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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A05360	An excellent treatise of Christian righteousnes, written first in the French tongue by M.I. de l'Espine, and translated into English by I. Feilde for the comforte of afflicted consciences, verie necessarie and profitable to be reade of all Christians, as well for establishing them in the true doctrine of iustification, as also for enabling them to confute the false doctrine of all Papistes and heretickes; Excellent traité de la justice chrestienne. English.	L'Espine, Jean de, ca. 1506-1597.; Fielde, John, d. 1588.	1577 (1577)	STC 15512; ESTC S106720	64,303	130

we must note that being vnited by faith in our Lorde Iesus Christ and graffed in him as members in their body that he is then become our heade and we are ioyned to him as the housbande to his wife By meanes whereof he chargeth him selfe with all our debtes and appointeth him selfe to be the aunswere and pledge for vs to the ende he maye paye all for vs and throughly acquite vs of all that we are indebted and bounde for offring him selfe to satisfie the righteousnes of God by his owne death to the which death we were bounde by reason of our sinnes and to deliuer vs by his Crosse from the cursse to which we were likewise subiect for hauing disobeyed the will of God and broken his lawe in a thousand and a thousandes thinges he hath also rased out our disobedience by his obediēce which being so perfect accomplished in all pointes he hath supplied and made amendes for all our faultes and imperfections and for the dutie wherewith we were bounde to God with all our might being his creatures children and seruaunts The death then which Iesus Christ hath suffred the sacrifice which he hath offred the cursse which he hath borne the obedience that he hath rendred all this was done in our name and for our discharge and is receaued before the iudgemēt of God for acquitall in ful payment and discharge of all our debtes in such sort that no more can be demaūded againe of vs he hauing through his innocencie fully satisfied that promise which he had made for vs Beholde the first reason why the righteousnes of Iesus Christ is imputed vnto vs and accepted of God in his iudgement The second reason is that being knitte and vnited together by mariage both we and he are but one body and one flesh and there is a mutuall communion between vs And as he participateth with our afflictions miseries pouerties and infirmities so when we are persecuted by tyrans he complaineth with vs and lamenteth our aduersities and sorrowes likewise when we are houngry sicke diseased in prison c. he beareth and endureth all our calamities with vs We also on the contrary part are partakers of all his benefites graces and giftes which his father hath bestowed vpon him and in generall of all that he hath done and suffred for our saluation and redemption we are anointed as he was with the oyle of his holy spirite we are deade and buried with him and we are raised vp and caried into heauē with him where we are sette at the right hande of God his father as he is We are inheritours together with him and we haue part in his glorie in his rest in all his felicity by meane of his righteousnes obedience innocencie of all which through his grace we are made partakers Also of his death sacrifice and satisfaction And to conclude as marchantes which are of one companie become parteners are partakers alike of all the profittes and damages which growe of their marchandise euen so Iesus Christ by reason of that societie we haue together with him giueth vs a parte and we likewise giue him of all that we haue and possesse The difference that is in this is that the gaines losses that come of the traffique that is exercised amongest men is equall and common amongest them all but here we gather vp all the fruites that arise of the righteousnes of Iesus Christ he on the contrary parte taketh vpon him and chargeth himselfe with all the damages and losses that came of our disobedience The third reason for which the righteousnes of Christ is imputed vnto vs is that being knitte to him as the members of a bodie are to their heade the which by meanes of this coniunction receaue thence one influence which giueth them life and distributeth to each their motions senses according as is fitte for their nature and as is requisite for their actions we receaue from him as S. Paule sayeth our life our nourishment our grouth our force and strength for the enabling and disposing of vs to doe those good workes that belong vnto our vocation And by reason of this coniunction there is such an vnion betwixt him and vs that as he communicateth with vs in our afflictiōs so we likewise on the other side communicate with him in his riches we are righteous by his righteousnes we are acquited by his satisfaction we are quickened to life by his death and obaye God through his obedience And euen as in a naturall body the power that the eye hath to see serueth more to the vse of the other members then for it selfe because that seeing and marking them all it is watchfull rightly to guide them and to direct euery one of their actions not being able in the meane time to see them selues nor to serue it selfe euen so the righteousnes innocencie obedience of Christ Iesus stande vs in more sted then him seeing that notwithstanding he had all these thinges and it was in his nature life and whole conuersation absolut and perfect yet for all this he was condemned and crucified We on the contrary part albeit his righteousnes innocencie and obedience be onely imputed vnto vs yet for all that by meanes of this imputation we are absolued iustified and discharged of all our sinnes and of all accusations that all our enemies can bring against vs. The other part of the righteousnes of Iesus Christ consisteth in the sanctification not only of vs but also of our works For although that there is not as Paule sayth any fellowshippe between righteousnes and vnrighteousnes between light and darkenes between the temple of God and Idolls yet for all this whē Iesus Christ will ioyne vs with him selfe and will choose vs and consecrate vs to the ende to dwell in vs as in his temple he sanctifieth vs first by his spirit prepareth the house where he will dwell And because it is ouer streight to entertaine so great a lorde he enlargeth it and whereas it is olde and ruinous he repayreth it and buildeth it newe againe whereas it is stincking and full of filthe he sweepeth and clenseth it And to be briefe where as it is naked and vnfurnished he furnisheth and decketh it And euen as when he woulde be borne of the Virgin Marie and before he woulde be lodged in her wombe he sent his seruauntes before him that is to saye his spirite to the ende to take it vp for him and to sette his marke there so also when he wil be conceaued in our hartes and be borne of vs he prepareth and regenerateth vs before sanctifying the place where he will make his abode Now this sanctification consisteth in fower pointes The first is that we feele and confesse our sinnes and that we accuse condemne and deteste our selues before God as miserable and accurssed in all pointes The

giuen and that it be established in a perfection of vertue which we must more loue esteeme and honour then any other good and apply our whole spirite and all our vnderstandinge to atteine to it and possesse it without thinking at any time that this is any meane to make vs to be accompted righteous before God in whose presence and iudgement all our workes shal euer be found imperfect and damnable if they be examined according to the rigour of his righteousnes To vnderstande then what this Christian righteousnes is and in what it consisteth it is meete to note that Righteousnesse and iudgement are corelatyues and for the better vnderstanding of the one it must be layde and ioyned with the other The which thing maye easely be obserued in many places of the newe Testament where righteousnes is ioyned with iustification and iustification with righteousnes In such sorte that comparing these places one with on other a man shall finde that righteousnes is no other thinge but the meane whereby we are iustified before the iudgement seate of God. And that iustification is nothing else but a release of our sinnes which we obteine there through the fauour and in the contemplation of the merite of Iesus Christ who hath there discharged vs. But here it is to be noted that there are many kindes of iudgements differing one frō the other that is to wit there is the iudgement of God the iudgement of the Law the iudgemēt of men and of our owne conscience we must know whether our owne righteousnes be sufficient to satisfie answere to euery one of these iudgementes and whether the same in any of these can stande vs in steede to obtaine an acquitement and deliuerance of the accusations that are propounded by our enemies there against vs. Concerning Gods iudgement which is the first of the foure we must answere that it is impossible there that we can defende vs if we haue no other thing to bring forth and alleage but our owne innocencie forasmuch as our thoughtes our affections our wordes our actions generally our whole life and nature being examined it shal be found that in man is nothing else but vanity and to be shorte the very matter of death and damnation for how can an euill tree bring forth any good frute how can rotten and wormeaten seede engender any thing but like it selfe In like maner how can a man frō a poysned infected vessel draw one drop of good wine let vs conclude thē that we neither do nor can doe any thinge that can be able to susteine the rigorous examinatiō of the righteousnes of God and that in vs and in our whole life there is nothinge that can in this case defende deliuer vs but his mercy alone Because we are as the Prophet sayeth a wildernes altogether couered with thistles brambles and bryers which are good for nothinge but to be burnt and a very dunghill of corruption where there is nothing as S. Augustine saith but euen the very sincke and aboundance of miserie and filthines The beginning then of our righteousnes is that we accuse and condempne our selues and that we confesse before God that which he knoweth well enough to witte that we are nothing but dust and corruption The prodigall childe being farre from his fathers house neuer thought that he coulde returne thether or attaine to righteousnesse and vertue from which he was departed but by the knowledge and feeling which he had of his faults the sure perswasion which he had conceaued to confesse them The publican comming to the temple loaden and couered with vice sinne had remembraunce of his vice and wretchednes which he with great griefe and deepe gronings confessed whereupon it came to passe that he returned righteous into his owne house After Dauid holy Peter were falne from God through a great vnkindnes ignorance as well from him as from those graces which they had receaued of his large liberality had they any other meane to be recōciled vnto him but by the acknowledgement cōfession of their sinnes whereupon we must conclude that by this we must approche before god And that there is nothinge that doth more allure knit vs to him then a penitent heart which as S. Augustine sayth feeleth and continually complaineth for his sinnes and imperfections This humility is not onely the foundation of our righteousnesse as Iohn Chrisostome saith but also of all our religion the which decayeth as soone as we begin to conceaue any opiniō of our selues or of our owne vertues He sayth S. Augustine will not be any longer of the body that refuseth to be humble and to make himselfe litle with his head for ordinarily as the valleyes are more aboundant and bringe foorth more frute then doe the mountaines by reason that being more low they receaue more commodiously all the fatnes which falleth and descendeth from the hie hilles euen so it behoueth that we be more low and humble in our owne eyes if we will that God fullfill vs with his graces the which may finde no place in vs if we presume any whit of our vertues The same which Christ sayth to those Scribes and Phariseis when he saw them arrogant and presumptuous and puffed vp with a vaine and false opinion that they had conceaued of their owne righteousnesse you iustifie your selues before men sayth he to them but God knoweth your heartes within before whom they are most abhominable that are in greatest credit and reputation in the world Wherfore where there is any question concerning righteousnes we must diligently take heede that we be not like those that are sicke of the dropsie who by reason of the grossenesse of their bodies seeme to be in good estate notwithstanding they be full of nothing but water and such euill humors which in the end are the cause of their death That then the outward appearance which we may haue of any vertue do not abuse deceaue vs let vs know that all the vertue whereof we may be furnished can no more endure before God then waxe before the fire And as it can not be but that one pinne or needle is enough to pearce a bladder and to make all the winde therein inclosed incontinently to come foorth euen so it can not be but that euen a litle tentatation is enough to drawe the vizard from hypocrites to discouer them to euery one who shall knowe after that they shal be sifted that there was nothing but a colour and an imagination of all the reputation of righteousnes vertue which they had gotten amongest men Lette vs not make then any accompt of all the righteousnes which can be in vs nor let vs not bring it to the iudgemēt of our God to better our cause or to winne there by lawe any thing for vs

bable that of our selues we can dispose our selues to receaue our saluatiō when soeuer God offreth it vnto vs It is so farre of that it can be true that quite contrary we are thē wholly turned away and resist against it with all our power Which thing may plainely appeare by the example of S. Paule who was called and ledde by Iesus Christ as it were by strong hande to his sheep folde euen then when he was going to Damascus being carried with a deadely hatred and enflamed with furie to persecute and vtterly to roote out if he coulde the memorie of his name There is nothinge more certaine then that S. Augustine sayth that all they that labour and sweate vnder the heauie burden of this flesh and complaine of this miserable life they haue but one onely consolation and hope that is to saye that Iesus Christ is their Mediatour their righteousnes By reason wherof whē he made his entraunce into the middest of Ierusalem all that wente before and behind him cryed out with one voice Hosanna c. that is to saye ▪ Saue vs O sonne of Dauid our Sauiour To the end to shew that there was neuer good man neither before nor after his comming which did hope to be saued by any other meanes then onely through his righteousnes and obedience And therefore S. Augustine sayeth that all the Sainctes since Abell vnto Iohn Baptiste and after the Apostles vnto the ende of the worlde ought not to be praised but in him and not in them selues In so much that the first haue sayde My soule shall reioyce in the Lorde and those that came after haue sayed in like manner By grace I am that I am and all in generall saye That whosoeuer will glorie he must glorie in God. And in verie truth this is he that hath borne the wooll and the flece of which was sponne this cloth wherewith we must be clad that we may be shrowded against heats cold and other iniuries of heauen All you sayeth the Apostle which are baptised in Christ haue put on Christ This is that kinge who for the adorning of the Queene his spouse hath made for her ritch and sumptuous robes as the Psalmist sayeth Which thinge Ezechiell sheweth also more clearly I haue washed thee with water yea I haue washed away thy bloud from thee in which thou wast altogether polluted I haue anoynted thee with oyle and clothed thee also with broydred worke and haue sette a crowne of Golde vpon thy heade and I haue decked thee with golde and siluer that thou mightest be very bewtifull All that same long Alegorie which he vseth there in the 16. of his prophesie is to no other ende but to extoll the righteousnes of Iesus Christ with which the Church is apparailed and adorned with those other precious giftes graces and blessinges wherewith she is altogether couered and replenished And as there is nothing more vncleane then she when she is naked so is there nothing more bewtifull then she when she is decked in the liuerie and collour of her husband For then hath she a speciall grace that makes her verie amiable delightfull and in passing good liking to God him selfe Moreouer being so clothed in this robe of innocencie all that was foule in her and which disfigured her is in such sorte couered and defaced that there appeareth no more vncleanes in any part of her because Iesus Christ as S. Augustine sayeth is as a spounge which wipeth vs cleanseth vs from all our filthynes which he taketh in exchaunge for the bewtie righteousnesse and perfection which he communicateth vnto vs Wherin we ought to acknowledge and to adore this great and incomparable loue which he beareth vs and which he hath truely and in effect shewed vnto vs heaping vpon vs at the daye of our mariage so great and precious ioyes although he receaue nothing of vs in dowrie but olde baggage altogether couered with thicke and filthie dirte to witte euen our imperfections and iniquities We receaue then in doing this thinge two great commodities of his righteousnes which serue vs for two purposes to witte first to draw vs out from the mier and claye wherein we were buried to decke vs with goodly robes wherewith we are clad to make vs bewtifull that is to saye to deliuer vs from the malediction and curse wherinto we were fallen and then on the other side to blesse vs and to bring vs into fauour with God his father to drawe vs backe from pouertie and to enrich vs to raise vs vp from death and to giue vs life to drawe vs from hell and to make vs mounte vp into heauen Euen as Iesus Christ on the one part hath deliuered vs from feare terrour and torment of conscience sparring and shutting vp hell gates so on the other he hath set vs in a certaine and vndoubted hope of euerlasting life and of a blessed reste opening his paradise vnto vs. This is that which is sayde of him in the scripture that he keepeth the keyes of death and of life the one to make fast and shut vp the gate which was alwayes open to swallow vs vp and deuour vs and the other to open vnto vs the kingdome of heauen which was alwayes locked and shutte against vs By meane whereof at his death the vaile that let the entraunce into the Sanctuary was broken and clefte into two partes to the ende that that way might be made open for vs and that euery one might haue a meane and libertie to come vnto God and to presente them selues before him with confidence This is the cause that Paule writing to the Hebrewes sayed that by his flesh he hath prepared a waye for vs to heauen to attaine vnto life Forasmuch as he hath in that flesh rendred vnto God for vs perfect obediēce and by his death hath satisfied his righteousnes for our sinnes obtaynīg for vs by this meanes the forgiuenes of our sinnes and through this remission righteousnes and by righteousnes the grace and fauour of God and by Grace life in such sort as we maye nowe presente our selues to him in all assuraunce who before was as a consuming fire to consume vs and bring vs to nothing c but now by the meanes of Iesus Christ is a shadowe to releiue and refreshe vs againe This is the reason for which Iesus Christ was figured by the ladder which Iacob sawe when he sleept wherevpon the glorie of God rested it selfe Forasmuch as in the humanitie of Christ dwelled the fulnesse of the Diuinitie bodely because by it God descendeth downe vnto vs Euen as Iesus Christ hauing taken our humanitie was called Emmanuel which is asmuch to saye as God is with vs so also we through him mounte vp as it were by degrees to heauen where our conuersation is wherof at this day we are Citizens of the householde of God.

vs be certaine that they shall remaine still with vs and looke by the selfe same grace that they were freely bestowed vpon vs by the same they shall be keept and encreased Also there is an other place of the Apostle that all they which were predestinate to life shall afterwarde be called iustified and in the ende glorified If these fower pointes wherein is contained the whole summe of the saluation of God his children be so chained in order one to the other by an immutable decree of God we must cōclude that as our election is sure stable permanent so also are the other effectes that do necessaryly follow it Also that which S. Iohn sayeth in his first Epistle that he that is borne of God sinneth not and the wicked toucheth him not Also that goodly protestation that the Apostle maketh for him selfe and all the faithfull with so great assuraunce I am sayth he certaine that there is neither death nor life nor Angells nor principalities nor powers nor thinges present nor thinges to come nor thinges highe nor thinges lowe nor any creature that shal be able to separate vs frō the loue of God which is in Iesus Christ our Lorde Also that which Iesus Christ sayeth to his disciples If any man loue me he will keepe my worde and my father will loue him and we wil come vnto him and dwell with him Whereupon we maye note that he sayeth not We will visite him and so departe againe as many times we see freindes doe visite one an other but he sayeth we will abide with him which is as much to saye We will holde our selues to him and dwell continually with him without euer departing from him By all these places and many more which might be rehearsed out of the scripture it appeareth plainly that faith being once giuen vs of God it shall neuer be quite taken away from vs and so by consequence neither the grace of God which alwayes followeth it And although it seeme oftentimes for deade as it was in Dauid when he committed so great and heinous sinnes one after an other yet for all that there remained alwayes in his harte a certaine remnaunte of it which for a time was hidde as fire is vnder the Ashes And like as when it is raked vp it sheweth not his brightenes nor heate outwardly vntill it be vnraked and kindled in a flambe euen so it oftentimes falleth out with our faith which is hidden and couered with many vices which the most holyest Sainctes of God them selues doe many times committe euen as to fall into diseases the which continueth till it please God to stirre vs vp a new by his spirite and to light vs againe euen like as whē a candle is put out We must iudge then of our faith as of a tree which in wiuter seemeth to be deade because it hath no fruit nor leaues nor any outward appearaunce of life and yet notwithstanding it ceaseth not to liue sheweth that life that was hidden within outwardly in the springe time bringing forth flowers and leaues and taking againe his goodly hewe in so much as the sappe and strength which keepte it selfe enclosed in the roote during the time of the colde spreadeth it selfe throughout all the brāches to make them greene and fresh againe Euen so likewise is it of Faith which seemeth oftentimes to be quite dead in vs when it bringeth not forth any sense or feeling neither of God nor of his promises nor of his commaundements or threateninges And sheweth not it selfe by any other wonted effect Notwithstanding this it is aliue in vs and the life of it hath his being in Iesus Christ in whome it is ingraffed planted And as the strength of this roote can neither be frosen nor deade euen so neither can the Faith of a Christian which is so depelie grounded within be altogether extinguished and deade being the roote of all immortalitie from whence it fetcheth his life But before we ende this matter it is needefull to consider one wonderfull thing to witte how the righteousnes of Christ which is one onely maye be also entierly distributed to euery one of his members without being deuided and sundred in any respect To aunswere this point a man maye saye of it as certaine Philosophers haue sayd of the soule of man which is wholly throughout the whole body and in euery parte a like euen so is the righteousnes of Iesus Christ wholly in the bodye of the whole church as the soule to giue it life and to mainteine it Then is it altogether in euery of the particular members to make them strong whole stowt and of courage to doe all their offices and duties The which thing a man maye vnderstande by two similitudes one is of the voice which being hearde of a great many persons is in such sort receaued of euery one of them prouided that they be attentiue that the same is wholly vnderstoode without beinge deuided or sundred in any respecte The other similitude is of the face which maye be receaued in many glasses and wholly represented to all without any diuision or separation of the same Let vs conclude then that a faithfull man through faith embraceth the whole righteousnes and all the fructes of the sacrifice of Iesus Christ and that for this cause he can not be condemned or accursed before Gods iudgemēt no more then his head with whome he is in separably knitte vnited When any man is faln into the water where he is vp euen to the chin if he cannot be hurt as lōg as his head is aboue the water although that all the members and partes of his body be drowned and foundred so also we cannot be stiffled or hurt in the deapths of death seeing that Iesus Christ our heade is alwayes lift vp aboue those deapths for that vppon the life and health of him dependes the health and saluation of all his members Now it is time to shew by what signes and markes we maye know whether we possesse Iesus Christ and whether he dwell in vs and we in him S. Paule sayeth to the Romains that being iustified by Faith we haue peace in our soules which is an vndoubted token that Christ dwelleth in our hartes that is to saye when we feele there tranquilitie and reste and that we beginne to be peaceable in our consciences torments bytinges anguishes terrors and distrustes there ceasing and when in the sted of all these there cōmeth in place ioye pleasure consolation and as it were a common feast where all reioyce For then Iesus Christ liueth in vs and we in him to witte when all our thoughtes our meditations our workes and our delightes doe carrie vs to him as to the marke And when we sette him out to our selues to be our onely glorie honour riches treasure and the grounde of all our hopes and that we holde him as our cheife and soueraigne good that