A Short Analysis of a part of the second Chapter of S. Iames from the 14. verse to the end of the same With a briefe confutation of the Rhemistes Annotations therevpon written By Iohn Morgan 1588. ¶ Imprinted at London by Thomas Orwin for Edward Aggas 1588. ¶ To the Right Honorable and VVorshipfull Ladies the Ladie Walsingham and Ladie Sidney Iohn Morgan wisheth encrease of all heauenly and spirituall grace in Christ ELect and Christian Ladies as nothing is more necessarie to our saluation nothing more pleasant to the inward man renewed in knowledge after the Image of him that created vs then the knowledge of that high mysterie of our iustificatioÌ„ by faith only which doctrine is euen the soule of the Church agaynst which as Sathan hath layd all his engines that this substantial poynt of ChristiaÌ„ religion might either by force be ouerthrowne or with subtiltie might be vndermined so it hath pleased the Lord to rampire in this doctrine with such a fierie wal of Scriptures that all the gates of hell cannot preuayle agaynst it But as Sathan is wont sometime to transforme himselfe into an Angell of light so by the Scriptures he seeketh to ouerturne the Scriptures but yet the sworde of the Spirite which is the word of God is of such sharpe edge that it hath alwaies and will to the end cut asunder all the knottie quiddities which our aduersaries though neuer so conningly shall endeuour to contriue against the plaine trueth reueiled in the Scriptures For experience wherof I haue here dedicated to your Worships a little remainder of my labours reading in my charge vpon the Epistle of Sainct Iames wherein as I laboured to teach the trueth of God plainly for the capacitie of the simple so likewise as occasion was offered according to my poore skill I assaied to confute errors of seducing Spirites which if it shall please you to accept as willingly as I do offer the same vnto you duetifully I shall thinke the fruite of my labours well bestowed to bee receiued into the hands and perused with the eyes of two so vertuous and religious Ladies and the rather I am incouraged hereunto because I would prouoke a fresh the eger appetites of those which haue staied too long I am sure as they thinke with a fore-tast of some little banquetting dish to make them longue the more for the whole seruice most artificially and richly I hope ere it bee long of those to bee brought out which are able to prouide the diet and furnish the prouision of a Princely table who I am sure will no more be offended with me for shaking a light Launce agaynst the Campe of Antichrist then worthie Generalls and valiant Coronels are wont with their Captaines for shewing their valure and smiting a straggler comming in his way whose comming might something preiudice any corner of the hoast And now to you O Romish Rhemists when wil you open your eyes to see the trueth when will you take that precious Collyrium Reuel 3.1 a soueraigne eye-salue wherof S. Iohn speaketh that you may once see your bondage to that Italian Antichrist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you know what is meant when will you learne to see the glorious libertie of the Sonnes of God Will you be more blind then the Turkes who though they are Agarenes yet will be called Saracenes But you who pretending Catholikes the Mother Church the sonnes of Sarah wil yet for all this as though you were borne of her wombe ioyne with Hagar You will not be iustified only by grace by the free promise only as Isaac was borne but as that lusty yonker Ismael you wil mock Isaac as a Solifidian and more then that persecute the lawfull heires with fire and fagot you will be borne by the strength of flesh and not by the power of the promise only A lustie dame must bee your Mother or els you will not haue Abraham to be your Father you will ioyne nature with grace O blind generation you will not worke but for hire you will do no good deedes but to auoyde the whot scalding house of Purgatorie O seruile brood If you will not beleeue me I pray you giue eare to that old eloquent good father Nazianzene If thou be a bondslaue Nazian de Sancto Bapmate then feare the whippe if thou be an hyreling then looke only for thy rewarde but ouer and besides this if thou be a naturall Child then reuerence God as thy Father Do well because it is good to obey thy Father yea and although thou shalt haue nothing els yet euen this shall be thy reward that thou hast been obedient to thy Father Thus leauing these Iesuites to bee schooled of so graue and reuerend a Father till his fatherhood and their owne conscience better instructed shall direct them I commend your good Ladiships to the fatherly protection of the heauenly Father who is the father of all mercies and the Father of the whole familie both in heauen and earth To whom be al praise and glorie ascribed for his free and vndeserued mercie both now and euermore Yours most bounden to pray for your good Ladiships in the Lord. I. M. Rhemists Annotations in 2. Chap. of Iames. Verse 13. Iudgement without mercie Nothing giueth more hope of mercie in the next life then the works of Almes charitie and mercie done to our neighbors in this life Neither shall any be vsed with extreame rigour in the next world but such as vsed not mercy in this world Aug. de peccat merit lib. 2. cap. 3. which is true not only in respect of the iudgement to euerlasting damnation but also of the temporall chastisement in Purgatorie as S. Augustine signifieth declaring that our venial sinnes be washed away in this world with dayly works of mercy which otherwise should be chastised in the next See Epist 29. aforesaid in fine and lib. 21. De Ciuit. Dei cap. 27. in fine Answere COncerning the temporall chastisement in Purgatorie as the Iesuits do place the principall buttresse of defence therof in S. Augustine But how inconstant Augustine was in this error appeareth by this that sometimes he doubteth whether there be any such matter other-whiles he seemeth plainely to deny all other receptacles of the soules departed beside heauen and hell for both in his Enchiridion ad LaurentiaÌ„ 69. cap Et de octo Dulcitij in quaestionibus quest â—he saith That as it is not incredible that such a matter may be after this life so it may be doubted whether it be so or no likewise in his booke De fide operibus cap. 16. he hath these words speaking of that text of S. Paul 1. Corinthians 3 Therefore whether in this life only men suffer these things either after this life such iudgements do follow it abhorreth not for as much as I thinke from the reason of truth the vnderstanding of this sentence Againe in Hypognost cont Pelagianos lib. 5 he acknowledgeth the kingdom of
except it were a due debt it were vncertaine because hire is certaine mercie is vncertaine But confound grace and workes as you will and compound with S. Paule if you cau Rom. 11. vers 6. If it be of grace not now of workes otherwise now grace is not grace but if of works not now of grace otherwise the worke now were not worke Thus I haue seene a little according to your direction your Annot. Rom. 4. vers 1. Now to follow you in S. Iames. Rhemists Cap. 2. Vers 22. Faith did worke with Some Heretikes hold that good workes are pernitious to Saluation iustification other that though they be not hurtfull but required yet they be no causes or workers of Saluation much lesse meritorious but are as fruits and effects issuing necessarily out of faith Both which fictions falshods and flights from the plaine truth of Gods word are refuted by these wordes when the Apostle sayth that faith worketh together with good works maketh faith to bee a coadiutour or Cooperator with works and so both ioyntly concurring as causes and workers of iustification yea afterward he maketh workes the more principal cause when he resembleth faith to the bodie and workes to the spirite or life of man Aunswere IT were to bée wished that you had nominated those Heretikes that wee might haue knowne them by their names If any haue sayd their workes are imperfect and so pernitious for any man to place his confidence of euerlasting life in his maimed and stayned obedience they haue such partners as you shall not for so saying bee able to attach of heresie S. Paule when as he abounded with most excellent workes he denyed that hée obtayned righteousnesse or life thereby 1. Cor. cap. 4. vers 4. Neither would he reioyce in any thing but in the crosse of Christ Galath 6. vers 14. Hieroni. in Esaiam cap. 64 If we behold our owne merits we must be driuen to desperation And Origen vpon Math. Tract 8 Say that you are vnprofitable seruants saith Christ for notwithstanding we haue done all things that are commaunded yet haue we done no good thing for if our doings were good indéede then were they not vnprofitable but any good déede of ours is called good not rightly or duly but by abuse of speach We say flatly maugre the Deuill and Antichrist that our works be not causes or workers of our saluation much lesse meritorious Rom. 9. vers 16 It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that hath mercy 1. Tim. 2. vers 5.6 There is one God and one mediator of God and men the man Christ Iesus who hath giuen him-selfe the price of redemption for vs but if our works imbrued and drenched in the bloud of Christ can pacifie the wrath of God or make perfect our redemption it is manifest there is not one mediator and redeemer when as euery man is redeemed by his owne works What blasphemie is this to say or once to thinke that Christ suffered death and poured out his bloud not that he him-selfe should saue vs by his bloud but that he should giue the same power to our works that which you call fictions falsehoods and flights shal be prooued to be the fixed faithfull firme truth of God Doth not S. Peter in the 15. of the Acts giue this vnto faith to purifie our hearts vers 9. Doth not the same Apostle 2. Epist cap. 1. vers 5. make vertue knowledge temperance patience brotherly kindnesse lone the fruits and effects of our faith after that by the preaching of the Gospell and the spirit of God we are made partakers of the diuine nature vers 4. The Apostle Iames doth not refute this doctrine by these words faith worketh together with good works no more then S. Paule doth confute his owne doctrine when he saith Galath 5. vers 6. faith working by loue thereby declaring that a true faith is effectuall and fertil of good works If you remember your marginall note vpon the 4. cap. Rom. vers 2. Iustice before man and Iustice before God we graunt faith to be a coadiutor or cooperator with works and so both iointly concurring as causes and workers of iustification before men but if you come before God take your aunswere of S. Augustine in Psalm 94. Si Deus vellet pro merit is agere non inueniret nisi quod damnaret If God would deale with vs according to that we haue deserued he should find nothing but that he might condemne In that which you ioyne afterwards whereas you say yea afterward he maketh works the more principall cause when he resembleth faith to the body and works to the life or spirit of a man The Lord open your eyes that you may see this mysterie remeur this vaile from your eyes of the confidence of your works We protest before God and all good men that we neuer meant to make faith the chiefe only cause of our iustification but that the grace and mercy of God by our Sauiour Iesus Christ promised to the faithfull in his holy word is the principall originall cause and very fountaine of our iustification and that faith not a dead faith as they thought against whome S. Iames wrote but a liuely faith being wrought in our harts by the word of God and by the operation of the holy Ghost beleuing Gods promise of his mercy in Christ is the instrumētall cause in vs whereby only we receiue our iustification without the merit of out works yet being iustified we are most hounden in all good works as much as it shall please God to giue vs grace thereunto I can but muze at your folly which make works the more principall cause of our iustification because he resembleth faith to the bodie and good works to the soule if either you had knowne the true scope of this Scripture or the weakenesse of an argument drawne from likenesse Omnis similitudo claudicat you would not haue argued so fondly S. Iames speaketh of a dead faith which is only an imaginarie and mathematicall phantasie which is as farre different from a true christian faith as is a vizard from a mans face an image from a man a painted smoke from a burning flambe Rhemists Annotation Iam. 2. ver 23. The friend of God By this also another false and friuolous euasion of the Heretikes is ouertaken when they feine that the Apostle heere when he saith works do iustifie meaneth that they shew vs iust before men and auaile not to our iustice before God for the Apostle euidently declareth that Abraham by his works was made or truly called the friend of God and therefore was not as the Heretikes say by his works approued iust before man only Aunswere OUr true exposition howsoeuer it séeme vnto you a false and friuolous euasion yet I hope all that haue vsed that distinction are not Heretikes for then is the Angell an Heretike which so hath taught vs Genesis 22. vers
toward iustification saluation coÌ„demning them as vncleane sinfull pharisaical which is directly agaynst these other Scripture and plaine blaspheming of Christ and his grace by whose spirit cooperation we do them 13. Shall be iustified Of all other Articles deceitfully haÌ„dled by Heretikes they vse most guile in this of iustification specially by the equiuocation of certaine words which is proper to all contentious wranglers and namely in this word Iustifie Which because they finde sometime to signifie the acquiting of a guiltie man of some crime whereof hee is in deede guiltie and for which hee ought to bee condemned as by mans iudgement either of ignorance or of purpose often a very malefactor is deemed or declared and pronounced innocent They falsly make it to signifie in this place and the like wheresoeuer man is sayd to bee iustified of GOD for his workes or otherwise as though it were saied that God iustifieth man that is to say imputeth to him the iustifice of Christ though he be not indeed iust or of fauour reputeth him as iust when indeed he is wicked impious and vniust Which is a most blasphemous doctrine against God making him either ignorant who is iust and so to erre in his iudgement or not good that can loue and saue him whome he knoweth to be euil And a maruelous pitifull blindnes it is in the Churches aduersaries that they should thinke it more to Gods glory and more to the commendation of Christes iustice merits and mercy to call and count an ill man so continuing for iust then by his grace and mercy to make him of an ill one iust indeed and so truly to iustifie him or as the word doth heere signifie to esteeme and approue for iust indeede him that by his grace keepeth his lawe and commaundements for that the keepers or doers of the commaundements be iust and so reputed it is plaine by the correspondeÌ„ce to the former words Not the hearers are iust but the doers whereupon S. Augustine de Sp. lit ca. 26. tom 3. hath these words wheÌ„ it is said The doers of the law shal be iustified what other thing is said then The iust shall be iustified for the doers of the law verely are iustified for the doers of the law verely are iust Aunswere YOu erre not knowing the Scriptures for the Apostle in that Rom. 2. vers 13. applying that vniuersall accusation of man-kind doth seuerally apply the same both to Gentiles and Iowes and because the Iewes gloried in the law he vseth a preuention against them that the same law doth not excuse them but condemne them because not to heare the law but to kéepe the law doth iustifie We confesse a righteousnesse which hé that is in Gods grace dayly procéedeth in according to the Scripture 1. Iohn 3. vers 7. He which doth righteousnesse is righteous meaning that they are not iust which abstaine from vices but they whch do righteous things See also in another place Apoc. 22. vers 11. Qui iustus est iustificetur adhuc He which is iust let him be more iustified We are not ignorant that there is such a righteousnes but we deny vtterly that by this righteousnes we do obteine eternall life the which neither Moses nor Ioshua nor Dauid neither any other hath obtained but by faith imbracing Christ as the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrewes doth most manifestly declare For by the works of the law no flesh is iustified Galath 2. vers 16. Also in another place he saith Blessed is that man to whome righteousnes is imputed without works Rom. 4. vers 6. If we attribute nothing to the works done in sinne and infidelitie I hope we haue the Apostle partner with vs Rom. 14. vers 23. But whatsoeuer is not of faith is sin and Hebr. 11. vers 6. But it cannot be that any man can please him without faith if to ward iustification and saluation we say Christian mens works are nothing auaileable we haue S. Paule to hold with vs Gal. 2. vers 21. For if iustice be by the law then Christ died without cause Otherwise we say the works of the Godly to be the gift of God to please God and that a most ample and largere ward is promised and shall be performed vnto them Yet that they are not perfect as the law of God requireth neither void of all fault for that contagion of sin which hath corrupted our nature neither can be vtterly extirped in this life But the Lord doth so approue the Godly mens works as he doth entertaine the Godly themselues For although Gods children do labour with many diseases of sin notwithstanding God doth loue them for Christes sake so God doth allow our works albeit not altogether perfect he rewardeth them testifiech that they are acceptable vnto him But that any man should say that the works of the Saincts are nothing but vncleane sinfull pharisaicall we neuer said so for in the Saincts and regenerate there be most excellent gifts of the holy Ghost as faith hope loue patience humblenes meekenes peace ioy temperaÌ„ce hatred of sin desire of righteousnes these such like God doth accept of in his children and of mercy doth crowne his good gifts in them Gregor Moralium lib. 9. cap. 14. Omnis humana iustitia iniustitia esse conuincitur si districtè iudicetur All mans righteousnes is conuinced to be vnrighteousnes if it be narrowly iudged In this article we vse no deceit neither guile and are no more wranglers then the holy Scriptures holy Fathers And the God himselfe of your Schoolemen Thomas in Galat. â— lect 4. Opera non sunt causa canaliquis sit iustâ—us apud Deum sed potius sunt executiones manifestationes Works are not the chuse why any maÌ„ is iust before God but rather the executions and manifestatioÌ„n of iustice see Aug. de verb. Apost Sâ—â— 15. Hier. lib. 1. aduers Pelagian Bernard in Cantic Ser. 73. Si iniquitates obseruauerit If he shall marke the iniquities yea euen of the elect who sholbe able to abide it And againe Memorabor iustitiae 〈◊〉 solius ipsa enim est mea nempe fact usâ—es mihi tu iustitia a Deo I will make mention of thy righteousnes only for that it is mine to wit thowart made vnto me righteousnes 〈◊〉 God The Apostle Acts. 13. vers 39. he saith that we are iusected by Christ from all those things first which we could not be iustified by the law of Moses God doth not accompt him iust or impute righteousnes unto him that still continueth in his sins your blindnes is great that 's 〈…〉 yâ— cleere light of the scriptures Psal 〈…〉 thou shalt mark out iniquities 〈◊〉 Lord Lord who shal be able to abide the same Prophet coueteth the 〈◊〉 to be blessed to whoÌ„ the Lord doth 〈…〉 without works Psalme 32. 〈…〉 Rom. 4. vers 6. FINIS