eternal save only upon his free and gracious promise made to them or at least in commutative justice do deserve it from any worth in them that equals it and for both these doth not always depend only on the Merits of Christ is held by Catholicks to err from Truth and to be guilty of a most false presumption 2ly For the true concurrence that good Works have by Christ's Merits thro God's free promise for obtaining or meriting life eternal here also as every one ought in general to believe most certainly and infallibly that all who perform such Evangelical Obedience shall obtain life Eternal So they affirm 1st That none is obliged to believe specially that his own Works or Obedience is such as cannot miss of it or that if he have not a full perswasion of the merit of his own Works or of his own Justification or Salvation or of the particular application of Christ's Merits to himself he cannot be justified or saved or partake of his Merits 2ly That by reason of the liableness of the once justified by or in their Baptisme to fall away again by committing Mortal Sin from their Justification and then the difficulty of discerning exactly among their Sins committed what are Mortal and losing the Divine Grace what are not then again by reason of the difficulty of knowing in our regaining a second Justification when we have a sufficient repentance or sorrow and contrition for our former Sins without which the Churches Sacraments do not profit us and a different measure of which is required according to the greatness of our fault and when we have not And 3ly by reason If we were ascertained of our regained estate of the great allay and impairment which our actions in this estate may receive from the mixture of many Venial sins so that our faults do many times equal sometimes exceed our good deeds nay sometimes that which we think a good act is no better than a true tho Venial Sin and is augmented also in our presumption that it is none By reason also of the difficulty to distinguish between Evangelical Counsels and Precepts in respect of which a different observance is required under penalty of falling into some Mortal Sin or only failing of Perfection And lastly by reason of the uncertainty of our perseverance and that our present Merits or Piety may not be all evacuated by some future miscarriages I say by reason of all these Catholicks affirm it the safest course especially for those who have not attained to any great perfection not to put any or much least it should happen to be a mistaken confidence in any merit or sufficiency of their own present works to those ends for which God requireth them of us But rather wholly to trust in and rely on God's mercy both for our present condition that if it be not safe he will through Christ's Merits by improving our Faith and Repentance change and amend it and for our present actions when we are in a safe condition that if they be full of defects and miscarriages he will for Christ's Merits remit these and for the future more sanctify them and give us also perseverance in them We ever remembring that of the Apostle 1. Cor. 4.4 Nihil mihi conscius sum sed non in hoc justificatus sum qui autem judicat me Dominus est Of which matter thus the Council of Trent Sess 6. c. 9. Sicut nemo pius de Dei misericordia Christi Meritis Sacramentorum virtute efficacia dubitare potest Sic quilibet dum seipsum suamque propriam infirmitatem indispositionem respicit de sua gratia i. e. of his Regeneration formidare timere potest 7ly Yet lastly they grant That such justified as are eminent in Sanctity both may have by special revelation which God sometimes condescending to a great familiarity communicates unto them an infallible certainty of their present justification and if persevering Salvation and may also without such revelation tho not attain any infallible certainty or perswasion cui non potest sub-esse falsum by reason of the possible defect of their judgment about some of the aforenamed particulars upon which therefore can never be built any Divine Faith the object of which is only Divine Revelation and therefore that only which is absolutely infallible yet have a strong and moral-certain perswasion or faith cui non sub-est dubium or dubitatio may have a fearless and calm security that they are actually justified and consequently if persevering shall be glorified Which is called the Testimony of a good Conscience grounded on their present Obedience as the condition and service required of them for rendring them capable of such a reward and of Christ's most perfect obedience the adequate meritorious cause thereof See 2. Cor. 1.12 1. Jo. 3.18 19 20. c. 24.4.17 2. Pet. 1.10 2. Tim. 4.7 8. To which Testimony of a good Conscience is added also the witness within them of the Holy Spirit Rom. 8.15 tho this witness as also it s other ordinary operations in us most-what is not certainly known by us to be its witness or operation for if it were so this would amount to special revelation Catholicks therefore affirm not a particular application of Christ's Merits to themselves or a confidence of their own Salvation in any justified to be unlawful but only an infallible certainty of these to be except by revelation unattainable and whilst they say that one tho in the state of Justification de sua gratia formidare timere potest yet they say not that every one timere debet ξ. ξ. See the Roman Writers quoted to this purpose by Dr. Field Append. 3. l. p. 318. c. And by Bishop Forbes de Justificat 3. l. 1. c. p. 95. c. Where Communior Romanensium sententia saith he libenter admittit ex vivae fidei sensu seu charitatis bonorum operum experimento certitudinem aliquam minoris inferioris gradus oriri quae conjecturalis probabilis nominari potest quae licet non omnem formidinem pellat tamen tollit omnem anxietatem haesitationem Progrediuntur alii quidam Romani ulterius certitudinem aliquam aliam minorem quidem certitudine fidei divinae Conjecturali tamen majorem quam certitudinem moralem appellandam censent admittunt Ita ut nullam habeant de sua justificatione formidinem deceptionis The Pharisee very confident Luk. 18.11 went home unjustified the Publican very fearful justified and so the Leper believing Christ's Power but doubting his good Pleasure si vis potes yet was cleansed Matt. 8.2 HEAD XVII Concerning Sin Venial and Mortal Concerning Sin Venial and Mortal THE Catholick Doctrine is 1. That all the Baptized are truely Regenerate 2. That a Man falls not from this state of Regeneration or from God's Grace and favour by committing any Sin how small soever nor yet continues still in this State whilst committing any Sin how
great soever But 3ly that there are some greater crimes and offences against God which are inconsistent with and destructive of the State of Grace which do so break God's Commandments as that if not worthily repented of they make us actually liable to eternal Damnation after the committing of which expelling us from the Grace and Priviledges of our Baptisme we cannot be reconciled to God nor restored to our former condition without the help of the Keys of the Church where-ever this may be had Lastly from which Sins by the Grace of God the Regenerate Person may totally abstain and totally reform his life and in respect of them may through his whole life perfectly observe all God's Commandments 4ly That there are other lesser Sins which are well consistent with the State of Regeneration From committing of which one or other of them no man tho Regenerate abstracting from God's special Priviledge can for any long time live free nor in respect of these can be said perfectly to observe God's Commandments Bellarm. de amiss Gratiae upon Matt. 5.22 Si quis leviter irascitur which he calls a Venial Sin is jam recedit a perfecta observatione legis Si quis autem manifestum convitium in proximum jactat is demum non a perfecta observatione sed simpliciter ab observatione legis recedit Which Sins however they do or do not offend against God's Laws or also in their nature do or do not merit eternal punishments yet all agree on this that no Regenerate person at all by committing them doth actually fall from God's favour or his former righteousness nor actually incur external punishments and that the Regenerate committing them have always at least an habitual repentance of them Next Concerning a Possibility to the Regenerate of fulfilling God's Laws and freedome from either Mortally or Venially offending him Next Concerning a Possibility to the Regenerate of fulfilling God's Laws 1. Catholicks do believe that some good thought word or work may be performed by the Regenerate and God's Commandments be observed therein perfectly and without any contagion or adherence of any Sin But 2ly that none can certainly know of himself 1. Cor. 4.4 when any work is so purely done 3ly They also willingly concede that the most or very many of the good works of the Regenerate are not done without some Sin or defect in some smaller Circumstances thereof by reason of concupiscence negligence and that no Regenerate person abstracting from the Divine special Priviledge can for any long time keep all God's Commandments as these Commandments are understood by any to involve the Prohibition of lesser and those commonly called Venial Sins But 4ly they maintain that many have kept and may keep them all thro the Grace given us by Christ at our Regeneration in the abstaining from greater or those commonly called Mortal Sins HEAD XVIII Of Works commonly called of Supererogation Counsels Evangelical or Works of Supererogation COncerning Evangelical Counsels or Precepts of Perfection and the Observance of them called Works of Supererogation 1. Catholicks disclaim any such Works taken in such a sense as Protestants explain and impose on them viz. That all things be performed and fulfilled that the Divine Law commandeth i. e. in living free as well from all those called Venial as from Mortal Sins α α. Bishop White Answer to Fisher p. 522. To the Definition and being of Works of Supererogation Two things are required First That all be performed and fulfilled which the Divine Law commandeth he meaneth without any Sin at all incurred Venial or Mortal See p. 525. but if without Mortal Sin and such as excludes from Grace were only meant by this Bishop so he must grant That all persons whilst in the State of Grace do thus fulfil God's commands He goes on But if just men have any Sin they perform not all which the Divine Law requireth Again p. 527. Supererogation implies these things 1st A perfect and exact performance of all commanded Duties without omission of any c. But saith he supposing the perfection of the Divine Law and presupposing all men to be Sinners in part i. e. as to Sins Venial the former is impossible So Perkins Demonstrat Problem p. 117. Of the Fathers Volunt Supererogationem fieri non quod officium aliquod praestari possit ultra legem moralem integram as now the Papists hold sed quod fit 1suo Ultra negativam partem ut non furari c. 2suo Ultra actus externos 3suo Unum aliquod mandatum 4suo Ultra mandatum caeteris hominibus commune Bishop Andrews Resp ad Apol. 8. c. p. 196. Quis nescit fieri a nobis multa libere quae a Deo non sunt imperata voveri reddi In hoc tamen Supererogandi vis tota non est Erogare prius oportet summam integram quae imperata est nobis Erogare quicquid debitum a nobis Id ubi jam factum tum ultra illud amplius quid Supererogare Peccavit in praecepta quis quae debuit facere non fecit sed votivum nescio quid vel voluntarium praestitit Hoc jampraeter erogare est forte non super Where his Answerer Discovery of Dr. Andrews Absurdities p. 363. long ago observed That he would have Works of Supererogation to be such good works only as are done after the Precepts are fulfilled or fully observed and so quite changed the question as it is stated by Catholicks And 2ly beyond this That something more be performed by us than is any way due to God from us β. β. See the Reason given in the Fourteenth Article of the Church of England why the Doctrine of Works of Supererogation is arrogant and impious For saith the Article by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do i. e. absolutely in respect of all the Divine Precepts but that they do more ' for his sake than of bounden duty is required Whereas Christ saith plainly When ye have done all that are commanded you say We are unprofitable Servants Vossius Thes de bonis Operibus Quest 3. Thes 1 2. Cum nemo in hac infirmitate vitae praestet ea quae debet impia est eorum sententia qui plus aiunt proestare quam debet Refellit hoc etiam Christus apud Lucam 17.9 10. Bishop White 's Answer to Fisher p. 526. out of St. Bernard By the obligation of Gratitude we owe to the Almighty omne quod sumus possumus c. And 3ly As some Protestants add γ. γ. Dr. Hammond Of Will-worship § 52. vindicating himself in the holding Evangelical Counsels yet from maintaining works of Supererogation The Romanists saith he mean by Supererogating that after having sinned and so become debtors to God they have paid that debt by satisfaction i. e. done something else which may satisfy God for their former sins Which satisfaction they say they may perform so far as
not only to satisfy for their own Sins but also to do more than so help towards the raising of a bank or treasure for others also Reiterated also in his Answer to Cawdry p. 225. That they be such works as are satisfactory for our own or also other mens Sins and Disobedience and that are also laid up in the Church's Treasure for this purpose Catholicks freely granting 1st That none can perfectly fulfil the Law not only without the mixture of some imperfection but also without the intervening of several venial or lesser sins frequently happening See Head Justifica ξ. γ. But yet these sins or deficiencies not such as cast us out of God's friendship or the state of Grace or as can hinder us from the greater reward in our observing of Counsels any more than they do from that lesser reward in our observing Precepts From which Venial Sins also David when yet he is said to have loved God toto corde was not free 2ly Granting also That none can perform any work at all that is not by many titles a due debt to the Divine Majesty of which see before Head XVI γ. 1. yet not a debt exacted by him under pain of sin or loss of heaven to those who do not pay it 3ly Granting that these works are no way satisfactory for any ones Sin or the eternal punishment thereof nor yet of the temporal but by application of Christ's Satisfactions nor again these Works of Supererogation and observance of the Counsels satisfactory in any other manner than other works that are observances of the Precepts are also affirmed to be nor is this that there is any Treasure of the Church partly at least made up of these maintained to be any part of the Roman Faith Concerning all which peruse the ensuing Head concerning Satisfaction But notwithstanding these Concessions 1st Catholicks wherein Learned Protestants joyn with them δ. δ. Mountague in his Appeal Licensed by Bishop White p. 214. I know no Doctrine of our English Church against Evangelical Counsels I do believe there are and ever were Evangelical Counsels such as St. Paul mentioneth in his Consilium autem do such as our Saviour pointed at and directed unto in his Qui potest capere capiat such as a man may do or not do without guilt of sin or breach of Law therefore are these no particular Precepts obligatory to some which have received from God such a particular gift for then all that are so gifted would sin in omitting them all not so gifted in doing them and they would be Counsels to none at all Nor would there be any place in them for St. Paul's doing well in the one but better in the other Again p. 216. out of St. Nazianzen We have Laws that do bind of necessity others that be left to our free choice to keep them or not so as if we keep them we shall be rewarded if we keep them not no fear of punishment And out of St. Chrysostome A man may do more than is commanded i. e. not as to fulfilling the whole Law with freedome from all Venial Sin but as to some particular Precept thereof with freedome from transgressing it either by Mortal Sin at all or Venial Sin for some time Again p. 215. and p. 218. The Doctrine of Antiquity with universal consent held Evangelical Counsels Name but one Writer in all Antiquity of a contrary mind to this There are Evangelical Counsels Bishop White Answer to Fisher p. 522. ' God Almighty doth not rigorously or as simply necessary to Salvation therefore not under pain of sinning or such sinning at least as excludes any from Salvation exact of his Saints and Servants that in every particular work in his service they do the uttermost of their force c. Again p. 527. He grants men may do more than God hath commanded by his Law as simply necessary to Salvation to wit ' They who give all their Goods to the Poor c. Again p. 527. He allows Counsels i. e. free-will offerings or spontaneous actions exceeding that which the ordinary bond of necessary duty obligeth men unto and which are acceptable unto God in respect of their end Dr. Hammond in his Treatise of Will Worship § 41. Every man is not bound under pain of Sin to be prudent or pious or merciful in such a degree I may give so much as will denominate me merciful and pray so often as to denominate me pious and yet be capable of growing in each of these Graces And § 47. That ordinary saying ' That every one is bound to do that which is best it is most discernably false and that which a world of falsities are builton which to prove I shall need no further testimony than that of the Apostle 1. Cor. 7.38 He that giveth in Marriage doth well and he that giveth not doth better If all were bound to do that which is best that which were only good were evil for so is that whatever it is which comes short of what we are bound to do Ibid. in his Answer to Cawdry p. 192. The Macedonians saith he are an instance of doing more in this kind than either all men at all times or they at this time were obliged to have done And see before p. 184. His instancing in St. Paul's taking no hire from the Corinthians for his preaching Ibid. p. 195. He that observes the duty in any degree of the Latitude doth well and he that goes yet further but not beyond the Latitude doth better Why better but because he doth more than the other and more than the command requires under sin Again p. 224. If every regular act of Obedience which comes short of the highest degree of perfection is a sin than every act of Virtue in this life is a sin for the fullest perfection which cannot be increased is not to be found in any man in this life And p. 229. he saith That such persons may expect from our great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more and greater acceptance I shall add reward also than the same person could in reason expect for doing only what is commanded And of two men which have been equal in obedience one exceeding the other in acts of uncommanded perfection the more perfect shall have the richest reward In all which he saith plainly enough that a man may do more than is commanded as to some particular commands praying giving Alms and that without sinning in such act or simning either Mortally or Venially against such Precept at another time tho he denies this not sinning § 51. in respect of all commands whatsoever i. e. our never sinning against any of them where if he mean venially so saith the Roman Church with him Mr. Thorndike in Epilog 2. l. 32. c. p. 296. c. Justifies the Counsels of Continency of abandoning riches to which one hath just title and St. Austin's Comment upon St. Paul's forbearing his dues for Preaching Potuit S. Paulus ex
paenitentiae dilectionis in Deum quae opera sunt interna Denique quinto omnem inanem fiduciam operum nostrorum Sive interne sive externe factorum Cap. 5. § 14. Proinde censemus omnem rigidorum Protestantium sententiam a veritate a charitate Christiana alienam esse qui assertionem de sola fide non justificante communiter a Romanensibus defensam citra omnem vel fidei ipsius vel meriti opinionem etiam improprie dicti vel aliorum operum seu actuum cum fide ad justificationem concurrentium non solùm cum sancta Scriptura piis Patribus e diametro pugnare contendunt sed etiam praeter alia innumera justam Protestantibus a Romana Ecclesia secedendi causam praebuisse praebere Dr. Hammond Pract. Catech. 1. l. § 4. p. 75. The necessary qualifications conditions or moral instruments of our Justification are Faith Repentance firm purpose of a new life and the rest of those Graces upon which in the Gospel pardon is promised the Christian And afterwards This kind of Sanctification so he calls the dispositions to Justification wrought in us by God's Grace is precedent in order of nature to Justification i.e. I must first believe repent and return before God will pardon 6. They affirm also that one may have a true faith or belief of all the Articles of our Creed and particularly of this man's Redemption through Christ's Merits or if we take Faith for fiducia may have also a fiducial confidence that he in particular shall obtain or if you will hath already obtained remission of his Sins through the same redemption and merits and yet not by this Faith or fiducia attain Justification if these be not accompanied with Repentance and the other necessary preparations thereto For there are many wicked and irregenerate men who yet do truly believe all the Articles of the Creed and are thereby fully convinced of their duty yet led away with lusts do contrary to what they know they ought and some of them who are also fully tho groundlesly for want of Repentance and the other requisites perswaded that themselves are of the number of the justified ξ ξ. Thorndike Epilog 2. l. p. 28. It is manifest to all Christians that there are too many in the world whom we cannot imagine to have any due title to those promises and yet do really and verily believe the Faith of Christ to be true and him and his Apostles sent from God to preach it And from their belief stand convict that they ought to proceed accordingly yet We see men not always to do that which reasonably from their belief they ought to do c. Again on the other side q Trust and confidence in God through Christ obtains the promises of the Gospel who denies it But is this trust always well grounded and true Is it not possible for a man to imagine his title to the promises of the Gospel to be good when it is not I would we had no cause to believe how oft it comes to pass All which argues these other Acts are necessary concurrents to Justification as well as such Faith For it seems very unreasonable that such Faith when without the other as many times it is is effectless as to attaining Justification and yet when it is with them they effectless and it doing the whole especially if the former Scriptures be reviewed using the same expressions of their concurrence to this effect as they do of Faith 7. Our Justification i. e. remission of Sin and infusion of habitual Grace which Infants also when baptized receive as well as others whereby we are made new creatures and by the infusion of his Holy Spirit born of God and his Seed remaining in us and so made his Sons and Heirs being thus attained upon our Faith and the other forementioned dispositions required in us Next Catholicks grant That the thus justified not only have a right to but may also attain the possession of eternal life before and without external good works issuing from such habitual or inherent Grace or before any justification or merit by them And that their works are not necessary to justification the producing or continuing of it or to the obtaining the reward of it eternal life when either power as in those who as yet have not the use of reason or who are prevented by suddain death or an occasion of such good works is wanting or also when occasion being offered yet the omission of such good works amount not to a mortal Sin by which Sins only man falls from his former Justification ξ. But 8ly They affirm which is also allowed by Learned Protestants π. pgr Dr. Field Append. to 3. l. 11. c. In Answer to Dr. Stapleton's Words That Actions of Virtue and careful endeavour to walk in the Commandments of God are not necessary to our second Justification or the augmentation progress and dayly perfecting of the same more and more is a Calumniation for they the Protestants make the second Justification to consist in two parts 1st The dayly well doing whereby the righteousness inherent is more and more perfected And 2ly the dayly remission of such sinful defects as are found in their actions Dr. Fern Answer to Scripture Mistaken p. 92. If they intend no more by second Justification than is here expressed in the Trent Decree viz. Renovation day by day and yielding up our Members as Weapons of Righteousness to Sanctification and increase in Righteousness we have no cause to quarrel at the thing but only that they will call that Justification which indeed is Sanctification Bishop Forbes de Justificat 4. l. 6. c. Perperam a Protestantibus rigidioribus rejicitur distinctio usitatissima justificationis in primam secundam Nam praeter Justificationem primam necessario etiam agnoscenda admittenda est justificatio secunda quae consistit in progressu augmento complemento pro statis vitae justitiae primum donatae in remissione illorum delictorum in quae quotidie justi incidunt Confirming it there with several Protestant Authorities That this first Justification thus attained before these good Works is in case of longer-life both necessarily continued by good Works or acts of inherent Grace either external or only internal where is some impediment of the external so that he who commits a mortal Sin in omission of such works falls from his former Justification and also is increased or further degrees of Justification or inhabitant Grace or as the Protestants had rather call it Sanctification received or added by the same good works for such acts external or internal do still increase the habit or render the person more holy whereby the already just is still made more just so Abraham tho just before yet was more highly justified by that Heroick act of the Oblation of his only Son Jam. 2. And the future reward also becomes greater to these good Works according to our greater Justification by
forementioned is not allowed nor other explicite Faith than the forementioned required Therefore that Proposition Haec est vera Catholica fides extra quam nemo Salvus esse potest as applied to the larger Creeds that of Athanasius or yet further to all the Decrees of all lawful Oecumenical Councils as in the Bull of Pius the Fourth ought either to be understood not distributively as if any Decree of any such Council unknown and so not believed or assented to excludeth from Salvation For how few among Christians do know or yield actual assent to all the Decrees of some one Council And how can the Doctors of that Church require such Belief to all the Decrees suppose of the Council of Trent a many of whom require it not to all the Articles of the Apostles Creed But collectively thus That all that Fides extra quam nemo Salvus is contained therein and that extra eam totaliter sumptam or si tota desit nemo Salvus esse potest As elsewhere in the same Council of Trent the Nicene Creed is called Fundamentum firmum unicum contra quod portae inferi nunquam praevalebunt Conc. Trid. Sess 3. or to be understood distributively but hypothetically thus That when any one knows any such Article to have been defined by the Church wherein a non-culpable ignorance of the Church's Definitions always excuseth he after this in non-believing or in dissenting from such Article doth by this his Pertinacy and Disobedience to the Church as by other greater sins persisted in and unrepented of incur the loss of Salvation HEAD XIV Concerning Obedience to Humane Laws made by the Ecclesiastical or Civil Magistrate Concerning Obedience required to Humane Laws 1. CAtholicks do not affirm from God's commanding Obedience to the Ecclesiastical and Civil Magistrate and to their Laws That therefore all Dis-obedience to them or their Laws is a mortal Sin For so all Dis-obedience to any of their Laws whatever tho never so light for their matter would be mortal Sin 2. It is manifest that many times the matter which these Magistrates command is antecedently our duty in obedience to some Divine Law under Penalty of Mortal Sin tho they had not commanded it As in matters of much consequence to the publick or our private good the Charity to our Neighbour or also to our selves that is commanded by God's Law requires that which the Magistrate also exacts of us In such cases therefore there may be a great and mortal Sin committed in dis-obeying the Ecclesiastical or Civil Laws but this by vertue of the Divine concurring with and corroborating them in these particular Injunctions 3. Catholicks affirm That the Breach of a humane Law made in a thing that is left indifferent by the Divine out of contempt may be a greater Sin than breaking one of the Divine Precepts out of Infirmity but this is also by vertue of our offending against another particular Divine Law prohibiting such contempt of the Magistrate But such contempt neglect c. set aside that a much greater guilt is ordinarily contracted from the breach of a Divine than only an humane command both from the greater necessity and benefit in general of the matter of the Laws Divine and from the supreme Dignity and Majesty of the immediate Legislator 4. Catholicks affirm That no humane Laws made in matters of what consequence soever do bind beyond the Law-Giver's intention so that such Laws tho given in matters of greatest moment bind not under pain of mortal Sin I mean as they are his Laws if he doth not intend them to do so In whose Power since it is to lay no obligation so not to lay the greatest 5. That whatever obligation to Sin such Laws may have from the Law-givers intention yet that in some Circumstances they may not bind at all as the Divine do as in Periculo mortis cum pergravi damno aut infamia for quod valde difficile moraliter impossibile and to Impossibles Laws bind not I say if the thing commanded appear not of a greater consequence than such private damage nor hath been expressed by the Magistrate to be esteemed so Otherwise it is presumed that the Law-Giver in that Charity which he oweth to his Subjects doth or ought to pass his Laws without any intention that they should bind under Sin in such cases 6. Most of the Church's Laws are passed without any express Declaration of her Subjects incurring mortal Sin in the Breach of them yet this rationally collected by her Doctors from the great consequence of the matter commanded the heavy punishment annexed c. And sometimes her Laws are so indulgent as to oblige to a Penalty only without any Guilt laid upon the Transgressor of them HEAD XV. Of Justification Of Justification COncerning Justification whereby man hath Right by vertue of the Evangelical Covenant to freedome from eternal Death and possession of eternal Life 1. Catholicks declare That by Justification they mean both God's pronouncing or reputing Man just or not unjust i. e. freed from his wrath and from punishment due to the unjust by God's free remission of all his former Sins And 2ly God's making and so reputing him just or holy by habitual Grace infused or by inherent righteousness Thus making God's Remission of the former Acts of Sin and our Sanctification and so by it the removal of former habits of Sin the two parts of our Justification or the two effects of God's mercy in justifying us α. α Conc. Trid. Sess 6.7 c. Hanc dispositionem Justificatio ipsa consequitur quae non est Sola peccatorum remissio sed Sanctificatio Renovatio interioris hominis c. Again In ipsa Justificatione cum Remissione peccatorum haec omnia simul infusa accipit homo per Jesum Christum cui inseritur fidem Spem Charitatem 6. Sess 11. Can. Si quis dixerit homines justificari Sola peccatorum remissione exclusa gratia charitate quae in cordibus eorum per Spiritum Sanctum infunditur Anathema sit Bellarm. de Justificationes l. 2. 6. c. Cum tam mors Christi quam resurrectio ad justificationem necessaria esset potuisset Beatus Paulus utramque partem justificationis i. e. Remissionem peccati donum renovationis tribuere morti Christi sed maluit resurrectioni tribuere renovationem Rom. 4.15 And § Deinde Justificatio non ideo Solum nobis confertur a Deo ut Gehennae paenas evadamus i. e per remissionem peccatorum sed etiam ut praemia vitae caelestis acquiramus i. e. per gratiae infusionem bona opera And see Ibid. c. 2. § Quod si Where he makes remissionem peccatorum infusionem gratiae duos effectus Dei hominem justificantis Where therefore renovatio interioris hominis per susceptionem gratiae is affirmed to be the formal cause of Justification and deletion of Sin to be the effect of it It is spoken of the only formal
cause of Justification that is within us and from which we are denominated really just whereas the remission of Sin is an act of God without us and of the deletion of the habit of Sin inherent not of the pardon of the acts of Sin formerly committed After that this is agreed on also by Protestants that these two go always together and that none is reconciled or received into God's favour by remission of Sin who is not also at the same time renewed in his mind and made righteous by infusion of the Holy Spirit β. β. Calvin Institut Lib. 3. ch 14. § 9. Fatemur dum nos intercedente Christi justitia sibi reconciliat Deus ac gratuita peccatorum remissione donatos pro justis habet cum ejusmodi misericordia conjunctum hoc esse beneficium quod per Spiritum suum in nobis habitat Lib. 3. cap. 16. § 1. Jam utrumque nobis confert Christus utrumque fide consequimur vitae scilicet novitatem gratuitam reconciliationem De vera Christianae pacificationis ratione 2. Cap. Si quis ex adverso objiciat non aliter nos fieri participes Christi justitiae quia dum ejus Spiritu in obedientiam legis renovamur hoc quidem fatendum est c. Again Neque vero cum homines dicimus gratis justificari Christi beneficio tacenda est regeneationis gratia Quin potias cavendum ne a nobis separentur quae perpetuo Dominus conjungit Quid ergo Doceantur homines fieri non posse ut justi censeantur Christi Merito quin renoventur ejus Spiritu in sanctissimam vitam frustraque gratuita Dei adoptione gloriari omnes in quibus Spiritus regenerationis non habitat denique nullos a Deo recipi in gratiam qui non justi quoque vere fiant Mountague Appeal p. 170. Whom Christ doth not quicken he doth not justify This is directly the Doctrine of the Scripture Gal. 3.22 1. Cor. 6.11 Heb. 9.14 Rev. 1.5 6. 1. Pet. 2.9 Fathers also are cited c. Bishop Forbes de Justific Lib. 2. c. 4. Protestantes unanimi consensu fatentur inhaerentis justitiae seu sanctitatis infusionem cum gratuita nostri justificatione necessario ac perpetuo conjunctam esse Now first that our Justification consists not only in the former but also in the later Catholicks evidently collect from many Texts of Scripture which do apply our freedome from God's wrath and punishment and inheriting eternal life to this later as other Texts do to the former Such are these Rom. 3.24 Where we are said to be justified freely i. e. without any thing in us deserving it by his Grace i. e. infused as all grant it is at that time when God justifies us Titus 3.5 ver Where speaking of Baptisme the Apostle saith That according to his mercy he saved us by the laver of regeneration and renovation i. e. internal of the Holy Ghost that being justified by his Grace i. e. in this internal renovation c. we should be made Heirs of eternal life 1. Cor. 6.11 compared with the former where speaking of the same Baptisme he saith But ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus into which they are baptized and by the Spirit of God i. e. infused in our Baptisme by which infused we are said here expresly as to be sanctified so justified and this put the last as also Rom. 8.30 it is put alone but there necessarily including also our Sanctification Rom. 4.25 Where Christ is said to be delivered for our offences i. e. the remission of them and to be raised again for our justification i. e. for our regeneration or renovation by the Spirit given unto us upon his Resurrection comp Rom. 8.10 Eph. 4.23 24. where the new man is said to be created in justice Gal. 5 6. comp 6.15 Rom. 6.7 He that is dead i. e. to Sin by a new life given by Grace is justified from Sin comp Gal. 3.21 Rom. 5.17.21 Where 't is said That those who receive abundance of Grace and donation of Justice shall reign in life c. And that Grace reigneth i. e. in us by or thr Justice to life eternal It were needless to add more To the same matter belong all those Texts wherein we are said By being born again and by inherent righteousness to be made Friends Domesticks Children Heirs of God All those Texts which atribute Salvation or also remission of Sin or punishment either to the several particular habits and branches of this inherent Righteousness as to that of Faith of Hope or Charity of the Love or Fear or Service of God or Love Mercy and Alms to our Neighbour or to the several Act of these Habits and Graces i. e. to our good works following Regeneration Lastly All those Texts wherein God is said To accept persons for their inherent holiness or righteousness And as this is evident in Scripture so it is concluded by many Protestants that the Term Justification both sometimes in Scripture and most frequently by the Fathers is used to signify not only remission of Sin but internal Sanctification and in this Latitude have several Protestants themselves explained it γ. γ. Bishop Forbes de Justificatione Lib. 2. Cap. 4. cioncerning the Scriptures Verbum justificari quandoque etiam in Scriptura significare justitia imbui vel donari non diffitentur permulti docti Protestantes contra aliorum rigidorum id pertinaciter negantium sententiam quoting there the words of Beza Zanchy Peter Martyr Chamier and others Again concerning the Fathers Ibid. c. 5. Hanc fuisse communem Patrum omnium tum Graecorum tum Latinorum Sententiam ex quamplurimis illorum dictis Augustini imprimis acerimi gratiae Christi propugnatoris nemini in veterum lectione versato obscurum esse potest Res adeo certa manifesta est ut dissentientes ipsimet Protestantes id ultro concedunt quoting the Confessions of Calvin Chemnitius Beza Bucer Chamier c. to this purpose Imo saith the same Forbes multi etiam doctissimi Protestantes hanc ipsam sententiam secuti sunt aut saltem eam non omnino improbarunt quoting after many others Spalatensis Bishop Mountague and Dr. Feild Whose words are Append. 3. l. 11. c. The first Justification implyeth in it three things remission of Sins past acceptation and receiving into that favour that righteous men are wont to find with God and the grant of the gift of the Holy Spirit and of that sanctifying and renewing Grace whereby we may be framed to the declining of Sin and doing of the works of righteousness 2. Again Catholicks contend that in comparing these two concurrents to our Justification the later i. e. to be made internally and habitually just ut peccatis mortui justitiae vivamus 1. Pet. 2.24 is the chiefer and more principal then the first i. e. to be reputed only not unjust or not a Sinner To which may be added that there being two
things very considerable in Sin the transient act and the remaining habit of which the later is far the worse and of which it is necessary that the one be deleted as well as the other pardoned for any one to be accounted positively just or not impious this later the habit is not removed or abolished but by Grace first infused and also whether before or rather after the same Grace infused our former actual Sins are pardoned is thought by Protestants a thing doubtful and not necessary to be decided δ δ. See the words of Calvin in Antidoto Conc. Trident. Of Beza contra Illyricum and others in Forbes de Justific 2. l. 4. c. p. 70 71. Simul nos justificari renovari saith Calvin dico in Christo per fidem nobis unito applicato neque haec an illa ordine antegrediatur tantillum laborandum censeo cum unam sine altera nunquam recipiamus This infusion of Grace therefore by several titles claims the chief place in our Justification and is that thing only in us that justifieth or maketh us to be really just and so is usually stiled the formal cause of our Justification 3. Meanwhile both the one and the other being the effects only of God's mercy Catholicks affirm That since God justifieth us not for those but for the righteousness and sufferings of Christ as the sole meritorious cause thereof it is not necessary as to our Justification in respect of inherent righteousness that this be every way consummate and perfect 4. Nay further they freely concede that it is such as that it doth produce some particular acts perfect and without contagion of Sin learned Protestants assenting ε. ε. Forbes Ibid. c. 5. Ecquid magis injuriose contumeliose dici potest in Christi Gratiam quam asserere nos nihilominus nihil prorsus vel cogitare vel dicere vel agere posse quod purum sit a peccati Sorde And § 13. Sententia haec rigida multis etiam doctissimis Protestantibus aliisque viris moderatissimis semper unprobata fuit quoting them at large Ibid. Yet ordinarily it doth many or the most mixt with several imperfections and that Venial Sins do both adhere to and intervene between many of the good actions of the justified ζ. ζ. Estius 2. Sent. 41. d. 4. § Et justi in iis operibus quae indubitate bona sunt saepe-numero peccant dum its se aliquonsque vel concupiscentiae vel negligentiae vel alicujus levioris circumstantiae ad integritatem boni operis requisitae defectus admiscent Forbes de Justificatione 4. l. 3. c. 8. § Communiter sentiunt Romani nullum Sanctorum vitare posse omnia venialia peccata per longum vitae tempus Conc. Trid. Sess 6. Can. 23. Which Sins after are remitted only by God's Mercy through Christ's Merits as those are before Justification γ. γ. Bellarm. de Justificat 4. l. 14. c. In Answer to the Objection Post primam reconciliationem Christus ociosus esset saith no Quoniam peccata nostra quamvis levia quotidiana ipse purgat sanguis ejus emundat nos ab omni peccato Estius 2. Sent. 42. d. 6. § Nemo quantumcunque justus nisi sanguine Christi Redemptoris etiam a Veniali peccato emundatus fuit in regnum Dei admitti potest See the same in Bellarm. de Justificat 4. l. 21. c. § Resp non dicit 5. Lastly Several learned Catholicks do not hold this inherent righteousness or internal renovation so absolutely necessary to mans Justification i. e. to remission of Sin or capacity of future Glory as that none possibly could had it so pleased God received from him pardon of his offences or also through virtue of Christ's merits an eternal glory without having such inherent righteousness and whilst he only reduced to his pure Naturals or that none could possibly or justly be deprived of Glory that hath such inherent righteousness Vid. Bellarmin de Justificat 2. l. 16. c. Reatus paenae quartus effectus Scotus 1. Sent. 17. d. F. a Sanct. Clara Deus Natura Prob. 23. But only maintaining that it is God's Pact or Covenant and declared Will that Christ's Merits should this and no other way merit for us freedome from Hell and life eternal Namely First by satisfying for our former Sins and procuring for us this donation of the sanctifying Spirit within us 2ly What Catholicks do include in and understand by Justification being thus explained Next they affirm that there is nothing in man that can antecedently merit this our Justification but that the sole meritorious cause of it both in respect of remission of Sin or any punishment due unto it and of the donation of Grace destroying in us the habits and pollutions of Sin and producing good works is the obedience active and passive the works labours sufferings and satisfactions of Jesus Christ only exclusive to the works sufferings or satisfactions of any other Where also they maintain that neither any works of our's done by the meer strength of nature have the least worth in them to procure God's assistant Grace for the producing of any previous disposition to this Justification as of Faith Repentance a love of God c. Nor again these dispositions tho wrought by assistant Grace and having some supernatural dignity in them have any such worth as by it to procure from God setting aside his meer bounty and free promise the Justification it self ζ. ζ. Conc. Trid. Sess 6.8 c. Nihil eorum quae justificationem praecedunt sive fides sive opera ipsam justificationis gratiam promeretur 'T is true that these dispositions to or conditions of man's Justification as effected by Grace having some true worth in them tho this no way comparable to the Acts produced by Grace inherent after Justification and besides having a gracious promise made to or acceptance of them which two things none can deny some Catholick Authors think that this word Meritum qualifying it with the addition de congruo may be justly applyed to them especially since St. Austine and other Fathers have so applyed it formerly St. Austine and other Fathers have so applyed it formerly St. Aust Ep. 105 106. others think not the matter agreed on the difference is about words and the Church's Subjects left to their liberty See Bellarm. de Justific 1. l. 21. c. And see Head XVI Merits 3. Yet they next affirm That there are some conditions or dispositions required of us and also by God's free first exciting and then assisting Grace man's Will assenting and co-operating wrought in us Which tho by any worth of theirs they cannot merit yet by vertue of God's free Promise and the new Covenant do certainly impetrate the applying or if Protestants Will imputing to us both the active and passive Obedience of Christ viz. all his Merits which are accepted by God instead of and as if they had been our own but this not as to our being esteemed by God our selves
to have done them for none can truly be said or thought to have performed such righteousness or satisfactions that hath not done them himself but another for him but as to the benefit or effect of them χ. χ. Bellarm. de Justificat 2. l. 10. c. Dominus Jesus Christus justitia nostra 1. Cor. 1. Quoniam satisfecit Patri pro nobis eam Satisfactionem ita nobis donat communicat cum nos justificat ut nostra satisfactio justitia dici potest And a little after Non esset absurdum si quis diceret nobis imputari Christi justitiam merita cum nobis donentur applicentur ac si nos ipsi Deo satisfecissemus modo non negetur esse in nobis praeterca justitiam inhaerentem c. Again Ibid. 7. c. Si solum vellent nobis imputari Christi merita or justitiam quia nobis donata sunt possumus ea Deo Patri offerre pro peccatis nostris c. Recta esset eorum sententia Cap. 11. Potest sano modo accommodari exemplum Patriarchae Jacob justitiae imputativae si quis dicat oportere ut induamus merita Christi I add or Justitiam sive obedientiam activam Christi for this also is part of his Merits See Bellarm. de Christo 5. l. 9. c initio and illis quodammodo tecti petamus a Deo indulgentiam peccatorum nam solus Christus pro peccatis nostris satisfacere potuit I add tam obedientia activa See Rom. 5.18 19. Gal. 4.4 5. Phil. 2.5 c. Matt. 3.15 quam passiva and illa satisfactio nobis donatur applicatur nostra reputatur cum Deo reconciliamur justificamur Thorndike Epilog 2. l. 29. c. p. 248. The Supposition that one man's doings or sufferings may be personally and immediatly imputed to another man's account is utterly unreasonable And I therefore must and do say that as it is sufficient so it it is true that the sufferings of Christ are imputed unto us in the nature of a meritorious cause moving God to grant mankind those terms of Reconcilement which the Gospel importeth Not all the benefit and effect in such a manner as that whatever is any way due to the active or passive righteousness of Christ is thus due to us for so we should all receive a future reward equal to one another and also equal to that of Christ our Lord's but all that benefit and effect of them which our sinful condition stands in need of and which God hath further thought fit to dispence for the purchasing by an equal compensation and satisfaction of our present pardon and future Glory The benefit and reward of which merits as to our glorification he applies variously according to the different degrees of our own present sanctity and good works that dispose us for such a participation of these Merits Such dispositions produced by prevenient and assistant Grace in adultis are a certain degree of Faith or believing the truth of all the Divine Revelations and Promises and particularly that of God's justifying the ungodly by his Grace thro the redemption which is in Christ Jesus the fear of God's judgments for Sin hope and trust in his mercy thro Christ love of his goodness hate and repentance for former Sins serious purpose of a better life and observance of God's Commandments and the desire and susception where oportunity of Baptisme the Sacrament instrumental hereunto See Conc. Trid. Sess 6.6 c. 4ly They grant that among these previous dispositions or conditions of Justification Faith is the beginning of the rest and so the Foundation and root of all our Justification and that without which it is impossible in any other act to please God So we neither fear God's Judgments nor hope for his Pardon nor love his Goodness nor put confidence in his only Son's Merits unless we first believe these And therefore St. Paul opposing the condition of the new Covenant Faith and all other acts or works following it as by God's promise to them and not their own worth applying Christ's Merits to us for our Justification to the merits of the works of the Law in the Jew and of Nature in the Gentile but never opposing Faith to any of those acts of Grace consequential so long as these maintained in no other manner to concur to our Justification than Faith it self doth therefore most perfectly agreeeth with St. James λ. λ. Mr. Thorndike Just Weights 9. c. p. 60. To be justified by Faith alone is with St. Paul to be justified by Christianity alone St. James in arguing that a Christian is justified by Works and not by Faith alone intended to teach that the profession of Christianity justifieth not when it is not performed Bishop Forbes de Justifie 4. l. 6. c. p. 173. Sanctus Paulus intellexit semper ex fide viva quatenus viva i. e. operante vel externe vel interne per charitatem nos justificari Atque hoc ipsum est quod Beatus Jocobus hic sed Paulo clarius distinctius affirmat hominem ex operibus justificari non ex fide tantum The same thing appears from St. Paul's Arguments made against Justification by Works many of which are faulty if made against Works following Faith and wrought by Grace As his arguing Rom. 4.4 Rom. 4.13 compared with 2.6 1. Cor. 3.13 14. Jo. 15.10 Gal. 2.21 5.4 3.13 Eph. 2.8 9 10. Tit. 3 4 5. Phil. 3.9 compared with the precedent verses 3 4 5 6. and with Rom. 10.3 9.31 In all or most of which if instead of works of the Law you read works of the formerly justified and pardoned their Sins by God's meer mercy produced by Grace that is procured by Christ's merits you will find the arguing and consequence invalid and faulty This Apostle I say mentions this Faith more frequently than the rest as being the very beginning and first fruits of Divine Grace and that without which none of the rest that are added to it either can be at all or if being can be any thing worth μ. μ. Conc. Trid. Sess 6.8 c. Cum vero Apostolus dicit justificari hominem per fidem per fidem ideo justificari dicimur quia fides est humanae salutis initium fundamentum radix omnis justificationis sine qua impossibile est placere Deo ad filiorum ejus consortium pervenire Stapleton de Justificat 8. l. c. ult Fide nos necessario vel ante omnia maxime justificamur dum impius quidem justificatur quia a fide ordiendum est Dum justus autem justificatur magis quia omnia justitiae opera in fide recta fieri a fide procedere debent Bellarm. de Justificat 5 l. 7. c. In homine nondum conciliato primus motus ad salutem est fidei inde sequitur amor desiderium beatitudinis per fidem jam cognitae post amorem sive cupiditatem Beatitudinis sequitur in homine spes Mediante
reconciliatione consequendae ejusdem beatitudinis c. 5. This Faith therefore Catholicks maintain That it may be said in this respect primarily to justify us I mean by way of disposition and condition required and accepted from us in order thereto But 5ly not it solely either when it is not accompanied with the rest for so it may be but in such case is injustificant or yet as if when so accompanied it alone and not they as well as it and in the same manner as it concurred to our Justification For first in the Scriptures frequently our Justification i. e. pardon of Sin and donation of Grace is attributed as to it so to them See for Repentance which also includeth fear justifying or procuring both remission of Sin and renovation by the Spirit the Apostles Sermons in the Acts ch 2. v. 38. Repent saith St. Peter and be Baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of Sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost And Chap. 3. ver 19. Repent ye that your sins may be blotted out Chap. 5. ver 31. This Prince hath God exalted to give Repentance to Israel and remission of Sins And Chap. 11. ver 18. Then hath God say the Christians also given to the Gentiles repentance unto life And Luk. 24.47 Our Lord commandeth That Repentance and remission of Sin be preached in his Name unto all Nations And Luk. 13.3.5 telleth the People That without Repentance they must perish See the same 2. Pet. 3.9 1. Jo. 1.9 But if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive them in so much that it is agitated in the Schools whether Faith or Repentance in our Justification have I say not the first for Repentance presupposeth Faith but the principal place The same may be shewed of Love Luk. 7.47 Much is forgiven her saith our Lord because she loved much And 1. Jo. 3.14 We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the brethren he that loveth not abideth in death And very frequently it is the reward of eternal Life particularly promised See 1. Cor. 2.9 Luk. 6.35 Jam. 1.12.2.5 Rom. 8.28 1. Cor. 16.22 The same promise of Remission of Sin and eternal life made yet more frequently to Obedience Reformation of Life works of Charity and Mercy Matt. 6.15 If ye forgive not men their trespasses neither will the Father forgive your trespasses Matt. 5.7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Acts 10.35 In every Nation He that feareth God and worketh righteousness is acceptable to him Heb. 6.10 God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of Love And 2. Tim. 4.7 8. The Lord the just Judge lays up a Crown of Righteousness for those who fight a good Fight And Gal. 6.7 Be not deceived saith the Apostle St. Paul speaking of good works God is not mocked what a man sowes that shall he reap And let no man deceive you saith St. John 1. Epist c. 3. v. 7. He that doth righteousness is righteous even as he our Lord Christ is righteous 'T is needless to name more See St. Jam. c. 2. v. 21. c. Matt. 5.1 Jo. 15.14 Nay not only by their deeds but words also men are justified or condemned Matt. 12.37 The same promise made also to the receiving of the Sacraments Acts c. 2.28 22.16 Eph. 5.26 Tit. 3.5 6 7. This concerning the Expressions of Scripture 2. As Faith may be conceived to justify us only by its relation to and apprehension of Christ's Merits and not as it is a work of our's any way meriting of it self our Justification so also may all the rest of the forenamed dispositions For by Love and Hope built on Faith we do yet more closely apprehend and apply these Merits than we do by Faith alone and as God is pleased to justify us by Christ's Merits but not by these unknown to us but that he first requires an eye of Faith that we see them or if you will a hand of Faith that we take or lay hold of them So he requires further the arms of Love to embrace them and of Hope to hold them fast and this after that Repentance also with much importunity and tears hath first procured our nearer access to them otherwise whatever we think our Faith without these sees or catcheth at them but possesseth them not and what greater opposition is there shewed to our meriting by saying we are justified by Faith alone and that relatively too than that by Faith and other works of Grace so long as we say all in their proper acts only point at and terminate in the same Merits of Christ not their own as well as Faith doth r. Of this matter well the Cardinal de Justificatione Lib. 1. 16. Cap. Esto apprehendatur aliquo modo justificatio per fidem certe non ita apprehenditur ut reipsa jam habeatur inhaereat sed solum ut sit in mente per modum objecti actione intellectus aut voluntatis apprehensi at hoc modo apprehendunt etiam amor gaudium ut scribit St. Augustinus in Lib. 8. Cons cap. 2. Ubi de Victorino loquens volebant eum inquit omnes rapere in corsuum rapiebant amando gaudendo Hae rapientium manus erant Dr. Fern Answer to Scripture Mistaken 4. c. p. 92. Albeit good Works do not justify but follow Justification yet are there many works or workings of the Soul required in and to Justification Again These works or workings of the Soul naming there desire fear love sorrow purposes are preparatory and dispositive to Justification And Pag. 94. There are other acts and works also besides Faith which according to their measure are required in Justification as conditions of receiving remission of Sins so Repentance and the act of Charity in forgiving others Bishop Forbes de Justificat 1. l. 4. c. Sacrae literae nusquam nec diserte nec per necessariam consequentiam fidoi Soli omnem omnino vim justificandi tribuunt five quod idem est asserunt fidem esse unicum instrumentum medium accipiendae apprehendendae gratiae justificationis Ibid. Patres plurimi nos Sola fide justificari affirmant Sed si pura mente c. legeris clare videbis per vocem Sola Patres omnia simpliciter fidei gratiae opera a causis justificationis salutis aeternae nunquam excludere voluisse Sed primo legem naturae Mosaicam Secundo opera omnia propriis viribus sine fide in Christum gratia Dei praeveniente facta Tertio falsam fidem vel haeresin cui tunc fidem non autem operibus opponunt Quarto Operum externorum etiam ex gratia factorum ut charitatis paenitentâ—e Sacramentorum perceptionis necessitatem absolutam quando scilicet aut potestas aut occasio deest ejusmodi opera faciendi tum enim sufficit Sola fides sine operibus externis Sed non sine omni bono affectu
them For if some more imperfect acts of Faith of Repentance Hope Love c. done only by God's assistant Grace did thro God's promise and Christ's merits procure our first Justification and the consequents thereof much more the same acts and others the like now more perfect and proceeding from Grace inhabitant do thro the same promise and merits confer on or procure for us a greater or as some stile it a second Justification viz. An improvement of our former justice the remission of such Venial Sins as are still committed by the justified and a richer eternal reward 9. They affirm That a man may fall away again from this state of Justification by incurring those greater Sins either of Omission or Commission which are for this cause called commonly Mortal from which fall he is capable of restorement to a second Justification or justified condition by the same means as he attained the first only if instead of Baptisme not iterable he make use of the Sacrament of Penance for his entrance into it where-in concerning the just value and vertue of Penal Works see below Head XIX 10. These are the Catholicks Positions concerning Justification much tending to the promotion of pious endeavours and an holy life with whom also the more moderate Protestants do in most if not all the former Points concur But meanwhile there are other Tenents of the more rigid Protestants on this subject and several also of them broached by the first Author of the Reformation which brings a very great prejudice to it that tend much to the relaxation of good manners the breeding of false securities and weakning mens endeavours in the prosecution of a good life such as these ζ. ζ. See the most rigid Protestants maintaining the most of these Opinions cited and censured by Bishop Forbes in his Considerationes aequae placidae de Justificatione And by Dr. Hammond in his Treatise of Fundamentals from the 11th to the 19th Chapter And by Mr. Thorndike Epilog 2. l. from the 4th to the 10th Chapter 1st Their placing Justification only in the remission of Sin and imputation to us of the righteousness of Christ not in infusion of Grace or renovation of life making men fancy here that all their work is done for and without them none to be done in or by them 2ly In such remission of Sin their making Justification as it were one momentaneous act and God at one and the same time remitting to us all our Sins past present and to come which must needs produce afterward a very careless behaviour both to committing and repenting of Sin 3ly In such imputation of Christ's Righteousness their maintaining it in such a manner not as if we were meritoriously justified by the application of the effects of it to us as if it had been our own but formally justified by a translation of it and investiture with it in such a manner as if it were inherent in us and esteemed to be done by our selves 4ly From whence ariseth also a conceit that all men by this righteousness apprehended by their Faith are equally justified or all esteemed equally righteous in their Justification 5ly And so also that all become equal in the future celestial reward whether working much or working little 6ly Their making the only instrument or necessary condition required in us for Justification or remission of Sin Faith alone an easy act of the brain as Dr. Hammond Of Fundamentals p. 116. observes having nothing in it repugnant to our passions and not any other good disposition wrought in us by God's especial Grace Repentance purpose of a better Life and this Faith too required of us for this purpose not as any work or duty but only as an instrument or hand to apprehend and apply Christ's merits to us and to make his righteousness ours c. 7ly Their making this Faith that justifies us a strong fiducia or full assurance that we are justified or if you will that we shall be justified only on those terms if we firmly believe we shall be so Which obliging men of what life soever to believe they are or shall be justified without looking after any requisite thereto save only this full belief renders those who continue still unreformed in their Manners yet by such strong fancy secure of their Salvation whilst none more than they extol the all-sufficiency of Christ's Righteousness nor none so much as they do or have reason to diffide in and dis-esteem their own From which Tenent also it follows that all those that are truly justified are assured or certainly know that they are justified The ordinary effect of which Doctrine is despair in some who find in themselves no such assurance certain presumption in others who are fully assured without just cause 8ly Their holding that a justifying is only a true Faith which breeds a great presumption in those for their being also justified persons who do and have no reason but to take themselves for true believers and who would even give their bodies to be burnt for any Article of the Christian Faith 1. Cor. 13.3 and yet do or may want Charity and so Justification 9ly Their holding good works and the other dispositions that always accompany a justified Faith to be necessary to our Justification or Salvation only as effects and fruits or also signs and assurances to our selves or others of this Faith necessary for their presence indeed but not for their efficiency as causa sine qua non ad salutem non impediendum but not as instruments or conditions required thereto as our Faith is thus destroying obedience it self by taking away the chief motives that men have to it and making them neglect any further pains-taking for the production of those things which they are taught do necessarily grow from Faith or which serve only to justify them not before God but Men. 10ly Their expounding St. Paul not only to exclude Works performed by strength of Nature but done by Grace from any way disposing us or concurring thereto And St. James only to speak of good Works as declaring our Justification before men not obtaining it with God 11ly Their affirming the Promises of the Gospel to be meerly gratuital excepting for Faith and not conditional upon Obedience as those of the Law were denying our Lord to be any Legislator or denying Christian liberty to be so far obliged to the Obedience of the Law as that any account is had of our observing of it in any degree as to obtaining or improving our Justification And that Christians ought now not as tied to it by God's Law but spontaneously and freely to do that Will of his which was formerly made known to them by the Law Which Obedience of our's how little soever and upon such terms we may guess it will not be much yet is accepted by God through the more perfect Obedience of his Son made ours by Faith See Calvin Institutiones 3. l. 19. c. 2.4 § And then we may
guess what a poor harvest there will be of good Works where they are thus only Free-will-offerings 12ly Their depressing the righteousness and true worth of good Works flowing from Grace infused and by this undervaluing the true Power of God's Grace given unto us and so by this again inconsiderately lessening the effects of Christ's merits also as purchasing this infusion of Grace whereby to forbear sinning as much as they seem to extol them in the pardoning of us whilst doing nothing but sinning lessening also the same merits in the removing of Sin whilst they make it in their Justification rather covered than the strength and habit deleted and eradicated misapplying Rom. ch 7. 13ly Their affirming that the pretended restoring of the once justified and afterwards faln from Grace to the State of Grace again taught and used in the Church is a thing meerly imaginary See Dr. Field Append. 3. l. p. 312. for that he who is once justified can never be unjustified and who are once assured of their Justification are also assured of perseverance in it happen afterwards what sin will happen Which sins also consequently tho of the same kind must not be in these persons of the same guilt as in others i. e. losing the Kingdome of Heaven 1. Cor. 6. and so these persons being indeed though they perswade themselves otherwise by such sins faln from Grace Now are the Keys of the Church and those Sacraments and such a measure of repentance neglected whereby they might have been restored and so the last state of these men worse than the first that before their justification and their end miserable because too much conceited and secure These are the Tenents of some more rigid Protestants in the Point of Justification in opposition to the Roman Doctrines In some of which if perhaps their meaning may by a charitable construction be reconciled to truth yet do their expressions seem very pernicious to a good life and easily misunderstood by the vulgar or those who take them in the most obvious sense HEAD XVI Of Merit Of Merit COncerning the Merits of Grace inhabitant or of the good Works that proceed from it 1. Catholicks do generally disclaim any merit of them in such a sense as the word Merit is explained by Protestants See Field Append. 3. l. p. 324. Forbes de Justifica 5. l. 3. c. p. 197. viz. First Ut opus sit nostrum non ejus a quo mercedem expectamus 2ly Ut sit indebitum 3ly Ut nihil unquam faciendum omittatur nec omittendum committatur sive quoad partes sive gradus 4ly Ut sit aequalitas inter opus mercedem Or yet as Merit is taken in the former Covenant of Works involving the first and third of these Conditions They willingly granting That as there are no works of our's done by Grace assistant tho having some worth in them that can merit our Justification so neither any Works of the already justified proceeding from Grace infused and inhabitant tho having yet a greater worth in them that can merit the future divine reward promised to them as condigne i. e. as any way in strict justice equalling it α. α. Bellarm. de Justific 5. l. 14. c. Opera bona si considerentur ex natura sua remota promissione dignitate principii operantis nullam habent proportionem ad beatitudinem illam supernaturalem proinde non eis debetur ex justitia merces aeternae vitae quoting Rom. 8.18 Luk. 19.17 Matt. 19.29 centuplum 2. Cor. 4.17 and in his using the Phrase ex condigno for this reason because their Works have not only a promise made to them of a reward but also a dignity by reason of the divine principle of them God's Grace in us that hath some correspondency or similitude to the reward as the Seed to the fruit a lesser degree of Grace here to a higher measure there-of here and hereafter in the next world yet he disclaims any equality in a sense strictly taken as most clearly appears in his answer to the Objection made against condignity viz. the great inequality of our present Works tho proceeding from Grace and life eternal especially taken for the Object thereof Deus merces nostra magna nimis as also the inequality of the imperfect knowledge and charity we have here to that perfect we shall receive for it hereafter To which he answers Ibid. c. 18. Negari non potest quin beatitudo longe excellat actioni meritoriae cum in illa sit coguitio charitas perfecta in ista vero sit cognitio charitas imperfecta And That Non requiritur absoluta aequalitas inter meritum praemium secundum justitiam distributivam ut dici possit praemium ex condigno etiam ex parte operis sed sufficit ut sit proportio quaedam secundum quam is qui meretur dici possit dignus eo praemio And That Ideo dicimus ex condigno deberi fidei formatae per charitatem visionem cum ardentissima charitate quia dignum est ut res a Deo inchoata disposita tandem aliquando perficiatur absolvatur Granting also there that God doth always remunerare justorum opera supra condignum This account gives this Cardinal of the Word Condignum See the like in Scotus 1. l. 17. d. 1. q. Praemium speaking of aeterna beatitudo est majus bonum merito justitia stricta non reddit melius pro minus bono ideo bene dicitur quod Deus semper praemiat ultra meritum condignum See more Testimonies tending to this purpose below ε. and Head _____ Letters χ. Ï. Ï„. Ï…. φ. Or Secondly As nostra or ex nobis or 3ly As indebita γ. 1. or 4ly All of them quoad partes gradus perfect and free from faults See Head XV. of Justification Further also conceding that these good Works in order to that meriting which is by Catholicks ascribed to them do stand in need of the supply or support of the Merits of our Lord and that in many several respects 1st Both for procuring the gift of that Grace to us which in us procures or produceth these good Works β. 2ly And for procuring the Pact and Promise which God hath made to them without which whatsoever their worth had been they could have claimed from God no such reward 3ly And for the remission of the imperfections and Venial Sins accompanying many of them pardoned to us for Christ's not their Merit see Head XV. 4ly And lastly For the exhibiting to God an Obedience which in its true worth equalizeth or if you will exceeds the reward for Catholicks affirm a meritorious cause as of our Justification so of our Glorification perfectly equalling life eternal and the highest degrees thereof which any one receiveth but this not in us or our Works α but in Christ the effect of whose merits is dispenced to us for this end according to the measure of these our Works which as the
sufferer by the exercise and improvement of many Christian Virtues in his patient and chearful undergoing of them Again for the deterring them or at least others by the Example of these their punishments seen or heard of from committing the like offences This last being one end of all temporal punishments whatever whether in this life or after it so long as any live to take notice of them for Death it-self is a perpetual Memorial to men of God's hate to Sin and the circumstances of many mens death a warning to others not to provoke God's judgments in the like manner 3. Again Of these temporal punishments reserved they affirm not That all of them are certainly removable by any ordinary means used to avert or prevent them As the retaining of which may some other way above mentioned tend more to God's glory as for Example that of David was not released nor that of Moses nor is the General one of a corporal Death at some time or other executed on all Ï€. Ï€. Bellarm. de Faenit 4. l. 3. c. Paenae temporales hujus vitae interdum non possunt redimi sed necessario perpetiendae sunt id quod extra omnem controversiam esse videtur Deus enim aliquando ita paenam aliquam constituit ut nullam pro ea redemptionem accipere velit Talis imprimis paena mors est quam nullus quantumvis justus nllo pio opere avertere potuit Talis fuit illa paena Davidis 2. King 12. Moysis See Antidagm Coloniense de Satisfactione Interim tamen hoc praedicatum doctum fuit a Patribus neminem vel posse vel debere Deo terminum aut modum remissionis paenae statuere ac si oporteret Deum ad completam Canonicam satisfactionem illico a flagellis suis cessare Christo vero reconciliatori nostro cui Pater omne judicium dedit prorsus relinquenda est paenae remissio a quo petere oportet ut obedientiam nostram velit per meritum suum patri caelesti facere acceptam paenam pro-meritam misericorditer avertere And again of those removable they grant That some may be so only upon an intense act of Contrition or upon Prayer and Deprecation without any further Penances especially where opportunity doth not admit them which Prayers and those considered not as Penal but meerly as petitioning as they are held effectual by impetration of the application of Christ's Merits which God for averting temporal punishments from others living or dead so much more may they be from our selves Ï. Ï. Lugo de Paenitent Disp 24. § 1. Facilius potest aliquis impetrare sibi quam alteri Neque illa peccata manent tunc impunita sed satisfit plene divinae justitiae applicando Satisfactiones Christi pro paena quam nos debebamus solvere quae applicatio obtineri potest aliquando per orationes Sicut nec manent impunita peccata quando paena pro iis debita remittitur per Indulgentias aut Sacramenta vel Sacrificia quia tunc etiam Satisfactiones Christi applicantur quibus solvitur plenissime totum debitum But meanwhile the faithful not knowing the just measure value or effect of his own Contrition or Prayers where time serves cannot upon this prudently omit any other means which God hath left as helpful for attaining the same effect and those things are at all times to be held necessary and useful which at no time he knows to be superfluous 8ly Catholicks affirm That as the aforesaid Penances and Satisfactions when done only by Grace assistant are prevalent with God for obtaining the Remission of Sin and its eternal punishment in our Justification so after it that these when done by Grace inhabitant may much more prevail with God for obtaining the remission of some temporal punishment Chastisement or Correction still reserved by God as the scourge of the Sin though after his having re-admitted into favour the Sinner A thing conceded also by Protestants σ. σ. Chemnitins Exam. Conc. Trid. 2. Part de Satisfactionibus Illas etiam temporales paenas Scriptura tradit reconciliatis propter filium mediatorem saepe vel mitigari velprorsus tolli quando vera humilitate peccata agnoscunt fide Deum invocant veterem hominem mortificant serio novam vitam meditantur hoc est non in debitis humanarum traditionum operibus sed tota paenitentia quae habet mandatum Dei paenae illae propter Christum mitigantur quoting 2. Paralip 6.26 Joel 2.13 1. Cor. 11. Observandum vero est saith he paenas temporarias mitigari tota paenitentia non quod opera ejus sint vel compensationes vel merita remissionis peccatorum sed quia castigationibus illis Deus in reconciliatis nihil aliud quaerit quam ut conservetur magis accendatur crescat augeatur vera humilitas agnitio odium detestatio peccati exercitium fidei mortificatio veteris hominis patientia spes c. Daille De Paenis Satisfact 7. l. 6. c. answering to the Fathers Significant saith he temporalibus illis paenis quaecunque tandem sint eos quos peccati vere paenituit i. e. paenitentia ejusque fructibus lachrymis jejuniis orationibus eleemosynis as he expresseth it before non aliter eximi ac liberari quam si nullas unquam essent promeriti Hunc vero paenitentiae certum immutabilem eventum esse quod ex Patrum dictis sequitur ultro ac libentes fatemur eventum istum ex jure justitia sive ex paenitentiae ipsius dignitate esse non autem ex mera Dei optimi misericordia ac veritate constantissime quidem negamus Bishop White against Fisher Q. 21. P. 540. grants That after great and enormous offences committed by his people God doth chastise them with the rod of Correction Ps 89.33 1. Cor. 11.31 32. Which Correction is a pain of Castigation but not a punishment of Malediction Grants also That this affliction or pain of chastisement inflicted upon penitent Sinners may by Prayer of Faith exercise of Virtue Humiliation and Mortification be either removed or else mitigated But denies that such persons can by Prayer Mortification or any good Works merit release of any temporal Mulct And contends That the Fathers under the word Satisfaction understand not the word Satisfaction strictly and in rigor for satisfaction of condignity as Romists do but improperly and largely to wit For satisfaction of deprecation congruity or impetration Calvin De Christiana Pacificat 5. c. Qui paenas divinas avertere cupit non est quod studeat satisfactione aliqua quod deliquit expungere because Christ's Satisfactions have and only can do this Sed se quibuscunque potest modis cum ad humilitatem tum ad veram resipiscentiam erudiens suipsius peccati ultor sit homo ne Deum experiatur ultorem by not having Christ's Satisfactions applied to or accepted for him Qui Deum sibi vult parcere ipse sibi nec parcat nec
fundatur Antidiagma Coloniense de Sac. Paenitent De hac satisfactione Canonica Disciplinari semper docuerunt Patres quod virtute sanguinis merito passionis Christi auferat aut saltem minuat paenam temporalem peccatis nostris debitam Christo Reconciliatori nostro cui Pater omne judicium dedit prorsus relinquenda est paenae remissio a quo petere oportet at obedientiam nostram in our Penal Works velit per meritum suum patri celesti facere acceptam paenam promeritam misericorditer avertere Dr Holden in Resolut Fidei where he endeavors to separate matters of Faith from disputable Question 2. l. 5. c. Nulla prorsus est satisfactio ab homine quovis etiam justissimo peracta quae Deo sit grata vel quae sit alicujus omnino valoris nisi per meritum Domini nostri Jesu Christi Patimur quidem satisfariendo pro peccatis sed nunquam satis patimur Christus est qui solum vere plene pro peccatis nostris satisfecit ex quo est omnis nostra sufficientia Nostra namque Satisfactio qualis qualis est quo modo nostra est potius est quaedam meritorum Christi nobis applicatio quam propria aliqua Satisfactio And see Mr. Hooker in his Discourse of Justification p. 62. quoting Panigarola Lett. 11. And the Rhemish Annotations to this purpose We put saith the one all Satisfaction in the Blood of Jesus Christ But we hold that the means which Christ hath appointed for us in this case to apply it are our Penal Works And thus the other on 1 Joh. 1.7 The Blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all Sin Whether Sins be remitted by Prayers by Fasting by Alms by Faith by Charity by Sacrifice by Sacraments and by the Priests for the Holy Scriptures do plainly attribute Remission to every of these yet none of all these do otherwise remit but in the force by the merit and virtue of Christ's Blood these being only the means and instruments by which Christ will have his Holy Blood to work effectually in us Which Point let the Protestants mark and cease to beguile their Followers perswading them that the Catholicks derogate from Christ's Blood or seek Remission either of Sin or its Punishments otherwise then by it because they use humbly the means appointed by Christ to apply the Benefit of his Holy Blood unto them And from Generation to Generation let this be repeated unto them In Testimonium Illis 10. Lastly they affirm such Penances beside the former ends very effectual also for the full cure and eradication of the stains of Sin left in the Soul and for the subduing of vicious habits and preventing the like sinful Acts for the future by removing the occasions of them practising acts of Virtue contrary to them inflicting Pains equalling the Pleasures of them c. HEAD XX. Concerning one Person his Meriting or Satisfying for another Concerning one Person 's Meriting or Satisfying for another COncerning one Person 's Meriting or Satisfying for another as to remission of Sin or Punishment 1st It is granted by all that one Man's Prayers may impetrate i. e. from God's Mercy by application of Christ's Merits to this purpose Grace Repentance Contrition and so Remission of Sin of any eternal or temporal Punishment Salvation for another α. α. Daille De Paenis Satisfact 7. l. 17. c. Caeteros i. e. Martyres vult Origenes peccata dimittere non ulla pro peccata satisfactione sed precibus quas Domino pro hominibus morientes obtulerunt quibus scilicet effectum est ut clementissimus Dominus multos ad se conversos peccatis liberaret Jam vero aliud est prece aliquod beneficium hominibus a Deo impetrare quod Sanctis vere fidelibus convenire satemur aliud ultrici Dei justitiae pro aliorum peccatis ex condigno satisfacere quod sanctis adversarii tribuunt nos negamus Spalatensis De. Rep. Eccl. 5. l. 8. c. § 18. Dispositio unjus non est neque esse potest alterius dispositio meritoria fortasse improprie potest esse impetratoria ut justi suis orationibus humiliationibus impetrent peccatori paenitentiam dispositionem ut tamen ipsorum satisfactiones humiliationes suppleant pro alterius satisfactionibus humiliationibus sic ille alter dispositus ad remissionem dicatur per alienam dispositionem humiliatus per alienam humiliationem est impossibile 2ly That one Man's Penances Humiliations Mortifications may have the same or a stronger effect for impetration of these things for others as his Prayers have Psal 34. or 35. 12 13 14. 2. Sam. 12.16 3ly It cannot rationally be denied but that whetever worth or value such Penal Works have as to removing any one 's own temporal Punishment the smae they have as to removing another's If his Divine Majesty please to accept of them to this purpose and that one man's Satisfactions are applicable also to another is clear in Christ's so applied β. β. Lugo De Penitent Disp 26. § 1. Hic modus solvendi patiendo pro aliis non repugnat ex se cum Christus Dominus utroque modo nobis profuerit nempe merendo rursus satisfaciendo etiam pro nobis ut constat ex satisfactione ipsius quae pro debito paenae nobis applicatur per Sacramenta aliqua Indulgentias poterit ergo satisfactio unius justi alteri applicari But whether such Works are prevalent with God for others by this way of Satisfaction or only of Impetration and whether the Satisfaction excepting only that of Jesus Christ for Sin or its Punishments is not made by God personal and cannot be vicarious or supplied by another is disputed in the Schools nor on any side a matter of Faith γ.