speaking in his heart which is the Holy Spirit It 's in vain to reply hereunto that every one may pretend the Spirit for pretensions cannot prejudice the Truth the Question between us and the Papists is not Whether the Scriptures are of Divine Authority or not for both of us assert that they are But Whether he that admits this is perswaded of it To which whether they or we give the most satisfactory answer we leave the whole Christian World that are not partial to either Party to judge We conclude therefore that as this Question Whether the Scriptures are the Word of God is unworthy of a Christian So Jesuit Sambays's Assertion de fide Orthodoxa is foolish and ridiculous That the Protestants have not the Scriptures For besides that he defends it for no other end but that he may shun the dint of their Arguments drawn from the Scriptures He useth no other Medium to prove that Assertion but that the Reformed Church wanting the Marks of the true Church is a false Church and therefore cannot have the Scriptures which do both in their matter and form depend upon the Church Which Argument is most false and doth manifestly beg the Question viz. That the Scriptures and their sense depend upon the Authority of the Church which we utterly deny and that not without reason as I shewed above Moreover the Jesuit sheweth his Cause to be desperate by endeavouring to rob us of the Scriptures for none of the Ancient Fathers denied the Scriptures to any Heretick that argued his own Cause from them and Augustine that we quoted above affirms that the Scriptures are not peculiar to any one Party but impartial Judges of all We might with far better reason return this Argument upon the Papists because we have proved that their Representative Church is not only false but no Church at all But I am not so much afraid of their Arguments from Scripture and therefore do not deny them the Bible Having established the Opinion of the Reformed Churches in reference to the Authority of the Scriptures I shall now proceed to the properties of the same First therefore I affirm that the Scriptures are perfect by a perfection of parts as well as degrees and so sufficient to Salvation Psal 19. The Law of God is perfect Their sufficiency appears from the forecited place 2 Tim. 3.16 17. The accession of the New Testament to the Old doth not disprove the perfection and sufficiency of the Scriptures For he that revealed the whole Counsel of God to Believers did nevertheless reveal no other than what Moses and the Prophets had written before as we hinted above Hence the Ancient Fathers said very well As the New Testament is hid in the Old so the Old is made plain and clear in the New Nor doth a difference in degree alter the nature or species of a thing neither is the Question betwixt the Papists and us concerning this or that part of the Scriptures but concerning the whole Canon as it was received by the Ancient Church and enumerated by Hierom. So that in this Argument there is evidently the Fallacy of dividing what ought to be joyned together And as we justly cut off the Apocryphal Books from this perfection and sufficiency of the Scriptures because they contradict both themselves and the Canon nor were they ever received in the Jewish Church to which the Oracles of God were committed Rom. 3.2 So we reject the Popish distinction of Protocanonical Deuterocanonical Books with the same facility that they propose it being without proof Hence we do but little esteem unwritten Traditions because what is written doth sufficiently instruct us what we are to believe and do in order to life eternal John 20.31 It 's ridiculous to refer the several Orders of Monks and particularly the shaving of their Crowns to these unwritten Traditions because Christ says I have yet many things to say unto you but you cannot bear them now Joh. 16.12 For if this had been the thing that Christ had further to say unto them he might easily have sent for a Barber and caused their Heads to be shaved Besides that the Monks whose duty was to weep and not to teach saith Hierom were shaven as a sign of their penitence not of any honour or preeminence Secondly The Scriptures are plain and easie to be understood The Commandment enlightning the eyes Psal 19.8 Whatsoever things were written afore-time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 Those things therefore which are absolutely necessary to Salvation being very few and very easie are clearly and plainly set down in the Scriptures though other things not so absolutely necessary may puzle the most Sagacious understandings Chrysostom says well The holy Scriptures are such that a Lamb may wade in them and yet an Elephant may swim Seeing then that the Scriptures are plain as is evident from Reason and the Testimony of the Fathers the Reformed Churches do with good reason attribute a judgment of discretion in Controversies of Faith to every true Christian So that every Believer by frequent reading and comparing of the Scriptures may easily understand their meaning at least as to things absolutely necessary to Salvation For no Prophesie of Scripture is of aâ—y private interpretation nor came by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1.20 21. As for the Fathers of the Ancient Church and the four Primitive Councils we willingly imbrace them as Interpreters of the Scriptures yea moreover we affirm that in subordination to the Scriptures they may bind but not force our belief But we utterly deny that the Fathers or these Councils or the Pope are Judges of Controversies about matters of Faith but the only Judge of all such Controversies is the Holy Ghost speaking in the Scriptures or as Augustine saith Christ himself Let Christ judge of this Controversie who although he be absent in his Person yet is present in his Word Hence it doth appear that the Scriptures may rightly be called a Normal Judge deciding the question in manner of a Law though not outwardly proclaiming the sentence The Word of God is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Heb. 4.12 We have sufficiently proved that the Reformed Churches do vindicate the Authority and Properties of the Scriptures It remains now to be proved that they teach according to the Scriptures I shall pass the Doctrines of God and his Attributes of the Trinity and the like because there is little difference between the Papists and us in there Points except in some Preter-fundamental things which the Jesuits and Dominicans do also dispute among themselves I shall now only take notice of this that the Jesuits do very absurdly define Free-will viz. A Faculty whereby all things requisite to action being present the will may act or not act act this or the contrary For
shunned not to declare the whole Counsel of God professeth that he had said no other things than those which Moses and the Prophets did say should come I quickly concluded that the only mark of the true Church is to be taken from this Fountain That the Church is built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and the chief Corner-stone is Jesus Christ And I found that Augustine that glorious Light of Antiquity did agree with me writing Contr. Ma. Arian l. 3. Neither will I alledge the Nicene Chuncil to your prejudice nor ought you to alledge the Council of Ariminum to mine Let us not make use of Writings partial to the one or to the other Party but of the holy Scriptures that are impartial Judges of both and compare Cause with Cause Matter with Matter and Reason with Reason And elsewhere writing against Donatus There namely in the Scriptures let us seek for the True Church there let us discuss the point Being now fully confirmed in this general Principle I began to enquire narrowly into the Purity of particular Churches and upon enquiry found that none do so exactly agree with the Scriptures as the Reformed Churches Wherefore I firmly resolved with my self to forsake the Roman Idolatry and associate my self to the Protestants which I accordingly performed in France and having renounced the Romish Superstitions I adjoyned my self to the Reformed Church as being the true Church of Christ which I shall now shortly evince by the following Arguments That is the true Church which 1. Vindicates and maintains the Authority of the Scriptures 2. Teacheth Doctrine agreeable to the Scriptures 3. Because I will not be so Scripturary as to neglect the Testimony of the Fathers and Councils Which agrees also with the Testimony of Ancient Fathers and Councils But the Reformed Church is such Therefore the Reformed is the true Church As for the first the Reformed Church maintains the Authority of the Scriptures against the Papists who affirm That the Scriptures have no Authority as to us at least but from the Church Which distinction was found out by Bellarmine namely that the Authority of the Scripture considered in it self doth not depend upon the Church but only in respect of us But how frivolous is this distinction For all Authority is Relative and therefore it cannot be considered without a relation to us And moreover the Supposition is false that the Scriptures Authority as to us depends upon the Church But before I come to overthrow this Assertion it will not be amiss to observe that the reason which induceth the Papists to defend it is evidently this They know not how to answer the Protestants Arguments from Scripture without wresting the sense and therefore hold that the sense of the Scriptures depends upon the interpretation of the Church which obligeth them to desend that the Authority of the Scriptures depends also upon the Church being that without the Churches Tradition we can have no certainty of the Scriptures themselves nor of their sense In this they imitate exactly the Ancient Hereticks of whom Tertullian says When the Hereticks are confuted from the Scriptures they presently begin to accuse the Scriptures as if they were not of sufficient Authority or were otherwise written than they are cited by the Orthodox and of which there is no certainty without Tradition Where you may see an exact Portraicture of the Modern Papists But to return to our purpose we assert That the Scriptures Authority doth no way depend upon the Authority of the Church but of the Holy Ghost only speaking internally in our hearts and externally in the Scriptures because he is their Author 2 Tim. 3.16 2 Pet. 1.21 and therefore he alone can give them their Authority And as Christ seeks a Testimony from none besides the Father so neither doth his Word need any other which he hath left upon Earth instead of his own Person And as it were very absurd to affirm that the Authority of the Kings Proclamation depends upon the Cryer or a Rule upon the thing ruled or that the Sun borrows his light from his own Orb or Vortex so it is no less ridiculous to affirm that the Authority of the Scriptures depends upon the Church The Church is the Candlestick the Word of God is the Candle Revel 1.20 Luk. 8.16 Now as a Candlestick contributes nothing to the light of the Candle so neither doth the Church to the Authority of the Scriptures We reject not the Ministerial Testimony of the Church in this affair because thereby we come to the knowledge of the Scriptures as the Samaritans came to the knowledge of Christ by the Samaritan Womans Testimony which nevertheless was not the reason or ground of their Faith but the Instrument only The Papists object that the Church is called the Pillar and Ground of Truth 1 Tim. 3.15 And from hence they conclude that the Authority of the Scriptures as to us depends entirely upon the Church But to pass Camero's observation that these words belong to the sixteenth verse where there is a Copulative Particle which otherwise were useless and that the Apostle first compares the Church to a House and then teacheth us what is the chief Pillar of that House viz. God manifest in the Flesh For a House cannot be called a Pillar but a Pillar is in a House In this place Paul means not an Architectonical Pillar that sustains the Authority of the Scriptures but a Political to which the Fdicts of the Supreme Governour are affixed Nor is Bellarmines Exception against this distinction of any weight that the Church may be as well called a Bibliotheck as a Pillar in this sense For we affirm that the Church doth not only keep these Books but also teach and publish the Contents thereof and expose them to the view of the people So then the Testimony of the Church may be one Motive to induce us to believe the Divine Authority of the Scriptures but cannot beget in our minds a firm and certain perswasion of it which is the work of the Holy Ghost only whom God joyns with his Word Isa 59.21 My Spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth c. Augustine speaks well to this purpose in his Confessions But how shall I know that these are thy words Moses said so indeed but Moses is gone and if he were present and should speak Hebrew I could not understand him but if he spoke Latin and I understood him how could I be certain that he spoke the truth The Truth it self which is neither Greck Latin Hebrew nor Barbarian without any sound of the tongue or noise of Syllables would say unto me inwardly in the Cabinet of my heart he speaketh truth You see Christian Readers how Augustine was perswaded of the Divinity of the Scriptures not by the Authority of the Church nor of Moses and the Prophets but by the Internal Truth
besides that when the Object is present to the Understanding the Will is necessarily determined by the last practical judgment of the understanding to imbrace or reject the object like as if Straw and Fire come together there must needs a Flame be kindled I say besides this it 's impossible for any man to alter the Prescience and Decree of God which is one of the things requisite to action for the Counsel of God stands and he will do all his pleasure All things requisite to Judas his betraying of Christ being present viz. the last practical judgment of his understanding the receiving of the Money c. and the Eternal Counsel of God designing that Christ should be delivered into the hands of men suffer death and rise again the third day it was impossible for him not to act Therefore the Reformed Churches do excellently define Free-will A faculty of acting freely without compulsion or physical determination to one thing For the Will cannot be forced to any elicite or internal act nor is it capable of a physical or natural necessity determining it to one thing as Fire is determined to burn But it is not free from the determination of the Divine Decree and the last practical judgment of the understanding nor in the unregenerate from sin to which it is in general necessarily determined by its Original depravation although it hath a freedom to chuse this or that special sin So that in the unregenerate man it is free only to will nor can he by his own strength perform any action spiritually good Of our selves as of our selves we cannot think a good thought 2 Cor. 3.5 much less do a good action by nature We are dead in sin Eph. 2.1 without God in the world Eph. 2.3 and every imagination of our heart is only evil continually Gen. 6.5 And the best actions that the unregenerate can do are really evil because they do not proceed from Faith and whatsoever is not of Faith is sin Rom. 14.23 So that as from a total privation there is no returning to the habit but by an Infinite Power so from sin which is a privation of that rectitude which ought to be in our faculties and actions there is no returning to righteousness except God do quicken us from the Dead and say to us as unto Lazarus Lazarus arise Joh. 11.43 and cause the Sun of Righteousness to arise in the dark Horizon of our hearts saying as in the first Creation Let there be light Gen. 1. And truly seeing Regeneration according to Scripture phrase is a new Creation Create in me a clean heart Psa 51. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Eph. 2.10 In Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision but the New Creature Gal. 6.15 it cannot be the work of less than an Infinite Power whereby God worketh in us both to will and to do of his good preasure Phil. 2.13 So that Augustine did rightly affirm that the good works of the Heathen were but glistering sins They may indeed act something that is morally good by the general influence of Divine Providence yet they can act nothingthat is truly good in a Theological sense because they want Faith to purifie their hearts nor do they aim at the glory of God for they do not shun this or that sin simply because it is a sin but from a vain-glorious desire of Reputation among the people Hence it followeth that Justification and Sanctification are not ours but Gods so that when God conferreth Glory upon those that are Justified and Sanctified he may with good reason be said to Crown with this reward his own gifts and not our works As for Justification of which we intend to speak first it is twofold active and passive for it may be considered either in respect of God that justifieth or of Man that is justified In the former consideration it is nothing else but an act of God whereby he absolves the sinner and reputes him righteous for the Merits and satisfaction of Christ Hence God is said to justifie the ungodly Rom. 4.5 by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 3.24 So that God in justifying maketh no physical change in the sinner as the Papists say who would have the Justification of God to be of the same nature with Transubstantiation whereby one thing is changed into another that is that God in Justifying doth not proceed as a Judge pronouncing one at the Bar Innocent but as it were by a physical immutation making a righteous man out of an unrighteous even as Christ turned water into Wine Bellarmine Becan and other Jesuits have laboured much in the proof of this Assertion but without any success They produce nothing from Scripture but what is to be referred to Sanctification not Justification And thus they commit the fallacy of ignoratio Elenchi and as for their Arguments drawn from Reason they are so unreasonable that they do not deserve a Refutation Their chief Argument is taken from the Word it self for say they to Justifie according to the Etimology of the word is nothing else but to make just or righteous being it is compounded of justus and facio as well as to Sanctifie is to make not to pronounce holy c. Therefore to justifie cannot import the absolution of a sinner who is really unrighteous but the making of him righteous But they hereby shew themselves to be no better Gramarians than they are Divines for the sense of a word in matters of Faith is not to be taken out of Calepine but from the Word of God which is the Rule of our Faith Now it is manifest and hath been demonstrated by many that Justification is every where in the Scriptures taken in a Law-sense Thus Solomon He that justifieth the ungodly and condemneth the righteous are both an abomination unto the Lord. Here the justifying of the unrighteous is opposed to the condemning of the righteous and so in all other places of Scripture Moreover if this were the meaning of the word Justifie then there would be no difference between Justification and Sanctification which nevertheless is evident from Rev. 22.11 He that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still Also Rom. 8.30 Whom he justified them he also glorified where under the word Glorifie is comprehended Sanctification which is begun Glory even as Glory is consummate Sanctification Lastly This Composition with the Verb Facio doth not always import an internal change as appears from the Song of the Blessed Virgin My Soul doth magnifie the Lord. Now let them set their heads together and prove that the Blessed Virgin by magnifying the Lord did cause any internal change in him and we shall also allow that God by justifying us doth make an internal change in us Ante leves vero pascentur in aethere cervi Hitherto of Active Justification Now we shall come to
treat of Passive Justification or Justification considered in respect of the man justified And thus it is nothing else but an assured considence of our righteousness in Christ and by the imputation of his Merits which we receive and apply unto our selves by faith Rom. 3.25 26. Hence it appears that the Meritorious Cause of our Justification is the Merit of Christ as we proved a little before and the hand by which we apply this satisfaction of our Saviour or the instrumental cause of our Justification is Faith Man is justified by faith without the works of the Law Rom. 3.28 It is as clear from the Scriptures as the light of the Sun in mid-day that we are justified by faith only By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God Eph. 2.8 So that I shall insist no longer upon this point but conclude with the Apostle That by the deeds of the Law shall no flesh be justified for by the Law is the knowledge of sin Rom. 3.20 There is therefore no Justification in the sight of God by our works but only by saith which applieththe Panacea of Salvation unto our dead hearts and causeth us to live in God and God in us We are not so unreasonable as to separate Works from Faith yet nevertheless we affirm that Faith only doth justifie it 's the eye only that sees the hand only that weighs yet neither can the eye see nor the hand weigh unless they be united to the body Even so Faith only doth justifie but this Faith is never separated from Good Works The Apostle James indeed saith We are justified by works and not by faith only Jam. 2.24 But he either means justification before men as in the eighteenth verse Shew me thy faith by thy works or else the confirmation of internal faith by external actions or else he speaks by a Metonimy of the effect for the cause so that by faith and works he means a working faith which seems to agree well with the words You see then how that by works man is justified and not by faith only that is not by a solitary or naked faith which is not accompanied with works for faith being alone is dead but by a living faith which shews its foundness by works So that we are not justified by works but by faith only and whosoever will narrowly look into himself and his own frailty must needs break forth into Bellarmine's words Because of the frailty of humane life and the uncertainty of our own righteousness it is safest to relye only upon the mercy of God Bel. de bon oper Consider Candid Reader the words of this Cardinal who as I can demonstrate if need be at the end of the greatest Controversies between us and the Papists yields at last unto the truth and appears though an Italian to be more a Protestant than a Papist Thus we have proved by Gods assistance that Active Justification is an external judicial absolution of an unrighteous man and pronouncing of him righteous and that Passive Justification is by faith only and that a living faith which applieth to us the Merits of our Saviour As for Sanctification I shall say little concerning it by reason the Papists don 't disagree much with the Protestants in this Point as to the nature of the thing only I utterly deny that the good works which we do are meritorious or necessary to Salvation necessuate medii as a mean to bring us to Salvation Bernard says well Good works are the way to the Kingdom not the cause of reigning nor does the Popish distinction between merit of congruity and condignity mitigate this Assertion for besides that the Congruity of Gods Reward for our Works consists onely in his own good pleasure Fear not little Flock for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you a Kingdom Luk. 12.32 I have often admired that they have found no Text of Scripture to prove the condignity of works but this one which is Diametrically contrary to their Assertion The Sufferings of this present time are not worthy but condign to be compared with the Glory that is to be revealed in us This is the onely place where the word condignus is to be found I will proceed now to shew how found and genuine the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches is concerning the Sacraments which are Seals of the righteousness of faith Rom. 4.11 And shortly refute the Popish Errours As for Baptism both Parties acknowledge it to be a Sacrament of Initiation by which in the faith of our Parents which is my opinion we are implanted into the Church which is the Body of Christ But the Papists falsely affirm that Baptism ex opere operato by vertue of the work wrought works in us Regeneration and abolishes Original Sin Not onely because an external corporal thing can have no influence upon things internal and spiritual in reference to the rectifying thereof which can onely be done by God himself every good and perfect Gift comes down from the Father of Lights saith the Apostle James But likewise because the sign of the Covenant cannot communicate to us the things comprehended in the Covenant And the contrary appears also from the effect because those that have been baptized are and have been subject to everlasting damnation And if this Sacrament ex opere operato did work Grace Regeneration c. then Abraham could not have been reputed righteous by faith in uncircumcision Rom. 4.9 Moreover in the Primitive Times and especially as to them that were baptized when come to Age Faith was required before the Seal of Righteousness were stampt upon their hearts and consciences Now because Faith is the Root of the rest of the Graces and hath annexed unto it that great work of Repentance It necessarily follows that the Apostle requiring faith in the Adult did suppose the rest of the Graces to be in them not imagining that they should be conferred upon them but rather sealed or confirmed by Baptism for Baptism is a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith and not a thing that by its internal vertue work Faith and Regeneration For this very reason Augustin and other of the Fathers affirmed that Infants are baptized in the Faith of their Parents if believing Parents or in the Faith of the Church if their Parents were unknown or Unbelievers because they were perswaded that Faith is rather required before than conferred by Baptism So that we believe that the holy Ghost doth operate in the tender hearts and minds of elect Infants even from their Birth and that effectually though insensibly and although perhaps he doth not work in them subjectively an actual faith yet he objectively applies unto them the benefits of Christ which in others are received by an actual faith But lest any should think that we falsely charge our Adversaries with this Assertion I will shew the candid Reader the reason why they assert it and then evince the same