of this Truth taking this for their chiefest Topicks for Maxima locus Maximae Sirs ye know that by this craft we have our wealth Acts 19. 25. For no other reason but covetousness can easily be alledged why the same men should so mainly cry up the Imputation of their own and their Saints imaginary merits and righteousness to the maintaining and filling the supposed Treasure of the Church and yet so mainly cry down the imputation of our blessed Saviour's real and allsufficient merits and righteousness to the exhausting and emptying the Treasures of the people Thus it is clear that pleasure in unrighteousness hath hitherto opposed the Truth in its doctrine making Mammons Chaplains not over zealous to serve God in searching out his Truth that they may believe it or over zealous to serve themselves in not preaching a Truth which they do believe Again why should so many other formidable Truths and reasonings concerning righteousness temperance and judgment to come in and from the mouth of the same St. Paul make a Heathen tremble and not once move so many confident Christians but that this heavenly Truth of Justification by Faith hath been hitherto amongst them not rightly believed or poisoned in its belief and what venome can poison the operations of the soul but onely that of the Serpent the venome of sin turning the grace of our God into wâ—…n onness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into petulancy insolency and unsufferable contentiousness for so the Greek Orator hath joyned these together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isocr in Panath. contending against not for the Faith once delivered to the Saints or which is all one denying the onely Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Jud. 4. Such men do falsely pretend Faith in Christ who do not deny ungodliness and worldly lusts who do not live soberly righteously and godly in this present world for they cannot look for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ The Grace of God which bringeth salvation to others will bring the great damnation upon them because they resist that grace betray that Saviour and belye their own Souls For most certainly the greatest miscreants that are would break off their sins by repentance and their iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor if they did with the eye of Faith see a watcher and an Holy one coming down from heaven and saying Hew the Tree down and destroy it Dan. 4. Or if they did hear with an honest and good heart and Faith cometh by no other hearing that word of Christs forerunner in his first coming to save us which is therefore the fittest to put us in mind of his second coming to judge us O generation of Vipers who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the Tree Therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Matth. 3. For surely that Faith cannot justifie the sinner which cannot justifie it self a Faith that hath eyes and seeth not the watcher the Holy one coming down from heaven that hath ears and heareth not the crier the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths strait A Faith that lets men profess Christâ—…ans but live and act Infidels hardning their hearts stopping their ears closing their eyes lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their eares and understand with their hearts and should be converted and their Saviour the Physitian of Souls should heal them Thus it is also clear That pleasure in unrighteousness hath hitherto poisoned this Truth in its belief making men take phansie for Faith and think themselves in Heaven by their perswasion whiles they are even in Hâ—…ll by theit affections and by their actions not regarding that word which they cannot deny dare not gainsay If ye were Abraham's children who is the Father of the faithful ye would do the works of Abraham Joh. 8. 39. 5. For God gave us not the Articles of our Faith to be like Pharaohs lean kine to eat up the rules of his Commandments the fat-fleshed and well-favoured kine such as were fit for Sacrifices for himself much less such as were offered to himself for Sacrifices Therefore those can be no Gospel Instructions which teach men to devour widows houses nay to devour Gods own house and not onely his house but also his glory and worship under pretence of Faith for of these starveliug Documents we may justly say now and others will be able to say to the worlds end what is said of the starveling kine And when they had eaten them up even all the fat Kine that came up out of the river and fed in the medow This is all the fatness of Sea and Land which their Forefathers had consecrated to the Service and Honour of God it could not be known that they had eaten them but they were still ill-favoured as at the beginning Gen. 41. 21. He that hath commanded us to sanctifie publick Persons as Mininisters publick times as Sabbaths or Festivals publick places as Churches to his own worship will not cannot justifie those who sacrilegiously rob and persecute his Ministers mock and suppress his Sabbaths revile and profane his Churches For it were very strange if such men who are angerly reproved and openly branded for sacrilegious profane blasphemous persons by the Spirit of God should if they still persist in their Sacriledge profaneness and blasphemy be acquitted and absolved for righteous and innocent persons by the Son of God The Spirit of God calleth them enemies adversaries and such as hate him Psal. 14. Therefore surely the Son of God will not make them Saints accept them as friends reward them as servants Such a devouring Gospel as this was never of Gods teaching though it hath been of mens practising to the discountenanceing of Gods Truth and to their own shame and destruction that have practised it For God will never uphold those men in his Truth who discourage others from embracing it 6. Yet as long as Gods Truths are infinitely above all mens discouragements neither are your Priests excusable if they will not embrace them nor ours if they do forsake them notwithstanding both be as much discouraged as either open enemies or false friends and brethren can discourage them What shall the Sons of God come no more to present themselves before their Father because Satan will coâ—…e also among them to present himself before the Lord Shall the the Holy Angels be out of love with their own light because the Devil himself can and doth also appear an Angel of light no more may we be out of love with this heavenly Truth of being righteous by the righteousness of our blessed Redeemer because Hypocrites and Atheists have made it an occasion of or a pretence for their
opinion St. Peter St. John St. James and St. Jude did write their several Epistles That St. Peter speaketh concerning this same opinion of being saved by Faith without works when he saith that some unearned and unstable men did wrest St. Pauls Epistles to their own destruction and therefore exhorteth Christians to all holy conversation and godliness upon this account that such men did at last most miserably perish in their sins Sic itaque Petrus his ergo iâ—…quit hominibus pereuntibus quales oportet vos esse in sanctis conversationibus et pietatibus so saith S. Peter therefore since these men perish for that application St. Aug. makes of his words though not that Lection what manner of persons ought ye to be in all conversation and godliness ye therefore beloved seeing ye know these things before beware least ye also being led away with the errour of the wicked sc. this errour of being saved by Faith without works fall from your own stedfastness but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 11 17. But St. James saith he is yet much more offended with such men Jacobus autem tam vehementer infestus est eis qui sapiunt fidem sine operibus valere ad salutem ut illos etiam Daemonibus comparet c. St. James is so displeased with those men who supposed Faith could save them without works that he down-right compares them to devils saying the devils also believe and tremble and tells them plainly their Faith was dead and that they were strangely besotted who thought that such a faith which had not life in it selfe could be a means of procuring them everlasting life quousquâ—… igitur falluntur qui fide mortuâ sibi vitam aeternam pollicentur And St. Aug. further assures us that S. Paul himself had exactly taught the very same Doctrine before Sicut etiam ipse Paulus non quamlibet fidem quae in Deum credat sed eam salubrem planéque Evangelicam definivit cujus opera ex dilectione procedunt fides inquit quae per dilectionem operatur Unde illam fidem quae sufficere ad salutem quibusdam videtur ita nihil prodesse asseverat ut dicat si habeam omnem fidem ita ut montes transferam charitatem autem non habeam nihil sum Ubi autem haec fidelis charitas operatur sine dubio benè vivitur Aug. lib. de fide et oâ—…er cap. 14. Even as also St. Paul himself speaking of Justificaâ—…ion and Salvation by Faith did not mean every Faith which believed in God but a saving and a â—…rue Evangelical Faith whose works proceeded from love a Faith saith he which worketh by love whence that Faith without works which some thought sufficient to Salvation he so flatly avoweth to be nothing worth that he plainly saith though he had all Faith so as to remove mountains and had not charity he should be nothing But wheresoever is this Faith working by love there without doubt the whole life is fraight with good works All his businesse is to distinguish a true and false Faith by requiring works to the Faith that justifieth not to confound Faith with works in the act of Justification Againe in the fifteenth Chapter Illud quoque non video cur Dominus dixerit Si vis venire ad vitam serva mandata commemoravit ea quae ad bonos more 's pertinent si etiam his non servatis ad vitam veniri potest per solam fidem quae sine operibus mortua est Illud deinde quomodo verum erit quod eis quos ad sinistram positurus est dicat Ite in ignem aeternum qui paratus est Diabolo Angelis ejus nec increpat quia in eum non crediderint sed quia bona opera non fecerint cap. 15. Nor do I see why our Lord said If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandements reckoning up those moral duties whereby they were to be kept if without keeping them more might go to Heaven by a dead Faith nor how he will say to them on his left hand go into everlasting fire condemning them not because they had not believed but because they had not done good works answerable to their belief He tells the false believer he should be condemned for want of works he tells not the true believer he should be acquitted for his works where by the way our Solifidians may take notice that heâ—… is not like to be so full of moral honest men who want Faith for how could their hearts sanctifie their hands if Faith did not first sanctifie their hearts as of believing men who want moral honesty having only such a Faith as to sanctifie their mouths for holy professions but not their hearts by holy affections nor their lives by holy conversation For so the same St. Aug. in the next Chapter Si autem Christus fundamentum proculdubio fides Christi per fidem quippe habitat Christus in cordibus nostris Porro fides Christi illa est utique quam definivit Apostolus quae per dilectionem operatur Non enim fides illa Daemonum quum ipsi credant contremiscant filâ—…um Dei confiteantur Jesum potest 〈◊〉 in fundamentum Quare nisi quia non est fides quae operatur per dilectionem sed quae exprimitur per timorem fides itaque Christi fides gratiae Christianae i. e. ea fides quae per dilectionem operatur posita in fundamento neminem perire permittit cap. 16. If Christ be the foundation of our righteousnesse then without doubt the Faith of Christ is so too for Christ dwelleth in our hearts by Faith but 't is that Faith which the Apostle defineth to be a Faith working by love for it is not possible that the Faith of devils who do beleeve and tremble and confesse Jesus to be the Son of God should be taken into this foundation because it is not a Faith which worketh by love but which is extorted by fear whereas the true Faith of Christ which proceedeth from the grace of Christ that is a Faith which worketh by love being put in the foundation will not let any man perish everlastingly What can be said more of a justifying Faith but that it maketh Christ to dwell in the heart for the foundation of righteousnesse and that it passeth from the heart to the hand for the operation of righteousnesse In that this Faith giveth us Christ it delivereth us from the condemnation of sin for where Christ is there can be no condemnation Rom. 8. II. In that it giveth us good works it delivereth us from the conversation of sinners that we may live as becometh Christians This Faith cannot let us perish because it will not let us depart from Christ who is the Way the Truth and the Life the Way that we should walk in the Truth to direct us in our journey and the Life to reward us at our journeys
end But the Faith which doth not this as it proceedeth not from the grace of Christ but from the strength of our own conviction and tendeth not to the glory of Christ So it is rather the Faith of Devils than of good Christians and may well let a man go to hell for it may go thither along with him and therefore as it is not the foundation of righteousnesse so it cannot be the foundation of blessednesse Again the same Father tells us That though our blessed Saviour had at first in effect called the woman of Canaan a Dog it is not lawful to take the childrens bread and give it unto Dogs yet when he saw in her soul â—…he fruit of that reproof he changed his dialect and said not O Dog but O Woman great is thy Faith Non ait O canis sed O mulier magna est fides tua mutavit vocabulum quia mutatum vidit affectum That Faith which Christ approved in her had changed the affection and 't is not possible but the Affection should change the Action and therefore St. James feared not to call an actionless Faith or a Faith not working by love a Faith not of Christians but of Devils Fidem non Christianorum sed Daemonum For they are not Christians but Dogs and Devils who persist in ungodly affections and in unrighteous actions nay indeed they are Infidels so farre from having true Faith in Christ that they do not know what is true Faith They rightly affirme saith he that whosoever will not believe in Christ doth in some sort sin against the Holy Ghost and put himself under a necessity of damnation but they do not rightly understand what it is to believe in Christ for that is not to believe as Devils but as Christians not to have a dead Faith but a Faith living and working by love Illud sane non absurde intelligunt eum peccare in spiritum sanctum esse sine veniâ reum aeterni peccati qui usque in finem vitae noluerit credere in Christum sed si rectè intelligerent quid sit credere in Christum non enim hoc est habere Daemonum fidem quae rectè mortua perhibetur sed fidem quae per dilectionem operatur Aug. ibid. cap. 16. I have of purpose alledged many quotations out of St. Augustine indeed most of them which concerned this argument that all the world may see that his intent in confuting those mistaken brethren who thought to be saved by Faith without works was only to shew out of â—…t James and the other Catholick Epâ—…stles what Faith it is that justifieth sc. a Faith working by love but not to ascribe the glory of Justification either to works or love because they hold of mansrighteousness but only to Faith which holdeth of the righteousness of the Son of God I will now to St. Augustine further add St. Ambrose who in his Comment upon the Romans cap. 3. hath these words Justificati sunt gratis quia nihil operantes neque vicem reddentes solâ fide justificati sunt They are justified freely by his grace because working nothing sc. worth Gods acceptance and their own acquitment and making no recompence they are justified only by Faith through the gift of God And again upon those words cap. 4. Credenti autem in eum But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly he saith thus Sic decretum dicit à Deo ut cessante lege solam fidem gratia Dei posceret ad salutem The Apostle tells us it was so decreed of God that the Law ceasing sc. as to that male diction Cursed is he that continueth not in all things to do them The grace of God should require only Faith to our salvation we find no mention of a Decree in the Text either in the Greek Original or in the Latine Translation yet St. Ambrose sets down the words thus Ei vere qui non operatur credenti autem in eum qui justificat impium reputatur fides ejus ad justitiam secundum Propositum Gratiae Dei To him that worketh not but believeth in him that justifieth the ungodly his Faith is accounted for righteousness according to the Purpose of the Grace of God not intending by the addition of these words according to the Purpose of the Grace of God that any should cavil against the true reading of the Truth as of late some Criticks have taught us to do but that all should understand the true meaning of it and no more question that in justification of the ungodly Faith is accounted for righteousness then they dare question the Purpose of the Grace of God This is palbably St. Ambrose his Doctrine and therefore he asks him Is it possible the Jews should think themselves justified by the works of the Law according to the justification of Abraham when they saw that Abraham himself was justified not by the works of the Law but only by Faith Quomodo ergo Judaei per opera legis justificari se putant justificatione Abrahae quum vident Abrahamum non ex operibus legis sed solâ fide justificatum He saith moreover That our Apostle proved this from the Psalmist pronouncing them blessed unto whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works Beatos dicit quibus hoc sanxit Deus ut sine labore aliquâ observatione solâ fide justificentur apud Deum He calleth those blessed concerning whom the Lord hath determined that without their own labour and any observation of the Law by Faith alone they should be justified before Him which are so clear and high expressions for Justification by Faith alone that for any Divine now to say works are required to Justification as well as Faith is either to suppose the Apostles and Prophets not to have known Gods intent and meaning or to suppose St. Ambrose and St. Augustine not to have known the intent and meaning of the Apostles I must yet further add one more Testimony that in the mouth of two or three witnesses this so heavenly Word of Truth may be firmely established And that shall be the Testimony of St. Chrysostome who upon the two first Verses of the fourth Chapter to the Romans where the Apostle speaketh of Abrahams Justification giveth us this Exposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For as much as the Jews did turn this point of Divinity upside down because their Patriarch the friend of God was first circumcised sc. before he was accepted as a friend The Apostle is resolved to shew them that even Abraham himself was justified by Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For that a man should be justified by Faith who had no works were nothing strange But for one that flourished in deeds of righteousness not to be made just from them but from his Faith was very wounderful and doth exceedingly declare the power of Faith Therefore passing by all others he maketh mention only of him that is of Abraham Chrys. Aug. 11. in