forbid For seeing we be dead vnto sin through the spirite of righteousnes how is it possible that we shuld continue and liue in sinne after wee be once iustified R. I scarse vnderstand this geere P. What know ye not that as many of vs as are baptised made cleane in Iesus Christ are baptised washed into his deth that by the same baptim we be after such a sort as it wer dead buried with him that contrariwise lyke as Christ was raised from the dead for the glory of his father so we also must walk in newnesse of life to the glory of him who hath shevved the spirite of righteousnesse into vs to worke righteousnesse therewith R. I am glad that you haue vttred vnto me both the true signification of baptime and also the bond of righteousnes For by this meane the manifolde errour of many may be spied out First there are which full lewdly doo make more account of the signe than of the thing that is signified by it and there are very fewe whiche thinke that baptim betokeneth the mortifying and wasshing of the olde Adam and of all vnrightuousnesse and and vnhonestie and consequently the renewing restoring againe of our soules and of oure whole lyfe to their first state Againe there are othersome which being vtterly ignorāt of the power of Christs spirit and of the workfulnes of his righteousnes do still leaue opē the gate to sin pretending I wote not what excuses of mās fraylty as who should say that Christ were not strōger than the diuel nor Gods grace able to confound the power of sin P. Truely you haue hit the pricke But you shall vnderstande the contrary doctrine if you aduisedly wey the similitude of greffing which I vse heere For if we be planted and greffed into the lykenesse of Christes death then must we needs also be made partakers of his resurrection R. By this trym most proper * A metaphor is an apt cōueying of a worde or spech from his owne proper signification to the betokening or setting foorth of some other thing metaphor you meane that we must be lyke braunches that are greffed into other trees that being greffed into Christ hauing Christ greffed into vs wee may bring forth new fruits of lyfe namely ryghtuousnes innocencie and holinesse P. Verely euen so must we perswade our selues that our olde man is nayled to the crosse with Christ as in respect of iustification and regeneration to the intent that the bodie of sin may be ouerthrowen destroyed so as we may no more follow after sinne and serue it For he that is deade by the deathe of Christ and obteyneth ryghtuousnes by his spirit is thereby free from the bondage of sinne And if we beleeue that we haue obteyned forgyuenesse of sins and are deade with Christ we must also most assuredly beleue that we shall liue with him in suche newnesse of lyfe as maye beare recorde that wee be rysen wyth him R. O the miserable frowardnesse of men who at the report of Gods fauour purchased to vs by the benefit of Christs death do wondrously leape and skip for ioy verely bycause they be certefied therby of the remission of their sinnes past But when mencion is made of his resurrection to the intent that after his example we shoulde begin a new lyfe fashyoned and framed according to his innocene yrightuousnes other vertues and by that meanes labour and trauell with earnest desire to heauenward despising all worldly pleasures there there our harts faynt we be euen at the poynt to quayle So greatly are we delighted foaded with the inticemēts of our sins past P. Yet notvvithstanding they that are iustified of god must nedes renoūce giue ouer ther sins vvicked deedes pleasures and to be short all vnhonest things after the exāples of Christ vvho being once rysen from death dyeth not any more nother hath death any more povver ouer him Therfore like as hys once dying vvas to die vnto sin so that as novv he liueth vnto god so you also for asmuche as you haue obteined the spirit of righteousnes think your selues to be dead vnto sin as true members of Christ participating of his death resurrection lyfe to be alyue vnto God through our Lord Iesus Christ R. O excellent exhortation But alas for sorrow O miserable nature of man vtterly awk from it as wherin sin hath taken so deepe roote that it can scarse be thrust out We haue receiued sin into our minds as a guest or rather as a tirāt into our innermost bowels from whēce he can hardly be driuē or thrust out both by reason of our natural corruption and also by reason of custome continuance P. Euen so is it But yet muste you striue that this sinne may not reigne in your body though it bee subiecte too death nor you obey the lustes thereof nor yeelde your mēbers as instruments of all naughtinesse applied to sinning But rather cleane contrarie apply your selues to god as folke risen again from the dead and yeeld ye your members vnto him as instrumēts of righteousnes R. These thinges matched togither ought both to fray our minds frō sinning also to inflame them with most earnest desire indeuer to liue well blessedly For what is more shameful than to be slaues of lusts Contrariwise what is more honorable excellent than to vse righteousnes godlines innocencie Therefore we must pray to almightie God that as he hath of his own infinite goodnesse already iustified vs so he will also deliuer vs from the bondage of sin P. Be of good cheere For sin shall no more execute tyranny ouer you R. By what way or meanes may so grat a good turne befall vs For to my seeming that is right hard to be done P. In deede it is hard vnto men but nothing is vnpossible vnto God nother is there any thing which he cānot bring to passe But receiue here the reason of it in few words For sin reigneth not ouer those that are vnder grace but ouer those that are vnder the lawe But novv that you be iustified you are not vnder the law but vnder grace R. Many men seeme to be like Spiders turning all thinges into poyson For when vnthrifts and naughtipackes heere this saying by and by as though they had by iustification obteyned libertie to doo what they list they crye oute why then shoulde we not sin still seeing wee be vnder grace and not vnder the law P. God forbid that any man shoulde be of that mind R. But what is to be don to these fellowes that abuse Gods goodnesse vnto euill doing And yet notwithstanding theise wylie and captious witts cannot be subdued but by moost sustantiall and myghtfull reasons P. Those wilfull stubborne natures must be left to god the soueraine iudge as for the men of whō there is better hope I would exhorte them after this maner knovve ye not that to vvhom
as an argument the reason vvhy these most excellent effects are vvrought in my mind is this that the lavv of the quickning spirite in Iesus Christe hath set me free from the lavv of sinne death insomuch that by the gift of faith the recorde of gods spirit I feele my selfe discharged of the feare of damnation And I thinke the same thing to haue befalne to all the true members of Christ R. I pray you let vs fifte out the first part of my question and shewe me more playnly gods drift and maner of dealing in the case of our iustification without the righteousnesse of the lawe P. Haue here the summe of the whole matter in few words The law was giuen of god as a rule of true holines How be it looke what could not be done by the law nother as it was naturally printed in our mindes nor as it was set foorth plainly by Moses namely that we shuld be set free from sin death become righteous bicause the law was weake feeble without power howbeit not of it owne nature but by reason of our flesh for we be fleshly do striue and wrestle against the law that say I did God bring to passe by sending his own son in a body like to the bodies of sinners For he cōdemned sin of sin in the flesh of his sonne by that meanes did vvipe out clense avvay abolish sin that did he to the ende that the righteousnes of the lavv as the lavv it selfe requireth it might be vvrought fulfilled in vs that beleue I say to the end it should be fulfilled in vs novv regenerated which obey not the corruptnesse lusts and lykings of the vnsatiable flesh but the holy inspiration of the spirite whereupon it commeth to passe that our dooinges are acceptable to God though they be not fully in all poyntes answerable to his law vvhich otherwise requyreth most perfect purenesse R. If it be true as you say as I beleeue it to be most true in deed in any opinion few are at this day become ryghtuous and holy For the number of them is exceading small that thinke vppon newnesse of lyfe or which are carefull to obey Gods wyll and muche lesse which bestyrre themselues in makyng warre against their owne naturall and new incomme sinfulnesse P. But beleeue me brother so longe as men hold with flesh they wil care for things belonging to the flesh and sinne shall execute his tyranny ouer them Contrariwyse they that holde with the spirit wil be spirituall minded and bycause Gods spirit reigneth in thē they will also delight in spirituall thinges as whose intentes and indeuers are all guyded by the holy Ghost and therfore tende to Gods glory which thing cannot happen to such as follow the flesh bycause they do rather purchace Gods displeasure and consequently endelesse destruction to thēselues by their naughtinesse and wicked deeds R. Moost miserable is the state of the vngodly which you tel me of But wherfore ascribe you so muche euill to the louing and obeying of the flesh P. Bycause the entent the indeuer the desire to vse myne owne words the wisedōe of the flesh is deadly or to speake more rightly very death it selfe as which is contrary to God who is our lyfe But on the contrarie parte the entent affection and wisedome of the spirite is verie lyfe and peace And if you aske me the reason why it is ready shapen For the wisedome of the flesh is enemy against God of whom forasmuch as it hath an ill opnion taking him for hir vtter aduersary and imagining him to be a most cruell tormenter how is it possible that she should be vvylling to commit hir selfe to his care and prouidence And therfore much lesse will she passe for his will and cōmaundements For how should she haue any mynd to obey his commaundement whom she beleueth to be hir so This as I thinke is the reason why the flesh nother will no nor can obey Gods law so long as it is nothing els but fleshe Heereuppon then it followeth that they which liue after the liking of the flesh cānot please God R. O most miserable wretches as we be which are compelled to keepe continuall wrestling with the vntrusty wisedome of our owne fleshe so long as we be inclosed with the bulke of this body P. Be of good cheer This wrestling may rather win you a crowne than destruction and damnation For you so doth charitie teach me to think of such as beleue in christ you I say are by faith greffed into Christ as true signes of saluation You be iustified and regenerated and therfore you be not now carnall but spirituall for somuch as Gods spirit dwelleth in you R. Heerein is all the cunning and maistrie Paule P. Surely if any of you haue not Christs spirite he is none of his marke wel what I say I say he is none of Christs he is no member of his he is no brother of his he is no heire of eternall felicitie with him R. I beleeue that with all my harte But the thing that I thought with my selfe was this that there are a great sort now a dayes which boast of the receyuing of Gods spirit whose lyfe is notwithstanding no more like the holines most pure exāple of Christs lyfe than an apple as they say is lyke an Oyster Wherefore I pray you tell me by what markes I may discerne such as haue Gods spirit in very deed For it will do me good also to perceiue the presēce of Gods spirit in my self P. Let this be the aunswere to the other part of your demaund and beare you well in minde the true and sure tokens of regeneration of which the one consisteth in lyfe death the other in the inward motions of Gods spirit R. In lyfe and death say you What is that to say P. Herken you shall vnderstande If Christ and his spirite be in you the old man that is to say the flesh is dead as in respect of sin and the vnruly and vnstayed deedes of vvickednesse And this is the death of the old man vppon putting avvay on the contrarye parte reigneth the spirite of God and executeth his power vppon man and liueth as in respect of rightuousnesse R. Surely a verye notable marke of regeneration or newbirth For the spirit of Christ into whome we be greffed not onely gyueth vs lyfe by inspyring vs to goo vnto God our lyfe as meete is we should but also is himselfe our spirituall lyfe But to confesse vnto you plainely my thoughts or I wote not whether I may better say temptations in that behalfe when I looked vppon myne owne naughtinesse and the tyrannie of sin ouer me I haue oftymes doubted of the power of Gods spirite in vs and whether the working therof do kill the old Adam and plucke vp the roots of that euill tree or no. And vpō such maner of thoughts being sorowfull to say the
soeuer you yeelde youre selues as seruants to obey his seruāts you are Ioh. 8.34 2 Pe. 1.19 whither you obey sin that leadeth you vnto death or obedience innocency rightuousnesse vvhich lead you vnto lyfe R. If men were cleare of hearing they would receiue imbrace this your most certē strong saying For what is more against resō thā to seke to match ioyne togither things that are most repugnāt as for exāples light darkenes fredome bondage sin grace and that do they surely intēd as oft as they feare not to bynd thēselues to sin vnder pretence of grace liberty Yet must you not thinke all mē to be of this mould For ther are many in this our church of Rome which hauing shaken of the yoke of sin by the benefite of regeneration go forward with all their hart vnto vertue and godlinesse P. And I truely do gyue continuall thankes vnto God and euer shall that wheras you were the bondslaues of sin now you being set free by Gods meere goodnesse and made his children haue hartely obeied the order of his doctrine that is to wit of the Gospel which is deliuered to you to bring you life Now therefore you being set fre from sin do serue the rightuousnes and innocency wherūto god hath called you therfore you must not in any wise yeld to sin R. Certesse a greate number of vs are notably well minded vnto holines such is the singular grace working of Gods spirite in our harts and we hope that he will continually help our infirmityes P. In good sooth to the intent I may haue respect of your frayltie I will deale with you after the maner of men Therfore like as you haue yelded your members the witts of your mynde your powers and your strength as instruments to vnclennesse and levvdnesse to doo levvdly so as you became euery daye woorse than other through the reigning of levvdnesse in you so now yeld you your members if not more lustily yet at leastvvise not more lasyly as instrumentes vnto innocency as instruments to vvorke holinesse and becōme you euery day cleaner frō all vncleanes And thervvithall remēber that at suche tyme as you serued sin you vvere straūgers outlavves to rightuousnes But I besech you vvhat fruite reaped you of the thinges vvhereof you be novv ashamed Surely the ende of them is death R. Euery mans owne fault reproueth himselfe As for myne owne parte you will not beleeue howe ill I am ashamed as oft as my former wretched and lewd lyfe cōmeth to my mind For what shall I tel you how that euen from my verie cradle as sone as I had any wit and discretion according to mine own natural corruptiō naughtines the wylines of the old serpent which called for the lesson that he had once taught Adā by by trusting to the abilitie of mine owne wit I thought my selfe wiser than al the world tooke my selfe almost as a God in all my dooings so as I can not sufficiently maruel that Gods mercifulnesse was so great as to voutsafe to beare with me so patiently when I followed my sinne so long time and so wilfully P. Now then seeing you be both loosed from the bonds of sinne and made the seruaunts of God you shall reape the fruit of your holinesse and euerlasting life abideth for you in the ende For as death is the wages of sinne euen so is euerlasting life I say not a wages or hire for the excellēcie therof is such that we can not compare it yet must we not therefore couet it or care for it the lesse but rather the more inasmuch as it is the more excellent lieth in the power of gods soueraigne bounteousnesse but the free gift of God through Iesus Christ our Lorde and not in any wise for our deserts R. I easily agree with you in this case friend Paule But I do not well vnderstande what you meane by saying that we be loosed from the lawe For in as muche as Gods lawe is holy and righteous and as a certen light whereby to walke in the true way of saluation and was appointed to the Israelites by god for the necessarie vses of the leading a good life so as they mighte beholde the will of the Creator in it as in a cleare glasse how is it possible that the man which is borne anewe shoulde be loosed from that law and that he should thencefoorth liue as without law Or by what meanes can the law seeing it is of god bring foorth euill deedes P. I will make the whole matter playne in as fewe wordes as I can Chap. 7. and in the example of my selfe shew the offices of the law so you cōsider the three states of man namely vnregenerated regenerating and regenerated Nowe that the whole matter might be vnderstoode the better I borowed a similitude from the lawe of wedlocke For these are my words Know ye not brethren I speake of suche as haue skill of the law that the wife is bounde by the lawe of wedlock so long as hir husband liueth Cor. 7.33 For the maried woman is boūd to the man by the Lawe so long as she liueth but if the husbande bee dead shee is loose from the Lawe of the man Therefore I thinke she is to be counted an adultresse if she couple hir selfe with an other man while the husbande is aliue to whom alone she had bound the honest vse of hir body by the law of mariage But if the husbande dye I thinke hir to be lose from the law of mariage so as she is no adultresse thoughe shee couple hirselfe with another R. These things will neuer be denied nother of the Gentiles which are inlightened but by the light of nature nor of the Iewes which haue the law written P. You iudge right Euen after the same maner you hauing obteyned the righteousnesse of Christ are dead in respect of the lawe by the body of Christ on the other side the lawes power of condemning is dead in respect of you so as now you be at libertie to couple your selues to another namely vnto Christ the sacrifice of propiciation for our sinnes who afterwarde was raysed again from the dead Nother haue you now any more to do with the law both bicause you be no more subiect to the curse of it and also most of all bicause that being nowe possessed led by the spirite of god you be not driuen by the comaundements of the law but led by the guiding of the spirite Therefore as nowe wee haue to deale with grace to bring forth the fruites of holy workes vnto God which hath made vs righteous freely through Christ R. The law of wedlock I know very well and what benefite free iustification bringeth I now vnderstande the better by you But yet I do not throughly perceyue what maner of one this mariage of the law with man is P. I wil vtter the meaning of
vpper hande and that not by oure ovvne wit nor vppon truste of oure ovvne strength nor puffed vp vvith opinion of our ovvne vertue or deseruings but through him vvho of his ovvne meere goodnesse grace and fauour hath loued vs in his Christ R. These proofes of true faith do so moue my mynde that henceforth I wyll not set a strawe by the threatninges and scaringes of oure Emperours or too speake more ryghtly of oure tyrantes as whose power may shewe crueltie to the body but not plucke the mynde from fayth and the loue of God P. Novv to make an ende of thys treatise of iustification I am fully persvvaded that vve whiche are borne a nevv and greffed into Christe are neuer ouercome nother by death nor by lyfe nor by anye other thing that can happen to vs alyue or deade yea I am fully perswaded that nother Angels nor Principates nor potestates nor things present nor things to come nor highnes nor lowdnesse nor any other of all the things that are in nature is able to plucke vs from the loue of God whiche is in Christ Iesus our Lord and muche lesse that any tormentes of tyrantes be they neuer so cruell can dryue vs avvaye from the professing of Christ R. By thys youre discourse Paule I perceiue well not onely the loue that God beareth vs but also the constancie stedfastnesse and stablenesse thereof in somuch that I am sure it cannot by any meanes be brought too passe that God shoulde not loue vs in Christ Iesus as his members or that we shoulde not alwayes loue him againe How be it as I perceiue by the order which you haue set downe you haue hytherto treated of Christen ryghtuousnesse and you haue shewed playnely that nother the Gentyles can becomme cleere by keepinge of the lawe of nature nor the Iewes by the workes of the law written bycause none of both them performeth the cōmaundements of Gods will to the full which require to be kept to the vttermost tittle And therfore there is offered vs a most present remedy by the preaching of the Gospel namely that we may becomme rightuous by beleeuing in Christ being indued with his spirit giue our selues wholly to the dueties of obedience so as at length we may attaine euerlasting happines with Christ the head of all the faithfull But now remayneth the greatest hardenesse of this Epistle For if men be iustified by fayth and Christ belong but onely to the beleuers vndoubtedly then is the seed of Abraham cast of For as you your self see very few of Abrahams seed receiue Christs doctrine Wherupō it cōmeth to passe that some saye flatly that this Iesus of Nazareth is not the true Messias that was promised to the people of Israell and othersome affirme that he is the true Messias but that God abydeth not by his promises but reiecteth it at his pleasure Now for asmuch as none of both these thinges as I thinke is true I would fayne vnderstande the doubts of this treatise which you intitled of election or of the calling of the Gentyles P. As for the casting of or to speake more ryghtly the vnbeleefe of myne owne countreymen Cha. 9. I cannot speake of it vvithout greefe of mind For I say the truth in Christ vvithout lying and my conscience beareth me witnesse of it by the holy ghost Act. 9.1 1. Co. 15.7 that I am stricken vvith great greefe and continuall sorrovv of mynde to remember and beholde the blindnes and destruction of the Iewes For I coulde fynde in my harte to be a straunger vnto Christ for my brethrens sake vvhich are my kinsfolke as in respect of humane nature So gret so earnest and so vnfained loue doo I beare them For the Israelites come of Gods sholed and chosen people Ro. 2.18 Epi. 2. 12. to whom belong the adoption and couenaunts to whom the lavv seruice of God were giuen to vvhom the promises vvere giuen and finally of whose fathers Christ came as concerning his manhod For in that he is the coeternall and coessentiall sonne of God he is God to be praysed aboue all things for euer Amen He is the true Messias the verie Sauiour the very mediator betwene God and man euē in spyte of the powers of hell Therfore there is no cause why anye man should call it in question whether Iesus of Nazareth be the very same Messias that was promised to the children of Israell And wheras you say there are others that blame God of vnconstancy surely I am sory for it For that errour springeth of the not knowing of Gods determination vvhereby he did once decree in his ovvne mynde that none should be saued but the beleuers And wheras the Iewes surmise the saide promise to belong only to themselues they vtterly mistake their marke as they say Nother can their vnbeleefe blame god of vnconstancy Ro. 2. 16. as though hys woord had falne to the grounde For not all they which are borne of Israel by fleshly descent are true and chosen Israelites nother follovveth it that by cause they be Abrahams ofspring therefore they are all Abrahams true and natural children that is to say faithfull descended of the father of the faithfull But of Isaac sayth God to Abraham shall thy ofspring take their name Ge. 21.12 He. 11.25 whiche is all one as if he should say they shall not be called Abrahams children which shall come of thee by Ismael thy fleshly son But the children whiche are thine in deede and whiche shall be called the children of God are they that shall cōuey their pedegree from Isaac the son of the spirit rather than of the flesh To conclude at a vvoorde they be not the true Israetites vvhich are the children of Abrahams body Gal. 4.28 but they that are his childrē by promise are counted the children of Abraham and of God R. Truly this your saying of gods promise semeth new straūge to the Iewes P. Vndoubtedly their owne blyndnesse is the cause of this errour and not my true interpreting of thē which they diffame with nouelty for the prophesies sermōs of the prophets do cōtinually teach inforce this decre of the euerlasting god But least my coūtrimen may cōplaine of my sayings let vs loke narrowlyer vppon Gods sayinges The vvords of the promises are these Ge. 17.10 I wyll visit thee at this tyme sayth God vnto Abraham and Sara shall by my fauour haue a sonne notwithstanding that she be barren and both of you be stryken in yeares Therefore ye see that vnder this figure of Isaac Ismaell God did shadow and shevv aloofe his free chosing of all beleeuers whether they were Iewes or Gentyles that by that meanes he might make it knowen that he is the God of all men both Ievves and Gentyles Joh. 1.12 Joh. 3.15 and that he gathereth his chosen indifferently out of both peoples not by fleshly generation but by beleeefe of the promise and by acceptation R.