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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A12211	A friendly advertisement to the pretended Catholickes of Ireland declaring, for their satisfaction; that both the Kings supremacie, and the faith whereof his Majestie is the defender, are consonant to the doctrine delivered in the holy Scriptures, and writings of the ancient fathers. And consequently, that the lawes and statutes enacted in that behalfe, are dutifully to be observed by all his Majesties subjects within that kingdome. By Christopher Sibthorp, Knight, one of his Maiesties iustices of his court of chiefe place in Ireland. In the end whereof, is added an epistle written to the author, by the Reverend Father in God, Iames Vssher Bishop of Meath: wherein it is further manifested, that the religion anciently professed in Ireland is, for substance, the same with that, which at this day is by publick authoritie established therein.	Sibthorp, Christopher, Sir, d. 1632.; Ussher, James, 1581-1656.	1622 (1622)	STC 22522; ESTC S102408	494,750	610

wills and affections good before they have anie goodnesse in them or readinesse to obey him and before that they can give consent to his motions or walke in his wayes And thus is it a thing evident that Gods Love and good Will toward us is antecedent and goeth before our love and good affection toward him for so Christ Iesus himselfe also witnesseth saying Yee have not chosen mee but I have chosen you And so also witnesseth S. Iohn saying expressely Herein is love not that vvee loved God but that he loved us and sent his Sonne to be a reconciliation for our sinnes And againe he saith expresly VVe love him because he loved us first Now then seeing it is manifest throughout the whole course of mens salvation that Gods love and his good will and working is first precedent and goeth before all good wills and loves of men toward him againe and that mens good wills consents loves and affections towards him are caused wrought and procured by himselfe and come in the second place as a thing following after it must needs be granted that Gods will doth not depend upon mens will as an attendant thereupon to follow it but contrariwise that mens will doth depend upon Gods will for him to order frame and dispose it as pleaseth him And therefore you now perceive I trust that this great matter of Salvation dependeth not upon the will of men for if it did who would be damned but upon the will of God who giveth those his saving graces of a lively faith and of a true Christian repentance and conversion to whom hee pleaseth For as S. Paul saith againe expressely Hee doth all things according to the counsell of his owne vvill Howsoever then men are bidden in the Scripture to repent convert return to walk in Gods wayes and to keepe his commandements and such like yet thereupon it followeth not that men have free will and power of themselves to doe these things for it is before proved unto you that it is God that by his grace and spirit working in men maketh them both willing and able to doe these things and to consent to his divine motions before they can doe it Yea albeit they are bidden to choose life yet it is God that must teach and direct them before they can make a right choyce in that case And therefore doth the Psalmist say Shevv mee thy vvaies O Lord and teach me thy pa●hes Lead me forth in thy truth and teach me for thou art the God of my salvation And againe he saith VVhat man is he that feareth the Lord Him will he teach the way that hee shall choose But to conclude How can mens salvation depend upon their owne wills when as long before they were borne or had anie being in the world or anie will at all they were with GOD and in his counsell determination and purpose elected thereunto namely even before the foundations of the world as the Scriptures doe clearely and directly testifie 5 But then they further obiect that S. Paul saith thus VVhom God foreknew them hee did predestinate c. moreover whom he predestinated them also he called and whom hee called them also he iustified and whom he iustified them also he glorified Here Gods foreknowledge is mentioned as going in order before his predestination and this his foreknowledge say they sheweth that God did foresee and foreknowe what men would bee and what workes and merits they would doe when they should be living in this world and that according thereunto he made his predestination and so they make not Gods will and pleasure but mens future wills workes and merits so long before foreseene foreknown the Cause of Gods predestinating them to salvation It is true in verie deed that God did foresee foreknow what men would and should bee as likewise hee foresaw and foreknewe whatsoever was afterwards to happen or bee in the world but thereupon it followeth not that the good workes of men which hee so foresaw and foreknew were the original and antecedent cause of his Predestination of them to eternali life for they might be a consequent and an effect of his predestination of them for all that as indeed they were and not the Cause For Christ himselfe saith They vvere ordained to this end to bring forth fruite and that their fruite should remaine And so also testifieth S. Paul that they bee Gods vvorkemanship created in Christ Iesus unto good vvorkes vvhich God had before ordained that they should vvalke in them Neither could God foresee or foreknow any merit of salvation to bee in mens workes whereto no such merit belongeth Neither could hee foresee or foreknowe any free or foreward Will in men after the fall of Adam of their owne naturall abilities for the walking in the waies of God as is also before declared But this he might and did indeed foresee and foreknow namely the fall of Adam whereby all mankinde was in respect of themselves most miserable wretches liable to the wrath of God and eternall condemnation Hee did also foresee and foreknow Christ Iesus his Incarnation Passion Satisfaction Righteousnesse and Obedience and that he should be the Saviour and Redeemer of all his Elect For which cause it is said by S. Paul That they which bee Elected were elected in him that is in Christ the mediatour and their head and appointed Saviour and Redeemer who being the second Adam did interpose himselfe and as their suertie did undertake for them to answer whatsoever Gods Iustice would demaund to be performed by him in their behalfe And as for the rest which were not Elected to salvation but refused they being not so beheld nor considered in Christ but as being out of him and consequently as they were in and after the transgression of the first Adam they lye still in that their most wofull estate as having no Suertie to undertake for them nor Saviour appointed to deliver them from the wrath and curse of God to them for their sinnes in his Iustice belonging And therefore doth the Scripture speake in this sort of them namely that The vvrath of God abideth upon them as being never taken away in Christ. And as they were borne in sinne and live in sinne so Christ Iesus himselfe saith that they die in their sinnes So that they never had nor shall have remission of their sinnes nor deliverance from the curse and wrath of God through the death and satisfaction of Christ Iesus 6 For wheras some here obiect that Christ died for all in a generally the Schoolmen answer it with a distinction namely that Christ died for all sufficienter but not efficienter that is sufficiently but not efficiently that is to say his death in respect of the greatnesse vvorth and value of it hee being the Sonne of God aswell as Man was sufficient for all in a generalitie and is therefore propounded as

signes or vvonders wee say that those which were done by Christ and his Apostles and in those ancient and primitive Churches be sufficient for the confirmation of that most ancient primitive Christian and Apostolicke faith and religion conteined in the booke of God which wee professe Yea now in these daies saith S. Chrysostome the vvorking of miracles is ceased and they be rather counterfeit miracles saith he vvhich be found amongst them that be false Christians Againe he saith There be some that aske vvhy men vvorke not miracles novv in these dayes If thou bee beleeving saith he as thou oughtest to be and if thou lovest Christ as he should be loved thou needest no miracles for signes be given to unbeleevers and not to beleevers Againe S. Cyrill saith that to vvorke miracles maketh not a man one iot the more holy seing it is common to evill men and to such as he obiects or reprobates For so the Lord himselfe witnesseth saying Manie shall say unto mee in that day Lord Lord have not vvee prophesied in thy name and in thy name cast out divels in thy name done manie great vvorks And yet will he neverthelesse professe unto them I never knevv you depart from me ye vvorkers of iniquitie And on the other side working of no miracles hindereth not a mans holinesse for Iohn wrought neither signe nor miracle and yet was this no derogation to his holinesse for amongst them that are borne of vvomen arose there not a greater then hee as Christ himselfe testifieth Yea that miracles signes or wonders may be done by false Prophets and false teachers is further manifest for even Christ himselfe saith that There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and they shall shevv great signes and vvonders so that if is vvere possible they should deceive the very Elect. S. Paul also directlie testifieth that in the Antichristian Church there shall be the vvorking of Sathan vvith all power and signes and lying VVonders Which saith S. Augustine be called lying signes and VVonders for this cause that either mens senses be deceived thinking that to be done which revera is not done or else because if they be done in deed they draw men to beleeve that they could not be done but by the power of God whereas they know not the power of the Divell For S. Iohn in the Revelation mentioneth spirits of Divels vvorking Miracles to deceive those that be of the Antichristian Church By all this then you see that the Miracles wrought in Poperie be no argument or proofe that therfore it is the right or true Church or that the Teachers therein be the right and true Teachers for they may be false Prophets and false Teachers and the Popish Church may be as indeed it is the false and Antichristian Church all these their Miracles notwithstanding But hereof I shall have occasion to speake more fullie afterward when I come to speake of Antichrist and his Miracles In the meane time concerning this point thus much may suffice CAP. III. Of Iustification by Faith onely The right sense and meaning of that position and of the truth of it And that being rightly understood it excludeth not good workes nor importeth anie licentiousnesse at all in it but the cleane contrarie IT is a thing well knowne how busie and earnest Popish Teachers be not only by word of mouth but by their books writings also to perswade you all that ever they can against ours the most ancient most pure and only right Religion and amongst other their bad devises which they plot contrive for their owne advantage and behoofe this is not the least that they accuse our Religion to be a doctrine and religion of much licentiousnesse and that in sundrie points which therefore must be answered And manie there be also that be too hastie and over credulous to beleeve them as if all that they speake and write were to be held for undoubted truth and oracles without further enquirie or examination But howsoever they thus boldly presume they for all that be not able to take anie iust exception against our Religion or to shew or prove it in anie point whatsoever to be an allower of anie the least impietie or licentiousnesse if it be rightly understood It is true that sundrie that professe Protestancie live licentiously and wickedly and so doe manie also that professe Poperie likewise live wickedly licentiously If therefore they allow not this for an argument sufficient to convince their religion of wickednesse licentiousnesse which is taken from the wicked lives manners and conversations of men Why will they be so unequall as to make it of anie force against our religion Wise men can easily distinguish inter vitium rei personae betweene that which is the fault of the thing and the fault of mens persons For the religion may be good though some persons that professe it live not answerably thereunto yea the Protestant that is the Christian Religion which we professe is so good godly divine holy and pure as that it neither alloweth nor tolerateth the filthie Stewes nor anie other impuritie nor anie treasons or rebellions nor perjuries nor lying or deceitfull equivocations nor anie other wickednesse or impietie whatsoever but utterly condemneth them all So that for true pietie puritie integritie and all manner of good life and godly conversation the religion of Poperie commeth farre short of it and is in no sort to be compared with it If then anie professing our religion live wickedly or licentiously as too manie do it is the fault of the men that live so dissolutely and not of the religion which requireth and commandeth the cleane contrarie at their hands But for all that they persist and say that even the Protestants religion it selfe is licentious because it teacheth and holdeth that men are justified in Gods sight and before his Tribunall onely by faith in Iesus Christ which doctrine say they maketh men licentious and carelesse of doing good workes Howbeit both they and you must understand that when the Protestants doe say or have said at anie time that Faith onely iustifieth in Gods sight it is and ever was meant and intended howsoever some seeme purposely to mistake it not of anie dead faith which hath no life in it to bring forth anie good workes but of a true and lively faith which is accompanied with good works and is fruitfull and working by love as S. Paul and S. Iames and S. Peter and the rest of the holy Scriptures cleerly declare Whilst therefore they teach both in their Sermons writings with S. Iames and the rest of the Scriptures That the faith that is vvithout vvorks is dead and that such a faith cannot save or iustifie a man but that it must be a true and lively faith that is such a faith as produceth bringeth forth good workes I hope you sufficiently perceive that the doctrine of

anie righteousnesse of our owne or inherent in our owne persons but by that immaculate and spotlesse righteousnesse of his imputed unto us So that In him it is as this Text most plainlie sheweth and not in our selves that wee are deemed righteous in Gods sight Yea here consider further what righteousnesse also it is that God approveth and will have to stand for the Iustification of sinfull men in his sight for it must be a righteousnesse transcendent and going farre beyond the righteousnesse of anie sinfull creatures namelie it must be that which S. Paul here calleth the righteousnesse of God that is a most pure perfect and complete righteousness wherein must not be anie the least spot speck or staine to be found as S. Chrysostome also declareth Which kind of most pure and spotlesse righteousnesse because no other man hath but Iesus Christ only the second Adam who is both God and Man therefore in his person only and not in ours it is to be both sought and found For which cause also it is that the Church and people of God considered not in themselves but in Christ are by the Apostle S. Paul said to have not so much as a spot or vvrinckle or any such thing in them Well therefore doth S. Augustine make this double observation upon this Text of 2. Cor. 5.21 saying Vide●e duo Iustitiam Dei non nostram In ipso non in nobis Behold and consider two things saith he first That vvee are made the righteousnesse of God and not our owne righteousnes and secondly In him and not in our selves The same observation likewise giveth S. Hierome upon the same Text saying Christus pro peccatis nostris oblatus peccati nomen accepit ut nos efficeremu● Iustitia Dei in ipso non nostra nec in nobis Christ being offered for our sinnes tooke the name of sinne that vve might be made the righteousnesse of God in him not our owne righteousnesse nor in us And therefore doth S. Paul againe not onlie for himselfe but in the behalfe of other Christians also speake in this sort even after faith and grace received VVe vvhich are Iewes by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles doe know that a man is not Iustified by the vvorkes of the Law but by the faith of Iesus Christ even vve I say have beleeved in Iesus Christ that vvee might be Iustified by the faith of Christ and not by the vvorkes of the Law because that by the works of the Law no flesh shall be iustified Be not these wordes verie direct for this purpose shewing that even those that be Christians and beleevers in Christ doe neverthelesse expect Iustification by Faith in Christ and not by the Workes of the Law Yea what man ever yet Christ Iesus onely excepted did fully and perfectlie keepe the whole Law and commandements of God in his owne person For which cause it is that none can be Iustified in Gods sight by anie works or observance of the Law which he by and in his owne person can doe or performe If the●e had beene a Law given vvhich could have given life then indeed righteousnes should have beene by the Law as S. Paul affirmeth But the Scripture saith he hath concluded all under sinne that the prom●se by the faith of I●sus Christ should be given to them that beleeve In which words you see he sheweth it verie significantlie to be a thing Impossible for anie that be but meere men to keep the Law of God in that full measure and perfection which the Law re●uireth and therefore that they must seeke to be Iustified in Gods sight and to have eternall life another way namelie by Faith in Iesus Christ. Againe he saith thus Be it knowne unto you men and Brethren th●t through this man Iesus is preached unto you the forgivenes of sinnes and by him every one that beleeveth is Iustified from all those things from vvhich yee could not be Iustified b● the Law of Moses Here also observe that hee saith they could not be Iustified by the Law as noting it likewise to bee a thing Impossible But hee speaketh yet further saying That vvhich vvas Impossible to the Law inasmuch as it vvas vveake because of the flesh God sent his owne Sonne in ●he similitude of sinfull flesh for sinne condemned sinne in the flesh th●t the righteousaesse of the Law might be fulfilled in us vvhich vvalke not after the flesh but after the spirit Where you may againe perceive that he teacheth it constantly expresly to be a thing impossible by reason of the vveakenesse that is in all flesh for the most godly person upon earth being but a meere man fullie exactly to keepe and performe the law and that therefore the Son of God Christ Iesus himselfe was sent into the world and became Man for our sakes that so the righteousnesse of the Law which hee in his humane nature in all points and perfection fully performed might by our faith apprehending and applying it bee made ours and so be fulfilled in us namelie by imputation and application and not by anie inherent and actual performance of it by in our owne persons for this he before affirmed to be impossible And this also do the ancient Fathers themselves affirme and teach S. Ambrose saith That the commandements of God bee so great vt impossibile sit servare ea as that it is impossible to keep them S. Chrysostome speaking of the Law and performance of it saith Id vero nemini possibile est That it is poss●ble to no man S. Hierome saith That no man can performe the Lavv S. Bernard saith that God commanding things impossible made not men transgressors but made them thereby humble Yea it was the heresie of the Pelagians as S. Hierome sheweth ad Clesiphontem to hold as the Papists also hold that Mandata dei sunt possibilia The Commaundements of God are possible And they went about to prove it as the Papists likewise doe by these Texts viz. My yoake is easie and my burthen light in Mat. 11.30 And his commandements be not burdenous in 1. Ioh. 5.3 wheras they did not rightly understand those speeches no more then the Papists their followers doe For it is true that none of the commandements of God be grievous heavie or burthensome to a regenerate godly and sanctified minde which is ever desirous endeavoring and delighting to keepe them and to walke in the obedience of them though hee shall never be able during this mortall life fully and perfectly to keepe and performe them And therefore thus saith S. Hierome to the Pelagian and we also say the same to the Papists ●acilia dicis dei mandata tamen nullum proferre potes qui universa compleverit Thou saist the commandements of God be easie and yet thou canst bring forth none that hath kept them all Againe he saith Tunc ergo iusti sumus quando

he speaketh of the whole Booke of the Law saying that It is written Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that be vvritten in the booke of the Law to doe them doth not this extend to the Morall Law or can these words be restrained only to the Ceremoniall Yea when he further saith thus I had not knowne sinne but by the Law for I had not known lust or concupiscence to be sinne except the Law had said Non concupisces Thou shalt not covet or Thou shalt no lust doth not everie one hereby most plainly perceive of what Law it is that he chiefly speaketh meaneth namely that it is principally of the Morall Law that is of the Decalogue or Law of the Ten Commandements For to what other end else is it that he there expresly and by name rehearseth and bringeth in one of those ten Commandements But yet further he sheweth that there be but two waies of righteousnesse namely the righteousnes that is of the Law and the righteousnes which is of faith and saith that Moses describeth the righteousnesse which is of the Law in this sort viz. That the man vvhich doth those things shall live by them But the righteousnesse vvhich is of faith speaketh after another manner and he sheweth it to consist not in anie doubtfull questioning but in a firme beleeving in Christ vvho is the end of the Law for righteousnesse to every one that beleeveth When therefore he here againe saith touching the vvorkes of the Law and the righteousnesse compassable that way That the man that doth those things shall live by them is it his meaning thinke you that hee that observeth the workes of the Ceremonial Law only without observing or doing anie of the workes of the Moral Law shall live thereby and enioy everlasting happinesse I presume none can be so absurd or unwise as to thinke it It is then a thing verie manifest that hee speaketh not onely of the workes of the Ceremonial Law but of the workes also of the Morall Law and of these chiefly excluding aswell the works of the one as of the other from being anie cause of our Iustification in Gods sight And this is so much the more evident because S. Paul yet further in that his dispute of Iustification excludeth not only the Iewes but the Gentiles also from all hope of Iustification by the Law teaching that they both are to expect iustification in Gods sight Not by the vvorkes of the law but by faith in Iesus Christ. Now yee know that the Gentiles be not bound to the observation of the ceremonial law as the Iewes were but the Gentiles aswell as the Iewes bee bound to the observation of the moral law of the ten Commandements When therefore S. Paul teacheth that aswell the Gentiles as the Iewes are to expect Iustification not by the workes of the law but by faith in Christ it is apparant that he must needes meane to exclude herein aswell the workes of the Moral law whereto the Gentiles are bound as the workes of the Ceremoniall law whereto the Iewes onelie were bound and not the Gentiles for otherwise you will make him a verie vaine and idle disputer in this point as in respect of the Gentiles 5 Howbeit being thus repulsed from this hold they then retire and returne to their old wonted and ordinarie nold wherein they seeme to repose their greatest strength and that is the same which is before mentioned namely that S. Paul when he excludeth workes from being anie cause of Iustification in Gods sight meaneth it of vvorkes done before faith received and whilst a man is an unbeleever and not of workes done after faith received Which works done by a beleeving person doe as they suppose Iustifie before God and in his sight This hath beene before sufficiently answered yet because they so often and usuallie urge it I hope it will not be offensive that I also here once againe make answer unto it First therefore it might suffice to call to your remembrance that which hath been spoken concerning those two faithfull godlie men Abraham and David who albeit they had after faith grace received from God lived well and done sundrie good workes for which they might deserve praise and glorie amongst men yet for al that they deserved no praise nor glorie with God as S. Paul witnesseth nor were thereby iustified in his sight Yea as touching Abraham he saith that notwithstanding all that he did not his vvorkes but his Faith vvas imputed to him for righteousnesse before God And as touching David though he were a man likewise verie faithfull and godly and did manie good workes yet by his godlie life and good workes he never thought to be iustified before Gods tribunall but found all the godlines and goodnes that was in him to bee too defective and to come too short for that purpose and therefore also he crieth out thus unto God saying Enter not into iudgement vvith thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be iustified Yea hee discribeth the blessednesse of everie man even of the holiest man that liveth to consist not in his owne sanctitie or righteousnesse but in this that His sinnes be forgiven or not imputed to him And so doth S. Paul inferre and teach out of this example of David That God imputeth righteousnesse vvithout vvorkes So that neither the workes which David did nor the workes which Abraham did nor consequently the workes that anie other godly or holie man doth after grace and faith received be sufficient to Iustifie in Gods presence For I knovv nothing by my selfe saith S. Paul yet am I not thereby iustified I might here further desire you to call to your remembrance that holie man Iob and that holy Prophet of God Daniel yea all that godlie companie and Church of God in Daniels time and Esaies time who all did as themselves testifie renounce all their owne inherent righteousnes as too insufficient and unmeet to stand before Gods most pure eies to claime Iustification thereby in his sight Yea if God should looke narrowlie to see what is said done amisse and to recompence it in the rigor and severitie of his Iustice according to mens merits and deserts VVho as the Psalmist speaketh should bee able to stand or to abide it Yea I might here moreover desire you to remember whatsoever is conteined in the former Chapter touching this matter For not the workes even of a iust man doe iustifie in Gods sight as S. Paul prooveth by an expresse testimonie out of the Prophet Abacuk where he saith even of the iust man that He liveth by his faith and not by his Workes And this he urgeth and enforceth againe in his Epistle to the Galathians saying thus But that no man is iustified by the lavv in the sight of God it is evident for saith he The iust shall live by

faith And thus himselfe being otherwise dead did live or had life in him namely by faith in the Sonne of God and not by the workes of the law Yea he further excludeth even the workes of righteousnes in expresse termes saying thus Not by the vvorkes of righteousnesse vvhich vve have done but according to his mercie he hath saved us Observe that he here directlie affirmeth of himselfe of all the rest that shall be saved that they are saved not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by vvorkes done by them in righteousnes but of Gods meere mercie and grace through Christ Iesus And againe observe that speaking not to unbeleevers but to beleevers Saints and sanctified people living in Ephesus he saith thus By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of vvorkes lest anie man should glorie for vvee are his vvorkemanship created in Christ Iesus unto good vvorkes vvhich God hath before ordained that vvee should vvalke in them Heere also you see infalliblie that workes though done by such as be sanctified and regenerate persons be neverthelesse excluded from being anie cause of their salvation yea by the verie words themselves of the text you perceive that he speaketh expresly and by name of good vvorkes vvhich God hath before ordained that vvee should vvalke in them denying them neverthelesse to be anie cause of salvation But here why doe they speake of anie good workes done by Infidels or before faith received For to speake properlie and truely none doe or can doe good workes so allowed to be in Gods censure but beleeving persons onely inasmuch as the best workes of Infidels and before a man hath received faith be not allowed for good in Gods sight but bee as S. Augustine affirmeth of them Splendida peccata Glittering sinnes Howbeit here remember that although those which be Saints upon earth that is which bee regenerate and sanctified people be thus expresly affirmed to be saved by their faith and not by their good workes yet have they neverthelesse these good workes appointed for them to walke in so long as they live in this world for so this text to the Ephesians directlie sheweth to the end their faith should not be idle but working through love as S. Paul speaketh in another place and that so it might appeare to bee not a vaine and a dead faith but a sound and a lively faith and such as will save a man as S. Iames and the rest of the Scriptures have also before declared Yea this point even Christ Iesus also himselfe by his last Iudgement in the end of the world doth declare namely that the iustifying and saving faith is not voide of good workes but furnished with them and yet that Gods people doe not relye upon them For thus will hee say to his faithfull and elect ones Come ye blessed of my father inherite yee the kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the vvorld for I vvas hungrie and yee gave me meate I was thirstie and yee gave me drinke I was a stranger and yee tooke mee in naked and ye clothed mee I vvas sicke and yee visited mee I vvas in prison and yee came unto me But now observe that although these elect and righteous persons had these good workes yet doe not they so much as take notice of them much lesse stand upon the merite of them and therefore doe they answer and say Lord when savv vvee thee hungrie and fed thee or thirstie and gave thee drinke vvhen saw vvee thee a stranger and tooke thee in or naked and clothed thee sicke or in prison and came unto thee Reade further the rest of the Chapter to the end of it And by all of it considered together ye may verie easilie perceive first that they bee not the elect and righteous people but the reprobates that stand upon their workes obiect their workes to plead for them And secondlie that Christ their Lord taketh notice of the good works of the elect although themselves take no notice of them nor doe so much as once mention or alledge them Where Christ by alledging their good works would have the world also to take notice and to be advertised that it was not a vaine idle or dead faith but a iustifying and saving faith which these men had For their good workes be there mentioned as testimonies fruites and declarations of their faith and as being Via regni non causa regnandi The vvay vvherein they walked toward this kingdome but not as being the cause of their enioying of that kingdome as S. Bernard also himselfe hath before taught affirmed Yea in verie deede the primarie and original cause of their enioying of that most happie kingdome is there delivered in the former words where Christ calleth them the Blessed of his father and telleth them moreover directlie that they are to possesse this kingdom not by anie purchase or desert of their owne but by way of Inheritance for the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Inherite yee or possesse yee it by waie of Inheritance And further he there telleth them that this kingdom was prepared for them long before they were borne or had done anie good workes at all namelie even from the foundation of the world So that this glorious and heavenlie kingdome is given them of Gods meere bountie and grace and is unto them a Revvard according to their vvorkes as the Scripture speaketh but not for their workes as though their workes deserved it or were the meritorious cause of their salvation Yea it is a reward of grace and favour and not of debt or due desert as S. Paul hath also before testified and a revvard of Inheritance as the same S. Paul againe expresly affirmeth it In vaine therefore also is that your distinction of the first Iustification which you make to be by faith without vvorkes and of the second Iustification which you say is by workes and by living an holie and godlie life for the Scriptures speake but of one Iustification in Gods sight availeable to salvation As for that which you call the second Iustification consisting in doing good workes and in holinesse of life and conversation it is as I said before more properlie and rightly to be tearmed as the Scripture calleth it Sanctification it being an effect declaration fruite and consequent of that Iustification we have before by faith as S. Iames and S. Paul and the rest of the Scriptures doe manifestly teach CHAP. V. That Christ is our onely and all-sufficient Redeemer and hath fully satisfied Gods Iustice for our sinnes and the punishment thereto belonging against mens merits and satisfactions in that behalfe and against Popish Purgatorie And that there is no licentiousnesse in this doctrine but the cleane contrary BVt they further accuse our Religion to be licentious because relying wholly upon Christ our

in that place as a similitude to represent the neere coniunction betweene Christ and his Church but contrariwise hee bringeth and mentioneth the great love of Christ and the neere mistical coniunction between him and his Church as a similitude and argument to declare and enforce the love that shold be of the husband toward his wife For that is the maine matter scope and point of exhortation the Apostle there aymeth at as is expresse and apparant by the 25. Verse and so from thence to the end of that Chapter 5 Now concerning Orders By Orders wee understand the ordination of Ecclesiastical Ministers to their ministery by Imposition or laying on of hands Here then I would be glad to know why or for what reason they should hold this to be a Sacrament Is it because it is a good worke and an holy action But it is answered before that everie good worke and godly and holy action is not to bee reckoned for a Sacrament Or doe they make it a Sacrament because it hath in it an outward signe of an holy thing accounting the ordination or consecration to the ministerie to bee the holy thing and the imposition or laying on of hands in that action and for that purpose to bee the outward signe But hereunto is answered that everie outward signe of an holy thing or of an holy action is not sufficient to make a Sacrament for then Prayer with lifting up of hands should bee likewise a Sacrament end sundrie such like But it must be an outward signe of this particular holy thing namely of the remission of our sins and of our coniunction and communion with Christ or otherwise it is no Sacrament in that sense of a Sacrament which wee speake of Yea it must bee not onely a signe but a seale also of that our uniting and coniunction with Christ as is before declared which thing because the act of Ordination of Ministers by imposition of hands is not therefore it can be no Sacrament Againe the Sacraments be such as bee common belong to all sorts and degrees of Christians aswell to the lay sort as to Ecclesiasticall Ministers as appeareth by the example of these two confessed and undoubted Sacraments viz of Baptisme and the Lords Supper but these orders be proper and peculiar unto those onely that bee of the Ecclesiasticall Ministerie and extend no further and therefore they can bee no Sacraments in that sense of Sacraments that wee speake of 6 The last supposed Sacrament in the Popish Church is Extreme unction or last anointing or annealing as they cal it But how do they prove this to be a sacrament We reade indeed in Mark 6.13 that the Apostles of Christ being sent abroad did cast out Divels and annointed manie that were sicke with oyle and healed them But wee see this reckoned amongst the rest of the miracles which those Apostles had power given them to doe in those times of the first preaching and planting of the Gospell to win the greater credit unto it Agreeably whereunto it is said that They went forth and preached everie where the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signes following But beside that it is thus reckoned among the rest of the miracles the effect or event did also declare it to bee miraculous because as manie as were in those daies annointed by them were healed as the Text it selfe affirmeth Now can or doe Popist Priests in like sort in these daies by their annointing with oyle cure and heale the sicke and diseased as they in the Primitive and Apostolicke Church miraculously did All men know they neither doe nor can S. Iames likewise saith to the Christians of those Primitive and Apostolicke times in this sort Is anie sicke among you let him call for the Presbyters or Elders of the Church and let them pray for him and annoint him with oyle in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sicke and the Lord shall raise him up and if he have committed sinnes they shall be forgiven him For Sinnes commonly bee the cause of mens sicknesses and diseases And because God pardoneth such as repentantly acknowledge and confesse their sinnes and faults and not such as hide them and will iustifie themselves therein hee addeth further saying thus Acknowledge your faults one to another and pray one for another that yee may bee healed for the prayer of a righteous man availeth much if it bee fervent teaching them hereby that they ought freely to conferre one with another touching their diseases and sicknesses to confesse the sins which bee the cause of them one to another that so they might helpe one another with their praiers unto God for their recoverie for S. Iames doth not say that it was the bare anointing with oyle that did heale or save a man from death or raise him up from that his sicknesse wherewith hee was visited but it was Annointing with oyle in the name of the Lord that is such as had prayer invocation and calling upon the name of the Lord ioyned with it And therfore in the next words he sheweth that praier was added and that it was the prayer of faith that did preserve or save the sicke and that recovered and raised him up againe What then is there in all this to prove this Vnction or the annointing with oyle to bee a Sacrament Is it because in this healing there was used an external ceremonie or an outward visible signe but it is before shewed that that is not sufficient to make a Sacrament yea then might the curing of the diseased by the water of the Poole of Bethesda Ioh 5.2 3 4. c. be called a sacrament the annointing of the blind mans eies with clay made with spittle together with his washing in the Poole of Siloam Ioh. 9.6.7 might also by as good reason bee termed a Sacrament and sundrie other such actions wherin outward visible signes were used should become Sacraments which it were absurd to affirme in that sense of the Sacraments we here speake of But this Vnction or annoynting with oyle in the Apostles times can be no Sacrament in that sense of a Sacrament that wee speake of for sundry reasons First because it served onely for the healing and curing of the bodie For as for the forgivenesse of sinnes there mentioned and prayer used for that purpose they tended all in this case to this end to worke the effect of healing for the cause of the sicknesse which was sinnes being remooved by the prayers of the faithfull the effect which was the sicknesse or disease caused by those sinnes was also remooved Secondly it was a gift of healing that was in those daies miraculous to cure and heale the sicke in that manner which miraculous and extraordinarie power of healing is now long since ceased and because it was a thing miraculous and extraordinarie and is not ordinarie and perpetual it

thereby declaring that it shall not bee anie open hostilitie or professed Enmitie against Christ and his Gospell such as is amongst Turkes and Iewes and other Infidells of the world but an hidden close and covert Iniquity not easie to be discerned to be Iniquitie it should carrie and convey it selfe so subtillie and under such shewes and pretences of godlinesse and Christianitie And least wee should deceive our selves in the time or thinke that this Mysterie of Iniquitie vvas to rise to his height and fulnesse on a sodaine or all at once or not till some few yeares be●ore the end of the world behold S. Paul telleth us that it was then in working evē in his daies so that even then namelie in S. Pauls time it began to worke in such sort as it could going on and creeping forward by little and little and by degrees untill at last it came to his full stature and highest tallest growth And further the text sheweth that in this Apostacie or mystical Iniquitie there should bee signes vvonders and lying Miracles wrought for the better prevailing and fortification of it and for the stronger alluring of people thereunto and confirming them therin Now they bee called lying Miracles or lying wonders partlie for that they bee false and counterfeit and partlie for that they lead men into falshood and errors as Chrysostome expoundeth those words And likewise S. Augustine sheweth that they be called lying signes and wonders either because hee shall deceive the senses of mortal men by counterfeit shewes and apparances that he may seeme to do that which hee doth not or else because they shall draw unto lies such as shall beleeve that they could not be done but by the power of God they not knowing the power of the Divell For the Divell sometimes interposeth himselfe to worke these miracles And even in this verie place also to the Thessalonians they are said to bee done by the operation or vvorking of Satan Consider then whether these things bee not found verified in the Papacie As touching the Miracles which are said to bee done in Poperie there be as that learned and reverend Bishop D. Dovvnam hath distinguished set them downe three degrees or three sorts of them the one such as bee merelie fabulous and devised by lying Companions whereof their Legends Festivalls and other their Bookes have good store of examples some of them being so notoriouslie incredible as that none except he were miserablie intoxicated and bewitched could or would beleeve them which lowd and lewd lies and no better then Poetical Fictions were neverthelesse in so high esteeme in the Popish Church that they were both publickelie and privatelie read in the vulgar tongue when as the sacred and Canonical Scriptures were closed up and kept from the people in an unknowne language And as this first degree of Miracles is of such as never were indeede not so much as in apparance but in the opinion onelie of men besotted and given over to beleeve incredible untruths So the second degree or second sort of their Miracles is of such as be in shew or apparance onelie or artificial conveiances of deceitful men or iugling trickes of Legerdemaine of which sort are the nodding or moving the smiling or frowning the sweating or speaking of Images and such like The third sort of their Miracles bee such as bee done by the power of the Divell working by natural causes and naturall meanes although so closelie covertlie stilie and speedilie sometimes as that they draw ignorant people that perceive not the reason of those things into a great admiration and conceit that they are true miracles indeed when as neverthelesse though they bee done yet they surpasse not the strength of nature as those doe that bee true and divine Miracles For those that bee true Miracles indeed bee supernatural and beyond the power of all natural causes whatsoever and are done onelie by the omnipotent power of God Neither is the Pope nor all his partakers able to produce anie one such true Miracle wrought by a Divine power and by the finger of God for confirmation of anie pointe of their New Religion wherein they differ from us although they pretend divers Yea some of their owne writers doe ingenuouslie confesse that sometimes there is verie great deceiving of the people by Miracles fayned by the Priests or their adherents for temporal gaine sake And another of them saith directly thus That in the Sacrament appeareth flesh sometime by the conveyance of men sometime by the operation of the divell Another of them saith likewise that Miracles bee sometimes done to men that flocke to Images by the operation of Divells to deceive inordinate worshippers God permitting it and the infidelitie of such men requiring it Irenaeus even in his time also telleth of a certaine man called Marke which in the Sacrament of the Eucharist mightilie deceived the people by changing the colour of the wine in such sort as that it seemed to bee blood All which kinde of deceiveable practises it is good that all those that bee so much devoted and wedded to Poperie and to listning after Miracles should take special notice of and thereby learne to take heede of such Impostors and Deceivers in time All the great wonderfull and supernatural Miracles which have beene done by Christ and his Apostles and in those ancient former and elder times be sufficent for confirmation of that old and most ancient faith and religion which wee hold namely which is conteined in the sacred and Canonical Scriptures neither doe wee desire anie moe or thinke anie more requisite or necessarie For as S. Augustine saith Quisquis adhuc prodigia ut credat inquirit magnum est ipse prodigium qui mundo credente non credit VVhosoever still seeketh after wonders that hee might beleeve is himselfe a great wonder who when the world beleeveth beleeveth not Yea if the Papists had not these their signes wonders and miracles amongst them they could not bee as here wee see the Antichristian Church But there bee no people of the world that so much obiect and boast of them as they As for the Iewes they have them not The Turkes and Mahometists disclaime them professing that their religion is to bee propagated and promoted not by miracles but by force and armes and by the sword The true Christians which bee the Protestants urge them not nor require them onelie the false Christians that is the Antichristians which bee the Papists doe urge and require them and glorie and vaunt of them and none so much as they nor anie like to them and therefore this note or marke of Antichristianisme touching Miracles is verie evident and most apparant amongst them 2 Againe this text of S. Paul sheweth that this great Antichrist who is the head of this Apostatical Church which thus aboundeth with false and lying Miracles and Wonders should sit in the Temple of GOD that

no mo at once that is watchfull sober apt to teach hath all those other vertues and good qualities mentioned in that Text is the man that is meete to be made a Bishop S. Ambrose in 2. Cor. 11. saith That all the Apostles except Iohn and S. Paul had vvives Chaeremon Bishop of Nilus fled with his wife in persecution Euseb. lib 6. cap. 42. Demetrianus an excellent Bishop of Antiochia had a sonne called Doranus that was made Bishop in stead of Paulus Samosatenus the Heretique Euseb. lib. 7. cap. 30. Spiridion was a famous Bishop in the Councel of Nice that was married and had a daughter called Irene Ruffin lib. 1. cap. 5. Gregory Bishop of Nazianzen was a notable Bishop and father of the other Gregory that succeeded him as appeareth by the Oration he made in praise of his father Gregory Bishop of Nissa was an excellent Bishop and was also married Niceph. lib. 11. cap. 19. S. Germanus was a notable Bishop in Africa and was likewise married having a daughter called Leontia that was afterward martyred by the Arrians Victor Vticens hist. lib. 3. Yea Fabianus and Hormisda Bishops of Rome were married and manie other Bishops of Rome were Priests sonnes as Pope Damasus himselfe in his Pontifical doth testifie And although it be true that manie holy men were unmarried also yet you see it to be untrue which the Rhemists say that no holy men ever used their wives after they were in holy Orders For Socrates further mentioneth divers holy Bishops of the East Church in his time that begat lawfull children of their lawfull wives after that they were Bishops Socrat. lib. 5. cap. 22. And so doth Athanasius ad Dracontium affirme that hee knew manie Bishops unmaried and againe Monkes to be fathers of children as on the other side you may see saith he Bishops to be fathers of children and Monke● that have not sought libertie of generation And good it had beene if this freedome and libertie to marry as it was left by God had so continued to all sorts of men and women without anie restraint or prohibition for be not the Clergie men in Poperie that be thus restrained and prohibited to marrie and likewise the Monkes Friars Nunns and the rest thereby occasioned or may they not thereby be occasioned to be like those old hereticks called Origeniani turpes Filthy Originists Who as Epiphanius testifieth of them Reiected mariage yet lust ceased not amongst them but they defiled their body and minde vvith wantonnesse for some of them be in the habite of Monkes that live solitarily and some of the vvomen are in the habite of women that live solitarily but they are for all that saith he corrupt performing their lust in their bodies And againe he saith of them that They studie not for chastitie but for fained chastitie and that which hath the name onely of Chastitie Clemangis a Doctor of Paris that lived above two hundred yeares agon concerning Monkes and Abbeyes speaketh thus VVhat can I say of them that is commendable they being so slippery indisciplinated dissolute unquiet running up and downe into common and dishonest places And touching Friars hee saith They be worse then the Pharisees ravening VVolves in Sheepes ●●othing who in words pretend the forsaking of the world and in deedes vvith all possible fraudes deceipt and lying hunt after it making semblance in outward shew of austeritie chastitie humility holy simplicitie but secretly in exquisite delicates and variety of pleasures going beyond the luxuriousnesse of all vvorldly men and though not vvith their wives yet vvith their Bratts filling themselves greedily vvith wine and good cheere and polluting every thing vvith lust whose heate burneth them And concerning Nunnes hee saith Shame forbiddeth me to speake of them lest I should mention not a companie of Virgins dedicated to God but stewed deceiptfull impudent vvhores with their fornications and incestuous vvorkes For vvhat I pray you are Nunneries now-adayes but the execrable Brothel-houses of Venus the harbours of vvanton men where they satisfie their lusts that now the veyling of a Nunne is all one as if you prostituted her openly to be a VVhore So farre Hee 3 The sixt general Councel therefore assembled at Trulla to make Canons hath an expresse ordinance concerning this point of the mariage of Ministers in the 13 Canon in these words Forasmuch as vvee have understood that it hath bin ordeyned for a rule in the Church of Rome that vvhosoever vvill be a Deacon or Priest must first protest that he vvill never 〈◊〉 more after that have to doe vvith his vvife 〈◊〉 following the Apostolical order and discipline vvill that the lawfull marriage of Clergie men be for ever avayleable by no meanes separating them from their vvives nor forbidding them to come together at convenient times VVherefore if any one shall be thought vvorthy to be chosen a Subdeacon Deacon or a Priest let him not be hindred from mounting to this degree because he dwells together vvith his lawfull vvife and let it not be exacted of him in the day of his election to renounce the company of his lavvfull vvife lest by this meanes vvee be constrayned to disgrace mariage vvhich vvas first in instituted by God and blessed by his presence seeing that the Gospel cryes out that no man should separate that vvhich God hath ioyned together The prohibition of mariage then in the Popish Church to such as by Gods law be not prohibited yea which are directly allowed yea which are required and commanded in case they have not the gift of continencie to marrie rather then to burne appeareth verie cleerely to be wicked and abominable and consequently the Popish Church as touching this point must bee concluded to be the undoubted Antichristian Church And so much the rather for that they have made this prohibition in meere hypocrisie they pretending that they doe it for religion sake and that Clergy-men should be the more holy and chaste when the cause thereof indeed is another matter namely the preservation of Church goods and lest a Bishop or Priest if he were married should pare away something from them and employ it to the use of his wife and children for this a Pope of Rome himselfe hath discovered and manifested in the 28. Distinction and Canon de Syracusanis where he saith that the reason why hee did refuse to admit of a certaine Bishop was because hee had a wife and children by whom the Church goods use to be endangered And yet notwithstanding at the urgent request of the people of Syracusa he did receive him upon condition that his wife and children should not have to doe with the goods or profits of the Church Let them not therefore blind the eies of the world anie longer as though care of chastitie sanctitie and holinesse in Clergie-men were the cause of this prohibition when the true cause in verie deed appeareth to be meerely politicke worldly and earthly namely a respect and

had deserved that the due judgement of God should have condemned even those that are justified unlesse mercie had relieved them from that which was due that so all the mouthes of them which would glory of their merits might be stopped and he that glorieth might glorie in the Lord. They further taught as S. Augustin did that Man using ill his Free will lost both himselfe it that as one by living is able to kill himselfe but by killing himselfe is not able to live nor hath power to rayse up himselfe when he hath killed himselfe so when sinne had beene committed by freewill sinne being the conqueror freewill also was lost forasmuch as of whom a man is overcome of the same is he also brought in bondage 2. Pet. 2.19 that unto a man thus brought in bondage and sold there is no libertie left to do well unlesse he redeeme him whose saying is this If the Sonne make you free yee shall be free indeed Ioh. 8.36 that the minde of men from their very youth is set upon evill there being not a man which sinneth not that a man hath nothing from himselfe but sinne that God is the author of all good things that is to say both of good nature and of goodwill which unlesse God do worke in him man cannot doe because this good will is prepared by the Lord in man that by the gift of God hee may doe that which of himselfe hee could not doe by his owne free-will that the good will of man goeth before many gifts of God but not all of those which it doth not go before it selfe is one For both of these is read in the holy Scriptures His mercie shall goe before me and His mercie shall follow me it preventeth him that is unwilling that hee may will and it followeth him that is willing that hee will not in vaine and that therefore vvee are admonished to aske that we may receive to the end that what we doe will may be effected by him by whom it was effected that vvee did so will They taught also that the Law was not given that it might take away sinne but that it might shut up all under sinne to the end that men being by this meanes humbled might understand that their salvation was not in their owne hand but in the hand of a Mediator that by the Law commeth neyther the remission nor the removeall but the knowledge of sinnes that it taketh not away diseases but discovereth them forgiveth not sins but condemneth them that the Lord God did impose it not upon those that served righteousnesse but sin namely by giving a just law to unjust men to manifest their sinnes and not to take them away forasmuch as nothing taketh away sinnes but the grace of faith which worketh by love That our sinnes are freely forgiven us without the merit of our workes that through grace wee are saved by faith and not by workes and that therefore we are to rejoyce not in our owne righteousnesse or learning but in the faith of the Crosse by which all our sinnes are forgiven us That grace is abject and vaine if it alone doe not suffice us and that wee esteeme basely of Christ when we thinke that hee is not sufficient for us to salvation That God hath so ordered it that he will be gracious to mankinde if they doe beleeve that they shall be freed by the blood of Christ. that as the soule is the life of the bodie so faith is the life of the soule and that wee live by faith only as owing nothing to the Law that he who beleeveth in Christ hath the perfection of the Law For whereas none might be justified by the Law because none did fulfill the Law but only he which did trust in the promise of Christ faith was appointed which should be accepted for the perfection of the Law that in all things which were omitted faith might satisfie for the whole Law That this righteousnesse therefore is not ours nor in us but in Christ in whom wee are considered as members in the head That faith procuring the remission of sinnes by grace maketh all beleevers the children of Abraham and that it was just that as Abraham was justified by faith onely so also the rest that followed his faith should be saved after the same maner That through adoption we are made the sonnes of God by beleeving in the Sonne of God and that this is a testimonie of our adoption that we have the spirit by which we pray and cry Abba Father forasmuch as none can receive so great a pledge as this but such as be sonnes onely That Moses himselfe made a distinction betwixt both the justices to wit of faith and of deedes that the one did by workes justifie him that came the other by beleeving only that the Patriarches and the Prophets were not justified by the workes of the Law but by faith that the custome of sinne hath so prevayled that none now can fulfill the Law as the Apostle Peter saith Act. 15.10 Which neyther our fathers nor wee have beene able to beare But if there were any righteous men which did escape the curse it was not by the workes of the Law but for their faithes sake that they were saved Thus did Sedulius and Claudius two of our most famous Divines deliver the doctrine of free-will and grace faith and workes the Law and the Gospell Iustification and Adoption no lesse agreeably to the faith which is at this day professed in the reformed Churches then to that which they themselves received from the more ancient Doctors whom they did follow therein Neyther doe wee in our judgement one whit differ from them when they teach that faith alone is not sufficient to life For when it is said that Faith alone justifieth this word alone may be conceived to have relation either to the former part of the sentence which in the schooles they terme the Subject or to the latter which they call the Predicat Being referred to the former the meaning will be that such a faith as is alone that is to say not accompanied with other vertues doth justifie and in this sense wee utterly disclaime the assertion But being referred to the latter it maketh this sense that faith is it which alone or only iustifieth and in this meaning onely doe wee defend that proposition understanding still by faith not a dead carkase thereof for how should the iust be able to live by a dead faith but a true and lively faith which worketh by love For as it is a certaine truth that among all the members of the bodie the eye is the only instrument whereby wee see and yet it is as true also that the eye being alone and seperated from the rest of the members is dead and for that cause doth neyther se●