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A17306
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A plea to an appeale trauersed dialogue wise. By H.B.
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Burton, Henry, 1578-1648.
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1626
(1626)
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STC 4153; ESTC S106969
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84,171
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122
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second grace and subtile equivocation of Merit of congruity and condignity This is Romes sophistry and the very Mystery of iniquity In the next place by their wills assenting vpon Gods moving of it they meane an assent of beleife of the truth revealed in the Scriptures namely a generall historicall faith as Sess. 6. chap. 6. And as * Soto plainly commenteth vpon it so And. Vega also For by the way it is to be observed that in that whole Session there is not once the least mention made of credere in Deum to beleeue in God which is the Act of true iustifiyng faith And therefore no maruaile if the Councel be not ashamed to confesse in the front and title of the 15 chap. and so in the chapter it selfe that by euery mortall sin the grace of iustification is lost but not faith So that their Romane Catholicke faith is one thing and their grace of iustification another Now summe vp all this together concerning this worke of God vpon mans freewill and the totall is That God doth no more but moue and stirre and call vpon the will not by that inward and effectuall calling according to his purpose but by an outward ordinary common calling which is no more but as a kinde of Monitor to the will Nor is God here said by this grace to giue faith but to stirre the will to an historicall assent of faith generally beleeuing the things reuealed to be true by their wills cooperation with their first grace which is no more any sauing grace then their faith occasioned by it any iustifying faith Thus wee see how the Church of Rome by her crafty mincing and malicious mangling of the grace of God in mans free iustification how by robbing from the worke of Gods grace to â—â—rich their Freewills co-worke she vtterly frustrateth Gods grace and euacuateth his glory making a meere mocke of both For doe but weigh these two together in the scales one against the other Gods grace and Mans freewill and the difference according to Romes vniust estimate will easily appeare Grace onely stirreth and moueth say they but the will is actiue and by its cooperation assenteth grace only calleth after a common and ordinary maner iust like the vniuersall grace but the will disposeth and prepareth it selfe grace is freely giuen onely in this respect by preuenting the will in stirring and mouing but not in iustifying the sinner but the wills selfe-disposition and preparation to iustification is a merit of congruity meriting the second grace to wit of iustification a farre greater grace I wis then the first grace the onely grace freely giuen of God So that Romes merit of congruity arising from her well disposed freewill is of more value and vertue then Gods free mercy for this giueth onely the first grace freely a sorry and slender grace but that meriteth a farre greater grace euen of iustification it selfe Here then euery man may easily judge of Romes egregious hypocrifie insolent sacriledge and false-fingering who while shee would seeme to giue the preeminence to Gods grace onely by colouring it ouer with the title of grace as of first grace and preuenting grace and the like in the meane time she aduanceth her owne freewill aboue the skies yea aboue grace aboue God and all Fulfilling that which Bernard saith It is high impiety to attribute to God that which is lesse and to our selues that which is more excellent Now if a man should neuer so much seeme to ascribe the praise of Sampsons Acts against the Philistims to Dalilah because she awakened and stirred him vp will any beleeue him It is against all reason The case here is alike betweene grace and freewill Freewill is a sleepe bound hand foote in the cordes of sinne but grace comes and awakenes it bids it arise whereupon the will begins Sampson-like to rowse it selfe to shake of the bands to prepare and dispose it selfe to the atchieument of some great worke Whither then deserueth greater praise grace awakening or freewill so brauely acting Though I confesse my shallow wits would neuer haue beene able to haue sounded the depth of this profound mystery to haue discerned a cleare difference betweene their first grace giuen of gratuity and their freewills merit of congruity but that they haue told vs plainly without equinocating that the second grace which they obtaine by their merit of congruity is of farre greater value then the first grace though bestowed of free gratuity But I feare I haue exceeded the bounds of my promise and purpose for breuity But pardon mee I haue ben in the perplexed Labyrinth of the Councell of Trent Now by that we haue said wee may see what reason any maÌ„ at leastwise so mighty lie protesting and professing himselfe to be no Papist as the Appealer doth hath so much to countenance yea to plead for the Councel of Trent in the point of freewill so as I dare say no Lawyer would doe in a case so corrupt not for the best fee though I know not what fee or feeling Maister Mountagu hath for playing Romes Proctor except it be his blind affection and some pale faced hope sith therein Rome hath laid the foundation of that her Babylonish fabrick of the mystery of iniquity and of all her meretricious merits So that I cannot see how such men can be excused from high impiety against God and euen joyning hands of fellowship with that most impious and blasphemous confederacy against the glory of God and the grace and truth of Iesus Christ. Babylonius Good words I pray you A man might speake as much for the Councell of Trent as you doe against it but for my part I will not vndertake that quarrell now I desire that you will show the true difference betweene the Councell of Trents Doctrine of freewill and that which you take to be the true Doctrine For is there any other Doctrine of freewill then that of the Church of England and of the Protestants which the Appealer makes all one with the Doctrine of the Councell of Trent Orthodoxus Sir for my words they are the words of truth and sobernesse For our Protestant Doctrine of free-will to be all one with the Councell of Trent God forbid it we deny it for Romes Doctrine to be all one with ours Rome forbids denyes and accurseth Nor doe I see how the Appealer will escape the Popes direfull excommunication for daring so to comment vpon the Trent Councell expressly forbidden by the Pope without speciall authority But I know not what speciall authority hee may haue from the Pope to doe this Nor can the Councell of Trent haue any other patronage then colourable pretence and sophisticall showes which are the best arguments the Appealer is able to bring for Trents Doctrine whereas the allegations against it feare no colours sith armed with truth it selfe But to satisfie your desire according to my weake capacitie I am not vnwilling As I noted before mans
free these miserable captiues out of that tyrant Pharaohs more then Aegyptian bondage Againe in the Acts of the Apostles where it is said that our hearts are purified by faith which some as Aquinas vnderstands of illuminating the vnderstanding by faith others of the purification of the soule and heart from sinne by faith as we are said also to be sanctified by faith that is in Christ. Now this faith is the first worke of Gods grace wrought in the heart that is in the whole soule in our first conuersion by which faith the vnderstanding is inlightned and with it the will and all the other faculties of the soule are sanctified For the heart in Scriptuee is taken oftentimes for the whole soule with all the faculties of it As Ephesians 1. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vulgar Latin renders it word for word Illuminatos oculis cordis vestri the eyes of your heart being illuminated that is the eyes of your vnderstanding And Math. 13. 15. Least they vnderstand with their heart So for â—â—e will Act. 7. 39. The Israelites in their hearts turned backe into Egypt that is in their wills So Acts 11. 23. Bernabas exhorts that with purpose of heart that is of will they would cleaue vnto the Lord. The heart is also taken for the memory as Luke 1. 66 All that heard laid vp those things in their hearts So Deut. 11. 18 Yee shall lay vp these my wordes in your hearts Sometime for the affections as loue feare and the like So Mat. 6. 21 Where your treasure is there will your heart be also your loue your ioy your hope yea and feare too And Psa. 62. 10 If riches increase set not your heart vpon them Thus wee vse to reduce all these streames of the soule to the heart as the prime fountaine as when we say an vnderstanding heart a wise heart a willing heart a valiant heart an humble heart a loving heart and the like Now the heart being taken for the soule and all the faculties of it and being the very seate and subiect wherein faith resides for with the heart man beleeveth to righteousnes and Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith then the heart being purified being sanctified by faith consequently the whole soule with all the faculties the vnderstanding will memory affections are at the same instant with the heart purified and sanctified by faith as the first act and worke of Gods grace in vs. Hence it is euident that the prime worke of Gods grace in the conuersion of a sinner is not a slight and slender worke as a bare stirring mouing or helping of the will to prepare and dispose it selfe to receiue the grace of iustification but it is a mighty and powerfull worke so that thereby the stony heart harder and heauier then the hardest rocke or highest mountaine is remoued and a new heart a new vnderstanding a new will a new memory new affections all new in the qualities of them are put insteed thereof By this prime worke of grace that most excellent grace of faith is wrought in the heart whereby the whole man is sanctified Babylonius Sir by the way now you touch vpon a point which as I haue heard is much controuerted among Diuines namely about the subiect or seat of faith in what faculty or power of the soule it resideth some placeing it in the vnderstanding onely some in the will onely but few as you doe in the whole soule and euery power of it as the soule is said by the Philosopher to bee whole in the whole body and whole in euery part of it Orthodoxus And you giue a very pregnant example to illustrate this truth that faith doth so fill and quicken euery faculty of the soule as the soule doth the body And the comparison holds well for Saint Augustine calls faith the soule of the soule because it giues life to the whole soule as the soule to the whole body And the Scripture saith that wee liue by faith and faith by Christ as Gal. 2. 20. Indeede those of the Church of Rome are of different opinions in this point Dominicus Soto sets it downe as a definitiue decree of the Trent Councell It is decreed that the intellectuall power is the subiect or seat of saith And this suits well with Romes faith being historicall and so proper to the vnderstanding faculty Notwithstanding when they consider of the danger of placing faith in the vnderstanding least it should follow that therefore faith ought not to be an implicit and ignorant blind faith but a cleare and vnderstanding faith they fly to the will rather placing faith in that not for any good will but to suppresse the knowledge of faith which Romes Owle-eyed religion cannot brooke And therefore Bellarmine would haue faith to be defined rather from ignorance then from knowledge and so shuts it out of the vnderstanding and shuffels it into some blinde corner of the will But see the mischiefe of it while they would auoid the gulfe they fall vpon the rocke For if they place faith in the will they must of necessity allow it one speciall property of sauing faith namely assiance and considence in Gods promises in Christ a thing most hatefull to the Church of Rome therefore in conclusion of two euills chusing the lesse that they may rather exclude confidence from faith then science sith they can noe otherwise chuse they rather pitch vpon the vnderstanding then the will wherein to place their faith So that by their good wills they could be content for the auoiding of the inconueniences of an illuminate and confident faith to croud it into some corner of the inferiour part of the soule But for sure worke they haue taken a safer course by excluding and banishing not onely from the soule or any faculty of it but out of the verge and lists of their Romane Catholicke Church and that with a direfull Anathema the true sauing and iustifying faith But whereas you say few Diuines place faith in the whole soule and in euery power of it they are neither few nor those of small authoritie The prouinciall Councell of Colen which was a little before the Councell of Trent although charged by Andreas Vega to speake too broad and too Protestant-like in the point of faith and iustification by imputation saith that true iustifying faith is seated not onely in the vnderstanding but also in the will The learned and ingenious Cardinall Contarenus about the same time writing of iustification saith that the first act or motion of faith begins at the will which obeying God and faith causeth the vnderstanding to assent to the things deliuered of God without doubting and so to trust in Gods promises and of them to conceiue a firme affiance which pertaines to the will and that this faith as it were in a circle begins at the will and ends in the will So that he confineth not faith to the