Christ to good works which God hath prepared to the end we might walk in them Secondly I confess that St. James writes James 2 21. that Abraham was justified by his works when he offered up his Son Isaac upon the Altar But 't is clear that he understands not by this word that Abraham did receive from God the pardon of his sins by the merit of this his work since the Scripture saith as St. Paul reports it that before the birth of Isaac Gen. 15.6 Rom. â— 23 the faith of Abraham was imputed to him for righteousness St. James disputes in this place not of the manner or condition by which man is absolved from his sin before God but of the quality of the faith by which he is received into Grace viz. that it is efficacious in good works and not barren and unfruitful as that of which the Hypocrites boast And to prove it he alledges amongst other reasons the example of Abraham who indeed was absolved and received into Grace by faith but 't was by a lively faith and effectual in good works as he is justified by the admirable obedience which he rendred to God in offering his only Son to him in Sacrifice Then was clearly accomplished the Scripture which giveth him the praise of having believed in God it appears then that what is said of him is most true James 2.22 Abraham believed in God and it was imputed to him for righteousness His saith was finished or accomplished saith the Apostle that is to say 2 Cor. 12.9 it shewed its perfection and accomplishment by works in the same manner as St. Paul saith That the strength of the Lord is made perfect or accomplished in weakness that is to say that it sheweth his valour and perfection in our infirmities and afflictions 1 Tim. 3.16 This is that then which St. James means when he saith that Abraham was justified by works that is to say he proved and demonstrated by his works that which was real as when St. Paul saith That the Lord Jesus was justified in Spirit that is that he proved and demonstrated by his great and admirable works that he is true God blessed for ever And it is in the same sense that we ought to understand that which St. James concludes Vers 24. You see then that a man is justified by works and not only by faith that is to say the man sheweth and proveth what he is not only in believing but also in well-doing if we confess voluntarily that we do detest from our hearts this phantasm of faith which vaunts of believing without producing any good fruit and confess that it is unuseful it is exactly that which Saint James lays down at the beginning Vers 4. as the subject of all his designe What will it profit him if any one sayeth that he hath faith and hath not works faith or rather this faith can it save him CHAP. VIII That the Holy Scriptures doth not teach us that works merit eternal life 1. THat if the good works of the faithful merit not the remission of their sins much less can they merit eternal life To prove it is so they heap up divers places of the Scripture which shew that God will give eternal life to those who have lived holily as the following and other-like places Rom. 1.6 7.10 God shall render to every one according to his works viz. to those who with patience and well doing seek for glory honour and immortality eternal life But to those who are given to contentions and agree not to the truth but give themselves to iniquity shall be indignation and wrath Whosoever shall give to drink a Cup of eold water only to one of these little ones in the name of a Disciple Mat. 10.42 verily I say unto you that he shall not lose his reward Mat. 25.34 Then shall the King say to them on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father possess the Kingdom which hath been prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was an hungred and you gave me to eat I was thirsty and you gave me to drink I was a stranger and you took me in c. But neither these passages nor any like to them * As Mat. 5.12 16.27 2 Cor. 5.10 Heb. 6.10 10 25. 1.26 2 Tim. 4.8 Apoc. 21.7 22 12. Prov. 11.10 Esa 3.10 which are found in many places in the Holy Scriptures can prove that is in Question viz. that the dignity and the excellencie of the works of the faithful are such as are worth eternal life and that there is a certain proportion and equality between them and the Glory to come which precisely requireth that it should be given to them for reward God being there obliged even by the justice of the same thing and consequently cannot fail of it without violating the Justice which is between him and man This is that which the merit of works signifie which we denie and our Adversaries maintain Bell. de Justif l. 5. c. 17 18. All that one can lawfully infer from these passages is that God hath promised to give eternal life to those who live well and holily that one day he will accomplish perfectly this his promise on this condition eternal life is a consequent an acknowledgment and a reward of holiness and good works which the faithful who labour and persevere in their vocation may and ought to expect from God But who doubts of any of these truths all that we say is that we must expect this reward only from the Grace of God who hath promised and will give it because he is most good and not for the value and excellencie of our works which how good soever they be are but our duty with which we acquit our selves to God incapable by consequence of meriting any thing it being clear that he who doeth that which he ought and to whom he is obliged acquits himself only and doth not merit Secondly They alledge that the Lord speaking of the happy Luke 20.35 saith That they who shall be made worthy to obtain that life and the resurrection from the dead Rev. 3.4 and elsewhere that the faithful of Sardis should walk with him in white clothing because they are worthy of it and that St. Paul saith speaking of the Thessalonians that they were afflicted to be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God 2 Thes 1.5 But I answer that this word worthy signifieth the disposition and convenience of a thing and not its merit As when St. John exhorts the Jews to bring forth fruits worthy of repentance Mat. 3.8 that is to say convenient for the repentance which it answereth and not which it merits for this would be ridicule it is then in this scuse that the truly faithful who live holily and persevere constantly in piety are worthy of the Kingdom and white Vestments of the Lord that is to say
been speaking concerning the precedent Article For since the Eucharist is truly bread in substance every one seeth enough how much this Sovereign service which they give it in the Roman Church is contrary to all Scripture which from the beginning to the end forbids us nothing more expresly oftner and under more grievous threatnings than the adoration of any Creature of what nature and dignity soever Exâ—d 20.3 Mat. 4.10 Thou shalt have no other God before me Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve 4. Vpon Purgatory ROme saith that it often happens that those who die in the faith of Jesus Christ are burnt in a fire as hot as that of Hell The Scriptures saith Apoc. 14.13 Rom. 8.1 2 Cor. 5.6 8. That they are happy that they rest from their labours that there is no condemnation for them that their earthly habitaion of this house being dissolved they have a building of God an eternal house not made with hands in the Heavens That so long as they are in this body they are strangers to the Lord and when they are strangers to the body which is when they quit it they shall be with the Lord Luke 23.23 and tells us that the repenting Thief was with the Lord in Paradise the same day he died 2. Rome sayeth that this subterranean fire purgeth us from some of our sins 1 John 1.7 The Scripture saith that the blood of Jesus Christ purgeth us from all sin 5. Vpon Justification ROme teacheth that we are justified partly by faith and partly by good works How agreeth this with that Scripture which saith Gal. 2.16 Tit. 3.5 that man is not justified by the works of the Law but by the faith of Jesus Christ and that God hath saved us not for the righteous works which we have done but according to his mercy with that which is asserted in so many places Rom. 11.6 that we are saved and justified by Grace since that if it be by Grace 't is not by works otherwise Grace would be no more Grace Rom. 4.4 and that to him that worketh the hire is not reckoned of Grace but of debt and with that which is said that we have not whereof to glory Eph. 2.9 Rom. 4.2 since that he who is justified by his works hath according to the same whereof to glory 6. Vpon the Merit of Works ROme teacheth that we do by our good works so much merit eternal life that if God should not give it to us he would do unjustly How can this agree with the Language which the Scriptures teacheth us Luke 17.10 when you have done all the things which are commanded you to do say we are unprofitable Servants we have done that which we ought to have done 2. Rome holds that eternal life is to speak properly a reward due to the value of our works Rom. 6.23 2 Tim 1.18 The Scripture saith that it is a gift or a grace of God and a mercy and that although we should have kept his Commandments that which we fail much in yet he useth gratuity and mercy towards us in well-doing Exo. 20.6 3. Rome holds that between the vertue of the faithful and eternal life there is a proportion and the Scripture saith Rom. 8.18 That the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come which shall be revealed in us 4. Rome holds that the Lord oweth him who hath lived well and holily eternal life The Scripture Scripture teacheth us that God oweth no body any thing Who is he that hath given him first and it shall be rendered to him again Rom. 11.35 7. Vpon the Worshipping of Saints 1. The Scripture condems those men who worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those which by nature are no Gods Gal. 4.8 Rome worshippeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Saints which are no Gods by nature 2. The Scripture saith 1 King 8.39 that God only knows the hearts of all men that the dead know no more any thing that they understand not whether their Sons are noble or ignoble Eccl 9.5 6 Job 14.20 21. 2 Kin. 22.20 that their eyes do not see the evils which God brings upon the places where they have lived Rome teacheth that deceased Saints know all that is done upon the earth and that they know the most secret thoughts of our hearts 8. Vpon the Worshipping of Images Rome fills her Temples and Streets with the Images of God Father Son Holy Ghost and of the most Blessed Virgin and of all the Saints represented as well by flat painting as in all sorts of Sculpture She will have one render to them an adoration and veneration analogical prostrate before them kiss them offer them Bougies or Tapers go a Pilgrimage to the places which are consecrated to them How agreeth this with what the Scripture saith Deut. 4.12 15 16. You saw no similitude in the day that the Lord your God spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire lest perhaps being deceived you should make you any graven Image in the likenes of male or female Thou shalt make thee no graven Image Exod. 20. nor the likeness of any that is in Heaven above or in the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth Thou shalt not bow down to them nor worship them The Hebrew saith thou shalt not prostrate before them and serve them Lev. 26.1 You shall make you no Idol nor graven Image nor rear up any Image nor set up any Image of stone in your Land to adore it It is also in the Hebrew to prostrate before it 9. Vpon the Monarchy of the Pope of Rome 1. Rome teacheth that the Pope is the Sovereign Judge of the world a Monarch assisted by the Princes of his Court who governs Kings who makes the greatest of the earth kiss his slippers who wears three Crowns upon his head who can chastise the States of Christianity with pains not only spiritual but temporal How agreeth this pretended Power and the manner with which he hath exercised it many years since before the face of Heaven and earth with that which the Lord commanded his Apostles The Kings of the earth exercise Lordship over them Luke 25.22 and those who use authority over them are called Benefactors But it is not so with you but he that is greatest amongst you let him be the least and he that governs as he that serveth And with that which St. Peter commands 1 Pet. 5.3 Feed the flock of God which is committed to you c. not as having Lordship over the Clergy and people of God but as being examples to the flock by your charity 2. Rome holds that the Pope is above the Church The Scripture sends back him and every Believer having quarrelled with his Brother to the Tribunal of the Church and obligeth him to submit to
LA FOY fondée sur les Saintes Escritures FAITH Grounded upon the Holy Scriptures Against the NEW METHODISTS by JOHN DAILLE Printed in French at Paris anno 1634. And now Englished by M. M. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10.18 LONDON Printed for Benj. Tooke at the sign of the Ship in S. Pauls Church-yard 1675. AN ADVERTISEMENT TO THE READER ALthough the French translation of the Holy Bible made by the Doctors of Louvain can by no means be comparable to the neatness clearness and faithfulness of that which is read among us yet to fit my self to the gust of our Adversaries I have drawn from their Translations and not from ours the most part of the places of Scripture which I make use of in this little book namely in the second and third parts to the end they might not wrangle with us about words as many of them doe and perticularly these new Methodists against whom I have composed this Treatise Onely let me inform you that in three or four passages which are nothing to our controversie I have taken the liberty to correct that in the Greek and Latine texts which these Gentlemen had too evidently turned false by in advertency as I am willing to believe and ignorance and not by malice As for example in the second part Chap. 4.3 pag. 124. I produce the first verse of the Gospel of S. John in these words the word was God and not as these Doctors have expounded it God was the word whereof the two construction which these words are capable of Deus erat verbum they chuse to follow that which is less to purpose and which besides the consusion which it brings to the contexture of the Apostles thoughts does manifestly overturn the words of the Greek text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shews that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot of necessity be the predicate but the subject of the propâ—sition as those who have any knowledge in the Laws and use of the Greek tongue know well enough So in the Epistle to Titus see how they translate the words of S. Tit. 2.13 Paul expectantes beatam spem adventum gloriae magni Dei Servatoris nostri Jesu Christi expecting say they the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ separating this God whose advent we expect from our Saviour Jesus Christ as if the Apostle should say we expect the coming of God and we expect also the coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ an interpretation neither pertinent nor advantagious to the Church for first the Greek text cannot bear it which binds and ties up all these words great and our Saviour in the same bundle by means of the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle put into their heads 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obliging us necessarily to take them not as names of two persons one of which is called God and the other Jesus Christ but as two different qualities attributed to one onely and the same Jesus Christ which is altogether the same with the great God and the Saviour whose advent we expect but this same interpretation is also prejudicial for it takes away from the Catholicks a clear and invincible proof of the divinity of Jesus Christ for if you follow it suppose that Jesus Christ be our Saviour which the Samotosateniens and Arrians confess yet still he is not our God and this is that which they struggle for principally No body then can blame me for leaving the Louvain version in this place to follow the Greek Text in translating this passage Part 2. Chap. 4.3 pag. 124. where I produce against the hereticks expecting the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ That which I have changed part 2. Chap. 8. 1. pag. 106. in the second chapter of the first of S. Peter is less important Love the brotherhood instead of which our adversaries Bible saith Love brotherhood leaving out the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is in the Greek So in the first of S. Luke I read and therefore that which is born of thee holy shall be called the Son of God Part 2. Chap 4. Sect. 7. pag. 92. therefore the holy one that shall be born of thee as they of Louvain have translated it contrary to the Faith of the Greeks who say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Latine which saith likewise quod nascetur ex te Sanctum not qui nascetur ex te Sanctus As for the small change of words in the 2 Cor. chap. 5. verse 8. where we say we have a good will rather to be out of the body and to be with the Lord instead of that which is in the Louvain bible I have a good will better to be out of the body we have done this only to sweeten the manner of speaking avoir bonne volonte meiux estre is rough and unknown in our language and the Greek and Latine texts do no way oblige us to interpret it so These are if my memory doth not cheat me all the passages in which I have varied from the Louvain version in divers other places I bear with its faults because they do no great prejudice to the justice and truth of my cause although there are some of them which testifie in these Doctors a passion unworthy of the quality which they take of interpreting the Word of God as among others when in Pet. 1.5 3. alledged part 2. ch 8. 5. pag. 109. they read having dominion of the Clergy of the People of God instead of the plainness of the Greek and Latine having dominion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Cleris over the heritage being licensed to add the words and people of God and to hide by this means the sence which the Apostle gives in the word Clergy imployed to signifie the Christian people which is contrary to the use and pretence of those of Rome FAITH Grounded upon the Holy Scriptures Part I. CHAP. I. The Preface of the whole Work SOme years since certain Doctors started up who to render our Religion odious published that it could not be proved by the Scriptures which nevertheless according to us is the only thing capable to ground our Faith upon Their invention was found so plausible that many of our adversaries have reduced all their dialectiques to it thinking that to defeat us there needs no more but to demand some express and formal passages upon every Article of our Confession of Faith and whosoever can press that demand home he is the man that must overcome us This easie way of arguing hath increased Disputants among them and instead as at first of shunning conferences concerning Religion and not permitting any but Priests to discourse it now all sorts of people hunt after it even to the
against the Pharises who denyed the resurrection from the dead you err said he to them not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God c. Have you never read that which was spoken to you by God I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead but of the living He blames them for not having learned the resurrection of the dead in this sentence of Scripture Certainly then they ought to have learned it there for he is too good to blame him who hath done his duty Now the sentence which he produceth saith nothing of the Resurrection of the dead expresly and directly he draws it only by the consequences of that which he layeth down We must confess then that t is our duty not only to learn and believe the things which we read in the Scriptures but also to draw from them and conclude those things which may be deduced from them although they are not read there in so many words and to embrace them with the same faith as we do the others and that without this weare ignorant of the Scriptures and are in danger of erring CHAP. VI. That the new method is contrary to the procedure and maximes of the holy Fathers in their disputes and favourable to the Heretiques and Infidels THe Holy Fathers following the command and example of Christ and his Apostles make use every where of this sort of proofs without any scruple esteeming they have sufficiently shewed their belief by the Scripture when they had drawn them from thence by good and clear consequences Those whom we have above named do not dispute otherwise injoying freely that right which they give their adversaries I should be too long should I here repeat all the examples of them as when they prove by the Scripture against the Sabellions that God the Father is not begotten and is without beginning * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and against the Arians that the Son is consubstantial with the Father †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and against the Nestorians that the Holy Virgin is mother of God * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and against the Eutichians that Jesus Christ hath two natures †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all propositions which are not found in the Scripture exactly set down in the same words and which nevertheless they profess to demonstrate by the Scripture as every one may see in their books are an evident sign that they have believed that t is a good and sufficient way to prove a belief by the Scriptures when one draws from it by reasoning although one cannot alledge any passage where it is formally and expresly set down In a word you must either forsake the cause of God and instructions and convictions of the Heretiques or proceed in this manner For otherwise how could the fathers dispute against them Let us give an Arian to one of our Methodists to be instructed or convinced which way will he take how will he prove the consubstantiality of the Son he cannot alledg one exact text for it for it is clear that in the whole Bible there is not one of that nature and he cannot take advantage of the texts which shew this truth since they do not exactly express it for the law of his Method forbids him the use of this sort of proofs Will he use the Authority of the council of Nice or of the Church which he pretends is Catholique but this would be to deceive himself and not to dispute this would be to alledge for proofe of the question the same thing which is directly in question For if the Arian should appeal either to the Nicean faith or to the authority of the Catholique Church he would not be an Arian That which made him renounce both these is the beleif that you will prove it to him You must necessarily then leave him in an error because your pretended Method hath divested you of all the means of drawing him out of it You can prevail no better against a Sabellion an Eutichian or in general against any of the Heretiques who denie the Church any of her positive beliefs not expressed in so many words in the Scripture Even the Jew will take advantage of your maximes and laugh by your example at all which you produce from the Old Testament to make him believe the New and will say as you do that the consequences are Chimeras and phancies and will protest not to yield unless that he hath a formal passage which saith expresly that Jesus Son of Mary born in Bâ—thlehem under Augustus Caesar is the Christ promised by the antient Oracles Concil Lateran sub 4. lex 3 cap. 24 Concil Lateran sub Innoc. 3. exped pro recup terr sanct p. 63. col 1.8 So he will find when all is done that your fine Method is the gagg of the Church and not Heresie and that it fortifies it instead of subdueing it And acquires to the Church nothing but losses and Funerals instead of victories and Triumphs which it promised her But if formally one hath judged them worthy of an Anathema and of the loss of liberty by the Council who should furnish these infidels with sword poinyard and cordage What thunderbolt and ex-Communication do the Fathers of this Method merit who as much as in them lies arme the Jews and Heretiques with a buckler Shot-proof and take from the Church the only arms which God hath put into her hands to scatter all sorts of enemies to wit his Holy word But this method doth not only deprive us of the use of the Scriptures against those who receive them either all or in part It renders likewise all truths unuseful to us the knowledge of which God hath imprinted in the nature of men taking from us discourse or reasoning without which it is not possible to explain them to be useful either for the instruction or conviction of the ignorant For according to these new maxims every one will demand formal proofs of that which one would perswade them and will hold himselelf obliged not to believe any thing beyond those very things which nature hath taught him The Pagans will reject the unity of the Divinity because it cannot be drawn but by consequences from our General notions he will receive none of the arguments which you will use to establish the Justice goodness and Power of God the truth of the Scriptures the Authority of the Church and other such like grounds of Christianity because you have taught him that these reasonings are but meer dreames and none of their conclusions is worthy of an assured beleif Briefly there was never any method so perplexing and troublesome as this which renders all the differences of philosophy and Religion Aeternal without leaving us any means to determine them For since that to make them agree it will not suffer us to imploy any other that an express and formaldecision by the Authority of
say then to this procedure of the Heretiques do they grant them that one ought to hold nothing but that for a doctrin of Scripture which we read there in so many words and not reading exactly there the words of which the question is have they recourse to the Church to defend by its authority that which they think cannot be proved by the formal words of the Scripture which is the point at which all the cheating blowes of our methodists aim They do nothing of all this They doe not put the infalibilitie of the Church in play They hold themselves to the Scriptures and use its authority but for the defence of their cause and confessing that the terms of their questions are not read there exactly they protest that t is enough that the thing it selfe is found there and that t is gathered and deduced lawfully from thence and prove upon discourse found upon diverse passages and after having so proved it conclude that they have demonstrated it by the Scripture T is no matter saith S. Athan. Ep. de Synod Arim. Seleuc. T. p. 913. D. Athanasius in one of his bookes above named whither the words which one makes use of be in the Scripture or not provided that the sense of them be Orthodox and in the treatise of the decrees of the Council of Nice c idem l. de decret Synod Nic. p. 270. B. although that the words saith he be not so laid down in Scripture t is no matter so long as they have a sence truly drawn from the Scripture as it hath been said before what can one call more contentious saith S. Austin answering to Pascentius then to dispute of the name when the thing is manifest a Aug. Ep. 17 T. 2. p. 150. F and a little after you see saith he to him that from those words which are not in the Scripture one may give such reason by which it may appear that they are truths b Ibid. O. Maximinus who pressed him to prove by express terms of the Scripture that one ought to adore the holy Ghost t is well said answered he as if from the things which we read there we could not learn certain other things which we do not read there c Id l. 3. contr Max. c. 3. and following this distinction he professeth elswhere to have said what he read in or understood by the Scriptures conforming himself to their authority and St. Chrysostome d Id. l. 15 de civit D. cap. 1. gives us this rule that we ought to hold those things for holy writ whose sence is found in the Scriptures although they are not found there in the same words e Chrysost Hom. 7. in 1 Cor. p. 380. S. Gregory of Nazianzen in his thirty seventh speech disputes against the Hereticks who denying the divinity of the Holy Ghost urged him with the same wrangling to produce them a passage of Scripture which testifieth it expresly a Greg Nazian c. col 37.599.605 edit paris an 1609. Our methodists would have yielded to this assault and would have granted them that there being no formal passage to shew this truth it could not be proved by the Scriptures But S. Gregory on the contrary makes to them this wise and judicious remarke with the Style and manner of the teaching of the holy Scriptures b p. 605. that there are things which are said there which notwithstanding are not there and there are other things which are not said there which nevertheless are not wanting there some others are not said there nor are they there in effect and in fine some others are there and are spoke there He puts in the first ranck sleeping wakeing and the motions of God in the second his impassibility and that he is without beginning for though the Scriptures say often that God sleepeth or that he awaketh or that he moves locally yet notwithstanding it doth not signifie so And though that be in these words 't is not in that sence And though it never sayes expresly that he is impassible or without beginning c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies it notwithstanding in divers places in other words Which the Divine made his adversaries confess who held that God was not begotten and without beginning and yet they could not produce any one passage which said it formally from whence he concludes that since by their own confession own may very well prove by the Scriptures that God is without beginning although it saith no where so expresly their procedure is altogether ridiculous for concluding that the divinity of the Holy Spirit cannot be proved by Scripture under pretext that t is not expressed there Shew me these things saith he that God is not begotten and without begining written in so many words or else we will reject them because they are not written a p. 606. And a little after how saith he dost thou keep thy self so closely to the letter and how dost thou side with the Judaical wisdome tying thy self to syllables and leaving the things if thou shouldst name twice five or twice seven and I should come and conclude from thence ten or fourteen or conclude that this thing which you call a mortal and rational animal is a man should I talk idly in thy opinion in discoursing after this manner but how canst thou think so fince I say but the very same things which thou saidst before For the determination is not more from who saith it then from him who doth oblidge necessarily to speak it b p. 606. D. viz. in saying things from whence it necessarily and inevitably follows See how this great man clearly establisheth the consequences which are drawn from Scripture Theodoret in a Dialogue printed with the works of S. Athanasius brings in one of these Hereticks which they call Macedonians from Macedonius their Author who alledged likewise that t is no where writ that the holy Ghost is God a Dialog contr Macedon tom 2. operum Athan p. 276 B. edit Paris An. 1627. To which the Orthodox Divine answered let us suppose that the name of God is not attributed to him in the Scriptures do but acknowledge that he hath the nature and operations of God and that satisfies me for the confession of his divinity But saith the other why do you say that which is not written 't is sufficient answers the Orthodox if you but only acknowledge his nature for though it were not written his nature of it selfe would consequenly draw this name from it For if once one confesseth that the holy Ghost is a person subsisting sanctifying and uncreated he of necessity is God though thou will not confess it Where is it that t is written saith the Macedonian that the Spirit is God even there answers the Orthodox where it is written that he is of the same essence And upon this Groand the Heretick having replyed that the Fathers had called the Son consubstantial
is that saith the Orthodox the sense and intention of the Scripture which hath moved them to use that word which is not writ or have they said it of their own Authority it is saith the Macedonian the sence of the Scripture which hath moved them to it Now answered the Orhodox this is also the sence and intention of the Scripture which teacheth that the Spirit being uncreated and subsistant of God inlivening and sanctifying is a divine Spirit Thus far Theodoret who knew not how to maintain more clearly that one could ground the articles of our Faith upon the consequences of Scripture and not upon words onely But this same Authour in two pieces which Photius warants us to be his although by some error they have printed them also amongst the works of St. Athanasius shews us that the Spirit of our Methodists reigned at his time in certain Hereticks whom he names not Pho. biblioth cod 46. P. 31 but who in my judgment were the Eutichians He saith that they would have every one receive the words of the Scripture simply without considering the things which they signifie under pretence that they surpass the understanding of all men b Theod. tract 16. secund Phot. T. 2. Op. Athan p. 308. that they be constrained to hear some words of the Gospel those which they think favourable to them but they will not suffer them to understand and interpret them religiously that one hear the words but not search the truth and convenient sence of them that they call Faith and inconsiderate not belief which without any examen imbraceth to its own ruin things not established by any demonstration e Id. tract 23. p. 325. d. that they command to believe without reason a Ibid. to believe simply that which is said without considering what is convenient and what is not so b Ibid Tit. tract 23. without examining whither the thing be possible useful seemly agreeable to God or convenient to nature whither it agreeth with the truth whether it hath any connexion with the design of the Author whether it doth not contradict the mystery whether it be not agreeable to Godliness c Ibid. D. that they would have c Ibid. their words believed without permiting any one to examine their Doctrine for fear they should be convinced d p 326. A. Are not these the same fancies with our Methodists who receive nothing but formal words who reject all expositions evidences and reasonings but now Theodoreâ— Dispates sharply against these men accusing them of overthrowing by this means all humane affairs and of making men irrationale e p. 903. of changing them into bruit beasts making them take their nature and habitudes of making all the intentions of the Prophets and Apostles unuseful who according to this reckoning of theirs beat our ears in vain with the sound of their words the hearers not carrying away any fruit from them nor profit in the Treasury of their hearts f Ibid. D. that their procedure confounds every thing and that he who follows this Method knows not how to make those things agree which seem to clash nor answer those who desire to ask him as we are all obliged to do to them a Ibid. 3. which he verifieth at large by the induction of divers passages of eternity and of the temporal birth of Christ which seems contrary b p. 310. D. so they expose the Scriptures to the mockery of the Infidels c p. 326.327.328 and for these and such like reasons he declares at the beginning of one of these Treatises that this invention is the worst of all the Doctrines which the Devils have introduced among men d 327. D. and give us a rule quite contrary wishing that in the interpretation of the Scriptures in stead of being tied to the words made naked by their sense they should seriously consider what belongs to God what is convenient for our purpose that which the truth carries that which agreeth with the Law that which hath a just correspondence with nature the Purity and the Liveliness of Faith the firmness of Hope the sincerity of Charity that which doth no wrong to Esteem that which is above Envy that which is worthy of Grace e Ibid. p. 325. A. and that he ought not to believe without reason nor speak without Faith Let them take the pains to read these two Treatises through for they are very short and most excellent Athanasius whom the Author of the Dialogue published under the Name of S. Vigil made to Dispute against the Arians follow exactly the precedure of Gregory and Theodoret against the Macedonians For he constrained the Arians to confess that one may prove by the Scriptures many things which are not expressed there alledging to him the words which the Arians held although they were not expressed in the Scripture as when they said against the Sabellians that the Father is impassible and against the Ennomians that the Son is like the Father and against Fotinus that the Son is the Light of the Light shew me said he to him where it is written Purely Nakedly Properly and in so many words that the Father is impassible or not begotten that the Son is God of God Light of Light or like the Father It is not enough that you say that the reason of Faith requireth it piety teacheth it the inference or consequence from the Scriptures obligeth me to the profession of this Name I desire that you would not alledge these things to me since you will not suffer me to alledge them for the proof of the word consubstantial Behold at this juncture of time the volume of Divine Books in my Hand read there the Names of the Words above said in so many syllables and in the same sences either shew us where it is written that the Son is like the Father or confess that he is unlike him there is no way for you to draw your selves out of this evil path being wraped up in your own objections 't is not in your power to unty the knots of this Proposition Give me leave then to prove the consubstantiality that is to say the belief of the one Substance of God by consequences where if you will not agree with me you must also renounce those things which you confess your self since you find them no where directly set down in any place in the Scriptures a Dialog in t Sabel Photar Athan. liter opera Cassandri p. 475. med then beating him with his own weapons he pressed him to bring him some passage which speaks formally the belief of the Arians viz. that there is three Substances in the Trinity Here saith he the arguments serve for nothing where one concludes the truth by the consequence of reason they demand proper and express passages read to us three Substances expresly so laid down in the Scripture do not come hither to argue that if the Father
Pâ—â—asch 2. p. 96 A. B and 98. B. and 102. D. and Paschal 3 p. 109 c. 110 B. Bibl. PP T. 3. and for the Hereticks in General Chrysost Hom. 87. in Mat. 7 9. D. and Hom. 59. lat 58. in John p. 298. A. Hierom. com 2. in Mich. p. 378. F. and comm in Agg. p. 506. F. Gregro Mvg. Moral in Job l. 18 c. 14. but nevertheless so let it be since they will have it so Shall their fond imagination wrong truth and that under the pretence of thinking to see that in the Scripture which is not there I cannot assure my self of having found there all that which is there divers men have all reasoned in Mathematicks and drawn from the principles of that Sience some conclusions which are not really there But shall it be denied me under the pretence of this to hold this consequence for good and assuredly veritable that the whole is greater then the part that a triangle is bigger then the basis and the Body of a man bigger then his finger but where is the man how stupid soever he be who notwithstanding the paralogisms of Brison and all the other doth not presently see that this arguing is most true and necessary so there are Authors found in natural Philosophy Astrology and Phisick who have discoursed ill phancying to find something in the principles of these Siences which is not there Would not this be not ony injustice but Sottishness or madness to endeavour to peswade us under this pretence that we cannot receive any of the consequences drawn from these principles as certain and necessary nor assure our selves that if a horse sees hears and runs he is then an animal or if a stone hath nothing of sence then it is no animal now we are exactly upon these terms in respect to the Scripture Many have a mind to draw from it by discourse things which it speaks nothing of Gen. 1.16 and the Roman doctors more then all the others who in the two Luminaries which it placeth in the heavens have pretended to find out the power of their Pope to be above the Emperour and his spiritual monarchies in the Faith and qualifications which it attributes to S. Peter and his power to interdict States to depose Princes among animals Act. 10.13 which it represents to us to have been signified to the Apostle in a vision 'T is by the same Logick that they conclude their purgatory from the parable which saith thou shalt not go out till thou hast Mat. 5.2 paid the last farthing and their Sacrifice from the words of the Lord 1 Cor. 11.24 Matt. 26.26 do this and their transubstantiation from the other this is my Body But if their consequences are false and even absurd doth it follow that I cannot assure my self that the Scripture teacheth us that Jesus Christ hath a Body and a soul since it saith that he is a man that it teacheth that he is the God of Israel since it saith he founded the earth in the beginning and that the heavens are the works of his hands and that he was tempted by Israel in the wilderness certainly neither sense nor reason ever offended without some reasons These are saculties naturally right and every one capable of their functions but sometimes they meet with perticular causes which hinders them from acting so For as to sense who knows not that its errors comes either from the indisposition of the Organs from the Scituation of the object or from the quality of the medium which is between them as for example 't is the bilis with which the tongue of a sick man is moistned which makes it taste all meats bitter and to those who have Jaundies 't is also the spreading of that humour which dieth all objects yellow but t is the too great distance from the sun which makes it appear to us much less then it is and which blunts the Angles of a Tower which we see a far off figuring it to us round when it is really square and which makes the two sides of the end of a long Gallery seem to be very neer each other in fine 't is the diversity of the medium through which we see which makes an oare appear to us in the water as if it were bent and crooked when it is really streight except in these and the like cases the eye alwaies to doth its duty faithfully and the other senses likewise do theirs so that it being most easie to know for a truth whether the functions of our senses are so well disposed or not 't is an insupportable error to conclude that we are not able to assure our selves of any one of their reports under pretence that it happens to deceive them when they fail of any one of the conditions necessary to perform their function well Now 't is the same in reason If she concludes wrong 't is certainly because she takes that for a true thing which is not so or that for clear and certain which is obscure and doubtful As when our adversaries conclude from that which the Lord said to St. Peter thou art Peter that their Pope is by right the Monarch of the Christian Church they conclude falsly because they take that for an evident truth in Scripture which doth not so much as appear there viz first that our Lord in these words promiseth the Monarchy of his Church to St. Peter and Secondly that their Pope is the successor of St. Peter in this quality But if these two things which they take for truth were truth then that which they conclude from them must necessarily be so too and he to must be out of his senses who denies the consequences of them And this necessary connexion of propositions with their conclusions is a work not of the mind and reasoning of man but of the will of God as S. Austin expresly remarkes The truth of consequences says he and connexions which propositions have one with another hath not been instituted but considered and remarked by men to be able either to learn or teach it for it is perpetual and divinely established in the reason of the things themselves for as he who counts the degrees of time doth not make them himself and he who shewes the scituation of places the nature of animals of plants or of Stones doth not shew the things instituted by men and he who shews us the stars and their motions shews us nothing made and established by any man in like manner he who saith when the consequence is false 't is not possible but the thing from whence it follows should be false also speaks most truly and doth not make the thing to be so but only demonstrates that it is so †Aug. T. 3. l. 2. de doctr clic c. 32. From whence it comes that he observes elsewhere that no man in disputeing is reduced to a false conclusion unless he has first granted something false from whence this conclusion
Religion which he hath given us to obtain this consists in Faith and Charity that the Father appeased by his Obedience receives to mercy all those who knowing their misery and repenting of their Sins do confide in his bounty and believe in his promises that he pardons them gratis all their faults and treats them as if they had never offended and these being animated and enlivened by Faith live afterwards holily and Christianly in Piety towards God and Charity towards their Neighbours according to the Gospel of Christ For he wills that all his Faithful love and serve God with one love and soveraign adoration and that they have a true Charity towards all men carefully keeping themselves from violating their dignity Life Chastity Estates or Honour neither in Deed Word nor Thought every one subjecting themselves to their Order and Laws of their Civil Societies and to the state of the Country where they live but that they entertain a particular amity with the rest of the Faithful cherishing them as their own Brethren uniting themselves to them that so there may be but one Body in Religion and that for this end there be amongst them Pastors and Supervisers who have the overlooking of their Communion administring to them as well the divine Doctrine as the holy Sacraments which the Lord hath left as tokens of his grace and marks and seals of his Covenant having commanded that his faithful Servants should be baptized in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost for the remission of their sins and that they should eat the Bread and drink the sanctified Wine in commemoration of his Death and communication of his Flesh and Blood We believe that although the truth of these things is most clear yet men are so blinded by the Passion of their malice that they would never understand them if the HOLYSPIRIT true God eternally blessed with the FATHER and the SON did not inlighten their understanding opening their hearts that the light of this heavenly Doctrine may enter in and that God affords them this grace of his own good pleasure giving it when to whom and in what measure it seemeth good to him We believe that to those who shall have believed and lived according to this holy doctrine God will give his Salvation preserving them and taking care of them and when they depart this Life gather their Souls into his repose expecting the last day in which having raised their Bodies will lift them up with Jesus Christ their Head into an incorruptable Heaven there to live eternally in his Glory but the Wicked and incredulous shall perish being punished with the Devil and his Angels in the torments of Hell Reader if thou art conversant in reading the Holy Bible say in thy Conscience whether it be not too great a boldness to deny that these things are clearly contained there onely hearing them named do you not as soon perceive that these Divine Books and especially those of the New Testament are full of them How hard is it to find one verse which layes not down some of these instructions Nevertheless because they will have it so we verifie them Article by Article and to the end that they should not as t is their custome wrangle with us about words we will produce passages of Scripture in those very words into which the Interpreter of our Adversaries hath translated them and then say a little upon every point contenting our selves to mark the rest in the Margint For if we should gather together all the places of Scripture where these Doctrines are positively laid down or hinted we must transcribe almost all of them and as to the Scripture it self we suppose the truth of it without disputing it in this Treatise where the business is only to prove that the Articles whose belief we esteem necessary to Salvation are all found in the Book which we hold for the Rule and principle of our Faith For that is sufficient to bring to nothing the calumny of these new Disputants who to convince the Scripture of imperfection and constrain us by the same means to have recourse to the Authority of their Church crying incessantly that we our selves who make so much account of Scripture cannot prove by it all the things which we believe necessary to Salvation CHAP. II. Of the Essence and Nature of God Of his Qualities and Works 1. FIrst then as to the Article of the Essence and Divine Nature the Scripture layes down at the first word that there is one God in saying that he created the Heaven and the Earth in the beginning and speaks of him every where as of a thing whose being and subsistance every one knows and understands holding them not only for impious and irreligious but for meer fools and sense-less creatures who think there is none Psal 13. Heb. 14. 1. The Scripture makes him Act and speak in infinite wayes and manners from the beginning to the very end teaching not onely that he is but that there is none besides him who truly is all the rest not being but in him and by him So long then as there are passages in Scripture which attribute to God some quality action or word and of this kind there are an infinite number they are so much the stronger and evident proofes of this truth See Duet 4.39 6.4 â—sa 45.5.6.21 John 17.3 and many other places Heb. 11.6 It behoveth him that comes to God to believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him Act. 17.27 28. God is not far from any one of us for in him we live move and are 1 Cor. 8.6 We have one God who is the Father from whom are all things and we in him Exod. 3.14 The Lord said to Moses I am that I am then he said thou shalt tell the Children of Israel he that is hath sent me to you Esaiah 37.16 Lord of Armies the God of Israel who art set upon the Cherubims thou art alone God of all the Kingdoms of the earth thou hast made the Heaven and the earth Esaiab 43.10 11. There was no God formed before me nor shall be after me I am I am the Lord and there is none other Saviour but me Psal 89. Heb. 90. 2. Before the Mountaines were made and the earth and world were formed from age to age thou art God 2. That Godis Eternal Gen. 21.33 See Ex. 15.19 Job 36.26 Psal 9. Heb. 10 8.37 38. Heb. 90.2 Abraham c. called upon the name of God Eternal Psalm 101. Heb. 102. 27 28. The heavens shall perish but thou shalt be permanent and all of them shall wax old as a garment and thou shalt change them as a vesture and they shall be changed but thou art the same thou art and thy years fail not Rom. 16.26 Esai 41.4.43.10.44.6 and 48.12 1 Tim. 1.17 Re. 1.8 By the commandment of the Eternal God 1 Tim. 6.16 God onely hath immortality 3.
in the word of doctrine For the Scripture saith thou shalt not tie the throat of the Ox that treadeth out the corn and the work man is worthy of his hire 1 Cor. 9.13 14. Do you not know that those who do Sacrifices Gal. 6.6 eat the things which are sacrificed and they who are busied at the altar partake with the altar so likewise our Lord hath ordained that those who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel See the verses 7 8 9 10. Of the same Chapter 8. That the Faithful ought to reject the Ministers who preach any other thing then the Gospel of Jesus Christ Gal. 1.8 If we our selves or an an Angel from Heaven should preach other wise then we have preached to you let him be accursed So as we have said before now also I say again if any one preach to you any thing but that which you have received let him be accursed 1 John 4.1 Beloved believe not all spirits but try the spirit whether they are of God For many false Prophets are come into the World 2 John verse 10. If any one comes to you and brings not this Doctrine do not receive him into your house nor salute him CHAP. IX Of the holy Sacraments Baptism and the Eucharist 1. That Christians ought to be baptized in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost MAt Mark 16.16 28.19 Go and teach all men baptizing them in the name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Examples of this are common in the books of the New Testamentperticularly in the Acts of the Apostles where we read that those who believed the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and received it were baptized Acts 2.38 41. and 8.12 13. and 9.10 and 10.47 and 16.15 2. That Baptism gives remission of sins and the Grace of the Holy Ghost Acts 2.38 Peter said to them repent and be every one baptized and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Rom. 6.3 Mar 6.16 1 Pet. 3.21 Ehh. 6.26 Know you not brethren that all of us who have been baptized in Jesus Christ have been baptized in his death for we are buried with him in death by baptisme so that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father we also should walk in newness of life Gal. 3.27 You all who were baptized in Christ have put on Christ Col. 2.11 12. You being circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of Flesh viz. by the circumcision of Jesus Christ being buried with him by baptism in which also you are risen together by the Faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead 3. That the Faithful ought to eat the bread and drink the sanctified wine in commemoration of the death of the Lord. 1 Cor. 11.23 c. I have received from the Lord that which also I give you that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread and having given thanks he brake it and said take eat this here is my Body which shall be given for you Mat 26 26 27 28. Mar. 14.22 23 24. Luk. 22 17 18 19 20. do this in remembrance of me Likewise also he took the chalice after he had supped saying this chalice is the New Testament in my blood I do this every time that you drink of it in remembrance of me For every time that you shall eat this bread and drink this chalice you will shew forth the Lords death till he comes c. Let a man then try himself and so eat of this bread and drink of this chalice 4. That the bread and wine of the Eucharist are the communication of the Body and blood of Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communication of the blood of Christ and the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of the Lord. CHAP. X. Of the Holy Ghost Of the necessity of his light to have Faith Of his Nature and Person 1. That the malice of man is so great that of himself he neither understands nor believes the heavenly Doctrine preached by the Apostles of Jesus Christ nor can he live in piety according to the Gospel JOhn 3.3 Verily verily I say unto thee that who is not born again cannot see the Kingdome of God John 6.44 No one can come to me except the Father who hath sent me draw him Rom 8 7. The wisdome of the flesh is an enemy to God for it is not subject to the Law of God nor in truth can it be 1 Cor. 2.14 The Animal man doth not comprehend the things which are of the Spirit God for they are to him folly and he cannot understand them in as much as they are discerned spiritually 2. That the Spirit of God which gives to men the graceof understanding believing the Gospel and of living according to the Doctrine of the Lord. 1 Cor. 2.7 8 9 10. We speak the Wisdome of God which is a mistery which is hid c. Which none of the Princes of this World hath known for if they had known if they had never crucified the Lord of glory but as it is written the things which the eye hath not seen nor the ear heard and which are not entered into the heart of man are those which God hath prepared for those which love him but God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit Matth. 11.25 At that time Jesus answered and said O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth I thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the wise and understanding and hast revealed them to little Children Matth. 11.17 Thou art blessed Simon Son of Jonas for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee viz. That Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God but my Father which is in heaven John 1.12 13. Those who believe in the name of God are not born of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but are born of God Acts 16.14 The Lord opened the heart of Lydia to understand the things which Paul said Phil. 1.29 It is given to you for Christ not onely to believe in him but also to indure for him Phil. 2.13 'T is God that worketh in you to do and to will according to his good will Ezech. Jer. 31.33 and 32.39 11.19 20. And I will give them a heart and will put into them a new spirit and I will take away the heart of stone from their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh that they may walkin my commandments and keep my judgments and do them and that they be my people and that I be their God 3. That the Holy Ghost is a person distinct from the Father and the Son John 14.16 17. I will pray the Father saith our Lord Jesus Christ and he shall give you another comforter to
receive us into eternal habitations where the Scripture saith that he doth a thing which is the reason for which he doth it although to speak properly and exactly he doth not do it Secondly They abuse also the words of the Lord where he saith that the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven Matt. 12.32 neither in this age nor in the other that is to say add they neither in this life nor in Purgatory But why should not we rather say that by the age to come the Lord according to the Style of the Scriptures understands the Age which shall follow after the Resurrection from the dead and that it signifieth that God will never pardon this crime to the men who are guilty of it neither now nor at the last Judgment that he will never give them absolution for it neither in this life by the voice of his Spirit in their hearts nor in the other by the mouth of his Son Or why do not we say that he means that this sin shall be grievously and irresistably punished as well in this Age with temporal pains as in the other with eternal For as remitting or pardoning a sin signifieth not to punish so the not pardoning it signifieth to punish it yea to punish it grievously and certainly In that great day the Lord will also remit the sins to the faithful but not to impenitent sinners and besides what the thing saith of its self St. Paul testifieth it expresly where he prays God to have mercy on the house of Onesiphorus in that day 2 Tim. 1.18 Acts 1.19 20. and St. Peter where he exhorts the Jews to believe to the end that their sins might be blotted out in the time of the refreshment of the Lord. Thirdly 1 Cor 3.15 The most part of the Adversaries turn to the Service of their Purgatory that which St. Paul writes in the first to the Corinthians If the work of any one be burnt he shall suffer loss but he shall be saved yet as amidst the fire or rather by the fire pretending that this fire is that of Purgatory But first this passage by the common consent of Ancients and Moderns is reckoned amongst the obscure and Allegorical and by Consequence not proper to ground an Article of Faith upon Secondly I say that nothing can force us to take it for Purgatory For to leave the Expositions of Chrysostom of St. Augustin and of many others which take it otherwise why shall we not rather understand it of the Judgment which God shall make at the last day of the Doctrine of those Preachers who having retained the foundation of the Gospel have built upon it vain Beliefs which shall be reprehended by the light of the Advent of Jesus Christ but in such manner Amos 4.11 that losing the liking and praise of their own works they themselves shall not perish their works shall perish and not their persons which shall be saved but nevertheless as plucked out of the fire that is to say very hardly Paraphrase upon the Epistles of St. Paul to the Corinth Gal. Eph. Printed by Touss du Bray An. 1632. with Priviledge and Approbation as if they escaped from a fire as a fire-brand rescued from the burning as Amos saith and in such manner that they shall hold their Souls for a prey being obliged only to the bounty and Divine mercy for not having been devoured together with their works by the heat of that consuming fire which shall trie all men as many Learned men expound it and even the Author of the French Paraphrase upon the Epistle to the Corinthians Published lately at Paris and approved by three Doctors of Sorbonne Fourthly They have also-recourse to the Old Testament and alledge that the Lord in Zechary promised Zech. 9.11 That he would draw his prisoners out of the lake in which there is no water These are say they the Spirits which suffer in Purgatory But this is to play and not to reason For what is there in the Text of the Prophet which obligeth us to take this Lake for Purgatory I leave the literal Interpretation which understands it to be the Captivity and calamity of the Jews deprived of the refreshments of the Divine word and of the exercises of their Religion If we must Allegorize why should not we rather bring this passage to the eternal redemption which the Lord Jesus hath acquired to us by his blood drawing his mystical Israel that is to say his Church from the sad and pitiful condition where it was naturally being a prisoner of the Devil a slave of sin and guilty of the wrath of God the true Lake where there is no water since in that state there is no confolation whereas the Souls which they shut up in their Purgatory notwithstanding their griefs have according to what they say Bellar. of Purgl 2. c. 4. an incredible consolation because of the certain hope of their Salvation CHAP. VII That Justification by Works is not taught in the Scriptures FIrst To the validity of the good works which the regenerate do such as they pretend as merit the remission of sins and life eternal it can no more be proved by the Scriptures than the precedent Doctrines It is true that the Lord said of the penitent sinner Luke 7.47 Many sins are forgiven her for she hath loved much But it is also clear both by the precedent similitude and by the opposition which the Lord adds in saying Ver. 41 42. that to him to whom less is forgiven loves less that he sheweth her love which she bare to him not as the meritorious cause but as the signe and argument of the Grace which he had done her So we say very often Ver. 47. the Sun is risen for it is high day to signifie that the clearness of the day is not the cause but the effect and signe of the rising of the Sun And so it is that the Jesuit Villalpandus understands this passage in his Commentaries upon Ezech. Villalp in Ezech. 19.10 where having remarked that quoniam because is taken very often in the Scripture to signifie therefore and he alledgeth this passage for an example of it Many sins are forgiven her for she hath loved much that is to say Behold why she hath loved much saith he for the Argument of the Lord drawn from the Parable of the Creditor required such an epiphonema as is evident to the Reader As to the rest that faith was the cause of the remission of the sins of this woman the Lord shews it clear enough saying to her in the two Verses following Thy faith hath saved thee go in peace and that love to God Charity to our Neighbours and good works are the effects of the Grace which God doth us in pardoning us all the Scriptures teacheth clearly and namely Saint Paul Eph. 2.10 where he saith That we are the work of God created in Jesus
they have the qualities and conditions which are convenient for them since it is to them who are such 2 Thes 1.6 7. that God promiseth these things in his Grace Thirdly Moreover they say that this retribution of God is a work of his Justice 't is a just thing before God saith the Apostle That he giveth affliction to those who afflict you Heb. 6.10 and to you who are afflicted deliverance with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with the Angels of his power and elsewhere God is not unjust to forget your work and charity which you have shewed towards his Name in as much as you have ministred to the Saints and do minister 2 Tim. 4.8 Psal 112.9 2 Cor. 9.9 Mat. 6.1 Dan. 4.24 9.16 Ezech. 18.19 21. in the Version of the 70. Deut. 24.3 Eccles 44.10 and again in another place The Crown of Justice is kept for me which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but also to all those who love his coming But I say first that this word Justice according to the phrase of the Hebrew Language signifieth very often benignity and liberality and just likewise benign and gracious as in the 112 Psalm alledged by St. Paul He hath dispersed he hath given to the poor his righteousness endureth for ever from whence it comes that Alms which is an act of gratuity and beneficence is called Justice in the 6th of St. Matthew In this sense who seeth not that retribution of life eternal to the faithful is truly an act of the Divine Justice that is to say of his Grace and benignity that 't is an Alms which he giveth us Secondly I say that it is just that God should give life eternal to those who have believed and obeyed not that they have merited but because hehath promlsed it As 't is also a justice to keep ones word in accomplishing that which one hath promised Nohem 9. although one hath promised it but upon meer gratuity without being obliged to it by the merits of him to whom one promiseth it In fine in comparing the cause and case of the faithful with that of the wicked who afflict them the one having manifestly the right on their side and the other the wrong it is yet in this respect for the Justice of God to maintain the one and condemn and punish the other But this is not to say that considering throughly the persons and works of the faithful in themselves and without this comparison there is nothing in them which to speak properly merits the Heavenly Glory with which the Father will one day Crown them gratis according to the saying of the Apostle Rom. 6.23 that life eternal by Jesus Christ our Lord is a Grace of God But there is no need to insist much upon this Article since that amongst our Adversaries themselves there are found great and celebrated Authors who openly reject this Doctrine being far from pretending that it is in the Scriptures some disputing that the good works of the faithful are not meritorious by reason of the works themselves but only by reason of the Promise and Divine acceptance as Scotus and Vaga Others that supposing the Promise of God yet they are not such that the hire is due to them by Justice See Bellar. of Justif l. 5. c 16. but only by the liberality of God as Durandus so Cardinal Bellarmin reports it CHAP. IX That praying to Saints departed is not taught in the Scriptures 1. LEt us now consider of praying to the Saints departed for which there is found neither Command nor Example in all the Writings of the Old and New Testaments and they alledge for its foundation nothing but passages very far fetched as for example that wch Jacob said being upon his death-bed Let my name be called upon these Children Gen. 48.16 that is upon Ephraim and Manasseh which is not a Command to invoke him after his death but a declaration by which he adopts them willing that they might be called by his name as if they had been his proper Children as all the Learned party of our Adversaries confess Nic. d'Lyra Pintus Eman. Sa Pagnin Arias Montauus and 't is the same manner of speaking which is found in Esai in the fourth Chapter where he brings in women which say to a man Isai 4.1 only let thy name be called upon us Secondly But say they the faithful under the Old Testament make mention of the Saints departed in the prayers which they put up to God Have remembrance of Abraham Exod. 32.13 Isaac and Israel thy servants to whom thou hast sworn by thy self saying I will multiply your seed as the Stars in Heaven We do not deny that it was permitted them to produce to the Lord the Promises which he made to their Fathers as it is lawful for us to put him in minde of that which he hath done for us in Jesus Christ of which these first were the figures But the question is whether we may and ought to address these prayers to deceased Saints which cannot be drawn from this allegation by any good reason Thirdly Moreover Mat. 22.30 they discourse thus Our Lord teacheth us that the Saints departed are as the Angels of God in Heaven Gen. 48.15 now Jacob invoked an Angel It is then permitted us to invoke the Saints A feeble a pitiful reasoning For first the Lord speaks of the state of Saints after the Resurrection and the Question is of the condition they are in now before the Resurrection Secondly The Lord compares them to Angels not generally and in respect of all the conditions of their beings for upon this account they must conclude they will have no bodies after the Resurrection since the Angels have none but only in respect of these things viz that they will not marry Maldon upon this passage as St. Jerom and after him the Jesuit Maldonat remarks in the Resurrection saith the Lord they shall neither marry nor be given in marriage but shall be as the Angels of God in Heaven And as to the Angel which Jacob invoked who knows not that 't is the Angel of the Covenant Mal. 3.1 Gen. 48. 15 16. the eternal Son of God The God saith he before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac have walked the God who fed me from my youth to this day Cyril Alex Thesaur l. 3. the Angel who hath defended me from evil bless these Children St. Cyril of Alexandria hath so amply defended this truth against the Arians who would as our Adversaries at this time bend these words to a created Angel which we have no need to insist upon any longer to clear Fourthly They argue again thus We pray the faithful living here below with us to pray to God for us as St. Paul commanded the Romans Rom. 15.30 Coll. 4.3.1 Eph. 6.9 1 Thes 5.25 2 Thes 3.1 1.