be workes that are out of vs wrought in and by the person of our Sauiour Christ namely the workes of obedience in satisfying and fulfilling the lawe These indeede are the workes which iustifie and saue vs none that proceede frō vs. To this effect Paul saith that we are iustified freely by the redemption that is in Christ. Lastly it is alleadged that if all vertues be losse for Christ then faith it selfe I answer Faith must diuersly be considered first of all as a vertue working bringing forth many good fruites in vs. And thus it is to be reputed losse as all other vertues are Secondly it must be considered not as a vertue but as an instrument or hand not to giue or worke any thing but to apprehend and receiue Christ and his benefits And thus it is no losse but is a thing excepted in this text Nowe then we see that the doctrine of Paul is manifest that all vertues and workes both of nature and grace are meere losses in the cause of our iustification and saluation Hence sundrie things may be learned The first that the most holy works of holy men cannot iustifie or merit eternall life When they are brought within the Act of iustification as causes Paul saith they are but losse and as offles to be cast to dogges Let this be noted and remembred for euer against all iustitiarie papists Who if they would but seriously consider this one text they might be farre better resolued then they are Secondly hence the doctrine of our our church is plainely gathered namely that we are saued and iustified by faith alone For all things except our knowledge and faith in Christ are made as doung And that this our doctrine may not be scandalous sundry things must be remembred The first is the right meaning of the doctrine which is that there is nothing within vs that is any cause either efficient materiall formall or finall of iustification but faith The second that faith is no principall cause but onely an instrument The third that faith is no instrument to procure or worke our iustification and saluation but an instrument to receiue or to apprehend our iustification giuen by the father procured by the sonne applied by the holy Ghost The last that faith must be considered as a cause or else as a waie of saluation If as an internall cause in vs it onely iustifieth and consequently saueth vs. If as a waie it doth not saue alone For other vertues and workes though they be no causes yet are they waies to eternall life as well as faith Here then when papists make outcries against vs saying that we looke to be saued by faith alone the true and plaine answere to them is this We consider faith two waies first as a cause within vs not meriting any way but instrumentally apprehending pardon in Christ and applying it to vs for our eternall happinesse Secondly faith may be considered as a way in which we are to walke for the attainement of euerlasting life In the first sense faith alone iustifieth and saueth and nothing els within vs. To this doe the learned fathers agree Basil saith This is perfect reioycing in God when a man is not puffed vp for his owne iustice but acknowledgeth that he wants iustice and that he is iustified by faith alone in Christ. Hilarie That is remitted of Christ by faith which the lawe could not loosen for faith alone iustifies Ambrose They are iustified freely which doe nothing nor repaie like for like are iustified by faith alone through the gift of God Againe in his commentarie vpon the epist. to the Corinth This is appointed of God that he which beleeues in Christ should be saued without worke by faith alone receiuing remission of sinnes Hierom God iustifieth by faith alone Neuertheles if we speake of the way to life then we are not saued onely by faith For though faith be the onely instrument to apprehend Christ yet is it not the onely way to life repentance also is the way yea all vertues all works are the waie In this sense affliction is said to worke vnto vs a more excellent weight of glorie not as a cause but as a way giuing direction And mothers are said to be saued by bearing of children not as by a cause but as by a straight and narrow way Againe Abrahams faith went not alone but had a kind of co-operation with his works faith works both beeing considered as a way to happinesse or as markes in a way In this sense the fathers haue ascribed saluation to many things not as to causes but as to waies Bernard said well that workes are the way to the kingdome of heauen and not the causes of raigning Lactātius saith Great is the helpe of Repentance which whosoeuer taketh away cuts off to himselfe the way of life Chrysostome Some by watching by sleeping on the bare ground by tewing their bodies with daily labour doe blot out their sinnes but thou maiest obtaine the same by a more easie way that is by forgiuing Thus many hundred places of the fathers are to be vnderstood when they ascribe remission of sins to martyrdome to fasting praier workes of mercie and such like Thirdly here is laid downe the foundation of true humilitie For if all our vertues and workes be losses in the case of our saluation then all boasting is excluded and we are to take nothing to our selues but shame and confusion and giue al glorie to God Yea the more our vertues are and workes if we place any confidence in them the greater are our losses Thus we see what things are losses to Paul in the next place let vs consider howe they are losses This Paul settes downe by a gradation thus I count them losse I make them my losses I count them as doung This gradation is nothing els but a repetition of one and the same thing inlarged and amplified in speech Nowe repetitions in scripture are not idle and vaine as they are oftentimes in the writings of men but they commonly signifie two things namely the certainty and the necessitie of the thing repeated and therefore in this place they signifie the certaintie and the necessitie of Pauls losses Certaine they are because he that will be saued by Christ must certainely indure these losses without recouerie The foundation of this certenty lies in an impossibilitie of merit by any works of man which I will make manifest by fiue reasons The first is this It is a principall part of Christian inherent righteousnesse to haue and keepe a good conscience now Paul expresly excludes it from iustification saying I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not thereby iustified 1. Cor. 4. 4. The second is this Paul saith Eph. 2. 9. we are not saued by workes nowe he meanes no other workes but such as followe faith and are done by the spirit of God And this appeares by
in Christ all our wants are couered in his obedience Againe if in the time of death the feare and apprehension of the iudgement and anger of God terrifie vs we are to oppose this obedience of our Mediatour to the iudgement of God and to put it betweene Gods anger and vs yea we are to rest vpon it and to infold and wrap our soules in it and thus to present them to God Isai the prophet saith that the Messiah is a place of refuge shelter or shade against the tempest or burning heate of the wrath of God And Paul saith he is our propitiatorie to signifie that as the propitiatorie couered the arke and the lawe in the arke which is the hand writing against vs from the presence of God so Christ couereth our sinnes and puts himselfe betweene vs and the indignation of his father The third and last point of doctrine here deliuered by Paul is That faith is the meanes to receiue and to obtaine the obediēce of Christ for our iustice That this may the better be conceiued foure points are to be handled What this faith is howe it is a meanes to obaine iustice whether alone by it selfe or by the helpe of other vertues When and howe long it is the onely meanes For the first Faith is a speciall gift of God whereby we beleeue Christ and his benefits to be ours In the first place I say it is a gift of God because it comes wholly of God and not from the minde or will of man Thus Paul saith It is giuen you for Christ to beleeue in him and Christ our Sauiour Saith to two of his disciples O foolish and sloe of heart to beleeue If it be obiected that when we beleeue first we then beleeue willingly I answere it is so indeede yet is not this willingnes in vs by nature but by grace because when God giues vnto vs the gift of faith he giues vs also to will to beleeue None comes to Christ but he is drawne of the father and to be drawne is when the vnwilling will is chaunged and by the power of God made a willing will I adde further that faith in the Messias is a speciall gift for two causes First because it is a gift aboue not onely corrupted but also aboue the first created nature For it was neuer in mans nature by creation Adam neuer had it neither did the morall law reueale it vnto vs because it neuer knew this faith Neuerthelesse other vertues as loue of God and man feare of God c. are reuealed of the law and were in mans nature by creation Again whereas all other gifts of God are giuen to them that are ingrafted into Christ faith is giuen to them that are to be ingrafted because it is the ingrafting and therefore can not be giuen to them that are alreadie in Christ but to them that are to be in Christ. Further I say that by faith we beleeue Christ and his benefits to be ours For this is the propertie of faith whereby it differs from all other graces of God When Thomas had put his finger into the side of Christ he said My Lord and my God to whōe Christ replied Because thou hast seene thou hast beleeued Where we see that this is faith to beleeue Christ to be our Lord our god Paul saith I liue by the faith of Christ now what he meanes by faith he shewes in the next words who hath loued ME and giuen himselfe FOR ME. If any man shall demand vpon what grounds because we are not to goe by imagination I say vpon what groundes he is to conceiue a faith that Christ is his Christ I answer the groundes are two The first is the commandement of God to beleeue Christ and his benefits to be ours 1. Ioh. 3. 23. This is his commandement that ye beleeue in the name of his sonne Iesus Christ. Now to beleeue in Christ is to put our confidence in him and we can put no confidence in him vnlesse we be first assured that he with his benefits is ours And whatsoeuer we aske in praier we are commaunded to beleeue that it shall be giuen vnto vs. Now aboue all things we are to aske that Christ and his benefits may be giuen vnto vs of God This therfore must we beleeue The second ground is this We must consider the maner that God vseth in propounding the promise of grace vnto vs for he doth not onely set it forth vnto vs in a generall sort but also he vseth meete and conuenient means to applie it to the persons of men First of all he confirmes it by oath that we our selues might the better applie it and reape sure consolation thereby Secondly God giueth vnto vs the spirit of adoption which beareth witnes to our consciences of such things as God hath giuen vnto vs in particular and are onely in generall manner propounded in the promise And this testimonie must be certen in it selfe and also plainely knowne vnto vs els is it no testimonie Thirdly both the Sacraments are seales of the promise in the lawfull vse whereof God offers yea exhibits Christ vnto vs and doth as it were write our names within the promise that we might not doubt Now then looke as God giues the promise so must we by faith receiue it But God giues the promise withall applies it we therefore must receiue the promise and by faith applie it to our selues If any man shall say that he can not conceiue a speciall faith vpon these groundes by reason of his vnbeleefe I answer that he must striue against his vnbeleefe and indeauour to beleeue by desiring asking seeking knocking and God will accept the will to beleeue for faith it selfe so be it there be an honest heart touched with sorrow for sinnes past and a purpose to sinne no more That we may yet better know what faith is vnderstand that there be two kindes of false faith like indeede to true faith and yet no faith at all The first is when a man conceiues in his heart a strong perswasion that Christ is his Sauiour and yet carries in the same heart a purpose to sinne and makes no change or amendment of his life This perswasion is nothing but presumption and a counterfeit of true faith whose propertie is to purifie the heart and to shew it selfe in the exercises of inuocation and true repentance The second is when men conceiue a strong perswasion that Christ is their Sauiour and yet for all this contemne and despise the Ministerie of the word and sacraments This also is an other counterfeit For true faith is conceiued cherished and confirmed by the vse of the word sacramēts And we must there seeke Christ where God will giue him vnto vs now God giues Christ in the word and sacraments and in them he doth as it were open his hand reach forth all the blessings of Christ vnto vs. We must not
saith It is eternall life to know thee the only God c. The knowledge of experience is to haue a sense and feeling of our inward fellowship with Christ and vpon often obseruation of his goodnesse to growe more and more in experience of his loue Nowe this knowledge is here meant and not the first which was before mentioned verse 8. And therefore Pauls desire is that he may grow more and more in holy experience of the endlesse loue of God and fellowship with Christ. The partes of this desired communion are two fellowshippe with Christ in his resurrection and fellowshippe with him in his death The former is expressed in these wordes and the vertue of his resurrection And for the better cōceiuing of it we are to consider what the resurrection of Christ is and what is the vertue thereof That the resurrection of Christ may be rightly conceiued fiue points are to be skanned The first touching the person of him that rose and that was Christ God and man Indeede properly the bodie alone did rise and not the soule or godhead yet by reason of the vnion of the two natures in the vnitie of one person whole Christ arose or God himselfe made man arose This commends vnto vs the excellencie of Christs resurrection and makes it to be the foundation vnto vs of our resurrection The second point is For whome he rose He rose not as a priuate person for himselfe alone but he rose in our roome stead and that for vs so as when he arose all the elect arose with him and in him Thus saith Paul that the Fphesians were raised togither with him His resurrection therefore was publike and this is the ground of our comfort The third point is When he arose He arose then when he lay in bondage vnder death that in the graue which is as it were the castle hold of death Whē Peter saith that God loosed the sorrowes of death he signifieth that Christ was made captiue for a time to the first death to the sorrows of the second Now in the midst of this captiuity bōdage he raised himself this argues that his resurrectiō is a ful victorie conquest ouer death and all our spirituall enemies The fourth point is That he rose by his own power as he saith of himselfe I haue power to lay downe my life and to take it vp againe If this had not bin though he had risen a thousand times by the power of another he had not beene a perfect Redeemer The last point is Wherein stāds the resurrection of Christ Answer it consistes in three actions of Christ. The first is the revniting of his bodie to his soule both which were seuered for a time though neither of them were seuered from the godhead The second action is the change of his naturall life which he led in the estate of humiliatiō into a heauenly and spirituall life without infirmities and not maintained by food as before For we finde not that after his resurrection he euer tooke meate for necessitie but onely vpon occasion to manifest the trueth of his manhood And this life he tooke vnto himselfe that he might conuey it to all that should beleeue in him The third action is his cōming forth of the graue whereby death it selfe did as it were acknowledge him to be a conquerour and that it had no title or interest in him These fiue things considered the article of Christs resurrection shall be rightly vnderstood Touching the vertue of Christs resurrectiō it is nothing els but the power of his god head or the power of his spirit whereby he raised himselfe mightily from death to life and that in our behalfe The excellencie of it may be known by the effects which be in number eight The first that by it he shewed himselfe to be the true and perfect Sauiour of the world For it was foretolde of the Messias that he should die rise againe Psal. 16. Matth. 12. And all this was accordingly accomplished by the vertue of Christs resurrection The second effect is that by it he shewed himselfe to be the true and naturall sonne of god Paul saith He was declared mightily to be the sonne of God by the spirit of holinesse in his rising from the dead The third effect is that by this vertue he declared himselfe to haue made a full and perfect satisfaction for the sinnes of the world For if he had not satisfied to the full he had not risen againe And Paul saith If Christ be not risen we are yet in our sinnes On the contrarie then seeing he is risen such as beleeue in him are not in their sinnes Againe Who shall condemne vs it is Christ which is dead yea or rather which is risen againe The fourth effect is iustification as Paul testifieth He died for our sinnes and rose againe for our iustification and that was on this māner When he was vpon the crosse he stood there in our roome hauing our sinnes imputed vnto him and when he rose from death he acquit and iustified himselfe from our sinnes and ceased to be any more a reputed sinner for vs and thus all that doe or shall beleeue in him are in him acquit absolued and iustified from all their sinnes If any demaund how they which liued in the time of the old Testament before the resurrection of Christ could be iustified thereby considering the effect must followe the cause I answer that they were iustified by the future resurrection of Christ which though it followed in time yet did the value vertue therof reach euē euen to the beginning of the world The fift effect is the conferring and bestowing of all such gifts and graces as he had merited procured for vs by his death and passion Thus Christ testifieth that the giuing of the spirit in large plentifull manner was reserued to the glorification of Christ which beganne in his resurrection And the preaching of Repentance and remission of sinnes is reserued till after his resurrection And S. Peter saith that the Elect are regenerate to a liuely hope by the resurrectiō of Christ. By reason of this bestowing of graces and gifts the resurrection of Christ is the beginning of a new and spirituall world which the holy Ghost calls the world to come in which shall be a new heauen and a new earth as Isai speaketh and a peculiar people of God zealous of good works keeping an eternall sabbath vnto God This one effect alone sufficiently declares the excellencie of this vertue of Christ. The sixth effect is viuification which is a raising of vs frō the death of sinne to newnes of life And the reason hereof is plaine For Christ in his resurrection put away his natural life which with our nature he receiued from Adam and tooke vnto him a spirituall life that he might communicate the saide life to all that beleeue in him Againe