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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	effect_n	good_a	work_n	5,591	5	6.3844	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68090	An apology or defence for the Christians of Frau[n]ce which are of the eua[n]gelicall or reformed religion for the satisfiing of such as wil not liue in peace and concord with them. Whereby the purenes of the same religion in the chiefe poyntes that are in variance, is euidently shewed, not onely by the holy scriptures, and by reason: but also by the Popes owne canons. Written to the king of Nauarre and translated out of french into English by Sir Iherom Bowes Knight.; Apologie ou défense pour les chretiens de France de la religion reformée. English	Gentillet, Innocent, ca. 1535-ca. 1595.; Bowes, Jerome, Sir, d. 1616.	1579 (1579)	STC 11742; ESTC S103023	118,829	284

goodnes by heaping vpon vs his blessings as it were in recompence of the good works which he himself hath wrought in vs and in making vs to reap the fruit of his own labor and to receyue the reward which he himself hath deserued But touching the great and incōprehensible benefit of the gifte of eternall life and of knitting vs vnto him selfe in euerlasting happines he doth not geue it vs in any other respect or consideration thā only for the loue of his welbeloued sōne Iesus Christ That was the cause why he wold haue him to come down into this base world and to take our nature vpon him and to fulfill the law for vs and to beare our iniquities and greefes and at a word to be our Mediator our redeemer our high priest our Shepheard and our spirituall king All which titles he hath taken vpon him to saue vs and to be the onely cause of our euerlasting felicitie and to knit and incorporate vs vnto himselfe and to make vs partners for euer of his heauenly glory Yet may we not hereupon conclude that we should not doe good workes as though they stoode vs in no stead to saluatiō for they be fruits of faith and whosoeuer hath the true faith doth incontinently shew it by the good fruites and effectes which it bringeth forth in him And he that doth no good workes cannot saye that hee hath true fayth Besides that we also are sufficiently led to doe good workes by the great number of other benefites and blessinges wherwith God crowneth thē as we haue sayd before This is the sūme of the doctrine which the Protestants do hold concerning faith and good workes Whereby they yelde wholly vnto God and to our Sauiour Iesus Christ the honour which belongeth to hym as to the true onely cause of our saluatiō of all the good things which we haue and receiue aswell Spirituall as Temporal whatsoeuer they be It followeth then acording to our first Maxime that this doctrine is better thā the doctrine of the Romish catholicks who affirme that by theyr good works they deserue Paradise all the other good things which God geueth them that these good works do partly proceed of themselues and of their owne free will and partlye of Gods grace as if God alone coulde not saue them if they helped not the matter by their owne good workes which they hold to be part of the cause of their saluation which doctrine all men may easely perceiue to be repugnant to the nature of god For seing that he is altogether and perfectlye mercifull it must needes follow that those that be saued be saued wholly and not in part by his onely mercy which should not be perfect if the effect thereof were not perfecte and entyre Notwithstanding the Catholickes holde opinion still that their good workes are part of the cause of theyr saluation and that they be not saued by the onely mercy of God. Yea there are monkes which take themselues to haue such aboundance of good workes in store that they not onelye haue ynow wherewith to merite their owne saluation but also a great masse of ouerplus which they cal works of supererogation to purchase the saluation of other men but chiefly of such as do them good and geue them liberally of their temporall goods which doctrine in very truth all such as loue the name of God ought to reiect For it is an vtter defacing of the benefit of our lord Iesus Christ an attributing of the honor of our saluation to the vncleane works of sinners whereas in deed we ought to attribute the same to the death and passiō of the son of god who is without sinne Also it is to be discerned by Gods word which of the two doctrines is the truest and most auncient For the Scripture doth playnelye teache vs that we be iustified by fayth without the workes of the law so consequently by fayth onely when it sayth Wherfore no flesh shall be iustified before him by the workes of the law And it sayeth in an other place for you are saued by grace through fayth and not of your selues it is the gifte of God Not for workes leaste any man should boast of himselfe And in an other place it is sayd He hath saued vs not by the works of righteousnes which wee our selues haue done but of his owne mercy And Saynt Paule sayeth in an other place I esteme all things as doong so I may gain Christ and be found in him not hauing mine owne righteousnesse which is of the law but the righteousnes which cōmeth by beliefe in Christ Now as there is no comparison betwixt the desertes of Iesus Christ our sauiour and the desert of mens good workes no more than is betwixt the brightnes of the Sun a litle sparke of fire so must we needes confesse that our consciences do finde without all comparison far greater and excellenter quietnesse in the righteousnesse of fayth thā in the righteousnes of good workes And in that respect doth S Paule say Beeing then iustified by fayth we haue peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ By whom we haue also accesse through fayth to this grace wherin we stand and reioyce vnder the hope of the glory of God. But yet this fayth which doth iustifye vs may not be void of good workes for then it were like the fayth of deuils who beleue that God hath commaunded the contentes of the tenne commaundementes but doe quite contrary For such a faith wyll not iustify vs as S. Iames doth teache vs And wheras the Catholicks hold opinion that we are iustified by the grace of Christ and our good workes both together S. Paule doth answere them thus If it be of grace then is it no more of workes for then grace were no more grace And if it be of workes It is no more of grace for thē were works no more workes And whereas the Monkes beare men in hād that by their good works of Supererogation they deserue Paradise for themselues and for theyr benefactors Iesus Christ doth aunswere them himselfe and vtterly cast down their pride and ouerwéening in that he sayth when you haue done all the things that are commaunded you say vnto your selues we are vnprofitable seruauntes we haue done no more than we ought to do Neither may we say that Iesus Christ doth commaūd vs to say so to make shew of humility for he who is the truth it selfe doth not cōmaūd vs to lye for any intent good or euil And therfore it followeth that seing he commaundeth vs to say that though we haue done al the cōmaundements which neuer any man did but onely Iesus Christ yet were we but vnprofitable seruauntes and god were nothing in our dette for it because we haue done nothing but that whereunto our duety bindeth vs I say it followeth that the same is certayne and true Dauid also doth

any thing that we doe here vpon earth but by messēgers And who so should say that this doctrine is hereticall must say also that the Canones and Popes be heretickes which as I take it the Romish Catholickes will be loth to confes This Canon is also confirmed by the holy scripture which beareth witnesse to vs that there is none but god onely that knoweth the secrets of mens hartes and so consequently that it is he onely that can vnderstand our prayers which come rather from the hart than from the mouth The protestantes say furthermore that there are so greate numbers of Sayntes regestred in the Letany of whose Canonysing men doe doubte for as sayth a good auncient Doctor the bodies of diuers are honoured on earth whose soules are buried in hel that in reason we ought to refuse the number of intercessors and contente our selues only with Iesus christ which is the true and pure doctrine that we ought to hold and the Catholicks cānot iustly accuse it of herisy according to our third maxime And hereupon I adde this more that as the protestantes doe hold opinion that we ought not to attribute the title nor the office of mediator to any other thā to Iesus christ no more ought we to do in his other titles and offices as of his priesthood his mediatorship his spirituall reigning his chiefe shepheardship For these be the titles of honor which belong vnto Iesus Christ and are not to be cōmunicated to others how great or excellēt personages so euer they be And truely herein all the world must needs cōfesse that the protestants do shew thē selues to bee best Christians in that they attribute onely to our Lord Iesus Christ the titles of honor that are his and will not communicate them to any other creators what so euer they bee for if they would dispence with their consciences in this behalfe they know right well they might soone be at a poynt with the Romishe Catholicks and shunne many miseries and persecutions which they now indure For there wanteth no more but that they would allow the Sayntes to be partners of the title of mediator the maspriestes to be parteners of the tytle of Sacrificers the doers of good workes of Supererogation to bee parteners of the title of a propitiator And the Pope himself to be partaker of the title of Spyrytuall Kinge and soueraigne Sheaheard And then by and by there would be a peace cōcluded determined and established betwixt the protestants and the romysh Cacholicks But the protestants will by no meanes nor for any cause diminish any part of the titles of honor which belong vnto the sonne of God nor attribute them to any other creatures Whereby it appeareth euidently that men do them great wrong in defaming their doctrine to the King as though his permitting of them to excercise the same were a mean to disposses him of the title of moste Chrystian king For in asmuch as the name of christian commeth of Christ out of doubt they be worthiest of that name which yeld Christ his due honor and glory ¶ Of fayth and good workes The third chapter THe doctrine of the Romishe Catholickes concerning faythe and good workes differeth greatly from that of the Protestantes For the Catholicks hold opinion that only faith without good workes doth not iustifie a man but that it is needful the faith be ayded by good works Contrarywise the Protestants hold that onely faith doth iustify a man without good workes That is to say the faith is the onelye instrumēt wherby Iesus Christ who is the true and efficient cause of our iustification applieth his righteousnes vnto vs and maketh vs to be accounted iust before God his Father through his owne merit without the helpe of our good works Neuerthelesse they confesse that good workes are acceptable vnto God but yet they affirme that good workes are not of such power as to iustify vs before the face of god or to make vs capeable either in part or in al of euerlasting life And they say also that they be not all good works which the catholicks do take for good works For as touching the firste poynte you must consider that the doctrine of the protestants doth tend to attribute the honor of our saluation all wholly vnto our Lord Iesus Christ as vnto him who is the true and onely cause thereof For although we haue neede of fayth whereby to receiue the benefit of Christ who imputeth and applieth his owne righteousnes to all such as beleue in him yet neuertheles he doth remain the onely and altogether true cause of our saluation forasmuch as it is he himselfe which doth also geue vs fayth So as he doth not onely geue vs the drinke of immortallity that is to say his owne righteousnes which he alloweth vs but also the cup to receyue it in yea and he geueth vs both of thē freely and for nothing but onely of his owne liberalitye and grace with out asking or receiuing of vs any recompence for the same And truely if we would goe about to recompence so great and excellent a benefit as is euerlasting life thorowe our good workes it were as much as if a man would purchase a great and rich inheritaunce with a smale summe of bace mony such as in reason should rather be cried downe than allowed For our good workes of themselues bee so vnpure and vnperfect mingled with Ipocrisy and other ill affections that they are not worthy to be presented before the face of God who doth not esteeme such vntoward payments in recōpence of eternall life Notwithstanding when they be done through fayth hee doth accept them in fauour and for good will to his sonne our Lord Iesus Christ vpon whose only desertes our fayth resteth because in that respect they proceeded from the good tree which is Iesus Christ who worketh all our good workes in vs. So as the workes of fayth be good and acceptable vnto god for that they proceed from Christ as from the efficient cause which worketh them in vs but they are full of vncleanes worthy to be reiected in respect that they proceed from vs who serue but as instruments howbeit yet vncleane instrumentes to do them And therfore are they alwayes defyled spotted in some sort for Iesus Christ who worketh them in vs doth make thē good and pleasing to God his Father but yet they doe gather somwhat of the filthy and naturall infection of vs who are the vessels wherin they be made Neuertheles God is so good and gratious that he not only admitteth them as done by Iesus Christ his sonne but also for his sake doth wipe away the spots and vncleanes which are in them and crowneth them with many blessinges as with prosperitie of children temporall wellfare help of frēds in aduersitie moderation in prosperitie discretion happy succes in affairs with many other his benefits wherin he doth more and more shew his great bounty gratious

witnes that no mā liuing can be iustified before god And therefore it may bee rightly sayd to these iolly doers of works of super erogation as Christ sayd to the Pharisies It is you that iustify your selues before men but God knoweth your hartes For that which is highly esteemed amonge men is abhominable before God. I knowe right well there are many textes in the holy Scripture to proue that who so will enter into euerlasting life must keep the cōmandements of god and that those which haue kepte the commaundementes shal possesse the kingdome of heauen and that those which haue not kept them shall goe into euerlasting damnation But it is not to be inferred vpō these textes that a man may be instified by his good workes for no man at any tyme doth performe Gods commandements to the full But euen the best of all doe breake them euery day many times For what man is so arrogant as to challenge to himself such sincerity of life that he loueth and hath alwayes loued God with all his hart and his neighbour as himselfe or hath not wished somewhat that was an other mans To be short there needeth no great disputation vpon this poynt for our conscience doth here accuse vs and of it selfe condemne vs. Now then if no man can fulfill the commaundements It followeth that no man can haue euerlasting life by his owne workes but must seek some other iustification than by workes if hee will be iustified before the face of god And in seeking an other iustification he commeth to the righteousnes of fayth which is by imputation through the free bestowed benefite of Christ For like as if a poore detter that were vnable to pay were kept in prisō for a det of ten thousād crowns and his creditor should tell him that if he paid the debt he would set him at liberty or els he should rot in prison he had no redier remedy than to get such a surety as would be so fauourable and frendly to him as to pay the det for him without trusting to his own substance which is vtterly vnable to discharge such a dette In like sort man knowing on the one side that without performing the Law throughout he is in danger of damnation and on the other side that he is not able to perform it hath no other shifte but to repaire to Iesus Christ to take holde of his righteousnesse by faith to the end that the same may be imputed vnto him and that by this meanes his sinnes may be wyped out and himselfe made capable of eternall life And as it may truely be sayd that that detter hath well payd his dette when his surety hath payd it for him euen so may a Christian say that he hath kept and fulfilled the commaundements of God when he doth assure himselfe through faith that Christ hath fulfilled them for him Thus should be vnderstoode those textes of Scripture which inioyne vs to obserue the commaundements to haue therby euerlasting life And after that sort we should make them to agree with the textes before alleadged which say that we cannot be iustified but by faith only By which saying euery man of sound iudgement may easely know that the doctrine of the Protestants is builded vpon the pure word of God and consequently that according to our secōd Maxime it is the most true and auncient and not to bee called new but of such as do not vnderstād it Neither may the Catholicks call this doctrine hereticall according to our third Maxime because it is ratified euen by their owne Canons For thus sayth one of the Canons Ciprian did call vnto him the Byshoppe Satyrus and did thinke that there was not any true grace sauing that which commeth by fayth c. And an other Canon sayth thus Looke where is no fayth there can be no righteousnes for the righteous liueth by faith c. There is another taken out of S. Augustine which speaketh yet more plainly saying thus The Lord purposing to declare playnly that mens sinnes are forgeuen by the holy Spirite which he hath geuen to the faithful and not by their own merites sayth thus in a certayne place Receiue the holy Ghost And immediatly he addeth whose sins ye remit their sinnes shall be forgeuen As if he should say it is the holy Ghost that forgeueth sinne and not you Which Canon doth shew playnly that the merites of good workes do no whit iustify vs and so consequētly that it is fayth onely without works which is that instrumentall cause of our iustification the very efficient cause therof is Iesus Christ working by the holy ghost And if the Romish catholicks themselues did wel vnderstand what they ment when they say cōfes that they be saued by the grace of our redeemer they would neuer depend any more vpon their good workes merits For as sayth an other Cannon Grace is not grace if it be not freely geuen and receiued And hereunto accordeth the saying of Saynt Basile A man sayth he doth then glory whollye and throughlye in God when hee doth not vaunt of hys owne righteousnesse but acknowledgeth himselfe destitute of the true righteousnesse and that hee is iustified thorough his onely fayth in Christ After the same manner speaketh Saynt Ambrose saying Dauid calleth them right happy whome God hath determined to iustify by fayth onely without any paynes taking or without their keeping of the law And in an other place in expounding these words of the Apostle freely iustified by his grace he sayth thus They be iustified freely because that hauing not done any thing nor requited like for like they be iustifyed by faith onely which is the gift of God. I coulde to this purpose alleadge many other canōs aūcient doctors but these may suffice For my purpose is not to build the doctrine of our reformed Religion neither vpon Doctors nor vpon Canons but onelye to rehearce and alleadge some of them to shew vnto the Romish catholicks that in condemning the same so boldly of heresy by the same meanes they vnaduisedly condemne their own canons and doctors And because they doe so greatly brag that they hold the fayth of the Romish Church I mean to proue that they do not so euen by their owne Canons Harken now what a Canon sayth in an Epistle written by Pope Marcell to the bishop of Antioch We beseech you deere beloued brethren sayth he that you neither teach nor allow any other doctrine than that which you haue receiued of S. Peter and of the other Apostles and Fathers For hee is the head of the whole Church to whom the Lord sayd Thou art Peter and vpon this stone will I build my church the seate whereof was first established in your Countrey and afterward remoued to Rome by the commaundement of the lord c. Hereby it appeareth that the fayth of the Romish Church ought to bee grounded vpon the pure and onely doctrine of

reformed Religion which they tearme new is a sauage Religion fond and full of follies and errors and they will needes be beleeued in the matter vpō their bare word without proouing any part of that which they speake But as those kinde of people are commonly ignorant and malicious and moreouer possessed with ambition and beastlines so doth it appeare that their mouthes are euer stil open euen when their ouerarrogant ignorance is beaten down by good reasons and allegations And when they haue done all that they can for their last refuge they are fayne to runne to the exception of prescription saying that the Romish Religion hath been receaued and obserued in Fraunce euer since the first setting vp of the kingdome euen since the great king Clowis who was the first Christian king and that it is not like that God would leaue the world so long time which is more than a thousand yeares in error and ignorance But what if it be denyed that their Religion such as it is this presēt was obserued in the time of Clowis or of Charlemayn or of many other kings of Fraunce which haue beene since that time How would they prooue that which they haue sayd And if the contrary be proued to them by wrytings of auncyent Bishops and Doctors of Fraunce by the which it doth appeere that in this Realme in olde time they did hold the same Religion or uery neare the same which the Protestants doe in these dayes what will they answere then And were it not also very easie to proue by the Historiographers which haue written the liues of the Popes and also by the decrees of the Popes themselues that the most part of their ceremonies and traditions whereof at this day they make more account than of Gods word haue bin inuented and brought into the Church by the Popes of later times long since Charlemayn And therefore they which sayd that the Romish Religion such as it is at this present hath been obserued in Fraūce euer since the beginning of the kingdome there doe greatly mistake their markes and cannot verify their saying but the contrarye is easie to be prooued But let vs put the case how be it without graunting it that the thing which they say is true and that this Romish Religion is of the vttermost antiquitie that can be Must the truth of God therfore forgoe his right by the exception of prescription Noe truely For if by the Ciuill law there be no prrscription agaynst a king how much lesse then may it be against the king of kinges And put the case again without graunting it that prescription ought to take place against God yet were it not reason thinke you to recken the lapse of time according to Gods measuring thereof Now it is certayn that with God a thousand yea and twelue hundred thousand yeares are no more than an hower or a quarter of an hower and therfore by the lapse of so litle space of time prescription can take no aduantage But all men of sound iudgemēt will alwayes graūt that as time doth not change the truth into vntruth nor vntruth into truth So also of consequence we must not admit a Religiō for true and good vnder colour that it hath indured long time seeing that the exception of prescription is not to be admitted in such caces For els if the Romish Catholickes will needes sticke to the Iudgement of prescription for the allowance of a Religion then must they make good the religion of Mahomet which hath already lasted aboue a thousād yeres which thing I am sure that none of them will doe how passionate soeuer they be otherwise And if it be demaūded wherefore god hath so long tyme suffered the error of Mahomet amōgst the Turkes Persians Arrabians Sirians the other Esterne and Southern people of Asia and Affrica among whom the Apostles and disciples of Iesus Christ preached the Gospell and plāted so many fayre Churches there is no other answere to be made vnto it but that god hath done it by his secret iudgement wherof we are ignorant Full well we know that he hath done it for good and a iust cause to good purpose because he doth nothing but that which is good and iust But it doth not become vs to search any deeper for the perticuler causes which haue moued him so to doe neither ought we to be inquisitiue of his priuities and secret di●g●mentes The same also is to be answered to such as say that it is not likely that God would suffer the people of Christendome to erre so long as since the masse hath had his full scope For to be short seing that God is the truth it selfe and that his word is true it is much better to yeld God his due honor by sticking onely to his word then to refort to custome and prescription of time to authorise the traditions of mē Iesus Christ himselfe doth teach vs playnely enough that we ought to reiect the traditions of men although they be neuer so auncient and groūded vpon prescription of time out of minde and that we ought alwayes to haue recourse back to the pure word of God which shal last for euer notwithstanding al customes prescriptiōs which are agaynst it For in reprouing the traditiōs of the Pharisies which had then bene receiued allowed of long time he exhorteth his disciples to cast them of and to returne back agayne to the pure word of God and to the naturall meaning thereof saying you haue heard how it was sayd to the mē of old time c. As for the auncient Canons they are so cleare and expresse in this case as is possible therfore it shall suffice me to translate them here simply These be the very wordes of the Canō An ill custome is no les to be reiected shunned then a pestilent infection because that if it be not the sooner plucked vp the wicked do serue their turne with it as it were by right of priuiledge insomuch that the sundry disorders and dyuers vsurpatiōs which are not repressed out of hand begin anon after to be receiued for lawes and are alwayes obserued as priuiledges By which Canon wee may well note the pernicious effectes of ill customes which cause vs to receiue vice in steade of vertue and euill in steade of good wherof our miserable world hath to many examples as well in causes of Religion as in matters of pollicie and law For in these dayes men defend nothing more earnestly than the abuses and errors which are in all estates vnder pretence that they haue taken root by long custome and contynuance of time which haue suffered them to passe in force of lawes and Priuileges Another Canon taken out of saint Gregory sayth thus If a man happen to obiect custome against vs we must consider what the Lord sayth I am the way saith he the truth and the life He doth not say I am custome And truely as sayeth