I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin Eccl. 7. 29. For lo this only have I found That God made man upright at first but since they have fallen away from that Upright State they have sought out many Inventions Jer. 17. 9. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it For Matth. 15. 19. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murthers adulteries fornications thefts false-witness blasphemies and all things that defile a man. And the Reason of all this is Because Joh. 3. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh Man as he is Flesh and Blood is naturally fleshly minded Rom. 7. 14. For we know that the law is spiritual but I am carnal sold under sin for that which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that I do And so Eph. 2. 3. All are by nature the children of wrath Jam. 1. 15. Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and when 't is finished bringeth forth death Our first Parents lusted after the forbidden Fruit and that brought forth the sin of breaking the Commandment and that sin brought forth Death And Rom. 5. 12. As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin so death passed upon all men for that all in him have sinned Wherefore if all are guilty of Original Sin and that guilt makes us Children of Wrath and consequently Heirs of Damnation I don't see any reason we have to boast of our righteousness but rather we have too much cause to bewail our wretchedness and to pray continually against the inevitable misery we are liable to undergo for all the good works we have done or can do unless God be more merciful to the best of us than we deserve And though by Baptism the guilt of Original Sin is washed away yet 't is more than probable that the first Actual Sin brings it again For as he that by amendment of life turns to God his former sins shall not be remembred so he that returns from the Service of God his righteousness shall be blotted out and forgotten and all his former iniquities shall testifie against him To conclude from what has been produc'd this at present occurs to our Observation That though there is no such thing in truth as a Solifidian Justice but every Man that will be saved must be enduced with a Faith that works by Love yet after all we can do we must expect Salvation by Faith in Christ's Blood and not from our own worthiness III. The Third Enquiry propos'd was To whom it belongs to Forgive Sins Psal 3. 8. Salvation belongeth to the Lord. 49. 7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him For the redemption of their soul is precious And 37. 39. The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. Therefore 130. 7. Let Israel hope in the Lord. It was the Psalmists opinion That it belonged to God to Forgive Sins and therefore Psal 51. 14. he thus addresses himself to him Deliver me from blood-guiltiness O God thou God of my salvation And thus God affirms of Himself Isai 43. 11. I even I am the Lord and beside me there is no Saviour I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my own sake and will not remember thy sins where we may take notice That it belongs to God to Forgive Sins and also That he Forgives them for his own sake which takes off all Merit by Works Dan. 9. 9. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses It was the constant Opinion of the Jews For when our Saviour said to the Sick of the Palsie Man thy sins are forgiven thee the Jews not believing him to be God as well as Man accus'd him of Blasphemy saying Who can forgive sins but God only Luk. 5. 21. So our Lord himself though John Baptist call'd him the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world Joh. 1. 29. directs us to ask God to forgive our sins Mat. 6. 12. For at Vers 14. 'T is our heavenly Father that must forgive us And thus the Apostle tells the Colossians That they being dead in their sins and the uncircumcision of their flesh God had quickened them and forgiven them all trespasses Col. 2. 13. From all which it appears plainly enough That Forgiveness of Sin belongs only to God. The consequence of this is That if it belongs to God only to Forgive Sins then Confession of Sins is due to him alone A Member of the Church of Rome is in danger of passing immediately into Hell if he dies without having confess'd his Sins to a Priest So absolutely necessary do they teach Auricular Confession to be in order to Salvation But if we may examin it a little I am apt to think it will appear much like the rest Psal 32. 5. I acknowledged my sins unto thee and my iniquity have I not hid I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin The Psalmist was absolv'd without Auricular Confession only by acknowledging his Sins to God. 1 King. 8. 47. Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the Land whether they were carried Captives and repent and make supplication to thee in the Land of them that carried them Captives saying We have sinned and have done perversely we have committed wickedness c. Here is no Confession to a Priest mentioned Ezra 9. 5. And at the evening sacrifice I rose up from my heaviness and having rent my garment and my mantle I fell upon my knees and spread out my hands unto the Lord my God and said O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee my God c. Psal 41. 4. I said Lord be merciful unto me and heal my soul for I have sinned against thee Hence Confession of Sin is due to him against whom we have sinned And then 't is due Relatively to our Neighbour if we have done him any injury But Properly to God according to the Psalmist Psal 51. 4. Against thee only have I sinned c. when he had committed Adultery with Bathsheba and caused her Husband to be slain Dan. 9. 15. And now O Lord our God that hast brought thy people forth out of the Land of Egypt with a mighty hand and hast gotten the renown as at this day we have sinned we have done wickedly Therefore Jer. 14. 20. We acknowledge O Lord our wickedness and the iniquity of our Fathers for we have sinned against thee In a word I should never have done if I should quote all the Texts to prove Confession of Sins only due to God. And therefore because you will meet with them in reading I shall at present only refer you to the Sixth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel to what our Saviour says there of Prayer and Fasting For Repentance and Confession being
inherent parts of Prayer and Fasting I think they may be included in the same Advice which I need not have inserted by reason of your frequent using the Lords Prayer in which 't is evident After all there is not one Text as I know of that by any good Consequence makes Confession to a Priest so absolutely Necessary as the Doctrin of the Church of Rome does If any will do it and do it sincerely we do not deny it to be Good. But after 't is done without a Private Confession to God it must needs be Imperfect for it is God that knows our Hearts better than we do our selves and we are guilty of many Sins we know not of as the Psalmist professes Wherefore we should cry out with him Psal 19. 12. Who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret faults The consequence of all is That all Men ought to Confess their Sins to God against whom only they have sinned as to one that has the sole Power to forgive them Not that I desire in the least to diminish the Power of the Keys given to the Church for I own That our Blessed Lord gave Power and Authority to his Ministers to declare and pronounce to his People being Penitent the Absolution and Remission of their Sins in his Name But to confine that Power to the Church of Rome only and to say All that Die out of her Communion are certainly Damn'd for want of it and to make the Bishop of Rome joynt-Competitor with Christ in the Business is against the Grain and will not digest in my Stomach whatever it may do in other Mens I should wast too much Time and Paper If I should examine the Gross Nonsensical Consequences of Believing the Bishop of Rome able to Forgive Sins which have from thence been imposed upon the greater part of the Church of Rome the Ignorant sort of People That the Pope can at once Forgive a Man all the Sins he ever has committed or ever shall be guilty of that he can thrust a Man into Heaven for as long a Time as he pleases where he shall lie undiscovered by the all-seeing Eye of God and at the end of that Term be kicked into Hell that he can forgive the Sins of all that are in the Communion of the Roman Church of all Christians nay if he pleases of the whole World at once It has been acknowledged by many of their own Writers on this Subject who have been guilty of the least Extravagance That the Pope has Power if he will at one Mass to free all the Souls out of Purgatory If this were true King James the First 's Inference on the Position was with Abnegation of the Popes Charity and Admiration of his unparallel'd Cruelty That being granted to have a Power so to do he does not apply his Will to it But I know Madam you are no Friend to such Fancies therefore I shall appeal no further than to your own Ingenuity to judge from what has been produced Who has the Supreme and only Power to forgive Sins to whom Confession properly is due and in whose Name only Absolution ought to be Pronounced And so proceed IV. The Fourth Enquiry proposed was Whether the Scriptures warrant the Worshiping of Images or Praying to Saints and Angels The Second Commandment is so much to our Purpose that they of the Church of Rome have prudently left it out of the Decalogue and to make up the number they cut the Tenth into two Parts so the Church of Rome's Decalogue is this I. Thou shalt have no other Gods before me II. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain c. III. Remember that thou keepest holy the Sabbath-day c. IV. Honour thy Father and thy Mother c. V. Thou shalt do no Murther VI. Thou shalt not commit Adultery VII Thou shalt not Steal VIII Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour IX Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours Wife X. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbours House c. So that the generality of the People of the Church of Rome know of no such thing in Being as the tedious Harangue against Images by us called the Second Commandment However there are Texts enough besides both in the Old and New Testaments clearly against them of which I will only give you a few of the chief Judges 13. 15 And Manoah said unto the Angel of the Lord I pray thee let us detain thee until we shall have made ready a kid for thee And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah Though thou detain me I will not eat of thy bread and if thou wilt offer a Burnt-offering thou must offer it unto the Lord. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord What is thy name that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour And the angel of the Lord said unto him Why askest thou after my name seeing it is secret The Angel would not tell his Name because Manoah should honour God only Psal 29. 2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his Name worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness For Isai 42. 8 I am the Lord that is my name and my glory will I not give to another neither my praise to graven Images And I am certain there is not one Text to the contrary but many to the same purpose Acts 10. 25. And as Peter was coming in Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshipped him But Peter took him up saying Stand up I my self also am a man. And Chap. 14. Vers 11. When the People saw what Paul had done they lift up their voices saying in the speech of Lycaonia The Gods are come down to us in the likeness of Men. And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius because he was the chief Speaker Then the Priest of Jupiter which was before their City brought Oxen and Garlands unto the Gates and wou'd have done Sacrifice with the People Which when the Apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of they rent their Clothes and ran in among the People crying out and saying Sirs why do ye these things we also are men of like Passions with you c. I am apt to believe these things were done and suffer'd by the Providence of God on purpose to shew that as they were not to be worshipp'd while they were on the Earth so neither shou'd we pay Divine Honours to 'em now they are in Heaven But the Apostle to the Corinthians is very express to the purpose 1 Cor. 1. 13. Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized into the name of Paul Chap. 3. 4. Who then is Paul and who is Apollos but Ministers by whom ye believed even as the Lord gave to every man I have planted Apollos watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the
was to read the Books of the Kings for their Information how to Rule well so that all Men would read the Holy Scriptures in general would be good Counsel because they afford the best Instructions for living well 2. Ignorance in the Scriptures is dangerous because it is the greatest Reason of Mens running into all sorts of Errors When the Sadducees proposed to our Saviour the Business of the Woman that had had seven Husbands asking him whose wife she should be at the resurrection falsly supposing If there ever would be a Resurrection there would also be Marrying and giving in Marriage at the Resurrection Jesus answered and said unto them Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures And here Madam I might take notice of the Subtlety of the Church of Rome in denying the Scriptures to the Laity because maintaining so many Errors so directly contrary to Scriptures that any discerning Eye must needs discover them Such are Purgatory Pope's Pardons Adoration of Images praying to Saints and Angels and the like But our Lord said of the Pharisees Matth. 15. 14. Let them alone they are blind leaders of the blind And if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch I shall say nothing therefore to these at present but proceed 3. To shew That Ignorance in the Scriptures is very Dangerous because as it is the cause of Sin and Error so by Sin and Error it must consequently be the cause of Destruction Isay 5. 13. Therefore my people are gone into captivity because they have no knowledge and their honourable Men are famished and their multitude dryed up with thirst Therefore hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measure and their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he that rejoyceth shall descend into it Psalm 95. 10. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said It is a people that do err in their hearts and they have not known my ways Vnto whom therefore I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest Prov. 1. 24. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirl-wind when distress and anguish come upon you Then shall ye call upon me but I will not answer ye shall seek me but ye shall not find me for that ye hated knowledge and did not chuse the fear of the Lord. But to come a little nearer home Christ Jesus has brought Life and Immortality to Light by the Gospel But this says he is the condemnation by way of Eminence That light is come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil For every one that doth evil hateth the light neither cometh he to the light lest his deeds should be reproved but he that does truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God Joh. 3. 19. And surely Madam If they that deny us the Scriptures had not something to be ashamed of they would not shew themselves so much concerned to keep People in Darkness It must needs be a Device of the Devil to keep Men in Ignorance that they might be damned according to the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 3. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost In whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine upon them But we know that Christ will one day be revealed in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ 2 Thessal 1. 8. If it is objected That this Text speaks of Heathen Persecutors we may answer That those Christians who are not acquainted with and consequently not obedient to the Gospel of Christ are worse than Heathens I beseech you Madam to consider If it was through Ignorance of the Scriptures the Jews crucified the Lord of Glory as the Apostle says it was 1 Cor. 2. 8. We that are Christians had best take heed That we do not through Ignorance crucifie him again And if it was a Shame for the Corinthians not to know the Scriptures in the very dawning and twilight of Christianity 1 Cor. 15. 34 what an abominable shame must it needs be for us after almost seventeen hundred Years to know no more or it may be not so much To conclude this Point The Apostle dedicates his First Epistle to the Corinthians To All that in Every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. And what he should do so for unless he intended it should be read by All I can't imagin If he intended it only for the Fathers of that Church he might in fewer words and consequently with less trouble have said To the Elders of the Church at Corinth or else directed it to the Bishop of that Church only But he knew the Scriptures were able to make Men wise unto salvation and therefore would have all Men read them And our blessed Saviour knew that the Jews thought they had Eternal Life in the Scriptures therefore he bids 'em Search them Joh. 5. 39. The Injunction is the same upon Christians also And then certainly if the Captain and Author of our Salvation bids us Search we may notwithstanding the Insinuations of some bold Men to the contrary By what Rule else should we try the Spirits whether they be of God as St. John adviseth us 1 Ep. 4. 1. if not by the Rule of God's Word Upon this account therefore among others we are bound to read search and be well acquainted with the Scriptures I presume then after all that has been produc'd to prove this first Position what the Evangelist says of the Revelations Chap. 1. 3. may on good grounds be attributed to the rest of the Sacred Writings Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things that are written therein And now Madam having made good from Scripture Testimonies the Necessity of being acquainted with the Scriptures though I have already gone beyond the ordinary bounds of an Epistle yet I crave leave to trespass a little farther on your Patience in giving you a cursory view of some of the Principal Doctrins of the Church of Rome and demonstrating how contrary they are to the Word of Truth In order to which I shall with all possible brevity enquire I. Whether any Man can do more than he ought to do II. Whether any Man by his own Works can merit Heaven III. To whom it belongeth to Forgive Sins IV. Whether the Scriptures warrant Worshiping of Images or Praying to Saints and Angels V.