was to read the Books of the Kings for their Information how to Rule well so that all Men would read the Holy Scriptures in general would be good Counsel because they afford the best Instructions for living well 2. Ignorance in the Scriptures is dangerous because it is the greatest Reason of Mens running into all sorts of Errors When the Sadducees proposed to our Saviour the Business of the Woman that had had seven Husbands asking him whose wife she should be at the resurrection falsly supposing If there ever would be a Resurrection there would also be Marrying and giving in Marriage at the Resurrection Jesus answered and said unto them Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures And here Madam I might take notice of the Subtlety of the Church of Rome in denying the Scriptures to the Laity because maintaining so many Errors so directly contrary to Scriptures that any discerning Eye must needs discover them Such are Purgatory Pope's Pardons Adoration of Images praying to Saints and Angels and the like But our Lord said of the Pharisees Matth. 15. 14. Let them alone they are blind leaders of the blind And if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch I shall say nothing therefore to these at present but proceed 3. To shew That Ignorance in the Scriptures is very Dangerous because as it is the cause of Sin and Error so by Sin and Error it must consequently be the cause of Destruction Isay 5. 13. Therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge and their honourable Men are famished and their multitude dryed up with thirst Therefore hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure and their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he that rejoyceth shall descend into it Psalm 95. 10. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said It is a people that do err in their hearts and they have not known my ways Vnto whom therefore I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest Prov. 1. 24. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirl-wind when distress and anguish come upon you Then shall ye call upon me but I will not answer ye shall seek me but ye shall not find me for that ye hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord. But to come a little nearer home Christ Jesus has brought Life and Immortality to Light by the Gospel But this says he is the condemnation by way of Eminence That light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved but he that does truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Joh. 3. 19. And surely Madam If they that deny us the Scriptures had not something to be ashamed of they would not shew themselves so much concerned to keep People in Darkness It must needs be a Device of the Devil to keep Men in Ignorance that they might be damned according to the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine upon them But we know that Christ will one day be revealed in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thessal 1. 8. If it is objected That this Text speaks of Heathen Persecutors we may answer That those Christians who are not acquainted with and consequently not obedient to the Gospel of Christ are worse than Heathens I beseech you Madam to consider If it was through Ignorance of the Scriptures the Jews crucified the Lord of Glory as the Apostle says it was 1 Cor. 2. 8. We that are Christians had best take heed That we do not through Ignorance crucifie him again And if it was a Shame for the Corinthians not to know the Scriptures in the very dawning and twilight of Christianity 1 Cor. 15. 34 what an abominable shame must it needs be for us after almost seventeen hundred Years to know no more or it may be not so much To conclude this Point The Apostle dedicates his First Epistle to the Corinthians To All that in Every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. And what he should do so for unless he intended it should be read by All I can't imagin If he intended it only for the Fathers of that Church he might in fewer words and consequently with less trouble have said To the Elders of the Church at Corinth or else directed it to the Bishop of that Church only But he knew the Scriptures were able to make Men wise unto salvation and therefore would have all Men read them And our blessed Saviour knew that the Jews thought they had Eternal Life in the Scriptures therefore he bids 'em Search them Joh. 5. 39. The Injunction is the same upon Christians also And then certainly if the Captain and Author of our Salvation bids us Search we may notwithstanding the Insinuations of some bold Men to the contrary By what Rule else should we try the Spirits whether they be of God as St. John adviseth us 1 Ep. 4. 1. if not by the Rule of God's Word Upon this account therefore among others we are bound to read search and be well acquainted with the Scriptures I presume then after all that has been produc'd to prove this first Position what the Evangelist says of the Revelations Chap. 1. 3. may on good grounds be attributed to the rest of the Sacred Writings Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written therein And now Madam having made good from Scripture Testimonies the Necessity of being acquainted with the Scriptures though I have already gone beyond the ordinary bounds of an Epistle yet I crave leave to trespass a little farther on your Patience in giving you a cursory view of some of the Principal Doctrins of the Church of Rome and demonstrating how contrary they are to the Word of Truth In order to which I shall with all possible brevity enquire I. Whether any Man can do more than he ought to do II. Whether any Man by his own Works can merit Heaven III. To whom it belongeth to Forgive Sins IV. Whether the Scriptures warrant Worshiping of Images or Praying to Saints and Angels V.
the most effectual They says he who are sensible of their own Blindness since there is no other way to be rid of it but by the Word of God they should apply themselves to that and they cannot miss of a Cure. Which is enough to prove the Insufficiency of the Churches Customes or Authority as to Matters of Faith at least Secondly Neither will the Testimonies of the Fathers be of any Force in this Particular For a Rule of Faith must be full of Knowledge and sufficiently able to instruct us But what says S. Austin of himself I am Aug. ep 119. not only ignorant says he in many other Things but even in the Holy Scriptures themselves I am yet to learn more than I know already And thus he elsewhere Ep. ad Hiâ—â— expresses himself To the Books of the Scriptures only which are called Canonical do I owe this Honour that I firmly believe That none of their Pen-Men have err'd in any thing they have written But I esteem other Writers according to their Sanctity and Learning I do not think any thing true meerly because it was their Opinion Which very well agrees with that Axiom of Tertullian If says he a Bishop Tertul. de praescr haeret or Deacon if a Widow or Maid if a Doctor or even a Martyr should err from the Rule would the Error be e'r the Truer or Better for their Sakes We do not prove the Faith by the Persons but the Persons by the Faith. And the Acknowledgment of Biel is to the Bieâ— sup Can. Miss l. 41. same purpose That the Authority of the Fathers compells no Man to assent to their Sayings unless they build on the Holy Scriptures or Divine Revelation On this account therefore S. Austin might well cry out Aug. in Psal 57. Let our Writings be withdrawn that the Book of God may be introduced And as for Apostolical Traditions let the Testimony Iren. l. 3. c. 1. of Irenaeus serve for all By the Apostles says he the Gospel came down to us which they then preached and afterward by the Will of God they delivered to us in the Scriptures what was to be the future Foundation and Pillar of our Faith. Now if neither the Customes of the Church nor the Judgment of the Fathers nor Tradition can be a perfect Rule of Faith no more can all these united in a General Council be so For a Rule must be in every respect perfect But we have seen That the Church is in many respects Defective and the Fathers subject to Ignorance and Error And if Irenaeus may be credited The Apostles preached nothing contrary to what they have left us in Writing and therefore there can be no Place for Apostolical Traditions So that a Rule which is Imperfect and Defective in every Part must needs be so in the whole And Bellarmin himself has proved Bellarm. de Concil l. 2. c. 12. That the Decrees of General Councils cannot be a perfect Rule because they cannot pretend to immediate Divine Revelation That they may Err in some things and in many of their Definitions they conclude only Probably But a Rule of Faith ought to be every way Perfect and to conclude necessarily And such an absolute Perfect Rule the Scriptures appear to be not only from their own Testimony but from Testimonies of the greatest Pillars of the Church in the Second Third Fourth and Fifth Centuries And therefore if any Man's Interest has led him to a contrary Judgment in the later Ages of the Church his Opinions ought not to be set up as a Standard against Antiquity joyn'd with Truth From hence then we may infer what has been already asserted That the Scriptures being of themselves a perfect and Un-erring Rule nothing must be put to or taken from them To which purpose besides what has been produced already the Reader may give himself the trouble of Perusing the following Texts Deut. 12. 32. Josh 1. 7. Prov. 30. 6. Gal. 1. 8. and 3. 15. Rev. 22. 18 19. And let him learn the Danger of Adding or Taking away that is Doing any thing contrary to the Scriptures From these Lev. 10. 2. Isai 1. 12 13 14 and 66. 3. Hos 9. 15. Matth. 15. 6 9. Mark 7. 9. Gal. 4. 10. From all which Texts will evidently appear the Invalidity of any thing that is not built upon the true Foundation and the danger of being led away by such Vanities And so I hope I have sufficiently vindicated my Relyance on the Testimony of the Scriptures in the Business of the following Undertaking I shall only trouble the Reader with two or three necessary Cautions concerning the right Use and Understanding of those Sacred Writings and then give him his Liberty to proceed I. If any Man will make choice of the Scriptures for his Guide in matters that concern his Well-being here and hereafter he must have a care of believing every Spirit We must not take things of such Moment on Trust meerly because they are asserted by one that Pretends to great Learning or Inspiration for we are to look on the Gentlemen of these Times as such as will make the best they can of every Word when they meet with one of an ordinary Capacity Therefore II. It behoveth every Man that hath any regard to his own Safety to search into these things himself to read the Holy Scriptures diligently that so he may learn from them whether such things are true or no. But as I am now Writing to those of the meanest Rank in Learning lat east It is necessary that I caution such Readers of the Scriptures against laying too much stress on the literal Interpretation of a Text For the Holy Ghost very often makes use of Metaphors and other Obscurities wherein the Sense is not obvious to every Eye And tho' as S. Austin says There is nothing so obscure in one Place which in another is not made plain Yet it is not supposed that an ordinary Reader knows how to find that Place out or if he does that he has Judgment enough to satisfie himself For the Scriptures consist of a Soul and a Body The Body is the Letter and the Soul is the true Interpretation Every Man therefore says Origen that De princip lib. 4. desires to come to the Knowledge of the Truth must have his Eye on every Word for every Nation has a different way of speaking let him therefore mind rather what is signified than with what Words it is expressed For there are some things which no Human Words can explain but they are only conceivable in an honest Vnderstanding By which Rule also we come to the Knowledge and Vnderstanding of the Holy Scriptures that what we read is not to be understood according to the Letter but according to the Divinity of that Holy Spirit which inspired it Wherefore the Honest Reader will do well to take care That he is not drawn by the Letter out of the right
That the Rule of Faith is fixed and terminated in the Books of the Prophets and Apostles It was the constant Opinion of this great Doctor of the Gentiles That the Scriptures were of themselves able to make Men Wise unto Salvation Neither is he alone for St. James assures us That they are able to save our Souls Jam. 1. 21. And therefore St. Peter calls 'em a more sure word of Prophecy than a Voice from Heaven and says That all Men would do well that they take good heed to 'em as unto a Light that shineth in a dark place 2 Pet. 1. 19. And our Lord himself in the Parable brings in Abraham telling the Rich Man in Hell That his Brethren had Moses and the Prophets whom let 'em hear says he for if they will not hear them neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the Dead Luk. 16. 29. 31. Upon which words St. Chrysostom's Inference was That we should believe the Scriptures Though the Dead should rise and though Angels should descend from Heaven we must prefer the Testimony of Scriptures before them According to the Apostle Gal. 1. 8. Though we or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed All which I take to be Indications plain enough of the sufficiency of the Scriptures as to all things pertaining to Salvation But besides this I said they were also in themselves sufficient to determin Points of Controversie The Psalmist says of the Word of God That it is a Lamp to his Feet and a Light to his Path Psal 119. 105. And therefore it was that he so often speaks of ordering himself according to this Word and prays so earnestly to God to enable him to do it And thus the Prophet expostulates with the Jews Isa 8. 19 20. When they shall say unto you Seek unto them which have familiar spirits and unto wizards that peep and mutter Should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead To the law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light in them It was the way of the Apostles on all occasions to have recourse to the Scriptures Thus St. Peter in his Sermon to Cornelius to confirm his Doctrin of the Messias says To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth on him shall receive remission of sins Act. 10. 43. And that it was the constant practice of St. Paul no Man can deny that has had the least converse with his Writings especially that great Axiom of his which has never been contradicted That the Scriptures are given by Inspiration of God and are profitable for Doctrin for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness is a more than ordinary instance of his Opinion in this particular And as it is written was the only refuge of those Primitive Builders of the Church And it was the very same method that our Lord himself took to reprove the Tempter Matth. 4. 4. It is written Man shall not live by bread alone c. And Vers 7. It is written Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And Vers 10. It is written Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God. And thus he us'd always to bring the Testimonies of Moses and the Prophets against the impious Objections of the Jews very often telling them That he did not speak his own Words but the Word of him that sent him that is the Word of God. And now would it not be a thing to be wonder'd at if the Holy Fathers of the Church should be ignorant of this way of arguing Or if they did know it that they would not chuse to follow his Example whom they pretended to worship and obey But we have no cause to wonder at this but rather at their ignorance or wilful stubbornness who pretend to be acquainted with them and yet seemingly at least assert their Sentiments and Practice in this matter to be contrary to their Predecessors It was usual with Basil thus to express himsel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Eustath 80 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the Scriptures which are divinely inspir'd be Judge between us For says he Whatsoever Idem Etb. Defin. 80. c. 22. 6. is contrary to them is not of Faith and therefore sinful Every Word or Cause ought to be tried and confirm'd by the Holy Scriptures Neither does St. Cyprian come behind him in this Cypr. ad Pomp. cont Steph. Pap. particular If says he the Pipes through which Water is conveyed into the City should be suddenly deficient should we not go presently to the Spring that thence we may know the cause of the defect whether the Spring it self is dry or whether the Pipes are stopt by any thing which may hinder the course of the Water And so the Pipes being clear'd the City may be supplied with Water as before So ought the Ministers of the Gospel to do In matters of Doubt they should go to our Lord and his Apostles that they may model their Actions by their Doctrin as the Fountain and Original of Divine Truth Tertullian likewise would accept of no Argument that was not drawn from the Scriptures And by this Tertul. de carne Christ Idem de Resur mort he confuted the Hereticks of his time For says he take away the Sophistry of the Heathen Philosophers which the Hereticks make use of and when they come to argue from the Scriptures they will not be able to stand St. Chrysostom says That if any thing is asserted without the authority of the Scriptures to back it on it leaves Chrys in Psalm 95. the Hearers in doubt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Clemens Alexandrinus We say nothing against the Scriptures Cl. Al. de Pet. Strom. lib. 6. Theod. dial 1. cap. 6. Id. Hist lib. 1. cap. 3. And Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I confide in the Scriptures only To which we may add his Testimony of the Saying of Constantine the Great That the Books of the Evangelists and Apostles and the Oracles of the the ancient Prophets do evidently teach us what we are to think of the Divine Power Therefore in every seditious Controversie let us discuss the Point in question by the Testimony of those divinely inspir'd Writings Whence we may see that all the Fathers are not against us in this matter I think Origen may come in for one on our side For in his Comment upon the Sixteenth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans having explained those Admonitions of the Apostle vers 17 18. and coming to vers 19. where the Apostle tells the Romans That their Obedience is come abroad unto all Men And that he is therefore glad on their behalf The Apostle says he therefore rejoyces over those that were obedient being sure that as he had taught them not to use that general Obedience which
justly charge upon the Church of Rome and by that means a Refutation of most of those Tenets in one short Essay will be more profitable as I hope it will be more acceptable to an ordinary Understanding So that upon this account as you will hereby with more ease be furnish'd with what you may be sure is true being drawn from the Fountain of Truth you will I hope be the more easily induc'd to pardon my Undertaking as designing nothing but Honesty I have chosen this way of Writing to you Madam First because I know you delight in conversing with the Holy Writings and so I shall be more conformable to your Inclinations And Secondly though I reverence the Judgment of the Fathers of the Church and General Councils duly assembled and not sway'd by popular Insolence yet as I once objected to one by word of mouth without receiving a satisfactory Answer The Church of Rome says That we have False Copies of the Fathers and we answer That they have corrupted the True so that one of us must needs be in the wrong And how shall we be satisfied in this without comparing them to the Testimonies of the Scriptures And as for General Councils they have of late been purg'd or rather perverted by the Over-ruling Power of Popes and their Popular Factions insomuch that when they began to act against the Interest of the See of Rome though never so justly they were no longer allowed the liberty due to General Councils And then what dependence can we have from them And Lastly the Infallibility of the Church of Rome can be no better a Decider of Controversies than the other two because that must be prov'd if possible from the Scriptures So that when all other Instruments have been tried the Scriptures will prove the only Infallible Touch stone From these and the like Considerations this Piece was at first conceiv'd and is now produc'd for your Service and for such of your Female Companions or Acquaintance as you shall think fit to communicate it to and I hope it will give Satisfaction Be pleas'd therefore to consider that 't is the duty of every Christian to read and be acquainted with the Holy Scriptures And though the Council of Trent denied the reading of them to the Laity pretending that the Vulgation of them was the cause of so many Heresies abroad in the World yet by the leave of the Fathers assembled in that Particular General Council we cann't conceive how a Country Plough-Jobber should by reading the Scriptures be the Author of an Opinion either Orthodox or Erroneous But as might easily be prov'd if it were to the present purpose the Original of all Sects were Men who to shew their Parts and Learning took upon them to scrutinise and enquire into the Sense of Holy Writ and so spread the prime Infection I will trouble you with but an Instance or two to this purpose and so proceed Arius that known Heretick as well for his Learning as the many Proselites he gain'd to his Party meeting with that Text Joh. 17. 3. This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent thought of a trick by misplacing a Point to seclude Christ from being True God. In the Original 't is This is life eternal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. To know thee only to be true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent But he puts the Comma after the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only and so corrupts the Sense by misplacing the Point a trick which certainly none but a Scholar could have thought on Thus we find Gregory the Great openly asserting That whoever should call himself Universal Bishop was Antichrist but the succeeding Bishops of Rome disputed the contrary and arrogated to themselves the Title I might likewise urge the Feuds of the Franciscans and Dominicans and other Orders of the Church of Rome to prove that all Quarrellings and jangling Disputes about Matters of Religion have in all Ages been broach'd by Men of Learning But to come nearer home would it not be very absurd to imagin that such a silly fancy as Quakerism could ever have been heard of or so long upheld among us if some such Man as Penn who is thought no great stranger in a College of Fame had not at first insinuated it into some poor ignorant People who were not able to resist his Logick or it may be were more taken up in their worldly Employments than the Study of Holy Scriptures And indeed it is not probable that one who is better skill'd in the management of a Plough than a Logical Argument should be able to define in Matters of Faith and Doctrin It may be sooner prov'd that the principal Authors and Abetters of most of our Divisions came from Rome than that they sprung from ignorant People reading the Scriptures And if you please to peruse these Papers you 'll find that the Chuch of Rome in that Council had other Ends in denying the Scriptures to the Common People than the Suppressing of Sectaries as they pretended I come therefore to the business I propos'd to your Consideration the Duty incumbent on every Christian to read and understand the Holy Scriptures This I present to your Meditation in the first place as Preparatory to that which is to follow It being my intent in this Undertaking to have to do with nothing but Scripture Quotations And so I begin Deut. 6. 6. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou lyest down and when thou risest up And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thy house and on thy gates The words were spoken to the whole Congregation of Israel and need not be explain'd Deut. 17. 18. And it shall be when the king of Israel sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this Law in a book out of that which is before the Priests the Levites and it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life c. Where give me leave to take Notice That it being impossible to keep the Scriptures from the Eye of the more Ingenious Gentry they have been furnished with a Vulgar Latin Translation of the Bible which they call though falsly enough St. Jerome's and lest the Corruptions wherewith they had prudently loaded it should be discovered Pope Sixtus the V. in the Year 1578 published a Greek Copy purposely forg'd by Cardinal Carapha to make Men believe That the Latin was agreeable to the Original Josh 1. 8. This Book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and
3. 2. In many things we offend all And if a just man falleth seven times a day Prov. 24. 16. Who can boast of being righteous over much Nay where is there a Man so good as that he may number his offences Holy David could not though a man after God's own heart We read of but one man throughout the whole Book of God who was without sin and that was the man Christ Jesus yet it was never said of him that he did more than fulfil the Will of his Father And for us born in sin and conceived in corruption to say we can do more I cannot express the Folly and Nonsense of it By so doing we should make God our Debtor who is Debtor to no Man. If they of the Church of Rome can brag of any works of Supererogation they are such as these The hallowing Daggers for the cutting off Princes that are not for their turn The sacrificing all they please to call Hereticks The denying the Scriptures in a tongue understood by the Vulgar And several others which might be named concerning which they may indeed be ask'd Who hath required these things at your hands But we of the Church of England know of nothing to be done more than what is our duty to do We know the Preachers Doctrin was Whatsoever thy hand findeth for thee to do do it with thy might Eccl. 9. 10. And our Lord and Master's Advice is when we have done all we can to acknowledge our selves but unprofitable Servants having done only what was our duty to do Luk. 17. 10. For no Man lives and sins not If therefore we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1. 8. Nay we make God a Liar who hath said there is not one that doth good Psal 14. 1 3. In a word if there is a Devil to tempt we are still in danger of sinning And if every thought will be brought in to Judgment who can call himself Inncent 'T is my opinion that instead of thinking we can do more than our Duty Every Man should rather repent of the sins as well of Omission as Commission he is daily guilty of and with the Psalmist cry out Who can understand his Errors cleanse thou me from secret faults Psal 19. 12. For our Saviour's censure on the most righteous is Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luk. 13. 3 5. To conclude this first Quere if it were possible for any Man to over-do his Duty I would ask any reasonable Man Whether when he has done more than he ought to have done he would not commit a great sin in thinking so and a greater in saying so If the Affirmative holds good then the poor Man has still some part of his Duty to perform viz. to repent of that sin and so in infinitum II. The second Enquiry proposed was Whether a Man by his own Works can merit Heaven Here Madam be pleased to consider with me these few following Texts Deut. 9. 4. Speak not thou in thine heart after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee saying For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this Land but for the wickedness of these nations c. The Land of Canaan of which this Text speaks is generally looked on as a Type of Heaven And then this is plain enough Job 9. 30. If I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands never so clean yet thou shalt plunge me in the ditch and my own cloaths shall abhor me c. And Chap. 15. 14. What is man that he should be clean and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous Verse 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water All spoken by one whose Fellow was not to be found upon the Face of the Earth for Vertue and therefore if any could boast he might Psal 130. 3. If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who should stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared And Psal 143. 2. Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Isai 53. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all And Chap. 64. 6. But we are all as unclean things and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we do all fade as a leaf and our iniquity like the wind hath taken us away Rom. 3. 10. As it is written There is none righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God they are all gone out of the way they are altogether become unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Their throat is an open sepulchre with their tongues they have used deceit the poison of asps is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace have they not known there is no fear of God before their eyes All this is spoken of all Mankind in general both Jews and Gentiles and if it be true what can any Man find in himself to challenge Heaven as his due Rom. 6. 23. Eternal Life is called The gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now if Eternal Life be a Gift I would fain know how a Gift can be Merited And if it be for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord I would know whether the same Gift can be said to be Merited by him for us and by us for our selves too if this is affirmed then something to this purpose must follow That the Passion and Death of Christ are Significant and partly not because a Man as a Christian at least may Merit and consequently enjoy Heaven by his own Works without the Application of Christs Merits which would be very Absurd to say no worse of it But if it be denyed then the Consequence will be this That let a Man merit what he will he must be beholding to the Merits of Christ for his Admission into Heaven at last 2 Cor. 4. 4. For I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Let us then suppose a Man to be in the Apostles Case in my Opinion such a Man could have but little Comfort from his own Merits if he being so perfect as not to know any evil by himself should not for all that be certain of his Justification I would ask one of these Meritorious Gentlemen in the Words of the Apostle at the seventh Verse of the same Chapter Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it Eph. 2. 8. For by grace