the widdow These indeed are works of iniquity and deserve Exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven But is it a Work of iniquity not to work at all As not to give meat unto the hungry Not to give drink unto the thirstie Not to cloath the naked or lodge the harbourless Yes even these Omissions deserve Exclusion from the Kingdom of Heaven Either by their connexion with sins of oppression because it is scarce possible that any which hear Christs promises should be barren of good Works unless they were too fruitful in the works of impietie and oppression or rather because as our Saviour elsewhere infers that Not to save mens lives when means and opportunitie is offered is to kill Not to feed the hungrie is a bloody sin Not to cloath the naked is as the sin of Oppression The Doing of some Good Works cannot excuse men for the Omission of others which be as necessary To prophesie in Christs name is a Gracious Work to cast out Divels is a Work of Greater Charity and comfort to the possessed then to visit the prisoners and yet such as have done these and many other wonderful Works shall not be admitted at the Last Day Besides the Goodness of the Works which we are bound to do there must be an Uniformitie in them Otherwise they are not done in Faith Now the same Faith and belief which inclines our hearts to works of one kind will incline them to the practise of every kind which we know or believe to be required at our hands by our Lord and Master That even the best Works of mercy or most beneficial unto others are not acceptable unto God unless they be done out of Faith obedience to our Masters Will is clear from our Apostles Verdict of Enoch Heb. 11. 5. Before his translation saith our Apostle he had this testimonie that he pleased God For so it is said Gen. 5. 24. that he walked with God the way by which he walked was his Good Works and Conversation but The Guide of this way and his works was his Faith So the Apostle infers without faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him ver 6. As God is the Author of goodness yea goodness it self so we cannot come unto him by any other way then by doing good to others yet that which must make even our best Works pleasing to him must be our Belief in him and in his goodness and that he is A bountiful Rewarder of all that do good The good Works even of the Heathen and of such as knew neither him nor his Providence of such as in stead of him worshipped false gods were rewarded by him but with rewards and blessings only Temporal He was their Rewarder but not himself their Reward This was the Peculiar of Abraham his friend and of Abrahams children that is of all such as do the works of Abraham out of the Faith of Abraham that is out of a lively apprehension and true esteem of his goodness Unto all such he himself shall be merces magna nimis or valdè magna Their exceeding great Reward Unto men thus qualified and only unto them it shall be said Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world This Kingdom shall be a Kingdom of everlasting bliss and yet the greatest blessedness of this Kingdom shall consist in the fruition or enjoying of the presence of this Everlasting King who is goodness it self the participation of whose goodness is the very Life and Essence of that happiness which all desire but none shall attain besides such as do His Will by well doing To be separated for ever from his presence is the source of all the miserie which shall befall the damned or accursed But from this place of our Apostle Heb. 11. 6. The Romanist alwayes ready like the spider to suck poison from such flowers in this garden of God as naturally afford honey to such as seek God labours to infer as he doth out of the words of the text That the Everlasting Kingdom here promised is the just Reward of our good works and is as properly merited as everlasting death is by the Omission of the works here mentioned or by the Positive Works of inquitie So that I should here according to my proposed method proceed unto the third point That these good works how necessary soever they be are necessary only Tanquam via ad regnum non tanquam causa regnandi only as the Way and Means which lead unto this Kingdom not as the causes of its preparation for us or of our admission unto it But for the present I chuse rather to make some use or Application of what hath been said concerning the necessity of Good Works then to dispute of their Efficacie or Causality for attaining this Kingdom intending to touch that a little more in the next Chapter though with reference to what I have spoken in the 27. and 28. Chapters 6. You see that Good Works done in faith or which is all one a Working Faith are absolutely necessarie unto salvation But are they as necessary to Justification If they be how is it said by St. Austine and approved by the Articles of the Church of England Bona opera sequuntur hominem justificatum non praecedunt in homine justificando Good works follow Justification they do not go before it This Orthodoxal Truth only imports thus much That no man can do those works which are capable of the promises before he be inabled by God to do them and that this ability to do them is from the Gift of Justifying Faith Now every one that hath this Faith in his heart is said to be Justified that is absolved from the Guilt of sins past and freed from the Tyranny and Dominion of sin by receiving this pledge or earnest of Gods mercie and in this sense is Justification taken by St. James when he saith a man is justified by works that is He is not to be accounted the Son of faithful Abraham nor may he presume upon his own Actual Justification or estate in Grace until he be qualified and enabled to do the Works of Abraham In the same sense is Justification taken by St. John Rev. 22. 11 Qui justus est justificetur ad huc Let him that is righteous be righteous still or more justified And in this sort Children or Infants are said to be Justified by the Infusion of Faith The practise of Good Works is not required to their Justification before they come to the knowledge of good and evil But neither is the apprehension or actual Belief of Gods mercies in Christ required of them Though they be justified and saved for the Merits of Christ and through his blood as we are Yet is not the Rule for Application of these Merits the same in them and
sin be a work altogether impossible all of us should utterly perish none repent if possible to any shall it not be possible to the Almighty who alone can do all things if possible to him why is not repentance wrought in all whose salvation he more earnestly desires then the most tender hearted mother doth the life and welfare of her darling infant Hence with Seeming Probabilitie some may Conclude either that Gods Love unto such as perish is not so great as some mothers bear unto their children or else his Power in respect of them is not infinite And against our Doctrine perhaps it will be Objected That by thus magnifying Gods Love towards All we minish his Power towards Some From which to derogate ought is in some mens judgements the worst kind of Blasphemie a Point as dangerous in Divinitie to speak but doubtfully or suspiciously of it as in matter of State to determine or limit the Prerogative Royal. Howbeit if no other choice were left but a necessitie were laid upon us of leaving either the infinite Power or infinite Goodnesse of our God questionable or unexpressed the offence were lesse to speak not so much of his Power as most do than to speak ought prejudicial to that conceipt which even the Heathens by light of Nature had of his Goodness This Attribute is the Chief Object of our Love and for which he himself desires to be loved most and in this respect to derogate ought from it must needs be most offensive But his curse be upon him that will not unfeignedly acknowledge the absolute infinitenesse as well of his Power as of his Goodnesse Whosoever he be that loves his Goodnesse will unfeignedly acknowledge that he is to be feared and reverenced as the Almightie Creator Preserver and Judge of men and unless he were in Power infinite he could not be infinitely Good Howbeit he that restrains his Love and tender Mercie only unto such as are saved doth make his Goodness less at least extensively then his Power For there is no Creature unto which his Power reacheth not but so doth not his loving kindness extend to all unless he desire the good and safetie of such as perish 7. For winding our selves out of the Former Snare we are to consider a main difference between the Love of man or other Creatures and the Love of God to mankind Dumb creatures alwayes affect what they most desire if it be within the precincts of their power because they have neither Reason nor other Internal Law of right or wrong to controll or counter-sway their brutish appetites Man although indued with Reason and natural Notions of right and wrong is notwithstanding oft-times drawn by the strength or inordination of his tender affection to use such Means as are contrarie to the Rules of Reason Equitie and Religion for procuring their safetie or impunitie on whom he dotes Howbeit among men we may find some which cannot be wrought by any promise or perswasion to use those unlawful courses for the impunity of their children or dearest Friends which the world commonly most approveth Not that their Love towards their children friends or acquaintance is lesse but because their Love to publick Iustice to Truth and Equitie and respect to their owne Integritie is Greater then other mens are A fit Instance we have in Zaleucus King of Locris who having made a severe Law That whosoever committed such an offence suppose Adultery should lose his eyes It shortly after came to pass that the Prince his Son and Heir apparent to the Crown trespassed against this Sanction Could not the good King have granted A Pardon to his Son He had Power no doubt in his hands to have dispensed with this particular without any danger to his Person and most Princes would have done as much as they could for the safetie of their Successor nor could Priviledges or Indulgences upon such special circumstances be held as breaches or violations of Publick Lawes because the Prerogative of the person offending cannot be drawn into Example But Zaleucus could not be brought to dispense with his Law because he loved Justice no lesse dearly then his Son whom he loved as dearly as himself and to manifest the Equalitie of his love to all three he caused one of his own eyes and another of his Sons to be put out that so the Law might have its due though not wholly from his son that had offended but in part from himself as it were by way of punishment for his partialitie towards his son It were Possible no doubt for a King to reclaim many Inferiors from theft from robberie or other ungratious Courses so he would vouchsafe to abate his own expences to maintain theirs or afford them the solaces of the Court make them his Peers or otherwise allow them means for compassing their wonted pleasures But thus far to condescend to unthriftie subjects were ill beseeming that Gravitie and Majestie which should be in Princes If one should give notice to a Prince how easie and possible it were for him by these means to save a number from the Gallowes his reply would be Princeps id potest quod salva majestata potest That only is possible to a Prince which can stand with the safetie of his Majestie But thus to feed the unsatiable appetites of greedie unthrifts though such as he otherwise loves most dearly and whose welfare he wishes as heartily as they do that thus speak for them is neither Princely nor Majestical For a King in this Case to do as much as by some means possible he is able to do were an act of weaknesse and impotencie not an act of Soveraigne power a great blot to his Wisdom Honor or Dignitie no true Argument of Royal Love or Princely Clemencie In like Case we are to consider That God albeit in Power infinite yet his infinite Power is matched with Goodnesse as truly infinite his infinite Love is as it were counterpoised with infinite Majestie And though his infinite mercie be as Soveraign to his other Attributes yet is it in a sort restrained by the Tribunicial Power of his Justice This Equalitie of infinitenesse betwixt his Attributes being considered the former Difficultie is easily resolved If it be demanded whether God could not make a thousand worlds as good or better then this it were infidelitie to deny it Why Because this is an effect of meer Power and might be done without any Contradiction to his Goodness to his Majestie to his Mercie or Justice all which it might serve to set forth And this is a Rule of Faith That all Effects of mere Power though greater then we can conceive as possible may be done of him with greater ease then we can breath His only Word would suffice to make ten thousand worlds But if it be questioned Whether God could not have done more then he hath done for his Vineyard whether he cannot save such as daily perish The Case is altered and
of them are but Unprofitable servants 2. It was free then for God to create or not to create man but as it was his pleasure to create him so it was necessary that man being created by him he should be created good and righteous Suppose then the First man had continued in his First Estate that is righteous and good his righteousness could have merited nothing of God much lesse Eternal Life It was as free to God to have annihilated him or to have resolved him into nothing as it was to make him of nothing Indeed to have punished him with everlasting death unlesse he had wilfully and through his own default lost his Orginal righteousness could not have stood with the righteousness or goodness of God There was a morall necessity that his Creator should not punish him with everlasting death unlesse he had transgressed his Law and made himself unworthy of everlasting life But the First Man did wilfully and freely that is without any necessity transgresse the Law of his God and make himself and his posteritie unworthy of eternal life That God upon this transgression did not instantly punish him with everlasting death this was An Act of the Free Grace and mercy of God thus he might have done without any impeachment to his Justice without any disparagement to his Goodnesse That unto man thus ill deserving he made A Promise of Redemption and of Restitution to a better Estate then he lost this was An Act of his Mercie and gracious goodness a more Free Act then his first Creation For that was not deserved and therefore Free But not so Free as the Promise of his Redemption after he had justly deserved the contrary to wit condemnation unto everlasting death But this Promise of Redemption through the Womans Seed being freely made is not the performance of it on Gods part necessary Is he not bound by promise to bestow his Grace on all them to whom he promised Redemption Though he be Debter unto no man yet he is Faithful in himself and cannot deny himself or not perform what he hath promised It is true if the parties to whom he promiseth do so demean themselves as they should or as by the Second Covenant they stand bound But who is he can make this Plea with God Who is he that can truly say there was any necessity at that time when the promise was made to our first Parents in the Womans Seed that he should be begotten or born or that he was such a child of promise from the time of Adams Fall as Isaac was And if there were no necessity then that he should be born what necessity is there that he should be partaker of Grace after he is born Or what necessity is there that after the Grace of Baptism received he should come to be of the number of the Elect No man can plead any worth or merit in himself for the receiving of Grace or any necessity whereby God is tyed by promise or otherwise to bestow Grace or perseverance in Grace upon him in particular These and the like Favours must still be sought for by the Prayer of Faith that is by unfeigned acknowledgement of our own unworthinesse and of Gods Free Mercie not only in making the First Decree concerning mans Redemption but in continual dispensing the Effects of the same Decree or the means of our Salvation This is the only way To lay hold upon the General Promise 3. It was no Contradiction in Cardinal Bellarmine as some conceive it after he had strongly disputed for Merit of Works thus to conclude Tutissimum est It is the safest way to place our Confidence in the Merits of Christ This Resolution of his will truly inferre that albeit the Question concerning Merits were doubtful yet we Protestants take the more useful and safer way and the way which Cardinal Bellarmine himself in his Devotions and as I hope on his death bed did take Yet admit his Doctrine concerning Merits had been true indefinitely taken There had been no Contradiction between his Premisses and Conclusion For many things which are unquestionable in Thesi or in the General are doubtful or vncertain in Hypothesi when we come to make particular Application This Doctrine is most true in Thesi That God is faithful in all his promises that he cannot deny himself or falsifie his promise Yet is it not safe for Thee or Me thus to infer that God cannot deny eternal life to us in particular because he hath promised it as sincerely to Thee or Me as to any others The absolute and unchangeable Fidelity of God will not inferre how strongly soever we believe it That either Thou or I are faithful for the present or shall continue faithfull unto the End or until our finall victory over the divel the world and the flesh which is the True Importance of this Phrase To the End in many places of Scripture Now Gods promise of eternal Life is not immediately terminated To any mans Person or Individual Entity but unto such as continue faithful unto the End or unto such as overcome as you may observe in many places of Scripture especially in the second and third Chapters of The Revelation of St. John Now it is a great deal more easie for a man to assure himself that he is faithful for the present or victorious in respect of instant temptations then to assure himself that he shall continue victorious in respect of temptations that may befal him And yet in respect of the deceitfulness of our own hearts it is not safe for most men to make it as an Article of their Faith or point of Absolute Belief that they are so faithful for the present as that God cannot deny Eternal Life unto them though not in respect of their Merits yet in respect of his Promise if they should instantly depart this life So that such as have as full and perfect Interest in the Promises of God as others have may forfeit their Interest as well by Immature Perswasions or Presumptions that they are of the number of the Elect as by conceit of Merit or Confidence in works Both perswasions are dangerous because both prejudice the Free Mercie and Grace of God in bestowing eternal Life or in dispensing the means required unto it The Romish Church saith it was Free for God to give us Grace or ability to do the works of Grace or not to give it but this Grace being Freely given and the works performed it is not Free but Necessary in respect of Gods Justice to give eternal Life as the Reward of Works Others opposite enough to the Papists say that it was Free for God to Elect or not to Elect us unto eternal Life but being Elected it is not Free for God to deny eternal Life unto us For this in their language were to deny himself or falsifie his promise Yet by their leave If we were thus Elected from Eternity it was never Free
cruel for out of this compassionate affection towards dumb creatures they will be ready to kill a Christian man if he chance to wrong or harm them It is a good thing then to be zealous of good works but unless this zeal be uniform that is unless it proportionably if not equally respect good works of every kind partial or deformed zeal will bring forth compleat Hypocrisie 10. But it is an easie matter to tell men that their zeal must be uniform and unpartial the point wherein satisfaction will be desired is this How this uniformity of zeal in good works must be wrought and planted in men This men must learn from that fundamental Rule of our Saviour Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you so do to them for this the Law and the Prophets All of Us desire or wish that not this or that man only but that every man should deal justly friendly and kindly with us should think or speak well of us whilst we do or intend well should Judge charitably of us when they know nothing to the contrary and censure us charitably if we chance to do amisse The Rule of practise then in brief is this that we make payment by the same measure by which we borrow that is do good as occasions or abilities serve to every man as he is a man or our fellow creature though in more abundant measure unto such as are our Christian brethren and of the same Church and Religion To be charitable in word indeed in thought towards all even towards such as deserve punishment or censure Another branch of the same Rule is this If any have really shewed themselves kind unto us to do unto them as they have done If any have dealt rigidly or unkindly with us not to do as they have done but as we desired they should have done unto us for our desires to be well dealt withall are just but so were not their dealings with us And why should we make other mens unjust dealing with us rather then our own just desires of being friendly dealt withall the Rule of our future actions or dealings with the same men For God will judge us by the former Rule the Tenour whereof is this not to do as we have been done unto specially if we have been unjustly dealt withall but to do to every man as we desire they should have done unto us The same Rule may be yet further extended thus we must do to every man not only as we desire that every man should do to us but as we desire that God should do to us or for us So when we pray that God would forgive us our trespasses we must be ready to forgive them that have trespassed against us If we desire that God would relieve us in distress comfort us in sorrow or succour us in need we must be ready to relieve our neighbors in their distress to succour and comfort them as we are able in time of need not thus in some good measure qualified we do not pray in faith our prayers are not truly religious For as St. James tels us Chap. 1. verse the last Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherlesse and widdows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted of the world CHAP. XXX MATTH 25. 34 c. 41. c. Then shall the King say unto them on his Right hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world FOR I was an hungred and you gave me meat c. Then shall he say also to them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed FOR I was an hungred and ye gave me no meat I was thirstie and ye gave me no drink I was a stranger sick and in prison c. Two General Heads of the Discourse 1. A Sentence 2. The Execution thereof Controversies about the Sentence Three Conclusions in order to the Decision of those Controversies 1. The Sentence of Life is awarded Secundum Opera not excluding Faith 2. Good works are necessary to Salvation necessitate praecepti Medij And to Iustification too as some say quoad praesentiam non quoad efficientiam The Third Handled in the next Chapter Good works though necessarie are not Causes of but the Way to the Kingdom Damnation awarded for Omissions St. Augustines saying Bona Opera sequuntur Justificatum c. expounded St. James 2. 10. He that keeps the whole Law and yet offends in one Point c. expounded Why Christ in the final Doom instances only in works of Charitie not of pietie and sanctitie An Exhortation to do good to the poor and miserable and the rather because some of those Duties may be done by the meanest of men 1. THis portion of Scripture is divided by our Saviour himself into These two Generals the first A Sentence which for the matter is Two-fold Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you verse 34. c. And again ver 41. Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels But many Sentences are given which are not put in Execution Yet this being the Final Sentence that shall be given upon all men and upon all their works there is no question but it shall be put in Execution If reason grounded upon Scripture be not sufficient to inforce our belief as well concerning the Execution of the Sentence as the Equitie thereof we have an Expresse Testimonie of the Judge himself for the certaintie of this Execution ver 46. And these to wit the Goats which were placed on his left hand that is all workers of iniquitie or fruitless hearers of the word of life shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal The Sentence it self hath by the perversness of mans will or by the curiositie of some wits been made the matter of many controversies especially in latter times Of which we shall deliver our Opinion as it shall fall out in the prosecution of the Positive Truth which we are bound to believe The Positive Truthes which I would commend unto the Readers meditation are Three The First That Life everlasting shall be awarded Secundum opera or that all men shall receive their final doom according to their works The second which will necessarily follow upon this That good Works are necessarie to salvation or to the inheritance of this Kingdom here promised The third That good works are necessarie to our admission into this kingdom Non tanqnam Causa regnandi sed quia Via ad regnum not as meritorious Causes for which this kingdom is by right due to us or to any but as the necessarie Way or path by which all such as seek to enter into this Kingdom must passe To begin with the First Point That the Final reward or retribution shall be Secundum opera according to mens works
members of the same Church without dissension And of all the Points in Divinity this day controverted in any Church or betwixt the members of any Church there is no one that doth naturally better brook diversitie of Opinions or acurate sifting without hazard of breaking the bond of Christian peace and charitie then the Controversie about the Certaintie of Salvation or of Perseverance in the state of Grace For Christian charity would presume that every man which hath his senses exercised in these or the like Points is desirous to be as certain of his own Salvation or estate in Grace as with safety of conscience his own understanding or rule of reason will permit him or can make him Such as know their own Estate in Grace by experience or otherwise stand bound in equity in Christian charity and in humanity rather to pity then to exasperate their brethrens weakness which have not the skill or like Experience to conclude for themselves so well as they do or which doubt whether the doctrine in Thesi in the General be true or false And yet we see by woful experience that the Contentions about these Points have been so bitter and so uncivil that no Papist or other Adversary shall ever be able to say more against the Certaintie of Salvation or mens Irreversible Estate in Grace then many such as have written for it have said against themselves For if by the Grace which they hold impossible for men to fall from they mean the Spirit of wisdom or understanding in matters spiritual or the Spirit of meekness of sobrietie and Christian charitie every man that hath any branch of the Spirit of Grace implanted in him may conclude without sin that many which contend most earnestly for Absolute perseverance in it either never had this Grace or else are totally fallen from it 11. The Third Point proposed was the Golden Mean which the Church of England mainteins as opposite to these Contrary Extremes but most consonant to the Evangelical Truth First Our Church doth acknowledge That Fides is Fiducia That the very nature of that Faith which differenceth a Believer from an Infidel or a Christian from a meer natural man doth necessarily include a Certaintie or full Assurance in it It must be without wavering without distrust or Doubt The only Question is About the right or orderly placing of this Certaintie of Faith or full Assurance Or What be the Points whereon it first must be pitched These questionless must be Points Fundamental and such is that That the Son of God did die for us that he did fully pay the price of our Redemption This every man is firmly to beleive otherwise he builds without a Foundation This Certainty of Faith or full assurance you shall find continually prest upon all hearers in the Book of Homilies and other Acts of the Church But how shall every private man be fully assured that Christ did die for him and that he fully paid the price of his redemption Sure no man can have a right or full assurance of this Particular unless he first assuredly believe that the Son of God did die for all men that he hath redeemed all mankind He that firmly and constantly believes this Proposition in some respect universal The Son of God did die for all men can never doubt or waver in Faith whether he died for him or whether he hath paid the full Price of his Redemption He which believes the General by an Historical or Moral Faith cannot chuse but believe the particular by the same Faith He that believes the General by a spiritual and true Christian Faith must believe the particular by the same Faith If the first Proposition Christ died for All men be De Fide The Second likewise Christ died for me must be De Fide too But how any man should have Assurance of Faith That Christ did die for him or hath redeemed him unless he be first assured by Certaintie of Faith That Christ did die for all men This I confess is a Point which I could never be assured of nor be satisfied in by any that plead for Special Faith 12. Sure I am that the Church our Mother doth teach us to begin our Faith or Assurance from the General Christ died for All men he hath redeemed all mankind And this General She grounds upon that Saying of our Saviour John 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life The Application or Use of this place you may find pithily prest in the third Part of the Homily Upon the Death and Passion of our Saviour To whom saith the Author of the Homily did he give his Son To the whole world that is to say to Adam and to all that come after him He was not given to Adam nor to such as come after him until Adam and all that came after him were lost until mankind were become his enemies And this is that which sets forth The wonderful love of God unto the world that he would give his only Son whom he loved for all of us which were his enemies Scarcely for a righteous man will one die saith the Apostle Rom. 5. 7. yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die But God commendeth his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners he died for us 13. But when we are taught to beleive that Christ died as well for every one of us as he died for any we are bound to beleive not only that he shed as much blood for every one of us as he did for St. Peter or St. Paul but that he shed as much blood for every one of us as he did for all men That he paid as great a price for my redemption as he paid for the Redemption of all mankind It was not the Quantitie of his blood shed but the infinite Value of each drop which he shed that did pay the price of our Redemption Had the whole stream of his blood been much greater then it was if it had been of value less then infinite it could not have payed the price of one mans redemption and of price more then infinite his blood what-ever quantitie had been shed could not be for all So that he did as much for thee as he did for both thee and me as much for either of us as he did for the whole world His deservings of every one of us are infinite Were this apprehension or belief of the infinite and undivided love of God in Christ toward all and every man rightly planted in mans heart it would bring forth the fruits of Love he which is thus perswaded of Christs love towards him in particular would love Christ and would keep his Commandements would trust in Christ and in all temptations rely upon him 14. To conclude all concerning The right ordering or placing of that Certaintie or full