Faith 5. If you endeauour to abstaine from sinne for feare of offending so good a God 6. If you beginne to endeauour to liue godly and righteously because it is the will and commandement of God 7. If you take more delight then you did in praying to God 8. If you thanke God priuately for these his good motions By these eight points you may soone know whether you haue true faith or not Q. What is the infallible marke of true and iustifying Faith A. The effectuall applying of Christ and all his benefits to your owne soule in particular This application doeth make a difference betwixt iustifying Faith and all other kindes of faith which cannot saue vs As Historicall Faith which is a bare knowledge Faith of Miracles which is a bare assent Temporary Faith which is but a bare profession of the Faith for a time embraced onely for the desire of Knowledge Credite Profite Q. What is the meaning of this assertion of S. Paules that we are iustified by Faith alone A. The meaning is this Euen as when you giue your almes to a begger it is receiued by his hand alone and yet his hand is not alone when it receiues these alms but accompanied with an arme sinewes and arteries Euen so when God offers vnto you Christ and his righteousnesse you doe receiue him by Faith alone and yet this Faith which receiues Christ is neuer alone but still accompanied with Charitie and good workes In a word 1. To holde almes is proper to the hand and not the arme and to holde Christ proper to Faith and not good workes 2. You are iustified by Faith alone and yet if your faith be alone it cannot iustifie you Q. What is the meaning of S. Iames when hee sayth That wee are iustified by workes and not by Faith A. The meaning is this 1. Faith iustifieth vs before God good works before men 2. Faith makes vs good workes declare vs to bee iustified 3. Faith giues vs our first iustificatioÌ„ good works our second which is our Sanctification or holinesse Q. What is the least and weakest degree of Faith that I may build vpon to keepe mee from despaire in case I finde not all those alterations in my selfe which you spake of before A. 1. If you desire Faith or pray vnto God that you may desire Faith 2. If you can pray or desire of God to enable you to pray 3. If you find fault with your want of faith and desire sometimes of God to helpe this want You are for all that the childe of God RESOLVTIONS OPPOSITIVE DIVINITIE OR The ordinary Obiections of Papists against them of the reformed Churches DIALOGVE Papist Protestant CHAP. I. Of the Church Pap. THe Church of England is no Church 〈…〉 strange considering your owne Writers conclude a Church to be there where there is found 1 doctrine of saluation Georg. Cassan consult titul de Ecclesia according to Scripture 2 the vse of the Sacraments and 3 outward discipline or Ecclesiasticall gouernement although the Churchmen should fall short of those Apostolicall and primitiue perfectioÌ„s which flourished in their predecessours Pap. Yea but it is not the Catholike Church mentioned in the Creed I beleeue in the Catholike Church Prot. 1. No more is the Church of Rome for there was no Church at all in Rome when the Creed was made by the Apostles at Hierusalem Ruffin in Symb. Augustin Ser. 115. euery Apostle making his Article when they were to depart to plant particular Churches in Rome Id. Serm. 181. de Tempore England and other places 2. But our Church is a branch and portion of that Catholike Church as is also the a Theoriani collo Damianus à Gots Onuphrius in vita Iulij Greeke Armenian Aethiopian and Syrian as well if not rather then the Romane Church Pap. Peraduenture these other Churches may bee members of that Catholike Church as ioyned and vnited with vs but the vnion betwixt your Church and ours hath beene cut asunder aboue an hundred yeeres agone and therefore you are quite cut off from the Catholike Church Prot. This is more then you know or then I am bound to beleeue For Cassand consult pag. 930. meerly spirituall consisting in Faith Hope Charitie true Doctrine c. Institut of a Christian fol. 19. This vnion of the members of the Catholike Church is inward not outward and therefore discerned onely by God himselfe We neuer sundred our selues from the people or Church of Rome but from the Faction or Court of Rome not from the sincere doctrine of that Church but from the corruptions and innouations foisted into that Church And therefore although we be neuer so hated Cassand ibid. and excommunicated by your Priests yet we may be still vnited in internall societie with your Church if you retaine those principles of Religion sound and vnaltered in the which our forefathers died and as we well hope were saued Pap. How are you then gone from vs if you be still vnited with vs. Prot. As the Prophets went from the corrupt Churches of the Iewes and as Christ and his Apostles from the Scribes and Pharises clamando dissentiendo by crying out against your corruptions and dissenting from your innouations and this a Cas consult pag. 929. Gerson de pâ—â—â—…tate Ecclesiae your owne men allowed vs to doe Pap. I but some of your men say that wee had no true Church of God in the West of many yeeres before Luthers time Prot. Their meaning is to be limited in respect of the Predominant and preuailing Faction Your Church held I confesse a sauing profession of the Trueth of God but your Church-men mingled therewith many damnable impieties And these innouators onely carrying the greatest shew of the Church are denied by our Writers to bee the true Church of God Pap. This it is we Catholikes obserue You dare not for all your malice deny the Church of Rome to haue in some sort a sauing profession of the truth of God but our Priests conclude directly that your Church hath no truth at all and that a Barclaius paraenes li. 1. pag. 7. none can be saued in that Church Prot. As in euery kingdome the generall estate is nothing so forward actiue quicke and peremptorie as the priuate Factions and yet is found at the last more wise and stayed in finall resolution So in the Catholike Church the b Can. loc theol l. 4. c. 1. Lindan panopl. lib. 4. cap. 7. Factions are euer more headie and precipitate in their denunciations of Heauen and Hell then the maine body thereof Hence it commeth to passe that although the Greeke Armenian Ethiopian and Syrian and for the most part the Protestant doth censure charitably of those Laickes who liuing rather In then Of the Church of Rome hold the grounds of the doctrine of Saluation without any notorious mixtures with the late superstitions and impieties crept into the same yet doth the a Quodlibet
the Holy Ghost 2 A minde free from other thoughts and desirous of the truth 3 Knowledge of the Scriptures Creedes Catechismes Principles and other Axiomes of Diuinitie 4 A considerations how our meaning suites with other points of Christianitie 5 The weighing of circumstances antecedents and consequents 6 Knowledge of Histories Arts and Sciences 7 Continuall reading meditating and praying 8 Ioint and vniarring expositions of the Fathers 9 Consenting decrees of auncient Synods and Councels 10 Knowledge in the tongues Because therefore lay-men and women Papists Brownists and Anabaptists are wanting in all or some of these helpes they bring foorth many times such lame and prodigious interpretations Pap. If wee make the Scripture not the Church the rule of our Faith how shall we beleeue the Creed the Trinity the Sacraments the vnity of Essence the three persons in the Deity c. words neuer read in the Bible and yet necessarily to be apprehended of vs vpon paine of damnation Prot. I say that all these things are set downe in Scriptures either in so many syllables or at leastwise by necessarie inferences and deductions And wee doe not therefore beleeue them because they are onely taught by the Church but because they are rooted and grounded in the holie Scriptures the onelie stay and pillar of our affiance To summe vp therefore all this Chapter 1 The Church doeth prepare vs but the Scripture onely doeth force vs to beleeue 2 The whole Church cannot any part thereof may erre damnablie 3 Wee are taught the Scriptures to bee the word of God by the Holy Ghost mouing in our hearts and not by the Church sounding in our eares 4 Lay-men are to reade not to interprete Scriptures 5 The misse of some rules causeth wrong expositions of Scriptures 6 All things necessary to bee beleeued are either found in or collected and inferred from the Scriptures CHAP. 3. Of Iustification Pap. HOW then doe you learne out of the Scriptures that you are to be iustified and saued before God Prot. I am to bee iustified before God by an Act single in it selfe but double in our apprehension which is By Gods not imputing vnto me my sinnes and the same Gods imputing vnto mee Christs righteousnesse and withall by his creating of faith in my heart by the Holy Ghost to assure my Soule that God for the Actiue and Passiue obedience of Christ Iesus hath accomplished those two former Actes of not imputing my Sinne and of imputing vnto mee Christs righteousnesse Pap. A verie easie no doubt and reasonable religion which you haue learned out of the Scriptures Heere is no burthen left for your owne backe you cast all vpon Christs shoulders by the meanes of these two fine wordes Not imputing and imputing and a third swimming notion of your own conceipt which any man may haue with a little imagining termed by you faith it would be knowne therefore where your Church hath found out these words of Art in the holie Scriptures Prot. We do in all humilitie confesse that the globe of our sinnes and the world of that righteousnesse which is to appeare in the presence of Gods Iustice is too massie for vs to sustaine that are but dust and ashes and supportable only by that Atlas Verba Lutheri ep ad Henr. 8. tom 2. ep p. 290. Christ Iesus vpon whose shoulders not our conceits but the goodnes of God hath plac't and pressed them But that these wordes imputing and not imputing are such Greeke vnto you I doe impute it to your not reading of Scriptures and taking vp your religion by trust and credit from such Fripperers and Brokers as by lending your soules a false opinion of merits and good workes do diue into your purses and eat vp your estates by way of interest Not to trouble you as I might with a thousand places aske Dauid Psal 32.1 whether not imputing of sin and S. Paul Rom. 4.45 whether the imputing of Christs righteousnesse doth not make vs blessed and iustified For the words vse your owne eyes and inspection And for the meaning I referre you to a August tom 8 in psalm 31. S. Augustines vpon the one and b Amb. in ep ad Rom. c. 8. S. Ambrose his commentarie vpon the other passage Now that you fondlie imagine that Faith this heauenly hand that reacheth at this double Act and applies it to our owne Soules is such an apprehension as you may command when you please out of your owne phantasie it is such a poore opinion that no Soule warmed with the least touch or feeling of religion but contemnes with a most holie scorne and reproach I tell you and if you once haue it your conscience will tell you no lesse this Faith is the richest iewell in Gods cabinet Ephes 2.8 and can neuer be compas'd by any endeuour of ours vntill the Holy Ghost comes downe from heauen to set and enchase it in our hearts with his owne fingers as it were And being once obtained it new moldes and fashions the whole nature of man so as the vnderstanding becomes more enlightned to know God the will to obey God the affections to loue God and our brethren Nor can it bee preserued to the comfort of our conscience without daily praying meditating doing good workes reading the Scriptures hearing good Sermons and perusing of deuout and godly Treatises My beliefe therefore is this Gods not imputing of sinne and imputing of righteousnesse is the worker The Merits of Christ the procurer Faith wrought by the holy Ghost the instrument or applier good workes or my inherent righteousnesse poore as it is a consequent onely effect and follower of my iustification Pap. I haue heard some of your side raile against the very name of inherent righteousnesse which you seem now to acknowledge embrace Do Protestants therefore challenge any other righteousnesse besides that of Christs which is imputed Prot. They doe acknowledge a Sanctification or inherent righteousnes in the same sence as the auncient Fathers tooke the Word but not as Iesuits of late mistake it We haue righteousnesse inherent or subsisting in vs according to the which we shall be iudged but not according to the which wee shall be iustified You make your righteousnesse to goe before as the cause we ours to come after as the effect of Iustification You suppose yours so absolute as to euict from God all wee expect from ours is but to testifie vnto men that we are iustified You bragge of a perfection of degrees wee onely teach a perfection of parts in our righteousnesse For as in the dawning of the day euery part of the heauens is enlightened though none as yet in a full and compleat splendour so after the Act of Iustification apprehended by faith euery facultie of the soule is sanctified and made righteous the vnderstanding the will the affections the thoughts the words the deedes but none of those so exactly perfect as to implead a Iustification at the throne of
as certainely washed from your sinnes Original being an infant and actuall if you had beene of yeeres by the holy Ghost and the Blood of Christ as you were rinsed outwardly in body by this Element of Water Marke then these vses of Baptisme 1. It assures vs wee are washed from our sinnes by the Holy Ghost and the Blood of Christ 2. It keeps vs from despaire because it assures vs our sinnes are washed away 3. It keepes vs from sinne for it is a shame for one washed to soile himselfe againe 4. It giues an entrance into the Church 5. It hath a visible signe Water Grace inuisible Forgiuenesse of sinnes by the blood of Christ VII THe Lords Supper is a distribution of Bread and Wine which seales signes and exhibits or giues vnto you Christs true Body offered and his true Blood poured out vpon the Crosse for your sinnes as certainely as the Priests exhibite vnto your hands the Bread and the Wine And withall the Supper assures your heart that Christs Body and Blood nourish your soule to perpetual life as surely as Bread and Wine doth nourish your body to the offices of this temporall life Marke then the vses of this Sacrament of the Supper 1. It assures you of all the benefit that is to be expected from the Bodie and blood of Christ 2. It puts you continually in minde that Christ dyed for you 3. It strengthens and ascertaines your faith if it be receiued worthily And therefore you must not neglect twice in the yeere at the least to approch with all reuerence this heauenly Table VIII THat this Sacrament may be receiued worthily you must examin your selfe before the receiuing Pray vnto God for Faith in the receiuing and take heed of grosse and premeditated sinnes after the receiuing of this Sacrament IX BEfore the receiuing you must examine foure things 1. You must examin your knowledge 1. Whether you know how you ought to liue To this end read ouer the 10. Commandements 2. Whether you know how to beleeue Read ouer attentiuely your Creed 3. Whether you know how to Pray Say ouer aduisedly the Lords Prayer Without this little knowledge at the least you are not fit to Receiue 2. You must examine your faith Whether you are assured in your heart that Christ hath fully satisfied for your sins and perfectly reconciled you vnto God not others only but your selfe also Without this assurance in some measure you may not receiue 3. You must examine your Repentance 1. Whether you are sory for your sinnes 2. Whether you hate sinne 3. Whether you resolue to indeauour to sinne no more Without this Repentance you cannot receiue worthily 4. You must examine your Charitie 1. Whether you forgiue all the world 2. Whether you are free from malice and hatred When you haue examined these foure points you may receiue worthily X. NOw your faith in Christ which you haue gotten in Gods Church being thus hatched by the holy Ghost in your heart brought foorth by your hearing cherished by your reading of the word sealed by your Baptism and strongly confirmed and strengthened by your partaking of the blessed Sacrament of the Supper must be continually maintained and preserued by these two meanes Prayer vnto God him only And Good works or holines of life And this is the summe of all your notes which I recommend vnto you for this time 1. Saluation is only by faith in Christ 2. Faith onely in Gods Church 3. Where by the Word read or heard Faith is nourished 4. By the Sacrament of Baptisme assured 5. By the Sacrament of the Supper ratified and confirmed 6. By Prayer and Good workes for euer established A Prayer after the reading of these few Notes O Lord God that I may be partaker of thy couenant of Grace make me a beleeuing member of thy Church send thy holy Spirit into my heart to beget there a confidence and full assurance of the remission of all my sinnes in Christ Iesus let this assurance bee still nourished with my hearing and reading of the Word let it be sealed vnto mee by my Baptisme confirmed by the Sacrament of the Supper and fully established by my seruing of thee in Prayer and Good workes to the glory of thy Name and the endlesse comfort and saluation of mine owne soule through Iesus Christ our Lord. Amen ¶ A SHORT CATECHISME concerning Faith and good Workes to be read and meditated vpon once euery weeke at the least which may be well called The Catechisme of the Conscience Question WHy hath GOD made me a reasonable Creature and not as well hee might of a meaner kinde Answ That with your whole heart that is with your will and vnderstanding you might serue him and loue him which creatures only indued with reason can doe Q. How is God principally serued and loued of mee A. By your faith and good workes which God commaunds you in his Word And these good workes of yours are twofold Prayers to God Charitie to men Q. What is Faith A. A full beliefe assurance and perswasion of your heart whereby you are vnmoueably resolued of these three points 1. That there is one onely God one Essence three Persons The Father who created you Sonne who redeemed you Holy Ghost who sanctified you 2. That God the Sonne came into the world to doe all that was to bee performed and to suffer all that was to be endured by you for your sinnes actuall and originall And hereby obtained for you perfect forgiuenesse of all your sinnes and hath bestowed vpon you his owne perfect righteousnesse by the meanes whereof you stand iust and guiltlesse before the throne of God 3. That God hath prompted with his holy Spirit the Pen-men of the Scriptures to teach you all this faith and beleefe as also all the course of his worship And that euery thing contained in these Scriptures is true Q. Why doeth God so much require of mee Faith and beleefe A. Because without beleeuing in him you cannot loue him nor reuerence him As if you did not beleeue your father to be your father you would not loue him or reuerence him as your father Q. How is this Faith first wrought A. By your hearing of Gods word and vsing those two Sacraments appointed by Christ in his Church Baptisme and the Lordes Supper And withall by praying continually vnto God and doing of good workes Q. How shall I know that I beginne to haue Faith A. If you finde in your selfe these alterations 1. If you finde that you haue gotten more knowledge of God and of Religion are glad therof 2. If you doe desire more then you did to haue the Sonne of God to become your Sauiour and to stand betwixt you and Gods wrath for the sinnes you haue committed against God 3. If you take more delight then you did in Reading and hearing the Word of God Receiuing the Sacrament 4. If you finde doubtings in your minde and can pray vnto God to strengthen your