Selected quad for the lemma: work_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	believe_v	faith_n	justification_n	11,818	5	9.2159	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A67122	Mr. Anthony Wotton's defence against Mr. George Walker's charge, accusing him of Socinian heresie and blasphemie written by him in his life-time, and given in at an hearing by Mr. Walker procured ; and now published out of his own papers by Samuel Wotton his sonne ; together with a preface and postcript, briefly relating the occasion and issue thereof, by Thomas Gataker ...	Wotton, Anthony, 1561?-1626.; Wotton, Samuel.; Gataker, Thomas, 1574-1654.	1641 (1641)	Wing W3643; ESTC R39190	28,259	78

concerning the soul of Christ his descent into hell the power of binding and loosing the sacraments of the Church and by name that of the Altar of originall sinne of concupiscence of sinnes of delight infirmitie and ignorance of sinne in work and sinne in will But he telleth us not what they were Now whether Bernard charge him truly herein or no which for divers causes may be justly questioned and the rather for that Abeilard in his Apologie flatly denieth that he ever wrote taught or once thought the most of those points that Bernard fasteneth upon him and for that Bernard's reports concerning others of those times some whereof were his scholars are not unjustly suspected it is not much materiall to our purpose the rather for that the charge granted to be true the more pestilent and blasphemous his errours are found to be the greater inequalitie will appear in the collation unlesse the parties collated can be proved to have maintained opinions as pestilent and as blasphemous as his But for Servetus and Socinus the other two what they held we have records of sufficient credit For Servetus from whom M r Walker borroweth onely one small snip wherewith to piece up his Parallel whether his works be extant or no I wot not and the better it is if they be not But what he taught and maintained we have taken out of his writings from M r Calvine's relation together with an ample refutation of them adjoyned thereunto His chief assertions among a vast heap of other absurd prodigious and blasphemous ones are these That there is no such Trinitie of persons in the Deitie as is commonly maintained where he brandeth the orthodox tenet and the abettours of it with most hideous terms raked up from Hel it self and too vile to be related and fasteneth many uncouth and fantasticall conceits full of impietie and blasphemie upon the names given in Scripture to the second and third Persons That God in the beginning of the world produced the Word and the Spirit and began then as a person to appear in three uncreated elements and communicated of his essence unto all that he then made That This Word being the face and image of God is said then to have been begotten because God then began to breed it but stayed for a woman to bear it untill the Virgin Mary was that then Christ was conceived in her womb of the seed of the Word and the substance of the Spirit so that the Word was then first turned into flesh and then that flesh by the Spirit wholly turned into the essence of the Deitie and that Christ hath now a spirituall body that filleth heaven and earth That The Spirit is a kind of gentle breath which at first proceeded from the Word consisting partly of the essence of God and partly of a created power which having moved in the Creation on the face of the waters and there finding no rest retired again to heaven and there stayed till at the Baptisme of Christ it came down again That Man is said to be made after Gods image because the very essence of God is in every man from his originall and that not in the soul onely but in the body and that though the devil have by a kind of carnall copulation got into and possessed himself of the body yet that the divine essence remaineth still in the soul which notwithstanding it is by sinne become mortall and is breathed out into the aire yet in the regenerate by means of the Spirit it becometh consubstantiall and coeternall with God That Christ should have come to carie men to heaven albeit Adam had never fallen and that the Tree of knowledge of good and evil was a figure of Christ whom Adam over-hastily desiring to tast of threw himself and his posteritie into perdition That None are guilty of mortall sinne till they be twenty yeare old because they have no knowledge of good or evil till then nor are therefore till then to be catechised nor any to be baptized till they be thirty years old because of that age the first Adam was created and at that age the second Adam was baptized That Before Christs coming the Angels onely not God were worshipped nor were any regenerate by the Spirit nor did their faith regard any more then terrestriall good things save that some few by apropheticall spirit might aloof off have some smatch of spirituall things That From the beginning as well Gentiles as Jews that lived well according to natures guidance were thereby justified and without faith of Christ shall thereby at the last day attain to life eternall That The Law was given onely for a time and that men were then saved by the observation of it which was then observed when men did what they could who might therefore glorie then in their works being justified wholly by them but that men are not now to be scared with it That Faith is nothing else but to believe Christ to be the Sonne of God and to justifie nothing but to make a man righteous who was sinfull before and that we are now justified partly by faith and partly by works That On Gods part there is no promise required unto justification nor doth faith depend upon any promise of God or hath any respect thereunto in regard whereof he scoffeth at those that build their faith upon Gods promises or that mention them in their prayers That There is a perfect puritie in every holy action and such as may endure even the extreme rigour of Gods justice That Abraham was indeed justified by works howbeit that his believing is first said to be imputed to him for righteousnesse and he said to be just for one act of faith the place by M r Walker produced as if a prince out of his favour regarding his souldiers mind and good will would be pleased to accept the good endeavour for the thing fully performed and so Abraham was therefore by God deemed just because by his believing it appeared that he stood well affected to acquire a commendation of righteousnesse by his good works Which is all saith Calvine that he ascribeth unto faith either in us or in him Whose faith also he saith as of others before Christ was no true faith but a figure of true faith and the righteousnesse imputed to him no spirituall but a carnall righteousnesse and insufficient not a truth but a shadow and the imputation of it but a type of the great grace of Christ to us And thus much if not too much of Servetus his blasphemous and prodigious dreams and dotages for I have raked overlong in this filthy sinck in this stincking puddle which till upon this occasion I never pried or peered into before nor it may be should ever have done but for it Socinus remaineth whose positions what they were may appear by his

himself He hath put down this in his Parallel for an hereticall and blasphemous assertion That Faith in Christ for so he must needs mean is a condition appointed by God to be performed on our parts for the obtaining of Justification Now should any man hereupon enter an action against M r Walker accusing him as guilty of Judaisme Paganisme and Mahumetanisme would he not think we make grievous complaint yea with open mouth cry out and exclaim of extreme injury done him Yet is it as clear as the light at noon-day that whosoever shall deny Faith in Christ to be a condition appointed by God to be performed on mans part for the obtaining of Justification shall have all Jews Paganes and Mahumetanes concurring therein with him as in a point naturally flowing and necessarily following from what they hold To go yet a step further Suppose a man do concurre with such hereticks as have been spoken of in some point be it a truth or an errour that is held and maintained by them will it thence follow that he consenteth to them and agreeth with them in all things or in such blasphemous opinions as they otherwise hold And here M r Walker's candour may well a little be questioned To prove M r Wotton to hold one and the same opinion with Servetus in all points concerning the doctrine of Justification he produceth onely this one saying of Servetus For one act of Faith was Abraham righteous Whether he have proved M r Wotton to have said the same or no is not now materiall and I leave it to be judged by what himself hath spoken for his own defence in way of answer thereunto But should a man putting in a crosse interrogatorie demand of M r Walker Whether he hold that Christ hath fulfilled the Law for us or no I doubt not but he would answer in the affirmative That he hath And the very same thing in the very same words is found by Calvin related out of Servetus The carnall people saith he might glory in their deeds but we may not but in the crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ We may onely relate the facts of Christ who hath wrought all our works for us by fulfilling the law for us when we could not do it our selves Yet I suppose M r Walker would take it in very ill part and well he might if any should thence conclude That M r Walker therefore doth in all points hold one and the same opinion with Servetus concerning the doctrine of Justification Again for Socinus he maintaineth that To justifie is a term of judicature that it signifieth not to make a man inherently righteous or to infuse righteousnesse into him but to deem him repute him pronounce him righteous that they do amisse that confound justification and sanctification the one with the other that That faith whereby we are justified is not a bare belief or assent unto the truth of Gods word that Neither faith nor works believing in Christ or obeying him are the meritorious causes of justification or do or can in regard of any worthin them merit ought at Gods hands nor doth faith it self justifie by any force of its own And all these points do our writers generally maintain against the Papists yet never that I know was any Papist so shamelesse and yet shamelesse enough are they as to condemn them therefore for Socinian hereticks or to charge them to agree with Socinus and his followers in all points concerning the doctrine of justification Again it is by Socinus held and maintained that justification consists in remission of sinnes which for my part I deem erroneous and suppose that elsewhere I have evidently shewed it so to be howbeit Calvine Beza Olevian Ursine Zanchie Piscator Pareus Musculus Bullinger Fox and divers others of great note and name yea whole Synods of ours are found so to say and yet were these men never yet that I ever heard or read for so saying condemned as hereticks much lesse as blasphemous hereticks but had in high esteem as their worth parts and works well deserved by those that therein dissented from them I will adde but one instance more Socinus in the very entrance into his Treatise of Christ the Saviour affirmeth that God might if he had pleased without breach of his justice have pardoned mans sinne freely without any satisfaction required and the same he after again presseth and prosecuteth in his ensuing discourses Whether this be an errour or no I stand not now to discusse Vorstius herein concurred with Socinus and is for the same reproved by Tossanus Grotius likewise for affirming the same is taxed by Ravenspergerus defended by Vossius who citeth Divines not a few both old and new saying the same And it is maintained to passe by all others by Calvine Musculus Zanchie Grineus Faius Casman Tilenus Franzius Smiglesius and our reverend D r Twisse yet I am perswaded that no wise or discreet man at least will hence conclude any of these to be therefore Socinian Hereticks And M r Walker might do well to be better advised before he charge his Christian brethren and fellow-labourers in the work of Gods Ministerie with these odious imputations of heresie and blasphemie then which what can be more hainous more hideous being taints of the deepest die upon such weak and unjustifiable grounds as these are To conclude if any shall demand of me why I have undertaken this office which from some I know I shall have small thanks for and why I thrust my finger needlessely into the fire the answer is ready from what already hath been said I am the onely surviver for ought I know for Whether M r Hicks be still living or no I am not certain of those that were on M r Wotton's part entrusted and employed in this businesse and I could not therefore do lesse for so worthy a servant of God and mine ancient acquaintance whom I alwayes reverenced while he lived as a man deserving singular respect for his pietie and learning and zeal for Gods cause which his works left behind him do sufficiently manifest and will testifie to ensuing posteritie and both do and shall still honour deservedly the memorie of him now deceased and at rest I doubt not with the Lord enjoying the reward of his religious pains taken in his Masters work then to testifie what I then heard and saw was a party in and subscribed to with others and to second the pious intents of his sonne who treadeth carefully in his fathers commendable steps desirous to publish what in his fathers papers he found for the vindicating of his postumous name and reputation as dear unto him as his own with this Preface and Postscript adjoyned thereunto I say no more but wish onely Veritatem cum Charitate

writings yet extant and in the hands of too many by means whereof it is to be feared that they do the more hurt The principall of his tenets though not so prodigious as those of Servetus yet blasphemous and vile enough are these He denieth not Christs deity and eternity onely with Arrius but his existence at all also before he was conceived by the Virgin Mary with Photinus and so maketh him a mere man He denieth Christ to have been a redeemer or to have wrought any redemption or to have paid any price or ransome unto God for us truly and properly so termed or that by his sufferings any satisfaction at all was made unto God for our sinnes or that God is thereby reconciled unto us or that thereby he merited ought from God either for himself or for us That he is therefore onely called a Saviour and is said to save partly because he teacheth us by his doctrine and sheweth us by his practice the way to life eternall and confirmeth the same to us by the miracles that he wrought and by his dying and rising again from the dead and partly because he hath power given him by God to make the same good unto all that believe in him That to believe in him is nothing else but to obey him or to keep his precepts under hope of eternall life thereby to be obtained and that this is the very form and essence of justifying faith and that for so doing a man is justified and accepted to life eternall and that it is therefore in our power by our good works to attain thereunto This is the summe of his doctrine concerning mans justification and salvation wherein also I am the briefer because much of it hath been laid down before Now whether M r Wotton or M r Godwin do conspire and concurre with Peter Abeilard Servetus and Socinus in these their blasphemous dotages and are therefore justly yoked with them by M r Walker or no it concerneth not me let others try and determine But for M r Wotton his own defence of himself herein and the censure of others by M r Walker himself appealed to which he cannot therefore in equity go from I have faithfully delivered being confirmed by the attestation of those whom he cannot except against being men of his own choise and of sufficient credit and good esteem otherwise And as for M r Godwin to me a mere stranger in regard of any acquaintance one whom I never heard or saw to my knowledge save once of late occasionally at the funerall of a friend nor know certainly what he holdeth or hath taught I say no more but as they sometime of their sonne Aetatem habet he is old enough and for ought I know able enough to answer for himself and he surviveth yet so to do if he see good But whether Peter Abeilard ever moved this Question which M r Walker saith he was the first mover of to wit Whether faith or the righteousnesse of Christ be imputed in the act of justification is to me a great question And M r Walker's reading herein as I confesse it may well be is better then mine if he can shew where either he did ever handle it or is reported so to have done Nor do I find in all M r Calvines large relation and refutation of Servetus his blasphemies where ever he propounded or maintained any question in such terms as this by M r Walker is here conceived in For Socinus it is true that in prosecution of his discourses wherein he laboureth to prove Christ to be such a Saviour onely as was out of him before described he is inforced to acknowledge that Faith such as he meaneth that is Obedience to Christs commandments doth justifie without relation to ought done or suffered by Christ any satisfaction made by him or merit of his neither of which he acknowledgeth And the like may be deduced from what Servetus held though his assertions as Calvine also well observeth are found oft to enterfere and to crosse one another and from that also that Abeilard is by Bernard charged to have held But if M r Walker will father this upon him concerning the deniall of the Imputation of Christs righteousnesse because from his positions it may be deduced he might have risen a great deal higher and have fetched in Simon Magus Ebion Cerinthus Marcion Manes and a whole rabble of old hereticks and out of the ancient stories of the Church made a list as large almost as his book is long from whose pestilent positions the same might as well be deduced as from those things that Abeilardus and Servetus maintained Again neither is this sufficient to prove a point to be hereticall and blasphemous because it may be deduced from assertions of that nature for if we shall condemn as hereticall and blasphemous whatsoever by necessary consequence may be extracted from those dotages that some blasphemous hereticks have held the like censure may then yea must then be passed upon many orthodox tenets in the negative especially maintained by us against the Church of Rome since that they follow necessarily from those grounds that by such hereticks have been held For example That Christs body is not really present in the Sacrament nor is sacrificed and offered up to God in the Masse doth necessarily follow from the opinion of Eutyches and others who maintained the humane nature of Christ to be swallowed up into his Godhead from the dotages of Simon Saturn Basilides and many more who held that he never suffered at all of Apelles who held that his body was dissolved into the foure elements of Seleucus Manes and Hermes that held it fastened to the starres or lodged in the sunne That there is no purgatory nor use of invocation of Saints or of singing masses for souls deceased followeth necessarily from the opinion of the Sadduces that held no spirits and from the Psychopannychites dream of the souls sleeping till the last day which in effect therefore the sequestration of them at least from the divine presence till then that Chamaelion Spalatensis pretended the rather to maintain because by it those Popish errours would be easily and evidently overthrown For who is so meanly versed in the art of reasoning as not to know That the clearest truths may be deduced from the grossest falshoods that may be As grant a stone to have life and a man to be a stone and it will thence follow that a man hath life And yet were it absurd from hence to conclude that whosoever holdeth the latter must needs either concurre in judgement with those that should maintain the former or hold any falshood much lesse any absurdity though those positions that inferre it be both false and absurd And let M r Walker consider this calmly and seriously with