their faces their eyes serued thē also for directing their feet otherwise so the onely eye of faith or onely faith as the eye of the soul beholdeth Christ of whom the serpent was but a figure therby only in him are we saued yet although in this regard alone it doth the deede yet is it not alone but continually accompanied with godlinesse all good woorks in so much that where we finde not good works it is bootlesse to seeke for faith for faith wil no where lodge or liue without works the mother cannot be without her daughers If you kill the children you kill the parent to So that chase away works faith will not tary after If a man wil say he retaineth her retaineth not her retinew well may he say so but in sooth veritie in steede of a iustifying faith he laieth hold on an vnprofitable deuelish faith a dead faith a verbal faith a shadow of faith a faith which he so calleth yet is not faith at all neither hath it any affinity with the iustifying faith which iustifieth alone yet is not alone as hath bene declared in manie wordes and happilie in mo then was needefull but onely for the simpler sort As there is a double taking of this word faith either true or verball so also is there a diuerse acception of this worde iustifying either for a beleeuing an apprehending the iustice of Christ imputed or for a declaration that we are such persons to the opinion of others by iust liuing which is a iustification before men Of the former meaning Sainct Paul doth argue the later sence S. Iames forceth and standeth most vpon For saith he I am a man and not God that seeth the heart I am but man shew me thy faith c. So that these Apostles Paule and Iames albeit they vse the same tearmes both of faith and iustifying yet because they treating in deede thinges diuerse they can not be sayde to varie when as they speake of sundrie matters and not both speciallie of one and the same thing though seeming so in tearmes For Sainct Paule treateth of one faith S. Iames of an other S. Paul of one iustification Sainct Iames of an other Sainct Paul vpon a certaine doctrine and Sainct Iames vppon a supposition If wee looke to heauen faith onely ascendeth thether or rather grace descendeth vnto faith in true maner of speaking Workes are left below who onely iustifie before men in earth For otherwise men can not tell who is iustified and who not but by workes But as onelie works do iustifie here so no doubt doth onely fayth there in respect of heauen The example of Abraham cleereth all Gen. 15.6 Rom. 4.5 Gal. 3.6 and giueth great light hereunto Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse that is he was iustified before God by faith And then in offring his sonne was he called the friend of God and so iustified called and pronounced so And so was his iustice thoroughly completed and his faith in proofe perfited and allowed of In the former of imputation of righteousnesse Paule and Iames in expresse wordes both agree In the latter they disagree not For Paule speaketh not thereof but onelie Iames who vppon great occasions presseth the necessarie sequeles of a true faith and iustification to ensue before men straight vppon a iustification praecedent beefore God Wherupon as it were word for word and in sence he reasoneth thus If thine offences were pardoned in Christ thie sinnes remitted and Christes righteousnesse imputed that is wearest thou iustified by fayth before God it would follow necessarilie that thy fayth would shewe it selfe and thy deedes without would declare what thou art within and therebie shouldest thou be reputed a iust man and so be iustified before men also But hee that wanteth the necessarie consequences of such a cause maie it not be concluded that hee wanteth the cause it selfe In the Gospell there were that boasted of the line and race of Abraham But the children of Abraham that are in deede his children are a posteritie according to faith and not after the flesh Mat. 3.9 Wherefore saith our Sauiour vnto them If ye were the children of Abraham by fayth ye would do the workes of Abrahā as Abraham did No workers ergo no faithful childrē of his for all their vaunting For though workes made them not his children but faith yet where such works lacked Christ therupon reasoneth the wanting of faith it selfe And it is true both in the nature of the thinges and in the iudgement of the world Yet all this doeth not disproue that faith alone doth iustifie before God nether doth it inferre that workes do otherwise iustifie thē onely before mē by the necessity of due consequēt to insue Works haue their vses though not that vse one key wil not serue for euerie lock They shew our faith to mē they ar no parts of faith to make it vp they are good duties that follow of faith and so they iustifie no otherwise in the eyes of men the behoulders I am ouer long herin Touching the other example of Rahab the harlot what were her works she receiued preserued Iosues messengers therby was she iustified that is so reputed in the cāp This one fact could not make her iust But being iustified no doubt before by beleeuing in God opportunitie seruinge well shee declared what she was in giuinge such entertainement to the Lords seruāts Which storie well sheweth that God hath his where a mā would litle thinke euen in that cursed city Let no man despaire Rahab an inhabitante of wicked Iericho and she sometime an harlot is accepted but see withall she changeth her former life and of an harlot became the hostesse of Gods seruants Wherin I note an harlot was far frō meriting therefore as afterwardes her good workes are recorded so yet is not her former fault omitted both to shew what she obtained first by fauour and pardon of her fault and then in dutie what shee did is spoken of wherby she became knowen to the Lords people and this was her iustification ensuing vpon a beleefe that went in fauour before Wherby it appeared how S. Iames in these examples forced the vse of good workes not to iustifie before God but in seruice dutie and opinion of and to men Greater amplificatiōs may be brought by the skilfull in these cases to this purpose In effect this is all that either the Apostle meaneth or I can say vpon his meaning so much is plainly meant that though in some functions they may be diuersly occupied yet true faith and good workes euer meete togeather and ioyntly rest in the iustified man But maruelous are the aduersaries in their conceits Rhem. not 1. Cor. 13.13 For they imagine a faithfull man to be without all faithfull and good dealing as if they coulde finde vs out great springs without the issue of many waters or much
and that not onely in respecte of the ceremoniall Lawe which Maister Stapleton supposeth but rather in regard of the Law of deeds Lib. 6. cap. 6 For their ceremonies were neither so many in number nor in obseruation so harde and how troublesome soeuer they were to the priesthod notwithstāding generally to the people were they both very few very easie to speak of But yet becaus by the ceremonies as namely the circumcision if they trusted therin they were become debtors of the whole Law therefore was the Law an insupportable yoke and whereby possibly came no perfection in consideration whereof S. Peter preacheth in the Actes that by grace in Iesus Christ through beleefe saluation is attained The hande of fauour reacheth it furth the hand of faith receaueth it offred and the spirite of adoption reposeth it in the hartes of beleuers and sealeth it fast vp in the assurance of a certaine hope against the day of euerlasting redemption Herein we leane not to a broken reede neither feeke we for moisture Iob. 6.20 as they that went to Tema and Scheba in the wildernes where the waters were dried vp we look not to trie balme out of the hard flint For worldly promotion commeth neither from the West nor from the East much lesse eternall saluation Onely by grace we beleeue to be saued and neither in parte The meaning of these words saith alone doth saue expoūded neither in whole by any thing else And this is our meaning when we saie Faith alone doth saue and iustifie that is we are wholely saued and solely iustified by God alone in whom we beleeue and neither by the preparations of nature nor by the libertie of will or else by the worthynes of any deedes as parts causes of our iustification our whole repose is onely in the mercie of the father that gaue vs his sonne and in the merit of the sonne that laid down his life to saue vs then when we were his enemies much more no doubt now saueth he vs when we are his frindes Phil. 1.29 by faith in him and that not for the dignity of faith For the merite of saluation resteth still in him the Sauiour and not in vs the persons saued And faith it selfe although it be no cause of procuring but a meane of receauing saluation yet is it also the gift of God who knoweth onely as Augustine speaketh how to giue to and not to take of his creatures and therfore we trust in him and onely in him And this is the doctrine of faith of al the faithfull of all ages of all places that it is onely faith that receaueth saluatiō that is in effect that God alone only he doth all as the sole cause of sauing the faithfull that they may beleeue stedfastly in him in him alone A while in these latter dayes corrupt times when the ruines of true doctrine were gretest with bold faces a sort of ignorāt vnreaden scriblers bore the world in hād that Solafides only faith was a mōster neuer born nor heard of til Luther forged it first Since being compeld to lay aside a litle their schoole brablers to take in hand the ancient fathers and old doctors wherunto they were skilfully directed by the learned of this last age their outcries that those wordes only faith in good record can not be found are well slaked At length euen M. Stapleton him selfe can cite redily Stapl. lib. 8. cap. 35. Hylary Origen Chrisostō Basile Austine others and he quoteth places in plaine pregnāt words as clear as cristall that onely faith doth iustifie But now when he hath foūd the words which were first found to his handes Rhem. not Iam. 2.24 both he out of him our M. of Rhemes reioine that the fathers neuer wrot thē in sensu Protestantum in the sence meaning that the Protestants take thē as if belike they were very like our Papists that somtime speake well and meane il not only of the Prince the laws in the common wealth but also of Christ of his grace of the scripture in the Church of God But cōcerning the point of this matter Only faith doth iustify So say we as sayd the fathers before vs many yeares ago their wordes be the same with ours and why not their sence First forsooth in saying that only faith doth iustifie is meant that the Lawe cannot iustifie without faith Doth then the Lawe iustifie with faith and faith togeather with the Lawe and doe the fathers meane so truely children woulde be more thē ashamed of such contradictions you let not most falsly to father vpon those good men fathers of reuerend and godly memory For if faith doe iustifie alone as say they saie trulie then doubtles without the law doth it iustifie or if not without the law or if the law with it then not alone For whosoeuer doth any thing alone he doth it without the helpe of any other Wherfore faith iustifying alone doth it without the law or any thing else except perchaunce alone signify not alone which may be true in Rhemes Doway verely we that tarie at home rome not abroad neuer harde the like interpretatiō in any of our scholes Again only faith they say excludeth the works of natur as the vertues of the Gētiles in case of necessity wher time wāteth onely faith is sufficient nether are externall works required as of the theef on the cros Farther onely faith is opposed either to the misbeleef of heretiks or vnto the vnbe lefe of infidels likewise is it set vp against the pride of vaunting Phariseis also against the fonde busie curiositie of vaine heades In these sences only is only faith meant taken in the fathers Well if this were so what of all this for the first of all these last answers heaped vp together be it agreed vpō that faith alone doth iustifie without natures worke at all For so vpon good occasiō warrāt out of the word of god haue the fathers spokē so you seem to agnize that they haue Wel then be it cōcluded as an euerlasting truth that in the case of iustifying nature hath not to do at all And will you graunt this no not so why not so because as you dream faith alone doth iustify is as much to say as natur doth not iustify without faith but with faith it doth This was the former starting hole where faith alon was faith the law here faith alone is faith nature Verily this is not faith alone but sport alone for Satā but to vs that morn thirst for your saluatiō what a singuler grief is it to cōsider how mē that beare the name of Christians will needes be thus wilfully deceaued dauncing skipping vp downe in the netts of their own deuising thinke no man discerneth The fathers intend by this worde onely faith to exclude both the Law of
excellent sentence full of cōfort and speciall confidence M. Stapleton would qualifie it but can not therfore thought it better to misreporte it otherwise then he found it in Bernard him selfe Lib. 9.14 and first of all he misquoteth the place 6. for 61. but that may be the negligence of his Printer and so woulde I easily thinke if there were no ill dealing otherwise Secondly he sayth this confidence is taken not for a confidence but so farre furth as it is opposed to an astonishment as if when I did a thing confidently I did it only not with astonishmēt Wheras a man astonished is past doing but doing confidentlie is doing and doing with great boldnes Thirdly for fidenter he saith fideliter changing Bernardes worde and fourthly he saith fideliter-dico as if Bernard spake of faithfull speaking and not of cōfident vsurping and taking specially in the singuler number ego I and properly mihi to my selfe take from the bowels of Christ what is wanting to my selfe The reasons of this his assurance Bernard yeldeth elswhere Serm. 3. de frag septē vpon three strōg cōsideratiōs of the loue of Gods adoptiō the truth of his promisse and abilitie to performe and thē he pronounceth that he knoweth whom to beleeue in beleeuing how to be assured In truth if we either rest or reckon of your selues so as M. Stapleton requireth we cast the anker of our hope in an vnstable place and not vpward into heauen as the Apostle teacheth and then no meruaile if hope be no hope fayth not faith For what scripture euer teacheth vs to hope or beleeue in our selues Accursed is he that maketh flesh his arme or putteth his trust in man either in himselfe or in an other man in him selfe for that is a daungerous pride in an other that is as Augustines word is an inordinate humilitie inordinate humilis non leuatur Hom. 84. de temp periculose superbus praecipitatur The proude man wil hurle down himselfe hedlong but the inordinate humble no man can hold vppe Wherefore pride dispaire and folly be far from vs. Our hope faith and helpe is only in the name of the Lorde We are ashamed of our selues of men like our selues but not of the hope which is in vs toward him The matter is weightie yet would I be loth to be ouer long I will ende with remembrance of a storie out of the booke of Nombers Numb 13. where Iosue sent certaine to suruaie the lande of Chanaan who vpon their returne reported of the goodnes of the lande much but more of the strength of the people of the crueltie of the inhabitants of their stature like giāts and in comparison that Israell were but grashoppers their towns meruelously defensed and that euerie way it was impossible to goe vp and preuaile against it But Caleb whom the Lorde had indued with a better spirite comforted the people on the contrarie side and saide cheerfullie Come let vs go vppe vndoubtedlie we shall possesse it litle considering the strength of the people or their crueltie or the wals of ther cities but onely rested vpon the promises of God and therein he stayed him selfe and would oft haue stilled Israell Semblably notwithstāding the force of all the worlde the difficulties of flesh and bloude the subtelties of sinne the arguments that certaine aduersaries like Iosues spies make against vs yet if we haue Iosues faith we must relie vpon the Lorde and in the ende we shall obtaine a better land then the land of Chanaan euen the land of the liuing with the liuing God He that somtime doubteth may remēber he is a mā but because he is also a faith full man he must not cōtinue therein but shake away distrust cōquere al doubts be well armed with the shild of faith against all assalts The faithles they are at an other pointe they ame vncertainly without a marke beat the aire bath themselues in the pleasures of the worlde for a while in the end they dy as they liued they liued without hope perish euerlastingly But we who are beleuers know we ar beleuers as August speaketh For faith is no fancy as we are risen againe in newnes of life in this life so shall we be receaued againe to life eternall in the life to come our conuersation and trafficke is aboue our hartes are set on heauen heauenlie thinges we are frindes with God distance of place diuersities of periles and doubtes of daungers can not disioyne or cause distrust for we also shall finally dye as we liued we liued in his feare and reuerence we dye in his faith he is our God God and therefore able our God and therefore willing to bring his promises all to passe one daie and in the meane season there can happen nothing neither inwardly nor outwardely but it may be patientlie borne quietly disgested and with suffrance passed ouer knowing alwayes as the Prophet saith that the time shall come either in this worlde or in the worlde to come when all shall confesse verily of a truth there is frute for the righteous doubtles there is a God Psal 58.11 that iudgeth the earth The teeth of the cruell the iawes of the Lion the arrowes and all the argumentes of proude imaginations shall come to nothing we shal certainely be saued Of sanctification in this life and the meanes of direction therein ACcording to the order which I proposed to my self to shew furth the frenes of Gods grace and fauour it remaineeth in this place next to speake of sanctification For albeit S. Paul maketh it no expresse linke of that chaine wherein God doth all in all and wherewith out of al cōtrouersie there can be nothing in man yet where he speaketh of mās duty to God he shewethe euer necessarilie that they who are iustified by faith in Christ are likewise sanctified by his spirite For being manumitted or freed from sinn by Christ we are there withall made the seruaunts of God to bring furth fruts vnto sanctificatiō Their owne Roffensis saw somewhat when he sayde fides iustificat ante partum Stapl. lib. 8. cap. 31. Illyr in cla par 2. tract 6. Faith is the mother works of sanctificatiō are the children The mother doth iustifie in order before the children be borne and then shee bringeth furth a godly ofspring who like good childrē cherish their mother and comfort her with naturall respect againe That no man mistake me it woulde be obserued that the word sanctification is taken either for iustification in Christ who is our wisedome our righteousnes sanctification or else for holynes of life in Christiās who hauing receaued the spirit of adoption a measure of grace are sanctified renued in their minds reformed in their liues dying to the world liuing vnto God Both these sanctificatiōs ar ours For Christ is ours therfore his holines his righteousnes are ours also But there is a