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cause_n	efficient_a	faith_n	justification_n	3,392	5	9.4028	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A71273	The verdict upon the dissenters plea, occasioned by their Melius inquirendum to which is added A letter from Geneva, to the Assembly of Divines, printed by His late Majesties special command, with some notes upon the margent under his own royal and sacred hand : also a postscript touching the union of Protestants.	Womock, Laurence, 1612-1685.; Diodati, Giovanni, 1576-1649. Answer sent to the ecclesiastical assembly at London by the reverend, noble, and learned man, John Deodate.	1681 (1681)	Wing W3356; ESTC R36681	154,158	329

4. ult 3. There is something attributed unto Man He is the subject of this great benefit and some qualification is required in him towards his own justification Christ is set forth to be a Propitiation but it is through faith in his Blood tho we are said also to be justified freely by God's grace See Rom. 3. 24 25. And with the heart man believeth unto righteousness Rom. 10. 10. and to the saving of his Soul Heb. 10. ult 'T is out of controversy on all sides that Believers are justified freely through God's mercy and that Believers are justified for the Merits of Jesus Christ. All the matter of Question amongst sober men is this Whether in our justification Faith be our own Act whether considered as our Act and as a lively Act and fruitful of good works As we own no other Author of our justification but God no other Merits but Christ so likewise do we acknowledge no other Condition but Faith But that is not a dead Faith for St. James tells us flatly that 's unprofitable Jam. 2. This Faith must be an Evangelical Faith which though the Holy Ghost maks a Change not only in our Relations but in our Habitude in our Hearts and Practice Act. 15. 9. He that pretends to remission of sin before repentance may with as much reason pretend to a Pardon as some do before he is guilty We must not confound the Condition with the Cause either Efficient or Meritorious The presence of some disposition may be requisite as a qualification in the person to be justified and yet have no efficiency into his justification I think it is agreed among all Men learned and sober minded That 't is a lively Faith which is the Condition of our Justification And if we be agreed in this to wrangle about Notions Quae Quâ is not of so great importance as to study to be quiet and to follow the things which make for peace and the things whereby we may edify one another 'T is true St. Paul in the matter of justification does exclude the works of the Law Rom. 3. 28. But there are works of Faith 1 Thes. 1. 3. Are they excluded too By what Law The Apostle prays That the work of Faith may be fulfilled 2 Thes. 1. 11. To say we are justified by the efficiency of these works of Faith That 's against God's Prerogative To say we are justified by the merit of them that is against Christ's Mediation But will you deny the Presence and Concomitancy of them to attend to evidence and to attest our justification If it be Faith only yet it is not Faith alone of all qualifications which the Gospel requires Faith must have the respect of Soveraign but it stands not with her Enemies to be solitary Faith therefore may be considered in a double Capacity 1. Receptivè as she has the Office of a Receiver 2. Redditivè as she has the Office of a Dispenser 1. As a Receiver so taken Joh. 1. 12. she receives Christ in all his Capacities and Offices as a King as a Priest as a Prophet in his state of Humiliation in his state of Exaltation In this Habitude or Capacity to believe in Christ is the most Natural act of Faith her Elicite Act and as much a work as is the Elicite Act of Hope or Love or of any other Virtue The People ask John 6. 28. What shall we do that we might work the work of God Our blessed Saviour Answers This is the work of God the work commanded by God 1 John 3. 23. but to be performed by you That ye believe on him whom he hath sent 'T is Mans Duty at God's Command and by his Assistance 2. Take Faith Redditivè in the Capacity of a Dispenser so it is much more a work and the Mistress of it for so she disburses all her Talents and she sets all other virtues a work and so pays homage to Christ in all Capacities As he is a Prophet so she hears his Voice and own 's his Doctrine as he is a Priest so she trusts to his Atonement and relies upon his Merits and Mediation as he is a King so she obey's his Laws and observes his Institutions she renders up the whole Man to the dispose of his Redeemer and makes him resolve with full purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord and to submit to all his Commands and Impositions Take Faith therefore in the whole habitude and capacity of it and for a qualification to justification and life I may say 't is all in all It comprehends the sense of the word is so large the whole Principle of Grace and all the Effluxes and Egressions of it This Dr. Owen does acknowledge for speaking of Habitual Grace which dwels in us and makes it abode with us He saith thus This according to the dictinct faculties of our Souls wherein it is or the distinct Objects about which it is exercised receiveth various Appellations being indeed all but one New Principle of life In the Vnderstanding it is Light in the Will Obedience in the Affections Love in all Faith He that desires to be fully satisfied in this point let him consult the Learned and Judicious Divine Mr. Thomas Hotchki's in his Second Part of a Discourse of Imputed Righteousness Chap. 28. and especially the 29th where he treats hereof solidly and perspicuously St. James gives us a double instance or example of Justification by works Abraham and Rahab and concludes with a kind of demonstration thereupon ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by Faith only Jam. 2. 21. to the end We must not therefore deny the Proposition in every sense For it is more modest to throw that Epistle quite out of the Canon as Luther did then to question the truth of this Doctrine in it But does not St. Paul contradict St. James No in no wise For in Christ Jesus he tells us neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor Vncircumcision and these two divided the whole World but Faith which worketh by love Gal. 5. 6. if nothing but Faith which worketh by love then no dead nor idle no other kind of Faith and if not avail to any thing then not to our Justification And 't is the Observation of P. Martyr Talem semper Apo●●olus describit fidem cum de justificatione agit quae necessario Confessionem opera bona habeat Conjuncta Where the Apostle treats of Justification he always describes such a Faith as has Confession and Good-works necessarily joyn'd with it And Calvin upon the same Text tells us That the Apostle notes there which is the true Faith from which this fruit of Justification flows lest any man should pretend to an empty title of Faith instead of it For the true Faith ought so to affect the heart with the glory of God that the flame may break out and appear openly And a little after Caeterum viderint quid

THE VERDICT UPON THE Dissenters Plea Occasioned by Their MELIVS INQVIRENDVM To which is added A LETTER from Geneva to the Assembly of Divines Printed by His late Majesties Special Command with some Notes upon the Margent under His own Royal and Sacred Hand ALSO A POSTSCRIPT touching the Union of Protestants LONDON Printed for Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Paul 's Church-Yard 1681. THE INTRODUCTION TO A Person of HONOVR ASSoon as a tedious Distemper would give leave I have returned you the Inquisition taken at your Command upon the Melius Inquirendum which you sent me To deliver my Opinion freely as you have Conjur'd me The Author seems to have very little of that Tender Conscience which he pleads sor If we may take our Measures from him who is a Judge beyond exception such as will strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel scruple at a Ceremony and play the Wanton with deadly sin Schism and Rebellion who with the Scribes and Pharisees of old will make no difficulty to sacrifice the Fifth Commandement to their own superstitious Phansies These are Men of no Conscience Matt. 23. 24. with Chapter 15. 5 6 7. This Author makes himself an Advocate for the Dissenting Party and he manages their Cause with as much artifice and advantage as his Confidence Wit or Malice can afford He takes upon him all shapes and insinuates himself by Fables Metaphors and Similitudes He is often Scurrilous and sometimes worse He drolls quibbles and makes sport for Men of no Religion the Tribe into which he seems to be adopted and this is the farce of his Discourse as if he were not serious or the Subject he treats of not worth a sober Thought This begets a vehement Suspicion His design is not to satisfie the Judicious but to impose upon the Weakness of the Common Reader and by tickling his Imagination to delude his Understanding To follow him step by step is no part of my concern let the Compassionate Enquirer who trod out the way for him look to that if he thinks fit But to make short work He hath reduced All the Dissenters insist upon to Eleven Sections And if this their Advocate understands their Principles their whole Cause and Plea being so concisely sum'd up and comprised within the compass of less than four Pages in Octavo I shall attentively consider it to give you and my self the better satissaction And herein I shall neither Cant nor Rail nor Rhetoricate but with such Arms and Weapons as the Holy Scriptures the light of Reason and the Writings of Learned Men especially those of the Protestant Churches have provided I shall presently approach the Trenches of these profest and implacable Adversaries of this most Primitive and excellent Church of England MELIVS INQVIRENDVM Page 163 164 165 166. What Dissenters usually insist upon for their Justification I shall reduce to these Heads Section 1. THey plead That some things are imposed upon their Faith tendered to subscription as Articles of Faith which are either false or at best they have not yet been so happy as to discover the truth of them In Art 20. They are required to subscribe this Doctrine The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies which clause of the Article as we fear it has been by some indirect means shuffled into the Article it not being found in the Authentick Articles of Edward 6. so it proves also that the Terms of Communion have been enlarged since the First times of the Reformation p. 1 They Object also against the Doctrine in the Rubrick That it is certain from the Word of God that Children baptized and dying before the commission of Actual Sins are undoubtedly saved The Scripture the Protestant Churches nor any sound Reason have yet given them any tolerable satisfaction of the truth of the Doctrine about the Opus operatum of Sacraments That Doctrine laid down in the Catechism That Children do perform Faith and Repentance by their Sureties is also as great a stumbling to our Faith and we cannot get over it How the Adult should Believe and Repent for Minors or Infants Believe and Repent by Proxie I omit many others Sect. 2. They plead That they are not satisfied in the use of any Mystical Ceremonies in God's Worship and particularly they judge the use of the Cross in Baptism to be sinful A Sacrament of Divine Institution according to the definition of the Church in her Catechism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace given to us ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive the same and a Pledge to assure us thereof Where we have 1. The Matter of a Sacrament An outward and visible sign of an inward and Spiritual Grace 2. The Author of a Divine Sacrament Christ himself 3. The End of it to be a means to convey the thing signified and a Pledge to assure us of it Hence it 's evident that it 's simply impossible that any Church should institute a Divine Sacrament because they cannot give it a Causality to those Graces it is instituted to signifie Nevertheless it 's possible for Men to institute Humane Sacraments which shall have the Matter of a Sacrament that is An outward visible sign of an inward Spiritual Grace and they may pretend to ascribe an Effect to it also To stir up to excite or increase Grace and Devotion And yet because it wants the Right Efficient Cause it 's no lawful Sacrament though it be an humane Sacrament Such an Institution say they is the Sign of the Cross. An outward visible sign of an inward Spiritual Grace ordained by Men as a means to effect whatever Man can work by his Ordinance Here is the matter without Divine Signature which is the thing they condemn it for p. 49. Sect. 3. They plead That since Communion with the Church is suspended and denied but upon such terms as take away Christian Liberty in part and by consequence leave all the rest at Mercy they dare not accept of Communion upon those Terms There are some things which in the General God has left free and indifferent to do or not do yet at some times and in some Cases it may be my great sin if I should do some of them as when it would wound the Conscience and destroy the Soul of a weak Christian. If now I shall engage my self to the Church That I will never omit such an Indifferent thing and the Soul of that weak Christian should call to me to omit it I have tied my hands by Engagements I cannot help him though it would save his or a Thousand Souls out of Hell because I have given away my freedom to the Church p. 60. Sect. 4. They plead That they ought not to hazard their Souls in one Congregation if they may more hopefully secure them in another for that their Souls are their greatest concernment in this World and the next Now say they there 's no question but

of God's Ordinances The excellency of the Power is of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4. 7. and who can deny the effect when we have God's fiat for it when he said Let there be light there was light So it was at the Creation of the external light and so it is at the Creation of internal light when God is pleased to put forth his Power to that effect 2 Cor. 4. 6. And methinks Those men should easily be satisfied about the opus operatum of the Sacrament who are of opinion that we are merely passive in the work of our Regeneration that it is wrought in nobis sine nobis wrought in us but without us and that irresistibly The Second Rule is That we must not Substitute the Opus operatum to supply the neglect or want of Moral duty and a worthy disposition in the Adult for in such to make the Sacrament effectual there must be no bar of a deadly Sin as the Schoolmen call it but a fit and worthy disposition for the Sacrament For tho' the Sacrament hath a power of it self through Christ's institution and promise to produce Grace yet that it may actually produce it 't is necessary that the Receiver puts no Obstacles but if he be adult i.e. of age that he dispose himself by some meet and fitting acts to receive it By means of the Sacraments saith Holden God confers his Grace upon such as being worthily prepared are made partakers of them And Franciscus a Victoria semper infallibilitèr omnibus singulis digre ea suscipientibus conferunt gratiam The Sacraments do always and infallibly confer Grace upon all and every man who worthily receives them The next Objection is against the Doctrine of the Catechism That Children do perform Faith and Repentance by their Sureties This they say is so great a stumbling to their Faith They cannot get over it But we know full well that some of these Dissenters will scruple at little things stumble at a straw and yet so full of agility at other times they can nimbly leap over a block that very Block upon which they made their Soveraign a Sacrifice to their tender Consciences How the Adult should believe and repent for Minors or Infants believe and repent by Proxy They cannot understand And 't were well if this were the only thing wherein they could plead a want of understanding But Peter Martyr will tell them Fidles in liberis qui suscipiuntur dùm parvuli sunt non requiritur vel ad id ut Christiani sint vel ad remissionem peccatorum Faith is not required in Children who are Baptized while they are little ones neither to obtain Remission of Sins nor to make them Christians This is true of an actual Faith and a personal disposition yet they have a Title to such a Faith as is of good advantage to them To this purpose we have the Judgment of Mr. Perkins and in him the opinion of the Ancient Church 'T is objected that Infants have no Faith and consequently That Baptism is unprofitable to them To this objection he answers thus some think they have Faith as they have Regeneration that is the inclination or seed of Faith Others say That the Faith of the Parents is also the Faith of their Children Because the Parents by their Faith receive the Promise of God both for themselves and their Children and thus to be born in the Church of believing Parents is instead of the Profession of Faith To this second Opinion saith that Pious and Learned man I rather incline because it is the ancient and received Doctrine of the Church I wish our present Dissenters would be so Sober and well advised as to follow his Example For receiving the Sacrament of Baptism Faith and Repentance are said to be the qualifications in the Adult To Infants they are supplied by the Faith and Piety of the Church in general as well as by their particular Sureties respectively and where there is an absolute necessity for it because God is not wanting in necessaries 'tis piously credible that the supply is made by the High Priest of our Profession and sure these Dissenters will allow him to be a good Proxy for them Have they forgotten that Levi paid Tythes in the loins of Abraham was not that as great a matter as this they stumble at Let them tell us how the Adult do transgress and Sin for Minors and how Infants do transgress and Sin by Proxy and we shall be able presently to remove their scruple If the Adult themselves may receive advantage by the faith of others as undoubtedly they may Mat. 9. 2. how much more Infants who are neither capable of Sin nor of Grace but upon the account of their Relations under guilt or under Covenant 1 Cor. 7. 14. But we must look upon that person as a cruel Step-Father who gives his Child nothing but a Stone when he wants Bread and instead of Fish a deadly Serpent Dissenters Second Section THey Plead that they are not satisfied in the use of any Mystical Ceremonies in God's Worship and particularly they judge the use of the Cross in Baptism to be sinful A Sacrament of Divine Institution according to the definition of the Church in her Catechism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace given unto us ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive the same and a pledge to assure us thereof Where we have 1. The Matter of a Sacrament An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace 2. The Author of a Divine Sacrament Christ himself 3. The End of it to be a means to convey the thing signified and a pledge to assure us of it Hence they say it 's evident that it 's simply impossible that any Church should institute a Divine Sacrament because they cannot give it a Causality to those Graces it is instituted to signifie Nevertheless it 's possible for Men to institute Humane Sacraments which shall have the Matter of a Sacrament that is an outward and visible sign of an inward spiritual Grace and they may pretend to ascribe an effect to it also to excite to stir up or increase Grace and Devotion And yet because it wants the right efficient Cause it 's no lawful Sacrament though it be an Humane Sacrament Such an institution say they is the sign of the Cross An outward visible sign of an inward spiritual Grace Ordained by Men as a means to effect whatever Man can work by his Ordinance Here is the matter without Divine Signature which is the thing they condemn it for Answer Here we see they profess themselves unsatisfied and indeed it 's a very hard task to satisfie such as study more to contend and make themselves scrupulous then to be quiet and to do their own Business They are unsatisfied that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church are not

Death for us the sign of the Cross was made upon our Foreheads when we were dedicated to him at our Baptism not that we are drawn from our duty and allegeance to God by it or expect any supernatural Grace or Virtue from it or intend to pay any manner of devotion to it but to assert our own priviledge and relation to our Crucify'd Jesus to be a Symbolical Protestation of our faith and affiance in him a Memorial of the solemn Profession we have made to own and serve him This is our Ed our Witness to this purpose And as far as I am able to discern no less commendable in our practice than that was in those Tribes But these Dissenters tell us 't is impossible that any Church should institute a Divine Sacrament and they have good Authority to back them no less than the Suffrage of Trent to bear them out in this assertion which has denounced Anathema to all that shall say otherwise Si quis dixerit Sacramenta novae legis non fuisse omnia à Jesu Christo Domino nostro instituta Anathema sit If any one shall say That All the Sacraments of the Gospel which they call the new Law were not instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord let him be accursed But they say 't is possible Men may institute Humane Sacraments An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace and they may ascribe an effect to it also to excite and increase Devotion and yet because Christ is not the Author of it they say it is no lawful which is but a begging of the question for they should only say it is no Divine Sacrament tho' it be a Humane Sacrament Such an Institution they say is the sign of the Cross The Matter of a Sacrament without Divine Signature which is the thing they condemn it for Now the question is whether this Condemnation be just or no The other day as I remember I saw a Pack of Cards which according to this account may very well be call'd a Pack of Sacraments for each Card had the matter of a Sacrament that is an outward and visible sign of some inward and spiritual Grace in the Martyr whose barbarous Murder they were design'd to represent and sure the Ingenious Contrivers of those Cards intended some effect from them to excite to stir up to increase Grace and Devotion by the sight of them viz. an utter abhorrence of Treason and all Popish Principles which lead to it And must this poor Pack of Cards be condemned to the Flames for the ingenuity of the Author I am so far from being the Executioner of such a Sentence that I wish such another Pack to represent the horrid Mischiefs of Schism and Sedition to teach our Children for the time to come to have the Practice and Doctrines which lead to it in utter detestation That such mystical Ceremonies or symbolical Representations are not sinful I am fully convinced because they are good for the use of edifying For whatsoever is apt to inform me and put me in mind of my Duty and to excite me to perform it That is certainly for my Edification because to inform to admonish and excite is to edifie And that some Mystical Ceremonies are of this Nature is too notorious to be denyed Est homini Connaturale ut per sensibilia ad Cognitionem intelligibilium deveniat says a Person well verst in the Prince of Schoolmen T is Connatural to Man by the help of sensible things to arrive at the knowledge of such things as are intelligible This I learn from all the Prophets Amos has his Basket of Summer fruit Amos 8. 2. Jeremy his Seething-Pot and the Rod of an Almond Tree Jer. 1. 11 13. Ezekiel has his Roll his Seige his Chain his Fire his Wheel and his Razor All these Representations in Vision for the Service of God's People and the interest of Religion And the great Prophecy concerning the state of the Christian Church is displayed in Mystical and Symbolical Representations Shall I quarrel with the Book of the Apocalypse and the seven Golden Candlesticks because they are full of Mystical Ceremonies and some men may erroneously fancy they put them in mind of seven Sacraments I will not But to see how far the force of prejudice and a superstitious conceit will carry these men By their invention Daniel's Chamber-window is made a Sacrament The opening of it towards Jerusalem was the outward and visible sign The inward and spiritual Grace was his faith and affiance in God with his Zeal for God's Holy Temple and Worship Yea so unreasonable and extravagant is this their Act of Condemnation it will reach all the most Pious accomplishments of Holy Men the Practice of Piety the Whole Duty of Man the Saints everlasting Rest the Institutions of Mr. Calvin I confess I cannot say so of those many Books which these Dissenters have written and sent abroad to shake the People and unhinge the Government to foment Faction and disturb the Peace of Church and State I cannot say it of such that they are outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual Grace but of every Pious and Learned Book I say it will fall under this their rash and unadvised Condemnation It is a Humane Sacrament that is it has the matter of a Sacrament which is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace and the Author whoever he be will hope for some good effect from it else he is ill advised to make it Publick to excite to stir up to increase Grace and Devotion by it and whatever Man can work by his Discourse and Ordinance and yet according to these Dissenters Notion and Logick because it wants the efficient Cause to make it a Divine Sacrament it must be unlawful it must be sinful for 't is upon this accompt they do here judge the sign of the Cross in Baptism to be so and so condemn it What he means by a Divine Signature is a matter of some question if some institution or promise to annex Grace to it we understand it not But if he understands by Signature some impression that discovers something of God's Attributes we say with the great Apostle That the Preaching of the Cross sets forth the Power of God and the Wisdom of God There is this Divine Signature upon all Creatures For the invisible things of God from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made Rom. 1. 20. The Heavens declare the glory of God Psal. 19. And every Rational Creature should Echo to that Declaration and say When I consider thy Heavens Lord what is Man For a Sacrament properly so called that is a Divine Sacrament in the sense of the Church That is a thing of another Constitution For 1. It must have Christ for its Author all Ordinances of Divine Worship design'd to exhibit to seal and convey supernatural Grace are of