Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	faith_n	justify_v	sever_v	857	5	13.9733	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A17144	An apologie for religion, or an answere to an vnlearned and slanderous pamphlet intituled: Certaine articles, or forcible reasons discouering the palpable absurdities, and most notorious errors of the Protestants religion, pretended to be printed at Antwerpe 1600. By Edvvard Bulkley Doctor of Diuinitie	Bulkley, Edward, d. 1621?; Wright, Thomas, d. 1624. Certaine articles or forcible reasons.	1602 (1602)	STC 4025; ESTC S106873	145,731	186

was Bernards iudgement concerning our keeping of Gods commandements and fulfilling of the law Ferus also a late Frier but yet a man of better iudgement in many matters then many others were or be hereof writeth thus Per Christum implenda erat omnis iustitia per quem solum lex poterat impleri nam maledicta erat natura humana legemque implere non potuit iuxta illud neque nos neque patres onus hoc portare potuimus that is All righteousnes was to be fulfilled by Christ by whom onely the law could be fulfilled For mans nature was accursed and could not fulfill the law according to that saying neither we nor our Fathers were able to beare this burden Againe the same Ferus saith Si nemo potest gloriari se á peccato immunem nec quisquam gloriari potest se legem seruasse cum peccatum nihil aliud sit quàm transgressio legis that is If no man can glorie that hee is free from sinne neither can any man glorie that he hath fulfilled the law seeing that sinne is nothing else but the transgression of the law Hence from it followeth that zealous Protestants want neither a liuely faith in Gods mercies nor true obedience to Gods commaundements although they vnfainedly confesse their manifold imperfections and sinnes by which they bee farre from perfectly fulfilling the law of God And now pro coronide I will requite you with another Syllogisme They that thinke they can fulfill the law of God be proud Hypocrits and Pharisees but the Papists thinke that they can fulfill the law of God yea can doe superarrogant workes I should say workes of Supererogation aboue them that the law requireth Ergo the Papists be proud Hypocrites and Pharisees The Pamphlet The most points wherein the Protestants dissent from the Catholikes tend to loosenes of life and carnall libertie 4. Article His article may be proued by a generall induction in all such matters as now the Protestants call in question First say they that man hath not free will to doe good but all goodnesse proceedeth so from grace that it lyeth not in his power neither to haue it nor resist it but of necessitie it must haue effect To what other ende tendeth this senceles doctrine and fatall fancie but to make men negligent in disposing and preparing their soules to receiue Gods grace and to rouse it vp and put it in execution after they haue it making man not much vnlike a sicke asse who neither can dispose nor prepare himselfe to seeke for his medicine but of necessitis must expect till his master thrusteth it into his throate neither after hee hath drunke it can cause it cure his disease but carelesly letteth it worke as it will Secondly they defend that men be iustified by faith alone the which solifidian portion ouerthroweth flatly true repentance sorrow for sinnes mortification of passions and all other vertues which tend to perfect reconciliation of the soule with God causing men only to procure a certaine false fantastical apprehension of Christs death and passion the which faith although they erroniously auerre cannot be seuered from charitis vertues and good workes yet both experience teacheth that it may for also few or none haue faith because few or none of them haue these workes and the Scriptures plainely proue that all faith yea and the most noble faith which hath force to remoue mountaines may be without charitie Thirdly they assure vs that faith once had can neuer be lost the which vaine securitie openeth the gap to all libertine sensualitie for if a man be certaine that he hath true faith if it be impossible he should lose it if he be secured that by it alone he shall be saued why may be not wallow in all licencious pleasures in this life and neuer doubt of glorie in the other could euer Epicurus haue found a better ground to plant his Epicurisme could euer Heliogabalus haue better patronized his sensualitie could Bacchus or Venus euer haue forged better reasons to enlarge their dominion Fourthly they say a man cannot keepe all the commaundements for what other cause I pray you but thereby to make men negligent in keeping of them to pretend an excuse of impossibilitie whensoeuer they transgresse them Fiftly why deny they the Sacrament of penance but to make men careles how they liue and neuer regard the auoyding of sinnes as though they were neuer to render an account of them to hinder that shame and blushing which men conceiue in discouering their sinnes the which are most excellent meanes to deter them from sinning another time to shuffle vp restitution and satisfaction of iniuries committed against our neighbours to draw men from remorse of conscience by burying their sinnes in eternall obliuion the sores whereof confession rubbeth and causeth Sixtly why exclude they the true and reall body of Christ from the blessed Sacrament of the altar but for that they perceiued how by the presence thereof they were deterred from sinne and wickednes for they knew well that sinfull liues consorted not with those sacred mysteries and therefore they rather resolued to banish Christ from the Sacrament then sinnes from their soules Finally for what other cause haue they ioyned a new negatiue religion wholy standing vpon negation of Sacraments ceremonies rites lawes customes and other practicall points of the catholike Church but for fasting to bring in feasting for praying playing for deuotion dissolution for religious feare of God vaine securitie for zeale and mortification a number of vaine verball sermons and to conclude for a positiue working a flat deniall almost of all points of faith and religion Answere COncerning this article I will first answere these cauils which this cauiller obiecteth to the slaundering of our doctrine as tending to loosenes of life and carnall libertie Secondly I will shew to what loosenes and wickednes of life the doctrine of the Church of Rome tendeth and what fruites or rather weeds of wickednes it hath brought fourth euen in Popes their clergie and namely in Rome that holy Citie where that holy Father resideth and whereupon he especially breatheth and blesseth He beginneth with free will wherein he neither setteth downe truely our doctrine nor the state of the controuersie which is a vsuall customewith his companions to peruert and alter the state of the question as Doctor Whitakers sheweth that Bellarmine vseth to do I wil therefore lay downe our doctrine truely as we teach concerning this matter wee beleeue that although in worldly matters concerning this life man haue wit reason and vnderstanding to know and will for the choise of good and euill iust and vniust yet in spirituall matters pertayning to eternall life and the worship of God we beleeue that mans reason is so darkened and will so corrupted that he can neither truely know loue nor couet much lesse doe and performe those things which be agreeable to Gods will and acceptable vnto his Maiestie vntill God

spirit for why will ye dye O house of Israel saith also I will put a new spirit within their bowels and I will take the stonie heart out of their bodies and will giue them an heart of flesh And againe Create in me a cleane heart O Lord and renew aright spirit within me The same spirit that saith Wash you make you cleane saith also Purge me with Hyssope and I shall be cleane Wash me and I shall be whiter then Snow And againe I will power cleane water vpon you and a new spirit will I put within you and ye shall be cleane yea from all your filthines and from all your Idols will I cleanse you The same spirit that saith Be ye holy for I am holy saith also the God of peace make you holy And so we must come to that saying of Saint Augustine Da quod iubes iube quod vis Giue vs O Lord that which thou commaundest vs and then commaund vs what thou wilt And therefore they reason like doltish Asses which inferre vpon the exhortations to grace and godlines which be in the Scriptures that there is a power and abilitie in vs to performe those things whereunto God in his word exhorteth vs. Exhortations be Gods instruments and meanes which he vseth to worke his heauenly graces in vs. I would here end this matter but that I must tell you that you write improperly and falsely in charging vs that we say all goodnes proceedeth so farre from grace that it lieth not in mans power neither to haue it nor to refuse it but of necessitie it must haue effect Improperly you write in putting hauing Gods grace in steede of obtaining and getting it We say it is in man to haue it when God doth giue it without which gift it is not in mans power to get it But it is in man to resist it For the grace of God offereth saluation to all but it is resisted and reiected of many in that their hard and stony hearts will not admit it The grace of God is offered to men when his word is preached and they be called to repentance but it is with many and namely you as Zacharie saith They refused to hearken and pulled away the shoulder and stopped their eares that they should not heare Yea they made their hearts as an Adamant stone least they should heare the Law and words which the Lord of hosts sent in his spirit by the ministerie of the former Prophets I know no man that denieth but such men doe resist the grace of God which yet is receiued of them that are written in the booke of life whose wils it reformeth and of euill wils maketh good wils willing and couering those things which be acceptable in Gods sight Finally I thought good for the better satisfying of the reader in this matter to let him vnderstand that wheras Erasmus a man as all men must needs confesse of great learning was had in ielousie of the Papists as too much leaning to Luther and his doctrine he was at the last prouoked and set on by them to write against him who chusing this matter of free will and writing in defence thereof yet afterward he retracted and reuoked his former opinion and writing and was not abashed to confesse the truth as appeareth by these his words Verum vt ingenuè dicam perdidimus liberum arbitrium illic mihi aliud dictabat animus aliud scribebat calamus that is But simply to speake my minde We haue lost our free will in that matter my minde did indite to me one thing and my hand did write another I come now to the second doctrine of ours which you vntruely charge and falsely slander to tend to loosenes of life and carnall libertie that men be iustified by faith alone which you scornefully call a solifidian portion and falsely say but doe not proue that it flatly ouerthroweth true repentance sorrow for sinnes mortification of passions and all other vertues which tend to the perfect reconciliation of the soule with God c. Where first I would exhort you if the same might any thing preuaile with you to take heed that by scorning in this manner at Gods truth you shew not your selfe to be one of them that sit in the seate of the scornefull Salomon saith that iudgements are prepared for the scorners and stripes for the backe of fooles Secondly as this doctrine which you deride is true godly and comfortable confirmed by the word of God and ancient Fathers so doth it not exclude much lesse ouerthrowe repentance or any other good worke but sheweth the true and right vse of them Saint Paul saith We conclude that a man is iustified by faith without the workes of the Law And in the fourth chapter he reasoneth thus from Abraham the father of the faithfull If Abraham were iustified by workes he hath wherein to reioyce or glory But Abraham hath not wherein to reioyce or glorie before God Ergo Abraham was not iustified by workes And after saith To him that worketh not but beleeueth in him that iustifieth the vngodly his faith is counted for righteousnesse We know that a man is not iustified by the workes of the lawe but by the faith of Iesus Christ euen we haue beleeued in Iesus Christ that we might be iustified by the faith of Christ and not by the workes of the lawe because that by the workes of the lawe no flesh shall be iustified This doctrine was neither scorned nor denied by the auncient godly Fathers of some of whom I will set downe a few sayings Origene speaking of the theefe that was hanged with Christ saith Pro hac sola fide ait ei Iesus Amen dico tibi Hodie mecum eris in paradiso that is For this his onely faith Iesus said vnto him Verely I say vnto thee this day shalt thou be with me in paradise And of the woman that had the issue of bloud Ex nullo legis opere sed pro sola fide ait ad tam. Remittuntur tibi peccata that is For no worke of the law but for faith onely he said vnto her Thy sinnes be forgiuen thee Hilarie saith Solafides iustificat that is Only faith doth iustifie Ambrose saith Iustificati sunt gratis quia nihil operantes neque vicem reddentes sola fide iustificati sunt dono Dei that is They are iustified freely because working nothing nor rendring any recompence they are iustified by faith onely through the gift of God The like he writeth in Rom. 4. and 10. and vpon the 1. Cor. 1. Praefat. ad Galat. and vpon chap. 3. Saint Hierome saith Conuertentem impium per solam fidem iustificat Deus non opera bona quae non habuit God doth by faith only iustifie the wicked man conuerting not by good workes which he had not Many such other sayings I might alleage out of Hierome

but I leaue them Saint Augustine faith Sine bonorum operum meritis per fidem iustific atur impius that is The wicked man is iustified by faith without the merits of good works Againe Quia sola fides in Christum mundat c. that is Because onely faith in Christ doth make cleane they that do not beleeue in Christ be voide of cleanenes He hath also often this fine saying Fides impetrat quod lex imperat that is Faith obtaineth that which the law commaundeth that is to say the law commaundeth a righteousnes of workes faith obtaineth the righteousnes of Christ which onely is able to hide and discharge all our vnrighteousnes This doctrine which this disdainfull man so much disdaineth is acknowledged of the Greeke Fathers Basil saith This is perfect and sound glorying in God when a man doth not boast himselfe for his owne righteousnes but knoweth himselfe to be voide of true righteousnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. And is iustified by only faith in Christ 〈◊〉 Chrysostome saith Nobis pro cunctis sola fides sufficiat that is Onely faith is sufficient to vs for all other things Againe Illud vnum asseuerauerim quò sola fides per se saluum fecerit that is This I may affirme that only faith by it selfe saueth Againe Rursus illi dicebant qui sola fide nititur execrabilis est hic contrà demonstrat qui sola fide nititur eum benedictum esse that is They said he that leaneth only to faith is accursed but Paul on the contrarie part sheweth that he that leaneth to faith onely is blessed Many such other places out of the Latine and Greeke Fathers I might produce but I omit them I hope he will not say that these Fathers which deliuered this doctrine of solifidian faith as he disdainfully termeth it did ouerthrow repentance mortification and all other vertues Nay this true faith which neither falsely nor fantastically but truly and effectually apprehendeth Christs death and pastion and applieth the same as a most soueraigne salue to cure all the sores of our soules is that which grueth life to repentance mortification and all other vertues For as faith without workes is dead as S. Iames saith so workes without faith are dead as Cyril and Chrysostome say And we truly auerre that this true faith in Gods mercifull promises by the which Christ doth dwel in our hearts cannot be seuered from charitie vertues and good workes as he falsely affirmeth but faintly and foolishly prooueth that it may His first reason is taken from experience because few or none of vs haue faith for that few or none of vs haue these workes How many or few of vs haue faith and good workes you are no competent iudge for to determine And therefore wee appeale from your affectionate and erronious iudgement to the true and iust iudgement of God I doubt not but before I haue ended this article to proue that we be not so void of good workes so full of abominable wickednes as your Popes and spitefull spiritualtie hath been Your second proofe you will draw out of the Scripture that all faith yea and the most noble faith which hath force to remoue mountaines may be without charitie I answere that Saint Paul speaketh not there of the faith of Gods elect but of that which is a gift to worke miracles which may be in wicked reprobates such as Iudas was and so doth Oecumenius the Greeke Scholiast expound it in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. He speaketh not of the common and Catholike faith of the faithfull but of a certaine gift of faith For there was a certaine kinde of gift which by an equiuocation was called faith So that S. Paul as he had before compared charitie with the gift of tongues and with the gift of prophesying so here he compareth it with the gift of doing miracles And as those gifts may be in the wicked seuered from charitie so also may this Some writers also in the former chapter where S. Paul saith To another is giuen faith by the same spirit do expound it of the particular faith of doing miracles As Theophilactus Non fides dogmatum sed miraculorum que montes transfert that is He speaketh not of faith of doctrine but of miracles which moueth mountaines And therefore S. Paul meaneth that if the whole faith which is in doers of miracles were in him separated from charitie as it may be he were nothing But that faith by which Christ dwelleth in the hearts of his elect neither is nor can be separated from charitie but worketh by it And therefore S. Paul in his gratulations in the beginning of his Epistles doth alwaies ioy ne them together as being such graces of Gods spirit which be neuer separated asunder Hearing of the faith which ye haue in the Lord Iesus and loue towards all the Saints To conclude this point that this doctrine doth not tend to loosenes of life we teach that they which doe not follow peace and holines shall neuer see God and that good workes are the waies wherein wee must walke to the kingdome of God and eternall life to the which they that doe not walke in them shall neuer come For without the holy Citie shall be dogs and enchaunters and whoremongers and murtherers and idolaters and whosoeuer loueth or maketh lies And although good fruites make not the tree good yet they be necessarie effects of a good tree so euery tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cut downe and cast into the fire The third doctrine of ours which you vntruly charge to tend to loosenes of life is That faith once had can neuer be lost the which vaine securitie you say openeth the gap to all libertine sensualitie and hereat you make great exclamations Here I will first cleere the doctrine and afterward answere your vaine cauillations and needlesse exclamations Faith is diuers waies taken in the holie Scriptures First it is taken for the doctrine of faith or the Gospell which wee beleeue as By whom wee haue receiued grace and Apostleship to the obedience of faith among all Gentiles that is that all nations might obey the Gospell Also to the Galathians This onely would I know of you Receiued ye the spirit by the workes of the law or by the hearing of faith that is by hearing the Gospell preached So wee call the Christian faith and the Apostolicall faith In this sense faith being taken for the doctrine of the Gospell we confesse that many may know it make profession of it and historically beleeue it and yet afterwards may fall from it as Iudas and many in Asia did Secondly it is taken for that promise which wee make in Baptisme whereby wee binde our selues to professe true religion and to beleeue in God in whose name we be baptized

of deuotion as Doctor Cole at Westminster said and who to this day haue not published the whole Bible in the English tongue for the instructing inlightning of Gods people although they writ eighteene yeares past that they had long before that time translated it and yet to this day they haue wanted meanes to publish it They haue had meanes since that time to print and publish D. Stapletons great booke de Principijs doctrinalibus and many such others on the like sort but they can or will find no meanes to publish the blessed Bible and booke of God for it serueth not so well for the defence of their doctrine and doings as the others doe But to conclude this matter I also doe both pray with the Prophet Dauid and say Open our eyes that we may see the wonders of thy law and with Saint Paule The Lord giue vs vnderstanding in all things that the eyes of our vnderstanding being lightned we may know what the hope is of Gods calling and what the riches of his glorious inheritance is in the Saints c. and also exhort this man and his fellowes to take heede they be not of the number of them of whom our Sauiour Christ said If ye were blind ye should haue no sinne but now ye say we see therefore your sinne remaineth The Pamphlet The copie of a Letter written by a Catholike to a worshipfull Protestant Gentleman his speciall friend concerning certaine reasons why the Protestants Religion is false and absurd LOued and relouing friend I haue receiued your courteous letter wherein you greatly wonder that I wondred so much in our last discourse that any man in England endued with a good iudgement conioyned with a religious conscience could either accept or affect the Protestants new coyned Gospell You request me to set downe briefely such reasons as induced me thereunto the which suite I could not deny for both religion and affection vrged me to satisfie so iust a desire For I must confesse I loue you as a man and as an honest ciuill Gentleman and most gladly I would haue occasion to loue you as a Catholike Gentleman for it is great pitie that such a multitude of detestable errors and heynous heresies should lodge in so rarely qualified a soule I haue penned them after an vnaccustomed manner following the fashion of schooles in most of them after a syllogisticall method to the intent that if you should shew them vnto your Ministers which swarme about you they might not haue such free scope and libertie to range abroad with their idle discourses as they vse to take veiling their confused conceits with a multitude of affected phrases thereby more easely to deceiue the simple and loathe the learned Wherefore I beseech you if any such itching spirit shall attempt an answere to intreate him to performe it briefly orderly and seriously This I request for that I perceiue that Protestants cannot answere with breuitie because their Religion lacketh both certaintie and perspicuitie And extreame hard or impossible it is to replie without perplexitie where there is no truth nor veritie And therefore I request you as you loue me to will them to consider well before they answere ill and not to replie with rashnes least they retract with deliberation to their vtter shame and confusion And that you may perceiue how my wonder rather deserued approbation then admiration and for that order is a fauorite of memorie I thought good to reduce all my reasons into two heads wit and will knowledge and affection faith and good life because the nature of heresie hath euer been such as did not only inueagle the wit with errors but also seduce the will with occasions of inordmate affections I say the that no excellent goodwit linked with a religious conscience can accept nor affect the Protestants new coyned Gospell for good wits and iudgements assisted with Gods grace may easily conceiue the truth yea by the force of their very naturall faculties they may iudge credibly of the truth once proposed and without great difficultie discorne the absurdities of an vntrue religion Vertuous and well inclined affections which are the base of quiet secure and religious consciences abhor and detest such principles as either dishonor God abase mans nature occasion sinne fauor iniquitie or any sort diminish deuotion or pietie And therefore all the insequent articles shall stand vpon these two foundations to wit that the Protestants religion debarreth the wit from right vnderstanding the true faith and the will from following of any vertue or godlinesse Answere YOu wonder that any man in England endued with a good iudgement conioyned with a religious conscience can either accept or affect the Protestants new coined gospell But why do you not shew what is the new coined gospell which the Protestants preach and professe The Gospell is the good and ioyfull message of our saluation through Gods mercies purchased vnto vs by Iesus Christ This Gospell God preached to Adam that Iesus Christ the seed of the woman should breake the serpents head This he renued to Abraham saying in thy seed shall all the nations of the world be blessed This Gospell was preached by all the Prophets who beare witnes vnto Christ that through his name all that beléeue in him shall receiue forgiuenes of sinnes Now if you can prooue that we preach or maintaine any other gospell then this then you may well call it a new coined gospell if otherwise take heed you do not belch out blasphemie in calling this old and true gospell of Iesus Christ a new coined gospell And let the Christian reader which tendereth his owne saluation well consider who they be that coine a new false and counterfeit gospell Do not they which teach vs to ascend into heauen by the bloud of Thomas Becket coine a new and false gospell Tuper Thomae sanguinem c. which they englished in Queene Maries dayes thus By the bloud of Thomas which he for thee did spend make vs Christ to come whither Thomas did ascend Againe Iesu bone per Thomae merit unt nostra nobis dimitte debita O good Iesus for the merits of Thomas Becket forgiue vs our sinnes Do not they which teach vs to seeke to be deliuered from the fire of hell by the merits and prayers of Saint Nicholas mainetaine a new coined gospell Thus they prayed Quaesimus vt eius meritis precibas à gehennae incendijs liberemur Graunt we beseech thee that by his merits and prayers we may be deliuered from the fire of hell Do not they which say and beleeue of an Agnus dei that is to say a peece of waxe and balme consecrated by the Pope Tollit omne malignum peccatum frangit vt Christi sanguis angit It taketh away all euill it breaketh and strangleth sinne as doth the bloud of Christ do not they I say coine a new false and blasphemous Gospell Yes