men are workers together and helpers with God. To these we geeue commendation and that none otherwise then the holy Scriptures and auncient Fathers doo The Catholike doctrine slaūdered And hereby the Reader maie see how vntrewly it is saide that the Catholike Doctrine teacheth men to presume of their owne workes or to thinke they be able to doo well without the grace of God yea howe farre they are that so saie from knowing what good and godly workes are A briefe rehersall of so much as hath ben hitherto saide in this Treatie of Iustification THE XIIII CHAPTER IN the Preface of this treatie after that I had shewed howe profitable and necessary the trewe knowledge and doctrine of Iustification was I did by the wordes of S. Augustine put the Reader in minde of two great daungers In Psal 31. which that most learned and godly Father calleth hedlong falles sayinge that who so speaketh of this matter vnlesse he keepe the streight high waie going neither to farre on the righte hande nor on the lefte may easily fall him selfe or bringe his hearer into one of them The one perill is the presumption of mans owne iustice to thinke that he maie be iustified and liue godly without the helpe of grace which danger he saith is as it were on the right hande The other perill is the presumption vppon Gods mercy to thinke that a man though he liue ill dooing no good workes yet shal be saued by faith that peril he saith is as it were on the lefte hande To shewe the good Christian Reader who desireth to go the streight way howe he may auoide bothe daungers the falling into either whereof is the losse of life euerlasting I haue taken this trauaile in hande wherein I trust I haue nowe saide inough to keepe him from the daungerouse fall on the righte hande hauing declared at large howe litle cause man hath to presume of his owne iustice who descending of the corrupte race of Adam borne in sinne and in daunger of the diuell hath no hope to aspire to the state of iustice whiche Adam loste to him selfe 1. Timo. 2. and for all vs but onely by mercie of the mediatour of God and menne the man Iesus Christe who gaue him selfe a raunsome for all by whose grace we are freely iustified Rom. 3. Ephes 2. without respecte of any good woorkes going before or deseruing that mercy at his handes I haue shewed that the chiefe and original cause of our Iustification was the exceding loue of God Ephes 2. who when we were deade in sinne gaue vs life againe in Christe The cause that procured vnto vs the benefite of our Iustificatiō to be the merit of Christs death Rom. 6. who died for vs when we were sinners Colos 1. pacifiyng by the bloud of his Crosse all that is in heauen or in earth I haue declared that our Iustification is wrought in vs by grace and atteined by faith through the feare of God hope charitie penance and the Sacrament of Baptisme And this much haue I said of the first degree of our Iustification Ro. 5. whereby we haue accesse to comme to this grace making with the Scripture and aunciente Fathers for plainer vnderstanding three degrees of our Iustification and saluation The seconde and thirde degrees of our Iustification whiche are increase of iustice in this life and perfiting thereof in the life to comme I haue proued to be gotten and obteined by faith and good workes I haue also declared that not only faith the feare of God hope charity and penance but also our good workes and all thinges any waie helping to our Iustification be the giftes of God and made ours by the assent and working of our free will which is first healed and made strong by grace and the speciall helpe of God. And bicause no man liueth without sinne and fewe without greate and mortall crimes whereby the grace of Iustification is loste I haue shewed that the waie to recouer it againe is by the Sacrament of penance which is also the gifte of God for that he moueth a sinner to change and amende his life Math. 3. and to doo the worthy fruites of penance without the whiche motion no man euer did profitable penance And thus haue I proued that all Iustification in euery māner commeth from God and is receiued and wrought in man through grace 1. Cor. 3. by his owne will and consent whom it hath pleased God to haue a worker together with him not empeyring thereby but muche auancing his owne glorie for that he is meruelouse Psal 67. not onely in him selfe but also in his holie Rom. 3. And so haue I truely and faithfully excluded al boasting of man in him selfe geuing glory to God. For I haue so set forth the free wil of man and commended good workes that the indifferent Reader may truly say Omnia ex Deo. 2. Cor. 5. All is of God to th ende that who so vanteth and boasteth 1. Cor. 1. may vante and boaste in God. THE SECOND BOOKE DECLARING THE SECOND DANGER Howe daungerouse it is for a man to presume only vpon Gods mercy and to doo no good workes THE I. CHAPTER August in prafatio Psalm 31. HAVING thus shewed the waye to auoyde the one daunger whiche is on the righte hande and playnely declared that no man is iustified by him selfe nor hath to presume of him selfe bicause it auayleth a man nothing to eschewe one peril and to perishe by an other contrarie to it that is as the Poete saieth to escape Charibdys and be drowned in Sylla Augu. de fid et operib c. 14. Iam illud videamus c. Let vs nowe consider that other pointe whiche muste be shaken owt of good and religiouse hartes leaste putting cocke in the hoope by an yll securitie and carelesnes they lose their saluation if they thinke faithe onely fufficiente to obteyne it and take no care to holde them selues in Gods waye by doing good woorkes By whiche woordes S. Augustine moneth vs to auoide the other daunger on the lefte hande of presuming in Gods mercy alone Willing no man to thinke he may be saued by faith and beleeuing onely if hauing tyme thereunto he neyther lyue godly nor doo good woorkes And this perill is so muche the more to be wayed and carefully to be eschewed bicause as he saieth in the same woorke that is the moste daungerouse opinion of all August de fid opeca 27. whereby menne are made beleeue that lyue they neuer so lewdely and shamefully yea and continue in that kinde of lyfe yet if they doo no more but beleeue in Christe and receyue his Sacramentes they shall come to euerlasting life I cal this with S. Augustine the moste daungerouse opinion of al bicause it is the greateste enemy of godly life and good woorkes without the whiche no man shal be saued For he that putteth affiance in good life and
mannes will is required to doe somewhat or not to doe it mannes free will is sufficiently prooued If I saied no more this place of S. Augustine mighte suffice For what man woulde not rather confesse free will then say either that God hath geuen his commaundementes in vayne or that so many Scriptures be voide and vntrue Mannes wil then is euer free from compulsion and necessitie Bernar. de gratia lib. arbit though it be not euer good Manet libertas voluntatis c. The wil remaineth free euen where the mind is captiue as full in the euil as in the good but more orderly in the good A woorse man and a greater enemie of Gods people is not found in the Scripture then Pharao And yet was not he without free wil saith S. Augustine Necideo auferatis c. De gratia li. arbi cap. 23. Take not away free wil so muche as from Pharao bicause in many places God saith I haue hardened Pharao or I haue or wil harden Pharao his heart for it foloweth not therefore that Pharao himselfe did not harden his owne heart For of him this is read also When the dogged flie was taken awaie from the Aegyptians the Scripture saith Pharao made his owne heart heauy If Pharao thē had free wil and that proued by the Scripture what man is without it Si nō est liberū arbitriū quo modo iudicat c. August epist 46. If there be no free wil how doth God iudge the worlde For if men doe nothing but by compulsion and force neither is it Iustice to punish their vices nor to reward their well doinges and vertues If there were no free will in sinners what came Christe to saue He came to saue sinners and no man sinneth but by his wil and therefore S. Bernard saieth De grat liber arbit Tolle liberum arbitrium non erit quod saluetur Take awaie free will and there shal be nothing to be saued And this much I haue said to lette the Reader vnderstand what inconueniences come by deniyng free wil which who so denyeth doth as we see denie in effecte Gods iustice and iudgement denie the fruicte of Christe his coming to saue vs denie a number of plaine Scriptures affirming it And sith mans free wil is as well his owne as his soule he would haue man without a soule Finally he maketh man that was created after the Image of God no better then an vnreasonable beast or vnsensible stocke The cause of their errour is that they can not or will not discerne and make a difference betweene a free wil and a wil strong and able of it selfe to doe good Al men be thei good or il haue free wil but he that hath wil without grace Aug. cont epist Pel. lib. 2. c. 5. is weake and vnable to doe well We doe not saie that free will was lost and perished out of mans nature by the sinne of Adam But we saie that in men subiect to the Diuel it is of force inough to sinne Marie to liue well and godly it is not strong inough vnles the wil of man be deliuered and made free by grace and holpen to all good in dede worde and thought If free wil then was not loste by the sinne of Adam as S. Augustine saieth it was neuer lost But as it was made weake and feeble by his sinne so is it by grace in our Baptisme Concil Arausic cap. 13. made whole and stronge againe The freedome of wil whiche in the first man was made weak can not be repaired but by the grace of baptisme That whiche was loste can not be restored but by him that could geue it Aug. De Ciuit. Dei li. 14. c. 11 Ioan. 8. Wherevppon trueth it selfe saith If the Sonne make you free then shal you be free in dede By this we see that as free wil by sinne was made weake and feble so was it neuer lost by sinne and was also made strong againe by our baptisme For strength in goodnes it was and not freedome of wil that Adam loste Thus doth the Churche teache vs to speake of free wil not to denie it but to acknowledge that without grace it is not able to do good That as by sin it was made weake so by grace in the Sacrament of Baptisme it is repaired That as many as by the Sonne of God are made free that is to saie strong and able to doe good as al good Christian men be are no longer bounde but truely and in dede free And hereby may the Reader iudge what ground they haue who contrary to the manifest Scriptures and authoritie of al auncient writers haue turned the terme of free wil vnto bond and thrall wil. Let al men concerning this point kepe the high waie Let no man goe to farre on the left hande and saie that there is no free wil Let no man turne to farre on the right hande and thinke that freewill without grace may suffise him to liue well Manicheus toke on the left hand Pelagius on the right But a Councel of Bishops assembled in Palestina against Pelagius kept the high waie geuing out this rule for him to folow August epist 106 Fateatur esse liberū arbitrium etiam si diuino indiget adiutorio Let him confesse that there is free will although it haue nede of Gods helpe And here note that albeit Pelagius did attribute to muche to free will and the Bishops contrarying him said that free wil without grace suffised not yet did they neuer saie man had no free will. Whereby we perceiue that it was euer a trueth receiued in the Churche that man had free wil and they would not pull downe one ttueth to set vp an other This Decree of theirs made in Asia was allowed by S. Augustine and the Bishops of Africa confirmed by Innocentius Zozimus and Bonifacius Popes with the Bishops of Europa and so is one of the thinges as S. Augustine saith there Quae semper tenet Catholica Ecclesia August epist 106. Whiche the Catholique Churche hath euer holden It remaineth now to shew what free wil whiche no man can with reason and trueth denie woorketh in our Iustification Which to resolue it is truely said First Bernard De grat liber arbit that free will is saued Nexte that free will once healed by Christe and holpen by his grace is stronge and able to doe all good and to worke togeather with Christe in our Iustification Rom. 8. As it is God that by his grace iustifieth so doth he iustifie no man but by his owne wil and consent S. Augustine saith Esse potest iustitia Dei sine volūtate tua The iustice of God may be without thy wil Serm. 15. de verb. Aposto in Psa 44 But in thee it can not be but by thy will he that hath made thee without thy selfe doth not iustifie thee without thy selfe He made
to thy children suche a Father as Tobie was Geeue vnto thy chyldren profitable An example and holesome preceptes suche as he gaue vnto his sonne Geeue in charge vnto thy chyldren as he charged his sonne Tob. 14. saying And nowe my Sonne I geeue thee in charge serue God in truth and doo before him that whiche pleaseth him The preceptes of Toby to his sonne Tob. 4. and charge thy children that they doo iustice and geue almes and be mindeful of God and blesse his name at all tymes And agayne My most deerly belooued sonne haue God in thy mind all the dayes of thy life and transgresse not his Commaundementes Doo iustice all the dayes of thy lyfe and walke not in the waye of iniquitie For if thou deale in truth respecte shall be had vnto thy woorkes Of thy substance doo almes deedes and turne not awaye thy face from any poore man. So shall it come to passe that the face of God shall not be turned from thee Geaue Almes my sonne according to that thou haste If thou haue plentye of substance geeue the more largely thereof if thou haue scarse and but a litle yet geeue parte euen of that litle And feare not when thou geeuest Almes for thou layest vppe to thy selfe a good rewarde againste the daye of necessitie Tob. 12. For Almes deliuereth from deathe and suffereth not to goe vnto hell A good woorke is geeuing of Allmes vnto all them whiche doo it in the sighte of the Highe God. What a pageaunt or game is that deerly belooued bretheren the setting foorth whereof is honoured with the presente behoulding of God him selfe If at suche largesse and liberalitie as the Gentilles bestowed vppon shewes it seemed a greate and a gloriouse matter to haue presente the Proconsules or Generalles of Armies and greate coste and charge was bestowed by suche menne to please greate personnages howe muche more noble and greater is the glorie of our charge where wee haue God and Christe the behoulder thereof Howe muche more plentifull ought the preparation heere to be and howe muche more bowntifull the coste where all the vertues of heauen assemble all the Angelles meete to the sight and beholding thereof Where to the defraver of the charge not a triumphant chariot or Consulship is asked but eternall lyfe is geeuen nor the vayne and temporall fauoure of the common people is sought The frute of Almes deedes but the perpetuall rewarde of the heauenly kingdome is receyued And that these dull barren and pinching peny fathers woorking nothing towardes the frute of their saluation may be the more ashamed of them selues that the shame of their reproche and vilenesse may stryke the deaper into their filthy consciences let eche man set before his eyes the diuell with his garde that is to saye let him imagine the diuel with his traiterous people and children of death to leape foorth in presence and euen there Christe him selfe being presente and iudging to callenge with prowde comparison Christes people A liuely Representation and to prouoke and require that an accompte and rekoning of both sortes may be taken saying in this wise I for these that thou seest heere with me haue neither receyued buffets nor endured scourging nor suffered the Crosse nor shed my bloud nor redeemed this my familie with the price of any Crosse and passion No neither doo I promise them the kingdome of heauen or restoring them to immortalitie call them home agayne to Paradyse and yet see howe sumptuouse games and pageantes howe great Treasures what rare thinges long and moste chargeably sought they prouide for mee Yea laying to pleadge ingaging or selling outright all their goods and possessions to sette foorth to the vttermost these games and pageants Yea and if the pageants frame not handsomly to their honesty they are with wordes of reproch and hissing often tymes driuen out of the stage yea and sometime almost stoned to death with the furie of the people Nowe Christ let me see such fetters foorth of sightes and shewes of thy side Shew me these riche men flowing in aboūdance of welth whether though thy selfe fittest aloft in thy Churche and lookest on them they make vnto thee any suche chargeable presentes by engaging or selling their goodes Naie rather by chaunging for the better the possession of them translating them into heauenly treasures In these vaine and worldly shewes before men That vvhich S. Cyprian speaketh heere of plaies and pageants may be applied to banquetinges excesse in apparall and such other not novv common euerie vvhere nobody is fedde none clothed none susteined with comforte of meate and drinke Al the charge betweene the madnesse of the setter foorth and the foly of the beholder through a prodigall and foolish vanitie of disceiuing pleasures is loste and commeth to naught Yet emong thine thou arte thy selfe clothed and fedde in thy poore and needy and thou promisest eternall lyfe to suche as woorke All this notwithstanding thy people being thus honoured by thee with Diuine rewardes and heauenly giftes are scarse to be compared in number with myne that haue at my hande for all their coste no rewarde but damnation What shall we aunswere herevnto deerely beloued brethren By what meanes may we defende the mindes of the ryche menne ouerwhelmed with suche a sacrilegiouse barrennesse and as it were palpable darkenesse By what excuse may we purge our selues whoe are fewer in number then the Diuelles seruauntes who doe not repaie vnto Christ for the price of his Passion and bloude no not so muche as small trifles Christe hath geauen vnto vs commaundementes a revvard to such as vvorke and punnishment to the idle he hath instructed his seruauntes what they haue to doe he promiseth rewarde to suche as woorke and threatneth punnishment to the vnfruitfull He hath vttered his sentence and tolde vs before what iudgement he wil geue What excuse can there be to the negligent What defense to the barren and nigarde but that to the seruaunt who doth not that which he is cōmaunded our Lord wil do that whiche he threatneth Mat. 25. saying When the Sonne of man shal come in his glory and al his Angels with him then shal he sit in the throne of his glory and all Nations shall be gathered together before him and he shal diuide them one from an other as the shepheard diuideth the shepe from the gotes and shal place the sheep on his right hand but the gotes on the left then shal the king say vnto them which shal be on his right hand Come ye blessed of my Father receiue the kingdome which hath ben prepared for you from the beginning of the world for I haue ben hungry and you gaue me to eate I haue ben thirsty and you gaue me drinke I haue ben harborles and you led me in naked and you clothed me sick and you visited me I haue ben in prison and you came vnto me Then shal the iust answere
the olde came to seke and saue that was loste and to repaire that was by him decayed And then as Adam loste Faith Continence Charitie Wisedome and vnderstanding Counsell and strength Prosp suprà hope and humilitie so must all that companie of vertues with â—ther by him lost be restored in such as Christ of his especial grace reneweth and iustifieth For as Christ saieth of one man whome he healed so is it true in al whom he restoreth that he healeth not one part but the whole man. Ioan. 7. Deut. 32. Esai 53. His workes are perfecte and neither lacketh he power to cure all our griefes being God neither wil to doe it who for that cause became man. And as a man diseased deadly in al the principal partes of his body is not called a sound and whole man vntil the partes be al cured So the soule corrupted and made olde in Adam decayed in grace and bereft of Iustice can not be called a new creature vntil the salues of these vertues by the hand of our Phisition be laid vnto it and shew their operation in it For it is not said as many of you as haue ben baptised in Christe haue beleeued in Christe thought vppon him or heard of him Galat. 3. but it is said Christum induistis ye haue put on Christ that is to saie haue taken into you the vertues of Christ as before ye had the qualities and conditions of Adam Ephes 4. For that saith S. Paule is the true receiuing of Christ and his Gospel to put of the olde man and olde conuersation and to be renewed in spirite and minde putting on the newe which was created after the Image of God in iustice and holines Libro 1. cap 9. de pec meri remiss Christe saith S. Augustine Dat sui spiritus occultissimam fidelibus gratiam Geueth vnto his faithful a most secrete grace of his spirite which priuily he powreth euen into babes As Adam by a secret infection of carnal concupiscence infected and consumed all that came of his race He saith in the same booke Legimus iustificari Ibid. c. 10. c. We read that such be iustified in Christ as beleue in him through a secrete geauing and inspiring of spiritual grace whereby who so euer cleaueth vnto our Lord is made one spirite with him What Iustification is By all this we vnderstande that our Iustification importeth not onely an assente of minde and faith to beleue the Gospell of Christe neither standeth onely in remission of sinnes past which God mercifully forgeueth but requireth also a renewing of spirit and minde a change of lyfe and conditions â—it 3. that as in Adam we were disobedient seruinge sundrie lustes and pleasures leading our lyfe in malice and enuie hatefull hating one an other So in Christe forsaking vngodlines and worldely desires Tit. 2. we must liue soberly iustly and godly putting on vs as the chosen of God holie and beloued Coloss 3. the bowels of compassion mercie and gentlenes humilitie modestie and patience This it is to leaue of Adam and put on Christe which is our renewing and Iustification The kingdome of heauen is like vnto leauen Matth. 13 whiche a woman taketh and hideth in three measures of flower vntil the whole be leauened But as the whol paste is not leauened as long as any parte thereof remaineth in his olde tallage and taste euen so is not man translated from death to lyfe nor made a newe creature 1. Ioan. 3. Galat. 6. 2. Cor. 5. vntill the whole estate of his soule be refourmed And surely vntil he be made a newe creature he is not iustified Sicut fuit vetus Adam c. As the olde Adam was powred through the whole man and possessed the whole Bernard serm 5. de Aduent So nowe lette Christe haue the whole who hath created and redeemed the whole and shall glorifie the whole who in the Sabboth daie cured all the whole man. The olde man was sometime in vs that transgressour of Gods commaundemente he was in vs as well in hande and woorke as in mouth and heart But nowe if there be any newe creature in him the olde is past and contrarie to lewdnes in hande there is innocente life in the mouth contrary to arrogante pride there is the woorde of confession in the heart contrary to fleshly lustes there is charitie contrary to worldly glorie there is humilitie By which wordes of Sainct Bernarde we see sette before vs a true description of our Iustification by comparing togeather the corrupte estate of man in Adam and the repairing of the same through the Mediator of God and menne 1. Timo. 2. the man Iesus Christe For this repairing of mans corrupt estate Christe is often times in the Scripture compared with Adam and called an other Adam and the last man. Rom 5. 1. Cor. 15. Not an other Adam like vnto the firste but an other contrary to the firste suche as came to restore that which was lost by the first Rom. 5. For as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners so by the obedience of one many shall be made iuste And as in Adam all men die so in Christe all shal be reliued And as by the synne of one all men came to damnation so by the Iustice of one all come to the Iustification of lyfe But as we were all condemned in Adam bicause we were naturally borne of him and thereby tooke his conditions so to be saued by Christe we must also be newe borne in him and put on vs his qualities And so do we see that our true Iustification is the recouering of that which we lost in Adam and what that was I haue shewed before The whiche Christe hath fully restored in such as truely take a new birth of him In the secoÌ„d boke the .xviij Chapter as I shall shewe toward the ende of this woorke where place shal serue to speake of the vertue and strength of our Iustification by Christe It is now to be shewed particularly how such as are borne in synne come to be iustified in Christ what the causes of our Iustification be by what meane God worketh it in vs and how we receiue it Of the causes of our Iustification The V. CHAPTER Ioan. 3. THE chiefe and principall cause of our Iustification is the great loue that God beareth vnto man who so tendred the worlde that he gaue his onely begotten Sonne Galat. 4. And to make vs his children sent the spirit of his Sonne into our hartes that is the holy Ghoste wherewith he hath sealed vs vp Ephes 1. and geuen it as a pledge of our inheritance And this hath he wrought Tit. 3. not for the workes of iustice that we did but according to his owne mercie The cause that deserued this owre Iustification at his handes was the death of his sonne Iesus Christe Rom. 5. Coloss 1. 1.
saith I take them all as hinderance and losse and accompte them as durte so that I may gaine Christ. Leauing then aside these twoo kindes of workes whereof th' one is damnable and the other vnprofitable there remaine the workes which the Iewes called the workes of God Ioan. 6. saying to Christ Quid faciemus vt operemur opera Dei what shal we doo to worke the workes of God These workes be such as be done by the motion and inspiration of God. Christ saith Ioan. 3. Qui facit veritatem He that doth vprightely and trewly commeth to the light that his workes may be shewed bicause they are done in God that is by the inspiration and helpe of God. These workes S. Paul calleth the fruites of the holy Ghost bicause the holy Ghost bringeth them forth Gala. 5. Such are charitie ioy patience gentlenes sufferaÌ„ce mâ—â—â—nes faith modestie continence chastitie These workes as al Christian men are willed to doo so no man doth them without the grace of God preuenting him and mouing his wil to mind them and folowing and working with him to doo them Neither doth the Scripture and the Church of God teach vs that faith is Gods gifte Aug. epist 105. and charitie with good workes our owne as of our selues Al are the giftes of God of al and singuler it is said Sine me nihil potestis facere Ioan. 15. 1. Cor. 4. Rom. 8. Aug. epist 105. 2. Cor. 8. without me ye can doo nothing What haste thou that thou receiuedst not We knowe not what to pray as we ought to doo but the holy Ghost doth aske for vs that is to say doth teach vs and make vs to aske S. Paule calleth almose the grace of God. And briefly of all good workes he saith we be made and framed in Chriiste Iesu to doo good workes Quae praeparauit Deus vt in illis ambulemus Ephes 2. which God hath prepared for vs to walke in Whereuppon S. Augustine saith fingimur ergo c. we be made and fashioned that is De grat lib. arbit cap. 8. we are fourmed and shaped in good workes which we haue not bene the preparers of but God hath prepared them for vs to worke in By this rule S. Augustine saith our good life is nothing els but the gifte of God. Quisquis tibi enumerat vera merita sua Aug. confess lib. 9. cap. 13. quid tibi enumerat nisi munera tua Whosoeuer reckeneth vppe vnto thee o Lorde his trewe merites what doth he recken vp Hovve good vvorkes are called outes Aug. in Ioan. tractat 72. 1. Cor. 3. Bernar. de grat lib. arbit but thy giftes Here it may be said what parte haue we then in our good workes and why be they called ours if they be the giftes of God I answere God worketh all that is good in vs but as S. Augustine saith not without vs. And therfore as they be the workes of God who inspireth them so be they the workes of man that doth them Dei adiutores sumus we be the helpers and workers with God. Dei sunt proculdubio munera tam nostra opera quà m eius praemia ad quae tamen condenda merita dignatur sibi adhibere creaturarum ministeria without doubt they are Gods giftes as wel our workes as his rewardes and yet to make them merites he vouchesafeth to vse the seruice of his creatures And bicause he vseth mannes seruice in the doing of good workes he calleth them in the Scripture our workes Retract li. 1. ca. 23 So doth S. Augustine say of faith and good life vtrunque ipsius est Eche of bothe is his bicause he prepareth our will and either of bothe is ours bicause it is not done but by our will. Although much might be said in this place yet I shall take one place of S. Augustine in stede of many Psal 55. who expounding the wordes of Dauid saith in this manner In Deo laudabo sermones meos In God will I praise my wordes Aug. in Psa 55. ib. Si in Deo quomodo meos c. If in God how mine Both in God and yet mine in God bicause they come from him mine bicause I haue receiued them He that gaue them would haue them mine bicause I loue him whose they are bicause they comme to me from him they are made mine Matt. 6. for whence coÌ„meth this Geue vs this day our daily bread How call we it ours and how say we geue If thou cal it not thine thou hast not receiued it againe if thou call it thine after that sorte as though it came of thy selfe when thou callest it thine owne thou losest that thou haddest receiued bicause thou arte vnkinde to him at whose hande thou haddest receiued it There needeth no more to be said Good workes if we doo them be ours bicause we haue receiued them They be Gods bicause he giueth them They be not ours as of our selues they be not ours to be prowd of for then we lose them bicause we be vnkinde to the giuer But they be ours when meekely we doo them and acknowlege the geuer of them They be ours to shine before men Matth. 5. that they maie see them and glorifie our Father that is in heauen Finally they be ours bicause God so calleth them S. Paule knewe that faith charitie praier Colos 1. 1. Thes 1. 2. Thes 1. Rom. 15. 2. Tim. 1. and good workes were the giftes of God and yet writing to the Colossians and Thessalonians he commendeth their faith and their charitie desired the Romaines to remember him in their praiers and praied for Timothee in his owne He saith to the Hebrues 1. Cor. 15. God is not vniuste to forgette your worke He was not ignorant that it was the grace of God that wrought with him and yet he saith I haue wrasteled well for the game I haue finished my race 2. Tim. 4. I haue kepte my faith As he that hath an hundred pounde landes giuen him by the Prince hath landes and yet hath none of him selfe but of the Princes gifte and were well worthy to lose them if he would bragge of his possession againste the giuer and saie he gaue him none euen so the godly and faithfull haue good woorkes not of them selues but of Goddes geuing not to be prowde and vante them selues but humbly to serue him that gaue them to doo good to them selues and others by them Aug. in Psal 85. Arguens superbiam Apostolus The Apostle rebuking pride doth not saie thou haste not but he saith what haste thou that thou receiuedst not These be the workes that we commende and sette forth in Christian men not the workes of the lawe not suche as men doo of them selues or through vaine glorie to please men but the workes of God the fruites of the holy Ghost done onely for Gods sake suche as God by his inspiration and helpe worketh in men wherein
deede Note Nouatus his heresy was that suche as fell into deadely sinne after their Baptisme coulde not be absolued by the prieste Cyprianus lib. 4. Epistola 2. neither restored to the Church againe but muste be lefte vnto Gods iudgemente and yet did he exhorte men to doo penance and satisfaction to waile and weepe night and day for theire sinnes S. Cyprian saith of him that he was Misericordiae hostis Cypria li. 1. epist 1. interfector poenitentiae The enimie of mercie the killer of penaunce bicause though he exhorted men to satisfaction and penance yet saith he Cypria li. 4. epist 2. He tooke away the medicine and remedie that came of satisfaction Operari tu putas rusticum posse c. Thinkest thou the husbandman can worke if thou say to him Trimme thy ground with all skill of husbandry plie thy tillage diligently but thou shalte reape no corne at haruest thou shalt haue no vintage thou shalt take no profite nor fruite of thy oileyearde thou shalt gather no apples of the trees As suche an exhortation to husbandrie were inough to discourage the good husband from his trauaile And as they killed penance saith S. Cyprian that tooke away the fruit of it Note euen so doo they hinder nowe a daies the dooing of good workes that commend them in wordes and take away the rewarde of them in deed Nemo enim sine fructu imperat laborem Pacia epistol 1. ad Sympronia for no man saith Pacianus enioineth labor without profite Neither is there any profite or rewarde that a true Christian man passeth vppon if it perteine not to life euerlasting for this life and all that belongeth vnto it he is taught to sette litle by Therefore the Church exhorteth al men to doo good workes but it keepeth not backe the liberall promise of life eternal which Christ hath annexed to them S. Paule saith be ye stedfaste and vnmoueable euer plentifull in euery worke of our Lord. And why 1. Cor. 15. Scientes quòd labor vester non est inanis in Domino Knowing that your labour is not idle in our Lorde And when he saith in our Lord he meaneth no temporall nor worldely rewarde It is not onely a comfortable saying Chrysost ho. 8. in Gen. but a trueth taught by the Scripture that a Christian man should directe all his doinges to serue God in hope of life euerlasting Lette vs not fainte and be wearie of well doing Gala. 6. saith S. Paule for we shall reape it in his time without fainting Heb. 11. This cogitation maketh men quietly and contentedly to beare aduersitie Moyses did chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God then to haue a pleasure of sinne for the time But what made him content so to doo Aspiciebat enim in remunerationem He loked to the rewarde Prima ib. in cap. 11. ad Hebr. Ita quando quisque aduersi aliquid patitur Euen so euery man when he suffereth any aduersitie should call to remembrance what rewarde he shall receiue thereby at Goddes hande The lacke of this cogitation maketh vs many times to fainte in well doing Chrysost hom 22. ad Hebr. Omnia nobis difficilia videntur All thinges seeme heard to vs saith Chrysostome bicause we haue not the remembrance of God. This cogitation maketh men contente to take vppon them a painefull kinde of life whiche otherwise they would flee De adulter cōiug lib. 2. cap. 20. Note S. Augustine saith that diuers being sodeinly taken and required to be Preestes whereby they muste liue chaste all theire liues were contente to doo it Sperantes se illustrius in Christi haereditate fulgere Trusting to shine the brighter in Christes inheritance This cogitation caused Martyrs willingly to susteine all paine and tormente Confessours to leade a vertuouse and straite life Virginnes to dispise worldelie pleasures of all whiche it may truelie be saied Aspiciebant in remunerationem They looked to the rewarde This hope maketh seruauntes doo good and true seruice to theire maisters in which sense S. Paule saith Quodcunque facitis ex animo operamini c. Coloss 3. What so euer ye doo doo it hartelly as it were vnto our Lord and not to men knowing that of our Lorde you shall receiue the rewarde of inheritance And when I speake this muche of good workes and of the rewarde due vnto them what workes I commende thou knowest good Reader by that which I haue saied in the 13. Chapter of the first Booke An answere to certeine obiections made against the rewarde of good workes THE XIIII CHAPTER BVT all this notwithstanding yet some lette not to say that the workes of faith which Christian men doo can not deserue rewarde of life euerlasting neither stande in Goddes iudgemente as well bicause they be vnperfite as also bicause no man liueth here withoute sinne and fewe without greate sinne and breache of some of the commaundementes Iaco. 2. and then is it written Who so offendeth in one is made giltie of all and thereby say they all our workes be infected and consequentely excluded from that greate rewarde To the firste pointe I answere Note vvel these tvvo kindes of perfection in iustice There be two kindes of perfection in iustice the one such as is in God the Angelles and that happie company of men who being presente with God enioy the sighte of the Deitie An other such as may be founde in men being yet Pilgrimes from God and liuing in this worlde In comparison of the first kinde of perfection no man is iuste neither any iustice of man be it neuer so exquisite and perfite can stande in the iudgement of God. In that respecte it is true Iob. 15. Ecce inter Sanctos eius nemo immutabilis coeli nō sunt mundi in conspectu eius Lo emong his Saints and holy none is immutable and the heauens in his sight be not cleane Mar. 10. So is it vnderstanded saith S. Augustine Nemo bonus nisi vnus Deus quia omnia quae creata sunt c. No man is good August de perfect iustitiae but onely God bicause all thinges that be created though God haue made them very good yet if they be compared with the Creator and maker they be not good with whom if they be compared they be not In the same sense is it said Non intres in iudicium c. Entre not into iudgement with thy seruaunt bicause no man liuing shal be iustified in thy sight This is meant by it saith S. Augustine Aug. vt suprà entre not into iudgement with thy seruant Noli me iudicare secundùm te qui es sine peccato Iudge me not after thy selfe who arte without sinne And where he saith no man shal be iustified he referred it to that perfection of iustice which is not in this life In the same manner doth S. Hierome expounde the place Li. 1.
lightly ouerwhelmed with infirmities But those whiche vse a spare and thinne diete doo bothe escape that euill whiche is by sicknesse looked for as it were a tempeste beginning to rise and also repulseth that greefe whiche is already come euen as it were the meeting of some raging waue in the sea But it seemeth by you that it is more paynfull to reste then to runne and to bee at good ease then to wrestle if you saie it be more conuenient for sicke persons to fare deliciously then to feede sparingly Verely the animall vertue gouerning the life doth easely concocte and disgeste that which is but scarce and sufficient and doth well applie and appropriat it to that whiche is to be nourisshed But when shee is charged and accumbered with diuersitie of meates curiously dressed the same not being able to staie it till being kindly digested it maie be conueied orderly to the partes which are to be nourished bredeth sundry kindes of diseases But nowe lette vs goe forwarde with the historie prosecuting the antiquitie of fasting and howe all holy menne haue kept the same as an inheritance receiued of theyr Fathers the father still deliuering it to the Sonne as it were from hand to hand Whereby this possession hath also benne continued euen to vs by succession Ther was no wine in Paradyse there was no killing of quicke thinges there was not yet any eating of flesh After the floodde came wyne after the flood ye fell to eating all thinges as commonly as before herbes When perfection was dispeired of then was fruition of those thinges graunted A cleere proufe that wine before the flood was not knowen appeered in Noe who was vtterly ignorant of the vse of wine For it was not yet come to the vse of mans life nor knowen at all emong menne When therefore he neither had sene any other drinke it nor had tried it him selfe Gen. 9. he was vnwares hurt thereof For Noe planted a vine and dranke of the frute and was made drunke Not that he was a great drinker or geuen to be drunke but bicause he was not acquainted with the measure that was to be taken thereof So wee see that the drinking of wine was a latter inuention then Paradyse And so is the Authoritie of fasting of more Antiquitie But we haue also learned that by fasting Moyses came vnto the hill Exod. 19. For he durst not haue aduentured the top of the hil smoking to haue entred into the darke cloude if he had not benne firste armed with fasting The effectes and frutes of fasting By fasting he receiued the Commaundementes written with the finger of God in plates of mettal So was fasting the cause of the lawe making aboue but glottony the cause of falling to madde woorshipping of Idolles beneth Exod. 32. For the people sate downe to eating and drincking and rose vp to plaie One drunken fit marred and defeated the constant Continuance of God his seruant in fasting and praying by the space of fortie daies For the tables written with the finger of God which fasting had receiued drunkennes lost the Prophet thinking it vnsemely that lawes should be deliuered from God to a drunken people In one moment of time that people which was taught from God and traded by woonderful miracles was thorough glotony throwen downe into the beastly woorshipping of the Egyptian Idoles Compare now bothe together and see how fasting leadeth to God and howe deliciousnes loseth saluation And being now entred into the way descende forward to later times Gene. 25. What defiled Esau and made him the seruant of his brother Was it not one onely eating for which he lost the prerogatiue of being the first borne But did not praier with fasting 1. Sam. 1. gette and gene Samuel to his mother What made that great Conquerour Samson to be inuincible Was it not fasting wherewith he was conceiued in his mothers wombe Fasting nourished him in steed of a nurse Fasting made him a man. For that was commaunded to his mother by the Angell in these wordes Iud. 13. What soeuer proceedeth out of the vine let him not eate ne let him not drinke wyne or stronge hote drinke that is to say any drinke that may make droonke Fasting bredeth Prophetes strenghtheneth the mightie and teacheth wisedome to lawemakers It is a good bulwarke to the soule a sure companion of life to the bodie a target to them that doo valiantly an exercise to suche as striue for the game This remoueth temptations this annointeth to pietie This is the companion of sobrietie the woorker of temperance This teacheth to doo manfully in battaile and instructeth to deale quietly in peace This sanctifieth men dedicated vnto God and maketh perfit the Prieste For it may not be that a man without fasting should presume to celebrate sacrifice not onely nowe in the mysticall and true seruice of God but not so muche as in the figuratiue sacrifice brought in by the Lawe Examples of fasting This fasting made Elias with his eies to behold a great miracle For when hee had by the space of forty daies purged his soule by fasting 3. Reg. 17. he was made woorthy in the denne in Choreb to see oure Lorde so farre as it was possible for man to see him He by fasting restored to the widdowe here sonne shewing him selfe by fasting stronge and mighty euen against death The voice goinge foorth from his mouth hauing benne longe fasting did for three yeres and sixe moonethes close the heauen from the people liuing against the Lawe For to mollifie the vntamed hartes of that stiffe necked people he was contente to condemne him selfe also to affliction and penurie 3. Reg. 17. So sure saieth hee as oure Lorde liueth there shal be no water in the earth but by my mouthe And thus he forced vppon all the people a fast thorough famine to the end he might thereby correct their iniquities growne of their delicate and dissolute life But what manner of life did Eliseus leade How did he vse him selfe when he hosted at the Sunamites house 4. Reg. 4. Or howe did he receiue and welcome the Prophetes Did not wilde herbes of the wood and a littell meale furnishe his table At the whiche time also suche as had eaten of the * Coloquint is an herbe vvhich after some mennes opinion may be called a vvilde goorde Coloquintes were in daunger to haue died thereof if by the praiers of him being purged and made acceptable thorough fastinge the poysone hadde not benne dissolued In fewe it is easie to finde that fastinge had leadde as it were by the hande all the holy Fathers to a diuine wisedome and to a heauenly kinde of life There is a certaine stone or substance whiche we Grecians * Vide de hoc lapide Dioscoridē lib. 5. cap. 147. calle Amianthon of that nature that it is not with fire to be consumed For being put in the flame it semeth to be burnt