able creatures, and, secondly, enable him to perform the natural functions which are proper to his kind; that it maketh the soul amiable and gracious in the sight of God, in regard whereof it is called Grace; that it purgeth, purifieth, and washeth out the stains and pollutions of sins; that by it through the merit of Christ, we are delivered 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 warmed 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 mérited by good works, as good works are made meritorious by it. Wherefore the first receipt 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, and may be lost by mortal sin: inasmuch, therefore, as it is needful in the one case to repair, in the other to recover, the loss that is made, the infusion of Grace has her sundry after-meals, for the which cause they make many ways to apply the infusion of Grace. It is applied to infants through baptism, without either faith or works, and in them really it taketh away original sin, 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 sins both 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 receipt 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 diminish it by venial sins, it is applied by holy water, Ave Marias, crossings, papal salutations, and such like, which serve for reparations of Grace decayed. To such as have lost it through mortal sin, it is applied by the sacrament (as they call it) of penance, which sacrament has force to confer grace on men, yet in such sort as being so conferred, it has not altogether so much power as at first: for it only cleanseth out the stain or guilt of sin committed, and changeth the punishment eternal into temporal satisfactory punishment here, if time do serve; if not, hereafter to be

endured, except it be lightened by masses, works of charity, pilgrimages, fasts, and such like, or else shortened by pardon for term, or by plenary pardon quite removed and taken away. This is the mystery of the man of sin, this maze the Church of Rome doth cause her followers to tread, when they ask her the way to justification.

But true Protestantism speaketh on this wise: Whether they speak of the first or second justification, they make the essence of a divine quality inherent, they make it righteousness which is in us. If it be in us, then it is ours, as our souls are ours, though we have them of 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 an inherent quality. Christ has 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 ourselves 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 sîn remitted through repentance-him God beholdeth with a gracious eye, putteth away his sin 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. "Man hath sinned, and God hath suffered;” “God hath made himself the Son of Man, and men are made the righteousness of God." (Hooker.)

OF THE SACRAMENTS.

"I also confess, that there are truly and properly seven (1.) Sacraments, of the Law, instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, and necessary for the salvation of mankind, though not all for every one; to wit, Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Orders, and Matrimony; and that they confer grace; and that of these, Baptism, Confirmation, and Orders, cannot be reiterated without sacrilege." (Pope Pius's Creed.) And whosoever "shall say that grace is not of necessity conferred, ex opere operato, by these Sacraments, let him be accursed." (2.) (Conc. Trid. Sess. VII. Can. 8.) But by Canon XI. it is declared, that the "having intention on the part of the Priest is so essential to the existence and administration of the Sacraments," that he who questions it, is accursed. (3.)

By the fourth Canon of Sess. VII. it is declared "that the Sacraments are necessary to salvation."

OBSERVATIONS.

(1.) The Romanists respect the number seven as being mysterious ; the Trent Fathers insisted much in honor of that number, that there were seven cardinal virtues, seven capital vices, seven planets, seven days of the

creation, seven principal plagues of Egypt, seven defects which sprung from original sin." (Hist. Conc. Trid. Lib. II.) Cardinal Bellarmine brings a similar proof for the number of seven Sacraments. "Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread; thou shalt shut up the leper for seven days; and they offered seven bulls, and seven rams, and seven goats; and Naaman was commanded to wash seven times in Jordan; and there are seven candlesticks; and seven seals; and seven books; and seven trumpets; and seven angels, &c.: and from hence," says Bellarmine, appears the number of seven Sacraments." (Bell. de Sacram. Lib. II. c. 26.) The exact number of seven was first fixed on by Peter Lombard, a writer of the twelfth century, and adopted by Pope Eugenius IV., at the Council of Florence, 1442.

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(2.) This doctrine is subversive of all morality and true religion. is an encouragement given to sin, and to indulgence in it. Who will be careful to "deny all ungodliness and sinful lusts, and to live righteously, soberly, and godly in this present world," when a life of iniquity may be expiated and atoned for, by a mere outward réception of the Sacraments? "In such only," (says the Church of England, Art. XXV.)“ as worthily receive the same, they have a wholesome effect or operation; but they that receive them unworthily, purchase to themselves damna, tion, as St. Paul saith."

(3.) Thus the Priest, through malice, irreligion, or atheism, can make these Sacraments, which he visibly blesses and administers, to be outward shows of Sacraments, but not real ones. With what endless distractions and fears must this fill the minds of worshippers, if they have right conceptions of the matter, especially since the Sacraments are made necessary to salvation? Without knowing the secret intention of the Priest, which cannot be known without an express revelation from heaven, they cannot be sure of their having received the Sacrament, and consequently, of their being in a state of salvation. Thus universal doubt is introduced, as no one, without a revelation from heaven, can be sure that he is baptized, or that he is married; nor can he know if ever he received the Sacrament of Confirmation, of the Supper, or of Penance. Thus are men kept, if they have any concern for their salvation, in perpetual fears, and in a state of the most slavish subjection to the Priest,

for if they offend him he can easily exclude them from heaven, and thrust them down to hell.

To prevent all which evils, seeing their salvation must hang solely upon this intention in the priest, they must feel it necessary ever to be attentive to him, and never, upon any account, to vex him, that he might always have and exert this intention.

That the Priests do expect this trembling attention and abject submission from their flocks, is a fact, that meets the eye of daily observation! And so far from discouraging this baseness of mind, this degrading superstition, they (the Priests,) promote it from tender years, up to grey hairs, as much as possible.

While this Clergy contemplated the great benefits which thus accrued to them, from this doctrine of intention, even the full subjugation of the people; and through the blindness of their hearts, to which, it seems, God gave them up in just judgment, for their daring conduct and Babel-building, were delighted with the prospect before them, little did they think or foresee, they were preparing a rod terribly to scourge themselves, a complete instrument of their own undoing. For while this doctrine exalts them thus to the summit of their desires, it is but for a moment, it is but to precipitate them headlong into utter annihilation. For if, by the want of intention in them, when they ministered, the people were destroyed; so, by the want of the like intention, in those who baptized or ordained themselves, must themselves be destroyed. So that now, if they have not been rightly baptized and ordained, by such as were rightly qualified, and had right intention, and they again by other such persons, and so on back to the very Apostles, (a thing impossible,) they have no true baptism nor ordination at all; and this operating on the whole body of the Clergy, must necessarily exterminate them all.

For if by this doctrine the people are brought into such perplexities, that it is impossible for them to know whether their Clergymen be lawful, or be Christians at all, or whether themselves be Christians, or have received any true Sacrament, (as Bellarmine confesses,) or whether what they do receive, being false Sacraments, are not hastening their damnation; so also are the Priests, from the highest to the lowest of them, unavoidably plunged into the same abyss of uncertainty and misery; because it is impossible for them to know whether they be Priests, as above noticed, and, as Gabriel Biel, (one of them,) is obliged