ye are saved through Faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast 2 Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began Tit. 3. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us c. And many more you will meet with in reading but by these few you may judge how available our works even the very best we can do are to salvation Before I leave this Point I presume it will not be impertinent if I add something in this Place touching Justification by Faith In which for brevity sake I shall do little more than set down the most pertinent Texts of Scripture and leave the rest to your Ingenuity And in the first place Gen. 15. 6. Abraham believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness Habak 2. 4. Behold his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him but the just shall live by his Faith. Joh. 1. 12. But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name And Chap. 3. 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life When our Saviour went to raise the Ruler of the Synagogue's Daughter he bid him only believe Mark 5. 36. Acts 10. 23. To him give all the Prophets witness That through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins And Chap. 16. 31. When the Keeper of the Prison wherein Paul and Silas were asked them What he should do to be saved their Answer was Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house Rom. 3. 23. For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus Where is boasting then it is excluded By what law of works Nay but by the law of Faith therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law If you consider this Quotation throughly you will find it as compleat to the purpose as can be desired However I 'll present you with a few more Rom. 4. 1. What shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found no for if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before God for what say the Scriptures Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness And to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Where by the way the Word ungodly in this Text must not be taken to mean Impenitent Sinners for they as such can have no Right to Justification but as no man is Upright in the Sight of God he is said in the Best of Men to justifie ungodly freely by his grace in the foregoing Chapter Verse 23 24. So that this makes doubly for my Purpose shewing first That Justification comes by Faith and also That those that are Justified being Sinners before God cannot with Reason boast of the Merit of Works Rom. 5. 1. Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And Chap. 10. 8. The word is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Gal. 2. 16. 21. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain And Chap. 3. 11. And the Scripture foreseeing that God would Justifie the Heathen through Faith preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying In thee shall all nations be blessed But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident for the just shall live by faith For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth any thing but faith which worketh by love Let that Text. Eph. 2. 8. above cited summ up all For by grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast Neither have I been at all this Pains from a solifidian Principle to endeavour to seclude Good Works from being the Fruits of a lively Faith For so I should frustrate the Grace of God. And I presume Madam you know my Opinion better than to think so my Intent was only to shew How Erronious it is to suppose Merit from Works especially according to the Doctrin of the Church of Rome That Men may Merit for themselves and others To conclude this Point give me leave to present to your Meditation the Heinousness of Original Sin only and then I 'll leave you to Judge if for all that and the many Actual Sins we daily commit God will be gracious to us and receive us unto his Glory how little Reason we have to boast of that Nothing we have done to Merit his Favour Gen. 6. 5. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart And the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have made them I think no man can deny Original Sin to be the Cause of all this and then how Heinous a thing that is which is the Cause of so much Displeasure in God I submit to any person to Judge You will read to the same Purpose Verse 11 12 13. Job 14. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean not one For Psal 51. 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me Prov. 20. 9. Who then can say
was to read the Books of the Kings for their Information how to Rule well so that all Men would read the Holy Scriptures in general would be good Counsel because they afford the best Instructions for living well 2. Ignorance in the Scriptures is dangerous because it is the greatest Reason of Mens running into all sorts of Errors When the Sadducees proposed to our Saviour the Business of the Woman that had had seven Husbands asking him whose wife she should be at the resurrection falsly supposing If there ever would be a Resurrection there would also be Marrying and giving in Marriage at the Resurrection Jesus answered and said unto them Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures And here Madam I might take notice of the Subtlety of the Church of Rome in denying the Scriptures to the Laity because maintaining so many Errors so directly contrary to Scriptures that any discerning Eye must needs discover them Such are Purgatory Pope's Pardons Adoration of Images praying to Saints and Angels and the like But our Lord said of the Pharisees Matth. 15. 14. Let them alone they are blind leaders of the blind And if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch I shall say nothing therefore to these at present but proceed 3. To shew That Ignorance in the Scriptures is very Dangerous because as it is the cause of Sin and Error so by Sin and Error it must consequently be the cause of Destruction Isay 5. 13. Therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge and their honourable Men are famished and their multitude dryed up with thirst Therefore hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure and their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he that rejoyceth shall descend into it Psalm 95. 10. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said It is a people that do err in their hearts and they have not known my ways Vnto whom therefore I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest Prov. 1. 24. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirl-wind when distress and anguish come upon you Then shall ye call upon me but I will not answer ye shall seek me but ye shall not find me for that ye hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord. But to come a little nearer home Christ Jesus has brought Life and Immortality to Light by the Gospel But this says he is the condemnation by way of Eminence That light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved but he that does truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Joh. 3. 19. And surely Madam If they that deny us the Scriptures had not something to be ashamed of they would not shew themselves so much concerned to keep People in Darkness It must needs be a Device of the Devil to keep Men in Ignorance that they might be damned according to the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine upon them But we know that Christ will one day be revealed in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thessal 1. 8. If it is objected That this Text speaks of Heathen Persecutors we may answer That those Christians who are not acquainted with and consequently not obedient to the Gospel of Christ are worse than Heathens I beseech you Madam to consider If it was through Ignorance of the Scriptures the Jews crucified the Lord of Glory as the Apostle says it was 1 Cor. 2. 8. We that are Christians had best take heed That we do not through Ignorance crucifie him again And if it was a Shame for the Corinthians not to know the Scriptures in the very dawning and twilight of Christianity 1 Cor. 15. 34 what an abominable shame must it needs be for us after almost seventeen hundred Years to know no more or it may be not so much To conclude this Point The Apostle dedicates his First Epistle to the Corinthians To All that in Every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. And what he should do so for unless he intended it should be read by All I can't imagin If he intended it only for the Fathers of that Church he might in fewer words and consequently with less trouble have said To the Elders of the Church at Corinth or else directed it to the Bishop of that Church only But he knew the Scriptures were able to make Men wise unto salvation and therefore would have all Men read them And our blessed Saviour knew that the Jews thought they had Eternal Life in the Scriptures therefore he bids 'em Search them Joh. 5. 39. The Injunction is the same upon Christians also And then certainly if the Captain and Author of our Salvation bids us Search we may notwithstanding the Insinuations of some bold Men to the contrary By what Rule else should we try the Spirits whether they be of God as St. John adviseth us 1 Ep. 4. 1. if not by the Rule of God's Word Upon this account therefore among others we are bound to read search and be well acquainted with the Scriptures I presume then after all that has been produc'd to prove this first Position what the Evangelist says of the Revelations Chap. 1. 3. may on good grounds be attributed to the rest of the Sacred Writings Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written therein And now Madam having made good from Scripture Testimonies the Necessity of being acquainted with the Scriptures though I have already gone beyond the ordinary bounds of an Epistle yet I crave leave to trespass a little farther on your Patience in giving you a cursory view of some of the Principal Doctrins of the Church of Rome and demonstrating how contrary they are to the Word of Truth In order to which I shall with all possible brevity enquire I. Whether any Man can do more than he ought to do II. Whether any Man by his own Works can merit Heaven III. To whom it belongeth to Forgive Sins IV. Whether the Scriptures warrant Worshiping of Images or Praying to Saints and Angels V.
night that thou mayest observe to do all that is written therein This is the Psalmist's Character of a Good Man Psal 1. 2. His delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night This was the Commendation of Apollos Acts 18. 24. That he was not only an eloquent Man but mighty in the Scriptures And this was the Confidence of the Apostle concerning the Romans Rom. 15. After he had told them verse 4. That whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope At the 14. Verse he concludes And I my self also am perswaded of you my brethren that ye also are full of goodness filled with all knowledge and able to admonish one another Col. 3. 16. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs c. And Ch. 4. 16. When this epistle is read amongst you cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans and that ye likewise read the Epistle from Laodicea Parallel to which is his Command to the Thessalonians 1 Epist 5. 27. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren And indeed it would be some Comfort if they of the Church of Rome could but have the Gospel read in the Congregation purely and without Adulteration in a Tongue understood by the Common People This would be much more to Edification than a few Stories out of the Golden Legend or the History of S. George's killing the Dragon which I assure you Madam is a part of the Service of his Day and in their Prayer to him they solemnly commemorate this Act of his as if it were as True as the Gospel But Lastly S. Peter speaking of the Voice from Heaven This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased says We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a Light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts knowing this first That no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation 2 Pet. 1. 19 20. I give you both Verses because I know some Men would be apt to object the last to the first But we may observe That if S. Peter does condemn the Private Interpretation of Scriptures he does not condemn the Private Reading of them but says That all men will do well if they take good heed to them as to a more sure word than a voice from heaven And thus Madam I think it sufficiently appears That it is the necessary Duty of every Christian to Read and be well acquainted with the Scriptures they being the pillar and ground of truth and the power of God unto salvation But if after all it is objected as I suppose it will That the Scriptures are dark and hard to be understood be pleased to consider with me these few Texts Deut 30. 11. This commandment which I command thee this day is not hidden from thee neither is it far off it is not in heaven that thou shouldest say Who shall go up for us to heaven and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it neither is it beyond the sea that thou shouldest say Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it unto us that we may hear it and do it But the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it Psalm 119. 130. The entrance of thy words giveth light It giveth understanding to the simple Prov. 14. 6. A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not but knowledge is easie to him that understandeth I take these to be sufficient indications of the Plainness and Intelligibleness of the Law. But we have God's own Word if he may be believed That the Gospel should be much more easie to be understood Jer. 31. 33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my law into their inward parts and write it in their hearts and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least unto the greatest of them saith the Lord. And that the Understanding of the Scriptures is not reserved for the more Learned of Mankind only is plain from our Saviours own Words Matth. 11. 25. I thank thee O father Lord of heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes Even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight And when his Disciples asked him Why he spake to the Jews in parables he answered and said unto them Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given Matth. 13. 11. And we know that his Disciples were for the most part Poor Ignorant Unlearned and among the Jews came very often the Scribes Pharisees and great Doctors All that I shall add at present to compleat this Subject is That Ignorance in the Scriptures is very Dangerous 1. Because it is generally the Cause of Mens committing all maner of sins Isai 1. 3. The ox knoweth his owner and the Ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people doth not consider God Almighty had been so Gracious to them as to give them his law first for them to read and the Prophets afterwards to explain it that they might know and understand his Will therein but they would neither read the one nor give ear to the other And this without doubt was the cause of God's crying out How long shall I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet for my people is foolish they have not known me they are sottish children and they have no understanding they are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge Jer. 4. 21. and Chap. 5. 21. Hear now this O foolish peopole and without Vnderstanding which have eyes and see not ears and hear not Because they would neither read the Law nor give Ear to the Prophets therefore they were justly called Sottish Children a foolish people and without understanding therefore they were wise to do evil but not to do good For it is most certain The Devil will be sure to make his best of Ignorance and use his utmost endeavour to keep Men in it because the more Light Men have the more Work they can do and the better they are informed the better they will act here and so he will be like to lose their Company hereafter I think then that S. Austin's tolle lege will be good Advice to all that are willing to live Virtuous Lives and as Luther's advice to Governours
3. 2. In many things we offend all And if a just man falleth seven times a day Prov. 24. 16. Who can boast of being righteous over much Nay where is there a Man so good as that he may number his offences Holy David could not though a man after God's own heart We read of but one man throughout the whole Book of God who was without sin and that was the man Christ Jesus yet it was never said of him that he did more than fulfil the Will of his Father And for us born in sin and conceived in corruption to say we can do more I cannot express the Folly and Nonsense of it By so doing we should make God our Debtor who is Debtor to no Man. If they of the Church of Rome can brag of any works of Supererogation they are such as these The hallowing Daggers for the cutting off Princes that are not for their turn The sacrificing all they please to call Hereticks The denying the Scriptures in a tongue understood by the Vulgar And several others which might be named concerning which they may indeed be ask'd Who hath required these things at your hands But we of the Church of England know of nothing to be done more than what is our duty to do We know the Preachers Doctrin was Whatsoever thy hand findeth for thee to do do it with thy might Eccl. 9. 10. And our Lord and Master's Advice is when we have done all we can to acknowledge our selves but unprofitable Servants having done only what was our duty to do Luk. 17. 10. For no Man lives and sins not If therefore we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1. 8. Nay we make God a Liar who hath said there is not one that doth good Psal 14. 1 3. In a word if there is a Devil to tempt we are still in danger of sinning And if every thought will be brought in to Judgment who can call himself Inncent 'T is my opinion that instead of thinking we can do more than our Duty Every Man should rather repent of the sins as well of Omission as Commission he is daily guilty of and with the Psalmist cry out Who can understand his Errors cleanse thou me from secret faults Psal 19. 12. For our Saviour's censure on the most righteous is Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Luk. 13. 3 5. To conclude this first Quere if it were possible for any Man to over-do his Duty I would ask any reasonable Man Whether when he has done more than he ought to have done he would not commit a great sin in thinking so and a greater in saying so If the Affirmative holds good then the poor Man has still some part of his Duty to perform viz. to repent of that sin and so in infinitum II. The second Enquiry proposed was Whether a Man by his own Works can merit Heaven Here Madam be pleased to consider with me these few following Texts Deut. 9. 4. Speak not thou in thine heart after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee saying For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this Land but for the wickedness of these nations c. The Land of Canaan of which this Text speaks is generally looked on as a Type of Heaven And then this is plain enough Job 9. 30. If I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands never so clean yet thou shalt plunge me in the ditch and my own cloaths shall abhor me c. And Chap. 15. 14. What is man that he should be clean and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous Verse 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water All spoken by one whose Fellow was not to be found upon the Face of the Earth for Vertue and therefore if any could boast he might Psal 130. 3. If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who should stand But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared And Psal 143. 2. Enter not into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Isai 53. 6. All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all And Chap. 64. 6. But we are all as unclean things and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags and we do all fade as a leaf and our iniquity like the wind hath taken us away Rom. 3. 10. As it is written There is none righteous no not one there is none that understandeth there is none that seeketh after God they are all gone out of the way they are altogether become unprofitable there is none that doth good no not one Their throat is an open sepulchre with their tongues they have used deceit the poison of asps is under their lips whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness their feet are swift to shed blood destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace have they not known there is no fear of God before their eyes All this is spoken of all Mankind in general both Jews and Gentiles and if it be true what can any Man find in himself to challenge Heaven as his due Rom. 6. 23. Eternal Life is called The gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now if Eternal Life be a Gift I would fain know how a Gift can be Merited And if it be for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord I would know whether the same Gift can be said to be Merited by him for us and by us for our selves too if this is affirmed then something to this purpose must follow That the Passion and Death of Christ are Significant and partly not because a Man as a Christian at least may Merit and consequently enjoy Heaven by his own Works without the Application of Christs Merits which would be very Absurd to say no worse of it But if it be denyed then the Consequence will be this That let a Man merit what he will he must be beholding to the Merits of Christ for his Admission into Heaven at last 2 Cor. 4. 4. For I know nothing by my self yet am I not hereby justified but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Let us then suppose a Man to be in the Apostles Case in my Opinion such a Man could have but little Comfort from his own Merits if he being so perfect as not to know any evil by himself should not for all that be certain of his Justification I would ask one of these Meritorious Gentlemen in the Words of the Apostle at the seventh Verse of the same Chapter Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it Eph. 2. 8. For by grace
I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Eccl. 7. 29. For lo this only have I found That God made man upright at first but since they have fallen away from that Upright State they have sought out many Inventions Jer. 17. 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it For Matth. 15. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murthers adulteries fornications thefts false-witness blasphemies and all things that defile a man. And the Reason of all this is Because Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh Man as he is Flesh and Blood is naturally fleshly minded Rom. 7. 14. For we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin for that which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that I do And so Eph. 2. 3. All are by nature the children of wrath Jam. 1. 15. Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and when 't is finished bringeth forth death Our first Parents lusted after the forbidden Fruit and that brought forth the sin of breaking the Commandment and that sin brought forth Death And Rom. 5. 12. As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin so death passed upon all men for that all in him have sinned Wherefore if all are guilty of Original Sin and that guilt makes us Children of Wrath and consequently Heirs of Damnation I don't see any reason we have to boast of our righteousness but rather we have too much cause to bewail our wretchedness and to pray continually against the inevitable misery we are liable to undergo for all the good works we have done or can do unless God be more merciful to the best of us than we deserve And though by Baptism the guilt of Original Sin is washed away yet 't is more than probable that the first Actual Sin brings it again For as he that by amendment of life turns to God his former sins shall not be remembred so he that returns from the Service of God his righteousness shall be blotted out and forgotten and all his former iniquities shall testifie against him To conclude from what has been produc'd this at present occurs to our Observation That though there is no such thing in truth as a Solifidian Justice but every Man that will be saved must be enduced with a Faith that works by Love yet after all we can do we must expect Salvation by Faith in Christ's Blood and not from our own worthiness III. The Third Enquiry propos'd was To whom it belongs to Forgive Sins Psal 3. 8. Salvation belongeth to the Lord. 49. 7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him For the redemption of their soul is precious And 37. 39. The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. Therefore 130. 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord. It was the Psalmists opinion That it belonged to God to Forgive Sins and therefore Psal 51. 14. he thus addresses himself to him Deliver me from blood-guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation And thus God affirms of Himself Isai 43. 11. I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no Saviour I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins where we may take notice That it belongs to God to Forgive Sins and also That he Forgives them for his own sake which takes off all Merit by Works Dan. 9. 9. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses It was the constant Opinion of the Jews For when our Saviour said to the Sick of the Palsie Man thy sins are forgiven thee the Jews not believing him to be God as well as Man accus'd him of Blasphemy saying Who can forgive sins but God only Luk. 5. 21. So our Lord himself though John Baptist call'd him the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world Joh. 1. 29. directs us to ask God to forgive our sins Mat. 6. 12. For at Vers 14. 'T is our heavenly Father that must forgive us And thus the Apostle tells the Colossians That they being dead in their sins and the uncircumcision of their flesh God had quickened them and forgiven them all trespasses Col. 2. 13. From all which it appears plainly enough That Forgiveness of Sin belongs only to God. The consequence of this is That if it belongs to God only to Forgive Sins then Confession of Sins is due to him alone A Member of the Church of Rome is in danger of passing immediately into Hell if he dies without having confess'd his Sins to a Priest So absolutely necessary do they teach Auricular Confession to be in order to Salvation But if we may examin it a little I am apt to think it will appear much like the rest Psal 32. 5. I acknowledged my sins unto thee and my iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin The Psalmist was absolv'd without Auricular Confession only by acknowledging his Sins to God. 1 King. 8. 47. Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the Land whether they were carried Captives and repent and make supplication to thee in the Land of them that carried them Captives saying We have sinned and have done perversely we have committed wickedness c. Here is no Confession to a Priest mentioned Ezra 9. 5. And at the evening sacrifice I rose up from my heaviness and having rent my garment and my mantle I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God and said O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God c. Psal 41. 4. I said Lord be merciful unto me and heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Hence Confession of Sin is due to him against whom we have sinned And then 't is due Relatively to our Neighbour if we have done him any injury But Properly to God according to the Psalmist Psal 51. 4. Against thee only have I sinned c. when he had committed Adultery with Bathsheba and caused her Husband to be slain Dan. 9. 15. And now O Lord our God that hast brought thy people forth out of the Land of Egypt with a mighty hand and hast gotten the renown as at this day we have sinned we have done wickedly Therefore Jer. 14. 20. We acknowledge O Lord our wickedness and the iniquity of our Fathers for we have sinned against thee In a word I should never have done if I should quote all the Texts to prove Confession of Sins only due to God. And therefore because you will meet with them in reading I shall at present only refer you to the Sixth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel to what our Saviour says there of Prayer and Fasting For Repentance and Confession being
inherent parts of Prayer and Fasting I think they may be included in the same Advice which I need not have inserted by reason of your frequent using the Lords Prayer in which 't is evident After all there is not one Text as I know of that by any good Consequence makes Confession to a Priest so absolutely Necessary as the Doctrin of the Church of Rome does If any will do it and do it sincerely we do not deny it to be Good. But after 't is done without a Private Confession to God it must needs be Imperfect for it is God that knows our Hearts better than we do our selves and we are guilty of many Sins we know not of as the Psalmist professes Wherefore we should cry out with him Psal 19. 12. Who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret faults The consequence of all is That all Men ought to Confess their Sins to God against whom only they have sinned as to one that has the sole Power to forgive them Not that I desire in the least to diminish the Power of the Keys given to the Church for I own That our Blessed Lord gave Power and Authority to his Ministers to declare and pronounce to his People being Penitent the Absolution and Remission of their Sins in his Name But to confine that Power to the Church of Rome only and to say All that Die out of her Communion are certainly Damn'd for want of it and to make the Bishop of Rome joynt-Competitor with Christ in the Business is against the Grain and will not digest in my Stomach whatever it may do in other Mens I should wast too much Time and Paper If I should examine the Gross Nonsensical Consequences of Believing the Bishop of Rome able to Forgive Sins which have from thence been imposed upon the greater part of the Church of Rome the Ignorant sort of People That the Pope can at once Forgive a Man all the Sins he ever has committed or ever shall be guilty of that he can thrust a Man into Heaven for as long a Time as he pleases where he shall lie undiscovered by the all-seeing Eye of God and at the end of that Term be kicked into Hell that he can forgive the Sins of all that are in the Communion of the Roman Church of all Christians nay if he pleases of the whole World at once It has been acknowledged by many of their own Writers on this Subject who have been guilty of the least Extravagance That the Pope has Power if he will at one Mass to free all the Souls out of Purgatory If this were true King James the First 's Inference on the Position was with Abnegation of the Popes Charity and Admiration of his unparallel'd Cruelty That being granted to have a Power so to do he does not apply his Will to it But I know Madam you are no Friend to such Fancies therefore I shall appeal no further than to your own Ingenuity to judge from what has been produced Who has the Supreme and only Power to forgive Sins to whom Confession properly is due and in whose Name only Absolution ought to be Pronounced And so proceed IV. The Fourth Enquiry proposed was Whether the Scriptures warrant the Worshiping of Images or Praying to Saints and Angels The Second Commandment is so much to our Purpose that they of the Church of Rome have prudently left it out of the Decalogue and to make up the number they cut the Tenth into two Parts so the Church of Rome's Decalogue is this I. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me II. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain c. III. Remember that thou keepest holy the Sabbath-day c. IV. Honour thy Father and thy Mother c. V. Thou shalt do no Murther VI. Thou shalt not commit Adultery VII Thou shalt not Steal VIII Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour IX Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife X. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours House c. So that the generality of the People of the Church of Rome know of no such thing in Being as the tedious Harangue against Images by us called the Second Commandment However there are Texts enough besides both in the Old and New Testaments clearly against them of which I will only give you a few of the chief Judges 13. 15 And Manoah said unto the Angel of the Lord I pray thee let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah Though thou detain me I will not eat of thy bread and if thou wilt offer a Burnt-offering thou must offer it unto the Lord. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord What is thy name that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour And the angel of the Lord said unto him Why askest thou after my name seeing it is secret The Angel would not tell his Name because Manoah should honour God only Psal 29. 2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness For Isai 42. 8 I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another neither my praise to graven Images And I am certain there is not one Text to the contrary but many to the same purpose Acts 10. 25. And as Peter was coming in Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him But Peter took him up saying Stand up I my self also am a man. And Chap. 14. Vers 11. When the People saw what Paul had done they lift up their voices saying in the speech of Lycaonia The Gods are come down to us in the likeness of Men. And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius because he was the chief Speaker Then the Priest of Jupiter which was before their City brought Oxen and Garlands unto the Gates and wou'd have done Sacrifice with the People Which when the Apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of they rent their Clothes and ran in among the People crying out and saying Sirs why do ye these things we also are men of like Passions with you c. I am apt to believe these things were done and suffer'd by the Providence of God on purpose to shew that as they were not to be worshipp'd while they were on the Earth so neither shou'd we pay Divine Honours to 'em now they are in Heaven But the Apostle to the Corinthians is very express to the purpose 1 Cor. 1. 13. Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized into the name of Paul Chap. 3. 4. Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but Ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the
increase Now Judge Madam what a horrid thing it must needs be to make Images and Pictures of the Saints whereby to Worship 'em if it was so great a Crime to esteem one of 'em before another while they were on Earth But as we are not to Worship the Saints so neither must we pay such honour to Angels Col. 2. 18. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels c. Rev. 19. 10. 22. 9. And I fell at his feet and worshipped him and he said unto me see thou do it not I am thy fellow-servant and of thy Brethren that have the Testimony of Jesus Worship God c. And certainly if we must not Worship an Angel if we shou'd see him I know not which way it can be prov'd lawful to intrude into those things which we have not seen as the Apostle says of them that Worship Angels Col. 2. 18. I can find no Text of Scripture for it but you see Madam how many I have produc'd against it And I believe we shall see as little reason to pray to Saints and Angels as to worship ' em Isai 63. 16. Doubtless thou art our Father tho' Abraham be ignorant of us and tho' Israel acknowledge us not thou O Lord art our Father our Redeemer thy Name is from Everlasting Where be pleas'd to observe that if it was lawful to pray to and in so doing to worship Saints departed why might not the Israelites have made them Images of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and pray'd to them to help 'em in time of trouble or to put the best face upon it that they wou'd pray to God for their own Offspring on Earth as well as they of the Church of Rome have their Representatives of and Prayers to their Saints who for the most part we are apt to believe are only titular ones They knew this wou'd be to no purpose for Abraham was ignorant of 'em and Israel acknowledged them not But Jer. 15. 1. Then said the Lord unto me Tho' Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my mind cou'd not be toward this People That is If it was possible for Moses and Samuel whose Prayers were so prevalent with me when they liv'd on Earth to interceed for this People now yet my Mind cou'd not be toward them Thus then appears the Vanity of invocating Saints departed in that the Dead know nothing neither have they any more a portion for ever of any thing that is done under the Sun Eccl. 9. 5 6. But whether Angels and Saints departed are acquainted with our Condition or can hear our Prayers is not much to the purpose 't is enough to tell you that supposing they are endued with such Faculties our Worshipping them wou'd detract from the Honour of God which he has said he will not give to another and our invocating them wou'd make them Mediators and Intercessors when the Apostle plainly affirms That there is but one Mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. To conclude this because I wou'd be as brief as possibly I may I shall refer you to the Fourth Chapter of Deuteronomy where you 'll find the great Reason that Moses gives the Children of Israel why they shou'd not make 'em Images is because when they heard the Voice of the Lord from the Mountain they saw no Similitude which he urges more than once And then what Grounds can they of the Church of Rome pretend for exposing a Picture of him who always was Invisible This has been lately acknowledg'd to be Idolatry by one that writ more for the Church of Rome in this particular than as he said afterwards he intended tho' all little enough to the purpose or at least more was added by some-body else to what he did as may be conjectur'd from the variation of the Style but no matter which The Author makes Idolatry of two Sorts Reasons for abrogating the Test p. 128. The first whereof is the Worshipping any Image or Symbols of false Gods as the Supreme Deities and says If they do not this then they are innocent of the worst part of Idolatry The second is the making or as he says the attempting to make a Similitude of the true God or uncreated Divine Nature That says he is the other part of Idolatry and the Scripture knows no more therefore however Superstitious they may be in their use of Images yet they cannot be guilty of Idolatry but upon one of these two accounts I suppose he means the bare use of Images in the Worship of God was none because he says p. 124 that God was so far from forbidding the use of Images in his Worship that he wou'd not be Worshipp'd without them And he says that no Man was ever so hardy as to charge either of these two Kinds of Idolatry upon that Church But not to enquire whether their Worshipping God by an Image which he seems to Vindicate in another P. 126. place be the making a Similitude of the true God or uncreated Divine Nature I assure you Madam I have seen the Ancient of Days pictur'd like an Old Man with a great Beard by which they represented the Unity of the Godhead And in another place the Trinity of Persons standing on a row in a Sheet held up by two Angels two of the three viz. The Father and the Holy Ghost with their Backs toward me to express their Invisibility tho' in the other Picture I had seen God face to face and the Son in the middle as the second Persons place with his face visible Now in my opinion one or both of these Representations must be Idolatry by their own confession But the present Circumstances of the Roman Church are such that if they can't make People believe they Practise no such things as these they 'll do little good on those of the Church of England and 't is to be hoped they 'll get but little ground that way while there are any left to discover their Forgeries No more Authority have they for invocating Saints and Angels than for Worshipping Images The only President as I know of in the Primitive Times was the voluntary Humility of the Gnosticks condemn'd by St. Paul himself Col. 2. But for these they must have recourse to the Revelations made to doating Women and the Visions of mad Franciscans and I know not whom That Raphael shou'd be invocated on a Journey and against Diseases in general but in particular Apollonia against the Tooth-ach Sebastian and Roch against the Plague St. Nicholas against Tempests Michael and St. George against Enemies From whom if Serrar lit 2. q. 32. they be invocated particularly say they Experience and Tradition have discover'd special help in these Cases But what is this but the ancient Heathen Idolatry reviv'd in the Church of Rome Which is so much the worse there because of the Profession of Christianity and Men that pretend to
Heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And there St. Stephen afterwards saw him Acts 7. 56. In which place as St. Peter testifies Acts 3. 21. he must remain till the times of the restitution of all things When and not before he shall so come in like manner as he was seen to go into Heaven Acts 1. 11. Now I suppose you know the last shift they that believe this Doctrine are fain to fly to is God's Omnipotency and this they know we dare not contradict But we know that though God is able to do any thing yet 't is evident in many things he does not apply his Will to his Ability And on this account though John Baptist told the Jews Matth. 3. 9. That God was able of the Stones of the Earth to raise up Children unto Abraham we must not presently make the Fable of Deucalion and Pyrrha an Article of our Faith. For if this wou'd do the bus'ness how soon wou'd the World be fill'd with Absurdities and yet all pass for Miracles But if we consult the Sacred Writings we shall find that though God is sufficiently declar'd to be Omnipotent yet he never acted any thing contrary to himself his Power never appear'd contrary to his Will. Now in the present case if we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God and that his Will is declar'd in his Word it sufficiently appears that Christ must be Corporally present in Heaven 'till the end of the World and then to say that he is Corporally present on Earth too and in so many Thousand places at the same time because nothing is impossible with God is to say in effect that God to shew his Power does some things which are repugnant to his Will and to preserve the Prerogative of his Omnipotence inviolate will upon occasion contradict his own Word But the Apostles had no such thoughts some of 'em saw Christ ascend Bodily into Heaven and others as St. Stephen and St. Paul afterwards saw him Bodily present there Accordingly St. Paul tells the Hebrews Chap. 8. Verse 1. that he is set on the Right Hand of the Throne of the Majesty in the Heavens And Chap. 10. Verse 12. After he had offer'd one Sacrifice for Sins for ever he sat down on the Right Hand of God. Where be pleas'd to observe two Errors confuted in one Text The Sacrifice of the Mass in that Christ has offer'd one Sacrifice for Sins for ever and the Doctrine of Transubstantiation in that after he had offer'd the Sacrifice he sat down on the Right Hand of God. Therefore his Advice to the Colossians Chap. 3. Verse 1. is If they are risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the Right Hand of God. For Phil. 3. 20. our Conversation says he is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Wherefore Madam I think the Counsel of our Lord himself is best to be follow'd Matth. 24. 23. If any Man shall say unto you Lo here is Christ or there believe it not Secondly Another Argument deducible from Scripture against this Doctrine I told you was That we eat the Body and drink the Blood of Christ only by Faith. John 6. 47 c. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath Everlasting Life I am that Bread of Life Your Fathers did eat Manna in the Wilderness and are dead This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven that a Man may eat thereof and not die I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven If any Man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever And the Bread that I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the World. Where we are to consider First That Faith in Christ is made the Condition of having Everlasting Life Verse 47. Secondly The Bread of Life which Verse 51. is call'd his Flesh is only that Spiritual Nourishment of the Soul which comes by that Faith in Christ And therefore he says that if any Man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever Whence I think it plainly appears that eating Christ's Flesh and believing on him are only terms used promiscuously one for t'other and so make nothing at all for Transubstantiation But the chief of the Argument is to come Verse 52 c. The Jews therefore strove among themselves saying How can this Man give us his Flesh to eat Then Jesus said unto them Verily verily I say unto you Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you Whoso eateth my Flesh and Drinketh my Blood hath Eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last Day For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him As the Living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me This is that Bread which came down from Heaven not as your Fathers did eat Manna and are dead He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever Perhaps you may think Madam that these reiterated expressions are Indications plain enough that our Saviour here intends Transubstantiation But I assure you they mean nothing less For first he says Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you And on the contrary Whoso eateth his Flesh and drinketh his Blood hath Eternal Life and he will raise him up at the last Day Now if our Saviour speaks all this of his natural Flesh and Blood with which he was cloathed and which was nail'd to the Cross and split on the Ground and lastly which he carried with him into Heaven and if according to the Doctrine of Transubstantiation his natural Flesh and Blood are as really eaten and drunk in the Lord's Supper Then all Men bad as well as good nay any living Creature that is but capable of eating and drinking may be in as fair a way to Heaven as the devoutest Professor of Christianity For if eating the Flesh of Christ will carry one to Heaven give a Dog a piece of the Transubstantiated Bread and why may not he by eating it go thither too However to seclude Beasts it wou'd be a blessed World certainly if the worst of Men were in as sure a way to Salvation as the best which must be if the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and our Saviour's Words hold together For he says his Flesh is Meat indeed and his Blood is Drink indeed And Transubstantiation gives all Men the real Flesh and Blood of Christ and by eating and drinking them we get Salvation which is here call'd Eternal Life But Secondly He that eateth Christ's Flesh and drinketh his Blood dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him Now can Christ dwell in a Wicked Man or Unbeliever What fellowship hath Christ with
Belial Thirdly This is that Bread which came down from Heaven not as our Fathers did eat Manna and are dead he that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever Whence observe If one thing is to be understood according to the Letter another is also And then if the Letter intends Transubstantiation according to the Letter likewise they who eat the Flesh of Christ presently become Immortal And thus the Jews understood our Saviour when they cried out Lord evermore give us of this Bread Verse 34. But 't is appointed for all Men once to die Therefore eating the Flesh of Christ and drinking his Blood can mean nothing but our feeding on him by Faith unto Salvation And if by eating the Flesh of Christ and drinking his Blood we shall live for ever and yet no Man can be saved unless he believes in him either our Saviour must be thought to contradict himself or else this overthrows the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and proves that we only eat and drink the Flesh and Blood of Christ by Faith. And I appeal to your self Madam to judge which of the two 't is most reasonable to believe But that what our Saviour says here is not to be understood according to the Letter will appear if we pursue it a little farther Verse 60. Many therefore of his Disciples when they heard this said This is a hard Saying who can hear it When Jesus knew in himself that his Disciples murmured at it he said unto them Doth this offend you What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before It is the Spirit that quickeneth the Flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life But there are some of you that believe not From all which I cou'd tell you Madam and upon good ground too that there is nothing in this Chapter or very little at most touching the Eucharist but all that our Saviour says concerning his Flesh and Blood is to be understood of his exemplary Life and wholsome Doctrine which is Meat and Drink indeed But supposing the whole discourse to be upon that subject yet there can be nothing of Transubstantiation contain'd in it Which will yet more fully appear by considering how often he urges the necessity of believing on him in order to Salvation Verse 29. This says he is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent So Verse 35. He that believeth on me shall never thirst But I said unto you that ye also have seen me and believe not Again Verse 40. And this is the will of him that sent me that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have Everlasting Life and I will raise him up at the last Day So likewise Verse 47. He that believeth on me hath Everlasting Life And this believing on him in other places of the Chapter he calls coming to him as Verse 35 37 44 45. And in other places again it is call'd eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood. Whence 't is evident they are all Synonymous terms used to express one and the same thing But to proceed The Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 1. tells us that all our Fathers were under the Cloud and all passed through the Sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea and did all eat the same spiritual Meat and did all drink the same spiritual Drink for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ Now the Paschal Lamb was as lively a representation of Christ the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World as our Bread and Wine are of the breaking his Body and shedding his Blood upon the Cross yet 't was never thought that they in the Passover did eat and drink Christ's real Flesh and Blood but only in that Feast they fed on him by Faith. And so when we come duly prepar'd to the Lord's Table we are Partakers of his Body and Blood by Faith by which also Christ dwelleth in our hearts Ephes 3. 17. Our Saviour Joh. 15. 5. says I am the Vine ye are the Branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing Now if all our Saviour's words must be taken according to the letter which must we rather believe that his Flesh is Bread to be eaten by us as we do our ordinary Food or that he is a great Tree and we Christians are so many Branches growing from him or that we are mere Sheep feeding on a Common and he the Shepherd to look after us or lastly that he is a Door hung upon Hinges thro' which we Sheep must enter into our Pasture I wou'd fain know if all these were to be taken literally what we shou'd do to know which was true and which not Such Expressions as these must be taken Metaphorically and so As we usually enter into a House by the Door so we go to Heaven by Christ As a Shepherd takes care that none of his Sheep go astray so Christ the good Shepherd of our Souls will lose none of all them that are his As a Vine gives Nourishment to its Branches so is Christ a Vine to us by whom we live and grow ripe for a joyful Harvest or Vintage And lastly as Bread is eaten to sustain this Temporal Life so Christ is that Spiritual Food on which we feed by Faith unto life Everlasting To what has been said on this Subject we may add many Texts of Scripture which assert the Elements which are the Matter of this Feast to be the same after Consecration as they were before Thus the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 16 The cup of Blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ So again Chap. 11. v. 26 As often as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup ye do shew the Lord's death till he come But that which is chiefly insisted on is what our Lord himself said at the Institution of his Supper Matth. 26. 26. And as they were eating Jesus took Bread and blessed it and brake it and gave it to the Disciples and said Take eat this is my Body And he took the Cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink ye all of it For this is my Blood of the New Testament which is shed for many for the Remission of Sins If here is not plain Transubstantiation I know not where to find it Our Saviour himself in the presence of his Disciples takes a piece of Bread and plainly affirms that 't is his Body and shall not we believe him yes surely But what follows Vers 29 But I say unto you I will not drink henceforth of this Fruit of the Vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom I think he tells