man that he is reputed just for the merits and satisfaction of Christ Hence Paul saith That God justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 Rom. 4.5 Rom. 3.24 By his Grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 3.24 God then so justifying maketh no phyfical immutation or change in a sinner as the Papists do say who would have this justification of God to be of that same nature as their Transubstantiation is in which one thing is changed into another that is that God justifying doth not proceed as a Judg at the Bar pronouncing one innocent but as making by a physical immutation a just man out of an unjust as Christ did turn water into wine To prove which opinion Bellarmine Becanus and the rest of the Jesuits did much labour but without any success They produce nothing out of the Scriptures which is not to be referred to Sanctification and so they commit a great fault of ignoratio elenchi and their arguments framed from reason are so unreasonable that they are not worth the while of refutation The strongest of them which I intend to alledg is taken from the Word it self They say Justificure nihil aliud est ex vocis etymologia quam justum facere Obj. to justifie is nothing else but only to make just and righteous because it is compounded ex justus facio and the rest of such words as are composed with the word facio are of the same signification as glorificare sanctificare to sanctifie to glorifie which do not signifie to pronounce one holy or glorious but to make one such and of that nature and therefore justificate to justifie must not signifie to pronounce one just who is unjust in himself but to make one righteous But I hope they will not prove themselves better Grammarians than they are Divines I answer therefore 1. The sense and the right meaning of a word in matters Divine is not to be taken out of Calepin but out of the Word of God which is the rule of our faith Now out of the Scriptures it is plain as it is demonstrated by many that Justification is every where taken in sensu forensi Qui justificat impium condemnat justum ambo sunt abominationi Jehovae he that justifieth an unjust man and condemneth the just they are both an abomination unto the Lord faith Solomon Here the justification of an unjust is opposed to a condemnation of a godly man and so in all other places the word Justification is taken 2. If this should be the meaning of the word then there should be no distinction betwixt Justification and Sanctification as we find it to the contrary â—ev 22.11 â—om 8.30 Rev. 22.11 He that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still and so Rom. 8.30 And whom he justified them he also glorified where in the word glorified is comprehended Sanctification Glorificatio inchoata velue glorificatio est sanctificatio consummata an inchoated glorifying as Glorification is a consummated sanctifying 3. And then this composition with the word facio doth not always signifie an internal immutation in that thing unto which such a word is attributed Luk. 1.46 as we may see in the Song of the blessed Virgin Mary where she saith Magnificat anima mea Dominum My soul doth magnifie the Lord where Magnificat is compounded out of the word magnus facio Now let them put their heads together and if they can prove any way that the blessed Mother by her magnifying the Lord made in him an inward change we will allow that God by justifying us maketh an inward mutation in us Ante vero leves pascentur in â—here cervi So much concerning the Justification called active now we will descend to the passive or as it is considered in respect of the man justified And so considered it is nothing else but an assurance of our righteousness in Christ and by the imputation of his merits which we receive and apply to our selves by faith Rom. 3.25 26. Rom. 3.25 26. Hence we see the cause meritorious of our Justification to be the merits of Christ as we shewed it a little before and the hand by which we apply this satisfaction of our Saviour or the instrumental cause to be faith Rom. 5.28 Therefore saith Paul we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law It is as plain in the holy Word of God as that the cause of the day is the Sun that we are only justified by faith Gratia salvati estis per fidem By grace are ye saved through faith and that not of your selves Eph. 2.8 it is the gift of God. So that I will not insist upon this matter any longer Rom. 3.20 and therefore immediately conclude with the Apostle against the Popish Creed That by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledg of sin There is therefore no justification in the sight of God by our works but only by faith which applieth the Panacea of salvation unto our dead hearts and makes us to live in him and him in us We are not so unreasonable as to separate works from our faith nevertheless we affirm that it is faith only that justifieth that which sees is only an eye that which weighs is only an arm nevertheless neither of them can either see or weigh unless they be annexed to the human body so although faith is said to justifie only the meaning is not that it is separated from the good works The holy Apostle James saith Jam. 2.24 We are justified by works and not by faith only It is true but he understands either the justification before men as we may see it out of Jam. 2.18 Shew me thy faith by thy works or else the confirmation of the inward faith by the outward doings or else he uses a kind of a Metonymia effecti so that he may understand by the faith and works a working-working-faith which he seemeth to insinuate in the fore-mentioned place Ye see then how that by works a man is justified Ibid. Jam. 2.17 and not by faith only that is not by a bare faith which if it hath not works is dead being alone but by a living faith which shews its goodness by works Therefore we are not justified by works but as I said by faith and every one who looks into himself and his weakness must utter the Confession of Bellarmine Bellar. de bon oper Propter humanae vitae fragilitatem propriae justitiae incertitudinem tutissimum est inâ— sola Dei misericordia spem collocare For the sake of the frailty of human life and the uncertainty of our own righteousness it is the most secure way to relye upon the only mercy of God. Consider kind and civil Reader the words of this Cardinal who as I can shew if necessity
or as one saith Christ himself when he speaketh Let Christ judg of this controversie who although he be absene in his person yet is present in his word Hence doth flow that the Scriptures may be justly called a Judg not proclaiming outwardly the sentence but deciding the question as a Law and so it may be called a judex normalis a normal Judg being it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart We did shew as I believe shortly and clearly that the Protestant Churches do vindicate sufficiently the authority of the holy Scriptures and derogate nothing at all from their adjuncts and proprieties Now I will come to the second part of our argument and shew that the Protestants do teach according to the doctrine of the Holy Ghost contained in the Scriptures I will pass by these common places of Divinity as touching God in his Works Proprieties and Persons by reason the Papists do believe the same as the Protestants except in some preter-fundamental things which we will have better opportunity to speak of somewhat lower Only this I touch at present that Jesuital definition of the Free will is very false and erroneous viz. that it is Facultas qua positis omnibus ad agendum praerequisitis aliquis possit agere non agere A faculty by which all the requisites belonging to the doing of a thing being present a man can nevertheless chuse to do it or no I say it is false because besides that when the object is present the will by the determination of the last practical judgment of our reason embraces the object without any dilation likewise it is impossible that a man should change Gods Decree which is one of the requisits Act. 17.28 Psal 7.6 Isa 4.10 Psal 8.11 putting a man into a performance of this or another kind of an action by reason as God himself cannot change so neither can his Will because he saith himself My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure and David The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all generations After all the requisites to the prodition and betraying of Christ were found in Judas as viz. the determination of his Will by his Reason the taking of the money c. Judas could not chuse but betray Christ by reason the highest requisite was present which is the Will of God and his determination or his hand and his counsel in order unto which the Son of man was of necessity to be delivered into the hands of sinful men Act. 1.28 Luk. 24.7 and be crucified and the third day rise again All which could have been changed if the free-will of Judas had been of that condition our Jesuitical definition speaks of The Protestants therefore are sounder in this case as well as in the rest because they define the free-will thus Arbitrium humanum est facultas agendi libere absque coactione determinatione physica ad unum that is The will of a man is a faculty doing a thing freely without coaction or physical determination to one Because not every necessity taketh away the freedom of our will but only that which is of coaction and of physical necessity for the free will cannot be forced as to its actus elicitos or internal acts but quoad imperatos or external nor can it be determined to one thing only as the fire is determinated to burning Therefore it is not free from the Divine determination nor from the last judgment of the practical reason nor in the unregenerate from sin unto which although it be determined yet considered specifically it hath freedom to make a choice betwixt sin and sin So that in an unregenerated man it is only free to sin neither can a man by the vertue of the same arrive to the doing of any Theological good 1 Cor. 3.5 Col. 2.13 Eph. 2.3 5.14 2.12 Rom. 14.23 For we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but our sufficiency is of God being we are by nature the children of wrath we are dead without God and every imagination of the thought of our heart is only evil continually Gen. 6.5 and from our youth Cap. 8.28 And the best that any unregenerate man seemeth to do is but bad by reason it doth not proceed from faith which qualifieth the work Just then as a privatione totali non datur regressus ad habitum nisi per potentiam infinitam from a total privation can be no returning to a habit unless by the infinite power so likewise from sin which is privatio rectitudinis debitae inesse a want or a privation of the righteousness which ought to be within us there is no returning to justice or righteousness Joh. 11.43 unless God awaken us and speak to our dead hearts Rise up Lazarus unless he commandeth the Sun of Righteousness to rise in our dark hearts as he did in the first Creation Mal. 4. saying Let there be light Gen. 1. And truly because Regeneration according to the phrase of the holy Scriptures is nothing else but a new creation Eph. 2.10 For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works saith Paul and elsewhere In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing Gal. 6.15 nor uncircumcision but a new creature confer Gal. 6.15 cum Col. 3.10 Hence David prays God should create a clean heart in him it cannot be attributed to any else but only to the Infinite power Phil. 2.13 which is in God who worketh in us both to will and to do according to his good pleasure Whatever good works therefore are or were to be found in Heathens are not without reason call'd by Austin August Mat. 5.45 Splendida peccata shining sins I do not deny they may do somewhat good morally by the general influence of the Almighty according to Paul's saying The Gentiles do by nature the things contained in the Law Rom. 2.19 yet they can do no good as it is considered Theologically because they are destitute of faith which purifieth the heart and of a right end of their doing Act. 15 9. which is Gods glory Being they do not absolutely shew this or the t'other sin but for that they may shew themselves before people as Socrates did shun Intemperance for to gain by it vain-glory Hence it floweth that Justification Sanctification and the like are not ours but Gods so that when God confers upon us as justified and sanctified the eternal glory he may be well said August to crown with reward his own gifts and not our merits As to Justification which we first intend to speak of it is twofold active and passive Or else it is to be considered either in respect of God justifying or in respect of the man justified In the first respect it is nothing else but an outward absolution of a sinner and a proclamation made by God of a
requires at the end of the greatest Controversies which are handled betwixt us and the Romanists yields to the truth and is more though an Italian a Protestant than a Papist So then we have by the grace of God shewn Justification as in relation to God to be a forensick pronunciation of the righteousness of a sinner and the passive one to be only by faith and a living faith which applys to her the merits of our Saviour As to Sanctification we will not speak any thing of it by reason the Papists do not dispute much against the Protestants in this matter only I utterly deny these works which we do to be meritorious which are conducing and necessary to our salvation necessitate medit as a means by which we should arrive to everlasting salvation Bernhard saith very handsomely of them Bernhard Opera bona sunt via ad regnum non causa regnandi Good Works are a way to Heaven but not the cause of it Neither doth the distinction of the Papists betwixt the works de congruo and de condigno mitigate their assertion For besides that the congruency of Gods reward for our works consists only in his own pleasure Fear not little flock for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luk. 12.32 Likewise which I always admired they have found no other place out of the Scriptures or in them for the asserting the condignity or meritoriousness as it is considered in it self of good works besides this place which doth contradict them to their faces Non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis gloriae in nobis revelandae This is the only place where the word condignae is to be found Ex ungue leonem It is enough to give a small portraiture of truth because Wisdom which hath many sons can be justified by them I will go further and shew how the Protestant Church teacheth well of the Sacraments that are seals of the righteousness of faith Rom. 4.11 and give a short view of the Papists Errors As touching Baptism both of the parties confesseth the same to be a Sacrament of Initiation by which we are implanted in fide parentum which I hold in the faith of our Parents into the Church which is the Body of Christ But falsly do the Papists affirm that first it doth work ex opere operate by its own vertue in order to our Regeneration and the taking away of the Original sin not only because a thing corporal and outward can have no influence into things spiritual as to their amendment but all proceeds from God only Omne bonum donum omnis perfecta Donatio descendit a patre luminum saith James But because a sign of the Covenant cannot contribute the things in it comprehended neither is it apparent by the effect by reason those that have been baptized are and have been subject to everlasting damnation and have fallen from that former Illumination of which speaketh the Apostle Heb. 6.4 And if this Sacrament should work ex opere operato Heb. 6.4 Rom. 4.9 10. Grace or Regeneration c. Surely Abraham could not have been as he was counted righteous by faith in uncircumcision Moreover in the times Primitive and especially as to them that were baptized being at age Faith was required before the seal of Righteousness was stamp'd upon their souls and consciences Now being that faith is a cause of other vertues and graces and hath adjoyned to it self that great work of Repentance it must needs follow that the Apostle requiring faith as to the aged did suppose in them other graces not thinking that the same should be conferred upon them by the Baptism but rather sealed and confirmed Yea because the Sacrament of Baptism is a seal of the Righteousness of faith and not a thing working out by its internal Power Faith and Regeneration This same reason hath moved Austin and other of the ancient Fathers to affirm that Children are baptized either in fide parentum in the faith of their parents if faithful Christians or else in fide Ecclesiae in the faith of the Church viz. if their parents be unknown or Infidels because they were perswaded that faith is required before baptism rather than conferred by it So that we think that in these Children which are elected there is an operation of the Holy Ghost from the beginning which although not sensibly yet efficaciously worketh upon their tender hearts and minds and if it doth not work in them subjectively some kind of faith or else an actual faith yet it objectively applieth the benefits of Christ which are otherwise received by an actual faith Now that no body should think we do charge falsly our Adversaries the Papists with this assertion I will shew the Courteous Reader the reason why they do assert thus and then evince the same out of another custom of theirs in this holy Sacrament As to the reason why it is this Because they say that Children dying without being baptized cannot be saved but are in a limbus infantum a kind of a hole prepared for Children where they suffer paenam damni sed non paenam sensus that is they are deprived only from the Vision of God but are not subject to any sensible torment If then their election which is unchangeable Act. 2.39 and the being under the Covenant of Grace which as well belongeth to them as their Parents cannot save them because of their not being baptized Surely baptism which maketh them able to demand Heaven must work these graces by its internal vertue by which they may arrive to the eternal happiness 2. They say none can be saved without the Church and none can be counted as a Member of it unless he be baptized So then if the baptism only maketh us Members of the Church without which we cannot be saved Baptism likewise must operate by its internal vertue those graces by which we are saved As to the custom in some particulars it is this They think the holy Baptism to be so absolutely necessary to salvation that they in case of necessity do approve the baptism of Women if they only observe the form of the baptism Which evinces that they think baptism to work as we said formerly ex opere operato Having shewed the truth of our charge laid unto them I will shew with one argument the falsness of them both As to the first That not all Children that die without baptism are to be deprived of the beatifical Vision 2 Sam. 12.18 23. is as sure as that David who was saved was to go after his death to his child which was dead without circumcision instead of which baptism succeeded as we may infer out of Col. Col. 2.11 12. Act. 2.39 2.11 12. It is as fure as that the promise of everlasting salvation belongeth to the Children which argument is to be pressed as well against Anabaptists denying the seal to the Children unto whom belongeth