for the worthinesse of the thinges done or suffered by men as for that they are done of men formally iustified before with God by the infused grace of charity and that they are therefore growne to that efficacie by the bloode and merits of Christ for which beleeued but on as they teach God hath iustified them by infusing the gift of charitie into their soules and mindes let them not once thinke or dreame I say that any or all of these their sophisticall and cunning sleights or shiftes eyther can or shall once darken or blemish the plaine euidence and cleare light of this doctrine of iustification redemption and full saluation freely and effectually by faith in Christ Iesus For as for the first of these they cannot be ignorant that whensoeuer the question is in hande how and wherby man is to be iustified before God the scriptures throughout as plainely teach vs that there is but one iustification or waie thereunto as they teach vs that there is but one God Indeede they shewe sometimes that there is a proceeding and growing forward â—â—eerein from vertue to vertue from faith to faith and so from strength to strength in applying vnto vs according to the increasings of our knowledge more and more of our owne wantes and of Christes person and office and according to our proceeding in the strength vertue power of our faith grounded therupon Christ Iesus his merits and sometimes they speak of iustification in a larger or in another signification therfore then they may and doe vrge him that is iustified to be yet more iustified but heereupon to builde that therefore there are two distinct kindes of iustification of man before the tribunall seate of GOD is both to builde without grounde and foundation and wilfullie in a most serious cause to play and seeke by dallying with ambiguitie of wordes to deceiue the simple Now as for their second shift the vanity falshoode therof will soone appeare to any that with any indifferencie wil but consider Paules wordes when in handling of this point he shutteth out workes of the lawe from hauing any thing to doe in the office of iustifying For writing as he did alwaies when he handled this question not to Iewes that indeede thorowe ignorance both of Christ and of the true meaning and vse of the lawe vsed to seeke by the workes of the lawe in their sence that is by workes taught by the lawe and done before grace to be iustified but to conuerted and beleeuing Gentiles to what purpose had it beene to labour so often and so earnestlie to driue them from seeking iustification by such workes of the lawe whereof they coulde neuer make anie such reckoning in that before their conuersion they were not so much as once acquainted with the lawe If therfore we must thinke as we are bounde that Paule wrote and spoke to the purpose and aptlie to those that he had to deale withall out of all question we must needs be of that iudgement that he taught euen the conuerted and beleeuing gentiles in what measure soeuer the spirit of grace enabled them to haue and to performe neuer so manie good workes of the lawe yet when they were neuer so full of them to trust perfectly freely to be iustified by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus and not at all by the workes of the lawe Alas who is so simple as to thinke that the false Apostles sought to perswade the Galathians whome Paule had left setled in seeking their iustification freely by faith in Christ to seeke manie so to be iustified in part or in whole by workes of the lawe done without or before grace and yet if this popish glose must stand Paule in his Epistle written of purpose to perswade the Galathians not to listen to these teaching them to seeke any way to be iustified before God by the workes of the lawe therein eyther disputes to no purpose and fightes but with his owne shadowe or else it must be granted that these were the workes of the lawe that they were taught by them to put some trust and confidence in which to imagine were most grosse and absurde for there is no likelihoode therein at all His reasons that he vsed to shut out the workes of the lawe from the office of iustifying are these for by the lawe commeth the knowledge of sinne Rom. 3.20 For that our reioycing is in this case excluded not by the lawe of works but by the lawe of faith vers 27. For that if Abraham were iustified by workes he hath wherein to reioyce but not with God for that the wages is counted to him that worketh not of fauour as he taketh it for graunted it was to Abraham and must be to all the children of Abraham in this case but of debt which likewise he assumeth as graunted to be in this point absurde Rom. 4.2.4 For if they which are of the lawe be heires faith is made voyde and the promise is of none effect For the lawe causeth wrath 14.15 therefore it is by faith that it might come by grace and the promise might be sure to all the seeds 16. As mante as are of the workes of the lawe are vnder the curse For it is written cursed is euery one that continueth not in all thinges which are written in the booke of the lawe to doe them No man is iustified by the lawe in the sight of God it is euident for the iust shall liue by faith and to Abraham and his seede were the promises made he saith not and to thy seedes as speaking of manie but and to thy seede as of one which is Christ Gal. 3.10.11.16 Euerie and all of which argumentes make and serue strongly not onely to debarre woorks done before grace according to the outward letter of the lawe from all office and power to iustifie but also all workes done after grace effectually if mans owne free will in such sort concurre to the working of them as they teach For euen therein and when they are done the lawe findeth such imperfection in the doer as we may see by Paules owne confession Rom. 7.24 that he hath cause to crie O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from this bodie of sinne and death and to acknowledge euen in such a one as then he himselfe was who doubtlesse was then in the state of grace that the lawe is such a reuealer of sin yet to be in him and therfore also of wrath that he is so farre off from hauing any cause by his own works done after grace to thinke that he deserueth to be iustified or saued in any respect that thereby he may iustly with him take occasion to confesse that though the law be spiritual yet he is carnal so sold vnder sinne that in his flesh there dwelleth no good thing for though to will is present with him that he allowe not the euill he doth because in
the price thereof not according to the worthinesse thereof but according to mens purses will euer seeke to get heauen And further seeing that the lawe is the lawe of God who for that he made vs able at the first to keepe it may by good right still call for the keeping of it at our handes though before he call for it he knoweth now that such is our corruption of the one side and the perfection of it of the other side that we can not keepe it thereby we are to learne to fall downe before him and with the teares of our soules to confesse our debt that therin he demaundeth indeede to be due debt vnto him in regard of the state wherein he created vs but that by our owne fault we are growne now vtterly vnable to pay it and therefore that there is nowe no other way for vs to escape the danger of his infinite iustice but by flying to the throne of his mercy in his sonne Christ Iesus O if we would breake vp the fallowe landes of our heartes as we are counselled to doe Iere. 4.4 by causing this sharpe plowe of the law to make deepe forrowes in it For then so much good feede of the gospell as is woulde not daily be spilt and lost vpon vs for that our heartes for lacke heereof are either like the high way or like to stony or thorny ground But finding that the hardnesse of our hearts is such that this plough alone wil not pearce deep inough to breake them vp let vs adde thereunto the weight of Gods threatned iudgementes against the transgressours of the lawe Entering into which meditation we shall finde first generally Gods curse denounced against all those that doe not obserue and keepe all the words of the law Deut. 27.26 And to goe no further then to that Chapter and the next in particular we shall finde so manie most fearefull iudgementes threatened to all transgressours of the lawe as that thereby wee may easelie perceiue that to all transgressours thereof the Lorde would haue vs to vnderstande that infinite and most intollerable are the plagues both in this life and that which is to come that be threatned and due And in verie reason we must needes see it must bee so for sinne or transgression of the lawe beeing as it is an offence against the almightie and so a meanes directlie to deserue the seueritie of his iustice to be shewed against the same who is so simple but he must needes see that all miseries in this life and eternall death and damnation in the life to come are but iusty threatned against all that breake the law Nowe these thinges thus beeing may we thinke that those beeing both due and threatned that the infinite iustice of GOD is such that it will not inflict or execute the same when or vpon whome he list To what end tende all the fearefull examples of Gods vengeance executed vppon men that wee reade of in the scriptures and in other bookes and daily seeby experience but to teach vs that God is not a bare threatner but that he both can and wil be as seuere as his threatnings come vnto if there be not a iust and sufficient stop to stay the fiercenesse of his iust wrath from breaking out against all the generation of mankind Yf al this will not serue to make vs haue broken and contrite heartes for our sinnes and so to hunger and thirst after Christ let vs further yet behold the vglinesse of our sinnes and the extreeme danger that we were in by the meanes of them in this that God hath not spared his onely begotten sonne to giue him to vs to be borne and to liue and die for vs as he did For heerein as the loue and bountifulnesse of our God towardes man hath most gloriously appeared as Paule noteth Titus 3.4 so therein and thereof we may say with the Psalmist that mercy and iustice haue most notably mette and kist each other Psal 85.10 for doubtlesse such was the loue of the father towardes the sonne that if in his wisedome any other phisition or any other meanes could or woulde haue serued to haue recouered and cured vs of our sinnes he woulde neuer haue so farre debased his sonne as beeing God to appoint him to become man and in his manhoode to haue endured liuing and dying for vs that which he did O then in that the office of a sauiour was committed vnto him in that he taking vppon him to goe through therewith as he did beeing as he was in person not man onely but God also yet found it so heauie and difficult a thing we haue most iust cause to see and beholde that it is a thing of the greatest difficulty that may be to satisfie the iust wrath of God for sinne In him we knowe there was no sinne and in his mouth there was no guile Esay 53.9 1. Pet. 2.22 for such an high priest it became vs to haue that was seperate from sumers and needed not as the priestes of the olde Testament first to offer for his owne sinnes and then for the peoples Hebr. 7.26.27 And yet in that he bare our infirmities he was surely driuen to carrie our sorrowes insomuch that he was debased as he was and wounded and broken as he was for our transgressions and iniquities Esay 53.3.4.5 In that therefore his pure and holy manhoode though it had personally vnited vnto it a Godhead to enable it to goe thorow with that which it had to doe and suffer going vnder the burthen but of our sinnes was driuen into those bloodie sweates and agonies that it was in the garden Luke 22 44. and both there and after vpon the crosse before he coulde say all is finished Iohn 19.30 to say Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me my soule is heauie vnto death Math. 26.39 and 38. and my God my God why hast thou forsaken mee Mathewe 27.40 it was made manifest vnto the whole worlde that infinite is the seueritie of Gods iustice against fin that none but such an one was euer able to haue borne the burden thereof and to haue gotte from vnder it againe to triumphe ouer it as he hath proued that he did by his most glorious and comfortable resurrection and ascention into heauen after his death and passion when thus the iustice of GOD and his wrath against sinne was manifested in his suffering thorowe astonishmente thereat from the sixte howre vnto the ninthe there was darknesse ouer the whole earth the vaile of the temple rente from the toppe to the bottome the earth did quake and the stones were clouen and the graues did open themselues Math 27 45.51 52. if these then and all the former laide togither will not or cannot so astonishe or amaze vs at the sight of our sinnes and of all Gods wrath due vnto vs and most surely ready we cannot tell how soone to destroy vs if it be not stayed by this
what he can to keepe vs from this hunger and thirst proceeding from a deepe and due feeling of our sinnes and the grieuousnesse thereof that so eyther lothing this heauenly foode or not sufficiently finding our neede and want thereof through our owne fault we may be neuer the better for it And the meanes whereby he most preuaileth heerein be ignorance security and errour By ignorance hee preuaileth with all those be they Iewes Turkes Papistes or whatsoeuer whom by any cunning he can keepe in ignorance eyther of the lawe person or office of Christ of which sort wonderfull manie be By securitie he preuaileth not onely also with the former but likewise shamfully with the carnall gospellers beguiling their heartes being as yet indeed for all their faire outward shewe in words quite voyde of al true loue and delight either in the law or gospell through the deceitfulnes of sinne and by teaching of them to turne the grace of God into wantonnes and most lewdly to abuse the mercies of God in Christ by presuming therby to haue their sinnes forgiuen them when and howe they liste though they as longe as they list continue therein By errour also he preuaileth mightilie with verie many and nowe a daies wonderfully amongst the papistes For as though directly they had conspired with fathan to keepe men from euerhauing that hunger and thirst after Christ that I haue proued to be most necessary notwithstanding the great light that shineth in the world and discouereth and detecteth their dealing herin to be too too bad they haue set abroach and defend a number of opinions which can lead to no better or other end but toblunt and to dull the edge very greatly at the least of alsuch hungring and thirsting after Christ For to what other or better end serueth either their refusing to ioyne with vs or their teaching as they doe in the doctrines of original sinne and mans free will in things spirituall and good with vs they will not holde that originall sinne is such an vniuersall inbred and inborne corruption and priuitie in man where by not onely it is euident that Adams sin is imputed vnto him and that the guiltines thereof therefore is his withall the other bad fruites and consequentes thereof but also amongst all other this that naturally euen by the force and power thereof he is altogether in al the powers both of his body and soule corrupted and prone to all euill and backward to euery thing that is good but to the full constitution of the nature thereof they hold that it is inough to say it is either a want of originall righteousnesse which ought to be in vs or an habituall auersion from God which they hold to be but such as that therewith may and doth in some yet stand mans free will to good that it is so quite taken away and abolished in the baptisme of euery one that thenceforth there remaines not though concupiscence remaine still anie reliques thereof at all or cause why man should be grieued either at or with the feeling therof as at or with sin And such frewil is it which they hold man hath after his fall euen to and in that which is spirituall good as that man in his first conuersion to God hauing but the outward means thereof sufficiently offred vnto him that euen that grace is sufficient to conuert him if he would himselfe which they holde he might if he list and being once conuerted that is as they take it the outward meanes being once so fully and effectually proferred him as whereby he taketh occasion rightly to vse his frewill in accepting of grace so offered then they holde by the meanes of grace ther vpon bestowed vpon him which they count and call the habit of charitie he can will freely and worke any good thing Whereas wee as we haue often shewed enforced both by the scriptures fathers reason and all experience confesse and teach that by the fall of Adam our freewill to and in that which is good indeed is so lost as that what good meanes so euer at any time be outwardly presented vnto vs yet thereby we shall neuer be able to will well by any power left in vs nor euer shall indeede vnlesse GOD inwardlie by his spirite withall first create and frame in euerie one of vs a new heart and will to choose that which is good and then alwaies after assist strenthen and guide the same therein Who may not therefore euen hereby plainlie see that fathan mightily preuaileth by their doctrine to holde men backe from hungring and thirstinge after Christe as they shoulde For if originall sinne bring no deeper nor vniuersaller corruption with it then they teache it doth into the nature of man and may and is so quickely and vtterly abolished out of the same againe by baptisme and man hath in him selfe remaining such a free will to good that before his conuersion vpon the offering of the outward means thereof sufficiently he may be conuerted if he wil himselfe and that after he needs no daily or further supplie of the spirit to leade his wil alwaies therevnto but that which he receiued in his first conuersion to worke together with the natiue or hereditarie free will that was before in man then surely what is there left either by the cōsideration of our originall sinne or by the viewe of our lacke of free will to good an inseperable companion thereof to make vs to long and to thirst after Christ For by their doctrine if we bee but baptized we are quite rid and freede from the former and as for the latter we haue it naturallie so as yet it is not quite taken from vs by Adams fall but onely by our sinnes originall and actuall so settred and hindred that either vpon sufficient meanes but outwardly offered we may vse it againe euen to the accepting thereof to our conuersion or after but by vertue of grace receiued at once in our conuersion for euer then vse and shewe it free to the working out of our owne saluation After baptisme then you see they hold it needlesse for a man to trouble his conscience with originall sinne or any parte thereof and to deliuer the other out of captiuitie where into it is brought by sinne that so as some of them speake they may goe with the owne foote thereof and flie with the owne winges and feathers thereof which it had before though it coulde not vse them there is no more in effect to doe but to haue the outwarde meanes sufficientlie profered for that euen therevpon if man wil vse his free will as they say he may doe if he will all the rest touching the full freedome there of wil follow Their doctrine also of satisfying for our sinnes by our selues and others of the force and validitie of indulgences masses and such like thinges purchased for vs likewise either by our selues or others either whiles we are aliue or dead and
they bring idle wordes must be pardonable euen for the littlenes thereof must not be accounted contra legem that is contrary to the law but only praeter legem that is to saye besides the lawe and such as may be washt and doone away by knocking of the breaste by holye water by saying the Lordes prayer by fasting a day by an almes giuing by generall confession of sinnes or by a Bishops blessing yea as one saith though these be done without any inward good motion at all Yea if all these will not serue their great Bellarmine will not yet be put or driuen from this position of the ablenesse of man to keepe the lawe For after he had tried with other of his fellowes what these coulde doe to wipe away the obiections made against the same pressing Paules experience to the contrarie Rom. 7. though it be there neuer so plaine that by the law euen then he found himself a breaker of the lawe and therefore no perfect keeper therof yet for that Paule there to comfort him selfe with all confesseth that in his mind or inward man he delighted in the lawe allowed of that which was good and condemned the contrarie he sayeth that in so saying Paule prooues and shewes that he was for all the lawe in his members which likewise he saith rebelled against the lawe of his minde and led him captiue vnto the lawe of sinne a perfect keeper euen then of the lawe For the lawe saith he is not giuen to the sence or flesh but to the minde and spirit of man wherein Paule kept the lawe though in the other respect he had such cause to complaine And whereas he knewe that such as they counte no veniall but deadly sinnes haue beene found and may be againe euen in the regenerate yet such he will defend may be counted perfect keepers of the lawe when they haue risen againe by repentance and haue had those their sinnes forgiuen in Christ Yea though he be enforced by a place out of Saint Augustines first booke of his retractions Cap. 19. to confesse that there is aduouched by him some imperfection in the best mens keeping of the lawe yet to doe the best that he coulde to couer and cure the wounde that that saying had giuen his cause he would make his reader beleeue that the imperfection that he findes therein is but Carentia perfectionis the want of perfection and not the transgression of any one commaundement which he resembled to the omitting of one letter in writing of much If this be learnedlie to defende a position or the maintenance thereof not onelie to fall into so manie absurdities as these be and then besides to be driuen to vse such a sort of friuolous and fruitles shiftes as these be what position can possible to be foolish and false but that a man of any wit may defende it And who can be so simple and blinde but he must needs perceiue that in all this geare whether they see it or not that Sathan directly by their mouthes and pens laboreth and sweateth most egerly and directly to make men so drunken and full with a conceite of their owne perfection or at least small imperfection that they hunger nor thirst after Christ as they haue cause in deede to doe Who but men bewitched with an opinion that whatsoeuer their Romain prelates alow for currant and found doctrine how contrary so euer it be in deede to scriptures fathers reason and all would euer hold either al or any of these For most plentifully by all these a number of times wee haue shewed them their vanitie and folly in all of these and to this daie they neither haue nor euer will be able to answere vs to the purpose herein And assure thyselfe that herein I haue charged them with nothing but with that which I finde in the best and most famous writers of their side as namely in Andradius Osorious Canisius Vega Fransciscus de victoria the censure of Colen their Rhemish notes of the new testament and in Bellarmine But howsoeuer therfore they may stand ressolute herein yet I hope euen the bare recitall hereof maketh thee Christian reader to see the verie grosse absurditie thereof also If there were noe more to cause thee to see it but this that the rest of all these their doctrines plainelye tendes and is as I haue shewed to driue man either to thinke his soules sicknes through sinne not to be so daungerous and grieuous as it is indeede and therefore as we teach it to bee or for his recouery thereof to trust to other phisick or Phisitions then to the onely phisition of our soules Christ Iesus euen that surelye were and is sufficient For how can that doctrine be any way found or good that naturally bringeth forth or breedeth eyther of these cursed fruites so daingerous to mans saluation or so iniurious to the honour and glorie of Christ Iesus Yet that thou maist not be without thy particular counterpoyson in a readines against euery one of these their poisons to Iustifie our doctrine and to confute theirs touching original sin free will remember that with vs against them it is written touching the former thus The imagination of mans hart is only cuil euen from youth Gen. 6.5 8.21 the naturall man perceiueth not the thinges of the spiritte of God neither can he knowe them 1. Cor. 2.4 Yea that before our conuersion we are said to haue hard and stonie heartes Ezech. 11.19 Rom. 2.5 but also to be darknesse Ephes 5.8 and dead by sinne Ephes 2.5 and that touching the other Paule hath most plainely taught the Saintes at Phillippis that it was God that wrought in them both the will and the worke and that of his owne good pleasure Cap. 2.13 and that Christ himselfe most plainely hath said that no man can come vnto him but whom the father draweth Ioh. 6.44 and that without him we can doe nothing Iohn 15.5 And their next three are sufficiently confuted euen in that we read and we knowe it is most certaine that our Christ is able perfectly to saue al them that come vnto God by him seeing he euer liueth to make intercession for them Heb. 7.25 and hath offered himselfe once for all to take away the sinnes of many Cap. 9.28 yea with that one offering hath consecrated for euer them that are sanctified 10.14 especially it beeing also most plainely written as it is that as there is but one God so there is but one mediatour betwixt God and man the man Christ Iesus 1. Tim. 2.5 and that there is no other allowed doore whereby at all to enter into Gods sheepefolde but onely the same Christ Iesus Iohn 10.1.9 c. For these places are most pregnant to cut the throte for euer of all those deuises and may satisfie and will anie that are not wilfullie disposed to wrastle for the aduauncing of the creature and his owne founde deuise though to the darkening and obscuring
to deliuer vs from the curse of the law And if the forgiuenes of our sinnes that we looke for at Gods hand stretch not thus far how could they be said to be made as white as snowe or woole Isay 1.18 when they are forgiuen or how could it be said of God when he forgiues thē that he would remember them no more as it is 31.34 Heb. 10.17 Yea that then he castes them al into the bottom of the sea as he promiseth he wil Math 7.19 And yet as necessarie comfortable and certaine as you see this doctrine to be the papists can not find in their harts to let vs goe away with it thus wholie and freely For first they directly hold that sins falne into after baptisme haue a number of fountaines of water to wash them in and meanes to purge the owners thereof besides Christ Iesus and his merits Their sacrament of pennance which they holde to consiste of contrition confession and satisfaction and the priestes absolution thereupon in this case must serue vs as a second planke after shipwracke to fly vnto and to escape the danger of the tempestuous seas of Gods wrath by and if this will not serue then Masses satisfactorie workes done by mans owne selfe and others extraine vnction and lastly the enduring of the paines of purgatory and the mediation of Saints and Angels all laid together shal help them quite to be discharged from those sinnes and the punishments yet by them to be suffered for them from which they durst not for all this euidence that I haue brought looke fully to be deliuered by the precious blood of Christ Iesus And yet they cannot be ignorant that as in the institution of the sacrament of his body and blood he calde the cup the newe testament in his blood which shoulde be shed for the remission of sinnes Mat. 26.28 that so when it was shed to that end and therefore he euen readie to die that to shewe that by that death of his all meritorious suffering satisfying for sinne had an end he said consummatum est that is it is finished Io 19.30 And that therfore in the epistle to the Hebrwes the absolute sufficiencie of the sacrifice offered by Christ to purchasse vs full and perfect redemption and saluation by the remission of our sinnes once for all by his owne person is so aduouched as though the holie Ghost therein of purpose directed the writer to preuent and to confute all these deuises who may not see The stone that they woulde seeme especially to stumble at and whereby to fall into these conceites is that which we reade 2. Sam. 12. that notwithstanding vpon Danids repentance he tolde him that God had forgiuen him his sinne and put it away verse 13. yet he not onelie denounceth a iudgment against him vpon occasion of that his sinne but also it after followeth and is shewed howe it was in deed executed vpon him For here vpon when other shiftes faile them to countenance their antichristian ecclipsing and defacing the full and stee remission of sinnes ye of all our sinnes originall and actuall before baptisme and after that any way are remissible they imagine yet they may hold thisfast that howsoeuer by and in him we may haue remission of the sins them selues and release of the eternall punishmentes due therefore that yet there may and doeth remaine some temporary to be abid or satisfied for by our selues or other of our good friendes either here in this life or in purgatory in the life to come But alas who seeth not that the ground which they haue from hence is to weake and sandy to build such a huge heape of satisfactory workes and sufferings vpon as here vpon to rob Christ and to aduatire and enrich them selues they woulde faine builde For though this and the like dealing of GOD with his seruantes proue that God may and doth for iust causes known vnto himselfe take occasion by their sinnes to chastise them and to correct them for the same though he haue before forgiuen them their sinnes and neuer meane that they shall therefore be condemned yet neither this nor all the like examples euer can proue that by the enduring of or satisfying for these any way or by any bodie Gods meaning euer was that they shoulde perfect the worke of the remission of their sinnes For doubtlesse his sonne hauing vndertaken the purchasing of this for vs at his handes and there lacking in him neither skill nor power nor affection to go through with the worke which he had taken in hand without doing of him to manifest and open wrong in robbing of him in taking from him that which is his due we must fully be persuaded that for our sinnes he hath so fully satisfied his heauenly father that he will thinke we doe him greate iniurie and much staine his iustice if by any other doing or suffering we shoulde offer him any other price or paiment againe therefore Such punishments therefore either threatned by God or afflicted vpon his children after in Christ their sinnes are forgiuen them they are his fatherly chastisments to teach them the better to see the vilenesse and grieuousnesse of sinne and serue both them and other as Gods sanctified meanes to warne them to take more heed of sinne thereafter and to mortifie them therevnto but in no sort must wee be so foolish as with these kinde of men to imagine that they must either be endured or otherwise bought out by our owne satisfactions or of others to make perfect or to consummate the full remission of our sinnes By these deuises they set their priests and prelats a loft in the consciences of men as though they could absolue them and discharge them from that from which all the blood shed of Christ Iesus though neuer so well beleeued in hath not yet quitte them and so by their deuise of purgatorie and their manner of releeuing of soules there by their pardons masses and dirges c and by doing of these and by their absolution extraine vnction and their taking vpon them to offer Christ againe to his father for them as though his owne offering of him selfe coulde not serue the turne they haue wonderfully enriched themselues What other reasons soeuer they may pretend hereof if these were not the reasons indeede that set them and helde them in this way they had long agoe or would quicly be glad with vs to preach and to beleeue ful remission of all sinnes both in respect of the guiltinesse and punishment also by and thorow the onely sufferings and satisfaction done by Christ For what reason in the worlde can cause them but once to thinke that Christ hath borne the burthen of our sins but so in his owne bodie vpon the tree that he should when he had done returne the same againe vpon vs in some forte to beare and to suffer for Or if they woulde needes holde this to be thus howe can they tell howe much
possest there also the possessour may be assured that with him he possesseth all those things also And yet these men no not their Bellarmine can abide any of these but it shall be inough with them him also to beleeue there is remission of sins accompanying baptisme to be had by him in him in the Church that there is such a mercy of God that is able to saue and that the righteousnesse of Christ may be as he is our head ours in such a sort that it may be the efficient cause of an inherent righteousnes in our selves able to earne heauen by but particularlie especially for vs to beleeue that we shall without all doubt haue all our sinnes forgiuen vs that we are sure of this mercie and haue this righteousnesse of his imputed vnto vs as our owne whereby we shall and may be righteous before God at no hand they can abide As though he that sticketh not to giue vs his sonne God and man to be our verie owne so that we are his and he ours would not or could not together with him giue vs these things also Yea how can he withold them giuing vs his sonne seeing these and he goe alway togither But to proceede This vniō is not carnall but spirituall this vnion of ours and cōmunion with Christ though it must be certain reall true in refpect of the things to be vnited yet in regard of the manner of vniting them we must not imagine it to be any grosse or earthly commixtion or cōiunction with him such as is with vs the mingling or ioyning togither of any creatures that in themselues are diuerse but that it is altogither in respect of the manner spirituall and supernaturall and yet neuerthelesse true and certaine though it be both vnsearchable and vnutterable For let a man fearch all the scriptures thorow and an other communion and fellowship with Christ whereupon saluation commeth then that which is spirituall he shall nether finde eyther promised expected or performed In deede it was both promised and thereupon expected and performed that Godhead and manhood shoulde be vnited togither in one person that so man who by sinne had lost his vnion communion and fellowship with God might recouer the same againe in and by that person and by that which he should accomplish in those two natures for him But as the personall vnion of these two natures in one Christ as by our Catholicke faith we are perswaded is reall certaine and sure so we finde it yet by humaine sense and reason incomprehensible and yet by the power of the eternall spirite by the same faith we are taught vndoubtedly to beleeue it was so verily effected for our euerlasting good A communicating of the merits of this Christ God and man vnto those that belezue in him by imputation there is we knowe For the righteousnes of God is on all and vpon all that beleene in him Rom. 3.22 which is a righteousnes that such attaine vnto by faith in him not made manifest by the lawe as the inherent righteousnesse of our owne merits if there were any such as men knowe is as both in that verse and that which goeth before is shewed But without the inhabitation of the spirit of God proceeding both from the Father and the Sonne the worke whereof faith is Iohn 6.29 Gal. 5.22 we cannot attaine heereunto Howbeit heere we talke not eyther of the vnion of the two natures in the person of one Christ nor yet of his communicating of his merits vnto vs by imputation nor of his dwelling in vs by his spirit but of his owne vniting and communicating of himselfe both God and man vnto vs. For consisting of those two natures heere in my text he biddeth vs to come vnto him and as I haue shewed to drinke of him which if once we duelie performe then we withal euen thereby are sure of all the benefits necessary to our saluation that by any of these we may looke for Now Paule when he spoke most plainely of this saying We are members of his body of his flesh of his bones Ephes 5.30 to assure vs that it is reall and essentiall yea and most certaine in respect of the thinges to be vnited Christ his members yet within two verses after he confesseth and saith that it is a great mystery that he speaketh of thereby also shewing that in respect of the manner of vniting of them it is supernaturall and vnsearchable by humaine sen̄se and reason howbeit this is our comfort that though we cannot conceiue it whiles we are heere and our knowledge is vnperfect that yet Christ our sauiour to our vnspeakeable consolation hath tolde vs that the day shall come when his shall knowe By the spirit it is obtained That he is to the father they in him and he in them Io. 14.20 In the meane time thus much it hath pleased him to reueale vnto vs by the worde that it is the holie Ghost the vertie spirit of God without which this cannot be and by the means whereof this vnion and communion is made betwixt Christ and vs. For it is written as vttered by Christ himselfe Io. 3.5 Except a man be borne againe of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdome of God And Paule most plainelie saieth Rom. 8.9 If any man haue not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his And likewise Saint Iohn 1. Epist cap. 4. vers 13. writeth that by this we knowe that Christ is in vs by his spirit that he hath giuen vs. Paule also to this purpose verie notablie saith by one spirite we are all baptized into one bodie and haue beene all made to drinke into one spirite 1. Cor. 12.13 And therefore vpon verie good ground hath the ancient father Irenaeus who liued in the next age to the Apostles in his third booke and 19. chapter against the heresies of the Valentinians and others written most sweetely and profoundlie Sicut de arido tritico massa vna fierinon potest neque vnus panis ita nec nos multi vnum fieri in Christo Iesu poteramus sine aqua qnae de coelo est sicut arida terra si non percipiat humorem non fruclificat sic nos lignum aridum existentes primùm nunquam fructificaremus vitam sine superna voluntaria pluuia that is As of drie wheate neyther one lumpe of dowe nor one loafe can be made so neyther we beeing many could euer haue beene made one in Christ Iesu without water from heauen and as the drie earth fructifieth not without moysture so we being first but dry wood could neuer haue had our fruit to be eternall life without voluntarie raine from aboue Which in the same place he interpreteth to be the spirit of God which God bestoweth vpon his Which Chrisosiom in his Homilie at Pentecost of the holy spirit calleth the coupling or band of the vnion betwixt Christ and his Further to