dost not only not commit the things forbidden but also doe the duties commaunded vnlesse thou dost all and vnlesse thou continuest in doing all neuer failing in any one particular and finally vnlesse thou continuest in doing all and euery thing commaunded in that perfect manner and measure which the law prescribeth Alas then how wilt thou escape the dreadfull curse who in stead of doing the duties commaunded hast done the vices forbidden who in stead of keeping all the commaundements hast broken them all and in stead of continuing in a totall perpetuall and perfect obedience of the lawe hast continued in the disobedience thereof Hence we may conclude with the Apostle that all men in themselues euen those who seeke to be iustified by the law be concluded vnder sinne and consequently vnder the curse and therefore haue extreame neede to seeke vnto Christ that by him they may be set free from this two-fold bondage which is to be vnder the curse of the law if we breake it when we can doe nothing else but breake it and to be excluded from iustification if we doe not continue in the perfect performance of the law when we are not able so much as to thinke a good thought or once to will that which is spiritually good But by Christ we are freed from both Frst from the curse as the Apostle in expresse tearmes teacheth Christ hath redeemed vs from the curse of the law when he was made a curse for vs. He hath freed vs from the punishment of sinne by vndergoing the punishment for vs he hath acvs quitted frō our debts by discharging them for vs. For as Esay saith He was wounded for our transgressions he was broken for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace that is which was to procure vs peace and reconsiliation with God was laide vpon him and by his stripes we are healed And againe The Lord hath laide vpon him the iniquitie of vs all that is the punishment of all our sinnes And My righteous seruant by his knowledge that is by the knowledge of him or faith in him shall iustifie many for he shall beare their iniquities Now by the curse of the law from which Christ doth free vs we are to vnderstand all euill of punishment as well temporall as eternall for it is absurd to imagine with the Papists that Christ hauing freed vs from the eternall punishment hath not freed vs from the temporall By temporall we meane the euils both of this life whether corporall or spirituall which are innumerable and also in the end of this life viz. an euill death Against both these it will be obiected and first against the former that notwithstanding their iustification the faithfull are as subiect to afflictions and calamities of this life as others and therefore to punishment But I deny that consequence if you speake of punishments properly which be the curses of the law afflicted vpon men by way of vengeance to satisfie the iustice of God * For the Lord hath imposed the punishment of all our sinnes vpon Christ who hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father for them And therefore as there is no condermnation so no punishment properly vnderstood to them that are in Christ Iesus Neither can it stand with the iustice of God who is not only mercifull but also iust in iustifying of vs to exact a punishment of the faithfull for the satisfying of his iustice for whom Christ hath already fully satisfied his iustice by bearing the punishment this were to punish the same sinnes twice once in Christ and againe in vs. Indeed the faithfull are subiect to crosses and afflictions but all the afflictions of the godly are either trials for their good or such iudgements as are simply fatherly chastisements proceeding from loue and meerely respecting the good of the party chastised whereof the Apostle speaketh 1. Cor. 11. 32. When we are iudged we are chastised of of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world or else they be also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the erymoligie of the word which by some is giuen when God besides the chastisment of the party hath also care to his owne honour which would beimpeached if he should seeme to winke at the scandalous offences of his children as though he would maintaine them in their sinnes In which regard iudgement as Peter saith begineth at the house of God For the Lord many times correcteth those sinnes in the Godly both for his owne honour and their good which he seemeth to passe by in the wicked Of this kinde we haue an example in Dauid to whom the Lord vpon his submission forgaue his greeuous sinnes of murther and adulterie notwithstanding both for Dauids chastisement and for the example of others but chiefly for the maintenance of his owne glory which by the scandalous offences of Gods children is by the wicked blasphemed as though such sins were the fruits of the religion and seruice of God he would not suffer the child begotten in adulterie to liue Why because by that sinne Dauid had caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme The vse which we are to make hereof is not with the Papists to teach men to make satisfaction to God for their sinnes as though Christ had not fully satisfied for them already but to teach men both to beware that they doe not commit sinne especially scandalous sinnes because thereby they displease and dishonor God their mercifull Father prouoking him to powre his iudgements vpon them for their amendment that they be not condemned with the world and for the maintenance of his owne honor and also that hauing sinned we doe meete the Lord in his iudgements by humbling our selues before him confessing our fault and crauing pardon that iudging our selues we may not be iudged of the Lord. Against the second it is also obiected that notwithstanding their iustification the godly die as well as the wicked I answere that as of all afflictions so also of death the nature is changed in respect of the faithfull to whom death it selfe though brought in by the malice of the diuell is not a curse or punishment properly I doe not denie but that many times in respect of the time and manner of death the godly iudged and chastised the Lord in mercy killing their bodies that hee many saue their soules but from the evill of death they are wholly freed for to them it is the end of sinne and is therefore inflicted vpon vs that sinne might dy with vs as Methodius saith and being the end of sinne vnto vs it is also the end of misery the hauen of rest a happy passage out of this vaile of misery vnto the kingdome of glory and so not onely no curse but also a blessing no losse but an advantage as after wee shall shew For yet we speake but of the immunities of iustification the
is also a freedom from the bondage of sinne and of the law though in other respects then those that haue beene mentioned in the liberty of iustification For in iustification we are freed from the guilt of sinne in sanctification frō the corruption of sinne But here we are to consider how farre forth we are set free therefrom For the Hypocritall Papists teach that when a man is regenerated or as they also speake iustified originall sinne is so abolished as that it doth not only not raigne but not so much as remaine or liue in the partie sanctified By which doctrine they teach men to bee desperate hypocrites either searing their conscience that they may haue no sense of sinne and may please themselues with this conceit that they haue no sinne in which respect the saying of Peter is verified of them that whiles they promise liberty to themselues and others they are indeed seruants of corruption or if they haue any sense of sinne dwelling in them they must perswade themselues they are not sanctified nor iustified and therefore not to be saued such miserable comforters they are of poore sinners as to perswade them that they haue not remission of sinne vntill sinne be quite abolished in them But this doctrine they teach contrary to the euident testimonies of Scripture contrary to the perpetuall experience of the faithfull contrary to the light of their owne conscience that they might thereby vphold their Antichristian doctrine of iustification by inherent righteousnesse and of the merit of good workes which otherwise would fall to the ground For if in respect of originall sinne remaining and dwelling in vs we be in our selues sinners how can we be iustified by inherent righteousnesse If our best actions be stained with the flesh and our righteousnesse be like polluted clouts how should they merit eternall life We are therfore to hold that in regeneration we are freed from the corruption of sinne not wholly and at once but in part and by degrees that sinne though mortified in part and we freed from the tyrannie of it that it raigne no more with full swinge and authority in vs still remaineth and dwelleth in vs hindering vs from good provoking vs vnto euill defiling and cotaminating our best actions neuer suffering vs with the full consent of will to performe or desire that which is good As the Apostle plainely sheweth by his owne example Rom. 7. where the concupiscence remaining in him is not only plainly called a sinne but described as a sinne as an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a repugnancie to the law of God the sense whereof though the Papists haue no sense of it made the holy Apostle crie out Miserable man that I am who shall deliuer me from this body of death Accursed therefore was the counsell of Trent which confessing that the Apostle calleth it a sinne notwithstanding pronounceth them accursed that shall say it is a sinne But if we say we haue no sinne we deceiue our selues saith S. Iohn and there is no truth in vs. The freedome therefore which we haue in our sanctification which as Augustine saith is but begun in this life is not from the being of sinne in vs altogether and at once though we be freed from it in part and by degrees but from the dominion of it that wee should no more bee servants of sin but being freed from sinne might become servants of righteousnes Rom. 6. 6. 18. which Augustine did well obserue out of the words of the Apostle dehorting vs that sinne should not remaine in our mortall bodies Hee doth not say let it not be but let it not raigne for whiles thou liuest it cannot be avoided but that sinne will bee in thy members neverthelesse let dominion bee taken from it c. Of this liberty the Apostle speaketh Rom. 8. the law of the spirit of life which is in Christ hath made mee free from the law of sinne and of death That is the power of the quickning Spirit which being in Christ our head and from him communicated vnto vs doth rule in vs as a law doth free vs from the power of sin which worketh death that it no more haue dominion as it were a law in vs. And Rom. 6. hauing proued that sin neither doth nor can any more raigne in the faithfull because after the similitude of Christs death and resurrection they are dead to sin and risen againe and therefore as death can no more haue dominion over Christ being 〈◊〉 from death no more can sin haue dominion over the faithfull being once risen from the graue of sin afterwards vers 14. hee assureth the faithfull that sin shall not haue dominion over them because they bee not vnder the Law but vnder grace Likewise Saint Iohn saith He that is borne of God doth not commit sin namely as a servant of sin yea he addeth that he cannot sin namely with full swinge and consent of will as those which bee servants of sin because the seed of God remaineth in him whereby he is partly spirit and not only flesh And therefore as he cannot perfectly will that which is good because of the reluctation of the flesh so can he not will with full consent that which is evill because of the reluctation of the spirit Secondly wee are in our sanctification freed from the Law But we are here also to consider quatenus now farre forth For the Papists charge vs that we place Christian liberty in this that we are subiect to no law in our conscience and before God and that wee are free from all necessity of doing good workes which is a most divelish slander For although they absurdly confound iustification and fanctification yet they know we doe not neither are they ignorant but that wee put a great difference betweene them in this respect For though we teach that the obedience of the Law is not required in vs to iustification but that wee are freed from the exaction of the Law in that behalfe yet we deny not but that vnto sanctification the obedience of the law is required and wee by necessity of duty bound to the observation thereof Wee confesse that to be free from obedience is to be the servants of sin and the willing and cheerefull worship of God in holines and righteousnes without feare to bee true liberty Wee acknowledge that the morall law of God is perpetuall and immutable and that this is an everlasting truth that the creature is bound to worship and obey his Creator and so much the more bound as hee hath received greater benefits Indeede wee say with Luther that in our iustification wee are restored to a state of iustice from which Adam fell but yet as wee teach that wee are no more bound to obedience that thereby we might be iustified then Adam who was already iust so we professe that in allegiance and thankfulnesse we are more
which cause the Councill of Laod. c. 28. as it forbad loue-feasts the Church so also accubitus the gesture vsed at feasts I say vnto thee confidently if thou mayest not receiue it vnlesse thou doest kneele thou oughtest to receiue it kneeling though another would be offended thereat Mayest thou not preach the word to omit other parts of the ministeriall function the necessity whereof should prevaile with vs more then a supposed scandall for it shall suffice to insist in this one particular mayest thou not I say preach the Gospell of Christ being a duty whereof necessity is imposed vpon thee and Woe be vnto thee if thou preach not the Gospell a duty whereby thou art bound in especiall manner to edify the Church and to glorify God vnlesse thou yeeld to the vse of such things as are neither in themselues vnlawfull I meane the Surplice the Crosse whereof the one in the iudgmēt of the Church serueth for decencie the other rightly vnderstood tendeth to edification neither as they are vsed in our Church being neither imposed nor obserued with superstition or opinion of necessity in themselues or of worship as though we placed religion in them and much lesse with the other popish conceits of merit with which they obserue all their traditions or efficacy which they ascribe especially to the Crosse Thou oughtest to preferre the glory of God in the salvation of his people by thy ministery before the supposed and perhaps but pretended scandall of others Obiect Yea but we may not doe euill that good may come of it Answ The question is of things indifferent For though we may must obey Magistrates though they be euill yet we must obey neither good nor bad vnto evill For we must obey only in the Lord. Obiect But though the things be indifferent in themselues yet their vse may be vnlawfull Answ. That is when they be imposed either with opinion of necessity in themselues of religion to be placed in thē of perfection or merit to be attained by them all which conceits our Church detesteth as is manifest by the doctrine whereby ceremonies are to be weighed or with scandall I doe not say taken but giuen to others Obiect Yea but it is euill to offend my weake brother that euill I may not do that good may come of it I answere in not yeelding to conformity thou both disobeyest the Magestrate offendest thy weak brother too So that when thou seemest loath to doe that which is lawfull and good for feare of an imagined euill thou addest euil to euill that is to disobedience scandall and besides to the most necessary dutyes of Gods worship preferrest the auoyding of a supposed scandall For all this while I speake but by supposition For here is a supposall of Antinomie or opposition of the two lawes of loyalty and charity as though the one could not bee obserued without the breach of the other which is not so For where the Magistrate enioyneth the vse of an indifferent thing whereat it is feared some will take offence his duty is for preuenting the scandall to giue some time of information that the weake may be instructed as touching the indifferency of the thing and the sufficiencie of his authority to command it and of their duty in submitting themselues to the obseruation thereof It is also the duty of the Minister to endeauour to preuent the scandall by informing his hearers that those things which God hath neither commanded nor forbidden are things indifferent that no such thing is vncleane in it selfe that all such things are lawfull and such as wherevnto Christian liberty doth extend that in all lawfull things the Magistrate is to be obeyed and therefore that these things being enioyned they not only may in respect of their Christian liberty with free conscience vse them but also must in respect of Gods commandement requiring obedience yeeld to the observation of them Which course hauing beene taken as it hath among vs if any will still be offended it is peeuishnesse and obstinacy rather then weaknesse and an offence taken but not given in which case the law of charity it selfe doth not binde vs and that in two respects not yet mentioned The one in respect of God the other in respect of his truth For I may not offend God not to offend my brother And it is Gods truth that Christian liberty priviledgeth both Christian Lawgiuers with such cautions as before haue bin mentioned to ordaine such lawes concerning outward things as they shall iudge expedient and also the subiects without scrupulosity of conscience to obserue them Now it is a principle Satius est nasci scandalum quam deseri verum It is better a scandall should arise then the truth to be forsaken or betrayed Is our Christian liberty in this point called into question whether Magistrates may command such things and whether subiects may obey We must maintaine our liberty though others would be offended thereat The Apostles though for a time they yeelded much to the weaknesse of the Iewes doing and forbearing many things to avoid their offence yet when their liberty was called into question they resolutely maintained it not regarding their offence And when as by Peters withdrawing himselfe from the Gentiles for feare of offending the Iewes the liberty of Christians was called into question Paul withstood him to his face and reproved him before them all as halting in the profession of the Gospell And so must they bee content to be vsed who follow Peters example in this behalfe Thus much by the way to perswade the people to obedience and loialty and the Ministers to conformity which I beseech God to effect for his Christs sake These things thus premised concerning the nature and quality of this peculiar liberty of Christians it will not be hard to answere the obiections of those who runne into contrary extreames concerning the same Obiect 1. For first on the one side it is obiected that seeing Christ hath set vs free concerning things indifferent no man ought to restraine vs and therefore the lawes commanding or forbidding the vse of indifferent things are against Christian liberty Wherevnto I answere first that Christian liberty is wholly spirituall being a liberty of the conscience and inner man which may stand with the outward servitude of z bondslaues much more with the subiection and obedience of free subiects For though the outward vse of the liberty be moderated by the Magistrate and confined yet the inward liberty of the conscience is not impaired so long as the subiect may obey with free conscience before God that is so long as the Magistrate seeketh not to binde the conscience and to impose things not commanded of God as necessary in themselues and as matters of religion before God c. Secondly that the liberty of Christians is a true and therefore not an vnbounded liberty Now one of the boundes and limits which God hath set
it is as you haue heard the law of loyalty requiring obedience to superiours Wherefore a Christian man though in respect of the inward man he be free as being the sonne of God by adoption in Christ yet in respect of the outward man he ought to bee a servant not only to his superiors in loyalty and obedience but also to all in benevolence and charity Obiect 2. On the other side it is obiected 1. That for conscience sake we are to obey the Magistrate that is that we are bound in conscience so to doe therefore the lawes and commandements of the Magistrate doe binde the conscience Answ. It followes not for although we are bound in conscience to obey the lawfull commandements and lawes of superiours yet that bond is not in the particular lawes of men but in the generall commandement of God Obiect 3. Againe A thing indifferent enioyned by the Magistrate becometh necessary for Paul saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is necessary that you bee subiect therefore the commandement of the Magistrate doth binde the conscience Answ. Neither doth this follow For it becometh necessary not by the particular commaundement of man but by the generall commandement of God For notwithstanding the commandement of the Magistrate the thing commanded remaineth indifferent in it selfe and before God and so to be vsed with free conscience without placing any religion therein howsoever it becommeth necessary so farre forth as by the generall commandement of God I am bound thereto And this is that which Peter saith that wee must obey Magistrates as free and yet as the servants of God Free in respect of our consciences exempted from humane power yet as servants of God bound in conscience to obey him in obeying them so farre forth as hee doth commaund vs to obey them The truth of these answers shall not only be demonstrated as it were before your eyes by a syllogisme wherein is concluded the bond of conscience and necessity of duty in obeying the commandements of men but also by other reasons proved The Syllogisme All lawfull commaundements of Magistrates thou art bound in conscience by the law of God to obey so farre forth as hee requireth such commandements to bee obeyed This or that particular is a lawfull coÌ„maundement of the Magistrate Therefore this or that particular thou art bound in conscience by the law of God to obey so farre forth as God requireth such commandements to be obeyed By which argumentation wee may conceiue that the distinction of necessity vsed in schooles viz. that there is necessit as consequentis which is simple or absolute necessitas consequentiae which is not simple but vpon condition of other things presupposed may not vnfitly be applied to the necessity of duty imposed by the lawes either of God or man For Gods commandement imposeth the necessity as it were of the consequent without presupposing other things requiring simple and absolute obedience The law of man doth not impose the necessity of the consequent or require simple obedience but it imposeth onely a necessity of the consequence that is such a necessity and no other as may soundly be concluded from the law of God and so farre forth as it may bee concluded thence Or to speake more plainely in a simple sentence without interpositing any condition or presupposing any antecedenâ— whereupon it is to bee inferred I may say either particularly this commandement of God is necessarily or by necessity of duty to be obeyed or generally all Gods commandements are necessarily to bee observed And this speech is of necessary truth But concerning mens commaundements If I shall say in the generall All the commaundements of men are necessarily to be observed the speech wilâ— be false and absurd if in particular this commaundement of the Magistrate is necessarily to bee observed this speech cannot be necessary simply or by the necessity of the consequent or to speake more plainely for the explicating of that phrase by the necessity of a simplâ— sentence wherein the consequent or predicat is both simply and necessarily affirmed of the antecedent or subiect it cannot I say bee simply necessary because as you heard the generall is false Notwithstanding if you presuppose these two things first that all lawfull commaundements of Magistrates are by the commaundement of God necessarily to be observed so farre forth as hee commaundeth them to be observed secondly that this particular is a lawfull commaundement of the Magistrate vpon these premises you may proue that speech to be true by necessity of consequence viz. that this particular commaundement of the Magistrate is necessarily to be observed c. But some sophister will obiect that I might as well conclude thus Propos. All lawfull commaundements of the Magistrate must necessarily be obeyed Ass. This or that particular is a lawfull commaundement of the Magistrate Concl. Therefore necessarily to bee obeyed I answere that the proposition of this syllogisme needeth proofe as not being manifest of it selfe You will say it may thus be proued Propos. What is commanded of God must necessarily be performed Ass. Obedience to all law full commaundements of Magistrates is commaunded of God Concl. Therefore obedience to all lawfull commaundements of Magistrates is necessarily to be performed But I say againe the assumption of this syllogisme needeth some explanation For the Lord would haue difference put between his owne commandements and the lawes of men and therefore we may not thinke that he commandeth all lawes of men simply to be obeyed not simply you must say then but so farre forth as he requireth them to be obeyed By which short discourse wee learne that those additions by which I explaned the proposition of the syllogisme were necessare and that the bond of coÌ„science is not the law of man but of God that we are bound to obey mans lawes not simply but so farre forth as God requireth And lastly that this speech All lawfull commandements of Magistrates are necessarily to be obeyed is true not by the necessity of the consequent as an axiome or principle which is manifest of it selfe but by the necessity of consequence as a conclusion manifested by discourse Now that the lawes of men doe not binde the conscience it may further appeare by these reasons first because our freedome from the lawes iudiciall and ceremoniall which in the Scriptures is extolled for so great a bâ—nefit would be a burthen rather then a benefit if wee should in like manner be bound to the ecclesiasticall and ciuill lawes of men Againe if they did binde the conscience there would be no difference betweene Gods lawes and mans lawes in respect of outward actions and the one sort would require simple obedience as well as the other yea vnlawfull commandements would also binde the conscience But it is plaine that simple obedience is to be performed onely to the lawes of God To the laws of men we are bound not simply but so farre forth as in