2 3. â—… ad 8. As bee was justified so are we lib. 5. cap. 2. § 6. Adam Whether his sinne bee imputed lib. 4. cap. 10. § 1 2. Whether originall sinne bee traduced from â—…im l. 4. c. 10. § 3. Whether the transgression and the corruption bee communicated after the same manner ibid. § 4. The comparison betweene the first and the second Adam ibid. § 5. Adoption That it is true lib. 4. cap. 10. § 18. Such as is our adoption such is our justification ibid. § 19. Adoption according to Bellarmiâ—…es 〈◊〉 is twofold of the soulâ—… and of the body ibid. § 20. No reall change in adoption but it is relative and imputative ibid. § 21. Affiance Whether it be faith lib. 6. cap. 4. § 9. 11. Assent It being firâ—…e lively and effectuall is faith l. 6. c. 1. 2. § c. 4. § 10. B Bellarmine His contradictions l. 3. c. 4. § 3. â—… 3. l. 4. c. 2. § 5. ad literam o l. 4. c. 9. § 7. l. 4. c. 10. § 1 2. l 5. c. 6. § 7. l. 5 c. 8. § 2. in fine l. 6. c. 3. § 7. â—… 6. c. 8. § 7. â—… 4. l. 6. c 9. sub finem ad literam * l. 6. c. 10. § 11 l. 6. c. 15. § 10. l. 8. c. 2. § 11. l. 8. c. 9. § 3. â—… 2. § 4. C Causall particles Not alwayes nor for the most part notes of causes l. 8. c. 5. § 14. 16. 17. Cause The Causes of iustification l. 1. c. 2. The Causes efficient principall God l. 1. c. 2. § 1. The Father § 4. the Sonne the holy Ghost ibid. The moving Causes l. 1. c. 2. § 2. The instrumentall Causes lib. 1. c. 2. § 5. c. The essentiall Causes l. 1. c. 3. The matter lib. 1. cap. 3. 1 c. ad 7. l. 4. The forme lib. 1. cap. 3. § 7 c. l. 5. The finall cause lib. 1. cap. 6. § 1 2 3 4. Charity That it doth not justifie as well as faith l. 4. c. 11. § 2 c. That it is not the forme of â—…aith lib. 4. cap. 11. § 5. Whether perfect in this life l. 5. cap. 7. CHRIST The mericorious cause of justification l. 1. â—… 2. § 4. Whether hee obeyed the Law for himselfe or for us l. 1. c. 4. § 10. Whether he merited for himselfe lib. 1. c. 4. § 11. Christs exaltation Phil. 2. 9. was his declaration to be the Sonne of God lib. 1. c. 4. § 11. 12. How many wayes hee is said to justifie us lib. 2. c 5. § 8. The righteousnesse of Christ is Gods righteousnesse l. 4. c. 2 § 2 3 4. Christs rightâ—…ousnesse the materiâ—…ll cause of justification l. 1. c. 3 4. vide Materiall and Matter Christs righteousnesse both the matter and merit of our iustification lib. 1. cap. 3. § 1. Concupiscence In the regenerate a sinne lib. 2. cap. 8. § 7 8. 9. lib. 4. cap. 4. § 12. lib. 7. cap. 6. § 14. Concupiscence going before consent a finnenne lib. 2. c. 8 9. Counsells The Counsell of voluntary poverty l. 7. c. 7. § 4. The counsell of single life lib. 7. cap. 7. § 5 6. D David Not iustified by inherent righteousnesse lib. 4. c. 8. § 15. Definition Of Iustification lib. 1. cap. 1. § 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 2. cap. 2. § 1 2. The signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 3. The signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 4. The signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 5. The signification of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 6. Dispositions Seven alleaged by Bellarmine to disprove justification by faith alone lib. 6. cap. 10 11 12. Whether any dispositioâ—…s bee indeed required by the Papists lib. 6. c. 10. § 4. Whether faith hope love as they bee dispositions bee graces lib. 6. cap. 12. § 6 7. E Efficient The efficient principall of justification God lib. 1. c. 2. § 1. The motives grace and iustice ib. § 2. The actions of the Father the Sonne the holy Ghost distinguâ—…shed ibid. § 4. End The end or fiâ—…ll cause of iustification both supreme the glory of God lib. 1. c. 6. § 1. and also subordinate viz. salvation § 2. certainety of salvation § 2. sanctification § 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How to be understood Gal. 5. 6. l. 4. c. 11. § 3. 4. F Faith The instrument on oâ—…r 〈◊〉 of iustification lib. 1. cap. 2. § 7. Concerning it seven things considered 1. Thâ—… it iustifieth not as it is an habit or act in us but as the hand to receive Christs righteousnesse ibid. lib. 1. cap. 5. § 12. 2. It must therefore be such a faith as doth specially apprehend Christ. lib. 1. cap. 2. § 8. 3. It doth not prepare onely and dispose to iustification but it doth actually iustifie § 9. l. 6. c. 7. § 1 2. 4. It doth not iustifiâ—… absolutely in respect of its ownâ—… worth but relatively in respect of the object § 10. 5. The meaning of the question whether we be justified by faith or by workes § 11. 6. How faith is said to iustifie alone § 12. 7. That faith doth not sanctifie alone § 12. Whether the act of faith properly be imputed â—…torighteousnesse l. 1. cap. 2. § 7. cap. 5. § 12. That charity is not the formâ—… of faith l. 4. cap. 11. § 5. Of the distinction of saith that it is either formata or informis § 6. That faith is perfect Bellarmine produceth sixe reasons which are answered l. 5. c. 6. The full discourse of faith l. 6. The Popish 〈◊〉 concerning faith l. 6. c. 1. § 1. What faith is cap. 1. § 2. That it is not without knowledge § 3. against implicite faith lib. 6. cap. 1. § 3. c. The doctrine of implicit faith both falsâ—… for many reasons § 4. and absurd in that they say it may better bee defined by ignorance than by knowledge § 5. Bellarm. allegations out of the Scriptures for implicite faith § 6 of Fathers § 7. Testimonies of Fathers against it § 13. Bellarmines reason § 14. The doctrine of implicite faith wicked as being an egregious coozâ—…nage § 15 16 17. and pernicious to the people § 18. True justifying â—…aith cannot be severed from charity lib. 6. cap. 2. Our reasons I. Because hee that hath true faith is regenerate § 1. II. Because hee hath the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him § 2. III. Because hee is sanctified â—… 3. IV. Because hee is the true Disciple of Christ. § 4. V. Because true faith worketh by charity ibid. VI. Because true faith is formata ibid. VII Because if it be without charity it doth not iustifie VIII Because they who love not know not God ibid. 7. Other arguments out of Iames 2. § 5. 6. Other arguments defended against Bellarmine § 6. c. Testimonies of Fathers lib. 6. cap. 2. § 12. Bellarmines proofes that
conscience of the faithfull in the assumption according to Gods Word contained in the proposition therefore I have remission of sinnes therefore I shall be saved And in this sense Ministers are said to remit sinnes Ioh. 20. 23. and consequently to justifie when they doe pronounce remission of sinnes to them that beleeve and repent And whatsoever they doe in this behalfe upon earth according to the Word is ratified in heaven § VI. As touching the Sacraments in them first the benefit of the Messias is represented before our eyes by the outward signes whereupon the Sacrament is called Verbum visibile Secondly such is the Sacramentall union betweene the signe and the thing signified that together with the signe the thing signified that is Christ with all his merits is offered in the lawfull use of the Sacrament Thirdly the benefit of the Messias is not only offered in the lawfull use together with the signe but also conferd and given to every faithfull and worthy receiver And hereof the Sacrament is a pledge given to the beleever to assure him that as the Minister doth give unto him the signe so the Lord doth give unto him the thing signified And in this sense every Sacrament is a seale of that righteousnesse which is by faith Rom. 4. 11. annexed to the promise of the Gospell which by delivery of the Sacrament is particularly applyed to every faithfull receiver to assure him in particular of his justification and salvation by Christ. Thus the ministery of the Gospell is the meanes to beget faith and the Sacraments the instruments to confirme the same But the Papists deny both for that faith is begotten in the ministery of the Word and that so men attaine to remission of sinnes and justification they say it is a fiction of the heretikes of these times Neither doe they grant that Sacraments are seales of righteousnesse or that they were ordained to seale the promises unto us But they hold them to bee such effectuall instruments as doe by vertue inherent in themselves conferre justifying grace which they call gratiam gratum facientem ex opere operatâ—… By which doctrine a they have turned Religion into a meere outward formality according to the prophecy of them 2 Tim. 3. 5. ascribing all the degrees of salvation to be atchieved in this life viz. Vocation Iustification Sanctification to the externall use of the Sacraments so they have made their doctrine of justification to bee an idle speculation whereof in their practice there is little or no use For to what purpose doe they dispute of justification by vertuous preparations and gracious dispositions when they teach that the Sacraments doe ex opere operato that is by the very performance of the outward act justifie the receiver requiring in him neither any vertuous preparation or gracious disposition for without them hee is justified Onely this caution they doe interpose that hee doe not ponere obicem mortalis peccati that hee put not the obstacle of mortall sinne For if those things should necessarily be required then the Sacraments should conferre grace not ex opere operato as they stifly hold but ex opere operantis So much of the hand of the giver § VII The instrument on our part which is as it were manus accipientis the hand of the receiver is the grace of justifying faith which I noted in the definition when I said that the Lord imputeth the righteousnesse of Christ to a beleeving sinner Now as touching saith divers things are to be considered For first it is said to justifie not as it is a qualitie or habite in us as the Papists teach ipsa fides saith g Bellarmine censetur esse justitia faith it selfe is accounted to be justice and it â—…elfe is imputed unto righteousnesse Rom. 4. 5. for so it is a part of sanctification but as it is the instrument and as it were the hand to receive Christ who is our righteousnesse For if we should be justified by faith as it is an habit in us properly then we should be justified by habituall and inherent righteousnesse which hereafter I shall fully disproveAnd if we be not justified by it as it is an habit then much lesse as it is an act as 〈◊〉 and his followers teach as though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ipsum credere did properly justifie Which opinion is worse than the other For faith doth justifie as hereaster shall be proved as the instrument only but it is the instrument not as it is an act but as it is an habit producing that act and therefore it is said that we are justified by faith and that faith is imputed unto righteousnesse But if wee should bee justified by it as it is an act then we should be justified by our owne workes which hereafter is also to be confuted and further if we were justified by it as it is an act then we should be no longer justified actually than we doe actually beleeve 〈◊〉 so there should bee an intercision of justification which I proved before to be a continued act so ost as there is an intermission of the act of faith which is ridiculous Againe if wee should be justified by faith either as it is an habit or an act in sensu proprio as they speake and not relatively or metonymically then should we be justified by one habit alone or by the act of one habit and consequently by a partiall and most unperfect righteousnesse When it is certaine that all the habits and acts of grace which are in the best concurring together are not sufficient to justifie a man before God for the reasons hereafter to be delivered lib. 4. 7. It is true that faith is imputed for righteousnesse and is accepted of God as the perfect performance of the whole law but this is to bee understood relatively in respect of the object received by faith that is Christ who is the end and complement of the Law to all that beleeve insomuch that whosoever truly beleeveth in Christ hath fulfilled the Law § VIII 2. is the consequent of the former For if faith doth justifie onely as it is an hand or instrument to apprehend and receive Christ then justifying faith must be such a faith as doth apprehend receive and embrace Christ which is not done neither by the implicite nor the unformed nor the bare historical and generall faith of the Papists but it is done first by a lively and effectuall assent to the speciall doctrine concerning justification and salvation by Christ which is the condition of the Evangelicall promise and then by a sound application of the promise to our selves as having that condition For by a lively and effectuall beleefe we receive and embrace Christ not only in our judgements by a willing and firme assent being undoubtedly perswaded and assured thathe is the Saviour of all that truly beleeve in him but also in our hearts by an hungring desire
which cannot be understood of justification by inherent righteousnesse For it were very absurd to affirme which the Papists would faine father upon us that to justification by inherent righteousnesse nothing is required but faith only Againe Bellarmine objecteth which in the ninth Chapter where he confesseth justification to be often taken in the Scriptures for declaration of righteousnesse he more plainely expresseth although to justifie were every where taken for to pronounce just yet that were no advantage to us For a sinner cannot truely be pronounced just unlesse he who pronounceth him just doe withall make him just which God onely can doe And therefore hee alone is said to justifie a sinner and by absolving him to make him truely just Answere Whom God pronounceth just them hee maketh just but still the question is of the manner for to justifie by absolving is to make righteous by the not imputing of sinne and imputing of righteousnesse and not by infusion of righteousnesse for that is not to justifie but to sanctifie Howbeit wee freely confesse that whom God justifieth hee also sanctifieth and that whosoever is in CHRIST IESVS hee is a new Creature But howsoever these graces doe alwayes concurre insomuch that whosoever hath the one hath the other and whosoever hath not both hath neither yet notwithstanding they must carefully bee distinguished And that is it which hitherto I have endevoured to prove CAP. VI. Hâ—…w Iustification and Sanctification are to be distinguished § I. NOw let us consider how they are distinguished And first the difference of them may appeare by their contraries The contrary to justifying is condemning the contrary to sanctifying is polluting or defiling with sinne first therefore the word which signifieth to condemne if you respect the force of the word signifieth to make wicked even as the Verbe which signifieth to justifie doth if you respect the force of the word it signifieth to make just As God therefore when hee condemneth is said to make wicked not by infusion of wickednesse but by his sentence pronouncing the party guilty and deputing him to punishment so when hee justifieth he maketh just by his sentence not by infusion of righteousnesse quatenus justificat but by imputation of Christs righteousnesse he absolveth the party from guilt and punishment and accepteth of him as righteous in Christ and as an heire of eternall life secondly the contrary to sanctifying which is to make holy is polluting or defiling with sinne which is to make unholy and uncleane What difference therefore is betweene condemning and polluting the like is betweene justifying and sanctifying And as condemning and polluting are by no meanes to bee confounded no more can justifying and sanctifying § II. In justification wee are freed from the guilt of sinne in sanctification from the corruption or pollution of sinne For God is then said to justifie us when he absolveth us from the guilt of sinne by imputation of Christs righteousnesse and hee is then said to sanctifie us when by his Spirit he mortifieth sinne in us and freeth us in some measure from the corruption thereof § II. Iustification is an action of God without us as also are redemption reconciliation and adoption which three benefits in substance differ not from justification but are all comprehended under it the second first being the same in effect with the former part of justification viz. remission of sinnes and the last being all one with the second part of justification which is acceptation of the beleever as righteousnesse in Christ and as an heire of eternall life as I have shewed heretofore for then are wee said to have redemption when wee have remission of sinnes then is God said to reconcile us unto himselfe when hee doth not impute our sinnes unto us then hee is said to adopt us when hee accepteth of us in Christ as righteous and as heires of eternall life None of these actions doth worke a Reall change in the party but importeth a new relation betweene God and them as hath beene shewed But sanctification is an action of Gods Spirit within us working in us a reall change by mortification of sinne within us and infusion of Grace and righteousnesse into us § IV. Of justification the matter is the righteousnesse of Christ which is in him as the subject but imputed to us the matter of sanctification is a righteousnesse derived from Christ but inherent in us The matter therefore of our justification is perfect but not inherent to wit the most perfect righteousnesse of Christ which is out of us in him The matter of our sanctification is inherent but not perfect to wit justitia inchoata a righteousnesse which is but begun in us and that new obedience which though it be sincere and unfained is with great infirmity performed by us recta forsan sed non pura justitia as Bernard saith § V. Hereupon it followeth that of justification it selfe whereby wee are justified before God there are no degrees though óf the assurance thereof there bee which are the degrees of speciall faith because to the most perfect righteousnesse of Christ by which we are even in our first conversion justified nothing can be added and therefore as I have said the faith of all the faithfull though different in degrees is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of equall worth in the righteousnesse of God and our Saviour Iesus Christ even as the hands of divers men though unequall in strength yet are of equall efficacie in respect of the almes received thereby But of sanctification there are degrees according to the measure of grace received § VI. The forme of justification considered as an action of God is imputation of Christs righteousnesse of sanctification the infusion of righteousnesse For God by imputation of Christs righteousnesse doth justifie us and he doth sanctifie by infusion of righteousnesse § VII The parts of justification are remission or not imputing of sinne unto condemnation and acceptation as righteous unto life both wrought by imputation of Christs righteousnesse unto us The parts of sanctification are mortification whereby wee dye unto sinne and vivification whereby wee live unto righteousnesse rising from the grave of sinne unto newnesse of life and is therefore called the first resurrection both wrought in us by the Spirit of sanctification § VIII Wee are justified by faith not as it is a grace or habit in us that is to say as it is a part of inherent righteousnesse but as the hand or instrument receiving the righteousnesse of Christ which is imputed to them that beleeve but wee are sanctified by faith as it is a part of that righteousnesse which is inherent in us And therefore wee are justified by faith alone because no other grace doth concurre with it to the act of justification none of them serving to receive the righteousnesse of Christ but faith onely but we are not sanctified by faith alone
most worthy to be urged and beat upon as being that thing which above all other things in this world is to be desired and laboured for according to the â—…xhortation of the Apostle Peter Give diligence to make your calling and election sure But this speciall faith the Papists above all things deridâ—… and detesâ—… â—…thereby discovering themselves to bee as I have elsewhere shewed voide of all truth and power of Religion It being as I have said and proved a thing most profitable most comfortable most necessary without which no Christian can have any true pâ—…ce or sound comforâ—… or ougâ—… to have contentment in his present estate untill â—…e have â—…tained unto it in some measure And when hee 〈◊〉 attained to some measure he must endevour more and moâ—…e to increase it But hereof I have treated in another place wherâ—…unto I referre the Christian Reader CAP. VII Of the acts or effects of faith and first whether faith doth justifie or only dispose to justification Secondly whether it doth justifie formally § I. THe next controversie is concerning that act or effect of justifying faith in respect whereof it is called justifying faith Of this there are three Questions the first whether Faith doth indeed justifie or onely dispose a man to justification Secondly whether it justifie formally as part of inherent righteousnesse or instrumentally as the hand to receive Christ who is our righteousâ—…esse Thirdly whether it justifie alone The assertions of the Papists in the two former questions doe not seeme to â—…ang well together For if faith goe before justification disposing a man thereto how doth it justifie formally as part of that righteousnesse whereby a man is as they speake formally just And if no dispositions bâ—…e required to justification to what purpose doe they tell us that a man must be disposed and prepared by faith and other virtues For howsoever in their speculations they require preparative dispositions to justification yet in their practise they seeme to require 〈◊〉 For their justification which is in fact and in deed is restrained to their Sacraments as namely to Bapâ—… And their Sacraments justifie ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore without necessity of any foregoing dispositions For if any virtuous or good disposition were required then should their Sacraments justifie not ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Onely they require that he who is by the Sacrament to be justified doe not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—…lis 〈◊〉 that is interpose the obstacls of some mortall sinne And what be these dispositions which must goe before justification § II. Forsooth there are seven which according to the decree of the Councell of Trent Bellarmine reckoneth De justif lib. 1. ca. 13. to prove that faith doth not justifie alone because the other sixe also doe dispose men thereunto The seven are faith feare hope love penitencie a purpose and desire to receive the Sacrament a purpose of amendment of life All which doe but prepare and dispose a man But it is the Sacrament as namely of Baptisme that doth actually justifie and without which no man is justified But I would gladly know whether these seven preparatives be fruits of grace or works of nature Not of grace for as they teach no man hath grace before Iustification What then they are the fruits of nature holpen I wot not by what grace which if it were true would not onely prove the maine assertion of the Pelagians Gratiam secundùm merita dari or as in other words it is expressed in the Councell of Trent Secundùm propriam cajusque dispositionem operationem For though according to their doctrine these preparations are not merits of condignity as they say yet they bee of congruity but also disprove the doctrine of the Apostle that we are justified freely by his grace But this seemeth to me absurd that men should have one justifying faith and so one hope and one love c. going before justification and another infused in our justification and that by the one justifying faith going before we should be prepared to justification and by the other infused in our justification we should in part be formally justified But this is certaine that that faith which in order of time goeth before justification is no true justifying faith For that which goeth before justification goeth also before regeneration and what goeth before regeneration is of nature and not of Grace But faith in order of time goeth not before justification though in order of nature it doth for so soone as a man beleeveth he is justified as Hierome saith Talis est ille qui in Christum credidit die qua credidit qualis ille qui universam legem implevit Such a one is hee that beleeveth in Christ the very day that hee beleeveth as hee that hath fulfilled the whole Law nor in order of nature before regeneration for in our regeneration it is wrought As therefore no man hath faith who is not regenerated so no man hath faith who is not thereby justified The Scripture is plaine that in Christ whosoever beleeveth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is justified Act. 13. 39. He that beleeveth in Christ is passed from death to life Ioh. 5. 24. 6. 54. which passage from death to life is justification whereby as themselves teach a man is translated from the state of death and damnation into a state of Grace and Salvation Faith therefore actually justifieth and not disposeth onely to justification § III. The other question is whether faith doth justifie formally as they speake as being a part of inherent righteousnesse or instrumentally only as the hand to receive Christ who is our righteousnesse The Romane Catholikes hold â—…he former the true Catholikes the latter But the former I have sufficiently disproved before and proved the latter For if we be not justified by any grace or righteousnesse inherent in our selves or performed by our selves which I have before by many undeniable arguments demonstrated then it followeth necessarily that we are not justified by faith as it is a gift or grace an act or habit or quality inherent in us or performed by us And if we be justified by the righteousnesse of Christ onely which being out of us in him is imputed to those who receive it by faith which also before I invincibly proved then also it followeth by necessary consequence that wee are justified by faith onely as it is the instrument or hand to apprehend or receive Christ who is our righteousnesse Wherefore where faith is said to justifie or to bee imputed to righteousnesse it must of necessity be understood relatively and in respect of the object to which purpose both justification and all other benefits which we receive by Christ are attributed to faith as I have shewed before Not that faith it selfe worketh these things but because by it wee receive Christ and with him all his merits and benefits And for the same cause the
faith of all the faithfull though unequall in degrees in some greater in some lesse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a-like precious in the righteousnesse of God and our Saviour Iesus Christ 2 Pet. 1. 1. which is an evidence that faith doth not justifie in respect of its owne dignity or worthinesse but in respect of the object which it doth receive which being the most perfect righteousnesse of Christ unto which nothing can be added is one and the same to all that receive it Of this see more lib. 1. cap. 2. § 10. § IV. Here now the Papists because wee deny faith to justifie in respect of its owne worthinesse and merit take occasion to inveigh against us as if we made it Titulum sine re and as it were a matter of nothing Which is a malicious and yet but a frivolous cavill For first in respect of justification we acknowledge it to bee the onely instrument or hand to receive Christ to be the condition of the Covenant of Grace to which the Promises of remission of sinnes and of Salvation are made without which the promises of the Gospell doe not appertaine unto us and without which our blessed Saviour doth not save us Secondly in respect of Sanctification wee attribute all that and more which the Papists ascribe unto it in respect of their imaginary justification That it is the beginning the foundation and root of all inherent righteousnesse the mother of all other sanctifying Graces which purifieth the heart and worketh by love without which it is impossible to please God without which whatsoever is done is sinne § V. But howsoever here the Papists would seeme to plead for faith yet the truth is that as they have abolished the benefit of justification as it is taught in the holy Scriptures so with it they have taken away the justifying faith For though they retaine the name yet in their doctrine there is no such thing For first to faith they doe not ascribe the power to justifie but only to be a disposition one among seven even such a one as servile feare is of a man unto inherent righteousnesse or to the grace of Sanctification it selfe being not as yet a justifying or sanctifying grace Secondly that faith being infused becommeth the beginning and a part of formall inherent righteousnesse But so small a part they assigne unto it that they say that the habit of formall righteousnesse differeth not from the habit of charity so that in justification it hath no use at all and in sanctification charity is all in all which is a manifest evidence that the Church of Rome is fallen away from the ancient doctrine of the faith For both Scriptures and Fathers every where ascribe justification to faith and not to Charitie to faith and not to workes but the Papists ascribe the first justification to charitie which they make to be the onely formall cause of justification which as themselves teach is but one and the second justification they assigne to workes CHAP. VIII Whether we be justified by Faith alone The state of the Controversie and some reasons on our part § I. NOw I come to the third question which is the principall concerning faith whether we be justified by faith alone as wee with all antiquity doe hold or not by faith alone but also by other habits of grace as charitie and the rest and by the workes of grace which the Papists hold to concur in us to the act of justification as the causes thereof Where first we are to explaine our assertion and afterwards both to prove and to maintaine it And great reason there is that wee should explaine it because the Papists most wickedly against their owne knowledge calumniate our doctrine in this point I will therefore explaine all the three termes Fides justificat sola Faith doth justifie alone for by Faith wee doe not understand as I have shewed before neither the profession of faith or faith onely professed which S. Iames doth deny to justifie nor that faith which is a bare assent which is the faith of Papists and is common to them with the Divels and with other hypocrites and wicked men for such a faith we deny to justifie either alone or at all but a true lively and effectuall beleefe in Christ being a speciall apprehension or receiving and embracing of Christ and of the promises of the Gospell joyned with application or at least with a true desire will and endevour thereof The which faith also wee deny to be true if in some measure it doe not purifie the heart if it doe not worke by love if it cannot be demonstrated by good workes § II. Now for the word justifie shall I need to tell you that by justifying we doe not meane sanctifying And yet such is the blinded malice of the papists as that because they wickedly confound justification and sanctification which we carefully according to the Scriptures distinguish they beare the world in hand that our assertion is this in effect that faith alone doth sanctifie and that nothing concurreth to sanctification but faith onely and consequently that wee teach the people so they can perswade themselves that they have faith they need not take care either for other graces or for a godly life But howsoever we hold that faith doth justifie alone yet wee doe not hold that it doth sanctifie alone but that our sanctification is partly habituall unto which with faith concurre the habits of other sanctifying graces as hope charity c. and partly actuall which is our new obedience in the practice of good workes § III. But the word sela alone doth most displease the Papists who will needs part stakes with Christ in their justification This therefore is to be explaned And first when we say that faith alone doth justifie we doe not meane fidem solitariam that faith which is alone neither doe we in construction joyne sola with fides the subject but with justificat the predicate meaning that true faith though it bee not alone yet it doth justifie alone Even as the eye though in respect of being it is not alone or if it be it is not a true and a living but a dead eie which seeth neither alone nor at all yet in respect of seeing unto which no other member doth concurre with it it being the onely instrument of that faculty it is truely said to see alone so faith though in respect of the being thereof it is not alone or if it bee it is not a true and lively but a counterfeit and dead faith yet in respect of justifying unto which act no other grace doth concurre with it it being the onely instrument of apprehending and receiving Christ it is truely said to justifie alone wherefore as the brazen Serpent which was a figure of Christ was life up and set on high in the wildernesse that whosoever was bitten by the fiery serpents might by looking onely
disposition is a purpose and desire to receive the Sacrament by which as he conceiveth justification is conferd Answ. If we did hold with them as we doe not that the Sacraments doe conferre grace ex opere operato and that without them no man could be justified and therefore also that they who would be justified ought to desire and purpose to be made pertakers of the Sacrament yet what would this hinder the justification by faith alone which if Bellarmine disprove not all that hee saith is impertinent How much more if neither the Sacraments doe conferre grace according to the Popish conceit nor the desire of the Sacrament be a disposition to justification All that in this case can truely be said is that forasmuch as God in his great mercy hath ordained the Sacraments as effectuall meanes to confirme our faith and to seale unto us our justification that it is a signe of a prophane and unsanctified heart to neglect or to despise such holy ordinances of God § XII His seventh disposition is the purpose of a new life and of observing all the commandements of God without which wee ought not to be made pertakers of the Sacraments Answ. This purpose of a new life is that which the Scriptures call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repentance which is a fruit of justifying faith and a consequent of justification Seeing therefore those adulti which come to the Sacraments ought to bring with them this purpose it followeth that they ought first to be justified before God by faith as Abraham was and then to receive the Sacrament as a seale of that righteousnesse which is by faith So that this purpose though it be necessary to salvation yet neither doth justifie nor dispose to justification The place which hee citeth out of Ezek. 18. 31. is an exhortation to both the parts of sanctification viz. mortification in those words cast from you all your transgressions vivification in those and make you a new heart and a new spirit But of justification he speaketh not Neither are we any where exhorted thereto or to the parts thereof which are not our acts but the actions of God himselfe who onely remitteth our sinnes and accepteth of us as righteous in Christ by imputation of his righteousnesse Thus much of his first principall argument taken from the seven dispositions CHAP. XIII Bellarmines second principall argument that faith doth not justifie alone because being severed from Love c. it cannot justifie § I. BELLARMINâ—… second principall argument is this If Faith be severed from Hope and Love and other virtues without doubt it cannot justifie therefore faith alone doth not justifie Answ. If the meaning of his consequent be this therefore that faith which is alone doth not justifie I grant the whole for though faith doe justifie alone yet that which is alone sâ—…vered from Charity and other graces doth not justifie as heretofore hath beene shewed But though true justifying faith be never alone but is alwayes accompanied with other graces yet it justifieth alone though it never be without other graces yet it justifieth without them c. his consequence therefore I deny which hee laboureth to prove thus If the whole force of justifying were in faith alone insomuch that other virtues though present conferre nothing to justification then faith might justifie as well in the absence as in the presence of the rest but that it cannot doe therefore the force of justifying is not wholly in faith but partly in it and partly in the rest Answ. This consequence also I doe deny and doe referre you to the similitude of the eye heretofore propounded which though it be not alone yet doth see alone and though whiles it liveth it cannot be severed from the other parts of the body yet it seeth without them against which similitude Bellarmine might as well argue after this manner If the whole force of seeing were in the eye alone insomuch that the rest of the members being present conferre nothing to the act of sight then the eye might see as well in the absence as in the presence of the rest But every body knoweth the inconsequence of this proposition For though to the act of seeing other members doe not concurre with the eye as any causes thereof yet to the true being of the eye their presence is necessary for it cannot be a true living organicall eye and instrument of sight that hath not union with the other parts and is not animated by the same soule Even so I answere concerning faith that although to the act of justifying other graces doe not concurre with faith as any causes thereof yet to the true being of faith their presence is necessary For it cannot be a true lively justifying faith which is severed from all other graces of Sanctification and is not wrought and made effectuall by the Spirit of regeneration § II. Now he commeth to prove the antecedent of his argument viz. that conditionall proposition if faith may be separated from hope and love and the other virtues withoâ—…t doubt it cannot justifie But he unskilfully troubleth both himselfe and his reader with his conditionall proposition which as it is not fitly made the antecedent of an Enthymeme so is it not easily concluded An Enthymeme is an unperfect Syllogisme which is to be made up or perfected by adding that part of the Syllogisme which is wanting In this Enthymeme though the antecedent be a conditionall proposition yet the proposition or Major of the Syllogisme which also is conditionall is wanting and ought thus to be supplyed If faith alone doth justifie then it may justifie being severed from hope and love and other virtues But it cannot justifie being severed from hope and love and other virtues Therefore faith doth not justifie alone In stead of this simple or categoricall assumption he assumeth hypothetically if faith be severed from hope and love and other virtues then without doubt it cannot justifie This assumption he endevoureth to prove by three arguments but to no purpose For though wâ—…e doe constantly hold that faith doth justifie alone yet wee deny that faith being alone and severed from all other virtues doth justifie either alone or â—…t all and therefore to that faith which is alone we attribute lesse than the Papists themselves But he will needs prove it first because faith according to our doctrine doth justifie relatively and consequently faith and justice are relatives ther fore where faith is there must needs bâ—… jâ—…stice he mâ—…neth justice inherent for one relative cannot be withoâ—…t the other This saith he oâ—…r adversaries will admit willingly who teach that by every sinâ—… faith is lost § III. Answ. We doe indeed teach that faith doth not justifie as it is an habit or gift inherent in us or in respect of its owne worthinesse but relatively or in respect of the object which it doth receive As the hand which receiveth the almes releeveth the poore man in
renounceth speciall faith For canst thou love Christ and rejoyce in him as thy Saviour if thou be not by speciall faith perswaded that thou shalt be saved by him Seeing then unto our justification before God we are to receive Christ as hath beene said by a true and lively assent and unto justification in the court of our owne conscience by a plerophory or assured perswasion we are to apply the promises to our selves which are the peculiar acts of faith and cannot be attributed to any other grace it followeth therefore from the proper nature of faith that by it alone we are justified § VIII His second cavill is taken from the Sacraments which by our confession as he saith doe apply the promises and justification it selfe to the receiver therefore saith he faith doth not justifie alone after the manner of an instrument applying In this argument he greatly pleaseth himselfe but without cause For first when we say that faith alone doth justifie we meane that in us nothing concurreth to the act of justification with faith but without us we acknowledge many things to justifie Secondly faith justifieth alone ut manus accipientis the Sacraments ut manus dantis Thirdly faith doth actually justifie before God the Sacraments doe not justifie before God but serve to seale our justification to our owne consciences neither doe they actually conferre grace but confirme it as the seales of that righteousnesse which is by faith When as therefore the termes of washing cleansing sanctifying saving are attributed to Sacraments these phrases are to be understood Sacramentally And this is our answere as for those which Bellarmine frameth for us hee hath good leave to make or to marre them at his pleasure CHAP. XV. Bellarmines fourth principall argument taken from the manner how faith doth justifie and the fifth from the formall cause of justification § I IF Faith saith hee doth justifie as a cause as the beginning as the merit of justification then faith doth not justifie alone for love and penance and other good acts doe the like but the antecedent is true therefore the consequent I deny first the consequence of the proposition and the proofe thereof For neither love or penance nor other good acts doe either cause begin or merit justification And therefore though faith did justifie as a cause as the beginning as the merit whereby justification is obtained it might for all them justifie alone This were sufficient to overthrow his whole Dispute But all his care is to prove the assumption which hee endeavoureth in all the parts thereof And first that faith is a cause of justificatition which we doe not deny yea we affirme that nothing in us doth concurre to the act of justification as a cause thereof but faith onely But you will aske what cause We say the instrumentall onely If Bellarmine meane any other cause as no doubt but he doth he should have done well to have named it and to have proved it § II. He proveth faith to be a cause by the prepositions ex and per by and through attributed to faith whereto I answere that these particles sometimes are used to signifie the instrumentall cause As namely when we are said to be justified or saved through or by the word or the Sacraments Rom. 6. 4. Tit. 3. 5. Ioh. 17. 20. 1 Cor. 1. 21. 15. 2. Faith commeth by hearing Rom. 10. 17. Preachers are Ministers by whom you doe beleeve 1 Cor. 3. 5. Ephes. 3. 6. And first for those plà ces wherein it is said that we are justified by faith or saved by faith Rom. 3. 28. 30. 5. 1. Ephes. 2. 8. In these and the like places saith he the preposition by or through doth signifie a true cause But he should have done well to have set downe what cause for an instrumentall cause is also a true cause The preposition per saith Bâ—…llarmine in another place is not fitly accommodated to the favour of God which is the efficient cause of justification but either to the formal as per gratiam or meritorious as permeritum filii or instrumentall cause as per fidem Sacramenta where you see by Bellarmines confession per is attributed to faith as to the instrumentall cause It is also attributed to the matter and merit as Rom. 5. 10 19. When as therefore it is also attributed to faith it cannot be attributed in the same sense as to the death and obedience of Christ in propriety of speech but of necessity it is to bee understood by a metonymy faith being put for the object of faith which is Christs righteousnesse And this manifestly appeareth when justification by the preposition is attributed both to Christ and to faith as Rom. 3. 24. 25. wee are justified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the redemption which is in Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faith in his blood by Christ we have accesse to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faith in him Eph. 3. 12. By the name of Christ we have remission of sinnes by faith in his name Act. 10. 43. 26. 18. As it is said of the cure of the creeple Act. 3. 16. that the name of Christ by faith in his name had healed him Thus I have shewed before that the same benefits of justification and salvation which properly we receive from the death and obedience of Christ are attributed to faith not properly but relatively and metonymically Not that faith it selfe worketh them but the object which it as the instrument apprehendeth § III. But Bellarmine will prove that in these and such like places the prepositions by and through doe signifie a true cause first by the contrary For when the Apostle Rom. 3. 4. Gal. 2. 3. and elsewhere doth prove that a man is not justified by workes nor by the Law without doubt he excludeth the force and efficacie of workes and of the Law in justifying and not a relative apprehension alone For no man could doubt but that the Law and works did not justifie by apprehending righteousnes relatively And therfore the saying of the Apostle had been very foolish if his meaning had beene that justice is apprehended by faith and not by the Law or workes Even as a man should speake foolishly who should say that the almes is received by the hand and not by the heele Neither did they whom the Apostle confuteth looke to be justified by their workes relatively but by the merit of them And therefore that which the Apostle denyeth to works he ascribeth to faith Answ. This manifestly proveth that the question of justification by faith or by workes is thus to bee understood whether wee are justified by the righteousnesse of Christ alone apprehended by faith which is the righteousnesse of the Gospell the righteousnesse of faith or by a righteousnesse inherent in our selves which is the righteousnesse of the Law or of workes For if the question should bee understood of faith
it selfe there would be no more opposition betweene faith and workes than is betweene the first and second justification of the Papists which are so farre from opposition that they are sub-alternall the one proving the other For if we be justified by righteousnesse inherent wee must bee justified both by habituall and actuall righteousnesse neither of them alone sufficing in adultis and therefore if by the one then by the other also Againe Faith being but one grace among many cannot as it is an habit inherent in us by it owne worthinesse or merit justifie or sanctifie alone but there must be a concurrence of charity and of other graces neither can the habits of grace suffice to the sanctification of one come to yeares unlesse they bring forth the fruits of obedience neither are the fruits of obedience called good works of any account before God unlesse they proceed from the inward habits of faith and love But faith considered relatively as the instrument apprehending Christs righteousnesse it self alone sufficeth to justification as the Fathers before have testified This is the worke of God which with God is in stead of all workes that wee beleeve on his Sonne For hee that truely beleeveth is reputed as if he had fulfilled the whole Law Christ being the end of the Law for righteousnesse to every one that beleeveth Rom. 10. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he therefore saith the Apostle that beleeveth in Christ fulfilleth the Law because Christ hath fulfilled it for him Christs obedience being imputed to him and accepted of God in his behalfe as if hee had performed the same in his owne person § IV. Secondly Bellarmine by other places where the preposition is used indevoureth to prove that faith is deciphered as a true cause For if saith he in all other places the preposition by or through doth signifie a cause why should it not betoken a cause when a man is said to be iustified by or through faith I answer first that the preposition is often used to signifie no cause at all as where it is attributed to wayes and meanes occasions and times waies as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 2. 12. by another way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 12. 1. through the corne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 through dry places vers 43. so through windowes Gen. 26. 8. 2 Cor. 11. 33. dores Mat. 7. 13. Ioh. 10. 1. walls as Act. 9. 25. tiles Luk. 5. 19. Sea 1 Cor. 10. 1. afflictions Act. 14. 22. meanes as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by word Act. 15. 27. 32. by parable Luk. 8. 4. by vision Act. 18. 9. through a glasse 1 Cor. 13. 12. by Epistle 2 Thâ—…s 2. 15. by faith and not by sight 2 Cor. 5. 7. Occasion as our corruption by the Law worketh sinne Rom. 7. 5 13. for so it is said verse 8 11. it tooke occasion by the Commandement c. infirmity laid upon Lazarus that by it the Sonne of God might be glorified Ioh. 11. 4. Time whether all time as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 18. 10. 2. 25. Or set times as three dayes Mat. 26. 61. fortie dayes Act. 1. 3. by night Luk. 5. 5. Mat. 5. 19. Secondly that the preposition is often used to signifie the instrumentall cause as in that Hebrew phrase by the hand of his servants Gen. 32 16. as God commanded by the hand of Moses Exod. 9. 35. 35. 29. Levit. 8. 36. 10. 11. 26. 45. Numb 4. 37 45 c. By the hand of Moses and Aaron Psal. 77. 20. 1 Sam. 16. 20. Iesse sent by the hand of his sonne David So God speaketh by the hand of his Prophets 1 Sam. 28. 15. 2 Sam. 12. 25. 2 Chr. 29. 25. By the mouth of his Prophets Luk. 1. 70. So by his Prophets viz. as his instruments Mat. 1. 22. 2. 15. Thus God wrought miracles by the hands of Paul Act. 19. 11. or as himselfe speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his ministery Act. 21. 19. Rom. 15. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by me Thirdly that faith is no such cause of justification as is usually meant by the preposition joyned either with other causes of justification or with faith upon other occasions And first to mention those which Bellarmine saith he will here omit as that we are justified by Christ by his blood by his death by his obedience it may not be thought that when it is said that wee are justified by or through Christ and by or through faith or by or through the bloud the death the obedience of Christ and by or through faith that faith though the same preposition be prefixed before it should signifie the same kind of cause When the Apostle saith Rom. 3. 24. that we are justified by the grace of God there Bellar. noteth the formall cause of our justification confounding Gods grace and our charity freely that is saith he by the bounty of God noting the efficient by the redemption wrought by Christ Iesus which noteth the meritorious cause by faith in his blood we must needs conceive that faith is a distinct cause from the rest For neither is it the formall for there is but one and that one is charity as they teach nor the efficient 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that is Gods bounty and justice nor the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the meritorious cause for thath onely is the merit of Christ. It remaineth then that it is the instrumentall which is plainely signified when it is said that we are justified through the redemption or satisfaction of Ghrist by faith or when the preposition is attributed both to Christ and to faith as I noted before § 2. § V. Bellarmine saith that in that place Rom. 3. 24. faith is there noted to be the dispositive cause which I have allready disproved The truth is that for all this flourish which Bellarmine here maketh hee maketh faith to be no cause at all of justification but a remote disposition which disposeth to justification no otherwise thâ—…n servile feare doth which is farre enough from being a cause of justification If it bee said that he maketh it a part of the formall cause of justification I answer that according to the Councell of Trent they constantly hold that there is but one formall cause of justification and that is charity which being lost justification is lost though faith remaineth The habit of faith infused â—…s indeed a chiefe part of our sanctification as a mother grace and root of the rest but of justification it is no part but an instrument For justification consisteth wholly upon imputation of Christs righteousnesse which faith as the hand doth receive § VI. For the better understanding the manner how faith doth justifie wee are to distinguish the acts of faith both in justifying and sanctifying The act of faith in justifying is the elicite and immediate act of faith which is credere credendo Christum recipere amplecti to beleeve
and by beleeving to receive and embrace Christ. The acts of faith in sanctifying and producing morall dueties are immediate acts or imperati which faith produceth by meanes of other virtues commanded by faith such are sperare confidere amare timere obedire pati c Of justification the man indued with faith is not the efficient but the subject and the patient who receiving by faith which is his onely act the righteousnesse of Christ is thereby justified God imputing to the beleever the righteousnesse of his Sonne and therefore though to beleeve bee his owne act yet hee is not said in the active to justifie himselfe by faith but in the passive to bee justified by faith Rom. 3. 24. 28. 5. 1. But in the duties of sanctification and in all morall duties the faithfull man is the efficient of them and his faith as it is said of arts other habits is the principium agendi the principle wherby he worketh and of them faith under God is the prime cause and as some call that which is principium agendi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such actions are the most of those which Heb. 11. are so highly commended which though they were the fruits of justifying faith yet were the acts of faith not as it justifieth but as it sanctifieth fortifieth or otherwise qualifieth them who are endued with it and this efficiencie of faith in Greeke and Latine is oftner signified without the prepositions than with As Heb. 11. though the sence be the same Of justification therefore faith is but the instrumentall cause justifying relatively that is in respect of the object which it doth receive being the onely instrument to receive that object which alone doth justifie But of the dueties of sanctification and other morall actions such as for the most part are mentioned Heb. 11. whereof the faithfull man is the efficient justifying faith which purifieth the heart and worketh by love and other virtues as affiance c. is the prime cause working them not relatively by apprehending the object but effectually producing them as principium agendi wherby Bellarmines dispute out of Heb. 11. is confuted For there it is said saith hee that by faith the Saints overcame Kingdomes wrought righteousnesse obtained the promises stopped the mouths of Lyons c. Where the particle by doth not signifie apprehension but the true cause For faith was the cause of Abels religious offering of Noahs preparing the Arke of Abrahams obedience c. All this I confesse but that which he would inferre therupon that faith therefore doth not justifie relatively by way of apprehending the object I have already answered for that which hee spake before of apprehending relatively was idle and frivolus § VII The second part of his assumption was that saith is the beginning of justice and consequently the inchoated formall cause of justification So that now belike the seven dispositions shall be the inchoated formes of justification the entire forme being but one viz. charity and consequently the disposing faith and the disposing feare and so of the rest shall be inchoated charity which is ridiculous Bellarmine in this argument as allwayes by justification understandeth sanctification whereof and of all inherent righteousnesse wee acknowledge faith to bee the beginning and consequently the beginning of that righteousnesse by which we are formally just But of justification not the beginning only but the accomplishment and perfection is to be attributed unto faith because no sooner doe we by faith lay hold upon the righteousnesse of Christ which is most perfect but wee are perfectly justified thereby And therefore the Fathers as you heard before â—… acknowledge faith alone to suffice unto justification So Origen in Rom. 3. lib. 3. Hierome and Sedulius in Rom. 10. 10. in Gal. 3. 6. Chrysost. in Gal. 3. 6. in Tit. 1. 13. Augustin de tempore Serm. 68. Chrysâ—…log serâ—… 34. Primasius in Gal. 2. Oecumen in Col. 2. Theophylact in Gal. 3. Anselm in Rom. 4. If faith alone sufficeth unto justification then doth it not onely begin but also perfect and accomplish it For Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith wee have peace with God But Bellarmine endeavoureth to prove his assertion by authority of Scriptures and testimonies of Fathers His first testimony out of the Scriptures is Rom. 4. 5. to him that beleeveth in him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousnesse Where saith he faith it selfe is counted righteousnesse and consequently faith doth not apprehend the righteousnesse of Christ but faith in Christ is it selfe justice And if it be lively and perfected by Charity it shall be perfect justice if not it shall at the least be unperfect and inchoated justice Answ. If the question were concerning the approbation or justification of the act of faith or the habit I would acknowledge that the Lord doth accept the same though unperfect in it selfe as righteous As the zealous act of Phinehas was counted unto him for righteousnesse throughout all generations But the Apostle speaketh of the justification of the person who cannot by one habit and much lesse by one act of faith be formally just But forasmuch as by faith in Christ the beleever receiveth the perfect righteousnesse of Christ this faith in respect of the object doth fully justifie the beleever and is therefore counted to him for righteousnesse not that it selfe is his righteousnesse nor that he is righteous in himselfe who still in himselfe remaineth a sinner but in Christ. And such was the faith of Abraham and of all the faithfull that not in themselves but in the promised seed all that beleeve in him should be blessed that is justified The Greeke word used sometimes by the Septuagint as Gen. 18. 18. 28. 14. and retained by the Apostle Gal. 3. 8. is very significant viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie that not in themselves but in the promised seed they should be justified and blessed for so the Apostle Rom. 4. 5 6 7. useth these words promiscuously as also Gal. 3. 8. The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the heathen through faith preached before the Gospell unto Abraham saying in thee that is in thy seed shall all nations be blessed This blessednesse therefore this justification is obtained by faith and therefore is faith counted righteousnesse because it receiveth it As for faith it selfe absolutely considered without relation to its object we according to the Popish doctrine are justified by it neither in the act of justification nor before Not before for untill it be as they speake formed with Charity it cannot justifie nor in the act for charity alone is the formall cause of justification and then only are we formally justified when Charity is infused or else there are more formall causes of justification than one which Bellarmine according to the doctrine of the Councill of Trent doth utterly deny § VIII His second testimony 1 Corinthians 3. 11. another foundation can
Abraham was that is by them as by fruites and effects hee is declared and approved to bee just and not by faith professed onely Hee doth not say a man is justified by workes as causes but as the effects For that and not the other is deduced from the example of Abraham § XIII The other example is of Rahab Verse 25. For though you may thinke that you need not compare with Abraham and yet have a true justifying faith yet you will bee ashamed to bee behinde Rahab the harlot who was no sooner justified before God by faith but she was also justifyed that is declared and knowne to bee just by her worke of charity towards the Espyes which shee wrought by faith Heb. 11. 31. Concerning this example of Rahab Bellarmine hath foure Assertions of which never an one agreeth with another First That Rahab was not declared to bee just because shee was an harlot which is false For though shee had beene an harlot yet now she beleeved and by her faith was justifyed before God and by her worke which shee wrought by faith was justified as Saint Iames saith that is declared to bee just Secondly That Iames briâ—…geth the example of Rahab to prove that by good workes a righteous person is made more righteous which also is false and contrary to his former Assertion Thirdly That by this worke of mercy shee was truely justified and of a sinner made just But Rahab as Bellarâ—…ine saith was an example of the first justification and therefore of a sinner not made just by her worke but by the habit of grace infused The trueth is by faith shee was justifyed before God and by her worke shee was declared to bee just before men Fourthly That by that worke as a disposition she was prepared unto justificaâ—…ion Which agreeth neither with his third where he said that by this worke shee was truely justifyed and of a sinner made just nor with Saint â—…mes whose meaning plainely is not that shee was prepared unto justification by this worke no more than Abraham was by his but that she was declared by this worke as a fruite of her faith and a consequent of her justification as Abraham was by his workes to be justifyed before God And thus much of the two examples § XIV There remaâ—…eth his fifth Argument which is a similitude Verse 26. For as the body without the Spirit is dead so faith without workes or that faith which is without workes is dead which words also may bee two wayes expounded For either the Apostle Iames speaketh of the habit of faith or of the profession of it If of the habit then the comparison standeth thus As the body of man without the Spirit that is without breath which is the prime signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to breathe in which sense it is called the spirit of the mouth and spirit of the nostrils I say as the body without breath is dead so that saith which is without workes which are as it were the breathing of a lively faith is judged to be dead For as Bernâ—…rd also saith As we discerne the life of this body by its motion so the life of faith by workes If therefore faith it selfe be here meant wee must by Spirit understand breath and not the soule For although the Papists absurdly make charity which is a fruite of faith 1 Tim. 1. 5. to be the forme of it yet me thinkes they cannot bee so absurd as to compare faith to the body and workes to the soule as though workes which are the fruites and effects both of faith and of charity were the forme and as it were the soule of faith If by faith we understand faith professed or the profession of faith as in this discouse hitherto it hath beene used and as it is used elsewhere as Act. 14. 22. Râ—…m 1. 8. then you may understand the similiâ—…de thus As the body of man without the Spirit that is the â—…oule is dead so the profession of faith without a godly life which is as it were the life and â—…oule of our profeâ—…on is also dead For hypocrites whose life is not conformable to their profession though they have a â—…ame that they live yet they are dead Apâ—…c 3. 1. Thus by five arguments Saint Iâ—…mes hath proved that the faith which is alone and without workes is not a true and a lively but a dead and counterfeit faith and yet 〈◊〉 both here and Lib. 1. dâ—… justif cap. 15. will needs have Saint â—…ames to speake of a true faith as if he supposed that a true faith might be without workes Therefore the Popish Doctrine of justification by workes as causes thereof cannot be grounded on this Tâ—…xt of Saint Iames. § XV. Yea but will some say the contradiction is not yet salved For Saint Paul affirmeth as you say that faith alone doth justify and Saint Iames in plaine termes denyeth that a man is justifyed by faith onely I answere when we say that faith onely doth justify we doe not meane absolutely that nothing doth justify but faith in no sense whatsoever For many things may truely bee said to justify aliâ—… atque aliâ—… sensu in divers senses as I have shewed heretofore God the Father as the prime efficient Christ as the meritorious cause God as the Iudge Christ as the Advocate God as the Creditour Christ as the Surety The grace of God as the moving cause the righteousnes of Christ as the matter the imputation thereof as the forme the holy Ghost as the applying cause the Word and Sacraments as the instruments of the holy Ghost Faith as the hand of the receiver works as testimonies and signes c. but our meaning is that we are justified by the righteousnesse of Christ onely which is apprehended by faith alone and that in us nothing doth concurre to the act of justification but faith alone it being the onely instrument whereby wee receive Christ. And thus have you heard what is to be alleaged against the Papists First that their doctrine concerning justification by workes which they would build upon this Text is repugnant to the Scriptures Secondly that by their exposition they make Saint Iâ—…mes to contradict Saint Paul Thirdly that their doctrine cannot bee grounded on this Text. § XVI Now for our selves I will shew that by our exposition the seeming difference betweene the two Apostles is manifestly reconciled and that by our Doctrine their Assertions not oâ—…ely may well stand together but also must necessarily goe together The reconciliation is easily made if we consider two things first the diversity of the Parties with whom the two Apostles had to deale For the Apostle Paul having to deale with Pharisaicall Iustitiaries who sought to bee justified by a righteousnesse inherent in themselves and by an obedience performed by themselves proveth by invincible arguments that a man is justified by faith without
resurrection apprehended by faith to them also he applieth the vertue and efficacie of Christs death and resurrection both to mortifie sinne in them and to raise them up to newnesse of life By this doctrine we may trie our selves whether we be reconciled redeemed adopted justified For hereby it shall appeare that God hath received us into his grace if he hath also endued us with his grace Chasidim as they are called in the Scriptures the favourites of God are usually translated his holy ones and all the faithfull even in this life are termed Saints Hereby it will appeare that we are redeemed from the guilt of sinne if we be also freed from the dominion of sinne Hereby it will appeare that we are adopted if 〈◊〉 be also regeneratech Hereby it will appeare that we are justified if we â—…e also in some measure sanctified But yet howsoever these graces â—…waies goe together and cannot be severed yet must we carefully distinguish betwixt the grace of God which is in himselfe and his graces which are in us betwixt the actions of Gods grace without us and the actions of his grace within us Wherefore though adoption and regeneration though receiving into grace and enduing with grace though redeeming from the guilt and purging in some measure from the corruption of sinne though justification and sanctification are alwaies unseparable companions yet we may not with the Papists confound them and so place the matter of justification and merit of salvation in our selves as they wickedly doe but we are religiously to distinguish them as they are in themselves truly and really distinguished to the praise of the glory that is the glorious praise of his grace not of that which is in us but of that which is in himselfe whereby he hath graciously accepted us in his beloved Ephes. 1. 6. § VI. Thirdly when we say it is an action of God imputing to a beleeving sinner c. We consider it not as a suddaine and momentany action which is of no continuance as if all our sinnes both past present and to come are remitted in an instant but as an act of God continued from our vocation wherein the grace of faith is begotten in us to our glorification which is the end of our faith For as this action of God is called the justification of a sinner so whiles we continue sinners we have still need to be justified And as we alwaies have sinne in this life so that it may not be imputed we have need that Christs righteousnesse should be imputed unto us and that as we sinne daily so Christ our advocate should continually make intercession for us that notwithstanding our manifold slippes whereinto through humane frailety we fall and notwithstanding those manifold infirmities and corruptions which remaine in us as the relikes of originall sinne we may be continued in the grace and favour of God by the continued imputation of Christs righteousnesse obtained by his continuall intercession for us For therefore doth he continue his intercession for us that our justification may bee continued to us and that as wee sinne daily so wee may daily seeke and obtaine pardon But if justification should so be wrought once and at once as that after that act wrought in an instance we should no more be justified nor no more neede remission of sinne then must we erroniously conceive that the sinnes which after the first moment of our justification we doe commit are actually remitted before they bee committed whereas God forgiveth onely sinnes past Rom. 3. 25. So shall we not onely set open a gap to all licentiousnesse for who will so feare to commit sinne as he ought or when he hath committed it so sue for the pardon thereof who is perswaded beforehand that it is already remitted but also shall open the mouthes of our adversaries who will be ready to say that we Protestants ought not to pray for remission of sinne because in our opinion as they say we need it not but to this calumniation of the Papist I have elsewhere answered § VII If it be said that it is a received opinion among many that justificatio simul semel fit that justification is wrought at once and but once I answere that that assertion is not to be admitted without distinction nor without good caution The distinction is this that there is a justification of a sinner before God in 〈◊〉 coelesti which properly is called justification and is that which here I have defined and there is a justification whereby a man already justified before God is justified in foro conscientiâ—… in the court of his owne conscience which is not properly justification it selfe but the assurance of it To this latter that assertion of but once and at once cannot in any good sense be applied For neither is the full assurance of our justification attained at once but by degrees wherein we are to labour and to give diligence to make as our election and calling so also our justification more and more sure unto us Neither is it given but once For by committing of any crime or any grievous sinne by spirituall desertions by the â—…orcible temptations of Satan this act of spirituall faith which we call assurance may be interrupted or lost for a time and yet by repentance by prayer and practise of pietie it may be recovered againe and therefore not given but once To the former indeed it may be applied in both parts but with a twofold caution first in respect of simul at once if it be understood as excluding degrees and not continuance Namely that we are not justified by degrees and as it were by little and little as though our justification were not perfect at the first For no sooner doth a man truly beleeve in Christ but the righteousnesse of Christ is imputed to him and in and by that righteousnesse he standeth righteous before God as well at the first as at the last that righteousnesse of Christ by which he is justified whether first or last being most perfect Therefore the righteousnesse of justification cannot be increased neither doth our justification before God admit degrees either in one and the same person or yet in diverse men howsoever the assurance of justification and the worke of sanctification whereby we are to be renewed in the inner man day by day have degrees according to the degrees of our faith and according to the measure of grace received Secondly when it is said that we are justified before God semel but once that also may be admitted if by once be meant one continuall act For as we are regenerated but once because ut semel nascimur ita semel renascimur so faith which is wrought in our regeneration is given but once For that which Saint Iude saith verse 3. of faith once given is no lesse true of the habit than of the doctrine of faith which habit being once had is never utterly lost
For all they who have true faith are borne of God 1 Iohn 5. 1. Iohn 1. 12 13. And those who are once borne of God are never unborne againe but being made sonnes by faith as all the faithfull are Gal. 3. 26. they are also made heires of God and coheires with Christ Rom. 8. 17. As faith therefore is never utterly lost no more is justification For so long as wee have faith so long wee are justified But the habit of faith wee never lose though perhaps some act of faith may sometimes bee interrupted Therefore our justification is but one continued act and in that sense we are justified but once § VIII Now whereas we have defined and defended according to the Scriptures that justification is an action of God and such an action as is without us and a continued act hence we may conclude against the Papists first that neither their first nor second justification is that justification which is taught in the Scriptures Not the second for that is not Gods action but their owne who being justified before by habituall righteousnesse infused from God doe themselves as they â—…each by practising of good workes increase their righteousnesse that is justifie themselves by actuall righteousnesse as the merit of their second justification Not that wee deny that inherent righteousnesse is by practise of good workes increased but that wee hold that justification is not our owne act neither that we are justified by any righteousnesse inherent in our selves or performed by our selves nor that the righteousnesse of justification which is indeed the righteousnesse of Christ can be increased and therefore no degrees of justification Not the first which they make to bee an action of God within us working in us a reall change or positive mutation by infusion of the habits of grace and specially of charitie and confound it with habituall sanctification from which notwithstanding it is necessarily to be distinguished Secondly justification being an action of God is not to bee confounded with justification passively understood and much lesse with justice it selfe But the Papists not onely understand it passively but also confound it with inherent Iustice. Thirdly they doe not hold justification to bee one continued act from our vocation to our glorification But such an act as may not onely be interrupted ostentimes and lost for a time as they say it is by every mortall sinne and againe be renewed so oft as they goe to shrift but also that it may totally and finally bee lost Which error I have confuted at large in my Treatise of perseverance CAP. II. The efficient causes of Iustification § I. BUt in this definition besides the Genus not onely all the causes of Iustification but also the essentiall parts thereof are briefly comprised which I will now distinctly propound The causes because in the knowledge of them standeth the science of every thing the essentiall parts because in them justification it selfe consisteth The causes of justification as of all other things are foure The Efficient the Matter the Forme the End The Efficieâ—…t causes are of two sorts either principall or instrumentall The principall is God which I noted in the definition when I said it is an action of God For it is God that justifieth as the Scriptures in many places doe testifie as namely Rom. 3. 26 30. 4. 5 6. 8. 30 33. Gal. 3. 8. God I say the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost For it being an outward action of God or as the Schoolemen speake ad extra respecting the Creatures it is the common action of the whole Trinity And thus God alone as the Iudge doth justifie For he alone is the Lawgiver who hath power over our soules against whom wee sinne and by our sinne become his debtours when we transgresse his law And therefore he alone properly forgiveth sinnes as himselfe professeth Esay 43. 25. and as the Scribes and Pharisees confesse as a received truth Luk. 5. 21. For who may take upon him to remit those debts which wee owe to God It is he who reconcileth us unto himselfe in Christ not imputing our sinnes 2 Cor. 5. 19. and accepting of us in his beloved Ephes. 1. 6. It is he alone that forgiving our sinnes freeth us from hell and giveth us right to his heaveâ—…ly kingdome Which doctrine serveth first for our direction and instruction where to seeke and to sue for justification and remission of sinnes Not to any creature but to God alone in the name and mediation of Christ to whom alone our Saviour directeth us to sue for pardon Secondly it ministreth strong consolation to all the faithfull For seeing it is God that justifieth them who shall lay any thing to their charge Who shall condemne c Thirdly it sâ—…rveth for the confutation or rather condemnation of the Pope and all popish priests who take upon them power not as Ministers of the Gospell to declare and pronounce remission of sinnes but as Iudges to remit them it being a proper attribute of God Exod. 34. 7. which he appropriateth to himselfe Esay 43. 25. and which no meere man can without blasphemy arrogate to himselfe Mark 2. 7. § II. With the principall cause we are to joyne the consideration of the motives or moving causes both without God which of some are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and also within himselfe which are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are indeed principia agendi The former are mans misery which though it be not properly a cause but the object of mercy yet is said to bee a motive and is used as a reason to move to mercy and thence misericordia hath its name and Christs merits which properly are the procatarcticke cause of our justification besides which there is no other merit The moving causes within God are his Mercy and his Iustice which I signified in the definition when I said that justification is a most grâ—…cious and rightâ—… action os God For as in many if not in all the workes of God his mercy and justice meet together so especially in the worke of our Iustification and redemption which Cardinall Câ—…jetan e well observed The holy Scripture saith he doth not say that we are justified by grace alone but by grace and justice together but both of God that is by the grace of God and by the justice of God and not by the righteousnesse of men By grace I understand the gracious love and favour of God in Christ vouchsafed unto us in him before all secular times 2 Tim. 1. 9. in which he hath graciously accepted us in his beloved by which as we are elected and called and shall be saved so by the same we are justified and that freely without any cause in us Rom. 3. 24. Now the Lord is said to justifie us by his grace first because of his free-grace hee gave his owne Sonne to
to be made partakers of him and in our wils by resolving both to acknowledge him to be our Saviour and also to rest upon him for salvation Having this lively assent which is the condition of the promise we are to apply the promise to our selves as belonging to us By the former degree we are justified before God in foro coelesti by the latter we are justified in foro conscientiae in the court of our owne conscience By the former we are justified properly by the latter we are not properly justified but are in some measure assured of our justification By the former I doe effectually beleeve that Iesus is the Saviour by the latter I doe truely beleeve that hee is my Saviour That faith therefore which doth justifie doth specially apprehend and apply Christ and the proper object of faith as it justifieth is Christ or the promise of salvation by Christ and therefore is often called faith in Christ or the faith of Christ. For although by that faith which justifieth I beleeve all the articles of Christian religion and every truth revealed by God in his word yet I am not justified properly by beleeving any other truth but onely by beleeving the truth neither is the promise of justification and salvation made to any other beleefe but onely to faith in Christ. § IX Thirdly by this faith apprehending and receiving Christ we are not prepared onely and disposed to justification as the Papists absurdly teach affirming that faith doth justifie even as servile feare doth by preparing onely and disposing for then a man indued with justifying faith might be as farre from justification as he that is possessed with servile feare But how can these two assertions be reconciled that faith doth justifie by disposing onely as a preparative diâ—…position and yet that it justifieth formally as an habit infused and as a part of inherent â—…ustice But the truth is that by a true justifying faith we are not prepared onely but wee are actually justified For no sooner doth a man beleeve by a true justifying faith but he is justified and entitled unto the kingdome of heaven As soone as he doth beleeve he is translated from death to life yea so soone he hath eternall life that is hee hath jus right unto the heavenly kingdome § X. Fourthly when wee say that faith doth justifie wee doe not meane that it justifieth absolutely or in respect of its owne worth and dignity and much lesse that it doth merit justification either as it is an habit or as it is an act but relatively in respect of the object which it doth apprehend that is Christ who is our righteousnesse For seeing faith doth receive Christ and make us partakers of him therefore all those benefits which wee receive from Christ are attributed in the holy Scriptures to Faith as to justifie to save c. not that these effects are to bee ascribed to the vertue of faith absolutely but relatively in respect of the object So when it was said to the woman thy faith hath saved thee the meaning is Christ received by faith hath saved thee Thus by the faith of Peter and Iohn the Creeple was cured Act. 3. 6. yet not by any power or holinesse of theirs vers 12. But the name of Christ that is Christ himselfe by faith in his name as the instrument did cure him vers 16. so the name of Christ by faith in his name doth justifie and save Act. 10. 43. Iohn 20. 31. And that faith doth not justifie in respect of its owne worth appeareth by this evidence because the faith of divers men though unequall in degrees doth justifie alike and therefore is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of equall value as Saint Peter speaketh of all the faithfull to whom he writeth 2 Pet. 1. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as the Latine interpreter translateth to them that have obtained coequall faith with us in the righteousnesse of our God and Saviour Iesus Christ. For it is not faith properly which doth justifie but the righteousnesse of Christ received by faith The almes received by a weake hand releeveth the party as well as that which is received by a strong hand because it is not the hand properly which releeveth but the almes And for the same cause the righteousnesse of justification is equall in all that are justified neither doth it in the same persons admit of degrees For it is the most perfect righteousnesse of Christ to which considered as created and finite nothing can bee added § XI Fifthly from hence we learne the true meaning of that question whether we be justified by faith or by workes not as opposing the inward grace of faith to the outward acts of obedience which indeed are the fruits of faith but as opposing the righteousnesse of Christ apprehended by faith to that righteousnesse which is inherent in our selves and performed by our selves § XII Sixthly when we say that faith doth justifie alone two things are implyed First that we are justified by the righteousnesse of Christ alone apprehended by faith and not by any righteousnesse in herent in us Secondly that this righteousnesse of Christ by which alone wee are justified is apprehended by faith onely Not that justifying faith is or can bee alone but because there being many graces in the faithfull which all have their severall commendations yet none of them serveth to apprehend Christs righteousnesse but faith onely and yet that faith which is alone severed from all other inward graces and outward obedience doth not justifie either alone or at all because it is not a true and â—… lively but a counterfeit and a dead faith For even as the eye among all the parts of the body which all have their severall uses hath onely the faculty of seeing and yet that eye which is separated from the rest of the parts doth see neither alone nor at all because it is but the carcase of an eye So among all the graces of the soule it is the office of faith alone as the eye of the soule to looke upon him that was figured by the brazen Serpent yet if it should bee severed from the rest it were dead For as Saint Iames saith that faith which is alone and by it selfe is dead And as the eye in respect of being is not alone yet in respect of seeing it is alone so faith which is not alone doth justifie alone § XIII Seventhly and lastly when we say that faith doth justifie alone wee were never so absurd as the Papists absurdly charge us as if wee meant that faith alone doth sanctifie For although nothing in us doth conferre with faith to the act of justification as any cause thereof in which sense wee say it justifieth alone yet in the subject that is the party justified many graces doe concurre with faith as the necessary fruits thereof wherein as also in
because with it concurre not onely all other inward graces but also our outward obedience § IX The righteousnesse by which wee are justified is not prescribed in the Law but without the Law is revealed in the Gospell the righteousnesse of God that is to say of Christ who is God apprehended by faith For the Law to justification requireth perfect and perpetuall obedience to bee performed by him in his owne person that should bee justified thereby which fince the fall of Adam hath beene and is by reason of the flesh impossible to all men who are descended from Adam by ordinary generation But the Gospell assureth justification without respect of workes to all that truely beleeve in Christ teaching that wee are justified by faith that is by the righteousnesse of Christ apprehended by faith without the workes of the Law that is without respect of any obedience prescribed in the Law and performed by us But the righteousnesse by which wee are sanctified is prescribed in the Law which is a most perfect rule of all righteousnesse inherent § X. Unto the act of justification our owne righteousnesse and obedience doe not concurre as any cause thereof but follow in the subject that is the party justified as necessary fruits of our redemption and justification Yea in the question of justification wherein is considered what that is by which wee are justified and saved in hope our owne righteousnesse and obedience if it should bee obtruded as the matter of our justification is to be esteemed as dung that we may bee found in Christ not having our owne righteousnesse which is prescribed in the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ. But in the question of sanctification that righteousnesse which is inherent in us and that obedience which is performed by us is all in all as being both that habituall and also actuall righteousnesse and holinesse wherein our sanctification doth consist § XI By our justification wee are entituled to Gods kingdome that is saved in hope by our sanctification we are fitted and prepared for Gods kingdome into which no uncleane thing can enter Iustification therefore is the right of Gods children to their inheritance Sanctification is the cognizance and marke of those that shall bee saved wherefore our Saviour saith that by faith wee have remission of sinnes and inheritance among them that are sanctified § XII The righteousnesse by which we are justified is the meritorious cause of our salvation But the righteousnesse by which we are sanctified is a fruit of our justification but no cause of our salvation unlesse you will call it causam sine quâ non which is no cause for we are neither saved by it nor for it but onely by and for the merits of Christ apprehended by faith But though it bee not the cause by or for which wee are justified or saved yet it is the way wherein wee being once justified are to walke towards our countrey in heaven Ephes. 2. 10. as Bernard well saith via regni non causa regnandi the way which leadeth to the kingdome but not the cause of comming unto it § XIII By our justification wee have our right and title to the kingdome of heaven but according to the duties of sanctification as the evidence shall the sentence of salvation bee pronounced at the last day § XIV We are justified by the grace of God as it signifieth onely his gracious love and favour in Christ. But wee are sanctified by Gods grace not onely as it signifieth the favour of God in himselfe but also as it signifieth the graces or gifts of grace infused into us and inherent in us § XV. In justification and in the parts thereof wee are meerely patients but in the duties of sanctification wee are also agents who being acted by the holy Ghost doe cooperate with him For which cause the holy Ghost in the Scriptures doth never exhort us to justification or the parts thereof viz. remission of sinne and acceptation of the beleever as righteous unto life as being the actions of God but to sanctification and the parts thereof he useth to exhort as to mortification Col. 3. 5. to vivification Ephes. 4.23,24 to both Ezek. 18.31 § XVI The acts of faith are of two sorts some tending to justification some to sanctification The former are immediate which are called actus eliciti which it bringeth forth of it selfe without the mediation of any other grace that is to beleeve in Christ by beleeving to receive him and by receiving him to justifie the beleever and therefore faith doth justifie alone The other mediate which it bringeth forth by the meanes of other graces which are called actus imporati and are the fruits of faith working by love and other graces tending to sanctification Thus faith by love worketh obedience and therefore it dtoh not sanctifie alone § XVII Of justification the Apostle treateth in the five first chapters of the Epistle to the Romanes of sanctification in the sixth and seventh § XVIII Our Saviour Christ the blessed Angels Adam in his integrity were sanctified but not justified properly For justification onely is of sinners and consisteth partly in remission of sinnes § XIX Of this difference betweene justification and sanctification the Papists will by no meanes take notice though it bee manifold and manifest But will needs understand justification to be that which wee according to the Scriptures call sanctification And this is the very ground both of their malitious calumniations against us and also of their owne damnable errours concerning justification For as if we also did confound justification and sanctification they charge us as if wee taught that wee are sanctified by faith alone that wee are formally made just or sanctified by a righteousnesse which is without us c. But if wee did hold that justification were to bee confounded with sanctification we would acknowledge that the most things which the Papists affirme concerning justification are true because they are true of sanctification As namely that wee are not sanctified by faith alone that we are sanctified by a righteousnesse inherent in us and performed by us that it is partly habituall consisting in the habits of grace as faith hope charity c. and partly actuall which is our new obedience consisting in good workes which are the fruits and effects of our faith and charity and other inward graces That of sanctification there are degrees and that by exercise and practice of the duties of holinesse and righteousnesse our sanctification is encreased c. § XX. What then Is the difference betweene us and the Papists in this great controvefie onely in words Nothing lesse For as their confounding of justification and sanctification is the ground of their calumniations against us so of their owne errours For confounding justification and sanctification first they confound the Law and the
sanctus every godly man shall pray unto thee Our Saviour taught his owne Apostles and all other Christians to pray daily for remission of sinne Every one saith Cyprian is taught peccare se quotidie dum quotidie per peccatis jubetur orare that he sinneth daily seeing he is commanded to pray daily for his sinnes Therefore all even the best of us are sinners Fifthly whosoever doth that evill which he would not and doth not that good which hee would is a sinner both in respect of commission and omission but such is the condition of the best even of the Apostlâ—… himselfe Rom. 7. 15. 19. for so he saith vers 25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I my selfe Sixthly whosoever hath sinne is a sinner All men have sinne and that I prove thus Whosoever is a lyar himselfe and maketh God a lyar that saith he hath no sinne he undoubtedly is a sinner But every man though he were as holy as the beloved Apostle and Evangelist Saint Iohn is a lyar himselfe and maketh God a lyar that saith he hath no sinne for if wee saith he including himselfe say we have no sinne wee deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Iohn 1. 8. if we say that we have not sinned we make him a lyar and his word is not in us vers 10. Therefore every man though hee be as holy as Saint Iohn himselfe is a sinner Seventhly whosoever is free from sinne is also free from death No mortall man is free from death Therefore no mortall man is free from sinne CHAP. III. The question concerning the imperfection of inherent righteousnesse further discussed § I. TO contradict this argument that we are not justified by righteousnesse inherent because it is unperfect Bellarmine indeavoureth to prove that it is perfect both in respect of habituall and actuall righteousnesse But in both hee useth to dispute Sophistically in the first because some men have beene indued with perfect righteousnesse in the second because some good works of the just are purely and perfectly good For though both these assertions were true as they are not yet would they not conclude justification by inherent righteousnesse For first as touching the persons the question is not whether some choice men in some part of their life after they have beene good and long proficients doe attaine to some perfection but whether they and all others when they are first justified are endued with perfect justice for if they be not then endued with perfect inherent righteousnesse they are not justified by it Now justification by habituall righteousnesse which they call their first justification is incipientium of incipients and themselves distinguish Christians into three rankes that some are incipients some proficients some perfect But incipients are such as be infants and babes either in respect of age when being baptized in their infancie are as they teach justified or in respect of religion being new converts But to imagine that either infants which have not so much as the use of reason nor are as yet capable of the habits of Faith Hope and Charity and much lesse are able to produce the Acts to Beleeve to Hope to Love or new converts who are like Babes to bee fed with Milke are indued with perfect righteousnesse is a great absurdity § II. Yea but saith Bellarmine the workes of God are perfect Deut. 32. 4. habituall righteousnesse is the worke of God therefore it is perfect Answ. The workes of God are either immediate and such as hee worketh at once or else mediate which hee worketh by degrees The former are perfect at the first according to their kinde as were the workes of creation The latter are not perfect at the first but by degrees are brought to perfection as the worke of procreation or carnall generation and of Spirituall Re-creation or Regeneration Adam was the immediate Worke of GOD created at once and therefore perfect in his kinde at the first Seth also was the Worke of GOD not immediate by creation but mediate by Procreation being first begotten by his parents and conceived then formed in the wombe then borne then growing from age to age untill hee came to bee a perfect man So it is in the Spirituall Re-creation For wee are the workemanship of God created unto good workes but we are not perfect Christians at the first For we are first begotten by the incorruptible seed of Gods Word receiving as it were the seeds of Gods graces at the first being but as Embryons in the wombe untill Christ bee formed in us And when wee are borne a new wee are at the first but as new borne Babes who are to desire the sincere milke of the worke that we may grow thereby and afterwards stronger meats that wee may grow more and more and then not contenting our selves with that measure of growth which wee have attained unto must still strive towards perfection being from day to day renewed in the inner man untill we come to be adult growne men or as the Apostle speaketh perfecti and when we are such because alwayes in this life we are in our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or growing age receiving onely the first fruits of the Spirit wee must imitate the Apostle Paul who though he farre excelled the most perfect among us acknowledged that he had not attained to perfection but did strive towards it exhorting all others who are perfect that is adulti or growne men to be of his minde that is that they should acknowledging their imperfection still more and more strive towards perfection § III. As touching actuall righteousnesse hee dealeth also Sophistically for first where hee should prove that the works of the faithfull are perfect or purely and absolutely good he proveth that they are truely good and not sinnes but especially when he should prove that all the workes of the faithfull or righteous are purely and perfectly good he proveth that some are As though a man who is not onely guilty of many sinnes and infected with manifold corruptions and infirmities but also in respect of his former sinnes obnoxious to damnation could bee justified by some good workes among many not good But this is a most erroneous conceit of the Papists who hold that every good worke proceeding from charity doth absolutely deserve heaven even as well as any evill worke committed against charity deserveth hell As though by one act of charity the whole Law were fulfilled as well as by one act committed against charity the whole Law is broken Hee that transgresseth one Commandement though it bee but once is guilty of all But hee doth not fulfill the Law and much lesse can bee justified by his obedience whose obedience is not totall perfect and perpetuall It is true that a faithfull man may bee justified that is declared and approved to be just by some one or more good workes as Abraham
Flesh and the Flesh lusting against the Spirit So that though Will be present with us that wee cannot doe what we would and much lesse after what manner wee would that is with our whole soules with our whole mind heart and affections For what good wee minde or will as wee are Spirit the same wee will as wee are Flesh. This concupiscence the Apostle had not knowne to bee a sinne had not the Law said non concupisces that is thou shalt have none evill concupiscence neither habituall nor actuall Neither is it onely a sinne as the Apostle oftentimes doth cal it but also it is the mother-sinne Iam. 1. 13 Rom. 7. 17. which taking occasion by the Law to produce ill concupiscences therein forbidden is convinced not onely to bee a sinne but exceedingly sinnefull Rom. 7. 13. But of this I have spoken before and proved by the testimony of Augustine that concupiscence against which the good Spirit lusteth viz. in the regenerate for in the unregenerate the Spirit is not is both a sinne and the cause of sin and a punishment sinne § XIII And as touching the second the summe of the Law is that we should love God with all our heart and with all our soule c. but where is any defect of love there God is not loved with all the heart c. it being legally understood and therefore every defect is an aberration from the Law and consequently a sinne I have also proved out of Augustine that it is a fault where love is lesse than it ought to bee from which fault it is that there is not a righteous man upon earth which doth good and sinneth not For which also though wee bee never so good proficients wee must of necessity say forgive us our debts Therefore every defect is a debt that is a sinne whereunto wee may adde that of the same Augustine It is a sinne either when there is not charity where it ought to bee or is lesse than it ought to bee whether this may or may not bee avoided by the Will § XIV And as to the third If those which the Papists call veniall sinnes bee not contrary to the Law then they are not forbidden in the Law and without doubt they are not commanded therein Now if neither they bee commanded nor forbidden then they are things indifferent but that is absurd yea but saith hee veniall sinnes hinder not justice And the Scripture absolutely calleth some men just and perfect notwithstanding their veniall sinnes I answere they hinder not imputative justice nor evangelicall perfection which is uprightenesse for to them that beleeve and repent they are not imputed Neither can it be denied but that the most upright men have their imperfections infirmities and slippes which though in themselves and according to the Law are mortall sinnes for if they should not bee forgiven they would as Bellarmine himselfe confesseth exclude men from heaven yet to them that are in Christ Iesus thâ—…y become veniall by the mercie of God through the merits and intercession of Christ. § XV. His second reason is taken from divers absurdities which hee conceiveth doe follow upon our assertion when as indeed they follow not upon our doctrine but upon his malicious misconceiving and misreport thereof as if wee held that all even the best workes of the righteous are mortall sinnes But wee acknowledge that the good workes of men regenerate are truly good and so to bee called notwithstanding the imperfection thereof Onely wee deny them to be purely good wherin we have the consent of holy Scriptures and of the ancient Fathers some whereof I before alleaged to whom I added Gregory and Bernard Gregory in the conclâ—…sion of his Moralls saith thus Mala nostra pura mala sunt bona quae nos habere credimus pura bona esse uequaquaÌ„ possunt Our evill things are purely evill and the good things which we suppose our selves to have can by no meanes bee purely good Bernard t Our lowly justice if we have any is perhaps true but not pure Vnlesse peradventure wee beleeve our selves to bee better than our fore-fathers who said no lesse truely than humbly all our righteousnesses are as it were the cloth of a menstruous woman wee doe not say that the good workes of the faithfull are sins and much lesse mortall sins For we hold that the sins of the faithful become to them venial But this we say with Salomon that there is not a righteous man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not which in effect is the same with that assertion of Luther Iustus in omni opere bono peccat § XVI Now let us examine the absurdities which hee absurdly upon his owne malitious misconceit objecteth against us In all which it is supposed that wee call the good workes of the righteous sinnes yea mortall sinnes The first if all the workes of the faithfull bee sinnes then the worke of faith whereby we are justified and that prayer whereby we begge remission of sinne should be sinnes Answ. The worke of faith and the act of prayer are good but not purely and perfectly good Neither are we justified by the worthinesse or by the worke of our faith but by the Object which it doth receive nor obtaine our desires by the merit of our prayer but by the mediation and intercession of Christ our Saviour Our faith is such that wee have need alwayes to pray Lord increase our faith Lord I beleeve help mine unbeleefe and our prayer such that when wee have performed it in the best manner we can wee have neede to pray that the wants and imperfections of our prayer may bee forgiven us § XVII The second If all the works of the righteous be sinnes with what face could the Apostle say that hâ—… knew nothing by himselfe And what boldnesse was that for his good workes that is for his mortall sinnes to expect a Crowne of righteousnesse Answ. Though the Apostle had no doubt sometimes offended after his conversion yet he was not conscious to himselfe in particular of any actuall sinne or crime committed by him for as the Psalmist saith who can understand his errors No man saith Basil is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 free from sinne but God for of those many things wherein we offend the most wee understand not for which cause the Apostle saith I know nothing by my selfe but in that I am not justified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in many things I offend and doc not perceive whence also the Prophet saith who understandeth his trespasses But though hee was not conscious to himselfe of his slippes and oversights yet hee was not ignorent of his owne corruptious and infirmities against which when hee had prayed to God hee received this answere My grace is sufficient for thee and in weakenesse my power is made perfect Neither did the Apostle expect the reward for the
confute himselfe Now in the sixt verse the Apostle sheweth what manner of faith that is which justifieth viz. not a dead or a counterfeit but a lively and effectuall faith a faith which is effectuall or effectually worketh by love a faith which as Saint Iames saith is not without workes but is demonstrable by good workes § III. But these words Bellarmine doth wilfully deprave For in other places hee readeth and understandeth the wordes as wee doe following the vulgar Latine translation unto which hee is tyed by the decree of the Councell of Trent reading fides quae per charitatem operatur faith that worketh by charity as our English Rhemists also translate the words And to seeke no further in the very beginning of the next chapter where hee confuteth the erroneous opinion of Osiander who held that the righteousnesse of Christ whereby wee are justified is the essentiall righteousnesse of the Deity dwelling in us saith that this errour is manifestly refuted by the Apostle Rom. 4. proving the righteousnesse by which wee are justified to bee faith vivam viz. per dilectionem operantem to wit a lively faith and working by love and likewise Gal. 5. 5 6. we by faith expect the hope of righteousnesse for in Christ Iesus neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but faith which worketh by love Whereupon hee inferreth quòd si fides per dilectionem operans c. but if faith working by charity be that righteousnesse c. But here for a poore shift and to serve his present turne hee interpreteth the Greeke Participle of the middle voice as if it were passive fides quae agitur faith which is acted moved formed and as it were animated by love And therupon inferreth that charity isthe forme of faith and that faith justifieth formally as it is formed by charity and not otherwise and consequently that charity justifieth much more and hereupon also he buildeth afterwards that distinction of faith that it is either formata when it is acted by charity or informis when it is severed from it where also to helpe out the matter hee saith that the Latine word operatur is passively understood whereof as I suppose no example can bee given thereby making the translation barbarous and understanding it as never any before him understood iâ—… § IV. But to begin with the last it were a strange speech if a man signifie that the matter is acted by the form or that the body is acted by the soule should say corpus per animam operatur And no doubt if the old interpreter had meant so he would have said agitur and not operatur As for the Gâ—…eeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifieth effectuall or effectually working and so both the Verbe and the Participle which are used nine times at the least in the new Testament are or ought to be effectuall namely in it selfe or effectuall to worke according to the twofold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or act whereof the Philosophers and Schoolemen use to speake to wit the first and the second c. which distinction may be applied to habits of grace or gracious habits The first act which is the forme of faith or of any other grace is that Tushijah that essence or entity whereof Salomon speaketh wherby any grace is that which it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed and in truth which is the integrity of it and so saith Thomas actus primus est forma integritas rei in respect whereof faith and so every other grace is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unfained This is that principium agendi that inward act or efficacie whereby faith or any other grace is effectuall in it selfe lively active operative apt to produce operations according to their severall kinds without which faith or any other grace is dead and counterfeit and not that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeede and in truth whereof it beareth the name but aequivocè even as the counterfeit of any man is called by his name The second act of faith or of any other grace is the actuall working thereof actus secundus saith Thomas est operatio And these acts are either immediate and eliciti as the Schoolemen speak or mediate and imperati As for example the immediate or elicite acts of justifying faith are first to beleeve truly and effectually and by a lively assent that Iesus the Sonne of the blessed Virgin is the eternall Sonne of God the Messias and the Saviour of all that beleeve in him Secondly because I so beleeve in Christ to beleeve that hee is my Saviour Thirdly by these acts faith receiving Christ who is our righteousnesse doth justifie The mediate acts which are called imperati are these acts which the immediate acts doe produce mediantibus aliis virtutibus by the mediation of other vertues For if I beleeve that Iesus is the Sonne of God and the Saviour of all that beleeve in him and consequently that hee is my Saviour hereupon I shall be moved to trust in him as my Saviour which is the act of affiance but commanded by faith and to expect salvation from him which is the act of hope but commanded by faith and likewise to love him and by love to obey him which are the acts of charity but commanded by faith as here it is said faith working by love § V. Now those graces by which faith worketh as namely charity have not the respect of the formall cause unto faith but rather of the instrumentall Neither doth faith worke by them as its forme but as its instruments as the soule by the body and the members thereof But that charity is not indeed the forme of faith whereby it is acted and formed it may appeare evidently by these reasons First because those which hold it to be the forme of faith deny it to bee the inward and intrinsecall forme whereby faith is that which it is which onely is the formall cause and as it were the soule of faith but extrinsecall whereby as they imagine the acts of faith are informed and so they make it by a strange kinde of Logicke the forme of all vertues as well as of faith Secondly because one habit disparated from another as the three Theologicall vertues faith hope and charity being also as themselves say seated in diverse subjects as the seat of faith is the mind of love the heart cannot possibly be the forme of the other Thirdly that habit which proceedeth from another as the fruit and effect thereof cannot bee the forme of that other But charity which is the fulfilling of the Law proceedeth from faith unfained 1 Tim. 1. 5. For therefore doe wee love God and our neighbour for his sake because by faith wee are peâ—…swaded of his love towards us and therefore doe wee love him because hee loved us first 1 Ioh. 4. 19 Fourthly if charity be the forme of faith then faith is the matter
of charity for the mater is that which is formed and as it were animated by the forme but the consequent is absurd therefore the antecedent And againe howsoever faith worketh those acts which I called mediate or imperatos by meanes of other graces which acts doe tend to sanctification for which cause faith doth not sanctifie alone yet the actus eliciti or immediate acts of faith which are to believe in Christ and by beleeving to receive and by receiving him who is our righteousnesse to justifie faith worketh neiby charity nor by any other grace and therefore it justifieth alone § VI. Yea but without charity faith is informis with it it is formata Answ. This distinction of faith that it is either formata or informis in a right sence may bee admitted as namely if by forme bee understood the integrity or inward efficacie and if that be called formata which is sound unfained lively and effectuall and that informis which iâ—… uneffectuall dead and counterfeit For that distinction is intimated by the Apostle when he speaketh either of faith unfained or contrariwise of a dead faith for in the former it is implyed that there is also a fained and a counterfeit faith and in the latter that there is also a lively faith And so wee admit this distinction that faith is either Formata which is lively and unfained Informis which is dead and counterfeit But in the popish sence it is to be rejected and that in three respects First because they propound this distinction as agreeing to a true justifying faith as if a true faith might be without forme when as that which is without forme is dead and counterfeit and no more to bee called a true justifying faith than the carcase or counterfeit of a man is to be called a man For howsoever such a faith may perhaps be true in respect of the object because it is of the truth yet it is not true in respect of the integrity efficacy and soundnesse thereof and that which is not truely faith is not faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or indeed Hee that saith either that he beleeveth that there is a God and in deeds doth deny him and that he is just and feareth not to offend him or good and doth not love him or omniprâ—…sent and omniscient and feareth not to play the hypocrite before him c. such a one doth not indeed and in truth beleeve that which he proâ—…esseth himselfe to beleeve He that saith he knoweth Christ that is beleeveth in him and hath not a desire and care to keep his Commandements hee is a lyar and the truth is not in him That faith which is dead and counterfeit cannot justifie or save a man as Saint Iames sheweth For howsoever faith alone doth justifie yet that faith which is alone doth not justifie neither alone nor at al becauseit is not a true and lively but a dead and counterfeit faith Neithercan that be a true justifying faith which is common to the wicked both men and Angels Neither may wee omit Bellarmines confession in this place Here saith hee the Apostle to prevent occasion of errour explaineth what manner of faith that is that justifieth non quaecunque fides sed quae per dilectionem operatur not every faith but that which worketh by love § VII Secondly this distinction is to bee rejected being understood in the popish sense wherein it is implyed that charity is the forme and as it were the soule of faith which opinion I have already confuted Neither can they ground it upon Iames 2. 26. As the body without the Spirit is dead so faith without workes is dead For if the habit of charity cannot bee the forme of faith as I have shewed then much lesse can good workes which are the outward fruits both of faith and of charity bee the soule of faith it selfe Of the profession indeed of faith a godly life is as it were the soule and without which it is dead but of faith it selfe it is not anima the soule but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the breath as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to breath doth properly fignifie in which sense it is often used being called the Spirit of the mouth the spirit of the nostrils And in this sense it may be said that as the body without breathing is judged to bee dead so faith without workes which are as it were the breathing of a lively faith is also judged to be dead not because it ever had lived but because it wanteth life § VIII Thirdly this distinction is to bee rejected because as Bellarmine saith it is to be understood of one and the same faith which being informis may become formata and being formata may become informis againe remayning still the same But fides informis is not of the same kinde with that which is formata or justifying faith as things which be without life are not of the same kinde with those that are living or as counterfeits are not of the same kinde with those things which they doe resemble Besides justifying faith is divine the informis is humane that infusa infused and supernaturall this acquisita required by the strength of nature in the use of meanes that a grace of regeneration proper to the Elect this a gift of illumination onely common to the reprobate that is vera being truely that whereof it beareth the name this simulata not being that truly which it is called but aequivocè that doth so beleeve in Christ that it doth imbrace him and willeth and desireth at the least to apply him to the beleever this so beleeveth Christ that either it is joyned with horrour as in the Devils and desperate sinners or is severed from any will or desire of application this is without fruit and root and therefore is temporary that hath both root and fruit and never faileth And howsoever that which is informis may by Gods grace bee changed into formatam yet that which is formata can never be informis No more than hee who is once borne of God can be unborne againe The rest of his arguments serve to prove that faith is not the whole formall cause of justification that is as wee speake according to the Scriptures of sanctification which we deny not for wee doe acknowledge a concurrence of many graces with faith unto sanctification As for justification we deny faith either in whole or in part to bee the formall cause thereof Neither doth any other of his arguments prove that either charity or any other grace doth with faith concurre unto justification CAP. XII That justification doth nâ—…t câ—…nsist in renâ—…vation § I. HIs second ranke of arguments proving indirectly justification by righteousnesse inherent is propounded in his sixt Chapter the title whereof is this That oâ—…r justification doth not consist in the remission of sinnes alone Neither doe we
fifth Capitall errour of the Papists in the Article of justification is concerning justifying faith which hath many branches 1. Concerning the nature of it viz. what it is and therein also they erre diversly 2. Concerning the subject of it both â—… and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is the parties whose it is and the parts of the man wherein it is 3. Concerning the object of Faith 4. Concerning the act or effect of it which is to justifie where are three questions the first concerning the act it selfe whether it doth indeed justifie or onely dispose to justification the other two concerning the manner how it justifieth the former whether instrumentally as the hand to receive Christ who is our righteousnesse or formally as part of inherent righteousnesse The other whether faith doth justifie alone § II. As touching the first what faith is they hold justifying faith to be but a bare assent to all or any truth revealed by God which as it is in their opinion without speciall apprehension of Christ so it may be void of knowledge and severed from charity as they teach That faith in generall is an assent and that it may be defined to bee a firme and willing assent to every truth revealed by God grounded on the authority of God revealing it we willingly agree For hereby faith is distinguished from all other acts or habits of our minde And first from doubting in that it is an assent for in doubting the assent is withheld which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as contrariwise to assent is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And that faith is assent it is evident because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith is a perswasion derived from the Verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth to bee perswaded or to beleeve and a man is said to assent unto or to beleeve that of the truth whereof he is perswaded hence it is that the act of faith which is to beleeve is expressed sometimes by the Verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 17. 4. 27. 11. Heb. 11. 13. but most plainely Act. 28. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some beleeved the things which are spoken but some beleeved not Secondly from opinion in that faith is a firme assent or as Basil speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an undoubted assent for he that beleeveth the truth of God hath as it were put his seale unto it But opinion is the judgement of things contingent which may happen to bee false Sed fidei falsum subesse non potest but the subject of faith cannot be false Thirdly in that it is a willing assent from the forced beliefe of Devils and some desperate wicked men who beleeve that which they abhorre or as Saint Iames speaketh beleeve and tremble Iam. 2. 19. Mat. 8. 29. Fourthly from all other knowledge in that it is an assent to truth revealed or related by God and grounded upon the authority of God speaking in his Word for faith commeth by the hearing of the word So saith Saint Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith therefore is an undoubted assent of things heard in the assured perswasion of things preached by the grace of God And that is it which Bellarmine citeth out of Augustine quòd intelligimus aliquid rationi debemus quòd autem credimus authoritati that we understand any thing we owe to reason but that wee beleeve to authority All other firme assent is given to things either in themselves evident to sense or reason or to such as are manifested by discourse But the object of faith is not discerned by sence nor sounded by reason such as is the mystery of the holy Trinity and of the incarnation of Christ c. neither is faith of things seene Eye hath not seene nor Eare heard neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him And wheras the certainty of all other knowledge is grounded upon sence or experience and reason the certainty of this knowledge is grounded upon the authority of God speaking in his word For which cause the certainty of faith is greater than of any other knowledge For howsoever sense and reason may be deceived yet the ground of faith is unfallible which is the authority of God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that cannot lye a God of truth yea truth it selfe whereupon Clemens Alexandrinus saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore it selfe is a firme demonstration because truth accompanieth Faith those things which are delivered God and Basill what is the property of faith an undoubted plerophorie or full perswasion of the truth of the words inspired of God which is not shaken with any reasoning either induced from naturall necessity or formed to piety And such is the certainety of faith that the Apostle defineth it that it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the subsistence which giveth a being to things which now have not a being which is nothing but an assured beleefe as the word is used 2 Cor. 9. 4. 11. 17. Heb. 3. 14. and the evidence of things not appearing or not seene which the Greeke Sholiast in mine opinion very well explaneth Faith it selfe is the subsistence or substance of things hoped for For because those things which are in hope are without subsistence as yet not extant faith becommeth the substance and subsistence of them making them after a sort to exist and to be present because it doth beleeve they are Faith also is the evidence and demonstration of things not seene And faith sheweth things to be visible which are not seene How in the minde and in hope beholding things which doe not appeare § III. But howsoever faith is an assent and is in generall so to be defined as I have said yet justifying faith is not a bare assent either destitute of knowledge or severed from charity or without speciall apprehension and application for these are three errors of the Papists now in order to be confuted As touching the first The Papists doe not onely hold that justifying faith may be without knowledge but that also it may better bee defined by ignorance than by knowledge This faith which is without knowledge they call implicite faith because they beleeving some one common principle as namely I beleeve the bâ—…ly Catholicke Church doe thereby beleeve implicitè whatsoever is to be beleeved that is whatsoever the Catholicke Church beleeveth and propoundeth to bee beleeved And therefore this they call also an entire faith because thereby a man doth not onely beleeve the written word but also unwritten verities which are the traditions of the Church of Rome and both of them not for themselves but for the authority of the Church propounding them to bee beleeved Now they teach that not only for Lay men it is sufficient to beleeve as the Church beleeveth which was
by that faith it selfe whereby he doth beleeve he is healed that hee may understand greater matters our understanding therefore proficit ad intelligenda qua credat fides proficit ad credenda quae intelligat eadem ipsa ut magis magisque intelligantur in ipso intellectu profioit mens profiteth or is a proficient to understand what it may beleeve and our faith profiteth to beleeve those things which it may understand and that the same things may more and more bee understood in the understanding it selfe the minde profiteth 5. Cyril Faith what is it else but the true knowledge of God 6. In the second tome of Athanasius there is a discourse against those who bidding men not to search the Scriptures but to bâ—… content with that faith which is among themselves which is the very case of the Papists at this day shall I saith the author of that discourse neglect the Scriptures whence then shall I have knowledge shall I abandon knowledge whence then shall I have Faith Paul cryeth out how shall they beleeve if they doe not heaâ—…e and againe faâ—…th is by hearing and hearing by the Word of God therefore heâ—… that forbiddeth the Word stoppeth up hearing and expelleth faith But saith hee a little after they who goe about to establish their owne opinions restraine men from the Scriptures in pretence that they would not have them to be so bold to have accesse to them which are unacce â—…ible but in very truth that they may avoid the conâ—…utation of their wicked doctrine out of them 7. Fulgentius fides vera quod credit non nescit etiamsi nondum potest videre quod iper at credit True faith is not ignorant of that which it beleeveth although as yet it is not able to see that which it doth hope and beleeve 8. The master of the sentences Fides non potest esse de eo quod omnino ignoratur Faith cannot be of that whereof a man is altogether ignorant Neither can a man beleeve in God unlesse hee understand somwhat seeing faith commeth by hearing the Word preached Nec â—…a quae prâ—…us creduntur quà m intelliguntur penitus ignorantur cum fides sit ex auditu Ignorantur tamen ex parte quia non sciuntur Neither are those things which are beleeved before they bee understood altogether unknowne seeing faith commeth of hearing yet in part men are ignorant of them because they have not the science of them 9. To these wee may adde the authority of the Creed it selfe that is as the Papists themselves doe teach of all the Apostles consenting together wherein they thought it not sufficient to teach men to professe their beleefe in that one article I beleeve the holy Catholike Church but in all necessary points that are to bee beleeved first concerning God both in Himselfe and in his Works in Himselfe both in respect of the nature of the Deity and of the three persons in Trinity the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost in his Workes of creation and government and of redemption Then concerning the Church and the severall prerogatives thereof viz. the Communion of Saints the forgivenesse of sinnes the resurrection of the body and life everlasting And further teach every particular Christian to say and that with Christian resolution Credo I beleeve these particulars which cannot be done either with truth if indeed he doe not beleeve each particular or with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or confidence which is meet unlesse a man doth not onely beleeve all those particulars but also knowe that hee doth beleeve them And lastly by this forme of profession I beleeve they teach and confirme that of Habac. 2. 4. that the just shall live by his owne faith and not by the faith of others § XIV Now I come to Bellarmines reason although I have already answered it in part In him that beleeveth saith he there are two things apprehension and judgement or assent Apprehension goeth before faith and is not knowledge unlesse it be distinct and plaine and that is not needefull to faith Now the judgement or assent saith he is twofold for either it followeth reason and the evidence of the thing and is called knowledge or else the authority of the prâ—…pounder and is called Faith Therefore saith he the mysteries of faith which surpasse reason we doe beleeve we doe not understand And therefore faith is distinguished against science and is better defined by ignorance than by knowledge Answ. This discourse is to prove that faith may be without knowledge for whereas two things concurre to faith apprehension and assent knowledge is required in neither c. But I answere that these things are not well distinguished by Bellarmine For first apprehension or conceiving of the object is the common act of the understanding going before all judgement of the understanding whatsoever For it is not possible that the understanding should judge of that which it hath not apprehended or conceived And yet behold implicite faith is so farre from being a true justifying faith that it hath not so much as this first and common act of the understanding in it For it doth not so much as apprehend or conceive the particular things to be beleeved Secondly judgement and assent are not to bee confounded For judgement is more generall and belongeth to those things that wee doe not assent unto as well as to those which wee doe For when wee have in our mind apprehended conceived or understood any proposition or thing propounded then wee judge of it either as false and then wee dissent from it or as doubtfull and then wee withhold our assent and suspend our judgement or as true and then wee assent to it But this assent thirdly is not to be confounded with faith because it is more generall For either we assent to a proposition faintly imagining that perhaps it may be otherwise as in contingent propositions which so are true as that they may bee false And then our judgement of them and assent to them is called opinion or wee assent firmely as being perswaded that it cannot be otherwise and this is called knowledge Now a man knoweth a proposition to be true and is assured that it cannot be otherwise being perswaded thereunto either by the evidence of the thing or by the infallible authority of the propounder Of the thing being either manifest in it selfe to sense and experience or to reason and then it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or intelligentia whereby without discourse men know things so to be which is noeticall or axiomaâ—…icall judgement of a proposition in it selfe manifest or else manifested by discourse as of questions syllogistically concluded and this judgment or knowledg is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the science of conclusions which we know cannot possibly be false the premisses being true But when a thing is neither manifest in it selfe to sense
not the faith of Abraham nor yet of Rabaâ—… Thirdly Saint Iames there concludeth yee see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only but a 〈◊〉 faith which Calvin calleth umbram fidei justifieth neither alone nor at all Ans. As I said before out of ver 14. by faith we are here to understand faith professed or the profession of faith And to be justified is here understood declarativè Now to declare a man before men to be justified before God two things are required the profession of the faith and a Christian life answerable to his profession and thus faith professed cooperateth with workes to declare a man to bee justified For neither works alone without the profession of the faith will doe it for workes without faith are dead nor the profession of the faith without workes for such a profession is also dead but both must goe together Fourthly saith he this is proved by two comparisons which hee calleth examples The former vers 15. 16. which hee doth very sorrily expresse first saith he he compareth a man having faith without workes to him who seeing the poore wanting food and rayment is content with that knowledge and giveth them no almes For even as it profiteth nothing the poore that the rich know their want although it be a most true knowledge unlesse according to that knowledge they bestow upon them necessaries so true faith 〈◊〉 nothing unlesse a man doe study and endeavour to live according to it Frigidè admodum dilutè For where doth Saint Iames compare true faith to these rich mens idle knowledge But the comparison plainely standeth thus As the profession of charity in giving good words to the poore that want food and raiment depart in peace be ye warmed and filled is vaine and unprofitable if men do not accordingly give them somewhat to supply their necessities so the profession of faith without workes is dead As therefore that charity which is in word and not in deed as Saint Iohn speaketh is counterfeit so that faith which is in profession only severed from good workes is counterfeit and dead Secondly saith he Saint Iames compareth faith without works to a body without Spirit which certainely is a true body though it be dead Answ. this also is contrary to the intendment of Saint Iames who therefore pâ—…oveth that faith which is without works to be no true justifying faith because it is dead For the profession of faith without workes is like to a mans body that is without Spirit yea but saith Bellarmine a dead body is a true body and a dead faith is a true faith I answere as before A dead carcase though it bee a true body in respect of his three dimensions and of his composition of the Elements yet it is not the true originall body of a man for a man is a living creature no more than a dead branch or bough is a true member of a living Tree § VI. His fourth argument is taken from those testimonies which teach that in the Church there are both good and bad in the floore both Wheate and chaffe in the net fishes both good and bad in the flocke sheepe and goats c. His reason standeth thus Some in the Church are wicked and void of Charity and other graces But all in the Church have faith Therefore some that have faith are void of Charity Answ. The assumption is most false for not all that professe faith who from thence are called fideles in opposition to Infidels are endued with true justifying faith which is not of all but of the Elect neither be all of the Church that be in it 1 Ioh. 2. 19. Non existimo quenquam ita desipere saith Augustine ut credat ad Eccesiae pertinere unitatem eum qui non habet charitatem But saith Bellarmine if the wicked who are in the Church did want trut faith then should they chiefly bee reprehended for their unbeleefe but they are reprehended non de amissione fidei sed de omissione operum not for the amission or losse of faith but for the omission of good workes Ans. when their want of faith doth appeare they are reprehended for it But because that is many times hidden and we are in the judgement of Charity to judg them faithfull who professe the faith untill the contrary appeare therfore hypocrites escape reprehension which open sinners do incur Bellarm. conclusion that true justifying faith may in the same party concur with sin and that it may be found in sinners none deny but pharisaicall Papists who hold themselves being after their fashion as namely by Baptisme or absolution justified to be no sinners professing that there is no sin in them nor any thing that God can hate And wheras Bellarmine taketh it for granted that all in the Church have faith and that none want it but such as have lost it as it is lost they say by every act of infidelity hereby is discovered the most pernicious doctrine of the Church of Rome whereby innumerable soules are nuzzled in ignorance infidelity and impenitencio to their utter ruine and perdition For they teach that all that are baptized are ex opere operato justified by infusion of Faith Hope and Charity in which estate they remaine untill they commit some mortall sinne then indeed they lose their charity and their justification but they retaine their faith which was infused in Baptisme and still are to be accounted faithfull men and women though they know nothing nor actually beleeve any thing unlesse to their Baptisme be added popish education by which for the most part they are taught to beleeve as their Church beleeveth that being the safest course which faith disposeth them to justification directing them after the losse of their charity wherein their justification consisted to seeke to the Sacrament of penance that thereby they may recover their justification Once a yeere therefore they goe to their priest to him they formally confesse their grosser sinnes formally they professe themselves sorry for them the priest absolveth them from eternall punishment enjoyning them some petite penance whereby they are to satisfie for the temporall penalty which remaineth after their absolution from the eternall by the priests absolution they all stand actually justified the priest refusing none though in truth they neither have knowledge nor faith nor Repentance or amendment of life nor any other Grace without which for all their sacramentall justifications and other they have none they live and die in a most wofull state of damnation § VII His fifth argument is taken from the proper nature of faith and charitie for saith he if faith and charitie cannot be disjoyned either it is because one is of the nature of the other or else because one necessarily ariseth or springeth from the other but neither of these may be said therfore faith and charitie may be severed Ans. First I deny the disjunctive
Exposition Ioh. 17. 17. so Ioh. 18. 37. Rom. 2. 8. â—…al 3. 1. 5. 7. Eph. 4. 21. 2 Thess. 2. 10 12. 1 Tim. 2. 4. 4. 3. 2 Tim. 2. 18. cum 1 Tim. 1. 19. 2 Tim. 3. 8. Heb. 10. 26 1 Pet. 1. 22. 1 Ioh. 2. 21. 2 Iob. 1. 2. Sometimes the word of Truth or of the truth Eph. 1. 13. 2 Tim. 2. 15. Iam. 1. 18. sometimes the truth of the Gospell Gal. 2. 5. 14. or the word of the truth of the Gospell Col. 1. 5. The 〈◊〉 whereof is Christ crucified 1 Cor. 1. 23. 2. 2. For this cause justifying faith is called oftentimes the faith of Christ because he is the proper Object thereof as Rom. 3. 22 26. Gal. 2. 16. 20. 3. 22. Phil. 3. 9. and faith in Christ as Act. 20. 21. 24. 24. 26. 18. Gal. 3. 26. Faith in the blood of Christ Rom. 3. 25. that faith which is in Christ Iesus 2 Tiâ—… 3. 15. sometimes the faith of the Gospell Phil. 1. 27. and which is all one the faith of the truth 2 Thess. 2. 13. Thus therfore I reason That to the beliâ—…e whereof alone and not of other things remission of sinnes justification and salvation is promised that I say is the proper object of justifying faith But to the beliefe in Christ or in the Doctrine and promises of the Gospell concerning salvation by Christ remission of sins justification and salvation is promised and not to the beliefe of other things Therefore that is the proper object of justifying faith That the Promise is made to beliefe in Christ and in the Gospell the Scriptures every whâ—…re â—…each as Ioh. 3. 15 16. 18. 36. 8. 24. 11. 25 26. â—…2 46. 20. 31. Act. 10. 43. 13. 38 39. 16 31. 26. 18. Rom. 10. 9 11. c. But not to the beliefe of other things is the promise made as of the Law or of the story of the Bible or of predictions excepting those stories and propheâ—…ies which concerne Christ. For howsoever a man cannot have a justifying faith who denieth credit to any of those other things which he findeth to be revealed by God yet not by beleeving of them but by beleeving in Christ â—…hee is justified § III. But here it may be objected that the faith whereby Abraham was justified had no relation to the promise of salvation by Christ but to the promises of God concerning his seed Whereunto I answere First that Abraham and all the rest of the faithfull before Christ beleeved in the promised seed which was the Messias to come and by that faith as the Papists themselves confesse were justifyed Secondly the promises which concerned his seed were either the same with the promise of the Gospell or it was implyed in them The maine promise was that in Abraham that is in his seed all Nations that is the faithfull in all Nations should be blessed For Abraham did not conceive that in himselfe all Nations should be blessed as if himselfe should be the foundation of Happinesse unto All but in his seed And so the Lord himselfe explaneth in Gen. 22. 18. and in thy seed that is in Christ all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed And so Zacharie Luk. 1. 68. 69 73. and Peter Act. 3. 25. This promise made to Abraham is the very same with the promise of the Gospell For as the Apostle saith the Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Heathen through faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preached before the Gospell to Abraham saying in thee that is in thy seed shall all nations be blessed Which promise as it had beene formerly made to our first parents concerning the promised seed so was it after renewed to Isaac Gen. 26. 4. and to Iacob Gen. 28. 14. and in effect to David whose sonne according to the flesh Messias was to be who is therefore called the sonne of David and the branch of David In this promised seed Abraham and all other the faithfull beleeved and by beleeving in Him were justified § IV. The other promises concerning his seed are two The former concerning the multiplication of his seed that hee should bee Father of a multitude of Nations namely in Christ and that hee would be a God to him and his seed hee doth not say to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ Gal. 3. 16. that is Christ mysticall 1 Cor. 12. 12. containing the multitude of the faithfull in all Nations both Iewes and Gentiles This promise therefore implyeth the former that in Christ the promised seed Abraham himselfe and his seed that is the faithfull of all nations should be blessed and in confirmation of this promise he was called Abraham because he was to be a Father of many nations that is of the faithfull of all nations for none but they are accounted Abrahams seed Rom. 9. 7 8. Gal. 3. 7. 29. and for the same cause hee received the Sacrament of Circumcision as a seale of that righteousnesse which is by faith Rom. 4. 11. And that in this promise of the multiplication of his seed the promise of the Gospell was included appeareth because his faith in this promise was imputed to him for righteousnesse not for the the approbation or justifying of that act as it happened in the zealous act of Phineas Psal. 106. 30. but for the justification of his person which could not be justified but by faith in Christ. Which the Papists themselves cannot denie The chiefe thing which Abraham apprehended in the promise concerning his seed was that although he were an hundred yeere old and Sarah past child-bearing yet he should have seed by her and in that seed himselfe and all the faithfull of all Nations should be blessed § V. The latter is that they should possesse the land of promise by which as by a type was signified the heavenly Canaan under which to all the faithfull was promised the Kingdome of heaven which was the Countrey which they professing themselves Pilgrimes did seeke Heb. 11. 13 14 15 16. and into which eternall rest Iesus was to bring them who beleâ—…ve even as Ioshua the type of Christ who also is called Iesus brought the Israelites after their peregrinations into that land of rest So that in the latter Promises concerning his seed and the land of promise the former was implyed concerning the promised seed and blessednesse by him as the principall object of Abrahams faith for which chiefly hee did so much affect and desire seed Insomuch that when the Lord had promised him to bee his buckler and his exceeding great reward Abraham replied Lord God what wilt thou give mee seeing I goe childlesse As Abraham therefore who rejoyced to see our Saviour Christs day and as he and the rest of the faithfull having not received the promises concerning the promised seed but having seene them a farre off were perswaded of them
the holy Ghost perpetually making such an opposition betweene them as that they cannot stand together If therefore we be not justified by the righteousnesse of workes prescribed in the Law as all inherent righteousnesse is then we are justified by the righteousnesse of faith alone Or thus The righteousnesse whereby wee are justified is either inherent in our selves and performed by our selves which the Scriptures call the righteousnesse of workes or that which being out of us is inherent in Christ and by him performed for us which is the righteousnesse of faith A third cannot be named and by both wee cannot be justified If therefore we be not justified by the former which I have sufficiently or rather abundantly proved heretofore then are we justified by the latter alone For if of two and no more but two you take away one you leave the other alone So is it in all dis-junctions consisting of two opposites sine medio The one being removed the other only remaineth § IX That by which alone the promise of justification by which alone justification by which alone Christ himselfe who is our righteousnesse is received that alone justifieth By faith alone the promise by it alone justification by it alone Christ himselfe is received For that is the proper office of faith For if faith receive the Promise and justification and Christ himselfe which no other grace in us can doe then it is the proper office of faith But faith receiveth the promise wherein justification is offered Gal. 3. 22. it receiveth remission of sinnes or justification Act. 10. 43. 26. 18. 13. 39. it receiveth Christ himselfe Ioh. 1. 12. which no other grace can doe as it is evident therefore faith alone doth justifie § X. That which is the onely condition of the Covenant of Grace by that alone we are justified because to that alone justification is promised Faith is the onely condition of the Covenant of grace which is therefore called lex fidei therefore by faith alone we are justified If against the assumption it be objected that charity and obedience and other virtues are also required I answere that these are not the conditions of the Covenant but the things by Covenant promised to them that beleeve If we beleeve God hath promised to justifie us and being justified or redeemed to sanctifie and to save us See Luk. 1. 73 74 75. Ier. 31. 33 34. Heb. 8. 10 11 12. Gal. 3. 9. 14. 22. Charity obedience c. are the conditions of the Covenant of workes Doe this and thou shalt live but the condition of the Covenant of grace is Beleeve and thou shalt bee inabled to walke in the obedience of the law thou shalt receive the gift of the Spirit and finally thou shalt bee saved For being by faith freed from sinne and become Servants to God you have your fruit unto holinesse and the end everlasting life Rom. 6. 22. § XI The holy Scriptures wheresoever they speake of that by which wee are justified mention nothing in us but faith not workes nor other graces unlesse it bee to exclude them from the act of justification Which is a plaine evidence that faith doth justifie alone Bellarmine answereth that it doth not follow that because faith onely is mentioned therefore it justifieth alone For sometimes other things as not only other virtues but the Sacraments also are mentioned which notwithstanding doe not justifie alone Whereunto I answere first that in the point of justification faith is mentioned alone and no other grace with it even where the holy Ghost treateth ex professo of justification and of the causes thereof Secondly that to no other grace mentioned either alone or with others is justification any where ascribed Neither are the Papists able to produce any testimony out of the holy Scriptures to prove it As for those which Bellarmine alleageth out of Tit. 3. 5. Ephes. 5. 26. they are not to the purpose as speaking of the outward meanes which we deny not to concurre with faith That out of Luk. 7. 47. hath already beene cleared that love there noteth not the cause but the signe of forgivenesse That out of Rom. 8. 24. sheweth that in this life we are not saved re but spe not in fruition but in expectation Which hope or expectation as it is termed vers 23. is no cause either of justification or of salvation Thirdly that the justification attributed to Sacraments doth not hinder justification by faith alone For when wee say that faith doth justifie alone we meane that nothing in us doth concurre to the act of justification as any cause thereof but faith onely as hath beene shewed As for the Sacraments we acknowledge them to be externall meanes and as it were manus offerentis as faith is manus recipientis And that the Sacraments bee so farre srom hindering justification by faith alone as that they doe confirme it as being the sealâ—…s of that righteousnesse which is by faith CHAP. IX Testimonies of the Ancient Fathers and of others in all ages for justification by faith alone § I. NOw that this Doctrine is no novelty but that which in all ages hath been the received Doctrine of the Christian Churches I will prove by the Testimony of the Christian Writers in all ages but chiefly of the ancient Fathers I. Iustin Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To see God it is granted men by faith alone And by what alone wee see God by that alone wee are justified Againe what other thing could cover our sinnes but his righteousnesse In whom could we being sinners and impious bee justified but in the onely Sonne of God By the righteousnesse therefore of Christ onely which is received and put on by faith onely are our sinnes covered In Christ alone those that are sinners in themselves are justified therefore not by righteousnesse inherent but onely by the righteousnesse of faith II. Irenaeus whom I finde cited and approved by Augustine Men can no otherwise be saved from the stroke of the old serpent but by beleeving in Christ Even as the Israelites who were bitten by the fiery serpents could no otherwise be healed but by looking on the brasen serpent III. Clemens Alex. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith alone is the Catholike salvation of mankinde Againe the power of God alone without demonstrations is able to save 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faith alone IV. Origen more plainely The Apostle saith that the justification which is by faith alone is sufficient so that a man beleeving only is justified and instanceth in the examples of the penitent theefe Luk. 23. and of the penitent woman Luk. 7. both which were justified by faith alone And in that place as hath beene observed by others Origen useth the exclusive particle sola seven times Bellarmine answereth that Origen only excludeth externall workes when power and occasion is wanting as in the
theefe upon the crosse Repl. But it evident that as S. Paul so also Origen speaketh of workes in generall and that in the penitent theese and in that penitent woman good workes were not wanting For the theeâ—…e reproâ—…eth his fellow confesseth his sinne acknowledgeth Christs innocencie professeth Christ in his most despicable eâ—…ate when his owne Disciples â—…ed prayeth unto Christ to remember him when he should come to his Kingdome The woman brought an Alabaster box of ointment stood behinde Christ weeping washed his feeâ—… with her teares wiped them with the haires of her head kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment by which actions shee tâ—…tified her faith in Christ her repentance for her â—…innes her love to her Saviour acknowledged by Christ himselfe to have beene great Yet not by these good workes but onely by their faith were those two persons justified And no marvell For even Abraham himselfe though he abounded with good workes yet he was not justified by them but by faith onely Yea but saith Bellarmine Origen doth not exclude love and repenâ—…nce Repl. No mâ—…re doe we from the subject that is the partie justified but from the act of justification For although they doe not concurre with faith to the act of justification as any cause thereof yet they must eoncurre in the subject that is the partie justified as necessary fruits of faith and unseparable companions of justification V. Cyprian Fidem tantùm prodesse or as Pamelius will have it iâ—… 〈◊〉 faith onely or whâ—…lly profitetâ—… VI. Eusebius Casariensis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherefore that faith doth suffice us to salvation which maketh us to know God the Father Almighty and to subscribe or assent that his onely begotten Sonne is the Saviour VII Hilariâ—… it 〈◊〉 the Scribes that sinne should be forgiven by a man for they saw no more in Christ but a man and that to bee remitted by him which the law could not release for faith onely justifieth And againe Qâ—…ia 〈◊〉 sola justificat and yet againe Hac sola fides confessâ—… Christum Dei filium omnium beatitudinâ—…m glâ—…riam merâ—…it in Petrâ—… This faith alone confessed that Christ is the Sonne of God obtained in Peter the glory of all blessednesse To the first Bâ—…llarmine answereth that the particle alone excludeth onely the law which 〈◊〉 hath no place in the other two But if the law be excluded which iâ—… the rule of all inherent righteousnesse it proveth justification only by faith For if men be justified either by the legall righteousnesse or by thâ—… Evangelicall and a third cannot be named then it followeth that if men have not nor can have remission of sinnes and justification by the law that is by inherent righteousnesse which is prescribed in the law thâ—…n they must have it according to the Gospell that is by the righteousnesse of Christ received by faith onely but the former is true Act. 13. 38 39. therefore the latter VIII S. â—…asill This is perfect and entire glorying in God when a mâ—…n being not lifted up for his ownâ—… righteousnesse knoweth indeed himselfe to want true justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but to bee justified by faith alonâ—… in Christ. 〈◊〉 answereth that Basil excludeth onely workes done without faith or the grace of God Reply But Basill mentioneth not workes going before Grace but speaketh of a man already justified who then doth intirely glory in God when being not lifted up with a conceit of that righteousnesse which is in himselfe but being conscious to himselfe of his defectivenesse in respect of inherent righteousnesse acknowledgeth himselfe to be justified onely by faith in Christ. IX Gregory Nazianzene speaking of those words Rom. 10. 9. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is righteousnesse to beleeve onely X. Saint Ambrose or whosoever else as ancient as he was the Authour of the Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul whom the Papists use to cite under the name of Saint Ambrose and of Bishop Ambrâ—…se when they meet with any thing that seemeth to make for them Sixâ—…us Senensis doth not only acknowledge them to be Ambrose his Commentaries but also commendeth them as being breves quidem in verbis sed sententiarum pondere graves He in very many places ascribeth justification to faith alone â—…ellarmine saith he excludeth the workes of the ceremâ—…niall Law or the necessity of externall workes which may serve perhaps for a poore shift to avoid some few places but not the most As first in Rom. 3. 24. They are justified saith he gratis that is freely because nihil operantes neque vicem redentes sola fide justificati sunt donâ—… Dei that is without workes either going before or following after they are through the gift of God justified by faith only Secondly In Rom. 4. how can the Iewes who looke to be justified by the workes of the Law thinke that they are justified with the justification of Abraham cum videant Abraham non ex operibus legis sed sola fide justificatum when they see Abraham to have beene justified not by the workes of the Law but onely by faith Non ergâ—…â—…pus est lege quando impius per solam fidem justificatur apud Deum There is no need therefore of the Law seeing a sinner is justified before God by faith alone Thirdly and on those words of thâ—… fifth 〈◊〉 according to the Latine secundum propositum 〈◊〉 sic decâ—…etum dicit à Deo ut cessante lege solam fidem 〈◊〉 Dei pâ—…sceret ad salâ—…tem Fourthly He pronounceth them blessed whom God hath ordained that without any labour or observation solâ—… fide justificantur apud Deâ—… they should be justified before God by faith alone Fifthly There being nothing required of them but onely that thâ—…y beleeve Sixthly In Rom. 9. Sola fides posita est ad salutem Seventhly in Rom. 10. Nullum opus dicit legis sed solam fidem 〈◊〉 in causa Chrâ—…sti Eighthly In 1 Cor. 1 this is ordained of God that whosoever beleeveth in Christ be safe or saved sine operâ—… solâ—… fide gratis recipiens remissionem peccatorum without worke receiving freely remission of sins by faith alone Ninthly In 2 Cor. 3. hac lex scil spiritus dâ—…t libertatem solam fidem poscens the Law of the Spirit which is the covenant of grace giveth â—…liberty requiring faith onely Tenthly In Gal. 3. 18. he noteth the improvident presumption of the Iewes who thought that men cannot be justified without the workes of the Law cum sciant Abraham qui forma ejus rei est sine operibus legis per solam fidem justificatum when themselves know that Abraham who is the patterne or samplar of that matter to have been justified by faith alone without the workes of the Law Eleventhly In Gal. 3. 22. that hee comming who was promised to Abraham fidem solam ab ijs posceret should require of them faith onely
Photius apud Occumenium in Rom. 4. 1. speaking of Abraham you see that he hath not so much as any footstep of works unto so great gifts from God whence then was he vouchsafed them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of faith alone 2. In Gal. 3. 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherefore by faith alone they are able to obtaine the promises XXVIII Smaragdus In Gal. 3. Necesse est sola fide Christi salvari credentes XXIX Oecumenius in Gal. 3. 11. Because the righteous shall live by faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for there is but one way saith hee to justifie and that is by faith 2. In Col. 2. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for it is fufficient saith he to beleeve onely XXX Theophylact in Rom. 4. 5. Doth he that is to be justified bring any thing Faith onely 2. In Rom. 9. ult Fides itaque sola est faith therefore is alone and not workes with it it worketh all things and it justifyeth 3. In Gal. 3. 11. Now hee doth plainely demonstrate that faith it selfe alone hath in it the power of justifying Bellarmine answereth for this is the third place which hee would seeme to afford us out of his owne store that his meaning is that without faith nothing doth justâ—…fie But the meaning is plaine not that other things cannot justifie without faith but that faith alone without the helpe of other things is able to justifie 4. In 2 Thes. 2. 17. that God pro sola fide for faith alone will give yea those eternall good things XXXI Anselmus Cantuariensis in Rom. 4. 5. but to him that doth not the workes of the Law but without any precedent worke doth come to faith sufficit ipsa fides adjustitiam faith it selfe sufficeth unto righteousnesse 2. In 1 Cor. 1. 4. For grace is given in Christ because this is ordained of God that he which beleeveth in Christ should be saved without worke sola fide gratis by faith alone and freely receiving remission of sinnes XXXII Rupertus Tuitiensis lib. 2. in libros Regum cap. 39. The obstinate Iew persisteth in contention and contemning the faith of Christ qua sola justificare potest which alone can justifie arrogateth to himselfe numerous justice out of his workes XXXIII Bernard out of whom Bellarmine in the fourth place produceth a twofold testimony in our behalfe the former in Canticles serm 22. Whosoever hauing compunction for his sinnes doth hunger and thirst after righteousnesse let him beleeve in Thee who dost justifie the sinner solam justificatus per fidem and being justified by faith alone he shall have peace with thee 2. The other Epist. 77. speaking of Mark. 16. 16. Courteously he did not repeate but he that is not baptized shall bee condemned but onely he that beleeveth not intimating that faith sometimes alone is sufficient to salvation but without it nothing doth suffice To the former hee answereth that Bernard speaketh de viva fide of a lively faith c. as though we spake of any other If hee confesse that a lively faith doth justifie alone it is all that wee seeke For as for the dead faith wee confesse that it justifieth neither alone nor at all And therfore attribute lesse unto it than the Papists themselves To the other hee answereth that the word solam excludeth onely the necessity of Baptisme in the case of necessity Reply if sometimes it doth suffice alone to salvation then much more to justification and if baptisme which is manus dantis bee excluded then by the like reason all other things which are in us are excluded from the act of justification XXXIV Thomas Aquinas in 1 Tim. 1. lect 3. there is not therefore any hope in the morall precepts sed in sola fide but in faith alone 2. In Gal. 3. 26. Sola fides faith alone maketh men the adoptive sons of God Now that which alone maketh men the sonnes of God by adoption that alone doth justifie them XXXV Boâ—…aventure in 4. Sent. dist 15. part 1. q. 1. because man could not satisfie for so great offence therefore God gave unto him a Mediatour who should satisfie for the offenee whereupon in sola fide in the only faith of his passion all fault is remitted and without faith therof none is justified XXXVI Nicholas Gorrham in Rom. 4. If hee beleeve onely in Christ though he doe not worke his faith alone is reputed for sufficient justice XXXVII Couradus Clingius loc commun lib. 5. cap. 42. Deuâ—… justos nos reputat propter solum fidem in Christum and in the old edition cap. 117. sola fides bene sufficit adjustificationem XXXVIII The judgement of Cardinall Contarenus we heard before that wee are justified by the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to those that beleeve whereupon it necessarily followeth that in us nothing is required unto justification before God but onely faith Thus in all ages of the Church justification by faith alone was a received Doctrine untill the accursed Councell of Trent which denounceth a curse against all those who shall say that a man is justified by faith alone And yet even since that Councell the force of this truth hath expressed from the professed enemies of the Gospell a confession thereof Ben. Iustinianus in his paraphrase on Gal. 2. 16. hee rendreth it thus And yet wee are not ignorant that a man is not justified by the workes of the Law sed per unum Iesu Christi fidem but by the only faith in Christ and in his explanation he giveth this sence because we who are by nature Iewes cannot be justified by the Law sed per solam fidem but by faith alone it followeth that no mortall man can obtaine righteousnesse by the workes of the Law sed solâ—…m ex Iesu Christi fide but only by the faith of Iesus Christ. Yea Bellarmine himselfe saith that to us the merits of Christ are applyed by the Sacraments Hebrâ—…is per solum fidem to the Hebrewes by faith alone But the faithfull among the Hebrewes were justified no otherwise than Abraham was justified And as Abraham the Father of all the faithfull who was the forme and samplar of this thing was justified so are wee But Abraham was justified by faith alone therefore wee also are justified by faith onely Neither is the justification by Sacraments repugnant to justification by faith alone the meaning of our assertion being this that in us nothing concurreth to the act of justification as any cause thereof but faith onely For being justified by faith alone as Abraham was the Sacraments are added as circumcision was to him as seales of that righteousnesse which we have by faith So that faith onely justifieth before God as the hand of the receiver but the Sacraments serve to justifie the faithfull in the court of their Conscience by sealing and assuring unto them their justification CHAP. X. Bellarmines arguments that faith
doth not justifie alone first because it doth not dispose alone to justification there being seven dispositions whereof faith is but one and namely the first § I. NOw let us see what arguments Bellarmine doth bring to prove that we are not justified by faith alone Which question in his opinion may bee disputed three wayes either with relation to the time going before justification or to the time of justification or to the time following our justification In respect of the first the question which he maketh is whether faith doth justifie alone by way of disposing unto justification In respect of the second whether faith be the onely formall cause of our justification In respect of the third whether for the retaining and preserving of righteousnesse good workes be not required but faith onely sufficeth The first he disputeth De justif l. 1. c. 12. and in the twelve chapters following to the end of that booke The second that faith is not the onely and entire formall cause of justification he disputeth in the second booke The third he disputeth in the fourth booke Chap. 18. 19. where he endevoureth to prove that good workes doe justifie But in mine opinion hee should rather have disputed this question whether faith doth justifie at all or not For whereas they make two justifications the first habituall whereby of a sinner a man is made just the second actuall whereby a man of just is made more just by their doctrine faith doth not justifie as a part either of the one or the other but is required as a necessary companion and as it were causa sine qua non which is no cause For they make the formall cause of their first justification which they say truely is but one to be charity and the meritorious cause of the second to be good workes Onely that charity and those good workes must not be without faith All which they ascribe to faith is that they make it the beginning of justification and a disposition to it Neither doe we deny but that true faith is the beginning and the root of sanctification and of all inherent righteousnesse insomuch that from it both charity it selfe 1 Tim. 1. 5. and all other both internall graces and externall obedience doe spring but the act of justification neither in the first nor second doe they ascribe to faith Onely unto the first justification they require it as a preparative disposition for the habit of grace to bee infused which doth not differ from Charity and when it is infused to be a companion thereof And to the second as causa sine qua non without which workes doe not justifie § II. But to come to Bellarmines large discourse the greatest part thereof seemeth to bee impertinent and besides the purpose But to make all seeme pertinent he maliciously calumniateth us as if we held all those assertions which hee with such eagernesse doth confute But if we doe hold that faith doth not justifie by way of disposing either alone or at all and that it is not the formall cause of justification either alone as the entire cause or at all as any part thereof and that it is not a consequent of justification at all as works indeed are to what end doth all this dispute serve unlesse it be to make their seduced Catholiks who never are permitted to read any of our writings to beleeve that he hath doughtily confuted us § III. And that faith doth not justifie alone by way of disposing he endeavoureth to prove by five sorts of arguments The first from those seven dispositions required by the Councell of Trent to justification among which he reckoneth faith for one Whereunto in generall I answere that this whole discourse besides that it is impertinent for wee doe not hold as I have said that faith doth justifie by way of disposition either alone or at all it is also an idle speculation disagreeing from their practicke theologie and that in two respects First to their speculative justification they require foregoing preparations and dispositions but to the obtayning of justification in deed and in practise no such things are required For the efficacie of justifying a sinner they ascribe to their Sacraments which they say doe conferre gratiam gratum facientem that is justifie ex opere operato requiring as I conceive no preceding preparation or disposition in the party to be justified so hee doe not interpose the obstacle of any mortall sinne For if foregoing dispositions were required before the Sacraments then they should not justifie as I have said before ex opere operato but ex opere operantis Secondly they doe teach that in their first justification Charity and with it Faith and Hope are infused whereby a man that before was a sinner is made righteous And that therefore a man is first justified when these are infused and that these are first infused when a man is justified and yet they tell us of a true Faith true Hope true Love going before justification Which by their doctrine though they goe together I meane Faith Hope and Charity accompanied with other good dispositions are neither graces nor gifts of grace infused For before or without the Sacrament there is no justification which they have tyed to the Sacrament and before justification as themselves say there is no grace For if they were graces indeed as no doubt but they are where they are true and goe together accompanied with other good dispositions then men might be justified before the receit of the Sacrament as Abraham was and then the Sacrament to men so qualified should not conserre grace but seale it Thus to mainetaine their pernicious errour concerning the efficacie of the Sacraments justifying ex opere operato whereby they have turned religion into an outward formality that Faith that Hope that Charity which goe before the Sacrament as namely in Cornelius before his baptisme should be no true graces because all true justifying and saving grace is insused in the administration of the Sacrament and this infusion of grace is that which they call justification By their doctrine therefore justifying faith is that which in the very act of justification is infused and being infused doth justifie not by way of disposing but formally it selfe being informed by Charity And therefore according to their owne doctrine that faith which disposeth to justification is not justifying Faith And consequently all this discourse concerning six other preparative dispositions concurring with faith to prove that we are not justified by faith alone is besides the purpose For that faith which they make their first preparative disposition is not justisying faith neither doth justifie otherwise by Bellarmines owne confession than its next companion viz servile feare doth But wee when we say that faith alone doth justifie speake not of a bare and naked assent which is common to the wicked which cannot justifie either alone or at all but of a true
lively effectuall faith which worketh by love and therefore I say againe this whole dispute of the seven dispositions is meerely impertinent § IV. But some will say doe you require no preparative dispositions going before justification I answer that in adult is we doe but that no way hindereth the truth of our assertion concerning justification by faith alone wee doe confesse that to the begetting of justifying faith preparative dispositions are ordinarily required in adultis in those who be of yeares wrought partly by private education and use of other private meanes as reading meditation conference c. and partly by the publicke ministery both of the Law and of the Gospell by which first our minds are illuminated to know God and our selves and what wee shall bee in Christ if wee beleeve in him Secondly hee mollifieth our hearts and humbleth our soules ordinarily by the ministery of the Law and extraordinarily by afflictions either outward or inward which are the terrours of a distressed conscience by which when the Word will not serve the Lord draweth men as it were with a strong hand that being thus humbled we may become fit auditours of the Gospell In which the Lord to the humbled and prepared soule revealeth his unspeakeable mercies in Christ stirreth us up by the ministers of reconciliation to accept of his mercie in Christ intreating and perswading us in the name of God and in Christs stead that wee would be reconciled unto God The holy Ghost having thus knocked at the doore of our hearts at length in his good time he himselfe openeth our hearts to receive Christ by faith working in our judgments a lively assent to the doctrine of salvation by Christ and by it both an earnest desire in our hearts to be made partakers of Christ which is the desire of application and also in our wils a setled resolution to acknowledge him to be our Saviour and to rest upon him alone for salvation which is the will and purpose of application Having thus received and embraced Christ by a lively assent or beliefe and so having the condition of the promise which is faith in the next place wee proceed to actuall application by speciall faith which is farther to be confirmed by the Sacraments which are the seales of that righteousnesse which is by faith and by the practise of piety or leading of a godly life whereby wee are to make as our election and calling so also our justification sure unto us § V. But come we to his argument drawne from the seven preparative dispositions And first for faith he saith he shall not need to prove that it doth justifie because we confesse it but that it doth not justifie alone Answ. That justifying saith which is a grace infused in our regeneration we deny to justifie by way of disposing that faith which goeth before regeneration and is not infused we deny to justifie at all And such is that faith whereof he speaketh and therefore hee reckoneth without his host From our assertion he should rather have concluded thus That which is but a preparative disposition to justification doth not justifie at all that faith which goeth before regeneration is but a preparative disposition to justification as Bellarmine teacheth therefore that faith which goeth before regeneration doth not justifie at all Or thus a preparative disposition to justification doth not justifie but faith as all confesse doth justifie therefore it is not a preparative disposition to justification § VI. Yea but he will prove by authority of Scriptures by testimonies of Fathers and by reason that faith doth not justifie alone because it is but the beginning of justification and therefore other things must accompany and follow it to perfect our justification Answ. That it is the beginning of sanctification and the root of all sanctifying graces I have already confessed But the concurrence both of other inward graces and of outward obedience unto sanctification doth not hinder but that faith doth justifie alone Neither doth faith justifie as the beginning of justification only first because there are no degrees of justification before God for in the first act it is perfect and to that act continued throughout this life faith as I shewed before out of divers of the Fathers sufficeth I say sufficeth to justification and therefore is not the beginning onely but also the continuance and consummation thereof for as in the first act it justifieth so also in the continuance of justification for by it we stand and by it we live and so long as we have faith it is imputed unto us for righteousnesse even from faith to faith as it was to Abraham after he had long continued in the faith § VII His first proofe is Heb. 11. 6. Hee that commeth to God must beleeve that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that seeke him Therefore faith is the first motion of comming to God which wee willingly confesse But he should have done well to have told us what is meant by comming unto God For to come unto Christ is to beleeve in him Ioh. 6. 35 37 44 65. And if that bee the meaning of the holy Ghost in this place then to come unto God is to beleeve in him by speciall faith otherwise the Apostle should enunciate idem per idem And then the meaning is this hee that would beleeve that God is his God and that he will be gracious unto him must first beleeve that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that seeke him Or thus wouldest thou beleeve that Christ is thy Saviour then must thou first beleeve that hee is the Saviour of all that truely beleeve in him Or it may be that the word come in this place is to bee expounded by the word seeking He that will come unto God that is hee that will seeke God must beleeve that God is and that he is a rewarder of them that seeke him For these words comming returning seeking which properly betoken the actions of the body are by a Metaphore translated to the actions of the soule whereby is meant sometimes our conversion and turning unto God Deut. 4. 29. 30. 2 Chron. 15. 4. Esa. 9. 13. Hos. 3. 5. 5. 15. cum 6. 1. 7. 10. And if that bee the meaning of this place then nothing else can bee gathered from it but that faith is the beginning of our repentance and turning unto God Sometimes the whole study of piety whereby wee endevour to know God and to serve him 1 Chro. 28. 9. If thou seeke him that is if thou endevour to know and to serve him with an upright heart and with a willing mind 2 Chron. 14. 4. 15. 12. 17. 4. Act. 17. 27. Psal. 119. 2 3. whereupon godly and religious men are said to bee seekers of the Lord Psal. 22. 26. 24. 6. 40. 16. Esa. 51. 1. And thus faith is the beginning of all piety
respect of the almes which it doth receive And yet I doe not conceive that therefore the hand and the almes be relatives But we confesse that justifying faith is not without his object yet that object by apprehenâ—…ing wherof it 〈◊〉 justifie relâ—…tively is not righteousnesse inherent as here Bellarmine against his owne conscience doth suggest but the righteousnesse of Christ by which wee are justified betweene which and faith there is such a relation that as justifying faith is called the faith of Christ or faith in Christ faith in his bloud so the righteousnesse of Christ by which wee are justified is called the righteousnesse of faith And further I confesse that whosoever is justified by righteousnesse imputed is also in some measure just by righteousnesse inherent though he be not justified before God thereby But whereas he saith that wee will easily admit this argument that where faith is there is also inherent justice and consequently that justifying faith cannot be severed from other virtues because wee teach that by every sinne faith is lost I doe much marvell at his impudency for though he and his consorts doe wickedly teach that by every act of infidelity faith is lost yet wee are so farre from granting that faith is lost by every sinne that we confidently hold that true justifying faith is never totally or finally lost by any sinne whatsoever that is incident to the faithfull and regenerate man Some indeed have taught that by hainous offences which doe vastare conscientiam waste the conscience faith is lost yet that is farre from saying it is lost by every sinne Secondly againe saith he if faith doth justifie relatively then it cannot be in a mans minde but justice also must be there and without love there is no justice Answ. Without love there is no justice inherent but that is not it to which faith when it justifieth hath relation but that which faith having justified us bringeth forth in us as a consequent of justification Thirdly moreover saith he if faith severed from all other virtues doe justifie alone then it may also justifie being accompanied with those vices which are contrary to those virtues But this cannot be imagined that a man should be justified and yet remaine a wicked man Answ. If by vices he understand certaine vicious dispositions which though they doe not reigne in the faithfull yet remaine in them as their infirmities I confesse that justifying faith may and doth stand with such But if he meane the contrary habits of sinne which reigne in the hearts of the wicked and impenitent sinners I professe that justifying faith cannot stand with such For where these doe reigne the man is wholly unregenerate and where regeneration is not there faith which by regeneration is wrought cannot be It is therefore against the nature and being of a true justifying faith to harbour in a soule unregenerate § IV. To this argument he saith we answere that they assume that which is impossible viz. that faith may be alone which I beleeve not to have beene the answere of any of our Doctors for a man arguing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may suppose that which is impossible and yet the argument be of no lesse force But our assertion that faith cannot be alone which before I have made good in the second Chapter of this booke and defended against Bellarmines objections Chap. 3. hee laboureth here to take away by three reasons first by cavilling with Luther and Calvin First Luther saith that faith justifieth both before and without Charity I rejoyne it justifieth before because in order of nature it goeth before without because though Charity be present with it yet it justifieth without it even as the eye though the eare be with it yet seeth without it Secondly Calvin saith that the seed of faith remaineth in the greatest falles of the faithfull and therefore without Charity I rejoyne Calvin saith no more than S. Iohn doth that the seed of God doth alwaies remaine in those that are borne of God which seed of God is as well the seed of Charity as of Faith and both the one and the other remaine in the greatest fals of Gods children as wee see in Peter in whom though he fell most grievously in denying and sorswearing his Lord yet the seeds yea the habits of faith and love did remaine as I have proved elsewhere Secondly saith he because our argument assumeth not that faith may be alone but that if faith did justifie alone it would doe so though it were alonâ—… this reason doth not confute our assertion that faith cannot be alone but taketh away that answere which he falsely I thinke assigneth to us But this consequence of his I have denied and disproved His third reason which is but the second to disprove our assertions if it bee true saith he that true faith is never alone then it is because faith begetteth those other graces even as a good Tree bringeth forth good fruit And if this were so then faith should goe before love and other graces if not in time yet in nature But faith cannot be conceived to be in nature before justification or justice infused or those graces wherein justification consisteth because these are relatives as they say God justifying and faith receiving justification for relatives are simulnatura c. Answ. The relatives that we meane are Christs righteousnesse imputed of God and faith apprehending or receiving it which though they bee simul natura in respect of the one to the other yet both of them are before the other graces in order of nature But if justifying faith be before charity and there be no righteousnesse without charity then saith he the same man may be just and not just at the same time Answ. It followeth not For though in order of nature faith be before love 1 Tim. 1. 5. yet in time they goe together Neither is that such an absurdity as he imagineth that the same man at the same time should be a sinner in himselfe and righteous in Christ a sinner according to the Law because he hath broken it but righteous according to the Gâ—…spell because in Christ he hath fulfilled the Law Christ being the end of the Law to every one that beleeveth Insomuch that every one that beleeveth in Christ is reputed as if he had fulfilled the Law Lastly because saith he it is false which they hold that faith cannot be severed from Charity and other virtues and this he taketh upon him to prove in the next Chapter unto which I have fully answered in the second question concerning the nature of faith CHAP. XIV Bellarmines third principall argument from the removall of those causes which may be given why faith doth justifie alone § I. HHis third principall argument is taken from the removall of those causes he meaneth reasons which may be given why faith alone doth justifie All which as he saith may be reduced
to three heads The first is the authority of Gods word For if the Scriptures any where expresly say that faith alone doth justifie it must he beleeved though no other cause could be rendred The second is the will of God justifying namely because it hath pleased God to grant justification upon the onely condition of faith The third is the nature of faith it selfe because it is the properâ—…y of faith alone to apprehend justification and to apply it unto us and to make it ours Besides these I have rendred other causes the chiefe and principall whereof is this because we are justified not by any righteousnesse inherent in our selves but onely by the righteousnesse of Christ which being out of us in him is imputed onely to them that beleeve and is received onely by faith § II. But these three causes or reasons which he mentioneth will not easily be remov'd the first the authority of the Scriptures this being the maine doctrine of the Gospell Yea but saith Bellarmine it is no where said in expresse termes that faith alone doth justifie when we saith he have expresse termes that a man is justified by workes and not by faith onely Iam. 2. 24. Answ. To the place in the Epistle of Iames I shall answere fully in his due place Onely here I say thus much That Saint Iameâ—… speaketh not of the justification of a sinner before God by which he is made or constituted just of which our question is but of that whereby a just man already justified before God may be approved declared and knowne both to himselfe and others to be just And that the Apostle Iames speaketh not either of workes as causes but as signes of justification or of the habit of true faith but of the profession of faith or faith professed onely and concludeth that a man is justified that is knowne and approved to be just not onely by the profession of the true faith but by workes also a godly conversation being as it were the life and soule of the profession and without which it is dead But though in expresse tearmes it be not said in so many words and Syllables that faith doth justifie alone yet this doctrine is by most necessary consequence deduced from the Scriptures And what may by necessary consequence be deducted out of the Scriptures that is contained in the scriptures as all confesse Wherunto may be added that the Fathers so conceived of the doctrine of the scriptures who with one consent as you have heard have taught according to the scriptures that by faith we are justified alone And the Papists must remember that by oath they are bound to expound the scriptures according to the coÌ„sent of the fathers § III. Now that this doctrine is contained in the Scriptures I have plentifully proved before and something here shall bee added There are but two righteousnesses onely mentioned in the Scriptures by which wee can bee justified either that which is prescribed in the Law which is a righteousnesse inherent in our selves and performed by our selves or that which is taught in the Gospell which is the righteousnesse of Christ inherent in him and performed for us The former is the righteousnesse of the Law or of workes the latter is the righteousnesse of faith A third righteousnesse by which wee should bee justified cannot be named And betweene these two there is such an opposition made in the Scriptures that if wee bee justified by the one we cannot by the other If therefore the Scriptures teach that wee are justified by faith and not by workes it is all one as if they said that wee are justified by faith alone If it bee all one to say by faith and not by the workes of the Law or by faith alone then saith Bellarmine I demand whether all workes and every Law be excluded or not For if all workes be excluded then faith it selfe which Ioh. 6. 29. is the worke of God and if every Law then the Law of faith and consequently faith it selfe and so to be iustified by faith shal be nothing else but to be justified without faith Answ. it is plaine that by the Law is meant the Law of workes and by the workes of the Law all that obedience which is prescribed in the Law Now in the Law which is the perfect rule of righteousnesse all inherent righteousnesse is prescribed Then saith Bellarmine faith it selfe and the act of faith is excluded from the act of justification I answere first in this question the Apostle opposeth faith to workes and therefore faith is not included under workes Secondly faith as it is either an habit or an act and so part of inherent righteousnesse doth not justifie but as hath beene said relatively in respect of the object which being received by faith doth justifie as it was the brâ—…sen serpent apprehended by the eye which did heale and not the eye properly § IV. Againe the Scriptures teach that we are justified gratis gratiâ per sanguinem Christi per fidem Gratis that is freely without respect of any good workes done by us no not by the workes of righteousnesse which wee have done Tit. 3. 5. but by his meere grace and favour when we had deserved the contrary through the bloud and alone satisfaction of Christ received onely by faith To the word gratis Bellarmine answereth that it excludeth our owne merits which indeed can be none but not the free gifts of God as love and penitencie and the like for then faith also should be excluded That followeth not for when wee are justified by faith onely we are justified gratis gratis saith the Apostle freely by his grace through the merits of Christ by faith bringing onely faith to justification as the Fathers have taught and that not to bee any essentiall cause of our justification but onely to be the instrument and hand to receive Christ who is our righteousnes and therfore it is the condition required on our part in the covenant of grace The rest as love and hope and repentance c. being not the conditions of the covenant but the things by covenant promised to them that beleeve Vpon the condition of faith which is also the free gift of God the Lord promiseth remission of sins and justification and to those who are redeemed and justified by faith he doth by oath promise the graces of sanctification So that faith only on our part is required to the act of justification besides which we bring nothing else thereunto but love and the rest of the graces as Augustine saith of workes non precedunt justificandum sequuntur justificatum and therefore wee are justified by faith alone § V. And by this the second head is also proved namely that it is the good pleasure of God to grant justification upon the condition of faith alone If ye looke into all the promises of the Gospell ye shall find that they interpose only the
which we shall be judged at the last day at which time God will judge men according to their workes For wee must all appeare before the judgement seat of Christ that wee may receive according to those things which we have done in the body whether it bee good or evill Those that have done good shall goe into everlasting life and they that have done evill into everlasting punishment For good workes though wee are not justified by them nor saved for them yet they are the evidence according to which our Saviour will pronounce the sentence of salvation Matth. 25. 34 35. According to that Psal. 62. 12. And to thee Lord mercie for thou rewardest a man meaning the godly man according to his workes § IX Lastly they are necessary necessitate medij and as that which though it be no cause is called causa sine qua nâ—…n And thus they are necessary first as the way which leadeth to life eternall via qua nos perducturus est ad finem itsum quem promisit the way by which hee will bring us unto that end which he hath promised saith Augustine For those that are justified and by justification entituled to the Kingdome of heaven they are to goe in the way of sanctification towards their glorification Eâ—…h 2. 10. good workes therefore though they bee not the cause of raigning yet they are the way to the Kingdome And so saith Bellarminâ—… himselâ—…e that although God in predestination hath determined to give the Kingdome of heaven to certaine men whom he loved without any prevision of workes notwithstanding hee did withall ordaine that in respect of the execution the way to come to his Kingdome should be good workes I say then with the Prophet Esay this is the way let us walke in it Secondly as necessary fruits of our election for wee are elected to that end that we should bee holy Ephes. 1. 4. as necessary fruits of faith without which it is judged to bee dead â—…am 2. 26. as unseparable consequents of our redemption and justification Luk. 1. 74. And as they are necessary consequents of our justification so they are necessary forerunners of salvation by which wee are fitted for Gods Kingdome because no uncleane thing can enter into the Kingdome of heaven Apoc. 21. 27. and finally so necessary is a godly life that without it no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. I conclude with Bernard that good workes are occulia predestinationis jndicia futurâ—… fâ—…licitatis presagia via regni non caâ—…saregnandi tokens of our secret predestination presages of our future happinesse the way to the Kingdome but not the cause of our obtaining that Kingdome For howsoever good workes are necessary in many respects as I have shewed necessitate presentiae yet they are not necessary necessitate efficientiae as causes of our justification § X. Secondly the Papists calumniate us as if wee taught that good workes are not necessary to sanctification which slander as all the rest ariseth from their willfull and pernicious errour in consounding justificâ—…tion and sanctification In the question of justification we hold according to the Scriptures that if our owne workes or righteousnesse should bee obtruded unto the Lord as the matter or merit thereof whereby wee should bee both acquitted from our sinnes and so delivered from hell and also entituled to the Kingdome of heaven they are not onely to bee rejected but also detested as menstruous clouts as dung as losse But in the question of sanctification where they are considered both as fruits of faith and the Spirit as consequents of justification whereby wee testifie our thankefulnesse to God gather testimonies to our selves of our justification benefit and edifie our brethrenâ—… and also as necessary forerunners of glorification whereby we are fitted and prepared for Gods Kingdome unto which by justification wee are entituled and as the way wherein we are to walke towards our heavenly countrey and as the evidences according to which our Saviour will judge us at the last day c. wee doe acknowledge they are highly to be esteemed of as those things wherein our sanctification doth in good part consist For wee doe teach that our sanctification is partly habituall consisting in the habits of sanctifying graces faith hope charity humility the feare of God c. which is the first justification of the Papists and partly actuall consisting in our new obedience or which is all one in good workes which is their second justification This then is that which we doe hold that although good works doe not concurre with faith unto the act of justification as any cause thereof yet of necessity they must concurre in the subject that is the party justified as necessary fruits of faith as necessary consequents of justification as necessary antecedents of salvation And this is that which not only we but Bellarmine himselfe often citeth out of Augustine Bona opera accedunt justificato non praecedunt justificandum or thus bona opera non praecedunt justificandum sed sequantur justificatum good workes doe not goe before but follow after justification which is a pregnant proofe that they are no causes thereof CAP. II. That we are not justified by Workes § I. HAving thus avoided the calumniations of the Papists wee are now to dispute the question which is to bee understood not of justification before men whereby we are declared or knowne to bee just but of our justification before God whereby hee maketh us just nor of workes as fruits and consequents but as of causes of justification For we doe confesse that men are justified declarativè that is declared and knowne to be just to themselves or others by good works as the proper fruits of faith and undoubted consequents of justification but wee deny that we are justified before God by good works as any causes therof And this our assertion we will first prove by necessary arguments and then defend the same against the objections of the Papists § II. And first I prove it by all the arguments which I used before to prove the five severall points already handled For first if justification is not to be confounded with sanctification as if it consisted in a righteousnesse inherent in our selves or performed by our selves then are we not justified before God by workes But the former hath beene clearely proved therefore the latter is to be confessed .2 If wee bee justified by the meere grace of God and that freely without respect of any workes done by us then are we not justified before God by works For the holy Ghost maketh such an opposition betweene grace and workes that if we be justified by the one we cannot be justified by the other But the antecedent hath beene formerly proved therefore the consequent cannot be denyed 3. If we be not justified before God by righteousnesse inherent in or performed by our selves but onely by the righteousnesse
man could performe justitiam legis considered in the abstract as it is described in the doctrine of the Law and as Bellarmine himselfe De justif lib. 1. cap. 1. doth consider it would justifie him because it is perfect yet considered in the concrete for that righteousnesse which men attaine unto in or by the Law doth not justifie because it is unperfect And therefore that righteousnesse which men have in or by the Law doth not fulfill the righteousnes of the Law which the Apostle calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These two distinctions Bellarmine hath devised to shift off onely two of the places cited viz. Rom. 3. 27. and Phil. 3. 8 9. both which distinctions being rightly understood make against himselfe as I have shewed § IX Now he commeth to the third thing viz. what is meant by workes For saith he our adversaries by workes which the Apostle excludeth from justification understand all works whether done before or after faith yea faith it selfe considered as a work which opinion to be most absurd and proceeding from the ignorance of the Scriptures Augustine saith hee teacheth Men not understanding what the Apostle saith we make account that a man is justified by faith without the workes of the Law have thought that hee had said that faith is sufficient to a man though he live wickedly and have no good workes which be it farre from that Vessell of Election to thinke And farre bee it also from us so to thinke But although faith alone doth not suffice unto the perfection of a Christian who is to bee saved yet it alone sufficeth unto justification wherein wee have had the consent of many of the Fathers And although to the act of justifying nothing in us concurreth with faith but it alone sufficeth yet in the party justified there must concur with faith both inward graces and also outward works But here the Papists are divided among themselves Some of them thinke that by the workes of the Law are excluded not the workes of the morall but of the ceremoniall Law others that the workes of the morall Law are also excluded not all but such as goe before faith such as are done by the strength of nature without grace and without faith I answere first to both joyntly that not onely the workes of the Law are expressely excluded but all workes whatsoever indefinitely Rom. 4. 2 6. 11. 6. Eph. 2. 9. and more specially the workes which wee have done in righteousnesse Tit. 3. 5. the workes which God hath prepared for the regenerate that they should walke in them Ephes. 2. 9 10. Againe in him that is said not to worke workes are not to bee distinguished but all are understood to be excluded but hee that is justified by faiâ—…h is said not to worke Rom. 4. 4 5. and to have righteousnesse imputed to him without workes verse 6. Therefore his workes are not to bee distinguished but all are understood to be excluded § X. To the former severally I answere first that when the holy Ghost nameth the Law indefinitely he meaneth either the whole Law which is called Mishmereth the observation of the Lord or his charge containing three branches the morall the ceremoniall and the judicial Law or the chiefe part which is the morall Law And that the Apostle meaneth it especially because he speaketh of that Law by which commeth the knowledge of sinne and which was common both to Iewes and Gentiles unto which the whole world was subject Rom. 3. 19 20. whatsoever the Law saith it saith to them who are under the Law that every mouth may bee stopped and all the world may become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 obnoxious to the judgement of God Therefore by the deedes of the Law there shall no flesh that is neither Iew nor Gentile be justified in his sight for by the Law commeth the knowledge of sinne Moreover it is evident that the Apostle in that place speaketh of that Law which forbiddeth morall offences mentioned from the tenth verse to the ninteenth and by which all both Iewes and Gentiles are convicted to be under sin ver 9. 19. Secondly it is unreasonable to be thought that any man who was a transgressour of the morall Law should looke to bee justified by the observation of the ceremoniall Law which was but a by-law being but an appendice of the first table of the morall Law as the judiciall was an appendice of the second table And further the Apostle professeth that whosoever would be circumcised was bound to the performance of the whole Law Therefore the observer of the ceremoniall law could not be justified without the observation of the morall law Thirdly this answer which is given by some of the Pontificians is rejected by Bellarmine and the greater part of learned Papists who with us following the interpretation of Augustine and other of the ancient Fathers doe confesse that by the workes of the law which the Apostle excludeth from justification are meant the workes of the morall law as well as of the rest § XI But then say I all good workes whatsoever are excluded For in the Law which is the perfect rule of all inherent righteousnesse all good workes are prescribed and therefore those which proceed from faith For if charity which is the fulfilling of the law proceedeth from faith unfained 1 Tim. 1. 5. then doe those good workes which the law prescribeth proceed from faith also or else they are not such as the law requireth And therefore frivolous is the distinction of Bellarmine and other Papists who by the workes of the law excluded from justification underâ—…tand workes done before or without faith by the strength of nature not workes proceeding from faith or workes of grace The absurdity of whâ—…ch distinction being applyed to the question in hand may further appeare 1. If workes going before justification bee excluded from being any cause thereof then much more those workes which follow justification for causes doe not use to follow after but to goe before their effects at least in order of nature 2. The question concerning justification by workes must of necessity be understood of good workes for of those which are not good no question ought to be made But workes done before or without faith are not good For whatsoever is not of faith is sinne and without faith it is impossible to please God Neither can the fruit be good whiles the Tree is bad Neither can it be imagined that a man should bee justified by the workes of the law going before faith unlesse it bee presupposed that a man without faith and before grace is able to fulfill the law For hee that doth not fulfill the law transgresseth it and hee that transgresseth it is cursed not justified by it 3. When the Apostle termeth those workes which hee excludeth from the act of justification the workes of the Law the word Law is added not by way of extenuation as
if hee spake of such as are not good or devised by men but of those good workes which God himselfe hath commanded and to the perfect performance whereof hee hath promised justification Rom. 2. 13. And life Gal. 2. 12. Rom. 10. 5. 4. The holy Ghost speaketh generally of all men whether regenerate or unregenerate and of all workes whether going before faith or folloâ—…ing it that a man that is every one who is justified is justified by faith without the workes of the law Rom. 3. 28. that a man is not justified that is that no man is justified by the workes of the Law but by the faith of Iesus Christ for by the workes of the Law no flesh that is as the Psalmist speaketh no man living shall be justified Gal. 2. 16. For as in the first act of justification wee are justified by faith without respect of workes so our justification is continued unto us without respect of our workes And this appeareth most plainely in the examples of Abraham of Iob of David of Paul c. as I shewed before who though they abounded with good works which they wrought by faith yet were not justified by them but by faith onely For that which Chrysostome saith of Abraham is also verified of all the godly for saith hee that a man having not workes should bee justified by faith it is no unlikely thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but this that a man flourishing in good workes should not thereby be justified but by faith it was wonderfull and very much setteth forth the force of faith 5. When the Apostle excludeth workes from justification hee cannot bee understood to exclude them from the first justification only of the Papists for that as themselves teach is meerely habituall consisting in the habits of grace Now it is a senselesse thing to imagine that the Apostle would so seriously labour to prove that habituall Iustice is not actuall or that good works are no part of habituall righteousnesse nor doe concurre to habituall justification § XII Notwithstanding Bellarmine will prove that good workes only going before faith are excluded first out of Rom. 4. 4. To him that worketh the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt Nâ—…w saith hee such onely are those which are wrought by the strength of free-will for to works done by grace that which is given is not simply merces wages but grace also yea grace rather than wages Answ. First the meaning of the Apostle is this to him that fulfilleth the Law whether it bee by strength of nature or by helpe of grace if any such were to him the reward of justification and salvation would bee due by Gods covenant Doe this and live But to him that fulfilleth not the Law which was the case of Abraham and still is the case of the best but beleeveth in him that justifieth the ungodly such as he doth judge himselfe to be in himself he is justified gratis or of grace his faith being imputed unto him for righteousnesse without workes this place therefore proveth justification by faith without workes Secondly this assertion of Bellarmine is confuted both by other Papists and by himselfe also in other places For first there is no rewards due to him that fulfilleth the condition of the covenant that is to him that fufilleth the whole Law for he that doth not fulfill the Law doth transgresse it and to him that transgresseth not reward but punishment is due But to hold that a man before or without grace is able to fulfill the Law is meere Pelagianismes Againe all men before or without grace are wicked sinners and to such no reward is due but punishment Mâ—…ritis impii saith Augustine non gratiâ—… sed poena debetur Secondly the Papists and namely Bellarmine himselfe teach that to workes of grace proceeding from Charity the wages of eternall life is as due as the promised hire to the workeman and that by workes of Charity men doe merit and that condignely not onely ratione pacti by reason of the covenant sed etiam ipsius operis for the worth of the worke it selfe and yet forsooth the wages of their merit must be counted grace when the very place alleaged doth teach that the wages which is of debt is not of grace § XIII Secondly from the scope of the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians which was to perswade men that without the faith of Christ neither the Iewes by the Law nor the Gentiles by their Philosophie could bee justified or saved Which is untrue For the Apostle writeth not to unbeleeving either Iewes or Gentiles but to Christians who were already perswaded of that truth Neither was there ever any beleeving Iew who held that they might be justified by the works of the Law without faith neither any beleeving Gentiles who thought that by their morall works they might be saved without faith That question therefore the Apostle doth nowhere dispute But whereas many of the beleeving Iewes being zealous of the Law and many of the beleeving Gentiles being misse-led by the Iewes were perswaded that they were to be justified not onely by faith in Christ but also by the observation of the Law that is to say by a righteousnesse inherent in themselves and to bee performed by themselves The Apostle therefore sheweth that the righteousnesse whereby we are justified is the righteousnesse of God and that neither Iewes nor Gentiles are justified by inherent righteousnesse wich is prescribed in the Law to which end he proveth at large in the three first chapters of the Epistle to the Romanes that both Iewes and Gentiles were sinners and therefore were not to be justified by inherent righteousnesse which is the observation of the Law but were to be justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption which is in Christ by or through faith that is to say by the righteousnesse of Christ both active and passive apprehended by faith This righteousnesse of Christ is that righteousnesse of God by which we are justified which is revealed in the Gospell as being the principall argument thereof Rom. 1. 17. for so the Apostle saith that we are justified through the redemption that is in Christ that wee are justified by his bloud Rom. 5. 5. reconciled to God by his death vers 10. and constituted or made just by his obedience Rom. 5. 19. Of the scope of the Epistle to the Galatians I am shortly to speake But Bellarmine in his whole disputation impudently perverteth the Apostles scope as if the question which he disputeth were not this Whether faith doe justifie without workes which every where he affirmatively concludeth but whether workes doe justifie without faith which the Apostle never mentioned nor meant though Bellarmine makes him to conclude it negatively viz. that workes without faith doe not justifie And to this scope hee maketh the whole discourse of the Apostle to aime By this Sophisticall tricke Bellarmine seeketh to
these morall duties in the faithfull because they are not workes of the flesh must needs bee the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. 19. 21. and although perhaps performed to men yet are done in obedience to God 5. Neither doth the Apostle distinguish betwixt Abrahams workes as if hee were justified by some and not by others but in generall denieth him to have beene justified by any workes at all And that hee proveth because his faith was imputed for righteousnesse As if hee had said to whom faith is imputed for righteousnesse he is not justified by workes to Abraham faith was imputed for righteousnesse therefore Abraham was not justified by workes The proposition is thus proved to him that worketh that is to him that fulfilleth the Law righteousnesse is not imputed or reckoned of Grace but of debt But to him that worketh not that is that doth not fulfill the Law but beleeveth on him that justifieth a sinner as all are and as hee acknowledgeth himselfe to be who therefore can merit nothing but punishment his faith is counted or imputed for righteousnesse 6. By this example of Abraham Bellarmine is notably confounded in two other respects § IV. For first whereas justification before God is but one wherein the Lord by imputation of Christs righteousnesse to a beleeving sinner doth absolve him from his sinnes and also accepteth of him as righteous in Christ not onely in the first moment of justification wherein being a sinner in himselfe he was first constituted righteous in Christ but also in the continuance of justification wherein the beleever being still a sinner in himselfe is continued in the favour of God by the merits and intercession of Christ and though a sinner in himselfe yet beleeving in him that justifieth a sinner is made the righteousnesse of God in Christ. Bellarmine notwithstanding maketh two justifications the first wherein a sinner is made righteous by infusion of habituall righteousnes the second when a just man maketh himselfe more just by the practise of actuall righteousnesse that is to say of good works which two are degrees of sanctification and not of justification and saith that the Apostle in the Epistle to the Romans speaketh only of the former wherein workes going before faith are excluded from the act of justification So that in Bellarmines conceit when the Apostle saith that a man is justified by faith without workes his meaning is without workes going before justification But what the Apostle speaketh of other men hee affirmeth of faithfull Abraham at what time he was a man regenerate as Bellarmine consesseth and abounded with good workes which as the same Apostle testifieth Heb. 11. 8. c. he wrought by faith And yet of him the Apostle saith that he was justified by faith and not by works that the Lord imputed unto him righteousnesse without workes that hisâ—… justification or blessednesse consisted in the remission of his sinnes and imputation of righteousnesse and being a sinner in himselfe as all mortall men are hee was in Christ the promised seed made blessed through faith By the example of Abraham therefore we learne first that that distinction of justification is forged For Abraham as when hee first beleeved was justified by faith without workes so afterwards when hee abounded with good workes hee was justified by faith and not by workes And undoubtedly if ever any man attained to the second justification which the Papists ascribe to workes Abraham had it then when the Apostle affirmeth that he was justified without workes Secondly that workes are excluded from justification not onely those which goe before faith but also those that follow and are wrought by it § V. The second respect when Bellarmine endeavoureth to reconcile the seeming difference betweene the Apostle Paul Rom. 3. 4. and Saint Iames Chap. 2. hee saith that Paul speaking of the first justification saith that a man is justified by faith without workes namely going before justification but Saint Iames speaking of the second justification saith that a man is justified by workes and not by faith onely But both the Apostle use the example of Abraham for the proofe of their assertion Paul proving that a man is justified before God by faith without workes demonstrateth his assertion by the example of Abraham who though hee were most fruitfull of good workes yet he was justified by faith without workes And as Abraham was justified so are all the faithfull Saint Iames concluding that a man is justified that is declared and knowne to be just by workes and not by profession of faith onely proveth also his assertion by the example of Abraham who demonstrated his faith by his workes By which though he were declared and knowne to be a just man as Saint Iames saith yet by them he was not justified before God but by faith only as Saint Paul teacheth This example therefore of Abraham doth prove that the Apostle Paul doth not speake of the first justification which is habituall nor of workes onely going before justification for Abraham was a man long before regenerated and justified and his workes were such as hee wrought by faith But that this is a false and counterfeit distinction of justification it may further be proved For if this be true that the Apostle excluding workes from justification speaketh of the first justification which they say is meerely habituall then the Apostle must bee thought toâ—… have taken all these paines to prove that to habituall righteousnesse good workes doe not concurre or that habituall righteousnesse is not actuall which needeth no proofe And againe if onely workes going before grace be exculded from justification then the Apostle must be thought to have â—…boured seriously to prove that we are not justified by such workes as are not good which needeth no proofe for how should a man be justified by that which is not just This example therefore of Abraham is as Chrysostome speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abundant matter of much victory wherein we may truely and seriously triumph § VI. Bellarmine second answere is that the Apostle speaketh with condition if Abraham was justified by workes not proceeding from the grace of faith as they thought who to their owne strength attributed righteousnesse then surely he had glory but not with God And because it is evident enough that Abraham had glory even with God thence hee gathereth that hee was not justified by workes without faith but by faith from which good workes truly proceed hee should have said by workes which proceed from faith if he meant to contradict us for we doe confesse that he was justified by faith from which good workes did proceed but withall we say that he was justified by his faith and not by his workes But in this senselesse answere of Bellarmine there are many absurdities for first by incredible impudencie hee taketh for granted that which the Apostle disputeth against namely that Abraham was justified by workes viz. such workes as proceeded
freely professe that by how much wee have received the greater favours from God in redeeming us and bringing us into the liberty of his children in freeing us from sinne and from the yoake of the Law by so much the more are we bound to obedience not to be justified or saved by it but to testifie our thankefulnesse and to glorifie God who hath beene so gracious unto us c. Much more might be said concerning Christian liberty but this is as much as is pertinent to the question in hand If any desire to bee better informed in this point I referre them to my treatise of Christian liberty which I published many yeaâ—…es agoe CAP. V. That good Workes are not necessary by necessity of Efficacie § I. ALL this while Bellarmine as we have seene hath wandred from the question but now he saith he will come neerer unto it For now hee will prove the necessity of good workes not onely by way of presence but by wâ—…y of efficacie But to what will he prove them necéssary to justification no such matter But yet that is the question which hee ought to prove if hee will disprove justification by faith alone that good workes doe concurre to justification as causes thereof For though they were as they are not causes of Salvation yet it is manifest that they are consequents and therefore no causes of justification So that Bellarmine though hee be come neerer the question yet he is not come home to it But perhaps it will be said that Bellarmine prevented this objection when he first propounded this as his fifth principall argument to prove that faith doth not justifie alone because good workes are necessary to Salvation His argument may thus be frarned If faith did justifie alone then it would save alone but faith doth not save alone without good workes which are necessary to Salvation in those that are come to yeares Therefore faith doth not justifie alone without good workes which are so necessary to Salvation etiam hominibus justificatis even to them that are justified that without them faith alone doth not save Answ. The proposition is denied first by Bellarmine himselfe who teacheth though falsely that not all who are justified shall bee saved when notwithstanding the Apostle saith â—…hom the Lord hath justified he also hath glorified And further he holdeth that they who are justified may utterly and finally lose their justification though they lose not their faith and farther that they may also lose their faith which as he absurdly teacheth is lost by any act of infidelity and consequently both their justification and Salvation Yea but saith Bellarmine their justice cannot be lost nor their Salvation whiles they have faith if they be justified by faith onely But Bellarmine himselfe saith though falsely that the faith of them who are justified may be lost and with it their Salvation and therefore by his doctrine a man bee justified by faith and yet not be saved by it Secondly it is denied by some of the Fathers who though they teach that faith alone sufficeth to justification as you have heard yet deny that it alone sufficeth to Salvation because some other things as namely good workes are thereunto required To the assumption that saith alone doth not save If such a faith be meant as is alone severed from Charity and void of workes I doe confesse that it neither saveth nor yet justifieth I doe not say alone but not at all But if he speake of a true lively faith in Christ which purifieth the heart and worketh by love of which onely we speake and understand it relatively as we doe then I constantly affirme that faith in Christ alone that is Christ alone received by faith is the onely meritorious cause of our Salvation and that neither workes nor any other graces are causes of salvation unlesse hee meane caussas sine quibus non which are no causes § II. But for the further proofe of his consequences Bellarmine saith that we cannot deny them because Luther teacheth that a Christian man cannot lose his salvation unlesse he will not beleeve and that the Lâ—…therans affirme that salvation as well as justification is to bee ascribed to faith alone Answ. Wee can deny what either Luther or those that are called Lutherans doe affirme without warrant of Gods word therefore this was but a slender proofe Howbeit we doe not deny that assertion of Luther nor the like which though full of true comfort yet are most maliciously calumniated by the Papists as if hee taught men not to care what sinnes they commit so that they can say they have faith Whereas Luther delivereth speeches of that kinde to comfort the distressed consciences labouring under the burden of sinne assuring them that although their sinnes bee many and great yet they ought not to despaire if they can finde in their heart to beleeve in Christ. Which is most true For though our sinnes be many the mercies of God are more though great yet the merrits of Christ are greater And though the Lutherans doe say that salvation as well as justification is to bee ascribed to faith alone yet that is no proofe of Bellarmines consequence but a flat deniall of his assumption which it behoveth him to prove Upon these things thus premised Bellarmine inferreth that all the testimonies which afterwards namely in his fourth Booke he was to alleage out of Scriptures and Fathers to prove that good workes are so necessary to salvation even to men that are justified that without them faith alone doth not save them doe also prove that faith alone doth not justifie which is the thing saith hee which wee have undertaken to prove which notwithstanding wee doe constantly deny protesting against this inference of Bellâ—…mine and affirming that although good workes be so necessary to salvation as that that faith which is without them doth not save a man yet that doth not hinder our assertion that faith doth justifie alone because they doe not concurre to the act of justification at all and much lesse as the causes thereof for they follow justification though ordinarily they goe before salvation and howsoever that faith which is alone severed from charity and destitute of good workes doth neither justifie as I have shewed heretofore nor save yet notwithstanding faith relatively understood that is Christ received by faith doth save alone § III. But to returne to his fourth Booke though Bellarmine still doe wander yet I must be content to follow him To prove therefore that good workes are necessary to salvation by necessity of efficiency as causes thereof hee useth three kindes of proofes testimonies of Scriptures sentences of Fathers and reason Out of the Scriptures hoe produceth tenne testimonies besides some whole Epistles The first testimony Heb. 10. 30. For patience is necessary for you that doing the will of God ye may receive the promise Here first saith he wee have the terme necessary and
the necessity of good workes though they bee impertinent to the maine Question because they prove not that which is in controversie betwixt us yet are not impertinent to his purpose which was to calumniate us and to beare the world in hand that wee are such as deny the necessity of good workes But if the question were tryed by voices of the Fathers innumerable testimonies might bee produced out of their writings wherein they teach that wee are justified by faith and not by workes yea in direct termes affirming that which is the question betweene us that we are justified by faith alone But that workes are necessary as causes either to salvation or which is the question to justification not any one pregnant testimony out of the ancient Fathers is or as I suppose can bee produced But to prove the necessity of good workes by way of presence I shall not need to recite the severall testimonies seeing I have my selfe delivered more to prove and to urge the necessity of good workes than can be gathered out of all these testimonies put together § XV. In the third and last place he bringeth a reason like to that which he framed l. 1. cap. 14. that faith alone doth not justifie But doth he not dispute the same question here did he not propound five principall arguments to prove that faith doth not justifie alone the fifth and last wherof was from the necessity of good works the handling whereof hee put off to this place Should he not then from the necessity of good workes prove that faith doth not justifie alone But in stead of proving that hee endevoureth to prove that faith doth not save alone Thus craftily hee glydeth from one question to another for his owne advantage because hee knew that more is required to salvation than was required to justification For sanctification commeth betwixt justification and salvation And although we are justified without works going before justification yet we are not saved without workes going before salvation they being the way which God hath prepared for them that are justified to walke in towards their glorification I might therefore according to the Lawes of disputation hold him to the question or refuse to give him answere But he is so farre from proving that faith doth not justifie alone that hee is not able to prove that it doth not save alone disputing in that sence according to which we doe hold that faith doth justifie alone Now for the understanding of our sence and meaning certaine distinctions heretofore propounded must for avoiding of calumniations bee here repeated First that wee doe not meane that faith is the onely grace which doth sanctifie as the Papists will needes misunderstand us but that to sanctification not only other graces doe concurre with faith but good workes also And consequently that besides faith the said graces and good workes be forerunners of our salvation Secondly when wee say faith alone wee doe not meane that faith which is alone being a solitary an idle a counterfeit and dead faith severed from charity and other graces and destitute of goodworks but we meane a true and lively â—…aith which purifieth the heart and worketh by love which cannot be severed from charity and other graces as I have heretofore proved And therefore wee hold that although in respect of the act of justifying or saving it alone yet in respect of the being thereof it never is nor if it be a true justifying and savingfaith can be alone Thirdly when we doe say that faith alone justifieth and saveth wee speake with relation to the object or relatively meaning that the object which faith alone receiveth doth justifie and save us when wee say therefore that we are justified or saved by faith alone our meaning is that we are justified only by the righteousnesse of Christ which is apprehended by faith alone and not by our owne righteousnesse and that wee are saved by the merits of Christ alone received by faith and not by our owne workes or merits and consequently that Christ received by faith is the onely meritorious cause of our salvation § XVI Now let us heare Bellarmines dispute Iffaith alone did save and that workes were not otherwise â—…ecessary than in respect of presence as the fruits and signes of faith then it would follow that faith could save though it wanted all maner of good workes and were joyned with all maner of vices and sinnes but the consequent is false therfore saith hee faith alone doth not save and good workes are necessary not onely in regard of presence but also of some efficiencie To the proposition I answere first that it is senselesse and implyeth a contradiction For if good workes must necessarily be present with saving faith which hee confesseth wee doe hold how can it be supposed without implying a contradiction that it can save being not onely destitute of all good workes but also accompanied with all maner of sinne this is sufficient to overthrowe his whole dispute Secondly I deny the consequence of his proposition For justifieing and saving faith though it justifie and save alone yet it never is nor can be alone Even as the eye in respect of his being cannot if it be a true living eye be alone severed from other parts of the body yet in respect of the act of seeing unto which no other part doth concurre it seeth alone Even so faith which is the spirituall eye of the soule in respect of its being cannot if it be a true lively faith be alone severed from the other graces which are with it fellow members of sanctification but yet in respect of the Act of justifying and saving unto which no other graces concurre with it as any causes therof it justifyeth and saveth alone because it alone and no other grace doth receive Christ unto justification and salvation Thirdly we do not say that the presence of good workes is necessary to salvation onely as they are the fruits and signes of faith but also as necessary forerunners as causa sine qua non as the way to salvation and as the evidence according to which the sentence shall be pronounced Which consideration disproveth the proofe of his consequence which is that according to our doctrine good workes are required to the act of saving onely by accident whose presence addeth nothing to the virtue of faith in justifying and saving and so their absence detracteth nothing from it and therefore being taken away faith never the lesse saveth Answ. Things whose presence is necessary cannot be said to bee present by accident For such may be present or absent but that which is necessary cannot be otherwise the thing being safe But we hold the presence of workes not to be contingent but necessary both in respect of salvation as the way to it and as Causa sine qua non and of faith as the unseparable fruits of it without which it is said to be dead
For what will it profit a man saith St. Iames if hee shall say that hee hath faith and hath not workes will that faith save him For as the body without the Spirit is dead so that faith which is in profession onely and is without workes is dead § XVII But this reason of his hee doth illustrate by two unlike similitudes For saith hee even as fire because by its heat alone it heateth if from the fire were taken away all other qualityes which are by accident joyned with heat it would still without doubt heat And as a father because by the onely relation of paternity hee hath reference to his sonne if from him who is a father all other attributes were removed as knowledgen â—…bility power health beauty and in stead os them there should succeed ignorance basenesse weaknes sicknes deformity and among all these attributes paternity should remaine yet still that father should have relation to his sonne Even so because a Christian apprehendeth salvation by faith alone and unto it is referred by our adversaryes surely it followeth that faith remayning hee may be saved although hee have no good workes and have many ill Answ. In the former similitude hee compareth a Christian man to fire faith to heat and other graces and good workes to such other qualityes as in fire by accident concurre with heat In which similitude nothing is like For neither doth a Christian man justifie or save others by faith as fire by his heat doth heat other things neither is hee justified or saved by his faith as it is a quality inherent but as it is the hand to receive Christâ—… neither are other graces or duetyes of sanctification which wee call good workes to be compared with I know not what accidentall qualityes concurring with heat but to those unseparable qualityes of fire viz light and drynes For even in the fire that is inflamed there doe concurre necessarily with heat drynesse and light neither were it a true fire without them and yet the act of heating is to be ascribed to the heat of the fire properly and not to the light or drynesse of the element so in a true Christian that is justified there doth concurre necessarily with faith both other sanctifying graces answerable to the drynesse of the fire and also the light of a Christian conversation without which hee is not to be held a true Christian or truely justified and yet the act of justifying or saving is not to be ascribed either to other graces or to good workes but onely to faith receiving Christ or rather to Christ onely received by faith In the other similitude he compareth the reference which faith hath to salvation unto that relation with is betweene father and sonne But faith and salvation are no such relatives Neither are the graces of the sanctification or good workes to be compared to those accidentall adjuncts attributed to a father which may come and goe as being not necessary to the being of a father but rather to those properties of the humane nature as reason will understanding wit c. For although a man cannot become a father without these yet his being a father is not not to be ascribed to these § XVIII And whereas hee would seeme to take away the answeare of his adversaties who alleage that his supposition is impossible both because in his first booke he had proved that saith may truely and indeed be severed from charity and good workes and also because at least in conceit it may be severed from them which he saith is sufficient for the confirmation of an hypotheticall prâ—…position neither can his adversaries deny it who teach thah faith and workes have that relation which is betweene the cause and the effect Hereunto I reply First that I have formerly not onely answered his arguments which hee produced to this purpose but also proved by unanswereable arguments that true justifying faith cannot be severed from charity and good workes Secondly as I said even nowe his supposition implyeth a contradiction and therefore is impossible Impossible I say that workes being supposed to bee present necessitate presentiae should in the same speech be truely supposed to be absent Thirdly If Bellarmine can conceive that true justifying and saving faith may be without charity and good workes then hee may also conceive that that faith may save which is severed from charity and destitute of good workes His assumption I grant for wee teach according to the Scriptures that that faith which is alone severed from charity and good works doth justify or save neither alone nor at all and doe ascribe lesse to such a faith than the Papists themselves doe But his conclusion is faulty as contayning more than can be inferred upon the premisses that good workes are necessary not onely in regard of presence but also of some Efficiencie which was not so much as mentioned in the antecedent of the proposition which the conclusion should gainsay and say no more Thus much of the necessity of good workes CHAP. VI. Of the verity of the justice of works and of the possibilitie of fulfilling the Law § I. NOw Bellarmine will discourse of the truth of the justice of workes or of actuall righteousnesse And in this dispute he spendeth eigth Chapters But to what end for I feare hee wandreth still Hee had in the first booke propounded five principall arguments to prove that faith doth not justifie alone The Fifth and last was that good workes also doe justifie and therefore not faith alone This assertion hee laboureth to prove by divers arguments The first from the necessity of good workes which I have answeared The second from the verity of the justice of workes namely that the good workes of the faithfull and regenerate are truely good which wee doe not deny wee say indeed that the seeming good workes of men unregenerate are not truely good because an evill tree cannot bring forth good fruit But the good workes of the regenerate being the workes of grace and the fruits of the Spirit wee acknowledge to be truely good But will it hereupon followe that therfore they are or may be justified by workes Nothing lesse Hee must prove that the workes of the regenerate are not onely truely good but also purely and perfectly good and not onely that but that they are also perpetually and universally good For if they faile in any one particular as in many things we saith Iames the just offend all they cannot be justified by their obedience For hee that offendeâ—…h in one is guilty of the breach of the whole Law and is so farre from being justified by his obedience that by the sentence of the Law hee is accursed because he hath not continued in all the things which are written in the booke of the Law to doe them unlesse therfore he can prove that not onely some but all the workes of the faithfull are not onely truely but
made just before God by workes and Iames affirme it how doe they not contradict one another § IV. Bellarm. hopeth to salve the matter with his new-found distinction of the first and second justification that Paul speaking of the justification wherein a man of a sinner is made just excludeth workes done by the strength of nature without faith and without grace and that Iames speaking of the second justification wherein a just man is made more just saith that by the workes of grace proceeding from faith a man is justified Answ. Such a distinction might be applyed to sanctification which is partly habituall the which they call their first justiâ—…cation consisting chiefly in charity and partly actuall which is their second justfication consisting in good workes but being applyed to justification it hath no ground either in the Scriptures or in the ancient fathers Neither can any such distinction possibly bee applied to that justification which the Scriptures teach as I have showed heretofore Secondly if there could be such a distinction I would say that Paul when hee denyeth Abraham to have been justified by workes did speake of the second justification wich Bellarmine himselfe confesseth For Abraham when he was said to be justified by faith without workes did abound which workes as Bellarmine confesseth and yet was not justifyed by them And that Iames when hee speaketh of Rahab the harlot whom hee affirmeth to have been justified by workes speaketh of the first justification as Bellarmine also affirmeth If therefore Paul say that in the first justification none are justified by workes and Iames affirme that some are as namely Rahab If the Apostle Iames say that Abraham in his second jâ—…stification was justified by workes and Paul doe as planiely deny it how are they reconciled Againe saith Bellarmine Paul from justification onely excludeth the workes done without grace Iames includeth onely the workes of grace I answeare that Paul excludeth from justification Abrahams workes which as else where hee testifieth he wrought by faith And Iames includeth the workes of Rahab the harlot which was done as Bellarmine saith without grace going before Where I desire the reader to observe what Bellarmine answeareth As Paul saith hee when he did speake of the first justification brought the example of Abraham which was indeed of the second that hee might prove as it were à majori from the greater that a sinner cannot bee justified by workes done without faith if righteous Abraham was not made more just by his workes done without faith even so Iames when hee did speake of the second justification brought the example of Rahab which is of the first justification that hee might prove à majori hee should say à minori if my logicke faile me not from the lesse that a just man is made more just by his workes and not onely by faith if Rahab of an harlot was made just by workes and not onely by faith Answ. Thus then hee maketh the Apostles to argue If Abrahams workes would not have justified him without faith much lesse would the good workes of the wicked And if Rahab by her worke of mercie was of an harlot made just how much more shall the good workes of the righteous make them more just § V. Where by the way you may note diverse absurdities which I have partly touched before First that the Apostle forsooth bringeth Abraham as an example of justification by workes when it is most evident that hee bringeth him as an example of justification by imputation of righteousnesse without workes and maketh his example the exemplar or patterne of all others who in like maner are justified by faith without workes or by imputation of righteousnes without workes Secondly That Paul produceth Abraham as an example to prove that a just man is more justified by his workes for which there is no colour praeter impudentiam asseverandi the contrary is proved that Paul speaking of the justification of a sinner applyeth what hee saith to Abraham For hee proveth that Abraham was not justified by workes because the Scripture saith Abraham beleeved God and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt But to him that worketh not but beleeveth on him that iustifieth the ungodly which was Abrahams case his faith is counted for righteousnesse Thirdly the Apostle when he excludeth Abrahams workes from iustification doth not exclude his good and gracious workes but such as hee did or might have done without grace that is to say gracelesse workes But no doubt the Apostles intent in producing the example of Abraham which Chrysostome also hath observed was this If Abraham who did abound with so many notable works which hee wrought by faith was not iustified by them but onely by faith then it is certaine that none are iustified by workes though their workes be never so gracious Fourthly He supposeth that gracious Abraham might have done good workes without grace and that the Apostle denyeth him to have bene iustified by such workes as hee might have done but did not Fifthly By an impudent devise whereof there is no colour hee maketh the Apostle from the example of Abraham to argue à majori If Abrahams workes would not have iustified him unlesse they had proceeded from faith then much lesse can the workes of sinners and unregenerate men done without faith iustifie them Sixthly He shamefally inverteth the Apostles question and perverteth his whole disputation As if the Apostle disputed this question whether workes doe iustifie without faith which hee doth never so much as mention and not whether faith doth iustifie without workes which is indeed the question Seventhly Where hee saith that the Apostle excludeth workes onely from their imaginary first iustification which is meerely habituall hee conceiveth that the Apostle tooke all these paines to prove that workes are no part of habituall righteousnesse Eightly Where hee saith that the Apostle excludeth from iustification workes of nature and not of grace it is as much as if hee should have said that the Apostle doth so seriously labour to prove that men are not justified by such workes as are not good but evill To conclude it is evident that the Apostle Paul excludeth from the act of justification all workes in geâ—…all whether done before grace or after of all men whether unregenerate or regenerate even of Abraham himself Yea more specially the workes of the faithfull and regenerate First Because he speaketh of good workes even the workes of righteousnesse which wee the faithfull have done Tit. 3. 5. Secondly The question being whether faith doth justifie without workes or whether faith and workes together the Apostle must be understood to exclude those workes from the act of justification which with faith concurre in the party justified Even as Abraham though his faith was accompanied with store of good works yet he was justified and so are all the faithfull by
For the life of faith it self doth not depend upon workes as the cause but is thereby knowne as by the effects You see againe what the question is which hee will conclude namely that the faith which is without workes or which is in profession onely without workes is not a lively but a dead faith and consequently not a justifying faith For a justifying faith is like the faith of Abraham and of Rahab but that faith which is in profession onely and wanteth workes is not like the faith of Abraham and of Rabaâ—… For though Abraham was iustified by faith without workes as the Apostle Paul proveth yea by faith alone as the Papists themselves confesse yet the faith by which hee was justified was not alone but was fruitfull of good workes by which both hee and his faith were justified that is knowne to be just and upright § IX Vers. 21. was not Abraham our Father saith hee justified by workes when hee had offered his sonne Isaack upon the Altar Of which wordes the meaning is not that Abraham by that worke was justified before God or made just for long before the holy Ghost gave him this testimony Gen. 15. Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousnesse not that then hee first believed or was then first justified for when hee first left his countrey which hee left by faith Heb. 11. 8. hee had believed and his faith no doubt was imputed to him for righteousnesse but that by that speciall worke after hee was proved hee was approved and knowne to be a righteous man For upon Abrahams approbation of his faith and obedience when he was tryed the Lord gave him this testimony Gen. 22. 12. Now I know that thou fearest God c. Did not God know it before Yea no doubt but hee speaketh after the maner of men He had tempted Abraham that is by a commandement of tryall hee had proved his faith and obedience not that hee did not know but that he would make it knowne to Abraham and others As on the contray God is said 2. Chron. 32. 31. to have left Ezechias to try him that hee might know that is that hee might make knowne all that was in his heart when as therefore Abraham being tryed had by that act of offering his sonne approved his faith and obedience the Lord saith Now I know that is now by this tryall it is made knowne that thou art a just man and one that feareth God And in this sence as it is most manifest hee is said by his workes to have been justified that is knowne declared approved to be a just man § X. Hereupon St. Iames inferreth vers 22. Doe you not see how faith did co-operate to or with his workes The verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be understood two wayes either that faith with other graces did co-operate to the bringing forth of this worke as namely with the feare of God and love of God Gen. 22. 12. though faith was the principall Heb. 11. 17. Or else that faith did co-operate with his workes not to justifie him before God but to manifest declare and approve his righteousnes In which sence we must understand the word Faith as in the proposition vers 24. for faith professed or the profession of faith which doth concurre together with workes to make a man truely justified to bee knowne And in this sence faith doth co-operate with works and may be said to justifie by declaring a man to be just though Bellarmine holdeth the contrary For that a man may bee acknowledged to be a man truely justified before God by faith two things must concurre the profession of the true faith and a Christian conversation neither of which alone is sufficient It followeth in the same verse and by workes was faith made perfect Which words saith Bellarmine cannot signifie any other but that his righteousnesse which was begunne by faith was perfected by good works Answ. But Iames doth not say that his righteousnesse but his faith was perfected and whereas hee saith the words cannot signifie otherwise I say they may be understood two other wayes First that faith by workes is perfected because by workes it is manifested and perfectly knowne in which sence Gods strength is perfected in our weakenesse 2. Cor. 12. 9. Secondly because workes bring the fruits and effects of faith to be perfected when it bringeth forth good fruits according to his kind For when any thing hath attayned to the end as it hath when it doth effectually produce those uses or fruits for which it was ordayned it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be perfect Now the end of our justification by faith is our sanctification For when faith was wrought in us that is to say in our regeneration we were the workemanship of God created unto good workes which God hath preordayned that wee should walke in them Eph. 2. 10. Faith therefore may then bee said to be perfected when it doth effectually bring forth the fruit of good workes whereby a man is not made but declared to be just § XI Vers. 23. And this appeareth yet more plainely by that which followeth And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse This Scripture was fulfilled Gen. 15. 6. above 30. yeares before his offering of Isaake and here againe it is said to have been fulfilled in this act that is the truth of that testimony which was given him so long before was then manifested when by this worke hee evidently declared that hee was indued with a true lively iustifying faith And to the like purpose the same sentence might as Bellarmine confesseth be applyed to Abraham in respect of any other notable fruit of his faith that then also that sentence was verified Abraham believed God c. For then it was declared and manifested that hee was indued with a true iustifying faith As for that conceipt of Bellarmine that if the Hebrew word be well scanned it will appeare that the meaning of the words is that Abrahams believing God was a â—…ust worke it is but a poore shift For Paul understandeth it of Abrahams person and maketh that text his principall ground of the iustification of the faithfull by imputation of righteousnesse without workes And Iames likewise understandeth it of Abrahams person shewing that by this act of offering his sonne the truth of that testimony was manifested that hee was indued with a true faith by which hee was iustified It followeth in the same verse and hee was called the friend of God 2. Chron. 20. 7. Esai 41. 8. that is by this act hee approved himselfe to bee such a one § XII Hereupon Saint Iames Verse 24. inferreth this consectary or conclusion you see then by this example of Abraham that a man who is justified before God by faith alone as Abraham was and that by imputation of righteousnesse without workes is also justified by workes as
workes Saint Iames having to deale with carnall Gospellers vaine men turning the grace of God into wantonnesse who having heard that faith doth justifie without workes did cast off all care of good workes thinking it sufficient to professe themselves to beleeve though their life were dissolute Against these Saint Iames proveth that vaine is the profession of faith without good works â—… that the faith which is without works is not a true liuely justifying faith but a dead and counterfeit faith that whosoever is justified before God by faith must also be justified that is declared and approved to bee just not onely by profession of his faith but also by the practise of good workes Wherefore in this respect there is no more difference betweene the two Apostles Paul and Iames than betweene Lâ—…ther and us who are Preachers of the Gospell at this day For as Luther having to deale with Popish justitiaâ—…ies who taught justification by workes urgeth most zelously justification by faith alone and in the question of justification after the example of Saint Paul speaketh contemptuously of workes so we having to dâ—…le with Libertines and carnall gospellers insisting in the steppes of Saint Iames urge the necessity of good workes § XVII Secondly wee are to consider the divers acceptions of the words faith workes justifie in the writings of the two Apostles Paul speaking of a true lively faith which worketh by love saith in effect that faith alone doth justifie Iames speaking of the faith of hypocrits which is in profession only sâ—…vered from the grace of sanctification and destitute of good workes â—…aith that such a faith doth neither justifie alone nor at all as being not a true but a dead and counterfeit faith Paul speaking of the câ—…uses of justification before God denyeth workes to concurre to the act of justification as any cause thereof Iames speaking of the effects and â—…ignes of justificatiâ—…n whereby it may beâ—… knowne affirmeth that workes must concurre in the parties justified that by them our faith may be demonstrated â—…nd our justification manifested Paul therefore rejecteth workes obtruded as causes of justification Iames urgeth thâ—…m as effects and signes thereof Paul speaking of Iustification in the proper sense as it signifieth that gracioâ—…s action of God whereby wee are made or constituted just affirmeth that wee are justified by faith without workes Iames speaking of thâ—…t justificâ—…tion whereby we are not mâ—…de just before God but declared and 〈◊〉 to God our 〈◊〉 and our conscience to bee just and indued with a true faith 〈◊〉 that we are so justified not onely by the profession of faith but also by good workes Now these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 very well stand together For although it be most true which Saint Paul affirmeth that true faith doth just fie alone yet it is 〈◊〉 true which Saint Iames faith that the faith which is alone doth not justifie neither â—…lone nor at all because it is not 〈◊〉 true and a lively but a 〈◊〉 and dead faith For 〈◊〉 the living eye though it see alone yet is not alone so a liuely fâ—…ith though it justifie alone yet never iâ—… alone though it justifie without workes yet it is not without workâ—…s Though good workes doe not 〈◊〉 to the act of justification aâ—… any cause therâ—…of according to Saint Pauls doctrinâ—… yet they must concurre in the same subject that is the party justified as necessary fruitâ—… and 〈◊〉 of â—… true justifying â—…aith 〈◊〉 Saint Iaâ—…esâ—…cheth â—…cheth Though we be justified before God that is both absolved from our 〈◊〉 and accepted in Christ as righteous by faith alone without respect of workâ—… as Saint Paul teacheth yet according to the doctrine of â—…aint Iames weâ—… are to bee justified that is declared and approved to be just not onely by faith professed but also by good workes Finally though good workes nâ—…n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet 〈◊〉 justificaâ—… as Augustinâ—… useth to speake or as he also saith non prâ—…edunt iustifiâ—…andum sed justificatâ—… 〈◊〉 though they doe not goâ—… before justification as causâ—…s 〈◊〉 Pâ—…l teacheth yet they must follow in the parties justified as effects according to Saint Iames his doctrine § XVIII But the assertions of the 2. Apostles not only may wel stand togeâ—…her but also according to our doctrine they must necessarily goe together For if we shall be altogether conversant in setting forth the commendation of good works and in urging the necessity thereof not informing the people in the doctrine of justification by faith alone they will be ready to place the matter of their justification and the merit of their salvation in themselves as the Papists doe And so being ignorant of Gods righteousnesse and seeking to establish their owne righteousnesse they doe not submit themselves to the righteousnes of God But wee must so urge the necessity of good workes in the doctrine of sanctification that wee remember that in the question of justification they are of no value On the other side if wee shall be wholly taken up in the doctrine of justification by faith alone teaching that in the question of justification they are of no worth and doe not withall informe the people of the profit and necessity of good works in other respects how ready will they bee to cast off all care of good workes and content themselves with a bare profession of faith But wee joyne these assertions together after the doctrine and practise of the Apostles in their Epistles Wee teach that justification and sanctification are unseparable companions And theresore as they who are sanctified may bee assured of their justification so without sanctification none can bee assured of their justification It is true that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus but who are they that live not after the flesh but after the Spirit Râ—… 8. 1. that are new creatures 2 Cor. 5. 17. that crucifie the flesh with the lusts thereof Gal. 5. 24. It is true that a true lively faith doth justifie alone but what manner of saith is that that purifieth the heart Act. 15. 9. and worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. and may be demonstrated by good workes Iam. 2. 18. It is true that wee are not justified by our workes nor saved for them yet those are neither justified nor saved that are without them for as they are necessary consequents of justification so they are necessary antecedents of salvation For though they be not the cause of our salvation yet they are the way by which we are to come to salvation though they be not causa regâ—…andi as Bernard saith yet they are via regni Though they bee not the merit of salvation yet they are the evidence according to which God will judge us By faith wee have our inheritance and our title to Gods Kingdome but it is to be inherited among those that are sanctified A godly conversation though it be not properly a cause of our glorification yet it is causa
1. l De catechiz rudil c. 4. m Rom. 10. 14. 17. n De lapsis serm 5. Love the fourth disposition His first Testimony Eccles. 2. 10. juxta lati nameditionem a 2 Tim. 1. 6. 12. 〈◊〉 13. Heb. 2 11. b Lib. 1. Cap. 4. §. 11. 1 Ioh. 3. 14. Concil Arausican Caâ—…ult Bèllarmines answeres to our arguments The first 1 Ioh. 4. 19. Our second argument c Eph. 2. 1 5. Joh. 5. 25. Col. 2. 13. Rom. 8. 6 Whether the beginnings of grace be graces d Mat. 12. 20. c Rom. 8. 23. Our third argument f Esai 64. 5. 2 Sam. 11. 27. c. 12. 10 14. g Rom. 8. 7. His fifth disposition is Petencie h Mat. 27. 3 5. Bellarmines proofes His sixth disposition a desire and purpose to receive the Sacrament His seventh disposition a purpose of a new life De justis lib. 1. cap. 14. Faith being alone doth not justifie ergo it doth not justifie alone Our answere Bellarmines proofes that faith may bee alone a De iustif l. 1. c. 14 § sed haec responsio b In Gal. 2. c Antidot ad conc trid sess 6. can 28. d 1 Ioh. â—…â—… e De persever c. 10. §. 7. f Rom. 10. 4. g De justif l. 1. cap. 15. h Lib. 6. cap. 2. 3. De iustif l. â—… cap. 16. Three causes The first cause authority of Scriptures a Lib. 7. c. 8. b Supr cap. 9. Our first argument c Supr cap. 8. Bellarm. obiect d Ro. 3. 28. 4. 5 Out second argument e Lâ—… 1. 73 74 75. Heb 8. 10. Ier. 31. 33 34. The second cause the will of God * Esa. 53. 11. Bellarmines objections that other conditions are required f Ioh. 5. 12. 20. Ioh. 6. â—…7 g Rom. 10 14. The third cause because it is the property of faith onely to receive Christ. Bellarmines first cavill What it is to apprehend Christ. h Ioh. 6. 54. His second cavill from the Sacraments i Rom. 4 11. De iustif l. 1. cap. 17. Bellarmines first reason because faith is a cause His first reason that faith is a cause because the prepositions ex and per are attributed unto it a De justif l. 2. c. 3. §. deinde praepositio His first instance from the contrary b Joh. 6. 29. c Rom. 10. 4. d Photius apud Oecumen in Rom. 10 4. What cause Bellarmine maketh faith to be e Bellarm. de gratiâ—… lib. arb l. 1. c. 6. The difference of the acts of faith justifying and sanctifying f Arist. Physic. l. 2. c. 3. His second reason because faith is the beginning of Iustice. Bellarmines first proofe out of Rom. 4. 5. h Psal. 106. 30 31. His second proofe out of 1 Cor. 3. 11. i Esai 28. 16. Ephes. 2. 20. k De fide operibus c. 16. l Heb. 6. 1. His third testimony Act. 15. 9. His third reason because faith doth obtaine and after a sort merit iustification l Sess. 6. cap. 8. m Act. 10 43 Act. 13. 38 39. n De boâ—…is opeâ—… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. â—… c. 9. § sciendum o 1. â—… 2. ae q. 114. art 9. His first proofe Luk. 7. 50. p Ioh. 3. i4 15. q Ioh. 6. 40. His second proofe out of Mat. 15. 28. Mark 7. 29. His third proofe from the example of Abraham r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His fourth proofe out of Rom. 10. 1â—… 14. s Cap. 10. §. 8. t Ioel 2. 32. His fifth proofe out of Heb. 11. Ten testimonies out of Augustine 1 Retract l. 1. c. 33 2 Epist. 106. ad Paulinum 3 Epist. 144. ad Anastasium 4 De Spiritu litera c. 13. 5 Ibid. â—… 30. 6 De fide operibus c. â—…1 7 Deprâ—…destin ss c. 7. 8 De gratiâ—… lib. arbitr c. 14. 9 Epist. 105. ad Sixtum u Luk. 18. 13. * Bellar. degâ—…atia lib. arbitr lib. 1. cap. 14. §. hanc esse Solet Augustinus meritum appellare quemlibet actum bo num ratione cu ius aliquid aliud accipimus x De poenit l. 2. c. 12. y Joss 6. cap. 8. De justis l. â—… cap. 18. z De justif l. 2. * Lib. 4. 5. The first calumniation that we deny the necessity of good workes a Tit. 3. 8 14. b Iude 4. c 1 Tim. 6. 6. d Matth. 7. 21. 25. 46. God works necessary first by a privative necessity e Jam. 2. 14. 20. 26. f Esai 61. 3. g Matth. 3. 10. h Luk. 13. 6. i Mat. 21. 19. k Heb. 6. 8. l Mat. 25. 3 12. m Mat. 3. 12. n Mat. 25. 32 33. o Iohn 8. 34. p Gal. 4. 30. q 2 Tim. 3. 5. r Mat. 24. 51. Necessary by a positive necessity and so of infallibility first in respect of Gods decree s Ephes. 1. 4. 2 Thes. 2. 13. t Rom 8. 29. u 1 Iohn 3. 3. * Deut. 29. 29. x Rom. 8. 30. y 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. Gal. 5. 21. Ephes. 5. 5 6. Secondly in respect of Gods Word a 2 Cor. 5. 17. b Rom. 8. 1. c Gal. 5. 24. d 1 Cor. â—… 30. e 1 Ioh. 5. 6. Ioh. 19. 34 35. f Eph. 3. 17. g Rom. 8. 9. h Ioh 3. 3. Thirdly in respect of Gods Oath i Heb. 6. 18. k Luk. 1. 73 74 75. l Ioh. 8. 34. m vers 36. n Rom. 6. 18. o 1 Cor. 6. 19. Servi quia servati Secondly by necessity of precept or of duety p Rom. 12. 1 2. 2 Cor. 5. 9. Heb. 12. 28. That we may shew our selves thankefull first by loving him q 1 Ioh. 4. 19. r Rom. 5. 5. s 1 Ioh. 5. 3. Ioh. 14. 15. t 1 Thess 4. 3. u Rom 6. 22. * Eph. 1. 4. x 1 Cor. 10. 31. Esa 61. 3. Towards our Neighbour y Heâ—… 12. 13. z Rom. 12. 17. a Act. 24. 16. b Heb. 10. 24. 2â—… Cor. 9. 2. c Tit. 2. 8. Rom. 2. 24. 2 Sam. 12. 14. 1 Pet. 2. 12. d Gal. 6. 10. e Mic. 6. 8. Towards our selves f Deu. 28. 15 c. Psal 84. 11. Luk. 1â—… 28. Thirdly by necessity of the signe g Jam. 2. 18. h 2 Pet. 1. 10. i Rom. 8 30. k Psal. 15. Psal. 24. 3 4. l Act. 26. 8. 20. 32. m 1 Pet. 1. 17. Mat. 16. 27. Rom. 2. 6. Apoc. 22. 12. n 2 Cor. 5. 10. o Mat. 25. 46. Ioh. 5. 29. Fourthly necessitate medis p Aug. in Psal. 109. q De gratia lib. arbitr lib. 2. cap. 13. r Esa. 30. 21. s De gratia lib. arbitr in sineâ—… The second calumniation t Esa. 64. 6. u Phil 3 8 9. In what sense we deny works to justifie Proved first from all the five articles before handled a Rom. 11. 6. Ephes. 2. 8 9. b Rom. 4. 5 â—… Foure other reasons Our sifth argument c Lib. 4. d De justif li. cap. 19 Rom 3. 27 28. Rom. 9. 20. Rom. 3. 2 5 6. Gal. 2. 16. Gal. 3. 10 1â—… Eph. 2. 8. 9. Phil. 3. 8. 9. Tit.
c. 4. § 15. c. 6. § 12. 19. 21. If thou wilt bee perfect goâ—… sell all c. l. 7. â—… 7. § 3. 20. 1. ad 16. The parable of the workemen in the vineyard lib. 8. cap. 5. § 6 7. Matth. 25. 21. Well done thou good and faithfull servant c. lib. 8. cap. 5. § 15. 25. 34. 35. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit c. lib. 7. c. 4. § 12. and c. 5. § 11. and lib. 8. c. 5. § 14 15 16. Marke 7. 29. For this saying goe thy way â—… 6. c. 15. § 12. Luke 1. 6. Righteous before God c. lib. 2. cap. 3. § 1. 6. 38. VVith what measure you meet c. lib. 8. cap. 5. § 13. 7. 47. Her sinnes which are many are forgiven for she loved much lib. 6. cap. 12 § 2. 3. 7. 55. Thy faith hath saved thee lib. 6. cap. 15. § 11. 10. 7. The labourer is worthy of his hire lib. 8. cap. 5. § 22. 17. 5. Increase our faith l. 6. c. 3. § 3. 17. 7. 8 9 10. VVhen you have done all say that ye are unprofitable servants lib. 8. cap. 2. § 5. 6 c. 20. 35. They that shall be accounted worthy to obtaine that world c. lib. 8. cap. 5. § 22. Iohn 1. 12. To so many as beleeved he gave power to be the sonnes of God c. lib. 6. cap. 10. § 9. 1. 29. Behold the Lambe of God which takes away the sinne of the world lib. 2. cap. 8. § 2. 6. 64. Iesus knew from the beginning who beleeved not lib. 6. cap. 2 § 7. 12. 42 43. Many of the Rulers beleeved on him but did not confesse him c. lib. 6. cap. 3. § 8. 14. 23. If a man love me he will keep my words and my Father will love him lib. 7. cap. 6. § 22. 15. 13. Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay downe his life for his friends lib. 5. cap. 7. § 3. Acts of the Apostles 13. 38 39. Through this Man is preached unâ—…o you remission of sinnes and by him all that beleeve are justified c. Lib. 4. cap. 6. § 1. 2 c. ad 9. 15. 9. Purifying their hearts by faith Lib. 6. cap. 15. § 9. 15. 10. A yoke which neither we nor our Fathers were able to beare lib. 4. cap. 5. § 9. Epistle to the Romanes 1. 16 17. The Gospell the power of God c. in it is revealed the righteousnesse of God c. Lib. 1. cap. 1. § 1. 3. 24. Being justâ—…fied freely by his race through the redemption c. l. 3. c. 3. 4. 3. 27. Boasting exâ—…luded by what Law c. lib. 7. cap. 3. § 2. 4. 2. If Abraham were justified by workes he hath whereof to glory but not before God lib. 7. cap. 3. § 2. 4. 5 6. 11. The Lord imputeth righteousnesse lib. 1. cap. 3. § 10. 4 4. 5. To him that worketh the reward is not reckoned of grace but of debt but to him that worketh not but beleeveth c lib. 1. cap. 3. § 6. lib. 6. cap. 15. § 7. 4. 20. 21 22. Abraham being strong in faith gave glory to God therfore it was imputed to him for righteousnes lib. 6. § 13. cap. 15. 4. 25. Who was delivered for our sins and rose againe for our justification lib. 4. cap. 12. § 2. 5. 3 4. Tribulation worketh patience and patience probation c. l. 7. c. 5. § 7. 5. 5. The love of God shed abroad in our hearts by his holy Spirit lib. 3. cap. 5. 5. 17 18 19. For as by one mans offence c. lib. 2. cap. 5. § 1. 2 c. lib. 4. cap. 10. § 1. 2 c. ad 7. 5. 19. As by the disobedience of one many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous lib. 1. cap. 4. § 8. lib. 2. cap. 5. § 1. 2. lib. 2. cap. 8. § 10. lib. 5. cap. 2. § 1. 5. 21. As sinne reigned unto death even so grace c. lib. 4. cap. 12. § 5. 6. 4 6. Wee are burâ—…ed with him by baptisme into death lib. 8. cap. 10. § 17. 6. 13. Neither yeeld your members as instruments of unrighteousnesse c. lib. 4. cap. 12. § 6. 6. 19. As ye have yeelded your members servants to uncleannes c. l. 7. § 19. c. 8. 6. 22. Ye have your fruit unto holines and the end everlasting life lib. 4. c. 12. § 11. 6. 23. For the wages of sinne is death but the gift of God is eternall life c. lib. 8. cap. 2. § 13 c. 7. 18. To will is present with me but how to performe that which is good I finde not lib. 4. cap. 5. § 10. 8. 3. The impossibility of the Law in that it was weake through the flesh c. lib. 4. cap. 5. § 11. 8. 4. That the justification of the Law might bee fulfilled in us lib. 7. cap. 7. § 10. 11. 8. 10. The body is dead by reason of sinne but the Spirit is life because of righteousnesse lib. 3. cap. 5. § 7. 8. lib. 4. cap. 12. § 7 8. 13. If through the Spirit you mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live lib. 7. cap. 4. § 11. 16. cap. 5. § 8. 8. 10. 15. 23. Lib. 4. cap. 10. § 18. 8. 15. Ye have received the Spirit of adoption c. lib. 3. c. 5. § 6. 8. 17. If yee suffer with him that yee may be glorified with him lib. 7. cap. 4. § 11. 17. 8. 16. 17 18. lib. 7. cap. 5. § 9. 8. 18. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy the glory which shall bee revealed lib. 8. cap. 2. § 18 c. ad 22. 8. 29. Conformable to the image of his sonne lib. 4. cap. 10. § 12. 8. 30. Whom he hath called them hee hath justified lib. 2. cap. 3. § 5. 8. 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods children it is God that justifieth c. lib. 1. cap. 1. § 4. 10. 4. Christ the end of the Law for righteousnesse to every one that beleeveth lib. 1. cap. 4. § 9. 10. 10. With the heart manbeleeveth unto righteousnesse c. lib. 7. cap. 5. § 10. 10. 13 14. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall bee saved how then shall they call upon him in whom they have not beleeved c. lib. 6. cap. 10. § 8. cap. 15. § 14. The first to the Corinthians 1. 30. Christ made unto us righteousnesse lib. 4. cap. 9. § 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 2. 6. VVe speake wisdome among them that are perfect lib. 5. cap. 7. § 10. 3. 8. Every one shall receive his own reward according to his owne labour lib. 8. c. 5. § 13. 3. 11. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Iesus Christ. lib. 6. cap. 15. § 8. 3. 12. If any man build upon this foundation gold silver c.
justifie not onely peâ—…petuall in the Scriptures but also ordinary in the speeches and writings of men Wherein God is said to justifie men and man is said to justifie God and one man is said to justifie another and one and the same man to justifie himselfe without any signification of infusing righteousnesse into him but by cleering him and pronouncing him just Secondly that there is no further respect to be had in this controversie to the notation of the Latine or English word than as it is a true translation of the Hebrew word in the old Testament and of the Greek in the new now I shall make it evident that the Hebrew hitsdiq and so the greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Verbum forensâ—… a judiciall word taken from the courts of justice which being attributed to the Iudge is opposed to condemning and signifieth to absolve or to give sentence with the party questioned § III. In the definition we consider justification as an action of God whose alone worke it is and so the Scriptures consider it in many places as Rom. 8. 33. It is God that doth justifie for it is he only that forgiveth sinnes Esa. 43. 25. It is he onely that can by making us righteous in Christ give us right and title to the kingdome of heaven It is no action therefore of our owne or of any creature neither is it wrought by our owne preparations and dispositions For although every man is bound to use all meanes to attaine to justification yet it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy For if God bee the agent in justifying us then are wee the patients And for that cause we are never in the Scriptures exhorted to justification or to the parts thereof which are not our Officia or duties but Gods Beneficia as wee are to the duties of sanctification whereunto we being already justified and regenerated doe cooperate with the Spirâ—…t of grace § IIII. Secondly when we say it is an action of God Imputing the righteousnesse of Christ and absolving the beleeving sinner and accepting him c. wee consider it not as an action of God within us working a positive or reall change as in sanctification but as an action of God without us For it is a judiciall act of God as the Iudge oppoâ—…ed to condemning And therefore as by his sentence hee doth condemne that is make wicked so by his sentence hee doth justifie that is of guilty he maketh not guilty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his sentence God doth justifie as Chrysostome and Oecumenius note upon Rom. 8. 33. where a judiciall proceeding in the businesse of justification is plainely described For there is mention of the accuser of Gods elect there is God that justifieth and none to condemne there is the advocate and intercessor to plead for us And as in condemning though the hebrew word Hirshiah opposed to justifying signifieth to make wicked for as Tsady is to be just and Hitsdiq to make just that is to justifie so Rashah to be wicked and Hirshiah to make wicked that is to condemne yet God by condemning doth not make a reall or positive change by infusion of wickednesse into the party whom by his sentence hee maketh wicked that is condemneth so in justifying though the word doe signifie to make righteous yet the Lord doth not Quatenus justificat as he justifieth worke a reall or positive mutation in the party whom by his sentence he maketh just that is justifieth in respect of any inward dispositions or qualities but onely a relative change or mutation in respect of his estate and condition before God and in respect of some relations to him It is true â—…hat in our justification we are of sinners made righteous but the righteousnesse which we have by justification standeth in remission of sinne and acceptation or constitution of us as righteous not in our selves but in Christ both which are wrought by imputation of his righteousnesse It is true also that whom God doth justifie he doth also sanctifie But in justification he doth not worke a reall change in the party as he doth in sanctification And this 〈◊〉 in the like actions of God viz. adoption redemption and reconciliation which three in substance differ not from justification For all agree in the not imputing of sinne by imputation of Christs righteousnesse but are diversified by certaine relations all which concurre in justification that men having their sinnes forgiven whereby they had beene either the children of the devill by adoption are made the sonnes of God or the vassals and bondslaves of sinne and Satan are by redemption made the servants of God or enemies to God by their reconciliation become his favourites or guilty of sinne and damnation in their justification they are accepted as righteous in Christ and consequently become Gods servants Gods favourites Gods sonnes and if sonnes then also heires of eternall life As therefore in adoption redemption reconciliation there is no reall change made in the party but onely a new relation acquired of being a sonne and hâ—…ire to the adoptour a servant to the redeemer a favourite to the reconciler which before he was not so neither in justification is there a reall or positive change as the Papists would have it but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 relative or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in relation in respect of those relations even now mentioned and in respect of his estatâ—… and condition before God being in his justification translated from the estate of damnation unto the state of salvation Even as the councell of Trent it selfe defineth justification to be a translation from that state wherein a man is borne the sonne of the first Adam into a state of grace and adoption of Gods sonnes through the second Adam Iesus Christ our Saviour which is done without any reall change wrought in the party as hee is justified For who before was guilty of sinne and damnation the same man remaining a sinner in himselfe and in himselfe worthy of damnation is in his justification absolved from the guilt of sinne and accepted as râ—…teous in Christ in whom also hee is made a servant a favourite a sonne of God and consequently as I said in the definition an heire of eternall life § V. And yet we deny not but that those whom God reconcileth unto himselfe receiving them into his grace and â—…avour in Christ them also he endueth in some measure with the graces of his Spirit whom he adopteth to be his sonnes in Christ them also he regenerateth by his holy Spirit whom he redeemeth from the guilt of sinne he also freeth from the dominion of sinne and whom he justifieth by faith he also sanctifieth by his Spirit that is whom he maketh just by imputation them also he maketh just by infusion of righteousnesse to whom he imputeth the merit of Christ his death and
our obedience our sanctification standeth wherefore faith which justifieth alone is but one of those many graces wherein besides our obedience our sanctification doth consist CAP. III. Of the Essentiall causes of Iustification viz. The matter and the forme § I. BUt let us come to the essentiall causes of justification that is to say the matter and the forme The matter of justification considered as it is an action of God is that which the Lord imputeth unto us for righteousnesse and accepteth as our righteousnesse and that is the righteousnesse of Christ which I noted in the definition when I said imputing to a beleeving sinner the righteousnesse of Christ. The Papists confounding not onely justice and justification but also the matter which is the materiall cause and the subject say that the matter of justification is the soule of man or at the least the will of man because that is the seat of justice whereas indeed of justification though passively understood not the soule or the will is the subject but the person or the whole man For justification is totius suppositi of the person and not of any part or faculty of man But for the better clearing of this point let us briefly consider other not unlike actions First when Rebecca arrayed or clothed her sonne Iacob with the raiment of Esau her elder sonne the matter of this action was that which being applyed unto him did clothe him viz. Esau's garment the forme of that action was the applying of it to him which was the indution or putting it on For she clothed him by putting upon him Esau's garment So the Lord justifieth us by putting upon us our eldest brothers righteousnesse which is our wedding garment Which similitude is used not only by Saint Ambrose but also by Pighius himselfe as heereafter shall bee shewed The matter therefore of justification is Christs righteousnesse the forme is the imputing thereof Secondly the actions of redemption reconciliation and justification in substance are the same As therefore the Lord redeemeth us and reconcileth us by applying unto us and accepting for us the righteousnesse and merits of Christ as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or price of ransome and as the propitiation for God was in Christ reconciling the world to himselfe 2 Cor. 5. 19. so hee justifieth us by applying unto us and accepting for us the same righteousnesse and merits of Christ as our righteousnesse As the matter therefore of our redemption is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or price of ransome which Christ payed for us the matter of reconciliation is the propitiatory sacrifice which Christ offered for us the matter of justification is Christs righteousnesse which hee had and performed for us so the forme of redemption as it is Gods action is the applying unto us the price of ransome which Christ payed and the accepting of it in our behalfe the forme of reconciliation the applying unto us the propitiation made by Christ and accepting of it in our behalfe the forme of justification the applying or imputing of Christs righteousnesse unto us and accepting it in our behalfe In like manner the Papists if they would consider Iustification as an action of God should according to their owne doctrine conceive that of their first justification whereby as they teach a sinner is made righteous by infusion of righteousnesse the matter is the righteousnesse infused or inherent the forme the infusion thereof because according to their doctrine the Lord in the first justification maketh a man righteous by infusion of righteousnesse The Papists confesse after a sort the righteousnesse of Christ to bee the merit of justification but they deny it to be the matter thereof whereas indeed it is both the matter as justification is the act of God imputing it the merit as justification is passively understood because for it wee are justified the matter I say of Gods justifying us the merit of our being justified And this may appeare by the contrary For justification as hath beene said and shall bee proved is opposed to condemnation As therefore sinne is not onely the matter of condemnation which is the imputation of sinne but also the merit both of the sentence and of the punishment by the sentence awarded so the righteousnesse of Christ is both the matter of justification as being that which God imputeth to us and also the merit both of the sentence of absolution and of eternall life unto which we are accepted § II. But of the matter and forme of justification whereof I am hereafter to treat at large of the matter in the whole fourth booke of the forme in the fifth I will here onely set downe briefly the orthodox doctrine of the reformed Churches and maintaine it against the private opinions of some protestant Divines who are not sound in these points The matter of justification is that righteousnesse wherein wee stand perfectly righteous before God This in many places is called the righteousnesse of God As Rom. 1. 17. 3. 21. 10. 3. 2 Cor. 5. 21. 2 Pet. 1. 1. And is therefore called the righteousnesse of God because it is the righteousnesse of that person who is God and therefore is not our righteousnesse but his not infused into us but inherent in his person and imputed to us being without us in him Heare then wee are to consider whether this righteousnesse of God be the righteousnesse of Christ as hee is God or as hee is mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Iesus The righteousnesse of Christ as he is God is the essentiall righteousnesse of the Godhead By which dwelling in man Osiander supposed them to be justified But this being the essentiall and uncreated righteousnesse of God which is his essence and therefore himselfe cannot be the righteousnesse of any who is not God and therefore if we should be justified thereby we should also bee deified Againe the essentiall righteousnesse of God being the essence of God and the very Godhead cannot be communicated to any creature much lesse can it become the accidentall righteousnesse of a creature And farther it being the righteousnesse of the Godhead is the common righteousnesse of the whole Trinity the Father the Sonne and the holy Ghost And therefore if we should be justified thereby we should be justified by the righteousnesse of the Father and of the holy Ghost as well as by the righteousnesse oâ—… the Sonne § III. It is not therefore the righteousnesse of the Godhead Is it then the righteousnesse of the Manhood I answer it is the righteousnesse of Christ our Mediator who is both God and man which he in his humanity had and performed in the dayes of his flesh for us And this is to bee understood not of a part but of the whole righteousnesse of Christ which was either inherent in the man Christ or performed by him whether to fulfill the Commandements or to satisfie the Curse of the Law for
in everlasting righteousnesse Dan. 9. 24. § VII Inst. III. If we bee justified by Christ his fulfilling of the Law then wee are justified by a legall righteousnesse but wee are not justified by a legall justice but by such a righteousnesse as without the Law is revealed in the Gospell Answ. The same righteousnesse by which we are justified is both legall and Evangelicall in divers respects Legall in respect of Christ who being made under the Law that hee might redeeme us who were under the Law perfectly fulfilled the Law for us Evangelicall in respect of us unto whom his fulfilling of the Law is imputed And herein standeth the maine both agreement and difference betweene the Law and the Gospell The agreement that both unto justification require the perfect fulfilling of the Law the difference that the Law requireth to justification perfect obedience to be performed in our owne persons The Gospell propoundeth to justification the righteousnesse of God that is the perfect righteousnesse of Christ who is God performed for us and accepted in the behalfe of them that beleeve as if it had been performed in their own persons § VIII Our second reason As by the disobedience of the first Adam by which he transgressed the Law men were made sinners his disobedience being imputed to them so by the obedience of the second Adam whereby hee fulfilled the Law men are made righteous his obedience being imputed to them In answer to this argument two novelties are broached the former that as wee were made sinners by one act of disobedience committed by one man and that but once so we are justified by one act of obedience performed by one and that but once which was that oblation of Christ whereby hee but once offered himselfe Whereunto I reply first that betweene sinne whereby the Law is broken and obedience whereby the Law is fulfilled there is great ods The Law is broken by any one act of sinne for hee that offendeth in any one is guilty of all But the Law is not fulfilled by any one act of obedience but by a totall perfect and perpetuall observation of the Law for by the sentence of the Law hee is accursed whosoever doth not continue in all the things which are written in the booke of the Law to doe them But in no one act of obedience there neither is nor can bee a continuance in doing all the things that are commanded Secondly that although the obedience by which we are justified was but of one man yet it was not one act but as the Apostle calleth it in the verse going before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is all that the Law requireth to justification The second Novelty is that neither Adam in sinning transgressed the Law nor our Saviour in his obedience to death obeyed the Law For neitheâ—… the commandement given to the first Adam concerning the forbidden fruit nor the commandement given to the second Adam concerning his suffering of death for us was any commandement of the Law no more than the commandement given to Abraham for the sacrificing of his sonne or to the Israelites for the spoiling of the Aegyptians but a speciall commandement Whereto I reply that although every thing which God commandeth in particular be not expressed in the Law yet wee have a generall commandement expressed in the Law that whatsoever God commandeth we must doe and if we doe it not we sinne and every sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a transgression of the Law § IX Our third reason If Christ by his conformity to the Law fulfilled the Law for us then his obedience in fulfilling of the Law is accepted of God in our behalfe as if wee had fulfilled it in our owne persons but Christ by his conformity to the Law fulfilled the Law for us therefore his obedience in fulfilling of the Law is accepted of God in our behalfe as if wee had fulfilled it in our owne persons that is to say both his habituall and actuall righteousnesse is imputed to us The consequence of the proposition is necessary for if hee performed obedience for us and in our behalfe he performed it in vaine if it be not accepted for us and in our behalfe The assumption also is of necessary truth for first that Christ did fulfill the Law it is evident for himselfe professeth that he came to fulfill the Law Matth. 5. 17. that it became him to fulfill all righteousnesse Matth. 3. 15. that he did alwayes those things which please God Ioh. 8. 29. and the Scripture testifieth that not for himselfe but for us hee fulfilled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatsoever the Law requireth to justification that his whole life was a perpetuall course of obedience 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even untill his death which he performed not for himselfe for as hee was incarnate not for himselfe but for us men and for our salvation for it was the exinanition of himselfe so being incarnate he sanctificed himselfe for us and was made under the Law not for himselfe for that was a farther degree of humiliation that being man hee humbled himselfe to bee obedient even untill his death and therein also humbled himselfe to undergoe the death of the crosse The Apostle Rom. 10. 4. teacheth that Christ is thâ—… end that is the perfection 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greeke Fathers speake that is complement of the Law to all that beleeve unto righteousnesse that is that hee hath fulfilled the Law for all beleevers in so much that all who truely beleeve have in Christ fulfilled the Law Upon which place Remigius writing saith Christus finâ—…â—…gis in completio legis Christ the end of the Law that is the fulfilling of the Law Theodoret. He that beleeveth in our Lord Christ hee hath fulfilled the scope of the Law and what that is Chrysostome sheweth For saith hee What did the Law intend To make a man just but it was not able for never any fulfilled it but this end our Saviour Christ hath more amply accomplished through faith if therefore thou beleevest in Christ thâ—… hast not onely fulfilled the Law but much more than it commanded for thou hast received a farre greater righteousnesse and what can that be but the righteousnesse of Christ And Photias whosoever therefore saith the Apostle beleeveth in Christ hee fulfilleth the Law Sedulius likewise hee hath the perfection of the Law who beleeveth in Christ. This therefore doth plainely prove that Christs obedience in fulfilling the Law is imputed to all that beleeve unto righteousnesse as if themselves had fulfilled it And this is the conceived doctrine of the Church of England that Christ satisfied the justice of God and redeemed us not onely by the oblation of his body and shedding of his blood but also by the full and perfect fulfilling of the
imputed as a full satisfaction for sinne the other by imputation of Christs perfect obedience as a sufficient merit of eternall life by the former we are freed from hell by the latter we are entituled to the kingdome of heaven Of them both the Apostle speaketh Rom. 5. that we are justified that is absolved from our sinne by the bloud of Christ. v. 9. and that wee are justified that is constituted just by his obedience vers 19. To this argument they answere by denying the antecedent saying that there are no parts of justification but that it wholly consisteth in remission of sinnes Indeed if it were the onely matter of justification as some of them teach and the entire formall cause of justification as others avouch of whom we shall speake in the next Chapter I say if both these opinions were true then I would confesse that the whole nature of justification doth consist in forgivenesse of sinne but whiles it is either but the matter as some say or but the forme as others or neither of both as I avouch it is a manifest errour to say that justification consisteth wholly in remission of sinnes Againe in every mutation though it be but relative we must of necessity acknowledge two termes tâ—…rminum à quo terminum ad quem the denomination being taken commonly from the terminus ad quem As in justification there is a motion or mutation from sinne to justice from which terme justification hath its name from a state of death and damnation to a state of life and Salvation But if justification be nothing else but bare remission of sinne then is there in it onely a not imputing of sinne but no acceptation as righteous a freedome from hell but no title to heaven To this they answere that to whom sinne is not imputed righteousnesse is imputed and they who are freed from hell are admitted to heaven I doe grant that these things doe alwayes concurre but yet they are not to bee confounded for they differ in themselves and in their causes and in their effects in themselves for it is one thing to bee acquitted from the guilt of sinne another thing to be made righteous as wee see daily in the pardons of malefactors in their causes for remission of sinne is to be attributed to Christs satisfactory sufferings the acceptation as righteous unto life to Christs meritorious obedience In their effects for by remission of sinne wee are freed from hell and by imputation of Christs obedience we have right unto heaven § XVII If unto justification there be required besides remission of sinne Imputation of righteousnesse then there are two formall causes of justification Answ. It followeth not for although there bee two tâ—…rmini in this mutation yet there is but one action and this one action is the onely forme of justification viz. imputation of Christs righteousnesse of which are two effects which also be the two parts of justification remission of sinne and acceptation as righteous as I said in the definition that justification is an action of God wherein hee imputing the righteousnesse of Christ to a beleeving sinner doth not onely absolve him from his sinnes but also accepteth of him as righteous and as an heire of eternall life § XVIII Notwithstanding this so evident truth some of the Divines of whom we spake when they would prove justification by the passive righteousnesse of Christ onely take this position for granted that justification is nothing but remission of sinne and hereupon inferre that seeing wee have remission of sinne onely by the bloud of Christ we are justified by his bloud onely And to this purpose they alleage many testimonies of Scriptures affirming that by the bloud of Christ and by his death and passion wee have remission of sinne to all which we readily subscribe But if there be any other places that seeme to ascribe unto the sufferings of Christ more than remission of sinnes as entrance into heaven and salvation c. such places are to be understood by a Synecdoche putting the chieâ—…e and most eminent part of his obedience for the whole Others labour to prove this assertion that justification is nothing but remission of sinne by testimonies and by reasons and to this purpose collect a multitude of testimonies of Protestant Divines who against the Papists have maintained that justification confisteth in remission of sinnes onely But this assertion as hereafter I shall shew is to be understood as spoken in opposition to the Papists who unto justification besides remission of sinnes require inward renovation or sanctification and therefore their meaning was to exclude from justification not imputation of righteousnesse which alwayes concurreth in the same act with remission of sinne and without which there can be no remission for by the same act of imputation of Christs whole and entire righteousnesse we have both remission of sinnes and acceptation unto life but to exclude renovation à ratione justificationis from the proper nature of justification as if they had said wee are not justified both by remission and renovation as the Papists teach but by remission without renovation that is in their meaning by remission onely and this is acknowledged by Bellarmine himselfe as hereafter shall bee shewed And forasmuch as by remission of sinne wee have an imputative righteousnesse for to whom the Lord imputeth not sinne to him he imputeth righteousnesse without workes as the Apostle proveth Rom. 4. 6 7. therefore when it is said that we are justified by remission onely and not by renovation it is all one as if wee said that wee are justified by imputation onely and not by infusion of righteousnesse § XIX Their chiefe argument to prove their assertion is this Remission is as well of the sinnes of omission as of commission As therefore he whose sinnes of commission are remitted is reputed as if hee had done nothing forbidden so whose sinnes of omission are remitted is reputed as if hee had left undone nothing that is commanded Now hee that is reputed as if hee had neither done any thing forbidden nor left undone any thing that is commanded hee is reputed as if hee had fulfilled the whole Law I answer by distinction if they consider remission of sinnes barely without imputation of righteousnesse as they must if they will make good their assertion then hee that hath onely remission of the sins both of commission and omission is freed from the guilt of both but not from the fault For notwithstanding such remission of his sinnes he is a sinner as having both committed what is forbidden and also omitted what is commanded Yet by remission or not imputation of sinne hee is freed from the punishment and a râ—…atu poenae from the guilt binding over to punishment as if hee had neither committed any thing forbidden nor omitted any thing commanded Hee therefore that hâ—…th remission is reputed as having neither committed any evill nor omitted any good not simply
justifications of the Saints then they justifie the Saints So may I say if the precepts of the Law be the justifications of the Lord then belike they justifie him but neither are fitly called justifications though the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may not unfitly be given both to the Law of God as the rule of justice and to the judgements of God as the acts of justice and to the good deeds of the Saints as workes of justice and also to the merits of Christ which notwithstanding doe not justifie him but us unlesse they meane that as by good workes the faithfull so by righteous commandements and just judgements God is declared and manifested to bee just And farther the law of Nature knowne to the Gentiles is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which notwithstanding doth not justifie either him or them and is by the Latine interpreter unfitly translated the justice of God And moreover Bellarmine himselfe as we have heard noteth that the Law is called justification because it teacheth righteousnesse and yet not that righteousnesse by which we are justified for that without the Law is manifested in the Gospell being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets even the righteousnesse of God which is by faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all that beleeve But to conclude Bellarmine had no reason to make this the first signification of the word in the Scriptures for the Hebrew word which the vulgar Latine translateth sometimes iustificationes and sometimes ceremonias in the same sense doth signifie no such matter and the Greeke which twice at the most in the Scriptures signifieth justification doth usually signifie the Law of God and his statutes and ordinances but more especially those of the ceremoniall Law which if they be any where called justifications it is to bee imputed to the corrupt translation and not to the originall truth § III. So much of the first signification The two next whereof there is no example in the Scriptures hee hath coined to fit their new-found distinction of justification it selfe which they distinguish into the first and the second The first when a man of a sinner is made just by infusion of habituall righteousnesse The second when a just man is made more just by practise of good workes Accordingly justification saith Bellarmine in the second place signifieth acquisition of righteousnesse viz. inherent which is their first justification and in the third place incrementum justitiae the encrease of justice which is their second justification which distinction if it were applied to sanctification were not to be rejected For that which they call their first justification is the first act of our sanctification which the Scriptures call â—…eration in which the holy Ghost doth ingenerate in the soule of the Elect the grace of faith and with it and by it other sanctifying graces wherein their justification which is habituall consisteth And that which they call their second justification being actuall is our new obedience by which our sanctification is continued and encreased But to justification it cannot truly be applyed for first justification is an action of God for it is God that doth justifie Their second justification is their owne act whereby they being just already make themselves more just Secondly justification as hath been said is an action of God without us not implying a reall mutation in us but relative such as is wrought by the sentence of a Iudge and is opposed to condemnation Thirdly because it is the righteousnesse of Christ by which wee are justified which is a perfect righteousnesse whereunto nothing can bee added Therefore of justification it selfe there are no degrees though of the assurance thereof there are degrees according to the measure of our faith § IV. But let us see how Bellarmine proveth his second signification To that purpose he alledgeth three testimonies of Scripture which prove nothing else but that the Papists have no sound proofe for their erronious conceit The first is taken out of 1 Cor. 6. 11. And such were you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified Where indeed the word is used but in a sense distinguished from sanctification The scope and intendment the Apostle is to exhort the Corinthians being now Christians to abstaine from those sinnes whereunto they were addicted whiles they lived in Gentilisme Such you were then saith the Apostle but now since you gave your names to Christ you were baptized into his Name and in your Baptisme were washed from those sinnes being sanctified from the corruption of them by the Spirit of God and iustified from the guilt of them in the Name of Iesus Christ that is by faith in his Name Thus therefore these three words are to bee distinguished The washing of the soule which is represented by the washing of the body is the generall word whereby the purging of the soule from sinne is generally signified Act. 22. 16. But as in sinne there are two things from which we had need to be purged that is the guilt of sinne and the corruption thereof so this ablution or washing of the soule hath two parts ablution from the guilt of sinne which is our justification ablution from the corruption of sinne which is our sanctification Both which are represented and sealed in the Sacrament of Baptisme wherein as the outward washing of the body doth represent the inward washing of the soule both from the guilt and corruption of sinne so the Element of water whereby the body is washed or sprinckled is a signe of the water and blood which issued out of Christs side whereby the soule is washed that is to say the blood of redemption and the water of sanctification for by the blood that is the merits of Christ wee are freed from the guilt of sinne and by the water that is the Spirit of sanctification wee are freed in some measure from the corruption And both these as I said are signified in Baptisme For wee are baptized into the remission of sinnes Act. 2. 38. Mar. 1. 4. Our soules being washed with the blood of Christ according to that in the Nicene Creed I beleeve one Baptisme for the remission of sinnes and wee are baptized unto the mortification of sinne and rising unto holinesse of life Rom. 6. 3 4. our soules being washed by the water of the holy Ghost For wee are baptized into the death of Christ and similitude of his resurrection that as Christ dyed and rose againe so wee that are baptized should dye unto sinne and rise to newnesse of life for which cause Baptisme also is called the Laver of regeneration Tit. 3. 5. This then is the summe and effect of the Apostles exhortation that seeing they having given their names unto Christ had been baptized into his Name and were therefore Sacramentally at the least washed and consequently both in their owne profession and opinion of others judging
justification by inherent righteousnesse he affirmeth that to be justified by Christ in that place doth signifie to bee made just by obtaining righteousnesse 〈◊〉 And this hee would prove by two reasons first out of those words jâ—…sti constistuentur multi many shall be constituted or made just From whence he argueth thus To bee constituted just is to bee made just by inherent righteousnesse To bee justified is to bee constituted just Rom. 5. 19. Therefore to bee constituted just is to bee made just by righteousnesse inherent Answ. Wee confesse that whosoever is justified is constituted yea is made just but the question is concerning the manner whether by infusion of righteousnesse or by imputation The assumption therefore is granted by us But the proposition is false and hath no ground in the Scriptures Yea the contrary may bee proved out of the place alleaged where justification or making righteous is opposed not to the corruption of sinne but to guilt and condemnation vers 16. and 18. And therefore he is said in this place to be justified or constituted righteous who being absolved and acquitted from the guilt of sinne and from condemnation is accepted as righteous unto life for as in the former part of the 19. verse many are said to be constituted sinners that is as the Greeke interpreters doe expound it and as appeareth by the former verses guilty of sin and obnoxious to condemnation by the disobedience of Adaâ—… meaning that one offence of his which we cal his fal which cannot be otherwise understood but by imputation so in the latter part many are said to be constituted just by the obedience of the second Adam that is absolved from the guilt of sinne and condemnation and accepted as righteous in Christ his obedience being communicated to them which cannot be by any other meanes but by imputation Neither can any reason be given why 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee constituted just should not be a judiciall word as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be justified In all other places this verbe whether it bee used in the good sense or in the bad signifieth no such thing as Bellarmine inferreth upon it For as in the bad it signifieth to convince or condemne as Gal. 2. 18. Iam. 4. 4. so in the good to approve or commend as Rom. 5. 8. 2 Cor. 4. 2. 6. 4. 7. 11. And accordingly the meaning of this place may be this as by the disobedience of the first Adam many were convicted and condemned as sinners that is guilty of sinne and damnation so by the obedience of the second Adam many shall bee approved and accepted as righteous His reason is from the antithesis of Adam to Christ which as I shall hereafter in his due place prove maketh wholly against him for if by the actuall disobedience of Adam imputed unto us wee were made sinners then by the obedience of Christ imputed unto us we are made righteous but the former is true therefore the latter Of this antithesis I am hereafter to speake more at large in the meane time this may suffice to maintaine and justifie our exposition of the word against Bellarmines cavils § II. But here Bellarmine frameth to himselfe a fourefold Objection of Calvin and Chemnitius proving that to justifie is a judiciall word signifying to absolve and to pronounce just Their first reason is because the Apostle opposeth justifying to condemning as Rom. 5. 16. 18. 8. 33. Therefore as God is said to condemne when he doth not acquit a man but pronouncing him guilty deputeth him unto punishment so on the contrary he is said to justifie when hee acquitteth and absolveth a man from guilt and pronouncing him just accepteth of him in Christ as righteous unto eternall life To this Bellarmine shapeth two answeres first That justification is rightly opposed to condemnation but is not therefore alwayes a judiciall word for even condemnation it selfe sometimes is the act of a Iudge appointing him to punishment who in judgement was found guilty and sometimes it is the effect of a fault which hath deserved punishment And so Adam hath condemned us and God condemneth but Adam hath not condemned us by judging us after a judiciall manner but by imprinting in us Originall sinne After the same manner saith hee justification sometimes is the act of a Iudge sometimes the effect of grace And both wayes doth Christ justifie us first as the second Adam by deletion of sinne and infusion of grace secondly in the day of judgment by declaring them just whom before he had made just Reply Iustification in this question and in the places alleaged is considered as an action of God and being referred to God it signifieth not to make just by infusion of righteousnesse but by sentence after the manner of a Iudge to absolve from sinne and to pronounce and accept as righteous as being opposed to condemning which being referred to God signifieth not to make sinfull but by sentence after the manner of a Iudge to pronounce the offendour guilty and to award him punishment But what either justifying or condemning may signifie being referred to other either persons or things it is not materiall so that it be confessed which cannot be denied that justifying being ascribed to God signifieth not to make righteous by infusion no more than condemning being attributed to God signifieth to make wicked by infusion but both are to bee understood as the actions of a judge who either pronouncing a man just absolveth him from guilt or pronouncing him guilty appointeth him to punishment This therefore was an impertinent shift of a subtle sophister having nothing to say to the purpose for whereas he applyeth his distinction of condemning and justifying to the first and second Adam as pertinent to the places alleaged I answer first that neither is considered as the act of the first or second Adam but as Bellarmine confesseth in his second answer as the actions of God the Iudge secondly that although in some sense the first Adam may bee said to have condemned us as the second Adam is truely said Esai 53. 11. to justifie us yet both is to bee understood of the guilt of sinne brought upon us by the one and taken away by the other For as the first Adam by his transgression may be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to have condemned us because hee hath inwrapped us in the guilt of his sinne and so made us guilty of death and obnoxious to the â—…entence of condemnation that transgression of his being imputed us being in him as the root so the second Adam may truely be said to justifie us who are in him both as a surety in taking upon him our guilt and paying our debt for us Esai 53. 11. and also as our intercessour and advocate pleading for us that by imputation of his righteousnesse we may be absolved from our sinnes and accepted as righteous in him § III. His second answer is that although
the Colliars faith so much commended by Cardinall Hosius and others for he being examined by a learned man what he beleeved answered I beleeve that which the Church beleeveth and being asked what the Church beleiveth answered againe that which I beleeve and so in a round that he beleeved what the Church beleeved and that the Church beleeved as he beleeved but also that it is the safest for all even for those that are learned to rest in this faith Especially when they are assaulted by Satan with whom they say it is not safe to contend by Scriptures but rather to oppose that onely article against him As the said learned man who had opposed the Collyar found by experience For he being afterwards assaulted by Satan when he was deadly sicke and being not able to defend himselfe by Scriptures he was faine to bâ—…ake himselfe to the Colliars faith which no doubt is the readiest way for them who professe a faith not conformable to the Scriptures to put the Devil to silence who will rest well content with such an answer whereas if they should stand to the Scriptures the Devill would be able to confute them As he did Luther whiles hee was a Papist in the question concerning the private Masse which he did not to teach him the truth but by true accusations to bring him to despaire § IV. This doctrine of the Papists concerning implicite faith is both absurdly false and notoriously wicked False in diverse respects First in that they say justifying faith may be without knowledge when as first of all faith it selfe is a kind of knowledge yea a kind of certaine knowledge yea of all others the most certaine knowledge as I have already shewed proving that it is that knowledge which we have by Divine relation or report grounded on the authority of God speaking in his word Secondly because faith oftentimes in the scriptures is called knowledge or acknowledgment as Ioh. 17. 3. This is eternall life to know thee the onely true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent Now we know God in the life to come by vision in this life by faith as their owne writers testifie Maldonat on that place what is the cause saith he that he seemeth to place eternall life in knowledge alone that is in faith onely And Ianseniâ—…s vita aeterna inchoativè imperfectè hic habetur cognoscendo Deum per fidem habetur autem in 〈◊〉 perfectè cognoscendo Deum per visionem Esai 53. 11. My righteous servant by his knowledge or acknowledgement that is by faith in him shall justifie many So 2 Pet. 1. 2 3. Eph. 1. 17. Col. 1. 10. 2. 2. 1 Tim. 2. 4. 2 Tim. 2. 25. 3. 7. Tit. 1. 1. where by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the knowledge or acknowledgement of Christ and his truth is meant nothing else but faith 1 Ioh. 2. 3 4. hereby we doe know that we doe know him that is beleeve in him if we doe keepe his Commandements he that saith he knoweth him namely by faith and keepeth not his Commandements is a lyar and the truth is not in him Heb. 11. 3. By faith we understand or know that the worlds were formed by the Word of God where the act of faith is expressed by this term of understanding that which we beleeve 2 Cor. 5. 1. we know that is we beleeve for otherwise it cannot be known but by faith that after the dissolution of our earthly tabemacle we have an eternall habitation in heaven Thirdly because in the Scriptures faith and knowledge are so linked together that what we acknowledg we beleeve what we beleeve we know Ioh. 6. 69. we beleeve and know that thou art that Christ Ioh. 10. 38. that you may know and beleeve that the Father is in me and I in him Ioh. 17. 8. they have knowen surely that I came out from thee saith Christ unto his Father and they have beleeved that thou didst send me Eph. 4. 13. till we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God 1 Tim. 4. 3. to bee received with thankesgiving of them which beleeve and know the truth 1 Ioh. 4. 16. we have knowne and beleeved the love that God hath to us Fourthly it is not possible that a man should beleeve acknowledge or assent firmely to that which he doth not know so much as by relation or hearesay how can they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard and by hearing knowen Rom. 10. 14. And who knoweth not that the assent of faith determineth the judgement to that particular which is beleeved As for example if I beleeve the resurrection my judgement actually assenteth to that particular But if I never have so much as heard or understood that God hath revealed such a thing that there shall be a resurrection how can I possibly beleeve it or actually assent unto it And therefore implicite faith is so farre from being a justifying faith that it is not so good as the bare historicall faith which not onely wicked men but the Devils themselves have For historicall faith hath in it an actuall assent and implyeth a knowledge at least by relation of that which is beleeved But implicite faith hath neither Fifthly to the implicite faith the definition offaith Heb. 11. 1. doth in no sort agree for as it is so farre from being the substance of things hoped for that it doth not so much as know what are the things hoped for so it is further from being an evidence of things not seene which implyeth a certaine knowledge of things by relation which are not seen or knowne by sence or reason Sixthly that which implyeth a contradiction is false and absurd but the profession of the implicite faith made by a simple man viz. that hee beleeveth whatsoever the Catholicke Church beleeveth implyeth a contradiction not onely because hee doth not beleeve every yea scarce any particular but also through his ignorance sometimes doth actually beleeve that which the Church doth not beleeve or doth deny credit to that which the Church beleeveth But here now is the speciall priviledge of implicite faith that although a man beleeve an errour as that God the Father is greater than the Sonne or ancienter than he or that the persons of the Trinity are divided by locall distance one from another it is no offence so long as he thinketh the Church beleeveth so and so saith Gabriel himselfe If any man doe beleeve thinking that the Church doth so beleeve though it bee erroneous he sinneth not so that hee doe not obstinately adhere to his errour as was said before notab 2. Yea saith hee that which is more this faith is meritorious for such an one should not onely not sinne but also by so beleeving that which is false hee should merit Thus not onely hee is said to beleeve who indeed doth not beleeve nor give assent to the truth but also he
God grounded upon the infallible authoritie of God the relator and finally not being ignorant that we hold the proper object of faith to be the truth But we hold that it is seated both in the understanding and in the will and my reason brieâ—…ely is this because it is a voluntary assent and is so defined not onely by some of the ancient Fathers but also by the ancient Philosophers who as Thcodoreâ—… reporteth doe define it to bee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a willing assent of the soule Thâ—…refore to beleeve is an act both of the understanding and of the will Of the understanding as it is an assent of the will as it is voluntary Even as liberum â—…rbitrium as it is arbitrium belongeth to the understanding and as it is liberum to the will not that we seate it in two divers parts of the soule but onely in the mind that is the reasonable or intellectuall part though it worketh upon the affections also For the better understanding whereof wee are to know that when the holy Ghost is pleased to worke the grace of faith in the soules of any of the elect which ordinarily he doth by the ministery of the Gospell he openeth their hearts as he did the heart of Lydia to assent to the Gospell which he doth first by illuminating their understanding and opening the eyes of their minde that they may rightly conceive and judge of the doctrine of salvation and secondly by opening as it were the eares of the mind and enclining the will to affect and embrace what the understanding hath judged and approved to be true and good The understanding therefore approving and the Will which is intellectus extensus and ordinarily followeth the judgement of the practick understanding embracing the doctrine of the Gospell which promiseth salvation by Christ to all that beleeve the mind which containeth both these faculties being thus opened by the holy Ghost doth williugly assent to the doctrinâ—… of the Gospell concerning salvation by Christ. Faith therefore is a voluntary assent of the mind to the promise of the Gospell unto which the acts of both the faculties of the mind concurre of the understanding to judge that the thing propounded to be beleeved is true and good I meane that the promise is true and the thing promised good of the Will to accept and to embrace that for true and good which the understanding hath judged to be such Out of both which ariseth the voluntary assent of the minde which wee call faith This faith thus wrought by the holy Ghost the Spirit of regeneration being lively and effectuall worketh upon the heart and affections which also being renewed by the holy Ghost readily follow the willing assent of the minde both to affect Christ to desire to bee made partakers of him to love him and torest upon him for salvation and also to dis-affect and to detest those things which are repugnant to the Doctrine of the Gospel the chiefe whereof is Sinne. § III. Now that the act of the will doth concurre to faith and that faith which is an habit of the minde is seated as well in the will as in the understanding is a thing testified by the Fathers and confessed by the Schoole-men and by the Moderne Doctors of the Romane Church And first for the Fathers Clemens Alexandrinus saith that faith it the willing assent of the soule and so Theodoret doth define it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ambrose Fides non necessitatis sed voluntatis res est Faith is a matter of will and not of necessity therefore the Apostle saith not that wee domineere over your faith for dominion is cause of necessity and againe â—… to beleeve or not to beleeve it is an act of the Will Augustine Grace therfore preventeth or goeth before faith otherwise if faith prevent it then also the will prevenâ—…eth it quia fides sine voluâ—…late â—…on potest esse because faith cannot be without Will Againe what is it to beleeve but to consent that the thing is true which is said consensio autemutique volentis est and consenting undoubtedly is of him that is willing Every man when he willeth beleeveth cum credit volens credit and when he doth beleeve hee doth willingly beleeve Voluntate utique credimus verily we beleeve with our will Fides in credentium voluntate consistit faith standeth in the will of the beleevers And writing upon Ioh. 6. 44. What say we here brethren if we be drawne unto Christ then wee beleeve against our wills No saith hee A man may enter into the Church nolens against his will hee may come to the Altar nilling hee may receive the Sacrament nilling credere non potest nisi volens hee cannot beleeve unlesse hee bee willing And lastly in the elect the will is prepared of the Lord that therefore belongeth to faith quâ—… in voluntate est which is in the will § IV. Bonaventure it were not virtuovs to beleeve if it were not voluntary ipsum velle credere est essentiale ipsi fidei to beleeve willingly is essentiall to faith it selfe Vnto the being of the vertue of faith with the act of reason or understanding concurreth the act of the Will Faith never should be a vertue though it did enlighten the understanding never so much if it did not also rectifie the will Thomas Aquinas writing on Rom. 10. 10. Signanter autem dicit corde creditur id est voluntate he â—…peaketh remarkeably men beleeve with the hearr that is with the Will For all other things which appertaine to the outward worship of God 〈◊〉 potest a man may doe them nilling sed credere non potest nisi volens but none can beleeve that is not willing for the understanding of him that beleeveth is not determined to assent unto the truth by necessity of reason as of him that hath science but by the Will Againe Intellectus credâ—…ntis determinatur ad unum non per rationeâ—… sed per voluntatem Credere est actus intellectus assentientis veritati divinae ex imperio voluntatis à Deo motae per gratiam Credere est actus intellectus secùndum quod movetur a voluntate ad assentiendum procedit autem hujâ—…smodi actus à voluntate ab intellectu Actus fidei dicitur consistere in credentium voluntate in quantum ex imperio voluntatis intellectus credibilibus assentit Gabriel Biel the act of faith is to beleeve which is an act of the understanding assenting to the truth proceeding from the command of the will quiâ—… nullus credit nisi volens because no man beleeveth that is not willing as Saint Augustâ—…e teacheth § V. Cardin all Contarenus actus fidei quam vis sit elicitus ab intellectu est tamen imperatus à 〈◊〉 Salmeron Paul saith men beleeve with the heart to exclude fayning
that is beleeved them and embraced them were justified by faith in Christ the promised seed so are we and by nothing else And further we are to note that before those words recorded Gen. 15. 6. Abraham had by faith embraced the maine promise of the Gospell Gen. 12. 3. in thee that is in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed and by that faith was justified by which also he obeyed God leaving his owne countrey and by the same faith sojourning in the land of promise as a Pilgrime sought a better countrey that is an heavenly Therefore as S. Iames saith when Abraham in his great triall had approved himselfe to be a faithfull man that then the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham beleeved God and it was imputed to him for righteousnesse Not that then Abraham first beleeved but that then by that notable fruit of faith hee approved the truth of his faith and manifested the truth of that oracle which then by good proofe was verified of him So by the like reason may that place Gen. 15. 6. be understood that Abraham beleeved in the Lord and it was counted to him for righteousnesse Not that then Abraham either first beleeved or was then first justified for hee had beleeved the grand promise of the Gospell before and by it was justified and before this time had brought forth excellent fruits of faith Gen. Chap. 12 13 14. but that by this new act of beleeving the Promises renewed which the Apostle amplifieth Rom. 4. 18. the truth of his faith was manifested And thus Bellarmine himselfe expoundeth those words Gen. 15. 6. affirming that as S. Iames applieth them to that act â—…en 22. so they may be applied to all notable acts of the faith of Abraham Againe justification or imputation of righteousnesse is actus continâ—…us which is not to be restrained to the instant of our first conversion and justification but continued to them that beleeve And therefore so long as they have faith God imputeth righteousnesse unto them § VI. But for the better clearing of this point we are to take notice that Christ and his benefits or the doctrine of salvation by Christ are the proper object of justifying faith in two respects both as it justifiâ—…th befoâ—…e God and as in the Court of our owne Conscience Before God when by a lively and effectuall assent or beleefe as hath beene said wee receive and embrace Christ our Saviour with all his merits or which is all one the promises of the Gospell concerning justification and salvation by him Such was the faith of Saint Peter Math. 16. 16. and of the rest of the Apostles Ioh. 6. 69. Of Nathaniel Ioh. 1. 49. Of Martha Ioh. 11. 27. Of the Samaritanes Ioh. 4. 42. Of the Eunuch Act. 8. 37. With which whosoever are endued are borne of God 1 Ioh. 5. 1. they dwell in God and God in them 1 Ioh. 4. 14. 15. they overcome the world 1 Ioh. 5. 5. and unto them blessednesse Mat. 16. 17. Ioh. 20. 29. justification Rom. 10. 9. 10. and salvation is promised Ioh. 20. 31. Act. 16. 31. In the Court of our owne Conscience it doth justifie when wee finding that wee have the former degree which is the condition of the promise doe soundly apply the promise to our selves For hee who knoweth that hee hath the condition not onely may but must apply the promise of the Gospell to himselfe otherwise he maketh God a lyar 1 Ioh. 5. 10. This application as hath been â—…aid is made by a practicall syllogisme the proposition whereof or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is this whosoever doth truely beleeve in Christ hee shall be saved the assumption or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but I saith the faithfull man do beleeve in Christ the conclusion or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therefore I shall be saved This conclusion is the voice of speciall faith Such was the faâ—…th of Iob chap. 19. 25. Of David Psal. 103 3. Of Thomas Ioh. 20. 28. Of Saint Paul Gal. 2. 20. and of all the faithfull in the Scriptures who in many places have applyed and as it were appropriated to themselves the mercies of God in Christ. And such is and ought to be the faith of all that truely beleeve For the generall alwaies includeth the particular If therefore thou doest truely beleeve that Iesus is the Saviour of all that truely beleeve in him thou art then bound to beleeve that he is thy Saviour Of this point I have treated elsewhere and have answered the objections so many as I thought worth the answearing § VII Now I come to Bellarmines dispute concerning the object of faith wherein hee endevoureth to prove and to maintaine three things First that the object of faith is not Gods speciall favour in Christ but whatsoever God hath reveâ—…led Secondly that men may be justified without speciall faith Thirdly that men are not justified by speciall faith As touching the first wee doe freely confesse that by the justifying faith we doe beleeve whatsoever wee understand to bee revealed by God And further we professe that by the virtue of justifying faith all articles of Christian Religion become after a sort the objects of speciall faith For as he who hath the Philosophers stone is said by virtue thereof to turne other metals into Gold so it may more truely be said of him who is indued with that faith whereby we are justified before God that he may and ought to make all the Articles of the catholike or dogmaticall faith the precious objects of speciall faith by applying them to his owne good and comfort which being a matter of singular use and comfort I will a little insist upon it Doest thou then beleeve by a true and a lively assent as hath been said that Iesus the Sonne of the Blessed Virgin is the erernall Sonne of God and the Saviour of all those that truely beleeve in him Thou art then bound to beleeve that hee is thy Saviour Doest thou beleeve that Christ is thy Saviour then must thou beleeve that God the Father is thy gracious and mercifull Father in Christ that he is all sufficient to bestow upon thee all good things that hee is omnipotent to protect and defend thee from all evill riding upon the heavens for thy helpe and so of the other attributes that hee is eternall to Crowne thee with everlasting happinesse that he is immutable in his love towards thee that hee is omniscient and therefore knoweth thy wants omnipresent that thou maist powre thy requests into his bosome true and faithfull to performe all his promises to thee just to forgive thee thy sinnes when thou doest confesse them and to justifie thee seeing Christ hath satisfied his justice for thee good gracious and mercifull unto thee that hee hath loved thee in Christ with an everlasting love and in him hath adopted thee to bee his Sonne and if a Sonne then also an
Twelfthly In his fortie five sermon which by some is attributed to Maximus who lived after him forty yeares to the penetent thiefe it sufficeth ad innocentiam Domino credidisse to make him innocent that he beleeved in the Lord. Thirteenthly Another testimony of Ambrose recorded by Gratian that the grace of God in baptisme requireth neither mourning nor any worke sed solam fidem omnia gratis condonat but faith alone and forgiveth all freely XI Hierome or what other Writer no lesse ancient was the Authour of the commentaries on Paul's Epistles in very many places teacheth justification by faith alone Bellarminâ—… saith that Pelagius was the Authour of those Commentaries But this appeareth to be false by those places which S. Augustine citeth out of the commentaries of Pelagius in his three first chapters of his third booke De peccatorum meritis remissione I deny not but that divers sentences are found in those Commentaries rankely savouring of the Pelegian heresie as well as in the writings of other ancient Fathers either because before the Pelagian herâ—…sie was spred they wrote more caresly of those points or rather because the Pelagian hereticks did corrupt their writings which Possevin himselfe suspecteth might have happened to this author These Commentaries doe seeme to have been in great account in the Church above 1100 yeares agoe in that Sedâ—…lius in his Collectanea and sometimes by name as 1 Cor. 7. 37. And Primasius in his Commentaries on the Epistles were not ashamed to borrow store of annotations out of these Commentaries as in other points so in this which I have in hand as may appeare by collation of those which I shall cite out of them The Author of the ordinary glosse who lived eight hundred yeers ago every where citeth them under the name of Hierome For my part I suspect that Bâ—…llarmine and other Papists doe not so much distaste this Writer for comming too neere the Pelagians as for his too much departing from themselves I meane especially in this question of justification freely by the grace of God through faith alone in Christ to which purpose there are more frequent and more pregnant testimonies in these Commentaries than in any other work of the like quantity of any ancient writer whatsoever and although these Commentaries have beene interpolated by the Pelagian hereticks yet those testimonies which I shall alleage for Iustification by faith alone the Papists themselves will free from suspicion of Pelagianisme Thus therefore he writeth First in Ro. 1. 16. on those words Iudaeo c. sive quod justum fuerit ut quomodo Abraham credens ex Gentib per solam primum fidem salvatus est ita caeteri credentes salvarentur Sedulius hath the same but leaveth out the word primum Secondly In Rom. 4. 3 Tam magna fuit fides Abrahae ut pristinaâ—…i peccata donarentur sola pro omni justitia doceretur accepta Thirdly in Rom. 4. 5. Convertentem impium per solam fidem justificat Dâ—…us And upon those words which are there sound in the Latine edition secundum propositum gratiae Dei Fourthly Qui proposuit gratis per solam fidem peccata dimittere Fifthly In Rom. 4. 11. Vt omnes qui ex Gentibus credunt filii sint Abrahae dum illis sola fides ad justitiam reputatur Sixthly In Rom. 5. 1. Ostendit quod fides faciat filios Abrahae qui ex sola prima fide justificatus est Seventhly In Rom. 8. 28. secundum propositum secundum quod proposuit sola fide salvare quos praesciverat credituros Eighthly In Rom. 10. 3. Ignorantes quòd Deus ex sola fide justificat justos se ex legis operibus quam non custodiunt esse putantes noluerunt se remissioni subjicere peccatorum ne peccatores fuisse viderentur Et in Roman 10. 5. Ninthly Moses distinxit in Levitico inter utramque justitiam fidei scillicet atque factorum quòd altera operibus altera sola fidei credulitate accedente fiat Tenthly In Rom. 10. 10. Ergo si fides sufficit ad justitiam confessio ad salutem inter Iudaeum Gentilem credentes nulla discretio est 11. In 2 Cor. 5. 19. Non reputans illis delicta ipsorum hoc est per solam fidem cognoscens read ignoscens or as Primasius indulgens 12. In Gal. 1. 12. Neque a me confinxi neque ab ullo homine accepi quòd Gentes sola fide salvarentur 13. In Gal. 2. 14. Non ex operibus legis sed sola fide sicut Gentes vitam in Christo invenisse te nosti 14. In Gal. 2. 17. Si enim Gentes fides sola non salvat nec nos quia ex operibus nâ—…mo justificatur 15. In Gal. 2. 20. In fide viva filii Dei in sola fide quia nihil debeâ—… legi antiquae 16. In Gal. 3. 6. Abraham credidit Deo reputatum est illi adjustitiam ita vobis ad justitiam sola sufficit Fides unto justice Faith only sufficeth 17. In Gal. 3. 11. In legeâ—… nemo justificatur quia nemo illam serval Let the Papists note that point of Pelagianisme ideo dictum est quòd sola fide justificandi essent 18. In Gal. 3. 14. Vt sola fide Gentes benedicerentur in Christo sicut prâ—…missum fuerat Abrahae 19. In Gal. 3. 26. Aequaliter Iudaei Gentes per solam fidem filii Dei estis quia credidistis Christâ—… 20. In Eph. 2. 8. Gratia estis salvati per fidem non meritis prioris vitae sed sola fide 21. In Eph. 2. 15. Per solam fidem justificans 22. In Phil. 3. 9. Non habens meam justitiam hoc est meo labore quae sitam sed illam quae ex fide c. sed illam quae à Deo propriè sola fide collata est Christianis XII Chrysostome In Rom. 1. 17. thou obtainest righteousnesse not by sweat and labour but receivest it by gift from above 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bringing one thing onely from within viz. to beleeve nothing therefore in us doth concurre to the act of justification but onely faith Secondly In Rom. 3. 27. What is the Law of faith to save by grace here he sheweth the power of God that he hath not onely saved but also justified and brought into glorying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that not requiring workes but seeking faith onely Thirdly In Rom. 4. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is not possible to be saved otherwise than by faith Fourthly In Rom. 8. 24. This one gift have wee brought to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to beleeve him promising things to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by this onely way we are saved Fifthly In Gal. 3. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith sufficed Abraham to righteousnesse Sixthly In Gal. 3. 8. They the justitiaries said he that adhereth to faith alone is accursed but Paul sheweth
God not that working righteousnesse is the cause to make a man Gods child but an evidence to declare that hee is the child of God For he that is borne of God committeth not sinne 1 Ioh. 3. 9. as a servant of sinne Ioh. 8. 34. and hereby we doe know that we are passed from death to life that is that wee are justified because wee love the brethren 1 Ioh. 3. 14. Hereby the sonnes of God are manifest and the sonnes of the Devill hee that worketh not righteousnesse is not of God nor hee that loveth not his brother vers 10. Hereby saith our Saviour shall men know you to be my disciples if you love one another Ioh. 13. 35. I conclude with Saint Paul Gal. 3. 26. By faith in Iesus Christ hee doth not say by love but by faith yee are hee doth not say yee may bee but yee are all that beleeve the Sonnes of God upon which words as I noted before Thomas Aquinas observeth Faith alone maketh men the adoptive Sonnes of God § X. To these places of Scripture Bellarmine addeth the testimonies of the Fathers who if they speake as Bellarmine citeth them they say nothing but what wee willingly confesse to wit that faith is as Clemens Alexandrinus speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first propension or inclination to salvation that it is as it were the eye of the soule and the Lampe to finde the way to salvation as Cyrill of Hierusalem that it is the light of the soule the dore of life the foundation of salvation as Eâ—…sebius Emissemus that it is the beginning of righteousnesse inherent as Chrysostome that it is the gate and the way unto life as Cyrill of Alexandria that it is the first grace in a Christian as Ambrose that it is the beginning and originall of asâ—…iance and accesse to God as Ierome that wee are made the sonnes of Wisedome the faith of the Mediatour preparing and working it that it is first given and by it the rest that to a Christian the true beginning is to beleeve in Christ that by faith wee obtaine grace and by grace the health of the soule that the house of God whereby is meant the whole oeconomy of our salvation in this life is founded on faith raised by hope and perfected by charity as Augustine That faith is the foundation of righteousnesse which no good workes precede and from which all proceede that it is the foundation of all vertues as Prosper That if faith bee not first begotten in the heart the rest cannot bee good as Gregory All this and more wee affirme concerning faith But although many other graces besides faith are required unto sanctification as forerunners fitting us unto salvation yet none concurre with it to the act of justification And although it be the beginning of sanctification and of all other graces yet it is not onely the beginner but the continuer also of sanctification purifying still the heart and working by love by which we stand by which wee live being by the power of God through faith preserved unto salvation And although it be termed by some the beginning as it is of inherent righteousnesse yet it alone as I shewed before by diuers testimonies of the Fathers sufficeth to justification And therefore by it wee have not a partiall or inchoated but a perfect and plenary justification § XI To these testimonies saith he naturall reason may be added and well may hee call it naturall for there is little art in it and although it bee very simple yet it is double containing two slender proofes The former because faith is the foundation of hope and charity but neither hope nor charity is the foundation of faith For a man may beleeve that which hee neither hopeth for nor loveth but hee cannot hope for or love that which hee doth not beleeve And what then therfore faith is the beginning of other graces And what then therefore it followeth that it doth not sanctifie alone for it is but one among many but it doth not follow that therfore it doth not justifie alone And where hee saith that faith is the foundation of hope and that a man cannot hope for that which he doth not beleeve this overthroweth a maine Doctrine of the Church of Rome maintained by Bellarmine in other places that a man may hope well for the remission of his fins and for his salvation but without speciall revelation he may not beleeve it His second reason hath no soundnesse in it In bodily diseases saith hee the beginning of health is for a man to beleeve that hee is sicke and to beleeve the Physitian that taketh upon him to cure him and yet not that faith alone is entire health Where Bellarmine compareth justification to health recovered from sicknesse to which not justification may bee compared but sanctification For the disease of the soule as well as of the body is not onely a privation or absence of health but also an evill disposition or habit which is cured by the contrary disposition or habit for as the whole body of sinne is cured in some measure by the grace of regeneration or sanctification so the severall members thereof as infidelity by faith despaire by hope hatred by charity pride by humility uncleannesse by chastitie drunkennesse by sobriety c. Secondly he compareth the beleefe of a sicke man beleeving that the Physitian will cure him which is no health at all nor meanes of health but in conceit for many times it proveth otherwise the promise of the Physitian being deceiveable and the event uncertaine to the faith of an humbled sinner grounded on the infallible promises of God which are alwayes performed to them that beleeve CAP. XI Of Feare and Hope being his second and third dispositions § I. HIs second disposition is feare which he proveth to dispose unto justification and to concurre thereuntn in the same manner almost as faith doth But first this discourse is impertinent For we deny and our deniall we have made good that justâ—…ying faith doth not justifie by way of disposing And therefore if it be proved that feare doth dispose a man to justification yet that doth not disprove justification by faith alone For we have confessed that ordinarily in adultis there are preparative dispositions going before faith and justification whereof feare is one But these preparatives doe not justifie and therefore for all them faith may and indeed doth justifie alone Secondly you are to understand that this feare which goeth before grace is no grace neither is it that sonne-like feare which is the daughter of faith and love but the servile feare as he confesseth which is an effect and fruit of the Law working on those who are under the Law and keeping them in some order for feare of the whippe Neither is it properly timor Dei the feare of God but metus supplicii the object whereof
that justified her but her faith our Saviour who had so highly commended her love doth in expresse termes testifie thy faith hath saved thee goe in peace upon which wordes of our Saviour shee who was formerly justified before God by a true justifying faith which our Saviour professeth and which shee testified by her love and by her repentance departed home justified in the Court of her owne conscience by speciall faith and being justified by faith had peace with God 4. As for his allegation out of Gal. 5. 6 that faith worketh by love it hath no colour of proofe that love disposeth unto justification but rather the contrary For he that is indued with faith working by love is already justified § IV. The Councell of Aurenge hee alleageth against himselfe For if God doe first inspire faith and love it speaketh of those who are adultâ—… that wee may faithfully require the sacrament of Baptisme then are we first justified by faith and afterwards receive the sacrament as Abraham did circumcision as the sacâ—…ament and sealâ—… of justification by faith And this is generally to be understood of Sacraments received by them who are come to yeares of discretion that they must be endued with justifying faith when they come to receive the Sacraments otherwise they receive no benefit by them For as touching Baptisme our Saviour saith hee that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved but hee that beleeveth not whether hee be baptized or not baptiâ—…ed he shall bee condemned And as touching the Eucharist it is certaine that no man can receive Christ therein without faith which is both the hand of the soule to receive him and as it were the mouth of the soule to eat his body and to drinke his bloud And further Sacraments are seales anneâ—…ed to the letters patents of Gods promises in the Gospell and therefore confirme or assure nothing but what is contained in the promise and upon the same conditions The condition is faith Obiect But you will say if a man must be justified before he receive the Sacrament to what end doth hee then receive it Answ. that hee who is justified before God by the former degree of faith may by speciall faith confirmed by the Sacrament bee justified in his owne conscience that is that hee may in some measure be assured thereof § V. Bellarmine having produced his owne arguments hee commeth now to answer such as he saith are ours The first out of 1 Ioh. 4. 19. wee love God because he first loved us Now God loveth no man actually whom hee doth not justifie and reconcile unto himselfe in Christ for untill then wee are in the state of enemies Neither doth any that is not justified nor reconciled to God in Christ love him or if hee doe then doth hee love God before God loveth him Gods love therefore goeth before our justification and our justification goeth before our love of God Neither is this onely true that God loveth us before wee love him but before wee can love him aright wee must bee perswaded of his love towards us which perswasion is faith from which love proceedeth 1 Tim. 1. 5. Bellarmine answereth that God indeed loveth men first and by loving them maketh them just but by little and little and by certaine meanes For whom hee loveth hee first calleth to faith then he inspireth into them hope and feare and love inchoated lastly he justifieth and infuseth perfect charity Reply First that which he speaketh of making just by little and little may agree to sanctification but to justification it agreeth not for thereof there are no degrees Secondly It would bee knowne whether this beginning of charity which he saith goeth before justification bee the same which in justification is infused differing only in degree If it be not the same how is it charitas inchoata and if it be not infused as well as that in the act of justification why doth he say it is inspired If it bee the same then gratia gratum faciens is inspired before regeneration before which wee are nothing but flesh and in our flesh there is no good thing And by this reason justification shall bee nothing else but the perfecting of that charity which before was begun neither can a man bee truely said to bee justified by charity who is not enduâ—…d with perfect charity perfectly and fully expelling all sin which in this life is never perfect much lesse in incipients nor ever doth so expell sinne but that allwayes whiles wee are in our mortall bodies sinne remaineth in us Wherefore the Papists doe never attaine to that which they call justification which indeed is not justification but the perfection of sanctification Or if they say they doe attaine unto it and that they have no sinne they are lyars and there is no truth in them § VI. Our second argument no man can love God in any acceptable measure unlesse hee have the Spirit of God dwelling in him for love is a fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5. 22. to this purpose hee citeth for us Rom. 5. 5. which allegation hee cannot answere because he understandeth the place of our love of God which is shed abroad into our harâ—…s by the holy Ghost Now no men have the Spirit of God but they who are regenerated and justified for the Spirit of truth the world cannot receive Ioh. 14. 27. Bellarmine saith this is true of perfect love but imperfect love and inchoated which even now out of the Counsel of Aureng he confessed to be inspired of the holy Spirit may be had without the Spirit but not without Gods speciall helpe Which words discover unto us one of the depthes of Satan in the mystery of iniquity For the Papists as they doe wonderfully extenuate originall sinne so doe they use to magnifie the strength of nature corrupted They doe not acknowledge that which the Scriptures plainely teach that by nature wee are dead in sinne onely they say that we are diseased with sinne and entangled and bound with the chaines of sinne so that if wee bee not holpen of God wee are not able to doe that which is good But if God doe afford uâ—… his speciall helpe then we can have faith and feare and hope and love and the other preparations And further the privative corruption which they cannot deny to be in originall sinne they confesse by the halves or not so much for the privation which is in originall sinne is not onely of the act which they doe not wholly confesse but of the power and the habit it selfe So that in us by nature there is a meere impotencie to that which is spiritually good in respect whereof wee have lost bonum possibilitatis as Augustine teacheth Wherefore that wee may bee enabled to beleeve to hope to love to feare God to purpose amendment of life c. it is necessary that wee should bee not holpen or loosed but renewed regenerated created a new and raised from the
condition of faith See Act. 8. 37. 10. 43. 13. 38 39. Ro. 4. 5. Gal. 2. 16. and so every where Before the incarnation of Christ it was the good pleasure of God by faith onely to justifie the faithfull as Bellarmine himselfe hath confessed And doth he require any other condition of us are not we justified as they were By his knowledge that is by faith in him my righteous servant shall justifie many Yea but the Scriptures saith Bellarmine much more plainely exact the condition of Penance and of the Sacraments to justification than of faith as Ezek. 18. 27. The wicked if hee repent of his sinnes shall live Luk. 13. 4. unlesse yee repent ye shall likewise perish Ioh. 3. 5. unlesse a man be borne a-new of water and the holy Ghost he shall not enter into the Kingdome of God Answ. Many things are required to salvation which are not required to justification which as they be necessary forerunners of glorification so are they the fruits of faith and consequents of justification viz. repentance and newnesse of life which is the thing mentioned in these places Againe happinesse which consisteth partly in justification or remission of sinnes which is beatitudo viae and partly in eternall life which is beatitudo patriâ—… is oftentimes attributed to those things which are not the causes of happines but the notes and markes of them that be happy There is but one happinesse properly and that is to be in Christ who is eternall life whom whosoever hath hath eternall life Of this happinesse Christ alone is the foundation and the cause and faith the instrument of our union and communion with Christ. All other virtues and graces are but the fruits and consequently the signes and markes of faith or of our being in Christ by faith And therefore are not so many beatitudes though they are blessed that have them but so many notes of one and the same happinesse It is true that if we be sorry for our sinnes because by them we have displeased him who hath been so gracious a God unto us if we confesse them crave pardon for them and forsake them all which are duties of repentance the Lord hath promised to forgive them And yet these are not causes of our justification before God but fruits of faith by which we come to be justified in our owne conscience By faith we obtaine remission of sinnes and by these duties of repentance which are the fruits of justifying faith we attaine to the assurance of it That prayer which somuch prevaileth with God is the prayer of faith That repentance which is to life is caused by faith without which it is impossible to please God and therefore the Disciples when they understood that the Gentiles were brought to beleeve in Christ conclude that God had given them repentance unto life Act. 11. 18. As for the Sacraments the justification which is assigned to them doth not hinder justification by faith onely but serveth to seale and to assure it § VI. The third cause or reason proving that faith doth justifie alone is because it is the property of faith to apprehend and to apply the promise of justification to our selves For the clearing whereof I desire the reader to call to minde what hath beene said concerning the two degrees of justifying faith For by the former wee apprehend receive and embrace Christ who is our righteousnesse offered in the promises of the Gospell to our justification before God By the other wee apply the promises of the Gospell to our selves that we may be justified in our owne consciences Both which actions of receiving and applying the promises to our â—…elves cannot be ascribed to any other grace but are proper to faith onely To this argument Bellarmine shapeth two answeres the former whereof is a meere cavill at the word apprehension which wee make proper to faith as if by apprehending we did meane the first act of the understanding when it conceiveth the object But this point I cleared before in the first question concerning the nature of faith where I shewed that this apprehension whereof Bellarmine speaketh goeth before all judgement of the minde And that the understanding having first conceived and apprehended the object judgeth of it either by withholding the assent if it be doubtfull which is called doubting or by giving assent either weakely which is opinion or firmely which is knowledge this firme assent or knowledge is grounded either upon the evidence of the thing which is either manifest in it selfe and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the cleare intelligence or manifested by discourse which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or science or else the thing being not evident either to sense or reason upon the infallible authority of God speaking in his word which is Faith By this beleefe we receive Christ not onely in our judgements by assent but also if this assent be lively and effectuall we receive embrace and lay hold upon him as our Saviour with all our soules acknowledging him in our judgements in our hearts desiring to bee made partakers of him in our wils resolving to professe him to bee our Saviour and to obey him as our Lord c. § VII This is the apprehension whereof we speake and which is peculiar to faiâ—… as it is evident Be it saith Bellarmine that justification after a sort is apprehended by faith Surely it is not so apprehended that indeed it is had and doth inhere but onely that it is in the minde after the manner of an object apprehended by an action of the understanding and will and so saith he love and joy apprehend In these things Bellarmine sheweth himselfe to be a diviner rather than a divine we doe not say that in our justification before God justification is apprehended by faith but the righteousnesse of Christ unto justification And that this righteousnesse of Christ though not inherent in us is as truely and really made ours by imputation as our sinnes though not inherent in him were made his when he truely and really suffered for them By this hand of faith we receive Christ Ioh. 1. 12. by it we receive and embrace the promises Heb. 11. 16. by it we receive remission of sinnes Act. 10. 43. 26. 18. By this mouth as it were of the soule we eate the body of Christ and drinke his bloud That which hee speaketh of justification being in the minde after the manner of an object apprehended by an action of the understanding and the will may in some sort be verified of the apprehension of speciall faith applying justification to the beleever But to say that after this manner love and joy apprehend it is against sense For faith apprehendeth it by a perswasion yea by a firme perswasion upon which follow love and joy not apprehending but loving and rejoycing at that which faith doth apprehend But these two are not incident unto a Papist who
that the eye of the body did cure those who were stung but the brasen Serpent which was a figure of Christ beheld with the eye Nor the eye of the soule which is faith doth absolutely and by it selfe justifie or save but relatively in respect of the object which it doth behold that is to say the Lord Iesus whom God hath propounded to be a Saviour to all that see him and receive him by faith § XII His second proofe is from the speech of Christ to the woman of Canaan who had earnestly prayed unto him and would take no repulse Matth. 15. 28. O woman great is thy faith and Mar. 7. 29. for this saying goe thy way the Devill is gone out of thy daughter for here plainely saith he the efficacie of obtayning health is attributed to faith Neither may it be answered that it is one thing to speake of justification and another to speake of the cure of a bodily disease For our Lord in the very same words attributeth to faith both the one and the other For as hee said to the woman which was a sinner Luk. 7. 50. thy faith hath saved thee so in like manner to the woman whom hee cured of a bloudy issue Matth. 9. 2â—… and to the blind man whom hee restored to sight Mark 10. 52. Answer Though the woman of Canaan and the blind man by prayer obtained their desires yet it was the prayer of faith as Saint Iames calleth it which was effectuall and prevailed with Christ Iam. 5. 16. and therefore to faith I confesse the efficacie is to be ascribed And although it may well be thought that our Saviour when hee used the same words thy faith hath saved thee to the woman which had the issue of bloud and to the blind man which hee used to the sinner whose sins he had forgiven that he being the Physitian of the soule used them in the same sence to assure them of a greater blessing than the bodily cure Matth. 9. 2. yet I doe not deny but that by faith and by the prayer of faith the health both of the body and soule is obtained for as by beleeving or apprehending by faith the righteousnesse of Christ which hee had and performed for us wee are justified so by beleeving the divine power and goodnesse of Christ many were cured of their bodily diseases And yet as it was not their faith apprehending the power and goodnes of Christ which did heale them but the power and goodnesse of Christ which by faith they apprehended as it is said Act. 3. 16. his Name by faith in his name hath made this man strong so is it not our faith absolutely whereby wee apprehend the righteousnesse of Christ which doth justifie us but the righteousnesse of Christ apprehended by faith And whereas Bellarmine will have the like efficacie to be ascribed in justifying unto faith as in obtaining bodily health I take him at his word for hereby it is evidently proved that faith alone doth justifie for our Saviour for the obtaining of bodily health required faith onely Luk. 8. 50. Mar. 5. 36. Bee not affraid Only beleeve and the like may bee gathered out of Matth. 9. 28 29. Mark 9. 23. Iohn 11. 40. § XIII His third proofe is from the example of Abraham Rom. 4. 20 21 22. In the promise also of God he staggered not by distrust but was strengthened in faith giving glory to God most fully knowing or being fully perswaded that whatsoever he promiâ—…ed he also is able to performe therefore it was also reputed to him for righteousnesse Here saith Bellarmine the Apostle rendreth tâ—…e cause why faith was reputed to Abraham for righteousnesse because by beleeving he gave glory to God Therefore that faith pleased God by which he was glorified and therefore by the mâ—…rit of that faith which notwithstanding was the gift and grace of God hee justified Abraham His reason may thus be framed Whatsoever pleaseth God meriteth justification Abrahams faith pleased God because he was glorified thereby Therefore Abrahams faith merited justification The proposition is to bee denyed for before men can please God they must bee reconciled unto him and justified by faith therefore our pleasing of God is not a cause but a fruit of our justification and it is evident that before that promise was either made to him by God or beleeved by him Abraham was justified and therefore not by the merit of that beleefe Againe where men or their actions doe please God not in and for themselves but in and for Christ in whom alone hee is well pleased there mercie is to bee ascribed unto God but not merit to them Yea but the Apostle inferreth therefore it was reputed to him for righteousnesse That argueth Gods acceptation not his merit Howbeit that place may bee understood as that Iam. 2. 23. that this was an evidence of the true faith of Abraham which was imputed to him for righteousnesse not that Abraham did then first beleeve or was then first justified and much lesse that he merited by that act of faith his justification which he had long before § XIV His fourth proofe is out of Rom. 10. 13 14. to which I answered before the thing which here hee would but doth not prove though indeed it needs no proofe is that faith by invocation obtaineth justification Howbeit the Apostle doth not there set downe the order of our justification but the series and order of the degrees of salvation beginning at our vocation unto which three degrees are referred viz. hearing of the word which presupposeth preaching and that sending upon which followeth faith and justification thereby faith bringeth forth the dueties of â—…anctification and namely invocation which sometimes and namely in that place of Ioel is put for the whole worship of God which is the forerunner of salvation but here is no snch thing either mentioned or meant that by invocation faith obtaineth justification and therefore little reason had he from thence to inferre that therfore faith doth not justifie relatively by receiving for sooth justification offered but by seeking knocking asâ—…ing and finally by invocating and impeâ—…rating it doth justifie but passing by the weakenesse of his argument I answere to that which hee inferreth that faith beggeth justification no otherwise but with relation to Christ and his merits by it received For as God forgiveth no sinnes for which Christ hath not satisfied nor accepteth any man to life for whom Christ hath not merited it so are not we to beg justification at the hands of God but in the name and mediation of Christ beseeching God for Christ his sake that forasmuch as Christ hath satisfied the justice of God for the sinnes of all that beleeve in him and hath merited salvation and all spirituall blessings in heavenly things for them that it would therefore please God to accept of Christs satisfaction and merits in our behalfe imputing unto us both his sufferings for the remission
of sinnes and his obedience for the acceptation unto life of us who receiving him by faith desire to be made partakers of his merits to our justification For as in our mindes we receive Christ by a lively assent or beleefe as hath beene shewed so in our hearts we receive him by an earnest desire expressed in our prayers to be made partakers of him and his merits Neither doth it follow that if by faith we impâ—…trate or obtaine remission of sinnes that therefore faith is the meritorious cause of justification unlesse it bee understood relatively in respect of Christ who is the onely meritorious cause both of our justification and salvation whom faith as the instrument doth apprehend § XV. His fifth and last reason is out of Heb. 11. Where the Apostle by many examples teacheth that by faith men doe please God and consequently that faith is of great price and merit with God Answ. That faith doth please God and is of high account with God I meane a true lively justifying faith not the faith of Papists hypocrites and Devils wee freely acknowledge to the honour of God the giver of it and to the shame of the Papists who for all their saire pretences here doe much vilifie it Howbeit merit wee ascribe none to it unlesse it be relatively by apprehending Christs merits to our justification and salvation That Abel Henoch and others mentioned Heb. 11. did please God by faith doth not disprove our justification relatively but proves it For God is pleased with none but in Christ in whom he is well pleased He is pleased with none in Christ but with them only that by faith receive him § XVI To these places of Scripture Bellarmine addeth tenne testimonies out of Augustine nine whereof doe testifie that by faith righteousnesse is impetrated that is by request obtayned and the righteousnesse which hee speaketh of is not the righteousnesse of justification but of sanctification Neither doe they prove any thing in this point but what wee confesse that by faith which purifieth the heart and worketh by love wee obtaine for that Augustine meaneth by merits both the graces that is the habits and the fruits that is the acts of sanctification which we call good workes The testimonies are these fides inchoat meritum ut per munus Dei bene operâ—…tur where by merit he understandeth the grace of living well that faith doth merit that is obtaine the grace of working well Lex adducit ad fidem fides impetrat Spiritum largiorem diffundit Spiritus charitatem charitas implet legem Quod factorum lex minando imperat hoc fidei lex credendo impetrat Per legem cognitio peccati per fidem impetratio gratiae contra peccatum per gratiam sanatio animae Violentia fidei Spiritus sanctus impetratur per quem diffusa charitate in cordibus nostris lex non timore poenae sed justitiae a more completur In novâ—… testamento fides impetrat charitatem Ex fide ideo dicit Apostolus justificari hominem non ex operibus quia ipsa prima datur ex qua impetrentur caetera quae proprie opera nuncupantur in quibus justè vivitur Fidès non potita conceditur ut ei potenti alia concedantur His tenth testimony which in order is the second Nec ipsa remissio peccatorum sine aliquo merito est si fides hanc impetrat neither is the remission of sinnes it selfe without any merit if faith doe obtaine it Neither is there no merit of faith by which faith hee said O God bee mercifull to mee a sinner and worthily did that faithfull man being humbled goe home justified because hee that humbleth himselfe shall be exalted Where Augustine abusively useth as other Latine Fathers often doe the word merit in the sence of obtaining and that by request and that appeareth by Bellarmines owne confession that Augustine doth use to call merit any good worke in respect whereof we obtaine some other thing and by the place it selfe In which sence hee saith the Publican by his humble and faithfull prayer having obtained remission of sinnes went home justified For if merit properly so called did goe before remission of siune then men should merit before they bee in state of grace which Bellarmine denyeth then should wee not bee justified either gratis that is as all even Bellarmine himselfe expound it sine meritis or by the grace that is the gracious and undeserved favour of God when wee deserved the contrary Againe beâ—…ore remission of sinnes and justification all men bee sinners and unjust Now as Augustine saith in the very next words going before quid habere boni meriti possunt peccatores What good merit can sinners have and a little before that meritis impii non grattam sed poena debetur To the merits of a wicked man not grace but punishment is due Finally the Papists themselves ordinarily confesse that their first justification cannot be merited which is grace onely and not reward Though some of them sometimes doe talke of merits of congruity which properly are no merits or if they be Pelagius his maine errour must take place gratiam secundum merita dari that grace is given according to merits Bellarmine here saith that hee hath proved elsewhere that faith and contrition and other dispositions doe merit the grace of justification which the Councill of Trent expressely denieth § XVII His fifth principall argument to prove that faith alone doth not justifie consisteth of two arguments drawne from two principles which he will but point at now but hereafter demonstrate The one is from the formall cause of justification the other from the necessity of good workes unto salvation For if the formall cause of our justification bee a righteonsnessâ—… infused and really inherent in us and not the righteousnesse of Christ apprehended by faith then faith alone doth not justifie but the former is true therefore the latter The consequence of the proposition we grant for unto sanctification faith alone doth not suffice but there must be a concurrence not onely of other habituall graces thereunto but also of actuall obedience But justification is not to be confounded with sanctification Neither doe we say that the righteousnesse of Christ is the formall cause of justification but the matter by imputation whereof we are justified The assumption namely that we are justified by a righteousnesse infused and really inherent in us he saith hee will fully prove in the next booke But all his proofes I have already fully answered and confuted in the third and fourth controversies concerning the matter and forme of justification and have by necessary arguments both disproved the negative to wit that wee are not justified by any righteousnesse inherent in us or infused into us and proved the affirmative viz. that we are justified onely by the righteousnesse of Christ imputed unto us
from faith secondly hee perverteth the question as if the Apostle disputed that Abraham was not justified by workes without faith or not proceeding from the grace of faith as they forsooth thought who to their owne strength attributed righteousnesse As though either Abraham had any good workes which did not proceed from grace or the Apostle would busie himselfe to prove that he was not justified by such as he had not or as if the justitiaries among the Iewes did attribute righteousnesse to their owne strength when the Pharisee himselfe Luk. 18. 11. gave thankes to God for it or as if they thought that Abrahams righteousnesse proceeded from his naturall strength when they knew that God did chuse Abraham and by his preventing grace called him out of Ur of the Caldeans where they served other gods Thirdly hee doth againe contradict the Apostle in saying that Abraham had glory with God which the Apostle plainely denieth the word in the originall is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth not glory but glorying or boasting If Abraham saith the Apostle was justified by works then had he wherof to glory or to boast but he had no cause to glory or to boast before God Fourthly his contradicting of the Apostle maketh against himselfe For if Abraham had beene justified by workes done without grace hee had more cause to glory and that before God than if his workes proceeded from grace For in that case it might have beene said to him what hast thou which thou hast not received And if thou hast received it why dost thou glory or boast as if thou hadst not received it wheras therfore the Apostle denyeth that Abraham had whereof to glory before God he is to be understood as speaking of his workes proceeding from grace by which if Abraham had beene justified he had whereof to glory but not before God But being justified by faith without workes all matter of glorying was taken away By what Law of workes No but by the Law of Faith Rom. 3. 27. For by grace we are justified and saved not by workes lest any man should boast Ephes. 2. 8 9. And that this contradiction maketh against himselfe appeareth further by that which himselfe saith in the same Chapter out of Rom. 4. 4. But unto him that worketh the reward is not imputed according to grace but according to debt Whence he proveth that by workes which the Apostle excludeth from justification he meaneth such workes whereto not grace is given but wages rendred And such are onely those saith hee which are wrought by the onely strength of free-will For to the workes which are wrought by grace that which is rendred is not simply merces wages but it is also grace yea grace rather than wages If therefore Abraham had beene justified by workes done by the power of his owne free-will and not by grace hee might have gloried that he had made God a debtour unto him But to Abraham his faith was imputed unto righteousnesse and therefore his reward was of grace and not of debt For to him that worketh that is fulfilleth the Law of God the wages is not reckoned of grace but of debt as being due ratione pacti in respect of the covenant Doe this and thou shalt live But to him that worketh not that is that fulfilleth not the Law which the Apostle maketh to have beene Abrahams case but beleeveth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousnesse Rom. 4. 4 5. § VII And this also confuteth the doctrine of the Papists concerning the merit of good workes proceeding from grace unto which Bellarmine here saith the reward is not rendred as of debt but onely to such as are wrought by strength of nature But he and his fellowes when they treat of merit ascribe to works of grace merit of condignity In respect whereof the reward of eternall life is due unto them in justice not onely in respect of Gods promise or covenant but even in respect of the workes themselves For every good worke proceeding from charity absolutely deserveth as they teach eternall life insomuch that heaven is no lesse due to the good workes of the faithfull than hell to the sinnes of the wicked § VIII As to the example of Abraham so to these three places Gal. 2. 16. Ephes. 2. 8 9. Tit. 3. 5. wherein all workes of all men are generally excluded from the act of justification Bellarmine answereth that in them all those workes onely are excluded which are done before faith But we will speake of them severally And first to that Gal. 2. 16. Bellarmine saith that in that Epistle there are two questions handled the former speciall whether the ceremonies of the Law doe belong to Christians so that without them they cannot be saved The other generall whether by the Law and strength of Nature justification can happen to any man without grace and without the faith of Iesus Christ. Vnto both which the Apostle answereth negatively And afterwards he saith that the state of the Question in that Epistle is whether workes doe justifie without faith Whereunto I reply that no such question is mentioned in that Epistle nor the contrary concluded as being altogether heterogeneous and besides the purpose of the Apostle which was to reclaime the Galathians from their errour who thought that besides faith the workes of the Law must concurre to justification For both the false teachers who seduced them were Christians who lest they should suffer persecution for the Crosse of Christ perswaded them to bee circumcised Gal. 6. 12. and the Galathians themselves who were seduced did not cease to bee Christians neither were they perswaded to renounce the faith of Christ but were made to beleeve that unto their faith in Christ they were necessarily to joyne the workes of the Law that by them both they might be justified Against this assertion the Apostle disputeth directly proving that a man is justified by faith and not by the workes of the Law But if he had disputed against the other that workes without faith in Christ doe justifie or that workes done by the knowledge of the Law only by the strength of nature doe justifie without faith in Christ his disputation had beene to no purpose For the Galathians and their Teachers would in their owne defence have answered that they did not from justification exclude faith in Christ God forbid but did adde unto faith the observation of the Law desiring as the Papists now doe to bee justified not by faith alone but both by faith and workes together And therefore as in the Epistle to the Romanes so here the question is not whether wee bee justified by workes without faith in Christ which asserâ—…ion never any Christian held but whether by faith without workes which the Galathians and their teachers would have with faith to concurre unto the act of justification To which purpose call to minde the words in the very place
the servants of sinne in whom sin reigneth yet they are penitent and beleeving sinners in whom sinne remainteh who often sinne through humane frailty There is no man that sinneth not saith Salomon yea there is not a righteous man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not in many things we saith Iames the just doe offend all If we say that wee have not sinned or that wee have no sinne saith the most holy Apostle Saint Iohn wee deceive our selves we make him a lyer and there is no truth in us And therefore desperate againe is Bellarmines assertion that whosoever is justified or regenerated sinneth not that is never sinneth and on the other side whosoever sinneth is not a man regenerate nor justified which is to exclude all men from Iustification and consequently from Salvation § XVI And thus have I answered Bellarmines arguments concerning the possibility of the Law Now it may be expected that I should propound and mainetaine ours But this taske I have already performed in handling the third question of this controversie concerning the matter of our justification where among many other arguments proving that we are not justified by any righteousnes inherent in us or performed by us but onely by the righteousnesse of Christ which is out of us in him we used this for one By what righteousnesse we are justified the Law is satisfied By Christs righteousnesse alone the Law is satisfied and not by that which is inherent in us or performed by us And this assumption wee prove because wee are not able to sati fie the Law neither in respect of the Commandement it being by reason of the flesh impossible unto us nor in respect of the penalty which cannot be satisfied by us but with endlesse torment So that as I said before all this discourse of the possibilitie of the Law is nothing but a defence against a piece of one of our arguments Now I should follow him to the second point which hee propounded to prove that the workes of the righteous are simply and absolutely just and after their manner perfect Which may also seeme to be an answere to another piece of our argument For that righteousnesse by which wee are justified is perfect such onely is the righteousnesse of Christ which is out of us in him such is not that which is inherent in us as the habituall or performed by us as the actuall Bellarmine therefore in opposition to that breach concerning perfect actuall righteousnesse propounded the proofe of this point But that our best righteousnesse is unperfect and stained with the flesh I have fully proved before and have answered all the arguments which Bellarmine produceth here in my fourth Booke whereunto I referre the reader Here onely I signifie againe that Bellarmine falleth very short in his proofes for where he should prove that the workes of the faithfull are simply and absolutely just and perfect as hee propounded the question hee now seemeth to prove this that the good workes of the righteous are truely good which we deny not § XVII Yes but you Protestants will they say doe teach that the best workes of the faithfull are sinnes c. Ans. We doe not say that their good workes as namely their prayer or their almes c. are sinnes but that in them they being otherwise good there are some imperfections and staines which are sinnes in respect whereof the faithfull man in doing that which is good sinneth according to that Eccl. 7. 20. We doe confesse that the duties which the faithfull performe are good workes and so called in the Scriptures though not purely and perfectly good but having their imperfections and being stained with the flesh Even as we call a man regenerated a just or a good man though he be not perfectly just being partly flesh and partly spirit Thus a vessell wherein there is wax mixed with hony before it be clarified is truly called a vessell of hony though not sinceri mellis of pure or sincere honey A cup of wine wherein is a mixture of some water with wine is truely called a cup of wine though not vini meraci of pure wine In like manner a wedge of gold wherein there is some drosse is truely called a wedge of gold though not of pure gold An heape of corne in the floore wherein there is perhaps as much chaffe as wheat is truly called an heape of wheat A field wherein are tares and other weeds as well as corne is notwithstanding called a corne field the denomination being taken from the better part Verily whiles we live in this world we are as gold wherein there is much drosse and never are fully refined untill wee are to bee translated into the celestiall house of God Whiles we are in the Church militant as it were in Gods floore we are mingled with much chaffe and are never perfectly cleansed from the chaffe of our corruptions untill we are to be translated into the Lords Granaries And such as wee are such also are our actions such as the tree is such is the fruit But if hee will prove that men are justified by their workes hee must prove not onely that they are truely good but also purely and perfectly good and not onely that some of their workes are truely and purely good but that all their workes are truely and perfectly and not that onely but also perpetually good For if any of his workes bee sinnes he cannot be justified by his workes But this can never be proved Neither doth hee goe about to prove that all the actions of justified men are good but some onely and these not purely and perfectly but truely good To which purpose he spendeth three whole Chapters which I have fully answered in my fourth Booke CHAP. VIII Whether good Workes doe justifie Bellarmines proofe but especially that Testimony of Saint Iames Chapter 2. fully discussed and clared § I. AFter so many wandrings Bellarmine at length commeth to make good his fifth Argument which he propounded to prove that faith alone doth not justifie because good workes doe also justifie though here as I have noted this Argument is brought in to prove the truth of actuall righteousnesse The Title of this Chapter is that good workes are not onely just but that also they doe justifie In stead whereof he presently propoundeth this assertion to be proved that by good workes a just man is more justified and made more just But this is not the Question For we doe confesse that a man already justified before God by the practise of good works increaseth in righteousnesse inherent and is made more holy and just The thing which we deny is this that good workes doe not concurre with faith unto the act of iustification before God as any cause thereof Against this assertion he ought to have disputed if he would seeme to contradict us But he hath altered the question because he is not able to
mainetaine the contradictory of our assertion and maketh the question to be this whether by good workes men are justified that is to say made more just viz. in respect of righteousnesse inherent But we deny that there are any degrees of justification or that a man may be more justified or that justification doth ever signifie increase of righteousnesse wee reject their new found distinction of justification into the first and second and acknowledge no other justification but that which in the Scriptures and Fathers is called the justification of a sinner and thereby wee understand a continued act of God who as when we being sinners did first beleeve did justifie us so remaining sinners in our selves he doth still justifie us by imputation of Christs righteousnesse acquitting us from our sinnes and accepting of us as righteous in Christ. And this justification which is onely acknowledged by the Scriptures and Fathers is every where ascribed to faith Whereas the first justification of the Papists is ascribed to charity as the onely forme the second to workes as to the merit thereof But all this ariseth from their erroneous and wilfull confounding of justification and sanctification For their first justification is that which the Scriptures call regeneration and is the first act of Sanctification by which we are habitually sanctified for they make it to be nothing else but the infusion of the habits of grace Their second justification is their actuall fanctification or exercise of good workes whereby their inherent righteousnesse or sanctification is increased But the question is not of sanctification but of justification which the Papists by their wicked doctrine confounding it with sanctification have wholly abolished it being the maine benefit of the Messias by which we are both freed from hell and entitled to heaven Neither is the question understood of justification before men but before God For before men we doe confessâ—… that by good workes men are justified that is declared and knownâ—… to be just as by the fruits effects consequents and signes of justification by faith but before God we are not justified that is made or constituted just by workâ—…s as any cause thereof for good workes goe not before justification but follow after which is a plaine evidence that they are no cause of it § II. But let us examine his proofes the first and principall is out of Iames 2. which being the onely place of Scripture whereupon with any shew of probability they ground their doctrine of justification by workes I will not content my selfe to answere Bellarmines cavils alone but I will endevour to stop the mouthes of all the Papists who use to vaunt of this place especially of the 24. verse where they bragge that their assertion is expressed and ours confuted in plaine termes yee see then that a man is justified by workes and not by saith onely Which words are a consectary or conclusion deduced from the example of Abraham who though he were justified by faith without works as Saint Paul teacheth yet was hee also justified by workes and not by faith onely as Saint Iames affirmeth A conclusion therefore in shew of words contradictory to that of the Apostle Paul Rom. 3. 28. wee conclude that a man is justified by faith without the workes of the Law and Gal. 2. 16. we know that a man is not justified by the workes of the Law 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is but onely by faith which no doubt was the Apostles meaning For as I have shewed heretofore if this be a good disjunction that we are justified either by faith or by works that is either by the righteousnes of Christ which is out of us in him apprehended by faith or by the works of the Law that is by righteousnes inherent in our selves all which is prescribed in the Law as undoubtedly it is for a third thing cannot be named whereby we might be justified and by both we cannot for if by faith then of grace and if of grace then not of works and contrary wise Rom. 4. 4 5. 11. 6. then it followeth necessarily that if we are not justified by workes we are justified by faith alone Hence ariseth this great controversie between the true Catholiks and the Papists we affirming that we are justified by faith without works or by faith alone The Papists contending that wee are justified by workes and not by faith only we alleaging the authority of Saint Paul in his Epistles to the â—…omanes Galatians Ephesians the Papists this Testimony of Saint Iames. § III. The way to determine this weighty Controversie is to reconcile the seeming difference betweene the two Apostles Some a when they were not able to untye this Gordian knot have sought with Alexander to cut it by questioning without just cause the authority of that Epistle of Saint Iames. But the Papists and wee are thus farre agreed First as they doe not deny those Epistles of S. Paul which were never questioned so we acknowledge this of Saint Iames though it hath beene questioned to bee canonicall Secondly that the two Apostles acted by the same Spirit of truth in penning their Epistles could not possibly deliver contrary assertions and consequently that they onely are to bee esteemed to hold the truth who fitly reconciling the seeming variance betweene the two Apostles doe teach that doctrine which is agreeable to both Here then I am to demonstrate both against the Papists and for our selves against the Papists three things First that the doctrine which they ground upon this place of Saint Iames is contrary to that of Saint Paul Secondly that their exposition of Saint Iames they make him contradict the Apostle Paul Thirdly that their doctrine cannot be grounded upon this Text. For our selves two things First that by our exposition the two Apostles are easily reconciled Secondly that the assertion of the two Apostles according to our doctrine not onely may well stand together but also of necessity must goe together For the first wee have the same controversie with the Papists as I have noted before which the Apostle maintayned against the justiciaryes of his time And their opposite doctrine to Saint Paul which they would gladly father upon Saint Iames standeth in those six maine errours which I have plainely and fully confuted in this treatise And namely in this particular they affirming that men are justified by workes which the Apostle every were constantly denyeth To the second whiles they understand the two Apostles to speake in the same sense of faith of workes of justifying as namely that both speake of a true justifying faith of workes as causes of justification of justifying as making just by righteousnesse inherent they make the one directly to contradict the other For if Paul affirme that men are justified by a true faith without workes and Iames deny it If Paul deny that we are justified by workes as the causes of justification and Iames affirme it If Paul deny that wee are
truely beleeve Secondly it is one and the same objectivè in respect of the same object it being the vision or fruition of the same God who is the chiefe good Thirdly in respect of continuance in regard whereof it is called eternall life which is one and the same to all being the same everlasting inheritance and the same â—…ternall fruition of God and Fellowship which we shall ever have with Christ and by him with the whole Trinity But however eternall life in respect of the substance be onâ—… and the same equally procured by the merit of Christ yet it is not to be doubted that there are divers degrees of glory where with God doth crowne the divers degrees of grace which he hath bestowed on his children in this life For although all that shall bee saved shall have fulnesse of felicity so much as they are capable of yet some are more capable than others Even as vessels of divers measures being put into the sea will all be fâ—…ll of liquor according to their capacity yet some will containe a greater quantity than others So all the Saints though all full of happinesse yet shall not all bee endued with the same measure of glory but according to their capacity This is that which heretofore I alleaged out of S. Ambrose that god doth give to all that are saved aequalem mercedem vitâ—… non gloriae equall reward of life not of glory These things thus premised I answere first by denying his proposition For although according to the proportion both of habituall grace and of actuall obedience which we call good workes the degrees of glory in the life to come shall bee bestowed yet these degrees are not thereby merited but God doth graciously crowne his greater graces which hee freely bestowed in this life with a greater measure of glory in the life to come Besides Bellarminâ—… and other Papists doe teach that God crowneth our good workes supra condignum therefore those crownes cannot be merited ex condigno Secondly I deny his assumption averting that eternall life it selfe is not bestowed according to the proportion of our workes but as it is wholly merited by the obedience of Christ so is it equally bestowed upon all the faithfull who are equally justified by the merits of Christ. § XII But here Bellarmine cavilleth with two answeres given as he saith by our Divines the former that divers rewards are given to good workes both in this life and in the world to come but not eternall life it selfe against which he proveth that good workes are rewarded with eternall life and that there are no rewards in the world to come which doe not belong to eternall life Whereas no doubt the meaning of those who gave that answere was this that there are divers degrees of rewards given both in this life and in the world to come as namely the divers degrees of glory but there are not divers degrees of eternall life that is one and the same to all that are saved We doe not deny but eternall life is the reward of good workes and therefore Bellarmine might have spared his paynes in proving that which we doe not deny but we deny it to be given in divers degrees according to the proportion of mens workes The other answere that etâ—…rnall life is to bâ—… given to good workes no otherwise bâ—…t as they are signes of faith which also hee solemnely disputeth against utterly mistaking the matter For first wee say that God doth graciously reward the virtues and obedience of his owne children not as their merits but as his graces Secondly we say indeed that in the Gospell eternall life is promised to those that beleeve without respect of workes and damnation denounced â—…gainst those that beleeve not but because both faith and infidelity are inward and hidden and many deceive themselves with an inward opinion and an outward profession of faith therefore the Lord at the last day will proceed in judgement according to the evidence of mens workes So that the Lord pronounceth the sentence according to workes as the signes and evidence of faith but rewardeth both faith and them as his owne gifts and graces Howbeit more properly eternall life it selfe is rendred to the righteousnesse of faith which is the righteousnesse and merits of Christ imputed to them that beleeve by which the faithfull are equally justified and equally entituled to the kingdome of heaven but the degrees of glory are given according to the degrees of our sanctification that is to the degrees both of the habits of faith and other graces and of the acts and exercise thereof which wee call good workes All which being Gods owne free gifts hee doth freely reward crowning his greater graces with greater glory § XIII As for the places of Scripture which testifie that God will reward men according to their workes I answere that secundum opera according to workes doth not signifie the proportion but the quality of workes as I have shewed before out of Gregorie that is as in some of the places it is expressed good workes are to be rewarded with glory evill with punishment Rom. 2. 6 7 8. 2 Cor. 5. 10. c. And so is that Gal. 6. 7. to be understood as the Apostle explaineth himselfe vers 8. that as every man doth sowe so he shall reape viz. he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reape corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reape everlasting life The allegation out of Luk. 6. 38. is impertinent as appeareth by his paralell Mat. 7. 1 2. Iudge not that you be not judgâ—…d for with what judgement ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure you mete it shall be measured to you againe For first it seemeth to speake of humane judgement that as wee judge others so we shall be judged of others according to the law of like for like Secondly it speaketh of active judging in the worse sense which is therefore forbidden and the reason is from the like judging passive as an evill though just reward thereof so farre is it from speaking of the reward of eternall life Or if the place should be generally understood of mens judging well or ill and of their being judged according either by God or man nothing else can necessarily be gathered but the like judgement in quality that is either good or bad And the like is to be said of 1 Cor. 3. 8. where the Apostle doth not spâ—…ake of the eternall reward either of life or death rendred to good or evill workes according to the proportion thereof but of the blessing of increase which God giveth to those that are planters or waterers in his garden as a reward of their labours By planters he understandeth himselfe and other Apostles who were the planters of the Church by waterers Apollo and other Evangelists and Preachers who fed the Church with their doctrine The
Lord who freelygiveth what he had freely promised Thirdly when a superaboundant reward is promised to a small worke and the party to whom it is promised is no way able either to doe or so much as to will the performance of it but receiveth wholly his will and ability to performe it from his Lord the thing promised cannot be ascribed to his merit but to the gracious bounty of his Lord. § V. The seventh and last condition is that a meritorious work must proceed from charity which we acknowledg to be required in every good worke But in the proofe hereof he falleth into a nice dispute proving against Guihielmus 〈◊〉 that the vertue of meriting is to be ascribed more principally to Charity than to faith And although this bee but an idle dispute seeing neither faith nor charity doth truely and properly merit yet I durst be bold to affirme that if to either merit were to be ascribed that it were rather to bee attributed to faith For by faith the merits of Christ are applyed unto us and not by charity By faith we are entitled to Gods Kingdome by 〈◊〉 wee are not By faith wee obtaine the inheritance which by charity we doe not By faith we are saved and not by charity Faith is the condition of the covenant of grace upon which and no other grace salvaâ—…ion is promised Those that truly love are also saved it being the proper cognizance and as Basiâ—… speaketh the character of the faithfull and none are saved without it but yet they are not saved by it nor for it but onely by the merits of Christ which are apprehended by faith alone Salvation which is purchased by the merits of Christ is promised to faith as that whereby we are made partakers of Christs merits and are therefore said to be justified and saved by faith alone but charity and the fruits thereof are the evidence according to which God will save us Christ is the foundation of our happinesse yea he is eternall life Faith is the onely instrument wherby wee are made partakers of Christ all other graces are but notes and signes of our union which we have with Christ and of happinesse by him By faith we have this inheritance but it is had among those that are sanctified When it is said happy is shee that beleeved there the cause of happinesse is noted but when it is said happy is he that loved orfeared not the cause of happinesse is signified but a note or signe of it Both faith and charity must concurre to every good act for as a worke without charity is not good so without faith it is sin But if you compare the graces together it is certaine that charity proceedeth from faith 1 Tim. 1. 5. and according to the measure of our faith such is the measure of our love for faith is the Mother-grace from which charity and all other graces as from the root and fountaine doe spring and flow It may seeme indeed that sanctification and inherent righteousnesse doth more principally consist in love because charity is the fulfilling of the Law yet sanctification it selfe doth flow from faith which purifieth the heart and worketh by love But as for the grace of justification whereunto merit if wee had any ought to bee referred for justification is the entitling of us to the kingdome of heaven neither charity nor any other grace in us doth concurre unto it but faith is all in all I will not follow him in his idle dispute I confesse the point that to every rewardable or as he calleth it meritorious worke charity is required § VI. Now let us recapitulate his seven conditions And because he shall not finde me refractary I doe confesse that all and every of these conditions are required to every rewardable worke For first it must be good Secondly it must be done in obeysance to God Thirdly it must be done by men in this world Fourthly it must bee voluntary and not forced Fifthly it must bee performed by a man who is in the state of grace Sixthly the expectation of the reward is to bee grounded on Gods promise And lastly it must proceed from charity But now say I that not any one of these conditions nor all of them put together can make a worke meritorious of eternall life before God They are common notes and markes of all good workes whatsoever but the proper notes of merits are such as I set downe in the beginning of this discourse concerning merits For workes are not therefore meritorious because they are materially good nor because they are in obeysance to God for that is our duty and debt which wee owe to God nor for that they are performed by such as are viatores and pilgrims in this world nor because they are wrought by men in state of grace nor because the expectation of the reward is grounded on Gods promise which is of a free reward and not of wages merited by us nor lastly because they proceed from charity For our charity by reason of the imperfection thereof cannot stand in judgement to satisfie the justice of God and much lesse to merit And whatsoever or how great soever it is it is not only a duety which we owe to God but the onely debt which wee owe or ought to owe to our brethren and that for Gods sake to omit that we receive it as a free gift from God and therefore by it we cannot merit of him CHAP. IX Bellarmines dispute that good workes are meritorious ex condigno not onely ratione pacti but also ratione operis examined § I. IN the fourth place Bellarmine discourfeth how farre forth good workes are either meritorious or are rewarded Meritorious whether ex condigno and if so whether ratione pacti solum or ratione operis also That good workes are meritorious ex condigno which is the matter that hitherto hee hath proved hee now maintaineth against Durandus affirming that his Assertion as it is refuted by the common consent of all almost Divines so also by all the arguments which formerly hee hath used against us to prove that the workes of the godly are truely and properly meritorious which I desire the Reader to take notice of because some draw-backs who notwithstanding would seeme stiffe defenders of merits doe beare the simple in hand that it is but a Schoole-point to say that workes are meritorious either ex condigno or ex congruo When as in very trueth it is the received Doctrine of that Church that the good workes of the godly are truely and properly meritorious of everlasting life Now it is evident that meritum ex congruo is not truely and properly meritorious § II. In the next place Bellarmiâ—…e now taking it for granted that good workes are meritorious ex condigno hee disputeth whether they bee so ratione pacti tantum or ratione operis tantum or ratione utriusque whereunto I answere that
reason 1. 2. 3. i â—… Tim. 1. 12. The wickednes of the doctrine concerning implicite faith How the Papists understand the Article of the Catholike Church k Gordon câ—…ntr 1. cap. 27. l Bulla Pij 4. super forma iuramenti professionis fiâ—…ci How the Apostle understood the Article 1 2 Thes. 2. 10. Mat. 24. 24. Apoc. 17. 8. D. Morton Bishop of Lichfield and Covenâ—…y The second part of their cozenage m Thom. 2. â—…â—… â—… 9. 2. 6. Minores qui significantur per asinos de bent in credendis adhâ—…rere maioribus qui per boves signi fican tur n Turrecrem sum â—… 3. c. 41. o Hosius de express Dei verbo The doctrine os implicite faith pernicious p Rhemists in Luk. c. 12. 11. q Ibid. in Marg. r Luk. 1. 79. s Ephes. 2. 12. 4. 18. b Rom. 10. 14. u Prov 14. 22. Mat. 22. 29. * Concil Tolet. 4. c. 24. Conc. Arelat 4. can 3. y Iob. 17. 3. z 〈◊〉 l. 1. cap. 1. 1 Cor. 14. 38. vulg a Can 8. b 〈◊〉 chard decâ—…et lib. 2. c. 62 c Ad Sextum 〈◊〉 pisl 105. d Prâ—…em ad Eustoch in commenâ—… in Esai e In Num. hom 27. They detaine the people in ignorance and why f Luk 11. 52. g Mat. 23. 23. h Ioh. 12. 35. i Iud. 16. 21. k In Ioan. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l 1 Cor. 14. 35. 1 Pet. 3. 7. In the true Church plenty of Knowledge m Theodoret. Therapeut serm 5. pag. 81. n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 o Ier. 9. 23. 24. Our first reason because he that hath true faith is regenerate Our second reason because he hath the Spirit of Christ. a Gal. 5. 22. b Heb. 10. 29. c Rom. 8. 11. 1 Cor. 3. 16. 6. 19. 2 Tim. 1. 14. d 2 Cor. 13. 5. 1 Ioh. 3. 24. Eph 3. â—…7 e Gal. 3 26. Ioh. 1. 12. 13. 1 Ioh. 3. 24. 4. 13. Our third reason because he is sanctified f Luk. 1. 73 74 75. Five other reasons Seven other Arguments out of Iam. 2. 24 c. g 1 Ioh. 3. 18. h In epistolam Joan. tract 10. Sixe other arguments defended against Bellarmine First out of 1 Tim. 5. 8. i Tit. 1 16. k Homil. 29. in Evang. l Homil. 38. m Iâ—… Matth. 22 hom 41. n 1. Ferus in Matib 22. o Rom. 13. 14. Gal. 3. 27. p Cum tuis peccat is supâ—…r in duis Câ—…risti iâ—…stitiam tu is demerit is ipsius merita tuae in obedientia ipsius obedientiam The second out of Iohn 6. 64. q Vers. 6â—… The â—…hird out of 1 Iohn 2. 4. r In Ezek. hom 22. s 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 t C. 1. v. 6. u Cap. 1. S. 4. The fourth out of 1 Joh. 5. 1. * Tract 10. in epist. Ioan. The fifth out of Jam. 2. 17. 20. x Respons ad obiect 4. The sixth out of Hâ—… 2. 4. Testimonies of Fathers first Chrysostome y 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost. de side lege t. 6. 838. 1 De side operib c. 23. 2 In epist. Ioan. tract 10. De fide operib c. 16. 3. Aug. in Ioan. tract 9. Sent. lib. 3. dist 23. August in Psal. 130. epist. 85. 4. De paenitent dist 2. c. 14. De verbis Dominum serm 61. a Lib. 3. epist. 73. b In Jac. 2. c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d In evangel hom 29. e Ibid. f Tit. 1. 16. g Hom. 22. sup Ezek. Sent. dist 25. C. h In Gal. 5. i Ibid. k Serm. ad pastâ—…res in synâ—…do De iustif l. 1. c. 15. His first proofe out of Ioh. 12. 42 43. a Ioh. 19. 38. His second proofe out of 1 Cor. 13. 2. b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bellarmiâ—…s instances c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two other instances d Sup. Ezek. bom 22. e De Trinit l. 5 â—… 18. His third testimony Iam. 2. 14. f Cap. 2 â—… 5 g 2 Thes. 3 2. h Tit. â—… 1. i In evang hom 29. k 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost. Theoph. Oecum Theod. in 1 Cor. 12. 9. Gennad apud Oecum in 1 Cor. 13. 2. l Chrysoft de fide lege m 1 Ioâ—… 3. 18. His fourth proofe because in the Church there are both good and bad n 2 Thâ—…s 3. 2. Tit. 1. 1. o Contr. Crescon l. 1. c. 29. p Mat. 17. 17. His fifth proofe from the nature of faith and charity Whether Charity doth necessarily follow faith q Ioh. 5. 35. Luthers similitude r Prafat in Ep. ad Rom. Bucers similitude s 1 Ioh. 4. 19. t Lib. 3. c. 2. §. 8. Calvins similitude u 1 Cor. 1. 30. * Gal. 3. 26. Ioh. 1. 12. 1 Ioh. 5. 1. x Gal. 4. 6. Rom. 8. 11. y Rom. 8. 9. z Cap. 2. §. 2. a Rom. 3. 24. b De justis l. 1. cap. 15. §. Accedat septimò Gregor in Evang homil 29. No iustifying faith but that which layeth hold on Christ. a Heb. 11. 3 c. b Ioh. 3. 16 18. 36. 6. 29 40 47. Act. 8. 37. 16. 30 31. c Ioh. 3. 14 15. d Ioh. 6. 40. e Sent. lib. 3. dist 19. â—… f Act. 20 21. 24. 24 26. 18. Gâ—…l 3. 26. g Rom. 3. 22. 16. Gol. 2. 16. 20. 3. 22. Phil. 3 9. h Esâ—…y 53. 11. To beleeve in Christ is to re ceive him i August in Ioan tract 50. k In epist. Ioan. tract â—…0 l In Iam. 2. The degrees of faith l 1 Ioh. 5. 1. Ioh. 1. 12 13. m Eph. 1. 13. n Act. 16. 14. o Rom. 4. 11. p Ioh. 5. 10. The use of this distinction q Covenant of grace cap. 8. The former degreâ—… The speciall faith The speciall receiving of Christ necessary to justification Without it Christs merits availe us not to justification The Papists objections against speciall faith r Rom. 5. 5. Their objections concerning fiducia By a lively assent men beleeve in Christ. s Act. 8. 37 38. That asâ—…iance is not faith t Covenant of grace cap. 8. The Subject of faith 1. The parties a De justiâ—… li. 3. cap. 14. 2. The part b Therapent li. 1. pag. 18. c Rom 10. 14 17 d Act. 16. 14. Testimonies that to beleeve is an act of the Will as well as of the Vnderstanding e Stromat lib. 5. pâ—…g 251. f Therapeuâ—… l. 1. pag. 16. g In 2 Cor. 1. 24. o â—…n Rom. 4. i De bono persever l. 2. cap. 16. k De Spirit litera cap. 31. l Ibid. c. 3â—… m Ibid. c. 33. n Epist. 23 de Baptism parvulorum o In Ioan. tract 26. p De predestin sanct lib. 1. c. 5. in sine Schoole-men q In Sent. 3. dist 23. art 1. q. 2. in resâ—…l r Ibid. s In Rom. 10. lect 2. t 2. 2. q. 2. art 1. ad 3 um u Ibid. art 9. c. * 2. 2. q. 4. art 2. c. x Ibid. art 2. adâ—… â—… um y Iâ—… Sent. 3. dist 23. q. 2. art 1. z In Iâ—…an Doctors of the Rom. Church
condemnation and justification some where signifie the action of the Iudge as in the place cited Rom. 5. 16. yet notwithstanding when God doth justifie a sinner by dâ—…claring him just he doth also make him just because the judgement of God is according to the truth And therefore Christ whether he justifieth us by his obedience or by his judgement he alwayes maketh just And thus Augustine saith he understood this place Reply That God maketh just whom he pronounceth just we freely confesse but the question still is of the manner for in justification when he pronounceth a man just he maketh him just and that perfectly just not by infusion of inherent righteousnesse but by imputation of Christs righteousnesse And whom hee justifieth that is maketh just by imputation of righteousnesse them hee also sanctifieth that is maketh just in some measure by infusion of grace For to use Bellarmines owne words when God doth justifie a sinner by declaring him righteous it is plaine that in himselfe hee is a sinner who by God is declared to bee just and therefore that hee is not justified by inherent justice for in himselfe he is a sinner as wee all are How then shall the judgement of God bee according to the truth when hee declareth a sinner to bee just To a sinner beleeving in Christ the righteousnesse of Christ apprehended by faith is imputed for righteousnesse Rom. 4. 5. and this we shall hereafter shew to be an argument unanswerable None remaining sinners in themselves can truely bee declared or pronounced just in respect of righteousnesse inherent All mortall men even the most righteous of them meraine sinners in themselves 1 Ioh. 1. 8. Ecclus 7. 20. Therefore No mortall man can truly be declared or pronounced just in respect of inherent righteousnesse and consequently none are or can bee justified by righteousnesse inherent § IIII. The testimony of Augustine is falsified For disputing against the errour of the Pelagians who imagined that originall sinne was not propagated from Adam but that imitation onely maketh sinners by Adam hee inferreth that then by the same reason onely imitation maketh just by Christ. As though either Adam had done no more against us or Christ for us than that they had been prime examples and precedents the one of sinne the other of righteousnesse But Augustine sheweth out of Rom. 5. that as those who are regenerated by the Spirit of Christ obtaine remission of sinnes and inward grace so those who come from Adam by naturall generation are made guilty of his sinne unto condemnation and also receive corruption from him by propagation all which we teach But that Augustine pleadeth not for justification by inherent justice appeareth by the antithesis which in that place hee maketh betwixt our condemnation by Adam and our justification by Christ. First that whereas to condemnation there concurres our owne voluntary transgression besides Adams sinne yet to our justification there doth not concurre any righteoufnesse besides Christ. Secondly which difference Saint Paul also noteth Rom. 5. 15 16 because in the carnall generation originall sinne onely is contracted but in the spirituall regeneration there is remission not onely of originall but also of voluntary sinnes § V. The second reason of Calvin and Chemnitius which Bellarmine taketh upon him to confute is this because the Apostle writing of justification did no doubt imitate the Hebrew phrase though he wrote in Greeke But the Hebrew word signifying to justifie hath the judiciall signification The argument may thus be propounded Such as is the signification of the Hebrew hitsdiq in the old Testament the same is the signification of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 both in the edition of the Septuagints as being the translation thereof and in the new Testament which in this point retaineth the translation of the Septuagints But the Hebrew hitsdiq is meerely a judiciall word opposed to condemnation as I have proved heretofore by induction of examples as Deut. 25. 1. 1 King 32. 8. Prov. 17. 15. Esai 5. 23. and never signifieth to make righteous by infusion or to endue with righteousnesse inherent Therefore the Greeke word also hath the same signification To the assumption Bellarmine answereth that the Hebrew word properly signifieth to make just but because a man may bee made just both inwardly by obtaining of justice and outwardly by declaration hence it is that the word admitteth these divers significations Reply In this answer we are to take his confession of the truth both that we may be made just outwardly by declaration and also that the Verbe sometimes doth signifie so much In vaine therefore doe the Papists urge against us the signification of the Latine word justificare as signifying justum facere seeing by our exposition it signifieth justum facere also not onely by declaration as Bellarmine heere speaketh but much more by imputation But though he confesseth the signification of the Verbe urged by us yet wee may not acknowledge the signification so much urged by the Papists yea wee confidently deny that the Hebrew hitsdiq doth any where in the Scriptures signifie to endùe with righteousnesse inherent § VI. This therefore hee endevoureth to prove by induction of examples and first out of Dan. 12. 3. Qui adjustitiam erudiunt multos who instruct many to righteousnesse The Hebrew word is matsdiqim where the Prophet speaking of the great glory which shall bee of Teachers who justifie many the vulgar Latine which is the onely authentique Text among the Papists doth not translate the word making righteous by infusion or enduing with righteousnesse inherent which is the worke of God alone and not of the Teacher but instructing unto righteousnesse or as Bellarmine himselfe expoundeth by teaching to bring men to righteousnesse which is done by bringing them to beleeve and therefore this allegation proveth not the Popish signification of the word Yea but it disproveth saith Bellarmine the judiciall signification so much urged by you For Teachers doe not justifie after the maner of â—…udges howbeit the Popish Priests dot in their absolutions as themselves doe teach Reply But this is nothing but a cavill For where wee say that to justifie in this doctrine of justification is verbum forense a word taken from Courts having a judiciall signification as namely to absolve from sinne or to give sentence with a man after the maner of a Iudge our meaning is that this word being attributed to God as it is God alone that justifieth and so wee consider justification as an action of God it alwaies hath this judiciall signification and never signifieth to endue with righteousnesse inherent But wee doe not say that it being attributed to any other as it is to divers others both perâ—…ons and things it is to bee expounded as the act of the Iudge though otherwise the justice implyed in the signification of the word bee after the judiciall sense not inherent but imputative Thus as I
have said before Christ justifieth not onely as hee is our Iudge but also as our Surety paying our debt and as our Advocate pleading for us The holy Ghost justifieth both as he is the Spirit of regeneration working in us the grace of faith and as the Spirit of adoption by applying unto us the merits of Christ assuring us of our justification and adoption The Ministers of the Gospell justifie as they are also said to forgive sinnes to beget men unto God and to save them ministerially as the Embassadours of Christ whose office it is to reconcile men unto God to preach and to pronounce remission of sinnes to them that beleeve and also instrumentally as the instruments of the holy Ghost to worke in them the grace of faith by which they are justified for faith commeth by hearing Rom. 10. 14 17. and Preachers are said to bee Ministers by whom you beleeve 1 Cor. 3. 5. Sacraments doe justifie as seales of that righteousnesse which is by faith Rom. 4. 11. And as the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments doe justifie ut manus dantis as the hand of God giving and applying Christ and his righteousnesse to the faithfull receiver so faith is manus accipieâ—…tis the hand of the beleever receiving Christ and his righteousnesse unto justification § VII But the second place is in his conceit more cleare viz. Esai 53. 11. where the Lord speaking by his Prophet concerning Christ saith My righteous servant shall by his knowledge justifie many and he shâ—…ll beare their sinnes where the verbe is in Hiphil Iatsdiq which signifieth shall make just Chemnitius indeed saith he goeth about to wrest this place also to the judiciall signification But in vaine for there are foure words which are manifestly repugnant to his interpretation But before wee speake of those foure words let us heare what Chemnitius saith Whereas Andradius saith he wresteth that sentence of Esay to prove that to justifie is to endue the minde with the quality of inherent justice it is great impudencie for there is presently added an exposition how that justification is to be understood because he shall saith Esay beare their iniquities where Chemnitius doth not so much as mention the judiciall signification of the word justifying after the manner of a Iudge but rather signifieth that Christ at his first comming did not justifie the Elect after the manner of a Iudge but as a surety in taking upon himselfe our debt and bearing our iniquities and as a Redeemer paying our ransome and so di charging us from our debt and from our bondage Neither doth it follow that it is not a judiciall word because in that place it signifieth not to justifie as a Iudge for besides the Iudge there are other parties also who doe justifie in a judiciall sense as namely sureties and advocates § VIII Now let us examine those foure words all which serve to prove that Christ in that place is not said to justifie after the manner of a Iudge which no man affirmeth and therefore Bellarmine fighteth with his owne shadow For we doubt not but that Christ may be said to justifie divers wayes first by his doctrine as our Prophet and Teacher in which sense Teachers are said to justifie Dan. 12. 3. secondly as our Priest both by his satisfaction and sacrifice propitiatory as Esai 53. 11. for so he saith and he shall beare their iniquities so Heb. 9. 26 28. and also by his intercession as our Advocate 1 Ioh. 2. 2. Rom. 8. 34. Heb. 9. 24. thirdly by his sentence as our king and judge at the last day Matth. 25. 34. The first word is by his knowledge that is as he expoundeth it out of Hierome by his doctrine Answ. Wee deny not but that Christ by his doctrine did justifie many working in them the grace of faith for even other Teachers who are but his Ministers doe also justifie others as Daniel speaketh not by infusion of righteousnesse but as the instruments of the holy Ghost to beget faith in the hearers or being as Saint Paul speaketh Ministers by whom they doe beleeve and beleeving are justified in the judiciall sense But Esay speaketh not of his doctrine but of his knowledge and that passively understood not for that knowledge whereby he knoweth all things but whereby hee is acknowledged to bee the Messias that is to say faith and so Pagnine Vatablus and Tremellius read scientia sui or agnitione sui that is by faith in him for so is faith often termed as 2 Pet. 1. 2 3. and 1 Tim. 2. 4. c. by which as it is said in this place of Esay hee doth justifie La rabbim that is as Paul speaketh Rom. 5. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the multitude of the Elect who beleeve in him how by bearing their iniquitiâ—…s that is the punishment due for their sinnes his sufferings being imputed to them if therefore justifying by faith doe prove justification by works or by inherent righteousnesse then this word proveth it § IX The second word is ipse justus by which word saith he is signified that Christ doth justifie not onely by teaching but also by just working and by imparting his righteousnesse unto us Answ. Christ his obedience or just working is proper to his person and inherent in him and therefore that righteousnesse which he performed in his owne person being both active and therefore transient and proper to his person and therefore without us cannot be imparted to us otherwise than by imputation To what purpose then doth he urge this word seeing Christ is just in justifying us as well by imputation as by infusion Forsooth to shew that Christ by his obedience and sufferings doth not justifie after the manner of a Iudge which no man affirmeth But what is his reason because it is not required to justifying after a judiciall manner that he who justifieth others should himselfe be just as if he should say it is not required that a Iudge should bee just contrary to that Gen. 18. 25. But God doth justifie us after the judiciall manner as a Iudge through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus and by forgivenesse of sinnes and that to this end to shew forth his justice that hee might bee just and the justifier of him who beleeveth in Iesus Rom. 3. 25 26. But this might better have beene objected against his owne exposition of the former word seeing he who is not just himselfe may by his doctrine justifie others Notwithstanding that which Bellarmine here áffirmeth concerning Christ is most true that it was necessary that he who should justifie others by his obedience should bee just himselfe howbeit he impertinently alleageth Rom. 3. 26. which speaketh of God justifying us not as a Mediator by his obedience but as a Iudge by his sentence But the true reason why the Prophet useth this word is in respect of the words following to signifie that Iesus Christ the righteous was made
upon it be cured And although their eye could not properly bee said to cure them yet because it was the onely instrument to apprehend that object which God had ordained as the onely remedy to salve them it is truely said that by onely looking upon that object they were cured Even so our Saviour Christ was lifted up upon the Crosse it is his owne similitude Ioh. 3. 14 15. that whosoever being stung by the old serpent doth but looke upon him with the eye of faith Ioh. 6. 40. may be justified and saved for although this eye of the of the soule which is faith cannot be said properly to justifie them who are sinners yet because it is â—…he onely instrument to apprehend that object which God hath ordained as the onely remedy and propitiation for our sinne it is truely said that by beleeving onely in Christ we are Iustified § IV Secondly whereas faith it selfe doth not justifie properly but the object which it doth apprehend which is Christ and his righteousnesse our meaning therefore when wee say that faith alone doth justifie can be no other but this that the righteousnesse of Christ alone which is onely apprehended by faith doth justifie us And forasmuch as this is a necessary disjunction that wee are justified either by that righteousnesse which is inherent in our selves or by that which is out of us in Christ for by some righteousnesse wee are justified and a third cannot be named it followeth therefore necessarily that if we be not justified by inherent righteousnesse then by Christs righteousnesse alone because a third righteousnesse by which we should bee justified cannot be named § V. Thirdly where wee say that Christs righteousnesse alone which is apprehended by faith alone doth justifie wee doe not meane absolutely that nothing else doth justifie but nothing in that kind viz. that the righteousnesse of Christ is the only matter of our justification and faith the onely instrument on our part by which wee are justified For otherwise as hath before beene shewed wee confesse that many things else doe justifie viz. God as the Author and principall efficient of our justification who imputethunto us the righteousnesse of his Son The holy Ghost also doth justifie us by working in us the grace of faith hy which he applyeth Christs righteousnesse unto us The Ministers also doe justifie as the instruments of the holy Ghost both by the ministry of the Gospell by which faith is begotten in us and of the Sacraments whereby the promises of the Gospell are sealed unto us And lastly good workes doe justifie as the signes and evidences whereby our faith and justification is manifested But as the matter nothing doth justifie but Christs righteousnesse and as the instrument on our part nothing but faith And in this sense wee doe constantly affirme that by Christs righteousnesse alone apprehended by faith alone wee are justified § VI. For the demonstration of our assertion I shall not need to bring many new proofes seeing that all those arguments which before I have produced but especially those which concerne the matter and forme of justification doe invincibly prove that wee are justified by the righteousnes of Christ alone being apprehended by faith alone and imputed to them that beleeve For if we be justified by the imputed righteousnesse of Christ alone and if in us there bee nothing which receiveth or maketh us partakers of Christs righteousnesse but faith onely then there is nothing in us by which we are justified but onely faith But because the Papists object heresie and novelty against us in this point I will besides some few places of Scripture and some other reasons briefly propounded produce the testimonies of the Fathers and others who have in all ages lived in the Church before these times § VII First therefore Rom. 3. 24. the word gratis freely being an exclusive particle doth import that we are justified by the grace of God and merits of Christ through faith without righteousnesse in us and therefore by faith alone Secondly Gal. 2. 16. We know that by the workes of the Law that is the righteousnesse and obedience prescribed in the Law in which all inherent righteousnesse is fully and perfectly described a man is not iustified 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no otherwise but by faith non nisi per fidem as Bishop Iustinian or by faith onely as Henry Steven who well understood the Greek translateth it sed tantùm per fidem Thirdly Rom. 4. 5. the exclusive is implyed To him that worketh nor but hath beleeved that is hath onely beleeved in him who justifieth sinners his faith is imputed unto righteousnesse and so the Syriack Paraphrast readeth but hath onely beleeved Fourthly Mar. 5. 36. Luk. 8. 50. Onely beleeve To this Bellarmine answeareth That Christ speaketh of the miraculous raising of a dead body and not of the justification of a sinner for as for the obtaining of a miraculous cure he confesseth that faith doth suffice alone Thus Bellarmine in that place to serve his present tume But in the seventeenth Chapter of the same booke where hee would prove that faith doth justifie not relatively in respect of the Object but by its owne efficacie hee alleageth that the woman of Canaan procured her daughters health by the efficacie of her faith and rejecteth his owne answere in the other place Neither may it bee answered saith he that it is one thing to speake of justification and another of the curing of a bodily disease For our Lord by the very same words attributeth Vtramque sanitatem the health both of the body and the soule to faith For as he said to the woman who was a sinner Luk. 7. 50. thy faith hath saved thee so to the woman which had the bloudy issue Mat. 9. 22. thy faith hath saved thee and to the blinde man whom he restored to sight Mar. 10. 52. thy faith hath saved thee And further it is to bee thought that our Saviour when he telleth them whom he cured that their faith had saved them that is himselfe through faith had saved them looked higher than to the cure of their bodies as Mat. 9. 2. sonne be of good cheere thy sinnes are forgiven thee for sinne being the cause of their maladies the Lord to cure them tooke away the cause thereof which was the guilt of sinne § VIII All those places which exclude workes from justification doe by necessary consequence teach justification by faith alone For that we are justified by some righteousnesse is confessed of all This righteousnesse is either the righteousnesse of faith or of workes that is either the righteousnesse of Christ apprehended by faith and that is the righteousnesse of God which without the Law is revealed in the Gospell or that righteousnesse which is inherent in our selves prescribed in the Law For neither can a third righteousnesse bee named by which we should be justified neither can wee be justified by both
alleadged Wee saith the Apostle speaking of himselfe and Saint Peter knowing that a man is not justified by the workes of the Law but onely by the faith of Iesus Christ even we have beleeved in Iesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the workes of the Law For by the workes of the Law shall no flesh be justified For if the faithfull such as Peter and Paul bee justified by faith and not by workes then are they justified without workes Neither doe the workes of the faithfull concurre unto their justification § IX But for all this Bellarmine will prove that in the Epistle to the Galathians the workes only done without faith are excluded from justification by certaine consequences which the Apostle inferreth which saith he are most strong against workes done without faith but most weake against workes wrought by faith That they are strong against the workes of nature I doe confesse but that they be weake against justification by workes of grace they being equally strong against all I doe deny For the Apostle when in the question of justification hee excludeth workes doth not distinguish of workes whether proceeding from nature or from grace as if by the one wee were justified and not by the other but generally excludeth all even those which are commanded in the Law of God thereby meaning all inherent righteousnesse whatsoever even charity it selfe which is the end of the Law and proceedeth from faith unfained For the Law is a perfect rule of all inherent righteousnesse whencesoever it proceedeth Neither are the Papists able to produce any one place of Scripture wherein the Apostle either affirmeth that wee are justified by workes proceeding from grace or propoundeth this question to bee disputed whether workes doe justifie without faith but even whether faith doth justifie without workes alwaies concluding the affirmative that wee are justified by faith without workes thereby teaching that workes doe justifie before God neither without faith nor yet with it § X. For the better understanding of this needfull point worthy to be insisted upon and for the satisfying of Bellarmines objections wherein hee pleaseth himselfe wee are to take notice that there are two wayes to life eternall which God hath propounded to man the one in the state of innocencie the other after his fall The former was the covenant of workes or of inherent righteousnesse to be performed by himselfe the Sacrament whereof was the Tree of life But when man had broken this covenant and was fallen from the state of integrity into the state of disobedience and corruption it being now not possible that he should be justified or saved by inherent righteousnesse according to the covenant of workes the Lord therefore in his infinite mercie and love of mankind made with man being now a sinner the covenant of grace in the promised seed that whosoever truly beleeveth in him though in himselfe a sinner as since the fall all are should bee justified and saved by his righteousnesse The faith in this covenant concerning the justification of sinners and salvation by Christ was professed from the beginning after the promise was once made by all the Patriarches and ancient beleevers who had testimony that they pleased God and by faith in the Messias wrought those things which were pleasing to God which without faith in Christ they could not have done And it was represented and figured in the sacrifices which were types and figures of Christs sacrifice even from the beginning And the same was afterwards confirmed by Sacraments viz. Circumcision which was ordained to bee a seale of that righteousnesse which is by faith and the passeover which was a type of Christ our passeover who is immolated for us and prefigured by the propitiatory which covered the Arke in which were the two tables of the Law by the Scape-goate which did beare away the sinnes of the people by the high Priest who was a type of Christ in many respects but most plainely by the brasen Serpent c. But lest men should either through ignorance or pride neglect the benefit of the Messias and consequently their owne salvation which is the common corruption of all naturall men it pleased the Lord to renew the covenant of workes by publishing the Morall Law not with purpose that any should by the obedience thereof be justified or saved which Bellarmine himselfe confesseth but partly that to naturall and unregenerate men it should bee a Schoolemaster unto Christ discovering unto them their owne damnable estate in themselves both in respect of their sinnes and of the curse belonging unto them for the same that so they might be forced to seeke for salvation out of themselves in Christ and partly that to men regenerated and justified it should bee a rule whereby to frame their lives and as it were a councellour and a guide to direct them in the way which God hath appointed them to walke in towards our country in heaven § XI Those therefore which looked to be justified by the observation of the Law as the Galatians were taught by their false teachers were in a pernicious errour both because none can bee justified by the obedience of the Law all men without exception being sinners and subject to the curse and also because there is such an opposition betweene these two covenants in the matter of justification that to bee justified according to the Covenant of workes by inherent righteousnesse is a disanulling of the covenant of grace which cannot bee disanulled in it selfe though to him that seeketh to be justified by works it is made void as the Apostle proveth Gal. 3. and therefore with him I say that if justification be by the works of the Law whatsoever then the covenant of grace is disanulled and made void then is the promise made of none effect then Christ died in vaine Gal. 2. 21. then is the inherent no more of promise Gal. 3. 18. but faith is made void and the promise made of none effect Rom. 4. 14. then men are made debtours to the whole Law and consequently Christ is become of none effect to them And finally they that seeke to be justified by the Law are fallen from grace Gal. 5. 2 3 4. according to all the consequences alleaged by Bellarmine From when I argue thus To them that are debtours to the whole Law Christ is become of none effect to them the covenant of grace is disanulled and the promise made of none effect c. They that seeke to be justified by the workes of the Law that is by righteousnesse inherent whatsoever whether before or after grace are debtours to the whole Law Therefore to them that seeke to bee justified by righteousnesse inherent Christ is become of none effect c. The proposition is thus proved Those that are debtors to the whole Law are subject to a double yoake of most miserable bondage opposite