can bee touched with this aspersion by these men that have set themselves to calumniate where they are ignorant of the point they undertake against I have in consequence these words And consisteth in forgivenesse of sinnes primarily and in grace infused secondarily Which words if the Informers could have understood or would have construed according to my meaning they might have observed out of my discourse that I made a great difference betwixt these two parts and by Secondly intended only Concomitanter my purpose beeing to wipe off that odious Popish imputation of which I shall speake anon in their calumniating our doctrine of Iustification which because these Informers either could not or would not understand I shall endevour to speak somewhat more plainly and fully out unto their eares IUSTIFICATION as I said is deduced of Iustifico which hath or may have a threefold signification To make just and righteous to declare just and righteous and to make more just and righteous for the encrease and augmentation of Iustification Apoc. XXII XI Qui justus est justificetur by new accesse of GOD'S grace and progresse in course of righteousnesse every day more and more Remissio peecati facit ut Sanctit as incheate vires acquirat râ—â—oretur for the declaration of the Act of Iustification upon man as where S. IAMES saith ABRAHAM was justified by workes that is declared to be a righteous man by the lively fruits of a true faith and for absolution which is the Act of the Iudge to speake according unto secular proceedings from the use and practice where of the word is taken and applied unto the proportionable Acts of GOD upon man by whom wee are justified alone If this bee Popery M. PERKINS is a Papist 1 who hath in effect the very same Now I professed at first to take Iustification only in this acceptation and inferred there upon against the Gagger no more than was enough to confute him and his that we teach and beleeve that when sinnes are pardoned by GOD GOD doth not change the minde of the sinner ney that yet destroyeth in him the blot and body of sinne but that the same remaining in the soule of man in like maner as it did before condonation is only taken away by a not imputation of the guilt For so BECANUS Manet ergo homo in se peccator impius immundus solùm habetur pro justopio mundo omnia ejus opera sunt immunda 〈◊〉 inquinâ—ta But wee saith that most learned and judictions D. WHITE truely are Forre from this absund opinion how farre how so for we teach saith he that together with the Action of GOD remitting sinne concurreth another Action of divine grace enabling man to forsake and mortifie every greater sinne which GOD hath pardoned And M. PERKINS observeth that many among us doe not hold CHRIST or beleeve in him aright for their Iustification because they hold him without change of heart and life for by S. PAULS conclusion whom CHRIST quickneth them hee justifieth and whom he doth not quicken he doth not justifie And this is directly the doctrine of the Scripture 1. Cor. VI. XI Heb. IX XIV Rev. I. V. VI. 1. Pet. II. IX Ezech. XXXVI XXVI Esay LIII V. Psal CIII III. Fathers also are cyted to that purpose BERNARD saith Sinnes are not onely pardoned but the gift of sanctity is conferred and CHRYSOSTOME saith Delivering us from sin he engrafteth righteousnesse yea he extinguisheth sinne and doth not suffer it to be Sinne in the soule is as a leprosie in the bodie Now as when NAAMAN was restored by washing in Iordan his leprosie was removed and his flesh restored to that naturall health vigour and beautie it had so when GOD pardoneth sinne he removeth away the guilt thereof by free pardon and conferreth grace to the destroying of sinne and healing of the foule Mich. VI. XIX and this is the meaning of S. AUGUST in Psal VII Cum Iustificaâ—uâ— impius ex impio fit justus ex possessione Diaboli migrat in templum DEI. and Ser. XVI de verbis Apostoli summing up whatsoever I have said in effect and by these Ignorántes is traduced as Popery Nos sumus de iustitia nihil habemus Habemus omnino Grati simus ex co quod habemus ut addatur quod non habemus ne perdamus quod habemus Iustificati sumus ipsa iustitia cùm proficimus crescit quomodo crescit dicam vobiscum quodammodo conferam ut unusquisque vestrum iam in ipsa iustificatione constitutus acceptâ scilicet remissione peccatorum per lavacrum regenerationis accepto spiritu sancto proficiens de die in diem videat ubi sit accedat proficiat crescat donec consummetur incipit homo à fide Quid pertinet ad fidem Credere sed adhuc ista fides discernatur ab immundis spiritibus alluding to that IAMES 2. Si tantum credis sine spe vivis vel dilectionem non habes Daemones credunt contremiscunt A new life needs then must be conjoyned with Iustification And this is the expresse doctrine of D. WHITAKERS Remissio peccatorum facit ut Sanctitas in nobis inchoetur and of CALVIN himselfe who will have men to be taught this doctrine Doceantur homines fieri non passe ut justi censecutur CHRISTI merito quin renoventur eius spiritu in sanctam vitam frustraque grataitâ DEI adoptione gloriari omnes in quibus spiritus regenerationis non habitat Denique nullos à DEO ricipi in gratiam qui non iusti quoque verè fiunt Now if a man at all times when he is truely iustified be also sanctified what offence can there be to allow one common word to containe and expresse both these parts But men that understand not the true state of things but scumme upon the surface and take things up in grosse without due proportions and come with prejudicate malice to lay hold upon any thing for their owne advantage no marvell if they make strange Popery and in indiscreet zeale cast forth they cannot tell what CALVIN is not afraid loco quo supra to use the very terme of INHERENT righteousnesse Nunquam reconciliamur DEO quin simul donemur IUSTITIA INHERENTE which speech if that M. MOUNTAGU had used no excuse would have put by imputation of Popery To conclude and give them satisfaction if they will take any if not jacta alea est eatur IUSTIFICATION is taken two waies in Scripture Strictè magis and extensivè Precisely for remission of sinnes by the onely merits and satisfaction of CHRIST accepted for us and imputed to us and enlargedly for that Act of GOD and the necessary and immediate concomitants unto and consequents upon that the whole and entire state and quality and condition of man regenerate changed by which a sinner guilty of death is acquitted cleansed made just in himselfe reconciled unto GOD appointed to walke and beginning to
of Salvation In the second Homily there I have read thus Iustification is not the office of man but the office of GOD. and againe Iustification is the office of GOD onely and is not a thing which we render unto him but which we receive of him not which we give to him but which we take of him by his free mercy and by the onely merits of his most deerly beloved Sonne our Lord our only Redeemer Saviour and Iustifier IESUS CHRIST And yet it is Popery in M. MOUNTAGU to have said and written Properly to speake GOD only justifieth who alone imputeth not but pardoneth sinne En quo vaecordia caecos For yet moreover is it not your owne Beleefe and Profession for which if he should say otherwise M. MOUNTAGU should be cryed downe Papist that Iustification consisteth in Remission of sinnes or not imputing of them unto the man justified Ne posthac dubites saith CALVIN Instit III. XI XXII and you subscribe it quo modo nos DEUS justificet cum audis Reconciliare illum nos sibi non imputando delicta and againe Nos justificationem simpliciter interpretamur acceptationem illam quâ nos DOMINUS in gratiam receptos pro justis habet Eamque in Peccatorum remissione ac justitiae CHRISTI imputatione positam esse dicimus Sect. 2. to whom per omnia agreeth M. PERKINS in mo places than ten defining Iustification to be an Act of GOD absolving c. And yet with you M. MOUNTAGU is a Papist for affirming GOD only justifieth properly when your selves confesse that Iustification at least properly consisteth in Remission of sinnes and that none can forgive sinnes properly but GOD. How this should hang together I professe my ignorance I cannot tell For eyther Iustification in your opinions must not consist in forgivenesse of sinnes or else others beside GOD must have power of imputing or of not imputing sinnes And heere it is worth the while to observe how these detracters doe crosse their owne shinnes It will not be long before that M. MOUNTAGU with them be accounted a Papist for saying A Priest GOD'S Minister in GOD'S place can forgive sinnes and heer he is a Papist for saying GOD only justifieth properly when themselves will have Iustification to bee meerly forgivenesse of Sinnes and yet hold that none doth or can forgive Sinnes but GOD. May I not say well ô vertiginem In sober and not in madde Puritanicall sadnesse dare you say that some other beside GOD some creature over and above GOD can forgive Sinnes This is contrary to the doctrine of the Church of England in that Homily which you remember indeed but can produce no testimonie thence Because all men bee sinners saith that Homily and offenders against GOD and breakers of his Lawes and Commandements therefore can no man by his owne acts workes or else deedes seeme they never so good be justified and made righteous before GOD but everie man of necessity is constrained to seek for another righteousnesse or justification But where shall he find it where is it to bee had It is expressed according unto truth To be received at GOD'S hand It is GOD then that justifieth in this opinion of the Homily And againe in the second Homily of that argument as is already remembred Iustification is the office of GOD only it is not the office of man Credimus SPIRITUM SANCTUM in cordibus nostris habitantem voram nobis fidem impertiri ut hujus tanti mysterij cognitionem adipiscamur saith the Belgick Confession which is the POPERY of M. MOUNTAGU as pleaseth these Great Masters in Israel Lyars against their owne knowledge in saying it contradicteth the Doctrine of the English Church Or if this be not the thing they meane what is it That GOD imputeth not sinnes unto the justified or that Iustification is not in pardoning and not imputing sinnes whereas the Papists doe clamour against us for maintayning that Iustification to be received at GODS hands is forgivenes of sins and trespasses in such things as hee hath beene offended in I confesse I am a Papist if this be Popery or else that which followeth after Remission of sins against which they informe in the next place CHAP. IX Holinesse of life added unto Iustification and Remission of sins GOD justifieth originally and Faith instrumentally INFORMERS AGaine WHO only can and doth translate from death unto life reneweth a right spirit and createth a new hart within us MOUNTAGU WHo can doe this but only GOD most high It is a work of Omnipotencie to create they say it is a greater work to recreate Where sinne is pardoned by GOD and a man is become regenerate borne anew and in state of Grace with GOD there GOD by his HOLY SPIRIT worketh inward renovation Where sinne is graciously and freely pardoned there holy life and conversation doth est soones ensue This is the divinitie that I have learned in our Protestant Schooles touching this point And to my understanding it is observed and tendred by DAVID in Psal L. X. Hide thy face from my sinnes and put away all mine iniquities which is Remission of sinnes Then followeth to make up a complete worke Create in mee a clean heart O LORD and renew a right spirit within mee which to me seemeth an Infusion of Grace And S. PAUL doth everie where after vocation unto and acceptation of us with GOD urge walking according unto vocation in newnesse and in holinesse of life But because GOD was moved thereunto by a true and a lively faith in him and his mercies in CHRIST Faith is by mee said to iustifie instrumentally That GOD justifieth causally hath beene suspected of Popery and challenged therefore Now that Faith justifieth instrumentally cannot avoide the same imputation And yet the maine exception of all Papists against the doctrine of our Church is that we hold a man is iustified by Faith which must be originally or instrumentally THAT wee exclude with the forenamed Homilies That we be iustified by Faith in CHRIST only is not That this our owne act to beleeve in CHRIST or this our faith in CHRIST which is within us doth iustifie us for that were to account our selves to be iustified by some act or vertue within our selves For saith S. PAUL Rom. VIII XXXIII It is GOD that iustifieth THIS we embrace as also in the same Homily Faith doth directly send us to CHRIST for remission of our sins And by Faith given unto us of GOD wee embrace the Promise of GOD'S mercie and of Remission of sinnes which accordeth with the traduced passage of M. MOUNTAGU because GOD was drawne unto it by our Faith which laying hold upon his mercy in CHRIST obtayneth this freedome and newnesse and renewing from Him Faith is therefore said to justifie that is instrumentally or applicatorily And so I am content to passe for a Papist with the CHURCH of England CHAP. X. An Accesse declaratory made to the act of Iustification by the works of a lively Faith S.
PAUL and S. IAMES reconciled The old Prophets and ancient Fathers made new Papists by the Informers INFORMERS HEe speaketh of an Accesse of Iustification or of a second Iustification His words are these S. IAMES Cap. 2. 24. meaneth that a man is justus declaratus by his holy life and conversation or that a man hath Accesse of Iustification as it is also taught by your owne men CHAP. XVIII pag. 148. MOUNTAGU HEe nameth indeed an Accesse unto Iustification but it is as out of the mouth of Popish Writers and not out of his owne opinion Is there no difference in your understanding betwixt these two Affirming positively and relating reservedly Many Protestants give answer unto Popish objections satisfactorie out of Popish Tenents who yet I think subscribe not unto those their Tenents B. MORTON is most frequent in this course and yet I hope you hold him no Papist But I farther adde Though I said not so in that place by you recyted I may and I doe also avow an accesse of Iustification made unto it by workes of an Holy and a Lively Faith Not as essentiall thereto or ingredient intrinsically for Iustification is properly the work of GOD and eatenus without magis or minus but as accessory and circumsistant for destruction of the Body of sinne by contrary actions of new Righteousnesse to speake properly is a worke of Sanctification not of Iustification according unto S. PAUL But in what place do I speake by name of a second Iustification Goe save your honest credits and name mee the place quote the very words I distinguish indeed betwixt the phrase of S. PAUL and S. IAMES that HEE speaketh of Iustification in attaining it S. IAMES of Iustification attained which cannot be separated from good works as anon is declared and cited out of the twelfth Article of our Confession In briefe the Information is rather an inference upon the passage than the passage expressed as it should be It is known unto all that the Romane Professors have ever in their mouths the Text of S. IAMES What doth it profite though a man saith he hath Faith and hath no Works can his Faith save him Unto this allegation amongst other things this is answered S. PAUL speaketh of Iustification in the attayning it That onely Faith doth justifie and that it is the Act of Faith in regard of man For properly and causally and originally GOD doth onely Iustifie But S. IAMES meaneth of Iustification had and obtained the which necessarily is accompanied with good workes and can bee no more separate from good workes than light from the Sunne So that justus factus through Faith by the grace of God is also justus declaratus by his holy life and conversation that is the tree is knowne by the fruit it bringeth forth Well may we beare the name of Christian men say the Homilies but we lacke that true faith which belongeth thereto for true faith doth evermore bring forth good workes as Saint IAMES speaketh Shew mee thy Faith by thy Workes Thy deeds and workes must bee an open testimonie of thy faith otherwise thy faith being without good workes is but the Divels faith the faith of the wicked a phantasie of faith and not a true Christian faith This is the very declaration of the Homilies for which and no more my Informers have promoted me for a Papist For that Accesse unto Iustification is not by me made essentiall unto Iustification but onely declaratory as I have plainly expressed in direct words It nor is in it selfe nor is delivered by mee nor conceived of by mee to bee any part of or ingredient into the entire Act of proper Iustification I say proper for as your owne Divines acknowledge the word being as most words are extensive ambiguous and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth sometime extend it selfe unto all the naturall consequents unto and proper Acts of Iustification and so it may be said there is a twofold Iustification When S. PAUL saith they are M. PERKINS his words No man is justified by the Law in the sight of GOD he maketh a double Iustification One before GOD the other before men Iustification before GOD is when GOD reputeth a man just and that onely for the merit and obedience of CHRIST Iustification before men is when such as professe faith in CHRIST are reputed just by men The first is peculiarly the act of GOD. Not long before Iustification is a certaine action in GOD applied unto us which is wrought in instanti Good Popery also yet to be found in the same man For if Faith justifieth by disposing the heart thus hee disputeth against the Papists then there must be a space of time between Iustification and justifying Faith But there is no space of time betwixt them for so soone as a man beleeveth he is presently justified Doe you heare M. PERKINS speak of Iustification in instanti according to that old Rule Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus sancti grantia which was learned I thinke from S. AUGUSTINE which place I will presently report who learned it of S. CYPRIAN who Epist 1. speaketh thus Accipe quod sentitur antequam discitur nec per mor as temporum longâ agnitione colligitur sed compendio gratiae maturantis hauritur This he saith seemed to him at the first impossible but in conclusion being called and justified he found it true Vt repentè ac perniciter exuatur quod vel genuinum situ materiae naturalis obduruit vel vsurpatum diu senio vetustatis inolevit I know Renovation Sanctification or the second Iustification for why contend wee about words that agree upon the point is distinct from Remission of our sins by GOD and imputation of CHRISTS righteousnesse unto us wherein is our Acceptance and Iustification and for them both I conclude with S. AUGUSTINE Sanè ista renovatio non momento uno fit sicut momento fit uno illa renovatio in Baptismo remissione omnium peccatorum Neque enim vel unum quantulumcunque remanet quod non remittatur Sed quemadmodum aliud est carere febribus aliud ab infirmitate quae febribus facta est revalescere itemque aliud est infixum telum de corpore demere aliud vulnus quod eo factum est secundâ curatione sanare ita prima curatio est causam removere languoris quod per omnium peccatorum indulgentiam fit Secunda ipsum sanare languorem quod fit paulatim proficiendo in renovatione hujus imaginis Quae duo monstrantur in Psalmo ubi legitur Qui propitius fit omnibus iniquitatibus tuis quod fit in Baptismo Deinde sequitur Qui sanat omnes infirmitates tuas quod fit quotidianis accessibus cùm haec imago renovetur De quae re Apostolus apertissimè loquutus est dicens Et si exterior homo noster corrumpitur sed interior renovatur de die in diem Renovatur autem in agnitione DEI hoc est justitiâ sanctitate
Church of England promote informe against me spare not In Morboniam all the Councels of Trent in the world if there were ten thousand of them I forsake them all respectively such regard and awfull respect doe I beare unto my Mother the CHURCH of England You quote us the Homilies but it is at randome as if you spake it by Heare-say having never read them and no marvell for I think you dis-repute them as all of your Faction doe Serm. you say of Salvation There are three severall Homilies or as you call them Sermons of that argument with the Title of Salvation In all of them in any one of them shew me any contradiction unto any thing delivered against the Gagger or unto this Error as you call it of the change made in a justified man if you can You cite no words name no place send me to no Text Page nor particular by any direction that I may know where to finde what you intend A meer trick of juggling companions Marry I find some things in those Homilies which I dare say will not down nor digest with you as opposing some other dreames of your Side but I let them alone till opportune time But in the second Sermon of Repentance I finde directly in a man that is justified a change made faith the Homily The fourth part of Repentance is amendment of life or a new life in bringing forth fruits worthy of Repentance For they that doe truely repent them of their sinnes must be cleane abtered and CHANGED they must become new creatures they must be no more the same they were before Now look and compare M. MOUNTAGU'S private Popery with this publick Popery of the Church and goe give your selves the check for malice and indiscretion And afterward having instanced this doctrine in that memorable example of ZACHEUS'S conversion from his evill way of covetousnes and extortion as a common Customer the Homily concludeth with this Epiphonema concerning him thus Heer we see that after his repentance he was no more the same man he had been before but was clean CHANGED and altered It was so farre off that he would continue and abide still in his unsatiable covetousnesse or take ought away fraudulently from any man that hee was most ready and willing to give away his owne Go now and challenge M. MOUNTAGU for his Popery upon like case in like tearms almost delivered In the state of grace a man is just and a just man I hope none is but he that is already iustified when he is changed Which change of his consisteth in two things Privation of Being to that which was formerly in a naturall man the body of sinne and A new constitution unto GOD in another state namely of holinesse in life and conversation I know well enough what you are afraid of what you would say because you neyther understand your selves nor mee that doe not make this change the same with Iustification in the act but an incident instant necessarie consequent thereupon Goe then and befoole your selves for confusedly opposing common sense and reason and well knowne and confessed Divinity on all hands No reasonable man will denie a renewing in a justified man where are evermore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Without alteteration or any other the least change of substance old things are made new saith ORIGEN in his Dialogue against the Marcionites which I have manuscript Nor do Reformed Churches dissent or differ as these Calumniators falsly suggest The Confession of Ausberge requireth novam vitam which is obedientia mandatis DEI and renovatio according to S. PAUL and that also so necessarily that qui admittunt actiones contra Conscientiam sint injusti nec SPIRITUM SANCTUM nec fidem retinent And for the maner I finde it thus Fide apprehenditur remissio Peccatorum quia per fidem accipitur SP. SANCTUS jam corde renovantur induunt novos affectus sic AMBROSIUS Fides bonae voluntatis justae actionis genitrix est In the confession of Saxony more direct In declaratione vocabuli justificari usitatè dicitur Iustificari significat ex injusto justum fieri quod rectè intellectum hic quoque quadrat And what that right understanding is ensueth fully and wholly M. MOUNTAGU'S Popery Ex injusto justum id est absolutum à reatu propter filium DEI id est apprehendentem fide ipsum CHRISTUM qui est justitia nostra quia EIUS merito habemus remissionem DEUS justitiam ejus nobis imputat propter EUM nos justos reputat dato SPIRITU SUO SANCTO nos vivificat regenerat a flat change And in the Belgick Confession yet fuller Credimus veram hanc Fidem unicuique nostrum inditam nos regenerare atque veluti novos homines efficere ut quos ad novam vitam vivendam excitet And in the French likewise Credimus nos qui Naturâ servi sumus peccati hac eadem fide intercedente in novam vitam regenerari Thus these Reformed Churches and so all the rest acknowledge a change in justified persons by the grace of sanctification I remembred before out of the Reverend and learned Deane of Carlile that we are farre from that absurd opinion wherewith our adversaries charge us that GOD in justification doth not change the minde You it seemeth are none of those WEE he speaketh of for he meant it of the publick authorised Doctrine of the Church of England and of Conformers unto the said Doctrine of that Church You have a Church or Conventicles of your owne and Consistoriall fancies it seemeth thence derived nor will you bee freed from that absurd opinion nor let the Church of England willingly be freed from it For if a man list to beleeve you before that Learned Man whose bookes the best amongst you is not worthy to follow or carrie after him in justified persons there is no change CHAP. VIII Strange Popery GOD only and properly justifieth INFORMERS PRoperly to speake saith he GOD only iustifieth who alone imputeth not but pardoneth sinne MOUNTAGU DEUS propter solum CHRISTUM passum resuscitatum propitius est peccatis nostris nec illa nobis imputat Imputat autem CHRISTI justitiam pro nostrâ It a ut jam simus non solùm mundati à peccatis purgati vel sancti good Popery is it not you shall have more of it sed etiam donati justitiâ CHRISTI absoluti à peccatis morte condemnatione justi denique ac haeredes vitae aeternae Thus much the Helvetian Confession against your former Information Now followeth expressely against this Propriè ergo loquendo DEUS solus nos iustificat english this M. YATES duntaxat propter CHRISTUM justificat non imputans nobis peccata sedimputans nobis ejus justitiam And yet you shall need not to english it it is ready englished unto your hands for have you forgot or rather have you read indeed that Homily you but now alledged against me