qualifying for everlasting life That is as they expresly include it not so they may bee said to exclude it Though on the other side as they expresly exclude it not so they may bee said to include it But Socinus hath plainly taken up diverse Articles of the Haeresie of Pelagius affirming that Adam must have dyed though hee had not sinned and that Christ came not to cure any sin that by his fall is become Original to his Posterity Or to procure any Grace which Original sin rendreth necessary to make us good Christians But only to assure the World by his Doctrine and by his example that God will make good his Message if wee fail not on our side And having thus excluded the consideration of his merit either in declaring the Gospel or in performing it what necessity remained why he should bee God This is the Pedigree of this Haeresie complicated of the Haeresies of Pelagius and Paulus Sâ—mosatenus as this later of the Haeresies of Ebion and Artemas and of Sabellius For as Liberatus Arch-deacon of Carthage hath well observed in his Abridgement of the Troubles of Nestorius and Eutyches Samosatenus denying the God-head of Christ with Ebion and Artemas as concerning the Holy Ghost must of necessity say with Sabellius as Socinus doth that hee is the virtue and efficacy that is to say a meer notional attribute of the Fathers God-head In the mean time Socinus excluding satisfaction by Christs How the misunderstanding of Satisfaction and Imputation occasioned it Obedience hath expresly excluded all imputation of it being the immediate consequence of satisfaction and the effect of it in order of reason but in nature and being the same thing with it Now it appears by the body of his Doctrine that hee had conceived a deep dislike of the opinion which I count Haeresie that placeth justifying Faith in beleeving a mans self to bee predestinated to life from everlasting And therefore understood the imputation of Christs righteousness as that opinion must needs understand it Namely that men are reconciled to God by the death of Christ their sins being pardoned before they bee done and they adopted to the glory they shall one day have without consideration of any condition qualifying for it Which uo man of common reason will take to bee the sense of St. Bernard or other learned Divines of the Church of Rome that have allowed imputation to righteousness And therefore it will bee necessary to distinguish a two-fold sense in the imputation of Christs obedience and the satisfaction which it followeth to wit according to the effect to which it is thought that satisfaction is made and imputed or put to account For in the opinion which I call Haeresie the merits of Christ are immediately imputed to them for whom they were intended for righteousness and life everlasting But in the Faith of Gods Church Christs sufferings are immediately imputed to mankind because in consideration of them God declares himself ready to bee reconciled with all that turn good Christians and accordingly makes good the promises of his Gospel to them performing their Christianity So that in the sense which Socinus rejecteth which is the sense of our Fanatickes imputation as well as satisfaction is immediate and personal in the sense of the Church mediate and real or causal because it is immediately to no further effect then of procuring the Gospel to the effect of salvation by the means of that Christianity which it requireth Had Socinus considered the consequence of this distinction Upon what grounds bee is to bee refuted hee would never have put himself upon the task of confining all that is said in the New Testament of Redemption Reconciliation and Propitiation by Christ and by his bloud to the effect of assuring us that God will stand to the Gospel which hee publisheth Hee would never have wrested the signification of all sacrifices and types figuring our Lord Christ and his death in the Old Testament to intend no more then the inducing of us to that Christianity which hee preached in confidence of that Grace which hee for his obedience is advanced to bestow Hee would never have declared against the Faith of the Holy Trinity out of a presumption that the salvation of Christians is provided for setting aside the God-head of our Lord Christ and the satisfaction at which his obedience is valuable in consideration of it In fine hee would not have transgressed the Faith of the Church had hee understood it But having before condemned the Pope for Antichrist and the Papists for Idolaters and derived this Apostacy of the Whole Church from the very death of the Apostles no marvel that hee would not bee confined to the Faith of the Church that hee could not see the ground of it No marvel that hee oversaw the prosession of the Faith of the Church by being baptized in the condition of our salvation knowing that hee transgressed the Rule of that Faith No marvel that they who see him in the wrong in refuting him and his followers are sometimes worsted in a true cause because they consider not that the punishment of Christ for our sins may so bee understood as to make the reward of Christianity due before and therefore without the performing of it Whereas understanding his sufferings to concern immediately no particular mans person but the common cause of mankind The immediate effect thereof is the procuring of a new Law for God to proceed with us by Which Law being set on foot upon the fall of Adam was first fully revealed by the Gospel of Christ The Original Law which man in his original uprightness was subject to remaining still the Rule of Righteousness according to those terms which the Gospel declareth Though for the effect of taking vengeance on us abrogated or dispensed with in consideration of Christs obedience Now those helps of Grace which the Gospel tendreth for The helps of Grace granted in consideration of Christs obedience the undertaking and performing of that Christianity which it requireth are also granted in consideration of Christs merits and sufferings put to our account That is the helps of preventing Grace or the actual motions of Gods Spirit without which the Gospel were a meer abuse supposing original sin upon the common account of mankind The helps of following Grace or the habitual endowment of Gods Spirit upon the personal account of him that is saved by Baptisme But both kinds presuppose that the coming of the second Adam was to repair the breach which the first Adam had made Both condemn the Haeresie of Pelagius which Socinus in some Articles of it reviveth And indeed to deny bodily death to bee the effect of Adams sin what is it else but to deny the Resurrection of the flesh to bee the effect of Christs righteousness For though it is the power of his God-head that shall raise them again who shall rise to shame Yet if it bee the Spirit of holiness which
madness for any man that believes the Unity thereof to imagine that any Doctor that held with that Unity can bee found to teach otherwise S. Augustine is remarkable The stress lyes upon him and upon those Books the occasion whereof is to enquire how it comes to pass that so many that had attained to the state of Gods grace do not dye in it But though I admire at the wilfulness with which this mistake The danger of the contrary Position according to the ground of it is maintained against all Christendom Old and New but those who follow Calvin Yet I value the dangeâ— of it to the Salvation of him that hath it according to the opinion of Justification which it is joyned with For if it come from an assurance of a mans Praedestination As if such a one being once justified cannot incurre the state of damnation by any sin Taking that opinion for an Haeresie I must needs take this for a Position destructive to Salvation It is otherwise with those that make Repentance to go before justifying Faith For it is true that if a man have no ground that hee is reconciled to God till his first conversion hee can have no ground that hee is reconciled to God of any sin that hee falls into afterwards till hee have performed his Repentance And therefore they contradict themselves if they imagine that being actually in the state of damnation a man may have that trust in God which justifying Faith signifies before hee turn from his sin by Repentance But the worse Divines the better Christians And the truth which they hold suffereth not the venim of that opinion which is indeed inconsistent with the same to operate CHAP. XI What Law of God it is that may bee fulfilled by a Christian Of doing more then Gods Law requireth Whether our Lord gave a New Law or not Of the Satisfaction and Merit of Christian Works Original Sin is not Adams sin imputed to his Posterity Wherein Original Sin consisteth What Original Righteousness signifieth What good the Vnregenerate are able to do by the Law of Nature BUt this Resolution perfectly reconcileth two of those Controversies What Law of God iâ— is that may bee fulfilled by a Christian which wee have with the Church of Rome about Justification and the points annexed to it That of the possibility of fulfilling Gods Law for a Christian And that of satisfying for sin and of meriting Grace or Glory by the good works of a Christian For it is certain that the Law which God gave Adam in Paradise as having created him in his Original Uprightness can never bee fulfilled by the Grace which the death of Christ tendreth in this bondage under Original Sin But if wee speak of the New Law which the Gospel of Christ enacteth S. James calleth it the Law of liberty S. Paul the Law of the Spirit of life it is evident by the premises that if it bee not fulfilled then is Christ dead in vain then do wee receive his Grace in vain and cannot bee saved but are still in our sins For every Covenant every contract is a Law to the parties And though God need not contract with his creature which hee may give Law to at pleasure Yet if hee condescend to treat and to contract with man hee intends not to abuse him by contracting for that which cannot come to effect Therefore hee doth not contract with him upon condition that hee shall not sinne who born in Original Sin sinneth daily But upon condition that if hee fall into sin hee return by repentance and blotting out his former sin by works meet for repentance proceed in newness of life for the future And upon these terms the Original Law of Righteousness in Paradise doth not become void but continueth in force for the regulating of the righteousness which Christians are to live by and to aim at Whether or no inhaunsed in consideration of that great Grace of God bringing Salvation to all which hath appeared by the Gospel above that measure which the Original Righteousness of Paradise required I dispute not yet But the Law of Moses upon these terms will be the reviving of the Original Law of Paradise as to the effect of attaining and holding the Land of Canaan a figure correspondent as well to the earthly as to the heavenly Paradise by that outward obedience which the letter of the Ceremonial and Judicial Law required And upon these terms the Thief upon the Cross dying in the state of Grace fulfilled Gods Law Fulfilling all that which the Covenant of Grace required of him for his Salvation in that estate And if there bee such a thing as Repentance effectual to Salvation upon the bed of death which the Rules of the Church do not warrant us to presume of though they oblige us not to despair of it Then hee who is effectually converted to God upon his last bed of death hath fulfilled Gods Law As for going beyond the Law by works of Supererogation Oâ— doing more then Gods Law requireth It is easie to see that according to the premises hee that cannot do what Gods Original Law requires cannot do more But it is as easie to see that some circumstances may conduce to the performance of our Christianity that are no part of it And therefore the Vow of Baptisme binds not to them If Marriage stand with Christianity what Christian is forbidden Marriage Yet single life is the safer way to perfection in Christianity So is the profession of the Clergy and all the means of further retirement from the world then the taking up of Christs Cross signifies And the Grace which our Lord and S. Paul after him ownes in them that do this is not a peculiar temper of the body obliging him that hath it to live single and him that hath it not to marry But a singular zeal to wave that which God makes lawful for us that wee may the better come to his Kingdom Which when it proceeds with a single eye proposing to it self nothing of this world but the means of attaining to the world to come Well may wee bee assured of Gods help to perform it by virtue of that promise which the Common Christianity challengeth intending nothing but the effect of it I do believe further that wee who live under the Gospel Whether our Law give a New Law or nâ—t are tyed to a higher degree of goodness then those who lived under the Law were as for the condition of continuing in the state of Gods Grace And that this is the best reason for many actions of holy persons sometimes not condemned sometimes commended in the Old Testament which notwithstanding agree not with that perfection which our Lord by his Sermon in the mountain preacheth To wit that either they were accepted by God in that estate or at least might stand with the state of his Grace But this is not to say that our Lord by those Precepts which hee
raised Christ from the dead that shall raise the mortal bodies in which it dwelt here up to life is it not the sin which the fall of Adam brought into the world that first brought in death after it The same Spirit of holiness it is that our Lord according to promise sent his Disciples in his own stead and sent it with visible signs of his presence to make his word effectual in them first and by them to the conversion of the Nations And this means as no Christian can deny to bee sufficient to oblige all the world to bee Christians So there can bee nothing wanting on Gods part to render it effectual with those that embrace it For it is manifest that the Grace of God works the conversion of all by shewing the world sufficient reason to bee Christians A thing which can by no means bee done but by shewing them that they are the causes of their own damnation if they bee not They that are convicted hereof it is sure would bee perswaded by concupiscence not to act according to that conviction were there no more then conviction of reason to turn the ballance But when Gods Spirit manageth the motives of Christianity which it self provideth for this conviction consisteth in the works whereby God hath made good the preaching of our Lord and his Apostles what can bee wanting to the efficacy of it And this is signified in the Old Testament by ascribing the conquest of the promised Land to God and not to the strength or valour of his people So that wheresoever wee find that they are delivered out of their enemies hands by Gods assistance there wee are assured that the powers of darkness are not to bee overcome by Christians but by Gods Grace And the inclinations of mans heart to evil from the Mothers And therefore they inferre Original Sin by the Fall of Adam womb the frailty of humane flesh and the mortality thereof are so expresly delivered in the Old Testament that the Jewes themselves do acknowledge the effect of Adams transgression in them Neither is it possible to give any account of any necessity for the coming of our Saviour otherwise For whatsoever can bee required to convict the world that the tender of the Gospel shall bee made good to all that embrace or preserve it might have been as well without the death of the Son of God as by it Therefore the consent of the Church in this point hath been evidenced against Pelagius not only by the custome of baptizing Infants but by the Ceremonies which they were baptized with signifying the ejecting of the evil Spirit to make way for Gods Spirit Not that it was a Law from the beginning that all children of Christian Parents should be baptized Infants For it is evident that they thought it better to bee baptized at mans age Because then they are more able to understand what they undertake But because they never did presume of the Salvation of any that dyed unbaptized And therefore since the world came to profess Christianity and that the care and zeal either of Parents or Ministers could not so well bee trusted for the preventing of death by procuring Baptisme for Infants especially with that reverence which the Sacrament requireth it hath been agreed upon by the silent practise of Christendome to baptize all while they are Infants And this consent whoso infringeth in the overt act of Schisme which hee committeth hee involveth a presumption of Haeresie against himself For what could move a man to such an outrage who did believe that profession which saveth a Christian to include in it the Sacrament of Baptisme And thus it remaineth evident that it is a Covenant of unspeakable Wherein the Covenant of Grace consisteth Grace on Gods part which his Gospel bringeth notwithstanding that it requireth upon the condition of our Salvation that wee live and dye Christians First as tendring the assistance of Gods Spirit as well to undertake as to perform And then having performed as tendring a reward which our performance cannot challenge And both in consideration of Christ whose merits and sufferings are free pure meer Grace before all helps of Grace which they have purchased for us It is a thing prodigious and deplorable to consider that they That the state of Grace is forfeited by heinous sin who would bee Reformers of the Church should notwithstanding all this think it no state of Grace that can become forfeit by sin As if because without daily sin Christians do not live therefore that reconcilement with God were no reconcilement that can become void by gross and heinous sin But till that which hath been said of Justification and that Faith which alone justifieth bee destroyed there can bee no pretense for so dangerous a doctrine That which is granted upon a condition faileth with it And it must bee a secret which the Old and New Testament hath not revealed that shall make good our title to Heaven though wee make not good that Christianity which intitleth us to it And therefore when S. Paul is perswaded that nothing shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Rom. VIII 28. hee supposeth us to bee such as hee describeth all along the Chapter afore Such as hee found himself resolved to bee Such as live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit Of such hee might well bee perswaded that nothing should separate them from the love of God in Christ Knowing the helps of Gods All-sufficient Grace to bee promised all that so live not to fail till they receive them in vain Whence S. John saith that hee who is born of God sinneth not because the Vnction which hee hath from God abideth in bim and teacheth him all things 1 John II. 20. 27. III. 9. hee supposeth him that is born of God to bee the Son of God who shall bee no Son of God if hee sinne such sins as hee means And therefore hee supposeth this Vnction to abide in him which abideth not in them that sinne When our Lord saith to the Samaritane John IV. 14. that whoso drinketh of the water which hee shall give shall never thirst any more hee supposeth that the water which hee giveth is not vomited up again hee opposeth this water so drunk to the water of Jacobs Well which did make room for thirst in time Whereas this water so drunk shall spring up to life everlasting All Haeresies have the superficial sound of some Texts of Scripture to set against the whole stream of Scripture and the current Doctrine of it Hee that considers how much of the Old and New Testament that which I have said of Justification involveth will think it reason to measure the meaning of two or three Texts by that not to rack all the rest to the length of these As for the sense of the Church seeing the consent thereof is evident in the condition upon which wee are justified It is a part of
in their cause and the efficacy of it which cannot bee defeated And in as much as every cause is before the effect Therefore this necessity is called Antecedent Some are necessary only upon supposition not of that which goes before for the cause which createth absolute necessity may bee supposed but of something that follows upon the being of any thing As that which a man knows or sees to bee of necessity is because hee could not see it if it were not And so whatsoever is in the world of necessity is because wee suppose that it is But this necessity is not in the thing speaking of contingencies but in that consequence which the mind frameth upon supposing it And therefore it is called necessity Consequent as the other Antecedent It is not this consequent necessity that destroyeth freedom in the will or contingence in the effects of it but the antecedent For nothing is absolutely necessary but God and that which God will have come to pass And this necessity is the necessity of a cause that cannot bee defeated not implying any supposition of the effect which it produceth but inferring the consequence of it Therefore natural and antecedent and destructive to freedom in the will and contingence in the effects of it And this is no more then I said afore why there can bee no absolute predestination to glory or to shame according to the Gospel and Christianity because it must come to effect by Gods determining and moving the will to every step that it maketh toward life or death everlasting And that will not stand with that free will which the Gospel supposeth For you may have observed a twofold freedom by the premises The difference between freedom from necessity and from bondage The Gospel supposeth mankind born in bondage to sin And therefore supposeth not his will free from bondage But supposing this tenders him life everlasting upon condition that hee accept of the ransome which Christ hath paid for him and renouncing the bondage of sin become free to God and his service And this is an act which his free will must do because it is the condition of that which God does in consideration of it The consideration is the freedom with which it is done which if it were done of necessity there could bee no reason why God should either require or reward it So there is a freedom from necessity whereby mankind though slave to sin by birth embraceth that freedom from sin to righteousness which the Gospel tendereth though not by the original motion of the will which is not in slavery unless it love the slavery which it is in yet by the free motion of it being first moved by the Gospel to make use of the ransome For I have shewed that this motion bringeth with it sufficient help of Gods Grace to do that which it requireth This freedom then from necessity doth not always require Freedom from necessity always requireth iâ—determination not always indifference indifference in the will that useth it For that is properly only when the will is balanced not inclining any more to do then not to do this rather then that But it requireth that it bee never determined till it determine it self For it availeth not to say that that freedom which God gave man when hee made him was to do freely whatsoever God should determine him to do freely as other things necessarily do that which God determineth them to do necessarily Freedom and the use of freedom is Gods gift But God cannot give freedom by taking it away Nor maintain freedom by destroying it No more can hee cause the will to do that freely which hee determineth it to do necessarily before it determine it self Nor is there any fear of making the creature God if wee make it able to doe that which God enableth it to doe without other helps then the ability which hee giveth it For what is that ability that enableth not to doe that which it maketh a man able to do It is a riddle when it is not understood It is a contradiction when it is understood The ability which God giveth issueth from him as from the Fountain of all ability every moment of time which one and the same standing moment of eternity answereth So the creature cannot act but by the ability which God issueth And therefore continueth Gods creature as depending upon God in that which it doth no less then in that which it is If therefore the will of man cannot act freely by virtue of any motion of Gods determining it to act before it determine it self then must it act freely by virtue of that power which God giveth it every moment to determine it self True it is that being the will of a reasonable creature it The Object determineth the Will saving the freedom of it cannot determine it self till it bee determined in the nature of an object by a reason carrying an appearance of that which is best for the present But because that appearance changeth from moment to moment therefore the determination of the object is never peremptory till you suppose the will to act according to it And therefore though it bee necessary that the will act according to the last dictate of the understanding yet is this necessity but upon supposition that it is the last And that because you suppose that the will proceedeth to act without imploying further consideration upon the object So the appearance of good in the object and the ability of imbracing it in the will serve to make good the freedom of choise in humane actions But the certainty of it from everlasting must bee ascribed to the incomprehensible wisdom of God comprehending all appearance of good which all men may be moved with at all times and the effect which the present disposition of every will shall allow every motion at every moment Now providence must needs appoint from everlasting what appearance of good every will shall bee moved with every moment by resolving what occurrence of objects every reason shall bee presented with in that estate which it setleth every man in for every moment And upon these terms the foreknowledg of humane actions in God must needs bee infallibly certain saving as well the freedom of the will as the contingence of the things which it doth For comprehending first the present disposition of every will and the effect of every motion that is possible upon it then not only how it shall bee actually moved but also that it shall not bee moved otherwise how should hee fail to comprehend what it will determine while it might determine otherwise And that this is the true and due way that wee are to hold Whence the certainty of future contingencies ariseth in reasoning of Gods Counsels appears by the whole tenor of the Scriptures speaking of God in the language of the children of men as the Jews Doctors speak It pleaseth God not only to deal with man
effect of them certain upon the like decree Which there is nothing in man to oblige God to make And therefore it is his absolute will that maketh it For the intent of sending Christ for the redemption of mankind inferreth no declaration that God will do all that is in his power to do that it may bee to effect if man refuse it not It is enough that hee accompanieth the Gospel with his Spirit when it cometh In the mean time that he trusteth his Church with the bringing of it This justifieth his will that all men should bee saved though they who never hear of it for reasons which the Gospel declareth not have not the refusing of it Whereby it appears that the Authors of divisions in the Church are to answer for the souls that perish for want of knowing the Gospel which the divisions of the Church are the greatest means that hinders them to know Now this decree proceedeth upon a supposition of freedom in the will and the maintenance of it by Gods continual Government of all things And therefore allows ground for all applications moving to perform the Christianity which wee profess For though all that comes to pass is certain by Gods decree that cannot fail yet that decree is not immediate but supposeth mans will to move of it self when his reason is moved by appearance of good in the object And therefore it cannot bee alleged in bar to any wholsome exhortation or advice And although all that is thus decreed must needs come to pass yet the necessity thereof is only consâ—quent upon a supposition that the will determines it self freely which being supposed the consequence is certain that it shall come to pass Whereas the necessity of that which God determineth the will to act lying in the determination and motion of the cause which is God that cannot fail is antecedent to the effect and destroys the freedom of the will and the contingence of that which it doth If it bee said that the end is intended before the means and therefore hee that is absolutely predestinated to effectual Grace How Glory is the end of Grace which includes perseverance until death must needs bee absolutely predestinated to Glory which is the end of Grace the answer is The Glory of him that is saved is not the end of Gods Grace that is of his Gracious purpose to give those helps which shall bring a man to Glory Gods Grace is God and Gods Glory is God And God can have no end but God and the glorifying of him that is saved is not the means to glorifie God till you suppose him qualified as the Gospel requireth And therefore it is not absolutely the end of that Grace which effecteth it till you suppose that it rendreth him so qualified The means by which a man comes to Glory if you take them as granted in such consideration and rewarded in such measure as the Gospel alloweth are the means of Gods Glory otherwise they make not his Glory to appear and therefore are not intended by him to that purpose Indeed God hath made salvation the end of mankind by the work of Redemption as well as of Creation But hee hath not made it his own end nor the means to it but upon those terms which the Gospel declareth All this is manifest by the damnation of those that are not saved For though it bee their final estate yet it is not their end because salvation is the end of all manking Which were it Gods end as it is mans end by Gods appointment then should they also bee saved For God cannot fail of his end Therefore is not the damnation of him that is not saved the end why God appoints him those means by which hee shall come to that final estate For it is not the means to Gods end that is his Glory till you suppose the man qualified as the Gospel alloweth and so consider'd by God when hee appoints him the means that bring him to his last estate In fine mans Glory is not Gods end in giving Grace Though it bee the end of the Grace which hee giveth Gods Glory is the only end as well of the Grace as of the Glory which God giveth Gods Glory is the end of effectual Grace For God intendeth the effect which his Grace attaineth And effectual Grace is a fit mean to glorifie God implying mans compliance with Gods help As for the helps of Grace in general whether effectual or only sufficient though mans glory bee the end of them and that by Gods appointment yet is it none of Gods â—nd because it is not the mean to Gods Glory till it bee supposed that they are used as they should bee And therefore God doth not appoint any man to Glory till hee see that hee hath used his Grace as hee should do But hee appointeth Grace without such respect because there is no condition on mans part to render it due And herewith agreeth the Faith of Gods Church It is well In what terms the Faith of the Church standeth as concerning this point known that St. Austines writings against Pelagius were excepted against as introducing fatal necessity and excluding the Will of God for the salvation of mankind in the parts of Gaule namely by the Monastery of Lerins the Clergy of Marseilles and Genua and divâ—rse notable persons in Provence But not generally For St. Austine being advertised hereof by the Letters of Prosper and Hillary yet extant defended himself by his Books de Praedestinatione gratiâ and de Perseverantia sanctorum The Book which Sirmondus the Jesuite lately published under the name of Praedestinatus is of the same date premising a Catalogue of Haeresies unto Nestinus and making the last to bee this of Predestination which heâ— refuteth And indeed in a Council or two under Patiens Bishop of Lions one Lucidus a Priest was forced to recant certain Articles of that sense But Faustus Bishop of Reys in Provence being trusted by those Councils to draw up a defense of their decree seem'd to fall within the consequence of some of Pelagius his Positions And thereupon followed a Rescript of Pope Caelestine to the Bishops of Gaule yet extant asserting the Doctrine of St. Austine in divers Articles though without condemning any persons of the other side The II. Council of Orange afterwards with the authority of the See of Rome decreed against the said Articles But no less against Predestination to death or to sin And without condemning either Faustus or Gennadius or Vincentius or their writings And therefore they can no more bee counted Semi-pelagians for a Sect then the other side Praedestinarians For this new decree superseding the former united the parties and hath been ever since in force in the West The stirs that were afterwards under Carolus Calvus upon the same ground in the cause of the Monke Gadschalcus cannot bee thought to have made any alteration in it because there were Prelates against Prelates Churches
sinner exact of himself that Penance which the Church would or ought to impose But whether all sinners can bee brought to know what that is or knowing to impose it upon themselves let the common reason of Christians judge They that assure them of pardon and the favour of God without it whether it bee themselves or their false teachers plainly they murther their souls The Church of Rome in making the Keys of the Church the necessary means for pardon of all sin that voids the Grace of Baptisme goes beyond the bounds of truth In procuring a Law that all submit to it once a year goes not beyond the bounds of Justice It were to bee wished that the abuses of that Law might be cured without taking it away For if it bee the power of the Keys that makes the Church the Church It will bee hard to shew the face of a Church where the blessing of the Church and the Communion of the Eucharist is granted and yet no power of the Keys at all exercised Nay it will appear a lamentable case to consider how simple innocent Christians are led on till death in an opinion that they want nothing requisite for the obtaining and assuring of the pardon of their sins when it is as manifest that they want the Keys of the Church as it is manifest that the Keys of the Church are not in use for that purpose St. James ordaineth that the Presbyters of every Church Of anointing the sick according to S. James pray for the sick with a promise of pardon for their sins This supposeth them qualified by submitting their sins to the Keys of the Church which the Presbyters do manage The promise belongs not to the Office of Presbyters upon other terms Hee requireth them also to anoint the sick with oyl promising Recovery upon it Not to all that should bee anointed For Christians then should not dye if true Christians But as the Disciples of our Lord had used it to evidence their Commission to the World So was the manifestation of Gods Spirit residing in the Church granted for the benefit of his Church Neither is there any cause why the same benefit should not bee expected but the decay of Christianity in the Church In the mean time the forgiveness of sin according to St. James comes by the Keys of the Church Recovery of health from the prayers of it So the Unction of the sick is to recover health not to prepare for death as the Church of Rome now useth it But supposing the health of the soul restored by the Keys of the Church All the pretenses for Divorce of lawful Mariages all the incestuous Mariage of Christiaâ—â— not to bee Ruled by Moses Law Contracts all the unchristian solemnizing of Christian Wedlock which the blessed Reformation hath authorized are to bee attributed to one mistake that the Mariage of Christians stands by the Law of Moses not by the Gospel of Christ Our Presbyterians in their Confession of Faith duely prohibit Mariage in those degrees of alliance which are prohibited in blood But out of Leviticus if they will prove it their word must serve for our warrant that this is the sense If Man and Wife bee one flesh then is a Man as neer his Wifes Kin as his own But man and wife are not one flesh by Moses Law licensing plurality of wives and divorce though by the Law of Paradise It was dispensed with after the Flood and not revived but by our Lord. That Divorce and plurality of wives was not restrained but by the Gospel it is impudence to Dispute much more to deny The Mariage of the Niece with the Uncle of the half blood hath puzzled all them that would make it unlawful by Moses Law The Mariage of a Christian with two Sisters successive will bee as hard to condemn by the same Granting the premises all these Disputes cease Mariage is the Bond of one with one not to bee dissolved till death by the Law of Christ not by the Law of Moses Whether Adultery dissolve the Bond or not I leave it disputable for the present as I find it Mariage with a Pagan was void by Moses Law St. Paul enables Christians to hold to it Therefore hee refers them not to the Law Christianity improves Moses Law in all things Therefore Christians cannot be regulated by Moses Law in Matrimonial causes Therefore in the prohibiting of degrees as well as of divorce For Moses Law prohibits more then that Law which the Children of Noah received after Flood had done It were better to restrain all that which the present Canon Law restrains then that the incests of the late licentious times should bee tolerated For the present Canon Law restrains not much more then the Greek Church restrains But if the Authority thereof bee not binding by reason of the Usurpations of the Church of Rome yet to depart from the Canons of the Whole Church and of those times which wee acknowledg would bee a departure from the whole Church Hee that would bar the Cross in Baptisme for fear it should Instituted Ceremonies are Sacraments with the Fathers bee taken for a Sacrament what would hee say to St. Ambrose that cals it down right a Sacrament I know not what hee would say I know what hee should do Hee should understand St. Ambrose by St. Ambrose when hee makes a Kiss to bee a Sacrament as a Religious sign of that Religious Affection which Kinsfolk professed to their neer Kinsfolk whom in his time they saluted with a Kiss to signifie that as St. Ambrose declareth At this rate St. Pauls holy kiss must needs bee a Sacrament For it was a Religious signe of that charity which Christians professed to Christians when they were to receive the Communion with them At this rate it is no marvel that there are found seven Sacraments in the Fathers For there are more then seven to bee found if there bee as many Sacraments as Ceremonies instituted by the Church If this bee true the discharging of instituted Ceremonies The Ceremonies of these Offices justifie instituted Ceremonies will bee a Defection from Gods Church If Confirmation Ordination and Penance bee Offices in which the Church is indebted to God and to his Church If the effect of them bee of such consequence that they have been always solemnized with the Imposition of hands that Ceremony shall bee enough to make them Sacraments at this rate and yet no neerer to Baptisme and to the Eucharist then that reason of the difference which I have setled will allow Nay let the prayers of the Church for the recovery of the sick who submit to the Keys of the Church bee solemnized with anointing a thing fit enouâ—h to bee done may but the ground upon which and the intent to which it is done appear and that shall bee a Sacrament and yet the want of it no more prejudice to salvation then the disusing of the Kiss of peace which
of the difference must needs occasion the Ioss of infinite souls by hindring them of the means that is truly necessary for the salvation of Christian This is that which I said afore that Schisme as War may Difficulty of salvation on both sides the Reformation remaining unpersect bee unjust on both sides The charge of which injustice as it will lye upon those which are actors in it and causes of it having power to abate it and not imploying the same to so good a purpose so it leaves a possibility of salvation for both sides And that is no more then hath been said from the beginning of our Reformation by all that allow the Church of Rome a true Church But that difficulty of attaining salvation on both sides which the Schisme inflameth will bee imputable to those that maintain the extreams taking offense at the due ground and termes of composing it And this I confess câ—eates a question upon that which remains for our Ecclesiastical Laws to redress For if they inforce not the due use of the Power of the Keys so great a part of the conduct of Christian souls to salvation and that it is not to bee inforced without restoring Discipline in the Clergy How shall it bee visible that a simple Papist sins in being a Recusant How shall hee that invites him to bee no Recusant assure him of means of salvation visibly sufficient How shall the State bee enabled to inflict upon him the legal penalties of his Recusancy upon other crimes For it is manifest that from those whom the Civil Law of the Land qualifies for the Cure of souls without any ground of pretense that they do concur to the true intent of the Church in ministring the power of the Keys there is not the least appearance for any hope of that help which the Office professeth Indeed alleging on the other side those abuses in private Penance that neglect of publick Penance which the Church of Rome alloweth wee allege a sufficient reason for a change without the authority of it And a possibility of salvation notwithstanding a defect in redressing the same But this possibility will consist in the more then ordinary diligence of private Christians considering the snares which division multiplieth and labouring to supply themselves in that wherein the publick Order of the Church provided by God to supply them of it saileth of the effect which God intendeth A consideration which though the late distraction made it more visible yet will always remain in force till the due ground and measure of Reformation take effect It will bee worth the while to instance this in the Cure of An instance herâ—of in the Cure of sâ—ulâ— departing according to the Order in force souls departing this life according to the Order in force In the beginning of Christianity some sins were questionable in some parts of the Church whether curable by the Keys of the Church or not The Schisme of Novatianus pretended for the ground of it the re-admitting of Apostates As that of Montanus in part the re-admitting of Adulterers But before all were come to agreement in it the same severity had been practised in the Church without Schisme They lest such persons to Gods mercy They engaged not the Church in warranting them pardon The Council of Nicaea seems to have put an end to all difformity in the case There is no mention of denying the Eucharist upon the bed of death after that But supposing publick sinners admitted to publick Penance thereby to give proof of the sincerity of their repentance And binding them over to the remainder of their Penance escaping death Some Canons go so low as to release sin without revealing it upon condition of undergoing the Penance it shall require being revealed in case hee survive The Church of Rome chargeth all Priests of absolve all at the point of death which it alloweth not all to do otherwise As for the Reservation of Penance they who require Penance not to qualifie for pardon but to satisfie the debt of temporal pain that remains after pardon I suppose doe upon that account turn it over to Purgatory But they from whom as I said afore there is no appearance for any hope of that help which the Keys of the Church ministred according to the Order of the Church do hold forth what can wee expect of them towards the preparing of him that lies on the bed of sickness for his passage For the comfort which all pretend to give in that estate may bee imagined to consist in assuring salvation to all that once were assured of it to all that think themselves sure of it by believing it not by their Christianity without which there is no assurance of it If men bee not â—o much Fanaticks perhaps hee assureth them of pardon trusting in the merits of Christ for it Let him see his sin let him renounce his own merits let him trust in the mâ—ritâ— of Christ which hee is sure are of more virtue and value then his sin and the business is done Not considering what the Gospel requireth to give a man interest in the merits of Christ What it requireth of him who shall have forfeited that interest by grievous sin What hee hath done for the mortisying of that concupiscence for the appeasing of that wrath of God for the preventing of that sin for the future whereby hee may formerly have committed that forfeiture Certainly it is no good sign in this Case that our people are so willing to have the Minister pray by them but so unwilling to hear of the Communion because they know it requires them to take account of themselves Nay it is oddes that it is condescended to at the warning of the Curate who must needs let slip the anthority of his Office in requiring account of him that expects comfort from him by offering all that hee is able to give before the account is tendered In the mean time how shall hee who prays onely by the sick and leaves him so as prepared for his passage who absolves him of all sin without being satisfied that hee hath mortified that hee will mortifie any in case he survive rest satisfied that hee hath done his Office and not dismissed his patient insufficiently prepared for so terrible a voyage Especially being satisfied that there are two Keys in the Church as to Christians That it is to loose no sin but that which it bound afore loosing him that appears to bee alive because it bound him when hee appeared to bee dead afore That the Blessing of the Church the Communion of the Eucharist and the Burial of Christians ought to siâ—nifie some reasonable presumption in the Church that they depart in Gods peace to whom it alloweth the same But where is that presumption when hee that is convicted of a capital crime shall bee able to demand the Communion of his Curate without further satisfaction And perhaps have his action of the Case against him
Keyes viz. that of loosing but bind not as pronouncing absolution without injoyning of Penance The discipline of Geneva they magnifie indeed as they find it described by Bodine in his method of Histories But they distinguish not whether they mean the civil discipline which the Laws of that State inforce or that which the Power of the Keys exercised there according to Calvine doth constitute For the Civil Law of a Christian State especially no bigger then that of Geneva may settle such a discipline over the outward man as may restrain from the outward act of sin without mortifying the inward man to the inward love of God The late Usurpers Army wee have seen well disciplined against the ordinary vices of the Camp Who appearing now to have been then enemies to their Country are thereby discovered not to have followed the reward of Christiens but of Souldiers And the Laws of Christian States by the means of Christianity which they maintain may reach to the mortifying of sin and the quickning of righteousness at the heart But of themselves being Civil Laws and proposing no further reward or punishment then that good which a mans Country signifies they reach no further then the outward man for the better or for the worse Nor is it of any greater consequence to Christianity that the outward act of sin or virtue is repressed or incouraged by the rewards and penalties of Civil Laws But when the discipline of the Church takes place hee who forfeiteth his Christianity by gross sin that is notorious forfeiteth also Communion with the Church and recovereth it not till the presumption bee no less notorious that hee hath recovered his Christianity Now Communion with the Church is the consequence of our Baptisme which intitleth us to life everlasting Therefore it is not duly forfeited without forfeiting the effect of Baptisme our right to life everlasting So our right to heaven depending upon the Communion of the Church the discipline of the Church must needs reach the inward man as effectually as any outward application can reach the heart which is invisible For the presumption is grounded upon visible works of Penance the effects of that invisible disposition without which they could not bee constantly brought forth Whether or no this discipline bee visible at Geneva I will not pronounce This I undertake that comparing the Doctrine of Calvine with their Orders they need not set a value upon the Power of the Keys exercised according to his Doctrine in comparison of the same exercised according to their own Orders So that supposing not granting that the Laws of the Church of England being the Laws of the primitive Catholick Church are to bee changed for conformity with the Reformed Churches it followeth not therefore that they are to bee changed for those of the Churches reformed according to Calvine Certainly the receiving of the Communion kneeling having been one of the Orders of their Reformation from the beginning and so stifly insisted upon by them in Poland they that pretend to change the Law of England in that point for conformity with the Reformation think they have not men but beasts to deal with The Church of England in the Commination against sinners hath declared a great zeal for the renewing of that antient discipline of Penance which was in force in the primitive Church And certainly the Church of England is not the Church of England but in Name till the power of Excommunication bee restored unto it which there was not nor ever can bee sufficient cause to take from any Church But the discipline of Penance though depending upon the Power of Excommunication is as much to bee preferred bâ—â—ore it as it is more desirable to bring men to the Church then to shut them out of it If prejudice and faction have not more to do in the pretenses of this time then the truth of Christianity and zeal to advance it it is a point that cannot bee neglected in any deliberation of Reforming the Church I cannot render a more visible reason why so godly a zeal in those that first prescribed our Reformation to the restoring of Penance hath not been improved by their successors then the partialities which sprung up in it like tares in the wheat and have now prevailed to choke even the power of Excommunication wherein the being of a Church consisteth And though many sinnes of this Nation may bee alleged for the cause why God hath taken this sharp revenge upon us yet can no reason bee so proper why hee should permit the hedge of the Church to bee cast down for all Sects to devour and tread his Vinâ—yard under foot by suffering the power of Excommunication to bee taken from it as the neglect of improving it in and to the discipline of Penance True it is not only all capital but all infamous crimes whereof men are convicted by Law are thereby notorious and require this discipline no less then those which the Law of this Land punisheth not otherwise then by Penance And if the Church did make a difference among those that dye by publick Justice owning only those who approve their desire to undergo regular Penance in case they might survive then were this discipline visible no visible crime escaping it For all capitall and infamous crimes that are not actually punished with death must by that reason remain unreconciled to the Church though free of the Law till Penance bee done And seeing crimes that are not known cannot bee cured upon easier terms then those that are would not the judgement of the Law authorizing the Church in the cure of known sins move even them that believe their Christianity no further then it is authorized by Law to submit invisible sinnes to the same cure For what is it but the slighting of this cure that makes mens sinnes fester and rankle inwardly and break out into greater and greater excesses And therefore to debate of Ceremonies and words in the service and May-poles and Sabbath days journeyes not considering the Power of the Keyes upon which the Church is founded and the restoring of the same is to neglect a consumption at the heart pretending only to cure the hair or the nails Now if any of our Sects insist upon a pretense that deserves to bee insisted upon far bee it from us to cast off the consideration of it because they have unduely separated from the Church for it Our Anabaptists it is known infist upon two points The baptizing of Infants and that by sprinkling not by dipping In both they have neglected St. Peters Doctrine That Baptisme saveth us not the laying aside of the filth of our flesh but the answer of a good conscience to God For were the profession of Christianity celebrated by the Sacrâ—â—â—nt of Baptisme believed to bee that which saveth us men would not go to baptize them as not baptized who by their profession which they acknowledge by seeking the Communion of the Church are under that bond which intitleth them to the Salvation of Christians Nor can there bee any greater presumption then the voiding of Baptisme so celebrated that they expect Salvation upon other terms But in making void Baptisme ministred by sprinkling alone without dipping they neglect St. Peter again when hee maketh the Baptisme that saveth not to consist in cleansing the flesh but in a due profession of Christianity signifying this to bee the principal that onely the accessory Ceremony which it is solemnized with And therefore they are to acknowledge this difference by acknowledging Baptisme so ministred to bee good and valid not void But this being acknowledged well may they insist that it is unduely ministred For it is evident that neitheâ— the Scripture nor the practise of the whole Church can by any means allow the sprinkling of water for Baptisme though the pouring on of water in case of necessity bee allowed Nor doth the Law of the Church of England allow any more then pouring water upon a Child that is weak commanding therefore dipping otherwise And therefore this Law being much weakned by the tenderness of Mothers and Friends supposing all Infants weak which the Law supposeth not and by undue zeal for Forreign Fashions ought to bee revived and brought into use by all Ordinaries that there may remain no colour for such an offense And therefore reparation is to bee made for the sacrilege of the late Wars in destroying the Fonts of Baptisme in Churches and bringing in Christening out of Basins by force I cannot say that I have touched all that is fit to bee touched But I hope I have said nothing but that which followeth upon the ground which I have justified That which is proposed and is not so justified seems to demand the consent of those who propose it as able to hold the Church divided if they bee not contented But that calls to mind a reason on the other side that men use to get a stomack with eating in such cases The due measure is not the satisfying of mens appetites but the improvement of our common Christianity FINIS Faults Escaped thus Amended Pag. 7. line 2. mistakes Point mistakes p. 40. l. 32. none read now p. 49. l. 16. Church p. Church p. 60. l. 36. Lawes r. Land p. 79. l. 14. of the Judgement r. of Judgement p. 84. l. 34. Trihes r. Tribes p. 90. l. 10. Praedestinarians r. Praedestinatians l. 12. West p. West p. 108. l. 33. Bishop Priest and Deacon p. Bishop Priest and Deacon p. 112. l. 14. Service p. Service p. 134. l. 12. all these r. those p. 143. l. 34. he performing r. the p. p. 145. l. 15. Hierachy r. Hierarchy p. 157. l. 24. prescribled r. prescribed l. 29 30. the the Power r. the P. p. 158. l. 6. Memoral r. Memorial p. 173. l. 37. Order r. Orders p. 179. l. 29. leave r. bear p. 189. l. 31. which r. with p. 201. l. 25. Church p. Church