their prudent shall be hid v. 14. There is a spiritual as well as a carnal drunkenness and God keep all Christians especially the Ministers of Christ from them both for either is enough to make them scandalous Ministers in Gods if not in mans account But of the two the spiritual drunkenness is the more sinful though the carnal drunkenness be the more shameful The carnal drunkard is a beast but the spiritual drunkard is a Devil Noah repented and recovered of his carnal but Ham that mocked his Father never repented nor recovered of his spiritual drunkenness I would to God our proud malitious self-justitiaries but others Censors would seriously consider this undeniable though perhaps unwelcome Truth who in this particular follow the example as in other the doctrine of the Jesuites and deal with sober grave learned Religious Divines their Brethren at least if not their Fathers as Bellarmine did with Chemnitius reproaching their persons instead of answering their Arguments or reverencing their Functions That by perswading the common rout they are scandalons Ministers they may deprive Gods Church of the office Gods people of the benefit and God himself of the glory of their ministry This is such a kind of spiritual intoxication as besotteth not only the Head but also the Heart destroying all true temperance and sobriety which is therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because it guards and preserves and keeps entire the very mind the Heart and the Soul For I pray was that Synagogue of the Libertins to be reputed a company of sober Ecclesiasticks who not being able to resist the wisedome and the Spirit by which St. Stephen spake suborned men stirred up the people and set up false witnessess which said This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words Act. 7. as if they had said in our new stile for it is sharp and cuts deep He is a common swearer Or were not those Jews worse then drunk who because St. John Baptist observed a secure course of life said He had a Divil and because our blessed Saviour came eating and drinking said He was a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber a friend of publicans and sinners l. Matt. 11. That is say our new Merchants for they maâ—… sale of Gods glory mens innocency and their own consciences He is a Papist or He is a common drunkard They who thus unjustly and unconscionably asperse Orthodox Ministers that by taking away their Innocency they may also take away not only their Patrimony but also their Authority and their Ministry are spiritual drunkards besotted either with pride or with malice or with coveteousness And the Holy Ghost speaks against them as drunkards saying of them Behold they Belch out with their mouth Swords are in their lips for who say they doth hear Psal. 59. 7. Behold they Belch out with their mouth what can drunkards do more and they say Who doth hear what do such arrant sots say less But thou O Lord shall laugh at them though they laugh at all the World besides Thou shall have all the Heathen in derision thou accountest them no better them Heathen though they account themselves the only good Christians or if you please the only true Jesuites as if no other but themselves did truly know or love or Preach Jesus Christ he that is of this proud perswasion or rather of this perverse and poysonsome disposition may be called a Jesuite whether he pretend to be a Papist or a Protestant But 't is not bad language can make any man a bad Divine save him that speaks it Bene facere malè audire Regium est To do well and to hear ill is the part of a good King And by the same reason To say well that is boldly to rebuke vice and constantly to preach the truth and to hear ill is the part of a good Divine Black-mouthed calumnies stick a very little while upon their names that patiently bear them but a long time nay for ever unless they be washed away by the tears of repentance upon their souls that malitiously use them such arguments suddenly confute themselves but eternally condemne their Authors 10. Therefore Bellarmine relyes not upon this argument but findeth out another saying Nam apertissimè Hebraea sic se habent Voca nunc si est respondens tibi ad aliquem de sanctis respice sanè si quaeritur verbum expressum hic expressissimum est Bell. lib. 2. de Verbo Dei cap. 12. The sense of the Hebrew is plainly this Call now if any will answer thee and look to some one among the Saints If we would have an express Text to prove the Invocation of Saints this is most express There 's no calumny in this assertion concerning the Person but sure there is concerning the cause For if this Text in the Hebrew be so express for the Invocation of Saints how comes it to pass that 〈◊〉 of the Hebrew Doctors did so understand it for Ezra and Jarchi explain it of Holy men here on earth and none of the Hebrew nation did so practise it For all the world cannot prove that the Jews did Invocate Saints or Angels so that either the Jews were inexcusable for not performing this express duty of the Text or Bellarmine is inexcusable for calling it so And indeed himselves gives us two strong presumptions to say that though he did call yet he did not believe it to be an express duty of the Text The one is taken from him as a Critick for in his Hebrew Grammar Par. 2. cap. 4. He reckons the pronoune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in this place among the Interrogatives and consequently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot here be rightly interpreted ad aliquem by way of command or concession but ad quem by way of question or of Interrogation not to one of the Saints but to which of the Saints The other is taken from him as a Divine For in his first book de Beat. Sanct. c. 19. v. 2. he saith plainly there was no invocation of Saints before Christs ascension into Heaven Quia ante id tempus sancti non videbant Deum non fuit consuetum in veteri Testamento ut diceretuâ—… 〈◊〉 Abraham ora pro me Because before that time the Saints did not see God it was not usual under the Old Testament for any to say O Saint Abraham pray for me As a Critick he tells us the Hebrew words were properly to be interpreted by way of Interrogation As a Divine he tells us the Jews did not take them for a command or injunction for then whether the Saints did see God or not they must have been invocated Therefore 't is only as a Disputant that he tells This was a most express Text for the Invocation of Saints sure Pineda his fellow-Jesuit thought it not so for he saith these words had as many several interpretations as thy had several interpreters Tot interpretationes quot interpretum capita and by cleaving to
of this Truth taking this for their chiefest Topicks for Maxima locus Maximae Sirs ye know that by this craft we have our wealth Acts 19. 25. For no other reason but covetousness can easily be alledged why the same men should so mainly cry up the Imputation of their own and their Saints imaginary merits and righteousness to the maintaining and filling the supposed Treasure of the Church and yet so mainly cry down the imputation of our blessed Saviour's real and allsufficient merits and righteousness to the exhausting and emptying the Treasures of the people Thus it is clear that pleasure in unrighteousness hath hitherto opposed the Truth in its doctrine making Mammons Chaplains not over zealous to serve God in searching out his Truth that they may believe it or over zealous to serve themselves in not preaching a Truth which they do believe Again why should so many other formidable Truths and reasonings concerning righteousness temperance and judgment to come in and from the mouth of the same St. Paul make a Heathen tremble and not once move so many confident Christians but that this heavenly Truth of Justification by Faith hath been hitherto amongst them not rightly believed or poisoned in its belief and what venome can poison the operations of the soul but onely that of the Serpent the venome of sin turning the grace of our God into wâ—…n onness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into petulancy insolency and unsufferable contentiousness for so the Greek Orator hath joyned these together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isocr in Panath. contending against not for the Faith once delivered to the Saints or which is all one denying the onely Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Jud. 4. Such men do falsely pretend Faith in Christ who do not deny ungodliness and worldly lusts who do not live soberly righteously and godly in this present world for they cannot look for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ The Grace of God which bringeth salvation to others will bring the great damnation upon them because they resist that grace betray that Saviour and belye their own Souls For most certainly the greatest miscreants that are would break off their sins by repentance and their iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor if they did with the eye of Faith see a watcher and an Holy one coming down from heaven and saying Hew the Tree down and destroy it Dan. 4. Or if they did hear with an honest and good heart and Faith cometh by no other hearing that word of Christs forerunner in his first coming to save us which is therefore the fittest to put us in mind of his second coming to judge us O generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the Tree Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Matth. 3. For surely that Faith cannot justifie the sinner which cannot justifie it self a Faith that hath eyes and seeth not the watcher the Holy one coming down from heaven that hath ears and heareth not the crier the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths strait A Faith that lets men profess Christâ—…ans but live and act Infidels hardning their hearts stopping their ears closing their eyes lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their eares and understand with their hearts and should be converted and their Saviour the Physitian of Souls should heal them Thus it is also clear That pleasure in unrighteousness hath hitherto poisoned this Truth in its belief making men take phansie for Faith and think themselves in Heaven by their perswasion whiles they are even in Hâ—…ll by theit affections and by their actions not regarding that word which they cannot deny dare not gainsay If ye were Abraham's children who is the Father of the faithful ye would do the works of Abraham Joh. 8. 39. 5. For God gave us not the Articles of our Faith to be like Pharaohs lean kine to eat up the rules of his Commandments the fat-fleshed and well-favoured kine such as were fit for Sacrifices for himself much less such as were offered to himself for Sacrifices Therefore those can be no Gospel Instructions which teach men to devour widows houses nay to devour Gods own house and not onely his house but also his glory and worship under pretence of Faith for of these starveliug Documents we may justly say now and others will be able to say to the worlds end what is said of the starveling kine And when they had eaten them up even all the fat Kine that came up out of the river and fed in the medow This is all the fatness of Sea and Land which their Forefathers had consecrated to the Service and Honour of God it could not be known that they had eaten them but they were still ill-favoured as at the beginning Gen. 41. 21. He that hath commanded us to sanctifie publick Persons as Mininisters publick times as Sabbaths or Festivals publick places as Churches to his own worship will not cannot justifie those who sacrilegiously rob and persecute his Ministers mock and suppress his Sabbaths revile and profane his Churches For it were very strange if such men who are angerly reproved and openly branded for sacrilegious profane blasphemous persons by the Spirit of God should if they still persist in their Sacriledge profaneness and blasphemy be acquitted and absolved for righteous and innocent persons by the Son of God The Spirit of God calleth them enemies adversaries and such as hate him Psal. 14. Therefore surely the Son of God will not make them Saints accept them as friends reward them as servants Such a devouring Gospel as this was never of Gods teaching though it hath been of mens practising to the discountenanceing of Gods Truth and to their own shame and destruction that have practised it For God will never uphold those men in his Truth who discourage others from embracing it 6. Yet as long as Gods Truths are infinitely above all mens discouragements neither are your Priests excusable if they will not embrace them nor ours if they do forsake them notwithstanding both be as much discouraged as either open enemies or false friends and brethren can discourage them What shall the Sons of God come no more to present themselves before their Father because Satan will coâ—…e also among them to present himself before the Lord Shall the the Holy Angels be out of love with their own light because the Devil himself can and doth also appear an Angel of light no more may we be out of love with this heavenly Truth of being righteous by the righteousness of our blessed Redeemer because Hypocrites and Atheists have made it an occasion of or a pretence for their
the whole But take heed whiles you say so that they who are against you and deny Purgatory tax you not of blasphemy for saying that which is not in being is a part of Christs Kingdom for to make Christ a King in Utopia in a place which is not is to make him no King And that they who are with you and affect purgatory tax you not of infidelity for believing that Christ hath taken possession of his whole Kingdom upon no better grounds then upon a meer uncertainty 6. For even your own Bellarmine though in his first Book de Purgatorio he writ so confidently as if all men were bound to believe Purgatory that will be saved yet in his second Book de circumstantiis Purgatorii He writes so ambiguously as to enfeeble any unprejudicate mans belief I will give you some few instances and then leave you to judge what small reason he had for his so great confidence Cap. 6. de loco Purgatorii He saith The Church hath not defined in what place Purgatory is for that the purgation of souls may be in many places and some are purged where they sinned but after several other opinions he seems to like that best which placeth Purgatory in the bowels of the earth because of several eruptions of fire out of the earth in several parts of the world Be it so if we must needs have a Purgatory that they may have the greatest share in it and terrour from it who were once the first inventers and now are the chiefest maintainers of it even the Italian Monks and Fryers for the most notorious eruptions of fire in these parts of the world are either in Italy as at Mount Vesuvius or not far from it as at Mount Aetna in Sicily Cap. 9. De tempore quo durat Purgatorium Of the time that Purgatory lasteth which is as uncertain as the place Quando ab hoc loco in coelum avolant res est incertissima How long the souls must stay in Purgatory before they can get to heaven is a matter of the greatest uncertainty Cap. 10. 11. Qualis sit purgatorii poena The quality of the Torment in Purgatory is as uncertain as either the time or place De poenâ Purgatorii quaedam sunt certa quaedam dubia As concerning the punishment of Purgatory some things are certain some are doubtfull Certa sunt Carentia visionis poena sensus poena ignis T is certain saith he the souls in Purgatory are under the punishment of loss for want of the beatifical vision and are under the punishment of sense by torment of fire Do they want the beatificall vision say then God hath thus sentenced them at their particular Judgement Depart from me ye cursed and let them hereafter be accounted not blessed but cursed souls not in a Communion with God but in a separation from him yet in saying so remember you bid your best Champion recall even the very subject of this whole Controversie which indeed is the best if not the only way to end it De Ecclesiâ quae est in Purgatorio of the Church which is in Purgatory for that cannot be a part of Gods Church which is in a separation from God And sure I am your Cardinal is beholding to the latter part of this same sentence to prove that souls in Purgatory are under the punishment of sense by fire for he proveth it by these words Ite in ignem aeternum Go into everlasting fire Mat. 25. And why not also prove their punishment of loss in the want of the beatifical vision from the first part of the same sentence Depart from me ye cursed For the same sentence denounceth the judgement of loss and of sense of loss in Depart from me ye cursed and of sense in Go into everlasting fire And we may fancy the one to be Temporarie as well as the other and to belong to righteous souls as much as the other but surely the Text saith both are eternal and belong only to the cursed And indeed t is a strange proof which brings Hell to prove Purgatory yet this is the best he can find in all the Scripture For here he proves that material fire can punish immaterial souls because it was provided to punish the Devil and his Angels which are immaterial spirits But still the proof concerneth only Hell fire so that in plain truth He alledgeth hell to prove Purgatory All the doubt is how he can make it so This proof is yet further enlarged in the next Chapter where he answers some chief doubts concerning Purgatory as whether it be a true real fire and how it can act upon separated souls and both are answered from these words Go ye cursed into everlasting fire Ignem Purgatorii esse corporeum quia in Scripturis passim poena impiorum vocatur Ignis Et regula Theologorum est ut verba Scripturarum accipiantur propriè quando nihil absurdi sequitur The fire of Purgatory is corporeal for commonly in the Scripture the punishment of the wicked is called fire what is the punishment of the wicked to the righteous or must men turn wicked that they may go to Purgatory and it is a rule of Divines That the words of Scripture are to be taken properly if there follow no absurdity and a little after Corpora damnatorum puniuntur igne Mat. 25. Ite in ignem aeternum est autem idem ignis corporum damnatorum spirituum corpore vacantium nam ibidem dicitur qui paratus est diabolo Angelis ejus The bodies of the damned are punished with fire Go into everlasting fire Mat. 25. but it is the same fire which punisheth their bodies and other souls or spirits without bodies as it is said Which is prepared for the Devil and his Angels Pray Sir why should any Christian be taught to desire to go to that fire which was prepared for the Devil and his Angels and if he do once go thither how shall he ever return from thence And yet your Cardinal would have us believe Purgatory that we may have the happiness to go thither and saith if we do not we shall burn for ever in Hell-fire A new Apostle sure he speaks not only so resolutely but likewise so authentically yet not dropt down as the rest from Mount Sion bùt from Mount Sina as we may guess by his Thunder and Lightning Seriously it is a sad thought for all good Christians that any Divine should after Nadab and Abihu dare offer strange fire for God is not well pleased with such an offering But it is a joyful thought for us poor Protestants that this fire of Purgatory is not only a strange but also a false fire for so we are sure it cannot burn us Else it seems after it hath been your Purgatory it should be our Hell However it is palpable That your Cardinals talk only is of Purgatory but his proof is of Hell Thus himself hath brought his certainties concerning
die judicii non ista purgatio quam Doctores ponunt ante diem judicii Mark his words He saith the Doctors not the Apostles had been the Teachers of Purgatory Yet this is the Text your Cardinal most magnifies lib. 1. cap. 5. as fittest to prove both this fire and its fewel both Purgatory and Venial sins though a very learned interpreter of his own Church Erasmus had avowed before that it was not sufficient to prove it either and in truth in that himself hath confessed it to be one of the hardest Texts of all the Scripture unum ex difficillimis he hath in effect discredited his own proof For no Divine may laudably take that Text to prove an Article of Faith whose obscurity is fitter to shew men their ignorance then to remedy it For God doth not oblige any man to an impossibility to believe that which he cannot know or to know that which he cannot understand and therefore to say the place is very obscure and yet to ground an Article of Faith upon it is in effect to say There ought to be a belief where there is not an understanding or there ought to be an understanding where the thing is not to be understood For sure God is not defective in necessaries and therefore if this doctrine had been necessary to salvation he would not have delivered it so obscurely as to leave the unlearned under a most irremediable ignorance which is inconsistent with the knowledge of Faith nor the learned under most inextricable doubts and perplexities which are incompetible with the assent of Faith So that this text makes no more for the belief of Purgatory then the former The third and last Text then alledged to prove Purgatory was that of Mat. 12. to which the forenamed Author answers Non sequitur non remittitur hic neque in futuro ergo utrobique est remissio Quia ex negativis nihil sequitur sed tantum dicitur ad majorem gravitatem peccati blasphemiae It followâ—… not because it is said It shall not be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the world to come that forgiveness may be had both here and there for nothing can follow from meer negatives But this is only spoken by way of aggravation against the sin of blasphemy Thus that judicious man answers this Text and I think you can scarce shew any of your writers that have exceqted against his answers But the very same answers in Peter Martyrs mouth much displease your Cardinal lib. 1. cap. 4. For first he excepts against that part of it That the words were spoken by way of aggravation and tells us That by the same reason we may deny Hell it self and say those other words Go ye cursed into everlasting fire were spoken only by way of aggravation Pray let another add after him that we may as well deny heaven too and say that those words in the Creed I believe the life everlasting were spoken only by way of aggravation that so if we will not have a Purgatory we may not have an Heaven as well as not have an Hell in our Creed But if you think this in forme too irreligious pray think the other so too which caused it and you will not approve your Cardinal as the only Master of Gods Israel who is so ready to teach men to turn Atheists if they will not turn Papists For all the Christian Churches many years before us and most Christian Churches at this day with us have no belief of your Purgatory and yet firmly believe both Heaven and Hell For both are alike contained in the same Article to wit the life everlasting which teacheth us to believe this Truth They that have done good shall go into life everlasting and they that have done evil shall go into everlasting fire But we have no third state of those who have neither done good nor evil but partly good and partly evil Good by avoiding mortal sins or repenting of them but evil by committing venial sins and not repenting of them Or good by repenting but evil by not satisfying And we have no third place for this third state of men to go into a place in which is neither everlasting life by it self nor everlasting fire by it self but a strange kind of medly which is made up partly of life and partly of fire only the life of it is everlasting but the fire of it is temporary not everlasting so yon see we may very well deny Purgatory and yet not so much as doubt of Hell because that very Article which teacheth us to believe everlasting fire teacheth us not to believe temporary fire But your Cardinal hath another exception against this exposition Exaggeratio non debet esse inepta qualis est quum fit partitio uni membro nihil respondet An exaggeration ought not to be improper and unfit as that is which makes a Partition and leaves nothing to answer one member of it Pray Sir who can imagine That Negatives are capable of a Partition any more then meer non entities and therefore an exaggeration grounded upon negatives may not be supposed to make a partition because a non entity cannot be supposed to have any parts or members As if I should say of a confirmed Christian He is not to be made a Papist or a Turk what partition is here of Christians into Papists and Turks 8. Secondly he excepts against that answer Nothing can follow from meer Negatives As Philip King of Spain is not King of Venice therefore some other man is King of Venice it follows not saith Peter Martyr by good Logick because it is grounded upon a negative So here It shall not be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the world to come it follows not There shall be forgiveness in the world to come The Cardinal excepts saying It follows not according to the rules of Logick but it follows according to the Rules of Prudence because otherwise we should suppose our Saviour had spoken most unfitly or improperly nay in plain terms most foelishly Respondeo non sequi secundum regulas Dialecticorum id quod inferimus ex verbis Domini sed tamen sequi secundum regulam Prudentiae quia alioqui faceremus Dominum ineptissimè loquutum An horrid blasphemy to say the eternal Word spake impertinently or Wisdom it self spake foolishly unless we may set up a false consequence to make his words good Is not this contrary to the wise mans advice Ne dixeris quia ipse me implanavit Say not thou He hath caused me err for he hath no need of the sinfull man Eccl. 15. 12. Let an insolent Dogmatist say what he pleaseth but a conscientious Divine must say God needs not my Lye to maintain his Truth no more then he needs mâ—… sin to maintain his righteousness For a consequence without the Rules of Logick is a Lye since it is a conclusion without premises an effect without a cause or a Consequent without
Ecclesiae sententiâ resiliisse atque adversus ejus usum atque doctrinam scripsisse spicula intorsisse Bar. An. 794. nu 62. So little could the second Council of Nice prevail at that time with the Latine Church for admitting images into their Religion And though of late years that Council hath been accounted the seventh Oecumenical by a faction amongst the Latines yet the Greeks themselves did not antiently so account it your own Baronius being my witness An. 863. nu 6. In reliquis omnibus Ecclesiis Patriarchalibus exceptâ Constantinopolitanâ sex tantum Oecumenicae Synodi in publicis confessionibus professionibus nominari consuêrunt In all the other Patriarchal Churches that of Constantinople only excepted The Grecians did usually make mention of no more then six General Councils in all their Confessions and Professions So it is plain they accounted not the second of Nice as the seventh General Council and if not they why should we who know that though the Bishop of Rome consented to it yet all the other Bishops of the Latine Church generally opposed it And truly it deserved to be generally opposed not only for setting up a false worship this of images but also for setting it up by egregious falsities and yet more egregious falsifications First I will give you a short view of their falsities our blessed Saviour had said Mat. 4. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve They thus qualifie the Greek Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 4. He doth put this Only to the word Serve not to the word Worship by false Logick distinguishing between two Synonomaes which signified one the same Religious worship unless we will blasphemously say That our Saviour did not fully confute the Devil who had used the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his temptation saying All these things will I give thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if thou wilt fall down and worship me or unless we will add to this blasphemy yet another much more execrable saying That so as we do reserve our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Divine worship for God we may allow our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Religious worship to the Devil be not startled at the inference for if any may have Religious worship but God alone the Devil will quickly have his share of it for he can transform himself into an Angel of light 2 Cor. 11. 14. and therefore if we will give Religious worship to Angels we may soon be so deluded as to give it unto Devils and whiles we pretend to worship God may in truth be brought to worship the Devil Therefore this was so very false a device though it were intended for a distinction That no Divine can be in love with it but he that is contented to venter Gods glory and mans salvation and much more his own soul upon a piece of Sophistry Againâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 4. Those that call pictures or images Idols let them be accursed A false authority assumed to countenance a false divice taking to themselves power of cursing those whom God had blessed even the Apostles and Prophets and many holy men who have promiscuously used these two words Images and Idols However no Christian Divine can justly be condemned for disowning those who could find in their hearts to deliver men over to the Devil meerly for a Grammatical notion and that a false one too in the case for which it was alledged For though there may be a Grammatical difference betwixt an Image and an Idol yet a Theological difference there is not since he that worships an Image doth without all peradventures make that Image an Idol to himself Thirdly whereas the Council of Constantinople had made men take an Oath against images These infatuated Zealots determine it is better for a man to break then to keep that Oath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 4. T is better you should be perjured then keep your Oath for throwing down of images strange besotted Divines to make so much of an image so little of an Oath yet more strange besotted Casuists to advise a man rather to break his Oath then to break an Image for an Oath is sacred by Gods institution but an image is sacred only by mans imagination The one doth not only reach the conscience but also bind it the other though it doth reach the eye yet cannot reach the conscience Fourthly They define that Angels and separated souls are corporeal which is another falsity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 5. They are not quite without bodies though they have but thin bodies for only God is wholly without a body They were so afraid of losing their pictures that they had rather lose the Truth and not allow Angels and blessed Spirits to be incorporeal then not allow them to be pictured But Binius though not over modest yet is ashamed of this gross assertion saying Angelos Animas esse corporeas falsum est sed pingi posse judicio Ecclesiae receptum est T is false That Angels and souls are corporeal yet the judgement of the Church is That they may be pictured He hath mended the matter well by taking a falsity from a Council to put it upon the Church for the Church cannot judge that may be pictured which is not corporeal since lineaments must first be in the substance represented before they can truly be in the representation Therefore the picturing of Angels and immaterial Spirits is more fitly assigned to the practice of some men in the Church then to the Judgement of the Church and yet these men intended not an essential but an historical representation of those Spirits not to describe them in their substances but in their actions or performances or appearances Fifthly and lastly not but that more might be alledged but that I have already alledged too much of such absurdities when as a Jew had objected in his Disputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am scandalized orgrievously offended at you Christians because you wâ—…rship Images Their answer is The Scriptures do not forbid us to worship Images but to worship 〈◊〉 as God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 5. As if they intended to be so false as to put a lye into the mouth of Truth it self making the same Commandement to speak contradictions whereof it is impossible both parts should be true For to limit an universal negative it to make it a particular affirmative and consequently so to deny or forbid in one thing as to affirm and command in another that is in truth to make it speak contradictions As for example Thou shalt do no murther limit you this universal negative by saying Murder not a Roman Catholick and it will follow that you may murder a Protestant whom you call an Heretick and so the same Precept shall forbid and allow murder that is shall speak contradictions So Thou shalt not steal
practice have divâ—…rted the principal streams of affiance and love from Him who had the only right unto them and turned them upon those unto whom neither so great honour is due nor so undue honour can be acceptable Sands Survey of Religion cap. 4. Jesu God heal their Tongues that preach such Blaphemy instead of Divinity heal their Hands that write it heal their Ears that hear it and much more heal their Hearts that believe it and their Lifes that practise it that though thy Truth hath been outfaced by their Lyes yet their miracles may be outvied by thy Power and their Souls saved by thy Grace and Mercy For all the miracles they can falsly attribute to thy Saints as if by their own power and holiness they could heal the Body to make us go to thy Servants for help when we should go only to Thy self are nothing in comparison of that great miracle of thy power and greater miracle of thy mercy whereby thou art pleased to heal the Soul I have been the longer upon this Argument as I was upon the former because the false Invocations and Adorations used by you have given others just occasion to depart from you even those who were under your own jurisdiction and much more those who were not For as he that kicks against Heaven stricks up his own Heels so a faction in your Church of late years kicking against Gods authority could not stand so fast as to keep their own nor is it any reason you should expect others to be dutiful to you according to the fift contrary to that duty which they ow to God according to the four first Commandements 16. But though others of your party argue much in this case from Authority yet you think fit to argue from reason saying Now since God puts this great Trust in them with us ought not we to put them in Trust by reverently commending our selves unto them no saith Reason to which you have appealed much more no saith Religion from which you have started First no saith Reason For that teacheth us to invocate none that is not All-present to hear our request All-merciful to receive it All-sufficient to grant it and Almighty to fullfil it and therefore to Invocate no creature which hath none much less all of these Secondly no saith Religion And first the Religion that is in Heaven I heard the voyce of many Angels round about the Throne and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voyce Worthy is the Lamb which was slain to receive power and riches and wisedome and strength and honour and glory and blessing Revel 5. 11 12. This is the Religion you must practise in Heaven and why should you practise any other in Earth since you are taught to pray Thy will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven you may safely take the crowns of the Saints and Angels and cast them before the Throne giving glory and honour and thanks to Him who was dead but now liveth for ever and ever for so they do themselves Revel 4. 9 10. But never was it seen in Heaven That any Saint or Angel did make so bold as to take the Crown off from our Saviours Head to place it upon his own There this is the only dialect Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created v. 11. And the dialect should be here as 't is there so saith the Psalmist O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker as if he had said before no other but only Him to whom we can truly say For thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Therefore secondly no saith the Religion that is in Earth that likewise answers no to your quaere Ought we not to put them in trust by reverently commending our selves into them And surely we ought not For that very Apostle who hath written most concerning the benefit and the assistance which the heirs of Salvation have by the Angels Hebr. 1. 14. forbids them to worship Angels for fear of endangering their inheritance Col. 2. 18 19. Let no man beguil you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of Angels intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puft up by his fleshly mind and not holding the Head c. where the Apostles full intent and scope is to dehort the Colossians from the worshipping of Angels first from the dangerous effect of it no less then the loss of eternal life Let no man beguil you of your reward 2. from the vain pretences for it viz. the obedience or submission we owe to them as to our Patrons and the need we have of their Patronage the first hath a shew of humility but 't is such as God never commended in a voluntary humility The second hath a real guilt of curiosity for 't is such as God never taught intruding into those things which he hath not seen 3. From the wicked and ungodly causes of it and they are two Pride of heart vainly puft up by his fleshly mind and Ignorance of Christ as Head of the Church And not holding the Head from which all the Body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God Angels are a part of this Body as well as men and this Head gives life to them as to us As all is Neighbour that is not God in the Law so all is Body that is not Head in the Gospel The question is as unanswerable if asked of St. Michael or St. Gabriel as of St. Peter or St. Paul Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were ye baptized in the name of Paul 1 Cor. 1. 13. Is Christ divided from himself that He should not be the Head of Angels as well as of men or is Christ divided from his Body on Earth more then from his Body in Heaven Hath he put that part of his Body to convey life and motion and nourishment to this or doth he not convey life and motion and nourishment to both parts immediately by Himself Was any Angel crucified for us or were we baptized in the name of any Angel Was St. Paul a lover of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrys. in denying this honour to the Apostles and can we be lovers of Christ in giving this honour to the Angels Is it more lawful for us then it was for him to give the honour of the Head to any part of the Body or can we look for a reward of our service if we serve any of the Body instead of the Head Let no men beguil you saith He of your reward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man make you so run as not to receive the Prize or so run that you may not obtain you may lose the Prize by running out of the race as well
the worshipping of Angels Ut harum detentae culturis animae sub fiâ—… mamento obligatae teneantur ne sc tendant ad suporiores caelos ad Deum omnâ—…um adorandum That such kind of worship place it upon what creature yoâ—… will detains the Soul here below and keep it from ascending into the highest Heaven that it may there worship the ever liviâ—… God Quod operâ efficitur inimici 〈◊〉 semper animas super terram humiliaâ—… detineat Religionem simulans quùâ—… fit maximum sacrilegium which is tâ—… Divels chiefest Policy to keep mens Soâ—… still groveling on the Earth and therefoâ—… such a kind of worship though it may preteâ—… to Religion yet is it in truth no better thâ—… sacrilege Maximum sacrilegium it is sacriledge in the highest degree because 〈◊〉 robs God immediately in himself not mediately in his tithes and offerings it robs him in his Glory and not only in his Patrimony And that you may not think the Latine Church had forgotten this Truth in her doctrine when many of her members had forsaken it in their practice I will here give you the Gloss of a very late Interpreter and that is of Jacobus Faber Stapulensis who saith thus upon the same Text Vocant hujus modi superstitiosi ad Religionem Angelorum privatas preces ritus sacrificia ea adoriuntur quae ipsi non viderunt quae ipsi non cognoscunt At quae monet Paulus vidit cognoscit Haec figurae haec Prophetae haec omnes Sancti Spiritus Sanctus manifestat proinde dat Colossensibus generale documentum abstinendi ab omnibus elementis mundi sive Gentibus tradita fuerint ad cultum daemonum sive Judaeis ad antiquas ceremonias sive superstitiosis ad dementationes magicas animarum ludificamenta quae universa corruptionem operantur His general meaning is this They who call us to superstition or to any false worship of Angels or the like call us to they know not what themselves But St. Paul who calls us to the true Religion or to the worship of God in Christ calls us to what he hath seen and known For all the Types and Figures Prophets in the Old Testament and all the Saints and the Holy Spirit both in the Old New lead us to this worship Therefore St. Paul gives a general rule to the Colossians and in them to all Christians of abstaining from all the rudiments of the World in matters of Religion 〈◊〉 from so many cheats and delusions and corruptions of their Souls and since the worship of Angels is not according to the Commandement of God it must come under the rudiments of the World oâ—… as St. Paul speaketh of a fleshly mind This interpreter doth in effect agree with the rest they all agree in this interpretation That St. Pauls main drift and purpose is to dehort us from all manner oâ—… superstition and to exhort us to 〈◊〉 Religion in the worship of God Yeâ—… your great Champion enters the lists onlâ—… against Theodoret challenging him of 〈◊〉 multiplicity of errors and mistakes anâ—… that justly saith his great admirer and 〈◊〉 he were a Saint his great Idolater Biniâ—… in his notes in Conc. Rom. 2. sub Sylâ—… Justam illust Card Baronis censuram noâ—… evadit but thus Baronius proceeds Sâ—… ergo errore semel lapsus in alium graviorem impegit ut diceret Canonem 35 Concil Laod. de his haereticis esse intelligendum qui Angelos colendos esse docerent quique in eadem regione Asiae Oratoria erexissent St. Michaeli Archangelo incautè nimis quae à Catholicis essent antiquitus instituta Haereticis quorum nulla est memoria tribuens Baron An. 60. num 20. But so he passeth from one errour to another saying That the Canon of Laodicea was to be understood of those Hereticks who taught that Angels were to be worshipped and who had in that Countrey erected Oratories or Churches to St. Michael the Archangel very unadvisedly ascribing that to Hereticks whose memorial was perished with themselves which had been anciently instituted by Catholicks Alas poor Theodoret what ill luck had he to be a Protestant to protest against the worship of Angels as taught and practised by Haereticks which saith this new Doctor was anciently taught and practised by Catholicks But St. Paul had as ill luck as he who had protested against the same worship long before And as long as that Protestation stands good we may very well claim him and own our selves in this case for very good Protestants and for better Christians And because it is impossible for any to be good Catholicks who willfully contradict St. Paul for such men are rather enemies then Servanâ—…s of Christ who reject his Authority we must say not that Theodoret unadvisedly ascribed that to Hereticks which had been anciently instituted by Catholicks for what Catholick did ever take upon him to institute the Truth and much less the false Religion but that Baronius unadvisedly ascribed that to Catholicks which had been fondly instituted by Haereticks But let us see by what arguments he confutes Theodoret. Sanè quidem nullum à Cerinthianis Haereticis erectum fuisse in honorem St. Michaelis Archangeli Oratorium ex nuper dictis satis superque liquet We have already proved that the Cerinthian Haereticks did erect no Oratory to St. Michael the Archangel Had he quoted any Scripture Fathers or Council Theodorete might have stood confuted but sure his own Ipse dixit may not stand against Scripture Father and Council as a good Confutation For all his proof to which he annexeth his satis superque liquet is only his own conjectural argumentation in these words Cherinthum Haereticos qui mundi creationem Angelis tribuebant non tamen sensisse eos adorandos Nam super Angelos virtutem esse divinam omnium supremam quam Deum dicerent omnes affirmabant Chernthius and those Haereticks who did attribute the creation of the world to Augels did not think the Angels were to be worshipped for they did all affirm that there was a supreme Divine Virtue which they called God above the Angels The whole proof consisteth of these two Propositions 1º That the Cherinthian Hereticks did not erect Oratories to Saint Michael the Archangel because they did not worship him 2º That they did not worship him or any of his fellow Angels because they did acknowledge a God above him and them This Advocate pleads well for the Cherinthians most abominable Haereticks but ill for his own clients For he would perswade us that the Papists are more stupid and more impious then were the Cherinthians more impious in that they worship Angels which the others did not more stupid in that not thinking the Angels made the World as the others did they have less reason to worship them But if he â—…ath not betrayed his Clients yet sure he â—…ath betrayed his cause For what do Protestants say more but that Oratories may not
the hearers of the law there is Faith for what can any sacrilegious Enthusiast say more who robs God of mens hearts in regular and sound prayers to place all Religion in the ear sure there were many hearers of St. Pauls Sermon for it was preached on the Sabbath and in a place where prayer was wont to be made Act. 16. 13. who heard more than the law for they also heard the Gospel yet only one Lydia for ought we know was judged faithful unto the Lord and the text gives this reason of her Faith whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul Therefore the hearers of the law have not Faith but the doers of it at least in vote and desire i. e. those who labour to do it yet they when they have done all are taught to say we are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do Luk. 17. 10. Their doings cannot fully reach the obligation of their duty and how can they be a satisfaction for their undutifulnesse All their works of righteousnesse when they have laboured to do all those things which are commanded and as they are commanded them will leave them unprofitable and much more must their works of unrighteousnesse make them unacceptable so that you have only supposed a false Faith in the hearers of the Law not disprov'd Justification by Faith in the doers of it for he that saith not the hearers of the Law are just before God but the doers of the Law shall be justified doth not thereby suppose much less averre any men to be so compleat doers of the Law as to rely upon their good deeds for their justification 12. You might happily better have appealed to St. James than to St. Paul for justification by works and yet neither would he have befriended this your appeal much lesse have justified that your position for St. James doth not contradict the doctrine of St. Paul but doth only correct those who had misunderstood or at least misapplied it bidding them add to their Faith Vertue as St. Peter had done before 2 Pet. 3. 5. or not expect to be justified by it wherefore those two Apostles may very well be said to have delivered but one and the same doctrine concerning justification if we take their words not as we please but as they intended them for St. Paul writing against proud Justitiaries among the Jews who sought for righteousness from their own works according to the Law of Moses and rejected the righteousnesse of God by Faith in Christ strongly denyed Justification by works meaning works properly so called that is to say a perfect and perpetual observation of the whole Law because all men whatsoever Christ only excepted had many wayes transgressed the Law But St. James writing against licentious and profane Hypocrites among the Christians who pretending to Faith in Christ lived not according to the Rule of the Christian Faith but altogether neglected the study and practice of good works affirmed Justification by works meaning by works the very obedience of Faith or a working by love and obedience The one writ against the proud opposers the other against the fond Pretenders of Faith in Christ therefore the one tells the proud Jews that their works were not answerable to the Law in which they trusted that he might teach them the necessity of Faith in Christ The other tell the hypocritical Christians that their works were not answerable to the Gospel of which they boasted that he might teach them the obedience of that Faith accordingly as often as St. Paul affirmeth in sense at least if not in words That we are justified only by Faith so often he understandeth a Faith working by love Gal. 5. 6. or an unfained unhypocritical Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such a Faith as belongs not to hypocrites 1 Tim. 1. 5. And as often as St. James denieth that we are justified only by Faith so often he understandeth a Faith not working by love a Faith only in profession or in perswasion not in obedience or in affection a Faith belonging to hypocrities not to good Christians a Faith in noise and in word but not in truth and in deed as appeares from the manner of his expression ver 14. If a man say he hath Faith for the Apostle would not say it for him because he had only a dead Faith A Faith without works and therefore without life operari sequitur esse the Faith of devils from the evidence or power of truth convincing the understanding not the Faith of Abraham or Rahab from the acceptance and love of truth converting the will therefore these two positions are not contrary A man is justified before God not by the works of the Law which he cannot have but only by Faith in Christ which alwaies worketh by love and A man is justified before God not only by Faith that is an historical knowledge of the Gospel and an emptie profession of Faith but also by works that is an affectionate love of the Gospel and a sincere obedience of Faith The former position is maintained by St. Paul against those Jews who rejected the Gospel of Christ the latter position is maintained by St. James against those Christians who profaned the same Gospel Both Apostles teach one and the same Justification by Faith in Christ only St. Paul speaks of Faith more in relation to its proper object even to Christ because he went to convince gainsaying Jews and to make them Christians St. James speaks of Faith more in relation to its proper effect even good works because he went to convert revolting Christians and to make them good Christians For so himself saith concerning Abraham Seest then how Faith wrought with his works and by work was Faith made perfect ver 23. He saith not By works was his justification made perfect but only his Faith whereby he was justified requiring works only to the Faith that justifieth but not to the act of justification And after the same manner are we to understand his conclusion ver 24. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by Faith only as if he had said From this example of Abraham you may gather that 't is not the wording but the working not the professing but the performing Faith that justifies a man before God requiring works in that man which is justified but not denying to Faith the power and prerogative of justifying 13. You have well reconciled St. Paul with St. James in your question But what Faith which intimaâ—…eth that a justâ—…fying Faith is such a 〈◊〉 as workeâ—…h by love but you have ill reconciled your selfe with St. Paul in your position That works are required to Justification as well as Faith which plainly asserteth the contradictory of St. Pauls doctrine And surely 't is not safe for any Divine to differ in this Doctrine of Justification from St. Paul no more than it is safe for him
have made my heart clean I am pure from my sin He that hath made the best use thereof is most concerned in it and comprehended under it therefore he cannot say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sins but he must lye to the Holy Ghost and be so far from cleansing his heart as immediatly to let in many unclean spirits the more to defile it For those two which God hath joyned together all the wit and power of man cannot put asunder even Satans filling the heart and lying to the Holy Ghost why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost Acts 5. 3. And if Satan filleth the heart of those who make this lye then sure he also filleth the mouth of those who tell it And therefore the Church of God which is the pillar and ground of the Truth very much abhorreth this lye making this confession of her natural corruptions But we are all as an unclean thing Facti sumus ut Immundus omnes nos so the Hebrew and Chaldee in the singular number we are all but as one unclean man to shew the Uncleanness was from nature which was as equally derived to All as if all had been but one and making this confession of her personal corruptions which proceeded from the natural and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Isa. 64. 6. Wherefore since Protestants and Papists both agree together in the former part of this confession as a Principle of Divinity 't is irrational in the Papists to disagree from Protestants in the latter part of it which is but a conclusion proceeding from this Principle For the natural corruption is the cause of the personal and therefore all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags because we are all as an unclean thing This being the full argumentation All who are unclean have an unclean righteousnesse but we all are unclean therefore we all have an unclean righteousnesse Quia opus justitiae immundatur inquinamento as saith Aquinas because our righteousnesse is defiled by our unrighteousnesse and by this we may fully understand that other text If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1. 8. For we are clearly guilty of a double lye one against our own souls we deceive our selves another against the Holy Ghost the Spirit of truth and the truth is not in us Both are such pernicious lyes as to bring upon us inevitable destruction for he that willingly deceives his own soul cares not for knowing the truth he that strives to deceive the Holy Ghost cannot come to know it For as he hath not the truth in him in that he deceiveth himself so he keepeth the Spirit of truth away from him that he may deceive himself for ever Nor can we possibly use any evasion upon this text as if some men might say they have no sin though others cannot for he must think himselfe better than the best of Saints the Disciple whom Jesus loved and questionlesse he had a very good reason of his love who will needs say he hath no sin though by saying so he is sure to prove himself worse than the worst of sinners for he maketh him a lyar who hath promised forgiveness of sins and he maketh his Word a lye which hath shewed our need or want of that forgiveness for in many things we offend all Jam. 3. 2. and he putteth himself out of their communion who alone obtain forgiveness even the communion of true penitents of whom it is said If we confesse our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins 1 Joh. 1. 9. he that denyes himself to be one of this number denyes himself to be one of the communion of Saints unless St. John and St. James were no Saints and consequently makes himself uncapable of the forgiveness of sins Thus doth the second Milevitane Council gloss the words of St. John that they were not spoken out of humility but out of necessity and that the greatest the necessity of Truth Satis apparet hoc non tantum humiliter sed etiam veraciter dici Poterat enim Apostolus dicere Si dixerimus quia non habemus peccatum nos ipsos extollimus humilitas in nobis non est sed quùm ait nos ipsos decipimus veritas in nobis non est satis ostendit eum qui se dixerit non habere peccatum non verum loqui sed falsum It is evident that this was spoken not only out of modesty but also out of truth for the Apostle might have said If we say that we have no sin we extol our selves and there is no humility in us But when he saith we deceive our selves and there is no truth in us he sufficiently sheweth that whosoever saith there is no sin in him doth not speak truly but falsly And thus also doth the same Council gloss the words of St. James saying The Apostle was holy and just when he said in many things we offend All for why did he add this particle All but to shew that he agreed with the Psalmist who had said Enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified Psal. 142. 2. and with Solomon who had said There is no man that sinneth not 1 King 8. 46. And with Daniel who had said We have sinned and have committed iniquity Dan. 9. 5. and afterwards added ver 20. whiles I was confessing my sins and the sins of my people he would not say Our sins but My sins and the sins of my people because he did foresee by the Spirit of Prophecy that some in after ages would be ready to put him and such as he nay indeed much worse transgressours out of the catalogue or number of sinners Quia futuros istos qui tam malè intelligerent tanquam Propheta praevidit And at last upon these and the like proofes the same Council denounceth a terrible curse against those who should dare affirme that forgive us our trespasses was said by the Saints rather humbly than truly quis enim ferat orantem non hominibus sed ipsi Domino mentientem qui labiis sibi dicit dimitti velle corde dicit quae sibi dimittantur se debita non habere For say those Fathers who can endure that a man in his prayers should tell a lye not to man but to God saying with his mouth Forgive us our trespasses and saying in his heart he had no trespasses to be forgiven him Thus we have the authority of the Scripture and the authority of the Church both agreeing together in this doctrine That all men are sinners And though this was but a particular National Council in it self yet was it Universal and Oecumenical in its authority as consisting of Catholick Bishops amongst the rest Alipius and St. Augustine as appeares by the Synodical Epistle to Innocent the first and having been approved by the Catholick
Covenant is there must of necessity be the life of the Covenanter Therefore if I will have the full comfort of the death of Christ overcoming for me the sharpness of death and opening to me the gates of everlasting life and rescuing me from the guilt of sin the terrors of hell and the tyranny of the Devil I must go to the Testament which tells me of Christs death not to the Covenant which threatens mine own by shewing me the multiplyed offences of my sinful life And in truth he that will deny this to be the proper signification of the word Testament must also deny St. Pauls argument which here depends wholly upon the proper signification of that word And for this cause saith the Apostle He is the Mediator of the New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first Testament they which are called might receive the Promise of eternal inheritance For where a Testament is there must also of necessity be the death of the Testator Heb. 9. 15 16. He saith not the Mediator of the New Covenant which supposeth the life of the Covenanter but of the New Testament which supposeth the death of the Testator and accordingly he placeth all the strength of his argument in the word Testament which by vertue of Christs death gave us redemption from transgressions and admission to an eternal inheritance So that we had need go to the Testament not to the Covenant both for our Redemption and for our Inheritance For the transgressions which were under the Old Covenant that of works here called the First Testament because as it was repeated by Moses it was not dedicated without blood v. 18 19. could not be expiated but by the Redemption that was under the New Testament wherefore the Covenant puts us in fear of captivity and death and 't is only the Testament gives us hopes of liberty and life And accordingly the Apostle useth the word Testament of purpose to proclaime the abundant Grace and Goodnesse of God to mankind that after our fall he was pleased to give us not a Covenant but a Testament For a Covenant is a matter of strict Justice having mutual conditions between both parties which if either fail the agreement is of none effect But a Testament is a matter of more Grace as being the conveyance of an inheritance without any harsh conditions imposed upon the Heires and before any obliging offices performed by them And such was the Act of God to us sinful men when we had disabled our selves to performe the conditions of his Covenant It was a Testament to instate us in the right of Salvation by the death of our Redeemer and therefore the Apostle sets it forth with the adjuncts and properties not of a Covenant but of a Testament For the proper adjuncts of a Covenant are not Blood and the Death of the Covenant-Maker which two alone are here mentioned since a Covenant is rather voided than established by death but both these are the proper adjuncts of a Testament which though made before the death of the Testator yet is not established till after it wherefore since our blessed Saviour did presignifie and promise his own death and the effusion of his own blood by Typical Sacrifices till he verified that Promise by the real Sacrifice of himself upon the Cross the Spirit of God in this place thought fit to make choice of the word Testament whereby to express this Act of his free Grace and favour towards us and sure no Minister of Gods Church may justly be questioned for speaking after the dialect of Gods Spirit 5. For what should a sinful soul do but gaspe after Gods free Grace acknowledging it to be Grace because she is â—…worthy and to be free Grace that she may not be uncapable of it For as she may easily perish by opposing it so she must necessarily perish by not obtaining it And the desire of opposing Grace must needs be a great impediment in obtaining Grace for God that gives Grace above our deserts wil not give it against our desires since it is expressely said That God resisteth the proud and therefore most resisteth those that are most proud even the proud in spirit who dare capitulate with his Justice but giveth Grace to the humble and therefore most Grace to those who are most humble even to the meek and lowly in heart who rely wholly upon his mercy And this consideration alone though you see it is not alone was enough to make me say and is enough to justifie my saying I am afraid of the Covenant and fly to the Testament for by the Covenant I can look only for Justice which I am afraid to find but by the Testament I can look for mercy which I desire to find here for the Comfort hereafter for the Salvation of my soul And if any be so hardy as to venter his soul upon the terms of Justice I may allow him to have the greater confidence but I cannot allow him to have the greater Comfort and I wish he may not have the lesser Salvation 6. And whereas you tell me Nay you your self are not afraid of the Covenant but fly to it for in your ejaculation 20. using S. Pauls words Heb. 12. you say I am desirous to come to mount Sion and to Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant I crave leave to tell you that this objection was farre fetcht to shew you were willing to make it and may be as deare bought if I can shew you are not able to maintain it For I was bound to alledge St. Pauls words as I found them translated that none might be mistaken in my allegation and I found them thus translated To Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant Therefore in that I alledged them so I only shewed my self not afraid of the translation but I might still for all that be afraid of the Covenant For custome that ought to regulate speech which is established by it ought not to regulate conscience which it cannot establish The Word may be confined where the Thought is at liberty I speak for others but I Think for my self therefore I must speak according to Custome and yet may still think according to Conscience But I will not plead Custome when I may justly plead Comfort for in these words is nothing at all to terrifie my soul but very much to comfort and to settle it For it is said The Mediatour of the New Covenant which is every jot as comfortable as the Mediatour of the New Testament for it directs our hearts as immediately to our blessed Saviour since as the New Testament was confirmed so the New Covenant was signed and sealed with his Blood the only Balme to heal wounded Spirits the only Anchor to settle floating consciences Nay yet more here is Jesus expressely named To Jesus the Mediatour of the New Covenant so that if I were afraid of the New Covenant as you