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is our only Help and Refuge that the Mercy of our Father is to be obtained through his Intercession alone; that he is the only propitiation for our Sins, by whose blood our stains are washed out; that, by his sufferings on the Cross, our peace is made with God;* that by the one oblation of himself upon the Tree, he was made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice; and that therefore when he gave up the ghost he exclaimed, "IT IS FINISHED:" as if by these words he intended to declare that the Price and Ransom for the sins of all the world was now fully paid.

ness of the Sacrifice of Christ.

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The perfect- If there are any persons who still think this sacrifice incomplete, let them go and seek a more perfect one. We, for our parts, knowing it to be the only one, are content with this alone, and seek no other: and as it was to be offered but once, we do not enjoin the repeti

tion of it and being full and

perfect in every

respect, we do not substitute a continual succession of our own sacrifices.

* 1 Johu ii. 2. and iv. 10. Col. i. 20. Heb. x. 14.

↑ John xix. 30.

The nature of Good Works.

Although we assert that our own deeds and actions possess no efficacy, and found all our hopes of Salvation upon Christ alone; we do not on that account insinuate, that men may lead profligate and abandoned lives, nor that it is sufficient for a Christian to believe and be baptized, and that nothing farther is expected of him," For the true Faith is a lively Faith, and cannot be idle." We therefore instruct the people after this manner: that God hath called us, not to riot and wantonness, but, as † St. Paul says, to good works, that we might walk in them; that we are delivered from the powers of darkness to serve the living God; that we might cut off the remnant of sin,§ and work out

* St. Cyprian says-" Howe doothe hee saie, He beleeveth in Christe, that doothe not the thinge that Christe commanded?” On which passage, Bishop Jewell observes, in his defenceHereby it is plaine, that true Faithe is lively, and workeful; and, that an idle Faithe is indeede no Faithe at al. p. 321. + Ephes. ii. 10. + Col. i. 10.

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§ St. Bernard concludes one of his commentaries on the Psalms, in these words: "My merite is the Mercie of God; so longe as God is not poore of mercie, so longe cannot I be poore of merite. If his mercies be greate, then am I greate in merites. This is the whole merite of Man, if he put his whole affiance in the Lorde," Bernard in Psal. Qui habitat.

our own Salvation with fear and trembling;* that the Spirit of Sanctification might appear to dwell in our bodies, and Christ himself, through Faith, in our hearts.

Finally, we believe, that this same flesh in which we live, though in death it may be turned into dust, will still, at the last day, return to life through the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us; that then, however much we may previously have suffered for his sake, he will wipe away every tear from our eyes; that through him we shall enjoy everlasting life, and remain for ever with him in glory.† Amen.

*Phil. ii. 12.

+ The cause of our Resurrection, says St. Paul* is the spirit of God that dwelleth in us; and according to Origen, "We shall rise again, because of the Spirit that dwelleth within us; for of necessity the Spirit must have his house restored unto him;" and St. Augustin, in similar language declares, "This is my whole hope, and all my trust. For in Christ our Lord is Flesh and Blood, which is a portion of each of us. Therefore, where a portion of mine reigneth, there I believe that I reign also.

Origen ad Rom. cap. viii. lib. 6. Augustini Meditationes, cap. xiv.

* 1 Cor. c. xv.

CHAP. III.

THE ORIGIN AND CAUSES OF THE VARIOUS HERESIES IN THE CHURCH, AND THE AGES DURING WHICH THEY PREVAILED,

These are the frightful heresies under colour of which a great part of the world is at this day condemned by the Pope without a trial. The attack should rather have been commenced against Christ, against the Apostles, against the holy Fathers; for with them have these doctrines originated, by them have they been sanctioned and established: unless, indeed, they are disposed to assert, (and possibly they may) that Christ did not institute the holy Communion to be distributed among the faithful; or that the Apostles of Christ and the ancient Fathers said private masses in every corner of the Churches; sometimes ten, or even twenty in a day or perhaps they will affirm, that Christ and his Apostles drove away the plebeian portion of the Community from a participation in the Sacrament of his Blood; or that, that, which is to day every where practised by these men, (and

so practised too that he who complies not is condemned as a Heretic), was not denominated sacrilege by their own Gelasius: that St. Ambrose, St. Augustin, Gelasius, Theodoret, St. Chrysostom, and Origen, never declared the Sacramental Bread and Wine to continue what they were in their unconsecrated state; never said that what we behold upon the Lord's table is Bread; that the substance of the Bread and nature of the Wine remain altogether and entirely unchanged, and that the Bread itself, considered materially," goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught: "-or will they say that Christ, his Apostles, and the holy Fathers offered up their prayers in a language not understood by the people? will they say that Christ, by that one oblation of himself, once offered, hath not completed the work of our Redemption? or, that this sacrifice was so imperfect, that now we have need of another?

All this they must, in substance, assert, unless they argue that all laws, both human and divine, are vested in the person of the Pope; or that, as one of his parasites hesitated not in the true spirit of flattery to assert, he could, when he

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