for ourselves, but do and suffer more than in justice can be here required of us; and what we thus do or suffer more than we are bound to, though it be superfluous as to ourselves, being abundantly supplied from our other good works, yet it is not superfluous as to others: but whatsoever any one thus doeth or suffereth more and above his duty, it is thrown into the common stock or treasury of the church, out of which such as lack may be supplied. And out of this common treasury or magazine, it is that their church fetch all their indulgences, which are indeed nothing else but the distribution of the several satisfactions made

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* Asserimus non paucos sanctos homines multo plura propter Deum et justitiam esse perpessos, quàm exigeret reatus pœnæ temporalis, cui fuerunt obnoxii propter culpas ab ipsis commissas.—Bellarm.

Haud dubito quin quod in ærumnarum quas tolerârunt cruciatibus erat satisfactorium, non evanuerit penitus in aera. Nam Deus ipse benignissimus, qui mala nostra semper vertit in bonum, non patitur hanc satisfactionem omnino perire; sed in aliquam haud dubiè convertet utilitatem. At peribit sanè si nec eis neque cæteris profuerit quicquam. Et quoniam illi suæ satisfactionis fructum nullis destinârunt personis certis, ideò fit ut in commune cesserit ecclesiæ totius emolumentum, et communis ecclesiæ thesaurus jam dicatur, nimirum, ut inde rependatur quicquid cæteris ex justa satisfactione defuerit.— Roffens. Artic. 17. Ecclesia de hoc thesauro potest communicare alicui vel aliquibus pro eorum peccatis in parte vel in toto, secundùm quod placet ecclesiæ de hoc thesauro plus vel minus communicare.-Durand. Hunc thesaurum per beatum Petrum cœli clavigerum, ejusque successores, suos in terris vicarios, commisit (Christus) fidelibus salubriter dispensandum; et propriis et rationalibus causis nunc pro totali, nunc pro partiali remissione pœnæ temporalis pro peccatis debitæ, tam generaliter quàm specialiter, prout cum Deo expedire cognoscerent, misericorditer applicandum. - Clem. Sext. in Confirmat. Jubilei.

For thus we find Gregorius de Valentia describing an indulgence: Indulgentia ecclesiastica est relaxatio pœnæ temporalis, judicio divino peccatis actualibus post remissam culpæ debitæ, per applicationem superabundantium Christi et sanctorum satisfactionum, facta extra sacramentum ab eo qui legitimam ad hoc autoritatem habet. So that it is the superabundant works of the saints as well as Christ, that are the subject matter of indulgences, by the application whereof the punishment due to actual sins is taken away. And therefore must the works of saints also help to fill up this treasure. Indeed there were some that denied any of the merits or satisfactions of saints to be thrown in with Christ's, as Franciscus Maronis, Angelus de Clavasio, and others. But Bellarmine tells us, Communis aliorum theologorum tum antiquorum, ut S. Thomæ et S. Bonaventuræ, tum recentiorum omnium sententia, thesaurum satisfactionum, tum Christi tum sanctorum, semper agnovit. Bellarm.

by the supererogatory works of others to such as themselves see fit, viz. such as will give the most money for them. If I commit a great sin, for which I must do great penance, this penance can by no means be pardoned or remitted to me, unless I make complete satisfaction for the sin committed some other ways. Now, seeing there are several in the world (as they pretend) that have performed more works, and suffered more penances and more punishments, than were due to their own sins, if I will sue out for them, these supererogatory works and sufferings, undergone and performed by them, may be granted out to me; and so I being looked upon as undergoing this penance in others, am freed from it in myself. They have done more than was required, I am loath to do as much as is required; and therefore what they have done more than is required of them, I buy, to satisfy for what I do less than is required of me. And so my defect is cured by their excess.

Now, this Article is composed to awaken us out of these profitable and pleasant but sinful dreams, assuring us, that all such works, besides over and above God's commands, which they call works of supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety;' it being both an arrogant, proud, and impious thing for any one to say, he can do more than God commands, and so be able to satisfy for others as well as for himself. So that whosoever says he can do more than God's laws require, or suffer more than his own sins deserve, is a proud and a wicked person; it being a great sin and wickedness in any to broach or abet such doctrines, as so plainly appear to be erroneous from Scripture, reason, and fathers.

1. And as for the SCRIPTURES, what more pregnant and convincing proof can be alleged by us, or expected by any, than what is expressed in this article itself, even that saying of our Saviour, "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which was our duty to do?" Luke, xvii. 10. If whatsoever commands we perform, it is but still our duty to perform them, how then is it possible we should do more than it is our duty to do? As considering that whatsoever we do, it is God's commands we should do it. Do I pray without ceasing? I do no more

than what I am commanded, 1 Thess. v. 17. Do I in every thing give thanks? It is no more than what I am commanded, verse 18. Do I sell all I have and distribute to the poor? It is no more than what I am commanded, Luke, xviii. 22. Do I deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Christ? It is no more than what I am commanded, Matt. xvi. 24. Yea, am I faithful unto death? It is no more than what I am commanded, Rev. ii. 10. Thus can there no good thing be performed by me, but what is commanded by God; and if it be God's will to command it, it is my duty to perform it. And hence it is, that in the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, he that came in at the last hour had his penny as well as he that came in at the first, Matt. xx. 9, 10. plainly showing us, that they that had borne the heat of the day, the heat of temptations, the heat of afflictions, the heat of persecutions, yet had not done any more than what it was their duty to do. They were still unprofitable servants, and had deserved no more than they that, coming not in till the last hour, underwent none of these, and that was nothing at all.

2. But we need not heap up arguments in so plain a truth. For how is it possible that any one should do more good works than are commanded, when nothing is a good work but what is commanded; nay, and therefore only because it is commanded, is it a good work? It is God's command that is the ground of all duty. And what is the ground of duty to me, is the ground of acceptance with him. And therefore is there nothing that God will accept as good from me, but what himself hath commanded to me. These voluntary works, therefore, which they call works of supererogation, are they commanded by God or not? If they be commanded, it is my duty to perform them, and so they are not supererogatory; and I should sin if I do not do them, if they be not commanded, it is my duty not to perform them; and so I should sin if I do them. How then shall I do more good works than it is my duty to do, seeing what is not my duty to do, cannot be any good works? We may

Η Δούλῳ γὰρ ἀνάγκη ἐπίκειται τὸ πληροῦν τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ Κυρίου, οὐ μὴν ὡς κατόρθωμα ἐπιγραφέσθαι ἑαυτῷ τοῦτο ὀφείλει· εἰ γὰς μὴ ἐργάσηται, πληγῶν ἀξιωτέρος. ἐπεὶ δὲ εἰςγάσατο, ἀρκεῖθω ότι τὰς πληγὰς ἐξέφυγεν· οὐ μὴν ὀφείλει ἐπὶ τούτῳ τιμὴν ζητεῖν ἀναγκαίως. Theoph. in Luc. 17.

see this evidently in the Jews, in their over-multiplied fasts and uncommanded sacrifices, which they might have accounted as so many works of supererogation, wherein they thought they did God good service: yet what saith he? "Who hath required these things at your hands?" Isa. i. 12. And thus did he say of all works, besides and above his commands, 'Who hath required these at your hands?' As if he should say, 'I never commanded these things to you, and therefore will never accept of them from you.' And thus are all these works of supererogation not good and accepted, because not commanded works; and therefore is it impossible that any more good works should be performed by us than what is commanded, seeing nothing that is not commanded can be a good work,

But I would willingly know, what necessity there is of such works of supererogation? Are they necessary for the satisfaction of their own sins? No; for then they are not works of supererogation; what need, therefore, is there of them? Are they needful for the satisfying for other men's sins? I know that great maintainers of this opinion*, being loath to say these works are altogether superfluous, adjudge them necessary for others, though not for themselves who do perform them, making them co-partners with Christ in making satisfaction for the sins of others. But what is this but blasphemously to debase the merits of Christ, to exalt their own, and to make the good works (I might say the sins) of finite creatures, to be of the like value with the blood of the Son of God?

But I would wish all such but seriously to consider with

* Let us hear one of their own rabbies. Hac satisfactio redundans quorsum evadit? Quum mortuus est Christus, et præter Christum cùm Maria virgo, et Petrus, et Paulus, et innumeri præterea alii sancti, mortem obierunt, tot operibus redundantis satisfactionis cumulati, quandoquidem illa non intulerunt in cœlum ubi nullus est satisfaciendi locus, opera illa quonam abierunt? &c. Si egomet, auditores, dicerem abjici et supervacaneum esse (opus illud supererogationis) vererer ne me lapidibus obruendum censeretis. Et meritò quidem: nam nullâ ratione dicendum est quicquam in ecclesia Dei vel deesse vel supervacaneum esse. Et sanè impium esset si quis crederet rem tam puram tantamque, quanta est satisfactio pro peccatis, vento dissipari et evanescere. Quis igitur eorum operum est usus? O admirabilem Dei providentiam! Ex iis conflatur communio illa sanctorum. — Panigorol.

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themselves, whether they think in their consciences that one mere man may satisfy for another's sins? or whether, at the day of judgment, what one man hath done, shall be rewarded in another? I am sure the apostle tells us, "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or evil," 2 Cor. v. 10. And " every man shall bear his own burden," Gal. vi. 5. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour," 1 Cor. iii. 8. So that the father shall not there be punished for the son's iniquity, nor the son rewarded for the father's piety. But every one shall stand upon his own legs: as he before died, he must now be judged. And if so, what will become of the works of supererogation? What need is there that any one should perform them, seeing himself stands not in need of them, neither can any one else receive any profit from them, by having satisfaction made for their sins by them? But as he that lives and dies in holiness, shall not be prejudiced by other men's sins, so he that lives and dies in sins shall not be any way profited by other men's holiness. Though there have been many that have done and suffered much for the sake of Christ, yea, unto death itself, yet it is not the torments of their death that can satisfy for the sins of another's life. No, it is Christ, and Christ alone, we are to expect this satisfaction from. What he did, he did of merit, not of duty; but what all others do, they do of duty, not of merit. Themselves were bound to it, and therefore they cannot advantage others by it.

f In quo quemque invenerit suus novissimus dies, in hoc eum comprehendet mundi novissimus dies: quoniam qualis in die isto quisque moritur, talis in illo judicabitur. — August, Epist. 80. Tunc cuique veniet dies ille cùm venerit ei dies, ut talis hinc exeat, qualis judicandus est illo die. Ac per hoc vigilare debet omnis Christianus, ne imparatum eum inveniat Domini adventus. Imparatum autem inveniet ille dies, quem imparatum invenerit suæ vitæ hujus ultimus dies. — Ibid.

Quòd de uno solo Mediatore Dei et hominum, homine Christo Jesu, catholica fides novit, quòd pro nobis mortem, hoc est peccati pœnam, sine peccato subire dignatus est. Sicut enim solus ideò factus est hominis Filius ut nos per illum Dei filii fieremus; ita solus pro nobis suscepit sine malis meritis pœnam, ut nos per illum sine bonis meritis, consequeremur gratiam. -Aug. contra duas Epist. Pelag. lib. iv. c. 4.