and restored Note that by Grace he and all Protestants vnderstand Iustifying Grace without which euery action euery thought that proceedeth from the vnfaythfull is as they misdeeme a damnable and deadly crime and so imputed 3. Touching the third estate of vprising or entrance into Grace all in like sort agree that man albeit he be excited and called vpon by God yet doth not worke or as much as consent to his conuersion vntill he be truly iustifyed by Faith in Christ which I shall disproue in the Chapter following 4. In the fourth and last estate they allow also to man with vniforme consent the Liberty as they call it of Grace which Caluin and others interpret to be A Liberty from Constraint only and not from Necessity and so depriue man in this case as well as in the former of his free Arbitrement Against whom I am now to proue two points of chiefe importance 5. First the Liberty of Mans Freewill since his fall not only to Ciuill actions but also by the speciall ayd and assistance of Gods Grace to the conquest of any new sinne and performance at least of some Morall good Secondly that this Liberty is from Necessity and not from Coaction onely Yet remember I take not Grace before mentioned for Iustifying Grace as ProtestaÌ„ts doe not for habituall Grace or Inherent Iustice dwelling in our soules but for Actuall Grace that is for any heauenly Motion illustration or other extraordinary succoursent from aboue for our Sauiour Christs sake by help whereof he that is prostitute to some kind of â—ices may well subdue and ouermaster other He that transgresseth the Saboath may dutifully honour and reuerence his Parents he that walloweth in fleshly lust may of compassion relieue the necessity of his Neighbour and He that sitteth in the Chaire of Pestilence may rise and walke the way of Gods Commandements if he diligently Psalm 1. giue eare and correspondently worke according to his Diuine Inspirations All which our Sectaries obstinatly impiously blasphemously deny Not knowing the Scripturs Matth. 22. 2. Petr. 3. v. 16. or willfully deprauing them to their owne perdition 6. For to comprise the proofes of the former two points both togeather is there any thing in Scripture more seriously recorded or promulgated more solemnely then Deut. 30 â— vers 19. that which Moyses denounced to the Iewes saying I call this day Heauen and Earth to witnesse that I haue set before you Life and Death Benediction and Malediction therfore choose Life c. He speaketh of the Morall obseruation or breach of the Law biddeth them choose Life by obseruing not Death by transgressing Wheron it followeth most euidently that they were not Thrall to transgression or in the Bondage of Sinne but might if they would haue imbraced life and were not by necessity determined either to life or death For which cause the wise and ancient Philo notably Philo in libro quod deus fit immutabilis Iosu 24. concludeth Man hath Free-will c. To which purpose is extant the Oracle of God in Deuteronomie I haue placed before thee life and death good and euill choose life In like manner Iosue proposing the worshiping of God or Idols to the people said Choose this day that which pleaseth you whom you Dan. 23. 22. ought especially to serue 7. Susanna in danger of incurring either the offence of God or disgrace of the world after she had reasoned Amos 5. v. â—4 with herselfe on both sides what she might doe made choise not to sinne in the sight of God The Prophet Amos exhorteth the Iewes Seeke the good and not the euill that yee may liue Almighty God propounding three seuerall 2. Reg. 24. v. 12 13. 3. Reg. 3. v. 5. chastisments to Dauid biddeth him take his choice which he would haue To King Salomon likewise he saied Aske what thou wilt who demanded the Morall vertue of Wisedome and not riches or the death of his enemies as they Arist l. 3. Eth. c. 4. 5. Orig. l. 3. de Prin. c. 1. Nissen l. 7. de phi c. 1. Nazian in Apolog. Ambros l. 2. c. 3. very Text declareth he might haue done 8. Therefore both he and the rest had perfect freedome some to Ciuill some to Morall actions some from the Captiuity of sinne and all enioyed the freedome of Choice the freedome of Election in which the true liberty not only from Constraint but also from Necessity consisteth as both Aristotle the Philosopher and Origen Saint Gregory Nissen Saint Gregory Nazianzen Saint Ambrose those great Deuines affirme which no man of sense or iudgment can deny For when it is in our free power to take this or that one thing or another as in all the Eccles 15. v. 17. former examples it was we are not restrained or necessarily inclined by ineuitable influence to yield to either 9. Moreouer in Ecclesiasticus the wiseman saith God Vhitaker in his answer to the first reasoÌ„ of M. Campian hath set before thee water and fire to which thou wilt stretch forth thy hand Before man is life and death good and euill that which pleaseth him shall be giuen vnto him Which words because M. Whitaker could not otherwise auoid he discardeth the worke and reiecteth the Author in this lewd arrogate manner That place of Ecclesiasticus I nothing esteeme neither 1. Cor. 7. v. 37. will I beleeue the liberty of Freewill although he affirme it a thousand times But if others affirme it against whom he can take no exception will he giue credit to them If S. Paul Act. 5. 4. if S. Peter if Christ if God himselfe affirme it will he giue credit to them S. Paul He that hath determined in his heart Aug. ser 10. de Diuers being setled not hauing necessity but hauing power of his owne will and hath iudged this in his heart to keepe his Virgin doth well S. Peter speaking to Ananias about the price of his Mat. 12. v. 33. Land Remayning did it not remain to thee And being sold was it not in thy power Whereupon S. Augustine teacheth that before we vow it is in our power to vow or not to vow but after we haue vowed we ought to performe the same Aug l. 2 de Act. cum Feliâ—e Manich c. 4. Gen. c. 4. ver 7. vnder paine not of corporall death but of euerlasting fire Christ saith Either make the Tree good and his fruit good or make the Tree euill and his fruit euill Which place the forenamed S. Augustine vrgeth against Felix the Manichee and proueth it to be In the Free will of man either to choose good things and become a good Tree or euill become a bad Tree And God himselfe in his owne person fore warning Cain If thou Amb. l. 2 l de Cain c. 7. Bernâ—ser 5. de quadrages Ruper l 4. Comment in Gen. c. 3. See their English Bible printed Anno 1594. the Annotat. in cap.
life can euer atcheiue so his vnspeakable mercy degenerateth into tyranny exacting a tribute which we cannot pay condemning vs for a fault which we cannot possibly eschew or he commandeth vs to discharge our dutyes according to our weake and limping manner and then our vttermost endeauours satisfy his law although they be lame and imperfect If not If our best endeauours transgresse his will if they be wanting of the duty we ought to performe and he command that defectuous duty thus he himselfe commandeth a transgression commandeth a sinne and man by doing Gods will is bound to sinne From which M. Abbot cannot Abboâ— cap. 4. sect 46. fol. â—88 excuse him by saying It is the duty only he is bound to and not to the sinne For if the duety be vnauoydably linked with the sinful transgression whosoeuer commandeth the duty commandeth the transgression and whosoeuer is obliged to accomplish the one is necessarily obliged to incurre the other Neither is this fallacia accidentis or any sophisticall cauillation as he would bleare the eyes of the simple producing to that effect these two examples against Doctour Abbot ibi Bishop A lame man is bound by law to come to the Church he cannot come to the Church but he must halt therefore he is bound by law to halt M. Bishop is bound to pay a man twenty poundes but he cannot tell the money without soyling his fingers therefore he is bound to soyle his fingers So he writing at randome for iâ— there were no other pace amongst men nor other meanes to repaire to Church but only by halting all those who were bound by law to go to the Church should be bouÌ„d by law to halt to the Church and whosoeuer was willed to go should in this case be willed to halt if I say there were no other gate at all then halting now in the opinion of Protestants there is no meanes of fulfilling the law of God heer vpon earth but defectuous lame and sinneful therfore whosoeuer is tyed to that sinnefull fufilling 〈◊〉 also tyed and obliged to sin and whosoeuer commandeth it commandeth sinne 3. His second example is more extrauagant for no Caluin in Antido Conc. Trisess â— c. 12 precept of the Decalogue can be obserued The least saith Caluin is a burden more heauy then Aetna No action of keeping can be done without breach yet some money may be counted without soyling of fingers I verily thinke many poore Artizans many studeÌ„ts also may receaue their rents without much soyling howbeit the ample reuenues of great Lordships may stayne theÌ„ somewhat more yet these staynes defilements arise not immediatly from the action of counting or locall motion of the fingers but from the money defilant coyne which is soyled cleanse that and your fingers will be cleane But dare you say in like manner that the impurity of our dueties the spots of our actions are drawn from the things prescribed and commanded by God from his spotted laws defiled constitutions I cannnot iudge you guilty of so wicked a saying 4. Secondly eyther English Protestants hold with Caluin that all and euery commandment is impossible to be kept or some particuler only Not euer one for I Caluin loc citato consulte the consciences of your own Sectaries whether some of your Iudges haue not beene free from murder bearing false witnes against their neighbours whether some of your graue Matrons haue not beene faythfull to their husbands not defiled neyther in thought nor deed with the cryme of adultery whether some Protestants children haue not beene obedient to their parents some Protestants subiects loyall to their Prince I for my part what soeuer the Caluinists libell to the contrary vnfeignedly iudge that diuers among them haue fully obserued at least for a tyme some of these precepts then euery commandment is not impossible for some space to be kept The precept of not coueting may be kept But some perchance be Which are they The two hardest in your opinion are thou shalt not couet and thou shalt loue God withall thy hart c. Of the former it hath beene already proued that it forbiddeth not the vnuoluntary motions but the free consent which we may refrayne as some Protestants no doubt at some tyme or other checke and subdue their desires of adultery of reuenge of coueting their neighbours goods their liues c. For it is an infamy too reproachfull that all their women should be adultresses all their men aged children reuengers of their wrongs spillers of bloud purloyners of the goods of others eyther ProtestaÌ„ts themselues obserue some of the commandmeÌ„ts in hart or deed as often as any such euill motion ariseth or tentation is suggested vnto them Agayne to affirme the first motions which inuade vs against our will to be breaches of the precept daunteth the courage of Christs valiant souldiers it frustrateth the intent of Gods commaundement For why doth he command vs not to couet but that we may fulfill his will in not coueting Why do we fight against the motions of Concupiscence but that we may not transgresse his law yeilding to them Which suppose it be will we nill we by their assaultes transgressed we striue in vaine to keep of the receaued foyles or preuent the woundes already inflicted This precept then we may keep as often as we bridle our in ordinate suggestions and suppresse the inticements which prouoke vs to euill The CoÌ„maundment of louing God may be also obserued 5. The other also whereby we are commanded to loue God withal our hartes with al our forces c. may be fulfilled if we vnderstand it aright of the appretiatiue loue of true frendship therein exacted not of intensiue or affectionate loue as the Deuines speake that is we ought to esteeme and prize God for his owne infinite goodnes before all thinges in the world abandon al earthly riches profits and emolumentes when occasion is offered rather then him we ought to make him the only scope and finall end of all our desires yet we are not charged to loue him with all the degrees of intention which may be for that can neuer be shewed nor to loue him with such perfection as to imbrace voluntary pouerty or perpetuall chastity for his sake these are only counsayled not commaunded by the force of that precept neyther are we tied so to settle our hartes vpon him as not to affect any other thing conducible to our estate or profitable for the maintenance of our liues but only not to affect any thinge contrary and repugnant to his seruice which wee may easily do by the help of his grace and wholy thereby discharge our bond in fullfilling that sweet and comfortable Psal 118. v. to v 58. v. 145. v. 68 law as king Dauid discharged it when he testified of himselfe With my whole hart haue I sought after thee I besought thy face with all my hart I haue cried in
for euer from the sight of his countenance and hath his soule infected with the vgly spot of sinne which the Schoolmen tearme Malum culpae The euill or desormity of the fault By the second he is liable to punishment and made guilty of the perpetuall paines of Hell 2. Secondly all * Greg. de Valen. disput 7. q. 14. puncto 1. de Satisfact S. Thomas 1. 1. q. 87. artiâ—ulo 6. alij communiter in eum locum Apoc. 18. ver 7. Field in ap pen. 1. par pag 66. Field vbi supra l. 3. of the Church cap. 16. and in append part 1. pag. 42. 43. Field ibideÌ„ pag. 43. Catholike Deuines accord that a deadly sinne being pardoned after Baptisme the whole guiltnesse of the fault is taken away in regard of the contagion it included and priuation of Gods grace But the guiltinesse and desert of punishment albeit it be vtterly released in respect of the eternall duration yet oftentimes some temporall chastisement remaineth to be suffered greater or lesser according to the measure of vnlawfull delights taken in sinne which the Holy Ghost enacted in the Apocalyps As much as shee hath glorified her selfe in delicacies so much torment mourning heape vpon her These be the immoueable grounds of true Theologie 3. Our Sectaries herein dissent from vs chiefly in this later point affirming no punishment to remaine where the fault is remitted For saith M. Field Where grace is so perfect that it expelleth sinfulnesse there it must worke aperfect reconciliation to God with which the guilt of punishement cannot stand Againe Charity saith he in such perfection as is able to purge out all impurity of sinne implieth dislike of that which in sinning was ill affected and sorrow for the same equtualent to the pleasure and delight taken in sinning and consequently doth satisfie God in suchsort as that no punishment shall come vpon him that so sorroweth Thirdly Christ quoth he suffered all that the iustice of God requireth not onely for the staine but also for the punishment due to sinne either before or after Baptisme to be committed therefore whensoeuer we are wholy purged by the infusion of Christs sanctifying grace from the deformity of all faults we are in like manner by the imputation of Christs satisfactory workes fully discharged from all touch of punishment And the contrary he dubbeth An heresie of the Papists And M. Fulke accounteth it Horrible blasphemy against the effect of Christs Passion Fulke in c. 8. ad Rom. sect 4. in ca. 2. 2. ad Cor. sect 2. Mat. 26. Ioan. â—0 Act. 24. v. 14. 4. But of such blasphemy the Sonne of God was appeached by the Scribes and Pharisies And of such heresy Tertullus the Oratour of the Iewes accused S. Paul Therefore we confesse with him that according to the way which you call heresy we doe so serue the Father our God belieuing all things that are written in the law and the Prophets Where it is often recorded that the Diuine Maiesty hath iustly inflicted vpon some the fine of punishment after the whole debt of sinne hath byn discharged God pardoned at the intercession of Moyses the crime of Idolatry the Iewes committed in adoring the golden Calfe notwithstanding he sayd I will visit this their sinne in the day of reuenge God pardoned the sister of Moyses and receaued her into his fauour Exod. 32. v. 34. he punished her notwithstanding with seauen dayes leprosy God pardoned King Dauict his murther adultery and pronounced absolution by the mouth of his Prophet Nathan Our Lord hath forgiuen thy sinne neuerthelesse Num. 12. v. 15. he imposed this penance and satisfaction But the Sonne which is borne of thee shalt dye God pardoned Adam our first Progenitour as appeareth in the booke of Wisdome 2. Reg. â—2 v. 13. 14. albeit after reconciliation he was not exempted from that heauy curse Because thou hast giuen eare to the voyce of thy wife accursed be the earth in thy worke Moreouer the Apostle reporteth Sap. 10. Vers 2. Gen. 3. Vers 27. 1. Cor. 11. Vers 30. Aug. tract 114. in Io. Droductior est poena quà m culpa ne parus putaretur culpâ— c. of certaine punished with death and grieuous diseases for their vnworthy receauing although some of them as we may piously suppose were reconciled to God before their departure 5. And not to be ouer long in particular examples all mankind feeleth the bitter scourge and calamitie of sinne as hunger cold wants sicknesses and death the iust imposed penalties of our fore-fathers transgression Notwithstanding many haue had the guiltinesse thereof cleansed before by the Sacrament of Baptisme Therefore S. Augustine most notably sayth The punishment is more prolonged then the fault least the fault might be little accounted of if the punishment ended with it S. Irenaeus writing of the pressures inflicted vpon Adam Eue and their posterity affirmeth Irand 3 cap. 35. They were thus chastised that neyther accursed they might wholy perish be abandoned of God nor without correction might perseuere contemning God 6. With these might be numbred diuers others who Aug tract 50. homil ho. 50 Cyp. serm de opere eleemosyn l. 1. ep 3. Hier. ep ad Eustochium de obitu Paulae Amb. l. ad virg laps cap. 8. Orig. hom 15. in Leuit. Tertul. l. de Poeniten Lact. de verasapionca 17. li. 6. de vero cultis cap. 13. Bafil in Psa 29. exponens vers ilâ—â—â—â— Conuertisti planctum meum c. Greg Naz. orat de Pauperum amore Pacianus in paraenesi ad Poenit. teach that the punishment remayning after sinne remitted by teares almesdeeds and other workes of Penance may be mitigated and released Of which mind S. Augustine is in his treatise of 50. Homilies And S. Cyprian sayth Sinnes and staines contracted after baptisme may by almesdeeds be washed away And in another place Our offences by satisfaction may be redeemed S. Hierome Long laughter ought to be recompensed with continuall weeping S. Ambrose A great crime needeth great satisfaction And therefore Origen calleth our good workes The price or ransome by which sinnes are redeemed Tertullian Lactantius S. Basill S. Gregory Nazianzen S. Pacianus and all the ancient Fathers preach nothing more then Penance and Satisfaction for offences past The ancient * Conc. Turonen Can. 22. Concil Laodicen ca. 2. Concil Ancyr can 4. 5. 8. 9. Conc. â— Nicen. can 11. Theodor. l. 4. haeret fabularum Dan. 4. Luc. 3. vers 8. 1. Cor. 11. Chrys hom 42. in Mat. Beda in cap. 11. 1 ad Cor. Matth. 4. Councels prescribe place of Penance tyme of SatisfactioÌ„ The ancient Priests after Confession inioyned Penance imposed Satisfaction The ancient Church condemned certaine Heretikes called Audiani because they gaue remission to such as confessed without prescribing tyme of Penance The Apostles the Prophets and Christ himself often exhorteth hereunto Daniel counselled Nabuchodonosor Redeeme thy sinnes with almedeeds
are not imputed but pardoned in Christ all Mortall in the Reprobate M. Fulke conformably deliuereth Allsinnes are pardonable to the Penitent and faythfull and without fayth and repentance euen the least and ligh est sinne are damnable and deadly Against whom I reason thus 2. If there be any sinnes which euen then wheÌ„ they are voluntarily committed without repentance can stand with grace and Iustice the life of our soules they are of their owne nature neyther damnable nor deadly but there are some suchsinnes Therefore there are some sinnes which neyther of their owne nature Prou. 24. v. 16. cause the spirituall death of our soules in this life nor damnation in the next That there are some such sinnes I proue out of Scripture out of the Prouerbes Seauen tymes doth the Iust man fall and rise againe If he be Iust how falleth he into sinne If a sinner how is he called Iust vnlesse some sinne may consist with Iustice Out of Ecclesiast There is not a Iust man vpon earth who doth good and doth not sinne Out of S. Iohn If we shall say we haue no sinne we seduce Eccles 7. v. 21. 1. Iohn 1. Aug. l. dâ— natu gra c. 36. Haeb. 5. our selues and the truth is not in vs. Where S. Augustine expoundeth S. Iohn of the sinnes of the Iust and speaking of our Blessed Lady absolutly pronounceth This Virgin excepted if all holy Persons whilest heere they liued were assembled togeather with how great sanctity soeuer they shined c. they would all crie out If we say we haue no sinne we seduceour selues Out of S. Paul Euery Bishop ought as for the people so also for himselfe to offer for sinnes Whence S. Hierome collecteth He Hier. apud Panigarol part 2. lect 12. Iaco. 3. v. 2. lacob 1. v. 14 Hier. in CoÌ„menta c. 5. Mat. Psal 31. Math. 5. 1. Cor. 3. Orig. bo 5. In Leuit. Amb. in Psalm 118. Naz. or at 2. Iulia. in Cbrys bo 24. in Mat. Hier. l. 2. con Pelag. Aug. l. de natura gra ca. 38. in Enchir c. 22. 71. ser 41. de Sanct. Fulke in c. 1. Iaco. sect 6. Ezech. 18. 4. Rom. 6. 23. Iacob 2. 10. Aug. Ep 29. Cbrys bo 35. in Mat. should neuer be commanded to offer for others vnlesse he were Iust nor for himselfe if he wanted sinnes Out of S. Iames In many things we all offend And in his first Chapter Euery one is tempted of his owne concupiscence abstracted and allured afterward concupiscence when it hath conceaued bringeth forth sin but sinne when it is consummate engendreth death Behold three things in man Concupiscence the ground or entisement to sinne Conception the first and imperfect motion which yeeldeth therunto ConsuÌ„mation the absolute deliberate consent Concupiscence is no sinne Conception is a sinne but not damnable not deadly ConsuÌ„mation or full consent is only that which engendreth death S. Hierom agreable heereunto maketh a great difference betweene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Desire with Consent and withous Consent Many other places I omit cited out of King Dauid S. Mathew and S. Paul I omit the Fathers who acknowledge this diuersity of Veniall and Mortall sinnes Origen S. Ambrose S. Gregory Nazianzen S. Chrysostome S. Hierome S. Augustine c. 3. M. Fulke obiecteth by Ezechiel and S. Paul Of all sinnes in generall it is sayd The soule which sinneth shal die And The wages of sinne is death I answere They speake of haynous sinnes not of euery small offence For God were too seuere his leagne of friendship intollerable if for the least idle word or sleight default he would depriue his Friends of grace and persecute them to death S. Iames also writeth of grieuous sinne the breach of Gods Commandment in the place you commonly alleadg against vs He that offeudeth in one is made guilty of all For S. Augustine teacheth that he is made guilty of all because he breaketh the band of Charity which is the totall summe and perfection of the law Or can no lesse escape the sentence of death and damnation who transgresseth one commandement then if he were guilty of all as the Authour vpon the imperfect worke vpon S. Matthew singularly well expoundeth S. Basil and S. Augustine I grant make great account of Veniall sinnes in that they diminish the feruour of Charity are somewhat contrary to the Easil in quaest q. 4. q. 293. Aug. Con. 3. super Ps 118. tract 12. in Ioan. law and now and then dispose to the transgreslion of it in that they truly offend the infinite maiesty of God yet in a matter so light and with such imperfect apprehension as it diminisheth the indignity and wholy altereth the quality of the fault For if the want of all knowledge and all consent in children and mad men vtterly taketh away the guilt of sinne then imperfect knowledge imperfect consent must needs cause imperfect sinnes Not such as absolutly violate the law of God or throughly incurre his high displeasure but such as are to be shunned notwithstanding as dangerous infirmities and diseases of our soule Which is all that S. Augustine and the rest of the Fathers intend when they exaggerate the enormity of small offences Thus much in confutation of our Aduersaries second ground Concerning the third 4. We stand not vpon the name but vphold the thing that is a certaine penall estate or cleansing of some soules after this life which cleansing we call as Suarez Tom. 4. in 3. par disp 45. sect 1. Esay 4. Malach. 3. Suarez well noteth Purgation and the place where it is made Purgatory which the ancient Fathers themselues haue constantly gathered out of sundry texts of holy Write In the old Testament S. Augustine teacheth it from the mouth of Isay Our Lord shall purge the dregs of the daughters of Syon and shall wash the bloud of Hierusalem out of the middest therof in the Spirit of iudgment and in the Spirit of Aug. l. 20. de â—iuit Dei c. 25. Hiero. in hunc locuÌ„ Amb. in Psalm 36. Orig. ho. 6. in Exod. combustion or as the English Protestant translation readeth By the spirit of burning He teacheth it likewise from the mouth of Malachy Our Lord is like a purging fire and like fullers sope he shall sit downe to trye and fine the siluer he shall euen fine the Sonnes of Leui and purify them as gold and siluer Where S. Augustine addeth That these wordes cannot signify a separation only of the polluted from the pure in the last penall iudgment c. but must intimate a purgation of the good who haue need thereof With whome S. Hierome S. Ambrose Origen consent in the interpretation of that place The same S. Augustine and Venerable Bede deduce out of that passage of Aug. in Ps 7. Beda in Psal 37. Psalm 65. Amb. in Psal 36. ser in Psal 118. Orig. hom 25. in Numer the
washed but not purifyed exorcised and breathed on but not infranchised from the power of the Diuell Say also that bloud is shed for them in remission of sinnes but they are cleansed with the remission of no sinne these be strang thinges which you teach new thinges which you teach false thinges which you teach we wonder at the strang beware of the new reproue the false If he thus canuased them for denying the VVhitaker l. 8. aduersus Duraeum and in his answere to 8. reason of M. Campain f. 22â— in English In his marginall â—ots added out of his defence purgation of infants soules who acknowledged in them nothing to be purged how would he haue ratled you who acknowledg them defiled yet not purifyed from their ordure You say I confesse their persons are accepted through the mercy of God their faults are not imputed they are outwardly couered with the veile of grace but within within lurketh the venome which infecteth the whole man within in themselues in the secret bowells of their soule they are as deeply tainted poysoned and corrupted as when they were first borne the children of wrath the sonnes of darknes and of vtter perdition 18. O Diuellish facriledge O hatefull barbarisme which Whitaker himselfe would seeme to abhorre for being charged therewith first by M. Campian after by Duraeus he answereth That channell of sinne doth remaine not within them that haue attayned true righteousnes as you slaunder vs to teach but by the power of the Holy Ghost it is dayly purged out You see he would fayne wash his handes and plead not guilty of this hideous blasphemy but examine him vpon the former interrogatoryes and you shall find him as innocent as Pilate was from the bloud of Christ Aske him or any of his followers what is purged by renouation from the soules of the righteous Is the whole staine of Originall infection cleansed forth and do the scarres the infirmityes only abide We desire no more you recant your heresy and ioyne handes with vs. Or is any part of the contagion although it be essentially a priuation and consist not of parts scoured out by infusion of grace Not so for this liquor is so pretious as it cannot endure the spot of mortall crime the bed of our soules is too narrow to lodge any part of the one with the presence of the other And the Holy Ghost too full of purity might and goodnes to create a worke so imperfect a monster so deformed as I haue partly already and shall more fully demonstrate in the next Controuersy which followeth This is more largly proued in the next coÌ„trouersy of inherent iustice Notwithstanding let vs graunt that some part is purged out heerof it must needs ensue that that which by parts is taken away may at length be wholy destroyed for euery finite thing by subtraction of finite parts must of necessity be exhausted in the end Therefore if we be often renewed by the power of the Holy Ghost we may in this life at least in long processe of tyme and dayly increase of vertue be perfectly cleansed from all spotes of sinne Which Whitaker neuerthelesse and all his complices VVhitak vbi supra Feild Abbots loc citais account impossible obstinatly persisting that as long as we dwell in this world sinne must needs dwell in vs and such of it owne nature is mortall and damnable for veniall they deny What glosse then what exposition can they make of the wordes before cyted But that the chaÌ„nell of sinne is sayd to be purged out because it is resisted kept in and restrained from breaking forth into workes of iniquity wrought with full consent for iniquity still worketh as themselues confesse not much vnlike the wickednes of him who by sleep is hindred from voluntary mischiefe or rather like a hidden impostume or poysoned canker which cannot be cured but is stopped by Physicke from further infection And this is the abhomination of which we condemne them an abhomination not fit to be proposed to Christian eares or further refuted if necessity did not presse vs with pens of Christians THE SECOND CHAPTER IN WHICH Concupiscence is more particularly proued to be no sinne Other obiections to the contrary answered against Doctour Whitaker Doctour Feild and Maister Abbots MERVAILE not Courteous Reader that after so large a discourse and full confutatioÌ„ premised I shold notwithstanding Originall sinne in habiting as ProtestaÌ„ts hold in the regenerat is the only ground of many other their impious paradoxâ— more exactly refell this dangerous paradox of our home-bâ—ed fin irremediably lurking in the bowells of nature The reason is because I find it the generall head-spring or poysoned source from whence sundry puddles of other venemous errours are drawn For from hence our Protestants sucke that deadly baâ—â— that all the actions of man euen his deuoutest prayers best workes and desires are stayned with the aspersion of mortall crime because they passe through the stincâ—ing channell of human corruption Hence they deny the merit of our good deedes wrought by grace because there is no goodâ—es in vs pleasing to God from which they should proceed hence their impossibility of fullfilling Gods Commandments for that euery action of the iust is of it owne nature a transgression of his law hence no inherent but a vaine imputatiue righteousnes for ech one in all his facultyes pestered with this capitall vice no inward iustice no inherent grace but a meere outward imputation belongeth vnto him hence their iustification by fayth alone and apprehension of Christs promises applyed vnto them and not through the dignity of their workes enhaunced by Christ hence no difference betweene the workes of the misbeleiuing Infidel Bell in his down-fall p. 49. Abbot in his defence c. cap. â— p. 176. faithfull Christian but that they both damnably offend in whatsoeuer they do only the misdeedes of the faythfull are not imputed vnto them the faults of the Infidels are hence no freedome of will to performe any morall good no liberty in man to cooperate with God when he first moueth awaketh and calleth him out of the state of sin hence I say from this Cancker of concupiscence as from the sincke of mischiefe in our Sectaryes conceit creepeth the infection of all the fornamed heresyes which pernicious conceit that they may more plausibly maintayne they distinguish following the doctrine of our Deuines concupiscence into two sorts actuall habituall habituall is the habit the inward corrupt quality or powers of the inferiour portion to exorbitant motioÌ„s actuall in the immediat act the vntoward motion or affection it selfe both which they account not only to vndergo the name but to partake the essence and nature of sinne in so much as they hold the vnuoluntary motions of concupiscence although they preuent the vse of reasoÌ„ although they be resisted and suppressed yet to be truely sinnefull in themselues and transgressions of the law Thus they 2.
Creatour there is in it disobedience from the dominion of the mind as Feild presseth out of S. Augustine It is a transgression from the rule of reason a defection sayth Abobt from rightetousnes a swaruing from the law of God but whatsoeuer swarueth or declineth from the prescript of his law is sinne Therefore concupiscence is not only a languor wound or fayntnes but the true sin of Nature Our answere is ready It is a sinne either materially or formally formally if it be a free and voluntary transgression materially if it want deliberation or consent of will as in fooles children and mad men it doth But as in them the actuall lusts or desires of concupiscence are materiall disorders or swaruings from the will of the highest but not properly sinnes so neither in the regenerate if as S. Augustine often auoweth they yield not vnto them For which cause we deny that whatsoeuer declyneth from the law of God is sinne euery vniust law euery hereticall interpretation euery booke which Protestants set forth in defence of their errours is a declyning and swaruing from his law and albeit they damnably sinne in disgorging such poyson yet the books themselues are not properly sinnes but so far forth sin is committed as they are any way diuulged imbraced or allowed no more are the sinnefull motions of concupiscence vnles by voluntary consent they be yielded vnto especially such as are seated in the flesh which is not capable of sinne 8. Secondly they presse the authority of the Apostle and testimony of the Fathers as that S. Paul tearmeth Rom. 6. v. â— ad Rom. 7. v. 24. concupiscence sin the body of sinne the body of death S. Augustine iniquity vice a great euill Methodius death and destruction it selfe S. Ambrose the defilement of nature the seed root or seminary of sinne S. Cyprian a domesticall euill Origen sinne which is the cause of death I answere it is named sinne death destruction c. for many reasons which S. Augustine himselfe assigneth First for that it is the effect Aug la. de â—uptijs concup c. 23. of sin as our speach is called our tongue or hand writing our hand because our tongue or hand frameth it The second for which it is so intitled he noteth to be because it inclineth prouoketh and if it ouercome is the cause of sin death defilement c. So cold is sayd to be sluggish and heauy for that it maketh men heauy wyne merry by reason it stirreth vp to mirth And so concupiscence for as much as it continually suggesteth allureth often induceth to all kind of wickednes S. Cyprian besides the S. Cypr. de ratio circumcis S. Bernard de sex triâ—ul precedent names calleth it a raging beast of stincking breath S. Bernard A contagion a pestilent poyson a manifold pestilence the cherishment of all naughtinesse a furnace strongly burning with the affections of ambition auarice enuy willfullnes lewdnes and all vices 9. Thirdly it is tearmed a great euill because it is indeed an vntoward and euill propension a hindrance from good a want of due subiection in the inferiour powers therefore truly called a sicknes or euill quality though not a sinne for harken what the same S. Augustine writeth to Iulian the Pelagian Thou think est that if concupiscence Aug. l. 6. cont Iul. c. 5. prope finem Rom. 7. v. 15. 19. were euill the baptized should want it thou art much deceaued for he wanteth all euil In this sort S. Paul calleth it the euill which he hateth and the euill which I will not that I doe Fourthly it doth beare the name of sinne because it was the materiall part of sinne or that which the formall guilt of our capitall infection materially included after which maÌ„ner it may be improperly sayd to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 iniquity the name for which Iohn Caluin and his Ghospellers so eagerly striue yet if you take the word iniquity in August tract 41. in Ioan. his proper signification it is wholy cancelled in S. Augustines iudgment saying because all iniquity is blotted out hath no infirmity remayned 10. Lastly it doth sometyme truly vndergo that name because in the irregenerate the auersion from God Aug. l. 5. contra Iul. c. 3. which is the forme and essence of Originall sinne is annexed vnto it This is the meaning of S. Augustine when in his fift booke against Iulian he first calleth it sinne then the cause also and punishment of sinne for so it is properly sinne not in it selfe alone but as it is combined with the aforesayd auersion to make one complete and vitious habite So there is in it disobedience against the dominioÌ„ of the mind because it is in them vnbridled and vntamed VVhitak l. 8. aduers Duraeum fol. 576. lust so it is that sinnefull concupiscence against which the good spirit according to S. Augustine doth striue and couet Howbeit by these words Whitaker taketh occasion to cauill that he speaketh of concupiscence in the regenerate because in them only is the good spirit which warreth against it But he is much deceaued for S. Augustine meaneth not by the good spirit the spirit of righteousnes but the naturall propension to good the right Synderesis or light of Gods countenance which he hath stamped in the hartes of the wicked this often fighteth and biddeth war to that concupiscence which is true sinne by reason of the formall guilt conioyned vnto it notwithstanding if that formall guilt be once forgiuen the materiall part that is concupiscence of it selfe inhabiting in vs against which we wrastle is no more sinne then a dead carcasse bereft of life is a true and proper man 11. One scruple yet may trouble my Reader why Vlpid tit de edilitio edict lege prima Tul. ep Papirio Paeto ep â— in fine S. Augustine should call this concupiscence vicious or a vice for heereon we may vndoubtedly argue that it is likewise sinnefull or a sinne I answere that the word Vitium vice if we sift the natiue signification and property thereof may be taken for any thing that is diseased or defectiue either in nature or art as Vlpianus in the ciuill law vseth the word and Pliny stileth the falling sicknes by the name of Vice Tully likewise giueth the name of vice to whatsoeuer is broken or out of reparation in the roote or walles of a house Thus S. Augustine taketh the word vice for that which is maymed and diseased and not for that which is sinnefull when he speaketh of the woundes of sinne abyding in the regenerate wherein I appeale to no other sentence then his owne which I heere insert as a seale and obligation of his beliefe concerning this matter Iam Aug. l. 2. contra Iul. prope init ne discernis iam ne perspicis c. Dost thou now discerne dost thou now perceane dost thou now behould the remission of all sins to be made in Baptisme and as
pride or any other then loue so it is impossible the staynes of those sinnefull actions should be intermixed in the act it selfe of loue Doth it proceed from some other fleshly motion or rebellious inclination But the The corrupt motions of the flesh infect not the work e of the spirit motions of the flesh do not a whit defile the operations of the spirit they are distinct and seuerall actions and these without consent do not partake of their infection What is the spot then of vncleanes what is the muddy water this christall riuer of loue hath drawen from our foule attainted nature Is it nothing els then the defect and want of greater perfection which might be in that act But thus the loue of many Saints and Angells in heauen should be stayned with impurity because none of the inferiour or lower orders arriue to the burning flames or loue of the highest Thus the sinnefull spots should not grow from any casuall and accidentall necessity but from the substance it selfe of the act and make the act of loue as it is substantially lesse perfect so substātially euill substantially naught both which M. Abbot notwithstanding stoutly gainesayeth 6. Besides these spots which destayne our good workes what be they sinnes you graunt but what sins veniall or mortall Veniall you vtterly reiect in so much VVhitak cont ◠q. 6. c. 3. fol. 582. 583. as M. Whitaker sayth that they who allow them do not only euert a true but endeauour to set vp a false fundamentall point Mortall then they are deadly crymes howsoeuer you seeke to extenuate them with diminitiue words they be transgressions of the precepts preuarications of the law of God or Nature for euery deadly sinne is a breach of the Law Then I pose you whether these transgressions be actions distinct from the good workes which they defile or not distinct Say they be distinct and you cannot say they be spots intermixed with our good actions you cannot say our pious workes are besprinkled with them seeing their morall bonity is good and commendable deuided both in nature obiect quality and action from the deformity of these transgressions Say they be not distinct but that the same worke which is good is spotted with deadly trespasses then all good workes be the neuer so excellent are deadly sinnes al formal breaches transgressions of the law From whence that manifestly followeth with which many heertofore haue rightly attached and endited your Synagogue That euery one is bouud to auoyd all good workes vnder payne of damnation Secondly Protestāts are bound to eschew all good works because they are damnable crimes by the force of their doctrine it followeth that M. Abbot hath wronged his Reader and abused Doctour Bishop in disgracing his Syllogisme concerning this matter as consisting of foure termes wheras it consisteth only of three For a worke to be a mortal sinne and stayned with mortal sinne is one the same terme How beit least he should cauill with me as he hath done with him I will frame my argument in the same mood and figure he himselfe requireth thus No mortal sinne is to be done vnder payne ofdānation But all good workes are mortall sinnes Therefore no good worke is to be done vnder paine of damnation M. Abbot denyeth the Minor proposition and answereth Though good workes haue some aspersion or touch of our Abbot c. 4. sect 46. corruption yet do not thereby become sinnes But I proue the contrary for either that aspersion is a deadly offence morally separable from the good action as with our infirmity in this life it is acheiued or altogeather inseparable if morally separable we may sometyme exercise good workes pure and vnspotted without that sinnefull aspersion if altogeather inseparable the action which is done stayned as you to soften the fault daintily speake with the touch of corruption defiled as I demonstrate with the contagion of deadly guilt must needes be a mortall and deadly crime For if the actions of stealing killing many others which may be done sometyme without default as by fooles or madmen are notwithstanding alwayes grieuous and horrible offences when to their positiue Entity or Physicall substance which is good and to which God himselfe concurreth any mortall deformity or deadly infection is adioyned by what forrain circumstance or casuall accident soeuer it be how much more those actions which can neuer be wrought without mortall foule and deadly default as all our good workes according to Protestants how much more are they mortall foule and deadly trespasses 7. In fine D. Whitaker D. Abbot and all my adsaryes Abbot in his defence c. 4. c. 2. Feild in his 3. booke of the Church c. 26. VVhitak l. 8. aduer Duraum acknowledge that our good works sprinkled with the spot of impurity haue not all things necessary vnder sinne to satisfy the law but by reason of our weaknes and infirmity swarue and decline from the fullnes thereof Secondly they acknowledge that all swaruings all declinings from the full prescript of the law are of their owne nature damnable and mortall crimes Therefore by their owne acknowledgment all our good workes are heynous and damnable sinnes But all men are obliged vnder forfeite of saluation to fly and detest all grieuous sinnes therefore all men are obliged by this hellish doctrine to fly and detest al good workes Yea euery one is bound to auoyd the very duties thēselues he is bound to do For we al bound to performe our duties in obseruing the lawes cōmandments of the Decalogue but euery duety we accomplish is weake raw defectiue euery defectiue and imperfect duty a deuiation Abbot c. 4 sect 46. fol. 588. falling away from the perfectiō of the law euery falling away euery deuiation a mortall sinne euery mortal sinne we are bound to auoyde therfore we are bound to auoyde euery duty which we are bound to performe M. Abbot agayne denyeth my consequence because the VVbitak Abbot vbi supra sinne is not implyed in the duety but ariseth by casuall and accidentall necessity from the condition of the man I perceaue the dint of this weapon pricketh you to the quicke it draweth bloud and forceth you to giue ground at euery blow First all our actions were sinnes if seuerely scanned then our good workes are not sinnefull but sinne is intermixed in them And Abbot in his defence c. 4. sect 43. 44. Fulke in c. 1. Luc. sect 7. in 14. Ioan. sect 1. VVhitak l. 8. aduers Duraeum are they now neyther sinnes nor sinnefull nor is any sin implyed in our duty Well I am glad to see you recant so it be sincerely done and from your hart For if sinne be not infolded in this duety then the duety no doubt is conformable to the law it satisfyeth the tye and obligation thereof whereinsoeuer it bindeth vnder the penalty of any blamable default yea quoth he Fulke and Whitaker
with him it doth so inded yet imperfectly rawly in part only Answere directly for shame Is that raw imperfect duety such as it fulfilleth the law so far forth as it obligeth vnder sinne or no What say you Are you mute dare you not speake TheÌ„ iudgemeÌ„t passeth against you that eyther it fulfilleth not the obligation sinne is inuolued in the duety and that so deeply as the dutifull action is of it owne nature according to you a true deuiation breach of the Commandment or it satisfieth the whole baÌ„d of the law and so it is coÌ„taminated with no touch of sinne in respect of that obligatioÌ„ It is a pure good vndefiled action it is the full accomplishment of whatsoeuer the law in that kind exacted the only sentence we expect from your mouth Againe though sinne be not implyed in the duty yet the duety in their phantasticall iudgment is stayned with the sinne but euery action which is stayned with sinne is necessarily sinneful Basil serm 2 de Bapâ—â— 7. 8. Chrys or the author vpon the imperfect work of 8. Matthew S Thom. 1. 2. q. 18. art 4 ad â— q 19. art 7. ad 3. whence soeuer the sinne proceedeth as S. Basil S. Chrysostome S. Thomas with all the Schoole-men conformably teach For as that which is endewed with whitenes must needs be white from what cause soeuer the whitenes coÌ„meth whether from the naturall propriety and conditioÌ„ of the thing as in a Swan or from the outward act and industry of man as in a white-limed wall So if the duety we performe be polluted with sinne our dutye is sinfull from whence soeuer the sinne ariseth whether from the inward hart or outward obiect casuall necessity or accidentall condition of man 8. I may weary my selfe in skirmishing so long with such feeble aduersaries and wounding them thus in so many places Therefore I retire inflicting for a farewell this last and deadly stroake in true Syllogisticall Dionys de diuin nom c. 4. par 4. Greg. Niss hom 2. in Cant. orat cated c. 5. Basil bom 9. â—oan Damas l. 2. de fiâ—e c. 4. Aug. l. 2. de lib arbr c. vlt. l. 12 de ciuit â— 1 3. 7. Fuig de fide ad Peter c. 21. Auselm o. per. de praese praed c. â— manner Euery action euery duety which is deficient and bereaued eyther of due conuersion to God conformity to reason or of such moral rectitude as by precept binding vnder mortall sinne ought to be in it is a mortall crime and true preuarication of the Law But euery action euery duty we acheiue is according to Protestants deficient and bereaued of that conuersion rectitude or conformity as by precept binding vnder mortall sinne ought to be in it Therefore euery action euery duty we accomplish is according to them a deadly cryme a true bâ—each and preuarication of the law The Maior proposition is the ruled definition of sinne agreed vpon by the best Deuines who either affi me it to be a priuation of good with S. Dionysius Areopagita S. Gregory Nissen S. Basil and S. Iohn Damascene oâ—an alienation an auersion from the law of God with S. Augustine Fulgen us or a want absence and defect of rectitude with S. Anselme or a desertion a straying from vertue with S. Basil againe Nicetus or lastly a deflection a deuiation from the square of Basil in coÌ„stit Mon. Nicet in orat 40. Nazian q. insanct Baptism â— Thom â— 2. q. 71. art 1. â— â— con Gent. c. 7. reason or supreme rule of all actions with S. Thomas and the whole troupe of his followers 9. The Minor that our duety is deficient bereaued of the good fayling of that rectitude or perfection of vertue which ought to be in it is auowed by our Aduersaryes when they contend that it is not answerable and correspondent to the whole taske or amercement the Law exacteth vnder the fine of sinne or forfeiture of disobedience therefore the forementioned conclusion rightly inferred from these two premises is vndeniable And wheras some thinke to get away with their loose reply that although the dutyes they performe be in themselues breaches of the law yet those breaches are pardoned Another obiection vnansweâ—ed not imputed to the elect these men by seeking to get out lap themselues faster in their owne inextricabe neâ—s for no sinne is to be attempted no breach of the law can be lawfully incurred that God may after pardon forgiue the fault that he may not impute the transgression of his law Murder is pardoned Adultery is not imputed in their conceit to the beleeuing Protestant may they therefore be committed because they shal be forgiuen O malicious presumption O presumptuous malice For beare then yee Sectaryes forbeare your duetyes to God your alleagiance to your Prince forbeare your raw and imperfect obseruations of al diuine and human laws or els reuoke your calumnyes abiure your heresies that all vertuous deeds are bespotted with the staynes of vice THE SECOND CHAPTER IN WHICH The same is warranted by the Fathers the obiections answered the vnuoluntary motions of Concupiscence discharged of sinne FOVRE notable thinges are deliuered by the Doctors of the Church to shew the falsity of the former calumniation First they auouch our good Hier. l. â— aduers Pelag Augu. de spir lit c. vlti Greg. l. 2. moral c. 8. works to be free from the spots of defilement S. Hierome S. Augustine S. Gregory and S. Bernard in the places heere quoted in the margent SecoÌ„dly they affirme them to iustfy vs before God by true increase and augmentation of inherent iustice to which purpose I haue alleadged many in the controuersy of iustification by workes Thirdly they inculcate that some heroicall Bern. l. de praecep dispens acts are so pure and acceptable to God as they purge clense vs from al dregs from all remaynes of former defaults yea they are so worthy and meritorious as they do not only purchase an increase of grace in this life but a great crowne of glory in the next as Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian Origen and S. Cyprian affirme of the dignity of Martyrdom whose sentences are set downe in the question of merit Fourthly they teach that not only the workes of some holy men but that they also themselues Hier. l â—3 cont Pela August de pec mer. remis l. 2 c. 6. Ambr. de na gra c. 3. In eodem l. c. 67. Orig. l. 1. in Iob. Cent. 3. c. 4. col 78. Lact. l. 6. cap. 25. Cent. 4. c. 4. col 192. In eodem l. c 25. Theod. q 19. in Gen Cent. 5 c. 10. col 1008. Hier. l. 4. comm in Ezech. Cent. 4. â— 10. col 1249. may befor a tyme innocent and cleane from all impurity We teach that a man may if he will not sinne c. S. Hierome A man may if he will be without
in their power by Gods helpe to Basil Orat in illud Attende tibi Chrys ho. 8 de poenio Aug. tom 7. denat grat c. 6â— Hier. ep ad Damas de expos Symboli keep them Therefore to quit the soueraigne goodnes from this merciles cruelty the Fathers vniformely define That it is a wicked thing to teach the Precepts of the spirit cannot be obserued S. Basil Accuse not God he hath not commanded things impossible S. Chrysostome We stedfastly beleeue God to be iust good not able to command things impossible hence we are admonished what we ought to do in things easy what to aske in things hard and difficile S. Augustine S. Hierome accurseth their blasphemy who teach any impossible things to be imposed by God vnto man Which argument hath beene handled heertofore in the CoÌ„trouersy of Free will where the Aduersaryes cauils theretunto are reiected The like impiety it were in God to cooperate with vs in such speciall manner to affoard his heauenly grace his supernaturall ayde to the keeping of his Commandments if we transgresse and sinne in keeping of them For as our August de pec mer. remis l. 2. c. 5. great Doctour S. Augustine teacheth To commit sin we are not ayded of God but to do good things or wholly fullfill the precept of iustice we cannot vnles we be ayded by God Marke heere that by the ayde of God we may not in part but wholy fullfill the precept and that in fullfilling it we do not sinne because thereunto we could not be holpen by God To which my aduersaries cannot shape their worne-out and thrid-bare reply That our obseruation our loue of God Abb cap. 4. sect 44. for example is no sinne but a good deed by acceptation For as I haue often answered God cannot accept that for good which is in it selfe naught and sinnefull but it is good in the Abbot ibid. sol 579. originall of grace from whence it proceedeth Explane your selfe a little better whether you meane it is perfectly or imperfectly good Graunt perfectly and you go on our side yield only imperfectly and you stand at the stay you were before perhaps you imagine that it springeth perfect from the fountaine of grace and after receaueth a blemish from the weaknes of flesh You imagine amisse for the same indiuiduall morall act which once is enriched with the dowry of perfection caÌ„not be after impouerished with any basenes of vice Or is it partly good as it is wrought by grace and partly euill as it runneth through the conduct of depraued nature No such matter the thing contradicteth it selfe as hath beene often signifyed neither is nature the conduct or pipe but true cause of the act in which there is not any part good assignable to grace distinct from that which is ascribed to man but the entiere action perfect or lesse perfect is wholy assigned to mans freewill wholy thereunto ayded by grace as the characters which the scholler frameth by the Maisters guiding of his hand are not seuerally drawne fayrely by one and rudely by the other but the same fayre or deformed rude or well fashioned are wholy from both Which forceth M. Abbot from that incongruous shift We Abbot cap. 4. sect 44. fol. 579. by our corruption do disgrace that which proceedeth holy and pure from God In like manner he is ferretted out of his other berry-hole That the action is good in the will and endeauour of Abbot ibid. the person by whom it is done For the will is weake the endeauour mean the person cloathed with human corruption who if he may will and endeauour that which is good then some good may proceed from a fleshly man perfect and entiere free from all spot and blemish or els the will and intendment is no better then the worke and VVhitak in his answere to the 8. reason of M. Camp VVhitah l. 8. aduers Duraum Abbot cap. 4. sect 44. fol. 578 this assignement of goodnes which you make to the will is a meere shew or treachery to cloake the badnes of your cause 2. Lastly you say although you place it not in order last that the duty we obserue is in substance good Well I am contented with this but see you recant not for heere I haue that the substance at least of louing God the substance of euery obseruation of the law which we achieue is perfect and entiere able to satisfy the will of God able to make vs acceptable vnto him Yes say they If he fauourably looke vpon it and impute not the fault but if he Abbot c. 4. sect 47. fol. 596. should strictly narrowly deale with vs he should haue iust cause of reiecting vs in the doing thereof Forbeare these ifs ands and come to the point Is the substance of the action done entierely good in it selfe or no abstracting from the fauour or dislike of God whose indulgence or seuerity VVhitak in his answere to the 8. reason of M. CampiaÌ„ being extrinsecall doth not make the substance of the worke better or worse It is not so good as it may endure the try all of the precise and perfect rule of righteousnes truth This is not the question but whether it may stand with satisfaction of his law It cannot stand with it in such full complete and absolute manner as that nothing at all may be added thereunto Neither is that the thing demanded who euer dealt with such slippery companions Must I still put you to the torture to draw out the truth My question is whether the substance of the act satisfyeth the obligation of the law Let vs heere what you say to this They answere as heertofore It is short of that which the law requireth it cannot be such VVhitak in his answere to the 8. reason of M. Câ—mplan and lib. 8. aduer DuraeuÌ„ Abbot cap. 4. fol. 60â— as it ought to be as long as the flesh lusteth against the spirit there can be no such entiere good in vs. Alwayes a man doth lesse then he ought to do I thought you would flinch from your word but I pursue you also flying The act then of louing God is substantially short of that the law requireth substantially lesse then it ought to be and not only lesse of that which ought to be by perswasion or counsaile but by precept binding to more vnder payne of morall sinne therefore the substance of this lesser act is not morally good but mortally defectuous substantially faulty a deadly sinne and true transgression of the law to which God cooperating must needs cooperate in particuler manner to the accomplishment of sinne Protestants are bound to surcease from louing praying or endeauouring to performe those mortall crimes and bound to performe them because God commandeth them as I further demonstrate by this dilemma Either God commandeth the complete perfect fullfilling of his law which Protestants teach no man in this
S. Luke confirmed by S. Paul And yet our Sacramentaries reiecting the agrement approbation of them al endeauour to interpret it by far more hard hidden passages Others do not only misconster but vtterly deny most apparent places vndeniable testimonyes For is there any thing more often inculcated or more largly amplifyed by the Prophets then the glory of the Messias and benefites we were to receaue by the comming of Christ Is there any thing more euidently expressed by the EuaÌ„gelists then his genealogy his natiuity his humane pedegree from the line of Dauid Yet Faustus the Manichee had his eyes darkned as S. Augustine testifyeth with presumptuous arrogancy that he sayd Searching the Scrippures Aug. lib. 16. con Paust cap. 2. 14. lib. 12. c. 2. lib. 2. cap. 2. I find there no Prophesyes of Christ The Prophets fortel nothing of him the Ghospell mentioneth not his temporall birth or procreation from man Howbeit sayth S. Augustine he euery where auoucheth himselfe the sonne of man But as Faustus was thus blinded and would not see a mistery so cleare what if Protestants be blinded in an article of Faith no lesse cleare and perspicuous We found not in Scripture the predictions of Christ neither do they discerne the Aug. ep 165. ad Donat Church of Christ as plainely described as Christ himself For in the Scriptures sayth S. Augustine we learne Christ in the Scriptures we learne the Church And then How doe we belieue we haue receaued out of the diuin writings Christ manifest Aug. epist 48 ad vinâ—eÌ„t Rogat â— vnles we haae also receaued from thence the Church manifest Truly we haue receaued it so manifest as all Nations see it all nations flocke vnto it all reuerence and obey it by the direction of Scripture only they see it not who would be ignoraÌ„t of nothing by their search of Scripture They see not I say the Catholike vniuersall Church visibly dispersed thoughout all the world lineally descended from the Apostles infallibly assisted by the spirit of God c. often recommended in holy Write vnto vs. 16. Secondly I might alleadge the copiousnes of Gods sacred word how some one 〈…〉 is often tymes so fruitfully impregned that as it is deliuered by the diuine Math. 7. v. 18. Interpreters of many true litterall senses so it is brought forth by priuate expositors with the vntimely birth of sundry heresyes Let that sole text of S. Matthew serue for an example A good â—ee cannot yeild euill fruits c. For by this a Hier. l. 2. aduers Iouin Iouinian vnderpropped his fornamed fancy That a good and iust man could not produce the fruits of sinne The Pelagians b Aug. l. 2. de nup. concup cap. 26. from thence concluded That the good sacred tree of Marriage that the pure and faithfull married couple cannot â—ngender euill Children infected with the contagiou of originall sin Others c Aug. l. 1. de grat Christ c. 18 of that crew by the force of the same wordes and those that follow Nor an euill tree yeild good fruits peruersly inferred That the good tree of Free-will might of it selfe without Gods grace procreate the fruits of goods works as the euill tree blossometh the fruits of euill Others d Aug. l. 3. cont lit Petil. capâ—â— 44. either Pelagians or Donatists picked from thence That a good Priest could not minister wrongfully the Sacrament of Baptisme nor an euill Priest rightly Out of the same clause e Hier. â—â— coÌ„ment ad hunc loc Aug. in disp 2. cont Fortunat the Manichees strained their impious dotage That some men were good by nature could not be euill some euill by nature and could not be good From whence also the Caluinists gathered two pernicious heresyes The * See both these obiections proposed answered in the 21. 27. Controuersy one That man being an euill tree hath no freewill to be conuerted to God ayded by his grace nor to cooperate thereunto before he be iustifyed The other That as the fruits do only declare the goodnes of the tree and do not make it good or bad so the vertuous and pious workes of the iust are meere signes and remonstrances but no true causes of their inherent iustice If this short heauenly saying through the rashnes of willfulmen hath bred so many false constructiours alâ— which notwithstanding were bolstened with other the like misapplyed passages how can Protestants presume to ayme aright at the marke of Truth in all questions controuerâ—ed by this vncertaine rule of expounding Scripture by Scripture alone 17. Thirdly I might produce the diuersity not only of the literall but of the literall and figuratiue speaches and demand of our Aduersaryes how the Collatours should discerne the one from the other when the words should be literally when figuratiuely vnderstood Origen was more skillfull in tongues more diligent in reading more wise in obseruing the course and connexion Basil hom 3. in Hex stâ—â— in Gonesim of Scripture then euer any Protestantâ— and yet S. Basil noteth him of grosse ouersight in imagining figures and Allegoryes in the first of Genesis in lieu of the letter â—estorius on the contrary side was dazelled with the letter instead of the figure in that speach of S. Iohn Dissolue Ioan. 2. v. 19. yee this Temple and after three dayes I will rayse it againe Whereby he contended that the Sonne of God only dwelled in Christ as in his Temple Marcions stroue for Rom. 5. v. 20. Ioan. 1. v. 14. Philip. 2. v. 7. Haeb. 4. v. 15. Rom. 8. v. 3. Matth. 3. v. â—â— the pure letter where S. Paul writeth The law hath entred that sinne may abound Munichaeus dreamed of a figure where S. Iohn sayd The word is made flesh that is as he proued by conference of sundry places in the habit likenes and similitude of flesh The Iacobits were illuded with the grossnes of the letter when they baptized or rather seared with burning yrons their sect-mates in their foreheads because it is written in the 3. of S. Matthew He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and fire Eutychius the Patriarcke of Constantinople was beguiled with the inanity of a figure when impugning the corporall resurrection of our flesh he expounded of a subtile spirituall and ethereall body that which S. Paul spake of a true naturall 18. And the matter is the harder not to be mistaken heerein because some tyme in the selfe same sentence one and the selfe same word ought here properly there metaphorically be expounded as learned Maldonate wisely obserueth Mald. in eum loc Matth. 8. v. 22. Ioan. 3. v. 13. in that saying of Christ Let the dead bury their dead or not to depart from the chiefest articles of fayth of which I haue hitherto spokeÌ„ The like is shewed in S. Iohn No man hath ascended into heauen but he that descended from heauen the Sonne of man who is
Euch. Saâ— lib. 3. c. 5. tops of mountaines Rabi Achilas There shal be substantiall Bread in the earth in the heads of Mountaines And Rabbi Ionathas The Cake of Bread shal be made a sacrifice on the heades of Priests which are in the Church A plaine description of our sacred Host which vnder the formes of bread our Priests reuerently lift aboue their heades to shew vnto the people 15. Malachy also most plainly prophesyeth of this vnspotted sacrifice saying From the rysing of the sunne euen to the setting my name is great amongst Gentils In euery place there is sacrifyced and offered vnto my name a cleane Oblation This testimony so cleare M. Reynoldes and M. Bilson hide and ouercast with the misty construction of spirituall sacrifices which cloud Cardinall Allen our famous Country-man with many reasons vnanswerable and authorityes of Fathers irrefragable strongly repâ—â—â—â—th and dissolueth wholy First because spirituall sacrifices are many this one Secondly they succeeded not the offerings of the old Law this doth Thirdly they common to the Iewes this proper to the Gentils Fourthly they are named in Scripture with addition or limitation as the Sacrifice of Prayse of Iustice of Contrition c. this without any abridging tearme is sayd to be sacrifyced to be offered in true and proper sense as the Hebrew word in that place manifestly proueth where insteed of Oblatio it is Minchah which alwayes signifyeth a proper Sacrifice or guift of homage and is neuer taken in Scripture for an improper Oblation such as prayers and other spirituall good deeds are Fifthly they euen our best and purest works in the erroneous perswasion of our Aduersaryes are soule and defiled in the sight of God tainted with the corruption of our sinnefull Natures this so faire as the Prophet honoureth it with the Epitheâ—e of A cleane Oblation so pleasing to God as he glorifyeth in it aboue all the Hosts and Holocausts of the Leuiticall Law 16. M. Reynolds albeit he ouerflorish the former reasons Reyn. c. 8. diuis 4. p. 527. with some shew of answer yet heere in this last he sticketh so pittifully grauelled as one while he auoucheth our best deeds not to be vncleane things but vnperfectâ—y cleane defiled with the staynes of vncleanes uillingly yet weakly done lesse perfect not absolutly vnpersect And in the page notwithstanding immediatly before he granteth them so faulty as they transgresse the Commandements of God so muddy as they make vs guilty of the whole breach of the law What Reyn. Ibid. 526. strang Paradoxes What positions be these Who did euer heare of a worke in it selfe vncleane taught to be stayned with the remnant of vncleanes A dy wholy black said to be coloured with the spots of blacknesse For of what vncleanes do we speake but of that spirituall vncleanes which is displeasing vnto God Wherefore if the spots with which our holiest actions are infected be not veniall as your selues say but mortall and deadly crimes if they be such deepe transgressions As they make vs guilty of the whole breach of the law They are not weakly but wickedly done not imperfectly fayre but absolutely soule not partly festered but wholly cankered with the contagion of sinne worthy to be hated vnworthy to be practised farre vnworthy M. Reynolds to betoken that cleane Oblation which cannot receiue the least taint of Chrys in com Ps 95. Eus de demons l. 1. c. 9. prop. fin c. 6. circa medium Calu. l. de ver Eccles refor â—irca medium habetur ille liber inter eius tract theo Iren. Athan Ambros Augu. Arnobius proue out of Scripture the Sacrifice of the Masse as Caluin confesseth See Baron in Annal. an Christi 44 nu 28. Bed l. 4. bist c. 14. Abdias in bist eius Philact ex lit Praesb Acha. S. Athan S. Basil S. Chrysost in their litur Cyp Ep ... extat haec S. Cornel. Ep. com 1. â—ibl Sanct. Conc. Vas 2. cap. 3. Plin. l. 3 c 4. Ptol. lib. 2. cap. 10. In eodem Concil Vasens 2. c. 4. corruption not from it selfe not from the impurity of the vngracious Minister Such is the diuine dreadfull most holy Sacrifice of the Masse to which only the Prophet alludeth as the Fathersteach 17. S. Chrysostome citing these wordes of Malachy saith Behold how excellently how perspicuously he hath set forth describeth the Mysticall Table which is the vnbloudy Host Eusebius alleadging the same place addeth We sacrifice after a new mammer according to the new Testament a pure Host for which he declareth there a new law to be ueedfull Altars to be erected not in Iury only but in euery Country S. Irenaeus I need not produce because Caluin the chiefe Patriarke and piller of Protestancy acknowledgeth him to expound this passage of the Sacrifice of the Masse as S. Athanasius S. Ambrose S. Augustine Arnobius likewise doe according to him the former of Melchisedech by his words you may gesse of his intemperate spirit therefore I heer insert them It is vsuall with these knaues so the foule-mouthed Runnegate miscalleth our Catholike writers to scrape togeather whatsoeuer is vnsound or corrupted in the Fathers c. Wherefore when they obiect the place of Malachie to be expounded of the Sacrifice of the Masse by Irenaeus the oblation of Melchisedech to be so handled by Athanasius Ambrose Augustine Arnobius it is briefly answered those selfe same writers otherwhere also interprete the bread to be the body of Christ but so ridiculously that both reason and truth maketh me dissent If this be to refute not confirme our doctrine let the Reader iudge when such and so many substantial witnesses some within the 3. some within the 4. all within the 5. hundred yeares after Christ are confessed by one of the chiefest Protosectaries of our time to mantain in two fundameÌ„tal points the same which we defend with whom the Apostles themselues and Pastours of the Church in all ages haue agreed 18. For did not S. Peter as the ancient authenticall tradition deliuereth say Masse as Naples Did not he and S. Paul both appeering to an holy man of our Country command Masses to be sayd in the feast of S. Oswald our vertuous King as venerable Bede reporteth Was not S. Mathew barbarously slaine Sacrificing at the Altar Did not S. Andrew say Masse S. Iames did not he write a Liâ—urgy or Masse S. Athanasius S. Basil S. Chrysostome did they not compose the like Did not the Priests in S. Cyprians tyme say Masse in prison Doth not Cornelius Bishop of Rome complaine the presecution was so cruell in his tyme aboue 254. yeares after Chist that they could not say Masses neyther in publike nor in the priuate grottes caues vnder groud Was it not decreed in the second prouinciall Councell of Vase a towne in France wherof Plinie and Ptolemy make mention celebrated the yeare of our Lord 444. that Kyrie eleison should be sayd at Masse in the Churches of France as
Philip Mornay generally all Protestars defend our perfectest actions to be nothing else as Caluin saith but Inquinamenta sordes filth and vncleaunesse Whereon it followeth that the greatest Charity and deepest sorrow man can haue drawing from inward concupiscence the staine of corruption as it rather increaseth then casteth forth the mudde of iniquity so it redoubleth and no way diminisheth the answerable smart of punishmeÌ„t But M. Field and M. Fulke insisteth with him That the satisfaction of Christ supposing repentance dischargeth vs of whatsoeuer we haue deserued to suffer for sinne I grant that Christ hath fully and superabundantly satisfied the wrath of his Father for al the transgressions of man and infinite more Fiel in appen r par ful 43. Râ—â— thâ—se 〈◊〉 obiections in Greg. de Valentiâ— tom 2 disp 6 q 17. puncto 5. if they had beene possible Yet as it hath pleased him by saith hope and charity c. and by the Sacraments of the Church to deriue vnto vs the inestimable benefits of his sanctifying grace so he hath ordayned by our penall workes to apply vnto vs for sinnes voluntarily coÌ„mitted after Baptisme the precious fruits of his bountifull and aboundant Satisfaction 16. Heer M. Field and his mates make their last encounter and say If our penall afflictions be only required to apply the Satisfactions of Christ they doe not satisfie the justice of God or if they doe either they deroga e from the sufficiency of Christs passion or God craueth one debt to be twise paied which is more at our bands then is sufficient I answer there are two kinds of Satisfaction the one absolute and perfect the other weake and imperfect not equally ballanced with the grieuousnesse of the offence but grounded on the fauourable acceptation of him that is offended According to the first Christ hath not only procured some little mitigation as M. Field maliciously chargeth the Romanists to teach but he Field in his 3. booke of the Church â— 16. fo 96 hath offered a full and more then equiualent ransome sufficieÌ„t to release all mankind both from the whole fault and punishment of sinne According to the second by the value of our workes made worthy by Christ we truly satisfie the outrage committed against God not because he exacteth a double payment of the same this being subordinate dependant and deriued from our Redemers ransome nor because any supply is needfull to the Why God exacteth satisfaction of vs fully satisfyed by Christ see S. Thomas 1. 2. sufficient price of his innocent bloud but for that God at the first so decreed it for our greater benefit his higher glory for the dignity of his seruants conformity of the members with Christ their head 17. It is certaine our Blessed Sauiour by his prayers obtained of God all the gifts and graces which are bestowed vpon men and yet he commaundeth vs to aske and pray and by prayer to obtaine the selfe same thinges which he before by his prayers procured so although he hath perfectly satisfyed for all our offences he might likewise Field in his 5. booke of the Church c. 17. Pag. 55. require some satisfaction at our hands for our own behoofe and honour of his Father without any iniury or extorsion at all It is certaine that Christ by his humble obedience to his Father glorifyed him as much as all the dishonour coÌ„mitted by sinners did euer disgrace him Notwithstanding M. Field 〈◊〉 regisâ—â—ed these words in in sinning must by sorrow of hart disliking and detesting and by confession of mouth condemning former euilis restore that glory to God he tooke from him and seeke and take alloccasions the weaknes of his meanes will affoard to glorify God as much as he dishonoured him before O vnconquerable truth which so often forceth her enemyes to speake in her behalfe 18. Christ restored to his Father all the honour of which we depriued him by sinne and yet it is no iniury to Christ no exaction in God no iteration of payment the sinner himselfe restore that glory he tooke from him it is no offence according to M. Field he gloriyyeth God as much as he dishonoured him before And there is no question quoth he but these thinges are required to pacify Gods wrath fully pacifyed by the bloud of Christ Then there is no question I trow of this which is now in question that God may be satisfyed by our weake endeauours perfectly satifyed already by Christ For the pacitying of Gods wrath by restitution of his honour with sorrow dislike and detestation of former euills is the true satisfaction of his diuine justice of which we speake consisting in the compensation of precedent wronges by actions of submission and penall contrition according to our meane and Puâ—ke in c. 2 2. ad Cor. sect 2 4. Calu. lib. 3. inst c. 4 5. 26. 27. c. seeble ability M. Field thus discomfited M. Fulke and Caluin renew the battell with a fresh Host of sundry testimonyes gathered some out of the Fathers most out of holy Writ which I marshall into three seuerall rankes or squadrons 19. In the first they assault vs with such places of Scriptures as declare our Sauiour Christ to haue offeâ—ed 1. 10. 2 V. 20 for vs a ful and perfect redemption He is the propitiation for our sinnes Behould the Lambe of God Behould he that taketh away 10. 1. V. 29. Hoeb 1 v. 3. the sinnes of the world Hauing by himselfe purged our sinnes sitteth on the right hand of the Maiesty on high Who was â—init en for our sinnes and wounded for our Transgressions By whose Esay 53. 15. 1 Petr 2. v. 24. stripes we are healed I answere as aboue that Christ hath offered indeed a most copious and perfect Satisfaction for all our trespasses but it must be often applyed vnto vs by our satisfactory workes vnles it be otherwise supplyed by the Indulgences and treasure of the Church of which heereafter 20. But Caluin opposeth against this the franke and Calu. lib. 3. inst c. 4. 25. seq free remission of sinnes made by Christ without hope of recompence without any paine or trauell of ours I answere Christs remission is free because he freely enlightneth vs with fayth and repentance freely receaueth vs into his fauour and reconcileth vs to God freely pardoneth the whole guilt of sinne freely offered a sufficient satisfaction for all the punishment due to sinne and freely Marc. 16. Haebr 5. Matth. 10. 16. also inspireth grace into vs by which our meane of themselues without it vn profitable satisfactions are acceptable vnto God which no way impayreth but much ennobleth the dignity freedome of his mercifull redemption For as he freely dyed for all men gaue Prouerb cap. 16. v. 6. himselfe a sufficient ransome for the saluation of all which effectually only profiteth them who belieue in him who obey him who take vp their crosse and follow
Christ by water and the holy Ghost in the regenerate it is wholy cleansed and washed away against our Protestants who stifly contend Originall sinne to be an inheritable peruersnes an vniuersall corruption spread ouer the whole man and defiling him in all parts powers both of body and soule Whereby from the head to the foote he is so ouerwhelmed as with an ouerflowing of water that no part of him is free from sinne Neither doth this prauity in their opinion euer cease but like as a burning fornace bloweth out flame and sparkles or as a spring doth without ceasing cast out water So that peruersnes neuer ceaseth in vs but continually bringeth forth the works of the flesh In so much as whatsoeuer we thinke speake or labour to effect is stayned with the floud of this infectious streame and which is worst of al they affirme this cankred corruption to cleaue so fast vnto vs as it can neuer be scoured forth not by the oyle of grace not by the strength of fayth not by the pretious bath of Christs sacred bloud not by any help of vertue or fauour from aboue as long as coÌ„cupiscence the law of the flesh which perseuereth vntill death according to them is formally sinne inordinatly resisteth or stubbornely rebelleth against Greg. de valent 12. disp 6. q. 12. tom 1. Field in his 3. booke of the Church c. 26. f. 131. Feild ibid. Abbot in his defence cap. 2. VVhitaker l. de pecca origin the law of the mind 3. Whose grosse absurdityes concerning this point chiefly spring from these three heades of falshood first that Originall sinne doth nor formally consist in the losse or depriuation of any iustice grace or perfection euer restored by the merits of Christ in this earthly warfare as we maintaine but in the defect and want of the whole righteousnes which Adam enioyed before his fall The property whereof according to M. Field is to subiect all vnto God and leaue nothing voyd of him Not any inordinate appetite not any contrariety betweene the flesh and the spirit which still abyding Originall sinne also remayneth Secondly that this Originall righteousnes was essentially required to the integrity of Nature Thirdly that all declinings and swaruings from that perfect subiection vnto God and entyre coniunctioÌ„ with him which grace worketh are sinnes and decayes of natures integrity and consequently that concupiscence being a declyning from that entier subiection c. is truely and properly sinne Thus they We againe otherwise teach that the former disorders be defects woundes and decayes of Nature but not properly sinnes which that I may more clearely demonstrate I will briefly declare from whence our concupiscence or rebellion naturally ariseth what Originall sin is and what was the originall Iustice of our first Parents before they fell or felt in themselues those dangerous coÌ„flicts 4. Great was the felicity and thrice happy was See S. Iohn Damas l. 2. de fide ortho cap. 11. S. Greg. in prol 3 psal Poenit. Pererius l. 5. in Genes the state and condition of Adam at his first creation when being framed in the terrestriall Paradise by the immediate hand of God he had his soule beautifyed with grace or inherent iustice his vnderstanding endued with the perfect knowledge of all naturall and supernaturall misteryes his will rectifyed by the loue of God and strong bias of his owne inclination directly carryed to the mark of vertue he had the inferiour powers of his soule the motions of his flesh subiect vnto reason the sterne of reason pliable to the spirit the spirit alwayes obedient vnto God he had no ignorance no errour no perturbation of passions in his mind no inordinate concupiscence no Aug. l. 14. de ciuit Dei c. 26. rebellion in his flesh no propension to euill no difficulty to good No corruption sayth S. Augustine in his body no trouble or distemper by his body bred or ingendred in his senses no Read Pererius in Genes l. 5. de statu innocentiae and Gab. Vas quez in 2. 2. q. 8. dis 131. c. 7. intrinsecall disease could breake from within no extrinsecall hurt was feared from abroad perfect health in his flesh and all peace tranquility raigned in his soule There were the admirable effects this the sweet harmony which Original iustice caused betweene the flesh and the spirit Now whether these extraordinary priuiledges flowed from iustifying grace which was formally all one as the best Deuines accord with Originall Iustice or whether they were caused by the seuerall habits of sundry vertues infused to this purpose or whether some of them proceeded from the sweetnes of diuine contemplation or from the speciall care and prouidence of God I will not heere dispute only I say they could not be any naturall propertyes springing from the roots of nature because in some thinges they eleuated and perfected nature far aboue her naturall course in others they stooped bridled and restrained the maine current of her naturall desires and sensuall appetites as God supernaturally suspended the heat Originall iustice no naturall property but a gift supernaturall of fire in the furnace of Babylon or as he tempered and asswaged the naturall and irreconciliable fiercenes of the wild and sauage beastes in the Arke of Noë neither of which could proceed from nature the one being as I say aboue the other repugnant thereunto for who can think that the dowry of grace is the right of nature or that the gift of immortality is essentially due to a morall body or that contrary qualityes should not naturally resist and oppositely fight the one against the other Who can think that Adam and Eue our first progenitours were essentially iust a prerogatiue only due vnto God or dismantled of that iustice were impayred yea changed in their essence And so not the same after as before their fall in parts essentiall The righteousnes therefore which they lost especially the chiefe and formal part was a diuine accident or heauenly quality not essentially required Feild in his 3. booke of the Church chap. 26. which M. Field misdeemeth to the integrity of nature for that implyeth if nature be taken as it ought to be distinct from that which surmounteth nature but supernaturally added to the perfection thereof and with this couenant imparted to Adam that if he had not trespassed it should haue beene perpetually propagated and transfused Augu. de peccat merit remis l. 2. c. 22. l. 13 de ciuit Dei cap. 13. to his posterity But he transgressing and disobeying the Commandment of his Lord and Maister was iustly plagued with the disobedience of his flesh his hand-mayd vnto him a reciprocall punishment so S. Augustine tearmeth it of his disobedience vnto God Hence proceedeth the rage of concupiscence the commotions of the inferiour and baser parts rebelling against the superiour the auersion from good the proâ—esse to euill hence the disorder of passions the infirmityes of the mind
We contrary wise teach that actual concupiscence much lesse habituall is no sin at all vnles the allowance and approbation of our will concurre thereunto which S. Iames auoucheth in his Catholike Epistle Euery one is tempted of his owne concupiscence abstracted and allured afterward concupiscence when it hath conceaued bringeth forth sinne Iac. 1. v. 14. 15. Lo heere the act of concupiscence first tempting to sinne before it be formally sinne therefore of it selfe it is no sinne neither are the suddayne motions and suggestions therof culpable except we some way yield vnto them which our thrice learned and euer worthy admired S. Augustine of set purpose inculcateth in diuers places in his Aug. l. 5. cont Iul. c. 5. fift booke against Iulian and cyting that very text of S. Iames he sayth Truly in these wordes the brood is distinguished from that which breedeth or bringeth forth for concupiscence is that which breedeth the brood is sinne but concupiscence begetteth not vnles is conceaue it conceaueth not vnles it induce that is gayneth the assent of the willer to perpetuall euill When therefore it is striuen against this commeth to passe that it may not conceaue Augu. de ciuit Dei l. 1. c. 25. Idem ep 200. ad Asel Iâ—em l 2. de Gen cont Maâ—i c. 4. Cyril l. 4. c. 5â— Chrys ho. 13. in ep ad Rom. Basil l. de virg l. const Monast c. 2. Ambr. l. de Sacram. regen Hier. ep ad Ocea or trauell with sinne In his booke of the Citty of God That rebellion of concupiscence which dwelleth in our dying members c. how much lesse is it without fault in the body of him that consenteth not if it be without fault in the body of him that sleepeth In his epistles If we consent not to those disordered motions we need not say to our Father which is in heauen forgiue vs our trespasses In his second booke of Genesis against the Manichees Sometyme reason doth stoutly resist and bridle concupiscence euen stirred vp which when it is performed we fall not into sinne but with some wrastling are crowned With S. Augustine accord S. Cyrill S. Chrysostome S. Basil S. Ambrose S. Hierome and all the ornaments both of the Greeke and Latin Church as Caluin the Proto-sectary of this our vnfortunate age fully witnesseth writing of Concupiscence in these wordes Neither is it needfull to labour much in searching what old writers haue thought heerein for as much as only Augustine may be sufficient for it who hath faythfully and with great diligence gathered all their iudgments therefore let the Readers gather out of him such certainty as they shall desire to learne of the opinion of antiquity And then immediatly setting downe what S. Augustine taught of this matter and wherein he dissented from him There may seeme sayth he to be this difference betweene him and vs that he when he graunteth that the faythfull so long as they dwell in a mortall body are so holden bound with lusts Calu. l. 3. instit c. 3. §. 10. that they cannot but lust yet dareth not call that disease sinne but being content to expresse it by the name of weaknes he teacheth that then only it becommeth sinne when either worke or consent is added to corruption or apprehension that is when will yieldeth to the first desire but we account the very same for sinne that man is tickled with any desire at all against the law of God I need no more The opinion and iudgment of all antiquity touching concupiscence by Caluins confession is to be taken out of Augustine Augustine auoucheth it no sinne without the consent of the will as himselfe also confesseth Augustine therefore and all antiquity agree with vs in this point against himselfe and his confederates by Caluins owne confession 3. But I will not only beare downe my aduersaryes by Caluins testimony and authority of Ancient Fathers Concupiscence without consent proued by reason to be no sin I will wage also reasons with them I aske what sinne the instigation of coÌ„cupiscence is if it vnwillingly inuade vs or be checked and restrained by vs Originall or Actuall Not Originall because that equally infecteth all this is more violent more exorbitaÌ„t in some theÌ„ others according to the various coÌ„plexion disposition of the persoÌ„s that is of one essence and nature in euery sinner this of diuers one of wrath another of lust the third of reueng c. that neither is nor can be any act but a defect or priuatioÌ„ only this is a personall act in him that coueteth therfore it is not Original sinne distilled from another Nor Actuall Aug. l. 3 de lib. arb c. 18. for we cannot sinne actually against our will No man as S. Augustine teacheth is sayd to sinne in that which he cannot auoyd Therfore the vnuoluntary motions which maugre our will often assault vs cannot be truly sins Our opponents reply it is sufficient they were once voluntary in their origen that is in Adam But it is false that Adam euer voluntarily consented to the personal motions of coÌ„cupiscence which arise in vs neither was our will coÌ„prehended in him as head of his posterity in any other thing then in keeping or casting of the armour of original iustice from himselfe and vs therin only his will was our assent his perseuerance our crown his reuolt our fall his transgressioÌ„ our sin in other acts or desirs of ours which are not of their owne nature faulty though free his voluntary disobedience cannot make them faulty And although I should graunt that they willingly proceed from him as the voluntary cause of all our euills yet that is not inough to make vs now guilty of the outrage committed to say we once sinned in the cause wheron it depended for you may be faulty in the cause and yet incurre no sin when the effect falleth out For example the Maister commandeth his seruant or solliciteth his friend to murder his enemy without doubt he grieuously offendeth when he giueth that charge or vseth such wicked perswasions yet if after he hartily repent before it be atchieued and do his vttermost to recall and hinder the effect although the Lesâ—â—â—â— l. 2. de iure iust c. 13. â—ub 3. Molits de Restit tract 2. disp 73â— censure of excommunication and irregularity sometyme may yet the guilt of sinne neuer can be incurred when the slaughter is committed contrary to his mind the reason is because he hauing recouered the grace and fauour of God by his sorrow and repentance cannot be depriued of it against his will If this be true in the effectes once caused by our owne counsayle or aduise how true is it in the motions caused in vs by the consent of another And if actuall coÌ„cupiscence may be without sinne much more habituall which is nothing so ill as that for the euill habits of mortall and deadly sinne may comply with grace the euill acts can neuer
it were the ciuill or domesticall war of inward vices to remayne with the baptized For they are not such vices which are now to be called sinnes if concupiscence draw not the spirit to vnlawful workes conceaue and bring forth sinne By which wordes I may resolue and end this mayne coÌ„trouersy that the repugnance betweene the flesh the spirit the vntowardnes to good the forwardnes to euill other defects of nature are vices indeed but no sinne in the faythfull I may note also by the way the extrauagaÌ„t examples which Protestants bring of a woman in trauaile of a womaÌ„ child of one Viper ingendring another to proue thereby that coÌ„cupiscence a sinne may coÌ„ceaue and bring forth sinne For that we willingly confesse we graunt that voluntary concupiscence which is a sinne Abbot c. 2 sect 6. fol. 211. may cause and beget another sinne But we say that the suddaine motions of concupiscence which inuade our mind against our will and that concupiscence of it owne nature is not sinnefull vnles by winning our consent it conceaue and consumate sinne as S. Iames and S. Augustine heere expresly auow Yet who was euer so mad as to teach a womaÌ„ not to be a womam vnles she conceaue or a viper no viper except it breed and ingender vipers Their examples therefore are impertinent and all the oiections they make against vs either friuolous or fully VVillet contr 17. q. 1. p. 558. answered 12. Neuerthelesse before I finish this questioÌ„ some may expect I should more largly vnfold what Originall sinne is and how it stayneth our soules against the Anabaptists the Albigensians and Zuinglian Protestants Likewise how all the whole progeny of Adam is infected there with against the Caluiuists Puritans of our tyme Calu. l. 4. instit c. 16. §. 24. 25 Fulk in c. 3. Ioan. sect 2. in cap. 7. 1. ad Cor. sect 11. VVhitak controu â— q. 6 c. 3. who imagine the children of the faythfull to be receaued of God into the inheritance of the couenant from their mothers wombe be regenerated by the Holy Ghost and may be saued without Baptisme Vpon which wicked ground M. Dod a silenced Minister once Preacher at Banbury resused to christen the Lady Popes child vntill their meeting day before which tyme the poore infant dyed without domage or hurt to his soule as that wretched fellow deliuered Against these and many such errours some I say may looke I should reason a little but because they are only mayntained by old condemned Heretikes or new Schismaticall Precisians and not generally imbraced by the Synagogue of England whose common heresyes I heere impugne it shal be sufficient to descry the rockes and dangerous shallowes you ought to â—huâ— least you suffer shipwracke sayling in this difficulty without the card of direction First then beware of the Pelagians who say we incurre the corporall death and punishment but not the guiltines of our forefathers fault vnles byimitation we follow his transgressions Whome S. Paul refuteth teaching That we all trespassed in Adam Are by nature Rom 5. Ephis 2. v 3. the children of wrath Borne and conceaued as King Dauid sayth in sinne On the other side take heed of Matthias Illyricus his drunken phrensy who fayneth our birth-sinne not to be any relation or accident but the defiled substance Psal 50. Matth. Illiric in l. de essentia iustit iniustit original it selfe of man Making thereby either God the author and abettour of sinne who createth propagateth preserueth our humane nature or some other Creatour of thinges then God with the Manichean Heretikes From whome wicked Caluin whose steps our Sectaryes precisely follow departeth not much affirming The whole nature of man is a certaine seed of sinne whereby not the flesh or sensuall parts alone but the very soule is so corrupted that it Calu. l. 2. c. 1. §. 9. needeth not only to he healed but in a manner to put on a new nature Detest and flye these dotages and that of Origen who dreamed our sinne of nature to be the dayly crimes Ibid. §. 9. oursoule committed before it was vnited to the body Which dreame he tooke from the Platonists and it is condemned Concil Brach. c. 6. in the first Bracharan Councell and by S. Leo Epiphanius and others The dotage likewise of Tertullian and Apollinaris who imagining that oursoules descended S. Leo ep ad Turb c. 10. Epipha ep ad Ioan. Ierosol S. Aug. l. de â—aeres c. 86. S. Thom. 2. 2. q. 8â— artic â— Genes 2. Vasq in 1. 2. disp 232. c. 4. sup q. 83. by propagation from nature as the soules of plantes and beasts accordingly thought Originall sinne to be the naturall contagion which one polluted soule deriueth from another Which the whole Schoole not only of Deuines but also of Philosophers constantly abhorre and truely teach the soule of man to be immediatly created by the hand of God and at the same tyme infused to the body as Moyses intimated in the second of Genesis Our Lord formed man of the slyme of the earth and breathed into his face the breath of life and man became a liuing soule O ther 's more neer then these yet not conformable to truth affirme our radicall crime to be a positiue accident and vitious quality But vvho I pray doth produce this accident Not God he cannot be the cause of finne nor Adam nor the Diuel nor any earthly creature they haue no power to effectuate any such positiue and hereditary quality or if they Vâ—sq ib iâ— disp c. 2. could it being corporall as themselues graunt how can it infect the spirituall soule Neither yet is Originall sinne the meere fault which Adam committed imputed vnto vs as Pighius and Catharinus teach for that maketh vs by extrinsecall Rom. 5. Concil Trident. sess 5. denomination only not truely and properly sinners as S. Paul and the Councell of Trent define we are 13. Nor is it the only binding ouer or desert of punishment because these be sequels both which follow of Vasq ibid. cap. 3. sinne for no man is iustly designed or obnoxious to punishment but he that hath deserued it no man deserueth it but he that hath trespassed offended Sinne therfore goeth before the lyablenes or desert of punishment What then shall we say What is the natiue and home-bred crime of which we speake I answere as before that it is the want and priuation of Original iustice as it is voluntarily caused in vs by the disloyalty and transgression we committed in our first fathers reuolt whereupon we gather out of S. Anselme this pithy definition of it It is the S. Ansel l. de coÌ„ep virg c. 26. Dionys l. de Eccles Hierar Concil Trid. sâ—ss 5. Can. 2. Aug. l. 1. de nâ—â—pt concup c. 28. nakednes or want of iustice due to the children caused by the disobedience of Adam Which S. Dionysius meaneth
places The same S. Paul writing to the Corinthians sayth As we haue 1. Cor. 15. v. 49. borne the image of the earthly let vs also beare the image of the heauenly but the Image of earthly Adam we haue truly borne by the deadly impression of internall and hatefull sinne Cent. 3. c. 4. Column 48. therefore we must truly beare the figure of Christ by the beautifull stampe of internall and acceptable grace as Origen cyted by the Centurists doth plainely insinuate and the Apostle likewise confirmeth in his Epistle to the Ephesians Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new man which according to God is created in Iustice and holynes of Ephes 4. v. 24. truth behold we haue not the new man imputed vnto vs but we put him on vs formed and created not in signe and sanctification but in iustice and holynes of truth and that according to God Besides it is sayd We are buryed with him by ad Rom. 6. Baptisme to the end that as Christ did rise from death so we may walke in newnes of life Vpon which wordes S. Augustine auerreth Aug. in Enchir. cap. 52. That as in Christ there was a true resurrection so in vs there is a true iustification Whosoeuer then detracteth from the truth of our infused iustice detracteth from the verity of Christs resurrection and whosoeuer impayreth the perfection of this darkneth also the glory of that S. Chrysostome commenting vpon that passage of S. Paul aboue cyted You are washed you are sanctifyed you are â— ad Cor. 6. v. 11. iustifyed sayth He sheweth that you are not only made cleane but holy and iust Illuminated and made perfect sayth S. Clement of Alexandria Of old made new of humane diuine sayth S. Gregory Nazianzen Which are most euident testimonyes Clem. l. 1. Pedago cap. 6. Nazian ora in san bap for my purpose yet to leaue no place of tergiuersation to wrangling Sophisters I will further corroborate this chiefe and fundamentall article with other most cleare and irrefragable arguments 8. That grace and renouation is perfect entire and not the effect but the true cause of our iustification by the VVhitak l. 8. aduers Dutaeum very consent of our Aduersaryes which absolueth vs from sinne endueth vs with purity and holynes in the eyes of our Creatour engrafteth vs into Christ vniteth vs vnto God and giueth vs life in him maketh vs his adopted children entitleth vs to the right and purchaseth the inheritance of our eternall kingdome All this is wrought not by any other precedent cause but by that inherent Rom. â— v. 4. iustice or infused charity which God deriueth into our soules therefore that maketh vs truly righteous and iust before the Tribunall of his highnes First it cleanseth vs Ibid. v. 7. from our sins as S. Paul to the Romans defineth saying We are buryed togeather with Christ by Baptisme into death Rom. 8. v. 2. Tertul. l. de resur carn c. 46. Basil de spir san c. 15. Aug. l. 1. de nupt concup c. 22. Lib. de lib. arbit c. 14. 15. 16. de sprit liter 8. 17. What death but the death of sinne of which it immediatly followeth he that is dead is iustifyed from sinne to wit is released and absolued from sinne by the newnes of life wherin he resembleth the resurrection of Christ Againe The law of the spirit of life in Christ Iesus hath deliuered me from the law of sinne where Tertullian insteed of deliuered vseth the word manu misit hath set free like a bound man enfranchized and set at liberty by the benignity of his Maister S. Basil explicating the former place sayth The spirit infuseth liuely and reuiuing force recouering our soules from the death of sinne into a new life And S. Augustine the later writeth thus The law of the spirit of life in Christ hath dissolued the guilt of concupiscence procuring remission of all sinnes who doth also often testify that the law of the spirit of life is the grace of the new Testament written in our harts Secondly it doth not only expell the mists of sinne but garnisheth also our soules with the lustre of vertue as I haue already conuinced in my first encounter against M. Abbot which cannot be interpreted Ephes 1. v. 4. of signes of beauty grateful to men who pierce not into the closet of our soule nor behould the light and brightnes therof mentioned aboue Therefore it must Ioan. 15. 1. Cor. c. 12. v 26. needs be expounded of the purity splendour and holynes it displayeth before the face of God according to that of S. Paul He chosevs that we should be holy and immaculate in his sight in charity that is by meanes of his habituall charity harboured in our brests 9. Thirdly this inward renouation doth truely incorporate vs in the mysticall body of our Lord Sauiour Coloss 3. v. 13. Gal. 3. v. 17 Rom. 8. v. 11. Aug. de spir lit c. 29. Rom. 13. v. 13. 14. it engrafteth vs like liuely branches into him our true vine it maketh vs the body of Christ and members of member Doinge on sayth S. Paul to the Collossians the new man him that is renewed vnto knowledge according to the image of him that created him To the Galathians as many of you as are baptized in Christ haue put on Christ. And how haue yee put him on but as the same Apostle testifyeth By his spirit dwelling in you Wherof S. Augustine sayth By the spirit of Christ incorporated made a member of Christ euery one may inwardly affoarding increase accoÌ„plish works of iustice Besids that very word to put on Christ often vsed in holy Write doe on the armour of light doe yee on our Lord Iesus Christ according to the Hebrew * Indui haebraicâ— laâ—aâ— Isa 61. Chrys in 1. c. ad Gal. in c. 3. ad Rom. Cyril l. 9. in Genes Hieron ad Pamach Rom. 6. v. 10. 1. Cor. 6. v. 17. Ioan. 14. v. 23. 1 Cor. 3. v. 16. 17. 1. ep Ioan. c. 3 v. 24. 1. Ioan. 4. v. 16. 1. Ioan. 4. v. 17. Rom. 6. v. 11. Augu. de verbis Apostol ser 18. 28. l. de ciuit Dei c. 24. phrase and allusion to the long gownes of the Iewes signifyeth great plenty and aboundance of grace sanctity and iustice with which they that put on Christ are inwardly clad as it were with a rich and gorgeous robe which doth not only couer the nakednes but wholy adorneth the temple of our soules with heauenly rayes of incomparable vertues Therefore Isay calleth it The vestment of saluation the garment of iustice or coate of ioy as the 70. Interpreters or vestment Iesus as other translate it wherof read S. Chrysostome S. Cyrill S. Hierome 10. Fourthly by this inhabiting grace a true vnion is made a league is contracted betweene God and vs We liue to him Are one spirit with him
his spirit which secretly he powreth into Infants also as they then so likewise we are iustifyed not by actuall and imputatiue but by habituall and inhabtant Iustice inwardly cleansing and adorning our soules 8. Sixtly as no man can be truly accounted the obiect of Gods hatred and worthy of damnation by the meere imputation of fault vnles he be faulty indeed and guilty of crime so as Gabriel Vasquez solidly disputeth none can be reputed the obiect of his loue and worthy Gab. Vasquez in 1. 2. disp 206. cap. 3. of heauen by the extrinsecall will of God not imputing sinne or imputing Iustice vnles he be truely free from sin and endowed with Iustice Againe as no man can be made truly and formally wise by the wisdom which is in another or liue by the life which another enioyeth so neither formally iust by the iustice which is in another Abbot in his defence c. 4. fol. 423. 424. and so not by the Iustice which is in Christ M. Abbot in his defence answereth That a man may be formally iust two manner of wayes A man is one way formally iust in quality another way formally iust in law And then he graunteth That it were absurd indeed that a man should be formally iust in quality by the iustice of another But he may be sayth he formally iust in law For in the course of Law and iudgment the forme of Iustice is not to be subiect to crime or accusation he is formally iust against whome no action or accusation is lyable by law c. And this is the state of our Iustice and righteousnes in the sight of God Hath not he shaped a fine answere very sutable to Scriptures and much to the credit of Christ his Maister For did he giue Tit. 2. v. 24. himselfe for vs that he might redeeme vs from all antiquity and might cleanse to himselfe a people acceptable Did he shed his pretious bloud to take away our sinnes purging vs by the lauer of water in the word And hath he only performed it by immunity from punishment not by cancelling and purging Ioan. 1. v. 29. z. loan 3. v. 5. ad Ephes 5. v. 26. Ioan. 17. v. 19. Rom. 8. v. 15 2. Petr. 1. v. 3. ad Ephes 4. v. 14. Feild l. 3. c. 44. of the Church fol. 178. our faults The Scriptures manifestly teach That he sanctifyed himselfe that we might also be sanctifyed in truth giueth vs his spirit of adoption most great and pretious promises that by these we may be made partakers of the diuine nature created a new in iustice and holynes of truth And is all this done in the externall proceeding and course of law remaining in our selues still tainted with the inherence of sinne 9. All Philosophers accord that the denomination of a subiect is more truly and properly taken from the inherent quality which abydeth in it then from the outward forme which is referred vnto it as a Black Moore although he be apparelled in a white liuery is properly notwithstanding tearmed blacke of his innate blacknes not white of his outward habit Therefore if vve be truly sinners by invvard infection If the inherence of sin as Field confesseth be acknowledged in euery iustifyed person notwithstanding his iustification howsoeuer the iustice of Christ be Feild ibid. imputed vnto vs to free vs from the processe of the Law yet we cannot be truly tearmed iust holy innocent and imâ—aculate the children of God and heires of heauen as we are often called in holy Write Being as I say in very deed impure defiled channels of sinne by the inherence therof and consequently in our selues slaues to Sathan worthy hell worthy damnation Neither is it inough to say we may be accounted innocent because no inditement can be drawne no accusation heard no attachement take place against vs for as the guilt of sinne and heynousnes of treason goeth before the desert of punishment much more before the action or accusation which is layd to our charge so the exemption or immunity from the executioÌ„ of the law is no acquittance or freedome from the desert much lesse from the guiltynes or treachery of our harts Therefore the holy Ghost who iudgeth of vs as we are indeed should falsly tearme vs holy iust c. once darknes now light in our Lord if we be still darckned with the mists of sinne and are only freed from the punishment thereof 10. Moreouer what if M. Feild the polisher of the rough and crabbed speaches of other Protestants the refiner of their impure doctrine what if himselfe auow that sinne still lurketh in the faythfull not wholy exempted from all action in law but only from dominion and Feild 3. l. c. 44. f. 178. guilt of condemnation Read his wordes once againe and returne your verdict of him The inherence of sinne the iustifyed man acknowledgeth in himselfe notwithstanding his iustification which still subiecteth him to Gods displeasure and punishments Feild ibid accompanying the same Againe in the same page continuing his discourse of the iustifyed he sayth They are not already freed actually from the inherence of sinne and the displeasure of God disliking it But how can he be formally iust by course of law free from all crime action and accusation in whose spotted soule sinne still inhereth lyable to punishments and which is worse obnoxious to the disfauour of God hating and disliking it Shall I not thinke these iarring Ministers like the ancient Southsayers of whome Tully reporteth laugh the people to scorne and make merry among themselues in their secret meetinges when they remember with what contrary tales and lying fables they beguile their Readers For shall not I thinke this a cosening deuise a most exorbitant course that the Father of heauen should not absolutly extinguish but wincke at our faults cloake our iniquityes fauour whome he hateth wrong his Iustice and falsify his word in not punishing sinners according to the rate of their misdeserts for the loue of his Sonne vvho either vvould not or could not offer an equiualent ransome for Cal. 4. v. 6. the cleansing of our soules heere vpon earth 11. The seauenth is that we all participate of the same spirit with Christ our Sauiour Because you are sonnes Ioan. 1. v. 16. God hath sent the spirit of his Sonne into your harts We liue with his spiritual life of his fullnes we all haue receaued We receaue of the same fullnes life of grace in substance although not in perfection that in substance which the Angels enioyed in their state of merit for all the members of one mysticall body partake of one life the members enioy the same property of life with the head the branches are nourished with the sapp or iuyce which springeth from the vyne but the spirituall life and Iustice of Christ both is and was heere vpon earth inherent the Iustice of Angells inherent and pleasing to God therefore ours must of necessity
c. He also thinketh some whose fayth is enobled with no accesse of works may indeed be * To wit infants and such as by Baptism or contrition being iustifyed are preuented by death before they can accomplish any good workes Method serm de resurr Cuius fragmentum extat apud Epiphan l. 2. tom 1. Tertul. l. aduers Iudaeos Cent. 3. c. eo Colum. â—40 saued but attaine not to the height of the kingdome or liberty which say they what is it other then without works no man to be perfectly iustifyed And the Authour of the homilyeâ—in Cantica maketh a double iustice one of Fayth another of Workes and truly to ech of them â—e imputeth saluation c. Methodius seemeth to hold that we are iustifyed by the obseruation and fullfilling of the naturall law which is performed by the ayde and help of Christ Tertullian sayth The Saints were iust by the iustice * Done by grace and fayth in Christ Cent. 3. c. 4. Col. 80. 81. Cypr. l. 3. ep 25. Serm de eleemos Tob. 4. v. 11. Eccles 3. v 33. Ioan. 5. v. 14. Serm. de eleemos Cent. 4. c. 4. Colum. 292. 293. Cent. 4. c. 4. Col. 292. 283. of the law of nature He attributeth to satisfaction remission of sinnes teaching nothing in the meane tyme perspicuously of the fayth in Christ or of free remission of sinnes as almost no where doth he either touch plainely inough or handleth very slenderly the article of the Ghospell and iustification With which errour Cyprian yieldeth to descipline or strict obseruation of good life That it is the guardian of hope the retentiue or stay it maketh vs alwayes remayne in Christ continually liue in God and to arriue to the heauenly and diuine promised rewards c. So he professedly teacheth sinnes committed after Baptisme by almes deeds and good workes to be abolished At once sayth he in Baptisme remission of sinnes is giuen dayly and continuall doing of good after the imitation of Baptisme imparteth the indulgence and mercy of God which he endeauoureth to proue by words of Scripture as by almesdeeds and fayth sinnes are purged As water extinguisheth fire so almesdeeds sinne also by the saying of Chryst Behould thou art whole see thou sinne no more least some worse thing befall thee he reasoneth that by good workes saluation had is to be kept and lost to be recouered 10. In the fourth hundred yeare they reproue for the same cause Lactantius Nilus Chromatius Ephrem S. Hierome S. Gregory Nissen S. Hilary S. Ambrose and Theophilâ—â— Alexandrinâ—â— Some of their words I will set downe as they are recorded by the Centurists the rest I omit for breuityes sake Lactantius say they auerreth that God giueth eternall saluation for our vertues labours afflictions torments c. Lactant. l. 7. c. 27. l. 3. c. 9. Chrom in conc de beatid Cent. 4. c. 4. Col. 301. Voluntariam paupertatem suo merito diuitias regni caelestis acquirere ait Eadem cent col 192. l. 8. comment in Isa EadeÌ„ cent Col. 293. Ambr. l. 10. ep ep 82. Qui sunt hi Preceptores noui qui merituÌ„ excludunt iâ—iunij EadeÌ„ cent col 293. Theoph. Alexand. l. 3. Pasch Cent. 5. c. 4. Colum. 504. 505. 506. 507. 508. 509. 510. c. 10. colum 1008. Chrys hom 6 in c. 1. Ioan. c. 4. col Cent. 5. c. 4 Colum. 504. Chrysost hom 20. in e. 2. Ioan. eadem cent 506. Cyril c. 18. in Ioan. Eadem cent c. 4. col 505. citant Aug. it a dicentem l. 2. de peccat merit c. 3. 4. c. haec de Aug. cent 5. c. 4. colum 507. 508. To serue God sayth he is nothing els then by good workes to maintaine and preserue iustice Chromatius attributeth so much to voluntary pouerty that he auerrâ—th the riches of the heauenly kingdome to be attayned by the merit thereof Hierome sayth It is not inough to haue the wall of fayth vnles fayth it selfe be strengthned with good workes S. Ambrose What saluation can we haue vnles by fasting we wash away our sinnes When as the Scripture fayth fasting and almesdeeds deliuereth from sinne Who are therefore these new Maisters who exclude or deny the merit of fasting Is not this the voice of the Gentils saying Let vs eate and drinke c. Theophilus Alexandrinus Such as fast that is imitate in earth Angelicall conuersation through the vertue of abstinence by a short and small labour gaine to themselues great and eternall rewards 11. In the fift age are traduced by them in like manner S. Chrysostome S. Cyrill S. Leo S. Augustine Theodoret Sedulius Prosper Hesychius Primasius Theodulus Saluianus Maximus Salonius Thalasius Marcus Eremita Eucherius and Paulinus For in the beginning of that Paragraffe of Iustification thus they write Most of the Doctours of this age ascribe also too much to workes in iustification and acceptation of men before God c. Chrysostome speaketh of many wayes or kindes of iustification c. Chrysostome is an immoderate Encomiast or prayser of humane workes For this he sayth Let vs endeauour withall our forces to attaine saluation by our owne good workes c. Againe Is it inough to life euerlasting to belieue in the Sonne No truly c. Cyrill also contendeth that fayth alone sufficeth not to saluation but fayth and workes Augustin attributeth sometyme too much too workes c. He recyteth some testimonyes by which he proueth euill workes to condemne good workes to merit eternall life As out of the first to the Corinthians the sixt Chapter Out of the first to the Galathians out of the ninetenth and fiue and twentith of S. Matthew Theodoret contrary to himselfe affirmeth Theâ—d quest 63. in Exod. ita asserunt de Theod. cent 5. c. 10. col 1008. Prosp l. 1. de vit contemp c. 19. Cent. 5. Col. 505. that only fayth is not sufficient to saluation but it needeth workes Prosper sayth Neither workes without Fayth nor fayth alone without workes doth iustify Hitherto the Centurists 12. And yet they are not singular in condemning all these Doctours of the Church Pomeran once Superintendent of Wittemberge sayth In the books of the Ecclesiasticall Doctours seldome shall you find the article of Iustification purely expressed not certes in the bookes of Athanasius A little after Touching Iustification they write at a venter whatsoeuer coÌ„meth in their mind Then he concludeth You ought not to beleeue the Fathers because out of the same mouth they blow both heate and could Chytraeus another Protestant complaineth that not Chytr l. de stud theol only Basil and Hierome but most of the Fathers either very sleightly touch or darken and depraue with politicke opinions concerning the iustice of the law the speciall doctrine of the Ghospell touching the grace of God and Iustice of fayth which is the chiefe and proper patrimony of the Church Schnepsius one of the same fraternity sayth Augustine neuer vnderstood the true and settled Schâ—â—ps
l. de Euchar opinion of the Church concerning imputatiue Iustice. The like accusation of the most ancient Fathers made by Bullinger D. Whitguift Humfrey Whitaker and others you may see heereafter recyted in the Treatise of merit and in the first part of this worke in the Controuersy of Satisfaction which more then aboundantly conuinceth the consent Feild in append 1. p. fol. 19. of the Primitiue Church for of the later there is no doubt to be wholy with vs in this substantiall point of Fayth and that our Reformers bandy against it and the long continued current of truth in all tymes and Countryes euer since Howbeit M. Field to win credit with the simple audaciously craketh We no way oppose our selues against the vniuersall resolution and practise of the whole Church which to do Augustine pronounceth insolent madnes Let this then M. Field be your taske or let some of your * Thus S. Ambrose derideth ProtestaÌ„ts before they were hatched l. 10. ep â—p 82. new Maisters take the payns to discouer some other publick or hidden Congregration of theirs some other pastours besids the fornamed who taught your doctrine and reproued our errours in S. Cyprian S. Hierome S. Austine the rest as the true sheepheards watchmeÌ„ ouer the house of God haue alwayes done Were they reckoned such small defects as might be cloaked dissembled And not essentiall not fundameÌ„tall points of fayth which shake the whole ground of Religion Were they whispered in corners by some vnknowne or obscure companions not printed in books preached in pulpits diuulged to the whole world by sundry troups of learned men in such vast Regious kingdomes and not one of your â—olifidian professours to open their mouth against them Shall we expect after so long tyme your wresting of their words to some fauourable exposition of your deuising The Centurists your own Collegues partners in beliefe wanted neither will wit diligence or cunning to haue performed it had they not found their sayings vnanswerable their words vndefeatable the mayne drift scope of their discourses wholy vncapable of other construction Shall we thinke they also fauoured the opinion of Protestants and so breathed out of the same mouth truth falshood fire water heate Pomeran vbi supra cold as Pomerane blasphemeth or which is all one that they contradicted themselues as the Centurists sticke not in plaine tearmes to auerre of Clemens Alexandrinus that famous Cent. 2. c. 4. Colum. 6â— Cent. 5. c. â— Colum. 1008. Writer and Maister to Origen and of Theodoret Bishop of Cyrus It were too notorious a stumbling and headlong course not heard of before that so huge an army of deuout and learned pillers of the Church should all vniformely precipitate and contradict themselues in this sole point In a chiefe point of Fayth and that not once or twice but ech of them diuers and sundry tymes and none to haue the grace to see so great an ouersight or seeing it to amend it to recant it to seeke to reconcile it with other of their sayings no zealous man in the whole world for so many ages who durst note or twite them of it vntill drunken Lutherans enraged with the fury of an Apostata Frier began to espy that horrible Antichristian and often repeated contradiction It is incredible it cannot be imagined or of it could certes they were no Protestants who maintayned beleeued an article of Fayth quite opposite to the life of Protestancy or worse then Infidells who sought to perswade and inculcate to others that which they beleeued not or knew to be falfe Fye vpon such impious Chams as cannot vphold their follyes without disgracing their predecessours who cannot enter the kingdome of heauen without they condemne these Saints into the pit of hell nor become Christians themselues without making them impious Luth. tom 5. in Gal. c. 4. f. 382. hypocrits damnable Idolaters for no better doth Luther account such as dissent from him and his mates in the iustice of only Fayth Let vs heare his words 13. Whosoeuer falleth from the article of Iustification he becommeth ignorant of God and is an Idolater therefore it is all Luth. ibid. fol. 400. one whether he be a Monke a Turke a Iew or Anabaptist for this article once taken away there remayneth nothing but meere errour hipocrisy impiety idolatry although in shew there appeare excellent truth worship of God holynes c. And some VVhitak l. 8. aduers Dureum and in his answere to 〈◊〉 Câ—mpiaÌ„â— râ—ason Abbot in his defence caâ— 4. Fulke vpon sundry of these places against the new Testam few lines after If that face and forme of old papistry stood now if that discipline were obserued now with so much seruerity and rigour as the Hereâ—its as Hierome Augustine Gregory Bernard Francis Dominicke and many others obserued it little perhaps should I profit by my doctrine of Fayth against that state of papistry yet neuertheles after the example of Paul inueighing against the false Apostles in appearance most holy good men I ought to fight against such Iustice workers-of the Papistical kingdome Thus he confessing S. Hierome S. Augustine S. Gregory S. Bernard c. to haue beene iustice-workers of our kingdome and to haue beene bondmen of the law of sinne and the Diuell cast out of the house of God as he wretchedly auoweth in the same place of which some of his followers being since ashamed haue clipped and pared off much of this his discourse in the later editions But it is high time to view the forces wherein the Aduersary confideth 14. The huge host of obiections which the mutinous enemy disorderly leuieth against vs the Tenent of their Ancestours in â—his and the former two Controuersyes I for more perspicuity and orders sake sunder and part into diuers wings or squadrons In the first I rank those texts of Scripture which attribute vnto Fayth the corporall benefite of health or saluation by which the Matth. â— v. 22. Luc. 18. v. 42. Luc. 8. v. 50. Luc. 17. v. 19. Matth. â— v. 2. spirituall was betokned because our Sauiour seldome cured any in body whome he cured not also in soule As when to the woman troubled with an issue of bloud he sayd Haue a good hart daughter thy Fayth hath made thee safe To the blind man Do thou see thy fayth hath made thee whole To the Prince of the Synagogue Feare not beleeue only and she shal be safe To the cured leaper Aryse go thy wayes because thy fayth hath made thee safe Likewise Iesus seeing their fayth sayd to the sicke of the palsey Haue a good hart Sonne thy sinnes are forgiuen thee These and the like which our aduersaryes produce rather witnes against them then speake in their behalfe for not one of them mentioneth their speciall assurance and particuler fayth relying on the mercy of God remitting their sinnes of which the fornamed Calu. l.
3. instit c. 2. §. 2. Luc. 18. v. 41. persons had not at the first any thought or imagination vnles it were in a couert implicite as the Schoolemen call it and vnexpressed Fayth which Protestantes deride with Caluin their forerunner but they all specify the Fayth of miracles grounded on the power of God which our Reformers deny to be sufficient for saluation For what was the fayth of the womaÌ„ healed of her bloudy fluxe but the fayth of miracles by which she beleeued such power and vertue in Christ as she sayd in her hart If I shall touch only his garment I shal be safe What was the fayth of the blind man but the fayth of miracles that Christ could restore him his sight What wilt thou that I do â—o thee He sayd Lord that I may see What the fayth of the Prince of the Synagogue but the fayth of miracles that Christ could recall to life his deceased daughter The same I auerre of the rest yet this later was not the proper fayth of the reuiued daughter but the fayth of the Father So the Fayth which Christ chiefly regarded in pardoning the man sicke of the palsy was the â—ayth of those that carryed him brought him vp vpon the roofe through the tyles let him downe Iesus seeing their fayth whereby Matth. 9. v. 2. Luc. 5. v. 19. though we Catholikes proue that the Fayth of one may preuaile to obtaine health and safety for another yet no Sectarye graunteth that the fayth of one can iustify another Therefore not one of these places serueth to rayse but all pluck downe the rampire of their iustifying fayth in so much as they labour to vnderprop it by some other testimonyes crowded into the selfe same rancke as the iust liueth by Fayth Abraham beleeued and it was reputed him to iustice Being iustifyed by Fayth let vs haue peace towards God Likewise Abac. 2. v. 4. Rom. 4. v. 3. Rom. 5. v. 1. Act. 13. v 39. 1. Ioan. 5. v. 1. Gabr. Vasq in 1. 2. disp 210. c. 7. Clemens Alexand. l. 2. Strom. Orig. in 4 ad Rom August serm 22. de verb. Dom. de hono perseu c. â— serm â—6 de verb. Apo. In him euery one that beleeueth is iustifyed whosoeuer beleeueth that Iesus is Christ iâ— borne of God 15. All which haue so many true and litterall expositions as it can betoken no lesse then grosse dulnes in Protestant Ministers who either for want of reading did not find or finding conceaued not some one of them The first is that by Fayth we liue are iustifyed and are made the children of God inchoatiuely as the Deuines speake because fayth is the first supernaturall seed roote or beginning from which our iustification springeth and the first foundation or ground-worke vpon which our whole spirituall building relyeth as Gabriel Vasquez solidly proueth by the authority of Clemens Alexandrinus Origen and S. Augustine Secondly Fayth iustifyeth by way of impetration excyting our will by the consideration of Gods goodnes and other beleeued mysteryes to aske and obtayne the remission of our faults iustice of our soules Thus S. Augustine often interpreteth those and the like wordes of S. Paul saying Therefore by fayth the Apostle affirmeth man to be iustifyed not of workes because sayth is first giuen by which the rest are impetrated by the law the knowledge of sinne by fayth impetration of grace against sinne by grace health and saluation of the soule The same in diuers other places Not workes but fayth doth inchoate merit Aug. l. de praedestin Sanctor c. 7. de spir lit c. 30. Idem epist. 105 106 Idem l. de gra lib arbit c. 14. defide oper c. 21. August l. de grat lib. arbitr cap. 7. Thirdly all the former places may be vnderstood of liuely fayth formed with Charity and accompanyed with the retinue of other vertues which wholy and intierely iustify vs in the sight of that infinite Maiesty So also S. Augustine Men not vnderstanding that which the Apostle sayth we count a man to be iustifyed by Fayth c. did thinke that he sayd Fayth would suffice a man though he liued ill and had no good workes which God forbid the Vessell of Election should thinke who in a certaine place after he had sayd In Christ Iesus neither circumcision nor prepuce auayleth any whit he straight added but fayth which worketh by loue Fourthly fayth as all other vertuous and laudable acts flowing from Grace doth likewise iustify meritoriously by procuring increase of former iustice Therefore S. Paul to the Hebrewes sayth of holy men and Prophets That by fayth they ouercame kingdomes Hebr. 11. v. 33. Cypr. l. 4 ep 6. wrought iustice obtayned promises And S. Cyprian teacheth That God in the day of iudgment payeth the reward of Fayth and deuotion These foure wayes the forenamed Texts may be truly vnderstood howbeit our Reformers stupidity was such as they could not light on them euery Apo. 22 v. 17. Isa 55. v. 1. Rom. 3. v. 24. Ephes 2. v. 8. where obuious to the diligent searcher 16. The second bande of Obiections are those which affirme our iustification to be freely made by the benefite of grace therefore without the supply of works viz. He that thirsteth let him come and he that will let him take the water of life gratis All yee that thirst come to the waters c. come buy without siluer without any exchange wine and milke Aug. l. de spir lit c. 10. 16. Cent. 5. c 4. Colum. 505. Againe Iustifyed gratis by his grace By grace you are saued thorough Fayth I answere our first Iustification is free gratis because fayth which first beginneth and stirreth vs vp vnto it is freely giuen vs Charity which after accomplisheth it is likewise freely imparted not due to nature or hauing any connexion or dependance with our naturall actions be they neuer so good or commendable in themselues which is not my exposition but the interpretation of S. Augustine confirmed by the diuine sentence of the thrice holy Councell of Trent By grace man is iustifyed Similia habet Aug. in psal 18. exp 2. ep 106. de praedest Sanctor c. 15 praef in psal 31. Concil Trid sess 6. c. 8. Ioan. 6. v. 2â— that is no merits of his workes going before and which the Centurists reprehend the Apostle will haue nothing els vnderstood in that which he sayth gratis but that workes do not precede Iustification The Councell of Trent hath defyned the same Therefore we are sayd to be freely iustifyed because none of those thinges which go before iustification whether it be fayth or workes do promerit the grace it selfe of iustification But if our Aduersaryes by reason that iustification is free and of the grace of Christ will renounce all workes they must euen renounce true fayth itselfe of which S. Iohn sayth This is the worke of God that yee beleeue
through his owne fault fell into that captiuity and thraldome by the fall of Adam But I aske them whether it be in the power of man supposing this captiuity to eschew sinne or no If it be he is free and not bound to sinne If not he necessarily sineth and cannot be charged with the imputation of sinne as S. Augustine and experience teacheth For when a man by his owne inordinate passion willingly falleth into a fitte of madnesse although after he is once distracted he be worthy of blame for the furious rage which caused his distraction yet the enormities he after runneth into not foreseen before are neyther faulty nor punishable by any vpright law Much lesse can the sinne which Adam freely incurred make vs guilty of our actuall crimes which we not willingly but Necessarily commit 16. Caluin therefore frameth another answere and Calu. lib. 2. inst c. 3. §. in 5. l. 2. aduer Pighium saith Man sinning doth truly sinne because he voluntarily and willingly offendeth not only in Adam but also in himselfe by his owne voluntary and proper will And thus he expoundeth many places of S. Augustine and alloweth that Sinne is so voluntary that except it were voluntary it were no Sinne. Where I intreate the Reader to note how he playeth the Sophister and goeth about to delude him by the ambiguous and doubtfull acception of the word Voluntary which in the true iudgement of all Deuines is diuersly taken First it is extended to that which proceedeth not from the will but from the sensuall and prone instinct of nature and is called in Latin Spontaneum as the beast without inforcement of his owne voluntary appetite and prone inclination falleth to his meat Secondly it is taken for that which floweth from the will but necessarily and not freely as the Saints and Angels in heauen voluntarily willingly and ioyfully loue the infinite goodnes of God yet Necessarily too because his incomparable beauty clearly proposed so rauisheth their harts as they cannot withhold or suspend their affection Thirdly Voluntary is taken for that which is freely done and was in the choyce liberty of man to doe or not to doe Thus it is vsed by S. Paul in his ad Phil. v. 14. Fulke in c. 5. ad Gala. sect 1. in cap. 7. ad Rom. sect 9. in c. 11. Apoc. sect 11. Aug. tom 6. cont Fortunat. Manich. disputa 1. Aug. l. 3. de li. arb c. cap. 3. Arist l. 3. Eth. c. 4. 5. epistle to Philemō Without thy counsell I would do nothing that thy good might be not as it were of necessitie but voluntarie 17. Caluin vseth the word voluntary after the second S. Augustine after the third manner Caluin contendeth man to be guilty of sinne because he sinneth voluntarily allthough not freely by his will although not by his free-will Not by constraint saith Fulke or Compulsion but by necessary thraldome By miserable captiuity S. Augustine auoucheth the will which trespasseth to be not only a will but also a free-will free frō Necessity saying He that is forced by Necessity to do any thing doth not sinne but he that sinneth sinneth by his free-will He doth not euill oho doth nothing by his will And that you may be assured what will he meaneth he openeth his meaning himselfe Our will saith he were no will at all except it were in our power but because it is in our power it is freeto vs. Free I say not only from constraint but also from Necessity and from that which after the second and more large acception is termed Voluntary as Aristotle distinguisheth it in his Morall Philosophy teaching that to be free distinct from voluntary not free which is in our power to do or not to doe This will therefore which is in our power S. Augustine requireth necessary to make vs Aug. tom 1 de ver Relig. c. 14. incurre the guilt or deserue the punishment due to sinne Of this he auerreth Men could not serue God freely if they serned him not by Will but by Necessity And this he accounteth an vniuersal Axiome generally knowne to all kind of men Aug. de duab animabus eōt Manichaeo◠cap. 1. in these words Neyther need we ransacke obscure and antique volumes to learne that no man is worthy of dispraise or punishment who performeth not that which he cannot doe For doe not shepheards vpon the downessing these thinges Doe not Poets vpon the stages act them Doe not the vnlearned in their meetinges and the learned in their libraries acknowledge them Doe not Maisters in Schooles and Prelats in the pulpits and finally all mankind throughout the whole world professe and teach this 18. Good God what haue our sinnes deserued that so lewd an Heresy should raigne amongst vs as gainesayth that which Poets sheepheards stages pulpits hils and dales proclaime An Heresy which robbeth vs to vse S. Cyrils words of the most excellent worke or gift of God the liberty Cyril Hieros Cateches 4 Aug. tom 6. in Disp 2. cont Fortu. of Freewill Which in the weightiest matters of his soule maketh man worke like a brute beast without any freedome or liberty of choyce An heresy which taketh away according to S. Augustine The merit of doing well The Diuine precept of repentance and knowledge it selfe of sinne An Heresy which spoyleth vs of all vertue and dischargeth vs of vice frustrateth all exhortations counsayles deliberations maketh voyde all threats reprehensions lawes commandements A barbarous Heresy which taketh away Aug. epist. 46. Hiero. l. 2. ad Iouian cap. 2. Bern. l. d◠Gra. li. Arbit circa initium heauen taketh away hell leaueth no recompence of good or punishment for euill leaueth no saluation no damnation no iudgements hereafter to passe no God at all to discusse to reward to condemne our doings For if the Grace of God be not sayth S. Augustine how doth he saue the world And if there be not Freewill how doth he iudge the world Where Necessity is sayth S. Hierome there is neyther damnation nor crowne Take away Freewill sayth S. Bernard and there remayneth nothing that can be saued take away Grace and nothing remayneth whereby Saluation can be attayned 19. Notwithstanding that our Aduersaries may not seeme without all shew of reason to hold an opinion so vnreasonable some arguments they vse to countenance their errour First they vrge that Sinners are compared in Eph. 2. v. 1. Luc. 15. v. 24. Hier. 18. 6. Rom. 9. 20. 21. Eccles 53. 1. 1. 4 holy Scripture to dead men When you were dead by your offences and Sinnes c. My Sonne was dead and is reuiued Likewise to clay As clay is in the hands of the Potter so we in the hands of our Lord But as the clay worketh nothing and the dead man concurreth not to the receiuing of life so neyther the will of man dead to sinne doth any way cooperate to the recouery of Grace 20. I answere Similitudes as
though they were of themselues And in another place We take not away the liberty of the will but we preach the grace of God And whom doe these Graces profit but him that willeth and him that humbly willeth Nothim that presumeth and boasteth of the forces of his will as though that alone auailed to the perfection of Iustice THE SIXTH BOOKE THE XXVI CONTROVERSY WHEREIN Is taught that the Faithfull by the help of Gods grace do some works so perfect intierly good as they truly please the diuine Maieysty against Doctour Whitaker Doctour Fulke and Doctour Abbot CHAP. I. Abbot â— 4. sect 4 4 f. 580. VVhitak in his answere to the 8. reason of M. Camp VVhitak l. 8. aduers Duraum Fulke in c. 7. ad Rom. THERE be three false principles or tottering grouÌ„ds amoÌ„g the articles of Protestants credulity wheron they build the impossibility of keeping Gods coÌ„mandments which I must first raze to the ground before I begin to establish the possibility if not facility we haue by Gods Grace to obserue them The first is that we can do nothing entierly and perfectly good which may eyther please God or fulfill his law The second is that all the actions and thoughts of the iust are stayned with sinne and euery sinne little or great wittingly or vnwittingly done is a breach of the law The third that not only our consent to euill motions which inuade our mindes Abbot in his defence c. 4. sect 10. fol. 559. but the very inuasions and prouocations themselues which vnvoluntarily assault vs are true preuarications and formall transgressions Hence our Ghospellers deduce that seeing euery action we performe is defiled with the blemish of sinne we are so far from obseruing that we violate the law in whatsoeuer we do 2. From such detestable and hellish premisses I do not wonder so damnable a conclusion is inferred for to commence with the first point Is it not iniurious to the vnspeakable goodnes of God for him to intreate to command Malac. 3. v. 4. Philip. 4. v. 18. 1. Petr. 2. v. 5. 1. Pet. 2. v. 4. August â—le decal conuen 10. Plagarum cum illo c. 7. 4 Reg. 20. v. 3. 4. Reg. 12. v. 2. Ibidem c. 15. v. â— 4. Reg. 22 v. 2. 4. Reg. 23. v. 32. 4. Reg. 14. v. 24. to affoard vs his helpe to performe good workes in this frayle and weake estate and yet not to be pleased with our working of theÌ„ Is it not repugnant to sacred Writ which commendeth some holy men as perfect grateful to God mentioneth some workes acceptable to him and yet to deny this approued verity The Prophet Malachy sayth The sacrifice of Iuda and Hierusalem shall please our Lord. S. Paul calleth almesdeedes bestowed on him in prison An odour of sweetnes an acceptable sacrifice pleasing God S. Peter exhorteth vs to offer spirituall hostes acceptable to God commendeth the incorruptibility of a quiet and modest spirit which is rich in the sight of God Rich not before men sayth S. Augustine but before God and where God seeth there rich Ezechias warned by our Lord to prepare himselfe to death began thus to implore his merey I beseech thee o Lord remember I pray thee how I haue walked before thee in truth and in a perfect hart and haue done that which is liked before thee And least you should iudge he might be mistaken heare what God himselfe auoucheth of some singular men Of King Ioas Ioas did right before our Lord all the dayes that Ioyada the Priest taught him Of Azarias And he did that which was liked before our Lord The same of Iosias He did that which was liked before our Lord and walked in all the wayes of Dauid his father he declined not to the right hand nor to the left The quite contrary the holy Ghost affirmeth of Ioachaz Of Ieroboam And he did that which was euill before our Lord. Of Achaz King of Iuda He did not that which was pleasing in the sight of the Lord 4. Reg. 16. v. 2. his God as Dauid his Father Which comparisons refell M. Abbots and his fellowes distinction of meere imputatiue righteousnes For as Achaz and Ieroboam did not only euill by imputation of wickednes but that which was in Fulke locâ— citat inc 13. ad Rom. sect 1. in c. 3. ep 1. IoaÌ„ sect 6. Abbot c. 4. sect 44. f. 579. sect 49. f. 602. VVhitak l. 8. aduers Duraeum pa. 702. Gen. 6. v. 9 Chrys hom 23. in Gen. Ambr. l. de Noê Arc. c. 4. Hier. trad haebr in Gen. Greg. l. 5. moral 36 in 3. Iob. Gen 7. v. 1. Gen. 17. v. 1. 1. Cor. 2â— v. 6. Matt. 19. v. 21. Item Matt. 5. v. 48. it selfe euil displeasing to God so Ioas Azarias and King Dauid performed not only that which was right and good by imputatioÌ„ but what was truly in itselfe through the benefit of grace right and acceptable in his sight 3. Yea sayth Fulke and the rest againe they did that which was good and right yet imperfectly rawly weakely For so long as we liue heere charity is neuer perfect in vs as it ought to be neyther can any perfect good worke be effected by vs. But it hath pleased the holy Ghost to meet with this euasion too in tearming some actions some men also perfect in this life Noë was a iust and perfect man in his generation where the hebrew word Tamim deriued from the verbe Tamam signifyeth the height and fullnes of perfection in so much as S. Chrysostome writeth of him That he was perfect in euery vertue which was requisite for him to haue S. Ambrose sayth He was praysed not by the nobility of his birth but by the merit of his iustice and perfection The same in effect hath S. Hierome and S. Gregory Likewise that this might not be glozed by the enemy of his perfection and iustice in the estimation of men God witnesseth of him in the next Chapter I haue seene thee iust in my sight in this generation Behold in his sight not in the sight of men alone Agayne to Abraham our Lord sayd Walke before me be perfect S. Paul We speake wisedome among the perfect Our sauiour If thou wilt be perfect sell the things that thou hast c. which things he might sell attaine to perfection if he would Likewise be you perfect as also your heauenly father is perfect Here he exhorteth vs not to weake raw but to such admirable perfection as in some measure or degree is likened resembled to the vnmachable perfection of God himselfe Moreouer of Patience in particular we read Let Patience haue a perfect worke that you may be perfect entire fayling in nothing Of faith He Abraham was not weakned in faith in the promise also of God he staggered not by distrust but was strengthned in faith most fully knowing Of Iac. â— v. 4. Rom. 4. v. 19. 20. 21. 1.
Ioan. 2. v. 5. Ibid. c. 4. v. 11. Charity whereof you haue the rash verdict of Protestants that it can neuer be perfect wil you now heare the iudgmeÌ„t of S. Iohn He that keepeth his word to wit the commaÌ„dment of our Lord in him in very deed the Charity of God is perfected If we loue one another God abydeth in vs and his Charity in vs is perfected Will you heare the sentence of Christ Greater loue then this no man hath that a man yield his life for his friendes But this hath beene acomplished by innumerable Martyrs Ioan. 15. v. 13. of our Roman Church they then haue arriued to the highest pich or degree of Charity After this sort S. Augustine teacheth that not only the Charity of Christ but the Charity also August tract 5. 6. in 1. IoaÌ„ c. 3. Item l. de perf iust tom 3. ex sent sent 311. despir lit c. 5. vlt. l. de doct Chri. cap. 39. l. 1. de pec mer 23. remis c. Hiero. l. 2. comm in lament Ierem haec de Hier. Cent. 4. c. 10. col 1250. of S. Steuen the charity of S. Paul was perfect in this life accordingly in his booke of the perfection of Iustice and els where very often But most perspicuously S. Hierom He is truly and not in part perfect who disgesteth in the wildernes the discomfort of solitude and in the Couent or Monastery the infirmities of the brethren with equall magnanimity Which sentence because the Madgeburgian Protestants could not with any dawbing besmeare but that the beauty thereof would discouer it selfe they sprinkle it with the aspersion of an vnâ—itting or bastardly kind of speach and so cassiere it amoÌ„g other of his errours But these reproachfull censures of such an eminently learned Saint rebound back with disgrace of the censurers honour of the censured and our acknowledged triumph with which I go on to establish it further with a Theologicall proofe 4. It is a strong grounded opinion among Deuines that the actuall and supernaturall loue of some feruent zealous persons heere vpon earth exceedeth in essentiall perfection the burning charity of sundry inferiour Saints in heauen whose Charity notwithstanding Protestants graunt to be perfect for as the habituall grace and Charity of such as haue exercised many acts of loue often receaued the sacraments and augmented their inward habit surpasseth the grace and renouation of Baptisme which infants dying before the vse of reason haue only obtayned So their actuall charity which is often answerable to the habituall and by the help and supply of Gods speciall concurrence may sometyme be greater surmounteth also the actuall loue of young children who now reioyce and triumph in the Court of blisse such was the loue of our B. Lady of S. Iohn Baptist S. Peter and S. Paul 5. To this Argument of the Schoolemen I find no reply in any of our Reformers writings but to the aforesayd passages of Scripture they commonly answere that VVhitak in his answere to the 8. reason of M. Campiâ— fol. 251. VVher in are the marginall nots out of his reply so Duraeus the workes of the faythfull are perfect and pleasing to God by acceptation They please him quoth Whitaker as if they were entiere and pure because he looketh vpon our persons he doth not make search into the worth and merit of the worke Verily in this later clause you say most truly he maketh not search into the worth merit of your workes whch you denounce to haue no merit in them which you proclayme to be mingled with the corruption of sinne yet your persons perdy because you are Protestants are so amiable in the eyes of that supreme Monarch that the things you do delight and content him as entiere and pure howsoeuer they be in themselues impure And whereas the Publicans humility Mary Magdelens teares the Chananeans fayth S. Peters sorrow endeared them to Act. c. 10 v. 35. God wheras all other good persons are accepted to him by reason of their workes He that feareth God and worketh iustice is acceptable vnto him only Protestants are such darlings as their works are not regarded by reason of their persons He that sayd to Abraham Because thou hast done Gen. 21. v. 16. 17. Sophon 1. v. 12. this things and hast not spared c. I will blesse thee blesseth them without reference to their doings He that searcheth Hierusalem with lamps that is diligently sifteth his holyest Saints maketh no such narrow scrutiny into his Protetestant fauourites he with whome there is no acception of persons accepteth the persons of Protestants without any exception Go you and vaunt of this extraordinary fauour and passe yee without search or examination to your peculiar heauen God grant that we and our workes being weighed in the ballance of Gods iust triall be not found too light as Baltassars were or fayling in any duty Abbot c. 4. sect 45. August de spir lit c. 35. Aug. de temp serm 49. Hier. l. 1. aduers Peâ—ag l. 3. de Fulg. l. 1. ad Mon. Orig. ad Rom. c. 6. we are bound to accomplish Against which M. Abbot declameth as a thing impossible because S. Augustine telleth vs That there is no example of perfect righteousnes among men That this is the perfection of man to find himselfe not to be perfect To whome he also addeth the authorityes of S. Hierome of Origen calling our righteousnes in this life vnperfect wanting of perfection and an image or shadow of vertuâ— Likewise of the Apostles tearming himselfe according to S. Augustine vnperfect a trauailler to perfection not as one that was come vnto it Thus he not vnlike the Stoickes whome S. Hierome and S. Augustine reprehend for their doting phrenzy in cauilling that he who profiteth in wisedome cannot be sayd to haue any wisedome vntill he come to be perfect therein 6. But as concerning the matter in hand I briefly reply with our Angelicall Doctour S. Thomas and with August coâ—t â— ep Pelag. l. 3. 6. 7. Augu. de spir lit c. 36. Hier. l. â— cont Pela Aug. ep 26. S. Thom. q. 24. art 8. Baâ—nes Lor. â—lij in eum articul all other Deuines commenting vpon him That there is a threefold degree of perfection The first is of them who are so firmely rooted in charity as they detest all thinges contrary repugnant to the law of God that is al mortall and deadly crymes by which charity is extinguished this degree all the iust who are in the fauour of God attayne vnto The second is that which excludeth not only euery grieuous sinne but as much as our humane frailty with Gods grace can do euery little imperfection euery superfluous care let or impediment which diuerteth our minds or withdraweth our harts from the loue of soueraigne goodnes to this not all the iust but some religious and zealous persons by continuall mortification and abnegation of
sinne ayded by God S. Augustine which he strengthneth by the authority of S. Ambrose affirming him truly to impugne them who say à man cannot be without sinne in this life And in the same booke Sinne may be auoyded but by his helpe who cannot be deceaued Thus Origen affirmeth that holy Iob and his children were pure and spotles from the fault of transgression in so much as the Magdeburgian Protestants reprehend him for it saying Naughtily doth he attribute so much innocency to Iobs children as Adam and Eue had in Paradise naughtily also doth he ascribe vnto Iob that he was naked and deuoyd of sinne of impietyes of all vnlawfulnes Likewise that he neyther sinned in his cogitations nor in the conferences of his soule or affayres of his hart Besides in Lactantius they taxe this sentence of his If any one be purified from all spot of sinne let him not thinke he may abstayne from the worke of largition or giuing almes because he hath no sinnes to wash away And in the same booke I proceed with their owne words vnfittingly doth he say That one may be acceptable vnto God and be free from all blemish let him alwayes implore the mercy of our Lord c. In Theodoret they reproue and place among his errours that he affirmed Paul therefore not to be hurt of the viper because he was without sinne In S. Hierome they distast this Our soule as long as it abydeth in her infancy wanteth sinn So that Origen Lactantius Theodoret and S. Hierome are by our Aduersaries owne confession wholy with vs in this point of fayth 2. Notwithstanding against these auncient Fathers Isa 64. v. 6. they oppose on their side the Ancient of Dayes euen God himselfe speaking by the Prophet Isay All we are become as one vncleane and all our iustices as the cloath of a menstrued woman Therefore vnles we thinke our selues better then Abbot c. 4. sect 3. Orig. ad Rom. c. 3. Hier. in Isa c. 64. Aug soliâ—o c 28. Bernar. ser 1. in fest omn. sanct de verb. Isa ser 5. in dedic Eccles ser 5. Aluarez à Medina in eum loc our forefathers all good workes say they are stayned with iniquity which M. Abbot contenaunceth with the like sayings of Origen S. Hierome S. Augustine and S. Bernard I answere first with S. Hierome vpon that place of Isay that there he deploreth the desolation and captiuity of the Iewes in behalfe of those sinners for whose offences they were so miserably afflicted and in their person vttereth those wordes not in his owne Or in respect of the iust and holy men that then flourished amongst them Secondly I answere that the Prophet speaketh not there as Aluarez à Medina well noteth of all the workes of the foresayd offendours in generall but of their sacrifices Holocaustes Kalends and other externall solemnities by which they falsly deemed themselues cleane and sanctified in the sight of God these their iustices he pronounced to be like a menstruous defiled cloath because they consisted only in the pompe of outward ceremony without the sincerity of inward worship after which manner God sayd by the mouth of the same Prophet Offer sacrifice no Isa c. 1. v. 13. 14. more in vayne Incense is abhomination vnto me the new Moone and the Sabaoth and other festiuities I will not abyde your assemblies are wicked my soule hateth your Kalends your solemnities Thirdly I answere that al our iustices al our pious workes albeit good and holy considered by themselues yet compared and paralelled with the vnmatchable purity and holynes of God are truly termed vncleane and defiled according to the accustomed phrase of holy Scripture which calleth thinges in themselues great in comparison of him litle or nothing All nations as if they were not so are Isa 40. v. 17. they before him and they are reputed of him as nothing Thinges in themselues fayre and glittering foule and vncleane contemplated by him Beholde the Moone also doth not shine Iob. 25. v. 5. 6. the stars are not cleane in his sight how much more maÌ„ rottenesse the sonne of a man a worme Things most white and beautifull filthy and loathsome matched with him If I be wasbed as it were with snow waters and my hands shall shine as immaculate yet shalt thou dippe me in filth and my garments shall abhorre me that is as S. Gregory commenteth Although I be Greg. l. 9. mor. c. 19. filled with the groanes of heauenly compunction although I be exercised by the study of vpright operation yet in thy cleanesse I see I am not cleane 3. For this cause the Royall Prophet how innocent Psal 141. soeuer might cry out and say Enter not o Lord into iudgment with thy seruant because no liuing creature shall be iustifyed in thy sight which sentence Abbot vrging against vs exaggerateth Abbot c. 4. sect 47. fol. 590. thus Dauid sayth it a Prophet sayth it a man after Gods owne hart sayth it And what if a Saint in heauen what if a Cherubim should say it might he not truly say it measuring his righteousnes with the infinite sanctity and holines Greg in c. 4. Iob. Hilar. Hieron Arnobius Euthi in eundem psal Aug l. adu Orosium c. 10. Aug. l. de perfect iustie Hier. ep ad Ctesiphou Greg. in eun psal Aug. in eun psal Iob. 4. v. 28. Caietan Eugub Vatablus in eun loc Symmach of God For as S. Gregory writeth Human iustice compared with diuine is iniustice because a lanterne in darkenes is seene to giue light but placed in the sunne beames it is obscured and darkned And thus S. Hilary S. Hierome Arnobius and Euthimius expound that place of the Psalme neyther doth S. Augustine dissent froÌ„ them saying By whose participation they are iust by comparison with him they are not iust Another exposition is of the same S. Augustine S. Hierome and S. Gregory vpon that Psalme that the Prophet vttered the former speach in respect of veniall sinnes with which the most iust and holy men are often infected and which God strictly examineth and seuerely punisheth The third interpretation is of S. Augustine also vpon this Psalme That no man can be iustifyed of himselfe before the face of God but the iustice he hath he receaueth from him So Caietan Eugubinus and Vatalbus expound those wordes of Iob In his Angells he found prauity or as Symmachus readeth vanity because they of themselues had no goodnes no verity no essence or being but participated all from the soueraygne bounty of God According to these three last expositions we satisfy al the ambiguous and obscure sayings our aduersaries oppose against vs euen that of S. Bernard which they vainly boast to be vnanswerable Shall not our iustice if it be strictly Bern in fest omn. sanct sâ—r 1. Abbot e. 4. sect 3. fol. 393. Bern ser 5. de verb. Isa Aug. l. 9. confess c. 13. Idem
later members wipe away our Protestants exposition interpreting this place of the meere knowledge not of the obseruation of the law because God speaketh there of fullfilling and doing it in worke Rom. 10. v. 6. August de na gra c. 69. q. 54 in Deuteron Theod. q. 38. in Deuteron Rom. 8. v. Yet if by reason of S. Paul who allegorically only not literally applyeth that sentence to Christ they gloze it at least to be vnderstood of the Euangelicall doctrine of Fayth then we also insist that if the precept of fayth in substance supernaturall may be obserued how much more the naturall commandments of the Decalogue of which S. Augustine and Theodoret expound that of Deuteronomy 2. Secondly the Apostle sayth That which was impossible to the law in that it was weakned by the flesh God sending his Sonne in the similititude of the flesh of sinne euen of sinne damned sinne in the flesh that the iustification of the law might be fullfilled in vs who waike not according to the flesh but according to the spirit Therefore they that are regenerated in Christ in whome the spirit of God dwelleth who walke in newnes of life do truly satisfy and fullfill the law of God They Fulk in 8. ad Rom. sect 1. Abbot c. 4. sect 38. 43. do it quoth Fulke and Abbot by the supply or imputation of Christs righteousnes imputed vnto them and made theirs not by ability giuen them to keepe it But this guilefull commentary hath beene heertofore discarded in the Controuersy of Inherent Iustice And heere S. Paul flatly auerreth the comming of Christ to haue beene that the iustification of the law might be fulfilled in vs in vs whose earthly shape and similitude he tooke in vs in whose flesh he damned and abolished sinne for in his owne he neuer extinguished any because it was neuer touched with the least aspersion Therefore he cannot be expounded of the obedience performed by Christ in his own person but of that which we atcheiue in ours whome he cleanseth from vice and adorneth with grace that the iustification of the law might be fulfilled in vs quickened by his spirit which in flesh weakened infeebled by sinne was otherwise without grace impossible to be kept Likewise Christs righteousnes according to Protestants is communicated vnto them by fayth only but the Apostle heere writeth of a iustification obtayned by working and going forward in newnes of life by walking not according to the flesh but according to the spivit then the causall preposition for which ensueth the comparison betweene them that pursue their fleshly appetits and such as are swayed with the desires of the spirit the correspondence and agreement with this other Text Not the heares of the law are iust with God but the doers of the law Rom. 2. v. 13. shal be iustifyed inuincibly proue that the Apostle speaketh of the iustification purchased by the doing and keeping of the law in our owne persons and not of that which by Augu. de spir lit c. 26. your almighty-vaine beleefe is imputed vnto you And so S. Augustine When it is sayd quoth he the doers of the law shall he iustified what other things is sayd then the iust shal be iustified For the doers of the law verily are iust Agayne Fullfill Aug. in psal 32. the law which thy Lord thy God came not to breake but to fulfill for thou shalt fulfill that by loue 〈…〉 are thou couldst not And a litle after Our Lord will affoard his sweetnes and our earth August ep 144. ad Anast. Idem de spir lit c. 30. will yield ber fruit that by charity yee may fulfill which by feare was hard to accomplish In another place The law teaching commanding that which without grace could not be performed discouered vnto man his infimity that infirmity discouered might seeke out a Sauiour from whome the will healed might be able to do which infirme it could not do The law therefore leadeth vnto fayth fayth impetrateth a more copious spirit the spirit diffuseth Charity Charity fullfilleth the law 3. Thirdly Christ pronounceth May yoake is sweet and Matt. 11. v. 30. 1. Ioan. 5. v. 3. my burthen light S. Ioan This is the law of God that we keep his commandments and his commandments are not heauy To whom are they not heauy To them to whome our Redeemer spake Take vp my yoake vpon you and learne of me Matt. c. 11. v. 29. because I am meeke and humble you shall find rest to your soules To them whome S. Iohn taught how to ouercome the world but these men were inuironed with humane infirmityes therfore men compassed with the frailty of our flesh which M. Abbot gaine-sayth may by the succour of Abbot c. 4. sect 43. Christ and assistance of his grace take vp the yoke of Gods commandments easily beare them and sweetly obserue them Fourthly our Sauiour sayd to him who desired to learne the way of saluatioÌ„ If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments Is it possible then to enter into euerlasting Matth. 19. v. 17. life Yes And not by this meanes which Christ proposed No. No Conceaue you so hardly of the blessed Redeemer and louer of our soules as to auouch that he who came to teach the way of truth who neuer counsailled the captious Pharisyes his deadly foes to run any vncouth false or straying path did now perswade this Religious Marc. 10. v. 21. Basil hom cont dinites auaros Chrys Euthim. in eum locuÌ„ Calu. in Harm in c. 19. Matt. Marc. 10. Luc. 18. Psal 118. v. 31. v. 55. 51. 168. young man whome he loued who vnfeignedly sought as S. Basil S. Chrisostome and Euthymius thinke his eternall weale to an erroneous and impossible course of of atteyning blisse Did he say vnto him hoc fac viues do this and thou shalt liue which although he would he could not do or if he did might not purchase life therby For such is the impious answere which Caluin and his followers returne to this heauenly admonition or precept of Christ forcing his meaning quite contrary to his words Fifthly Kinge Dauid auoucheth of himselfe I haue ran the way of thy commandments I haue kept thy law I haue not declined from thy testimonyes I haue kept thy commandments and testimonyes And that you might be assured he sayd true the holy Ghost addeth his seale subscription thereunto Dauid did that which was right in the sight of God turned from nothing that he commanded him all the dayes of his life except only the matter of Vrias the 3. Reg. 15. v. 5. 3. Reg. 14. v. 8. 4. Reg. 18. Luc. 1. v. â— Hethiâ—e Agayne He was not like my seruant Dauid who kept my Commandments Of Ezechias he witnesseth the same Of Zacharias and Elizabeth Saint Luke recordeth They were both iust before God walking in all the commandments and iustifications of our
my whole hart I in al my hart will search thy commmandments Howbeit he busied also Iudith â— 17. 2. Reg. 5. v. 1â— himselfe in the affayres of the common wealth and was often distracted with temporall cares And the priestes and people prayed God with al their hart although they were sometyme interrupted with other cogitations All Israell is sayd 4. Reg. 23. v. 25. to follow Absalom with al their hart albeyt they managed some other affayres no doubt and affected some other thing besides him Of Iosias God himselfe witnesseth There was no king before him like to him that returned to our Lord in all his hart and in all his soule and in all his power according to the law of Moyses neyther after him did there arise the like to him 6. In fine Protestantes obserue the precept of Faith by which they are likewise commaunded to beleeue withall their hart Yf thou beleeue with all thy hart thou maiest Act. 8. v. 3â— notwithstanding they giue humane credit to many other authentical histories or probable reportes without hinderance thereof so they may accomplish the commandment of louing God with all the powers of their soule when this loue ouerswayeth the loue of all other thinges when they make him the principall obiect of their hart and summe of their desires when they neyther imbrace nor execute any thing oppofite or disagreable with his frendiship which diuers haue and euery one may by the prerogatiue of Grace atteyne vnto Thirdly S. Paul professeth I can all thinges in him that strengthneth me therfore he could by the strenght of grace fulfil the commaundments or els you derogate both from the authority of the Apostle who affirmeth it and from the power of grace by vertue whereof he many accomplish whatsoeuer Moreouer Philip. 4. v. 13. God maketh this promise vnto vs I will put my spirit in the middest of you and I will make that you walke in my preceptes and keepe my iudgements and doe them Christ testifieth the performance I haue manifested thy name to the men whome thou Ezech. 36. v. 27. gauest me c. and they haue kept thy word Yet notwithstanding the possibility S. Paul speaketh of notwithstanding the promise of God the Father notwithstanding the accomplishment the Sonne mentioneth do they breath vpon Ioh. 17. v. 6 the earth and vaunt of Christianity who depose against them that neuer any fulfilled the law That it is not possible for man to accomplish it 7. Thus much for the mayntenance of our doctrine Now to the obiections of aduersaries First they vrge out S. Paul Cursed be euery one that abideth not in all things that be Gal. 3. v. 10. written in the booke of the law to do them But no man can obserue euery iote of the law without some litle or veniall default therefore he is obnoxious to that damnable curse Iac. 2. v. 10. For whosoeuer shall keep the whole law and offendeth but in one is made guiltie of all Truly they haue framed an excellent Argument to proue themselues accursed who freely confesse they cannot keep any one precept of the law much lesse the whole But we to whome the coÌ„mandments by Gods Hier. Ep. ad Pâ—efiph 1. Iob. 3. v. 6. 9. grace are possible according to S. Hierome we who by the seed of God dwelling in vs do not sinne but arriue to the full accomplishment of the law and of all thinges written and conteyned therein we I say are free from that malediction for veniall sinnes do not in that sense breake or violate the law neyther doth S. Paul pronounce that curse of them as appeareth by the playne text of Deuteronomy whence he reciteth those words but of mortal and deadly crimes of Idolatry incest murder c. which are indeed grieuous breaches traÌ„nsgressions of the Law Therfore Deuâ— 17â— v. 26. he that obserueth the rest and coÌ„mitteth any one of those is liable to the curse of the law he is made guilty as S. Iames witnesseth of the whole not that he who stealeth should be guilty of adultery or he who is an adulterer is therein a murderer or that he who traÌ„sgresseth one coÌ„maundement shal be as seuerely punished tormented in hell as if he had brokeÌ„ al but the sense is that he who offeÌ„deth in one eyther incurreth the wrath and indignation of God the vniuersal authour enacter of them al or caÌ„ haue no more Aug. ep 26 hope of obtayning saluatioÌ„ then if he were guilty of al or that he sinneth as S. Augustine interpreteth against the general great coÌ„mandment of loue Charity the summe the band the plenitude and perfection of them all for the breaking of the band is the dissoluing of the whole 8. I answere agayne that S. Pauls argument here alleadged inferreth the possibility of keeping the law for which we dispute he reasoneth to this effect Whosoeuer wil be iustified by the workes of the law must fullfill the whole taske of the law But without faith in Christ no man can by the force of nature vndergo or do the whole taske of the Law Therfore without faith through the strength of nature no man can be iustified by the workes of the law Hence he inferreth Christ hath deliuereth vs froÌ„ the eurse of the law he doth not meane as Protestants falsify him that he hath discharged vs from the obseruation of the law as from a thing vnpossible but that he inspireth fayth and affordeth grace from the Storehouse of of his merites whereby we may keepe the law and so eschewthe malediction or curse of transgression which the delinquentes incurre 9. Secondly it is opposed Now therefore why tempt you God to put a yoake vpon the neckes of the disciples which neyther our Fathers nor we haue beene able to beare I answere that S. Act. 15. v. 10. Peter there calleth not the obseruation of the decalogue but the ceremoniall law of the Iewes a yoake insupportable because it was very hard and difficult as S. Thomas S. Thom. in 2. dist 28. q. 1. at 4. ad 3. Lyran. in bunolocuÌ„ Rab. Moy. 3. duct dub cap. 56. 57. Abulen in c. 1. Ruth q. 24. Ios 11. v. 15. and Lyranus note to be fulfilled For all their precepts were as Rabby Moyses and Abulensis recount them 600. or there about amongst which were 218. that were affirmatiue and 365. negatiue commandements then the obligation of them was strictly and punctually to be obserued the transgression capitall and punished with all seuerity yet King Dauid Zachary Elizabeth Moyses Iosue c. fulfilled them for of Iosue the Scripture giueth testimony He accomplished all thinges he omitted not of all the commandementes not so much as one worde which our Lord had commanded Moyses Now Christ hath exempted vs from that combersome yoke from that Burthen as S. Augustine calleth it of innumerable Ceremonies yet not which Libertines pretend from the * Aug.
con 2. epist Pelag. lib. 3. cap. 4. obseruation of the decalogue and in liew of them imposeth a light carriage Aug. ser 9. de verb. Domini not pressing vs downe with weighty loade but lifting vs vp as it were with winges A preceps of loue which is not heauy 10. Furthermore a slaunderous reporte is spread against vs touching the diuision of the Decalogue which I thinke not amisse heere to insinuate as it were by the way that we leaue out one of the commaundments the second as Protestants count it of not worshiping grauen Idolls but this is a meere cauill for we deuide the decalogue with S. Augustine branching the first Table into three precepts which instruct vs in our duty to God the second Table into seaueÌ„ appertayning to our neighbour Aug. de perfect iustit c 15. Sarcinam subleuanteÌ„ vice pennaruÌ„ Aug. de nat gra c. 43. 69. Aug. q. 71. in Exod. and we proue this diuision to be most consonant vnto reason because the internall desire of theft as mainly differeth from the desire of adultery as the externall actes vary amongest themselues in their specificall natures Wherfore as it pleased God seuerally to forbid the outward actes so we distinguish the inward consentes into seuerall commandements making two of the last which Protestants combine in one and vniting the first vpon far better grounds then they distinguish it For seeing he that draweth the pourtraiture or maketh the similitude of any creature to the end to adore it maketh to himselfe a straung God another God besides the liuing God of heauen which is forbidden in the first wordes of the first commandement all the prohibitions appertayning thereunto as thou shalt not make to thee a grauen thing Thou shalt not adore c. are but members and explications of the same precept and so ought not to be deuided from the first This is the cause why in our Catechismes where a briefe summary or abridgement of the comandements is contracted we omit these declarations of the first as likewise of other preceptes for breuities sake and not because they prohibite our adoration of images For we allow euery member word and syllabe of the whole to consist there with as hath bin heretofore expounded 11. Finally they obiect S. Augustine S. Bernard and S. Thomas affirming the precept of louing God to apperteyne Augu. de spir lit c. vltim in l. de pers iustit Bern. serm so in Cant. S. Thom. 3. 2. 444. art 6. to the life to come and that it cannot be perfectly accomplished in this life which S. Augustine also teacheth of that other commandment Thou shalt not couet I answere hey auouch both impossible to be kept in the anagogicall meaning of those preceptes for which they were enacted that is according to the end or supereminent perfection as S. Augustine writeth or deyned by God which is that extirpating by little and little all euill inclinations we may perpetually without intermission be inflamed with the loue of vnspeakeable goodnes this is the marke at which those precepts ayme this is the goale vnto which we must runne and cannot heere arriue vnto it yet they confesse that these and al other commandements taken in their literall Bern. serm 50. in Cant Abbot cap. 4. sect 43. ful 572. Bernar. in l. de praec dispens c. 15. August de spir lit c. 35. Aug. com 3. de spirit lit c. 5. item l. 6. cont luliaÌ„ c. 5. sense may be perfectly accomplished according to the substantiall fullfilling of them and satisfaction of the whole bond they oblige vs vnto Therfore S. Bernard By coÌ„manding thinges vnpossible vnto vs he hath not made vs preuaricators or trespassers as M. Abbot englisheth it but humbled vs impossible he calleth theÌ„ in respect of the vnmatchable inteÌ„ded purity which admitteth not the least mixture of vncleanes possible notwithstanding and easy he accounteth theÌ„ to such as haue tried the sweet yoke of Christ Impossible in respect of the end proposed possible and easy by Gods grace in regard of the obligation exacted ayming at that we increase in humility crying for help to be discharged of the infirmities with which we are clogged performing this we become not trespassers or preuaricators but doers keepers of the law In respect of that there is no example of perfect righteousnes among men S. Augustine In regard of this we cannot deny quoth he the perfection of Iustice to be possible euen in this life And Grace doth now also perfectly renew man altogether froÌ„ al sinnes in respect of that al the commandments are esteemed as kept wheÌ„ whatsoeuer is not done is pardoned vz. * Gabr. Vasquez in 1. 2. disp 212. c. 2. Stapleton l. 6. de perfe iustit c. 23. August de spir lit cap. 36. August de pec mer. remis l. 2. c. â— what soeuer is not done according to some litle precept or smal circuÌ„stance binding only vnder venial sinne In regard of this the whole law is fulfilled nothing is to be pardoned in respect of transgressing the coÌ„mandement because that which is wanting is not to be accounted a breach therof And so I end with this my S. Augustine who neuer maketh end of impugning our aduersaries Neyther doth God command any impossible thing to maÌ„ neyther is there any thing impossible to God for to help assist him to the performance of that which he coÌ„mandeth by this man may if he wil be without sinne ayded by God THE XXIX CONTROVERSY DEFENDETH God from being Authour of sinne against Doctour Fulke and his Companions CHAP. I. BECAVSE some moderne Protestants deeme both themselues and their gospellers maliciously wronged with the false imputation of this detestable Heresie I will set downe the words of a chiefe Ringleader amongst English Reformers that you may apparently Aug. in enchir cap. 100. l. de corr gra cap. 10. Ful. in cap. 6. Matth. sect 6. 4. 3. ad RoÌ„ in sect see I challenge them no further then their owne writings giues me iust cause of combat in defence of his Goodnes who neuer would haue permitted these or any other euils as S. Augustine teacheth vnles he could from them draw forth some good M. Fulke commenting vpon those words Lead vs not into temptation sayth The text is playne lead vs not whereby is proued not only a permission but an action of God in theÌ„ that are lead into temptation Likewise all sinne is manifestly against the will of God reuealed in his word although nothing come to passe contrary to the determination and secret will of God c. it is not against his secret will that there is sinne God worketh not as an euill authour of sinne but as a iust iudge c. Caluin often Caluin l. 1. instit cap. â—8 §. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. l. â— cap. 4. l. 3. cap. 23. §. 4. 7. Fulke in c. 9. ad Rom. sect 1 ibid