finne against the Holy-Ghost shall not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come But I answer that this world to come cannot be Purgatory for they say that Purgatory is now already but by this world to come is truly meant the day of judgement and our Saviours meaning is that he that sinneth against the Holy-Ghost shall be punished both in this life and also after this life eternally in hell-sire Likewise to that in the 3d. Chapter of the 1. Epistle to the Corinthians where it is spoken of gold wood precious stones hay stubble c. I answer that it is also an Allegoricall speech and that it is not meant of the torment of the soule after death So then we see plainly that this their Purgatory is but imaginary and and cannot be proved out of the word of God wherein there is not so much as any mention made thereof only forged by them to maintaine and uphold the Popes dignity who by this invention finds quicke sale for his pardons and Indulgences CHAP. IX Of merits and justification by Works THe Church of Rome teacheth that a man by his good works may merit eternall salvation and that a man is justified before God by the workes of the Law and thereupon to make the Protestant Religion seeme the more odious they lay to our charge that we teach that good workes are altogether unprofitable and no way conducing to salvation and that it is faith alone that justifieth without any need at all of performing any other duties of Christianity An abhominable doctrine it is indeed and worthy of most severe punishment as abolishing all honesty and vertue and setting loose the reines to all manner of wickednesse and impiety To the contrary we of the Protestant Religion purged from Popery hold that good works are absolutely necessary to salvation and that there is no other way to obtaine everlasting life that faith without works is dead and cannot justifie that good works serve to glorifie God to edifie our brethren and to bring us to eternall salvation onely we deny that good workes can merit salvation they are the way indeed whereby we come to everlasting happinesse but not the price whereby we purchase it which is already sufficiently purchased by the free redemption of our Lord Christ Jesus We say moreover that although faith alone and without good works cannot justifie yet faith hath the propriety to justifie us before God as the eyes cannot see without the help of the eares and yet the eyes alone have the gift of seeing Now that we cannot merit any thing at Gods hands I shall plainly prove by these five reasons following First because it is our duty to doe any good worke whatsoever we doe as our Saviour himselfe telleth us Luk. 17. When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded say we are unprofitable servants we have done all that which was our duty to doe Secondly the good which we doe comes from God and consequently cannot merit any thing for us at Gods hands for we doe but give him that which is his owne already Thirdly our good works profit him nothing he hath no need of our service although we have great need of his grace Fourthly our good works at the best are but imperfect and have alwayes some infirmity in the performance of them Fifthly and lastly there is no proportion at all betwixt our good works and the kingdome of heaven To gaine such an excellent purchase there needs a price insinitely excellent such as the merits of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus Likewise the holy Scripture saith that eternall life is the gift of God and not to be purchased by mans merits as the Apostle witnesseth in the 6 h Chapter of Rom. The wages of sin saith he is death but the gift of God is eternall life through Jesus Christ our Lord and Ephesians the 2d Chapter by grace we are saved through faith and that not of your selves It is the gift of God not of workes lest any man should boast Wherefore God calleth us his children and by consequent heires Rom. 8. to the end that we may know that we can lay no right to the kingdome of God as a purchase which we have merited by good works but as children and in Jesus Christ lawfull heires hereunto Surely then those that goe about to purchase eternall salvation in a mercinary way by their owne merits renounce the title of being Gods children and consequently lose their labours Some there be who to sweeten this their hodge-podge say that we merit by the grace of God who gives us grace to merit a tenet altogether as false as hypocriticall and absurd for the chiefe and principall cause why our good workes are not meritorious is because they proceed from the grace of God I pray what doth that man merit of me that gives me that which is mine owne already I confesse indeed that the holy Scripture saith that God doth recompence our good workes and that our reward is great in heauen and that even for a cup of cold water we shall not lose our reward but this reward is no way merited by us as a father gives his childe some reward it may be for writing a line or two out of a Copy or such like which he doth not because the worke deserves it but because it is his childe So God accepteth of us freely in Christ Jesus not for our works sake but rewards our works though never so imperfect and unworthy only because we are his children It is no marvell then if those of the Church of Rome professe that they doubt of their salvation for it is impossible to build a stedfast assurance thereof on so weake a foundation as our owne merits whereas indeed we ought to ground it onely on the immoveable foundation of Gods promise in Christ Jesus Let us conclude then with the Apostle Saint Paul in the 3 Chapter to the Romanes that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law and that we are iustified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ I doe not say but that before men we are justified by workes that is to say knowne to be just for men cannot judge of our faith because they cannot discerne it And thus Saint James chap. 2. teacheth that Abraham was justified by works but he was not justified by that meanes before God As Saint Paul teacheth in the 4th Chapter of his Epistle to the Romanes If Abraham saith he were justified by workes he hath whereof to glory but not before God Heare likewise what the same Apostle saith in the 2d Chapter to the Galathians verse the 16th We have beleeved in Jesus Christ that we might be iustified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the Law for by the works of the Law shall no flesh be iustified And in the 2d Tim. Chap. 1. God hath saved us and called us
with an holy calling not according to our workes but according to his owne purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began CHAPTER X. Of Works of Super-erogation WOrkes of Super-erogation may fitly be termed the Popes grand Master-peece to support his dignity The Apostle Saint James Chapter the 3â—… saith that in many things we offend all And Solomon in the 1. booke of the Kings Chapter the 8th saith that there is no man that sinneth not And in the 24th Chapter of the Proverbs he saith that a iust man falleth seven times that is to say many times The Apostle Saint Paul himselfe in the 7th Chapter to the Romanes saith that he doth the evill that he would not doe and that sinne dwelleth in him Wherefore our Saviour taught his Disciples to say every day forgive us our trespasses It appeares then plainly that the most just amongst men faile in many things and doe not perfectly fulfill the Law of God To the contrary the Church of Rome teacheth that a man may not only perfectly fulfill the Law of God but also that many persons doe more good works then God hath commanded and consequently are more righteous then God would have them These good works more perfect forsooth and more excellent then those which God hath commanded they call works of Supererogation the which a man is not bound to performe neither is he to be punished if he doth them not but if he doth them and observes them he doth thereby purchase unto himselfe a degree of glory in Paradise above the ordinary ranke of Saints who having done no more but what God hath commanded have also for their labour nothing but eternall life This doctrine is altogether as senslesse as devillish and against all reason For God hath commanded us in his Law that we love that we serve him and obey him with all our heart with all our strength If any man doth then more then God hath commanded in his Lawes he serves God and loves him more then with all his strength which is as much to say as that he doth that which he is not able to doe Likewise the Apostle to the Philippians Chapter the 4th commandeth us to give our selves to all things that are just and honest and to all vertue whatsoever If then these works of Super-erogation be either just or honest they are also commanded And if those who give themselves to these works of Super-erogation have power to performe them is it not God who hath given them that power And if God doth give them that power is it not that they should serve him They are therefore bound to doe those works and if so then are they no more works of Super-erogation But if we consider this seriously we shall find that these of the Church of Rome who boast that they doe more then God doth either require or command doe absolutely conceit themselves to be farre more just and more holy then the Angels themselves For all the perfection of the Angels consisteth in doing Gods will and not in doing more then he commands them as it is said Psalme 103. Angels that excell in strength doe his Commandements hearkening unto the voice of his word Nay I say more that all the justice of our Saviour Christ Jesus as man consisted in nothing else then in doing the will of his Father in heaven as you may reade in the 6th Chapter of Saint Johns Gospell I came downe from heaven saith our Saviour not to doe mine owne will but the will of him that sent me And in the 10â—â— Chapter to the Hebrewes Loe I come to doe thy will ô God So then these of the Church of Rome with their works of Super-erogation will be found by this reckoning more just and more perfect then Christ Jesus Likewise it must needs be that in doing these works of Super-erogation they doe either the will of God or else their owne The will of God they doe not for they are workes which God hath not commanded they doe therefore their owne It seemes then by this that they conceive their owne will to be more perfect and more excellent then the will of God And how comes it to passe that perpetuall virginity and martyrdome and monasteriall vowes which with many other such like they terme works of Super-erogation should be better then the Commandement of God which commands us to love him with all our heart c. Howbeit to love God is alwayes a good holy and necessary duty but a single life and martyrdome and such like are things in themselves most sinfull and wicked if they be not done in love to God The love of God is alwayes holy and good but these things may be done in hypocrisie or through despaire and ambition and are no way good if they be not done for the love of God Martyrdome is a good and holy duty when God cals us thereunto but to incurre it without necessity can be termed nothing else but preposterous timerity But when we are called thereunto by God in such kind as that to escape it we must deny the faith of Christ then it is absolutely a thing most necessary and expresly commanded in Gods Word To give all ones goods to the poore were a knavish part in a man that hath many children c. The monasticall oath of never marrying is an occasion and cause of all manner of idlenesse and filthy concupiscence Finally God commands us to doe whatsoever things are iust whatsoever things are good whatsoever things are pure If then these men will doe more then God commands them they must of necessity doe that which he absolutely forbids and so heap unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath CHAPTER XI Of the Superaboundant Satisfactions of Saints and Monkes which the Pope distributes by Indulgences THe Church of Rome holdeth that there be diverse Saints who have not much sinned and yet have suffered very much and consequently that they have suffered more punishments then their sinnes deserved The overplus is that which they call superaboundant satisfactions that is to say the overplus of that which these Saints have payed unto God more then they owed him of this ranke of Saints are chiefly the Monkes for they say that they performe so many good works and undergoe so many punishments for satisfactions that they have enough left to help other men This overplus lest it should be lost the Pope gathers into the treasury of the Church and distributes it to the people by Indulgences and converts it into satisfactions for other mens offences It is then a very saucy presupposition that God will accept of the lashes with a whip of the beatings of the fasts and pilgrimages of Saint Francis or Saint Dominicke in full satisfaction for another mans sinnes As if a Iudge would deale any thing the kinder with a prisoner because a friend of his whipt himselfe or fasted more then he was commanded It is also to
accuse God Almighty of injustice to thinke that he inflicts more punishments on any man then his sinnes doe deserve It is not to know the greatnesse of sinne and to be ignorant of the punishment due thereunto to conceive that a few fasts and scourgings or any miseries that are to be endured in this life can be a satisfaction more then sufficient for the same For our Saviour in the 5th Chapter of Saint Matthew saith that he that calleth his brother foole shall be in danger of hell-fire And if the satisfaction of Iesus Christ be sufficient for the punishment due to all our sinnes what need we the satisfactions of Saints Why should we thinke that God will take two payments for one and the same debt when the first is sufficient Moreover God rewards us to the full here on earth for all our good works and endeavours how is it then that we should merit any thing to another thereby A foolish conceit it is indeed as if the same money which I imploy to buy me a house should likewise serve over and above for the payment of another mans debts And in a thing so holy and important as touching our reconciliation with God in Christ is it lawfull to forge articles of faith without any ground for the truth thereof out of the word of God For where is the least proofe for this in all the holy Scripture who seeth not that it was invented on purpose to increase the Popes treasury and to exalt his Empire who hereby with his pardons and Indulgences amasseth unto himselfe infinite riches I would very willingly learne who it was that first put the Saints satisfactions into the treasury of the Church when began this distribution how shall we know certainly whether God doth receive these satisfactions as sufficient why had not the Priests in the old Testament such a treasury wherein to keep the superaboundant satisfactions of Noah Abraham and Jacob c. which overplus it seems they have lost by ill husbandry What is the cause why our Saviour Christ Iesus nor his Apostles were not advised to speake of this Treasury or of one mans satisfying for another Surely Saint Paul was asleep when he said that every man shall beare his owne burthen Gal. 6. or else they will make themselves wiser then Saint Paul But whether it be allowable by Gods Word or no so it be any way conducing to the Popes profit it matters not with them so the Pope hath a fee it 's no matter whether God hath any honour Thus doe they both dishonour God and wrong their owne soules CHAP. XII Of the presence of the Lords body in the Sacrament and of Transubstantiation IF there were none other abuse in the Church of Rome save only this one errour of Transubstantiation it were of it selfe sufficient to drive away from the Church of Rome any man that is carefull for the salvation of his soule The holy Scripture declareth that no Idolaters shall enter into the kingdome of God 1 Cor. 6. and surely there can be no greater Idolatry then to call a morsell of bread his god and his Creator and to adore a god made with a few words a god that may be stollen away a god that may be mouldy and eaten up with wormes and those termes which they use of eating God of lifting up God of carrying God about in procession me thinkes should make a true Christians haire to stand on end to heare such intollerable blasphemies whereby God Almighty is so greatly dishonoured and the Christian Religion so exposed to the reproach of Pagans and Infidels The Doctors of the Church of Rome strive to prove this their Transubstantiation from that passage of our Saviour which they alleadge cropt and maimed not mentioning either the foregoing or the following words where we find that Jesus tooke bread brake it blessed and gave it to them saying take eat this is my body which is broken for you doe this in remembrance of me It appeares then that our Saviour gâ—ve bread and it is manifest that he gave it not till after the consecration it was therefore bread after the consecration Our Saviour saith that the bread is his body not that the bread is changed or transubstantiated into his body so that the bread is not the body of Christ Capernaitically or grossely but sacramentally and spiritually Moreover our Saviour in the 12th Chapter of Saint Johns Gospell saith me ye have not alwayes which were false if he were alwayes inclosed in a wafer cake To this they answer that we have him no more visibly I reply that to have Jesus Christ invisibly is neverthelesse to have him that man should lye that should say he hath no money because it is in his coffer So likewise in the 16th of Saint Johns Gospell ver 17. I goe to the Father saith our Saviour which also were an untruth if he did still remaine in a peece of bread All this they pretend under the shadow of these words this is my body for the meaning whereof they will not receive Saint Pauls exposition who thus delivereth it unto us the bread which we breake is it not the communion of the body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 And I pray how many times in the Scripture is it said that we are the body of Christ doth it therefore follow that we be transubstantiated into his body We see then into how many blasphemies how many grosse absurdities and contradictions they run into to defend this their fantasticall Transubstantion having no proofe at all for it out of Gods word what they have out of their unwritten word I know not neither doe I care CHAP. XIII Of the sacrifice of the Masse A word or two now of the Idolatrous sacrifice of the Masse Hereupon it was that I first found the Doctors of the Church of Rome at a fault For I often called on them to shew me some passage out of the word of God that commandeth the sacrifice of the body of Christ Jesus but they could none of them ever shew me any Some forsooth will take the institution thereof from those words of our Saviour doe this which they interpret sacrifice my body but this interpretation is of their owne invention Others alleadge that passage of our Saviour this is my body for the institution of it But what if it were such a body indeed as they interpret it which notwithstanding is very false can they conclude because our Saviour said this is my body that he commanded the sacrifice of his body Briefly they cannot alleadge any passage out of the word of God which might prove the institution of this their most idolatrous sacrifice And indeed seeing the sacrifice of the death of Iesus Christ is sufficient what need is there to sacrifice him any more Againe through the whole passage of the institution of the Lords Supper there is not the least signe or mention of any sacrifice neither did the Apostles any worship at