saying that free-will is altogether lost and extinguished by Adams fall The praise which Vega their Interpreter giues to Richardus learned saying as he cals it of free-will wee also with its proper limitation admit of When thou hearest saith he that free-will is a captiue vnderstand nothing else but that it is weake and depriued of the vertue of its natiue power Being thus weake then how should it dispose it selfe to receiue grace No saith the Councell as also their Schoole-men Free-will being weake it must be stirred vp moued and helped by grace and then it disposeth it selfe freely to receiue the grace of iustification So free-will as the God Baal being asleepe must bee awakened and stirred vp by Gods grace Well but what grace of God is this I pray you that thus moueth mans free-will as the waight that sets the wheele a going Surely I can learne no more from the Councels own mouth who knowes full well how to temper her words but that this mouing grace of God is some sound in the eare whereby Popish faith is conceiued Or else when God toucheth mans heart by the illumination of the Holy Ghost according to that of Gabriel Biel who saith that the will in the acts of it doth presuppose the acts of the vnderstanding and the vnderstanding wee know must be informed by hearing or by speciall illumination But in generall this grace they call the first grace or a grace that is freely giuen differing from the second grace which they call a grace that makes a man gracious and acceptable They say this first grace is freely giuen because no merit goes before it neither is this any sauing grace because as they confesse all men are alike capable of it and many receiue it that neuer come to saluation This is that grace which Arminius cals his sufficient grace But Aquinas saith plainly that this first grace is not the grace of the Holy Ghost for to the grace of the Holy Ghost hee attributeth the merit of Condignity but to that grace whereby the will disposeth it selfe the merit only of Congruitie But this first grace being once receiued and entertained by free-wil cooperating with it a man disposeth prepareth himselfe to merit the second grace by way of Congruity And yet Aquinas speaking of this grace saith Deus non dat gratiam nisi dignis c. God giues not grace but to the worthy yet saith hee not so as being first worthy but because hee by grace makes them worthy O miserable perplexity If God giue grace to none but to the worthy then they were worthy before hee gaue them grace but if they were not worthy before he gaue them grace how doth he giue grace to none but to the worthie But whatsoeuer this first grace is wherby the will is first moued Aquinas tels vs what it is not namely that it is not the grace of the Holy Ghost for the merit that proceedeth of the grace of the Holy Ghost is of Condignity but the merit that proceedeth from free-will moued by the first grace is onely the merit of Congruity farre inferiour to that of Condignitie But that we may not lose our selues in this Maze let Vega and Soto tell vs the Counsels minde in this point as being themselues most prinie to it Onely the worst is wee finde them two of opposite opinions in this point of merit by Congruitie Vega admitteth merit of Congruity after the first grace disposing a man to the grace of iustification But it is pretty to note the vafrous and subtile elusion and euasion that he findeth against the streame of Fathers and especially of St. Augustine in this point For whereas they as himselfe confesseth shut out all kind of merit from iustification teaching that it is freely giuen to all Vega turnes the Cat in the pan and saith Loquuntur de gratia iustificationis c. They speake saith he of the grace of iustification as it comprehends all the gifts of God belonging to our iustification whereof in that proposition a little before hee makes the first grace to be one And so take iustification as it comprehends the first grace in it it excludes all merit because no merit goes before the first grace as the most of them teach but taking the grace of iustification alone by it selfe which is the gratia gratum faciens the grace that makes a man accepted it may bee questioned saith he whether that may not fall vnder the merit at least of Congruitie Whereupon hee inferreth his fourth proposition which is That faith and other good workes whereby wee are disposed vnto the second grace by which wee are formally iustified and made acceptable to God doe by Congruitie merit such grace and our iustification Yea Vega ibid. saith Alia sunt merita ex congruo quae in peccatoribus reperiuntur quae nullo praemiâ— digna sunt quia fiunt ab hominibus Deo ingratis exoâ—is sed tamen eiusmodi ex se sunt vt Congruum sit diuinam bonitatem condeceat ea ex liberalitate benignitate sua acceptare vt trahat peccatores ad suam gratiam Of another sort are those merits of Congruitie found in sinners which are worthy of no reward as being done by men not liked nor beloued of God but yet of themselues they are such that it is Congruous and meete and beseeming the diuine goodnesse out of his liberalitie and bountie to accept them that hee may draw sinners to his grace But Soto on the other side shutteth out all manner of merit of Congruity going before iustification Pergimus pro ingenio nostro constituere c. Wee proceede saith Soto according to our capacitie to define that before iustification which is wrought by that grace that makes a man accepted there is in mans workes no merit either of Condignitie or of Congruitie But a little after hee makes a full amends for it saying Cum autem quis c. When a man begins once to be in the state of grace to wit of iustification then may hee merit both for himselfe by Condignitie and for others by Congruitie Other merit of Congruity going before the grace of iustification Soto confesseth he findes no foundation of any vnlesse that of St. Augustine alleadged by Thomas Fides meretur iustificationem that faith meriteth iustification But Soto would haue this put among St. Augustines retractations whereas by Merit in that place is meant not either any Congruity or Condignity termes vnknowne to the ancient Fathers in any such sense but onely the meanes or instrument to procure or acquire grace And as Soto himselfe a little after acknowledgeth St. Augustines meaning expressed by himselfe by the word Impetrare iustificationem That whereas he saith Faith doth merit iustification his meaning is faith obtaineth iustification sine aliqua ratione meriti without any respect of merit Here let mee insert by the way a worthy annotation
formall cause of iustification they call it the righteousnesse of God but how the righteousnesse of God imputed to vs nothing lesse but that which is infused into vs. The words of the Councell are these Vnica formalis causa put a iustificationis est iustitia Dei non qua ipse iustus est sed qua nos iustos facit qua videlicet ab eo donati renouamur spiritu mentis nostrae non modo reputamur sed verè iusti nominamur sumus iustitiam in nobis recipientes vnusquisque suam secundum mensuram quam Spiritus sanctus partitur singulis prout vult secundum propriam cuiusque dispositionem cooperationem Quanquam enim nemo posset esse iustus nisi oui merita passionis Domini nostri Iesu Christi communicantur id tamen in hac impi◠iustificatione fit dum eiusdem sanctissimae passionis merito per Spiritum sanctum charitas Dei diffunditur in cordibus eorum qui iustificantur atque ipsis inhaeret c. The onely formall cause to wit of iustification is the righteousnesse of God not that whereby himselfe is iust but that whereby he makes vs iust namely wherewith he hauing endowed vs wee are renewed in the spirit of our minde and are not onely reputed but nominated and are really iust receiuing righteousnesse in our selues each according to his measure which the holy Ghost diuideth to euery one euen as he will and according to euery mans disposition and cooperation For although no man can be iust but hee to whom the merits of the passion of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ are communicated yet that is wrought in this iustification of a sinner while by the merit of the same holy passion the loue of God is by the holy Ghost shed abroad in the hearts of those who are iustified and is inherent in them c. Thus a man may see by the Councels expresse words that though they name imputation which they call the communication of Christs righteousnesse as the formall cause of our iustification yet they meane nothing else but that Christ hath merited that charity should be infused into our hearts whereby we should be iustified which in summe is as much to say as Christ became a Sauiour by whose merit euery man might bee made his owne Sauiour and that by another kinde of righteousnesse than that of Christ imputed That this is the sense of the Councell witnesse her chiefe Interpreters For if they had not finely found out this witty sense of the imputation of Christs righteousnesse it is much to be feared they had Anathemarized the very name of it and throwne it into the fire of their Index expurgatorius wheresoeuer they had found it But this and other cleare truths in Scripture they can so dextrously handle as they can easily euacuate them by turning them to a most sinister sense and so are the lesse affraid to name them and to seeme to auouch them Otherwise as the history of this Councell tels vs the very name of imputation found very harsh intertainment among the most of their Schoole-doctors and Soto himselfe confesseth Quod verbum mihi semper suspectum in suspicionem detuli coram sancta Synodo which word saith he to wit Imputation I alwaies hauing suspected brought it into suspicion before the holy Synod And a little after although he commend the Canons of Colen accounting them as the buckler and bulwarke of faith yet saith he they as happely more secure of the aduersaries than safe haue vsed that word of Imputation where they say That the chiefe head of iustification is the remission and ablution of sinnes by the imputation of the righteousnesse of Christ. But yet the Councell of Trent and Church of Rome are not so barren of inuention as not to bee able easily to reconcile this Catholicke word Imputation to the Church of Rome and to make it a Roman-Catholicke For by the imputation of Christs righteousnesse they haue learned to vnderstand that Christ hath merited an infusion of grace into vs whereby we are iustified For confessing the imputation of Christs righteousnesse to be the formall cause of our iustification they would teach vs out of Philosophy that Formalis causa est res illa vel qualitas quae in est subiecto that the formall cause as Soto saith is that thing or quality which is inherent in the subiect for the forme saith he is said in relation to the matter to which it giues a being by inherency Pari ergo modo c. As therefore the aire is not luminous or lightsome formally by the light that is in the Sun but by the light it receiueth in it selfe from the Sunne Constantissimum est c. it is a most constant truth That neither are wee formally iust and accepted by the righteousnesse which is in Christ but by that which himselfe hath conueyed into vs. Wee are saith hee made iust by Christs righteousnesse as by the efficient cause but not as by the formall cause But Vega peremptorily in his 7. book and 22. chapt intituled Of the impossibility of Christs righteousnesse to be the formall cause of our iustification concludeth thus in his first argument Superfluum est ab omni philosophia alienum ad hoc ipsum ponere aliam aliquam iustitiam videlicet iustitiam imputatiuam Christi It is superfluous and abhorring from all philosophy to put any other righteousnesse for a formall cause of our righteousnesse as the imputatiue righteousnesse of Christ. Therefore according to Romane-Catholicke diuinity which is most humane philosophy the formall cause of a mans righteousnesse must be inherent in him and his owne and not the righteousnesse of Christ imputed to vs. But yet the same author afterwards seemeth to shake imputation by the hand and to be good friends with it where he saith Non est adeo inuisum nobis hoc vocabulum vt credam nunquam nos posse hoc in proposito benè illo vti This word Imputation is not so odious vnto vs as that I thinke wee may neuer vse it well to this purpose Verè namque sanè ac latinè possumus dicere ad satisfactionem meritum imputatam esse generi humano iustitiam Christi in passione sua iugiter imputari omnibus qui iustificantur satisfaciunt pro peccatis suis vitam aeternam suis bonis operibus merentur For wee may truely and soothly and in plaine termes say that vnto satisfaction and merit the righteousnesse of Christ in his passion is imputed to mankinde and is continually imputed to all men that are iustified and doe satisfie for their sins and by their good works do merit eternall life And much more to this purpose And a little after hee saith Non transit iustitia Christi realiter ab illo in iustificatos Christs righteousnesse doth not really passe from him into those that are iustified nor by it are we formally iustified But imputation is of God
diminish the glory but euen abolish the merit of Christ in all his sufferings His glory it is to bee our whole and sole Sauiour this glory hee will not impart to any creature for hee saith I euen I am the Lord and besides me there is no Sauiour Stella obserueth well saying Redemptor redemptus inuicem se excludunt To be a Redeemer and to be redeemed are two incompatible things and cannot consist together But the faithfull are called The redeemed of the Lord Esa. 62. 12. and the Lord the Redeemer therefore in no sort can they be their owne Redeemers vnlesse Christ bee denyed to bee their Redeemer and they his redeemed Againe the merit of Christs sufferings was to intitle vs to the intire obedience and righteousnesse of Christ to make it as firmely and wholly ours by imputation as our sinne was his by imputation But inherent iustification robs Christ of his glory seeing thereby euery man becomes his owne Sauiour atleast in part and so Christ is denied to bee a perfect and alone Sauiour And seeing inherent righteousnesse challengeth only a part of Christs merits and consequently alloweth him to be but a party-Sauiour and so also that he bore our sinnes but in part to the end we might fill vp what is wanting eyther by our owne workes or by the surplusage of some fained Church-treasure and workes of supererogation or satisfaction Hence it is that Christ being diuided and our righteousnesse parted betweene him and vs that his death comes vtterly to be abolished and of none effect For as the Galathians ioyning circumcision with Christ and their workes with faith in their iustification came to be abolished from Christ and Christ profited them nothing So all Popish inherency of righteousnesse ioyning Christs merits and mans workes together doth vtterly annihilate and frustrate the death of Christ. For faith and workes are opposite and exclude each other in the point of iustification As the Apostle saith If by grace then it is no more of workes otherwise grace is no more grace But if it bee of workes then is it no more grace otherwise worke is no more worke So that grace and workes are vnreconcileable and incompatible in the worke of iustification Although the Trent Councell doth according to her manner most impiously abuse that former place to the Romanes applying it onely to exclude merit of condignity from those workes which goe before iustification though not merit of congruity according to her equiuocall scope destroying in one little Chapter the true nature and property of faith and grace in our iustification A third reason condemning Popish iustification by inherent righteousnesse is because it peruerteth the whole tenure of the Gospell and those clouds of testimonies therein all euidently prouing our iustification by Christ through faith as hath been formerly declared A fourth reason because it fils the heart with pride as we haue seene in the example of that Pharisee who though he acknowledged God to bee the Author of his many vertues yet because he rested in them and placed therein his righteousnesse and perfection he failed of Gods approbation And we see the Apostle doth often strike vpon this string shewing how pride doth necessarily follow this iustification by workes at any hand for by faith boasting is excluded Rom. 3. 27. 4. 2. 1. Cor. 1. 29. Ephes. 2. 9. Not of workes least any man should boast Implying that works in iustification is as the Leauen of the Pharisees it sowers and swels the whole lumpe And there must needes bee an intolerable height of pride in that mans heart that dare with Lucifer ascend into the seate of God and aspire to be like the most High by ioyning his workes and Christs merits together whereby hee will be iustified in the sight of God and become a fellow-Sauiour with Iesus Christ. A fift reason followeth hereupon That consequently this doctrine of inherent iustification leades a man headlong to hell For as it teacheth a man to aspire to a partnership with Christ in his glory in the worke of iustification so it maketh him to haue fellowship with the Diuell and his Angels in their eternall condemnation It is not possible this doctrine should euer bring a man to Heauen it being as it were a Ladder the one side whereof is of Timber and the other side of a Reed ioyned together by rotten steps For mans workes are that side of Reede and Christs merits are the other side of Timber of the Tree of life both ioyned together by the steps of vnsound doctrine of inherent righteousnesse Like those feete part of yron and part of clay no way cohering together In a word this doctrine of inherent righteousnesse is a false and deceitfull doctrine which as it can neuer truly iustifie a man in Gods sight so it can neuer satisfie the conscience with solid comfort For that which iustifies a man in the sight of God giues a man boldnesse and confidence in his presence Therefore the Apostle saith Beeing iustified by Faith we haue peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom also we haue accesse by Faith into this grace wherein wee stand and reioyce in hope of the glorie of God c. And chap. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods chosen It is God that iustifieth And Heb. 10. 19. where hauing shewed that our iustification stands in remission of sinnes he inferreth thereupon That we haue boldnesse to enter into the Holyest that is into heauen by the bloud of Iesus This is it that giues vs true peace of conscience in our selues and confidence towards God But inherent righteousnesse can neuer giue vs this peace of conscience this confidence towards God being at the best mingled with infinite imperfections and corruptions Euen Bellarmine himselfe confesseth That it is the safest and securest course to relye vpon the only merits of Christ. And we reade that Stephen Gardiner that bloudy persecuter of Gods Saints lying vpon his death bed and being demanded by some that stood by a reason of his faith how hee looked to be saued His answer was That for his part hee beleeued he could not be saued but by the only merits of Iesus Christ but saith hee this is a secret and must be kept from the peoples knowledge for if this gap bee once set open then farewell all good workes Yea Pope Gregory the Seuenth that notorious Hildebrand recounting his many pontificall prerogatiues and among them that one That if the Bishop of Rome haue any personall defaults yet vndoubtedly he is sanctified by the merits of blessed Peter but at length hauing drunk-in such store of iniquitie like water as an old leaking ship now ready to sinke in the very hauens mouth being put to a pinch vpon the apprehension of Gods approaching arrest haling him vnto iudgement then he could learn to say I find my selfe so surcharged with the huge weight of my sinns that there
imputation of sin whereas that sauing faith whereof St. Augustine speaketh is that which doth actually not dispose vnto but possesse a man of the state of grace which is the verie state of iustification as we shall see in the due place hereafter Therefore Popish preparation vnto iustification is nothing else but meere Pelagianisme both Pelagians and Pontificians ioyntly holding that all workes done without or before iustification are no sins CHAP. III. The Catholicke faith touching preparation to iustification THe Romish faith concerning such preparatorie workes to iustification the Catholicke faith of Christs Church doth renounce and disclaime as hereticall and antichristian for these reasons First because the holy Scriptures teach no such thing but the cleane contrarie The Scriptures teach no merit of Congruitie they teach not that free will being stirred vp and helped by I wot not what first grace a man is thereby disposed to receiue iustification but the flat contrary Ioh. 1. 12. As many as receiue Christ and such are they as beleeue in him are made the Sonnes of God But doth not this grace come by some disposition in mans nature as by his free will assisted and so cooperating with the grace of God for the attaining of iustification No such thing For verse 13 Christ teacheth that those Sonnes of God are borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Where note a direct opposition betweene Gods grace and mans will in the worke of Regeneration or Iustification mans will being by a negatiue vtterly excluded from any copartnership with God Not of the will of man but of God So Titus 3. 5. Not by workes of righteousnesse which we haue done but according to his mercie he saued vs c. Where all humane workes going before Iustification all merits of congruitie are excluded from disposing a man to receiue iustification for not by the workes of righteousnesse which wee haue done but according to his mercie bee saueth vs. And Rom. 4. 5. To him that worketh not but beleeueth on him that iustifieth the vngodly his Faith is counted for righteousnesse Note God iustifieth the vngodly therefore not the righteous not the meritorious by Congruitie vnlesse vngodlinesse and sinne can merit iustification at Gods hand as St. Augustine said of Adams sinne Foelix culpa quae talem meruit Redemptorem It was a happie sinne that merited such a Redeemer Whereas besides some places of Scripture which they peruert to their purpose they obiect the examples of the Eunuch Acts 8. and of Cornelius Acts 10. by which they would proue their workes of Congruitie as Vega alledgeth them Vega may remember what he said in another place before where hee produceth St. Augustines authoritie to proue that these two were true beleeuers before the Apostles came and preached vnto them which also Vega himselfe subscribeth vnto confessing that these two had grace and faith before sauing onely the difference is in the acception of grace and faith wherein the Pontifician egregiously equiuocateth the true nature whereof wee shall hereafter discouer But say that neither the Eunuch nor Cornelius before they were instructed by the Apostles had the grace of iustification doth it therefore follow that those workes of theirs did by Congruity merit iustification at Gods hands or that they were thereby prepared to iustification Why did not then Esau's teares merit the blessing ex congruo or why did not Ahab's repentance merit by Congruity not onely a repriuall of punishment but an absolute pardon of his sinne for they did quantum in se fuit as much as in them lay Or else according to Romes doctrine God must be vniust or at least wanting in his natiue goodnesse For further cleering of this point come we to the ancient Fathers to whom also this doctrine of merit of Congruity and of Condignity was altogether vnknowne This Vega himselfe is forced to confesse where making this obiection Why did the Fathers saith hee no where vse this distinction of merit of Congruity and Condignity to which he answereth If all things which neuer were in vse among the Fathers are to be condemned we shall be forced to condemne many things which all Catholickes now receiue And the Philosopher should haue said in vaine Scientiaes fieri per additamenta that Sciences are brought to passe by addition But he addeth Neither are we to grant that this distinction of merit of Congruity and Condignity was altogether vnknowne to the Fathers They acknowledged the things although they vsed not the termes saith Vega seeing they diuersly vsed the word of Merit as either strictly or largely whereof we shall speake more largely hereafter In the meane time let vs see what workes of preparation the ancient Fathers taught or inioyned as necessarie to dispose a man to iustification by way of merit taken in the largest sense as Vega at least would haue it But before we come to set downe the ancient doctrine of the Church concerning this point I must premonish the Reader seriously to note this one thing in the Fathers That when they speake of grace and faith whereby a man is iustified they meane nothing else but sauing grace and iustifying faith not now preparing a man vnto but actually placing and possessing him in the state of iustification and saluation They meane nothing lesse than any such first grace preparatory and euen common to wicked men which neuer come to partake of the second grace as the Romanists doe teach The Fathers admit of no such meane betweene sauing grace and faith and betweene sauing faith and iustification betweene any first second grace as differing in kinde but vnderstand one sauing effectuall grace Indeede St. Augustine speaketh of a first and second grace but by the first he meaneth that of iustification by the second that of sanctification differing no more but as the roote and the branch the tree and the fruit Or St. Augustine acknowledgeth no other first grace but that which is giuen to the elect in this life saying Coronat in nobis Deus dona misericordiae suae sed si in ea gratia quam primam accepimus perseueranter ambulemus God crowneth the gifts of his mercie in vs but if in that first grace which we haue receiued we walke with perseuerance Ambrose saith He that dare preach that the grace of God is giuen according to mens merits preacheth against the Catholike faith Therefore this doctrine of merit of congruity was no Catholicke doctrine in Saint Ambrose his dayes nor doth he meane any other grace but that of iustification All the preparation this holy man alloweth is where he saith Duce Deo venitur ad Deum by God leading vs we come vnto God And St. Chrysostome So soone as a man beleeues hee is iustified And St. Augustine Praedestinatio est praeparatio gratiae Predestination is the preparation to grace to wit of iustification And
further he explaines himselfe thus Inter gratiam praedestinationem c. Betweene grace and predestination this is the onely difference that predestination is the preparation of grace and grace is the gift or donation of predestination Or as a little after Grace is the effect of predestination But will the Pontifician say Mans free-will is not for all this excluded from being an ingredient at least in preparation Augustine in the same place snuts free-will quite out of doores yea from setting one foot vpon the threshold or entry to iustification Ideo ex fide vâ— secundum gratiam firma sit promissio omni semini non de nostrae voluntatis potestate sed de sua praedestinatione promisit Promisit enim quod ipse facturus erat non quod homines quia et si faciant homines bona quae pertinent ad colendum Deum ipse facit vt illi faciant quae praecipit non illi faciunt vt ipse faciat quod promisit Alioquin vt Dei promissa compleantur non in Dei sed in hominum est potestate quod à Domino promissum est ab ipsis redditur Abrahae Non autem sic credidit Abraham sed credidit danc gloriam Deo quoniam quae promisit potens etiam facere non ait praedicere non ait praescire nam aliena facta potest praedicere atque praescire sed ait potens etiam facere ac per hoc facta non aliena sed sua That is It is therefore of faith that according to grace the promise might be sure to all the seede he promised not out of any respect to the power of our will but of his predestination For he promised not that which men but which himselfe was about to doe because though men doe those good things which belong to Gods worship hee causeth them to doe those things which hee hath commanded they doe not causâ— him to doe that which hee promised Else that the promises of God should bee performed it is not in the power of God but of men and that which the Lord hath promised is by them performed to Abraham But Abraham did not so beleeue God but hee beleeued giuing glory to God because what he had promised he was able also to doe he saith not to fore-tell he saith not to fore-know for hee is able to fore-tell and fore-know other mens workes but hee saith hee is able to doe meaning hereby not others workes but his owne So this holy man For otherwise saith he a little after Per hoc vt promissa sua Deus possit implere non etiam in Dei sed in hominis potestate hereby it should come to passe that it rested not in Gods power to bee able to fulfill his promises but in mans power St. Augustine therefore admits of no mixture of mans free-will concurring with Gods grace in preparing him to receiue the promise of God touching iustification as being built vpon the eternall decreâ— of Gods predestation as an effect springing from the cause And Epist. 107. Vital The will is prepared of the Lord saith he How Quia praeuenit hominis voluntatem bonam nec cam cuiusquam inuenit in corde sed facit For God preuents the good will of man nor doth hee finde thie good will in anie mans heart but makes it se. And the same Father in his exposition of the Epistle to the Galathians vpon these words Induerunt Christum They haue put on Christ saith thus Filii fiunt participatione sapientiae id praeparante atque praestante Mediatoris fide quam fidei gratiam nunc indumentum vocat Vt Christum induti sint qui in eum crediderunt They are made sonnes by the participation of wisedome which is prepared and performed by faith in the Mediator which grace of faith he now calleth a putting on So that they haue Christ put on them which haue beleeued in him Faith then so prepares as it also performes the worke of iustification whereas Popish faith may as they say prepare and yet faile to performe And writing to Simplicianus he comes directly to the point Quaeritur vtrum vel fides mereatur hominis iustificationem an verò nec fidei merita praecedant misericordiam Dei sed sides ipsa inter dona gratiae numeretur Misericors Deus vocat nullis hoc vel fidei meritis largiens quia merita fidei sequuntur vocationem potius quam praecedunt It is demanded whether faith doe merit mans iustification or else neither the merits of faith do go before the mercie of God but euen faith it selfe is reckoned among the gifts of grace The mercifull God calleth bestowing this grace no not vpon any merits of faith because the merits of faith rather follow vocation than goe before it And againe in another place Ante fidem non debentur homini nisi mala pro malis retribuit autem Deus indebitam gratiam bona pro malis Before faith nothing is due to a man but euill for euill but God doth reward a man with vndeserued grace to wit good for euill Where hee speakes of sauing faith iustifying not of common faith preparing And in his one hundred and fifth Epistle to Sixtus his fellow Priest Restat vt gratuitum Dei donum esse fateamur si gratiam veram idest sine meritis cogitamus Wee are to confesse that to bee a free gift of God if we consider the true grace that is without merits Now the true grace is that whereby a man is iustified and saued but this grace is a free gift without merits therefore no merits goe before the grace of iustification And Bernard sweetely Non est quò gratia intret vbi iam meritum occupauit Et deest gratia quicquid meritis deputas Grace hath not where to enter where merit hath already taken up the roome And you detract from grace whatsoâ—uer you attribute to merits And againe Ergo iam plena confessio gratiae ipsius gratiae plenitudinem signat in anima confitentis Now then a plenary acknowledgement of grace is a signe of the fulnesse of grace it selfe in the soule of him that thus confesseth it And thus consequently out of the Fathers wee conclude as the Catholicke doctrine of the Church in those primitiue times That there is in man no worke of preparation whereby to merit by congruitie the grace of iustification which is the freegift of God without our merits And St. Augustine plainely discouers vnto vs the puddle whence this doctrine of merit of congruitie first issued namely from Pelagius Qui cos remunerandos dicit qui bene vtuntur libero arbitrio ideo mereri Domini grattam debitum cius reddi fatetur who saith they are to bee rewarded which vse well their free will and thereby merit the grace of God which he confesseth to be renared as due to their free will This accordeth with Romish Schoole diuinitie teaching That homini operanti
face to him that stands on the one side another forme and to him on the other side a third Or like a plaine picture which hanging on the wall although the posture of the face be set one way yet it seemes to cast equall aspect vpon euery one in the roome Thus is verified that of Guido Clemens Priest and Cardinall of St. Potentiana who saith that in the Church of Rome there is quaedam radix duplicitatis simplicitati columbae contraria a certaine roote of doublenesse which is contrary to the doues simpliciti◠To conclude this point of Popish preparation it is so farre from fitting and disposing a man to receiue the grace of iustification grace of iustification being rightly vnderstood as it is a maine impediment and stumbling blocke in the way vnto it For whereas this preparation of theirs aduanceth mans free-will and other naturall powers to the attainment of grace what doth this else but puffe a man vp with a conceit of himselfe that he is in a better state than indeed he is as hauing something left in him which being helped by some motion of common or I wot not what grace is able to leade him to the full possession of grace and so of glory Gregory saith well Hee that knowes not his disease how doth he seek to the Physitian for the greater the fault is being the sooner acknowledged it is the more speedily amended but the lesser sinne while it is deemed to be as it were none at all is so much the worse and more securely kept in vre If Saint Paul speaking in the person of a regenerate man as exercised with the combate betweene the flesh and the spirit complaines that in him that is in his flesh dwels no good thing then what good thing can there be in any vnregenerate man to dispose him to any grace whose imaginations of his heart are onely euill continually They are euill and onely euill and that continually onely euill If corrupt Nature haue yet any thing left to brag off if any free-will to this grace whereof we speake where is that conuicting power of the Law that makes sinne out of measure sinfull That casts a man downe in the sense of his misery causing him to cry out Wretched man that I am who shall deliuer me from this bodie of death How shall a man come to Christ wearie and laden that he may be refreshed How comes the vngodly to be iustified if hee bring any merit to dispose him thereunto How shall the Law then be our Schoolmaster to bring vs to Christ who came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance Wee need none other testimony to conuince this Pontifician puffe-doctrine of preparatory workes to bee at the least Cousin-germaine to that of the Pelagians than the Councell of Trent it selfe The Pelagians held that some men vsing the reason of their owne will haue or doe liue in this world without any sinne To this agreeth that Canon of Trent If any shall say that all workes done before iustification howsoeuer they bee done are truely sinnes and deserue the hatred of God let him be accursed Compare now the Pelagian and Pontifician doctrine together and one egge is not liker another All workes done before iustification are not truely sinnes say the Trent-Fathers therefore the workes of the Pelagian heretickes done before or without iustification whatsoeuer or howsoeuer done are no sinnes as they taught Shall St. Austine be vmpire in this case Pelagianorum sententia est sine vllo peccato aliquos homines tam ratione propriae voluntatis vtentes in hoc saeculo vixisse vel viuere Optandum est vt fiat conandum est vt fiat supplicandum est vt fiat non tamen quasi factum fuerit confidendum est Qui seipsum talem putat ipse se decipit veritas in eo non est non ob aliud nisi quia falsum putat It is the opinion of the Pelagians that some men by vsing the reason of their owne will haue and doe liue in this world without sinne It were to be wished so it were to be laboured for it is to be prayed for yet not to be beleeued as if it were so He that thinkes himselfe such a one deceiueth himselfe and the truth is not in him for no other cause but because he deemeth falsely And in another place hee saith Si Gentilis inquis nudum operuit nunquid quia non est ex fide peccatum est Prorsus in quantum non est ex fide peccatum est non quia per scipsum factum quod est nudum operire peccatum est sod in tali opere non in Domino gloriari solus impius negat esse peccatum Nam quamuis bona malè tamen facit ideo negare non potes eum peccare qui malè quodlibet facit Fructus bonos non facit arbor mala An dicis hominem infidelem arborem bonam If a Heathen saist thou shall couer the naked is it therefore a sin because it is not of faith Certainly in as much as it is not of faith it is sinne not in regard of the worke it selfe which is to clothe the naked is it a sin but in such a worke not to glory in the Lord only the wicked man denieth this to be a sin For although he doth good yet he doth it ill therefore thou canst not deny that he sinneth that doth any thing ill An euill tree doth not beare good fruit Do est thou callan vnfaithfull man a good tree Note here St. Augustine condemnes all workes for sinnes that are not done in the state of grace but in the state of nature and infidelity Therefore St. Augustine is anathematized of the Church of Rome for saying that all workes done before iustification are indeede sinns But whereas the Pontificians may obiect that St. Augustine condemnes onely such workes as are done without faith and not those Pontifician workes of preparation wherof faith as they affirme is the roote I answer St. Augustine speaketh honestly without equiuocation for hauing to do with the Pelagians those enemies of the grace of God hee opposeth the state of grace against the state of nature shewing that whatsoeuer a man doth in the state of nature before he be in the state of grace it is sin stiling euen the best workes of these heathen moralists but splendida peccata glittering sinnes Now whatsoeuer is done before iustification is done in the state of nature consequently it is sinne in St. Augustines sense because it is the bad fruit of a bad tree As for that first grace whereby the Papists teach a man is stirred vp to prepare himselfe for iustification it doth not set a man ipso facto in the state of grace hee is for all that faith of his a meere naturall man still And therefore that faith which they speake of going before iustification is not freed from the
can reach vnto I enuie it not But at the best when all is done is it euer the neerer to grace or iustification If nature haue any faculty at all this way surely it is to be found in those men that most excell in the gifts of nature as in the Philosophers the learned the disputers of the world Wherefore then doe not these receiue the Gospell with all readinesse and freedome of will Nay are they not rather the further off from Christ by how much nature seemes more excellent and perfect in them Saint Paul makes a challenge 1. Cor. 1. 20. Where is the wise Where is the Scribe Where is the disputer of this world Hath not God made the wisedome of this world foolishnesse and vers 21. he concludeth flatly that seeing the world by wisedome knew not God in the wisedome of God it pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to saue them that beleeue And vers 26. Not many wise men after the flesh are called c. And our Sauiour Mat. 11. 25. I thanke thee O Father Lord of heauen and earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and men of vnderstanding and hast reuealed them vnto babes And therefore hence we may conclude That the more our nature presumeth of its owne perfection any way in disposing it selfe to grace the more blinde it is and further off from grace though the Councell of Trent accurseth those that shall condemne natures disposing of it selfe to grace Can. 7. Nay bring me an Angell in his pure naturals innocent as Adam in his first creation his will most free vntainted vncaptiued yet what relation is there betweene him and the word incarnate This is a high and hidden mysterie which neither Adam in his purest naturals no nor Angell but by speciall reuelation Ephes. 3. 10. could by their naturall knowledge attaine vnto As the Lord said to Peter Flesh and bloud hath not reuealed this vnto thee What free-will then can there be in vs by nature towards that thing which our naturall vnderstanding is altogether ignorant of The naturall man receiueth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse vnto him neither can hee know them because they are spiritually discerned Now that which the vnderstanding apprehends not the will desires not Ignoti nulla cupido Thomas Aquinas saith well and truly Hoc est ex institutione diuinae prouidentiae vt nihil agat vltra suam virtutem Vita autem aeterna est quoddam bonum excedens proportionem naturae creatae quia etiam excedit cognitionem desiderium eius secundum illud 1. Cor. 2. 9. Oculus non vidit c. This is of the appointment of Gods prouidence that nothing should worke beyond its proper vertue But eternall life is a certaine good exceeding the proportion of created nature because it also exceedeth the knowledge and desire of it according to that 1. Cor. 2. 9. Eye hath not seene nor eare heard neither haue entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that loue him for God hath reuealed them vnto vs by his spirit c. And so Thomas concludeth that not euen Adam in his perfection could merit eternall life without a supernaturall grace And the same Aquinas Ea quae sunt fidei excedunt rationem humanam those things which are of faith exceede humane reason And a little after Homo assentiendo his quae sunt fidei eleuatur supra naturam suam c. A man by assenting to those things which are of faith is eleuated aboue his nature therefore it is necessary that faith be infused into him by a supernaturall gift of God Yea say the Pontificians We ascribe the first motion of free-will to the worke of a preuenting grace But by their owne confession this work of grace is no other but to moue stirre vp as it were to awaken the will Indeede if the Trent-Fathers would not hypocritically halt in this point but speake ingenuously and plainly and say That God by his spirit through the preaching of the word doth illuminate the blinde vnderstanding of the naturall man as he did the heart of Lydia to see the mysterie of Christ and so the will is inflamed to desire and long after saluation then wee and all Catholicke beleeuers would in this point giue them the right hand of fellowship This is indeede the right and true preparation vnto the grace of iustification if not rather the true grace it selfe already begun in our hearts For this is life eternall that they know thee to bee the onely true God and whom thou hast sent Christ Iesus And as the Prophet Esay speaketh By his knowledge shall my righteous seruant iustifie maâ—ie for he shall beare their iniquities which implyeth that holy knowledge and illumination is the first worke of grace and iustification knowledge there being taken for sauing faith faith being that to the soule which the eye is to the bodie as the Lord applyeth it Iohn 3. 14. 15. Or if these Romane-Catholicke Doctors would but vse the same language that the ancient Fathers of the Church haue vsed concerning free-will they should herein shew themselues honest men Saint Augustine confesseth plainly that man by abusing his free-will hath lost both himselfe and it And by this reckoning more is required than a bare mouing helping or stirring vp of the will as if it were onely lame when it is quite lost That therefore in the Prophet must here take place I will take from them their stonie heart and giue them a heart of flesh The heart in mans conuersion must be new made and moulded againe But they will obiect that free-will by mans fall is not altogether lost according to that of St. Augustine Peccate Adâ— liberum arbitrium de hominum natura perisse non dicimus Wee doe not say saith hee that by the sinne of Adam mans nature is depriued of free-will or that free-will is perished But note what St. Augustine there addeth Sed ad peccandum valere in hominibus subditis Diabolo ad bene autem pieque viuendum non valere nisi ipsa voluntas hominis Dei gratia fuerit liberata ad omne bonum actionis sermonis cogitationis adiuta But wee say saith he that free-will in men subiect to Satan preuaileth to the committing of sinne but to good and godly liuing it is of no force vnlesse mans will be freed by Gods grace and assisted vnto euery good worke and word and thought And in his book de gratia libero arbitrio ca. 17. he saith He worketh first that we may will who when we do wil doth perfect vs by cooperating that therfore we may wil he works without vs but whe we are willing seruile that we may perform he cooperates with vs. And c. 16. vpon Phil. 2. Deus est qui operatur in vobis c. Certum est nos facere cum
facimus sed ille facit vt faciamus praebendo vires efficacissimas voluntati And Epist. 107 to Vitalis Carthaginen vpon that of the Apostle Phil. 2. God worketh in vs euen to will he saith Vera Dei gratia praevenit hominis voluntatem bonam nec eam cuiusquaminuenit in corde sed facit The true grace of God preuenteth mans good will neither findes he it in any mans heart but makes it good Whereupon in his second booke against Iulian the Pelagian hee calleth it Seruum arbitrium saying Hic vultis hominem perfici atque vtiuam Dei dono non libero vel potius seruo propriae voluntatis arbitrio You would haue a man perfected and I would it were by the gift of God and not by the free or rather seruile arbitrement of his owne will Thus according to St. Augustine mans liberum arbitrium is by Adams fall turned into seruum arbitrium seruing onely to sinne and to turne it to good it must not onely bee moued stirred or helped but freed by Gods grace which is a worke of power in disarming the strong man And what this grace is hath beene shewed afore to wit Gods sauing grace The true grace of God saith Augustine not a common grace Deuout Bernard vnderstands by free-will a meere will in man without respect to the obiect good or euill Velle inest nobis ex libero arbitrio non etiam posse quod volumus Non dico velle bonum aut velle malum sed tantum velle To will is in vs proceeding from free-will but not to performe what we will I say not to will good or to will euill but onely to will And againe Corruit homo de posse non peccare in non posse non peccare amissa ex toto complaciti libertate Man fell from a possibility not to sinne to an impossibility of not sinning hauing altogether lost the liberty of delight Per propriam quippe voluntatem serâ—â—â— peccati factus meritò perdidit libertatem confilij for by his owne proper will being made the seruant of sinne hee hath deseruedly lost the liberty of his election or counsell Now how shall all this be repaired againe The same Bernard resolueth it Velle homini vt esset creans gratia fecit vt proficiat saluans gratia facit vt deficiat ipsum se deijcit That man should haue a will is from creating grace that this will should profit is from sauing grace that it should decay iâ— of its owne voluntary defection It is therefore a worke not of common grace as they vnderstand by the first grace whereby they say the will is moued but of effectuall sauing grace to restore the will of man and fit it for Christ. Habet igitur homo necessariam Dei virtutem Dei sapientiam Christum qui ex eo quod sapientia est verum ei sapere re-infundat in restaurationem liberi consilij ex eo quod virtus est plenum posse restituat in reparationem liberi complaciti Man therefore hath the necessarie vertue of God and wisedome of God which is Christ who as hee is wisedome doth re-infuse wisedome to know the truth to the restauration of the freedome of election and as he is vertue doth restore a full power to the reparation of the freedome of delight and happinesse which saith he is begun here in grace and consummate hereafter in glory And again concerning free-will he saith Nemo putet ideo dictum liberum arbitrium quod aequa inter bonum aut malum potestate aus facultate versetur cum cadere per se quidem potuerit non autem resurgere nisi per Domini spiritum Ergo si à Domini spiritu iam non à libero arbitrio Let no man thinke that free-will is therefore so called as hauing an equall and indifferent power or faculty betweene good and euill seeing it could fall by it selfe but not â—ise againe but by the spirit of the Lord. And if it bee by the spirit of the Lord it is not now of free-will And St. Augustine tells vs plainly what that grace is whereby the will is freed to wit Gratia Dei per Iesum Christum Dominâ—m nostrum in qua nos suâ— non nostra iustitia instos facit c. That grace whereby the will is freed is the grace of God by Iesus Christ our Lord wherein hee maketh vs iust by his owne not by our righteousnesse c. But saith the carnall minde If man haue not free-will to accept grace offered what cause hath God to complaine or to condemne man for that which is not in his power to performe I might answer with the Apostle O vaine man who art thou that repliest against God But I answer againe Though man haue no will of himselfe to receiue grace offered yet he hath a will to reiect grace offered for which he is iustly condemned So that mans corrupt will is sufficient to conuict him though no way able to conuert him after that manner which Pontificians teach And thus God needeth not mans carnall wit to pleade for the equity of his iustice sith God doth not simply condemne men for that which by nature they are inuincibly vnable to performe as by the vertue of free-will to receiue grace offered but for that which is in their power and will to doe namely when they not only not willingly receiue but wilfully and contemptuously reiect and put from them the grace of God offered them in the Gospel And iustly doe all such obiecters come within the compasse of Iobs censure Iob 13. 7. Will yee speake wickedly for God and talke deceitfully for him c. As Saint Hierome Concede Deo potentiam sui nequaquam te indiget defensore Let God be Master of himselfe he needes not thee to pleade for him Now by the former testimonies as by a cloud of witnesses the Church of Rome is sufficiently conuicted of grosse absurditie and of grieuous impiety in her doctrine of preparation to iustification wherein her Gordian knot of manifold errours while the Romish Harlot would haue the liuing childe diuided betweene her and the true Mother Gods grace is cut asunder and dissolued by the sharpe sword of Salomons wisedome First because the worke of preparation is rather the worke of iustification it selfe and that so soone as the vnderstanding is inlightened and the will inflamed to apprehend Christ by faith Secondly because that grace of God whereby the will of man is prepared to iustification as they say is no common grace receiued as well by the reprobate as the elect but the sauing and iustifying grace of God which whosoeuer receiueth is more truly said to bee already actually iustified than disposed and prepared thereunto Thirdly because the work of Gods grace in mouing the vnderstanding and the will to embrace Christ is no weake and common worke but a worke of power in loosing the workes of the Diuell that strong man
of Gods spirit but of mans spirit so that if such proue all abortiues and dead borne it is no maruaile But the sons of God we cannot be till we be in Christ which is till we beleeue in Christ as Gal. 3. 26. Ye are all the children of God by faith in Iesus Christ therefore before this faith in Iesus Christ we are not the children of God no not so much as the Embrio in the first conception But the new creature must bee in Christ Iesus as the Apostle saith Gal. 6. 15. So when Christ himselfe speakes of regeneration to Nicodemus Ioh. 3. instructing him therein how it is begun in a man hee tels him in the continuation of his speech that this appertaines to those that beleeue in the son of man vers 15. and vers 16. For a man to be regenerate or made the son of God by adoption he must be in the son of God by beleeuing in him Where Christ also opposing faith to vnbeliefe saith those are condemned already that beleeue not hauing no part in the regeneration therefore before faith in Christ no regeneration at all no cleansing no sanctification but all condemnation Againe Christ is made vnto vs sanctification 1. Cor. 1. 30. vnto vs in him Of him are ye in Christ Iesus therefore while out of Christ no sanctification So the adoption of children is by Iesus Christ Ioh. 1. 5. therefore no sons no regeneration but in Iesus Christ. Likewise Ioh. 15. 2. Euery branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away So vers 4. As the branch cannot beare fruit of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in mee â—or without me yee can doe nothing Therefore while a man is out of Christ vntill by faith he be ingrafted into Christ the true Vine from whom hee receiueth the liuely sappe of a new life hee can doe nothing nothing that is good nothing that is acceptable to God no worke of new obedience or sanctification But some may say Regeneration is wrought by the Spirit of God in vs and so may be before faith in Christ and consequently before we come to be actually in Christ. To which I answer True it is that the Holy Ghost is the immediate efficient cause of our regeneration But how doth he worke regeneration in vs namely by working in vs faith in Christ which faith is the very immediate instrument whereby the Holy Ghost doth regenerate sanctifie and cleanse vs sith the Holy Ghost by this faith ingrafteth and vniteth vs into Christ in whom we are regenerate and made the sonnes of God Now that faith is the instrument of our regeneration and sanctification it is euident Acts 15. 9. 26. 18. So that the very first and prime act of Gods sanctifying spirit in vs is to worke faith in vs by which faith in Christ as by a noble instrument the Holy Ghost vniting vsto Christ as members to the head doth regenerate vs and so makes vs the adopted sons of God And before faith in Christ we cannot say wee haue Gods sanctifying spirit in vs I say in regard of prioritie of time For this sanctifying spirit in the same moment that he sanctifies vs he workes faith in Christ in vs by which he regenerates and sanctifies vs. But they re-ioyne by a distinction and say that this repentance which prepares the way to faith and layes the foundation of regeneration is not acceptable to saluation but only to fit prepare vs thereunto and to make vs the more capable of it In this distinction they do much please themselues but they confound themselues in their distinction For they affirme againe that this precedent repentance of theirs is regeneration and sanctification and newnesse of life inchoatiue begun at least in part A bold assertion Is it regeneration begun and in part and being acceptable is it not acceptable to saluation Is not regeneration a worke of our saluation And though regeneration should be begun in this repentance in neuer so small a degree a worke it is of our saluation if it bee true regeneration Logicians know that Magis minus non variant speciem A man in the first conception is a man though imperfect and inchoatiue But they reply again That they do not say this preuious repentance is acceptable to saluation of it self but as it hath relation to faith coÌ„ming after whereby it becomes acceptable A pretty shift And yet they say again That repentance goeth before faith not in the precedency of time but in nature only in the order of causes Now if this repeÌ„tance go before faith in the order of causes then repentance must cause saith so this absurdity wil follow That the effect must giue a form being at least a well being vnto the cause if so be faith the effect consequent of repeÌ„tance as they say make the same acceptable But how doe they proue that this their repentance goes before faith in Christ in nature and in the order of causes They proue it out of Matth. 21. 32. where Christ taxing the infidelity of the Pharisees wherein they came behinde the very Publicans faith Iohn came to you in the way of righteousnesse and ye beleeued him not but the Publicans and the Harlots beleeued him and ye when ye had seen it repented not afterward that ye might beleeue him Hence they conclude That repentance must goe before faith as the cause of it alledging Christs words thus Ye repented not that ye might beleeue But leauing out him That ye might beleeue Him to wit Iohn Baptist as it is in the text which implieth what kinde of faith Christ there meaneth to wit an assent to the truth of Iohns doctrine The place thereby comes to bee preuerted For Credere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ei is the faith of assent but Credere in cum that is in Christum is the iustifying faith So that by that place alledged if repentance goeth before faith in the order of causes then certainly that repentance is the cause of no other faith but the faith of assent there spoken of which is not all one faith with the iustifying faith But they which affirme thus yet confess that repentance doth not go before the faith of assent which they terme also the Euangelical faith but that its an effect consequent therof And here by the way I might take iust occasion to shew the absurdity of those that distinguish betweene Euangelicall faith and the faith of Christ as if Euangelicall faith were onely a generall assent to the truth of the Gospell whereas a generall assent and Euangelicall faith are as different as this and the faith of Christ are all one for Euangelicall faith looketh vpon the Gospell not onely as a true history but as the mysterie of God in Christ it embraceth it as the Gospell preaching Christ the Sauiour yea preaching Christ to euery beleeuer of this Gospell in particular As
Christ by which they are at least in part regenerate sanctified and cleansed Obiect But is there no preparation vnto the receiuing of grace and iustification Is not at the least the hearing of the Word a worke of preparation to grace Answ. True it is that faith sauing and iustifying faith commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God Rom. 10. 17. So that the hearing of the Word of God is the ordinarie meanes to beget sauing Faith and Grace in vs. Obiect But hearing of the Word is in our owne power and hearing of the Word is a preparation vnto Grace therefore it is in our owne power to prepare our selues vnto grace Answ. To heare is in our owne power but hearing of the Word is not simply a preparatiue vnto grace but rather an externall meanes thereunto For vnlesse God do giue aspeciall blessing to the outward meanes of hearing the Word in opening our hearts as he did the heart of Lydia wee heare the word but as a sound or as a strange historie or parable and as a deepe mysterie hidden from vs. The Iewes did heare Christs Oracles and see his Miracles yet for all that were they no better than deafe and blinde men God must open the heart to vnderstand and to apprehend by Faith the mysterie of Christ preached else Paul may plant and Apollos water in vaine Obiect To what purpose then is it for any to come to heare the Word of God if thereby he be not the better fitted and disposed to receiue grace Answ. Although God be the only author and actor of working grace in vs yet for as much as he doth this by the Ministerie of his Word which he hath appointed as the ordinarie meanes to beget faith and all other sauing graces in vs therefore it is our part and duty to attend vpon and vse the means waiting for Gods blessing vpon it So that all the worke of preparation to grace on our part is without vs not within vs namely the hearing of the Word preached and Gods speciall blessing vpon it Obiect But it is in our free will and choyce to heare the Word of God or not to heare it and therefore something is to be ascribed to free-will in setting vs at least in the way to iustification Answ. It is no otherwise in our free will and choyce before our conuersion to heare Gods Word than to heare any humane historie propounded vnto vs. For before our vnderstanding bee by faith illuminated to apprehend and apply Christ vnto our selues and to know him to be our Sauiour in particular we haue no will to heare the Word as the Word of God which is able to saue our soules but rather as the word of man Obiect But doth not a man vnderstand the Word preached vnlesse first his vnderstanding be illuminated by Faith Answ. A naturall man may by hearing come to haue a generall vnderstanding of the Word of God as a true historie but before he bee indued with sauing faith from God his vnderstanding is not illuminated to know God in Christ to bee his Father and Christ to bee his Redeemer which is the summe of the Gospell and the seale which wee set vpon the truth of God therein Iohn 3 33. Obiect But Iohn Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord. Answ. The Ministerie of Iohn was to teach men to beleeue in Christ pointing at him that was to come So that by his Ministerie men beleeuing and beeing baptized into Christ they might thereby be said to bee prepared to a more plentifull measure of receiuing Christ and his Spirit as afterwards they did hauing the first seeds of Faith already sowne in their hearts Obiect But another obiects before true conuersion a man must renounce the first couenant become humble confesse his vnworthinesse his hardnesse of heart his naturall disabilitie towards his owne saluation hee must feare God loue God and the like or else a man is incapable of and indisposed to receiue the grace of conuersion Answ. Indeed a fellow-minister of the Gospell was very earnest on a time in defending of this He desired me to resolue him in it by writing as being a matter of maine consequence and a maine ground wherewith many other opinions on foote in these daies would stand or fall Now I could haue wished to haue heard his reasons of that his obiection but time at least permitted not Therefore my answer shall be short as also in respect of all that before said First then for a man to renounce the first couenant to become humble c. I say no man can doe it till he be in Christ. My reason is because till a man be in Christ he is dead blinde proud hard-hearted without the feare of God without the loue of God Euery man is actually either the child of wrath in the state of sinne and death or the childe of God in the state of grace and life There is no terme betweene these two There is no terme or medium betweene a man liuing and dead but the very instant of his soules departing from the bodie which is in the twinckling of an eye No more terme or medium is there betweene a man dead in sinne and liuing by grace but the very instant of his conuersion For euery man I say is eyther a dead man in the state of sinne or a liuing man in the state of grace a third terme cannot come betweene Now while a man is in the state of sinne he is dead If dead he vnderstands nothing that sauours of grace nor hath hee any disposition or affection in him thereunto While he is vnder the dominion of sinne hee is nothing but meere enmitie and rebellion against God and his Grace as the Apostle saith Rom. 8. The wisedome of the flesh or To be carnally minded is enmity against God This is the state of a man vnregenerate vnconuerted Beeing thus hee is proud senslesse of his hardnesse of heart senslesse of any naturall disabilitie towards his owne saluation without loue without feare of God as Rom. 3. He is not subiect to the Law of God neither indeede can bee Rom. 8. Hee is so farre from renouncing the first couenant of works that before his conuersion the more morall vertues which Saint Augustine cals but splendida peccata either the frame of his naturall and corporall constitution or of his more liberall education hath adorned him with the more is hee apt to relye vpon the first couenant trusting to bee saued by his good workes But I say againe that when I see in a man these things that he renounceth the first couenant that he is humble that he confesseth his vnworthinesse that hee complaineth of the hardnesse of his heart that he renounceth himselfe and his owne abilities towards his owne saluation and the like these are the signes and fruits of a true Conuert say I. No say you The matter now standing betweene your No and my Yea who shall be the vmpire
here may be fitly moued Quest. Whether the obedience of the whole Law of God wrought by Christ for vs is auaileable as to redeeme vs from the punishment of sinne so to purchase vnto vs eternall life in heauen The reason of the question is because not the Law if it had beene for euer perfectly fulfilled by Adam had any promise of that eternall life and immediate vision in heauen but only of this life Heauen is not within the Couenant of workes Answ. True it is that the fulfilling of the Law in it selfe simply considered hath no proportion with that endlesse life aboue For the first Adam was of the earth earthly and all his happinesse promised vpon the condition of keeping the Law for ought is reuealed or can be demonstrated was terrestriall But now forasmuch as the Law is fulfilled by Christ this obedience reacheth to a higher reward because there is a higher promise made than that of the first Adam Because Christ the second Adam is the Lord from heauen the Eternal whose Kingdom is not of this world but of a better a heauenly whose house is not made with hands So that his obedience to the Law in regard of his person becomes a rich and inestimable purchase of that better Kingdome for vs. For as is the heauenly such are they that are heauenly to wit the generation of God in and by Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. 48. 49. 50. vide Iohn 3. 13. No man ascendeth vp to heauen but he c. Thus haue we proued out of the holy Scriptures how the formall cause of iustification or that which giues a perfect being to our iustification making vs perfectly iust in the sight of God is the imputation of Christs righteousnesse vnto vs and that euen of his whole righteousnesse actiue in his life and passiue in his death And that the formall cause of our iustification is not within vs but without vs not inherent but by imputation may easily appeare from the maine difference betweene the first Couenant and the second The first Couenant was that which was made with Adam in Paradise Doe this and liue the second that made with man after his fal Beleeue and liue So the first Couenant was of workes the second of faith the first of an inherent righteousnesse of our owne the second of a righteousnesse without vs not our owne simply but by relation namely made ours to wit Christs righteousnesse who of God is made vnto vs righteousnesse called in Scriptures the righteousnesse which is of faith Not to obserue and know this difference well is the ready way to leade men into all errour of this mysterie of God The Apostle doth notably set downe this difference between the first and second Couenant as termes infinitely opposite and admitting of no reconciliation Rom. 10. 3. when hee saith that the Iewes being ignorant of Gods righteousnesse and going about to establish their owne righteousnesse haue not submitted themselues to the vnrighteousnesse of God For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousnesse to euery one that beleeueth For Moses describeth the righteousnesse which is of the Law that the man which doth those things shall liue by them But the righteousnesse which is of Faith is to confesse with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and to beleeue in thy heart that God raised him from the dead and thou shalt be saued Also Rom. 11. 6. If it be by grace it is no more of workes otherwise grace is no more grace but if it bee of workes then it is no more grace otherwise worke is no more worke Also Rom. 4. the Apostle setting downe this same opposition betweene the Couenant of workes and of faith saith on this wise v. 2. c. If Abraham were iustified by workes he hath whereof to glory but not before God For what saith the Scripture Abraham beleeued God and it was counted to him for righteousnesse Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt but to him that worketh not but beleeueth on him that iustifieth the vngodly his faith is counted for righteousnesse Euen as Dauid also describeth the blessednesse of the man vnto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without workes saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen and whose sinnes are couered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sinne What clearer Testimonies Yea this did God himselfe teach vs not obscurely by his own act Gen. 3. For when Adam had forfeited the first Couenant which was of workes made with him in Paradise before his fall and after his fall had made with him another Couenant to wit of faith in Christ the promised seede of the woman What doth God thereupon Hee shuts man out of Paradise and from the Tree of life lest putting forth his hand hee should take of it and liue for euer What is meant hereby Paradise was not only the place but also did signifie the happy condition of Adams blessednesse which he was to enioy in his innocencie the Tree of life was a sacrament and symbol of life appointed as a speciall meanes to preserue man from dying or decaying in his naturall strength so long as he continued in his obedience But by disobedience hee forfeited the Couenant brake the condition lost his former happinesse and was depriued of the meanes of that life wherein hee should haue liued for euer vpon earth Now God shutting him out from the earthly Paradise the place of earthly blisse and from the Tree of life the sacrament and symbol of immortalitie and hauing shewed vnto him another Tree of life in the middest of the Paradise of God to wit Iesus Christ who is very God and eternall life which whosoeuer by reaching out the hand of Faith eateth of shall liue for euer God I say doth hereby plainely teach vs that in attaining to the heauenly Paradise by the Tree of life Iesus Christ wee must not haue any more to doe with the things pertaining to the first Couenant now altogether forfeited and from which Adam and his posteritie is for euer banished neuer to returne or intermeddle there any more Gen. 3 22. 23. 24. Therefore to teach and beleeue the doctrine of an inherent righteousnesse whereby to attaine eternall life is euen as it were in despite of God and of his holy Angels the Cherubims keeping the way of the Tree of life to reuiue the old Couenant of workes againe and with the hand of the body to wit good workes reach out to take of the tree of life This is a Babylonish confounding of the two Couenants which stand vpon such irreconcileable termes of difference Is there no more difference betweene Do this and liue and Beleeue and liue betweene mans owne righteousnesse and Gods righteousnesse the establishing of the one being the abolishing of the other Nor is it to purpose that these Babylonians alledge that they ascribe their inherent righteousnesse to God as the author of it and by whom
we our selues had suffered But yet let vs see a little further into the language of the Fathers concerning this point Onely by the way seeing Vega cannot finde the word Imputation once mentioned among the ancient Fathers let him looke but St. Augustines Epist. 106. to Bonifacius or as some copies haue it to Paulinus and there hee shall finde these words Cur meritis praeueniri gratia perhibetur quae gratia non esset si secundum meritum imputaretur Why is grace said to be preuented by merits which should not be grace if it were imputed according to merit Yea how often doth Augustine mention the Apostles words where he saith Fides imputaretur ad iustitiam Faith is imputed vnto righteousnesse But let vs contend not so much for the word as for the thing it selfe which wee shall finde the Fathers to abound in St. Ambrose writing vpon the 39. Psalme saith Totus ex persona Christi iste Psalmus est Iustitiam meam dicit licet non arroganter homo dicere possit Iustitiam suam qui Deo credit fidem suam sibi reputarâ— ad iustitiam confitetur This whole Psalme is of the person of Christ therefore hee saith My righteousnesse though also a man that beleeues in God and confesseth that his faith is reputed to him for righteousnesse may without arrogancy say his righteousnesse Now although Ambrose say speaking of Christ Iustitiam meam in stead of Iustitiam tuam as it is in the originall and also in the vulgar Latine he following some other copy yet hereby wee may see his vnderstanding in the mysterie of Christ namely how Christs righteousnesse comes to bee our righteousnesse our faith being imputed to vs for righteousnesse as the Scripture saith Sauing that Ambrose vseth the word Reputing for Imputing differing very little in the sound but nothing at all in the sense The same Ambrose writing vpon the Epistle to the Galatians where hee opposeth the righteousnesse of the Law and that of Christ one against the other vpon these words for if there had beene a Law giuen which could haue giuen life verily righteousnesse had beene by the Law saith Iustitiam hanc dicit quae apud Deum imputatur iustitia id est fidei quia lex habuit iustitiam sed ad praesens quia non iustificaret apud Deum remittere enim peccata non potuit vt de peccatoribus faceret iustos he saith that righteousnesse which of God is imputed to wit the righteousnesse of faith sith the Law also had a kinde of righteousnesse but temporary that could not iustifie with God for it could not forgiue sinnes and so of sinners make men to bee iust So that here is another ancient Father vsing the very word Imputation And a little after vpon these words As many as haue beene baptized into Iesus Christ haue put on Christ saith Hoc dicit quia credentes dum immutantur Christum induunt quando hoc appellantur quod credunt This he saith because beleeuers while they are changed doe put on Christ when they are called that which they beleeue So that by St. Ambrose his doctrine our iustification is by imputation of grace by faith in the putting on of Christ. And St. Austine besides the former alledged place where he defineth iustification to be a making of one iust by accounting him so or by deputing reckoning him iust saith in Psa. 32. Nolo vos interrogare de iustitia vestra sortassis autem nemo vestrum audeat mihi respondere iustus sum sed interrogo vos de fide vestra Sicut nemo vestrum audet dicere Iustus sum sic nemo non audet dicere Fidelis sum Nondum quaero quid viuas sed quaero quid credas responsuruses credere te in Christum Non audisti Apostolum Iustus ex fide viuit fides tua iustitia tua I will not aske you of your righteousnesse for haply none of you dare answer me I am righteous but I aske you of your faith As none of you dare say I am iust so you dare not but say I am a beleeuer I demand not yet how thou liuest but how thou beleeuest thou wilt answer me thou beleeuest in Christ. Hast thou not heard the Apostle The iust shall liue by faith Thy faith is thy righteousnesse And vpon the 30. Psalme the same Father doth further cleare his minde touching imputatiue righteousnesse vpon these words of the Psalme Rid mee and deliuer mee in thy righteousnesse Nam si attendas ad iustitiam meam damnas me In tua iustitia â—rue me est enim iustitia Dei quae nostra fit cum donatur nobis Ideo autem Dei iustitia dicitur ne homo se putet à seipso habere iustitiam For if thou lookest vpon my righteousnesse thou condemnest mee In thy righteousnesse deliuer me for it is the righteousnesse of God which is made also ours when it is giuen vnto vs. And therefore is it called Gods righteousnesse lest man should thinke that he hath righteousnesse of himselfe Now what righteousnesse doth this holy man meane here The righteousnesse of God made ours by infusion of grace into vs So I know the Pontificians would be ready to interpret this place But let St. Augustine be his owne interpreter who addeth in the very next words Sic enim dicit Apostolus Paulus Credenti in eum qui iustificat impium So saith the Apostle Paul To him that beleeueth in him that iustifieth the vngodly Quid est Qui iustificat impium Qui ex impio facit iustum deputatur sides eius ad iustitiam What is that Which iustifieth the vngodly Who of vngodly and wicked makes iust his faith is deputed for righteousnesse Yea this holy man is so farre from ascribing the least part of iustification to any inherent righteousnesse in vs as that he excludes euen faith it selfe as it is a worke from being any meritorious cause of our iustification For elsewhere speaking of Gods election and vocation of grace and not of workes alledging the examples of lacob and Esau the one loued the other hated euen in the wombe before either of them had done good or euill c. that the election of God might stand not of workes c. Si autem verum est quod non ex operibus inde hoc probat quia de nondum natis nondumque aliquid operatis dictum est vnde nec ex side quae in nondum natis similiter nondum erat And if it be true that it is not of works and from thence he proues it because it was said of them before they were borne and before they had done any thing whereupon neither was it in respect of faith which likewise as a worke was not as yet in them being yet vnborne And againe Iustificati gratis per gratiam ipsius ne fides ipsa superba sit Nec dicat sibi quis si ex fide quomodo gratis quod enim fides meretur cur
as vnto euery faithfull receiuer wheresoeuer the visible signe is administred the inuisible grace signified is together exhibited by vertue of the Sacramentall vnion hauing dependance on Christs promise and reference to the condition of faith in the Communicant So such is the vnion betweene Christ and the beleeuer that wheresoeuer faith is there also is Christ with all his graces present to the beleeuer for hee dwels in our hearts by faith Ephes. 3. 17. Fourthly this vnion betweene Christ and the beleeuer is not naturall or natiue as Bernard cals it as that betweene the soule and the body in man because the one of them may be separated from the other by death but Christ and the beleeuer are neuer separated no not in death for to me to liue is Christ and to dye is gaine Phil. 1. 21. For who shall separate vs from the loue of Christ Rom. 8. 35. vers 38. I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. But herein they agree as the body hath no life but from the soule so the soule of euery faithfull man hath no life but in and from Christ as the Apostle saith Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ Neuerthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in mee and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who loued mee and gaue himselfe for me And as the soule and the body make one naturall man so Christ and the beleeuer make one spirituall and mysticall Christ and all beleeuers both of Iewes and Gentiles are made one new man not naturall but supernaturall in him Ephes. 2. 15. Fiftly this vnion between Christ and the beleeuer is not â—n artificiall vnion as that betweene the hand and the instrument of the Artificer for the instrument is subiect to wearing to breaking and at length to casting away when there is no more vse of it but we are so in the hand of Christ as we are preserued for euer as Ioh. 10. 28. I giue vnto them eternall life and they shall neuer perish neither shall any man plucke them out of my hand yet herein it agreeth that as the instrument can do nothing of it selfe not moue not work without the hand of the Artificer so we can do no good thing without the hand of Christ mouing and directing vs as himselfe saith Without mee ye can doe nothing for hee worketh in vs both to will and to worke of his good pleasure That as the Hatchet may not exalt it selfe against him that heweth with it but yeelds the praise of the worke to his workeman so saith euery faithfull soule as Esa. 26. 12. Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for vs for thou also hast wrought all our workes in vs or for vs. Sixtly this vnion betwixt Christ and euery beleeuer is not an accidentall vnion as betweene a man and learning whereby he becomes a learned man for an accident may be both present and absent without the destruction of the subiect as a man may be learned or vnlearned he may get learning and lose it againe and be a man still but the learning of the holy Ghost wherewith all the faithfull are inspired cannot be missing without destruction to the soule He is no faithfull man that wanteth the knowledge of God in Christ whom to know is eternall life and not to know is eternall death for all the faithfull are taught of God as Ier. 31. 33. 34. verses Yet herein doth our vnion with Christ resemble the accidentall vnion because as no man is borne learned or borne a Philosopher but is made so by education and instruction so no man is borne by nature the childe of God the scholar of Christ but in time becomes a Christian Philosopher by the instruction of the Word of God and the inspiration of the Spirit of God whereby hee is made a faithfull man and a Disciple of Christ. Seuenthly this vnion betweene Christ and the beleeuer is not a morall vnion such as is between friends which though it be founded at the best vpon vertue yet it is no lesse mortall than it is morall for if the friendship dye not before the friend dye yet death makes a separation as Dauid lamented the death of his louing friend Ionathan the memory of whom lasted for a while in Dauids kinde vsage of Mephibosheth Ionathans sonne but it soone cooled vpon a small occasion of Mephibosheths false seruant Ziba who by belying his master to Dauid got halfe his masters inheritance from him when himselfe deserued rather to haue beene punished for wronging his master than so rewarded for his dissembling officiousnesse in bringing a present to Dauid of his masters store So friendship is very mortall it dyes often in a mans life time or seldome suruiues death And therefore the Poet said well Foelices ter amplius Quos irrupta tenet copula Nec malis dâ—â—ulsus querimonijs Suprema citiùs soluet amor die O happy and thrice happy they Whom loues knot holds inuiolate Nor loosened till lifes last day By back-complaints begetting hate But the vnion betweene Christ and his faithfull ones though it be somewhat like that betweene morall friends but mortall men as being betweene Christ and his friends as he calleth his faithfull Ioh. 15. 15. I haue called you friends c. yet this friendship between Christ and his excelleth all other friendship The Philosophers could say Amicus est alter idem A friend is another selfe And Animus est non vbi animat sed vbi amat The soule is not where it liueth but where it loueth And Amicorum omnia sunt communia Betweene friends all things are common Now these in comparison as they are in practice amongst men are but in a manner meere sayings nominals rather than realls For as Salomon saith Most men will proclaime euery one his own goodnes but a faithfull man who can find Salomon found one among a thousand which I thinke was the Prophet that told him freely of his folly Such friends few can finde especially such as Salomon was But now whatsoeuer can be spoken in praise of friendship is really true betweene Christ and the beleeuer his faithfull man for they are so mutually each of them alter idem another selfe as that they are indeed oneselfe Their soules and spirits are so interchangeably in each other as the spirit of Christ doth really liue in vs and our soules doe liue in him Wee are in the Spirit and the Spirit of Christ in vs Rom. 8. 9. And Now I liue saith the Apostle yet not I but Christ liueth in mee and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who loued mee and gaue himselfe for mee Here is true loue indeede where the soule is not where it liueth but where
many fruits of faith many good workes of charity piety mercy hospitality obedience humility and the like yet none of these come within the account of his iustification in the sight of God For to him that worketh not but beleeueth on him that iustifieth the vngodly his faith is counted for righteousnesse Therefore though the Pontificians would neuer so faine foist and croud in by head and shoulders their workes comming after faith whereby they may be iustified yet they are all thrust out by the Apostle as those workers were shut out of Heauen by Christ Mat. 7. 22. 23. except they could either bring the Text within the compasse of their Index expurgatorius as they haue done the glosse and sentences of Fathers in the like kind or proue Abraham an vnregenerate person or force the Apostle to say that though Abraham were not iustified by workes but by faith yet Abraham was iustified first by faith and then by workes Yea but say they although Paul make no mention of Abrahams iustification by workes yet Iames another Apostle saith plainly Was not Abraham our father iustified by works when he had offered Isaac his sonne vpon the Altar Therefore Abraham was iustified not onely by faith but by works also Therefore to loose this Gordian knot wherein the Pontificians so much triumph wee will vse no other sword not Alexanders but the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God to cut it asunder At the first sight Paul and Iames seeme to be at great oddes the one ascribing iustification to faith without workes the other to faith and workes In both the Pontificians vnderstand one and the same iustification in kinde but to differ only in degree or order as Pauls iustification to be the first and that of Iames the second but both iustifying in the sight of God But we shall finde it far otherwise namely that these two Apostles doe speak of two different iustifications differing not in degree or order but in kinde and quality So that Paul speakes of that iustification whereby a man stands iust in the presence of God which is attributed to faith and not to workes at all and Iames of another iustification namely of a testification of a mans saith declaring a man to be a true beleeuer by good workes which are the proper fruits and effects of sauing and iustifying faith For if Iames should vnderstand by being iustified by faith and workes together such a iustification as makes a man iust in the sight of God then he should directly crosse his fellow-Apostle who shuts out all workes from hauing any thing to doe in our iustification in Gods sight For Paul saith Rom 4. 2. If Abraham were iustified by workes he hath whereof to glory but not before God But Iames saith Abraham was iustified by workes therefore this iustification of Abraham by workes was not that iustification which makes a man to reioyce before God to wit the iustification by faith which Paul directly opposeth to iustification by workes Rom. 4. Now that Iames speaketh of iustification by â—orkes and not by faith onely as vnderstanding a testification and demonstration of sound and sauing faith is euident by the whole passage of his second Chapter where the Apostle exhorting to workes of mercy and charity and meeting with false professors that turned the grace of God into wantonnesse professing they had faith but made no conscience of a Christian conuersation to testifie the truth and life of their faith by good workes hereupon he inferreth ver 14. What doth it profit my brethren though a man say hee hath faith and haue no workes can the faith saue him No that faith which is without workes is dead and cannot saue a man Yea such a faith is no better than that of Diuels Well yet thou saist thou hast faith But there is as well a dead faith as a liuing faith a faith common with Diuels as a faith proper to beleeuers a sauing faith as a deceiuing faith Shew mee therefore whether thou hast that liuing sauing faith of true beleeuers or no. It is not enough to say thou hast this faith vnlesse thou canst proue it It is one thing to say it another to haue it Now the proofe of it is by the fruits of it to wit good workes as the tree is knowne by the fruits For the liuing sauing Faith is not an idle but an operatiue working Faith it is a Faith euer working by loue Therefore as the man saith to his Neighbour vers 18. Thou hast Faith and I haue workes shew me thy Faith without thy workes and I will shew thee my faith by my workes In which words the Apostle puts a plaine difference betweene a dead and a liuing faith which yet we are not able to iudge of or to discerne one from another but by good workes and so speakes here of no other iustification by workes but only such as is declaratiue or demonstratiue in the sight of men as it is said here Shew me thy Faith by thy workes So that wee see here how it is the Apostles drift to discouer the true sauing liuing Faith from a false counterfeit and dead faith which notwithstanding vaine professors so much glory of Hereupon the Apostle instanceth the Faith of Abraham and Rahab which was proued to bee a liuing and sauing Faith by the fruits and effects of it Note the Apostles Context seriously and with iudgement In the 20. vers Wilt thou know O vaine man that Faith without workes is dead Was not Abraham our father iustified by workes when hee had offered Isaac his sonne vpon the Altar Seest thou how Faith wrought with his workes and by workes was Faith made perfect And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse and he was called the friend of God Ye see then how that by workes a man is iustified and not by Faith onely First Faith without workes is dead But Abraham was iustified by Faith But by what Faith Was it a liuing and sauing Faith that Abraham had Yes How doth that appeare By his workes euen by the workes of Faith which gaue testimony to his Faith that it was a liuing sauing and iustifying Faith for by workes his Faith was made perfect not that his workes added any being of perfection to his Faith but by way of demonstration and testimony onely As we haue the like phrase in Matth. 21. 16. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfited praise not that Gods praise and glory receiued any addition of perfection by the mouth of those babes but onely in respect of the promulgation and declaration of his praise So here As also the Apostle inferreth in the next words vers 23. Thus the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse Note here how Iames varieth not one iot from the truth of the Scripture which ascribeth iustification
to Abrahams Faith without workes for hee vseth the very same Scripture which Paul vseth to shew iustification by Faith without workes Yea but he addeth in the next verse Ye see then how that by workes a man is iustified and not by Faith only This conclusion seems to smile vpon the Papists but in truth it derides their folly for we see the Apostle doth no other here but conclude the former premises shewing what is that Faith which is imputed to a man for righteousnesse to wit not a dead and idle Faith but a liuing and working Faith testified by the proper fruits and effects of it good workes So that Abraham being said to be iustified by workes and not by Faith onely it is but to proue his Faith by his workes and that hee was declared to be iustified by Faith through the euidence of his workes whereby hee was declared iust in the sight of men to whom Faith comes to be testified only by good workes The like is to bee vnderstood of Rahabs iustification by workes for it is another instance seruing to the same purpose of the Apostle to distinguish a liuing and sauing Faith from a dead and vnprofitable Faith And this the Apostle concludeth together with the Chapter with a reason drawne from a similitude For saith hee as the body without the Spirit is dead euen so Faith without workes is dead also Note here how the Apostle most aptly concludeth the constant and vniforme current of this Chapter concerning the difference betweene a dead and a lining Faith which are as it were the two hinges of the Chapter As the body without the spirit is dead euen so Faith without workes is dead also The Pontificians vpon this place doe ground their informing of Faith by charity as if Faith were altogether without forme and life vntill charity be infused into it but their collection is most improper and swarueth not onely from the property of the comparison but also from the maine purpose of the Apostle For the Apostle saith As the body without the Spirit is dead he saith not As the body without the soule is dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without spirit or breath for so the word signifieth Now if they would herein as they doe vpon other occasions altogether impertinent consult with Philosophy it would tell them that there are three things concurring to the composition of a liuing man the soule the body and the spirit The soule is that which informeth and giueth life to the body but the spirit by which they say the soule body are vnited is that whereby also the man doth breathe and whereby he is knowne to liue For so long as there is breath in a man wee know him to be aliue when a man lyes in a swoune or trance without any motion to know whether he be dead or no we take a Chrystall glasse or such like to discerne whether hee breathe or no if he breathe not we giue him for dead but if he breathe neuer so little we know hee is yet a liuing man To this purpose doth our Apostle apply this comparison that as we cannot know a man from a dead carkasse but by his spirit or breathing so no more can wee know a liuing Faith from a dead Faith but by good workes which are as it were breathed from it Obiect But will some say The word vsed by St. Iames for spirit may be as well taken for the soule which giues life to the body for so it is often taken in Scripture for the soule as Luke 23. 46. and elsewhere Besides doe not most Interpreters take it generally for the soule Why should wee not then rather take it for the soule and spirit of a man that is within him than only for the breath which proceedeth from him Answ. I answer First as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken sometimes for the soule as well as for the spirit so also it is vsed sometime for breath or winde as our Sauiour alludeth Ioh 3. 8. And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken for the praecordia or lungs whence the breath is deriued But the question is how it is to be taken in this place of St Iames. For the true meaning of this word in that place wee must as in the true interpretation of other Scriptures obserue the tenure of the text and context Now the tenure of that whole Chapter of St. Iames is chiefly to discerne true Faith from counterfeit To demonstrate this he instanceth the body of a man Now by what speciall signe is the body of a man known to liue By the spirit saith S. Iames. What spirit the soule or the spirit within a man or his spirit to wit his breath for Spirit may signifie all these By that spirit which doth most liuely plainly shew a man to be aliue that is the breath For when all other signs do faile as speech and motion of any limbe or member in so much as a man is senselesse lyes for dead yet if he breathe it is an euident token that he yet liueth But when he comes once to be as the same Apostle saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without this spirit or breath then he is certainly dead Euen so Faith without the breathing of good workes is dead And this agreeth with that he saith there Shew mee thy Faith by thy workes The soule indeede giues the body to liue but it is the breath that shewes the body to liue when the soule cannot Therefore it seemeth to my reason an vndeniable conclusion that Saint Iames speakes there of the breath of the body the most demonstratiue signe of life And deuout Bernard also excellently to this purpose and place of Iames Vt corporis huius vitam ex motu suo dignoscimus ita fidei vitam ex operibus bonis As we discerne the life of this body of ours by the motion of it so also the life of faith by good workes Nor are we ignorant that St Augustine Lib. 83. quaestionum quaest 76. to reconcile these two Apostles saith that Paul speakes of workes done before faith and Iames of workes after faith which opinion and conceit of his although it not onely want but crosse the euidence of Scripture sith Abrahams offering vp his Sonne was a worke of and so after faith and yet did not iustifie him before God as Paul plainely teacheth and where Augustine doth neuer so little swarue from the Scripure we must craue leaue there to leaue him being else followers of him as he is of the Scriptures according to his owne law yet St. Augustine going about to reconcile Iames with Paul saith not there nor any where else in all his writings that good works done after Faith doe iustifie vs in the sight of God but only that they are necessary duties of euery true beleeuer Wee know also that Body in Scripture is often taken for the whole Compositum or the whole man or person consisting of soule and
body as Heb 10. 5. A body hast thou prepared me meaning the whole humanity of Christ. So Rom. 12. 1. I beseech you Brethren by the mercy of God that ye present your bodies a liuing sacrifice c. meaning the whole man the soule as well as the body for the body without the soule is not a liuing but a dead sacrifice So the Apostle here telleth vs that as the body to wit a man without the Spirit or without breathing is dead that is is knowne to be dead Euen so faith without workes is knowne to be a dead faith And so our Apostles conclusion here is a pregnant confirmation of what he had formerly said concerning the proofe and euidence of a sauing and liuing faith which is knowne and distinguished from an idle and dead faith onely by good workes by the working whereof faith is knowne to liue as a man by breathing So then it is cleare that Pauls iustification by faith excluding workes is that whereby wee are iustified truly and really in the sight and account of God and that other iustification which Iames speakes of wherein hee ioyneth workes with faith is onely a declaratiue iustification in the fight and account of men to whom wee manifect the truth of that faith whereby we are iustified in the sight of God by our good workes whereby men take notice that wee are true no counterfeit beleeuers Wee will conclude this place of St. Iames with the interpretation of Aquinas In Epist. Iacobi Cap. 2. Iacobus loquitur de operibus sequentibus fidem quae dicuntur iustificare non secundum quod iustificare dicitur infusio sed secundum quod dicitur iustitiae exercitatio vel ostensio vel consummatio res enim fieri dicitur quando perficitur innotescit Iames saith he speaketh of workes following faith which are said to iustifie not in that sense that iustification is called infusion but in that it is called the exercise or manifestation or perfection of righteousnesse for a thing is said to be done when it is perfected and made manifest In the last place the Pontificians alledge Paul to the Galathians where say they speaking of iustification by faith without the workes of the Law hee meaneth yea and mentioneth the ceremonials of the Law as Circumcision therfore hee doth not thereby exclude from Iustification the workes of grace done in vs and by vs. I answer first their allegation is false for the Apostle thereby the Law or the workes of the Law meaneth not only the ceremonials but the very morals of the Law as Gal. 3. 10. for it is written Cursed is euery one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Booke of the Law to doe them All things exclude nothing Secondly he speaketh of the workes of the Law both ceremoniall and morall as they are done euen by the faithfull and regenerate also and not onely by others that euen in that respect they iustifie not in the sight of God To this end the Apostle saith Gal. 3. 11. But that no man is iustified by the Law in the sight of God it is euident for the iust shall liue by faith No man is iustified by the Law therefore not the regenerate not Abraham though hee did workes of the Law for he had the Law already written in the tables of his heart before it came to be written in stone But say they Abraham was iustified through workes True But how iustified In the sight of God No saith our Apostle No man is iustified by the Law in the sight of God In the sight of man he may as St. Iames meaneth but not in the sight of God as St. Paul plainely expresseth both here in the forenamed place to the Romanes Rom 4. 2. If Abraham were iustified by workes hee hath whereof to glory but not before God So that the Scripture in two most euident and pregnant testimonies excludes all iustification by workes yea by any workes in the sight of God and before God that by two witnesses of holy Scripture this word of grace of iustification by Faith excluding all workes whatsoeuer ceremoniall or morall yea euen in the regenerate themselues as was faithfull Abraham the type of all the faithfull might be established against all Popish Sophistrie and doctrines of Diuels Thirdly admit the Apostle meant only legall Ceremonies not morall Duties though the contrary is manifest yet of those Ceremonies Circumcision is nominated by the Apostle for one speciall one Of which he saith Gal. 5. 2. Behold I Paul say vnto you that if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Circumcision then is vtterly excluded from Iustification and to depend vpon it makes a man a debtor to the whole Law Gal. 5. 3. But will some say for a Christian as these Galathians were to hold the necessity of Circumcision still together with Baptisme makes Christ vnprofitable and himselfe a debtor to the whole Law But did not Circumcision iustifie the Iewes before the vse of Baptisme as Baptisme doth now iustifie comming in the stead of Circumcision Surely much alike For if Baptisme now iustifieth as Pontificians teach ex opere operato then Circumcision once iustified which the same Pontificians deny But if Circumcision did not iustifie the Iewes as the Apostle affirmeth and Papists themselues confesse then Baptisme doth no more iustifie Christians Seeing that Baptisme is the same and no other to vs than Circumcision was to the Iewes though Papists put a great difference betweene them saying that the Sacraments of the New Testament do conferre grace ex opere operato but the Sacraments of the Old not so Wherein as in other doctrines of the mysterie of godlinesse they bewray their grosse ignorance But this by the way But now if circumcision and other ceremonials of the Law of God be excluded from hauing any thing to doe in our iustification in the sight of God by the obseruation of them then what part can Popish Ceremonies beeing not the ordinances of God but the inuentions of men yea most of them the doctrines of Diuels what part I say can these challenge in the worke of Iustification How shall the going a Pilgrimage to such a Shrine or to Rome in their yeare of Iubilee or the obseruation of Canonicall houres for reciting prayers not vnderstood or saying ouer by the Bead row so many Pater-nosters and Aue-Maries before such or such an Image or buriall in a Friars Cowle and a thousand such trumperies and meere mockeries yet all of them very meritorious with that notorious Meretrix of Rome how shall these things come-in for a share in Iustification Lastly wee may obserue how the Apostle as to the Romanes so to the Galathians doth oppose the Law and Faith as Gal. 3. 12. The Law is not of Faith But in what respect doth he oppose them first in respect of their natures the one consisting in working the other in beleeuing as Rom. 4. 5. To him that worketh not
but beleeueth c. Secondly in respect of their opposite conditions The condition of the Law is Doe this and liue but the law of Faith is Beleeue and liue as the Apostle declares at large Rom. 10. 4. c. Now all this opposition between the Law and Faith is mainely in the point of Iustification There is a Iustification by the Law a Iustification by Faith but so opposite and incompatible as they can in no wise bee reconciled together the one doth necessarily exclude the other Oyle and vineger cannot bee mingled together but the one will euer floate aboue the other and admit of no mixture so the oyle of grace and of faith can abide no mixture with the sharpe vineger of that killing letter the Law in the worke of iustification in Gods sight vnlesse where the Law is entirely and exactly kept in all points But otherwise the Law and Faith the Law and the Gospell doe sweetly conspire together For as for the Ceremonies of the Law in as much as they were types all answering to the patterne of heauenly things shewed to Moses in the Mount which patterne was Christ as the Apostle to the Hebrewes most diuinely sheweth those Ceremonies those Types are now all swallowed vp and for euer fulfilled in the substance and truth which is Christ And as for the morall Law it is made subordinate to the Faith of the Gospell so that in euery beleeuer it is the rule of Christian obedience and holy conuersation And therefore when the Law was giuen in Mount Sinai Iesus Christ stands at the top saying I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage Thou shalt haue no other Gods but me c. Now what deliuerance was this A temporall deliuerance only No it was a liuely type of our spirituall freedome from the Egyptian seruitude of sinne and Sathan witnesse the Pascall Lambe which slaine the blood sprinkled saued the Israelites which was a type of the Lambe of God that taketh away the sins of the world And the Sea diuided a type of Baptisme sauing the soule and drowning sinne together with the power of darkenesse Pharaoh and his Hoast So that howsoeuer the giuing of the Law was with much terrour in regard of the manner yet in regard of the matter being well vnderstood it must needes bee most comfortable to all the faithfull who beleeue in Iesus Christ the Deliuerer from Egypt who hath freed vs from the curse of the Law and will worke in vs both to will and to doe the duties of the Law as fruits of faith euen of his good pleasure Indeed that notable and excellent Preface to the Morall law I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt c. to the common carnall and vnbeleeuing Iewes was a Riddle but to the Eagle-ey'd Beleeuer Iew or Gentile it is a most cleere Gospell setting forth what Iesus Christ hath done for vs and consequently what wee should doe for him that as wee beleeue in him who hath saued and redeemed vs out of the house of bondage and from the seruitude of the spirituall Pharaoh so wee should testifie this our faith in louing fearing seruing and obeying him in keeping those commandements of Loue written not with pen and inke but with the finger of Gods spirit not in tables of stone but in the fleshie tables of our hearts As it is in the Song of Zachary That wee being deliuered from the hands of our enemies should serue him without feare in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Therefore seruants were called à seruando as being saued by those to whom therefore they did owe their seruice In this respect the Law and Faith the Law and the Gospell are not opposite but sweetely subordinate the one vnto the other that as Christ hath saued vs from the curse of the Law so he propounds himselfe to be serued of vs by conformity to the Law in a Christian conuersation So that the Tree of life sweetning these waters of Marah Iesus Christ sweetning and sanctifying the Law vnto vs wee drinke thereof with comfort to strengthen vs in our way to Canaan through this wearisome Wildernesse As Dauid saith I will runne the way of thy Commandements when thou hast enlarged my heart So that Faith and the Law to wit the obedience of Gods will are sweete yea inseparable companions and goe hand in hand together throughout the whole Pilgrimage of this life but in the worke of our Iustification in the sight of God they are meere strangers one vnto the other yea sworne opposites that can neuer be reconciled though the Pontificians would neuer so faine ioyne together Faith Gods Arke and their owne worke Dagon in their Temple to stand as copartners in their iustification But Dagon fals downe where the Arke standeth yea hee loseth his head all deuices to pleade for himselfe and his hands too that hee cannot doe one good deede towards his Iustification but remaines a meere trunck and senslesse blocke And as the Philistims while they boasted they had gotten the Arke of God to their Dagon were not free but the more followed with diuine vengeance So the Pontificians while they bragge of faith and good workes as concurring in iustification they are so farre from being saued from Gods wrath as that they doe the more incense him against themselues Nor shall they euer bee free from feeling and fearing Gods plagues till with the Philistims they send home the Lords Arke with a sinne-offring that is vntil they repent of this their profanation of the Faith of Christ which is that onely wherein Israel must be saued renouncing their own workes as hauing no more hands than Dagon left them for to worke their iustification in the sight of God CHAP. X. A plausible obiection of the Pontificians for the confirmation of their Iustification by inherent righteousnesse answered and diuers reasons added to shew the absurdities of Iustification by inherencie BVt the Pontificians in the behalfe of their iustification by inherent righteousnesse obiect What difference is there say they betweene Gods pardoning our debts and giuing vs money to pay them A pretty deuice indeede For so long as they can colour and varnish ouer their hypocrisie by seeming to ascribe the glory of their inherent iustification to God they thinke all is well enough and if probability might stand for proofe our penny of inherent righteousnesse might proue as good siluer to satisfie for our debts to God as the price of Christs bloud payde for vs and imputed to vs. But let Baal pleade for himselfe seeing he is a God And for the deciding of this doubt we haue a leading case in the Gospell that will easily stint the strife The case is betweene the Pharisee and the Publican both went vp to the Temple to pray The Pharisee prayed thus Lord I thanke thee I am not as other
men extortioners vniust adulterers or euen as this Publican I fast twice in the weeke I giue tithe of all that I possesse See what notable vertues here be in this Pharisee But was he therefore or thereby iustified No the Publican rather But his pride ouerthrew all Yet did he not ascribe his vertues to the worke of God in him for hee thanked God Whereupon Augustine saith Pharisaeus gratias Deo agendo ab eo se accepisse omnia fateâ—atur tamen improbatus est The Pharisee in giuing thankes to God acknowledgeth hee had receiued all things of him and yet he was vnapproued And againe Pharisaeus ille superbe quidem iustum se dicebat sed tamen Deo gratias agebat The Pharisee proudly said he was iust and yet he gaue thankes to God And in another place Magis iustificatus descendit de Temple Publicanus ille peccatorum confessione sollicitus quà m Pharisaeus meritorum enumeratione securus quamuis ipse gratias egit Deo The Publican went downe from the Temple more iustified being carefull in confessing his sinnes than the Pharisee who was secure in numbring vp his merits although hee gaue thankes to God for them And so to these two Augustine doth apply that saying in the blessed Virgins song He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich hee hath sent empty away Now the Pontificians may easily see their owne face in this Pharisee They will be iustified by their inherent righteousnesse But that is derogatory to Gods glory But they giue thanks to God for their inherent righteousnes ascribing it to his gift So did the Pharisee Was he therefore iustified Yea St. Ambrose goes a little further who speaking of this Pharisee and his proud confession saith Aduertit hoc Diabolus perfundit eum vlcere graui vt non teneret caput mente carnis inflatus in eo in quo laudabilis fore crederetur ibi reprehensibilior iudicaretur Agebat enim gratias Deo quod non esset raptor adulter iniustus Quâ—m noxie ei luctatus est serpâ—ns graâ—â—bus â—um spirit ligauit studet enim supplantare Diabolus bonis operibus intentos Denique probabilior Pharisaeus ingressus est Templum quà m Publicanus condemnatus exiuâ— The Diuell obserues this and fils him with a grieuous vlcer that he should not hold the head being puffed vp with a carnall minde and wherein he thought to be commended there he was iudged the more worthy to be reproued for hee gaue thankes to God that hee was no extortioner adulterer vniust How dangerously did the serpent incounter him and bound him with grieuous chaines for the Diuell studies to supplant those that are intent and wedded to their good workes whereby to be iustified before God Whence we may obserue what a dangerous doctrine that of the Pontificians is in seeking to be iustified by their inherent righteousnesse howsoeuer they would seeme to acknowledge God the author of it So that by St. Ambrose his doctrine they that hold this hold not the head which is Christ as the Apostle also speaks They are puffed vp with a fleshly mind They are bound in Satans chains The Diuell fils them full of vlcers and they goe away not iustified but condemned And Gregory saith Propriam laudem quaerunt ex Dei donis They seeke their owne praise by the gifts of God But let vs more particularly examine the former obiection although it be grounded vpon carnall reason What difference say they between God pardoning our debt and giuing vs money to pay it What difference very great For first it is no where written in Gods Word that God enableth man by his grace to pay his owne debt to God But that God pardoneth our debts is euery where in the Word and wee are taught daily to pray Forgiue vs our debts The debter in the Gospell that ought his Lord ten thousand Talents but had not to pay How did hee satisfie his Lord hee humbleth himselfe and desireth his patience and hee would pay him all How Pay him all when hee had nothing to pay Yes if his Lord bee patient towards him if hee haue compassion on him and forgiue him the debt as he did But for God to enable a man to pay his owne debt to God is as nouell a doctrine as it is a thing vncouth and vnheard of among men that a creditor should giue his debtor so much money as to discharge his debt in stead of forgiuing the debt So that the ground of this obiection is absurd euen among men much more with God Againe the graces of God are neuer giuen vs for this end that wee should satisfie Gods iustice thereby but to glorifie his mercy and sanctifie his name in the vse of them Thirdly the debt wherewith Gods iustice is satisfied must bee of an infinite value euen as his iustice is infinitely offended The only price of this satisfaction is the bloud of Christ our God and Sauionr This blood is of infinite value to satisfie Gods iustice because it is the bloud of God Acts 20. 28. But there is nothing inherent in vs no grace no vertue although infused into vs by the merit of this bloud shed and dipped and dyed in it as Pontificians play vpon it that can be of an infinite value For God cannot make vs who are creatures to bee Gods infinite with himselfe the Creator But if God should enable vs to satisfie for our selues and to pay our owne debts to God it were to make Gods of vs. None can satisfie God for mans sinne but onely God God-man Iesus Christ. Doe we euer reade that God made man to be his owne Sauiour as Pontificians blasphemously auouch I euen I am the Lord saith God and besides mee there is no Sauiour No Sauiour then but the Lord God This is peculiar and proper to Christ alone Acts 4 12. There is no other name vnder Heauen giuen amongst men whereby we must be saued neither is there saluation in any other Saluation then is in Christ alone in vs therefore it is not In vs it is not to pay our debt for the least sinne we cannot answer him one for a thousand as Iob saith How should man beiust with God If hee will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand So that for a man to say he is iustified by his owne inherent workes though flowing from Christs merits is to make a Christ of himselfe He that aduanceth his graces receiued of God to such a high pitch as to esteeme them satisfactory to Gods iustice is to make the gifts of God to bee so many Gods As Ambrose saith Inexcusabiles facti sunt qui Deos sibi Dei dona fecâ—runt quae creata erant ad vtendum venerati sunt ad colendum They are become inexcusable who of Gods gifts haue made Gods to themselues and those things which were created to bee vsed they adore
them as an Idoll Onely Christ is that sacred and mysticall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that fish in whom is found our tribute-money to satisfie the Maiesty of God This money must bee stamped no where but in Gods owne Mint as the pure siluer Oare of it is no where found but in Gods owne Mynes the holy Scriptures no other Image or Superscription must be vpon it but that of Iesus Christ and none may tender or offer it vp to God but onely Christ. 1. Tim. 2. 6. There is one God and one Mediator betweene God and man the man Christ Iesus who gaue himselfe a ransome for all This pure ransome more pure more precious than gold will endure no mixture no allay of any other mettals much lesse of any drosse But inherent righteousnesse in vs though dipped in Christs bloud as hauing receiued a tincture from it as they say if wee offer it to God for currant payment hee will easily perceiue it counterfeit coine of our owne mynting of our owne inuenting no better than Alcumy little siluer but much drosse in it euen the drosse of humane inuention and corruption which if it bee brought to Gods touch turnes colour if put in the Skale of the Sanctuary is found too light if cast into the Test of Gods fiery iustice it is blown all away in smoke As Esay saith Thy siluer is become drosse thy wine mixt with water And as Ieremy saith Reprobate siluer shall men call them because the Lord hath reiected them Our inherent righteousnesse call it Christs merits or what you will is at the best but as Piscis in arido The fish while it is in the sea liueth moueth is full of strength and agility but vpon the dry land it straight loseth all his vigour motion and life it selfe and quickly putrefieth euen so the merits and righteousnesse of Christ being in him as in their proper element are most liuely and vigorous strong and auaileable to satisfie Gods iustice and to plunge all our sinnes into the deepe bottome of the bottomlesse deepe of his mercies by that sweete smelling sacrifice of himselfe once offered but take any part of these merits of Christ out of him and put them into our dry and parched sandy soules and they become of no life of no validity to make the least satisfaction for the least sinnes yea in this respect they stinke in the nostrils of God Our soules are but broken Cisternes to contain this pure water of life God could neuer yet finde any thing in vs in vs I say but onely faith whereby to iustifie vs and this faith not as a worke of ours iustifying vs but as an instrument applying Christ by whom in whom and for whom wee are iustified If God iustifie vs for righteousnesse inherent or dwelling in vs then God should bee said to iustifie the godly but the Scripture saith otherwise That God iustifieth the vngodly Rom. 4. 5. Now to him that worketh not but beleeueth on him that iustifieth the vngodly his faith is counted for righteousnesse where faith being opposed to working cannot be said to iustifie as it is a work A notable testimony to proue that our iustification is not from within vs but from without vs not in vs but on vs not of him that worketh but of him that beleeueth in him that iustifieth Whom the godly Nay but the vngodly As Augustine saith Tu Domine benedicis iustum sed eum prius iustificaa impium Thou Lord doest blesse the iust but first he being vngodly thou iustifiest him As if hee had said Being first vngodly thou diddest iustifie him and then being iust thou Lord doest blesse him How then comes this forraine righteousnesse vpon an vngodly man The Apostle sheweth His faith is counted for righteousnesse How His faith layes hold on Christ who is the Lord our righteousnesse being made vnto vs of God wisedome and righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption that according as it is written He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. But will the Pontifician say Doe you call the graces of Christ in vs counterfeit coyne drosse reprobate siluer c. Yes if ye reckon it for pay to satisfie Gods iustice withall in this sense in vs it is meere counterfeit drosse reprobate siluer coyned in the Mint of Satans forgeries It is but as the Sunne-beame vpon a dung-hill raysing vp a stinking vapour in stead of a sweete odour in Gods nostrils But the graces of God in vs flowing from our head Christ Iesus in whom wee are first iustified by faith are the matter of our sanctification and the consequent fruits and effects of our iustification Thus they are a Well of liuing waters springing vp in vs vnto eternall life Thus they are a garden of spices yea of costly Spicknard yeelding a fragrant smell while the Sunne of righteousnesse shines vpon them Thus are they more pure and precious than gold yea than much fine gold Thus are they so many precious stones to paue our way that leades to the Kingdome of Heauen Yea thus so many peerelesse Pearles which adorne our Crowne of grace here and shall much more gloriously imbellish and beautifie our Crowne of glory hereafter Thus all our good works and words and thoughts are precious euen in Gods sight through Christ. They will stand before his mercy seate but they dare not stand before the Tribunall of his strict and seuere iustice They dare come before God as a proofe of our faith and obedience but not as a price of our sinne and disobedience And at the best cause we haue to pray Gods mercy for them but in no case to pay his iustice with them Now there be many reasons why inherent righteousnesse is no formall cause of our iustification in the sight of God First because it is a meere humane inuention It hath no warrant in Gods Word and consequently no warrant at all Will the Pontificians herein as they are willing in other things stand to the iudgement of their father Aristotle Hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All things are better determined according to the Law than according to mans will for it is no sure rule Tertullian said of an errour of Hermogenes about the creation of the world of a pre-existent matter Scriptum esse doceat Hermogenis officina Si non est scriptum timeat Let the shop of Hermogenes shew this to be written If it be not written let him feare Now iustification is a fundamentall doctrine that cannot stand but vpon the Sciptures Iustification is by faith and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God The word is neare thee euen in thy mouth and in thy heart that is the word of faith which we preach for with the heart man beleeueth to righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made to saluation Let Pontificians feare to frame such a iustification as they finde not in the Scriptures Secondly because inherent righteousnesse doth not only
remains for me no hope of saluation but in the sole mercy of Iesus Christ. So that the very Arch-Pontificians themselues in their death when their conscience is made their iudge renounce their own Doctrine seeme to desire to dye good Protestants like Balaam who wished he might dye the death of the righteous But I cānot see by what way such dubbling Wanderers can come to heauen because as in their life they denyed the doctrine of Faith so in their death they are for ought wee may deeme deuoyd of the duety of charity Dye they not in a most preposterous malice and enuy They would goe to Heauen but would pull the Ladder after them lest the simple people should follow them So the Hypocriticall Pharisees who shut vp the Kingdome of Heauen against men neither going in themselues nor suffering those that would to enter in Thus the Testimony of Romane Catholickes themselues may bee sufficient to conuince the vanitie and falshood of their iustification by their inherent righteousnesse But yet for more confirmation of the truth and confutation of this damnable doctrine of Popery let vs take a briefe view of the faith and opinion which the Saints of God from time to time haue had concerning their owne inherent righteousnesse Abraham the father and figure of the faithfull for all his workes yet was not iustified by them in the sight of God as the Apostle testifieth of him Rom. 4. 2. for if Abraham were iustified by workes he hath whereof to glory but not before God This onely testimony might stand for all to proue wherein the righteousnesse of all the faithfull consisteth whereby they stand iust in the sight of God to wit not in their inherent righteousnesse but in the onely righteousnesse of Christ imputed and by faith applied Thus Iob confessed he stood iustified Iob 9 2. How should man be iust with God if he will contend with him hee cannot answer him one of a thousand And ver 20. If I iustifie my selfe mine owne mouth shall condemne me if I say I am perfect it shall also proue me peruerse And Chapt. 25. 4. How can man bee iustified with God yea Chapt. 9. 15. whom saith he though I were righteous yet would I not answer but I would make supplication to my Iudge Indeede towards his friends he stands stoutly in the iustification of himselfe namely of his integrity and sincerity and that hee was no hypocrite as they no lesse vncharitably than vntruely charged him but towards God he beares himself farre otherwise before him he humbles himselfe he makes supplication to his Iudge saith Chap. 9. 30. If I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands neuer so cleane yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch and mine owne clothes shall abhorre me for he is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in iudgement And Chapt. 10. 14. If I sinne then thou markest mee and thou wilt not acquite me from mine iniquity If I bee wicked woe vnto me and if I be righteous yet will I not lift vp my head I am full of confusion c. But had Iob no good workes Yes looke vpon his life described in his 29. 30 31. Chapters Hee was an eye to the blinde and a foote to the lame a deliuerer of the poore fatherlesse and friendlesse from the oppressor breaking the iawes of the wicked and plucking the spoile out of his teeth He wept for him that was in trouble and his soule was grieued for the poore And though hee were a great man a wise man a Prince yet hee ate not his morcels alone but the poore and fatherlesse fed with him The naked limmes blessed him being warmed with the fleece of his sheepe What sinne was Iob addicted to and what actions of piety and mercy did he not abound in Insomuch as in respect of his sincerity and integrity of heart hee durst say If I haue walked with vanity or if my foote hath hasted to deceit let me be weighed in an euen ballance that God may know mine integrity And God knew his integrity giuing testimony vnto it that he was a man perfect and vpright and one that feared God and eschued euill Yet all this righteousnesse Iob renounceth when he comes to the strict tryall of Gods Tribunall For comming to stand in Gods presence he saith Chapt 42. 5. I haue heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore I abhorre my selfe and repent in dust and ashes An admirable type of a faithfull man not trusting in his owne inherent righteousnesse but in the onely mercy of God through Christs merits whereby onely he stands iustified in the sight of God Was not Dauid also a holy man an honest hearted man after Gods owne heart yet he professeth Psal. 71. 15. c. My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousnesse and thy saluation all the day for I know not the numbers that is the perfections thereof I will goe in the strength of the Lord God and will make mention of thy righteousnesse euen of thine onely And in the beginning of the same Psalme In thee O Lord haue I put my trust let me neuer bee put to confusion deliuer me in thy righteousnesse And Psalme 89. 16. speaking in the name of all the faithfull he saith In thy name shall they reioyce all the day and in thy righteousnesse shall they make their boast And vpon the 32. Psalme Paul hath these words as a Commentary of Dauids words Rom. 4. 6. Euen as Dauid also describeth the blessednesse of the man vnto whom God imputeth righteousnesse without workes saying Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiuen and whose sinnes are couered Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sinne But Dauid disclaimeth the iustification of all inherent righteousnesse in the sight of God Psal. 143. Heare my prayer O Lord giue eare to my supplication in thy faithfulnesse answer me and in thy righteousnesse And enter not into iudgement with thy seruant for in thy sight shall no man liuing be iustified And Psalme 30. If thou Lord shouldst marke iniquities O Lord who shall stand But there is forgiuenesse with thee that thou mayst be feared So Esay that Euangelicall Prophet aduanceth Gods righteousnesse and disauoweth mans righteousnesse Esay 54. 17. This is the heritage of the seruants of the Lord and their righteousnesse is of me saith the Lord. Yea say the Pontificians our inherent righteousnesse is of the Lord. Nay saith Esay chapt 64. 6. We are all as an vncleane thing and all our righteousnesse are as filthy rags Yea say the Pontificians before we be regenerate and be in Christ. But Esay speaketh of the Church of the Iewes of the circumcised to whom circumcision was a signe of regeneration and of Gods Couenant of grace and a seale of faith and Esay puts himselfe in the number Was Esay now vnregenerate And in the name of
himselfe and the whole Church of the Iewes hee renounceth all inherent righteousnesse as filthy rags in no sort to bee patched and pieced to that garment of saluation to that robe of righteousnesse namely Christs righteousnesse imputed and put vpon vs by the hand of faith wherein Esay and all the faithfull reioyce as hee saith Esa. 61. 10. I will greatly reioyce in the Lord my soule shall be ioyfull in my God for he hath clothed me with the garments of saluation he hath couered me with the robe of righteousnesse as a Bridegroome decketh himselfe with ornaments and as a Bride adorneth her selfe with her Iewels And in the 43. of Esay vers 25. 26. there is a flat opposition betweene Gods mercy and our workes in iustification I euen I am hee that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine owne sake and will not remember thy sins But may not our workes come in as sharers with Gods mercies What workes The Prophet addeth in Gods person Put me in remembrance let vs pleade together declare thou that thou mayst be iustified If God pleade with vs in iudgement we haue no euidence of any workes in vs whereby to be iustified in his sight But our workes and obedience to Gods lawes are called our righteousnesse As Matth. 5. 20. Except your righteousnesse exceede the righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees yee cannot enter into the Kingdome of God I answer this place may well be vnderstood of Euangelicall righteousnesse opposite to that legall righteousnesse of the Scribes and Pharisees and so Christ points vs to the righteousnesse of faith in him But admit our workes be called our righteousnesse what then doth it follow that this is our righteousnesse to iustifie vs in the sight of God Nothing lesse For Moses saith speaking of obedience to Gods commandements Deut. 9. Speake not thou in thy heart after that thou art come to possesse that good Land saying For my righteousnesse the Lord hath brought me in to possesse this Land No faith Moses vnderstand that the Lord thy God giueth thee not this good Land to possesse it for thy righteousnesse Now the Land of Canaan was a type of Gods Kingdome which wee cannot come to possesse by our own inherent righteousnesse Whereupon St Ambrose in his enarration vpon the 43. Psalme but according to our accompt 44. v. 3. They got not the Land in possession by their owne sword c. saith Patres nostri vtpote proximi haeredes Patriarcharum plantati in terra repromissionis non suis hoc meritis vindicabant Our fathers to wit the next successours and heires of the Patriarches beeing planted in the Land of promise did not claime this as due to their merits Ideo nec Moses cos induxit ne Legis hoc existimetur esse sed gratiae Lex enim merita examinat gratia fidem spectat Therefore saith he neither did Moses bring them in thither that it might not be reckoned as the worke of the Law but of Grace for the Law examineth workes or merits but Grace respecteth faith Therefore as not Moses but Iosua or Iesus forso was his Name was appointed to bring the children of Israel into the possession of Canaan the Land of promise which importeth also the Land of mercy or of grace So not the Law giuen by Moses but Iesus Christ by whom came grace and truth hee our true Ioshua bringeth his people into the possession of grace and glory Ergo qui non in brachio suo hoc est in sua operatione praesumit sed in Dei gratia credens quòd non facta sua vnumquemque iustificant sed fides prompta dicit Domino Tues ipse Rex meus Deus meus qui mandas salutes Iacob Therefore saith holy Ambrose he that presumeth not in his owne arme that is in his workes but in the grace of God beleeuing that not a mans workes but his prompt and cleare faith doth iustifie him this man saith vnto the Lord Thou art my King and my God that commandest saluation for Iacob True it is that the same Father in another place saith Sola fides non sufficit operari per dilectionem c. Sole faith is not sufficient it is necessary that faith worke by loue and conuerse worthy of God And a little after Festinemus c. Let vs hasten to enter into that rest because faith is not sufficient but a life beseeming faith must be added and great care vsed that faith bee not idle For it is necessary for euery one that would possesse Heauen to adorne his faith with good workes So he True a most pious and Christian speech but in all this he saith not that faith alone is not sufficient to iustifie vs in the sight of God and so to bring vs to the possession of Heauen for then hee should contradict himselfe elsewhere where hee saith Sublatis omnibus operibus legis sola fides posita est ad salutem All the workes of the law being remoued onely faith takes place in our saluation Marke he saith Sola fides onely faith And againe the same Father saith elsewhere Non operibus iustificamur sed fide quonâ—am carnalis infirmitas operibus impedimento est sed fidei claritas factorum obumbrat errorem quae meretur veniam delictorum We are not iustified saith he by workes but by faith because the infirmity of the flesh is an impediment to workes but the glory of faith doth couer the errour of our workes which faith obtaineth remission of sinnes And againe Infirmitas excludit à venia fides excusat à culpa Our infirmity excludeth vs from pardon and faith excuseth vs from blame And setting downe his peremptory iudgement grounded vpon Scripture he saith Arbitramur secundum Apostolum iustificari hominem per fidem sine operibus legis Iustificetur ergo ex fide Dauid qui per legem peccatum agnouit sed peccati veniam ex fide credidit Wee definitiuely conclude saith hee according to the Apostle that a man is iustified by faith without the workes of the law Therefore let Dauid be iustified by faith who by the law acknowledged his sinne and by faith beleeued the pardon of his sinne And againe elsewhere Deus clementia bonitatis suae semper homini procurans vt quod sine lege peccatum erat in lege posset deleri hoc decreuit vt solam fidem poneret per quam omnium peccata abolerentur That is God by the clemency of his goodnesse alwayes prouiding for man that both sinne committed without law and in the law might be blotted out hath made this decree to appoint sole faith whereby all mens sinnes might be abolished Now compare these iudicious sayings of this holy man with that hee said formerly that sole faith is not sufficient but a good life must be added and it will plainly appeare that he speakes of faith alone as sufficient to iustifie vs in the sight of God and to
procure vs the possession of heauen yet hee meanes not a solitary and dead faith but such a faith as is a liuing and sauing faith working by loue which hath as well a worke of sanctification in a holy life amongst men as of iustification by a holy beliefe in the sight of God For there is frequent mention of a twofold righteousnesse in the workes of ancient Fathers The one of iustification before God which is the righteousnesse of faith the other of iustification before men which is the righteousnesse of workes This second is via regni the way to the kingdome that other of faith is causâ—â—egnandi the cause of our reigning in this kingdome Saint Paul also disclaimeth all his former Phâ—risaicall life which as touching the Law was vnreprouable calling and accounting it but drosse and dung Nay now after his conuersion hauing walked holily and faithfully in his Apostolicall vocation and Ministery so that he knew nothing by himselfe yet what saith he Although I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not therby iustified but he that iudgeth me is the Lord. And renouncing all his inherent righteousnesse all his desire was to bee found in Christ not hauing his owne righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith To omit the multitude of testimonies of holy men of God the fathers of the Church from time to time who in their writings doe renounce their own inherent righteousnesse as iustifying them in the sight of God Let vs for conclusion of this point adde a few memorable sayings vttered by dying men such as were of a holy life conuersation now agoing to appear before the dreadfull Tribunall of Gods most strict and vnpartiall iudgment now sealing vp their faith with their last breath Possidonius in his 27. Chapter of the life of Augustine tels a memorable story Augustine saith he told vs that hee heard a most wise and pious answer of Ambrose of blessed memory drawing neare his end which he much praised and commended for when that venerable Father lay vpon his death-bed and was desired of the faithfull standing about his bed with teares that hee would aske of the Lord a longer time of his Pilgrimage here he answered them I haue not so liued as that I am ashamed to continue amongst you nor yet am I affraid to dye because we haue a good Master And herein saith Possidonius our Augustine now aged did admire and praise his words as refined in the fire and weighed in the ballance For therefore is hee to be vnderstood to say Nor doe I feare to dye because wee haue a good Master lest he might be thought to trust and presume too much vpon his most sanctified life But I haue not so liued that I am ashamed to liue among you this he said in regard of that which one man might know of another for knowing the tryall of diuine iustice he said he relyed more vpon the goodnesse of his Lord than vpon his owne merits to whom also he prayed daily in the Lords Prayer Forgiue vs our debts c. Bernard when hee seemed to drawe his last breath being in a trance he thought he was presented before the Tribunall of his Lord And Sathan also stood opposite against him charging him with many wicked accusations And when hee had prosecuted all to the full then the man of God was to pleade for himselfe And being no whit terrified or troubled he said I confesse I am vnworthy nor can I obtaine the Kingdome of Heauen by mine owne merits But my Lord obtaining it by a double right to wit by the inheritance of his Father and by the merit of his passion contenting himselfe with the one hee bestoweth the other vpon mee by whose gift claiming it as mine owne right I am not confounded At this word the enemy went away confounded There is extant an exhortation of Anselme to a dying brother set downe in most sweet words When any brother seemeth to be extremely oppressed it stands both with piety and prudence that he be exercised by a Prelate or some other Priest with these questions and exhortations vnder written And first let him be demanded Brother doest thou reioyce that thou shalt dye in the faith and let him answer I do Confesse that thou hast not liued so wel as thou shouldest I confesse it Doest thou repent of it I doe repent Hast thou a will and purpose to amend if thou shouldst haue time to liue longer Yes Doest thou beleeue that the Lord Iesus Christ the Sonne of God dyed for thee I beleeue it Doest thou beleeue thou canst not bee saued but by his death Yea. Doest thou from thy heart thank him for this I doe Giue therefore while there is life in thee alwayes thankes vnto him and put thy whole trust in this his onely death Commit thy selfe wholly to his death Couer thy whole selfe with this death and wrap thy selfe wholly in it And if the Lord goe about to iudge thee say Lord I put the death of our Lord Iesus Christ betweene me and thy iudgment otherwise I will not contend with thee If he shall say that thou hast deserued damnation say thou I set the death of our Lord Iesus Christ betweene mee and my illdeseruings and assigne me the merit of his most precious passion for my merit which I my selfe should haue had but alas haue not Let him say againe I put the death of our Lord Iesus Christ betweene mee and thy wrath Let him also say three times O Lord into thy hands I commend my spirit And let those that stand about him answer Into thy hands O Lord we commend his spirit And he shall dye secure and shall neuer see death The same Anselme in his meditations as it were setting himselfe before the Tribunall of Gods iudgement whereby he declareth that neither the life of the regenerate nor good workes can stand against diuine iustice but onely Christ the Mediator saith My life doth terrifie mee for my whole life being exactly discussed and sifted doth appeare to me either to be sinne or meere barrennesse And if any fruit appeare therein it is either so counterfeit or imperfect or one way or other corrupt as it cannot but displease God for all of it is either sinnefull and damnable or vnfruitfull and contemptible But why doe I separate or distinguish vnfruitfull from damnable For if it be vnfruitfull it is damnable For euery tree which bringeth not forth good fruit shall be cast into the fire O therefore drie and vnprofitable tree worthy of eternall fire what wilt thou answer in that day when it shall be required of thee euen to a moment how thou hast spent all that time limitted and bestowed on thee to spend thy life in O extremity On the one side sinnes accusing on the other iustice affrighting vnderneath Hels horrible Chaos gaping aboue the
this thou canst not number vp so many good dueties which thou hast done as this all-seeing Iudge can number and set before thee greater and weightier duties which thou hast altogether omitted And more than that too this Iudge can muster vp vnto thee whole Legions of sins which thou hast committed the least whereof all the men in the world with all their merits their arrogant works of supererogation the fained treasure of the Church with Masses and Dirges and whatsoeuer else man or Angel can deuise cannot possibly appease the wrath and satisfie the iustice of this Iudge for For if all the Creatures in the world could satisfie Gods iustice for one sinne wherefore dyed the innocent Lambe and the only Sonne of God Well then in this case what wilt thou doe whither wilt thou flye where wilt thou seeke reliefe for thy perplexed spirit where comfort for thine appalled conscience where a sanctuary for thy soule now pursued with the hue and cry of diuiue iustice and reuenge of hell and Satan of the guilt of thy tormenting conscience for sinne Thy good workes and merits They cry guilty before Gods throne of many imperfections defects corruptions If thy actuall transgressions which are many if thy totall omissions of dueties which thou oughtest to haue done should bee silent yet euen thy best actions which thou bringest to pleade for thee would and must tell the truth and become a full grand Iurie to bring-in the verdict of thy condemnation And then thou shalt be found such as the Gospell hath doomed who pleading their great workes before the Iudge receiued this sentence I know you not depart from mee yee workers of iniquitie Dost thou not thinke it safest now to bee of thy Brother or thy Father Bellarmines minde who howsoeuer as a member of the Papall State he writ mainely against the truth of iustification yet one time speaking his conscience and vttering his priuate iudgement said Propter incertitudinem propriae iustitiae periculum inanis gloriae tutissimum est fiduciam in sola Dei misericordia benignitate reponere Because of the vncertainty of our owne righteousnesse and the perill of vaine glory it is most safe to repose our confidence in the only mercy and fauour of God Only herein be vnlike this Brother or Father of thine For this sentence of his standing in his workes shall rise vp in iudgement against him at the latter day for all his lyes spoken through hypocrisie but let it teach thee so to renounce all thy supposed merits as reposing thy selfe in the only mercies of God and merits of Christ thou mayst flying from Babylon finde mercy and saluation in the great day of the Lord Iesus Let me hereunto adde a passage or two one out of Augustine his Manual which Booke though it bee fathered vpon some other Author yet the chiefe matter of it is confessed to bee collected out of Augustines Workes In omnibus aduersitatibus non inuenio tam efficax remedium quà m vulnera Christi in illis dormio securus requiesco intrepidus Christus mortuus est prâ—nobis Nihil tam ad mortem amarum quod morte Christi non sanâ—tur Tota spes mea est in morte Domini mei Mors eius meritum meum refugium meum salus vita resurrectio mea merituâ— meum miseratio Domini Non sum meriti inops quamdiu ille miserationum Dominus non defuerit Et misericordiae Domini multae multus ego sum in meritis Quanto ille potentior est ad saluandum tanto ego securior Peccaut peccatum grande multorum sum mihi conscius delictorum nec sic despero quia vbi abundauerunt delicta superabundauit gratia In all aduersities saith hee I find not a more effectuall remedy than the wounds of Christ in them I sleepe securely in them I rest without feare Christ dyed for vs. There is nothing in death so bitter which cannot be cured with the death of Christ. All my hope is in the death of my Lord. His death is my demerit my refuge my saluation life and resurrection my merit is the Lords mercy I want no merit so long as the Lord of mercies is not wanting And while the Lord is rich in mercies I am rich in merits The more able he is to saue the more am I secure I haue committed some haynous sin and am guilty of many trespasses yet I despaire not because where sins haue abounded there grace hath also super abounded And in the 23. Chapter Inter bâ—achia Saluatoris mei viuere volo mori cupio Betweene the armes of my Sauiour it is both my will to liue and my wish to dye Another passage to this purpose I finde in Gregory in the conclusion of that singular worke of his Morals where speaking of mans good workes and good intentions concludeth thus St de his diuinitus districtè discutimur quis inter ista remanet salutis locus quando mala nostra pura mala sunt bona quae nos habere credimus pura bona esse nequaquam possunt If saith he we be strictly sifted by God concerning these things what place would bee left for saluation in them seeing that both our euill actions are simply euill and the good things which we beleeue we haue cannot be simply good Which place of Gregory beeing alledged by Luther to proue none can bee certaine that hee doth not alwaies mortally sinne although Iohn Bishop of Rochester would haue Gregory to meane not all workes but only such as we vainely boast of as Sixtus Senensis relateth Yet Gregories meaning is easily discouered by the title or contents prefixed to the said Chapter in these words Quod Sanctus Gregorius in his quae iam recta intentione protulit vanae gloriae vel laudis hâ—manae fauorem subrepsisse sibi formidat pro recompensatione operis postulat orationem lectoris that is That St. Gregory in those things which he did with a right intention feareth lest some affectation of vaine glory or humane applause might haue crept in vpon him and for a recompence of his worke desireth the Readers prayers And it is plaine also by the whole tenure of that Chapter that Gregory durst not trust his best workes vpon the tryall of Gods strict iudgement seeing that a mans best intentions are subiect to bee tainted with secret pride and vaine glory And the said Bishop of Rochester may seeme too sharpe in his censure the sequell whereof tends to a flat condemnation of Gregories best intentions as if he had beene directly conscious of pride in them whereas Gregory onely feareth least some such corruption might haue secretly stollen in vpon him And to confirme this and put it out of all question Gregory in another place speaketh excellently to this purpose Omnis humana iustitia iniustitia esse conuincitur si districtè iudicetur Prece ergo post iustitiam indiget vt quae succumbere
mouth do affirm That there is no kinde of Faith but one as Soto saith Eadem vniner sorum fides est The Faith of all men is one and the same Indeede in the sixt Chapter of the same Booke he sets down a two-fold acception of Faith the first of that Faith which he cals a morall vertue which is in the will the other an intellectuall vertue in the vnderstanding The first he takes for fidelity in keeping ones word The second for the credit giuen to it In this latter sense Soto takes that Faith which is in man towards God and what this Faith is he further sheweth in the seuenth Chapter where he propounds two things concerning faith first Quod nullatenus duae sed vna penitus Fides est qua credimus vniuersa reuelata siue historiae sint siue promissiones siue praeceptiones aut consilia first that there bee not two but altogether one Faith whereby we beleeue all things reuealed whether they be histories or promises or precepts or counsels The second is Quod promissionum assensus ad fidem Catholicam pertinens non est specialis ille quo quisque de se credit seu recipere modo seu habere iam gratiam sed ille in genere quo firmiter credimus Iesum Christum vniuersalem esse Redemptorem c. That the assent of the promises appertaining to the Catholicke faith is not that speciall assent of faith whereby euery man beleeueth of himselfe that hee eyther now receiueth or hath grace already but that generall assent whereby we firmly beleeue that Iesus Christ is an vniuersal Redeemer c. Therefore that wee may trace these Pontificians to their fourmes or holes we will insist in their owne foot-steps and first shew what species or kinde of faith they hold and secondly what qualities they appropriate vnto it in particular First therefore what kinde of faith they meane wee haue had the testimony of the Councell of Trent ioyntly and generally and then more particularly the Commentary of Soto vpon it namely that it is a meere Historicall faith common both to good and wicked men To whom also wee will adde Vega's iudgement and Commentary who also excludeth all kindes of faith but this one Historicall faith as any way requisite to iustification Nor doth any of them allow vnto faith any other worke in iustification but onely as it disposeth a man thereunto Let vs heare Vega's owne words who not fearing to blaspheme the doctrine of faith deliuered by Christ and his Apostles by peruerting it to serue his Antichristian doctrine saith Et Paulus caeteri Apostoli imo ipse Christus cum fidei tribuebunt nostram salutem iustificationem cum eam exigebant ab eis quibus praedicabant agebant de fide per quam acquirere possumuâ— verè acquirimus iustitiam docebantque nos dispositionem qua nos ex parte nostra disponimus ad gratiam sed ista fides non est fides formata aut saltem non in quaâ—tum formata habet ista efficere both Paul and the other Apostles yea euen Christ himselfe when they attributed to faith our saluation and iustification and required it of those to whom they preached they handled that faith by which we may acquire and doe truely acquire righteousnesse and they taught vs that disposition whereby on our part we dispose our selues to grace but this faith is not a faith formed or at least not as it is formed doth it effect these things And by and by he explaines this more clearely saying Fides formata non est via neque dispositio ad institiam nostram siquidem illa iam habet secum praesentem iustitiam Faith which is formed is not the way nor the disposition to our righteousnesse for this already hath righteousnesse present with it It remaines therefore that Vega alloweth no faith in iustification but that which is vnformed or voide of charity and that this serues onely to dispose a man to iustification which iustification charity possesseth when once it hath giuen forme and life to faith Now Vega in the former question among other sundry acceptions of this word Faith doth most willingly imbrace and pitch vpon that which signifieth credulity or aptnesse to beleeue or a perswasion or a firme and certaine assent sed inâ—uidens tamen but yet vneuident And omitting others this hee most diuinely proueth out of a prophane Author and Historian Titus Liuius As also out of the Poet Virgil Credo equidem neque vana fides genus esse Deorum I verily beleeue there is a generation Of Gods nor is my faith a vaine imagination This example Vega worthily puts among others to demonstrate and exemplifie that faith which the Pontificians haue and hold concerning God and their owne saluation by way at least of disposition as we haue said Now this faith taken for credulity or perswasion or assent but vneuident hee diuides into sundry branches as either it is humane or diuine humane when we beleeue mans sayings diuine when we beleeue Gods sayings This diuine Faith hee sub-diuideth into actuall and habituall The actuall Faith hee cals a firme and certaine but vneuident assent of those things which are reuealed of God That it is a firme and certaine assent it exceeds opinion that it is vneuident it is inferiour to the intellect or vnderstanding science and sapience which are intellectuall vertues hauing clearnesse and euidence Habituall Faith is a certaine intellectuall habit whereby the vnderstanding is made apt and disposed to the actuall Faith This habituall Faith he further diuides into fidem acquisitam infusam into faith acquired and infused Faith acquired is a habit fitting vs the more easily to beleeue being acquired by the frequency of the acts of Faith Faith infused is a certain supernaturall habit and altogether of a diuine condition infused by God into our vnderstandings that by it wee may easily and certainly and vndoubtedly assent vnto diuine reuelations Verùm hic habitus c. but this habit saith hee may be both in righteous men and in sinners as all Catholicke Doctors for certaine hold and experience it selfe declareth Lastly he diuideth Faith in fidem informem formatam into faith vnformed and formed Faith vnformed he cals a habit of Faith separated from charity Faith formed is a habit of Faith conioyned vnto charity and hauing it present with it Although these in habit are both one for as charity ioyned to Faith makes it to be formed so being remoued from Faith againe leaues it as it found it vnformed This is the perplexed doctrine of the Pontificians or Church of Rome concerning Faith who though they be so barren of distinctions as not to finde out the true kindes of Faith grounded on the holy Scriptures but Babylonishly confound them all in one yet againe they shew their pregnant and fruitfull veine in distinguishing when as they diuide and subdiuide this poore Faith of theirs into so many parts
sperare eum diligere To beleeue in God is to hope in him and to loue him And againe Vera plena fides vniuer sa praecepta complectitur A true and complete Faith comprehendeth all the Commandements Hieronymus Osorius in his first Booke de Iustitia hath these words Fides continet omnem religionem atque pietatem omnes enim virtutes ex fide aptè nexeque sunt cum illa sanctissimo vinculo colligatae atque implicitae sunt That is Faith containeth all religion and pietie for all vertues are by Faith consorted and connexed together and with it are bound and intwined in a most holy knot But yet I dare not warrant the Reader that he shal finde these words in Osorius from henceforth seeing in the Index at Madrid these very words are commanded to passe the flames of their Index expurgatorius And in the second booke hee saith Ergo cum Fides totum animum regat in Verbi diuini studium rapiat consequens necessariò est vt non cernatur solum in credendo sed etiam in obediendo Therefore seeing Faith doth gouerne the whole soule and drawe it to the study and loue of Gods Word it followeth necessarily that it is seene not onely in beleeuing but also in obeying But these words also vndergoe the same doome with the former Yea why should Pontificians make it so strange that Faith should haue all other graces inseparably coupled with it seeing that euen their Doctors Aristotle and Cicero doe teach that all morall vertues are conioyned and combined in one and he that hath one hath all and that Iustitia est omnis virtus Iustice is euery vertue It is a maruaile that they haue escaped Purgatory seeing that not euen Gratian himselfe hath had the grace to be fauoured of them his Glosse but bordering vpon Tullies Offices for where he saith Sed quomodo possum habere talem Fidem that is to remoue mountaines non charitatem cum qui habeat vnam virtutem habeat omnes Nonpossem quidem nisi miraculosè that is But how can I haue such a Faith to remoue mountaines and not charity sith hee that hath one vertue hath all I could not haue it but miraculously All these words must out as yee may see in Collat. censurae in Gloss. iuris canon num 84. His excellent Maiesty also in his peerlesse Paraphrase of the Reuelation Chapt. 20. saith That God by Faith onely iustifieth man which not withstanding is done according to his workes because they as the fruits of Faith cannot be separated from it and bear witnesse of the same to men in the earth S. Augustine saith Quid est ergo credere in eum credendo amare credendo diligere credendo in eumâ—re eius membris incorporari What is it then to beleeue in him by beleeuing to loue him by beleeuing to affect him by beleeuing to goe into him and to be incorporated into his members Paulus Fidem quae per dilectionem operatur approbat atque commendat quae vtique sine spe esse non potest proinde nec amor sine spe est nec sine amore spes neque vtrumque sine Fide Paul approueth and commendeth that Faith which worketh by loue which cannot bee without hope therefore neyther is loue without hope nor hope without loue nor both without Faith And vpon the 139. Psalme hee saith Fides sic est in anima vt radix bona quae pluviam in fructum ducit Faith is in the soule as a good roote which bringeth the raine into the fruit And St. Chrysostome saith Fides est Religionis sanctissimae fundamentum charitatis vinculum amoris subsidium Haec sanctitatem firmat caestitatem roberat gubernat sexus gradus prouehit officia cuncta custodit Fides mandaeta tenet praecepta seruat promissae consummat Faith is the foundation of the most holy Religion the bond of charity the supply of loue It confirmes sanctity it strengthens chastity it gouernes all sexes it promotes all degrees it obserueth all offices Faith keepeth the commandements practiseth the precepts accomplisheth the promises And much more to this purpose according to his golden elegancy Ambrose also saith there are in Faith great prerogatiues and dignities What bee they Piety Iustice Sobriety Charity Discipline or good Gouernment And in a word St. Augustine saith In ipsa Fide sunt omnia opera quae diligit Deus in Faith it selfe are all those works which God loueth Thus Faith being in the heart as in the proper subiect of inherency and so consequently in the whole soule and euery faculty thereof as the life and soule of the soule animating euery power and property of it it followeth that as morall iustice is euery morall vertue as the Philosopher speaketh so iustifying Faith which is reckoned for righteousnesse is euery grace and holy vertue as being the liuing roote and holy seede sustaining quickening supplying sanctifying all other graces which are as so many fruits growing vpon this Tree of life as Reuel 22. 2. holy Faith being the foundation whereon all graces are built the ground whereon they grow Hence they haue all their rise motion yea their formall and essentiall goodnesse For whatsoeuer is not of Faith is sinne If we hope not from Faith if we loue not from Faith if we be not patient because wee beleeue and so in the rest Hope Loue Patience and the rest are so many sins For as Faith is the ground or foundation of things hoped for so of things loued of things suffered and the rest And why may not so many habits of grace grow vpon the same roote and stemme of Faith as so many distinct fruits vpon the same Tree of life Yea the Apostle elsewhere also tels vs that from Faith doe spring not onely peace of conscience towards God but accesse vnto all grace reioycing vnder hope of the glory of God Patience Hope Loue c. Thus it is euident by the authority of the holy Scriptures and by the testimonies of ancient Fathers that sauing and iustifying Faith is not a Faith common with Deuils and Reprobates as being in nature and kinde a dead Faith but it is proper and peculiar onely to the Saints and Elect as being a holy and liuing Faith which receiueth not life from any infusion of charity into it but is a liuing roote from whence doe spring and wherein do liue all holy graces as Charity Hope Patience Meeknesse c. That this is called also the Catholicke Faith not because it is common to good and bad or because it hath for the generall obiect of it the Word of God as it is a true History containing things done and to be done whether they be acts precepts threatnings or promises one with another but because it is the Catholicke Faith of the Elect from in and to all ages past present and to come whose generall obiect though it be the whole Word of God
it from all other kinds of faith as also that Christ is the proper obiect of iustifying Faith not the whole Word of God in generall Sixtly being by Faith vnited to Christ and so made partaker of all Christs merits and righteousnesse I note that Faith is the immediate instrument whereby wee are made one with Christ and so haue our perfect communion with him in all his righteousnesse and graces in so much as by vertue of this vnion by Faith Christ and all true beleeuers are all one mysticall Christ. Seuenthly by being certainly and infallibly perswaded of the remission of sinnes by faith I note the natiue property of iustifying Faith which is to assure a man of his saluation and that in a greater or lesser measure according to the proportion of Faith measured out vnto vs and that faith also assures vs of our iustification in Gods sight as laying hold vpon Christ who is our righteousnesse which certainety and assurance is such as it necessarily excludeth all vaine presumption For how can a man that is truely and infallibly certaine be sayd therein vainely to presume Lastly I call this Faith a liuing roote whence all other graces spring to note the true difference betweene this iustifying faith and the Pontifician faith which in its owne nature is dead vntill say they it bee quickened by charity infused into it to note also how vaine that common cauill and quarrell of Papists is against our doctrine of iustification by Faith alone as a doctrine tending say they to Libertinisme and to cast off all care of good workes whereas our faith whereby we are iustified is such as being not a dead but a liuing roote including in it all other graces it causeth the beleeuer to bee as a liuing tree planted by the riuers of waters and bringing forth his fruit in due season whose leafe also doth not wither and whatsoeuer he doth shall prosper CHAP. XIII Of the generalitie and vncertainety of Romane-Catholicke Faith the generalitie of it confuted by the contrary confirmed BEsides the forenamed properties and limitations of that kinde of faith which Pontificians appropriate to themselues though common by their owne confession with the Diuels and damned wee cannot omit two other speciall markes whereby they would dignifie and commend this their faith vnto the world The first whereof is the generality and implicity of this faith the second is the vncertainty of it Wee ioyne these two together generality and vncertainety because the former is a necessary inducement to the latter and as it were the foundation of Babels tottering Tower of vncertainty For grant once such a generality of faith as they require and the vncertainty of it will easily follow Now concerning generality of faith we noted before out of Soto that they vtterly disclaime that speciall faith in Christ in the promises of God in him I may here fitly apply that sentence vsed by his Excellent Maiestie in his late speech to the honorable house of Parliament which I humbly craue leaue to borrow Dolosus versatâ—r in vniuersalibus The deceitful man loueth to walke in vniuersalities or generalities The Pontificians in this their vniuersality or generality of faith deale like the timorous and therefore cautelous Hare who to deceiue her pursuers or tracers makes many doubles and crafty windings out and in that vneath it is for the most sagacious pursuer to deprehend or finde her out Their end is that faith in the height of sins deluge ouerflowing the soule might haue no solid and firme ground to pitch and rest her foote vpon And herein lyes the mystery of their Antichristian iniquity to pull men quite away from Christ that in matter of faith they may wholly depend vpon that Papall imaginary infallibility hauing no other security than to pin their soules vpon a sinnefull mans sleeue Which Vega doth not a whit dissemble saying Deus summam salutis fidelium in Sacerdotum posuit potestate That God hath placed the summe of the saluation of the faithfull in the power of the Priests the summe whereof is the Pope the Arch-priest But of this more in the proper place But for their faith it must bee generall in two respects first in respect of the generality of the obiect of Faith the whole Word of God as they say written and vnwritten an vnlimited obiect secondly in regard of the generality of men to be saued or iustified as they teach They must neither in particular beleeue the promises of God in Christ nor any man must beleeue that the promises of God belong vnto him in particular To which purpose Soto saith Fides Catholica Christianae familiae necessaria vtpote qua Christiani censemur non est specialis illa qua indubitato credit quisque ac constituit sibi remitti peccata propter Christum esse in gratia Dei sed ille assensus in genere quo firmiter credimus Iesum Christum vniuersalem esse Redemptorem c. that is The Catholick Faith necessary for the Christian family as whereby we are reputed Christians is not that speciall Faith whereby euery man doth vndoubtedly beleeue and resolue with himselfe that his sinnes are forgiuen him for Christs sake and that he is in the fauour of God but that generall assent whereby we firmely beleeue that Iesus Christ is the vniuersall Redeemer c. as we touched before Now the grounds of this their generall Faith wee finde in the sixt Chapter of the sixt Session of the Councell of Trent of the manner of preparation to iustification as first for the beliefe of things reuealed and promised the generall obiect of it and secondly In spem eriguntur fidentes Deum sibi propter Christum propitium fore c. Men are brought to hope beleeuing that God will bee or may bee mercifull to them for Christs sake Marke they doe not say beleeuing that God is mercifull vnto them but that hee will be or may be as Vega interprets it Se posse saluari that they may possibly be saued And when they speake of a particular iustification of any one man in the present tense then also they expresse it by an indefinite speech and generall phrase Credentes à Deo iustificari impium per gratiam eius c. Beleeuing that a sinner is iustified of God through his grace not that a mans selfe is iustified For for a man to beleeue in particular that himselfe is truely iustified by Christ such a man they anathematize and curse Can. 14. yea this Faith is so generall and so little respecteth Christ as the obiect of it as that Vega in his Commentary vpon the said sixt Chapter of the sixt Session saith Persuaderi potest non solum iustificari posse homines sed saluari sine fide Christi explicita It is very credible that men may not only be iustified but also saued without the explicite or cleare and vnfolded Faith of Christ. Where note that they not onely
dubium quin latinè possimus dicere apud Haereticos nostrae tempestatis non esse suae gratiae opinionem sed certitudinem Nor do we doubt but that we may say in plaine termes that the Heritiques of our time haue not an opinion of their grace or iustification but a certainety Note here iudicious Reader that the Pontificians doe allow of a certaine vncertaine particular certainety of Faith namely such as may bee eyther true or false They might better haue said iust nothing sauing that they cautelously put this clause by way of preuention that if a particular certainty of Faith bee neuer so manifestly proued yet it may proue at hap-hazzard eyther true or false And this Vega would demonstrate by a distinction saying There is a two-fold certainty Per se or Quoad nos Eyther a certainty in regard of the truth it selfe beleeued or in respect of our apprehension which may be deceiued according to the Councels own Text. In a word in his fift Chapter following hee sets downe foure limitations of certainety that are extra controuersiam without all controuersie allowed of the Pontificians First that euery man may haue a knowledge of his iustification by diuine reuelation and that this hath been truly reuealed to some holy men although but to few and them Gods greatest familiars as the blessed Virgin and the Apostles Secondly it is certaine that all righteous men may by some certaine signes and probable arguments or tokens and coniectures attaine to a probable notice and opinion or as they call it a coniecturall certitude of their iustification Thirdly saith he it is certaine that no mortall man without diuine reuelation can attaine in this life to the certainety of euidence of his iustification Fourthly it is also certaine that no man can without diuine reuelation certainely know anothers iustification vnlesse haply when he shall haue baptized a childe To these limitations wee may here adde the substance of that which Vega sets downe in the 46. Chapter of the same booke the title whereof is Possunt viri spirituales certitudinem assequi de sua gratia Spirituall men may attaine a certainty of their grace and iustification By spirituall men he vnderstandeth those that liue in a state of perfection as they terme it Yet this certainety is so rarely found among such as after much adoe and wauering this way and that way Vega being vncertaine what to thinke of this certainety at length hee is resolued vpon the point and giues vs a rare instance of Saint Anthony whose birth of faithull and religious Parents whose Christian and holy education whose firme faith in beleeuing all which the Church of Rome beleeueth whose care not to offend but to please God in all things whose voluntary pouerty whose inoffensiue and innocent life full of charity whose humility whose dayly comming to Masse and frequent Shrifts whose watchings and fastings and other infinit deuotions induced Vega to thinke that this certainty of saluation may haply bee found in some spirituall men But hee must bee a St. Anthony at the least who is possest with this certainety So few receiue this gift as Christ said of continency No not Martyrs themselues saith Vega Chapter 43. His words are Neque adduci possum vt credam aliquem Martyrem aut habuisse aut habere potuisse certitudinem de sua iustificatione c. Nor can I bee induced to beleeue saith hee that any Martyr eyther had or could haue the certainety of iustification vnlesse God reuealed it vnto him as also their perseuerance and crowne of blessednesse layd vp for them that so they might the more cheerefully and couragiously persist in their confession With these limitations doe the Pontificians confine their allowance of the certainty of Iustification First it is only generall not speciall or particular Secondly if particular there be any they say it may be true or false Thirdly this speciall certainty is giuen to none but by speciall reuelation and that to some speciall choyce persons as the blessed Virgin and the Apostles Fourthly iust men may haue some coniectural signes and probable opinions of their iustification Fifthly if any had this speciall certainty then certainly St. Anthony a priueledge which not euen the holy and faithfull Martyrs are capable off without speciall reuelation saith Vega. His reason is because euen Heretickes may be Martyrs and constantly dye for Christ. This is the state of Pontifician doctrine about certainety and vncertainety of faith in iustification Against which we oppose the truth of Catholick doctrine concerning the certainety of Faith First to their first limitation we oppose That the certainty of Faith is not generall but particular and speciall Secondly to the second that this certainty cannot be false but alwayes infallibly true and that not onely in regard of the truth of Gods word in generall which certainty may be in dogmaticall and historicall Faith but also of Gods speciall promises in Christ which it is the property of sauing faith certainely to apply and appropriate to the beleeuer that vndoubtedly they belong to him in particular Thirdly to the third that neyther this certainety is simply and only a speciall diuine reuelation nor peculiar onely to a few but it is the proper vertue of sauing and iustifying Faith and is in euery true beleeuer in whom true sauing faith is found Fourthly to the fourth that this certainety in euery man iustified is no coniecturall matter gathered by probable signes but a certaine cleare firme euidence of Faith Fiftly to the fift As for St. Anthony much might his priueledge be as hauing the Patronage of Pigs Cattel which the Priests do solemnly on St. Anthonies day blesse in his name and so they are free from all diseases and disasters all the yeare after and therefore the Pigges Masters or Dames are very Hogs if they requite not the Priests paines with the best Pigge But for all St. Anthonies workes of deuotion if they had beene of a far higher and holier nature they make but little for this euidence of certainety but rather the contrary For the more a man confides in his good workes the more vnsettled he is in the certainety of iustification And for Martyrs I meane Christs Martyrs if they haue not this certainty then none euer had it As for Heretickes they cannot dye for Christ while they dye in the quarrell of their Heresie Thus we haue the state of the question on both sides As for Veg's fourth allegation in his fifth Chapter forementioned That no man can certainely know but by speciall reuelation whether another man be iustified or no this is impertinent to the present purpose and so we leaue it extra controuersiam But display wee our forces now in the open field and try we our cause by the dint of truth First that the Pontificians should so stiffly stand for their vncertainty of Faith they haue great reason in regard it is the strongest supporter vncertaine as it is of the
Tower of Babell as we touched before It is the troubled Sea where Romes Peter-men finde the best fishing As the Iewes said of Christ â—f we let him thus alone all the world will goe after him and the Romanes will come and take away our kingdome so the Romane Pontificians may say If we should allow of certainty of Faith all the people would forsake vs and wee should lose our Kingdome What would become then of the merchandise of soules of Purgatory-Masses and Dirges and Trentals so rich a trade in Romes Court if the People might purchase saluation by faith yea and rest assured of it without any dependance of humane inuentions But let vs examine the former limitations of Pontifician certainty apart First they admit only of a generall certainty but no particular And reason good for as wee said their Faith is onely generall And this their certainty they place in the vnderstanding as they do also their faith The obiect of this certainty is the generall truth of Gods Word So that this is such a certainty as the very Diuels and damned may haue for they beleeue and tremble Why but because they are certainly perswaded of the truth of Gods Word And as the Pontifician faith is common with the wicked so also their certainty which is the fruite of such faith Secondly in that they say that certainty may bee true or false according to the disposition of him in whom it is this is absurd For how can a thing be certaine yet false vnlesse it be certainly false or a false certainety Certainety and falshood are incompatible and meerely opposite Indeede it is one thing to bee certaine another to seeme certaine which seeming certainty is nothing else but opinion Thirdly that they deny certainty of faith in iustification but by speciall reuelation this agreeth with their maine doctrine of faith which indeed hath no other certainty in it than such as is in the reprobate and whereas they restraine their speciall reuelation to some few this shewes the iniquity of Pontificians in making a Monopoly of Gods grace and indeede a meere nullity of sauing Faith Fourthly their probable coniectures of their iustification are altogether abhorrent from the nature of Faith in Christ and meere illusions Such probabilities are impossibilities of saluation But it is a good reason for the Pontificians why they should deny certainty of Faith if the best certainty be onely coniecturall probability Fiftly say they only spirituall men liuing in the state of perfection as deuout St. Anthony may haue a certainety of saluation built vpon his good life This is another strong reason why Pontificians exclude certainty of Faith of saluation seeing it is rather grounded vpon good workes To these they adde two other reasons why no man can be certaine of his iustification because say they no man by the euidence of faith can bee certaine of his predestination For indeede if a man cannot by faith be certaine of his predestination he cannot bee certaine of his iustification The reason is good Lastly say they a man cannot be certaine of his iustification that is not certaine of his perseuerance in grace to the end But no man say they can be sure of perseuerance Therefore no man can bee sure of his saluation These two last reasons are inferred vpon the fifteenth and sixteenth Canons of the Councell of Trent Thus haue we in generall as it were in a light velitation or skirmish spent a small volley vpon the Pontifician forces which march against certainety of faith Come wee now to ioyne the maine battaile wherein wee will obserue this order of sight first wee will shew the weakenesse of those arguments they bring for their vncertainety secondly we will make good and fortifie those arguments authorities and reasons wherewith the Catholike truth of the certainty of faith is maintained and confirmed First for the Pontifician reasons and allegations for their vncertainty of faith wee finde sundry of them set downe in the history of the Councell of Trent together with the answers vnto them forced from the Canuase of the opposite parties some holding that the opinion of certainety of grace was an intolerable arrogancy others that that certainty in its kinde was meritorious The first of these were for the most part Dominicans grounding their opinion of vncertainty vpon the authority of Thomas Aquinas Bonauenture and the Schoole-men Also vpon reason saying That God would not make man certain of grace lest swelling with pride and opinion of himselfe he should dispise others as knowing himselfe to bee righteous and others notorious sinners Also that Christians would grow sleepy sloathfull and carelesse of good workes In which respect incertitude of grace was profitable yea meritorious For perturbation or trouble of minde is that which at first afflicts men but to those that haue learned to beare it it becomes at length meritorious Besides they cite places of holy Scripture as out of Salomon That man knowes not whether hee be worthy of hatred or loue out of the Booke of Wisedome That a man must neuer be free from feare of sinne that it is pardoned out of the Apostle That wee must worke out our saluation with feare and trembling and that St. Paul professeth of himselfe that though his conscience did not accuse him yet he was not therfore iustified These reasons and testimonies besides many others saith the History did chiefly Seripandus Vega and Soto alledge and amplifie out of the Fathers On the other side saith the History Catarinus with Marinarus did out of the same Fathers alledge places to the contrary that it might appeare that the Fathers as they saw occasion did attemper their Sermons to the present occasions sometimes to animate the doubtfull and deiected sometimes to represse the presumptuous still submitting themselues to the authority of the Word of God They said to wit Catarinus and Marinarus that as often as Christ is obserued in the Gospell to forgiue sins so often he said Be of good comfort thy sinnes are forgiuen thee And that it seemed absurd that Christ would minister to any man occasion of presumption or pride or to depriue all of that which might be matter of profit or merit Also that the Scripture bound vs to giue thankes to God for our iustification which vnlesse we be sure we haue receiued with what face yea with what affection shall we giue thankes Sith it is folly to acknowledge a benefit which thou knowest not whether it bee giuen thee or no. Surely St. Paul doth clearely enough affirme this certainety when he would haue the Corinthians sensible that Christ is in them vnlesse they be reprobates and when he saith that therefore wee haue receiued the spirit of God that by him wee might vnderstand what is giuen vs of God And againe more plainely That the holy spirit doth beare witnesse to our spirit that wee are the Sonnes of God And that it is also a part of great impudency
vers Salomon did euill in the sight of the Lord and went not fully after the Lord as did Dauid his father Whence note first that it is said When Salomon was old Indeede old age when it comes to dotage is dangerous and very slippery but to dote vpon women yea many women wiues and concubines so many hundred of them and those also strange women of a strange Religion alas poore old Salomon how were his affections distracted and his thoughts euen pulled asunder as it were by so many Furies as there were fancies in his womens heads Well by this meanes the byas of his affections wheeling about his women as so many Mistresses caused his heart to decline from his direct course tending towards the maine marke which was God But this declination it was no flat Apostacy for now the worst was that he went not fully after the Lord his God his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God as was the heart of Dauid his father His former single heart began now to double his vpright heart began now in victa aetate in his verging or stooping old age to grow crooked Yet for all this he kept him vpon his feete he still stood in the state of grace although with much staggering and though his left foote failed him yet his right foote remained firme though the left foote of his affection went after his strange women and so was drawne with them after their strange gods yet he had the right foot of his affection vpright to God-wards Which I speake not to excuse or mitigate his sinne for it was most fearefull and lamentable and to bee bewayled with sad repentance and a floud of teares But taking Gods Word for my warrant I affirme that though Salomons fall was fearfull yet it was not totall his heart had not quite forsaken his God Againe as Salomons fall was not totall so neyther was it finall For we haue his Ecclesiastes as an eternall monument of his intire repentance and conuersion from vanity to God And as an infallible token of a true penitent he stiles himselfe the Preacher He layes aside his royall Crowne diuests himselfe of all his Princely titles and ornaments and in stead thereof takes on him the humble but holy stile of a Preacher not onely to preach repentance vnto others but to perswade them by the strongest argument of his owne practice and the best euidence of his owne experience And the Wisedome of God shewes it selfe admirable in making choice of Salomon to be the Pen-man of that excellent Book of Ecclesiastes euery line whereof hee that runnes may reade in the face of wise Salomons owne experience in which mirrour euery naturall man may cleerly see his owne full proportion Salomon had no more strange wiues and concubines than the world hath minions of strange vanities which euery carnall man according to the variety of his fancy as his Idoll-Goddesse adoreth Now God in his mercy willing to admonish the vaine world and to reclaime vaine men from their sundry Idol-pleasures and withall the more strongly to allure them in his wisdome makes speciall choice of Salomon to be his Preacher Why so Salomon was the wisest man that euer was from the first Adam before the second Adam Christ and so of all men in the world could giue the exactest iudgement and truest censure of the nature of all things vnder the Sun Besides his incomparable wisdome he had a most aboundant experimentall knowledge of all earthly things whatsoeuer might seeme excellent in the eye and iudgement of flesh and bloud yea hee was most industrious and studious eagerly searching into the depth and height and all the dimensions of worldly excellency till I might see saith he what was that good for the sonnes of men which they should doe vnder the Heauen all the dayes of their life Wouldst thou then know thou worlds doting Louer what the true nature of the world and of all that is in the world as the lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life is Hearken to the Preacher yea aske Salomon the wisest of men Aske him in any kinde he will resolue thee as he did the Queene of Sheba and other Princes that came to heare his wisedome whom he resolued in all their questions Trauaile not to any of the Philosophers to enquire of them wherein thy Summum bonum consisteth for when they haue told thee all they can thou wilt come as farre short of giuing them credit as they will doe in giuing thee true counsell If they tell thee that riches pleasures and honours are all vaine things and no felicity to be found in them thou wilt but laugh at them as men at least experimentally ignorant of the nature of those things whereof they neuer had the vse and possession Aske Diogenes of honour hee prefers his Tubbe before Great Alexanders Triumphes and tramples on Plato's pompous pride with a greater pride of pouerty And in a word thou wilt answer them all with ignoti nulla cupido they therefore despise these thing because they neuer tasted the sweetnesse that is in them at least in the worlds apprehension But come to Salomon who not onely knew the nature of these things better than all those Heathen wise men but also made it his study yea and his practice too to know them by an infallible experience and his iudgement will be found to bee aboue all exception And what is his iudgement of all these things what profit or what pleasure or what contentment found he in any or in all of them This is his definitiue sentence of them All is vanity and vexation of spirit Thou hadst better farre to beleeue him than goe about to trye Hee stands as a Sea-marke to warne all wordly Merchants yea the greatest Princes and Potentates of the earth to beware of those Rockes and Shelues and Syrtes whereon himselfe suffered wofull shipwracke But yet if vnheedily thou hast fallen vpon the same Rockes behold also Salomon standing as an example of penitency to all men For as hee teacheth all men to eschue the deceiptfull pleasures profits and preferments of the world so he inuiteth them to follow with him the true and souereigne good concluding his Booke thus Let vs heare the end of all Feare God and keepe his Commandements for this is whole man for God will bring euery worke to iudgement with euery secret thing whether it be good or euill A noble precedent of a penitent soule not onely to repent himselfe but to become a royall Preacher of repentance to others So did his father Dauid Psal. 51. where repenting of his sinne and hauing pleaded for Gods mercy and fauour to the 12. vers then as a speciall fruit of his reconciliation with God hee saith Then will I teach transgressors thy wayes and sinners shall be conuerted vnto thee So that this is the vp-shot of all this discourse of Salomon to giue God the glory in
perseuerance the Doctors of the Church vse many exhortations to men to perseuere whose testimonies to this purpose Vega heapeth vp in great number therefore the Doctors of the Church doe all consent that a man that is predestinate to life may fall away from grace It is Vega's owne collection for else saith he why doe these Doctors vse so many exhortations to men to striue to continue in the faith not to be secure vntill the end for this is the summe of all his testimonies that he alledgeth In the prosecution of all which I cannot better compare Vega one of Trents chiefe Questers than to a Spaniell which taking his scope in a large field trauersing vp and downe in and out to find game puts vp many a Foule but still the more he prosecutes them the faster and farther they flye from him So dealeth Vega. Hee takes the whole Church a large field to quest in he startles many a Doctor and Father foolishly thinking in his owne sent to make them his owne but in the vpshot they flye the farther from him As here The Fathers exhort men to constancy and perseuerance in the grace of God not to bee negligent and carelesse not to be carnally secure but so to runne as they may obtaine True and such exhortations are most godly and necessary for they are speciall meanes and motiues to stirre vs vp to attaine that end of our faith the saluation of our soules to which we were predestinate and preordained of God For as God hath appointed vs to the end so he hath appointed vs also to the meanes as Ephes. 2. 10. For wee are his workemanship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which God hath before ordained that we should walke in them Exhortations therefore and pious admonitions are very necessary as speciall meanes to draw vs on along to our wished end as a stiffe gale of winde filling the sailes of our deuoutest affections vntill wee arriue at our appointed port And whereas Vega would peruersly conclude hence that because we must take heede least we fall as the Councell of Trent alledgeth out of the Apostle therefore the predestinate to life may and doe fall away hence rather we may conclude the contrary that seeing God hath predestinated vs to the end which is our full and finall saluation and hath chalkt vs out the way and meanes by which we come to reach and attaine to this end as to walke carefully and heedfully fearing to displease God sollicitous to serue God to take heede of carnall security and all false and groundlesse confidence therefore continuing on in this path obseruing these meanes tending vnto the end we doe hence gather to our selues stronger assurance euery day that we shall at length most certainly attaine to the end of our most Christian race and so obtaine the Crowne of life For as St. Peter exhorting the faithfull to diligence and perseuerance in holy duties as meanes leading to the end saith If yee doe these things ye shall neuer fall for by this meanes an entrance is made vnto you aboundantly into the euerlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ. What Did St. Peter meane that the faithfull should be doubtfull or vncertaine of their saluation or were they so much nearer to falling away from grace because hee warnes them so much to be carefull to keep their way and to continue in the meanes No the contrary for by this meanes an entrance was administred aboundantly into the Kingdome of Gods glory And this is the vnanimous scope of all the testimonies of those Doctors and Fathers of the Church which Vega so multiplyeth going about to corrupt so many witnesses to giue in euidence for the instability and slipperinesse of his Pontifician grace Now for his eight Chapter which he spends about answering some places in St. Iohns Epistle seeming as he saith to make for the Heretickes as Iouinian c. we will speake of it in a fitter place by and by when we come to confirme the Catholicke truth and in the meane time leaue Vega dazeling his owne eyes by his ouer-daring of the glorious Sunne and scorching his owne wings in fluttering about the bright flame of Gods Word which for all his huffing at it he shall neuer be able to put out But hee goes on to proue that no man can know his owne predestination and perseuerance but by diuine reuelation In his 10. Chapter he brings Salomons saying and such like Blessed is the man that feareth alwayes as though the feare of God were an enemy to Christian assurance in this kinde sith it confirmes it much more the holy feare of God being a certaine fruit and effect of predestination leading to perseuerance as both we haue and shall further make good Hee alledgeth also against the certainty of perseuerance that of Salomon Pro. 27. 1. Boast not thy selfe of to morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth Here the Pontifician still is like himselfe bewraying his malice against the truth as if certainty of grace were a boasting Nothing lesse For while we entertaine certainty we exclude and vtterly abandon boasting and presumption certainty and presumption being incompatible yea contrary one to the other and cannot possibly cohabit and dwell together in one heart For there is nothing more vaine than boasting nothing more vncertaine than presumption besides Salomon there speakes of to morrow as our Sauiour Matth. 6. 34. and as St. Iames Chapt. 4. Vers. 13. 14. that men should not be eyther ouer anxious and sollicitous or ouer presumptuous of to morrow about their worldly affaires Whereas thou knowest not saith Iames what shall be on the morrow for what is your life you may as a vapour vanish away before to morrow So that in these things that are in regard of vs contingent a man can haue no certainty But saluation stands not vpon any tickle termes of contingency as wee shall see anon And whereas Vega alledgeth Bernard as denying the certainty of election and predestination because saith Bernard the Scripture is against it which saith Man knoweth neither loue nor hatred by all that is before them although we be not absolutely bound to beleeue any mans authority in alledging the Scriptures when it is plaine hee mis-vnderstandeth or at least mis-applyeth the place as Bernard vnder correction doth here sith it is plaine and euident as wee shewed before that the Preacher speaketh of these outward things as prosperity and aduersity which are no certaine markes of Gods fauour or displeasure as being common to all men promiscuously as well the righteous as the wicked yet we are not so straight-laced as not to embrace euen Bernard himselfe in this point For if the certainty of saluation rested vpon mans testimony wee might as soone relye vpon Bernards authority as another But where Bernard speakes properly and iudiciously in applying the Scriptures none is more cleare than hee in this matter So that in the very same
had purposed in himselfe And vers 11. In whom also wee haue obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne will Whereupon Augustine hauing to this very purpose recited the same Scripture at large saith Quis haec audiat diligenter intelligenter audeat de hac quam defendimus tam clara veritate dubitare Who can heare these things diligently and intelligently and dare doubt of this so cleare a truth which we defend Now Gods will is the prime absolute and independent cause of his decree and act of predestinating vs to saluation Yea voluntas Dei saith Augustine est prima summa causa omnium corporalium spiritualâ—umque motionum Nihil enim fit visibiliter sensibiliter quod non de inuisibili intelligibili summi Imperatoris Aula aut iubeatur aut permittatur secundum ineffabilem iustitiam praemiorum atque poenarum gratiarum retributionum in ista totius creaturae amplissima quadam vniuersaque republica The will of God is the prime and supreme cause of all both corporall and spirituall motions For nothing is done visibly and sensibly which is not from the inuisible and intelligible Court of the supreme Emperour eyther commanded or permitted according to the vnutterable iustice of rewards and punishments of fauours and retributions in this kinde of spacious and vniuersall republique of the whole creature And Ludouicus Viues noteth vpon St. Augustines words Qui voluntatem Dei spectant certissimam originem è qua vniuersa profiscuntur spectant Idque quoniam aliud non sit in mando quam quodea vult They which looke vpon Gods will doe looke vpon a most certaine cause or fountaine from whence all things do flow And that because there is no other thing in the world than what his wil willeth This is according to that of the Apostle saying That God worketh all things after the counsell of his own will The will of God then is the prime supreme cause of all And this will is in himselfe and of himselfe alone it depends nor vpon any thing out of himselfe as vpon the creature or the actions of men fore-seene but it is in himselfe and not without himselfe as Ephes. 1. 9. Hauing made knowne vnto vs the mysterie of his will according to his good pleasure which hee had purposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in himselfe Now this absolute independent will of God is as wee see set out by sundry attributes as The Purpose of his will the Counsell of his will the good Pleasure of his will vers 5. 9. 11. By the Purpose of his will is set out Gods immutable determination by the Counsell of his will Gods vnsearchable wisedome and by the good Pleasure of his will his vnspeakable goodnesse mercie and free grace in the worke of ordaining man vnto saluation So that the Counsell and Purpose and good Pleasure of Gods will in appointing vs vnto saluation was not suggested into the minde and disposition of God by the meanes of any eyther faith or workes in vs which God fore-saw we would haue but our faith and other good fruits of it are therefore in vs because God according to the Counsell Purpose and good Pleasure of his owne will did appoint vs vnto saluation As Augustine saith excellently to this purpose Fiunt electi non qui eliguntur quia crediderunt sed qui eliguntur vt credant Hanc enim vocationem Dominus ipse satis aperit vbi dicit Non vos me elegistis sed ego elegi vos Nam si propterea electi erant quoniam crediderant ipsi eum prius vtique elegerant credendo in eum vt eligimererentur Aufert autem hoc omnino qui dicit Non vos me elegistis sed ego vos elegi Et ipsi quidem procul dubio elegerunt eum quando crediderunt in eum vnde non ob aliud dicit Non vos me elegistis sed ego vos elegi nisi quia non elegerunt eum vt eligeret eos sed vt eligerent eum elegit eos quia misericordia eius praeuenit eos secundum gratiam non secundum debitum Elegit ergo eos de mundo cum hic ageret in carne sed iam electos in seipso ante mundi constitutionem Haec est immobilis veritas praedestinationis gratiae They are elect not who are elected because they beleeued but who are elected that they might beleeue For this calling the Lord himselfe also doth sufficiently declare where he saith You haue not chosen mee but I haue chosen you For if they had been therefore elected because they had beleeued then they had chosen him first by beleeuing in him that they might merit to be chosen but he doth altogether take away this who saith You haue not chosen me but I haue chosen you And indeed they certainly choose him when they beleeue in him whereupon for no other cause he saith You haue not chosen mee but I haue chosen you but because they chose not him that he might choose them but that they might choose him he chose them because his mercy preuented them according to grace not according to debt Therefore he chose them out of the world when hee liued here in the flesh but being already chosen in himselfe before the foundation of the world This is that vnmoueable verity of predestination and grace And a little after Elegit ergo Deus fideles sed vt sint non quia iam erant God therefore elected the faithfull but that they might be faithfull not because they were already faithfull And alledging that of St. Iames Iames 2. Hath not God chosen the poore in this world that they might be riâ—h in faith and heires of the Kingdome which he hath promised to them that loue him He thereupon concludes Eligendo ergo facit diuites in fide sicut haeredes regni Therefore by electing them he maketh them rich in faith as also heires of the Kingdome And before in the 10. Chapter Ad hanc vocationem electionis propositi Dei qui pertinent â—mnes sunt docibiles Dei nec potest eorum quisquam dicere credidi vt sic vocarer praeuenit eum quippe misericordia Dei quia sic vocatus est vt crederet Whosoeuer doe appertaine to this vocation namely of Gods election and purpose they are all taught of God nor can any of them say I beleeued that therfore I should be so called sith the mercy of God preuented him because he is so called that he might beleeue And lib. de Patientia Christus non iustos sed iustificandos elegit Christ did not chuse those that were already iust but those who were to be instified Thus wee see this holy man following the word of Christ concludes the Purpose Counsell and good Pleasure of Gods will to be the prime originall absolute independent cause of mans saluation As hee saith
pleasure of God as the prime and supreme cause of all That the Sonne of God Iesus Christ came into the world to take our nature vpon him to be incarnate of the Virgin Mary and to become our Mediatour and to accomplish the worke of mans saluation it is wholly and in euery part ascribed to the will and good pleasure of God How often doth Christ himselfe say in the Gospell I came downe from Heauen not to doe mine owne will but the will of him that sent mee Ioh. 6. 38. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell and hauing made peace through the bloud of his Crosse by him to reconcile all things vnto himselfe c. His death and passion were the fruits of Gods will and good pleasure Esa. 53 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to griefe when thou shalt make his soule an offering for sinne c. and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand His preaching here on the earth and reuealing the mysterie of God vnto Babes was from his Fathers good will Euen so Father for so it seemed good in thy fight Mat. 11. 26. I hope they will not deny or question any of this as by pretending any merit in vs to precede or procure as a motiue from God any part of this grace of Redemption And yet I know not what they meane when they ascribe to the Virgin Mary a merit at least Ex congruo why shee should be the Mother of God That we should be saued by such a means as the preaching of the Gospell which is Christ crucified a meanes contemptible in the eyes of the world it is Gods good pleasure It pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to sauâ— them that beleeue 1. Cor. 1. 21. The whole administration of the Word of God is according to his owne will Heb. 2. 4. Our regeneration is not according to the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of God And Iames 1. 18 Of his owne will begate he vs by the Word of truth that wee should be a kinde of first-fruits of his creatures So also our saluation 1. Thes. 4. 3. This is the will of God euen your sanctification It is hee that worketh in vs both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. The perseuerance of Gods Saints and Elect in the state of grace vntill they come to full glory is the will of God Iohn 6. 39. This is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath giuen me I should lose nothing but should raise it vp againe at the last day And Mat. 18. 14. It is not your Fathers will that one of these little ones should perish That we inheriteternall life it is Gods good pleasure Luke 12. 32. Feare not little flocke for it is your Fathers good pleasure to giue you the Kingdome So also Iohn 6. 40. It is the will of the Father to giue vs eternall life The Scriptures abound in setting forth the glory of Gods will and good pleasure herein Admirable is the wisedome and counsell of God that hee hath in the holy Scriptures so punctually and particularly pointed out vnto vs the pleasure of his will taking place in euery part and passage of the worke of our Redemption as altogether depending vpon that prime independent eternall will and good pleasure of God in his free purpose and appointment of vs vnto eternall life Let all aduersaries here stop their mouthes and be couered with confusion of face that goe about to robbe God of this his great glory while they would haue Gods electing of vs to depend vpon the free-will and work of man and Gods will and pleasure to bee no more but a consequence of their wils which qualities and actions in them God fore-seeing from all eternity say they did thereupon will that such should be saued according as he saw they would both receiue grace offered and retaine the same vnto the end And this they will haue to be the very substance and whole contents of the Gospell O for a Gagge for this new Gospell Nay no Gospell but it is the old spell of the Serpent which subtile though it were yet it is foolishnesse with God Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and euill That is as some learned Interpreters note vpon it the Serpent would perswade mankinde as indeede he did that hee should not neede any further Gods wisedome and counsell for direction themselues should bee thenceforth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe-wise sufficient yea euen as Gods knowing all things And Salomon saith Hee that is selfe-wise is a foole yea a foole of all fooles Well yet this Doctrine of the Serpent did not directly though by consequence it did exalt man aboue God but onely seemed to place him in an equall ranke with him But this Doctrine built vpon that foundation of the Serpent is now erected so high as it surmounts the Throne of God Now must God become inferiour to his creature his Soâ—ereigne will must daunce attendance at the doore of mans will Onely they haue left God his bare prescience as if he were no better than a poore Prognosticator or Fortune-teller And yet if this hellish and blasphemous doctrine were to bee found onely amongst those ancient Heretiques the Pelagians or among their successors the Pontificians it were but dignum patella operculum no maruaile if they that are of their Father the Deuill doe the workes of their Father The Lord Christ keepe out or whippe out this dotage yea this doctrine of Deuils out of his Schoole Let such vncleane Birds neuer nestle or roost in Christian Nurceries But passe wee to the next point in the definition From the perennious and pure fountaine of Gods will and pleasure doe flow all the riuers of the waters of life towards the creature as first in Gods eternall electing out of the corrupt masse of mankinde a certaine number of men This election of God is the prime and proper act of his good pleasure and will As Ephes. 1. 4. 15. Verses So Deut. 7. 6. 7. 8. Vers. where we haue a type of his election in the children of Israel flowing from the free loue and fauour of God But this reflecteth vpon that before sufficiently confirming this Againe this election is of a certaine number of men I say of a certaine number not of all as some absurdly affirme which is against the nature of an election For Electio est aliquorum non omnium Election is of some not of all as the word it selfe also importeth signifying to gather out from among others Againe a certaine number and definite not vncertaine and indefinite as the Pontificians teach The number of the Elect of God is a certaine and fixed number Hereupon Augustine saith Qui praedestinati sunt in Regnum Dei eorum ita certus est numerus vt nec addatur eis quisquam nec minuatur
ex eis The number of them that are predestinate vnto the Kingdome of God is so certaine that neyther any can bee added vnto them nor diminished of them This is according to the truth of God 2. Tim. 2. 19. The foundation of God stands sure hauing this seale The Lord knoweth who are his If the Lord know who are his hee knoweth how many are his and if how many there is a certaine number of them else the Lords knowledge were vncertaine Christ saith also I know mine and am knowne of mine yea he calleth his owne sheepe by name Christ knoweth the certaine number of sheepe that belong vnto his fold And their names are inrolled in Heauen Heb. 12. 23. And Christ saith few are chosen in comparison of the residue And Pauperis est numerare pecus Christ the Shepheard can easily number his little flocke Yea hee that numbereth our haires doth he not number the persons of his elect Therefore the seruants of God are sealed in their fore-heads and the number of them is set downe of all the Tribes of Israel Reuel 7. Indeed in the 9. Verse a great multitude did Iohn see which no Man could number But they are certaine with God So the number of Gods elect is certaine as certaine to God as the number of the Starres of Heauen which God calleth all by their names So great is the Lord so great his power and his vnderstanding infinite Obiect But it may be obiected that election appertaineth to all indifferently as being left to euery ones choice For the Scripture saith that God would haue all men to be saued as 1. Tim. 2 4 and Rom 11. 33. God hath shut vp all in vnbeliefe that hee might haue mercy vpon all But these places proue not that Gods election belongeth to all for then the Scripture should bee opposite to it selfe which saith elsewhere That few are chosen But as St. Augustine well noteth this All is simply meant of all the Elect. As he saith Omnes homines vult saluos fieri vt intelligantur omnes praedestinati quia omne genus hominum in eis est sicut dictum est Pharisaeis Decimatis omne olus Luc. 11 42. vbi non intelligendum est nisi omne quod habebant that is God would haue all men to bee saued meaning all the predestinate because in them is all sorts of men as it was said to the Pharisees Yee tithe all kinde of herbes where we are not to vnderstand but all that they had As also St. Ambrose saith Quamuis magna pers hominum Saluantis gratiam repellat aut negligat in electis tamen prescitis atque ab Omnium generalitate discretis specialis quaedam censetur vniuersitas Pro parte mundi totus mundus pro parte hominum omnes homines nominantur Although a great part of men reiect or neglect the grace of the Sauiour yet a certaine speciall vniuersality is accounted in those that are elect and fore-knowne and separated from the generality of All. For a part of the world the whole world and for a part of men all men are named Next this certaine number is elected out of the corrupt masse of mankinde all corrupt in Adams loynes after his fall Therefore the elect are called vessels of mercy and mercy implyes misery Hence the Apostle very aptly compares the corrupt masse of mankinde to a lumpe of Potters clay and clay is nothing but dirt Also an example of Gods election we haue in Iacob and Esau in the same place Rom. 9 which two are set out as types of all mankinde Iacob of the Elect and Esau of the Reprobate Now to what time or condition had Gods act or purpose of separating these two one from the other speciall reference Namely while they were yet vnborne and before they had done good or euill that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of workes but of him that calleth it was said vnto her The elder shall serue the younger Iacob haue I loued but Esau haue I hated So that God did in his eternall purpose elect Iacob and reiect Esau in their Mothers wombe before they had actually done good or euill but not before they had both of them alike contracted the corruption of originall sinne in their Mothers wombe Hence it is that presently after mans fall Gen. 3. the Lord God first reuealeth the mysterie of his will in his eternall purpose towards mankinde in putting an enmity betweene the Serpents seed and the Womans seed both Angels and Men. The Serpents seede are the Reprobate a generation of Vipers of their Father the Deuill The Womans seede there are the Elect first Christ and in him all the Elect who are blessed in him and who with Christ are at continuall enmity with the Serpent and his seede Michael and his Angels fighting against the Dragon and his Angels the bond-womans sonne persecuting the free-womans sonne in an allegory Gal. 4. Thus Gods election had a speciall reference to the corrupt masse out of which he chose vs to saluation So Ezech. 16. Abraham the Father of the faithfull for his natiuity and birth was an idolatrous Amorite Ierusalem the type of Gods Elect was chosen in her bloud ver 5. as the Lord saith None eye pitied thee but thou wast cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou wast borne and when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine owne bloud I said vnto thee when thou wast in thy bloud Liue yea I said vnto thee when thou wast in thy bloud Liue. Now this election of God in choosing out of the corrupt masse and lumpe of mankinde such as shall be saued doth necessarily imply that this election is of his free grace as is expressed in the definition which is a point worthy our speciall consideration although indeed this free grace of God is the very life-bloud as it were which runneth through the whole body and filleth euery veine of the definition It is called an election of grace Rom. 11. 5. To this grace it is that the Apostle rauished with the admiration of Gods incomprehensible loue breaking forth into a gratefull acclamation and benediction of God for it as if now hee had but newly come forth or were still in his rapture in the third Heauen referreth and ascribeth the whole worke of our saluation To the praise of the glory of his grace saith he wherein he hath made vs accepted in the Beloued Ephes. 1. 6. And in the seuenth Verse In whom we haue redemption through his bloud the forgiuenesse of sinnes according to the riches of his grace And Chapt. 2. 4. c. God who is rich in mercy for his great loue wherewith hee loued vs euen when we were dead in sinnes hath quickned vs together with Christ by grace ye are saued and hath raised vs vp together c. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding
than the Doctrine of the Catholick faith which is built vpon the holy Scriptures the onely adaequate obiect and rule of Catholike faith Now the ground and foundation of perseuerance in grace vnto the end is the eternall decree and act of Gods good pleasure and will in predestinating and electing a certaine number of men out of the corrupt masse of mankinde to be saued in and through Iesus Christ. So that the certainty of perserance of the elect Saints depends vpon the immutability of that foundation of God which stands sure and hath Gods seale vpon it The Lord knoweth who are his And it is worth the noting yea very materiall for the vnderstanding of the scope of the Apostle in that place to obserue the words immediatly going befoee vers 18. where speaking of the heresie of Hymeneus and Phileâ—us by whose meanes the faith of some was ouerthrowne and least some hereupon might conclude that therefore Gods elect may fall away from faith the Apostle preuents or at least remoues that obiection inferring in the next words Neuerthelesse the foundation of God stands sure c. Yea this foundation of God stands so sure as that it stands not idle and empty but still in all ages in all places where Christ is preached the elect are effectually called and built vpon it vntill the full and finall consummation of the holy and heauenly Temple of God So that as the Apostle saith Whom God did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also iustified and whom hee iustified them hee also glorified Note here the golden chaine of mans saluation Our glorification is chained to our iustification our iustification to our effectuall vocation our effectuall vocation iustification glorification begunne here in grace and consummate hereafter in glory are all chained inseparably to predestination Gods foundation Whereupon S. Augustine saith Quos praedestinauit ipsos vocauit illa scilicet vocatione secundum propositum non ergo alios sed quos praedestinauit ipsos vocauit nec alios sed quos ita vocauit ipsos iustificauit nec alios sed quos praedestinauit vocauit iustificauit ipsos glorificauit illo vtique fine qui non habet finem Whom he predestinated them he also called to wit with that calling which is according to his purpose therefore none else but whom hee predestinated them he also called nor any others but whom he so called them he also iustified nor any others but whom he hath predestinated called iustified them he hath also glorified vnto the end that hath no end And De fide ad Petrum Diaconum cap. 3. Illi cum Christo regnabunt quos Deus gratuita bonitate sua praedestinauit ad Regnum quoniam tales praedestinando praeparauit vt Regno digni essent praeparauit vtique secundum propositum vocandos vt obediant praeparauit iustificandos vt accepta gratia rectè credant bene viuant praeparauit etiam glorificandos vt Christi cohaeredes effecti Regnum coelorum sine fine possideant They shall reigne with Christ whom God of his free goodnesse hath predestinated to the Kingdome for because by predestinating he hath prepared such that they should be worthy of the Kingdome he hath prepared them to be called according to his purpose that they should obey hee hath prepared them to be iustified that hauing receiued grace they should beleeue aright and liue well he hath prepared them also to be glorified that being made coheires with Christ they might possesse the Kingdome of heauen without end Thus we see the maine reason of the Saints perseuerance in grace vnto the end is grounded vpon the immutability of Gods election So that the enemies of the truth and of Gods glory and louers of their owne glory know well enough that their Doctrine of vncertainty and of falling away from grace cannot stand so long as Gods foundation remaineth sure therefore they haue laboured tooth and nayle to vndermyne and blow vp this foundation of God that so men might be as a tottering house built vpon the sand or as a Ship without an anchor tossed vp and downe and running vpon the danger of euery rocke and shelue as St. Iames compares the faithlesse man to the winde-driuen waue Iames 1. 6. Now as God hath preordained and elected vs as to the end of our saluation so to the meanes ordinary and conditionall the Word and Sacraments whereby wee should be in time effectually called to imbraoe by faith the onely absolute meanes of our saluation Iesus Christ in whom we are elected and by whom we are mightily saued So also hee hath ordained and appointed vs vnto holinesse of life and conuersation wherein we should walke and perseuere vnto the end of this life as it is in the definition For good workes being the proper immediate and necessary fruits of iustifying Faith they become also the ordinary high-way to the Kindgome They are via Regni though not causa Regnandi the way of the Kingdome but not the cause of making vs Kings Hereupon the Apostle saith Ephes. 1. 4. That God hath chosen vs in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in loue And Chapt. 2. 10. We are his workemanship created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which God hath before ordained that we should walke in them Here the Apostle speakes of the new creature of the regenerate man created or re-created in Christ Iesus created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes that we should walke in them For the good workes of a regenerate man as they are euidences of true faith so they are excellent meanes to preserue vs from falling and to make vs perseuere in grace vnto the end Therfore St. Peter saith 2. Pet. 1. 10. Wherefore Brethren the rather giue diligence to make your calling and election sure for if yee doe these things ye shall neuer fall These things namely such as hee spake of in the fift sixt and seuen Verses to wit all kinde of good workes For so saith he an entrance shall be ministred vnto you aboundantly into the euerlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ. Obiect But some will here obiect that for as much as the Apostle doth vse If here as putting the assurance of our election vpon Ifs and And 's therefore if a man continue not to doe these things he shall fall and so consequently the assurance of our perseuerance is only conditionall So that it rests in vs eyther to stand or fall from grace Answ. For answer hereunto True it is that the aduersaries of this truth catch at all shadowes whereby they may any way obscure this cleare Doctrine that so all men might remaine still in the shadow of death as Adam would haue done when he thought to hide himselfe from God by taking shrowd vnder the shadowie trees Hereunto they adde sundry places of Scripture as all such where there is eyther
huius vtilitatem secreti n◠fortè quis extollatur sed omnes etiam qui bene currunt timeant c. that is Hold that which thou hast lest another take thy Crowne they are the words of the holy Ghost Now that these things are so spoken euen to the Saints that shall perseuere as if it were vncertaine whether they should perseuere they ought not to heare of this otherwise whom it behooueth not to be high minded but feare Hence also it is said to the Apostles If you shall abide in me himselfe speaking it who knew full well that they would abide in him And by the Prophet If ye be willing and will harken vnto me when himselfe knew in whom hee would worke euen to will And many such things are spoken for the profit of this secret lest any should be puffed vp but that all euen those that runne well should feare Hence it is that the Apostle saith 2. Tim. 3. 16. All Scripture is giuen by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteousnesse that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished vnto all good workes Note here how the holy Ghost vnto the Doctrine of the Scripture ioyneth reproofe and correction as necessary meanes to bring Gods seruants to perfection So that those places of Scripture which deterre men from presumption and security Gods Children make vse of them as meanes to keep them in the way not as stumbling blockes to take offence at whereby to fall If any here obiect that of Gregory Video Paulum c. I see Paul called out of that cruelty of persecuting to the grace of Apostleship and yet he so feareth amidst Gods secret iudgements as that euen after he is called hee feareth to be a cast-away For he saith Castigo I chastise my body c. 1. Cer. 9. and Phil. 3. I follow if I may comprehend c. Yea it was now said of him by the voice of the Lord He is a chosen vessell vnto mee and yet for all that chastizing his body hee feareth lest hee should be reproued or cast away Doth Gregory hence conclude that the elect is vncertaine of saluation or that it is possible for him to become a reprobate Nothing lesse For note what the addeth there Debet profectò in spe esse non solum securitas sed etiam timor in conuersatione vt illa certantes foueat iste torpentes pungat There ought surely there ought to be not onely security in our hope but also feare in our conuersation that both the one security in hope may cheere those that fight and the other feare checke and spurre them that faint Vnde c. Whence saith he it is well spoken by the Prophet They which feare the Lord let them hope in the Lord. As if he said plainly That mans hope is vainly confident who refuseth to feare God in his conuersation And lib 9. cap. 27. he further cleareth his minde herein Sciendum est quod viri sancti ita incerti sunt vt confidant atque ita confidunt vt tamen ex securitate non torpeant We are to know that holy men are so vncertaine as that they are confident and are so confident as that notwithstanding they droope not through security So that such like places of Scripture as teach vs to feare and tremble being rightly vnderstood and applyed they are so farre from shaking the certainty of our election and perseuerance in grace that they tend exceedingly to the establishing of it Yea they serue also to stoppe all foolish and carnall mens mouthes that would forsooth in Christian policy haue this Doctrine of God smoothered and suppressed as tending to make men carelesse of the meanes of saluation Whereas on the contrary seeing the wisedome of God hath tyed the meanes of saluation so inseparably and conditionally to his own purpose and good pleasure in our election therefore all men being alike indangered vnto God should not persist in their rebellion to their further damnation but should vse all diligence in the vse of those meanes by which God doth worke saluation vnto vs. Tell me if politick respects may take such place A Kings subiects being all fallen without exception into a Premunire hauing forfeited their estates and all if now the King out of his speciall grace and fauour haue resolued with himselfe to pardon such a number of them as seemeth good vnto him whose names he enrolleth in his booke of Arcana regni not purposing to pardon any moe but these onely yet withall hath appointed such and such meanes to be vsed and conditions to be obserued as he prescribeth and so thus farre publisheth by Proclamation to all his subiects that such is his determination and good pleasure to pardon and spare a certaine number of his subiects such as himselfe out of speciall grace hath made choice of but the number of the persons and who they be he concealeth in his brest but reuealeth to them the meanes whereby hee will saue them will any of his subiects be so desperately minded as to say thus with himselfe The King hath resolued to pardon a certain number and no more and to receiue them to fauour by such meanes as hee commandeth by obeying such and such Lawes but sith I am vncertaine whether I be one of that number or no I will not take the paines to vse any such meanes nor so much as endeauour to obserue those conditions though neuer so easie which he requireth in that behalfe Nay will not all rather harken to the conditions being all of them gracious and no way grieuous euery one for his part hoping that he may be one of that number whom the King hath resolued to receiue to grace and fauour againe yea and highly to aduance in his Kingdome If it bee but a running Lottery wherein the whole Countrey is coosened though there be but a few prizes to many blankes yet how forward are men to aduenture their money some pawning their very beds and all to bee cheated Wee see there is no Papist so vncharitable that though his neare kinsman be it Father or Mother or so dye neuer so wicked yet at the least in hope he is but in Purgatory how will he empty his purse yea how often for so many Masses to release him out againe although it be a most desperate aduenture nay he will not stick perhaps to go a long Pilgrimage and to doe some tedious Penance inioyned him by a sinnefull Priest and all for the pardon of that sinne whereof notwithstanding neyther the Priest can giue nor himselfe receiue any assurance of pardon by such meanes at Gods hand And shall not all men indangered to God for soule and all be ready to entertaine and obserue all such conditions prescribed by God whereby they may be saued and without which they cannot be saued Yes say these selfe-wise carnall Vniuersalists if we were but in as much
a new way to Heauen and beauty to expresse this vertue and to demonstrate this way with the very hand of their owne immaculate exemplary life Let them therefore come forth vpon the Stage and act before vs but a Scene of their Christian life Wee are willing to be Spectators of this rare spectacle and will be as beneuolous to giue them a Plaudite if they deserue it as by their fame and claime we are erected to a high expectation of their performance for we expect to see them act the parts not as common Actors and Comedians act others good parts vpon the Stage whence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Hypocrites haue their names as Gregory saith Haereticorum hypocrisis decoros ipsos hominibus ostendit The hypocrysie of Heretickes makes them appeare beautifull vnto men wee expect I say to see them act the parts not of the ordinary ranke of morallmen but as they professe to goe before others in learning and wit so let them goe before all men in sanctity of life and conuersation which if they doe not their owne Doctrine shall turne to their greater condemnation For seeing they attribute so much to their naturall abilities if they make it not good in their owne practice God will say vnto them Out of thine owne mouth will I condemne thee thou euill seruant Hast thou so much power to doe good and dost it not If the Lord condemne that feare at the best which is taught towards him by the precepts of men how shall hee confound those that for all their humane politicke precepts come infinitely short of the feare of God in their liues But if not only defect of the true feare of God be found in them but excesse of all corruption doe beare sway in their lusts if they be extreame proud couetous ambitious malicious contemners of the true seruants of God if back-biters selfe-louers louers of pleasures more than louers of God hauing a forme of godlinesse but denying the power thereof what reward shall they haue for all their new deuices and quaint doctrines What honour with God What credit with men What comfort in themselues but horrour of conscience What else can bee expected of such as haue lost or neuer had the true faith Can a bad tree bring forth good fruit saith Christ Gregory compareth such to brazen Pipes Sonum bene loquendi habent sed sensum bene viuendi non habent They haue the sound of saying well but they haue not the sense of liuing well But take their workes at the best yet seeing they flowe not from the holy roote of sound faith they are but as many flowers whose colour is beautifull but their sauour banefull Such do stincke odious in the pure nostrils of God yea they are abominable to the Church of God As the same Gregory saith Quia nonnunquam haeretici quanto magis in perfidiae errorem dilabuntur tanto ampliùs in exteriori sese operatione custodiunt ita vt agere prae caeteris magna videantur sancta vniuersalis Ecclesia cuncta eorum opera despicit quae ex authoritate fidei non prodire perpendit Because sometimes hereticks the more they sinke into the errour of perfidiousnesse so much the more warily doe they keepe themselues in their exteriour operation so that they may seeme in comparison of others to doe great things the holy vniuersall Church doth despise all their workes which it considereth not to proceede from the authority of faith Now hauing spoken of the nature of Predestination according to the expresse tenure of the holy Scriptures come wee to set downe the certainty of Catholicke and true iustifying Faith in regard of the certainty of predestination vnto grace and of perseuerance therein vnto glory The Pontificians alledge and obiect That we cannot be certaine of our saluation but depend alwayes doubtfull because say they we cannot know who is predestinate and who shall perseuere in grace without speciall reuelation Now true it is that no beleeuer can know whether another be predestinate or shall perseuere but by speciall reuelation Samuel came to know King Saul to be a reprobate by speciall reuelation Ananias came to know persecuting Saul to bee an elect vessell by speciall reuelation So Paul came to know that Clement and other his fellow-labourers had their names written in the Booke of life Againe no man how wicked soeuer can know or conclude with himselfe that he is a reprobate but eyther by diuine reuelation as Saul came to know this by Samuel from God or else by the effects of finall impenitency and desperation such as commit the sinne of the Holy Ghost especially But that euery true beleeuer may and doth come to know himselfe to be of the number of Gods elect and predestinate vnto life and that not onely by extraordinary reuelation from the Spirit of God but by the illumination of iustifying Faith and consequently is hereby assured of his perseuerance in grace vnto glory is a Doctrine most euident in the holy Scriptures Two generall points therefore come here to be handled First that euery true beleeuer in Christ may and doth certainly know that hee is one of the number of Gods Elect. Secondly that euery true beleeuer may and doth know certainly that he shall perseuere in grace vnto glory For the first of these Euery true beleeuer in Christ may and doth certainly know that hee is one of the number of Gods Elect. And this hee knoweth first by Faith The Faith of Gods Elect is as a chrystall perspectiue glasse though which euery true beleeuer clearely seeth himselfe enrolled in the Booke of life Reioyce in this saith Christ that your names are written in Heauen Now how can any man reioyce of that whereof hee is vncertaine and doubtfull and which he knoweth not So that for the Elect to reioyce that their names are written in Heauen in the Booke of life must needes imply a certaine knowledge that we are of the number of those whose names are written in the Booke of life as also some in the Trent-Councell iudiciously alledged from this very place But the aduersaries obiect that this was spoken in especiall to the elect Disciples to whom Christ gaue a speciall reuelation of their election I answer with Augustine vpon these very words of the Gospell of Christ In this reioyce that your names are written in Heauen Nullus fidelis habet spem si nomen eius non est scriptum in coelo No faithfull man hath any hope if his name bee not written in Heauen So that Augustine applyeth this speech of Christ to all the faithfull As hee there saith Non eos voluit gaudere ex eo quod proprium habebant sed ex eo quod cum caeteris salutem tenebant Inde voluit gaudere Apostolos vnde gaudes tu Christ would not haue his Disciples to reioyce of that which they had proper to themselues namely of casting out Deuils and of doing
miracles but of their owne saluation which they had common with others For that very cause would hee haue his Disciples reioyce for which thou also reioycest Omnium fidelium qui diligunt Christum qui ambulant viam eius humiliter quam ipse docuit humilis nomina scripta sunt in Coelo Cuiusuis contemptibilis in Ecclesia qui credit in Christum diligit Christum amat pacem Christi nomen scriptum est in Coelo cuiusâ—ibet quem contemnis c. The names of all the faithfull which loue Christ which humbly walke in his way which his humble selfe prescribed are written in Heauen The name of euery contemptible one in the Church which beleeueth in Christ and loueth Christ and loueth the peace of Christ is written in Heauen euen of euery one whom thou contemnest And what comparison between such a one and the Apostles who did so great miracles And yet the Apostles are checked because they reioyced in a priuate good and are charged to reioyce of that whereof euen that contemptible one reioyceth So Saint Augustine So that the Apostles reioycing that their names were written in Heauen was not peculiar to them but common to euery true beleeuer the most contemptible whereof is no lesse commanded to reioyce that his name is written in Heauen than the Apostles themselues were If therefore all the faithfull must reioyce that their names are written in Heauen then they must needes certainly know not coniecturally suppose or vainely presume that they are of the number of Gods Elect. For else to reioyce of that where of they haue no certaine knowledge were but the flash of a false ioy But Christ bids vs reioyce truely and really All therefore whose names are written in Heauen know it to bee so sith they are bid to reioyce of it And if this knowledge come not but by reuelation yet it is no speciall reuelation to some few beleeuers onely but it is giuen to all true beleeuers in common Yea all the elect euen euery true beleeuer knoweth this by his Faith and the fruits of it as Hope and Loue c. This the Apostle sheweth 2. Cor. 13. 5. Examine your selues whether yee be in the Faith prooue your owne selues Know yee not your owne selues how that Iesus Christ is in you except yee be Reprobates A most emphaticall speech Examine What your selues Wherein Whether yee be in the Faith yea Prooue your owne selues herein And let this be the proofe of your Faith to know your selues to be in Christ and Christ to be in you For this is proper to the elect of God yea to all the elect in Christ to know themselues to be of that number euen by the proofe and testimonie of their Faith Which knowledge hee who neuer hath is a Reprobate by the Apostles Sentence For if Christ be in you then are you of the number of Gods elect and Christ dwelleth in vs by Faith and by Faith wee know that Christ dwelleth in vs by which wee know that wee are not Reprobates And if wee know wee are no Reprobates then wee know certainely that wee are of Gods elect Hereupon Saint Augustine sayth Fides quae per dilectionem operatur si est in vobis iam pertinetis ad praedestinatos vocatos iustificatos ergo crescat in vobis Faith which worketh by loue if it be in you you doe now belong to the number of the Predestinate of the Called of the Iustified therefore let Faith grow in you Saint Iohn also sheweth this excellently saying Hee that beleeueth in the Sonne of God hath the witnesse in himselfe So that our Faith in Christ is our infallible witnesse that wee are Christs and Christ is ours and so consequently that wee are predestinate and elect in Christ. For if any man doubt of this Record of Faith what it is and wherein it consisteth the same Apostle makes it yet more euident Verse 11. saying And this is the Record that God hath giuen to vs eternall life and this life is in his Sonne And can wee haue this Witnesse this Record of Faith in ourselues and not thereby certainely know that wee are of the number of Gods elect when wee thus finde the infallible proofe and effect of it in vs Eternall life is the infallible effect of our election But by Faith wee know that wee haue eternall life For this is the Record euen our Faith Yea this infallible knowledge is that which the Apostle doth purposely write to informe vs of For Verse 13. he sayth These things haue I written vnto you that beleeue in the Name of the Sonne of God To what end That yee may know What That yee may know not that yee may haue some probable coniecture but that yee may know What that yee haue eternall life Not onely that yee shall haue it but that yee alreadie haue it than which nothing is more sure and certaine and that yee may beleeue on the Name of the Sonne of God And this is the confidence that wee haue in him c. Now hath euery true Beleeuer eternall Life And doth hee know this by Faith And doth hee not then know that hee is of the number of Gods elect Let all Pontifician Sophistry heere stoppe the Mouth of Contradiction Let it submit to the inuincible and cleare Truth of God Thus hauing declared the infallible certaintie of Saluation sealed vnto vs by a liuely iustifying Faith which makes a man so perswaded of his Election and Predestination as that it makes him to reioyce that his name is written in Heauen it followeth now in the next place to shew the certaintie of Faith as touching our perseuerance vnto the end Now our perseuerance in Grace is a necessarie consequent effect of our Election and Predestination in Christ vnto Glory So that being sure wee are of the number of Gods Elect wee are also sure that wee shall also continue and perseuere in Grace vnto the end whereunto wee are elected As Augustine sayth Quis in aeternam vitam potuit ordinari nisi perseuerantiae dono Who could be ordained to eternall Life without the gift of Perseuerance So that for a man to know hee is written in the Booke of Life of Gods Election is consequently to know that hee shall perseuere vnto the end Doe wee know that God loues vs in Christ Then doe we also know that vnto the end hee loueth vs. Wee know that he that hath begun the good worke of Grace in vs will also performe it vnto the end Wee know with the Apostle that nothing shall separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. The Pontificians would faine restraine the Apostles perswasion and extend it no farther than to himselfe as a speciall reuelation of the certaintie of his owne saluation But hee sayth expressely Nothing shall separate Vâ— hee sayth not Mee alone but Vs. As hee plainely expresseth elsewhere saying Wee know that if our Earthly House
which ioynes the merits of Christ vnto vs and makes them ours after a sort in as much as for his merits sake hee giueth vs righteousnesse whereby wee are righteous Cum enim per iustitiam Christi c. For seeing by the righteousnesse of Christ mankinde hath satisfied for their sinnes and by it is reconciled to God and the gates of Paradise are thereby vnlocked and all that are iustified or satisfie or merit at Gods hand seeing by his merits they are iustified and reconciled to God and satisfie for themselues and merit increase of grace and blessednesse surely it cannot be denied but that to mankinde and all so iustified Christs righteousnesse is or may be imputed to satisfaction and merit So Vega. I neede passe no other censure vpon this Romane-Catholicke doctrine than that of Gregory Deo maledicunt cum se ab illo accepisse vires intelligunt sed tamen de eius muneribus propriam laudem quaerunt They blaspheme God when they acknowledge they haue receiued strength from him and yet from his gifts seeke their owne praise And St. Augustine in his Soliloquies saith sweetly Vnde gloriabitur omnis caro Nunquid de malo Haec non est gloria sed miseria sed nunquid gloriabitur de bono nunquid de alieno Tuum Domine est bonum tua est gloria Qui enim de bono tuo gloriam sibi quaerit non tibi quaerit hic fur est latro similis est diabolo qui voluit furari gloriam tuam Qui enim laudari vult de tuo dono non quaerit in illo gloriam tuam sed suam hic licet propter tuum donum laudatur ab hominibus ◠te tamen vituperatur quia de dono tuo non tuam sed suam gloriam quaesiuit Qui autem ab hominibus laudatur vituperante te non defendetur ab hominibus iudicante te ne◠liberabitur condemnante te Whereof shall all flesh reioyce Of euill This is not glory but misery But shall hee glory of good What of anothers good Thine O Lord is the good thine is the glory For he who of thy good seekes glory to himselfe and not to thee hee is a theefe and a robber and like the deuill who would haue robbed thee of thy glory For he that would be praised for thy gift and doth not therein seeke thy glory but his owne this man though for thy gift hee be praised of men yet hee is dispraised of thee because of thy gift he sought not thine but his owne glory But hee that is praised of men being disallowed of thee shall not be defended of men when hee shall be iudged of thee nor absolued when condemned of thee I haue been the more copious in citing these two authors Vega and Soto because both they were grand-Sticklers in the Councell and vndertooke to write these things as Commentaries vpon this sixt Session of Iustification as we haue sufficiently noted before So that what the Councell hath couched in the Text in fewer words these haue amplified and expressed more at large to the end that no man might mistake the Councels minde and meaning no not in the middest of her mistie and cloudy equiuocations Thus they haue learned to doe with imputation the very name whereof had so startled the Councell for the time as men doe with the Serpent The Serpent with her very aspect at first affrights the beholder but being taken and her teeth pulled out men are then not affraide to carry her in their bosomes So the imputation of Christs righteousnesse was at the first sight terrible to the Church of Rome assembled in the Councell of Trent no lesse than the gastly Owle was to the Pope and his Cardinalls in the Councell of Lateran which appeared to them in steede of their holy Ghost but finding meanes to take Christ the Antitype of that health-giuing brasen Serpent and to pull out his teeth to wit the truth of the imputation of Christs righteousnesse whereby sinne and death are bitten and stung to death lest it should bite and sting all their merits to death they dare now freely and familiarly carry the Serpent in the bosome of their bookes handling imputation at their pleasure without any perill at all to Papall satisfaction Bellarmine hath also learned to play with the word imputation Homo iustificatus non egit imputatione alienae iustitiae qua iniustitia propria inhaerens tegatur A man iustified needeth not the imputation of anothers righteousnesse whereby his owne inherent vnrighteousnesse may be couered And in the tenth Chapter of the same booke Christus nostra iustitia non quòd iusti simus ea iustitia quae est in Christo nobis imputata Christ is our righteousnesse not that we are iust by the righteousnesse which is in Christ imputed vnto vs Sic igitur nobis imputatur iustitia eius quoad satisfactionem quam pro nobis praestitit sed non propterea nos iusti id est mundi immaculati haberi possumus si verè in nobis peccatorum macula sordes inhaereant So therefore is Christs righteousnesse imputed to vs in regard of satisfaction which he performed for vs but for all that we cannot bee holden for iust to wit cleane and immaculate if the spots and staines of sinne by yet truely inherent in vs. So this is the generall voyce of the Councell of Trent and the Church of Rome to allow of no other imputation of Christs righteousnesse but such as by his merits wee haue an infusion of grace whereby we merit and satisfie God in our iustification And so they admit of no other formall cause of iustification but an inherent righteousnesse in themselues and out of Christ. Thus we haue seene what the Romane-Catholike faith is touching Iustification and the formall cause of it CHAP. V. The Catholike Faith concerning iustification and of the terme and forme of Iustification NOw to know the true nature of Iustification it much imports vs to consider in what sense this word Iustification is to be vsed and taken in the iustification of a sinner The Pontificians or Papists would restraine the sense of it to the etymologie of the Latine word Iustificare as much say they as Iustum facere from whence they would conclude their inherencie of selfe-iustification wherein they doe as some Lawyers that by the mistaking or misapplying of a word can ouerthrow the whole right of a mans cause Indeede St. Augustine saith Quid est aliud iustificati quà m iusti facti ab illo scilicet qui iustificat impium vt ex impio fiat iustus Aut certè it a dictum est iustificabuntur ac si diceretur Iusti habebuntur iusti deputabuntur What else is it to be iustified but to be made iust namely of him who iustifieth the vngodly that of impious he may be made righteous Or surely it is so said They shall be iustified as if it were said
elsewhere Praedestinatio est praepaeratio graciae gratia autem est ipsa donatio sâ—u praedestinationis effectus Predestination is the preparation of grace and grace is the gift it selfe or the effect of predestination And in his Enchiridion Vnum ex paruulis eligendi alterum rélinquendt causavna erat Dei voluntas cuius enim vult miseretur Deus quem vult obdurat Miseretur scilicet magna bonitate obdurat nulla iniquitate vt nec liberatus de suis meritis glorietur nec damnatus nisi de suis meritis conqueratur Sola enim gratia redemptos discerit à perditis quos in vnam perditionis concreuer at massam ab origine ducta causa communis Et nisi per indebitam misericordiam nemo liberatur nisi per debitum iudicium nemo damnatur There was one and the same cause of electing the one and leauing the other of the children to wit Iacob and Esau euen the will of God for God hath mercy vpon whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth Hee sheweth mercy out of his great bounty hee hardeneth without any iniustice that neyther hee that is freed might glory of his owne merits nor hee that is condemned might complaine but of his owne demerits For it is onely grace which separateth the redeemed from the condemned whom the common cause deriued from the originall had confounded altogether in one masse of perdition And but by vndue and vndeserued mercy none is deliuered and but by due and deserued iudgement none is condemned Thus this holy man So that whatsoeuer exceptions or obiections cauils or calumnies eyther the malicious or ignorant enemies of this truth take vp against it as blaming God for an accepter of persons in preferring one wicked man before another being all naught without exception or difference in Adams corrupt loynes they doe but shoote their arrowes against the Sunne or as that famous Naturalist Aristotle who would desperately drowne himselfe in that Septemfluous Sea of Euripus for spight that hee could not finde out a reason for the ebbing and flowing of it Or it is as the Apostle vseth a familiar comparison as if the Pot should expostulate with the Potter and demand a reason why he made it such and such The reason of Gods will is a mysterie as the Apostle sheweth the effects whereof are made knowne vnto vs but the prime cause locked vp in Gods owne brest To prye into this Arcanum or secret what is it but with the Bethshemites to peepe into Gods Arke and so to perish by a fearfull plague Can Emperours and Commanders in any Armie haue their wils presently obeyed and put in execution without demanding a reason of them nay can that great mysterie of iniquity impose vpon their disciples blinde obedience vnto their most damnable and diabolicall designes proceeding from that Dragons will which animateth the Beast a reason whereof to demand were as dangerous to the party demanding as hee by the execution of the command might proue dangerous to others and cannot God haue his will absolute and free to himselfe though it be most iust wise and perfectly good but the vilest and basest of men dare affront it and eyther call God to an account for a reason why hee so willeth or else they must conclude that their owne wils for the goodnesse of them must bee the reason and cause mouing God so to will Yet if they will needes haue a reason of this supreme will of God whereof wee speake let them know God so willeth because it is his good pleasure If that will not satisfie thee because I relate it heare the Apostle He hauing said Hee hath mercy on whom hee will and whom hee will hee hardeneth and thou replying Why then doth God yet complaine for who hath resisted his will But O man saith he who are thou that replyest against God Whereupon St. Augustine saith Talibus dicamus cum Apostolo non enim melius illo inuenire possumus quid dicamus O homo tu quis es qui respondeas Deo Quaerimus namque meritum obdurationis inumimus Merito namque peccati vniuersa massa damnata est nec obdurat Deus impertiendo malitiam sed non impertiendo misericordiam Quaerimus autem meritum misericordiae non inuenimus quia nullum est ne gratia euacuetur si non gratis donatur sed meritis redditur To such replyers let vs say with the Apostle for we cannot finde what to say better O man who art thou that replyest against God for wee enquire for the merit of obduration and wee finde it For by the merit of sinne the whole masse is condemned nor doth God harden by infusing of malice but by not imparting of mercy But wee enquire for the merit of mercy and we find it not because it is not at all lest grace be made voide if it be not giuen of gratuity but rendred of dutie And to conclude this point with S. Augustine in a word Conficitur itaque gratiam Dei non secundum merita accipientium dari sed secundum placitum voluntatis eius in laudem gloriam ipsius gratiae eius vt qui gloriatur nullâ— modo in seipso sâ—d in Domino glorietur qui hominibus dat quibus vult quoniam misericors est quod si non det iustus est non dat quibus non vult vâ— notas faciat diuitias gloriae suae in vasa misericordiae Dando enim quibusdam quod non merentur profectò gratuitam per hoc veram suam gratiam esse voluit Non omnibus dando quid omnes merentur ostendit Bonus in beneficio certorum iustus in supplicio caeterorum We conclude therefore that the grace of God is giuen not according to the merits of the receiuers but according to the good pleasure of his will vnto the praise and glory of his grace that he that glorieth should by no means glory in himselfe but in the Lord which giueth to men to whom he will because he is mercifull which if hee doe not giue he is iust and he giueth not to whom he will not that hee may make knowne the riches of his glory vpon the vessels of mercy For by giuing to some that which they merit not it is that he would haue his grace to be free and so to be grace indeed And by not giuing to all he sheweth what all doe deserue So he is good in pardoning some iust in punishing the rest Like vnto a creditor who hauing sundry debtors deepely and indifferently engaged vnto him it is in his free power and choice which of them hee will freely acquite and of which hee will iustly require his owne Now to shut vp this point of the definition which is that whereon all the rest depends we finde in the Scriptures that there is no one part of the gracious mysterie of mans saluation but it is expresly and particularly referred to the will and good