upon the poor soul of man. But after it pleased the goodness of our God to turn from us his wrath, and to receive us again to favour, now all is turned, our fear to hope, death to life, damnation to salvation, hell to heaven, malediction to blessing; the power of Satan dissolved; care to comfort; and, in sum, all the felicities, so many as paradise can hold, do now belong to man.

But what should I set forth the high amplitude of this heavenly reconciliation of our Lord, by earthly similitudes, which by no comparison of man can be expressed? For in man's agreement, though the prince be reconciled ever so well with the subject, yet it may happen that the agreement may break off again shortly after. Again, the reconcilement that is between man and man, is commonly but for that one trespass which bred the variance, which being forgiven agreement cometh. So is it not between God and us. Neither is his reconciliation so variable or inconstant as altereth by days or times, but is the receiving of mankind into the eternal favour and mercy of God, even the same which Isaiah the prophet, chap. liv. speaketh of in these words, saying, For a little moment of time I have left thee, but in great mercies I will gather thee. In a moment of my indignation I have hid my face awhile from thee, but in my everlasting mercy I have pitied thee, saith the Redeemer thy Lord, &c.

This reconciliation now to be defined, is the receiving again of man into the perpetual favour of God, purchased by Christ to all them that by faith and repentance come unto him. Which eternal favour of God, as we showed before to be freely offered unto us, so now remaineth further to be explained what favour this is, how it is perpetual, by what cause it cometh, and to whom it belongeth. Touching the first, to declare what favour this is whereunto we are received, here is to be understood by the meaning of St. Paul, this favour to be that which is contrary to the wrath and malediction which went before for sin. For, as that malediction did threaten unto us eternal rejection, under which we were, and should perpetually have continued had it not been stopped; so is this reconcilement a receiving again into eternal acceptation, which perpetually doth and shall continue, for Christ's sake, to all faithful believers in him. And this favour I call perpetual in respect of time; for that God promiseth never to remember, nor to impute our sins any more for Christ's sake, Jer. xxxi.

And hereof springeth the fountain of perpetual remission promised, Zech. xiii. where he saith, In that day shall be open to the house of David, and to the dwellers of Jerusalem, a fountain to the cleansing away of sin, &c.

Where note how the prophet saith, In that day, assigning not divers and sundry days when Christ's body should be offered for sin; but signifying that one day should come, when that Lamb and sacrifice which was slain from the beginning of the world, in God's determination, and afterward was offered actually once and no more, should suffice to purge away the sins and filthiness of all the dwellers in Jerusalem, that is, of all such as retain to him by faith. And thus have you the cause of remission of sins to be only the sacrifice of Christ's body offered up to God, not every day, but in one appointed day, which we call Good Friday. For the which sacrifice sake, God hath assured his promise to all and singular persons that shall come or seek to his Son by faith, to give them free forgiveness, and never to remember nor impute their sins to them any more.

And herein standeth the difference between the pope's doctrine and ours. For he holdeth that the sacrifice of Christ's body, not one day, but every day is to be offered for sin. Contrary, we with the Scriptures affirm remission of sins to be the effect only of one cause, that is, of Christ's blood, our Saviour, sacrificed once on Good Friday upon the cross, (and never else,) to take away all malediction of sin for ever, as well for them that were before his passion, as them that should follow after. And that is it that the Scripture saith, The Lamb to be slain from the beginning of the world, (and so is he slain to the latter end,) meaning thereby the virtue and power of that sacrifice to extend universally to all times, to all men, and to all kinds of sins, from the beginning to the end of the world for ever. So that on Christ's part, the cause only which worketh reconciliation and remission of sins, is his only death and bloodshedding once sacrificed actually, and never else, upon Good Friday. On our parts, the cause only that worketh this reconciliation and remission, and is of us required, is not to offer up this body again for a daily sacrifice to God, but only to believe faithfully and obediently upon him that was sacrificed for us, and so by faith to apply the merits of his passion to us. And to this faith God hath promised perpetual remission of our sins, according to the manifest testimony of the Scripture; where it is in the Acts of the

apostles thus expressed, That to him all the prophets bear witness, all men to receive remission of sins by him, whosoever believe in his name, &c. Acts x. Again, Acts xvi. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, and thy whole house, &c. Peter and Paul say not, Offer Christ's body for a daily sacrifice to God; but only, Believe in him, and thou shalt be saved. And thus much hitherto concerning reconciliation, what it is, how it is perpetual, what is the only cause thereof, and to whom it belongeth; whereof more shall be said, Christ willing, anon.

Now as touching this reconciliation and favour of God aforesaid, as it reacheth to the free remission of all men, and to all times, as well before as after; so moreover, this is to be added, and worthy to be noted, that not only it reacheth to our sins, but extendeth to the acceptation of the nature and person also of man, so that through this reconcilement, not only our sins are done away, but also the person of man, which before was execrable unto God, is now accepted; which before was odious, is now beloved; which before was impure and unclean, is now purified, regenerated and changed as into another person; and as ye would say, made a new man in the sight of God; not because the new life of a man makes the man new in God's sight, but because the man being first made new, and regenerated by reconciliation, brings forth afterward a new life.

And here cometh in that which we call regeneration, or new birth; not in being altered into any new bodily substance from that we were, but in being turned by reconciliation into a new state of favour and grace; as, who before were dead to God, damnable creatures, and children of wrath, but now are accepted, purged, and justified from the malediction, as well of original sin as actual; which before times were separated from God, but now restored again to grace and favour-even the same favour of God wherein Adam stood before his fall in paradise.

Of this regeneration we read in many places in the Scripture, which give us to understand this our new regenerate birth to be referred, not so much to the outward acts of life, as chiefly to the person and nature of man, altered and changed into a new state of grace and favour with God, by spiritual reconciliation; yea, before he begin to work any good action. Whereupon afterward follow the fruits of new life, which we call good works, and are called good, not so much for the worthiness of the action

done, as for the worthiness of the person, the doer thereof, which is a faithful Christian reconciled in Christ to God. And thereof take good works their goodness, being not only accepted for good, but also imputed in Scriptures sometimes to merit; as where Christ our Saviour saith, I was hungry, and ye fed me; I was in prison, and ye visited me; come, therefore, and possess the kingdom, &c. Matt. xxv. Not that the value of the work deserveth that imputation, but that the work is so imputed for the faith of the person; for else, let an infidel do the same, and more too, and all is sin that he doeth. But let the Christian do, be the thing ever so simple, if it be good it is accepted, and if it be otherwise, yet is it remitted; so that in a brief sum, the order of all this thus standeth; first, cometh Christ crucified and offered for us; with him cometh faith apprehending him; with faith ensueth reconciliation or justification through the promise; whereby man being reconciled unto God, which before was rejected, is made now a new creature, because he is set now in a new stock; and this is called regeneration. After regeneration of the person, which is accepted for his faith, followeth then the fruits of new obedience, which are accepted for the faithful person. But because our new obedience is always and in all men imperfect, and falleth many times into disobedience through frailty of flesh, for a remedy thereof followeth remission of sins. And thus have you the golden chain of our salvation; first, beginning with Christ; then cometh faith; then followeth reconciliation or justification; with it cometh regeneration; after which ensueth new obedience, or mortification with acceptation of good works; last of all cometh remission of sins, and maketh all sure.

Touching which remission of sins, here is further to be noted; first, that this remission is not only of all such sins as go before baptism, or regeneration; but also of such which a man repenteth him of with faith, from the beginning till the end of his life. Secondly, is to be understood, that this remission is not only for all actual sins which man committeth, but also for original sin which nature bringeth. Thirdly, neither must we think this remission of the New Testament to be like to the remission of sins practised in the old law, which stood by sacrifices. Wherein this difference there is, first, that remission which was by sacrifices, served not for all sins, nor for such as were to come, but only for such sins as were before the sacrifice; so that

whensoever any new sin followed, new sacrifices were required. Secondly that remission stood only for actual sin, and not for original. Thirdly, in that legal or temporal remission is moreover to be noted, that sacrifice for sin was then but a thing typical, so that albeit the crime for which the sacrifice was offered was done away, yet the person notwithstanding remained still under death and the penalty of original sin pronounced against Adam and all his posterity. Briefly, in one word to conclude, between this remission of the New Testament and that of the Old, so much difference there is, as is between temporal things and eternal. Of which difference let us hear what the prophet Jeremiah teacheth us, saying; Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah; not after the covenant that I made with their fathers when I brought them out of Egypt with strong hand, and they transgressed my covenant; but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; after those days, saith the Lord, I will give my law within them, and in their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they my people, &c. For I will have mercy of their iniquities, and their sins I will never more remember, &c. Jer. xxxi.

By these words of the prophet, if they are well marked, we have to learn a manifest difference between the old covenant and the new; and what the grace is of the New Testament, especially concerning remission of sins, which sins he saith shall never more be remembered; meaning that a day should come when God will set such a sacrifice for sin, which shall give a perpetual remedy for ever; so that, although sin shall need daily to be helped, yet no more sacrifices should be needed, but that one should serve and suffice for ever. Whereby we see remission of sins to stand otherwise now than it did then. For in the old law, though sins were purged after a sort, by sacrifices and blood of beasts, yet that remission lasted not for ever, but for certain times, so that new sins ever required new sacrifices.

Wherein appeareth the pernicious abuse of the daily sacrifice of the pope's mass, most false and contrary to all Scripture, utterly subverting the truth of God's covenant and testament. For if sin should need daily purgation by daily sacrificing, as it did before, what difference then make we between the New Testament and the Old, between the Christians and the Jews? Or, if Christ's body, once sacri