if we truelie obserue pointeth out our land of promise and directeth vs the right waie thither Nay this is the waie it selfe that leades vs vnto truth and the truth it selfe that leades vnto life and the life it selfe that vve so long after euen eternall selicitie I am the way Iohn 14 6. the truth and the life Novv from this knowledge of my sauior I learn to renounce my selfe and relie vpon him to cast off mine own beggerlie rags patched together with abhomination and by the hand of faith to put on his princely robe the glorious robe of his righteousnes In this attire I appeare before my god become acceptable in his presence for this garment he frely giueth me and as freely teacheth me how to weare it I meane this righteousnesse of Christ which is the true consormitie with the law of GOD and an absolute fulfilling thereof God out of his meere grace and mercy impureth vnto me and withall wooâ—keth in me faith whereby I apply the same vnto my selfe so that in this sence I may presume to say the righteousnes of Christ is mine and that therein I serue my God truely as he that laboured so much euen to anotamize the worke of iustification hath for an eternall Maxime set downe that Christ is made vnto vs righteousnes wisedome 1 cor 1 30 sanctification and redemption and else where That in him we are compleat Col. 2 10 The fraile wit of man hath deuised a law whereby an act doue by one is remitted from him that did it to him that gaue consent and commission for the doing of it But the vnsearchable wisedome of our God from the deepe reach of his mercy and compassion without so much as our knowledge for he knew vs from euerlasting and before the foundation of the worlde contriued this meanes for our deliuery hath more then admirably conueyed vnto vs the memorable act of Christes humiliation and satisfaction and by his imputation and our aprehension which is likewise his guifte freelye made it ours The worke it selfe which is Iustice not altred by the exchange of the subiect but onely inattribute It being I egall in Christ in vs Euangelicall If then the righteousnesse of Christ thus be made ours if his obedience and satisfaction be thus freely bestowed vppon vs What should hinder vs it may be meruailed from affording due entertainment to so vnspeakeable a benefit and that we make not true vse of so great aduantage Is not this the delectablest food that euer any hungry stomacke longed after Is it not the softest couch that the wearied soule can find to repose vpon Questionlesse it is and therefore whosoeuer resolueth to fare well shoulde frame himselfe to this diet and he that loueth to lie soft must become his owne Harbinger and make sure in time to take vp this lodging For this is the food of eternall life this is the bed of euerlasting rest Peter not himself but being then and not only then out of his proper Element for he knew not what he said brake with christ about building of tabernacles on the mount Thabar But hee that vppon this foundation which is christ himselfe shall aduisedly erect the fortresse of his hope and Tabernacle of his felicity may be truely said to be his owne man though scarcely as the apprehension of men goeth now a daies and that he is in the right For he knowes what he doth and that his building though all those wordely fleshly and diuellish aduersaries combino in oppugnation can neuer be subuerted In more propper sence therefore then Peter spake it I may boldely say Heere is good being good for the King good for the Begger good for all heere is good being indeed and heere am I constantly resolued let neuer so many millions of misbeleeuers rest vppon what other rotten dependance they list to set downe my rest for euer This stay I know to be sure and neuer shrincking this supportation I am sure is strong and neuer shaketh This this is our soules most firme and neuer-failing anchorage yea this righteousnes of our sweete and louing sauiour is not onely a sure strong and neuer failing foundation but it is the onely sure stronge and neuer failing foundation whereupon we must resolue to build all our happines for euer if euer we resolue to for to relie vpon ought besides that the earth or the heauens themselues can afford in the great and weightie cause of our iustification is to trust vnto that which shall neuer stedde vs and most vndoubtedlie to become most vnhappie Now this righteousnesse of our mercifull redeemer so aduantageable to all those that constantly depend thereuppon I consider in his perfect obeying to the law of God which we had transgressed and coulde neuer of our selues haue fulfilled and his painefull vndergoing the punishment proper to such our transgressions euen the wrath of his father which was incensed by no satisfaction of man or Angel could euer haue bin appeased O sweet vneffable and incomprehensible mercie of our God who out of his owne bosome hath distilled a balme to cure all our wounds though neuer so mortall and albeit so deseruedlie receiued in the traiterous breach of his sacred ordinaunces and not spared euen his owne heart bloud to wash awaie our vncleannesse and to purge vs that were his enemies from all our corruption The meanes that conueieth vnto us this mercie of God the father in this merite of God the sonne is as I formertouched a liuelie iustifieng faith begotten in our harts by God the Holi-ghost who must needes be thefficient cause of the said Faith as the true knowledge and trust in Christ is the formall the gospell the instrumentall and the finall gods glorie By which faith it being The ground of thinges which are hoped for Hebr. 11 1 and the euidence of things which are not seene or a stedfast supernaturall knowledge and firme apprehension of Gods kindnes in Christ Iesus towards vs. Many celestiall indowmentes and good workes are kindled in the mind and hart and flame forth of the life and conuersation of euerie true beleeuer as repentance hope loue inuocation obedience iustification adoption patience consolation mortification peace of conscieÌ„ce ioy in the holighost and regeneration with the fruits therof All of them togither with diuers other such like heauenlie infused qualities though not distinguishable in time but in nature though essentially being Gods gifts and immediatelie proceeding from his grace yet properlie either begotten wrought or apprehended by the saide Faith it being in vs a cause they the necessarie effects the root and they the inseperable braunches So that when I affirme my religion to be The true seruice of God and that seruice to be performed truelie by vs in the righteousnes of Christ I do not herein exclude our workes as impertinent or vnnecessarie thereunto or deny but that good workes are Gods seruices and that therein it pleaseth him to be glorified But because
our workes when they are at the best are of themselues imperfect and when they finde the happiest passage not for themselues but in and for Christs righteousnes are accepted I iudge it a more proper speech to say that in the righteousnes of Christ which is absolutely perfect which is freely bestowed vpon vs and really made ours by faith and from which as from the fountaine of all Gods graces all our owne good workes are properlie saide to spring that therein we serue God truely it being of it self as it wel deserueth merritorious and making our poor endeuours which of themselues deserue nothing most gratiously to be regarded Indeede it is all in all vnto vs reconciling vs to the fauour of our God and inablinge vs to doe that which is acceptable both before God and man for where this righteousnesse is faithfully receiued This righteousnesse through which only we enioy all the blessings of the earth by which onely as I said our best deedes must purchase acceptation and for which only we confidently hope at the last daie to be saued where I saie this righteousnesse is truely apprehended by faith by vertue of the same the heart and all the powers of the whole man are instantly prest so much as in him lies for al godly designs and eagerly bent so far as by grace he is inabled to the execution of any religious office that may tend to the seruice of his Lord and sauiour and to the manifestation of his obedience loue and thankefulnesse to his maiestie for such his vnspeakable mercy towardes him for looke how proper light is to the sunne or heate to fire so proper and so inseparable are good workes vnto that faithe which is so surely founded vpon the mercie of God in this righteousnesse of Christ Iesus No I am so far from renouncing or disclaiming from good works that I will acompany any true or stiled catholick protestant or papist in the world in commendation estimation and approbation of them till they come to be so intollerably prized as to be set in the roome of christes righteousnesse to fulfill the eternall law of God which was Christs office to be held meritorious of saluation which is the due of christs obedience and consequently to be made proportionable with Gods iustice which is onely proper to christs righteousnesse In this degree of magnifieng them I hold it security to leaue them acknoledging my pouerty one waie acording to that rate not able to reach them and knowing my riches another way after such a reckoning not to stand in neede of them for We are poore in our selues but rich in Christ I confesse that to glorifie God by doing good workes is a principall end both of our election creation redemption and sanctification I confesse that workes are necessary for great and waightie respects as besides the honnouring of God which is the chiefe end of all and to be preferred before any respect whatsoeuer to manifest our faith to credit our vocation to expresse our thankefulnesse to benefite our neighbour and to acertaine vs that wee are in the right waie that leadeth to euerlasting happinesse yea so farre fourth necessarie that without them I meane without the workes of the second or at least of the first Table we shall neuer attain vnto saluation Howbeit I dare not thence conclude that those workes are the cause of our saluation but the effects of the cause which is faith in the righteousnesse of christ I confesse that all our good workes shal be rewarded euen to a cup of cold Water yet will not thereby enferre that such reward is extended for the merit either of the person that doth the worke or of the worke how wel done soeuer but frō the meere bounty of our god who dealeth with vs in all things better then of our selues we deserue and for manifestation of his truth who hath gaged his word to that effect and will euer be as good as his promise In a worde I approue good workes I honour the doers of them and admire that grace which by faith enableth men to do them but stil vnderstand them to be the fruites and consequents of faith and in vs to receiue their life and being from the same for I cannot thinke that repentance or charity themselues though both of them steed vs so much in this world the one of them stay with vs in the world to come are sent by the blessed spirit into the heartes or mindes of the faithfull till faith formerly planted there by the same spirit be ready to receiue them For I know they are diuine vertues and no sinnes Howbeit had they being before faith I durst not thinke them so Ro 14 23 because I am commaunded to hold the necessity of this consequent whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne to be inuincible A legall contrition indeede and humaine effection may goe before but when that contrition becommeth true repentance and that affection is refined into perfect charity Questionlesse it is faith it being the receiuer of the spirit and purifier of the hart by which vnder God is wrought that happy and heauenly metamorphosis BVt to wade no deeper in this bottomlesse Ocean where the pilate himselfe if he take not good heed may quickly sinck ouer head and eares 3. Sect. so infinite are the misteries of our redemption and so many degrees more then infinite the mercies of God in our redemer And because I stand in feare least for the difficulty you conceite not or for the strangenes therof affect not this description which I haue already made of my Religion I will after a plainer sort for your vnderstanding and in a fashion more sutable for our liking draw forth in a word or two that pattern which in the profession of my faith and action of my life till the daies of my pilgramage in this vaile of affliction bee determined I am resolued by the ayde of the blessed spirit precisely to follow and whence as touching the discharge of my duty both towardes God and man I fetch my direction I formerly implyed that this patterne was the written word and so I doe still for the worde of God is a Lanthorne vnto our feete and a light vnto our pathes Psa 119 a Lanthorne to keepe our feete from falling in the race that we are to runne for so greate a Wager and a light to make our pathes though they be narrow and otherwise impossible to be hit yet plain passable vnto vs but an Epitomy onely of this word I wil now propose vnto you which consisteth of the creede the commandements and the lords praier the creed indited by the holy ghost and frō probability penned by the apostles howsoeuer yet composed of their doctrine therfore not vnworthily called their creed The commaundements indited and penned to for ought we knowe by god himselfe and deliuered to his chosen seruant Moses on the Mount Synay and the Lords prayer indicted
their birth immediately vpon the Apostles death but some of them sprang vp two hundred some three hundred some fiue hundred years after some sooner some later and were not al til within this very age euen the memory of men now liuing by your selus consented vnto nor absolutely by your owne vsurped authority concluded vpon Hence may you easily gather your religion being neither sufficiently waranted by authority of Gods word nor generally approued by the ancient fathers of the church how woorthily or vnworthily you stile the same with such confidence the old and catholicke religion I cannot go on with particular examination of euery part of your profession your patience and my leisure being I fear proportionable wil not permit me but do beg your attētion to the consideration of one principal point of doctrine generally taught by your greatest clarks as generally beleeued euen to the simplest amongst you whose stomackes indeed are the best digesters of such misdiet because at the hands of ignorance errour euer findeth her securest entertainment I formerlye in discourse of our Religion affirmed that our whole dependance for our saluation was vpon the free mercy of God through christ Iesus And the righteousnesse of christ without any worke or merit of our owne applyed truely by faith was before God our only iustification contrary to this doctrin you are taught and do beleeue that you shall be saued by your workes or at least that your workes must concur and stand vp with faith in the act of your iustification before God Now to make you see and acknowledge the absurdity and preiudice of this opinion first you shall heare what the Apostle himselfe inspired with the holy spirit and the fathers of the church hauing the same diuine scholmaister though instructed in farre different measure haue thought and deliuered touching the same and then som principal inconueniences that necessarily follow that doctrine pregnant and aparant enough I hope vtterly to deterre you from euer lending a listening eare againe thereunto Titus 3 5 Paule that writ more touching the manner of our iustification then all the rest of the Apostles to make his Scholler Titus and others by him to abandon all hope of being saued by their works telleth him plainely We are saued not by workes of righteousnesse which we haue done but acording to his mercy he saued vs Heere he excludeth workes though they be works of righteousnes though they be our best works and ascribeth all the matter of our saluation meerely to the mercy of God through Iesus christ I am sure there is no worke that you or the holiest of your church whatsoeuer can do that is a better worke more meritorious a worke of purer righteousnesse then the workes of Paule were No they hold in no comparison with his for his workes as yours doe not sprang from a liuely faith which made them so good as they were notwithstanding you see he vtterly renounceth them all how good soeuer and dare you in any sort rest vpon yours in this important matter of iustification The said Apostle laboring to win the Romaines to the same faith readeth them this lecture to the same effect Ro. 6 23 The wages of sinne is death but the guift of God is eternall life through Iesus Christ our sauiour Heere you are plainly told what are the causes of going to hell and comming to heauen The desert of man the cause of damnation but the mercy of God the cause of saluation our sinne doth incur the one for the reward of sinne is death but our best deserts merit not the other for eternal life is meerly the guift of God through Iesus Christ had Paule that learned Apostle in this point approued the doctrine of your church thus questionlesse or to this effect he would haue concluded the reward of sinne is death and the reward of good workes is eternall life but you see hee quite ouerthroweth that opinion leauing vs of our selues to deserue the one but ascribing the other to Gods free guifte in Christ beyond our desert But if neither of these places haue power to remoue you from your former opinion giue me leaue to produce one saying more out of the same authour which I assure my selfe so you ponder it rightly will pierce euen the quickest vayne of your heart if the same as I hope in my sauiour it is not be not vtterly benummed the sufferings saith he of this life are not worthy of the glory to come I conceiue that the workes whereby you hope to merit at Gods hands are the workes of doing and workes of suffering the former more easie and lesse deseruing the latter lesse easie and therefore as you are taught the more meritorious but Paule that knew what it was both to do suffer better then those by whom you are perswaded to place such hie affiance in your workes preacheth vnto you heere another kind of doctrine namely that euen the sufferings of this life your afflictions your deeds of best desert are not worthy of the glory to come And you may be assured that no man that euer fought vnder the banner of Christ Iesus suffered more for his sake or deserued heauen better for his sufferings then he that teacheth you this lesson For he testifieth of himselfe that the sufferings of Christ did abound in him That in labours he was more aboundant then other in ripes aboue measure Co. 11 23 in pryson more plenteously on death oft that of the Iewes fiue tymes he receiued forty stripes saue one that he was thrice beaten with rods once stoned thrice suffered shripwracke that he was night and day in the deepe Sea In iournying often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of his owne nation in perils among the gentiles in perils in the citty in perils in the wildernesse in perils in the Sea in perils amongst false breathren In wearinesse and painefulnesse in watching often In hunger and thirst in fasting often In cold and in nakednesse and beside the thinges that were outward he was combred daiely and had the eare of all the Churches Phi 1 13 And that his bandes in Christ were famous throughout all the iudgement hall and in all other places These are Paules owne wordes of himselfe and his sufferings Now if euer there were such merit in our works sure heere it was if euer the desert of sinfull man could iustly haue challenged such a reward as euerlasting life doubtlesse Paule for these his sufferinges would haue put in with the formost Howbeit you see when he speakes of the glory to come and the proper cause of our attayning vnto eternall saluation he then disclaimeth from al his works from these his sufferings and all and cherefully runs to another refuge euen the righteousnesse of his sauiour christ Iesus wherein there is true merit indeede and wherewith hee knovveth the iustice of God is worthily satisfied and our eternall peace onely procured thus you
vnto you and withall annex vnto his aduise a forcible reason importing some singular benefit that should redound in doing it woulde you not with all readinesse vndertake it and most willinglie embrace his counsell I know you would and therefore cannot chuse but woonder when that extraordinarie friend of yours Christ Iesus who held you I charitablie include you amongst the chosen as precious as his owne heart blood and whome you shoulde reesteeme more deere then your owne soule shall offer you his owne booke to read commaund you to read it and withall assertaine you that you goe astraie and wander out of the right waie that leadeth to felicitie because you want that direction which the same woulde affoorde you To see you notwithstanding shut your eies and eares and all your sences to be delighted and euen rauished with such harsh sounding and vnmelodious harmonie such absurd and hereticall doctrine as this booke which I receiued from you and other of the like stampe to frequent amongest you are stuffed with Wherein I graunt some part of Goddes worde to countenaunce forth all the rest is heere and there inter-wouen but that either not it selfe through corrupt translation or at least not like it selfe it is so violentlie wrested and by misapplication so pittifully disfigured When I had read your booke entituled A quartern of reasons of catholicke Religion with as manie briefe reasons of refusall collected and composed by T. Hill Doctor of Diuinity and hadde weighed the subiect the stile and the method I adiudged the answering of it to be a matter of no great difficultie and methought no taske of impossibilitie for my selfe though as you know no professed Diuine no noted student and indeed not worthie the name of a Scholler Howsoeuer yet I vndertook it till in my return frō you out of Glostershire at the Stationers in Worster I light vpon a booke bearing this title A quartern of reasons composed by D. Hill vnquartered and proued a quartern of follies by Francis Dillingham Batcheler of Diuinity Hereupon seeing the Doctor so substantiallie dealt with by M. Dillingham a degree behind him one waie though manie degrees before him another waie and to haue receiued from him a more sufficient answer thē my pouertie could haue affoorded I willing lie surceased and so let fall my former resolution yet being vnder saile seeing the wind faire and feeling my selfe to brook pretilie wel the Ocean I was entred into I thoght to make a voyage of it though a contrarie waie before I returned I meane hauing taken pen in hand to haue answered in my vnlearned fashion and therefore the more suteable the foresaide Treatise and perceiuing my selfe so happilie preuented I determined notwithstanding to write something vnto you that should concerne you and whereby if God were so pleased that more then Egyptian darknesse wherwith yoursoule is so benighted might in a timely houre bee expelled For two chiefe reasons haue I made religion the argument of this my letter the first for that there is nothing vnder the glory of God that so highlie importeth you as the good estate of your soule which depen deth vpon the religion you professe in the daies of this your pilgrimage vpon earth The other reason is because the difference of your religion mine our contrarie opinion therein hath bin the principall impediment that interrupted our loues proceeding brake the marriage betwixt vs which the worlde so long expected and we but for that mutually desired For as I vpon sure ground was euer resolued one way so you though without ground were as resolut another way and still would intimate your desire of my reconcilement to your Catholicke Religion as you call it Indeed for a Gentlewoman that is a catholike to ponder aforehand that irreligion though it cannot lawfullie breake that indissoluble band yet ought to be helde of sufficient force to restraine at first the making thereof is a prudent consideration For her to weigh with her selfe that this word coniugium or wedlocke importeth a vniting of two mindes and that if she match with one contrarily affected in religion the only true tempred stuffe that soldreth harts togither they can neuer rightly accord because they cannot agree in loue that disagree in faith This is like wise an ingenious and religious caution And then if she in true zeale and vpon the forsaid considerations conuert that hereticke whom she loueth to the profession of the catholike faith before she dain him the title of her husband Questionlesse she doth a worke that pleaseth God profiteth his church and ministreth matter of reioycing to the Angels of heauen But standeth the cause thus betwixt vs two I dare sweare for I had rather think you any thing then a dissembler you thinke it doth you thinke your elfe a catholicke and mean heretick you thinke the custome of our young gentlewomen of your old religion in turning their husbands hearts to the imbracing of their opinions a laudable custome and ought by you likewise as strictlie to be obserued But alasse that such blindnesse were it otherwise pleasing to our great God whose wisedome best knoweth what is good for his Church should get such possession of your vnderstanding and Ignorance so ouercloude your iudgment as to make you deeme your selfe to be otherwise then you are and others to be euen as the vncharitablest of your constructions can make them Alasse I saie vnder the foresaid reseruation that it should be so howbeit I maruaile not that it is so since it hath bin proper to the heriticks of old preiudicatlie to arrogate vnto themselues that acceptable appellation of catholicks and to intitle the catholiks indeed by this odious attribute of hereticks But now methinks you begin to distast my phrase because it begins to deale roundlie with you in retorting thoughe couertlie the heretick thus vpon you be patient a while and because no man that iudgeth himselfe sound is easilie wonne to accept the Phisitians helpe hovv full of vertue soeuer the Medicine be which is tendred him giue me leaue I praie you first to make you knovv your selfe to be imperfected then I doubt not but the receipt which the small measure of my skill shal compound for the expelling of your infirmitie will not onely be pleasing vnto your tast but powerfull through his working that giueth power to euery good work for your recouery It hath bin held a profitable method in the discription of any vice to anotamize that vertue which is properlie the opposite for the hard fauored gentlewoman is neuer so disaduantaged as whē she goes hand in hand with her beutiful neighbor each thing indeed being best deciphered by his contrarie I will therefore the question being which of vs is the catholicks first discouer mine own faith which you hold to be no better then heresie the verie contrarie vnto yours that thereby the beutie of your profession if mine be so deformed may the more bee admired or rather as I
for our sinnes and prayeth that the same may be accepted for vs and we for the merit thereof become acceptable and gratious in his sight for euer And lastly he vndertaketh that at length we shal leaue our sins and cease to offend his deuine Maiesty any more that wee shall truely honour him and become fit instruments to sound forth his praise and glory Now I beseech you mark how this doctrin of Christs mediatorship and your doctrin of merits can stand togither Christ as a mediator intreteth his father in our behalfe but if we do merit what need this intreaty for God is iust and of himself wil reward the wel deseruing of euery man to the ful Christ as he is a mediator presenteth satisfaction vnto his father for our sinnes but if we do merit that satisfaction might be spared for God is iust wil not be paid duble christ as he is our mediator vndertaketh for our innocency herafter but if we do merit then belike we are innocent already for none can merit at gods hands that is absolute righteousnes but he that is absolutely righteous and so that part of christs mediatorship would cease for God is iust and will haue no security for that heerafter which he hath receiued already but what doctrin cal you this and yet such is your doctrine of merits and so derogating as you see from the holy mediatorship of christ Iesus If therefore you looke for benifit by that mediatorship as most miserable is their condition that do not you must lay by your own merit which is so thin a clothing that the least drop of Gods indignation will drench cleane through it and cloath your selfe with christes merit which will keepe you warme indeed and be sure to hold out in all weather for as christ came from heauen into the world not to call the righteous they that thinke themselues so but the sinners they that acknowledge themselues so to repentance In like sort he returned not into heauen out of the world to medyate for such pharasaicall iusticiaries as rest vpon their owne integrity but for the humble deiected publicans that with repentance acknowledge their owne vnworthinesse Furthermore I do not see how it can be well maintained but that it is in some sort repugnant euen to the office of the holy ghost likewise for if the same be to sanctifie vs to nevvnesse of life and to giue groweth to our faith from time to time which taken at the best as I am taught standeth in neede of increase how can any workes we do which are the fruites of that faith be truely sayd to merit considering it is a ground that the effect must be answerable to the cause and the cause heer which is our faith being desectiue the effect which is our workes cannot bee perfect as necessarily they must be if they be meritorious now tel me I pray you whether any heresie can be compact of grosser absurdities then this be more preiudiciall then this or the author of greater indignity euen to the blessed Trinity then proceedeth from this your heresie of merits and yet which may be wondered at it findeth professors and patrons more then a good many and those sconfesse not vnlearned but profoundly reade in all knowledge that humane helpes can puffe vp their vnderstanding with but there is a knowledge that only one scholmaister reueileth a diuine knowledge a diuine scholmaister happy and truely learned is that scholler which is trained vp in such knowledge and that is instructed how vnlearned soeuer he seeme otherwise by such a scholemaister I am not altogether ignorant of the cūning distinctions which your greatest clarkes deuise for maintenance of this your merit and how they will haue their merit of worke and merit of the person the merit of congruity and the merit of condignity and I knowe they will tell you that there are diuers places of scripture to vphold the same But first let me tell you what a bold offer a good-fellow of our church once made to the contrary he that can shew me saith he in any scripture that workes do merit or be any meanes to our iustification for the first scripture without any further iudgement I will loose both mine eares for the second my tongue for the third my neck but the yssue was they accepted of his eares his tongue and his neck without performing the condition for no such place in all the whole scripture could be found and yet was he pittifully martyred amongst them poore soule nay rich soule rather for who can be richer then he by whom euen the house of God is inriched and it is the saying of a learned father that the blood of the martyr is the seede of the Church I confesse there are many sayinges in the booke of god that at the first sight and being not throughly waighed do seeme to import such a matter as where it is said that euery man shall receiue according to his labour your reward is great in heanen he will render to euery man according to his works From these and such places your doctors would draw inuincible arguments that good workes because God hath promised to reward them doe therefore merit that reward so promised but there is no necessity of that consequent our good workes indeed shall receiue reward but not because they merit the same for the finest hath his staine the best worke that man can doe is blemished but in regard that God of his owne free grace and mercy without respect to any worthynesse in the worke at all hath promised to reward them who being euer faithful will euer be as good as his promise and shew himselfe in all thinges to deale with his seruantes that truely depend vpon his mercy far better then after their best deseruings And that our workes deserue not this reward christ that is the paymaister himselfe by his prophets his Apostles Doni 9.38 by himselfe telleth vs plainely We do not saith the prophet present or supplications before thee Rom. 3 27 for our owne righteousnesse but for thy great tender mercies your reioycing saith the apostle is excluded by the law of faith Luk. 37 10. When ye haue don all saith christ say we are vnprofitable seruants The reuerent fathers and and learned Doctors of the church are copyous and doe flow in their obsernations vpon these and such like places of holy write to drowne the barren plot of mans merits bring in greater estimation the Aeden soile of christs righteousnes where all true merits grow and whence the riches euen of heauen it selfe are to be gathered but because I haue already partly cited them vpon the same subiect and my letter begins with prolixity to try the pacience euen of a friendly reader I will only present you with a litle nosegaie of foure or fiue flowers out of their seuerall Gardens which although for hast they be not curiously tyed together will neuerthelesse I doubt not
yeeld your soule a sweete and delectable sent if you neglect them not and with a conceipt of their vnworthinesse cast them not behind you This is the onely perfection of men if they know themselues to be vnperfect Hier aduer Pelag. Augustine in manualy ca 22 All my hope is in the death of my Lord His death is my merit my refuge saluation life and resurrection my merit is the compassion of my Lord. Let vs hope for forgiuenesse of our sinnes as of faith in christ and not of debt as due for any merit Ambrose lib. 2. ad Poeniten c 8 Euery man shall be rewarded according to his works but not for his workes Gregorie in Psâ— 1 4 2 Barnardde liber arbitr To speake properly of those workes which we call our merits they are but the seede-plats of hope the tokens of our predestination the presagers of our future happinesse the way to the kingdome not the cause of raigning there To conclude whom God hath iustified not those whom he found iust he hath glorified I will make vp this posie with one flower more out of the Garden of the said S. Bernard which I knowe you will hold deere for her sake whose name is written vpon it whom you esteeme to be and while you say no other wise of her I will say with you the most blessed Virgin that euer bare life Bar. Scr. 1 Anunt ma Let them saith S. Bernard seeke for merit that list It is best for vs to study to find grace then he sheweth this reason for Mary standeth not vpon her merit but seeketh grace Now if the Virgin Mary whome you make no lesse then a Goddesse whom you cal the Queene of heauen the Queen of the world and mother of grace and vertue whome you account a generall aduocate for all Gods seruants vpon the earth whom you inuocate euery day whose honor you celebrate at eight solemne feasts euery yeare and to whome you giue power to commaunde Christ her sonne and to commaund him by the authority of a Mother For al which did you heap as many more glittering titles together as there are Starres in the firmament I am perswaded she will neuer giue you thankes for she loueth her sonne her Lord her God too wel to take vnto her selfe any thing that is due vnto him or to smile vpon those that shall rob him of his honour and giue it to any other thogh it be to her selfe If shee I say as Saint Bernard affirmeth pretendeth not her owne merit but resteth vpon the grace and mercy of God her Sauiour What doe you thinke it best for you to do You acknowledge your selfe I knowe inferiour to her in workes in grace and euery way yet be not contrary to her in workes or grace or any way forsake not the grace of GOD which is all in all to fly ynto your owne merite which is nothing for then you are contrarie to her but forsake the merit of your owne workes that hath no solidity in it and fly vnto the grace of God in Christ that is powerfull to saue your soule and so you are not contrary to her for then she becommeth your happy president she is therein vnder the blessed spirit your gratious Schoole mistres You little thought I dare answere for you that any opinion she had helde at least in such a materiall poynt of saluation had bene contrary or so much as repugnant to the doctrine which is established in the church of Rome For as you haue bone taught that she was without sin because she bare the sauior of the worlde so are you borne in hand that the said doctrine is without errour because it is established by those that cannot erre But eronious are they that whisper these things in your eares and simple are you that lend such listning thereunto for God hath taught both them and you another lesson Galat 3 22 namely that the scripture hath concluded all not excluding the virgin Mary vnder sinne And that euery man not excepting the Pope is a lyer Rom. 3 4 But to touch these points otherwise then by the waye you might thinke were by the purpose The matter in hand is merit of workes and I hope I haue sufficiently indeared the contrary doctrin vnto you Howbeit that potent obiection of yours as you take it that because God hath promised such a rewarde vnto vs if we doe good workes therefore our good workes deserue that reward I wil auoid another way by discouering the vntruth thereof by a playne and familiar example Suppose I pray you that an earthly king should say to one of his ordinary seruants do such a thinge and I will giue thee such an Earledome for thy labour and that this seruant when he hath perfourmed that which was commaunded him although the same belonged to his place and that he stoode bounde to doe it before shoulde notwithstanding expect this great rewarde from the King as being due vnto him for the little pain hee had taken and as though the very doing of that small matter had deserued it What would you thinke of such a seruant woulde you think him well in his wits or at least well worthy of such aduancement I knowe you would not but rather iudge him an vnthankefull body and hold it pitty that such preferment shoulde be bestowed vppon one that would so abuse his maisters bounty Say you so Why then although I am no prophet as Nathan was I may take you as Nathan tooke Dauid in your owne answeare and say vnto you Thou art the party God hath commaunded you to do good workes and yet no other then belong vnto your calling and such as by the band of your election creation redemption and adoption I hope and iudge the best of you you are bounde vnto and for the doing thereof he promiseth you the rewarde of eternall glory Now admit you do these good workes as God commaundeth you and when you haue done them thinke that for the merit thereof you may expect your reward proposed are you not with the aforesaide seruant very vnthankefull Doe you not vtterly mistake the matter and attribute that vnto your owne merit which is due vnto Goddes mercy Questionlesse you do then how much more are you to be blamed that hauing not done those workes that the Lord commandeth you but being at the best an vnprofitable seruant shall notwithstanding in lieu as I may say of your owne vnworthinesse and for the merit of that which you left vndone look for the reward of eternall felicity I will accompany this example for the conclusion of the point and because I would come home euen to the shallowest capacity with three natural reasons of impossibility that you or the godliest that lyueth vpon the earth should merit saluation as you all that liue after the doctrine of the church of Rome haue bin and are continually misinstructed The first reason is the huge and wonderful
debt that you alreadie owe vnto God at whose hands you thinke to merit and of whom you must confesse commeth all saluation Indeede were you a cleere ground with him did you owe him nothing but had condignly requited him for all the pleasures he hath done you and satisfied him for all the trepasses you haue done vnto him Then happily there might be some colour for such an ability in you then were the grossenes of the opinion not all so palbable But being so deepely indebted vnto him I cannot particularize wherein but would haue you conceyue it thus for all that you are for all that you haue receiued that you haue not deserued and for all that you haue not receiued that you haue deserued All this being vpon your score already amounting were it truely told to ten thousand Talents at least euery minute increasing and no means in you to cleere the same how can you think to merit ought of him to whom you stand thus ingaged Is not all and more by much then you are able to doe by the considerations aforesaide due vnto him How then is it possible that the vttermost thinge you can doe when the vttermost is not so much as you are bound to do should be merritorious with him and so merritorious as to purchase of him euerlasting saluation you may assure your selfe were there no other reason but this only of the debt you owe him and cannot pay him that it is impossible The second reason is that your works admit that they sprang from true faith which must giue them vertue worthy them the title of good workes are not properly your owne but Gods and therefore it is impossible you should deserue your saluation by them for can you thinke to merit such a matter at the hands of God for giuing him that which of right belongeth vnto him and for presenting him but with the fruite of his owne vineyard you haue no foundation whereon to ground any such an opinion but Methinkes you take it very strangely that the good workes you do should not be your owne and that without proofe thereof you will not so easily be perswaded thereunto The holy apostle and learned father S Paule and S. Austin shall iustifie the same vnto you Phi 2 13 The one telleth you that it is God not your selfe which worketh in you not the wil onely but both the will and the deede and in another place saith vnto you as though he were angry with you for arrogating any goodnesse vnto your selfe Ro 4 7 Augustine Tract 3 in Ioh. What hast thou that thou hast not receiued The other I meane S. Austin assures you that god crowneth not you but his own gifts or graces which hehath giuen you rewardes not your good workes but his owne good workes in you Seeing then your workes whereby you hope to merit are not properly your owne but belonging vnto God to whom you offer the same you must needs confesse that by this reason likewise it is impossible you should deserue ought at the hand of God much lesse merit according to the doctrine of your church your owne saluation My last reason of impossibility is the disproportion betwixt the vvorke you doe and the reward you hope to acquire for doing the same for if you vvill receiue one thing in lieu of another if your deseruings must gaine you the blessings of eternall life It is necessary that those merits of yours which you bring vnto God be insome sort of equall value or neere in worth to the benifits which you are to receiue from him But do you know what comparison there is betwixt gold drosse the difference betwixt light and darknesse or what proportion there can be betwixt perfection and imperfection such a comparison such difference such and no nearer a proportion there is betwixt the greatest desert of the holyest saint vpon the earth and the least reward if there be a difference of rewardes bestowed vpon the saints in heauen For the ioyes of heauen are as I know you will confesse absolutely perfect insinite and incomprehensible and you must vnderstand that the works of the regenerate such as we call and do best deserue the title of good workes although as they yssued from the pure sountaine of gods grace they bee perfectly cleare vntainted yet passing along through the furred pipes of the corrupted wiland vnderstanding of man they loose some parte of their natiue purity and proceede from him defiled and poluted I may therefore conclude it impossible that the one being so imperfect should merit the other of such infinite perfection Further sayings I might alleadge to the same effect and make those that I haue alledged if neede were by familiar instance more perspicuously to appeare vnto you But that which I haue already said to the point is either sufficient or all that I can deuise to say would be to no purpose I haue proued vnto you that this doctrine of merits taught in your church is against the doctrine established in christes church And by no lesse pregnant reasons then because the apostle flatly condemneth it because the fathers vtterly disclaime frō it because those excellent and infinite proprieties of God his mercy and iustice are therein obscured the holy and blessed offices of christ his redeemership and mediatorship thereby infringed that catholicke doctrine of the holy ghost increasing our faith and renewing vs to newnesse of life through the same in some sort impugned and finally because it is repugnant euen to common sence and reason and standeth not with any possibility I will stirre no further into the errours nor rip vp any more absurdities of your religion But for the present with my earnest and most instant desire importune you without preiudicate opinion without foreconceipting after probabilities my insufficiency to speake substancially to matters of this nature that you wold subdue your selfe to a serious and indifferent consideration of that which I haue said against this one only opinion of your religion Shew your selfe a skilfull artist heerin and like the exquisite Geometrician that by the foote of Hercules was able to deliniate the true shape of his whole body so by this one point onely of mans merit I pray learne iudiciously to obserue what the whole substance is like to be of that which you call your catholicke religion For if this one member as you see the Apostle and fathers haue giuen Iudgement be rotten what soundnesse can you assure your selfe to find in the other parts that make vp the body of your profession if the doctrine of this point be so preiudicial to the mercy and instice of God your maker so detractory from the redeemership and mediatorship of Christ your sauior so repugnant to the office of the holy ghost your sanctifier and finally so impossible What infecting errors nay what soule-bane heresies can the doctrine of all the other points of your religion be free from There is an
answerable proportion betwixt this and the rest Or if it fayle it is in this degree because many of the other pointes haue not that colour of maintenance out of the scriptures as this pointe of merites is vpheld by For I confesse there were sundry places which vpon the first shew and not well examined did seeme a supportation for this opinion but there are diuerse other pointes of your religion which haue not so much as any literall shew of countenance by the word of God but are inforced to flye from the same to crouch vnder the protection of Traditions Decretals and beg their defence from the warrant of such humaine authority so that in this regard the doctrine of most of the other points of your religion seemeth to be lesse iustifiable howsoeuer yet full as vnsound and as litle deseruing to be trusted vnto as this of the merit of your works in the act of your iustification but I promised if I had not I am compelled to insist vpon no other particular and I hope it were needlesse for I doubt not but that which I haue saide touching this one point only hath made you in some sort to distast the rest and wrought in you at least a sensible feeling of your soules insirmity NOw it remaineth that after that poore skill I haue I prescribe you some whole some course 5. Sect. whereby this your dangerous maladye may be cured For he may be a cunning but cannot be a kinde Physitian that hauing discoursed vnto his patient though but in part the nature of her disease and layed open vnto her insome measure the daungerous estate she is in shall then presently leaue her to her selfe and regardlesse of her recouery affoord her no further comfort To auoide therefore that imputation which I woulde be loth by you or any else in this or any other experiment should deseruedly be laide vpon me and to obserue the method I prescribed vnto my selfe in the beginning I wil first impart vnto you what the medicine is that necessarily you must take Secondly some part of those infinite and vnspeakeable benefits which you shall receiue in taking it Thirdly the meanes whereby you must take it And lastly what little charge it will stand you in and how cheape the taking of it will bee vnto you But because my allowance of time is spent and your patience I feare to sore pressed I will huddle vp this which is behind rather omit somthing that I could say then be taxed for containing my self within no compasse In a word then this medicine is a true and sincere faith in the righteousnesse of Christ Iesus This fayth if you remember I haue formerly defined and plainly laid down vnto you al the causes and some of the effects thereof It shall suffice in this place onely to tell you that it is A speciall and perfect assurance that we are partakers of the merit of Christes righteousnesse and that by the same righteousnesse onely satisfaction is made vnto God for all our offences and our saluation purchased This is that wholesome receit which I would minister vnto you and this you may be bolde to take for it will bee sure to cure your soule I gage mine owne vpon it not onely of that pestilent Gangrena the merit of workes but of all other imperfections that now doe or shall heereafter threaten the ruine thereof This only might be a sufficient motiue to stir vp your desire to the taking of it But to make you more eager vnderstand more particularly the benefits that you shall reape by the same It will make you that which you so long to be A saued soule in heauen So Saint Paule assureth you Ephe 1 1 Luke 6.20 It will procure you that which you so faine would haue Forgiuenesse of all your sinnes So Saint Luke assureth you It wil procure you that wherunto al the brauery and felicity of the earth is trash and beggery Praise honour and glory at the ioyfull appearing of Christ Iesus 1 Peter 1 Chap 7 And so Saint Peter himselfe whom I know you will beleeue assureth you Through this you shal haue free accesse to the grace of God which will make you eternally happye Through this you shall reioyce in all your tribulations which otherwise would make you vnhappy through this like those doubty souldiors of Christ that haue led you the waie you shall shew your selfe a valiant champion and ouercome the world This will be a Supersedeas vnto you not onely against the eternall death as is already proued but against the temporall death likewise for the beleeuer although he seeme to be dead is aliue as the vnbeleeuer although he seeme to bee aliue is dead God giueth saith one such grace and priuiledge to faith that death which of his owne nature is the priuation of life doth thereby become the entrance into life This is that happy starre which will lead you directly to that house where the king of glory hath his habitation Nay what will you say if the virgin Mary was not more happy for bearing the blessed body of our Sauior then you shall be by possessing this faith whereby as by the instrumental cause you must be saued you thinke this a hard saying as the capernaits thought that of christs yet Saint Augustine inferreth no lesse for these are his wordes Mary was more blessed in receiuing the faith of Christ then she was in conceiuing the flesh of Christ. The last benefit of faith that I will propose vnto you omitting many which I know and acknowledging infinite which I know not is that thereby your works wil becom good works at least accepted for good from the least to the greatest receiue their reward Whereas without the said faith there is no vertue in them they tast no more in gods mouth then the white of an Egge doth in mans they please him not for without faith it is impossible to please him and indeed they are no better then sinnes for as I haue saide whatsoeuer is not of faith is sin I know you think your works are good alredy better by many degrees then mine and me therefore an vnfit schoolma to read a lectur ther of vnto you I refer that vnto him who hath the balance in his hand and humbly throw downe mine such as they are at the footstool of his mercy confessing that many of thē are such as I haue cause to be ashamed of and the best of them not so good as I long they were and hope they will be but to make you look with a single and no such indulgent eie vpon your owne Vnderstand that euery good work must necessarily haue these two ends Faith and the glory of God faith is the end from whence it must proceed The glory of God is the end wherunto it must be directed Now if the work want either of these ends it is not a good worke yours want them both for they
cannot proceed from faith which attributeth saluation wholy to the merit of christs righteousnesse while you think that they in any degree are meritorious of themselues neither can they be directed to gods glory when the principall matter whereat you aime in doing them is your owne aduantage Now you must conceiue further that these two ends of good works faith and Gods glory are inseperable So that do your works from faith and you cannot choose but do them to Gods glory you shal be sure though you doe them not in hope of reward to receiue reward for doing them The means whereby you must attaine vnto this faith is earnest praier according to christes prescription and attentiue hearing of the word of God Touching the first let me tell you that God many times seemeth to defer the giuing of his blessings euen those blessinges which from al eternitie he hath determined to giue vntil they be sought for and begged at his hands by praier I vvill instance this only in our father Isaac to whom vvhen God to expell his sorrovv for his deere deceased mother had giuen the comfort of a fair and louing wife yet he gaue not yssue Rebecka vvas a good while barren vntil such time as he betooke himself to praier for the same and then the Lorde was intreated of him and his wife conceiued I doubt not but God had euer purposed that at that verye moment shee shoulde conceiue yet to teach vs howe acceptable our praiers are vnto him and how it pleaseth him by the meanes therof to conuey our necessaries vnto vs the text saith The Lord was intreated of him and Rebecka his wife conceiued Gen 25.23 as though if Isaac had not praied she shoulde not haue conceiued if you please to make vse heereof you may thus thinke that God for ought you know hath determined that your soule shall not become fruitful nor conceiue and bring fourth this faith vntill you beg the same of him by earnest prayer and that then because he is still the same God he wil be intreated and your soule shall be conceiued both of this faith and all other needeful graces that acompany the same to your eternall comfort The other meanes to get faith is the hearing of Gods word for faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God The Samaritans vpon the report of a woman partly beleeued in christ and thought that it might be hee whom they expected but when they had heard him themselues then they throughly beleeued and knew that he was that sauiour which was promised You haue beene tolde much of christ whoe is the foundation of faith by those that haue conferred most with you about spirituall affaires and somthing in this my letter you haue heard of him But did you heare him your selfe speake I meane did you read the scriptures which are his owne wordes and hard them read and expounded by those which are his faithfull ministers O then you would I hope not almost but altogether become a christian then would you not partly but wholy beleeue in him that dyed for you then wold your faith be no longer wauering but throughly confirmed For how could you chuse but be strengthned in your beliefe of him when you should be acquainted withall the things he did and indured for your sake how could you chuse but be rauished in affection and with the true church be sicke of loue when you should heare him call you notwithstanding all your vnkind dealing towards him his Sister his loue his spouse his doue Solo song ch 4 9. ver 9.1.9 ch 6 8. ch 6.8 and his vndefiled It maketh my heart bleede to thinke how you and many thousands such seely seduced innocents are depriued of these and infinite other such like heauenly and vnexpressable consolations And all for the want of this worde of God which you suffer to belocked vp from you and wherewith though it must import you you are least acquainted christes caueat shal be the conclusion of this point He that hath eares to heare let him heare Lastly vnderstand how cheape this faith will be vnto you In a word it will neither cost you trauell nor money It will cost you no trauell for you neede but heare the voice of christ when he cryeth vnto you and open the doore of your heart vnto him when he knocketh thereupon by his word and you shall receiue it Reuel 3.20 behold saith christ I stand at the doore and knock if any man heare my voice and open the doore I will come in vnto him and will sup with him and he with me It will cost you no money for you neede but doe as the King of heauens proclamtion directeth you and it shall be giuen you freely Esai 55.2 Ho euery one saith the prophet that thirsteth come ye to the waters which are the sacred scriptures containing Gods reueiled counsell and ye that haue no Siluer come buy and eate come I say and buy wine and milke without siluer and without mony And these are nothing but faith and the holy graces that acompany the same which are as necessary for the nourishment of the soule as Wine and Milke and such like meate is for the refection of the body THus hauing as I haue bin compelled poasted through these later parts 6. Sect. namely what the medicine is that you must take faith the benifits you shall receiue thereby felicity in this world and in the world to come After what sort you must get the same By prayer and hearing Gods word And lastly how little this inestimable Iewell will cost you Neither traueil nor money being circulerly now returned to the word of god these waters of comfort which at first be sprinckled the front of my letter let me intreat you by no lesse important regardes then for the loue you beare to your owne soule which must needes be deare vnto you and for the loue and zeale you carrye to the glorye of God which should be dearer vnto you that your euer ently vnclaspe his holy booke diligently peruse the same and daye and night euen continually make the contentes thereof with holy Dauid your sweete and profitable Meditation if you wil not reade it at my request yet let me request you to obserue that wonderfull description wherby the Apostle euen to inflame you with the loue thereof commendeth the same vnto you The word of God saith he is liuely and mighty in operation Hebr 4 12 and sharper then any two edged sword and entreth through euen vnto the diuiding asunder of the spirit and the iontes and the marow and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart To this cōmendation of the apostle I will adioyne the commaundement that God himselfe giueth you touching the same Deut. xi 18 19 20 in these very wordes Therefore ye shall lay vp these my wordes in your heart and in your soule and bind them