without alteration of minde not mutable his knowledge certeine not ignorant of any thing All thinges past and to come are still present before him Neither is it with God as with men to be of one mind to day and of an other mind tomorow but God is still faithfull One and the selfe same from the beginning to the ende I say without alteration from his first decree in his secret counsell Thē all this being thus vndoubtedly true it cannot be saide that man can by himselfe otherwise or by any other meanes merit and worke out his owne saluation then hath beene alreadie wrought through the mercy and loue of God in and by Christ our Sauiour the onely ful worker of the same by suffering his most greeuous passion and death For how can it bee saide in any respect that man by his good workes can merit his owne saluation seeing before he was it was made sure to the elect in God his secrete counsell and decreed to stande firme without alteration being aduisedly purposed by God in Christ Before the foundation of the world So that without all contradiction and doubting all the good workes that hath bene wrought by mankind can not be said to merit their saluation The Iesuites in their last disputation in the Tower held those to be the works of Christ that man woorketh for that Christ worketh them in man and being the workes of Christ that are wrought in man they merit saide hee saluation But this cānot be true For electiō being decreed before euer man was and in that election mans saluation made sure and certeine by that decree through Christ his passion death and for his sake onely for that he would giue his life for the same in the appointed time How then can it bee saide without great absurditie and derogation of the maiestie of Christ Iesu his passion and death That mans good workes can merit or deserue that which many thousand yeares before hee wrought any good workes was made sure and certeine vnto him for and by Christ as is aforesaide Surely it is more then extreame doltishnes once to thinke it As for example A prodigall seruant that had consumed his maisters goods and thereby hee greatly indebted to his maister yet his maister in mercy loue not only forgaue him his debt but made him heire to all his landes Now if after that his maister had thus forgiuen his debt and made him heire to all his lands to the end the seruant should be a faithfull friend to him and loue him with all his hart the seruant would yet say I will so please my maister I will worke and doe so much good in his sight that I wil deserue that hee shall not onely forgiue me the debt which I owe him and the euill life which I led towardes him but also make me heire to all his lands Were not this to bee iudged a verie foolishe speach and the speaker a right paterne of an insolent foole To say he would merit or deserue that which before was made sure to him of meere mercie and loue Wisdome would rather haue exspected this kinde of speach from him my maister hath done much for me he hath not onely forgiuen mee the debt which I ought him and am neuer able to pay it but also he hath made mee heire to all his landes I will therefore by the helpe of God according to my bounden dutie extend my whole indeuour to the vttermost of my power to doe him the best seruice I can all the daies of my life and shall thinke all that I am able to doe to be nothing in respect of that more then fatherly kindnesse which hee hath done for mee This had beene rightly spoken and this must bee our speech which are the elect of God For we were elected before the foundation of the world that we by the working of the holie Ghost should be holie and blamelesse and not elected for that God sawe wee would bee holie and blamelesse to merit our owne saluation for that is contrarie to the meaning of the holy Ghost vttered by Saint Paule in the first to the Ephesians And so Gods election and decree vncerteine which is most certeine if our saluation should rest vpon our owne well or ill doing which cannot be For Gods election being once decreed which as Paule saith was before the foundation of the world it standeth sure for euer and resteth not vpon our well doing yet if wee leade not a godlie Christian life we showe our selues to be damned creatures and not of the number elected in whom the holie spirit of God worketh And here we see that God the father by his mercy and loue is the first efficient cause of our saluatiō The sonne of God the seconde efficient cause The passion and death of Christ Iesu the materiall cause and Faith the instrumentall cause For Faith apprehendeth and so cannot works and thereby we take hold on Christ his passion and death and man beleeuing Christ to be the sonne of God God and man and that hee died for his sinnes he thereby is certeinly assured that he is the elect of God the father bought and redeemed by Christ the meritor redeemer and Sauiour and written in the booke of life before the foundation of the worlde Faith now being the instrument wherewith we take hold on Christ assureth vs that wee are elected And good works proceeding from iustifieng faith declareth to the world that wee be the elect of God and we please God by doing of good workes but we merit not saluation thereby neither hath good workes any part in the merit of our saluation but onely Christ Iesu For when wee haue done all the good that euer wee are able to doe yet are we but vnprofitable seruants And how then can wee merit our owne saluatiō The best works that euer were without Faith pleaseth not GOD For without Faith it is impossible to please God Yea if it had not beene appointed that Christ shuld haue died in the world all the good workes that euer Christ did himself in the world without his death could neuer haue merited heauen for vs which if they could Christ would neuer haue died neither should hee haue needed But if Christes good works besides his death were not able to merite our saluatiō much lesse our good works which are as a stained cloth polluted Therefore only Christ by his passion death and not the woorkes of the lawe and of grace neither doth Faith merit saluatiō because it is the proper office of Christ onelie to merit the same much lesse then our good workes yet if we be voide of good workes and haue not Faith chiefly to beleeue that Christ is the sonne of God God and man and that he died for our sinnes then may wee be sure that as long as we remaine in that state wee be none of those whome God hath elected but are of the reprobate
fute in his booke of Predestination of Saints where in his 18. chapter he allead geth saint Paul in the first to the Ephesians to confute them saying He chose vs that we should be holy Not for that wee would be holy But S. Paul in this place is very plain against you scā the words wel he tels you that before the childrē of God had done either good or euil that the pur pose of God might remain according to election Gods wil purpose then is the first chiefest cause of electio reproba tiō the wil purpose of god as touching saluation being once past stands firm for euer There is no shadovv of turning in God And election reprobation resteth not only vpon Iacob Esau but it stretcheth ouer the whol world man womā and childe S. Paul saith as he hath chosen vs in him before the foundations of the vvorld c. and vvho hath predestinated vs c. Here he includes al the elect not Iacob alone And as the good wil purpose of God is the first cause so the free mercie of Cod in Christ Iesus being also a first cause in the second person is the meane an inferior cause of our saluation bicause the wil purpose of god was first in God before election and to cut you off from your opinion that the works of grace to come and past which you say doe merit was and is the cause of election and saluation Saint Paules sword is redy at hād for he saith that the purpose of God might remaine in prede stinating he meaneth according to electi on not by works but by him that calleth And may it be doubted that the workes done by Iacob the elect vessell of God which Saint Paul speaketh of here were not wrought by grace Was elected Iacob without grace when hee did those good workes He was not for the Lord had chosen him and therefore hee could not be without grace And Iacob was elected but not by works saith he I praie you marke it well for hee saith not by workes Is the election not by workes Paule By whome then By him that calleth And who is he that calleth Euen God the Father through his mercie in Christ Iesus his sonne Then election wherein saluation is included resteth not in our workes and wil but in God who for Christ his sonnes sake by suffering passion and death for vs hath in his free mercie chosen called and appointed his elect to saluation And then resteth it not in our wil workes wrought by grace For Saint Paule in the same Chapter saith So then is it not in him that vvilleth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercie You shall further see how Saint Paule in this Chapter if you please to reade it proceedeth still to mainteine election and reprobation of which he maketh a further discourse frō the sixteenth verse to the one and thirtie and then he saith But Israel which followeth the lawe of righteousnesse coulde not atteine vnto the lawe of righteousnesse Wherefore Because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the workes of the law c. You may see now that our workes can neither atteine righteousnesse nor iustification But Christ onely doeth iustifie vs by Faith without workes For it is written Beholde I put in Syon a stumbling stone and a rocke of offence and whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall not bee confounded Againe VVee which are Iewes by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles knowe that a man is not iustified by the woorkes of the law but by Faith in Iesus Christ. Euen vvee I saie haue beleeued in Iesus Christ that wee might bee iustified by the Faith of Christ and not by the woorkes of the lawe Because that by the workes of the lawe no flesh shall be iustified I doe not abrogate the grace of God For if righteousnesse be by the lawe then Christ died in vaine But Christ died not in vaine for our sins were the cause of his death therefore righteousnesse is not by the lawe Saint Paule himselfe hath so largelie and so plainlie laide abroad this matter of iustification by Faith without the works of grace that there needeth not any more to be saide of anie other for better vnderstanding of the matter then himselfe in plaine termes hath set downe But this is the malice of Satan in his impes to impungne the truth and by the deuils sophistrie to peruert whatsoeuer hath been set downe by the Saints of God to the glory of Christ Iesus But make what blind distinctions soeuer you wil vpon S. Paules wordes his wordes are plaine inough to ouerthrow your iustification by workes wrought by grace And Saint Paul speaketh plainlie to the whole world Iewe and Gentile of the whole lawe of Moses as well morall as ceremoniall that it iustifieth not before God And it doeth appeare that Bildad in the 25. Chapter of Iobe was of Saint Paules minde That a man cannot be iustified before God his wordes be these And how may a man be iustified vvith God Or hovv can he be cleane that is borne of a vvoman The meening of these wordes may thus be taken that if a man or the best life of man be compared with God it is so base so vile and so vncleane in the sight of God that it is impossible that he should be iustified before God And yet you Papistes will be so pure that by good workes you wil be iustified But will you heare what Saint Paule saith to the Iewes and so cōsequently to you Papists that will be iustified by the lawe hee saith whosoeuer are iustified by the lavv ye are fallen frō grace for vve through the spirit vvait for the hope of righteousnesse through Faith Though the circumcised were the cause that Saint Paule wrote these wordes and telleth them that they are bound to keepe the whole lawe that they were abolished from Christ. Then as in the former wordes plainely appeareth he telleth all iusticiaries That whosoeuer are iustified by the lawe or that will be iustified by the lawe they are fallen frō grace And in what state you stād that are fallen from grace I doubt not but you know euen frō saluatiō And I trust that in this place you will not saie but that Saint Paule speaketh as well of the morall lawe as of the ceremoniall lawe if you will not be too blinde or twoo wilfull And because you shall the better vnderstand that he speaketh here of the morall lawe he saith in the 14. verse of the same Chapter thus For all the lawe is fulfilled in one worde which is this Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe And so going on still vpon the morall lawe telling them that if they bite or deuoure one another they shall be consumed one of another signifying vnto them that if they walke in the spirite they shall not fulfill the lustes of the
be a propitiation through Faith in his bloud to declare his righteousnes by forgiuing of the sins that are past which God did suffer to shewe at this time his righteousnes that he might be iust and the iustifier of him that beleeueth on Iesus Heere you see that they which beleeue are freelie iustified by grace through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus He saith freelie if it be freelie thē is it without respect of good woorkes For if good woorkes were the cause of iustification then were it of desert and not freely And S. Paule had not said rightly when hee said You are freely iustified if works should iustifie vs we are freely iustified by Christ Iesus Freely saith he through the redemptiō that is in the same our Christ If freelie through the redemption then not in respect of the workes of the lawe nor by the lawe And S. Paule saith That God is the iustifier of him that beleeueth in Christ Iesus he saith not the lawe is the iustifier And he saith further in the 19. verse of the same Chapter Now we know saith he that what thing soeuer the lawe saith it saith it to them that be vnder the lawe That euerie mouth might bee stopped and that all the world might bee in danger to God But who be those that be vnder the lawe The Phariseicall Iewes and the Papists for they both hold of the lawe But S. Paule telleth you to what end the lawe speaketh vnto you that wil be iustified by the law euen to stop your mouthes that will so vainely brag and boast in a phariseicall maner of the iustifying by the lawe And withall to bring all you lawmongers into Gods danger that will be iustified by the lawe and are not able to performe one title of the law according to the precise rule of God And Saint Iames saith vvhosoeuer shal keepe the whole lawe and yet faile in one point he is guiltie of all Behold if we faile but in one point we offende in all And it is not possible that man can liue in the world no not one but still hee shall offend and breake the lawe in one point or an other or rather in all And yet will these Papistes and Iesuites carrie such a pride in their bosome that they will bee iustified by the workes of the lawe But Saint Paule in the 27. verse of the same third Chapter demaundeth of such boasters saying VVhere is then thy bosting It is excluded By what lawe of workes Nay But by the lawe of Faith Therefore we hold that a man is iustified by Faith without the workes of the lawe Beholde here Saint Paules conclusion howe hee shuts out the workes of the lawe in respect of iustifying and telleth you plainly that without the workes of the lawe a man is iustified by Faith What more plainer matter can bee vttered to mainteine that Faith onely doth iustifie without the works of the law And although Saint Paule doth exclude the workes of the lawe from iustifying Doe wee then saith he destroy the lavv through faith God forbid but vvee rather mainteine the lavve Doth Saint Paule exclude the lawe and mainteine the lawe too How can this agree Forsooth verie well For he excludeth the lawe in respect of man as not being able to performe the same in such sort as the lawe requireth and as the lawe may iustifie him as it iustified Christ who performed it in full perfection so that no one title or letter thereof was left vnperformed by him whereby he was voide of sin And therevpon is he called the innocent and vnspotted lambe of God vvho did no sin but is altogither without sin which argueth the fulfilling of the lawe by Christ to the full satisfying of Gods iustice which none amongst the children of men was euer able to doe which when you doe then you may boast and claime saluation by it But because we cannot therefore it behoued Christ Iesu for the saluation of his elect to die and to doe that for his elect which the lawe could not doe being ther imperfect euen in the verie best of the elect And in that respect Saint Paule excludes the lawe as not beeing able to iustifie because of the imperfection therof in man And Saint Paule also mainteineth the lawe as a most perfect and excellent vertue and of such power as if any man can fulfill it and not offende in anie one point thereof he shall be iustified thereby and shall liue in the same As Saint Luke saith Doe this and liue But Saint Iames telleth you If you faile in one point you offende in all And Moses telleth you If you doe not all that is written in the lawe you are vnder the curse The law cursing vs for not doing it how doth it then iustifie vs It doth not But you cannot tell what the fulfilling of the lawe is you are blind therin and that maketh you to holde your wicked opinion But I wil tell you you Phariseical shauelings you that so much boast of your fulfilling of the law that you haue works not only sufficient for your selues but to spare for others which you term works of supererogation If yet you see your poore beggerly brother I mean not your beggerly Friers your coūterfeit beggers but your pore neighbors lie in the street and take him not into your lodging and vse him as your selfe to laie him in your own bed or in as good as you lie in your selfe and doe not feed him with as good meat drink as you feed your selfe and giue him as good clothing as you weare your selfe you cannot say you loue him as your selfe neither do you loue him as your selfe And how can you thē say you fulfil the lawe And againe who is hee amongst all the children of men from the beginning of the world to this day that in trueth could euer say that hee loued God aboue all but at one time or other the verie best failed therin None no not one Christ excepted And therfore al are vnder the curse of the law thē can you not be iustified thereby So that none can rightly say he is iustified by the works of the law grace being vnder the curse of the lawe because none is able to fulfil the lawe in his perfection according to the precise rule of God and as GOD doeth command it to be done But me thinketh I heare an olde Iesuite one of the purest sort of Papists a Puritan in deed such a precise person for life and good works as heauen gates cannot hold him out the force of his holie workes is such This champion he comes bragging out with bristles vp like a Hedgehog foming at the mouth like a Bore whetting his tuske for the combat and hee will mainteine and proue that the workes of the lawe doth iustifie And that it is so hee will proue it by Saint Iames who in his second Chapter saith
whole lawe as well the morall as the ceremoniall yea and rather the morall law then the ceremonial law Let vs consider of S. Paule in how many places where he of purpose writeth touching this matter of iustificatiō It is to be considered that S. Paule was the Apostle of the Gentiles amongst whome there was no part of the ceremoniall law vsed and then had S. Paule no cause to write in that sort of the ceremoniall law onely but of the morall lawe also Againe mark wherevpon S. Paule doth entreat before he come to those words By the vvorks of the lavve there shall no flesh bee iustified in Gods sight In the second Chapter to the Iewes he saith Beholde thou art called a Ievve and restest in the lavve and makest thy boasts of God or gloriest in God knovvest his vvill allovvest the thinges that are excellent in that thou art instructed by the lavv Then in the 21. 22. and 23. verse he saith Thou that preachest a man shoulde not steale Doest thou steale Thou that saist a man should not commit adultery doest thou commit adultery c. Thou that gloriest in the lavv breakest thou the lavv Is not this ment trowe you of the morall lawe And so proceeding to the 3. Chap. where he proueth that al are sinners both Iewes Gentils And that there is none righteous none that doth good Their threates an open sepulclre c. VVhose mouth is full of cursing bitternes c. Now when he had thus laide abroad the wicked estate of man and breach of the moral law and seeing a man not able to fulfill the law in that sort as he may bee iustified therby before God Therfore saith Saint Paul in the same chapter By the works of the law shal no flesh be iustified in Gods fight Forby the law commeth the knowledge of sin which lawe must needes bee the morall lawe the law of the x-commandements For that is it that bringeth the knoledge of sinne And moreouer the ceremonial law was cleane taken away by Christ and was no more a law among the christian Iewes after Christes death and ther fore there was no cause why Saint Paule writing against iustification by workes should write as meaning only of the ceremonial law but of the moral law also And therefore master Papist you must yeelde your selfe conuicted and ouerwen in mainteyning that S. Paule doth meane onely the ceremoniall Law and not the morall Lawe Againe to your iustification by the workes of the lawe which S. Iames and Saint Paul speak of this is to bee vnderstoode that Saint Iames doeth meane iustification before men and it must nedes be so taken or els he must be flat against S. Paul who hath a number of places for this one place of S. Iames as before is set down and hereafter shall be if God permitte And if it should bee so that the writer of that epistle that beareth the name of saint Iames shoulde meane as the Papists take it that in plaine meaning workes done by the children of men doe iustifie before god yet I must rather preferre Saint Paule writing in so many places to the contrarie before that one place of Saint Iames and the rather because none doubtes of S. Paules epistles but to be his owne but the learned haue doubted of this Epistle which beareth the name of S. Iames whe ther S. Iames were the author writer therof or not but let it be S. Iames epistle yet he doth not say Ye see then that of works a man is iustified before God He leaueth out before God so that the meaning is then to be takē that good works may iustifie before men but not before God because of imperfection For there is iustification before God iustificatiō before men And the iustification before men is that which S. Iames meaneth Again S. Iames saith was not Abrahā our father iustified through works when he offred his sonne vpon the altar This iusti fication must nedes be taken to be before men and not before god and that it must be so taken let vs see what S. Paul saith of the said Abrahā For if Abrahā saith he wer iustified by works thē hath he wherin to boast or to reioice but not before God For what saith the scripture Abrahā be leued god it was counted vnto him for righteousnesse To him that worketh is the reward not reckned of grace but of duetie To him that worketh not but beleeueth on him that iustifieth the vngodly his faith is coūted for righteousnes he saith if Abraham were iustified by workes he hath wherein to boast or to reioyce and so he hath if he were iustified by workes But yet with God good working Abraham could not boast in his good workes for though Abraham were one of the best among the children of men yet how he had beene able to haue stoode in tryall with God if his workes should haue beene wayed in the righteous ballance of Gods iustice without Christ no question but Abraham must haue fallen to the grounde And who will doubt but that Abraham in offering of his sonne whome hee so entirely loued to bee a sacrifice and to kill him who was begotten in their old age when they were past all hope to haue children and being his onely sonne and he to be the killer of him him selfe must needes haue inwarde conflictes passions combats and grieues in which sinne no doubt appeared before God inough to haue condemned him if God without mercy would narrowly haue looked vnto him And therefore to shew that Abraham was not iustified by workes Saint Paule saith if Abraham were iustified by workes which word if importeth a plaine negatiue in this place that Abraham was not iustified by his works and therfore that it might bee knowen that Abraham could not be iustified by his works before God but was to bee made righteous by faith he saith For what saith the scripture Abraham beleeued God and it was counted to him for righteousnesse But Saint Paul saith that God will rewarde euery man according to his works And therefore wil you say good works merite rewarde But Saint Paul vseth not these words here to teach that works doe merite rewarde And though God doth rewarde of his free mercy yet is it not of duetie or by desert when he rewardeth For he teacheth that Abraham could not be iustified by his works before God Then much les any man els which is not of his perfection The hipocriticall Iewes againste whō S. Paul wrote those words woulde take vpon them to iudge others of those vices which they themselues did cōmit which caused saint Paul to write against them those threatening words that God would rewarde them according to their deedes The like phrase praierwise thogh in the other place threatning wise hee vseth in his praier to the Lord against Alexander the Coppersmith and saieth The Lord rewarde him according to his deedes that is
to say with punishmentes according to his deedes that as the deedes be euill and wicked so the punishment to be accordingly And where Saint Paule saieth in the next verse following To them vvhich continuing in wel doing seeke for glorie honor immortality and eternall life Some bookes haue it translated thus that is to say praise honor and immortalitie to thē which continue in good doing and seeke eternall life A sophisticall head may cauill vpon these words of Saint Paule in not taking them as he meaneth but will peruerslye expound them contrary to his meaning inferring that workes by these words should deserue and merite eternall life which Saint Paule meaneth nothing les For if he should in this place mean so then should he not agree with himselfe and also cause contrarietie in the holie Ghost whose penne S. Paul was which were greate blasphemie to mainteyne Saint Paule vseth these wordes not to mainteine that workes as they are done since the fal of Adam are so meritorious as they shoulde deserue theyr rewarde But he rather writeth in this sort to prouoke and stirre vp by the power of the holie Ghost the hearts of Gods children to a godly life that theyr faith thereby may the more appeare to the good example of others God of his free mercie yeelded his trauel to ouerthrow that pernitious sect of the Iewes of iustifying by the works of the law because it was euident to him that if that sect should continue and take place the glory of Christ Ie sus his passion and death should be cleane ouershaddowed and darckned thereby and so made altogether insufficient which is only alone sufficient to merit and purchase saluation for vs. And the ho ly Ghost foreseing that as mischieuous a generation should rise vp whose head should be Antichrist who in like sorte would maintein iustificatiō by the works of the law a deuise of Sathā to put Christ from his glory stirred vp Saint Paule that most notable instrument of GOD who hath so employed his penne and wrote so large a discourse in his Epistles in at the least fiue and twenty chapiters of the saide Epistles mainteyning eyther in plaine wordes or by circumstāces faith to iustifie without the works of the law and that the righteousnesse of god cōmeth by faith not by the works of the law as the mouth of the aduersary cannot but be stopped tberby For proofe after he had said That by the works of the works of the law no flesh should be iustified in Gods sight meaning therby aswel the law written as the law vnwritten bicause wee are not able to perfourme the law which if vve could then vvolde he not haue vvrittē against them that boast of the performing of the lavve as he did but vvould no doubt haue as earnestlie mainteyned Iustification by dooing the Lavve as they As partly you may perceiue by his vvords in that he saith not the hearers of the Lavve but the doers of the lavve shalbe iustified meaning still if they be done in their full perfection so as God can finde no fault by their imperfection So in deede they iustifie els not he procedeth forvvard saith but now is the righteousnesse of God made manifest without the law c. To vvitte the righteousnes of god by the faith of Iesus Christ vnto all and vpon all that beleeue Here be saint Paules words very plaine that the righteousnesse of God is made manifest without the Law hee meaneth here all the whole parts of the law for proofe in this chapter he beginneth first with circumcision then to vnbeleef then to mans vnrighteousnes that proofe is made that Iew and gentil is vnder sin by our sinful actes deedes and then commeth to those verses before rehearsed so that it is plaine hee meaneth the whole lawe moral and ceremonial written and vnwritten And he geueth you to witte what righteousnes he meaneth euen the righteousnes of god by the faith of Iesus Christ which righteousnes consisteth in Gods promise which he performeth to all those that beleue in Christ Iesus And what is the promise It is saluation vnto all that beleue in Christ Iesus as in the actes of the Apostles it is said Be it knowen vnto you therfore men and brethren that through this man is preached vnto you the forgeuenes of sins and from all things from which you could not be in stified by the law of Moises by him euerie one that beleueth is iustified Here is the promise It is not said euery one that beleueth doth good workes but euery one that beleueth For the imperfectiō of mans works except Christes workes be such as that they are not once to bee named in the cause of iustificatiō thogh at sometime they be set down to iustifie to maintaine the excellēcy of the law in the perfection therof when it is fulfilled according to the precise wil of God which I say againe neuer man was able to do but only Christ who iustifieth all beleeuers from all thinges which the lawe of Moyses could not And thus you see the law of Moses cleane cut off frō iustifiing And S. Paul saith For that that was im possible to the law in asmuch as it vvas vveak because of the flesh God sending his own sonn in similitude of sinful flesh for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousnes of the law might be ful filled in vs which make not after the flesh but after the spirit Here is laide before vs the weaknesse of the lawe not that it is weake in it selfe for the lawe is of greate force both to cōdemn to iustifie for as many as offend the law it condemneth to the pit of hel if mercy in Christ go not be twixt And it is of great force to iustify if it be not in any point broken which if it be then is it weake impossible to iusti fie and because the case stode so that man could not be iustified by the lawe being weak in man therfore God in mercy sent down his son in similitude of sinful flesh to do that for mankinde which was impossible for man by the law to do Again that you may vnderstand that saint Paule meaneth not only the ceremoniall lawe when he saith the works of the lawe iustifie not but the moral law also not only the scriptures afore alleadged doth proue it but these that follow doe also manifest the same In the 9. chap. he saith For ere the children were borne when they had neither done good nor euil that the purpose of God might remaine according to election not by reason of workes but by him that calleth c. Here is Gods election before birth before the childrē had done either good or euil But you will say that God did elect Iacob because hee saw before that Iacob woulde be good The Pelagian in deed is of your minde whose opinion Saint Augustine did con