without any disadvantage to our Cause For suppose we grant that Faith is Dead which is not moved with a desire of doing good Works according to the saying of St. Iames yet it doth not therefore follow from hence that no Faith Iustifies without Works From which two things do follow worthy of consideration First That no Faith justifies that is not lively And next though it abounds in good Works and never is without them yet it only without Works Iustifies This will appear evident by the Example of St. Paul Who though he was not conscious to himself of any Wickedness yet he durst not affirm himself to be thereby Iustified I think nothing hinders but the whole Argument may be yielded unto if so be the terms are rightly placed The Adversaries gather out of the Apostle Iames that Faith is dead which is without Works and herein we do not much oppose them But what follows from hence Therefore as they say dead Faith without Works doth not justifie And I deny it not But what Conclusion flows from this manner of Arguing Therefore only Faith doth not justiste Why so If no Faith but that which is lively justifies and if it receives Life only from Works then this is the consequence that Faith justifies only upon the account of good Works I Answer First though we grant it is true that the Faith which justifies us in the sight of God is lively and always joyned with a Godly Life Yet that this Faith justifies and reconciles us no other ways but upon the account of good Works is most false For this is not a good consequence from the premises Because Faith is not alone in the Life of the Believer therefore Faith is not alone in the Office of justifying Or because the Faith that justifies is not a dead but a lively Faith therefore it doth not justifie alone without Works For herein is a fallacy of the Consequence But you may object Whence then is Faith said to be lively and not Dead but from Works Which if it be so of necessity it must draw all its Life and Vertue from Works Nay the matter is quite contrary For though in the sight of Men Faith is not discerned to be Lively and Vigorous but by Works yet Faith receives not Life from Works but rather Works from Faith As Fruits draw their Life and Sap from the Root of the Tree but not the Root from them Iust so external actions proceed from Faith as the Root which if they be good they evidence the Root to be sound and lively and this is all they do but they communicate no Life thereunto And this Life and Vertue of Faith is not one but Twofold And it acteth partly in Heaven and partly in Earth If you ask what it doth amongst Men upon Earth It does good to its Neighbour working by Love But before God in Heaven it justifies the Ungodly not by Love but by the Son of God whom it only lays hold of Therefore those Men seem not to have got a clear insight into the Vertue and Nature of the Grace of Faith that suppose the whole Life thereof to consist in Love as if Faith of it self could do nothing but as it receives Vertue and Efficacy from Charity Indeed both may seem to be true in the External Actions of Human Life in which Faith lyes like a dead thing unless it be enlivened by Charity to the exercise of good Works And hereunto belongs that saying of Paul whereby he so much commends Faith working by Love understanding such Works as Faith working by Love brings forth to the view of a Human Eye Yet with God Faith hath a far different operation for it only without any reliance upon Works or assistance of Charity but trusting to the naked promise of God and the dignity of the Mediatour climbs up to Heaven and gets access into the presence of God where it does great and wonderful things combating with the Iudgment to come fighting against the terrours of Death Satan and Hell pleads the cause of a Sinner obtains his pardon absolves and justifies him from the accusations of a guilty Conscience takes away all Iniquity reconciles God to the Sinner appeases his wrath subdues the power of Death and the Devil and procures Peace yea and Paradise it self with theThief that had led a wicked Life and yet at Death was justified by Faith in the Redeemer Who would desire more or greater things And now so many and great things being done by Faith let us enquire After what manner it does them Not as it lives and works by Love but as it lives only by Christ and relies on the promise for the Life of Faith which lives before God is not Charity but Christ not receiving Life from Charity but communicating life unto it and justifying Works that they may be acceptable to God which would otherways be abominable Unto the truth of this we have a sufficient Testimony given us by Paul When he says my Life is Christ and again the Life that I now live in the Flesh I live not by the Love but by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me And elsewhere speaking of himself he says That he was not conscious to himself of any VVickedness and yet he denies that he is thereby Iustified as the same Apostle discoursing about the works of Abraham though they were never so Eminent for Holiness yet he saw nothing in them which that Great Patriarch might make a matter of Glorying before God Hereunto may be added the Arguments of others that have been strangely wrested out of Scriptures There are six Reasons principally which they pretend the Evangelists furnish them with against the Righteousness of Faith First they draw an Argument from these words of Christ Come ye blessed of my Father to the Kingdom prepared for you For I was an hungred and ye gave me Meat Argument Da. That which is the cause of blessedness is also the cause of Iustification Whom he hath Iustified them he hath also Glorified c. Rom. 8. Ri. Works of Mercy are the cause of blessedness for I was an hungred and ye gave c. Mat. 25. I. Therefore Works of Mercy are the cause of Iustification Answer I deny the Minor For Works of Mercy as they are considered in themselves are not the cause of Iustification or blessedness but rather effects and furits of Iustification for they are no otherways pleasing to God but as they are performed by persons in a justified state and it is by the Faith of Christ that they become acceptable For unless Faith go before and justifie the person of him that worketh his works are not at all regarded by God because they do not satisfie the Law of God being tainted with the corruption of depraved Nature and come far short of that perfection which Divine Iustice requires Wherefore if we will Reason aright about
them that are justified but these things have no union with Faith in the concernment of Iustification And first as touching Repentance abundance hath been said before for seeing Repentance is nothing but a mourning for sins committed it may indeed of it self afflict the guilty person and fit him for receiving of Grace but it cannot obtain a pardon for the sins committed before a Secular Iudge and much less before the Iudgment Seat of God For that is the Office of Faith which as it only obtains a pardon so it obtains it for none but them that are afflicted and repent and believe in Christ. For for their sakes chiefly Christ was sent by his Father into this World that he may help all them that being in distress flie to him by Faith In which three things are to be considered and placed each of them in their own bounds and territories First that we may see what the Mediatour does what Faith performs what sorrow for sin produces All our Salvation flows from the Mediatour as from a Spring and Fountain But if you ask how or for what cause he saves I answer by Faith And if you ask whom he saves I answer those that repent of their wickedness or whom he draws unto himself by an inward Call Doth the Lord then save those for their Repentance No verily Suppose a man is greatly grieved at the remembrance of his by-past life but yet comes not to Christ will grief for his sins save him No surely Yea who can come to Christ unless he first hear and understand who he is from whom Salvation must be sought Now it is Faith and not Repentance that does this For it is not the grief and sorrow of a broken hearted sinner but Faith that discovers a Saviour to us and guides us to him and obtains Salvation from him Yea which is Salvation to them that are in distress for thus it is written This is the will of God That every one that seeth and believeth in him should have Eternal Life By which it is evident enough what should be attributed unto Repentance and what to Faith in the case of Iustification for sin is not therefore pardoned because he that sinned hath repented but because he that sinned not at all hath died for sin therefore the sinner is forgiven not for his Repentance but for Faith whereby he believes in him that died for our sins rose again for our Iustification Where Faith is joyned with Works and where it is not joyned AND hitherto we have been speaking of Repentance But as touching the Reformation of the Life in other respects though I know that nothing is more convenient than that Faith which is rightly instructed in Christ should have Charity and other Offices of Piety suitable to the Christian Profession joyned with it Yet it must be considered what manner of Union this is and of how large an extent for Faith and Charity have that wherein they are of necessity united And they have that also wherein they must of necessity be separated Where we deal with God about Salvation Iustification and the Expiation of sins here Faith only without Works is powerful and overcomes But in dealings with men in the Lives of the Iustified in popular duties in the exercise of Vertue there is a very near Union between Faith and Vertue of which the one cannot consist without the other Therefore these things should be measured by their own bounds that we may attribute unto Faith its due and to Works their due and unto both that which is meet For as that poisonous Errour of Eunomius should be abhorred who is reported to have been so great an Enemy to godly works that he thought it was not a matter of any concernment how any man led his life So also great care should be taken lest in shunning the Soylla of Eunomius we fall upon the other Carybdis of the Papists which is no less pernicious being mis-led by the Popish Doctors who make such a confused Union between Faith and Works that neither Faith without Works nor Works without Faith procure Iustification But this Union is easily confuted by the Authority of Scripture For if Faith only doth not bring Believers into a state of Salvation unless it be joyned with great Holiness of life why did not Christ joyn these together when he said simply He that believeth in me hath Eternal Life Why did not Peter joyn them together when according to the Testimonies of the Prophets he proclaimed remission of sins to all that believed in his Name Why did not Paul joyn them together when instructing the Iaylor in the Faith he said unto him Believe in the Lord Iesus and thou shalt be saved and thy house Many other such like things may be mentioned The History of the Galatians is well known who being led aside by the false Apostles did not wholly cast off Christ nor excluded Faith in Christ but they would have had the good Works of Believers joyned with Faith in the Article of Iustification before God unto Eternal Life for which cause how angry the Apostle was at them his Epistle bears witness But here again a place of St. Paul out of the same Epistle is objected where writing to the Galatians he speaks of Faith that works by Charity From hence the Tridentine Divines infer a necessary connexion between Faith and Charity so that Faith without Charity like matter without form avails nothing to the perfection of Righteousness And they say of Charity which they call Righteousness inherent in us That it is so impossible that it should be separated from Faith in the concernment of Iustification that they assert it only to be the formal cause of our Iustification But it is not difficult to answer to this place of Paul For in that Epistle the Apostle endeavours with great diligence to call back his Galatians to the Righteousness of Faith from which they had swerved In the mean while lest they should be seduced by a counterfeit Faith by these words he intimates what Faith it is that he speaks of Not such a Faith as is idle and dead without Works but which worketh by Love And in this sense we deny not that Faith is not alone But what consequence is that Lively Faith is not alone without Charity It is a lively Faith that justifies Therefore in Iustifying Faith is not alone without Charity This Argument is disproved in the Schools of Logicians for it is a Sophism a non causa ut causa Therefore I answer to the Major The Faith that is lively is not alone without Charity That is true in working but not in justifying Therefore as touching the Cause and Office of Iustifying this is not the consequence thereof Therefore in Iustifying Faith is not alone without Charity But as for the the Minor though Faith that justifies is called lively in respect of good Works yet it doth not justifie in respect
words seems to be this That Salvation is prepared for all without grief without the lessening of Riches by communicating to the Poor without the detestation of a fault committed And after the interval of a few words But if you think that a Wicked Man though be flyes not at all from his wickedness obtains righteousness by Faith only who hath been more absurd who hath been more out of his wits than thou since the Creation of Mankind That I on the other side Osorius may answer to these things but in a few words If that were true which you falsly say of Luther perhaps you might gainsome praise both of a Learned Orator and an Honest Accuser But now seeing he never so much as dreamed of these things neither can you bring forth one word from so many of his Sayings and Deeds to maintain your unjust accusation I say not in your words Who hath been more absurd who hath been more out of his wits than you since the Creation of Man But if I may be allowed to say this speaking very modestly that you are too much forgetful not only of your duty but also of the argument in which you are exercised and whilst you are writing of Righteousness you do so far against all Righteousness most basely bespatter and shamefully lash a Godly Man a Servant of Christ that never deserved ill at your hands with feigned Lyes and Reproaches and all kind of abuses either through ignorance finding fault with the things you have not read or wresting those things to a wrong Sense which you are not willing to understand in a right Sense What if the Eternal possession of Salvation must not be hoped for from any thing else but works of Righteousness as chiefly you Osorius do teach that I may comprehend also Hosius and your familiar Friend Andradius in the same Category What hope can you have of your own Salvation from these works of yours to wit your most false Accusations and reproachful Libels in which against Law and Right breaking the bonds of all Righteousness you vomit forth those lying slanders against your Neighbour and that in the publick Theatre of the World for no valuable cause nor for any true reason nor upon any other account but because perhaps you are stirred up with your own immoderate passion Luther indeed did write of Faith I know and confess it but what then What fault I pray you did he commit in so doing What hath he deserved Why might not he as well write of Faith as you of Righteousness but perhaps that displeases you not that he did write of Faith but because attributing too much thereunto he refers the whole of our Righteousness to this Faith Be it so and you on the contrary refer all to the works of the Law which of you two is worthiest to be accused Which comes nearest to Evangelical Doctrine You who refer all to and comprehend all in the observance and study of the Law or he that refers unto and comprehends all in the Faith of Christ Let Paul be called for a Witness and Umpire between you who though he himself was very careful in observing the Law of God in his Epistle to the Philippians proposing a twofold manner of Righteousness the one of the Law and the other of Faith he judges the latter to be so much better and prefers it so far before the other that he esteemed all those other things of his own though otherwise excellent and praise-worthy things being placed in the study of the Law of God yet he esteemed them all as loss yea as dung for the excellency of the knowledge of Iesus Christ that he might be found in him having on the Righteousness not which is of the Law but which is of the Faith of Christ which is the Righteousness of God by Faith c. What then shall you bring us away from this faith which is placed in Christ and call us back to that dung contrary to the will of Christ and the Doctrine of Paul that by your teaching and guideance we may be found to possess a righteousness not that which is placed in Faith but that which is only placed in the Law And are you upon this account so outragiously invective against Luther because he chose rather to follow Pauls opinion than yours in this point of Salvation No but there is some other thing in the wind which puts you in such a heat of contending not because Luther attributes Righteousness to faith to which you your self use sometimes to attribute very much but because he so shuts up our Salvation in this faith alone that he seems wholly to exclude and despise the excellent works of Charity and labours after Piety in the point of Iustification and Righteousness before God In Academical exercises where arguments are examined according to the Rules of Logick those conclusions are justly found fault with that proceed from a thing said in particular to prove a thing said in the general which thing there is no man that is in any degree exercised in these matters but he may easily perceive in your Sophistry But if Luther had ever been a Man that had simply condemned the commendable diligence in good works or honest actions of vertues I should not save him from your lashes or from being accounted worthy of such Ornaments as your modesty puts upon him that he might be judged the plague of his Countrey a turbulent Person and disturber of Religion Add hereunto if you please the other flowers of your Satyrical Eloquence under which you expose him in such an appearance or disguise as one of the most cruel and dreadful Monsters that ever was in the World An Answer to the Accusations of Osorius in defence of Luther BUT now passing by your Reproaches let us consider the matter it self and the strength and finews of your Discourse For this is your Opinion that for the obtaining of righteousness the godly fruits of good works should by no means be removed from a Communion with faith which otherwise cannot be lively and saving being without charity And because Luther does this you conclude after this manner that he condemns all works of good men that he is an enemy and destroyer of all honest Discipline an Author of prophane impurity and licentiousness a plague of his Countrey a troubler and disturber of all Religion yea and a Monster and what not But I beseech you Sir bethink your self and have a care what you belch forth against any man with an unbridled rashness the Law commands you to shun leasing And do you who are so great an extoller of righteousness against all righteousness tear honest and innocent men in pieces with false accusations for if a Man doth not attribute unto works the chiefect efficacy and preemince in the point of Iustification is that sufficient cause to suppose that therefore he utterly condemns good works Verily it is
contained in Christ only who is the only begotten Son of God And because our Faith only lays hold on him and he cannot profit any but Believers therefore it comes to pass that faith only without works that is without any merits of works compleats all our Righteousness before God Concerning the Praise of Repentance the Dignity and Benefit and Peculiar Office thereof BUT you will say to what purpose then is it to repent and to amend evil deeds or what shall be answered to these Scriptures which promise in more places than one the pardon of all sins to those that lament their sins and are converted unto a better life That I may answer these I would have you take notice of this in the first place When we attribute the vertue of justifying to Faith and in this case place it alone being helped by no addition of our works Let no man so mis-understand as if we did drive away and 〈◊〉 all saving Repentance and other holy Offices of Duty and Charity from every action of life as Andradius falsly gathers against Chemnitius For that we may openly confess the truth what else is this whole life of Godly Men but a continual repentance and a perpetual detestation and condemnation of sin whilst we are forced by the Gospel with daily groans to breath forth this Petition Forgive us our sins as if we were conflicting in a continual place of wrestling in which sometimes we stand by the Spirit sometimes we fall through the infirmity of the Flesh and sometimes we again make new repentance yet we always overcome and triumph by Faith to wit obtaining the pardon of our faults and we obtain true righteousness for ever Therefore away with impudent slanders let just judgment be exercised and let things be comprehended each in their own places and bounds Pious tears a serious deploring of former destruction and a just care of living a better life with all other pious exercises are things which we do not thrust away nor put out of their place only we search what is the place what is the peculiar office of those things And in the first place this is a thing that should not be doubted of by any Man that Repentance as it is an excellent gift of God so it brings forth fruits not to be repented of according to its Office the Office or duty whereof I reckon to be twofold The first is that which duly detests the sins committed The other that which diligently endeavours the Reformation of the life from which follows both great praise and greater fruits and also very great incitements to vertue For he that being weary of his former wickedness applys his mind wholly to amend his ungodly Life by a future reformation verily he hath made a great progress towards Salvation but he is not therefore as yet put into a certain possession of Salvation or because of that taken up with the Penitent Malefactor into Paradise For it is one thing to weep for the things that one hath done amiss and another thing to obtain the pardon of them Verily he that seriously purposes with himself to amend his life I judge that he ought justly to be praised but yet that is not enough as I suppose to turn away the anger of an offended God to put away the heinous nature of Sin to procure a clear tranquility of Conscience and to shake off the tyranny of death for to obtain that Victory we will need another Panoply or compleat Armour than Repentance or the forces of our vertues for nothing that we can do is sufficient to bring this to pass but only faith in the Son of God And therefore Repentance with Charity and other Offices of that kind have a necessary connexion with faith not that they may give form to this as to a dead matter but that rather they may receive life and Spirit from it not that Faith hath need of these for justification but that they themselves may be justified by the value received by Faith in Christ which unless they were recommended upon the account of that Faith would all be abominable in the sight of God and though they may be call'd works yet cannot be call'd good works in Gods account unless they are supported by Faith Whence Augustin admonishing not without cause commands us to believe in him that justifies the Wicked that our very good works may be good works for those deserve not to be called good as long as they proceed not from a good root c. But here you object approved Testimonies and Examples rehearsed out of the Sacred Oracles of Divine Scripture in which without any mention of Faith Salvation is assuredly promised to them that Repent as in Ezekiel I de sire not the death of a Sinner but that the wicked should turn from his way and live There are set before us the Examples of the Ninivites of David Manasseh and others and lest I should weary you with Rehearsing of every one of them which are infinite I will make a short Collection of the whole inatter You say that thus the Prophets proclaim and openly avouch this thing that there is no hope of Salvation shewed unto any but only those who are with their whole heart brought back from an unclean and wicked life to the practise of Holiness c. And presently concluding with this Opinion you teach us that there is no other way at all either to avert destruction or procure salvation Lest I should speak many things in vain there is one Answer abundantly sufficient for all such Objections that there is indeed necessarily required a sincere reformation of heart and life in these who are to obtain life as in an Heir for whom there is appointed the possession of an Inheritance to be enjoyed there is necessarily required dutifulness towards his Father which dutifulness nevertheless when it is most exactly performed is not any cause of obtaining the inheritance And in like manner there is nothing that can be more certain than that Repentance and Renovation do much commend the life of Christians to God yet it makes them not Christians neither doth it so much commend the person of the Penitent as it is it self commended by the dignity of the man who if he is a Christian his Repentance is approved But if he be an Alien from the faith the lamenting of sin doth not at all profit for the obtaining of Righteousness neither doth it take away Sin But as you say Repentance hath Divine Promises and indeed I am not against your Opinion in that for God doth not desire the death of a Sinner promising also life to him that repents That 's right But let us see how he promises it and by pondering the Circumstances of things times and persons let us consider what is promised and to whom and what is the true cause of promising Indeed the old Law hath dark promises the Gospel
you may say That is true indeed and therefore this proves that Faith only doth not justifie I answer and also request the Adversaries that laying aside the desire of vain jangling they would examine the matter according to Scripture and right Reason Though the manifest Testimony of the Apostle Paul and the Examples of the Saints make it an undoubted Truth that only Faith in Christ the Son of God hath the power of justifying without Works Yet it cannot open this power upon all but only those in whom a fitness is found for receiving the displayings of Divine Grace Of the Repentance of those that are Iustified by Faith BUT None are found more fit than those that seem to themselves most unworthy and none less fit than those that are most highly conceited of their own worthiness Seeing we are all Sinners by Nature nothing can be more reasonable than that we should acknowledge the filthiness of our own abominations and cast our selves down at the Feet of Almighty God And there is nothing that God more requires than this Whose Nature or rather Mercy is such that he delights not in any thing more than in a humble Heart and a broken Spirit as the Psalmist declares He saveth such as are of a contrite Spirit And in the Prophet Isaiah God testifies of himself that he is the high and lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity and dwells in the high and Holy place and also with him that is humble and of a contrite Spirit to comfort the humble Spirit and to revive the Heart of the contrite ones And for that cause he calls aloud in the Gospel and offers his kind invitations chiefly to such as labour and are heavy laden that they may come unto him and be eased What is coming to Christ but believing What is it to be eased or refreshed but to be justified Though indeed he calls all and despises none that come to him Yet so it comes to pass for the most part that none come to Christ as they ought unless they be pressed and burdened under the sense of their Sin and Misery And again that Heavenly Physician is seldom sent unto any others but such As the Prophet bears witness who making a particular description of those to whom Christ was to be sent he sets before us the meek the broken in Heart the Captives the Prisoners the Mourners in Sion them that are walking in Darkness and sitting in the shadow of Death c. And the Psalmist speaks much to the same purpose Ps. 107. describing the Mercy of God on this manner He filleth the hungry Soul with goodness and such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of Death being bound in Affliction and Iron Though he being sent by the Father is given to all yet he is not entertained by all with the like Affection The Lord himself shews the cause thereof For what need have the whole of the Physician Therefore as a skilful Physician doth not Administer his Medicines but when sickness requires it so Faith cleanses none but those whom Repentance also amends neither doth the Gospel heal any but those whom first the Law hath slain and Conscience hath wounded And as that is most true which we Preach by the Authority of Paul the Apostle that Men are justified by Faith only without Works so on the other side it is false which the adversaries assert that by this Doctrine of Faith it comes to pass that all care of good Works is cast off and the reins are let loose to all manner of wickedness Howbeit if they speak of such impenitent persons as go on resolutely in their Sins we acknowledge that such as they are not justified by Faith and yet we assert that this is no way prejudicial to the cause that we plead But if they speak of such as join Repentance with Evangelical Faith and therefore stand in need of consolation if they deny that those are justified by the Faith of Christ only they discover themselves to be utter Enemies of the Gospel and adversaries to Christ. And again if they assert that such penitent believers become worse by this Doctrine they do therein err exceedingly and lye abominably Wherefore that the Mouth of Malice and Slander may be stopped I admonish these professours of Divinity who condem 〈◊〉 this Doctrine of Paul as Heretical that they would take our proposition not by halves but whole and join the legitimate predicate of the proposition with the subject that when Faith is said to justifie they should reckon that is not enough unless they understand aright whom this Faith justifies To wit none of those that continue stubborn and impenitent in their wicked courses but only such as acknowledge their Sins with grief of Heart and being weary of their former abominations fly to Christ by Faith for resuge But here they take another occasion to cavil 〈◊〉 For if Faith justifies none but them that repent then as they say Faith only doth not justifie but together with Faith a Godly Sorrow and Mourning for Sin Iustifie also I Answer It is true indeed that Faith is joyned with Repentance in him that is justified from his Sins And yet Repentance is no cause of Iustification As those that are afficted with a painful Disease Their pain makes them desirous of a cure but yet there is no healing vertue in this desire So Faith and Conversion are joyntly united in the person that is justified But as touching the cause of Iustifying Repentance indeed prepares a Soul for the reception of Iustification but the cause of justifying lyes altogether in Faith and not at all in Repentance For the just Iudge doth not absolve him who hath violated his Iustice because he is grieved upon that account but because he believes in Christ who hath satisfied Iustice and for whose sake Pardon is promised to such as Repent for in him are all the springs of our Iustification But lest this Discourse should grow too Ample for if every thing were treated of particularly it might be enlarged beyond all bounds Let us come close to the Adversary and Fight Hand to Hand that in a Summary Representation it may the more easily appear to the Reader with what Arguments they defend themselves what Arguments they defend themselves what Scriptures they quote what force and what fallacy is in their Arguments THE Third Book A Confutation of the Arguments Whereby the Adversaries defend their Inherent Righteousness against the Righteousness of Faith An Argument taken out of St. Iames. No Dead thing Iustifies All Faith without Works is Dead Therefore No Faith Iustifies without Works Answer First the manner of arguing is captious and transgresses the right Laws of Logick For the terms therein exceed the due number For there is a redundancy in the conclusion by this addition without Works For this should have been the conclusion Therefore no Faith that is without Works justifies And that may be well granted
in so many dangers and compassed about with so many troubles and snares yet it continues firm notwithstanding all this opposition in spite of the very Gates of Hell Wherefore is it thus Is it for its own merits or should we account the Grace and Power of Christ to be the only procuring cause thereof and no strength nor merit of ours Now it is evident to every reasonable man that the same thing which is the cause of Preservation is also the cause of Salvation to the Church which consists not in our Works but only in the Faith of Christ and his free Bounty An Argument out of St. Iames. Not the hearers of the Law but the doers shall be justified Not the hearer of the Law but the doer shall be blessed Iames 1. Mat. He that heareth my words and doth them c. Therefore not Faith only but Deeds do justifie I answer The Argument may be granted if the Minor be rightly added with the Inference which we shall set down here that the Argument may appear in its perfect form He is righteous that by deeds fulfils the Law No man by deeds fulfils the Law in this life Therefore no man is justified by deeds in this life The Minor is evident by the Authority of the same Apostle Iames Whosoever shall keep the whole Law and offend in one thing is guilty of all There is none in the Land of the Living but fails in some thing Iames 2. Yea there is no man that offends not in many things Therefore no man in this life fulfils the Law of God no not Iames himself Let us now consider the words of Christ that are cited out of the Gospel He that heareth my words and doeth them c. Who doth not clearly apprehend the mind of Christ in these words for it is manifest that his design was to rebuke the counterfeit pretences of Hypocrites and thereby to stir up the minds of his own Disciples to the power of Godliness and sincerity in their profession which he doth in more than one place and not without weighty reasons For as nothing is more detestable so nothing is more usual than for false Hypocrites to be covered with a Vizard of Holiness who having no experimental knowledge of the things which they profess nor drawn unto God by Effectual Calling nor taught by his Spirit being ignorant of God and strangers to the practice of Holiness do make a great shew amongst all men outwardly pretending to that which they are not indeed but would seem to be who take little or no care at all to be any way instrumental for the Glory of God But their chief endeavours are to encrease their gain and satisfie their ambitious desires that they may be great in this World and get applause and renown amongst men Such a frame of spirit is in most Hypocrites But the great searcher of hearts who looks into every dark corner of the Soul and discerns all the most hidden imaginations is not unacquainted with their Hypocrisie and there is nothing more abominable unto him Therefore our Lord in giving Instructions of Piety to his Disciples strictly commands that such as take upon them the profession of Faith in his Name should not only make shew of it in words or account it enough to encline their Ears to his Doctrine but also practise it in their Lives and endeavour as much as in them lies to walk suitable to their profession By what I have said it may evidently appear that these words do not express the way how we are justified but they only declare what manner of men they ought to be who are Iustified and have obtained a right to the Heavenly Inheritance by Faith and free Grace Another Argument The Foolish Virgins were shut out of Heaven not because they wanted Faith but because they neglected taking Oyl in their Vessels Mat. 25. The same appears in the slothful Servant Therefore The Kingdom of Heaven is due to good Works and not to Faith Answer The Consequence must be denied For this is the true consequence thereof Therefore Men are justly shut out of Heaven for Evil deeds and Impiety For though a slothful and lazy Servant ought to be shut out of the House yet it doth not therefore follow that the Inheritance must needs be due to him that faithfully and diligently performs his duty The Kingdom of Heaven is given to faith not to duties by way of gift not by way of bargain not for merits but freely And though faith in the mean while is not idle but diligently exercises it self in the ways of Holiness yet the possession of this great benefit should not therefore be attributed unto Works suppose an adopted Son in managing well his Father's Goods shews himself a faithful Steward in his Father's House is not his Father's Inheritance bestowed upon him of free gift notwithstanding all this care and industry Moreover that is not true which is denied in the Antecedent that the foolish Virgins were not shut out for want of Faith For had they had true Faith they would not have wanted provision of Oyl For Faith that is lively cannot be slothful Therefore in Scripture these Epithets are given to Faith 1. That it is true and not feigned 2. It is sure and not wavering 3. One and not diverse 4. Lively and not dead 5. Great 6. Fervent and not luke warm 7. Laborious and not Idle 8. Strong 9. Couragious and not fearful 10. Stable and not unconstant Another Objection taken out of Iohn 5. They that have done good shall come forth unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation and again Rom. 2. Every Man shall be rewarded according to his Works The Argument of the Adversaries taken out of Ioh. 5. Rom. 2. Therefore the Salvation or Destruction of Men depend on their Works and not Faith only If any Man desires to see this Argument in a Syllogistical term he may take it thus There is no Iustification without Works where there is a reward given according to Works The Iudgment of God rewards according to VVorks Therefore there is no Iustification in the Iudgment of God without VVorks Answer As there is nothing more sure than the Words of Peter in which he affirms that Christ is appointed Iudge of the Living and the Dead so also that is a truth which is asserted by Paul That we must all appear before his Iudgment Seat who will render to every Man according to that which he hath done whether Good or Evil. Therefore you say Not Faith but Works do justifie which are the procuring cause either of Salvation or Destruction But this is not the consequence of the Words of the Apostle nor the sense of that Scripture But if we Reason according to the mind of the Holy Ghost in these places of Scripture we must rather draw
takes a view of his Kingdom and the glorious Riches thereof and is ravished at the admiration of the universal Power that is given to him over all Heaven and Earth and searches for the Promises of the Father that are ratified in his Son the Mediatour and by search understands them and in Heaven beholds them to be sure and infallible wherewith the mind of a Believer being now confirmed takes pleasure in them and triumphs with great joy and now Faith by relying on these Promises becomes fearless of danger and invincible and stands firmly against the fury of Satan the power of Death the terrours of a guilty Conscience the Gates of Hell the malice of the World and the oppositions of the rebellious flesh Hence flows a gladsome tranquility of Conscience and Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost and thence it is that Hope derives its fiducial Relyance and Charity its fervent Zeal from Faith only For the mind being supported and safe guarded by Faith in Christ what more can it wish for to arrive unto the highest pitch of felicity Moreover who can fully express with words or conceive in his mind all the good things that Faith by means of the Mediatour prepares in Heaven for those that are yet groveling upon the ground This Faith is that which reconciles man who was in a woful and wretched condition unto God Iustifies a sinner that was at the brink of despair opens the Gates of Paradise to the penitent Malefactor Obtains the Grace of the Holy Spirit for the Centurion gives Peter the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven justifies the Publican procures pardon to the man sick of the Palsie heals the Woman with the bloody Issue restores sight to blind Bartimaeus procures us the Grace of Adoption the hope of the Resurrection and Life Everlasting and overcomes Death which can by no other power be conquered and gets Victory over Satan who cannot be subdued by any of our Vertues nor by our Charity but the Shield of Faith only drives him away and puts him to flight Thus pious Reader I have given you some description both of Faith and Charity you may take your liberty to judge how you should account of both and what should be attributed unto Charity which though it may seem to claim the principality in things belonging to this Life yet in Iustification and obtaining the pardon of sins it is so far from having the superiority that in this case it can do nothing at all What need is there of words to prove this for Paul the Apostle explains himself abundantly in what sense Charity is greater to wit because of its duration which appears evident by these things that follow For he draws this Inference from what he had said Charity saith he never fails though Prophecies and Miracles may be abolished Another Argument out of St. Iames cap. 2. Abraham was justified by Works Therefore Faith only doth not justifie Answer Paul furnishes us with an Answer to this Argument Whereas that excellent Patriarch made no doubt of sacrificing his dearly beloved Son at the command of God therefore the Apostle Iames says That he was justified by Works If they understand it amongst men it is true but not in the sight of God unless we would give the Lye to Paul that choice Instrument in the hand of Christ who discoursing of the Works of the Patriarch he says That if he hath any thing to glory in he hath it before men but not before God And why before men and not before God but because the Iustification of men is one thing and the Iustification of God is another for men judge by the appearance and the sight of Works moves them to justifie Now the whole Epistle of the Apostle Iames is taken up about this outward appearance of Works before men and its whole design is that by our good deeds and Charity which is inseparably joyned with saving Faith we should give evidence that the Faith wherein we glory before God is a lively Faith and not counterfeit nor unfruitful Wherefore presently he adds Shew me thy Faith without thy Works and I will shew thee my Faith by my Works By which it easily appears what Iustification it is whereof the Apostle Iames speaks to wit that which by works discovers it self before men Now as for this neither Paul nor any other man doubts of it For what man is there but will confess that Charity and good Works must of necessity be joyned unto Faith which unless they be seen by men in those that make a profession of Faith it is very evident that such a Faith as they profess is in reality no Faith at all but an empty name and shadow thereof But what does all this make against Iustification by Faith That Faith appears not to be lively in the Eyes of men out of which as out of a living Root the blossoms and flowers of godly works do not grow But does not Faith therefore justifie in the sight of God without works because it is not evidenced by the Testimony of good deeds joyned therewith But suppose that good works are joyned with Faith which give evidence to men that it is a lively Faith Will Faith justifie thee you will say Why not and I acknowledge the same my self But I ask wherefore doth Faith justifie before God because of the works that appear unto men or are the works rather acceptable because of Faith But how many works seem to be excellent in the sight of men to which human Reason gives applause and men because of them are accounted holy and just when yet the matter is far otherways And this is that Human Iustification which I spake of and the Apostle Iames hath written of which though someties it judges according to Truth yet much oftener it is deceived in judging Why so because the Iudgment of God and the Iudgment of men are of a different nature What man looking upon the Lives of the Pharisees their long Prayers frequent Fastings and Washings their holy-like deportment and all their outward shews of Piety but would have judged them to be men very near and dear unto God when yet none were greater Strangers and Enemies to God than they What man is there at this day who looking upon the Orders of the Monks their Vows Fastings Rules Austerity and Rigour of Discipline but would reckon them amongst the chiefest of those that are justified when yet they are no such men in the sight of God And yet in the mean while I deny not this to be true which Iames writes For he that being endued with no Vertue or Love to Vertue makes an outward profession of Faith in Christ and leads not a Life suitable thereunto I say according to the Apostle Iames that such a man's Faith is little worth But if such a man in the last hour of his Life come to himself and fly to Christ for Refuge by an unfeigned Faith and beg
by performing these Offices of Life which are contained in the Law O miserable condition of Mortal Men if those things are true which you Evangelize to us But by what Authority of the Gospel do you confirm those things which you assert You say There is no reason that any Man should be joyned to God unless he be a Friend to him I hear you What then But no Man can be his friend unless he be like him That is harder Let the induction proceed But the Divine similitude consists wholly of the study and exercise of true Vertue From all this therefore it is concluded That there is no other way that joyns us to God but what consists in the performance of Vertue and in worthy Offices And now what will become of those who being Iust Men fall seven times a Day and yet rise up again What also will become of all those concerning whom Iames speaking saith in many things we offend all Moreover what will become of those whom Christ bids Pray Lord forgive us our debts Moreover whereas you say that no Man is joyned to God or received into favour but he that is his Friend If that be so How then doth God agree to his own Law which commands not only to love Friends but to pray for Enemies I beseech you when God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son what else was this World then but an Enemy to God which yet he had so great a favour to Yea Paul expresly testifies that we were reconciled to God not when we were Friends but Enemies and therefore he says the love of Christ is commended in this that he dyed for Enemies And again if whilst we were Enemies we were reconciled unto God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life See I beseech you how great a difference is between Paul's Assertion and yours Osorius He affirms we were reconciled to God when we were Enemies you admit no Man unto favour but him that is a Friend to him and conform to him in the whole fimilitude of his Life And how then will that command of Christ consist concerning loving Enemies and that by the example of his Father's bounty who bestows the benefit both of Sun and Rain not only on Friends but also on Enemies if so be the Grace of Divine favour is accessible to none but Friends and those that are like himself And that I may by the by touch something here of the Mysteries of Prophetical Scriptures tell me what else is pointed at unto us by the reception of Iacob and his Sons into the Land of AEgypt Gen. chap. 47. Whom that very loving King being brought unto him to whom they had not been so much as known before received for Inhabitants of Foreigners and for dear Subjects of Men unknown not only into the Common Wealth but into Friendship not at all for their own sakes who brought nothing with them but hunger and poverty But only for the sake of Ioseph whom the King had a very dear love for What else doth Ioseph represent to us but the sublime Son of God dearly beloved of him What else should you understand in the Brethren Father and the whole Kindred but us miserable Sinners whom being dead in Sins Christ hath quickned and of Enemies reconciled us in Friendship to his Father not for any merit of our Works or Conformity but only by that favour whereby he is powerful with the Father But now let us briefly bring the Osorian Argument into a regular form that we may the better view each part thereof Argument Ma. Those only are joyned in friendship with God who are like unto him Mi. They who are infected with the pollution of Sins are not like God Concl. Therefore none of those to whom pollution of Sin cleaves have any Union with God And thence on the contrary sense it is gathered that it must be concluded by necessary consequence that all spots of Sins being abolished That man who desires Union with God should agree with him by a certain eminent resemblance I Answer First to the major which is not always true Though the similitude of manners hath oftimes no small strength to procure Friendship in the common use of Life as Cicero says yet all things that are any way unlike are not so opposed that they cannot consist together without fighting one against another As there are many differences in things yet every difference doth not unty the bond of love As again neither do all Men every where cleave to one another by a firm bond of Friendship whosoever do some way agree in endowments and Ingeny Verily in the Divine Love this agreement of Conformity hath no place That they should be received into favour who came nearest to his Image For so it would come to pass that all other Creatures being excluded Almighty God would embrace only Angelical Vertues with his Divine Favour Though neither here if you look to Angels themselves doth any proportion of similitude unite into one with the Divine Holyness according to the Testimony of Roffensis Who says that the Righteousness of Men is another than that of Angels and again that their Righteousness is another than that of God As therefore this Righteousness of Angels if you compare it with the Righteousness of God will seem imperfect and beyond all comparison coming short of that highest Righteousness and which yet perhaps is without Sin So if you compare Human Perfection with Angelical it will have some Imperfection yet so that all its works are not subject to Sin Hitherto spake Roffensis Augustin also comes to this Point who comparing our Righteousness which now is with that which is to come hath these words concerning its dissimilitude when that Righteousness saith he according to which they live shall be and where no evil concupiscence shall be let every Man measure himself what he is now and what he shall be then and he will find in comparison of that Righteousness that all his works now are loss and dung c. And presently after In the Resurrection we believe we shall fulfil Righteousness that is that we shall have full Righteousness In comparison of that all the Life we live now is dung c. And now Osorius what Agreement of similitude will you find between this Life of dung and that highest Author and Prince of all Holiness The Assertion of Osorius whereby he proves that there can be no Reconciliation to God unless all the Relicks of Sin be utterly cut off BUT perhaps some Osorian will here again object Though dissimilitude doth not divide the connexion of friendship but yet things that are so different that they are opposed to one another by a mutual repugnancy it cannot by any means be that those things should be joyned together of which sort are Virtue and Vice Righteousness and Sin Love and Hatred
are far from Righteousness None need the Physician but they that are Sick neither doth Christ invite any to come unto him but such as are heavy laden Come unto me saith he all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest But what is coming to Christ but believing in him according to the saying of Augustin Therefore as Christ rejects none that come unto him that is such as return to him by believing but revives and justifies them so faith in Christ in which only our Salvation consists is no where of a saving efficacy but only in those whom it finds burdened and afflicted Another Objection If Faith only were sufficient to Iustification it would follow that good Works are not necessary But the Consequent is false And Therefore the Antecedent also is false That Faith ony is sufficient Vega confirms the Minor with this Argument Unless good Works had been necessary in all respects Paul had not so carefully given Instructions about Vertue and rebuked Vice and so mightily commended good Manners and Integrity of Life but we shall afterwards enquire into the Minor I come now to the Argument And First I deny the Major for this is not a necessary Consequence Salvation is obtained by Faith in Christ only Therefore good Works are not necessary The necessity of Vertue and honest discipline is and always hath been very great in all respects both private and publick yet this necessity doth not at all detract from the peculiar dignity of Faith that it should not be the only cause of Iustification as on the other side the Iustification of Faith doth not take away the necessity nor lessen the care of a Godly Life Therefore both Faith in Christ and the practice of Holiness are necessary the one to justifie Sinners in the sight of God and the other to exercise them that are justified in this World Therefore There is need of a distinction in this case for according to Philosophy a thing is said to be necessary two manner of ways First Absolutely and simply when one thing is so necessary to another that it cannot be done or consist without it Secondly In respect of Consequence when a thing is of such a Nature that as soon as it begins to be other things also are joyned with it or at least soon follow after and thus good works in persons justified are necessary to Salvation not simply but in regard of Consequence By what I have said any Reader that is not void of Sense may easily discern that we seek not to banish good Works out of the World that they should not be necessary but we only remove them from being a cause of Iustifying That so both Faith and Works may be put each of them in their own place and contained within their own bounds For Paul did not in vain nor without great necessity exhort with much vehemency to the Godly practice of a Christian Life For what is more glorious in it self or more worthy of the profession of Christianity or fitter to adorn the Doctrine of the Gospel than that those who are called by the Name of Christ should resemble him exactly in their manners and the practice of their lives And as they profess themselves to be Citizens of the Heavenly Kingdom they should according to their power endeavour to lead a Life like Heaven upon Earth On the contrary what is more abominable or odius than if those who have been engaged by so many benefits exalted to so great dignity and are joyned to him into so near an union by so many Covenants and Obligations if yet they do not follow his Foot-steps nor imitate him in the practice of their lives Therefore in this we and they agree that Works of Piety are very necessary but we must consider wherein this necessity lies For they are effects which of necessity depend upon their cause from whence they proceed but the cause hath no dependance upon them by any necessity By the like Consequence we call many things necessary in common Offices of Civility and Humanity as when Kindnesses are received what is more necessary and according to Iustice than a thankful remembrance of a Favour received and a readiness of Mind to give evidence of thankfulness not only in Words but also by repaying Kindness with Kindness if there be Opportunity Which thankfulness was nevertheless no cause of the Kindness that was done Let us here compare other kinds of Offices Who knows not that a Son and Heir ought of necessity to be dutiful to his Father But again who can be ignorant that this is no cause in him why he should receive the Inheritance The same also may be observed in Marriage where the Wife being tyed to her own Husband of necessity owes Subjection to him which nevertheless she shews to him not so much for any Law of necessity that extorts it as of her own accord and willingly being provoked by a Principle of Love moreover when she shews him the greatest Subjection this necessity is no cause of the Marriage bond Iust so it is in the performance of Godly Works which Paul commands us to maintain for necessary uses not that necessity of Works is any cause of Iustification but because it cannot otherways be but that where true Faith is there of necessity good Works are required and yet they are not so much required as they are a necessary Consequence for who was ever endued with the true Knowledge of Christ the Son of God or had the secret breathings of his Spirit or had a lively sense of his unsearchable Power and the unspeakable Glory of his Majesty but is drawn after him with the Cords of Love and cleaves unto him with all his Heart setting light by all the Vanities of this World Moreover who hath a true savour of Christ but he dispises the World and all the things of the World as the dirt under his Feet So that now there is no need of any Law to exact Works of Righteousness of him who is truly planted in Christ because he is a Law to himself and does more of his own accord than can be commanded by any Compulsion An Argument of the Iesuites The Word only is not found in the Holy Scripture therefore Faith only doth not justifie Though it is not true that this exclusive Word is no where found in the Holy Scriptures yet suppose we should grant it to be true what would be the Consequence Verily those things that follow from a necessary Consequence though they are not expressed yet they are implied And therefore ye also your selves admit many Words into your Confession of Faith of which the Scripture makes no mention But let us proceed you say this Exclusive Word is not found in Canonical Scripture I confess it is not in so many Letters and Syllables But seeing we meet with so many other things in sacred Writings that exclude all these Accessory