have Faith but not works and that in this case his Faith will not save him which is that which S. Paul allso sayd before If I have all Faith but have not Charity I am nothing S. Iames goes on v. 21. Abraham was he not justifyed by works offering Isaac Seest thou not how Faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect If this Faith had justifyed before any works proceeded from it it had been perfected before any such works Yet it is sayd that by works this Faith was made perfect Whence followeth v. 24. Ye see then how that by works a man is justifyed and not by Faith only This then is our demonstration if Faith justifyeth alone it justifyeth without works but S. Iames sayth it doth not justify without works therefore it doth not justify alone For by works and not by Faith alone a man is justifyed What more cleer THE XXVIII POINT VVhether our Iustification be any thing inherent in us 1. OVr adversaries doctrine is that wee are only just because God is pleased to repute us so in regard of Christs Iustice imputed to us and thus he doth only cover our sins these sins still remaining in vs but God doth now impute them to us because wee having once layd hold of Christs Iustice by the hands of Faith this Iustice is made ours and by Christs merits wee shall undoubtly be saved Our doctrine opposite in all points shall be point after point proved out of Scripture 2. First then wee say our Iustice is a quality truly inherent in us Ezech. 36.26 A new hart allso I will give you and a new spirit I will put with in you And cause you to walke in my statutes And ye shall keep my Iudgements and do them I need speak no cleerer So Rom. 5.5 The Charity of God is powerd forth in our harts by the Holy Ghost which is given us by the infusion of this Charity into us in us is framed the new creature Gal. 6.15 And this new inward man is sayd Col. 3.12 to be put on by us by such vertues as are inherent As by the bowels of mercies kindnes humblenes of mind meeknes And v. 14. Above all these by Charity which is the bond of perfection Behold the parts of this inward new man of which again he sayth Eph 4.23 Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man which after God is created in righteousnes and true holynesse which be qualities most inherent And Eph. 1.4 He hath chosen us before the foundation of the world that wee should be Holy without blame in his sight in Charity which Charity is an inward quality 3. Secondly wee say that by this quality wee are not only reputed just but wee are just verily and really And because wee verily are so wee truly are to be reputed so wee being Holy before him in Charity Eph. 1.4 For as was sayd in the former Texts wee have in us a new hart a new spirit by Charity powred forth in our very harts transforming us inwardly into new creatures and new men being truly renewed in spirit Whence 1. Io. 3. Wee are not only called the Sons of God v. 1. But now wee are the sons of God v. 2. So when you read that Abrahams Fai h working by Charity was imputed to him to righteousnes and he was called the friend of God Iames 2.23 You shall note that he therefore was reputed just and therefore called the friend of God because truly he was just and was truly Gods friend having Faith quickned by Charity in him So Luke 1.6 of Zachary and Elizabeth They were both righteous before God whose eyes see what is the most covered walking in all the Commandements and Ordinances of our Lord without blame They therefore were just even before Gods eyes And this true Iustice in the eyes of God is in the same chapter promised to vs by the grace of the Saviour there foretold that wee may serve him in Holynes righteousnes and Iustice before him all our dayes v. 75. Note this Holynes before him which is to be Holy in his sight Hence God to Noë Gen. 7.1 I have seen thy righteousnes before me Hence allso Col. 1.10 That you may walke worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing fructifying in all good works Giving thanks to the Father who hath made us meet to be partakere of the inheritance of the Saints So Apoc. 3.4 Thou hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled theyr garments and they shall walk with me in whites because they be worthy And 1. Io. 3.7 Litle Children let no man deceive you He hath doth righteousnes is righteous even as he is righteous Note those words even as he that is God is righteous For God is righteous not by imputative but true interior Iustice of which inward Iustice Christ sayth Matth. 5.20 I say unto you unles your righteousnes shall exceed thae of Scribes and Pharisees you shall not entee into the Kingdome of heaven For if there be not righteousnes in us exceeding Scribes and Pharisees wee shall be damned and no righteousnes shall be imputed to us For as is sayd Rom. 2.2 Wee are sure that the judgement of God is according to truth It were not verity but falsity to repute him just who in very truth is not just but is still a sinner Hence Prov. 17. v. 15. He that justifyeth the impious and he that condemneth the Iust both are abominable before God Dare you say that God doth that which is abominable He reputes things to be as they truly are in themselves So Rom. 2.9 Wrath and Indignation Tribulation and Anguish upon every soule of man that worketh evill He imputes Iustice to no sinner untill he leaves of to be so by true returning to works of Iustice Those whom he reputes clean truly are clean And you are clean Io. 13.10 4. Thirdly hence wee say that our sins be not only covered but wholy taken away For wee by vertue of Gods inward grace given for Christ are clensed made white and glittering For Christ is the Lambe of God who taketh away the sins of the world Io. 1.29 He doth not only cover them but takes them quite away And so Psal 32.2 when David sayth Blessed is the man to whom the Lord doth not impute iniquity and whose sins are covered It followeth there is no guile in his spirit And because there is no guile therefore no iniquity can be imputed to him Protestants still cite the former words but leave out these latter which words teach us excellently that that which is covered from Gods eyes must not be at all and therefore his sin now not being at all cannot now at all be seen For as the same David tells you Psal 103 v. 12. As farre as the east is distant from the West so farre hath he removed our transgressions from us This expressiō though it may be thought very full yet really our sins forgiven are
6.9 Be not weary in well doing why so For in due season wee shall reap if wee faint not Sixthly Eph. 6.8 Knowing that every one what good so ever he shall do that shall he receive of our Lord. Seaventhly he seeks in his Convertites the doing of good works by reason of the reward they shall receive for them So Philip 4.16 Ye sent once and againe to my necessity not because I desire the gift But I desire the fruit that may abound to your account Behold S. Paul desired the encrease of theyr merit Eightly 1. Tim. 6.17 Charge them that are rich that they do good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute Laying up store for themselves a good fundation against the time to come that they may lay hold of an eternall life Ninthly Tim. 2.4.8 There is layed up for me a Crowne of righteousnes which our Lord will render to me in that day a just Iudge and not only to me but c. It is his mercy to promise heaven to our good works it is his mercy to give us that grace which confers all the meritorious value upon these works it is his mercy to excite us by actuall grace to performe such works and to accompany and assist us whilst wee work But it is his Iustice and righteousnes to give that reward which his mercy made these works able to deserve So that now as a just Iudge he rewards our merits though they be his gifts Tenthly Heb. 11.24 Moyses refused to be called the Sonne of Pharao his daughter choosing to be afflicted with the people of God esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures in Aegypt For he had respect unto the recompence of the reward Behold how much Moyses valued the recompence of the reward due to so meritorious an act as that was And Eleventhly Hebr. 10.35 Cast not away your confidence which hath recompense of great reward I might end all these Texts with that of the Apocal. 22.12 My reward is with me to give every one according as his works shall be 5. But I thought fitt to adde that wee Roman Catholicks do so extoll the dignity of good works in regard of that value given them by the grace of Christ merited for us by his Passion that wee say these works thus dignifyed make us worthy of heavenly blisse And this wee prove by Scripture S. Paul Col. 1.12 Who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of Saints And Apoc. 3.4 But thou hast a few names in Sardis which have not defiled theyr garments and the shall walke with me in whites because they are worthy Hence Psal 18.21 The Lord shall reward me after my righteous doings According to the cleanes of my hands shall he recompense me See Point 28. n. 2. 3. 6. Against so many and so cleare Texts our Adversaries chiefly object First that the Scripture Isa 64.6 Wee are all as an uncleane thing and all our righteousnes are as filthy raggs I answer this is sayd of us and our works done meerly by us as wee are left to our selves borne and growen up in sin and not aided nor clensed and dignified by Gods grace And it is a strange inference of our Adversaries to draw from hence that our best works done in grace and by the helpe of Gods grace be all deadly sinns For so in the Texts cited David could not be rewarded after his righteousnes and according to the cleanes of his hands Neither should there be any of so unfiled garments as to walke in whites because they are worthy again how sayth S Iames c. 2.21 Abraham was he not justifyed by works offering Isaac Seest thou not how faith wrought with his works and byworks was made perfect How so if both his faith and his works were deadly sinns What doth God thus reward deadly sin or could such a sin be a worke justifying Abraham In the Texts n. 6. It is sayd that God will repay us for fasting praying giving almes in secret How is this true if all these works be deadly sins in us Tell me how it is possible by heaping up deadly sinns to do what Christ bids us that is to heap up treasures in heavē The yong man of whom I spook was told that by selling all he should purchase a treasure in heaven How then was this selling all a deadly sin If selling all be a deadly sin then to say If thou will be perfect go and sell all is to say go and do a deadly sin if thou wilt be perfect Is that the one thing that was wanting unto him And thus I might argue out of most of the above cited Texts I am sure Christ sayth Matth. 3.10 Every tree that brings not forth good fruit his hewen down and cast into the fire If the fruit of no tree be good then every tree must be burned S. Iames 1.26 Of the doer of the work sayth This man shall be blessed in his deed And S. Paul Phil. 4.18 calls the almes sent to him an odour of a sweet smel a Sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God These almesdeeds then were not filthy raggs 7. Secondly they object out of Luk 17.10 When you have done all that you are commanded say wee are unprofitable servants I answer this is true that by all wee do or can do even by Gods grace wee are servants unprofitable to God For all wee do or can do profits him nothing But wee are servants profitable to our selves For heaping up treasure in heaven and making friends of Mammon to receive us into the eternall Tabernacles are things very profitable unto us as allso to be good and faithfull servants and therfore to be placed over much and enter into the joy of our Lord. S Paul sayd 1. Cor. 13.3 If I should distribute all my goods to be meat to the poore and have not Charity it doth profit me nothing Ergò with Charity it profits me much Yea though faithfull servants be thus unprofitable to God yet in regard of the service they do him he sayth Io. 15. v. 14. Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you a thing of no small profit and honour Again is it not think you any profit to have a hundred fold here in this world and life everlasting in the next for leaving what they had for his like Is it no profit to us to say truly with S. Paul Col. 1 12. He hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints and to walke with him in whites because wee are worthy Apoc 3.4 Had he no profit by overcoming to whome it was sayd He that shall overcome and keepe my works untill the end I will give him in heaven power over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of Iron Apoc. 2.26 Hee that shall overcome I will give to sitt with me in my throne Apoc. 3.21 Do wee not then by overcoming profit our selves in a high
as farre from us as that which is not now is distant from that which is now which is a greater distance then East from West though that be farre enough to declare a true perfect remission by quite abolishing the sin forgiven by infused grace according to Ezech. 36.25 I will sprincle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthines And 1. Io 1.7 And the blood of Christ clenseth us from all sin So that by this his blood the body of sin is destroyed Rom. 6.6 And thus he will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea Mich. 7.19 THE XXIX POINT Whether our justification may not be lost 1. THe hart is deceitfull above all things who can know it Ier. 17.9 Yet Protestants placing justification in such a speciall faith as assures each man of his saluation by the merits of Christ are hence enforced to teach two strange Paradoxes The first is that this speciall faith breeds a full assurance grounded in a reall truth wherefore wee need not feare our salution The second which is contained in the former or thence clearly deduced is that this justification of ours cannot be lost for else that assurance might have had a lye for its ground and sole fundation 2. Wee teach first that no man without a speciall Revelation is assured to be saved and so all ought to worke theyr saluation with feare and trembling S. Paul every where proveth our doctrine Thou by faith doest stand be not high minded but feare Rom. 11.20 Again 1. Cor. 4.4 he sayth he knew nothing by himselfe concerning any guilt but I am not justified herein But he that judgeth me is our Lord. I dare not judge my selfe though I know nothing by my selfe how then darest thou Again 1 Cor. 9.27 But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest that by any meanes whilst I preach to others I my selfe may become a cast away or reprobate Again c. 10. v. 12. Therefore he wh◠thinketh himselfe to stand as Protestants do lett him take heed left he fall Again Phil. 3.11 If by any meanes I might attain to the resurrection of the dead He found no security in that speciall Faith you speak of Therefore he sayd Phil. 2.12 Work your own saluation with feare and trembling Apoc. 3.11 Hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crowne For Luke 8.13 There be those who for a time believe and in time of temptation fall away 3. Secondly conformably to all the Texts wee say that those who were just may come finally to be damned For exod 32.33 Whosoever hath sinned against mee him will I blot out of my Book Those who are baptized are born again of water and the Holy Ghost Io. 3.5 Yet how many thousands of these once regenerated men sin afterwards and never rise again and truth sayth of him who riseth not again whosoever hath sinned against mee him will I blot out of my Book out of which he could not be dashed unles his name had once been enroled in it Salomon his saluation is much doubted of by Holy Fathers yet there could be no doubt thereof if your opinion were true for God himself sayth he once was just 1. Chron. 28 7. I will establish his Kingdome for ever if he be constant to my Commandement and Iudgements as at this day At that day then he was in a state pleasing to God and yet you see doubt of his perseverance is even here intimated Yea by and by David his Father tells him but if you forsake him he will cast the of for ever v. 9. David did not judge Salomon to be at this time out of Gods favour yet his words shew he feared that he might hereafter come to loose Gods favour What Salomon after did the Scripture tels us 1. Kings 11. v. 3. Weomen turned away his hart And when he was now old his wives turned away his hart to other Gods He worshiped Astarthee the Goddesse of the Sidonians and Moloch the Idol of the Ammonites he built a Temple to Camos the Idol of Moab and in this manner he did to all his wives who where strangers Therefore our Lord was angry with Salomon because his heart was turned from the Lord. v. 9. Did he not cease to be just when his heart was turned away from our Lord David sayth Psal 5.7 Thou hatest all workers of iniquity God then did hate Salomon I dispute not whether he repented or no whether he were saved or no but without all dispute he once lost his former Iustice his hart and minde being turned away from God and our Lord therefore bearing wrath against him and hating him Let us proceed 4. The Apostles Act. 6.3 Commanded seaven men full of the Holy Ghost to be made Deacons One of them was Nicolas a stranger of Antioch These they sett in the presence of the Apostles and praying they imposed hands upon them Yet this Nicolas did fall finally into Heresy and began the Heresy of those who from his name are called Nicolaites Apoc. 2.6 S. Paul allso Hebr. 6. v. 4.6 tels us the sad condition of those who were made partakers of the Holy Ghost if they shall fall away which is manifestly to suppose that even such men may fall away So the foolish Galatians having begun with the spirit ended with the flesh Gal. 3.3 It is therefore sayd to them You did run well who hindred you not to obey the truth Gal. 5.7 Behold they came not to obey the truth who before did not only walk well but allso run well Hence allso it is that the Scripture useth to speak thus fearfully and conditionally concerning our perseverance in Iustice Io. 15.6 If a man abide not in me he is cast forth And Rom. 11.22 If thou continue in his goodnes otherwise thou allso shall be cutt of And 2. Io 8. Look to your selves that wee loose not those things which wee have wrought Evident therefore is our Doctrine thus delivered by Ezechiel c. 33. v. 12. The righteousnes of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression Neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousnes in the day that he sinneth All his righteousnes shall not be remembred But for his iniquity which he hath committed he shall dy for it He then may die for iniquity who once was just Hence he taught his just Apostles to pray Lead us not into temptation for feare of falling into it Let us therefore when wee have faith Hold faith and a good conscience which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwrack 1. Tim. 1.19 THE XXX POINT To Iustification it is necessary to keep the Commandements This is possible 1. I Say first that it is possible to keep the Commandements by the helpe and assistance of Gods grace sufficiently afforded us to that end Deut. 5. v. 1. Moyses called all Israël and sayd to them heare Israël the statutes which I speake