〈◊〉 〈◊〉 incorporeal hands receive nothing but vanity Our moral goodness makes us not good our Philosophy is deceit Our acquisite Habits lift us no further then the place where they grow that is Earth and Nature But with this gift we receive all things we receive the favor and gracious countenance of our Creator who in Christ is well pleased and in him looks upon us as the Emperor did behold wars and slaughter and ruine and desolation in a large Emerald whose color temper'd the object and made it appear less horrible then it was Unum est donum unius sunt omnia dona It is but one gift but it turns all things into it self and makes them a gift All the works of Nature all the wonders of Grace all the Saints are shut up in this Receit All happiness all misery that which we long for that which we run from that which we roar under with this Grace is a gift Nay our very Sins are made useful and beneficial to us by the light of the Gospel as Light cast upon a dark body which it cannot illuminate is doubled by reflexion And therefore every man in respect of Grace should be ad instar materiae like as the Matter is to the Form which Plato calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comes from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text the receptacle of the Form should be so inclinable to receive it as if it could have no exsistence without it should even labor and travel as the Apostle speaks till Christ be fully formed Gal. 4. 19. in him For what though we receive the good things of this world There is a Nuno autem follows them Now art thou tormented in the end of that receipt What if we receive Honor Shame follows at the very heels of it What if we receive those ornaments of the mind which Philosophy calls Virtues They are but splendida peccata but glorious sins like Gloworms which in the night cast some brightness but will not warm us Tell we receive this grace we are nothing we are worse then nothing but Nehustitan a lump of brass tell by this Grace we are reformed and transfigured into a statue of Christ I need not stand longer on this point and I intended it but as an introduction For I am sure all here have received this Grace at least profess they have And there is as great danger in receiving it as in unbelief For the Philosopher will tell us Quicquid recipitur recipitur ad modum recipientis All is not in the gift the greatest matter is in the manner of receiving it The Gospel is grace indeed but it will not save a Devil nor an obstinate offendor Stomachus vitiatus saith Seneca alimentum in causam doloris trahit A foul stomach corrupts all that it receives and turns that meat which should nourish the body into a disease and a corrupt heart poysons the very water of life ut evangelium Christi sit evangelium hominis saith St. Augustine it alters the very nature of the Gospel and makes it not the Gospel of Christ but of Man Judas receives a sop and with it the Devil The grand mistake of the world is in the manner of receiving Christ For as in the dogmatical part of Christianity we find that in former times they could not agree in the manner of receiving Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but some would receive him after this manner some after another they knew not how themselves some a created Christ others a half-Christ some through a conduit-Pipe others less visible then in a type in an aereal phantastical body a Christ and not a Christ a Christ divided and a Christ contracted and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Nazianzene many Christs indeed as good none at all So in the practical part we often erre and dangerously in our receiving him We say Anathema to the Arians and Manichees and Anabaptists and let them pass with the censure of the Church upon them But how do we receive him Our own conscience will tell us with his curled locks and spicy cheeks with his flagons and his apples to save sinners not to instruct them with grace as much as he will but with no command or law a Physician that should heal us without a prescript a King without a Scepter a Son that would be kistt we like that well but not be angry Nor can we now impute this to the Gospel and the Grace of God for that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of but one shape and hiew and presents salvation to every receiver The fault is not in the Grace but in our receiving it As we do not blame the Table for a rude piece that is drawn upon it but the Painter who forgot his art The Stoicks conceive that every thing hath two handles and as men take hold either of one or other so they prove either delightful or irksome The truth is the Gospel hath not two handles but we rather have two hands diverse manners of receiving it To one it is the savor of life unto life and to others the savor of death unto death Great care then must be taken how we receive it that we may not receive it in vain We must receive 2 Cor. ◠16. this grace of God to that end it was given I know you will quickly say that was to save us For this end Christ came into the world we have Scripture for it The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all 2 Tit 2. 11. men But doth it not follow teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and that is Scripture too We must receive it as Law as well as Physick His Do ut des facio ut facias God gives us this gift that we may give him our obedience and he hath done this for us that we may do something even work out our salvation with fear and trembling This Grace then we must receive both to save us and instruct us as a royal Pardon Jam. 2. 8. and as a royal Law To interline the Pardon and despise the Law makes a nullity and this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to receive in vain And in the first place a Pardon we must not interline For to mix and blend it with the law of Works or our own Merits is to disannul and make it void and in St. Paul's phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to cast away the grace of God By Gal. 2. 21. grace you are saved and not by works saith the Apostle Works though they be conditio justificandi a condition required of a justified person yet Ephes 2. 8 9. are not pars justificationis cannot be brought in as a part or helping cause of our Justification Satisfaction and Merits are but false interlineary glosses and corrupt the Text and to receive the grace of God with this mixture is in Tertullians phrase Galaticare to be as foolish as the
the object be ad manum parabile at hand and cheap my Hope is lazy and asleep it moves not it stirs not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hope above hope Hope against hope that is Hope indeed For as Tertullian asking the question Why Christ after his resurrection did not manifest and publish himself to the whole world and so put it out of all question that he was risen indeed answers well That this he did not ut fides cui magna merces debetur non nisi difficultate constaret That our Faith which hath the promise of a great reward might be commended by that difficulty which stood in its way So may we say of Hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The way of Hope is hard and rugged She passeth by the pomp of the world and she treadeth dangerous paths If a Serpent be in the way she feareth not if a Flower some pleasing object she gazeth not but presseth on forward over Riches and Poverty over Honor and Disgrace super culcatum patrem over all relations and dependencies and in this habit and attire ruspata sanguine as Tertullian speaks torn and weather-beaten and in her own gore she striveth forward to her object Though I see it not yet I hope Though it be in heaven yet I hope Though I am in chains even fetter'd retinaculis spei with those stays and hinderances of Hope which the World or the Devil cast about me yet I hope still 4. Lastly Possibilia Good things though hard to obtain yet possible For Charity nihil perperam agit is not foolish and indiscreet It plows not the air nor sows upon the rocks What is easie and at hand cannot raise a Hope and what is impossible overwhelms and swallows it What is ready to fall into my bosome I need not hope for and what I cannot have nec spes nec votum est doth scarce produce a wish much less beget a hope These are the bounds and these make up the object of my Hope and as Lines drawn to the Circumference fill up this OMNIA this all-things in the Text. Now St. Basil's rule is most safe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not to remove these bounds nor alter these everlasting limits We must not take the Compass and draw new lines and put out God and place Our selves in centro in the midst We must not build our Hope upon dust and rubbish upon our own weak and rotten foundation But we must keep our Hope close to Charity which looks upon the right object For Hope as Fear is measured by its object Fear is a base and graveling a cowardly passion if either an Enemy or Disgrace or Danger beget it But pone Deum place God there make him the object of thy Fear and then that of Synesius is most true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To faint and be daunted here doth strengthen us and our greatest security is to fear And my Hope is as its object is If it be placed on Princes or in any Son of man it is as frail and mortal as they are and departs with their breath It is chased away with a frown it is blown out of their nostrils and perisheth as soon as a thought If I lay it on my own Strength or Wit or Policy alass I have set up a Paper-wall nay I have built my Fort in the air And you need not plant a Canon against it to make a battery it will down of it self and overthrow and ruin the builder and leave a mark an ECCE upon him Behold the man that made the arm of flesh his strength and put his confidence in himself But make God its object and Hope is a rock a castle an impregnable cittadel canon-proof as we say no assault no battery shall force it For the Lord saith the Prophet Nahum is good a strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him And indeed Charity keeps Hope where God would have it placed at its right object She is a perfect methodist She guides hope and leads her on orderly draws every line to its true proper center they turn it from the creature and levels it on God The order of Charity is the order of Unity The Devil is a great disturber the author of confusion Whereas God hath placed Contempt upon the World Love upon Goodness and Shame upon Sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Devil hath inverted this order saith Chrysostome and hath placed Shame upon Repentance and Security upon Sin Distrust upon Gods Providence and Hope upon the World He hath placed Hope upon Fear and Fear upon Hope 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most fearful and terrible things in the world if we rightly understood them those we hope for and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most desirable the most conducible to our eternal happiness those we fear Now the office and work of Charity is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even an act of Justice to make every wheel move in its own place to give every action every affection its proper end and work to place my Hatred on the World my Love on God my Anger on Sin my Delight on Goodness my Fear on God and my Hope on God Put CHARITAS to SPERAT joyn Charity and Hope and OMNIA all things will follow we cannot hope amiss Thus doth Charity edifie even build us up as high as heaven and Hope being the supporter and bringing in with it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things doth establish and strengthen the building But in the last place as we build up our selves so must we edifie others also in our most holy faith and as we hope for all things for our selves so must we reserve a Hope for those also who are tied in the same link and bond of Love When we see a house tottering we must not make our censure a wind to blow it down but hope that even a broken beam a loose rafter nay the very rubbage it self may in time be made a sound part of the building When I see my brother fall I must lend him my Hand to help him up If my Hand will not help him I must lend him my Pity and Compassion and Prayer And when all the rest fail I must give him my Hope Charity hath an eye abroad as well as at home nor doth she nurse up Hope for her self alone but makes it as catholick as the Church nay as the World Aegrotis dum anima est spes esse dicitur saith Tully Hope lasteth as long as life lasteth nor can it expire but with the soul And how desperately soever we see our brother plunged in sin yet we must hope well that his sickness is not unto death How did the Church of Christ frown upon the Novatians who denyed hope of pardon to those who fell away in time of persecution St. Cyprian calls them pietatis paternae adversarios enemies to the grace of God Isidore tells them they were proud and foolish boasters and
themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 working together with God as God by us we from God and God by us beseech you For this end we received our Commission that you might not receive the grace of God in vain So the Ne recipiatis is both an Exhortation and a Command Potestas cùm rogat jubet The Insinuations of Autority are Commands their Intreaties Precepts But this circumstance perhaps will be neither seasonable nor welcome The dignity and high calling of a Priest is no argument now-adayes but only then when Malice can draw it close to meet with our infirmities We are never so high as Angels till we are lower than Men even like to the Beasts that perish Then argumentum à persona an argument from our person from our office and dignity is readily taken up and we are very skilfull in these Topicks Humanum aliquid patimur Do we betray our selves to be men of the like passions and infirmities with you Do we fall like other men then and then only we are Angels Then Lucifer is fallen from heaven the worker hath forgot his rule and the helper is in the ditch When we sow our spiritual things we are not helpers When we should reap your temporal things we are not helpers When we do not help our selves then we are and we hear it loud enough When our mouth is open unto you and our affections vehement and vocal then our mouths are open against us and our titles of honour accuse us A main reason I perswade my self that the Nè recipiatis finds so hard an entrance into your hearts and that so many receive the grace of God in vain But I will wave this circumstance and in this spare you And indeed the Duty here the Nè recipiatis is of such consequence that it commends its self without a Preface Nor needs there any motive where the prescript is Salvation Maltùm valet oratio remedio intenta saith Seneea That speech is powerful which is fixt and intentive and level'd on the good of the hearer It is easie one would think to perswade a sick man to be well a poor man to be rich and a wretched man to be happy Not to receive a gift in vain what need there any art to commend it We will therefore fix our meditations here and carry them along by these steps or degrees We will shew you 1. What this Grace of God is 2. That received it must be And these two will serve for an introduction to the last and bring in the Caution Nè recipiatis which casts a kindly reflexion on and sweetens and seasons both the other For what is Grace if it be not received and what is the recipiatis if it be in vain Of these in their order There is nothing more talked of then Grace nothing less understood nothing more abused Every man fills his mouth with it justus ad aequitatem perjurus ad fraudem the upright man for honesty the perjured man for deceit the humble for piety the proud for aemulation Ebrius ad phialam mendicus ad januam the Drunkard at his cups the Beggar at the gate The Tradesman in his shop The Schools are intricate and the Fathers profuse in this argument Totius mundi una vox Gratia est Men mention nothing oftner as if they had studied nothing else By Grace we are good by Grace we are rich and by Grace we are honourable and if we be evil it is for want of Grace But bring the greatest sort of men to a tryal and we shall find them no better proficients in the study of Grace then Boethias's Scholar in Poetry who having a long time studied Virgil askt at length whether Aeneas was a man or woman Not to trouble you with curious speculations which commonly make things more obscure by interpretation and the Commentary harder then the Text the Grace of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath divers significations It is taken for the favour of God inherent in God himself and it is taken for sanctifying Grace inherent in the regenerate person a gift flowing from the former It is taken for Habitual Grace and it is taken for Inherent Grace In the language of the Schools it is auxilium speciale that special and immediate furtherance by which God moves us to will and to do a supernatural quality which sweetly and readily directs us in our way unto the end by illuminating our mind by enflaming our love by strengthning our hand that we see how to work and are willing and able to work the three necessary requisites to the performance of every good action It works in us without us and it worketh in us with us It prevents and it follows us By it we begin and by it we persevere and by it we are brought unto glory By it saith St. Augustine we are healed and by it we are made active by it we are called and by it we are crowned And this is that which St. Paul mentioneth 1 Cor. 15. 10. By the grace of God I am that I am and his grace was not in vain For see the blessed and fruitful effects it wrought in the next words I laboured more abundantly then they all Yet startling as it were and afraid of the very mention of himself he corrects himself yet not I but the grace of God which was with me Would you know what materials Grace had to work upon He tells you ver 9. that he was a persecutor of the Church of Christ Strange materials to square an Apostle out of and a statue of Christ Primus pietatis aries Evangelii retusus est mucro saith St. Hierome He who was as a battering Ram or Engine to shake the Gospel by the grace of God had his edge taken off and his force abated and was made a pillar of that Truth which he sought to ruin Thus can the Spirit of God work miraculously where it pleaseth and to sow the seed of grace alter the complexion and nature of the soil Though the heart be as hard as flint and barren as the sand he can make it as soft as wax and as fertile as Canaan or the Paradise of God Indeed no man can deny the operation of Grace but he that feels it not and such a mans denyal can be no argument that there is no Grace for his very want of Grace confutes it Noctua non praejudicat aquilae The Batt doth not prejudice the light which the Eagle sees Nor would we credit a blind man that should tell us there were no Sun This Grace then we must acknowledge But this is not the Grace meant in the Text nor indeed as we are made believe by some can it be For this Grace say they ideo datur ut non recipiatur in vanum is therefore given that it may not be received in vain When it is offered it is received and when it is received it is received to that end and purpose for which it was offered No
Galatians For indeed a great folly it is when God hath plainly revealed his will when he hath concluded all under sin and St. Paul proves both against Jew and Gentile that all have sinned when God is pleased to justifie us freely by his Grace then to bring in our inherent Righteousness to joyn with Grace as Rom. 3. 24. if we were unwilling to be too far ingaged to God's Mercy It is true indeed every good act doth justifie a man so far as it is good and God so far esteems them holy and good He taketh notice of his own graces in his children He registers the Patience of Job the Zeal of Phinehas the Devotion of David A Cup of cold water a Mite flung into his treasury shall have its reward But yet all the good works of all the Saints in the world cannot satisfie for the breach of the Law no more then a Traytor can redeem his Treason against the King by giving an alms or which is more by dying for his Country The point is plain and easie delivered in terminis in Scripture urged proved and strongly confirmed by St. Paul almost in every Epistle that all is from Grace Et cum de voluntate Dei constat omnis de merito quaestio vana est When we know Gods will what dispute we any longer of Merit But such is our ingratitude and curiosity that we will not take Gods Grace as we find it we will not take Gods gifts in the building but we beat and work them out into what form we please we come and stamp them and be the piece what mettal it will we set our image and superscription upon it God in Scripture sets these two terms Grace and Works at extream opposition but by a trick of wit we have learnt to work them into one piece making a good work meritorious because it is of Grace as Pelagius of old confounded Nature and Grace because even Nature it self is a Grace A flat contradiction For if it be of grace how doth it merit unless we will say that the Gift deserves something of the Giver or that a charitable man is indebted to a beggar for the penny and almes which he gave him I have said enough to clear the point which hath been too much obscured with needless disputes I will not say with Calvine Diabolica illa ars quae Scholasticae nomen obtinet that devilish art of wrangling which we call School-Divinity hath put out the light of this truth nor with Martin Luther Theologia Scholastica est mater ignorantiae that Scholastical disputations are the mother of ignorance but as Pliny spake of the Graecians Cùm gens ista literas suis dedisset omnia corrupit they have corrupted the Truth and put her in such a dress that we cannot know her they have shut up this doctrine in perplexed obscurity which before was plain and easie to the understanding For what hath been observed of the study of Philosophy is true also in the pursuit of Divine knowledge When men made Wisdome the only aim and end of their studies then was Philosophy referred to its proper end but when they used it only to fill up their time or satisfie their ambition or delight their will then Philosophy lost her complexion and strength and degenerated into folly then Diogenes got him a tub and Epicurus a swarm of Atomes then the Stoicks brought in their Decrees and Paradoxes then were there mille familiarum nomina discrimina so many sects that it is not easie to name them and some there were who did shew the diversity of their opinions by outward signs alone by Weeping and Laughing So in Divinity we find it that Truth never suffered tell she was made a matter of wit and ambition tell out of private respects Policy was made a moderator and stater of questions then for one Justification we had two nay three then meritum de condigno and de congruo Merits of Condignity and Congruity of Worthiness and Fitness were brought in to help at a dead lift And that they may appear more glorious tinguntur sanguine Christi pains have been taken to dye them over with the bloud of Christ and in these red colours they are presented which they borrowed from art and not from Scripture Sure I am in St. Pauls phrase this is to cast away the grace of God and to evacuate the death of Christ this is against the nature of Grace which blended with humane Satisfaction and Merit is no more Grace this is against the evidence of the Prophet Habakkuk often repeated by St. Paul The Just shall live by faith or as some render it The Just by faith shall live And if their Divinity on their death-bed be not better then that in their Schools I fear me there will be a Frustrà For thus to receive the grace of God is to deny it or rather to despise it and to despise it I think I may boldly say is to receive it in vain Beloved if it were but for this alone for this derogation from the Grace of God yet even for this alone might we justifie our separation from the Church of Rome and send home the loud imputations of Heresie and Schism to her own gates where first they were conceived For where false conclusions are obtruded for truths or truths corrupted with false additions there to consent were conspiracy and open contestation is not faction or schism but Christian animosity They rather are guilty of the schism who made it necessary It was a weak and foolish speech of Bosius in Tully who professed that if his friend Gracchus would bid he would set fire on the Capitol Christianity admits no such friendship If that Church will commend to us works of piety we will hear with reverence if enjoyn us to faste on Friday or observe Lent-fast we condemn it not we will faste with her we will pray with her we will be reverent in Gods house with her but if she bid us set fire on the Capitol on this main and capital point of Religion for so I may call it arcem Capitolium religionis here to obey were to be a Schismatick to separate our selves from the truth and comforts of the Gospel and from Christ himself Non tanti est tibi ut placeam perire Better it is that our opposers should be angry then we perish But we leave this vain receiving and proceed to the other no less dangerous then this when we receive the grace of God only as a Pardon and not as a Law For who is not willing to be justified by Christ To be freed from the Law to be delivered from the Law to be dead to the Law it is musick to every ear and a continual feast Evangelical righteousness we are glad to hear of and we could wish perhaps that there were no other mentioned Lex ligat Enact a law and we are in fetters Nay lex occidit The Law is a killing
by which we may do it our selves That it is not enough to pray for blessings or against evils unless we be careful and industrious to procure the one and avoid the other HALLOWED BE THY NAME is soon said But every man that says it doth not hallow Gods Name Else what a sanctified world should we have We should hear no blasphemy see no uncleanness meet with no profaneness but every man would be holy as our heavenly Father is holy and the earth which is over-run with weeds would become a Paradise of perfection The reason of this may be that when we pray for these graces we imagine that so soon as we kneel God will come down from heaven and sow this seed of holiness in our hearts whilst we are asleep that though we every day corrupt our selves he will purge and refine them though we breathe out blasphemies against him he will take us at a time when he will strike us to the ground as he did St. Paul and make us holy on the sudden And this is an epidemical error which hath long possest the hearts of men mentis gratissimus error an error with which we are much taken and delighted Our beloved bosome error which whoso strives to remove shall have no better reward than St. Paul had of the Athenians when he preacht of the Resurrection of the dead He shall be accounted a setter-forth of strange Doctrines But the weak conceit of our hearers must not make us leave off to call upon them and put them in mind of the danger they are in and remember them in the words of the Father Deum orare ut nobis prestet quod nos facere recusamus ridiculum est imò ludibriosum in Deum To pray to God that he will do that for us which we refuse to do our selves is a great folly in respect of our selves and contumelious to God We mistake our selves if we think Holiness and Obedience are such tares as will grow up in our hearts whilst we sleep They are indeed the gifts of God but they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens speaks not so easily atchieved as we suppose For howsoever the things of this world are then best purchast when they cost least yet these gifts of God are taken up upon the best terms when we do pay most for them Laetiùs est magno quoties sibi constat honestum They are cheapest when they are dearest For in this our labor we never fail God alwayes working with us and blessing the work of our hands Indeed to think our Prayers are but matter of complement or to deny the assistance of God in every good work were not only to be Pelagians but worse then the Heathen Nulla bona mens sinè Deo saith Seneca No man is good but with the help of God Ille dat consilia magnifica recta All good counsels and heroick thoughts are from him When Pliny had the day against Regulus he professeth openly Sentio mihi Deos affuisse I perceive the Gods were present to help me And it was a common Proverb amongst them VIRTUTE DEORUM ET NOSTRA What they did they did by the help of the Gods The Greek Fathers who did so highly extoll the Martyrs and other Saints and it may be elevated the power of Nature beyond the sphere of its activity yet referred all these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these powers unto God as the first fountain and did acknowledge every where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the grace of God did all and whatsoever the best of men did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be the gift of God that no man might boast All this is true and it is impossible we should attribute too much to God Our fault is that we shrink and contract his Grace and shorten his hand where he hath stretched it forth We pray for Grace and can we think that God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Goodness it self who is emissivus as the Schools speak liberal and free of himself and doth naturally send forth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the beams of his goodness every where will deny us that which he commands us to ask nay which he gives us that we may ask We are dead and Grace is the breath by which we live We are blind and Grace is the eye by which we see We are lame and Grace is the staff by which we walk God knows that without his grace our hearts are but styes of sin and pollution It is likely then he will take his Grace from Man and so make himself if not the author yet the occasioner of sin Is it justice with God to put out our eyes and then punish us for stumbling Or is God delighted to try conclusions to see what Men will do if Grace be not with them God doth not take our souls as Chirurgeons do dead bodies to practise on No when we pray he hears us nay he hears us before we pray And if we do not hallow his Name it is not for want of grace but of Will You will say perhaps that God is an omnipotent Agent can unty our tongues to speak his praise and lead us on in the wayes of holiness though our feet be shackled though we have no feet to go But the Proverb will answer you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If God will you may sail over the Sea in a sive But we must remember that God as he is a powerful Agent so is a free Agent and works and dispenseth all things according to the pleasure of his will He will not lead thee if thou wilt not go He will not whisper Holiness into thee whilst thou sleepest nor enlighten thee when thou shuttest thine eyes Proposuit pulcherrimo cuique operi difficultatem He that placed some rubs and difficulties in that way between us and Holiness that we should digg out our way with the sweat of our brows to find this rich treasure Frequent and hearty Prayers daily Exercise of virtuous actions a kind of Violence offered to our selves these are a sign that Grace worketh kindly and hath its natural operation in us Holiness is a treasure but we do not find it as we may find some kind of treasure It may be we read the examples of some who have not paid so dear for it but without any great labor have attained to those virtues which they afterwards constantly improved to their own end Pontius the Deacon tells us of St. Cyprian Praeproperâ velocitate pietatis penè antè caepit perfectus esse quà m disceret At his first setting-out for piety and Christianity he used such incredible speed that he was almost perfect before he began Tam maturâ coepit fide quà m pauci perfecerunt Few men ended in that perfection in which he began Be it so But this is no good argument for me to put my hands into my bosome and sit still and expect the good hower Christian virtues are gifts but are not
stand upright at the great day of tryal Neither did these monsters only blemish this doctrine but it received some stain also from their hands who were its stoutest champions Not to mention Clemens Alexandrinus Theophilus Cyprian Hilary and others St. Augustine that great pillar of the truth and whose memory will be ever pretious in the Church though he often interpret the word Justification for Remission of sins yet being deceived by the likeness of sound in these two words JUSTIFICARE and SANCTIFICARE doth in many places confound them both and make Justification to be nothing else but the making of a man just So in his Book De Spiritu Litera c. 26. interpreting that of the Apostle Being justified freely by his grace he makes this discant Non ait PER LEGEM sed PER GRATIAM He doth not say by the Law but by Grace And he gives his reason Ut sanet gratia voluntatem ut sanata voluntas impleat legem That Grace might cure the Will and the Will being freed might fulfill the Law And in his Book De Spiritu Gratia he saith Spiritus Sanctus diffundit charitatem quâ unâ justi sunt quicunque justi sunt The holy Spirit powers out his love into our hearts by which Love alone they are just whosoever are just And whosoever is but little conversant in that Father shall soon observe that where he deals with the Pelagian he makes the grace of Justification and of Sanctification all one Now that which the Father says is true but ill placed For in every Christian there is required Newness of life and Sanctity of conversation but what is this to Justification and Remission of sins which is no quality inherent in us but the act of God alone As therefore Tully speaks of Romulus who kill'd his brother Peccavit pace vel Quirini vel Romuli dixerim By Romulus his good leave though he were the founder of our Common-wealth he did amiss So with reverence to so worthy and so pious a Saint we may be bold to say of great St. Augustine that if he did not erre yet he hath left those ill weighed speeches behind him which give countenance to those foul mishapen errours which blur and deface that mercy which wipes away our sins For Aquinas in his 1 a 2 ae q. 113. though he grant what he cannot deny because it is a plain Text That Remission of sins is the Not-imputation of sins yet he adds That Gods wrath will not be appeased till Sin be purged out and a new habit of Grace infused into the soul which God doth look upon and respect when he forgives our sins Hence those unsavory tenets of the Romish Church That Justification is not a pronouncing but a making one righteous That inherent holiness is the formal cause of Justification That we may redeem our sins and puchase forgiveness by Fasting Almes-deeds and other good works All which if she do not expose to the world in this very garb and shape yet she so presents them that they seem to speak no less so that her followers are very apt and prompt to come towards them and embrace them even in this shape And although Bellarmine by confounding the term of Justification and distinguishing of a Faith informed with Charity and a Faith which is not and by putting a difference between the works of the Law and those which are done by the power and virtue of the holy Spirit and by allotting no reward but that which is freely promised and promised to those who are in the state of grace and adoption though by granting that the Reward doth far exceed the dignity of our Works he striveth to bring the Church of Rome as near to St. Paul as he can and lays all the colours he hath to make her opinion resemble his yet when he tells us that the Good works of the Saints may truly satisfie the Law of God and merit eternal life when he makes our Satisfaction go hand in hand with Christs and that Fasting and Prayer and Alms are satisfactory not only for punishment but for all punishment and which is more for the guilt it self he hath in effect unsaid what formerly he had laid down concerning the free Remission of our sins and made so wide a breach between St. Paul and their Church as neither St. Peter nor all the Saints they invocate are able to close In a word he speaks as good sense as Theodorus Antiochenus doth in Photius his Bibliotheca who makes a twofold Forgiveness of sins the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of those things which we have done the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Impeccancie or Leaving off to Sin So that we may say with Photius What this Forgiveness is or from whence it is is impossible to find out No doubt God taketh notice of the graces he hath bestowed on his children and registreth every good work they do and will give an eternal reward not only to the Faith of Abraham the Chastity of Joseph the Patience of Job the Meekness of Moses the Zeal of Phinehas the Devotion of David but even to the Widows two mites cast into the treasury to a cup of cold water given to a thirsty Disciple Yet most true it is that all the righteousness of all the Saints cannot merit forgiveness And we will take no other reason or proof for this position but that of Bellarmins Non acceptat Deus in veram satisfactionem pro peccato nisi justitiam infinitam God must have an infinite satisfaction because the sin is infinite Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul Shall I bring the merits of one Saint and the supererogations of another and add to these the treasury of the Church All these are but as an atome to the infinite mass of our Sin Shall I yet add my Fasting my Alms my Tears my Devotion All these will vanish at the guilt of Sin and melt before it as wax before the Sun We must therefore disclaim all hope of help from our selves or any or all creatures in earth or in heaven It is only the Lamb of God who taketh John 1. 29. away the sins of the world the Man Christ Jesus is the only Mediatour between 1 Tim. 2. 5. God and Man He alone is our Advocate with the Father and the 1 John 2. 1 2. propitiation for our sins His bloud cleanseth us from all sin In him we have 1 John 1. 7. Eph. 1. 7. Eph. 3. 12. redemption through his bloud the forgiveness of sins In him we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him In his name therefore who taught us thus to pray let us put up this Petition Forgive us our debts and our prayer will be graciously heard and we shall be accepted in the Beloved Eph. 1. 6. all our Debt will be remitted through the merits of our Surety who hath