avoid this danger and not to fear mens enmity for preaching Gods Truth 4. Pleasure in unrighteousness makes this Doctrine not rightly preached and not rightly believed 5. The Articles of faith not given to devour the Commandements therefore no sacrilegious or unjust person can be justified by faith in Christ 6. This Gospel-Truth to be embraced by Papists and not forsaken by Protestants though it hath been most abused of all others and was so from the first entrance of the Gospel whence the Catholick Epistles were written chiefly against the Solifidian Haereticks 7. The Doctrine of Justification delivered by St. Paul Rom 3. in two Propositions the one Negative That 't is not by works proved by 3. Arguments The other affirmative That 't is by â—…aith proved from all the causes of Justification viz. God the efficient Christ the meritorious Faith the instrumental remission of sins through the imputation of Christs obedience the formal cause And the declaration of Gods righteousness and mans glorying in God alone the two final causes thereof These 2. Propositions afterwards joyned together in one Dogmatical conclusion That a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law which is again repeated Gal. 3. and confirmed by Ten arguments 8. The best way of arguing in this heavenly Doctrine is by arguments that come from Heaven agreeing not only with the analogie of faith in the Doctrine they prove but also with the analogie of the Text in the manâ—…er of their proof 9. That Faith which is without works justifieth not gives not works a share in justifying 10. That Charity is greater then Faith gives it not a greater influence in Justification 11. This Text Not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified for faith is not in hearing but in doing not in the ear but in the heart 12. St. James and St. Paul deliver one and the same doctrine concerning Justification That t is by Faith in Chtist not by works but St. Paul speaks of Faith more in relation to Christ its proper Object to teach the Jews the necessity of Faith St. James speaks of Faith more in relation to works its proper effect to teach unsanctified Christians the obedience of Faith 13. The doctrine of Justification by Faith without works is the whole scope both of the Law and of the Gospel as is particularly proved in the Epistle to the Hebrews 14. Good worke are necessary consequents of the Faith that justifieth not Causes of the Justification and are no further required of us by any of the Apostles or Prophets in the judgement of St. Austin St. Ambrose and St. Chrysostom Therefore Justification by Faith without works was then the judgement of the Catholick Church and indeed is now of the present Roman Church if we look upon her Devotions not her Disputes 15. To maintain Justification by mans righteousness is not only to forsake Christs Church but also to destroy it 16. Christs imputed righteousness blasphemously called a Fiction by Bellarmin piously acknowledged a Reality by Pererius hîs brother Jesuit But the Saints imputed righteousness is a meer fiction both in regard of the Imputation which hath no promise of Gods acceptance and in regard of the righteousness which cannot challenge it as being incompleat because of Original and Actual sin therfore not superfluous in the best of Gods Saints as 〈◊〉 proved by several Texts of Holy Scripture according to the exposition of the Catholick Church 17. All men being sinners no man can be justified by his own righteousness 18. To be justified by works is to be justified without if not against Grace Christ and Faith 19. T is madness and wickedness for man to set up his own against his Saviours righteousness yet self-Justiciaries are guilty of this madness and wickedness undervaluing both Christs death and the Redemption thereby purchased for true blievers The sixt Exception IBidem sect 3. pag. 196. Against Justification by works you alledge Being justified by Faith we have peace with God Rom. 5. 1. But what faith The same St. Paul Gal. 5. 5 6. saith thus ex fide spem Justitiae expectamus sed fides quae per Charitatem operatur Here are works required to Justification as well as faith which must proceed from charity which according to St. Paul 1 Cor. 13. 13. is greater then faith and must needs therefore have the greater influence in our justification For as he saith Rom. 2. 13. Not the hearers of the Law there is faith are just before God but the doers of the Law there are good works shall be justified The Answer 1. HE that walks on battlements had need take a special care of his footing because if he slip he must fall and if he fall he must be dashed to pieces And such is now the walk of all Orthodox Divines in the way of Gods Truth especially this of justification the main Gospel-Truth 't is as if they walked upon battlements every step is slippery and every slip threatens ruin not that God hath left his way either dangerous or slippery but that some men have made it so their debates have made it dangerous their devices have made it slippery For some men have turneth Devotion it self into Debate to make Gods way dangerous and Doctrine it self into Devices to make Gods way slippery And concerning such men it is the Apostle hath said Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the Truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith 2 Tim. 3. 8. They that use tricks and devices to elude the sense when they cannot evade the sentence of the Law Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are wâ—…itten in the book of the Law to do them Gal. 3. 10. do like Jannes and Jambres withstand Moses by enchantments making themselves Aegyptians when God made them Israelites or making themselves Magicians when God made them Divines only they seldome cry out Digitus Dei This is the finger of God though they be shewed never so plainly his own very hand writing to convence them oÌ„f their resistance against the Truth For the same corrupt minds that make them resist the Truth do also make them reprobate or of no Judgement concerning the faith For who can be judicious in the Faith but from the Truth and therefore he that resists the Truth must needs be of no Judgement concerning the faith And since we find among all the multitudes of factious men so little Judgement concerning the Faith we cannot but feat that they have all more or less resisted the Truth I am the way and the Truth saith Christ So that if the Christian look directly and constantly on Him he shall not walk out of the right way nor erre from the saving Truth Surely then t is because we have not looked on our Saviour but on our selves on our own Interests that our strayings have been so many from this right
abominable unrighteousness For even immediately after the first clear preaching of Justification by Faith we find a strange generation of licentious and ungodly men who did boast of Faith in Christ without good works committing all manner of sin with greediness and without remorse This gave occasion to St. Peter St. John St. James and St. Jude who all writ after St. Paul to direct their stiles chiefly against such vain boasters of this empty Faith and their Epistles were afterwatds peculiarly called Catholick for this reason amongst others That they were all written in Vindication of the true Catholick Faith which did teach a man so to believe in Christ as to have his life answerable to his belief This account doth St. Peter give for himself saying I have written briefly exhorting and testifying That this is the true Grace of God wherein ye stand 1 Pet. 5. 12. As if he had said These two things I have chiefly proposed to my self in my writing 1. To testifie the doctrine of the Gospel concerning the Grace of God in Christ to be the onely doctrine to bring you to eternal Salvation 2. To Perswade you to stand fast and persevere in that doctrine by leading your lives answerable to your profession And this account may we give concerning the rest of the Authors of the Catholick Epistles for thus the whole Argument of St. Johns first Epistle consists of those two principal parts of the Christian Religion The Promises and the Precepts of the Gospel For to the Promises we must refer all that he speaks of Communion with God of the expiation of our sins by the blood of Christ and of the hope of eternal life To the Precepts we must refer all that he speaks of true Faith in Christ of living godly and righteously according to that Faith and of loving God sincerely or not loving the world that we may live godly and of loving our Bretheren sincerely not hypocritically That we may live righteously The like may we say for St. James and St. Jude that their Epistles are chiefly against the Solifidean Hereticks and are therefore filled with divers exhortations to several Christian Virtues which they had deserted and with Dehortations from the the contrary vices which they had committed And we may be Catholicks in this doctrine of Justification according to these Catholick Epistles and yet still deny Justification by works For it is only the Faith in Christ that is justified by its works but the man is still justified only by his Faith 7. You are as zealous for Justification by works as St. Paul is against it with what good Conscience I cannot say but sure upon no good ground yet you have appealed to St. Paul himself as the Judge of this controversie to decide on your side and accordingly to St. Paul you shall go who sure will very little befriend you by his decision For I pray what works can any man do which are not comprised under The works of the Law But it is St. Paul's most absolute Determination Therefore by the deeds or works of the Law there shall no flesh be justified Rom. 3. 20. He that looks upon the foregoing words setting forth the abominable sins that were in the best of men then living the Jews and in those times wherein they lived best even the times of David and Hezekiah for all the proofs here concerning their wickedness are taken out of the Psalms and the Prophesie of Isaiah will easily acknowledge that the words though particular in their occasion yet are universal in their Instruction and do set forth the general corruption of all men whatsoever whereby they are most grievous transgressours of the Law and most odious in the sight most obnoxious to the Justice of God for their transgressions This considered He must be led by the spirit of errour who will not see the evidence and by the spirit of contradiction who will gainsay the power of St. Paul's conclusion Therefore by the works of the Law there shal no flesh be justified for it followeth upon these Premises No Transgressour of the Law can be justified by the works of the Law But all men whatsoever are transgressours of the Law Therefore no man whatsoever can be justified by the works of the Law which is as much as to say That no man whatsoever can be justified by works for all works whatsoever are reducible to the works of the Law as being done through obedience to its authority and not rightly done but through compliance with and conformity to its righteousness And to this Argument he adds another v. 27. which may be put into this Syllogism The Law of works doth not wholly exclude mans boasting in his Justification But God will have mans boasting wholly excluded in his Justification Therefore The Law of works doth not justifie The Major is further proved by Rom. 4. 2. For if Abraham were justified by works he hath wherof to glory The Minor by Eph. 2. 8 9. For by Grace ye are saved through Faith not of works lest any man should boast what remains then for the conclusion but that the Law of works doth not justify For if it justified not Abraham who had so good works as to be called the friend of God much less will it justify me who by my wicked deeds am become Gods enemy We have yet a third argument in this very place v. 29 30. which concludes thus If Justification were by the works of the Law then onely the Jews who alone had the Law written in tables could be justified and God should regard the salvation of no other people save of the Jews But these consequents are directly against the goodness of God and the whole scope or Tenor of his Word Therefore so is that Antecedent that Justification is by works of â—…e Law These are St. Paul's three arguments in this place for his Negative conclusion which is against Justification by works And he is not contented with this but he gives us also an affirmative conclusion which is for Justification by Faith v. 24. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ which he fully explaineth and confirmeth from all the causes of our Justification The principal efficient cause is God of whom it is said v. 30. It is one God that shall justify by Faith and through Faith and this needs no other proof because no other could give us our blessed Jesus for a Saviour nor can give us Faith to be made partakers of his salvation The meritorious cause is Christ the Mediator betwixt God and man v. 25. Whom God hâ—…th set forth to be a propitiation The instrumental cause is Faith v. 22. The 〈◊〉 of God which is by Faith of Jesus Christ upon all that beâ—…eve for there is no apprehending of Christ without 〈◊〉 as there is no righteousness and salvation without Christ and again v. 25. through Faith in his blood not excluding any other act of his Mediatorship
though instancing onely in the shedding of his blood which was the chiefest act of his passive obedience whereby he merited for us the remission of sins The formal cause for Justification being an action and therefore an accident cannot properly have a material cause though you by your inherent righteousness do a little intrench upon this Rule of Logick I say the formal cause of Justification is expressed v. 25. to wit The remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God not excluding sins present and to come as if they were not also remitted but onely nameing sins past that we might not think Justification doth give us a liberty of future sininng The formal cause then of Justification is the remission of sins For God doth so far justify us or accept and account us for just and righteous as far as he doth pardon our sins and absolve and acquit us from condemnation for Christs righteousness Thus it was God be merciful to me a sinner which made the Publican go away justified St. Luke 18. 13 14. not his own merit but Gods mercy And this is that doctrine which St. Paul preacheth with a Notum sit omnibus et singulis Bâ—… it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unâ—…o you the forgiveness of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses Acts 13. 38 39. If forgiveness of sins and justification be not one and the same how is this a good consequence Through Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that beleeve are justified For this cannot follow if to be forgiven and to be justified be not one and the same for then one thing is preached another performed one thing promised and another granted But if they be the same then we are sure this is good Divinity that the formal justice or righteousness for which God absolves us sinners in the judgement is not in and from our selves but in and from our Saviour as it is said By him all that beleeve are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses whereas if our Justification were for any inherent righteousness whether Habitual or Actual it were not by him but by our selves nor to be gotten by believing but by doing nor could we be justified from all things at once and together but from one thing after another not in an instant but successively for so we get our inherent righteousness not by the grace and mercy of God casting all our sins upon our Saviour that he may forgive them all at once and together for active Justification which respects God absolving the sinners is a forgiveing of all sins at once and together for Christs sake though passive Justification which respects the sinner to be absolved is a forgiveing of sins so often as the sinner earnestly repenting doth by a lively Faith flee unto God the Son for his merit and to God the Father for his mercy In a word if our Justification were for any inherent righteousness whether habitual or actual we could not be justified by the grace and mercy of God casting all our sins upon our Saviour that he may forgive them all but by the Law of Moses casting us into a mould of righteousness that we may not commit any sin norstand in need of forgiveness And if this be so we may bid farewel iâ—… not 〈◊〉 to the whole Gospel of Christ which is thus briefly but fully summed up by St. Paul That God was in Christ reâ—…nciling the world unto himself so by a Potential though only true believers by an actual reconciliation not imputing their trespasses unto them 2 Cor. 5 19. No man can be reconciled to God who is not justified before God for all sinners are odious to God as his enâ—…mies not reconciled unto him as his frienâ—…s therefore God looks upon a maâ—… as no 〈◊〉 wâ—…ch canâ—…ot be as he is iâ—… himself but as he is in his Saviour when he is reconciled unto him and accordingly to be reconciled is to be justified that is to be accounted righteous for as the formal cause of our reconciliation consisteth in the remssion or not imputation of our sins not imputing their trespasseâ—… unto them so doth also the formal cause of our Justification for that is no other but an absolution from the guilt of sin For Justification is not a Physiâ—…al but a Moral action of God absolving the sinner for the merit of Christ even as Sanctification is not a Moral but a Physical Action of God cleansing and purging the sinner by the Spirit of Christ The one makes the sinner righteous but the other only accounts him righteous And therefore Justification and Sanctification are as improperly confounded as Moral and Physical or real Actions For Moral actions work a change only in regard of the mans relation as He that is adopted or acquitted is changed only in his relation that instead of being guilty he is made not guilty instead of beâ—…g a stranger he is made a Son But real or Physical actions do work a change also in regard of a mans person as He that is instructed or converted hath a real change wrought upon his understanding and his will and consequently is really changed in his person So that if to justifie be not meerly a moral action that is To account as just by acquitting from the condemnation of the Law as we say but be also a real action that is to make just by a conformity to the Law as you affirm then it must needs work a real change in the Patient making him righteous from unrighteous and from righteous more righteous and by consequent Justification will be one and the same thing with Sanctification and so it will follow that the whole Tenor of the Text hath hitherto misinformed us and doth still misguide us for therein these two are reckoned up as two several and distinct mercies of Almighty God towards our sinful souls and these wrought by several means God justifying us by the righteousness of his Son and sanctifying us by the power of his Holy Spirit And from this ill consequence will yet follow a much worse That Sanctification will be supposed to be nothing for it will have nothing left to do Justification having done its work before and if it have nothing to do it cannot be an Action and if it be not an action it must be nothing These Logical absurdities besides others that are Theological cannot well be avoided by those who make inherent righteousness the formal cause of our Justification And therefore though we separate not inherent and imputative righteousness which your insolent Dogmatist blasphemously calls Putative as if it were meerly fictâ—…tious when as in truth all our righteousness is so in respect of it I say though we separate not inherent and imputative righteousness
to differ from the whole scope of the Law and of the Gospel since it is undeniable that Christ with his righteousnesse is the end of the Law and the subject of the Gospel This is St. Peters Divinitie Act. 10. 43. To Him give all the Prophets witnesse that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins i. e. in one word shall be justified And indeed what were all the propitiatory and expiatory sacrifices of the Law but so many types of Christs sacrifice upon the Crosse who is the Propitiation for our sins 1 John 2. 2. so that in truth this part of the Ceremonial Law was little other than a dark representation of the Gospel foreshewing in shadows what the Gospel was to declare in substance that the Lamb of God should tâ—…ke away the sinnes of the world whence St. Paul ascribeth the Justification of the Jew and of the Gentile to one and the same sacrifice Aâ—… Christ hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Eph. 5. 2. Their sacrifices did expiate sin only by vertue of this sacrifice And this is that which the same Apostle proves to the Jews in his Epistle which he peculiarly sent to them the sum whereof is briefly this That Jesus Christ whom he did preach to them in that Epistle being the eternal Sonne of God coessential and coequal with his Father perfect God and perfect man in one and the same person was that Messiah which God from the beginning of time had promised and in the fulnesse of time had sent into the world as the only King to Govern as the only Priest to reconcile as the only Prophet to instruct his Church according to the Covenant made before the Law to the types and figures given under the Law and all the predictions explications additions and confirmations by the Prophets so that unlesse they would reject all the documents given to them in their own Law and by their own Prophets throughout all the Old Testament they must thankfully acknowledge heartily embrace and dutifully obey Jesus Christ as the sole Author of their redemption and salvation or to speak yet neerer to our debate though not to Gods Truth as the sole author of Justification to redeem them from the guilt and of sanctification to redeem them from the bondage of their sins This is the Doctrine of the whole Epistle to the Hebrews which is briefly delivered in the first words and confirmed and enlarged in the sequele of that Epistle God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son There 's our blessed Saviour as Prophet to instruct the Church Whom he appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds There he is as King to govern the Church which is his inheritance as man his workmanship as God When he had by himself purged our sins There he is as Priest to offer himself for a Sacrifice to reconcile the Church And all the Epistle after this in the doctrinal part of it is nothing else but an enlargement upon these Three Heads shewing the necessity of Christs three Offices and the excellency of his Person according to each Office viz. according to his Kingly Office in the first and second according to his Prophetical Office in the third and fourth Chapters and according to his Priestly Office in the rest till the nineteenth Verse of the tenth Chapter After which He treateth of those Offices and Duties which belong to Christians and that in the same method or manner as he had before of the Offices belonging unto Christ first briefly summing them up together and then fully and largely explaining them For so cap. 10. v. 22. He exhorts us to Faith and a good Conscience v. 23. To a firm hope and undaunted profession v. 24. To charity and to good works v. 25. To the publike exercise of all those duties of Piety which God had appointed for the nourishment and the increase of Faith Hope and Charity and the rest of the Epistle afterwards is but an enlargement upon these Will you say because he speaks so much for good works in the latter part of his Epistle He therefore requires them to Justification as well as Faith Look on the tenth Chapter you will soon recall that saying For there it is proved That the Law Sacrifices could not take away sin that is could not justifie those who offered them by two irresistible Topicks ab absurdo ab impossibili First From the command of the Law enjoyning those Sacrifices to be repeated every year which had been needless and therefore absurd if the worshippers could have been purged by them so as to have had no more Conscience of sin vers 23. Secondly From the nature of the Sacrifices that were offered which were not of so great an efficacy as to purge sin much less of so great an excellency as to expiate it For it is not possible that the blood of Bulls and of Goats should take away sins v. 4. And surely he that makes it his work to shew the weakness of the Law-Sacrifices to take away sin could not make it his intent to set up the Gospel-Sacrifices whether of the Heart by Meditation or the Lips by Prayer or of the Hand by Alms-deeds as expiations for our sins For the same Objections still hold against the one which were made against the other The necessity of their repetion is as great the proof of their imperfection is far greater I ask the soul of the most religious Votary that now lives whether he dare say that he ever prayed so devoutly but that either for want of firmness in his attention or of zeal in his affection he needed to ask forgiveness for his Prayers There was nothing of sin in the worst of Legal there is something of sin in the best of Evangelical Sacrifices and how then can it make an atonement for another sin 14. Therefore what ever be the excellency of good works as to Gods acceptance or the efficacy of them as to mans salvation yet they cannot be so excellent as to deserve nor so efficacious as to procure the Justification of a sinner no it cost more to redeem a soul so that He even the most righteous man that is must let that alone for ever Non dabit Deo placationem suam pretium redemptionis animae suae He can give to God what may please his goodness not what may appease his anger or satisfie his Justice He can offer up the homage he cannot offer up the price of his soul Accordingly we are bound to interpret all these and the like Texts concerning good works as declaring their indispensable necessity not as declaring their meritorious efficacy to our salvation as shewing them ot be consequents of the Faith that justifieth not Causes of Justification That honour must
be reserved only to the Eternal Son of God who alone had a righteousness able to hold weight in the ballance of the Sanctuary and consequently who alone had a righteousness able to make a sinner righteous If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me Joh. 13. 8. being spoken to a man of infirmity better merit than I can hope for notwithstanding all that I can do or suffer for my Saviour makes me say That unlesse his blood wash me I shall never be so clean as to have a part with him Therefore will I rely only upon his blood to make and keep me a true member of his Body for I see that St. Paul who excelled all others in his Doings and in his sufferings for Christ in labours more abundant there was the excellency of his doings In stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in deaths oft there was the excellency of his sufferings 2 Cor. 11. 23. yet dares not plead either for acquitment or acceptance with God from his own but only from his Saviours obed ence And do couâ—…t them but dung sc. all things whatsoever not the righteousness of the Law excepted that I may win Christ And be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by Faith Phil. 3. 9. A righteousness which is most truly called the righteousness of God for it is of God the Fathers giving of God the Sons purchasing For none but God can take away sin appease the wrath of God abolish the power of death and the tyranny of the Devil therefore no righteousness but the righteousness of God can have any thing to do in our Justification whereby sin is taken away Gods wrath is appeased and the power of death and the Devil is abolished If men alone can do this great work of our redemption what need we any more then man alone in the person of our Redeemer wherefore to admit any but the Son of Gods righteousness as the cause of mans Justification is to set open if not to set up an inlet for Arrianism which forceth Christian Divines to bring St. James to St. Paul in this doctrine of Justification that they may set up not mans but Gods righteousness for if we need a God to redeem us why not also to justifie us since Justification is the main work of our redemption And indeed if men would be so ingenuous as to allow the Spirit of God the same constancy to himself under the hands of several Pen-men as of One They would no more oppose St. James against St. Paul in this doctrine then St. Paul against himself For St. Paul hath as palpably rejected a Faith without works as St. James Though I have all Faith so as to remove mountains and have no charity I am nothing 1. Cor. 13. 2. And yet by so saying did never intend and was never thought to thwart his own doctrine concerning Justification by Faith in Christ or to ascribe any share of it to works which proceed from charity or to make man a fellow-sharer with God by allowing our own righteousness to be in the least respect a Partial cause of our Justification And herein St. Augustin shews himself St. Pauls Scholar and therefore may justly challenge to be our Master For though he writ a Book of purpose to confute the Solifidean Heresie which looked only after Faith yet hath he not let fall any one passage to perswade us That works are required to Justification as well as Faith This himself professeth lib. 2. Retr cap. 38. Interea missa sunt mihi à quibusdam fratribus laicis quidem sed divinorum eloquiorum studiosis scripta nonnulla quae ita distinguerent à bonis operibus Christianam fidem ut sine hâc non posse sine illis autem posse perveniri suaderetur ad aeâ—…ernam vitam quibus respondens librum scripsi cujus nomen est de Fide Operibus When I had received certain writings from some Lay-brethren indeed but studious of the holy Scripture mark the distinction of Lay-men and Clergy-men in those daies but withal the free use of the Scriptures not denied to Lay-men which did so divide and separate Faith from Works as to say without the one we might not be saved but without the other we might I thought to answer them in a Treatise of purpose which entitled of Faith and Works And in this Treatise though by many Texts he proveth that men are bound to work out their own salvation yet doth he nowhere avow that they shall be justified or saved by their works Thus himself declareth the whole intent and scope of his Book as to this argument Quare illud jam videamus quod excutiendum est à cordibus religiosis ne malâ securitate salutem suam perdant si ad eam obtinendam sufficere solam fidem putaverint berè autem vivere bonis operibus viam Dei tenere neglexerint lib. de Fide Oper. cap. 14. Now let us consider that Tenent which is to be kept or driven out of religious hearts lest by an evil security they should lose their own salvation while they think to obtain it only by faith and neglect to live righteously and by works of righteousness to keep themselves in the way of Godliness Here 's his whole scope and intention To keep religious hearts from carnal security in neglecting good works not to fill them with spiritual Pride in relying on them and surely they must rely on them very much to the dishonour of their Saviour and to the danger of their salvation if they look to be justified by them nay a little after He plainly excludes good works from Justification though he require them in the Faith that justifieth Quùm ergo dicit Apostolus arbitrari se justificari hominem per fidem sine operibus Legis non hoc agit ut praeceptâ ac professâ fide opera Justitiae contemnantur sed ut sciat se quisque per fidem posse justificari etiamsi legis opera non praecesserint sequuntur enim justificatum non praecedunt justificandum When therefore the Apostle saith we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law his intent is not that because we have known and do profess the faith we should contemn the works of the Law but only that every man should know he may be justified by his faith though he hath not performed the works of the Law For those works do follow him that already is not go before him that hereafter shall be justified If good works do not go before him that is justified then the work of Justification is done before they come and if done before them then most surely done also without them Yet still the same Father reviles their opinion who did think That Faith without works was available to salvation saying plainly that to confute this
he never so glorious yet he is as far from God as my self for betwixt finite and infinite the distance is infinite whether the finite be glorious or inglorious for be he never so glorious yet he and his glory both are nothing in comparison of him to whom Cherubins and Seraphins continually do cry Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy Glory 7. Having vindicated mine own allegation against praying to Saints I come to oppose your Cardinals allegations for it which though they savour much more of learning authority yet not one jot less of impertinency And yet you and all yours swallow them as glib as once you swallowed the holy league and Covenant or as still you are desirous to swallow up all other Churches into your own pretended mother Church that is as that Behemoth swalloweth waters of whom it is said Behold he drinketh up a river and hasteth not he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth Job 4. 23. A large swallow you have to let down your own Camels whiles you strain at our gnats not considering the advice of the first Bishop of Hierusalem to his Clergy My Brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons Jam. 2. 1. If you had not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons more then of causes you would rather be exceptious against your own writers for most shamefully misapplying the holy Scriptures to set up your false worship then with ours for rightly applying them to pull it down since it is so much to the dishonour of Christ our Redeemer and to the danger of those Christian souls which he hath redeemed And yet your late writers seeing the unwritten word so unequal a match to grapple with the written word for the Protestants have opened their eyes though God alone can open their hearts and we pray him to open them do labour to prove all your false adorations and false invocations out of the holy Scriptures notwithstanding they are so plainly and so directly against the express letter of the Law of Moses and therefore cannot be according to the letter of the Prophets which are no other then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…aw But I will confine my self to your moâ—…â—…ed Dogmatist and desire you with me to consider the strange impertinency and if wilful the stranger imprety of his allegations out of the Text to maintain your invocation of Saints And amongst them all two only shall serve my turn 8. The first is that of Gen. 48. 16. The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the lads Hic apertè sanctus Jacob Aâ—…gelum invocavit saith Bellarm. Here holy Jacob did manifestly invocate an Angel If he did 't is manifest he took that Angel for the God of his Fathers Abraham and Isaac for the God which fed him all his life long and redeemed him from all evil for he invocateth none other to bless the lads but only that God so saith the Text God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk the God which â—…ed me all my life long to this day The Angel which redeemed me from all evil bless the â—…ads 'T is palpable all these particulars do concern but one and him Jacob desireth to bless the children If that one were an Angel he did not pray for Gods blessing upon them so the lads were little beholding to him If that one were God he did not pray to an Angel to blesâ—… them so 〈◊〉 â—…olding to your Carâ—… Nay indeed all that are concerned in this Text for the Angel though named yet is not concerned in it are litâ—…le beholding to him for all are losers by this interpretation 1º God loseth his honour of accepting feeding redeeming and blessing his servants 2º Abraham and Isaac lose their God For it was the Almighty God not an Angel that said to Abraham Walk before me and be thou perfect Gen. 17. 1. and God before whom my Fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk saith this Text. 3º The poor infants lose their blessing for t is clear an Angel could not bless them but only ministerially from God 4º Jacob loseth his Religion for he calleth upon a false God if upon an Angel instead of God All these cannot lose by this interpretation the Interpreter himself be no loser therefore though I will not say he lost his honesty by seeking to wrest a text yet I must say he hath lost his authority by seeking to oppose it For it is not an exposition but an opposition of the Text when words are taken Grammatically in their own sense that should be taken Theologically in Gods sense The Grammatical sense of a word is according to its own signification But the Theological sense of a word is according to Gods use of it or Gods application As Genesis 18. 2. The Lord appeared unto Abraham but v 2. Lo three men stood by him And again v. 16. The men rose up from thence yet v. 17. And the Lord said and 't is evident by all Abrahams prayer that it was the Lord appeared unto him for he calleth him the Judge of all the earth v. 25. and v. 33. 't is said The Lord went his way as soon as he had left communing with Abraham If you take this word men Grammatically as 't is in its own signification you must say Abraham prayed to a man But if you take it Theologically as 't is in Gods use or application 't is no less then the Lord appearing in the likeness of a Man and you must say That Abraham prayed only to the Lord So in this Text mis-interpreted by your great Doctor if you take the word Angel Grammatically as it signifies in it self 't is plain Iacob invocated an Angel but if you take it Theologically as God useth it 't is no less then the Lord in the likeness of an Angel and so 't is plain Iacob invocated none but God And truly the one Text might as well have been urged to prove that Abraham invocated a man as the other to prove that Iacob invocated an Angel Both good proofs Grammatically but neither a good proof Theologically For Grammarians look upon words as they signifie in themselves but Divines look upon words as they signifie in their use the reason is because the work of the one is to understand the Thing but the work of the other is to understand the Truth therefore as doubtful Propositions in the New Testament are to be expounded according to the Analogie of Faith in the Apostles Creed that we may have Truth in our Belief So doubtful Propositions in the Old Testament are to be expounded according to the analogie of righteousness in Moses his Decalogue that we may have Truth in our Obedience And as that Proposition This is my body must be taken Theologically that is in the sense of the speaker because taken Grammatically that is in the bare sense of the words it
from one another in the man that is justified for true Faith alwaies worketh obedience and God will not cannot justifie the disobedient yet we must separate them from one another in the doctrine of Justification For 't is only the Imputative righteousness which we have from our Saviour not the Inherent righteousness which we have in our selves which can acquit us at God's Judgement seat or absolve us as righteous and consequently which may be accounted the formal cause of our Justification Lastly the final cause of our Justification is set down first explicitly that it is the declaration of Gods Righteousness vers 25 26. To declare his righteousness not onely that this way of justifying a sinner is according to Gods Promise both in words and Types in all the Old Testament but also that this promise was according to the rule of righteousness because it acquitteth not a sinner without a due satisfaction for his sin nor without a true and serious aversion from himself and conversion to his Saviour Secondly the final cause of our justification is set down implicitly That it is our glorying or boasting in God alone For whereas v. 27. he excludeth all other boasting t is necessary he must include this as himself saith more largely 1 Cor. 1. 30 31. Christ Jesus is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption There is our Justification set forth in it self in its antecedents and in its consequents In it self for Châ—…st Jesus is our righteousness to deliver us from the guilt of sin by acquitting and discharging us In its antecedents for he is our wisdom to free us from the blindness and darkness of sin by enlighting and instructing us In its consequents for he is our Sanctification in this life to free us from the pollution of sin by renewing and cleansing us and our Redemption in the life everlasting to free us from the miseries of sin by receiving and by glorifying us That according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord There is the final cause of our Justification Christ Jesus doth therefore instruct us by his most holy Word justifie us by his allsufficient merit sanctifie us by his most holy Spirit glorifie us by his all saving Mercy that we may not glory in our selves but onely in our Saviour from whom we have both the Knowledg and the Purchase and the Procurement and the Enjoyment of our salvation The Apostle having thus severally proved first his negative conclusion which is against justification by works and after that his affirmative conclusion which is for justification by Faith he at length joyns them both together in one Dogmatical determination Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by Faith wâ—…thout the deeds of the Law v. 28. And this conclusion he again repeateth Gal. 2. 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the Faith of Jesus Christ which he immediately confirms with no less then Ten several arguments in the next Chapter all alledged to confute their foolishness in falling from Christ to the Law from Faith to works in the doctrine of Justification And being alledged by the Apostle to confute their foolishness they will either the more easily prevent or the more acceptably reform and redress Ours The first Argument is this You have received the gift of the Holy Spirit not by the works of the Law but by the hearing of Faith v. 2. but the gift of the Holy Spirit is the best pledge of your Justification or Reconciliation with God for he giveth not his Spirit to his enemies Therefore you are justified not by the Law but by the Gospel or by the Hearing of Faith The second Argument is this The same way that Abraham was justified who is the â—…ather of the faithful and to whom the Promise was made The same way must you be justified But He was justified onely by Faith v. 6 7 8 9. The Third this As many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse ver 10. but none that are under the curse are justified The fourth this The just shall live by Faith but the Law is not of Faith ver 11. 12. that is The just obtaineth life and salvation by the free grace of God apprehended by Faith in Christ but the Law alloweth no such free grace for that promiseth life only upon the now impossible condition of perfect obedience The man that doth them shall live in them The fifth this Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us ver 13. Therefore the Law could not justifie us for it did curse us and if it could in vaine was Christ made a curse for us in vaine did he do and suffer so much for our Redemption The sixth this To whom the Promises were made to him they were performed but the Promises of spiritual blessings and consequently of justification were made to Abrahams seed not seeds that is to Christ and his members not to them that should be under the Law but only to them that should be in Christ. The seventh is this The Promise of spiritual blessednesse was made to Abraham long before the giving of the Law therefore neither to be accomplished from the observation nor to be abolished by the obligation of the Law ver 17. which is further argued ver 18. If the inheritance be of the Law 't is no more of Promise but God gave it to Abraham by Promise therefore 't is not of the Law The eighth this That which was a sign of enmitie cannot be a means of reconciliation but the Law was a sign of enmitie betwixt God and man as appears in that it was ordained by Angels not immediately by God himself who being offended had withdrawn his presence which shews that men were at a distance from and at enmitie with God ver 19 20. Therefore the Law cannot be the means of our accesse to or of our reconciliation with God The ninth is this The Law cannot give life to any man by exempting him from the punishment of sin nor give righteousnesse by exempting him from the guilt of sin ver 21. 22. Therefore both righteousnesse and life are given only by Faith in Christ. The tenth and last argument is this The office of the Law was to be our School-master to bring us unto Christ to shew us the imperfection of our own and to make us desire the imputation of his righteousnesse that we might be justified by Faith ver 24. but the Law cannot go beyond its own office therefore no man can be justified either in whole or in part by the works of the Law 8. Thus have I mustred up S. Pauls Artillery to batter down our own but to keep up our Saviours righteousness in the doctrine of Justification which being a doctrine that came down from Heaven is best maintained by arguments from Heaven For as humane reason could not
Church as appeares in that these words which are the 6 7 8. Canons of the second Milevitane Council in Binnius for the Western are the 115 116 117. Canons of the Council of Carthage in Balsamon for the Eastern Churches 17. Wherefore this being an undoubted Principle among all Christians for who can doubt that which comes to us Originally from the Scriptures and derivatively from the Catholick Church That all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. we cannot reasonably but only perversely deny this conclusion That no man can be justified by his own righteousnesse For having sinned he must needs be under the condemnation of sin and coming short of the glory of God in his duty or obligation he must also come short of his own glory in his merit of justification for his sin which makes him come short of righteousness must needs also make him come short of being reputed righteous For shall not the Judge of all the earth do right how then shall he acquit that man for righteous whom he knows to be a sinner we find he hath in effect given a contrary judgment already Hag. 2. 12 13. where this is the summe of his determination concerning two questions which neerly concerne this case 1. Whether a man that is unclean may contract purity from the touch of hâ—…ly things which he denies 2. Whether Holy things do not contract impurity from the touch of a man that is unclean which he affirmes and then makes this inference ver 14. So is this People and so is this Nation before me saith the Lord and so is every work of their hands and that which they offer there is unclean The same reason holds in us as in them The Jew was unclean by the touch of a dead body and so is the Christian. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7. 24. The Jew by his uncleanness did pollute the holy things so doth the Christian even those holy works that proceed from Gods Holy Spirit and Grace The holy things by their Purity did not make him pure among the Jews who was unclean in himself so is it also among the Christians The best inherent righteousness we have from Gods Grace doth not purge away the impurity of that sin which we have from our selves therefore we must confesse that because of our Original and actual uncleanness every work of our hands and that which we offer to our God is unclean and consequently our works cannot justifie themselves much less can they justifie us And we find the same judgment of God confirmed likewise in the New Testament Luk. 17. where the Lepers pray heartily Jesus Master have mercy on us there 's one good work of piety and devotion they obey readily in going to shew themselves to the Priests as they had been commanded there 's another good work better than the former for obedience is better than sacrifice And one of them when he saw that he was cleansed turned back and with a loud voyce glorified God and fell down on his face at our Saviours feet and gave him thanks there 's many good works together one of devotion he glorified God another of zeal with a loud voyce a third of reverence he fell down on his face a fourth of humility at our Saviours feet a fifth of praise and thanksgiving he gave him thanks here is soul and body and all the powers and faculties of both wholly set upon good works yet our Saviour saith Arise go thy way thy Faith hath made thee whole v. 19. So is it also in the leprosie of our souls we are bound to pray heartily Jesus Master have mercy on us and to shew our selves to the Priests that is to use all the means of salvation which God hath appointed in the communion and by the Ministers of his Church yet when all is done if we will speak with our Saviour we must say to the Leper thy Faith hath made thee whole The good works may be acknowledged as adjunctâ—… but not as causes of the cure that must be attributed only to Faith in him who is the Physician of our souls For without doubt that holy ejaculation The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seek God though he be not clean according to the purification of the sanctuary is a prayer as needful now as it was in the dayes of Hezekiah or it would not have been left upon record for us 2 Câ—…ron 30. 19 It is the Lords Pardon not the mans preparation that makes him clean according to the purification of the Sanctuary and so Kimchi confesseth in his gloss upon those words ver 20. And the Lord healed the people that is saith he The Lord forgave their sin according to that of the Psalmist heal my soul for I have sinned against thee The Lord pardoned their sins that he might accept them and why should not we say that pardon and forgivenesse of our sins is the best ground and means of our acceptance with God For this is the only way to be clean according to the purification of the Sanctuary that is to be clean from all sin even to be made clean of which it is said The blood of Jesus Christ his Son 〈◊〉 us from all sin 1 Joh. 1. 7. If I haâ—… but one sin left upon my soul not washed away by Faith in his blood and the tears of my own repentance I shall not be clean enough to appear before the Throne of his Grace much lesse to appear at the bar of his justice I shall not be innocent enough to serve him much lesse to be judged by him I shall not be able to stand comfortably before his mercy and much less to stand confidently against his Judgement Therefore can I not hope to be saved by the first innocency that of obedience or of righteousness but only by the second innocency that of Faith and repentance And if any other man hath a better hope I pray God he may not find a worse salvation But surely God himself in his consultation how to save the Israelites concludes to do it not by their obedience but by their Faith and repentance Jer. 3. 19. But I said How shall I put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land a goodly heritage There 's his consultation how to save them And I said thou shalt call me My Father and shalt not turn away from me there 's his conclusion to save them by their Faith and by their repentance By their Faith Thou shalt call me My Father and by their repeâ—…tance Thou shalt noâ—… tuâ—…n away from me that is not so turn away but thou shalt return again and therefore this promise is not to be interpreted of their obedience but of their repentance he that is most obedient in some cases cannot say he doth not turn away from God in other but he that is truly penitent can
shall we say He more willeth our punishment then our salvation 16. But if any will hereafter thus abuse the Word of God let him know he must likewise abuse the Prayers of his Church that so the sight of the one may bring him to the greater detestation of the other Wherefore let him say Domine non secundum peccata nostra facias nobis 1. non secundum mortalia sed facias nobis secundum venialia peccata O Lord deal not with us after our sins that is deal not with us after our mortal sins but deal with us after our venial sins Neque secundum iniquitates nostras retribuas nobis 1. non in inferno sed in Purgatorio Neither reward us after our iniquites That is reward us not after our iniquities in Hell by eternal torments but reward as after our iniquities in Purgatory by temporal punishment And if he think these too direful deprecations for his Hope let him think those other too direful interpretations for his Faith which would make repentance so take away his mortal as to leave behind his venial sins or would so take out Hell as to leâ—… in Purgatory for his bounden satisfaction For our parts we will do Gods Woâ—… and Gods Church more right then to fiâ—… such Doctrines upon his Word or such Prayers upon his Church And since thâ—… thoughts of our hearts are reputeâ—… among our venial sins we will say Thaâ—… both God and his Church have taught uâ—… how to get those thoughts purged froâ—… our souls whiles we live and not expectâ—… their purgation after our death even by heartily praying in this manner Cleansâ—… the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiratioâ—… of thy holy Spirit not by the operation of an imaginary or unholy fire which if it come not from Hell is but imaginary if it come from Hell is but unholy that wâ—… may perfectly love thee and worthily magnâ—…fie thy holy name This we can pray in faith for our heavenly Father will give his holy Spirit to them that ask him Luk. 11. 13. And that holy Spirit will purifie our heart by faith Acts 15. 8 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fide purgans corda eorum Purging their hearts by Faith This is aâ—… the Purging of sin mentioned in the Scriptures even a Purgatory by Faith not by Fire And this is all the soul needs for if we may by vertue of this Purging Spirit or Purifying Faith either in our life or at our death perfectly love God we may doubtless after our death presently enjoy him since then as our faith is to be turned into Vision and our hope into Comprehension so our Charity is to be turned into Fruition our love of Christ into the enjoyment of him we cannot enjoy him where he is not but where he is that is not in a place far from Heaven if at least it be a place at all but in Heaven sitting at the right hand of God making intercession for us 17. And we had rather trust to his intercession to keep us from Purgatory then to others intercessions to deliver us from it For we are sure their intercessions are nothing worth but by vertue of his intercession and we are not sure that he doth intercede for souls in Purgatory for we cannot believe that he doth pray to God that a fire we know not whence should purge those souls which himself that came down from heaven could not purge For whatsoever fond Christians may fancy yet sure Christ himself will not so undervalue his own most precious blood and his own most holy Spirit as to pray that fire may cleanse those souls which his Spirit and blood have not cleansed And were it possible that such prayers could be made for souls in Purgatory as Christ would please to intercede withal yet since it cannot be known how long it is fit for souls to be in Purgatory no living man can use such prayers in faith of Christs intercession to go along with him to the throne of Grace But as he may pray for them without Christs intercession if they be there so he must pray for them without it when they shall be gone from thence For God hath not let us men on earth know the time of their deliverance no more then he hath taught us the belief of their captivity And now by this time I hope you understand what is my aim in making this answer though you say you did not in making that objection and will not perswade men hereafter to go to Purgatory that you may pray for them when it is so undenyable a Truth that if they be there they can have no benefit by your Prayers CAP. IV. Of the second Commandment and against Images 1. PApists not to be called Catholicks but false Catholicks saith their own Cassander 2. Confession and Absolution in the Church of Rome both faulty 3. The Church of England not defective in the practice of Penance neither for Confession nor for Contrition 4. The Church of Rome defective in her Confessional Interrogatories and consequently in her Penance for the sins against the second Commandement 5. No Catholick Divinity either in making the second no Commandment or in making no sin of Ignorance against it for All the Decalogue is as necessary to salvation as all the Creed 6. An errour in fact against a Commandement in the Decalogue infers an errour in faith against its corresponding Article in the Creed 7. Saint Augustine made bold with the place and order but not with the power or substance of the second Commandement He writ much against Images especially those of the blessed Trinity which you now maintain and worship to the great danger of making the scoffers of this age Antitrinitarians as by denying or concealing the second Commandement you have made them Antinomians 8. All Catholick Divines after Saint Augustine have not reckoned the first and second Commandements but as One indeed very few or none at all till Peter Lombard and might not so reckon them because it is against essential and accidential Catholicism 9. Good Church-men did neither joyn the first and second Commandements together as did the School nor divide the Tenth into two Commandements the absurdities of that division 10. T is easie for Christians well instructed in the first to sin out of ignorance against the second Commandement 11. Christ is not to be worshipped by A Picture because he is the true God 12. The Religious worshipping of Saints and Angels gross Idolatry For all the elicite Acts of Religion belong only to God who alone is the object of the first as Neighbour is the object of the second Table And t is against the order of Justice to confound the offices of God and Neighbour and consequentlâ—… the greatest breach of Christian Communion which is founded upon Justice 13. The Honour of Religion due by the first Table is unproportionable to any creature and cannot be given to any but against true Faith Hope and Charity
and must be the cause of eternal Dissention and Division in Christs Church 14. Religion orders a man only to God and that superstition which takes in Saints and Angels is for Babel not for Hierusalem because it confounds both the work and the Rule of Religion and is accordingly threatned and punished with confusion 15. Religious worshipping the Pictures of Saints and Angels is so gross Idolatry that you dare not let the people know the Commandement which forbids it 16. Images long kept out of the Churches of Christians Epiphanius his pulling down a veil with an Image at Anablatha unjustly if not unadvisedly rejected by Bellarmine as a false story 17. Images kept out of the Religion of Christians after they were admitted into their Churches The second Council of Nice opposed and confuted by the Latines not acknowledged for a General Council by the Greeks but most of all opposed and confuted by its own egregious falsities and falsifications discovered from its own Acts and affirmed by the testimony of Baronius 18. Interrogatories concerning Image-worship to be put into the Confessionals of the Romish Priests rather then of the people for that of the two they are the greater idolators The fourth Exception PAr 2. chap. 3. sect 2. pag. 193. speaking of us Catholicks you say The second Commandement is not of so great repute with them as to have any Interrogatory concerning it By the second Commandement nothing possible can be forbidden but only external Idolatry as internal is forbidden in the first Which moved Saint Augustine quest 71. in Exodum and all Catholick Divines after to reckon these two but as one Now in those negative words of the first Thou shalt not have strange gods before me is necessarily and positively included this affirmative Thou shalt have me only for thy true God Hence it follows that it is impossible for Christians whatever the Jews did well instructed in the first to offend through ignorance against the second What Interrogatories then are needful concerning it But I know you hint at our Pictures and Images of our blessed Saviour and his holy Saints But it must first be proved that Jesus Christ is a false God before the application of our Divine Worship through his Pictures unto him can be convinced of Idolatry And the same I say proportionably though in an infinitely inferiour degree of our Religious worship through the Pictures of his glorious Servants Saints and Angels The Answer 1. I Spake not of you Catholicks but if I spake of you it was of you Papists who by your own Cassander are not to be called Catholicks but false Catholicks Sunt quidam qui Pontificem Romanum tantum non Deum faciunt ejusque autoritatem non modò supra totam Ecclesiam sed supra ipsam Scripturam divinam efferunt Hos non video quò minus Pseudocatholicos Papistas appellare possis Cassander de officio pii viri There are some who make the Pope almost a God and extoll his authority not only above the whole Church but also above the holy Scripture These are to be called Papists and Pseudocatholicks that is to say false Catholicks Wherefore in the judgement of your own Cassander if you will needs be Papists you cannot be Catholicks 2. But in truth my intent was not so much to speak in condemnation of you Papists as in justification of us Protestants not so much in condemnation of your Church as in justification of our own But since you have taken it for a condemnation of your Church pray consider whether you may not take these particulars for the parts of that condemnation First that in your General confession Confitior Deo omnipotenti B. Mariae semper Virgini c. You suppose the blessed Virgin and the holy Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul and all the Saints departed equally present at your Confession with God to hear you if not equally powerful or merciful with him to forgive you whereas we who are taught only to say Omnipotens clementissime Pater Almighty and most merciful Father in our general Confession cannot be under the suspition much less under the danger of communicating to the creature either the presence or power or mercy of the Creator Secondly That in your particular and private confession you clog mens consciences with an absolute necessity of confessing every mortal sin though it be but only in thought For so saith your Laterane Council under Innocent the third cap. 21. Omnia sua peccata fideliter confiteatur Let him faithfully confess all his sins And though that of Trent afterwards seem to mitigate the matter sess 14. c. 5. saying Nihil aliud exigit Ecclesia à Poenitentibus quà m ut confiteantur omnia peccata mortalia quae post diligentem sui excussionem memoriae occurrent Yet Cardinal Bellarmine whom his fellow Jesuites will certainly follow and they are now your chiefest confessors saith plainly after a full debate of the cause Colligimus hinc necessarium esse confiteri omnia peccata mortalia etiamsi solâ cogitatione commissa sint lib. 3. de Poenit. cap. 7. § ex his so that t is to little purpose for your Council to say that t is necessary for the Penitent to confess all the mortal sins he can remember whiles your Champion and after him your Confessors say t is necessary for him to confess all the mortal sins he hath committed and spare him not so much as a thought which may easily be a mortal sin and yet is as easily forgotten as committed whence it was that your own Cassander called your auricular confession Carnifieinam conscientiarum in consult Art 11. the wrack of consciences to torment not to ease them For who can tell how oft he offendeth O cleanse thou me from my secret faults said the maâ—… after Gods own heart Psalm 19. If none can tell how oft he offendeth in word or deed much less in thought who is able to confess all his offences yet you say He must confess all or he can receive pardon of none And therefore as you leave the horrour of that question upon the conscience Who can tell how oft he offendeth So you take away the comfort of that prayer from it O cleanse thou me from my secret faults Thirdly That in your absolutions you remit the punishments of Purgatory for all the sins committed against God and man Remitto tibi omnes poenas Purgatorii propter culpas offensiones quas contra Deum proximum tuum commisisti This was the form of that Absolution which Dr. Harding brought over from Rome to bestow amongst those of his party in this Nation who would joyn with him in his dis-allegiance against Queen Elizabeth I meddle not with its vanity in absolving from Punishments which are not in being or if they were cannot come under the Churches absolution I meddle only with its Impiety that it turneth the gift of God into the instrument of Ungodliness For no credulous Papist