vnderstanding onely or to any one faculty of the soule though hee place it principally in the will in regard of those natiue and inseporable qualities of true sauing saith namely confidence and affiance in Gods promises So that I wonder how this Doctrine of that good Cardinall hath escaped the flames of their Purgatory Index But his owne life paid for it when he with his fellow Cardinall Fregosus being suspected too much to fauour the Doctrine of Luther were both quickly taken out of the way non sine veneni suspicione not without suspicion of poyson But those Diuines that liued in more ancient ages contented themselues with the most simple but most eâ—phaticall tearmes of the Scripture not troubling their heads with quirks and questions of this nature whether faith were in the vnderstanding or in the will c but with the Scripture they include altogether in the heart the seate and confluence of all the powers of the soule Bernard saith that first the sâ—â—ncere roote of holy faith is planted in the ground of mans heart and when faith is fully growne vp it becomes as a great tree hauing in it sundry sorts of apples wherewith the soule being full of God is refreshed St. August takes no more care but to place faith in the soule Vnder whence comes death in the soule because faith is not there whence in the body because the soule is not there therefore the soule of the soule is faith Againe Fides quae credit in Deum vita anima existit per hanc iustus viuit Faith which beleeueth in God is the life of the soule and by it the iust man liueth And speaking of the vnderstanding hee saith Intellectus merces est sides c. The vnderstanding is the reward of faith doe not then seeke to vnderstand that thou maist beleeue but beleeue that thou maist vnderstand And againe Intellectui fides viam aperit infidelitas claudit faith opens the way to the vnderstanding but infidelity shuts it And speaking of the will he saith Fides excitat ad exercitium voluntatem Faith stirreth vp the will to excercise And in a word Fides sic est in anima vt radix bona quae pluuiam in fructum ducit Faith is so in the 〈◊〉 as a good roote which peoduceth the raine into fruit I might adde many others but this may suffice Babylonius But Sir whereas you seeme to oppugne the Councell of Trent doth it not also acknowledge faith to be the roote of all other graces Doe the Church of Rome right I 〈◊〉 you Orthodoxus God forbid else The prouerbe is Giue the Diuel his due Indeede the Trent Councell confesseth that faith is the beginning of mans saluation the foundation and roote of all iustification But vnder this painted Sepulcher she buries the bones of true sauing faith which she hath slaine there to ly rotting as the Iewes did with Gods Prophets whom their Fathers had slaine and vpon the foundation they erect the Monument and Trophe of their Pageantfaith For vndertaking to glâ—sse vpon the Apostles wordes A man is iustified by faith and gratis freely she saith These wordes are to be vnderstood in that sense which the perpetuall consent of the Catholicke Church hath holden and expressed to wit that we are said therefore to be iustified by faith because it is the beginning of mans saluation the foundation and root of all iustification So that they attribute iustification to faith not simply for it selfe but relatiuely as it hath reference to the fruits whereof they say faith is the roote namely their inherent righteousnesse But the truth is this restrained yea constrained sense of theirs is most absurd and senslesse as hauing neither foundation nor roote of reason to support and maintaine it All is but wordes They neither meane nor will nor can maintaine it For how is faith a beginning of grace if grace be no necessary consequent of their faith For they confesse they may haue faith and want grace which is the Diuels case Or how is faith the roote of grace and iustification sith it is impossible for this roote to produce any fruite at all For how can a dead roote bring forth any liue-fruite And they confesse their faith to be a dead and dry roote of it selfe vntill the sap of charity be powred into it to actuate and quicken this otherwise dead roote So that by Babylons Doctrine the fruite must giue life to the roote not the roote to the fruite And yet forsooth faith must be the roote of iustification the foundation of mans saluation Surely the Prouerbe may here well be verified Dignum patella operculum like roote like iustification both dead like foundation like building both sandy yea meere aery and imaginary Babylonius But is not faith dead and vnformed vntill it be inliued and formed by charity Doth not St. Iames say that as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without workes is dead also Therefore the good workes of charity giue life vnto faith as the soule to the body Orthodoxus Doth charity giue life to faith How is then faith the roote your owne reason may teach you the contrary as wee haue showed But to that place of Saint Iames it is too commonly abused For marke first hee saith not As the body without the soule is dead but as the body without the spirit is dead The spirit is the breath by which the body is knowne to liue So that the body receiueth life from the soule but sheweth it by the spirit which it breatheth The spirit then is an effect and signe not a cause of the life of the body So charity and the workes therof are a fruite and effect breathing from sauing faith testifying that it is a liuing faith not causing it so to be for that were to turne the tree vpside downe as if the roote which is faith should receiue life sap and groweth from the branches And it is plaine by the whole analogy and tenure of the chapter that the Apostle speakes of good workes as they are demonstratiue signes and fruits of a liuing faith not as causes of it Againe he putteth a distinct difference betweene the true sauing faith which alwaies shewes it selfe to liue by the fruits of it for it is that faith euer working by loue and betweene a false counterfeit faith such as is dead and knowne to bee so by the not breathing out of good workes So that the true sauing iustifying faith is that which worketh by loue So the Apostle saith But how by loue as by the efficient mouing cause of the working of it or rather as the instrumentall cause moued by the hand of faith Loue is faiths instrument whereby it worketh Yea it is an inseparable quality of sauing faith whereby faith workes as the heat is the inseperable quality of the fire whereby the fire worketh This is the Doctrine also of the ancient Fathers They so make faith the roote as
lost nature but grace this seemes to imply that Adam in his innocency had grace For else no man can be said to loose what he neuer had But what grace The grace that comes by Iesus Christ which is the onely grace the Scripture speaketh of Surely that he had not for before his fall he needed not Christ as Augustine saith yet he addeth Adam non habuit gratiam imo habuit magnam sed disparem Had not Adam grace yes great grace but farre vnlike that which commeth by Iesus Christ. He might be saide rather to haue naturall graces that is all ornaments and endowments of an absolute and compleat naturall man as hee was then simply that which the Scriptures calleth grace for grace came by Iesus Christ. But this by the way The two principall things I note is first his allegation of the Councell of Trent touching freewill the second his approbation of it seconded with his owne dâ—finiâ—iue sentence tanquam in Cathedra So that howsoeuer he seeme to hold with the Church of England and of Protestants in the point of freewill yet the whole concatenation of his other Doctrines with this as of falling from grace totall or finall praedestination vpon a Preuision of mans willingnesse to receiue grace vniuersally offered and the like doth necessarily conclude that he holds the very freewill of the Pelagians not only that of the Pontificians For all these Heresies are so combined together as so many members compact in one inâ—â—re body or as so many wheeles in a rack each receiuing motion from other But for breuitie because he makes no difference betweene the Decree of the Councell of Trent and his owne yea and the Tenent of the Protestants Church therefore it shall suffice to touch vpon the Councel of Trent onely and so if that proue sound well and good For then the Protestant Church holding therein with the Councel of Trent will proue to be beholden to the Appealer else but a little for shuffling vs in the same pack of Trents freewill I take his words pag. 98. quoted out of his former booke of the Gagge for which he is taxed Our conclusion saith he to the Popish Gagger and yours is all one wee cannot we do not deny freedome of will in man whose doth so is no Catholicke I adde no nor Protestant These bee his words Now all the controuersie about freewill is it not in regard of the grace of Christ with relation vnto it Else what needes all the stirre about it For that is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 therein lyes the state of the Question For all confelle as well Protestants as Papists that the naturall man hath some reliquâ—eâ— left of Adams naturall freewill we yeeld it not to bee altogether extinct no more then his other faculties of the soule But the Protestant Church the Church of England denyeth that by nature we haue any freewill dispositiue to grace But this is the marke which the Councell of Trent the standard rule of the Romish Church shoote at namely to aduance mans naturall freewill vnto grace onely confessing it is so weakened maimed by the fall of Adam that it needeth some diuine helpe to enable it the better to receiue grace As St. Augustine noteth of some more refined Pelagians who though they will not confesse that those are Praedestinate which by Gods grace are made obedient and permanent yet they confesse a kinde of preuenting grace But how Ideo vtique c. No otherwise but least grace should be thought to be giuen gratis as the truth speaketh but rather according to the merits of mans precedent will as the Pelagian error gainsayeth against This being also the Doctrine of the Councell of Trent howsoeuer the Appealer iumpe with them and ioyne the right hand of fellowship yet for ought I know hee must goe alone with them for any consent or countenance the Church of England will giue him in this his confederation For all orthodox true Protestants deny disclaime any freewill at all in a naturall or vnregenerate man vnto grace I meane the sauing grace of Christ. Naturall men haue it not no nor Adam in his purest naturalls euer had such a freewill For the will must follow the vnderstanding seeing it cannot affect good vnlesse first the vnderstanding apprehend it For Ignoti nulla cupido That which a man knowes not he desires not That the eye seeth not the heart sueth not after To this purpose Aquinas saith well that Those things which pertaine to faith doe exceed humaine reason And Man by assenting to those things which are of faith is eleuated aboue his nature And againe Hoc est ex institutitione diuinae prouidentiae c. This is by the appointment of diuine prouidence that nothing should worke beyond its proper vertue But eternall life saith he is a certaine good exceeding the proportion of created nature because it also transcendeth the knowledge and desires of it And hee concludeth that not euen Adam could attaine to eternall life without a supernaturall grace What needes then all that adoe about the quantity and measure of naturall freewill remaining â—n man when it wants the qualâ—â—y and property to qualifie it any way towards grace There is in vs as naturall men a naturall freewill still it is no more lost then other naturall faculties the poore reliques of Adams perfections but this will is but naturall it reacheth no higher then to naturall obiects So that while the Church of Rome or the Councel of Trent so much adoring her Goddes Freewill yet withall is forced to acknowledege a debility and lamnesse in it they would faine perswade the world that there is yet in our nature some antique venerable reliques of freewill disposing vnto grace Hence it is that they haue a whole chapter of Preparation vnto grace wherein they touch vpon freewill as being the ground sandy though it be of their preparatory workes vnto faith and iustification as also of all their meritorious workes And therefore are they so eager to maintaine and treasure vp at least some Reliques of Adams freewill least all should be attributed to Grace and nothing to Nature and then farewell all Merit either of congruity by preparation to grace or of condignity to glory So that for this very reason they anatheâ—ze all those that say Freewill is altogether lost Wherein if they will not confesse that they which say so meane that a man vnregenerate hath no freewill vnto grace then they cunningly equiuocate But the case is plaine all that their Doctrine driueth at is to aduance mans naturall freewill vnto grace as much as is possible Therefore they say that these remaines of freewill in man though much lessened and sore bruised with Adams fall yet neede but a kinde of stirring vp and awakning as it were oriogging on the elbow or helping vp being downe So that it shares stakes with their first grace as they tearme it though in hypocrisy
will in the state of nature hath such a vast disproportion to the grace of Christ as it hath no disposition at all vnto it This is a mystery hid from Nature a Transcendent far aboue the capacity of Natures reach To this grace nature is not bleareeyd but blinde not a sleepe but dead not lame but a senslesse stocke So that more then a slender mouing or stirring vp of I wot not what first grace I wot well no grace is requisite to set the will a foote to the setling of it in the state of grace of that grace I say of true iustification to which Romes first grace hath no more proportion then her free-will in her purâ—st naturalls But the grace whereof the Scripture speakes and the worke of it in mans conuersion is no such grace as Romes first grace for that is no other but the true and effectuall sauing iustifying and sanctifying grace of God the first act and worke whereof in the soules conuersion to God is not a faint and impotent mouing and stirring or awakening of the sleepy will which then begins to dispose it selfe to grace but it is a powerfull and effectuall worke vpon the will and the whole soule with euery faculty thereof and that not to the disposing vnto but to the present possessing of the state of grace and true iustification apprehended by sauing faith the free gift of this grace Besides this effectuall grace of God for mans conuersion the Scripture knows none Nor is the Scripture acquainted with such ieiune and faint termes as Rome vseth in setting forth the worke of grace in our conuersion The Scripture flyes in a more lofty stile to giue Gods grace the full prayse in the effectuall worke of our conuersion Ezech. 11. 19. I will giue them one heart and will put a new spirit within you I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will giue them an heart of flesh that they may walke in my statutes So Ezech. 36. 26 A new heart also will I giue you and a new spirit will I put within you c. and cause you to walke in my statutes And this is as Augustine saith the taking away of our stony heart and the giuing of a heart of flesh when the Father is heard within and teacheth vs to come and draweth vs to his Sonne by giuing vs a sauing faith in Christ. By which places wee see what a noble and powerfull worke of grace is wrought in vs by Gods holy Spirit in our conuersion not a bare stirring vp or mouing or helping the old decrepit stiff-limd will of the naturall mans stony heart but a mighty remouing of it cleane away and insteed therof putting a new heart a heart of flesh a flexible and obedient heart and a new spirit into vs by the vertue and power whereof we are effectually inabled to walke in Gods statutes and to keepe them And this worke of grace where begins it but at the very first act of our effectuall calling and conuersion of our iustification and sanctification from our sinnes and against our sinnes As in the forecited place of Ezechiel Then will I sprinkle pure water vpon you and yee shall be cleane from all your filthinesse for a new heart will I giue you c so in Ieremy The Lord ioynes his grace and remission of sinnes together saying I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall bee my people For I will forgiue their iniquity and will remember their sinnes no more The Lord in the Gospell compares the state of a naturall man vnregenerate to a house possessed by a strong man This strong man is Satan the spirit that ruleth in the children of disobedience such as all vnregenerate are who in that state are dominered ouer and captiuated of the tyrant Diuel at his will Who then shall binde this strong man and dispossesse him of his house and strong hold euen the heart of a naturall man vnregenerate Surely none but a stronger then he euen Christ. And is this done so slightly as by stirring vp the will by some first grace No more but so The strong man will not so easily forgoe his hold He must bee driuen out by strong hand When the Disciples could not by all their delegated power Christ must be faine to put to his immediate power authority to driue the Diuel out A sinner vnregenerate is as Peter fast asleepe and fast chained in the dungeon And to free him did the Angel no more but with a iogge awake him How fell his chaines so easily of How came the prison dores open How the iron gate leading into the citie to open of it owne accord Surely here was no small power vsed Nay the vnregenerate is like Lazarus fast bound and lying dead in the graue And is it so easie a matter to raise him vp to giue him life and to free him from the bonds of death But you hath hee quickned who were dead in trespasses and sinnes wherein once yee walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the ayre the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience among whom also wee had our conversation in time past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind c. Eph. 2. 1 c. Our will being then captiuated chained imprisoned in the dungeon of death kept and possessed by the strong man the Diuel are we so easily freed Saint Chrysostome amplifieth this by an excellent comparison or two All men saith hee before sinne as once in Adams loynes before his fall haue free will to follow the Diuels will or not but when once by sinne wee haue captiuated our selues to his workes wee cannot now free our selues But as a ship the rudder being broken is carried whither the tempest will so man having by sinne lost the helpe of divine Grace doth not that which himselfe willeth but which the Divell willeth and vnlesse God with a strong hand of mercy loose him hee shall abide in the bonds of his sinnes even vnto death And in the same place he compareth mans will before sinne namely in the state of Adams innocency to a free people or stare in whose power and election it is to chuse what King they will but hauing once chosen him whom they best like it is not now in their power vpon any dislike to depose him againe although hee tirannize ouer them neuer so much none can free them from this grieuous bondage but onely God So it being once in the power of mans will in the free state of innocency to chuse a King God or the Diuel hauing once by consent of sin made choise of the Prince of darknesse who tyrant-like ruleth in the children of disobedience it appertaines now onely to the mightie power and infinite goodnesse of God to set
that all other graces are radically in faith and spring from it They make all other holy graces to be inherent in sauing faith as the natiue qualities of it essentiall and inseparable not as accidents which are seperable Saint Augustine saith What is it to beleeue in him By beleeuing to loue him by beleeuing to affect him by beleeuing to goe vnto him and to be incorporated into his members And againe Paulus fidem c. Paul approueth and commendeth that faith which worketh by loue which cannot be without hope therefore neither is loue without hope nor hope without loue nor both without faith And which we cited before Faith is so on the soule as a good roote which bringeth forth the fruite S. Chrysostome saith Faith is the foundation of the most holy religion the bond of charity the supply and succour of loue it confirmes sanctity it strengtheneth chastity it gouernes all sexes it promotes all degrees it obserueth all offices faith keepeth the Commaundements practiseth the precepts accomplisheth the promises And much more to this purpose according to his fluent golden elegancy Saint Ambrose There are in faith great prerogatiues what be they piety iustice sobriety charity discipline or good gouernment And to conclude with St. August In ipsa fide sunt omnia opera quae diligit Deus in faith it selfe are all those workes which God loueth Nor need this poynt seeme so strange Morall Philosophy can teach vs that there is such an inseparable combination of all moral vertues as he that hath one hath all And shall wee deny then this inseparable conjunction of Spirituall graces whereof Faith is the Radicall and principall Though it is a marveile that these Philosopers Aristotle and Tully haue escaped the fiery purgatory-Index sith not even Romes owne Gratian for saying no more in Divinitie then those in Morality hath had the grace to escape their Singe or Spunge For where he saith Sed commodo c. But how can I haue such a faith to remoue mountaines and not charity Sith he that hath one vertue hath all I could not haue it but miraculously All these words must out as may be seene in Collat. censurae in gloss iuris canonici vum 84. Such a hatred they haue to the living saving faith as though a Princesse they will not allow her any necessary attendance coÌ„comitancy of other graces Whereas Bernard saith To beleeue in God is to hope in him and to loue him And Hieronymus Osorius Faith containeth all religion and piety for all vertues are by faith consorted and combined together and with it are connexed and intwined in a most holy knot But Deleantur haec verba let these words be cancelled saith the Index expurgatorius Also these words of his Ergo cùm fides c. Therefore seeing faith doth governe the whole soule and drawe it to the studie and loue of Gods word it followeth necessarily that it is proved not only in beleeving but also in obeying And those words also of Osorius must passe their purgatory Tune igitur verè fideles sumus cùm Dei verbo audiontes sumus Therefore then are wee truely faithfull when wee are obedient to the word of God I will conclude with the golden saying of our Royall Paraphrase vpon the Reuelation God by faith onely iustifieth man which notwithstanding is done according to his workes because they as the fruits of faith cannot be seperated from it and be are witnesse of the same to men of the earth I might seeme to haue digressed all this while from the point of freewill in speaking of faith But partly you haue moued me and the more willingly haue I followed you it being very pertinent to set forth discouer the Councell of Trents egregious hypocrisy in her Doctrine of grace and freewill For vnto what is the will stirred moued assisted by grace Parturient montes we expect some wonderfull consequent Thereby forsooth the will conceiueth faith by hearing the word and prepareth and disposeth it selfe to iustification And what faith is this thus conceiued Nascetur ridiculus Mus behold a ridiculous Mouse in steede of a young Mountaine For of their freewill is conceiued by hearing not that iustifying sauing liuing faith whereof the Apostle Faith commeth by hearing Rom. 10. 17 that faith whereof rightcousnesse is ver 5. that which beleeueth to righteousnesse ver 10 that which beleeueth In D. Iesâ—m in the Lord Iesus ver 11 but this conceiued faith of Rome is a bare historicall implicit generall dead faith like that of the Deuils no grace but such as euery wicked man may haue as their * fideles fornicarii c. their faithfull fornicaters adulterers c. And that grace of God their first grace whereby they say the will is first moued to conceiue a dead faith is with them but an ordinary common grace in deede no grace and by their owne confession no sauing sanctifying iustifying grace at all Yea and though they stile it a preparatory grace yet it neuer bringeth a man to true iustification sith they disclame that liuing sauing faith the onely faith whereby instrumentally we are iustified The summary conclusion then is that seeing the Trent Councell hath in her Doctrine of freewill so slily vndermined and ouerturned the fundamentall doctrine of saluation consisting in the iustifying sauing liuing faith powerfully wrought by the sanctifying grace of Gods Spirit in the heart euen in the whole man the soule with all the faculties from which faith as from a liuing and fructifying roote doe spring all other holy graces therefore for any man to goe about to excuse the Councell of Trent in the point wherein for the maine she is altogether to be condemned yea executed with Anathema Maran-atha I see not how such a one can be excused from being a reconciled confederate in all that damnable Doctrine of Trent about freewill Is this the way to make vs beleeue the Apppealers profound protestations that he is a Protestant of the Church of England while he so religiously pleadeth for the Councell of Trents mystery of iniquity and that flatly against the Doctrine of the Church of England Doth he thus perswade vs hee is no Papist Fy Maister Mountagu for shame learne not thus of your Councell of Trent to equiuocate with your brethren yea with your Mother Church of England You hold with the Step-mother of Rome in her most damnable Doctrines whereby she vtterly euacuates Christ Iesus and the whole mystery of our saluation and yet you are no Papist Why Because forsooth you doe not hold those Doctrines to be Popery but catholicke with those of the Church of England If you can bring no better arguments to proue you a good Protestant these you haue brought will sufficiently conclude you to be a reconciling reconciled English Romane-catholicke Babylonius Sir to trouble you no longer for this time and for a conclusion of the first part of this Appeale
they would seeme to giue most to God Therefore if this bee that which the Appealer sticks not to approue in the Councell of Trent I will bee bold to say as Saint Ierome did to the Pelagians * It is the Churches victory that you vtter your mindes plainely Sententias vestras prodidisse superasse est to discouer your opinions is to discomfit them And for him to say that God prouided a Mediator for all such whom he foresaw would receiue him to wit by the freedome of their will were a meere absurdity if man haue not an absolute freedome to grace And by the Appealers approbation of the Councell of Trent in the point of freewill he must confesse that man in his Naturalls hath at least some free-will to grace Which will agree well with that he said before touching Gods foresight of those would lay hold on grace otherwise it implies a flat contradiction For if there be no freewill in a naturall man towards grace then what willingnesse did God foresee in men to receiue his Son vnlesse that which himselfe did purpose wholly to worke in them Although not Gods owne worke which hee purposed to worke in man by giuing him faith grace was that which foreseene moued him to elect and praedestinate to saluation for then the meanes should in Gods first intention to saue mankinde haue taken place of the end it selfe which in the priority of order is the first in intention though last in execution yea haue taken place also of Gods eternall free loue the prime motion and sole absolute cause that moued him to make his election of those whom he would not who would him But the Councell of Trent and who so take part with it deales coldly and comes farre short in giuing Gods grace the due praise in the worke of mans saluation So that while they aduance mans will too high and too much depresse Gods grace they so part the stakes that they giue the right hand rather to freewill then to grace For what saith the Councell Si quis dixerit c. If any man shall say that mans freewill moued and stirred vp of God doth cooperate nothing by assenting to God stirring vp and calling wherby it may dispose and prepare it selfe to obtaine the grace of iustification c. Let him be accursed In this very Cannon is inuolued a great part of the mysterie of iniquity For note here Romes Legierdemam in iuggling with Gods grace She ascribes to God two things 1. a worke of mouing and stirring vp the will 2. Touching the obiect or end of this worke that the will may by the cooperation of a free selfe assenting dispose prepare it selfe to obtayne the grace of iustification Examine we the words a little Note what a slight and slender worke they here attribute to God it is with them but a moving and stirring vp iust like the confederate Arminians lenis suasio some gentle motion as if the will were but a little dull and lazy and must be spurred or sleepie and drowsie and must be awakened as Elias bad Baals Prophets to cry alowd to awake their sleepie God Yet this moving and shirring vp their Schoole-men and in particular Andrew Vega and Dominick Soto two grand sticklers in that Councel who being the two standard bearers of two strong different factions in that Councel the one of the Dominicians the other of the Franciscans bore a great swinge and sway in it and haue written large Commentaries vpon that sixt the mayne and masterpiece Session of that Councel as also Catharinus of that Councell too and so Bellarmine others of that crew they expresse this Motion I say stirring vp of the will to be vnderstood as an act of the first grace a grace which the subtile Schoolemen haue deuised distinct from their second grace Which Schoole-diuinity and subtile Sophistry is the yery ground worke of all the maine Decrees of the Councel especially of those contained and most cunningly contriued in that sixth session concerning Iustification Well But what may this first grace be Truely no other by their owne Doctrine but such as a man may haue and yet never attaine to iustification and so to salvation yet such a grace they say it is as by moving and stirring vp the will cooperates to giue assent and to dispose and prepare it selfe to receiue iustification to wit an infusion of inherent grace which they call the Second grace and so the will by giving free assent by disposing and preparing it selfe doth merit of Congruity the second grace although the Councel confesseth that the first grace is given freely without any precedent merit in man By which one devise of a poore I wot not what first grace whereby a man is not at all by their owne confession iustified and so will scarce proue worth God haue mercy they would elude and evacuate the Scriptures which so much advance and magnifie the worke of Gods free and effectuall grace in our first conversion and iustification as Rom. 3. 24. Being iustified freely by his grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Iesus For they turne the cat in the pan and because they cannot deny the expresse Scripture so pregnant and plentifull in setting out the free and vndeserved grace of God in mans salvation but are forced at least in words to confesse it therefore they haue no other shift but to restraine this free gift of Gods effectuall sauing grace to that onely which they call their first grace though no iustifiying grace at all Whereas the Apostle expresly in the forementioned place speaketh of the free gift of saving grace whereby wee are indeed actually iustified But the Trent Councell saith no where that that grace whereby a man is iustified which they call their second grace is freely given No they haue a freewill whose cooperating assent with their first grace produceth a merit of Congruitie to procure that their iustification may not be freely given but merited of Congruity For whereas they say chap. 8. that a man is said therefore to be iustified freely because none of those things which goe before iustification whither faith or workes doe merit the grace it selfe of Iustification for if it be of grace it is no more workes otherwise as the Apostle saith grace is now no more grace as the Councell hypocritically alleadgeth yet wee must vnderstand that the Councell meaneth no other here but to exclude merit of condignity from going before her iustification but not the merit of congruity And thus by her cunning equivocation she both keepeth good quarter with her Schoolmen and satisfieth the contrary opinions of Vega and Soto about the merit of Congruity in justification as ye may see in the History of the Trent Councell yea and thus also the Church of Rome quits scores with the Scriptures which exclude all merit of man from iustification and all by her futile distinction of a first and
free these miserable captiues out of that tyrant Pharaohs more then Aegyptian bondage Againe in the Acts of the Apostles where it is said that our hearts are purified by faith which some as Aquinas vnderstands of illuminating the vnderstanding by faith others of the purification of the soule and heart from sinne by faith as we are said also to be sanctified by faith that is in Christ. Now this faith is the first worke of Gods grace wrought in the heart that is in the whole soule in our first conuersion by which faith the vnderstanding is inlightned and with it the will and all the other faculties of the soule are sanctified For the heart in Scriptuee is taken oftentimes for the whole soule with all the faculties of it As Ephesians 1. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the vulgar Latin renders it word for word Illuminatos oculis cordis vestri the eyes of your heart being illuminated that is the eyes of your vnderstanding And Math. 13. 15. Least they vnderstand with their heart So for â—â—e will Act. 7. 39. The Israelites in their hearts turned backe into Egypt that is in their wills So Acts 11. 23. Bernabas exhorts that with purpose of heart that is of will they would cleaue vnto the Lord. The heart is also taken for the memory as Luke 1. 66 All that heard laid vp those things in their hearts So Deut. 11. 18 Yee shall lay vp these my wordes in your hearts Sometime for the affections as loue feare and the like So Mat. 6. 21 Where your treasure is there will your heart be also your loue your ioy your hope yea and feare too And Psa. 62. 10 If riches increase set not your heart vpon them Thus wee vse to reduce all these streames of the soule to the heart as the prime fountaine as when we say an vnderstanding heart a wise heart a willing heart a valiant heart an humble heart a loving heart and the like Now the heart being taken for the soule and all the faculties of it and being the very seate and subiect wherein faith resides for with the heart man beleeveth to righteousnes and Christ dwelleth in our hearts by faith then the heart being purified being sanctified by faith consequently the whole soule with all the faculties the vnderstanding will memory affections are at the same instant with the heart purified and sanctified by faith as the first act and worke of Gods grace in vs. Hence it is euident that the prime worke of Gods grace in the conuersion of a sinner is not a slight and slender worke as a bare stirring mouing or helping of the will to prepare and dispose it selfe to receiue the grace of iustification but it is a mighty and powerfull worke so that thereby the stony heart harder and heauier then the hardest rocke or highest mountaine is remoued and a new heart a new vnderstanding a new will a new memory new affections all new in the qualities of them are put insteed thereof By this prime worke of grace that most excellent grace of faith is wrought in the heart whereby the whole man is sanctified Babylonius Sir by the way now you touch vpon a point which as I haue heard is much controuerted among Diuines namely about the subiect or seat of faith in what faculty or power of the soule it resideth some placeing it in the vnderstanding onely some in the will onely but few as you doe in the whole soule and euery power of it as the soule is said by the Philosopher to bee whole in the whole body and whole in euery part of it Orthodoxus And you giue a very pregnant example to illustrate this truth that faith doth so fill and quicken euery faculty of the soule as the soule doth the body And the comparison holds well for Saint Augustine calls faith the soule of the soule because it giues life to the whole soule as the soule to the whole body And the Scripture saith that wee liue by faith and faith by Christ as Gal. 2. 20. Indeede those of the Church of Rome are of different opinions in this point Dominicus Soto sets it downe as a definitiue decree of the Trent Councell It is decreed that the intellectuall power is the subiect or seat of saith And this suits well with Romes faith being historicall and so proper to the vnderstanding faculty Notwithstanding when they consider of the danger of placing faith in the vnderstanding least it should follow that therefore faith ought not to be an implicit and ignorant blind faith but a cleare and vnderstanding faith they fly to the will rather placing faith in that not for any good will but to suppresse the knowledge of faith which Romes Owle-eyed religion cannot brooke And therefore Bellarmine would haue faith to be defined rather from ignorance then from knowledge and so shuts it out of the vnderstanding and shuffels it into some blinde corner of the will But see the mischiefe of it while they would auoid the gulfe they fall vpon the rocke For if they place faith in the will they must of necessity allow it one speciall property of sauing faith namely assiance and considence in Gods promises in Christ a thing most hatefull to the Church of Rome therefore in conclusion of two euills chusing the lesse that they may rather exclude confidence from faith then science sith they can noe otherwise chuse they rather pitch vpon the vnderstanding then the will wherein to place their faith So that by their good wills they could be content for the auoiding of the inconueniences of an illuminate and confident faith to croud it into some corner of the inferiour part of the soule But for sure worke they haue taken a safer course by excluding and banishing not onely from the soule or any faculty of it but out of the verge and lists of their Romane Catholicke Church and that with a direfull Anathema the true sauing and iustifying faith But whereas you say few Diuines place faith in the whole soule and in euery power of it they are neither few nor those of small authoritie The prouinciall Councell of Colen which was a little before the Councell of Trent although charged by Andreas Vega to speake too broad and too Protestant-like in the point of faith and iustification by imputation saith that true iustifying faith is seated not onely in the vnderstanding but also in the will The learned and ingenious Cardinall Contarenus about the same time writing of iustification saith that the first act or motion of faith begins at the will which obeying God and faith causeth the vnderstanding to assent to the things deliuered of God without doubting and so to trust in Gods promises and of them to conceiue a firme affiance which pertaines to the will and that this faith as it were in a circle begins at the will and ends in the will So that he confineth not faith to the