( 132) Grace and mans Merits the.fame ? Doth he add any thinghere ofhis, own that be bath not learnedofthem? Do not Bellarmine, and his Brethren fpeakaltogether fo fully cndmorefully, jeemoisly, to yin-. dicate the Grace of God &c ? I promifed on this occafion to thew you how ill thefe mendeal with the Ninth Commandment, by producing fufficient evidence of the falfhoodoftheir fpeeches : Though 1 need not do it for any man ofreading ; yet for the fake of younger fcholars I will briefly do fomewhat. What myown Judgement is concerning Merit, I have fullyde- clared : I difclaim the very name, as unfit for our ufe in this cafe Yet I fay, Improperly and unfitly and largely, our works may be called. Meritorious; not that they may 6tiy or iawfaiy be fo cal, led : but that the thing is true which is fo fpoken though the termsbe unfit : and thus all our Divines againft the Papifts ex- cufe the Fathers : and this is all that ever I held or wrote. Now that the Papifts do afcribe more to, or fay more. of the merit of works, then I do, I flail leave paft queftion; when I have (hewed you, TWhat our writers charge themwith, 2What they fay themfelves, fo that ifyouwill believe either Protettants or Papas themfelves,thecafe limit be clear. But before I come to it,I have thefe two things to premife, i. I do here confefs that Satan took occafion from the falfe accufati- ons ofthe men before named, and the unconfcionable fpleenifb Jealoufies and Cenfures of many others, to affault me with a Temptation to .a very grievous fin ; that is, to have ftretcht and racks thewords of the Papifts to the utmolt thatI could, thereby to make them feem more diftant from the Proteftants then indeed they are, that I might thereby appear to bey as diftant from, them. He thus fet upon me to move me, to this fin. Thou feeft what furious fpirits are in many men, and hoW ,violent and im- placable they are aping diffenters, and hoW little Confcience they make of the vileft Anders and What firebrands they con- tinue to the poor divided Church. If thoudolt not manifeft yet a greater diftancefrom Papifis, they Will brand thee every where as Ilapifi or as, Erroneous and too near them 4 and though thou little regard this as to thy ownname, yet oughtell thou to regard itfor the benefit ofthe Church Forifthy name by thefe men be blafted,and 7talottfie: and Odium raired on shy alahcfnei, thy Labwira 1till be-., mot
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