Selected quad for the lemma: faith_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
faith_n	abraham_n	james_n	justify_v	6,071	5	8.4548	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56600	An answer to a book, spread abroad by the Romish priests, intituled, The touchstone of the reformed Gospel wherein the true doctrine of the Church of England, and many texts of the Holy Scripture are faithfully explained / by the Right Reverend Father in God, Symon, Lord Bishop of Ely.	Patrick, Simon, 1626-1707.	1692 (1692)	Wing P745; ESTC R10288	116,883	290

because they faithfully reprehended themselves and therefore guile was not found in their mouth because if they had said they had no sin they had deceived themselves It is plain by this they did not look upon such persons as without all sin but only sincere and intire in their obedience to Christ's Commands Nay it is evident Zachary himself whom St. Luke so highly commends was not thus blameless as to be without all sin for he was much to blame in not believing the Angel who brought him a message from God and was punished for not believing it by being struck dumb till the Angel's word was fulfilled All his other Scriptures therefore and Fathers proving that which none of us deny are here alledged in vain He next of all saith we maintain XXI That Faith only justifieth and that Good Works are not absolutely necessary to Salvation Answer WHat shall one do with a man that opposeth he knows not what The first part of this Proposition is St. Paul's who in effect saith the same III. Rom. 28. II. Gal. 16. Therefore no man should be so bold as to contradict it but rather explain it which it is easie to do for when we say Faith only justifies this Faith includes in it a sincere purpose of good living without which we believe it will not justifie And therefore the second part of it is a new slander That we affirm Good works are not necessary to Salvation the direct contrary to which we heartily believe For it is absolutely necessary to our Salvation we all affirm that we act according to our Faith tho by such Good works we can merit nothing neither Justification nor Salvation But we are accounted righteous before God only for the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ by Faith not for our own works or deserving as the words are in the XIth Article of our Religion So that when we say by Faith it is manifest we exclude not Good works but only the merit of them And thus Luther himself shows upon V. Gal. That Faith alone will not suffice tho Faith alone justifies Therefore all his Scriptures might have been spared especially the first of them 1 Cor. XIII 2. 1 Cor. XIII 2. which speaks of a miraculous Faith and besides doth not contradict us who believe Faith without works will not avail to Salvation though let us do never so much we can never merit it by what we do The second Text II. Jam. 24. James II. 24. is agreeable to what we say That the Faith which justifies includes in it a purpose of well-doing Such an one as was in Abraham whose Faith in purposing to offer up Isaac was imputed to him for Righteousness tho he had not actually done as he purposed to do In like manner if any man sincerely profess the Christian Faith and be baptized he is justified tho he have not as yet brought forth the fruit of it in good works witness the Eunuch VIII Acts 37. which if he should not produce afterward he could not be saved St. Austin in that very Book and Chapter which he quotes expresly saith Good Works follow him that is justified they do not precede him that is to be justified What doth he think of the Thief upon the Cross who only believed and was not so much as baptized II James 14. is not contrary to what we say but according to it Mr. Calvin himself upon these very words saith Therefore we are saved by Faith because it joins us to God which is done no other way but that living by his Spirit we be governed by him St. Paul and St. James agree very well though the one say We are not justified by Faith only which is St. James's Doctrine and the other St. Paul in effect says We are justified by Faith only when he saith We are justified by Faith without Works As he shows in Abraham's case where he opposes Justification by Faith and Justification by Works and affirms Abraham was not justified by Works but by Faith St. James alledging the same case and the very same words proves he was justified by Works and not by Faith only Can any one think they make use of the same instance for quite contrary ends It is a wonder men do not learn this plain and easie truth from hence That Faith alone having in it a purpose of well-doing enters us into the state of Justification before we have done what we purpose but Good Works are necessary to continue us in this state and so may be said to justifie us that is continue our Justification which Faith only cannot do The last place V. Gal. 6. we have noted so well that we expresly declare in our XIIth Article That Good works cannot put away our sins and endure the severity of God's Judgment these are the great things we deny yet they do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith And the Doctrine of St. Austin * L. de F●de Operib c. 14. is perfectly ours which I will set down because it explains all that I have said A good life is inseparable from Faith yea in truth Faith it self is a good life And again * Lib. Quest 83. q. 76. How can he that is justified by Faith chuse but work Righteousness But if any man when he hath believed presently depart this life the Justification of Faith remains with him no good work preceding because he came to it not by Merit but by Grace nor following because he was not suffered to remain in this life From whence it is manifest what the Apostle saith We conclude a man is justified by Faith without works All his other Scriptures therefore serve only to shew his Ignorance if not his Malice in charging us with the denial of that which we affirm That good works are necessary to Salvation His Fathers he had better have kept to himself for they frequently say Faith only justifies Even Origen * In Cap. III. upon that very Book the Epistle to the Romans affirms that Justification of Faith alone suffices tho a man hath not done any works Which he proves by the example of the Thief upon the Cross and the Woman in VII Luke to whom our Saviour said Go in peace thy Faith hath saved thee But perhaps saith he some reading this may think he may neglect to do well since Faith alone sufficeth to Justification To whom we say That if any man doth wickedly after Justification without doubt he despiseth the Grace of Justification Neither doth a man receive Forgiveness of sins for this that he may think he hath a License given him to sin again for a Pardon is given him not for sins to come but for sins that are past And what he saith upon the next Chapter not the Vth. as this man quotes him but the IVth doth not contradict this Faith cannot be imputed to those who believe in Christ but do not put off the old man with his unrighteous

poor people withal Who may easily understand that St. John speaks of particular persons or of the Doctrines vented by certain persons who pretended to be inspired whom every particular Christian was bound to examine and try by this mark whether they contradicted what the Apostles taught which was sufficient if they did to discover them to be Impostors His Fathers he only names and therefor they signifie nothing to common Readers for whose sake I write this confutation of his folly Which makes him bring in Luther as saying the same that he doth that is giving him the lye who accuses Protestants of affirming that which the very chief of them according to him denies But whether Luther say as he makes him or in what sense I am not able to affirm for I cannot find the words VI. They affirm That St. Peter's Faith hath failed Answer THere needs no more to make him confess the truth of this than only to ask him whether St. Peter did not deny his Master which our Saviour supposes in the words immediately following those he quotes Luk. XXII 32. Luk. 22.32 When thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren He was therefore out of the way for a time which is all we mean when any of us say Peter's Faith hath failed Not finally but for that present He fell though he recovered himself So that this is an Equivocal Proposition Peter's Faith hath failed which is true and so is the contrary his faith hath not failed Both are true in different respects It did fail and that notoriously when he denied his Master over and over But it was more stedfast afterward even by his fall which our Saviour foreseeing prayed particularly for him that he might not utterly miscarry Which is no Prerogative as this man fancies it that Christ prayed principally for him but rather tended to his disparagement as denoting him to be weaker than the rest and indeed so much the weaker because in his own opinion he was the strongest The second Text Mat. 16.18 XVI Mat. 18. as he manages it is expresly to another purpose For he lays the weight of his Discourse it appears by the consequence he draws upon those words the gates of hell shall not prevail against What the Text saith expresly against it that is the Church not against thee that is Peter They that are wiser argue from the foregoing words Thou art Peter and upon this rock c. If this be to his purpose the faith of St. Peter must be the Rock upon which the Church is built which they do not love to hear of and if it be the Rock was thrown down and the gates of hell prevailed against it at the time before mention'd when he denied his Master Which made a great man * Dr. Jacks L. 3. c. 7. say Doubtless that Religion which hath no better ground of Infallibility than Peter 's faith which was not secured from a threefold denial of Christ was first planted by the spirit of error and Antichrist The third Text we had before in the second Chapter where I have answered his question XXIII Matth. 2 3 how Christ might command the people and his Disciples also to do whatsoever they that sat in Moses his chair bad them and yet those Doctors might err But to prove that Peter's faith could not fail he asserts the Scribes and Pharisees when they sat in Moses his Chair could not err which is to justifie their putting our Lord Christ to death Whither will not the folly of such men as this carry them who mind not when they overthrow the Christian Religion to establish their own conceits Nay this man doth not mind when he ruins even his own conceits For if the truth of Christian Religion hath been no better preserved by the Romanists in the Chair of St. Peter than the truth of the Jewish Religion was preserved by the Scribes and Pharisees in the Chair of Moses the Roman Church is certainly become Antichristian He hath pickt up a fourth Text which hath nothing in it of Peter XI Joh. 49 51. no more than the former but only tells us that the Jewish High Priest Prophecied XI Joh. 49 51. Yet this is an express Text forsooth to prove that Peter's faith could not fail It is not easie to have patience enough so much as to read such wretched nay wicked stuff as this Which still proves if it be to the purpose that the High Priest speaking forth of his Chair could not but determine truly and consequently gave a right judgment when he condemned Christ to be put to death For he sat in the same Chair when he passed sentence on Christ and when he thus Prophecied both were in a Council which was assembled on purpose to resolve what to do with him XI Joh. 47. XXVI Mat. 57. Here the good man is in great want of Fathers and contents himself because he cannot help it with Leo whose words he doth not rightly translate For Leo doth not say If the Head were invincible but if the Mind of the Chief were not conquered Worsted it was for the present though not quite overcome For he lost the confession of Faith with his mouth saith Theophylact though he kept the Faith or the seeds of faith as he speaks in his heart But unless a man do confess with his mouth as well as believe in his heart he cannot be saved Both are necessary unless St. Paul cross St. Peter X. Rom. 9 10. But what is all this to the purpose suppose St. Peter's faith did not fail what then Must we conclude from thence the Pope's faith cannot fail Stay there One of his own Communion a great man * Launoy Part V. Epist ad Jac. Bevillaq indeed hath shown that there being four Interpretations of this place XXII Luk. 32. the greatest number of Ecclesiastical Writers he reckons up XLIV and among the rest this Pope Leo expound it of the Faith of Peter alone which Christ prayed might not be lost in that time of Temptation which was a coming But next to this they are most numerous who think Christ prayed for the Vniversal Church that it may never fail in the faith In which number is Thomas Aquinas one of their Saints who expresly proves from this place that the Universal Church cannot err because he who was always heard by God said to Peter upon whose confession the Church is founded I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not Where it is evident he did not think our Lord prayed for Peter separately from the rest of the Church but for the whole Church whose person Peter sustained as St. Austin is wont to speak Or as Gregory the Great 's words are of which Church he was the first Member But this belongs to the next Head where he saith we affirm VII That the Church can err and hath erred WHich is true in one sense though not true in another For if by Church be meant the

but rather inclines to the contrary Opinion The XCI Psalm 11 12. XCI Psal 11 12. Proves the very same That God gives his Angels charge of Good men But it neither speaks of one who is the Angel-keeper nor that the Angels whether more or fewer remain always with good men There were a great many about one Prophet Elisha 1 Kings VI. 12. But it is not likely that those Troops were his constant Guard But it is in vain to appeal to S. Cyril of Alexandria his opinion that it is meant of the Angel-keeper for they will not in other cases as I shall show shortly stand to his judgment It is true in the XII Acts 13. XII Acts 13. The Jewish Christians who were assembled in Mary's House were of opinion That it was the Angel of St. Peter who knock'd at the door But whether this opinion was true or no is the question which the Scripture doth not resolve Nor can we gather the Faith of the Primitive Church which this man thinks is apparent from this place from the opinion of a few of the Jewish Christians who had many opinions which I hope this man will not justifie And though this should prove such a man as Peter had an Angel-Guardian it will not prove that every man hath For this seems to have been the old opinion among the Jews That only excellent men Persons of great integrity and usefulness had such attendants to take care of them for instance Jacob as one may gather out of St. Chrysostom's Third Hom. upon the Colossians But it doth not appear that they thought they had them always nor one and the same when God favoured them with their Ministry And thus Mr. Calvin in that place of his Institutions which this man quotes says he does not see what should hinder us from understanding this Angel of St. Peter of any Angel whatsoever to whom God committed the care of him at that time whom we cannot therefore conclude to have been his perpetual keeper Let who pleases see more he will not find one of the Scriptures he quotes speak home to the point No not those out of Tobit which he knows we do not own for any part of the Rule of our belief for it doth not follow that every man hath an Angel-Guardian if Tobit had one who accompanied him in that journey No Tobit himself had not his company alway but the Angel when he had finished his journey departed from him See how foolish this man is who not only quotes Books which we allow not to be Holy Writ but alledges places there that make against him And his Fathers he quotes as madly beginning with St. Gregory and putting even Gregory of Tours before St. Austin And the Reader may judge of what value his Testimonies are by what he alledges out of St. Hierome whose words if he would have given us intirely it would have appeared they carry no Authority with them For it immediately follows Whence we read in the Revelation of St. John to the Angel of Ephesus of Thyatira and the Angel of Philadelphia As if these had been Guardian Angels of these Churches to whom our Saviour wrote when all agree they were the Bishops of those Churches as Ribera confesses who justly wonders that St. Hierome or any one else should think them to be Angelical Spirits If St. Hierome wrote those Commentaries it is manifest he departed from the opinion of other Fathers when he saith That every soul hath its Angel assigned it from its Nativity For they say only That every Believer hath this privilege There needs no more be said in this matter which can at most be no more than a probable opinion and therefore it is not contrary to the Faith to deny that every one of us hath an Angel for his custody and patronage XXVII That the holy Angels pray not for us nor know our thoughts and desires on earth Answer NOne of us say That the holy Angels pray not for us in general no many Protestants grant it but we have no reason to believe they pray for us in our particular concerns and we are sure they do not intercede for us by their Merits for they have none We are sure also that they know not our thoughts or desires unless they be discovered by external effects or signs or they be revealed to them by God For the Scripture expresly saith God only knows the heart 1 Kings VIII 39. 1 Cor. II. 11. And this Suarez * L. 2. de Angel c. XXI n. 3. himself saith is a Catholick Assertion That an Angel cannot naturally know or see the act or free consent of any created will unless by him that hath such a tree affection it be manifested to another And this he saith is de fide and proves it from Scriptures and Fathers Now if any one will say that God doth reveal our internal thoughts and desires to the Angels he is a very bold man unless he have a Divine Revelation for it None of the Scriptures here mention'd say any such thing The first of them I. Zach. 12. I. Zac. 12. only proves That an Angel prayed not for a particular person and his particular necessities but that he would have mercy upon Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that is upon the whole Nation This many Protestants grant and therefore he belies them when he saith They believe the Angels do not pray for us For this very place is alledged by the Apology for the Augustan Confession and by Chemnitius in his Common-places as an argument why they grant Angels pray for the Church in general For this Text proves no more The next Tob. XII 12. tho out of an Apocryphal Book XII Tob. 12. says nothing of the Angels praying for us but of their bringing mens prayers before the Holy One Which the same Protestants also allow meaning thereby only a Ministerial Oblation of mens Prayers before God as they explain themselves not a Pr pitiatory Oblation which is proper only to Jesus Christ VIII Rev. 4. Unto whom the third place belongs VIII Rev. 4. not to an ordinary Angel but to that great Angel of the Covenant whom the Prophet speaks of III. Mal. 1. out of whose hand the smoke of the incense came and ascended up before God So St. Austin and Primasius nay Viega a famous Jesuit affirms that most Interpreters by this Angel understand Christ And he gives these good reasons for it Unto whom but to him alone doth it belong to offer the Incense of the whole Church that is their Prayers in a golden Censer Who but he could send down part of the Fire with which the golden Censer was filled v. 5. upon the earth and inflame it with the Fire of the Divine Love and the Flaming Gifts of the Holy-Ghost c. See the Folly of this man who applies that to Angels which belongs in the opinion of most Interpreters unto Christ alone And see his Falseness also who