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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	ceremonial_a	law_n	moral_a	5,536	5	9.9611	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95626	A vindication of the orthodoxe Protestant doctrine against the innovations of Dr. Drayton and Mr. Parker, domestique chaplain to the Right Honourable the E. of Pembroke, in the following positions.	Tendring, John.	1657 (1657)	Wing T681; Thomason E926_5	59,895	91

pure eyes which found folly in his Angels And the best of men whilest he lives on earth is both a Saint and a sinner A Saint by reason of Gods Grace wrought in him And a Sinner by reason of his own naturall corruption which in some measure tainteth every Grace of God And therefore not only the worst of men but also the best of Gods Saints that being compared with their fellowes might seem just indeed Yet looking to the strictnesse of Gods justice they disclaimed all their own righteousnesse and relyed wholly upon the righteousnesse of God so Job 4.17 18 19. and Job 15.14 and 9.2.3 and Psal 130. and Psal 143.2 and Saint Paul saith 1 Cor. 4.4 That he knew nothing by himself Yet he confesseth that thereby he was not justified because that although he served God most faithfully in the inner man yet he saw another Law in his members which did alwaies rebell against the Law of his mind and made him therefore cry out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Rom. 7. Thirdly Because that although it were granted that some works of the Saints might be perfectly good yet because any one sin blotteth out the memory of our precedent righteousness as Ezekiel 18. and makes us guilty of all the Law as the Apostle witnesseth James 2. and that we are so prone to commit sin and so frail to resist sin that in many things we sin all And therefore taught to beg every day of God that he would forgive us our trespasses It is impossible that any righteousnesse of man should justifie him before God Fourthly Because St. Paul saith plainly Rom. 3.28 We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the works of the Law and Gal. 5.3.4 That is if you seek to be saved or justified by the works of the Law then are you bound to fulfill the whole Law and so you have no need of Christ But no man is able to fulfill the whole Law therefore it is impossible that you should be justified by the works of the Law And that St. Paul excludeth not only ceremoniall works or morall or any other ki●de of works before we receive faith but also all works whatsoever it is hereby apparent For he writes these things not to unbelieving Jewes but to the Galatians they were believing Christians Fiftly Because no work of man can be good before the person of that man be justified before God for without faith it is impossible to please God Abel was first accepted and then his offering And therefore it is impossble that any works shall justifie us when we must be justified before we can doe any works that can be accounted good But then it may be objected That it is to no purpose to doe good works if we can neither be justified by them nor merit by them I answer That as gold is good yet not to asswage hunger for then Mydas had not died with gold in his mouth And as the Sun hath divers admirable effects yet is not able to make a blinde man see so then Bartimeus had had no need of our Saviours help that he might receive his sight So good works have many profitable and available necessary uses yet not to justifie us before God nor to merit any thing at the hands of God For when we have done all we can we are unprofitable c. Luke 17.10 Ob. 2 But our adversaries object That if God gives us Commandements which we could not perform them First It were in vain to exho●t us to obey them seeing we are unable to perform them Secondly His promises of happinesse for performing them were but mockeries as if I should promise a Child a thousand pounds for carrying away a Milstone which I know he is not able to wagg such were rather meer mockeries than true promises Thirdly 〈…〉 nishments should he unjust upon the transgressors because 〈…〉 ommandements are beyond their power of performance For Lawes must be made according to the power that we have to perform them Else may he as well be termed a Tyrant and unjust that enacteth the Law which we cannot keep as he which punishes an Innocent which never offended But these cannot stand with the wisedome and justice of God and therefore it cannot be that God should give us a Law beyond our ability or the performance of obedience To this I answer That the consequence is false for though God commandeth us things that we cannot perform Yet these consequences cannot follow because as August saith de lib. arbit cap. 16. God commandeth us to doe those things which he knoweth we are unable to doe that we might learn to know what we ought to seek of him and so likewise for three speciall ends First to teach us what we could have done and what we owe to God because Adam received strength to fulfill it and we had had that strength if Adam had not lost it Secondly To shew unto us that it is our own fault that we cannot doe it because man abusing his power and free liberty to doe what he would did loose himself and his power that now he must doe what he would not Because as Adam received that strength both for himself and us so he lost it both for himself and us Thirdly To teach us what we should ask and of whom we should crave what we want for God doth therefore command us to doe what we cannot perform that seeing our own infirmities and being wearied under the Law of equity We might sue unto the Throne of Grace for mercy and for the gracious assistance of his holy Spirit whereby we may be enabled in some measure to perform that which he so justy requireth As August saith In the Commandement we must know what we ought to have In the punishment we must learn that we our selves are the cause of all our wants And in prayer we must understand from wh●●●● we must supply the defects that is from God Or to answer more methodically I say That God being on Mount Sinai to deliver a Law not de novo that was never given before but such as was formerly engraven in mans heart and now defaced and obliterated through sinne It was not for him to bend the Rule of Righteousnesse to the crookednesse of our affections to make it answerable to our abilities But rather to set down a straight Rule Not in favour of our sinfull nature but to expresse our whole duty though it be impossible for us to perform it now after we have lost our ability For as he that lent thee a thousand pounds may without injustice demand the same of thee when he knoweth that thou through thy lavishnesse hast spent all and as a Bankrupt art not able to pay one penny So God having given us power to obey all his precepts may at any time most justly call for the performance of the same though he knoweth that we by our sinnes have

this wise If thou shalt confesse with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved ver 6.9 And therefore seeing the Apostle opposeth doing of the Law and believing in Christ and not doing the Law by our own strength and doing the Law by the help of grace It is apparent That we can never be justified by the works of the Law by what means soever we doe them whether by the strength of nature or by the help of grace But Bellarm. in his first Book cap. 19. de justific laboureth to prove that all works of the Law are not excluded from our Justification by three especiall Reasons First Because Faith is a Work and that there is a Law of Faith as well as of Works and therefore if all Works be excluded from our Justification then Faith it self must be excluded And so to be justified by Faith were to be justified without Faith Because the Apostles intent Rom. 3. That neither the Jewes by the bare observing of Moses Law nor the Gentiles by their morall Works And so neither Jewes nor Gentiles before they believed in Jesus Christ could be justified by any Works that they could doe Because the Apostle Rom. 4.4 sheweth That the Works which he excludeth from Justification are those Works to whom wages are due by debt not by grace and those saith Bellarmine are all such Works as are done by our own natural abilities without the assistance of any supernatural grace But for answer unto all these I say That we confess Faith to be a Work and it is the Commandement of God That we believe in Jesus Christ But we deny Faith to justifie us as it is a Work performed in obedience to this command but as it is an Instrument imbracing the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ It is not the act of beleiving but the thing holden and possessed by believing that is our righteousness Secondly I say That Bellarmine is mistaken in the whole scope of the Apostle and that St. Paul doth not only not give us the least intimation that he meaneth that we are not justified by any works done by our own naturall strength But rather sheweth that in as much as we are all sinners against the Law therefore by our obedience to the Law howsoever done by grace or without grace no man can be justified in Gods sight Thirdly I say That the Apostle in Rom. 4.4 intendeth no such distinction of Works as Bellarmine alledgeth but he excludeth all Works as well those that are done by the help of grace as that are done without grace from the Justification of Abraham For those Works of Abraham are excluded wherein Abraham might glory before men but these are the Works that he did by the help of grace for otherwise if he were justified by the Works done without the help of grace he might as well glory before God as before men But the Apostle tells us That although by these Works done by the help of grace he might glory before men yet not before God And therefore not justified by these works in the sight of God For if we could be justified by any works howsoever done by grace or not grace then the wages that is eternal life is not counted of favour but of debt But when we cannot be justified by our works but by believing in him that justifieth the ungodly that is in Jesus Christ that we are justified by his righteousness and saved by his merits Then Faith saith the Apostle and not any kinde of Works is imputed unto us for righteousnesse Romans 4.5 I shall then close this point with these conclusions First That no man which is a sinner can be justified by his own obedience to the moral Law Secondly That no man which hath offended the Law can be justified by his own satisfaction for his transgression First Whosoever is a transgressor of the Law cannot be justified by his obedience to the Law For by the Law commeth the knowledg of sinne Rom. 3.20 That is the Law convinceth all such to be sinners and condemneth them as transgressors And therefore they can never be pronounced guiltless by that Law which proves them guilty But every man is a Transgressor of the Law as the Scripture teacheth Rom. 3.9 Gal. 2.1 John 1.8 and 10. and our Consciences testifie it to our faces Therefore no man can be justified by his own obedience to the Law Secondly That a sinner which hath once offended can never by any action or passion of his own make satisfaction to the justice of God for his trangression And the Law being broken there is no way to be justified by the Law but only by making a plenary satisfaction for the transgression But this no sinners satisfaction can doe because a finite Act can never be of sufficient value to satissie the offence that is done against an infinite goodnesse And likewise because all that we can doe is required of us as our duty to the Law and therefore cannot be rendred as a payment for the breach of the Law To conclude this branch We are not under the Law for justification of our persons as Adam Nor for satisfaction of divine justice as those that perish but we are under it as a document of obedience and a rule of living It is now published from Mount Sion as a Law of liberty and a new Law not as a Law of condemnation and bondage The obedience thereof is not removed but the disobedience thereof is both pardoned and cured The observance thereof is necessary as a fruit of faith not as a condition of life and righteousness necessary necessitate Praecepti as a thing commanded the transgression whereof is an incurring of sin not necessitate Medii as a strict undisponsible means of Salvation the transgression whereof is a peremptory obligation to death And thus much briefly of the first branch wherein I have cleerly shewed unto you That no man can be justified by the obedience to the Law nor the works of the best Christians cannot justifie them Come we now to the last Branch and that is That we are only justified by the righteousnesse of Christ We believe and maintain as the Scripture teacheth us That we are acquitted and absolved from all our sinnes and so justified in the sight of God by and for the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ Rom. 5.18 As by the offence of one Judgement came upon all men to condemnation so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life And in 2 Cor. 5. last vers He that knew no sin God hath made him to be sin for us that we should be made the righteousness of God by him And in Act. 13.39 For all things which yee could not be justified by the Law of Moses by him every one that believeth is justified And 1 Cor. 6.11 Ye are justified that is in whole from the guilt and punishment