unreasonable so to do as if a man disputing concerning Osorius should thus conclude that because he hath no power of governing in the Kings Chamber therefore he hath nothing he can do at home amongst his own family Or because he is not at all excellent in military vertue to gain a victory that therefore he hath no faculty or dexterity in managing the affairs of his own business Luther separates charity from faith and the Law from the Gospel and does it not without cause But it must be considered where in what place and for what cause he does it Not to cause the godly works of good men to be despised nor to discourage the exercise thereof but that the power of justifying should not be attributed to the performance of them Not that faith should not work by love before Men but that it should not work before God For it is one thing to work before Men and another thing to work before God Therefore one and the same faith acteth both ways but one way before God and another way before men for before men it works by love that it may perform obedience to the will of God and be serviceable for the benefit of our Neighbour but before God it works not by any love but by Christ only that it may obtain the pardon of sins and eternal life By which you see what is the difference between faith and vertue and wherein they both agree and how different the working of both is How faith is alone without works and again how the same is not alone for in the mean while Godly works are not therefore condemned because they are not admitted to the justification of life but the trusting in works is only overturned Here then a wise and suitable division should be used that things may be distinguished each by their own places and bounds lest one thing should rashly rush into the possession of another and disturb the order of its station Therefore let the praise-worthy merits of the greatest vertues have their own honour and dignity which no man withholds from them Nevertheless by their dignity they will never be so available in the presence of the Heavenly Iudge as to redeem us from our sins to satisfie Iustice to deliver us from the wrath of God and everlasting destruction to restore us that are so many ways ruinated unto grace and life to unite us as Sons and Heirs to God and to overcome Death and the World These things cost a far dearer price than that we should ever be able to pay so many and so great debts by any works or merits or means of our own For so great is the severity of Iustice that there can be no reconciliation unless Iustice be satisfied by suffering the whole punishment that was due The wrath is so very great that there is no hope of appeasing the Father but by the price and death of the Son And again so great is the mercy that the Father grudged not to send his own Son and bestow him on the World and so to bestow him that he gives Life Eternal to them that believe in him Moreover so great is the loving kindness of the Son towards us that he grudged not for our sakes to bring upon himself this infinite load of wrath which otherways our frailty however assisted with all the help of moral vertues had never been able to sustain Whence Faith hath received its efficacy BEcause Faith alone with fixed eyes looks upon this Son and Mediator and cleaves unto him who only could bring about this Atchievement of our Redemption with the Father therefore it is that it alone hath this vertue and power of justifying not with works nor for works but only for the sake of the Mediator on whom it relies Therefore that is false and worthy to be rejected with disdain which some unhappy and wicked School-Divines affirm in discoursing of Charity to wit that it is the form of Faith and that it must not by any means be separated from faith no more than the vital Soul can be separated from the body or the essential form from matter which otherwise is a rude and unweildy Mass. In answering of whom I think there is no need of many words seeing the whole meaning and drift of Scripture if rightly understood the very end of the Law seeing Christ and the instruction of the Apostles and the whole nature of the Gospel seem to be manifestly against them and wholly to overturn that most absur'd Opinion by so many Oracles so many Signs Examples and Arguments to the contrary Now if that be form which gives subsistence to a thing how much more truly must it be said that faith is the form of charity without which all the works of charity are base and contemptible as again the form of faith is not charity but Christ only and the promise of the word But what say they are not the pious works of Charity acceptable to God being so many ways prescribed unto us and commanded by him Are not these also remunerated with plentiful fruits of Righteousness and heaped up with manifold Rewards in the Gospel I was hungry says he and ye fed me I thirsted and ye refreshed me with drink so that not so much as a cup of cold water shall want a reward when it is given in the name of Christ besides an infinite number of other things of that kind which being taken out of the Scriptures are enlarged upon to the praise of Charity Indeed no man denys that pious and holy works of Charity are greatly approved of God and it is an undoubted truth that the love of God and of our Neighbour as it comprehends the Summary of both Tables and is the greatest complement of the whole Law so it hath excellent promises annexed unto it Neither is there any Controversie between us about that But when we affirm that Charity pleases God we ask this how it pleases whether simply of it self in respect of the very work or upon the account of faith and the Mediatour and then whether the same Charity so pleases that it justifies us before God and obtains the pardon of sins and overcomes the terrours of death and sin that it may be opposed to the judgment and anger of God Moreover whether it hath the promises of Eternal Life annexed unto it If without a Mediatour and the faith of him there is nothing which can please God and it is impossible that works should please him before the person of him that worketh be reconciled it follows that Charity depends on Faith and not Faith on Charity But that it rather goes before Love and is so far from being joyned with it for justification that it also justifies Charity and makes all the works of Charity acceptable to God The matters appear more evident by Example Suppose a Iew or Turk does daily bestow great gifts upon the poor with very great cost
thing and the holy Scriptures another they affirm that this is performed on this account because Christ being punished for us on the Cross hath by his Merits obtained for us the infusion of Charity Which because it is the perfection of the Law therefore being acquired by the Merit of Christ and received by our free-will it brings forth righteousness not that whereby we are accounted for just but whereby we are both truly just and deserve life But verily this Sophism neither agrees with the History of the Israelites nor satisfies the argument propounded For if those that were then wounded by the Serpents by only beholding the Serpent without any other intermediate cause received present health verily either this type bears not the similitude of Christ or Christ heals us by faith in his name only without interposing the remedy of Charity Otherways the mutual proportion of similitude between us and them between Christ and the Serpent will not rightly agree They lifted up their outward eyes we our inward they to the serpent we to Christ. Both by beholding obtain health through the Promise of God they the health of their Bodies we of our Souls They presently in beholding at the first sight were healed in the same moment by no endeavour of their own but only upon the account of the Object and by vertue of the Promise And what other thing doth this mystical adumbration signifie but Iustification freely prepared and promised to us by the sole contemplation of the Object whereby we apprehend Christ by Faith Will you hear the Promise That every one who seeth him may not perish but have eternal Life And elsewhere And this righteous servant of mine by his knowledge shall Iustifie many But what is it to see him but to believe in him What is the knowledge of that righteous one but the Faith of Christ which Iustifies from sin Therefore what external aspect was to them that the light of Faith is to us What Health was to them Iustification is to us whereby we are delivered from the Curse of sin and are absolved without punishment But if you ask what way There is an answer in readiness to wit according to the very similitude of the Serpent not by any labour of ours but by contemplation of the Object only and by vertue of the Promise I pray you what is more evident What more agreeable And what then should be said to those ill-employed men who by their new doctrine translate Free Iustification which is due only to Faith by vertue of the Promise of God unto works of Charity Of Sin and the healing thereof by Christ. FOR Andradius Hosius Vega the Spaniard and those others of the same Faction confederate with these seem so to contend about the Righteousness of Charity that having almost banished Faith out of the City of Rome they place all the parts of our Salvation or at least the chiefest in Charity and Sanctification And now by what Scriptures will they demonstrate that What say they doth not Christ heal us just as the Brazen Serpent healed the Wounds of those that were hurt Were we not all healed by his stripes Is not he the Lamb that takes away the sins of the World Is not he the Life-giving Serpent who gives cure for our wounds And what are our Wounds say they but Sin What is the healing of Wounds but the puting away of Sins What then shall the Serpent be more powerful in fixing his sting than Christ in taking it out Shall Alam be more powerful to infect Nature than Christ to cleanse it But how is nature purged if yet the contagion of sin remains As in a diseased body unless the hurtful humours are purged off health is not recovered and as the Air being surrounded on every side with black darkness begins not to shine before the brightness of the Sun being returned the darkness vanishes In like manner in the inward diseases of minds the causes of maladies must first be taken away before health is restored But the causes of evils are sins which if they are taken away by Christ how can they remain in the Saints But if they abide not by necessary consequence then it follows that the roots of all sins being cut away they are righteous in the sight of God by that righteousness not which is imputed but which properly inheres in them which is free of all spot of sin which carefully observes the Law which informs the mind with Charity and beautifies it with Divine Ornaments and makes us partakers of the Divine Nature But let us put all these together for brevities sake into the exact form of an argument Sin abolished doth not remain In the Baptized and in those that are come to years who are converted sin is abolished Therefore After Baptism and in those that are come to years after true conversion there remains no more sin This argument having a bad connexion doth evidently destroy it self First there is no man that denies that actual sin is not abolished in Baptized Infants in whom it is not committed In those come to years if all sins are so extinguished that no relicks remain what need is there of any conversion For what place is there for repentance where nothing is committed contrary to duty What if the Life of the Saints is nothing else but almost a daily conversion and mourning for sin how can a daily frailty of sinning be wanting there But let us look upon the parts of the Argument Sin abolished say they doth not remain That is true indeed if perfect and compleat abolishment of sin be understood both as to the Material of Sin and as to the Formal as the Schools speak Therefore as touching the Major in so much I acknowledge sin doth not remain in how much it is abolished in the Saints But after what manner and in what order it is abolished in the Baptized and in the adult it follows next that this should be enquired into in the Minor Therefore I answer to the Minor with a distinction that sin is said to be abolished in the Adult that are Regenerate it is partly true and partly false with a different respect had to divers circumstances But how that is understood it must be explained first as touching the death of the Mediatour which brings Salvation there is no defect in that but it hath abundantly recovered whatsoever perished by Adam yea it hath brought us much greater benefits than the evils which Adam procured unto us But if it be asked how and in what order the Death of Christ effects this I answer not by denying but by distinguishing For seeing two things are considerable in every sin the guilt obliging or the punishment of damnation which Lombard calls passive corruption and then active corruption or the very act of sin or the infirmity of corrupted nature Therefore there is again a twofold remedy prepared for this twofold evil guilt
no other way laid open to Salvation but by keeping the Commandments and if according to the Iudgment of Bernard the Law is of such a weight that it wholly exceeds humane strength which was just now shewed what hope of Salvation does there now remain for us Verily say you if any man consider his own strength in so great a frailty of humane strength it will be most difficult to attain unto a divine state of righteousness but if you consider in your mind the divine riches which if you will will always be present with you nothing is more easie Hence as Moses says this Commandment which I command thee this day is not above thee nor far off nor placed in Heaven that thou shouldest say who of us can ascend into Heaven Neither is it placed beyond the Sea that thou shouldest say who will pass over the Sea Neither do you bear it now engraven on stones but engraven upon the heart by Faith For if we believe the Promises of God we presently obtain the help of God that we may very easily perform all things that are commanded us and so be saved Must we be thus saved O Osorius in keeping God's Commands is this your harangue and think you this so easie to be performed Why not say you when the Spirit of God helps How little does this Saying differ from that Antient one of the Pelagians which Augustine rehearses in a certain place writing against Iulian the Pelagian for thus they said By an easie endeavour after holiness which God helps a Man may be without sins But let us hear Augustine answering both them and you We deny not saith he that the help of God is so powerful if he will that at this day we might have no evil concupisences against which we should fight though with the greatest certainty of Conquest And yet you your self deny not that it doth not so come to pass but why it comes not to pass who hath known the mind of the Lord Yet I know not a little when I know whatsoever that cause is that it is not the iniquity of a just God nor the insufficiency of an Almighty God Therefore there is something in his deep and hidden Counsel why as long as we live in this mortal flesh there is something in us against which our mind should fight There is also something why we should say forgive us our sins and a little after that Man understands these things who being hunger-bitten returns to himself and says I will arise and go to my Father and presently he subjoyns therefore it comes to pass in this place of infirmity that we should not live proudly and that we should live under the daily remission of sins But whether that be the cause or another which I am much more ignorant of yet that which I cannot doubt is how much soever we get forward under this burthen of a corruptible body if we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves c. This he said but why should I urge you with humane Authority seeing the matter it self carries against you with a very strong voice and the whole Scripture gives this honour only to Christ and the Universal experience and example of Men and the practice of life besides your very own retired Sense the Domestick Witnesses of your Conscience do publish a manifest Testimony against you You say we presently obtain the help of God whereby we may most easily perform all things that are commanded us c. Is it so all things what then if I ask you of that first Command of Love which you owe to the Lord your God with all your heart and all the endeavour of your mind or of that whereby you are commanded not to covet at all do you perform it I know what a distinction the talkative Schools of the Sophisters use here according to the substance of the act and according to the intention of the Law-giver But I do not value these Fables of subtleties We know this by the writings of Paul that the Law is Spiritual we are Carnal and sold under sin I ask if thou thy self being compassed about now with this frailty of the flesh dost fulfill this Spiritual Law of God with that sincerity of Spirit that thou oughtest Answer ingenuously are you silent What I my self do by my own strength say you I do not dispute here yet I can by the help of the grace of God O cunning device After all your debate it comes to this that you plead the commands of God are easie and you would have nothing appointed by him which cannot be observed by us Now after a most heavy dream that I may speak with Hierom to deceive ignorant Souls you in vain endeavour to add not without grace But I enquire not what the Almighty Grace of God can do of it self but what it does in you or in any other mortal Man You make the Precepts of Righteousness easie which when the Divine Grace assists do not exceed our best endeavour and yet you cannot produce one Man that hath fulfilled them all Now what an Argument is that that a thing can be which hath not been that that can be done which you bear witness none hath done and to attribute that to I know not whom which you cannot prove to have been in the Patriarchs Prophets and Apostles Paul the Apostle himself complains of the refractory rebellion of his Members who was not able to do the good which he desired crying out that he was both carnal and miserable and captive Augustine testifies that sins may be deminished in this life but that they cease not until death And the same Augustine writing to Petrus concerning holy and righteous Men bids him hold that most firmly that righteous and holy men themselves except Infants that are Baptized none of them all do live without sin in this World And do you think that all the roots of Unrighteousness are so plucked up in the Saints that you can say it is most easie by the help of God which is never wanting to them that desire to pass the life without sin and so obtain Salvation But Hieron is of a far different Opinion for I judge saith he thus That no Creature can be perfect according to true and compleat righteousness That one differs from another and that there are divers righteousnesses in Man no Man doubts and that one is greater or lesser than another and that according to their state or measure they may be called just who in comparison of others are not just Briefly that there is none of the Saints nor Prophets nor Apostles that possess'd all Vertues for now we Prophesie in part and we know in part for all things cannot be in any one Man And to Ctesiphon This should be attributed to him only concerning whom it is written as peculiar to him who did no sin neither was guile found in
Obliging to eternal punishment is not only taken away in the life to come but also in this life by the holy laver and continual remission of sins for the sake of a Mediator But the infirmity of sinning which is concupiscence in the flesh and ignorance in the mind that I may speak with Hugo it also is abolished in the regenerate but yet after its own order and by its own degrees For it is daily diminished in this Life by the renewing of the Spirit and it shall be abolished in the Life to come by the Resurrection of the Flesh. In the interim the relicks of infirmity stick yet in the Flesh as both Death and Temporal punishments stick yet in the Flesh to exercise the Saints unto Combat not to condemn them to destruction Iust as the Land of Canaan was promised to the Hebrews a great while before which yet they did not suddenly take possession of Neither was the frame of this World made immediately in one moment but the Works of God were perfected in distinct intervals of Days So neither is the whole Flesh suddainly renewed but by degrees and daily increases it is going on unto perfection An example may be conveniently taken from him whom being Wounded the Samaritan cap. 10. Luc. doth not suddainly cure but first pours Wine into his Wounds washes off the Blood afterwards he adds Oyl that he may mitigate the grief and the Wound may begin to cleave together Afterwards the Wound being bound up he puts the Sick-man upon the Beast and afterwards commands him to be cured in the Inn. Iust so Christ suffering the punishment of our Sins in his Body by remission immediately takes away the guilt from us pouring into our Wounds the gladning Oyl of the Gospel joined together with the Wine of serious Repentance whereby whatsoever is deadly in the Wounds is washed away with a health restoring Pardon But the Wounds are not yet altogether healed But health will be compleat in Eternal Life In the interim he will have diseases cured in the Church by Godly Exercises the Cross and constant Prayer Briefly if those Men desire to know what that is which Christ hath abolished in us by his Death I will say it in a word Whatsoever was laid upon Christ on the Cross to be carried away for our sakes that is taken away from us in this Flesh. Only the guilt and punishment of Sin not the matter it self of our actions was laid upon Christ to bear upon the Cross. The act or substance of sin is not wholly abolished by the Death of Christ in this flesh but only the guilt and punishment of sin Or more briefly let them take it thus Whatsoever Christ by dying did bear for us that only he took away by his death in this Life Christ by dying did bear only the punishment of our Sins not the Sins themselves in his Body whereof he had none Therefore Christ in this Life took away only the punishment not the matter it self of sin by his Death But afterwards by his power he shall also take away the whole matter of Sin in the Glory of the Resurection to come Concerning the necessity of the practice and care of good Works THerefore in this place something hath been said of Faith and all that manner of Righteousness which the Divine Authority attributes to Faith only without Works More things elsewhere have been explained by us in other Books From which things just conclusions being drawn it evidently appears if I am not mistaken wherein all our righteousness consists not in Works without Faith nor joined together with Faith but wholly in Faith without Works that is without the merits of Works or any condition of meriting For if Faith which is nothing else but an internal and illuminated contemplation and receiving of Christ the Son of God receives a free promise of Life in him I do not well see what the good deeds of our Life thought excellent can perform in this part of justification Yet it doth not follow from hence that the Holy practice of good Works for necessary uses that I may speak with Paul is not upon any account necessary Neither is it a reason forcible enough if any Man teaches that no trust should be put in Works that therefore there is no need of any care to do good For what Logick is this Works should not be trusted in when they are performed Therefore there is no need to endeavour to perform Good and Holy Works We are no other ways justified but upon the account of Faith which is in Christ Iesus Therefore Offices of Piety are not necessary in those who are justified by Faith Faith only not upon the account of Love but of the Mediatour promotes us to righteousness Therefore it profits nothing to repent and to weep and mourn for sins committed It is of no concernment after what manner every one leads his Life for so you seem to gather and not you only O Osorius but also as many as being like to you bear an enmity to Luther And hence such fierce out-cries of yours against him such odious and bitter ragings reproaches evil reports and outragious invectives being filled not so much with Evil Speeches as most filthy Lyes But this is no new nor strange thing either because you are of your old temper and disposition or because it is and always was the condition of the Gospel which hath already been accustomed enough to such like Enemies and reproaches So Saul persecuted David a most moderate Prince by whom he had never been hurt So when Christ was born Herod was troubled and all Ierusalem with him By the like fury Christ himself the Prince of the Church was slain So of Old Stephen was Stoned The same also did the Ancient Martyrs of all Times hear from their own People which Luther now and other Ministers of Gods Word are forced to hear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 take away these Enemies of the god's yea also that Divine Martyr Iohn Huss of latter memory was brought forth to Death in a manner not unlike that whereby Luther is brought forth by you after his Death For they Cloathed him with odious Pictures of Devils and abominable Titles Neither is Luther here handled much more handsomly by you being Cloath'd with most vain Lyes and set forth by you in such Colours not as he really was nor as his Writings had persuaded you concerning him which it seems you have not read but as other accusers to whom you use to give too much credit have described him For what other thing declares this your narrative which is curiously fitted for calumny whereby you make him liker a Monster than a Man as if he brought in a certain new kind of Faith that was not heard of before and was unknown in former times as if he were an example of Wickedness an encourager of Slothfulness an Turbulent Person and disturber of
takes a view of his Kingdom and the glorious Riches thereof and is ravished at the admiration of the universal Power that is given to him over all Heaven and Earth and searches for the Promises of the Father that are ratified in his Son the Mediatour and by search understands them and in Heaven beholds them to be sure and infallible wherewith the mind of a Believer being now confirmed takes pleasure in them and triumphs with great joy and now Faith by relying on these Promises becomes fearless of danger and invincible and stands firmly against the fury of Satan the power of Death the terrours of a guilty Conscience the Gates of Hell the malice of the World and the oppositions of the rebellious flesh Hence flows a gladsome tranquility of Conscience and Peace and Ioy in the Holy Ghost and thence it is that Hope derives its fiducial Relyance and Charity its fervent Zeal from Faith only For the mind being supported and safe guarded by Faith in Christ what more can it wish for to arrive unto the highest pitch of felicity Moreover who can fully express with words or conceive in his mind all the good things that Faith by means of the Mediatour prepares in Heaven for those that are yet groveling upon the ground This Faith is that which reconciles man who was in a woful and wretched condition unto God Iustifies a sinner that was at the brink of despair opens the Gates of Paradise to the penitent Malefactor Obtains the Grace of the Holy Spirit for the Centurion gives Peter the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven justifies the Publican procures pardon to the man sick of the Palsie heals the Woman with the bloody Issue restores sight to blind Bartimaeus procures us the Grace of Adoption the hope of the Resurrection and Life Everlasting and overcomes Death which can by no other power be conquered and gets Victory over Satan who cannot be subdued by any of our Vertues nor by our Charity but the Shield of Faith only drives him away and puts him to flight Thus pious Reader I have given you some description both of Faith and Charity you may take your liberty to judge how you should account of both and what should be attributed unto Charity which though it may seem to claim the principality in things belonging to this Life yet in Iustification and obtaining the pardon of sins it is so far from having the superiority that in this case it can do nothing at all What need is there of words to prove this for Paul the Apostle explains himself abundantly in what sense Charity is greater to wit because of its duration which appears evident by these things that follow For he draws this Inference from what he had said Charity saith he never fails though Prophecies and Miracles may be abolished Another Argument out of St. Iames cap. 2. Abraham was justified by Works Therefore Faith only doth not justifie Answer Paul furnishes us with an Answer to this Argument Whereas that excellent Patriarch made no doubt of sacrificing his dearly beloved Son at the command of God therefore the Apostle Iames says That he was justified by Works If they understand it amongst men it is true but not in the sight of God unless we would give the Lye to Paul that choice Instrument in the hand of Christ who discoursing of the Works of the Patriarch he says That if he hath any thing to glory in he hath it before men but not before God And why before men and not before God but because the Iustification of men is one thing and the Iustification of God is another for men judge by the appearance and the sight of Works moves them to justifie Now the whole Epistle of the Apostle Iames is taken up about this outward appearance of Works before men and its whole design is that by our good deeds and Charity which is inseparably joyned with saving Faith we should give evidence that the Faith wherein we glory before God is a lively Faith and not counterfeit nor unfruitful Wherefore presently he adds Shew me thy Faith without thy Works and I will shew thee my Faith by my Works By which it easily appears what Iustification it is whereof the Apostle Iames speaks to wit that which by works discovers it self before men Now as for this neither Paul nor any other man doubts of it For what man is there but will confess that Charity and good Works must of necessity be joyned unto Faith which unless they be seen by men in those that make a profession of Faith it is very evident that such a Faith as they profess is in reality no Faith at all but an empty name and shadow thereof But what does all this make against Iustification by Faith That Faith appears not to be lively in the Eyes of men out of which as out of a living Root the blossoms and flowers of godly works do not grow But does not Faith therefore justifie in the sight of God without works because it is not evidenced by the Testimony of good deeds joyned therewith But suppose that good works are joyned with Faith which give evidence to men that it is a lively Faith Will Faith justifie thee you will say Why not and I acknowledge the same my self But I ask wherefore doth Faith justifie before God because of the works that appear unto men or are the works rather acceptable because of Faith But how many works seem to be excellent in the sight of men to which human Reason gives applause and men because of them are accounted holy and just when yet the matter is far otherways And this is that Human Iustification which I spake of and the Apostle Iames hath written of which though someties it judges according to Truth yet much oftener it is deceived in judging Why so because the Iudgment of God and the Iudgment of men are of a different nature What man looking upon the Lives of the Pharisees their long Prayers frequent Fastings and Washings their holy-like deportment and all their outward shews of Piety but would have judged them to be men very near and dear unto God when yet none were greater Strangers and Enemies to God than they What man is there at this day who looking upon the Orders of the Monks their Vows Fastings Rules Austerity and Rigour of Discipline but would reckon them amongst the chiefest of those that are justified when yet they are no such men in the sight of God And yet in the mean while I deny not this to be true which Iames writes For he that being endued with no Vertue or Love to Vertue makes an outward profession of Faith in Christ and leads not a Life suitable thereunto I say according to the Apostle Iames that such a man's Faith is little worth But if such a man in the last hour of his Life come to himself and fly to Christ for Refuge by an unfeigned Faith and beg