to the private intents of men over-potent in the Commonwealth So the grievous abuse which hath been of Councils should rather cause men to study how so gracious a thing may again be reduced to that first Perfection then in regard of stains and blemishes sithence growing be held for ever in extream disgrace To speak of this matter as the cause requireth would require very long discourse All I will presently say is this Whether it be for the finding out of any thing whereunto Divine Law bindeth us but yet in such sort that Men are not thereof on all sides resolved or for the setting down of some Uniform Judgment to stand touching such things as being neither way matters of necessity are notwithstanding offensive and scandalous when there is open opposition about them Be it for the ending of strifes touching matters of Christian belief wherein the one part may seem to have probable cause of dissenting from the other or be it concerning matters of Policy Order and Regiment in the Church I nothing doubt but that Christian men should much better frame themselves to those Heavenly Precepts which our Lord and Saviour with so great instancy gave as concerning Peace and Unity if we did all concur in desire to have the use of Ancient Councils again renewed rather then these proceedings continued which either make all Contentions endless or bring them to one onely Determination and that of all other the worst which is by Sword It followeth therefore that a new Foundation being laid we now adjoyn hereunto that which cometh in the next place to be spoken of namely wherefore God hath himself by Scripture made known such Laws as serve for direction of Men. 11. All things God onely accepted besides the Nature which they have in themselves receive externally some Perfection from other things as hath been shewed In so much as there is in the whole World no one thing great or small but either in respect of knowledge or of use it may unto our Perfection add somewhat And whatsoever such Perfection there is which our Nature may acquire the same we properly term our good our Soveraign Good or Blessedness that wherein the highest degree of all our Perfection consisteth that which being once attained unto there can rest nothing further to be desired and therefore with it our souls are fully content and satisfied in that they have they rejoyce and thirst for no more Wherefore of good things desired some are such that for themselves we cover them not but onely because they serve as Instruments unto that for which we are to seek Of this sort are Riches Another kinde there is which although we desire for it self as Health and Vertue and Knowledge nevertheless they are not the last mark whereat we aim but have their further end whereunto they are referred So as in them we are not satisfied as having attained the utmost we may but our desires do still proceed These things are linked and as it were chained one to another We labor to eat and we eat to live and we live to do good and the good which we do is as seed sown with reference unto a future Harvest But we must come at the length to some pause For if every thing were to be desired for some other without any stint there could be no certain end proposed unto our actions we should go on we know not whither yea whatsoever we do were in vain or rather nothing at all were possible to be done For as to take away the first efficient of our Being were to annihilate utterly our persons so we cannot remove the last final cause of our working but we shall cause whatsoever we work to cease Therefore something there must be desired for it self simply and for no other That is simply for it self desirable unto the nature whereof it is opposite and repugnant to be desired with relation unto any other The Ox and the Ass desire their food neither propose they unto themselves any end wherefore so that of them this is desired for it self But why By reason of their imperfection which cannot otherwise desire it whereas that which is desired simply for it self the excellency thereof is such as permitteth it not in any sort to be referred unto a further end Now that which Man doth desire with reference to a further end the same he desireth in such measure as is unto that end convenient but what he covereth as good in it self towards that his desire is ever infinite So that unless the last good of all which is desired altogether for it self be also infinite we do evil in making it our end even as they who placed their felicity in wealth or honor or pleasure or any thing here attained because in desiring any thing as our final perfection which is not so we do amiss Nothing may be infinitely desired but that good which indeed is infinite For the better the more desireable that therefore most desireable wherein there is infinity of goodness So that if any thing desireable may be infinite that must needs be the highest of all things that are desired No good is infinite but onely God therefore he is our felicity and bliss moreover desire tendeth unto union with that it desireth If then in him we be blessed it is by force of participation and conjunction with him Again it is not the possession of any good thing can make them happy which have it unless they enjoy the things wherewith they are possessed Then are we happy therefore when fully we enjoy God as an object wherein the Powers of our Souls are satisfied even with everlasting delight So that although we be men yet by being unto God united we live as it were the Life of God Happiness therefore is that estate whereby we attain so far as possibly may be attained the full possession of that which simply for it self is to be desired and containeth in it after an eminent sort the contentation of our desires the highest degree of all our Perfection Of such Perfection capable we are not in this life For while we are in the World we are subject unto sundry imperfections grief of body defects of minde yea the best things we do are painful and the exercise of them grievous being continued without intermission so as in those very actions whereby we are especial'y perfected in this life we are not able to persist forced we are with very weariness and that often to interrupt them Which rediousness cannot fall into those operations that are in the state of bliss when our union with God is compleat Compleat union with him must be according unto every power and faculty of our mindes apt to receive so glorious an object Capable we are of God both by Understanding and Will By Understanding as he is that Soveraign Truth which comprehends the Rich Treasures of all Wisdom By Will as he is that Sea of Goodness
which they of that place which the Lord hath chosen shew thee and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee According to the Law which they shall teach thee and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee shalt thou do thou shalt not decline from the thing which they shall shew thee to the right hand nor to the left And that man that will do presumptuously not hearkning unto the Priest that standeth before the Lord thy God to manister there or unto the Judge that man shall die and thou shalt take away evil from Israel When there grew in the Church of Christ a question Whether the Genti'es believing might be saved although they were not circumcised after the manner of Moses nor did observe the rest of those Legal Rites and Ceremonies whereunto the Jews were bound After great Dissention and Disputation about it their conclusion in the end was to have it determined by sentence at Jerusalem which was accordingly done in a Council there assemâ—led for the same purpose Are ye able to alledge any just and sufficient cause wherefore absolutely ye should not condescend in this Controversie to have your judgments over-ruled by some such Definitive Sentence Whether it fall out to be given with or against you that so these redious contentions may cease Te will perhaps make answer That being perswaded already as touching the truth of your Cause ye are not to hearken unto any sentence no not though Angels should define otherwise as the blessed Apostles own example teacheth Again That Men yea Councils may err and that unless the judgment given do satisfie your mindes unless it be such as ye can by no further argument oppugn in a word unless you perceive and acknowledge it your selves consonant with Gods Word to stand unto it not allowing it were to sin against your own consciences But consider I beseech you first As touching the Apostle how that wherein be was so resolute and peremptory our Lord Iesus Christ made manifest unto him even by Intuitive Revelation wherein there was no possibility of error That which you are perswaded of ye have it no otherwise then by your own onely probable collection and therefore such bold asseverations as in him were admirable should in your months but argue rashness God was not ignorant that the Priests and Iudges whose sentence in Matters of Controversie he ordained should stand both might and oftentimes would be deceived in their judgment Howbeit better it was in the eye of his understanding that sometime an erronious sentence Definitive should prevail till the same authority perceiving such oversight might afterwards correct or reverse it then that strifes should have respite to grow and not come speedily unto some end Neither wish we that men should do any thing which in their hearts they are perswaded they ought not to do but this perswasion ought we say to be fully setled in their hearts that in litigious and controversed causes of such quality the Will of God is to have them to do whatsoever the sentence of judicial and final Decision shall determine yea though it seem in their private opinion to swarve utterly from that which is right as no doubt many times the sentence amongst the Iews did seem unto one part or other contending And yet in this case God did then allow them to do that which in their private judgment it seemed yea and perhaps truly seemed that the Law did disallow For if God be not the Author of confusion but of peace then can he not be the Author of our refusal but of our contentment to stand unto some Definitive Sentence without which almost impossible it is that either we should avoid confusion or ever hope to attain peace To small purpose had the Council of Jerusalem been assembled if one their determination being set down men might afterwards have defended their former opinions When therefore they had given their Definitive Sentence all Controversoâ— was at an end Things were disputed before they came to be determined Men afterwards were not to dispute any longer but to obey The Sentence of Iudgment finished their strife which their disputes before judgment could not do This was ground sufficient for any reasonable Mans conscience to build the duty of Obedience upon whatsoever his own opinion were as touching the matter before in question So full of wilfulness and self-liking is our nature that without some Definitive Sentence which being given may stand and a necessity of silence on both sides afterward imposed small hope there is that strifes thus for prosecuted will in short time quietly end Now it were in vain to ask you Whether ye could be content that the Sentence of any Court already erected should be so far authorized as that among the Iews established by God himself for the determining of all Controversies That man which will do presumptuously not hearkning unto the Priest that standeth before the Lord to minister there nor unto the Judge let him die Ye have given us already to understand what your opinion is in part concerning Her sacred Majesties Court of High Commission the nature whereof is the same with that amongst the Iews albeit the power be not so great The other way happily may like you better because Master Beza in his last Book save one written about these Matters professeth himself to be now weary of such Combats and Encounters whether by word or writing in as much as he findeth that Controversies thereby are made but Brawls And therefore wisheth that in some common lawful Assembly of Churches all these strifes may at once be decided Shall there be then in the mean while no doings Yes There are the weightier Matters of the Law Judgment and Mercy and Fidelity These things we ought to do and these things while we contend about less we leave undone Happier are they whom the Lord when he cometh shall finde doing in these things then disputing about Doctors Elders and Deacons Or if there be no remedy but somewhat needs ye must do which may tend to the setting forward of your Discipline do that which wisemen who think some Statute of the Realm more fit to be repealed then to stand in force are accustomed to do before they come to Parliament where the place of enacting is that is to say spend the time in re-examining more duly your cause and in more throughly considering of that which ye labor to overthrow As for the Orders which are established sith Equity and Reason the Law of Nature God and Man do all favor that which is in Being till orderly Iudgment of Decision be given against it it is but Iustice to exact of you and perversness in you it should be to deny thereunto your willing obedience Not that I judge it a thing allowable for men to observe those Laws which its their hearts they are stredfastly perswaded to be against the Law of God But your perswasion
efficient cause in the work of Baptism What if the Ministers Vocation be a Matter of perpetual necessity and not a Ceremony variable as times and occasions require What if his calling be a principal part of the Institution of Christ Doth it therefore follow that the Ministers authority is of the Substance of the Sacrament and as incident into the nature thereof as the Matter and the Form it self yea more incident For whereas in case of necessity the greatest amongst them professeth the change of the Element of Water lawful and others which like not so well this opinion could be better content that voluntarily the words of Christs Institution were altered and Men baptized in the Name of Christ without either mention made of the Father or of the Holy Ghost nevertheless in denying that Baptism administred by private persons ought to be reckoned of as a Sacrament they both agree It may therefore please them both to consider That Baptism is an Action in part Moral in part Ecclesiastical and in part Mystical Moral as being a duty which men perform towards God Ecclesiastical in that it belongeth unto Gods Church as a publick duty Finally Mystical if we respect what God doth thereby intend to work The greatest Moral perfection of Baptism consisteth in mens devout obedience to the Law of God which Law requireth both the outward act or thing done and also that Religious affection which God doth so much regard that without it whatsoever we do is â—tateful in his sight who therefore is said to respect Adverbs more then Verbs because the end of his Law in appointing what we shall do is our own Perfection which Perfection consisteth chiefly in the vertuous disposition of the Minde and approveth it self to him not by doing but by doing well Wherein appeareth also the difference between Humane and Divine Laws the one of which two are content with Opus operatum the other require Opus operantis the one do but claim the Deed the other especially the Minde So that according to Laws which principally respect the heart of Men Works of Religion being not religiously performed cannot Morally be perfect Baptism as an Ecclesiastical work is for the manner of performance ordered by divers Ecclesiastical Laws providing That as the Sacrament it self is a gift of no mean worth so the Ministery thereof might in all circumstances appear to be a Function of no small regard All that belongeth to the Mystical Perfection of Baptism outwardly is the Element the Word and the serious Application of both unto him which receiveth both whereunto if we add that secret reference which this action hath to liâ—e and remission of sins by vertue of Christs own compact solemnly made with his Church to accomplish fully the Sacrament of Baptism there is not any thing more required Now put the Question Whether Baptism Administred to Infants without my Spiritual Calling be unto them both a true Sacrament and an effectual instrument of Grace or else an act of no more account then the ordinary Washings are The sum of all that can be said to defeat such Baptism is That those things which have no Being can work nothing and that Baptism without the power of Ordination is as a Judgment without sufficient Jurisdiction void frustrate and of no effect But to this we answer That the Fruit of Baptism dependeth onely upon the Covenant which God hath made That God by Covenant requireth in the elder sort Faith and Baptism in Children the Sacrament of Baptism alone whereunto he hath also given them right by special priviledge of Birth within the bosom of the holy Church That infants therefore which have received Baptism compleat as touching the Mystical Perfection thereof are by vertue of his own Covenant and Promise cleansed from all sin for as much as all other Laws concerning that which in Baptism is either Moral or Ecclesiastical do binde the Church which giveth Baptism and not the Infant which receiveth it of the Church So that if any thing be therein amiss the harm which groweth by violation of holy Ordinances must altogether rest where the Bonds of such Ordinances hold For that in actions of this nature it fareth not as in Jurisdictions may somewhat appear by the very opinion which men have of them The nullity of that which a Judge doth by way of Authority without Authority is known to all men and agreed upon with full consent of the whole World every man receiveth it as a general Edict of Nature whereas the nullity of Baptism in regard of the like defect is onely a few mens new ungrounded and as yet unapproved imagination Which difference of generality in mens perswasions on the one side and their paucity whose conceit leadeth them the other way hath risen from a difference easie to observe in the things themselves The exercise of unauthorised Jurisdiction is a grievance unto them that are under it whereas they that without Authority presume to Baptize offer nothing but that which to all men is good and acceptable Sacraments are food and the Ministers thereof as Parents or as Nurses at whose hands when there is necessity but no possibility of receiving it if that which they are not present to do in right of their Office be of pity and compassion done by others shall this be thought turn Celestial Bread into Gravel or the Medicine of Souls into Poyson Jurisdiction is a yoke which Law hath imposed on the necks of men in such sort that they must endure it for the good of others how contrary soever it be to their own particular appetites and inclinations Jurisdiction bridleth men against their wills that which a Judge doth prevails by vertue of his very Power and therefore not without great reason except the Law hath given him Authority whatsoever he doth vanisheth Baptism on the other side being a favor which it pleaseth God to bestow a benefit of Soul to us that receive it and a Grace which they that deliver are but as meer Vessels either appointed by others or offered of their own accord to this Service of which two if they be the one it is but their own honor their own offence to be the other Can it possibly stand with Equity and Right That the faultiness of their presumption in giving Baptism should be able to prejudice us who by taking Baptism have no way offended I know there are many Sentences found in the Books and writings of the Ancient Fathers to prove both Ecclesiastical and also Moral defects in the Minister of Baptism a bar to the Heavenly benefit thereof Which Sentences we always so understand as Augustine understood in a case of like nature the words of St. Cyprian When Infants baptized were after their Parents revolt carried by them in arms to the Stews of Idols those wretched Creatures as St. Cyprian thought were not onely their own ruine but their Childrens also Their Children whom this their Apostasie prophaned did lose
Christ which hath so that use converted the Ceremony of the Cross in Baptism it is no Christian mans part to despise especially seeing that by this mean where Nature doth earnestly import aid Religion yieldeth her that ready assistance then which there can be no help more forcible serving onely to relieve memory and to bring to our cogitation that which should most make ashamed of sin The minde while we are in this present life whether it contemplate meditate deliberate or howsoever exercise it self worketh nothing without continual recourse unto imagination the onely Store-house of wit and peculiar Chair of memory On this Anvile it ceaseth not day and night to strike by means whereof as the Pulse declareth how the heart doth work so the very thoughts and cogitations of mans minde be they good or bad do no where sooner bewray themselves then through the crevesses of that Wall wherewith Nature hath compasied the Cells and Closets of Fancy In the Forehead nothing more plain to be seen then the fear of contumely and disgrace For which cause the Scripture as with great probability it may be thought describeth them marked of God in the Forehead whom his mercy hath undertaken to keep from final confusion and shame Not that God doth set any corporal mark on his chosen but to note that he giveth his Elect security of preservation from reproach the fear whereof doth use shew it self in that part Shall I say that the Sign of the Cross as we use it is in some sort a mean to work our preservation from reproach Surely the minde which as yet hath not hardned it self in sin is seldom provoked thereunto in any gross and grievous manner but Natures secret suggestion objected against it ignominy as a bar Which conceit being entred into that Palace of Mans fancy the Gates whereof have imprinted in them that holy Sign which bringeth fortwith to minde whatsoever Christ hath wrought and we vowed against sin it cometh hereby to pass that Christian men never want a most effectual though a silent Teacher to avoid whatsoever may deservedly procure shame So that in things which we should be ashamed of we are by the Cross admonished faithfully of our duty at the very moment when admonition doth most need Other things there are which deserve honor and yet do purchase many times our disgrace in this present World as of old the very truth of Religion it self till God by his own out-stretched arm made the glory thereof to shine over all the Earth Whereupon St. Cyprian exhorting to Maâ—tyrdom in times of Heathenish persecution and cruelty thought it not vain to alledge unto them with other Arguments the very Ceremony of that Cross whereof we speak Never let that hand offer Sacrifice to Idols which hath already received the Body of our Saviour Christ and shall hereafter the Crown of his Glory Arm your Foreheads unto all boldness â— that the Sign of God may be kept safe Again when it pleased God that the fury of their enemies being bridled the Church had some little rest and quietness if so small a liberty but onely to breathe between troubles may be termed quietness and rest to such as fell not away from Christ through former persecutions he giveth due and deserved praise in the self-same manner You that were ready to endure imprisonment and were resolute to suffer death you that have couragiously withstood the World ye have made your selves both a glorious spectacle for God to behold and a worthy example for the rest of your Brethren to follow Those mouths which had sanctified themselves with food coming down from Heaven leashed after Christ own Body and Blood to taste the poysoned and contagious scraps of Idols those Foreheads which the Sign of God had purified kept themselves to be crowned by him the touch of the Garlands of Satan they abhorred Thus was the memory of that Sign which they had in Baptism a kinde of bar or prevention to keep them even from apostasie whereunto the frailty of flesh and blood over-much fearing to endure shame might peradventure the more easily otherwise have drawn them We have not now through the gracious goodness of Almighty God those extream conflicts which our Fathers had with blasphemous contumelies every where offered to the Name of Christ by such as professed themselves Infidels and Unbelievers Howbeit unless we be strangers to the age wherein we live or else in some partial respect dissemblers of that we hourly both hear and see there is not the simplest of us but knoweth with what disdain and scorn Christ is dishonored far and wide Is there any burden in the World more heavy to bear then contempt Is there any contempt that grieveth as theirs doth whose quality no way making them less worthy then others are of reputation onely the service which they do to Christ in the daily exercise of Religion treadeth them down Doth any contumely which we sustain for Religion sake pierce so deeply as that which would seem of meer Conscience religiously spightful When they that honor God are despised when the chiefest service of Honor that man can do unto him is the cause why they are despised when they which pretend to honor him and that with greatest sincerity do with more then Heathenish petulancy trample under foot almost whatsoever either we or the whole Church of God by the space of so many ages have been accustomed unto for the comlier and better exercise of our Religion according to the soundest Rules that Wisdom directed by the Word of God and by long experience confirmed hath been able with common advice with much deliberation and exceeding great diligence to comprehend when no man fighting under Christs Banner can be always exempted from seeing or sustaining those indignities the sting whereof not to feel or feeling not to be moved thereat is a thing impossible to flesh and blood If this be any object for Patience to work on the strictest bond that thereunto tieth us is our vowed obedience to Christ the solemnest vow that we ever made to obey Christ and to suffer willingly all reproaches for his sake was made in Baptism And amongst other memorials to keep us mindful of that vow we cannot think that the Sign which our new Baptized Fore-heads cïd there receive is either unfit or unforcible the reasons hitherto alledged being weighed with indifferent ballance It is not you will say the Cross in our Fore-heads but in our Hearts the Faith of Christ that ameth us with Patience Constancy and Courage Which as we grant to be most true so neither dare we despise no not the meanest helps that serve though it be but in the very lowest degree of furtherance towards the highest services that God doth require at our hands And if any man deny that such Ceremonies are available at the least as memorials of duty or do think that himself hath no need to be so put in
were properly theirs and are not by us expedient to be continued According to the Rule of which general directions taken from the Law of God no less in the one then the other the practice of the Church commended unto us in holy Scripture doth not onely make for the justification of black and dismal days as one of the Fathers termeth them but plainly offereth it self to be followed by such Ordinances if occasion require as that which Mordecai did sometimes devise Esther what lay in her power help forward and the rest of the Jews establish for perpetuity namely That the Fourteenth and fifteenth days of the Moneth Adar should be every year kept throughout all Generations as days of Feasting and Joy wherein they would rest from bodily labor and what by gifts of Charity bestowed upon the poor what by other liberal signs of Amity and Love all restifie their thankful mindes towards God which almost beyond possibility had delivered them all when they all were as men dead But this Decree they say was Divine not Ecclesiastical as may appear in that there is another Decree in another Book of Scripture which Decree is plain noâ— to have proceeded from the Churches Authority but from the mouth of the Prophet onely and as a poor simple man sometime was fully perswaded That it Pontius Pilate had not been a Saint the Apostles would never have suffered his name to stand in the Creed so these men have a strong opinion that because the Book of Esther is Canonical the Decree of Esther cannot be possibly Ecclesiastical If it were they ask how the Jews could binde themselves always to keep it seeing Ecclesiastical Laws are mutable As though the purposes of men might never intend constancy in that the nature whereof is subject to alteration Doth the Scripture it self make mention of any Divine Commandment Is the Scripture witness of more then onely that Mordecai was the Author of this Custom that by Letters written to his brethren the Jews throughout all Provinces under Darius the King of Persia he gave them charge to celebrate yearly those two days for perpetual remembrance of Gods miraculous deliverance and mercy that the Jews hereupon undertook to do it and made it with general consent an order for perpetnity that Esther secondly by her Letters confirmed the same which Mordecai had before decreed and that finally the Ordinance was written to remain for ever upon Record Did not the Jews in Provinces abroad observe at the first the Fourteenth day the Jews in Susis the Fifteenth Were they not all reduced to an uniform order by means of those two Decrees and so every where three days kept the first with fasting in memory of danger the rest in token of deliverance as festival and joyful days Was not the first of these three afterwards the day of sorrow and heaviness abrogated when the same Church saw it meet that a better day a day in memory of like deliverance out of the bloody hancs of Nicanor should succeed in the room thereof But for as much as there is no end of answering fruitless oppositions let it suffice men of sober mindes to know that the Law both of God and Nature alloweth generally days of rest and festival solemnity to be observed by way of thankful and joyful remembrance if such miraculous favors be shewed towards mankinde as require the same that such Graces God hath bestowed upon his Church as well in latter as in former times that in some particulars when they have faln out himself hath demanded his own honor and in the rest hath lest it to the Wisdom of the Church directed by those precedents and enlightned by other means always to judge when the like is requisite About questions therefore concerning Days and Times our manner is not to stand at bay with the Church of God demanding Wherefore the memory of Paul should be rather kept then the memory of Daniel We are content to imagine it may be perhaps true that the least in the Kingdom of Christ is greater then the greatest of all the Prophets of God that have gone before We never yet saw cause to despair but that the simplest of the people might be taught the right construction of as great Mysteries as the Name of a Saints day doth comprehend although the times of the year go on in their wonted course We had rather glorifie and bless God for the Fruit we daily behold reaped by such Ordinances as his gracious Spirit maketh the ripe Wisdom of this National Church to bring forth then vainly boast of our own peculiar and private inventions as if the skill of profitable Regiment had left her publick habitation to dwell in retired manner with some few men of one Livery We make not our childish appeals sometimes from our own to Forein Churches sometime from both unto Churches ancienter then both are in effect always from all others to our own selves but as becometh them that follow with all humility the ways of Peace we honor reverence and obey in the very next degree unto God the voice of the Church of God wherein we live They whose wits are too glorious to fall to so low an ebb they which have risen and swoln so high that the Walls of ordinary Rivers are unable to keep them in they whose wanton contentions in the cause whereof we have spoken do make all where they go a Sea even they at their highest float are constrained both to see and grant that what their fancy will not yield to like their judgment cannot with reason condemn Such is evermore the final victory of all Truth that they which have not the hearts to love her acknowledge that to hate her they have no cause Touching those Festival days therefore which we now observe their number being no way felt discommodious to the Commonwealth and their grounds such as hitherto hath been shewed what remaineth but to keep them throughout all generations holy severed by manifest notes of difference from other times adorned with that which most may betoken true vertuous and celestial joy To which intent because surcease from labor is necessary yet not so necessary no not on the Sabbath or Seventh day it self but that rarer occasions in mens particular affairs subject to manifest detriment unless they be presently followed may with very good conscience draw them sometimes aside from the ordinary rule considering the favorable dispensation which our Lord and Saviour groundeth on this Axiom Man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath ordained for Man so far forth as concerneth Ceremonies annexed to the principal Sanctification thereof howsoever the rigor of the Law of Moses may be thought to import the contrary if we regard with what severity the violation of Sabbaths hath been sometime punished a thing perhaps the more requisite at that instant both because the Jews by reason of their long abode in
other saith That the old did onely shadow Grace which was afterward to be given through the passion of Iesus Christ. But the after-wit of latter daies hath found out another more exquisite distinction That Evangelical Sacraments are causes to effect Grace through motions of signes legal according to the same signification and sense wherein Evangelical Sacraments are held by us to be God's Instruments for that purpose For howsoever Bellarmine hath shrunk up the Lutherans sinews and cut off our Doctrine by the skirts Allen although he terms us Hereticks according to the usual bitter venom of his first style doth yet ingenuously confess That the old School-mens Doctrine and ours is one concerning Sacramental efficacy derived from God himself assisting by promise those outward signes of Elements and Words out of which their School-men of the newer mint are so desirous to hatch Grace Where God doth work and use these outward means wherein he neither findeth nor planteth force and aptnesse towards his intended purpose such means are but signes to bring men to the consideration of his Omnipotent Power which without the use of things sensible would not be marked At the time therefore when he giveth his Heavenly Grace he applyeth by the hands of his Ministers that which betokeneth the same nor only betokeneth but being also accompanied for ever with such Power as doth truly work is in that respect termed God's Instrument a true efficient cause of Grace a cause not in it self but onely by connexion of that which is in it self a cause namely God's own Strength and Power Sacraments that is to say the outward signes in Sacraments work nothing till they be blessed and sanctified by God But what is God's Heavenly Benediction and Sanctification saving onely the association of his Spirit Shall we say that Sacraments are like Magical signes if thus they have their effect Is it Magick for God to manifest by things sensible what he doth and to do by his most glorious Spirit really what he manifesteth in his Sacraments The delivery and administration whereof remaineth in the hands of mortal men by whom as by personal Instruments God doth apply signes and with signes inseparably joyn his Spirit and through the power of his Spirit work Grace The first is by way of concomitance and consequence to deliver the rest also that either accompany or ensue It is not here as in Cases of mutual Commerce where divers Persons have divers acts to be performed in their own behalf a Creditor to shew his Bill and a Debtor to pay his Money But God and Man doe here meet in one Action upon a Third in whom as it is the work of God to create Grace so it is his work by the hand of the Ministry to apply a sign which should betoken and his work to annex that Spirit which shall effect it The Action therefore is but one God the Author thereof and Man a Co-partner by him assigned to work for with and under him God the Giver of Grace by the outward Ministery of man so farr forth as he authorizeth man to apply the Sacraments of Grace in the Soul which he alone worketh without either Instrument or Co-agent Whereas therefore with us the remission of Sinne is ascribed unto God as a thing which proceedeth from him only and presently followeth upon the vertue of true Repentance appearing in man that which we attribute to the vertue they do not only impute to the Sacrament of Repentance but having made Repentance a Sacrament and thinking of Sacraments as they do they are enforced to make the Ministry of the Priests and their Absolution a cause of that which the sole Omnipotency of God worketh And yet for my own part I am not able well to conceive how their Doctrine That human Absolution is really a cause out of which our Deliverance from Sinne doth ensue can cleave with the Council of Trent defining That Contrition perfected with Charity doth at all times it self reconcile offenders to God before they come to receive actually the Sacrament of Penance How it can stand with those Discourses of the learned Rabbies which grant That whosoever turneth unto God with his whole heart hath immediately his Sinnes taken away That if a man he truly converted his Pardon can neither be denyed nor delayed It doth not stay for the Priest's Absolution but presently followeth Surely if every contrite Sinner in whom there is Charity and a sincere conversion of Heart have Remission of Sinnes given him before he seek it at the Priest's hands if reconciliation to God be a present and immediate sequel upon every such Conversion or Change It must of necessity follow seeing no man can be a true Penitent or Contrite which doth not both love God and sincerely abhor Sinne that therefore they all before Absolution attain Forgivenesse whereunto notwithstanding Absolution is pretended a Cause so necessary that Sinne without it except in some rare extraordinary Case cannot possibly be remitted Shall Absolution be a Cause producing and working that Effect which is alwayes brought forth without it and had before Absolution be thought of But when they which are thus before-hand pardoned of God shall come to be also assoiled by the Priest I would know what force his Absolution hath in this case Are they able to say here that the Priest doth remit any thing Yet when any of ours ascribeth the Work of Remission to God and interpreteth the Priests Sentence to be but a solemn Declaration of that which God himself hath already performed they scorn at it they urge against it that if this were true our Saviour Christ should rather have said What is loosed in Heaven ye shall loose on Earth then as he doth Whatsoever ye loose on Earth shall in Heaven be loosed As if he were to learn of us how to place his words and not we to crave rather of him a sound and right understanding lest to his dishonour and our own hurt we mis-expound them It sufficeth I think both against their constructions to have proved that they ground an untruth on his speech and in behalf of our own that his words without any such transposition do very well admit the sense we give them which is that he taketh to himself the lawfull proceedings of Authority in his Name and that the Act of Spiritual Authority in this case is by Sentence to acquit or pronounce them free from sinne whom they judge to be sincerely and truly penitent which Interpretation they themselves do acknowledge though not sufficient yet very true Absolution they say declareth indeed but this is not all for it likewise maketh innocent which addition being an untruth proved our truth granted hath I hope sufficiency without it and consequently our opinion therein neither to be challenged as untrue nor as unsufficient To rid themselves out of these Bryars and to make Remission of Sinnes an effect of Absolution notwithstanding that which hitherto hath been said
and quite forgetting of strife together with the Causes that have either bred it or brought it up that things of small moment never disjoyn them whom one God one Lord one Faith one Spirit one Baptism bands of so great force have linked that a respectively eye towards things wherewith we should not be disquieted make us not as through infirmity the very Patriarchs themselves sometimes were full gorged unable to speak peaceably to their own Brother Finally that no strife may ever be heard of again but this Who shall hate strife most who shall pursue peace and unity with swiftest paces To The Christian Reader WHereas many desirous of resolution in some Points handled in this learned Discourse were earnest to have it Copied out to case so many labours it hath been thought most worthy and very necessary to be printed that not onely they might be satisfied but the whole Church also hereby edified The rather because it will free the Author from the suspition of some Errors which he hath been thought to have favoured Who might well have answered with Cremutius in Tacitus Verba mea arguuntur adeò factorum innocens sum Certainly the event of that time wherein he lived shewed that to be true which the same Author spake of a worse Cui deerat inimicus per amicos oppressus and that there is not minus periculum ex magna fama quà m ex mala But he hath so quit himself that all may see how as it was said of Agricola Simul suis virtutibus simul vitiis aliorum in ipsam gloriam praeceps agebatur Touching whom I will say no more but that which my Author said of the same man Integritatem c. in tanto viro referre injuria virtutum fuerit But as of all other his Writings so of this I will adde that which Velleius spake in commendation of Piso Nemo fuit qui megis quae agenda erant curaret sine ulla ostentatione agendi So not doubting good Christian Reader of thy assent herein but wishing thy favourable acceptance of this Work which will be an inducement to set forth others of his Learned labours I take my leave from Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford the sixth of July 1612. Thine in Christ Jesus HENRY IACKSON A LEARNED DISCOURSE OF Justification Works and how the Foundation of FAITH is overthrown HABAK. 1. 4. The wicked doth compass about the righteous therefore perverse Iudgement doth proceed FOR the better manifestation of the Prophets meaning in this place we are first to consider the wicked of whom he saith that They compass about the righteous Secondly the righteous that are compassed about by them and Thirdly That which is inferred Therefore perverse judgement proceedeth Touching the first There are two kinds of wicked men of whom in the fist of the former to the Corinthians the blessed Apostle speaketh thus Do ye not judge them that are within But God judgeth them that art without There are wicked therefore whom the Church may judge and there are wicked whom God onely judgeth wicked within and wicked without the walls of the Church If within the Church particular persons be apparently such as cannot otherwise be reformed the rule of the Apostolical judgment is this Separate them from among you if whole Assemblies this Separate your selves from among them For what society hath light with darkness But the wicked whom the Prophet meaneth were Babylonians and therefore without For which cause we heard at large heretofore in what sort he urgeth God to judge them 2. Now concerning the righteous their neither it nor ever was any meer natural man absolutely righteous in himself that is to say void of all unrighteousness of all sin We dare not except no not the blessed Virgin her self of whom although we say with St. Augustine for the honour sake which we owe to our Lord and Saviour Christ we are not willing in this cause to move any question of his Mother yet for asmuch as the Schools of Rome have made it a question we may answer with Eusebius Emissenus who speaketh of her and to her in this effect Thou didst by special Prerogative nine months together entertain within the Closet of the Flesh the hope of all the ends of the Earth the honour of the World the common joy of Men. He from whom all things had their beginning had his beginning from thee of the Body he took the blood which was to be shed for the life of the World of thee he took that which even for thee be payed A peccati enim veteris nexu per se non est immunis ipsa genitrix Redemptoris The Mother of the Redeemer himself is not otherwise loosed from the bond of antient sinne than by redemption if Christ have paid a ransom for all even for her it followeth that all without exception were Captives If one have died for all then all were dead in sinne all sinful therefore none absolutely righteous in themselves but we are absolutely righteous in Christ. The World then must shew a righteous man otherwise not able to shew a man that is perfectly righteous Christ is made to us Wisdome Iustice Sanctification and Redemption Wisdom because he hath revealed his Fathers will Iustice because he hath offered up himself a Sacrifice for sin Sanctification because he hath given us his Spirit Redemption because he hath appointed a day to vindicate his Children out of the bonds of Corruption into liberty which is glorious How Christ is made Wisdom and how Redemption it may be declared when occasion serveth But how Christ is made the Righteousness of men we are now to declare 3. There is a glorifying Righteousness of men in the World to come as there is a justifying and sanctifying Righteousness here The Righteousness wherewith we shall be clothed in the World to come is both perfect and inherent That whereby here we are justified is perfect but not inherent That whereby we are sanctified is inherent but not perfect This openeth a way to the understanding of that grand question which hangeth yet in controversie between us and the Church of Rome about the matter of justifying Righteousness 4. First although they imagine that the Mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ were for his honour and by his special protection preserved clean from all sinne yet touching the rest they teach as we doe That Infants that never did actually offend have their Natures defiled destitute of Justice averted from God That in making man righteous none do efficiently work with God but God They teach as we do that unto Justice no man ever attained but by the Merits of Jesus Christ. They teach as we do That although Christ as God be the efficient as Man the meritorious cause of our Justice yet in us also there is some thing required God is the cause of our natural life in him we live but he quickneth not
that Church never knew the meaning of her Heresies So that although all Popish Hereticks did perish thousands of them which lived in Popish Superstitions might be saved Thirdly seeing all that held Popish Heresies did not hold all the Heresies of the Pope why might not thousands which were infected with other leaven live and die unsowred with this and so be saved Fourthly If they all held this Heresie many there were that held it no doubt but onely in a general form of words which a favourable Interpretation might expound in a sense differing far enough from the poysoned conceit of Heresie As for example Did they hold that we cannot be saved by Christ without good works We our selves do I think all say as much with this Construction salvation being taken as in that sentence Corde creditur ad justitiam Ore fit confessio ad salutem except Infants and Men cut off upon the point of their conversion of the rest none shall see God but such as seek peace and holiness though not as a Cause of their salvation yet as a Way which they must walk which will be saved Did they hold that without works we are not justified Take justification so as it may also imply sanctification and St. Iames doth say as much For except there be an ambiguity in the same term St. Paul and St. Iames do contradict each the other which cannot be Now there is no ambiguity in the name either of Faith or of Works being meant by them both in one and the same sense Finding therefore that Justification is spoken of by St Paul without implying Sanctification when he proveth that a man is justified by faith without works finding likewise that justification doth sometime imply sanctification also with it I suppose nothing to be more sound then so to interpret St Iames speaking not in that sense but in this 21. We have already shewed that there be two kinds of Christian righteousness the one without us which we have by imputation the other in us which consisteth of faith hope and charity and other Christian Vertues And S. Iames doth prove that Abraham had not onely the one because the thing believed was imputed unto him for righteousness but also the other because he offered up his Son God giveth us both the one justice and the other the one by accepting us for righteous in Christ the other by working Christian righteousness in us The proper and most immediate efficient cause in us of this latter is the Spirit of adoption we have received into our hearts That whereof it consisteth whereof it is really and formally made are those infused vertues proper and peculiar unto Saints which the Spirit in the very moment when first it is given of God bringeth with it the effects whereof are such actions as the Apostle doth call the fruits of works the operation of the Spirit The difference of the which operations from the root whereof they spring maketh it needful to put two kinds likewise of sanctifying righteousness Habitual and Actual Habitual that holiness wherewith our souls are inwardly indued the same instant when first we begin to be the Temples of the Holy Ghost Actual that holiness which afterwards beautifieth all the parts and actions of our life the holiness for which Enoch Iob Zachary Elizabeth and other Saints are in the Scriptures so highly commended If here iâ— he demanded which of these we do first receive I answer that the Spirit the vertue of the spirit the habitual justice which is ingrafted the external justice of Jesus Christ which is imputed these we receive all at one and the same time whensoever we have any of these we have all they go together Yet sith no man is justified except he believe and no man believeth except he hath Faith and no man except he hath received the spirit of Adoption hath Faith forasmuch as they do necessarily infer justification and justification doth of necessity presuppose them we must needs hold that imputed righteousness in dignity being the chiefest is notwithstanding in order to the last of all these but Actual righteousness which is the righteousness of good works succeedeth all followeth after all both in order and time Which being attentivly marked sheweth plainly how the faith of true Believers cannot be divorced from hope and loveâ— how faith is a part of sanctification and yet unto justification necessary how faith is perfected by good works and not works of ours without faith Finally how our Fathers might hold that we are justified by Faith alone and yet hold truly that without works we are not justified Did they think that men do merit rewards in heaven by the works they perform on earth The Ancients use meriting for obtaining and in that sense they of Wittenberg have it in their Confession We teach that good works commanded of God are necessarily to be done and by the free kindness of God they merit their certain rewards Therefore speaking as our Fathers did and we taking their speech in a â—ound meaning as we may take our Fathers and might for as much as their meaning is doubtful and charity doth always interpret doubtful things favourably what should induce as to think that rather the damage of the worst construction did light upon them all then that the blessing of the better was granted unto thousands Fiftly if in the worst construction that may be made they had generally all imbraced it living might not many of them dying utterly renounce it Howsoever men when they sit at ease do vainly tickle their hearts with the vain conceit of I know not what proportionable correspondence between their merits and their rewards which in the trance of their high speculations they dream that God hath measured weighed and laid up as it were in bundles for them notwithstanding we see by daily experience in a number even of them that when the hour of death approacheth when they secretly hear themselves summoned forthwith to appear and stand at the Bar of that Judge whose brightness causeth the eyes of the Angels themselves to dazel all these idle imaginations do then begin to hide their faces to name merits then is to lay their souls upon the rack the memory of their own deeds is lothsome unto them they forsake all things wherein they have put any trust or confidence no staff to lean upon no ease no rest no comfort then but onely in Jesus Christ. 22. Wherefore if this proposition were true To hold in such wise as the Church of Rome doth that we cannot be saved by Christ alone without works is directly to deny the foundation of Faith I say that if this proposition were true nevertheless so many ways I have shewed whereby we may hope that thousands of our Fathers which lived in popish superstition might be saved But what if it be not true What if neither that of the Galathians concerning Circumcision nor this of the Church of Rome by Workes be