there is no truth in vs. The latter is the summe of Saint Pauls Sermon at Antioch Bee it â—nowne vnto you Men and brethren that through this man is preaâ—hed to you forgiuenesse of sinnes and â—y him all that beleeue are iustified They are iustified but how Freely â—y his Grace What Grace Inherent in vs and working by vs No â—y Grace are yee saued through faith â—nd that not of your selues it is the â—ift of God Not of workes least any man should boast Workes are ours â—ut this is righteousnesse of God which 〈◊〉 by the faith of Iesus Christ to all â—hem that beleeue And how doth this become ours By his gracious imputation Not to him that worketh but beleeueth in him who iustifieth the wicked is his faith imputed for righteousnesse Loe it is not the act not the habit of faith that Iustifieth it is he that iustifies the wicked whom our faith makes ours and our sinne his He was made sinne for vs that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him Loe so were wee made his righteousnesse as he was made our sinne Imputation doth both It is that which enfeoffes our sinnes vpon Christ and vs in his righteousnesse which both couers and redresses the imperfection of ours That distinction is cleere and full That I may be found in him not hauing mine owne righteousnesse which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Saint Paul was a great Saint he had a righteousnesse of his owne not as a Pharisee only but as an Apostle but that which hee dares not trust to but forsakes and cleaues to Gods not that essentiall righteousnesse which is in God without all relation to vs nor that habit of iustice which was remayning in him but that righteousnesse which is of God by faith made ours Thus being iustified by faith we haue peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. For what can breake that peace but our sinnes and those are remitted For who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect it is God that iustifies And in that remission is grounded our reconciliation For God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe not imputing their sinnes vnto them but contrarily imputing to them his owne righteousnesse and their faith for righteousnesse Wee conclude then that a man is iustified by And blessed is hee to whom the Lord imputes righteousnesse without works Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen and whose sinnes are couered Let the vaine sophistry of carnall minds deceiue it selfe with idle subtilties and seeke to elude the plaine truth of God with shifts of wit we blesse God for so cleere a light and dare cast our soules vpon this sure euidence of God attended with the perpetuall attestation of his ancient Church SECT III. Against Reason LAstly Reason it selfe fights against them Nothing can formally make vs iust but that which is perfect in it selfe How should it giue what it hath not Now our inherent righteousnesse at the best is in this life defectiue Nostra siqua est humilis c. Our poore Iustice saith Bernard if we haue any it is true but it is not pure For how should it be pure where we cannot but be faultie Thus hee The challenge is vnanswerable To those that say they can keepe Gods Law let mee giue Saint Hieromes answere to his Ctesiphon Profer quis impleuerit Show mee the man that hath done it For as that Father else-where In thy sight shall none liuing be iustified Hee said not no man but none liuing not Euangelists not Angels not Thrones not Dominions If thou shalt marke the iniquities euen of thine Elect saith Saint Bernard Who shall abide it To say now that our actuall iustice which is imperfect through the admixtion of veniall sinnes ceaseth not to bee both true and in a sort perfect iustice is to say there may be an vniust iustice or a iust iniustice that euen muddie water is cleare or a leprous face beautifull Besides all experience euinceth our wants For as it is Saint Anstens true obseruation Hee that is renued from day to day is not all renued and so much as he is not renued so much he must needs bee in his olde corruption And as hee speakes to his Hierome of the degrees of Charitie there is in some more in some lesse in some none at all but the fullest measure which can receiue no increase is not to bee found in any man whiles hee liues here and so long as it may bee increased surely that which is lesse then it ought is faulty from which faultinesse it must needs follow that there is no iust man vpon earth which doth good and sinneth not and thence in Gods sight shall none liuing be iustified Thus he To the very last houre our Prayer must be Forgiue vs our trespasses Our very daily indeuour therefore of increasing our renouation conuinceth vs sufficiently of imperfection and the imperfection of our Regeneration conuinceth the impossibilitie of Iustification by such inherent righteousnesse In short therefore since this doctrine of the Roman Church is both new and erroneous Against Scripture and reason we haue iustly refused to receiue it into our beliefe and for such refusall are vniustly eiected CHAP. VI. The newnesse of the doctrine of Merit MErit is next wherein the Councell of Trent is no lesse peremptory If any man shall say that the good workes of a man iustified doe not truly merit eternall life let him bee Anathema It is easie for errour to shroud it selfe vnder the ambiguitie of words The word Merit hath been of large vse with the Ancient who would haue abhorred the present sense with them it sounded no other then Obtayning or Impetration not as now earning in the way of condigne wages as if there were an equalitie of due proportion betwixt our Workes and Heauen without all respects of pact promise fauour according to the bold Comment of Sotus Tollet Pererius Costerus Weston and the rest of that straine Farre farre was the gracious humilitie of the Ancient Saints from this so high a presumption Let Saint Basil speake for his fellowes Eternall rest remaynes for those who in this life haue lawfully striuen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not for the Merits of their deedes but of the grace of that most munificent God in which they haue trusted Why did I name one when they all with full consent as Cassander witnesseth professe to repose themselues wholly vpon the meere mercie of God and merit of Christ with an humble renunciation of all worthinesse in their owne workes Yea that vnpartiall Author deriues this Doctrine euen through the lower Ages of the Schoolemen and later Writers Thomas of Aquine Durand Adrian de Traiecto afterwards Pope Clictoueus and deliuers it for the voyce of the then present Church
but how The 〈◊〉 â—ooke away the Curse saith beâ—â—ost sweetly Faith brought in Righteousnesse and Righteousnesse drew on the Grace of the Spirit Saint Ambrose tels vs that our carnall infirmitie blemisheth our workes but that the vprightnesse of our faith couers ours errours and obtaines our pardon And professeth that hee will glory not for that he is righteous but for that hee is redeemed not for that he is void of sinnes but for that his sinnes are forgiuen him Saint Ierome tels vs then wee are iust when we confesse our selues sinners and that our righteousnesse stands not in any merit of ours but in the meere mercie of God and that the acknowledgement of our imperfection is the imperfect perfection of the Iust Saint Gregorie tels vs that our Iust Aduocate shall defend vs righteous in his iudgement because we know and accuse our selues vnrighteous and that our confidence must not be in our acts but in our Aduocate But the sweete and passionate speeches of Saint Austen and Saint Bernard would fill a Booke alone neither can any reformed Diuine either more disparage our inherent Righteousnesse or more magnifie and challenge the imputed It shall suffice vs to giue a taste of both We haue all therefore Brethren receiued of his fulnesse Of the fulnesse of his mercie of the abundance of his goodnesse haue we receiued What Remission of sinnes that we might be iustified by faith And what more Grace for Grace that is for this Grace wherein we liue by faith we shall receiue another saith that diuinest of the Fathers And soone after All that are from sinfull Adam are sinners all that are iustified by Christ are iust not in themselues but in him for in themselues if ye aske after them they are Adam in him they are Christs And elsewhere Reioyce in the Lord and bee glad O yee righteous O wicked O proud men that reioyce in your selues now beleeuing in him who iustifieth the wicked your faith is imputed to you for righteousnesse Reioyce in the Lord Why Because now yee are iust and whence are yee iust Not by your owne Merits but by his Grace Whence are yee iust because yee are iustified Who shall lay any thing to the â—harge of Gods Elect It sufficeth â—â—ee for all righteousnesse that I haue that God propitious to mee against whom only I haue sinned All that he hath decreed not to impute vnto mee is as if it had not beene Not to sinne is Gods Iustice mans iustice is Gods indulgence saith Deuout Bernard How pregnant is that famous profession of his And if the mercies of the Lord be from euerlasting and to euerlasting I will also sing the mercies of the Lord euerlastingly What shall I sing of my owne righteousnesse No Lord I will remember thy righteousnesse alone for that is mine too Thou art made vnto me of God righteousnesse should I feare that it will not serue vs both It is no short Cloake that it should not couer twaine Thy righteousnesse is a righteousnesse for euer and what is longer then eternitie Behold thy large and euerlasting mercie will largely couer both thee and mee at once In mee it couers a multitude of sinnes in thee Lord what can it couer but the treasures of pittie the riches of bountie Thus he What should I need to draw downe this Truth through the times of Anselme Lombard Bonauenture Gerson The Manuell of Christian Reâ—igion set forth in the Prouinciall Councell of Coleyne shall serue for â—ll Bellarmine himselfe grants them â—erein ours and they are worth â—ur entertayning That Booke is â—ommended by Cassander as marâ—ellously approued by all the learâ—ed Diuines of Italy and France â—s that which notably sets forth the â—umme of the iudgement of the Ancients concerning this and oâ—her points of Christian Religion â— Nos dicimus c. Wee say that a â—an doth then receiue the gift of â—ustification by faith when being â—â—rrified and humbled by repenâ—â—nce hee is againe raysed vp by â—â—ith beleeuing that his sinnes are â—â—rgiuen him for the Merits of Christ who hath promised remission of sinnes to those that beleeue in him and when he feeles in himselfe new desires so as detesting euill and resisting the infirmitie of his flesh he is inwardly inkindled to an indeauour of good although this desire of his be not yet perfect Thus they in the voyce of all Antiquitie and the-then-present Church Only the late Councell of Trent hath created this opinion of Iustification a point of faith SECT II. The errour hereof against Scripture YEt if age were all the quarrelâ— it were but light For thougâ— newnesse in diuine Truths is a iuâ— cause of suspition yet wee doe noâ— so shut the hand of our munificeâ— God that he cannot bestow vpon â—is Church new illuminations in â—ome parcels of formerly-hidden â—erities It is the charge both of â—heir Canus and Caietan that no â—an should detest a new sense of Scripture for this that it differs â—rom the ancient Doctors for God â—ath not say they tyed exposition â—f Scripture to their senses Yea if we may beleeue Salmeâ—on the later Diuines are so much â—ore quick-sighted they like the Dwarfe sitting on the Gyants â—houlder ouer-looke him that is â—arre taller then themselues This â—osition of the Romane Church is â—ot more new then faultie Not â—â— much noueltie as Truth conâ—inceth Heresies as Tertullian We â—ad beene silent if wee had not â—und this point besides the lateâ—esse erroneous Erroneous both â—gainst Scripture and Reason Aâ—â—inst Scripture which euery where â—acheth as on the one side the â—â—perfection of our inherent righteousnesse so on the other our perfect Iustification by the imputed righteousnesse of our Sauiour brought home to vs by faith The former Iob saw from his dung-hill How should a man bee iustified before God If hee will contend with him hee cannot answere one of a thousand Whence it is that wise Salomon askes Who can say My heart is cleane I am pure from sinne And himselfe answers There is not a iust man vpon earth which doth good and sinneth not A truth which besides his experience hee had learned of his Father Dauid who could say Enter not into iudgement with thy seruant though a man after Gods owne heart for in thy sight shalâ— no man liuing bee iustified And iâ— thou Lord shouldst marke iniquities O Lord who shall stand For wee are all as an vncleane thing we saith the Prophet Esay including euen himselfe and all our righteousnesse are as filthy ragges And was it any better with the best Saints vnder the Gospell I see saith the chosen Vessell in my members another law warring against the law of my minde and leading mee captiue to the law of sinne which is in my members So as in many things wee sinne all And if we say that we haue no sinne we doe but deceiue our selues and
in the Councell of Lateran Anno 1215. fully plumed in the Councell of Trent and now lately hath her feathers imped by the moderne Casuists SECT II. Romish Confession not warranted by Scripture SInce our quarrell is nâ—t with confession it selfe which may bee of singular vse and behoofe but with some tyrannous straines in the practice of it which are the violent forcing and perfit fulnesse thereof It shall be sufficient for vs herein to stand vpon our negatiue That there is no Scripture in the whole booke of God wherein either such necessitie or such intirenesse of Confession is commanded A truth so cleare that it is generally confessed by their owne Canonists Did we question the lawfulnesse of Confession we should be iustly accountable for our grounds from the Scriptures of God now that we cry downe only some iniurious circumstances therein well may wee require from the fautors thereof their warrants from God which if they cannot show they are sufficiently conuinced of a presumptuous obtrusion Indeed our Sauiour sayd to his Apostles and their successours Whose sinnes yee remit they are remitted and whose sinnes ye retaine they are retained But did hee say No sinne shall bee remitted but what yee remit Or no sinne shall be remitted by you but what is particularly numbred vnto you Saint Iames bids Confesse your sinnes one to another But would they haue the Priest shrieue himselfe to the penitent as well as the penitent to the Priest This act must bee mutuall not single Many beleeuing Ephesians came and confessed and shewed their deeds Many but not all not Omnes vtriusque sexus they confessed their deeds Some that were notorious not all their sinnes Contrarily rather so did Christ send his Apostles as the father sent him He was both their warrant and their patterne But that gracious Sauiour of ours many a time gaue absolution where was no particular confession of sinnes Only the sight of the Paralyticks faith fetcht from him Sonne be of good cheere thy sins be forgiuen thee The noted sinner in Simons house approuing the truth of her repentance by the humble and costly testimonies of her loue without any enumeration of her sinnes heard Thy sinnes are forgiuen thee SECT III. Against reason IN true Diuine Reason this supposed dutie is needlesse dangerous impossible Needlesse in respect of all sinnes not in respect of some for how euer in the cases of a burdened conscience nothing can bee more vsefull more soueraigne yet in all our peace doth not depend vpon our lips Being iustified by faith wee haue peace with God through Iesus Christ our Lord. Dangerous in respect both of exprobration as Saint Chrysostome worthily and of infection for delectabile carnis as a Casuist confesseth Fleshly pleasures the more they are called into particular mention the more they moue the appetire I doe willingly conceale from chaste eyes and eares what effects haue followed this pretended act of deuotion in wanton and vnstayed Confessours Impossible for who can tell how oft he offendeth He is poore in sin that can count his stocke and hee sinnes alwayes that so presumes vpon his innocence as to thinke hee can number his sinnes And if hee say of any sinne as Lot of Zoar is it not a little one as if therefore it may safely escape the reckoning it is a true word of Isaac the Syrian Qui delicta c. Hee that thinkes any of his offences small euen in so thinking falls into greater This doctrine and practice therfore both as new and vnwarrantable full of vsurpation danger impossibilitie is iustly reiected by vs and wee for so doing vniustly eiected SECT IV. The noueltie of Absolution before Satisfaction LEst any thing in the Romane Church should retaine the old forme how absurd is that innouation which they haue made in the the order of their penance and absolution The ancient course as Cassander and Lindanus truly witnesse was that absolution and reconciliation and right to the Communion of the Church was not giuen by imposition of hands vnto the penitent till hee had giuen due satisfaction by performing of such penall acts as were enioyned by the discreet PeniteÌ„tiary yea those works of penance saith he when they were done out of faith and an heart truly sorrowfull and by the motion of the holy Spirit preuenting the minde of man with the helpe of his diuine grace were thought not a little auailable to obtaine remission of the sinne and to pacifie the displeasure of God for sinne Not that they could merit it by any dignitie of theirs but that thereby the minde of man is in a sort fitted to the receit of Gods grace But now immediately vpon the Confession made the hand is layd vpon the penitent and he is receiued to his right of Communion and after his absolution certaine workes of pietie are enioyned him for the chastisement of the flesh and expurgation of the remainders of sinne Thus Cassander In common apprehension this new order can bee no other then preposterous and as our learned Bishop of Carlile like Easter before Lent But for this Ipsi viderint it shall not trouble vs how they nurture their owne childe CHAP. XIV The newnesse of the Romish Inuocation of Saints OF all those errours which we reiect in the Church of Rome there is none that can plead so much show of Antiquitie as this of Inuocation of Saints which yet as it hath beene practised and defended in the latter times should in vaine seeke either example or patronage amongst the Ancient How euer there might be some grounds of this deuotion secretly muttered and at last expressed in Panegyricke formes yet vntill almost fiue hundred yeeres after Christ it was not in any sort admitted into the publique seruice It will be easily graunted that the blessed Virgin is the Prime of all Saints neither could it be other then iniurious that any other of that heauenly societie should haue the precedencie of her Now the first that brought her name into the publike deuotions of the Greeke Church is noted by Nicephorus to be Petrus Gnapheus or Fullo a Presbyter of Bithynia afterwards the Vsurper of the See of Antioch much about 470 yeeres after Christ who though a branded heretick found out foure things saith he verie vsefull and beneficiall to the Catholike Church whereof the last was Vt in omni precatione c. that in euerie prayer the Mother of God should bee named and her diuine name called vpon The phrase is verie remarkable wherein this rising superstition is expressed And as for the Latine Church we heare no newes of this Inuocation in the publique Letanies till Gregories time about some 130. yeeres after the former And in the meane time some Fathers speake of it fearefully and doubtfully How could it bee otherwise when the common opinion of the Ancients euen below Saint Austens age did put vp all the soules of
through him onely we haue accesse by one Spirit vnto the Father and he hath inuited vs to himselfe Come to me all yee that labour and are heauie laden SECT III. Against reason HOw absurd therefore is it in reason when the King of heauen cals vs to him to run with our petitions to the Guard or Pages of the Court Had we to doe with a finite Prince whose eares must be his best informers or whose will to help vs were iustly questionable wee might haue reason to present our suits by second hands But since it is an Omnipresent and Omniscious God with whom wee deale from whom the Saints and Angels receiue all their light and loue to his Church how extreme folly is it to sue to those Courtiers of Heauen and not to come immediately to the Throne of Grace That one Mediatour is able and willing also to saue them to the vtmost that come vnto God by him seeing he euer liueth to make intercession for them Besides how vncertaine must our deuotions needes bee when we can haue no possible assurance of their audience for who can know that a Saint heares him That God euer heares vs wee are as sure as wee are vnsure to be heard of Saints Nay we are sure wee cannot bee all heard of them For what finite nature can diuide it selfe betwixt ten thousand Suppliants at one instant in seuerall regions of the world much lesse impart it selfe whole to each Either therefore wee must turne the Saints into so many Deities or wee must yeeld that some of our prayers are vnheard And whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne As for that heauenly glasse of Saint Gregories wherein the Saints see vs and our suits confuted long since by Hugo de Sancto Victore it is as pleasing a fiction as if we imagined therefore to see all the corners of the earth because we see that Sun which sees them And the same eyes that see in God the particular necessities of his Saints below see in the same God such infinite grace and mercie for their releefe as may saue the labour of their reflecting vpon that diuine miroir in their speciall intercessions This doctrine therefore and practice of the Romish inuocation of Saints both as new and erroneous against Scripture and reason wee haue iustly reiected and are thereupon eiected as vniustly CHAP. XV. The newnesse of seuen Sacraments THe late Councell of Florence indeed insinuates this number of seuen Sacraments as Suarez contends But the later Councell of Trent determines it Si quis dixerit aut plura c. If any man shall say that there are either more or fewer Sacraments then seuen viz. Baptisme Confirmation c or that any of these is not truly and properly a Sacrament Let him be Anathema It is not more plaine that in Scripture there is no mention of Sacraments then that in the Fathers there is no mention of seuen Cardinall Bellarmines euasion that the Scripture and Fathers wrote no Catechisme is poore and ridiculous No more did the Councels of Florence and Trent and yet there the number is reckoned and defined So as the word Sacrament may be taken for any holy significant rite there may bee as well seuentie as seuen So strictly as it may be and is taken by vs there can no more bee seuen then seuentie This determination of the number is so late that Cassander is forced to confesse Nec temerè c. You shall not easily find any man before Peter Lombard which hath set downe any certaine and definite number of Sacraments And this obseruation is so iust that vpon the challenges of our writers no one author hath bin produced by the Roman Doctours for the disproofe of it elder then Hugo and the said Master of Sentences But numbers are ceremonies Both Luther and Philip Melancthon professe they stand not much vpon them It is the number numbred which is the thing it selfe mis-related into that sacred Order that we sticke at There we find that none but Christ can make a Sacrament for none but he who can giue grace can ordaine a signe and seale of Grace Now it is euident enough that these adscititious Sacraments were neuer of Christs institution So was not confirmation as our Alexander of Hales and Holcot so was not Matrimony as Durand So was not Extreme Vnction as Hugo Lombard Bonauenture Halensis Altisiodore by the confession of their Suarez These were ancient rites but they are new Sacraments All of them haue their allowed and profitable vse in Gods Church though not in so high a nature Except that of Extreme Vnction which as it is an apish mis-imitation of that extraordinarie course which the Apostolike times vsed in their cures of the sicke so it is grossely mis-applyed to other purposes then were intended in the first institution Then it was Vngebant sanabant the oyle miraculously conferring bodily recouerie but now Non nisi in mortis articulo adhibetur it is not vsed but vpon the verie point of death as Caietan and Cassander confesse and all experience manifests and by Felix the fourth drawne to a necessitie of addresse to eternall life SECT II. Seuen Sacraments beside Scripture NOt to scan particulars which all yeeld ample exceptions but to wind them all vp in one bottome Whosoeuer shall looke into the Scripture shall finde it apparent that as in the time of mans innocence there were but two Sacraments the tree of life and the tree of knowledge So before and vnder the Law how euer they had infinite rites yet in the proper sense they had but two Sacraments the same in effect with those vnder the Gospel The one the Sacrament of Initiation which was their Circumcision Paralleld by that Baptisme which succeeded it The other the Sacrament of our holy Confirmation that spirituall meat and drinke which was their Paschall Lambe and Manna and water from the rocke prefiguring the true Lambe of God and bread of life and bloud of our redemption The great Apostle of the Gentiles that well knew the Analogie hath compared both Moreouer brethren I would not haue you ignorant how that all our fathers were vnder the cloud and all passed thorow the sea And all were baptized in the cloud and in the sea And all did eat the same spirituall meat and all did drinke the same spirituall drinke for they dranke of that spirituall Rocke that followed them and that Rocke was Christ What is this in any iust construction but that the same two Sacraments of Baptisme and the Lords Supper which wee celebrate vnder the Gospell were the verie same with those which were celebrated by Gods ancient people vnder the Law They two and no more Hoc facite Doe this is our warrant for the one and Ite baptizate c. and Go teach and baptize for the other There is deepe silence in the rest SECT III. Against reason IN reason it must bee