the Justification of a Sinner Decrees as follows THat all Men are lapsed with Adam cap. 1. That Concil Trid. Ses 6. hereupon cap. 2. God sent his Son Christ whom he doth propose a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood for the Sins of the whole World But though he died for all c. 3. yet those only receive the Benefit to whom the Merit of his Passion is communicated That we are to conceive of Justification c. 4. as of the Translation of Man from the State wherein he was born as a Child of Adam to the State of Grace and Adoption through Christ which Change is not wrought without our being washed in the Laver of Regeneration or desire so to be That the beginning of Justification c. 5. in persons adult is the preventing Grace of God i. e. his free Calling whereby Man consenting and co-operating with his exciting and assisting Grace is disposed to prepare himself for Justification which he does willingly and might refuse Which Disposition is wrought after this excitement of Grace c. 6. by believihg willingly the divine Revelations and Promises particularly that God justifieth the Sinner through Grace and then out of a Sense of Sin turning from God's Justice to his Mercy hoping in him for Pardon and thereupon beginning to love him and hate Sin purposing to be Baptized and to begin a new Life That Justification followeth this Disposition c. 7 which is not only the Remission of Sins but the Renovation of the inner Man and hath five Causes the Final the Glory of God and Eternal Life the Efficient God who washeth away Sin and sanctifieth the Meritorious Christ who by his Passion hath merited Justification for us and satisfied his Father the Instrumental the Sacrament of Baptism the only Formal Cause Justice given by God whereby we are renewed in the Spirit of our Minds and not accounted only but made truly just every man receiving it according to the good pleasure of the Holy Ghost and according to his own proper Disposition receiving together with Remission of Sins Faith Hope and Charity That when it is said We are justified by Faith and freely c. 8. it ought to be understood because Faith is the beginning of Justification and the things that precede it are not meritorious of Grace That although it be necessary to believe c. 9. that Sins are not remitted to us but by the free Mercy of God through Christ yet we are not to believe they are remitted to him that vaunteth and reposeth himself only in the confidence and certainty of their Remission neither ought it to be said that Justification is perfected only by Faith excluding all doubt That those who are thus justified c. 10. by bringing forth good Works are more justified By taking the like View of the Doctrine of the Church of England in this Point we shall easily discern the things in difference She then declares 1. THat we are accounted righteous before God only for the Merit Articles of the Church of England Arti. 11. of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith and not for our own Works and Deservings wherefore that we are justified by Faith only is a most wholesom Doctrine and full of Comfort 2. That by Justification She means the Forgiveness of our Sins 2. Hom. of Justification part 1. and Trespasses That this being received of God's Mercy and Christ's Merits embraced by Faith is taken and allowed of God for our perfect and full Justification That nothing on the behalf of Man does contribute to this Justification but only a true and lively Faith which Faith is also the gift of God But this Faith does not shut out Repentance Hope Love Dread and the Fear of God from being joyned with Faith in every man that is justified but it shutteth them out from the Office or justifying nor does it shut out the Justice of good Works necessarily to be done afterwards of Duty to God but only excludes them from deserving our Justification which comes freely from the Mercy and Grace of God whereby he has provided that Ransom to be paid by Christ which all the World in any part was not able to pay of themselves 3. That this Saying that we are justified by Faith only is not 3. Ibid p. 2. meant as if justifying Faith were alone in any without Charity c. at any time or season nor the other that we are justified freely so as to imply that we may be idle or that nothing is required to be done on our parts neither that other of our being justified without Works that we should do nothing at all but thus to take away clearly all merit of our Works to deserve Justification at God's hands and also to express the Weakness of man and the Goodness of God the imperfection of our Works and the most abundant Grace of Christ and to ascribe the merit and deserving of our Justification to Christ alone That though we have and ought to have Faith within us with Hope Charity and other Graces and do never so many good Works thereunto we must renounce the Merit of all our said Virtues that are or may be in us as things too weak and insufficient and imperfect to deserve remission of Sins i. e. our Justification and must trust only in God's Mercy and the Sacrifice of Christ for the same 4. That therefore Christ himself is the only meritorious Cause of 4. Ibid. pa. 3. it That our own Works do not justifie us to speak properly of Justification i. e. to say our Works do not merit or deserve Remission of Sins but God of his own Mercy gives it us through the Deservings of his Son Nevertheless because Faith doth send us to Christ for this Remission and by it we embrace the Promise of God's Mercy and of the Remission of our Sins which thing none other of our works properly do therefore it is said that Faith without Works doth justifie us 5. But this Faith that justifies is not a dead or carnal but a 5. Hom. of Faith part 1. living Faith and this living Faith is a full Trust in God through Christ which upon the consideration of the greatness of his Mercy which it apprehends and relies upon is at the same time moved through the assistance of the Spirit to serve and please him out of this pure and only Principle the Love of God Now he that will consider and compare these Doctrines with each other will find that they both agree in the lapsed State of Mankind and the necessity of God's sending his Son whom he hath set forth to be our Propitiation and that though he died for all yet those only are benefited to whom his merit is communicated but when they come to express the nature of Justification the Church of Rome conceives it to be not only the Remission of sins but likewise the Renovation of the Inward man the Church of England by Justification means only Forgiveness of sins
which is the main difference that runs through the whole Controversie For hereupon the Church of Rome pursuing it 's own notion makes the beginning of Justification to be the answer to God's call and the following his exciting grace to the belief of God's promises thence hoping in him for pardon and thereupon beginning to love him and hate sin purposing a new life which disposition is followed with Justification of which it sets up different causes particularly making the only formal cause of it to be Justice or Righteousness given by God whereby we are renewed in the spirit of our minds and not accounted only but rendred just every man receiving it according to his disposition The Church of England on the other side holding a quite different sense of Justification declares Christ the only meritorious cause of it by what he suffer'd for the expiation of our sins and Faith the only means of receiving and applying his merits for this purpose which Faith it declares to be a full trust in God's mercy through Christ for the remission of our sins supposing always Repentance as necessary to make this confidence lively and Christian not carnal and presumptive excluding nevertheless even Faith it self as well as all other graces and works from being any way meritorious of this remission of sins which is only wrought by Jesus Christ not that it does in the least deny that Christ merited grace as well as pardon or that God by his grace doth infuse into our hearts Faith Hope and Charity and all other graces whereby the renovation of the inner man is wrought but supposing always that this sanctification is wrought by God's spirit in all justified persons it denies any of these graces and all inherent righteousness to be deserving of this Remission of sins which God gives us freely out of meer grace upon the score of Christ's merits Now then upon a view of the whole we see the ground of the difference lies in the different apprehension of Justification and herein certainly the Church of Rome is mistaken whilst she confounds Justification with Sanctification Remission of Sins with the Renovation of our Minds and taking Justification for what it properly signifies Remission of Sins the Council of Trent has made that the formal cause of Justification which has nothing to do in the Remission of Sins which are not remitted by being extinguished by contrary dispositions but by the Merits of Christ purchasing their pardon Again By departing from the Scripture-language and the true meaning thereof in making Justification consist in the infusion of Righteousness which it does not properly signifie there is appearance of reason great enough to cause men that are jealous of the glory of God's grace and the merits of Christ to think they claim remission of sins as due to that infused righteousness by having whereof they say they are righteous before God But yet inasmuch as it makes Christ to be the meritorious cause of Justication and says in the place M. Condom quotes that it is necessary to believe that our sins are not remitted but by the free mercy of God through Christ I dare not charge it as destroying his Merits by this Doctrine but wherein I do charge them with this will appear in the next Section But however it has gone beyond its power in making that matter of Faith which before was only a position of the Schools and which in it self is not true especially since it has proceeded further to declare that Doctrine of Justification which it has thus Vid. Preface to the Canons set down to be so necessary to be received that without believing it a man cannot be justified and has thereupon proceeded to make Canons whereby they condemn him that says 1 Can. 10. We are formally justified by the merits of Christ 2 Can. 11. That we are justified only by the imputation of Christs righteousness or only by remission of sins without inherent grace and charity 3 Can. 12. That justifying Faith is nothing but confidence in the mercy of God who remitteth sins for Christ 4 Can. 24. That Justification is not increased by good works but that they are fruits only and signs of it All which Propositions though condemned by them are true taking Justification in its proper notion for the forgiveness of sins for what is a man justified by but only the justice of Christ and by remission of sins if Justification be only the Remission of sins and that effected only by Christ and supposing the same what are we formally justified by but his merits and what is justifying Faith else supposing the same but a confidence in the mercy of God who remitteth sins for Christ's sake and how is Justification increased by works if it be the free remission of sins through Christ without consideration of them To come therefore at length to M. Condom who says That seeing the Scripture explicates Remission of sins sometimes by God's covering them sometimes by his blotting them out by his grace that makes us new creatures to form a perfect Idea of Justification both these are to be joined together Could he have shewn any one place of Scripture wherein Remission of sins signifies their being blotted out by making us new creatures I might allow his Idea reasonable But the place he cites in the Margin Tit. 3. v. 5 6 7. is not of that clearness as to make much for him when the Scriptures every where distinguish the Remission of our sins from our being turned from them the pardon of them from our having sin destroyed within us and consequently our Justification from our Sanctification and though both are wrought by Christ yet it speaks of them as things distinct ascribing the benefit of the one to the sufferings and satisfaction of Christ and God's mercy the other to the effect of his grace and holy spirit The words in that passage of the Epistle to Titus are these But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs of eternal life Now it 's true the Apostle here setting forth our salvation effected through the mercy of God in Christ for the manner of it sets down no more than the washing of Regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost but though the laver of Regeneration effects both the remission of our sins by the death and merits of Christ and the renovation of our minds by the Holy Ghost which is shed on us we are not therefore to think of them as if both were the same thing because both are conferred by the same Sacrament when it 's apparent that they are different mercies one the effect of Christ's death and
case stands though they be not yet they soon may by those who make Articles of Faith of any thing they have a humour to determine Men may love Concord amongst Brethren and yet love Truth among Christians and those that love them both must not vainly give away the later to seek the former by ways not established by God And the Advertiser certainly thinks his own experience has taught him more wisdom than all the rest of the world when he would by that convince us that the Authority of the Pope is the only means of Christian Concord when experience has taught others that it 's the ready way to destroy our common Christianity And though the Church ought not to rise in Rebellion against a power that maintains her unity under pretence that some have abused it yet undoubtedly it may reject an usurpation begun with fraud and encreased by violence which it sees to be no establishment of God's and has experienced destructive of his truth As for Episcopacy blessed be God our Church has been able to preserve it with great advantage to our Christianity Those of the Reformation in other parts who had not the like power nor the same opportunity of doing it being yet obliged to provide for their common Christianity though they could not bring to effect in all things the establishment of his Church I doubt not but God may and does bless in the exercise of his Ordinances THE CONCLUSION HEreby therefore it appears that M. Condom's explication has given us but a very unsatisfactory resolution the greatest part of the Objections being still left in full force and their Doctrines shewn some necessarily and others very probably others absolutely to subvert the foundations of Faith which abundantly justifies that Provision made by the Reformation and makes it absolutely necessary that they let not go that Provision which the maintenance of our common Christianity rendred at first and does still require necessary Neither has M. Condom mentioned all the material Points in difference Two I am sure there are omitted as considerable as many by him taken notice of One is the Decree of the Council which requires the Scriptures which we call Apocrypha to be admitted with like reverence as the unquestionable Canonical Scriptures and to be received as all of one rank which before had never been enjoyned but with that difference which had always been acknowledged in the Church Which Act giving to them the authority of Prophetical Scripture inspired by God which they had not before though it be thereby null in itself because what was not inspired by God to him that wrote it can never become inspired by him and that which was not at first received as such can never be known to be such without special Revelation yet usurpeth an Authority which was never heard of in the Christian World and claims a submission which a Christian cannot give to any but such as shall prove themselves to have had an immediate Revelation in the case The other is their Decree that the Service of God be not performed in the vulgar Tongue For if the People be obliged to assist in that Service which if they are not To what purpose do they assemble then certainly the Offices in which they assist ought to be understood by them Possibly they will say that Vnity is preserved by the universal use of one Language though the Service of God be not understood but then the end for which it should be preserved is not accomplisht when the Service of God is not nor can be performed as Christianity requireth by those who understand it not Besides it is observable that it 's M. Condom's way to take these Points single and spend all his pains in extenuating them as much as possible that they may not appear absolutely to destroy our Christianity and then to press us to compliance with it But he never looks upon them together nor considers whether with that care of our common Christianity which all ought to take they can be all complyed with and submitted to I then have shewn even in the Particulas wherein I have gone along with M. Condom That the Invocation of Saints is without warrant from our Christianity has no Promise of any Grace or Mercy yea tends so greatly to the prejudice of Christianity that it shall be very difficult for a Christian to preserve himself from Idolatry in the use of it and which Experience has shewn to have been Idolatrously practised by many That the Use of Images again is no way necessary in God's Worship but dangerous and makes it most difficult to avoid that Idolatry which many have really committed in the use of them That the Relicks of Saints have no such virtue by any divine Promise as they are frequented for that the Church therefore ought not to teach or perswade People to frequent them for such Aid or Helps since their recourse to them has been experienced to have brought forth much Superstition advancing Peoples Devotion to Saints to the prejudice of that they should preserve for God alone That their Doctrine of Justification involving a mistake in the very nature of it by making Inherent Righteousness the formal Cause of Justification gives too great appearance that they claim Remission of Sins as due to that inherent Righteousness whereas it is only the effect of Christ's Merits That likewise by their Anathema's they have condemned those who hold the Truth in this Point That in the Point of Merit if the Doctrine of the Council be not expresly yet that vulgarly taught in that Communion is contrary to the Faith and injurious to Gods Grace which Doctrine is favoured by the very words of the Council that herein also they condemn those who assert the Truth and desire to magnifie God's Grace That their Doctrines of Satisfactions Purgatory and Indulgences are built on a foundation that has not the least ground in holy Scripture their Satisfactions being enjoynd to other ends than those in which they take place in Christianity being also according to the purposes by them used injurious to the Merits of Christ and offensive to their Christian Brethren their Indulgences granted to unheard of purposes and perverted from their primitive use their Purgatory a vain invention and the occasion of much Superstition and these taken together with their Absolution in Penance tending directly to the manifest prejudice of our Christianity since the Pardon of Sins is presumed to depend not upon Reconcilement wrought with God before but on the Power of the Keys as the ground of it whereby Absolution is pronounced before the Church has done any thing to work the Cure of Sin and the Penances afterwards imposed for the satisfaction of a temporal punishment the Sin being to be supposed pardoned before and no eternal punishment to remain due and those to be expiated by some easie satisfactions in the present Life or to be abated in Purgatory by some Indulgences purchased here