the web of Salvation is spun Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Stribes and Pharisees ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven They were rigorous exacters of things not utterly to be neglected and left undone washing and tything c. As they were in these so must we be in judgement and the love of God Christ in Works Ceremonial giveth more liberty in moral much less than they did Works of Righteousness therefore are added in the one Proposition as in the other Circumcision is 31. But we say our Salvation is by Christ alone therefore howsoever or whatsoever we adde unto Christ in the matter of Salvation we overthrow Christ. Our Case were very hard if this Argument so universally meant as it is proposed were sound and good We our selves do not teach Christ alone excluding our own Faith unto Justification Christ alone excluding our own Works unto Sanctification Christ alone excluding the one or the other unnecessary unto Salvation It is a childish Cavil wherewith in the matter of Justification our Adversaries do so greatly please themselves exclaiming that we tread all Christian vertues under our feet and require nothing in Christians but Faith because we teach that Faith alone justifieth whereas by this speech we never meant to excluded either Hope or Charity from being always joyned as inseparable Mates with Faith in the man that is justified or Works from being added as necessary Duties required at the hands of every justified man But to shew that Faith is the onely hand which putteth on Christ unto Justification and Christ the onely Garment which being so put on covereth the shame of our defiled natures hideth the imperfection of our Works preserveth us blameless in the sight of God before whom otherwise the weaknesse of our Faith were cause sufficent to make us culpable yea to shut us from the Kingdom of Heaven where nothing that is not absolute can enter That our dealing with them he not as childish as theirs with us when we hear of Salvation by Christ alone considering that alone as an exclusive Particle we are to note what it doth exclude and where If I say Such a Iudge onely ought to determine such a case all things incident to the determination thereof besides the Person of the Judge as Laws Depositions Evidences c. are not hereby excluded Persons are not excluded from witnessing herein or assisting but onely from determining and giving Sentence How then is our Salvation wrought by Christ alone Is it our meaning that nothing is requisite to man's Salvation but Christ to save and he to be saved quietly without any more adoe No we acknowledge no such Foundation As we have received so we teach that besides the bare and naked work wherein Christ without any other Associate finished all the parts of our Redemption and purchased Salvation himself alone for conveyance of this eminent blessing unto us many things are of necessity required as to be known and chosen of God before the foundation of the World in the World to be called justified sanctified after we have lest the World to be received unto glory Christ in every of these hath somewhat which he worketh alone Through him according to the Eternal purpose of God before the foundation of the World Born Crucified Buried Raised c. we were in a gracious acceptation known unto God long before we were seen of men God knew us loved us was kinde to us in Jesus Christ in him we were elected to be Heirs of Life Thus farr God through Christ hath wrought in such sort alone that our selves are mere Patients working no more than dead and senseless Matter Wood Stone or Iron doth in the Artificers hands no more than Clay when the Potter appointeth it to be framed for an honourable use nay not so much for the matter whereupon the Craftsman worketh he chuseth being moved by the fitness which is in it to serve his turn in us no such thing Touching the rest which is laid for the foundation of our Faith it importeth farther That by him we are called that we have Redemption Remission of sins through his blood Health by his stripes Justice by him that he doth sanctifie his Church and make it glorius to himself that entrance into joy shall be given us by Him yea all things by him alone Howbeit not so by him alone as if in us to our Vocation the hearing of the Gospel to our Justification Faith to our Sanctification the fruits of the Spirit to our entrance into rest perseverance in Hope in Faith in Holinesse were not necessary 32. Then what is the fault of the Church of Rome Not that she requireth Works at their hands which will be saved but that she attributeth unto Works a power of satisfying God for Sinne yea a vertue to merit both Grace here and in Heaven Glory That this overthroweth the foundation of Faith I grant willingly that it is a direct elenyal thereof Iutterly deny What it is to hold and what directly to deny the foundation of Faith I have already opened Apply it particularly to this Cause and there needs no more adoe The thing which is handled if the form under which it is handled be added thereunto it sheweth the foundation of any Doctrine whatsoever Christ is the Matter whereof the Doctrin of the Gospel treateth and it treateth of Christ as of a Saviour Salvation therefore by Christ is the foundation of Christianity as for works they are a thing subordinate no otherwise than because our Sanctification cannot be accomplished without them The Doctrine concerning them is a thing builded upon the foundation therefore the Doctrin which addeth unto them the power of satisfying or of meriting addeth unto a thing sabordinated builded upon the foundation not to the very foundation it self yet is the foundation by this addition consequently overthrown forasmuch as out of this addition it may be negatively concluded He which maketh any work good and acceptable in the sight of God to proceed from the natural freedom of our will he which giveth unto any good works of ours the force of satisfying the wrath of God for sinne the power of meriting either earthly or heavenly rewards he which holdeth Works going before our Vocation in congruity to merit our Vocation Works following our first to merit our second Justification and by condignity our last Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven pulleth up the Doctrin of Faith by the roots for out of every of these the plain direct denial thereof may be necessarily concluded Not this onely but what other Heresie is there that doth not raze the very foundation of Faith by consequent Howbeit we make a difference of Heresies accounting them in the next degree to infidelity which directly deny any one thing to be which is expresly acknowledged in the Articles of our Belief for out of any one Article so denied the denial of
and quite forgetting of strife together with the Causes that have either bred it or brought it up that things of small moment never disjoyn them whom one God one Lord one Faith one Spirit one Baptism bands of so great force have linked that a respectively eye towards things wherewith we should not be disquieted make us not as through infirmity the very Patriarchs themselves sometimes were full gorged unable to speak peaceably to their own Brother Finally that no strife may ever be heard of again but this Who shall hate strife most who shall pursue peace and unity with swiftest paces To The Christian Reader WHereas many desirous of resolution in some Points handled in this learned Discourse were earnest to have it Copied out to case so many labours it hath been thought most worthy and very necessary to be printed that not onely they might be satisfied but the whole Church also hereby edified The rather because it will free the Author from the suspition of some Errors which he hath been thought to have favoured Who might well have answered with Cremutius in Tacitus Verba mea arguuntur adeò factorum innocens sum Certainly the event of that time wherein he lived shewed that to be true which the same Author spake of a worse Cui deerat inimicus per amicos oppressus and that there is not minus periculum ex magna fama quà m ex mala But he hath so quit himself that all may see how as it was said of Agricola Simul suis virtutibus simul vitiis aliorum in ipsam gloriam praeceps agebatur Touching whom I will say no more but that which my Author said of the same man Integritatem c. in tanto viro referre injuria virtutum fuerit But as of all other his Writings so of this I will adde that which Velleius spake in commendation of Piso Nemo fuit qui megis quae agenda erant curaret sine ulla ostentatione agendi So not doubting good Christian Reader of thy assent herein but wishing thy favourable acceptance of this Work which will be an inducement to set forth others of his Learned labours I take my leave from Corpus Christi Colledge in Oxford the sixth of July 1612. Thine in Christ Jesus HENRY IACKSON A LEARNED DISCOURSE OF Justification Works and how the Foundation of FAITH is overthrown HABAK. 1. 4. The wicked doth compass about the righteous therefore perverse Iudgement doth proceed FOR the better manifestation of the Prophets meaning in this place we are first to consider the wicked of whom he saith that They compass about the righteous Secondly the righteous that are compassed about by them and Thirdly That which is inferred Therefore perverse judgement proceedeth Touching the first There are two kinds of wicked men of whom in the fist of the former to the Corinthians the blessed Apostle speaketh thus Do ye not judge them that are within But God judgeth them that art without There are wicked therefore whom the Church may judge and there are wicked whom God onely judgeth wicked within and wicked without the walls of the Church If within the Church particular persons be apparently such as cannot otherwise be reformed the rule of the Apostolical judgment is this Separate them from among you if whole Assemblies this Separate your selves from among them For what society hath light with darkness But the wicked whom the Prophet meaneth were Babylonians and therefore without For which cause we heard at large heretofore in what sort he urgeth God to judge them 2. Now concerning the righteous their neither it nor ever was any meer natural man absolutely righteous in himself that is to say void of all unrighteousness of all sin We dare not except no not the blessed Virgin her self of whom although we say with St. Augustine for the honour sake which we owe to our Lord and Saviour Christ we are not willing in this cause to move any question of his Mother yet for asmuch as the Schools of Rome have made it a question we may answer with Eusebius Emissenus who speaketh of her and to her in this effect Thou didst by special Prerogative nine months together entertain within the Closet of the Flesh the hope of all the ends of the Earth the honour of the World the common joy of Men. He from whom all things had their beginning had his beginning from thee of the Body he took the blood which was to be shed for the life of the World of thee he took that which even for thee be payed A peccati enim veteris nexu per se non est immunis ipsa genitrix Redemptoris The Mother of the Redeemer himself is not otherwise loosed from the bond of antient sinne than by redemption if Christ have paid a ransom for all even for her it followeth that all without exception were Captives If one have died for all then all were dead in sinne all sinful therefore none absolutely righteous in themselves but we are absolutely righteous in Christ. The World then must shew a righteous man otherwise not able to shew a man that is perfectly righteous Christ is made to us Wisdome Iustice Sanctification and Redemption Wisdom because he hath revealed his Fathers will Iustice because he hath offered up himself a Sacrifice for sin Sanctification because he hath given us his Spirit Redemption because he hath appointed a day to vindicate his Children out of the bonds of Corruption into liberty which is glorious How Christ is made Wisdom and how Redemption it may be declared when occasion serveth But how Christ is made the Righteousness of men we are now to declare 3. There is a glorifying Righteousness of men in the World to come as there is a justifying and sanctifying Righteousness here The Righteousness wherewith we shall be clothed in the World to come is both perfect and inherent That whereby here we are justified is perfect but not inherent That whereby we are sanctified is inherent but not perfect This openeth a way to the understanding of that grand question which hangeth yet in controversie between us and the Church of Rome about the matter of justifying Righteousness 4. First although they imagine that the Mother of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ were for his honour and by his special protection preserved clean from all sinne yet touching the rest they teach as we doe That Infants that never did actually offend have their Natures defiled destitute of Justice averted from God That in making man righteous none do efficiently work with God but God They teach as we do that unto Justice no man ever attained but by the Merits of Jesus Christ. They teach as we do That although Christ as God be the efficient as Man the meritorious cause of our Justice yet in us also there is some thing required God is the cause of our natural life in him we live but he quickneth not
the Body without the Soul in the Body Christ hath merited to make us just but as a medicine which is made for health doth not head by being made but by being applied so by the merits of Christ there can be no Justification without the application of his Merits Thus farr we joyn hands with the Church of Rome 5. Wherein then do we disagree We disagree about the future and offence of the Medicine whereby Christ cureth our Disease about the 〈…〉 of applying it about the number and the power of means which God requireth in as for the effectual applying thereof to our Souls comfort When they are re 〈…〉 that the righteousness is whereby a Christian man is justified they answer that it is a Divine Spiritual quality which quality received into the Soul doth first make it to be one of them who are born of God and secondly indue it with power to bring forth such works as they do that are born of him even as the Soul of Man being joyned to his Body doth first make him to be of the number of reasonable Creatures and secondly inable him to perform the natural Functions which are proper to his kinde That it maketh the Soul amiable and gracious in the sight of God in regard whereof it is termed Grace That is purgeth purifieth and washeth out all the stains and pollutions of sins that by it through the merit of Christ we are delivered as from sin so from eternal death and condemnation the reward of sin This Grace they will have to be applied by infusion to the end that as the Body is warm by the heat which is in the Body so the Soul might be righteous by inherent Grace which Grace they make capable of increase as the Body may be more and more warm so the Soul more and more justified according as Grace should be augmented the augmentation whereof is merited by good Works as good Works are made meritorious by it Wherefore the first receit of Grace in their Divinity is the first Justification the increase thereof the second Justification As Grace may be increased by the merit of good Works so it may be diminished by the demerit of sins venial it may be lost by mortal sin In as much therefore as it is needful in the one case to repair in the other to recover the loss which is made the infusion of Grace hath her sundry after-meals for the which cause they make many ways to apply the infusion of Grace It is applyed to Infants through Baptism without either Faith or Works and in them really it taketh away Original sinne and the punishment due unto it It is applied to Infidels and wicked men in the first Justification through Baptism without Works yet not without Faith and it taketh away both Sinnes Actual and Original together with all whatsoever punishment eternal or temporal thereby deserved Unto such as have attained the first Justification that is to say the first receit of Grace it is applied farther by good Works to the increase of former Grace which is the second Justification If they work more and more Grace doth more increase and they are more and more justified To such as diminished it by venial sinnes it is applied by Holy-water Ave Marie's Crossings Papal Salutations and such like which serve for reparations of Grace decayed To such as have lost it through mortal sinne it is applied by the Sacrament as they term it of Penance which Sacrament hath force to conferr Grace anew yet in such sort that being so conferred it hath not altogether so much power as at the first For it onely cleanseth out the stain or guilt of sinne committed and changeth the punishment eternal into a temporal satisfactory punishment here if time doe serve if not hereafter to be endured except it be lightned by Masses Works of Charity Pilgrimages Fasts and such like or else shortned by pardon for term or by plenary pardon quite removed and taken away This is the mystery of the man of sinne This maze the Church of Rome doth cause her Followers to tread when they ask her the way to Justification I cannot stand now to untip this Building and to siâ— it piece by piece onely I will passe by it in few words that that may befall Bâ—… in the presence of that which God hath builded as hapned unto Dagon before the Ark. 6. Doubtless saith the Apostle I have counted all things loss and judge them to be doing that I may win Christ and to be found in him not having my own righteousness but that which is through the Faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God through Faith Whether they speak of the first or second Justification they make it the essence of a Divine quality inherent they make it Righteousnesse which is in us If it be in us then is it ours as our Souls are ours though we have them from God and can hold them no longer than pleaseth him for if he withdraw the breath of our nostrils we fall to dust but the Righteousness wherein we must be found if we will be justified is not our own therefore we cannot be justified by any inherent quality Christ hath merited righteousness for as many as are found in him In him God findeth us if we be faithful for by Faith we are incorporated into Christ. Then although in our selves we be altogether sinful and unrighteous yet even the man which is impious in himself full of iniquity full of sin him being found in Christ through Faith and having his sinne remitted through Repentance him God upholdeth with a gracious eye putteth away his sinne by not imputing it taketh quite away the Punishment due thereunto by pardoning it and accepteth him in Jesus Christ as perfectly righteous as if he had fulfilled all that was commanded him in the Law shall I say more perfectly righteous than if himself had fulfilled the whole Law I must take heed what I say but the Apostle saith God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Such we are in the sight of God the Father as is the very Son of God himself Let it be counted folly or frensie or fury whatsoever it is our comfort and our wisdom we care for no knowledge in the World but this That man hath sinned and God hath suffered That God hath made himself the Son of Man and that men are made the righteousness of God You see therefore that the Church of Rome in teaching Justification by inherent Grace doth pervert the truth of Christ and that by the hands of the Apostles we have received otherwise than she reacheth Now concerning the righteousness of Sanctification we deny it not to be inherent we grant that unless we work we have it not onely we distinguish it as a thing different in nature from the righteousness of Justification we are righteous the one
that Church never knew the meaning of her Heresies So that although all Popish Hereticks did perish thousands of them which lived in Popish Superstitions might be saved Thirdly seeing all that held Popish Heresies did not hold all the Heresies of the Pope why might not thousands which were infected with other leaven live and die unsowred with this and so be saved Fourthly If they all held this Heresie many there were that held it no doubt but onely in a general form of words which a favourable Interpretation might expound in a sense differing far enough from the poysoned conceit of Heresie As for example Did they hold that we cannot be saved by Christ without good works We our selves do I think all say as much with this Construction salvation being taken as in that sentence Corde creditur ad justitiam Ore fit confessio ad salutem except Infants and Men cut off upon the point of their conversion of the rest none shall see God but such as seek peace and holiness though not as a Cause of their salvation yet as a Way which they must walk which will be saved Did they hold that without works we are not justified Take justification so as it may also imply sanctification and St. Iames doth say as much For except there be an ambiguity in the same term St. Paul and St. Iames do contradict each the other which cannot be Now there is no ambiguity in the name either of Faith or of Works being meant by them both in one and the same sense Finding therefore that Justification is spoken of by St Paul without implying Sanctification when he proveth that a man is justified by faith without works finding likewise that justification doth sometime imply sanctification also with it I suppose nothing to be more sound then so to interpret St Iames speaking not in that sense but in this 21. We have already shewed that there be two kinds of Christian righteousness the one without us which we have by imputation the other in us which consisteth of faith hope and charity and other Christian Vertues And S. Iames doth prove that Abraham had not onely the one because the thing believed was imputed unto him for righteousness but also the other because he offered up his Son God giveth us both the one justice and the other the one by accepting us for righteous in Christ the other by working Christian righteousness in us The proper and most immediate efficient cause in us of this latter is the Spirit of adoption we have received into our hearts That whereof it consisteth whereof it is really and formally made are those infused vertues proper and peculiar unto Saints which the Spirit in the very moment when first it is given of God bringeth with it the effects whereof are such actions as the Apostle doth call the fruits of works the operation of the Spirit The difference of the which operations from the root whereof they spring maketh it needful to put two kinds likewise of sanctifying righteousness Habitual and Actual Habitual that holiness wherewith our souls are inwardly indued the same instant when first we begin to be the Temples of the Holy Ghost Actual that holiness which afterwards beautifieth all the parts and actions of our life the holiness for which Enoch Iob Zachary Elizabeth and other Saints are in the Scriptures so highly commended If here iâ— he demanded which of these we do first receive I answer that the Spirit the vertue of the spirit the habitual justice which is ingrafted the external justice of Jesus Christ which is imputed these we receive all at one and the same time whensoever we have any of these we have all they go together Yet sith no man is justified except he believe and no man believeth except he hath Faith and no man except he hath received the spirit of Adoption hath Faith forasmuch as they do necessarily infer justification and justification doth of necessity presuppose them we must needs hold that imputed righteousness in dignity being the chiefest is notwithstanding in order to the last of all these but Actual righteousness which is the righteousness of good works succeedeth all followeth after all both in order and time Which being attentivly marked sheweth plainly how the faith of true Believers cannot be divorced from hope and loveâ— how faith is a part of sanctification and yet unto justification necessary how faith is perfected by good works and not works of ours without faith Finally how our Fathers might hold that we are justified by Faith alone and yet hold truly that without works we are not justified Did they think that men do merit rewards in heaven by the works they perform on earth The Ancients use meriting for obtaining and in that sense they of Wittenberg have it in their Confession We teach that good works commanded of God are necessarily to be done and by the free kindness of God they merit their certain rewards Therefore speaking as our Fathers did and we taking their speech in a â—ound meaning as we may take our Fathers and might for as much as their meaning is doubtful and charity doth always interpret doubtful things favourably what should induce as to think that rather the damage of the worst construction did light upon them all then that the blessing of the better was granted unto thousands Fiftly if in the worst construction that may be made they had generally all imbraced it living might not many of them dying utterly renounce it Howsoever men when they sit at ease do vainly tickle their hearts with the vain conceit of I know not what proportionable correspondence between their merits and their rewards which in the trance of their high speculations they dream that God hath measured weighed and laid up as it were in bundles for them notwithstanding we see by daily experience in a number even of them that when the hour of death approacheth when they secretly hear themselves summoned forthwith to appear and stand at the Bar of that Judge whose brightness causeth the eyes of the Angels themselves to dazel all these idle imaginations do then begin to hide their faces to name merits then is to lay their souls upon the rack the memory of their own deeds is lothsome unto them they forsake all things wherein they have put any trust or confidence no staff to lean upon no ease no rest no comfort then but onely in Jesus Christ. 22. Wherefore if this proposition were true To hold in such wise as the Church of Rome doth that we cannot be saved by Christ alone without works is directly to deny the foundation of Faith I say that if this proposition were true nevertheless so many ways I have shewed whereby we may hope that thousands of our Fathers which lived in popish superstition might be saved But what if it be not true What if neither that of the Galathians concerning Circumcision nor this of the Church of Rome by Workes be
Affection or the grief which the danger of their Opinion bred him Their Opinion was dangerous was not theirs also who thought the Kingdome of Christ should be Earthly was not theirs which thought the Gospel onely should be preached to the Jewes What more opposite to Prophetical Doctrine concerning the comming of Christ than the one concerning the Catholick Church than the other Yet they which had these Fancies even when they had them were not the worst men in the World The Heresie of Free-will was a milstone about the Pelagians neck shall we therefore give Sentence of Death inevitable against all those Fathers in the Greek Church which being mis-perswaded dyed in the Errour of Free-will Of these Galatians therefore which first were justified and then deceived as I can see no cause why as many as dyed before admonition might not by mercy be received even in errour so I make no doubt but as many as lived till they were admonished found the mercy of God effectual in converting them from their errour lest any one that is Christ's should perish Of this I take it there is no Controversie Only against the Salvation of them that dyed though before admonition yet in errour it is objected that their opinion was a very plain direct denial of the foundation If Paul and Barnabas had been so perswaded they would haply have used the terms otherwise speaking of the Masters themselves who did first set that errour abroach Certain of the Sect of the Pharisees which believed What difference was there between these Pharisees and other Pharisees from whom by a special description they are distinguished but this These which came to Antioch teaching the necessity of Circumcision were Christians the other enemies of Christianity Why then should these be tenned so distinctly Believers if they did directly deny the foundation of our Belief besides which there was no other thing that made the rest to be no Believers We need go no farther than Saint Paul's very reasoning against them for proof of this matter Seeing you know God or rather are known of God how turn you again to impotent Rudiments the Law engendreth Servants her Children are in bondage They which are begotten by the Gospel are free Brethren we are not Children of the Servant but of the Free-woman and will ye yet be under the Law That they thought it unto Salvation necessary for the Church of Christ to observe dayes and months and times and years to keep the Ceremonies and Sacraments of the Law this was their errour Yet he which condemneth their errour confesseth that notwithstanding they knew God and were known of him he taketh not the honour from them to be termed Sonnes begotten of the immortal seed of the Gospel Let the heaviest words which he useth be weighed consider the drift of those dreadful Conclusions If ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing As many as are justified by the Law are fallen from Grace It had been to no purpose in the World so to urge them had not the Apostle been perswaded that at the hearing of such Sequels No benefit by Christ a defection from Grace their hearts would tremble and quake within them And why because that they knew that in Christ and in Grace their Salvation lay which is a plain direct acknowledgement of the Foundation Lest I should herein seem to hold that which no one learned or godly hath done let these words be considered which import as much as I affirm Surely those Brethren which in Saint Pauls time thought that God did lay a necessity upon them to make choyse of dayes and meats spake as they believed and could not but in words condemn the liberty which they supposed to be brought in against the Authority of Divine Scripture Otherwise it had been needlesse for Saint Paul to admonish them not to condemn such as eat without scrupulosity whatsoever was set before them This errour if you weigh what it is of it self did at once overthrow all Scriptures whereby we are taught Salvation by Faith in Christ all that ever the Prophets did soretell all that ever the Apostles did preach of Christ it drew with it the denial of Christ utterly Insomuch that Saint Paul complaineth that his labour was lost upon the Galatians unto whom this errour was obtruded affirming that Christ if so be they were circumcised should not profit them any thing at all Yet so farr was Saint Paul from striking their names out of Christ's book that he commandeth others to entertain them to accept with singular humanity to use them like Brethren he knew man's imbecillity he had a feeling of our blindnesse which are mortal men how great it is and being sure that they are the Sonnes of God whosoever be endued with his fear would not have them counted Enemies of that whereunto they could not as yet frame themselves to be Friends but did ever upon a very Religious affection to the Truth willingly reject the truth They acknowledged Christ to be their onely and perfect Saviour but saw not how repugnant their believing the necessity of Mosaical Ceremonies was to their Faith in Jesus Christ. Hereupon a reply is made that if they had not directly denied the foundation they might have been saved but saved they could not be therefore their opinion was not onely by consequent but directly a denial of the foundation When the question was about the possibility of their Salvation their denying of the foundation was brought to prove that they could not be saved now that the Question is about their denial of the foundation the impossibility of their Salvation is alledged to prove they denied the foundation Is there nothing which excludeth men from Salvation but onely the foundation of Faith denied I should have thought that besides this many other things are death unto as many as understanding that to cleave thereunto was to fall from Christ did notwithstanding cleave unto them But of this enough Wherefore I come to the last Question Whether that the Doctrin of the Church of Rome concerning the necessity of Works unto Salvation be a direct denial of our Faith 27. I seek not to obtrude unto you any private Opinion of mine own the best learned in our profession are of this Judgement That all the corruptions of the Church of Rome do not prove her to deny the Foundation directly if they did they should grant her simply to be no Christian Church But I supopose saith one that in the Papacy some Church remaineth a Church crazed or if you will broken quite in pieces forlorn mishapen yet some Church his reason is this Antichrist must sit in the Temple of God Lest any man should think such Sentences as these to be true onely in regard of them whom that Church is supposed to have kept by the special providence of God as it were in the secret corners of his Bosome free from infection and as sound in the
day some maintain it than it was in them which held it at first as Luther and others whom I had an eye unto in this speech The Question is not Whether â—o error with such and such circumstances but simply Whether an error overthrowing the foundation do exclude all possibility of salvation if it be not râ—enated and expresly repented of 2 Thes. 2. 11. Apoc. 13. v. â— For this is the only thing alledged to prove the impossibility of their salvation The Church of Rome joyneth works with Christ which is a denial of the foundation and unless we hold the foundation we cannot be saved They may cease to put any confidence in works and yet never think living in Popish superstition they did amiss Pighius dyed Popish and yet denial Popery in the Article of Justification by works long before his death What the foundation of saith is Vâ—caeto ad conâ—ionem multitudine quae coalesecre in populi unial corpus nuâ—a et praâ—erquam I legibus poterat Liv. de Rom. lib. 1. Ephes. 1. 23. 4. 1â— Ephes. 2. 20. John 6. 63. 2 Tim. 3. 15. Acts 16. 17. Heb. 10. 20. Gen. 49. Job 19. Acts 4.18 Luke 1. 11. 1 Cor. 3. a Rom. 8. 10. b Phil. 2. 15. c Col. 3.4 1 Pet. 1. Ephes. 2. 9. John 5. 11. 1 John 5. 13. Perpetuity of saith Rom. 6. 10. John 14. 19. 1 Pet. 1. 1. 2 John 3. 9. Ephes. 1. 4. 5. John 4. 14. Coll. 1. 23. 1 Tim. 2. 15. John 10. 1 John 3. â— * Howsoever men be changed for changed they may be even the best amongst men if they that have received as it seemeth some of the Galatians which fell into errour not received the Gifts and Graces of God which are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as Faith Hope and Charity are which God doth never take away from him to whom they are given as less repented him to have given them if such might be so farr changed by errour as that the very root of Faith should be quite extinguished in them and so their Salvation utterly lost It would shake the hearts of the strongest and stoutest of us all See this contrary in Beza his observations upon the harmony of Confessions a Error convicted and afterwards maintained â—â— more than errour for although opinion be the same it was in which respect I still call it errour yet they are not now the same they were when they are taught what the Truth is and plainly raught b Acts 15. 9. c Gal. 4.14.15 d Vers. 18. e Vers. 21. f Vers. 8. â—â—er de Unit. Eccles. servants Calr Ey 108. Morn de Eccles. Zaâ—ch praâ—â—ar de Relig. 1 Thess. 1. 13. Rom. 11. 6. * I deny not but that the Church of Rome requireth some kinde of works which she ought not to require at mens hands But our question in general about the adding of good works not whethere such or such Works be goed In this comparison it is enough to touch so much of the matter in question between St. Paul and the Galatians as inferreth those Conclusions Ye are fallen from grace Christ can profit you nothing which Conclusions will foâ—low Circumcision and Rites of the Law Ceremonial if they be required as things necessary to Salvation This only was a ledged against me and need I touch more than was all edged a Mat. 5. 20. b Luke 11. 39. c Mat. 5. 21. Eph. 2. 7. 15. a Gal 3. 8. b 1 Pet. 2. 9. and 5 3. c Ephes. 1. 7. d Isa. 53. 11. Jer. 23. 6. e Eph. 3. 25. f Mat. 19. 27. g 2 Thess. 2. 15. h Gal. 2. 16. end 3. 3. 2 Thess. 2. 13. Hac â—aâ—io Ecclesiastici Sacramenti Catholicae Fâ—ici est vt qui parâ—em â—ivini Sacrimenti negar partem â—â—â—alâ—at cuâ—sirâ—â— Iratuim sibi â—onnâ—â—a cuncorpâ—â—ata sunc omnia â—t aliud â—â—ae aâ—io staâ—e non possie quiunum ex omnibus denegaveriâ—â— aliaâ—â— emnia tradidâ—ss non presir Cassian lib. 6. de Incarnat Dom. If he obstâ—aâ—cly stand in denial pag 193. Acts 20. 23. Lib 2. â—e in car Dem. cap. 14. Levis of Oraneâ— l. Merlit cap. last â— Paulgarola let 11. Annoâ— in 1 John 1. In his Book of Consolation Works of Superetogation Let all Affection be laid asideâ— Let the Matter indifferently be considered Ecclus. 6. 2. Lib 4. cap. 6. de dâ—ct chr Rob. Tolâ—â— lib. 4. cap. 5. 2 Pet. 1. Pâ—iâ—â— in Orit D. Aâ—nold Parsons in 3. convers Mal. 1. 7. Canus locur l. 11. c. 5. Viâ— ver lib. 2. de corrupt art Hard. lib. 4. Pac. 1903. edit 1570. a In the third part of the 3. conversions of England in the Examination of Foxes Saints c. 14. sect 53.54 p. 215. b Sect. 55. c Plut. in Demosthen d Liv. Dec. 1 l.2 an V.C. 60 e 1 Tim. 2.8 f Annal. tom â— An. 59. n. 109,110 tom 2. An. 132. num g S. Paulus de sua salute incertus Kicheom Jesuit 1.2 c. 12. Idolat Huguen p. 119. in marg edit Lat. Mogunt 113. interpret Marcel Bomper Jesuita h Witness the verses of Horatius a Jesuite recited by Posse Biblioth Select part 2 l.17 c. 19. Exue Franciscum tunica laceroque cuculâ—o Qui Franciscus erat jam tibi Christus eriâ— Francisci exuriâ—s si quà licet indue Christium Jam Francisco erit qui modo Christus erat The like hath Bencius another Jesuite i 2 Cor. 3.1 Of the spirit of Prophesie received from God himself Of the Prophers manner of speech Job 15. 2 3. Wisd. 2. 15. Esay 49. 5. Ezekiel 3. A natural 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perceiveth nor heavenly things James 2. Acts 12. Acts 17. We must not halt between two opinion Nockerâ— in the last time Mockers Mockers worse than Pagans and Infidelâ— Rom. 10. Iudas vit sapienâ— certi usicâ— Three fold Separation 1. Heresie 2. Scism 3. Apostasie Infallible evâ—dence in the Faithful that they are Gods Children The Papists falsly accuseâ— us of Heresie and Apostasie Acts 2â— Apoc. 18. Caâ—t 8. 11. Acts â—â— The Popes usurped Supremacy Concil delector Cardin. Laurent Soriuâ— Coun. de reb gest 1 Pio â— Urancise Sansâ—viâ— de guherm Rerum â—â—h l. â— Cap. de Jud. are scal â—oldap 1 Chron. 13. Verse 12. Gen. 6.3 13. Gen. 6. â— 1â— Gen. 19. 12. Gen. 19. 15. Verse 1â— The Sacrament of the Lords Supper Lam. 2. 13. Ephes. 4. 1 John 4. 1 John 5. Mat. 9. Rom. 11. 1 John 2. No pleasuâ—â— of God without Faith Psal. 69. Rom. 11. Psal. 10. 1â— Verse â—2 Hosea 1. 2. nor my people Verse 6. not obtaining mercy * Careless Amos â— 11,12 1 Pet. 4. 17. Jer. 3. 14 15.
would prove at least tedious and therefore I shall impose upon my Reason no more then two which shall immediately follow and by which he may judge of the rest Mr. Travers excepted against Mr. Hooker for that in one of his Sermons be declared That the assurance of what we believe by the Word of God is not to us so certain as that which we perceive by Sense And Mr. Hooker confesseth he said so and endeavors to justifie it by the Reasons following First I taught That the things which God promises in his Word are surer to us then what we touch handle or see But are we so sure and certain of them If we be Why doth God so often prove his Promises to us as he doth by Arguments drawn from our sensible experience For we must be surer of the proof then of the things proved otherwise it is no proof For example How is it that many men looking on the Moon at the sametime every one knoweth it to be the Moon as certainly as the other doth But many believing one and the same Promise have not all one and the same fulness of Perswassion For how falleth it out that men being assured of any thing by Sense can be no surer of it then they are when at the strongest in Faith that liveth upon the Earth hath always need to labor strive and pray that his assurance concerning Heavenly and Spiritual things may grow increase and be augmented The Sermon that gave him the cause of this his Justification makes the case more plain by declaring That there is besides this certainly of Evidence a certainty of Adherence In which having most excellently demonstrated what the Certainty of Adherence is he makes this comfortable use of it Comfortable he says as to weak Believers who suppose themselves to be faithless not to believe when notwithstanding they have their Adherence the Holy Spirit hath his private operations and worketh secretly in them and effectually too though they want the inward Testimony of it Tell this to a Man that hath a minde too much dejected by a sad sense of his sin to one that by a too severe judging of himself concludes that he wants Faith because he wants the comfortable Assurance of it and his Answer will be Do not perswade me against my knowledge against what I finde and feel in my self I do not I know I do not believe Mr. Hookers own words follow Well then to favor such men a little in their weakness let that be granted which they do imagine be it that they adhere not to Gods promises but are faithless and without belief But are they not grieved for their unbelief They confess they are Do they not wish it might and also strive that it may be otherways We know they do Whence cometh this but from a secret love and liking that they have of those things believed For no man can love those things which in his own opinion are not And if they think those things to be which they shew they love when they desire to believe them then must it be that by desiring to believe they prove themselves true Believers For without Faith no man thinketh that things believed are Which Argument all the Subtilties of Infernal Powers will never be able to dissolve This is an Abridgment of part of the Reasons he gives for his Justification of this his opinion for which he was excepted against by Mr. Travers Mr. Hooker was also accused by Mr. Travers for that he in one of his Sermons had declared That he doubted not but that God was merciful to save many of our Forefathers living heretofore in Popish Superstition for as much as they sinned ignorantly And Mr. Hooker in his Answer professeth it to be his judgment and declares his Reasons for this charitable opinion to be as followeth But first he states the Question about Iustification and Works and how the Foundation of Faith is overthrown and then he proceeds to discover that way which Natural Men and some others have mistaken to be the way by which they hope to attain true and everlasting Happiness And having discovered the mistaken he proceeds to direct to that true way by which and no other Everlasting Life and Blessedness is attainable And these two ways he demonstrates thus they be his own words that follow That the way of Nature This the way of Grace the end of that way Salvation merited presupposing the Righteousness of Mens works Their Righteousness a natural ability to do them that ability the goodness of God which created them in such perfection But the end of this way Salvation bestowed upon men as a gift Presupposing not their Righteousness but the forgiveness of their Unrighteousness Iustification their Iustification not their natural ability to do good but their hearty sorrow for not doing and unfeigned belief in him for whose sake not doers are accepted which is their Vocation their Vocation the Election of God taking them out of the number of lost Children their Election a Mediator in whom to be elect This Mediation inexplicable Mercy this Mercy supposing their misery for whom be vouchsafed to die and make himself a Mediator And he also declareth There is no meritorious cause for our Iustification but Christ no effectual but his Mercy and says also We deny the Grace of our Lord Iesus Christ we abuse disannul and annihilate the benefit of his Passion if by a proud imagination we believe we can merit everlasting life or can be worthy of it This Belief he declareth is to destroy the very Essence of our Justification and he makes all opinions that border upon this to be very dangerous Tet nevertheless and for this he was accused considering how many vertuous and just Men how many Saints and Martyrs have had their dangerous opinions amongst which this was one That they hoped to make God some part of amends by voluntary punishments which they laid upon themselves Because by this or the like erroneous opinions which do by consequene overthrow the Merits of Christ shall Man be so bold as to write on their Graves Such men are damned there is for them no Salvation St. Austin says Errare possum Hareticus esse nolo And except we put a difference betwixt them that erre ignorantly and them that obstinately persist in it how is it possible that any Man should hope to be saved Give me a Pope or a Cardinal whom great afflictions have made to know himself whose heart God hath touched with true sorrow for all his sins and filled with a love of Christ and his Gospel whose Eyes are willingly open to see the Truth and his Mouth ready to renounce all Error this one opinion of Merit excepted which he thinketh God will require at his hands and because he wanteth trembleth and is discouraged and yet can say Lord cleanse me from all my secret sins Shall I think because of this or a like Error such men touch not so
doubted but many of the Fathers were saved but the means I said was not their ignorance which excuseth no man with God but their knowledge and Faith of the Truth which it appeareth God vouchsafed them by many notable Monuments and Records extant in all Ages Which being the last point in all my Sermon rising so naturally from the Text I then propounded as would have occasioned me to have delivered such matter notwithstanding the former Doctrine had been sound and being dealt in by a general speech without touch of his particular I looked not that a matter of Controversie would have been made of it no more than had been of my like dealing in former time But far otherwise than I looked for Mr. Hooker shewing no grief of Offence taken at my speech all the week long the next Sabbath leaving to proceed upon his ordinarie Text professed to preach again that he had done the day before for some question that his Doctrine was drawn into which he desired might be examined with all severitie So proceeding he bestowed his whole time in that discourse concerning his former Doctrine and answering the places of Scripture which I had alledged to prove that a man dying in the Church of Rome is not to be judged by the Scriptures to be saved In which long speech and utterly impertinent to his Text under colour of answering for himself he impugned directly and openly to all mens understanding the true Doctrine which I had delivered and adding to his former Points some other like as willingly one Error followeth another that is That the Galatians joyning with Faith in Christ Circumcision as necessary to Salvation might not be saved And that they of the Church of Rome may be saved by such a Faith of Christ as they had with a general Repentance of all their Errors notwithstanding their opinion of Iustification in part by their works and merits I was necessarily though not willingly drawn to say something to the Points he objected against sound Doctrine which I did in a short speech in the end of my Sermon with protestation of so doing no of any sinister affection to any man but to bear witness to the Truth according to my Calling and wished if the matter should needs further be dealt in some other more convenient way might be taken for it wherein I hope my dealing was manifest to the Consciences of all indifferent Hearers of me that day to have been according to Peace and without any uncharitableness being duly considered For that I conferred with him the first day I have shewed that the Cause requiring of me the Duty at the least not to be altogether silent in it being a matter of such consequence that the time also being short wherein I was to preach after him the hope of the fruit of our communication being small upon experience of forme Conferences my expectation being that the Church should be no further troubled with it upon the motion I made of taking some other course of dealing I suppose my deferring to speak with him till some fit opportunitie cannot in Charity be judged uncharitable The second day his unlooked for opposition with the former Reasons made it to be a matter that required of necessity some Publick answer which being so temporate as I have shewed if notwithstanding it be sensured as uncharitable and punished so grievously as it is What should have been my punishment if without all such cautions and respects as qualified my speech I had before all and in the understanding of all so reproved him offending openly that others might have feared to doe the like which yet if I had done might have been warranted by the rule and charge of the Apostle Them that offend openly rebuke openly that the rest may also fear and by his example who when Peter in this very Case which is now between us had not in Preaching but in a matter of Conversation not gone with a right foot as was fit for the truth of the Gospel conferred not privately with him but as his own rule required reproved him openly before all that others might hear and fear and not dare to do the like All which reasons together weighed I hope will shew the manner of my dealing to have been charitable and warrantable in every sort The next Sabbath day after this Mr. Hooker kept the way he had entred into before and bestowed his whole hour and more onely upon the Questions he had moved and maintained wherein he so set forth the agreement of the Church of Rome with us and their disagreement from us as if we had consented in the greatest and weightiest Points and differed onely in certain smaller matters Which Agreement noted by him in two chief points is not such as he would have made men believe The one in that he said They acknowledge all men sinners even the blessed Virgin though some of them freed her from sinne for the Council of Trent holdeth that she was free from sinne Another in that he said They teach Christ's Righteousness to be the onely meritorious cause of taking away sinne and differ from us onely in the applying of it For Thomas Aquinas their chief Schoolman and Archbishop Catherinus teach That Christ took away onely Original sinne and that the rest are to be taken away by our selves yea the Council of Trent teacheth That Righteousness whereby we are righteous in God's sight is an inherent Righteousness which must needs be of our own Works and cannot be understood of the Righteousness inherent onely in Christ's Person and accounted unto us Moreover he taught the same time That neither the Galatians nor the Church of Rome did directly overthrow the foundation of Iustification by Christ alone but onely by consequent and therefore might well be saved or else neither the Churches of the Lutherans nor any which bold any manner of Errour could be saved because saith he every Errour by consequent overthroweth the Foundation In which Discourses and such like he bestowed his whole time and more which if he had affected either the truth of God or the peace or the Church he would truly not have done Whose example could not draw me to leave the Scripture I took in hand but standing about an hour to deliver the Doctrine of it in the end upon just occasion of the Text leaving sundry other his unsound speeches and keeping me still to the Principal I confirmed the believing the Doctrine of Justification by Christ onely to be necessary to the Justification of all that should be saved and that the Church of Rome directly denieth that a man is saved by Christ or by Faith alone without the works of the Law Which my Answer as it was most necessary for the service of God and the Church so was it without any immodest or reproachful speech to Mr. Hooker whose unsound and wilful dealings in a Cause of so great importance to the Faith of Christ and salvation of the Church
Faith as we trust by his mercy we our selves are I permit it to your wise considerations whether it be more likely that as frenzy though it take away the use of reason doth notwithstanding prove them reasonable Creatures which have it because none can be frantick but they So Antichristianity being the bane and plain overthrow of Christianity may neverthelesse argue the Church where Antichrist sitteth to be Christian Neither have I ever hitherto heard or read any one word alledged of force to warrant that God doth otherwise than so as in the two next Questions before hath been declared binde himself to keep his Elect from worshipping the Beast and from receiving his mark in their foreheads but he hath preserved and will preserve them from receiving any deadly wound at the hands of the Man of Sinne whose deceit hath prevailed over none unto death but onely unto such as never loved the Truth such as took pleasure in unrighteousnesse They in all ages whose hearts have delighted in the principal Truth and whose Souls have thirsted after righteousness if they received the mark of Errour the mercy of God even erring and dangerously erring might save them if they received the mark of Heresie the same mercy did I doubt not convert them How farr Romish Heresies may prevail over God's Elect how many God hath kept falling into them how many have been converted from them is not the question now in hand for if Heaven had not received any one of that coat for these thousand years it may still be true that the Doctrine which this day they do professe doth not directly deny the foundation and so prove them simply to be no Christian Church One I have alleadged whose words in my ears sound that way shall I adde another whose speech is plain I deny her not the name of a Church saith another no more than to a man the name of a man as long as he liveth what sicknesse soever he hath His Reason is this Salvation is Iesus Christ which is the mark which joyneth the Head with the Body Iesus Christ with the Church is so cut off by many merits by the merits of Saints by the Popes Pardons and such other wickednesse that the life of the Church boldeth by a very thred yet still the life of the Church holdeth A third hath these words I acknowledge the Church of Rome even at this present day for a Church of Christ such a Church as Israel did Jeroboam yet a Church His reason is this Every man seeth except he willingly hoodwink himself that as alwayes so now the Church of Rome holdeth firmly and stedfastly the Doctrine of Truth concerning Christ and baptizeth in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost confesseth and avoucheth Christ for the onely Redeemer of the World and the Iudge that shall sit upon quick and dead receiving true Believers into endless joy faithless and godless men being cast with Satan and his Angels into flames unquenchable 28. I may and will rein the question shorter than they doe Let the Pope take down his top and captivate no more mens Souls by his Papal Jurisdiction let him no longer count himself Lord Paramount over the Princes of the World no longer hold Kings as his Servants paravaile Let his stately Senate submit their Necks to the yoke of Christ and cease to die their Garments like Edom in Blood Let them from the highest to the lowest hate and forsake their Idolatry abjure all their Errours and Heresies wherewith they have any way perverted the truth Let them strip their Churches till they leave no polluted ragg but onely this one about her By Christ alone without works we cannot be saved It is enough for me if I shew that the holding of this one thing doth not prove the foundation of Faith directly denied in the Church of Rome 29. Works are an addition Be it so what then the foundation is not subverted by every kinde of addition Simply to adde unto those fundamental words is not to mingle Wine with Water Heaven and Earth things polluted with the sanctified blood of Christ Of which Crime indict them which attribute those operations in whole or in part to any Creature which in the work of our Salvation wholly are peculiar unto Christ and If I open my mouth to speak in their defence if I hold my peace and plead not against them as long as breath is within my Body let me be guilty of all the dishonor that ever hath been done to the Son of God But the more dreadful a thing it is to deny salvation by Christ alone the more slow and fearful I am except it be too manifest to lay a thing so grievous to any man's charge Let us beware lest if we make too many ways of denying Christ we scarce leave any way for our selves truly and soundly to confess him Salvation only by Christ is the true foundation whereupon indeed Christianity standeth But what if I say You cannot besaved only by Christ without this addition Christ believed in heart confessed with mouth obeyed in life and conversation Because I adde do I therefore deny that which I did directly affirm There may be an additament of explication which overthroweth not but proveth and concludeth the Proposition whereunto it is annexed He which saith Peter was a Chief Apostle doth prove that Peter was an Apostle He which saith Our Salvation is of the Lord through Sanctification of the Spirit and Faith of the Truth proveth that our Savation is of the Lord. But if that which is added be such a privation as taketh away the very essence of that whereunto it is added then by the sequel it overthroweth it He which saith Iudas is a dead man though in word he granteth Iudas to be a man yet in effect he proveth him by that very speech no man because death depriveth him of being In like sort he that should say our Election is of Grace for our Works sake should grant in sound of words but indeed by consequent deny that our Election is of Grace for the Grace which electeth us is no Grace if it elect us for our Works sake 30. Now whereas the Church of Rome addeth Works we must note further that the adding of Works is not like the adding of Circumcision unto Christ Christ came not to abrogate and put away good Works he did to change Circumcision for we see that in place thereof he hath substituted holy Baptism To say Ye cannot be saved by Christ except ye be circumcised is to adde a thing excluded a thing not only not necessary to be kept but necessary not to be kept by them that will be saved On the other side to say Ye cannot be saved by Christ without Works is to add things not only not excluded but commanded as being in their place and in their kinde necessary and therefore subordinated unto Christ by Christ himself by whom
declining or swarving aside which absolute perfection when did God ever finde in the Sons of mere mortal men Doth it not follow that all Flesh must of necessity fall down and confess We are not dust and ashes but worse our mindes from the highest to the lowest are not right If not right then undoubtedly not capable of that blessedness which we naturally seek but subject unto that which we most abhorr Anguish Tribulation Death Wo endless Misery For whatsoever misseth the way of Life the issue thereof cannot be but Perdition By which reason all being wrapped up in sinne and made thereby the Children of Death the mindes of all men being plainly convicted not to be right shall we think that God hath indued them with so many excellencies more not onely than any but then all the Creatures in the World besides to leave them in such estate that they had been happier if they they had never been Here commeth necessarily in a new way unto Salvation so that they which were in the other perverse may in this be found strait and righteous That the way of Nature this the way of Grace The end of that way Salvation merited presupposing the righteousness of mens works their Righteousness a natural hability to do them that hability the goodness of God which created them in such perfection But the end of this way Salvation bestowed upon men as a Gift presupposing not their righteousness but the forgiveness of their unrighteousness Justification their Justification not their natural ability to do good but their hearty sorrow for their not doing and unfeigned belief in him for whose sake not-doers are accepted which is their Vocation their Vocation the Election of God taking them out from the number of lost Children their Election a Mediator in whom to be elect This Mediation inexplicable Mercy his Mercy their Misery for whom he vouchsafed to make himself a Mediator The want of exact distinguishing between these two wayes and observing what they have common what peculiar hath been the cause of the greatest part of that confusion whereof Christianity at this day laboureth The lack of diligence in searching laying down and inuring mens mindes with those hidden grounds of Reason whereupon the least particular in each of these are most firmly and strongly builded is the onely reason of all those scruples and uncertainties wherewith we are in such sort intangled that a number despair of ever discerning what is right or wrong in any thing But we will let this matter rest whereinto we stepped to search out a way how some mindes may be and are right truly even in the sight of God though they be simply in themselves not right Howbeit there is not onely this difference between the just and impious that the minde of the one is right in the sight of God because his obliquity is not imputed the other perverse because his sin is unrepented of but even as lines that are drawn with a trembling hand but yet to the point which they should are thought ragged and uneven nevertheless direct in comparison of them which run clean another way so there is no incongruity in terming them right-minded men whom though God may charge with many things amiss yet they are not as those hideous and ugly Monsters in whom because there is nothing but wilful opposition of minde against God a more than tolerable deformity is noted in them by saying that their mindes are not right The Angel of the Church of Thyatyra unto whom the Son of God sendeth this greeting I know thy works and thy love and service and faith notwithstanding I have a few things against thee was not as he unto whom Saint Peter Thou hast no fellowship in this business for thy heart is not right in the sight of God So that whereat the orderly disposition of the minde of man should be this Perturbation and sensual Appetites all kept in awe by a moderate and sober will in all things frained by Reason Reason directed by the Law of God and Nature this Babylonian had his minde as it were turned upside down In him unreasonable cecity and blindnesse trampled all Laws both of God and Nature under seet Wilfulness tyrannized over Reason and Brutish Sensuality over Will An evident token that his out-rage would work his overthrow and procure his speedy ruine The Mother whereof was that which the Prophet in these words signified His minde doth swell Immoderate swelling a token of very eminent breach and of inevitable destruction Pride a vice which cleaveth so fast unto the hearts of men that if we were to strip our selves of all faults one by one we should undoubtedly finde it the very last and hardest to put off But I am not here to touch the secret itching humour of vanity wherewith men are generally touched It was a thing more than meanly inordinate wherewith the Babylonian did swell Which that we may both the better conceive and the more easily reap profit by the nature of this vice which setteth the whole World out of course and hath put so many even of the wisest besides themselves is first of all to be inquired into Secondly the dangers to be discovered which it draweth inevitably after it being not cured And last of all the ways to cure it Whether we look upon the gifts of Nature or of Grace or whatsoever is in the World admired as a part of man's excellency adorning his Body beautifying his Minde or externally any way commending him in the account and opinion of men there is in every kinde somewhat possible which no man hath and somewhat had which few men can attain unto By occasion whereof there groweth disparagement necessarily and by occasion of disparagement Pride through mens ignorance First therefore although men be not proud of any thing which is not at lest in opinion good yet every good thing they are not proud of but onely of that which neither is common unto many and being desired of all causeth them which have it to be honoured above the rest Now there is no man so void of brain as to suppose that Pride consisteth in the bare possession of such things for then to have Vertue were a Vice and they should be the happiest men who are most wretched because they have least of that which they would have And though in speech we do intimate a kinde of vanity to be in them of whom we say They are Wise men and they know it yet this doth not prove That every Wiseman is proud which doth not think himself to be blockish What we may have and know that we have it without offence do we then make offensive when we take joy and delight in having it What difference between men enriched with all aboundance of earthly and heavenly Blessings and Idols gorgeously attired but this The one takes pleasures in that which they have the other none If we may be possest with Beauty Strength Riches Power Knowledge