But I proceed, in the third Place, to another Inference from my Text, and that is this. Since the great Precept, both of the Law and the Gofpel, is, that we fhould love the LORD our GOD with all our Heart, and with all our Soul, and with all our Mind ; fince, I fay, this is the first and great Commandment; then we may fee what little Countenance either the Law or the Gofpel have given to the Doctrines of Merit, and Works of Supererogation, as they are taught in the Church of Rome. It is one of their Doctrines, that the good Works of juftified Perfons are truly meritorious of eternal Life; fo the Council of Trent teacheth, and pronounceth an Anathema against all fuch as deny it; or if ye will have it in the Words of the Rhemish Translators of the English Teftament, take it thus: "Mens Works (fay they), done by the "Grace of Chrift, do condignly or wor

thily deferve eternal Joy; fo as Works can be no other but the Value, Defert, "Price, Worth, and Merit of the fame." Thus the Rhemish Teftament.

They have also another Doctrine, that a Man may do good Works more than he is bound to do, more than any Precept of GOD doth require of him; and these they call Works of Perfection, or Works of Supererogation; and thefe, to be fure, are of all others moft meritorious.

VOL. IV,

е

One

One would at firft wonder for what Reafon these Doctrines were fet on Foot, or what Ends they ferved to; for that they do not any-way minister to the promoting true Piety, is visible enough, because the direct Tendency of them rather is to puff up Mens Minds, and to fill them with Prefumption and Self-Confidence, to make them proud, and vain, and affuming, which are Qualities very different from those that our Saviour feems to have recommended to us; and the Wonder will still increase, to confider how they have applied thefe Do&trines, and to what a Degree they have extended them; for it is a current received Maxim among them, that a Man may not only merit for himself, but for other Folks; and that, if any Man have fuffered more than he deserved, or hath done more good Works than he was obliged to, all those Merits that he obtains hereby over and above what is needful for the fatisfying for himself, are not loft, but may be communicated to others that want them, and fhall really be available to their Good to whom they are thus communicated. I fay, one that looks no farther than the Bufinefs of Virtue and Piety, would be apt to wonder much at this ftrange Opinion: But then, when we are once let into the Secrets of thefe Doctrines, and come to know the true Use they are put to, we fhall not be much furprised at them. For here lies the Thing; every Man being thus

7

capable

capable of meriting in his Works, and Merits being thus transferrable and communicable to others, here is a plaufible Foundation laid for a Fund or Stock of Merits in the Church; which Fund or Stock is to be in the Keeping and Disposal of the chief Paftor; and out of this Fund or Stock he may fupply every one's Neceffities that hath no Merits of his own, by his Indulgences; and the Effect of thefe Indulgences is, that they do redeem out of Purgatory So that Purgatory brought in Indulgences, as they are now ufed; and, for the Support of Indulgences, thefe Doctrines of Merits, and Works of Supererogation, were contrived.

But now let us a little look into this Doctrine of Merits and Supererogation, and examine it by my Text. Our Saviour's Speech, that we are now upon, doth imply, that it is our Duty to love GOD with all our Hearts, and Souls, and Minds, and to love our Neighbour as ourselves; for he faith it is a Commandment, nay, and the first and great Commandment.

I defire now to know how a Man can be ftrictly and properly faid to merit any thing by doing that which is his Duty to do; much more how he can be faid to earn or merit fuch a Reward by doing his Duty, as doth amount to a thousand times more in Worth and Value than his Duty comes to? I pray let this be reconciled to the common Principles of Reason. We own indeed, that a Q2 Man,

་་

Man, by doing his Duty, hath acted like an honeft Man: But nobody thinks, that he merits any thing thereby; much lefs, that he truly merits eternal Life thereby, as the Council of Trent determines. Will any Man fay, that, beaufe a Debtor pays the hundred Pounds that he hath given his Bond for, that therefore he merits of his Creditor? Why, he owed it him, and had been unjuft if he had not paid it him; but there are no Thanks due to him for it. Well, but fuppofe this was a difputable Point; nay, fuppofe, if you will, that there were fome Thanks due to him; yet will any Man be fo fenfelefs as to fay, that, because the Debtor pays the hundred Pounds according to his Bond, that therefore the Creditor is in Juftice bound to give him a thousand Pounds for the paying that hundred, which then it was his Duty to pay? And yet this is the Cafe between God Almighty and us. We owe to him, as our Saviour here tells us, all the Love, all the Service, and, confequently, all the good Works we can do in our whole Life. It is a Duty indifpenfably incumbent upon us to love the LORD our GOD with all our Hearts, and Souls, and Minds; and we are falfe and unfaithful Stewards of his Benefits, if we do not. But now how we come to oblige Gop Almighty by this, nay, fo far oblige him, that he should be bound in ftrict Juftice, for the little Service we have done him, to be

ftow

stow eternal Life and Glory upon us (which is ten thousand times of more Value than the Service of our whole Life, had it been ever fo exact and perfect, could amount to, or could pretend to); I fay, how this fhould come to pafs, or what Reason there is in it, I am fure no Man living can give an Account of. Well, but there is an Anfwer to this: It will be faid, that we do not fo much pretend to merit by thofe good Works that we are strictly and indifpenfably obliged to,as by thofe good Works we are not obliged to. If we perform Services to God more than we are strictly bound to,. more than he hath required of us, thefe, fure, may plead fome Merit, though frict Duties may not, As for Inftance, two Men may be. both fuppofed to live innocently, and virtuously, and chriftianly, and both of them at laft go to Heaven: But one of them doth much exceed the other in Devotion and Prayers, in Faftings and Aufterities, in Alms and Charity: Both did what they were bound to; but one of them did more than he was bound to: Both obferved the Precepts of the Gofpel; but one of them went beyond that, and proceeded even to the Obfervance of the Evangelical Counfels, the Rules of Perfection: And here it is that the Foundation of Merit is to be laid. And this is indeed the full Strength of what can be faid for Works of Supererogation. But to this I answer, The Diftinction here between Q3

doing