for the worthinesse of the thinges done or suffered by men as for that they are done of men formally iustified before with God by the infused grace of charity and that they are therefore growne to that efficacie by the bloode and merits of Christ for which beleeued but on as they teach God hath iustified them by infusing the gift of charitie into their soules and mindes let them not once thinke or dreame I say that any or all of these their sophisticall and cunning sleights or shiftes eyther can or shall once darken or blemish the plaine euidence and cleare light of this doctrine of iustification redemption and full saluation freely and effectually by faith in Christ Iesus For as for the first of these they cannot be ignorant that whensoeuer the question is in hande how and wherby man is to be iustified before God the scriptures throughout as plainely teach vs that there is but one iustification or waie thereunto as they teach vs that there is but one God Indeede they shewe sometimes that there is a proceeding and growing forward â—â—eerein from vertue to vertue from faith to faith and so from strength to strength in applying vnto vs according to the increasings of our knowledge more and more of our owne wantes and of Christes person and office and according to our proceeding in the strength vertue power of our faith grounded therupon Christ Iesus his merits and sometimes they speak of iustification in a larger or in another signification therfore then they may and doe vrge him that is iustified to be yet more iustified but heereupon to builde that therefore there are two distinct kindes of iustification of man before the tribunall seate of GOD is both to builde without grounde and foundation and wilfullie in a most serious cause to play and seeke by dallying with ambiguitie of wordes to deceiue the simple Now as for their second shift the vanity falshoode therof will soone appeare to any that with any indifferencie wil but consider Paules wordes when in handling of this point he shutteth out workes of the lawe from hauing any thing to doe in the office of iustifying For writing as he did alwaies when he handled this question not to Iewes that indeede thorowe ignorance both of Christ and of the true meaning and vse of the lawe vsed to seeke by the workes of the lawe in their sence that is by workes taught by the lawe and done before grace to be iustified but to conuerted and beleeuing Gentiles to what purpose had it beene to labour so often and so earnestlie to driue them from seeking iustification by such workes of the lawe whereof they coulde neuer make anie such reckoning in that before their conuersion they were not so much as once acquainted with the lawe If therfore we must thinke as we are bounde that Paule wrote and spoke to the purpose and aptlie to those that he had to deale withall out of all question we must needs be of that iudgement that he taught euen the conuerted and beleeuing gentiles in what measure soeuer the spirit of grace enabled them to haue and to performe neuer so manie good workes of the lawe yet when they were neuer so full of them to trust perfectly freely to be iustified by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus and not at all by the workes of the lawe Alas who is so simple as to thinke that the false Apostles sought to perswade the Galathians whome Paule had left setled in seeking their iustification freely by faith in Christ to seeke manie so to be iustified in part or in whole by workes of the lawe done without or before grace and yet if this popish glose must stand Paule in his Epistle written of purpose to perswade the Galathians not to listen to these teaching them to seeke any way to be iustified before God by the workes of the lawe therein eyther disputes to no purpose and fightes but with his owne shadowe or else it must be granted that these were the workes of the lawe that they were taught by them to put some trust and confidence in which to imagine were most grosse and absurde for there is no likelihoode therein at all His reasons that he vsed to shut out the workes of the lawe from the office of iustifying are these for by the lawe commeth the knowledge of sinne Rom. 3.20 For that our reioycing is in this case excluded not by the lawe of works but by the lawe of faith vers 27. For that if Abraham were iustified by workes he hath wherein to reioyce but not with God for that the wages is counted to him that worketh not of fauour as he taketh it for graunted it was to Abraham and must be to all the children of Abraham in this case but of debt which likewise he assumeth as graunted to be in this point absurde Rom. 4.2.4 For if they which are of the lawe be heires faith is made voyde and the promise is of none effect For the lawe causeth wrath 14.15 therefore it is by faith that it might come by grace and the promise might be sure to all the seeds 16. As mante as are of the workes of the lawe are vnder the curse For it is written cursed is euery one that continueth not in all thinges which are written in the booke of the lawe to doe them No man is iustified by the lawe in the sight of God it is euident for the iust shall liue by faith and to Abraham and his seede were the promises made he saith not and to thy seedes as speaking of manie but and to thy seede as of one which is Christ Gal. 3.10.11.16 Euerie and all of which argumentes make and serue strongly not onely to debarre woorks done before grace according to the outward letter of the lawe from all office and power to iustifie but also all workes done after grace effectually if mans owne free will in such sort concurre to the working of them as they teach For euen therein and when they are done the lawe findeth such imperfection in the doer as we may see by Paules owne confession Rom. 7.24 that he hath cause to crie O wretched man that I am who shall deliuer mee from this bodie of sinne and death and to acknowledge euen in such a one as then he himselfe was who doubtlesse was then in the state of grace that the lawe is such a reuealer of sin yet to be in him and therfore also of wrath that he is so farre off from hauing any cause by his own works done after grace to thinke that he deserueth to be iustified or saued in any respect that thereby he may iustly with him take occasion to confesse that though the law be spiritual yet he is carnal so sold vnder sinne that in his flesh there dwelleth no good thing for though to will is present with him that he allowe not the euill he doth because in
his inner man he consenteth vnto the lawe that it is holie and good yet he doth sometimes the euill that he hateth and findeth no meanes as he shoulde to performe that which is good Vers 14. c. And by workes done after grace flowing as they say from our owne freewill in great part if iustification should come at all how then could we be excluded from all reioyeing in that respect in our selues how coulde our iustification come freely and of sauour and not at all of debt as Paule teacheth it must how could it be but in some sorte we shoulde be heires by the lawe and not onely by faith and the vertue of the promise neyther of which can be sure and certaine if they rested vpon the condition of the workes that we at any time can doe which we can neuer be sure that we haue attained vnto eyther in that measure or manner as they themselues are driuen to confesse as is required of vs. Yea if thereby at all our iustification coulde come why then was not the promise made vnto vs in the plurall number in seedes and not in seede to warrant vs as especially to looke for the benefitte thereof by the merites of the seede of the woman of Abraham Isaac and Iacob so partly and secondarily at least by our selues and our owne merits or workes ioyned with his But to ende this point what can be more cleare to put vs out of all doubt that Paule shuts not from this office of iustifying onely workes of the lawe done before grace but also the best workes done in grace then that he himselfe in the third of the Philippians as we heard before in this respect doth not onely in the time past disable his own good workes done according to the lawe before his conuersion vnreproueable but also in the verie present time when he wrote that Epistle which was not long before his death his workes or righteousness which he then had as dung that so he might be iustified by another righteousnesse to be founde and attained vnto by faith in Christ In that also 1. Cor. 4.4 First he confesseth that he knew nothing by himselfe speaking then of himselfe as he was in the state of grace and then by and by he addeth that he was not thereby iustified he plainely shewed that though he had liued so in the execution of his Apostleship that his conscience accused him not of transgression therein any way within the compasse whereof laye moste of the workes that he had done in grace yet he thought not thereby to be iustified at all Wherefore from whom soeuer these our aduersaries haue sucked or learned this glose or interpretation of Paules wordes euidentlie heereby it appeareth that it is a cursed glose for that it so directly corrupteth the text and therefore vpon whom soeuer they would father it to put the enuie and shame thereof from themselues both of them must giue vs leaue rather to forsake them heerein then the plaine euidence of the scriptures themselues which I am fullie perswaded though they hardlie or neuer will be brought vnto they haâ—â—e so vowed themselues obstinately to resist the trueth that yet the ancient writers in whose writinges sometimes they finde something that soundeth too much this way if eyther they were in these times or when they liued had heard but halfe so much as they haue to the contrarie they would most readily and willingly haue retracted and recanted the same For so we finde they were willing to doe when eyther by their owne further reading or learning or by the information of others they had cause giuen them to see wherein for lacke of further aduise they haue erred and neuer did any of these by farre thus interpret Paules wordes to aduance mans merits and to darken and obscure the glorie of Christ as they doe yea if they coulde haue but foreseene that euer after any woulde haue come after them thus to abuse their wordes to driue men from seeking at all to be iustified by the imputation of Christes righteousnesse to the beleeuer in him that then they might trust to their owne righteousnesse inherent in themselues inhabit as to the formall cause of their iustification and in worke wrought as to the meritorious cause of another iustification euen of saluation it selfe I dare be bolde to say they woulde neuer by any meanes haue beene drawen to haue left one sillable behinde them in their writinges sounding that way And this sufficientlie may appeare to any that hath but red their workes therein they are elsewhere so plaine full and pregnant to aduouch iustification freely by faith in Christ through the imputation of his merits and righteousnesse vnto men as in sundrie places of an answere of mine in printe to Iohn de Albïne I haue at large shewed whereunto I therefore nowe referre the Christian Reader And whereas by grace whereby Pauls faith we are iustified they woulde beare men in hand that there by grace is not to be vnderstood the free sauour of God towardes man in Christ Iesus but that speciall gift of that grace the habit of charitie infused or powred into them that beleeue all the reasons and places vsed to confute the former shift of theirs serue also as pregnantly to ouerthrow this And hereof also as of the other their onely ground is sophistrie taking aduantage by the diuerse acceptions and significations of the worde grace here to teach men to vnderstand thereby an effect of grace whereas in deede the verie fountaine it selfe of all these effectes which is the free fauour of God towardes man in Christ is meant in deede To discerne their iugling and treacherie herein let a man but in steede of grace vsed by the Apostle in this argument in these fewe places following place but the habitte of charitie and then againe weye what a violence thereby is offered both to his woordes and sense We are iustified freely by his grace that is by his infused habit of charitie through the redemption that is in Christ Iesus Rom. 3.24 By grace are you saued through faith that is by the habite of charitie infused through saith and not of your selues it is the gift of God not of workes least any man should bost him selfe Eph. 2.8.9 to the praise of the glorie of his grace wherewith he made vs accepted in his beloued that is to the praise of the glorie of his infused habitte of charitie c. who seeth not both the absurdnes and ridiculousnesse of this interplation of grace and withall perceiueth not indeed nothing else in these places can be vnderstood by grace but the free fauour of God had towards his elect in Christ Iesus before the foundations of the worlde were laid Which grace as it was grounded before all times onely vpon the person and office of the sonne of God our fauiour so to shewe vs that in the reuealing of the same vnto vs and communicating the same vnto his he respects not any
desert or merit of man but onely the deserts and merits of his said sonne by faith through imputation made to the beleeuers therein the Apostle saith as he doth not onely that we are iustified by grace but also addeth freely not of our selues it is the gift of God not of workes least any man should boast himselfe How it is possible if God should haue studied of purpose to crosse and to preuent for euer all these popish gloses and trickes that he shoulde haue spoken more plainely or pregnantly to aduouch iustification freely and only by faith in Christ Iesus and not for the worthinesse or merit of any thing in our selues first or last And who be so simple that hath any thing had his spirit exercised in the word of God and knowledge of Christ Iesus as by any means to be brought to thinke that Christ comming to be the meritorious and satisfactorie cause of mans saluation as he did that yet so farre off is it that he hath gone quite thorowe with this worke in and by himselfe that in verie deede by the things accomplished in his owne person he hath enabled and dignified thinges to be founde in man and to be done and suffered him at the least to finish vp and perfect by the meritorious and satisfactorie cause of mans saluation For this were not onely to leaue the worke of mans iustification and saluation to be vnperfect for all that hath beene done by him in his owne person but also most vncertaine whether euer it shoulde be finished or no because if the matter be thus to be deuided betwixt Christ and mans owne selfe howsoeuer man might be sure that Christ hath done his part he coulde neuer be sure that he hath or shall hit in iust manner and measure of all that is left for him to doe to perfect the same Yea if this were thus that amongst otherendes that Christ had in his merits and sufferinges he had this thereby so to die our doings and sufferings therewith that they nowe shall be meritorious of and satisfactorie for our owne saluation though by thus saying they would seeme to attribute vnto Christs merits more then we doe in that we denie them this effect in deede and trueth in thus dealing they with Iudas giue him faire wordes saying vnto him haile maister when in secret cunninglie they most vnkindlie and wickedlie seeke to betraye him Heeretofore when they taught this doctrine of mans merits bluntly and flatly without this new colour of their so doing we iustly charged themselues to be the sacrilegious robbers of Christ of that chiefe and speciall honour that appertaines vnto him but now whiles they haue sought to auoyd to put frō themselues the grieuousnes of this charge by this their new deuise in steed of making Christ some restitution and amendes for the wrong they did him they nowe are flatly come to this obstinately to continue in the doing of him the same old wrong still but nowe they will no longer be the onely doers thereof them selues but he himselfe must bee if not the plaine and full principall yet at the least an open and notorious accessary and helper forward of them in this their robbing of him But whatsoeuer they say or doe herein let vs with the apostle beleeue that he is able perfectly to saue them that come vnto God by him seeing he euer liueth to make intercession for them and hath an euerlasting priesthoode Heb. 7.24.25 For as we haue often heard before an other of them writeth his owne selfe bare our finnes in his body vpon the tree and so that thereby we are both deliuered from sinne and so healed thereof that thenceforth we shoulde liue in righteousnesse 1. Pet 1.2.4 And with all our heartes let vs shunne and detest all these their popish demses tending as we see all more or lesse to the robbing of Christ of this speciall honour to be a full and a perfect sauiour in That he is King Friest Prophet of and by him selfe To proceed therefore as thus in these two pointes particularly you haue heard howe the gospell sheweth you this to be his office so for the rest before mentioned if we looke into it it will teach vs that in this his office he is our Christ that is our annointed and appointed kinge priest and prophet in and for his Church King to rule gouerne and to protect it from all the enimies and dangers there of priest to redeeme it and to make full and perfect atonement and reconsiliation thorowe his eternall intercession betwixt God and it and prophet to teach and instruct it by his worde from time to time So that he hath of his Church a priestly kingdome which he hath purchased not with gold or siluer but with his owne preticus blood as Peter speaketh 1. epist 1.19 which he gouerneth and ordereth by the scepter of his worde and perfecteth by the powre of his spirit Of the title and right of his kingrick Paule Heb. 4.8 vnderstandeth that Psal 45.6 and 7. as spoken of Dauid thorow the spirit thy throne is for euer and euer the scepter of thy kingdome is a scepter of righteousnesse thou hast loued righteousnesse and hated iniquitie wherfore cuen God thy God hath annointed thee with the oyle of gladnes aboue thy fellowes And touching his priesthoode to proue him to be a farre more excellent priest then euer was any of the tribe of Leui. Cap. 7.12 he saith that he was made priest with an oath by him that said vnto him as it is written Psal 110.4 The Lord hath sworne and will not repente thou art a priest for euer according to the order of Melchizedech And lastly concerning his office of a prophet and teacher of his Church Mathew sheweth vs that when he was transfigured in the mount this voyce was heard from heauen vttered of him doubtlesse by his heauenlie father to establish him heerein This is my welbeloued sonne in whome I am well pleased heare him Cap. 17.5 And to teach vs that all doctors teachers must alwaies stoupe to him and learne that first of him which they teach others he saith be not called doctors for one is your doctor euen Christ Math. 23.10 thereby not forbidding the title but the abuse thereof which is when any dare take vpon them as doctors and teachers onely of trueth to vrge that for trueth vpon the Church or to Gods people which they cannot warrant so to be by the vndoubted voyce and word of Christ His kingdom is not of this world for so he himselfe told Pilate Iohn 18.36 and yet he is such a king as that he is king of kings and Lord of Lords Reue. 19.16 And as king he is lawgiuer vnto his people in whose power it is to saue and destroy Iam. 4.12 As king he gouerneth and guideth his Church both heere and in heauen as the head thereof Ephe. 1.22 As king he liberally bestoweth thereupon from time to time those rich
that the same scriptures put a manifest difference betwixt this righteousnesse of the law that lies in doing and that which we haue to make vs righteous by by saith in Christ Iesus Rom. 10.5 c. and Gal. 3.12 And yet euen their great Doctor Bellarmine neither is nor will be ashamed of any of this their doctrine of faith and in this last point though he be enforced to graunt that we are first iustified freely without workes in Christ Iesus and that heauen also is Gods childrens by adoption and inheritance yet the formall cause of our iustification must be with him the infused habite of charitie and good workes after done must make vs to haue a second right vnto the kingdome of heauen and so to further degrees of glory there by the way of wages and iust debt Though for all this when he hath done his best for the maintenance of this second title and right thereunto he dare not teach any with any special assurance confidence that cannot deceiue them to trust thereunto Nay these things thus being most certainly held and taught by thē touching the nature of faith quite contrary to the scriptures I can neuer maruaile that by their faith there is bred no certainner hope or confidence in them of Gods mercie or of the forgiuenesse of their sinnes or of anie thing else that appertaines to saluation then as when they are at the best may finally deceiue them and in the meane time with much feare and doubting of their estate trouble them yea I rather wonder that in the iust iudgement of God they are not in continuall horrour and terrour of conscience and as it were compassed about euery houre with the verie tormentes of hell for that they will not be brought to seeke to come to the father onely by him but by whom as he himselfe hath taught vs none can euer come vnto him Io. 14.6 For whiles thus they pleade and stand vpon a wrong title and would also beare men in hand that a speciall ende and vse of Christes comming was not to procure them sufficient title and right to the kingdome of heauen in and by himselfe and thinges done and suffered by and in his owne person but to inable them by these meanes to make themselues to haue a second a better further title thereunto they are most worthy to loose al the comfort that they might haue if they would stand to the right and onely good title by and for Iesus Christes sake alone And doubtlesse as I haue shewed before if they repent not they will one day all the packe of them finde though too late that Paule hath pronounced sentence of them in the like case of the Galathians Cap. 5.4 saying Yee are abolished from Christ whosoeuer are iustified by the lawe yee are falne from grace God of his mercie therefore if it be his holy will open their eies in time that they may repent of all these their most dangerous errours and come with vs once to be content to beleeue in Christ Iesus as the Scriptures indeede teach vs. In the meane time let this that I haue said be a sufficient warning to vs as the adopted sonnes of God thorow faith in Christ Ioh. 1.12 to looke for heauen as an inheritance prepared for vs by our heauenly father before the foundations of the world were made Matt. 25.34 and now reserued for vs which are kept by the power of God thorow faith vnto saluation Pet. 1.4 5. that so heauen may be to vs as it is said to be indeed the free gift of God Rom. 6.23 through Iesus Christ our Lord. And let vs let thes hireling and mercenarie minded men alone that disdaine to haue heauen of Gods free almes and therefore will haue it eyther by their owne earninge and deseruing of it or else they will goe without it which they are most like to doe bicause they will haue it otherwise then God himselfe the owner therof hath couenanted and appointed that euer anie shall come by it I know they haue their colours and sophistical deuises to giue yet such a glosse and faire shewe to this their dealing as though for all this all were very well of their sides but all they can gaine therby is this that so much the more they proue their religion to be aptlie and worthily tearmed by the Apostle the mistrie of iniquitie 2. Thess 2.7 and that the proud and pompeous whore of Babylon shoulde haue that worde Mysterie set for her very brand and marke in her forehead and that she should yet carie al her abhominations and fornications wherewith she shoulde make the inhabitantes of the world drunken in a golden cup the sooner to entise them to drinke deepely thereof For indeede and trueth as I haue shewed before and elsewhere they can stand them in no better steede eyther before God or before any that are wise than Adam and Eues fig leaues did them to hide their nakednes from the eies of God For how can they be so sillie and simple as to imagine indeede that in this great light any can wil be so foolish as hearing what they doe so plainelie and plentifully set downe euerie where in the doctrine of the gospell that Christ went thorow effectually in his owne person with the worke of our redemption and saluation as once to be drawne by their sophisticall perswasions that yet what he hath done serueth especially but to merit that chantie first should be bestowed vpon vs and then that thereunto to our good workes proceeding therefrom should be conuaied from his merits a dignitie and power first formally to iustifie vs by the one which we could not bee by the application of him and his merites vnto vs thorow faith and then after to earne and merite more surelie for vs by the other the kingdom of heauen then he had done For they may prate and brag that whiles they thus say and teach they attribute more to the merits of Christ than we doe that both for our iustification and saluation trust onelie thereunto but euerie man for all that vnder these fayre wordes may plainely see that in verie deede they heereby most grosselie woulde make him as I saide before the verie principall in the robbing of himselfe of that speciall honor that is his to be a full and a perfect Sauiour in and by himselfe This faith is wrought by the spirite But inoug his said of this point Howbeit this further touching this faith whereby we eate and drinke Christ and make him our owne welbeloued I would haue you to vnderstand that it is not to be attained vnto by any power or strength of flesh and blood but it is the speciall worke and fruite of the Spirit of God For immediately after Iohn had tolde vs that they that beleeue in Christ at they that receiue him whereby they are made the sonnes of God he saith that such are borne not of bloode nor of the