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A03586 A learned discourse of iustification, workes, and how the foundation of faith is overthrowne. By Richard Hooker, sometimes fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford Hooker, Richard, 1553 or 4-1600.; Jackson, Henry, 1586-1662.; Spenser, John, 1559-1614. 1612 (1612) STC 13708; ESTC S121045 45,591 98

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are not of the heresie of the Church of Rome The people following the conduct of their guides and observing as they did exactly that which was prescribed thought they did God good service when indeed they did dishonor him This was their error but the heresie of the church of Rome their dogmatical positions opposite vnto Christian truth what one man amongst ten thousand did ever vnderstand Of them which vnderstand Romane heresies and allow them all are not alike partakers in the action of allowing Some allow them as the first founders and establishers of them which crime toucheth none but their Popes and Councels the people are cleare free from this Of them which maintain popish heresies not as authors but receivers of them from others all mainetaine them not as masters In this are not the people partakers neither but only the predicauts and schoolemen Of them which haue beene partakers in this sinne of teaching Popish heresie there is also a difference for they haue not all beene teachers of all Popish heresies Put a difference saith S. Iude haue compassion vpon some Shall wee lay vp all in one condition Shall we cast them all headlong Shall we plunge them all into that infernall and everlasting flaming lake Them that haue beene partakers of the errors of Babylon together with them which are in the heresie Them which haue beene the authors of heresie with them that by terror and violence haue beene forced to receiue it Them who haue taught it with them whose simplicitie hath by sleights and conveiances of false teachers beene seduced to belieue it Them which haue beene partakers in one with them which haue bin partakers in many Them which in many with them which in all 13 Notwithstanding I graunt that although the condemnation of them bee more tollerable then of these yet from the man that laboureth at the plough to him that sitteth in the Vatican to all partakers in the sinnes of Babylon to our Fathers though they did but erroneously practise that which the guides heretically taught to all without exception plagues were due The pit is ordinarily the end aswel of the guid as of the guided in blindnesse But wo worth the houre wherein we were borne except wee might promise our selues better things things which accompany mans solvatiō even where we knowe that worse and such as accompany condemnation are due Then must we shew some way how possibly they might escape What way is there that sinners can finde to escape the iudgement of God but onely by appealing to the seate of his saving mercy Which mercy with Origen wee doe not extende to divells and damned spirites God hath mercy vpon thousandes but there bee thousands also which he hardeneth Christ hath therefore sette the bounds he hath fixed the limittes of his saving mercy within the compasse of these tearmes God sent not his owne sonne to condēne the world but that the world through him might be saved In the third of S. Iohns Gospel mercy is restrained to beleevers He that beleeveth shall not be condemned he that beleeueth not is condemned already because he heleeued not in the Sonne of God In the 2. of the Revelation mercy is restrained to the penitent For of Iesabell and her sectaries thus he speaketh I gaue her space to repent and she repented not Behold I wil cast her into a bed and them that commit fornication with her into a great affliction except they repent them of their workes I will kill her children with death Our hope therefore of the Fathers is if they were not altogether faithlesse impenitent 14 They are not all faithlesse that are weake in assenting to the truth or stiffe in maintaining things any way opposit to the truth of Christian doctrine But as many as hold the foundatiō which is pretious though they hold it but weakely and as it were with a slender thread although they frame many base and vnsutable things vpon it things that cannot abide the tryall of the fire yet shall they passe the fierie triall and be saved which indeed haue builded themselues vpon the rocke which is the foundation of the Church If then our Fathers did not hold the foundation of faith there is no doubt but they were faithlesse If many of them held it then is therein no impediment but many of thē might be saved Then let vs see what the foundation of faith is and whether we may thinke that thousands of our fathers being in Popish superstitions did notwithstanding hold the foundation 15 If the foundation of faith doe import the generall ground wherevpon we rest when wee doe belieue the writings of the Evangelists and the Apostles are the foundation of the Christian faith Credimus quia legimus saith S. Ierom o that the Church of Rome did as soundly interpret these fundamentall writings wherevpon we build our faith as shee doth willingly hold and imbrace them 16 But if the name of foundation do note the principall thing which is believed then is that the foundation of our faith which S. Paul hath to Timothy God minifested in the flesh iustified in the spirit c. that of Nathaniel Thou art the sonne of the living God thou art the king of Israel that of the inhabitants of Samaria This is Christ the Saviour of the world he that directly denieth this doth vtterly rase the very foundation of our faith I haue proved heretofore that although the Church of Rome hath played the harlot worse then ever did Israel yet are they not as now the Synagogue of the Iewes which plainely deny Christ Iesus quite and cleane excluded from the new covenant But as Samaria compared with Hierusalem is tearmed Aholath a Church or Tabernacle of her owne contrariwise Ierusalem Aholibath the resting place of the Lord so whatsoever we tearme the Church of Rome when we compare her with reformed Churches still we put a difference as then betweene Babylon and Samaria so now betweene Rome and the heathenish assemblies which opinion I must and will recall I must graunt will that the Church of Rome together with all her children is cleane excluded There is no difference in the world betweene our fathers Saracens Turks Paynims if they did directly deny Christ crucified for the salvation of the world 17 But how many millions of them were known so to haue ended their mortall liues that the drawing of their breath hath ceased with the vttering of this faith Christ my Saviour my redeemer Iesus Answere is made that this they might vnfainedly confesse and yet be farre enough from salvation For behold saith the Apostle I Paul say vnto you that if you bee circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Christ in the worke of mans salvation is alone the Galathians were cast away by ioining Circumcision and the other rites of the law with Christ the Church of Rome doth teach her children to ioine other things likewise with him
away the vse of reason doth notwithstanding proue them reasonable creatures which haue it because none can be franticke but they so Antichristianitie being the baine and plaine overthrow of Christianitie may neverthelesse argue the Church wherein Antichrist sitteth to be Christian. Nether haue I ever hitherto heard or read any one worde alleadged of force to warrant that God doth otherwise then so as in the two next questions before hath beene declared bind himselfe to keepe his elect from worshipping the Beast and from receiving his marke in their foreheads but he hath preserved and will preserue them from receiuing any deadly wound at the hands of the man of sinne whose deceit hath prevailed over none vnto death but only vnto such as never loved the truth such as took a pleasure in vnrighteousnesse they in all ages whose hearts haue delighted in the principall truth and whose soules haue thirsted after righteousnesse if they received the marke of error the mercy of God even erring and dangerously erring might saue them if they received the mark of heresie the same mercy did I doubt not convert them HOW far Romish heresies may prevaile over Gods elect how many God hath kept falling into them how many haue bin converted from them is not the question now in hād for if heaven had not received any one of that coate for these thousand yeares it may still be true that the doctrine which this day they do professe doth not directly denie the foundation and so proue them simplie to be no Christian Church One I haue alleaged whose words in my eares sound that waie shall I adde another whose speech is plaine I deny her not the name of a Church saith another no more then to a man the name of a man as long as he liveth what sicknesse soever he hath His reason is this Salvation in Iesus Christ which is the marke which ioineth the head with the bodie Iesus Christ with the Church is so cut off by many merits by the merits of Saints by the Popes pardons and such other wickednesse that the life of the Church holdeth by a very thread yet still the life of the Church holdeth A third hath these words I acknowledge the Church of Rome evē at this present day for a Church of Christ such a Church as Israel did Ieroboam yet a Church His reasō is this Every mā seeth except he willingly hoodwinke himselfe that as alwaies so now the Church of Rome holdeth firmely and stedfastly the doctrine of truth concerning Christ and baptizeth in the name of the father the sonne and the Holy Ghost confesseth and avowcheth Christ for the only redeemer of the world the iudge that shall sit vpon quicke and dead recieving true beleevers into endlesse ioy faithlesse and godlesse men being cast with Satan and his angels into flames inquenchable 28 I may will reine the questiō shorter thē they do Let the Pope take downe his top and captivate no more mens soules by his Papall iurisdiction let him no longer count himselfe Lord Paramount over the Princes of the world no longer hold kings as his servants paravaile let his stately Senate submit their necks to the yoke of Christ cease to dye their garment like Edom in blood let them from the highest to the lowest hate and forsake their idolatry abiure all their errors and heresies wherewith they haue any waie perverted the truth let them strippe their Churches till they leaue no polluted ragge but only this one about hir By Christ alone without workes we cannot be saved it is enough for me if I shew that the holding of this one thing doeth not proue the foundatiō of faith directly denied in the Church of Rome 29 Workes are an addition be it so what then the foundation is not subverted by everie kind of addition simplie to adde vnto those fundamentall words is not to mingle wine with water heaven with earth things polluted with the sanctified blood of Christ of which crime indict them which attribute those operations in whole or in part to any creature which in the w●● of our salvation wholy are peculiar vnto Christ and 〈◊〉 open my mouth to speake in their defence if I holde my peace and pleade not against them as long as breath is within my body let me be guiltie of al the dishonor that ever hath been done to the Sonne of God But a dreadful thing it is to denie salvation by Christ alone the more slow and fearefull I am except it be too manifest to lay a thing so grievous to anie mās charge Let vs beware least if we make too manie waies of denying Christ wee scarse leaue any way for our selues truely and soundly to confesse him Salvation onely by Christ is the true foundation wherevpon indeed Christianitie standeth But what if I say you cannot be saved only by Christ without this addition Christ beleeved in hart confessed with mouth obeied in life and conversation Because I adde doe I therefore deny that which I did directlie affirme There may be an additament of explication which overthroweth not but proveth concludeth the proposition wherevnto it is annexed He which saith Peter was a chiefe Apostle doth proue that Peter was an Apostle hee which saith Our salvation is of the Lord through sanctification of the spirit and faith of the truth proveth that our salvation is of the Lord. But if that which is added be such a privation as taketh away the verie essence of that wherevnto it is added then by the sequell it overthroweth He which saith Iudas is a dead man though in word he granteth Iudas to be a man yet in effect he proveth him by that very speech no man because death depriveth him of being In like sort he that should saie our election is of grace for our workes sake should grant in soūd of words but indeed by consequent deny that our election is of grace for the grace which electeth vs is no grace if it elect vs for our sake 30 Now whereas the Church of Rome addeth works we must note farther that the adding of works is not like the adding of circumcision vnto Christ. Christ came not to abrogat put away good workes he did to change circumcision for we see that in place thereof he hath substituted holy baptisme To say yee cannot be saved by Christ except yee be circumcised is to adde a thing excluded a thing not only not necessarie to be kept but necessarie not to be kept by thē that will be saved On th' other side to saie yee cannot be saved by Christ without workes is to adde things not only not excluded but commāded as being in their place and in their kind necessarie and therefore subordinated vnto Christ by Christ himselfe by whom the webbe of salvation is spun a except your righteousnesse exceed the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharises yee shall not enter into the kingdome of heaven They
followeth immediatlie therevpon that this Jesus whom wee call the Saviour is not the Saviour of the world because all the Prophets beare witnesse that the true Messias should shew light vnto the Gentiles that is to say gather such a Church as is Catholicke not restrained any longer vnto one circumcised nation In the second rancke we place them out of whose positions the deniall of any the foresaid articles may be with like facilitie concluded such as are they which haue denyed either the Divinitie of Christ with Hebion or with Martion his Humanitie an example whereof may be that of Cassianus defending the incarnation of the sonne of God against Nestorius Bishop of Antioch which held that the Virgin when shee brought forth Christ did not bring forth the sonne of God but sole and a mere man out of which heresie the deniall of the articles of the Christian faith he deduceth thus If thou dost denie our Lord Iesus Christ in denying the sonne thou canst not choose but denie the father for according to the voice of the father himselfe He that hath not the sonne hath not the father Wherefore denying him which is begotten thou deniest him which doth beget Againe denying the sonne of God to haue beene borne in the flesh how canst thou beleeue him to haue suffred beleeving not his passion what remaineth but that thou deny his resurrection For we beleeue him not raised except wee first beleeue him dead neither can the reason of his rising from the dead stand without the faith of his death going being before The deniall of his death and passion inferreth the deniall of his rising from the depth Wherevpon it followeth that thou also denie his ascension into heaven The Apostle affirmeth that he which ascended did first descend so that as much as lyeth in thee our Lord Iesus Christ hath neither risen from the depth nor is ascended into heaven nor sitteth at the right hand God the father neither shall he come at the day of finall account which is looked for nor shall iudge the quicke and dead And darest thou yet set foot in the church Canst thou thinke they selfe a Bishop when thou hast denyed all those things whereby thou dost obtaine a Bishoply calling Nestorius confessed all the articles of the Creed but his opiniō did imply the denial of every part of his cōfessiō Heresies there are of the third sort such as the Church of Rome maintaineth which be removed by a greater distance frō the foundation although indeed they over throw it Yet because of that weakenes which the Philosopher noteth in mens capacities when he saith that the common sort cannot see things which followe in reason when they follow as it were a farre of by manie deductions therefore the repugnancie of such heresie and the foundation is not so quickly or so easily found but that an hereticke of this sooner then of the former kinde may directly graunt and consequently neverthelesse denie the foundation of faith 33 If reason be suspected triall will shew that the Church of Rome doeth no otherwise by teaching the doctrine she doth teach concerning good works offer them the verie fundamentall words and what man is there that will refuse to subscribe vnto them Can they directly graunt and directly deny one and the very self-same thing Our own proceedings in disputing against their works satisfactorie meritorious do shew not onely that they hold but that we acknowledge them to hold the foundation notwithstanding their opiniō For are not these our arguments against them Christ alone hath satisfied and appeased his fathers wrath Christ hath merited salvation alone We should doe fondly to vse such disputes neither could we thinke to prevaile by them if that wherevpon wee ground were a thing which we know they do not hold which wee are assured they will not graunt Their very answers to all such reasons as are in this controversie brought against thē will not permit vs to doubt whether they hold the foūdation or no. Can any man that hath read their books concerning this matter be ignorant how they draw all their answers vnto these heads That the remission of all our sinnes the pardon of all whatsoever punishments thereby deserved the rewards which God hath laid vp in heaven are by the blood of our Lord Iesus Christ purchased and obtained sufficiently for all men but for no man effectually for his benefit in particular except the blood of Christ bee applied particularly vnto him by such meanes as God hath appointed that to worke by That those meanes of themselues being but dead things only the blood of Christ is that which putteth life force and ifficacie in them to worke and to be availeable each in his kind to our salvation Finally that grace being purchased for vs by the blood of Christ freely without any merit or desert at the first bestowed vpon vs the good things which we doe after grace receiued be thereby made satisfactorie and meritorious Some of their sentences to this effect I must alleage for mine owne war rant If we desire to heare forraine iudgements we find in one this confession He that could reckon how many the vertues and merits of our Saviour Christ haue beene might likewise vnderstand how many the benefits haue beene that are to come to vs by him for so much as men are made partakers of them all by meanes of his passion by him is given vnto vs remission of our sinnes grace glorie libertie praise salvation redemption iustification iustice satisfaction sacraments merits and all other things which we had were behouefull for our salvation In another wee haue these oppositions and answers made vnto them All grace is given by Christ Iesus True but not except Christ Iesus be applied He is the propitiation for our sinnes by his stripes we are healed he hath offered himselfe vp for vs all this is true but apply it we put all satisfactiō in the blood of Iesus Christ but we hold that the meanes which Christ hath appointed for vs in this case to apply it are our penall workes Our Countrimen in Rhemes make the like answere that they seeke salvation no other way then by the blood of Christ that humbly they doe vse prayers fastings almes faith charitie sacrifice sacraments priests onely as the meanes appointed by Christ to apply the benefit of his holy blood vnto them touching our good workes that in their owne natures they are not meritorious nor answerable to the ioyes of heaven it commeth by the grace of Christ not of the work it selfe that we haue by well doing a right to heaven and deserue it worthily If any man thinke that I seeke to varnish their opiniōs to set the better foot of a lame cause foremost let him know that since I began throughly to vnderstand their meaning I haue found their halting greater then perhaps it seemeth to them which knowe not the deepnesse of