and as prevalent to declare the truth of that tenent as if indeed that word had been expressed Notwithstanding all that I have now said to prove the doctrine of free justification by faith alone to bee grounded upon the Scripture and that according to the holy Word of God the Church of England preacheth it and by that proves it selfe a true Church yet the Church of England doth not teach that that faith by which we are justified is alone or solitary without the company and fellowship of good workes and other vertues and graces which are the fruits of faith but urgeth likewise and teacheth all holy duties to be joyned with Faith as wee shall see afterwards and that wee should be abounding in good workes which God hath before ordained that we should walke in for the glorifying of his name and to justify unto the world the livelinesse of our faith as all the Saints of old have done But now Mr. Mountague that you may see the error of your wayes and that all men may behold the impiety and vanity of the doctrine of selfe-merits and of the works of supererogation and that we may all be humble under the mighty hand of God and learne this lesson of selfe-denyall I shall for a corollary adde a few things and then conclude this point Our Saviour Christ saith Luke the 17. When you shall have done all those things that are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to doe Is not this an extreame arrogancy think you Master Montague in any man when our Saviour Christ himselfe teacheth us to say we are unprofitable servants when we have done whatsoever is commanded us both in the law and the Gospell to say and affirme that we are meriting and deserving servants yea is it not an impious ridiculosity to affirme it when notwithstanding we do transgresse the Commandements of our Master a thousand wayes For these two conclusions do necessarily result out of our Saviours words First that when wee have done all that God commands we are yet but unprofitable servants The second that we have done but that was our duty to doe Out of the which words I thus argue Hee that when he has done all that he is commanded to do is yet but an unprofitable servant he cannot merit much lesse doe workes of supererogation But every man when he hath done all that is commanded him to doe is yet but an unprofitable servant Ergo he cannot merit much lesse do workes of supererogation All this is confirmed by our Saviours owne words who cannot erre we must leave the works of merit to Christ alone and say we are unprofitable and deny our selves if we will be his Disciples Out of the same words I gather this argument also They which have done but that which was their duty to do when they have done all that was commanded them they cannot merit much lesse do workes of supererogation But when they have done all that was commanded them both in the Law and Gospell they have done but that which was their duty to do Ergo they cannot merit much lesse do works of supererogation You must needs understand Mr. Montague the Doctrine of merits who are able to discourse a weeke together of them and therefore you know very well that in your Roman Dialect merits works of supererogation are such things and performances as are done above that that is commanded them and when men do more than they are injoyned by God and exceede in their duty to a superplus This I say is your language But if no man can attaine to such perfection of obedience as the Romanists speake of then by their own confession the Doctrin of merits is a false doctrin and ought by all men to be abominated and so much the rather we ought to abhor it because it is a Doctrine of blasphemy and is as much in effect as to give the Lord of Life truth it selfe the lie for Christ sayth When you have done all things that are commanded you say you are unprofitable servants for you have done that which was your duty Notwithstanding the Papists say they can merit But Christ who is the Master and Doctor of his Church and whom we are commanded to heare Mat. 3. Mat. 17. has taught us otherwise affirming we cannot merit much lesse do workes of supererogation which will plainly appeare if we examine a few instances and go through some particulars We are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart with all our mind and with all our mighâ— and to love our Neighbour as our selfe I now demand of you Mr. Mountague whether either your selfe or any man can attaine unto this perfection of love the Lord requires at your hands and so fulfill the Law If it be acknowledged that no man can attaine to this perfection of love then he is a transgressor of the Law and is so far from meriting favour at Gods hand as he merits eternall death by it for the soule that sinnes shall die Ezekiel 18. for the wages of sin is death Numb 6. But if you answer that you can keepe this Law notwithstanding you cannot yet merit by it by Christs own words who proclaimeth you an unprofitable servant affirming that you have done but your duty Againe in the fifth of Matth. 4. vers 8. our Saviour saith Be yee therefore perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect Here the Lord Jesus Christ for the ordering of our obedience and regulating of our lives sets before us as a modell rule and example which we must ever follow the perfection that is in God himselfe our Heavenly father and commands all men to be perfect as he himselfe is perfect I demand of you Mr. Montague can you or any man attaine unto this perfection that is in God which neverthelesse we are commanded to do If you do acknowledge that no man can attaine to it as no man can indeed then you are a transgressor of this command and fayling in your duty you deserve condemnation and therefore are far from meriting But if you shall affirme that you can attaine to this perfection and should really do that you are commanded yet you are still an unprofitable servant and have done but your duty and therefore have not yet merited any thing We are commanded both in the old Testament and in the new to be holy and for the pattern of our holinesse as of our perfection the holinesse of God is set downe before us for our imitation As he that hath called you saith St. Peter is holy so be you holy in all manner of conversation because it is written Be yee holy as I am holy Levit. 11. ver 24. 19.2 the 20.7 I desire you to tell me whether you or any man can attaine to that perfection of holinesse through the whole course of your life that is in God if not you have transgressed this
condemne me If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse We see nothing of merit in all the Saints Here I might bring in the prayers of all the Patriarchs of all the Prophets of all the Apostles and Saints of old of the which the holy Scripture is full and in all of them they confesse their owne sinnes and the sinnes of the people and ever deprecate Gods judgements never pretending or presuming of their owne worth or merits or challenging favour for them from God but prostrating and humbly denying themselves yea in plaine words and expresse termes they proclaime themselves and all men even the most regenerate wicked and abominable and disavow their owne righteousnesse confessing that it is an uncleane thing and looke for mercy at Gods hand onely through Jesus Christ their righteousnesse But let us heare the testimonies now that both the Prophets and Apostles gave of themselves and of all the family of the faithfull and what Christ himselfe taught us who knew best what was in man after regeneration In the first of Kings and the 8. Solomon saith there There is no man that sinneth not And in Eccles 7. ver 20. he saith There is not a just man upon the earth that doth good and sinneth not And Prov. 20. ver 9. Who can say I have made my heart cleane from my sinne Not the most righteous man and most holy Heare what Job also witnesseth concerning th businesse Job 9. ver 2 3. How shall a man be just with God if he will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand And of all the sinnes that come against us there is not the least that deserves not eternall damnation being committed against an eternall Majesty How farre then in Jobs esteeme are men from compleat and perfect righteousnesse Yea how farre then are they from meriting and in chap. 15. v. 14 15 16. What is man saith Job that he should be cleane and he that is borne of woman that he should be righteous behold he hath no trust in his Saints yea the Heavens are not cleare in his sight how much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water From all these places and many more it may well be concluded that the very regenerate have sinne still remaining in them and through the corruption of their nature that ever abides and continues in them are inclined alwaies to that which is evill and are unapt to all that is good and can never attaine to compleat and perfect righteousnesse but have continuall need with David to pray Enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight no flesh shall be justified Psalm 143. ver 2. There are two sorts of justification or righteousnesse the one before men and that is manifested by our workes and the other is before God and that cannot by any works of ours be attained to as by a cloud of witnesses might be proved See therefore what David saith againe Psal 130. ver 3. If thou O Lord shouldst marke iniquity O Lord who should stand but there is forgivenesse with thee that thou mayst be feared Here is no presumption of merit but confidence of mercy Therefore the Prophet Isaiah chap. 64. ver 6. in the name of all the faithfull and regenerate disavowes all merits and disclaimes all their owne righteousnesse in these words But we saith he are all as an uncleane thing and all our righteousnesse as filthy rags and we all doe fade as a leafe and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away The Prophet doth not say here that all our unrighteousnesse but all our righteousnesse teaching all men thereby that the eyes of the Lord behold faults failings and blemishes in the very best most perfect and holiest actions and in the which we most earnestly desire to please God And this is the doctrine the holy Prophet teaches all men to humble them the more and to bring them to a loathing and abominating of themselves and to manifest unto them that there is no perfection or absolute righteousnesse in the Saints themselves and in the most holy men such as may justifie them before God but that there is alwaies matter of humiliation and of self-denyall in them for as long as they are but in the race and as long as they remaine in the flesh they cannot doe the good they would So saith St. Paul Gal. 5. vers 7. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so that ye cannot doe the things that ye would This inward combat continues as long as we live and that in all the Saints and therefore they can never attain unto perfection in this life and therefore can never merit Yea the holy Apostles continually acknowledge it confessing their owne sinfulnesse and failings teaching all the faithfull to doe the same So St. John the beloved Disciple in his first Epistle chap. 1. vers 8. If we say we have no sinne we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us St. James also chap. 3. ver 2. saith In many things we sinne all Here he excepts no mortall man all have their sinnes and have need of self-deniall Paul also that elect vessell grones under the burden of sin and with griefe and sorrow acknowledges his continuall combate with the remainders of his corruption Rom. 7. ver 22 23 24. I delight saith he in the Law of God after the inward man but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sinne which is in my members O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thanke God through Jesus Christ my Lord c. Paul had learned this lesson of self-denyall acknowledging his sinnes and making his recourse unto Christ for pardon and deliverance from it knowing there was no other name under Heaven to be saved by and so he becomes Christs Disciple as all other sinners if they will be saved must doe and that we are sinners and can never in this world attaine unto an absolute perfection and to a full and intire keeping and fulfilling of the Law the places I have now quoted and the severall witnesses of all the Saints and the very prayer our Saviour himselfe hath taught us doe sufficiently testifie where we are instructed daily to say forgive us our sinnes Luke 11. ver 4. Now where there is no offence there is no need of pardon but all the Saints as long as they live have need of pardon therefore as long as they live they are sinfull and have need of self-denyall and of true humility and a meane esteeme of themselves and a renouncing of all their owne righteousnesse if they will be Christs disciples and if they expect salvation by him for they must have it upon his owne conditions for he will be saviour to none
to whom he is not their Lord he will be obeyed and have his pleasure submitted to or else we cannot be his disciples nor obtaine life eternall So that inevitably and most necessarily it followeth that we must renounce our owne merits and justification by our owne workes if we will believe in Christ as we ought to believe All which when the Church of England teacheth it is built upon the foundation of Peter and therefore is a true Church But that I may conclude this point and clearely evidence the truth of it to you Mr. Montague and all men and by other testimonies confirme it and in so doing prove the Church of England a true Church which you stifly deny I will briefly declare wherein our justification before God consisteth and what it is that makes us acceptable with him and to believe aright which is not to rely upon our own righteousnes but upon the righteousnes of Jesus Christ apprehended by faith And this doctrin we learn out of the holy Scriptures which teach us a twofold righteousnesse Rom. 10. v. 3. a righteousnesse of God and a righteousnesse of our owne which the Jewes relying upon as all Justiciaries do did not submit themselves to the righteousnesse of God therefore did not deny themselves and come unto Christ rely upon him Who was the end of the Law for righteousnesse to every one that believeth vers 4. For Moses saith the Apostle describeth the righteousnesse which is of the Law that the man that doth those things shall live by them But the righteousnesse which is of faith speaketh on this wise that if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made to salvation Here faith alone is the hand that reacheth forth the righteousnes of Christ unto us and by which apprehending Christ we stand justified before God So that out of the words of the Apostle this twofold righteousnesse appeares the righteousnesse of the Gospell and the righteousnesse of the Law which the Apostle so describeth as no mortall man ever living besides Christ onely since the fall of Adam was righteous or just or indeed could be as is sufficiently by the places above mentioned proved But the righteousnes of the Gospell is that whosoever believeth in Christ shall not perish but have everlasting life John 3. For the just shall live by his faith Rom. 1. Gal. 3. Now then when the righteousnesse of the Law consisteth in the absolute and perfect observation obedience and fulfilling of the whole Law and no man can perfectly keepe observe and obey it it of necessity followes that we cannot attaine unto righteousnesse by the Law but we must seeke another righteousnesse which is onely to be found in the Gospell and that righteousnesse is the remission of all our sinnes and our reconciliation with God and the imputation of Christs righteousnesse freely bestowed upon us of God for Christs sake who is our onely Saviour and redeemer And this is to be built upon the foundation of Peter And this is the righteousnesse by which we must be saved and justified before God For we are justified freely by grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ As Paul saith to the Rom. chap. 3. ver 24. and in vers 28. farther expresseth himselfe saying We conclude therefore that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law The sense and meaning of the which words if we do duely consider them will so cleare unto all men this Evangelicall and everlasting truth that there will be no doubting of it to any rationall creature For the finding out therefore of the true sense of these words three things offer themselves to be deliberated on First what is meant here by being justified Secondly what is meant to be justified by faith Thirdly what are those works and deeds which are excluded from justification As concerning the first we are to observe three distinct actions of God in it First the freedome absolution of a sinner from the guilt of his sins and iniquities for the merits of Jesus Christ Acts 13. v. 38 39. Be it knowne unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you forgivenesse of sins And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses That is by Jesus Christ they are freed and absolved from the guilt of those sinnes which the Law could not free them from And in this sense doth the Apostle oppose justification to condemnation in Rom. 8. v. 33. which is nothing else but a binding over a man to undergoe the due and deserved punishment The second action of God is imputation or the esteeming or the accounting of a sinner as just for the merits of Jesus Christ Woe be to him that justifieth the wicked Esay 5. ver 22. that is that doth not make him just but accompts esteems and declares him as just So in the Gospell wisdom is said to be justified of her children that is approved of and acknowledged The third action of God is the acceptation or receiving of a sinner to life eternall in Christ For after God hath freed and absolved a sinner and imputed righteousnesse unto him this receiving of him after that to life eternall doth necessarily follow which is therefore cald justification of life Rom. 5. ver 18. where the reason of it is likewise rendered for as Adams sinne and offence was imputed to all or came upon all and by it death entered into the world and reigned so the obedience of Christ being imputed to all believers they are made righteous and obtaine justification of life From the consideration of all which this definition of justification is easily gathered That it is an action of God the Father absolving and freeing a sinner from all his offences and transgressions for the merits of Jesus Christ and imputing righteousnesse unto him and receiving of him to life eternall And now I come to the second thing viz. What is meant to be justified by faith The sense and meaning of the which as it is a matter of great moment and consequence and concernes no lesse than our eternall happinesse so it cals for and requires at our hands all care and diligence for the right understanding of it which the great Rabbins of the Church of Rome are ignorant of and that it may the more easily be delucidated and understood I will declare first what that thing is for which a sinner is justified and accounted just And that is the obedience of Jesus Christ our mediator and redeemer and that both his active and passive for those are not to be separated that God hath joyned together the last of which doth consist in Christs suffering of the first death in respect of his
Commandement and by it are liable to an eternall punishment having sinned against a most holy and eternall Majesty But if you say you can you are yet but an unprofitable servant and have done but your duty as the Lord affirmes and have not yet merited Christ saith Luk. 6. vers 31.32 33 34 35 36. And as you would that men should doe to you do yee also to them likewise For if you love them which love you what thanks have you for sinners also love those that love them And if you do good to them which do good to you what thanks have you for sinners also do the same And if yee lend to them of whom you hope to receive what thanks have you for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much againe But love yee your enemies and do good and lend hoping for nothing againe and your reward shall be great and yee shall be the children of the Highest for he is kind unto the unthankfull and to the evill and be yee also mercifull as your Heavenly Father is mercifull I demand of you Mr. Montague whether ever you or any mortall man ever did fully keepe these Precepts and Commandements and were as mercifull as God our Heavenly Father is mercifull if not you are a transgressor and far from merit or works of superrogation and if you have kept these holy Commandements you are yet but an unprofitable servant and have done but your duty Saint Paul saith to the Philippians chap. 4. vers 8. Finally my brethren whatsoever things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsover things are pure whatsoever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any prayse thinke on these things Those things which yee have both learned and received and heard and seene in mee do and the God of Peace shall be with you What duty Mr. Montague in the whole course of a mans life is there either of love and obedience towards God or towards our Neighbour that any man can performe that is not included in this precept and which by it he is not bound to do and the which if he performes not maketh him a transgressor and yet if he should perfectly fulfill this command he is but an unprofitable servant and hath done but his duty and therefore cannot merit much lesse do a worke of supererogation So that the impiety of the doctrine of merits is sufficiently evinced by that I have now said I might yet instance in a thousand things but I wil insist but upon one or two more which is the lesson in hand of selfe-deniall If any man saith Christ will be my disciple let him deny himselfe and take up his cross dayly and follow me I aske you Mr. Montague whether you thinke your selfe or any man did ever perfectly yet learne this lesson and did wholy deny himself and with willingnesse and without any murmuring or resisting take up his crosse and to the last houre of his life follow Christ both in cheerfull doing and suffering without which his service will not be acceptable for God loveth only cheerfull sufferers as cheerefull givers If you shall answer that none can perfectly keepe this precept you shall answer truly and by that acknowledge a transgression which makes you liable to punishment and therefore unable to merit by it But if you shall be so temerarious as to affirme you can keepe this Commandement notwithstanding you are yet but an unprofitable servant in Christs esteeme and you have done but your duty because you do no more then God commands you And truly Mr. Montague I will grant you thus much if any thing we can do or performe could merit at Gods hands suffering and dying for his cause and renouncing all honours pleasures and profits and abandoning life it self for the love of him and his truth might have the first place in our obedience for to challenge merit yet I say doing all this we are but unprofitable servants and have done but our duty and therefore cannot merit much lesse doe a worke of supererogation by it if Christs words be true Yea Paul in Rom. 8. vers 8. excludes merits even from our sufferings saying I account the afflictions of this present time are not worthy the glory that shall be shewed unto us The glory therefore we expect doth a thousand fold surpasse the misery of our afflictions therefore our pressures and sufferings themselves are excluded for if the very martyrs merit not then ordinary Christians cannot merit And in 2 Cor. 4.17 there he saith Our light affliction which is but for a moment worke for us a farre more exceeding and eternall waight of glory c. Now Master Montague I intreat you to declare unto me how any man by their sufferings can merit not onely life eternall but an augmentation and degree of glory in Heaven seeing by the expresse word of the Apostle there is no more proportion betweene that which is most excellent and glorious in this world and the glory and felicity of the Kingdome of Heaven than is between a moment of time and eternity for all men will easily conclude that a temporary and momentany suffering of affliction cannot merit eternall and never ending glory and that by the light of reason though the Scripture should say nothing to the contrary which doctrine of merit notwithstanding it doth in many places confute For however the Lord hath made many gracious promises in his holy Word of rewarding his suffering servants as Rom. 8. ver 17. saying If so be that we suffer with him we may also be glorified together As also in the second Epistle to Timothy chap. 2. ver 12. If we suffer we shall also reigne with him And innumerable places more might be cited for our incouragement in suffering as that in Rom. 2. ver 6 7. Who will render to every man according to his deeds To them who by patient continuance in well doing seeke for glory and honour and immortility eternall life All which declare that God out of his infinite favour will reward his servants for the practice of those very gifts and graces he hath bestowed upon them according to that in Revel 2. vers 10. Be thou faithfull unto the death and I will give thee a Crown of life But ever take notice this reward and this Crowne of life is not bestowed upon sufferers as wages or reward and merit but as a gift of mercy and grace as will afterward appeare And if you looke Mr. Montague into the 7. of the Revelation vers 13 14 15. there you may if you shut not your eyes behold the truth of this doctrine that the very martyrs come not to Heaven for their sufferings And one of the Elders answered and said unto me What are these which are arrayed in white Robes and whence come they and he said unto me These are they which came out of great tribulations and have washed their robes and
be saved by but by the Name of Jesus Acts 4. v. 12. and that Salvation is onely in him And therefore if they seeke and desire all such gifts and graces of the holy Spirit without which they can neither know God nor believe in him as they ought the Church of England teaches them that they are onely to be found in Christs unction of whose fulnesse we have received grace for grace John 1. And if they want strength and power to subdue their corruptions and to support them in temptation the Church of England teacheth that they may finde them in Christs Dominion and Soveraignty to whom all power in Heaven and Earth is given Matth. 28. ver 18. If they desire purity and innocency they have it in his conception If they desire mercy compassion and commiseration they have it in his birth Who was made like unto us that he might have compassion on us and make our reconciliation with God Heb. 3. v. 17. If we desire redemption we have it in his death and passion If we desire absolution and freedome from guilt we have it in Christs condemnation If we seeke a discharge or delivery from malediction and the curse we have it in his crosse Gal. 3. v. 13. If we seeke for satisfaction and a full payment unto the wrath and justice of God we have it in his sacrifice If we desire to be purged and cleansed from all our sinnes and iniquities we have it in his blood 1 John chap. 1. v. 7. If we seeke for reconciliation we have it in his bitter agony and sufferings 2 Cor. chap. 5. v. 18 19 21. If we seeke the mortification of the flesh and crucifying of the old man we have it in his grave And if we desire and seeke for newnesse of life and vivifying of the Spirit and immortality we have them all in his resurrection Rom. 6. v. 4 5. And if we seeke for the Kingdome of Heaven we have it in his ascension And if we looke for ayd and helpe in time of need and in all our distresses or if we desire plenty sufficiency and the affluency of all good things to supply all our wants and necessities we shall finde them in his Soveraignty and Kingdome And if we wait for a joyfull and dreadlesse expectation of the last judgement we have it in Christ who we know is our Mediator that shall be the Judge both of quick and dead and therefore we doe with joy lift up our heads knowing that our salvation and redemption draweth nigh In a word the Church of England teacheth all these things to the people and that all the riches and treasures of all good things are to be found in Christ Jesus Colos 2. vers 3. and that to him alone they ought to have recourse if they would be replenished and have their wants at any time supplied And whither indeed upon all occasions should we flie but unto Christ for as S. Peter sayeth John 6. vers 68. Lord to whom shall wee goe thou hast the words of eternall like Therefore the Church of England teacheth all men to make their addresses to Christ onely for to him onely is to be ascribed all the honour and praise of our Redemption And the Church of England hath very good reason and warrant out of Gods Word ever to maintaine the truth of this Doctrine that the whole sum of our salvation and all the parts of it are onely to be found in Christ For otherwise they cannot yeeld unto God that honour that is due to him and is to be kept and preserved inviolably for him without any diminution neither can they findâ— that peace and comfort in their consciences if they rely upon any abilitie or forces of their owne or rest in any of their own performances in the which they know there is so much imperfection and so many failings And this were but to forsake the fountaine of living waters and to dig themselves broken cisternes which cannot hold a drop of true comfort besides all this there is great danger in so doing in all respects for to ascribe or attribute any thing unto themselves in the work of redemption is meere blasphemy in that they take away that honour that is wholly and intirely belonging to the Mediator God blessed for ever and ascribe it to a meer creature which is indeed an horrid impiety For the Prophet Isa 53. v. 4. 6. saith that the Father hath layd the iniquities of us all upon his Sonne that by his stripes wee should be healed Which very thing S. Peter in other words expresseth 1 Epist chap. 2. ver 24. saying that Christ did in his body heare our sinnes upon the Tree And S. Paul in the 8 of the Rom. v. 2 3. affirmes that sin was condemned in his flesh when He was made sinne for us and redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us 2 Cor. 5. v. 24. Gal. 3. v. 13. That is to say the power force and curse of sin was killed and slaine in his flesh when hee was offered up and given to be a Sacrifice for us upon whom the whole heape and masse of our sinnes with all the curse and malediction with the dreadfull judgement of God and condemnation of death was layd So that I say the Church of England ascribes all the honour of our redemption to Christ alone and teaches all men that if in the least thing they should rob Christ of his due honour as it is an insufferable sinne and indignity in any to do so by it they câ—â—â—ind no peace in their soules and consciences for being justified by Faith wee have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 5. vers 1. who wee know hath fully satisfyed God for us but if any rely upon their owne performances or any workes done by them such is the imperfection of them and so many failings there be alwayes in them that they can never finde any reall and true peace or solid comfort but there will be ever doubtings whether in all things they have done their duty compleatly and as they ought And therefore the Church of England according to the holy Scriptures attributes the whole worke of our redemption to Christ alone and teaches the people that by his stripes they are made whole and so in this speculative belief it fayleth not The Church of England likewise diligently instructeth the people how they may be made partakers of Christ and all his benefits and shewes them the way directly of attaining this felicity and that is by teaching them selfe-deniall and 〈◊〉 humble themselves for their Iniquities Transgressions and 〈◊〉 under God mighty hand and to come out of themselves and exhorts thâ—m to â—y unto Christ and by faith alone to lay hold upon him and â—pply him with all his benefits and merits unto themselves 〈◊〉 which they may stand justified before God and sanctifiedâ— and then it teacheth them also that the ordinary way and