the Word and Spirit wee acknowledge him in generall to bee the Mediator and admit him in particular to bee our Mediator So that there is a double Receiuing of Christ the one is by the Vnderstanding the other is by the Will Christ is receiued by the Vnderstanding when wee Belieue historically yeelding and assenting vnto the truth of the Gospell the summe wherof is that Iesus is the Christ For when the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 1.15 This is a true saying and by all meanes worthy to bee receiued that Christ Iesus came into the world to saue sinners what can hee meane by receiuing other then assenting that it is true and when our Sauiour saith vnto the Apostle Act. 22.18 They will not receiue thy witnesse concerning me what else can he vnderstand then this that they would not giue credit vnto his testimony concerning Redemption and Saluation by Christ This Receiuing though it bee of such absolute necessity vnto life that no man can possibly be saued without it yet is it not of such power and efficacy that whosoeuer so receiueth shall infallibly bee saued For as we haue shewed The Diuels so belieue and tremble and many who are inlightned Iam. 2.19 Heb. 6.4 10.26 and haue receiued the knowledge of the truth perish notwithstanding eternally in their sinnes Besides therefore this Receiuing of Christ by the Vnderstanding there is a Receiuing of him also by the Will which is done by particular application when in the sincerity of our hearts we accept and make choice of him alone to bee our Mediator that is to say to bee vnto vs a Prophet a Priest and a King Wee accept him to bee our Prophet when wee admit him to be our teacher and absolutely submit our selues vnto his teaching Wee accept him to bee our Priest when wee rest and repose our selues vpon his Sacrifice and intercession for the washing away of our sinnes Finally wee accept him to bee our King when wee put our selues wholly and onely vnder his gouernment and subiect our wils vnto his will desiring that in all things it alone may bee done by vs. And this accepting of Christ by the Will is that very Receiuing of him which Saint Iohn here meaneth Ioh. 1.12 For first whosoeuer thus accepteth of him hath without question withall bestowed on him the same power and prerogatiue which hee affirmeth to bee giuen to as many as receiue him namely to bee made the Sonnes of God Againe that Receiuing is vnderstood which is opposed vnto the Iewes nor Receiuing Ioh. 1.11 for hauing said He came vnto his owne that is vnto the Iewes and his owne receiued him not immediatly it is added But as many as receiued him c. How then did the Iewes not receiue him onely in not assenting vnto this that hee was the Messias Indeed this was the ground why sundry of them receiued him not but their not-receiuing of him was no other then that Act of their Will whereby they refused to submit themselues vnto him as vnto the Messias This doth our Sauiour intimate Ioh. 5.43 when hee saith vnto them I am come in my Fathers Name and you receiue mee not if another come in his owne Name him Will you receiue that is him will you admit and accept for your Messias But plainly doth hee expresse it when in the Parable hee bringeth them in resolutely and directly saying Wee will not haue this man raigne ouer vs as also when hee saith vnto them Luc. 19.14 Mat. 23.37 How often would I haue gathered thy children together as the hen gathereth her chickens vnder her wings and yee would not Besides diuerse there were of them euen of the Scribes and Pharisees and Priests who knew right well that hee was the Christ Mat. 21.38 Mat. 22.30.31 for so much doe the Husbandmen themselues cōfesse in the Parable when they say This is the Heire and how could our Sauiour iustly charge them with that irremissible sinne against the Holy Ghost vnlesse they had knowne him to bee so These then knowing him to bee the Messias and yet not receiuing him what can this not-receiuing be other then their will full reiecting and refusing of him against their knowledge and against their conscience Vpon all which it followeth that this being not-receiuing receiuing opposed thereunto must needs bee that Act of the Will whereby wee accept of Christ to bee our Mediator that is to say our Prophet to instruct vs our Priest to make atonement for vs our King to rule and gouerne vs. And because Belieuing and Receiuing are as we haue shewed all one it followeth also necessarily that to Belieue in Christ is nothing else then so to accept him To grow therefore at length vnto an issue you see that according to promise I haue demonstrated vnto you first that those tearmes both of the old and new Testament mentioned in my Treatise import that Act of Faith whereby wee stand iustified before God secondly what is the true proper and naturall meaning and signification of these tearmes and that therefore thirdly by the word Rest in my Definition I vnderstand no other thing then that which these words import and signify Wherefore I must intreate you in the residue of your Reply to speake vnto this meaning otherwise you shall but spend your breath in vaine and wrestle not with mee but with your owne shadow Neuerthelesse if any shall thinke it fitter insteed of the word Rest to substitute any other of these tearmes I forbid him not for so doing he shall differ from mee in word onely and not in sense And to speake ingenuously and freely seeing to expresse the Act of Faith speciall choice is made in the New Testament of Belieuing in or vpon and this againe is expounded by such Receiujng as is before described happily it were not amisse aboue all the rest to preferre this and to define Faith by that Act of the Will whereby wee accept Christ to bee our Mediator for iustification and consequently Saluation The rather because it seemes more fully and plainely to set forth the nature of that Act by which wee are iustified and more apt and fit to resolue many doubts which may be moued touching iustification For as Vrsinus a right worthy Diuine obserueth Admonit de lib. Concord Faith iustifieth no otherwise then as it is an acceptation and application of the merit of Christ which is the proper Act of Faith alone and so very Faith itselfe These things thus premised let vs now in the Name of God proceed to the examination of what you haue replied and opposed against my definition N. B. I answer a man may rest his will vpon Christ and his merits and yet bee damned for want of Sanctification and so consequently may bee damned hauing Iustifying Faith which is absurd therefore is your Definition absurd I. D. Here Master Baxter and in the rest of your answers insuing you waue flote vp and downe
proued against the first that Faith is not a Knowledge or Assurance against the thirteenth that the onely proper Obiect of Faith is the Person of the Mediator and against the foureteenth that the Forme thereof is Affiance and not any such Relation or Certainty The ninth sixteenth and seuenteenth in part I deny the ninth where you make Faith and Knowledge to bee conuertible which I haue proued to haue different natures and Definitions the sixteenth where you affirme Resting vpon Christ to bee an effect of Faith which I haue demonstrated to bee the Forme and proper Act of Faith the seuenteenth where you say that the subiect of Faith is both the Vnderstanding and the Will against which I haue shewed that it is impossible for one and the same Habit to be subiectiuely in two seuerall faculties of the Soule The rest of your Positions sauing the inconuenience of some tearmes and setting a fauourable construction vpon them I acknowledge to bee true and because as the Apostle speaketh I can doe nothing against the truth but for the truth therefore I oppose them not but readily and willingly yeeld and subscribe vnto them But Master Baxter in all this long discourse of Faith hauing spoken so carefully of the Definition of Faith of the vnity of it in kind and difference of it in number and degree of the imperfection sufficiencie efficient principall and instrumentall of the obiect both in generall and speciall of the forme and end both Subordinate and Highest finally of the Effects Subiects and adiuncts thereof in all this long discourse I say how is it that wee heare not so much as a word of Iustification which notwithstanding is the immediate and proper Effect of Faith Immediate because it is the first fruite and benefit that springeth of it and commeth before Adoption and Sanctification proper because it is the Act of Faith onely and not of any other Grace which iustifies a man before God Whether it were of negligence or of policy that you haue omitted so materiall and necessary a point I cannot say If of negligence it deserues a seuere chastisement if of policy it was I think you foresaw what a dangerous consequence would follow thereupon For if you had placed Iustification as needs you must haue done if you had mentioned it among the Effects of Faith the Reader possibly might haue reasoned thus If iustification be an Effect of Faith and so follow after Faith then cannot Assurance of Iustification bee Faith because it is an effect of Iustification and followes after for it is necessary that a man bee iustified before hee can bee assured that hee is iustified And thus you had cast away your whole pot of broth 2 King 4.39 if you had not warily kept this Coloquintida out of it But vpon what ground soeuer you haue forborne to speake of this point I will by your leaue supply this defect and in a word or two shew you in what sense I affirme that Affiance iustifies and deny it of Assurance for in some sort Assurance also may bee said to iustifie Iustification is a law-tearme and is opposed vnto Condemnation As therefore Condemnation is the sentence of a iudge pronouncing a man to be guilty and deliuering him ouer to bee punished so is Iustification also the sentence of a iudge but absoluing and acquitting a man both from crime and punishment Now there are three barres at which all men are arraigned and three Iudges who at their seuerall barres either iustify vs or condemne vs that is to say the barre of God the barre of Conscience and the barre of Men. If wee bee condemned at all these barres and by all these Iudges wee are of all creatures the most miserable if wee bee absolued at them all and by them all of all men wee be the most blessed Againe if Men acquit vs what booteth it if our owne Conscience condemne vs and if our Conscience acquit vs what auaileth it if God condemne vs for who can deliuer the prey out of the pawes of that Lion On the contrary side if men condemne vs it mattereth not so as our Conscience doe absolue vs and if our Conscience also doe condemne vs yet happy are we if God absolue vs for God is greater then our Conscience What that is 1 Ioh. 3.20 for which sentence of Condemnation passeth vpon vs at any of these bars there is no question for it is well knowne to bee sinne sinne I say which is so indeed or at least is so in appearance For although nothing appeare vnto God otherwise then it is so that there can bee no error in his iudgement yet our owne consciences and other men may easily bee deceiued and mistaken and so without cause oftentimes pronounce sentence of Condemnation What then is that by which wee are iustifyed and absolued from our sins and the punishment of death due vnto them Surely that which is contrary vnto sinne euen Righteousnesse What Righteousnesse Phil. 3.9 for as the Apostle distinguisheth there is a Righteousnesse which is of the law and there is a righteousnesse which is of Faith by the former shall no flesh liuing bee iustified by the latter euery one that Belieueth is iustified God iustifieth vs at his barre when hee seeth our Faith that by firme Affiance wee rest and rely our selues vpon Christ to bee our Mediator accepting him to bee our Prophet Priest and King for then according vnto promise doth hee accept the Passiue obedience of Christ to satisfy for our sinnes past and imputeth vnto vs his Actiue obedience to supply the want of that perfect legall righteousnesse which should be in vs. Our Conscience iustifies vs at his barre when it is perswaded that God hath already iustified vs for as long as it is perswaded that God condemneth it cannot acquit vs. If the perswasion of the Conscience be built vpon a sandy and deceitfull foundation it is rather vaine presumption then true assurance and the iudgement that it giueth is erronious but if it bee grounded vpon infallible euidence euen the testimony of the Spirit of God Rom. 8.16 witnessing with our spirits that wee are the sons of God then is the Assurance sound and certaine and the sentence pronounced thereupon iust and rightfull Phil. 4.7 whence presently ariseth in our soules such vnconceiuable peace as passeth all vnderstanding and such durable ioy as nothing can take from vs. Finally Men iustify vs at their barre also Ioh. 16.22 Mat. 5.16 when our light so shineth before them that they see our good works which are the fruits of Faith and a good Conscience and thereby are moued to glorify our Heauenly Father as being perswaded in the iudgement of Charity that they are indeed as they seeme to bee euen iustified before God and borne againe of water and the Holy Ghost This iudgement because it is built vpon probability onely and not vpon certainty for who knowes whether the outward appearance come from
iustice but as it is an exercise or declaration or perfection of Faith 12 Concerning the word Faith sometimes it signifieth that sanctifying grace of Gods spirit whereby wee beleeue in or on God that is put all our affiance vpon God in Christ for Iustification and Saluation sometimes a naked assent or agreeing to all the truths contained in the Scripture specially such as are Euangelicall That is only of the Elect this the Diuels haue That either hath works following it as in Abraham or is great in child of works ready to trauell and bring forth if God giue time as in the theefe on the crosse This many times is without works and therefore dead and spiritles Of that S. Paul speaketh of this S. Iames. That sole but not solitary iustifies this being solitary iustifies not 13 In a word S. Paul speaks of the cause of Iustification S. Iames of the Effect S. Paul descends from the Cause to the Effect S. Iames ascends from the Effects to the Cause S. Paul resolues how wee may bee iustified S. Iames how wee may bee knowne to bee iustified S. Paul excludes works as being no Cause of Iustification S. Iames requires works as fruites of Iustification S. Paul denies works to go before them that are to bee iustified S. Iames affirmeth that they follow him that is iustified 14 Others distinguish and reconcile them thus Iustification is sometime vnderstood without implying Sanctification sometime as it implyeth also Sanctification with it In the former sence S. Paul taketh it when hee proueth that a man is iustified by Faith without works S. Iames in the latter when he concludeth that a man is iustified by works and not by Faith only And this I suppose to be a very sound interpretation 15 Howsoeuer that Faith alone without the works of the Law in the sence aboue deliuered doth iustifie these ancient Fathers auouch together with us Origen Cyprian Eusebius Caesariensis Hilarie Basil Chrysostome Ambrose Augustin Cyril Primasius Hesychius Gennadius Oecumenius whose direct and expresse words I can at any time produce Nay these late Papists also least it should be thought that none but Protestants hold it the Canons of Collein the authors of the booke offered by Caesar vnto the Protestant Collocutors in the assemblie of Ratisbon Pighius Cassander Stapulensis Peraldus Ferus and others who count themselues as good Catholiks as they that hold otherwise 16 And this only Faith is so sure an anchor of our soules and suchâ— fountaine of true comfort both in life and death that Charles the fift Steuen Gardiner Sir Christopher Blunt and sundrie others durst not at their death trust vnto their works but vnto Faith in Christ only And Cardinal Bellarmin after a long disputation touching the merit of works is faine to conclude that because of the vncertenty of our owne iustice and the danger of vaineglory the Safest course is to repose all our affiance in the only mercy and goodnes of God So that in his iudgement wee Protestants haue chosen the Safest course I for my part will neuer trust my soule vnto them who leauing so safe a course meane to hazard it through a more dangerous way OF THE AVTHORS AND AVTHORITY OF THE CREED AND WHY IT IS CALLED a Symbole THE inscription of the Creed seemes to father it on the holy Apostles calling it the Symbole of the Apostles So doe almost all the Fathers of the fourth age after Christ and downeward affirming that the Apostles hauing receiued the Holy Ghost at Ierusalem and being now ready to disperse themselues into all parts of the world to preach the Gospell thought it good before their parting to compile this Symbole that it might serue as a pledge of their vnity in the Faith and a canon for their doctrine and teaching Yea some of them proceed so farre as particularly to set downe what article was made by what Apostle whereof see Augustin in his hundred and fifteenth Sermon de tempore Now although it bee very hard for mee to sway against the streame of so maine authority yet can I not but doubt thereof Paraphr in Mat. Praef. and confesse with Erasmus I know not who made the Creed especially hauing so great probabilities for demonstrations I dare not call them that it should not bee done by the twelue Apostles For first were it compiled by them is it likely that Saint Luke writing the history of their Acts would haue omitted so principall a matter Sundry other things of farre lesse consequence hee hath carefully recorded but of this so important and weighty a businesse hee makes not so much as one word mention which certainly hee would neuer haue failed to doe had they done so Adde hereunto that not one of the ancient Fathers who liued within the three first Centuries of Christ speake of any such thing in any of their writings and yet they should best know it whose times were neerest vnto the Apostles This deep silence both of Saint Luke and all those ancient Doctors make it vnto mee more then probable that the Apostles neuer composed it Secondly as the silence of these worthies so the very language of the Creed conuinceth it to bee yonger then the Apostles For the word Catholike vsed in the Creed was not knowne in their time Can any man thinke that the Church should then bee called Catholike when it was not Catholike For when they say this Creed was compiled the Church was scarce begunne among the Iewes and the Apostles had no where as yet preached the Gospell among the Gentils But heare the expresse words of Pacianus Bishop of Barcilona Sed sub Apostolis Ad Sympronian Epist 1. inquies nemo Catholicus vocabatur Esto sic fuerit Vel illud indulge cum post Apostolos haereses extitissent diuersisque nominibus columbam Dei atque Reginam lacerare per partes scindere niterentur nonne cognomen suum plebs Apostolica postulabat quo incorrupti populi distingueret vnitatem neintemeratam Dei virginem error aliquorum per membra laceraret In the Apostles times you will say no man was called Catholicke Bee it so Yet by your leaue when after the Apostles heresies were risen vp and by diuersity of names they laboured to rent and teare in peeces the done and queene of God was it not requisite that those which were Apostolike should haue a sirname of their owne whereby the vnity of those that are vncorrupt might bee distinguished and the error of none might rent in peeces the immaculate virgin of God Thus hee Against which if it bee obiected that the Epistles of Iames Peter Iohn and Iude are called Catholicke I answer the Inscriptions and Subscriptions of the Epistles are not Apostolicall but added to them by some other and sometime vntruly Neither is there any reason they should bee so stiled aboue the rest For neither is the doctrine contained in them more Catholicke then of all the other Epistles neither were they written to all the
the many excellent and heauenly graces wherewith the spirit of God beautifieth and enricheth the hearts of his Elect there is no one of more either necessity vnto saluation or importance for comfort and consolation then that of Iustifying Faith For as by the first Act of this faith our Iustification before God our peace with God our incorporation into the mysticall body of Christ Iesus our conuersion vnto God are first wrought and effected so by the consequent continued Acts of the same Fayth are wee being fallen dayly renewed and from both totall and finall falling away safely preserued and maintained This cōsidered me-thinkes no time can be better employed nor no paines more profitably taken then in the quest and enquiry of the true nature and definition of Iustifying Fayth And although I cannot deny but hee may haue fayth who cannot like a Logician define it and may haue the benefit of Iustification by it who cannot distinguinsh the nature of it yet this withall I boldly auerre that the ignorance hereof or a confused and indistinct apprehension of it disableth vs both from giuing and taking direct and euident comfort from it whereas a cleare and distinct knowledge thereof is able to satisfie and replenish with comfort any distressed or afflicted conscience For this cause haue I vndertaken so briefly and perspicuously as I can to set downe my opinion of the definition of Fayth perswading my selfe I doe not endeauouring at leastwise not to swarue from the wholesome doctrine of Christ and Gods word From the writings and doctrine of most learned and worthy Diuines peraduenture it doth and indeed it doth vary to whom although as farre farre inferior I owe all respect reuerence yet being Gods freeman I cannot endure to bee mans bond-man and sweare to all they say One Paphnutius sometime in the matter of Priests marriage preuailed against a whole Counsell of most learned and godly Bishops Socrat. l. 1. c. 8. and young Elihu may speake more oportunely pertinently then they that are much his Ancients Therefore as Nisus sayth in Virgill Neque hac nostris spectentur ab annis Aeneid l. 9. looke not how greene or how gray his head be that speaketh but let the touch of truth try all and what by it shall appeare to be base and counterfait refuse and reiect that which shall be found true and sound approue and embrace And that preiudice too strongly possesse thee not take my protestation that I neuer haue entertained this opinion rashly and inconsiderately but vpon mature aduise and deliberation nor broach it vpon a preposterous humour of nouelty or ambition to build vp mine owne credit existimation by the ruine and disparagement of so great Diuines for this were Subulâ leonem excipere to encounter a Lion with a bodkin as it is in the Prouerbe but vpon a sincere affection and desire to minister solid and found consolation to despayring and perplexed minds which as after shall appeare vpon this foundation may most firmely be raised And now trusting what I say shall be weighed in the ballance not of preiudice but vpright iudgement I leaue to preface any farther and come directly to the purprose Because I purpose not to raise my building very high I meane not to lay my foundation very deepe therefore neither will I play the Phylologer in shewing the diuers vses and acceptations of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Fides id est Faith or quote Ciceros Fiat quod dictum est or St. Augustines Fac quod dicis Offic. l. 1. to doe as a man sayes for the notation of Faith neither will I play the Phylosopher in discoursing of Physicall or Morall or Ciuill Faith wherein it were easie to wast much oile and paper nor lastly will I speake of that Theologicall Faith called Miraculous either in Agent or Patient which I take to bee none other then a diuine instinct for the working of a Miracle For albeit they who at the last day shall say Lord in thy name haue we not cast out Diuels may seeme to haue trusted in Miraculous Faith for Iustification Mat. 7.22.23 and acknowledgement of Christ yet notwithstanding neuer any controuersie about it hath exercised the Church of God To deferre your expectations therefore no farther three Faiths there seeme to be which lay claime and title to the priuiledge of justification giue me leaue to distinguish and denominate them according to their Obiects neither be offended if I handle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and giue new termes to old matters The first is Fides Historiae Historicall Faith which is an Assent of the mind vnto the truth of Gods word and specially the Gospell And this Faith whether it be according to the distinction of the Scoolemen Acquisite gotten by much hearing and experience without illumination or infused and reuealed by the spirit of illumination it hath no interest in the matter of Iustification For besides that it is absurd that so generall a Knowledge should iustify Acquisit Faith the Diuels haue according to that of St Iames Iam. 2. 19. The Diuels beleeue tremble Infused faith the Reprobates may haue as Balaam Iudas Magus Now the Scripture is plaine that justifying faith is propper and peculiar vnto the Elect and therefore Historicall faith cannot justifie The second is Fides Promissionum Faith of promises which is a Perswasion or Assurance that the promises of God made in Christ to wit Iustification Remission of sinnes Adoption Regeneration and finally Election it selfe and eternall Saluation doe particularly pertaine to me and are mine Now this although I deny not but in Scripture it is called faith and that euery Saint of God both may and ought to haue this particular perswasion and Assurance yet this I confidently deny that this perswasion is that which justifies a man before God and my reasons are these 1. If this were justifying Faith then whosoeuer liues and dyes without this particular Assurance he cannot be saued Heb. 11.6 Without faith it is impossible to please God But a man may be saued without it I instance in those our Brethren of Germanie who hold that faith may finally and totally fall away and consequently that there can be no certainty of Saluation whom yet the Church of God calleth and counteth brethren and it were vncharitable to censure of them otherwise Therefore or at leastwise probably Faith is not an Assurance 2. That which is in time after Iustifying Faith cannot be that faith This is vndeniable But this particular knowledge is in time after faith This I proue out of 1. Ioh. 5.13 These things haue I written vnto you that beleeue in the name of the Sonne of God that ye may know that ye haue eternall life Behold Beleeuing goes before and Knowledge comes after as for that which followeth in the same verse and that yee may beleeue I interpret it of Perseuerance growth in Faith Howsoeuer beleeuing Knowing are distinguished and
therefore are not one 3. That which in nature comes after Iustification cannot be Iustifying faith This appeares because Faith is the Efficient instrumentall cause of Iustification and euery Efficient by the rule of Logick is in nature before the Effect But this knowledge or Assurance is in nature after iustificatiō This I proue thus the truth of a proposition is alwayes in nature before the knowledge of the truth for Propositions are not therefore true because knowne so but they are first true and then knowne so Therefore this Proposition I know I am iustified spoken by on that is iustified must needs presuppose the partie before to be iustified Therefore this knowledge of Iustification in nature following Iustification it cannot be Iustifying faith 4. In conditionall promises there can be no Assurance of the thing promised before the performance of the condition V. G. This is a conditionall promise in the couenant of workes doe this and thou shalt liue life is promised but on condition of doing and therefore vntill we haue performed the condition we cannot nor may not looke that God should be reciprocall and giue vs life So in the couenant of grace iustification is promised but vpon condition of faith so sayth the Scripture beleeue and thy sinnes shall be forgiuen thee And therefore the condition of beleeuing must first be performed before we can assure our selues our sins are forgiuen If so then faith going before and Assurance following after Assurance cannot be justifying faith 5 That from whence followeth a blasphemous absurdity cannot be a truth for from truth nought but truth can be concluded But from this that faith is an Assurance such an absurdity doth follow What is that That God commands a man to know an vntruth to assure himselfe of that which neuer shall be For God being truth cannot command falshood to be taken for truth Nether tell me here for who art thou that disputest with God for this is a ruled case in diuinity God cānot doe things which imply contradiction and therefore not make vntruth to be truth or knowledge error Now that this absurdity followes from hence thus I demonstrate it God commands the Reprobate to beleeue For Ioh. 18.8.9 for vnbeleefe the world shall bee condemned but no condemnation but for breach of a commandement 1 Ioh. 3.4 for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sinne is the transgression of the law and therefore they are commanded to beleeue I aske you then what it is to beleeue you will say to know to assure Therefore God commands the Reprobates to know and bee assured But this is a blasphemous absurdity therefore is your opinion absurd which infers it 6. That which the wicked may haue cannot be iustifying faith for it is Fides Electorum the faith of the Elect. But the wicked may haue this perswasion yea and many haue beene most confidently perswaded that they are in the fauour of God You will say it is no true perswasion but I say if forme make truth they are as formally and therefore as truly perswaded of it as the godly And therefore if the godly are therefore and for this cause iustified because cause they are strongly perswaded that they are iustified then why should not the wicked likewise be iustified by his strong perswasion But in truth these kind of speeches are vnreasonable and senselesse and so the opinion cannot be reasonable These sixe reasons shall suffice for the present although many more might be added only from hence I gather this Corollary that if iustifying Faith be not a Knowledge or Assurance much lesse is it a full knowledge or full Assurance Nay though we should graunt it to be a knowledge yet is it against Logick to define it by the perfection of knowledg For as there is a strong tree so there is a brused reed as there is a burning lamp so there is smoking flaxe as there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Faith come to full age and maturity so there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Faith in the nonage and minority So therefore to define it were to exclude the weake Faith and to make the Definition narrower and of lesse latitude then the definite Besides it is a most discomfortable doctrine vnto a troubled mind and leads the directest way to desperation for so the palsie hand of Faith should not receiue Christ And were not this to quench fire with oile and to adde Aloes to wormwood and might not hee that thus comforteth be counted one of Iobs miserable comforters Ob. The godly are said to know and to be perswaded yea the Prophet saith Io. 3.14 Ioh. 17.3 Esa 53.11 Heb. 11.1 By his knowledge shall my righteous seruant iustifie many and Faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Subsistence and Euidence Ans First I graunt the godly may and ought to know but the question is not of their duty but what it is which iustifies them 2 Secondly to know and so likewise the Verbs of Sence in the Hebrew tongue vsually signifieth not onely an act of the Minde or outward Sence but of the Will and affection also So in the Psalme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 1.6 Mat. 7.13 The Lord knoweth the way of the Righteous and in the Gospell Depart I know you not and elsewhere I will not heare see c. that is God will not so know heare see c. as in fauour to loue or approue And so doe I interprete that of the Prophet Christ being so knowne as to bee embraced and rested vpon by the Will shall iustify many 3 Thirdly that Definition in the eleuenth to the Hebrewes I deny with Peter Martyr and the rest of our Diuines to bee perfect but rather by the Effects to describe it And as for that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Subsistence whereon you seeme to stand take this first that the writers of the new Testament vse words in the same sence that the Seuentie Translators doe Secondly that that which in Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Expectation that the Septuagint turne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in Ruth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruth 1.12 so that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Hebrewes shall not be Subsistence but expectation or desire of things that are hoped for But of this umpliandum censeo I pronounce nothing only I conclude his second Faith not to be Iustifying Faith And because you shall not count me singular or alone in this point read M. Foxe in his booke de Christo gratis iustificante and you shall find him earnest against this opinion The third faith is Fides Persone or Personalis meriti Faith of Person or of Personall merit and of this I make the Obiect to be Christ the Mediator meriting the Act of it Fiducia a Rest or Deuolution the Subiect of it the facultie of the Will and not the Vnderstanding the next End of it Iustification the remote End eternall Saluation And thus I
define it a Rest of the Will vpon Christ and his merits for Iustification and consequently Saluation In which Definition 1 That the Obiect of it is the Person or Personall merit of Christ the whole tenor of Scripture proues which runs thus Hee that beleeueth in mee shall not perish Ioh. 3.16 Ioh. 14.1 Ioh. 1.12 and Yee belieue also in me and As many as receiued him to them hee gaue power to bee the Sonnes of God that is to them that belieued in his Name and in six hundred places besides But if thou wilt be further informed see M. Foxe in the booke before quoted 2 That the Act of it is Fiducia Affiance I report me to all the words vsed in the originall of the old Testament as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to retire vnto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to deuolue or Roll vpon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to trust or put confidence in and all the rest and to the forme of words vsed in the new as Credere in Sperare in to beleeue and hope in or vpon 3 That it is Subiectiuely in the Will appeares by the Act for Fiducia Affiance without controuersie is in the Will as also by the Obiect Christ which implies not a Knowledge but Fiducia or Rest Ob. Fiducia Affiance is Spes roborata a confirmed Hope therefore if you make Faith to be Fiducia Affiance you make it likewise to be hope and vnskilfully confound two distinct vertues Ans I denie Fiducia Affiance to bee Hope although the Prince of Schoolemen Thomas of Watering and his followers haue heretofore taught it For 1 Hope looks to the End which is Saluation Affiance to the meanes which is Christs personall merit 2 The Act of Hope is expectare to looke out for the Act of Affiance is tuniti to leane on or rest vpon 3 Hope is of things that are future but Affiance of that which is present So yet Faith is Fiducia Affiance which I further confirme by S. Augustins authority Credere est amare In Ioh. 7. tract 29. amando in Deum tendere To belieue is to loue and by louing to moue vnto God expounding Amare by Confidere Loue by Affiance according to that Fathers vsuall phrase in his Tractates vpon Iohn Ob. Faith may be both Notitia Fiducia Knowledge and Affiance and so both in the Will and in the Understanding Ans It cannot bee because it is impossible for one and the same Habit to bee Subiectiuely in two seuerall Faculties of so different natures Indeed Bonauenture saith Hope is in both being Certi expectatio In 3. Scut citante Kemnit loco de iustif a certaine expectation Expectation being in the will certitude in the Vnderstanding But I answer that Certainty is the ground of diuine Hope but no part of the nature thereof as knowledge of a thing to be loue-worthy is the ground of loue for Ignoti nulla cupido no desire of that which is vnknowne but not of the nature of it and therefore as you cannot place Loue both in the Mind and Will no more may you Hope or Faith Ob. If Faith bee Fiducia Affiance then the wicked may haue it for Balaam desired the death of the righteous Num. 23.10 Mat. 13.20.21 and some receiue the Word with ioy belieuing but for a time Ans There is a double Affiance the one is sleight and superficiall and grounded on no other foundation then a generall apprehension that it is good to bee saued by Christ but leaue not their former course and embrace a new the other is setled and grounded hauing these precedents 1 A particular knowledge of our sinfull estate examined by the rule of Gods Word 2 An apprehension of Gods wrath and eternall death deserued by sinne 3 Vnfained sorrow for sinne with resolution of new life 4 A knowledge of Christ and here 1 Of his sufficiencie 2 His louing inuitation of all to rest on him for Iustification and Saluation These foure things going before if by the operation of Gods spirit shall afterward follow a rest vpon Iesus Christ for Iustification Saluation I pronounce this Rest to bee that Act which doth iustify before God So that these three Faiths shall bee as the three Propositions of a Categoricke Syllogisme Faith of Story being the Maior Faith of Person or Personall merit being the Assumption and Faith of Promises being the Conclusion on this wise De Whosoeuer shall as formerly is declared rest vpon the merits of Christ for his Iustification and Saluation he shall be iustified and saued This the Scripture affirmeth and to acknowledge the truth thereof is Historicall Faith ri But I doe so rest vpon Christ This the Conscience priuy to the sincerity of the heart assumeth which act of Resting I tearme Iustifying Faith j. Therefore I am iustified shall be saued And this is the Faith of Promise concluded of the former premisses and is the Assurance before mentioned To draw to a Conclusion concerning these three Faiths I adde farther that to the Faith of Story many doe not aspire namely such Paynims and Gentiles to whom God hath not vouchsafed the Ministery of the Word and meanes of knowledge yet many Reprobates doe liuing within the compasse and territory of the Church and remaine for all that vniustified Vnto the Faith of Person and that Affiance which I call sleight and superficiall many likewise of the vessels of wrath doe attaine but cannot goe one step farther whereas all and euery of the Elect rest on Christ in the second manner and vpon the precedents before specified and are thereby iustified Vnto the Faith of promise though the children of God may come and most do come yet some doubtlesse partly through the strength of flesh and mixture of infidelity with their Faith partly through the force and violence of temptation doe not nor dare not inferre the Conclusion and yet may be iustified Lastly and finally whereas Faith is distinguished into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 full Faith and little Faith I take it that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not to bee restrained to Faith of Promise onely but that both are common to all three so that a weake assent vnto the story is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a strong assent is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a strong Affiance is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a weake Affiance is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bold and confident inference of the Conclusion is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a fearefull and timerous inference is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But yet neither of them in the first doth iustifie although one of them of necessity must goe before Iustification nor yet in the third although 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may and ought to follow but in the second the least dramme of Affiance though it bee but as a graine of mustard-seed doth iustifie as perfectly as the greatest quantity because it receiues all Christ who is not capable of magis and minus more and
Treatise I haue expresly shewed the contrary For first touching the Negatiue that Faith is not Assurance I vouched therein the authority of that reuerend and worthy man of God M. Foxe whose words anon you shall heare at large In the meane season it behooueth you if you will bee beleeued in this point to produce the cloud of witnesses you so much boast of that wee may heare whether they will depose the contradictory hereunto namely that Faith is Assurance For howsoeuer you say you haue no fewer then All yet it may bee when all comes to all you will proue as ill stored of testimonies as the wise man of Athens was of shipping who being not worth the poorest shallop in the harbor bare himselfe notwithstanding for owner of all the gallies that arriued therein And surely hauing throughly searched your Answer to this purpose I find the nūber by you cited so small that I need not much skill in Arithmetike to summe them vp for the totall amounts to no more then an Vnity and all your Authors are but one Caluin once alledged in the front thereof Vnto whom I denie not but you might haue ioyned some other of the later Writers but what are they to all both old and new for 1600. yeeres For as for the ancient Fathers not one of them so farre as I can learne affirmeth the iustifying act of Faith to be Assurance and among the Moderne it is more then manifest that a good part of them flatly denyeth it So that being backed of so few and yet craking so loudly of All Ter. Eunuch act 4. Scen. 7. you play right the glorious Souldier in the Comedie who hauing but foure men in all the world bestirred himselfe so busily with three of them as if hee had been mustering a whole Legion and at length missing the fourth gallantly demaunded where all the rest were Againe touching the Affirmatiue that Faith is Affiance I quoted that passage of S. Augustin To beleeue is to loue ad by louing to moue vnto God In my Treatise De morib Eccl. ca. 15. Now Loue by which that Father vsually defineth Vertue properly is not an act of Faith because of Charity Charity Faith being two different and distinct Habits 1 Cor. 13.13 And therefore by Loue you are to vnderstand generally an act of the will it being an affection of that Facultie as if in plainer tearmes he should haue said To belieue is that act of the Will whereby we moue vnto God Which elsewhere he expresseth more clearly saying He that commeth vnwillingly beleeueth not In Ioh. 6. tract 26. and he that beleeueth not commeth not for we run not vnto Christ by walking but beleeuing neither come we by the motion of the body but by the wil of the heart So that Faith being in S. Augustins iudgement an act or motion of the Will what other can it bee then Affiance 12. q. 40. a. 2. ad 2. For as Thomas sayth that motion in the appetite which immediately followeth Desire to obtaine that good which wee esteeme possible to be obtained is Affiance Adde vnto him Theophylact Hee that with great affection beleeueth In Marc. 11. stretcheth out his heart towards God And what doth it It is vnited vnto him and the heart enflamed gathereth great certainty that it shall obtaine his desires Where by the way obserue that certainty is concluded out of Faith and therefore can no more bee Faith then the Conclusion can bee one of the Premises Serm. de Sancto Andr. So Barnard To beleeue in God is to set all our hope in him And our Diuines in the Conference of Altemburg define it by Affiance in the Heart and Will In a word all those who seat it only or principally in the will Colloq Altemb accord with mee For although defining it popularly they put vsually into their Descriptions Assent vnto supernaturall verities which is an act of the mind yet making not that but Affiance only the proper act that iustifies they doe in effect fully accord and agree with me So that you see I am not driuen to so neere an exigent but vnto your one I can oppose more then you are aware of And yet had I farre more I would not vpon presumption either of their number or authority say vnto you Ep. 11. inter ep Aug. as Hierome sometime wrote vnto Augustin Suffer me I pray thee to erre with such men and sith you see I haue so many companions in error with mee you ought to bring forth one at least that ioynes with you For who is he that would willingly erre with whomsoeuer or how many soeuer 2 Pet. 1.19 But hauing as S. Peter speaketh a more sure word of the Prophets for my warrant I rather conclude with that free and ingenuous answer of Augustin to Hierom More testimonies I thinke might I easily haue found if I had read much Epist 19. but the Apostle Paul shall bee vnto mee insteed of them all yea aboue them all N. B. Let vs therefore see what you affirme and wee agree to be our iustifying Faith and how you impugne it Fides iustificans in adultis quae sit Iustifying Faith agreed vpon vs both as holden by the Church We agree both in this that iustifying Faith as we hold it and you deny it is A certaine knowledge infused into the hearts of the elect by the Holy Ghost by which they constantly agree to all things reuealed in the Word of God and also a firme Assurance whereby euery one of the Elect relieth vpon the Promises of Christ fully resoluing that Christ with all his merits are giuen to him for iustification and eternall life Now as you deny this to bee iustifying Faith so againe let vs see what you count iustifying Faith to bee M. Downes iustifying Faith Iustifying Faith is a rest of mans will vpon Christ and his merits of Iustification and Saluation The validity of your definition wee will view anon by Gods help in the meane season let vs see with what engins of rare wit and solid Syllogismes you endeuour to ouerthrow the former definition of ours consisting vpon the generall Word the causes the effects the proper Subiect and Adiuncts or essentiall Properties I. D. Your second cogitations I see are wiser then the first and now you shoot with far better aime then erewhile missing not much of the right state of the Question For the Definition here attributed vnto me is I confesse that which I defend and the other assumed vnto your selfe is that also which I impugne I meane so farre forth as it makes Knowledge the Generall Word and Particular Assurance the Act or as you tearme it the adiunct or essentiall Propertie For otherwise that causally it is from the Holy Ghost subiectiuely in the elect and effectuall vnto Iustification is not questioned by mee but equally acknowledged of vs both Now the validity of my definition you say you will view
of you neither needed you in this point so to flourish with your Greeke or to make such a rumble with the names of Eusebius Sozomen Euagrius Dorotheus Vincentius and the rest But what my inward motiues haue beene and with what affection I haue proceeded in this businesse God and my owne conscience are a sufficient theater for your tongue is not the fanne of this floore And seeing my earnest protestation in my preface cannot perswade your vncharitable heart to entertaine a better opinion of my sincere and vpright meaning in this cause but that you will notwithstanding reckon me in the number of fanaticall spirits possessed with selfe-loue contention hypocrisie and couetousnesse condemning all other to set vp and stablish their owne fantasies I appeale vnto him who alone knoweth the heart and trieth the raines Ep. 69. ad Florent Pupian and say vnto you in the words of S. Cyprian These things haue I written out of a pure mind and conscience and with stedfast trust vpon my Lord and God You haue my letters I haue yours in the day of iudgement both shall bee rehearsed before the tribunall of Christ Whereas you intreat mee to deale in this graue cause well and as becommeth a wise man surely hitherto I haue indeuoured so to doe how well I haue performed it I leaue vnto the censure of the Church and specially of those vnto whom the Spirits of the Prophets are subiect In the meane season pardon mee if I feare none of those dangers you threaten vnto mee How your selfe will auoid them I cannot tell for neuer was there man wrote with lesse reason and more follie Treatise Three Faiths there seeme to be which lay claime and title to the priuiledge of iustification Faith of History Faith of promise and Faith of Person The first is an assent of the mind vnto the truth of Gods Word and specially the Gospell And this whether it bee Acquisite or Infused hath no interest in the matter of iustification For besides that is absurd generall knowledge should iustifie N. B. That you dare bee so bold to make such a distribution of Faith I impute it to your desire of nouelties Eph. 4. as you say in the words last betweene vs debated I tell you there is but one Faith and that a true and liuely working Faith Knowledge the beginning Application or Apprehension the Progresse Rest the end of Faith and this onely is iustifying Faith and comprehendeth your three nice distinctions and is compounded of them all conioyned together the first the beginning the second the progresse the third being the end I. D. It is not desire of noueltie in mee but loue of confusion in you that dare not haue those things distinguished which in their natures are diuided For distinction of that which is ambiguous Top. 1. c. vlt. saith Aristotle is the prime and most necessary principle both of defining and disputing well the neglect whereof insteed of profitable reasoning about matters of substance induceth fruitlesse contention and iangling about words Now that Faith is equiuocall and needeth distinction appeares first by reason for that it comprehendeth vnder it sometime more and sometime fewer things is both affirmed and denied of the same persons is a word of accident attributed to diuers Subiects not contained vnder one next Genus as to the Elect to Reprobates to Diuels Secondly by authority Ser. de temp 181. It is one thing to belieue a God another to yeeld beliefe vnto God another to belieue on God saith Augustine There is a kind of gift equiuocally called Faith saith Oecumenius In 1. Cor. 13. In 1. Cor. 12. Not Faith of doctrines but Faith of miracles saith Theophilact There is one Faith of Precepts another of Signes another of Promises saith Bernard The same among the latter writers confesseth Melancthon Martyr Kemnitius Hiperius Caluin Vrsin Foxe Perkins and who not Nay behold Saul himselfe also among the Prophets for besides that anon you acknowledge Faith sometime to bee spoken abusiuely and by an equiuocation you doe expresly both in your margent and text affirme that there are three kinds of Faith and approue the same distribution which here you condemne in me For all this I tell you say you there is but one Faith and that is iustifying Faith Shall I now say vnto you as elsewhere you doe vnto mee that you speake pure Bellarmine De Iustif l. 2. cap. 4. For indeed you vse the very language of that Iesuit Sectaries saith hee vnderstanding Protestants are wont to distinguish three faiths of history of miracles of promises but Catholicks teach that they are one and the same Faith and that iustifying Faith But doth not the Apostle in the place here quoted by you auouch that there is but one Faith yes verily but thereby in the iudgement of the best Diuines hee meaneth not that Faith whereby wee doe belieue but that which we doe belieue that is not the Habit but the Obiect of Faith as if hee should more plainely say there is but one Christian Religion And although in regard of the variety and multitude of materiall obiects there may seeme to bee not one but many Faiths yet because the formall reason wherefore we doe belieue them is but one namely diuine testimony and they are in such sort linked and woouen together that one Article cannot bee denied without the dissolution of the whole Creed all being according to the old rule one copulatiue it is therefore rightly and iustly called one Faith Finally where you say Faith comprehendeth my three nice distinctions and is compounded of them all I answer that such composition is altogether impossible for Faith of Story and Faith of Promise are in the Vnderstanding but Faith of Person is in the Will and it cannot be that one and the same Habit should bee subiectiuely in two seuerall faculties of so different natures For the Habit that is for example in Peter is one in number and that which is one in number is indiuisible and that which is indiuisible cannot bee at once in two Subiects because as Philosophie teacheth Numeration is from the plurality of Subiects This M. Perkins saw On the Creed and therefore saith Some doe place Faith partly in the Mind partly in the Will because it hath two parts Knowledge Affiance but it seemes not greatly to stand with reason that one particular and single Grace should bee seated in diuers parts or Faculties of the Soule And this also you cannot bee ignorant was answered in my treatise vnto the same obiection which obiection I maruell how you can with modestie and credit mention vnlesse withall you were prouided to satisfie my answer But seeing as Cicero saith of Hortensius when you haue ought to say you haue not the power to hold your peace Verrin 3. it is an euident and strong presumption now that you say nothing that you haue nothing to say N. B. Bleare not the eyes of Gods
Saints with your niceties and falsities any longer for thus you reason No historicall Faith hath any interest in the matter of Iustification But firmely to belieue the truth of Gods Word and specially the Gospell is historicall Faith Therefore firmely to belieue the truth of Gods Word and specially the Gospell hath no interest in the matter of Iustification Good Sir I deny your Maior which you thus endeuour to proue ab absurdo enumeratione partium No generall knowledge shall haue any stroke in the matter of Iustification All historicall Faith is a generall knowledge Therefore no historicall Faith hath any interest in the matter of iustification Proue your Minor which I denie telling you moreouer that firmely to consent to the truth of Gods Word in genere and the Gospell in Specie is not a Generall knowledge but a Speciall knowledge and therefore I argue Such a speciall knowledge of the Gospell is the beginning of Faith Iustifying Mat. 13.11 Ioh. 17.3 Mat. 16.17 But firmely to consent to the truth of Gods Word and the Gospell is such a speciall knowledge ex confesso Therfore firmely to consent to the truth of Gods Word and especially the Gospell is the beginning of Iustifying Faith I. D. If you were as farre from hood-winking your owne eyes as I am from blearing the eies of others you might easily perceiue that now I deale against our common aduersaries the Papists and ouerthrow the iustification of their Historicall Faith by the chiefest arguments which Protestants vse But you after the manner of those Gladiators called Andabatae nor see nor care whom or what you strike and so mildly affected are you towards mee that so you may make some probable shew of endammaging or disaduantaging mee you reck not though through my sides you reach and wound the best Diuines of our Church yea and the common truth which wee all maintaine Neither doe I vse such circumguagues nor wiredraw my arguments into such a length as you beare vs in hand but hauing nakedly and plainely defined what Historicall Faith is I proue by two reasons that Faith so defined doth not iustifie the first whereof is this because it is absurd that so generall a Knowledge should iustifie So that your Ferio Syllogisme deserues a Ferula and vtterly to bee cashed as being no creature of mine but an idle figment of your owne and the next in Celarent for so you forme it although indeed it bee also in Ferio the Minor proposition and Conclusion notwithstanding your generall notes being but particular enuntiations is the onely Syllogisme intended by mee and including my first argument The Maior whereof it seemes you grant saying nothing vnto it and the Minor only you deny which I cannot but wonder at seeing both the Minor and Conclusion are vniuersally vouched by all the Diuines of our side The Conclusion is that Historicall Faith iustifies not So saith Hyperius De fide Hom. iustificandi There is a certaine Historicall Faith whereby those things which are propounded in holy writ are simply beleeued but yet is not applyed vnto Christ and the matter of our Saluation Loco de Fide The Minor is that Historicall Faith is a generall Knowledge So sayth Kemnitius There is a certaine generall Faith which vsually is tearmed Historicall and againe Historicall Faith is a generall assent holding in generall that the promise of the Gospell is true And M. Perkins Ser. caus c. 36. A generall Faith whereby they giue assent vnto the Gospell Neither doe I know any one of our Diuines that either in the Conclusion or the Minor doth gainsay them So that by the iudgement of these men both consenting to Gods Word in generall and to the Gospell in speciall is not a Speciall but Generall Knowledge and if the Speciality of the Gospell being but a part of the whole Scripture did specify Faith it would follow thereupon that there are as many Speciall Faiths as there are seuerall Articles of the Creed which were vnreasonable to imagine For that Faith which assenteth vnto the Gospell is no other then that which assenteth vnto the rest of holy Scripture and although it may principally respect that part of diuine truth yet doth it not only respect it nor is limited thereunto as vnto the proper adequate obiect thereof but vniuersally extendeth it selfe vnto all supernaturall reuealed verities whatsoeuer As for that Faith which our Diuines call Speciall is to be vnderstood of Faith of Promises wherby the Saints apply and appropriate them vnto themselues particularly and indiuidually assuring themselues of their present iustification and future saluation And the ignorance hereof as I ween is the cause why you turne generall into speciall and write of this matter so wildly and confusedly This notwithstanding very peremptorily you pronounce that Historiall Faith is a speciall Knowledge and thereupon Syllogistically inferre that it is the Beginning of Iustifying Faith to what end I wot not well vnlesse it bee to proue that it doth iustify because as you conclude it is the beginning of that Faith But whatsoeuer your intent bee your argument I answer by distinguishing of the word Beginning For if you vnderstand thereby a Pre-requisite or Preparatiue vnto iustifying Faith you doe but fight with a shadow for in that sence I grant the Conclusion neither doth such a beginning of Iustifying Faith iustify If you meane thereby that it is Iustifying Faith inchoat and in a remisser degree then I deny your Maior and say that such a knowledge call it as you please generall or speciall is not the beginning of iustifying Faith If it were then Diuels and Reprobates hauing it should haue iustifying Faith which Gods Word attributes vnto the Elect onely Tit. 1.1 And if it bee true that Faith of person is the consummation of Iustifying Faith as in the former section you say it cannot bee that such a knowledge should bee the Beginning thereof vnlesse you will say that Accidents may passe from one Subiect to another which is against all Philosophy For Historicall Faith is in the Vnderstanding and Faith of Person is in the Will and therefore Faith of Story beginning in the Mind can haue no subsistence elsewhere and iustifying Faith being perfected in the Will cannot bee begunne in any other Subiect The passages quoted in the margent though you should rack them till they rent asunder yet will they not confesse what you alledge them for For how I pray you hang these things together To you it is giuen to know the mysteries of the Kingdome of heauen This is life euerlasting to know thee Flesh and Bloud hath not reuealed this vnto thee but my Father Ergo Such a knowledge is iustifying Faith begun This is too violent astraining of Scripture and as Volusian speaketh is not a sucking of milke but drawing of bloud from the dugs of the Church Ep. 1. ad Nic. 1. As for the Minor I haue already sufficiently demonstrated the falshood thereof only
vs see what you reioyne hereunto First you say I beg the matter in Question What matter that Historicall Faith is a generall knowledge but neither is that the matter now in Question neither doe I any way beg it For in this Syllogisme the Question is whether Historicall Faith doe iustify of your Question there appeares nor palme nor footstep which yet in the former section against your negatiue I haue proued to bee most true That which you adde if it bee not senselesse is contrary both to your selfe and vnto reason For saying that Historicall Faith is proper and speciall vnto the Elect in the beginning of their iustifying Faith you plainely distinguish it from iustifying Faith which is contrary to what you haue elsewhere said If you still confound them and make Historicall Faith the beginning of Iustifying Faith it is as if you should say the beginning of iustifying Faith is speciall and peculiar vnto the Elect in the beginning of their iustifying Faith which is altogether witlesse and senselesse Lastly to say that Historicall Faith which before was Generall and common as soone as it is conioyned with application and Resting on Christ becomes speciall and peculiar is vtterly void of reason For as Grace superadded vnto Nature in the Elect makes not Nature speciall and peculiar vnto them but that still it remaines common vnto all men so also Historicall Faith by accession of Iustifying Faith or Affiance changeth not its nature and becomes Speciall but as it was euermore continues Generall Generall I say both Obiectiuely as stretching it selfe vnto all supernaturall reuealed verities and Subiectiuely not being appropriated vnto the Elect onely but commonly incident vnto others also Secondly you deny the Minor telling mee plainely that it is ridiculous yea blasphemous to say that Diuels haue Faith or that euer Balaam Iudas or Magus had Faith If I should now temper my inke with some sharper ingredient and in the zeale of my affection say vnto you as the Angell sometime said vnto Satan Iude 9. The Lord rebuke thee it were no more then here you iustly deserue For it is not holy and learned men alone which yet were too impudent but euen the spirit of Wisdome and truth himselfe whom I tremble to speake it you charge with ridiculousnes and blasphemie For doth not the Holy Ghost by Saint Iames in expresse tearmes say The Diuels belieue and tremble and by Saint Luke Then Simon himselfe also belieued Iam. 2.19 Act. 8.13 and did not Balaam prophecying of Christ and Iudas preaching Christ assent vnto those truths wherewith they were illuminated And what Orthodoxe Diuine is there ancient or moderne who falling vpon this question doth not acknowledge that Diuels and Reprobates doe Historically belieue De vnico Bapt. cont Petil. c. 10. Saint Augustine is bold and compareth the Faith of Diuels confessing Christ Wee know thee who thou art euen the Sonne of God with that memorable confession of Peter Thou art the Christ the Sonne of the liuing God This confession saith hee was fruitfull vnto Peter but pernicious vnto the Diuels yet in both not false but true not to bee denied but acknowledged not to bee detested but approued And a little after hauing vouched that of Saint Iames the Diuels belieue and tremble and compared therewith the Faith of those who belieue the truth of God but liue wickedly Behold saith hee Wee haue found out of the Church not onely certaine men but Diuels also confessing the same Faith of one God yet both confirmed by the Apostles rather then denied Of the same iudgement are our latter writers That Faith is attributed to Simon Magus Inst lib. 3. ca. 2. §. 10. saith Caluin We vnderstand not with some that hee fained in words a Faith which was not in his heart but thinke rather that being ouercome by the Maiesty of the Gospell hee did in a sort belieue and acknowledge Christ to be the Author of Life and Saluation Simon saith Beza In Act. 8.13 On the Creed Ans to Rhem. T. in Iam. 2.6 belieued with Historicall Faith Historicall Faith saith Perkins is in the Diuell and his Angels Such a Faith saith Fulke as is in Diuels namely an acknowledging that there is one God and so likewise of all the rest of the Articles of Faith to bee true without trust or confidence in God Finally the whole Church of Auspurg Whereas Saint Iames saith Harm Confess the Diuels belieue and tremble hee speaketh of an Historicall Faith Now this Faith doth not iustifie for the Diuels and the wicked are cunning in the History Which last words I would wish you to note and obserue For if Historicall Faith bee no other then an assent of the Mind vnto the truth of Gods Word then Diuels and Reprobates so assenting yea being cunning in the Story must needs haue Historicall Faith Adde hereunto that if they doe not so much as Historically belieue then the sinnes which they commit against the Gospell are onely sinnes of ignorance and not against knowledge neither can they offend of malice or fall into that vnpardonable sinne which is against the Holy Ghost Mat. 12.32 Neither lastly can any bee said to haue made shipwracke of Faith which yet the Scripture saith some haue done 1 Tim. 1.19 vnlesse perhaps you will say a man may make shipwracke of that which hee neuer had So that now if I haue spoken ridiculously and blasphemously as you say you see what Schoolemasters haue deceiued me and vpon what reasons I haue been drawne into this folly and impiety or rather the world sees what folly it is in you thus against all reason to impute blasphemy and ridiculousnesse vnto the truth of God and the most glorious preachers and defenders thereof Yet Caluin you say telleth mee it is ridiculous to say that Diuels haue Faith and it is plaine that this whole disputation Iam. 2. is not about Faith But is it possible that Caluin should striue against the torrent of so maine authority or like the Philosopher of whom Aristotle speaketh forget his owne voice and vnsay that which he had formerly said Certainly if you wil giue him leaue to bee the interpreter of his owne meaning you shall find hee doth not For when hee denieth that Diuels haue Faith and that Saint Iames there disputeth of Faith hee vnderstandeth not Faith indefinitely but particularly iustifying Faith This is euident by his annotation on the twentieth verse In Iam. 2.20 Here saith hee is no disputation of the cause of Iustification whereby what other can hee meane then Iustifying Faith And when hee saith the dispute is not about Faith hee addeth forthwith but of a vulgar knowledge which conioyneth a man to God no more then the sight of the Sunne lifts him to Heauen Now what is that Faith which vnites vs vnto God but onely Iustifying Faith and what is this vulgar knowledge other then Historicall Faith by which the eye of the mind sees diuine truth
impudent glossems of your owne But yet when I say a man ought to haue Assurance doe I not therein confesse it to bee so necessary vnto Saluation that a man cannot be saued without it Nothing lesse and God forbid that euery ignorance or doubting of what wee ought to know should presently exclude and barre vs from Saluation for then no flesh possibly could bee saued Although therefore when I say a man may bee assured I confesse a possibility and when I say hee ought to bee assured I acknowledge a dutie yet doth it not follow thereupon that such assurance is of absolute necessity Necessary it may bee vnto the well-being of the Sonne of God but not vnto his Being as if hee could not bee a new creature without it necessary to cheere and solace him in the way to the end but not vnto the end it selfe as if without it hee could not aspire vnto saluation Such absolute necessity of assurance vpon paine of damnation I know none saue onely of those truths which wee call fundamentall among which I suppose your and my iustification and saluation are not to bee reckoned And yet had I said which I deny that Assurance is necessary vnto Saluation what inconuenience is it to say that neuerthelesse it is not necessary vnto iustification For Saluation is the End Iustification a meane or way vnto the End and more things are subordinate vnto the end then vnto the way as vnto Saluation both Faith and workes are necessary but vnto Iustification Faith alone is required And therefore also it is no absurdity to say that two Faiths are requisite vnto Saluation as indeed Faith of Story and Faith of Person are although but one Faith iustify which is Faith of Person And thus much for your plaine-song now let vs heare your descant and diuision vpon it N. B. Martiall Emerepes apud Apophth Chrysippus Dij mentem tibi dent tuam Philaeni God send you your right wits to see these errors and to amend them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne vities Musicam said one Corrupt not musicke speake not contraries nor nouelties You cannot alwayes saile in the night but at last will bee taken if you were as craftie as a Cuckow Athanas in Symb. as spake Pliny and Aristotle Wee hold in Diuinity but one Faith and not diuers in specie and that euery Christian man is bound to haue it hauing meanes giuen him from God vpon paine of damnation and that no man can ordinarily bee saued without it And therefore doe cast out your cobwebs as following his counsell that said Vasis eijcias quas nectit aranea telas knowing that your speeches endeauour to mingle water and fire together which is impossible to doe Neither are your forces any thing able to deceiue Gods Elect so long time trained vp in his blessed schoole Well may you consume your selfe as one said Comedo meipsum more Polypi Alcaeus apud Athen. l. 7. Catull. Mat. 11. 1 Tim. 3.15 Act. 9. I eat vp my selfe like Polypus but the Church can you not deceiue for your sacke is full of Spiders as Catullus telleth one Nam tui Catulli Plenus sacculus est aranearum The Church is no reed but the pillar of truth and therefore it is hard for you to spurne against it I. D. Vnto this Rapsodie of sentences and prouerbs drawn in like Hercules oxen and tyed together like Samsons foxes so preposterously by the tailes were I a Grammar-schoole-boy againe I would quickly patch you vp an answer in the same kinde But now I affect not an opinion of learning that way desiring as becomes a Diuine rather to bee reall then verball If children either in age or vnderstanding bee pleased with such Pedanterie and delight to see so many babies in your writing I enuie it not so long as the grauer and learneder sort rest contented and satisfied with the substance of my reasons Only vnto that charitable prayer which you make for me out of that deuout Poet Martiall that God would send me my wits againe Lib. 2. Sat. 3. I know not what kinder wish to oppose then that of Horace the deuouter Poet of the two that you which are franticke and bedlem-mad would something beare with those who are but a little discrazed and distempered For indeed you are right twin vnto the Lunaticke gentleman in Horace and as hee euery day visited the theater and there â—ate clapping his hands and keeping a stirreas if he saw some notable Tragedieacted before him whereas the stage all the while was empty so you here make much adoe and tell mee of I know not what absurdities contrarieties and nouelties and yet the ground you lay for them is in my words no where to bee found Wherefore as Sophâ—cles being accused of dotage read before the iudges his Ordipus Coloneus which he had very lately composed Cic. de Senect and then demaunded of them whether it seemed the poem of a dotard or no so because you charge mee as berâ—â— of my right wits and fraught with nothing else but errors and contradictions I appeale vnto the Christian reader praying him to peruse and ponder my treatise and if hee please this Disputation also and then to iudge indifferently betwixt vs whether I bee as this Festus accuseth me mad and beside my selfe or else with Saint Paul Act. 26.24.25 haue spoken the words of truth and sobernes Treatise 1. Arg. If this were iustifying Faith then whosoeuer liues and dies without this particular Assurance cannot bee saued sine Fide c. without Faith it is impossible to please God But a man may bee saued without it Ergo. N. E. I hope you meane de adultis of men that haue meanes giuen them from God to get this Assurance for otherwise I easily agree that God may extraordinarily saue whom it pleaseth him But doubting not of your meaning and denying your Minor you take vpon you to proue it first by an instance and next by six reasons All which let vs see I. D. Epist 57. Taking me to meane de adultis you doe no whit mistake mee for as Augustin saith that Infants know the things of God who know not so much as the things of men if wee should goe about by words to demonstrate I feare mee wee should bee iniurious euen to our very senses endeuouring to perswade that by speech the euidence of whose truth surpasseth all faculty and office of speech Neuerthelesse because it is written without Faith no man can please God and the iust shall liue by his owne faith many learned men haue hereupon conclude that Infants haue a Faith euen of their owne Adacta Colloq Mompelg Resp de Bapt. in so much that Beza though of a different iudgement confesseth this to bee a very solid and firme foundation and soone after addeth that of this matter very learned Diuines yea and the ancient Fathers also differ in opinion for this Question saith he is among the
reasons for Other writers saith hee I so read that how much soeuer they excell in holinesse and learning Ep. 19. ad Hieron I doe not therfore thinke any thing to be true because they iudge so but because they perswade me either by those Canonicall Authors or by probable reason not abhorring from truth Bellarmine vpbraiding Illyricus for his Coniectures is thus answered by learned Iunius Contrà Bell. de transl impl 1. c. 11. Bee not so hot I pray you against humane coniectures In a word whether wee would modestly shew our owne opinion or refell anothers wee deale humanely saying it is a coniecture but to vpbraid humane coniectures is meere inhumanity Dan. Cham. de oecum Pont. Nay Daniel Chamier a very learned late writer in his booke de oecumenico Pontifice doth professedly distinguish his arguments into Scripture Coniecture and Testimony and will you therefore say of him as you doe vnto mee that hee doubted of the truth of his cause determined to ensnare poore silly Readers and walked not recto pectore with an vpright conscience Reioinder to Brist reply But so it is I vse the very words of D. Fulk being almost in the same tearmes cauilled withall by blundering Bristow When you can say nothing against my assertion your selfe you would make mee vncertaine of it and say that it is but a light suspicion of mine because in one place before I come to the sound proofe of it I say it is a probable coniecture And doth it follow therefore that I doubt of it because I offer a probable coniecture vnto other mens vnderstanding before by order of discourse I am brought to the manifest probation of it Well yet if Probable like you not those that follow are Necessary and I feare mee you will bee able to say little to them that leaue this without answer and the weaker the argument the more disgrace to bee graueld by it But my purpose in vsing both was for the more strength and perswasion for as Pindar saith It is the surest and safest way in a tempestuous night to cast out of the ship two ankers Olymp. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 6. Treatise 2. Arg. That which is in time after iustifying Faith cannot bee that Faith This is vndeniable But this Particular knowledge is in time after that Faith This I proue out of 1 Ioh. 5.13 These things haue I written vnto you that belieue in the name of the Sonne of God that yee may know that yee haue Eternall life Behold Belieuing goes before and Knowledge comes after As for that which followeth in the same verse and that yee may belieue I interprete it of Perseuerance and growth in Faith Howsoeuer Belieuing and Knowing are here distinguished and therefore are not all one N. B. I deny your Minor neither doth that place of S. Iohn helpe you ought as wee shall see anon I tell you that iustifying Faith is a Particular Knowledge though in other tearmes by vs vsed and by the Scripture set downe So that where you say a man first belieueth and then knoweth wee say hee beleeueth that is hee particularly knoweth apprehendeth and applieth Christ to himselfe perpetually and liuely to his saluation So that Belieuing and particular knowing himselfe to bee elected are one and that it is this knowledge thus I argue I. D. Before you come to bestow a word or two vpon the Minor which you deny you thinke it good like a cunning and subtle disputer flatly to deny the Conclusion and peremptorily to auouch the Contradictory vnto it then very prodigally to wast a multitude of words in the proofe thereof A maruelous policy I promise you vtterly disabling me from farther replying for as much as Logicke it selfe giues no precept how a man may reply vpon him who denies the Conclusion and taking the Contradictory thereof as granted goes about thereby to disproue the Premises For so doe you when you say Faith is a knowledge and therefore goes not afore knowledge my reason being contrarily framed thus Faith goes before knowledge therefore is not knowledge Doubtles had you not had the heart of Zenodotus Martial and the liuer of Crates as the Poet saith you could neuer haue stumbled vpon so politicke a deuise But let vs heare your reasons N. B. What soeuer iustifieth a man is Faith Darij Esa 53.11 But particular knowledge iustifieth a man Therfore particular knowledge is Faith I proue the Minor out of the Scripture By the knowledge of himselfe saith the Lord shall my righteous seruant justify many Lo M. Downe here the knowledge of Christ iustifieth a man and is the same in effect and working that Faith is and therefore are they both one which you make to bee twaine by distinction and originall Your speech helpeth Bellarmine that saith Faith may bee rather in ignorantiá implicitâ in an ignorance couched then in explicitâ cognitione a discouered knowledge Tom. 3. de iustif l. 5. c. 7. I. D. Iud. 14.18 Seeing here you plow with my heifer as Samson sometime said vnto the Philistines how is it that you read not my riddle also I meane hauing borrowed this Obiection from my Treatise why take you not from thence the answer also Surely that you vrge the one so eagerly and so diligently suppresse the other I know no cause but this you knew not how to reply vnto it and therefore I will by your fauor repeate the same againe vntil you find out some forcible reason to driue me from it The verbs of vnder standing and sence in the Hebrew tongue signifie not onely the acts of them but of the will and affections also So Psal 1.6 the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous And Depart I know you not And I will not heare see c. that is God will not so know heare see as to loue and approue And so may I interpret that of the Prophet Christ being so knowne as to bee embraced and rested on by the will shall iustifie many Adde now that it is neither necessary nor likely your Particular knowledge should bee here ment for the Obiect of the Prophets knowledge is no other then Christ but the Obiect of your knowledge is your owne selfe or your present state in grace and future Saluation And what a senselesse speech doe you put into the mouth of the Prophet for by your glosse it is as if hee should say My righteous seruant by making many to know that they are already iustified shall bring many vnto that which already they haue namely iustification But Esay had in him both the Spirit of Wisdome and the Tongue of Eloquence and therefore pardon me if I cannot thinke he vsed to speake non-sense like you Where you say my speech helpeth Bellarmine who saith Faith may bee rather in ignorantiâ implicitâ in an ignorance couched then in explicitâ cognitione a discouered knowledge First Bellarmine hath no such words neither I thinke did hee euer dreame
which they are iustified and so come to eternall life But what say I vnto the Minor deliuered in other tearmes thus Knowledge of Christ apprehendeth eternall life I say first it is not the same Proposition because the tearmes are changed neither are they equipollent Secondly I grant it to bee true whether you meane by knowledge Dogmaticall Faith or Particular assurance for by the one doe we apprehend that there is an eternall life by the other that wee haue speciall interest in it Well then if it apprehendeth eternall life doth it not follow that therefore also it apprehendeth iustification No by no meanes for as wee haue aboue demonstrated it is not necessary that that which apprehendeth the latter should apprehend the former also And yet though I disallow the consequence the consequent I readily yeeld you that Particular knowledge apprehendeth iustification for so haue wee defined Faith of promise to be a perswasion or assurance that the promise of God made in Christ to wit iustification remission of sinnes adoption regeneration finally election it selfe and eternall saluation doe particularly pertaine vnto mee and are mine What gather you now of this Ergo say you it is iustifying Faith How so Because whatsoeuer apprehendeth iustification is iustifying Faith Nay contrarily whatsoeuer apprehendeth iustification it not iustifying Faith for apprehension followeth iustification no man apprehending himselfe to bee iustified vntill hee be iustified but Iustifying Faith is in nature before iustification that being the cause and this the effect And therefore vnlesse you will say that that which followeth is that which goeth before you cannot say that that which apprehendeth iustification is that which iustifieth To conclude therefore neither is Faith knowledge nor knowledge Faith but particular knowledge for ought you haue yet said or can say commeth in time after Faith But whereas finally you inferre that Faith is knowledge in the beginning knowledge in proceeding knowledge in the end besides that the foundation vpon which it is grounded is vntrue it is cleane contrary also to that which erewhile you affirmed that Faith is but one compounded of my three nice distinctions the first being the beginning the second the progresse the third the end For the third is Faith of Person and in the Will and is by your confession there the end of Faith yet here you say faith is knowledge in the end which things how they can stand together I see not vnlesse you will say that knowledge is in the Will and so confound the faculties and operations of the soule N. B. In Ioh. 1. Ep. c. 5. to 13. The place of Saint Iohn by you cited to proue your Minor in your argument maketh nothing for you because the Apostle speaketh of their increase of knowledge and not of the originall begetting of knowledge and so saith M. Caluin I. D. The text in the clearest tearmes that may bee distinguisheth betweene Belieuing and knowing and vnto that giueth the priority before this but your glosse confoundeth their natures and saith that the Apostle here speaketh onely of increase of knowledge Wo to the glosse that corrupteth the text for if this bee S. Iohns meaning it is as if hee should say I write vnto you that know that yee are iustified haue eternall life that yee may increase in knowing that yee haue eternall life and that yee may know yee are iustified and haue eternall life which how vnworthy it is the pen of an Apostle euery one easily seeth But Caluin you say interpreteth the place as you doe Bee it so yet is it not the name of Caluin how venerable soeuer that may sway this matter For seeing I professe to differ from him in the definition of Iustifying Faith hee defining it by knowledge I by Affiance you may not thinke it vnreasonable if in this point and the explication of such scriptures as may seeme to concerne it I desire rather to bee pressed with his reasons then borne downe with his authority But what saith Caluin Because there ought to bee dayly proceedings in Faith therefore he writes to them that belieue already that they may more firmely and certainly belieue Whereunto I willingly assent if you apply it as Beza in his annotations doth vnto the last clause of the verse and that yee may belieue for then the meaning without forcing or constraining the words will bee as if hee should say I write vnto you that belieue that belieuing yee may know yee haue eternall life knowing the same may constantly perseuere and proceed on in Belieuing For as the clouds poure downe raine to moisten the earth and the earth moistned sendeth vp vapours againe to make clouds so likewise Faith begets Assurance and Assurance being gotten doth againe confirme and strengthen faith And thus doe the Century-writers expound this place Cent. 1. l. 2. c. 4. p. 276. gathering from it that Cetainty of Saluation is an Effect of Faith and so euidently distinguishing knowledge from Faith Treatise 3. Arg. That which in nature comes after iustification cannot bee iustifying Faith This appeares because Faith is the Efficient Instrumentall cause of Iustification and euery Efficient by the rule of Logicke is in nature before the Effect But this knowledge or assurance is in nature after Iustification Ergo it is not Faith N. B. Your Minor is very false and so proued by my former arguments For particular knowledge and assurance of our saluation is not in nature after Faith but is Faith and wholy infused by the Spirit of God and begotten by hearing of the Word preached and commeth to act by degrees according to the measure of grace giuen of God For it is in Habitu sometime not in actu Faith habituall in power actuall in the deed of belieuing as when one sleepeth his beliefe is not in actu and yet hee liueth vnto God by his faith which liueth powerfully in him though not actually I. D. The Maior of my Syllogisme is vndeniable because as I haue said Faith is the cause of iustification For as D. Fulke saith vnto Bristow excluding it from Efficient causes Reioinder to Bristow p. 172. Seeing Scripture often affirmeth that God worketh in vs by Faith faith must needs be an instrumentall efficient when you haue said all that you can except you will teach vs new Grammar and Logicke The Minor therefore you say is very false and so proued by your former arguments But those arguments are already answered and thus I proue the Minor For as for the rest of your idle and wilde talke touching the infusion begetting degrees habit act of Faith I willingly passe ouer lest pursuing you in this course I seeme to run riot and play the wanton with you Treatise The truth of a Proposition is alwayes in nature before the knowledge of the truth for Propositions are not therefore true because they are knowne so but they are first true and knowne so Therefore this Proposition I know I am iustified spoken
by one that is iustified must needs presuppose the partie before to be iustified N. B. O. O. O. O. O. I. D. What mum Master Baxtar Hath Sigalion now instantly sealed vp your lips that you cannot or are you suddenly become a professed Pythagorean that you may not speake For me thinkes you that haue beene so vocall and wastfull of your breath in so many impertinent and friuolous excursions should not now bee so sparing and niggardly of a word or twaine vpon so necessary a point But the truth is the argument is vnanswerable and inuincible and therefore you held it better to say nothing and slily to passe it ouer then to marre all by saying nothing to the purpose Which course if you had also vsed in the rest of this disputation you should haue saued this scribling labor and I had receiued virgin paper from you And so as Galba in the iudgement of all might haue beene thought worthy of the empire if hee had not beene Emperor Tacit. 1. Hist you also in the opinion of some might haue beene counted able to write if you had not written But now that after so much loudnesse and clamourousnesse you are become so dumbe and silent it argues that though ability faile yet will should not haue beene wanting vnlesse the euidence of truth had perforce made vp your mouth And so construeing your silence to bee in this point no lesse then plaine yeelding I passe on to the next argument Treatise 4. Arg. In conditionall Promises there can bee no Assurance of the thing promised before the performance of the condition v. g. This is a conditionall Promise in the couenant of works Doe this and thou shalt liue Life is promised but on condition of Doing and therefore vntill wee haue performed the condition wee may not looke that God should bee reciprocall and giue vs Life Now in the Couenant of Grace Iustification is promised but vpon condition of Faith so saith the Scripture Belieue and thy sins shall be forgiuen thee Therefore the condition of Belieuing must first bee performed before wee can assure our selues our sins are forgiuen If so then Faith going before and Assurance following after Assurance connot bee Iustifying Faith N. B. I deny your Minor and say there may bee an Assurance of Saluation in some measure before there can bee the performance of Faith actuall in the highest measure Therefore your Minor is vtterly false For Faith in his true defined state is a firme Assurance and Perswasion and a firme Assurance and Perswasion is Faith and both the Greeke and Hebrew words signifieth Faith before cited doe declare Yea this Assurance is giuen vnto vs together with the hearing of the Word of God Habitualiter and will shew it selfe Actualiter in due time and therefore sometime is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometime is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first in the beginning the next in the Lords due time and this can neuer be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but secundùm magis or minùs shall externas vel internas exerere vires shew forth his forces either within man or without I. D. To make all plaine my argument reduced into the right forme standeth thus That which goeth before iustification is not that which followes after iustification But Faith goeth before iustification and Assurance followes after Ergo Faith is not Assurance The Minor of this Syllogisme is that which you deny affirming it to be vtterly false and you confirme it to bee so by this reason There may bee Assurance of Saluation in some measure before there can be Performance of Faith Actuall in the highest measure Ergo Faith goeth not before Assurance nor doth Assurance follow after Faith The Antecedent of which Enthymeme I grant for as much as there may bee Assurance in this life but not the performance of Faith actuall in the highest measure wee here Belieuing only in part as the Apostle saith But if hereupon it follow Therefore Faith goeth not before Assurance it will also follow Faith goeth not before Charity or good works because Charity and good works may be in some measure before Faith actuall bee in the highest measure or thus The elder Sonne is not borne before the yonger because the yonger may waxe as tall as a Pygmee before the elder bee growne to the stature of a Giant Which Consequences if they be absurd and ridiculous as absurd and ridiculous is it to inferre that Faith cannot bee before Assurance because Assurance may bee in some measure before Faith bee in the highest measure Nay farre better doth it follow from hence against your selfe that Faith is not Assurance nor Assurance Faith For if as you expresly say Assurance may bee in a lower measure when Faith is in a higher how can they possibly differing so in degrees but bee differing things For although it be true that more and lesse doe not diuersify the kind yet is it as true that the same indiuiduall quality cannot at the same time bee both intended and remitted no more then the same string in a Lute can at once bee strained vp and let downe and yeeld at the same time both a base and treble sound In the residue of this Section you shew your selfe to bee one of those idle Oratours of whom Quintilian speaketh Inst Orat. l. 11. who neuer regard where the point or issue of the Question lieth so they may besides the cause either from the persons or out of some common place find occasion of declaiming Lib. 6. Epig. 19. Such as was Postumus the Aduocate in Martiall who being entertained to plead the cause of one who had three Goats stolen from him by his neighbour left the proofe of this and fell a discoursing of the battell of Cannae of the Mithridatike and Carthaginian wars and other such impertinent matters But neuer was there any offended more notoriously in this kind then you all those speeches are nothing els but extrauagances and by-matters For I pray you how doth it concerne my argument to talke of the origination of Faith in Greeke and Hebrew how Assurance is giuen how it shewes it selfe of Oligopistie Plerophorie and Apostasie of the intention and remission of it and finally of the inward and outward forces thereof Surely De arte Poët as much as a Cypres-tree concernes a table of shipwrack as Horace speaketh And therefore giue mee leaue to plucke you by the eare and to say vnto you as did the poore Client vnto his Lawyer aboue named Now I pray thee Postume say some thing at length touching my three Goats N. B. Where it pleaseth you to make remission of sinnes a Promise vpon a Condition I tell you with all the Church of God in all ages it is rather an encouragement to belieue assuredly in Christ as if hee should say Thy sinnes bee forgiuen thee therefore bee of good comfort that both the former and latter to wit forgiuenesse of sinnes and Beliefe might bee ascribed to
Ergo Faith goes before Remission But Assurance as wee haue shewed followes after Remission Ergo it is not Faith But you will follow the ordinary translation I giue you good leaue for I take it to bee the truest yet from thence also thus I argue The Palsie man belieued yet was not assured his sinnes were forgiuen him till Christ told him so much for otherwise what needed Christ to tell him what hee knew already Ergo Assurance is not Faith Treatise That from whence followes a blasphemous absurditie cannot bee a truth for from truth nought but truth can bee concluded But from this that Faith is Assurance such an absurditie doth follow What is that That God commands to Belieue an vntruth and to bee assured of that which neuer shall bee For God being truth cannot command falshood to bee taken for truth Neither tell mee here of who art thou that disputest with God For this is a ruled case in Diuinity God cannot doe things which imply contradiction and therefore not make vntruth to bee truth or knowledge errour Now that this absurdity followes from thence thus I demonstrate God commands the Reprobate to belieue for for vnbeliefe the world shall bee condemned But no condemnation but for breach of a commandement for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefore they are commanded to Belieue I aske you then what it is to belieue You will say to know to bee assured Therefore God commands the Reprobates to know and to bee assured But this is a blasphemous absurdity therefore is your opinion absurd which infers it N. B. Two things in this argument are betweene vs to be discussed First whether it bee a blasphemous absurdity to hold that God commandeth a reprobate to belieue that hee shall bee saued You affirme it I deny it Secondly whether in this point God commandeth a Reprobate to belieue an vntruth when hee commandeth a reprobate to belieue and hee shall be saued You affirme it I deny it I. D. That it is a blasphemous absurdity to say that God commands Reprobates to know and to bee assured that they are already iustified and shall bee saued I haue indeed affirmed and I thinke haue also sufficiently confirmed But that God should commaund a Reprobate to belieue an vntruth if hee command him to belieue and hee shall bee saued I neuer yet affirmed What then This that He should command him to belieue an vntruth if hee command him to belieue that hee is iustified and shall bee saued A small difference will you say betweene And and That So was there betwixt Shibboleth and Sibboleth Iude. 12.6 yet enough to discerne an enemy from a friend For this proposition Belieue and thou shalt bee saued is Hypotheticall and Conditionall as if it were said in other tearmes If thou belieue thou shalt bee saued But this Belieue and assure thy selfe that thou shalt bee saued is Categoricall and Absolute excluding all Condition Now that God commands all both Elect and Reprobate to Belieue in the Lord Iesus and promises vnto them Iustification and Saluation conditionally if they Belieue I grant but that hee commands the Reprobate absolutely to know and assure himselfe that hee is already iustified and shall hereafter bee saued and glorified I constantly deny Which yet your opinion that Faith is an Assurance necessarily infers and therefore cannot bee true This matter being thus cleared let vs now bring your answers to the ballance and weigh them N. B. First therefore I answer Mat. 16.15.16 God cammandeth all men to Belieue the Gospell to bee saued and therefore the Reprobates If you demaund why hee commandeth them to belieue that which neuer shall be I answer So it pleased him So answereth Iesus Christ the Sonne of God Math. 11. v. 26. Now goe Master Downe and dispute with Iesus Christ and tell him that his Father deliuereth a blsphemous absurdity Search not too farre into the counsels of God lest you bee ouerwhelmed of his Maiesty reuerence his doctrine if you cannot vnderstand it for who is able to search out the reason of his wayes and counsels Rom. 11. seeing they bee like a great deep I. D. No Master Baxter it is not for dust and ashes to contend with the Creator of all things nor for base clay to enter disputation with so glorious a Maiestie Whatsoeuer that eternall truth speaketh I reuerence and adore and dare not presume to search a higher reason of his actions then his will knowing full well that his will is the prime rule and cause of Iustice and therefore that it is both folly to seeke a former then the first and impiety to subiect Gods will vnto some extrinsecall director But yet with you who as I take it are made of no better moulds then my selfe and are not exempted from those humane infirmities whereunto the rest of your brethren are subiect I hope I may bee bold to enter argument and to hold disputation as in other matters so touching this present question also To you therefore this I say that God doth indeed command the reprobate to belieue vnto saluation and yet neuer shall he belieue nor bee saued The cause hereof I know to bee Gods will and am content with all lowlinesse and humility to say with Christ Mat. 11.26 Euen so O Father because thy good pleasure was such But what is this to our purpose For it is one thing to command a Reprobate to belieue the Gospell another thing to command him to know and assure himselfe that hee is already iustified and shall bee saued for to Belieue the Gospell is to assent vnto an infallible truth but to bee perswaded of the other is to yeeld to that which neither is nor euer shall bee true You should therefore euidently demonstrate out of the Scriptures that God commands a Reprobate so to bee assured and perswaded and then if I rested not satisfied with Gods reuealed will you might iustly bid mee goe and dispute with Christ and forbid to search into the counsels of God lest I be ouerwhelmed with his Maiesty But if in Gods booke you cannot shew it I hold it a humane fancy rather then a diuine truth and therefore though I may not curiously prie into the secrets of God yet may I freely trie and examine the ground of mens opinions N. B. Againe it is an vntruth that God commandeth when he biddeth a Reprobate to belieue and hee shall bee saued For if hee could belieue he should then be saued without doubt Ioh. 11. That hee cannot belieue the reason is Christ hath not washed him Io. 13.8 neither hath opened his heart to belieue So that if hee could haue belieued hee should haue this doctrine effectuall vnto him to saluation That he therefore could not belieue is not to bee imputed to the falsity of the doctrine but to the hardnesse of his owne heart I. D. The commandement of God is absolute Belieue the promise of Saluation is conditionall if we Belieue That the Promise
righteousnesse Rom. 3.28 Consider moreouer that Faith as a cause goeth before Iustification for wee are iustified by Faith and therefore if the Elect bee wicked before his iustification hee must needs much more bee wicked before the first act of his Belieuing In regard whereof Saint Augustin saith Enar. in Ps 311 Know thou that Faith when it was giuen thee found thee a sinner These things being so as without controuersie they are I then demand of you if Faith bee Assurance what ground hath the Elect for his Assurance in the first Act of his Faith more then the Reprobates and wicked haue Certainly vnlesse you will flye with the Anabaptists vnto I know not what Enthusiasms and sudden reuelations grounded vpon no arguments formerly by the Holy Ghost imprinted in the soule you cannot possibly shew any seeing before Faith they lie together in the same masse of corruption and are alike liable vnto eternall damnation Now vnto this argument thus enlarged and explaned let vs see what answer you returne When I can shew the man that died without Assurance and was saued and how I know at his death hee had no full Perswasion and can proue that there is at the houre of death in the Saints a Doubtfull Faith then you say you will answer mee What M. Baxter and not till then Suppose I cannot satisfy your demands as indeed who knoweth what is in the heart of man at the houre of his death shall my argument therefore for euer stand vnanswered Declar. of Spir. Desert And yet M. Perkins telleth you that When a Professor of the Gospell shall despaire at his end men are to leaue secret iudgements vnto God and charitably iudge the best of him and hee instanceth in one M. Chambers who in his sicknesse grieuously despaired and cried out that hee was damned yet saith hee it is not for any to note him with the blacke marke of a Reprobate The like censure elsewhere giueth he of Francis Spiera Yea further saith hee When a Professor of the Gospell shall make away himselfe though it bee a fearefull case yet still the same opinion must bee carried So that it seemes by this learned mans iudgement who for ought I know is not singular herein but followeth the common opinion of other Diuines that it is possible for a man to die in Faith and so to bee saued and yet to die in Despaire and so without Assurance whence it followeth necessarily that Faith is not Assurance But this answer of yours Antholog l. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brings mee in minde of a pretie Epigram of Nicarchus which you may read in the Greeke anthologie A deafe man commences sute against another deafe man before a deafe iudge the plaintife pleads that the defendant owes him fiue months rent for his house the defendant answers for himselfe that hee had been grinding at mill all night the Iudge looking vpon them why contend yee thus good fellowes quoth hee is shee not mother to you both then keepe her both hardly Semblable hereunto is your answer for as if you were as blind as they were deafe and had not eyes in your head to read my writing when I speake of onions as it is in the Prouerbe you answer of garlicke and roue the whole heauen wide from the marke you should shoot at I say that the wicked may bee strongly perswaded and therefore Faith is not a Perswasion you like the deafe defendant reply that you haue beene grinding at mill all night telling mee I shall then receiue answer when I shew the man that died without Perswasion and yet was saued by Faith and other such stuffe of the same stampe Verily I am perswaded if old Sibyl or Oedipus or any other that hath anciently been esteemed for reading riddles should reuiue againe yet would they not bee able with all their cunning to deuise how to accommodate and fit this answer to any part of my argument For mine owne part I can make of it nor fish nor flesh nor good red herring and therefore not troubling my selfe with your follies here I leaue it as I found it vnkith vnkist as they say N. B. And in the meane time I will hasten to your Definition of Faith which you call the third kinde of Faith and onely Iustifying Faith I. D. Soft and faire no hast but good you post away so fast vnto the Definition that you leaue something behind you vnanswered which desires and deserues your further consideration For first I proue vnto you that Faith cannot be a full Perswasion certaine Assurance partly because it is not so much as Assurance partly because such Fulnes agrees not to little Faith and so makes the definition narrower and of lesse latitude then the definite and partly because it is a most discomfortable doctrine to weake Christians who finding this strength of Assurance wanting in themselues may doubt whether they haue any Faith at all if Faith bee no other then a full Assurance and firme resolution Againe I answer certaine obiections the chiefest you can haue against mee and that with such generall solutions as will cut off almost any reason you can oppose vnto mee These things being of such importance and consequence should not thus haue beene balked and husht vp in silence for while they stand vnstirred and vntoucht you cannot reasonably bee thought either fully to haue satisfied my arguments or sufficiently to haue maintained your owne cause Out of doubt therefore it would haue been much better for your credit to haue made lesse hast and more good speed for tripping away so fast and leauing matters of such weight vtterly vnanswered all the Schollers in our Countrey to blow backe your owne scoffe into your owne face will thinke the worse of your haste so long as they liue for this tricke To conclude this point whereas there are two many faults as Simplicius saith too vsually committed in the disputation and determination of Questions it appeareth by what I haue now said that you haue hitherto grossely faulted in the former For you doe but reiect and deny my Conclusions without refuting the confirmations I bring for them and so if not altogether alienate from you yet leaue in suspence and doubt the mind euen of those who otherwise might bee of the same opinion with you Now if you offend likewise in the second and doe not in the remainder of your Reply vtterly raze and ouerthrow the foundations of my Doctrine but suffer them to stand vnshaken and vnmoued you shall both leaue the thirst of your readers expectation vnquenched and vnsatisfied and proue your selfe but a bragging and boasting Pyrgopolinices threatning much and performing nothing Let vs therefore take a view hereof and see what you haue to say against the definition which I giue to Iustifying Faith Treatise The third Faith is Faith of Person or Personall Merit and of this Faith I make the Obiect to bee Christ the Mediator meriting the
Fiducia a Rest or Deuolution the Subiect of it the facultie of the Will not the Vnderstanding the next end of it Iustification the remore end eternall saluation and I thus define it A rest of the will vpon Christ and his merits for iustification and consequently saluation I. D. Because you complaine anon that the word Rest which I haue made to bee the iustifying act of Faith is ambiguous and thereupon it pleaseth you in your Answers following to take aduantage and make you mery with the Equiuocation thereof you shall giue me leaue before I step a foot further in a few words and a little more plainely to open my meaning touching that Act. And to this end seeing to proue that Faith is an Affiance or Rest I reported mee in my Treatise vnto the words vsed in the originall of the old Testament as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the forme of words vsed in the new as to belieue in to hope in or as in some translations it is read to belieue on to hope on I will first shew that these tearmes applied vnto Christ the right Obiect of Faith import that very Act whereby wee stand iustified before God and secondly I will diligently inquire and search out what may bee the true proper and naturall meaning of these tearmes both which being cleerely demonstrated it will manifestly appeare both what that Rest is which I make to be the iustifying Act of Faith and how fondly and vainely you cauill and dally with the ambiguity thereof That Belieuing in or vpon importeth that Act is in it selfe so apparant that I thinke no sober man will deny it but because to you a man must proue that the Sunne shines thus I demonstrate it That which is imputed for righteousnesse and by which wee are iustified is the true Act of Iustifying Faith This you cannot deny vnlesse you will turne Papist for our Religion will not permit you to ioyne any other companion with Faith in the matter of Iustification But such belieuing is imputed for righteousnesse and is that by which we are iustified so saith the Apostle Rom. 4.5 To him that belieueth in him that iustifieth the wicked his Faith is counted for righteousnesse and againe Wee haue belieued in Iesus Christ that wee might bee iustified by the Faith of Christ Adde hereunto that whereas the same Apostle saith With the heart man belieueth vnto righteousnesse Rom. 10.10 forthwith in the next verse hee interpreteth that Belieuing by Belieuing in For saith hee the Scripture saith V. 11. whosoeuer belieueth in him shall not bee ashamed Wherefore I conclude that so to Belieue is the Iustifying Act of Faith So also is Hoping in or vpon being in effect the same with Belieuing in For although Hope and Faith bee in nature two distinct Graâ—es and so reckoned by Saint Paul yet seeing by reason of the neere affinity betweene them Hope is sometime put for Faith it may not seeme strange that to hope in is also vsed for to belieue in Now that Hope is sometime put for Faith appeareth by that of Saint Peter 1 Pet. 3.15 Bee ready alwayes to giue an answer to euery man that asketh you a reason of the Hope that is in you where Hope as Caluin saith In eum loc is by a Synechdoche taken for Faith And as manifest is it by Saint Paul that to Hope in is no other then to Belieue in for hauing said That wee should bee vnto the praise of his glory who first hoped in Christ Eph. 1.12.13 In whom also yee hoped hauing heard the Word of Truth the Gospell of your Saluation by and by hee ads by way of interpretation In whom also Belieuing yeee were sealed with the holy Spirit of Promise In a word the Act of Hope properly taken is expectation or looking out for the performance or comming of a thing but Hoping in imports Affiance or trusting on something for the performance thereof As touching the words of the old Testament 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 first I find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confounded with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as words of the same signification they being after the manner of Scripture ioyned together in the same verse as equipollent the one to explane and expound the other for example Psal 118.8 Psal 37.5 It is better saith Dauid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to trust in the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then to put confidence in man and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Roll thy way vpon the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and trust vpon him But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it selfe is in the same manner confounded with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which construed with the Proposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth to Belieue in and is by your owne confession the very Act of iustifying Faith for example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they belieued not in God Psal 78.22 Mic. 7.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and trusted not in his saluation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Belieue not in a friend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trust not in a Prince Againe that which in the old Testament is vttered by one of these words the same in the new is expressed by Belieuing in for example 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We trust in the Name of his Holinesse saith the old Testament Psal 33.21 Ioh. 1.12 1 Ioh. 3.23.5.13 Prou. 3.5 Act. 8.37 Psal 25.2 Psal 31.1 Rom. 10.11 Hee that belieueth in his Name saith the new 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 trust in the Lord with thy whole heart saith the old If thou Belieue with thy whole heart saith the new finally In thee O Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haue I trusted let mee not be confounded saith the old Hee that Belieueth in him shall not bee ashamed saith the new If you except against this last parallell that the Apostle hath reference vnto that of Esay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee that Belieueth maketh not haste rather vnto those passages of the Psalmes aboue quoted I answer with Beza that it is not likely In ad Ro. 10.11 partly because the vniuersall particle and the word in him is not to bee found in the Prophet partly because the Apostle saith not as the Phophet Esay doth maketh not haste but precisely accordeth with the words of the Prophet Dauid saying shall not bee confounded nor ashamed Howsoeuer seeing in all these places the same thing is intended and meant it is cleere that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Belieuing in are Synonyma differing in name but not in definition and so I conclude what aboue I vndertooke to demonstrate that all these tearmes properly import the Iustifying act of Faith In the next place are wee to inquire the right acception and signification of these words that wee may more perfectly conceiue what that Fiducia or Rest is which wee haue made to bee that Act. And first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as R. Kimchi obserueth properly and primitiuely signifieth to retire into
like a boat in a storme without a Pilote answering tumultuarily what euer comes next to head and scorning like another Cassius Seuerus to keep either in method your matter Tacit. vel potiùs Quintil. de causs corrupt eloq or modestie in your words But as you lead the dance so must I needs follow Thus therefore you argue No man can be damned hauing iustifying Faith A man may be damned resting his will vpon Christ his merits Ergo Resting of the will vpon Christ and his merits is not iustifying Faith The Maior I grant the Minor thus you confirme Hee that wanteth sanctification may bee damned A man resting his will vpon Christ and his merits may want sanctification Ergo a man resting his will vpon Christ and his merits may be damned The Maior againe I grant if you vnderstand it either thus Hee that finally wanteth sanctification shall bee damned or thus Hee that wanteth present sanctification is for the present in the state of damnation for otherwise the Elect vntill their effectuall vocation want sanctification and yet shall neuer actually be damned The Minor you barely affirme but confirme not thinking it as it seemes proofe inough if you say it and subscribe thereunto Witnesse our selfe vnto this argument therefore I answer two things First that you are a very vnkind and vngratefull man that hauing now the third or fourth time borowed arguments of me to serue your need haue not the good manners to say mee God a mercy for it or to acknowledge to whom you haue beene beholding For in my Treatise thus I obiected against my selfe If Faith be Affiance then the wicked may haue it for Balaam desired to die the death of the Righteous and some receiue the Word with ioy belieuing for a time And vnto this obiection in the same Treatise I gaue a sufficient and full solution distinguishing betweene that Affiance which is sleight and superficiall and that which is setled and grounded as there you may read more at large for thither I referre you But because Hecub act 2. as Euripides saith the same speech spoken by diuerse persons is not alike entertained peraduenture this answer would be better accepted if you might haue it from the mouth of greater authority Read then M. Perkins exposition of the Creed whereupon the first word I Belieue hee intreats of the nature of Faith and you shall find in effect the same obiection in like manner answered and distinction made betweene the fleeting motions desires of them who liue still in their sins after the course of the world the Desire of reconciliation that comes from a bruzed heart brings with it alwayes reformation amendment of life This solution howsoeuer now you haue cunningly dissembled yet I must pray you the next time not to ouerslip it for otherwise you shall bee counted but a miching disputer and no whit at all disaduantage your aduersary fighting against him with no better weapon then a rusty sword both edge and point rebated Secondly I answer vnto your Minor negatiuely denying that such Resting of the will vpon Christ and his merits as wee haue described and in the definition vnderstand can at any time bee separated from Sanctification For besides that it is contrary vnto your owne Positions as anon in the due place shall bee obserued it is also flatly repugnant vnto the rules of holy Scripture For doth not the Scripture pronounce them all Blessed that retire themselues vnto the Lord Psal 2.12 Psal 25.2 Psal 125.1 that they shall not bee ashamed that put their trust in him that they shall be like vnto mount Sion which can neuer bee remoued but standeth fast for euermore 2 Chron. 16 8.9 that to rest vpon the Lord is to bee of a perfect heart Finally doth it not affirme that whosoeuer receiueth Christ and belieueth in him Ioh. 1.12 Rom. 4.5 Ioh. 3.36 1 Ioh. 5.1 Rom. 8.1.14 is the Son of God is iustified before God hath euerlasting life is borne of God is led by the Spirit of God and walketh not after the flesh but after the Spirit vnlesse therefore vtterly stripping your selfe of all modesty you will put on the forehead of an harlot and say that all these things may bee affirmed of the Vnsanctified man how can you possibly auouch that a man resting his will vpon Christ retiring vnto him trusting on him belieuing in him and accepting of him to bee his Mediator can be without sanctification and for want thereof bee damned eternally Nay whosoeuer accepteth Iesus Christ for his Mediator submitteth himselfe as wee haue shewed not onely vnto his Prophecy and Priesthood but also vnto his Kingdome and if hee submit himselfe vnto his Kingdome that is vnto his rule and gouernment how can hee bee Vnsanctified for the Vnsanctified man subiecteth himselfe vnto the Flesh and not vnto the Spirit of Christ Act. 15.9 where by the way you may obserue defining Faith in this sort how and after what manner it purifieth the heart and begetteth in vs sanctity and newnesse of life whereas defining it by Assurance as you doe it doth not readily appeare how such Assurance can bee the principle and reason of our Sanctification True it is that Assurance may bee vnto vs a strong motiue to proceed on in Sanctification and holynesse of life but it is so farre from causing it that it is rather caused by it For by our holy life and conuersation as by the fruites doe wee necessarily gather that Faith which is the cause thereof is in vs and so grow to an Assurance of our Iustification and present state in grace In regard whereof Saint Peter as it is in the vulgar translation and some Greeke copies commandeth by good works to make our calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 And although in sundry copies and translations By good works is omitted yet the addition thereof misliketh not Beza In loc praed Ibid. and Fulke confesseth that the circumstance of the place doth of necessity require that good works bee vnderstood though they bee not expressed in the text On the other side if you define Faith with mee to bee that Act whereby wee accept and make choice of Christ to bee our Mediator that is to say our Prophet Priest and King who seeth not that this Faith working in vs a free and voluntary subiection vnto the Kingdom of Christ is the very purifier of our hearts and the cause of all our holy studies and indeuours whence also it appeareth what the reason is why our Sauiour vnto belieuing in the Sonne opposeth Disobedience vnto him when hee saith Ioh. 3.36 Hee that belieueth in the Sonne hath euerlasting life and hee that obeyeth not the Sonne shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him namely because as Acceptation of him to bee our King is the root of all Obedience so the reiection and refusall of him to bee our King is the very
or word Rest you shall hardly perswade mee that hee will take it for any other then the effect of true Iustifying Faith I. D. Neither is it your vaine surmising what Master Perkins would say Neither his expresse and direct saying that may be the decider of this controuersie How well that worthy man deserued of the Church of God wherein hee was like another Baptist both a shining and a burning torch Ioh. 5.35 I cannot bee ignorant who knew him so well and very vngratefull were I if I should not acknowledge to haue receiued a good part of that little skill I haue in my profession from his mouth hauing beene for sundry yeeres his ordinary auditor Yet because hee was not a Peter or a Paul nor so preserued from error by the Spirit of truth that hee could mistake in nothing I hope I may without arrogance and with reseruation of due reuerence honor vnto his worth in some points dissent from him And if you may seat Faith both in the vnderstanding and the will notwithstanding that M. Perkins place it only in the vnderstanding On the Creed affirming that it scarce standeth with reason that one single grace should inhere in two distinct faculties why may not I take the same liberty vnto my selfe and define Iustifying Faith by Affiance although M. Perkins would take it for no other then the Effect of Iustifying Faith for so indeed hee doth and I deny not but freely confesse that vpon the reasons aboue rendred I doe in this point altogether differ from him Neither yet did I say that I blanked him with my rare and cunning disputes for this is but the renewing of your old slander the vanity of which I haue already detected Onely it seemes that your best wine is wel-nie spent seeing now you serue your guests with these dregs and that you are driuen to a very narrow strait when you are faine to arme against me such base calumniations and fictions of your owne braine N. B. When you send me to Master Foxe in his Booke de Christo gratis justificante without citing the place where or the words what of mee your speech deserueth none answer but this I dare vndertake you abuse the writings of so reuerend a man I. D. The authority of Master Foxe was not vouched by me to iustify my Definition that Faith is Affiance but to ouerthrow yours who affirme that Faith is Assurance and therefore was placed as was fitting after those arguments which I vrged against you Neuerthelesse here it pleaseth you after your desultory and disorderly manner of disputing in a very vndue place to giue answer vnto it And the reason why with such violence you hale it hither as I guesse is this that not appearing where it should it may seeme to giue no euidence at all against your Assurance and being ordered where it should not it may seeme to bee but idly alledged as being of no force to maintaine my Affiance But yet let vs see what exceptions you take to eleuate this authority Because I cite not the place where nor the words what my speech you say deserues no answer I wisse M. Baxter that booke is not of such bulke but that perusing the titles of each Chapter you might soone haue found out the places by me intended and you know that the schedule I sent you being endited at Bristoll where I was farre from my bookes I could not possibly referre you vnto the very page and line as otherwise I would haue done But now because I haue the booke at hand I will set you downe his direct words and quote you the page where you may read them and then leaue you to bee iudge your selfe whether as you charge mee I abuse the writings of that reuerend man or hee agree with mee in this that Faith is not Assurance Foxe Master Foxe therefore in his booke de Christo gratis iustificante pag. 246 saith thus My iudgement and opinion is that this confidence of mercy and certainty of Saluation promised is a thing which ought to bee very neerely conioined with Faith and which euery one ought necessarily to apply vnto himselfe yet being most applied is not that which onely by it selfe properly and absolutely dischargeth vs of our sinnes and iustifies before God but that there is some other thing propounded in the Gospell which in nature goeth before this certainty and iustifieth before God For Faith vpon the Person of the Sonne of God whereby wee are first reconciled vnto God necessarily goes before Againe pag. 253. Although saith hee certainty and assurance of diuine grace which it selfe is sometime commended vnder the name of Faith bee very neerely ioined with Faith yet this assurance doth not properly import the cause of iustifying but receiueth it being brought neither worketh iustification but is rather wrought by it and maketh them certaine who by the Faith of Christ are iustified but it selfe iustifieth not And yet againe pag. 255. If the question bee of the cause which properly iustifieth from sinne I answer it is that Faith not whereby wee belieue that wee are iustified but whereby wee belieue in Christ the Sonne of God Thus M. Foxe and thus by M. Foxe it appeareth as I affirmed that in this point I am not singular and alone Yet to preuent captious cauils you may bee pleased to vnderstand that the Latin word vsed by Master Foxe to wit Fiducia I haue in my translation englished Confidence and Assurance not that I was afraid lest rendring it Affiance hee might seeme to exclude my affiance also from the Definition of Faith for had hee done so it were nothing to mee hauing shewed that hee denies Faith to be Assurance which was all I there affirmed of him but because if you marke his words attentiuely you shall find that by Fiducia hee vnderstands not Affiance but confident Perswasion or Assurance for hee doth euer confound it with Certainty and expresly defines it to bee that whereby wee are assured of our iustification by Christ So doth Melancthon also and Kemnitius and many others vnderstanding by Fiducia a firme Perswasion that our sinnes are certainly remitted by the propitiation of Christ and all the benefits of the promise of grace giuen communicated and applyed vnto vs. So that vnlesse I would haue depraued my authors meaning I could not translate otherwise then I haue done N. B. Now thinke not that I hold that a man ordinarily saued may be saued without relying vpon Christ Iesus for I hold the cleane contrary viz. that true Iustifying Faith assuring a man in spirituall knowledge of his owne saluation in Iesus Christ worketh and causeth a sweet rest and reposing of the whole soule vpon Christ and his Merits But I deny that this Rest is Faith or this Faith Rest no more then the tree can be the fruite or the fruite the tree I. D. That no man can ordinarily bee saued without Relying vpon Christ I grant for according to my
the inward holynesse or hollownesse of the heart but onely the heart it selfe and God which made it May therefore bee erronious and though proceeding from Charity yet in the meane season swaruing from verity If then when Men iustify vs our owne Consciences tell vs that they pronounce a wrong sentence and absolue the guilty the comfort that growes vnto vs thereby is no better then a cup of cold water is vnto a man sicke of a burning feuer or then the Sardonian laughter which makes the face seeme to grin while the deadly poison is searching through euery veine and seazing vpon the very heart But if wee bee well assured that the sentence is iust and true and that they are not deceiued therein although it bee not the end wee aymed at nor the Crowne wee looked for yet is it a sweet and amiable companion of holy life publickely testifying vnto our great comfort that God hath been glorified by vs our profession honoured and others inuited if not gained vnto Christ And thus much haue I thought good in regard of your silence to speake I hope not impertinently at least wise not vnprofitably of Iustification the summe whereof is that Affiance iustifies before God Assurance before Consience works before Men. So that I doe not simply deny either that Assurance is Faith for in my Treatise I acknowledge that the Scripture sometime calleth it Faith or that it iustifieth for I confesse it iustifieth at the barre of Conscience onely I deny it to bee that Faith which iustifies before God affirming that Faith to bee no other then Affiance N. B. Thus Master Downe you haue what you haue so much so earnestly so bitterly and contumeliously wrested from mee in writing sith that you haue refused to defend your Doctrine preached here by Disputation I. D. Indeed Master Baxter when I vnderstood by the aduertisements of sundry my good friends in Bristoll that you had not onely drawne vp an Answer against me full of reprochfull and disgracefull speeches but had also dispersed it abroad into the hands of diuers Burgesses of that City thereby to discredit both mee and the Doctrine which I preached among them without vouchsafing after a whole twelue months space to send mee a copie thereof according vnto promise true it is that as soone as the next oportunity was affoarded mee I could not forbeare to chalenge you for this vnchristian and vnschollerly dealing and to let you know the iust indignation and disdaine I conceiued thereat Besides that once did I neuer either by word or writing sollicit you in this matter and then earnest perhaps and vehement I might bee in expostulating with you but Bitter and Contumelious I am sure I was not and for proofe thereof I referre mee vnto the testimonie of those who were then present with vs. But whether earnest and vehement or Bitter and Contumelious Answer from you by no meanes could I wrest any And that now I haue obtained a Copie thereof thanks vnto those my good friends who neuer left following vpon the sent of the Foxe vntill they surprized him for me and not vnto you who desired and laboured nothing more then to keep it from mee Of all men you liked not it should light into my hands and yet of all men me it most concerned and vnto mee was onely promised And so after the Parthian manner you fight flying and as Caesar said of the Scythians make it more difficult to finde you then to foile you Well yet I refused you say to defend the Doctrine I preached by disputation First the course which formerly we had agreed and resolued vpon was Writing and therefore I saw no reason why I should yeeld to haue the cause remoued from a higher vnto an inferiour Court from Writing vnto Disputation For as a late learned writer saith Writings are more solid peaceable Dan. Chamier Ep. ad Egnat Armand and certaine then is present speech for more solid must those things needs bee which are meditated then which are suddenly spoken more peaceable then those things which are done in the tumult and while the minds of the Disputants are with present vehemence inflamed more certaine for writings remaine and words are winged and fly away and writings easily conuince the impudence of them that would corrupt them which speaking cannot so well doe And although in quicke writing there bee without question more aduisednesse then in present speaking yet doth Saint Hierome excuse his hasty commentary vpon Saint Mathews Gospell Proaem comment in Math. promising a more absolute worke that you may know saith hee What ods there is betweene the boldnesse of sudden enditing and the diligence of well-studied writing Secondly as the Apostle Saint Paul answered the Serieants that were sent vnto him from the gouernours of Philippi Act. 16.37 After that they haue beaten vs openly vncondemned which are Romans they haue cast vs into Prison and now would they put vs out priuily Nay verily but let them come and bring vs out so say I vnto you after you haue in a more publicke manner traduced and wronged mee scattering through the whole City a most slanderous inuectiue and libell against mee doe you thinke now by a priuate and chamber-disputation to content mee Nay verily this plaister is too narrow for the wound and open wrong requires open satisfaction Lastly howsoeuer you pretend that you set not pen to paper vntill I had refused your chalenge of disputation the Reader may bee pleased to vnderstand that it is cleane contrary And therefore as I cannot but impute your deniall to impart vnto mee what in writing you had opposed against mee to the distrust you had either in your cause or in your owne sufficiency so now hauing scribled away so much precious time and sacrificed so much paper to Cloacina that suddenly you apprehend a disputation I assure my selfe it was but a sleight deuised vpon the present to shift mee off and to rid your selfe from me whose residence you knew to bee elsewhere and who at that time was to take vp a nights lodging with you Or if you meant sincerely and vnfainedly doublesse it was confidence you had either in the boldnesse of your forehead vncapable of the purple tincture of modesty or in the vnskilfulnes of those who were like to be our Auditors Moderators who as I take it haue more skill in Marchandize and trafficking then in Demonstration or Dialecticall Syllogismes For otherwise wee had beene vpon equall ground in either of the Vniuersities I suppose you would haue beene better aduised ere you had made that challenge vnto mee N. B. I pray God it may worke in you a willing mind to embrace Peace and Brotherly loue without the which wee can neuer see God Bristol Iuly 27. 1602. I. D. It is impossible that vnto a man of vnderstanding any benefit or profit should accrew by reprehension vnlesse it may appeare vnto him by some euident remonstrance that that which is
and where and will bee sure that it bee both true in regard of substance and pertinent in regard of circumstance For as a word oportunely spoken is Prou. 25.11 as Salomon saith Like an aple of gold with pictures of siluer so a word vttered vnseasonably and out of due place are like Iewels and goldrings sticking in the noses and lips of the barbarous Indians and rather deforming then becomming them Thirdly it is another tricke of yours in matters vnnecessary and of no moment to bee as loud as Stentor but in things that very much presse you and call for satisfaction to bee as mute as one possessed with a dumbe spirit For example in answer to my threefold distinction of Faith I tell you say you iustifying Faith comprehends your three nice distinctions but whereas I proue the contrary because it is impossible for one and the same habit to be subiectiuely in seuerall faculties to this you say not so much as gry Againe whereas in my third argument I assume that assurance in nature comes after iustification you deny it but the proofe I bring for it because the truth of a Proposition is in nature before the knowledge of it and that therefore Iustification goes before assurance you passe ouer very slily and say not one word vnto it Furthermore whereas I frame this obiection against my selfe By the knowledge of himselfe shall my righteous seruant iustify many Ergo Faith is a knowledge and this Affiance may bee in the wicked Ergo Faith is not Affiance you can bee well content to borrow them from mee and to dart backe as it were my owne arguments against mee but close vp your eyes not daring to behold the answers wherewith I assoiled them Gen. 29.17 as if you had beene a tender-eyed Leah and had met with an Obiect ouer-bright for you It may be you learned this policy of Antony Cicl l. 2. de orat who held it the safest and surest course for an Oratour when hee meeteth with a knotty peece and is vnprouided of a fit wedge for it to passe it ouer with silence and say nothing But if as Cato defineth and Quintilian largely maintaineth an Oratour bee a good man skilfull to speake in causes Instit Orator l. 12. c. 1. I assure you hee will much disdaine such base and dishonest shifting as no way fitting with his owne goodnesse or becomming the defence of a good cause And howsoeuer in a continued Oration because the mind can hardly so diuide it selfe as at once to reflect vpon what is already spoken and to attend what is presently said and bee imminent and instant vpon what followeth to bee sayd many things may soone bee forgotten and scape vnobserued by the Anditors yet may not the like bee hoped for in a written tract specially when it shall fall into the hand of an aduersary for hauing leasure and time inough to peruse it ouer againe and againe hee will bee sure to sift and examine euery sentence and syllable with such curiosity that such palpable omissions as these cannot possibly passe vnheeded by him But your trust was that this writing of yours being entrusted vnto a few of your friends onely should neuer come to bee so seuerely scanned by me Otherwise had you had but the least dramme of wit or shame either you would neuer haue set pen to paper knowing how vnable you were to answer or you would not thus haue playd the Abce-boy and when you met with a hard word which you could not read thinke it enough to skip it ouer Fourthly as if the old Comedy or Cartrailing were againe reuiued and allowed you lode mee euery foot with most bitter reproches and contumelious tearmes Xenoph. Sympos And as cunning Cockmasters distrusting the weaknesse of their Cocks feed them with garlicke that yet they may annoy their aduersaries with the rancknesse of their breath so you seeing by pure strength of reason you were very vnlikely to preuaile against mee you thought yet with the stincking breath of slanderous and opprobrious speeches to molest and trouble mee For I pray you are not these the principall flowers of your Rhetoricke Quirks Elenchs Sophismes Crafty lies silly Sermon Monsters Antipistos you are no Constable Incke-horne-tearmes Itching-eares Fanaticall spirits Selfe-loue Contention Hypocrisie Desire of nouelties Niceties Falsities Vnlearned Ridiculous Blasphemous Hominis acumen your arguments sauour mightily of Popery your sacke is full of spiders you haue a minde to doe mischiefe Intolerable impudence you incurre fearefull iudgement you grieue Gods Spirit captious cauils Pure Bellarmine Pure Papist and six hundred other like phrases wherewith euery page yea line almost is farced and stuffed so that a man may sooner rid Augias stable then your Answer of them Certainly the fountaine cannot be sweet whose streames are so vnsauoury and the stomacke must needs bee full of many rotten and corrupt humours that sendeth forth such a pestilent and noisome breath But it seemes by the date of your writing it was towards dog-dayes when you endited it and you hoped to preuent a burning feuer or some such dangerous sicknesse by discharging your stomacke of so much filthy choler It had been no hard matter to haue come euen with you in the same kind and to vexe you with requiting like for like saue onely that I considered not so much what you deserue as what best becomes him who pleads the cause of truth For truth should bee maintained with the spirit of truth and sobernesse Herodot Polyhimn It is the nature indeed of reprochfull speeches as Syagrius the Spartan said to stirre prouoke a man vnto wrath yet ought it not so to preuaile vpon a wise man as to moue him inordinately or vndecently to reply Enuy may haue taught you to speake euill and a good conscience hath taught mee to contemne euill speeches you will needs bee lord of your tongue and I will bee as much lord of my eares And yet if sometimes I sprinckle a little salt vpon you or to fret away some of your ranke flesh apply smarting corrosiues vnto you Publ. Mim you must remember it is the intemperance of the Patient that makes the Physician cruell and according to the old saying they that rashly speake what they should not must sometime for punishment heare what they would not Fiftly and lastly it is your fashion not so much to care what you say as how loudly you cry hoping I thinke that as C. Marius sometime said Valer. Max. l. 5. c. 2. that Lawes could not bee heard in time of warre because of the clattering of armour so neither should the voice of truth bee heard in this dispute by reason of your vociferation and clamorousnesse For thus you come vpon mee How dare you deale thus That you dare bee so bold with what face can you accuse I tell you there is but one faith I tell you it is ridiculous and blasphemous I tell you Faith is a knowledge I
first infancy beene seasoned and sanctified with the Christian Faith cannot easily be conceiued or imagined Sixtly tell mee doe all that haue receiued Faith in their infancy loose it againe when they come to bee of more yeeres It seemeth so if then they receiued it for otherwise why are they put to their Catechisme and taught the elements of Faith againe But this were a very strange course For how should they loose it vnlesse perhaps God secretly steale that from them which earst he gaue them which to say is very derogatory to the bounty of God who neuer withdraweth grace once giuen vntill man by abusing it haue deserued to loose it Not loosing it therefore and yet learning it when they come to yeeres of capacity It is a plaine argument they neuer receiued it in their Infancy Seuenthly and lastly there is not the least Habit either acquired by custome or infused from aboue but maketh a man more apt and prone vnto their proper actions For example whosoeuer is possessed of the vertues of Iustice Temperance Liberality Fortitude will readily doe iustly temperatly liberally valiantly it being the nature of Habits to facilitate Actions Tell mee then are the Children of Christians when they come first to be instructed more capable of Christian Religion or more inclinable to holy actions then the Children of Infidels Experience tels vs they are not but are as waxe indifferently flexible any way It is absurd therefore and void of reason to place in Infants the Habit of Faith which yet inclines them no more to the Acts of Faith then those that are without it Now hauing thus briefly demonstrated that Infants haue neither Actuall nor Habituall Faith it followeth in the next place to answer the contrary arguments aboue set downe And first where it is said that Faith is a necessary meanes vnto Iustification and Saluation in as much as none can please God or liue without it I answer in a word it is to bee vnderstood not of Infants But de Adultis of those that are of riper yeeres vnto whom alone Faith is necessary These cannot please God nor liue nor bee iustified and saued without a particular Faith of their owne but Infants by reason of their incapacity through the indulgence of God may Adde hereunto that according to the Tenent of our Diuines it is not the Habit but the Act of Faith that doth iustify in regard whereof they define it by a Motion of the Will grounded vpon an assent of the Mind vnto the truth of the Gospell Vnlesse therefore you grant vnto Infants such a motion both of the Mind and Will which Papists expresly deny and Lutherans seeme to stagger at neither can they bee iustified by Actuall Faith hauing none And seeing without it the Habit auailes nothing at all as being an idle Faith I see not to what end the Habit should bee infused And if it bee to no end neither is it infused For if Nature doe not much lesse doth God any thing in vaine To that of our Sauiour where hee seemeth expresly to affirme that Little-ones belieue I answer first that those Little-ones are not Infants properly but such men as resemble little Children in holy Innocence Simplicity in regard whereof they are elsewhere called by Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Infants Secondly Mat. 11.25 grant it that Children bee also meant yet not such Children as are infants but growne to some stature and capacity For although the Child whom Christ tooke in his armes be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little Child yet was hee both a follower and hearer of Christ and such a one as in some measure could vnderstand such as were those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little Children to whom Saint Iohn thought it not vnfit to write 1 Ioh. 2.14 For as the text saith hee was one that came of himselfe being called and farther hee was capable of scandall and offence which questionlesse is not incident vnto Infants Lastly to the example of Iohn the Baptist Ep. 57. I answer with Saint Augustin Nec quod factum est in Iohanne contemno nec inde regulam quid sentiendun sit de paruulis figo immò id in illo mirabiliter praedico quia in alijs non inuenio Neither doe I contemne saith hee that which was done in Iohn neither doe I from thence frame a rule what wee are to thinke of little-ones yea I acknowledge it to bee marueilous in him because I find it not in others Moreouer it is not said of him Credidit in vtero he belieued in the wombe but only exultauit he sprang in the wombe this exultation or Springing diuinitùs facta est in Infante non humanitùs ab Infante was done by the power of God in the Infant and not by any humane power of the Infant Or if vse of reason and will were so hastned vnto him as hee did belieue in miraculis habendum est diuinae potentiae non ad humanae trahendum est exemplar naturae it is to bee reckoned among the miracles of Gods power and not to be drawne into an example of human nature And thus much of reasons both for and against the Faith of Infants Now I know it will here farther bee demanded if Infants haue neither Actuall nor Habituall Faith of their owne how then and by what meanes are they Iustified and Saued For it is mercilesse and against all Diuinity to exclude them from either Whereunto I answer in the words of Bernard Epist 77. Saluantur ipsi per fidem non tamen suam sed alienam they are also saued by Faith yet not their owne Faith but anothers Anothers Will you say this seemeth very strange Heare then what the same Bernard yet further addeth Dignum est ad Dei spectat dignitatem vt quibus fidem aetas denegat propriam gratia concedat prodesse alienam It is fit and belongs vnto the dignity of God that to whom age denies a proper Faith of their owne grace should yeeld them the benefit of anothers Faith And againe Nec enim omnipotent is iustitia propriam ab his putat exigendam fidem quos nouit propriam nullam habere culpam for neither doth the iustice of God Almighty thinke that a proper Faith is to bee required of those whom he knowes to haue no proper fault of their owne In which words of Bernard two excellent reasons are rendred why the Faith of another through the grace and indulgence of God should bee auailable vnto them the first because their Jnfancy denies vnto them a proper Faith of their owne the second because besides that Originall Corruption traduced into them from their parents without their knowledge or consent they haue no other sinne of their owne Can they not then by reason of their tender yeeres haue a Faith of their owne It befits the goodnes of God that they bee holpen by the Faith of another Haue they no proper and particular
haue better exprest it For my part I cannot guesse what it should bee nor will I trouble my braine in seeking it Happily your selfe know not what you would And thus haue I though breefly yet fully answered all your reasons It now remaineth that either you produce sounder arguments then yet you haue giuen vs or adde more vigor and strength vnto these or because I feare you can do neither that considering the weaknes of those reeds whereon you haue hitherto leaned hence forward you trust them no more It can bee no disgrace vnto you to bee ouercome of Truth neither is it leuity or inconstancy vpon sight of your errour to change both your opinion and practice Take therefore vnto you Christian seuerity and ingenuously reuoke what you haue held or done amisse so shall you giue glorie vnto God and God shall honour you in the sight of all his Saints But if notwithstanding all that hath beene said you meane still to persist in your error and will not bee persuaded although you be perswaded I feare lest after straining at these gnats you fall to swallowing downe of Camels and proceed from dislike of a few indifferent ceremonies vnto flat schisme and separation which God forbid for his mercies sake Amen See T de ora HOW S. PAVL AND S. IAMES ARE TO BEE reconciled in the matter of IVSTIFICATION YOV demand how Saint Paul teaching Iustification by Faith onely without the Works of the Law Ro. 5.20.28 Gal. 2.16 Iam. 2.24 and Saint Iames affirming that of Works a man is iustified and not of Faith only may bee reconciled I will endeuour to giue you the best satisfaction I can in a few Propositions 1 Scripture being the Word of God who is truth and whose promises are not yea and nay 2. Cor. 1.17.18.19.20 but yea and Amen although sometime there may seeme contrariety in it yet reall difference and repugnancy there can bee none truth euer agreeing and neuer contradicting it selfe 2 Paul therefore and Iames being inspired by the same spirit must needs conspire in the same truth although the one exclude Works from Faith in the matter of Iustification the other include Works together with Faith 3 The readiest way to reconcile this seeming contradiction is to obserue carefully the Occasions whereupon they were moued to deliuer these doctrines and to distinguish the Equiuocation and diuers vse of these two words Iustification and Faith For if there bee the same meaning in both and no ambiguity in either of these tearmes it cannot bee auoided but they must of necessity crosse one the other 4 Saint Pauls occasion was this Hee saw with what eagernesse contention certaine Iewes maintained Act. 15.1 that vnlesse the law of Moses were kept and obserued together with the Gospell there could bee no Iustification and that thereby mans Works were either substituted in the roome of or yoked together with Faith to the great preiudice of Gods free Grace Ro. 2.24 And therefore against these he proues by the testimony of the Law the Prophets that we are Iustified by Faith in Christ freely without the works of the Law 5 Hereupon some there were who like spiders sucking venome out of the wholsomest flowers so interpreted this comfortable doctrine as if it skilled not whether they practized good works and led a godly vertuous life so as they did belieue And against this sort of men the Apostle Saint Iames thought it necessary to oppose himselfe 6 So that Saint Iames doth not dispute against Saint Paul but for the right meaning of S. Paul against those that depraued and wrested his doctrine to a wrong sence Paul so defending Iustification by Faith without Works as hee denies not the necessary practice of them but only denies the power of Iustification vnto them Iames so establishing good Works not as giuing them force to make a man acceptable and iust in the sight of Gods iustice but onely disabling that Faith from hauing any power to Iustify vs which is not accompanied with them 7 And thus Saint Augustin vnderstandeth it When De fide oper l. 1. c. 14. saith he the Apostle saith that a man is iustified by Faith without the Works of the Law hee meaneth not that Faith being receiued and professed the works of Iustice should bee contemned but that euery one should know that he may be iustified by Faith although the works of the law goe not before For they follow him that is iustified but goe not before him that is to bee iustified And againe 83. quaest q. 16. When as Paul speakes of the good works of Abraham which accompanied his Faith it is manifest that by the example of Abraham he doth not so teach that a man is iustified by Faith without works that if hee doe belieue it concernes him not to worke well but to to this end rather that no man should thinke that by the merit of his former good Works he hath attained the gift of iustification which is by Faith 8 As the consideration of the different occasions which moued these two Apostles to speake so differently doth in part cleere this question so will it yet bee more euident if wee know the seuerall acceptions and vses of these words Iustification and Faith and in what sence either Apostle vnderstands them 9 Iustification vsually in the Scripture phrase signifieth not to make iust by infusing the quality of Iustice into the soule 2. King 15.4 Deut. 25.1 Psal 81.3 Prov. 17.15 Mat. 12.37 Ro. 8.33.34 but to pronounce and declare to be iust being indeed a Law-terme and drawne from ciuill Courts of iudicature and is opposed to Condemnation And this is so cleere that Tolet a Iesuite confesseth it most frequently so to signify in Scripture Pineda Vega and Salmeron three great Papists acknowledge it in this sence to be vsed by S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans where hee disputeth purposely of Iustification 10 Now there is a double tribunall where wee are to bee iudged one is Gods the other Mans and therefore God is sayd to Iustify and Man also God when he acquits a sinner from his sinnes for the merit of his Son Christ Man when seeing our good works which are the fruites and testimonies of our grace with God out of the iudgement of Charity hee accounts vs the Sonnes of God Of the former Saint Paul speakes of the latter S. Iames. S. Paul enquireth how wee are made lust before God namely by Faith S. James how it may appeare vnto men that wee are Iust namely by Works Faith is the principle of Existence by which we are Iust Works of Knowledge by which we are knowne to be Iust Iac. 2.10 In id cap. 11 That Saint Iames vnderstandeth such a Declaratiue Iustification is plaine by that he saith Shew mee thy Faith by thy Works And Thomas of Aquin affirmeth that Workes following Faith are not said to Iustify as Iustification is an infusion of
satisfied For wee haue shewed first that the Ministrie of Arch-bishops Bishops and Priests is of diuine and Apostolicall institution and secondly if the superiority of Bishops bee not immediatly from God yet being not forbidden and tending to edification the Church vnder God hath power to ordaine them Hereunto wee expect your answer The ninth argument Mat. 22.25.26 Ep. 4.8.11.12 Ps 68.18 Ro. 14.23 Heb. 11.16 9 Because none can of Faith ioyne vnto the Hierarchie aforesaid because they are not warranted by the Word being not from Heauen but from the earth The Ministrie aforesaid is warranted by Gods Word as wee haue oftentimes said and so is from Heauen not from earth and therefore you may of Faith ioyne vnto it Had it not been a plant of Gods owne setting doubtlesse it would haue beene rooted out of the Church long since and not haue continued fifteen hundred yeeres together The tenth argument 10 Because none can submit vnto or haue spirituall communion with the Hierarchie and Ministrie aforesaid Rev. 14.9.10.11 but hee shall worship the Beast and his image spoken of in the Reuelation and receiue his marke in his forehead or hand and so make himselfe subiect to the wrath of God This argument though differing in words yet in sence and meaning is all one with the first For how can it bee conceiued that they who submit themselues vnto our Ministrie worship as you say the Beast and his Image vnlesse it be for that it is Antichristian For auoiding of Tautologie therefore I referre you vnto the answer of that argument where I plainely demonstrate that it is Christian not Antichristian so that in communicating with it there can bee no danger either of worshipping the Beasts-image or receiuing his marke or incurring the wrath of God But whereas you talke of worshipping the Beast you much mistake the matter For by the Beast is vnderstood not Antichrist but the Roman Empire whereof the State of Antichrist is the image Neither can you shew Rev. 18.4.5.6 2. Cor. 16.17.18 Ioh. 10.5 Num. 16.1.26.40.18.4.5 Ezeh 44.7.18.4.5 Mat. 15.13 Es 11.4 13. 14. Ier. 15. 50. 51.2 Thes 2.3.4.8 Rev. 14.6.7.8 17. 18. 19. if our Ministrie were Antichristian how by retaining it wee should worship the Roman Empire The eleuenth argument 11 Because all are straitly bound and charged by the Lord to depart from and witnesse against the aforesaid Prelacy and Priest-hood being a strange Ministrie and such as is opposed against and exalted aboue the holy ordinance and Ministrie of Christ and shall be abolished by him appearing in the light and power of the Gospell Our Ministrie neither is a strange Ministrie nor opposed or exalted aboue Christs Ministrie but Christs owne Ministrie as now once againe I tell you and therefore no man is charged either to depart from it or to witnesse against it But you are a strange disputer who so peremptorily affirme that which hath euer beene denied and neuer goe about to proue it As for that you say our Ministrie shall bee abolished by Christ appearing in the light and power of the Gospell it bewrayes what you desire should bee but is no certaine Oracle of what indeed shall be Sure I am our Ministrie hath subsisted this fifteen hundred yeeres and the light and power of the Gospell hitherto hath not abolished it but it hath still published and propagated the Gospell Happily when the Church shall cease to be militant and Christ shall deliuer vp the Kingdome to his Father that God may be all in all this ministrie shall haue an end But till then Credat Iudaeus Apella Non ego let Brownists and Barowists belieue it not I. Your obstinate begging of the principall matter in question conuinceth you to bee but a bad disputant and this rash and vnaduised prediction now dubbeth you for a false Prophet also The last argument 2. King 23.5 Ps 101. Pro. 16.10.11.12.25.2 5 Rev. 17.16 Deu. 17.18.19.20 Ro. 12.7.8 Eph. 4.11.12.13 1. Tim. 3. 5.9.17.6.13.14 12 Because it is the dutie and in the power of Princes to suppresse and root out of their dominions all false Ministries and therefore these as well â—s Abbots Friers Nuns Cardinals c. Whereas it is not in their power or of any vnder Heauen to abolish the offices giuen by Christ to his Church Here againe you take for granted that our Ministrie is but a false Ministrie and that Arch-bishops Bishops and Priests are no lesse Antichristian then Abbots Friers Nuns Cardinals which is euer denied but neuer confirmed by you Vaine man proue our Ministrie to bee false and wee will grant it is to be rooted out otherwise outfacing and desperate asseueration will not serue the turne And thus haue I briefly examined all your twelue reasons whereby you goe about to proue the Minor of your principall Syllogisme namely that our Church-officers Arch-bishops Bishops and Priests are not to be set ouer nor retained in the Church Whereupon I inferre seeing your Maior is barely affirmed being vntrue and your Minor so weakly and insufficiently proued you haue not as yet soundly concluded the lawfulnesse and necessity of your separation Let vs proceed to the second ground which you coÌ„ceiue in these words A true visible Church is a company of people called and separated from the world by the Word of God Act. 2.39.19.9 Ro. 1.6.7.10.14.15.16 Iob. 17.14.20 Ezek. 36.38 Phil. 1.5 Act. 2.41 42.47.11.21.24.13.4.34 Ro. 12.5 2. Cor. 9.13 Ps 110.13 Es. 14.1.44.5.60.8 Zach. 4.6.8.21.22.23 and ioyned together by voluntary profession of the Faith of Christ in the Fellowship of the Gospell Out of which if I mistake not you would conclude the iustnes of your separation thus Where there is not a company of people called and separated from the world and ioyned together as aboue there is not a true visible Church and consequently Separation ought to be made from it But in England there is not a company of people so called and separated from the world and so ioined together Ergo in England there is not a true visible Church and consequently separation ought to bee made from it I distinguish of the middle tearme Called for there is a double calling the one is Gratiae oblatae where by God onely inuites men vnto Christ and offers them Grace the other Gratiae inditae infusae whereby hee not only offers but infuseth grace also into them The former Calling maketh not a man of the Church for hee that is no otherwise called answereth not by Faith nor commeth vnto Christ but remaineth still in infidelity and so is vtterly excluded out of the Church Of the latter Calling I distinguish againe for it is either that whereby hee bestoweth vpon man Faith of Doctrine or that whereby ouer and aboue hee giues them Iustification together with true Sanctification Faith of Doctrine is either a Partiall or an Entire Faith a Partiall Faith whereby part onely of the Christian verity is held or an
that Mr Perkins being vrged with the same Obiection answered in the same manner but vnsufficiently for if actuall Faith be necessary to iustification then is actuall Assurance also necessary if Faith be assurance Here Mr Baxter would needs take occasion to expostulate why I should presume to define otherwise then Mr. Perkins and so many worthy Divines had done before mee Wherevnto I answered roundly and plainely Socrates is deare Arist Eth. l. 1. c. 5. and Plato is deare but truth is farre dearer and therefore prayed him that leauing to oppose authority vnto reason and sounding names vnto sound proofes hee would returne againe within the lists and either satisfie what I had said or giue mee leaue to proceed to the rest of my arguments But for this he craved as then to bee excused pretending vrgent and instant businesse yet offering to haue our conference adiourned vnto some other day I told him that the time of absence limited me from the Colledge whereof I was then Fellow was almost at an end so that vnlesse I would hazard my place I might make no longer stay there neverthelesse if he pleased I would before my departure giue him my minde in writing and attend his answere also in writing at his better leisure To this hee presently condescended holding it the fittest course and promising if I held my word with him within one Moneth to returne me his full answere I assured him that for my part I would not faile him and therevpon embracing one the other and giuing hand that wee would proceed as wee had begun with all peace and loue we brake off talke at that time and departed The second day after according to promise I sent him the Treatise following Of the true nature definition of iustifying Faith comprizing therein with some addition whatsoeuer touching the matter in question I had more briefly deliuered in the Pulpit and the next morning taking leaue of my friends commending them to the grace of God in Christ I set forward for Cambridge The moneth being expired I looked out for my answere for I could not thinke he would proue a bad pay-master and breake day with me But a moneth and a moneth and many other moneths followed after their predecessor and all the while not a word from my Antagonist which though in some Creditors it would haue bred suspition yet was I content to lay hold on the better handle and to set the best construction I could vpon his ouerlong silence Epist Fam. l. 9. ep 8. interpreting it as Cicero did his frend Varros forbearance rather Diligence then Slacknes For as Zeuxis was the longer in drawing his Pictures because as he said vnto Agatharchus he painted vnto Eternity so Mr Baxter perhaps might the more slowely come off with his answere that in the meane season he might make it the more exact and accurate it being seldome seene that the same thing is both hastily and exquisitely done But while I was thus ingenuously censuring his silence and resoluing yet further to forbeare him remembring that of Cato Soone enough if well enough I receiued certaine aduertisement that he had erewhile broken silence and dispersed among his friends a most bitter and contumelious Invectiue against me contrary both to his promise that he would proceed with all peace and charity and the reputation of learning he so much affects not daring to send me a Copy thereof Loth I was seeing I haue not the rule of other mens pens that others should haue the command of my affections yet being so vrgently vnschollerly dealt withall the next time I passed through the City I could not but with some indignation challenge him for it to his face At which time how he faltered and staggered in his tale now confidently affirming he had by a friend conueyed his answer vnto me by by being contested by the party shamefully retracting it Pretending for excuse the losse of my paper I appeale to them who then both saw and heard it But this I say that as his inconstancy and distraction bewrayed little friendship betwixt his heart tongue argued a selfe-guiltines of a poore and sorry Reply so the pretēced losse of my paper was but a silly shift to delay me for the present and as the euent shewes a miserable tergiuersation For hauing a fresh offered within one moneth to send me an answere and thereupon engaged both his credit and schollership if he were supplied with another coppy although the next day I left one for him vnder my hand and now not one onely but twelue monthes are since fully finished and expired yet hath he hitherto beene to me ward as silent as midnight to me ward I say for otherwise the libell still passed vnder hand and at euery meeting made his disciples good glee Whereby it plainly appeareth his meaning neuer was by an honest and christian entercourse of writing to sift out the truth but onely by secret pamphletting to disparage me among his followers that so himselfe might rise the higher in the ballance of their estimation For had he sincerely and vnfainedly purposed the maintenance of Gods truth and the reformation of my erronious iudgment would he thus vncharitably haue played his prizes in the dark and to michingly haue gone about to steale an opinion of victory or would he not rather as became a right Champion of truth boldly haue confronted his aduersary in the field yea though hee had beene armed with no better weapon then a fillie sling as long as he came for so he pretends in the name of the Lord of Hosts But the truth is perceiuing himselfe so farre aduanced into the battell that now without shame and confusion hee might not retreat hee held it the safest course by writing something to make the world beleeue hee had duly performed with mee and yet by limiting it vnto the hands of a few of his trustiest friends to depriue mee of all possibility of answering for my selfe resting assured that my silence would be taken to proceed rather of weaknes and insufficiencie in me then any necessitie by his cunning enforced vpon mee A new kinde of policie or of malice rather as Hierome saith vnto Ruffin Contra Ruffin ad Pamm Marcell l. 1. c. 1. to accuse of what you feare to discouer and to write what you would haue concealed And so warie and heedfull hath he been herein that with all the diligence and endeauour I could vse I could not for the space of full two twelue moneths be seized of his Answer But at length the night-raven fell into the snare and by the watchfulnesse of my good friends in Bristow I obtained such a Copie thereof as with all his shifts and excuses hee cannot possibly disclaime being indeed subscribed with his owne hand Perhaps you may think it found me when I first receaued it strongly forestalled and possessed with preiudice and indeed his base and vnworthie dealing deserued no other
question bee indeed as they seeme vnto me sound and necessary you may as well chide the Sun for mouing towards the west or the earth for resting stedfastly on her center as me for being swayed and perswaded by them And yet by your leaue I was not so transported with Confidence but that I still kept my selfe within the bounds of Modesty For although it pelase you in the former section to charge me with â—oasting that scarce Archimedes could better and more liuely haue painted his Theoremes then I iustifying Faith yet was I in truth as farre from it as you are from truth in affirming of it submitting my selfe in all humility vnto the censure of Gods Church and promising vpon conuiction of my error to reuerse what euer I had said Yea but very insolently I haue bidden battell to all the learned men of Christendome bitten snapt and snarled at Melancthon Martyr c. yea all Fathers and Writers both old and new for these 1600. yeeres 1 Sam. 17.26 Intolerable arrogance I confesse if your accusation be iust for who but a presumptuous and proud Goliah would in such opprobrious manner defie and reuile the host of the liuing God But tell me I beseech you what are those despitefull and contumelious tearmes wherewith I haue so reproched those famous and excellent men Nay did I in my Sermon so much as name either Melancthon or Martyr or Caluin or Beza or Grynaus or Pelanus or Whitaker or Perkins whom yet you say I snapt and snarled at For that you adde particularly of M. Perkins as if I had boasted by my sudden arguments to haue driuen him so hard to the wall as hee knew not what to answer is but a blacke drop of your slanderous pen. The truth is this that in a priuate conference I told you that he being demaÌ„ded if Faith be an assurance of our present state in grace and future saluation what comfort remained for him who not feeling this assurance thinks himselfe to bee without Faith and consequently in the state of damnation his answer was which also in his books he hath published that desire of assurance is in the acceptation of God as assurance indeed to the which I sayd I could no way yeeld seeing by the couenant of Grace actuall Faith it selfe is absolutely required vnto Iustification and therefore actuall assurance if Faith bee assurance Besides this priuate speech all I haue publikely said or written is no more but this in generall that though my opinion differ from the writings and doctrine of most learned and worthy Diuines to whom as farre inferiour I owe all respect and reuerence yet being Gods freeman I cannot endure to bee mans Bondman and sweare to all they say And is not this the same in effect which all our Diuines answer when they are charged by the aduersary to dissent from the Fathers Let one Whitaker speake for them all We are saith he not the seruants but the Sons of the Fathers Contrà Duraeum if out of the law and from diuine authority they prescribe any thing vnto vs wee obey them as Parents if they command ought against the voice of the heauenly doctrine wee say wee must harken not vnto them but God You Iesuits like bondmen and base slaues admit without iudgement and reason all the sayings of the Fathers fearing I thinke the gibbet or whip if yee refuse any Now M. Baxter say if you dare that glorious Whitaker with the rest of our Diuines bite and snap and snarle at the Fathers as well as I if you dare not and yet I vse no other language then they doe then are biting and snapping and snarling but your owne doggish tearmes arguing rather notorious Sycophancie in you then such barbarous inciuility in me Well yet sith you will needs say you come barefoot to these mountaines giue me leaâ—e to sift your arguments and to shape you an answer for the defence of Iustifying Faith Exod. 3.5 Sir it was reason I should pull off my shooes and come barefoot to these mountaines because the ground on which I was to stand is holy Neuerthelesse in this encounter with you I trust you shall find my feet so well shâ—â— with the preparation of the Gospell of peace Ephes 6.15 that I need not care what briers or thornes soeuer you plant in my way And therefore good leaue haue you sift my arguments in Gods name at your pleasure for to that very end sent I them you in writing But I am afraid least insteed of sifting I find from you nothing else but meere shifting as indeed I doe not For to some of my arguments you shape no answer at all some you unshape and turne cleane out of the forme I set vpon them to not one of them doe you shape so much as probable or tolerable answer So that although you seeme very ambitious and greedie of the title yet if you haue no better skill in sifting arguments and shaping answers you will hardly obtaine so high an honor as to bee stiled Defender of the Faith Further you tell me that shortly I shall receiue the writings of other most learned men and grasple with them They shall bee welcome M. Baxter whensoeuer they come for the more you are that impugne the truth the more honorable will the victory be But I beseech you Sir when will that shortly you speake of be expired for it is now more then two yeeres since you first threatned me with them as by the date of your writing appeareth and yet hitherto could I neuer heare either from them or of them whether they be white or blacke Only it seemes they are very angrie Pismires that a man cannot spit among them without sore lips But when I shall speake with these enemies in the gate as the Psalmist saith I hope they shall finde my lips so seasoned with the salt of grace and so well prouided of an answer Psal 127.5 Col. 4.6 that I need not feare if they proue a nest I say not of Ants onely but euen of Waspes and Hornets also In the meane season if they bee so deeply learned as you pretend how is it that you so hastily preuent them and haue not the manners to stay till your betters haue spoken It is not you say vpon presumption of your greater learning being one of the least but out of a greater measure of zeale as being the most offended But M. Baxter they that doe the works of Zimri haue not lightly in them the affection of Phinees And seeing you will needs bee the most offended shall I say being the most offending Certainly hauing no iust cause of offence giuen you it is not so much either the glory of God or the satisfaction of your people as your own factiousnesse and vaineglory that sets you so forward in this busines and makes you so impatient to thinke of the second place Of a colder temper it seemes are those learned Rabbies you scarre me
it seemeth strange why you should take it as confessed For sure I am in expresse tearmes I haue affirmed the contrary neither can I guesse of what words you gather it vnlesse perhaps of that I say and specially the Gospell which were too ridiculous For that indeed confesseth the Gospell to bee a speciall part of Gods truth but not determining Faith onely thereunto it doth in no sort specifie it as is aboue fully proued N. B. Historicall Faith not diuided from the other two kinds but ioyned with thē is cause of Iustification Againe I would pray you to speake more learnedly and argue soundly For if you had said formerly No Historicall Faith only iustifieth c. We had been agreed For Historica Fides est causa iustificationis non solitaria sed socia non diuisa sed coniuncta But speaking thus absolutely you speake vnlearnedly Well thus you proceed leauing your Minor naked and exposed to the mercie of the World I. D Agreed quoth you Nay hee can hardly agree with mee that is at warre with himselfe and had I spoken neuer so learnedly and argued neuer so soundly yet I verily belieue you would haue quarrelled at it because I see you make contradiction of mee the onely rule of your speeches That there is but one Faith you say it is nouelty not to grant and that Faith only iustifies I think you dare not deny how is it then that in the margent forgetting your selfe you talke of three kinds of Faith which except my Arithmetike faile mee are more then one and ioyne fellowes with that in iustification in the body of your text which yet you confesse doth onely iustify But what is it that comes not within the sphere of your omnipotent Philosophie The power of your Logicke hath already contracted Vniuersall into Speciall and why then may not the subtlety of your Metaphysicke find a plurality also in an Vnity But to be plaine with you I say that Historicall Faith is so far from being a ioint cause that at all properly vnderstood of Iustification but onely as I haue said a Pre-requisite or Preparatiue thereunto True it is that Faith of Person is neuer Solitary but is euer conioyned with sundry other graces and among the rest with Historicall Faith yet are not their operations to bee confounded because in the same person they are conioyned Many seeds lye in my hand together yet euery one hath his seuerall and distinct vertue Faith of Person is neuer without Faith of Story yet it is Faith of Person which onely iustifies And as in the generation of man the Sensitiue soule goes before and prepares a fit organ for the infusion of the Reasonable and yet not the Sensitiue but the Reasonable only doth informe so in the reparation of man Faith of Story proceeds and makes way for the inducement of Faith of Person and yet not Faith of Story but Faith of Person only doth iustifie Now whether in speaking thus absolutely I haue spoken vnlearnedly as you say or no it skilleth not much seeing I am sure I haue spoken truly 1 Cor. 15.9 What euer I am by the grace of God I am and desire so to bee vnto his glory My want and inability I thanke God I know yet know I no cause why in this mediocrity of knowledge and speech I should in comparison with you any whit disable my selfe But sith as the Apostle saith knowledge puffeth vp 1 Cor. 8.1 God grant vs both the spirit of humility that denying our selues and all our learning wee may be content to bee wholly captiuated vnto the obedience of the Faith of Christ The Minor which you say I left naked and exposed to the mercy of the world was this that Historicall Faith is a generall knowledge which indeed in my Treatise I did forbeare to confirme not for want of sufficient proofes but presuming that so euident a truth would neuer haue beene denied But now I hope it appeares by what I haue aboue said to bee so well guarded with strength of reason and approbation of the learned that henceforward it need not feare the rigor of your opposition Treatise Acquisite Faith the Diuels haue according to that of Saint Iames The Diuels belieue and tremble Infused Faith the Reprobates may haue as Balaam Iudas Magus Now iustifying Faith is proper to the Elect and therefore historicall Faith cannot iustifie N. B. O yee noble Schollers marke this Syllogisme I haue made your arguments hitherto for you Master Downe and in this creeping and incroching argument tell you that you beg the matter in question For I deny that your definition of Historicall Faith is a generall knowledge but speciall and peculiar vnto the Elect in the beginning of their iustifying Faith conioyned with the Application and Resting vpon Christ and his merits And to bee plaine with you I tell you it is ridiculous yea blasphemous to say that Diuels haue Faith or that euer Balaam Iudas or Magus had Faith And so telleth you M. Caluin In Iac. 2.19 Ridiculum erit si quis Diabolos habere fidem dicat it is ridiculous for any man to say that Diuels haue Faith For there is but one Faith Eph. 4. and the other is spoken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abusiuely and by an equiuocation and is but a vulgar knowledge or rather peculiar shew by miracles c. as the same M. Caluin sheweth right learnedly 1 Cor. 13.2 Calu. ibid. and also telleth you Abundé constat totam hanc disputationem de fide non haberi it is plaine that this whole disputation Iam. 2. is not about Faith Let this therefore serue for an answer I pray you to your first distinction of Historicall Faith which you confound with a vulgar knowledge as appeareth before knowing this No man that finally contemneth this Speciall knowledge of Gods Word and specially the Gospell can be saued For hee can neuer haue the other two kinds of Faith spoken of before except he begin with this kind of Faith I. D. Surely I am very deeply beholding vnto your Mastership hauing so small skill in Logicke that you will bee pleased to forme my arguments and to shape them in so excellent fashion for mee But I beseech you spare your paines where you are like to reape little thanks for your labour Such officiousnesse in an aduersary is not without suspicion and if you may haue the hammering of my arguments your weakest answers I doubt not will be proofe inough against them Leaue me therfore I pray you to the meaning of my own weapons and looke you well vnto your owne defence for I feare mee you will hardly bee able to auoid the danger of them For thus I reason That Faith which Diuels and Reprobates haue iustifies not Historicall Faith Diuels and Reprobates haue Ergo Historicall Faith iustifies not Here you see nor creeping nor incroching but faire and plaine dealing and such as I am well content all noble Schollers marke it But let
of an implicit or couched ignorance Of an implicit Faith we haue often heard and of a rude and confused apprehension the Iesuit in the place by you quoted speaketh but an implicit ignorance was neuer yet heard of and what meaning it may haue for my part I cannot see De iustif lib. 1. ca. 7. Bellarmines right words are these Faith is better defined by ignorance then knowledge which saying of his how my speech helpeth I would you had taken a little more paines to make it manifest For whence and how you should collect it I cannot tell except perhaps it bee thus I say that Faith is not a knowledge Ergo I say also it is an ignorance I answer therefore secondly that Bellarmine and I speake not of the same Faith for hee speaketh of Faith of Story and I of Faith of Person so that when I say Faith of Person is not a knowledge I cannot help him who saith Faith of Story is not a knowledge For as for Faith of Story you cannot bee ignorant that contrary vnto Bellarmine in my Treatise I haue called it a Generall knowledge so farre am I from defining it by ignorance with him And yet I would haue you to know also that when I say Faith of Story is a knowledge I meane not thereby Science of Conclusions acquired and gotten by demonstratiue proofe out of such principles as are of themselues knowne and euident For how can a man by the light of naturall reason aspire to the knowledge of that which is supernaturall and aboue reason But I vnderstand an explicit and distinct apprehension of the necessary Articles of Faith opposite vnto that brutish ignorance which Papists call implicite Faith and Blind obedience which distinct apprehension Bellarmine in the place before alledged denieth necessarily to bee required vnto Faith Farthermore I would faine know how this followes Faith is not knowledge Ergo it is Ignorance for by the same reason you may conclude Faith is not Hope Ergo it is Despaire or thus Earth is not fire Ergo it is water and so by your creation all things in the world shall bee one of two fire or water Metaph. 12. But you should remember that simple negation is positiue of nothing and that Priuations are reduced vnto that subiect whereunto their Habits doe belong whence it followeth that denying Faith to be in the Vnderstanding and so to be knowledge I deny it also to bee Ignorance N. B. Againe whatsoeuer bringeth life eternall bringeth iustification and is Faith But true knowledge of Iesus Christ bringeth life eternall Therefore true knowledge of Iesus Christ bringeth iustification and is Faith The Minor I proue out of the Words of Christ in S. Iohn Ioh. 17.3 Mel. Pez Arg. Theol. p. 3. notitia Es. 53. significat non solum agnitionem personae beneficiorum Christised etiam fiduciam quiescentem in Christo sicuti Ioh. 17. This is life eternall to know thee to bee the onely true Lord and him to bee Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent into the world The Maior is plaine whatsoeuer apprehendeth that last which is life Eternall apprehendeth the former as election and iustification c. But the knowledge of Christ apprehendeth eternall life Therefore it apprehendeth iustification But hence it followeth whatsoeuer apprehendeth iustification is Faith True knowledge of Jesus Christ apprehendeth iustification Therefore true knowledge of Christ is Faith and so consequently and conuersiuely Faith is knowledge and this knowledge is Faith Ioh. 19.25 Eph. 3.14.15.16.17.18 1 Cor. 13. And by this meanes Particular knowledge commeth not in time after faith but is Faith and is knowledge in the beginning in proceeding is knowledge and in the end is knowledge I. D. The Maior of your first Syllogisme that whatsoeuer bringeth life eternall bringeth iustification I deny You say it is plaine because whatsoeuer apprehendeth the last such as is eternall life apprehendeth the former also which is iustification But first what rule of Logicke allowes you thus to shift tearmes and to turne bringing of life and iustification into apprehending life and iustification For howsoeuer you seeme to vse them indifferently yet are they words of different significations and therefore confounding them thus you make not so much the truth of the Maior plaine as obscure the meaning thereof Againe chuse whether of these tearmes you please yet is it palpably false that Whatsoeuer bringeth or apprehendeth the last bringeth and apprehendeth also the former Rhetoricke brings a man to speake eloquently which is the latter yet it is Grammar not Rhetoricke that brings a man to speake congruè which is the former Physicke brings a man to the faculty of curing diseases which is the latter yet brings not to the knowledge of the nature of things for that belongs vnto the naturall Philosopher and according to the old saying where the Physiologer ends there the Physician begins So also in diuine matters Hope apprehends eternall life which is the latter for it is the proper obiect about which it is occupied it apprehendeth not iustification which is the former for then by your rule it should bee Faith it selfe that being faith as you say which apprehends iustification As therfore when diuerse needles are by the Loadstone trained one after another the vertue of the stone moueth the first the first the second and so of the rest but the third or second is no way the cause of the dependency of the first so in the concatenation of the causes of our saluation reckoned vp by the Apostle to wit Election Rom. 8.30 Vocation Iustification Glorification the former are mouers as it were vnto the latter but not the latter vnto the former The reason of all in a word is this because as I haue already shewed more is required vnto the maine end then vnto the subordinate meanes and therefore seeing saluation is the end Iustification the meanes not whatsoeuer is requisite vnto that is presently necessary vnto this The Minor that true knowledge of Iesus Christ bringeth eternall life I also deny For Particular assurance which is the knowledge you must here vnderstand or else you conclude not to the purpose bringeth not eternall life in as much as a man may be saued without it as we haue already sufficiently proued Neither doe the words of Christ in S. Iohn verify your Minor Ioh. 17.3 for by knowledge there he meaneth not your particular assurance and perswasion by which a man knowes he is iustified shall be saued but such a knowledge of Christ and his Gospell as is mingled with faith and worketh our wils to accept of Iesus Christ for our onely mediator And this knowledge is said to bee eternall life not because euery one that barely and nakedly knowes liues eternally for as wee haue shewed Reprobates and Diuels haue Historicall Faith but partly because no man can liue without it partly because by it the Spirit of God worketh in the Elect that Faith by
they of whom I learned it seemed vnto me to bee no Papists and were commonly taken for very good Protestants Christ saith Beza Conf. c. 4. 9. 4. is offered vnto vs to be possessed of vs with this condition if we doe belieue in him On that condition saith Vrsinus In Catechismoq de Euang is Christs righteousnesse made ours if wee receiue it Now that receiuing is the worke and act of Faith alone The condition of Faith saith Hemingius Syntag. de Euang Art 30. Cent. 1. l. 1. c. 4. p. 93. is required that the benefit may be applied that is remission of sinnes The law say the Century-writers hath the Promise with condition of Doing and fulfilling it the Gospell hath the free Promise with condition of Belieuing and receiuing it by Faith That saith Master Foxe De Christo gratis iustif p. 237. 244. which properly wee inquire is for what cause or reason Saluation and Pardon of sinnes is promised whether vpon some condition or none at all And that the Promise is made vpon no condition no man I thinke will say wherefore it remaines of necessity wee acknowledge some condition and that is Faith In Camp 8. Rat. In the Law saith Whitaker the condition was hard which no man could satisfy but Christ propounds vnto vs a more easy condition Belieue and thou shalt bee saued Against Sanders cauils on the Lords supper p. 424. De iustif l. 1. c. 12. Ter. Eun. Act. 2. Sc. 11. Gods promises saith Fulke require the condition of Faith in them that shall obtaine them Finally Cardinall Bellarmine who hitherto hath euer been esteemed no meane Papist reports this to bee the confession of all his aduersaries and that they cannot deny it That remission of sinnes is promised vpon condition of Faith But Lord what ods and difference there is betweene simple folke and intelligent persons For vnlesse you had told it mee I had neuer knowne that Bellarmins aduersaries were Papists nor that these men whom I haue named had beene wolues in sheepskins Neither did I vntill now vnderstand what you meant when you charged mee with Popery and speaking pure Papist your meaning I see was that I spake right as Beza Vrsinus Hemingius the Century-Writers Foxe Whitaker Fulke and all the rest of that ranke vse to do For confirmation of my Minor and to proue Iustification to bee conditionall I bring as you say that place of Math. Be of good comfort Sonne thy sinnes bee forgiuen thee In handling whereof you tell mee farther first that I wrest the text and falsifie the meaning thereof then that I translate the Greeke falsly and contrary to the words themselues and all the world for 1600 yeeres lastly that most impudently and quite contrary to knowledge and conscience I adde vnto the Scripture Telling mee moreouer that I haue a mind to doe mischiefe but want power that I contemne all Grammar and parget a rotten cause with vntempered morter and therefore must needs incurre fearefull iudgement if in time I craue not mercy at the hand of God Thus Master Baxter like Saint George a horse backe you fight with a painted dragon and faining monsters to your selfe set vpon them with such Herculean impetuousnesse and fury as if you would amaze simple people with your great puissance powres and then as if you had flaild to powder your true aduersary as well as your imaginary and strawen enemy you giue foorth most terrible menaces and threats that folke henceforward may not dare to meddle with your mothers sonne more For where I pray you doe you finde this passage of S. Mathew quoted by me and vnlesse you had resolued by falshood and forgerie to maintaine this quarrell against mee with what face could you father the allegation of it vpon mee No Sir I did not so much as dreame of that place only I say in generall that the Scriptures make this to bee the tenor of the Euangelicall promise Belieue and thy sinnes shall be forgiuen thee Ioh. 3.10 little thinking that you who would bee counted a Master in Israel had beene ignorant of a doctrine so euident and fundamentall For that so it is let these few texts bee carefully considered Belieue in the Lord Iesus and thou shalt bee saued and thine houshold Act. 16.31 Act. 10.23 That through his Name all that belieue in him shall receiue remission of sinnes That whosoeuer belieueth in him should not perish but haue eternall life Ioh. 3.15.16 Rom. 10.9 Gal. 3.22 If thou belieue thou shalt bee saued That the promise of Iesus Christ should bee giuen to them that belieue To these few I might easily adde six hundred mo all which although not in precise forme of words yet in vertue and meaning are all one with this Belieue and thy sinnes shall be forgiuen thee and from them doe all Diuines gather that the Promise of the Gospell is not absolute but conditionall if we Belieue as is aboue plentifully declared Which being so you shew your selfe in this Thrasonicall and swaggering section to bee too-too base and recreant vtterly void both of forhead and conscience otherwise you would not first so palpably and desperately haue belied mee and then so impudently and vnciuilly reuell vpon mee Though you deserue it yet will I not cast backe the dirt you here throw at mee againe into your owne face I shall but defile my hands in so doing rather will I as Saint Bernard counselleth Breake the arrowes of contumely vpon the sheeld of Patience Ser. 40. de modo benè viuendi and hold forth the buckler of a good conscience against the sword of your malicious tongue But albeit I intended not nor aimed at this place of Mathew as being euery way vnsufficient to proue that iustification is promised vpon condition of Faith yet is it not so abhorring from my purpose but that it may affoard at least a probable proofe for my maine conclusion For. Beza in his annotations on Mark. 2.5 doth vs to wit that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be translated imperatiuely thus Be thy sinnes pardoned as if it were in the third person plurall of the Coniunctiue mood which Diomedes called the Mandatiue mood for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Eustathius and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is vsed by Homer for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The reason why it may thus be turned is because the Scribes vnderstood Christ as if hee himselfe had actually forgiuen the Palsie-man his sins as appeareth in the sixt and seuenth verses which they could not so haue conceiued if hee had onely told him that his sinnes were forgiuen him Now if this bee the right translation what say you to this argument The Palsie-man first belieued for so it is said When Iesus saw their Faith meaning as well the Faith of the sicke man as of them that brought him and then after Christ forgaue his sins
is conditionall you denyed in your answer to the former argument now also you deny that Belieuing is commanded Whereby you bewray how inexpert you are in the Word of righteousnesse as the Apostle speaketh and that whereas by office you are Heb. 5.12 13. and concerning the time ought to be a teacher yet haue you need your selfe to be taught the very elements of the Christian Religion That therefore the Promise is conditionall I haue in the due place demonstrated now that Belieuing is commanded remaineth to bee poued or rather it is already proued thus No condemnation but for breach of a Commandement Condemnation for vnbeliefe for for vnbeliefe the world shall bee condemned Ergo Beliefe commanded But this reason according to your wont you cunningly suppresse and hauing found out a new Art of disputation thinke it enough to scorne the premisses and with a bold face to deny the Conclusion Yet for your further confusion vnto necessary consequence I adde the expresse words of Scripture This saith Iohn is his commandement that wee belieue in the Name of his Sonne Iesus Christ 1 Ioh. 3.23 And vnto diuine authority I adde the humble consent of holy men of God Beza expoundeth that place of Saint Iohns Gospell Ioh. 6.29 This is the worke of God that yee belieue in me De gra vniuer De Praedest gratia on this wise This is that which God requireth of you that yee belieue in me The Lord commandeth saith Hemingius that we belieue Together with the Promise saith Master Perkins is conioined the Exhortation or Commandement to Belieue which is more generall then the Promise because the promise belongs only to Belieuers but the Cōmandement both to Belieuers vnbelieuers Harm Conf. Sax. of remission of sins iustif Finally the whole Church of Saxony thus confesseth It is the eternall immutable commandment of God that we should belieue in the Son of God according to this saying which is my very ground the Spirit shall conuince the world of sinne because they Belieue not in mee Nay see the lucke of it that which here you affirme to be an vntruth not many lines before you haue auowed to bee a truth saying God commandeth all to Belieue and therefore the Reprobates Yea doe you not in this place vnsay that which you say saying it is vntrue that God commandeth when hee biddeth a Reprobate to Belieue For hee that Biddeth in my vnderstanding commandeth vnlesse you that complaine of nice and subtle Distinctions in others haue learned of late by some new-found nicetie to distinguish there where the letters and syllables onely differing there is otherwise an identie of nature and definition A man would wonder how you could so soone forget your selfe but that it is commonly seene a liar hath seldome or neuer a good memory But to proue that God commands not a Reprobate to belieue you come vpon mee with a most mighty and insoluble Enthymem What is that I beseech you Marie this A Reprobate if he could belieue he should then without doubt bee saued Ergo God doth not command him to Belieue A desperate Demonstration I promise you for by the same reason you may conclude that God commands him not to obey the Precepts of the Morall law neither Because if hee could keepe them he should bee saued What you conceiue may bee the knot and sowlder as it were of this Consequence I cannot well imagine vnlesse it be one of two either this God promiseth the Reprobate hee shall bee saued if hee Belieue Ergo hee commandeth him not to Belieue or this The Reprobate cannot belieue Ergo God commandeth him not to Belieue for your words seeme to bee indifferent either way If you intend the former first you contradict your owne selfe for in your answer to the former argument you deny Iustification and Saluation to bee promised vpon condition of Faith Secondly euery Catechumenus and Nouice in Diuinity knowes that God vnto Commandement vsually annexeth Promise to draw on Obedience as in the Couenant of works first hee Commandeth Doe this and then Promiseth if thou doe it thou shalt liue and in the Couenant of Grace also first hee Commandeth Belieue and then addeth the Promise if thou belieue thou shalt bee saued So that Promise and Commandement exclude not one the other neither doth it follow Faith is the condition of a Promise Ergo it is not commanded If you vnderstand the latter then know that as Augustin and Barnard and all Diuines not infected with Pelagianisme say God commandeth some things which man cannot doe to the end that knowing his owne insufficiency hee may craue of him the helpe of grace that hee may doe them And if God doe command any supernaturall action vnto the Reprobate as without doubt hee doth then doth hee also command some thing aboue his power for being meerely naturall he cannot produce any supernaturall operation Whereupon it followeth euidently that although a Reprobate cannot belieue yet neuerthelesse hee may bee commanded to Belieue Well yet you will proue that a Reprobate cannot Belieue To what end for it is not denied and you should rather strengthen your Consequence and proue that therefore Faith is not commanded Notwithstanding let vs heare your reason for it seemeth to bee very remarkable That hee cannot Belieue say you the reason is Christ hath not washed him If you had said as followeth Christ hath not opened his heart to Belieue or it is to bee imputed to the hardnes of his owne heart and had stopt there I should easily haue yeelded vnto you but now that you say the reason is because Christ hath not washed him I must needs tell you it is vnreasonable reason for it implies that wee are first washed and then Belieue whereas both Scripture and the analogie of Faith teach vs that we first belieue and then afterward are washed Search the booke of God Rom. 3.28 Act. 15.9 Rom. 3.25 and there shall you read that wee are iustified by Faith that the heart is purified by Faith that God hath set forth Iesus Christ to bee a reconciliation through Faith in his Blood Which Blood although it haue in it sufficient vertue and force to cleanse vs from the leprosie of all our sinnes yet doth it not actually wash or purge any vnlesse it bee particularly applied and accepted by Faith Otherwise as Ambrose excellently speaketh if thou belieue not Christ descended not for thee Christ suffered not for thee De fide ad Gratian. Wherby it manifestly appeareth that Remission of sinnes is an effect or consequence of Faith and that therefore the reason of the Reprobates vnbeliefe is not because Christ hath not washt him but rather the reason why Christ hath not washed him is because hee doth not belieue nor hath by Faith applyed the blood of Christ to himselfe for the remission of his sinnes Where you adde negatiuely that the Reprobates vnbeliefe is not to bee imputed to the falsity
saith effectually called and they onely who are effectually called are iustified and shall bee glorified And if it were possible that they should bee saued then were there change in the vnchangeable decree of God which hath finally reiected them which is impossible 7. Hee that commands a Reprobate that is not iustified and shall neuer bee saued to belieue that hee is iustified and shall be saued implieth a Contradiction therein and makes Falshood to bee Truth and Faith errour For according to that infallible maxime Falshood is not vnder Faith and therefore if the Obiect bee Falshood it is not Faith which apprehendeth it for true if it bee Faith Falshood is not the Obiect thereof So that hee which commands that false Proposition to bee belieued makes that to bee Faith which cannot beare the definition of Faith and that to bee the Obiect which is not the Obiect thereof that is as I said makes Faith to bee error and Falshood Truth which are contradictories 8. God therefore neither doth nor can so command neither is it impure or impious to affirme so much being in the Word of God so manifestly reuealed Impious rather and blasphemous is it to say the contrary for it imputes impotency and weaknes vnto God making him to say Yea and Nay and to auouch that for truth which is euidently false 9. But this opinion that Faith is an Assurance infers this blasphemous absurdity For as I haue shewed God cōmands all men euen Reprobates to belieue now to belieue as you say is to bee assured of iustification and Saluation Ergo God commands the Reprobate to be assured of his Iustification and Saluation which is absurd 10. Absurd therefore is that opinion that Faith is Assurance which infers it For from truth no absurdity or blasphemie but onely truth can follow These few Positions I pray thee Gentle Reader consider diligently and compare Master Baxters reply with them and then bee iudge whether hee paint not gourds as it is in the Prouerbe and talke cleane beside the purpose Those places of Scripture which you desire may bee well waighed and then by mee either answered or reuerenced I haue according to your desire duly examined and doe from my heart adore them as being the words of the Eternall Verity and this answer doe I giue vnto them that not one of them touches the question in debate betwixt vs. Rom. 11.23 The first telleth vs that the Iewes if they persist not in infidelity shall againe by the power of God bee ingrafted Gal. 3.22 the second that the Scripture hath concluded all vnder sinne that the promise by the Faith of Iesus Christ might bee giuen to them that Belieue both which argue against your selfe that Faith is the condition of the Promise the third saith that as many as were ordained vnto eternall life belieued Act. 13.48 2. Thess 3.2 Mat. 13.11 the fourth that euery man hath not Faith the fift that to know the mysteries of the kingdome of Heauen is giuen to some and denied to other some by which three it is cleere that Reprobates doe not belieue Prou. 16.4 Rom. 9.18.19.20 but the Elect onely the sixt affirmeth that God made the wicked for the euill day the last that God sheweth mercy vpon whome hee will and hardneth also whome he will and that in this point there is no disputing with God intimating therein that there is both an Election and Reprobation and that both depend vpon the good pleasure of God But not one of them proueth that God commandeth a Reprobate to assure himselfe of his present iustification and future Saluation which is the matter in question and therefore I hope I may notwithstanding them all freely conclude that as God cannot command to doe that which is vniust because hee is iustice it selfe so he cannot command to belieue that which is vntrue because hee is truth it selfe Neither doe I I trust so concluding grieue the Spirit of God although perhaps therein I greeue your stubborne spirit which hath I feare me throughout this reply too much rebelled against the light and therefore take heed lest you your selfe greeue the Spirit of God Eph. 4.30 wherewith the elect are sealed vnto the day of Redemption Treatise Arg. 6. That which the wicked may haue cannot bee iustifying Faith for it is The Faith of the Elect But the wicked may haue this Perswasion yea and many haue beene most confidently perswaded that they are in the fauour of God You will say it is true Perswasion But I say if forme make truth they are as formally and therefore as truly perswaded of it as the godly If the Godly then are therefore and for this cause iustified because they are strongly perswaded they are Iustified then why should not the wicked likewise bee iustified by his strong Perswasion But in truth these kind of speeches are vnreasonable and senselesse and so that opinion cannot be reasonable N. B. Many die and are saued that haue not a full Perswasion and assurance of their Saluation yet are saued by Faith I will answer you when you shew mee the man that so did die and was saued and How you know that hee had at his death no full Assurance of his Saluation in Christ Iesu and yet had Faith and when you proue that there is at the houre of death when the elect are made without spot or wrinkle in the Saints of God a doubtfull Faith I. D. That many Reprobates and wicked men are strongly perswaded they are in the grace and fauor of God nothing is more cleere and manifest Prou. 30.12 There is a generation saith Salomon that are cleane in their owne eyes and yet are not washed from their filthinesse Reu. 3.17 And the Angell of the Church of Laodicea saith of himselfe that hee is rich and growne to great wealth and had need of nothing Vers 14. Vers 17. and yet in the iudgement of him that is Amen the faithfull and true witnesse was wretched and miserable Inst l. 3. c. 2. §. 11. and poore and blind and naked Yea Experience it selfe saith Caluin sheweth that Reprobates sometime are affected with the like feeling almost that the elect are that in their owne iudgement they differ nothing at all from the Elect. Such is the deceitfulnesse of mans heart and the blindnesse of his selfe-loue that it makes him easily ouerweene himselfe and to promise peace vnto his soule when hee is in the ready way vnto destruction You will say that the Perswasion of the Reprobate and wicked is built vpon a false and erronious ground and therfore is Presumption rather then true Assurance For answer hereunto consider that the Elect of God before his Iustification is but a wicked man whence Diuines vse to call it The Iustification of the wicked warranted therein by that of Saint Paul Rom. 4.5 To him that worketh not but belieueth in him that iustifieth the wicked his faith is imputed vnto
say that a man cannot rest vpon him for saluation vnlesse hee know that hee is already translated from death to life is a most vnreasonable and senselesse speech as if a man might not trust vnto his friend to doe something for him vntill he were sure it is already done If you be so sandblind in this present case that you cannot see how Rest may goe before Assurance yet I hope your sight is not so much decayed but you may perceiue it through a paire of spectacles Put case then that a skilfull and welknowne Physician should offer freely to cure the diseases of such as are sicke vpon condition they receiue Physicke of no other but put themselues wholly absolutely into his hands doe you thinke it absurd to become his patient or that you cannot repose your selfe vpon his skill to bee cured by him vnlesse you be first assured that the cure is already done Nay rather if you know well that your health is perfectly recouered you cannot rely vpon him for that whereof you are fully possessed Iesus Christ the Arch-physician of our soules as hee is knowne to bee all-sufficient and euery way able to heale our maladies so doth hee louingly inuite all those that are heauy loden to come vnto him promising to refresh them all vpon condition that renouncing themselues and all others they set their whole Affiance on him for the remission of their sinnes And dare you now make question how a man may betake himselfe into the hands of Christ vntill he know that his sinnes bee already pardoned Nay rather when wee know the debt is paid and that according to the old rule sinnes once remitted neuer returne againe we remaine thankefull for that which is past and continue our Affiance on him for discharge of that which is to come For to obserue this by the way wee may not thinke that in the first act of our conuersion and iustification we receiue actuall pardon of all our sinnes past present and to come as some and those of no meane marke haue rashly and vnaduisedly taught for sinnes past only are then actually forgiuen and sinnes to come onely in the destination and purpose of God But neither doth God actually pardon the iustified man nor the iustified man actually receiue pardon for his sinnes vntill hee haue actually committed them and renewed his Faith and Repentance for them Neither let any man thinke that I speake this out of mine owne head and without ground for I am strongly backed herein by the warrant of Scripture the euidence of reason and the testimony of worthy men By the warrant of Scripture for that teacheth onely remission of sinnes past so saith Saint Paul in expresse tearmes Rom. 3.25 God hath set forth Iesus Christ to bee a reconciliation through faith in his bloud to declare his righteousnesse by the forgiuenesse of the sinnes that are passed By the euidence of reason for if future sinnes as well as sinnes past bee actually remitted in our conuersion and first acceptation into grace what need of Repentance what need of Prayer that God would forgiue vs our trespasses To repent and craue pâ—â—â—on of that whereof wee are not guilty and which wee neuer committed is palpable folly and as great folly is it by Repentance and prayer to demand that of God which wee say wee are sure hee hath long agoe bestowed vpon vs Finally by the testimony of worthy men for Pardon saith Origen is of sinnes past not future Repentance In ad Rom. 3. De acerbè Iudicantib Miscell lib. 3. pa. 97. saith Gregory Nyssen is the dissolution and destruction of sinnes past It is confessed by all truly godly and learned saith Hierome Zanchie that the Saints to obtaine new remission for a new sinne haue need of a new act of Faith and Repentance according to that saying so rise in Scripture that by Faith men are iustified and haue their sinnes remitted which when it is spoken of them that are come to yeeres of discretion is alwayes to be vnderstood of Actuall Faith that is of the Act of Faith De praedest grat Lastly Master Perkins when a Faithfull man grieuously sinneth the sinne is indeed remitted in the destination of God yet no remission is actually either giuen by God or receiued by man vntill hee repent Nay if hee should neuer repent which yet is impossible hee should as guilty of eternall death euen for this one sin be damned for there is no new remission of any new sinne without a new act of Faith and Repentance But inough of this point in this place though it bee of great importance because it is but by the way only hence I gather that seeing Faith goeth before and Assurance necessarily commeth after remission that Faith is not Assurance N. B. I had rather say Faith were a labour then a Rest for it seeketh continually by sanctification and holy loue to bring both body and soule vnto eternall rest and then Faith ceaseth when eternall pacification and rest is wrought in man I. D. Thus you reason Faith is a labour Rest is not a labour Ergo Faith is not a Rest The Maior you proue thus That which worketh rest is a labour But Faith worketh rest and ceaseth when rest is wrought Ergo Faith is a labour The Minor you leaue naked and without proofe supposing I thinke that no man vnlesse bereft of his fiue wits would deny it and hold that Rest is a labour Let vs therefore briefly examine them both The Maior of your second Syllogisme precisely and literally vnderstood is not true for that which worketh is the Agent or Labourer and the Labourer cannot bee the Action or Labour Whereupon it followeth If that which worketh bee not a labour And Faith as you assume worke that therefore Faith is not a labor which is contradictory vnto the Maior of your first Syllogysme And yet as I grant not vnto you that Faith is a labour so neither dare I peremptorily deny it only I blame you for speaking so confusedly where it was necessary to vse distinction Know therefore that Faith as all other qualities whether acquired or infused may bee considered two wayes either in the first act as Schooles vse to speake or in the second The first act is the very habit of Faith inhering and sticking in the soule the second is the immediate and proper operation and action thereof If then you vnderstand Faith in the first Act and as it is an Habit it is not a labour but is imprinted in vs by the Holy Ghost to the end that when oportunity is offered and duty requireth wee may by vertue thereof more sweetly readily and easily worke and labour And so far is it from being a labor it selfe that oftentimes it lieth as it were idle asleep doing nothing at all vntill it please the Spirit of God to stirre vp our wils and to quicken the sparke hee hath put in vs inabling vs thereby to cooperate
and to vpbraid error in man is to reproch euen mortality in selfe Which if you had seriously and duly considered either you would not with such petulancy haue beene caried against the errors you imagine to be in mee or at least you would haue remembred your selfe also to be a man But seeing you count your selfe the only wise-man and others as the Poet speaketh Homer to fly about like shadowes you may not thinke it hard if being both ignorant and insolent you be admonished of the one and chastised for the other OF THE FAITH OF INFANTS AND HOW THEY ARE Iustified and Saued By the late Reuerend and Learned Diuine Master Iohn Downe Bachelour of Diuinity and sometimes Fellow of Emanuell Colledge in Cambridge OXFORD Prinred by IOHN LICHFIELD for EDWARD FORREST Anno Domini M.DC.XXXV OF THE FAITH OF INFANTS AND HOW THEY ARE Iustified and Saued THat Christian Infants haue a particular Faith of their owne is generally affirmed both by Papists and Lutherans yet with some difference De Bapt. l. 1. c. 10. as Bellarmine writeth For Papists hold that they haue onely Habituall Faith and that it together with Hope and Charity is infused into them in the Sacrament of Baptisme but the Lutherans saith he attribute vnto them Actuall Faith or something like thereunto Wherein it may be the Cardinall doth them some wrong Field Append. part 2. §. 1. For it is obserued by some Diuines that they constantly deny Children to haue any actuall apprehension of Gods mercies or that they feele in themselues any such motions of Faith Whereupon it must needs follow that their meaning is not to attribute vnto them Actuall Faith but a kind of Habituall Faith onely or that seed root and Habit whence Actuall motions in due time doe flow But bee their opinion herein whatsoeuer it will bee sure I am that both Lutheran and Papist agree in this that Infants haue a particular Faith of their owne The principall reasons that they alledge for proofe hereof are these Heb. 11.6 Infants please God but without Faith it is impossible to please him Mat. 19.14 The Kingdome of God belongs vnto them Which yet the Scriptures say cannot be attained without Faith The Word of God euery where maketh particular Faith a necessary meanes vnto Iustification and Saluation as where the Prophet saith The iust man shall liue by his Faith Hab. 2.4 but Infants are iustified before God and being iustified cannot but bee saued Matt 18.6 Mar. 9.36 Luc. 1.41 Nay Christ himselfe expresly saith that they doe belieue And Iohn the Baptist in the very wombe of his Mother was filled with the Holy Ghost and sprang at the salutation of the Blessed Virgin Other arguments they vse but they are all of the like nature and notwithstanding them all I cannot bee perswaded that Infants while they are such haue any Faith of their owne either Actuall or Habituall And these among sundry others are my chiefest reasons Deut. 1.39 First the Scripture in plaine tearmes affirmeth that they haue no knowledge at all either of good or euill and that they cannot so much as discerne betweene the right and the left hand If so Ion. 4.11 how can they who conceiue not of things naturall vnderstand those things that are heauenly and aboue the pitch of nature To this effect Saint Augustin Epist 57. Scire diuina paruulos qui nec humana adhuc norint si verbis velimus ostendere vereorne ipsis sensibus nostris facere videamur iniurià m quando iâ—â—loquendo fuadere studemus vbi omnes vires officiumque sermonis superet euidentia veritatis that is If wee should goe about to demonstrate with words that Children know the things of God who as yet know not the things of men I feare wee should offer wrong euen to our very senses endeuouring to perswade by speech that the euidence of the truth whereof far exceeds all power and office of speech Secondly when Infants are presented at the holy Font and either sprinkled with the water of Baptisme or dipped therein how chanceth it that they so much dislike thereof testifying their dislike by their crying and other motion of the body Certainly had they actuall Faith they would endure all with much patience and cheerefulnesse and neuer bewray so much aduersenesse and discontent But if in doing so they goe against their knowledge the Sacrament must needs bee so fâ—rre from auailing them to the washing away of Originall guilt that by their reluctation they rather contract a further guilt of Actuall sinne which I suppose none except he be too too vncharitable will imagine of them Thirdly if they haue Faith why are they not after their initiation by Baptisme forthwith admitted vnto holy Communion In the time of Saint Augustin and Innocent the first it was the practice of the Church so to doe and it continued as some write for the space of sixe hundred yeeres downe vnto the times of Ludouicus Pius and Lotharius But why is that custome now growne out of vse and why are Children barred from the Eucharist if they belieue as well as elder people Nay why are they not rather admitted then those of riper yeeres For Infants haue not so much as euill thoughts in them but these by reason of their longer life haue made themselues guilty of many euill deeds besides Fourthly Faith as Saint Paul witnesseth commeth by hearing and hearing by the Word of God preached But Infants heare not neither by the eare nor by any other way proportionable thereunto or if they doe yet they vnderstand not what they heare For did they vnderstand I presume they would harken more attentiuely vnto what is said then we see they doe Wherefore not hearing neither doe they belieue If you say they belieue by an inward Hearing then is that Faith wrought either by Ordinary or Extraordinary meanes Not by Extraordinary meanes for it is done euery day and houre By Ordinary therefore If so then haue wee a double manner of working Faith and both of them Ordinary the one by Inward Hearing in Infants only the other by Inward and Outward also in those that are Adulti which is a meere nouelty in the Church of God Fiftly how commeth it to passe if Children haue Faith that among so many millions of them as haue beene in the world not so much as one of them when they come to riper yeares giueth any testimony of his Faith vntill hee bee farther taught and informed If a child borne of Christian parents and entred into the visible Church by Baptisme shall afterwards while hee is yet in his tender yeeres fall into the hands of Infidels or Turks as the more the pitie many thousands of them haue done and the whole band of Ianizars they say consists of no other doth hee not readily receiue that religion which is first instilled into him without once dreaming of the Christian Faith Which yet how it should bee hauing from his
sinne of their owne Neither doth God thinke it agreeable with his iustice to exact of them a proper and particular Faith of their owne Infants then are holpen by anothers Faith Whose Faith will you say The Faith of the Parents as also of the Church who is the common mother of vs all and in whose wombe as it were they are conceiued borne This of old was Saint Augustins sentence and this all sound Diuines haue agreeably with the Scripture euer held Onely it may be demanded how and in what sort the Parents Faith auaileth them Whereunto I answer not by particular applying of Christs merits and obedience vnto them for this is done onely by a mans owne Faith vnto himselfe but by bringing them within the compasse of the Couenant of Grace Thus The Couenant was made not with Abraham onely Gen. 17.19 Act. 2.39 but with his seed also and the Promise saith Saint Peter was giuen both to the Parents and to the Children The Parents therefore by Faith apprehending this Promise and Couenant by their Faith interest their Children also thereunto For as it is in ciuill negotiations the bargaine that the Father maketh for himselfe his Children is firme and good although the Children bee not present at the bargaine-making nor vnderstand what is done euen so in this spirituall Couenant and contract with God the Parents Act is sufficient force to confederate their Children also and to giue them a right vnto all the benefits of the Couenant And as I conceiue this is imputed vnto them in lieu of all those Acts and Habits which otherwise are required in those that are Adulti How farther the Holy Ghost worketh in them is a deepe and inscrutable secret Et de occultis non iudicat Ecclesia the Church is no iudge of things that are hidden Onely I affirme that by the Faith of the Parents the Children are made a holy seed and members of Christs body But what if one of the Parents bee an Infidell What if either of them or both be notorious hypocrites or openly sinnefull hauing not in them true Iustifying Faith are the Children therefore without the compasse of the Couenant and vniustified before God I answer No For first if but one of the Parents belieue yet are the Children holy 1. Cor. 7.14 So saith Saint Paul The vnbelieuing husband is sanctified by the belieuing wife and the vnbelieuing wife is sanctified by the husband else were your Children vncleane but now are they holy Againe though neither of the Parents belieue with iustifying Faith yet being in the Church by the profession of Christian Religion their Children are within the Couenant For first the Soule that sinneth it shall die Ezech. 18.20 the sonne shall not beare the iniquity of the Father neither shall the Father beare the iniquity of the Sonne So that the impiety of the Parents preiudiceth not the Child that is borne in the Church Secondly by Parents are to bee vnderstood not those alone of whom Children are immediatly begotten and borne but their Progenitors and Ancestors also who feared God and liued in the Church though many generations before For God made not his Couenant with Abraham and his immediate seed onely but with all his seed after them in their generations Gen. 17.7 Ex. 20. and promiseth to shew mercy to the thousandth generation of them that loue him and keep his Commandments Whence it followeth that these are as it were a root vnto all their posterity borne in the Church and therefore Rom. 11.16 if the root be holy so are the branches also saith Saint Paul Lastly bee the next Parents whatsoeuer they will bee yet their Children being borne in the Church the Church is their Mother and the Faith and piety of the Church interesteth all such as are borne in her vnto the Couenant And thus you see how Children are iustified and Saued by anothers Faith If Children may not those that are Adulti so bee iustified and saued also No verily For as the Prophet saith The iust man shall liue suâ fide not by anothers Hab. 2.4 but by his owne Faith And hence is it that in the Lords prayer we are taught to say Our Father but in the Creed I belieue because Prayer is an Act of Charity extending it selfe vnto the good of others also but Belieuing is an Act of Faith onely benefiting a mans selfe Can the cloths that another weares warme mee or the meat another eates nourish mee or the potion another receiues cure mee or the soule that is in another man quicken mee Nor more can the Faith of another man iustify or saue mee As one man shall not beare anothers fault sed anima quae peccat ipsa morietur the soule that sinneth it shall die so shall not one man bee acquitted for anothers Faith sed anima quae credit ipsa saluabitur the soule that belieueth it shall bee saued Saluation euery where in Scripture is promised to him who himselfe belieueth and damnation is euery where threatned to him that belieueth not so And he belieueth not so who hath not a Faith of his owne Yea but if Adams sinne bee imputed vnto vs for Condemnation and the Obedience of Christ for Iustification why may not anothers Faith also bee imputed for Saluation The case is not alike for they were publicke persons and stood in our steed but so doe not others In the Couenant of works Adam was our Head and therefore his sinne is counted the common act of all those that were in his loines In the Couenant of Grace Christ is our Head and therefore his Obedience is esteemed the common Obedience of all those who are vnited vnto him by Faith Others are not our Heads nor represent our persons in regard whereof neither can their Act bee accounted ours It will further bee obiected that Christ forgaue the palsie-sicke man his sinnes for the Faith of them that brought him Luc. 5.20 and so as Thomas saith both Ambrose and one Iohn a Bishop vnderstand it Caten in cum loc But Saint Chrysostome otherwise and that more rightly vnderstanding it both of the sicke mans Faith and theirs who brought him For our Sauiour intending to bestow a double benefit vpon him namely the cure both of body and soule this could not bee effected but by the interuention of his owne Faith but the other might by the Faith of those that presented him So wee read that the Centurions seruant Mat. 8.13 15.28 and the woman of Canaans daughter were healed the one for his Masters the other for her Mothers Faith And who knowes not that vnbelieuers oftentimes temporally fare the better for the sake of the Faithfull Saint Ambrose therefore imputing the remission of sinnes vnto the Faith of others must bee vnderstood with a graine of Salt as they say that one mans Faith may obtaine Faith vnto another and so consequently by the interuention thereof Iustification also as did the
Faith of S. Steuen as some suppose vnto S. Paul and the teares of Monica vnto her Sonne Augustin Thus those that are Adulti must haue a Faith of their owne And why I pray you more then Infants The reason is euident For first those that are Adulti are capable of Faith so are not Infants and therefore reason would that they should haue a Faith of their owne though these bee holpen by the Faith of another Againe they that are growne to riper yeeres haue in them more deadly diseases then Infants and so need more remedies then these Infants indeed are borne in Originall corruption propagated vnto them from Adam but of Actuall sinnes they are not guilty neither are they defiled with the fruites of that bitter root And therefore vnto them sufficeth thorow the gracious Couenant of God the Parents Faith But to those that are Adulti who are stained not onely with Originall sâ—â—ne but also with many Actuall transgressions by themselues committed in thought word and deed it is requisite that by a particular Faith of their owne they apprehend the merits and obedience of Christ for their Iustification and Saluation In a word anothers Faith as is aboue said may by diuine dispensation and indulgence suffice to him who hath onely sinned in another but to him who himselfe hath sinned not anothers but his owne particular Faith is necessary Now to conclude all with a little application seeing all these things are so first wee haue here the great priuiledge and prerogatiue of Christian Children aboue others For by vertue of the Couenant they are a holy seed haue right to the promises and the Kingdome of Heauen belongeth vnto them Hence is it that anciently vnder the law they were Circumcized and now vnder the Gospell are admitted vnto Baptisme the seale of the Couenant of grace In so much that whosoeuer of them depart this life in their infancy and tender yeeres vndoubtedly they are all and euery one of them saued What should let Can they that are holy perish Will God fayle of his Word to those that haue right to the promises Shall they to whom the Kingdome of Heauen belongeth bee excluded from it Originall sinne is pardoned them in the Couenant and washed away in the lauer of regeneration other sinne they haue none to hinder them and therefore without doubt so soone as they die their innocent soules are by the holy Angels of God transported into Abrahams bosome Neither let any man thinke that herein I stand single and by my selfe for thus a reuerend Bishop also of this Church I pray what did antiquity teach that young Children Baptized are deliuered from Originall sinne Carleton ag Montag Wee teach the same and doubt not but if they die before they come to the practice of actuall sinne they shall bee saued And our Diuines in the Councell of Dort Synod Dord Infantes ante vsum rationis morientes electi Infants dying before the vse of reason are elected Tom. 1. Hom. 2. p. 1. And the booke of Homilies Infants being baptized and dying in their infancy are by this Sacrifice washed from sinne brought into Gods fauour made his children and inheritors of the Kingdome of Heauen More I could name but these may suffice to let you know how vnlikely it is that should bee Arminianisme for so hath this opinion rashly beene censured of some which the Church of England and the professed enemies of Arminians hold But what are none saued but onely the Children of Christians Or doe you condemne all the rest vniuersally vnto the pit of Hell Iun. de nat grat 28. I will tell you what as graue and learned a Diuine as any this age hath yeelded holdeth Hee doubteth not but that many of the Children of Infidels are saued partly by vertue of the Couenant and partly by Gods election By vertue of the Couenant in as much as they are descended of such Ancestors as haue apprehended the Couenant although their succession haue afterwards suffered some interruption By Election because God hath not barred himselfe from power and right to communicate grace euen to those whose Ancestors pertained not to the Couenant For if hee call those Adulti into the Couenant who before were not of it why may hee not in like manner if hee please chuse Infants also Finally as hee belieueth all that are in the Couenant and that are elected to bee saued so in Charity hee presumeth all that dye in their Infancy rather to bee saued then shut out of the Kingdome of Heauen For my part I will answer no otherwise then in the words of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 5.12.13 What haue I to doe to iudge them that are without Doe yee not iudge them that are within But God iudgeth them that are without And so to his righteous iudgement I leaue them Againe here haue wee double comfort for all Christian Parents And first in the birth of their Children seeing they are holy and belong vnto the Couenant of Grace True it is the Scripture saith Psal 51.7 Eph. 2.3 they are conceiued and borne in sinne and so the Children of Wrath but you are to know that they represent a double person one of a Sonne of Adam the other of one ingrafted into Christ As they are the Sonnes of Adam they are bone sinfull as ingrafted into Christ freed from sinne Secondly in their death for they may bee assured by Faith that they are translated into those ioyes which eye hath not seene nor eare euer heard nor hath euer entred into the heart of man Of elder people they can but hope it in Charity of these they haue infallible certainty If they liue vnto more yeeres who knoweth but wickednesse may alter their vnderstanding Sap. 4.11 or deceit beguile their mind as the wise man saith But now being preuented by death they are quickly passed this vale of misery and haue soone ended their painfull pilgrimage and are possessed of the place of eternall rest and happynesse If any thing will drie vp the teares or stint the sighs and cries and lamentations of Parents for the losse of their tender Infants this is it especially if they consider withall that themselues vnder God haue beene the meanes of bringing them within the Couenant and procuring vnto them their euerlasting Saluation Thirdly Parents may hence learne that a necessity is laid vpon them to present their Children vnto the holy Font so soone as conueniently they may For seeing by their birth they are interested vnto the Couenant the seale of the Couenant must not in any case be sleighted or neglected What though Baptisme be not absolutely necessary vnto them yet is it necessary for Parents to giue it them conditionally if it may bee had If it cannot bee had the Vow and Desire of the Parents is sufficient neither doth the bare want of Baptisme without any of his or their default exclude the Child from Saluation For if a iust and honest