miracles but of their owne saluation which they had common with others For that very cause would hee haue his Disciples reioyce for which thou also reioycest Omnium fidelium qui diligunt Christum qui ambulant viam eius humiliter quam ipse docuit humilis nomina scripta sunt in Coelo Cuiusuis contemptibilis in Ecclesia qui credit in Christum diligit Christum amat pacem Christi nomen scriptum est in Coelo cuiusâ—ibet quem contemnis c. The names of all the faithfull which loue Christ which humbly walke in his way which his humble selfe prescribed are written in Heauen The name of euery contemptible one in the Church which beleeueth in Christ and loueth Christ and loueth the peace of Christ is written in Heauen euen of euery one whom thou contemnest And what comparison between such a one and the Apostles who did so great miracles And yet the Apostles are checked because they reioyced in a priuate good and are charged to reioyce of that whereof euen that contemptible one reioyceth So Saint Augustine So that the Apostles reioycing that their names were written in Heauen was not peculiar to them but common to euery true beleeuer the most contemptible whereof is no lesse commanded to reioyce that his name is written in Heauen than the Apostles themselues were If therefore all the faithfull must reioyce that their names are written in Heauen then they must needes certainly know not coniecturally suppose or vainely presume that they are of the number of Gods Elect. For else to reioyce of that where of they haue no certaine knowledge were but the flash of a false ioy But Christ bids vs reioyce truely and really All therefore whose names are written in Heauen know it to bee so sith they are bid to reioyce of it And if this knowledge come not but by reuelation yet it is no speciall reuelation to some few beleeuers onely but it is giuen to all true beleeuers in common Yea all the elect euen euery true beleeuer knoweth this by his Faith and the fruits of it as Hope and Loue c. This the Apostle sheweth 2. Cor. 13. 5. Examine your selues whether yee be in the Faith prooue your owne selues Know yee not your owne selues how that Iesus Christ is in you except yee be Reprobates A most emphaticall speech Examine What your selues Wherein Whether yee be in the Faith yea Prooue your owne selues herein And let this be the proofe of your Faith to know your selues to be in Christ and Christ to be in you For this is proper to the elect of God yea to all the elect in Christ to know themselues to be of that number euen by the proofe and testimonie of their Faith Which knowledge hee who neuer hath is a Reprobate by the Apostles Sentence For if Christ be in you then are you of the number of Gods elect and Christ dwelleth in vs by Faith and by Faith wee know that Christ dwelleth in vs by which wee know that wee are not Reprobates And if wee know wee are no Reprobates then wee know certainely that wee are of Gods elect Hereupon Saint Augustine sayth Fides quae per dilectionem operatur si est in vobis iam pertinetis ad praedestinatos vocatos iustificatos ergo crescat in vobis Faith which worketh by loue if it be in you you doe now belong to the number of the Predestinate of the Called of the Iustified therefore let Faith grow in you Saint Iohn also sheweth this excellently saying Hee that beleeueth in the Sonne of God hath the witnesse in himselfe So that our Faith in Christ is our infallible witnesse that wee are Christs and Christ is ours and so consequently that wee are predestinate and elect in Christ. For if any man doubt of this Record of Faith what it is and wherein it consisteth the same Apostle makes it yet more euident Verse 11. saying And this is the Record that God hath giuen to vs eternall life and this life is in his Sonne And can wee haue this Witnesse this Record of Faith in ourselues and not thereby certainely know that wee are of the number of Gods elect when wee thus finde the infallible proofe and effect of it in vs Eternall life is the infallible effect of our election But by Faith wee know that wee haue eternall life For this is the Record euen our Faith Yea this infallible knowledge is that which the Apostle doth purposely write to informe vs of For Verse 13. he sayth These things haue I written vnto you that beleeue in the Name of the Sonne of God To what end That yee may know What That yee may know not that yee may haue some probable coniecture but that yee may know What that yee haue eternall life Not onely that yee shall haue it but that yee alreadie haue it than which nothing is more sure and certaine and that yee may beleeue on the Name of the Sonne of God And this is the confidence that wee haue in him c. Now hath euery true Beleeuer eternall Life And doth hee know this by Faith And doth hee not then know that hee is of the number of Gods elect Let all Pontifician Sophistry heere stoppe the Mouth of Contradiction Let it submit to the inuincible and cleare Truth of God Thus hauing declared the infallible certaintie of Saluation sealed vnto vs by a liuely iustifying Faith which makes a man so perswaded of his Election and Predestination as that it makes him to reioyce that his name is written in Heauen it followeth now in the next place to shew the certaintie of Faith as touching our perseuerance vnto the end Now our perseuerance in Grace is a necessarie consequent effect of our Election and Predestination in Christ vnto Glory So that being sure wee are of the number of Gods Elect wee are also sure that wee shall also continue and perseuere in Grace vnto the end whereunto wee are elected As Augustine sayth Quis in aeternam vitam potuit ordinari nisi perseuerantiae dono Who could be ordained to eternall Life without the gift of Perseuerance So that for a man to know hee is written in the Booke of Life of Gods Election is consequently to know that hee shall perseuere vnto the end Doe wee know that God loues vs in Christ Then doe we also know that vnto the end hee loueth vs. Wee know that he that hath begun the good worke of Grace in vs will also performe it vnto the end Wee know with the Apostle that nothing shall separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. The Pontificians would faine restraine the Apostles perswasion and extend it no farther than to himselfe as a speciall reuelation of the certaintie of his owne saluation But hee sayth expressely Nothing shall separate Vâ— hee sayth not Mee alone but Vs. As hee plainely expresseth elsewhere saying Wee know that if our Earthly House
as vnto euery faithfull receiuer wheresoeuer the visible signe is administred the inuisible grace signified is together exhibited by vertue of the Sacramentall vnion hauing dependance on Christs promise and reference to the condition of faith in the Communicant So such is the vnion betweene Christ and the beleeuer that wheresoeuer faith is there also is Christ with all his graces present to the beleeuer for hee dwels in our hearts by faith Ephes. 3. 17. Fourthly this vnion betweene Christ and the beleeuer is not naturall or natiue as Bernard cals it as that betweene the soule and the body in man because the one of them may be separated from the other by death but Christ and the beleeuer are neuer separated no not in death for to me to liue is Christ and to dye is gaine Phil. 1. 21. For who shall separate vs from the loue of Christ Rom. 8. 35. vers 38. I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. shall be able to separate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. But herein they agree as the body hath no life but from the soule so the soule of euery faithfull man hath no life but in and from Christ as the Apostle saith Gal. 2. 20. I am crucified with Christ Neuerthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in mee and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who loued mee and gaue himselfe for me And as the soule and the body make one naturall man so Christ and the beleeuer make one spirituall and mysticall Christ and all beleeuers both of Iewes and Gentiles are made one new man not naturall but supernaturall in him Ephes. 2. 15. Fiftly this vnion between Christ and the beleeuer is not â—n artificiall vnion as that betweene the hand and the instrument of the Artificer for the instrument is subiect to wearing to breaking and at length to casting away when there is no more vse of it but we are so in the hand of Christ as we are preserued for euer as Ioh. 10. 28. I giue vnto them eternall life and they shall neuer perish neither shall any man plucke them out of my hand yet herein it agreeth that as the instrument can do nothing of it selfe not moue not work without the hand of the Artificer so we can do no good thing without the hand of Christ mouing and directing vs as himselfe saith Without mee ye can doe nothing for hee worketh in vs both to will and to worke of his good pleasure That as the Hatchet may not exalt it selfe against him that heweth with it but yeelds the praise of the worke to his workeman so saith euery faithfull soule as Esa. 26. 12. Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for vs for thou also hast wrought all our workes in vs or for vs. Sixtly this vnion betwixt Christ and euery beleeuer is not an accidentall vnion as betweene a man and learning whereby he becomes a learned man for an accident may be both present and absent without the destruction of the subiect as a man may be learned or vnlearned he may get learning and lose it againe and be a man still but the learning of the holy Ghost wherewith all the faithfull are inspired cannot be missing without destruction to the soule He is no faithfull man that wanteth the knowledge of God in Christ whom to know is eternall life and not to know is eternall death for all the faithfull are taught of God as Ier. 31. 33. 34. verses Yet herein doth our vnion with Christ resemble the accidentall vnion because as no man is borne learned or borne a Philosopher but is made so by education and instruction so no man is borne by nature the childe of God the scholar of Christ but in time becomes a Christian Philosopher by the instruction of the Word of God and the inspiration of the Spirit of God whereby hee is made a faithfull man and a Disciple of Christ. Seuenthly this vnion betweene Christ and the beleeuer is not a morall vnion such as is between friends which though it be founded at the best vpon vertue yet it is no lesse mortall than it is morall for if the friendship dye not before the friend dye yet death makes a separation as Dauid lamented the death of his louing friend Ionathan the memory of whom lasted for a while in Dauids kinde vsage of Mephibosheth Ionathans sonne but it soone cooled vpon a small occasion of Mephibosheths false seruant Ziba who by belying his master to Dauid got halfe his masters inheritance from him when himselfe deserued rather to haue beene punished for wronging his master than so rewarded for his dissembling officiousnesse in bringing a present to Dauid of his masters store So friendship is very mortall it dyes often in a mans life time or seldome suruiues death And therefore the Poet said well Foelices ter amplius Quos irrupta tenet copula Nec malis dâ—â—ulsus querimonijs Suprema citiùs soluet amor die O happy and thrice happy they Whom loues knot holds inuiolate Nor loosened till lifes last day By back-complaints begetting hate But the vnion betweene Christ and his faithfull ones though it be somewhat like that betweene morall friends but mortall men as being betweene Christ and his friends as he calleth his faithfull Ioh. 15. 15. I haue called you friends c. yet this friendship between Christ and his excelleth all other friendship The Philosophers could say Amicus est alter idem A friend is another selfe And Animus est non vbi animat sed vbi amat The soule is not where it liueth but where it loueth And Amicorum omnia sunt communia Betweene friends all things are common Now these in comparison as they are in practice amongst men are but in a manner meere sayings nominals rather than realls For as Salomon saith Most men will proclaime euery one his own goodnes but a faithfull man who can find Salomon found one among a thousand which I thinke was the Prophet that told him freely of his folly Such friends few can finde especially such as Salomon was But now whatsoeuer can be spoken in praise of friendship is really true betweene Christ and the beleeuer his faithfull man for they are so mutually each of them alter idem another selfe as that they are indeed oneselfe Their soules and spirits are so interchangeably in each other as the spirit of Christ doth really liue in vs and our soules doe liue in him Wee are in the Spirit and the Spirit of Christ in vs Rom. 8. 9. And Now I liue saith the Apostle yet not I but Christ liueth in mee and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who loued mee and gaue himselfe for mee Here is true loue indeede where the soule is not where it liueth but where
the earth of the light of the world they may strongly support thy true Religion season and lighten those places which are dark and vnsauory and all for want of faithfull Ministers thus shall they highly magnifie their office and discharge their stewardship by prouiding and sending painfull labourers into euery corner of thy field Inspire and inflame them Lord with that zeale of thine own wherewith thou didst purge thy Temple from profane merchandize that so they may with the whip-cords of sound Doctrine and wholesome Discipline chase out of thy Church all Heresie and Idolatry Why should the world O Lord complaine and cry Where is the spirit of those ancient Bishops and Martyrs and learned Champions of thy truth as of Cranmer Ridley Latimer Hooper Bucer Peter Martyr Iewel and other faithfull witnesses whose eyther bloud hath beene the seed or preaching and writing the watering of this thy noble Vineyard O keepe farre from vs the spirit of cowardise and lukewarmnesse of ambition and loue of the world lest these infeebling and infatuating our soules wee should proue a generation of peruerse and foolish children pulling downe what our religious fore-fathers with such care and paines mature iudgement and sound knowledge in the truth haue built Stirre vp O Lord the noble hearts of the two honourable Chancellors of our Vniuersities that with the ayde of soueraigne authority they may zealously set themselues to preserue those Fountaines and Nurceries from the mudde of Heresie and the bitter root of Impiety Infuse the spirit of courage zeale vprightnesse and hatred of couetousnesse in aboundance vpon all the reuerend Iudges and Iustices of the Land that they may duely execute the Lawes by freeing the poor innocent from the potent oppressor by cutting downe sinne and cutting off the traiterous ring-leaders to Idolatry Thus thy Church being purged Iustice executed Religion maintained sinne reformed our Couenant with thee renewed our vowes of better obedience and thankfulnesse performed and we through thy merits reconciled to thy Father of mercies thou the great Captaine and Lord of Hosts mayst againe take thy peoples part turne the edge of thy Sword against thine enemies and fill our mouthes with a new song of praise thanksgiuing to thee which sittest vpon the Throne with the Father and the Holy Ghost God blessed for euer Amen The Preface to the Reader CHristian Reader loe here the two great mysteries laid open the one of Godlinesse the summe whereof is Christ beleeued on in the World the other of Iniquity the head whereof is Antichrist beleeued on of the World Two Mysteries incompatible as light and darknesse They are the two bounders disterminating Ierusalem from Babylon This Mysterie of iniquity I meane the Romish doctrine of Iustification is the head-doctrine or source whence all their meritorious satisfactions doe flow And Bellarmine with other Pontificians confesseth Iustification to bee the maine Cardo or hinge whereon hangeth the whole body of controuersies betweene them and the Pretestants Nor was it for nothing that the Councell of Trent so improued all their skill and strength to oppose and oppresse the true Catholicke doctrine of Iustification as whereby the Papall magnificence and the gaine of the Romish Craftsmen for their Diana was endangered So that this their Abortiue was a hatching for seuen moneths so long was this Babylonish Ramme wherewith they would force heauen gates a hammering in the Trent-forge so as the History noteth that the most expert in the Church affirmed That if all the Councels assembled from the Apostles times to that were summed vp together they could not make vp so many Articles as the Trent-Fathers had amassed together in this one sixt Session of that Synod the best part whereof also they were beholden to Aristotle for And no maruaile they were so puzzled for they were to encounter sundry difficulties as first the euidence of Scriptures secondly the concent of ancient Fathers thirdly the powerfull preaching and writings of Luther fourthly the dissent of their Schoolemen and fiftly the diuision of the Councell it selfe some being Thomists some Scotists some Dominicans some Franciscans To satisfie and reconcile all which was more than an Herculean labour But what could be difficult to the Papall Omnipotencie who could send his holy Ghost post from Rome to Trent in a Cloake-bagge which loosed all knots and decided all doubts Nor had the Pope wanting in that Councell the most pregnant wits in the Pontifician world besides a numerous multitude of new titular Bishops as titular for learning as liuing to lay on load of down right voyces to conclude and ratifie whatsoeuer the Pope with his Cardinals in their Conclaue at Rome and his dextrous instruments in the Councell had with no lesse sweat than artifice contriued For the first maine obstacle the euidence of Scripture they are faine to collogue and speake it faire and borrow from it certaine broad Phylacteries wouen with Scripture phrases wherewith the Babylonish Whore partly decks her shamelesse forehead and partly adornes the cobwebbe Robe of her counterfeit selfe-Iustification as Coelestis Pater Iesus Christ the Sun of righteousnesse the author and finisher of our faith The Father of mercies and God of all consolation sent his sonne to redeeme Iewes and Gentiles and that all might receiue adoption of sonnes Him hath God sent forth to be a propitiation for our sinnes in his bloud for this Redemption we ought to giue thanks And ch 7. The Meritorious cause of our Iustification is our Lord Iesus Christ c. O holy Councell Will any suspect the Serpent to lurke vnder such flowers of Paradise Or that they goe about to betray Christ with Hayle Master But in this their profound hypocrisie lyeth the whole Mysterie of Iniquity Si tamen hypocrisis dici debet quae iam latere prae abundantia non valet prae impudentiâ non quaerit as Bernard saith of Romes Clergy in his time If that may be called hypocrisie which neither for the abundancy of it can nor for the impudencie of it cares to conceale it selfe Thus by egregious hypocrisie Arrius deluded the Councell of Nice confessing Christ to be God of God yet denyed his consubstantiality with the Father Thus the second Councell of Nice summoned to decree the erection and veneration of Images makes a goodly Preface giuing thankes to God that they were deliuered from Idols Thus Augustine confesseth how he was seduced by the Manichaean hypocrisie Thus dealeth the Trent Councell And besides her hypocrisie her impudencie displayes it selfe while in this Councell Rome alters the Rule of Faith addes her Traditions Decretals and Canons as a party and equall rule with Scripture guelds the Scriptures of their masculine authoritie and genuine sense closing vp all in the Cabinet of the Popes breast where lodgeth his Infallibilitie And thus the sacred Scriptures which till that Idolatrous Councell of Trent were held the sole and entire Catholicke Canon and rule of Faith must now draw in
haue alike liberty with my Antagonists I say no more for the present but commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you vp and to giue you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified Thine in Christ H. B. TRVTHS TRIVMPH Ouer TRENT CHAP. I. Of mans workes done before grace or of preparation in man vnto Iustification commonly called the merit of Congruitie The Romish Faith THE title of the fift Chapter of the sixt Session of the Councell of Trent is Of the necessitie of preparation to Iustification in men of ripe age where they say That by their free-will stirred vp and helped by grace they are disposed to conuert themselues to their Iustification by free assenting and cooperating with the same grace The ground of which disposition to Iustification is freewill which cooperating with grace produceth fixe seuerall workes of preparation laid downe by the Councell here and reckoned vp by Vega one of the Councels chiefe champions First an Historicall faith conceiued by hearing beleeuing the truth of Gods promises to a sinner in generall Secondly a feare of Gods iustice arising from the apprehension of their sinnes whence they arise thirdly to a hope by conuerting themselues to the consideration of Gods mercy trusting that God for Christs sake will be fauourable vnto them whom they then begin fourthly to loue as the fountaine of all righteousnesse and therefore are moued by a hatred and detestation against sinne that is fiftly by that Penance which they are to doe before Baptisme while sixtly they resolue to receiue Baptisme to begin a new life and to keepe the Commandements of God And Can. 1. If any man shall say that a man may be iustified before God by his owne workes which are done either by the power of mans nature or by the doctrine of the Law without diuine grace by Iesus Christ let him be accursed CHAP. II. Wherein the doctrine of Romish preparation is examined IT being the maine drift of this Councell to establish a righteousnesse inherent in a mans selfe and not finding how to dimme the bright sun-shine of truth against this doctrine but by an artificiall shadow of the second beames of grace medled and mingled with blinde or at the best bleare-eyed nature therefore the iudicious Reader may obserue how while this Councell would seeme in part to ascribe the worke of Iustification to Gods grace it doth in deed and in the maine attribute it to mans nature as may appeare in laying the first stone of this Babylonish building Of the necessitie of preparation to Iustification The whole frame of which preparation composed according to the modell of their Schoole-diuinitie as Cabriel Biel one of their chiefe Sententiaries who liued about fifty yeares before this Councell hath laid it downe as That the Act of the will presupposeth the Act of the vnderstanding and the Act of faith goes formost to apprehend the abomination of sinne and the wages of it hence a feare of Gods wrath and of hell fire hence a dislike and detestation of sinne And this saith he is a disposition of Congruity neither immediate nor sufficient but very remote Then faith turnes it selfe to the consideration of Gods mercy and resolueth that God is ready to remit sinne through the infusion of charity to those that are sufficiently prepared and disposed Vpon that consideration followeth the act of hope whereby a man begins to couet after God as the soueraigne good and from this act of hope he riseth to loue God aboue all things euen out of pure naturals From this loue issueth another dislike and detestation of sinne not for feare of damnation but for God finally aboue all things beloued And all these acts are followed with a purpose of amendment And so at length this comes to be a sufficient merit of Congruity being the immediate and finall disposition to the infusion of grace And this is such a preparation as doth necessarily as by a chaine of so many infolded linkes draw after it the infusion of grace whereby a man is iustified Thus wee see by what perplexed pathes they would leade men towards their iustification But note here what a power they giue to this preparation as euen to necessitate and inforce the infusion of grace because saith Biel to a man that doth as much as lyes in him God hath determined infallibly to giue grace And Aquinas saith it is a merit of Congruity that when a man doth wellvse his vertue God according to his super-excellent vertue should worke more excellently in him Videtur Congruum saith he It seemes Congruous and agreeable to reason that a man operating according to his vertue God should recompence him according to the excellencie of his vertue Yea such is the force of this merit of Congruity that according to Thomas it will merit not onely grace for a mans selfe but also for another man for because saith he a man in the state of grace doth fulfill the will of God it is Congruous or fitting that according to the proportion of friendship God should fulfill mans will in the saluation of another man Such is the nature of their doctrine of Congruitie of which sort are their workes of preparation disposing and fitting a man for grace And this is the sense and summe of the Trent doctrine touching preparation Now to cut off this Goliahs head we neede no other than his owne sword First concerning the title it selfe of the necessity of preparation in the Adulti or men growne as we call them note here the vanity of this doctrine how therein they confound themselues For I would aske them whom they meane by their Adulti or men of yeares Those within their owne Church such as are baptized or Heathens and Pagans without the pale of the Church such as are not yet baptized as Turkes Iewes or Indians Surely they mention those Adulti that are not yet baptized But it must needs be that they include their owne Adulti for else what vse is there in their Church of this doctrine of preparation which they so highly aduance commend vnlesse it be among the barbarous Indians But their Adulti haue already according to their doctrine receiued the grace of Iustification in their Baptisme conferring grace as they say ex opere operato which grace being once by any mortall sin afterwards lost there can be no more merit of Congruitie to merit a reparation of grace as it is in the preparation vnto grace as Thomas teacheth But leaue we the title and let vs come to the thing Popish preparation vnto grace hangs vpon two speciall hinges First free-will secondly that this free-will is moued by grace which their Schoole-men call the first grace implyed in this Councell A free-will they must haue though they confesse it to be weake and feeble And such a free-will wee easily grant them as loth to incurre their Anathema for
promises made Hee saith not and to seeds as of many but as of one And to thy seed which is Christ. And this was that promise of God which Abraham beleeuing his faith was counted to him for righteousnesse as it is there in the sixt verse euen as Abraham beleeued God and it was accounted to him for righteousnesse Therefore Vega's diuinitie hath very much failed him in propounding these two examples of Noah and Abraham to proue the iustification of his generall Faith whereas we plainely see both these Patriarches faith had speciall and principall reference and respect to Christ Iesus And therefore their faith was reckoned to them for righteousnesse For the other examples which Vega there addeth in generall out of the eleuenth to the Hebrewes they are all of the same nature and all confirme this infallible and vndeniable truth That the promises of God in Christ and Christ alone with all his righteousnesse is the obiect of that Faith which is reckoned to Abraham to Noah and to euery beleeuer for righteousnesse Here then comes in the true formall cause of our iustification namely Christ himselfe with all his righteousnesse which being apprehended by faith it is imputed vnto vs for righteousnesse This is it that giues a true being to iustification Iustification therefore consists in the imputation of Christ and his righteousnesse comprehending also all the promises of God in him apprehended by faith Now concerning this Catholicke doctrine of imputation of Christs righteousnesse by faith the Scriptures are very pregnant in the proofe of it This Gospell hath testimonie before the Law in the Law and in the Prophets and is confirmed by Christ and his Apostles Before the Law to omit other examples wee haue two famous ones that of Noah and Abraham of whom wee spake euen now who are layd downe for exemplary patterns yea and liuely types to all beleeuers Noah before the floud and Abraham after the floud and before the Law which St. Paul doth especially note to put a difference betweene faith and the workes of the Law in the point of iustification In the Law also we haue two principall types liuely shadowing this doctrine of imputation The first we finde in Leuiticus 1. 4. And hee shall put his hand vpon the head of his burnt-offering and it shall bee accepted for him to make attonement for him The burnt offering was a figure of Christ sacrificed for vs vpon the crosse the man that brings this burnt-offering is a type of euery true beleeuer and the hand which hee putteth on the head of the sacrifice is faith laying hold on Christ and as it were owning him for our proper sacrifice which God accepteth to bee an attonement for vs a sacrifice of a sweet sauour vnto the Lord. The Apostle applies this sacrifice with the fruits of it to Christ Rom. 5. 11. Wee reioyce in God through our Lord Iesus Christ by whom we haue receiued the attonement Also Ephes. 5. 2. Walke in loue as Christ also hath loued vs and giuen himselfe for vs an offering and a sacrifice to God of a sweete smelling sauour Christ is then this burnt-offering our attonement with God and an offering of a sweete sauour vnto the Lord. Now the instrument or hand whereby Christ is apprehended and applyed to euery true Beleeuer is Faith It was the hand of Faith which the diseased woman in the Gospell touched Christ her Sauiour with and fetched vertue out of him To whom the Lord said Daughter be of good comfort thy faith hath made thee whole goe in peace This the Apostle doth also liuely set out Rom. 3. 25. Whom God hath set forth to wit Iesus Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the Remission of sinnes that are past through the forbearance of God to declare at this time his righteousnesse that hee might be iust and a iustifier of him that beleeueth in Iesus How fully doth the Apostle parallel and compare this truth with that type A second type of our righteousnesse or iustification by imputation of Christ vnto the beleeuer in the time of the Law is set downe Num. 21. 8. 9. The Lord said vnto Moses make thee a fiery serpent and set it vpon a pole and it shall come to passe that euery one that is bitten when he looketh vpon it shall liue and Moses did so and the serpent-bitten-man looked and liued The brazen Serpent was a type of Christ the serpent-bitten-man is euery sinner whom that old serpent hath already stung with sinne as he did our first Parents The looking on the brazen serpent so lifted vp vpon a pole is the faith of the beleeuer beholding Christ lifted vp vpon his Crosse. This Christ Iesus himselfe applyeth Ioh. 3. 14. 15. As Moses lifted vp the Serpent in the wildernesse euen so must the sonne of man be lifted vp that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue eternall life A most sweet collation of the truth with the type shewing that as faith is the hand of the soule laying hold vpon the bloudy sacrifice of Christ for our atonement with God so faith is also the eye of the soule so to looke vpon Christ crucified as to bee thereby cured of all the deadly wounds of sin and so to liue eternally The Prophets also are full of testimonies to confirme this doctrine of iustification by imputation Esa 53. 4. Surely hee hath borne our griefes and carried our sorrowes yet we did esteeme him stricken smitten of God and afflicted as if hee had beene a malefactor But he was wounded for our transgressions hee was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was vpon him and with his stripes are wee healed All wee like sheepe haue gone astray we haue turned euery one to his owne way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of vs all And vers 8. he was cut off out of the land of the liuing for the transgression of my people was he stricken Though he had done no violence neither was any deceipt in his mouth yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to griefe when thou shalt make his soule an offering for sinnes he shall see his seede c. Here wee see most liuely set downe a mutuall imputation of our iniquities vnto Christ and of his merits vnto vs. And then the Prophet vers 11. sheweth by what meane or instrument this righteousnesse of Christs obedience is imputed to vs By his knowledge shall my righteous seruant iustifie many for hee shall beare their iniquities By his knowledge or by the knowledge of himselfe that is by faith in him knowing and acknowledging seeing and beholding him with the eye of faith to bee that Lambe of God before the shearer taking away our sinnes for hee hath borne our iniquities The Prophet Ieremy also doth set this downe most sweetly by a reciprocall or mutuall relation betweene Christ and his Church calling Christ
it loueth And between these friends all things are most freely common He partakes of our flesh we of his spirit Hee of our nature we of his grace He of our infirmities we of his perfections He of our pouerty we of his riches yea Hee of our sinnes which hee bare vpon the Tree wee of his righteousnesse the best Robe He is called the sonne of man we the Sonnes of God He the Lord our righteousnesse and we the Lord our righteousnesse yea He and we one Christ. O incomparable communion O incomprehensible vnion Neuer such an immediate intercourse and community betweene friends And this not for a day or a yeare or for terme of life but for life without terme For as Christs loue to his is from euerlasting so it is to euerlasting it is without beginning and therefore without ending Ioh. 13. 1. So that of this loue betweene Christ and his faithfull friends and brethren we may sing the Psalme of Dauid the burthen whereof is principally the loue between Christ and his brethren Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in vnity It is like the precious oyntment vpon the head that ran downe vpon the beard euen Aarons beard and went downe to the skirts of his garments As the deaw of Hermon and as the deaw that descended vpon the mountaines of Sion for there the Lord commanded the blessing euen life for euermore This Psalme is a mirrour and cleare type of that vnion and communion of grace betweene Christ and the faithfull Behold therefore it is Christ that maketh his faithfull ones to dwell together in vnitie to bee of one minde in the house of God Psalme 68. 6. He it is that perswades Iaphet to dwell in the Tents of Sem the Gentiles to become one Family with the Iew vnder Christ that one head whose type was Aaron From him our head our high Priest flowes downe the oyle of grace vpon vs vnto the skirts of his clothing euen vpon vs whose nakednesse hee hath couered with the skirts of the robes of his righteousnesse of whose fulnesse wee haue all receiued and grace for grace His head is full of the dew of grace distilling vpon the barren Mountaines of his Sion his Church and chosen to poure a blessing vpon it and there to giue life for euermore Such is the vnion betweene Christ his faithfull ones farre passing the loue betweene dearest friends euen that betweene Ionathan and Dauid passing the loue of women Eightly nor is this vnion betweene Christ and the beleeuer a ciuill vnion such as is betweene the King and the Subiect for alas to what dis-vnion and diuision is this subiect too especially where the Pope is Lord Paramount whenas eyther his roaring Buls of excommunication and deposition of Kings or the poysoned steellettoes or pistols of his all-daring brats doe euen teare the head from the body as too lamentable experience hath proued True it is that Christ is our King and we his seruants hee commands vs wee obey him he is our Princely head we his members but his commandements are not grieuous his yoke is easie and his burden light He hath lightened the burden and sweetened the yoke vnto vs by both hauing borne the grieuousnesse and bitternes of it himselfe alone and for the remnant hee both beares it with vs and giues vs strength to beare it yea he hath so loued vs and so shed his loue abroad in our hearts by his holy Spirit giuen vnto vs that as hee can neuer deny vs the grace and protection of a louing Prince so hee hath giuen vs grace neuer to deny him our most humble homage and louing obedience So that neuer was there such a strait bond betweene Prince and People as betweene Christ and the Beleeuer Ninthly this vnion betweene Christ and the Beleeuer is not a coniugall vnion such as is betweene a man and his wife although this be a mysticall resemblance whereby Christ setteth forth his vnion with vs. For this Coniugall vnion suffereth dissolution and death giues the Suruiuer libertie to marry a new mate Not so with Christ and his Spouse This is a band indissoluble The marriage band is but during this life it holds not in heauen for there they neither marry nor are giuen in marriage but this with Christ suffereth no diuorse but death is a degree to the full consummation of it Also the man and the wife are but one flesh but Christ and the beleeuer one spirit In a word this vnion betweene Christ and the Beleeuer is not the vnion of dependency as between the Creature the Creator for this is common to all the Creatures who haue their being life and sustentation in a dependency from the Creator his raine showreth and his sunne shineth vpon the good and euill vpon the iust and the vniust indifferently All depend and waite vpon thee saith Dauid and thou giuest them their meate in due season when thou openest thine hand they are filled with good when thou withdrawest their breath they returne to their dust But the vnion betweene Christ and his although it be an vnion of dependency wherein the Beleeuers eternall well-beeing hath a necessary dependance on Christ yet this dependance is proper and peculiar to the faithfull and not common with any other Creature vnlesse with the elect Angels who depend vpon Christ for the perpetuation of their happinesse So that the faithfull haue their dependance on Christ not onely as their Creator being the eternall Word common with other Creatures but chiefly as their Redeemer and Sauiour proper to them only and that not only for the supply of things temporall but much more of graces spirituall and glory eternall Thus by shewing what kinde of vnion this between Christ and the Beleeuer is not wee come to see the more cleerely what it is The Scripture also setteth forth this vnion by sundry similitudes especially foure as betweene a house and the foundation betweene the vine and the branches or the oliue roote and the tree betweene the man and the wife betweene the head and the members What more neare the foundation and building make one house the vine and branches one tree the man and wife one flesh the head and members one body So Christ and the beleeuer are one spirit Being vnited to Iesus our head hee becomes the Sauiour of vs his body Ephes. 5. 23. Beeing vnited to Christ wee are annoynted with all his titles and graces we are made Kings and Priests to God his Father Beeing vnited to this foundation we become liuing stones growing vp to an holy Temple in the Lord. Being vnited to this Vine this Oliue we partake of the sweetnesse of the one and of the fatnesse of the other Being vnited to this Spouse wee are endowed with all his goods Being vnited to this head wee receiue the rich influence of spirituall life and motion quickning euery member Yea that which is
many fruits of faith many good workes of charity piety mercy hospitality obedience humility and the like yet none of these come within the account of his iustification in the sight of God For to him that worketh not but beleeueth on him that iustifieth the vngodly his faith is counted for righteousnesse Therefore though the Pontificians would neuer so faine foist and croud in by head and shoulders their workes comming after faith whereby they may be iustified yet they are all thrust out by the Apostle as those workers were shut out of Heauen by Christ Mat. 7. 22. 23. except they could either bring the Text within the compasse of their Index expurgatorius as they haue done the glosse and sentences of Fathers in the like kind or proue Abraham an vnregenerate person or force the Apostle to say that though Abraham were not iustified by workes but by faith yet Abraham was iustified first by faith and then by workes Yea but say they although Paul make no mention of Abrahams iustification by workes yet Iames another Apostle saith plainly Was not Abraham our father iustified by works when he had offered Isaac his sonne vpon the Altar Therefore Abraham was iustified not onely by faith but by works also Therefore to loose this Gordian knot wherein the Pontificians so much triumph wee will vse no other sword not Alexanders but the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God to cut it asunder At the first sight Paul and Iames seeme to be at great oddes the one ascribing iustification to faith without workes the other to faith and workes In both the Pontificians vnderstand one and the same iustification in kinde but to differ only in degree or order as Pauls iustification to be the first and that of Iames the second but both iustifying in the sight of God But we shall finde it far otherwise namely that these two Apostles doe speak of two different iustifications differing not in degree or order but in kinde and quality So that Paul speakes of that iustification whereby a man stands iust in the presence of God which is attributed to faith and not to workes at all and Iames of another iustification namely of a testification of a mans saith declaring a man to be a true beleeuer by good workes which are the proper fruits and effects of sauing and iustifying faith For if Iames should vnderstand by being iustified by faith and workes together such a iustification as makes a man iust in the sight of God then he should directly crosse his fellow-Apostle who shuts out all workes from hauing any thing to doe in our iustification in Gods sight For Paul saith Rom 4. 2. If Abraham were iustified by workes he hath whereof to glory but not before God But Iames saith Abraham was iustified by workes therefore this iustification of Abraham by workes was not that iustification which makes a man to reioyce before God to wit the iustification by faith which Paul directly opposeth to iustification by workes Rom. 4. Now that Iames speaketh of iustification by â—orkes and not by faith onely as vnderstanding a testification and demonstration of sound and sauing faith is euident by the whole passage of his second Chapter where the Apostle exhorting to workes of mercy and charity and meeting with false professors that turned the grace of God into wantonnesse professing they had faith but made no conscience of a Christian conuersation to testifie the truth and life of their faith by good workes hereupon he inferreth ver 14. What doth it profit my brethren though a man say hee hath faith and haue no workes can the faith saue him No that faith which is without workes is dead and cannot saue a man Yea such a faith is no better than that of Diuels Well yet thou saist thou hast faith But there is as well a dead faith as a liuing faith a faith common with Diuels as a faith proper to beleeuers a sauing faith as a deceiuing faith Shew mee therefore whether thou hast that liuing sauing faith of true beleeuers or no. It is not enough to say thou hast this faith vnlesse thou canst proue it It is one thing to say it another to haue it Now the proofe of it is by the fruits of it to wit good workes as the tree is knowne by the fruits For the liuing sauing Faith is not an idle but an operatiue working Faith it is a Faith euer working by loue Therefore as the man saith to his Neighbour vers 18. Thou hast Faith and I haue workes shew me thy Faith without thy workes and I will shew thee my faith by my workes In which words the Apostle puts a plaine difference betweene a dead and a liuing faith which yet we are not able to iudge of or to discerne one from another but by good workes and so speakes here of no other iustification by workes but only such as is declaratiue or demonstratiue in the sight of men as it is said here Shew me thy Faith by thy workes So that wee see here how it is the Apostles drift to discouer the true sauing liuing Faith from a false counterfeit and dead faith which notwithstanding vaine professors so much glory of Hereupon the Apostle instanceth the Faith of Abraham and Rahab which was proued to bee a liuing and sauing Faith by the fruits and effects of it Note the Apostles Context seriously and with iudgement In the 20. vers Wilt thou know O vaine man that Faith without workes is dead Was not Abraham our father iustified by workes when hee had offered Isaac his sonne vpon the Altar Seest thou how Faith wrought with his workes and by workes was Faith made perfect And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse and he was called the friend of God Ye see then how that by workes a man is iustified and not by Faith onely First Faith without workes is dead But Abraham was iustified by Faith But by what Faith Was it a liuing and sauing Faith that Abraham had Yes How doth that appeare By his workes euen by the workes of Faith which gaue testimony to his Faith that it was a liuing sauing and iustifying Faith for by workes his Faith was made perfect not that his workes added any being of perfection to his Faith but by way of demonstration and testimony onely As we haue the like phrase in Matth. 21. 16. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfited praise not that Gods praise and glory receiued any addition of perfection by the mouth of those babes but onely in respect of the promulgation and declaration of his praise So here As also the Apostle inferreth in the next words vers 23. Thus the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham beleeued God and it was imputed vnto him for righteousnesse Note here how Iames varieth not one iot from the truth of the Scripture which ascribeth iustification
that it is as it ought to be but the contrary rather so neither can he be certaine of any grace receiued by the Sacrament But as the good King Ezechias prayed for the commers to the Sacrament of the Passeouer saying The Lord God pardon euery one that prepareth his heart to seeke God the Lord God of his Fathers though hee be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary that is so exactly as hee ought And the Lord hearkened vnto Hezechias and healed the people So though we come short as the best doe in the performance of holy duties according to that perfection which the Lord requireth yet there is place alwayes left for humble prayer both to procure Gods pardon for our faylings and his speciall grace and blessing in our reuerent vse of his holy Ordinances But this in briefe by the way to confute Vega's folly Secondly he answereth That though there bee no errour nor inuincible ignorance remaining in a man that is to receiue the Sacraments yet saith Vega I do not see it euery way certaine that those things are sufficient which are accounted requisite to iustification with the Sacrament of Baptisme or Penance For it is not certainly receiued of all that these Sacraments doe conferre the first grace As the Master of the Sentences Alexander Hales and Gabriel Biel are of the contrary opinion And sith these opinions saith hee are not condemned expresly by the Church although the opposite opinions be much more probable therefore there is place left for all kinde of doubtings and hesitations about our iustification as well after the receiuing of the Sacraments as before So that there is no more ground whereof to gather the certainty of grace because of the Sacraments receiued than by reason of our owne disposition But his third answer is the maine one he stands vpon for he saith Vtque radicitus totum hoc argumentum subruamus eneruemus dico tandem c. And that wee may ouerthrow this whole argument by the rootes and vtterly disable it I say thirdly c. Here we cannot chuse but erect our expectation vnto some prodigious exployt to be performed by this Champion What will he doc He comes Sampson-like and makes no more reckoning to pull downe the pillars whereon the whole frame of Christian faith standeth than Sampson did to pull downe the house vpon the Philistims heads But let Vega beware hee pull not an old house vpon his owne head Well Dico tandem c. I say once for all that although it may be certaine by faith that any kinde of repentance for sinnes with a purpose of keeping the Commandemets and a desire to receiue Baptisme be together with Baptisme and Penance sufficient to obtaine grace yet it doth not follow that our grace may by faith be certaine vnto vs. For although it may appeare euidently to euery one whether he hath these things or no yet none can be certaine by faith or euidently that he is truely baptized or absolued because there is necessarily required vnto the accomplishing of these and all other Sacraments an intention in the Priest to doe that which the Priest doth as is decreed in the seuenth Session of this our Councell Can. 11. But of that intention in the Priest no man without diuine reuelation can by faith or euidence be certaine And so forth to this purpose Thus doth Vega at one blow stagger the certainty of faith confirmed by the Sacraments nay not onely stagger it but strike it dead if certainty as the Pontificians in their Councell haue decreed must depend vpon the intention of the Priest in the time of consecrating the Sacraments and without the Priests intention the whole Sacrament is voyde and vaine and whether the Priests intention were going a wool-gathering or no no man knoweth Into such a miserable exigent of vncertainty haue the Pontificians implunged themselues as into the very Gulfe of Hell where doubt and despaire dwels Now for those diuine helpes to the natiue certainty of sauing Faith we may summe them vp and reduce them to this gradation As first Gods Word Dictum Iehouae secondly Gods promise thirdly his oath fourthly his hand-writing fifthly his scale sixthly his carnest or pledge 2. Cor. 5. 5. So that God as it were by so many steppes and degrees leades our Faith to the very top of the impregnable Rocke of all infallible and vnmoueable certainty Another accessory testimony confirming the certainty of faith is a good conscience which is not onely conscientia rectè factorum but faciendorum not onely a good conscience in regard of our life past wherein we haue endeauoured to liue vprightly and heartily repented vs of whatsoeuer we haue mis-done eyther by omission or commission but also in regard of the time to come while we resolue in a sincere purpose of heart and endeauour with all our power to serue God in holinesse and righteousnesse all the dayes of our life Of the good conscience of the life past the Apostle speaketh whereby the certainty of his faith is sealed vp vnto him 2. Tim. 4. 6. 7. I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand I haue fought a good fight I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith Whereupon hee concludes in the certainty of Faith Henceforth is laide vp for mee a Crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall giue mee at that day And of his good conscience for the time to come he speakes Phil 3. 13. Brethren I count not my selfe to haue apprehended but this one thing I doe forgetting those things which are behind reaching forth vnto those things which are before I presse towards the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Iesus Also Heb. 13. 18. Pray for vs for we trust we haue a good conscience in all things willing to liue honestly Now the conscience of a man is weighty and magn◠in vtramque partem as the Orator said It is a powerfull testimony eyther to accuse or to acquite a man As Rom. 2. 15. The Apostles good conscience was a comfortable testimony vnto him Acts 23. 1. So 2. Cor. 1. 12. Our reioyciug is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity not with fleshly wisedome but by the grace of God we haue had our conuersation in the world Now a good conscience hath many branches eyther as it reflects vpon Faith so it is priuie to the remission of sinnes and reconciliation of the soule with God or as it respecteth our loue both of God and of the godly in especiall Loue is another seale of Faith as 1. Iohn 3. 18 My little children let vs not loue in words neither in tongue but in deed and in truth And hereby wee know that wee are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before him And vers 14. We know that we haue passed
qui veritatem potest capere falsitate capiatur Aut enim sic praedestinatio praedicanda est quemadmodum eam sancta Scriptura euidenter loquitur vt in praedestinatis sine poenitentia sint dona vocatio Dei aut gratiam Dei secundum nostra dari merita consitendum quod sapiunt Pelagiani that is Is not the truth rather to be spoken that he which can receiue it may receiue it than to be concealed that not onely neyther can receiue it but also he that is more intelligent may be made worse The enemy of grace is instant and vrgeth by all meanes that it might be beleeued it is giuen vnto vs according to our merits and so grace should now bee no more grace And yet wee will not speake that which by the testimony of the Scripture we may speake for we feare forsooth lest if we speake he be offended that cannot receiue the truth and we doe not feare lest while we are silent he which is able to receiue the truth may be deceiued by errour For eyther is predestination so to bee preached as the holy Scripture doth euidently declare it that in those that be predestinate the gifts and calling of God may bee without repentance or else we must confesse that the grace of God is giuen according to our merits which is the opinion of the Pelagians And againe in the same booke Chapt. 21. Nimiae contentionis est praedestinationi contradicere vel de praedestinatione dubitare It is too much peruersuesse to contradict predestination or to call it into question Yet Saint Augustine denies not but that wisedome and discretion is to be vsed in the preaching of it For saith he it is not so bee preached to the ignorant multitude as that the preaching of it may seeme worthy of reproofe For dolosi vel imperiti medici est etiam vtile medicamentum sic allegare vt aut non prosit aut obsit It is the property of a deceiptfull or an vnskilfull Physitian so to apply euen a wholesome plaster as that either it doe no good or else hurt Which was the prouident wisedome of his sacred Maiesty our gracious Soueraigne in his late iniunction to Ministers not to debarre them from the free and lawfull yea the most vsefull and comfortable preaching of that diuine Doctrine of predestination as occasion serued but rather to giue direction at least to younger Diuines lest through want of mature iudgement in the manner of opening that mysterie and applying of it they might haply put a stumbling blocke before the iniudicious and ignorant hearer For otherwise his excellent Maiesty doth himselfe beare royall record to this diuine Doctrine in his learned Paraphase of the Reuelation the 20. Chapter in the latter end in these words The booke of life was opened to the effect that all those whose names were written in it to wit predestinated and elected for saluation before all beginnings might there be selected for eternall glory Now haue not wee in these times the same iust cause of speaking this truth in regard of those Pelagianizing enemies of the grace of God the Pontificians and their complices as Augustine had against the Pelagians both of them contending to ouerthrow the truth of predestination being the ground of the free grace of God in sauing mankinde and to establish mans merits and righteousnesse as the motiue cause of the grace of God Therefore in this so important a cause hauing to deale with so many importunate aduersaries of this fundamentall truth we must not be meale-mouthed lest we come to verifie that of our selues which Gregory once said of some Nonnulli dum veritatis Discipuli esse humiliter negligunt Magistri errorum fiunt Many while out of a kind of humility they neglect to be the Disciples of the truth they become the Masters of errors Come we then in the feare of God to free our selues of the enuie of his great glory in setting down this great mysterie wherein the glory of Gods rich grace doth most clearly shine and shew it selfe Predestination then is an vnchangeable act of Gods good pleasure and will whereby he hath from all eternity of his free grace elected out of the corrupt masse of mankinde fallen in Adam a certaine number of men whom hee hath purposed effectually to bring to eternall saluation by the only absolute meanes and merits of Iesus Christ and by other conditionall and subordinate meanes appointed by him for the receiuing and applying of Christ and walking in him euen vnto the end leauing the rest of men in their originall corruption to their further and finall condemnation The Scripture makes good euery part of this definition First for the subiect of it which is predestination the word is there often vsed which signifieth a fore-determining or appointing or preordaining of a thing But about the name or the thing there is no great question made The very aduersaries are forced to confesse it at least in part Now for the Predicate of the definition it is an act or decree called sometimes in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Councell as Ephes. 1. 11. sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gods Purpose as Rom. 8. 28. sometimes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 1. Pet. 1. 2. which is such a fore-knowledge as is not onely a bare prescience but a Praescitum an established or decreed fore-knowledge as the Latines call a decree of the people Plebiscitum and also the decree or iudgement of a cause Cognitio or tryall or knowledge So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or praecognitio or fore-knowledge of God is his witting and willing act or decree The Apostle therefore in the forenamed place Rom. 8. doth ioyne the purpose of God and his fore-knowledge together as one and the same thing vers 28. 29. For wee know that all things cooperate or worke together for good to them that loue God being the called according to his purpose and hee addes For whom he fore-knew those hee also predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Sonne So that to predestinate to a conformity vnto Christ is an act of Gods fore-knowledge or fore-decree conducing vnto or producing the end to the which God decreed or purposed Which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fore-knowledge or fore-decree of God is very emphaticall and significant containing in it as wee said before not a bare prescience much lesse that this fore-knowledge in God was led or moued by the euent of those things which he saw would come to passe in the creature according to which euent he should predestinate men to saluation or damnation because he fore-saw they would be such such as the Pontificians whosoeuer symbolize with them in this matter possessed or tainted with the spirit of the Pelagians of which Augustine speaketh but this fore-knowledge in God here hauing speciall and sole reference to the Elect in Christ it importeth a knowledge not of apprehension onely but of loue and approbation as God
pleasure of God as the prime and supreme cause of all That the Sonne of God Iesus Christ came into the world to take our nature vpon him to be incarnate of the Virgin Mary and to become our Mediatour and to accomplish the worke of mans saluation it is wholly and in euery part ascribed to the will and good pleasure of God How often doth Christ himselfe say in the Gospell I came downe from Heauen not to doe mine owne will but the will of him that sent mee Ioh. 6. 38. It pleased the Father that in him should all fulnesse dwell and hauing made peace through the bloud of his Crosse by him to reconcile all things vnto himselfe c. His death and passion were the fruits of Gods will and good pleasure Esa. 53 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to griefe when thou shalt make his soule an offering for sinne c. and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand His preaching here on the earth and reuealing the mysterie of God vnto Babes was from his Fathers good will Euen so Father for so it seemed good in thy fight Mat. 11. 26. I hope they will not deny or question any of this as by pretending any merit in vs to precede or procure as a motiue from God any part of this grace of Redemption And yet I know not what they meane when they ascribe to the Virgin Mary a merit at least Ex congruo why shee should be the Mother of God That we should be saued by such a means as the preaching of the Gospell which is Christ crucified a meanes contemptible in the eyes of the world it is Gods good pleasure It pleased God by the foolishnesse of preaching to sauâ— them that beleeue 1. Cor. 1. 21. The whole administration of the Word of God is according to his owne will Heb. 2. 4. Our regeneration is not according to the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of God And Iames 1. 18 Of his owne will begate he vs by the Word of truth that wee should be a kinde of first-fruits of his creatures So also our saluation 1. Thes. 4. 3. This is the will of God euen your sanctification It is hee that worketh in vs both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. The perseuerance of Gods Saints and Elect in the state of grace vntill they come to full glory is the will of God Iohn 6. 39. This is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath giuen me I should lose nothing but should raise it vp againe at the last day And Mat. 18. 14. It is not your Fathers will that one of these little ones should perish That we inheriteternall life it is Gods good pleasure Luke 12. 32. Feare not little flocke for it is your Fathers good pleasure to giue you the Kingdome So also Iohn 6. 40. It is the will of the Father to giue vs eternall life The Scriptures abound in setting forth the glory of Gods will and good pleasure herein Admirable is the wisedome and counsell of God that hee hath in the holy Scriptures so punctually and particularly pointed out vnto vs the pleasure of his will taking place in euery part and passage of the worke of our Redemption as altogether depending vpon that prime independent eternall will and good pleasure of God in his free purpose and appointment of vs vnto eternall life Let all aduersaries here stop their mouthes and be couered with confusion of face that goe about to robbe God of this his great glory while they would haue Gods electing of vs to depend vpon the free-will and work of man and Gods will and pleasure to bee no more but a consequence of their wils which qualities and actions in them God fore-seeing from all eternity say they did thereupon will that such should be saued according as he saw they would both receiue grace offered and retaine the same vnto the end And this they will haue to be the very substance and whole contents of the Gospell O for a Gagge for this new Gospell Nay no Gospell but it is the old spell of the Serpent which subtile though it were yet it is foolishnesse with God Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and euill That is as some learned Interpreters note vpon it the Serpent would perswade mankinde as indeede he did that hee should not neede any further Gods wisedome and counsell for direction themselues should bee thenceforth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 selfe-wise sufficient yea euen as Gods knowing all things And Salomon saith Hee that is selfe-wise is a foole yea a foole of all fooles Well yet this Doctrine of the Serpent did not directly though by consequence it did exalt man aboue God but onely seemed to place him in an equall ranke with him But this Doctrine built vpon that foundation of the Serpent is now erected so high as it surmounts the Throne of God Now must God become inferiour to his creature his Soâ—ereigne will must daunce attendance at the doore of mans will Onely they haue left God his bare prescience as if he were no better than a poore Prognosticator or Fortune-teller And yet if this hellish and blasphemous doctrine were to bee found onely amongst those ancient Heretiques the Pelagians or among their successors the Pontificians it were but dignum patella operculum no maruaile if they that are of their Father the Deuill doe the workes of their Father The Lord Christ keepe out or whippe out this dotage yea this doctrine of Deuils out of his Schoole Let such vncleane Birds neuer nestle or roost in Christian Nurceries But passe wee to the next point in the definition From the perennious and pure fountaine of Gods will and pleasure doe flow all the riuers of the waters of life towards the creature as first in Gods eternall electing out of the corrupt masse of mankinde a certaine number of men This election of God is the prime and proper act of his good pleasure and will As Ephes. 1. 4. 15. Verses So Deut. 7. 6. 7. 8. Vers. where we haue a type of his election in the children of Israel flowing from the free loue and fauour of God But this reflecteth vpon that before sufficiently confirming this Againe this election is of a certaine number of men I say of a certaine number not of all as some absurdly affirme which is against the nature of an election For Electio est aliquorum non omnium Election is of some not of all as the word it selfe also importeth signifying to gather out from among others Againe a certaine number and definite not vncertaine and indefinite as the Pontificians teach The number of the Elect of God is a certaine and fixed number Hereupon Augustine saith Qui praedestinati sunt in Regnum Dei eorum ita certus est numerus vt nec addatur eis quisquam nec minuatur
velint fateri praedestinatos esse qui per Dei gratiam fiant obedientes atque permaneant iam tamen fateantur quod eorum praeueniat voluntatem quibus datur hâ—c gratia Now these men saith hee with whom wee haue to deale are so much remote from the Hereticall peruersnesse of the Pelagians that although they will not be brought to confesse that they which by the grace of God are made obedient and remaine so are predestinated yet notwithstanding they confesse that this grace preuents the will of those to whom it is giuen But how Augustine discouers their deceit Ideo vitque ne gratis dari credatur gratia sicut veritas loquitur sed potius secundum praecedentis merita voluntatis sicut contra veritatem Pelagianus error obloquitur This must be so forsooth lest grace should be thought to be giuen gratis as the truth speaketh but rather according to the merits of mans precedent will as the Pelagian errour gain-saieth the truth So that in the conclusion the Pelagians and Pontificians with their confederates conspire in the maine not onely to diminish but euen to demolish the glory of God The second precious thing which thou wouldest destroy is the saluation of the elect Thou to make a reprobate by thy carnall reason to become at the best a formall hypocrite puffed vp with the swelling pride of his selfe-righteousnesse wouldst destroy that gracious purpose of God in sauing impotent man which purpose of God is the onely cause of the effectuall sauing of men For take away this purpose of God and no man should be saued And not onely Gods purpose to saue some whom he will doth in time effectually bring them vnto the state of grace in Christ but also is so farre from making them carelesse as it makes them the more carefull to continue in the state of grace Yea not only so but God doth endowe all his with a care and minde and will and power to continue in his fauour and grace And to this end all things worke together cooperate for good to them that loue God to them that are called according to his purpose Hath God giuen me the grace of faith to beleeue in his Sonne Iesus Christ whereby I come now to know what I knew not before namely that I am of the number of Gods elect preordained to saluation before the foundation of the world Am I hereupon carelesse how I liue because I haue receiued the euidence of Gods fauour towards mee in Christ Nay now I begin to be more carefull than euer before that I may also attaine to the end of my saluation And I am so much the more encouraged hereunto not onely because I am ordained of God vnto it but because now the Spirit of Christ dwelleth in me strengthening incouraging comforting confirming mee more and more in the obedience of faith and sealing me vp vnto the day of Redemption I know that God hath appointed to saue me but not without meanes He hath made the meanes easie vnto me and he hath giuen mee both a minde power to obserue the conditions where I through carnall infirmity still dwelling in me faile yet still the means is in my way which is to be renewed by repentance humiliation and obedience I cannot now euer be resolued that because I know I am one of Gods elect therefore I will sinne and liue as I list but because I am one of Gods elect redeemed by Iesus Christ therefore my whole resolution is continually to set forth the prayses of him that hath called mee out of darknesse into his maruellous light St. Iohn was of another minde than these men where 1. Ioh. 3. speaking of our knowledge and assurance of our blessed estate in and through and with Christ he addeth vers 3. He that hath this hope purgeth himselfe euen as hee is pure So that the more certaine our faith and hope is of eternall life the more carefull it makes vs of fitting and preparing ourselues thereunto For he that hath this hope purgeth himselfe Tell me a Prince being borne heire apparant to a Kingdome because he is assured that none can preuent him of his right is he therefore carelesse of his course of life running riot and playing the young Prodigall and not rather disposeth himselfe or at least is carefully brought vp vnder Tutors and Gouernours for that end that by learning obedience in his youth and nonage he may know the better how to Command when he comes to weald the Scepter Now the Child of God by his new birth is borne heire apparant to the kingdome of glorie therefore while he is in his minoritie in the Principalitie of grace and because now he hath many infallible arguments to assure him of the Kingdome is he either himselfe so carelesse or is his heauenly Father so improuident as not euery way to furnish him with those graces beseeming such a Prince whereby he may in time be throughly furnished and accounted worthy to sit with Christ in his Throne Because old Symeon had a reuelation by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ Did he therefore as knowing God to be true in his promise neglect his ordinary meate and other meanes for the sustentation and preseruation of his life because he was to liue certainely vntill he should see the Lord 's Christ Because King Ezechias had a gracious promise from God that he should recouer of his pestilent disease and within three dayes be able to goe vp vnto the house of the Lord and moreouer that he had fifteene yeeres added of God vnto his dayes was Ezechias therefore carelesse of vsing the meanes for his recouery which the Lord had prescribed and so for the prolonging of his life which the Lord had promised Did he not according to Gods direction take and apply the lumpe of dry Figgs to the plague-sore and so recouered so that within three dayes he went vp vnto the house of the Lord to offer the Sacrifice of praise So the elect of God being now effectually called to the state of grace they haue a promise from God that they shall neuer see death that spirituall death which Christ speaks of till they see the Lord 's Christ face to face and know him by beatificall vision euen as they are knowne are they therefore carelesse of the spirirituall food of their soules the Word and Sacraments whereby they are preserued till they come to the fruition of this beatificall vision And being desperately sicke of the pestilence of sinne and hauing health promised and remedy prouided are they therefore so carelesse as not to put forth the hand of faith to apply Christ that lumpe of figgs that cluster of grapes that balme of Gilead to their pestilential sore that recouering perfect health thereby they may after three dayes be raised vp and be able vpon the feet of their holiest affections to ascend vnto the house of the Lord not
adult ad iustif cap. 19 Ignorantia prauae dispositionis cap. 18. ibid. in fine 1. Pet. 1. 19. Orig. in Leuit. Maimony in tract de sacrif offerend cap. 3. Ephes. 2. 12. Acts 8. 37. Origen super â—euit Iob 19. 27. Iohn 3. Aug. in Ioan. tract 12. c. 3. Abac. 2. 4. Iohn 20. 28. 29 * The most ancient and authenticke Creeds require explicit faith in Christ and the promises of God in him Histor. Concil Trid. lib. 2. Concil Trid. Sess. 6. cap. 9. * No rest or peace to the wicked * Certainty of faith a great aduersary to Romane-Catholickes a The Pontifician Opus operatum yoaked with Gods mercy and Christs merit b Faith of fearfull Diuels approued and commended Concil Trid. Sess. 6. Can. 12. Can. 14. Chemnitij Examen de fide Iustisic Ier. 2. 24. Soto de nat grat lib. 3. c. 10. Luther in Gen. cap. 4â— Liu. lib. 1. Doâ— 1. Soto de nat grat lib. 3. c. 10. Iudges 8. 21. Vega lib. 6. de incertitud grat cap. 2. Certainety of the true Catholicke faith opposite to Romish vncertainety Non poena sed causa facit Martyrium Euangelium facit Martyrium Cypri A troubled vnsettled conscience like the troubled sea Iude 13. Vega de incertitud grat c. 25. Concil Trid. Sess. 6. can 15. * The reason is naught if he meane that the knowledge of predestination must precede the knowledge of our iustification For we do not therefore beleeue our iustification because we must first know our predestination but we come to know our predestination by the fruit of it iustification Histor. Concil Trid. lib. 2. * Note the iudgement of some Pontificians themselues concerning their Schoole-men * As we noted before out of Vega reiecting the vulgar latine when it makes not for his turne * In this Councell of Trent if the most learned and iudicious of them had not beene ouerswayed by humane affection no doubt but the truth had preuailed in a great measure Vega lib. 9. de incertitud grat Iob 13. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Concil Trid. Sess. 6. c. 12. quoted in the Margent Rom. 〈…〉 Pro. 28. 1. Vega l. 9. de incert grat c. 11. * So Pagnin himselfe rendreth it by Vega's own confession ibid. Note here how impertinent this place is for Vega sith hee would proue by it vncertainty of faith of a mans own saluation whereas the place speakes of Daniels vncertainty of anothers saluation Multa videntur non sunt Eccle 5. 5. Aug. in Psal. 50 or 51. vers 8. * As Aug. de vera falsa poeâ—itentia c. 19 expresseth himselfe saying Poenitere est poenam tenere vt semper puniat in se vlciscendo quod commisit peccando ille poenam tenet qui semper punit quod commisisse dolet tom â— Vâ—e saâ—huumÌ„ Choâ—mah Thodâ—igneni Psal. 91. 11. Matth. 4. 6. * Though the Text be Yet 40. dayes * Deuils Iames 2. * Bulla Pii Quarti super forma iuramenti professionis fidei Affixed to their Councell of Trent a Bulla Pii Quarti P. R. super confirmatione Consilii Triden Sexti de officio delegati lib. 1. Papa est Lex animaâ—a in terris The Pope is aliuing Law vpon earth And hee is said to haue all Lawes in the cabinet of his brest as their extrauagants say Ephes. 2. 20. Reuel 8. 10. 11. Aug. Epist. lib. Epist. 130. Cirtensibus Aug. de vnitate Eccles. c. 16 Aug. de Baptismo contra Donat lib. 2. c. 3. * He excepts none no not the Bishop of Rome * Not a word of the Bishop of Romes authority ouer general Councels Those former ages were ignorant of it Aug. contra faustum Manichaeum lib. 32. cap. 19. Aug. contra Epist. Manich. quam vocant sundamenti lib. cap. 5. tom 6. Iohn 4. 42. Aug Paulinae Epist. 112. August contra Maxim Arrian Epist. lib. 3. c. 14. August Tertul. aduersuâ— Hermog lib. Chrys. in Mat. 24. hom 49. ab incerto autore Rom. 2. 29. Chrys. in Mat. 23. homil 24. Acts 19. 35. Aug. contra literas Peâ—illiani Donaâ—istae lib. 3. cap. 6. * Marc. 9. 24. * Rom. 4. 18. Tremel pascere fide Esay 7. 9. * Heb. Lachasoth Mat. 23. 37. Heb. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys. in Heb. 11. 1. homil 21. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Theophrast 〈◊〉 5. de causis plantarum * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vega lib. 14. de peccato mortali venâ—â—li Esay 28. 16. Pro. 28. 1. Psal. 112. 7. Matth. 9. * Psal. 19. Iosh. 10. Heb. 11. 35. a Bern. Epist. 190. b He meaneth the old Martyrs of the Church that suffered for the true religion not the new Martyrs of Rome that iustly suffer for rebellion and treason Concil Trid. Sess. 6. Can. 12 13. 14. Acts 27. Acts 28. 1. Psal. 1. Chrysost. in Heb. 10. bom 19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrys in Rom. c. 4. serm 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil. Ethica in fine definitionis 80. Basil. in Psal. 115. Basil. in asceâ—ica Tertul. lib. de Baptismo * Vega de incertitud grat cap. 32. 33. 34. c. Where hee takes vpon him to interpret the authorities of the Fathers making against Pontifician vncertainty Bern. eâ—ist 19â— * To wit by Christ. Iohn 5. 39. Aug. in Psal. 144. 〈…〉 Ambros. de â—aâ—n â—â—â—â— lib. 2. caâ— 7. Ambr. in â—pist ad Rom. â—aâ— 1. Theoph. in Luâ— 16. Vega lib. 9. de incertitud graâ— cap. 41. 2. Chron. 30. 18. 19. 20. vers Ad Triarios res redijt The Priests intention a Supercedeas to all certainty of faith The testimonie of a good conscience â—â—ero Godly loue a seale badge of the certaintie of saluation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Seneca Heb. 12. 6. 2. Cor. 12. * Concil Trid Scs. 6. cap. 13. Phil. 2. 12. 13. Aug. de nat grat contra Pelag. cap. 33. tom 7. Aug. in Psal. 130. concio 4. Esay â—â— Aug. in Psal. 147. in prooemio Psal. 107. Concil Trid. ses 6. Can. 12. 13 Plato in Phâ—done Vega. * To wit the Trent-Fathers so vsually termed by equiuocation * By some good chance doubtlesse Vega lib. 12. de incertitud praed stinat perseuerantiae c. 2 Saul one of Vega's Elect. Aug. lib. 2. â—â—â—implic qu. 1. Greg. lib. 4. ca. 3. in 1. Reg. 9. Salomon one of Vega's Reprobates though once Elect. Salomon fell not away totally Salomons fall as not totall so not finall Eccles. 2. 3. Aug confes lib. 6. cap. 7. Numb 20. 12. Example of Iudas Matth. 10. â— Iudas had not sauing grace Aug. quaest super Genes lib. 1. qu. 117. tom 4. Aug. in Psal. 55. Aug. de haeresibus ad Quod-vult-deum lib. 6. 18. Cainites Rom. 3. 22. 23. * We are too well acquainted with your Pontifician promises â— Pet. 2. Pro. 28. 14. Bern. in Septuages serm 1. Eccles. 9. 1. Psal. 137. Aug. de bono perseuer lib. 2. cap. 16. Greg. moral 6. Predestination defined * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉