their Merits dangerous because ruinous Thomas Waldensis our Compatriot and the others Contemporary professes his utter dislike of that saying That a man may by Merits be worthy of Heaven or this Grace or that Glory however loe here their rise certain Schoolmen had invented the Terms of Condignity and Congruity I do repute him adds he the more faithful Catholick and more sound Christian more consonant to the holy Scripture who doth simply deny such Merit and confesseth That no man Merits Heaven but by the Grace of God or will of the Giver As all the former Saints and whole Church until the late Schoolmen have written Here 's even enough to end withal yet wee 'l have one Instance more of our Truth but Romes falshood and departure from the Faith of her fore-fathers We will bring it thus Our Libraries were ordinarily stored with certain old Instructions and Consolations to be used to departing sick Persons out of which the Spanish Inquisitors thought fit to expunge these dangerous Interrogations Dost thou believe to come to Glory not by thine own Merits but by the Vertue and Merit of the Passion of our Lord Dost thou believe that our Lord Jesus Christ did die for our Salvation and that none can be saved by his own Merits or by any other Means but by the Merit of his Passion Uincentius his Rule now appears prudent when we have to deal with a sort of men that care not how they deal with old Records and endeavour all they can to make the Tongue of An. tiquity to have a Tangue of their Novelties and can frame new Decrees fathering them on old Councils as both hath and may be proved I shall shut up all with the result of two Assemblies and the astipulations of two Eminent Persons The Canons of Colen in a set meeting establish the Imputed Righteousness of Christ as the formal Cause of Justification We are Justified say they two ways The one and first of which is that absolute Righteousness of Christ not as it is clearly without us in him but as when it is whilst apprehended by Faith Imputed to us for Righteousness this very same so imputed is the chief and great Cause of our Justification This was much considering the time they lived in but better explained in that Colloquy of Ratisbon whose words are Though he who is Justified does receive inherent Justice yet a faithful Soul rests not upon that but only upon the Justice of Christ given to us without which there can clearly be no Justice at all I mention these being soon after the Reformation begun not as entirely Reformed but as such unto whom in this great point the light of Truth even to a good Degree could not be hid The next is a remarkable passage concerning Ernestus Arch-Bishop of Magdeburge witnessed by his own Chaplain Clement Schaw who was present at his Death about five years before Luther A Friar Minor offered him Consolation thus Take good heart most worthy Prince We do Communicate to your Excellence all the good works not only of our selves but of our whole Order and therefore doubt not but receiving them you shall appear before the Tribunal of God blessed and righteous He replied I do not desire your Works to any thing The Works of my Lord Christ must wholly do it On these I relie And Bellarmine himself who spent so much Time and Sweat in oppugning Imputed and propugning Inherent Grace under the Notion of Condign Merit was at last brought to say Propter incertitudinem c. For the uncertainty of our Works it is the safest to put all our Confidence in the sole Mercy and Bounty of God and relie upon Christ. Which totally unravels again the thinn wrought Covering he had before with other Jesuits patch'd up Thus have we followed this pure stream of living water through the Meanders of many Ages of several Constitutions even to the confines of our own Wherein if you look at the present outward face of things we may almost say the Enemy has got the upper hand Yet praise be to God We are not without many Eminent and Faithful Labourers in his Harvest who I hope will leave it upon Record that the Truth is not left without Witnesses And thus too if you take it as we say at the right End I have given you a Testimony that I am c. LETTER III. ARising from depending on and subservient to the Doctrine of Meritorious inherent Justice are all those Opinions of Free-will Satisfactions here and in Purgatory Prayer and Sacrifices for the Dead Indulgences and Vendable Pardons from the Extreme grossness whereof when he saw those goodly Advantages made the Wager in a Game at Dice Luther first took occasion to discountenance them We think they are but as super-structures reared with untempered Mortar which we are sure will all as Wood Hay Stubble perish and be consumed by that Fire the Spirit of Burning mentioned Isa. 4. 4. Matth. 3. 11. 1 Cor. 3. 13. And therefore waving them the next Point wherein I shall endeavour if it may so please God to rectifie your Judgment is that much Controverted business of the Sacraments Which are visible Signs of invisible Grace given and conferred unto us Instituted by Christ himself and ordained to be a means to Receive and a Seal to Confirm the same Let us review this Definition and draw from it some Observations in the words of a Learned Author Many things do here occurr which require a deep and serious Consideration by those who desire throughly to understand the Nature and Essential parts of Sacraments For first there must be a Conferrence of Grace of which the Sacraments are termed Seals yet this Conferrence of Grace is not causatively but instrumentally not Physically but Metaphysically in them Therefore those are not properly Sacraments which relate to any thing but matters of Religion By this Argument is Matrimony excluded from the List as not being in it self considered a Religious Work neither is any Grace at all conferred or exhibited thereby So that though Marriage doth Legitimate many one may say it self is but a Bastard Sacrament 2. Next these Signs of Grace ought to be subject to the Senses For so it seemed good to God by sensible and external things to lead by the hand as it were us who for the most part live by sense towards Intelligible Internal and Spiritual matters They must farther be visible and subject to the Eyes Hence Absolution and Ordination cannot fall within the number of Sacraments not having any visible Element or Material Sign Thirdly They are said to be ordained and instituted by Christ Signs they are by the Institution of him and not of their own nature He only who created the Elements can by his word make of them Sacraments nor is it from the choice of Men that the Signs become Sacraments but by the Ordinance of
Credulity to down with them and to suspend our whole Belief upon the most imperious dictates of their supposed infallible Church But we have not so learned Christ. And as to my part after a long and diligent search whereto never any could be more ingaged than my self I despair of ever finding any more sure or near way to Heaven Than by renouncing in Sanctification all my Sins 1 John 8. 3. Justification all my Graces Dan. 9. 18. Than by having unfeigned Repentance towards God Acts 20. 21. Faith towards Christ Isaiah 64. 6. Matth. 5. 17 18. Matth. 22. 36 37. Luke 10. 27 28. Rom. 3. 31. We find that Law which had it not been weak through the flesh should have given Life both declared and established Expounded too we find it by Bernard de verb. Es. Serm. 4. who reminds us That it requires even yet Obedientiam rectam according to the Rule all that is only what is prescribed puram free from all blemish in manner and measure firmam steady and without any intermission Chrysostome upon 2 Cor. 5. holds out as requisite to our Justification a Righteousness wherein there must not be either Spot or Stain The Law thus applied and understood is still before God's Tribunal the Matter of our Justification and there to be pleaded but where to be found If we confine our search to within our selves and fall seriously to ponder our best Works either of Nature or by Grace we shall find it a Yoak which we no more than our Fathers were are not able to bear Hath God any where discovered that he has drawn off something from its expectation in order to its giving us Justice in his sight upon more facile Terms I think not If then a fulfilled Law and that the same was first given must be presented to God for our Justification that we may appear faultless before the presence of his Glory Jude ver 24. Where may we seek it and not lose our labour Let them that have a mind look amongst the Rubbish of their Performances whilst we with a thankfully-humble boldness do contemplate What it is Dan. 9. 24. Jer. 23. 6. Rom. 10. 4. Isai. 45. 25. 46. 13. Where Col. 1. 19. Joh. 1. 16. Rom. 5. 17. Col. 2. 10. 2 Cor. 5. 21. 1 Joh. 5. 11. How had Joh. 3. 14 15. Rom. 3. 22. Gal. 3. 24. Phil. 3. 9. Let us now call in some Evidence and enquire whether the Protestant Cause be so altogether unbefriended by Antiquity as some of our Adversaries are desirous the World should believe And 1. what we meet with in Athanasius We find Tom. 2. That the fulfilling of the Law wrought by the first fruits Christ is imputed to the whole Lump 2. Gregory upon Ezek. Hom. 8. I will give it you in the Original because there is one Word the just force and importance whereof our English can I think but hardly reach Justus noster Advocatus nos defendet in judicio quia nosmetipsos cognoscimus accusamus injustos Non in Fletibus non in Actionibus nostris sed in Advocati nostri Allegatione considamus 3. Chrysostom upon 1 Cor. 1. 30. It is not said he made us Wise Just and Holy but he is made unto us Wisdom Righteousness Justification c. Upon Rom. 10. There is no cause thou shouldest fear as a Transgressor of the Law if thou believest in Christ because thou hast fulfilled it and received a far greater Righteousness 4. Basil. de Humil. Hom. 51. This is perfect and full rejoycing in God when a man boasts not of his righteousness but knows himself void of true Sanctity yet justified by Faith 5. Gregory Nyssen on those words of our Saviour Beati qui esuriant justitiam It seems to me saith he that our Lord by mentioning Justice doth propose to the appetite of his hearers his own self who is made unto us wisdom from God Justice c. 6. Another from Chrysostom upon Rom. 4. That one destitute of Works should be Justified by Faith might perhaps seem well to be But that one adorned with vertues and good works should yet be justified not by them but by Faith only is admirable 7. Bernard who every where gives us clear glimpses of this light lets it shine broad out in his 61. Sermon on Canticles where he calls us under shelter of that Long Large Eternal Righteousness of Christ professing He will make mention of that only And why must not Jacob attain the blessing without the garments of his Elder Brother but to impart to us the knowledge that we must have ingress into Heaven no otherwise than under the Tegument of Christ's Merits I may well says he again Ep. 190. call my self Just but 't is by his Christ's Justice and what 's that even Christ the end of the Law for Righteousness to all Believers It is not a short Cloak adds he further that cannot cover two 8. Besides Augustin's Non nobis and his Sicut found and usually observed in his Peruse his 45th Sermon de Temp. and you will find by him that it 's the fulness of Vertue which the Law means when it says Thou shalt not Covet then adds he after this manner It cannot be fulfilled 9. But Sedulius on Rom. 10. shews how it may saying Perfectionem Legis habet qui credit in Christo. 10. Both Irenaeus and Augustine do most clearly design that particular Act and Office of Faith which respects our Saviour whilest they expound John 3. 14. 11. Ambrose de vita beata lib. 2. cap. 2. upon these words Odoratus est odorem vestimentorum Peradventure he saith it 's meant that we are not justified by Works but by Faith because the weakness of our Flesh is an impediment to our Works but the Excellency of Faith doth cover the errors of them 12. As we begun so we will end though it were easie to bring a whole Cloud of reverend Authors to attest this thing with Athanasius de incarnatione Verbi It's impossible that Purity and Innocence can be exhibited in humane Nature unless it be believed that God was in the Flesh who brought into the World a Justice free from all sin Because we are made partakers Hujus render it how you will of him or of this we shall live and be saved For illud non est justus in terra adds he belongs equally to us all and for that reason he descended from Heaven who was to impart Righteousness ex se out of himself These proofs are not cited in order of time as they were writ but in course as they seemed best to make out what I have said before in this Point 13. Ambrose upon Rom. 10. He that believes on Christ hath attained the perfection of the Law For seeing of old none were to be justified by the Law because none fulfilled it otherwise than by hoping in Christ promised Faith is introduced to believe the Law fulfilled That all things else laid aside Faith might satisfie both for the
Law and Prophets 14. Augustine again in his 200. Epist. The Law says Thou shalt not covet and it says so not for that here we are absolutely able to perform that Command but to shew towards what our Endeavours are to bend themselves 15. Theophylact on Gal. 3. No man can do what is prescribed in the Law and by its Sentence he that does it not is accurst So it comes to be the Office of Faith to give the Blessing 16. To all such as esteem the Law so easie or possible to be fulfilled let me recommend Bishop Davenant's Treatise de Justitia Habituali Actuali and particularly the 49th Cap. 17. Hierom on 2 Cor. 5. 21. Christ being offered for our Sins received the name of Sin that we might be made the Justice of God in him not our own nor in our selves 18. Origen on Rom. 6. 23. Well does the Apostle here continue the Metaphor he had before taken up that he might affirm Death the due pay of such as fight under the Standard of the King of Sin to be their Wages But it would have been as much unfit to say God gives Stipends to his Souldiers but a free Gift and Grace 19. Theodoret in Sophoniam cap. 3. The salvation of men dependeth upon God's mercy alone for we do not attain unto it as Wages And on this very place viz. Rom. 6. 23. his words are Hic non dicit Mercedem sed Gratiam 20. Lastly our venerable Country-man Bede on Psal. 23. And thus that the godly man shall be well rewarded non ex meritis sed ex sola gratia Anselm once our Archbishop has left behind him this great Truth inconsistent sure with those Rhemish Annotations I formerly touched or the bold dictates of Vasquez That if a man should serve God and that most fervently a thousand years he should not condignly merit to be half a day in the Kingdom of Heaven And more fully to our purpose in his Book de modo visitandi infirmos If Satan say thou hast deserved damnation answer thou I set Christ's death betwixt me and my evil merits and I offer his merits for that merit which I should have had but do want now Lest we should apprehend as the confident and diligent Factors for the Roman Cause could be content to have us that their Opinion in this Point had been derived to them through the long Current of 1600 years let us ponder the words of Thomas Waldensis who lived a man of great learning even when the thickness of this darkness began to overspread the face of the earth Tom. 3. de Sacram. He professeth his utter dislike of that saying A man may by merits be worthy of Heaven of this Grace or that Glory However says he lo here their rise certain Schoolmen have invented the Terms of Congruity and Condignity I do repute him adds he again the more faithful Catholick more sound Christian and more consonant to holy Scripture who does simply deny such merit And confesseth That no man merits Heaven but by the Grace of God or will of the Giver as all the former Saints and whole Church have written The same may be collected from Erasmus who may certainly pass for a sufficient witness in Matter of fact Epist. ad Stephanum Rhodricum From these premises we I hope may with safety and confidence after it is past for Law upon the venerable Bench of Primitive Antiquity and veritas truth is non quod antiquum not what had got a prevalence in our Grandfathers or Great-grand-fathers days but quod antiquissimum what from the beginning was so affirm That even now under the Gospel Justification cannot be absolved towards a Sinner but in the contemplation of Christ's Righteousness whereby he and none but he fully answered all the demands of the Law Nor is it any prejudice to our Cause at all that in the writings of the Latin Fathers the Terms Merita mereri and Justificationes do frequently occur since their importance with them for the most part is singly works not the desert of working but particular Acts of Justice and mereri to attain unto or procure as the way whereby not the cause wherefore the Reward of Heaven which is largely as well as clearly manifested by our Bishops Usher Davenant and Downham their true sence and meaning being not contrary but subordinate to our Doctrine We shall not fear therefore to say with St. Paul compare Rom. 4. 3. Ja. 2. 21. That the best man living must expect Blessedness without Works by Faith alone and yet that Faith must not nor indeed can be alone in any good man For it is as infallibly true which St. James tells us cap. 2. That Works do in the sight of men and to our own Consciences justifie us supposed or mistaken Faith alone being dead and ineffectual can do nothing at all thereto How this goodly Building of condign merit or Justification by the desert of inherent Righteousness hath a very congruous foundation on the doctrine of Free-Will Alphonsus à Castro gives us to understand Lib. 7. de haeres when he says For this even because we consent to God's Monition when we might have dissented Wages are ow'n to us and from thence is our merit If by this Monition they intend but a bare ineffectual swasion and then leave Nature to determine in that work which is not brought to pass but by the mighty power of God Eph. 1. 19. the difference betwixt them and the Pelagians of old is sure but very minute and scarce perceptible The one though they would not hear of the energy of Grace yet acknowledge that Nature which they so much exalted was the gift and work of God The other though they seem to assign a kind of Grace to the Conversion of a sinner coarct its operation under such Terms as render the whole business in a manner the Fruit of a man 's own acquisition Three Questions there are very pertinent to this 〈◊〉 which being resolved are so determinative of the Point as leaves the Judgement no more room further to hesitate 1. What state the Father of the Faithful was in whenas St. Paul Rom. 4. assures us he was Justified without Works The Romanists allege that this is to be understood of Natural Works done before or without Faith Well but Abrahani was called of God and answered his call had received and imbraced the Promise Gen. 12. built an Altar and twice thereat invoked the Name of the Lord Gen. 13. had solemnly been blessed by Melchizedek Gen. 14. had a Testimony given by God that he was his particular care Gen. 15. had performed several Acts of Righteousness in Faith as is apparent from Heb. 11. 8 9. and was now about an hundred years old Rom. 4. 19. yet after all this of him it is spoken and by St. Paul drawn to general application That by Faith without Works this is without any consideration had on God's part to their merit he was Justified