man that he is reputed just for the merits and satisfaction of Christ Hence Paul saith That God justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 Rom. 4.5 Rom. 3.24 By his Grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 3.24 God then so justifying maketh no phyfical immutation or change in a sinner as the Papists do say who would have this justification of God to be of that same nature as their Transubstantiation is in which one thing is changed into another that is that God justifying doth not proceed as a Judg at the Bar pronouncing one innocent but as making by a physical immutation a just man out of an unjust as Christ did turn water into wine To prove which opinion Bellarmine Becanus and the rest of the Jesuits did much labour but without any success They produce nothing out of the Scriptures which is not to be referred to Sanctification and so they commit a great fault of ignoratio elenchi and their arguments framed from reason are so unreasonable that they are not worth the while of refutation The strongest of them which I intend to alledg is taken from the Word it self They say Justificure nihil aliud est ex vocis etymologia quam justum facere Obj. to justifie is nothing else but only to make just and righteous because it is compounded ex justus facio and the rest of such words as are composed with the word facio are of the same signification as glorificare sanctificare to sanctifie to glorifie which do not signifie to pronounce one holy or glorious but to make one such and of that nature and therefore justificate to justifie must not signifie to pronounce one just who is unjust in himself but to make one righteous But I hope they will not prove themselves better Grammarians than they are Divines I answer therefore 1. The sense and the right meaning of a word in matters Divine is not to be taken out of Calepin but out of the Word of God which is the rule of our faith Now out of the Scriptures it is plain as it is demonstrated by many that Justification is every where taken in sensu forensi Qui justificat impium condemnat justum ambo sunt abominationi Jehovae he that justifieth an unjust man and condemneth the just they are both an abomination unto the Lord faith Solomon Here the justification of an unjust is opposed to a condemnation of a godly man and so in all other places the word Justification is taken 2. If this should be the meaning of the word then there should be no distinction betwixt Justification and Sanctification as we find it to the contrary â—ev 22.11 â—om 8.30 Rev. 22.11 He that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still and so Rom. 8.30 And whom he justified them he also glorified where in the word glorified is comprehended Sanctification Glorificatio inchoata velue glorificatio est sanctificatio consummata an inchoated glorifying as Glorification is a consummated sanctifying 3. And then this composition with the word facio doth not always signifie an internal immutation in that thing unto which such a word is attributed Luk. 1.46 as we may see in the Song of the blessed Virgin Mary where she saith Magnificat anima mea Dominum My soul doth magnifie the Lord where Magnificat is compounded out of the word magnus facio Now let them put their heads together and if they can prove any way that the blessed Mother by her magnifying the Lord made in him an inward change we will allow that God by justifying us maketh an inward mutation in us Ante vero leves pascentur in â—here cervi So much concerning the Justification called active now we will descend to the passive or as it is considered in respect of the man justified And so considered it is nothing else but an assurance of our righteousness in Christ and by the imputation of his merits which we receive and apply to our selves by faith Rom. 3.25 26. Rom. 3.25 26. Hence we see the cause meritorious of our Justification to be the merits of Christ as we shewed it a little before and the hand by which we apply this satisfaction of our Saviour or the instrumental cause to be faith Rom. 5.28 Therefore saith Paul we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law It is as plain in the holy Word of God as that the cause of the day is the Sun that we are only justified by faith Gratia salvati estis per fidem By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves Eph. 2.8 it is the gift of God. So that I will not insist upon this matter any longer Rom. 3.20 and therefore immediately conclude with the Apostle against the Popish Creed That by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledg of sin There is therefore no justification in the sight of God by our works but only by faith which applieth the Panacea of salvation unto our dead hearts and makes us to live in him and him in us We are not so unreasonable as to separate works from our faith nevertheless we affirm that it is faith only that justifieth that which sees is only an eye that which weighs is only an arm nevertheless neither of them can either see or weigh unless they be annexed to the human body so although faith is said to justifie only the meaning is not that it is separated from the good works The holy Apostle James saith Jam. 2.24 We are justified by works and not by faith only It is true but he understands either the justification before men as we may see it out of Jam. 2.18 Shew me thy faith by thy works or else the confirmation of the inward faith by the outward doings or else he uses a kind of a Metonymia effecti so that he may understand by the faith and works a working-faith which he seemeth to insinuate in the fore-mentioned place Ye see then how that by works a man is justified Ibid. Jam. 2.17 and not by faith only that is not by a bare faith which if it hath not works is dead being alone but by a living faith which shews its goodness by works Therefore we are not justified by works but as I said by faith and every one who looks into himself and his weakness must utter the Confession of Bellarmine Bellar. de bon oper Propter humanae vitae fragilitatem propriae justitiae incertitudinem tutissimum est inâ— sola Dei misericordia spem collocare For the sake of the frailty of human life and the uncertainty of our own righteousness it is the most secure way to relye upon the only mercy of God. Consider kind and civil Reader the words of this Cardinal who as I can shew if necessity
as the things extraordinary must not be compared with the things ordinary because the Disciples had not only the matter but also the words from the indictment of the Holy Ghost so the Churches of our later times Gal. 1.8 and 6.21 2 Tim. 3.16 are bound to the Doctrine of Scriptures which are given by Inspiration of God and are not only profitable but sufficient also for all kind of holy instructions which if the Council doth follow there is no doubt but it shall have the assistance of the Holy Ghost 2. When Christ saith the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against the Church he doth not understand any particular Church or their Bishops but the Militant Church dispersed through all the World and that this cannot err in matters fundamental we willingly allow 3. Whence do you know that the Holy Spirit acts a praeses in every Council by reason the Ariminum Synod may have the name of a Council as well as the Nicene 4. Who can satisfie you that the members of a Council do speak according to truth and by the inspiration of God rather than partially or that their Decrees are framed more by the weight of Reason and Scriptures than by the multitude of Votes or that it is not such a Council as the Tridentine was where the Holy Ghost as the Bishop of Fifechurches Episcopus quinque Eccles a member of that Synod saith was brought over from Rome into Trident in the Bags of the Roman Veredary and he staid out longer when the Waters did rise but came sooner after they were fallen so the Holy Spirit was afraid either to be wet or to be drowned 5. At last a Papist should proceed very disorderly if he being asked about the infallibility of a Council from whence he could prove it should betake him to Scripture because we ask them antecedently to the Word of God of this infallibility of the Church by reason it is her Office as well to make a Canon as to give authority to the Scriptures being their assertion is this That the authority of Scripture as to us doth depend on the authority of the Church But that which giveth authority to another thing cannot mutuate his own from it Hence you may see with what difficulties they intricate themselves that place the Church and its infallibility in the Council But neither those have lesser ones that settle the same in the Pope alone Although this sentiment is very foolish and consutes its own self by reason of its absurdity being it places the Church which is a congregation of many in one man yet we shall proceed in our proposition will run on our race For the most part of the Jesuits do hold this sentence and affirm That the Pope like the Pythia of Delphos only by himself may and can frame Decrees and expose them to the belief of the people Be it so that this Infallibility doth reside with the Pope the same difficulties will come again For how will you be perswaded that the Pope hath been Popable because he could be not Baptized He could have occupied the See by force by Simony he could be a Woman as Johanna was and not a man all which if it be present the Pope is no more a Pope Then how can you know that the Pope when he was going to frame his Decretals did use the usual and necessary preparations as Prayers and Fasting for seven days c How that he made them Motu proprio as the Roman Court saith that is by his own Will and not by the perswasion of the Chamber all which if it be deficient the Decretals and Constitutions are of no value nor pronounced out of the Cathedra or Pulpit and so neither binding the Consciences nor Infallible Further By what Argument will you be perswaded that this Infallibility doth not belong as well to the Bishop of Paris or Mantua as to the Bishop of Rome and so that this infallibility is not auferible from the Roman Bishop Gerson de auferibilitatae Pape of whose Auferibility Gerson did write a Treatise all which you must believe if you will take his Decretals for infallible At last how one single man can be infallible in matters of Faith cannot be understood because he hath neither any promise of it nor hath proved himself to be such an one as is clear and manifest by many examples May be you will betake your self to that vulgar distinction of the Pope pronouncing in his Chair or in his Hall out of the Pulpit and without the Pulpit so that he may be call'd Infallible as to the first but not as to the second But you 'll find very little comfort in that same distinction because besides that it cannot be defined how one and the same man should contradict himself without fear or coaction in the same matters likewise the Pope who can deceive being out of the Pulpit should take advice from himself as sitting in it that he might not be mistaken or else the Cardinals if they would have the holy Father to be without blame should bind fast this good old man to the Pulpit with chains as another Prometheus to a Caucasus that he should not stir from this Cathedra and so speak always truth But it is over-true that the holy Popes did err most abominably as pronouncing out of the Pulpit as it is shewn both by Papists and Protestants Platina de vitis Pontificum Romanorum and is to be seen in John in Stephanus in Formosus and others which are to be read of in Platina of the lives of the Roman Popes 2. They cannot tell us what they do understand by this Cathedra or Pulpit for as to a material Pulpit it can contribute nothing to the infallibility of the Pope or else it could flow in as well upon a Herdsman as the Pope if it should work by its Physical and internal virtue And as to a moral Pulpit of which Christ makes mention when he speaketh of the Fulpit of Moses nothing else can be understood by it besides the Holy Scriptures and if the Pope pronounce accordingly to them we will freely obey him 3. The Holy Spirit upon whom as they say the infallibility of the Pope dependeth is not bound to any place but bloweth where he pleaseth Others seeing no security to be found in the former distinction did commence another viz. That the Pope cannot err in matters of Law but he can be deceived in matters of fact But this likewise is a broken Cane and whosoever leaneth his hand upon it will be deceived This distinction was found out by those that are call'd in the Popish Church Jansenists for to heal that wound that was inflicted on them by Alexand the VII by reason of the famous five Articles of Janseniusâ— the Bishop of Ypres but nevertheless it hath nothing of truth in it self For 1. when the Pope pronounceth any thing as to the matters of Faith he doth not only look
upon the person but considers the person as believing so or otherwise and so condemneth him And how a man that cannot err as they say in matters of Law should err in matters of Fact cannot be conceived by reason he having ones Book and being an infallible searcher and interpreter of ones meaning can fall into the question of Fact out of the question of Law and so pronounce that this and no other was the meaning of the Author 2. Because Law maketh a prescription unto a Fact it is not likely that he who cannot err in matters of Law should do so in matters of Fact. 3. Because sometimes out of a Fact ariseth a Law therefore the same question which was before a question of Fact after it is become by long continuance a question of Law may be handled and decided by the Pope infallibly 4. By this way the Pope shall never be able to condemn a Heretick or strike him with a thunder of an Anathema as one that hath a fallible judgment in matters of Fact which shall not be admitted by the Papists 5. That the Pope may err in matters of Law and that most horribly we have shortly shewn the same a little higher So that hence we may perceive how sallibly they believe that place the infallibility in the Pope For the last followeth the third meaning of the Papists viz. That the infallibility of the Church resides in the Pope and Council together But Incidit in scyllam qui vult vitare charybdin Because the same difficulties which were proposed before arise again Besides it will be dubious which of them parties viz. if the Pope unto the Council or the Council unto the Pope doth communicate the infallibility Afterwards if the Pope be absent and be there by his Messengers if they have the same authority he should have if he was present The same they could not have because it is his own formally or else he could grant it as well to all the Bishops of the Council as to his Messengers Moreover it will be very doubtful if those Decretals which were framed in the Popes absence will be infallible and binding the Conscience for if all the Decretals are of no value without the Pope's confirmation it cannot be conceived how that these Constitution made in and by the Council of Trent can be ratified extraconciliariter or without it by reason the Popes infallibility doth not consist as he is separated from the Council but as he is joyned with it Hence then every one that hath not a face of a Wizell may see how the Papists make their business to catch a shadow and affirming their Church to be Infallible doth not know nor cannot agree amongst themselves wherein this Church doth consist and so they do not know how to satisfie their own selves nor others neither although they brag very much of it Projiciunt ampullas sesquipedalia verba I my self remaining yet in the Popish Religion did perceive my self to be entangled by these difficulties and therefore I often considered how to be extricated out of them that so I might praise God in purity and holiness with the freedom of my Conscience And although being in Spain which is my native Country I did hear very much of the Protestant Churches nevertheless I could never meet with any Books written by the Divines of that Communion by reason we are severely forbidden to read them But because I did hear that they found all their Doctrine upon the Scriptures I took a great desire to read the same and to search after the Truth in order to my Salvation Neither do they forbid in Spain as a Countrey religious above the rest of the Papists to read the Holy Bible And after I had made it my business to read the Holy Word of God I met with those words of the Apostle Paul 2 Tim. 3.16 17. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness That the man of God may be perfect thorowly furnished with all good works Here it seemed unto me that the Apostle had drawn a portraicture of a Minister and proposed not only the method of Preaching but also the matter and the off spring of it and so declared by what means a Man of God that is a Minister of Christ might come to a full perfection of learning in order to the Instruction of their souls that should be committed to his care Namely he meant the Holy Scriptures of which he thought they did contain the treasure of the Divine Wisdom when he pronounces them to be able to make one wise unto salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 and expresseth the four fountains of Christian Morality to be contained in them and chargeth not only himself but an Angel likewise with an Anathema Gal. 1.8 Gal. 6.16 Isa 8.20 if he should preach any other Gospel unto us than that he hath preached and pronounceth his blessing upon them that walk according to this rule God himself is willing to reduce his People from them that have familiar spirits and from wizards unto his will and counsel sendeth them to the law and to the testimony and addeth That for them that do not walk according to this word there is no morning that is no life everlasting according to the phrase of the Psalmist when he saith Psal 46.5 God shall help Jerusalem when the morning appeareth that is when the day of our salvation will be approaching This was the reason that John on his Revelation declareth If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy Apoc. 22.19 God shall take away his part out of the book of life Seeing then that the Apostle Paul did speak so highly in the commendation of Scriptures as a man that hath not shunned to declare all the counsel of God Act. 20.27 Act. 26.22 saying no other things than those which Moses and the Prophets did say should come I concluded presently that there was no other fountain out of which we could derive the true Church but only out of Scriptures by reason we are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Eph. 2.2 Jesus Christ being himself the chief corner-stone And I saw likewise that the Ancient Father Austin L. 3. cont Ma. Arian did not disagree with my opinion when he saith Neither will I alledg the Nicene nor do you alledg the Council of Arimine unto my prejudice Let matter with matter cause with cause reason with reason decert by the authority of the Scriptures which are not belonging only to one party but impartial witnesses of both Contra Donat. There that is in the holy Scriptures as he saith somewhere else Let us search after the true Church and handle our questions But searching more narrowly after the Purity of particular Churches I found none answering so exactly the Scriptures as the Protestant Churches Therefore I