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
unreasonable so to do as if a man disputing concerning Osorius should thus conclude that because he hath no power of governing in the Kings Chamber therefore he hath nothing he can do at home amongst his own family Or because he is not at all excellent in military vertue to gain a victory that therefore he hath no faculty or dexterity in managing the affairs of his own business Luther separates charity from faith and the Law from the Gospel and does it not without cause But it must be considered where in what place and for what cause he does it Not to cause the godly works of good men to be despised nor to discourage the exercise thereof but that the power of justifying should not be attributed to the performance of them Not that faith should not work by love before Men but that it should not work before God For it is one thing to work before Men and another thing to work before God Therefore one and the same faith acteth both ways but one way before God and another way before men for before men it works by love that it may perform obedience to the will of God and be serviceable for the benefit of our Neighbour but before God it works not by any love but by Christ only that it may obtain the pardon of sins and eternal life By which you see what is the difference between faith and vertue and wherein they both agree and how different the working of both is How faith is alone without works and again how the same is not alone for in the mean while Godly works are not therefore condemned because they are not admitted to the justification of life but the trusting in works is only overturned Here then a wise and suitable division should be used that things may be distinguished each by their own places and bounds lest one thing should rashly rush into the possession of another and disturb the order of its station Therefore let the praise-worthy merits of the greatest vertues have their own honour and dignity which no man withholds from them Nevertheless by their dignity they will never be so available in the presence of the Heavenly Iudge as to redeem us from our sins to satisfie Iustice to deliver us from the wrath of God and everlasting destruction to restore us that are so many ways ruinated unto grace and life to unite us as Sons and Heirs to God and to overcome Death and the World These things cost a far dearer price than that we should ever be able to pay so many and so great debts by any works or merits or means of our own For so great is the severity of Iustice that there can be no reconciliation unless Iustice be satisfied by suffering the whole punishment that was due The wrath is so very great that there is no hope of appeasing the Father but by the price and death of the Son And again so great is the mercy that the Father grudged not to send his own Son and bestow him on the World and so to bestow him that he gives Life Eternal to them that believe in him Moreover so great is the loving kindness of the Son towards us that he grudged not for our sakes to bring upon himself this infinite load of wrath which otherways our frailty however assisted with all the help of moral vertues had never been able to sustain Whence Faith hath received its efficacy BEcause Faith alone with fixed eyes looks upon this Son and Mediator and cleaves unto him who only could bring about this Atchievement of our Redemption with the Father therefore it is that it alone hath this vertue and power of justifying not with works nor for works but only for the sake of the Mediator on whom it relies Therefore that is false and worthy to be rejected with disdain which some unhappy and wicked School-Divines affirm in discoursing of Charity to wit that it is the form of Faith and that it must not by any means be separated from faith no more than the vital Soul can be separated from the body or the essential form from matter which otherwise is a rude and unweildy Mass. In answering of whom I think there is no need of many words seeing the whole meaning and drift of Scripture if rightly understood the very end of the Law seeing Christ and the instruction of the Apostles and the whole nature of the Gospel seem to be manifestly against them and wholly to overturn that most absur'd Opinion by so many Oracles so many Signs Examples and Arguments to the contrary Now if that be form which gives subsistence to a thing how much more truly must it be said that faith is the form of charity without which all the works of charity are base and contemptible as again the form of faith is not charity but Christ only and the promise of the word But what say they are not the pious works of Charity acceptable to God being so many ways prescribed unto us and commanded by him Are not these also remunerated with plentiful fruits of Righteousness and heaped up with manifold Rewards in the Gospel I was hungry says he and ye fed me I thirsted and ye refreshed me with drink so that not so much as a cup of cold water shall want a reward when it is given in the name of Christ besides an infinite number of other things of that kind which being taken out of the Scriptures are enlarged upon to the praise of Charity Indeed no man denys that pious and holy works of Charity are greatly approved of God and it is an undoubted truth that the love of God and of our Neighbour as it comprehends the Summary of both Tables and is the greatest complement of the whole Law so it hath excellent promises annexed unto it Neither is there any Controversie between us about that But when we affirm that Charity pleases God we ask this how it pleases whether simply of it self in respect of the very work or upon the account of faith and the Mediatour and then whether the same Charity so pleases that it justifies us before God and obtains the pardon of sins and overcomes the terrours of death and sin that it may be opposed to the judgment and anger of God Moreover whether it hath the promises of Eternal Life annexed unto it If without a Mediatour and the faith of him there is nothing which can please God and it is impossible that works should please him before the person of him that worketh be reconciled it follows that Charity depends on Faith and not Faith on Charity But that it rather goes before Love and is so far from being joyned with it for justification that it also justifies Charity and makes all the works of Charity acceptable to God The matters appear more evident by Example Suppose a Iew or Turk does daily bestow great gifts upon the poor with very great cost
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
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
consists not in the Merits of Works but in Grace only and the Hope of Mercy unto which Men fly for refuge in their emptyness of Vertues as he speaks But let us proceed Another Argument Evil Works deserve Eternal Destruction Therefore Good Works Merit Eternal Life Answer Both are true indeed if you consider things in respect of the just rewards due unto them For as the vile Abominations of an Ungodly Life procure the Wrath and Vengeance of God so Works of Righteousness would procure his favour if we could perform good things with as great perfection as we do Evil things But because we cannot do that therefore of our selves we can deserve nothing according to the rules of Iustice but only Death and Damnation But now by the right of Redemption through Christ we are set free from the Law of Iustice and translated into the Kingdom of Grace by Vertue of a new Covenant whereby it comes to pass that God hath respect not to our Merits but only to Christ the price of our Redemption Therefore I answer That this opposition of contraries is of force according to the strict severity of the Law but not according to the Grace of the Gospel for here there is a block put in the way To wit The Blood of the Redeemer that frees us from the Law of Sin and Death Moreover the Argument from contraries avails not except the contraries are set equally in their full extent one against another Now Evil Works in us are perfectly Evil but good Works though assisted by Grace yet because of the refractary imperfection of the Flesh in the sight of God are imperfect at the best as they are performed by us Wherefore Hierom says The perfection of all Righteous Men in the Flesh is Imperfection Another Argument The Grace of Iustification is lost by Evil Works Therefore it is retained by good Works Answer By the same Answer the Fallacy of this Sophistical Argument is discovered because our Sins and Vertues are not equally contrary to one another But whereas it is said that the Grace of Iustification is retained by Obedience though this in some sense may be granted yet Iustification is not thereby procured Moreover when we say It is retained by Works that should not be so understood as if this were done for the Merit of the Actions but only for the sake of the Redeemer upon whose account first the person is accepted and afterwards the actions are well pleasing which otherways would be unclean and of no value They say that perseverance in Righteousness is lost by Evil Works But Evil Works as they are in us admit of a twofold consideration either as they are inherent in us as in all Saints thro' the infirmity of the Flesh and we presently rise up again by Repentance and Faith And such kind of Sins as Paul asserts shall not have dominion over us or in the next place as we give up our selves to Sin against our own Conscience that we may serve it and take a sinful delight therein But such a Sin can by no means consist with this Faith whereof Paul speaks which hath place in none but those that are turned from Sin and returned to God Another Argument Faith Iustifies Faith is a Work Therefore Works Iustifie Answer I Answer The Argument is faulty because the middle term is of a larger extent in the Major than in the Minor For Faith in the Major is taken correlatively for Christ or the Promise which is apprehended by Faith In the Minor it is taken only for a quality of the Mind as it is an act of our Will Otherways if Faith is taken in the Minor just as it is in the Major it is false and the Minor should be denied To wit That Faith is a Work Another Argument of the Iesuits If Faith only Iustifies it would Iustifie without Charity Faith doth not Iustifie without Charity Therefore Faith only doth not Iustifie Answer I may oppose unto this Argument another not unlike it that the Fallacy of the one may appear the more easily by the other Thus then by way of Instance a Man may infer If the heat of Fire only makes warm then it makes warm without light But the heat of Fire doth not make warm without light joyned therewith Therefore The heat of the Fire only doth not make warm I doubt not but by this mutual comparing of Arguments it appears evident to the Reader how like the one is to the other and consequently how he should judge thereof so that there is no need of any further Refutation For all things that are joyned and agree together in some respects are not therefore engaged in the same Office He that hath Feet Eyes and Ears though he hath not these Members in separation from one another yet it is an untruth if it is said That he sees not with his Eyes only or walks not with his Feet only Though I deny not that in the performance of those duties which belong to this Life Faith is not separated from Charity So if we look upward to things that are Divine and Eternal if we contemplate and view what that is which can help us at our appearance before the Dreadful Iudgment Seat of God and appease his Wrath and deliver us from Eternal Destruction and conquer Death and the Devil and regain the favour of God and Iustifie us and procure us the Crown of Life Faith only in the Mediatour doth so bear rule in these affairs and so fully performs all things requisite to our Salvation and Redemption that here Charity hath nothing to do for the Kingdom is not promised or due to you because you love this or that Neighbour after your manner but contrarily because you neither love God as you ought nor your Neighbour as your self therefore unavoidable destruction is due to you unless Faith only through the Mediatour should come in for your help and set you free from the condemnation due unto you notwithstanding your Charity Faith is so far from needing to be joyned with Charity for Iustification that unless Charity it self were justified by Faith it could not stand nor keep it self from falling to ruine and Destruction Of the like nature is that Argument which they wrest out of the Writings of the Apostle Paul An Argument out of 1 Cor. 13. If I have all Faith so that I can remove Mountains but have not Charity I am nothing Therefore Iustification comes by Faith and good Works Answer Erasmus did write in his Exposition on the Second Chapter of Iames Faith which is cold without Charity and puts not forth it self when the matter requires it is not Faith but only the Name of Faith c. They of Paris argue contray ways that Faith can be without Charity out of this place of Paul If I have all Faith so that I can remove Mountains Erasmus following Basil Interprets this Scripture on this manner That we should take this to
Christ invites unto himself Consciences that are afflicted and burdened with sin Isaiab calls all that are athirst to come without price or any exchange to the Fountains of Christ that they may be refreshed Osorius will bestow the Kingdom which God hath promised upon none but righteous men and eminent good works I beseech you Sir according to your righteousness what excellent good work brought that sinful Woman with her in the Gospel out of whom seven Devils were cast What righteousness appeared in the Thief on the Right Hand of Christ except faith only why he should after the commiting so many evil deeds enter in together with Christ on the same day into Paradise what other thing did the Woman of Canaan that was a stranger bring to Christ but an importunate cry of faith so that she carried home not Crumbs but whole Loaves of Divine Grace What deserved the miserable Woman with the bloody Issue or Iairus the Governour of the Synagogue or Zacchaeus of Matthew or other Publicans with them why they being perferred before the Pharisees who seemed so much more righteous should obtain the benefit of free favour being so obvious and exposed unto them There is almost an infinite number of others of the like condition that may be discoursed of after the same manner in whom you can find nothing worthy of so great bounty of Divine Grace but faith only Blind Bartimeus cried the Lepers cried Iesus Master thou Son of David have mercy on us and they were heard For nothing cries louder than faith nothing is more effectual to prevail Let Osorius also cry and let us all cry with the like noise of Faith and we shall be heard alike I speak of that faith which is in Christ Iesus besides which there is not any passage into Heaven nor access unto God nor way of prevailing with God Therefore that we may be heard let us come and knock but let us do it aright to wit by Faith and in the name of only begotten Otherways it is in vain to cry to God who hears not sinners but drives them away who regards not servants and guilty persons unless they come to the Son or in the name of the Son Now by what way we are heard by the same we are Iustified For the Divine reward is always joyned with righteousness Seeing then all of us mortal men are by nature sinners and servants of sin therefore we must see what that is which makes us of servants free men of guilty persons sons of sinners righteous For this is the whole subject matter of the debate this is the question on which the whole controversie depends which is not so difficult to be judged of if the authority of Sacred Scripture may prevail upon impartial judgments For the testimony of the Gospel remains sure and eternal which no mortal man can weaken at any time instructing our faith thus As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God and that he may teach what it is to receive him he presently explains the same to them saith he that believe in his name c. Whereby it appears evidently what it is to which we are beholden for all that splendor and dignity wealth and riches yea and the possession of Heaven and Life I know that in those excellent offices of good works which you so much cry up in the exercise of charity and observance of Righteousness there is great weight and also great benefit as I consess also that the law it self hath great efficacy if a man use it lawfully Now the use of the law consists in this that it should bring us to Christ and be subservient to his glory But when you have heaped all these things together into one whatsoever were by God either prescribed to us in his Law or written within us they are far from restoring perfection to a mans deeds that are altogether imperfect or to a mans person that is wholly destroyed and ruinated They are far from making us of servants freemen of Slaves of Satan Sons of God heirs of his Kingdom co-heirs of Christ fellow Citizens of the Saints and Domesticks of the highest Father Verily that is not the Office of the Law but of Christ And it is not righteousness but grace that does this This is not the efficacy of works but of Faith which relying not upon works but being strengthned only by the promise of God brings us from bondage to liberty from death to life adopts us being reconciled unto God makes us Sons of the promise which is so far from being joyned with Charity and Works that it reconciles Charity it self and all works of life unto God and justifies them without which they could not have place in Heaven in the presence of the great God Upon what account and how Faith justifies Fallen Sinners NOW because I have demonstrated what the power of Faith is and what it performeth I must of necessity explain upon what account and for what cause Faith procureth unto it self so great efficacy and power of Iustifying how it is said to Iustifie alone without Works and what Men the same Iustifies whether the righteous or the wicked If the righteous what need is there now of Iustification or Faith when the Law is sufficient If the wicked whether those that are penitent and converted or the impenitent and rebellious If the Faith of Christ justifies the penitent frees them from guilt and makes them righteous of unrighteous which neither you your self can deny Why then do you inveigh against Luther so unmodestly and undeservedly Does Luther either say or teach any other thing Where does he at any time let loose the Reins to sin or promise liberty to the wicked or preach Iustification otherways than to those who being reformed by Repentance breathe after Christ and joyn themselves to him by Faith What Will you shut out those from all hope of pardon I trow not And what remedy then will you shew them Will you send us to the Faith of Christ or to the Sentence of the Law to heal our wounds What if the Law gives no help here and there is not any other thing in man that can help righteousness once violated except Faith only placed in Christ which neither you your self can deny And if this very Faith brings Salvation to none but those that deplore the sins they have committed which together with you Luther affirms to what purpose are those out-cries against Luther so Tragical and raised without any cause Wherefore then dost thou deceive us O Luther For when thou d'dst condemn pious tears and didst cast reproaches upon wise sorrowfulness and didst plead that all works were not only unprofitable but pernicious And presently going on in the same stile and waxing more violent For when say you thou didst put so much in faith that thou saidst there was help enough in that only the sense of thy
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
also hath its own promises as both Covenants have likewise their own atonements I do not deny it but this I ask what manner of promises hath repentance in the Old Law God promiseth life to them that return from their wickedness What doth he signifie an eternal or a temporary peace and felicity of this outward life If you answer an eternal I would then know what difference there will be between Legal and Evangelical Promises but when I do stedfastly contemplate upon the nature and kind of both times and testaments in the holy word of God and compare the vertue of one Kingdom with the other this seems to me to be the difference between Moses and Christ that I suppose all his Blessings and Rewards promised by God to those that lead their life according to the prescript of the Law go not beyond the bounds of a certain earthly blessedness and recompence In which notwithstanding we think there are contained no small benefits of God For what could happen to any man in this mortal state to which we are all of necessity subject not only more desirable but also of a larger extent by the wonderful power of God than when you are by the singular gift of God placed in such a Commonwealth which by a wonderful fruitfulness and plenty of all good things excells all other Nations whatsoever you should then pass your life in it being compassed about with the Divine Protection that you may not only your self live long in the Land which the Lord your God hath given you but that it should also be well with your Sons after you through all Generations that you may maintain your state with dignity and abundance of all the best things that the adversity of common fortune may have no power over you that no Enemy may annoy you no tempest may cloud your tranquility that no storm of evil things may shake you that at home and abroad whether you are in the field or in your house going out or coming in all things may happen successfully to you according to your hearts desire and moreover that God should so bless all your wealth and works of your hands and that at no time the powerful providence of God should forsake you unto the utmost bounds of the most aged life unto these add the plenteous fruitfulness of the Land the incomes of Fruits and Corn the continual increases of wealth the constant fruitfulness of Cattle besides other very plentiful Promises and Blessings of the like kind whereof there is a long Catalogue described in the Law which are appointed for those who inviolably obey the most holy Precepts of God and turn from their Sins to Righteousness All which Promises being by the Prophets set before the Penitent seem to me to be of such a sort that they either signifie temporary Rewards in this World and mitigate outward punishments in this Life or if they be referred to eternal Life they do at least imply the faith of a Mediatour by a certain silent condition And therefore among Divines there are learned and famous men who do rightly and learnedly prove that the Preaching of Repentance belongs peculiarly to the Gospel and not to the Law For the Law Preaches Damnation to Sinners The Gospel Preaches Salvation to the Penitent Therefore when the Lord says return and ye shall be saved I desire not the death of a sinner c. It is not the Preaching of the Law which pronounces the Sentence of Condemnation without mercy but it is the very voice of the Gospel And this seems to me to be the chief difference between Moses and Christ that like as he being as it were a certain earthly Christ procures an earthly liberty to the people and sets before them the duties that are incumbent upon them in leading their lives so all the doctrine and benefits of Christ are peculiarly and chiefly directed unto life eternal and calls us thereunto especially from this world But if we suppose that these legal promises should notwithstanding be referred to eternal life yet when they did not pass the bounds of that people only and reached not to other Nations but to those peculiarly who waited for the Seed promised to them therefore the promises of the Law included faith at least by a certain silent condition Wherefore as touching those legal promises in which the holy Prophets held out unto them that repented and were converted pardon and many other benefits in these must be considered not only what is promised but also to whom the promise is made as being such as belonged not to others but those only who being descended from the Seed of Abraham were contained in the Convenant and had a right to the Lamb slain from the beginning Therefore according to the authority of Augustin we ought always to look to the root in such promises and the mind should always be raised up to the Mediator of the New Covenant in whom alone all the Promises of God are yea and Amen Which seeing it is so and seeing all the Promises of Eternal Life are contained in this only Mediator Christ as in the only Ark of the Covenant neither is there any faculty given us by God which attains to the knowledge of Christ and the understanding of his benefits but faith only therefore it is that this illuminated faith which only leads us to the knowledge of Christ claims to it self only all power of Iustifying without any other means not so much because of the dignity of its act or upon some account of charity joined with it whereby it should be formed but only upon the account and by the vertue of its object unto which it is bent from whence it receives all this power of healing just as the Israelites of old when they were envenomed with deadly Poison regained their health not because they had Eyes and a power of beholding but because they fastned their Eyes at the command of God upon the Serpent that was set up before their Eyes In like manner also it comes to pass to us that whereas it is Christ only that bestows everlasting Life and Righteousness on them that behold him and he becomes not a Saviour unless he be received by Faith hence the inward sight of Faith being fixed upon him brings Salvation Whence by evident demonstration an argument is framed from principles and causes issuing into conclusions by necessary consequence according to Scriptures As this Ma. The only beholding of the Serpent set up without any other condition being added healed the wounded Mi. Christ is the Serpent set up for us Therefore Concl The only beholding of that is faith in Christ set up for us without any additions whatsoever brings healing to our wounds And I know the adversaries will not deny that Christ is the only Serpent who being made a Curse for us makes a Medicine for our Wounds But if you ask how They will answer one
it self unto us of which the one is Divine and is attributed to God only the other is only referred to men That therefore is peculiar to God this is called our Righteousness but what difference is between this and that there is no great difficulty to discern For that which is the Righteousness of God appears evident in all his works and the perfect exactness of his holiness But that which is the Righteousness of men is received by Faith only not that faith in acting is wholly without works but because in justifying works do nothing before God and that is it which the Apostle seems to to intend in these words saying for this purpose that he may be just and the justifier of him that is of the faith of Iesus Christ c. For this purpose saith he that he may be just how is he just by faith no but by works that thou mayest be justified in thy sayings and mayest overcome when thou art judged But now what way are we justified by works not at all but by Faith Concerning which the Apostle A justifier of him who is of the faith of Iesus Christ c. He said not him that behaved himself well by working but him that is of the faith of Iesus Christ Whence a Disciple being witness whosoever shall believe in Christ with a direct and intent faith it follows by necessary consequence that this Man is esteemed Righteous and is justified before God For otherwise to what purpose should God be said to justifie us by Faith or what need would there be here of any mention of faith at all if holy works of themselves were sufficient to make up a Righteousness By all which things being thus deduced and confirmed it is easie to understand what should be judged of this your definition For if there is no other Righteousness but that which by your definition is placed in holy works and a perfect obedience to the Law of God it thence follows that either we are not tainted with any sins at all or that we must necessarily confess that we are excluded from all possession of Righteousness Both of which are false for though Sin and Righteousness in respect of one and the same thing through a mutual Antithesis whereby they are opposed one against another cannot come together yet nothing hinders but we may be both Sinners and also Righteous upon a different account You will say how can that be If you know not my good Friend I will tell you and in a word that you may understand the more expeditiously We are Sinners in our selves we are Righteous inChrist Hereunto belongs the Mystery of Christ the Son of God given to us by his Father that he with all his works and benefits may become wholly ours for our right and for our advantage So he is said by the Prophet to be born so he is said to be given not to himself but to us So he was Righteous so he fulfilled the Law so he died and rose again that his life might be to us Righteounsness his death might be Redemption and his Resurrection might be Life and Glory Moreover whatsoever is Christ's yea whatsoever Christ. is is not so much his own as yours O Osorius as mine and as it is all ours that by Faith are Iesus Christ's Therefore our Salvation consists of the Redemption purchas'd by another and not of our works For herein shines forth the more than stupendious mercy and unspeakable Grace of a most tender hearted God that he even dedicated his only begotten Son wholly to our advantage that so whatsoever was performed by him was performed not for his sake but for ours neither had it respect to him who had no private need but it redounds as a publick good to us all because he sustains the publick person of All before his Father Wherefore if you desire to know what is our Righteousness Paul and Peter will shew it to you much better than it was defined by you For our Righteousness is Christ our righteous Lord through whose name as many as believe in his name receive Remission of sins What more I pray you would you require unto perfect Righteousness than that sins may never be imputed and that the punishments due to your sins may never be inflicted on you Concerning Inherent and Imputed Righteousness BUT perhaps it is not enough to you that the sins you committed are not imputed to you but that nothing may be committed which may be justly imputed And for that cause you think no man should be reckoned among the Iust but he whose life being upon all accounts untainted is conformable to the perfect rule of the Law having abolished the foot-steps of all sins And indeed that should be wished for if wishes in this case could do any good But you will say that it is not difficult to the Infinite Power of the Almighty God to give strength to perform it to those that ask it of him And again there is not any thing more unsuitable to his Infinite Equity and less honour able to his Infinite Goodness than that he should command his Servants those things which he knows cannot be observed by them But in answer First If those things cannot be kept by us which are commanded by God that comes not to pass through any default of his but through our default who being at first created by him very good brought this disability upon our selves and threw our selves into that necessity of sinning And then what if it so seemed good to his Omnipotent Wisdom to do thus for a Declaration of his own Righteousnes as St. Paul teaches for this purpose that he should be Righteous that is that his Righteousnes might by this means become the more evident through our unrighteousness which could not otherways have been unless he only had been declared to be Righteous and we upon the same account Unrighteous according to Works Which if it had not been so what need had there been why he should justifie us by Faith whom he had seen to be righteous and perfect by Works Yea you say there is very great need of faith and you add a reason Because all the means of destroying and restraining Lust consists in the Grace of God alone which must be obtained by Faith and there is no other way shewed to extinguish and destroy it Therefore Faith as you say prepares the Mind for Righteousness and makes it fit that the great author of all good things should bring into it the seed of righteousness What And does Faith nothing but prepare us for Righteousness But now what way does it prepare Because say you the Grace of God is obtained by Faith and the merit of Christ. But proceed what follows after For it is God only by whose Almighty Power and Bounty we break the force of Lust and restrain all its importunity and maintain the perfect Offices of
somewhat cleared your Eyes you may search more exactly into the meaning of the Apostles debate and the force of his reasons And first I would have you see into this what it is the Divine Apostle chiefly treats of here what he breaths after what he drives at by this similitude whereby he compares Adam together with Christ and proposes him as a Type and Figure of Christ. But where there is a Type it is necessary there should be something which by certain agreement of similitude may be answerable to the Type On the contrary where there is no agreement there is no Type Where there is no signification there is no similitude discerned Now whereas the former Adam bears a type and resemblance of him that was to follow let us consider in what this similitude consists What in propagating sin Not at all in the very Nature of the Persons What is more unlike Where then is similitude To wit not in the persons nor things themselves but only in the manner of the thing But it must be explained what that manner is For herein lyes all the controversie between us and the Papists For otherways as touching the things themselves and the Persons we are well enough agreed in that for there is no Man who is asked concerning Adam and concerning Christ but will answer concerning both according as the thing is in truth that he is by nature earthly and in his life a Sinner and that he brought upon us not only an Example but also a cause of sinning by a certain venomous contagion of Nature And on the contrary that Christ is from Heaven Heavenly and most pure from all defilement of sin and that he only is the Saviour of the World Concerning which if I am not mistaken there is an agreement between us and our Adversaries But concerning the manner how these either good or evil things come to us from these two Originally herein consists all the matter of controversie between us for as there are many who think we are no other way guilty but that by the example of sinning we imitate Adam the first Author of Sinning So you may see many who think we are upon no other account righteous and acceptable to God but that being helped by Grace we attain unto Christs most Holy Works and his most pure Innocency of Life or do very nearly resemble the same Who though they seem to say something yet is not all contained in that For though good Education and imitation wisely used hath no small influence for the becoming Vertuous whereby it may come to pass that some perhaps may seem less wicked than others and in some respect to excel others in the praise of Piety But imitation or any instruction of discipline will never perform this In short nor any way besides will be sufficient for this that you may shake form off your neck that which you drew from Adam or that you should attain that which is in Christ that is that you should appear righteous in the sight of God unless Christ come in to your succour another way than by any of your endeavours how great soever You will say After what manner is all this No Men can tell you that better than St. Paul For after what manner the former Adam ruin'd you after the same manner the Second Adam Christ restores you That first Author of your kind whilest thou was not yet born killed thee in the root by his not by thy rebellion and drew thee into misery and destruction In Adam behold Christ for in like manner being born and having dyed for thee by his won Innocency not by thine hath restored thee again to true 〈◊〉 and Paradice As therefore the transgression of Adam was imputed to thee who didst not Sin after the similitude of his transgression So the Righteousness of Christ is imputed unto thee who didst not Work after the similitude of Christ. In the one of whom behold the severity of Iudgment in the other the excellency of Grace What if this perhaps seems hard and strange to any Man in Adam that I should suffer the punishment of another Man's Sin and that those should be punished for the crime of another who committed nothing For it must needs be another Mans crime seeing I am deprived of Righteousness not for my own fault but for the fault of my Parent Let this same Man again leaving Adam cast back his Eyes upon Christ In whom the bounty of a most plentiful clemency makes amends by a counterpoize for the severity of the former Iudgment For from one Man Death passed upon all on them also who sinned not And justly Though I do not so much regard merit here I only consider the manner of the thing Come then let us compare the Type with the Antitype from the disobedience of one Man as I said death passed upon all Men who sinned not after his example which is a thing that cannot be denied After the same manner again from the Righteousness of one Man Life is communicated unto all who did not like him work Righteousness which is agreeable by the like reason for otherways Christ could not agree to his Type Here now consider whosoever thou art Christian Reader whether the judgments of God in Adam should be more dreaded by thee in which the severity of God imputed unto thee being not yet born that which thou hadst not committed or mercy in Christ the Lord should be more loved who tothee not working but believing in him that justifies the wicked imputes the Righteousness thou didst not deserve By which you see worthy Man if Paul the Apostle should be credited how unworthy of any credit your Doctrine is whereby you take away the Grace of all Imputation and leave no Righteousness besides to miserable Sinners but what every Man purchases by his own good deeds which how true it is let us examine by that place of Paul which convinces you of a Lye and a shameful Error by this most evident Argument Argument Ma. After what manner Christ was made sin for us after the like manner we are made the Righteousness of God by Christ. Mi. Christ was made sin for us no other way but by Imputation only Concl. Therefore we are made Righteous before God no other way but by imputation only I beseech you by your Chatholick Charity what will you say or what will you feign O most dear Osorius to this so clear evidence of manifest Scripture Do you not see that you are tyed on every side with Bonds that are Apostolick and wholly of Adamant Now what Turning what Hole to escape at can you find Christ is made sin for us Wherefore That we might be made the Righteousness of God by him saith the Apostle Will you deny it I suppose you will not What way then was he made sin Will you say by committing it No By Imputation then Certainly it is so Right indeed What
greatness of his benefits what more Divine If his Life it self every way perfect with all purity of the greatest Vertues what more admirable Unto whose example as the most perfect rule for imitation seeing you invite us so earnestly I must needs both willingly approve of your Piety therein and also give you thanks upon this account for your diligence And so much the more upon the account that the unhappy calamity of these times does so greatly need such incitements which I know not by what means having obliterated the footsteps of the Heavenly Adam seem to have degenerated again unto the Earthly Father with a perfect conspiracy Wherefore I could the rather with to these manners and times that those things which are very well discoursed of by you concerning following the Example of Christ concerning the resembling of his Death concerning imitating his Divine Life may pierce not only the Ears of Men but also the most inward parts of their minds For what is more solid for Advice or more seasonable for the Time than that which you so much enlarge upon with a plentiful amplification of Words that every Man according to his power should propose unto himself Christ the chiefest Example of all Vertue and Master of Life for Imitation and Resemblance That having rooted out the filth and relicks of the Old Nature He may drive away very far from him with a resolved and magnanimous Spirit all Taints of impurity And because as you say we cannot be in the middle between the two therefore it remains that having forsaken the party of the body we should so fight under the banner of Christ our Prince we should so subdue the body it self by the power of his saving Crosi all rebellion of the body should so be overcome in us that this unbridled lust which maintains everlasting enmity against God may at length yield to his command and that we may not lessen any endeavour or labour howsoever great in this most holy observance of Iustice and imitation of Christ. As these things are proposed by you most excellent Osorius no less Holily than Eloquently so I would that in like manner your Rhetorick might make a suitable Harmony concerning the Imitation of Christ in the Ears of the Roman Bishops and Cardinals That these Men having abdicated the perishing and transitory Wealth of this World with which they overflow beyond all measure of their own profession and also above royal magnificence may at length think of the poverty of Christ that they may diminish their Possessions and large Inheritances heaped together their Diadems and their other regalities I say not according to the example of the Ancient Philosophers but according to the contentation of the most Holy Apostles that seriously rejecting the luxury and superfluity of this Life their vain glory their needless vanities and trifles may at length cease to be conform to the wicked fashions of this World And that laying aside all haughtiness and pride of Life they may submit themselves to the humility of Christ and restrain and compose the exorbitancy of their Minds and Spirits And laying down this Popish Cruelty and Tyranny learn to become meek of Christ that most perfect pattern of meekness Learn saith he of me because I am meek and lowly of Spirit I do not require that those Roman Priests should wash the Feet of the Poor according to the example of Christ but that they should not embrue their cruel Hands in the Blood of their Brethren neither do I require that they should give Water to refresh the Disciples of Christ but that they should not heap up Flames and Faggots to burn their Bodies nor lay Snares for them or devise to entrap them privily design their ruine and destruction furnish Darts and Weapons to slay them for whom Christ was Sacrificed and by whom they themselves were never hurt If Example should be taken from Christ I pray you what doth the Divine Father and Creator commend more unto us what else doth his whole life breath but mutual Charity both towards Friends and also towards Enemies Who not only doth not break the shaken and bruised Reed but upon the Cross prays for his very Crucifiers Therefore we have an example singularly excellent which we may imitate We have also together with an example a commendation by the mouth of the Apostle by whom Charity is called the bond of perfection Moreover there is not wanting the Preaching of Divines who in their Books in their Exercises in their Sermons do attribute so much to Charity that they call It the form the perfection and the very life of faith without which there is no other vertue that can be helpful to Salvation And now I need not here in many words declare what agreement there is between the Doctrine of those great extollers of Charity and the practice of their lives seeing there are so many proofs before our eyes so many ten thousands of men slain do witness it and so great abundance of Christian blood shed there is so great outrage of Persecution every where there is nothing safe from slaughter fury tumult snares contentions dangers articles of Inquisition bonds and imprisonments In some places the Turk makes havock with the Sword and elsewhere with flames and smoak And the Fathers of the Roman Court exercise Cruelty First they make Laws written with blood which afterwards they commit to Political Monarchs to be promulgated and to the other Officers to be executed by Law On the sudden Citizens of good repute and Learned Ministers are violently haled to examinations and afterwards to death if any Man dare but open his mouth against the manifest abuses of errours they spare neither Age nor Sex nor Condition Thus forsooth those perfect Roman Catholick Nobles imitate the Charity of Christ so they follow his Divine Life so they resemble his death so they shew forth his meekness so they bear the Image of the Divine Father so they wholly and more than wholly form and fashion themselves from the imitation of the earthly Father to the example of the Heavenly Who justly deserve to hear from the Lord ye are those that justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is of high account before Men is abominable before God What if the most Holy Popes and purple Cardinals those Chiefest Dignitaries of the Church with all this your Order of Bishops and the most strict Orders of Monks who by Place Dignity and Profession seem to approach nearest unto Christ and to supply his place upon earth differ so much from him what cause is there why we should hope better of the whole body of the common people or that any Man should promise himself Salvation in following the footsteps of Christ but God willing I shall elsewhere make enquity into this just matter of complaint Now let us return to you Osorius whose so godly and eloquent exhortations about putting on and imitating Christ
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
after the spirit And to this purpose our Lord himself speaks though not in the same words Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven For what is it to do the Will of the Father but as Paul expresses it to walk not after the flesh but after the spirit In which place a perfect obedience to the whole Law is not required to Iustification but the meaning of our Lord's words is this that he requires a Faith which is not counterfeit nor hypocritical but upright and sincere which doth not only outwardly and with the mouth make mention of the name of the Lord or the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord as the Pharisees and Hypocrites did of old but heartily endeavours to walk in the fear of God and though it cannot perform all things commanded in the Law yet it strives as much as in it lies to shun all things that are contrary to the Will of God that at least sin may not have the dominion if it cannot be wholly excluded or rooted out Thus I understand these words of Christ To do the Will of his Father which is in Heaven For God requires us to do his Will but does not exact a compleat perfection of Obedience in this Mortal Life On the contrary he that makes an outward shew of Faith and an external profession of the Name of Christ whilst he takes no care to lead a Life suitable to his profession but runs on in sins against his Conscience it is certain that such a Faith according to the saying of Christ profits him nothing though he boast in the Name of the Lord as much as he will not that Faith without Works doth not justifie before God provided it be true and not counterfeit that is if it is received into a heart truly humbled as seed into good ground But because that Faith which doth not provoke unto Love and good Works though it may be boasted of at a high rate yet in reality it is no Faith at all but only a shadow and false resemblance of Faith And the same Answer may serve for all their Arguments which they have wrested out of the Sermons of Christ in the Gospel to defend their Doctrine of Iustification by Works Of which sort are these next following Argument Matth. 7. Many shall say to me in that day Lord we have prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name we have cast out Devils and in thy Name we have done many mighty works Then shall I profess unto them I know you not depart from me ye that work iniquity From these words they draw this Argument Ce. Whosoever is rejected of Christ is not justified La. Every one that works iniquity though he hath the Faith of Miracles is rejected of Christ. Rent Therefore he that works iniquity tho' he hath Faith he is not justified Or thus We are approved by Christ after the same manner that we are justified By Works ofRighteousness we are approved of Christ. Therefore by Works of Righteousness we are justified Answer I answer to the first The Minor must be understood with a distinction He that works iniquity is taken two manner of ways in Scripture Sometimes godly men work iniquity and likewise wicked men for both of them sin but they differ in their manner of working iniquity Godly men commit many things which they hate and which are truly sins But because they delight not in them in their inner man but in their love to Christ they endeavour with all their might to return unto God by Repentance God doth not impute their sins to them wherefore those sins that are done away by remission are not reckoned for sins But the case is far otherways in those that are wholly bent upon the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh and continue in them with delight and satisfaction And unto them belongs that sentence of Christ whereby he commands all that work iniquity to depart from him As touching the second Argument it is a fallacy a non causa pro causa as we call it if our Vertues were of sufficient efficacy to merit the Grace of God there would be some ground for that which they infer Now our Works being such as have always need of Mercy and never satisfie the Law of God nor bring Peace to the Conscience nor support us under the stroke of Death or the weight of Iudgment How evidently doth it hence appear what we should answer to this Argument Good Works are pleasing to God I grant their assumption But first the person must please God and be reconciled to him that so his works may please and be acceptable for the person being once reconciled the works from thence derive their dignity I acknowledge therefore that works of Piety are pleasing to God but yet only as they are performed by persons reconciled and justified But if the manner how they that do good works are reconciled be enquired into they do not obtain Reconciliation by works but before all merits of works for works go not before him that is to be justified as a cause thereof but always as an effect follow him that is justified As fruits if they be good they receive their goodness from the Tree whence they grow but they are not the cause why the Tree is good So in like manner we grant with Augustine that the righteous have great merits But it comes not from their merits but from another caufe that they are righteous So Iacob was beloved of God before he had done either good or evil What did David before he was anointed King to deserve so great a dignity The same may be said of Abraham of whom we read in sacred Records how great things were promised to him when first he was called away from his Fathers house But the Scripture gives us no account of any merits of his as if thereby he had Right unto so great preferments What shall I say of Adam did he not first lose Paradise before he received the promise of recovery And God had respect unto the Sacrifice of Abel What is your Opinion concerning this Did the worth of his Oblation procure him this favour Or shall we say there was some other thing that made his person acceptable to God before he had any regard to his Sacrifice If you cast your Eyes about upon all the Histories of the holy Scripture and take a view of all the Generations of the People of Israel when God in his great goodness did bear with all the provocations of that People can you discern any thing in their works that merited so great long-suffering and patience or should we say that it was only for the sake of Christ that was to be born of that Nation In like manner it may be said of the Church which though it hath been
Argument There are also many other Scriptures which they have wrested abominably for the defence of their Opinion about Inherent Righteousness As for example where the Lord says That he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it Hence they infer that all that would be saved must of necessity keep the Law That I may answer this Objection I acknowledge that saying of the Lord to be very true and I know what he professed in words he performed in the practice of his Life For he came not to destroy the Law but perfectly to fulfil it and that not so much upon his own account as upon ours But it is not therefore a right consequence which they draw from an ill formed Argument Argument Christ came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it Therefore there is no Salvation to any but those that perform the Law This is a false consequence for there is more in the conclusion than in the antecedent For this should have been the conclusion Therefore should we diligently endeavour to fulfil the Law according to his Example especially in those things that belong to us for we are not subject to the same Ceremonies of the Law that he was As when he was circumcised and went to the Feast at Ierusalem thrice a year abstained from things that were ceremonially unclean and from things strangled and blood and celebra-ted the Passover according to the Law and many things of that kind whereunto we are not now obliged But though it be very true that he came to fulfil the Law yet we are not therefore obliged to the fulfilling of the Law as a thing necessary to our Salvation For the Office of Christ is distinguished by a twofold end For he was sent by his Father partly for this purpose that in our stead he might yield perfect Obedience unto the Law to which impossibility we our selves had a woful Obligation and that he might stir us up unto Vertue by his own Example but the Office of the Mediatour consists chiefly in this That he hath delivered us from the dreadful Curse of the Law and by his Death made full satisfaction to Divine Iustice for all our Debts and translated us from our bondage and slavery into a blessed state of liberty Which makes us now to rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Therefore it is seasonable here to give notice that they who upon this account take Christ for a Law-giver as if he had been sent by God for no other cause but to make new Laws in the World are in a great Errour For though he made a sound and right Interpretation of his Countrey Laws which were commanded by God and given by the Ministry of Moses yet he was not sent principally for this purpose to make new or old Laws but rather to bring help to those that were under the Curse of the Law and thereby in peril of damnation Another Argument Unless Christ had kept the Law he had neither saved himself nor others Therefore we cannot be saved unless we keep the things that are commanded in the Law Answer Under this similitude there lies hid a great disparity For there is no small disproportion between us and Christ. If he had failed in any thing commanded by the Law there was no other Redeemer that could have interposed for him The same may be said of the Angels if they had sinned But if we through infirmity go astray the blood of our Lord Iesus Christ is in readiness for our Redemption to raise us up when we are fallen to procure the pardon of our offences and to restore us unto a blessed state Argument Unless a man be born of Water and the holy Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Iohn 3. Unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink his blood ye shall have no life in you Iohn 6. Therefore Faith only is not sufficient for Salvation Answer Verily there is no other Weapon put into our hands that we can retort with greater advantage upon Enemy than this very Argument For the Mystical signification of both these Sacraments Baptism and the Lord's Supper is nothing else but Faith in Christ Iesus for as Baptism is called a Sacrament of Faith and therefore is sometimes by Augustin put for Faith so those that are well instructed in the knowledge of Christ understand that to eat the flesh of Christ is the same with believing in him If we rightly consider the nature of this Sacrament there cannot be a more evident demonstration that we are justified by no other thing but Faith only For by what Argument could it be more manifestly set before our Eyes how great benefit redounds to us from the shedding of the blood of Christ than by the Institution of the Sacramental Bread and Wine for a memorial of his Body and Blood Or by what other thing could he more effectually represent unto our Faith the powerful efficacy of his Death than by the Institution of this Sacrament First Pious Reader call to mind and consider with your self this miserable and mortal Nature which how void and destitute it is of all things and how empty of Divine Grace and laden with iniquities you cannot be ignorant Thou who in thy self art a wretched and destroyed man comest to the Banquet where thou art commanded to take the Sacramental Bread and Cup in the name of him that was slain for thee and then thou art bid Eat for otherwise to what purpose should you hold the Bread in your hands when it is broken and reached forth unto you unless it be received inwardly for digestion Eat saith he and drink ye all of it for this is my Body and this is my Blood that was shed for you What was his design in expressing himself thus but to make us understand that his Death would be like a great Supper to his whole Church in which sinners that in themselves were wretched and miserable and empty and hunger-bitten might be refreshed with an everlasting Feast of fat things according as the Lord had long since promised by the Prophet Isaiah For as this mortal Life cannot continue without daily nourishment so neither hope of Eternal Life nor any other Grace can endure unless it be supported by Faith in the Lamb of God and thereby receive spiritual nourishment And therefore unless ye eat saith he the flesh of the Son of Man c. Whence it is evident that there is no Iustification for miserable sinners but that which consists in Christ only who was slain for us Yea there is no Iustification in him neither but by Faith which receives inwardly and digests this Bread that came down from Heaven according as we are taught in the Gospel He that believes in me hath Life eternal that believing ye may have life through his name Unless ye believe that I am he c. Thy Faith hath made thee