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
after the spirit And to this purpose our Lord himself speaks though not in the same words Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but he that doth the Will of my Father which is in Heaven For what is it to do the Will of the Father but as Paul expresses it to walk not after the flesh but after the spirit In which place a perfect obedience to the whole Law is not required to Iustification but the meaning of our Lord's words is this that he requires a Faith which is not counterfeit nor hypocritical but upright and sincere which doth not only outwardly and with the mouth make mention of the name of the Lord or the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord as the Pharisees and Hypocrites did of old but heartily endeavours to walk in the fear of God and though it cannot perform all things commanded in the Law yet it strives as much as in it lies to shun all things that are contrary to the Will of God that at least sin may not have the dominion if it cannot be wholly excluded or rooted out Thus I understand these words of Christ To do the Will of his Father which is in Heaven For God requires us to do his Will but does not exact a compleat perfection of Obedience in this Mortal Life On the contrary he that makes an outward shew of Faith and an external profession of the Name of Christ whilst he takes no care to lead a Life suitable to his profession but runs on in sins against his Conscience it is certain that such a Faith according to the saying of Christ profits him nothing though he boast in the Name of the Lord as much as he will not that Faith without Works doth not justifie before God provided it be true and not counterfeit that is if it is received into a heart truly humbled as seed into good ground But because that Faith which doth not provoke unto Love and good Works though it may be boasted of at a high rate yet in reality it is no Faith at all but only a shadow and false resemblance of Faith And the same Answer may serve for all their Arguments which they have wrested out of the Sermons of Christ in the Gospel to defend their Doctrine of Iustification by Works Of which sort are these next following Argument Matth. 7. Many shall say to me in that day Lord we have prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name we have cast out Devils and in thy Name we have done many mighty works Then shall I profess unto them I know you not depart from me ye that work iniquity From these words they draw this Argument Ce. Whosoever is rejected of Christ is not justified La. Every one that works iniquity though he hath the Faith of Miracles is rejected of Christ. Rent Therefore he that works iniquity tho' he hath Faith he is not justified Or thus We are approved by Christ after the same manner that we are justified By Works ofRighteousness we are approved of Christ. Therefore by Works of Righteousness we are justified Answer I answer to the first The Minor must be understood with a distinction He that works iniquity is taken two manner of ways in Scripture Sometimes godly men work iniquity and likewise wicked men for both of them sin but they differ in their manner of working iniquity Godly men commit many things which they hate and which are truly sins But because they delight not in them in their inner man but in their love to Christ they endeavour with all their might to return unto God by Repentance God doth not impute their sins to them wherefore those sins that are done away by remission are not reckoned for sins But the case is far otherways in those that are wholly bent upon the fulfilling of the lusts of the flesh and continue in them with delight and satisfaction And unto them belongs that sentence of Christ whereby he commands all that work iniquity to depart from him As touching the second Argument it is a fallacy a non causa pro causa as we call it if our Vertues were of sufficient efficacy to merit the Grace of God there would be some ground for that which they infer Now our Works being such as have always need of Mercy and never satisfie the Law of God nor bring Peace to the Conscience nor support us under the stroke of Death or the weight of Iudgment How evidently doth it hence appear what we should answer to this Argument Good Works are pleasing to God I grant their assumption But first the person must please God and be reconciled to him that so his works may please and be acceptable for the person being once reconciled the works from thence derive their dignity I acknowledge therefore that works of Piety are pleasing to God but yet only as they are performed by persons reconciled and justified But if the manner how they that do good works are reconciled be enquired into they do not obtain Reconciliation by works but before all merits of works for works go not before him that is to be justified as a cause thereof but always as an effect follow him that is justified As fruits if they be good they receive their goodness from the Tree whence they grow but they are not the cause why the Tree is good So in like manner we grant with Augustine that the righteous have great merits But it comes not from their merits but from another caufe that they are righteous So Iacob was beloved of God before he had done either good or evil What did David before he was anointed King to deserve so great a dignity The same may be said of Abraham of whom we read in sacred Records how great things were promised to him when first he was called away from his Fathers house But the Scripture gives us no account of any merits of his as if thereby he had Right unto so great preferments What shall I say of Adam did he not first lose Paradise before he received the promise of recovery And God had respect unto the Sacrifice of Abel What is your Opinion concerning this Did the worth of his Oblation procure him this favour Or shall we say there was some other thing that made his person acceptable to God before he had any regard to his Sacrifice If you cast your Eyes about upon all the Histories of the holy Scripture and take a view of all the Generations of the People of Israel when God in his great goodness did bear with all the provocations of that People can you discern any thing in their works that merited so great long-suffering and patience or should we say that it was only for the sake of Christ that was to be born of that Nation In like manner it may be said of the Church which though it hath been
whole Wherefore there can be no surer demonstration that Faith only justifies than is held forth in these very words of the Sacrament whereby the flesh and blood of Christ is represented in that holy Banquet under the similitude of Bread and Wine Another Argument Unless your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Therefore not Faith only but also Works of Righteousness exalt us to the Kingdom of Heaven I answer By these words the Lord gives us serious Instruction what manner of lives they ought to live that are justified But he doth not thereby signifie what is the proper cause of Iustification one Iudgment should be made of the causes of things and another of their effects If you enquire for the cause of Iustification the Lord hath resolved that doubt Thy Faith hath saved thee This is Life eternal that they should know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent In like manner Paul expressed himself If thou confess the Lord Iesus with thy mouth and believe with thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved But if you enquire what manner of lives they ought to live that make sincere profession of the Faith of Christ we are taught in this place and many other sayings of Scripture that they ought to differ much from the lives of the Scribes and Pharisees to wit that they who are created in Christ Iesus should behave themselves without a Pharisaical Vizard of external Holiness or a proud conceitedness of their own Righteousness but that they should be adorned and beautified with sincerity and uprightness of mind and persevere in the practice of good Works which God hath prepared that we should walk in them he said not that we should be justified by them but that being justified by his Grace we should walk in them bringing forth fruits worthy of our Vocation Another Argument Every Tree that bears not good fruit shall be cut down and cast into the fire Luke 3. Therefore Faith only is not sufficient to Salvation without Repentance I acknowledge the Divine Authority of that Prophecy which is true as it is generally known to all that have heard of the Gospel For who would endure an Unfruitful Tree that cumbers the ground and beares either no Fruit at all or such as is hurtful to the Husbandman But suppose it brings forth good Fruit and beautiful to look upon I would ask them whether the abundance of Fruit be the cause or whether it is not rather the demonstration of the Tree's Fruitfulness and whether the Fruits do not rather receive their growth from the Root whence they come Therefore if Repentance is reckoned amongst Fruits it doth not make the Man in whom it receives its first beginning perfect and good but only evidences what manner of Man he is now and hath formerly been For unless a wicked Life had gone before no Repentance had followed after Moreover Repentance could do no good unless Faith be joyned therewith by which a broken hearted Sinner may get access to the Throne of Grace But you may say Are not grief and remorse for Evil deeds and resolutions to the contrary things very acceptable to God and are not only conducible to the amendment of former miscarriages but also a great cause of future Reformation I Answer The sorrow of an afflicted Conscience which we call Repentance is a lovely effect but it proceeds from an Evil cause yet I deny not that it is a very excellent thing and never too late but always acceptable to God if so be it is accompanied with Faith in Christ. Neither do I deny that by means thereof Men are deterred from their customary Evil courses and stirred up to the exercise of Vertue Which though we grant to be true what doth all this avail towards the justifying of a sinner from those Sins that he hath formerly committed If a Man hath transgressed the Laws of the Commonwealth and being arraigned before a Iudge is forced to give account of all the actions of his Life will it be enough for him to say I was in an errour or I repent of my fault Will fear of judgment or shame set a Man free from the condemnation due to sin unless the Righteousness of a bleeding Saviour apprehended by faith do interpose and ward off the stroke of Divine vengeance from the guilty Sinner Without shedding of Blood saith the Apostle there is no remission Now then if neither Holiness of Life nor Prayers nor Tears nor the Blood of all the Saints can avail any thing towards the mitigation of the bitterness of this Iudgment and the only remedy be the death of the only begotten Son of God what will your Repentance do in this case Indeed I acknowledge that the Scripture attributes much to Repentance and there are glorious promises annexed thereunto but two things must be considered here First Of how large an extent the Promises are and next to whom they do belong for there are some rewards given in this Life and others that are reserved for Life Eternal Verily Eternal Life which is the benefit of Redemption as it could not be purchased by any works of ours so likewise it is not promised as the reward of Repentance or if in any Scripture it seems to be so promised it is not simply upon the account of Repentance but for another cause To wit the faith of the worker and not the work it self Therefore these things should be put each of them in their own places and comprehended within their own bounds That it may be understood aright what Faith does and what Repentance and what efficacy is in both and how they are distinguished from one another and also how they being joyned together do contribute mutual assistance to one another in the Iustification of the Ungodly For though we deny not that both are very pleasing to God yet the one is acceptable to him one way and the other another way For faith is acceptable through Christ but Repentance only upon the account of Faith And it is also a certain truth that though by faith only as the procuring cause we obtain Iustification in the sight of God Yet this very faith doth not put forth its power of Iustifying upon any but penitent and broken-hearted Sinners and therefore in the Gospel we are so often invited to Repentance Not that it is not true faith only which justifies without Repentance but because faith if it be true justifies no others but them that have turned from their Sins in sincerity and are converted unto God by Repentance For such as have no trouble of Conscience nor sorrow for Sin but run on obstinately against their Conscience and continue in their Evil courses it is a vain thing for them to hope for Iustification by Faith whereof they falsely boast for all such stout-hearted Sinners
defilements of the mind and all the roots of filthiness and impurity I say where will that man be found who performs these and all other duties of true Piety and so performs them that nothing in his Life seems superfiuous nothing is unequal in his duties nor defective in his manners I think he may be found in the Books of Osorius but not in the Life in the daily Confessions or in the Holy Absolutions of Osorius There was of Old I confess the Image of this most perfect righteousness seen and known upon the Earth But that Phoenix hath long since left the Earth and departed hence to Heaven and now sits at the right hand of Majesty drawing all to himself and I wish that at length he may draw Osorius also to himself What if the Lord himself looking down from Heaven upon the Sons of Men is affirmed in the Prophetical Psalm to have found all their ways corrupted and depraved if the Mystical and Royal Holy Psalmist durst not in confidence of his own righteousness enter into judgment with his God or present himself to be tryed by him and condemns all other mortal men of unrighteousness without excepting so much as one If Paul writing to the Romans in a very serious debate confirms the same and stops the mouths of all men that he may bring men over having called them away from a vain trust in their own works and convinced them of the vanity thereof to the help of the Son of God only which is placed in the faith of him If Iohn the Apostle yea and if that powerful proclaimer and defender of humane righteousness could not himself deny but that in many things we offend all I pray you O Osorius Will you now rise up after them not the eighth but the ninth Proclaimer of Righteousness being a mortal and sinful man who dare affirm to others that which you cannot perform your self after this manner That it is either righteousness or nothing which obtains us the favour of God and makes us acceptable and like unto him Qu. What do I hear is there nothing else I beseech you What then Is Faith nothing Is Grace nothing Is the Mercy and Promise of God nothing Do the Merits of Christ profit nothing to Salvation So that now there is nothing which reconciles us to God but the righteousness of works What Do you so place all righteousness in works that you think there is no righteousness of Faith Then you think perhaps that the righteousness of faith and works is one and the same and you make no difference between the Law and the Gospel whereas Paul teaches you far otherwise who openly and with great fervency of Spirit deprecates that other righteousness which is of works that he may be found in him not having the righteousness which is of the Law but that which is of the Faith of Christ which is of God righteousness by Faith Do you not perceive here a manifest opposition between these two To be justified by the Law and to be justified by Faith yea and those very things which Paul removed far away from him as Dung in respect of obtaining Salvation Will you pave that only way for us to Heaven And in the mean while disputing about works I discourse of these things with you as if there were any such strength of so great vertues in this life as could deserve not only the reward of righteousness but also the name thereof What will you say if the most holy performances and endeavours undertaken in whatsoever manner by the most perfect men in this corrupted nature are so unprofitable to the immortality of Life that they are rejected by Christ as things without profit yea that they are despised and utterly contemned in the sight of God like a menstruous cloth as the Prophet Isaiah witnesseth unless they be underproped with better Grace and the commendation of Faith What if in Isaiah we are all said and that truly to have gone astray like Sheep every one in his own way from whom so great a Prophet doth not separate himself What do you suppose should be judged of our virtues and righteousness But you will say this complaint of the Prophet belongs not to all in the general but only to the Iews who in those times wickedly forsook their duty but by the same reason you may affirm that all the diseases of all men and times were not healed by the Death of Christ but theirs only who in those times had gone astray out of the way as lost Sheep But how frivolous this cavilling is it appears evident by the context of this Prophetical Prediction Whereby you see Osorius being convinced by Sacred Testimonies that those merits of our greatest vertues if they be looked upon in themselves are far from the perfection of that righteousness which your Philology Cloaths with very beautiful Colours Which yet I would not have to be so said by me nor underslood by you as if those that live vertuosly did nothing aright and praise worthy in this life Or as if the Godly Works of the Saints were not acceptable to God which God himself hath commanded to be done for thus you reason concerning Works that they come not indeed without Faith and the Grace of God but yet so that when they come you affirm that the Kingdom of Eternal Salvation is due to them by the best right not only as a recompense and reward but also as a lawful Patrimony as if the promise of Salvation depended not on Evangelical Faith but on the Righteousness of the Law and not on Christs merits only unless a Covenant of Works be joined together with it or as if faith it self profited nothing for the obtaining of Life upon any other account but that it may procure Grace which may stir us up to the praise-worthy performances of works by which works we attain unto eternal Life Faith Iustifies no otherways but upon the account of good works according to the opinion of Osorius For so your words do manifestly signifie where treating of Faith and enquiring why we are said to be saved by it you presently add a cause because say you we obtain the Divine protection only by faith and so very easily observe the precepts of the law and obey Divine Institutions and again concluding to the same purpose No man that is in his right wits shall obtain Salvation except he keep the Law or which is equivalent thereunto except he be ready and prepared in his mind te keept it And again in the same place discoursing of the Salvation of Christians Do you ask how a man is Saved Is there another way prepared for Salvation but what is eontained in the Law of God none at all Therefore we miserable mortals have a way to the Immortal Kingdom laid out and shewed unto us and that a very easie one you Osorius being our guide and teacher which is
much more cause to fear than his vertues give him to hope And what remedy then shall remain for the perplexed consciences of Men if the Righteousness of Christ being hid from their Eyes you leave nothing for hope or consolation but the righteousness of the Law Or with what comfort will you raise up the Spirit of a fallen and afflicted Sinner when the Law useth to shew what every Man should do aright but can pardon no Man what is done amiss must you not here of necessity be compelled to leave the Righteousness of the Law and presently to appeal to the Righteousness of Christ And I think you will not at all deny that but say you seeing this righteousness of Christ is no other but that which is the righteousness of the Law yea and the very perfection of the Law therefore it is not necessary that we should make a twofold Righteousness but one only both of Christ and of the Law But 't is not a difficult thing to answer to this objection Indeed it must be confessed if you consider the things by themselves and compare the one with the other by a mutual relation there seems not to be any difference between the Righteousness of Christ and of the Law Because there is nothing in the Law so Holy and perfect but it appears as evident in the Life of Christ But if you consider the efficacy and manner of working which the Righteousness of Christ and of the Law exercises in others if you consider the effect and end of both there is a great difference For though Christ is no otherwise just in himself than the Law it self is Holy and Iust But yet this which is called the Righteousness of Christ acts in us much otherwise than that which is called the Righteousness of the Law so that nothing seems more unlike or more contrary The difference between the Righteousness of the Law and the Gospel FIRST as touching the Law what the Nature Vertue and Efficacy thereof is it is unknown to no Man To wit that it is of it self a Holy and Perfect Rule and Mistress to teach how to lead the Life made for this purpose by the most Holy God that Creatures might certainly know what they should fly and what they should follow as it contains in it self the very Rule of all perfection in all respects compleat so it requires perfect obedience in all respects and upon all accounts upon this condition that he that doth these things shall live in them But on the contrary he that doth otherwise and abides not in all the Law pronounces a Curse against him and inflicts the vengeance of Death and heaps up anger and indignation upon him For by the Law the Wrath of God is declared from Heaven being justly kindled against all Men that are wicked and unjust upon any account Whereby it comes to pass that the Law indeed being it self Holy and Good was not given for this that it should bring Destruction but Salvation but yet the same being hindred by the infirmity of our flesh it cannot but kill us but cannot at all save us by its own means not for any default or tyranny of its own but by taking just occasion from the refractory rebellion of our flesh which as it naturally hath an enmity against God so it cannot avoid being contrary to his Sacred Will and Divine Institutions And hence break forth so many and so great calamities that fall upon this sinful Nature of ours hence so many proofs of the Divine Indignation and Anger hence also that dreadful and unavoidable necessity of dying which when it passes promiscuously through all ages and kindreds which none of the most Holy Men could ever drive away from themselves verily that one thing proves us all to be guilty of unrighteousness and that there is not any perfection of righteousness in our most righteous works for if the Wages of Sin be Death it cannot be that there should be any extinction of Life there where no unrighteousness is seen Therefore O Osorius if the Law cannot defend thee in this Life with all thy works from Death will the same save thee after Death and restore thee to Life when thou art Dead Concerning Evangelical Righteousness AND hitherto these things have been explained by us concerning the Righteousness of the Law as it is considered out of Christ. Now let us again turn our eyes unto Christ and consider what his Righteousness without the Law worketh in us And here first of all a wonderful and most manifest difference between the Law and Christ presents it self unto us For seeing the Law as hath been said can give no Life according to the rigour of its Iustice but only to perfect Men Therefore it comes to pass that because it finds nothing perfect in us it being hindered through the infirmity of our flesh can give no help nor work any thing in us but wrath Therefore being repulsed by the Law and destitute of the help of Works let us seek another Patron of Salvation whosoever he be who may help us But there is none who doubts that He is no other but Christ the only Son of God whom we all alike profess through all Churches There is therefore no Controversie remaining between us and our Adversaries concerning the Author of Salvation Nevertheless there remains here another ambiguity or question perhaps not yet cleared enough by all Divines For whereas there is no man but confesses that Righteousness is in Christ in its highest perfection And we have already heard from the Law that there is no fellowship of Righteousness with Unrighteousness here some difficulty comes in how it comes to pass that the Lord Christ all whose Iudgments are most just can or ought against Righteousness favour those who having forsaken their duty have turned aside to Unrighteousness For if the Law of God according to the nature of Righteousness cannot avoid condemning of those that are guilty of wickedness some perhaps may ask What way Christ who doth not any thing but what is most righteous can procure Salvation to those without the violation of his Righteousness whom the Law of Righteousness justly condemns Or if he do it how for what cause and in what manner he does it by Faith or by Works If by Faith whether by Faith only or by the help of Works joyned with it if upon the account of Works whether before Works or after Works or in the very Works But if by Faith only without Works hence ariseth a threefold question 1. What then do good Works avail 2. What Faith that is and of what sort it is which is said to justifie 3. Whom this Faith justifies for they must be either sinners or righteous if sinners they are either penitent or stubborn if you say both you will speak against Righteousness which cannot be well called Righteousness unless it reward according to every mans deeds and merits But
Christ invites unto himself Consciences that are afflicted and burdened with sin Isaiab calls all that are athirst to come without price or any exchange to the Fountains of Christ that they may be refreshed Osorius will bestow the Kingdom which God hath promised upon none but righteous men and eminent good works I beseech you Sir according to your righteousness what excellent good work brought that sinful Woman with her in the Gospel out of whom seven Devils were cast What righteousness appeared in the Thief on the Right Hand of Christ except faith only why he should after the commiting so many evil deeds enter in together with Christ on the same day into Paradise what other thing did the Woman of Canaan that was a stranger bring to Christ but an importunate cry of faith so that she carried home not Crumbs but whole Loaves of Divine Grace What deserved the miserable Woman with the bloody Issue or Iairus the Governour of the Synagogue or Zacchaeus of Matthew or other Publicans with them why they being perferred before the Pharisees who seemed so much more righteous should obtain the benefit of free favour being so obvious and exposed unto them There is almost an infinite number of others of the like condition that may be discoursed of after the same manner in whom you can find nothing worthy of so great bounty of Divine Grace but faith only Blind Bartimeus cried the Lepers cried Iesus Master thou Son of David have mercy on us and they were heard For nothing cries louder than faith nothing is more effectual to prevail Let Osorius also cry and let us all cry with the like noise of Faith and we shall be heard alike I speak of that faith which is in Christ Iesus besides which there is not any passage into Heaven nor access unto God nor way of prevailing with God Therefore that we may be heard let us come and knock but let us do it aright to wit by Faith and in the name of only begotten Otherways it is in vain to cry to God who hears not sinners but drives them away who regards not servants and guilty persons unless they come to the Son or in the name of the Son Now by what way we are heard by the same we are Iustified For the Divine reward is always joyned with righteousness Seeing then all of us mortal men are by nature sinners and servants of sin therefore we must see what that is which makes us of servants free men of guilty persons sons of sinners righteous For this is the whole subject matter of the debate this is the question on which the whole controversie depends which is not so difficult to be judged of if the authority of Sacred Scripture may prevail upon impartial judgments For the testimony of the Gospel remains sure and eternal which no mortal man can weaken at any time instructing our faith thus As many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God and that he may teach what it is to receive him he presently explains the same to them saith he that believe in his name c. Whereby it appears evidently what it is to which we are beholden for all that splendor and dignity wealth and riches yea and the possession of Heaven and Life I know that in those excellent offices of good works which you so much cry up in the exercise of charity and observance of Righteousness there is great weight and also great benefit as I consess also that the law it self hath great efficacy if a man use it lawfully Now the use of the law consists in this that it should bring us to Christ and be subservient to his glory But when you have heaped all these things together into one whatsoever were by God either prescribed to us in his Law or written within us they are far from restoring perfection to a mans deeds that are altogether imperfect or to a mans person that is wholly destroyed and ruinated They are far from making us of servants freemen of Slaves of Satan Sons of God heirs of his Kingdom co-heirs of Christ fellow Citizens of the Saints and Domesticks of the highest Father Verily that is not the Office of the Law but of Christ And it is not righteousness but grace that does this This is not the efficacy of works but of Faith which relying not upon works but being strengthned only by the promise of God brings us from bondage to liberty from death to life adopts us being reconciled unto God makes us Sons of the promise which is so far from being joyned with Charity and Works that it reconciles Charity it self and all works of life unto God and justifies them without which they could not have place in Heaven in the presence of the great God Upon what account and how Faith justifies Fallen Sinners NOW because I have demonstrated what the power of Faith is and what it performeth I must of necessity explain upon what account and for what cause Faith procureth unto it self so great efficacy and power of Iustifying how it is said to Iustifie alone without Works and what Men the same Iustifies whether the righteous or the wicked If the righteous what need is there now of Iustification or Faith when the Law is sufficient If the wicked whether those that are penitent and converted or the impenitent and rebellious If the Faith of Christ justifies the penitent frees them from guilt and makes them righteous of unrighteous which neither you your self can deny Why then do you inveigh against Luther so unmodestly and undeservedly Does Luther either say or teach any other thing Where does he at any time let loose the Reins to sin or promise liberty to the wicked or preach Iustification otherways than to those who being reformed by Repentance breathe after Christ and joyn themselves to him by Faith What Will you shut out those from all hope of pardon I trow not And what remedy then will you shew them Will you send us to the Faith of Christ or to the Sentence of the Law to heal our wounds What if the Law gives no help here and there is not any other thing in man that can help righteousness once violated except Faith only placed in Christ which neither you your self can deny And if this very Faith brings Salvation to none but those that deplore the sins they have committed which together with you Luther affirms to what purpose are those out-cries against Luther so Tragical and raised without any cause Wherefore then dost thou deceive us O Luther For when thou d'dst condemn pious tears and didst cast reproaches upon wise sorrowfulness and didst plead that all works were not only unprofitable but pernicious And presently going on in the same stile and waxing more violent For when say you thou didst put so much in faith that thou saidst there was help enough in that only the sense of thy
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
and damage to his estate and again that a Christian gives only a cup of cold Water to a thirsty man in the name of Christ in the things themselves if merits only be valued there seems a very great disproportion But there is much greater inequality in the distributing the reward Though a Turk bestows many thousands of Talents upon the poor he gains not any thing at all thereby with God A Christian by one Cup not of Wine but of cold Water loses not his reward yea he finds Life What is the cause What should you think O Osorius but because those things are not valued by merits but by faith not by the condition of the work but of the worker not by the price of the thing but by the dignity of the person In Iustification not so much the Condition of the Deeds as of the Persons is regarded SEE I beseech you of how great concernment it is that a person should first be reconciled to God which unless he be received into his favour it is not possible that his works should please him at any time As in the civil and politick nature it is of no small concernment whether a Son or a Servant acteth upon the account of reward in like manner in the Heavenly generation there is a great difference between Sons and Servants The Heirs of God and Mercenaries For one thing is regarded in Servants and another thing in Sons and their condition appears to be far different It belongs to Servants to be compelled by fear but they that are Sons are drawn by love and they do so much the more in the performance of their duties how much the more gladly they endeavour to please their Father They that serve go about their business only for reward and it is given unto them no otherways than according to their merits Who when they have done all they remain nothing but Servants and unprofitable they never do any thing worthy of an Inheritance On the contrary they who are Heirs and Sons though they shew themselves no less obedient and observe the will of their Father yet they do not therefore obey that they may be made Heirs by Works but because they are Heirs Therefore they work Again they that are in a servile condition do not come but when called by their Master and perform his commands by the impulse of the Law But the case is contrariways in Sons who have always access with boldness into the presence of their Father and cry Abba Father performing much more of their own accord than by the incitement of anothers prescription Servants after they have done their task have their wages paid them according to their merits but they receive no reward of Inheritance But they that are Sons and Heirs an Inheritance is made sure to them not according to their obedience nor by their deeds nor after their deeds but by the faith of the promise and a free donation before all obedience concerning which Faith Paul said It is therefore of Faith that according to Grace the Promise should be firm to all the Seed Moreover in those that are Sons it is only the dignity of the person and not the merits of good life it is the birth and not the works that are regarded But the case is contrariways in Servants for it is not regarded what the person is but what the manner of life In short the Servant as Christ witnesseth abides not in the house for ever But the Son to whom the House is delivered wholly and for ever is never driven out of the House And here Christ only is a Son by Nature we only by the Grace of Adoption He by Birth we by Deliverance of which he himself testifies if the Son saith he shall make you free ye shall be free indeed he being partaker of his Fathers Nature is not made a Son by his life but is born a Son we being Servants by Nature are not born Sons but are born again not by works but by faith But by Christ our Deliverer we are changed from Servants into Sons Not that we cease now to be the same that we were in this life sinners miserable weak mortal for this transformation from servants into sons is not so much performed in us or in the change of our qualities but chiefly in the love of God to us For he hath so high an esteem and puts so great a value on Christ his only begotten that with a fatherly love and affection he embraceth all those of mankind throughout the world that believe in this Son of his and looking upon them now as Sons adopts them for his Sons out of their servile estate yea and makes them coheirs together with his Son Whence St. Paul said ye are not now servants but sons and if sons then also heirs of God through Christ for ye are all the Sons of God by Faith which is in Christ Iesus Whosoever of you are baptized ye have put on Christ. Ye are all one in Christ Iesus But if ye are Christs then are ye the seed of Abraham and heirs according to the promise Concerning which also Iohn speaks to this purpose see what love the Father hath given us that we should be called the Children of God And again presently repeating the same Dearly beloved saith he now we are the Sons of God and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be c. The Absurdities that arise from the Osorian Righteousness WHich things seeing they are guarded with most sure confirmations of Evangelical Scripture hence it necessarily follows that all this Discourse of yours about righteousness falls down from the foundation For if there is no union with God the eternal father but to those who by on exact observation of the law conform and direct all their actions to the will of God which is the law of equity and rule of Iustice you make us not now to be Sons nor Heirs according to the promise but mercenaries according to the condition of the law Moreover by this means also it will come to pals that the promise is sure to no man in his life time which is directly oppofite not only to the mind of Paul but also to the genuine condition of Sons For who in the time of this life lives so exactly according to the commands of God that hitherto he hath never passed the limits thereof or knows what he will do in the remainder of his life Whereby it will come to pass that the mind must needs waver hither and thither with a perpetual uncertainty Moreover if that be accounted sure by the word and promise of the Gospel that they are heirs as many as are ingrafted into Christ then the Kingdom of God must of necessity be an inheritance If an inheritance then it is not a recompence nor a reward but a Patrimony which is not due to deeds but to the spiritual birth-right If to the
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
Obliging to eternal punishment is not only taken away in the life to come but also in this life by the holy laver and continual remission of sins for the sake of a Mediator But the infirmity of sinning which is concupiscence in the flesh and ignorance in the mind that I may speak with Hugo it also is abolished in the regenerate but yet after its own order and by its own degrees For it is daily diminished in this Life by the renewing of the Spirit and it shall be abolished in the Life to come by the Resurrection of the Flesh. In the interim the relicks of infirmity stick yet in the Flesh as both Death and Temporal punishments stick yet in the Flesh to exercise the Saints unto Combat not to condemn them to destruction Iust as the Land of Canaan was promised to the Hebrews a great while before which yet they did not suddenly take possession of Neither was the frame of this World made immediately in one moment but the Works of God were perfected in distinct intervals of Days So neither is the whole Flesh suddainly renewed but by degrees and daily increases it is going on unto perfection An example may be conveniently taken from him whom being Wounded the Samaritan cap. 10. Luc. doth not suddainly cure but first pours Wine into his Wounds washes off the Blood afterwards he adds Oyl that he may mitigate the grief and the Wound may begin to cleave together Afterwards the Wound being bound up he puts the Sick-man upon the Beast and afterwards commands him to be cured in the Inn. Iust so Christ suffering the punishment of our Sins in his Body by remission immediately takes away the guilt from us pouring into our Wounds the gladning Oyl of the Gospel joined together with the Wine of serious Repentance whereby whatsoever is deadly in the Wounds is washed away with a health restoring Pardon But the Wounds are not yet altogether healed But health will be compleat in Eternal Life In the interim he will have diseases cured in the Church by Godly Exercises the Cross and constant Prayer Briefly if those Men desire to know what that is which Christ hath abolished in us by his Death I will say it in a word Whatsoever was laid upon Christ on the Cross to be carried away for our sakes that is taken away from us in this Flesh. Only the guilt and punishment of Sin not the matter it self of our actions was laid upon Christ to bear upon the Cross. The act or substance of sin is not wholly abolished by the Death of Christ in this flesh but only the guilt and punishment of sin Or more briefly let them take it thus Whatsoever Christ by dying did bear for us that only he took away by his death in this Life Christ by dying did bear only the punishment of our Sins not the Sins themselves in his Body whereof he had none Therefore Christ in this Life took away only the punishment not the matter it self of sin by his Death But afterwards by his power he shall also take away the whole matter of Sin in the Glory of the Resurection to come Concerning the necessity of the practice and care of good Works THerefore in this place something hath been said of Faith and all that manner of Righteousness which the Divine Authority attributes to Faith only without Works More things elsewhere have been explained by us in other Books From which things just conclusions being drawn it evidently appears if I am not mistaken wherein all our righteousness consists not in Works without Faith nor joined together with Faith but wholly in Faith without Works that is without the merits of Works or any condition of meriting For if Faith which is nothing else but an internal and illuminated contemplation and receiving of Christ the Son of God receives a free promise of Life in him I do not well see what the good deeds of our Life thought excellent can perform in this part of justification Yet it doth not follow from hence that the Holy practice of good Works for necessary uses that I may speak with Paul is not upon any account necessary Neither is it a reason forcible enough if any Man teaches that no trust should be put in Works that therefore there is no need of any care to do good For what Logick is this Works should not be trusted in when they are performed Therefore there is no need to endeavour to perform Good and Holy Works We are no other ways justified but upon the account of Faith which is in Christ Iesus Therefore Offices of Piety are not necessary in those who are justified by Faith Faith only not upon the account of Love but of the Mediatour promotes us to righteousness Therefore it profits nothing to repent and to weep and mourn for sins committed It is of no concernment after what manner every one leads his Life for so you seem to gather and not you only O Osorius but also as many as being like to you bear an enmity to Luther And hence such fierce out-cries of yours against him such odious and bitter ragings reproaches evil reports and outragious invectives being filled not so much with Evil Speeches as most filthy Lyes But this is no new nor strange thing either because you are of your old temper and disposition or because it is and always was the condition of the Gospel which hath already been accustomed enough to such like Enemies and reproaches So Saul persecuted David a most moderate Prince by whom he had never been hurt So when Christ was born Herod was troubled and all Ierusalem with him By the like fury Christ himself the Prince of the Church was slain So of Old Stephen was Stoned The same also did the Ancient Martyrs of all Times hear from their own People which Luther now and other Ministers of Gods Word are forced to hear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take away these Enemies of the god's yea also that Divine Martyr Iohn Huss of latter memory was brought forth to Death in a manner not unlike that whereby Luther is brought forth by you after his Death For they Cloathed him with odious Pictures of Devils and abominable Titles Neither is Luther here handled much more handsomly by you being Cloath'd with most vain Lyes and set forth by you in such Colours not as he really was nor as his Writings had persuaded you concerning him which it seems you have not read but as other accusers to whom you use to give too much credit have described him For what other thing declares this your narrative which is curiously fitted for calumny whereby you make him liker a Monster than a Man as if he brought in a certain new kind of Faith that was not heard of before and was unknown in former times as if he were an example of Wickedness an encourager of Slothfulness an Turbulent Person and disturber of
Religion and trampled upon all Actions worthy of Praise and exercises of Eminent Vertue as things of no worth and condemned Pious Tears and judged those Men abominable and Wicked who wept and mourned for their Iniquities or upon any account lamented the Sins they committed And as if he taught a certain new way of Salvation and such a one as neither requires works of vis nor any sorrow neither occasions any trouble to sinners but teaches that confidence alone is sufficient to wit such a confidence whereby every Wicked and Ungodly Man may be supposed acceptable to God tho'he himself do not at all endeavour to restrain his wickedness or pretend to any desire after Piety but only so supposeth in his own mind that he is dear to God That the favour of God is prepared for all yea for the unclean and Wicked though sin rules and reigns with an universal dominion over them Moreover that Luther should think it a great Wickedness to lament Mans first ruine or fall and to fear punishment c. Besides other things also of the like sort no less absurd than false which being wrested by you to a wrong sense you use to lay to his charge not that they are really true of him but they are puposely feigned by you that by any means possible ye may render him odious to the ignorant People But these cunning attempts of yours avail nothing for the Writings and Sermons of Luther are publickly known There are also extant the publick Confessions of the Saxon. Churches first presented unto Carolus Caesar in the Assembly of Augusta Anno. 1530. And afterwards Anno. 1551. Shewed and offered to the Council of Trent in which what they teach concerning the true way of Iustification according to the Word of God what they Iudge and Preach of repentance and the Holy Fruits of good Works by all which they do sufficiently defend themselves against your frivolous calumnies and most vain accusations that there is no need of any other defence besides The opposite Assertions of the Adversaries against the Free Imputation of Righteousness produced and examined WHich things seeing they are so and sufficient defence hath been made for those of our Profession let us proceed to that which remains We will then first declare the opposite assertions and decrees of the Adversaries what they say and judge concerning Righteousness Faith Grace Repentance and Works and next we will compare their Opinion with ours and both together with the holy Gospel of God that it may be the more evident to the Reader what should be judged of both And here first come forth unto us Osorius none of the meanest Champions in this Cause all whose contention against Luther drives at this to destroy all imputation of Righteousness and to leave no other way of Righteousness but that which consists in works and observation of the Law and which might maintain according to the Decrees of Trent that we are not only esteemed righteous but also are really or inherently Righteous in the sight of God even unto justification In which way of justifying he doth not exclude Faith and Grace but he so mingles these together that the praise it self of Righteousness is founded on works and all else so subservient that Faith first goes before that it may only prepare and make way for the obtaining of Grace And Grace afterwards follows which brings forth good works in us and then works themselves perfect and compleat Righteousness For after this manner doth Osorius dispute in his Third Book And this is the sum of what he says therefore seeing the Law either written on Tables or received by Revelation cannot take away the unbridled lust of the mind and whilst lust remains in its vigour no man can by any means obey the precepts of the Law which are given for our attaining Righteousness Therefore it is that no man relying only on the help of the Law can be holy unless he be furnished with the immediate help of the Holy Spirit against lust and farther because we obtain this Divine help not by the Law but by Faith Therefore it is that all actions of Charity are called works of Faith not of the Law both by other Divine Writers and also by Paul who frequently by the name of Faith understands all Offices of Charity c. You have here a Specimen of the Osorian Righteousness so described by him that Righteousness seems to consist not at all in Faith without Works but in Works which are called Works of Faith not of the Law Which Righteousness whoso wants he denies that it is possible for him to be received into the favour of God 〈◊〉 chiefly upon this Argument Because that Divine Nature being most holy and most pure and which can endure no filthiness of Iniquity it behoveth him therefore that would enjoy the presence thereof to conform himself unto the same Image for there is no Communion between light and darkness there is no union between the holiness of righteousness and the wickedness of unrighteousness Which seeing it is so he therefore concludes that Luther they of Luther's Party do err first in this that they dare assert that sin in those whom that infinite purity hath united unto it self by a most Holy Love is not wholly removed nor altogether abolish'd and pluck'd up by the roots nor all its fibers quite extirpated And also that they affirm that a Law is laid upon us by God which cannot be kept In the one of which the Divine Clemency and Bounty is distrusted In the other abominable reproach is cast upon his Infinite Power and Godhead Concerning Righteousness and its definition given by Osorius and others THou hast ingenuous Reader the whole Model of Osorian Righteousness described in a short compend in which what is true and what is faulty it remains that we should examine with like brevity according to the Rules of Evangelical Doctrine beginning first at the very definition of righteousness because thereupon depends the substance of the whole Controversie For so Osorius defines Righteousness that it is a state of Soul founded on the Law of God and that bears a clear resemblance to the immutability of the Divine Vertue In like manner also Andradius not much differing from him Righteoufness saith he is an unmoveable equity and government of mind which measures all its actions and counsels by the Law of God And the same again presently Righteousness is a habit of mind fashioned by the Divine Law to obey that Divine Law and Will as it perswades to perform the Offices of every vertue C. So that I need not here gather together the definitions of others of the Party of whom I find so many to be of the same Opinion that they think a Righteous Man should be defined from works of Righteousness just as a wise Man from Wisdom a Musician from Musick and other Artificers are formally denominated from
I am so far from slighting that I desire they may remain most firmly fixed in the minds of men for as nothing appears in the most holy manners of Christ which is not very worthy of imitation so no part of duty seems more agreeable to every Christian than that all of us should endeavour with all our might to resemble the image proposed unto us especially seeing Paul so gravely and that in more places than one calls us hereunto who making a Comparison of both Fathers Adam and Christ declares what we received of both By Man saith he came death and by Man came the Resurrection from the dead And presently after proceeding on that matter the first Man was of the earth earthly the second Man is the Lord from Heaven And afterwards concluding with words to the same purpose and exhorting us to imitate the example of his obedience he subjoyns as we have born saith he the image of the earthly let us bear also the image of the heavenly And the Apostle Peter not differing much from Paul proposes Christ for an Example of all long suffering for saith he Christ also suffered for us giving us an Example that ye should follow his footsteps who did no sin who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed all judgment to his Father c. Therefore that you contend so earnestly with the Blessed Apostles for following the footsteps of Christ herein we do very willingly both hear you and assent unto you But that you place all the dignity of our Salvation in this that you refer all the promises of God to this one head as if there were no cause of Salvation but that which is placed only in precepts and instructions of Life herein your discourse seems to pass far beyond the bounds of sound and Apostolick Doctrine For though it is a thing of very great concernment that we should frame all the endeavours and Offices of Life to the imitation of him yet Salvation is not therefore promised because our actions agree to this rule of Righteousness neither is the title of Righteousness given us because we live vertuously but because he was made Righteousness for us For we do not become just before God by imitation but by Regeneration As of Old not through our fault but Adams not by Imitation but by Birth and Propagation the pollution of his Sin was imputed to us unto Condemnation So by vertue of the Second Adam not by any power of our own by being born again not by imitating is Righteousness imputed to us unto the Iustification of Life Neither doth it therefore follow that the examples of Christ are not proposed to us for Imitation It is one thing to reason from causes to effects another thing to reason from effects to causes What if the cause is enquired into that makes us righteous before God Paul will answer That Christ is the external cause who was made Sin for us that we might be made the Righteousness of God through him But the Internal is our Faith in Christ which is imputed to them that believe forRighteousness But if you ask what are the the effects of this cause Who knows not that they are the Fruits of Pious Works and this very imitation of Christ which you so greatly yea and so deservedly cry up and extol For who can rightly call himself a Christian as you say very well who doth not apply his mind as much as he can to separate himself from all society of the Earthly Father and frame and conform himself wholly to the example of the Heavenly I grant this to be very true as indeed it is For I do not disallow of that which you do rightly assume but I confute that which you would falsly gather from hence For thus you conclude To wit that the whole Magazine of our Salvation is placed in this that by our Pious Labour and Industry we should purchase the Kingdom of God for our selves That they who affirm Faith only is sufficient for Salvation are mad and singularly serviceable to the Old Serpent and that every action we undertake is wholly unprofitable if Faith only is sufficient This is the summ of the Epilogue of this whole debate of yours In which what do you else but by an unskilful huddle of things and without order in disputing turn causes into effects and again effects into causes What when the Apostle Admonishes that Wives should be subject to their Husbands and acknowledge their Authority as the Church is subject to Christ her Husband shall she therefore that is by a Lawful Covenant Married to her Husband not be a Wife before there is added a testimony of due obedience So Children born of Creditable Parents use to resemble them not only in the Lineaments of their Bodies but also in the likeness of their Manners of whom they are begotten What if in some part their resemblance fails What if their manners are dissolute What if they have such a Son as the parable of the Gospel represents to us Who leaving his Father doth no part of his duty shall he therefore cease to be a Son Or shall any Man by the merits of his Life attain to be a Son who is by nature a Servant You may say to what purpose are these things That by these examples you may understand that effects depend on causes and causes are not governed by effects An honest Matron carries with that subjection to her Husband that becomes her and he on the otherside performs his duty in cherishing his Wife These things follow the Conjugal bond but they do not make it just so it is in the Spiritual descent which like another nature regenerates us to Christ and transforms us as new Creatures into the Sons of God Of which thing if the cause be enquired not Works not Hope not Charity but only Faith in Christ Not any Imitation but Baptism being the Sacrament of Faith performs it Concerning which let us hear Paul testifying in very evident Words All of you saith he are the Sons of God through Faith in Christ Iesus Whosoever of you are Baptized in Christ have put on Christ. He that walks being Cloathed with Christ What can be wanting to him unto all Glory and Beauty of Righteousness What can any Man desire more for the security of Eternal Life What is more boundless than Sublimity What is more Sublime than Nobility of Birth What is more excellent than the dignity of high degree Than to be received not only for Servants or Dependents of the Mighty God who comprehends all things by his Power but also as Sons yea and Heirs But if you design to be taught how these so many and so great good things come to us Paul makes Answer By Faith saith he ye are all Sons If Sons then Heirs according to promise And if you ask when that comes to pass whether after the
merits of Works or before Works the same Paul will teach you As soon as you are Baptized saith he you have put on Christ. To which also Chrysostom subscribing saith as soon as a Man Belives he is presently also Iustified Which if it be true then it is false which you assert For you affirm that the obtaining of Salvation consists wholly in this that we should transform our selves entirely into the similitude of Christ. And again youn say there is no other way of Salvation established for us but that which is contained in the Law of God And the same you affirmed elsewhere having openly asserted That ascent into Heaven is given to the merits of the greatest Vertues and that the Mansions of the Eternal Kingdom are given justly and deservedly to Holy and Pure Men. For so Say you it comes to pass that the Immortal Kingdom is due by the best right to Iust Men not only as a recompence and remard but also as a Lawful Inheritance being founded upon the Wisdom and Bounty of the Father All which things as being represented gloriously by you seem at a distance to have some shew of Truth if they be referred to that Platonick Righteousness of yours or to the state of our First Innocency But now in this wounded and destroyed Nature they have no place at all but that they may wholly prelude from us all passages into the Eternal Mansions of the Kingdom I know indeed that the Everlasting reward of Righteousness is due by best right to Pure and Holy Men as you say and those that observe the Law unblameably But I know likewise that the Eternal Punishments of Hell are due to those that do not perform the Royal Law according to the Scriptures What would you do in this case good Friend What good can your Platonick Philosophy do here I am not Ignorant what the Lord said to the Rich Pharisee If you will enter into Life keep the commands That indeed is true Do you then perform what he was commanded to do Sell all that you have and give to the Poor and follow Christ Naked But if you do it not what else can you look for but to perish together with him But now the goodness of God hath found out another way to consult our Infirmity who hath not only put upon us the beauty of Righteousness but whole Christ so that you may not only being Naked follow Christ but that whole Christ may live in your self and Cloath you and also may make you a Son of God by Faith What then may some Man say is not the Holy Spirit given to them that trust in Christ to Illuminate their minds with new light to renew their Hearts to enrich them plentifully with the Riches Gifts and Endowments of good Works and to adorn them exceedingly with all kind of Vertues What do these good Works nothing with God which are performed by the influence of the most Holy Spirit Do they contribute nothing towards Righteousness have they no use nor place upon the account of reward For this seems to be the Foundation of all your arguing Where you write these words If we believe the promises of God we presently obtain the help of God that we may very easily do all things that are commanded us and so may be saved And presently after the Interposition of a few words You say Faith causes us to have the Law of God Written in our mind and so to make an everlasting Covenant of Salvation with the Lord. Therefore when we have the Law of God put into the most inward parts of our mind it comes to pass that Lust being subdued Evil concupisence extinguished the pravity of a stubborn mind taken away the mind becomes on a sudden a Temple of the Holy Ghost and is stirred up with all its might to the study of the Law of God And that I may express it in one word such a Man contains the Magnificence and Glory of Divine Righteousness comprehended in his mind And a little after you say Therefore it is of Faith Saith Paul that according to Grace the promise may be firm What manner of promise is that That they who come to the Lord with the Faith of Christ may both be freed from their Wickedness and delivered from the Curse whereunto they were lyable and may have the Law of God Written in their Hearts and have the very Divinity of the Holy Spirit comprehended in their mind and not defile their Life with any wicked deed But may govern it by the Law of God or as it is in Ezekiel They may walk in the commands of God and perform Holy and excellent works and also that they may be Righteous For hereunto all the promises of God are referred c. Answer What do I hear Are then all the promises of God referred to this That there is no hope of Righteousness no way of Salvation no reconciliation for us nor remission of Sins unless the Law be kept And where then is that peace with God which the Apostle Preaches Being justified by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ Where is that access to the Throne with boldness Where is the hope of Glory Happiness the Blessing the Inheritance of Eternal Life according to promise if these good things come no otherways as you suppose but by a Covenant of Life which no spot of Sin defiles What hath your profession of God received this Gospel from the teachings of the Apostles or from the opinion of Plato It is therefore of Faith Saith Paul that the promise may be firm according to Grace But what way is it firm if it is of Works upon any account Or how is it of Faith if you confine all the Promises of God to the Law of Righteousness which may confirm the minds of all men with a sure hope of Righteousness as you say Or what will that assurance of Righteousness be if you with the Tridentine and Iesuitical Iebusites detaining us in a doubtful wavering of hope take aways all encouragement of good hope Concerning the Promises of God what to whom and how God hath promised BUT now because here there is a convenientoccasion of speaking concerning the Promises of God it remains that we should hear from you who treat of these things so sharply what that is which God hath promised to whom he hath promised how and for what cause he doth it Now there are both many and great Gifts of God and Ornaments partly bestowed upon us and partly promised through the singular bounty of his Grace yea seeing there is nothing in this Workmanship of Nature nor in the meanest things but what we ought to acknowledge to be his free Gift if we would be thankful And also amongst all these things which being so many and so great he hath conferted upon us with so liberal a hand I esteem that nothing is more glorious nor more admirable
than this large honour of his Kingdom which the Lord himself promises us in the Gospel Fear not saith he little Flock for it is the good will of your Father to give you the Kingdom Which Paul also makes mention of writing both elsewhere and also to the Colossians Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us unto the Kingdom of his dear Son c. Of which also Daniel a most famous Prophet hath given an ample Testimony The Kingdom saith he and the Dominion and the largeness of the Kingdoms under the whole Heaven shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most High c. In which one benefit seeing the whole Sum of our Felicity is comprehended to wit reconciliation with God imputation of Righteousness remission of Sins Peace with God access with boldness hope the glory of God eternal blessedness and salvation the Inheritance of Eternal Life freedom from the accusation and condemnation of the Law What can any Man either by desires wish for or by Faith conceive more glorius For he that is promoted unto the possession of a Kingdom what more can be added to him unto the highest splendour of Glory and the degree of the most honourable Dignity Therefore we have as you see O Osorius the hereditary Mansions of the Eternal Kingdom promised to us and that not of Works but of Faith not according to Bargain but according to Grace and therefore according to Grace that the Promise may be firm and sure to all the Seed It is a very weighty Cause and Authority not to be contemned For what is more firm for all manner of security than that which relies on the certain faithfulness of God and a free promise On the contrary what is more unstable than that which depends on the most uncertain condition of our Works which are either for the most part evil or always uncertain Why then wilt thou cast us again out of the most firm safeguard of most sure confidence proposed to us which rests most safely in the free bounty of God promising as if thou drovest us out of a Haven of Tranquillity procured for us to be tossed in the tempestuous Waters and Straits of Diffidence and Desperation And do you make those things doubtful and uncertain which through the bounty of God we do as it were hold in our hands with a most assured Faith so that now there is not any thing certain which a man may satisfie his own Soul about touching Salvation for I pray you what can be certain if so be the Grace of the Promise being taken away if Imputation of Righteousness being neglected which is placed in Christ for us the whole matter is brought to the account of our actions and you plead that we are not otherways righteous before God than by performing the Offices of the Divine Law Objection But you will say What hath not God promised in Iereremiah and Ezekiel to those that come to God by Faith that they shall have his Law written in their mind that they shall have the very presence of the Holy Ghost within their mind and defile their life with no sin but govern it by the Law of God and walk in the Precepts of God and perform excellent and holy works and moreover that they shall be righteous c. Ans. 1. As touching the promise of the Spirit of God it is very true what you cite out of Ieremiah For God in his bounty hath promised that he will write his Law not only in Tables of Stone as before but in the inward Tables of their minds and indeed accordingly he hath performed and doth perform daily what he hath promised And what doth your Logical reasoning gather thence Therefore say you seeing we have the Law of God put into our inward parts it comes to pass that giving credit to the promises of God we do presently obtain the help of God that we may very easily do all things that are commanded us and so be saved c. Therefore by these many things which have been hitherto mentioned by you concerning the Law and its Office I perceive you have two Opinions both of which are false First That you affirm that we being supported by the Grace of God and guarded by his help can very easily perform all things whatsoever are commanded by the Law of God Secondly Because you plead that all the nature of our Righteousness and Salvation consists in performing God's Commands and that there is no other way to Heaven but that which is contained in the Law of God Both which Reasons of yours how absurd they are how contrary to the Grace of God and the Gospel and how much disallowed and confuted not only by all Authority of Divine Scripture but also long since contradicted by the sayings of the most Antient Fathers and how void of all support of reason and experience there is no Man that hath so little Reason or Religion but evidently perceives it and clearly takes notice of it For though we do not deny that by the help of the grace of the Divine Spirit there are wonderful various and manifold effects produced and great gifts are shed abroad in the minds of the Regenerate for governing all parts of Life piously and holily but whence I pray you will you teach that so great strength and so great power to observe Righteousness is given by God and committed unto mortal Man which may be sufficient for performing all things that are prescribed in the most holy Law of God Concerning the Perfection of Righteousness and compleat Obedience of the Law You proceed to press again and again that Antient Song out of the Prophet I will put saith he my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts And also out of the other Prophet And I will give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my Precepts and keep my Iudgments and also may do these things which are just c. I hear the Oracles of the Prophetical Promise uttered with great evidence from whence certainly works of New Obedience do proceed which necessarily follow Faith so that if any Man do now enquire for the cause of good works presently he learns hence that it should not be attributed to the strength of Man's Will but the Gift of the holy Spirit but now whence does this Gift proceed but from the Merits of Christ or to whom is it given but to them that believe in Christ For the holy Spirit is received by Faith according to that of Paul That we may receive the promise of the Spirit by Faith Wherefore seeing Faith is the only thing which procures unto us the holy Spirit therefore it cannot otherways be but that having received the Divine Spirit of Sanctification a new Life and spiritual motions do follow in the hearts of the Regenerate For a mind rightly qualified with the Faith of Christ
Therefore seeing God is altogether so just in his own Nature that he cannot but hate Sin and on the contrary Man is so wholly drowned in sin that in every good work according to the Opinion of Luther the Saints themselves also do sin in this so great dissimilitude of things that are opposite to one another how can it be that Infinite Holiness can be joyned by any Communion with Man if he is such a one as Luther describes him For so Osorius from things well said by Luther but badly understood by him and worse wrested for the occasion of cavilling doth very ill argue not because it is true but because it seems so to him But let us first oppose the frivolous Objection and then let us take Luther's part as well as we can against the cruel Incursions of his Adversaries And first indeed it cannot be denied that Iustice and Sin are repugnant to one another by the most contrary opposition Likewise we must confess that it is no less true that all impurity of sin is hateful and abominable to God For the Anger of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who ditain the Truth in unrighteousness as the Apostle speaks very evidently Which being so what remains then but that the Life of the Godly should either be free of all sin in this World as Osorius contends or if that cannot be as Luther affirms all must be liable to the Wrath of God I answer with the Apostle Paul That indeed would follow unless there comes a Mediatour who may interpose himself against the Anger of God in the sinners behalf who may satisfie for sin who may obtain pardon who may mollifie the rigour of Iustice yea who may transpose all the Iudgment given against the guilty upon himself and that now he himself may be Iudge of the Cause who is the forgiver of the Crime For so we hear in the Gospel My Father judgeth no man but hath given all Iudgment to the Son And again All things are delivered unto me by Father All which benefits seeing we receive from Christ the most bountiful Mediatour in such plenty as exceeds all belief there is no cause O Osorius why in such great abundance of grace you should press us with such strict weights of Iustice as if we were now under the Law and not under Grace But how much more agreeable would it be both to your Duty and Salvation that you should by a submission common to you and us give place to the Grace of God and acknowledge the benefits of the Mediatour and apply your self with all gratitude of mind to his everlasting praises that are worthy to be celebrated through all Generations Therefore that we may expedite a matter not very difficult in a few words Whereas you say sin is hateful to God nothing is more true But it is one thing to speak of sin and another thing to speak of Man that is a sinner he indeed hates sin and the Physician also hates the disease but yet not so that he should destroy the diseased person but that he should heal him Concerning which thing if you do not trust me hear Augustin he is not a God that condemns some sins and justifies and praises other sins He praises none but hates all as a Physician hates the disease and by curing endeavours to drive away the disease So God by his Grace procures that sin is consumed in us But how is it consumed It is diminished in the life of them that are going on to Perfection it shall be consumed in the life of the perfect c. The Assertion of Luther against Osorius concerning the Sins of the Saints is defended I Come now to Luther whom you reproach after such an unworthy manner and with such shameful slanders yea and lyes so tragically Why so to wit because he durst accuse the Saints themselves of sin which seems to you so execrable a wickedness as if no greater reproach could be cast not only on holy men themselves but also on the Author and Prince of all Holiness You may upon the same account cast reproaches in like manner upon Hierom Augustin and Bernard and other most approved Writers of the Primitive Times Whom you must either by necessary consequence absolve with Luther or not condemn Luther without them Seeing there is none of all these that thought this Title of Honour should be attributed to any man but Christ only that he should be wholly without all stain of sin No but Luther say you pleads that all mortal men though confirmed in Faith are yet in a state of sinning and that sin is lively also in the Saints even so long as they live by Faith and also he profeses that the same do sin in every good work And what hath any man said or done so rightly but it may be depraved by relating it wrong especially when calummy makes the Interpretation That which Luther asserts concerning the sins of the Saints if the words be suitably weighed with the state of the Question there is no offence in it As if it be asked whether the works of the Regenerate should be called good in this Life or sins Luther denies not that the pious deeds of the Regenerate are good but affirms this very thing That they are good in the sight of God and pleasing to him which comes not to pass upon the account of the work it self but upon the account of Faith and a Mediatour for whose sake the pious endeavours of his own are pleasing to God and their begun obedience though it is otherways of its own nature imperfect Therefore this is not the Controversie whether the Regenerate by the help of the Grace of God can do any thing in this Life piously and commendably Neither is this the Controversie whether the absolute Grace of God in the Regenerate is able to perform this that their work should be free of all sin But whether the Grace of God in this flesh furnishes any of the Regenerate with so great a power of perfecting Righteousnns that any work of his is so compleat and perfect if it be examined according to the Rule of the Divine Law that it needs no Pardon nor Mediatour But if it needs Mercy then it is necessarily joyned with pollution and sin so that now the Praise belongs to the Mediatour and not to Man to Imputation not to Action to Grace not to Merit to Faith not to Works that God accepts of the Works of the Regenerate and most holy men Neither is the rectitude of our good things any thing else but the forgiveness of God and the remission of his just severity Whence the Apostle rightly concludes that those who are of the Works of the Law not speaking of evil works but the most perfect Works are under the Curse and upon this account it is true which Luther says that a righteous man sins in every
Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you c. These things said Augustine by which it evidently appears how our Election and Iustification purchased by Christ is perfected not by any Righteousness of Works but only by the free gift of Grace whence it is called by Paul the Election of Grace not of Righteousness to wit by this Argument What if it is by Grace saith he it is not now by Works or else grace is not grace but if it is of works then it is not grace or else work would not be work c. Which things being so it necessarily follows that the Righteousness which is wholly exercised in the Observance of Works is not rightly called Grace by Osorius Therefore take the Argument of Augustine Argument Ma. It is grace which both elects and justifies the ungodly Mi. Inherent Righteousness doth not justifie the unrighteous for if he be ungodly how is he just If he is just how shall he be called unjust Concl. Therefore righteousness is not grace otherways according to St. Paul If righteousness is of works then grace is not grace Moreover the grace of God which is his free Indulgence because it hath no place properly but where vengeance would be just neither is there any just vengeance where perfect righteousness flourishes Therefore it must be false which Osorius assumes That it is either righteousness which makes us acceptable to God and that it is grace or it is nothing But now that we may grant this to Osorius for the sake of disputing that it is perhaps possible that this observance of righteousness and glorious furniniture of most holy Vertues wherewith the divine grace adorns us receives this name being given to it by some Writers so that in some respect it is called grace But what then what relation hath this to our Controversie seeing that it is not the grace which justifies us before God but there will be need of another grace whereby that same grace may be justified For it is not a doubtful case in this place whether all that we have should be referred to the grace and bounty of God For who is so ignorant as to doubt thereof neither is it a matter of doubt whether the pious works of Christians are pleasing to God but whether Christians do so please God upon the account of their pious works that they are therefore justified that they escape wrath that being dead they revive that they put on Immortality that they are received into heavenly glory This your whole discourse contends for as if there were no other way or manner of turning away the wrath of God and purchasing eternal life but by the continual exercise of Charity and pious and holy actions And because all instruction of living well proceeds not only from the strength of our nature but from the grace of God which is 〈◊〉 by faith Therefore whatsoever you any where in reading the holy Scriptures of God meet with of the words grace and faith presently you wrest that as a most sure Testimony to confirm the Righteousness of good Works and also to the defence of Grace and Faith Which that the Reader may perceive the more evidently and also admire the sharp 〈◊〉 of this sweet Interpreter I thought good to bring forth one out of many and almost innumerable for an Example As where Paul says these Words Not by Works which we have done but according to his own mercy he saved us c. Osorius having followed his own Hosius interprets this place as if these words of the Apostle should not be otherways understood than of Works not those which are peculiarly ours but those which are performed by faith 〈◊〉 in vigour and stirred up c. We have heard Osorius Receive also Hosius who makes a noise out of the same Tridentine Oracle The works saith he which they do are good in this respect as they are Christ's Works not theirs For in as much as they are tbeirs though they seem to be good Works they conduce nothing at all to Eternal Life But in as much as they are God's and the Works of his hands so through bis bounty they are esteemed worthy both of the title of Righteousness and the reward of the Heavenly Kingdom c. Whence all their reasoning and discourse of good works is of this kind God doth not see and Crown our Works in us but his own And moreover the same Hosius adds pleading after his own manner that the reward of the Heavenly Kingdom will be given to the Works which indeed are ours but not for their dignity as they proceed from us but for Christ's sake whose handy-works they are as Aug. says For he that lives and dwells in us works them And for that cause which is more ridiculous this Phormio goes on to rail at the Lutherans as Enemies of Grace Who forsooth as he says do much more grievously detract from the Glory of Christ than they and make void his Cross and diminish the price of his blood For when they detract from the Works of the regenerate they do not derogate from their merits but from Christ whence all their dignity derives c. These things said Hosius to whom Andradius agrees in a Speech not much differing writing these words When we say that Righteousness is inherent in us we do not at all derogate Power and Authority from the Righteousness and Merits of Christ to whom we are beholden for all the Ornaments of the mind But we rather augment and amplifie them When we say he hath merited for us not a feigned and imputative Righteousness whereby those who are really wicked are esteemed just but are not so but a Righteousness that is true solid express and engraven wonderfully upon the mind c. And a little lower he said Yea indeed ye Lutherans are injurious to the Son of God the Saviour of Mankind ye I say Endeavour to lessen and depress his very gracious benefits Who say that those Sins remain which he hath washed away in the laver of his own Blood ye judge those to be defiled with pollutions whom he hath cleansed by his infinite Vertue and you endeavour to take away from us that Righteousness which he hath merited for Mankind with many labours and Blood Hitherto spake Andradius I need not here warn you Pious Reader what should be judged of the designs and discoursings of those Men and what you your self must beware of with what deceit they prevent the simplicity of the Apostolick Doctrine with what darkness they cover their own deceits what Man is so void of understanding or hath been so little exercised in the Reading of Sacred things but may with his Eyes shut discern how these things are not at all agreeable to the mind of the Apostle By which there is an easie opportunity given to judge what should be judged of this whole Generation of Men and their
Church which they by a false Name boast to be Catholick which broaches amongst the common People these so great monsters of errours and tares of Opinions defends them in Schools Preaches them in Churches which sends forth into the midst of us such Dogmatists and Artificers of deceits who not only corrupt the small Veins and Rivulets of sincere Doctrine but also proceed to the Fountains themselves and Invalidate the Foundations of Apostolick Institution and cut and tear the very sinews of the simple verity For what greater injury can be done to the Scriptures of God What more cruel against the Grace of Christ what more Hostile against the mind of Paul and more gross against the soundness of the Christian Faith can be said or devised than what those Roman Potters have contributed by their commentitious deceits to the plague and ruine of the Christian Common-wealth For what may we judge should be hoped for concerning the common Religion the Sins of every one and the state of the Christian Common-wealth if the matter come to this that this largeness of Evangelical mercy being taken away or contracted we must be called back again to the account of good Works Concerning the Vertue and Efficacy of Divine Grace a more enlarged dispute against the Adversaries Answering their Objections BUT Those Men will deny that they detract any thing from the Grace of God yea they say that this is the common Sin of the Lutherans not theirs because all that they drive at is to maintain the mercy of God and to celebrate it with due praises Why so I pray for what say they Do not the Pious Works of the Saints please God Well and what next Should not the same Works having proceeded from God himself the Author be referred to his bounty and mercy Why not Now then Catholick Reader receive a conclusion Roman Catholick enough as I suppose Therefore he 〈◊〉 detracts from good works wrought by Christ 〈◊〉 from the Grace and Mercy of God Well said but pray who detracts from those Who denies good Works which Christ living and dwelling in us Works to be good Works Does any Man take away due praise and dignity from those Now Hosius talks Osorius pleads Andradius crys out that the Lutherans do it eagerly Why so I beseech you Because they do not attribute unto the performance of good Works the Salvation that is due to them but translate it to Faith only What then such as do not attribute Salvation to good Works should they be therefore supposed to attribute nothing to Works or to cast reproach upon the grace of God On the contrary they that detract the promise of Eternal Life from the Christian Faith Shall they be accounted Friends to Grace By the same reason we may turn Light into Darkness and Darkness into Light Let Christ remain in his Sepulcher let Moses rise again to be Iudge of the Living and the Dead But now what Arguments do they rely upon in disputing thus Because say they Works of Righteousness flow from the Fountain of Divine Grace But what Is not Faith in Christ the Mediatour as singular a gift of God and does it not proceed from the Election of Divine Grace But now let us hear an Argument more than Catholick Argument Ma. We are justified by the Grace of God only Mi. Our good Works have their rise from the Grace of God only Con. Therefore all our Iustification consists in good Works The deceit of this Paralogism must be drawn forth And again the word Grace must be explained Which is taken one way in the major and another way in the minor for there it is taken for mercy and the free good will of God whereby he hath redeemed us freely whereby he loves us in Christ Iesus and forgives us our Sins and whereby also he imparts his Spirit and Life Eternal to us And this is peculiarly called Grace of forgiveness of which the writings of the Apostles speak aloud in many places It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy And again Sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace And what the same Apostle cites out of a Psalm Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven and whose Sins are covered c. And also that which elsewhere he testified very evidently They are justified freely by his Grace moreover that none should be uncertain what is understood by the word Grace presently subjoining and as it were explaining himself he infers next By the Redemption which is in Christ Iesus But what other thing does this adding of Redemption signifie but the Remission of all Sins That this may be the Argument We are justified by that Grace whereby we are redeemed But Grace by renewing us doth not redeem us Therefore we are not justified by Grace renewing us I come now to the minor in which the word grace is taken otherways than in the major For there it is put for remission or redemption here for renovation That is for the effectual energy of the Divine Inspiration in communicating Gifts and Endowments wherewith he afterwards adorns those whom first he hath justified Whence arises a twofold manner of distinguishing Grace according to the twofold diversity of effects on this side and on that side of which one consists in the remission of evil Works the other in the operation of good Works And that is called pardoning Grace and this is called renewing Grace From the one whereof proceeds the Salvation and the Iustification of the Ungodly and from the other come the good Works of the Godly and yet those are not full nor perfect Therefore I answer the Argument proposed which hath more errours than one Moreover it is made up of mere particulars Also in the minor contrary to the manner of Disputants the case is changed whereas the same case should be kept that goes before in the major and the minor should follow thus But our good Works are by the grace of God only or at least in the major the same case of the minor should have been kept after this manner Our Iustification arises twice from the grace of God Therefore all our Iustification flows from good Works So that the true nature of this Pseudosyllogism belongs not to the first but the second figure simply concluding both affirmatively and also most absurdly just as if a Man should argue thus Our corporeal Nature was made of the slime of the Earth Earthen-Pots are made of the slime of the Earth therefore our corporeal Nature was made of Earthen-Pots What need is there of words Whatsoever way these Men form their Argument or reform it they shall never be able to prove that the works of the Law whether such as we our selves have wrought or such as the Divine Grace works in us do contain in themselves any cause of Salvation For
what manner of consequence is this Because habitual influences of Works which make us acceptable to God proceed no otherways but from cooperating Grace Therefore Faith without inherent Righteousness doth not justifie neither doth Salvation consist of any other thing but good Works But because there is a twofold sort of Works one of those which go before Faith another of those which follow Faith I would know of which of those rwo parts they understand it If of the preoedent they will not deny those to be Sins For that which is not of Faith is of Sin But if they understand it of Works subsequent to Faith they will say that those are either perfect or imperfect If perfect and of such a sort that they answer the things commanded in the Law not only according to the substance but also according to the manner of doing To what purpose then is that daily saying of the Church made mention of Forgive us our debts Or what will they answer to Augustine who evidently confutes what they maintain On the contrary if they are Imperfect Languid and Lame upon what account will they make us acceptable to God the Iudge which are of themselves defective and besprinkled with faults and spots and need another Grace by the commendation whereof they may be pleasing to God What if that infinite and Eternal purity for the most part in the Levitical Sacrifices did not endure whatever seemed any way defective or deformed or defiled with the least pollu on and which was not exquisitely entire and blameless in all respects if so great integrity of all parts was required in the Levites and Priests that it was not lawful to suffer any one to enter into the holy place of the Sanctuary who was wounded in any member of his body or deformed in any part or had a Wen Do you think that you can endure the presence of the most holy God with that half-torn and ragged Imperfection Wherefore seeing it must needs be perfect and unblameable upon all accounts which by Iustification indemnifies and frees us from all sin before the dreadful Tribunal of most perfect Righteousness surely no man can believe that it consists in our works but only in the works of the Son of God not those which his habitual grace works in us but those which he himself hath both graciously undertaken to do for us and also having undertaken them hath performed them to the full What Benesits come to us from Christ and what should be chiefly regarded in these Benefits NOW this is it in which chiefly the unspeakable amplitude of Divine Grace towards us doth evidently shine forth that God the Almighty Governour and Creatour of the World according to his fingular Mercy wherewith he hath loved the World having given his Son sent him to us and so sent him that he for us hath fulfilled all Righteousness for there was no need that he should fulfil it for himself and if he hath fulfilled it for us what hinders now but that may be ours which was done for us or to what purpose should he do that for us which he knew was necessary to be done by our selves for our Salvation But what if according to the saying of Thomas Whatsoever things we can do by Friends we our selves are said to be able to do it in some respect How much better then may we our selves be supposed both to be able to do and also to have done those things which a Friend is not only able to do for us but hath also done for us and this is that grace chiefly which every where the Evangelical Writings sound sorth unto us unto which all our both consolation salvation should be referred which Paul the Apostle having received from Christ did propagate it with so continued labour among the Gentiles and taught it with so great fervour of spirit and made it evident with so many Signs and Miracles and also confirmed it with so many Scriptures and most sure Testimonies Wherefore those Papists are the more worthy to be abhorred as being Enemies to Antiquity and Enemies to Paul who seem to be busied about nothing else but to abolish the Gospel of Christ and to overturn the Foundations of the Doctrine of the Apostles that have been long since very well laid by our first Fathers and to sow another Gospel in the minds of Christians For what else doth all their Doctrine drive at who disputing about Grace Faith and Righteousness do so handle the matter by their Philosophical Principles that he who observes their Collections Distinctions Corollaries and Opinions will perceive that they do not teach as Christians out of the Gospel out of Christ out of Paul but that the Antient Philosophers of the old Academy or the Thalmudists of the Law of Moses are again risen up and alive except that this only difference is between them and the Antient Philosophers that these do palliate with the name of Grace and Faith in words at least in some manner but in reality as touching the signification of the word Grace or the force of the word Faith they seem to be so very blind as if they had read Paul little or at least had not at all understood him I do not rail at the men themselves whom I rather account worthy of pity but it is not at all convenient to endure the Errours of men because they cast no small blot upon Religion and are injurious to Christ and do violence to Paul overthrow the simplicity of the Christian Faith moreover they adulterate all the sincerity of Evangelical Doctrine with their Niceties and after a certain manner subdue it unto humane Philosophy Which that it may appear the more evidently to the Minds and Eyes of beholders let it not be tedious to you to hearken a while first what Divine Truth and then what Humane Opinions teach us But because there are two things chiefly in which the whole sum both of our Salvation and Religion is contained Grace and Faith of which the one belongs to God towards men the other agrees to men towards God It very much concerns Christians that their Minds be very well instructed in both And Grace indeed is discerned in those good things that are given to us and promised by God Faith is exercised in those Offices which are chiefly due from us to God and are greatly requisite Therefore that we may rightly apprehend the nature of Grace we must see what and how great those gifts are which the bounty of God hath partly bestowed upon us and partly promised Concerning which thing it remains that we should examine what the Scriblers of Popish Divinity do hold Now what they teach about this matter is for the most part to this purpose They place the end of humane Life in blessedness and the School-Divines dispute about this very blessedness just after such a manner as the Philosophers of old did of their chiefest good unto
them subject to his own command what will those furious and importunate pleaders for Works say here May we not enjoy the bounty of another because we have no ability of our own what will they say that no payment is just but what is paid with a man 's own money That which is done by a Friend for the sake of a Friend is it not just as if it had been done by himself If that which was due from us be paid by the price of Christ is there any Law so cruel as to exact the same debt of us again and what will the Adversaries require more here that he should be condemned for unjust whosoever hath no Righteousness of his own And indeed I acknowledge this to be true in Iudicatories if no Redemption intervene which may satisfie in the room of another But now seeing our Affairs are in such a condition that the condemnation of the Law hath nothing that it can demand of us I think that is a sufficient Plea for us which was done by him who made satisfaction for us But these men do again cry out against us saying that it cannot be by Nature and that it is no less contrary to all natural Reason that any thing should take its being from that form which is not its own but another's I answer That it is true indeed formally as to the essence of a thing but not judicially For tho' the Righteousness of another which is not inherent in us cannot render us essentially just who are by Nature unjust But nothing hinders but the Righteousness of another may help our Righteousness according to Iudicial Imputation just as nothing hinders but the Riches of another may be cast upon anothers Poverty by a certain Communion or Imputation of good things so that he who in himself is poor yet may be esteemed rich in another And not unlike unto this is our Communion of mutual Imputation with Christ for as our sins being imputed to Christ were hurtful to him even unto the damage of punishment so by the like Mystery of dispensation the Righteousness of Christ being adjudged and imputed to us though it doth not inhere in us essentially yet in respect of possession and dispensation of Iudgment it is profitable to us for a reward of Life just as if it had been our own Righteousness for otherways to what purpose is Christ said to have done and suffered all these things for us if what he did and suffered serve not for our advantage But if they serve for our advantage why cannot those things be justly accounted for ours which were undertaken in our name and for our sake If the name of Imputation doth so greatly offend them which they think doth not well agree with Christian Piety wherefore then doth Paul so often seem in his Writings not only to use this word Imputation but to delight in it But afterwards Christ willing we shall discourse of this matter more largely in its own place THE Second Book CONCERNING Faith and the Promise YE have heard then of Grace and Merits of free Imputation and Remission of sins on which depends all our Iustification and Salvation But now seeing this Remission whereof I speak must be received by Faith only it remains that we should in this place treat somewhat of Faith especially for this cause either that we may confute the Calumnies of Adversaries or that if it be possible we may help the Errors of those that are so great Enemies to this manner of Iustifying which we affirm to consist of Faith only without Works Upon which kind of Doctrine if we only or first of all Men should stand I should less wonder at so great Tumults of these Men. But seeing Christ himself and Paul and the Prophets and Apostles profess themselves to be not only Witnesses but also the Authors and Leaders in this Opinion whereby we are taught that we are justified only by Faith in the Son when every one of the most Learned Writers and Interpreters who were of the Primitive Antiquity attest the same with unanimous consent from whose Instructions we our selves also have learned the same what is come to those Popish Wits why they should oppofe themselves so unreasonably and so fiercely And now let us consider what that is which so much offends them Luther disputes that Faith is imputed unto Righteousness without Works Paul the Apostle taught the same before Luther What will Osorius say to me here what will the Pope of Rome himself say what will the Senatours of Trent say To wit that good Works must be joyned with it What must all good Works be joyned with it or not if they shall say all where will they find those that have compleated this exact cyclopedy of Vertues in this Life except the Son of God only But if they understand it of most or some good Works at least yet that will not be sufficient For unless every one of the Vertues joyned together as it were in a mutual Bond are united for Righteousness they cannot profit at all being separate Who ever loved his Neighbour as himself according to the Prescript of the Law But suppose there were some such Man What if such a Man rages with Concupiscence of the Flesh or Eyes though the inward mind doth not consent what if the mind swells with self-love or overflows with the pride of Life what if it is enslaved unto Covetousness or some where fails in its duty what advantage will it be to be observant of Charity Briefly what if it be so that thou aboundest with all other vertues but only failest in one command doth not the Sentence of the Scripture condemn thee for the Violation of the Law Moreover we may speak in the words of Thomas himself That if the mind is inwardly guiltless as to any consent unto the sin yet such is the condition of our Nature saith he that though through grace it is healed in respect of the mind yet in respect of the flesh by reason of which it serves the Law of sin corruption and infection remain in it Rom. 7. The obscurity of ignorance remains also in the intellect concerning which Rom. 8. we we know not what to pray for as we ought c. and Wisd. chap. 9. The thoughts of Mortals are frightful and uncertain of our being provided for c. Hitherto hath Thomas spoken From all which it remains that Iustification confists either in Faith only as in the next cause Or that the Accession of our Vertues which are neither perfect nor intire do not at all avail to Righteousness before God but rather to accusation For Cursed is every one that abides not in all things that are commanded in the Book of the Law to do them c. What is the proper Nature and Definition of Faith whereby we are justified before God is enquired into from sure and true Foundations of Scripture By the many things which
the godly can will to sin because by a voluntary receiving of Grace they are endued with so pure Charity and Innocency that being polluted with no spot of unrighteousness they are not only accounted clean and undefiled by imputation and the remission of sins but are in reality righteous and unblameable by the true possession and exercise of Vertue But where will they find those righteous men that dare profess themselves free from all guilt of sin As I may speak it of all the other Apostles so here I would ask them particularly of Iohn whom they quote whether they think that he himself should be reckoned in the Catalogue of the righteous who are not tainted with the least spot of sin Let us then hear the Apostle confessing of himself If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us Now then if so great a Disciple of Christ and one so dearly beloved of him durst not plead a total and perfect freedom from sin nor could do so without a Lye dare those Tridentine Seducers attribute that unto themselves and do they suppose that the World can be so blinded by them that it doth not easily take notice of and detest their manifest Lyes Deceits and Impostures and so great an impudence in Lying and Deceiving Pious Reader what Testimonies of greater Authority dost thou look for That which the Tridentines affirm the Apostle denies If they say true the Canonical Truth is a Lye But if it be blasphemy to entertain such a thought must not they of Trent be Lyars What need is there to prove it I will express it in a word The Testimony of Scripture the Consent of Nature the Experience of all Ages the Iudgment of the Learned the Sayings of the Antient Fathers the Examples of all the Saints the general Opinion of all good men the guilty Conscience of evil doers the constant Prayers of the Church her Complaints and Tears the Rebellion of the Flesh the wicked Imaginations arising in the Heart the Deceit of Errours the Groans of troubled Spirits the Disturbances incident to a Mortal Life and Death it self common to all men Moreover the constant Confessions of the Papists and their often repeated Absolutions what is the meaning of these so many and weighty Arguments What is it that they declare but that the Righteousness attainable in this Life is either none at all or such as Augustin describes that consists more in the remission of sins than in the perfection of Vertues And lest any should flatter himself with hopes of perfection in this Life let us hear what the same Augustin commenting upon Iohn infers Let not sin reign in your mortal body He says not let it not be but let it not reign For as long as you live of necessity sin must be in your Members Yet let the dominion be taken from it let not that be done which it commands c. And again writing to Macedonius Who of us is without sin And presently again repeating the same But who in this Life is without some sin But him we call good whose goodness prevails and him we call best who sins least Therefore those whom the Lord himself calls good by reason of the participation of Divine Grace he calls the same also evil because oftheir infirmities until our whole man be thoroughly purged from all corruption by passing into that Life in which we shall sin no more c. Thus said Augustin Where then is that real infusion of Vertues as they call it where are these new Qualities and that Inherent Righteousness that hath no need of remission of sins for what need is there of remission there where there is nothing to be forgiven For what sin can remain there where the perfect purification as they speak of Body and Soul from all pollution of sin makes us holy and partakers of the Divine Nature Briefly that I may comprehend the matter in a few words lest this discourse should grow into too great a bulk I suppose I have sufficiently by what I have discoursed at large cleared these things following First what is the nature of true Faith which causeth Righteousness what is its proper Object from whence it receives power to justifie which we have proved by the Scriptures to proceed wholly from its object that is the person of him only in whom we believe Now because Faith only embraces the person of Christ therefore it is that Faith only upon the account of its Object and not for the sake of our Vertues justifies the sinners and ungodly What sinners are justified by Christ. BUT here there is another thing to be enquired into to wit who are these sinners to whom this Iustification belongs In which the difference must of necessity be observed For as it is not every Faith or act of believing that procures Iustification but that only which eyes the Mediatour So this very Faith doth not belong to all sinners promiscuously Though all men are sinners by nature and in many things we offend all yet all are not sinners alike They that have no sense of their sins no trouble in their Conscience nor shame for the Abominations they have committed but run on headlong and without fear into all wickedness though they prosess Christ and Faith in him with their mouth yet their heart is void of him neither doth this empty profession yield them any benefit Of which sort of men Christ Preaches in the Gospel Not every one that saith to me Lord Lord but he that doth the Will of my Father c. After the same manner the whole Epistle of Iames treats of these and such like men whom he denies to be justified by this counterfeit and hypocritical Faith But on the contrary those that sincerely repent and mourn for their sins and abhorring their own Wickedness return to Christ with all their Hearts and receive him by Faith these only are 〈◊〉 whom Faith alone Iustifies without Works according to that well known saying of Paul And by this means it will not be difficult to reconcile both the Apostles Paul and Iames to one another For as Iames a Servant of Iesus Christ cannot deny but Faith when it is found in a Penitent and Humbled sinner justifies him freely without Works and before all good Works So on the other side neither doth Paul an Apostle of Iesus Christ approve of that Faith which works not by love nor admits abominable wretches of profligate lives to have any fellowship with Christ. Which things being granted what can the Papists say against this Assertion concerning justifying Faith Or what valuble Author can they produce in defence of their Erroneus Doctrine Now if to justifie from sins is nothing else but to absolve from sins as we have demonstrated out of the Apostle Is there any that can absolveus but Christ only Or how should he absolve unless he be received Or after what
manner by what Instrument by what hands must he be received but Faith only And what absurdity is it then for us to profess that we are justified by Faith only An answer to those that say the 〈◊〉 of Faith is 〈◊〉 pretending that it opens a door to Irreligion and Licentiousness BUT they pretend that this Doctrine is pernicious and contrary to a Pious Life and good manners For as they say it encourages Men that are weak by nature and prone to evil to sin with the greater boldness Canisius confirms this Wheresoever saith he Iustification by Faith only is taught it comes to pass that usually in such places Men sin without any fear or shame And vain Men to encourage themselves in living profanely flatter themselves with hopes to go unpunished because they lay hold on Christ by Faith And it is no wonder says Vega for what should he be afraid of yea what should he not despise and make light of who is once perswaded that Faith only is sufficient for his Iustification And that the Kingdom of Heaven is not shut up from any sin or wickenness if it were never so great Osorius adds his Vote to theirs If Faith only is sufficient and if every Action that we do is unprofitable and defiled it follows that all who embrace this imaginary Faith do altogether neglect good Works c. And elsewhere Therefore you cannot by such Doctrine exhort a Harlot to forsake her Lust nor a Thief to refrain his covetous desire of other Mens Goods nor a wicked Man to depart from his 〈◊〉 but that he should 〈◊〉 this naked and empty Faith only which is void of all works of Charity for by such instructions he will conceive a strong perswasion that by this Faith only he is very dear to God Than which what can be more absurd Though I grant this to be true that nothing can be more absurd than if we say that Harlots Highwaymen and Outragious Cut-throats who breaking the bonds of natural Modesty give themselves up willfully to all impurity are acceptable to God by Faith only I say suppose we grant this to be true what follows from hence Then Faith only as you say doth not justifie O ingenious arguing worthy of the Roman Mitres It is true that such as your Description sets forth to us are not Iustified by Faith But what a Connexion is this there are many who by the Preaching of free Iustification are encouraged to a greater Licentiousness in sinning Therefore that which is taught concerning justifying Faith is false As if the Truth or Falshood of things depended on the using or abusing of them What hath ever been so right or good but evil Men have made it the occasion of Destruction to themselves or others by the abuse thereof If this Argument were reasonable the Sun might cease to shine because there are some that abuse his light to commit the vilest Enormities And healthful Herbs may cease to be planted in Gardens because the venimous Spider sucks the worst poyson out of them The Physician also may cease to Administer Medicines because there are some found who after they have recovered their Health do sometimes commit such things that it had been better if they had still lain sick in Bed Yea on the Lord's days there are not a few that through idleness commit many sins What then because they that know not how to use good things aright take occasion to abuse the time of the Lord's Day to Gluttony and Drunkenness and to open a door to Licentiousness should we therefore reject the Lord's institution No verily Human things must give place to Divine and the usual custom of Men of wicked Lives must not be your rule to walk by but that which God hath commanded to be done Christ commands the Gospel to be Preached to every Creature Will ye forbid it though many abuse the Gospel But what is this Gospel of Christ that he commands to be Preached He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved Do you hear that Salvation is simply promised to Believers and that it consists of nothing else but Faith and that Sacrament of Faith Will you deny it Whether then shall we believe Christ or you So it pleases him to open unto sinners the Treasures of his abundant grace And will your envy shut up that from us which he hath opened do you neither enter your self nor suffer others to enter Christ also speaks thus by the Prophet ye have been sold for nought and ye shall be redeemed without price What is the sense of these words without price but this without any Merits of Works at all that is your own Merits but not the Merits of another What then If the procurement of another hath brought you to death may not also the procurement of another restore you to life again And in the same Prophet the Holy Spirit proclaims how beautiful the feet of those are upon the Mountains that bring good tidings that publish peace And yet do you endeavour to stop the comfortable course of Gospel Preaching and in the room thereof do you obtrude your old erroneous Doctrine of mournful Sorrow and heartless doubting You will say Why not For it will be better for Men to be kept in fear for who will be anxious about the Fruits of Repentance or his progress in grace if every Man be sure of his own Iustification and of the favour of God And therefore Masters and Fathers conceal their love towards their Sons and Servants that by this uncertainty they may be the more obliged to their Duty And it must be believed that God deals just so with his Creatures c. Thus said Hosius Where then is that peace and joy in the Holy Ghost if no Man must be assured of the favour of God Where are those feet of them that run upon the Mountains and bring glad tidings of Peace if it is not lawful to publish the Righteousness of Peace We are not against the Preaching of Faith say they but we would not that Faith only should be Preached That is the only thing that we require for the cause that we mention'd because when this form of Doctrine is taught of necessity the consequence thereof is the Ruin and Destruction of all honest Discipline That I may answer this Objection though it hath been sufficiently answered already two things must be considered one whereof belongs to the manner of Preaching and the other to the truth of the Doctrine And first as touching Preaching their Objection is very false For though we teach that Faith only Iustifies yet we neglect not to use strong motives to the practice of good Works and sharp Admonitions and not only Admonitions but also severe threatnings yea and moreover Excommunications if need be to restrain wicked practices The frequent Sermons that are Preached in our Churches bear witness to this in which according to our power we
exhort unto Works of Piety and by the Authority of Scripture thunder the Iudgments of God against Harlots Adulterers Covetous Persons Highway-men Sorcerers that they may know there will be no place for such in the Kingdom of God and Christ except they amend their lives Who was more zealous than Paul in exalting the Righteousness of Faith And who was more Holy in Life than he or more fervent against the sins of those that walked not after the Spirit but after the flesh The Books of our Divines do evidence the same in which they discourse no less of Repentance and good Works than of Faith joyning always the one with the other Therefore as touching the manner of Teaching you will find that it is not Faith only which is Treated of in the Churches and Books of Men of our perswasion But if the matter of debate between us be about the cause of Salvation and Iustification there is nothing more agreeable to sound Doctrine than that an ungodly sinner is Iustified before God by Faith only without Works But you may object this Doctrine hardens the People in their sinful courses If you understand it of all it is false If of evil doers that run on in sin against their Conscience and take no care to restrain their Lusts As for such who ever said or taught that they are Iustified by Faith only And yet nevertheless the Truth of this Assertion remains invincible whereby we affirm that a wicked Man is Iustified by Faith only without Works if the Scope and meaning thereof be well understood Which will be easie if by adding that which supplies the room of a predicate the proposition be made entire As when Faith only is said to Iustifie add unto the Subject of this Enunciation it s own proper predicate or I may rather say add the proper Subject of Iustification and understand aright who they are whom Faith only Iustifies without Works according to the saying of Paul For herein chiefly lies the difficulty of this Controversie Neither is there any thing wherein the Adversaries are more grosly mistaken And herein they follow the Foot-steps of those concerning whom Cyprian justly complains saying They look at that which is said in the first place but regard not what follows after They catch at that which we assert of Faith only Exclusively and think there is injury done to good Works if Faith only is sufficient to Salvation But they take no notice what manner of Persons they are to whom this Iustification by Faith belongs It is the Advice of those School Divines to consider the reasons of things proposed according to their Subject matter and why then do they not observe their own Rule in this Evangelical Assertion Christ affirms it Paul confirms it yea the common practice of life natural Reason and Experience and the Conscience of all good Men proclaim that Ruine comes only from our Works and Salvation only from Christ. And because we receive this only Mediatour Christ by Faith only hence it is that we assert it is Faith that justifies believing sinners before God But let us see what manner of Sinners they are whom Faith Iustifies Is it the Rebellious and Impenitent No verily Then it must be such sinners as are Converted and Humbled and have the fear of God before their Eyes But there is no fear that such will continue to wallow in their former filthiness but on the contrary they are hereby so much the more stirred up to amend their lives All Ages have abounded with Examples of those to whom the Doctrine of free Iustification by Faith in Christ as it conduced much to their necessary consolation so it was no hinderance to their leading an holy life If Charity according as the Adversaries themselves do testifie is the perfection of the Law which is the Rule of Life I would ask such men whether he to whom more or he to whom fewer sins are forgiven hath the strongest obligation to love either God or his Neighbour which of these two mentioned in the Gospel loved Christ with the greater ardency of affection Simon the Pharisee or Mary that brought with her no good works at all but a great multitude of sins And why was her Love to the Lord more vehement but because she had more sins forgiven her But let us proceed Wherefore were so many and so great offences forgiven her but for her Faith which guided her Love for she did not therefore believe in Christ because she loved him but because she knew him to be the Son of God her Faith being thereby incited to act the more vigorously she loved much For Love proceeds from Faith and not Faith from Love Because we believe therefore we Love but we do not believe because we Love-Whence the Lord regarding more her Faith then her Love said unto her thy Faith not thy Love hath saved thee How Love and Repentance are concerned in Iustification BUT You may say Is Faith alone here Is it not joyned together with Love and Repentance I grant indeed that they are all three together in the person of the Believer But in the Case of Iustification Faith only is regarded And the other do follow as Fruits and Effects thereof For as that Woman unless she had believed in the Mediatour made known unto her by Faith she had nevor loved him So she had never come unto him as her Physician unless the Disease of her Troubled Conscience had driven her Wherefore if we reason aright about Causes these things follow 〈◊〉 as Effects and Fruits thereof but they are no causes of obtaining Salvation We have spoken of Mary Magdalene let us now behold the Pharisee and compare the one with the other If the Woman that was a Sinner by her love mericed as they speak Iustification What shall we say of the Pharisee Did not he also love the Lord Would he have gone to him so Courteously or invited him so lovingly or received him into his House so kindly or entertained him at Dinner so honourably unless he had been moved with some Affection of Love What shall I say of his Faith Did he not believe being instructed by the Holy Scriptures in God the Father Almighty Maker of Heaven and Earth Did he not receive Christ as a Prophet Now he believing in the Father and receiving the Son with Affectionate Love What could be wanting to him that was necessary to Iustification If so be all our Iustification is perfected by Charity And yet I suppose no Man will say that this Pharisee was justified by Christ that is set free from all Condemnation by this love of his Why Because Faith in Christ as a Saviour was wanting But suppose he had Faith and he trusting to his own Righteousness and being puffed up with Pride upon that account had begged no help and imagined he needed no Pardon would this Faith have availed him to Iustification I do no not believe it But
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
the cause of blessedness this manner of arguing will appear to be more forcible by an evident Testimony of Scripture Argument Ma. That which is the cause of blessedness the same is the cause of Iustification Mi. Remission of Sins is the cause of blessedness and Salvation Con. Theresore Remission of Sins is the cause of Iustification But you may say What must then be answered to the Words of Christ who seems to promise the blessedness of the Kingdom as a reward of Works You may find an answer to this objection in the Book of Iacobus Cartusiensis who hath written on this manner Men do accept and love the persons of others for their Works that are acceptable and profitable to them but God accepts the Works for the sake of the person c. Therefore here there is need of a distinction between the Work and the person of the Worker But you may say Are not Works that are performed in Charity for the relief of the Poor pleasing and acceptable to God We deny not that our selves But we enquire into the cause wherefore they become acceptable Which that it may appear the more evidently let us examine these words of Scripture I was an hungred said Christ and ye gave me Meat I was thristy and ye gave me Drink c. I ask in the first place who is it here that was an hungred You will say Christ either himself in his own Body or in a Member of his Body Did you then feed Christ when he was an hungred That was Piously done indeed Therefore I see and commend what you have done But I ask what was it that stirred you up to do it Whether was it Charity setting Faith a work or was it not rather Faith setting Charity a work But what if some other that was no Member of Christ whether Heathen or Turk had need of your Meat Would you in your Charity have fed him I doubt of that But suppose you your self had not believed in Christ but had been an Enemy to him if you had seen one that belonged to Christ almost ready to perish for hunger would you have relieved him I do not believe so Why Because it is only believers that feed Christ but Infidels persecute him The Lord was thirsty on the Cross and he had Vinegar given him for drink which was a Hellish wickedness But why did they give him Vinegar Was it want of Love or was it not rather want of Faith in those unbelieving Pharisees Who if they had not wanted Faith they would not have wanted Charity to administer help and Charity would not have been unrewarded But let us proceed Suppose one that is not a believers whether Turk or Heathen should refresh a hungry Christian by giving him of his Meat as old Simon the Pharisee entertained Christ with a Dinner And many of the Heathens have been Eminent in offices of kindness and Love Can the giving of Meat and Drink by any such without Faith merit Eternal Life Surely not But if a believer gives his Christian Brother so much as a Cup of cold Water in his necessity shall he lack his Reward Christ himself says he shall not Hereby you may see whence it is that our Vertues and good deeds are acceptable to God and dignified with Rewards not for themselves but for the Faith of him that works them which first justifies the person before all works And after the person is justified his performances are accepted and though they are of small value in themselves yet they are looked upon as great and rewarded plentifully Wherefore we deny not that sometimes in the Scriptures the name of Reward is joyned with Eternal Life and that the works of Brotherly Charity may in some sense be called meritorious if so be these works are performed by persons who are already justified and received into favour by remission of sins and have obtained a right unto the promise of Eternal Life Not that their works are of such value that they should make satisfaction to the Law of God or merit any thing with God ex congruo or condigne as they phrase it either by congruity or worthiness But they are imputed as Merit by Grace Not that Eternal Life is due to the works themselves but because there are consolations laid up in Heaven for Saints and persons in a justified state to support them in their afflictions Eternal Life not being due to them for their works but by right of the promise just as a Son and Heir to whom his Father's Inheritance is due doth not merit the right of Sonship by any duties that he performs but he being born a Son his duties upon that account are meritorious so that he wants not a due reward and recompence Therefore in this Popish Argument there is a fallacy Another Argument taken from the words of Christ Matth. 25. Da. HE that doth the will of the Father shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Ti. It is the will of the Father that we should do good works that are commanded in his Law Si. Therefore an entrance into Heaven is obtained by the works of the Law Answer Suppose we grant all contained in this Argument what will these Roman Iusticiaries infer from thence Therefore as Vega speaks Faith is not sufficient to Salvation without the keeping of the Commandments It is easie to answer him in a word Let him keep the Commandments according to the exact Rule of the Divine Will and he shall be saved But neither he nor any other man can perfectly keep the Commands of God in this Life From whence we infer this by necessary consequence That either there is no hope of obtaining the Kingdom or else that it lies not in the works of the Law Now if it be so what remains but that finding this is not the way to Heaven we should seek for another way and because there is no door of Salvation opened to sinners in the Law of Commandments therefore we must flie to another Refuge But what that Refuge is appearing to us from Heaven it self the Divine Will declares unto us which is not set forth in the Old Law but in the New Testament of the Gospel And this is his Will that every one who believeth in the Son should not perish but have Eternal Life For whereas the Law was weak because of the flesh God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the Righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us that walk not after the flesh but after the spirit Objection But here some may object Will the Faith of Christ justifie us in such a manner that there may be a Legality and Impunity for us to disobey the Will of his Father God forbid The Liberty of the Gospel allows not that for it openly affirms That they who are justified by the Faith of Christ walk not after the flesh but
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
heads for joy of the approaching Redemption and yet dares Canisius command us to hang them down for fear of Iudgment Doth Paul promote the Saints unto so high a pitch of dignity that he places them on the Seat of Iudgment together with Christ. as his Assessours and Assistants And yet must Canisius thrust the godly down as low as the ungodly to render a strict account of all the transactions of their Lives The holy Spirit in the Souls of Believers with fervency breaths after Christ crying Come Lord Iesus come quickly Should Canisius then endeavour to quench those holy desires by unbelief and distrustful fears The Sacred Writings of the holy Apostles call the Spirit of the Saints a Spirit not of bondage to fear but a Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father and yet hath Canisius the Iesuit the impudence to call back the Saints from a Spirit of Liberty to a slavish Spirit of Bondage Is this any society with Iesus Paul desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ. All Believers in Christ desire the same being afflicted in this Life For all that desire to live godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer Persecution in this present evil World The Souls of them that were slain under the Altar are greatly longing for the coming of this Iudgment But as for Canisius he would persuade us to be afraid of this day and not to wish for it and love it as the Apostle Paul teaches us Iohn in the Revelation bids us rejoyce because the Marriage of the Lamb is approaching but the Iesuit bids us mourn The Lamb's Wife cloaths her self in fine Linnen in token of her joy but Canisius would have her cloathed in Sackcloth Nevertheless I deny not the truth of that which he gathers out of Bernard Gregory and Augustin concerning the dreadful severity of this Iudgment than which I know that nothing can be more terrible to them that seek Salvation by the Righteousness of the Law without flying to Christ for refuge But on the other side we ought not to abate the comfort nor discourage the fiducial reliance of Believers in Christ who are planted in him by Faith Though they acknowledge their own imperfections yet they strive against them and endeavour daily according to their power to make some progress in Holiness And therefore as there is nothing in their good Works whereof they may boast So also there is nothing in their evil Works being now forgiven which they have cause to fear Let us now proceed to the other Arguments of the Adversaries Argument If there are no merits of Works then that saying is false Thou shalt render to every one according to his Works But the Consequent is false therefore also the Antecedent The Minor hath been answered already by making a distinction of persons For there being a twofold sort of men to wit Such as are in Christ and such as are out of Chrst there must be a different Iudgment made of the one and the other First Those that are in Christ being united unto him by Faith the Iudgment of God uses to begin with them in this Life As touching the Life to come the Lord hath made this Promise concerning every Believer He shall not come into Iudgment but hath passed from Death to Life Secondly Suppose we grant that the Elect of God shall be called to Iudgment the account that they shall then make will be very easie who have Christ for their Righteousness Whence it follows by necessary consequence that this Iudgment will be to them a Iudgment not of Condemnation but of Absolution Thirdly Sentences of the Law belong properly to them that are under the Law but as for such as are regenerate by Faith in Christ because they are not under the Law but under Grace the Law hath no dominion over them Fourthly Whereas it is said That every man shall receive according to his works those works are either good or evil If good they are good upon the account of Faith only for what is not of Faith is sin and so they are beyond all danger But if evil either they are forgiven or not forgiven If they are forgiven through Faith and Repentance they are not called to Iudgment If not forgiven it is because they want Faith and so they are the works of the Unregenerate Whence it follows that this Iudgment of Condemnation doth not at all belong to them that are regenerate by Faith but them that are unregenerate Another Objection That place in Mat. 22. concerning the wedding garment is objected The King entring into the Marriage Feast saw a man not having on the wedding garment c. I wonder what those Papists can find in this place of Scripture to cover the shame of their own nakedness when there is nothing that less advantages their cause or weakens it more The wedding garment say they signifies Charity from whence they form this Argument They that have on the wedding garment are admitted to the Marriage Feast Charity only is the wedding garment Therefore they that are adorned with Charity are admitted to the heavenly Marriage Feast An Explication of the Parable of the Wedding Garment THE Minor must be denied Though works of Charity are of no small advantage to adorn and beautifie faith in the exercise fo Civilty and Morality yet a Garment suitable to the Heavenly Marriage-feast cannot be made of such Cloth but of other Materials What that is whereof this Garment must be made Paul the Apostle teaches us Put on the Lord Iesus Christ. And again whosever of you are Baptized ye have put on Christ. Because we put not on him by Charity but by Faith only Therefore faith is the Garment made white with the Blood of the Lamb which Cloaths us for this Marriage-feast not Charity nor the filthy ragged apparel of our Works Which that it may appear the more evident let us diligently consider both the Parable and the signification thereof First He that compares our great happiness in Christ to a Marriage-feast How could he more significantly set forth that which is the most joyful of all things For what is more joyful or suitable to Mirth than a Marriage-feast Where all things resound with Ioy and Dancing where there is no sign of Sorrow where no Lamentation is heard no Tear is seen yea all Tears are wiped away from the Eyes Unhappy is he that partakes not of the great felicity and unspeakable Ioy of this blessed Marriage-feast He that unworthily dishonours it deserves to be abhorred and he that disgraces it with Sackcloth and Ashes or any other Garment and comes to it without the wedding-garment is not worthy to enjoy so great a blessedness Now consider besides the joyfulness of the time the greatness of the benefit both which are Infinite and Eternal For as there is no firmer nor nearer Bond amongst Men than that of Marriage So nothing is more Divine
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
Works which ye intrude from having a share with Faith in justifying a Sinner what hurt is it to sound Doctrine if the Word only is not expressed when you read such Scriptures as these being justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3. By the Works of the Law no Flesh shall be justified The Righteousness of God is manifested without the Law Rom. 3. a Man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Christ Gal. 3. Not of Works Rom. 11. Without Works Rom. 4. Not of Works Tit. 3. Not of Works Eph. 2. Not according to Works 2 Tim. 1. Without Works Rom. 9. What is the Signification of such Expressions but that all Works being excluded it should be understood that Faith only is the procuring cause of Iustification for what else is Faith without Works and without the Law but Faith only Therefore by the necessary Law of Consequence we may argue thus we are justified by Faith and are not justified by any other thing inherent in us according to the Scriptures Therefore we are justified by Faith only Or we may Confute the Adversaries with this Argument Argument That from which all other things are excluded must of necessity remain alone The Scripture excludes all other things in Man from Faith Therefore of Necessity it is Faith only that justifies But whereas they deny that this exclusive Word is found in the Scripture let them read Mark 5. and Luke 8. where the Lord says Only believe and thou shalt be saved I come now to the Greek and Latin Doctors of the Primitive Church Basilins Nazianzen Hilarius Ambrose Augustin Hierom Chrysostom Theophylact Oecumenius Photius Bernard to whom if you please you may add Thomas Aquin. who all Commenting on the same Words of Christ and Paul do not only agree with us in the same Opinion but also in the same exclusive Word as hath been evidently proved in our former Answer to Osorius Thought it be manifest that we assert nothing here which the Orthodox Divines of the Primitive Church have not confirmed unanimously and in the same Words yet nevertheless these things so evident in themselves do not satisfie those perverse Sophisters who when they cannot deny the very Words of learned Men yet they take occasion to contend with us about the Sense of the Words in which they pretend that we do greatly err for they have found out a curiously contrived Distinction Saying That by Faith only is understood the first Iustification but not the second Thus these cunning Artificers of Words have turned one Iustification into two one that is obtained by the first Grace as they call it before all Works as in Infants when they are Beptized And another which is in Persons come to Years by the practice of good Works That I may Answer this frivolous Distinction First I object this saying of Augustin good Works that follow him that is justified do not go before him that is to be justified which if it be true what remains but that they should either Confess that there is no such thing as this second Iustification which they have devised or else that good Works go before him that is to be justified contrary to the Doctrine of Augustin Moreover if they think there is sufficient cause why Faith only should not be admitted because it is not expresly mentioned in the Holy Scriptures why should not also this Distinction of theirs about a second Iustification by the practice of good Works be rejected upon the same account which is no where expressed in the sacred Oracles But by a manifest Contradiction is opposice to Heavenly Truth It is an Ancient and Famous Rule of Lawyers That there is no occasion of distinguishing where the Law makes no Distinction In what place of Scripture can those Sophisters find this Distinction between a first and second Iustification whereby Infants Baptized are otherways justified than they that are come to years for both were alike dead in their Sins and they are both alike regenerated and live by Faith in Christ the Son of God That we may briefly Consute this Sophistry whereas neither the Holy Scriptures nor the Godly Doctors of the Primitive Church ackonwledge any manner of justifying but one only How comes it to pass that those men have devised a twofold Iustification making two of that which is but one So that the first Iustification consists of Faith only and the second is made up of Works But it is easie to withstand this absurd device by the Authority of sufficient witnesses amongst whom Ambrose comes first into Mind who hath expressed himself thus Because there is one God of all he hath justified all after the same manner and what that manner is he shews in these Words He justifies them no otherways but as they are Believers And presently after he excludes all Merit of Works For nothing saith he is the cause of Dignity and Merit but Faith only And again Seeing that a Man is not justified before God but by Faith only c. Therefore let us inferr from these Words of Ambrose if there is one manner of justifying as there is one God Then no Distinction can make two Iustifications of that which is one only As no Distinction can make the one only God that justifies to be two Again if Believers are no otherways justified before God but by Faith according to the Testimony of Ambrose and there is no other Dignity nor Merit that God regards but only Faith what place is there for a second Iustification made up of the Merits of Works Hereunto let us add the Testimony of Gregory which is very seasonable to confute the Forgery of those vain Sophisters concerning their second Iustification These are the Author's Words Grace begot me being naked in the first Faith and the same Grace will save me being naked at my Reception Thus Gregory spake of Nakedness And what Nakedness is that but the want of Vertue and good Works as he himself Interprets which is the Condition of every gracious Soul not only of Men come to Years but also of Infants when they are Baptized in their first Regeneration If we are found Naked in our Reception into Glory where then is that second Iustification made up of good Works but if it is not so where is that Nakedness whereof Gregory speaks How can these things so much disagreeing consist together that we should both be Naked and void of good Works and also cloathed with good Works and thereby Merit a second Iustification In the mean while this should not be omitted which the same Gregory mentions of Grace which he divides not into a first and second as the Papists do now adays but he shews that it is one and the same Grace which both first regenerates us and also afterwards receives us into the Kingdom of Glory By which it is evident that there is but one manner of justifying which
consists not in the Merits of Works but in Grace only and the Hope of Mercy unto which Men fly for refuge in their emptyness of Vertues as he speaks But let us proceed Another Argument Evil Works deserve Eternal Destruction Therefore Good Works Merit Eternal Life Answer Both are true indeed if you consider things in respect of the just rewards due unto them For as the vile Abominations of an Ungodly Life procure the Wrath and Vengeance of God so Works of Righteousness would procure his favour if we could perform good things with as great perfection as we do Evil things But because we cannot do that therefore of our selves we can deserve nothing according to the rules of Iustice but only Death and Damnation But now by the right of Redemption through Christ we are set free from the Law of Iustice and translated into the Kingdom of Grace by Vertue of a new Covenant whereby it comes to pass that God hath respect not to our Merits but only to Christ the price of our Redemption Therefore I answer That this opposition of contraries is of force according to the strict severity of the Law but not according to the Grace of the Gospel for here there is a block put in the way To wit The Blood of the Redeemer that frees us from the Law of Sin and Death Moreover the Argument from contraries avails not except the contraries are set equally in their full extent one against another Now Evil Works in us are perfectly Evil but good Works though assisted by Grace yet because of the refractary imperfection of the Flesh in the sight of God are imperfect at the best as they are performed by us Wherefore Hierom says The perfection of all Righteous Men in the Flesh is Imperfection Another Argument The Grace of Iustification is lost by Evil Works Therefore it is retained by good Works Answer By the same Answer the Fallacy of this Sophistical Argument is discovered because our Sins and Vertues are not equally contrary to one another But whereas it is said that the Grace of Iustification is retained by Obedience though this in some sense may be granted yet Iustification is not thereby procured Moreover when we say It is retained by Works that should not be so understood as if this were done for the Merit of the Actions but only for the sake of the Redeemer upon whose account first the person is accepted and afterwards the actions are well pleasing which otherways would be unclean and of no value They say that perseverance in Righteousness is lost by Evil Works But Evil Works as they are in us admit of a twofold consideration either as they are inherent in us as in all Saints thro' the infirmity of the Flesh and we presently rise up again by Repentance and Faith And such kind of Sins as Paul asserts shall not have dominion over us or in the next place as we give up our selves to Sin against our own Conscience that we may serve it and take a sinful delight therein But such a Sin can by no means consist with this Faith whereof Paul speaks which hath place in none but those that are turned from Sin and returned to God Another Argument Faith Iustifies Faith is a Work Therefore Works Iustifie Answer I Answer The Argument is faulty because the middle term is of a larger extent in the Major than in the Minor For Faith in the Major is taken correlatively for Christ or the Promise which is apprehended by Faith In the Minor it is taken only for a quality of the Mind as it is an act of our Will Otherways if Faith is taken in the Minor just as it is in the Major it is false and the Minor should be denied To wit That Faith is a Work Another Argument of the Iesuits If Faith only Iustifies it would Iustifie without Charity Faith doth not Iustifie without Charity Therefore Faith only doth not Iustifie Answer I may oppose unto this Argument another not unlike it that the Fallacy of the one may appear the more easily by the other Thus then by way of Instance a Man may infer If the heat of Fire only makes warm then it makes warm without light But the heat of Fire doth not make warm without light joyned therewith Therefore The heat of the Fire only doth not make warm I doubt not but by this mutual comparing of Arguments it appears evident to the Reader how like the one is to the other and consequently how he should judge thereof so that there is no need of any further Refutation For all things that are joyned and agree together in some respects are not therefore engaged in the same Office He that hath Feet Eyes and Ears though he hath not these Members in separation from one another yet it is an untruth if it is said That he sees not with his Eyes only or walks not with his Feet only Though I deny not that in the performance of those duties which belong to this Life Faith is not separated from Charity So if we look upward to things that are Divine and Eternal if we contemplate and view what that is which can help us at our appearance before the Dreadful Iudgment Seat of God and appease his Wrath and deliver us from Eternal Destruction and conquer Death and the Devil and regain the favour of God and Iustifie us and procure us the Crown of Life Faith only in the Mediatour doth so bear rule in these affairs and so fully performs all things requisite to our Salvation and Redemption that here Charity hath nothing to do for the Kingdom is not promised or due to you because you love this or that Neighbour after your manner but contrarily because you neither love God as you ought nor your Neighbour as your self therefore unavoidable destruction is due to you unless Faith only through the Mediatour should come in for your help and set you free from the condemnation due unto you notwithstanding your Charity Faith is so far from needing to be joyned with Charity for Iustification that unless Charity it self were justified by Faith it could not stand nor keep it self from falling to ruine and Destruction Of the like nature is that Argument which they wrest out of the Writings of the Apostle Paul An Argument out of 1 Cor. 13. If I have all Faith so that I can remove Mountains but have not Charity I am nothing Therefore Iustification comes by Faith and good Works Answer Erasmus did write in his Exposition on the Second Chapter of Iames Faith which is cold without Charity and puts not forth it self when the matter requires it is not Faith but only the Name of Faith c. They of Paris argue contray ways that Faith can be without Charity out of this place of Paul If I have all Faith so that I can remove Mountains Erasmus following Basil Interprets this Scripture on this manner That we should take this to
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
God through the Redemption which is in Christ Iesus whom God hath set forth to be a Propitiation through Faith in his Blood Is not this evident in the writings of Paul c. And yet Vega not being contented with this Gospel nor deterred by the Curse which the Apostle denounced hath arrived at so great an impudence that he takes upon him to contradict what the Apostle hath confirmed with so great Authority The Apostle says freely without Works but he says freely but not without Works but how is it freely if not without Works Paul says the Righteousness of God by the Faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe But what says Vega and Hosius the enemy of Paul This universal Term all saith he is not here by the Apostle applied to every one of the kind but to every kind of every one So that the meaning is this Righteousness is communicated to them that believe whether they are Iews or Gentiles Thus said Vega. O Saint Paul What Ignorance was this in thee or unskilfulness of Speech Thou mightst learn of Vega to speak more curiously and to polish thy Stile according to the elegancy of the Roman Court after this manner The Righteousness of God by the Faith of Iesus Christ unto all and not only all but also unto every one and upon every one present and to come that believe so that thereby you might comprehend not only the kinds of every one but also every species of the kinds and every individual of the Species But that I may answer seriously to the vain-glorious Spaniard It was your Duty O Vega to correct your Spirit of Errour by the divinely inspired Words of Paul and not to pride your self in such vain and empty Notions For who sees not the clear and perspicuous simplicity of this Speech of Paul whereby he proclaims a common Interest in Eternal Life and Righteousness not only to Iews and Gentiles in the general but to every one of them in particular whether they be Iews or Gentiles that believe in Christ Unless the Apostle had together with the universal Term set down the proper Mark of Distinction that is the peculiar Condition of attaining to Righteousness you might have some colour of Reason for what you pretend As for Example when the Scripture speaks thus They shall be all taught of God God would have all Men to be saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth in such a Case a Man may interpret the universal Term. As Augustine did in such a manner as you speak of To wit that it is not every one of all but some particular Persons of all kind of Men and Nations that attain unto the Knowledge of the Truth but the Case is otherways in this Expression of Paul where the Apostle together with the universal Term adds also a peculiar and proper mark of Distinction So that he doth not only make the Righteousness of God common to all in the general but also expresly sets down a certain manner whereby all do attain unto it and to whom it peculiarly belongs in these Words By the Faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe Whence of necessity it follows that every Mans Righteousness consists in his believing in Christ by Faith unfeigned and embracing of him according to the saying of the Prophet The just shall live by Faith But let us again hear what the Prating Sophister hath to say for himself But whereas saith he the Iust shall live by Faith and God is said to justifie Man by Faith it doth not therefore follow by consequence that Works are not necessary for it is one thing to live by Faith and another thing to live by Faith only One thing to be justified by Faith and another thing to be justified by Faith only and if these Words Faith only are sometimes found in the Books of Catholick Doctors by the Word only good Works are not excluded but all other Sects and Ways to Salvation except Faith only and the Christian Religion Thus said Vega. To whom that I may answer First whereas he inferrs that good Works are not necessary because the Iust live by Faith he may as reasonably gather Thistles from the Vine for this is no good consequence The Iust shall live by Faith therefore Works are not necessary Which we also with Paul do notwithstanding account to be necessary And in the next place whereas he says that it is one thing to be justified by Faith and another thing to be justified by Faith only Though we grant this to be true yet I see no great difference between these two Expressions To be justified by Faith without Works and to be justified by Faith only Thirdly Whereas he Cavils about the Word Only what it excludes and what it excludes not in the Books of the Catholicks we do not trouble our selves much about that but this is manifest in the Writings of Paul that Works themselves though otherways they are very excellent and also necessary upon other accounts yet in this free Gift of Evangelical Iustification they are excluded without all Controversie Though that also is an untruth which he asserts of the Books of the Catholicks For Basil that I may produce one of them instead of a great many expresses the same in manifest Words taking away from every Man all occasion of glorying in his own Righteousness and testifies that each one of us is justified by Faith in Christ only And therefore he presently produces the Example of Paul to confirm the same and Paul Glories saith he in the Contempt of his own Righteousness I may also add the VVords of the same Basil upon the 32. Psalm where giving a Description of a perfect Man he says he is such a one as puts no trust in his own good deeds but hath his whole hope and reliance on the Mercy of God alone I think it is not amiss to joyn unto Basil his intimate Friend Nazianzen who assents and subscribes to the words of Basil on this manner Faith only is our Righteousness But let us proceed unto the remaining Testimonies of Paul For as I have said before Vega with his Associates heaps together eight Assertions for Iustifying Faith out of Paul But the other five Assertions of the Apostle together with the Answers of the Adversaries do follow in this order 3 Assertion Rom. 4. If Abraham was justified by the Works of the Law he hath whereof to glory but not before God For what says the Scripture Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for Righteousness To him that worketh the Reward is not reckoned according to Grace but according to Debt But to him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifies the ungodly Faith is imputed unto him for Righteousness As David also declareth the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth Righteousness without Works And likewise Rom. 11. If it is
any human industry or strength of our Nature nor any precedent obedience to the Law or works and merits of our own but only by Faith in the merits of Christ. Therefore Paul says well That we are justified by faith without works speaking of such works as belong to nature but not to grace which are a man 's own works and not God's and are called the works of the Law not of Faith But by the works of the Law the Apostle understands such works as are performed by a man 's own free will or by the direction of the Law and Nature only without the assistance of Grace And this is the meaning of Paul as those Popish Doctors would have it when he distinguishes between Iustification by Works and Iustification by Grace or Faith So that if it be by grace then it is not of works to wit such works as are done by Nature and not by Grace but if it is of works then it is not of grace for then grace saith he would not be grace which opposition must be thus understood according to the Opinion of those Popish Teachers so that grace doth not wholly overthrow all works but those only that are performed by the strength of Nature without the assistance of Grace But contrarily the pious works which proceed from Grace and Faith their Righteousness is so far from being made void by Grace or the Righteousness of Faith that it is rather thereby confirmed For the Law as Augustin speaks is not made void by Faith but rather established for Faith obtains the Grace whereby the Law is fulfilled Therefore whereas Paul distinguishes between the Righteousness of Works and the Righteousness of Faith This is the Answer the Catholick Faction gives to this distinction In this place the Righteousness of the Law and the Righteousness of Faith are not set in opposition one against another as they express themselves but Righteousness by the Law or in the Law is that which is opposed to the Righteousness of Faith And they say The Righteousness that is in the Law or by the Law is that obedience which is performed to the Law by natural strength without the assistance of Grace For these things differ not a little from one another for the Righteousness of the Law is one thing and the Righteousness by the Law or in the Law is another thing From which distinction they draw this Inference That the Righteousness of Faith or by Faith doth not exclude the Righteousness of the Law but is exercised about it and fulfils it In as much as the Law signifies Obedience to the Commandments which faith by obtaining grace performs And because the Grace of God performs the Law that is the certain cause why the works of the Law which are the gifts of God ought not to be excluded from Iustification just as Faith it self cannot be excluded because it is the gift of God as much as the Works of the Law and Charity which are infused by the Grace of God This is the entangling Sophistry whereby Andraeas Vega and others of his Association persuade themselves that they can break through the force of all the former Arguments An Answer to the Adversaries wherein their Frivolous Exceptions and Sophistical Subtilties are confuted BUT these Sophistical Distinctions which they make use of as antidotes in difficult cases are so absurd and unreasonable that there is not any Poison more deadly and injurious to the Doctrine of Salvation And I greatly wonder at the power and efficacy of Errour that so stupifies their undestanding that in the light of Noon-day they can be so blind and err so perniciously and betray their own Ignorance so shamelesly It is a Rule of Lawyers as I formerly have said Where the Law distinguishes not we ought not to distinguish What need then is there in a thing so evident of so many by-ways of distinctions and Labyrinths of perplexities for Paul hath spoken expresly and given many weighty Arguments whereby he makes it very clear that it is theGrace ofGod only to which we are indebted for all our Iustification But those men are of another mind saying That this Grace consists not in the favour of God only whereby he receives sinners for the sake of Christ but also in Moral Vertues and Charity whereby the Law is fulfilled Tho' I deny not that the excellent gifts of honest actions are bestowed upon us by the Grace of God Yet our Iustification before God depends not upon this grace of working Therefore we do not utterly reject the distinction that they bring of pardoning and renewing grace if they keep them duly within their own bounds But that which they conclude from hence we altogether disapprove I know and confess it is the Grace of God which both sanctifies and justifies which both pardons renews For we are daily renewed unto new obedience by the influence of Divine Grace But though this be so we are not renewed for this purpose that by this newness of obedience we may be justified But before Renovation we are sirst justified by Faith in the Son of God all the sins of our former life being blotted out for the sake of Christ in whom we believe Unto which Iustification succeeds the renovation of imperfect Obedience but not such as justifies a man from his sins in the sight of God for good works go not before him that is to be justified but follow him that is justified For whereas hence they make a twofold Iustification a first as they call it and a second of which the one is before works and the other after works whereby it is perfected it is a vain imagination not derived from the fountains of sound Doctrine but from the filthy Cisterns of Sophistry and vain jangling For the Gospel acknowledges no Iustification but one only and such a one as endures for ever As Christ whom he loves he is said to love unto the end And as God hath once chosen and called those unto Salvation whom he will justifie for ever so also he likewise once justifies those whom he will glorifie For I see no such difference between these things but that what agrees unto Election and Vocation may also be attributed to Iustification Wherefore as God's election and calling of those who are justified is one and not twofold it must follow by necessary consequence that there is but one Iustification of those who are chosen Therefore if God hath once chosen those that are to be justified why may not one Iustification be sufficient for them whom Election hath called unto glory especially because there is one and the same cause and manner both of electing and justifying He chose them in Christ first whom he predestinated unto life And in like manner he justifies in Christ those whom by the sacred Decree of his Election he appointed to glory But if you ask the cause why God chuses his own in Christ I answer That the cause
the Lord would intimate unto us by the Prophet the same thing that the Apostle declares to wit that we attain unto so great Felicity by the free Gift of God only and not by Works or Merits of Works For what can be the sense of these Words of the Apostle Without Works but the same that the Prophet expresseth in these Words without Money and without Price What hole can the Papists find here to creep out at Without our own Works say they or without those that go before Faith as Campian says or without the Works of the Law as Osorius speaks but not without the Works of Faith or those Works which flow from the Grace of God but this vain Sophistry is overthrown by the similitude of the Prophet which would be utterly absurd unless upon all accounts Salvation were freely offered without any Condition of Works For otherwise what will they answer the Prophet or how can they interpret his Words where he commands to eat without Money and without Price Will they distinguish Money in this place just as they distinguish Works So that they reject that Money as unprofitable which is our own being purchased by our own labours but what is given us of God they are so far from excluding this that unless we have it it is in vain to come and eat O vain janglings of Sophisters not so fit to be confuted by Arguments as to be hissed away and accursed by an Apostolical Execration Suitable hereunto is that saying of the same Prophet Ye were sold for nought and ye shall be redeemed without Silver What else can be understood by these Words but the freeness of the Infinite Mercy of God towards us without any Merit of ours Where then are the Merits of inherent Righteousness which the wicked bring before God if none obtain Iustification as they plead but those who are first endued with Charity and thereby are rendered just and worthy of Life Eternal For the Confirmation of what we assert let us add also the Example of Abraham From whence we may argue thus Argument Rom. 4. The VVorks of Abraham were done in Faith and Grace The VVorks of Abraham have no Praise or Glory before God Argument Therefore VVorks done by Faith and Grace Merit nothing before God I am not ignorant what these Interpreters Answer absurdly wresting these Words of Paul to another Sense contrary to the Mind of the Apostle For thus they comment upon this place If Abraham by VVorks c. The good VVorks of Abraham done in Faith are not by these Words excluded from Iustification neither is he declared to be justified by Faith only But the VVorks of the Law done without Faith are excluded which sort of VVorks because Abraham did not therefore he is truly said to be justified by his VVorks before God Moreover as they say it is not proved by these Words that the good Works of Abraham being a renewed Man and righteous though done in Faith did not justifie but that Abraham was not justified by Works only without Faith Thus they say What should I answer then but that their Interpretation doth not agree with the Mind of the Author Paul writing to the Romans when he had proved it by many and weighty Arguments That a Man is justified by Faith without Works being about to confirm the same by an Example He enquires concerning the Works of Abraham What shall we say that Abraham our Father according to the flesh found For if he was justified by Works he hath whereof to Glory but not before God c. First let us see what these Works were of which Paul treats and next whose Works they were The Adversaries Answer and amongst those Campian our Countrey-man who a while since when he was urged by this place of Paul concerning the Works of Abraham is reported to have answered thus like his own Iesuits the Works of the Law as they are done without Faith and Grace avail nothing to Iustification but because the Works of that Holy Man were not such being replenished with Faith and Grace therefore he is truly said to be justified by his own Works before God yet not as his own Works What do you say Was he justified by Works of whom Paul says expresly that he had no cause of glorying in his Works before God Was the Apostle ignorant of the Holiness and Excellency of the Works of the Godly Patriarch which were not without Faith and the Grace of God And yet Paul denies that these Works though excellent in themselves availed any thing before God in respect either of glorying or of Iustification And it is evident by the Authority of Paul that it was of Faith and nor of Works that he was justified before God for Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for Righteousness How then will those Interpreters agree with the Apostle in affirming he denies for they contrarily do plead that Abraham was justified by his Works Whereas in opposition thereunto the whole scope of this Epistle is to remove the works of the Saints though excellent in themselves from Iustification not that pious works should be contemned but that the free Bounty of God towards sinners may evidently appear who liberally communicates his Righteousness not to the dignity of Merits but to Faith not to him that worketh but to him that believeth in him that justifies the ungodly who justifieth the ungodly saith the Apostle But here Campian objects after his former manner pleading first That Abraham was justified by Works and next he renders the reason why he was justified by Works because that his Works were not done in Circumcision nor in the Law but before Circumcision and the promulgation of the Law by Faith and Grace And therefore they were acceptable to God Thirdly Commenting upon the scope of the Epistle he affirms that we misunderstand the words of the Apostle because his whole drift through all that Epistle is to separate from Iustification the Ceremonies of the Law and the Works that were done before Faith in the Law or by the Law only without Grace For thus he reasons and such are all Camplan's Objections To all which I answer that they are most false 1. Whereas he affirms That Abraham was righteous by Works Paul expresly denies it Reason openly confutes it and the thing appears evident of it self For what need had he of the promised Seed and a Redeemer if already he had been righteous by Works or what need was there that Faith should be accounted unto him for righteousness who was afterwards to obtain the praise of Righteousness by Works Moreover death being the wages not of righteousness but of sin by what right could he be subject to the dominion of death if he had not been a sinner If he was a sinner how then was he righteous by works 2. Whereas he says That these works were not done according to the Law nor under the Law but before the
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
King of Israel the Lord is in the midst of thee thou shalt not be afraid of evil any more c. How then doth this so great Peace and Tranquility of Conscience so often repeated in the Prophets consist with that trembling fear and doubtfulness which the Papists plead for For what encouragement is there for Hope when the Mind is restless through fear and all thingsly at an uncertainty For how can Hope avoid being uncertain if Salvation must be hoped for by Works and not by free Donation Howbeit we are not ignorant nor deny that Sanctification and Renovation and the practice of good Works that flow from hence are Benefits bestowed upon us by Christ which of necessity all good Christians must endeavour to attain unto But that is not the state of this Controversie for the debate here is not about governing the Life in this World but about Eternal Salvation and the cause thereof Nor whether Offices belonging to Christian Piety should be performed but whether when they are performed they are so much accounted of by God that they Merit Salvation and reconcile an offended God to Mankind Whether Vertues and good Works are able to stand before the Iudgment Seat of God without being condemned according to the rigid Sentence of the Law Whether under great Terrours of Conscience when Salvation hangs in doubt we may safely rely upon them that we may become the Sons of God and inherit Eternal Life And yet it is not therefore false that as long as this Life endures it is very requisite that Believers should be careful to lead Holy Lives and utterly abhor all wickedness But it must be considered how it is requisite In respect of the necessity of Obedience it is true but if you say that it is requisite in respect of our obtaining a right unto Eternal Life and Salvation nothing is more false or pernicious because it is not purchased by our Merits but is given to us that deserve not and are unworthy and it is given then whilest we are yet Sinners that it may evidently appear that all the Glory of our Salvation is due to the Mercy of God and not to our Works which follow Reconciliation to God as Fruits thereof but do not procure it Therefore as I have already admonished I must again renew this Admonition that in this course of Obedience the godly practice of Charity should not be separated from us but should of necessity accompany Faith but yet it must be so admitted that it shut not out Faith from its own Office and Dignity nor justle out the glorious Riches of the Grace of God which is in Christ Iesus Nor darken the Glory of the Cross of Christ nor take away Consolation from troubled Consciences nor corrupt the sound Doctrine which the Apostles have taught us which seeing it places all our Salvation in nothing else but the Benefit of Redemption by Christ let men of understanding and Piety iudge which of the two Opinions is in the right whether they that place all the Hope of their Salvation in Faith only or they that place it in the Righteousness of inherent Works only and call Faith if alone a Presumption Verily if the Spirit of Christ could not endure those Laodiceans who were puffed up with a false Imagination of their own Righteousness and understood not how wretched and miserable and naked they were I suppose it may easily appear what should be judged of Popish Catholicks and all this Divinity of theirs I beg of Christ the infinitely Glorious and only begotten Son of God King of Kings Preserver of Life the Merciful Author and Defender of our Salvation the Glory of Heaven the brightness of his Father's Glory according to his Infinite Goodness unto whose Everlasting Dominion all things are subject that are in Heaven and in Earth that we miserable Men whom Nature hath brought into this wretched Condition who are Poor and Needy Naked and Blind and utterly destroyed being restored by his Bounty and having Salvation bestowed upon us by his free Gift and being cloathed with his Ornaments and enriched with his Wealth and carried on by the safe conduct of his Spirit we may grow in him daily more and more and never fall from him being strong in the Faith and fruitful in good Works until at length at the coming of his Kingdom we be received into those blessed Mansions of Immortality where he Lives and Reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit in Eternal Glory Amen FINIS Acts 10. The necessity of this Defence against Osorius The Enemies of the Grace of God under the Title of righteousness The Books of Osorius concerning righteousness The Title of the Books concerning righteousness The image of righteousness described by Osori us The praise of righteousness The Platonick Catholick righteousness Osorius in Writing of Righteousness doth greatly oppose Christian Righteousness A twofold manner of righteousness The righteousness of the Law Human Reason understands not the Doctrine of Free Iustification Osorius de justit lib. 1. pag. 3. Lib. 10. de Iustit pag. 232. Lib. 2. p. 44. Lib. 6. pag. 148. All have finned and come short of the glory of God The Idea of the Osorian righteousness can be more easily found in his Books than in his Mauners The Son of God only was perfectly Holly Pals. 14. Rom. 3. 1 Io. 1. Iacob 3. Oso 1. 5. p. 21. Osorius confounds the righteousness of faith and works without any distinction Phil. 3. It is one thing to be justified by faith and another thing to be justified by the Law There are no performances of the most perfect men that are without some imperfection in the sight of God We are all as unclean and all our righteousness as a menstruous cloth Isa. 64. All we like Sheep have gone astray Isa. 5. 3. A frivolous exception of Osorius The Papists do not clearly enough explain why Works are called good What good works do essect according to the opinion of Papists Lib. 9. 233. What sort of righteousuess is that of Osorius Lib. 9. p. 232. Lib. 9. p. 232. what way men come to Heaven according to the opinion of Osorius Adam De justit lib. 4. pag. 90. Lib. 3. p. 68. The right way to Heaven consists in the Exercise ofChuity according to the Opinion of Osorius An answer to things alledged Paul a great 〈◊〉 of Charity Paul a great Preacher of Charity Not Charity but Faith opens a way to the Kingdom of Heaven Rom. 3. 4. A twofold manner of Righteousness of the Law and of the Gospel or Faith The Righteousness of Faith The necessary distinction of Legal and Evangelical Righteousness The Office of the Law How the Righteousness of the Law and Christ is one and not one The strength and operation of the Law The Law as out of Christ is confidered what it doth The difference between the Law and Christ. Christ the only Antidote against the Stings of the Law A question by what
Nazianzen de moderatione Our Righteousness is Faith only Bernard our Righteousness is no other thing but the Indulgence of God Thom. Aquin. in 1 Tim. 1. Therefore there is no hope of Iustification but in Faith only A twofold Iustification 〈◊〉 to the Papists The second Iustification of Papisis overturned A Rule of Law Ambrose in Cap. 3. ad Rom. It is proved out of Ambrose that a twofold manner of Iustificatoin is impossible Gregor 2. lib. Moral Cap. 40. Gregor ibid. There is a twofold consideration both of good and Evil Works An Answer by way of Instance Every Union of things doth not confound their Offices Erasmus censurus Parisiensium Tit. 7. They of Paris argue that Faith can be without Charity 1 Cor. 13. Chrysostom A cavilling about the Word all An Argument out of a place of 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 13. Mat. 11. In the Kingdom of Heaven Faith is greater than Charity 1 Cor. 13. The Offices of Charity Charity commended from its duration How great things Faith doth in Heaven How Charity is greater than Faith and how Faith is greater than Charity Iustification before God Iustification before men What the Iustification is whereof Iames speaks Human Iustification which consists in the shewing of good works An outward appearance is often deceitful Gen. 15. Gal. 3. Romans 3. Reason 1. Reason 2. Reason 3. Reason Tiletan Free Iustification by Faith is proved by the Words of Paul Andr. Vega de just pag. 751. Rom. 4. The Distinction of the Papists is idle and Impertinent Rom. 1. Eph. 1. Colos. 2. Wherein the difference between the Law and Grace consists A Similitude The Distinction of Hosius 2. Arg. out of Paul Rom. 3. Andraeas Vega Isa. 1. Aug. de perfect just But when the highest Lord shall sit on the Throne who will boast that he hath a clean Heart And who will boast that he is pure from his Sin Unless it be those that Glory in their own Righteousness and not in the Mercy of the Iudge What manner of Gospel Paul preached Rom. 3. The popish comment about the universal Sign is overturned Aug. de praedest Sanct. lib. 1. cap. 8. Hab. No Man denies Works to be necessary Basil. in Psal. 32. Nazian 3 Argum. St. Paul Rom. 4. 4 Argum. Rom. 10. 5 Argum. Acts 13. 6 Argum. Acts 10. 7 Argum. 1 Cor. 3. 8 Argum. Arguments out of S. Paul Rom. 4. Rom. 10. Romans 4. Acts 13. 1 Cor. 3. An argument taken from Examples Acts 2. Acts 8. Acts 16. Luke 7. Luke 18. Luke 23. Luke 18. Inherent Righteousness Rom. 10. Gal. 3. Rom. 10. A Sophistical Pretence A Sophistical Objection How Grace justifies according to the Opinion of the Papists Works considered in a twofold respect as they are either of grace or of nature Aug. de spirttu litera cap. 30. What is righteousness by the Law The righteousness of the Law righteousness by the Law or in the Law A Rule of Lawyers Aug. de fid oper c. 15. The cause why we are chosen and justified in Christ only Vega de fide operibus q. 2. pa. 754. It is sufficient that we by believing only be justified unless we do otherways hinder the Grace of God by our Sins One manner of justifying and that perpetual The Distinction of a first and second Iustification is confuted The cause of Iustification is not twofold but one Eph. 2. Rom. 11. The Caviling of the Papists An indefinite Proposition Rom. 3. Isa. 55. A frivolous Trick of the Sophisters Isa. 52. The VVords of Paul wrested by the Papists Tarrianus Iesuit pro epist. pent lib. 4. An Answer to the first Objection An Answer to the Objection An Answer to the third Objection 1 Tim. 1. 1 Tim. 2. 2 Tim. 1. 2 Cor. 5. Ephes. 3. The blind Errour of the Papists about the sense and scope of Pauls Epistles Romans 7. Vega de Iustificat p. 771. Iohn 3. Romans 4. Aug. de Haeres Haeres 54. Iohn 6. Acts 10. Acts 16. Gal. 5. Tridentine Counc 1. Sess. 6. cap. 7. Objection from the words of Paul Answer Why Faith is alone in Iustifying How Faith Charity and other vertues are joyned together What where how Faith works by Love Trid. Concil cap. 11. If any say that a man is justified by the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness only or by the remission of sins only excluding Grace and Charity which is spread abroad in the hearts and inheres in them Or if any say that the Grace whereby we are justified is only the favour of God let him be accursed If any say that Iustifying Faith is nothing else but a fiducial relyance on the Mercy of God forgiving sins for Christ's sake or that this fiducial relyance is the only thing whereby we are justified let him be accursed Sess. 6. cap. 2. Rom. 4. 11. Rom. 3. Rom. 4. Testimonies out of the Prophets Ierem. 23. Ezek. 34. Isa. 41. Isa. 43. Isa. 44. Zeph. 2. The necessity of Pious Works Apoc. 3.
contained in the Law of God So that besides this there is no other way laid open neither in the Gospel nor the Writings of the Apostles whereby we may be brought to the Heavenly Countrey and its immortality but that which is described only in the Law of God Suppose these things were granted you which you affirm though they be in themselves absurd and wholly Iudaical but let me grant or at least feign that this way which you shew is the only way and the most firmly founded and also that the same is the most easie and likewise that there is no other way by which we can come to Heaven but that only which is proposed by the description of the Divine Law Suppose we grant this yet in the mean while see thou teach me this how thou canst know that thou dost as many good works as are sufficient for a compleat obedience to the Law Of old our first Father Adam received but one command and failed in the performance and that in Paradise being placed in the highest degree of Innocency What and thou a miserable mortal man banished out of Paradise compassed about with so much infirmity of the flesh having received the Law of God in which so many and so great things are imposed to be performed and they are so imposed that he is liable to a Curse whosoever doth not most constantly continue in them all do'st thou stand so firmly that no storm of temptation can throw thee down at any time But what if having observed all other commands of God exactly so much as one tittle of the Law is neglected by thee What will thy Righteousness say to us in this Case Do you not see that the Sentence of the Law being pronounced you are as much in the fault as if you were guilty of all 〈◊〉 And yet you talk to us of no other way to the Kingdom of Life but that which is defined by the Ministry of the Law and the Exercise of Charity But now how will you teach that by what Scriptures by what Masters shall this appear evident to us which you assert by Paul I trow What then says he he To wit this is the mind and opinion of Paul say you that he asserts that all manner of destroying and suppressing of Lust is placed in the Grace of God which must be obtained by Faith and teaches that there is no other way of extinguishing and destroying it And a gain elsewhere Paul was never the Man that disapproved the Offices of Bounty as if they were little profitable for Salvation but taught that the only right way to Heaven was that which was Fixed in the continual Exercise of Charity c. I know indeed and confess that all proceeds from the Grace of God alone whatsoever is done by us aright and commendably whether in suppressing the Allurements of Vices or in observing the Discipline of Vertue Moreover that should not be denied which you do well assume according to the mind of Paul that we obtain this Grace from God by Faith Likewise that is not ill said which you add concerning Paul that he was never the Man that disapproved Pious endeavours of Exercising Charity seeing he every where extols those very things with wonderful praises For who knows not that the excellent Sermons of Paul are exceeding full of very serious Precepts and Instructions for governing the Life and that they are not in any matter more affectionate than in this that all every where who profess the name of Christ should together with a sincere profession of Faith joyn a proportionable Holiness of Life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for necessary uses Suppose this to be most true as it is indeed yet that was never the meaning of the Apostle to place our Salvation principally in the Law as if he thought that the Kindom of God and the Righteousness thereof should be measured by our worthy Deeds and Charity or proposed Heaven to us as fit to be paid for or sold for the commodities of our Works as by a kind of Auction Yea when I read Paul's Epistles of a far different sense this seems to me to be the only scope and mind of the Apostle that he transfers all this Righteousness which you attribute to the Law unto Faith and so transfers it that he shuts out all mixture of Works and leaves only Faith in the Son of God which lays open for us a way into the Kingdom of Heaven For I beseech you he that affirms that we are justified by Faith without Works and who again says but now without the Law the Righteousness of God is made manifest being testified by the Law and the Prophets with what Words could he more evidently shut out the endeavours and merits of all our Vertues from the Divine gift of Iustification These things being thus agreed upon and concluded by the weighty authority of Paul of necessity from thence follows That there is a twofold manner or way of being righteous to be distinguished as I said according to the different conditions of both Covenants of which the one belongs to the Law the other is peculiar to Christ. Then both the Law and Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have their own righteousness for as the Law which is wholly exercised in works of righteousness endures no unrighteousness and renders the fruits of righteousness plentifully to those who persevering in that which is good have filled up all the parts of perfect Innocency Likewise Christ also hath his own righteousness both much more powerful and also not a little differing from the other though not so much differing in respect of the matter yet exceeding much in the manner of dispensing for the Law communicates only to them that Work but Christ communicates to them that believe perfect righteousness and often also to the unworthy and underserving by a singular grace of dispensation Therefore this Righteousness is properly called the Righteousness of Faith Which is necessarily to be distinguished by us from the other which is called the Righteousness of the Law Which they who do not verily they do a great injury to the Scriptures and quench all light of Doctrine confounding both their own Consciences and the Consciences of their hearers with a wonderful kind of disturbance so that scarcely any Man can certainly know what should be hoped or feared for they who dispute thus concerning the Righteousness of the Law and draw all things to that alone as if there remained no other way to hope for Salvation but that which the strict and severe observation of the Law brings I beseech you what else do those Men do but leave the Souls of Men in a doubtful wavering And by what way those Men encourage us to hope by the same they compel us to fear and utterly to despair of Salvation seeing there is no Man in the World to whom the daily offences of his Life gives not
if they are righteous and not sinners whom Christ helps What need have the Righteous of a Redeemer What need have the whole of a Physician Moreover how will that saying of Paul hold true whereby Christ being made Man is said to have come into the World not to save the Righteous but Sinners I beseech you now O ingenuous Man according to your Modesty that I may deal very modestly with you If any Man treat with you on this manner in disputing about the Doctrine of Iustification what would you answer him if he should ask these things of you If any such Man should come to you who being affrighted in his mind and astonished at the greatness of his sins and burdened with horrour of Conscience and almost dead with the fear of the Iudgment of God should ask the help of counsel and comfort from you of which sort there are found not a few Examples in the Folds of the Lord's Flock what Remedy would you reach forth unto him Perhaps you will send him to those Books of yours concerning Righteousness and what will he find there whereby his afflicted and cast down Mind may be refreshed and recover it self what will you send him to the Law but what will he draw from thence fit for healing his wounds especially seeing that Law of Righteousness can only bring us in guilty because we have not kept the Law and oblige us thereunto as by bond at least it cannot by any means restore Righteousness that was once lost or satisfie the Iudge It remains then that you should bring over the miserable Soul of a Sinner from the Law in which there appears no hope of defence unto Christ seeing it is He only by whose Wounds and Stripes we are healed and who hath taken upon himself all the Impieties of us all that he might communicate unto us his own Righteousness That is very true indeed and upon that account I think you and yours are to be commended who though you seem not to have a clear enough sight of the genuine Office of Christ and his Divine Greatness in procuring our Salvation yet ye refuse not to profess his Name and a certain external reverence of Faith But because at present you have to do with men that are troubled and to whom it is not sufficient to retain only the Name of a Saviour unless we have also a right understanding of the Efficacy of his Death which he suffered for us and of the Power that he hath to save and the great benefits he hath bestowed upon us and his exceeding great Love and Good-will towards us and the infinite Riches that are promised to us in him Therefore you must proceed further and help the afflicted Minds of the Godly as much as may be that they may know and believe not only that there is eternal and durable Life in Christ but also that they may be taught the way and means and manner how that Life comes to us and to whom it belongs and what we must observe in attaining unto it What the power and efficacy of Faith is whom it justifies and how IN which matter there is great variety of Sentiments and Opinions amongst Divines For whereas Paul proclaims with a very audible Voice That Man is justified by Faith without the Works of the Law Those Men by the additions of their Comments do not explain the most evident meaning of the Apostle but render it obscure they do not expound but cavil So that some take the word Faith not as Paul for that Faith only which is in Christ Iesus but which is formed by Charity and Works Others interpret that which Paul saith of Faith without Works to be understood concerning Ceremonial Works Some interpret it of the Works of the Law in this sense that those works are undertaken not by Faith but by the command of the Law without Grace Others expound it otherwise without antecedent works only Some think it should be understood of the first Iustification only which they attribute to Faith alone as in little Children that are Baptized but the second in men come to years they attribute to Faith indeed but not without Works The scope of all which dispute is that Faith being adorned with Works may do something and on the contrary that if Works are not joyned with it it may seem a kind of rude matter void of life and form not only unprofitable to purchase Righteousnes but a certain dead and destructive thing Which if it be true I would know this of them and chiefly I would ask of you Osorius in what Common-wealth in what Church in whose Kingdom do you coyn this new piece of Divinity If it is the Church of Christ that is not yours It is his Kingdom in which you are only a servant What Shall not Christ have a free power permitted to him of administring his own affairs as in his own lawful Common-wealth And whence is this your great boldness in anothers Dominion in a Church that ye never founded to alter and change as you list the appointments and institutions of your Prince contrary to Law and Right Or by what authority do you oppose your selves but that every man may act in his own possession according to his own right and freedom of command What if it seems good in the Eyes of Christ to communicate freely the glory of his Kingdom to whom he will Will ye forbid him What if the most Gracious Lord will pay a full reward to those that come to work at the last hour of the day and make all equal by making the like agreement with them all should your Eye therefore be evil because he is good But now the Lord himself the Prince and Author of the Church professes in very evident words that eternal life shall be given to them that believe in his name What can be said more evident in signification or more clear to be understood He that believeth in me saith he hath eternal life And again repeating the same in the same words He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life And chap. 11. He that believeth in me though he were dead yet he shall live And lest he should seem to testifie this of himself without the consent of his Father he adds This is saith he the will of him that sent me that every one that seeth the Son and believeth in him should have life eternal Who doth no less most evidently confirm these things by performances which he expresses in word adding also miracles thereunto For how great a multitude do ye meet with every where through all the Evangelists whom you see saved and healed by no other thing but faith only which relied on Christ. How often do we hear from the mouth of the Lord in the Gospel thy Faith hath made thee whole without hearing any mention of works And what Christ performed to faith will Osorius attribute that to Works
unreasonable so to do as if a man disputing concerning Osorius should thus conclude that because he hath no power of governing in the Kings Chamber therefore he hath nothing he can do at home amongst his own family Or because he is not at all excellent in military vertue to gain a victory that therefore he hath no faculty or dexterity in managing the affairs of his own business Luther separates charity from faith and the Law from the Gospel and does it not without cause But it must be considered where in what place and for what cause he does it Not to cause the godly works of good men to be despised nor to discourage the exercise thereof but that the power of justifying should not be attributed to the performance of them Not that faith should not work by love before Men but that it should not work before God For it is one thing to work before Men and another thing to work before God Therefore one and the same faith acteth both ways but one way before God and another way before men for before men it works by love that it may perform obedience to the will of God and be serviceable for the benefit of our Neighbour but before God it works not by any love but by Christ only that it may obtain the pardon of sins and eternal life By which you see what is the difference between faith and vertue and wherein they both agree and how different the working of both is How faith is alone without works and again how the same is not alone for in the mean while Godly works are not therefore condemned because they are not admitted to the justification of life but the trusting in works is only overturned Here then a wise and suitable division should be used that things may be distinguished each by their own places and bounds lest one thing should rashly rush into the possession of another and disturb the order of its station Therefore let the praise-worthy merits of the greatest vertues have their own honour and dignity which no man withholds from them Nevertheless by their dignity they will never be so available in the presence of the Heavenly Iudge as to redeem us from our sins to satisfie Iustice to deliver us from the wrath of God and everlasting destruction to restore us that are so many ways ruinated unto grace and life to unite us as Sons and Heirs to God and to overcome Death and the World These things cost a far dearer price than that we should ever be able to pay so many and so great debts by any works or merits or means of our own For so great is the severity of Iustice that there can be no reconciliation unless Iustice be satisfied by suffering the whole punishment that was due The wrath is so very great that there is no hope of appeasing the Father but by the price and death of the Son And again so great is the mercy that the Father grudged not to send his own Son and bestow him on the World and so to bestow him that he gives Life Eternal to them that believe in him Moreover so great is the loving kindness of the Son towards us that he grudged not for our sakes to bring upon himself this infinite load of wrath which otherways our frailty however assisted with all the help of moral vertues had never been able to sustain Whence Faith hath received its efficacy BEcause Faith alone with fixed eyes looks upon this Son and Mediator and cleaves unto him who only could bring about this Atchievement of our Redemption with the Father therefore it is that it alone hath this vertue and power of justifying not with works nor for works but only for the sake of the Mediator on whom it relies Therefore that is false and worthy to be rejected with disdain which some unhappy and wicked School-Divines affirm in discoursing of Charity to wit that it is the form of Faith and that it must not by any means be separated from faith no more than the vital Soul can be separated from the body or the essential form from matter which otherwise is a rude and unweildy Mass. In answering of whom I think there is no need of many words seeing the whole meaning and drift of Scripture if rightly understood the very end of the Law seeing Christ and the instruction of the Apostles and the whole nature of the Gospel seem to be manifestly against them and wholly to overturn that most absur'd Opinion by so many Oracles so many Signs Examples and Arguments to the contrary Now if that be form which gives subsistence to a thing how much more truly must it be said that faith is the form of charity without which all the works of charity are base and contemptible as again the form of faith is not charity but Christ only and the promise of the word But what say they are not the pious works of Charity acceptable to God being so many ways prescribed unto us and commanded by him Are not these also remunerated with plentiful fruits of Righteousness and heaped up with manifold Rewards in the Gospel I was hungry says he and ye fed me I thirsted and ye refreshed me with drink so that not so much as a cup of cold water shall want a reward when it is given in the name of Christ besides an infinite number of other things of that kind which being taken out of the Scriptures are enlarged upon to the praise of Charity Indeed no man denys that pious and holy works of Charity are greatly approved of God and it is an undoubted truth that the love of God and of our Neighbour as it comprehends the Summary of both Tables and is the greatest complement of the whole Law so it hath excellent promises annexed unto it Neither is there any Controversie between us about that But when we affirm that Charity pleases God we ask this how it pleases whether simply of it self in respect of the very work or upon the account of faith and the Mediatour and then whether the same Charity so pleases that it justifies us before God and obtains the pardon of sins and overcomes the terrours of death and sin that it may be opposed to the judgment and anger of God Moreover whether it hath the promises of Eternal Life annexed unto it If without a Mediatour and the faith of him there is nothing which can please God and it is impossible that works should please him before the person of him that worketh be reconciled it follows that Charity depends on Faith and not Faith on Charity But that it rather goes before Love and is so far from being joyned with it for justification that it also justifies Charity and makes all the works of Charity acceptable to God The matters appear more evident by Example Suppose a Iew or Turk does daily bestow great gifts upon the poor with very great cost
birth-right then the bestowing of the Inheritance goes before all deeds Afterwards Pious deeds follow according to the saying of Augustine which is no less true than firm Good works follow him that is justified but go not before him that is to be justified Wherefore if that most pure and eternal Nature account us for Sons as it was proved above in which there sticks not any stain of unrighteousness upon the like account it follows that the cause which joyns us to God as Sons the same also makes us just in the sight of God But that we may rightly examine what that cause is first the degrees of causes must be distinguished of which some are related unto God and others to men On Gods part in the first place comes his infinite Mercy Predestination Election the Grace of the Promise and Vocation of which Paul speaks in more places than one Who hath Predestinated us saith he unto the adoption of Sons by Iesus Christ whom he hath Predestinated that they should be conformed to the Image of his Son them he hath also called whom he hath called them he hath also justified c. In the next order follows the Donation of his Dear Son his Obedience Death Sufferings Merits Redemption Resurrection Forgiveness of Sin As for those things which proceed from God there is no great controversie between us But our Opinions differ concerning those things which are called causes on Man's part to wit whether there is one cause only or more Whether Faith only without Works or Works joined together with Faith And this is the thing about which now we contend O Osorius for in these Books you do dispure about the righteousness of works at such a rate that you suppose Faith only without these additions so Insufficient to perform any thing towards the purchasing Salvation that it is your Opinion That this Faith of Christ only if it be separated from the help of Works deserves not to be called the Faith of Chrit but a head-strong rashness an insolent confidence an impudent boldness an outragious madness an execrable Wickedness Which sort of Words how little modesty they savour of it is needless here to inquire But how far they differ from truth and the inviolable authority of Sacred Scriptures it will be requisite to take notice because at present this is the matter of debate between us And first if you understand it concerning this common Fellowship of Men with one another and Offices of mutual obedience between Man and Man there is no man so unreasonable as to separate Faith from the operation of Charity in that sense For thus Faith Hope and Charity have a necessary connexion But if the 〈◊〉 is applied beyound the publick society of Human Life to those things that peculiarly belong to Salvation and have a relation to God himself That if now the cause should be erquired for which gives us a right to the adoption of the Sons of God and which purchases us righteousness before him Herein Paul in Disputing against you doth so far take away all righteousness from works and leaves Faith alone that he judges him that mingleth any thing besides for the obtaining Salvation to be a destroyer of Faith an Enemy of Grace and consequently an Enemy of the Cross of Christ. For if those saith he that are of the Law are heirs Faith is made void the promise is made of none effect And also elsewhere If righteousness comes by the Law then Christ dyed in vain Thus you hear Paul manifestly asserting what it is that makes us heirs of the Inheritance and Salvation not the Law but Faith And that these two are so contrary in the Office of Iustifying that if the Law be admitted Faith is wholly overturned the Death of Christ is made void the grace of the promise fails Now let us compare Osorius disputing of righteousness with Paul He affirms that Man is justified by Faith without Works Your opinion on the contrary pleads that righteousness doth so much consist of Works without Faith that Faith doth nothing else but prepare for Holy Works He asserting a twofold righteousness of Works and of Faith of Grace and of Merit so distinguishes between both that he sets the one against the other by a mutual opposition as if they were things that could by no means consist together but the one destroys the other And he makes that evident by the example of the Israelites and the Gentiles of whom those grasping at righteousness by Works fell from true righteousness These because they sought after righteousness by Faith solely and simply obtained it You on the contrary being neither deterred by their fearsul example nor regarding the Apostolical Instruction and making no distinction between these so different kinds of righteousness you seem to comprehend all in that one righteousness of the Law as if the righteousness of Faith were none at all The Words of Paul are very manisest To him that worketh the reward is reckoned to be not of grace but of debt But to him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is imputed unto him for righteousness What can any Man say more expresly Afterwards he adds freely denying that it could be imputed freely if it were due for Works On the contrary Osorius seems to be of such an opinion that he acknowledges no imputation of righteousness at all He who afferts we are justified by the Faith of Christ and not by Works What doth he else but remove Works utterly from the justification of Faith Your assertion which makes the Faith of Christ if works are shut out to be no Faith but 〈◊〉 and execrable Wickedness What else doth it in these words but bring a Gospel not from Heaven but from Portugal wholly differing from that which we have received from Paul Which seeing we are commanded by the Apostle not to suffer so much as in an Angel without wishing him accursed what may be answered to you in this case I commit to your self to consider Paul reasons thus If of Grace then not of Works otherways Grace is not Grace If of Merit then not Freely For in that which is free there can be no merit or debt The Arguments of Osorius whereby he attributes Righteousness to Works are answered NOW it must be enquired by what arguments Osorius pleads for his opinion And first he brings that out of the Psalms The Lord saith he is Righteous and loveth Righteousness his countenance beholds the upright And again The Wicked saith David shall not dwell with thee the Unrighteous shall not remain before thy eyes and thou hatest all those that work Iniquity thou shalt destroy all them that speak leasing c. And now what is gathered from these testimonies To wit That the Wicked have no society with the goodness of God For seeing God is himself the very Law of Equity and Rule of Righteousness according to which
all our actions should be directed therefore it is his opinion that it is not possible that he who puts away the rule it self from him and hates it should be joined to the same But what do you drive at in all these florid expressions it is this He then that asserts it to be possible that God should approve the wicked and join them to himself asserts it to be possible for God not to be God These things need no prolix answer For though we grant this to be very true which you mention from the Scriptures that the rule of Divine Iustice is perfect and that eternal light cannot endure any thing that is wicked or not agreeable to equity but you have not yet proved that those should be called wicked who flying to Christ by Faith receive from him the Pardon of their Sins who having their Sins blotted out and all Iniquity forgiven are written by the same Psalmist among the number of the blessed whom God himself purifying by faith and pouring his holy Spirit upon them of ungodly he hath made them godly and graciously received them into his favour for the sake of his dear Son And such we were all formerly as your Oration describes wicked sinners and all void of the glory of God before Christ washed us with his blood but now after we are washed from our former filthiness sanctified and justified in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ and by the spirit of our God Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect Those whom God Iustifies who shall condemn Then you go on and deny that it is possible that God should be unlike himself to favour wickedness or make friendship with wicked men of an unclean life And therefore you conclude we must needs be first righteous before we are received into the favour of God Right but who are they whom you call by the name of Iust You must teach us that If you judge they are such as are defiled with no pollution or can say with Christ Who amongst you will prove me guilty of Sin Verily I confess it seems not unlike to truth what you prove concerning the conformity of the Righteous unto God and that we must needs be all of us such if we would with acceptance have to do with that most pure Nature of the Divine Righteousness without a Mediator and Redeemer But if you take those for Righteous who are Righteous by Faith not by Life that is those whom daily forgiveness received by faith brings as righteous in the Presence of God in that sense this debate of yours about Righteousness does us no diskindness For by this means it comes to pass that whom Faith dayly absolves you your self cannot hold them guilty of any crime Therefore if they are not unrighteous nothing hinders them from being admitted with bold access into the presence of the Divine Majesty through the benefit of their Redeemer But you deny that it is agreeable to the nature of God to account any man worthy of his approbation except him whom his countenance beholds to be righteous Therefore it is necessary that our righteousness should go before the favour of God But whence that righteousness should come to us herein is all the contention between us You seem to acknowledge no righteousness but that which the perfection of life procures We place all our righteousness in Christ not in our selves in the faith of him only not in our own works What say you can any man obtain favour from that highest goodness as long as he hates not wickedness as long as be puts not away Iniquity from him which hath a perpetual War with Divine Equity Who is ignorant of or denies that For how can it be that that everlasting Law should not hate sin and wickedness with the greatest abhorrency Well and what do these Mountains of Gilboa bring forth unto us at length he concludes That it is therefore necessary that whosoever thinks to be received into the friendship of God must first hate wickedness Verily there is no man that denies it For though we should grant that a wise and wholesom or sound sorrow whereof you speak makes the first part of our conversion and that the true righteousness of faith doth not follow except some trouble of a penitent mind go before it doth not therefore come to pass that the very cause of justification should be attributed unto repentance for if repentance be nothing else but a grief of mind at the remembrance of sin it proves indeed that sin went before but takes not away that which was committed It declares perhaps some change of mind in him that committed it but takes not away the punishment that is due to justice Moreover repentance testifies that justice is lost but repairs not the loss thereof As pain coming of a wound inflicted makes not a medicine to it self but receives it from some other thing In like manner repentance goes before the remission of sins but doth not cause it just as Seryphius did not cause the recovering of the City of Tarentum who unless he had first lost it Fabius had not recovered it How many may you see in a common-wealth who having violated the publick Laws or been guilty of Treason against their Prince being overwhelmed with grief and shame with all their heart lament the wickedness of their crime and they do not wickedly that they are ashamed and repent But yet they do not escape the due punishment of the Law Therefore the detestation of their sin proves them guilty but doth not free them from condemnation But if there is so great severity of Laws and Iudgments in humane offences which no deploring of ill life can wash away what then should be judged of these that are committed against the highest and infinite Majesty Which Angels offending in one thing were not unpunished having been thrust out of Heaven and whom no sorrow could restore again what should be said to us in this frail condition of sinful nature in which dwelleth no good thing who offend by a daily either negligence of duties or filthiness of deeds Is it sufficient to turn away the vengeance of so great a God to say I have erred unless there be some other thing besides the sense of grief to help guilty and wounded nature which may defend this weak part of our repentance with a stronger safe-guard and may be sufficient to appease and reconcile offended justice with a proportionable price and so to speak can contend with Divine Iustice by opposing a righteousness equal thereunto For as the wound is infinite that is inflicted on our nature so it is just that a remedy of the like nature should be applied the strength and greatness whereof being infinite may by proportionable greatness be suited to the Majesty offended which verily consists not in repentance or charity or any offices of ours but is
thing and the holy Scriptures another they affirm that this is performed on this account because Christ being punished for us on the Cross hath by his Merits obtained for us the infusion of Charity Which because it is the perfection of the Law therefore being acquired by the Merit of Christ and received by our free-will it brings forth righteousness not that whereby we are accounted for just but whereby we are both truly just and deserve life But verily this Sophism neither agrees with the History of the Israelites nor satisfies the argument propounded For if those that were then wounded by the Serpents by only beholding the Serpent without any other intermediate cause received present health verily either this type bears not the similitude of Christ or Christ heals us by faith in his name only without interposing the remedy of Charity Otherways the mutual proportion of similitude between us and them between Christ and the Serpent will not rightly agree They lifted up their outward eyes we our inward they to the serpent we to Christ. Both by beholding obtain health through the Promise of God they the health of their Bodies we of our Souls They presently in beholding at the first sight were healed in the same moment by no endeavour of their own but only upon the account of the Object and by vertue of the Promise And what other thing doth this mystical adumbration signifie but Iustification freely prepared and promised to us by the sole contemplation of the Object whereby we apprehend Christ by Faith Will you hear the Promise That every one who seeth him may not perish but have eternal Life And elsewhere And this righteous servant of mine by his knowledge shall Iustifie many But what is it to see him but to believe in him What is the knowledge of that righteous one but the Faith of Christ which Iustifies from sin Therefore what external aspect was to them that the light of Faith is to us What Health was to them Iustification is to us whereby we are delivered from the Curse of sin and are absolved without punishment But if you ask what way There is an answer in readiness to wit according to the very similitude of the Serpent not by any labour of ours but by contemplation of the Object only and by vertue of the Promise I pray you what is more evident What more agreeable And what then should be said to those ill-employed men who by their new doctrine translate Free Iustification which is due only to Faith by vertue of the Promise of God unto works of Charity Of Sin and the healing thereof by Christ. FOR Andradius Hosius Vega the Spaniard and those others of the same Faction confederate with these seem so to contend about the Righteousness of Charity that having almost banished Faith out of the City of Rome they place all the parts of our Salvation or at least the chiefest in Charity and Sanctification And now by what Scriptures will they demonstrate that What say they doth not Christ heal us just as the Brazen Serpent healed the Wounds of those that were hurt Were we not all healed by his stripes Is not he the Lamb that takes away the sins of the World Is not he the Life-giving Serpent who gives cure for our wounds And what are our Wounds say they but Sin What is the healing of Wounds but the puting away of Sins What then shall the Serpent be more powerful in fixing his sting than Christ in taking it out Shall Alam be more powerful to infect Nature than Christ to cleanse it But how is nature purged if yet the contagion of sin remains As in a diseased body unless the hurtful humours are purged off health is not recovered and as the Air being surrounded on every side with black darkness begins not to shine before the brightness of the Sun being returned the darkness vanishes In like manner in the inward diseases of minds the causes of maladies must first be taken away before health is restored But the causes of evils are sins which if they are taken away by Christ how can they remain in the Saints But if they abide not by necessary consequence then it follows that the roots of all sins being cut away they are righteous in the sight of God by that righteousness not which is imputed but which properly inheres in them which is free of all spot of sin which carefully observes the Law which informs the mind with Charity and beautifies it with Divine Ornaments and makes us partakers of the Divine Nature But let us put all these together for brevities sake into the exact form of an argument Sin abolished doth not remain In the Baptized and in those that are come to years who are converted sin is abolished Therefore After Baptism and in those that are come to years after true conversion there remains no more sin This argument having a bad connexion doth evidently destroy it self First there is no man that denies that actual sin is not abolished in Baptized Infants in whom it is not committed In those come to years if all sins are so extinguished that no relicks remain what need is there of any conversion For what place is there for repentance where nothing is committed contrary to duty What if the Life of the Saints is nothing else but almost a daily conversion and mourning for sin how can a daily frailty of sinning be wanting there But let us look upon the parts of the Argument Sin abolished say they doth not remain That is true indeed if perfect and compleat abolishment of sin be understood both as to the Material of Sin and as to the Formal as the Schools speak Therefore as touching the Major in so much I acknowledge sin doth not remain in how much it is abolished in the Saints But after what manner and in what order it is abolished in the Baptized and in the adult it follows next that this should be enquired into in the Minor Therefore I answer to the Minor with a distinction that sin is said to be abolished in the Adult that are Regenerate it is partly true and partly false with a different respect had to divers circumstances But how that is understood it must be explained first as touching the death of the Mediatour which brings Salvation there is no defect in that but it hath abundantly recovered whatsoever perished by Adam yea it hath brought us much greater benefits than the evils which Adam procured unto us But if it be asked how and in what order the Death of Christ effects this I answer not by denying but by distinguishing For seeing two things are considerable in every sin the guilt obliging or the punishment of damnation which Lombard calls passive corruption and then active corruption or the very act of sin or the infirmity of corrupted nature Therefore there is again a twofold remedy prepared for this twofold evil guilt
it self unto us of which the one is Divine and is attributed to God only the other is only referred to men That therefore is peculiar to God this is called our Righteousness but what difference is between this and that there is no great difficulty to discern For that which is the Righteousness of God appears evident in all his works and the perfect exactness of his holiness But that which is the Righteousness of men is received by Faith only not that faith in acting is wholly without works but because in justifying works do nothing before God and that is it which the Apostle seems to to intend in these words saying for this purpose that he may be just and the justifier of him that is of the faith of Iesus Christ c. For this purpose saith he that he may be just how is he just by faith no but by works that thou mayest be justified in thy sayings and mayest overcome when thou art judged But now what way are we justified by works not at all but by Faith Concerning which the Apostle A justifier of him who is of the faith of Iesus Christ c. He said not him that behaved himself well by working but him that is of the faith of Iesus Christ Whence a Disciple being witness whosoever shall believe in Christ with a direct and intent faith it follows by necessary consequence that this Man is esteemed Righteous and is justified before God For otherwise to what purpose should God be said to justifie us by Faith or what need would there be here of any mention of faith at all if holy works of themselves were sufficient to make up a Righteousness By all which things being thus deduced and confirmed it is easie to understand what should be judged of this your definition For if there is no other Righteousness but that which by your definition is placed in holy works and a perfect obedience to the Law of God it thence follows that either we are not tainted with any sins at all or that we must necessarily confess that we are excluded from all possession of Righteousness Both of which are false for though Sin and Righteousness in respect of one and the same thing through a mutual Antithesis whereby they are opposed one against another cannot come together yet nothing hinders but we may be both Sinners and also Righteous upon a different account You will say how can that be If you know not my good Friend I will tell you and in a word that you may understand the more expeditiously We are Sinners in our selves we are Righteous inChrist Hereunto belongs the Mystery of Christ the Son of God given to us by his Father that he with all his works and benefits may become wholly ours for our right and for our advantage So he is said by the Prophet to be born so he is said to be given not to himself but to us So he was Righteous so he fulfilled the Law so he died and rose again that his life might be to us Righteounsness his death might be Redemption and his Resurrection might be Life and Glory Moreover whatsoever is Christ's yea whatsoever Christ. is is not so much his own as yours O Osorius as mine and as it is all ours that by Faith are Iesus Christ's Therefore our Salvation consists of the Redemption purchas'd by another and not of our works For herein shines forth the more than stupendious mercy and unspeakable Grace of a most tender hearted God that he even dedicated his only begotten Son wholly to our advantage that so whatsoever was performed by him was performed not for his sake but for ours neither had it respect to him who had no private need but it redounds as a publick good to us all because he sustains the publick person of All before his Father Wherefore if you desire to know what is our Righteousness Paul and Peter will shew it to you much better than it was defined by you For our Righteousness is Christ our righteous Lord through whose name as many as believe in his name receive Remission of sins What more I pray you would you require unto perfect Righteousness than that sins may never be imputed and that the punishments due to your sins may never be inflicted on you Concerning Inherent and Imputed Righteousness BUT perhaps it is not enough to you that the sins you committed are not imputed to you but that nothing may be committed which may be justly imputed And for that cause you think no man should be reckoned among the Iust but he whose life being upon all accounts untainted is conformable to the perfect rule of the Law having abolished the foot-steps of all sins And indeed that should be wished for if wishes in this case could do any good But you will say that it is not difficult to the Infinite Power of the Almighty God to give strength to perform it to those that ask it of him And again there is not any thing more unsuitable to his Infinite Equity and less honour able to his Infinite Goodness than that he should command his Servants those things which he knows cannot be observed by them But in answer First If those things cannot be kept by us which are commanded by God that comes not to pass through any default of his but through our default who being at first created by him very good brought this disability upon our selves and threw our selves into that necessity of sinning And then what if it so seemed good to his Omnipotent Wisdom to do thus for a Declaration of his own Righteousnes as St. Paul teaches for this purpose that he should be Righteous that is that his Righteousnes might by this means become the more evident through our unrighteousness which could not otherways have been unless he only had been declared to be Righteous and we upon the same account Unrighteous according to Works Which if it had not been so what need had there been why he should justifie us by Faith whom he had seen to be righteous and perfect by Works Yea you say there is very great need of faith and you add a reason Because all the means of destroying and restraining Lust consists in the Grace of God alone which must be obtained by Faith and there is no other way shewed to extinguish and destroy it Therefore Faith as you say prepares the Mind for Righteousness and makes it fit that the great author of all good things should bring into it the seed of righteousness What And does Faith nothing but prepare us for Righteousness But now what way does it prepare Because say you the Grace of God is obtained by Faith and the merit of Christ. But proceed what follows after For it is God only by whose Almighty Power and Bounty we break the force of Lust and restrain all its importunity and maintain the perfect Offices of
Vertue c. Who ever denied that it is God only that can do those things But what say you O good friend Is our whole Salvation and Righteousness in the sight of God contained in that only in driving out of the Mind those little Heats of all evil Lusts whereof you speak in abolishing the roots of all vices and in maintaining duely and constantly the office of perfect Vertue How far the Works of Human Life are from the perfection of Righteousness But now do you your self perform all these things which you require in us for the perfection of righteousness Hath the great Husbandman watered the happy ground of your mind with so great a vigor and verdure of his bounty that no wild Vines nor Briars do any where appear in all your life That no Lust draws you aside from your duty No perturbation of affections throws you down from your state of constancy No concupisence of the eyes defiles the purity of your mind He that seeth a Woman saith he to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his Heart What if a man is accounted unchast before God if so much as his Eyes are Adulterous if he is next to a Murtherer that is so much as rashly angry at his Brother if he that calls his Brother Racha or bespatters the name of his Neighbour with the smallest reproach is in danger of the Council what shall be said to him who hath poured forth not only volumes of reproaches but Cart-loads of spiteful speeches against his Brethren and fellow Servants with so much virulency and gall of bitterness So that I need not here go through all the Precepts of the Divine Law as concerning loving God above all concerning the strictest love to our Neighbour concerning shunning offences puting up injuries praying for enemies the abdication of this World the framing the Life to a Dove-like simplicity and other such like things Which things seeing they are so various in kind and so difficult in the observation I would know of you not what ought to be done but what you your self do express in deeds Not what the Divine Grace is able to do in you but what it does in effect Whether he heaps you up with so many and so great gifts of his that you are able to perform all things that are written in the royal Law Which if you can avouch so to be I willingly congratulate your happiness and I am not at all against your obtaining by way of merit that which your works do merit but that you may go up to the Kingdom and may take your self Unpinioned Wings as Arnobius saich wherewith you may go happily to Heaven and ' may fly to the Stars where you may reign with Christ and you only all other sinners being shut out may with God overcome when you are judged But in the interim here it comes into my mind to ask you a thing How will this consist with that which the Church sings in a holy Hymn and sings so aright Thou only art holy For how shall he only have the praise of that thing as saith Hierom which he hath common to himself with many What if you think there is no difference between his Righteousness and ours and you suppose there is no Righteousness but what proceeds chiefly from Works either let your life shew to us the same Works which Christ wrought or if you cannot let him only have the honour of this Title that Christ only may be righteous and Osorius may confess himself to be unrighteous and à sinner that now that saying may truely have place here which just now I cited out of Augustine Let man take sin to himself which is his own and leave Righteousness to God But you will say what then is there no Righteousness which belongs to men I do not deny that there is but it is such a righteousness as must be sought elsewhere than in works But you may say where then Not only I but also St. Paul will tell you the Righteousness of God saith he to all and upon all that believe And again in the same Epistle The Gentiles which followed not after Righteousness laid hold on Righteousness to wit the Righteousness of Faith On the contrary Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness attained not unto the Law of Righteousness Why so Because they sought it not by Faith but as by the Works of the Law And writing to the Galatians knowing saith he that a man is not justified by the Works of the Law but by the Faith of Iesus Christ we also believe in Iesus Christ that we may be justified by the Faith of Iesus Christ and not by the Works of the Law because no flesh shall be justified by the Works of the Law c. who is so dim-sighted but he may clearly see what the meaning of the Apostle is in these words Wherefore I the more wonder with my self how great a stupidity darkens the minds of some of our own Country-men and especially those Iesuits who in a thing so perspicuous yield not unto Apostolick Authority so that they seem to have sallied out of some Trophonian Den for no other purpose but that waging War with St. Paul they may differ wholly from him in their opinion For what things can more fiercely encounter than such an opposition as this Christ is our Righteousness Faith is imputed for Righteousness If of Work then Grace is not Grace The Iust lives by Faith And after this manner doth the Apostle and Prophet instruct us What say they We are Iustified by Works and yet Grace is no less Grace The Iust doth not live by Faith but the Believer Liveth by the righteousness of Works And whereas Paul doth so attribute our Righteousness to Faith only that he attributes nothing to Works so often repeating these exclusive words without works apart from works not according to works If it is Grace then it is not of Works That I may be found in him not having my own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is of the Faith of Iesus Christ To him that believeth in him that Iustifies the Ungodly Faith is imputed unto Righteousness also placing Iews and Gentiles as in a Scheme that by experience it self it may be evident how hazardous it is to seat the hope of Salvation any otherways than in the Faith of Christ only On the contrary those men overthrowing all these sayings of Paul endeavour this only by all the means they can that they may measure the whole sum of our Iustification by the performance of Works and not by Faith that they may take away all imputation of the Righteousness of another from us that Faith may no more contribute any thing to Righteousness but that it may render us worthy and fit on whom the Divine Grace should confer freely for the Merit of Christ the first infusion of inherent Righteousness By
Concl. Therefore from Faith men are rightly and formally called righteous before God Again Ma. They that do justly should be called just before God Mi. They that believe in the Son of God do most justly Concl. Therefore they that believe in the Son of God are deservedly called just For what can any man do more justly or more holily than to believe in the only begotten Son of God and to embrace him with all his faith as the Gospel bears witness This is the work of God that ye should believe in him whom he hath sent And what Doctrine is more excellent than to know Christ the Son of God aright and the power of his Death and Resurrection Which knowledge how much it is valued by God above all other disciplines and arts it may appear by this which is foretold unto us of Christ by the Divine Prophet and my Righteous Servant saith he by his Knowledge shall justifie many What if our Iustification is placed only in the knowledge of the Son of God and the Faith of the Son is nothing else but knowledge Divinely Inspired what credit then should be given to those Iesuitical Sophisters who neither admit of any external cause of justifying nor acknowledge any other but this which they themselves place in Works And now what will they answer to this Argument of Augustin Ma. Whence we are saved thence we are just Mi. By Faith we are saved and reconciled to God and become Conquerors according to that saying of the Gospel This is the Victory which overcomes the World our Faith Conclu Therefore by Faith the name of Righteousness is rightly given to us according to the Testimony of Augustin But those Praters will not yet hold their Peace neither do they endure any either Internal or External Righteousness but this only which they describe in Works and the observance of the Law And they endeavour to prove it by this caption First then as touching Faith though that is an internal Vertue yet they plead that it doth not otherways justifie but upon the account of Charity But thus they dispute concerning the righteousness of Christ Because it is not our own but is peculiar to Christ. There is no cause why a Man should take upon him the Name of Righteous from that Righteousness which is anothers to wit according to the Law of Aristotle Which how frivolous it is and contrary to the Faith of the Gospel it will not be difficult to demonstrate by very clear words of Scripture for to what purpose is the Divine Love Preached in the Gospel and in the Prophets to have given Christ his only begotten Son unto the World Unless he had been willing to make us partakers together with him of all his Wealth Vertues Merits and whatsoever good things belong to him Whence Paul He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things What if Christ was given to us byhis Father poured forth exposed and is wholly made ours with all his goods and gifts is there any thing in him whether Wisdom or Iustice or Sanctification or Life or Victory or Death or any other thing besides which we may not by a due right lay claim to as our own If it is ours upon what account then do those Gymnosophists Preach that it belongs not to us Of which thing we may reason thus Ma. Whatsoever Christ did for us is esteemed ours just as if it had been done by our selves Mi. Christ fulfilled all Righteousness for us Conclu Therefore all the Righteousness of Christ is ours by Faith just as if it had been fulfilled by us It is 〈◊〉 by the Example of Adam that Christ's Righteousness is ours PErhaps the thing will appear more evident by Example Let us look upon Adam and in him let us behold the publick calamity of our Nature And also let us contemplate Salvation restored again by the second Adam from the ruine received by the first For if the Doctrine and Force of contraries be the same according to Philosophers it will be more easie by that means from the Evil of the one to judge of the advantages of the other Then let us compare both Adams with one another The first Earthly of the Earth with this second Heavenly from Heaven Who though in their whole Nature they are most different one from another Yet by the singular Wisdom of God it so comes to pass that there is a wonderful resemblance between things that differ very much and the reason of our Salvation being restored agrees most aptly with the reason of the ruine received First in this that both were Originally Princes and Authors of our Propagation one of the Earthly and the other of the Heavenly And then afterwards there was added another thing in which he was a wonderful Type and Image of Christ who was to come a long time after How that came to pass we shall very well learn of Paul himself As saith he by the Disobedience of one Man many were made Sinners So by the Obedience of one many shall be made Righteous and doubling the same again and again in many words As faith he by one Man Sin entred into the World and by Sin Death came upon all Men in that all have Sinned c. And presently If therefore by the Sin of one Man Death came upon all Men to Condemnation in like manner by the Iustification of one Man good is propagated unto all Men to the Iustification of Life What is more clear than these words of the Apostle The whole force and summ of the Argument drives at this that the true Nature of our Righteousness is not due to our Vertues but we must be beholden for it to the merit of another Setting before us such a sense as this by Argument Argument Ma. In what manner Unrighteousness is propagated in the World in the same manner also Righteousness comes Mi. Unrighteousness is propagated by the Sin of one Man Only Conclu Therefore also Righteousness by the merit of one only is derived unto all that are allied to Christ by Faith Otherways Ma. As the matter is between Adam and us after the same manner is the matter between us and Christ. Mi. The sin of one Adam is imputed to all his Posterity yea all those who transgressed not with him Conclu Therefore The Righteousness of one Christ is imputed to all his Posterity to wit that believe in him though they did not obey with him Which things seeing they are of themselves clear and conspicuous the Point calls us to return to you O most excellent Osorius who seem either not to head carefully enough or else perniciously to deny that which Paul Discourses of Imputation so copiously and weightily Wherefore again and again beseeching you I appeal to this sacred Righteousness whereof you write and also to the equity of your own humanity that having
condemnation due to Sinners I speak of those Sinners who being turned from their sins by serious Repentance fly to Christ by Faith But methinks I do already hear what your Divinity in this case will mutter against us you will not deny that Christ died for us and that our righteousness is placed in him but yet so that these benefits of his and rewards of justice come not to us by Faith nor by imputation but by the study of Works and Holiness which being given to the Merits of Christ we receive in this Life by the free gift of God Therefore that we who were of old shut up in darkness And even extinct by the strength of death now we do escape the tyranny of Death that we do now recover the gifts of divine righteousness formerly lost and slipt out of our hands and that we obtain the reward of life proposed to vertue all that consists in this that we should wholly abdicate and forsake whatsoever we have from our first Father and transfer our selves wholly to the similitude and imitation of our second Father and so it will come to pass that we shall purchase immortal and divine riches and eternal glory and true righteousness with everlasting praise not by our merits but only by the vertue of Christ Who works all these things in us Therefore according to this sort of Divinity the merits of Christ do nothing else in Heaven but that they obtain unto us Divine Grace whereby we may by way of imitation more easily resemble the most holy footsteps and similitude of Christ our second Father and lead our lives well in this World according to his Laws But now what if we cannot exactly follow the footsteps of his holiness What if imitation falter sometimes and stagger What if the servency of charity and the care of our most holy Religion and the observance of Iustice becomes too remiss Yea what if somewhere a defilement of sin creeps in as infirmity may occasion Or what if that I may use the words of Hierom he that rows a Boat against the stream slacken his hands a little doth he not presently slide back and is carried by the stream whither he would not and who is not remiss sometimes Seeing Paul also confesses that he is sometimes drawn thither whither he would not And then where is the righteousness which was hoped for by Works where is the immortality proposed to vertue Verily unless the greater mercy of our most gracious Father had so taken care for us that our whole Salvation should be laid up in the righteousness of his Son and if faith and imputation did not help us more than imitation of life our condition had stood on a miserable enough and too broken foundation But eternal thanks be to Almighty God the Father of all mercies who according to his unspeakable Wisdom which reaches from end to end strongly and disposes all things sweetly hath not settled our estate by any law of works but by faith that according to Grace the Promise may be sure to all the Seed that though we our selves are weak and void of all righteousness yet it is sufficient that there is one in our Nature which hath fulfilled all righteousness and that he only is righteous for all How say you for all Why not as well as the unrighteousness of one Adam of old was sufficient to bring ruine upon all Therefore let us behold Christ in Adam and compare the one with the other Who though they are very unlike to one another yet agree in this that both being First Fathers of Propagation by an equal similitude something came from both as Progenitors which hath spread abroad upon all Men. To wit Death and Life Sin and justice Therefore one Man destroyed all Men And in like manner one Man saves all Men neither do you your self deny this But let us see how the one destroys and how the other saves those that are destroyed Through his fault say you not our own we contracted the pollution of Sin in our Birth these are your very words Which as I entertain willingly so if they are true and if he in this respect was a Type of Christ which is shewed out of Paul what hinders but that we also in like manner in Regeneration may obtain the reward of Righteousness not for our own Obedience but his The one sinned and by his wickedness ruinated all Men the other obeyed and by his righteousness saves all You say it is true if so be we lead our Life well according to the Imitation and Example of him And where then is the agreement of similitude between Christ and Adam if the one destroyed us in our being Born as you your self confess but Christ cannot save us in our Regeneration except Imitation be joyned And where now is the Grace of Imputation and the Imputation of Faith unto Righteousness so oft repeated in the Scriptures taught by the Apostles testified by the most Ancient Fathers received and delivered by the Church Shall it be sufficient cause to inflict Death upon thy Body that thou wast propagated from Adam and shall it not have cause enough for the justification of thy Soul that thou art born again in Christ What say you Do none dye but they that Sin after the Example of Adam Are none saved but those that by a due imitation attain unto the most Holy Vertues of Christ And what then doth Baptism the Sacrament of Faith in Regeneration if Salvation is purchased by no other thing but by treading in the Footsteps of Christ The Objection of Osorius is Answered where the Imitation of Christ is discoursed of at large BUT you will say what is it not an excellent thing is it not a Pious thing is it not very necessary for every Man who counts his Life and Salvation dear to him who looks for Immortal Glory who seeks stable and eternal pleasures that he separate himself as much as he can from theImitation of the Earthly Father and frame himself wholly to the imitation of the Heavenly Who denies or is Ignorant of that O Osorius Who is so void of all Religion and Sense but is ready of his own accord and with his whole Heart to confess that very thing to you which that you may persuade you do not only explain but also draw forth all the force and efficacy of Speech that you can upon it with so much earnestness and vehemency First who is so Ignorant but knows what we received from both our Parents of which you dispute so prolixly The thing it self and the experience of all things does abundantly make it evident into what deceits and straits into what a gulf of miseries the former hath brought us into So on the contrary how many and how great good things have proceeded from the other Father I think it is unknown to no Man Whose acts for us if we consider what is more excellent If the
and being now reconciled to God as it cannot be destitute of the favour of God so being stirred up by his holy breathings begins now to be a Law to it self whereby it fears God and according to its power honours him with due Reverence cleaves unto him with all its might refers its actions and counsels to him calls on him by prayers adheres to him in adversity celebrates his benefits with a thankful remembrance lays its hope and confidence and its whole self upon him and also for his sake loves and cherishes all the Brethren And as there is no Man that denies these Offices of necessary Obedience performed by the help of the Spirit of God are fruits of a well-instructed Faith So there is no controversie between us and you in that matter especially seeing you your self also together with us confess That these are not works of the Law but of Faith and that they should not be referred so much to the Law as to the holy Spirit and Faith relying upon his help as you say But the greatest difference that is between us consists in this that whereas we assert That the Obedience of Man born again by the Divine Power is but begun and imperfect in this mortal infirm state You on the contrary dream of I know not what perfection of obedience in works the Spirit of God so working in us that whosoever is qualified therewith needs nothing that belongs to compleat perfection of righteousness for all your debate about this matter seems to drive at this as being concluded with this one Syllogism Argument Ma. Whosoever walk in the Precepts of the Lord and perform them should be called perfect who can easily live without sin Mi. All the Faithful according to the promise of God walk in his precepts and perform them because God promises nothing but what he can and will perform Concl. Therefore according to the promise of God nothing hinders but Believers may be perfect here who are capacitated to live without sin That I may answer the Argument it is a Sophistical Argument from secundum quid to simpliciter because in the Major those are called perfect who walk in the Precepts of the Lord and frame their life according to them it is true in them who simply and perfectly perform all those things which are commanded in the Law according to that perfection which is requisite According to which Rule if the major be understood that which is assumed in the minor must be upon this account deny'd For though God hath promised to his Saints that the Assisting grace of his Spirit shall not be wanting which may help forward pious attempts in his Elect and stir up their endeavours after more holy obedience but where hath he at any time promised or on whom hath he bestowed that happiness in walking which turns no where to the right hand nor to the left which stumbles not through the whole life which in all kind of vertues by a constant perseverance so conforms the course of life to compleat innocency that it never fails in any thing The Adversaries use for the defence of their own cause to catch at the words that were just now cited out of Ierem. chap. 31. and Ezek. chap. 26. I will cause you to walk in my Precepts and keep my Iudgments c. And then out of Deut. chap. 30. I will Circumcise saith the Lord the fore-skin of your heart that ye may love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul. I know indeed that in these words there is a glorious promise contained of the gift of the Holy Ghost and the restoring of new obedience but because there is a twofold perfection and a twofold righteousness according to Hierom. one which is suited to the vertues of God another which is agreeable to our frailty And again seeing according to the Authority of Augustine there is a twofold kind of Obedience one that is seen in this Life being but begun and imperfect Another that is perfect which is compleated in the life to come It is not difficult to discern in what sense the perfection of Renovation should be understood in the Scriptures To wit not simply and absolutely but according to the measure and capacity of this Life Therefore Augustine says well that a Man is sometimes called perfect because he hath profited in a great degree And the same again But whereas Men are called Saints sometimes and perfect in the Scriptures I say to this that it is a certain manner of perfection whereby Holy Men acknowledge their own imperfection They are also called perfect who in any respect imitate the perfection of the Heavenly Father who rains on the Iust and Unjust c. And again the same Augustine writing to Boniface The Vertue saith he which is now in a Righteous Man is called perfect upon this account because it belongs to his perfection both to acknowledge in Truth and confess in Humility his own Imperfection Moreover Hierom not much differing from him answered wittily To whom when that place of St. Paul was objected Whosoever of us are perfect we understand this To this Hierom says What then do we understand yea what ought we to understand that we who are perfect should acknowledge our selves to be unperfect and that they have not yet comprehended nor yet attained unto perfection This is saith he the Wisdom of Man to know himself to be imperfect and that I may so speak the perfection of all Righteous Men in the Flesh is imperfect c. And afterwards again in the same Book Therefore we are Righteous then when we confess our selves to be Sinners For our Righteousness consists not of our own merit but of the mercy of God as the Scripture says The Righteous Man is an accuser of himself in the beginning of his Speech And again to Ctesiphon This is Mens only perfection saith he if they know themselves to be imperfect c. Moreover the Adversaries set upon us with another Argument also which they produce out of the words of Deut. 30. To defend the perfection of their own Righteousness after this manner Ma. In these two commands thou shalt love thy God with all thy Soul and thy Neighbour as thy self is contained the summ of all perfection Mi. They that are regenerate can love God with all their Heart and all their Soul and their Neighbours as themselves according to the promise of God Deut. 30. Concl. Hence then it follows that the Regenerate by the help of the Spirit of God can fulfil all Righteousness by the Works of the Law This reasoning as it differs not much from the former so there is implied in it a certain kind of fallacy not unlike it Which of what sort it is if I may with your allowance Osorius I will declare For there lurks under the words of Scripture not rightly understood a fallacy or venom wholly Pelagian But
vain They according to their subtilty divide the manifold efficacy of grace most of them into two parts and some of them into three or more To wit into grace freely given and that which makes acceptable And again they subdivide this latter as it were by an Anatomical Dissection into more Veins into Operative grace which again they divide into three Rivulets Preventing Beginning delivering and afterwards into cooperating which likewise is threefold Following promoting assisting O holy Christ with what study with what labour what Cobwebs do these Praters here weave that they may darken the wholesome Doctrine of Grace with Smoke and Soot of their idle Talk for if we speak of that Grace unto which our whole Salvation is referred who is there but understands by the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles that it is thus described to wit that it is the only thing which being placed in the free Indulgence of God towards miserable sinners doth with dear Love in Christ the Son of God embrace all that believe in him and forgive their sins and for the sake of his own Son bestows his Spirit and Eternal Life and Felicity upon them tho' otherways they are unworthy And tho' the Operation of this Grace is not one and the Effects are divers and the Gifts various according to the diversity of donations yet the Divine Grace it self is only one which is both freely given to us for Salvation and makes those acceptable to God whom it saves and is one and the same Cause both of Salvation and Renovation Wherefore their distinction is justly found fault with who by grace making men grateful or acceptable understand habits and gifts communicated by God and they do most frivolously conclude that men are made acceptable to God by these whereas it is only Mercy in Christ the Mediatour which doth not only account us dear to it self but also chose us before we were adorned with any Ornaments of gifts Moreover if the matter be so as those men define that not only Faith in Christ but gifts and habits of vertues infused by God make us acceptable to God What then shall be said of those who also out of Christ have possessed many such excellent gifts as well as we in which many of them are not only equal to us but some of them also excel us such as are variety of Tongues gifts of Healing Prophecy excellent Powers sharpness of Wit strength of Body Ornaments of Mind The Iews have a strong hope in God The Turks maintain Love towards one another But what shall we affirm that those men also are by these things made acceptable to God which is absurd and unreasonable Therefore that we may conclude we confess that such gifts are things which adorn this Life beautifie Nature and declare the liberal Bounty of God but which nevertheless neither regenerate nor justifie us in the sight of God For that is due to Christ only by Faith neither is it convenient to attribute it to any other Creatures whatsoever According to that of St. Paul Being justified therefore by Faith we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. Though in the mean while I am not ignorant what they answer here that they treat not of those Works which the Heathen perform by the strength of Nature nor those Works which are done by the Iews without Faith by the guidance of the Law only but those Works which are of the Faith of Christ. What then say they are not such excellent performances of Works pleasing to God Is not that very pleasing and acceptable to God whatsoever is right whatsoever is joyned with vertue and honesty whatsoever being undertaken with Faith is rightly performed according to Duty and Piety That I may answer this three things by the by must be observed First What manner of Works these are which are discoursed of whether perfect or not And then how they please of themselves or upon the account of Faith Thirdly How much they please whether so much as to deserve Eternal Life and obtain the pardon of violated Righteousness and being set against the wrath of God to turn away all vengeance and be effectual to satisfie Iustice without any remission of sins For all these must be regarded with necessary attention First Because God the great Creatour of the World is perfectly holy in his own Nature and the Perfection of all Goodness it is evident that nothing is of it self acceptable to him and well-pleasing which being defiled with any spot of imperfection doth not agree in all respects to the most exact Purity But now seeing it is most true which neither Osorius himself denies That there is no man hath led his life so exactly that in the whole course of his life he hath not been guilty of any gross offence And that there is not any state of Mind so framed by Divine Grace although it abounds with Divine Benefits in which nothing was ever violated by perfidiousness or offensive through errour of mind or omitted through negligence or which doth not more consist of the remission of sins than the perfection of vertues What remains then but that it should either be false which this Osorius of ours cracks of an humane perfection or at least it behoveth that something should be searched for besides the vertues themselves which may commend these first beginnings of our imperfections to the Divine Perfection and reconcile them to his favour And now then this remains to be searched into What it is that reconciles sinners to God and restores them to his favour and because this Reconciliation cannot be perfected by the Righteousness of our vertues therefore we must confess that all the Office of reconciling consists in the Grace of God only which the Papists themselves will not deny unto us who agree with our Party in this That Man is justified by Grace for so we hear it testified expresly by Osorius himself in these words Therefore saith he They that give Heaven to the Merits of holy men do not weaken the Grace of God as some ignorant men say but they celebrate the wonderful effect of his Grace with due praises for we are such as judge all the Morits of the Saints should be referred to the Bounty and Grace of God so that it should always be said Not unto us Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give glory c. I hear indeed very good words if you had not already imposed upon us sufficiently with words O Osorius But he that will with judicious attention consider the matters themselves and the Arguments and the whole tenour of your discourse will find it to be far otherways that you do not at all intend what your words pretend and that you drive at nothing more in all your endeavours than to hide under the plausible title of grace so hidden an adversary of grace that I may speak with Augustin together with the other
which every man must endeavour according to his power to attain by industry and diligent labours and the merits of the greatest Vertues And when the former Pelagians affirmed that we could do that by the strength of Nature there were not wanting others at the same time who valiantly opposing the help of the Grace of God to Free-will successfully rejected and exploded this wicked Opinion by the Scriptures After this came another kind of Divines who having followed Augustine disputed thus against the Pelagians that we cannot so much as will good by Free-will without Grace or merit Eternal Life by any means without Grace And that is true indeed But that those same men joyning Grace again deny not that we can merit Life by Works and that ex condigno according to their worth I do not see what difference is between these and the Pelagians in that except that in the manner of working they somewhat differ for those work without grace these no otherways but by grace but both do equally err from the scope of true Iustification For as untrue as that is that it is in our power to perform any thing aright without the Grace of God It is again as false that this grace of working was not given by God for any other purpose but to produce meritorious works whereby we may be justified Though I deny not that by any means that the Divine grace of the Spirit is both fruitful and abounding with the greatest Vertues which can never be idle but it doth not therefore follow by sufficient strength of Reason that the reward of Eternal Salvation is due to the merits of these Vertues as the generality of Sophisters chatter with a great noise in Schools For thus Thomas the Prince of this Faction and the others that are partakers of his Discipline discourse of grace and in their Summularies do define this grace as if it were nothing else but a certain habitual infusion of the heavenly gift in the essence of the Soul because as they suppose it is a principle of meritorious works for so Thomas defines it And Guillermus not much differing from him calls this grace a form freely given to us by God without merits which makes him that hath it acceptable and makes his work good and meritorious Of these then is a vulgar definition made up and it thus defines grace unto us that it is a gift of good will freely given making its possessor acceptable and rendring his work good And Albert shews the manner how it makes a man good in as much as by infused Vertues as he says it perfects the will of man for act c. By these things I suppose it appears evident enough what Opinion hitherto hath been usual amongst those men in the Popish School In which neither their Divines themselves are well enough agreed with one another for some place this habitual gift of influencing grace in the essence of the Soul subjectively that I may speak in their own Dialect amongst whom is Thomas and Bonaventure Others chose rather to refer it not to the essence but the powers of the Soul as its proper subject of whom is Scotus and the Allies of that Order Again There are those who think grace is nothing else but a Vertue which is the thing that Osorius strongly defends in his Books But Thomas confutes this Heresie with much greater strength and bears it down with suitable Reasons But the summ of all their summs drives at this that Faith only may be excluded from Iustification and that they may not acknowledge any other Iustification but what consists in exercising of Works Neither do they think this grace to be given to us upon any other account but for this end to fulfil as they say the Commands of God according to the due manner without which the fulfilling of them cannot otherways be meritorious The Errour of the Tridentines in defining Grace is examined I Have explained the sayings of some Divines which differ several ways from one another yet they are all wonderfully agreed in this one thing as it were by a common Conspiracy that they may take away from sinners that saving Grace which only justifies us Let us joyn also unto these if you please the Sophisters of later times and especially the Nobles of Trent and the Hereticks of that Council whose Writings Opinions and Decrees when they are read what do they declare I will say in a word and truly nothing that is sound nothing that is not full of Errour nothing that does not disagree with the genuine verity of the Word But what that Errour is lest we should seem to accuse them without cause let us explain in a few words but true to wit seeing there is a twofold Testimony of the Grace of the Father towards us in the Scriptures the one whereby in a free gift he bestowed his Son upon us 〈◊〉 the other whereby he bestowed his Spirit The Son to die for us the Spirit to 〈◊〉 our Life there is not any man but should confess that they are both great gifts He gave his Son than whom nothing was dearer to him he bestows his Spirit than which nothing is higher in Heaven But for what purpose doth he bestow both how does he give them for our advantage for what end with what fruit what did he design in so doing by what Reason was he persuaded by what necessity by what mercy was the most gracious Father and maker of the World moved I would very willingly ask this first either of Thomas Aquinas or rather of those Tridentine fellow-Priests for if Free-will being helped by the grace of the Sprit of God as they say could do so much by meriting through the infused Vertues even as much as was sufficient for obtaining Salvation what cause then was there why all this charge should be put upon Christ the Son of God What need was there of his blood Why did not the most gracious Father spare his Life But if so be that all other helps of grace could afford no help to expedite the business of our Redemption Then it remains to be asked of those men what they affirm of Christ whether they acknowledge him the only Saviour or not And indeed I know that they will not deny that Christ is the only Saviour But in the mean while it remains that they should answer me this after what manner this only Saviour saves his own whether only by his Innocency and Death or by adding other helps besides Now if they judge that other securities are necessarily required it must be known what sort of Securities these are Aquinas with his Associates answers that those are gifts procured by the Holy Spirit and habitual Infusions of Charity and the like faculties of exercising Righteousness which helps unless they are added the Death of Christ according to his Opinion is not of such efficacy that it should be able
enough of it self alone to merit Salvation And now what then if those are added doth then at length full and perfect Righteousness arise from these together partly from the blood of Christ and partly from renovation by new qualities which may reconcile us being justified unto God For thus Andradius with his fellow Tridentines divides Iustification which Paul attributes simply to Faith into two parts of which he affirms that the one consists in the remission of sins and the other in the obedience of the Law O the Pest of Sophistical Divinity and intolerable deceits for by this distinction it will come to pass that Christ is not the only Saviour nor a compleat one but the Spirit that bestows these qualities for if the only formal cause of our Iustification consists in nothing but only the renovation of the inner man by a willing receiving of grace and gifts what shall now remain that may be attributed to Christ the Saviour and his blood but that he should only give a Dye to our merits which being so Dyed may bring us directly into Heaven But if it be so that the Death of Christ alone doth not fully compleat our Redemption to what purpose or what way did he say it was finished when his passion was finished Or how are all things in Heaven and in Earth reconciled by the blood of his Cross as Paul witnesseth Moreover the same Paul in many places and in all his Epistles places the price and Redemption in no other thing but only in the Blood and Cross of the Son of God In whom saith he we have Redemption through his blood But how shall we say that all things are reconciled by blood if Charity and the other gifts of Renovation and Merits are the things which make us acceptable to God and claim unto themselves the greatest part of our Reconciliation What is this else but to thrust Christ down not only from his Office but also from the Throne of his glory with a gigantick fury Concerning the Reward and Merits of good Works VVHat then Are there no Merits then say they of the Righteous Is there no reward by way of Merit left in Heaven which Christ promises to be so plentiful in the Scriptures What will all that provision of inherent Righteousness avail us nothing towards Life Will so many labours and store of most Holy Works profit nothing wherewith we being Cloathed by the Holy Spirit are advanced daily more and more towards the fulness of Righteousness Augustin will answer to these things and first of Merits If you ask saith he whether there are no Merits of the Righteous There are indeed because they are Righteous but there were no Merits that they might be Righteous For they were made Righteous when they were justified c. Therefore they were not made Righteous by Merits if we believe Augustin but Merits proceed from the Iust By which you may understand that a Person is not valued by the Dignity of his Works or his Grace but that the Diginity of Merits receives its value from the Iustified Person Wherefore seeing Men are not made Righteous by Merits as Augustin witnesseth but Merits receive their Virtue and Dignity from the Iustified it easily appears from hence what should be judged of reward by way of Merit For if after the like manner it be asked whether there is no reward of the Saints in Heaven that which Augustin answers concerning the Merits of the Righteous the same do I also acknowledge concerning the reward of the Saints that the Saints want not a reward and that a large one in the Heavens For they who are Holy a Reward shall be appointed for them not for the Works themselves because they are Holy but because they that work are Holy For not Heaven but a reward in Heaven is given not to Holy Works but to the Workers But if any proceed to ask whence they are Holy I return to Augustin That they are Holy from thence whence they are also made Iust not by Works but by the Faith of the Workers As for Example if any Heathen or Pharisee who is a stranger to the Faith of Christ should do this same thing that a Christian does though he should do also greater things yet the Works would not please God And why should his Works displease Or why should the Works of a Christian please unless it were for Faith And that is it which Prophetical verity in old time foretold should come to pass that the Iust should live by Faith he says not that the Faithful should live by Righteousness By which you see that this Life whereby we live by the Faith of the Son of God is not rendered unto the Merits of Works but consists of Faith and Grace for grace and the gift of God is Etrenal Life If grace where is reward If a gift where then is Merit But what shall be said in the mean while unto Testimonies that are frequent in the Scriptures which oft-times propose great Rewards to Pious Works First it is to be considered by the very Name of Obedience Debt and Duty are implyed Now the Obedience we owe can properly deserve no grace What Man at any time commanding a hired Servant to do his Duty bestows grace or praise upon him for that which he owed upon the account of Obedience or therefore doth assign unto him any portion of his Inheritance What does the Lord himself answer to such Servants in the Gospel Say ye we are unprofitable Servants we have done that which was our duty to do c. Now then wherefore are those things called by the Name of reward which God renders unto our good Deeds I will tell you God proposes rewards verily so he does but the same God proposes Dangers and Combats The most excellent Master of the Wrestlings sees what and how great storms of Temptations must be undergone how many labours must be endured how many difficulties lye before them He sees through how many Casualties and Dangers the strait way to the Kingdom must be undertaken by them who are planted in Christ And therefore that they may not faint in their minds but proceed with the greater courage in their undertaken Warfare rewards are shewed to them as certain prizes and recompenses of Victory to stir up their minds whereby the most Gracious Father may mitigate the crosses of his own Servants and comfort them in their Sufferings with proposing hope of Rewards And hence is that frequent mention of Reward and Recompenses in the Scriptures Not that those things which the Saints suffer in this life are worthy of rewards For the sufferings of this time are not worthy of the glory that shall be revealed in us But because it so seemed good to the Clemency of God to esteem those Merits of ours which are none as if they were Merits indeed and to Crown them as if they were very great
yours deserves You only look at how much you proceed in running but you do not also take heed how much you fail in your race And after all these things do you yet boast of your merits as if the reward of the Everlasting state were due to your Labours In which assertions I do not drive at this to dissolve the Pious endeavours of making Progress or to dishearten them by desperation For the Admonition of the Apostle is not in vain so run that ye may obtain And again no Man is Crowned except he strive Lawfully Let us therefore so strive that we may be Crowned let us so run that we may obtain But we do not therefore obtain because we run but we do therefore run because the promise is made to them that run not to them that slumber So that the running is not the cause of the promise but the promise stirs up to running and adds alacrity to the runners Therefore the Apostle that he may make them the more valiant in striving adds this promise your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. And speaking of himself I have fought saith he the good fight and a Crown of Righteousness is laid up for me c. What then do you not see that labours well performed have their own reward due to them Be it so indeed But we treat not here of the labours of Men but of the merits of Labours we do not ask with what rewards the goodness of God dignifies us but what we our selves deserve to receive For there is no small difference between Gift and Merit If Merit is called that to which a recompense of reward is due by reason of its equality it is certain there is no equality between those things which we do here on Earth and those things which being promised we expect in Heaven The Inheritance of the Everlasting Kingdom is promised not that which upon the account of hire is due to our Works but which is promised to our Faith by the free gift of God Whence Paul when he said the wages of Sin his Death he doth not add next thereunto the reward of them that live Godly is Life Eternal But the grace saith he or the gift of God is Eternal Life And why doth he not as well say the reward of Righteousness is Eternal Life But that the difference between gift and reward between grace and recompence might be evident For if it is of grace than it is not of works If of works than it is not of grace But now that he might manifest the Infinite Riches of Divine Grace towards us through Christ Iesus He Proclaims openly that we are saved through Grace by Faith And that not of our selves it is the gift of God not of Works lest any Man should boast Which also elsewhere inculcating more clearly He says not by works of Righteousness which we have done How then But according to his mercy hath he saved us And now what is that mercy but the favour and loving kindness of God which remitting the rigour of Iustice spares those that are unworthy pardons the penitent receives them that are undone into favour which favour or mercy also glories against Iudgment All which being so what should be said of the Hypocritical Fathers of Trent who by the publick decree of their Senate pronounce those accursed whosoever dare say that the grace of God whereby we are justified is only the favour of God The Absurd Paradox of the Tridentines whereby they deny that we are justified by the favour of God only BUT Now by what other thing then will they say that we are justified if we obtain it not by the favour of God only By the Law But that works Wrath By the works of the Law But the Apostle expresly excludes those Not of works lest any Man should boast But here I call to mind the ordinary Glosse which doth resolve no difficulty but makes one by it's subtile comment partly affirming that we are justified by works and partly denying it For thus it says our works as they are ours have no power to justifie yet consider them as they are not from us but are wrought by God in us through Grace they merit Iustification And for that cause the Apostle would not say the wages of Righteousness is Eternal Life But chose rather to say the grace of God is Eternal Life Why so Because saith this device those merits to which Eternal Life is rendered are not from us but they come from grace whence they receive the vertue of meriting O wise yea rather wild talk to vilifie grace What if the Spirit of Christ influencing the Hearts of his own stirs up the Holy Offices of Charity and excellent motions to Piety What doth not the same Spirit also vouchsafe all other gifts to his Church bestowing on some gifts of Prophesie on others divers kinds of Tongues on others admirable Vertues of Curing and Healing and on others of Teaching for the Edification of the Saints What shall we therefore place our whole Iustification in those gifts received from Christ I know that there are both many and eminent vertues wherewith the Spirit of Christ always adorns his Church but it is one thing to adorn another thing to justifie the Church The gift of Sanctification is one thing the cause of justifying is another both whereof though Christ perform by his grace yet he Sanctifies one way and Iustifies another for he Sanctifies by his Spirit but he Saves and Iustifies only by his Death and Blood But you will say if Salvation is not placed in Grace why then is the grace of God called by Paul Eternal Life Verily it is certain and must be confessed which Paul teaches that our Life must be attributed wholly unto grace to which also it behoves us to attribute all other things But we must look what way this grace saves and justifies for it is that on which the whole controversy depends In which the generality of the adversaries are greatly deceived Against the Tridentines It is Demonstrated by the Scriptures that the grace of God whereby we are Iustified consists only in the free favour of God and Remission of sins not in the Merits of Works or Infusion of Charity THomas Aquinas and they that follow him according to the gloss which they call ordinary do not deny that which the Apostle affirms That we are saved by the Grace of God But if you ask after what manner they answer that it comes to pass upon the account of good Works For these are the words of the Gloss Grace says it is called Eternal Life because it is rendered to those Merits which grace hath conferred And to the same Sense are the Comments of Orbelius Bonaventure Halensis and others because say they without grace no Man can observe the Commands of God And Thomas adds elsewhere that to fulfill the Commands of the Law according to the
are in Heaven and in Earth What will the Angelical Dogmatist answer here with his gloss But that either those things did not happen to them in a figure and that they belong not at all to us or he must needs acknowledge that our Interests are hereby Represented answerable to theirs That I we may proceed in the Sacred Mysteries of Scripture what shall I now say of those who being bitten by Serpents had no other way of Recovery but by the Serpent set up upon a pole Again what shall I say of those in the Prophet Ionah who being in dreadful danger as soon as they had thrown out Ionah and had committed him to the mercy of the Waters the Tempest being presently quieted escaped safe with the Ship What else do all these Arguments teach but that casting away confidence in all other things and distrusting our selves we may account that all the help for our obtaining Salvation is placed in no other thing or vertue but in his death only who by his Blood hath Reconciled all things both in Heaven and in Earth How often in the Psalms in the Prophers in the Gospel doth the Scripture shutting up all under fin take away from Man not only Merits but oft-times drives the Holiest unto this by an acknowledgment of his own unrighteousness that he acknowledges his Salvation to be placed not in those things that are given but those that are forgiven to him by God For as touching the name of Merit or Reward if it be found any where for it is found sometimes let no Man from hence flatter himself as if God owed it to any Man But let him know rather upon what account he is said to do that not because the Deeds which of themselves are imperfect deserve life yea which rather stand in need of Pardon But because the bounty of God imputes these Works such as they are for Merits to them who Work Why so To wit because they are the Works of the Faithful who if they were not Believers their Merits would have no room at all nor be of any value in the sight of God As if a Father say to a Son if so be thou lovest Learning thou shalt obtain any thing of me and be my dearly beloved Son By this Speech the Father doth not so oblige himself to the Son as if for no other cause but for performing Obedience he would receive him to himself for a Son yea because he is a Son therefore the Father commands what he will and the Son performs what he ought God useth sometimes thus to propose a Recompense and Rewards to the Regenerate whereby we may be stirred up to do well And there is no doubt but the Rewards promised will follow the office performed But in the mean while let us see to whom this promise was made and for what cause it was made of which thing let us understand what is the Opinion of Osorius God hath promised faith he to all that live righteously great wealth exceeding great pleasures and an immortal Kingdom very great dignity everlasting glory c. There are many faults in these vicious Argumentations and that is none of the least which is committed by making a division not sufficient In which kind Osorius offends here For whereas there are two kinds of promises very much differing from one another the one belionging to the Law being annexed unto certain conditions the other belonging to the Gospel being free without all condition of Law The whole discourse of Osorius is so taken up in that Legal kind that he doth not so much as make mention of the other God hath promised says he to all that live righteously c. That is true indeed if we look to those things that belong to the Law For the Law as it hath its threatnings so also it hath its promises proposed to them that live unblameably in which we are commanded to do this and live Concerning which Paul also saith Peace and life to every one that doth good c. So then the Law promiseth and the Gospel also promiseth but upon a different account for they differ in this The promises of the Law regard the Desert of Life But the Grace of the Gospel doth not so much regard the manner of Life as the Faith of the Person and measures his dignity not by the merits of Works but measures the merits of Works themselves by the Faith of the Believer and the dignity of the Object only on whom he believes Wherefore as touching Rewards proposed in the Gospel it is not enough to look only on the things themselves which are proposed but the consideration must be referred to the Faith and Person of Believers of what sort they are whether planted in Christ by Faith or out of Christ to whom the promise is made If out of Christ they are servants and unbelievers no promise or expectation of reward belongs to them But if in Christ they are Sons and regenerate by Faith then all is due to Faith not to Works It is of Grace and not of Merit whatsoever the Father either promises his Sons for Love's sake or imputes unto them in the place of a reward And indeed this Imputation in which all the confidence of our Salvation is contained proceeds from the grace and favour of God only and also it must be considered that there is a twofold kind of Imputation with God the one whereby the Righteousness of Christ is ascribed to us and when for his sake our petty duties are imputed for great and recompensed with the highest rewards the other when he doth not punish but pardon great crimes in his own that are regenerate Concerning which the Apostle said God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself not imputing their trespasses unto them But the Sons of the Papacy do in no ways endure this Imputation Why so Andradius together with Monhemius and the Colognists think it an unworthy thing that any man should be called righteous by another man's Righteousness which is not inherent in himself Tiletanus cries that it is more than absurd and that it hath not been heard of in the World that that can be the true form of any thing which is not in it As if a man should call Cicero couragious with the Courage which is not in himself but in the mind of Achilles To whom that I may answer this cavilling would take place if our affair were carried on by Nature and not by Grace if by Law and not by Redemption I know that our Debt is infinite the payment whereof the Law doth necessarily require of us Neither do I deny that we are not able to pay nor will ever be able to pay that debt if our ability be considered But what if some rich King intervene who paying the debt that was owing gets himself a right to the indebted Citizens and having freed them from all obligation makes
we have hitherto discoursed of grace and its gifts I think there is a sufficient defence made against the assaults of Sophisters for the guarding of this principle which assigns all the power of justifying to Faith only through the free mercy of God But because I see it is not clear enough amongst Divines what that Faith is whereof we speak I thought it requisite to speak something of it in this place To wit that having surveyed the Opinions of others and rightly explained those things which seem to need distinction about the manifold homonymy of this Word we may at length be led as it were by the footstepsof the word of God to that true Faith which truly and simply justifies us But because the word Faith is used in various Senses and there are many things that are believed by us for whatsoever things we find to be true and sure we presently give credit to them but yet any sort of perswasion setled in the mind though it be true or any sort of truth about things conceived doth not therefore upon that account justifie before God Therefore in this so great diversity of things to be believed we must see what that Faith is whereof all our Salvation and Righteousness before God consists and what is the proper and simple definition thereof whence it receives its power to justifie to whom it belongs and in what Notions it differs from that Faith which our Adversaries hold Which state of Faith if it had been rightly and definitively seen into by our Divines I am either deceived or else those boasting admirers of Works would wholly change that Opinion or at least moderate themselves more in this matter of disputation But now I know not how it comes to pass that whereas no kind of Doctrine either more admirable for dignity or more excellent for use or more happy for the Salvation of Men hath shined forth or that moreover appears more perspicuously to the Eyes of all Men by manifest Testimonies of Evangelical Scripture yet there is no opinion that hath more numerous or more bitter Adversaries Which whence it comes to pass I can not be satisfied in wondering unless that whereof I spake be the cause thereof because they seem not to have discerned aright by the Gospel what that Faith is to which free Iustification is proposed Which may appear evidently by many Arguments and such as are not at all obscure unto him that reads their Writings Collections Articles Councils and Disputes And in this very Rank Osorius comes first and next Hosius one of his nearest Allies who opposing the Faith of Luther doth not so much consute that as betray his own ignorance For what ignorance is this What kind of intemperance that drawing your pen against your Adversary whom you cannot run down by true Reasons you carp at things not understood and you wound the Innocent with false Accusations where I beseech you did Luther either Teach or Dream of this Faith which you feign he holds To wit that every one obtains Righteousness or is justified upon that account only because he determines himself acceptable to God for these are your words and not yours only For Hosius also harps no less upon the same string together with you and the whole hundreds of almost all the Divines of that Class I know that Luther hath discoursed many things gravely and excellently of Faith and freely saving Righteousness of Faith But he understands this Faith which justifies us much otherways than your accusation pretends Who was ever so mad as that he judged Faith to be confined within these limits and that it is no other thing but that every Man should have a very good opinion of his own Salvation and should be strongly persuaded thereof in his own mind Though in the mean while I deny not that there is always joined with Faith a confidence of good hope yet if we will rightly examin the proper Natures and Causes of things we will find that there is no small difference between Hope and Faith For every Man doth not obtain Righteousness upon the account that he is very couragious in hoping well For otherways what Turk or Iew is there who doth not in his own mind catch at a goodly persuasion about his own Salvation and the gracious favour of God We may also add unto these the Pope of Rome who by a certain Magnifical but most vain hope flattering himself doubts not of his being the only Successour of Peter So also the Papists doubt not but as soon as they have whispered their Sins into the Ears of a Priest by a silent Confession that immediately they go away Pardoned after the performance of this Work and when they put the Innocent Servants of Christ to Death or the Faith they do not at all distrust that they do God Service whereas the matter is far otherways Therefore it is requisite to see not what every Man hopes but how rightly he hopes nor how great his hope is but how true The same also must be done in Faith But that it may appear true it should not be measured by Human Opinion but according to the right Rule of Scripture Neither is it only requisite to look what any one promiseth but to whom and for what it is promised There are wonderful and infinite things which the bounty of God promises in the way of free gift For Salvation and Life Eternal is promised Yet these good things are not therefore promised because they are hoped by us but we therefore hope because they are promised So then Hope doth not go before the promise as a cause and make it but follows it as an effect and it depends upon the promise and not the promise upon it By which you see that it is not Hope no not when it is most right that justifies us and renders us capable of the promise of God But some other thing What is that I beseech you but Faith to which properly the promise is made For the Covenant of Eternal Life is made properly with us believing and not only hoping that is not for the sake of that which is hoped but for the sake of that on which Faith relies Not every Faith Iustifies BUT What I just now said of Hope the same also again must be said of Faith that it must be true and right and not only that it must be great For every Faith doth not avail for Iustification because there are many and divers kinds of believing First there is a Faith whereby we both know that God is and fear him and the Devils themselves are not without this Faith There is another Faith whereby we believe God and give certain credit to his promises The Schoolmen add unto these a third kind of believing whereby we are said to believe in God And this Faith they divide variously into a formed and formless Faith into an habitual and actual faith There is
some condition But I think there is none can say there is no condition Therefore it remains that we confess there is necessarily some condition Which of what manner it is let us examin by the Scriptures But in the mean while perhaps some Man will object If the promise of God be confined to certain conditions how then shall we with Paul make the mercy of God free whereby he freely justifies the Wicked Yea verily I both judge and hold that the Mercy of God is most free Free I say in Christ. Otherways without Christ there can be no hope of Mercy nor promise of Salvation nor remission of Sins And the Sons of the Papacy will not deny this that all the riches of the Divine promise and of our Salvation stand in Christ. And indeed in so much they are in the right For hereby I understand the Mediatour by whom God dispenses his Heavenly gifts to us That 〈◊〉 Christ. But I do not yet perceive well enough how he dispenses by this Mediatour For tho I acknowledge him to be Mediatour to whose merit only we are beholden for all our Salvation yet because this Salvation by the Merit of Christ is not Communicated unto all neither is it derived to us but upon a certain Condition I would gladly learn of those Men what is that Condition prescribed unto us by God to obtain Salvation or how this meritorious Efficiency of the Mediatour Works in us And here presently Answers Lombard and others that favour the Lombardick Discipline that it comes to pass this way To wit by Charity infused through the Merits of Christ which being received by our voluntary taking it in we are incontinently not only named just but are really so O Divines As if Christ had been given to us and had come from the Father for no other purpose but that he might procure unto us the Divine Infusion of Charity as they call it And why could he not by Prayers obtain this same infusion from his most bountiful Father when he was present here what was the Father so hard and so inexorable that he could not be mitigated by any Prayers to communicate the benefit of grace to any Man without the death and Blood of his own dearly beloved Son But what hindered Because he was not willing who by nature is Charity it self Or because he was not able who is in Majesty Omnipotent But now being endued with the gift of Charity what will you obtain by that You say Salvation and Righteousness Upon what account will you obtain that Because Charity being the fulfilling of the Law thereby it comes to pass that Charity being spread abroad in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost and inflaming us to the Obedience of the Law it easily performs all those things which are the duties of life so that we are now not only accounted but in reality are called and are indeed Righteous That is right indeed Therefore if I am not mistaken this is it which I see those Men drive at that all our hope of Salvation is placed in the performance of the Law And that the Summary of the Divine promise is contained in that condition if we perform the things that pertain to the Law Which because they cannot be performed without Supernatural Infusion of Charity therefore Charity informing the mind with the love of the Divine Law is called by them Righteousness Ingenuous Reader you have the Summary of this Sophistical Divinity briefly described Concerning which that you may judge more rightly look now at this wonderful Order of Causes Concerning the Threefold cause of Iustification 1. Conditional 2. Formal 3. Meritorious 1. FIrst they place the end of all Righteousness and the Salvation promised to us in the observance of the Law upon this condition that if the Law be performed we may live but if not there should remain no other way of obtaining Life 2. But because this perfect performance of the Law according to the due manner of doing as they speak is not in the power of Nature nor in the Law it self without a special Supplement of grace as they call it therefore they necessarily require Charity spread abroad in our Hearts which they define the formal cause of Iustification 3. But now by what ways and means this infusion of Grace and Charity is obtained they assign two causes chiefly of which the one is placed in the Death of Christ as the Meritorious cause The other they place in the voluntary acceptance of our Will which because it could reject this grace which it accepts according to its liberty therefore they Attribute unto it the Merits of Meriting at least de congruo or Agreeableness and in the mean while Faith amongst those Men is nothing valued or accounted of And it is no wonder for they do not understand by the Gospel what Gospel Faith is neither do they seem to have had any experimental knowledge what the power and efficacy thereof is But that I may answer the Sophistical talks of these Men First as touching the next and last cause of Iustification which they say consists in the perfection of the Law how false it is and contrary to the Gospel who is so void of the knowledge of the Gospel but clearly perceives it For tho' the voice of the Law confines us by a most rigid necessity to the perfect condition of performing all Righteousness yet the meek voice of the Evangelical promise sounds far otherways Which requires no other condition to obtain Salvation but Faith only whereby we believe in the Son of God But what should you say to those Men who know scarcely any more difference between the Law and Gospel than Night Owls that are dimsighted at Noon-day Concerning the Formal cause of Iustification AND that is no less false which they most vainly dream concerning a formal cause which is easily confuted after this manner First that we may grant this that Charity should be reckoned amongst the chiefest gifts of God which being so often praised by the Apostle cannot be praised enough by any Man yet never was there given to any Man in this life so great an excellency therein that he should fulfill all the Righteousness of the Law Whence because charity of life as they call it is imperfect for we love in part according to theMagisterial Sentence that can neither be called Righteousness nor be the form of Faith Unto this there is added another reason because when it is given most largely yet Charity is never given for this end that it may justifie us in the sight of God nor that it may inform faith but rather that it self may be informed by faith and may be subservient to faith for Works of Charity are fruits of faith not the cause of faith they follow but do not go before faith For Magdalen did not therefore believe in Christ because she loved Christ but because she
As if this Assurance and full Perswasion which we maintain did rely on any Dignity of ours and did not wholly depend upon the certainty of the promise of God I come to their other Calumny no less absurd whereby they most unjustly slander us as if we referred the whole cause of our Iustification to nothing else but only an opinionative assurance so that to obtain the Remission of sins we taught that no other thing is necessary but that every Man should by a special faith be perswaded in his own mind that his sins are forgiven him which is most false as there is almost nothing true in the Books of Hosius For though we confess this to be most sure that nothing is more sure than our Iustification by Christ yet if the cause be enquired for which properly justifies us from our sins we answer It is faith not whereby we believe that we are Iustified as Hosius chatters but whereby we believe in Christ the Son of God who only is a propitiation for our sin Concerning the Word Iustification what it signifies in the Scriptures Whether it consists of Remission of Sins only or not And by what ways and means Iustification is obtained NOW ye Papists ye have our Opinion of Iustifying Faith and the true Nature thereof explained unto you what its power is and what its object Moreover ye understand how this Faith is distinguished from Hope and Assurance And wherein the true and next cause of Iustification is taken up whereof if ye enquire for the Internal cause it is faith only whereby we belleve in Christ If ye enquire for the External Matter thereof it is Christ only whom we embrace by Faith But because ye do by no means allow thereof that we should be Iustified by Faith only that we may confute your Calumnies in this matter or amend your errour I see there remain two things to be unfolded by me and to be considered by you First What the Scripture properly understands by the word Iustification And then Who and what manner of persons they are who are Iustified by Faith As touching Iustification they of Trent deny that it consists only in the Remission of sins unless there is joyned therewith a voluntary receiving of grace and some other things go before by which as preparatories Men are disposed to receive Iustification But Pious Reader If you have not yet heard what this Preparatory Disposition is and by what degrees it arises and into what order it is digested by these Men it is worth while to take notice of it For Men are disposed unto Righteousness whilst being helped by the preventing grace of Divine Vocation without any Merits of Works going before they receive Faith by hearing Now what this Faith is it hath been shewed above for according to the opinion of the Papists it is a firm assent unto those things that are revealed and discovered by God And yet they plead that a Man is not presently Iustified by this naked assent or faith But it behoves that other Dispositions be added by Divine grace whereby men are prepared for Iustification Faith Fear Hope Love Repentance Hatred and Detestation of Sin Love of Righteousness Prayer and the like so that indeed the beginning of Iustification is the free calling of God Whence Faith comes by hearing Whereby Men believe those things to be true that are revealed by God Whether they be such things as belong to the free mercy of God towards sinners through the Redemption which is in Christ Iesus Or whether they be such things as belong to the fear of Divine Iustice from which Faith by consideration of the Divine Iudgment fear ariseth whereby Men are terrified to their advantage that they may forsake and detest their sins And afterwards from the same faith through consideration of free Mercy purchased fo penitent sinners by Christ assurance proceeds whereby they are perswaded that God will be gracious to them for Christ's sake And thus by this consideration of so great goodness they begin to call upon God as the Fountain of all Righteousness and to love him and to cast away sin and to endeavour after newness of life and to keep the Commandments And by this means we obtain a perfect disposition or preparation to Righteousness whereby we are commanded to prepare our Hearts to the Lord. And afterwards Iustification follows this preparation which is not only the Remission of sins but also Sanctification and Renovation of the inner Man by a voluntary accepting of grace and gifts whence a Man of unjust is made just and of an Enemy a Friend that he may be an Heir according to the hope of Eternal Life c. But now from what part of the Apostolick or Prophetick Scripture have they taken this Doctrine From none neither is there need of any The Tridentine Oracle is sufficient for Scripture Amongst the Doctors Canisius endeavours a valiant defence of this Decree but he gains nothing at all For tho' we acknowledge with Augustin and the Doctors that which cannot be deny'd that we are Debtors to the grace of God for all we receive both for those things which belong to the forgiveness of sins and also those things which belong to new Obedience Yet what makes this for the matter we are now treating of For the Subject matter at present is not what the efficacious power of Divine grace performs in us without which Augustin justly pleads against the Pelagians that all our strength is wholly ineffectual but what that is which justifies a wicked Man before God What that 〈◊〉 wherein this our Iustification whereof I speak consists in the Remission of sins only or in the possession of Vertues Moreover what that is which is properly signified in the Scriptures by the word Iustification Though in this also the Adversaries are not very well agreed with one another but in this one thing they are wonderfully agreed to oppose Saint Paul with all their might First they of Trent as I have said do thus divide their opinion that they make two parts of Iustification The one in Remission which they attribute to Faith The other in new Obedience and Works meritorious of increase as they speak by which the Righteouness of Faith is perfected of which opinion Tilet an is the Author Again there are Others who are so far from explaining what is signified by the word Iustification that referring all to the Righteousness of Works they think that Iustification is not worthy to be mentioned in Books Of whom and the chief amongst many is this Osorius of ours Thomas Aquinas discoursing of many things about Iustification as also about many other things seems to have described it after this manner To wit according to the nature of Motion which is made in Man from one contrary to another So that it is a kind of Transmutation from a State of unrighteousness to a State of Righteousness And he explains the
but what the Sentence of the Iudge doth judicially determine concerning us We contend not about Habitual Righteousness but Evangelical Iustification For it is one thing to dispute about Righteousness and another to dispute about Iustification But these Logical Divines confound these two with one another too unskilfully defining Righteousness thus as if it were nothing else but to make righteous Or if there is any difference this is the manner of it that our Faith in Christ is by no means the cause of perfect Righteousness but only the beginning of that which is to be perfected And that we do not therefore stand as righteous in the sight of God because our sins are forgiven us and we are reconciled to God for Christ's sake Though also they do not deny this that in this very remission or reconciliation where by a wicked man is first justified before God through Faith and the Merit of Christ some part of humane Iustification is contained which also is necessarily requisite But they say that it is not enough that sins are forgiven and that we are reconciled unto God which is the first part of Iustification unless another part also be added thereto which compleats the former which of what sort it is you may see here by their own words When first say they man begins to detest sin as offensive to God and so of a wicked man is made just and reconciled at one and the same time and in the same instant God infuses his Grace waiting no interval of time which Grace where it comes there we having received inward Renovation by the Holy Spirit receive Righteousness and are made truly righteous before God And this is that other part of Iustification whereof I spake without which no Righteousness is truly perfected because it is most certain that God justifies no man or pronounces no man just but him whom by the gift of his Spirit through internal Renovation he makes righteous and cloaths adorns and endues with Righteousness c. Answ. Why should I answer these men in many words If they understand it of the Power of the Divine Bounty I grant that there is nothing which the Infinite Power of the most high God cannot do But it is not the matter of our Controversie what the heavenly Grace can but what it will do Neither doth it follow as a rational consequence because that the Almighty Grace of God can make us just that therefore we are made just Therefore either prove that there is any man endued with such a Righteousness which doth not always stand in need of the Mercy of God Or confess that which is the truth with Augustin that all assurance of our Iustification acquiesces in the remission of sins only through the Mercy of God Against the Tridentines who deny that we are Iustified by Mercy or Remission only BUT it pleased the Tridentine Senate to determine otherways for this is their Opinion That Iustification is not purchased by God's pardoning Grace only but by the commendation of Vertues But let them again hear what Augustin answers them to the contrary who in opposition to the Tridentine Opinions refers all to the Grace of God only and to Imputation writing these words All the Commands of God saith he are esteemed to be done when that which is not done is forgiven A very short sentence if it be reckoned according to the number of words But if we rightly consider their efficacy who sees not that all the buildings of the Adversaries whereby with so much ado they establish their inherency are utterly overturned by this Answer of Augustin Which that it may appear the more evidently First Let us gather the assertion of the Council on which all their defence seems to lean into the exact form of an Argument according to the art and use of Disputants which should rather have been done by them And then let us see what should be answered by the Authority of Learned Interpreters The Argument of the Tridentine Council Argument Ma. Whosoever observe all the Commands of God they have an Inherent Righteousness and that which is their own Mi. Whosoever keep all the Commands of God are esteemed for righteous before God Concl. Therefore they that have a Righteousness which is their own and inherent are justified before God Answer The smoke of this Argument will easily vanish by using the distinction of Augustin Therefore we answer the Minor by the Authority of the Doctor For there is a twofold manner of keeping the Commands one is when whatsoever is commanded by God is done And after this manner the Son of God only is righteous of whom only it is said In the Volume of thy Book it is written of me I come that I might do thy will O God c. The other is when that which is not done is forgiven And after this second manner we are righteous that is we are accounted for righteous not upon any account of Merits but only by the pardon of those things that have been done amiss Wherefore by retorting the Argument upon the Adversaries we may dispute after this manner The retorting of the Argument Ma. The observation of all the Commands of God procures true Righteousness to men Mi. The keeping of all the Commands is performed by remission and imputation when that which is not done is pardoned Concl. Therefore by Remission and Imputation real Iustification is procured for us The Minor is upheld by the legitimate Testimony of Augustin lib. Retract cap. 19. But the Tridentine Heroes do here answer That is true indeed as it is understood of the first Iustification but not of the second For by such an usual Scheme of Sophistical Speech they use to baffle the most evident Oracles of Scripture concerning our free Iustification by Christ. As when Paul reasons of Faith justifying freely without Works they interpret it thus that it is said of the first Iustification which consists of Remission only and Reconciliation by Faith But that there is another Iustification besides this which by inward Renovation is begotten of Inherent Righteousness to which they attribute the much more excellent part of true Iustification But here again Augustin helps by confuting this idle Tale with sound speech who writing of this same second unjust Iustification of theirs Our very Righteousness saith he though it be true because of the end or true good to which it is referred yet it is so great in this life that it consists rather in the remission of sins than in the perfection of Vertues Yea the same Augustin elsewhere adjudges the Life of the Regenerate how laudable soever to a Curse if it is to be judged in a separation from Mercy What then Augustin curses all the Righteousness of Humane Life without the Mercy of God And should not they of Trent be accursed who are not afraid to curse those that with Augustin affirm that all the comfort of our Iustification relies
there was little Faith in him I know not in whom it is great Except in those successors of Peter and the Fathers of Trent Paul himself though he was taken up into the third Heaven yet writing to the Philippians openly professes that he had not yet attained unto that which he sought for but having forgot those things that were behind he pressed forward with all his might towards those things that were before And does any in this life hope to attain unto that which Paul with all his endeavours was not able to attain unto But why should I prosecute this matter any further The Moon shall be confounded said the Prophet and the Sun ashamed when the Lord of Hosts shall reign before his Ancients gloriously and in another place the Heavens are not clean in his sight and he charged his Augels with folly The Moon is ashamed and the Sun consounded and the Heaven is covered with Sack-cloth Wherefore then are not the Tridentines affraid to appear in the presence of so great a Iudge as if they were free from all guilt whilst they have nothing to trust to but their own Inherent Righteousness The frivolus Objection of the Adversaries is more largely exa mined and confuted BUT what shall be said to those unruly Persons and Deceivers who though they have undertaken a cause that they cannot defend being convinced by so many Testimonies of Scripture and Examples Yet such is their obstinacy they do not submit to the Truth when they are overcome by its Evidence What then have they to say for themselves By one you may understand what they all are 〈◊〉 Tiletanus a Commentator upon the Council of Trent arguing against Chemnitius thinks his cause is well enough defended by this curiously contrived Sophistry Whereas the Holy Scriptures reser all the concernments of Man's Iustification to the Grace of Remission only he interprets it thus by the Authority of the Council To wit he acknowledges it to be true in the first Iustification or in respect of the beginning of Iustification For they say when a wicked Man is first Iustified by Faith no Works or Merits of Works go before but by the free grace of God for Faith and the Merit of the Son of God the Mediatour he is received into favour obtains a Pardon and is made an Heir Well said But what then Sirs do ye think that this is not sufficient to Establish a Man in everlasting Felicity No indeed if your Opinion be true unless there be added hereunto in the lives of those that are come to years a perfect Obedience to the Law of Righteousness which they affirm to be easie and possible to every Man And because Human frailty can by no means attain unto this Therefore there is need of the assisting grace of God which being altogether infused at once as Alphonsus affirms doth so renew a Man in the Spirit of his Mind and endues him with so great Charity that there is nothing so hard in the Law of Commandments but he can perform it with ready Obedience Whence it comes to pass that he is called Righteous not only by Name and by Imputation But is in very deed and as they speak really Righteous and Merits Eternal Life Ye have here briefly set before you a Summary of Catholick Divinity concerning the perfection of Righteousness which though there is no Man but sees how absurd and unreasonable it is yet that it may appear the more evidently it will not be a miss to reduce all the debates of the Adversaries into a short form of argument The Tridentine Argument Ma. Whosoever perform all the Commands of God they are truly Righteous not by Imputation but by true Vertue and Merit Eternal Life Mi. The Regenerate by renewing grace obtained through Faith and the Merits of Christ perform all the Commands of God Conolu Therefore the Regenerate 〈◊〉 not only accounted but also are really madeRighteous by grace and Merit Eternal Life In this one Syllogism if it be attentively considered as in a little Map all the Polution and Deceit of the Popish Doctrine is comprehended and it is no hard thing to answer it And first I would not unwillingly grant them that which they assume in the Major for the Laws appointed by God comprehending all Righteousness within the limits of their Circumference if there were any Man whose life was exactly squared according to the strict Determinations of this Law and defective in no Circumstance I should esteem him to be worthy not only of the Title of Righteousness but also of the Rewards that are due to a Righteous Man Let us proceed to the other parts of the Argument The Minor follows next But the Regenerate in Christ whom Faith hath once justified having just now received Divine grace they attain unto such a degree of Charity that they are wanting in nothing that is requisite to the most perfect Obedience of the Law But I would fain know where those Regenerate Men are and who they are for it is abundantly evident that they who are the maintainers of this Doctrine are no such Men themselves Their lives are so well known that there is no need of other Arguments to prove it They brag of so many and great things 〈◊〉 Righteousness Grace and Charity whose Vertues whereof they so much boast and manner of life if they be compared with their profession what is more disagreeing What more differing from Righteousness Whereby hath Peace and Grace less flourished and Iniquity more abounded in manners In what times hath the love if not of all at least of most Men waxed so cold It is needless here to complain of the vulgar This complaint chiefly concerns those that sit in the Chair of Hierarchy and are employed in Ecclesiastical Functions and I wish there were 〈◊〉 as just cause thereof as we see in most of 〈◊〉 But perhaps they will defend themselves 〈◊〉 the example of the Pharisees Of whom 〈◊〉 is said that they sat in the Chair of Moses 〈◊〉 taught that which was true though they 〈◊〉 not act according to what they taught And indeed the Example whereunto they compare themselves would please me well 〈◊〉 unless I judged them to be worse then 〈◊〉 Pharisees of those days For though the lives of those Men are Condemned yet their manner of Doctrine was not so contrary to Divine Institutions but the case is otherways with them For not only their lives are far from that Righteousness which they teach but their Doctrine also concerning this Righteousness and many other things is without any Foundation from Scripture But you may say what then Doth Christ the Bride-groom forsake his Bride Or is his grace lessened that he is unwilling or unable to help his Servants What think you of Charity Which being the fulfilling of the Law according to the Testimony of the Apostle will it do nothing in the Hearts of those in whom it is shed abroad towards the fulfilling of
these consequences from them Seeing such a Iudgment is approaching as will bring every one to render an account of their Lives therefore no Man should flatter himself with hopes that any of his offences either in words or deeds will go unpunished but every Man should so frame his Life that Faith and Holiness may be jointly united together and not separated from one another And this is a truth which many now a days have need to be admonished of not only Papists but also Protestants who make profession of the Name and Faith of Christ but yet notwithstanding they so behave themselves as if they thought an-outside shew of Religion were sufficient and as if they did not look for Iudgment to come they are so void of care to walk worthy of that Holy profession giving themselves up against their Conscience to all uncleaness with greediness whereby they both greatly provoke the wrath of God and put themselves in dreadful danger of the loss of Eternal Salvation Against such Men as run on into open wickedness without measure or remorse we may by better consequence draw this inference We must appear all of us before the Iudgment seat of God where account will be taken of all the Actions and Practice of our Lives Therefore let every one that hath regard to his own Salvation endeavour according to his power to lead a Life suitable to his Profession and without Hypocrisie to join a good Conscience with a good Faith For the word of Truth hath told us They that have done Evil shall come forth unto the Resurrection of Damnation But are such Scriptures contrary to Iustification by Faith in such as together with the profession of faith in Christ joyn the fruits of Obedience which though it is not perfect upon all accounts yet it is yielded in sincerity and uprightness of Heart according to their weak power and capacity Which though it comes far short of the compleat perfection of the Law yet nevertheless our Iustification is full and perfect in the sight of God For what is defective in our Works he supplies by his own imputation thro' faith in his Son which Faith is imputed to us for Righteousness not for our working but for our believing for though the abominable rebellion of wicked Men who walk not after the Spirit but after the flesh brings upon them the Iudgment of Condemnation yet this continues to be a truth The Iust shall live by Faith And he that believeth in me shall never perish But you may say The Sentence of the Iudge remains evident and uncontroulable which promises the Resurrection of Life to them that lead a Godly Life I answer It is very true which the Lord says but the conclusion drawn from hence is very false For in these Words Christ joyning the Fruit and the Tree Persons and things together gives the comfortable hope of Eternal Life unto his own Servants who according to their power labour diligently in the Gospel Not thereby determining what their Works deserve but shewing with how many and great rewards he will crown their labours who have suffered any thing for his Name But those Men contrariways arguing from the concrete to the abstract and dividing things from persons conclude amiss by this Enthymema They that are believers in Christ exercising themselves diligently in all Holiness shall be received into Eternal Life Therefore Good Works are the cause of Eternal Life To this I may make a brief and easie Answer Answer I deny the consequence for it is a Fallacy a non causa pro causa for in the antecedent the works of the godly are brought in as effects but in the conclusion as a cause whence there is no sound conclusion from the concrete to the abstract For it is no rational arguing because believers living Holily receive the gift of Eternal Life therefore their deeds merit Eternal Life Iust as if a Man should reason on this manner a Wife being Obedient to her Husband is admitted to be a partaker of all his Goods Therefore her Obedience is worthy of a share in all his Possessions A Son being Obedient to his Father is received for his Heir therefore his Obedience deserves the Inheritance VVorks are evidences of faith in Christ but not the cause of Salvation Iust as a Tree that brings forth Fruit if it hath any goodness in it receives it not from the Fruit but the Fruit hath all its goodness from the Tree In like manner the works of the Godly have nothing that they can claim a right unto in Iudgment If they find any favour or reward that is not due to them but partly to Mercy and partly to Imputation for the sake of the Mediatour to Mercy which pardons Evil deeds to Imputation which puts a great value upon good VVorks though of very little worth in themselves and crowns them with rewards So that all the praise belong not to Men but to God Not to Righteousness but Grace not to Works but Faith not to Iudgment but Mercy But you will say Shall we not all come to Iudgment Must we not all appear before the Tribunal of God It is true we shall all come But Augustin tells us of a twofold Iudgment one of condemnation and another of discretion whereby the Goats shall be separated from the Lambs and not Lambs condemned with the Goats It is an Article of my faith that we shall all of us come to Iudgment but I do hope the Elect of God will not come into the Iudgment of Condemnation And here we must carefully distinguish between the Lambs and the Goats between those that are united to Christ by Faith and the damned crew of Unbelievers For though in this just Iudgment of God every one shall give account to God of all their Works And there is no doubt but a reward will be given suitable to every man's Works but in a far different manner to the one and the other For they who seek for Salvation not by Faith nor the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness only but by the Works of the Law they shall receive a reward according to the desert of their deeds upon this condition that they shall live by the Sentence of the Law if they fulfil the Law as they ought but if not what else must they expect but that according to the just Decree of the Law no violation thereof should be found so small as not to make the sinner liable to Condemnation and justly so For he that hath no power in himself to obtain Righteousness and is not willing to receive it when it is offered by another if he suffer the punishment due to his sins let him not accuse the Law of unjustice but himself of unbelief On the contrary they that by sincere Faith are converted unto Christ if they have committed any evil thing for who among the holiest that is can run through his Race without a fall Their sins
can do them no hurt in the Iudgment which are already done away and pardoned before the Iudgment by Faith and Repentance And besides this if they did any thing well and worthy of praise they receive an everlasting Reward not for the merit of the Work but according to free Imputation whereby God in his Infinite Mercy sets such a value on the works of them that believe in his Name though they are vile and contemptible in themselves that he rewards them with the recompence of the promised Inheritance not for any merit of theirs but according as he hath promised it freely in his Son Now there being a twofold manner of Divine Iudgment as we have shewed out of Augustine one belonging to the Iustice of condemnation and another to the Mercy of Separation According to this diversity of Iudgment we must distinguish between those that are to be called before this Tribunal of the great Iudge for all of us must be called and presented before it but the distinction between those that shall appear must be observed For though we are all sinners by Nature and in the practice of our Lives yet we are not all sinners after the same manner There are some whose sins are already forgiven by Faith and the free Grace of God and there is no doubt but the Mercy of Separation will deliver such from the Iudgment of Condemnation because there is nothing that can be justly alledged against them For who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect it is God that justifies who is he that condemns Or how can they in Righteousness be called to Iudgment for these things that were pardoned by the Iudge himself before they were brought under the Tryal of Iudgment For the offence being taken away the offender is not liable to Iudgment Wherefore no Sentence of Condemnation should affright those that are in Christ Iesus What Law can hold them guilty that are not under the Law but under Grace And again there are others that having passed their days in all manner of wickedness and abominations at their departure out of this Life carry with them a guilty self-condemning Conscience unto Iudgment Of which sort of Monsters this World hath been very fruitful Such as Epicurus Diagoras Lucian Sardanapalus vain glorious Boasters implacable Persecuters and Murderers of the Saints and such like Who though they may flatter themselves in this Life as if they were safe and out of danger yet they will find to their sorrow that there is a Iudge before whom they must unavoidably appear and give a strict account of all the actions of their Lives Therefore as touching the Iudgment of the Evil and the Good as I deny not that it is certainly true the Lord will judge the Living and the Dead in Righteousness and Equity So if they understand it of the Iudgment of Condemnation I answer as the Lawyers use to say The Exception limits the Rule For though this Iudgment is to be general yet if it be taken for the condemnatory Iudgment the general Rule is of force excepting those things that should be excepted But what this Exception is and to whom it belongs it appears evident enough by the distinction of separation mentioned by Christ in several places He that hears my Word and believes in him that sent me shall not come into condemnation but shall pass from death to life And again where the Lord fore-telling the time of his coming to Iudgment says thus When these things begin to come to pass look up and lift up your heads And presently gives the reason thereof for your Redemption draweth near Wherefore did it please him to make mention of Redemption to his Disciples without naming of Iudgment Certainly it was because as Paul speaks There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus as on the contrary there is no Redemption to those who live without the Faith of Christ in slavery to this World and the Flesh. And elsewhere the Lord when he turned himself to his Disciples and could promise them nothing that was more glorious and magnificent he said unto them Ye also shall sit upon Thrones judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel Moreover Paul writing to the Corintbians says Know ye not that the Saints shall judge the World And yet breathing forth something more glorious he exalts Saints above the highest pitch of worldly dignity adding further Know ye not that we shall judge the Angels If the Saints shall be judges how should they be judged in this Court of Iudicature in which they have something to do but nothing to fear Whether the Iudgment of God is terrible to the Saints THerefore let Canisius produce what he can answer unto these Scriptures for it is his Opinion that all men should be possessed with fear of Iudgment These are his words Not only Sinners but also Saints themselves are oft-times affrighted at the fore-thoughts of Iudgement Thus the Iesuit speaks in his own Dialect But let us hear what Scripture-proofs he brings to maintain his Assertion Hence saith he David feared and with great fervency breathed forth this Petition Lord enter not into Iudgment with thy Servant In like manner Iob feared though he was innocent What shall I do said he when God ariseth to judge and when he visiteth What shall I answer For destruction from the Almighty was a terrour to me and because of his greatness I could not endure I was afraid of all my sorrows for I knew thou wouldest not hold me innocent c. To this Objection I answer in short Who knows not that in us and our Works there is nothing whereof we ought not to be greatly afraid So David and Iob and all the Saints the more they call to mind the actions and practice of their Lives the more they are surprized with the fear of Divine Iudgment and repose the less confidence in themselves But this doth not at all abate our rejoycing in Christ Iesus so that relying upon the never failing Promise of God and being assured of the remission of our sins we strive against this fear as much as we can Howbeit we cannot be so perfectly rid of this fear which is placed in our Nature but that it will sometimes return and cause trouble to the most eminent Saints But that which sometimes happens through infirmity is one thing and that which always becomes the Saints to do is another So David and Iob before the return of spiritual comfort were in terrour but after God had restored unto them the joy of his Salvation all fear vanished away Canisius in saying the Saints should be possessed with the fear of Iudgment does what in him lies to root out all the assurance of Faith out of the minds of the godly and to make the Promise of God and our fiducial relyance on him utterly void and of none effect Does Christ encourage us to lift up our
nothing is more Glorious than that Bond whereby the Miserable and Mortal Daughter of Adam is joyned unto the Immortal Son of God the frail Church to the Heavenly Bridegroom that they both become one flesh and have God to be one Father to them both and have the same Family the same House the same society of Life and the same possession of all Goods Which thing is so exceedingly wonderful that it surpasses all human understanding Iust as if a great King being desirous to shew forth the Riches of his munificence should invite Beggars and the Blind and the Cripple and every one that was least worthy and entertain them with a Feast and enrich them with abundance of his best gifts Is it possible that any Man among them durst imagine that this was due to his own Vertues or Merits It remains that we should view the Guests themselves and also the garments of the guests whom he invites to this Marriage banquet and not only invites but compels them to come in Call the Poor saith he and the Lame and the Blind and compel them to come in that my House may be filled Who are these Poor and Blind and Feeble and Naked but such as have no provision of their own Works Who have nothing in themselves whereof to Glory but only in the Lord. Such as were the Publicans of Old and Sinners of the Gentiles and Pagans concerning whom Paul Discourses in words of great weight The Gentiles that followed not after Righteousness laid hold on Righteousness that is the Righteousness that is of Faith But contraryways Israel that followed after the Righteousness of the Law attained not thereunto Wherefore Because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the Works of the Law How great stupidity then and abominable impudence is this in vain glorious Men who being by Nature wretched and Blind and Naked and most miserable Beggars notwithstanding all this are exalted to the highest dignity of union with God and that not for any merit of their own but the free donation of Christ that yet they neither acknowledge their own nakedness nor testifie their thankfulness to God for the Riches of his Grace but think themselves abundantly beautified with their own ornaments and sufficiently furnished with merits to attain unto Righteousness But what a Righteousness is this of theirs If it be the Righteousness of Works Who then are those poor and needy that are admitted to the Marriage They that are adorned with the beauty and glory of Merits and abound with Riches of good Works How can we account such to be poor and blind and lame And if they are said to be compelled to come in where is the free will of the Tridentines Or its co-operation But on the contrary if by the poor here be understood such as have no good works that can commend them nor any help of free will that are decked with no ornaments but are admitted or rather drawn to the Marriage-feast by the grace of Christ only How then can Charity abounding with the works of the Law be truly called the Wedding-garment Howbeit I know there are some great Divines that rather approve of this interpretation that the wedding-garment here mentioned Should signifie Charity But when I consider exactly the circumstances of the Parable if without offending those that have better Iudgments I may freely profess what is my Opinion I do rather suppose that our Lord's design was to signifie the same that Paul the Apostle expresly speaks of himself that I may be found in him not having my own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the saith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by faith And if we are not blind we all see evident proof of the same not only by words but by the example of the Israelites Wherefore if none are entertained in this Marriage-feast but they that have on the wedding-garment and if Israel that followed after Righteousness is said to be rejected upon no other account but because they sought it by works and not by faith can it be doubted that this Nuptial ornament consists not in works but in the faith of Christ I know there are many kinds of garments as also there are many differences of things of Men and of places But all things agree not with all places nor with all Kingdoms One thing is suitable to a Court of Iustice another thing to a banquet Iudges sitting on the Bench and Guests at a Marriage feast do not only differ in the frame of their Spirits but also in their outward Garb. A suitableness of things places and times should be observed The Law hath its own Kingdom and Christ also hath his and both have their own Inhabitants As the Kingdom of the Law receives none but the righteous so the Kingdom of Christ rejects none though they be wicked if they are brought to Repentance by believing And though both Kingdoms belong to God and are under his dominion yet the manner of administration of both Kingdoms is not the same For in the dominion of the Law God was pleased to manifest his Righteousness but the Kingdom of Christ is the gift of Grace and Mercy And as by the free gift of God it is offered to all that believe so it receives none but such as are glad freely and willingly to embrace the Grace offered And for the same reason chiefly this Kingdom of Christ is by a very fit similitude compared to a Marriage Feast and a wedding garment And not without cause for if in a Marriage Feast all things abound with mirth and joy how much more should we rejoyce and be glad in Christ by whose procurement we obtain the manifold riches of Everlasting Salvation and Glory Therefore what remains but that we should with thankful hearts gladly receive these great benefits of our dear Saviour and especially because by the wedding garment in this place nothing else can be understood For as a wedding garment is a token of the joyfulness of the mind at the Marriage Feast so by this weding garment is signified with what joy and gladness with what holy reverence and thankfulness the Guests of this Banquet will enjoy the heavenly benefits Whereunto the Apostle exhorts more than once with so much vehemency that we should not be over-sollicitous for any thing but always rejoyce in the Lord and glory in nothing but in the Cross of our Lord Iesus Christ praising God in our hearts as it is expressed in that sacred Hymn Not unto us Lord not unto us but unto thy Name give glory But how do those superstitious Papists glory in the Lord who trust to their own Works whose rugged and burdensom Religion consists wholly in Watchings Vows Ordinances of Men sleeping on the ground and such like hardships and an affected austerity of life But let us proceed to the Arguments that remain Another
for Mercy and cast himself wholly upon Christ what would the Apostle Iames say in such a case Will not Faith only without Works justifie such a man as this The penitent Malefactor is an evident proof of the truth of this who had no other thing but Faith only to commend him to Christ and so to be admitted into Paradise Like unto which there are many Examples daily of them that die on Gibbets so that the Iudgments of God are very wonderful who hath mercy on whom he will have mercy But now let us return to what we were saying of Abraham If we look upon his Faith what was more sincere If we consider his Works what was more glorious and wonderful Therefore upon both accounts he was certainly an admirable man Now let us compare his Faith with his Works And because it is evident that he was justified before God let us enquire whether he was justified by Faith 〈◊〉 Works because he could not be justified upon both accounts as the Apostle witnesseth If it is of Faith then it is not of Works but if it is of Works then it is not of Faith What shall we say then to these things let the Scripture answer Abraham believed God when he promised and it was accounted to him for Righteousness And the same Abraham obeyed God when he commanded and why doth not the Scripture in like manner add That this was imputed to him for Righteousness Let us hear what the Apostle answers The Scripture foreseeing that God would justifie the Gentiles by Faith he first told the glad tydings to Abraham and what glad tydings was this That he and his Seed should be Heirs of the World A great Promise indeed But how did he obtain this Promise by Faith or by Works There is an answer ready made to our hand by the Apostle The Promise came not by the Law to Abraham or to his Seed that he should be Heir of the World but by the Righteousness of Faith Why so Paul why not by the Law and why by the Righteousness of Faith That he might be the Father of all the faithful who walking in the footsteps of the Faith which was in the Uncircumcision of our Father Abraham shall have Faith in like manner imputed unto them But here St. Iames is represented as fighting with all his might against this Doctrine For the Adversaries say thus Did not the Apostle Iames assert with great Authority That Abraham was justified by Works and will ye deny it God forbid that any man should undervalue the Authority of that holy Apostle And yet I suppose St. Iames would not have us to disbelieve the Scripture which teaches us far otherways attributing the Iustification of Abraham not to Works but to Faith For Abraham believed God and we read it was imputed unto him for Righteousness But God hath not said in his Word concerning Abraham's going to sacrifice his Son That it was imputed to him for Righteousness Or let us grant the assertion of St. Iames That Abraham was justified by Works But where and how was he thus justified before God St. Iames says not so Then it is before men And Paul himself denies not that So that there is no real disagreement between Paul and Iames. But this doth not satisfie some Sophisters who account it is not enough that the holy Patriarch is justified by Works before men as Paul teaches unless he be also thereby justified before God For though he was first justified by Faith as they say yet nothing hinders but that afterwards he might be yet more justified by Works and this they call a second Iustification But Reason shews that to be an utter impossibility for it implies a manifest contradiction for it is a contradiction not to be justified by Works and again to be justified by Works And seeing one of those is denied by the Apostle How can they maintain and plead for the other But hereunto may be added another Reason If there is a twofold Iustification one by Faith and another by Works it would follow that there is a twofold manner of Iustifying But there is one and the same manner of Iustifying as there is one God as hath been proved out of Ambrose Therefore it appears that there is not a twofold Iustification A third Reason is this seeing Iustification consists of the Remission of Sins and God forgives no Man his Sins to whom he doth not perfectly forgive them Therefore it follows that the Iustification of those that are justified is compleat and perfect and cannot be made more perfect than it is already Now in the next place let them prepare to answer this Argument of Paul Whosoever is justified by Works hath whereof he may Glory before God Rom. 4. Abraham hath not any thing whereof he may Glory before God Therefore Abraham is not justified by Works before God By these things which we have quoted out of Paul and other sacred writings I suppose it appears evident enough what we should judge of the Works of Abraham Which though they were excellent and worthy to be admired before men yet they found no place for glorying before God according to the Testimony and Interpretation of the Apostle We need not be at any great trouble to find out the cause thereof Tiletan and other Iesuits produce a cause thereof out of Augustin Because the Works of Abraham were not of the Law but of Faith not of the Flesh but of Grace which because they were not done by the Power of Free-will only but in the Faith and expectation of Christ therefore all Praise and Glory was due to Christ and none to them which Invention of theirs though it savours more of Wit than Solidity yet though we grant all this to them there is no inconvenience in it seeing both of us acknowledge with Paul that the Patriarch Abraham found neither matter of glorying nor Iustification before God by Works and therefore that he had no cause of glorying because he was not justified by Works for otherways if he had been justified by Works he should have had wherein to Glory as the Apostle Paul speaks But now he hath not any thing wherein he may Glory before God therefore he was not justified by Works And thus hitherto we have treated of the Arguments of the Adversaries as much as may suffice not only to discover but also confute their Sophistical Wiles and captious Deceits who fight with so great eagerness for their inherent Righteousness against the Testimony of the Holy Scripture and the Sacred Gospel of Iesus Christ and the bright shining Light of Grace yea and against their own Salvation It remains in the next place that we should hear what those Men on the other side answer and oppose to the Arguments and most approved Reasons manag'd not only by us but by St. Paul and with what Cavillings and fraudulent Devices they darken and baffle the clear meaning of the
Apostle's Words and with what deceit they wilfully wrest and deprave the genuine Signification of his Words by their most absurd Interpretation to the intent they may maintain their own erroneous Doctrine If they did this only in Ignorance they should not be so much the Objects of our Anger as of our Pity and Commiseration as being Men misled into Errour But they behave themselves as if they were unwilling to be undeceiv'd And though they cannot but see the Truth in such a clear Light of the Scripture yet they wilfully shut their eyes because they are not willing to see or at least believe the clear shining Light of the Truth which that it may appear the more evident unto all Men let us now produce the Answers and deceitful Shifts of the Adversaries whereby they maintain their own Cause against our Arguments And because there are eight Arguments out of St. Paul which we oppose against the Papists we think it is not unprofitable in this place to set down what the Papists answer unto these The Answers of the Adversaries which they oppose against the eight Arguments of St. Paul together with a Refutation of those Answers BY the Works of the Law shall no flesh be justified before him for by the Law comes the Knowledge of Sin But now the Righteousness of God is manifessed without the Law being testified by the Law and the Prophets to wit the Righteousness of God by the Faith of Iesus Christ upon all that believe c. Which is also confirmed by these Words Gal. 3. Knowing that a Man is not justified by the Works of the Law for by the Works of the Law no flesh is justified c. I Appeal unto thee Courteous and Pious Reader what Man is there if he duely consider these Words of Paul that can gather any other thing from them but what their genuine Signification holds forth Which is this That the Works of the Law should be utterly excluded from having any hand in Iustification And if Works are excluded what can be a more undoubted Truth than that we are justified by Faith only What is more solid than this Argument of Paul What can be more plainly expressed What Words are more familiar if so be they are not darkned by a Sophistical Interpretation If according to the Testimony of Paul we are not justified by Works or obedience to the Law but by Faith without Works who can deny that our Iustification consists of Faith only unless he desperately oppose himself not only against Paul the Apostle but also the Holy Spirit God But behold here the Deceit or rather the Malice of sinful Men. They do not openly reject the Words of the Apostle but wrest the sense and meaning of them to serve their own purpose They deny not that Works should be excluded but pray take notice of the captious Snares of Sophisters who endeavour by a cunning way of distinguishing to baffle the simplicity of Apostolical Doctrine For they divide asunder Works and their Iustification into two parts calling the one Works of the Law and the other Works of Grace And they say the Works of the Law are unprofitable to Iustification but the other they account very necessary Therefore they Answer to the Words of Paul with this Distinction By the Works of the Law shall no Flesh be justified c. The meaning of these Words say they is this No Man shall be justified before God for his own Works which he hath done as by the Vertue and Merit thereof but by the Vertue and Merit of Grace infused For according to Paul's manner of speaking then a thing is said to be done by Works when it is done by Works when it is done as a due Debt or for the Works Wherefore there being a twofold Iustification as they say one by Grace infused and another by the Obligation of the Law without Grace In this Case Iustification by VVorks and every thing that is contrary to Iustification by Grace is excluded And so the saying of the Apostle holds true as they Interpret to him that worketh the Reward is not imputed according to Grace but according to Debt as if he should say that what is given by VVorks or for them is not given according to Grace but according to Debt therefore that Iustification which is separated from Grace is excluded but not the Iustification that comes by VVorks with the Assistance of Grace c. VVhat else should I Answer to these Sophisters but that I pray God to give them Repentance and a better frame of Spirit that they may not always resist the Holy Ghost and overspread the Truth with darkness VVhat Man is there but clearly perceives that it is altogether contrary to the VVords and Meaning of the Apostle to build the Hope of Salvation upon any VVorks when he doth so manifestly teach and protest against it denying that we are justified any other way but by Faith without the VVorks of the Law Yea they themselves deny not that the exclusive VVord is understood of the Works of the Law though not of the Works of Grace but now what are these Works of Grace those forsooth which the influence of the Grace of Christ performs in the Souls of the regenerate but were not the Romans to whom the Apostle wrote regenerate in Christ VVere they not partakers of the same Grace Did they not abound in the VVorks of Grace VVhom yet the Apostle denies to be justified by their own VVorks It is true indeed say they if you understand it of their own VVorks which are called VVorks of the Law but not those VVorks which are Christ's How ridiculous is this as if those things that are planted 〈◊〉 us by the Spirit of Christ were not also oftentimes called ours Yea Faith it self which is most especially reckoned amongst those Gifts it is usual to Scripture to give it the Epithet of ours and yours Paul expresses himself thus By the Communion of my Faith and yours and again Hearing of your Faith and in another place Your Faith which is in Christ c. Is it not evident that he speaks of that Faith which we have in Christ through the free gift of God How much more then may this be understood of VVorks which when Paul excludes from Iustification it cannot be doubted but he understands it not only of VVorks that are ours wholly and done by our own Strength but also of those VVorks that are done by the help of Grace operating in us so that there is nothing in the Works either of the Law or of Grace except Faith only but what rather contributes to Destruction than Iustification What is commanded in the Law of God that we can do without Grace Therefore seeing Paul removes all Works from the Office of justifying it must needs be that he understands it of the Works of Grace as well as of our own Works or the Works of the Law What shall we say
of the Works of Christ were not they Works of the Law For he himself hath said that he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it were not the things which he performed in fulfilling the Law VVorks of Grace VVhat difference then is there between those VVorks that are called VVorks of the Law and those other that are called VVorks of Grace So that it appears that he who excludes the VVorks of the Law excludes also the VVorks of Grace from Iustification Though I acknowledge there is great difference between the Law and Grace in respect of the manner of Doing and the ends of their Offices For what the Law exacts that Grace performs but in respect of the things themselves and the Actions unto which they are directed seeing both the Law and the Grace of God are exercised in the same subject Matter there is no difference between them The Law commands us to Love our Neighbour and lays a Punishment on him that disobeys But Grace communicates Strength and Ability to perform what the Law commands VVhich when we perform we are said to do not only a VVork of Grace but also a VVork of the Law by Grace so that it is a matter of small concernment whether it be called a VVork of the Law or a VVork of Grace a VVork of our own or a VVork of Faith Therefore if the Scripture denies That a man is justified and attributes his Iustification to another cause that is Faith what should be inferr'd from hence but that Man's Iustification comes neither by the VVorks of the Law nor the VVorks of Grace Iust as if a Man writing to his Friend should say thus This Benefit was procured for him by no Money or charge of his own VVhat matter is it whether it was his own Money or borrowed of some other Man when the meaning of the VVriter was to signifie that this Benefit whatsoever it was was not bought by any Price of the Receiver but obtained by the free Bounty of the Giver So Paul desiring to set before the Eyes of all Men the boundless Immensity of Divine Grace toward Mankind that they might behold and embrace it expresly denies that Man is justified by the VVorks of the Law But here the Distinction of Hosius as I have said presents it self It is true saith he in respect of the Works that are of the Law and belong to our own Free-will which being attended with Imperfection can avail nothing to Iustification To which I Answer in a Word Give then that Grace which may furnish frail Nature with Strength to yield perfect Obedience to the Law and may restore us to perfect innocency in this Life and you have won the cause But in the mean while let those Disputants consider how many gross and pernicious Absurdities proceed from this kind of Doctrine for hereby the infinite greatness of the free Grace and Mercy of God towards us is taken away and abolished this also destroys our thankfulness to him for his goodness and withholds Consolation from afflicted Consciences so that very great injury is done to him that hath freely communicated so many and so great Benefits and much greater injury is done to those on whom they are bestowed Hereby also it comes to pass that there remains no Assurance in the Promise of God no firmness in our Faith no soundness in the Doctrine of Religion nor Comfort or Refreshment in the Suffering of the Saints A second Argument out of St. Paul Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption which is in Christ Iesus whom he hath set forth to be a Propitiation by Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness at this time that he may be Iust and the Iustifier of him that is of the Faith of Iesus Christ and again we reckon that a Man is justified by Faith without Works Unless the Hearts of these our Adversaries were fully set in them to pervert the ways of the Lord it could not otherways be but these clear and evident sayings of the Apostle must be sufficient to satisfie them and prevail upon them to beware lest they kick against the Doctrine of the Apostles and exalt themselves in their proud Imaginations and vain Conceit of their own Righteousness against such clear Manifestation of Divine Grace But here the Roman Legions make a fresh incursion again and the Ring-leader of them is Andraeas Vega who fights against the Righteousness of Faith Whom there is no need of answering in this World For he hath been removed out of this Life a great while since that he might answer to God his Iudge And because he denied that he was justified by the Faith of Christ only let him look to it what he must answer his Iudge in that Iudgment wherein he must give account of his whole Life where of necessity he must either overcome or fall If he overcome where is the Truth of Scripture in which it is said God only overcomes when he is judged But if he fall where then is the Righteousness of Works What if David so great a King and Prophet could not endure that God should enter with him into Iudgment If Iob a Man of so Holy a Life yet durst not answer to one of a thousand What will our Vega say what will he bring his Cowls his Fastings his lyings on the Ground his Night Watches his Vows his Liturgick-Prayers his Propitiatory-Masses his Mumbled over Confessions his Penances and Satisfactions But who hath required these things at your Hands Nay but he will defend himself and take Sanctuary in the Law which he hath fulfilled not by the Strength of his own Free-will but by the help of Divine Grace Say you so David being guarded with as much Grace as any Man was yet sunk down under the weight of the Law of God I suppose Iob wanted not Divine Grace and yet he dares not appear before God in Iudgment And will Vega nevertheless hope to bring such an account of his Life before the Tribunal of God that if God strictly Mark it and weigh it in the balance of his Iustice he will not find more Sins than Merits therein But I need not ask him what he will answer to God his Iudge To whom I know he can make no satisfaction with all his inherent Righteousness But this is that which I ask him and not him only but all the other Tridentines also what they will answer the Apostle Paul who openly pronounces a Curse both on Men and Angels if any of them should dare to preach any other Gospel than he had preached And what Gospel is it that we have received by the preaching of Paul Is it not the same that he taught so often in all his Epistles with frequent Repetitions and great Care and Diligence and also confirmed it with Miracles Now the summ of the Gospel which he preached is this That Man is justified freely without Works by the Grace of
by grace then it is not of works and if it is of works then it is not of grace 4 Assertion Rom. 10. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and believest with thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation For the Scripture saith Whoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed There is no difference between Iew and Greek For every one that calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved 5 Assertion Acts 13. Be it known unto you Brethren that through this Man remission of sins is preached unto you that through him every one that believes may be justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the Law of Moses 6 Assertion Acts 10. To him all the Prophets bear witness That all that believe in him do receive through his name remission of sins 7 Assertion 1 Cor. 3. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is already laid that is Christ Iesus But if any man build upon this foundation Gold or Silver c. If any man's work is burnt he shall suffer damage but himself shall be saved yet so as through fire c. 8 Assertion The eight Argument is gathered from many Examples of those who were justified by Faith only and admitted unto Baptism As three thousand of those that believed at the Preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost were baptized Acts 2. and the Eunuch whom Philip baptized Acts 2. The Iaylor and his family whom Paul baptized Acts 16. c. By which Examples it may be rationally proved that the Apostles judged Faith to be sufficient to qualifie a man for the receiving of Baptism and therefore also for receiving of Iustification By these proofs of Scripture this Doctrine is sufficiently confirmed which attributes the Iustification of the ungodly not to Works joyned with Faith but to Faith simply without Works But because I am not now dealing with men of moderate Principles but with cunning Sophisters let us for a while bring the Apostle out of the Church into the School that he may fight hand to hand against them with their own weapons and confute them with their own Arguments The Righteousness of the Law or of Works and the Righteousness of Faith are so contrary to one another that they cannot consist together but the one of necessity makes void the other But we look for Righteousness by Faith Therefore not by the Righteousness of Works Again If according to Grace then it is not according to Debt But according to Grace it is imputed to us for Righteousness Therefore not according to Debt Again That whereunto blessedness is ascribed to the same also is ascribed Iustification Our blessedness is attributed unto the remission of sins Therefore our Iustification also is attributed to the same Another Argument If Works are necessary to Salvation then Salvation would not consist in the belief of the heart and the confession of the mouth But our Salvation consists in confessing the Lord Iesus with the mouth and believing in him with the heart Therefore Works are not necessary unto Salvation Another If Works had been conducible to justifie Abraham before God then he should have had cause of glorying before God Rom. 4. But Abraham had nothing wherein he could glory before God Therefore Works do not avail to Iustification Another By the Law of Moses no man can be justified All Doctrine of Works belongs to the Law of Moses Therefore no Salvation comes by any Doctrine of our Morals or Works Another Whosoever builds upon Christ the Foundation Gold or Hay or Stubble shall be saved either without fire or through fire Therefore Faith only without Works procures Salvation An Induction from Examples The Scriptures tell us of many that were justified and baptized without making any mention of Works On the day of Pentecost three thousand were baptized Acts 2. The Eunuch was baptized by Philip Acts 8. The Iaylor with his family Acts 16. The sinful woman whom faith saved Luke 7. The prodigal Son Luke 18. The Thief on the right hand Luke 23. The Publican Luke 18. And a multitude of others obtained Salvation without any condition of Works Therefore only Faith in Christ justifies the humble and broken hearted sinner Unto these things so very evident and clear what do the Adversaries object with what subtilties and distinctions do they defend their Popish Errour of Inherent Righteousness Be pleased to hearken though what they say is fitter for laughter and derision than instruction And first as touching the distinction that Paul makes between him that worketh and him that worketh not between Mercenary works and Iustification imputed without Works between Debt and Grace between the Righteousness of the Law and the Righteousness of Faith let us observe how those Sophisters cloud and darken it with their vain janglings For whereas the Apostle argues on this manner from the Rule of contraries If it is of grace then it is not of works but if it be of works then it is not of grace c. If the Inheritance is by the Law then it is not of the Promise c. And again distinguishing between the Righteousness of the Law and the Righteousness of the Gospel he so divides the one from the other that difference appears evident Of the Righteousness that comes by the Law saith the Apostle the Law it self speaks on this manner He that doth these things shall live in them But what saith he of the Righteousness that is of Faith If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and believe with thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved What is more evident than this distinction what words are more perspicuous But what is there that can be so well conceived in the mind or expressed in words but it may be wrested by the wrong Interpretations of such men as take delight to set themselves in opposition against the Truth for thus they speak Are not pious works the gifts of God Doth not Charity shed abroad in the hearts of the Saints by the Holy Ghost inflame the minds of Believers and provoke them to all things that are honest and agreeable to the Will of God Which Works of Charity when God crowns and rewards them in us they are not so much our works as his gifts for they are not our works or performed by any strength of our own but they are the works of God which we perform by his help and they should be wholly attributed to his Grace Whence also they oft-times are called in the Scriptures by the name of Divine Grace As Paul also bearing witness of himself says By the grace of God I am what I am for this grace of working not being attained unto by
thereof is not placed in the works of men but it depends upon the free favour of God and the like we may say of Iustification for those whom he justifies he justifies in Christ but if you ask why doth he justifie in Christ the cause appears evident which cannot be found in our VVorks but before all VVorks in the favour of God only But you may say Those things are not well compared with one another which disagree in Nature for Election and Vocation and Glorification are such things as being once determined of God cannot be disannulled But the Case is otherways in Iustification which may sometimes be lost and sometimes retained according as it is hindered or not hindered by the Grace of God For thus spake Vega and Scotus and others That I may Answer such Men I confess indeed if the manner of our Iustification were such as those Men feign to wit if its chief reliance were upon Works and the increase of Vertues it would be true which they assert concerning the uncertainty of losing or keeping Iustification But seeing all the stability of our Iustification depends not at all upon our Works but upon the Merits of Christ by Faith and the Remission of Sins by his Righteousness therefore it is that as there is one Election and Vocation and that sure and firm so also Iustification is not twofold but one and the same and such an one as endures for ever I call it one because there remains always one and the same cause and manner of Iustifying which relies not on the Merits of Works but consists of Faith and the Remission of Sins And though the Sins from which we are justified are not all of the same kind but are distinguished by times and variety of Actions yet nevertheless Iustification that is the Remission of Sins in respect of the form and manner is not divers but one Not twofold but simple as Faith also which is the procuring cause of Iustification is not which though it is daily increased yet it remains always one and the same Moreover as this Iustification which increases together with Faith is only one so also the same being firm and stable no less than the Promise of God on which it relies undergoes no change but continues firm and constant and the cause thereof is because it relies not on Works but Faith only whence the Apostle said It is therefore by Faith that according to Grace the Promise may be sure to all the Seed On the contrary they who make a twofold Iustification and assign divers causes of both of which the one confists of Faith only without Works going before which they call the first and the other which they call the second is increased by Works of Grace as they speak I see not what they can find in the Scriptures for the defence of their Opinion for Paul writing to so many Churches acknowledges no cause of Iustification but one which he professes to be Faith in Christ and that without Works What need is there of better evidence Can you not be perswaded to believe the Truth which hath been so often and so perspicuously demonstrated by so great a Master as Paul But to what purpose hath Christ appointed him to be a Teacher to us Gentiles if we despise his Instructions and chuse to our selves other Masters that teach another Gospel And what else do those Men who reject the Apostle's Doctrine and hearken to such as teach contrary thereunto Paul says Without Works Man is justified Will you then dare to plead for Iustification by Works in Opposition to the Apostle Dare you deny what he affirms But you say I detract nothing from Works in opposition unto Paul but I add Grace from whence they receive the power of Meriting and Iustifying Then according to your Opinion Works being assisted by Grace do justifie but without Grace they avail nothing But what will you answer to St. Paul who without making any Distinction of Works says not of such or such Works only but indefinitely and in the general of all Works It is of Faith and not of Works lest any should boast And again to the Romans If by Grace then it is not of Works and elsewhere To him that worketh not c. And how often doth he in all his Epistles Attribute all Power of Iustifying to Faith shutting out not only such or such Works but all Works of what kind soever concerning which Paul speaking indefinitely and absolutely utterly excludes them from any concernment in Iustification Which would be false if any Works whether performed by Grace and in Faith or without Grace were conducible to Iustification And hence this Argument arises An Argument against inherent Righteousness We are justified without Works by Faith as Paul testifies VVorks of Charity infused by Grace are VVorks Therefore without these Works also that consist of Grace we are justified The Adversaries Answer to the Major Paul asserts that we are justified without Works but with this Exception unless they be planted in us by Faith and the influence of Grace for the Apostle excludes not such kind of Works because they please God and procure Iustification Contrarily those VVorks only are excluded that are of the Law or of Nature without which we are said to be justified But this Answer doth not satisfie the VVords of Paul who without making any such Exception or Distinction of VVorks teaches simply and indefinitely that we are justified without Works By what Logick then have these Sophisters learned to make a definite and particular Proposition of that which is Indefinite and Universal Or what Reason have they to confine that unto a particular Case which Paul speaks of Works in the general Let us consider the Words of the Apostle Who if he had believed that Works of Charity infused procure Iustification in the sight of God it cannot be doubted but he would have expresly said so much Now he says expresly without any Exception By Works shall no Flesh be justified Whence we may form this Argument If Works performed by Grace and in Faith were meritorious of Iustification then some flesh would be justified by Works seeing there are many Believers that Work by Grace But no flesh at all shall be justified by Works as Paul bears witness Therefore it is false that good Works performed by Grace have any Power of justifying Let us confirm the saying of Paul by Scriptural Examples That which Paul here preaches of free Salvation without Works the same Isaiah foretells will come to pass though in other Words yet to the same purpose under the Symbols of Wine and Milk All ye that thirst saith he come without Money and without Price and buy Wine and Milk What is signified here by Wine and Milk but the glorious Mystery of our Iustification and what is the signification of these Words wherein we are commanded to eat without Money and without Price but that
promulgation of the Law I would ask him What the Law is which if it is nothing but the Rule of Righteousness how can any man be just where there is no Law But what man was there ever in the World but he carried about with him the Law of God if not written in Tables yet written on his heart and engraven on his conscience But the Decalogue was not yet engraven on Tables of Stone But what was contained in the Moral Decalogue which that holy man did not already comprehend within his own heart both of loving God and his Neighbour of not Murthering of not committing Adultery or honouring Parents c. 3. As touching the scope of this Epistle how greatly is campian mistaken For who is so void of sense that he doth not clearly perceive that the drift of the Apostle is not that which those Iesuits dream of to attribute our Salvation or Iustification to any Works either going before or following after Neither was this Office of an Ambassadour committed unto him that he might contend with the Iews about Ceremonies or with the Gentiles about Moral Duties but as Peter was entrusted with the Apostleship of the Circumcision so also the Preaching of the Gospel to the Uncircumcision was committed unto Paul not that he should Preach the Law but the Faith which before he opposed Not that he might declare the Righteousness of Works in which there is no Salvation but that God by him might reveal his Son amongst the Gentiles and might manifest unto the World that heavenly Trophy and glad Tydings of Peace and Victory obtained in Heaven by Christ and spread abroad far and wide through the Churches the boundless riches of Divine Grace which he had experienced in himself For he was called for this purpose to the Apostleship that the infinitely gracious Lord and Redeemer Christ Iesus might first exercise his Mercy towards him and afterwards by him declare his great Mercy towards Sinners not only by hisExample but also by his Ministry For thus he bears witness of himself that the Ministry of Reconciliation was committed to him for which he was appointed to be a Preacher and Apostle and Teacher of the Gentiles in Faith and Truth that he being an Ambassadour in Christ's stead might invite all men yea and beg of them that they would be reconciled unto God And this seems to be the principal scope that Paul aims at not only in the Epistle to the Romans but also in all his Doctrine to proclaim amongst the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and that he might set before the view of all men what is the Communion of the Mystery that was hidden with God in former Ages c. But now in the Righteousness of Works no such Mystery lay hidden with God from former Ages Therefore it is false and abominable which Campian the Iesuit and such like Sophisters assert concerning the scope and sense of Paul's Epistle to the Romans For by the Law which Paul excludes from Iustification they understand that part thereof which comprehends Ceremonial and Iudicial Works wherein the Iews gloried or Works purely Moral performed before Faith on which the Gentiles relied Yea on the contrary when Paul removes the Law from Iustification he doth not only exclude it upon the account of Iewish Ceremonies or Moral Works performed before Faith but also upon the account of its weakness through the flesh both in Iews and Gentiles both in the regenerate and the unregenerate so that it cannot make sufficient satisfaction to the Iustice of God And Paul affirms That for this cause God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh What did God do but what flesh could not do For sin he condemned sin in the flesh In what flesh ours or his own Sons Who of all the Regenerate though endued with great habitual Faith and Grace hath so led his life walking not according to the flesh but according to the spirit but he always carries about with him flesh that is weak in many respects and vicious and subject to sin Concerning which every one may complain with the Apostle I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing And again I find a Law that when I would do good evil is present with me c. For what they speak of Works following Faith and Grace how little that helps their cause appears not more evident by any Argument than by the Lives of those that maintain this Controversie if they be strictly enquired into If that be true which Campian with his Iesuits pleads for That Righteousness is not obtained in men come to years but by Works that follow after Faith Let us behold then what excellent Works this Faith of the Mother Church of Rome brings forth seeing they so much glory in the Title of Catholick Faith and Preach so many things about Charity which is the fulfilling of the Law Let us look into the Life and Works of the Roman Popes Cardinals and Bishops and the whole Crew of the Monks and Iesuits Where can you find more of the flesh or less of true holiness than in those false-hearted and painted Hypocrites whose whole profession of Religion consists in Purple Gowns high topped Mitres Purple Caps Rings adorned with Iewels solemn Vows Ceremonies which in reality are rather Stage-playes than Exercises of Piety This appears to be too true by the unhappy Tumults raised in the World the Wars and Persecutions that are stirred up by none more than by those very men that call themselves Spiritual and Catholick whom it should become to be the chiefest encouragers of Concord and Messengers of Peace But having so much enlarged upon this sort of men with their Works and Merits let us return to the Examples of those of whom we spake before who were freely admitted unto Baptism and received into favour by Faith without any commendation of Merits at all yea without mention of any Works except such perhaps as were evil Amongst which number those Iews may be reckoned of whom three thousand at one time were Baptized by Peter Likewise also the Eunuch whom Faith only without Works made not only meet for Baptism but also an Heir of the Heavenly Kingdom And the Iaylor whom Paul Baptized Moreover Paul himself and all the Apostles and Publicans the family of Cornelius Zacehaeus Mary Magdalen and the Thief on the Cross If Faith without Works was sufficient to them for the Grace of Baptism why not also for the obtaining of Iustification and Life Eternal Vega and those of his Association answers after his usual manner that in all these Repentance was joyned with Faith and other things also belonging to good Manners and a godly Life But it easily appears how vain and insignificant this Answer of Vega is He says Repentance and other Vertues are joyned with Faith Which tho' I confess to be in some sense true in the lives and persons of
of those Works but only upon the account of its Object which because Faith only without Charity embraces therefore Faith only without Charity receives from thence the power of Iustifying If all things that any way are or are done together should be joyned in one and the same Office it would come to pass that he that hath Feet Eyes and Ears because he hath not these Members alone therefore he should be said to go not with-his Feet only but to walk with his Eyes and see with his Ears as hath been formerly demonstrated Iust so the case is in Faith Charity and other Vertues Which tho' being infused by Grace they inhere in the same subject yet each one of them are distinguished by their peculiar Offices Therefore if it be asked concerning the Office of Iustification What it is that reconciles us to God and procures Eternal Life for us I answer it is Faith and that only If you ask how I answer by Christ the Mediatour Again if you ask what manner of Faith that is I answer It is not an idle or dead Faith but lively and active But if you would know by what marks you distinguish between a true Faith and that which is counterfeit St. Paul answers that question The Faith that is true works by Love What where and How Faith worketh by Charity BUT here there are several things that need to be explained as what Faith works where and after what manner it works for Faith doth not act every where after one and the same manner It acts one way with men and another way with God It is true that it works by Love as Paul says but it must be understood in respect of men not in respect of God Neither doth Faith perform the same in both respects nor after the same manner for with men it works by Love but with God it works not by Love but by Christ only by whom it is admirable to consider what and how great things Faith performs It obtains grants of Petitions pardon of sins it reconciles justifies wrestles overcomes reigns and triumphs Faith only does these things not with men but with God not working by Charity but by Christ our Lord. Therefore Faith works one thing by Christ and another thing by Charity By Christ it obtains Salvation by Charity it performs Obedience to the Law Doth it perform perfect Obedience No. Doth it then perform imperfect Obedience But that is not sufficient to procure Righteousness and Salvation And where then is that excellent integrity of Life Where is Charity 's meritorious efficacy to purchase Salvation Where is the Assertion of the Tridentine Decree which only attributes the beginning of Iustification to Faith but makes the formal cause thereof to be Charity or New Obedience which they call Righteousness inherent in us whereby we are not only accounted righteous but are both called and also really are righteous before God adding also a dreadful Curse if any dare be of another Iudgment Which manner of Doctrine if it be admitted it utterly disannuls the sacred Scripture and overturns all the foundation of our Religion For if this be the condition of our Salvation that it must rely upon good deeds and not free Imputation only Where then is that Righteousness which is attributed unto Faith so often Preached by Paul Where is the difference between the Law and the Gospel which unless it be carefully observed we may be as blind as to the knowledge of the Scripture as Moles and Batts at Noon-day Moreover where is that opposition mentioned by Paul between the Righteousness of the Law and of Faith between Grace and Debt Where is glorying in Works excluded Where is Faith accounted to Abraham for Righteousness And how will the Tridentine Decrees agree with that which Paul says Faith is accounted for Righteousness not to him that Works but to him that believes in him who justifies the ungodly And where be those remarkable exceptive and exclusive Particles whereby our Salvation is wholly cut off from Works and ascribed unto Imputation Moreover where are all those sweet Promises if those Men rob us of the Assurance of Salvation and God's Imputation Let us now proceed to the Prophets that if any are less moved with the Authority and writings of the Apostles if they have any thing to say for themselves they may either Answer the evident Testimonies of the Prophets or yield unto them And first that I may begin at this I ask of them that deny that it is sufficient to assurance of Iustification that Christ hath fulfilled all Righteousness for us unless thereunto be added also a Righteousness implanted and inherent in us being formed in us of his free Bounty which makes us formally Righteous satisfies the Law and merits Life Which if it be so I ask of them Whether any Man will be assured that he is in a state of Salvation in this Life If they deny it where then is that Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost whereof there is so frequent mention in the writings of the Prophets and Apostles Where is that frequent singing of Praise in the Books of the Prophets Where is that Everlasting Ioy and Gladness which Isaiah the Prophet foretels shall be upon the head of those who being redeemed by the Lord shall come into Sion with Praise Where is that way so straight that Fools cannot err therein Where is that Voice of the Prophet preaching Peace and proclaiming Glad tidings and comforting his own People which taking away all Fear Grief and Sighing confirms fearful and affrighted Consciences strengthens weak Kness and feeble Hands yea provokes the very Beasts of the Field and the Ostriches to the Exercise of glorifying God If yet we waver in doubtful and uncertain fears and have no firm hope of Salvation but in that Righteousness which is inherent in our selves according to the Pseudocatholick Opinion of the Church of Rome where then is that fiducial reliance where is that Holy Courage concerning which Ieremiah the Prophet foretold In those days Iudah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely And again to the same purpose Ezekiel foretelling of the future Peace of the Church And I will make with them a Covenant of Peace And they that dwell in the VVilderness shall sleep safely in the woods and shall be in their own Land without fear And presently he subjoins But they shall dwell safely without any fear Hereunto belongs the encouragement that Isaiah gives the People of the Messiah commanding them not to be afraid Fear not saith he for I am with thee And again Fear not for I have redeemed thee And again Fear not my Servant Iacob c. Hereunto also agree the Words of Zephaniah Prophesying by the same Spirit Be glad O Daughter of Sion and be joyful O Israel and rejoice with all thy Heart O Daughter of Ierusalem The Loard hath taken away thy Iudgment he hath turned away thy Enemies The
righteousness can Christ deliver the unrighteous What way and in what manner the benefits of Christ are derived to us A threefold question 1 Tim. 1. 1. In a desperate condition Christ only can help It is not sufficient to retain the 〈◊〉 of Christ only unless also we learn the Greatness of his office and his Power to save Rom. 3. The various Interpretation of the Papists concerning Iustifying Faith Roffen contra lut Articul 31. Ioh. 6. Ioh. 3. Ioh. 11. Only Faith in Christ is proved to jastisie by example Mat. 11. Isa. 55. Proof by examples Mat. 15. Mat. 9. How Prayers are heard * From whence is liberty salvation and righteousness to be sought Ioh. 1. Wherein consists the use and scope of the Law Charity is justified by Faith not Faith by Charity For what cause the power of Iustifying is attributed unto Faith An unjust complaint against Luther Osor. de justit lib. 2. p. 29. Osorius against Luther An Answer for Luther against Osorius The unjust slander of Osorius and Andradius against Luther A defence of Luther A twofold manner of Righteousness mention'd by Paul the one received the other rejected Philip. 3. Righteousness of the Law Righteousness of Faith in Faith of God The Argument of Osorius drawn from dictum secundum quid to dictum simpliciter Making that to be true in the general which is only so in particular Osor. lib. 2. p. 28. The Reproaches of Osorius cast upon Luther The deceitful connexion of Osorius Exod. 23. Luther separates charity from faith and the Law from the Gospel not simply but in such a manner as things should be distinguished each by their own bounds Where and how Faith works by love What is the union of Faith with Charity and again what is the difference of both Trust in works is excluded There is nothing can be opposed to the judgement of God but Christ only What doth faith without works perform and from whence doth it receive its efficacy in acting The form of faith is not charity but rather the form of charity is faith Objection Answer Confirmation by Examples One condition of Sons another of Servants A comparison of Sons and Servants Rom. 4. Christ a Son by Nature we by Christ. Christ is born a Son by nature we by faith are born again Sons not by works in the Son The cause why God adopts us for Sons Gal. 4. Gal. 3. 1 Ioh. 3. Osorius The servile and mercenaly doctrine of the Papists The Kingdom of God is an Inheritance therefore not a reward it belongs to Sons therefore not to Servants August lib. de haeres The cause which makes us the Sons of God the same also makes us Iust but faith only makes us Sons therefore the same also makes us Iust. The cause which justifies on God's part is his Predestination Ephes. 1. Rom. 8. Vocation the Donation of Christ his Obedience Death and Merits What the cause of justification is on Man's part Lib. 2. de just Osorius Faith Hope and Charity in what 〈◊〉 they are joyned together Rom. 4. Gal. 2. Arg. If righteousness comes by the Law Christ dyed in vain Gal. 2. Christ dyed 〈◊〉 in vain therefore righteousness is not by the Law The 〈◊〉 between Paul and Osorius Roman 4. Galat. 2. Lib. 2. pag. 46. Osor. lib. 2. p. 39. Answer Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven c. Psal. 1 Cor. 5. Rom. 8. Whence this righteousness of Osorius shall be found Who are called righteous in a Gospel sense Osor. de just lib. pag. 39 40. Of what sort is the Osorian righteousness A false and lying accusation of Osorius Dejust lib. 2. Repentance Repentance proves a man to be a sinner but takes not away sin it causeth not remission nor satisfies justice The violation of Infinite majesty cannot be expiaced but by an infinite price The death of Christ 〈◊〉 none but believers and hence arises the diguity of Faith The benefit and necessity of Repentance The lying calumny of Andradius against Chemaitius What Repentance doth by it self what together with Faith Repentance consistsof two parts How far the fruit of Repentance 〈◊〉 Faith in Christ justifies Charity but Charity doth not justifie Faith Augustin in quinquage Prolo Psal. 31. Ezek. 18. Ionah 3. 2 Sam. 12. 2 Kings 21. Osor. lib. de just p. 42. An 〈◊〉 of Osorius An Answer Ier. 11. Ezek. 33. Ezek. 18. Legal Promises Blessings proposed in the Law The Preaching of repentance belongs to the Gospel Moses was a certain earthly Christ Christ is a certain heavenly Moses The object of Faith We are justified in the New Testament after the same manner that the Hebrews were healed when they were stung by the Serpents Ioh. 3. That every one that sees the Son and Believeth in him may have eternal life Ioh. 8. Unless ye believe that I am he ye shall dye in your sins The Papists deny not Christ to be a Saviour but they do not well agree in the manner how he Saves The Council of Trent Hosius Andradius Canisius A typical similitude between Christ and the Serpent healing wounds Ioh. 3. Isa. 53. Isa. 53. An objection of the Adversaries Inherent righteousness Argument Answer The Material of Sin The Formal of Sin How sin in this Life is abolished and how it remains The guilt of sin The frailty of sinning Hugo A similitude Argument Christ by dying upon the Cross did bear only the punishment of Sin but not our Sins and afterwards by raising us up again he will destroy both the punishment and the whole matter of Sin in due time Works tho' they do not justifie yet are not denied to be necessary The calumnies of the Adversaries against Pious Doctors Luther is unjustly reviled as a despiser of Good Works It is fatal to the Gospel to suffer violence and undergo calumnies Mat. 2. Mat. 26 27. Act. 8. Eusebius See the History of Huss The shameless reproaches of Osorius cast upon Luther Osor. lib. 2. de justit Pag. 30. Pag. 43. A defence of Luther The Confessions of the Saxon Churches presented at Augusta Ann. 1530. offered afterwards Trid. Coun. 1551. Osor. lib. 3. de just num 70. Why works are said to be not of the Law but of Faith A description of the Osorian Righteousness Osor. l. 2. p. 31. Lib. 2. p. 34. Pag. 39. b. Andrad lib. 6 de just p. 459 Andrad ibid. page 461. Tapper Artic. 8. de justit pag. 18. An Answer whereby the definition of Osorius is confuted A two-fold sort of righteousness Aug. de tempore Serm. 49. Osor. lib. 5. pag. 114. a. b. Aug. de tempore Serm. 49. Isaiaeb 1. 64. Isa. 64. Phil. 3. Luke 17. Psel 115. Romans 3. Iohn 1. Iames 3. Aug. de perfect justitiae Luke 18. Tertul. lib. de paenitentia Apoc. 3. August in Iohn Hom. 48 Romans 3. Rom. 3. Psalm 51. Rom. 3. God is justified one way and men are justified before God another way Nothing hinders us to be both Righteous
and Sinners insa different account Sinners in our selves Righteous in Christ. Isaiah 9. Whole Christ is ours Christ bears our publick person before the Father What is our Righteousness according to Paul Osor. de just lib. 2. lib. 7. p. 187. lib. 9. p. 228. Osor. de just lib. 2. lib. 7. p. 187. lib. 9. p. 228. God commands not any thing which cannot be observed by men according to the opinion of Osorius it is no fault in God if he command those things which cannot be kept by us Rom. 3. There had been no need for God to Iustifie us by Faith if we could be justified by works de justit lib. 4. pag. 90. Pag. 105. Preparation for Righteonsness Mat. 5. Whatsoever things the law 〈◊〉 it saith to those that are in the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the World may be guilty before God R. 3. Rev. 15. 4. The Ecclesiastical Hymn thou only are holy Hierom. ad Ctesiphontem Dial. 2. Aug. in Io. Hom. 49. Rom. 3. Rom. 9. Gal. 2. 1 Cor. 1. Rom. 4. Rom. 11. Hab. 2. Rom. 4. Gal. 3. 2 Tim. 1. Ephes. 2. Tit. 3. Rom. 11. Phil. 3. Rom. 4. Rom. 9. Concil Trident Sess. 6. A definition of rig hteousness according to the Iesuits of Colonia Censur Coloniensis 186 frat Alpbonsus Philip 4. p. 34. Argum. ex Topicis Aristot. 1 Cor. 1. 2 Cor. 5. Rom. 4. 3. Answer to the Iesuitical quibbles Men judge by qualities but God judgeth otherwise 2 Cor. 5. Prov. cap. 8. Aug. ad Boniface lib. 3. cap. 7. Bernard in Dominic Serm. 3. By what Righteousness they are justified before God by Christs or our own Aug. in Psal. 31. Christ is wholly ours with all his good things As Christ was made sin so we are made righteous But Christ was not made sin by inherent sin Therefore we also are not made righteous by inherent rightcousness The Righteousness of Faith Internal and inherent righteousness whereby we are justified according to the Gospel Faith is a most internal and inherent righteousness This is the work of God that ye should believe in him whom he hath sent Iohn 6. Augustine Iohn 3. So God loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that all that believe in him c. Rom. 8. 1 Cor. 1. A rule of Law that which a Man doth by another he seems to have done by himself A comparison of Adam and Christ. The former Adam a Type of the second Rom. 5. As Evil was 〈◊〉 ed by the Sin of one so good is propagated by the Iustification of one by the Disobedience of one many were made Sinners Rom. 5. As many dyed by the Sin of one so by the grace of one many are justified Rom. 5. After what manner the sin of one is imputed unto all in like manner also the Righteonsness of one is imputed to all Otherways there would be no resemblance between Christ and Adam Adam a Type of Christ. Wherein the similitude of Adam and Christ consists A Imitation of Life Christ to be seen in Adam The severity of the Iudgment of God in Adam again the excellency of Mercy in Christ. The Type is compared with the Archetype Death took its beginning of making havock from the Sin of one not of many The heaviness of Iustice was again made amends for and over-balanced by as great mercy 2 Cor. 5. Isaiah 53. The Blood of Redemption encountering with Righteousness yet not violating Righteousness but Redeeming it An Answer The singular providence of the Eternal God in governing the business of our Redemption Rom. 6. Christ Iustifies Sinners but what Sinners Oso dejust lib. 7. The whole nature of our Salvation consists in nothing else but in the imitation of Christ and expressing a resemblance of him according to Osorius In what respect the similitude of Christ and Adam agrees Death and Sin from Adam Osor. de just lib. 7. p. 179. Osorius is opposed to Osorius Only by being propagated from Adam we perish And why are we not as well saved by being born again from Christ Object Osor. pag 180. Answer The imitation of Christ is very necessary for all Matt. 11. Charitv the bond of perfection Colos. 3. How no sign of Charity appears in the Roman Tyranny The Laws of the Popes are written with blood 1 Cor. 15. 1 Pet. 2. The promises of God are not tyed to the imitation ofChrist but to Faith A comparison of the First and Second Adam Christ the external cause of justification Faith in Christ the Internal Effects causes De just lib. 7. pag. 186. An argument from like things Luk. 18. Baptism a Sacrament of Faith Galat. 3. what Faith in Christ performs according to Paul Galas 3. Chrysostom Oso de just lib. 7. de just 1. 9. p. 232. de just 1. 6. p. 148. Iames. 2. Mat. 12. What the renewing of the Holy Ghost makes in us Oso de just lib. 9. P. 233. De just lib. 9. P. 234. Rom. 5. Ephes. 3. Rom. 4. De just lib. 9. pag. 234. We are beholden to the grace of God for all benefits and what that is which his singular favour towards us is ehiefly seen Luke 12. Daniel 7. Romans 5. Romans 4. Titus 3. Romans 8. On what foundation doth the free Promise of God chiefly stand Theassurance of confidence and persuasion from the free promise of God Osor. de just 1. 9. pag. 234. Ibid. p. 233. Lib. 9. p. 232. Two Paradoxes of Osorius both of which are false Ier. 31. 〈◊〉 11. Osor. l. 9. No man denies that the works of new Obedience proceed from the fountain of Divine Grace and the Merits of Christ. Every faithful man that is truly born again in Christ is a Law to himself or ought so to be Works of Faith Osor. de Iust. lib. 3. p. 71. Ier. 32. Ezek. 11. How far the Spirit of renovation promised and given by God reaches Ier. 31. Ezek. 36. Deut. 30. Hier. cont Pelag. Dial. 1. A twofold perfection or a twofold righteousness according to Hierome August cont duas Epistolas Pela l. 3. cap. 8. A twofold sort of Obedience according to Augustine Aug. de peccat merit remiss lib. 2. cap. 15. Aug. de peccat merit remis lib. 1. cap. 7. Aug. ad Bonifac lib. 3. cap. 7. Hierom. Advers pelag lib. 1. Hierom. ibid. Prover 18. Hierom. ad Ctesiphontem Deut. 30. I will Circumcise the Foreskin of thy Heart that thou mayst love me with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul Pelagianism August of the Perfection of Righteousness By whom Righteousness is obtained When Perfection is attained Aug. of the Spirit and Letter Aug ad Bonifac. lib. 3. cap. 7. Begun Obdience Imputation of Righteousness according to Augustine Augustine to Hierom. Epist. 29. Cpprian cited by Augustine Hierom. adversus Pelagi Ambros. lib. 10. Epist. 84. Aug. lib. 10. Epist. 84. Bernard super Cantic Serm. 50. Why God commanded things impossible Hieron Augustin Cyprian Orig. hom 21. on 〈◊〉 Cyprian de
Osor. lib. 5. The Papists err from the scope of the Question Osor. lib. 3. p. 68 69. Osor. lib. 4. nu 103 104. Tit. 3. Hosius Osor. lib. 4. Nu. 104. Ex Hosio confut lib. 5. pag. 451. Hosius ibid. Ex Hosio lib. 5. Nu. 452. Andra. lib. 6. pa. ibi Orthod Explic. An Answer to the Adversaries The Roman Church is a Pseudocatholick Enemies of Faith and Grace under the Vizard of Religion Osor. lib. 6. p. 151. A pseudosyllogism An Answer to the Argument Pardoning Grace or Grace of Remission Rom. 9. 6 4. Coloss. 1. Rom. 3. Renewing Grace Grace is divided into Two parts The Syllogism is redundant with four Termini Aparalogism in the second figure concluding affirmatively A twofold sort of Works Rom. 14. Aug. of Nature and Grace The reparation of the Grace of Christ though it is begun in respect of the mind it is not yet perfected in respect of the Flesh Which shall be in the Countrey where Man shall not only be able to persevere but shall not be able to Sin An Argument from like Comparison Levit. 22. Deut. 15. Christ fulfilled all the Law not for himself but for us if for us then we also fulfil it by him Tho. 12. 109. pag. 259. The Roman Catholicks falsly so called obtrude another Gospel upon us The sum of all our Salvation and Religion is chiefly discerned in two things Faith and Renovation by Grace Grace Faith Wherein Beatitude consists according to the Shcolastick Doctors Divines disputing about the chief good Pelagians Adversaries of Grace Augustine a defender of Grace against the Pelagians The Papists Semipelagians Wherein the Papists agree with the Pelagians How Thomas Aquin. and the Thomists define grace Tho. 129. 109. Art 6. That the will may be prepared to work well and to enjoy God there is required an habitual gift of Grace which is the principle of a meritorious work Guillerm in sentent lib. 2. qu. 26. Art 1. a common definition among the Schoolmen Albert. in sentent lib. 2. dist 26. Art 2. Grace is a habit in the essence of the Soul which according to infused Vertues make perfect for act makes the possessor good A vulgar and usual defini-nition of Grace in the Schools The Schoolmen disagree with one another in the manner of Grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Osor. lib. 5. p. 26. Dost thou deny Grace to be a Vertue what then is Grace if it is not a Veatue Thomas against Osorius Faith excluded from Iustification by the Thomists Thom. 12. q. 109. Art 5. why the holy Spitit is given Thom. 12. qu. 114. Art 4. The motion of humane mind to the fruition of divine good is a proper act of Charity by which all acts of other Vertues are appointed for this end according to which other Vertues are commanded by chariey and therefore the merit of Eternal Life belongs chiefly to charity c. Censura Gololoniens fol. 148 149. christ by his Death hath merited this that Believers are endued with charity and other Vertues which qualities being now received by the Merit of christ man himself by Inherent Righteousuess merits a greater Righteousness Reconciliation and at length Life Eternal c. And fol. 170 Faith is only the preparatory Cause and way to Iustification that afterwards we may by another thing be righteous before God not by Faith apprehending Christ c. Iustification is divided into two parts Iacob Pava Orthod Exp. 6. p. 470. Then the Spirit is communicated when at the coming of Righteousness we are made righteous when all our sins being extinguished we are renewed by charity spread abroad in our hearts by the Spirit which Charity because it informs the mind with the Love of the Divine Law is called Righteousness Of how large an extent the fruit of the Lord's passion is Ephes Christ only by his Personal Office is a Saviour and the Holy Spirit by his Office is a Helper and Comforter of them that are saved Answers Aug. Epist. 65. Righteousness receives not its vertue from Merits but Merits receive vertue from the Iustified The Dignity of 〈◊〉 is valued by the Person of the believer not the Person by the Deeds How the Reward of the Saints is appointed in the Scriptures Heaven is not a reward to the Saints but in the Heavens Ro. 6. An Objection concerning the rewards proposed Answer That which is due upon the account of Obedience deserves no grace Lu. 17. Ro. 8. August praefatione in Psal 31. Grace is often signified in the Scripture under the name of reward Whatsoever we are or shall be we are in debt to the Grace of God sor it A wonderful and secret operation of the Grace of God is shewed by Examples Trident. Concil Sess. 6. Can. 11. Free Will Isa. 53. 1 Cor. 9. 2 Tim. 2. The promise is not therefore made because we run But we do therefore run because the promise is made 1 Cor. 15. 2 Tim. 4. Difference between Gift and Merit Rom. 6. Ephes. 2. Council of Trent Sess. 6. Canon 11. The Tridentines deny that we are justified by favour only Glossa ordinaria in cap. 6. ad Rom. The ridiculouscomment of the Glosse of theSchoolmen Tho. Aqui. lib. 2. sent dist 26. q. 6. Glos. 9. Ro. 6. Orbelius lib. 2. Sent. dist 2. Bonaventure Alex. Halensis Salvation is promised to them that Work not for the sake of the Works themselves Rom. 11. In what thing chiefly the Efficacy of Divine Grace appears Examples of Divine Grace are produced out of the Scriptures AdamGen 3. Abraham Gen. 12. Isaac Gen. 27. Ioseph Gen. 65. The Israelites delivered fromthe Bondage of Pharaoh Exod. 12. The Law was promulgatedbyGod after the deliverance of the People The Land of promise the Victory of the People of Israel Deut. 9. 1 Cor. 7. The Land of promise is a Type of the promised Kingdom Thomas Aquinas with the ordinary Gloss. The Hebrews recover their Health by looking on the Serpent Ionas a Type of Christ saving the lives of his own by his Death The Pious Works of Believers are impured for Merits not according to Righteousriess but according to Grace Osor. de Iust. lib. 6. p. 150. Legal promimises Evangelical promises Romans 2. Imputation twofold 2 Cor. 5. Romans 4. Psalm 32. Andrad lib. 6. Orthod Explic. pag. 477. 454. Tiletanus in Apolog contra 〈◊〉 p. 226. By the Law it is reckoned that he did a thing who does it by another There is frequent mention of Imputation in Paul's Writings Faith without Works imputed for Righteousness Wherefore Worksare separated from Iustification Tho. Aquin. 〈◊〉 109. Ro. 7. Ro. 8. Wisd. 9. Deut. 27. Galat. 3. The manifold signification of Faith Errour and disturbauce among Divines proceeds chiefly from the wrong defining and misunderstanding of Faith Osorius Hosius Luther is falssy traduced Osor. li. 2. pa. 32. There is always joined with Faith a confidence of good hope Confidence and hope accompanies justifying Faith but doth not it self justifie It is requisite to see
Prov. 24. Prov. 24. 1 Iohn 1. August de Civitate Dei l. 19. c. 17. August in Ioan. Tract 4. Aug. Epist. 54. ad Macedon Andrad lib. 6. Lorichius c. 8. A brief summary of the things treated of before Iames 3. Faith only justifies sinners but whom Iames a Servant of Iesus Christ and Paul an Apostle of Iesus Christ reconciled Hosius in confut 〈◊〉 140. Canis in praefatione in Andrad 〈◊〉 Andrad Vega de justificat in Epist. Osor. de just 〈◊〉 7. Osor. ibid. 〈◊〉 2. An Answer to the Objections The consequence is denied The abuse of good things should be taken away but the things themselves should be continued Mark 16. Esa. 52. Hosius 〈◊〉 lib. 3. pag. 140. Against the assurance of Christian Salvation Objection Faith only Answer In Sermons frequent Exhortations are used to Pious Works An Answer to this Objection Ambiguity Faith only Iustifies but not all kind of Sinners The Love of Mary Magdaline Love rises from Faith not Faith from Love Charity is no cause of Iustification Psal. 34. Isa. 57. Andrad Vega. De Iustif. pag. 833. Coming to christ is believing in him Esa. 16. 9. Esa. 9. Ps. 107. Ioh. 1. If we confess our Sins he is faithful to sorgive us and the Blood of Iesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin Faith only justifies the Uogodly but not unless he be first humbled by Repentance A Fallacy in the terms The Life of Faith is not begotten of Charity but only is evidenced thereby A twofold Life and Operation of Faith What Faith Works with God and what with Men. A twofold Opperation of Faith After what manner doth 〈◊〉 only Iustifie 〈◊〉 Life of Faith is not Charity but Christ. Gal. 2. 1 Cor. 4. Rom. 4. Ex Andrad Viga de Iustificatione Quaest. 1 Ex Canisio aliis August we are justified by that by which we are saved Psal. 32. Rom. 4. Blessed are they whose Iniquities are forgiven c. Iacobus Cartusiensis de Authoritate Ecclesiae An. 1440. Works withoutFaith thoeminent in themselves are of no value with God yet on the contrary the Works of believers that are mean in themselves lack not their reward How the name of reward in Scriptures is attributed to works Works imputed for Merits by Grace Andr. Vega. Iohn 6. Romans 8. Matth. 25. A notion of Bucer It is one thing to do the Will of the Father and another thing to obey it without any imperfection A feigned and hypocritical Faith An Answer to the first Argument Answer to the second The strength of our Vertues is weak Works please for the sake of the perfon being first reconciled Aug. de fide operibus Iacob David Abraham Adam Abel Iames 1. Romans 2. The Argument retorted upon the Adversaries Iames 2. The words of Christ are considered Matth. 7. A good Conscience and Faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. Ex Andrad Vega. Mat. 25. A bad Consequence 1. Timoth. A good Conscience and Faith unfeigned 2. Iames. Let him ask in Faith not wavering Mat. 14. O thou of little Faith wherefore didst thou doubt 3. Ephes. 4. One God one Faith 4. Habbac The Iust lives by Faith 5. Mat. 15. O Woman great is thy Faith c. 6. Mat. 14. Luk. 17. If ye have Faith as a grain of Mustard Seed 7. Iames. 3. Faith without Works is dead c. 8. Coloss. 2. The confirmation of Faith 9. Ephes. Taking the Shield of Faith Act. 10. 2 Cor. 5. Rom. 10. The inevitable severity of Iudgment should stir us up to care watchfulness Ioh. 5. Coloss. 3. As we are Workers but as we are Believers Rom. 4. Habbac Ioh. 17. A Fillacious Sophismfrom the concrete to the abstract A Fallacy Mercy forgiving Evil deeds Imputation puttidg a great value upon finall things The Iudgment of God is twofold according to Aug. de confut Evang. lib. 2. cap. 30. The Iudgment of damnation the Iudgment of discretion The Righteousness of condemnation The Mercy of separation A twofold kind of sinners Romans 8. Who are liable to the Iudgment of Condemnation The Rule of Right Iohn 5. Luke 21. Why the day of Iudgment is called a day of Redemption The Saints shall judge the World Pit Canis in opere Catechistico de Iudicio cap. 3. Psalm 142. Iob 31. It is incident to the greatest Saints to be in donbt sometimes concerning their spiritual graces and to be afraid of their sins Romans 8. Galat. 4. Philip. 1. Apoc. 22. 2 Tim. 4. For them that love his appearance Iohn 5. Of the wedding garment Answ. Rom. 13. Galat. 3. Apoc. 7. The Parable of the Marriage and Marriage-Garment considered and explained Isa. 25. The Marriage of the Lamb of God with his Bride The Guests of the Marriage The Guests of the Marriage Feast Luk. 14. Who are the Blind and the Lame that are invited to the Marriage Rom. 9. Against the Righteousness of Works The Wedding-garment Philip. 3. Agreeableness should be every where observed according to the circumstances of places times and things The Kingdom of the Law and the Kingdom of the Gospel The difference between the Law and the Gospel What the wedding garment signifies Matthew 5. The sense of thatScripture I came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it A twofold Office of Christ the Mediatour The Errour of those who take Christ for theirLawgiver Christ is not a Law-giver but a Redeemer Christ is one way under the Law and we that are in Christ another way Andr. Vega de Iustif. pag. 741. The glorious resemblance between the Bread of the Sacrament and the Lords Passion Isa. 25. Iohn 6. Iohn 6. Iohn 2. 38. Luke 8. Matth. 4. Iohn 17. Romans 9. Repentance doth not make a Sinner perfect but evidences what he is The material of Repentance Heb. 9. How far the Promises reach and to whom they belong What Faith does and what Repentance August de 〈◊〉 gratia cap. 7. To come to Christ is to believe in him for he himself says No Man cometh to me unless it be given him of my Father Andrad Vega de Iust. 2. p. 741. A twofold necessity 1. Absolute 2. In respect of Consequencee How are good Works are necessary to Salvation Paul was a Zealous Exhorter to a Holy Life Necessity of Consequence Tit. 2. Rom. 3. Ibid. Gal. 3. Rom. 11. Tit. 3. Eph. 2. 2 Tim. 1. Rom. 9. 〈◊〉 Rom. 3. now he demonstrates that Faith only hath in it self the Power of justifying Oecumen photi in Cap. Rom. 3. only believing Origen Cap. 3. The only just cause of Glorying is in the Cross of Christ. August de verb. domini Serm. 4. He would have this one thing imputed whereby the others are gathered by Consequence Amb. 1 Cor. 1 It is appointed by God that a Believer should be justified by Faith only Chrysost. Serm. 5. in Cap. 2. Eph. Paul professes him to be Blessed who is supported by Faith only Basil. de humil by Faith only which is in Christ. Hierom. in Epist. ad Gal. cap. 1.
good Work Not that the Work it self being appointed by the Law of God is a sin but because according to the saying of Augustin whatsoever is less than it ought to be is faulty From whence it appears evidently that in this Life there is no Work so perfect but something is wanting in it that is there is Sin in it if it be judged according to the strict rigour of the Law Concerning the Grace of God how it is defined by Osorius with a confutation of his Definition ARguments increase because here mention falls in of the Grace of the regenerate It is shewed though against the Rules of Logick that the Grace of God is nothing else but Iustice and Vertue upon this account because it being that chiefly which makes us acceptable to God and nothing can be acceptable to God which is not like unto him be thinks he prevails sufficiently by this conclusion That because nothing 〈◊〉 us like God but Righrecusness and Vertue Therefore Grace is nothing if it is not Vertue and Iustice. Why do I use many words on this matter If that Grace be understood by Osorius which St. Paul so often commends to us in all his Epistles both are false which here the Bishop assumes against the Apostle For Grace is not rightly defined after this manner that it is nothing else but Vertue and Iustice and first that it is a Vertue Thomas did flatly deny in his sum of Theology Part. 12. Quest. 110. Artic. 3. where disputing of the Grace of God though he denies not that it may be reduced to the first species of quality yet he wholly denies and confutes its being a Vertue concludeing at length after this manner that it is a certain habitude presupposed to infused Vertues as the Principle and Root of them c. Moreover in Sentent lib. 2. dist 26. Art 4. proving concerning the same thing that Grace and Vertue are not the same If Vertue saith he should hold from the same both that it was a Vertue and that it rendred a Man acceptable to God it would follow that all Vertue would do the like And so seeing some Vertues are acquired by acts and not by infusion it would follow according to the Pelagian heresie that a Man should be made acceptable to God by his free will But if it holds from another and not from the same from one that it is a Vertue and another that it renders acceptable to God it must needs be that Grace and Vertue are not the same in reality For so divers principles necessarily are suitable to divers effects that are found in division from another Now if so be Grace is denied to be a Vertue verily upon the same account also it cannot be called Iustice seeing Iustice is necessarily comprehended under the general name of Vertue and what wonder is it in the interim that this Antagonist of ours is so ill agreed with the Lutherans who is not well enough agreed with the Angelical Doctors and Leaders of his own Sect in such evident Heads of Divinity But now let us consider his Reasonings and the Confirmations of his Arguments of what sort they are Argument Ma. That reconciles us and makes us acceptable to God which makes us like unto him Mi. It is only Righteousness which makes us like unto God Con. Therefore Righteousness only reconciles us and makes us acceptable There follows also another consequence of these things being first pre-supposed built upon the same foundation Argument Ma. Grace makes acceptable to God and unites unto him Mi. Righteousness makes us acceptable to God and unites us to him Con. Therefore Iustice is either Grace and a Vertue or it is nothing First Both these Arguments are equally lyable to the same reprehension Because contrary to the Lawful Rules of Reasoning they conclude Affirmatively in the second figure as they are placed by Osorius lib. 5. but let us help the defect of the worthy Mans Logick For if I am not mistaken he would rather gather thus from the definition of Grace Argument Ma. To whatsoever the definition agrees the thing defined well agrees unto the same Mi. The definition of Grace doth very well agree to Righteousness Con. Therefore the thing defined agrees to Righteousness I answer to the minor by denying for that which is the proper definition of Grace doth not agree to Righteousness seeing the things themselves do very much differ from one another both as to their Effects and as to their Causes For if we believe Thomas Grace is the Principle and Cause of Iustice and of all Vertues Iustice is not the cause of Grace but rather an effect thereof Yea Albertus Ratisponensis does not much differ from the opinion of Thomas who commenting upon the same sentence in the same Dist. Ar. 4. saith thus Grace is a habit of Life universally well ordered not according to the degrees of things ordered but as it is called a Relation of the whole Life to the obtaining of the End But Iustice doth not this nor Vertue for Iustice doth not necessarily make worthy of Eternal Life upon the account that it is Iustice or Vertue c. What if the proper and true cause which reconciles us to the love of God and makes us worthy of Eternal Life should be searched for We shall find that it lyes not in the Works of Iustice but that it proceeds from another cause And what that cause is Christ himself the best Master will teach you in the Gospel Whom I request and beseech you not only to hearken unto but to believe For these are his words in the Gospel For the Father himself loveth you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father By which you see that it comes to pass not for the sake of our Iustice or Vertue but for the sake of his own dearly beloved Son that God the Father cares for us and loves us What then say you doth not Iustice make Men that live holily and justly in this World acceptable to God Which if it is so it cannot be judged to be any other thing but Grace For whatsoever renders us acceptable to God is justly esteemed to be Grace Iustice makes us acceptable to God therefore it is Grace As touching the minor I deny not that Iustice as it is very acceptable to God so it renders acceptable to God if it is perfect and agreeable to the Divine perfection which not being given to us in this Life another altar must be sought there is need of other helps Therefore if we would find any favour in the sight of God we must betake our selves to Christ and embrace him by Faith Though I am not Ignorant what this good Disputant drives at and what Masters he follows and on what foundation he builds For he builds upon that old and stale distinction of the Schoolmen as much used as it is light and frivolous and