much horror to every Chriftian, that I need not be at any pains AR T. to confute it.

2.

XIV.

We are farther required in the New Teftament, to cleanfe ourfelves from all filthiness both of the fief and spirit, perfecting 1. boliness in the fear of God: and to reckon ourselves his and not 1 Cor. vi our own, and that we are bought with a price; and that there- 20. fore we ought to glorify him both in our bodies, and in our fpirits, which are his. These and many more like expreffions are plainly precepts of general obligation, for nothing can be fet forth in more pofitive words than these are: and it is not easy to imagine, how any thing can go beyond them; for if we are Chrift's property, purchated by him, then we ought to apply ourselves to every thing in which his honour, or the honour of his religion can be concerned, or which will be pleasing to him.

Our Saviour having charged the Pharifees fo often, for adding fo many of their ordinances to the laws of God, teaching his fear by the precepts of men, and the Apoftles condemning a fhew of will-worship and voluntary humility, feem to belong Coloff. ii, to this matter, and to be defigned on purpose to reprefs the 18. pride and fingularities of affected hypocrites. Our Saviour faid

to him that asked, What he should do that he might have eternal Matt. xix, life? keep the Commandments. These words I do the rather 16, 17. cite, because they are followed with a paffage, that, of all others in the New Teftament, feems to look the likeft a counsel of perfection; for when he, who made the queftion, replied upon our Saviour's anfwer, that he had kept all thefe from his youth up, and added, what lack I yet? To that our Saviour answered, If thou wilt be perfect, go fell all that thou haft and give to the Ver. 20,21 poor, and thou shalt have treafure in heaven, and come and follow me: and by the words that follow, of the difficulty of a rich man's entering into the kingdom of heaven, this is more fully explained. The meaning of all that whole paffage is this, Chrift called that perfon to abandon all, and come and follow him, in fuch a manner as he had called his Apoftles. So that here is no counsel, but a pofitive command given to that particular perfon, upon this occafion. By perfect is only to be meant complete, in order to that to which he pretended, which was eternal life. And that alfo explains the word in that period, treafures in heaven, another expreffion for eternal life, to compenfate the lofs which he would have made by the fale of his poffeffions. So that here is no counfel, but a special command given to this perfon, in order to his own attaining eternal life.

Nor is it to be inferred from hence, that this is propofed to others in the way of a counfel; for as in cafes either of a famine or perfecution, it may come to be to fome a command,

33.

ART. mand, to fell all in order to the relief of others, as it was in the XIV. first beginnings of Chriftianity; fo in ordinary cafes to do it, might be rather a tempting of Providence than a trusting to it, for then a man fhould part with the means of his fubfiftence, which God has provided for him, without a neceffary and preffLuke xii. ing occafion. Therefore our Saviour's words, Sell that ye have and give alms, as they are delivered in the ftrain and peremptoriness of a command, fo they must be understood to bind as pofitive commands do: not fo conftantly as a negative command does, fince in every minute of our life that binds: but there is a rule and order in our obeying pofitive commands. We must not reft on the Sabbath-day, if a work of neceffity or charity calls us to put to our hands: we must not obey our parents in difobeying a publick law: fo if we have families, or the neceffities of a feeble body, and a weak conftitution, for which God hath fupplied us with that which Prov. xxx. will afford us food convenient for us, we must not throw up thofe provifions, and caft ourselves upon others. Therefore that precept must be moderated and expounded, fo as to agree with the other rules and orders that God has fet us.

S.

38.

.

A diftinction is therefore to be made between thofe things that do univerfally and equally bind all mankind, and thofe things that do more specially bind fome forts of men, and that only at fome times. There are greater degrees of charity, gravity, and all other virtues, to which the Clergy for initance are more bound than other men; but these are to them precepts, and not counfels. And in the firft beginnings of Chriftianity there were greater obligations laid upon all Chriftians, as well as greater gifts were beftowed on them. It is true, in the point of marriage St. Paul does plainly allow, that 1 Cor. vii. fuch as marry do well, but that fuch as marry not do better. But the meaning of that is not, as if an unmarried life were a ftate of perfection, beyond that which a man is obliged to: but only this; that as to the course of this life, and the prefent diftrefs; and as to the judgment that is to be made or men by their actions, no man is to be thought to do amifs who marries; but yet he who marries not, is to be judged to do better. But yet inwardly and before God this matter may be far otherwife; for he who marries not and burns, certainly does worse than he who marries and lives chastely. But he who finding that he can limit himself without endangering his purity; though no law restrains him from marrying, yet seeing that he is like to be tempted to be too careful about the concerns of this life if he marries, is certainly under obligations to follow that course of life in which there are fewer temptations, and greater opportunities to attend on the fervice of God.

XIV.

With relation to outward actions, and to the judgments ART. that from vifible appearances are to be made of them, fome actions may be faid to be better than others, which yet are truly good but as to the particular obligations that every man is under, with relation to his own ftate and circumstances, and for which he must answer at the laft day, theie being secret, and fo not subject to the judgments of men, certainly every man is ftrictly bound to do the best he can; to choose that course of life in which he thinks he may do the best services to God and man: nor are these free to him to choose or not; he is under obligations, and he fins if he fees a more excellent thing that he might have done, and contents himself with a lower or less valuable thing. St. Paul had wherein to glory, for whereas it was lawful for him as an Apostle to fuffer the Corinthians to fupply him in temporals, when he was serving them in fpiritual things; yet he chofe rather for the honour of the Gospel, and to take away all occafion of cenfure from thofe who fought for it, to work with his own hands, and not Actsxx.34. to be burdenfome to them. But in that state of things, though 1 Cor. ix. there was no law or outward obligation upon him to spare 2 Cor. xii. them; he was under an inward law of doing all things to the 13, glory of God: and by this law he was as much bound, as if there had been an outward compulfory law lying upon him.

This distinction is to be remembered, between fuch an obligation as arifes out of a man's particular circumftances, and fuch other motives as can be only known to a man himself, and fuch an obligation as may be fattened on him by stated and general rules: he may be abfolutely free from the latter of thefe, and yet be fecretly bound by thofe inward and stronger constraints of the love of God, and zeal for his glory. Enough feems to be faid to prove that there are no counfels of perfection in the Gospel; that all the rules fet to us in it are in the ftyle and form of precepts; and that though there may be fome actions of more heroical virtue, and more fublime piety, than others, to which all men are not obliged by equal or general rules; yet such men to whofe circumftances and itation they do belong, are ftrictly obliged by them, fo that they should fin if they did not put them in practice.

18.

This being thus made out, the foundation of works of fupererogation is deftroyed. But if it fhould be acknowledged that there were fuch counfels of perfection in the Scripture, there are still two other clear proofs to fhew that there can be no fuch thing as fupererogating with God. First, every man not only has finned, but has ftill fo much corruption about him, as to feel the truth of that of St. James, in many things James ¡¡¡.2. ave offend all. Now unless it can be fuppofed that, by obeying those counfels, a man can compenfate with Almighty God for his

XIV.

ART. fins, there is no ground to think that he can fupererogate. He muft firft clear his own fcore, before he can imagine that any thing upon his account can be forgiven or imputed to another: and if the guilt of fin is eternal, and the pretended merit of obeying counfels is only temporary, no temporary merit can take off an eternal guilt. So that it must first be supposed, that a man both is and has been perfect as to the precepts of obligation, before it can be thought that he should have an overplus of merit.

The other clear argument from Scripture against works of fupererogation, is, that there is nothing in the whole New Teftament that does in any fort favour them; we are always taught to truft to the mercies of God, and to the death and Phil. ii. 12. interceffion of Chrift, and to work out our own falvation with fear and trembling: but we are never once directed to look for any help from faints, or to think that we can do any thing for another man's foul in this way. The Pfalm has it, Pf. xlix. 7. No man can by any means give a ransom for his brother's foul: the words of Chrift cited in the Article are full and express against it.

9.

Col. i. 24.

The words in the parable of the five foolish virgins and the five wife, may feem to favour it, but they really contradict it; for it was the foolish virgins that defired the wife to give them of their oil; which if any will apply to a fuppofed communication of merit, they ought to confider that the propofition is made by the foolish, and the anfwer of the wife virgins is full Matt. xxv. againft it; Not fo, left there be not enough for us and you. What follows, of bidding them go to them that fell, and buy for themfelves, is only a piece of the fiction of the parable, which cannot enter into any part of the application of it. What St. Paul fays of his filling up that which was behind of the afflictions of Chrift in his flesh, for his body's fake, which is the Church, is, as appears by the words that follow, whereof I am made a minifter, only applicable to the edification that the Church received from the fufferings of the Apoftles; it being a great confirmation to them of the truth of the Gospel, when thofe who preached it fuffered fo conftantly and fo patiently for it; by which they both confirmed what they had preached, and fet an example to others, of adhering firmly to it. And fince Chrift is related to his Church, as a head to the members, it is in fome fort his fuffering himself, when his members fuffer and that conformity which they ought to exprefs to him as their head was neceflary to make up the due proportion that ought to be between the head and members. So St. Paul rejoiced in his being made conformable to him: and this, as it is a fenfe that the words will well bear, fo it is

certain

XIV.

certain they are capable of no other fenfe; for if the fufferings AR T. of the Apostles were meritorious in behalf of the other Chriftians, fome plain account must have been given of this in the New Testament, at least to do honour to the memory of fuch Apostles as had then died for the faith. If it is fuggefted, that the living Apoftles were too modeft to claim it to themselves, that will not fatisfy; all runs quite in a contrary ftyle: the mercies of God and the blood of Chrift being always repeated, whereas these are never once named. Now to imagine that there can be any thing of fuch great ufe to us, in which the Scripture fhould be not only filent, but fhould run in a ftrain totally different from it, is not conceivable: for if in any thing, the Gofpel ought to be full and explicit in all that which concerns our peace and reconciliation with God, and the means of our escaping his wrath, and obtaining his favour.

There is another doctrine that does alfo belong to this head, which is Purgatory, that is not to be entered on here, but is referred to its proper place. Thus it appears, how ill this doctrine of works of fupererogation is founded; and upon how many accounts it is evidently false; and yet upon it has been built not only a theory of a communication of those merits, and a treasure in the Church, but a practice of so foul a nature, that in it the words of our saviour spoken to the Jews, My house is a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of Mark xi. thieves, are accomplished in a high and moft fcandalous manner. 17. It has been pretended that this was of the nature of a bank, of which the Pope was the keeper; and that he could grant fuch bills and affignments upon it as he pleafed: this was done in fo bafe and fo crying a manner, that all who had any sense of probity in their own Church were afhamed of it.

In the primitive Church there were very fevere rules made, obliging all that had finned publickly (and they were afterwards applied to fuch as had finned fecretly) to continue for many years in a state of feparation from the Sacrament, and of penance and difcipline. But because all fuch general rules admit of a great variety of circumftances, taken from men's fins, their perfons, and their repentance, there was a power given to all Bishops by the Council of Nice, to fhorten the time, and to relax the feverity of thofe Canons; and fuch favour as they faw caufe to grant, was called indulgence. This was just and neceflary, and was a provifion without which no conftitution or fociety can be well governed. But after the tenth century, as the Popes came to take this power in the whole extent of it into their own hands, fo they found it too feeble to carry on the great defigns that they grafted upon it.

N

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