greatest wrong See thou do it not for I am thy fellow-servant Thou wrongest no less then three by doing it Thy self and me and our common Master A prohibition twice urged Rev. 19. 10. 22. 9. and with the same reason shewing that God made Angels our fellow-servants and Brethren and that we may not by our Religious worship make them God Therefore Confounded be they that make them Idols saith David since God made them Angels and yet your Position makes them twice idols once in themselves whiles it bestows Religious worship on them a second time in their images whiles it bestows that worship on them through their Pictures And that 's your fourth and last Position which concerns the Religious worship of Gods glorious Servants Saints and Angels through their pictures 15. In which case if you are not to be convinced of idolatry sure t is for want of will not of means of conviction for the Commandement expresly forbiddeth to make the likeness of any thing in heaven or in earth with intent to worship it and I believe you will not deny the Saints and Angels to be in heaven or if so because for ought you know who believe the Purging of souls after death some Saints may be in Purgatory to be tormented some good Angels there to torment them yet you cannot deny God to be in heaven unless you will discard your Pater Noster which teacheth you to say Our Father which art in heaven But it is a sufficient proof
Aquinas his exposition of them which was for praying to Saints He falls into this absurdity to say that at that time this Invocation was both in the custome and in the faith of the Church Tum in consuetudine tum in fide fuisse receptam which though Bellarmine be zealous to affirm concerning the Invocation of Angels yet he is not so hardy as to affirm concerning the Invocation of Saints A Tenent that creates their contradictions cannot invite our assent may not have our belief And the rather because Hieronymus Osorius a Bishop but not a Jesuit of their own Religion if at least the Religion of Jesuits may be called the same with the Religion of the Bishops in the Church of Rome in his Paraphrase upon Job gives us a quite contrary exposition of these words saying Denuntia quaeso alicui praestanti viro testimonium animadverte an sit aliquis qui tecum sentiat Ad quem enim ex Sanctis hominibus adibis qui tuae sententiae suffragari audeat Declare now to some excellent men your testimony and observe if there be any that hath the same thoughts with you For unto whom amongst all the Holy men can you go that will dare to be of your opinion This man was trained up in the Invocation of Saints as well as Bellarmine yet could not see how to ground it upon this Text For he expounds it not of Saints in Heaven but of Saints on Earth as Abenezra had expounded it before him Ex cujus ore sanctorum qui in terrâ sunt talia unquam audisti 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Saints which are on earth out of whose mouth among all the Saints which are on the Earth did you ever hear such things But we may very well grant the words are rather to be understood of Holy Angels then of Holy men because he had spoken of the Angels a little before yet even so Bellarmines inference will not be made good that it was then the custome to call upon the Holy Angels for their Patronage tunc fuisse consuetudinem invocandi patrocinium Sanctorum Angelorum For the context will then require this sense as it is delivered by the most judicious and learned Mercerus Voca Angelorum aliquem eum inclama an vero eorum vel minimus tibi respondebit te suo sermone alloquio dignabitur Nullum sanè reperies Vides quantum à Deo distes quum ne Angeli quidem longè Deo inferiores te sint allocuturi si ad eos clames ob distantiam quae inter te est illos Call any one of the Angels and cry unto him and see if the meanest of them will answer thee or vouchsafe thee one word of discourse Thou will find none Thou seest then how far thou art distant from God when not so much as his Angels who are so far below him will answer thee if thou call to them because of the distance which is betwixt them and thee This is most probably the meaning of the words from the context for Eliphaz had a little before debased the excellencies of the Angels in regard of God and now comes to debase the excellencies of men in regard of the Angels all the scope and intent of his discourse tending to shew the emptiness and vanity of the Creature that so he might make Job humble himself before his Creator as hath been shewed a little before sc. Paragraph 3. 4 5 6. out of your own Pineda 11. But we must take to us the whole Armour of God that we may be able to withstand the assaults of men so furiously assaulting us and so watchfully besetting us To the Law and to the Testimony if others speak not according to that word 't is because there is no light no truth in them I ask then Doth this Invocation of Saints agree with the analogie of Faith in the Apostles Creed or with the analogie of righteousness in Moses his Decalogue I trow not For the one teacheth me to believe in one God the other not to call upon him in whom I have not believed and cannot believe And 't is clear that Invocation of Saints is against the whole current of devotions derived to us by the Spirit of God through the channel either of the Old or of the New Testament For there is scarce any prayer in either which our Saviour Christ who hath taught it us doth not pray with us for if he do not 't is in vain for us to pray since God heareth not our prayers but for his Intercession And therefore the Invocations that are used in the Psalms a peculiar Book of Prayers and Praises made by Gods own Holy Spirit for the use of his Church and constantly used by it in all ages are generally first spoken in the Person of Christ as appears in that he applied to himself very many of them as my God my God why hast thou for saken me Psal. 22. 1. and Into thy hands I commit my spirit Psal. 31. 6. and being first spoken in the Person of Christ are the more strongly recommended to all good Christians as composed by his Spirit sanctified by his lips and impowered and strengthned by his Intercession For Christus realis and Christus mysticus Christ personally and Christ mystically considered do constitute but one Communion of Saints He is the Head they are his Body and therefore they must pray in sin for in Schisme if they pray not to him as their Head for that is not to pray in Christs Communion as also in vain because in sin if they pray without their Head for that is not to pray in Christs Intercession Wherefore it being an undoubted truth that Christ was made obedient to the whole Law for man it necessarily follows that praying to Saints cannot be a duty of the Law but we must say That Christ the eternal Son of God prayd to Saints that is the Creator to the Creature And if it be not a duty of the Law how can it be command in the Prophets since they are but expounders not enlargers of the Law How in this Prophet Job whose book was penned in Hebrew by the Law-giver himself and only in Arabick by Job as saith your own Bellarmine de Script Eccl. cap. de Job because it is the judgement of the Catholick Church that Moses was the first Ecclesiastical Writer or the first Amanuensis and penneman of the Holy Ghost which by the way is another argument to prove that Bellarmine did not could not believe this Text of Holy Job was to be interpreted as a command Ad aliquem Sanctorū respice Look to one of the Saints but as a question or expostulation Ad quem sanctorum respicies To which of the Saints wilt thou look for without doubt so great a Scholar could not believe That Moses did bid us to do that in Job which he did forbid us to do in Exodus For the Commandement which saith Thou shall have no other Gods
are there joyned in one but also to the third Commandement and we think it very unjust that a few Italian Bishops and Priests should endeavour to lay those sins upon the Catholick Church which they ought to lay to and upon their own consciences because they have not only suffered but also maintained them in their own Churches For it is not crying out Templum Domini Templum Domini the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord that can acquit us from any act of sin against the Lord 'T is not the noise of Gods Church in our ears can expell the knowledge or fear of Gods Commandements out of our hearts God hath entrusted his Church with the Keeping not with the Making of Religion she is the Guide to it and in it not the Author of it That Power and Trust he communicated only to his Son and to his Holy Spirit because indeed it was incommunicable to any other For who can know the mind of God but God who can declare the council of his heart â—…ut only he that came out of his bâ—…m Shall not God have that privileâ—…e over his servants which men have ovâ—…r theirs to prescribe the way and 〈◊〉 of his own service or â—…all we alâ—…ow that disorder in Gods Family which we will not admit into our own There was no King in Israel when every man did that which was right in his own eyes Jud. 17. 6. If the Church may do what she pleaseth in matters of Religion 't is either because there is no King in Gods Israel or because Truth and Righteousness are not the establishment of his Kingdom For Truth and Righteousness come not from man but from God and therefore none can be the author of Religion but only God since that is nothing else but Truth and Righteousness Truth in Articles of Faith Righteousness in duties of life Truth in what we are bound to believe Righteousness in what we are bound to practise Therefore 't is vain to set up the Church which is only the Judge against the Law which is the Rule of Righteousness For we can go to the Church only for the Practice but we 〈◊〉 go to the Law for the Purity of Religion The question is here concerning the Purity of Religion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Saints be not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Law of God but the 〈◊〉 is made only concerning the Practice 〈◊〉 Religion for they tell us it was alwayes used in the Catholick Church We look upon this answer as faulty for its impertinency because the question is matter of Right but the answer is matter of Fact and much more faulty for its Calumny because the Romanists thereby so labour to excuse their own as to accuse the Catholick Church For 't is plain that Christ and his Apostles never used it and we must look upon him as the Head upon them as the chief members of the Catholick Church since we can have no Catholick Church without them that is which doth not persist in their doctrine nor continue in their Communion And 't is as plain that no particular Church since them can justify the using it and consequently t is unjust as well as untrue to ascribe the use of it to the Catholick Church although it hath of late years been used in some particular Churches For even Nicephorus himself saith expresly Hest. Eccl. lib. 15. cap. 28. ad finem That Petrus Crapheus who lived neer 500 years after Christ was the first that brought the Invocation of the blessed Virgin into the prayers of the Church and doubtless she was invocated before the other Saints who is now and hath been for some ages so much invocated above them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ut in precatione omni Dei genitrix nominaretur divinum ejus nomen invocaretur That this Invocation was not till then in any Church is a clear proof it was not of the Apostolick and therefore though it hath been since in some Churches cannot be a proof that it is of the Catholick Church For the Apostolick the Catholick are not two Churches But let us suppose which we may not grant that the Catholick Church as far as 't is visible hath of late years used it yet that is not a sufficient ground for us still to continue the use of it For we are to serve God not out of Custome but out of Conscience and therefore in vain do any pretend Custome in Gods service against Conscience in vain do any alledge the Churches usage which calls for Custome against Gods Law which calls for Conscience If an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel then what ye have received let him be accursed saith St. Paul Gal. 1. 8. The same reason is for the Law received in the Old as for the Gospel received in the New Testament Gods truth and righteousness are above the Church Triumphant in heaven much more above the Church militant on Earth not that either Church hath opposed or will oppose them for the Church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the Truth 1 Tim. 3. 15. but that they are above the Churches opposition For no creature can be to it â—…eli the rule of working no more then the cause of being and therefore its work of righteousness cannot depend upon its own but upon its makers will And Religion being the principal work of Righteousness cannot depend upon the will of the Church but upon the will of God This sublime truth is admirably delivered by the master of subtilties and sublimites Scotus in 1. lib. sent dist 44. in these words In omni liberè agente quod potest agere secundum praeter vel contra dictamen legis rectae est distinguere potentiam ordinatam absolutam Ordinata quidem conformiter agendo legi rectae absoluta verò agendo praeter illam legem vel contra eam sic dicunt Juristae aliquis potest facere de facto hoc est de poten tiâ suà tabsolutâ vel de jure hoc est de potenia ordinatâ secundum jura Quando autem lex ista secundum quam recte agendum est non est in potestate agentis tunc agendo secundum potentiam absolutam inordinaâ—…è agit non rectè Qâ—…ùm enim subsit tali legi tenetur agere 〈◊〉 legem sed quando in poteâ—…ate ageâ—…s est lex rectitudo legis poâ—…est tale agens ordinatè rectè agere aliter quà m lex illa dictat quia non subest illi legi sic ejus poâ—…entia absoluta non est inordinata In every free agent which can act according besides or against the dictate of law and righteousness we must distinguish betwixt his orderly and his absolute power his orderly power is shewed in acting conformably to the Law his absolute power inacting either besides it or against it so the Civilians tell us a man may do a thing as a matter of fact that is by his absolute power according to his will or as
the worshipping of Angels Ut harum detentae culturis animae sub fiâ—… mamento obligatae teneantur ne sc tendant ad suporiores caelos ad Deum omnâ—…um adorandum That such kind of worship place it upon what creature yoâ—… will detains the Soul here below and keep it from ascending into the highest Heaven that it may there worship the ever liviâ—… God Quod operâ efficitur inimici 〈◊〉 semper animas super terram humiliaâ—… detineat Religionem simulans quùâ—… fit maximum sacrilegium which is tâ—… Divels chiefest Policy to keep mens Soâ—… still groveling on the Earth and therefoâ—… such a kind of worship though it may preteâ—… to Religion yet is it in truth no better thâ—… sacrilege Maximum sacrilegium it is sacriledge in the highest degree because 〈◊〉 robs God immediately in himself not mediately in his tithes and offerings it robs him in his Glory and not only in his Patrimony And that you may not think the Latine Church had forgotten this Truth in her doctrine when many of her members had forsaken it in their practice I will here give you the Gloss of a very late Interpreter and that is of Jacobus Faber Stapulensis who saith thus upon the same Text Vocant hujus modi superstitiosi ad Religionem Angelorum privatas preces ritus sacrificia ea adoriuntur quae ipsi non viderunt quae ipsi non cognoscunt At quae monet Paulus vidit cognoscit Haec figurae haec Prophetae haec omnes Sancti Spiritus Sanctus manifestat proinde dat Colossensibus generale documentum abstinendi ab omnibus elementis mundi sive Gentibus tradita fuerint ad cultum daemonum sive Judaeis ad antiquas ceremonias sive superstitiosis ad dementationes magicas animarum ludificamenta quae universa corruptionem operantur His general meaning is this They who call us to superstition or to any false worship of Angels or the like call us to they know not what themselves But St. Paul who calls us to the true Religion or to the worship of God in Christ calls us to what he hath seen and known For all the Types and Figures Prophets in the Old Testament and all the Saints and the Holy Spirit both in the Old New lead us to this worship Therefore St. Paul gives a general rule to the Colossians and in them to all Christians of abstaining from all the rudiments of the World in matters of Religion 〈◊〉 from so many cheats and delusions and corruptions of their Souls and since the worship of Angels is not according to the Commandement of God it must come under the rudiments of the World oâ—… as St. Paul speaketh of a fleshly mind This interpreter doth in effect agree with the rest they all agree in this interpretation That St. Pauls main drift and purpose is to dehort us from all manner oâ—… superstition and to exhort us to 〈◊〉 Religion in the worship of God Yeâ—… your great Champion enters the lists onlâ—… against Theodoret challenging him of 〈◊〉 multiplicity of errors and mistakes anâ—… that justly saith his great admirer and 〈◊〉 he were a Saint his great Idolater Biniâ—… in his notes in Conc. Rom. 2. sub Sylâ—… Justam illust Card Baronis censuram noâ—… evadit but thus Baronius proceeds Sâ—… ergo errore semel lapsus in alium graviorem impegit ut diceret Canonem 35 Concil Laod. de his haereticis esse intelligendum qui Angelos colendos esse docerent quique in eadem regione Asiae Oratoria erexissent St. Michaeli Archangelo incautè nimis quae à Catholicis essent antiquitus instituta Haereticis quorum nulla est memoria tribuens Baron An. 60. num 20. But so he passeth from one errour to another saying That the Canon of Laodicea was to be understood of those Hereticks who taught that Angels were to be worshipped and who had in that Countrey erected Oratories or Churches to St. Michael the Archangel very unadvisedly ascribing that to Hereticks whose memorial was perished with themselves which had been anciently instituted by Catholicks Alas poor Theodoret what ill luck had he to be a Protestant to protest against the worship of Angels as taught and practised by Haereticks which saith this new Doctor was anciently taught and practised by Catholicks But St. Paul had as ill luck as he who had protested against the same worship long before And as long as that Protestation stands good we may very well claim him and own our selves in this case for very good Protestants and for better Christians And because it is impossible for any to be good Catholicks who willfully contradict St. Paul for such men are rather enemies then Servanâ—…s of Christ who reject his Authority we must say not that Theodoret unadvisedly ascribed that to Hereticks which had been anciently instituted by Catholicks for what Catholick did ever take upon him to institute the Truth and much less the false Religion but that Baronius unadvisedly ascribed that to Catholicks which had been fondly instituted by Haereticks But let us see by what arguments he confutes Theodoret. Sanè quidem nullum à Cerinthianis Haereticis erectum fuisse in honorem St. Michaelis Archangeli Oratorium ex nuper dictis satis superque liquet We have already proved that the Cerinthian Haereticks did erect no Oratory to St. Michael the Archangel Had he quoted any Scripture Fathers or Council Theodorete might have stood confuted but sure his own Ipse dixit may not stand against Scripture Father and Council as a good Confutation For all his proof to which he annexeth his satis superque liquet is only his own conjectural argumentation in these words Cherinthum Haereticos qui mundi creationem Angelis tribuebant non tamen sensisse eos adorandos Nam super Angelos virtutem esse divinam omnium supremam quam Deum dicerent omnes affirmabant Chernthius and those Haereticks who did attribute the creation of the world to Augels did not think the Angels were to be worshipped for they did all affirm that there was a supreme Divine Virtue which they called God above the Angels The whole proof consisteth of these two Propositions 1º That the Cherinthian Hereticks did not erect Oratories to Saint Michael the Archangel because they did not worship him 2º That they did not worship him or any of his fellow Angels because they did acknowledge a God above him and them This Advocate pleads well for the Cherinthians most abominable Haereticks but ill for his own clients For he would perswade us that the Papists are more stupid and more impious then were the Cherinthians more impious in that they worship Angels which the others did not more stupid in that not thinking the Angels made the World as the others did they have less reason to worship them But if he â—…ath not betrayed his Clients yet sure he â—…ath betrayed his cause For what do Protestants say more but that Oratories may not
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
imputativè tantum suum Christus sanctificavit populum Arg. 10. True righteousnesse not Imputative and If Christ sanctified his people not truly but Imputatively whereby He supposes Imputative to be not True Then say that St. Paul did forsake a True for a false righteousness because he forsooke an inherent righteousnesse for an imputative But take heed that in saying so you do not only injuriously callumniate St. Paul chosing to be justified by an Imaginary righteousness but also impiously blaspheme your Saviour by supposing all that he did and suffered for sinners to be made theirs only by Imagination And consequently That Justification is but matter of phansie not of reality which the holy Scripture ascribes only to Imputed righteousnesse For the Text doth plainly say Abraham believed God and it was counted or imputed to him for righteousness Rom. 4. 3. And again v. 5. His Faith is counted for righteousnesse anâ—… v. 6. David describeth the blessednesse of the man unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousnesse without works and again v. 22. It was imputed to him for righteousnesse He that shall consider these Texts and say Imputed righteousnesse is a meer fiction will scarce be able to wash his hands from charging the Holy Ghost with teaching a Fiction and may easily keep the Holy Ghost from washing his heart from the guilt of that charge Pereâ—…ius durst not so thwart the Text cap. 4. ad Rom. disp 2. but saith of Abraham as St. Paul had taught him That though he was just and holy yet his faith not his holinesse was imputed to him for righteousnesse Abraham licet is justus jam esset sanctus propter fidem tamen non propter opera Justitia dicitur esse imputata What a vast difference is here betwixt Two men not only of the same Church I mean of Rome but also of the same order I mean of Jesuits Bellarmine being a zealous Disputant strives to bring the Holy Ghost to his Position Pererius being a judicious Commentator strives to bring his exposition to the Holy Ghost For doubtlesse he had observed the Hebrew words Gen. 15. 6. to which St. Paul here related to be these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imputavit illud ei in justitiam And he that is the Lord imputed it to him for righteousnesse So the Jewish Doctor Solemon Jarchi who best understood his own dialect glosseth those words He that is â—…oly and blessed imputed it tâ—… Abraham for purity and Justice or righteousnesse because of the Faith through which he had believed him If Abraham were made just by imputed righteousnesse then so also are the sons of Abraham therefore said the Prophet Look untâ—… Abraham your Father Isa. 51. 2. exhorting all the sons of Abraham after the pattern of their Father to trust in Christ as saith our Church in the contents nay as saith Gods holy Spirit in the Text Foâ—… St. Paul argueth from Abrahams Justification to ours That as he was not so we cannot be justified by inherent but by imputed righteousnesse For God is alwaies like himself not one to Abraham another to us therefore as He justified Abraham so He justifieth us And Aquinas gives a demonstrative reason for it saying Tota Ecclesia quae est mysticum corpus Christi computatur quasi una persona cum suo capite quod est Christus 3. par q. 41. art 1. c. The whole Church which is the mystical body of Christ is computed but as one person with its Head which is Christ Abraham the Father of the faithful and all his children are members of one and the same mystical body therefore they have all but one and the same righteousnesse whereby to be justified And Christ is the Head of that mysticall body therefore they all have His righteousness imputed to them for their Justification To set up another righteousness for this is to set up another Head and to set up another Head is to destroy the Body The righteousnesse of the Head is communicated and may be imputed to all the members of his Body because Head and Body make but one Person But the righteousnesse of one member is not communicable and may not be imputed to another member because all the members make several persons forasmuch as the Body whereof they are members is not natural but mystical so we have in the judgment of Aquinas great reason to believe the imputed righteousnesse of Christ but none at all to believe the imputed righteousnesse of the Saints For the Head hath but the members have not a communicable righteousnesse For though the Head and all the members make but one Person mystical yet the members make several distinct persons naturall and several distinct persons as they have their subsistencies so they have their properties and operations both alike incommunicable Each member hath its own righteousness not possibly to be communicated to another because it is confined to its own subject and therefore not truly imputed to another because it is not communicated This is a kind of imputed righteousness which is a meer figment or a fiction but 't is a righteousnesse both taught and imputed by man not by God even in the superfluous or superabunant righteousness of the Saints put into the treasure of the Church if we may believe your Authors to be communicated to those that want merits or satisfaction of their own either merits of their own working or satisfaction of their own making This imputed rightousnesse of man is in truth a meer fiction both in regard of the imputation and in regard of the righteousnesse First In regard of the imputation for it is againg the nature of Justice that one mans righteousness should be imputed for the satisfaction of another mans unrighteousnesse without his consent that is to be satisfied but God hath nowhere declared much less promised his consent to receive such satisfaction So that the imputing one mans righteousnesse to another must needs be vain because God may be thought not to accept it nay more it must needs be sinfull because man may be thought to prescribe if not to extort Gods acceptance And if there be vanity and sin in the imputation we must say there is fiction in it for having its very being in Vanity and sin it cannot have a real but a meer imaginary or fictitious being Secondly This imputed righteousness of men is a meer fiction in regard of the righteousnesse it self For it supposeth the righteousness of the creature to make condigne satisfaction to the Justice of the Creator which is impossible because the one is finite the other is infinite Nay yet farther to heighthen this impossibility at least in our conception though not in truth it supposeth the righteousness of the creature not only to satisfie for its own but also for anothers unrighteousnes whereas it is the opinion of some of the best Scholemen even of Bernard Scotus and Gabriel if we may believe Vasques That no creature can have a righteousnesse adequate
Church as appeares in that these words which are the 6 7 8. Canons of the second Milevitane Council in Binnius for the Western are the 115 116 117. Canons of the Council of Carthage in Balsamon for the Eastern Churches 17. Wherefore this being an undoubted Principle among all Christians for who can doubt that which comes to us Originally from the Scriptures and derivatively from the Catholick Church That all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. we cannot reasonably but only perversely deny this conclusion That no man can be justified by his own righteousnesse For having sinned he must needs be under the condemnation of sin and coming short of the glory of God in his duty or obligation he must also come short of his own glory in his merit of justification for his sin which makes him come short of righteousness must needs also make him come short of being reputed righteous For shall not the Judge of all the earth do right how then shall he acquit that man for righteous whom he knows to be a sinner we find he hath in effect given a contrary judgment already Hag. 2. 12 13. where this is the summe of his determination concerning two questions which neerly concerne this case 1. Whether a man that is unclean may contract purity from the touch of hâ—…ly things which he denies 2. Whether Holy things do not contract impurity from the touch of a man that is unclean which he affirmes and then makes this inference ver 14. So is this People and so is this Nation before me saith the Lord and so is every work of their hands and that which they offer there is unclean The same reason holds in us as in them The Jew was unclean by the touch of a dead body and so is the Christian. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7. 24. The Jew by his uncleanness did pollute the holy things so doth the Christian even those holy works that proceed from Gods Holy Spirit and Grace The holy things by their Purity did not make him pure among the Jews who was unclean in himself so is it also among the Christians The best inherent righteousness we have from Gods Grace doth not purge away the impurity of that sin which we have from our selves therefore we must confesse that because of our Original and actual uncleanness every work of our hands and that which we offer to our God is unclean and consequently our works cannot justifie themselves much less can they justifie us And we find the same judgment of God confirmed likewise in the New Testament Luk. 17. where the Lepers pray heartily Jesus Master have mercy on us there 's one good work of piety and devotion they obey readily in going to shew themselves to the Priests as they had been commanded there 's another good work better than the former for obedience is better than sacrifice And one of them when he saw that he was cleansed turned back and with a loud voyce glorified God and fell down on his face at our Saviours feet and gave him thanks there 's many good works together one of devotion he glorified God another of zeal with a loud voyce a third of reverence he fell down on his face a fourth of humility at our Saviours feet a fifth of praise and thanksgiving he gave him thanks here is soul and body and all the powers and faculties of both wholly set upon good works yet our Saviour saith Arise go thy way thy Faith hath made thee whole v. 19. So is it also in the leprosie of our souls we are bound to pray heartily Jesus Master have mercy on us and to shew our selves to the Priests that is to use all the means of salvation which God hath appointed in the communion and by the Ministers of his Church yet when all is done if we will speak with our Saviour we must say to the Leper thy Faith hath made thee whole The good works may be acknowledged as adjunctâ—… but not as causes of the cure that must be attributed only to Faith in him who is the Physician of our souls For without doubt that holy ejaculation The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God though he be not clean according to the purification of the sanctuary is a prayer as needful now as it was in the dayes of Hezekiah or it would not have been left upon record for us 2 Câ—…ron 30. 19 It is the Lords Pardon not the mans preparation that makes him clean according to the purification of the Sanctuary and so Kimchi confesseth in his gloss upon those words ver 20. And the Lord healed the people that is saith he The Lord forgave their sin according to that of the Psalmist heal my soul for I have sinned against thee The Lord pardoned their sins that he might accept them and why should not we say that pardon and forgivenesse of our sins is the best ground and means of our acceptance with God For this is the only way to be clean according to the purification of the Sanctuary that is to be clean from all sin even to be made clean of which it is said The blood of Jesus Christ his Son 〈◊〉 us from all sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. If I haâ—… but one sin left upon my soul not washed away by Faith in his blood and the tears of my own repentance I shall not be clean enough to appear before the Throne of his Grace much lesse to appear at the bar of his justice I shall not be innocent enough to serve him much lesse to be judged by him I shall not be able to stand comfortably before his mercy and much less to stand confidently against his Judgement Therefore can I not hope to be saved by the first innocency that of obedience or of righteousness but only by the second innocency that of Faith and repentance And if any other man hath a better hope I pray God he may not find a worse salvation But surely God himself in his consultation how to save the Israelites concludes to do it not by their obedience but by their Faith and repentance Jer. 3. 19. But I said How shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land a goodly heritage There 's his consultation how to save them And I said thou shalt call me My Father and shalt not turn away from me there 's his conclusion to save them by their Faith and by their repentance By their Faith Thou shalt call me My Father and by their repeâ—…tance Thou shalt noâ—… tuâ—…n away from me that is not so turn away but thou shalt return again and therefore this promise is not to be interpreted of their obedience but of their repentance he that is most obedient in some cases cannot say he doth not turn away from God in other but he that is truly penitent can
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
they filled all their Comments with dire praesages against us that if any of them come to pass the ignorant multitude might impute the mischief to the Reformation as if that had been Prophetically blasted by the Spirit of God which was only injuriously reviled by the perverseness of men I will instance but in one and that was by Pererius the Jesuite in his Comment on Gen. 15. 16. If any man saith he do wonder why God suffers the power of the English to continue so long let him consider what is here said That the sins of the Amorites are not yet full Veniet etiam aliquando tandem Anglicae iniquitatis complementum veniet tempus Divinae Vindictae Quod tempus si quis dixerit non longè nunc abesse is à vero ut mea conjectura fert minimè aberraverit 〈◊〉 The time will come that the sins of the English will also be full and then God will certainly take vengeance on them and if any man think that time not to be far off at this instant in my opinion he is not mistaken This man out of his zeal to the Sea of Rome could not chuse but call us Amorites because he could not make us Papists and accordingly would needs threaten us with ruine and destruction from God whiles it was designed and complotted by men for this direful prediction of his was vented neer about the time that the Powder Plot should have been executed and that by such to whom himself was very near in Privacy if not in Confederacy However there is no more the Spirit of Truth in foretelling such dismal Tragedies then the Spirit of Piety in contriving or in acting them If there be you must say the Hugonotes in France were Prophets concerning the most barbarous murder of Henry the fourth for after the first blow given him they told him That for denying God with his mouth by professing Popery he was struck in the mouth and bad him take heed of denying God in his heart by embracing Popery for then he would be struck in the heart 'T is known what afterwards befell that Heroical Monarch though without the least of their contrivance who foretold it yet if you will account them Prophets for foretelling it you must say That for a Protestant to acknowledge the Pope is to deny God and that a reconciliation to the one is a Renuntiation of the other But I can alledge another Presage concerning our Churches destruction from one as contrary to your Pererius as both were contrary to the true Catholick Church and that was our Brightman upon the Revelation who threatned that God would spue us out of his mouth because we were as Laodiceans neither hot nor cold for though we had heat from the reformed doctrine yet we still had cold from the unreformed Discipline because forsooth that had been polluted and tainted by Popery This man thought we had not gone far enough from Rome as Lot from Sodom to be saved from destruction Pererius said we had gone too far So either for going or for not going we must expect to be like sheep appointed for the slaughter not only in the words but also in the wishes if not in the contrivances of both Factions who though they differ in the Premisses yet agree in this wicked Conclusion Nolumus hunc regnare we will not have this man to raign over us only the one Faction refuseth Christ in his word the other in his Church neither considering that 't is no credit for them to do what Pilate and Herod and the Heathen Souldiers did before them and no discredit for us to suffer what Christ and his Apostles have suffered before us I could also alledge the most Judicious yet more pious Hookers Presage That the age of our Church was like to be as the age of man which by trouble and sorrow might come to four score or a hundred years but that he mourned as a Dove to think that the wickedness of men would seek to destroy the goodness of God in giving us so well Tempered and so well Ordered a Church not croked as a Raven to shew his desire of our Churches destruction For clearly he thought our Religion as it was then established like temperamentum ad pondus of too pure a constitution to be of any lasting continuance But to leave uncertain predictions and to return to unerring Divinity If we be Amorites for maintaining Gods Truth I pray Sir tell me what is it that can make you Israelites Either let your Writers disprove our Religion or not disparage our Comâ—…nion For though our sins may make us Amorites yet Gods Truth cannot but keep us Israelites And whiles we keep that as we cannot think God doth make the Prophecies of your Spirit so we are sure he will hear the prayers of his Own and this among the rest Deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles especially out of all those troubles which they endure for being thy Israel Amen Amen O pray for the peace of Jerusalem They shall prosper that love thee Deo Trin-uni gloria in aeternum
and not be in the state of sin by marrying For then by your own allowance the Rule will hold and truly if the rule will not hold till then I believe the inference will hold ever after For if a mans being tempted to fornication will not yet sure his actual fornicating will put him under this indulgence of marrying because if he once fornicate he then may lawfully marry since the Apostle in saying It is better to marry then to fornicate hath allowed if not commande him to chose the better and to leave the worse And whereas you appeal to the precedent words If they cannot contain let them marry the same absurdity still follows your new gloss which is this That the Priviledge of marriage depends upon the bestiality of fornication for If they cannot contain is no more then if they burn and if they burn in your gloss is no less then if they fornicate whence it follows that according to your new gloss Saint Paul hath said If they fornicate let them marry And this is yet more palpable as the same Rule is set down in the second verse not by way of supposition but by way of Position in these words To avoid fornication let every man have his wife for if to avoid fornication do there signifie not to avoid the danger but only the guilt of fornication this concession To avoid fornication let every man have his wife will in effect be turned into this Prohibition Let no man have his wife till he hath actually fornicated and so the Laity must plunge themselves in vitiousness as well as the Clergy if they will have wives For Saint Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every man comprizeth Clergy and Laity both alike neither of them more nor less then the other Wherefore since there is no man in Christendom but is either a Clergy-man or a Lay-man it will follow that no man in Christendom hath a Licence much less a Command to take a wife until he hath actually fornicated and so the ready way to avoid fornication by this remedy of marriage according to your gloss is to commit fornication To joyn all three together you in effect say That to burn is to fornicate and if they cannot contain is If they be actually guilty of Incontinency and to avoid fornication is to avoid the sin of fornication not the temptation to that sin And I say that this being supposed though it be not granted you will scarce be able to prove That any man hath the Apostles concession and much less his approbation to marry but only such a man as hath first actually fornicated which is a strange kind of Doctrine and may well make any sober man exclaim with the Canonist Nota mirabile quod plus habet hic luxuria quam castitas Gloss. in Decretal Greg. lib. 1. Tit. 21. cap. 6. See here a wonderfull case That Luxury hath a greater priviledge then chastity Therefore I conceive it fitter for a Divine to say That Saint Paul intended the remedy before the disease not after it and consequently did allow men to marry that they might avoid not only the guilt but also the danger of fornication for else he had not allowed marriage to avoid fornication till it was impossible to be avoided And consequently it is a greater sin in any Christian Church to allow one Priest to fornicate then to allow all her Priests to marry for by the one she thwarts Gods command by the other she follows his example by the one she approves and encourages a damnable sin by the other she approves and encourages a most glorious Vertue For allowing Priests to marry doth not make their marrying the more necessary but only their abstaining from marriage the more voluntary that is to say It doth only make Viâ—…ginity in Priests a Free will offering which cannot be acceptable unless it be free and the more it is free the more it is acceptable 13. You say further That Saint Paul himself had great temptations of the flesh but did neither marry nor fornicate to avoid them I answer If I had fully transcribed my Instance concerning Abraham as it is in Ignatius his Epistle to the Philadelphians I might have added not only Saint Peter but also Saint Paul to the number of married men and so perchance have prevented this part of your Objection But to let go conjectures Saint Paul himself tells us what were his Temptations Acts 20. 19. even temptations which befell him by the laying in wait of the Jews Temptations from other mens flesh not his own from other mens fleshly minds not from his own fleshly body And I wonder upon what probability of Truth you say Saint Paul was under the sinfull motions of the body when himself saith he could not tell whether he were in the body or out of the body at the time he had that revelation after which was given him a Thorn in the flesh lest he should be exalted above measure v. 3. 7. The Text saith Saint Paul had a Thorn in the flesh not Temptations of the flesh that is he had penall afflictions not sinfull motions These if they went up with him into Paradise yet surely came not with him down from thence For going to Paradise doth by your favour much more purge sin then going to Purgatory Besides datus est mihi stimulus was not so properly said of these motions as natus est in me stimulus carnis meae nor can you say That was given him at that time which you know was born in him so long before and was properly to be called a Relick not a Gift Or that God gave that concupiscence to his chiefest Apostle which by his Spirit he doth subdue in his meanest servants Nor is it probable Saint Paul did call that a Messenger of Satan which was inbred in him from his own natural corruption or ascribe that to the Devil which was rather to be ascribed to the flesh Summe all these inconveniencies together and I believe you will hereafter joyn with Saint Chrysostom Saint Pauls most faithfull interpreter in the judgement of your own Divines who gives us this interpretation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c By the Angel of Satan he meaneth Alexander the Coppersmith those about Hymaeneus and Philetas all that opposed the word and contended or contested against him those who did cast him into prison scourge and drive him away because those did the works of Satan Therefore even as he calleth the Jews the sons of the Devil for following his example so he calleth the Messenger of Satan every man that fell foully upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this saith he was the thorne in the flesh given to buffet me And truly the world is still very full of such Messengers of Satan for no Orthodox Divine now adaies can teach men either how to live or how to die according to his duty trust and conscience but legions of factious spirits will be pecking at
him by making either frivolous objections or fond cavils or false calumnies against his Doctrine which in truth is to be the Messengers of Satan And for ought we can see Saint Pauls truest Disciples are most like to have such Messengers to buffet them to the worlds end For this is one of those requests which according to Saint Chrysostom is most like to come under that Text For we know not what we should pray for as we ought Rom. 8. 26. When men who are persecuted and troubled for Religion pray for deliverance from their persecutions or for rest and relaxation from their labours and troubles But yet the Scholars saith he need not be so much ashamed or dismayed for even the great Master of Israel was himself in the same condition Saint Paul saying of himself as well as of others For we know not what we should pray for as we ought and that not out of modesty or humility as appears in that he uncessantly made request to see Rome which was not then granted him when he requested it and that he prayed earnestly and frequently for deliverance from his thorn in the flesh that is from his manifold dangers and afflictions which was never granted him at all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in Rom. cap. 8. v. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 14. You have here a second place out of Saint Chrysostom to confute your new interpretation take yet a third for upon those words of Saint Paul to the Galathians which are next of kin with these to the Corinthians My temptation which was in the flesh ye despised not Gal. 4. 14. the same Saint Chrysostom thus glosseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I was tumbled and tossed I was beaten with rods I was under a thousand deaths whiles I preached to you and yet though I was in that contemptible condition you contemned me not Me thinks I hear my despised and distressed mother the Church of England at this time saying the same to all that still embrace her doctrine and continue in her Communion For this he meaneth when he saith My Temptation which was in the flesh ye despised not Whereas if Saint Paul had been under such Temptations of the flesh as you imagine these supercilious pretenders who sought to be justified by their own righteousness must needs have condemned him for more then an ordinary sinner They who boasted of their own circumcision in the flesh would certainly have despised him as uncircumcised who had such temptations in the flesh For what is it in the world that to this day makes any man more despicable nor could Saint Paul well have given such proud Justiciaries a greater advantage against him or his doctrine then such an open profession as this which you have made for him That he had great Temptations of the flesh But indeed the whole context speaks with Saint Chrysostom and against you That the Thorn in Saint Pauls flesh was not his great Temptations but his great Tribulations in the flesh For they are particularly mentioned in the ensuing discourse wherein is not one word concerning any impure motions Therefore saith he I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses for Christs sake And he particularly asserteth the Grace or strength he had obtained by prayer as given him to encounter with these Tribulations and I ask you seriously would not these words Most gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities be very ill paraphrased after this manner Most gladly therefore will I glory in my concupiscence and I would fain know how it is possible for that which is naught in the Paraphrase to be good in the Exposition since a Paraphrase is no other but a verbal Exposition 14. Lastly you say This hath and will be still sufficient to the worlds end for millions of good men to undertake the office of Priesthood without needing either to marry or burn especially if they will do as he did not only assiduously pray but also Castigo corpus meum 1 Cor. 9. 27. Good Sir how do you know that the married Clergy with us do not so or that the unmatried Clergy with you do so Did not Saint Peter do this as well as Saint Paul and yet he was doubtless a married man But I answer I do find that men are bid abstain from marriage to fast and pray not that they are bid fast and pray to abstain from marriage nor have Priests any particular promise more then other men that they shall be enabled to live perpetual Virgins by fasting and praying that so they may fast and pray in faith of that promise nor have they any particular command more then other men to fast and pray to enable them to live perpetual Virgins that so they may fast and pray in obedience to that command And why should any man place Religion in that which neither is in faith as to Gods promise nor from obedience as to Gods command And whereas you speak of your millions of good men I heartily wish it may be more then speech but I have a fear a suspition nay a proof that hitherto it hath been no more For first your own Panormitane as I find him quoted by my late Reverend and Learned Diocesan Bishop Davenant makes me fear otherwise for he saith expreslly Credo pro bono salute esset animarum ut volentes possent contrahere I believe it would be for the good and salvation of souls if they that will might marry He means sure the Priests souls and therefore thought many of them deeply plunged in sin for want of marriage Secondly the Testimony of your own Agrippa makes me think otherwise for he saith plainly of your Priests Monks Clanculum confluunt ad lupanaria stuprant sacras virgines vitiant viduas And puts his Quod ego scio vidi to their clancular yet prodigious abominations and at last thus concludes Et quarum animas lucrari debent Deo Illarum corpora sacrificant Diabolo Agrip. de van scientiarum cap. 64. Thirdly the authority of your own Espencaeus makes me say otherwise for these are his words in his exposition upon Titus 1. Turpissimum est quod Clericos cum concubinis pellicibus meretricibus cohabitare liberosque procreare sinunt accepto ab eis atque adeo alicubi a continentibus certo quotannis cansu Habeat concubinam sive non habeat aureum solvat habeat si velit I should have been ashamed of quoting these three Testimonies had not your great boast constrained it but I am ashamed to English these quotations though by so doing I should go near to overthrow your boasting Indeed your own Cassander hath overthrown it for this is his ingenuous profession and confession in this kind That the want of able Ministers idoneorum Ministrorum inopia is one cause amongst others why the constitution which forbids the marriage of Priests in your Church should be recalled for that had kept many
way our errours have been so many against this Soul-saving Truth How far this may concern the grand factions of Christendome I will not determine but sure I am they whose Religion is rebellion and whose faith is faction have no other Truth but their own phansies or imaginations and consequently can have no other God but their own Perverseness Yet we doubt not but as Aarons Rod swallowed up the Rods of the Magicians so will Religion at last swallow up rebellion and Faith will swallow up Faction and Truth will swallow up Phansie and Wisedome will swallow up Folly if not so as to be acknowledged of her enemies yet so as to be justified of her Children For the Apostle hath said most positively though more comfortably But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest to all And he that hath promised concerning the Preachers of his truth hath much more promised concerning the Truths they are to Preach especially those which so nearly concern the salvation of Souls They shall not be removed into a Corner any more But thine eyes shall see thy teachers and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying This is the way walk â—…e in it when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left Isa. 30. 20 21. 2. But if the Lovers of Gods Truth will hope to obtain this promise of a word saying This is the way they must endeavour to obey that command see that ye walk circumspectly Eph. 5. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Latine Church in the Text of Sixtus 5. See therefore how circumspectly ye walk 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek Church in the Text of St. Chrysostome See therefore circumspectly how ye walk Men that will not wander in the by-paths of errour must have their eyes in their heads to look about them to see which is the way of Truth and they must keep their eyes open in their heads to look before them to walk in that way If they want a good circumspection to look about them they may chance never come into the right way if they want a good Prospection to look before them they may soon go out of it self-conceit is a great enemy to circumspection self-interest is a great enemy to prospection and 't is commonly one of these two if not both that makes so many Christians not walk in the way of Truth but choose faction or phansie instead of Faith This may seem to be far fetcht but it comes very neer my purpose and I pray God it may yet come neerer some mens consciences For they who licentiously abuse this Doctrine of justification by faith in Christ choose phansie instead of Faith and turn the Grace of God into wantonness They who wilfully oppose it to set up their own righteousness choose faction instead of Faith and turn the Grace of God into nothing for as mans age so his righteousness is as nothing in respect of God All my goods are nothing unto thee Psal. 16. 2. Both alike with Elymas the Sorcerer seek to turn away others from the Faith and may justly expect the hand of God upon them selves to make them so blind as not to see the Sun of Righteousness for ever God of his infinite mercy take away this mist and darkâ—…ess from before the eyes of all his servants but especially of all his Seers for if the light of the world be darkness how great will be the darkness thereof If we delight in the inner darkness here how shall we escape the outer darkness hereafter If they were a rebellious people lying children children that would not hear the law of the Lord who said to the Seers See not Isa. 30. 9 10. then what are those Seeâ—…s who say to themselves See not who shut their eyes against the light and shut their hearts against the Power of this Truth But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God it is evident for the just shall live by Faith Gal. 3. 11. See the light of this Truth for it is evident see we the Power of this Truth for even the just shall not live by his works but by his Faith The just shall live by Faith q. d. The justest must that is hath that justice whereby he shall live eternally from his Faith not from his works from his Saviours righteousness not from his own God speaking this soul-saving Truth so plainly to the understanding and pressing it so powerfully upon the Conscience bids all Christian Divines admire his goodness in shewing the great need and benefit of Christ not discover their own wickedness in seeking to undermine the very foundation of Christianity Accordingly St. Chrys. expounds that precept see ye walk circumspectly of the Ministers of the Gospel Observe saith he how the Apostle doth forewarn and forearm the Preachers of Gods Truth againg all the oppositions of their and its enemies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whole Towns and Cities waged war against them which the Canonist signally expressed after this manner Laici clericis Oppidò sunt infesti yet they are furnished with no other armour but this to defend themselves see that ye walk ciâ—…rcumspectly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is Give your enemies no other occasion of their enmity but onely from your Preaching which is an occasion rather taken then given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let that alone be the ground of their enmity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man be able to accuse you of any thing else and then your adversaries will accuse God not you An admirable gloss and seasonable for this Atheistical Age wherein men will not believe the Truth because they have pleasure in unrighteousness though St. Paul tell them plainly that they shall be damned for their unbelief That they all mâ—…ght be damned who believe not the Truth but â—…ad pleasure in unrighteousness 2 Thes. 2. 12. 4. It is the pleasure in unrighteousness which makes either the people not rightly believe Gods Truth or the Priests not rightly preach it and particularly this Truth of Justification by Faith which some of your Priests care not to preach because it will spoil their markets and some of our Priests had need preach more warily for fear it should spoil our people It is onely pleasure in unrighteousness that hath hitherto opposed this Truth in its doctrine or poisoned this Truth in its belief For why should a Truth so clearly revealed in the word of Christ so neerly concerning the glory of Christ so highly condâ—…ceing to the salvation of Christians be so violently opposed by some of your Priests in its doctrine but that it pulleth down the prices of Masses and Indulgences stopping the hands of silly and simple but yet liberal and munificent votaries Hence it is that Demetrius-like for love of gain they raise an uproar against St. Paul for it is not against us it is against him or rather Gods Spirit in him the main Preacher
of this Truth taking this for their chiefest Topicks for Maxima locus Maximae Sirs ye know that by this craft we have our wealth Acts 19. 25. For no other reason but covetousness can easily be alledged why the same men should so mainly cry up the Imputation of their own and their Saints imaginary merits and righteousness to the maintaining and filling the supposed Treasure of the Church and yet so mainly cry down the imputation of our blessed Saviour's real and allsufficient merits and righteousness to the exhausting and emptying the Treasures of the people Thus it is clear that pleasure in unrighteousness hath hitherto opposed the Truth in its doctrine making Mammons Chaplains not over zealous to serve God in searching out his Truth that they may believe it or over zealous to serve themselves in not preaching a Truth which they do believe Again why should so many other formidable Truths and reasonings concerning righteousness temperance and judgment to come in and from the mouth of the same St. Paul make a Heathen tremble and not once move so many confident Christians but that this heavenly Truth of Justification by Faith hath been hitherto amongst them not rightly believed or poisoned in its belief and what venome can poison the operations of the soul but onely that of the Serpent the venome of sin turning the grace of our God into wâ—…n onness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into petulancy insolency and unsufferable contentiousness for so the Greek Orator hath joyned these together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isocr in Panath. contending against not for the Faith once delivered to the Saints or which is all one denying the onely Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Jud. 4. Such men do falsely pretend Faith in Christ who do not deny ungodliness and worldly lusts who do not live soberly righteously and godly in this present world for they cannot look for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ The Grace of God which bringeth salvation to others will bring the great damnation upon them because they resist that grace betray that Saviour and belye their own Souls For most certainly the greatest miscreants that are would break off their sins by repentance and their iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor if they did with the eye of Faith see a watcher and an Holy one coming down from heaven and saying Hew the Tree down and destroy it Dan. 4. Or if they did hear with an honest and good heart and Faith cometh by no other hearing that word of Christs forerunner in his first coming to save us which is therefore the fittest to put us in mind of his second coming to judge us O generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the Tree Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Matth. 3. For surely that Faith cannot justifie the sinner which cannot justifie it self a Faith that hath eyes and seeth not the watcher the Holy one coming down from heaven that hath ears and heareth not the crier the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths strait A Faith that lets men profess Christâ—…ans but live and act Infidels hardning their hearts stopping their ears closing their eyes lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their eares and understand with their hearts and should be converted and their Saviour the Physitian of Souls should heal them Thus it is also clear That pleasure in unrighteousness hath hitherto poisoned this Truth in its belief making men take phansie for Faith and think themselves in Heaven by their perswasion whiles they are even in Hâ—…ll by theit affections and by their actions not regarding that word which they cannot deny dare not gainsay If ye were Abraham's children who is the Father of the faithful ye would do the works of Abraham Joh. 8. 39. 5. For God gave us not the Articles of our Faith to be like Pharaohs lean kine to eat up the rules of his Commandments the fat-fleshed and well-favoured kine such as were fit for Sacrifices for himself much less such as were offered to himself for Sacrifices Therefore those can be no Gospel Instructions which teach men to devour widows houses nay to devour Gods own house and not onely his house but also his glory and worship under pretence of Faith for of these starveliug Documents we may justly say now and others will be able to say to the worlds end what is said of the starveling kine And when they had eaten them up even all the fat Kine that came up out of the river and fed in the medow This is all the fatness of Sea and Land which their Forefathers had consecrated to the Service and Honour of God it could not be known that they had eaten them but they were still ill-favoured as at the beginning Gen. 41. 21. He that hath commanded us to sanctifie publick Persons as Mininisters publick times as Sabbaths or Festivals publick places as Churches to his own worship will not cannot justifie those who sacrilegiously rob and persecute his Ministers mock and suppress his Sabbaths revile and profane his Churches For it were very strange if such men who are angerly reproved and openly branded for sacrilegious profane blasphemous persons by the Spirit of God should if they still persist in their Sacriledge profaneness and blasphemy be acquitted and absolved for righteous and innocent persons by the Son of God The Spirit of God calleth them enemies adversaries and such as hate him Psal. 14. Therefore surely the Son of God will not make them Saints accept them as friends reward them as servants Such a devouring Gospel as this was never of Gods teaching though it hath been of mens practising to the discountenanceing of Gods Truth and to their own shame and destruction that have practised it For God will never uphold those men in his Truth who discourage others from embracing it 6. Yet as long as Gods Truths are infinitely above all mens discouragements neither are your Priests excusable if they will not embrace them nor ours if they do forsake them notwithstanding both be as much discouraged as either open enemies or false friends and brethren can discourage them What shall the Sons of God come no more to present themselves before their Father because Satan will coâ—…e also among them to present himself before the Lord Shall the the Holy Angels be out of love with their own light because the Devil himself can and doth also appear an Angel of light no more may we be out of love with this heavenly Truth of being righteous by the righteousness of our blessed Redeemer because Hypocrites and Atheists have made it an occasion of or a pretence for their