Selected quad for the lemma: justice_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
justice_n	faith_n	justify_v	law_n	2,569	5	5.9375	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20770	A treatise of the true nature and definition of justifying faith together with a defence of the same, against the answere of N. Baxter. By Iohn Downe B. in Divinity, and sometime fellow of Emanuel C. in Cambridge.; Selections	Downe, John, 1570?-1631.; Baxter, Nathaniel, fl. 1606.; Bayly, Mr., fl. 1635.; Muret, Marc-Antoine, 1526-1585. Institutio puerilis. English.	1635 (1635)	STC 7153; ESTC S109816	240,136	421

haue better exprest it For my part I cannot guesse what it should bee nor will I trouble my braine in seeking it Happily your selfe know not what you would And thus haue I though breefly yet fully answered all your reasons It now remaineth that either you produce sounder arguments then yet you haue giuen vs or adde more vigor and strength vnto these or because I feare you can do neither that considering the weaknes of those reeds whereon you haue hitherto leaned hence forward you trust them no more It can bee no disgrace vnto you to bee ouercome of Truth neither is it leuity or inconstancy vpon sight of your errour to change both your opinion and practice Take therefore vnto you Christian seuerity and ingenuously reuoke what you haue held or done amisse so shall you giue glorie vnto God and God shall honour you in the sight of all his Saints But if notwithstanding all that hath beene said you meane still to persist in your error and will not bee persuaded although you be perswaded I feare lest after straining at these gnats you fall to swallowing downe of Camels and proceed from dislike of a few indifferent ceremonies vnto flat schisme and separation which God forbid for his mercies sake Amen See T de ora HOW S. PAVL AND S. IAMES ARE TO BEE reconciled in the matter of IVSTIFICATION YOV demand how Saint Paul teaching Iustification by Faith onely without the Works of the Law Ro. 5.20.28 Gal. 2.16 Iam. 2.24 and Saint Iames affirming that of Works a man is iustified and not of Faith only may bee reconciled I will endeuour to giue you the best satisfaction I can in a few Propositions 1 Scripture being the Word of God who is truth and whose promises are not yea and nay 2. Cor. 1.17.18.19.20 but yea and Amen although sometime there may seeme contrariety in it yet reall difference and repugnancy there can bee none truth euer agreeing and neuer contradicting it selfe 2 Paul therefore and Iames being inspired by the same spirit must needs conspire in the same truth although the one exclude Works from Faith in the matter of Iustification the other include Works together with Faith 3 The readiest way to reconcile this seeming contradiction is to obserue carefully the Occasions whereupon they were moued to deliuer these doctrines and to distinguish the Equiuocation and diuers vse of these two words Iustification and Faith For if there bee the same meaning in both and no ambiguity in either of these tearmes it cannot bee auoided but they must of necessity crosse one the other 4 Saint Pauls occasion was this Hee saw with what eagernesse contention certaine Iewes maintained Act. 15.1 that vnlesse the law of Moses were kept and obserued together with the Gospell there could bee no Iustification and that thereby mans Works were either substituted in the roome of or yoked together with Faith to the great preiudice of Gods free Grace Ro. 2.24 And therefore against these he proues by the testimony of the Law the Prophets that we are Iustified by Faith in Christ freely without the works of the Law 5 Hereupon some there were who like spiders sucking venome out of the wholsomest flowers so interpreted this comfortable doctrine as if it skilled not whether they practized good works and led a godly vertuous life so as they did belieue And against this sort of men the Apostle Saint Iames thought it necessary to oppose himselfe 6 So that Saint Iames doth not dispute against Saint Paul but for the right meaning of S. Paul against those that depraued and wrested his doctrine to a wrong sence Paul so defending Iustification by Faith without Works as hee denies not the necessary practice of them but only denies the power of Iustification vnto them Iames so establishing good Works not as giuing them force to make a man acceptable and iust in the sight of Gods iustice but onely disabling that Faith from hauing any power to Iustify vs which is not accompanied with them 7 And thus Saint Augustin vnderstandeth it When De fide oper l. 1. c. 14. saith he the Apostle saith that a man is iustified by Faith without the Works of the Law hee meaneth not that Faith being receiued and professed the works of Iustice should bee contemned but that euery one should know that he may be iustified by Faith although the works of the law goe not before For they follow him that is iustified but goe not before him that is to bee iustified And againe 83. quaest q. 16. When as Paul speakes of the good works of Abraham which accompanied his Faith it is manifest that by the example of Abraham he doth not so teach that a man is iustified by Faith without works that if hee doe belieue it concernes him not to worke well but to to this end rather that no man should thinke that by the merit of his former good Works he hath attained the gift of iustification which is by Faith 8 As the consideration of the different occasions which moued these two Apostles to speake so differently doth in part cleere this question so will it yet bee more euident if wee know the seuerall acceptions and vses of these words Iustification and Faith and in what sence either Apostle vnderstands them 9 Iustification vsually in the Scripture phrase signifieth not to make iust by infusing the quality of Iustice into the soule 2. King 15.4 Deut. 25.1 Psal 81.3 Prov. 17.15 Mat. 12.37 Ro. 8.33.34 but to pronounce and declare to be iust being indeed a Law-terme and drawne from ciuill Courts of iudicature and is opposed to Condemnation And this is so cleere that Tolet a Iesuite confesseth it most frequently so to signify in Scripture Pineda Vega and Salmeron three great Papists acknowledge it in this sence to be vsed by S. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans where hee disputeth purposely of Iustification 10 Now there is a double tribunall where wee are to bee iudged one is Gods the other Mans and therefore God is sayd to Iustify and Man also God when he acquits a sinner from his sinnes for the merit of his Son Christ Man when seeing our good works which are the fruites and testimonies of our grace with God out of the iudgement of Charity hee accounts vs the Sonnes of God Of the former Saint Paul speakes of the latter S. Iames. S. Paul enquireth how wee are made lust before God namely by Faith S. James how it may appeare vnto men that wee are Iust namely by Works Faith is the principle of Existence by which we are Iust Works of Knowledge by which we are knowne to be Iust Iac. 2.10 In id cap. 11 That Saint Iames vnderstandeth such a Declaratiue Iustification is plaine by that he saith Shew mee thy Faith by thy Works And Thomas of Aquin affirmeth that Workes following Faith are not said to Iustify as Iustification is an infusion of

A TREATISE OF THE TRVE NATVRE AND DEFINITION of justifying faith TOGETHER WITH A DEFENCE of the same against the Answere of N. Baxter By IOHN DOWNE B. in Divinity and sometime Fellow of EMANVEL C. in Cambridge AVGVST DESPIR ET LIT. CAP. 30. Lex dicit non concupisces Fides dicit Sana animam meam quoniam peccavi tibi Gratia dicit Ecce sanus factus es jam noli peccare ne quid tibi deterius contingat Sanitas dicit Domine Deus meus clamavi ad te sanâsti me Liberum arbitrium dicit voluntariè sacrificabo tibi Dilectio justitiae dicit narraverunt mihi iniusti delectationes sed non sicut Lex tua Domine The Law saith thou shalt not covet Faith saith heale my soule for I haue sinned against thee Grace faith lo thou art made whole sin no more least a worse thing befall thee Health saith O Lord my God I haue cried vnto thee and thou hast healed mee Free-will saith I will freely sacrifice vnto thee Loue of iustice saith the wicked haue shewed mee delights but not according to thy law O Lord. OXFORD Printed by IOHN LICHFIELD for Edward Forrest 1635. TO THE READER IT is now somewhat vpward of two yeares This must be referred to the time whē the Author writ it since passing through the City of Bristol towards the Vniuersity of Cambridge I was by the importunity of sundry Cittizens my very good friends arrested there certaine daies For no sooner was I there arrived but presently they repaired vnto me and like so many Iacobs began to wrestle with me Gen 32.24.26 Rom. 1.11 Mat. 11.12 protesting they would not let me goe vnlesse I first promised to blesse them and to bestow some spirituall gift among them It was no small Ioy vnto mee to see the Kingdome of Heaven suffer such violence and the people of God like so many thirsty Harts Psal 42.1 braying for the rivers of waters pāting after the liuing God Wherefore I could not but with Iacobs Angel giue them leaue to prevaile Gen. 32.28 Mat. 5.41 yeeld so farre vnto their earnest request that being angariated to goe but one mile I was notwithstanding content to goe with them more then twaine preaching before my departure thence divers sermons vnto them One time among the rest I chose for my Theme that of St Paul to the Ephesians Ephes 6. 16. Aboue all take the shield of Faith whereby ye may quench all the fiery darts of that wicked One. Wherein because Iustifying Faith seemed to be commended as the principallest peece of the Christians Panoplie of surest proofe against all the assaults temptations of Satan I held it necessary with all diligence to enquire what might be the true nature and definition thereof and at length I resolued that the Act thereof was not Assurance but Affiance the Subiect not the vnderstanding but the will and the Obiect not present grace and future glory but the person of the Mediator So that I defined it not as vulgarly it is conceiued An assurance that we are already justified and shall be saued but thus An affiance vpon Christ the Mediator for justification and consequently Saluation The occasiō mouing me to intreat of this argument was this A certaine graue and godly Matrone of that City hauing beene a long time sore afflicted with sicknesse both in mind and body I went vpon entreaty with other friends to visit her and after mutuall salutation Sister quoth I vnto her were I Physitian for the body I would aduise you the best I could for the health thereof but it is not my element and therefore I may not without great rashnesse put my selfe into it neuerthelesse if you shall please to discouer vnto me the wound of your spirit happily I may apply such a salue thereunto as by the blessing of God may close it vp or at least giue some refocilation and ease vnto the anguish thereof My wound then quoth she in a word is this I want faith And what may be the ground quoth I of this perswasion Because quoth she I am not assured that I am iustified and shall be saued A weake ground quoth I seeing a man may haue Faith that wanteth such Assurance how may that be quoth she for as hitherto I haue beene taught Faith is no other then Assurance then haue you beene taught amisse quoth I and if this be all the scruple that troubleth you I hope ere we part to finish the cure Thereupon I began freely to declare what I conceiued of the true nature of iustifying Faith and proued vnto her by sundrie remonstrances that it was not Assurance but Affiance and with so good successe that both she and all that were present rested therewith much comforted and contented Only they prayed me both for their owne confirmation and the farther information of others that I would be pleased to speak of it againe in a more publike audience wherevnto seeing no reason to disswade me I readily condescended and on the text aforesaid handled the matter somewhat largely This Sermon at least so farre as concernes the Definition of Faith was by one Mr Baxter then preacher of that City greatly distasted and disliked in so much as by message he threatned me with open confutation thereof in the Pulpit vnlesse I gaue him the speedier better satisfaction which threatning though I little feared knowing I had built nor hay nor stubble vpon the foundation 1 Cor. 3.12.13 but such doctrines as were well able to endure the triall of the fire yet because the Apostle chargeth to be ready alwayes to giue answere to euery man that asketh a reason of the Hope that is in vs 1 Pet. 3.15 I was eftsoones willing the best I could to satisfie him Being therefore by the mediation of some friends brought to a parlie with him I prayed him to remember that whatsoeuer I sayd in that Sermon was not barely affirmed but soundly proued and therefore he might not in reason demaund satisfaction of me vntill himselfe had satisfied my reasons which if he should substantially doe I would ease him of his Pulpit-confutation and the same tongue that broched the errour should in the same place againe reuoke it Then began I to presse him with this argument If faith be Assurance then God commanding a Reprobate to beleeue commands him also to be assured which is absurd whereunto all his answere was who art thou that disputest with God I replied Rom. 9.20 that I neither disputed with God nor controled his actions but only denyed that God commands a Reprobate to be assured for so he should command that to be beleeued for true which nor is nor euer shall be true Againe I argued thus If Faith be Assurance then whosoeuer wanteth Assurance wanteth Faith which to a distressed soule is most vncomfortable To this he answered that desire of Assurance is in the acceptation of God as Assurance it selfe I replyed

first infancy beene seasoned and sanctified with the Christian Faith cannot easily be conceiued or imagined Sixtly tell mee doe all that haue receiued Faith in their infancy loose it againe when they come to bee of more yeeres It seemeth so if then they receiued it for otherwise why are they put to their Catechisme and taught the elements of Faith againe But this were a very strange course For how should they loose it vnlesse perhaps God secretly steale that from them which earst he gaue them which to say is very derogatory to the bounty of God who neuer withdraweth grace once giuen vntill man by abusing it haue deserued to loose it Not loosing it therefore and yet learning it when they come to yeeres of capacity It is a plaine argument they neuer receiued it in their Infancy Seuenthly and lastly there is not the least Habit either acquired by custome or infused from aboue but maketh a man more apt and prone vnto their proper actions For example whosoeuer is possessed of the vertues of Iustice Temperance Liberality Fortitude will readily doe iustly temperatly liberally valiantly it being the nature of Habits to facilitate Actions Tell mee then are the Children of Christians when they come first to be instructed more capable of Christian Religion or more inclinable to holy actions then the Children of Infidels Experience tels vs they are not but are as waxe indifferently flexible any way It is absurd therefore and void of reason to place in Infants the Habit of Faith which yet inclines them no more to the Acts of Faith then those that are without it Now hauing thus briefly demonstrated that Infants haue neither Actuall nor Habituall Faith it followeth in the next place to answer the contrary arguments aboue set downe And first where it is said that Faith is a necessary meanes vnto Iustification and Saluation in as much as none can please God or liue without it I answer in a word it is to bee vnderstood not of Infants But de Adultis of those that are of riper yeeres vnto whom alone Faith is necessary These cannot please God nor liue nor bee iustified and saued without a particular Faith of their owne but Infants by reason of their incapacity through the indulgence of God may Adde hereunto that according to the Tenent of our Diuines it is not the Habit but the Act of Faith that doth iustify in regard whereof they define it by a Motion of the Will grounded vpon an assent of the Mind vnto the truth of the Gospell Vnlesse therefore you grant vnto Infants such a motion both of the Mind and Will which Papists expresly deny and Lutherans seeme to stagger at neither can they bee iustified by Actuall Faith hauing none And seeing without it the Habit auailes nothing at all as being an idle Faith I see not to what end the Habit should bee infused And if it bee to no end neither is it infused For if Nature doe not much lesse doth God any thing in vaine To that of our Sauiour where hee seemeth expresly to affirme that Little-ones belieue I answer first that those Little-ones are not Infants properly but such men as resemble little Children in holy Innocence Simplicity in regard whereof they are elsewhere called by Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Infants Secondly Mat. 11.25 grant it that Children bee also meant yet not such Children as are infants but growne to some stature and capacity For although the Child whom Christ tooke in his armes be called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a little Child yet was hee both a follower and hearer of Christ and such a one as in some measure could vnderstand such as were those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 little Children to whom Saint Iohn thought it not vnfit to write 1 Ioh. 2.14 For as the text saith hee was one that came of himselfe being called and farther hee was capable of scandall and offence which questionlesse is not incident vnto Infants Lastly to the example of Iohn the Baptist Ep. 57. I answer with Saint Augustin Nec quod factum est in Iohanne contemno nec inde regulam quid sentiendun sit de paruulis figo immò id in illo mirabiliter praedico quia in alijs non inuenio Neither doe I contemne saith hee that which was done in Iohn neither doe I from thence frame a rule what wee are to thinke of little-ones yea I acknowledge it to bee marueilous in him because I find it not in others Moreouer it is not said of him Credidit in vtero he belieued in the wombe but only exultauit he sprang in the wombe this exultation or Springing diuinitùs facta est in Infante non humanitùs ab Infante was done by the power of God in the Infant and not by any humane power of the Infant Or if vse of reason and will were so hastned vnto him as hee did belieue in miraculis habendum est diuinae potentiae non ad humanae trahendum est exemplar naturae it is to bee reckoned among the miracles of Gods power and not to be drawne into an example of human nature And thus much of reasons both for and against the Faith of Infants Now I know it will here farther bee demanded if Infants haue neither Actuall nor Habituall Faith of their owne how then and by what meanes are they Iustified and Saued For it is mercilesse and against all Diuinity to exclude them from either Whereunto I answer in the words of Bernard Epist 77. Saluantur ipsi per fidem non tamen suam sed alienam they are also saued by Faith yet not their owne Faith but anothers Anothers Will you say this seemeth very strange Heare then what the same Bernard yet further addeth Dignum est ad Dei spectat dignitatem vt quibus fidem aetas denegat propriam gratia concedat prodesse alienam It is fit and belongs vnto the dignity of God that to whom age denies a proper Faith of their owne grace should yeeld them the benefit of anothers Faith And againe Nec enim omnipotent is iustitia propriam ab his putat exigendam fidem quos nouit propriam nullam habere culpam for neither doth the iustice of God Almighty thinke that a proper Faith is to bee required of those whom he knowes to haue no proper fault of their owne In which words of Bernard two excellent reasons are rendred why the Faith of another through the grace and indulgence of God should bee auailable vnto them the first because their Jnfancy denies vnto them a proper Faith of their owne the second because besides that Originall Corruption traduced into them from their parents without their knowledge or consent they haue no other sinne of their owne Can they not then by reason of their tender yeeres haue a Faith of their owne It befits the goodnes of God that they bee holpen by the Faith of another Haue they no proper and particular

iustice but as it is an exercise or declaration or perfection of Faith 12 Concerning the word Faith sometimes it signifieth that sanctifying grace of Gods spirit whereby wee beleeue in or on God that is put all our affiance vpon God in Christ for Iustification and Saluation sometimes a naked assent or agreeing to all the truths contained in the Scripture specially such as are Euangelicall That is only of the Elect this the Diuels haue That either hath works following it as in Abraham or is great in child of works ready to trauell and bring forth if God giue time as in the theefe on the crosse This many times is without works and therefore dead and spiritles Of that S. Paul speaketh of this S. Iames. That sole but not solitary iustifies this being solitary iustifies not 13 In a word S. Paul speaks of the cause of Iustification S. Iames of the Effect S. Paul descends from the Cause to the Effect S. Iames ascends from the Effects to the Cause S. Paul resolues how wee may bee iustified S. Iames how wee may bee knowne to bee iustified S. Paul excludes works as being no Cause of Iustification S. Iames requires works as fruites of Iustification S. Paul denies works to go before them that are to bee iustified S. Iames affirmeth that they follow him that is iustified 14 Others distinguish and reconcile them thus Iustification is sometime vnderstood without implying Sanctification sometime as it implyeth also Sanctification with it In the former sence S. Paul taketh it when hee proueth that a man is iustified by Faith without works S. Iames in the latter when he concludeth that a man is iustified by works and not by Faith only And this I suppose to be a very sound interpretation 15 Howsoeuer that Faith alone without the works of the Law in the sence aboue deliuered doth iustifie these ancient Fathers auouch together with us Origen Cyprian Eusebius Caesariensis Hilarie Basil Chrysostome Ambrose Augustin Cyril Primasius Hesychius Gennadius Oecumenius whose direct and expresse words I can at any time produce Nay these late Papists also least it should be thought that none but Protestants hold it the Canons of Collein the authors of the booke offered by Caesar vnto the Protestant Collocutors in the assemblie of Ratisbon Pighius Cassander Stapulensis Peraldus Ferus and others who count themselues as good Catholiks as they that hold otherwise 16 And this only Faith is so sure an anchor of our soules and such● fountaine of true comfort both in life and death that Charles the fift Steuen Gardiner Sir Christopher Blunt and sundrie others durst not at their death trust vnto their works but vnto Faith in Christ only And Cardinal Bellarmin after a long disputation touching the merit of works is faine to conclude that because of the vncertenty of our owne iustice and the danger of vaineglory the Safest course is to repose all our affiance in the only mercy and goodnes of God So that in his iudgement wee Protestants haue chosen the Safest course I for my part will neuer trust my soule vnto them who leauing so safe a course meane to hazard it through a more dangerous way OF THE AVTHORS AND AVTHORITY OF THE CREED AND WHY IT IS CALLED a Symbole THE inscription of the Creed seemes to father it on the holy Apostles calling it the Symbole of the Apostles So doe almost all the Fathers of the fourth age after Christ and downeward affirming that the Apostles hauing receiued the Holy Ghost at Ierusalem and being now ready to disperse themselues into all parts of the world to preach the Gospell thought it good before their parting to compile this Symbole that it might serue as a pledge of their vnity in the Faith and a canon for their doctrine and teaching Yea some of them proceed so farre as particularly to set downe what article was made by what Apostle whereof see Augustin in his hundred and fifteenth Sermon de tempore Now although it bee very hard for mee to sway against the streame of so maine authority yet can I not but doubt thereof Paraphr in Mat. Praef. and confesse with Erasmus I know not who made the Creed especially hauing so great probabilities for demonstrations I dare not call them that it should not bee done by the twelue Apostles For first were it compiled by them is it likely that Saint Luke writing the history of their Acts would haue omitted so principall a matter Sundry other things of farre lesse consequence hee hath carefully recorded but of this so important and weighty a businesse hee makes not so much as one word mention which certainly hee would neuer haue failed to doe had they done so Adde hereunto that not one of the ancient Fathers who liued within the three first Centuries of Christ speake of any such thing in any of their writings and yet they should best know it whose times were neerest vnto the Apostles This deep silence both of Saint Luke and all those ancient Doctors make it vnto mee more then probable that the Apostles neuer composed it Secondly as the silence of these worthies so the very language of the Creed conuinceth it to bee yonger then the Apostles For the word Catholike vsed in the Creed was not knowne in their time Can any man thinke that the Church should then bee called Catholike when it was not Catholike For when they say this Creed was compiled the Church was scarce begunne among the Iewes and the Apostles had no where as yet preached the Gospell among the Gentils But heare the expresse words of Pacianus Bishop of Barcilona Sed sub Apostolis Ad Sympronian Epist 1. inquies nemo Catholicus vocabatur Esto sic fuerit Vel illud indulge cum post Apostolos haereses extitissent diuersisque nominibus columbam Dei atque Reginam lacerare per partes scindere niterentur nonne cognomen suum plebs Apostolica postulabat quo incorrupti populi distingueret vnitatem neintemeratam Dei virginem error aliquorum per membra laceraret In the Apostles times you will say no man was called Catholicke Bee it so Yet by your leaue when after the Apostles heresies were risen vp and by diuersity of names they laboured to rent and teare in peeces the done and queene of God was it not requisite that those which were Apostolike should haue a sirname of their owne whereby the vnity of those that are vncorrupt might bee distinguished and the error of none might rent in peeces the immaculate virgin of God Thus hee Against which if it bee obiected that the Epistles of Iames Peter Iohn and Iude are called Catholicke I answer the Inscriptions and Subscriptions of the Epistles are not Apostolicall but added to them by some other and sometime vntruly Neither is there any reason they should bee so stiled aboue the rest For neither is the doctrine contained in them more Catholicke then of all the other Epistles neither were they written to all the

sinne of their owne Neither doth God thinke it agreeable with his iustice to exact of them a proper and particular Faith of their owne Infants then are holpen by anothers Faith Whose Faith will you say The Faith of the Parents as also of the Church who is the common mother of vs all and in whose wombe as it were they are conceiued borne This of old was Saint Augustins sentence and this all sound Diuines haue agreeably with the Scripture euer held Onely it may be demanded how and in what sort the Parents Faith auaileth them Whereunto I answer not by particular applying of Christs merits and obedience vnto them for this is done onely by a mans owne Faith vnto himselfe but by bringing them within the compasse of the Couenant of Grace Thus The Couenant was made not with Abraham onely Gen. 17.19 Act. 2.39 but with his seed also and the Promise saith Saint Peter was giuen both to the Parents and to the Children The Parents therefore by Faith apprehending this Promise and Couenant by their Faith interest their Children also thereunto For as it is in ciuill negotiations the bargaine that the Father maketh for himselfe his Children is firme and good although the Children bee not present at the bargaine-making nor vnderstand what is done euen so in this spirituall Couenant and contract with God the Parents Act is sufficient force to confederate their Children also and to giue them a right vnto all the benefits of the Couenant And as I conceiue this is imputed vnto them in lieu of all those Acts and Habits which otherwise are required in those that are Adulti How farther the Holy Ghost worketh in them is a deepe and inscrutable secret Et de occultis non iudicat Ecclesia the Church is no iudge of things that are hidden Onely I affirme that by the Faith of the Parents the Children are made a holy seed and members of Christs body But what if one of the Parents bee an Infidell What if either of them or both be notorious hypocrites or openly sinnefull hauing not in them true Iustifying Faith are the Children therefore without the compasse of the Couenant and vniustified before God I answer No For first if but one of the Parents belieue yet are the Children holy 1. Cor. 7.14 So saith Saint Paul The vnbelieuing husband is sanctified by the belieuing wife and the vnbelieuing wife is sanctified by the husband else were your Children vncleane but now are they holy Againe though neither of the Parents belieue with iustifying Faith yet being in the Church by the profession of Christian Religion their Children are within the Couenant For first the Soule that sinneth it shall die Ezech. 18.20 the sonne shall not beare the iniquity of the Father neither shall the Father beare the iniquity of the Sonne So that the impiety of the Parents preiudiceth not the Child that is borne in the Church Secondly by Parents are to bee vnderstood not those alone of whom Children are immediatly begotten and borne but their Progenitors and Ancestors also who feared God and liued in the Church though many generations before For God made not his Couenant with Abraham and his immediate seed onely but with all his seed after them in their generations Gen. 17.7 Ex. 20. and promiseth to shew mercy to the thousandth generation of them that loue him and keep his Commandments Whence it followeth that these are as it were a root vnto all their posterity borne in the Church and therefore Rom. 11.16 if the root be holy so are the branches also saith Saint Paul Lastly bee the next Parents whatsoeuer they will bee yet their Children being borne in the Church the Church is their Mother and the Faith and piety of the Church interesteth all such as are borne in her vnto the Couenant And thus you see how Children are iustified and Saued by anothers Faith If Children may not those that are Adulti so bee iustified and saued also No verily For as the Prophet saith The iust man shall liue suâ fide not by anothers Hab. 2.4 but by his owne Faith And hence is it that in the Lords prayer we are taught to say Our Father but in the Creed I belieue because Prayer is an Act of Charity extending it selfe vnto the good of others also but Belieuing is an Act of Faith onely benefiting a mans selfe Can the cloths that another weares warme mee or the meat another eates nourish mee or the potion another receiues cure mee or the soule that is in another man quicken mee Nor more can the Faith of another man iustify or saue mee As one man shall not beare anothers fault sed anima quae peccat ipsa morietur the soule that sinneth it shall die so shall not one man bee acquitted for anothers Faith sed anima quae credit ipsa saluabitur the soule that belieueth it shall bee saued Saluation euery where in Scripture is promised to him who himselfe belieueth and damnation is euery where threatned to him that belieueth not so And he belieueth not so who hath not a Faith of his owne Yea but if Adams sinne bee imputed vnto vs for Condemnation and the Obedience of Christ for Iustification why may not anothers Faith also bee imputed for Saluation The case is not alike for they were publicke persons and stood in our steed but so doe not others In the Couenant of works Adam was our Head and therefore his sinne is counted the common act of all those that were in his loines In the Couenant of Grace Christ is our Head and therefore his Obedience is esteemed the common Obedience of all those who are vnited vnto him by Faith Others are not our Heads nor represent our persons in regard whereof neither can their Act bee accounted ours It will further bee obiected that Christ forgaue the palsie-sicke man his sinnes for the Faith of them that brought him Luc. 5.20 and so as Thomas saith both Ambrose and one Iohn a Bishop vnderstand it Caten in cum loc But Saint Chrysostome otherwise and that more rightly vnderstanding it both of the sicke mans Faith and theirs who brought him For our Sauiour intending to bestow a double benefit vpon him namely the cure both of body and soule this could not bee effected but by the interuention of his owne Faith but the other might by the Faith of those that presented him So wee read that the Centurions seruant Mat. 8.13 15.28 and the woman of Canaans daughter were healed the one for his Masters the other for her Mothers Faith And who knowes not that vnbelieuers oftentimes temporally fare the better for the sake of the Faithfull Saint Ambrose therefore imputing the remission of sinnes vnto the Faith of others must bee vnderstood with a graine of Salt as they say that one mans Faith may obtaine Faith vnto another and so consequently by the interuention thereof Iustification also as did the