man that he is reputed just for the merits and satisfaction of Christ Hence Paul saith That God justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 Rom. 4.5 Rom. 3.24 By his Grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 3.24 God then so justifying maketh no phyfical immutation or change in a sinner as the Papists do say who would have this justification of God to be of that same nature as their Transubstantiation is in which one thing is changed into another that is that God justifying doth not proceed as a Judg at the Bar pronouncing one innocent but as making by a physical immutation a just man out of an unjust as Christ did turn water into wine To prove which opinion Bellarmine Becanus and the rest of the Jesuits did much labour but without any success They produce nothing out of the Scriptures which is not to be referred to Sanctification and so they commit a great fault of ignoratio elenchi and their arguments framed from reason are so unreasonable that they are not worth the while of refutation The strongest of them which I intend to alledg is taken from the Word it self They say Justificure nihil aliud est ex vocis etymologia quam justum facere Obj. to justifie is nothing else but only to make just and righteous because it is compounded ex justus facio and the rest of such words as are composed with the word facio are of the same signification as glorificare sanctificare to sanctifie to glorifie which do not signifie to pronounce one holy or glorious but to make one such and of that nature and therefore justificate to justifie must not signifie to pronounce one just who is unjust in himself but to make one righteous But I hope they will not prove themselves better Grammarians than they are Divines I answer therefore 1. The sense and the right meaning of a word in matters Divine is not to be taken out of Calepin but out of the Word of God which is the rule of our faith Now out of the Scriptures it is plain as it is demonstrated by many that Justification is every where taken in sensu forensi Qui justificat impium condemnat justum ambo sunt abominationi Jehovae he that justifieth an unjust man and condemneth the just they are both an abomination unto the Lord faith Solomon Here the justification of an unjust is opposed to a condemnation of a godly man and so in all other places the word Justification is taken 2. If this should be the meaning of the word then there should be no distinction betwixt Justification and Sanctification as we find it to the contrary â—ev 22.11 â—om 8.30 Rev. 22.11 He that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still and so Rom. 8.30 And whom he justified them he also glorified where in the word glorified is comprehended Sanctification Glorificatio inchoata velue glorificatio est sanctificatio consummata an inchoated glorifying as Glorification is a consummated sanctifying 3. And then this composition with the word facio doth not always signifie an internal immutation in that thing unto which such a word is attributed Luk. 1.46 as we may see in the Song of the blessed Virgin Mary where she saith Magnificat anima mea Dominum My soul doth magnifie the Lord where Magnificat is compounded out of the word magnus facio Now let them put their heads together and if they can prove any way that the blessed Mother by her magnifying the Lord made in him an inward change we will allow that God by justifying us maketh an inward mutation in us Ante vero leves pascentur in â—here cervi So much concerning the Justification called active now we will descend to the passive or as it is considered in respect of the man justified And so considered it is nothing else but an assurance of our righteousness in Christ and by the imputation of his merits which we receive and apply to our selves by faith Rom. 3.25 26. Rom. 3.25 26. Hence we see the cause meritorious of our Justification to be the merits of Christ as we shewed it a little before and the hand by which we apply this satisfaction of our Saviour or the instrumental cause to be faith Rom. 5.28 Therefore saith Paul we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law It is as plain in the holy Word of God as that the cause of the day is the Sun that we are only justified by faith Gratia salvati estis per fidem By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves Eph. 2.8 it is the gift of God. So that I will not insist upon this matter any longer Rom. 3.20 and therefore immediately conclude with the Apostle against the Popish Creed That by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledg of sin There is therefore no justification in the sight of God by our works but only by faith which applieth the Panacea of salvation unto our dead hearts and makes us to live in him and him in us We are not so unreasonable as to separate works from our faith nevertheless we affirm that it is faith only that justifieth that which sees is only an eye that which weighs is only an arm nevertheless neither of them can either see or weigh unless they be annexed to the human body so although faith is said to justifie only the meaning is not that it is separated from the good works The holy Apostle James saith Jam. 2.24 We are justified by works and not by faith only It is true but he understands either the justification before men as we may see it out of Jam. 2.18 Shew me thy faith by thy works or else the confirmation of the inward faith by the outward doings or else he uses a kind of a Metonymia effecti so that he may understand by the faith and works a working-faith which he seemeth to insinuate in the fore-mentioned place Ye see then how that by works a man is justified Ibid. Jam. 2.17 and not by faith only that is not by a bare faith which if it hath not works is dead being alone but by a living faith which shews its goodness by works Therefore we are not justified by works but as I said by faith and every one who looks into himself and his weakness must utter the Confession of Bellarmine Bellar. de bon oper Propter humanae vitae fragilitatem propriae justitiae incertitudinem tutissimum est inâ— sola Dei misericordia spem collocare For the sake of the frailty of human life and the uncertainty of our own righteousness it is the most secure way to relye upon the only mercy of God. Consider kind and civil Reader the words of this Cardinal who as I can shew if necessity
stedfastly concluded with my self as soon as God would grant me an opportunity to associate my self in the Protestant Church and reject the Roman Idolatry Which I accordingly have done and having renounced the Popish Religion have adjoyned my self unto the body of our Saviour Christ Jesus that is unto the true Protestant Church Whose truth I am going to shew now as shortly as I can and that by this argument That Church which doth vindicate the authority of the Scriptures defends the proprieties of them and teacheth according to the Scriptures is a true Church but the Protestant Church doth so The Major is firm and without contradiction The Minor is to be proved which I am endeavouring to do Neither will I be so Scripturary as that I should reject the old Fathers and the Primitive Councils I will alledg them likewise as bearing witness unto truth which cannot be overthrown As to the first The Protestant Church doth vindicate the authority of Scriptures when she denieth the same to depend from the authority of the Church not so much as to us Robert Bellarmin seeing that these who affirmed without any limitation Bell. de V. D. l. 1. c. 46. the Divinity of Scriptures doth depend from the authority of the Church did not speak soberly enough he endeavoured to mollify the Proposition with this distinction viz. that the Scriptures must be considered either in themselves or in respect unto us As they are considered in the first manner they do not depend from the authority of the Church but as they are in the second But as the distinction is vain because every authority is Relative and is not so much to be considered in it self as in respect of the object so likewise the supposition is false viz. That the authority of Scriptures in respect or in relation unto us doth depend from the Church But before I come to the demolishing of this assertion we will consider the reason why Papists say and believe so And indeed I can find no other besides this that they seeing themselves unable for resisting the Arguments of the Protestants which are drawn out of the Scriptures endeavouring to pervert the sense of them asserting that the same dependeth from the interpretation of the Church and so consequently are constrained to affirm that also the authority of Scriptures dependeth from the Church of which Scriptures nor of the right meaning of them nothing can be certain without the Tradition of the Church And by this same they very handsomely tread in the footsteps of the old Hereticks of whom one thus speaks The Hereticks when they come to be argued by the Scriptures they presently fall to the accusing of them as if they could not be from or of a sufficient authority or not so to be understood and of which no certainty can be had without Tradition Here is the true Protraicture of our modern Papists But to the thing it self We deny the authority of Scriptures to depend any way from the authority of the Church but only from the holy Spirit speaking within the Scriptures 2 Pet. 1.21 2 Tim. 3.16 17. by reason he is the author of them and so he doth endue them with an irrefragable authority And as Christ desires no testimony from any besides from the Father so likewise his word which he hath been pleased to leave upon earth instead of his person And as it is very unreasonable that the Kings Proclamation should depend from a Crier or a Rule from a thing that is ruled or that the Sun should borrow its brightness from that Orb or Vortex which it is contained in so it is very disagreeable to affirm that the Scriptures should depend from the authority of the Church The Church is a Candlestick the Word of God is a Candle as our Saviour declareth Luke 8.16 Now as a Candlestick doth contribute nothing at all to the light of the Candle so neither doth the Church to the authority of Scriptures We do not reject the Ministerial Testimony of the Church in that case by reason the Church leads us unto the Gospel as the Samaritan Woman did lead her fellow-citizens to Christ as Austin saith yet for all that none of them can be call'd the cause of our faith but an instrument Yet the Papists do object against us viz. 1 Tim. 3.15 That the Church is call'd the pillar and ground of the truth and from thence they bring in this conclusion that she is the only cause from whom the authority of the Scriptures doth depend But very foolishly because first that I may pass by the Observation of Camero who affirmeth these words to belong unto the 16 verse by reason there is to be found in that verse a Copulative Particle which otherwise should be to no purpose c. the Apostle doth speak of the Church considered as a house and then sheweth which is the chiefest pillar or ground of the same and indeed if we speak reasonably a house cannot be a pillar but a pillar is in a house It is secondly to be observed that by this pillar is not to be understood an Architectonical but a Political one not one that should uphold by its strength the authority of Scriptures but one upon which the Proclamations and Constitutions of the Supreme King are affixed Neither is the exception of Bellarmin against this distinction of any value viz. That by this way the Church may be as well call'd a Library as a Pillar by reason we do affirm that the office of the Church is not only to keep the books as it is of a Library but to expose the Contents of the same to the view of people and to under-teach them in the way of their Superiors will which belongs to a pillar The Church then can be an external Motive unto us that the Scriptures are of divine authority but cannot perswade us unto it by reason it is only the propriety and the business of the holy Ghost whom the Lord joyneth with his word Ps 59.21 when he saith My spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth c. Austin speaketh very handsomely to that purpose Lib. de Confess speaking of the authority of Scripture But how shall I be perswaded to believe this Moses indeed did say so it is true he said but he is gone and although he should be present and talk Hebrew to me I should not understand what he meant but if he should speak Latin I should understand But by what means should I know that he speaketh truth Therefore inwardly inwardly I say in the Cabinet of my heart not the Greek nor the Hebrew nor the Latin neither the Barbarian truth but he that without the sound of lips or the noise of syllables should tell me he speaketh truth and I should say to this this man You speak truth You may see Christian and impartial Reader how Austin did
requires at the end of the greatest Controversies which are handled betwixt us and the Romanists yields to the truth and is more though an Italian a Protestant than a Papist So then we have by the grace of God shewn Justification as in relation to God to be a forensick pronunciation of the righteousness of a sinner and the passive one to be only by faith and a living faith which applys to her the merits of our Saviour As to Sanctification we will not speak any thing of it by reason the Papists do not dispute much against the Protestants in this matter only I utterly deny these works which we do to be meritorious which are conducing and necessary to our salvation necessitate medit as a means by which we should arrive to everlasting salvation Bernhard saith very handsomely of them Bernhard Opera bona sunt via ad regnum non causa regnandi Good Works are a way to Heaven but not the cause of it Neither doth the distinction of the Papists betwixt the works de congruo and de condigno mitigate their assertion For besides that the congruency of Gods reward for our works consists only in his own pleasure Fear not little flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luk. 12.32 Likewise which I always admired they have found no other place out of the Scriptures or in them for the asserting the condignity or meritoriousness as it is considered in it self of good works besides this place which doth contradict them to their faces Non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis gloriae in nobis revelandae This is the only place where the word condignae is to be found Ex ungue leonem It is enough to give a small portraiture of truth because Wisdom which hath many sons can be justified by them I will go further and shew how the Protestant Church teacheth well of the Sacraments that are seals of the righteousness of faith Rom. 4.11 and give a short view of the Papists Errors As touching Baptism both of the parties confesseth the same to be a Sacrament of Initiation by which we are implanted in fide parentum which I hold in the faith of our Parents into the Church which is the Body of Christ But falsly do the Papists affirm that first it doth work ex opere operate by its own vertue in order to our Regeneration and the taking away of the Original sin not only because a thing corporal and outward can have no influence into things spiritual as to their amendment but all proceeds from God only Omne bonum donum omnis perfecta Donatio descendit a patre luminum saith James But because a sign of the Covenant cannot contribute the things in it comprehended neither is it apparent by the effect by reason those that have been baptized are and have been subject to everlasting damnation and have fallen from that former Illumination of which speaketh the Apostle Heb. 6.4 And if this Sacrament should work ex opere operato Heb. 6.4 Rom. 4.9 10. Grace or Regeneration c. Surely Abraham could not have been as he was counted righteous by faith in uncircumcision Moreover in the times Primitive and especially as to them that were baptized being at age Faith was required before the seal of Righteousness was stamp'd upon their souls and consciences Now being that faith is a cause of other vertues and graces and hath adjoyned to it self that great work of Repentance it must needs follow that the Apostle requiring faith as to the aged did suppose in them other graces not thinking that the same should be conferred upon them by the Baptism but rather sealed and confirmed Yea because the Sacrament of Baptism is a seal of the Righteousness of faith and not a thing working out by its internal Power Faith and Regeneration This same reason hath moved Austin and other of the ancient Fathers to affirm that Children are baptized either in fide parentum in the faith of their parents if faithful Christians or else in fide Ecclesiae in the faith of the Church viz. if their parents be unknown or Infidels because they were perswaded that faith is required before baptism rather than conferred by it So that we think that in these Children which are elected there is an operation of the Holy Ghost from the beginning which although not sensibly yet efficaciously worketh upon their tender hearts and minds and if it doth not work in them subjectively some kind of faith or else an actual faith yet it objectively applieth the benefits of Christ which are otherwise received by an actual faith Now that no body should think we do charge falsly our Adversaries the Papists with this assertion I will shew the Courteous Reader the reason why they do assert thus and then evince the same out of another custom of theirs in this holy Sacrament As to the reason why it is this Because they say that Children dying without being baptized cannot be saved but are in a limbus infantum a kind of a hole prepared for Children where they suffer paenam damni sed non paenam sensus that is they are deprived only from the Vision of God but are not subject to any sensible torment If then their election which is unchangeable Act. 2.39 and the being under the Covenant of Grace which as well belongeth to them as their Parents cannot save them because of their not being baptized Surely baptism which maketh them able to demand Heaven must work these graces by its internal vertue by which they may arrive to the eternal happiness 2. They say none can be saved without the Church and none can be counted as a Member of it unless he be baptized So then if the baptism only maketh us Members of the Church without which we cannot be saved Baptism likewise must operate by its internal vertue those graces by which we are saved As to the custom in some particulars it is this They think the holy Baptism to be so absolutely necessary to salvation that they in case of necessity do approve the baptism of Women if they only observe the form of the baptism Which evinces that they think baptism to work as we said formerly ex opere operato Having shewed the truth of our charge laid unto them I will shew with one argument the falsness of them both As to the first That not all Children that die without baptism are to be deprived of the beatifical Vision 2 Sam. 12.18 23. is as sure as that David who was saved was to go after his death to his child which was dead without circumcision instead of which baptism succeeded as we may infer out of Col. Col. 2.11 12. Act. 2.39 2.11 12. It is as fure as that the promise of everlasting salvation belongeth to the Children which argument is to be pressed as well against Anabaptists denying the seal to the Children unto whom belongeth