God saw that in them then, which he seeth not in us now: It is true, that in those times God saw sin, and took notice of it, and punished it, even in his own justified ones; but he doth not so now adays. For, not to insist on that, which in way of reply might be returned hereunto, to wit, that the Apostle Paul acknowledgeth no other kind or manner of justification, then that, whereby eAbraham, and fDavid were justified; from whose examples he draweth an argument to prove, men to be in these times gjustified freely by faith, as they also in their times were: as also that the Apostle Peter affirmeth▪ that those that lived in those times were hsaved by the grace, yea the free grace (for ⟨p. 6⟩(i)unless free, it is no (k)Grace) of God in Christ Jesus, as well as we that live in these days. Not to insist, I say, and stay hereupon; but to turn them over to their own tenets; these men herein deal with us in this argument, as the Papists do in some others. For as they to make good, that Priests under the Gospel have a power to hear confessions and remit sins, produce some places out of the Old Testament to prove it; whereas yet they themselves confess that (l)the Priests in those times had no such power: and to confirm invocation and intercession of Saints deceased, they produce likewise some passages (m)out of those Scriptures; when as yet being pressed with the practise of the holy men that then lived, who used no such invokements of any deceased, they are wont to answer, that (n)the Saints in those times deceased could not hear prayers, or be prayed to, because they remained shut up in limbo, and were not gotten yet into heaven. In like manner do these men, To prove that God seeth no sin now in his justified ones, (o)they allege these words of Balaam, spoken of the Israel that then was, as affirming that God saw no sin in them; and other places likewise, where he is said upon their repentance to have (p)hidden all their sins; (as also to the same purpose they (q)produce those passages, where God is said, to have (r)removed their sins as far from them, as the East is from the West; & to have (s)taken them, and cast them into the bottom of the sea:) whereas yet they are enforced by evidence of truth to confess, that (t)in those times God might and did see, take notice of, and punish sin, even in the best that then were;
God saw that in them then, which he seeth not in us now: It is true, that in those times God saw sinne, and took notice of it, and punished it, even in his own justified ones; but he doth not so now adaies. For, not to insist on that, which in way of reply might be returned hereunto, to wit, that the Apostle Paul acknowledgeth no other kind or manner of justification, then that, whereby eAbraham, and fDavid were justified; from whose examples he draweth an argument to prove, men to be in these times gjustified freely by faith, as they also in their times were: as also that the Apostle Peter affirmeth▪ that those that lived in those times were hsaved by the grace, yea the free grace (for ⟨p. 6⟩(i)unlesse free, it is no (k)Grace) of God in Christ Iesus, as well as we that live in these dayes. Not to insist, I say, and stay hereupon; but to turn them over to their own tenents; these men herein deale with us in this argument, as the Papists doe in some others. For as they to make good, that Preists under the Gospel have a power to heare confessions and remit sinnes, produce some places out of the Old Testament to prove it; whereas yet they themselves confesse that (l)the Preists in those times had no such power: and to confirme invocation and intercession of Saints deceased, they produce likewise some passages (m)out of those Scriptures; when as yet being pressed with the practise of the holy men that then lived, who used no such invokements of any deceased, they are wont to answer, that (n)the Saints in those times deceased could not heare prayers, or be prayed to, because they remained shut up in limbo, and were not gotten yet into heaven. In like manner doe these men, To prove that God seeth no sinne now in his justified ones,
- eRom. 4.3. Gen• 15.6.
- fRom. 4.6. Psal. 32.1, 2, 5.
- gRom. 3.24▪ 25, 28. & 4.12, 22, 24.
- hActs 15.1▪
- (i)Rom. 11.5, 6 Nullo modo est gratia, qe non est omni modo gratuita. Aug. de Pecc. mer. & rem. l· 4. c. 24.
- (k)Promissio de remittendis peccatis, ei• qi confientur Deo p•ccata sua, non videtur ulla extare in divinis literis Bellarm. de poenit. l. 2.• 4▪ loc. 4 Locus ille Prov. 28.13. loqitur de confessione, qae fit hominibus, Jdem ibid. c. 11. except. 3. qi & cap 3. eodem trahit illa Lev. 5.5 Num. 5.7. sicut & Annot. Duac. in Num.
- (l)Nondum data erat sacerdetibus potestas remittendi peccata Bellar. ib. 3.•.3
- (m)Job 5.1. Annotat. on Douai Bible. Genes. 48.16. Bellar. de sanct. beatit. l. 1. c. 20. Alfons. de Castr. apud Chamier panstr. l. 20. c. 2. Sect. 10. The triple Cord, • 16.95.
