HAVING heretofore at three seueral times (Right worship­ful & dearly beloued in Christ our dear Sauiour) spoken out of this place of this text: of the name & appellation of Christs Church here named by the name of a loue: of the reasons of that name: actiue and passiue: actiue, respectu fidei, respectu facti: passiue, respectu natu­rae, respectu gratiae, quoad esse and bene esse: of the appropriation of this name: of a caueat that it was not to bee taken by way of exclusion: as though the church were not the loue of God the father & of the holy Ghost: but yet by some way of specialty appropriate to Christ, because he a­lone of all the three persons was promissus and missus to witnes the loue of God vnto her &c. Ha­uing also handled the commendatiō of this loue, that she is first commended to be faire: Second­ly to be fair actually and presently: Thirdly in generality, for better sifting whereof yet I stood vpon three negatiues: First, that she is not here commended to be al fair, either doctrinaliter, as though she could not erre in matters of faith, or moraliter, as though she did not er in matters of fact: or in respect of her condition and state in [Page] the worlde; thus far proceeding, it remaineth nowe that I come to the affirmatiue generall, that where you haue hard how she is not, I may at length resolue how this loue is said to be fair, to be al fair. In which respect the principall cō ­clusion and proposition is this: that the Church this loue of our Sauiour hath present and per­fect beuty: is faire and all faire in respect of her Christ, in whom (though not by grace infused, as heretofore you haue heard) yet of grace and therefore gratis (as the schoolemen haue wel de­fined: Gratia non est gratia vl­lo modo, si not sit gratu­ita omni modo. Psal. 32.2. Iob 141.) of grace & therfore gratuitally or else no way of grace, (as Saint Augustine truely ar­gued) imputed therefore, no stain may be found. For albeit in consideration of her frailty and weaknes for the time of this life or rather her warfare, against the world, sinne and satan shee doe cary her wounds and doth oftentimes faile and defile her selfe: though the law in that res­pect bee the glasse of God, Ansel. supr. 8. cap. epist. ad Rom. that discouereth her spots vnto her: so that her strōgest wrastler, her best Iacob might stand in fear of his moral halt, of his fal, if he should regard the same in course of iustice: Yet the lawe is answered by the gos­pel: Colos. 1.19. 1 Ioh. 3.8. Luc. 15.5.9. in the gospell by Christ, in whom the godly are, as strong though weak, as rich though poor, as clothed though naked: as recouered though lost: as free though bound: as sound though sore, so cleane though foul: for in this point we must distinguish the state of them that are Christs, & [Page] in Christ, which may be considered two waies. Either a posteriori or a priori: à posteriori quoad fa­ctum, à priori quoad faedus & pactum: quoad factū: in respect of duty performed & deeds of life they are not al fair but foul & that, 1. Ioh. 1. vlt. Iob. 9 3. Iob. 14.4. peccato eyther acto or contracto (as the schoolmen wel speak:) by sin therefore personally committed or at least na­turally deriued. And thus this loue is as she saith she is: I am not all fair but black ye daughters of Ierusalē, euen as black as euer were the tents of Kedar; which is true, Cant. 1.4. not only in respect of af­fliction but natural corruption and corrupt con­dition, as truth bears it: where as yet quoad foe­dus & pactum, which serues to purge, either im­mediatè (as infantes who belong to the kingdom of christ:) or medi ante fide (mediatly by faith) as they adult, she may say as she said: Cant. 1.4. I am not foul but faire, comly, al fair, ye daughters of Ierusa­lem, euen as comly & al as comely, as euer were the curteyns of Salomon: & in fine answere her Christ of her selfe as Christ by way of commē ­dation saith of her vnto her heere, Esa. 9.6. in Salomon a type of him, the King of Salem Prince of peace: I am al faire my loue, and there is no spotte in me. The truth and proofe whereof appeareth to be true two waies: ex parte sponsae and ex parte sponsi: ex parte sponsae, and therefore to this pur­pose in scripture she is compared to a groat: Luc. 15.9. but yet not lost but found: accepted, faire and al fair in the eye of that gracious womā (the very mir­ror [Page] of grace) that took the pains to light the can­dle of mercy, to sweepe, to seeke, to finde, to saue the same: to this purpose she is compared to the man of Ierico but yet not foul but faire, by the Samaritanes grace not sore but made sound: to this purpose shee is compared to a chicken but yet not vnfethered or naked but couered with the winges of the Henne: Luc. 13.34. in conclusion: to this point she is compared to a Lamb but yet not so fleeced but couered and clothed with the white wool of fauour and mercy 'fair and al fair, free from al spot in Christ her spotles lamb, spotles though man, Ioh. 1.29. Mat. 1.20. & 27.4. Bern. in psal. qui habitat. ser. 9. Ioh 1.9. Esa. 49.6. Mat. 9.12. Mat. 9.12. Ier. 30.23. Luc. 2.30. Ioh. 11.25. Os. 13.14. Luc. 2.30. Mat. 1.21. Tertul. de carne christ. lib. pag. 26. 1. Cor. 1.30. that she might be al faire without spot. Secondly, this general commendation ap­pears to be true ex parte sponsi: and therefore to this purpose Christ in Scripture is called her lux: her light therefore he is: and ergo darknesse may assoone be found in the light; her medicus, or rather medicina & sanitas: and ergo sicknes may aswel be in health: her vita: her life therfore: and therefore death may assoone be found in life: her salus, her safety, as appeareth by the name of Ie­sus, and ergo destruction may as easily be found in saluation: her redemption and ergo bondage may aswel be in liberty: her iustitia and ergo sin may assoone be found in iustice (which yet can­not be) as she be charged with any sin, with any filth or foulenes in Christ Iesus; in Christ Ie­sus? For (as Tertullian speaks in another case) so say I in this: that this loue of Christ is not [Page] only ecclesia Christi but Christus: not only ergo to bee considered as the church of Christ, but as Christ: as Christ, who aswel may be said to stray though the way; to be deceiued though wisdom: Ioh. 14 6. Luc 11.49. Mat. 23.34. 1. Cor. 24. Baruc. 3.37. Ioh. 14.6. to er or to ly though truth; to be infirme, though omnipotent, though the very arme of the power of God; to be foule, though pure, though purity it selfe, as his true church to be foul (considered in him:) in him? in whom her old man is destroied sinne drowned, satan answered and her infirmi­ties so remoued, Rom. 8.33.34. that he cannot charge her with any sinne, with any staine or foulnes. A mistery, a paradoxe I confesse to fleshe and bloode, that one and the selfe same should be foul and so faire: subiect to sinne and yet so fair, as al faire; al fair, because free from al foulenes, free from al sinne: But yet so it is: and where reason doth not or cannot, yet faith perswades it: faith which ap­prehendeth in Christ, not only the grace of par­don to pardon, but also of perfect imputation of his iustice to iustifie al them, that are by the co­uenant of grace incorporate into him: In his booke called, dux peccatorum. and not only by nature (as Granatēsis wel speaks) one with him as man but by grace also at one with God by him: who in him & for his sake forgiues and forgets the sinnes of them that are his, yea as though they had neuer sinned. In which res­pect albeit the diuel would, yet can hee not ac­cuse them: or if hee doe presume (as hee is a pre­sumptuous spirit) yet the godly may soone cut [Page] him of and quit themselues in Christ, Isa. 11.8.9. Mat. 16.18. in whome they are quit from sinne, from all vncleannesse. Nay in this point the spirit of adoption doth as­sure the sonnes of God, that their sinnes are con­demned in Christ his sonne, who was condem­ned for their sin: Rom. 8. v. 3. and 32. and that by his sufferings their sinnes (as an old writer speakes, though darkly, yet scholastically, and fitly) haue suum esse with­out malè esse: they haue therefore their maner of being without euil beeing: because they are ta­ken away (as S. Augustine wel speaks) vt non obsint, licet sint: that therfore they be not hurting, though they haue their kind of being: or (as an­other speakes) quoad morsum. i. mortem, licet non quoad morbum: and al: because sinne cannot bee mortal to them, Rom. 6.23. though sin in and of selfe nature mortall, bee within them. Nay, aboue al this to set foorth this matter more fully: in spirituall warfare, when the godly are grieued with touch of conscience for the foulnesse of their imperfec­tions and infirmities, the scripture it selfe doth thus yeald them the truth, their comfort, to the truth of this text; as for example: the foulnesse of the sinne of intemperance may trouble the soul of a Noah: but yet the fairenes of Christ, his fa­sting and abstinence: the foulnes of the sin of im­patience may greeue the conscience of a Iob: but yet the fairnes of Christ, his patience & pas­sions: the foulnes of the sin of murther and op­pression may disquiet the soule of a Dauid: but [Page] yet the fairenes of Christ, his loue and charity: the foulnes of the sinne of ambition may mooue the Apost: to dreame of a primacy: but yet the fairnes of Christ, his meeknes and humility: Esa. 42.1. Mat. 18.11. c. 4.11.29. Mat. 26.70.72.74. the foulnes of the sin of selfe-loue and respect made Peter in his frailty to forswear himselfe, to say, to swear, to swear with a curse that he knew not Christ, but yet the fairnes of christ, his gratious loue and pity: Rom. 7.23. 1. Pet. 2.2. the foulnes of the law of the mē ­bers may torment a Paul, any godly man: but yet the fairenes, the satisfaction of Christ may be and is through faith a sufficient stay against al temptation grounded vpon the foulnes of his imperfection whatsoeuer. To be short: wher the godly are any way short of themselues; where satan obiecteth to the church, to this loue her want of obedience, her foulenesse, for supply of fairnes, she may say (as once S. Bernard saide) quod ex me mihi deest vsurpo ex visecribus domini: shee might aswell answere to the course of this text, Auoid satan: for I am not so foul but that I am fair and al fair in the bowels and bloude of my Christ; 1 Cor. 15.59 in whose mercy my merit (mine frely because it is his mercy that his merit is mine) I am purged from al sin & ergo al fair: if therefore thou canst laye any thing to the charge of my Christ: eyther folly where he is my wisedom: or infirmity where he is my strēgth: Damascen. orthod. fid. li. 3. cap. 1. or guile wher he is my Doue: or pride where he is my humble lāb: or malice, where he is my loue: or any work [Page] of darknes wher he is my light: or any foulnes, any sin, where he is my sanctus sanctorum, my ho­ly of holyes, not only sanctificatus secundum car­nem but sanctificans quoad diuinitatē, Orig. 1. part. homil. xi. super. nun. d. Tert. de car. christ. pa. 33. Jbidem. De noctur. illusionibus. collat. 22. cap. 9.11.12. (as one wel speaks) not only sanctified according to the flesh but sanctifieng according to the power of his godhead: or (as Origen speakes) qui sanctus est non efficitur: who is a saint not made a saint: or (as Abbat Theonas, qui sanctus est, nay not only that, but immaculatus: not onely a saint as the godly now be, but a saint without sin (which the godly for the time of this life cannot bee) then charge me with sin: otherwise as verily as christ my Christ, was foule and al foul, because sin for me: 2. Cor. 5. Ciril. tom. 1. pag. 235. so am I not foul but fair & al fair: righteous al righteous, because the righteousnes of god in him, whom thou canst not charge with any sin. Indeed if I were left to my self, my feet are foul but yet auoid satan, wher my christ hath washed them: of my selfe my wounds are filthy, many & mighty but yet auoid satan, wher my christ hath clensed & cured them: truth it is, my sins are ma­ny, great and greeuous but yet the grace of my Christ, is an almighty grace; greater and stron­ger then they be; in whom their foulnes & filth is purged away & their greatnes come to nothing. Thus dearly beloued the church, this loue may comfort her self, though foul by the wood yet (as one speakes, an vnknowen autor) fair and al fair by her all comely crucifixe that died vppon the [Page] wood: though foul in her own folly, yet al fair in her wisdom: though foul in hir own frailties, Rom. [...]. Zach. 14.11▪ Mich. 4.11.12.13. Iob. 8.34. Ciril. tom. 2.111. Bern. in Epi. serm. 1. yet al faire in her might: though foule in her owne bondage & captiuities, yet al fair, because al free in her freedom: though foul in her sins, yet al fair w ^tout spot in christ her spotles pascal, once & but once slaine to make her clean frō al her sins, and foulnes. From al foulnes; as any may easily per­ceiue, if she do but refer her selfe to the crosse of her paschal: thither, where she may behold her a­lone & ful acquittance frō al sin, from al her foul­nes: thither, where shee may leape into the very side of her christ as into a wel and wash her selfe faire and al clean in his blood, Damascen. orthod. fid. li. 4. cap. 10. the water of life y ^t alone sprang out of his precious side, that heauē ­ly foūtain, to represent her al faire: thither, wher she may run betweene the armes of her sauiour, spred vpon the tree to embrace, to couer her frō all her foulnes, from all her infirmities: thither where (as one speaks the ful comfort, to the ap­proofe and proofe of this text) she may wash her foul head in the blood of his head, her foul hands in the blood of his hāds, her foul feet in the blood of his feet, her foule side in the blood of his side: her foul hart in the blood of his hart: Ioh. 19.34. Reuel. 1.5. Mat. 26.28. Eph. 25.26.27.29. her foul bo­dy in the pure, precious blood that coloured his body from head to foot: and her soul in his inno­cent soul, yet pressed to the very sorrowes of hell for the filth of her sins, to represent her al faire. Thus the church truly millitant, the godly may [Page] answere the diuel in al trial of conscience to the truth of these words; that she is al fair. Which is indeed the cheefe felicity and hap of the church, that in al satans attempts she is so able by faith to couer her selfe with the white garmentes of Christ: Reuel. 1.13. by faith so to shield her selfe, as in christ her plenty to deny al want: Col. 2.3. 1. Cor. 3.11.12. 1. Cor. 10.3.4. Esa. 8.14.15. Cor. 2.12.32.34. 1. Cor. 2.8. 1. Ioh. 2.2.2. in christ hir morning star, to deny al darknesse: in christ her precious pearle and treasure to deny al vilenes: in christ her foundation and rock to deny al weaknes: in Christ her glory to deny all shame: in christ her purgation and acquittance from sin to deny all filthines and blame, that otherwise in course of iustice, iustly therfore might be imputed to her, in his goodnesse to deny her foulnes, to defie the diuel and al hee can against this commendation that she is not al fair. So much the more doe I maruel at them, and blame them, that teach in this behalfe discomfort for truth, nay (I had al­most said truth) despeyre for comfort. That the church this loue of our sauiour is not otherwise fair and al fair then by the inherēt grace, by per­fection of duty, & that this imputed beuty in tru account, is no way real but imaginary: and ergo do not onely deny it but cry out against it. For answer to whom the proofe of the negatiue heretofore hath prooued, Prou. 20.9. Isa. 41.29 & 53.12. 1. Ioh. 11. that she is not actually, no, neyther can possibly for the time of this life bee said to be fair, al fair in respect of good life; but that she is foule: foul, because steined with sinne: [Page] with sinne: as Leuchettus wel noteth vpon the master of the sentēces, his 3. book. Dist. 27. quaest vnica, according to the scripture. Whereupon it followeth, that where she is here commended to be fair and al fair: and that not only for the time of the next life: (as S. Bern. would haue it: and truly, though somwhat restraintly:) but also for the time of this life, as the word approueth: & yet that cannot be by infused, that it must needs be true by grace alone and grace onely imputed. Which imputation is not res opinaria but solida (as Athanasius speakes in a like case) no imagi­nation therefore (as they write and as of late I haue seen the point charged in priuate schroles, which are abroad:) but a point of truth, and as real as was the imputation of our foulnes, of sin to our Christ: who was not counted a sinner, nay sin in the cause of his church by imaginatiō, though by only imputation. For the gospel is no fable but a trueth: euen the woorde of Christ: as therefore the worde of this loues wisedome: 1. Cot. 1.24. 1. Ioh. 2.2. Ciril. tom. 3. 108 6. Rom. 5.1.2. Esa. 2.2. Act. 10.36. 1. Cor. 1.30. Ioh. 14.6. Ioh. 17.17. for christ is her wisdom: as the word of her recōcili­ation: for christ is here peace: as the word of her righteousnesse: for Christ is her iustice: as the word of her life, for christ is her life: soo to make al these comforts good and this commendation true, it is no les then verbum veritatis, the word of truth: for Christ is truth: who spake the truth general of the word, when he spake to the father thy word is the truth. And what is the truth spe­cial [Page] of the gospell, if this be not that truth: that the church, this loue is al faire & freed from her foulnes, not ex propria dignitate but ex imputata dignatione: not of selfe desert therefore but of vn­deserued, of imputed mercy, whereby Christ be­came bound to free her, and foul, by his foulnes to beutifie, to make her al fair. For the truth is alike in respect of Christ & his church: betweene whom through grace thence hath been euer, is and shal be such intercourse and change, such cō ­munication or rather communion by gratuital vniō & no way but by imputatiō: which whether it be reall or not reall, true or not true, because only imputed, I dare & I do put it to the consci­ence of any that haue any conscience to consider of truth. Thus ergo as really & verily, as Christ was accounted for vs accursed, though God blessed for euer: a sinner a very diuel as the diuel himselfe could testifie of him: as he was reputed among the wicked and died as a malefactor a­boue the wicked, where yet he did neuer hurt, ne­uer brake the law of loue but being loue it selfe performed both tables of loue: so is it true in the gospell of grace to the comfort of all, that are within the compasse of the couenant of euerla­sting mercy and fauour, that they are no more wretched then the seed of the blessing, their bles­sing: ecclesia (sayth Ireneus) est semen Abrahami: the church is the seed of Abrahā: blessed ergo in Christ that seede of Abraham, that seede of the [Page] blessing: no more ergo wretched by the foulnes of life, thē Christ, thē the seed of Abraham, the seed of the blessing, their blessing: no more vnholy, thē y ^e holy one of god: Mar. 5.7. 1. Cor. 1.30. no more are the godly to be charged w ^t sin, then iustice, the iustice of God, then Christ, their iustice, whom many did but none iustly could charge w ^t sin any way; but only in respect of grace, in respect of the merciful ap­pointment of his heauenly father, who preordei­ned in and of his goodnes to saue man: Damas. orth. fid. l. 3. ca. 1. 1. Ioh. 4.19. Deut. 7.7 & 10.15. Iraen. ad here li. 5. pag 323 Bas. inso. 48. Damascen. orthod. fid. li. 1. cap. 2. & li. 3. cap. 1. 1. Cor. 13.4. Heb 9.14. Gen. 3 6. Orig. supr. leuit. homil. Rom. 5 12.3. ca. 3. a nota­ble place. Gal. 4.3. Tertul. adu [...]. Iudae. p. 131. Ansel supr. 1. Cor. 15. and to that end to satisfie iustice. Which where it could not be done but by obedience as infinite in per­fection as sin was in offence: and therefore not by any creature but by very God: nor by god on­ly: because God was and man had offended: and ergo as by very God of very God, so by very man of very man: and yet not by any man but by a man without sinne and offence, that he himselfe might not need, but by his patience and passions in his manhood, worke the saluation of man by the power of his godhead; I easily find man ei­ther in miserable case and yet vnder the lawe quoad culpam & reatum: or els quitte à culpa be­cause à culpae reatu, in the imputed obedience of Christ, who alone was God and therefore able: and made man & ergo apt to be mans mediator, by taking mans sin vpon him: mans at the first by voluntary choise, al mens in the first man by hereditary right, no way Christs (the 2. Adams the 2. for the 1. sake, man pure from sin to make [Page] this his loue al fair, Bern. in dom. in ramis palm. ser. 3. though all foul by reason of sin) whether by action or inclinatiō but by mer­cy, not putatiue (as our aduersaries blasphemos­ly doe insinuate in the point of the gospell) but scriptural: real therfore and true, though impu­tatiue; nether is the church truly millitant only al fair in Christ her messias and mediatour, Ioh. 8.30. be­cause he was without sin, quia nunquam peccauit (which Hugo de s: victore doth note to haue bin the iudgement of some in his time) but also prop­ter impeccantiam (as the commentator vpon Da­mascen speaks) or rather, Ansel supr. cap. 8. epist. ad Rom. quia fint impeccabilis, as most of the schoolmen vse to speake: not only erg. bicause he was not but also because he could not be foul, he could not sin. For in Christ there was no sin, Ber. serm. de pass. dom. nether could there be sin, quoad actum quoad habitū or somitē) as the phrase of the schols is) neither was nether could he in truth be char­ged with sin in effect or affect, in act or possibili­ty, beeing like man but yet the first man in this point before he did fal: pure ergo frō sin: or like man after his fal, T. Acq. vpon the 5. of the 2. to the Cor. lect. 5. Tert. de car­ne christ. lib. pag. 27. Tert. in the same place and page. not only erg. in statu but in rui­na (as Hugo de vict. well speakes) but yet like him in al things secūdūcarnē peccati, in respect er of the flesh of sin (as Tertullian wel speaks & tru­ly (or rather sinful flesh (as the Apostles expoūds y ^e point more warily:) but no way secūdū peccatū carnis, according to the sin of the fleshe, whether it were of omission or commission: committed outwardly, conceiued inwardly or contracted [Page] lineally frō Adam. Bas. serm de humana chr. generatione. So much the better ground hath this faire loue of Christ, of this her general commēdation: because she is faire & al faire only & wholy in him, Damas. orth. fid. li. 3. ca. 27 Ioh. 1.29. Reu. 5.8. Ciril. tom. 2. pag. 48. Rom. 5. Tertul. de. praesc. haeres. pag. 87. who neither did neither coulde sin, being appointed to saue her frō sin: who ergo neither was nor could be any way foule, beeing that Lamb of God, slain from the beginning ef­fectually, at length vppon the crosse visibly to take away the sin of the world: of the world, that is, of the elect: of the elect: whose sinnes were his: his? which yet were not his by desert but by loue, by loue & not by inherence but by impu­tation only. Rom. 4.2. Heb. 9.12. Iob. 3. Ioh. 8.24. Damascen. orthod. fid. li. 3. cap. 27. 1 Pet. 2. Ioh. 1. This is the gospel & to this purpose the Apostle is so plaine and expresse that oft I fal to a wonder at them, that wil needs imagine this to be but an imagination, and so easily can as they thinke and so commonly doe, without cause or probability in their books and late fly­ing schrowles reuile and declaime against this heauenly and most euident doctrine as not only some way improbable but absurd in al diuinity, yea (and in Campians argument) in natural re­son. But (by your good leaue & patience, though somewhat darkely yet in a worde and as I may plainly) to stand vpon the folly of their reasons, which they take to bee reason: they goe about by philosophy to confute diuinity or rather by so­phistry, cauillation and slaundering to keep vn­der the trueth, which yet will haue the conquest and the victory It is absurde (say they) in al di­uinity, [Page] in philosophy and nature to cal any thing white or blacke, faire, or foule, by the whitenesse or blacknes, by the fairnes or foulnes, that is not in it but without it. To resolue therefore the church to be faire, al faire by the fairenesse and beauty of Christ, in him and not in her or hers but because imputed to her. For the ground of which their argumēt I answere first, that albeit the most proper be, yet that al true predications be not drawen from inherence. College walles can answere so much to their shame, that can no better obiect. 2. I answere that this their argu­ment is grounded vpon a misconstruction of our article or rather a wilful cauil or slander against the truth, where thy cannot confute our trueth. For we neuer defended this loues beuty & faire­nes to bee onely eternal and without her. For though the grace of this loue be twofold: the one present: the other future and to come: though by grace present, she be alone fair and al fair in the grace of her Christ; not in her but without her: without her, and yet hers by faith, which appre­hendeth and applyeth his ful beuty vnto her as her owne, as by mercye wrought for her, so through fayth imputed vnto her for her owne: Damas orth. fid. li. 4. ca. 10 Gal. 5.6. though this be thus, yet this former beuty is not idle but actiue, the root of a second for faith cau­seth loue and loue sheweth it selfe by good life: and in respect of that life, in scripture, for the time of this life she is counted faire, called iust, [Page] iust: Yea and that according to the rule of phi­losophy (as in this case they vrge) by iustice in­herent, by iustice performed of her: called iustice yet but not as iustified or iustifiable by the law, Luc. 1.6. Gal. 3.22. Mandata dei facta de­putantur quā od quicquid, non fit, ig­noscitur. as they would haue it, but rather and truely (as S. Augustine defined of it) because so accoun­ted in the gospel of grace, which accounteth that for done, which man wanteth of frailty, repen­teth vnfeinedly, and God pardoneth of his gra­tious goodnesse and mercy: and thus the last time I noted that the church this loue of Christ is faire euen by inherent iustice, to the shame of them all, that say and vrge vntruely and falsly, that we, against al diuinity and sense, defend the iustice of the godly, this loues beuty to be mere­ly externall and without her. 3. I aunswere by waye of iust condition and demaunde: what if it were otherwise in philosophy, yet what is that to diuinity? If otherwise in nature? Yet the ar­gument is not alwaies necessary from nature to scripture? For (to keepe my selfe within my compasse) first of all, touching predications: theologica scientia, the Scripture hath such, as philosophy, as nature cannot admit, no nor ani­malis homo perceiue or conceiue at al. As for ex­ample: in the point of incarnation which is (the very radix & fundamentū christianae religionis, as the fathers wel cal it, verbum carofactum est: the word became flesh: which is, as the schoolemen wel cal it, inusitata predicatio: an vnusual man­ner [Page] of predication: but, what? Shall this very root of religion be cut off? The very grounde of christianity bee shaken? Shall this bee false in scripture (the word of truth) because there is not like example in all philosophy or nature to bee found that may iustifie the same? As againe in the point of Christs passion (a principall article of the foundatiō) Deus gloriae crucifixus est, which is also, as they wel cal it, praedicatio communica­ta, vnusual, true yet by communion or vnion ho­minitatis & Deitatis, of the manhoode and God­head in one Christ: as (in conclusion) among the rest is this commendation of this faire loue of Christ (grounded vpon the two former) that she is faire and al faire, not in se ipsa but in suo spon­so: euen as christ was foule & al foul, not in seipso but in sua sponsa: y ^t she therfore was al fair in him as he was al foul in her: which is praedicatio inu­sitata but yet vera, vera though imputata. But what? Shal these, the very groundes and com­forts of true christianity be false in scripture, be­cause the like examples of predication to iusti­fie the same, are not to be found in all philosophy and nature? Absurde. Howebeit I aunswere by way of retorsion: that our aduersaries them­selues confesse how that this their consequence is nothing from philosophy to diuinity, from na­ture to scripture. For otherwise (to demaund of them all) what becomes of their false named sa­crifice or vse of the same. Of their sacrifice? For [Page] in that they say there is something round, some­thing white &c. But not by inherence, not by or­der or rule of philosophy or nature (euē as al pa­pists by catholick consent do except of accidēts in the case of the sacramēt, where it doth not (as they say) inesse: why then will they measure the predications of diuinity by nature and philoso­phy (they in general holding this for diuinity, a­gainst al truth of true philosophy? touching the vse of their masse if al bee imaginary that is by imputatiō, then how liues the very soul of their religion? How doe their masses profit not onely the liuing but also the dead? But to adde a third point: all our aduersaries graunt that there is a double iustification: and in both they all graunt and must defend the pointe of imputation. In the first iustification they saye and holde that infants and new conuertes (immediatly depar­ting) are iustified and saued alone by the grace of Christ imputed: and in this respect they com­mend and consequently defend that proposition of Luthers or rather principall principle of the scriptures, sola gratia sine operibus iustifi­cat & iustificatos seruat: so Bunderius, so Ec­kius, so Cocleus, so Costerus, so others, so all doe saye and defende, that bee of any account: why then doe these late men declame thus a­gainst imputation? Touching the second iustifi­cation & mean to glorification they hold that the merits of saints triumphant (which they cal the [Page] churches treasure (are imputable and imputed to saints not only liuing but departed. Where­upō popish pardons & satisfactions are groūded: but if this were true, why is imputatiō an ima­ginatiō? but thus it is, it must be truth in case of error whatsoeuer they imagine to be truth: they haue frewil & free tongs to affirm, wher in proof they faile. Nay (as in diuerse other pointes) so in this thēselues they disproue as you haue heard: and may more truely (as trueth requireth ex­clame & cry out against their own fancies in the point of imputation, which tende to maintaine errour and heresy) then against vs, who (accor­ding to the trueth of the gospell) flee from our owne folly and foulenesse to the booke of wise­dome, to the gospel; and therein to the Grace of Christ. in whom our nakednes onely and wholy is couered and the church this loue is faire and al faire and hath no spot or staine that may bee imputed to her. In conclusion if any man looke in Harding, Roffensis, Cocleus, Gratian, the censure of Colen, yea the Rhemish testament or the like authors or bookes: he shal find these pro­positions among them and in them, that aliena fidei (as some speake) or fides ecclesiae (as others speak) doth saue an infant: and, that satisfactio v­nius valet pro alio: that the satisfaction of one a­uailteh another. But if imputation bee not reall but imaginary, how can this stand? Where are the very sinews, the soul of popish religion? Here [Page] they cannot answere themselues and for them­selues and therefore I answere for them and a­gainst them: that this their imputation is but an imagination: De incarna­tione verbi. and what they doe vtter falsly of Saintes, that doe I truely pronounce of Christ the saint of al saints (as Athanasius well calles him:) that the church millitant is fair and alfair not by the imputed satisfaction of any but onely of him, in whom she is wholy faire, where of her selfe she can no way be faire (as Pelagius drea­med) no nor in her selfe, by grace infused, bee all fair for the time of this life. Wel and wel did hee know this who was as faire as any man, a man after the very hart of God: & yet so foul that he knew not how foul he was: dilicta quis intelligit? Ab occaltis delictis munda me domine? Psal. 19.12. O Lorde who knoweth his sins? His foulnes? Lorde ergo cleanse me from mine vnknowen foulnes? Wel did he know this, who was as faire as euer man was and yet so foul, 1 Cor. 5. T. Acq. vpon the same lect. 1. Look also Cip. in tract. de singulari­taie cler. pag. 599. S. Paul. ad Ro. Gal. &c 2. Cor. 8. Mat. 27.28. that rather al foul then any waye faire: and ergo stoode in feare not one­ly of some but of all his workes. Well and very wel did he know this who was so faire, that hee could say: nihil nihil conscius sum and yet coulde ande: in hoc tamen iustificatus non sum. Oh howe wel did hee knowe this that taught so fully that man is iustified and saued not by works but fre­ly, through faith in Iesu Christ, whose pouerty auaileth only by imputation to enrich, his con­tempt to glorifie, his paines to ease, his handes [Page] to loose, 1. Pet. 2.24. Mat. 26.28. Eph. 1.9.10.11. Epes. 2.5 6. his stripes to heal, his death to quicken, his bloodshedding to clense them al and al faire, that in gods mercifull purpose haue portion in him and are apointed to be saued by him. Why but that were no iustice (say they) to account one iust, because another is iust: the church, this loue all faire because her Christ is al fair. I an­swere to them that thus argue, that although it stand not with the reason of the naturall man, Colos. 1.20. Rom. 5.25. 1 Ioh. 2.1.2. and 4.10. Ber. in ser. de pass. dom. T. Acq. vpon the 3. of the 2. to the Cor. Phil. 2.8. Rom. 5.6.8. Ioh. 3.16. Ephes. 2.4. 1. Ioh. 4.10. Dam. orth. fid. l. 3. cap. 1. 1. Ioh. 3.5. Rom. 4.25. 1. Pet. 2.4. Gal. 1.4. 1. Tim. 1.15. yet standes it with faith: which faith, which fin­deth iustice satisfied in Christ for this loue, and this loue quit by the meriting mercy and mer­ciful merit of Iesu Christ, which God accepteth for a ful & thorow recompence of and for mans sinne and offence. And albeit God were iniust, if he should repute man for iust: iust? yea without desert: yet where he considers not man in him­selfe but in his dear sonne Christ, who of his fa­uour and grace perfourmed for man til it came to the very death, what the lawe demaunded of man: Gods mercy and iustice are both apparent & manifest. For no cause there was but loue that moued him to accept man to fauor, who by sinne had so displeased him: and yet of iustice or rather iust loue and mercy he accounteth them for iust, that belong to Christ his son, who being dilectus à patre immeritò nos dilexit: (as Ciprian well speaks de baptismo Christi:) and vpon the tre took their person and state vpon him and spared euen to spare himselfe spared not, euen to spende his harts sweet blood to represent this true church [Page] his loue, Heb. 10.9. Ber. in ser. do pass. dom. Act. 2.23. Rom. 10.4. faire and al fair in the eies of his heauē ­ly father, who of his mercy had appointed him to work such a wonder of mercy. So is it said, that christ is the fulfilling of the law to thē that be­leeue: the fulfilling of the lawe? the law ergo can­not charge them with sinne, with any foulnes: Gal. 3.10. in him ergo we are fair & al fair: so is it said, that we are the rightousnes of god in him: the righteous­nes of God cannot be charged with sin, 2. Cor. 5.21. with any foulnes: in him ergo we are fair and al fair: so is it said that Christ is the Lambe of God that ta­keth away the sin of the world, the foulnes of the church, this his loue: in him ergo she is faire & all faire: so is it said: Ioh. 1.29. 1. Ioh. 1.7. that the bloode of Iesu Christ the son of God clenseth vs frō al sin: not ergo frō some but from al foulnes of sin: in him ergo wee are fair and al fair. Al these propositions and in­finite like, they are the sum of the gospel, the sen­tences of grace, which concerne this faire loue of christ, the godly not in themselues but in their Christ, not in their own frailties but in his mer­cies, Rom. 7.23. not in any imperfect perfection but in his perfect propitiatiō, in his satispassiō, which hath answered iustice and swallowed iudgement so for thē that their sins shal neuer come in accoūts but are & shal be as cyphars & this lones spots & filthines are & shal be so drowned, Esa. 1.18. that they shall neuer be imputed but she be euer reputed fair & al fair according to this cōmēdatiō here deliue­red of her why, but if christ shed not his precius blood to wash hir al clear, how stands your expo­sition, [Page] that she is fair and al fair in the bloode of her Christ? Whereunto I answere, as before I haue aunswered, that Christ spent his precious blood, not to clense her from sinne, but from all her sinnes. 1. Thes. 5.9. Act. 4.12. Insomuch, that where she is charge­able with none, she oweth all the thanks to God in Iesu Christ alone, who by himselfe did (as hee was to that purpose appointed) offer not only 7. times his bloode to remoue from this his loue her 7. mortal sins and no more (as diuers of our aduersaries speak too short in the gospel) & that he therefore left her by due satisfaction, either of her owne perfourmance or of others for her to clense her selfe from the rest: but all the verity and vertue of this commendation is onely and wholy and euer and of al and of al thinges most thankfully to be ascribed to Christ, Cipr. de caena dom. sermo. pag. 447. Bern. de pas. dom. ser. & dom. in ramis palm. ser. 3. in whome a­lone she is so al fair, that there are in her no spots to be found: none to be found, because they are al purged away in his precious bloode, which hee spared not but spent for al her sins. And indeede set aside the blood of Christ, and his propitiation in any respect: if the church were left to clense her selfe from any sinne and cannot bee all faire, vnlesse she do by due satisfaction perfourme the same, then is she no way al faire, shee cannot bee without spot. For none of her obedience can bee sufficient to recōpence God for the lest sin of al: Bas. int reg. monar. ca. 18. which (being an infinit offence) cannot be remo­ued by her finite or rather faulting obedience: so [Page] faultie? That although they dare talke of her fairenes, al fairnes, yea and of her ouerplus that way: of her works, of her merits of congruence, dignity and condignity, nay (more then al this) superogatory: yet I say not only as Hugo Car­dinalis (who beareth the name) doth note vpon the Psalmes, that mans misery it is, that hee knoweth not his merites (which prooues their faith of satisfaction to bee all vncerteine: vncer­teine and therefore no faith: All our ad­uersaries grant the conclusion.) but also (as Ferus wel notes against the will of our aduersaries v­pon the epistle to the Romanes:) That man is miserable who cannot better weigh what be his demerits: and account more truly of sin, then as of a sore that according to the meetered creede of our aduersaries, by almesgiuing or fasting or praieng or knocking of the brest or by pilgrima­ging or by aspersion of water or episcopal bene­diction or by such fancied meanes may be clen­sed: Where the scripture in general describeth sin to be a sore, so lothsome, that none coulde re­present this loue fair without spot in the eies of God but only Christ by washing her from al sin in his precious bloode: whereunto therefore all the effect of this commendation is ascribed. Al­though therfore the church be subiect to sinne: to foulnes in this life: yet notwithstanding shee is precious and pure: glorious, faire and all faire without spot in the eies of her God, whose eies be not, as the eies of flesh and bloode (which are [Page] deceiued:) but true and pure and do behould her pure because purified in his owne deare sonne, whose bloode doeth euer and alone couer all her spots and blemishes from him. In which respect yet, to satisfie the naturall man and all such as sometimes yealde him the hearing: (as Saint Bernard said of Christ, so say I of her:) we must distinguish inter oculum & aurem: for si oculus at­tendat, quid apparebat? Quomodo formosus erat Christus &c. To the eie what did christ appear? How was he al faire or faire? For what saw the ey in Christ but blacknes and deformity? When his handes were spreade vppon the tree and he was put to despisal among the wicked, to pains by his enemies: when he, that was to bee honou­red of al and could haue put an amaze and feare in the harts of al, yet was a contempt and laugh­ing stocke to al? But we must (saith hee) distin­guish inter oculum & aurem: for oculus did pro­nunciaere Christū infirmum, oculus foedum &c. To the eye therefore Christ was weake, to the eye foul foule, because miserable, foule because con­demned to dy a most shameful death: but yet au­ri, to the eare, he was Dei filius: auri formosus, prae filijs hominum formosus innotuit. To the eare hee was the son of God, to the eare he was fair and al fair: so say I of the church: she is put to despi­sal and pains in the world: she is no better then a stone of offence: she is not fair but al foul: haere­tica, maligna, maculata with sinne: and howe is [Page] she not charged by the wicked? But yet auri, to the eare, she is the loue, the bride, the spouse of Iesu Christ: she is his house, his temple, his de­light, the very white of his eie: shee is (as heere you doe here) faire and all faire: And as for them y ^e otherwise iudge, (as multituds euer haue don and do now adaies) esteeming the church by her outward state & other frailtes, they are such mē, as doe plus tribuere oculo quā oraculo, i. carnis sen­sui quam verbo Dei: they ascribe more to sense then to faith, as Saint Bernarde speakes. O­therwise as Christ was niger oculis persequenti­um, niger reputatione Herodis: and yet was formo­sus confessione latronis, fide centurionis: black ergo in the eies of his persecuting enimies, blacke in Herods eie: and yet fair and al fair to the theefe confessing, to the Centurion beleeuing: so the church this loue of our sauior is carnal, cōtemp­tible, foul, what lesse then all foule in the eies of Turkes, Iewes, Epicures, Atheists, Papists, and al the wicked, where yet she is no lesse then faire and al fair in the eies of al the faithfull, who, be­leeuing, doe by faith beholde her all faire in the blood of her spotles Christ: to end in a word: ac­cording to the trueth of this her commendation where with I began: that she is al faire and that there is in her no spot to be found.