water without any moisture or a burning fire without his heat We may distinguishe matters in their natures by teaching although we find them not sundred in the persons in whom we find them And we do vsually distinguish faith and works but in the faithfull they are neuer found apart therefore we do not separate them there So that contrary to that which somtimes we are charged withall we euer set forth a faith adorned with vertues and not make a naked faith stript out of her attire still we tell them faith neither is nor can be foūd alone in the man iustified as hath bene proued at large in the examination of the place of Iames. But they to disproue this labour by all meanes possibly Rhem. not 1. Cor. 13.13 in speciall they alleadg S. Paul to the Corinth in whom say they faith is seuered from loue and if from loue then from all good works true if frō loue For all good works are summarily comprehēded hēded in loue which therfore is said to be the fulfilling of the lawe because it is of a greater span cōtaining the works both of the first and secōd table in louing God aboue al things our neighbour as our self Then if faith be separated from loue thē also from other works Now that from loue it may be seuered S. Paul speaketh say they in his owne person If I had all faith and had not loue c. ergo all faith may be had without loue S. Paul as he had faith so was he not void of loue whose loue was so great that he had care of all cōgregatiōs 1. Cor. 11.28 Supposing doth not euer proue the thing supposed therefore he doth but onely put a case nether is it generally grāted that al faith doth signify all faith in al kindes but in some one kinde all the degrees of that faith And herein many iudge that S. Paul meaneth a miraculous faith not the iustifying because he saith If I had all faith so that I could remoue mountaines that is all such faith and yet had not loue c. But if this be the sense then doth it not import that the iustifying faith may lacke loue but the miraculous faith if yet it proue so much Whether S. Paul meane a miraculous faith or no or whether a miraculous faith let it be a faith can be seuered from the iustifying or no I will not greatlie striue There is no edificatiō in multiplying of impertinent questiōs This must be cōsidered wel that the Apostle sayth not down right he hath faith and that he hath not loue but If I had faith Nowe I trust they will not proue matters with ifs and ands Our Sauiour said touching the beloued Disciple what if he woulde that he shoulde tarie still till his comming Ioh. 21.23 vpon this conditionall if an error was straight spread abroad that Iohn shoulde not die In like manner S. Paul also saith If I spake with the tunges of men 1. Cor. 13.1 and of Angells c. You will not go about hereby I trust to proue that the Apostle had a verie Angels toūg or that Angels had tunges S. Paule maketh supposels and thereupon he setteth furth the excellent commendatiō of loue which verely in sundrie points is far more commēdable then faith it selfe in so much that a man may vse the Poets wordes in a better mater O matre pulchra filia pulchrior A beawtifull mother faith Horat. a fayrer daughter loue But S. Paule doth no where disioyne them but concluding the praises of loue saith there are three that remaine togeather Faith Hope Charitie faith beleeuing in the promises hope looking and longing for them charitie louing the promiset and in him and for his sake louing all that is to be beloued Of all these the last is the greatest what in iustifying no. S. Paul debateth the matter to the cōtrarie euerie where Wherein then in the multitude of other duties and for the euerlasting durance therof both in this world and also in the world to come For when knowledge shall cease faith shall haue his date and hope shal be expired in the lease of this life in the life to come remaineth loue And this is all that the Apostle meaneth which neither confuteth the adonnes of faith in her proper office of iustifying neither yet doth it any way cōfirme that in other respectes she can be alone in the man iustified And thus much of only faith and yet of faith that is neuer alone Of the certaintie of grace and saluation by faith hope in euerie particular man NOwe then being iustified by faith Rom. 5.1 we haue peace toward God through our Lord Iesus Christ For so the Apostle inferreth to the Romaines vpon former debating of the selfe same truth vpon the self same groundes of iustification whereof we spake last So that necessarily the man iustified by his faith by faith also hath he the good fruites that growe vp withall i. peace with his God quiet in his soule and firme possessiō of assured saluatiō in a certaine hope Whereof M. Stapletō speaking with the same spirite that Tertullus did in the Acts Act. 24.2 tearmeth this doctrine a pestilent a pernicious teaching tēding only to presumptiō pride security M. Stapl. you speake your pleasure out of the aboundance of a choloricke harte If we presume God be praised Presumere de gratia Christi non est arrogantia sed fides Aug. Serm. 28. de ver dom 2. Sam. 6.14 we presume not of our selues as you do and if we be proude of Gods euerlasting fauour it is a godly pride and in securitie thereof we leape and daunce with an holy ioy as Dauid did before the arke thogh you like Michaol deride vs as fooles reproch vs therfore Sir ill words do neither proue a good matter nor disproue a bad Wherfore to let passe the rage of your heate let vs a litle consider the weight of certaine reasons you would seeme to produce you say the certainty of saluation by faith is common to sundrie heretikes 1 Lib. 9. cap. 9. contrary to the feare of God 2 3 4 repugnant to the order of praying and against the nature of the Sacraments 1. The first of your foure allegations is that heretikes also assure them selues in a vaine perswasion that their opinions are most true that thereby they shal attaine euerlasting blis yet be deceaued ther fore that there is no certaine saluation by faith We speake of the faithfull you of heretiks we of faith you of fancie we of a verity the truth you of a pertinacy in pretēding truth And how then can you conclude from the one against the other notwithstāding The abuse of thinges doth not abolish the necessarie good vsage of thē if heretiks could be faithfull also heretikes which is impossble yet being by faith well perswaded suppose
part Totum est pro vulnere corpus All is full of boyles and corruption In particular fancie occupieth the head and pride the heart and impudency is seene in the eyes the naturall mans eares are stopt to good itch after euill tidings his throate is an open sepulcher the poyson of Aspes is vnder his deceiptfull lippes stiffe necked is he and obstinate in euerie wicked way his feet are swift to slaughter his hands embrued and bathed in bloud and his right hande an apt instrument of all iniquitie These enormities appeare not euer at all times nor in all persons An easie answer to no hard obiection For certaine men seeme to be and be lesse vnruly then some but those that are ouerruled only by naturs conduction without any secret diuine restraint 1. Ioh. 2.16 haue alwayes ranged out of order without end or stay in any one mēber And what if some did kepe in or rather haue bin kept in frō such so manifest outragiousnes Neuerthelesse God counteth the bodie and the partes therof accessarie to and guilty of all the faultes of the soule as inferiours consenting to their superiours intent Mat. 5.28 And because of their neere coniunction in one person albeit the external act doth not euer follow or outwardly appeare The residence and chiefe throne of sinne in deede The chiefe seat of sinne is in the soule whence it riseth taketh head where it remayneth raigneth most and therfore this part requireth more speciall consideration The chiefest parts of the soule most spoken of among diuines commonly known to Christian people are of the mind and the will The parts of the soule If the mind be wise it is likely the will is better aduised will the rather endeuor to do the better But if the minde be out of her turne the will can neuer be wel in due order Now let vs see a little how it fareth with the naturall man in both these The blindnesse of mans vnderstanding THe natural mā perceiueth not the things that ar of God 1. Cor. 2.14 because they ar spirituall he naturall and therfore in Gods matters he is not onely weake sighted but quite blind Gen. 19.11 The case of the Sodomits that groped as men in the darke and could not find Lots door is one with the cōditiō of the vnregene rat who seeth not the way verily seketh not certainly findeth not the doore that leadeth openeth vnto heauē For in our selues we are not only darkned but darknesse 1. Pet. 2.9 Ioh. 1.5 can darknes cōprehēd the light If the blind lead the blind the one falleth vnder the other vpon but both into the dike If that which shold be thine eye to thine affectiōs be dark how peruerse also is the wilfulnes of all thy lusts But he that beleeueth not but resteth only in the imagined puritie of naturalls as the Pelagians or is in some good liking of natures habilitie as is the Semipelagian the Papist he seeth nothing cōceiueth nothing vnderstandeth nothing as he should Stapl. de vniuer iustif doctr lib. 2 cap. 10 neither is he capable of heauēly thoughts For seme he neuer so mighty potent politik wise discrete honest in all kinde of honestye yet because he hath not faith the true roote of godlinesse those fruites that he can beare things faire in shew yet in truth they are but bastard fruits and vnpleasant to a good tast For without faith and a sure confidence that we do wel Rom. 14.23 Heb. 11.6 which procedeth of a true faith in God Philip. 1.29 it is impossible to please the Lord. And this faith is not of natur but of grace as shall be shewed afterwards For natur being thoroughly poisoned bringeth foorth nothing but poyson who fedeth theron fedeth on poyson eateth drinketh foolishnes and is nourished with folly crawleth vpon his bellie groueleth vpon the earth like the sinfull serpent The wisdom of the world is foolishnes in Gods iudgement who knoweth best what is true wisedome 1. Cor. 1.19 Esay 29.14 Ierem. 5.5 and hath pronounced that the prudency of the prudent worldly wise men he will reproue because they and he agree not in any one part neither in the entrance end or midway of any one action Our wayes are not his wayes Esay 55.8 Psal 99.8 Our inuentiōs prouoke him to wrath our deuises are diuers and contrarie and therfore not for him The peruersnes frowardnes of mans will NOw if the mind be ignorant vnskilfull in that that is to be wished for how can the wil which taketh all her instructiō thēce rightly desire she can not tell what Doth any man ame at the marke he neuer sawe or desire the thing he neuer heard of Christ our Sauiour told the woman of Samaria Ioh. 4.10 if she knew with whom she talked she would craue the waters of life of him but therfore she begged thē not because she knew him not and could not tell neither what nor of whō to ask The very philosopher could tech his scholers and common experience doth testifie the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that no man loueth or longeth for the thing he neuer loked vpon And howe litle insight or rather how perfectlie blind by nature we are is alreadie shewed Farther no man naturally wisheth for any thing but he hath not only an insight but also a delight therin and it is gratefull to his nature pleasant in his eyes or at the least so supposed either in comparison of somewhat else or in som sort or other so reputed Herupon I will suppose an impossibilitie that man hath a cleare eye in that great misterie of godlines 1. Tim. 3.16 which the Apostle describeth and which is the ground of all knowledge But I aske how is he pleased how is he delighted therwith Be wee Greekes reckoned the wisest of the Gentils or Iewes once the people peculiar chosen of God The mistery of Christ crucified to either of these is either maruelous folly or wonderfull offensiue to both of them alike if God in iustice leaue them to them selues the preaching of the Gospell 1. Cor. 1.23 which shold be the odor of life if they could beleeue loue and embrace it is becom a sauour that they cānot brook a sauor of death to death euerlasting in fine they perish in their sinnes wherin their faithles natur toke such delight Wherfore if a naturall man an vnbeleuer would beare good men in hand that naturs case is not so hard Orth. expl lib. 3 if Andradius the cōmentator of the Coūcell of Trent as being priuy to their secret meaning herein speake neuer so honourablie of the state of heathen men to be saued without Christ if Pigghius or the schole of Colen Contro Ratisb 1 Dial. 2 Sarc in dist Schol. Doct or all the scholemen in the world wold qualify or alay the strēgth
Christianity the key of religion the peace of consciēce the water that allayeth the whirl winds and tempests of a troubled soule the wine that gladdeth the heauie hart and the oyle that cheereth the countenance of the sorowful man that droupeth and hangeth head as the bulrush in remorse of his offences are contained herein and depende vpon this happie and heauenly doctrine of our free iustification in Christ Iesu The parts of iustification The partes whereof properly taken to be are but two the remission of sinnes and imputation of righteousnesse the sinnes are ours the righteousnesse Christes The remitting of them vnto vs and the imputing of that which is none of ours are freely bestowed by speciall fauour vpon the faithfull and so of sinners and vniust we are reputed iust and become saued soules for Christes sake Of the righteousnesse of Christ imputed vnto and not inherent in a Christian man FArther fitlie to declare how far remission of sinnes stretcheth and in what maner precisely Christs righteousnes is rekoned ours requireth the lōger stay herin because the aduersaries haue enwrapped hedged in the matter round about with thorns that an vnwary hād can hardly cōe to the truth without dāger of pricking For of remission of sins Stap. li. 5. et lib. 7. ca. 10 they haue made a rasing out of sin quite as if no sinne remained at al after baptisme of imputation Rhe. Note Ro. c. 4. ver 7.8 they make a very imprinting of a perfit righteousnes in vs in both pointes erring very wide frō the truth For albeit the guilt of sinne be remitted and that no sinne hath any such sting as can wounde to death euerlasting Yet the full abolishing of sinne is not in this life but after death in the life to com And albeit vpon our effectual calling faith in Christ which is the gift of God straight way in conuenient time frameth a new by grace in Christ all our thoughts Phil. 3.29 Concil Mileuit can 3 proineth our lusts schooleth our affections and ordereth a right the whole race of our life to a better course and likewise although it be truly said Christ dwelleth in vs and we are his holy temples that we haue in vs his righteousnes his because it procedeth frō his spirit when we beleeue rightly liue accordingly yet that righteousnes whereby we are iustified is resident onely in the person of Christ is not inherent at all in vs for this were to make vs not onely his faithfull seruants and obedient children which is our dutie and must be so but to make our selues very Christes Sauiours of our selues And. ortho expl li 6. ca de iustific if not in whole at the entrie of the first receauing him yet in the chiefest perfection therof in the end of our iustification purchasing it to be really inherent and perfit in vs by meanes of deserts The later Papistes Rhem. not 2. Rom. especially since the councell of Trent haue most mistaken our iustification which when thy haue graūted it to be fre calling it a first free iustification yet by glozing to fro therupon haue much also impayred the freenesse therof and then in iustification which is but one being verie ill vnderstood as the mad-man thinketh he seeth two moones for one they haue found out another in thē selues Stap. lib. 10 cap. 2 Iustificatio imporiat ius ad vitā aeternam which being made vp of good workes must present them iust before the tribunall seate of God and deserueth euer lasting life this they call a 2. iustificatiō Verily we for our parts can not but ingeniously protest confesse we haue not so learned Christ and herein nothing can comfort vs more thē this that we haue not bene brought vp in the schoole of Trēt by Andradius or as auditors at M. Stapletōs feet at Doway or els at Rhemes vnder our late translatours there Our righteousnes is Christ We are iust in him not in our selues For his sake our sinnes are not imputed Coloss 1.20 but his innocencie is imputed In him it hath pleased the Father to be reconciled Eph. 1.7 And so ar al iustified freely by grace through the redemption which is in Christ Iesus both is in him by his means But I say which is in him inherētly not cleauing to vs. For the truth is the womā is clad with the Sun in the reuelatiō that is to say Reuel 12.1 the church is couered with the righteousnes of Christ the Son of God But as a garment sticketh not to the body no more doth the perfectiō of Christ cleue or stick in the person of any Christiā neither is he or his righteousnes 1. Tim. 2.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a righteousnesse in any degree in this life perfit imparted or gotten or purchased by any way of cōmixture confusiō but he only is ours by imputatiō the pay ransom of our dets though we personally defray and pay no farthing therūto The sonnes of men that meant to build a tower that should reach to heauen when they all spake one language euery one vnderstāding his fellow in the same tongue their worke went forward For an vnderstanding consent is much to farther either the euil intents of the wicked or the godly indeuours of the good Wherefore the Lord descēded cōfoūded their tongues that they might not all speake with one lippe and language and so was their building interrupted and it came to nothing the place receauing a fit name Babell of a deserued confusion Our aduersaries whilest they nestle them selues agreeably together in an opinion as it were legions of vncleane spirites in the bosoms of the simple they beguile the soner the moe But in this their building wherby they would pile vp merits works of deserts morter thē together in the lande of their owne flesh the top whereof should reache vp to heauen the Lorde coulde not suffer suche proude giantes so vngraciously to impaire his glory to haue their foorth but by his prouidence hath descended and diuided their languages among them selues One saith one thing another sayth another thing Pigghius a chiefe master workman with his felowes M. Stapletō a fine builder after the newer fashion with his mates can not agree together about the foundatiō of the worke Pigghius wil haue works preparatory deferring the grace of God Lib. 7. cap. 9 to be the ground work M. Stapletō liketh not that so well Againe which way the frame should rise and vpon what pillers it should rest they vary more M. Stapleton would haue mans righteousnes to rely and be in vpon mā himself Piggh. being better skild in this cause of more remors hūblenes of mind misliketh that shewes by manifest demonstrations it must be otherwise Yet Pigghius good aduise largelye layed foorth in this respect in his bookes could not be heard in the conuent of
the verie receauing and vsage of them doth after a sort soile them so that there can be no claime of worthinesse by them at all Now as for seruāts to be profitable to thēselues is a strange shift and I wil not spend labor to confute that which common experiēce doth detest For who will count him a profitable seruaunte that is profitable to him selfe and not to his master It were better for man to enter low into him selfe and to common with his own soule in these and to common with his own soule in these cases especially that so nearly concerne the soule Iud. 16.5 and as Dalila relied in Samsons bosome to knowe where his strength lay euen so neuer to leaue of till he hath traced foūd out his own weaknes in good things his strength in sinne and then shall he the better be able to sit in iudgement and giue sentence vpon him selfe no dout against the merites of man with the mercie of God in whose sight otherwise no flesh euer shal be iustified or profitable vnto him selfe in that respect The Papistes do but daly and play with Gods iudgements The Prophet is plaine and speaketh from a conscience well enformed that in the sight of God none shal be iustified None that is to say none before grace saith a chiefe Papist But Hosius and out of him Stapleton and others like not that For Dauid a man according to Gods own harte and therfore in state of grace yet sayd he of himselfe and that none in the Lords sight shal be iustified For that which is right in the sight of man because his eyesight may be deceaued yet therein Gods sight can not be deceaued He seeth the inwards searcheth and soundeth the bottome of secreat 1. Ioh. 1.8 and vnknowen sinnes Wherein if flesh will flatter it selfe and lie and say it hath no sinne yet God hath an eye that perceth farther and a stretched out arme and he will reach his hand into the cocatrice nest and plucke thence and display abroade the serpent that lurketh and lodgeth in the den of a dead and rotten conscience that hath no feeling nor sence of stinging sins For in his sight hidden faultes shall not so scape and therefore it is good praying euer Clense vs O Lorde euē vs they people from our secrete offences we know confesse that no flesh can be iustified in thy sight But I know not what M. Sapleton and Hosius meane to labour to proue that this saying of Dauid Stapl. lib. 6. cap. 1. Hos lib. conf ca. 73. is spoken by waie of comparison and that in his sight is in cōparison of God him self For doth God in iudgemēt meane to compare vs to himselfe and so to condemne vs Yet what gaine they by this we confesse this is true whether it be the natural meaning of this text or no. For in comparison of the sunne in his strength what is a candle or a starre or all the starres of the skie in cōparison of the almighty what is man at his presence the mountaines melt the earth doth shake the verie Angels are not clean in his sight how much lesse flesh blood that dwelleth in houses of clay and whose foundation is but morter All this is true But one truth is not contrarie to an other None shal be iustified before grace It is true None shal be iustified in comparison of God it is true to And it is most true also that Dauid sayeth Ierome expoundeth that not onely in comparison Hierom. in Ier. 13. cap. VVhere he termeth this their exposition the expositiō of heretiques and of the patrons of heretiques but also in the knowledge of God in his sight no flesh shal be iustified And all these truthes proue this one truth that none shal be iustified by their merites neither before nor after grace but altogether by grace which worketh not onely at the first all and afterward somewhat but beginneth all continueth in all and endeth all in all if they wil be iustified in deede This is S. Pauls doctrine throughout all his Epistles who sheweth that God worketh in vs both to will and to worke to the ende that we may will effectually Phil. 2.13 and all for his owne good will he worketh in vs to will I aske then where is free will he worketh in vs to worke thē I aske where are merits he worketh in vs to will and to worke and all and thē I aske where is any thing in man It is not in the willer nor in the runner but of God that taketh mercie Rom. 9. It is not in the willer and then I aske once againe where is free will it is not in the runner and then where are workes and worthines of workes If it be replyed that therefore the Apostle saith it is not in the runner nor in the willer but in the mercie of God Rhem. not Rom. cap. 9.16 vers because it is not onely in either of both these but in them and withall in the mercie of God to then see if it be so the sentence will be true if we turne it backward thus by the same reason It is not in the mercie of God but in the runner and in the willer because as the Papist saith al is not in mercie but part in mercie and part in fee will part in workes part in merits and therefore they may aswell say it is not in mercie but in merits in workes will and well deseruing The aduersaries would seeme to fauour much catholicke wordes and catholicke manner of speaking Was there euer Catholicke or Christian vnder heauen that spake thus as they in effect doe that our saluation is not of God that taketh mercy but in deserts The name of merit in Canoni scripture is not only not cōmonly vsed as they now can say but no where found Rhem. not 1. Cor. 3.8 the nature of meriting is flat against all scriptures And must yet merits be set vp in euē place with mercy or rather displace mercy quit For S Paul teacheth Rom. 11. that works mercy cā not stand togeather in respect of glory trulie no more then could Dagon and the Arke in the temple of the Philistines Establish mercie and let fall I say not the vse but the glorie of workes set vp works what neede mercie set them vp I meane in the throne of meriting Austine mentioneth the name of merits Aug. epist 105. Barnard saith he is not without his merits but both in an other meaning thē the Papist meaneth For a merit with Augustine is no other matter thē good works meerly proceding from the spirit of God done in faith and onely accepted by mercie then rewarded and so crowned and neither as issuing out of free will nor as equall mate conioyned with grace neither in working perfite not in value deseruing Bernard saith that he hath merites Bar. in Ps Qui habitat de 14.
Moses and the Law of nature But they conclude all together include the workes of the one and the other within faith Call ye me this excluding then to go on with the rest you say when some of the Fathers by onely faith exclude pride infidelitie heresie and curiositie you may as well say verum est without faith yet notwithstanding conioyne them altogether faith and infidelitie faith and pride faith and heresie faith and curiositie making vp as it were a Daniels image of cōtrarie mettals Dan. 2.33 that can not possibly cleaue or hang together But if excluding be including you may say and conclude what you will and distinguish at pleasure and defend with ease and all is well speciallie if you get but fauourable readers that can and will thinke what soeuer cometh from beyond seas must needes go for good Not withstanding that the simple may see the childish fondnesse and the extreame falsitie of this so absurd dealing I will shew it then in the like reason I would haue a garment made onely of cloath meaning by onely cloath to exclude stitching lacing facing with silk shall the Taylor come stitch lace and face my garment face me out that when I willed it to be made of cloth alone that without cloth forsooth I wold not haue it stitcht laced faced but with cloth I would Verily it had need be a very brode cloth that cā couer ouer al this follie it is so brode and a verie cunning not a Taylor but a Rhetorician or rather a Magician that must perswade me so and so bewitch a man against all sense reason in the world As for the theef that was saued by faith alone without externall workes alleadged by the Fathers that doth verie well proue that faith alone in sauing doeth the deede Ambros in Rom. 3 and not workes For the way to heauen is but single and one the same to all The thiefe was saued and entered Paradise by faith onely therefore also must all so do if they will enter For God will not saue some by him selfe in mercie and saue others by them selues partlie in mercie and partlie by their owne workes If the thiefe had liued longer time he should would haue liued well but his beleeuing was the wing that caried him vp and the key that opened the doore of heauen When time wanteth not onely faith excludeth not either workes or the goodnesse of woorkes in earth but the meritoriouse deseruing by workes with God in heauen and hereby both in heauen and in earth the free mercie and grace of God is beleeued embraced and gloriouslie set foorth by this most excellent confession of onely faith whereby we agnize the gift the free gift of God according to his purpose promis fauour grace and mere mercie In the storie of the Gospell in particular by examples thus much is prooued and where onely faith is named exacted and cōmended euen in bodily cares much more in ghostly causes of the soule where our Sauiour doth not so much respect the teares of some or in others their feare and trembling nor their crying calling after him but their faith and the greatnesse of their faith Mat. 9.22 Luc. 7.50 Mat. 15.28 Luc. 8.50 Thy faith hath made the whole Thy faith hath saued thee O woman great is thy faith I haue not found so great faith in Israell And in the eight of Luke and fifte of Mark. Beleeue onlie Onely marke that And withall marke if you will the Papists doubling answer herunto Rhem. not Mar. 5.36 Onelie beleeue that is either especially or only in cases of bodily diseases What I pray you why say you or and or If onely be not only but especially and principally then say so Or if onely be onely then say so and houer not vp and down like the birde that was sent out of the ark Gen. 8.9 and could not find where to set her foote But in deed neither is onely especially neither is onely onely in bodily sicknesse alone as shall plainelie appear And therfore herein ye haue made vs not onely one lye alone but two lowde lyes and those together without taking breath one vpon an anothers head For as for the first was Christ like your Phisitian that biddeth his pacient be of good cheere and onely haue a good heart yet withall a good diet must be kept and potions receiued as thinges more requisite O M. Allen and M. Martin and who euer else had finger in that your late gewgawe translation was there I say not were there other things but was there any one thing not onely more requisite but in equall degree as necessarie as faith Luc. 8.44 For woulde Christ require the lesse and omit the more necessarie or if many things were to be required woulde he say onely beleeue No. when all other helpes fayled then they came to our Sauiour And therefore other helpes being preternecessarie he wel required thē wholy to put their trust in him not that he could not cure yea reuiue without their beleeuing that he could but that dutie would he haue at their hands and only that in such respects Wherefore when this former shift serued not the turne you added though onely fayth be requisite and nothing else yet that concerned the healing of the body not the sauing of the soule Of healing the bodie I graunt but withall of sauing the soule that these words are not spoken is not so easilie proued For Christ Iesus the Sauiour both of bodie soule most principally saueth the most principall part therefore to shew what how alone he worketh specially in recuring their soules diseased with sinne view those miraculous cures done so euidently vpon their bodies Wherfore by conuenient reason it followeth if faith alone be required in thē much rather in the other wherein consisteth the greater cure in vs and whence ariseth the greater glorie to him selfe that cureth Contrarie to this in the example of Mary Magdalen somewhat is brought foorth as who therfore had her sinnes forgiuen Rhem. not Luc. 7.50 because she loued much So that loue also was required not faith alone Consider we the story a litle for our better vnderstāding wherin it is said to her Thy faith hath saued thee go in peace a litle before both of to her Many sinnes are forgiuē because she loued much Our of which I obserue 4. notes remission of sinns peace of cōscience faith embracing saluation due loue ensuing therupō Peace of mind cometh after ward in place to be spoken of The sole mean of receiuing remissiō is faith the only cause of remitting is mercy For otherwise remission were no remissiō And were not faith the only meane but her loue also as the Rhemish note is Christ whē he said Thy faith hath saued the he shold haue said nay thy loue thy faith or thy faith thy loue haue saued thee especially
were loue so noble so cōpendious so effectuall a dispositiō therūto Lib. 8. c. 30. as M. Stapletō beareth vs in hand it is in her was Many sins were for giuen her because she loued The Greeke word doth signify therfor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aswel as because But they vrge the word because as a precedent cause But se the like euen in the same word we say this apple tree is a good tree why because it beareth good frute Yet is not the frute cause of the tré nor the goodnes of the apple cause of the good tree but indeed because the tré is good therefore it bringeth fruit according to his kind this is the proper natural cause but we in cōmō speech say it is a good tree because we tast the goodnesse in the frute But this kinde of cause is an after cause a cause in reasoning but no making cause as nether was Maries loue of her sins remitted But therefore she loued not that the dignity of her loue was precedēt to the pardon of her sins but hauing receiued fauour pardō cōsequētly her dutiful loue ensued therupō This appereth by that saying inserted to whō lesse is forgiuen he loueth lesse to whō more he loueth more Mary had many sinnes forgiuē her therfore she loued accordingly therfore Christ said i. cōcluded many sins wer forgiuē because she loued much This obiectiō hath bin answerd more thē 1000. times In a word I will shew that nether did she nor could she loue loue so entirly before her sins wer remitted For beig not in the state of grace what could her loue be but lust and no loue fancy and no true dilection a notorious sinner shee was and therefore verie farre from louing and nothing neare louing much aright They that loue God keepe his commaundementes so do not sinners then did not she Calleth M. Stapleton this a noble disposition God be mercifull vnto vs as he was to Marie that we may shew tokens of a true loue as she did not before but after the multitude of all our sinnes pardoned and done away in Iesus Christ our onely Sauiour The fairest argument of all other to the shewe is a conclusiō that S. Iames maketh and at the first sight woulde make a man thinke greatly making against the doctrin of onely faith where he sayth ye see then how a man is iustified of workes not of faith onely wheras notwithstanding S. Paule euerie where inculcateth nothing more then faith without workes Doubtles these noble Apostles are not contrarie the one to the other neither are the Scripturs as a house deuided in it selfe God forbid they should S. Paule teaching that we are saued by grace and therefore not by workes yet for that there were certaine vaine persons crept in among them he exhorteth withal that they should not receaue the grace of God in vaine Likwise when he had shewed that life euerlasting was the gift of God and therefore no purchase of works yet withall also he warneth them that they beware also howe they tourne the grace of God into wantonnesse As Sainct Paule is vehement in this case so vpō greater occasion S. Iames was most worthelie as earnest as Sainct Paule For whilest some heard that faith without workes did iustifie vnstable and vnlearned minded men as they were peruerting that Scripture as also other Scriptures to their owne damnation they bade adieu to all good deedes saying in theyr foolish hearts if faith without workes can saue we can beleeue that there is a God if onely faith will serue we can beleeue and what neede more And thus contenting thēselues in a generalitie of their profession of faith falslie so called litle reckoning was made how bad soeuer their conuersation were For remedie whereof S. Iames asketh what such a faith could auaile them for either it was no faith and so nothing worth or a deuils faith so worse then nothing Yet lest any imagin that S. Iames plainly simply graunteth a deuils faith to be faith mark further how he doth not For when he speaketh of faith in deede and properly in the first chapter he saith it is no waue that is to say no trembling leafe no shiuering reede fully in S. Paules meaning that it is an euidēt probatiō a certain stable grounded strong thing Wherfore S. Iames whē he likeneth this supposed faith to the quaking faith of deuilles he speaketh not properly but by comparison and meaneth an other matter then either himselfe speaketh of in his first chapter or else S. Paule elsewhere in his Epistles For properly he tearmeth this maner of faith a dead faith that is no faith at al. And this he proueth by asimilitude that as a man may argue that a bodie is not quicke but dead without the spirit that is without all spirituall motions life sence so is faith without works For faith appeareth quicke and liuely in her operations and working Yet not as the Papist dreameth that works are the soule of faith but I say as the spirit and vital breath of faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherin it liketh well and greatly deliteth and manifestly sheweth it selfe For if a man be a faithfull man verilie also that man will liue vprightly walk honestly and do workes worthy of his faith not that faith is made of works but that where faith goeth before works euer folow after In so much that a man may well conclude a faithful man ergo fruitfull a fruteles mā ergo faithles Thou wilt say thou hast faith that is a verball faith nothing els Faith is not made of words but shewed in deeds As the Sūne is not without his beames no more is faith without her bright shining woorkes Yet the Sunne is not made of beames no more is faith of workes Yet may I well argue thus If it haue no beams it is no Sunne and so faith if it haue no workes well it may be called faith of vain men in truth it is not For the Christian fayth of saued men worketh euer in time conuenient by charitie Gal. 5.6 can not be idle For as by it and by it alone wee haue accesse to God and trust in his promises without all wauering embracing the benefits of Christs death and passion which is the chiefe dutie of faith so also where it lacketh roote in the good ground of godly hearts it bringeth out breaketh foorth into other frutes And those of sundry sorts to the vse of men according to the diuerse duties of discretion and charitie But still before God in the actiō of iustifying wherof Paul disputeth most faith alone doth al or rather receaueth all of God that doeth all In other respects she neuer is without her traine and as the eye and only the eye in beholding the serpent in the wildernes recouered the children of Israell and yet their eyes were not without the rest of the parts of
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
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