The Proof of the Argument
The proposition is plain, and every Papist will grant it: all the controversy is of the assumption: therefore I prove [illegible] thus:
The Sacrament of Penance (as they call it) is one of the chief things in the religion of the Church of Rome: for it is such a sacrament, that by the power and efficacy of it, the blood of Christ is delivered to us, to wash away our sins. And they say it has such virtue that the kingdom of heaven is promised to it in the scriptures, and that it is not regeneration, but a healing of a man regenerate, and that it pardons sin, as Baptism. And as touching Contrition, Papists write, it has power to do away sin, and to obtain pardon at God's hand: the same they speak of Confession, which they say delivers from death, opens Paradise, and gives hope of salvation. And hereby it may appear that Penance is one of the greatest points of the popish religion.
But a reprobate may be truly made partaker of the popish sacrament of Penance, and indeed perform all in it. There are three parts of Penance: Contrition of the heart, Confession of the mouth, Satisfaction in the deed. All these three Judas performed: first he had Contrition, for when he saw that our Saviour Christ was condemned, then he saw his own sin, and was stricken with grief for his own treachery, and repented. And presently after he confessed his sins openly to the chief Priests and Elders. Also he made Satisfaction, when he brought again the thirty pieces of silver which he took to betray his master.
Again, Contrition of the heart is the ground of Penance, and Papists say, it is not an act of the Holy Spirit but an act of man's free will proceeding from it, and therefore a reprobate may have it. And as for Satisfaction, if a reprobate cannot do it by himself, yet he may perform it by another, for so they say that one may satisfy by another. Therefore, for anything I can see, a reprobate may have all that is contained in the popish sacrament of penance.
Faith is another of the chief points, that is, the religion of the Church of Rome, for they say, it is the foundation and groundwork of justification. But reprobates may have that faith which they mean. For they say, that it is nothing else, but a gift of God, and a certain light of the mind, with which a man being enlightened gives sure and certain assent to the revealed word of God. And the Rhemists say, it is only an act of the understanding: and Andradius says, that faith is only in general actions, and cannot come to the particular applying of anything. Now all this reprobates may have, for their minds are enlightened to know the truth, and to be persuaded of it, and therefore they have this act of the understanding, and this general faith. Indeed the Devil himself can do thus much, who believes and trembles. And the implicit faith which saves the layman, what reprobate cannot have it? For there is nothing else required, but to believe as the Church believes, though he know not how the Church believes. And the Papists themselves say as much: for their Councils hold, that a wicked man and a heretic may have confidence in Christ, and that a heathen man, by the natural knowledge of God, and by the works of creation, might have faith, and in a general manner believe in Christ.
