water without any moisture or a burning fire without his heat We may distinguishe matters in their natures by teaching although we find them not sundred in the persons in whom we find them And we do vsually distinguish faith and works but in the faithfull they are neuer found apart therefore we do not separate them there So that contrary to that which somtimes we are charged withall we euer set forth a faith adorned with vertues and not make a naked faith stript out of her attire still we tell them faith neither is nor can be foūd alone in the man iustified as hath bene proued at large in the examination of the place of Iames. But they to disproue this labour by all meanes possibly Rhem. not 1. Cor. 13.13 in speciall they alleadg S. Paul to the Corinth in whom say they faith is seuered from loue and if from loue then from all good works true if frō loue For all good works are summarily comprehēded hēded in loue which therfore is said to be the fulfilling of the lawe because it is of a greater span cōtaining the works both of the first and secōd table in louing God aboue al things our neighbour as our self Then if faith be separated from loue thē also from other works Now that from loue it may be seuered S. Paul speaketh say they in his owne person If I had all faith and had not loue c. ergo all faith may be had without loue S. Paul as he had faith so was he not void of loue whose loue was so great that he had care of all cōgregatiōs 1. Cor. 11.28 Supposing doth not euer proue the thing supposed therefore he doth but onely put a case nether is it generally grāted that al faith doth signify all faith in al kindes but in some one kinde all the degrees of that faith And herein many iudge that S. Paul meaneth a miraculous faith not the iustifying because he saith If I had all faith so that I could remoue mountaines that is all such faith and yet had not loue c. But if this be the sense then doth it not import that the iustifying faith may lacke loue but the miraculous faith if yet it proue so much Whether S. Paul meane a miraculous faith or no or whether a miraculous faith let it be a faith can be seuered from the iustifying or no I will not greatlie striue There is no edificatiō in multiplying of impertinent questiōs This must be cōsidered wel that the Apostle sayth not down right he hath faith and that he hath not loue but If I had faith Nowe I trust they will not proue matters with ifs and ands Our Sauiour said touching the beloued Disciple what if he woulde that he shoulde tarie still till his comming Ioh. 21.23 vpon this conditionall if an error was straight spread abroad that Iohn shoulde not die In like manner S. Paul also saith If I spake with the tunges of men 1. Cor. 13.1 and of Angells c. You will not go about hereby I trust to proue that the Apostle had a verie Angels toūg or that Angels had tunges S. Paule maketh supposels and thereupon he setteth furth the excellent commendatiō of loue which verely in sundrie points is far more commēdable then faith it selfe in so much that a man may vse the Poets wordes in a better mater O matre pulchra filia pulchrior A beawtifull mother faith Horat. a fayrer daughter loue But S. Paule doth no where disioyne them but concluding the praises of loue saith there are three that remaine togeather Faith Hope Charitie faith beleeuing in the promises hope looking and longing for them charitie louing the promiset and in him and for his sake louing all that is to be beloued Of all these the last is the greatest what in iustifying no. S. Paul debateth the matter to the cōtrarie euerie where Wherein then in the multitude of other duties and for the euerlasting durance therof both in this world and also in the world to come For when knowledge shall cease faith shall haue his date and hope shal be expired in the lease of this life in the life to come remaineth loue And this is all that the Apostle meaneth which neither confuteth the adonnes of faith in her proper office of iustifying neither yet doth it any way cōfirme that in other respectes she can be alone in the man iustified And thus much of only faith and yet of faith that is neuer alone Of the certaintie of grace and saluation by faith hope in euerie particular man NOwe then being iustified by faith Rom. 5.1 we haue peace toward God through our Lord Iesus Christ For so the Apostle inferreth to the Romaines vpon former debating of the selfe same truth vpon the self same groundes of iustification whereof we spake last So that necessarily the man iustified by his faith by faith also hath he the good fruites that growe vp withall i. peace with his God quiet in his soule and firme possessiō of assured saluatiō in a certaine hope Whereof M. Stapletō speaking with the same spirite that Tertullus did in the Acts Act. 24.2 tearmeth this doctrine a pestilent a pernicious teaching tēding only to presumptiō pride security M. Stapl. you speake your pleasure out of the aboundance of a choloricke harte If we presume God be praised Presumere de gratia Christi non est arrogantia sed fides Aug. Serm. 28. de ver dom 2. Sam. 6.14 we presume not of our selues as you do and if we be proude of Gods euerlasting fauour it is a godly pride and in securitie thereof we leape and daunce with an holy ioy as Dauid did before the arke thogh you like Michaol deride vs as fooles reproch vs therfore Sir ill words do neither proue a good matter nor disproue a bad Wherfore to let passe the rage of your heate let vs a litle consider the weight of certaine reasons you would seeme to produce you say the certainty of saluation by faith is common to sundrie heretikes 1 Lib. 9. cap. 9. contrary to the feare of God 2 3 4 repugnant to the order of praying and against the nature of the Sacraments 1. The first of your foure allegations is that heretikes also assure them selues in a vaine perswasion that their opinions are most true that thereby they shal attaine euerlasting blis yet be deceaued ther fore that there is no certaine saluation by faith We speake of the faithfull you of heretiks we of faith you of fancie we of a verity the truth you of a pertinacy in pretēding truth And how then can you conclude from the one against the other notwithstāding The abuse of thinges doth not abolish the necessarie good vsage of thē if heretiks could be faithfull also heretikes which is impossble yet being by faith well perswaded suppose
preached in the Gospell Rom. 10.8 And so we graunt Ihon. 8.36 that whō God doth teach they ar skilfull whō the sonne doth set at libertie they ar free and who haue Christ haue all that is Christs the satisfaction of the father the fulfilling of the law what euer else Let vs beare this yoke Rhem. not Mat. 11.30 it is sweete take we vp this burden it is light sweete and light are they to them that are in Christ But why are these very things also exacted euen of all without difference Stapl. 4. lib. cap. 3. as may appeare by other Scriptures if yet some the most and all whom nature ruleth be so blind so vnwilling vnable to do accordingly as is commaunded or wherfore are there such faire rewards generallie to all proposed if in some certain it lye not to go so far furth as to thinke a good thought or to will well much lesse to runne out the rase to winne the crowne of their saluation One aunswere will serue for both these demaunds The substāce of the Law was giuē to Adam though not written till Moses time Mar. 12.30 31 Although the Lawe were not written till Moses time yet was it giuen to Adam and to all in him at the first as to loue God aboue all thinges and his neighbour as him selfe Which is an abridgement of the decalogue Then might the commaūdement haue bin obeyed and the reward obtayned Afterward when it was to be writtē no reason it should be lesse perfite then God made it because man became by his owne default more vnperfite then God made him speciallie whereas yet there remaine most euident and excellent endes and frutes thereof as to knowe our dutie Gal. 3.24 though we can not do it therby to endeuour to finde that else where that is not in our selues And when we see that we are out of the way which leadeth to the rewarde of life we may by Christes helpe compasse it an other way and come to the same end in him They say a dronken man hath a desire to seeme sober when his feete can not cary his bodie There is no dronkennesse like to that which commeth by the wine of pride in vaine men Wherefore to represse this naturall vanitie in all to keepe vs in a sober opiniō of our selues God giueth vs a perfit lawe to measure our imperfections by For otherwise wee presume to touche heauen with our finger till we see the distance What burden can not our sholders beare till we fele the waight Eagles eyes haue we till we looke into the sonne we seeme gould til the touchstone reproue vs straight til the rule telleth vs the contrarie like sores that seeme to be sound till they be deepelie searched The younge man in the Gospell though that the keeping of the Lawe was but a tricke of youth Mat. 19.20 All this haue I done from my youth vpwarde But our Sauiour as a skillefull Phisition touching the vaine that went directly to his heart Aug. Serm. de Temp. 124 bade him to go and sell all that he had and to followe him and the case was straight altered and his hypocrisie displayed And in deede these are singuler vses of the law wel expounded and fitly applied Endes and good vses wherunto the Lawe serueth both to conuince infirmitie to accurse sinne and also to discouer dissimulation to root out ignorance to bring a knowledge and a feeling that we haue offended to breede in vs humilitie and to leade vs to Christ and being nowe in Christ that it may be a rule of liuing well to vs who euer we be and if we be publike persons that wee make our Lawes all according to the Lords Law And albeit we cannot attaine to perfection yet the imitation thereof in his owne children he accepteth Neither is it reason whether in the regenerate or in the vnregenerate that the Law should be such as might be perfourmed of anie either as it were a mark set vp where euery man may hit it For the leuell of our actions must be straight though our deedes be croked the balance euen though our workes deceiptfull and the glasse cleare though the face that looketh into it haue his naturall deformitie And wheras they argue that therefore man hath free will to good because it is commaunded they may make the same reason also that man naturally without grace may fulfill the whole Lawe in worke as well as in will if he will For the one is commaunded as expressely as the other It is manifest that our abilitie or inabilitie is nothing to or fro to the commaundement of God Neither is his commaundement any thing to our ablenesse or inabilitie VVhether I can or can not pay my detter my dettes are due whether they be required or not demaūded they are equally still in the same nature of dette And though by negligence or other casualtie I become bankerout yet my hand writing and promises stand in their full force and strength In like manner our strength by sinne is lesse then it was but our duetie is the same that it was euer For Adams fall and mens faultes rather binde straighter then set either him or vs at greater libertie As it is commonly seene in men that grow in det further and further when they begin once to breake but a litle Among diuerse presentes Dion Nicae in vita Augusti that were brought to Augustus by the ambassadours of India there was presented vnto him a man without shoulders How that should be the historiographer saith he can not see onely he reporteth a report Verilye I see thus much in the viewe of our a duersaries arguments that their reasons haue neither shoulders to hold vp their head nor feete to go or stand vpō albeit they would seme to present them to the Church of God as perfit and preciouse iewels We are commaunded to pay our detts Stapl. lib. 4 cap. 3. therfore we can pay them we are exhorted therunto and promised our generall acquittance if we so do and are threatned if we do not Mat. 18.26 ergo we are able to discharge the tenne thousand talents the reason will not holde The parable of the detter teacheth vs a better way to craue forgiuenes and a man of common sense can see and say that this reasoning wanteth reason The partridge gathereth an hoord of other birds eggs sitteth vpon thē Ier. 17.11 hatcheth them but when they are flushe they fly a way frō her for they know that of right they belong not to the partridge semblably the Papist gleaneth arguments sometimes out of the Canonicall Scripture though seldome sometimes by drift of his owne wit when they are hatched come to light they fly away from him or stand him in litle stead or rather make against then for him In the Lordes commaundements we learne our duetie in his punishments we feel the correction
Christianity the key of religion the peace of consciēce the water that allayeth the whirl winds and tempests of a troubled soule the wine that gladdeth the heauie hart and the oyle that cheereth the countenance of the sorowful man that droupeth and hangeth head as the bulrush in remorse of his offences are contained herein and depende vpon this happie and heauenly doctrine of our free iustification in Christ Iesu The parts of iustification The partes whereof properly taken to be are but two the remission of sinnes and imputation of righteousnesse the sinnes are ours the righteousnesse Christes The remitting of them vnto vs and the imputing of that which is none of ours are freely bestowed by speciall fauour vpon the faithfull and so of sinners and vniust we are reputed iust and become saued soules for Christes sake Of the righteousnesse of Christ imputed vnto and not inherent in a Christian man FArther fitlie to declare how far remission of sinnes stretcheth and in what maner precisely Christs righteousnes is rekoned ours requireth the lōger stay herin because the aduersaries haue enwrapped hedged in the matter round about with thorns that an vnwary hād can hardly cōe to the truth without dāger of pricking For of remission of sins Stap. li. 5. et lib. 7. ca. 10 they haue made a rasing out of sin quite as if no sinne remained at al after baptisme of imputation Rhe. Note Ro. c. 4. ver 7.8 they make a very imprinting of a perfit righteousnes in vs in both pointes erring very wide frō the truth For albeit the guilt of sinne be remitted and that no sinne hath any such sting as can wounde to death euerlasting Yet the full abolishing of sinne is not in this life but after death in the life to com And albeit vpon our effectual calling faith in Christ which is the gift of God straight way in conuenient time frameth a new by grace in Christ all our thoughts Phil. 3.29 Concil Mileuit can 3 proineth our lusts schooleth our affections and ordereth a right the whole race of our life to a better course and likewise although it be truly said Christ dwelleth in vs and we are his holy temples that we haue in vs his righteousnes his because it procedeth frō his spirit when we beleeue rightly liue accordingly yet that righteousnes whereby we are iustified is resident onely in the person of Christ is not inherent at all in vs for this were to make vs not onely his faithfull seruants and obedient children which is our dutie and must be so but to make our selues very Christes Sauiours of our selues And. ortho expl li 6. ca de iustific if not in whole at the entrie of the first receauing him yet in the chiefest perfection therof in the end of our iustification purchasing it to be really inherent and perfit in vs by meanes of deserts The later Papistes Rhem. not 2. Rom. especially since the councell of Trent haue most mistaken our iustification which when thy haue graūted it to be fre calling it a first free iustification yet by glozing to fro therupon haue much also impayred the freenesse therof and then in iustification which is but one being verie ill vnderstood as the mad-man thinketh he seeth two moones for one they haue found out another in thē selues Stap. lib. 10 cap. 2 Iustificatio imporiat ius ad vitā aeternam which being made vp of good workes must present them iust before the tribunall seate of God and deserueth euer lasting life this they call a 2. iustificatiō Verily we for our parts can not but ingeniously protest confesse we haue not so learned Christ and herein nothing can comfort vs more thē this that we haue not bene brought vp in the schoole of Trēt by Andradius or as auditors at M. Stapletōs feet at Doway or els at Rhemes vnder our late translatours there Our righteousnes is Christ We are iust in him not in our selues For his sake our sinnes are not imputed Coloss 1.20 but his innocencie is imputed In him it hath pleased the Father to be reconciled Eph. 1.7 And so ar al iustified freely by grace through the redemption which is in Christ Iesus both is in him by his means But I say which is in him inherētly not cleauing to vs. For the truth is the womā is clad with the Sun in the reuelatiō that is to say Reuel 12.1 the church is couered with the righteousnes of Christ the Son of God But as a garment sticketh not to the body no more doth the perfectiō of Christ cleue or stick in the person of any Christiā neither is he or his righteousnes 1. Tim. 2.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a righteousnesse in any degree in this life perfit imparted or gotten or purchased by any way of cōmixture confusiō but he only is ours by imputatiō the pay ransom of our dets though we personally defray and pay no farthing therūto The sonnes of men that meant to build a tower that should reach to heauen when they all spake one language euery one vnderstāding his fellow in the same tongue their worke went forward For an vnderstanding consent is much to farther either the euil intents of the wicked or the godly indeuours of the good Wherefore the Lord descēded cōfoūded their tongues that they might not all speake with one lippe and language and so was their building interrupted and it came to nothing the place receauing a fit name Babell of a deserued confusion Our aduersaries whilest they nestle them selues agreeably together in an opinion as it were legions of vncleane spirites in the bosoms of the simple they beguile the soner the moe But in this their building wherby they would pile vp merits works of deserts morter thē together in the lande of their owne flesh the top whereof should reache vp to heauen the Lorde coulde not suffer suche proude giantes so vngraciously to impaire his glory to haue their foorth but by his prouidence hath descended and diuided their languages among them selues One saith one thing another sayth another thing Pigghius a chiefe master workman with his felowes M. Stapletō a fine builder after the newer fashion with his mates can not agree together about the foundatiō of the worke Pigghius wil haue works preparatory deferring the grace of God Lib. 7. cap. 9 to be the ground work M. Stapletō liketh not that so well Againe which way the frame should rise and vpon what pillers it should rest they vary more M. Stapleton would haue mans righteousnes to rely and be in vpon mā himself Piggh. being better skild in this cause of more remors hūblenes of mind misliketh that shewes by manifest demonstrations it must be otherwise Yet Pigghius good aduise largelye layed foorth in this respect in his bookes could not be heard in the conuent of
ver Serm. 15. Esai 50.1 for the Lord hath mercies Other merites Bernard hath none that is no merites in deede but as it is said in the Prophet that we must come and buy the waters of life freely that without mony which is in truth no buying no more is the other meriting The stipende of sinne is death properly that is true but is life euerlasting the stipend of merits Rom. 6.23 no the Apostle altereth the course of his speach Yet might he as easely haue so saide and most aunswerable to the tenour of his former saying if it had bene so but he saith euerlasting life is the gift of God Rhem. not 2. Tim. 4.8 a gift ergo not the stipende of deserte as they expresly terme it in these wordes good workes done by grace after the first Iustification be properly and truely meritorious fully worthy of euerlasting life And therupon heauen is the due stipend which God oweth to the persons so working by grace But S. Paul calleth euerlasting life a gift not a stipend as Austine well noteth these meÌ„ call it a iust stipend Now let the indifferent reader compare these contraries together he shall soone discerne the truth of them M. Harding a man that could set a faire shew vpon a foule cause presseth Har. detect lib. 5. cap. 12. Mat. 20.1 disputeth the parable mentioned in S. Matthew where the kingdome of God is likened to a maÌ„ that weÌ„t out early in the morning to hyre seruauntes into his vinearde some he hired at one houre some at an other some at the third others at the sixe some at the tenth and others at the eleuenth When euening came he gaue euerie one alike then they which came first and had borne the heat of the day the burden of the whole labour murmured because of the inequality of their pay One of theÌ„ was answered that he should take his peny wherefore he was hyred if the housholder would be more liberall to them that laboured lesse what was that to him that wrought more and longer time and yet perchaunce lesse then of dutie he should may not a man doe with his owne which way he will out of this M. Harding reasoneth in sence this I will spin his argument as far as it can run The housholder is God the laborer is working in our vocation the penny is life euerlasting the housholder bid the murmuring laborer to be content with his hyre and take that which was his then was it his the price of his hyre is the penny for his labor and the penny is life euerlasting here is sufficient proofe for meriting I trow Rhem. not 1. Tim. 4.8 Mat. 25.27 Luc. 16.8 and so doth the Rhemish notes tell vs. But soft euery part of a parable is not a good proof for a doctrine in beleefe For so can I proue vsurie to be lawfull vnfaithfulnes to be laudable and all most what not In proper wordes without parable this is plaine we ought to serue the Lorde withall our strength and powers both of body and soule all the houres of the day that is all the dayes of our life and when eeuening is come and our life ended after all our labours in the vineyarde of the Churche militant We haue done but the duty that we ought and dew debt is no desart quae debuimus facere Luc. 17.10 fecimus This is plaine and true and shall we force some partes of a parable to proue it false But the householder saieth Take that is thine wherfore it was his what his that murmured his whose eye was naught repiners and enuious persons shall not inherite the kingdome of heauen the peny of saluation is not for such For such I say without repeÌ„tance much lesse for such as call for it of precise desert Nay the equalitie of a peny giuen a like to all doth euidentlie declare Ambros de vocat GeÌ„t lib. 1. cap. 5. that though their are diuersities in time of vocations which is the chief ende of the parable yet the reward standeth only vpon mercie which gaue to the last as to the first If all had gone by desert then the greatest labourer might duely haue required the greatest wages But I pray you are we hirelings naye we are sonnes and heires we looke not for a peny as of hire but yet we expect our penye and that of meere gift euen because our God may do with his owne what him please and he will in time bestow it vppon vs his owne euen for his Christes sake in whome alone we onely trust and not in our selues O this opinion will decay good workes meruelously and greatly encrease either idlenes or swarmes of euill liuers Why It was meruele then that Christ foresawe not the inconueuience when he gaue to the last as he gaue to the first In deede if we be vagabondes or lazy drones or if â—â—ke the greedy Zuytzer that will not fight but for his guilt it is an other matter But if we be sonnes and children we obey our father not to the end to merit but to shew all duty and because we are sonnes The difference then betwixt vs the aduersaries standeth on these points both they and we worke they to merit we to shew our duty they for hyre we for loue they as seruaÌ„ts we as sonnes they to purchase we because Christ hath purchased for vs life euerlasting they worke and seeke glory in their works we worke and glory only in Christ they worke talk of perfectioÌ„ we worke agnize our imperfections in working They if they do but a good deede if it be once done they stande vpon it walke and iet thereon though it be but the ice of one nights freezing we when we haue done all we say we are vnprofitable seruauntes Ios 7.21 We dare not burie our sinnes like Acham in the earth nor wrappe them in a sort of faire greene figleued distinctions we speake with the wordes and in the sence that Christ hath taught vs and in none other We runne we labour we fight we keepe the faith and yet not we but Christ in vs. And when we haue done all yet haue we done but our dutie and not deserued And this is our iudgement in few and plaine words concerning meriting wherein if we haue spoken euill let them conuict vs of error Ioh. 12.48 Act. 17.11 let the world bear witnes and the word be iudge How onely faith doth iustifie and saue IF then iustification come not by works nor saluation by merites what is the meane whereby both the one and the other is appreheÌ„ded First it hath ben clearly proued hetherto that there is no meriting without perfection likewise that perfectioÌ„ there can be none Act. 15.10 the yoke of the law being heuier then that the fathers strong shoulders could beare it vp therefore to great a burdeÌ„ for their children who came after and were weaker
Moses and the Law of nature But they conclude all together include the workes of the one and the other within faith Call ye me this excluding then to go on with the rest you say when some of the Fathers by onely faith exclude pride infidelitie heresie and curiositie you may as well say verum est without faith yet notwithstanding conioyne them altogether faith and infidelitie faith and pride faith and heresie faith and curiositie making vp as it were a Daniels image of cōtrarie mettals Dan. 2.33 that can not possibly cleaue or hang together But if excluding be including you may say and conclude what you will and distinguish at pleasure and defend with ease and all is well speciallie if you get but fauourable readers that can and will thinke what soeuer cometh from beyond seas must needes go for good Not withstanding that the simple may see the childish fondnesse and the extreame falsitie of this so absurd dealing I will shew it then in the like reason I would haue a garment made onely of cloath meaning by onely cloath to exclude stitching lacing facing with silk shall the Taylor come stitch lace and face my garment face me out that when I willed it to be made of cloth alone that without cloth forsooth I wold not haue it stitcht laced faced but with cloth I would Verily it had need be a very brode cloth that cā couer ouer al this follie it is so brode and a verie cunning not a Taylor but a Rhetorician or rather a Magician that must perswade me so and so bewitch a man against all sense reason in the world As for the theef that was saued by faith alone without externall workes alleadged by the Fathers that doth verie well proue that faith alone in sauing doeth the deede Ambros in Rom. 3 and not workes For the way to heauen is but single and one the same to all The thiefe was saued and entered Paradise by faith onely therefore also must all so do if they will enter For God will not saue some by him selfe in mercie and saue others by them selues partlie in mercie and partlie by their owne workes If the thiefe had liued longer time he should would haue liued well but his beleeuing was the wing that caried him vp and the key that opened the doore of heauen When time wanteth not onely faith excludeth not either workes or the goodnesse of woorkes in earth but the meritoriouse deseruing by workes with God in heauen and hereby both in heauen and in earth the free mercie and grace of God is beleeued embraced and gloriouslie set foorth by this most excellent confession of onely faith whereby we agnize the gift the free gift of God according to his purpose promis fauour grace and mere mercie In the storie of the Gospell in particular by examples thus much is prooued and where onely faith is named exacted and cōmended euen in bodily cares much more in ghostly causes of the soule where our Sauiour doth not so much respect the teares of some or in others their feare and trembling nor their crying calling after him but their faith and the greatnesse of their faith Mat. 9.22 Luc. 7.50 Mat. 15.28 Luc. 8.50 Thy faith hath made the whole Thy faith hath saued thee O woman great is thy faith I haue not found so great faith in Israell And in the eight of Luke and fifte of Mark. Beleeue onlie Onely marke that And withall marke if you will the Papists doubling answer herunto Rhem. not Mar. 5.36 Onelie beleeue that is either especially or only in cases of bodily diseases What I pray you why say you or and or If onely be not only but especially and principally then say so Or if onely be onely then say so and houer not vp and down like the birde that was sent out of the ark Gen. 8.9 and could not find where to set her foote But in deed neither is onely especially neither is onely onely in bodily sicknesse alone as shall plainelie appear And therfore herein ye haue made vs not onely one lye alone but two lowde lyes and those together without taking breath one vpon an anothers head For as for the first was Christ like your Phisitian that biddeth his pacient be of good cheere and onely haue a good heart yet withall a good diet must be kept and potions receiued as thinges more requisite O M. Allen and M. Martin and who euer else had finger in that your late gewgawe translation was there I say not were there other things but was there any one thing not onely more requisite but in equall degree as necessarie as faith Luc. 8.44 For woulde Christ require the lesse and omit the more necessarie or if many things were to be required woulde he say onely beleeue No. when all other helpes fayled then they came to our Sauiour And therefore other helpes being preternecessarie he wel required thē wholy to put their trust in him not that he could not cure yea reuiue without their beleeuing that he could but that dutie would he haue at their hands and only that in such respects Wherefore when this former shift serued not the turne you added though onely fayth be requisite and nothing else yet that concerned the healing of the body not the sauing of the soule Of healing the bodie I graunt but withall of sauing the soule that these words are not spoken is not so easilie proued For Christ Iesus the Sauiour both of bodie soule most principally saueth the most principall part therefore to shew what how alone he worketh specially in recuring their soules diseased with sinne view those miraculous cures done so euidently vpon their bodies Wherfore by conuenient reason it followeth if faith alone be required in thē much rather in the other wherein consisteth the greater cure in vs and whence ariseth the greater glorie to him selfe that cureth Contrarie to this in the example of Mary Magdalen somewhat is brought foorth as who therfore had her sinnes forgiuen Rhem. not Luc. 7.50 because she loued much So that loue also was required not faith alone Consider we the story a litle for our better vnderstāding wherin it is said to her Thy faith hath saued thee go in peace a litle before both of to her Many sinnes are forgiuē because she loued much Our of which I obserue 4. notes remission of sinns peace of cōscience faith embracing saluation due loue ensuing therupō Peace of mind cometh after ward in place to be spoken of The sole mean of receiuing remissiō is faith the only cause of remitting is mercy For otherwise remission were no remissiō And were not faith the only meane but her loue also as the Rhemish note is Christ whē he said Thy faith hath saued the he shold haue said nay thy loue thy faith or thy faith thy loue haue saued thee especially
they were hereticks withall we must not refuse the good they haue because in other respects they be not good For then belike I will vse an easie example but one when the Philistines tooke away the Lordes arke had it in their keeping because the Philistins haue it Israel shoulde not long to haue it againe or when it was brought home receue with ioy But in very deed vnbeleuers perfect heretiks in capital pointes as they haue no faith so haue they not the good perswasion of the end of faith 1. Pet. 1.9 which is saluatioÌ„ of their soules For they shall neuer be able either to take froÌ„ vs or to kepe in theÌ„ selues the arke of a quiet coÌ„scieÌ„ce And albeit they be suffred somtimes to reioyce in the light for a season and to grow greene in the filde yet all this is but a glimse and in the ende to their greater sorrow as it were by a slender tast to let them know what perfit ioyes the faithfull man feeleth in him selfe and feedeth on in his soule to euerlasting life But now if your saying concerning the perswasion of heretickes were true yet were your reason naught but your saying being false your reason is to to bad 2. Secondly you say that this persuasioÌ„ is contrarie to the feare of God verily we teach and no men more either with better words in speaking or in more due manner in thinking rightly of the fear of God that it is the roote of all wisedom and wheÌ„ we woulde expresse the enormities of any place or persons we speake with the scripture and as Abraham and Dauid did and as we take it with the wordes of greatest dispraise Gen 20.11 Psal 36.1 The feare of God is not in this place or the feare of God is not before their eyes Wherfore we exhort them to stand in aw and sinne not The feare of God expelleth sinne Mater timidi nunquam plorat the timerouse childe is warie in all his wayes loth to venter further then is behoouefull and therefore seldom causeth the carefull mother to wet her eye for him But we speake of the feare of God in his children The diuers acception of the word Feare Mal. 1.6 his feare in them is twofold either a reuerence of the worthinesse of his omnipotent maiestie If I be your father where is my loue If I be your Lord where is my feare or else the feare of God is taken for the dreading of his iustice against sinne iniquitie Prou. 3.7 Feare God depart from euill But these the like feares which are lawful profitable are required certes the certainty of faith doth establish them and they it There are other feares of other sortes a feare of the enemy a feare of mans power 〈◊〉 feare of death hell damnation c. in regard wherof we teach on this wise Fear â—our owne captaine feare not thine and his enemy I will not feare what man can do to me Haue a confidence Ioh. 16.33 1. Ioh. 5.4 I haue conquered the world saith Christ This is your victorie euen your faith which ouercommeth not in one or two skirmishes or coÌ„quereth some one part but getteth the vpper haÌ„d of the whole worlde Wherefore quite your selues like meÌ„ trust in the Lord. O death where is thy sting Hell gates shal not preuaile against you There is no condeÌ„natioÌ„ to theÌ„ that are in Christ Iesus If God be with vs what can be against vs why should we feare any thing but him yet not him otherwise then before I shewed not as the dog the whip the slaue his maister or the thiefe the gallowes but as an honorable Lord a reuereÌ„d father a iust but a good God withall Whom we must serue as Zacharies song is in al respects in holynes righteousnes al the dayes of our life without seruile feare nothing distrusting least happily he shoulde not keepe promises where he once promiseth For this kinde of feare of all others directly oppugneth hope hope it is flat against faith faith against it If you meane such a feare we graunt faith is coÌ„trarie to it and laboreth still more more to root it out This we graunt Faine woulde we heare what you or any of yours caÌ„ say herein without dallying in the diuerse acceptioÌ„s of the word feare directly to the contrarie 3. In the third place you say the assuraÌ„ce of faith ouerthroweth the vse of praying For what need maÌ„ pray that he be not lead into temptation if his faith be assured that he shall be saued notwithstanding temptation O M. Stapleton wil you teÌ„pt God The Lordes determination coÌ„cerning the endes in thinges doth not take away meanes and duties in the mid way of perfourming all that is commaunded to man My life is fixt and the boundes limits therof certaine Shall I therfore in reson therof refuse ordinary meat drink and dayly food or physick in time of sicnes what a folly were it beside an extream fault conteÌ„ning the Lords ordinaÌ„ce Likewise God suffreth no man to be tempted aboue measure 1. Cor. 10.13 Therefore because there is a measure set shall no man power furth his prayers in that respect Paul teacheth a better way Pray alwaies Christ willeth Watch pray that ye enter not into temptation And yet none can not be tempted neither with inward nor outward temptation aboue his measure how theÌ„ doth the certainty of Gods defence therin abolish maÌ„s duty that he should not pray therfor Iam. 1.6 I pray shew vs more at large or rather briefly in plainer maner if you caÌ„ We teach no prayer is good but that which is made in faith why theÌ„ doth the certainty of faith take away the office of praying 4. In the last fourth place you say the certainty of faith peruerteth the doctrine of the SacrameÌ„ts Well I see either you do not see which is grosse ignoraÌ„ce or of a frowardnes you wil not vnderstand what we mean by the assuraÌ„ce of faith We tell you our saluatioÌ„ is built vpon a sure grouÌ„d the Lord doth know who are his they who are the Lords they know they are his This is a firme foundation the scripture writing of the house of Israel that the faithful are registred in the booke of life this assuredly we doe beleeue But that there be no other helps to assure our faith we neuer denied For herein as the word is a known writing to vs so the sacrameÌ„ts are the seals to double our assuraÌ„ce as Pharao saw two dreames to ascertaine him one thing Gen. 51.25 neither doth the assuraÌ„ce that must be by faith destroy the helps that farther that assuraÌ„ce in faith nay the assuraÌ„ce that shold be therin is proued the rather by the helps therto But now as we haue hard your tale M. Stapl. so giue vs a litle leasure to shew our own euideÌ„ces for our own