similitudes of true things similitudines auri with studs or points of silver id est scintillis quibusdam spiritualis intelligentiae that is points spangles or sparkles of precious and spirituall meaning For example Aarons mitre and his breast-plate of judgement engraven with Urim and Thummim and his golden bells were similitudines auri similitudes of gold or golden similitudes and the studs or points of silver that is sparkles or rayes of spirituall truth in them were Christ his three offices His Priestly represented by the breast-plate His Princely by the mitre His Propheticall by the bells Againe in the breast-plate of Aaron there were set in rowes twelve precious stones here were similitudes of gold or golden similitudes and the studs of silver that is sparkles or rayes of spirituall meaning were the l Apoc. 21.14 twelve Apostles laid as precious stones in the foundation of the heavenly Jerusalem that is the Church Take yet a third example in the Arke there were the two m Heb. 9.4 Tables and the golden of Manna and the rod that had budded these were similitudines auri golden similitudes and the puncta argenti that is the cleere and evident points of spirituall truth in them are the three notes of the true Church 1 The Word or the Old and New Testament signified by the two Tables 2 The Sacraments prefigured in the golden pot of Manna 3 Ecclesiasticall discipline shadowed by Aarons Rod. Thus I might take off the cover of all the legall types and shew what lieth under them what liquor the golden vessell containeth what mysteries the precious robes involve what sacraments their figures what ablutions their washings what table their Altars what gifts their oblations what host their sacrifices pointed unto The Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes observeth such an admirable correspondency betweene these things that in this respect the whole Scripture may be likened to one long similitude the protasis whereof or first part is in the Old Testament the antapodosis or second part in the New For in the Old as the Apostle testifieth there were n Heb. 9.23.24 similitudes of true things but in the New we finde the truth of those similitudes Which if our new Sectaries of the precisian or rather o Mr. Whittall Bradburn and their followers circumcision cut had seriously thought upon they would not like Aesops dog let fall the substance by catching at the shadow they would not be so absurd as to goe about to bring the aged Spouse of Christ to her festraw againe and reduce all of us her children to her p Gal. 4.2.3 nonage under the law they would not be so mad as to keepe new moones and Jewish Sabbaths after the Sunne of righteousnesse is risen so long agoe and hath made us an everlasting Sabbath in heaven These silly Schismatickes doe but feed upon the scraps of the old Ebionites of whom q Hay hist sac l. 3. Ebionitae pauperes interpretantur verè sensu pauperes ceremonias adhuc legis custodientes Haymo out of Eusebius writeth thus The Ebionites according to the Hebrew Etymologie of their name are interpreted poore and silly and so indeed they are in understanding who as yet keepe the ceremonies of the old Law Nay rather they licke the Galathians vomit and therefore I thinke fit to minister unto them the purge prescribed by the r Gal. 3.1 2 3. Apostle O foolish Galathians who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath beene evidently set forth crucified among you This onely would I learne of you received yee the Spirit by the workes of the Law or by the hearing of faith Are yee so foolish having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh Behold I ſ Gal. 5 2. Paul testifie unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing we may adde If you keepe the Jewish Sabbath or abstain from swines flesh out of conscience and in obedience to the ceremoniall Law Christs flesh shall profit you nothing if you abstaine from bloud in any such respect Christs bloud shall profit you nothing For I testifie againe saith St. Paul to every man that is circumcised that he is become a debter to the whole Law And will they not yet learne that Mosaicall rites and ceremonies were at severall times 1. Mortales or moriturae 2. Mortuae 3. Mortiferae They were mortales at their first constitution mortuae that is dead at Christs death and now mortiferae deadly to all that observe them Will they put off the long white robes washed in the bloud of the Lambe and shrowd themselves with the old rags or as St. Paul termeth them beggarly rudiments of the Law If they are so minded I leave them and fill up this Border with the words of Saint t Ser. 7. Antiqua observatio novo tollitur sacramento hostia in hostiam transiit sanguinem sanguis excludit legalis festivitas dum mutatur impletur Leo The ancient rite is taken away by a new Sacrament one host passeth into another bloud excludeth bloud and the Legall festivity is fulfilled in that it is changed The second exposition of this Scripture which understandeth the golden borders and silver studs of the glorious and pompous splendour of the Christian Church seemeth to come neerer unto the letter faciemus wee will make thee the verbe in the future tense evidently implyeth a promise or prophesie and the sense of the whole may be illustrated by this or the like Paraphrase O glorious Spouse of Christ and blessed Mother of us all who art compassed with a straight chaine about thy necke that suffereth thee not to breathe freely being confined to the narrow limits of Judea in the fulnesse of time the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in and in stead of a straight chaine of gold or small string of pearle we will make thee large borders we will environ thee with Christian auditories and congregations as it were borders of gold and these borders of gold shall be set out and supported with studs of silver that is enriched with temporall endowments and upheld by regall authority u Esay 49.23 King shall bee thy nursing fathers and Queenes shall be thy nursing mothers Nay such shall be thy honour and power that thou shalt binde Kings with x Psal 149.8 chaines and Nobles with linkes of iron who for their ransome shall offer unto thee store of gold to make thee borders and silver for studs Which prophesie seemed to have been fulfilled about the dayes of Constantine or a little after when such was the sumptuous statelinesse of Christian Churches and so rich the furniture thereof that it dazled the eyes of the Heathen Foelix the Emperours Treasurer blessing himselfe when hee beheld the Church vessels and vestments saying En qualibus vasis ministratur Mariae filio See what plate the sonne of Mary is served
him Apoc. 1.7 even they that nailed him to the Crosse and pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall mourne before him Yea and Amen then he shall bring or send forth judgement unto victory He brought forth judgement in his life by preaching the Gospel in his owne person and he sent it forth after his death by the ministery of his Apostles and doth still by propagating the Church but hee bringeth not forth judgement unto victory in the Evangelists phrase because this his judgement is much oppressed the light of his truth smoothered the pure doctrine of the Gospel suppressed the greater part of the Kings of the earth and Potentates of this world refusing to submit their scepter to his Crosse and saying as it is in St. Lukes Gospel Luke 17.14 Wee will not have this man to reigne over us but when the sonne of man shall display his banner in the clouds and the winds shall have breathed out their last gaspes and the sea and the waters shall roare when heaven and earth shall make one great bonefire when the stage of this world shall be removed and all the actors in it shall put off their feigned persons and guises and appeare in their owne likenesse when the man of sinne 2 Thes 2.3 8. that exalteth himselfe above all that is called God shall be fully revealed and after consumed with the spirit of Christs mouth and be destroyed by the brightnesse of his comming then he shall suddenly confound the rest of his enemies Atheists Hypocrites Jewes Turkes Idolatrous Gentiles and Heretikes and breake the neckes of all that stubbornly resist him and then the truth shall universally prevaile and victoriously triumph All this variety of descant which you heare is but upon two notes a higher and a lower the humility and the majesty the infirmity and the power the obscurity and the glory the mildnesse and the severity of our Lord and Saviour his humility upon earth his majesty in heaven his infirmities in the dayes of his flesh and his power since hee sitteth at the right hand of his Father the obscurity and privacy of his first comming and solemnity of his second his mildnesse and clemency during the time of grace and mercy and his wrath and severity at the day of Judgement and Vengeance Ecce tibiâ cecinimus vobis Behold out of this Scripture I have piped unto you recording the pleasing notes of our Redeemers mildnesse and mercy who never brake the bruised reed nor quenched the smoaking flaxe now I am to mourne unto you sounding out the dolefull notes of his justice and severity which shall one day bring forth judgement unto victory But before I set to the sad tune pricked before mee in the rules of my Text I am to entreat you to listen a while till I shall have declared unto you the harmony of the Prophet Esay and the Evangelist S. Matthew the rather because there seemeth some dissonancy and jarre between them For in Esay we reade Esay 42.3 Hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth that is give sentence according to truth but in St. Matthew He shall send forth judgement unto victory which importeth somewhat more than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. that the judgement he shall send forth viam inveniet aut faciet shall either finde way or force it take place or make place no man or divell being able to withstand it Besides this discord in their notes there is a sweet straine in the Prophet he shall not faile Verse 4. nor bee discouraged till hee have set judgement on the earth left out in the Evangelist To the first exception the Jesuit Maldonat saith that the Syriack word signifieth both truth and victory and that Saint Matthew wrote not in pure Hebrew but in the Hebrew then currant which was somewhat alloyed and embased with other languages which if it were granted unto him as it is not by those who defend that the Greeke in the New Testament is the originall yet the breach is not fully made up For still the originall Hebrew in Esay and the Greeke in Saint Matthew which hath been ever held authenticall are at odds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebrew signifying truth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Greeke signifying victory and not truth I grant the truth of Christ is most victorious and hath subdued all the false gods of the Heathen as the Arke laid Dagon on his face and the rod of Aaron devoured all the rods of the Magicians yet truth and victory are not all one A weake Judge may bring forth judgement unto truth yet not unto victory as on the contrary a potent and corrupt Judge may bring forth judgement unto victory yet not unto truth Tully in a bad cause prevailed against Oppianicus by casting dust in the Judges eyes And Aeschines prevailed not against Ctesiphon in a good cause Right is often overcome by might and sometimes by the sleight of a cunning Advocate for the false part To the second objection Beza answereth that these words that hee will not faile nor be discouraged till he hath set judgement on the earth were anciently in St. Matthew but of late through the carelesnesse of some transcriber from whose copy ours were drawne are left out But sith this Verse is wanting in all the copies of Saint Matthew now extant neither can Beza bring good proofe of any one in which this Verse was ever found it is not safe to lay any such imputation upon the first transcribers of St. Matthewes Gospel whereby a gap may be opened to Infidels and Heretickes to cavell at the impeachable authority of the holy Scriptures in the originall languages A safe and easie way to winde out of these perplexed difficulties is to acknowledge that the Evangelist who wrote by the same spirit wherewith the Prophet Esay was inspired tyed nor himselfe precisely to the Prophets words but fitteth the Prophets sense to his owne purpose and what the Prophet delivered in two Verses he contracteth into one For what is hee shall bring forth judgement unto truth and he shall not faint nor be discouraged till hee hath done it but that he shall doe it effectually and powerfully and what is that but he shall send forth judgement unto victory Hee shall send forth Cal. in Mat. 1. Hoc verbum educere quo utitur Propheta significat officium Christi esse Regnum Dei quod tum inclusum erat in angulo Judeae propagare in totum orbem This phrase reacheth forth unto us a twofold observation the first touching the extent the second touching the freedome of this judgement here spoken of By judgement is here meant the Kingdome of Christ which must not bee confined to Jury nor bounded within the pale of Palaestine but hee sent forth that is propagated and spread over the whole world according to the prophecy of the Psalmist a Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send a rod of thy strength out
eleven Apostles or to more than five hundred brethren that saw him all at one time nay what to more than five millions of Confessors and Martyrs signing the truth of it with their blood and shewing the power of it as well by the wonders which they wrought in his name as the invincible patience wherewith they endured all sorts of torments and death it selfe for his name I might produce the testimony of Josephus the learned Jew and tell you of Paschasinus his holy Well that fils of his owne accord every Easter day and the annuall rising of certaine bodies of Martyrs in the sands of Egypt and likewise of a Phoenix in the dayes of Tyberius much about the time of our Lords resurrection rising out of her owne ashes m Lactant. in Poem Ipsa sibi proles suus pater suus haeres Nutrix ipsa sui semper alumna sibi Ipsa quidem sed non eadem quia ipsa nec ipsa Eternam vitam mortis adepta bono But because the authours of these relations and observations are not beyond exception I will rather conclude this point with an argument of Saint n De civit Dei l. 22. c. 5. Haec duo incredibilia scil resurrectionem nostri corporis rem â—am incredibilem mundum esse crediturum idem dominus antequam vel unum horuÌ„ fieret ambo futura esse praedixit unum duorum incredibilium jam factum videmus ut quod erat incredibile credeâ—et mundus curid quod reliquum est desperatur Austines to which our owne undoubted experience gives much strength The same Spirit of God saith hee which foretold the resurrection of Christ foretold also that the doctrine thereof should bee publickly professed and believed in the world and the one was altogether as unlikely as the other But the latter wee see in all ages since Christs death and at this day accomplished in the celebration of this feast why then should any man doubt of the former The Apostles saw the head living but not the mysticall body the Catholike Church of all places and ages We have read in the histories of all ages since Christ and at this day see the Catholike Church spread over the whole face of the earth which is Christs body how can wee then but believe the head to bee living which conveigheth life to all the members I have set before you the glasse of the resurrection in the figures of predictions of the Old Testament and the face it selfe in the history of the New may it please you now to cast a glance of your eye upon the Image or picture thereof in our rising from the death of sinne to the life of grace All Christs actions and passions as they are meritorious for us so they are some way exemplary unto us and as none can bee assured of the benefit of Christs birth unlesse hee bee borne againe by water and the Spirit nor of his death unlesse hee bee dead to sinne nor of his buriall unlesse hee have buried his old Adam so neither of his resurrection unlesse hee bee risen from dead workes and continually walketh in newnesse of life See you how the materiall colours in a glasse window when the sun-beames passe through it produce the like colours but lesse materiall and therefore called by the Philosophers intentionales spiritales on the next wall no otherwise doth the corporall resurrection of Christ produce in all true believers a representation thereof in their spirituall which Saint John calleth o Apoc. 20.5 the first resurrection Saint Paul p Heb. 6.1 repentance from dead workes Sinnes especially heinous and grievous proceeding from an evill habit are called dead workes and such sinners dead men because they are deprived of the life of God have no sense of true Religion they see not Gods workes they heare not his Word they savour not the things of God they feele no pricke of conscience they breath not out holy prayers to God nor move towards heaven in their desires but lye rotting in their owne filthinesse and corruption The causes which moved the Jewes so much to abhorre dead corpses ought to be more prevalent with us carefully to shunne and avoid those that are spiritually dead in sinnes and transgressions they were foure 1 Pollution 2 Horrour 3 Stench 4 Haunting with evill spirits 1 Pollution That which touched a dead corpse was by the law uncleane neither can any come nigh these men much lesse embrace them in their bosome without morall pollution and taking infection in their soules from them 2 Horrour Nothing so ghastly as the sight of a dead corpse the representation whereof oft-times in the Theater appalleth not onely the spectatours but also the actours and yet this sight is not so dreadfull to the carnall man as the sight of those that are spiritually dead I speake of foule notorious and scandalous offenders to them that feare God Saint John would not stay in the same bath with Cerinthus and certainely 't is a most fearefull thing to bee under the same roofe with blasphemous heretickes and profane persons who have no feare of God before their eyes 3 Stench The smell of a carkasse is not so offensive to the nostrils as the stench of gluttony drunkennesse and uncleannesse in which wicked men wallow is loathsome to God and all good men 4 Haunting with evil spirits We read in scriptures that the men that were possest of the divel came q Mat. 8.28 out of the tombs and graves and we find by dayly experience the like of these rather carkasses than men that the devill hankereth about them and entereth into their heart as he did into Judas filling them with all wickednesse and uncleannesse After they have exhausted their bodies with incontinency their estate with riotous living and have lost first their conscience and after their credit they fall into the deepest melancholy upon which Sathan works and puts them into desperate courses r Psal 73.19 O how suddenly doe they consume perish and come to a fearefull end Me thinkes I heare some say wee heard of places haunted by evill spirits in time of popery are there now any such not such as then were solitary houses ruined pallaces or Churches in which fearefull noyses are said to have beene heard and walking spirits to have beene met For at the thunder of the Gospell Sathan fell like lightning from heaven and hath left those his old holds but places of a contrary condition such where is the greatest concourse of people I meane profane Theaters disorderly Tavernes Ale-houses places of gaming and lewdnesse yea prisons also which were intended for the restraint of wickednesse and punishment of vice are made refuges of Malefactors and schooles of all impiety and wickednesse Quis custodes custodiet ipsos As in the hot sands of Africa where wilde beasts of divers sorts meet to drinke strange monsters are begotten which gave occasion to that proverbe Å¿ Eras
word of God both conceived by the holy Ghost and brought forth in sacred sheets that as the one consisteth of two natures humane and divine visible and invisible so the other of two senses externall and internall externall and visible in the shadow or letter internall and invisible in the substance or spirituall interpretation either tropologicall or allegoricall or anagogicall as the learned distinguish Doth e Sen. ad Lucil. ep 23. Levium metallorum fructus in summo est illa opulentissima sunt quorum in alto latet vena assiduè pleniùs responsura fodienti experience teach us that the richest metals lie deepest hid in the earth Shall we not think it very agreeable to divine wisdome so to lay up heavenly knowledge in Scriptures that the deeper we dig into them by diligent meditation the veine of precious truth should prove still the richer Surely howsoever some Divines affect an opinion of judgement it is judgement in opinion onely by allowing of no sense of Scripture nor doctrine from thence except that which the text it selfe at the first proposing offereth to their conceit yet give me leave to tell them that they are but like Apothecaries boyes which gather broad leaves and white flowers on the top of the water not like cunning Divers who fetch precious pearles from the bottome of the deepe St. f L. 2. confes c. 31. Sensit omnino ille cogitavit cum ea scriberet quicquid hic veri potuimus invenire quicquid nos non potuimus aut nondum possumus tamen in t is inveniri potest Austine the most judicious of all the Fathers is of a different judgement from them herein For he confidently affirmeth that the Pen-man of the holy Ghost of purpose so set downe the words that they might be capable of multiplicitie of senses and that he intended and meant all such divine truthes as we can finde in the words and such also as we have not yet or cannot finde and yet by diligent search may be found in them Now as the whole texture of Scripture in regard of the variety of senses may not unfitly be likened to the Kings daughters g Psal 45.14 raiment of needle-worke wrought about with divers colours so especially this of the Canticles wherein the allegoricall sense because principally intended may be called literall and the literall or historicall as intended in the second place allegoricall Behold here as in a faire samplar an admirable patterne of drawne-worke besides King Solomon in his royall robes and his Queene in a vesture of gold divers birds expressed to the life as the white h Cant. 5.12 ver 11. â— 2.2 ver 13. c. 4.14 c. 2.1 c. 5.14 c. 1.17 c. 5.15 c. 1.10 Dove washed with milke and the blacke Raven divers trees as the thorne the fig-tree and the vine the myrrhe spikenard saffron calamus cinamon with all trees of frankincense divers flowers as the Rose and the Lilly divers precious stones as the Berill and the Saphir lastly divers artificiall woâ—kes as Houses of Cedar Rafters of Firre Tents of Kedar Pillars of Marble set in sockets of fine gold rowes of Jewels Chaines and here in my text Borders of gold and Studs of silver Sanctius and Delrio upon my text observe that Solomon alludeth to the i She shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold 13. verse of the 68. Psalme and what the Father prophesied of the Spouse the Sonne promiseth to her viz. to make her borders or as the Hebrew signifieth also k Brightman in Cant. Turtures aureas alii murenulas aliilineas septuaginta similitudines turtles of gold enameled with silver Howbeit it seemeth more probable that these words have a reference to the 9. verse of this chapter and that Solomon continueth his former comparison of a troup of horses in Pharaoh's Charriot and thus the borders and chains in the 10th and 11th verses are linked to the 9th O my beloved and beautifull Spouse as glorious within through the lustre of divine vertues and graces as thou art resplendent without in jewels and precious stones to what shall I liken thee or whereunto shall I compare thee Thou art like a troupe of milke white horses in Pharaoh's princely Charriot adorned with rich trappings and most precious capparisons For as their head and cheekes are beset with rowes of stones so thy cheekes are decked with jewels that hang at thine eares as their neckes shine with golden raines so thy necke is compassed with chaines of gold and pearle and as their breasts are adorned with golden collars quartered into borders enamelled with silver so that thou must herein also resemble them wee will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver to hang about thy necke and downe thy breast Thus much of the letter or rather letters of my text which you see are all golden flourished over with strikes or as Junius translateth the words points of silver now let us endevour to spell the meaning As artificiall pictures drawne by the pencill of a skilfull Opticke in the same part of the frame or table according to divers sites and aspects represent divers things looke one way upon them you shall see a man another way a lion so it is in this admirable piece drawne by the pencill of Solomon according to divers aspects it presenteth to our view divers things looke one way on it and there appeareth a man to wit King Solomon looke another way and there appeareth a lion the lion of the tribe of Judah looke downeward upon the history and you shall see Solomon with a crowne of gold and his Queen in her wedding garment looke upward to the allegory and you shall see Christ crowned with thornes and his Spouse the Church in a mourning weed and under the one written a joyfull Epithalamium under the other a dolefull Elegy Agreeable to which double picture drawne with the selfe same lines and colours wee may consider the chaines and borders of gold in my text either as habiliments of Solomons Queene or ornaments of Christs Spouse If wee consider them in the first sense they shew his royall magnificence and pompe if in the second either they signifie the types and figures of the Jewish Synagogue under the law or the large territories and rich endowments of the Christian Church under the Gospell k Faciemus tibi similitudines aurâ— cum puncturis argenti Origen who taketh the seventy Interpreters for his guide thus wadeth through the allegory The Angels saith he or Prophets speake here to the Spouse before her husband Christ Jesus came in the flesh to kisse her with the kisses of his lips and their speech is to this effect O beautifull Spouse wee cannot make thee golden ornaments we are not so rich thy husband when bee commeth will bestow such on thee but in the meane time wee will make thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
a threefold inconvenience of sinfull courses because they who pursue them reape no fruit from them sustaine much losse by them come to an evill end through them for the End The end is taken 1 Either physically 2 Or morally Either for the finall cause or for the finall effect Death is not the finall cause of sin but the finall effect for no man sinneth for death but dieth for sinne Others distinguish of ends which are 1 Intermediate as wealth honour or pleasure 2 Ultimate as happinesse Death say they is not the intermediate end but profit or delight but it is alwayes the ultimate end of sinne unrepented of A third sort make a difference betweene the end 1 Peccantis of the sinner that is the end which the sinner intendeth 2 Peccati of sinne that is the end to which sinne tendeth this distinction seemeth to mee coincident with the first Death say they is not the end of the sinner but of the sinne not the end which the sinner propoundeth to himselfe but the end which his sinne bringeth him unto Withall they acutely observe that the Apostle saith not the end of those men is death but the end Of those things By those things hee understandeth the state of the unregenerate or those sinnes which were rife among the Romanes and are reckoned up chap. 1. which may bee reduced to three heads 1 Impiety against God 2 Iniquity against their neighbours 3 Impurity against their owne body and soule yea and against nature also 1 Impiety with this hee brandeth them vers 21. 2 Iniquity with this hee chargeth them vers 29. 3 Impurity with this hee shameth them vers 24 27. Of those things the end is Death The second death say some for he that hath no part in the first resurrection hath his portion in the second death A double death saith Saint Ambrose à morte enim ad mortem transitur for a sinner from one death passeth to another Others more fully thus The end of those things is death 1 Of your estate by ruine of your fortunes 2 Of your good name by tainting your reputation 3 Of your body by separation from the soule 4 Of your soule by separation from God The most naturall interpretation and most agreeable to this place is That by continuing in a sinfull course all our life wee incurre the sentence penalty and torment of eternall death for that death is meant here which is opposed to eternall life Verse 23. which can bee no other than eternall Yea but is sinne in generall so strong a poyson that the least quantity of it bringeth death and that eternall are all sinnes mortall that is in their owne nature deserving eternall death It seemeth so for hee speaketh indefinitely and without any limitation and as before hee implyed all sinne to bee unfruitfull and shamefull so also now to bee deadly What fruit had ye in those things that is in any of those things whereof ye are now ashamed Now it is certain that the regenerate are ashamed of all sins therefore in like manner it followeth that the end of all sinnes is death For the Apostle here compareth the state of sinne and state of grace in generall and as hee exhorteth to all good workes so hee endevoureth to beat downe all sinne as unfruitfull shamefull and deadly See what will ensue hereupon first that there are no veniall sinnes secondly no pardons for them in purgatory thirdly no fee for pardons If all sinnes are mortall and which all Papists will they nill they must confesse no man is free from all sinne for t Jam. 3. ◠in many things wee offend all saith Saint James and u 1 Joh. 1.10 if we say that we have no sin wee deceive our selves saith Saint John what will become of their Romish doctrines concerning the possibility of fulfilling the law the merit of congruity or condignity and works of supererogation Si nulla peccata venialia nulla venalia if no sinnes are veniall then no sale to bee made of sinnes no utterance of pardons no use of the Church treasury no gold to bee got by the Monks new found Alchymy Yee will say this is but a flourish let us therefore come to the sharpe Mitte hebetes gladios pugnetur acutis The speech of Cornelius Celsus the Physitian is much commended by Bodine Nec aegrotorum morbi nec languentium vulnera dicendi luminibus curantur Soft words cure no wounds wee may say more truely soft words give no wounds and therefore are not for this service of truth against errour and heresie up in armes against her * Hom. Il. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hector truely told Paris that his golden harpe and purfled haire and beautifull painting would stand him in no stead in the x Sen. ep 51. In primo deficit pulvere ille unctus et nitidus field it is not the wrought scabbard but the strong blade nor the bright colour but the sharpe edge of it that helpeth in danger and hurteth the enemy In which regard I hold it fittest to handle schoole points scholastically in tearmes rather significant than elegant and labour more for force of argument than ornaments of speech First then after their plaine method I will explicate the state of the question next meet with the adversaries objections and last of all produce arguments for the truth and make them good against all contrary cavils and frivolous exceptions Sins may bee tearmed veniall or mortall two manner of wayes 1 Either comparatè in comparison of others 2 Or simplicitèr simply and in themselves and that three manner of wayes Either 1 Ex naturâsuâ of their owne nature 2 Ex gratiâ by favour or indulgence 3 Ex eventu in the issue or event Wee deny not but that sinnes may bee tearmed veniall comparatè that is more veniall than others and if not deserving favour and pardon yet lesse deserving punishment than others Secondly veniall ex eventu or in the issue wee acknowledge all the sinnes of the Elect to bee and some sinnes of the Reprobate also or veniall ex gratiâ that is by Gods favour and clemency all the question is whether any sinne of the Elect or Reprobate bee veniall ex suâ naturâ that is such as in its owne nature deserveth not the punishment of death but either no punishment at all or at least temporary onely The reformed Churches generally resolve that all sinnes in their owne nature are mortall the y Bellar. de amis grat stat pec c. 9. Qui dixerit fatue reus erit gehennae ignis ex his tale conficitur argumentum manifestum convitium facit reum gehennae ignis non item subita iracundia c. Romanists will have very many to be veniall Their allegations are chiefly these the first out of Matthew 5.22 Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother Racha shall bee in