some condition But I think there is none can say there is no condition Therefore it remains that we confess there is necessarily some condition Which of what manner it is let us examin by the Scriptures But in the mean while perhaps some Man will object If the promise of God be confined to certain conditions how then shall we with Paul make the mercy of God free whereby he freely justifies the Wicked Yea verily I both judge and hold that the Mercy of God is most free Free I say in Christ. Otherways without Christ there can be no hope of Mercy nor promise of Salvation nor remission of Sins And the Sons of the Papacy will not deny this that all the riches of the Divine promise and of our Salvation stand in Christ. And indeed in so much they are in the right For hereby I understand the Mediatour by whom God dispenses his Heavenly gifts to us That 〈◊〉 Christ. But I do not yet perceive well enough how he dispenses by this Mediatour For tho I acknowledge him to be Mediatour to whose merit only we are beholden for all our Salvation yet because this Salvation by the Merit of Christ is not Communicated unto all neither is it derived to us but upon a certain Condition I would gladly learn of those Men what is that Condition prescribed unto us by God to obtain Salvation or how this meritorious Efficiency of the Mediatour Works in us And here presently Answers Lombard and others that favour the Lombardick Discipline that it comes to pass this way To wit by Charity infused through the Merits of Christ which being received by our voluntary taking it in we are incontinently not only named just but are really so O Divines As if Christ had been given to us and had come from the Father for no other purpose but that he might procure unto us the Divine Infusion of Charity as they call it And why could he not by Prayers obtain this same infusion from his most bountiful Father when he was present here what was the Father so hard and so inexorable that he could not be mitigated by any Prayers to communicate the benefit of grace to any Man without the death and Blood of his own dearly beloved Son But what hindered Because he was not willing who by nature is Charity it self Or because he was not able who is in Majesty Omnipotent But now being endued with the gift of Charity what will you obtain by that You say Salvation and Righteousness Upon what account will you obtain that Because Charity being the fulfilling of the Law thereby it comes to pass that Charity being spread abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost and inflaming us to the Obedience of the Law it easily performs all those things which are the duties of life so that we are now not only accounted but in reality are called and are indeed Righteous That is right indeed Therefore if I am not mistaken this is it which I see those Men drive at that all our hope of Salvation is placed in the performance of the Law And that the Summary of the Divine promise is contained in that condition if we perform the things that pertain to the Law Which because they cannot be performed without Supernatural Infusion of Charity therefore Charity informing the mind with the love of the Divine Law is called by them Righteousness Ingenuous Reader you have the Summary of this Sophistical Divinity briefly described Concerning which that you may judge more rightly look now at this wonderful Order of Causes Concerning the Threefold cause of Iustification 1. Conditional 2. Formal 3. Meritorious 1. FIrst they place the end of all Righteousness and the Salvation promised to us in the observance of the Law upon this condition that if the Law be performed we may live but if not there should remain no other way of obtaining Life 2. But because this perfect performance of the Law according to the due manner of doing as they speak is not in the power of Nature nor in the Law it self without a special Supplement of grace as they call it therefore they necessarily require Charity spread abroad in our Hearts which they define the formal cause of Iustification 3. But now by what ways and means this infusion of Grace and Charity is obtained they assign two causes chiefly of which the one is placed in the Death of Christ as the Meritorious cause The other they place in the voluntary acceptance of our Will which because it could reject this grace which it accepts according to its liberty therefore they Attribute unto it the Merits of Meriting at least de congruo or Agreeableness and in the mean while Faith amongst those Men is nothing valued or accounted of And it is no wonder for they do not understand by the Gospel what Gospel Faith is neither do they seem to have had any experimental knowledge what the power and efficacy thereof is But that I may answer the Sophistical talks of these Men First as touching the next and last cause of Iustification which they say consists in the perfection of the Law how false it is and contrary to the Gospel who is so void of the knowledge of the Gospel but clearly perceives it For tho' the voice of the Law confines us by a most rigid necessity to the perfect condition of performing all Righteousness yet the meek voice of the Evangelical promise sounds far otherways Which requires no other condition to obtain Salvation but Faith only whereby we believe in the Son of God But what should you say to those Men who know scarcely any more difference between the Law and Gospel than Night Owls that are dimsighted at Noon-day Concerning the Formal cause of Iustification AND that is no less false which they most vainly dream concerning a formal cause which is easily confuted after this manner First that we may grant this that Charity should be reckoned amongst the chiefest gifts of God which being so often praised by the Apostle cannot be praised enough by any Man yet never was there given to any Man in this life so great an excellency therein that he should fulfill all the Righteousness of the Law Whence because charity of life as they call it is imperfect for we love in part according to theMagisterial Sentence that can neither be called Righteousness nor be the form of Faith Unto this there is added another reason because when it is given most largely yet Charity is never given for this end that it may justifie us in the sight of God nor that it may inform faith but rather that it self may be informed by faith and may be subservient to faith for Works of Charity are fruits of faith not the cause of faith they follow but do not go before faith For Magdalen did not therefore believe in Christ because she loved Christ but because she
them that are justified but these things have no union with Faith in the concernment of Iustification And first as touching Repentance abundance hath been said before for seeing Repentance is nothing but a mourning for sins committed it may indeed of it self afflict the guilty person and fit him for receiving of Grace but it cannot obtain a pardon for the sins committed before a Secular Iudge and much less before the Iudgment Seat of God For that is the Office of Faith which as it only obtains a pardon so it obtains it for none but them that are afflicted and repent and believe in Christ. For for their sakes chiefly Christ was sent by his Father into this World that he may help all them that being in distress flie to him by Faith In which three things are to be considered and placed each of them in their own bounds and territories First that we may see what the Mediatour does what Faith performs what sorrow for sin produces All our Salvation flows from the Mediatour as from a Spring and Fountain But if you ask how or for what cause he saves I answer by Faith And if you ask whom he saves I answer those that repent of their wickedness or whom he draws unto himself by an inward Call Doth the Lord then save those for their Repentance No verily Suppose a man is greatly grieved at the remembrance of his by-past life but yet comes not to Christ will grief for his sins save him No surely Yea who can come to Christ unless he first hear and understand who he is from whom Salvation must be sought Now it is Faith and not Repentance that does this For it is not the grief and sorrow of a broken hearted sinner but Faith that discovers a Saviour to us and guides us to him and obtains Salvation from him Yea which is Salvation to them that are in distress for thus it is written This is the will of God That every one that seeth and believeth in him should have Eternal Life By which it is evident enough what should be attributed unto Repentance and what to Faith in the case of Iustification for sin is not therefore pardoned because he that sinned hath repented but because he that sinned not at all hath died for sin therefore the sinner is forgiven not for his Repentance but for Faith whereby he believes in him that died for our sins rose again for our Iustification Where Faith is joyned with Works and where it is not joyned AND hitherto we have been speaking of Repentance But as touching the Reformation of the Life in other respects though I know that nothing is more convenient than that Faith which is rightly instructed in Christ should have Charity and other Offices of Piety suitable to the Christian Profession joyned with it Yet it must be considered what manner of Union this is and of how large an extent for Faith and Charity have that wherein they are of necessity united And they have that also wherein they must of necessity be separated Where we deal with God about Salvation Iustification and the Expiation of sins here Faith only without Works is powerful and overcomes But in dealings with men in the Lives of the Iustified in popular duties in the exercise of Vertue there is a very near Union between Faith and Vertue of which the one cannot consist without the other Therefore these things should be measured by their own bounds that we may attribute unto Faith its due and to Works their due and unto both that which is meet For as that poisonous Errour of Eunomius should be abhorred who is reported to have been so great an Enemy to godly works that he thought it was not a matter of any concernment how any man led his life So also great care should be taken lest in shunning the Soylla of Eunomius we fall upon the other Carybdis of the Papists which is no less pernicious being mis-led by the Popish Doctors who make such a confused Union between Faith and Works that neither Faith without Works nor Works without Faith procure Iustification But this Union is easily confuted by the Authority of Scripture For if Faith only doth not bring Believers into a state of Salvation unless it be joyned with great Holiness of life why did not Christ joyn these together when he said simply He that believeth in me hath Eternal Life Why did not Peter joyn them together when according to the Testimonies of the Prophets he proclaimed remission of sins to all that believed in his Name Why did not Paul joyn them together when instructing the Iaylor in the Faith he said unto him Believe in the Lord Iesus and thou shalt be saved and thy house Many other such like things may be mentioned The History of the Galatians is well known who being led aside by the false Apostles did not wholly cast off Christ nor excluded Faith in Christ but they would have had the good Works of Believers joyned with Faith in the Article of Iustification before God unto Eternal Life for which cause how angry the Apostle was at them his Epistle bears witness But here again a place of St. Paul out of the same Epistle is objected where writing to the Galatians he speaks of Faith that works by Charity From hence the Tridentine Divines infer a necessary connexion between Faith and Charity so that Faith without Charity like matter without form avails nothing to the perfection of Righteousness And they say of Charity which they call Righteousness inherent in us That it is so impossible that it should be separated from Faith in the concernment of Iustification that they assert it only to be the formal cause of our Iustification But it is not difficult to answer to this place of Paul For in that Epistle the Apostle endeavours with great diligence to call back his Galatians to the Righteousness of Faith from which they had swerved In the mean while lest they should be seduced by a counterfeit Faith by these words he intimates what Faith it is that he speaks of Not such a Faith as is idle and dead without Works but which worketh by Love And in this sense we deny not that Faith is not alone But what consequence is that Lively Faith is not alone without Charity It is a lively Faith that justifies Therefore in Iustifying Faith is not alone without Charity This Argument is disproved in the Schools of Logicians for it is a Sophism a non causa ut causa Therefore I answer to the Major The Faith that is lively is not alone without Charity That is true in working but not in justifying Therefore as touching the Cause and Office of Iustifying this is not the consequence thereof Therefore in Iustifying Faith is not alone without Charity But as for the the Minor though Faith that justifies is called lively in respect of good Works yet it doth not justifie in respect
of those Works but only upon the account of its Object which because Faith only without Charity embraces therefore Faith only without Charity receives from thence the power of Iustifying If all things that any way are or are done together should be joyned in one and the same Office it would come to pass that he that hath Feet Eyes and Ears because he hath not these Members alone therefore he should be said to go not with-his Feet only but to walk with his Eyes and see with his Ears as hath been formerly demonstrated Iust so the case is in Faith Charity and other Vertues Which tho' being infused by Grace they inhere in the same subject yet each one of them are distinguished by their peculiar Offices Therefore if it be asked concerning the Office of Iustification What it is that reconciles us to God and procures Eternal Life for us I answer it is Faith and that only If you ask how I answer by Christ the Mediatour Again if you ask what manner of Faith that is I answer It is not an idle or dead Faith but lively and active But if you would know by what marks you distinguish between a true Faith and that which is counterfeit St. Paul answers that question The Faith that is true works by Love What where and How Faith worketh by Charity BUT here there are several things that need to be explained as what Faith works where and after what manner it works for Faith doth not act every where after one and the same manner It acts one way with men and another way with God It is true that it works by Love as Paul says but it must be understood in respect of men not in respect of God Neither doth Faith perform the same in both respects nor after the same manner for with men it works by Love but with God it works not by Love but by Christ only by whom it is admirable to consider what and how great things Faith performs It obtains grants of Petitions pardon of sins it reconciles justifies wrestles overcomes reigns and triumphs Faith only does these things not with men but with God not working by Charity but by Christ our Lord. Therefore Faith works one thing by Christ and another thing by Charity By Christ it obtains Salvation by Charity it performs Obedience to the Law Doth it perform perfect Obedience No. Doth it then perform imperfect Obedience But that is not sufficient to procure Righteousness and Salvation And where then is that excellent integrity of Life Where is Charity 's meritorious efficacy to purchase Salvation Where is the Assertion of the Tridentine Decree which only attributes the beginning of Iustification to Faith but makes the formal cause thereof to be Charity or New Obedience which they call Righteousness inherent in us whereby we are not only accounted righteous but are both called and also really are righteous before God adding also a dreadful Curse if any dare be of another Iudgment Which manner of Doctrine if it be admitted it utterly disannuls the sacred Scripture and overturns all the foundation of our Religion For if this be the condition of our Salvation that it must rely upon good deeds and not free Imputation only Where then is that Righteousness which is attributed unto Faith so often Preached by Paul Where is the difference between the Law and the Gospel which unless it be carefully observed we may be as blind as to the knowledge of the Scripture as Moles and Batts at Noon-day Moreover where is that opposition mentioned by Paul between the Righteousness of the Law and of Faith between Grace and Debt Where is glorying in Works excluded Where is Faith accounted to Abraham for Righteousness And how will the Tridentine Decrees agree with that which Paul says Faith is accounted for Righteousness not to him that Works but to him that believes in him who justifies the ungodly And where be those remarkable exceptive and exclusive Particles whereby our Salvation is wholly cut off from Works and ascribed unto Imputation Moreover where are all those sweet Promises if those Men rob us of the Assurance of Salvation and God's Imputation Let us now proceed to the Prophets that if any are less moved with the Authority and writings of the Apostles if they have any thing to say for themselves they may either Answer the evident Testimonies of the Prophets or yield unto them And first that I may begin at this I ask of them that deny that it is sufficient to assurance of Iustification that Christ hath fulfilled all Righteousness for us unless thereunto be added also a Righteousness implanted and inherent in us being formed in us of his free Bounty which makes us formally Righteous satisfies the Law and merits Life Which if it be so I ask of them Whether any Man will be assured that he is in a state of Salvation in this Life If they deny it where then is that Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost whereof there is so frequent mention in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles Where is that frequent singing of Praise in the Books of the Prophets Where is that Everlasting Ioy and Gladness which Isaiah the Prophet foretels shall be upon the head of those who being redeemed by the Lord shall come into Sion with Praise Where is that way so straight that Fools cannot err therein Where is that Voice of the Prophet preaching Peace and proclaiming Glad tidings and comforting his own People which taking away all Fear Grief and Sighing confirms fearful and affrighted Consciences strengthens weak Kness and feeble Hands yea provokes the very Beasts of the Field and the Ostriches to the Exercise of glorifying God If yet we waver in doubtful and uncertain fears and have no firm hope of Salvation but in that Righteousness which is inherent in our selves according to the Pseudocatholick Opinion of the Church of Rome where then is that fiducial reliance where is that Holy Courage concerning which Ieremiah the Prophet foretold In those days Iudah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely And again to the same purpose Ezekiel foretelling of the future Peace of the Church And I will make with them a Covenant of Peace And they that dwell in the VVilderness shall sleep safely in the woods and shall be in their own Land without fear And presently he subjoins But they shall dwell safely without any fear Hereunto belongs the encouragement that Isaiah gives the People of the Messiah commanding them not to be afraid Fear not saith he for I am with thee And again Fear not for I have redeemed thee And again Fear not my Servant Iacob c. Hereunto also agree the Words of Zephaniah Prophesying by the same Spirit Be glad O Daughter of Sion and be joyful O Israel and rejoice with all thy Heart O Daughter of Ierusalem The Loard hath taken away thy Iudgment he hath turned away thy Enemies The
perfect to day whilest he always endeavours after better things the morrow he finds it imperfect These things said Hierom. Therefore if Paul being in perpetual motion could find no ftate of Righteousness in which he could rest It follows by consequence from hence that either there is no Iustification of a Christian in this Life or that surely it is not defined by its right terms by Thomas or the Thomists whence a just connexion is framed on this manner Argument Ma. Where there is a perpetual Race there is no station nor term of motion Mi. There is a perpetual Race in this Life towards obtaining Life Con. Therefore there is no station of attaining to Righteousness in this Life and end of notion which Thomas sets down By these things I think it is sufficiently evidenced what is the Iustification of a Wicked Man in the Scriptures and in what thing it chiefly consists not in a transmutation of inherent qualities by a voluntary receiving of Grace as they of Trent would have it but in the judiciary absolution of the Iudge whereby he that is guilty is sent away free and indemnity is given to him Whence Iustification seems to be defined not amiss by some That it is an action of God whereby he absolves the condemned Sinner from the Law in his free mercy for the sake of Christ justifies him from his Sins and glorifies him being justified Though in the mean while it is not denied that it is a matter of great concernment how every Man leads his Life and amends it But yet it is one thing to speak of Righteousness and another thing to speak of Iustification And again it is one thing to be exercised in the common use of Life and another thing to be exercised in judicatories There the amendment of Life hath praise but in judicatories no regard uses to be of what you are to do but of what you have done not what new qualities better Grace hath brought but by what remedy former Sins may be done away And now I pray you what then must be said and looked for in that most strict Iudgment of the most high God where the scene and sink of the wholeLife comes to be brought forth from its lurking places to the light where impurity of Life Deceits Injuries Filthiness of Lusts the Defilement of Conscience and Concupiscence the Wickedness of Words Works Counsels and Thoughts the Ambition of a pust up Mind the stubborness of Hatred Love Envy and the other Affections Rebelling against Reason the Love of the World Earthly Desires the Contempt and Ignorance of God The neglect of Duty Moreover the whole sink of things formerly done will be all at once laid open What will the miserable Sinner say here What will he bring To what will he fly Will he fly to his secret Confessions and Expiatory Penances and Satisfactions that will not be sufficient These things may declare thee to be a Sinner and a Penitent but not at all Righteous What then you will say hath not God promised to the Penitent the pardon of their Sins Be it so but where then is the Tridentine Iustification which is denied to consist of Remission only whereas you bring nothing into Iudgement but Confessions Penances and Deprecatory Tears For what need is there of any Satisfaction or Repentance when you have committed no Sin But if otherways Where then is your Righteousness whereof you boast To wit say you Remission of Sins being once received by Repentance together with Remission it self flows in Sanctification and the Renovation of the inner Man and the other gifts of Grace by the Holy Spirit whence Man of Unjust becomes Iust and of an Enemy a Friend c. What and dare you trusting in this Righteousness of yours enter the lists with the Majesty of so great a Iudgment And think you that your Vertues are such that they will overcome at this Iudgment Seat when they are Iudged Not by the Righteousness say you of my Vertues but by those works which the efficacious Grace of God works in me Which Righteousness is not mine but God's Not of my own Free will but of Grace acting in me Now then wherein will this Righteousness of yours differ from that Pharisee in the Parable of the Gospel Whose Life if you look into you see it is honest enough and unblamable if you look upon Grace he seems no less to acknowledge it and to attribute all his Vertues to it Otherways why did he with so much reverence and so carefully give thanks to God that he was not like other Men unless he had thought that whatsoever good Works he had were received of his gift and bounty For his Prayer doth sufficiently declare that wherein he seems not so much to Glory in his own good deeds as in the grace of God which he had received to which he ascribes all these things which he had done Therefore if it be true that these Roman Catholicks define That true Iustification consists in no other thing but in Works of Righteousness done by the grace of God what then doth hinder but this Catholick Pharisee according to their Catholick Opinion should be sent away to his House justified Which not being so it remains therefore that another manner of Iustification should be sought for by us than in VVorks of Righteousness which inheres and is planted in us by the grace of God But here the Roman Legions fight with all vehemency for their Catholick Righteousness as for their Camp First by Natural Reason that it is contrary to Nature for any Man to receive the Name or Essence of Righteousness from the Righteousness of another Moreover that it is much less reasonable for God who is the highest perfection of Righteousness and the Eternal Verity to will or be able to pronounce Men Iust that are impure and defiled with wickedness and Evil deeds and who are not truly righteous That I may answer these men two things offer themselves to be considered one which belongs to the cause of Iustification and another which belongs to the explication of the word In both of which the Adversaries are greatly mistaken First in this that treating of the cause of Iustification they seem to place it in no other thing next and immediately but in every man 's own Righteousness not which is imputed being received from another but which every one hath within himself trusting to this foundation That because every thing receives its name and essence only from the form that is inherent hence they gather that none should be accounted just but those only whom their own life and not another's makes righteous If they understand it of Formal Righteousness only and not Iudicial it hath no absurdity and may without any inconvenience be granted to them But what then what is this so much to the purpose for this is not the matter of debate what we are or are not formally in our selves
righteousness can Christ deliver the unrighteous What way and in what manner the benefits of Christ are derived to us A threefold question 1 Tim. 1. 1. In a desperate condition Christ only can help It is not sufficient to retain the 〈◊〉 of Christ only unless also we learn the Greatness of his office and his Power to save Rom. 3. The various Interpretation of the Papists concerning Iustifying Faith Roffen contra lut Articul 31. Ioh. 6. Ioh. 3. Ioh. 11. Only Faith in Christ is proved to jastisie by example Mat. 11. Isa. 55. Proof by examples Mat. 15. Mat. 9. How Prayers are heard * From whence is liberty salvation and righteousness to be sought Ioh. 1. Wherein consists the use and scope of the Law Charity is justified by Faith not Faith by Charity For what cause the power of Iustifying is attributed unto Faith An unjust complaint against Luther Osor. de justit lib. 2. p. 29. Osorius against Luther An Answer for Luther against Osorius The unjust slander of Osorius and Andradius against Luther A defence of Luther A twofold manner of Righteousness mention'd by Paul the one received the other rejected Philip. 3. Righteousness of the Law Righteousness of Faith in Faith of God The Argument of Osorius drawn from dictum secundum quid to dictum simpliciter Making that to be true in the general which is only so in particular Osor. lib. 2. p. 28. The Reproaches of Osorius cast upon Luther The deceitful connexion of Osorius Exod. 23. Luther separates charity from faith and the Law from the Gospel not simply but in such a manner as things should be distinguished each by their own bounds Where and how Faith works by love What is the union of Faith with Charity and again what is the difference of both Trust in works is excluded There is nothing can be opposed to the judgement of God but Christ only What doth faith without works perform and from whence doth it receive its efficacy in acting The form of faith is not charity but rather the form of charity is faith Objection Answer Confirmation by Examples One condition of Sons another of Servants A comparison of Sons and Servants Rom. 4. Christ a Son by Nature we by Christ. Christ is born a Son by nature we by faith are born again Sons not by works in the Son The cause why God adopts us for Sons Gal. 4. Gal. 3. 1 Ioh. 3. Osorius The servile and mercenaly doctrine of the Papists The Kingdom of God is an Inheritance therefore not a reward it belongs to Sons therefore not to Servants August lib. de haeres The cause which makes us the Sons of God the same also makes us Iust but faith only makes us Sons therefore the same also makes us Iust. The cause which justifies on God's part is his Predestination Ephes. 1. Rom. 8. Vocation the Donation of Christ his Obedience Death and Merits What the cause of justification is on Man's part Lib. 2. de just Osorius Faith Hope and Charity in what 〈◊〉 they are joyned together Rom. 4. Gal. 2. Arg. If righteousness comes by the Law Christ dyed in vain Gal. 2. Christ dyed 〈◊〉 in vain therefore righteousness is not by the Law The 〈◊〉 between Paul and Osorius Roman 4. Galat. 2. Lib. 2. pag. 46. Osor. lib. 2. p. 39. Answer Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven c. Psal. 1 Cor. 5. Rom. 8. Whence this righteousness of Osorius shall be found Who are called righteous in a Gospel sense Osor. de just lib. pag. 39 40. Of what sort is the Osorian righteousness A false and lying accusation of Osorius Dejust lib. 2. Repentance Repentance proves a man to be a sinner but takes not away sin it causeth not remission nor satisfies justice The violation of Infinite majesty cannot be expiaced but by an infinite price The death of Christ 〈◊〉 none but believers and hence arises the diguity of Faith The benefit and necessity of Repentance The lying calumny of Andradius against Chemaitius What Repentance doth by it self what together with Faith Repentance consistsof two parts How far the fruit of Repentance 〈◊〉 Faith in Christ justifies Charity but Charity doth not justifie Faith Augustin in quinquage Prolo Psal. 31. Ezek. 18. Ionah 3. 2 Sam. 12. 2 Kings 21. Osor. lib. de just p. 42. An 〈◊〉 of Osorius An Answer Ier. 11. Ezek. 33. Ezek. 18. Legal Promises Blessings proposed in the Law The Preaching of repentance belongs to the Gospel Moses was a certain earthly Christ Christ is a certain heavenly Moses The object of Faith We are justified in the New Testament after the same manner that the Hebrews were healed when they were stung by the Serpents Ioh. 3. That every one that sees the Son and Believeth in him may have eternal life Ioh. 8. Unless ye believe that I am he ye shall dye in your sins The Papists deny not Christ to be a Saviour but they do not well agree in the manner how he Saves The Council of Trent Hosius Andradius Canisius A typical similitude between Christ and the Serpent healing wounds Ioh. 3. Isa. 53. Isa. 53. An objection of the Adversaries Inherent righteousness Argument Answer The Material of Sin The Formal of Sin How sin in this Life is abolished and how it remains The guilt of sin The frailty of sinning Hugo A similitude Argument Christ by dying upon the Cross did bear only the punishment of Sin but not our Sins and afterwards by raising us up again he will destroy both the punishment and the whole matter of Sin in due time Works tho' they do not justifie yet are not denied to be necessary The calumnies of the Adversaries against Pious Doctors Luther is unjustly reviled as a despiser of Good Works It is fatal to the Gospel to suffer violence and undergo calumnies Mat. 2. Mat. 26 27. Act. 8. Eusebius See the History of Huss The shameless reproaches of Osorius cast upon Luther Osor. lib. 2. de justit Pag. 30. Pag. 43. A defence of Luther The Confessions of the Saxon Churches presented at Augusta Ann. 1530. offered afterwards Trid. Coun. 1551. Osor. lib. 3. de just num 70. Why works are said to be not of the Law but of Faith A description of the Osorian Righteousness Osor. l. 2. p. 31. Lib. 2. p. 34. Pag. 39. b. Andrad lib. 6 de just p. 459 Andrad ibid. page 461. Tapper Artic. 8. de justit pag. 18. An Answer whereby the definition of Osorius is confuted A two-fold sort of righteousness Aug. de tempore Serm. 49. Osor. lib. 5. pag. 114. a. b. Aug. de tempore Serm. 49. Isaiaeb 1. 64. Isa. 64. Phil. 3. Luke 17. Psel 115. Romans 3. Iohn 1. Iames 3. Aug. de perfect justitiae Luke 18. Tertul. lib. de paenitentia Apoc. 3. August in Iohn Hom. 48 Romans 3. Rom. 3. Psalm 51. Rom. 3. God is justified one way and men are justified before God another way Nothing hinders us to be both Righteous
Osor. lib. 5. The Papists err from the scope of the Question Osor. lib. 3. p. 68 69. Osor. lib. 4. nu 103 104. Tit. 3. Hosius Osor. lib. 4. Nu. 104. Ex Hosio confut lib. 5. pag. 451. Hosius ibid. Ex Hosio lib. 5. Nu. 452. Andra. lib. 6. pa. ibi Orthod Explic. An Answer to the Adversaries The Roman Church is a Pseudocatholick Enemies of Faith and Grace under the Vizard of Religion Osor. lib. 6. p. 151. A pseudosyllogism An Answer to the Argument Pardoning Grace or Grace of Remission Rom. 9. 6 4. Coloss. 1. Rom. 3. Renewing Grace Grace is divided into Two parts The Syllogism is redundant with four Termini Aparalogism in the second figure concluding affirmatively A twofold sort of Works Rom. 14. Aug. of Nature and Grace The reparation of the Grace of Christ though it is begun in respect of the mind it is not yet perfected in respect of the Flesh Which shall be in the Countrey where Man shall not only be able to persevere but shall not be able to Sin An Argument from like Comparison Levit. 22. Deut. 15. Christ fulfilled all the Law not for himself but for us if for us then we also fulfil it by him Tho. 12. 109. pag. 259. The Roman Catholicks falsly so called obtrude another Gospel upon us The sum of all our Salvation and Religion is chiefly discerned in two things Faith and Renovation by Grace Grace Faith Wherein Beatitude consists according to the Shcolastick Doctors Divines disputing about the chief good Pelagians Adversaries of Grace Augustine a defender of Grace against the Pelagians The Papists Semipelagians Wherein the Papists agree with the Pelagians How Thomas Aquin. and the Thomists define grace Tho. 129. 109. Art 6. That the will may be prepared to work well and to enjoy God there is required an habitual gift of Grace which is the principle of a meritorious work Guillerm in sentent lib. 2. qu. 26. Art 1. a common definition among the Schoolmen Albert. in sentent lib. 2. dist 26. Art 2. Grace is a habit in the essence of the Soul which according to infused Vertues make perfect for act makes the possessor good A vulgar and usual defini-nition of Grace in the Schools The Schoolmen disagree with one another in the manner of Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Osor. lib. 5. p. 26. Dost thou deny Grace to be a Vertue what then is Grace if it is not a Veatue Thomas against Osorius Faith excluded from Iustification by the Thomists Thom. 12. q. 109. Art 5. why the holy Spitit is given Thom. 12. qu. 114. Art 4. The motion of humane mind to the fruition of divine good is a proper act of Charity by which all acts of other Vertues are appointed for this end according to which other Vertues are commanded by chariey and therefore the merit of Eternal Life belongs chiefly to charity c. Censura Gololoniens fol. 148 149. christ by his Death hath merited this that Believers are endued with charity and other Vertues which qualities being now received by the Merit of christ man himself by Inherent Righteousuess merits a greater Righteousness Reconciliation and at length Life Eternal c. And fol. 170 Faith is only the preparatory Cause and way to Iustification that afterwards we may by another thing be righteous before God not by Faith apprehending Christ c. Iustification is divided into two parts Iacob Pava Orthod Exp. 6. p. 470. Then the Spirit is communicated when at the coming of Righteousness we are made righteous when all our sins being extinguished we are renewed by charity spread abroad in our hearts by the Spirit which Charity because it informs the mind with the Love of the Divine Law is called Righteousness Of how large an extent the fruit of the Lord's passion is Ephes Christ only by his Personal Office is a Saviour and the Holy Spirit by his Office is a Helper and Comforter of them that are saved Answers Aug. Epist. 65. Righteousness receives not its vertue from Merits but Merits receive vertue from the Iustified The Dignity of 〈◊〉 is valued by the Person of the believer not the Person by the Deeds How the Reward of the Saints is appointed in the Scriptures Heaven is not a reward to the Saints but in the Heavens Ro. 6. An Objection concerning the rewards proposed Answer That which is due upon the account of Obedience deserves no grace Lu. 17. Ro. 8. August praefatione in Psal 31. Grace is often signified in the Scripture under the name of reward Whatsoever we are or shall be we are in debt to the Grace of God sor it A wonderful and secret operation of the Grace of God is shewed by Examples Trident. Concil Sess. 6. Can. 11. Free Will Isa. 53. 1 Cor. 9. 2 Tim. 2. The promise is not therefore made because we run But we do therefore run because the promise is made 1 Cor. 15. 2 Tim. 4. Difference between Gift and Merit Rom. 6. Ephes. 2. Council of Trent Sess. 6. Canon 11. The Tridentines deny that we are justified by favour only Glossa ordinaria in cap. 6. ad Rom. The ridiculouscomment of the Glosse of theSchoolmen Tho. Aqui. lib. 2. sent dist 26. q. 6. Glos. 9. Ro. 6. Orbelius lib. 2. Sent. dist 2. Bonaventure Alex. Halensis Salvation is promised to them that Work not for the sake of the Works themselves Rom. 11. In what thing chiefly the Efficacy of Divine Grace appears Examples of Divine Grace are produced out of the Scriptures AdamGen 3. Abraham Gen. 12. Isaac Gen. 27. Ioseph Gen. 65. The Israelites delivered fromthe Bondage of Pharaoh Exod. 12. The Law was promulgatedbyGod after the deliverance of the People The Land of promise the Victory of the People of Israel Deut. 9. 1 Cor. 7. The Land of promise is a Type of the promised Kingdom Thomas Aquinas with the ordinary Gloss. The Hebrews recover their Health by looking on the Serpent Ionas a Type of Christ saving the lives of his own by his Death The Pious Works of Believers are impured for Merits not according to Righteousriess but according to Grace Osor. de Iust. lib. 6. p. 150. Legal promimises Evangelical promises Romans 2. Imputation twofold 2 Cor. 5. Romans 4. Psalm 32. Andrad lib. 6. Orthod Explic. pag. 477. 454. Tiletanus in Apolog contra 〈◊〉 p. 226. By the Law it is reckoned that he did a thing who does it by another There is frequent mention of Imputation in Paul's Writings Faith without Works imputed for Righteousness Wherefore Worksare separated from Iustification Tho. Aquin. 〈◊〉 109. Ro. 7. Ro. 8. Wisd. 9. Deut. 27. Galat. 3. The manifold signification of Faith Errour and disturbauce among Divines proceeds chiefly from the wrong defining and misunderstanding of Faith Osorius Hosius Luther is falssy traduced Osor. li. 2. pa. 32. There is always joined with Faith a confidence of good hope Confidence and hope accompanies justifying Faith but doth not it self justifie It is requisite to see
this subject matter that you appear to be a Philosopher Platonick enough and no bad Ciceronian Orator but not a very Evangelical Divine I can assure you nor skilful enough to plead the cause of Christian Righteousness First As touching the Title of the Book concerning Righteousness I find nothing blame-worthy Though the frailty of our Nature might persuade you rather to discourse some thing to us of Mercy Yet seeing you chuse rather to discourse Philosophically of righteousness you are not therein unworthy of your own praise For being about to treat of righteousness you have undertaken a very honourable subject and I doubt too weighty for your Shoulders to bear and a work indeed very difficult and excellent For what is more excellent than righteousness in the whole nature of Divine and Humane things Which seeing it comprehends within its circumference all kinds of vertues the whole praise of Piety and not only the highest perfection of the Law but also the perfect Image of God indeed it may be found in Heaven but on Earth it cannot be found when you have said all you can Wherefore I am ready the more to wonder and consider with my self what secret design you had in your mind that you have composed Books so accurately exquisite concerning righteousness If it was that by the Trumpet of your commendation you might make it more acceptable to us you have therein lighted on a matter suitable to your wit and large enough for setting forth the riches of your Eloquence that I may confess the truth to you But I wonder for what purpose or end you did that will you say that men may the more evidently behold the beauty of righteousness and admire it the more But this hath been formerly attempted by Plato and many Academicks and Peripateticks and that with no bad success And who is so void of all natural sense but though he is not himself endued with the excellency of righteousness yet he apprehends in his mind the Divine brightness thereof and greatly admires it and wishes for it with all his heart If wishes in this case could do any good Inherent Righteousness unto that perfection which Osorius describes can no where be found in this Nature AND I could wish that the Integrity of Nature wherein we were of old Created had continued unto the compleat exactness of all righteousness But now in this ruinated and disabled nature why do you seek after that which we have lost rather bring forth something if you can whereby we may make up the loss What can it profit a man already dead to know the danger whereby he perished Verily there is more need of a medicine if you have any by which you may either comfort him being destroyed or restore him to the Life that was lost Yea this is the thing say you which I endeavour in these Books disputing of righteousness For righteousness as you say is the only remedy for restoring Life and regaining Health Yea this is the very thing Osorius that I chiefly find fault with in these Books not because you write of righteousness for I commend the argument in which you are exercised I commend also your praises of righteousness which are high and copious righteousness cannot be praised enough by any Man-But there is another thing for which all good Men should be angry with you What that is if you please I will tell you freely and openly for in these Books you represent unto us a spectacle not very much differing from that which Origenes relates of Celsus and Antipho who though they did write very contrary to truth yet they recommended those very Books that were against the Truth with the title of a true saying After which manner you do in a case not very unlike it whilest you write indeed concerning righteousness but at such a rate that nothing can be said more maliciously against true righteousness A twofold and different Account of Doctrine one of the Law and another of the Gospel FOR as there is a twofold manner of Covenant so also there is of righteousness proposed in the Scriptures The one consists in precepts and works under the weight whereof we all of necessity fall down to destruction The other is that of the Gospel which is safe-guarded not by works not by observance of the Law not by any peformance of duties on our side but by the sure and only Faith of Christ the Son of God Verily whosoever rejecting the righteousness of Christ whereof I speak leads us aside unto any other manner of righteousness I say that he pleads not for righteousness but against it and doth not undertake the defence of the Law of God but is a professed Enemy of the Grace of Christ and his Cross and therefore doth not open but wholly shuts up all passages to true Salvation and all Gates and Doors of Divine Grace For I beseech you if we are willing to confess the truth with the Sacred Scripture what is it else in which all the fountains and causes of our destruction are contained unto which as the principal head and spring we may attribute all our calamity but this very manner of righteousness placed in God and his Law by whose infinite immensity not only our faults but also all the Poizes of our righteousness are weighed down to the destruction of damnation If there is nothing but the righteousness of Works that may help our too scanty and short Obedience But perhaps these things that have been said hitherto are enough concerning the Title of the Book By which your prudence may lead you easily to suppose what should be judged of the rest of the Work In which when I contemplate the external form and countenance of the Workmanship verily I see that it is not without beauty nor unworthy to be looked upon when I number the Books themselves I take notice they are both many and large enough When I look on the Words and Pages I see whole Rivers and Sands that cannot be numbred but when I turn to the things themselves when I consider the Reasons and force of Arguments when I compare the Words and Sayings of the Scriptures at a strange rate quoted with the true sense of Scriptures not rightly understood by you and also when I take notice of the end and scope of the whole disputation I am not willing at present to discover to you what I find here lest in what I say I should seem to exceed the bounds of that modesty which here I profess But yet that I may say something for the sake of Truth to which I am more obliged because of necessity something must be said I will speak but in a few words If any other Man had Published these Books concerning Righteousness amongst the common People except your self I should say to him openly and to his face that no Man could ever have brought in a greater plague into the Doctrine
much more cause to fear than his vertues give him to hope And what remedy then shall remain for the perplexed consciences of Men if the Righteousness of Christ being hid from their Eyes you leave nothing for hope or consolation but the righteousness of the Law Or with what comfort will you raise up the Spirit of a fallen and afflicted Sinner when the Law useth to shew what every Man should do aright but can pardon no Man what is done amiss must you not here of necessity be compelled to leave the Righteousness of the Law and presently to appeal to the Righteousness of Christ And I think you will not at all deny that but say you seeing this righteousness of Christ is no other but that which is the righteousness of the Law yea and the very perfection of the Law therefore it is not necessary that we should make a twofold Righteousness but one only both of Christ and of the Law But 't is not a difficult thing to answer to this objection Indeed it must be confessed if you consider the things by themselves and compare the one with the other by a mutual relation there seems not to be any difference between the Righteousness of Christ and of the Law Because there is nothing in the Law so Holy and perfect but it appears as evident in the Life of Christ But if you consider the efficacy and manner of working which the Righteousness of Christ and of the Law exercises in others if you consider the effect and end of both there is a great difference For though Christ is no otherwise just in himself than the Law it self is Holy and Iust But yet this which is called the Righteousness of Christ acts in us much otherwise than that which is called the Righteousness of the Law so that nothing seems more unlike or more contrary The difference between the Righteousness of the Law and the Gospel FIRST as touching the Law what the Nature Vertue and Efficacy thereof is it is unknown to no Man To wit that it is of it self a Holy and Perfect Rule and Mistress to teach how to lead the Life made for this purpose by the most Holy God that Creatures might certainly know what they should fly and what they should follow as it contains in it self the very Rule of all perfection in all respects compleat so it requires perfect obedience in all respects and upon all accounts upon this condition that he that doth these things shall live in them But on the contrary he that doth otherwise and abides not in all the Law pronounces a Curse against him and inflicts the vengeance of Death and heaps up anger and indignation upon him For by the Law the Wrath of God is declared from Heaven being justly kindled against all Men that are wicked and unjust upon any account Whereby it comes to pass that the Law indeed being it self Holy and Good was not given for this that it should bring Destruction but Salvation but yet the same being hindred by the infirmity of our flesh it cannot but kill us but cannot at all save us by its own means not for any default or tyranny of its own but by taking just occasion from the refractory rebellion of our flesh which as it naturally hath an enmity against God so it cannot avoid being contrary to his Sacred Will and Divine Institutions And hence break forth so many and so great calamities that fall upon this sinful Nature of ours hence so many proofs of the Divine Indignation and Anger hence also that dreadful and unavoidable necessity of dying which when it passes promiscuously through all ages and kindreds which none of the most Holy Men could ever drive away from themselves verily that one thing proves us all to be guilty of unrighteousness and that there is not any perfection of righteousness in our most righteous works for if the Wages of Sin be Death it cannot be that there should be any extinction of Life there where no unrighteousness is seen Therefore O Osorius if the Law cannot defend thee in this Life with all thy works from Death will the same save thee after Death and restore thee to Life when thou art Dead Concerning Evangelical Righteousness AND hitherto these things have been explained by us concerning the Righteousness of the Law as it is considered out of Christ. Now let us again turn our eyes unto Christ and consider what his Righteousness without the Law worketh in us And here first of all a wonderful and most manifest difference between the Law and Christ presents it self unto us For seeing the Law as hath been said can give no Life according to the rigour of its Iustice but only to perfect Men Therefore it comes to pass that because it finds nothing perfect in us it being hindered through the infirmity of our flesh can give no help nor work any thing in us but wrath Therefore being repulsed by the Law and destitute of the help of Works let us seek another Patron of Salvation whosoever he be who may help us But there is none who doubts that He is no other but Christ the only Son of God whom we all alike profess through all Churches There is therefore no Controversie remaining between us and our Adversaries concerning the Author of Salvation Nevertheless there remains here another ambiguity or question perhaps not yet cleared enough by all Divines For whereas there is no man but confesses that Righteousness is in Christ in its highest perfection And we have already heard from the Law that there is no fellowship of Righteousness with Unrighteousness here some difficulty comes in how it comes to pass that the Lord Christ all whose Iudgments are most just can or ought against Righteousness favour those who having forsaken their duty have turned aside to Unrighteousness For if the Law of God according to the nature of Righteousness cannot avoid condemning of those that are guilty of wickedness some perhaps may ask What way Christ who doth not any thing but what is most righteous can procure Salvation to those without the violation of his Righteousness whom the Law of Righteousness justly condemns Or if he do it how for what cause and in what manner he does it by Faith or by Works If by Faith whether by Faith only or by the help of Works joyned with it if upon the account of Works whether before Works or after Works or in the very Works But if by Faith only without Works hence ariseth a threefold question 1. What then do good Works avail 2. What Faith that is and of what sort it is which is said to justifie 3. Whom this Faith justifies for they must be either sinners or righteous if sinners they are either penitent or stubborn if you say both you will speak against Righteousness which cannot be well called Righteousness unless it reward according to every mans deeds and merits But
birth-right then the bestowing of the Inheritance goes before all deeds Afterwards Pious deeds follow according to the saying of Augustine which is no less true than firm Good works follow him that is justified but go not before him that is to be justified Wherefore if that most pure and eternal Nature account us for Sons as it was proved above in which there sticks not any stain of unrighteousness upon the like account it follows that the cause which joyns us to God as Sons the same also makes us just in the sight of God But that we may rightly examine what that cause is first the degrees of causes must be distinguished of which some are related unto God and others to men On Gods part in the first place comes his infinite Mercy Predestination Election the Grace of the Promise and Vocation of which Paul speaks in more places than one Who hath Predestinated us saith he unto the adoption of Sons by Iesus Christ whom he hath Predestinated that they should be conformed to the Image of his Son them he hath also called whom he hath called them he hath also justified c. In the next order follows the Donation of his Dear Son his Obedience Death Sufferings Merits Redemption Resurrection Forgiveness of Sin As for those things which proceed from God there is no great controversie between us But our Opinions differ concerning those things which are called causes on Man's part to wit whether there is one cause only or more Whether Faith only without Works or Works joined together with Faith And this is the thing about which now we contend O Osorius for in these Books you do dispure about the righteousness of works at such a rate that you suppose Faith only without these additions so Insufficient to perform any thing towards the purchasing Salvation that it is your Opinion That this Faith of Christ only if it be separated from the help of Works deserves not to be called the Faith of Chrit but a head-strong rashness an insolent confidence an impudent boldness an outragious madness an execrable Wickedness Which sort of Words how little modesty they savour of it is needless here to inquire But how far they differ from truth and the inviolable authority of Sacred Scriptures it will be requisite to take notice because at present this is the matter of debate between us And first if you understand it concerning this common Fellowship of Men with one another and Offices of mutual obedience between Man and Man there is no man so unreasonable as to separate Faith from the operation of Charity in that sense For thus Faith Hope and Charity have a necessary connexion But if the 〈◊〉 is applied beyound the publick society of Human Life to those things that peculiarly belong to Salvation and have a relation to God himself That if now the cause should be erquired for which gives us a right to the adoption of the Sons of God and which purchases us righteousness before him Herein Paul in Disputing against you doth so far take away all righteousness from works and leaves Faith alone that he judges him that mingleth any thing besides for the obtaining Salvation to be a destroyer of Faith an Enemy of Grace and consequently an Enemy of the Cross of Christ. For if those saith he that are of the Law are heirs Faith is made void the promise is made of none effect And also elsewhere If righteousness comes by the Law then Christ dyed in vain Thus you hear Paul manifestly asserting what it is that makes us heirs of the Inheritance and Salvation not the Law but Faith And that these two are so contrary in the Office of Iustifying that if the Law be admitted Faith is wholly overturned the Death of Christ is made void the grace of the promise fails Now let us compare Osorius disputing of righteousness with Paul He affirms that Man is justified by Faith without Works Your opinion on the contrary pleads that righteousness doth so much consist of Works without Faith that Faith doth nothing else but prepare for Holy Works He asserting a twofold righteousness of Works and of Faith of Grace and of Merit so distinguishes between both that he sets the one against the other by a mutual opposition as if they were things that could by no means consist together but the one destroys the other And he makes that evident by the example of the Israelites and the Gentiles of whom those grasping at righteousness by Works fell from true righteousness These because they sought after righteousness by Faith solely and simply obtained it You on the contrary being neither deterred by their fearsul example nor regarding the Apostolical Instruction and making no distinction between these so different kinds of righteousness you seem to comprehend all in that one righteousness of the Law as if the righteousness of Faith were none at all The Words of Paul are very manisest To him that worketh the reward is reckoned to be not of grace but of debt But to him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is imputed unto him for righteousness What can any Man say more expresly Afterwards he adds freely denying that it could be imputed freely if it were due for Works On the contrary Osorius seems to be of such an opinion that he acknowledges no imputation of righteousness at all He who afferts we are justified by the Faith of Christ and not by Works What doth he else but remove Works utterly from the justification of Faith Your assertion which makes the Faith of Christ if works are shut out to be no Faith but 〈◊〉 and execrable Wickedness What else doth it in these words but bring a Gospel not from Heaven but from Portugal wholly differing from that which we have received from Paul Which seeing we are commanded by the Apostle not to suffer so much as in an Angel without wishing him accursed what may be answered to you in this case I commit to your self to consider Paul reasons thus If of Grace then not of Works otherways Grace is not Grace If of Merit then not Freely For in that which is free there can be no merit or debt The Arguments of Osorius whereby he attributes Righteousness to Works are answered NOW it must be enquired by what arguments Osorius pleads for his opinion And first he brings that out of the Psalms The Lord saith he is Righteous and loveth Righteousness his countenance beholds the upright And again The Wicked saith David shall not dwell with thee the Unrighteous shall not remain before thy eyes and thou hatest all those that work Iniquity thou shalt destroy all them that speak leasing c. And now what is gathered from these testimonies To wit That the Wicked have no society with the goodness of God For seeing God is himself the very Law of Equity and Rule of Righteousness according to which
thing and the holy Scriptures another they affirm that this is performed on this account because Christ being punished for us on the Cross hath by his Merits obtained for us the infusion of Charity Which because it is the perfection of the Law therefore being acquired by the Merit of Christ and received by our free-will it brings forth righteousness not that whereby we are accounted for just but whereby we are both truly just and deserve life But verily this Sophism neither agrees with the History of the Israelites nor satisfies the argument propounded For if those that were then wounded by the Serpents by only beholding the Serpent without any other intermediate cause received present health verily either this type bears not the similitude of Christ or Christ heals us by faith in his name only without interposing the remedy of Charity Otherways the mutual proportion of similitude between us and them between Christ and the Serpent will not rightly agree They lifted up their outward eyes we our inward they to the serpent we to Christ. Both by beholding obtain health through the Promise of God they the health of their Bodies we of our Souls They presently in beholding at the first sight were healed in the same moment by no endeavour of their own but only upon the account of the Object and by vertue of the Promise And what other thing doth this mystical adumbration signifie but Iustification freely prepared and promised to us by the sole contemplation of the Object whereby we apprehend Christ by Faith Will you hear the Promise That every one who seeth him may not perish but have eternal Life And elsewhere And this righteous servant of mine by his knowledge shall Iustifie many But what is it to see him but to believe in him What is the knowledge of that righteous one but the Faith of Christ which Iustifies from sin Therefore what external aspect was to them that the light of Faith is to us What Health was to them Iustification is to us whereby we are delivered from the Curse of sin and are absolved without punishment But if you ask what way There is an answer in readiness to wit according to the very similitude of the Serpent not by any labour of ours but by contemplation of the Object only and by vertue of the Promise I pray you what is more evident What more agreeable And what then should be said to those ill-employed men who by their new doctrine translate Free Iustification which is due only to Faith by vertue of the Promise of God unto works of Charity Of Sin and the healing thereof by Christ. FOR Andradius Hosius Vega the Spaniard and those others of the same Faction confederate with these seem so to contend about the Righteousness of Charity that having almost banished Faith out of the City of Rome they place all the parts of our Salvation or at least the chiefest in Charity and Sanctification And now by what Scriptures will they demonstrate that What say they doth not Christ heal us just as the Brazen Serpent healed the Wounds of those that were hurt Were we not all healed by his stripes Is not he the Lamb that takes away the sins of the World Is not he the Life-giving Serpent who gives cure for our wounds And what are our Wounds say they but Sin What is the healing of Wounds but the puting away of Sins What then shall the Serpent be more powerful in fixing his sting than Christ in taking it out Shall Alam be more powerful to infect Nature than Christ to cleanse it But how is nature purged if yet the contagion of sin remains As in a diseased body unless the hurtful humours are purged off health is not recovered and as the Air being surrounded on every side with black darkness begins not to shine before the brightness of the Sun being returned the darkness vanishes In like manner in the inward diseases of minds the causes of maladies must first be taken away before health is restored But the causes of evils are sins which if they are taken away by Christ how can they remain in the Saints But if they abide not by necessary consequence then it follows that the roots of all sins being cut away they are righteous in the sight of God by that righteousness not which is imputed but which properly inheres in them which is free of all spot of sin which carefully observes the Law which informs the mind with Charity and beautifies it with Divine Ornaments and makes us partakers of the Divine Nature But let us put all these together for brevities sake into the exact form of an argument Sin abolished doth not remain In the Baptized and in those that are come to years who are converted sin is abolished Therefore After Baptism and in those that are come to years after true conversion there remains no more sin This argument having a bad connexion doth evidently destroy it self First there is no man that denies that actual sin is not abolished in Baptized Infants in whom it is not committed In those come to years if all sins are so extinguished that no relicks remain what need is there of any conversion For what place is there for repentance where nothing is committed contrary to duty What if the Life of the Saints is nothing else but almost a daily conversion and mourning for sin how can a daily frailty of sinning be wanting there But let us look upon the parts of the Argument Sin abolished say they doth not remain That is true indeed if perfect and compleat abolishment of sin be understood both as to the Material of Sin and as to the Formal as the Schools speak Therefore as touching the Major in so much I acknowledge sin doth not remain in how much it is abolished in the Saints But after what manner and in what order it is abolished in the Baptized and in the adult it follows next that this should be enquired into in the Minor Therefore I answer to the Minor with a distinction that sin is said to be abolished in the Adult that are Regenerate it is partly true and partly false with a different respect had to divers circumstances But how that is understood it must be explained first as touching the death of the Mediatour which brings Salvation there is no defect in that but it hath abundantly recovered whatsoever perished by Adam yea it hath brought us much greater benefits than the evils which Adam procured unto us But if it be asked how and in what order the Death of Christ effects this I answer not by denying but by distinguishing For seeing two things are considerable in every sin the guilt obliging or the punishment of damnation which Lombard calls passive corruption and then active corruption or the very act of sin or the infirmity of corrupted nature Therefore there is again a twofold remedy prepared for this twofold evil guilt
Religion and trampled upon all Actions worthy of Praise and exercises of Eminent Vertue as things of no worth and condemned Pious Tears and judged those Men abominable and Wicked who wept and mourned for their Iniquities or upon any account lamented the Sins they committed And as if he taught a certain new way of Salvation and such a one as neither requires works of vis nor any sorrow neither occasions any trouble to sinners but teaches that confidence alone is sufficient to wit such a confidence whereby every Wicked and Ungodly Man may be supposed acceptable to God tho'he himself do not at all endeavour to restrain his wickedness or pretend to any desire after Piety but only so supposeth in his own mind that he is dear to God That the favour of God is prepared for all yea for the unclean and Wicked though sin rules and reigns with an universal dominion over them Moreover that Luther should think it a great Wickedness to lament Mans first ruine or fall and to fear punishment c. Besides other things also of the like sort no less absurd than false which being wrested by you to a wrong sense you use to lay to his charge not that they are really true of him but they are puposely feigned by you that by any means possible ye may render him odious to the ignorant People But these cunning attempts of yours avail nothing for the Writings and Sermons of Luther are publickly known There are also extant the publick Confessions of the Saxon. Churches first presented unto Carolus Caesar in the Assembly of Augusta Anno. 1530. And afterwards Anno. 1551. Shewed and offered to the Council of Trent in which what they teach concerning the true way of Iustification according to the Word of God what they Iudge and Preach of repentance and the Holy Fruits of good Works by all which they do sufficiently defend themselves against your frivolous calumnies and most vain accusations that there is no need of any other defence besides The opposite Assertions of the Adversaries against the Free Imputation of Righteousness produced and examined WHich things seeing they are so and sufficient defence hath been made for those of our Profession let us proceed to that which remains We will then first declare the opposite assertions and decrees of the Adversaries what they say and judge concerning Righteousness Faith Grace Repentance and Works and next we will compare their Opinion with ours and both together with the holy Gospel of God that it may be the more evident to the Reader what should be judged of both And here first come forth unto us Osorius none of the meanest Champions in this Cause all whose contention against Luther drives at this to destroy all imputation of Righteousness and to leave no other way of Righteousness but that which consists in works and observation of the Law and which might maintain according to the Decrees of Trent that we are not only esteemed righteous but also are really or inherently Righteous in the sight of God even unto justification In which way of justifying he doth not exclude Faith and Grace but he so mingles these together that the praise it self of Righteousness is founded on works and all else so subservient that Faith first goes before that it may only prepare and make way for the obtaining of Grace And Grace afterwards follows which brings forth good works in us and then works themselves perfect and compleat Righteousness For after this manner doth Osorius dispute in his Third Book And this is the sum of what he says therefore seeing the Law either written on Tables or received by Revelation cannot take away the unbridled lust of the mind and whilst lust remains in its vigour no man can by any means obey the precepts of the Law which are given for our attaining Righteousness Therefore it is that no man relying only on the help of the Law can be holy unless he be furnished with the immediate help of the Holy Spirit against lust and farther because we obtain this Divine help not by the Law but by Faith Therefore it is that all actions of Charity are called works of Faith not of the Law both by other Divine Writers and also by Paul who frequently by the name of Faith understands all Offices of Charity c. You have here a Specimen of the Osorian Righteousness so described by him that Righteousness seems to consist not at all in Faith without Works but in Works which are called Works of Faith not of the Law Which Righteousness whoso wants he denies that it is possible for him to be received into the favour of God 〈◊〉 chiefly upon this Argument Because that Divine Nature being most holy and most pure and which can endure no filthiness of Iniquity it behoveth him therefore that would enjoy the presence thereof to conform himself unto the same Image for there is no Communion between light and darkness there is no union between the holiness of righteousness and the wickedness of unrighteousness Which seeing it is so he therefore concludes that Luther they of Luther's Party do err first in this that they dare assert that sin in those whom that infinite purity hath united unto it self by a most Holy Love is not wholly removed nor altogether abolish'd and pluck'd up by the roots nor all its fibers quite extirpated And also that they affirm that a Law is laid upon us by God which cannot be kept In the one of which the Divine Clemency and Bounty is distrusted In the other abominable reproach is cast upon his Infinite Power and Godhead Concerning Righteousness and its definition given by Osorius and others THou hast ingenuous Reader the whole Model of Osorian Righteousness described in a short compend in which what is true and what is faulty it remains that we should examine with like brevity according to the Rules of Evangelical Doctrine beginning first at the very definition of righteousness because thereupon depends the substance of the whole Controversie For so Osorius defines Righteousness that it is a state of Soul founded on the Law of God and that bears a clear resemblance to the immutability of the Divine Vertue In like manner also Andradius not much differing from him Righteoufness saith he is an unmoveable equity and government of mind which measures all its actions and counsels by the Law of God And the same again presently Righteousness is a habit of mind fashioned by the Divine Law to obey that Divine Law and Will as it perswades to perform the Offices of every vertue C. So that I need not here gather together the definitions of others of the Party of whom I find so many to be of the same Opinion that they think a Righteous Man should be defined from works of Righteousness just as a wise Man from Wisdom a Musician from Musick and other Artificers are formally denominated from
which new qualities being received for the Merit of Christ now man himself by that inherent Righteousness as their words express it merits a greater and fuller righteousness reconciliation and adoption and at length Life Eternal Moreover they proceed so far that they assert there is no Righteousness at all but that which is peculiar to every man and they so define it that in all the nature of Righteousness there is no place at all for faith and there appears not so much as any mention thereof For thus they define it the righteousness of God which is revealed in the Gospel is a vertue in God which distributes to every one according to their deserving Alphonsus adds Evangelical righteousness is an equal proportion of merits to rewards I beseech you Pious Reader those that profess such vile and absurd things will any man suppose that they have been exercised with serious meditation at any time in the holy Scriptures or that they have not rather bestowed their whole age and wits in Heathenish and Aristotelian trifles But now it will not 〈◊〉 amiss to take notice with what props of reason they confirm these their opinions Against the Iesuits and their Topick Arguments whereby they confirm Inherent Righteousness out of Aristotle WHAT say they have you not at any time read that form of reasoning in Aristotle He is righteous therefore he is endued with righteousness Such a man is learned therefore he hath learning We have read it Say they in the Topicks of Aristotle That is true indeed But have ye not also at any time read in the Epistles of Paul these forms of speaking Christ is our Righteousness We are made the righteousness of God by him faith is imputed unto righteousness the Iust shall live by faith What then Shall we believe Aristotle more than Paul We believe Fishermen Saith Ambrose not Logicians And should we translate our Faith which we owe to God with faithful Abraham unto men that are Sophisters But now lest those Iesuits should say that they are not answered let us look more nearly into the force of their argument and pierce them through with their own Dart. They deny that ever this external attribution was heard of since the World was that a thing should receive a name extrinsically from qualities that can be within so that they should be accounted righteous before God not by inherent qualities but the righteousness of another to wit Christs which is applyed to us by Faith c. And indeed this Reason taken out of Aristotle might perhaps be of some force if they had omitted these words before God But now seeing there is a twosold and divers righteousness the one which is called the righteousness of the Law the other which is called the righteousness of Faith and seeing the judgments of God and the judgments of men do differ they do foolishly and ridiculously argue from humane things to divine from the righteousness of the Law to the righteousness of Faith for men are not justified in the sight of God upon the same account that they are esteemed righteous before men Yea oft-times it happens otherways that those whom this World does most cry up and judges just by their inherent qualities God condemns the same men chiefly of unrighteousness out of those very same qualities and so on the contrary part This may easily appear evident by the Example of the Pharisee and the Publican either of which if they were to be valued according to the inherent merits of their life what cause was there I beseech you why the Publican should go home more righteous than the Pharisee Even as with a like diversity the Scripture sometimes names them dead whom humane Philosophy would judge to be alive and in perfect health Suffer ye Saith he the dead to bury their dead But pray how dead who unless they were alive they could not bury their dead What shall we then say that the Scripture lyes in calling them dead which were alive Or does that Iesuitical Rule rather lye which judges those alive by reason of their inherent qualities whom the Scripture calls dead How shall these things so contrary to one another agree together But that it is one thing to live to be dead and to be righteous before God and another thing before Men. The Books of Holy Scripture are full of such Examples and they have been often heard of and seen by Men and yet after all these things those pleasant Gymnosophists deny that this external attribution was ever heard of since the World was that a thing should receive a name extrinsecally from qualities whose nature is to be within Is it so indeed that this was not heard of since the beginning of the World what do I hear have ye not then good men read these words of the Apostle in the Holy Scriptures of God By the disobedience of one man many were made sinners and again by the obedience of one man many shall be made Righteous I pray you what is the meaning of these words by the disobedience of one many are sinners Again by the obedience of one many are righteous Does this attribution seem internal to you or rather external was that rebellion peculiar to Adam or was it ours If it was ours how was it ours but by external imputation What when you hear these words of the Apostle He made Christ to become sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God through him c. Did either of us receive from qualities that can be said to be within he that he was made sin or we that we are called and made righteousness through him Moreover what is that when the Publican in the Gospel is said to have gone to his house justified rather than the Pharisee what was the cause why the one went away justified and the other went away unjustified I think it came not so to pass by a habit of inherent righteousness but upon this account rather because the Publican confessed his own unrighteousness therefore of wicked he is made righteous the other because he seemed righteous to himself through a false opinion of his own righteousness was manifested to be unrighteous according to the testimony of Holy Scripture The Righteous Man no sooner speaks than he accuses himself and in another place confess thy sins that thou mayest be justified therefore that aying of Augustine seems worthy of Praise this is the true way to perfection if every man acknowledge in truth and confess in humility his own impersection And Bernard spake no less to the purpose who bids us consider the Pharisee praying he was no Robber said he nor unjust nor an Adulterer nor careless of Fastings nor unmindful of the poor nor unthankful to God what then was wanting This one thing was wanting that he took no care to know what was wanting to him but made the most of his own merit and therefore returned
empty On the contrary the Publican who emptied himself and took care to bring an empty vessel received the more plentiful grace By these things I suppose it is sufficiently evident what this Righteousness is and of what sort which makes us righteous before God whether it is Christs or ours If it is Christs it is not ours How then of works of our righteousness If it is ours it is not Christs how is a man of wicked made righteous If of wicked he is made righteous that I may speak in the words of Augustine what are the works of wicked men Let the wicked man now boast of his works I give to the Poor I take nothing away from any man c. then thou art in this thy boast wicked and thy works are none These things said he therefore it is a false Opinion which men plead for to wit that a man cannot be called righteous by an external righteousness Neither is it less Ass-like which those Balqamites do bray who say that it is the same thing for a man to be thus Righteous as if a man should say an Ass with the form of an Ass is a Mon for by Faith we are called faithful and by righteousness weare called righteous c. Be it so indeed that no Man should rightly be called righteous but upon the account of Righteousness what then seeing Christ is our righteousness is there not sufficient cause upon that account why we should be called righteous should any man require a better righteousness than that which is Christs And what form of expressing though external can hinder but that the righteousness which is peculiar to Christ may also be called ours and may be common both to him and us especially seeing he is wholly ours with his merits vertues benefits and all his goods which qualities though they are not properly in our selves yet being received from him they pass likewise into our possession As the Bodies of the Stars and Planets though dark of themselves yet they shine and are made bright not with their own but anothers light to wit being inlightned with the light of the Sun just so it comes to pass to us that we are made Righteous Kings Priests Sons and Heirs of God not by any property of our nature or condition of works but because the Son and Heir himself is said to be made Sin and a Curse for us not for any sin inherent in him but imputed to him Argument But here again and again those impure Sophisters object that this was never heard from Aristotle and that it is not agreeable to reason that he should be called learned that hath no learning or righteous that is not endued with righteousness And perhaps that may seem true in moral vertue Now seeing there is a twofold righteousness as I have said one which they call Ethick another which is Theological that consists in manners this in faith we must judge far otherwise of this than of that For the righteousness of which Aristotle treats as it is a moral vertue distinguished from prudence courage and temperance thus it is referred to the habits of the mind and internal qualities according to which men are denominated of what sort they are by Philosophers And though we confess this to be true in some respect it doth not at all hurt our cause nor discourage our enterprize in clearing this point For all this Controversie undertaken by us drives at this that we should search for a righteousness which is no moral humane vertue but which is a Spiritual Grace and gift of God which is not ours but which is proper to Christ whence he only is called holy and just and we are called justified in him not upon the account of works but faith which God imputes for righteousness unto them that believe in his name And hence it is rightly called the righteousness of faith and therefore faith it self is righteousness whereby we are accounted righteous before God being endued not with that external righteousness about which those men Philosophize but being beautified and adorned with a peculiar and most internal righteousness which being so who sees not that it is false and sophistical which those men take out of Aristotle that we are justified by works or should upon no account be called just why so because no man can be called just but upon the account of the righteousness which every man possesses for his own in himself For thus do those sharp-witted Men argue who cannot endure the free justification of Faith To whom that I may make answer let us hear this first from them Whether faith whereby we believe in Christ seems to them a vertue or not If they judge so I ask whether it is a moral vertue or a theological And then whether it is internal and inherent being inwardly placed or whether it should be called external If faith is an internal thing and the same is our righteousness in the fight of God Why then should not this seem an allowable form of arguing against the Iesuites who deny that we are otherwise justified than by internal and inherent righteousness Argument Ma. Our Faith is Righteousness before God Mi. Our Faith is an internal and inherent vertue Concl. Therefore we are made righteous before God by an internal and inherent vertue But here again the Adversaries object that they do not at all deny but that Faith is an internal vertue in us which nevertheless makes us faithful but makes us not just Why so because we are said to be faithful from faith but we are said to be righteous only from righteousness O sweet and understanding men as if those who are faithful in Christ Iesus were not also just before our God or as if these things should only be looked upon in their names and needed not to be considered rather in their causes and effects And what will they then say to these words of Paul being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ What if the cause being granted the effect also must necessarily be granted and faith is a justifying cause as the Apostle witnesseth how can it be that those who receive the name of faithful from faith should not also upon the same account receive the cause of righteousnes whence they are not only called righteous but made so also in reality And these things we have said by the by against the objections of the Iesuits who seeing they so strictly examine the Divine Theorems of our Religion according to the Logical forms of arguing it is reasonable that we also should keep them entangled and expedite our selves out of their nets as much as may be Here therefore seeing they require of us Arguments conformed unto the modes of Aristotle let them so receive them Argument Ma. Men from Righteousness are rightly and formally called Righteous Mi. The Faith of Christ is Righteousness imputed to us by God
Concl. Therefore from Faith men are rightly and formally called righteous before God Again Ma. They that do justly should be called just before God Mi. They that believe in the Son of God do most justly Concl. Therefore they that believe in the Son of God are deservedly called just For what can any man do more justly or more holily than to believe in the only begotten Son of God and to embrace him with all his faith as the Gospel bears witness This is the work of God that ye should believe in him whom he hath sent And what Doctrine is more excellent than to know Christ the Son of God aright and the power of his Death and Resurrection Which knowledge how much it is valued by God above all other disciplines and arts it may appear by this which is foretold unto us of Christ by the Divine Prophet and my Righteous Servant saith he by his Knowledge shall justifie many What if our Iustification is placed only in the knowledge of the Son of God and the Faith of the Son is nothing else but knowledge Divinely Inspired what credit then should be given to those Iesuitical Sophisters who neither admit of any external cause of justifying nor acknowledge any other but this which they themselves place in Works And now what will they answer to this Argument of Augustin Ma. Whence we are saved thence we are just Mi. By Faith we are saved and reconciled to God and become Conquerors according to that saying of the Gospel This is the Victory which overcomes the World our Faith Conclu Therefore by Faith the name of Righteousness is rightly given to us according to the Testimony of Augustin But those Praters will not yet hold their Peace neither do they endure any either Internal or External Righteousness but this only which they describe in Works and the observance of the Law And they endeavour to prove it by this caption First then as touching Faith though that is an internal Vertue yet they plead that it doth not otherways justifie but upon the account of Charity But thus they dispute concerning the righteousness of Christ Because it is not our own but is peculiar to Christ. There is no cause why a Man should take upon him the Name of Righteous from that Righteousness which is anothers to wit according to the Law of Aristotle Which how frivolous it is and contrary to the Faith of the Gospel it will not be difficult to demonstrate by very clear words of Scripture for to what purpose is the Divine Love Preached in the Gospel and in the Prophets to have given Christ his only begotten Son unto the World Unless he had been willing to make us partakers together with him of all his Wealth Vertues Merits and whatsoever good things belong to him Whence Paul He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things What if Christ was given to us byhis Father poured forth exposed and is wholly made ours with all his goods and gifts is there any thing in him whether Wisdom or Iustice or Sanctification or Life or Victory or Death or any other thing besides which we may not by a due right lay claim to as our own If it is ours upon what account then do those Gymnosophists Preach that it belongs not to us Of which thing we may reason thus Ma. Whatsoever Christ did for us is esteemed ours just as if it had been done by our selves Mi. Christ fulfilled all Righteousness for us Conclu Therefore all the Righteousness of Christ is ours by Faith just as if it had been fulfilled by us It is 〈◊〉 by the Example of Adam that Christ's Righteousness is ours PErhaps the thing will appear more evident by Example Let us look upon Adam and in him let us behold the publick calamity of our Nature And also let us contemplate Salvation restored again by the second Adam from the ruine received by the first For if the Doctrine and Force of contraries be the same according to Philosophers it will be more easie by that means from the Evil of the one to judge of the advantages of the other Then let us compare both Adams with one another The first Earthly of the Earth with this second Heavenly from Heaven Who though in their whole Nature they are most different one from another Yet by the singular Wisdom of God it so comes to pass that there is a wonderful resemblance between things that differ very much and the reason of our Salvation being restored agrees most aptly with the reason of the ruine received First in this that both were Originally Princes and Authors of our Propagation one of the Earthly and the other of the Heavenly And then afterwards there was added another thing in which he was a wonderful Type and Image of Christ who was to come a long time after How that came to pass we shall very well learn of Paul himself As saith he by the Disobedience of one Man many were made Sinners So by the Obedience of one many shall be made Righteous and doubling the same again and again in many words As faith he by one Man Sin entred into the World and by Sin Death came upon all Men in that all have Sinned c. And presently If therefore by the Sin of one Man Death came upon all Men to Condemnation in like manner by the Iustification of one Man good is propagated unto all Men to the Iustification of Life What is more clear than these words of the Apostle The whole force and summ of the Argument drives at this that the true Nature of our Righteousness is not due to our Vertues but we must be beholden for it to the merit of another Setting before us such a sense as this by Argument Argument Ma. In what manner Unrighteousness is propagated in the World in the same manner also Righteousness comes Mi. Unrighteousness is propagated by the Sin of one Man Only Conclu Therefore also Righteousness by the merit of one only is derived unto all that are allied to Christ by Faith Otherways Ma. As the matter is between Adam and us after the same manner is the matter between us and Christ. Mi. The sin of one Adam is imputed to all his Posterity yea all those who transgressed not with him Conclu Therefore The Righteousness of one Christ is imputed to all his Posterity to wit that believe in him though they did not obey with him Which things seeing they are of themselves clear and conspicuous the Point calls us to return to you O most excellent Osorius who seem either not to head carefully enough or else perniciously to deny that which Paul Discourses of Imputation so copiously and weightily Wherefore again and again beseeching you I appeal to this sacred Righteousness whereof you write and also to the equity of your own humanity that having
if he who knew no sin is made a sinner before God by the imputation of the sin of another What and shall not we who are by nature unrighteous in like manner be made Righteous before God by the same dispensation of mercy and imputation What can hinder but that as the rebellion of one was imputed to us all to destruction after the same manner the obedience of one may be imputed to us all for Salvation Let your Wisdom consider what you should answer in this case not only to me but also to Paul But now that this may be more clear first you see this common and fatal necessitv of Dying whereunto all mortal men are liable which with the same Foot beats at the Gates of Kings Palaces and at the Doors of Poor mens Cottages Now I would know of you whence this cause and necessity of dying had its first original and began to make havock Whether through our fault or the fault of another You will say not through our fault What if Death had snatched your self away in your Infancy you had then deserved nothing your self And yet was you not then born on that condition that you could dye Verily many Infants and Innocents are dayly snatched away who deserved nothing themselves yet they were born on those very Terms that they were Mortal and lyable to dye at some time Why so I beseech you Unless it be because they proceed from him the Transgression of which one Man was imputed to all to suffer the punishment of Death so that that is cause sufficient why you should dye because you are propagated from him who deserved Death you will say by a hard enough Law I also would fay the same with you unless the same Iustice of the Eternal Deity had opposed an equal remedy to this great calamity making amends for and alfo over-balancing just severity with a like kind of mercy You will say what way That way which St. Paul mentions in this place he that knew no Sin saith he was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God through him What is that I pray you to be made sin for us but to undergo what was due to our Sins Which if the most merciful Father condescended to Translate unto his only begotten Son not for any demerit of his but for our sakes only Verily it cannot be neither is it agreeable to the Iustice of God nor to reason neither that he should punish both his own Son and us also for our Sins so that one of those two must needs follow that if Christ hath made satisfaction for us either Iustice hath nothing now in us that it may accuse us of Or if it have it is false then which is mentioned in this place by Paul Christ was made Sin for us and that is false which we hear in the Prophet And he shall bear their iniquities c. For how did he bear them if they remain yet tobe born by us Whence the Apostle concluding very well he reasons to this purpose That we might be made saith he the Righteousness of God through him as if he had said as Christ did bear our Sins so also we do bear his Righteousness He was punished not for his own Sins but ours in like manner we are endued with Righteousness which is not ours but his In which thing the admirable Artifice of our Redemption is seen Where Mercy encountering with Iustice doth so contend that it overcomes also and yet so overcomes that in the mean while there is not made any violation of Iustice but a just recompence for sins For as unjust as it is that he who was free from sin should suffer the punishment of sin for the guilty It is again as unjust that our sins already expiated in him for us should again be punished in us by the judgment of condemnation And upon a different account how just it was that the sin of one who sustained the person of all nature should be propagated unto all that came of him and should be given to publick condemnation Again it is as agreeable to Iustice that the obedience of one man who undertook the cause and person of all men should be likewise communicated to all regenerated of him to the imputation of righteousness But you on the contrary plead that it seems not to be just at all that any man should seem just by another mans righteousness who is unrighteous himself I answer to the contrary and thus I plead neither was it just that Christ being innocent should be 〈◊〉 into the condemnation of Death who was in himself free of all spots You object to me the definite nature of Iustice Which because it is a vertue giving to every man according to his desert therefore you argue that it cannot be but it must measure unto all men by equal right whatsoever is due to their merits Be it so and why then doth not this same justice my good friend distribute to Christ the Son of God according to his deserving Why is the innocent beaten with stripes Why is he torn unjustly with punishments wherefore contrary to his deserving contrary to Right and Iustice is he drawn to the judgment of Death and being innocent is stretched forth upon the Cross What can you answer me in this case What say you What have you whereby you may defend this distributive Iustice What will Iustice it self bring for it self which is the most exact and perfect of all things so often proclaimed by you and in so many books Which it may probably make a pretence for the receiving of so great an injury Except that it may say this only That we and the sins of us all came under punishment in this one most innocent body of his and there were with deserved punishments most justly recompensed by God Which unless it were so Iustice it self had sinned against him most unjustly Now the singular Providence of the Most High Artist hath governed the matter with that moderation that he did both wisely look to the glory of his own Son and our Salvation and also to his own justice so that there is nothing wherein his Iustice may be accused neither is any thing found in us in which the very Law of Iustice may justly condemn us Whence it is rightly said by the Apostle that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus For otherwise to what purpose did Christ dye if he died not for sins and sinners or how did he dye for sins if the punishment of sin remains to be suffered again by us How was he made sin and a curse for us if we yet fall under the Curse Or what fruit will redound to us from this most Holy Sacrifice if Christ by the right of Redemption hath not taken away that which is due to our sins by the Law of Iustice But if he took it away where is then the
I am so far from slighting that I desire they may remain most firmly fixed in the minds of men for as nothing appears in the most holy manners of Christ which is not very worthy of imitation so no part of duty seems more agreeable to every Christian than that all of us should endeavour with all our might to resemble the image proposed unto us especially seeing Paul so gravely and that in more places than one calls us hereunto who making a Comparison of both Fathers Adam and Christ declares what we received of both By Man saith he came death and by Man came the Resurrection from the dead And presently after proceeding on that matter the first Man was of the earth earthly the second Man is the Lord from Heaven And afterwards concluding with words to the same purpose and exhorting us to imitate the example of his obedience he subjoyns as we have born saith he the image of the earthly let us bear also the image of the heavenly And the Apostle Peter not differing much from Paul proposes Christ for an Example of all long suffering for saith he Christ also suffered for us giving us an Example that ye should follow his footsteps who did no sin who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed all judgment to his Father c. Therefore that you contend so earnestly with the Blessed Apostles for following the footsteps of Christ herein we do very willingly both hear you and assent unto you But that you place all the dignity of our Salvation in this that you refer all the promises of God to this one head as if there were no cause of Salvation but that which is placed only in precepts and instructions of Life herein your discourse seems to pass far beyond the bounds of sound and Apostolick Doctrine For though it is a thing of very great concernment that we should frame all the endeavours and Offices of Life to the imitation of him yet Salvation is not therefore promised because our actions agree to this rule of Righteousness neither is the title of Righteousness given us because we live vertuously but because he was made Righteousness for us For we do not become just before God by imitation but by Regeneration As of Old not through our fault but Adams not by Imitation but by Birth and Propagation the pollution of his Sin was imputed to us unto Condemnation So by vertue of the Second Adam not by any power of our own by being born again not by imitating is Righteousness imputed to us unto the Iustification of Life Neither doth it therefore follow that the examples of Christ are not proposed to us for Imitation It is one thing to reason from causes to effects another thing to reason from effects to causes What if the cause is enquired into that makes us righteous before God Paul will answer That Christ is the external cause who was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God through him But the Internal is our Faith in Christ which is imputed to them that believe forRighteousness But if you ask what are the the effects of this cause Who knows not that they are the Fruits of Pious Works and this very imitation of Christ which you so greatly yea and so deservedly cry up and extol For who can rightly call himself a Christian as you say very well who doth not apply his mind as much as he can to separate himself from all society of the Earthly Father and frame and conform himself wholly to the example of the Heavenly I grant this to be very true as indeed it is For I do not disallow of that which you do rightly assume but I confute that which you would falsly gather from hence For thus you conclude To wit that the whole Magazine of our Salvation is placed in this that by our Pious Labour and Industry we should purchase the Kingdom of God for our selves That they who affirm Faith only is sufficient for Salvation are mad and singularly serviceable to the Old Serpent and that every action we undertake is wholly unprofitable if Faith only is sufficient This is the summ of the Epilogue of this whole debate of yours In which what do you else but by an unskilful huddle of things and without order in disputing turn causes into effects and again effects into causes What when the Apostle Admonishes that Wives should be subject to their Husbands and acknowledge their Authority as the Church is subject to Christ her Husband shall she therefore that is by a Lawful Covenant Married to her Husband not be a Wife before there is added a testimony of due obedience So Children born of Creditable Parents use to resemble them not only in the Lineaments of their Bodies but also in the likeness of their Manners of whom they are begotten What if in some part their resemblance fails What if their manners are dissolute What if they have such a Son as the parable of the Gospel represents to us Who leaving his Father doth no part of his duty shall he therefore cease to be a Son Or shall any Man by the merits of his Life attain to be a Son who is by nature a Servant You may say to what purpose are these things That by these examples you may understand that effects depend on causes and causes are not governed by effects An honest Matron carries with that subjection to her Husband that becomes her and he on the otherside performs his duty in cherishing his Wife These things follow the Conjugal bond but they do not make it just so it is in the Spiritual descent which like another nature regenerates us to Christ and transforms us as new Creatures into the Sons of God Of which thing if the cause be enquired not Works not Hope not Charity but only Faith in Christ Not any Imitation but Baptism being the Sacrament of Faith performs it Concerning which let us hear Paul testifying in very evident Words All of you saith he are the Sons of God through Faith in Christ Iesus Whosoever of you are Baptized in Christ have put on Christ. He that walks being Cloathed with Christ What can be wanting to him unto all Glory and Beauty of Righteousness What can any Man desire more for the security of Eternal Life What is more boundless than Sublimity What is more Sublime than Nobility of Birth What is more excellent than the dignity of high degree Than to be received not only for Servants or Dependents of the Mighty God who comprehends all things by his Power but also as Sons yea and Heirs But if you design to be taught how these so many and so great good things come to us Paul makes Answer By Faith saith he ye are all Sons If Sons then Heirs according to promise And if you ask when that comes to pass whether after the
his Mouth Wherefore that I may bespeak you with Hierom and in the same words Hierom if you would have this common to you with Christ that you can be without fin what do you leave him that is peculiar to him But if not what remains then but that those high Mountains of righteousness with which you are so puffed up should not only fall but also vanish into smoke You proceed yet seeking as it were a knot in a rush which yet is broke through with no difficult wedge You ask to what purpose the Law was prescribed by God with 〈◊〉 great so care or for what end did he require the Law should always remain in the minds of them whom be instructed in the Law if none of those things which be established by Law was to be in the Power of Men What then say you did God make a jest of the Law did he mock Mankind commanding them to do those things which they could by no means perform and then concluding the matter with a merry Sarcasm you cry O what a jesting God if to mock Mankind he hath bestowed so much pains in preserving and instructing that Generation which you say is just as if a Man should bid one that is a Cripple run a Race or one that is blind view things exactly that are done afar off All which things are comprehended in the sum of this Argument Argument Ma. That is in vain commanded which cannot be performed Mi. God commands nothing in vain Conclu Therefore the Precepts of God are not impossible Ma. A just and prudent Lawgiver never prescribes those Laws which exceed the strength and nature of the Subjects Mi. God is the most Iust and most Wise Lawgiver of all Concl. Therefore the things which are prescribed in the Law of God are not above the strength and nature of the Creature Answer To the major I Answer two ways First That it holds indeed in these Laws which are given only for this end that they may be exactly fulfilled by the Subjects that Salvation might be obtained by the same act of Obedience But now though God willed this very much that his Laws should be performed most exactly by all yet besides this end there are other both many and weighty causes why the Law which is a rule of perfect Righteousness though it could not be kept by us in respect of perfect Obedience yet it was necessary that it should be promulagated either that there might be a publick Testimony of the Iudgment and Anger of God against Sin or that we our selves might be brought more easily to the knowledge of our Sins and Frailty Concerning which Paul said when the Law came Sin revived Or that taking notice of the frailty of corrupted and ruinated Nature being more strongly driven by this necessity we might be pressed forward as by the Ferula of a Pedagogue to Christ who is the end of the Law as also the Law is called a Pedagogue to Christ Or that we may be taught as it were by this same Pedagogy whither we must go That if we cannot attain unto a full obedience of the Law yet we may profit in the Inchoation of obedience as much as we can Wherefore seeing there are so many and so great causes of making a Law it appears evident enough from hence that there is no cause why the Law should seem to be imposed upon us by God in vain And yet it doth not therefore follow because the Law of God after the fall is impossible to Human Nature as to the compleat obedience thereof that therefore it is unprofirable seeing the same hath advantages so remarkable Therefore the major of the Argument implies a fallacy Which by the Logicians is called Arguing form that which is not a cause as if it were a cause But let us proceed to the other reasons in your arguments which are not reasons but deceits and fallacies For so you argue against Luther whom you bring forth most unjustly as a certain most bitter Adversary of Eternal Righteousness What is more contrary to Iustice and Equity say you than that one should be punished upon that account because he hath not performed those things which he could by no means so much as begin I hear you and what follows You proceed also to represent the matter as it were before the Eyes of a Man by the framing of a similitude as if some Haughty and Ill-natured Lord going from home should command one of his Servants who is so tyed up in bonds that he cannot move out of the place where be is to provide him a Dinner to dress his Meat curiously to clean the House to cover the Table and to spread the Hangings I say he that would seriously require such things of a Man tyed up Who is there but would judge him to be mad and out of his wits Then if the same Lord afterwards returning should whip and torture the same Servant who could by no means free himself from the bonds because he had not performed his command should we suppose that Man who is so cruel to his Servant to be a Man or rather a cruel Beast hid under the shape of a Man c You have Pious Reader an Example of very Tragical Cruelty Now receive the Catastrophe of the Tragedy What And shall there be any Man so Wicked that he dare so Impudently impute so great Furiousness and such a kind of Abominable Wickedness than which none seems more outragious to that most High most Excellent and most Wise Lord Creatour and Governour of all things No body for ought that I know good Friend If your self knows any I pray you point at him with your Finger to us Though I am not Ignorane what Men you aim at here But passing by Names let us search the force of your Argument and answer to each of its parts being digested in order Answer Ma. It is contrary to Iustice that any man should suffer punishment for those things which he could by no means perform Mi. God doth all things with perfect Righteousness and Equity Conel Therefore God exacts not punishment for those things which cannot be performed A Fallacy of the Accident is committed For this want of strength and impotency should have a just excuse if Nature had been properly and simply so created But when this weakness was not at first created with Nature it self but crept in some other way against Nature by Sin we must therefore see not only what this corrupted Nature now can do or cannot do but also what it ought simply to do Therefore I answer to the Major and freely own that punishment is not unjustly inflicted for those things which there is no cause but they might have been observed either in regard of the Law-giver himself or in the nature of the things themselves but only by reason of the impotency of the Subjects themselves an impotency contracted through
enough of it self alone to merit Salvation And now what then if those are added doth then at length full and perfect Righteousness arise from these together partly from the blood of Christ and partly from renovation by new qualities which may reconcile us being justified unto God For thus Andradius with his fellow Tridentines divides Iustification which Paul attributes simply to Faith into two parts of which he affirms that the one consists in the remission of sins and the other in the obedience of the Law O the Pest of Sophistical Divinity and intolerable deceits for by this distinction it will come to pass that Christ is not the only Saviour nor a compleat one but the Spirit that bestows these qualities for if the only formal cause of our Iustification consists in nothing but only the renovation of the inner man by a willing receiving of grace and gifts what shall now remain that may be attributed to Christ the Saviour and his blood but that he should only give a Dye to our merits which being so Dyed may bring us directly into Heaven But if it be so that the Death of Christ alone doth not fully compleat our Redemption to what purpose or what way did he say it was finished when his passion was finished Or how are all things in Heaven and in Earth reconciled by the blood of his Cross as Paul witnesseth Moreover the same Paul in many places and in all his Epistles places the price and Redemption in no other thing but only in the Blood and Cross of the Son of God In whom saith he we have Redemption through his blood But how shall we say that all things are reconciled by blood if Charity and the other gifts of Renovation and Merits are the things which make us acceptable to God and claim unto themselves the greatest part of our Reconciliation What is this else but to thrust Christ down not only from his Office but also from the Throne of his glory with a gigantick fury Concerning the Reward and Merits of good Works VVHat then Are there no Merits then say they of the Righteous Is there no reward by way of Merit left in Heaven which Christ promises to be so plentiful in the Scriptures What will all that provision of inherent Righteousness avail us nothing towards Life Will so many labours and store of most Holy Works profit nothing wherewith we being Cloathed by the Holy Spirit are advanced daily more and more towards the fulness of Righteousness Augustin will answer to these things and first of Merits If you ask saith he whether there are no Merits of the Righteous There are indeed because they are Righteous but there were no Merits that they might be Righteous For they were made Righteous when they were justified c. Therefore they were not made Righteous by Merits if we believe Augustin but Merits proceed from the Iust By which you may understand that a Person is not valued by the Dignity of his Works or his Grace but that the Diginity of Merits receives its value from the Iustified Person Wherefore seeing Men are not made Righteous by Merits as Augustin witnesseth but Merits receive their Virtue and Dignity from the Iustified it easily appears from hence what should be judged of reward by way of Merit For if after the like manner it be asked whether there is no reward of the Saints in Heaven that which Augustin answers concerning the Merits of the Righteous the same do I also acknowledge concerning the reward of the Saints that the Saints want not a reward and that a large one in the Heavens For they who are Holy a Reward shall be appointed for them not for the Works themselves because they are Holy but because they that work are Holy For not Heaven but a reward in Heaven is given not to Holy Works but to the Workers But if any proceed to ask whence they are Holy I return to Augustin That they are Holy from thence whence they are also made Iust not by Works but by the Faith of the Workers As for Example if any Heathen or Pharisee who is a stranger to the Faith of Christ should do this same thing that a Christian does though he should do also greater things yet the Works would not please God And why should his Works displease Or why should the Works of a Christian please unless it were for Faith And that is it which Prophetical verity in old time foretold should come to pass that the Iust should live by Faith he says not that the Faithful should live by Righteousness By which you see that this Life whereby we live by the Faith of the Son of God is not rendered unto the Merits of Works but consists of Faith and Grace for grace and the gift of God is Etrenal Life If grace where is reward If a gift where then is Merit But what shall be said in the mean while unto Testimonies that are frequent in the Scriptures which oft-times propose great Rewards to Pious Works First it is to be considered by the very Name of Obedience Debt and Duty are implyed Now the Obedience we owe can properly deserve no grace What Man at any time commanding a hired Servant to do his Duty bestows grace or praise upon him for that which he owed upon the account of Obedience or therefore doth assign unto him any portion of his Inheritance What does the Lord himself answer to such Servants in the Gospel Say ye we are unprofitable Servants we have done that which was our duty to do c. Now then wherefore are those things called by the Name of reward which God renders unto our good Deeds I will tell you God proposes rewards verily so he does but the same God proposes Dangers and Combats The most excellent Master of the Wrestlings sees what and how great storms of Temptations must be undergone how many labours must be endured how many difficulties lye before them He sees through how many Casualties and Dangers the strait way to the Kingdom must be undertaken by them who are planted in Christ And therefore that they may not faint in their minds but proceed with the greater courage in their undertaken Warfare rewards are shewed to them as certain prizes and recompenses of Victory to stir up their minds whereby the most Gracious Father may mitigate the crosses of his own Servants and comfort them in their Sufferings with proposing hope of Rewards And hence is that frequent mention of Reward and Recompenses in the Scriptures Not that those things which the Saints suffer in this life are worthy of rewards For the sufferings of this time are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed in us But because it so seemed good to the Clemency of God to esteem those Merits of ours which are none as if they were Merits indeed and to Crown them as if they were very great
yours deserves You only look at how much you proceed in running but you do not also take heed how much you fail in your race And after all these things do you yet boast of your merits as if the reward of the Everlasting state were due to your Labours In which assertions I do not drive at this to dissolve the Pious endeavours of making Progress or to dishearten them by desperation For the Admonition of the Apostle is not in vain so run that ye may obtain And again no Man is Crowned except he strive Lawfully Let us therefore so strive that we may be Crowned let us so run that we may obtain But we do not therefore obtain because we run but we do therefore run because the promise is made to them that run not to them that slumber So that the running is not the cause of the promise but the promise stirs up to running and adds alacrity to the runners Therefore the Apostle that he may make them the more valiant in striving adds this promise your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. And speaking of himself I have fought saith he the good fight and a Crown of Righteousness is laid up for me c. What then do you not see that labours well performed have their own reward due to them Be it so indeed But we treat not here of the labours of Men but of the merits of Labours we do not ask with what rewards the goodness of God dignifies us but what we our selves deserve to receive For there is no small difference between Gift and Merit If Merit is called that to which a recompense of reward is due by reason of its equality it is certain there is no equality between those things which we do here on Earth and those things which being promised we expect in Heaven The Inheritance of the Everlasting Kingdom is promised not that which upon the account of hire is due to our Works but which is promised to our Faith by the free gift of God Whence Paul when he said the wages of Sin his Death he doth not add next thereunto the reward of them that live Godly is Life Eternal But the grace saith he or the gift of God is Eternal Life And why doth he not as well say the reward of Righteousness is Eternal Life But that the difference between gift and reward between grace and recompence might be evident For if it is of grace than it is not of works If of works than it is not of grace But now that he might manifest the Infinite Riches of Divine Grace towards us through Christ Iesus He Proclaims openly that we are saved through Grace by Faith And that not of our selves it is the gift of God not of Works lest any Man should boast Which also elsewhere inculcating more clearly He says not by works of Righteousness which we have done How then But according to his mercy hath he saved us And now what is that mercy but the favour and loving kindness of God which remitting the rigour of Iustice spares those that are unworthy pardons the penitent receives them that are undone into favour which favour or mercy also glories against Iudgment All which being so what should be said of the Hypocritical Fathers of Trent who by the publick decree of their Senate pronounce those accursed whosoever dare say that the grace of God whereby we are justified is only the favour of God The Absurd Paradox of the Tridentines whereby they deny that we are justified by the favour of God only BUT Now by what other thing then will they say that we are justified if we obtain it not by the favour of God only By the Law But that works Wrath By the works of the Law But the Apostle expresly excludes those Not of works lest any Man should boast But here I call to mind the ordinary Glosse which doth resolve no difficulty but makes one by it's subtile comment partly affirming that we are justified by works and partly denying it For thus it says our works as they are ours have no power to justifie yet consider them as they are not from us but are wrought by God in us through Grace they merit Iustification And for that cause the Apostle would not say the wages of Righteousness is Eternal Life But chose rather to say the grace of God is Eternal Life Why so Because saith this device those merits to which Eternal Life is rendered are not from us but they come from grace whence they receive the vertue of meriting O wise yea rather wild talk to vilifie grace What if the Spirit of Christ influencing the Hearts of his own stirs up the Holy Offices of Charity and excellent motions to Piety What doth not the same Spirit also vouchsafe all other gifts to his Church bestowing on some gifts of Prophesie on others divers kinds of Tongues on others admirable Vertues of Curing and Healing and on others of Teaching for the Edification of the Saints What shall we therefore place our whole Iustification in those gifts received from Christ I know that there are both many and eminent vertues wherewith the Spirit of Christ always adorns his Church but it is one thing to adorn another thing to justifie the Church The gift of Sanctification is one thing the cause of justifying is another both whereof though Christ perform by his grace yet he Sanctifies one way and Iustifies another for he Sanctifies by his Spirit but he Saves and Iustifies only by his Death and Blood But you will say if Salvation is not placed in Grace why then is the grace of God called by Paul Eternal Life Verily it is certain and must be confessed which Paul teaches that our Life must be attributed wholly unto grace to which also it behoves us to attribute all other things But we must look what way this grace saves and justifies for it is that on which the whole controversy depends In which the generality of the adversaries are greatly deceived Against the Tridentines It is Demonstrated by the Scriptures that the grace of God whereby we are Iustified consists only in the free favour of God and Remission of sins not in the Merits of Works or Infusion of Charity THomas Aquinas and they that follow him according to the gloss which they call ordinary do not deny that which the Apostle affirms That we are saved by the Grace of God But if you ask after what manner they answer that it comes to pass upon the account of good Works For these are the words of the Gloss Grace says it is called Eternal Life because it is rendered to those Merits which grace hath conferred And to the same Sense are the Comments of Orbelius Bonaventure Halensis and others because say they without grace no Man can observe the Commands of God And Thomas adds elsewhere that to fulfill the Commands of the Law according to the
them subject to his own command what will those furious and importunate pleaders for Works say here May we not enjoy the bounty of another because we have no ability of our own what will they say that no payment is just but what is paid with a man 's own money That which is done by a Friend for the sake of a Friend is it not just as if it had been done by himself If that which was due from us be paid by the price of Christ is there any Law so cruel as to exact the same debt of us again and what will the Adversaries require more here that he should be condemned for unjust whosoever hath no Righteousness of his own And indeed I acknowledge this to be true in Iudicatories if no Redemption intervene which may satisfie in the room of another But now seeing our Affairs are in such a condition that the condemnation of the Law hath nothing that it can demand of us I think that is a sufficient Plea for us which was done by him who made satisfaction for us But these men do again cry out against us saying that it cannot be by Nature and that it is no less contrary to all natural Reason that any thing should take its being from that form which is not its own but another's I answer That it is true indeed formally as to the essence of a thing but not judicially For tho' the Righteousness of another which is not inherent in us cannot render us essentially just who are by Nature unjust But nothing hinders but the Righteousness of another may help our Righteousness according to Iudicial Imputation just as nothing hinders but the Riches of another may be cast upon anothers Poverty by a certain Communion or Imputation of good things so that he who in himself is poor yet may be esteemed rich in another And not unlike unto this is our Communion of mutual Imputation with Christ for as our sins being imputed to Christ were hurtful to him even unto the damage of punishment so by the like Mystery of dispensation the Righteousness of Christ being adjudged and imputed to us though it doth not inhere in us essentially yet in respect of possession and dispensation of Iudgment it is profitable to us for a reward of Life just as if it had been our own Righteousness for otherways to what purpose is Christ said to have done and suffered all these things for us if what he did and suffered serve not for our advantage But if they serve for our advantage why cannot those things be justly accounted for ours which were undertaken in our name and for our sake If the name of Imputation doth so greatly offend them which they think doth not well agree with Christian Piety wherefore then doth Paul so often seem in his Writings not only to use this word Imputation but to delight in it But afterwards Christ willing we shall discourse of this matter more largely in its own place THE Second Book CONCERNING Faith and the Promise YE have heard then of Grace and Merits of free Imputation and Remission of sins on which depends all our Iustification and Salvation But now seeing this Remission whereof I speak must be received by Faith only it remains that we should in this place treat somewhat of Faith especially for this cause either that we may confute the Calumnies of Adversaries or that if it be possible we may help the Errors of those that are so great Enemies to this manner of Iustifying which we affirm to consist of Faith only without Works Upon which kind of Doctrine if we only or first of all Men should stand I should less wonder at so great Tumults of these Men. But seeing Christ himself and Paul and the Prophets and Apostles profess themselves to be not only Witnesses but also the Authors and Leaders in this Opinion whereby we are taught that we are justified only by Faith in the Son when every one of the most Learned Writers and Interpreters who were of the Primitive Antiquity attest the same with unanimous consent from whose Instructions we our selves also have learned the same what is come to those Popish Wits why they should oppofe themselves so unreasonably and so fiercely And now let us consider what that is which so much offends them Luther disputes that Faith is imputed unto Righteousness without Works Paul the Apostle taught the same before Luther What will Osorius say to me here what will the Pope of Rome himself say what will the Senatours of Trent say To wit that good Works must be joyned with it What must all good Works be joyned with it or not if they shall say all where will they find those that have compleated this exact cyclopedy of Vertues in this Life except the Son of God only But if they understand it of most or some good Works at least yet that will not be sufficient For unless every one of the Vertues joyned together as it were in a mutual Bond are united for Righteousness they cannot profit at all being separate Who ever loved his Neighbour as himself according to the Prescript of the Law But suppose there were some such Man What if such a Man rages with Concupiscence of the Flesh or Eyes though the inward mind doth not consent what if the mind swells with self-love or overflows with the pride of Life what if it is enslaved unto Covetousness or some where fails in its duty what advantage will it be to be observant of Charity Briefly what if it be so that thou aboundest with all other vertues but only failest in one command doth not the Sentence of the Scripture condemn thee for the Violation of the Law Moreover we may speak in the words of Thomas himself That if the mind is inwardly guiltless as to any consent unto the sin yet such is the condition of our Nature saith he that though through grace it is healed in respect of the mind yet in respect of the flesh by reason of which it serves the Law of sin corruption and infection remain in it Rom. 7. The obscurity of ignorance remains also in the intellect concerning which Rom. 8. we we know not what to pray for as we ought c. and Wisd. chap. 9. The thoughts of Mortals are frightful and uncertain of our being provided for c. Hitherto hath Thomas spoken From all which it remains that Iustification confists either in Faith only as in the next cause Or that the Accession of our Vertues which are neither perfect nor intire do not at all avail to Righteousness before God but rather to accusation For Cursed is every one that abides not in all things that are commanded in the Book of the Law to do them c. What is the proper Nature and Definition of Faith whereby we are justified before God is enquired into from sure and true Foundations of Scripture By the many things which
we have hitherto discoursed of grace and its gifts I think there is a sufficient defence made against the assaults of Sophisters for the guarding of this principle which assigns all the power of justifying to Faith only through the free mercy of God But because I see it is not clear enough amongst Divines what that Faith is whereof we speak I thought it requisite to speak something of it in this place To wit that having surveyed the Opinions of others and rightly explained those things which seem to need distinction about the manifold homonymy of this Word we may at length be led as it were by the footstepsof the word of God to that true Faith which truly and simply justifies us But because the word Faith is used in various Senses and there are many things that are believed by us for whatsoever things we find to be true and sure we presently give credit to them but yet any sort of perswasion setled in the mind though it be true or any sort of truth about things conceived doth not therefore upon that account justifie before God Therefore in this so great diversity of things to be believed we must see what that Faith is whereof all our Salvation and Righteousness before God consists and what is the proper and simple definition thereof whence it receives its power to justifie to whom it belongs and in what Notions it differs from that Faith which our Adversaries hold Which state of Faith if it had been rightly and definitively seen into by our Divines I am either deceived or else those boasting admirers of Works would wholly change that Opinion or at least moderate themselves more in this matter of disputation But now I know not how it comes to pass that whereas no kind of Doctrine either more admirable for dignity or more excellent for use or more happy for the Salvation of Men hath shined forth or that moreover appears more perspicuously to the Eyes of all Men by manifest Testimonies of Evangelical Scripture yet there is no opinion that hath more numerous or more bitter Adversaries Which whence it comes to pass I can not be satisfied in wondering unless that whereof I spake be the cause thereof because they seem not to have discerned aright by the Gospel what that Faith is to which free Iustification is proposed Which may appear evidently by many Arguments and such as are not at all obscure unto him that reads their Writings Collections Articles Councils and Disputes And in this very Rank Osorius comes first and next Hosius one of his nearest Allies who opposing the Faith of Luther doth not so much consute that as betray his own ignorance For what ignorance is this What kind of intemperance that drawing your pen against your Adversary whom you cannot run down by true Reasons you carp at things not understood and you wound the Innocent with false Accusations where I beseech you did Luther either Teach or Dream of this Faith which you feign he holds To wit that every one obtains Righteousness or is justified upon that account only because he determines himself acceptable to God for these are your words and not yours only For Hosius also harps no less upon the same string together with you and the whole hundreds of almost all the Divines of that Class I know that Luther hath discoursed many things gravely and excellently of Faith and freely saving Righteousness of Faith But he understands this Faith which justifies us much otherways than your accusation pretends Who was ever so mad as that he judged Faith to be confined within these limits and that it is no other thing but that every Man should have a very good opinion of his own Salvation and should be strongly persuaded thereof in his own mind Though in the mean while I deny not that there is always joined with Faith a confidence of good hope yet if we will rightly examin the proper Natures and Causes of things we will find that there is no small difference between Hope and Faith For every Man doth not obtain Righteousness upon the account that he is very couragious in hoping well For otherways what Turk or Iew is there who doth not in his own mind catch at a goodly persuasion about his own Salvation and the gracious favour of God We may also add unto these the Pope of Rome who by a certain Magnifical but most vain hope flattering himself doubts not of his being the only Successour of Peter So also the Papists doubt not but as soon as they have whispered their Sins into the Ears of a Priest by a silent Confession that immediately they go away Pardoned after the performance of this Work and when they put the Innocent Servants of Christ to Death or the Faith they do not at all distrust that they do God Service whereas the matter is far otherways Therefore it is requisite to see not what every Man hopes but how rightly he hopes nor how great his hope is but how true The same also must be done in Faith But that it may appear true it should not be measured by Human Opinion but according to the right Rule of Scripture Neither is it only requisite to look what any one promiseth but to whom and for what it is promised There are wonderful and infinite things which the bounty of God promises in the way of free gift For Salvation and Life Eternal is promised Yet these good things are not therefore promised because they are hoped by us but we therefore hope because they are promised So then Hope doth not go before the promise as a cause and make it but follows it as an effect and it depends upon the promise and not the promise upon it By which you see that it is not Hope no not when it is most right that justifies us and renders us capable of the promise of God But some other thing What is that I beseech you but Faith to which properly the promise is made For the Covenant of Eternal Life is made properly with us believing and not only hoping that is not for the sake of that which is hoped but for the sake of that on which Faith relies Not every Faith Iustifies BUT What I just now said of Hope the same also again must be said of Faith that it must be true and right and not only that it must be great For every Faith doth not avail for Iustification because there are many and divers kinds of believing First there is a Faith whereby we both know that God is and fear him and the Devils themselves are not without this Faith There is another Faith whereby we believe God and give certain credit to his promises The Schoolmen add unto these a third kind of believing whereby we are said to believe in God And this Faith they divide variously into a formed and formless Faith into an habitual and actual faith There is
believed in Christ therefore she loved much Now if that be called the formal cause by Philosophers which furnishes matter with Life and Soul and if Divines account this the life whereby we live to God what then will they say to the Prophetical Scripture whereby the Iust is said to live not by Charity but by faith What also will they answer to the Words of Christ in which he teaches that life Eternal consists in this that we should know the Father the true God and Iesus Christ whom he hath sent And again where in very evident Speech he Attributes life to faith only and not to Charity He that believeth in the Son faith he hath Eternal Life Concerning the Meritorious cause of Iustification BUT in the mean while because these things have been already largely discoursed of there follows after this that which is next in this Series of causes that we should now examine with the like briefness the Meritorious cause of Iustification which those Men by the Authority of Trent comprehend only and wholly in Christ. And now what then will those Scribes and Disputers of this World answer here What do the Works of the Iust Merit nothing in the sight of God Do they help nothing towards the obtaining of Righteousness And where then is that Merit de Gongruo and condigno Where are the Works of Supererogation that are above due Where is that grace which the Sacraments confer upon us ex opere oper ato By what Argument now will Andrew Vega defend this Axiom of his Faith says he and other good Works whereby we are disposed unto grace that makes us acceptable and whereby we are formally justified and made acceptable to God are Meritorious by the way of agreeableness of such grace and of our Iustification c. Whence it is evident that either Christ is not the only Meritorious cause of such grace or that all the other helps of Merits are of no value Though in the mean while I do not deny that the death of Christ is truly Meritorious but let the adversaries consider diligently what it hath merited That the spiritual help say they of Divine Grace and Charity to perform the Law might be diffused into us What then Dyed Christ for no other cause but that he might obtain the gift of Charity for Mortal Men to perform the Law Did he not rather dye upon this account that he might blot out the Hand writing which was against us in the Law having nailed it to his 〈◊〉 that he might take away the Enmity and might destroy Death for ever might dispossess the Devil of his Kingdom that there might be food and sustenance for our hunger that he might make Principalities and Powers subject to his Triumpham Dominion that he might take possession of all Power in Heaven and in Earth What if the power of Charity to perform the Law is so great as they preach could not this Charity otherways get entrance unless the Son of God dyed Yea were not the Patriarchs Prophets and many others of the Saints adorned with the same supernatural gifts Moreover since the Death of Christ is there so great an influence of Grace present with any man that he is able to fulfil all Righteousness Because the Merit of Christ is perfect it is necessary that those things also should be perfect which he hath merited for us by his most perfect price But on the contrary my Opinion is that I think Christ to be indeed the meritorious cause of our Iustification and that he is not so much the meritorious as the efficient cause of our Renovation seeing it is he that baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with Fire Suppose we grant that this Charity flows in upon us by the Merit of Christ yet I do not therefore call this same infusion of Grace a cause of meriting Iustification nor any part of a cause thereof but it seems rather fit to be reckoned amongst the effects and fruits of Iustification which follow from thence neither doth it follow because the works of Grace and Charity come to us by the Merit of Christ that therefore the same do merit Iustification before God for it relies upon no condition of works at all but only the promise and that a free one also and so free that it implies no condition except one only And because in this place we enquire what is that only and peculiar condition the Doctrine of the Gospel will easily teach us if so be we are more willing to hearken to the Gospel than to the Opinions of Trent On what condition properly doth the Promise of Iustification rely BUT the condition whereby we are properly justified is this That we should believe in Christ and adhere to him by a constant confession In which Faith in the mean while a diligent Caution should be observed that this Faith should be directed unto a proper and legitimate Object which I wonder that it hath not yet been taken notice of by those School Doctors hitherto Of whom some place the Object of Faith in the first Truth Others take for its Object all things that are written in the holy Scriptures Others do esteem for the Object of Faith all things that are laid before us to be believed by the Authority of the Catholick Church And they say not amiss for I deny not that all these things are both truly and necessarily to be believed by every man For he that believes the whole Architecture of this World was framed by the handy-work of God in the space of six days he is indeed led by a right Faith as all Truths are to be believed with a most sure Faith whatsoever are mentioned in the Books of the Scripture which Faith of every particular Truth as I suppose doth not therefore justifie a man For the sense of our question is not what is truly believed by us but what Faith that is which justifies the wicked before God from his sins and that we should search by the Gospel what is the proper Object of this Faith In the mean while that is a very ridiculous thing and too barbarous that the Pope in his Decretals reduces the Object of Faith to the Keys and Succession of the Roman Chair and that as necessary to Salvation but away with this Deceiver and his Cheats Concerning Faith and Assurance and what is the proper Object of Faith NOW let us discourse of others who reasoning with more sound Iudgment about Faith do not fetch the proper and genuine Object of Faith whereby we are justified so far off from the very first Truth as Thomas nor reduce it to every particular Truth of Scripture as the Colonienses nor define it by the Decrees of the Church as the Duacene Doctor and Iesuits of that Place and Order nor place it in the Infallible Authority of the Roman Chair as Boniface but coming much nearer to Evangelical Truth do
but what the Sentence of the Iudge doth judicially determine concerning us We contend not about Habitual Righteousness but Evangelical Iustification For it is one thing to dispute about Righteousness and another to dispute about Iustification But these Logical Divines confound these two with one another too unskilfully defining Righteousness thus as if it were nothing else but to make righteous Or if there is any difference this is the manner of it that our Faith in Christ is by no means the cause of perfect Righteousness but only the beginning of that which is to be perfected And that we do not therefore stand as righteous in the sight of God because our sins are forgiven us and we are reconciled to God for Christ's sake Though also they do not deny this that in this very remission or reconciliation where by a wicked man is first justified before God through Faith and the Merit of Christ some part of humane Iustification is contained which also is necessarily requisite But they say that it is not enough that sins are forgiven and that we are reconciled unto God which is the first part of Iustification unless another part also be added thereto which compleats the former which of what sort it is you may see here by their own words When first say they man begins to detest sin as offensive to God and so of a wicked man is made just and reconciled at one and the same time and in the same instant God infuses his Grace waiting no interval of time which Grace where it comes there we having received inward Renovation by the Holy Spirit receive Righteousness and are made truly righteous before God And this is that other part of Iustification whereof I spake without which no Righteousness is truly perfected because it is most certain that God justifies no man or pronounces no man just but him whom by the gift of his Spirit through internal Renovation he makes righteous and cloaths adorns and endues with Righteousness c. Answ. Why should I answer these men in many words If they understand it of the Power of the Divine Bounty I grant that there is nothing which the Infinite Power of the most high God cannot do But it is not the matter of our Controversie what the heavenly Grace can but what it will do Neither doth it follow as a rational consequence because that the Almighty Grace of God can make us just that therefore we are made just Therefore either prove that there is any man endued with such a Righteousness which doth not always stand in need of the Mercy of God Or confess that which is the truth with Augustin that all assurance of our Iustification acquiesces in the remission of sins only through the Mercy of God Against the Tridentines who deny that we are Iustified by Mercy or Remission only BUT it pleased the Tridentine Senate to determine otherways for this is their Opinion That Iustification is not purchased by God's pardoning Grace only but by the commendation of Vertues But let them again hear what Augustin answers them to the contrary who in opposition to the Tridentine Opinions refers all to the Grace of God only and to Imputation writing these words All the Commands of God saith he are esteemed to be done when that which is not done is forgiven A very short sentence if it be reckoned according to the number of words But if we rightly consider their efficacy who sees not that all the buildings of the Adversaries whereby with so much ado they establish their inherency are utterly overturned by this Answer of Augustin Which that it may appear the more evidently First Let us gather the assertion of the Council on which all their defence seems to lean into the exact form of an Argument according to the art and use of Disputants which should rather have been done by them And then let us see what should be answered by the Authority of Learned Interpreters The Argument of the Tridentine Council Argument Ma. Whosoever observe all the Commands of God they have an Inherent Righteousness and that which is their own Mi. Whosoever keep all the Commands of God are esteemed for righteous before God Concl. Therefore they that have a Righteousness which is their own and inherent are justified before God Answer The smoke of this Argument will easily vanish by using the distinction of Augustin Therefore we answer the Minor by the Authority of the Doctor For there is a twofold manner of keeping the Commands one is when whatsoever is commanded by God is done And after this manner the Son of God only is righteous of whom only it is said In the Volume of thy Book it is written of me I come that I might do thy will O God c. The other is when that which is not done is forgiven And after this second manner we are righteous that is we are accounted for righteous not upon any account of Merits but only by the pardon of those things that have been done amiss Wherefore by retorting the Argument upon the Adversaries we may dispute after this manner The retorting of the Argument Ma. The observation of all the Commands of God procures true Righteousness to men Mi. The keeping of all the Commands is performed by remission and imputation when that which is not done is pardoned Concl. Therefore by Remission and Imputation real Iustification is procured for us The Minor is upheld by the legitimate Testimony of Augustin lib. Retract cap. 19. But the Tridentine Heroes do here answer That is true indeed as it is understood of the first Iustification but not of the second For by such an usual Scheme of Sophistical Speech they use to baffle the most evident Oracles of Scripture concerning our free Iustification by Christ. As when Paul reasons of Faith justifying freely without Works they interpret it thus that it is said of the first Iustification which consists of Remission only and Reconciliation by Faith But that there is another Iustification besides this which by inward Renovation is begotten of Inherent Righteousness to which they attribute the much more excellent part of true Iustification But here again Augustin helps by confuting this idle Tale with sound speech who writing of this same second unjust Iustification of theirs Our very Righteousness saith he though it be true because of the end or true good to which it is referred yet it is so great in this life that it consists rather in the remission of sins than in the perfection of Vertues Yea the same Augustin elsewhere adjudges the Life of the Regenerate how laudable soever to a Curse if it is to be judged in a separation from Mercy What then Augustin curses all the Righteousness of Humane Life without the Mercy of God And should not they of Trent be accursed who are not afraid to curse those that with Augustin affirm that all the comfort of our Iustification relies
promulgation of the Law I would ask him What the Law is which if it is nothing but the Rule of Righteousness how can any man be just where there is no Law But what man was there ever in the World but he carried about with him the Law of God if not written in Tables yet written on his heart and engraven on his conscience But the Decalogue was not yet engraven on Tables of Stone But what was contained in the Moral Decalogue which that holy man did not already comprehend within his own heart both of loving God and his Neighbour of not Murthering of not committing Adultery or honouring Parents c. 3. As touching the scope of this Epistle how greatly is campian mistaken For who is so void of sense that he doth not clearly perceive that the drift of the Apostle is not that which those Iesuits dream of to attribute our Salvation or Iustification to any Works either going before or following after Neither was this Office of an Ambassadour committed unto him that he might contend with the Iews about Ceremonies or with the Gentiles about Moral Duties but as Peter was entrusted with the Apostleship of the Circumcision so also the Preaching of the Gospel to the Uncircumcision was committed unto Paul not that he should Preach the Law but the Faith which before he opposed Not that he might declare the Righteousness of Works in which there is no Salvation but that God by him might reveal his Son amongst the Gentiles and might manifest unto the World that heavenly Trophy and glad Tydings of Peace and Victory obtained in Heaven by Christ and spread abroad far and wide through the Churches the boundless riches of Divine Grace which he had experienced in himself For he was called for this purpose to the Apostleship that the infinitely gracious Lord and Redeemer Christ Iesus might first exercise his Mercy towards him and afterwards by him declare his great Mercy towards Sinners not only by hisExample but also by his Ministry For thus he bears witness of himself that the Ministry of Reconciliation was committed to him for which he was appointed to be a Preacher and Apostle and Teacher of the Gentiles in Faith and Truth that he being an Ambassadour in Christ's stead might invite all men yea and beg of them that they would be reconciled unto God And this seems to be the principal scope that Paul aims at not only in the Epistle to the Romans but also in all his Doctrine to proclaim amongst the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and that he might set before the view of all men what is the Communion of the Mystery that was hidden with God in former Ages c. But now in the Righteousness of Works no such Mystery lay hidden with God from former Ages Therefore it is false and abominable which Campian the Iesuit and such like Sophisters assert concerning the scope and sense of Paul's Epistle to the Romans For by the Law which Paul excludes from Iustification they understand that part thereof which comprehends Ceremonial and Iudicial Works wherein the Iews gloried or Works purely Moral performed before Faith on which the Gentiles relied Yea on the contrary when Paul removes the Law from Iustification he doth not only exclude it upon the account of Iewish Ceremonies or Moral Works performed before Faith but also upon the account of its weakness through the flesh both in Iews and Gentiles both in the regenerate and the unregenerate so that it cannot make sufficient satisfaction to the Iustice of God And Paul affirms That for this cause God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh What did God do but what flesh could not do For sin he condemned sin in the flesh In what flesh ours or his own Sons Who of all the Regenerate though endued with great habitual Faith and Grace hath so led his life walking not according to the flesh but according to the spirit but he always carries about with him flesh that is weak in many respects and vicious and subject to sin Concerning which every one may complain with the Apostle I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing And again I find a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me c. For what they speak of Works following Faith and Grace how little that helps their cause appears not more evident by any Argument than by the Lives of those that maintain this Controversie if they be strictly enquired into If that be true which Campian with his Iesuits pleads for That Righteousness is not obtained in men come to years but by Works that follow after Faith Let us behold then what excellent Works this Faith of the Mother Church of Rome brings forth seeing they so much glory in the Title of Catholick Faith and Preach so many things about Charity which is the fulfilling of the Law Let us look into the Life and Works of the Roman Popes Cardinals and Bishops and the whole Crew of the Monks and Iesuits Where can you find more of the flesh or less of true holiness than in those false-hearted and painted Hypocrites whose whole profession of Religion consists in Purple Gowns high topped Mitres Purple Caps Rings adorned with Iewels solemn Vows Ceremonies which in reality are rather Stage-playes than Exercises of Piety This appears to be too true by the unhappy Tumults raised in the World the Wars and Persecutions that are stirred up by none more than by those very men that call themselves Spiritual and Catholick whom it should become to be the chiefest encouragers of Concord and Messengers of Peace But having so much enlarged upon this sort of men with their Works and Merits let us return to the Examples of those of whom we spake before who were freely admitted unto Baptism and received into favour by Faith without any commendation of Merits at all yea without mention of any Works except such perhaps as were evil Amongst which number those Iews may be reckoned of whom three thousand at one time were Baptized by Peter Likewise also the Eunuch whom Faith only without Works made not only meet for Baptism but also an Heir of the Heavenly Kingdom And the Iaylor whom Paul Baptized Moreover Paul himself and all the Apostles and Publicans the family of Cornelius Zacehaeus Mary Magdalen and the Thief on the Cross If Faith without Works was sufficient to them for the Grace of Baptism why not also for the obtaining of Iustification and Life Eternal Vega and those of his Association answers after his usual manner that in all these Repentance was joyned with Faith and other things also belonging to good Manners and a godly Life But it easily appears how vain and insignificant this Answer of Vega is He says Repentance and other Vertues are joyned with Faith Which tho' I confess to be in some sense true in the lives and persons of
Church which they by a false Name boast to be Catholick which broaches amongst the common People these so great monsters of errours and tares of Opinions defends them in Schools Preaches them in Churches which sends forth into the midst of us such Dogmatists and Artificers of deceits who not only corrupt the small Veins and Rivulets of sincere Doctrine but also proceed to the Fountains themselves and Invalidate the Foundations of Apostolick Institution and cut and tear the very sinews of the simple verity For what greater injury can be done to the Scriptures of God What more cruel against the Grace of Christ what more Hostile against the mind of Paul and more gross against the soundness of the Christian Faith can be said or devised than what those Roman Potters have contributed by their commentitious deceits to the plague and ruine of the Christian Common-wealth For what may we judge should be hoped for concerning the common Religion the Sins of every one and the state of the Christian Common-wealth if the matter come to this that this largeness of Evangelical mercy being taken away or contracted we must be called back again to the account of good Works Concerning the Vertue and Efficacy of Divine Grace a more enlarged dispute against the Adversaries Answering their Objections BUT Those Men will deny that they detract any thing from the Grace of God yea they say that this is the common Sin of the Lutherans not theirs because all that they drive at is to maintain the mercy of God and to celebrate it with due praises Why so I pray for what say they Do not the Pious Works of the Saints please God Well and what next Should not the same Works having proceeded from God himself the Author be referred to his bounty and mercy Why not Now then Catholick Reader receive a conclusion Roman Catholick enough as I suppose Therefore he 〈◊〉 detracts from good works wrought by Christ 〈◊〉 from the Grace and Mercy of God Well said but pray who detracts from those Who denies good Works which Christ living and dwelling in us Works to be good Works Does any Man take away due praise and dignity from those Now Hosius talks Osorius pleads Andradius crys out that the Lutherans do it eagerly Why so I beseech you Because they do not attribute unto the performance of good Works the Salvation that is due to them but translate it to Faith only What then such as do not attribute Salvation to good Works should they be therefore supposed to attribute nothing to Works or to cast reproach upon the grace of God On the contrary they that detract the promise of Eternal Life from the Christian Faith Shall they be accounted Friends to Grace By the same reason we may turn Light into Darkness and Darkness into Light Let Christ remain in his Sepulcher let Moses rise again to be Iudge of the Living and the Dead But now what Arguments do they rely upon in disputing thus Because say they Works of Righteousness flow from the Fountain of Divine Grace But what Is not Faith in Christ the Mediatour as singular a gift of God and does it not proceed from the Election of Divine Grace But now let us hear an Argument more than Catholick Argument Ma. We are justified by the Grace of God only Mi. Our good Works have their rise from the Grace of God only Con. Therefore all our Iustification consists in good Works The deceit of this Paralogism must be drawn forth And again the word Grace must be explained Which is taken one way in the major and another way in the minor for there it is taken for mercy and the free good will of God whereby he hath redeemed us freely whereby he loves us in Christ Iesus and forgives us our Sins and whereby also he imparts his Spirit and Life Eternal to us And this is peculiarly called Grace of forgiveness of which the writings of the Apostles speak aloud in many places It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy And again Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace And what the same Apostle cites out of a Psalm Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven and whose Sins are covered c. And also that which elsewhere he testified very evidently They are justified freely by his Grace moreover that none should be uncertain what is understood by the word Grace presently subjoining and as it were explaining himself he infers next By the Redemption which is in Christ Iesus But what other thing does this adding of Redemption signifie but the Remission of all Sins That this may be the Argument We are justified by that Grace whereby we are redeemed But Grace by renewing us doth not redeem us Therefore we are not justified by Grace renewing us I come now to the minor in which the word grace is taken otherways than in the major For there it is put for remission or redemption here for renovation That is for the effectual energy of the Divine Inspiration in communicating Gifts and Endowments wherewith he afterwards adorns those whom first he hath justified Whence arises a twofold manner of distinguishing Grace according to the twofold diversity of effects on this side and on that side of which one consists in the remission of evil Works the other in the operation of good Works And that is called pardoning Grace and this is called renewing Grace From the one whereof proceeds the Salvation and the Iustification of the Ungodly and from the other come the good Works of the Godly and yet those are not full nor perfect Therefore I answer the Argument proposed which hath more errours than one Moreover it is made up of mere particulars Also in the minor contrary to the manner of Disputants the case is changed whereas the same case should be kept that goes before in the major and the minor should follow thus But our good Works are by the grace of God only or at least in the major the same case of the minor should have been kept after this manner Our Iustification arises twice from the grace of God Therefore all our Iustification flows from good Works So that the true nature of this Pseudosyllogism belongs not to the first but the second figure simply concluding both affirmatively and also most absurdly just as if a Man should argue thus Our corporeal Nature was made of the slime of the Earth Earthen-Pots are made of the slime of the Earth therefore our corporeal Nature was made of Earthen-Pots What need is there of words Whatsoever way these Men form their Argument or reform it they shall never be able to prove that the works of the Law whether such as we our selves have wrought or such as the Divine Grace works in us do contain in themselves any cause of Salvation For
what manner of consequence is this Because habitual influences of Works which make us acceptable to God proceed no otherways but from cooperating Grace Therefore Faith without inherent Righteousness doth not justifie neither doth Salvation consist of any other thing but good Works But because there is a twofold sort of Works one of those which go before Faith another of those which follow Faith I would know of which of those rwo parts they understand it If of the preoedent they will not deny those to be Sins For that which is not of Faith is of Sin But if they understand it of Works subsequent to Faith they will say that those are either perfect or imperfect If perfect and of such a sort that they answer the things commanded in the Law not only according to the substance but also according to the manner of doing To what purpose then is that daily saying of the Church made mention of Forgive us our debts Or what will they answer to Augustine who evidently confutes what they maintain On the contrary if they are Imperfect Languid and Lame upon what account will they make us acceptable to God the Iudge which are of themselves defective and besprinkled with faults and spots and need another Grace by the commendation whereof they may be pleasing to God What if that infinite and Eternal purity for the most part in the Levitical Sacrifices did not endure whatever seemed any way defective or deformed or defiled with the least pollu on and which was not exquisitely entire and blameless in all respects if so great integrity of all parts was required in the Levites and Priests that it was not lawful to suffer any one to enter into the holy place of the Sanctuary who was wounded in any member of his body or deformed in any part or had a Wen Do you think that you can endure the presence of the most holy God with that half-torn and ragged Imperfection Wherefore seeing it must needs be perfect and unblameable upon all accounts which by Iustification indemnifies and frees us from all sin before the dreadful Tribunal of most perfect Righteousness surely no man can believe that it consists in our works but only in the works of the Son of God not those which his habitual grace works in us but those which he himself hath both graciously undertaken to do for us and also having undertaken them hath performed them to the full What Benesits come to us from Christ and what should be chiefly regarded in these Benefits NOW this is it in which chiefly the unspeakable amplitude of Divine Grace towards us doth evidently shine forth that God the Almighty Governour and Creatour of the World according to his fingular Mercy wherewith he hath loved the World having given his Son sent him to us and so sent him that he for us hath fulfilled all Righteousness for there was no need that he should fulfil it for himself and if he hath fulfilled it for us what hinders now but that may be ours which was done for us or to what purpose should he do that for us which he knew was necessary to be done by our selves for our Salvation But what if according to the saying of Thomas Whatsoever things we can do by Friends we our selves are said to be able to do it in some respect How much better then may we our selves be supposed both to be able to do and also to have done those things which a Friend is not only able to do for us but hath also done for us and this is that grace chiefly which every where the Evangelical Writings sound sorth unto us unto which all our both consolation salvation should be referred which Paul the Apostle having received from Christ did propagate it with so continued labour among the Gentiles and taught it with so great fervour of spirit and made it evident with so many Signs and Miracles and also confirmed it with so many Scriptures and most sure Testimonies Wherefore those Papists are the more worthy to be abhorred as being Enemies to Antiquity and Enemies to Paul who seem to be busied about nothing else but to abolish the Gospel of Christ and to overturn the Foundations of the Doctrine of the Apostles that have been long since very well laid by our first Fathers and to sow another Gospel in the minds of Christians For what else doth all their Doctrine drive at who disputing about Grace Faith and Righteousness do so handle the matter by their Philosophical Principles that he who observes their Collections Distinctions Corollaries and Opinions will perceive that they do not teach as Christians out of the Gospel out of Christ out of Paul but that the Antient Philosophers of the old Academy or the Thalmudists of the Law of Moses are again risen up and alive except that this only difference is between them and the Antient Philosophers that these do palliate with the name of Grace and Faith in words at least in some manner but in reality as touching the signification of the word Grace or the force of the word Faith they seem to be so very blind as if they had read Paul little or at least had not at all understood him I do not rail at the men themselves whom I rather account worthy of pity but it is not at all convenient to endure the Errours of men because they cast no small blot upon Religion and are injurious to Christ and do violence to Paul overthrow the simplicity of the Christian Faith moreover they adulterate all the sincerity of Evangelical Doctrine with their Niceties and after a certain manner subdue it unto humane Philosophy Which that it may appear the more evidently to the Minds and Eyes of beholders let it not be tedious to you to hearken a while first what Divine Truth and then what Humane Opinions teach us But because there are two things chiefly in which the whole sum both of our Salvation and Religion is contained Grace and Faith of which the one belongs to God towards men the other agrees to men towards God It very much concerns Christians that their Minds be very well instructed in both And Grace indeed is discerned in those good things that are given to us and promised by God Faith is exercised in those Offices which are chiefly due from us to God and are greatly requisite Therefore that we may rightly apprehend the nature of Grace we must see what and how great those gifts are which the bounty of God hath partly bestowed upon us and partly promised Concerning which thing it remains that we should examine what the Scriblers of Popish Divinity do hold Now what they teach about this matter is for the most part to this purpose They place the end of humane Life in blessedness and the School-Divines dispute about this very blessedness just after such a manner as the Philosophers of old did of their chiefest good unto