whole Rosary consists of a hundred and fifty Ave Maries And as the Instrument to which David did sing his Psaâ—mes was an instrument of ten strings Ps 32.2 So wee distinguish these hundred and fifty Ave Maries into severall tenns that is into fifteen tenns if wee say the whole Rosary or into five tenns if wee say but the third part of it as wee do when our leasure or devotion reacheth not at once to the whole Rosary Every tenn is distinguished with a Pater noster sayd in the beginning thereof For before wee call upon our Lady wee think it fitt to call upon our Lord from whom all the graces of our Lady did proceed and from whom all must be given which wee begg of her to obtain For wee do not acknowledg our Lady to be the giver of any graces though her intercession be most powerfull to obtain them to be given by her Son When wee use this devotion wee do indeed deed say ten Ave Maries for one Pater noster But the reason of this is not that wee honour our Lady more then our Lord for wee are so farre from equalizing her to him that wee confesse her infinitely inferiour to him But the reason is that it is fitt wee should set some time a part to honour her or else wee should honour her at no time Now as when wee are busied in honouring our Mother wee are not at that time busied in honouring our Father So when wee bestow this parcel of time in honouring our Lady wee only at this time honour our Lord so farre as all the honour we do to his Mother is done out of the respect wee beare to her because shee is his Mother Wee reserve other devotions to our Lord which contain an honour of an incomparably higher strain then any honour wee give to our Lady For because our Lord dyed on the Friday wee to his honour fast all fridayes because he remayned dead all Saturday wee honour him for it by abstinence from flesh all Saturdayes Because he did rise again on the Sunday wee honour his Resurrection by solemnizing all Sundayes Because he fasted forty dayes for us wee to his honour yearly fast the forty dayes of Lent No such honour is done by us to our Lady Our adversaries will aske us first what authority wee have for the Ave Mary Secondly why wee use this prayer just so often reiterated and how wee busy our minds in the mean time You will soon know what to answer by the ensuing discourse 6. Wee say then the first part of the Ave Mary was made by an Angel and he as Ambassador from God used such words as he knew to be to Gods mind saying to our Lady Hail full of grace our Lord is with the blessed art thou among weomen Luke 1.28 The second Part came allso from God For v. 41. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost and shee spake out with a loud voice and sayd blessed art thou among weomen And blessed is the fruit of thy wombe The Holy Church addeth Holy Mary Mother of God for shee is in the next verse called Mother of our Lord pray for us sinners now and at the houre of our death Amen Which words are most full of piety supposing what wee have proved prayer to Saints to be pious for if wee may pray to our Lords servants wee may pray to his Mother Behold the whole Ave Mary 7. Secondly wee use just the number of a hundred and fifty Ave Maries in the whole Rosary because wee would say a whole Psalter to her honour If these had been a hundred and fifty severall prayers as there be a 150. Psalmes who would have remembred them But now they being all but the same prayer so often repeated and this prayer allso so well knowen any simple person though he cannot read can say this whole Psalter to our Lady without book And it was made chiefly for a devout entertaynement for those ignorant people who cannot read though it be allso an excellent entertaynment even for the most learned when either they have not light to read or when being wearied out with contemplation or lesse disposed thereunto they desire to walke or passe the time devoutly without any overmuch tiring exercise If any one adds an Ave Mary more or lesse then this number he doth no other hurt then he who intending to say the whole Psalter should say one Psalme lesse or repeat one twice These hundred and fifty Ave Maries are most conveniently divided into fifteen tenns to help us at every severall tenne to call to our memory and devout consideration a severall Mystery of the life of Christ and our Lady For the prime Mysteries of theyr lives be reduced very fitly and orderly into fiften Mysteries of which five be joyfull five be sorrowfull and five be glorious To the honour of all these fifteen Mysteries wee say the fifteen tenns when wee say the whole Rosary If wee have not will or leasure to say the whole Rosary at once then wee say only the beads of five tenns honoring or pondering either the five joyfull or the five sorrowfull or the five glorious Mysteries When I say the first five tenns at each tenn I will honour and attentively ponder with devotion one of the five joyfull Mysteries As first the Annunciation of our Lady when the Angel announced unto her that God would become man and shee should be exalted to be his Mother Secondly her Visitation when visiting her Cosen Elizabeth As soon as Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary the infant did leap in her wombe and Elizabeth was replenished with the Holy Ghost and cryed out Blessed art thou c. Luke 1.41 Thirdly the Nativity of our Lord. A joy that shall be to all people because this day was borne to them a Saviour Luke 2.10 Her joy was greatest who was the Mother in this joyfull birth Fourthly her Purification when Simeon in whom the Holy Ghost was came in spirit into the Temple and took the Child into his armes shewing him to all publickly in the Temple and declaring him to be a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of the people of Israël Luke 2.32 Fiftly her finding the lost Child disputing with the Doctours in the Temple where they all were astonished that heard him upon his wisdome and answers Luke 2.47 And he went down with his Mother and lived subject unto her even till he was thirty yeare old and shee keept all his words in her hart v. 51. 8. When I come to say the second five tenns I will honour and ponder the five sorrowfull Mysteries First Christ his prayer in the Garden Secondly his whipping at the Pillar Thirdly his Crowning with thornes Fourthly his carrying of the Crosse Fifthly his being Crucifyed and dying upon the Crosse All which as Christ felt them most sensibly in his body so our Lady next to Christ had a most tender feeling of them in her own soule And
one place with an other For I aske and ask them again and again by whom Scripture ought to be interpreted They will say by Scripture conferred with Scripture Here I must yet ask them again by whom the conference of one Scripture with another can be made so exactly that from hence wee may come vndoubtedly to know the true interpretation This question I will be still asking them untill they can answer it For I am sure that If I presse this question home they must be at last enforced to say that the ground of their whole Religion is the Scripture interpreted by them selves when it hath bin carefully conferred by them selves so that the very ground of their whole fayth is deceiptfull and fallible if they them selves be fallible either in interpteting or in conferring Scripture carefully or skillfully If they say their Interpretation thus made is undoubted and infallible then they can not blame us for saying that the interpretation of the Church made with as great care and skill used by her in the exact conference of one Scripture with an other is infallible 3. Stay here Deare Reader and as thou lovest thy saluation before thou goest any further ponder attentively how fallible and subject to a world of errors the ground of all such Religions must needs be which wholy and entirely are found at last to rely upon a meer human interpretation after that a meer human and most fallible diligence and skill hath bin employed in conferring one Text with an other Then ponder on the other side how incomparably surer and more justifiable in the sight of God and man the ground of that faith is which relyeth indeed on the Scripture but not on the Scripture as interpreted by private and fallible interpreters after theyr most fallible exactnesse of conferring Scripture with Scripture but which relyeth upon Scripture as interpreted by the Church after that shee with no lesse exactnes hath conferred one Scripture with an other in a generall Council having incomparable greater human abilities then those of any private mans be and having the speciall assistance of the Holy Host leading his Church into all truth Of this infallibility wee shall speak fully Point 5. 4. Now the Scripture as rightly interpreted by the Church will send us for the clearing of many doubtes unto the Church authorized by Christ to instruct and teach us as in that fift Point shall be evidenced out of Scripture The difference then between our adversaries and us is that wee affirme the Scripture as it is rightly interpreted by the Church after she hath exactly conferred in a general Councel Scripture with Scripture to be the Rule of Faith by which she decideth all necessary Controversies But our adversaries misliking the dependence on the Church will have the Scripture by it selfe alone to be a Rule sufficient to direct each one who shall carefully conferre it to judge all necessary Controversies This wee deny and though they say it in wordes yet in very deed they also come to deny what they say for let a man mark it well and he shall see that all these sectaries when they come to the maine Controversie do not take Scripture alone as conferred with Scripture only but they all take Scripture with theyr own interpretation made upon theyr own conference And if you tell them they have fayled by not taking due notice of severall other Texts in Scripture which should have been pondered in their Conference and would have produced a different interpretation they will say their own spirit tels them the contrary so that finally they who laugh at the Church for trusting to be securely guided by the Holy Ghost come to ground theyr whole fayth upon the assurance of being truly guided by theyr own spirit or judgement but let us come to what we propound and let us prove by Scripture that Scripture taken as they take it can not be a sufficient Rule to direct us in all necessary Controversies This I prove 5. First because to end all Controversies wee must at least rule our selves by al the bookes of Scripture and we must be assured wee doe so This is cleere because by no text of Scripture it can be prouved that any determed booke or number of bookes is sufficient to end all Controversies But to do this the whole number of books written by any Scripture writer is wholy requisite seeing that no Text speaks of any one or any determinate number but all speake of all Now marke to what passe this opinion brings you For if wee be to judge all necessary Controversies by all the bookes which ever were written by any Scripture writer we must necessarily have these books amongst us But wee have not in the whole world extant amongst us diverse books of Sacred Propheticall Scriptures For no fewer then twenty books of the Propheticall Pennemen of the Holy Ghost have quite perished as the learned Contzen proveth in his Preface upon the fower Ghospels and I will prove this as far as is sufficient by these following texts Iosue 10.13 Is not this written in the book of Iascker Again 1. Kinges 4.32 Salomon spoke three thousand Proverbs and his songes were one thousand and five Again 1. Chron. 29.29 The actes of David first and last are written in the book of Samuel the Seer and the book of Nathan the Prophet and the book of Gad the Seer Where be these two Prophets books Again 2. Chron. 9.29 mention is made of the books of Nathan the Prophet and the Prophesie of Ahyah and the visions Iddo the Seer And Chap 12.15 and the book Schemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning Genealogies which seemes to be a different book from his book of visions before specifyed And Chap. 13.22 mention is made of the story of the Prophet Iddo And Ch. 20.34 mention is made of the book of Iehu sonne of Hanani and Ch 33.19 wee find mention of the works of the sayings of the Seers Wee know then by Scripture that what is sayd by those books is sayd by Prophets And wee also know by Scripture that God spoke in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets 2. Pet. 1.21 Moreover we know by Scripture that Prophesie came not in old time by the will of man But the Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2. Pet. 1.21 Standing therefore to what is known by Scripture these bookes which have perished did deliver what was spoken by the Holy Ghost and contained the true word of God Whēce is proved that we have not now entierly the whole word of God written and this is further proved by the ensuing textes of S. Paul 1. Cor. 5.9 I wrote to you in one Epistle Note that he sayth this in his first Epistle to them Where is the Epistle which S. Paul wrote to them before he wrote the first to them I wrote to you Wee then say Give us all sacred Propheticall writings which ever were written
For then in heaven this sentence would never be ratified And tell me not that this texts speakes of private differēces betweene brother ād brother though I denie not but this is also true in such differences as belong to the Court or Tribunall of the Church yet hence evidently follows that this Text doth much more concerne those differences in point of Religion between brother and brother Both because these doe more properly belong to the Court of the Church and to her Tribunall as also because when scandal and offence is giuen to our brother in point of heresie tending to the seduction of his soule our brother seeing this soule-murthering sinne broached to his owne ruine ād to the eternall ruine of his brother hath farre greater reasō in this case thē in any other to tell the Church his mother to whome in this difference aboue all other differences it properly belongeth to looke to the safety of her childred For this is an offēce ād scandal to the whole brotherhood of all Christianity Therefore in these points of highest concernement we are most bound to heare the Church vnder paine of being accounted Publicans and Heathens and of haueing this heauie sentence ratified in heauen 5. Sixtly Matt. 23.1 Then Iesus spake to the multitudes and to his Disciples saying Vpon the chaire of Moyses haue sitten the Scribes and Pharises by which sitting with lawfull succession they as wicked as they were are knowne to be lawfully authorized Prelats all therefore whatsoever they shall say unto you observe and do Behold here a precept of obeying in all whatsoever And therefore behold a precept which could not be givē if that which is delivered by publicke authority of the Church were not secured from error in all whatsoever 6. Sevently The first and best Christians did practically acknowledge theyr beleefe of the infallibility of the Church For to have a decision of the most important Controversies Act. 15.2 they appointed Paul and Barnabas to go up and certaine others of the rest to the Apostles and Priests unto Hierusalem upon this question And the Church assembled the first Councill in which though this Councill were assisted with the Holy Ghost yet there was made a great disputation v. 7. And then the definition of the Church came forth in these words It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and us v. 28. Other lawfull Councills knowing the Holy Ghost allso promised to them do vse to set forth theyr definitions with the same words and this most agreable to Scripture For Iohn 15. v. 26. When the Paraclete cometh whom I shall send from my father the spirit of truth he shall give testimonie of me and you shall give testimonie Marke this conjunction of he and you He the the spirit of truth and you Governers of my Church so that you in giveing testimony may freely say It seemeth good to the Holy Ghost and us 7. Eightly It is cleere out of Scripture that the first Christians were so fully possessed with the beleefe of the infallibility of the Church that they would beleeve nothing but what thy knew conformable to her doctrine S. Paul was a Scripture-writer and so great an Apostle and yet he sayeth of himselfe Gal. 2.1 Then after fourteene yeares I went to Hierusalem again not meerly to satisfie a vaine fancie of some particular men but I went up according to revelation and conferred with them the Ghospel which I preach among the Gentills But I conferred severally or a part with them that seemed to be something least perhaps I should runn or had runn in vain So that he thought all his fourteen yeares preaching and allso his future preaching might come to be in vaine vnlesse even his doctrine were made known to be approved by the Church as wholy conformable to the Church So much in these goulden dayes were the first Christians taught to relye vpon the Church which had been imprudence if she had been fallible Yet we must not thinke that then they did apprehend that the approbation of the Church did adde any degree of truth to his doctrine as it doth not add any degree of truth to the Scripture or pretend to have power to change or correct true Scripture And so S. Paul sayth v. 6. For to me they that seemed to be some thing added nothing For as the toutchstone adds no value to the gold but onely evidently manifesteth which is true gold which not so the Church as then did only manifest infallibly the truth of what he had preached So allso the Church as now doth only manifest to vs that such and such Bookes be the true word of God such and such be not such be true copies such not c. But the word of God hath its true worth from it selfe and not frō the Church as the gold hath its being true gold from it selfe and not from the toutchstone So when Catholiques say with S. Aug. Cont. Epist fundam c. 5. I would not beleeve the Ghospell unlesse the authoritie of the Church moved me they doe not meane that the Church can adde or take away from the truth of any true Scripture but they meane that by her definition as by a Sure touchstone it is now manifestly assured vnto them that such a booke is true Scripture and such not And as the orall preaching even of such an Apostle as had been a Scripture writer might have been in vain without this approbation so allso might his writings have been in vaine Whence we see that his Epistle vnto the Hebrews was not known or acknowledged as Gods word vntill the Church approved it If the Scripture writer himselfe teacheth in vaine without this approbation much more will his writings teach in vaine 8 Ninthly The Church is to be followed by vs as an assured approver or reprover of spirits and consequently as infallible Iohn 1.4 My dearest beleeve not every spirit but prove the spirits if they be of God then v. 6. We are of God he that knows God heares us Pastours of Church he that is not of God heares us not In this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of errour Here S. Iohn expresly meanes to give to posterity a standing Rule to know a true spirit from a false one To witt By the hearing of us or not hearing of us This could not be a Rule to vs who live after the Apostles if by hearing us he onely meant the Apostles and not theyr successours Yea he could not meane onely the Apostles For the other Apostles were all dead when he wrote this Wherefore the true sence of S. Iohn is In this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of errour if they heare us Pastours and Governours of the Church Not that each one of these Pastours and Governours a part can say to any one heare me vnlesse he teach that which all the rest are sufficiently knowne to teach but they in a Generall Councill may most truely say Heare us He
and Iacob So that we shall be as sure not to faile of faithfull Princes and Governors in the Church for none but such as are truely faithfull can be truely sayd to be the true sonnes of Iacob and David As we are sure to have night and day the heaven turning over vs and the earth standing still vnder vs. 17. Eeightly The Prophet Ezech. Ch. 34.22 I will save my flock and it shall be no more into spoile But what spoile would that scabb of error make over all Christs flock if it so infected it all as Protestants say it did yea they will have even Idolatry it selfe the most deadly murraine to have infected the whole Church this last thousand yeares and more 18. The third and last sort of Texts to prove this infallibility containe such as plainly say that God will still direct his Church to follow truth or that it shall not revolt from the truth but be a most direct way to the truth that the spirit of truth shall be as it were entailed vpon the doctrine of the Church with which Church this spirit shall ever abide teaching her all truth So first Isa 61.8 I will direct theyr worke in truth and I will make an everlasting Covenant with them of preserving this never fayling truth Secondly Behold how plaine and direct a way to truth is promised the Church of Christ Isa 35. v. 5. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened c. And a high way shall be there and it shall be called the way of Holynesse the Holy Catholicke Church the way-faring men though fooles shall not erre there in It is therefore a way infallibly leading to truth Thirdly the same Prophet Chap. 59. v. 20. There shall come a Redeemer to Sion and to them that shall returne from iniquity in Iacob sayth our Lord. As for me this my Covenant with them My spirit that is in thee and my words that I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed from this present and for ever With what clearer words could the spirit of truth be entailed vpon the Church present in each age or be more clearly said to Reside ever in her mouth with which she delivers all her doctrine 19. Fourthly Most clearly Ier. 32.39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever I will make an euerlasting Covenant with them that I will not turne a way from them but will putt feare in theyr hearts that they shall not depart from me Note I pray these words I will putt my feare in theyr hearts that they shall not depart frō me Wherefore they did not revolt from him they did not depart from him Fiftly no lesse fully speakes the Prophet Ezech. 37.24 My servant David King over them and there shall be one sheapheard over them all They shall walke in my judgment and observe my statutes and do them Moreover I will make a Covenant of peace with them it shall be an everlasting Covenant with them and I will set my Sanctuary in the middest of them for ever more How fully is all this spoken of a visible Church haveing one theapherd over all Yea the very Heathens shall know who they be as there is sayd Sixtly that according to the Prophet Micheas Ch. 4.5 All people will walke every one in the name of his God and we will walke in the name for our Lord God for ever Which they doe not who walke in a labyrinth of grosse errors for a thousand yeares togeather it followeth I will make Her who was cast of a strong nation and the Lord shall reigne over the from hence forth and for ever 20. Seaventhly Matth. 16.18 The gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it If Hell could ever come to make the Church a Mistris of errours so as to hold them forth for divine verities so many ages togeather the gates of Hell should highly prevaile against her Now I pray note that for many ages there were no Christians which were not eyther manifest Hereticks and held so by the Protestants themselves or which did not as all Roman Catholicks now doe worship and adore Christ as much vnder the shape of bread in the Eucharist as they worship him sitting at the right hand of his father If this be Idolatry the gates of Hell have prevailed against the Roman Church yea and against the Churches in Greece in Armenia in Aethiopia c. who all ever since they were Christians have held this our doctrine and doe still hold it though they adde a world of other errors Where then shall the Protestants find Christ a Church against which the gates of Hell have not a vast long time togeather prevailed They must eyther be forced to make Christ false in this his doctrine or to confesse our doctrine true If it be not how was this Covenant everlasting as hath been so often sayd in the now cited Texts and allso the Text following in which Christ made the everlasting Covenant formerly promised to be made Eightly S. Iohn Ch. 14. v. 16. And he will give you an other Paraclete that may abide with you for ever the spirit of Truth whome the world knows not but you know him because he dwells with you and shall be in you Now the Apostles not being to be for ever and the spirit of Truth being promised for ever we cannot but say that the promise of this spirit of Truth is made also to the successours of the Apostles the Governours of Christs Church to abide in them and be in them as the spirit of Truth directly opposite to the spirit of errour So ninthly Iohn 16.12 Many things I have to say unto you but you cannot beare them now hence appeares how weighty those thinghs were but when the spirit of Truth cometh he will guide you into all Truth To private persons the Holy Ghost is given as the spirit of sanctification but to the Church he is given as the spirit of Truth guiding her into all Truth and so directly excluding all errour from her 22. Tenthly that convincing place of S. Paul shall end all these Texts 1. Tim. 3.15 where speaking of the visible Church in which he teacheth Timothie how to Converse the speakes thus That thou mayst know how to behave thy selfe in the house of God which is the Church of the liveing God the Pillar and ground of Truth Can I leane more assuredly then vpon the Pillar of Truth Can I even wish to have a surer ground then the ground of Truth And yet such a ground is the Church acknowledged in this Text if it be not perverted by such interpretations as be the inventiōs of mē but of men vnable to confirme theyr interpretation by any Text clearer thē this Here thē behold we have produced no fewer thē thirty texts for the infallibility of the Church Whereas not halfe so
as farre from us as that which is not now is distant from that which is now which is a greater distance then East from West though that be farre enough to declare a true perfect remission by quite abolishing the sin forgiven by infused grace according to Ezech. 36.25 I will sprincle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthines And 1. Io 1.7 And the blood of Christ clenseth us from all sin So that by this his blood the body of sin is destroyed Rom. 6.6 And thus he will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea Mich. 7.19 THE XXIX POINT Whether our justification may not be lost 1. THe hart is deceitfull above all things who can know it Ier. 17.9 Yet Protestants placing justification in such a speciall faith as assures each man of his saluation by the merits of Christ are hence enforced to teach two strange Paradoxes The first is that this speciall faith breeds a full assurance grounded in a reall truth wherefore wee need not feare our salution The second which is contained in the former or thence clearly deduced is that this justification of ours cannot be lost for else that assurance might have had a lye for its ground and sole fundation 2. Wee teach first that no man without a speciall Revelation is assured to be saved and so all ought to worke theyr saluation with feare and trembling S. Paul every where proveth our doctrine Thou by faith doest stand be not high minded but feare Rom. 11.20 Again 1. Cor. 4.4 he sayth he knew nothing by himselfe concerning any guilt but I am not justified herein But he that judgeth me is our Lord. I dare not judge my selfe though I know nothing by my selfe how then darest thou Again 1 Cor. 9.27 But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any meanes whilst I preach to others I my selfe may become a cast away or reprobate Again c. 10. v. 12. Therefore he wh◠thinketh himselfe to stand as Protestants do lett him take heed left he fall Again Phil. 3.11 If by any meanes I might attain to the resurrection of the dead He found no security in that speciall Faith you speak of Therefore he sayd Phil. 2.12 Work your own saluation with feare and trembling Apoc. 3.11 Hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crowne For Luke 8.13 There be those who for a time believe and in time of temptation fall away 3. Secondly conformably to all the Texts wee say that those who were just may come finally to be damned For exod 32.33 Whosoever hath sinned against mee him will I blot out of my Book Those who are baptized are born again of water and the Holy Ghost Io. 3.5 Yet how many thousands of these once regenerated men sin afterwards and never rise again and truth sayth of him who riseth not again whosoever hath sinned against mee him will I blot out of my Book out of which he could not be dashed unles his name had once been enroled in it Salomon his saluation is much doubted of by Holy Fathers yet there could be no doubt thereof if your opinion were true for God himself sayth he once was just 1. Chron. 28 7. I will establish his Kingdome for ever if he be constant to my Commandement and Iudgements as at this day At that day then he was in a state pleasing to God and yet you see doubt of his perseverance is even here intimated Yea by and by David his Father tells him but if you forsake him he will cast the of for ever v. 9. David did not judge Salomon to be at this time out of Gods favour yet his words shew he feared that he might hereafter come to loose Gods favour What Salomon after did the Scripture tels us 1. Kings 11. v. 3. Weomen turned away his hart And when he was now old his wives turned away his hart to other Gods He worshiped Astarthee the Goddesse of the Sidonians and Moloch the Idol of the Ammonites he built a Temple to Camos the Idol of Moab and in this manner he did to all his wives who where strangers Therefore our Lord was angry with Salomon because his heart was turned from the Lord. v. 9. Did he not cease to be just when his heart was turned away from our Lord David sayth Psal 5.7 Thou hatest all workers of iniquity God then did hate Salomon I dispute not whether he repented or no whether he were saved or no but without all dispute he once lost his former Iustice his hart and minde being turned away from God and our Lord therefore bearing wrath against him and hating him Let us proceed 4. The Apostles Act. 6.3 Commanded seaven men full of the Holy Ghost to be made Deacons One of them was Nicolas a stranger of Antioch These they sett in the presence of the Apostles and praying they imposed hands upon them Yet this Nicolas did fall finally into Heresy and began the Heresy of those who from his name are called Nicolaites Apoc. 2.6 S. Paul allso Hebr. 6. v. 4.6 tels us the sad condition of those who were made partakers of the Holy Ghost if they shall fall away which is manifestly to suppose that even such men may fall away So the foolish Galatians having begun with the spirit ended with the flesh Gal. 3.3 It is therefore sayd to them You did run well who hindred you not to obey the truth Gal. 5.7 Behold they came not to obey the truth who before did not only walk well but allso run well Hence allso it is that the Scripture useth to speak thus fearfully and conditionally concerning our perseverance in Iustice Io. 15.6 If a man abide not in me he is cast forth And Rom. 11.22 If thou continue in his goodnes otherwise thou allso shall be cutt of And 2. Io 8. Look to your selves that wee loose not those things which wee have wrought Evident therefore is our Doctrine thus delivered by Ezechiel c. 33. v. 12. The righteousnes of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression Neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousnes in the day that he sinneth All his righteousnes shall not be remembred But for his iniquity which he hath committed he shall dy for it He then may die for iniquity who once was just Hence he taught his just Apostles to pray Lead us not into temptation for feare of falling into it Let us therefore when wee have faith Hold faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack 1. Tim. 1.19 THE XXX POINT To Iustification it is necessary to keep the Commandements This is possible 1. I Say first that it is possible to keep the Commandements by the helpe and assistance of Gods grace sufficiently afforded us to that end Deut. 5. v. 1. Moyses called all Israël and sayd to them heare Israël the statutes which I speake