awake from so prophane a perswasion or else I must needes tell him that as much as in him lieth hee doth conculcate the bloud of the New Testament and doth esteeme the bloud of Christ as polluted for were it not a pollution euen in the bloud of Christ it selfe so to partake so to consent to communicate with sinne to iustifie a conscience actually deliberately polluting and contaminating it selfe with sinne be it spoken with reuerence it is a thing which the infinite goodnes of God cannot doe cannot effectuate How lamentable therefore is the state of certaine sinners who alwaies liue in the state of sinne and infallible occasion of sinne who therefore cannot vnlesse they bee most presumptuously made euer esteeme themselues to be iustified through faith in Christ and so consequently neuer feele the true comfort of the soule which ariseth from a Christian perswasion of iustification in Christ I meane not such persons who through infirmitie and ignorance may fall seuen yea seuentie seuen times in a day and rise againe Prou 24 but I meane such as still are falling and neuer arise because they are fast bound and chained in the occasion and state of sinne I meane such auaricious persons be they Church men or Laikes which doe detest Papisticall idolatrie and yet themselues daily and incessantly doe commit their spirituall idolatrie and whordome with their gold and siluer with their continuall beholding solicitous and couetous turning winding telling locking and vnlocking meditating caring contemplating adoring worshipping of their Idolls and yet presumptuous fooles most ignorant Doctors of the law they will thinke themselues to be iustified in Christ because they can talke of iustification in Christ without workes alas alas they should rather tremble with the Deuills and with remorse of conscience bewaile their damnable state in which they liue and bee most assured that whilst they serue such Mammons in their chests they cannot serue Christ in their soules nor be iustified in Christ in their hearts I meane such wanton ones who abuse and separate themselues from their nuptiall bed and doe glew their soules to their Concubines whome they keepe at home or adore abroade and yet good holy ones they thinke that Christ resteth daily in their soules for their iustification as their filthes lie by their sides to satisfie their abhominable pleasures I meane such as euer and at all moments carrie vpon their backes and about them obligations for the Deuill adding vanitie vpon vanitie iniustice vpon iniustice and neuer doe so much as once imagine of any recompence of any satisfaction or restitution to be made and yet as vaine as butter-flies they will thinke that at and in the same seasons and momenâ— Christ doth by iustification vouchsafe to adorne and trimm their soules Infinite is the number of such like peruerse beleeuers and fooles of whose presumption when I seriously consider I cannot but iudge of them that in their consciences they are to bee esteemed the most blasphemous Heretikes that euer were in hauing such crooked and doltish perswasions of Christ who as hee is a most comfortable and potent Aduocate for all humble and penitent sinners neuer refusing any who with contrite heart shall returne to him so likewise against impenitent sinners he hath in his mouth a double edged sword to chastise them with eternall malediction and as it were with the double edge of a double most sharp punishment of losse of the glorie of heauen and of the vndergoing of eternall punishment in the bottomlesse Lake of hell the damned pit of euerlasting affliction But to Christ iustifying to Christ sanctifying with a most humble confidence and with prostrate soules let vs all here assembled returne and in a full faith inuocate him that hee will vouchsafe by the energie of his Almightie bloud to cleanse our consciences from dead workes to serue him the liuing God that none of vs here present be found of that presumptuous ranke to thinke that although wee liue deliberately and continually in dead workes yet wee shall bee liuing to God through a dead faith for Christs sake And here to conclude Most Religious and Christian Auditours yee who haue learned according to the profession of all reformed Churches that the bloud of Christ doth sanctifie and cleanse from dead workes all such consciences as are iustified by faith in the same with what passage of sacred Scripture may I more fitly end and salute you then with that of this our Apostle in his Epistle to the Hebrewes Habentes igitur c. Seeing therefore Brethren Heb. 10. v. 19. we may with a firme trust enter into the holies in the bloud of Christ by the new way and a liuing way which hee hath prepared for vs by the veile of his flesh And hauing a high Priest ouer Gods house let vs draw neare in a true heart in the fulnesse of faith sprinkled in our hearts from an euill conscience and washed in our bodies with pure water let vs keepe the profession of our faith without wauering for hee is faithfull that promised and let vs consider one another to prouoke to loue and good workes not forsaking the fellowship or the assembly as the custome of some is but let vs exhort and comfort one another and that so much the more because yee see the day approcheth O heauenly perswasion O most diuine lesson with a firme and an assured faith wee may walke into the holies in a new and a liuing way which Christ dying in his bloud hath dedicated for vs vpon the Crosse yet with this condition most dearely beloued with this prouiso that our hearts be sincere our consciences sprinkled with this bloud and our bodies washed with this water and wee bee cleansed from dead workes to serue the liuing God From dead workes I say wherein we pleased Satan were obsequious to our lusts and followed our owne concupiscences to liuing workes of pietie loue compassion godlinesse feare of God to serue the liuing God The liuing God once dying but now liuing liuing from aboue to consider all our actions liuing within vs to giue vs life mouing and to search our very reines liuing in the heauens ready with reuengefull hand to punish the wicked and with a most plentifull arme to reward the vertuous liuing amongst vs vpon earth with his grace to quicken to sanctifie vs. What most deuout Christians shall our God be liuing and we his seruants dead and dead in sinnefull workes Whose stipend and hire is death and damnation What shall the euer-liuing God die an ignominious death rise to a most glorious life to quicken vs to reuiue vs and will we not bee quickned be reuiued The Pellican with bloud stroken out of her breast quickneth such of her yong ones as the Serpent may haue poisoned or killed and shall not the bloud of our Pellicane Christ Iesus powred Psal 102. vpon vs being stroken dead with mortiferous sinne quic ken vs reuiue vs the Pellicane giueth drops of bloud Our Pellicane prouideth a bath the Pellicane striketh her breast only Our Pellicane hath his whole body smitten on euery part on euery side streaming vpon vs bloud and water shall he not sanctifie vs shall he not wash vs reuiue vs in iustice pietie charitie and other liuing workes of sanctification If any here will still take sinnefull delight in dead workes it is more then to be doubted that the second death and euerlasting damnation will more then attend vpon him But my very soule is comforted for in your very countenances and aspects I see your resolutions I see your Christian determinations that you will be reuiued and reuiued in liuing workes of faith charitie iustice longanimitie patience obedience pietie to serue the liuing God the Father Sonne and holy Ghost to whom be all praise honour and dominion from hence-forth for euermore AMEN Laus Deo FINIS
condignitie you are condignely fallen from Christ you are condignely fallen from the iustification which is in Christ which is only by grace not by Rom. 11. workes otherwise grace should not be grace if the Apostles argument in his Epistle to the Romanes may stand and take place and that of the same Apostle also to Titus stand firme Nos iustificatos esse illius gratia vt haeredes efficeremur aeternavitae That we are iustified by his grace that we might bee made Heires of euerlasting life And that againe of the same Apostle in his Epistle to the Romanes Iustificati ergo ex fide c. We being iustified therefore by Cap. 5. faith let vs haue peace to God through Iesus Christ our Lord by whom we haue accesse by faith into this grace in which we stand and doe glorie in the hope of the glorie of the children of God How admirable therefore is the excellencie of Christian faith by which the faithfull beleeuer is iustified in Christ is inserted to Christ made the Sonne of God the Heire of heauen partaker of iustice possessor of life not by purchasing merits of his owne but by the same faith possessing all the merits and iustice of Christ which thereby are efficaciously for his iustification communicated vnto him But what doe wee by this extolling of faith and by this comfortable doctrine of iustification by faith subuert the necessitie of good workes God forbid doe we grant a license or impunitie of sinning God auert it doe wee grant a Christian securitie and hope of saluation without merits Yes without merits but not without good works not without the fruits of sanctification which God hath ordained prepared and commanded his elect to walke in Heare that learned man master Caluin cap. 10. of his learned institutions that his propugnacle and defence of Christian religion which no Pontifician durst euer yet attempt to confute Per fidei iustificationem c. By iustification by faith the Aduersaries cauill good works to bee destroied what if thereby they be more established for we dreame not saith he of a faith voide of good works or of a iustification which consisteth without them this is only the difference that whereas we confesse faith and good works necessarily to cohere together notwithstanding we place iustification in faith and not in works And the same by what meanes it is done it is easie to explicate if wee conuert our selues to Christ to whom our faith is directed and from whome it receiueth all vertue and force why therefore are we iustified by it because by faith we apprehend the iustice of Christ by which only we are reconciled to God But this thou maist not apprehend vnlesse thou doe withall apprehend his sanctification for he is giuen to vs for Iustice VVisedome Redemption Sanctification therefore Christ iustifieth no man whom hee doth not also sanctifie For these benefits are with an insolluble knot conioyned so that whom Christ illuminateth those hee redeemeth whome he redeemeth hee iustifieth whome bee iustifieth hee sanctifieth thus hee most excellently agreeingly to sacred scriptures and all antiquitie conformably to the faith of the Church of England and accordingly to the Christian doctrine and resolution of all reformed Churches as the harmonie of confessions testifieth And I dare auouch that the vniuersall and Catholike concordance of this fundamentall point of iustification without which no Church and no person can bee held for Christian in the strict proper and true acception of the name of Christian is more vniformely taught and held by all the reformed Churches then any point of Doctrine controuerted in these times is held by the Pontisicans How glad would they be had they but such a vnity and conformitie for the verie rule of their faith touching which they are not yet agreed as I haue shewed in my motiues But the conformitie and irreprehensible agreement of all reformed Churches for this fundamentall article of iustification by faith in the bloud of Christ Iesus as it is an euidentargument of Christs spirit amongst them and tendeth greatly to the glorie of our Redeemer so it produceth wonderfull and vnmoueable consolation in the soules of the faithfull and sanctified beleeuers The aduersarie forsooth frame vnto themselues an Historicall beleefe for iustification in Christ the which as 1. Ioh. 2. the Diuels haue and yet notwithstanding doe tremble so the Christian auncient Churches neuer knew it and the Reformed doe explode it and against iustification by this Historicall faith they muster argument vpon argumentt and produce text vpon text to shew that besides such a faith there is required necessitie of good works and the fruits of sanctification But alas oleum operam perdunt they wast their oyle and loose their labour For what Christian reformed Church euer taught such a blasphemous paradoxe of iustification by such an Historicall faith they vtterly detest abhominate and renounce such a iustifying faith And here giue me leaue most beloued and Catholike Auditours to feele the very pulses of your consciences and my owne also to see how you stand and whether wee are cleansed with the bloud of Christ or no by this iustifying by this sanctifying faith Doe you at any time persisting in the purpose of sinne desire of sinne perswade your selues that notwithstanding the same you are iustified in Christ apprehending him by a dead faith as your Sauiour Doe you at any time hauing a conscience to act sinne to commit approue consent to sinne thinke that Christ notwithstanding will iustifie and sanctifie you without humble acknowledgement and heartie detestation of the said sinnes if the Diuell hauing transformed himselfe haue lulled any of you into such a lethargie I must needs pronounce that such a confidence is but a mere presumption such a iustification is a most pernicious deprauation But arise arise and Christ will illuminate you and will tell you 1. Joh. 1 what you ought to doe Si confiteamur peccata c. If Iacob 2. we confesse and acknowledge our sinnes God is faithfull to remit 1. Joh. 3. them Againe he who saith he knoweth God by a iustifying faith and keepeth not his commandements is a lyar and the truth is not in him Againe Omnis quinatus est ex Deo non peccat c. Euery one who is borne of God sinneth not because the seed of God remaineth in him neither can he sinne because he is borne of God Millions of like passages of sacred Scripture might be produced to shew that no man can be iustified in Christ whiles with full consent and with a setled intention and purpose of sinne hee prosecuteth the same doubtlesse it were a most pernicious paradoxe to teach that Christ iustifieth any one while hee is proposing and prosecuting with full and free consent Rom. 6. sinne the hire and wages whereof are death and damnation Hâ—b 3. If any one here should bee so dangerously seduced by the fallacie of sinne and deceit of Sathan let him
with the oyle of gladnesse aboue thy fellowes so annointed that in verie forme he appeared more than his fellowes aboue his fellowes not onely a holy man but a God God and man I cannot but proclaime that although the glorie of the Diuinitie of Christ imparted to his soule was so contained from communicating it selfe to his bodie yet it could not be so concluded and shut vp but that some beames and glitterings thereof did so diffuse themselues like vnto the beames of the glittering Sunne vnder a cleare cloud that the pious beholder might contemplate the very diuine attributes to be in an admirable sort relucent and resplendent in the very humanitie of Christ conuersing with man O Emanuel O Emanuel God with vs God with vs conuersing amongst men and by so diuine conuersation knowen to be the true Emanuel indeed the true God amonst vs amongst men Thus too breefly and imperfectly how theattributes and diuine perfections of God were transponent in Christ Oh that time would permit me fully to consider this our Christ as he hath relation to the actions and operations of God in the framing and gouerning of this vniuerse especially his actions to ward mankinde we should find him to be the very scope and end for which all this world was made wee should find him to be the very drift butte and end of all Gods desires we should finde that of the holy Prophet Isay to be true in him Et eris Isay 62. corona gloriae in manu domini diadema Regni in manu dei tui Thou shalt bee a crowne of glory in the hand of the Lord a Diademe of a Kingdome in the hand of thy God A crowne of glory a Diademe of a Kingdome euen vpon the head and in the hands of the Lord of God to honour to make glorious God the Lord. A crowne of glory A diademe of a Kingdome in the hands of God in the hands of the Lord euer to be looked vpon to bee contemplated admired desired Heare the heauenly father himselfe more then once auouching as much Math. 17. Maâ—c 1. Luc. 9. Mat. 3. Hic est filius meus c. This is my beloued sonne in whom I am very well pleased in whom my soule taketh full content This this is the scope of all my actions This is my word which I looked vpon framing the whole world This is the very Idea vpon which I contemplated electing predestinating my children to my glory and when I call those whom I haue elected and predestinated according to the purpose of my will from all eternities to iustifie them to sanctifie them to glorifie them I make them all confermable to the Image of this my sonne Yea so well pleased is my soule in him that for his sake from all eternities I haue absolutely perfectly loued those whom I haue elected in him and for him before they were any thing at all and when in time like fugitiue seruants they were at enmity with me through sinne liuing in sinne delighting in sinne I then for his sake called iustified sanctified them leauing them not vntill I bring them for respect of him to my eternall glory and vntill I accomplish my will in them I will not surce ase no man shall take them out of my handes no man shall stop the might of my election This this Christian hearers as it is doctrine full of all consolation to the faithfull that haue a liuing and a sanctifying faith through and in this Chriâ—t so is it not nouell but most ancient Catholike howsoeuer most commonly the Pontifician Diuines teach and affirme that the predestination and election of Gods children is not without preuision of their merits and so making the merits of man as a motiue of Gods eternall election they shew themselues to be nothing lesse then Semipelagians whole Pelagians I would call them if they taught these merits of man without necessity of grace through and in Christ Merits we exclude Christian hearers wheÌ„ they are made as causes of predestination but not good workes as fruites of sanctification in which God hath eternally preordained his elect to walke in Sixe hundred places of scripture wherewith you learned in Gods booke are acquainted I could produce for the confirming of this truth how that without works freely in Christ alone we were loued beloued and elected before we were any thing at all except onely in Gods election yea and afterwards also when in time we became worse then nothing by committing sinne the which as it is nothing of Gods worke so for so much as it is mans worke it maketh him worse then nothing yet for Christs sake man so wicked so abhominable was called iustified sanctified according to the purpose of Gods eternall election O inestimable O vnspeakable benefit therefore of Christ O Christ powerfull in the eternall prouidence of God before creation for our election powerfull in time appointed for our vocation iustification sanctification powerfull for our perseuerance and finall consummation so powerfull and so precious in the sight of God that if God whose goodnesse is so great that he would suffer no ill if he knew not how to produce good thereout had not foreknowne such a remedy against sinne such an anointed one such a Christ for the curing of soules he would neuer haue permitted Adam to haue sinned at least wise he would neuer haue permitted his sinne as a generall deluge to haue ouer whelmed all mankind so that as in a sort it may be said sinne had not bin permitted if such a Sauiour such a Christ could not haue beene sent haue beene prouided so neither such a dying Sauiour such a passible Christ had not been sent if sinne had not beene permitted O mysterie of all mysteries from the very profoundest of my soule I proclaime O Christ most blessed and eternally to be desired for if thou couldest not haue beene sent to expiate sinne the same had not beene permitted and if sinne had not been permitted thou haddest not beenesent to seeke the lost sheepe of mankind O infinite goodnesse of God Therefore I dare boldly pronounce with ancient Gregory O Felix Adae peccatum c. O happy sinne of Adam which deserued to haue such and so great a Redeemer O truely necessary sinne of Adam which by the death of Christ is abolished and destroied of Christ I say of whose excellencies and perfections in respect of vs and in the manner of his concurrence to our sanctification and saluation in respect of euery sort of causing and working as materiall formall efficient finall and in respect of himselfe for those treasures of diuine wisdome and graces without measure as farre as the right hand of God by his ordinary power could extend it selfe imparted to his soule if I should further according to my diuision made aboue of the respects of Christ discourse Hebr. 5. and ampliate my speech it should proue to be sermo ininterpretabilis a speech vninterpretable as the
to discourse thereupon and by way of argument to proue it for can it sinke into the imagination of any that God should bee or could bee spotted with any sinne imperfection or blemish thereof Our Christ indeed tooke vpon him the semblance of a sinner but it was impossible to the absolute and almightie power of God to haue permitted him to haue beene taynted with any the least internall or true blemish of sinne Yea by the omnipotent power of God would not hinder or let it but that by vertue of the perssinall vnion and hypostolicall coniunction the soule of Christ was so sanctified and replenished with all graces that absolutely and most necessarily it was impeceable vnsinneable and not capable of any the lest spot of sinne And it was indeed most meet that our high Priest should be such a Person Heb. 7. impolluted innocent separated from sinnes and made higher then the very heauens themselues as being the Lord and God of themand all that is in them And so I proceede to the last branch of my diuision in which is thus Shall cleanse the conscience from dead workes to serue the liuing God Here is the scope of Christs bloud offered here is the end of Christs offering himselfe by the Eternall Spirit to God that our consciences might be cleansed from dead workes to serue the liuing God Good God what are men or the consciences of men that thou doest so visit them thou doest so esteeme them what are they that to cleanse them thou diddest so farre depresse and humble thy only begotten Sonne vnder thy Angels euen to an ignominious death to make man equall with Angells in euerlasting life it is thy vnspeakeable loue and charitie no deseruing of ours at all But how by what meanes by what instrument is this cleansing sacrifice applied to our consciences to cleanse them from dead workes to serue the liuing God God made heauen earth and all in them made man and all belonging to him without any concurrence or helpe from him by that word fiat fiat be it done bee it made Doth he so cleanse the conscience of man from dead works without any act of man as a meanes as an instrument to applie this soueraigne sacrifice to his conscience no no Heare the Apostle Rom. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being iustâ—fied gratis frankly by the grace of him by the redemption which is in Christ Iesus whom God hath proposed a propitiation by faith in his bloud by faith therefore by a liuing faith Christâ—s proposed a propitiation in his bloud not in mans works to euery beleeuing conscience Indefinite vniuersall is this proposing of this propitiation by faith in his bloud to all Nations all sexes all conditions in all times and in all ages no person whatsoeuer is excluded from faith confidence in it no not Iudas himselfe who betrayed it had he beene so happie not the crucifying Iewes had they beene so fortunate How powerfull a sound faith in this bloud is to cleanse consciences let Leo an Ancient Pope confront against these latter Pontificians all of them being meritists de condigno oâ— de congruo out of condignitie or congruitie to their first or second iustification for such a distinction their nouell Scholasticall heresie hath denied 〈◊〉 in 〈…〉 sept mâ—ns Effusio pro iniustis iusti sanguinis tam potens fuit ad praemium tam diues ad praetium vt sivniuersitas Captiuorum in Redemptorem suum crederent â—alium tyrannica vincula retinerent The effusion saith this Pope of the iust bloud for the vniust was so potent for a reward so rich for a price that if the whole vniuersitie of Captiues would beleeue in their Redeemer the bands of the Tyrant should hold or retaine none To him I adioyne Saint Austen Modo fratres vt a peccato sanemur Christum crucifixum intuâ—â—amur quomodo illi intuebantur illum serpentem a morsibus August tract super Ioh. sanabantur serpentium sic qui fide intuentur mortem Christi sanantur morsibus peccatornm sed illi sanabantur a morte a d vitam temporalem hi autem vt habeant vitam aeternam hoc enim interest inter figuratam imaginem rem ipsam figura praestabat vitam temporalem res ipsa cuius imago erat praestabat vitam aeternam Now brethren saith he that we may be healed from sinne let vs behold Christ crueified euen as they beheld that Serpent hee speaketh of the Iewes in the Desart and were healed of the biting of Serpents so they who in faith behold the death of Christ are healed from the biting of sinne but they were healed from death to a temporall life but these that they may haue life euerlasting for this is the difference betwixt the figuring image and the thing it selfe the figure gaue temporall life but the thing it selfe of which the Image was gaue euerlasting life Thus hee with infinite much like which might bee producted out of him and all Ancient Fathers agreeingly to the whole current of sacred Scriptures for iustification by faith against the doctrine of all Pontificians who require a positiue and immediate concurrence dispositiue and preparatiue at lest of mans workes to the first iustification too to derogatorie against the bloud of Christ and faith in it How pernicious is that position of many of them that the works which doe proceede and goe before iustification doe de congruo out of congruitie merit iustification shal I cal this tenent an incongruous position only not so it is hereticall it is damnable not onely in the teachers but in the consenters and approuers of the same For tell mee All yee Pontifician Meritists out of congruitie and de congrua as you speake can the power of God can the iustice of God can the wisedome of God doe any thing dispose any thing or proceede in any thing against congruitie right equitie decencie No surely you must answere vnles like madmen you wil affirme that his wisedome may doe some thing vncongruously his power may worke something indecently inconueniently vnseemely you are not yet so impudent as to denie the attributes of God his infinite Wisedome Iustice Goodnesse and consequently his God-head see then and obserue what your merit of congruitie produceth marry a merit of condignitie for such a conueniencie such a congruitie such a worthinesse of a worke to God is as a condignitie For I demand of you in good earnest Is not that a merit of condignitie which in respect of the disposition of the worker and worthinesse of the worke so bindeth vrgeth and constraineth the omnipotent hand of God that he cannot vnlesse hee will proceede against decencie and congruitie but respect regard and reward the same with subsequent and following iustification in the soule which hath it whereby then it is as cleare as the Sunne that from merits of congruitie preceding iustification you are come to merits of condignitie preceding the same by which your hereticall