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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03586	A learned discourse of iustification, workes, and how the foundation of faith is overthrowne. By Richard Hooker, sometimes fellow of Corpus Christi College in Oxford	Hooker, Richard, 1553 or 4-1600.; Jackson, Henry, 1586-1662.; Spenser, John, 1559-1614.	1612 (1612)	STC 13708; ESTC S121045	45,591	98

of the medicine whereby Christ cureth our disease about the manner of applying it about the number and the power of meanes which God requireth in vs for the effectuall applying thereof to our soules comfort When they are required to shew what the righteousnes is whereby a Christian man is iustified they answere that it is a divine spirituall quality which qualitie receaued into the soul doth first make it to be one of them who are borne of God and secondly indue it with power to bring forth such workes as they doe that are borne of him even as the soule of man being ioined to his body doth first make him to be of the number of reasonable creatures and secondly inable him to performe the naturall functions which are proper to his kind that it maketh the soule amiable and gratious in the sight of God in regard whereof it is tearmed grace that it purgeth purifyeth and washeth out all the staines and pollutions of sinne that by it through the merite we are delivered as from sinne so from eternall death and condemnation the reward of sinne This grace they will haue to be applied by infusion to the end that as the body is warm by the heate which is in the body so the soule might be righteous by the inherent grace which grace they make capable of increase as the body may be more and more warme so the soule more and more iustified according as grace shall be augmented the augmentation whereof is merited by good workes as good works are made meritorious by it Wherefore the first receipt of grace in their divinity is the first iustification the increase thereof the secōd iustification As grace may be increased by the merit of good workes so it may be diminished by the demerit of sinnes veniall it may be lost by mortall sinne In asmuch therefore as it is needfull in the one case to repaire in the other to recover the losse which is made the infusion of grace hath her sundry after meales for the which cause they make many waies to apply the infusion of grace It is applied to infants through baptisme without either faith or works and in them really it taketh away originall sinne the punishment due vnto it it is applied to Infidels and wicked men in the first iustification through baptisme without works yet not without faith and it taketh away both sinnes actuall and originall together withall whatsoever punishment eternall or temporall thereby deserved Vnto such as haue attained the first iustification that is to say the first receipt of grace it is applyed farther by good workes to the increase of former grace which is the second iustification If they worke more and more grace doth more and more increase and they are more and more iustified To such as diminished it by veniall sinnes it is applyed by holy water Ave maries crossings papall salutations such like which serue for reparations of grace decayed To such as haue lost it through mortall sinne it is applyed by the sacrament as they terme it of Pennance which sacrament hath force to conferre grace anew yet in such sort that being so conferred it hath not altogither so much power as at the first For it only cleanseth out the staine or guilt of sinne committed and changeth the punishment eternall into a temporall satisfactory punishment here if time do serue if not hereafter to be indured except it be lightened by masses workes of charity pilgrimages fasts and such like or else shortened by pardon for terme or by plenary pardon quite removed and taken away This is the mistery of the mā of sinne This maze the Church of Rome doth cause her followers to treade when they aske her the way to iustification I cannot stand now to vnrip this building and to sift it piece by piece only I will passe by it in few words that that may befall Babilon in the presence of that which God hath builded as happened vnto Dagon before the arke 6 Doubtlesse saith the Apostle I haue counted all things losse and iudge them to be dounge that I may winne Christ and to be found in him not having my owne righteousnes but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnes which is of God through faith Whether they speake of the first or second iustification they make it the essence of a divine quality inherent they make it righteousnesse which is in vs. If it be in vs then is it ours as our souls are ours though we haue them from God and can hold them no longer then pleaseth him for if he withdraw the breath of our nostrils we fall to dust but the righteousnesse wherein we must be found if we wil be iustified is not our owne therefore we cannot be iustified by any inherent quality Christ hath me rited righteousnesse for as many as are found in him In him God findeth vs if we be faithfull for by faith we are incorporated into Christ. Then although in our selues we be altogither sinnefull and vnrighteous yet even the man which is impious in him selfe full of iniquitie full of sin him being found in Christ through faith and having his sin remitted through repentance him God vpholdeth with a gracious eie putteth away his sinne by not imputing taketh quite away the punishment due therevnto by pardoning it and accepteth him in Iesus Christ as perfectly righteous as if he had fulfilled all that was commanded him in the lawe shall I say more perfectly righteous then if him selfe had fulfilled the whole law I must take heed what I say but the Apostle saith* God made him to bee sinne for vs who knew no sinne that we might be made the righteousnes of God in him Such wee are in the sight of God the father as is the very sonne of God him selfe Let it bee counted folly or frensie or furie whatsoever it is our comfort and our wisdome we care for no knowledge in the world but this that man hath sinned and God hath suffered that God hath made himselfe the sonne of man and that men are made the righteousnesse of God You see therefore that the Church of Rome in teaching iustification by inherent grace doth pervert the truth of Christ and that by the handes of the Apostles wee haue received otherwise then shee teacheth Now concerning the righteousnesse of sanctification we deny it not to be inherent wee graunt that vnlesse we worke we haue it not only we distinguish it a thing different in nature from the righteousnesse of iustification we are righteous the one way by the faith of Abraham the other way except wee doe the workes of Abraham we are not righteous Of the one S. Paule To him that worketh not but beleeueth faith is counted for righteousnesse Of the other S. Iohn Quifacit iustitiam iustus est He is righteous which worketh righteousnes Of the one S. Paul doth proue by Abrahams example that we haue it of

vnsowred with this and so be * saved Fourthly if they all held this heresie many there were that helde it no doubt but only in a generall forme of words which a favourable interpretation might expound in a sense differing farre enough from the poysoned conceipt of heresie As for example did they holde that wee cannot bee saved with Christ without good works We our selues do I thinke al say as much with this construction salvation being taken as in that sentence Corde creditur ad iustitiam ore fit confessio ad salutem except infants and men cut off vpon the point of their conversion of the rest none shall see God but such as seeke peace and holines though not a cause of their salvation yet as a way which they must walke which will be saved Did they that hold without works that we are not iustified take iustification so as it may also imply sanctificatiō And S. Iames doth say as much For except there be an ambiguitie in the same tearme S. Paul and S. Iames do contradict each the other which can not be Now there is no ambiguity in the name either of faith or of workes being meant by them both in one and the same sense Finding therefore that iustification is spoken of by S. Paul without implying sanctification when he proveth that a man is iustified by faith without workes finding likewise that iustificatiō doth some time imply sanctification also with it I suppose nothing to be more sound then so to interpret S. Iames speaking not in that sense but in this 21 Wee haue already shewed that there bee two kindes of Christian righteousnes the one without vs which we haue by imputation th' other in vs which cōsisteth of faith hope and charitie and other Christian vertues And S. Iames doth proue that Abraham had not only the one because the thing beleeved was imputed vnto him for righteousnes but also the other because he offered vp his son God giveth vs both the one iustice and the other the one by accepting vs for righteous in Christ th' other by working christian righteousnes in vs. The proper and most immediate efficient cause in vs of this later is the spirit of adoptiō we haue received into our hearts That whereof it consisteth where of it is really and formally made are those infused vertues proper and particular vnto Saints which the spirit in the very moment when first it is given of of God bringeth with it the effects whereof are such actions as the Apostle doth call the fruits of works the operations of the spirit The difference of the which operations from the root whereof they spring maketh it needfull to put two kinds likewise of sanctifying righteousnes Habituall and Actuall Habituall that holinesse wherewith our soules are inwardly indued the same instant when first we begin to be the temples of the Holy Ghost Actuall that holynesse which afterwards beautifieth all the parts and actions of our life the holynes for the which Enoch Iob Zacharie Elizabeth other Saints are in the Scriptures so highly commended If here it be demanded which of these we do first receiue I answere that the spirit the vertues of the spirit the habituall iustice which is ingrafted the externall iustice of Iesus Christ which is imputed these wee receiue all at one and the same time whensoever we haue any of these we haue all they goe together Yet sith no man is iustified except he beleeue and no man beleeueth except he haue faith and no man except he haue received the spirit of adoption hath faith for asmuch as they doe necessarily inferre iustification and iustification doth of necessity presuppose them we must needs hold that imputed righteousnes in dignitie being the chiefest is notwithstanding in order the last of all these but actuall righteousnesse which is the righteousnes of good workes succeedeth all followeth after al both in order and time Which being attentiuely marked sheweth plainely how the faith of true beleevers cannot bee divorced from hope and loue how faith is a part of sanctification and yet vnto iustification necessarie howe faith is perfected by good workes and no worke of ours without faith finally how our fathers might hold that we are iustified by faith alone and yet hold truely that without works we are not iustified Did they think that men doe merit rewards in heaven by the workes they performe on earth The ancient vse meriting for obtaining and in that sense they of Wittenberg haue it in their confession We teach that good workes commaunded of God are necessarily to be done and by the free kindnes of God they merit their certaine rewards Therefore speaking as our fathers did and we taking their speech in a sound meaning as we may take our fathers and might for asmuch as their meaning is doubtfull and charity doth alwaies interprete doubtfull things favourably what should iuduce vs to thinke that rather the dammage of the worst construction did light vpon them all thē that the blessing of the better was granted vnto thousands Fiftly if in the worst construction that may bee made they had generally al imbraced it living might not many of them dying vtterly renounce it Howsoever men when they sit at ease do vainely tickle their hearts with the wanton conceipt of I knowe not what proportionable correspondence betweene their merits their rewards which in the trance of their high speculations they dreame that God hath measured weighed laid vp as it were in bundles for them notwithstanding we see by dayly experience in a number even of them that when the houre of death approcheth when they secretly heare themselues summoned forthwith to appeare and stand at the barre of that Iudge whose brightnesse causeth the eies of the Angels themselues to dazle all these idle imaginations doe then begin to hide their faces to name merits is then to lay their soules vpon the racke the memorie of their own deeds is lothsome vnto them they forsake all things wherein they haue put any trust or confidence no staffe to leane vpon no ease no rest no comfort then but only in Iesus Christ. 22 Wherefore if this proposition were true To hold in such wise as the Church of Rome doth that we cannot be saved by Christ alone without workes is directly to denie the foundation of faith I say that if this proposition were true nevertheles so many waies I haue shewed where by we may hope that thousandes of our fathers which lived in popish superstition might be saved But what if it be true what if neither that of the Galatians concerning circumcision nor this of the church of Rome by works be any direct denial of the foūdatiō as it is affirmed that both are I neede not wade so farre as to discusse this controversie the matter which first was brought into question being so cleere as I hope it is Howbeit because I desire that the truth even in that also should receiue

were rigorous of things not vtterly to be neglected and left vndone washings and tithings c. As they were in these so must we be in iudgement and the loue of God Christ in workes ceremoniall giueth more liberty in morall much lesse then they did Workes of righteousnesse therefore are not so repugnantlie added in the one pro position as in the other circumcision is 31 But we say our salvation is by Christ alone therefore howsoever or whatsoever wee adde vnto Christ in the matter of salvation we overthrow Christ. Our case were very hard if this argument so vniversally meant as it is proposed were sound and good We our selues doe not teach Christ alone excluding our owne faith vnto iustificatiō Christ alone excluding our own works vnto sanctification Christ alone excluding the one or the other vnnecessarie vnto salvation It is a childish cavill wherewith in the matter of iustification our adversaries do so greatly please themselues exclaiming that we tread all Christian vertues vnder our feet and require nothing in Christians but faith because wee teach that faith alone iustifieth whereas by this speech we never meant to exclude either hope or charitie frō being alwaies ioined as inseparable mates with faith in the man that is iustified or workes from being added as necessarie duties required at the hands of every iustified man but to shew that faith is the only hand which putteth on Christ vnto iustification and Christ the only garment which being so put on covereth the shame of our defiled natures hideth the imperfections of our workes preserveth vs blameles in the sight of God before whom otherwise the weaknesse of our faith were cause sufficiēt to make vs culpable yea to shut vs frō the kingdome of heaven where nothing that is not absolute can enter That our dealing with them bee not as childish as theirs with vs when wee heare of salvation by Christ alone considering that alone as an exclusiue particle we are to note what it doth exclude where If I say such a iudge only ought to determine such a case all things incident to the determination thereof besides the person of the Iudge as lawes dispositions evidences c. are not hereby excluded persons are not excluded from witnessing herein or assisting but onely from determining and giving sentence How then is our salvation wrought by Christ alone It is not our meaning that nothing is requisite to mans salvatiō but Christ to saue and he to be saved quietly without anie more adooe As we haue received so we teach that besides the bare and naked worke wherein Christ without anie other associate finished all the partes of our redemption purchased salvation himselfe alone for conveiance of this eminent blessing vnto vs manie things are of necessitie required as to bee knowne and chosen of God before the foundation of the world in the world to called iustified sanctified after wee haue left the world to be receiued vnto glorie Christ in everie of these hath somwhat which he worketh alone Through him according to the eternall purpose of God before the foundation of the world borne crucified buried raised c. wee were in a gratious acceptiō knowne vnto God long before we were seene of men God knew vs loved vs was kinde to vs in Jesus Christ in him we were elected to be heires of life Thus farre God through Christ hath wrought in such sort alone that our selues are meere patients working no more then dead senselesse matter wood or stone or yron doth in the artificers hands no more then the clay whē the potter appointeth it to be framed for an honourable vse nay not so much for the matter wherevpon the craftsman worketh he chooseth being moved by the fitnesse which is in it to serue his turne in vs no such thing Touching the rest which is laid for the foundation of our faith importeth farther that by him we are called that we haue redēptiō remissiō of sins through his blood health by his stripes iustice by him that he doth sanctifie his Church make it glorious to himself that h entrance into ioie shal be givē vs by him yea all things by him alone Howbeit not so by him alone as if in vs to i our vocatiō the hearing of the Gospell to our iustification faith to our sanctification the fruits of the spirit to our entrance into rest perseverance in hope in faith in holinesse were not necessarie 32 Then what is the fault of the Church of Rome Not that shee requireth workes at their handes which will be saved but that shee attributeth vnto workes a power of satisfying God for sin yea a vertue to merite both grace here and in heaven glorie That this overthroweth the foundation of faith I graunt willingly that it is a direct denying thereof I vtterlie deny what it is to hold and what directly to deny the foundation of faith I haue already opened Apply it particularly to this cause and there needs no more adooe The thing which is handled if the forme vnder which it is handled be added therevnto it sheweth the foundation of any doctrine whatsoever Christ is the matter whereof the doctrine of the Gospell treateth and it treateth of Christ as of a Saviour Salvation therefore by Christ is the foundation of Christianitie as for works they are a thing subordinate no otherwise then because our sanctification cannot be accomplished without them the doctrine concerning them is a thing builded vpon the foundation therefore the doctrine which addeth vnto them the power of satisfying or of meriting addeth vnto a thing subordinated builded vpon the foundation not to the verie foundation it selfe yet is the foundation by this addition consequently overthrowne for as much as out out of this addion it may be negatiuely concluded He which maketh any worke good and acceptable in the sight of God to proceede from the naturall freedome of our will he which giveth vnto any good workes of ours the force of satisfying the wrath of God for sin the power of meriting either earthly or heavenly rewards he which holdeth works going before our vocation in congruity to merite our vocation works following our first to merite our second iustification and by condignitie our last reward in the kingdome of heaven pulleth vp the doctrin of faith by the roots for out of every of these the plain direct deniall thereof may bee necessarilie concluded Not this only but what other heresie is there that doth not raze the very foundation of faith by consequent How be it we make a difference of heresies accoūting in the next degree to infidelitie which directly denie any one thing to be which is expreslie acknoweledged in the articles of our beliefe for out of any one article so denied the deniall of the very foundation it selfe is streightway inferd As for example if a man should saie There is no Catholicke Church it

Satan as the blessed divine speaketh For although this be proofe sufficient that they doe not directly deny the foundation of faith yet if there were no other leaven in the whole lumpe of their doctrine but this this were sufficient to proue that their doctrine is not agreeable vnto the foundati-of Christiā faith The Pelagians being over great friends vnto nature made themselues enimies vnto grace for all their confessing that men haue their soules and all the faculties thereof their wils and all the abilitie of their wils from God And is not the Church of Rome still an adversarie vnto Christs merits because of her acknowledging that we haue received the power of meriting by the blood of Christ St Thomas More setteth downe the oddes betweene vs and he Church of Rome in the matter of works thus Like as wee graunt them that no good worke of man is rewardable in heaven of his owne nature but through the meere goodnesse of God that list to set so high a price vpon so poore a thing and that this price God setteth through Christs passion and for that also they bee his owne workes with vs for good workes to God-ward worketh no man without God worke in him and as we grant thē also that no man may be proud of his works for his imperfect working and for that in all that man may doe he can doe God no good but is a servant improfitable doth but his bare dutie as we I say graunt vnto them these things so this one thing or twaine do they grant vs againe that men are bound to worke good workes if they haue time and power and that who so worketh in true faith mōst shall be most rewarded but then set they thereto that all his rewards shall be given him for his faith alone nothing for his workes at all because his faith is the thing they say that forceth him to work well I see by this of St Thomas More how easie it is for men of the greatest capacitie to mistake things written or spoken as well on the one side as on the other Their doctrine as hee thought maketh the worke of man rewardable in the world to come through the goodnesse of God whom it pleaseth to set so high a price vpon so poore a thing and ours that a man doth receiue that eternall and high reward not for his workes but for his faiths sake by which he worketh whereas in truth our doctrine is no other then that we haue learned at the feet of Christ namely that God doth iustifie the beleeving man yet not for the worthinesse of his beleife but for the worthines of him which is beleeved God rewardeth abundantly every one which worketh yet not for any meritorious dignity which is or can be in the worke but through his meere mercy by whose commandement hee worketh Contrariwise their doctrine is that as pure water of it selfe hath no savour but if it passe throug a sweet pipe it taketh a pleasant smell of the pipe through which it passeth so although before grace received our works do neither satisfie nor merit yet after they do both the one and the other Every vertuous action hath then power in such to satisfie that if we our selues commit no mortall sinne no hainous crime wherevpon to spend this treasure of satisfaction in our owne behalfe it turneth to the benefit of other mens release on whō it shall please the steward of the house of God to bestow it so that we may satisfie for ourselues others but merit only for our selues In meriting our actions doe worke with two hands with one they get their morning stipend the increase of grace with the other their evening hire the everlasting crowne of glorie Indeed they teach that our good workes doe not these things as they come from vs but as they come from grace in vs which grace in vs is another thing in their divinitie then is the meere goodnesse of Gods mercy towards vs in Christ Iesus 34 I fit were not a strong deluding spirit which hath possession of their harts were it possible but that they should see how plainely they do herein gaine-saie the very ground of Apostolique faith Is this that salvation by grace whereof so plentifull mention is made in the scriptures of God Was this their meaning which first taught the worlde to looke for salvation onely by Christ By grace the Apostle saith and by grace in such sort as a gift a thing that commeth not of our selues not of our workes lest anie man should boast say I haue wrought out my own salvatiō By grace they cōfesse but by grace in such sort that as many as weare the diademe of blisse they wear nothing but what they haue wonne The Apostle as if he had foreseene how the church of Rome would abuse the world in time by ambiguous termes to declare in what sense the name of grace must be taken when we make it the cause of our salvation saith He saved vs according to his mercie which mercie although it exclude not the washing of our new birth the renuing of our harts by the holy Ghost the meanes the vertues the duties which God requireth of their hands which shall be saved yet is it so repugnant vnto merits that to say wee are saved for the worthines of anie thing which is ours is to denie wee are saved by grace Grace bestoweth freely and therefore iustlie requireth the glorie of that which is bestowed We denie the grace of our Lord Iesus Christ we abuse disanull and annihilate the benefit of his bitter passion if we rest in these proud imaginations that life is deservedly ours that we merit it and that we are worthy of it 35 How be it considering how many vertuous iust men how many Saints how many Martyres how manie of the ancient fathers of the church haue had their sundry perilous opinions and amongst sundrie of their opinions this that they hoped to make good some part of amends for their sins by the voluntarie punishments which they laid vpon themselues because by a consequent it may follow herevpon that they were iniurious vnto Christ shall we therefore make such dead lie epitaphes and set them vpon their graues They denied the foundation of faith directly they are damned there is no salvation for them S. Austin saith of himselfe Errare possum haereticus essemolo And except we put a difference betweene them that erre and them that obstinatlie perfist in error how is it possible that ever any man should hope to be saved Surely in this case I haue no respect of any person aliue or dead Giue me a man of what state or condition soever yea a Cardinall or a Pope whom in the extreame point of his life affliction hath made to know himselfe whose hart God hath touched with true sorrow for all his sinnes and filled with loue towards the Gospell of Christ whose eies are opened to