Burnet on Article XIV: Of Works of Supererogation

THERE are Two Points that arise out of this Article to be considered, 1st. Whether there are in the New Testament Counsels of Perfection given; that is to say, such Rules which do not oblige all Men to follow them, under the pain of Sin;¹ but yet are useful to carry them on to a sublimer Degree of Perfection, than is necessary in order to their Salvation? 2d. Whether men by following these do not more than they are bound to do, and by consequence, Whether they have not there by a Stock of Merit to communicate to others? The First of these leads to the Second; for if there are no such Counsels, then the Foundation of Supererogoation fails.

We deny both, upon this Ground, That the great Obligations of loving God with all our Heart, Soul, Strength and Mind, and our Neighbour as our selves, which are reckoned by our Saviour,² the two great Commandments, on which hang all the Law and the Prophets, are of that extent, that it seems not possible to imagine, How any thing can be acceptable to God that does not fall within them. Since if it is acceptable to God, then that Obligation to love God so entirely must bind us to it; for if it is a Sin not to love God up to this pitch, then it is a Sin not to do every thing that we imagine will please him: And by consequence, if there is a Degree of pleasing God, whether Precept or Counsel, that we do not study to attain to, we do not love him in a manner suitable to that. It seems a great many in the Church of Rome are aware of this consequence, and therefore they have taken much pains to convince the World, that we are not bound to love God at all, or as others more cautiously word it, that we are only bound to value him above all things, but not to have a love of such a vast intension for him. This is a proposition that after all their softning it, gives so much horror to every Christian that I need not be at any pains to confute it.

We are further required in the New Testament, to cleanse our selves from all filthiness both of the Flesh and Spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God: And to reckon our selves his and not our own, ³ and that we are bought with a price; and that therefore we ought to glorify him both in our Bodies, and in our Spirits, which are his. These and many more like Expressions are plainly Precepts of general Obligation, for nothing can be set forth in more positive words than these are: And it is not easie to imagine, How any thing can go beyond them; for if we are Christ’s Property, purchased by him, then we ought to apply our selves to every thing in which his honour, or the honour of his Religion can be concerned, or which will be pleasing to him.

Our Saviour having charged the Pharisees so often, for adding so many of their Ordinances to the Laws of God,⁴ teaching his fear by the Precepts of men; and the Apostles condemning a shew of Will-worship and voluntary humility, seem to belong to this matter, and to be designed on purpose to repress the Pride and Singularities affected Hypocrites. Our Saviour said to him that asked,⁵ What he should do that he might have eternal life? keep the Commandments: These words I do the rather cite, because they are followed with a passage, that of all others in the New Testament, seems to look the likest a Counsel of Perfection; for when he who made the Question, replied upon our Saviour’s Answer, That he had kept all these from his youth up, and added, what lack I yet? To that our Saviour Answered, If thou wilt be perfect, ⁶ go sell all that thou hast, and give to the Poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me: And by the words that follow, of the difficulty of a rich Man’s entring into the Kingdom of Heaven; this is more fully Explained. The meaning of all that whole passage is this, Christ called that person to abandon all, and come and follow him, in such a manner as he had called his Apostles. So that here is no Counsel but a positive Command given to that particular person, upon this occasion. By Perfect is only to be meant compleat, in order to that to which he pretended, which was Eternal Life. And that also explains the word in that period, Treasures in Heaven, another Expression for Eternal Life, to compensate the loss which he would have made by the Sale of his Possessions. So that here is no Counsel, but a Special Command given to this person, in order to his own attaining Eternal Life.

Nor is it to be inferred from hence, That this is proposed to others in the way of a Counsel; for as in Cases either of a Famine or Persecution, it may come to be to some a command, to sell all in order to the relief of others, as it was in the first beginnings of Christianity; so in ordinary cases to do it might be rather a tempting of Providence than a trusting to it, for then a Man should part with the means of his Subsistence, which God has provided for him, without a necessay and pressing occasion. Therefore our Saviour’s words,⁷ Sell that ye have and give Alms, as they are delivered in the strain and peremptoriness of a Command, so they must be understood to bind as positive Commands do: Not so constantly as a Negative Command does, since in every minute of our Life, that binds: but there is a Rule and Order in our obeying positive Commands. We must not rest on the Sabbath-day, if a Work of Necessity or Charity calls us to put to our hands: We must not obey our Parents in disobeying a publick Law: So if we have Families, or the Necessities of a feeble Body, and a weak Constitution, for which God has supplied us with that which will afford us food convenient for us, ⁸ we must not throw up those provisions and cast our selves upon others. Therefore that Precept must be moderated and expounded, so as to agree with the other Rules and Orders that God has set us.

A distinction is therefore to be made between those things that do universally and equally bind all Mankind; and those things that do more specially bind some sorts of men, and that only at some times. There are greater degrees of Charity, Gravity, and all other Virtues, to which the Clergy for instance are more bound than other men; but these are to them Precepts and not Counsels. And in the first beginnings of Christianity there were greater Obligations laid upon all Christians, as well as greater Gifts were bestowed on them. It is true in the Point of Marriage S. Paul does plainly allow, that such as marry do well, but that such as marry not do better. ⁹ But the meaning of that, is not, as if an unmarried Life were a state of Perfection, beyond that which a Man is obliged to: But only this, That as to the Course of this Life, and the present distress; and as to the judgment that is to be made of men by their Actions, no Man is to be thought to do amiss who marries; but yet he who marries not, is to be judged to do better. But yet inwardly and before God this matter may be far otherwise; for he who marries not and burns, certainly does worse than he who marries and lives chastly. But he who finding that he can limit himself without endangering his Purity; though no Law restrains him from Marrying, yet seeing that he is like to be Tempted to be too careful about the Concerns of this Life if he marries, is certainly under Obligations to follow that Course of Life in which there are fewer Temptations, and greater Opportunities to attend on the Service of God.

With Relation to outward Actions, and to the Judgments that from visible Appearances are to be made of them, some Actions may be said to be better than others, which yet are truly good: But as to the particular obligations that every Man is under, with Relation to his own State and Circumstances, and for which he must Answer at the last Day, these being secret, and so not subject to the Judgments of Men, certainly every Man is strictly bound to do the best he can; to chuse that Course of Life in which he thinks he may do the best Services to God and Man: Nor are these free to him to chuse or not: He is under Obligations, and he Sins if he sees a more excellent thing that he might have done, and contents himself with a lower or less valuable thing. St. Paul had wherein to Glory, for whereas it was Lawful for him as an Apostle to suffer the Corinthians to supply him in temporals, when he was serving them in Spiritual Things; yet he chose rather for the Honour of the Gospel, and to take away all occasion of Censure from those who sought for it,¹⁰ to work with his own hands, and not to be burthensome to them. But in that State of Things, though there was no Law or outward Obligation upon him to spare them; he was under an inward Law of doing all things to the Glory of God: And by this Law he was as much bound, as if there had been an outward compulsory Law lying upon him.

This distinction is to be remembred, between such an Obligation as arises out of a Mans particular Circumstances, and such other Motives as can be only known to a Man himself, and such an Obligation as may be fastned on him by stated and general Rules: He may be absolutely free from the latter of these, and yet be secretly bound by those inward and stronger constraints of the Love of God, and of Zeal for his Glory. Enough seems to be said to prove that there are no Counsels of Perfection in the Gospel: That all the Rules set to us in it, are in the Stile and Form of Precepts; and that though there may be some Actions of more Heroical Virtue, and more Sublime Piety than others, to which all men are not obliged by equal or general Rules; yet such men to whose Circumstances and Station they do belong, are strictly obliged by them, so that they should Sin if they did not put them in practice.

This being thus made out, the Foundation of Works of Supererogation is destroyed: But if it should be acknowledged that there were such Counsels of Perfection in the Scripture, there are still two other clear proofs, to shew that there can be no such thing as Supererogating with God. Fir[?]t, Every Man not only has Sinned. but has still so much Corruption about him, as to feel the truth of that of St. Iames, in many things we offend all. ¹¹ Now unless it can be supposed that by obeying those Counsels a Man can compensate with Almighty God for his Sins, there is no ground to think that he can Supererogate: He must first clear his own Score, before he can imagine that any thing upon his account can be forgiven or imputed to another: and if the Guilt of Sin is Eternal, and the pretended Merit of obeying Counsels is only Temporary, no Temporary Merit can take off an Eternal Guilt. So that it must first be supposed, that a Man both is and has been perfect as to the Precepts of Obligation, before it can be thought that he should have an Overplus of Merit.

The other clear Argument from Scripture against Works of Supererogation, is that there is nothing in the whole New Testament that does in any sort favour them: We are always taught to trust to the Mercies of God, and to the Death and Intercession of Christ, and to work out our own Salvation with fear trembling;¹² but we are never once directed to look for any help from Saints, or to think that we can do any thing for another man’s Soul in this way.¹³ The Psalm has it, No man can by any means give a ransom for his brother’s Soul: The words of Christ cited in the Article are full and express aganst it.

The words in the Parable of the five foolish Virgins and the five wise, may seem to favour it, but they really contradict it; for it was the foolish Virgins that desired the wise to give them of their Oil; which if any will apply to a supposed Communication of Merit, they ought to consider that the Proposition is made by the foolish, ¹⁴ and the Answer of the wise Virgins is full against it: Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you: What follows, of bidding them go to them that sell, and buy for themselves, is only a piece of the Fiction of the Parable, which cannot enter into any part of the Application of it.¹⁵ What St. Paul says of his filling up that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh, for his body’s sake, which is the Church; is, as appears by the words that follow, whereof I am made a Minister, only applicable to the Edification that the Church received from the Sufferings of the Apostles: It being a great confirmation to them of the Truth of the Gospel, when those who preached it, suffered so constantly and so patiently for it; by which they both confirmed what they had preached, and set an Example to others, of adhering firmly to it. And since Christ is related to his Church, as a Head to the Members, it is in some sort his suffering himself, when his Members suffer; and that Conformity which they ought to express to him as their Head, was necessary to make up the due Proportion that ought to be between the Head and the Members. So St. Paul rejoyced in his being made conformable to him: And this, as it is a Sense that the words will well bear, so it is certain they are capable of no other sense; for if the sufferings of the Apostles were meritorious in behalf of the other Christians, some plain account must have been given of this in the New Testament, at least to do honour to the Memory of such Apostles as had then died for the Faith. If it is suggested, that the living Apostles were too modest to claim it to themselves; that will not satisfy; all runs quite in a contrary Stile: The Mercies of God and the blood of Christ being always repeated, whereas these are never once named. Now to imagine that there can be any thing of such great use to us, in which the Scripture should be not only silent, but should run in a strain totally different from it, is not conceivable: For if in any thing, the Gospel ought to be full and explicite in all that which concerns our Peace and Reconciliation with God, and the means of our escaping his Wrath, and obtaining his Favour.

There is another Doctrine that does also belong to this Head, which is Purgatory, that is not to be entred on here, but is referred to its proper place. Thus it appears how ill this Doctrine of Works of Supererogation is founded; and upon how many accounts it is evidently false; and yet upon it has been built not only a Theory of a Communication of those Merits. and a Treasure in the Church, but a Practice of so foul a nature, that in it the words of our Saviour, spoken to the Iews, My house is a house of Prayer, ¹⁶ but ye have made it a den of Thieves, are accomplished in a high and most scandalous manner. It has been pretended that this was of the nature of a Bank, of which the Pope was the Keeper; and that he could grant such Bills and Assignments upon it as he pleased: This was done in so base and so crying a manner, that all who had any sense of Probity in their own Church were ashamed of it.

In the Primitive Church there were very severe Rules made, obliging all that had sinned publickly (and they were afterwards applied to such as had sinned secretly) to continue for many Years in a state of Separation from the Sacrament, and of Penance and Discipline. But because all such general Rules admit of a great variety of Circumstances, taken from Mens Sins, their Persons, and their Repentance, there was a Power given to all Bishops by the Council of Nice, to shorten the time, and to relax the severity of those Canons; and such Favour as they saw cause to grant, was called Indulgence. This was just and necessary, and was a Provision without which no Constitution or Society can be well governed. But after the Tenth Century, as the Popes came to take this Power in the whole extent of it into their own hands, so they found it too feeble to carry on the great Designs that they grafted upon it.

They gave it high Names, and called it a plenary Remission, and the pardon of all Sins: which the World was taught to look on as a thing of a much higher nature, than the bare excusing of Men from Discipline and Penance. Purgatory was then got to be firmly believed, and all Men were strangely possessed with the terror of it: So a deliverance from Purgatory, and by consequence an immediate admission into Heaven, was believed to be the certain effect of it. And to support all this, the Doctrine of Counsels, of Perfection, of Works of Supererogation, and of the Communication of those Merits, was set up; and to that, this was added, That a Treasure made up of these, was at the Pope’s disposal, and in his keeping. The use that this was put to, was as bad as the Forgery it self. Multitudes were by these means engaged to go to the Holy Land, to recover it out of the hands of the Saracens: Afterwards they armed vast Numbers against Hereticks to extirpate them: They fought also all those Quarrels which their ambitious Pretensions engaged them in with Emperors and other Princes, by the same Pay; and at last they set it to Sale with the same Impudence, and almost with the same Methods that Mountebanks use in the venting of their Secrets.

This was so gross even in an Ignorant Age, and among the ruder sort, that it gave the first Rise to the Reformation: and as the progress of it was a very signal Work of God, so it was in a great measure owing to the Scandals that this shameless Practice had given the World. And upon this single reason it is that this matter has been more fully examined than was necessary; for the thing is so plain, that it has no sort of difficulty in it.

Footnotes

1. Luke 17.10. ↩

2. Matth. 22.36, to 40. ↩

3. 2 Cor. 7.1. 1 Cor. 6.20. ↩

4. Coloss. 2. ↩

5. Matth. 19.16, 17. ↩

6. V. 20, 21. ↩

7. Luke 12.33. ↩

8. Prov. 30.8 ↩

9. 1 Cor. 7.38. ↩

10. Acts 20.34. 1 Cor. 9.18. 2 Cor. 12.13. ↩

11. James 3.2. ↩

12. Phil. 2.12. ↩

13. Psal. 49.7. ↩

14. Mat. 25.9. ↩

15. Col. 1.24. ↩

16. Mark 11.17. ↩